New Students

Stepping back from the wall with a paint pallet in his right hand and a paintbrush in there other, the man looked at the mural that he had just finished. His blank look would make others think that he didn't like the painting, but they would be all wrong. The man was actually excited about what he had done.

Dipping the brush into a cup of water that was dark and dirty from the colours mixing in, he cleaned and dried it off before dabbing it into the midnight black. Taking the brush, he painted his signature on the bottom right of the art piece. TL.

Stepping back, he admired what he had done. "Hope the kids like it. This took me all night to do," he said aloud to himself. The whole area was empty except for him. He enjoyed the peace that the night brought. His phone buzzed.

Setting his pallet and brush down, the man walked over to it and picked it up. He looked at the time. It was almost eight in the morning. He sighed before starting to pack and clean up the mess he had made.

"I have to leave before they get here." Once he had all of his things packed up, he gave his mural one last look before leaving the room and locking it back. "I wonder how they will react to it. Maybe I can get Cora-san to come see it."

...

A knock on his front door made Law groan as he got out of the shower. "I'm coming. Hold on a moment." He wrapped a towel around his waist before walking to his door to see who it was. Opening it, Law sighed before turning around and walking back into the apartment. "Come in."

"Law, you were up all night again, weren't you? Don't lie to me either." Law walked to his room as the man followed him.

"Yes, Cora-san. I was out all night." He took the towel from around his waist and dried his hair off. Law, then, threw the towel aside and put on his white long-sleeve. "What about it? Can't I go and do stuff at night? I'm an adult."

"I wasn't going to get angry about it. But you are a teacher. You need to hurry and get to the school before your classes start." Law sighed.

"And why are you here? You have classes to give as well, right?" Law countered as he slipped on his underwear and pants. He knew what he had done the night before He could run on no sleep for a few days in a row. It was only one night, anyway.

"The school saw what you did. They still don't know it's you, though." Law nodded. "They love the mural."

"That's nice to know. I just thought the gym needed a new wall. It was getting old to look at the same gray wall." Law put his shoes on. "I don't want them to know. That would bring too much attention to me. I don't like attention."

"Why can't you do art for a living?"

Law glanced at Corazon as he grabbed his phone, wallet, and keys. "To be honest, I don't like the paint for others. I do it just as a hobby."

They walked out of the apartment together. He locked the door before following the other to the college campus. Law and Corazon parted ways, and he went to his classroom. He looked at his phone. Ten minutes before the class starts. It's hard to get along with them sometimes.

Going behind his desk, Law waited for the students to enter. As the students came in, he heard some of the girls gossiping. "Did you see the mural in the gym?" a girl with blue hair whispered to a pink-haired girl.

"Yeah. Did you see the signature? It was that person again. I swear that he or she is trying to fix up the school."

"First the science hall. Now the gym wall. What's next?" Maybe the Art Department? Or the Music Department? Haven't decided yet.

Slowly, the room started to fill up and he watched them converse with each other. He wasn't all that interested in the class. He would've liked to be painting at the time. But that was for the night time. I could ask Cora-san about which department to do.

Taking his phone out, he started to text his fatherly figure. Cora-san, should I paint the Art Department or the Music Department tonight?

He waited for the man to text him back as more students came in. His phone buzzed. The Art Department needs a serious fix up. Have you seen it lately? It looks hideous.

Got it. I'll tell Rayleigh about me coming back. He will want to know why I was walking around the school at night again. Law nodded and shut his phone off. Every time he would paint, he would shut the cameras for the hall he chose off. It was to keep his identity hidden from the others.

When the class was pretty much full, he looked to the clock on the wall. Standing up, he went to the board and wrote his name across it. "Good afternoon. I'm going to be your biology professor for this semester." Before he could say anything else, a kid burst into the room.

"Sorry I'm late! I got lost!" Law looked the man up and down. He was shorter than him and looked like he just got out of high school. He wore a straw hat, blue jean shorts, sandals, and a red vest shirt.

