Hope you guys like the last chapter.
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Now enjoy this chapter!
Two weeks had passed since my arrival and oddly enough strange things-within the context of the One-Piece universe of course-hadn't begun to happen. As a result, it set me on edge because strange (read: bad) things always happened in One Piece. Whether it was to you, to someone you knew or someone you didn't know but it eventually affected you, always happened. That is why when Giolla gently put her hand on my shoulder, my unhinged brain decided that it was a wise idea to jump up and whip around with my foot high in the air.
She effortlessly caught my leg and raised an eyebrow at me. I winced and giggled sheepishly, muttering a quick sorry as she let go. "What's got you in such a tizzy?"
My brain bluescreened for a hot second as I tried to come up with a believable excuse. If I answered that I was waiting for something bad to happen, she'd ask 'why', which is a question I'd like to avoid as much as possible while I'm here. It's not recommended to tell a dangerous pirate crew that you're on edge because you live in a universe where something bad happens every 2.5 seconds and nothing has gone wrong yet. You'd land in some boiling hot water. As my brain spun the "Excuse Wheel", my ears picked up the squeal of an opening door. I looked over to the door to see Corazon exiting it, my body involuntarily shivered. Giolla looked to where I was staring at.
"Oh." She said. "He's been flinging you a lot lately. Wonder what you've done to piss him off."
It wasn't a lie. 4 to 5 times a day, I found myself eye to eye with the seagulls and flesh to metal in the scrap heap. The blueish green splotches that decorated my skin was a testament to that. Still, I wondered why he launched me into the sky twice as much as he did the other kids. Could it be that since I was the oldest, I should have enough sense to leave? He did fling the kids for the purpose of discouraging them from joining the crew. Obviously, that did not work. Maybe he especially wanted to get the message to me since I'm practically at the age where I could take care of myself. The other four kids…not so much.
"It's a wonder my bones aren't dust at this point." I deadpanned while scowling at my scapegoat. While I understood his reason for throwing us, it frankly, got very irritating and annoying to nurse avoidable injuries.
Giolla hummed for a bit. "How about you take care of Dellinger for a bit while I go out to run some errands? If Corazon finds you with the baby, he won't toss you. He never tosses Dellinger and by extension doesn't toss any of the kids when they're dealing with him. I'm sure you could use the break from his abuse anyway."
"Okay." I couldn't deny the offer. She probably just wanted someone to dump Dellinger on to begin with and used me as an excuse. Besides that, I literally had nothing to do nor nowhere else to go.
I didn't want to chase after Corazon, it was too early to reveal the truth anyways and a key event needed to happen first. All the other Executives and Law were off doing who knows what. Not that I particularly cared but it would help keep my back safe in the future where things would most definitely get dicey that I knew the exact details of when and what they were doing.
Giolla led me to Dellinger's room, which had some sort of 'Under the Sea' theme. It was mostly a lot of aquatic printed stuff. The art -art fruit user handed me eyebrow raising long paper, explaining the what and what nots of Dellinger. I looked down at the paper and back up at Giolla, only to find a blinking dotted outline of where she once stood. Great. I sighed through my nose and stuffed the sheet into the pocket of my knee length tan pants.
Soft snores floated about the room and I knew the baby was sleeping. Silently, I padded over the white wooded crib and peered over the edge. There, on a mountain of bedding lay a tan skin blond haired, sharp toothed baby, with tiny horns poking from tufts of hair on either side of his head. He had some sort of safety mitts on to prevent himself from accidentally biting his fingers off as he slept. Fishmen were many times more powerful than a human. A baby, who wouldn't even know their own strength would most definitely unintentionally injure themselves.
I reached a hand into the crib and gently brushed some hair out of Dellinger's face. The poor thing, being raised by horrible horrible people and growing up to become an absolute monster. Maybe, when Corazon eventually leaves with Law, me jumping aboard of course, I can somehow convince Giolla to give me the baby. That way, I can drop him off on an island with actual loving people and he wouldn't grow up to be so cruel.
"WAAHH!" Dellinger's startled cry snapped me out of my thoughts.
