Waking up Jay felt an impending sense of dizziness like the entirety of a forsaken universe was swimming laps around her throbbing head enticing a fuzzy hurricane of unbalance to raise out of the depths of her estranged mind with foreboding vigor. It was uncomfortable to say the least; she hadn't felt this was since being roped into one of Shanks's surprise drinking parties she always managed to get caught up in. Groaning loudly she rolled off her side and got ready to push herself up. Her body felt weak again, but not like when she wore those accursed sea stone cuffs. It seemed more like her muscles were hanging on the intruding threads of a puppet master almost as if they would float away into the air had they not been attached. Memories of the past nearly made her gag remembering the actual invisible strings that had violated her movements once before; it wasn't a sensation she was particularly fond of experiencing again.
Plopping on the dew hardened ground in a cross legged position she noticed a familiar giant white bear sitting just a few feet away twitching his paws as if he was running a marathon; it was a cute yet confusing site to behold as morning birds chirped in the crisp morning breeze. He was snoring quietly with a small clear green snot bubble forming on the tip of his fuzzy slightly opened- to let the drool run out- snout. Bepo; that was his name she remembered as er head cleared. Everything that had happened of what she assumed was from yesterday started coming back to her in bulk. Letting out a harsh puff of annoyed breath that froze in the air she leaned back on one hand and placed the other to the gaping hole in her chest. Yup she was fucked; readjusting her now grass stained swim top she stood slowly to wake the sleeping bear before heading to Ray's for advice and new clothes.
Law smirked lazily as he glanced once more towards the calmly beating heart resting off to one side of his work desk. It skipped a little with a little jolt, but quickly regained it's slow steady rhythm. Jay the Coward James had finally awoken; the game had began. He sat back in his chair and waited patiently for the heart's pace to pick up once more as she realised it had been replaced with a vast hole, but to his disappointment it remained completely calm. Standing up and reaching out to pick up the heart he went over what he knew about the challenging girl in his head. She would have to be strong physically with her known acquaintances from the New World, had some type of Paramecia devil fruit that allowed teleportation abilities, though it was useless if she couldn't move her fingers, she knew Silvers Rayleigh an extreme influencer of the pirate's playing field, and seemed to have a disdain towards close contact, but for some reason before a few days ago he hadn't heard her name being whispered among other sea barring crews. After putting the heart in a locked compartment he moved to walk out the door of his room; this would be fun for him.
Bebo awoke with a startle as a hushed murmur of his softly spoken name invaded his ears. It wasn't a voice he recognized as his crewmates, and he swiftly sent a spinning kick towards the intruding source. His dark round eyes opened once he felt his kick connect to nothing but cold air. He was ashamed to admit he had forgotten where he was, but once he saw the white haired girl before him he was even more depressed by the fact he fell asleep while on a mission from his captain.
"Uh, hey Bepo", the same smooth voice had him hanging his head in shame as he cleared the sleep from his crusted eyes.
"Good morning Jay", He responded with a deep sigh as he rose to his full height, and towered over the shorter girl.
That was it; they stared at each other awkwardly in silence for a few moments before Bepo ruffled his dew laminated fur to dispose of the excess water. He waved good bye and headed back to the sub quietly to catch a few more hours of sleep. Back in the warmed climate of the ship's interior he slouched against a wall in the navigation room nearly dozing off again; he couldn't recall how long he had watched the passed out human women before his eyes closed inviting his dream island of female bears into focus, but he was eager to get back to it.
Jay sat high in one of the many looming trees in a random grove near the makeshift shores. For the longest time she wondered if she should follow the cuddly bear back to whatever ship the pirates came from, but decided to change back at Ray Ray's into something more fighting friendly before stalking after the docked ships. That would more than likely be where her heart was being kept as pirates rarely had hiding places elsewhere. She didn't like having a hole in her torso; it left an empty feeling in her body and herded her mind to wander the wastes of philosophical reasonings of past depressions. Would she be able to picture her beating heart and have it appear in her hands? What would her heart even look like, and would she have to picture it beating to not kill herself? Maybe the locket was a better target after all; she could easily picture the smiling faces of the man in the lock. She decided against using her power to acquire the missing piece as there was no sure way to be safe about the situation. For one she didn't feel confident that she could find a way to put it back in without harmful surgery, and two the images of a peaceful civilian going about their day to suddenly drop to the ground as his heart disappeared from his chest popped into her mind. She sighed banging her head back against the rough tree trunk bark behind her for the tenth time and sat back wondering where she should go for now as she had yet to find a ship with any bright jumpsuit wearing crew. She would find her heart soon, after all her heart's captor needed to come to her sooner or later. In a game of cat and mouse Jay always prefered zipping out of the reach of claws; there wasn't a reason she would have to play cat unless the game ended and her heart wasn't returned, but if that happened the Dark Doctor would have more than just an enraged thief to worry about.