"Please, take a seat, Straw Hat-ya," he said to him. He called him that because of the straw hat that he wore. He wasn't really bothered with his tardiness because it was the first day and knew the campus was huge and easy to get lost in.

"Sorry," the kid apologized again as he sat down in the front. Law looked back to the class.

"As I was saying, I am going to be your biology professor for this semester. My name is Trafalgar Law." He sat on the edge of his desk. In some people's eyes, he would seem to be unprofessional, but it was just how he was. "I have five rules for this class. One: You get your work done on time and to the best of your abilities, you will pass this class without problems. Two: I am a laid-back professor compared to other teachers. But, if you give me a hard time, you bet your ass that this will be the worst semester you could ever have with me. Three: I don't want half-assed work. I will not grade it if it is incomplete or done lazily. My class is not hard, and you can pass with flying colours if you do your work right. Four: I will not get upset if you come here late. The campus is enormous, I know. As long as you show up, you will be counted here. And Five: The door to your left is my storage room. You aren't allowed to go in there without my permission." He stopped talking for a moment. "Any questions?"

A girl with orangish-red hair raised her hand. Law could see a purple tattoo on her arm but couldn't make out what it was. He nodded to her. "Is it true that we do nothing but dissections in this class?"

"Yes. If you haven't noticed, the other teachers on this hall call me the dissection teacher or 'Surgeon of Death.' But I do have you take a written test at the end of the semester." She nodded.

A brown-haired kid raised his hand. Law pointed to him. "What do we dissect in the class?" That question made a smile rise to his face.

"Well, we start out with frog like in high school and then go from there. By the end of this class, you will know the ins and outs of your own body." That made most of them pale. The kid with the straw hat just stared at him. "Are there any more questions?"

The kid with the straw hat raised his hand. "Why do you look so tired?" That took him off guard. He wasn't expecting to be asked about his state. Law narrowed his eyes slightly at him.

"I don't get much sleep at night. It's nothing to worry about." After that, the kid still stared at him. He told them that they weren't going to start anything that day and just let them leave if they wanted to. Some stayed around.

A knock sounded on the open door. Law looked to it to find a good friend there. Standing up, he walked over to him. They hugged. "Law, how are you doing today?" Bepo asked. Law smiled to him as they parted.

"Good. Tired but good." He looked back to see that Straw Hat was still watching his every move. The girl was as well. "How about you? I haven't been able to talk with you for a while."

"Sorry about that. I had a lot of family matters to work out." He returned the smile. "I'm doing great. I met a girl. She's really nice. You should meet her some time."

"How about this weekend? I'm free." Bepo nodded before the bell rang. "I've gotta get ready for another class. See you later." Bepo said his goodbye before rushing off to another classroom down the hall.

The day passed by like any other. Law was bored with the repetition of what he already had said. He had a few more people stare at him as he talked and chilled behind his desk. They gave him the same looks as the kid and the woman from the first class.

When the day was over, Law was tired but not to the point that he wasn't going to be able to do what he wanted that night. He saw a group of students standing together. They seemed to be arguing.

Talking a closer look, he was shocked. All of them were in my classes. Some in the same class. What are they doing? Law snuck closer to hear what they were arguing about. "Luffy, you have no chance with him. You're too much of a coward when it comes to stuff like that," the orange-haired girl said. Law didn't know most of his students' names. He hadn't asked.

"I do too. What makes you think I'm not able to?" Luffy asked. He was the one that Law nicknamed Straw Hat.

"Luffy, you have never asked anyone out before. Even Zoro said that you have no chance with him," the blond student with curly eyebrows answered the other.

"Law-san." A hand was placed on his shoulder. It made him jump at least a foot in the air and drop some of his papers. He was glad he didn't try to swing. Spinning around, Law was face to face with one of his other friends. He was one of the music professors.

"Brook-ya, you sacred the shit out of me." Law looked down at the papers that fell. He dropped to his knees and started to pick them up. "Did you need something?" Law wasn't angry with the man. He knew how he was.

