The sharp sound of his sword sliding back into the sheath snapped the children out of their daze. All five of them were huddled in the corner, having watched the massacre unfold and realizing just how lucky they were that Law didn't harm children. It could have been them in pieces with blood seeping into the ground and walls while he kept that sadistic grin in place.
Now that he was done, though, he sighed heavily and frowned. The close quarters made it harder to fight, and the woman was a quick one. Even with one arm she did give him some difficulty since at the moment he couldn't move whilst his Room was activated, having to dispel it before blocking or dodging attacks. He planned on changing that but for now, it was a setback. Still, he won, as expected, and now perhaps his crew could get the necessary supplies. He needed to make sure word spread about the death of the gang, though, so that in the morning they could do just that.
First, though, to tend to the remaining five living people in the area.
He knew they were probably terrified to the core, especially since he had blood splattered on his clothing and arms, but still he approached them, not really caring how scary he looked. They huddled closer together, looking at him with wide eyes as if they thought they were next.
"Now you can stop following me." He said simply as he looked down at them. "And get yourself treatment. The doctors should take care of you now that this one," He kicked aside the Boss's head, "isn't around to prevent that."
Then he pivoted on his heel and left them alone, simply glad he didn't have to deal with them anymore. As he left the alley, he made sure someone noticed before he motioned back down the alley with his head, simply walking away after that. Someone would check, find the massacre and the surviving kids, and tomorrow they'd get their supplies and prepare to leave.
But when authorities arrived and went down to check, all they found was the massacre, not that they knew there were any survivors to begin with.
Law's crew was glad to hear that for once they could TALK to people to get the very necessary supplies for their travels once dawn broke. It was still upsetting they never got to stay at the Inn, but they'd had worse before and so let it be. They remained docked this time around instead of submerging since now there was no threat. It wasn't even that big of a problem, which annoyed Law more than anything because of all the pitying glances he'd kept getting the past few days. They should have pitied the boss, not him. Though…he did hope they weren't under Joker's protection. He didn't want HIS attention drawn towards his crew just yet.
There was a knock on his door as he lay in his bed, causing him to push his thoughts aside and look to the door, one brow rising in curiosity. What did they want at this time of night?
"It's open." He called.
The door opened a slight bit, revealing one of his assistant navigators.
"Um, Captain, there's something you need to see." The man stated, looking a bit unsure about bothering the surgeon so late at night.
Law pushed himself up on his elbows.
"What's wrong?" He questioned, not really bothered since he wasn't sleeping anyway.
"Well, um, there are some people on deck that wanna talk to you." The pirate shuffled nervously. "Some kids. They're demanding they see you…they look pretty beat up."
With a good idea of who they were, Law scowled and pushed himself up, getting out of bed and out of his room, grabbing his sword along the way. He was sure he'd have been done with anything involving this stupid gang, so why did they have to bother him now?
"I told you to find a doctor." He snapped at the five kids huddled in a group on his deck, their gazes darting warily between the men in white boiler suits and the polar bear in the orange boiler suit.
"W-We did!" The leader countered.
Law sighed.
"I meant on the island." He clarified. "I have no more business with you. Your Boss is dead and the gang surely disbanded, you'll get treatment and it won't be from me."
"It doesn't matter if the Boss is dead, someone'll just take over." The older girl snapped. "Besides, we've done bad things under Boss, no one will help us."
"What makes you think I will?"
"You helped us once, didn't you?"
"I needed you alive to bring your Boss to me."
That wasn't completely true, they could have brought in the boss either way, limping poorly or not, but the children didn't need to know he'd cared in any way. Still, when the children flinched and looked hurt, taking his words to mean they were just bait to get to the big prey, he felt a stab of guilt in his gut that made him scowl.
"Captain, what are we going to do?" Penguin looked to the surgeon curiously. Most of the men were prepared to toss the kids off should he give the order, though a few looked somewhat sympathetic for the brats, Penguin being one of the latter.
"We can…we can help steal supplies!" The male twin of the two black-haired children piped up. "We do it all the time! They won't bother us, and we've never been caught anyway!"
"Yeah, the people here still won't help you even with the Boss gone, but we can get you what you need!" The youngest boy added, still shaking a bit in fear.
"Just please, let us go with you! We hate being here! We wanna be pirates!" The oldest girl stood tall. "We wanna be free!"
That struck a chord with the Heart Pirates, as they could relate to the children. Freedom was the reason most people became pirates, and why they fought so hard to keep it. Still, Law didn't want to take them, because in the end they were just kids, a liability, and a danger. They were easy to kidnap, to persuade into telling secrets. He had so easily pried information from them, and he was hardly trying. With enough pressure, they would easily talk. Plus, his men didn't have the time to protect them anytime they were attacked.
"I'll treat you, but you're not coming with us." Law told them finally.
"We have nowhere else to go!" The leader pleaded.