Sighing once more she stood up on the solid branch and disappeared; guess she better let Ray know about this turn of events if he was back at the shop now. Not that he would help her out or anything until the bet was over; she grimaced as she knew he would just laugh in her face.
The smoothness of the stained wood numbed her fingertips as she drummed her fingers across the surface of Ray's work desk. When she arrived yet again Ray was nowhere to be seen. Likely, he was out coating ships somewhere in one of the harbor's docking buildings; a delicate hand rose to her lips as a small chuckle fought its way too the open air around her. That man never did his work he always pushed it off too his assistant; that poor women. He was prolly out gallivanting with that straw hat kid. Sadly, that brash women was nowhere to be seen either. Jay needed to tell someone about the contest in case things went sour. A ship sinking feel engulfed her stomach as her insides churned in worry; she hadn't gotten this foreboding feeling since before she went into hiding. This might be a bet she could lose as her intuition was rarely off the mark; if that was to be the case she would have to let a certain shaggy haired jerk who hadn't written her back in months know that she might be joining a pirate crew, and might need to be sprung from one. As she grabbed a black feathered quill and liquid ink box thoughts of those she missed filled her head leaving a lingering sense of loneliness, yet her eyes became alive with the growing challenge she faced.
Law strolled around casually looking through the faces appearing in the sea of meandering villagers. She wouldn't be walking around outside so early in the game; she wasn't stupid, and when Law questioned Bepo as he arrived back to the sub much like the bear, he learned, Jay had an extreme dislike of the heat. The temperatures were currently rising into the hottest part of the day, and he knew she would be hiding away from the burning rays that beat the surface of the island. Luckily for him, Bepo had also basically told him where to find the thief as she had given away valuable information during the two's talk, "a wooden ship coating building that would look much better as a bar in my opinion", as his first mate recited his earlier companion's preachings. Having met the man who ran the shop at the auction house he had no doubt that Jay's safe house was Silvers's boat shop. A place where her monster of a companion would no doubt send him off forcefully if he wasn't careful; a stake out was in order. How interesting it would be if Law managed to defeat Silvers; it would certainly attest to his abilities. A simple smirk formed on his lips at the thought as even intelligent men could day dream.
Finally done with the unaddressed letter Jay headed outside into the humid environment she detested while sliding the crinkled rolled up envelope into a small clear tube, and let a shrill high pitched whistle pass through her tongue lapped lips. The noon time sun bounced off her white hair giving off a nearly blinding aura. Law squinted to watch as the glowing white was cut off suddenly by a shadow which was accompanied by the sound of flapping wings.
Red feathered wings drew in close to a body before extending in tiny flaps as the creature descended onto the girl's head reflecting sunlight in her place. It's black under belly effectively cutting off the warmth the young girl received from the floating heat source in the sky. She grinned up at the small blood colored bird.
Law had never seen anything like the beast before: six long maroon red wings, a long thin tail, a dark fur-like underbelly, and what seemed like retractable razor talons; he came to the conclusion that it had to be an unknown specimen from the new world. After he got the girl maybe he would go after the bird? Dissecting the thing and learning of its evolutionary traits might give away secrets of the harshness of new lands to come. Slowly Law slid his hands out of his deep coat pockets; it had been a while since he had something new to play with, and this toy just keeps getting more and more interesting. Lately all he had found were astray animals, and inexperienced marines to experiment on. The only thing they were good for were testing poisons, and target practice which got incredibly boring most dragging days out at sea. A twitch of movement brought the man in the shadows out of his thoughts, and he watched as the outlaw's soft lips upturned in a gentle smile. The view gave him second thoughts that only lasted mere seconds; this woman seemed fond of the animal that roosted in her hair with an almost loving grace. She looked nothing like the fierce challenger on stage whose cold eyes murdered a man right in front of him, but Law had a feeling if he tried to capture the animal she would be that monster once more. For him it was an interest prospect. When going after someone whose main strength is outsmarting their opponent getting them riled up enough to throw logic out the window was the best course of action.