He must have sneezed himself awake, judging by the snot draining from his pointed nose. Quickly I whipped out the sheet to see if this event was on the list. Turns out, the baby sneezing himself awake is a common occurrence. All I needed to do was lift him up, wipe his nose and rocked him till he calmed down. That is what I did, and soon enough, Dellinger was all pathetic whines and mewls as I finished wiping his face with the baby wipes.
"Hi there." I said normally, Dellinger didn't like being baby talked. His brain was more developed than a human this age, so he understood the majority of what was being said to him. Even though he couldn't verbally articulate it.
"Jowa." He pouted. It took everything in me not to coo.
"She's running a couple of errands. She asked me to deal with you while she's gone. I hope that that's okay?"
He started at me blankly, as if deciding how to respond to my question. His response was to bite me on the hand, not hard enough to break the skin though. I hissed and dropped him in the process, but he landed on his feet just fine and waddled away. His head twisted and turned, and he toppled things over as if he was looking for something.
Pulling out the sheet, I looked down the long list which had honestly becoming nothing but an extended smear of black into to me. Suddenly, the sheet was yanked out of my hand and shredded to bits.
"What the…?" I breathed as the fine bits of paper floated down to the ground like snow. Dellinger was at my feet, spitting bits of paper out and picking some from between his pointed teeth.
He walked off contently, maybe the sheet was what he was looking for. I saw the hybrid climb back into his crib and sat on top of the bedding, giving me this evil glare before going back to sleep. Then it all clicked. Dellinger wanted me to figure out through trial and error what he liked and disliked. What the purpose of that was, I had no clue. Probably something malicious considering who his mentors were.
I frowned. I did not and was not going to do this alone. There was no way I was going to get blamed for making Dellinger cry when the hybrid himself shredded the paper that contained the ways to prevent that from happening. Opening on the door of my room, I found Law sitting on his side of the bed engrossed in some sort of medical book. The last survivor of Flevance did not notice me come in to stand by his bedside. As I result, when I barely grazed his shoulder with my fingers, he stiffly jumped in place. A strangled noise escaping him. The mild look of surprise on his face died and was resurrected as a scowl when he looked at me.
"What do you want now." His questions towards me always seemed like demands.
"Come and I'll show you." I answered, knowing that if I said anything about baby- sitting, he would instantly decline without even a first thought.
"No. Tell me what you want. I'm not getting up for something stupid. "he found his lost place in his book.
"I was given an assignment by Giolla. I need your assistance with it." I said, trying to glorify the task as much as possible.
The cover of the book lowered from his face slightly, but his piercing golden eyes were still locked onto the pages. "Why? Are you so pathetic and weak that you can't even handle what is probably a simple assignment? What is your sorry ass gonna do when we go on actual missions and you'll have to face some poor bastard by yourself?"
"Tch. Don't slippery slope me." I rolled my dark blue eyes and plucked the book from his hands. I did not need to think heavily about making this decision. Force was always necessary regarding me and Law. Hopefully, that would change soon.
Three years…that was the amount of time I had to forge an acceptably solid relationship with Law and Corazon individually before the latter decides to personally invest in the former. I wasn't going to speed up the timeline like how I saw others would do in fanfictions. This was real and besides, I'm not that lucky. Everything would go to hell in a handbasket if I tried to influence the timeline in such a significant way.
Instantly, Law pitched up, snarls and growls. Stretching his hands, he reached up for the book. I simply raised it above my head, being almost twice as tall as him even though I myself was somewhat below average height for a girl my age. Huffing he jumped back on the bed again and tried to leap on me.
"Give that back!" he grabbed my green long sleeved turtle neck and scaled me like a rock mountain.
"No." I shook him to the ground. He landed with a hard thump. "Only if you help me."
Rubbing his bottom, he gave me a vehement glare. Then he launched for my legs and coiled around them like a snake, trying to trip me up. I wobbled for a brief moment, tripping over my foot and chin landing hard on the mattress. Law unfurled himself and made a grab for the book I still clutched tightly. Sliding off the bed, I dove underneath and crawled to the opposite side. Halfway under, a white and black spotted hat blocked some of the light. He was waiting for me. I reversed, crawling backwards but the hat disappeared. I couldn't turn my head to see, but I knew he had shifted back to his side of the bed, waiting for me to pop out so he could grab his book. I crawled forwards again, but this time, albeit with difficulty, shifted so that I was parallel to the bed frame.