"You're too young to be pirates, you'll just die." The surgeon argued.
Bepo, Penguin and Shachi, his closest friends in the crew and the ones that knew him best, gave the man a frowning sideways glance. They knew their Captain had been a pirate since he was very young and survived just fine, so he was hardly one to talk. He only glared back, daring them to say it aloud, but they remained silent, Bepo bowing his head in apology.
"We can take care of ourselves!" Again the leader was practically begging.
Law looked over each of them closely. Th youngest had to be around eleven or twelve…just a little older than himself when he first became a pirate. And the oldest looked about fifteen or sixteen, which was when many boys left to be pirates if they had a good reason to be and a hatred for Marines. The two girls looked more resilient than most, even if the younger was hiding behind the older shyly. They were at the prime age to be taught how to fight, or perhaps learn other skills. None of his own men would hurt children, or do anything creepy to them, since he made it clear he despised people like that. There were pirates, and then there were beasts calling themselves pirates that took things too far. He despised the latter as much as any Marine.
The surgeon sighed. He supposed he didn't have much argument now. They were stubborn, he'd seen that first hand, and perhaps he could find a use for them if their thieving skills were as good as they said. Treating them and then leaving them here to possibly be killed by the remnants of the gang was a waste of effort…might as well give them a new purpose.
But he wasn't going to let them in free.
"I'll treat you tonight." He explained. "Then you're going to rest as long as possible, I'm aware a few of you have broken bones. Those of you I deem well enough for physical activity will attempt to…procure as many supplies as you can."
He smirked as their faces lit up, understanding his condition and nodding vigorously in agreement. They then followed him quickly to the infirmary where they were told to shower and get clean before he and his two medical assistants dealt with their wounds. There was a spare storage room in the sub that was cleared out and had cots lain out as a makeshift room for the children to sleep in away from the adults until they could work on setting up proper sleeping arrangements.
In the morning, three out of the five were able to take on the task of thievery, as Penguin and Shachi had gone out and confirmed no one would have any dealings with them. At least this time it was because they were terrified of Law, not some silly gang boss, which the surgeon was actually just fine with. It was the reason they should have been scared since the beginning. It's what they got for trying to pity him. The two children remaining behind stayed in the infirmary, the leader with his broken arm incapable of carrying, making him a liability, and the young male twin with his persistent limp that Law had determined was a twisted hip.
Throughout the day, the kids brought in whatever was on the list for the pirates, getting some help from the older men if things were bigger items. Those who went reported to Law how the children were able to determine the stealthiest routes in and out, how to distract people and were even able to help the Heart Pirates get away when one of them screwed up, which Law found amusing since the man had to be saved by a child. These kids definitely had promise as spies.
"So we can go, right?" The eldest girl, who led the small group with their actual leader out of commission, asked him as she handed over the last of the stolen supplies. "We can go with you guys?"
"You were all surprisingly very useful." Law smirked. "I look forward to your work in the future."
That was as good of a 'Yes' as they were going to get, so the children happily rushed back inside the sub to their comrades to let them now. Well, the older girl and the boy rushed in, the younger girl paused next to him shyly. He looked at her curiously, wondering if there was something she wanted. Was she perhaps in pain? Did she get hurt in one of the thieving trips? That wouldn't do, she already had to recover from her own set of cuts and bruises, though she was better off than the four that had been forced to follow him.
The girl worked up her courage and hugged his leg, as she barely reached his waist, and his eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't expecting that. What did he do to deserve a hug? It's not like he showed any sort of kindness to them, didn't treat them any differently than he would his own crew since they were going to be pirates and had to toughen up.
"Thank you for saving us." She whispered up to him with a crooked smile, missing a tooth.
It took him a minute to remember that she, along with her friends, was present when he slaughtered the majority of the gang they were forced to serve. He didn't really count that as 'saving' them, since he did that to get the mobsters off his back, not to save them.
Still, she was cute, so he relaxed from his stiff posture and patted her head of messy black hair in reply. If that's how they took his actions, so be it, he got some new crew members. The child giggled at his touch before rushing off after her friends, bringing a small smile to his lips. How could anyone hurt a couple of brats like that? He'd make sure they got taken care of. It brought back memories of the one who'd taken care of him when he needed help, and he knew how important it had been to him, those memories, and how important that person was. He didn't plan on dying, but he'd keep them safe.
They left the island quickly before people could trace the thieving to his crew and call for help, their five newest members finding their places within the crew to help as best they could, following Law loyally and with more effort than they ever gave to their Boss.
Though he did get upset when they tried to start calling him 'Papa' instead of Captain like they were supposed to.
Aw, they call him Papa, hehe. So now Law's got five orphans in his crew as master thieves, yay! That's the end of the first story in the series! Enjoy! I hope to finish the second 'arc' eventually, but as some of you might know I've got other stories to finish, and I will be trying to focus on those first if I can.
Anyway, again, Enjoy!