So, here comes chapter two, in which you'll get to know our mysterious (I hope) OC a little bit better... I tried not to make it too funny and maintain some darkness, but failed miserably - come on, Shachi is just too much fun. :) Don't kill me!
I wanted to thank all of you for great reviews, which actually made me write this stuff; as well as all favourities and follows. Love you, guys!
Oda still won't share...
Enjoy!
„Wow... Nice looking one..." what awakened her the next day were those exact words, coming from a stranger. She looked at him warily, not sure if she can trust this weird man with brightly coloured, oversized hat. "Oh. Sorry for wakin' ya up. Erm... Here's some food, and Captain said you have to eat, so..." she nodded, showing that she understood. Taking her notebook in hand, she written,
"What's your name?"
"Um..." he blushed, god only knows why. Males are... strange creatures, she thought. "S-Shachi. You?" She only shook her head sadly. "Still can't remember, huh... Well, everybody's on the ship been callin' you 'Yukionna', ya know, 'cause Captain found you in the snow..." He paused, looking at her expression. "Yeah, I know, it's terrible. Not to mention long. How 'bout 'Yuki' then? It's kinda better..."
She smiled lightly, nodding. "Yuki's perfect. Thank you, Shachi-san."
The man flushed yet again, playing with his hat. "J-just 'Shaichi' is alright, really. And, you're welcome. I mean, everybody's calling you like that, so I just... erm... A-anyway, you have to eat! Captain's gonna kill me if you won't!"
She scribbled quickly, "Alright, don't worry, I'll eat, but... can I have one request?"
Shachi tilted his head, "What is it?"
"Can you stay and talk to me? I'm afraid I'd forget how humans speech sounds if I'll be alone for long..."
"That's alright! I'll talk to you, no problem at all!" He smiled brightly, proudly giving her small tray with some tasty-looking soup, bread and warm tea. She took it carefully, immediately starting to eat. Just as she took the first bite, Yuki realized how hungry she was.
Next few hours passed quickly, like seconds. Shachi told her mostly everything about the place she was in right now; about the crew, and the Captain everybody admired so much. It appeared, that Heart Pirates were one of the Supernova crews, not that she knew what the hell that meant. Crew composed of Trafalgar Law, the captain and main doctor; next stood Penguin, Bepo and Shachi himself. Penguin was Shachi's best friend, and Bepo was a bear. She didn't quite catch up what's that supposed to mean, but, well, whatever. And then was the rest of crew, too many names for her to remember.
Soon, she felt herself relax. Her new friend was talking enthusiastically, waiting patiently for her written answers and using her new name as much as possible, to help her get used to it.
When Law came in to check on his patient, he was bewildered to see her smiling brightly and talking with his laughing crewmate. Well, as much talking as you can get with a mute. But, the moment she saw him, her expression changed; it became serious and almost... scared? Cautious? He couldn't really put his finger on it.
Shachi didn't stop his talking, oblivious to the person standing just behind him. "And then, we went to Captain's quarters, and guess what! He was sleeping with small Bepo on his head, in place of that usual fuzzy hat! You should've seen that, Yuki-chan, t'was so cute!"
"And you should really stop gossiping with strangers, Shachi." came all-too-well-known voice. Poor Shachi jumped few meters high and escaped through still open door, leaving the two alone, but not before whispering a small "See ya later!" to Yuki.
Law remained quiet, going around the bed and sitting on his chair. She followed him with her wary eyes, skipping some pages in her notebook so he won't be able to make out what her talk with Shachi was about.
"So... Remembered anything?" she just shook her head, leaning again on her covers.
"Feeling better?" she shrugged. Law sighed, wondering why was she acting that way towards him, while being on perfectly good terms with Shachi from day one.
"I've heard you've got a name already... Yuki-ya." at least that got him some constructive reaction. She written: "Yes, your crew thought of it. And I have nothing against."
"Whatever, although I thought Yukionna is a much better idea." he smirked at her glare. Oh, how he liked this new teasing toy he got himself... Law leaned comfortably on his chair, looking at her with half-lidded eyes. "Don't be so shocked; I'm a part of the crew as well, you know? We do talk to each other..."