"Achoo! Ugh. Not coming out till you agree to help me." I said through burning sneezes. Dust had been kicked up due to my crawling and was now irritating my olfactory senses. I tried not to focus on the cobwebs hanging from the wooden frame nor the vacant dried shells of long deceased bugs.
"You're being immature. I thought you were supposed to be 18." Law kneeled; face pressed against the frame as much as he could with that wide-rimmed hat on. He still had an annoyed and angry look on his face. Typical of him. I was not intimidated.
"Only in body. Not in mind." I replied simply, then paused.
"… I'll buy you the latest edition." I bribed with few words, looking at the faded cover. Didn't want to come off as desperate, that would most definitely turn Law away.
Several beats of silence. Eyebrows knitted in a mix of skepticism and incredulousness in the fact that I actually believed that I could convince him to help with bribery of all things.
"You know I would." I lied, adding sincerity in my voice so that he wasn't so tipped off to my fib. It's not that I wouldn't. It's just I didn't have the money nor would I know where to acquire such a thing,
"Do I?" Yes, you know and know I would not.
More silence. Then.
A resigned sigh. A twitch of an eye. A pulse of a vein "Fine." He spat. An unspoken but fully meant just so you could stop pestering me, hung in the air.
"Deal." I smiled and crawled from underneath the bed, exiting at the foot. Only my forearms once again tasted the light before I felt rather than saw the medical book being snatched out of my grasp. It was so sudden that I inadvertently winced as if I was the one being viciously snatched.
THUNK!
I hissed as I raised my head too early and my crown hit against the frame. Rubbing at the area, I finished crawling from underneath and stood to my full height. Dusting off, I told Law to come, who was sliding his book in the draw. He didn't answer verbally but rather rolled his eyes and tch'ed at me.
o-o
"Isn't this Dellinger's room?" Law deadpanned, no doubt looking up at me with a raised eyebrow.
However, his words were lost on me as I stared at the distinct Dellinger shaped hole in the door. This most definitely was not good. Pushing the door open, I barged inside and froze at the absolute catastrophe that was the room. Everything inside was either torn up, chewed up or utterly destroyed. The one thing that remained untouched was the crib. Of course. The bed is one of the most sacred pieces of furniture you could own. It made sense he'd treat it with reverence.
"Is this your assignment? Clean up that aquatic brat's mess?" Law was annoyed, bordering angry. To him, it looks like I dragged him away for something stupid.
"No. No, it wasn't." I redirected my attention to him, panic replacing the blood in my veins "We need to find him before he hurts himself."
"We?" his voice was flat, monotone. The type of tone he used with me when I thought I was asking a ridiculously stupid question. The tone he used with me so often, regardless of whether or not I even asked a question, I had become immune to it.
"Yes we." I huffed and turned around quickly, beginning the search. Forget the new book, I was doing this, with or without him. Giolla had assigned the baby to me, and I wasn't going to wasted precious seconds of looking for him, arguing with a ten-year-old.
He said nothing but silently followed me to help search. The two of us checked the kitchen, Giolla's room, everyone else's room except Corazon's and Doflamingo's, the docks and pretty much all of the hybrid baby's favorite places to be. At least places that he was somehow able to access without supervision- the fact that a baby shouldn't be unsupervised at all notwithstanding.
"Giolla's going to kill me." I dropped onto a crate in the scrap yard and buried my face in my palms. We'd been searching for the better part of an hour and had turned up with dust. We had no idea where the small child had gone. It wasn't as if we could have asked any one to search for him either. He and us for that matter were part of a dangerous gang of criminals-we hadn't ascended to piracy at this moment-and it would not be wise to spread our name around. Who knows what unsavory folks would be after us?
"Maybe she'll suffocate you in one of her hideous paintings." Law sat opposite of me, clearly amused at the prospect of me choking to death.
"Or worse. Turn me into one of her hideous paintings. Death by Discount Picasso is such a stupid way to go." I couldn't even find it in me to disagree with him on that notion.
"Picasso?"
"Don't worry about it." I waved a hand of dismissal, thus ending this thread of conversation.
Yells and shouts of pain grab our attention. Screams of a baby followed along with the grunts of men and crashes of metal. All loud and clear as the noise came from below us. We were on a particularly high scrap pile.
