A/N: Updates are slow, I know, and I apologize. But once I finish my Gintama story (soon, I hope) I will try to work on this a little more. Writer's block doesn't help.
Thanks for faving and following: KoreanMusicFan, FairyPiece1, PeyPeyPeyton22, wag11137, and Fellichan
Update: July 6, 2016
The girl flinched. Being used to male voices, hearing a sound as loud and shrill as the one coming out of the brunette's mouth was harsh on her ears. It probably wouldn't be an exaggeration to liken the woman's scream to that of a banshee—well, to her ears it wouldn't. To anyone else's, April's voice was nice and low, rather than high and irritating.
It took a moment for the owner of the name to appear, the footsteps slow and unhurried but still moving with a purpose, as if he was disinclined towards rushing like some loyal dog when his name was called. Trafalgar Law, as the girl in the cell surmised, was probably a headstrong man with a lot of pride and an overly swollen head. Not someone she would ever take a liking to.
The woman scowled at Law even before he fully came into sight, and growled, "What is the meaning of this?"
Law raised an eyebrow at April, his expression clearly portraying his irritation and displeasure. He had just returned from fighting the marines ten minutes ago. He needed to treat the crew members who had been injured by those damned marines, and not be at his girlfriend's beck and call!
"A hostage," Law snapped back, barely sparing the green haired hostage a glance.
"Law," April hissed. "There is a girl in the cell."
Of course. Law fought the urge to roll his eyes. Women were so irritating and fussy. Why did he ever bring this one on board? Oh yeah. He was dating her. Law had no idea what possessed his mind when he had found himself attracted to her, enough so that he had let her onto his sub.
Strangely, he was reminded once in a while, enough to forget that he sometimes wanted to throw her to the sea kings.
"I don't have any interest in whores. And she's probably slept with every marine on that ship, which makes her a whore," Law told the girl, his tone bored, only half trying to calm her down. But it appeared that he had misunderstood why his girlfriend was so angry.
"That's not the problem!" April shouted in exasperation and more than a little anger. "You don't treat women like that, hostage or not! And she's just a child!"
Right. Apparently Law also forgot that April was a feminist.
"She's a hostage," Law repeated, leveling a blank stare at April.
"She's a child in a cell," April retorted, glancing over the teenaged hostage once again, before she faltered, doing a double take. "Is… Is that a hole in her chest?!"
Law shrugged. "Insurance."
"Trafalgar Law!"
Law almost rolled his eyes before he leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips, trying to diffuse some of the righteous anger by being a sweet boyfriend. He inwardly scoffed. Sweet. Him. If April hadn't figured out by now that Law didn't do sweet, it was her loss. It just made it a lot easier to twist her around his little finger.
"She's a hostage. She can survive a few days in a cell," Law said.
April hesitated. "Only a few days?"
"Only a few days," Law agreed amiably.
April wasn't really happy with that. As Bepo had thought earlier, the cells really weren't fit for humans to live. But if it was only for a few days, the girl would probably survive.
If she had been a normal person, they would have been right. Normal people could survive in the cell for a few days, even longer. But the green haired girl felt her mind slip bit by bit, and each day just got worse. If she was being honest, she would say she was a little worried. Not for herself. Not for Trafalgar Law, either, because the bastard could just go and get himself tortured slowly to death, for all she cared. But for the cute talking polar bear.
And then another few days passed, and suddenly she no longer gave a shit about the polar bear, except how to get all that fur out of the way.
Bright gold eyes, slit like a feral cat's, stared unblinkingly as the polar bear slid the tray of food into the cell and ambled away. The girl didn't touch the food. It didn't interest her. She simply lay there watching, waiting. Someone eventually had to come take the tray away. Someone eventually had to fetch her from the cell. She could bide her time and wait.
Bepo frowned as he slid the tray back out with a claw. It was full, untouched. He already knew the food the crew made was unappetizing, but it wasn't inedible. That the crew was still alive attested to that. Well, either that, or they had all developed digestive systems of steel. Bepo shuddered a little at the thought. He wouldn't put it past their captain to replace their organs while they were sleeping, even if it was only to make them capable of eating almost anything.
"She didn't eat? Again?" Shachi asked the bear, more than a little annoyed. "What does she think she is, a plant?"
"At this rate she'll starve to death," Bepo fretted.