"Am I that scary to be named after a demon, Trafalgar Law?" he frowned, and pointed at how she has written his name.
"Just Law. Or Trafalgar. Whichever is fine, but stop using my full name, it's creepy." It was her time to smirk.
"You didn't answer, Trafalgar Law."
"And you are annoying. No, you ain't scary. But you look similar. Yukionna's supposed to have black hair, be pale and beautiful." he chuckled at her blush and changed the subject. "You'll be moving today. I'm here to take out your IV's and take you to your room. You're still weak, but apart from that, nothing's physically wrong with you. Oh, and you should be able to speak again by the end of the week." Law moved to her left arm, taking out the needles with fast yet delicate, skillful motion. "And, before you ask, you'll have to stick with us for awhile. We won't make it to next island so quickly."
She shrugged again, successfully making his eyebrow twitch. That girl got some guts to act this way towards the great Surgeon of Death...
...
Yuki's new room was a remodeled old storage. Guy's from the crew put there quite a big bed, some drawers and a desk. The room had one round "window", the walls were painted white, with decorative spirals in nice, forest shade of green. Although a little pokey and strange at first, Yuki liked it non the less.
Not that she was going to tell Law.
Said Captain was nowhere to be found – Shachi, who was the one to take her to her room in the end, told her not to worry. Captain did something like this frequently. And lively ginger was more than excited to take her on a tour round the submarine. She met Penguin, who appeared to be calm and typical responsible person, Bepo, who was an actual bear (very emotional bear on top of that) and the rest of the crew. It took her few days to get used to her new surroundings, but in the end she started to feel strangely comfortable in a cramped submarine, full of crazy males – her new friends. Soon she didn't even have to use her notebook anymore – Shachi and co. managed to understand her through simple gestures and body language. Like that time in pilot cabin, for example.
...
"See? This is a pilot cabin. Normally somebody's here, but right now we're in underwater current, so the boy in charge, namely me, has some free time." said Shachi, letting her in a tiny room. Yuki looked around, and pointed at some strange thing hanging from the roof.
"Ah, this? That's periscope. It lets you see what's happening above sea level."
Yuki tilted her head, frowning slightly. Shachi guided her closer to the object. "Wanna try? Here, you need to hold these things and look trough that. That's right. See anything?"
Yuki stood for a few seconds, smiling and observing the surface of water, painted in rosy colour of sunset. It was beautiful. Then, something caught her eye. She looked back at Shachi, pointing at the periscope, then up, in the direction she was looking, urging him to take a look. He complied, but didn't see anything.
"There's nothing, just the sun, Yuki-chan. You sure you saw something?" Yuki just rolled her eyes and shown him one finger, then made a motion saying 'big'.
"What, don't tell me, a warship?" she nodded, and he moved back to looking.
"Damn it, you're right! I just saw it; 'twas sailing to the East, so it was hard to see... Woah, you amazing, Yuki-chan! I'll let the Captain know."
Shachi took some pipe out of the wall and whistled in it. Soon, a sleepy voice answered. "What is it?"
"Captain, we spotted big ship at three. Not marines, some pirates; I'd say, not very strong. Never seen that Jolly Roger before, but the boat is freakin' huge! What do we do?"
Yawn could be heard from the pipe. "Whatever... do we need anything? If not, just let them pass..."
"Well, we don't have much gold left, and not even a drop of rum..."
"Shachi, enlighten me: every time I ask if we need anything, why is it the rum that's always gone?"
"Well, Captain..." Shachi leaned against the wall, winking at amused Yuki, "do I have to remind you just who it was that got dead drunk on our last party and woken up with gravely hangover next day? Well, I know you remember; so, exactly then and there the rum went missing last time."
What answered was silence. And then, after a while, "Long time since the last plunder, wasn't it... Well, alright. I'll let us have some fun. Bring'er up, Shachi!"
...
In the armory, Yuki swung a katana with quite unsure look on her face. She looked at Penguin, who guided her in here, telling her to pick some weapon for herself. Man sighed and came closer.