"Ow!" hissed a manly voice. He sounded irate and just about ready to carve someone "Stupid shark like brat. I'm gonna be glad when I finally auction your ass."
Law gave me a knowing look and I returned it. The two of us sprang off our seats and practically sled down the scrap mountain. There were very few people who come out this far looking for spare parts. None of the executives nor Doflamingo really chased them away as most were deemed non-threatening. We had most of the useful pieces of metal after all and normally they normally would leave once they found what they were looking for. There were even less who had the bravery allele or like Law likes to say, "the stupidity gene", to pick any sort of fight in the yard. If that was the case, Baby 5 and Buffalo were normally the ones who discouraged them from ever returning.
We skidded to a halt and watched, hidden by a tall pile of scrap. There he was, Dellinger, being picked on by three older men. One of them, with a botched haircut had Dellinger upside down by the ankle, holding him a distance away to avoid the baby's chomping jaws.
"What are those guys doing with Dellinger?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Better question. How do we get him out? We're unarmed and for the most part untrained. We're two scrawny kids and they're three adult men. Even if they had the grace of a beached sea king, they'd have brute strength to compensate. We're at a major disadvantage." observed Law, ever the optimist.
Looking at one of the men aggravating Dellinger, I replied "But we have an advantage that they don't. They're on our turf remember. We know everything about the yard. Hiding spots. Launch spots, what can best we weaponized."
"Valid point but my argument still stands." He made a move, but I yanked him by the collar of his shirt. He didn't take to kindly to that and slapped my hands away.
"Before we attack, can we try acting civil?" I suggested. "We don't want to end up fighting if we don't need to."
He gave me this 'you can't possibly be kidding me?' look. " Do they look like the type to hold a civil conversation?" Law gestured to one man with crooked teeth and holding a burlap sack, who was screaming obscenities to the one holding Dellinger. His arms were flailing about and be nearly smacked his own comrades several times.
"Let's just try alright. Do you really want to lose energy engaging in a petty fight?" Honestly, I just did not want to go brawling if I didn't need to. I wasn't strong, yet. Most definitely planned to train, but at this moment in time, wasn't looking forward to it.
Law contemplated my suggestion. "Fine." He scowled and the two of us left our hiding spot.
"Hi there." I intentionally said in a squeaky voice to garner their attention.
My presence startled the men who all jumped. The one with a hideous haircut scrambled to hold Dellinger properly who instantly began reaching out for me with his tiny hands. He began whining and struggling against the brute holding him even further. Bad haircut, tightened his hold on Dellinger, causing the babe to whine and cease moving to avoid being hurt. Mentally, I frowned.
"H-hi there. What can I do for you youngsters?" Bad haircut looked at us sheepishly, as if he was caught with his hand in a cookie jar by his mom.
"Give us back our baby." Law instantly demanded before I even parted my lips. I didn't whip my head to towards him in a 'what the hell' gesture, otherwise that just would have made the situation even more awkward. Instead, I stared at the men with a wide seemingly innocent but truly unnerving smile that transformed into a 'do what I say or face the consequences' kind of smile the longer you stared at it.
"What?" the man was visibly confused. Though the way he whispered it under his breath seemed like a question more to himself than to us. I had to admit thought, a child the size of a terrier making demands to a grown man, with such a stone-faced expression mind you, are something that would make you do a mental doubletake. If not, laugh.
Law pointed at Dellinger to clarify and made a 'hand it to me' motion with his hands. "He belongs to us. Return him and you'll leave with only a word of warning. Refuse, and the consequences would be much greater."
A beat amongst the men. Heads turned towards each other in silent conversation. Two. Three.
Laughs. Laughs all around. Loud raucous laughter like oh my gosh can you believe this pipsqueak? Just who in the North Blue does he think he's bossing around like that?
"AHEM!" I cleared my throat loudly to halt the laughter. Law was simmering and I didn't need him to go ballistic on these guys. Not yet anyway. "Please excuse him. He's had a rough day and so have I. We really don't want to cause any trouble and would like him back please. We've been looking for him all day. Now that we've found him, we just want to take him home."
At the word 'home', Dellinger became all whiny again. He pushed against Bad Haircut's arms even harder than ever. "Home. Home."
"Sorry kids. We can't give him to you. We have some business to deal with him." the man struggled to control Dellinger's squirming form. It was not something he should have said to us if he wanted to get away.