No matter what they brought for the girl to eat, she didn't touch any of it. Well, it wasn't as if any of the food they made looked like it was edible, but she was a hostage. And she should know that a hostage as best kept alive, right? There was no point in killing a hostage, unless it was clear that they no longer worked properly. As far as Bepo could tell, their captain was so completely uninterested in the girl that he had probably forgotten about her, which meant he wasn't exactly planning to kill or dissect her either.
Penguin frowned, looking uncharacteristically thoughtful. "You know, anybody ever thought of removing that gag over her mouth?"
Bepo and Shachi stared at Penguin as if he had grown another head. Penguin said something smart? Since when did Penguin develop a brain? And then the mechanic's words hit, and Bepo groaned. No, he had not, in fact, ever thought of removing the gag. He had just assumed the girl would do it herself—actually, he didn't think about it at all.
"I'm sorry!" Bepo cried.
"We're not allowed in the cell without the captain's permission," Shachi said.
The three shared a look. Should they go to the captain? Bothering him with something so small wasn't exactly the best idea, but disobeying him was a terrible idea. Even for a short time, they did not want to switch hearts with dinner, because having the personality of a dead pig was not fun.
Bepo shifted nervously. He really did not want to go disturb the captain, at least not alone. If he had to suffer, he would rather suffer with someone. He wasn't a sadist, and he would probably apologize the whole time, but he would still feel better if there was someone with him facing the wrath and displeasure of their captain, who, he must admit, could be terrifying.
Seeing Bepo's obvious hesitation, Penguin sighed exaggeratedly. "Fine. We'll come with you."
Shachi rolled his eyes. "You just want to get a look of the girl, pervert."
"Who're ya calling a pervert?" Penguin shot back, scowling.
"Do you see any other perverts here?"
"Yeah. You."
The trio stopped in front of the infirmary, where their captain most likely was. Honestly, he practically lived in there, and the only reason he had a room was probably because the infirmary needed to be sanitary. Didn't stop Law from falling asleep at his desk, though.
"You knock," Penguin whispered.
"No, you," Shachi retorted.
None of them wanted to disturb their captain for something so trivial.
"Captain won't ever do anything to you, so you knock! You're the first mate!" Penguin and Shachi turned to Bepo.
"I'm sorry," the polar bear said, but he knocked on the infirmary door anyways. "Captain?"
"It's open," Law's muffled voice said, and Bepo opened the door cautiously.
Contrary to his expectations, Law was not alone in the infirmary. A bored and frustrated April sat on one of the beds, swinging her legs, waiting for Law to finish whatever he was doing so he could pay her some attention. Sea devil knows, it's been too long since he'd solely focused on her.
"Captain, you know how the girl doesn't eat?" Bepo began, before pausing to shift his weight. "She can't eat when she's gagged…"
The infirmary was completely silent as Law and April digested the information.
"Law," April growled.
"I didn't gag her," Law sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "And I didn't think she couldn't take it off on her own."
He rose to his feet, walking briskly out the infirmary door, passing the trio without a word. He wasn't happy. That much was obvious. If Law didn't want to deal with the girl, they should just drop her off somewhere, but considering that they had stopped at and left one island already, Law either had plans for her, or had completely forgotten about her.
Bepo was willing to bet on the latter.
The four remaining in the infirmary shared a look and hurried after the Heart Pirates' captain. Penguin and Shachi were more than a little curious about the girl they had seen but a glimpse of one time, and April and Bepo were slightly worried. It was not a good idea to be more gentle towards females nowadays, especially not on the ocean. Women were often just as powerful as men, sometimes even more so. Underestimating them was dangerous.
Still, April and Bepo couldn't help their bias. Of course, Bepo's bias only lasted until the female tried to hurt his crewmates, but otherwise, he had a tendency to be nicer to women.
Catlike golden eyes watched the five approach her cell. Bepo shuddered, apprehension creeping over him. She watched them like a predator waiting for prey to enter her reach, and as a fellow predator, Bepo could sense that there was something wrong. The look in her eyes said that when she caught a prey, it belonged to her. She would never let it go.
"Captain," Bepo said hesitantly. "Maybe you shouldn't go into the cell…"
But it was too late. The captain had unlocked the cell and walked in. He was a cautious man, even when dealing with chained creatures. Therefore, his every nerve concentrated on the girl, making sure she didn't make any threatening moves.
She didn't. She lay completely still, the only unsettling thing about her being those overly watchful eyes. Law carefully reached out, untied the gag.
And the girl attacked.