Two of the six red wings flapped against the sky creating larger shadows on the ground below as a chirpy, "I missed you mama. I missed you", sounded out around the desolate field behind the bird's yellowed beak never moved as the child like voice surrounded the girl causing Law to glance around for another person's presence. It strangely seemed he was the only one hiding in the tree line.
Jay chuckled and and reached up the pet the bird on his small feathered head softly, "I missed you to Kobun!" The bird, apparently named Kobun, settled down slightly while retracting his outstretched wings. Jay held out her arm horizontally for the bird to skip down her shoulder to rest on her wrist as he fluffed up with a shake. "Do you know where Daddy is?"
Kobun didn't know much of the strange human language people spoke to him in, but he did know mama was the one in front of him, and daddy was the one he just left. Eyeing the clear tube he was familiar with he tilted his head and bobbled up and down chirping loudly, "daddy! daddy", in that childlike voice he had grown accustomed to using. He had delivered that small glass container before and knew the job he was to be tasked with. Kobun was a smart bird; after all he had to make mama and daddy proud! To jay the bird looked like he was dancing to some strange unknown music, but Kobun loved the small jobs his makeshift family tasked him with and it made him excited for the candid adventure. "Message! Message!"
Jay grinned down at the small messenger who had adopted himself into her life as a sort of son some year ago. Her days were rather eventful back then; the time they first met was a happy mess. Smoothing back the soft crown that stuck up on his head she cooed to him like the mother he made her feel like, "Such a smart boy you are." The words of praise from his mama had him flustered as he puffed up his feathers once more and ducked his cute face inside them. Kobun always did this when embarrassed; Jay had always thought that if kobun were human he would be blushing.
"Here you go Kobun. Fast, fast, to daddy!" Jay slipped the message bottle into the little rope around his neck making sure that when it fit in the makeshift holder it wasn't too restricting for him. She brought him close to her face and lightly kissed the top of his head. In response he gave a loud chirp, and snuggled into the feeling of her warmth and affection. "Love you mama! Love you mama!" Jay blushed with thoughts of how he learned that phrase thanks to an annoying black haired pirate she greatly missed; an annoying black haired pirate whom had yet to message her back! With that he spread all six of his exotic wings to take flight; it was always a beautiful sight.
Kobun was gone in the blink of an eye; Jay's head snapped around frantically as her mothering instincts went haywire. Kobun never took flight; he only expanded his wings, and yet he was gone. As her eyes narrowed in on the tree line to her right while a small pebble dropped in front of her with a plump into the wind blown grass. "Mama! Mama!" Kobun's scarily realistically human voice filled the air with rising panic making Jay's temperature double due to anger. He flapped his wings wildly in panic as he hung upside down in the unknown man's grip, taloned feet bound by the assailant's tattooed hands. "Mama! Mama!" His cries got more desperate as he realised he couldn't wiggle his way free; she could feel her mind escalating with thoughts of malice.
Jay turned to see Law stroll out of the woods casually as if coming to meet an old friend, but Jay was friend he quickly realised this as her aura clouded red in rage. One hand helping balance his prized nodachi on his shoulder while the other held onto Kobun's feet he came to a stop in front of. Kobun's wide scared eyes and terror stricken squacks clashed against the calm demeanor of his retainer. Jay's own monochromatic eyes hardened instantly. All she could do was stare at her god child struggling in the vice of a stranger's grip. She could see Law's lips stretching slowly into a confident smirk as words that were no doubt unplayful banter poured out of his mouth, but everything went mute for the women in front of him due to the desperate cries from her animalistic son. Her body's senses dulled to a silent thumping in the back of her consciousness. Her mind was reeling with thoughts of the world whizzing around her, but she couldn't comprehend any of the going ons as rage replaced the blood in her veins; finally she charged.