"What business do you have with a one-year old child?" Law pretended not to know Bad Haircut's true intentions and folded his arms. Darkened became the shadows Law's hat cast over his face.
"That's none of your business puny brat!" spat Hideous Teeth. Law tilted his head to the side to avoid a flying glob of spit.
"It is our business. He's our brother." I added that last word to show importance and relevance.
"Brother? Ha-ha! You two don't even look a thing like him." Laughed Hideous Teeth. Bad Haircut just still struggled with the whining Dellinger and the third man just turned around and left, seemingly tired of all this. Now that I noticed, it looked like he didn't even want to capture Dellinger in the first place.
"Does that matter?" Law caught onto my drift, "He's still our family no matter what he looks like. So, give him back."
"No."
"What?"
"I said no."
In a snap, Bad Haircut had shoved Dellinger into the sack and made a mad dash with Hideous Teeth. Our bodies moved before our brains and chased after the men. Mouths moved next. Specifically, Law's, a very angry tone belting from it.
"See what your civilization has done!" Law snapped at me after he leapt over a stove.
I paid his scolding no mind as in the blur, a purple dot appeared on the edge of the scrap yard. It was Corazon running. He had left earlier and must have been returning home. I smiled; this was absolutely perfect. Corazon would kick their behinds for trying to sell Dellinger into slavery. After all, Corazon never touches Dellinger, so he would never allow any one else to do so either. I just needed to find a way to gather the younger Donquioxte's attention.
"Yes! Look!" I pointed a finger in Corazon's general direction.
Law turned his head to where I was pointing. "I see. So, your stupid plan did turn out to be useful."
"It wasn't stupid." I muttered too low for him to hear me, then I piped up. "All we need to do is keep running! I'll steer them closer to Corazon and you'll try to get Dellinger!"
"Don't tell me what to do!" snapped Law, but he increased his speed anyway.
At this I sped up, nearly caught up with Bad Haircut. I reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him back and using the momentum to swing him to the side. He stumbled and slipped on scrap but managed to catch himself before completely falling down. He did not correct his path. The way I swung him was still to the exit, but he was far more to the right. Hideous Teeth followed suit, running more to the right.
Law had swiped a pipe that was at arms reach and used it to jab Hideous Teeth in the back of the knee. Being the son of a doctor, I knew he located and hit a particularly sensitive bundle of nerves as the man yelled out and his leg practically caved beneath him. He gripped the bag tighter and kept running.
"Shit." It must have had the opposite effect. Perhaps he hoped for the man to let go of the bag instead of grabbing onto it.
The boy sped up and jabbed the same area as well. Unfortunately, Bad Haircut had turned around to see our positions when he found out what Law was going to do. He pulled Hideous Teeth closer to him and Law missed. That was okay though. We were nearing the yard's edge. Corazon was close. I let my self get behind just a little, so I could build more momentum and run straight into Hideous Teeth's side. He yelled in surprise and stumbled, letting go of the bag and ramming into Bad Haircut.
Law and I were moving too fast to halt in time to pick up the bag. If we tried to grind to stop, we both no doubt would have just toppled over and rolled down the steep slope we were on. But the clear, slowly fading crying instead of the muffled screaming indicated that Dellinger had gotten out of the bag and was smart enough to go home. I didn't need to fear that anyone else would take him, no one showed up at the scrap yard around this time anyway. It was very late. Still, I'd have to ask when I got the time where did he go and how'd he managed to be caught by them.
Anyway, the impact of my shove finally caused the to men to completely fall down. Law and I ended up speeding past them as we were still in our full spring while the men were down. Yet, stretching their long arms they grabbed us by our ankles. I hoped the force of our running would be enough to break their grip.
That was a lie.
In fact, it only succeeded in making us topple harder and sharper than if we were to trip slowing down. I heard Law's muffled grunt before I heard by own. We were dragged back and pinned down as the guys crawled got up, hoisting us into the air with them.
"Oi! Put me down you Neanderthal!" Law's fists of fury were whipping uselessly as he punched the air in front of Bad Haircut.
"I'd appreciate if you do the same." I looked up at Hideous Teeth who stared down at me with a look too many men shared in One Piece. It was an amazing thing I had decided to wear pants today.