"Maybe something shorter?" she shook her head, and frowned, then picked short tantõ in her left hand. She nodded to herself, though still not quite sure, and shown her prey to Penguin. Said crewmember shrugged. Not that she didn't know he liked her; he was just his usual, little on the grumpy side, self. That man with penguin-hat was a mystery for Yuki since day one, but soon enough she found out, that his quiet and responsible personality was not sign of hatred towards her. If anything, she would say he's her friend.
"Whatever suits you. You sure? Then let's go."
...
The submarine was already on the surface, sailing with favouring wind. They should reach their destination in few minutes. Whole crew gathered on main deck, the Captain standing as the very first.
"Listen to me! We're acting as quickly as possible – smooth prey, we're going in, taking what we want, and going out. No casualties if possible, I don't need any more patients. Understood?"
A scream followed: "Aye, aye Captain!"
Law smirked and turned in direction of enemy ship. He could feel his Nodachi singing on his side – this is gonna be so much fun!
Unlucky pirates were either too surprised by their sudden appearance, or too arrogant to take seriously pirate crew which they easily outnumbered. But as soon as they were close enough, Law used his Room: Shambles, and all the hell broke lose.
Yuki found her way on the enemy ship which she personally spotted; couldn't help herself to feel proud about that. She dodged few half-hearted attacks, took down few opponents who were stupid enough to think she was weak (alright, maybe she lost her memories, but, hell, her hands and feet sure remembered the steps to dance called "fight") and went downstairs, to take a look round enemy's goods. She ignored packed with gold cabins, and ran straight to captains quarters; luckily, nobody was here. Quickly rummaging through drawers, Yuki let out satisfied sigh – she found what she was looking for. Hiding it in one of pockets in her borrowed Heart Pirates uniform, she made her way back to the main deck – or would have, if not for somebody jumping at her from behind.
She made a quick dodge, but were unable to completely escape – enemy's blade cut her side, not deep, but successfully painful and irritating. Due to adrenaline pumping in her veins, Yuki didn't really care – in one quick move of her katana, enemy was down on the deck, screaming for help. Yuki tch-ed angrily, and swung her blade in her hand again – somehow, it didn't really feel right. She brought her hand to her side, examining the wound. It wasn't that bad, she thought, and looked at her hand, covered in scarlet liquid.
Oi...
...Mother...
Look, it's her! It's Nee-san...
...escaped...
...should stop dealing with pirates...
…Nee-san!...
...that birdy-guy...
...RUN!...
...Ver...
blood and fire... everywhere...
...stop...STOP!...
...your fault...
It's all your fault...
Yuki almost fainted – she caught her head in desperate motion, her eyes wide; trying to put together all those thoughts and... memories? she was suddenly flooded with. Reality came back to her in form of another swordsman, just about to hit her. Yuki didn't have time to react, but luckily, she didn't have to; somebody hit her opponent on the head just in time; although, she wasn't utterly content with just who it was.
"Not the best time to be daydreaming, Yuki-ya, and didn't I say I don't need any more work? Geez, troublesome, aren't you..." Surgeon of Death looked at the wounded girl, faking an exasperated sigh.
Yuki rolled her eyes, still slightly shocked. She pushed herself off the supporting wall, deciding to go away from the teasing doctor, but lost her balance as soon as she tried to stand on her own. Again, it was Law who supported her. Yuki was aware of her predicament, but nevertheless she instantly tried to push herself off the surgeon. Law smirked at her attempt.
"What is it, Yuki-ya? You don't want anybody to see you weak like this? Or is it because you're being saved, again, if I may add, by my humble person...?"
Yuki looked at him, fire in her emerald eyes. Bastard had too much fun with this! Her lips opened on their own, and only three words she could think of at the moment spilled through them.
"Neither. You stink."
Law looked at her for quite a moment, shocked. He sweatdropped and let her sit, moving away. "Well... You know, Yuki-ya... I didn't expect your first words after a week of coma and muteness to be something like that..."
A/N just for a record, "Yuki" means snow, and "Yukionna" is a name of Japanese snow demon. So you know. R&R!