"I wanted to talk to you about one of your new students." Law finished his work of picking up his papers and stood back up. He looked over to find the group had dispersed and left. Brook motioned for him to follow him. Law followed his friend to his music room.

"Brook-ya, which student do you want to talk to me about?" He had never had a student that took music along with his class at the same time.

"Luffy. I want to talk to you about Luffy." Law remembered the man's name from the group.

"Straw Hat-ya?" Brook nodded. They were no the same page then. "What about him?"

"He's a little slow at learning things. Can you have some patience with him? He also might need some tutoring." Law sat in one of the chairs. He now knew the problem with the other.

"So, he might need to stay after class sometimes so we can do a sort of one on one class time?"

"Yes. I had to do it with him, and he was in my music class. He didn't understand some of the notes he had to do, so he stayed back, and I helped him out." Law nodded. He had done that a few times with some students.

"That will be hard, but I can try to work it into my schedule, if I can. I can't make any promises." Brook knew that and he agreed. Suddenly, the door was slammed open and said kid walked in.

"Brook, did I leave my..." He stopped in his tracks when Law met his eyes.

"Luffy. Are you looking for something?" Brook stepped up to him. Law broke eye contact with him and stood to leave.

"I'll catch you later, Brook-ya. I have to get ready for something I'm doing tonight." He walked past Luffy. He could feel the tension that surrounded the kid as he passed him.

"See you later, Law-san. Be careful on your way home." Law waved and left. He needed to get home and gather his items for when dark fell. He didn't want the others, even the other teachers, to know what he was doing.

...

Hours passed and Law was ready to get going. He called Rayleigh. "Law, what can I do for you?"

"I was letting you know that I'm going by the school again tonight." He was telling him that so that they wouldn't get worried about the missing footage.

"Okay. Stay safe and clean up after yourself."

"You know I will. Hope you'll like the new murals going in the Art Department." Rayleigh wished him luck before hanging up. Law smiled as he picked up his backpack and grabbed his bag full of paints.

Getting inside the school, Law strolled to the Art Department. He wasn't rushing because it was the early part of the night and he could get it done before school started the next day. He stopped at the entrance of the hall.

"Ugh. Cora-san was right. This place is hideous." Setting his bag and backpack down, Law opened the backpack and pulled out a remote. He clicked a button and saw the cameras shut down. He was glad that Franky made the device for him. He was a professor in the Mechanics Department.

Going for his pack again, Law pulled out a large, white tarp. he set it on the floor and rolled it out down the hall. It was big enough to cover the whole floor of the hall. It was also stained with the paint he used. When it was laid down, he dug around in the other bag. He brought out buckets of paint. Next was his paintbrush and pallet.

After a minute, he began to paint. He knew what he wanted to paint on the walls. He had to do all the walls on this hall along with three other halls. This is going to take a while. Better get started sooner than later. Don't want to get caught doing this.

...

It was about three in the morning when Law stepped back from his work. It took him less time than he thought it would. He was finished with all of the walls in the Art Department. He looked at the work he had done.

"Well, hope they like it. It looks way better than what it had been." He washed his brush off before dipping it in the black colour. He signed it with the two initials. TL. After that, he started to pack up. "I got done in record time. I can get some sleep before my classes start." Before leaving, he pressed the button and the cameras were back online.

With that, he left. Law locked up as he walked out. He was on his way home when he saw a flash of red. He looked back and saw Straw Hat. He was running down the street. Law watched him dash into the early morning. Suddenly, a few burly looking men came running from the same direction he had come from.

"What the hell?" Choosing not to figure out what was happening and getting involved, Law kept on his way. Once he got there, he dropped his stuff of in his spare room and went to his room. Law toed off his shoes before collapsing on his bed. He slowly succumbed to the sleep that was etching at the corners of his vision. It was nice and he welcomed it.

New idea, new story. Just...tell me if you like it. I have so many ideas that I just write. Hope you like it, though. Have a great day. Tatty-bye!