"No can do." Bad Haircut shook his head. "You two caused us too much trouble. We've lost our prize."
Hideous Teeth flipped me around and pinned me under his arm, my face facing his back. I mentally sighed. Bad Haircut did the same with Law, but his face was parallels to the man's face.
"I'm sure the two of you will make up the Berri you've cost us." Bad Haircut grinned, ignoring Law's shouting and flying fists.
"I dunno boss. Maybe we should keep this one." Hideous Teeth shook me. I didn't take kindly to that at pounded at his back. "She's definitely the prettiest one out of all the girls here. Feisty too. Just my type."
Then I dropped to the ground and he flew back. I looked above me to see a swirl of dark purple feathers and a spotted cap standing on the side of those feathers. Corazon. He saw us. He came. He got Law. He got me.
"Right in time." I sighed in relief and pushed off the ground.
The two men groaned but didn't get up. Their faces were sunken in with a massive footprint. We left them behind. Didn't need to beat them up anymore. They weren't coming back.
Corazon pulled out a sheet and a pen and scribbled something. He turned it to us.
"What were you two doing?"
"They were trying to sell Dellinger into slavery. We got him away but got caught instead." I explained shuffling to the opposite side of Law, away from Corazon.
"Where is he now?"
"Probably home now. We were going too fast to pick him up."
"You left him alone?"
"You see how dark it's getting? No one's going to be here to take the brat again anyway." Law answered this time. "Besides, after that, he'd learn to bite the fingers off of anyone who even dreamed of handling him that way again."
"That's not the point."
"Well the point is, he's not going to end up in the house of some shitty Celestial Dragon okay! And we're not either. So, drop the matter." Law grew increasingly frustrated with Corazon's questions and snapped at him, even though he knew he probably shouldn't considering who his brother was.
Being around the man, made Law visibly angry. Ever since the blonde had tossed him that one time, he's had it out for Corazon's blood. I never understood why. Perhaps I should ask him once we get to the point where he doesn't criticize everything that I say.
I assumed Corazon had stared at Law before stuffing the paper and pen back into his coat. His shades were blocking his eyes. The eyes that held so much, that's why they needed to be concealed. Not because lowly creatures didn't deserve to look at his eyes. That's what his brother believed. Or at least made everyone think he believed. I knew the truth though. Doflamingo's left eye wasn't working, thus had a line crossing the left eye on his Jolly Roger. He believed himself to be a god and gods weren't supposed to have imperfections. He couldn't let anyone see his imperfections.
o-o
When we arrived back home, I was instantly greeted with the face of a pissed off looking Giolla. The temperature dropped by three degrees. Giant sweat drops practically manifested around my head. "I heard what had happened today…" she began slowly.
My heart plopped into my stomach and started to dissolve. Corazon and Law shuffled past me, leaving me in Giolla's wake. Those traitors. "Y-yes."
Her eyes narrowed, the shadows around them growing deeper. Then Dellinger came from between her legs and stared up at me. I couldn't tell what look he had due to his hat and blonde hair that badly needed a trimming.
"He has something to say…" she continued, still slowly like a lion getting ready to pounce on its prey.
"…" I stared down at the kid, face turning blue, glittering with sweat. This is it. This is when I die.
"Tank u!" he jumped into my arms and rubbed his face into my chest. There was surprise on my facial features.
I was baffled. I thought she was going to kill me. The air lightened and Giolla seemed pleased. "This is how he tests the newcomers."
"By being captured by human traffickers?" I tilted my head, I'm sure there were question marks floating all around my head.
"No. That was unprecedented. Normally he just makes a huge fuss, and depending on how he is treated, he'll say whether he approves of that person or not." Giolla let me pass and I stepped inside still shocked at the outcome of recent events. It was very underwhelming to say the least and I felt that a lot more should have been said or done.
Buffalo and Baby 5 were setting the massive dining room table. I smelt something good coming from the kitchen. It was nearly dinner time.
"O-oh. And I'm assuming I passed?" I grinned nervously, wringing my hands together as Dellinger jumped out of my arms and waddled past the devil fruit user.
"With flying colors!" Giolla clasped her hands tightly and used her foot to slam the door shut.
How though? All I did was wasted an hour running around Spider Miles with Law and nearly got caught by human traffickers.
"I'm…going to clean up and then help set up." I was tired and didn't know how to feel about the information I just received. I decided not to dwell on it and focused instead on washing today's filth off of me.
Dinner consisted of Chicken Souse. Two pots of souse were made. One had noodles in it while the other had rice. It wasn't nearly as lavish as it was two weeks ago. Well supplies and money were running out fairly quickly. Still, it wasn't anything like a struggle meal where it was barely any taste or ability to fill and only just took the edge off. Rather it landed in the category of a good filling meal enjoyable by all even though it could be a lot better.
Idle chatter streamed across the table. Law, Corazon and I were the only ones who remained silent. The former because he truly wanted nothing to do with these people save for Doflamingo and the latter because he couldn't break his cover. Me? I just had nothing to say to any of them. What would I even say? I wracked my brain for hypothetical conversation starters. Nothing.
Raucous laughter came from across the table. Baby 5 and Buffalo were clapping and laughing, making fun of Corazon. He'd accidentally flipped the bowl of hot souse all over himself. Pasta draped across his legs. The marine spy's head was bent down, mouth turned into a frown and shades hiding the only facial organ that reveals the truth about how one feels. I frowned myself. I honestly felt bad for Corazon. He honestly didn't deserve that. Then again, harassing the younger Donquioxte brother could be the only way the young children could get back at him for tossing them all the time-without breaking the Blood Law. It looked like they were the type to do that.
Doflamingo had asked Corazon a question, something about a small assignment, which was probably the reason why he was coming back home to begin with. Pen scribbled on the paper almost hypnotizingly, as the little scritch scritch noises shot off, I wondered: what can I do now to help Corazon with his mission and become less suspicious to the Family? Fixing certain issues now could certainly help in the long run when crunch time came. One of the biggest tip offs was when Corazon and Law had disappeared for months and the Marines had barely known where Doflamingo was.
"Oi Order. What is it that you are thinking so deeply about?" asked someone around a mouthful of food. I was to into it for my brain to decipher who it was. Regardless, the voice had still startled me enough that I gave a little jump at my…name…being called.
"Nothing. Nothing." I said quickly. Too quickly. Way too quickly for it to be overlooked.
I got glares. Glares hard enough that I had no choice but to submit. I sighed.
"Fine. I was thinking…." Uh what was even going to say. I looked to the pen and paper. Got it "Everyone in there should really learn how to speak in hands. Or make our own method of communicating with Corazon. It saves time and paper."
Corazon looked at me. I shivered. I felt as if he was going to throw me again. The other members looked at me in silence in varying degrees. All of them had their personal set of expressions I couldn't really identify yet considering that I knew none of them personally.
"I have to agree. It would be convenient in fights as well. Talking to each other across the battle field, but no one knows what we're planning." Law casually says, breaking what I felt to be a rather uncomfortable silence.
"Fufufu! Why didn't you say anything?"
"Only birds fly." It took a moment for it to click in everyone's heads.
"Ah." Came the collective response.
Then everything went back to normal. Once again, an underwhelming reaction to what I felt should have sparked more comments. I blinked again at the rough and awkward exchange. I honestly expected for them to laugh at me or make some snide remark. I supposed I wasn't integrated enough into the Family for my opinions to really matter. Whether they were useful or not.
Everyone was done soon enough and went to do their own business before it was time to go to bed. I helped Giolla clean the table and washed the dishes before going into my room and collapsing on my bed. Today was exhausting.
"You weren't really thinking about communicating with that clumsy clown were you." Law didn't look up from his book, the one I finessed earlier today.
"What gave you that idea?" I sat up properly, neither confirming nor denying his suspicions, making sure to stay on my half of the bed.
He said nothing, focusing completely on his book.
o-o
That night, Law had a night terror. It was different from his usual nightmares. Usually, he would toss and turn once in a while, mumble indecipherable words, sweat and wake up. Me, being a horrifically light sleeper was awake to witness every single fit and watched as he slowly shuffled off of our lump of a mattress, sit in the window and stare at the moon despondently. Tonight however, was a completely different story. He was thrashing about wildly, legs moving as if he was running, kicking me in my neck and back several times. I was surprised he hadn't accidentally thrown himself off the bed. The typically light sweat came down like a torrent, the sheet was soaked. Quiet mumbles turned into near shrieks and yells, he almost looked like he wanted to cry. But he promised himself that he would never cry again. His face was contorted in pain and agony as if everything he was experiencing in his dreams, he felt in real time.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to help him, yet I had to do something. Shuffling over to where I was (getting kicked in the process) I drew him closer to me. His little fists where still shooting off but I positioned it in a way where he'd be swiping at air. I ran a hand through his damp hair and sang. There were no words that I sung, just soothing hums and vocalizations. Slowly but surely, Law started to relax. His face had smoothed out and he had stopped failing. Rapid breaths slowed to an acceptable pace. Gently shaking his shoulders, I woke him up. I read somewhere that you had to wake the person up and let them wait a few minutes before letting them go back to sleep. I assumed it was to let the 'brain reset itself' or something.
Law groaned and then stopped, sticking his hand out and then recoiling it quickly when he slammed his palm against my face. We slept with our backs facing each other.
Instantly, he shuffled back only to cringe in a pile of his cold sweat. "What…happened."
"You had a night terror. Had to calm you down then wake you up." I explained, not moving from my position, though I now rested on my back instead of my side.
"I see." I felt him shuffle closer to me, not too close though. Just enough to be clear of the sweat puddle but not close enough for him to be pressed against me like he was beforehand. It was a medium sized bed, so it worked out.
I gave a noise and nodded my head even though he wouldn't be able to see it, grateful that he hadn't thanked me. I'm sure he was grateful I hadn't asked for thanks either. Having to say thank you to anyone, especially to me probably would have killed him before the Amber Lead.
It was silent in the room after that. Not an uncomfortable silence per say, but still the type of silence that eventually became uncomfortable if you sat in it for too long.
"…Wanna talk about- "
"No."
"Okay."
That was that. Morning came and I was like a smashed barrel. Neither of us had gone back to sleep. Law because every time he tried to get a decent rest; his brain decided to loop back his memories of the blood stained Flevance. Me, because once I'm awake, I don't go back to sleep unless extremely exhausted. My brain decided 3 hours was enough even though my body thought otherwise. Unfortunately for me, the brain won and forced me out of bed when the sun had peeked through the slits in the blinds.
A rather deep huff of a groan came out of me as my feet hit the floor. Zombie-like, I ambled to the shower, got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. The shower did nothing to wake me. In fact, it only seemed to heighten my temptation to sit carefully in the tub and go to sleep.
When I was done, all the other family members were already seated, dressed and eating. I was the last one to arrive. In this sleep deprived state of mind, I couldn't care. Roughly dragging the chair, I plopped me behind in it and my forehead instantly dropped to the table as if the bones in my neck suddenly disappeared. I couldn't help but let out a guttural sound of pure exhaustion, a slight sob making it say in the tail end. My eyes burned and I couldn't move my arms. It was like auto pilot had sporadically switched to manual without giving me any time to prepare.
"Sounds like you had a great night." Someone sarcastically remarked. I was too tired to tell who it was. All sounds sounded exactly the same to me right now.
"Simply magnificent." I responded with the same bite, probably even more now that I was irritated.
With a determined huff, I practically launched my head off the table and with my will alone plated my food and started engaging with the Family. It was a bit difficult running on pretty much zero bars but somehow, I managed to do it. Breakfast smeared into one quick blur with pointless drivel, tipped milk glasses, complaints about how the pancakes were burnt, then dares to make better pancakes. All in all, stuff I could safely not pay attention to. Then, Doflamingo spoke.
"Three days from now, we will have our raid on Rakesh. Those bastards have betrayed us, and you all know how I deal with betrayal."
Yes, I knew very well.
"Official training begins for our new recruits shortly thereafter." He turned towards Law and I, purple shades glinting in the sunlight, that wide smile on his face. "Prepare for a world of hurt."
Law looked at him as if Doflamingo was offering a challenge. Doflamingo grinned then looked at me.
"…Yes, Mister Doflamingo." Was my firm response.
Hope you liked. Felt this chapter was weirdly structured in some parts, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it. This was mostly filler but some action is coming up! Yes! And Corazon has made his official debut! I think things may speed up after the next chapter, don't want the foundation of this story to burn too slowly now.
Don't forget to review!