Guest: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like the story. Well, Law thinks she's Smoker's whore. You'll find out who and what she is later, but her relationship with Smoker may be a little... disturbing. Just a warning and foreshadowing.
"What are we doing here?" Lor asked, looking around Sabaody Archipelago as they walked through the streets.
"We're taking a look at the Auction," Trafalgar told her. "But first you're getting new clothes."
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. He had been a lot nicer since the bedroom incident. She couldn't call it nice per se, with him being the twisted, sadistic, cruel bastard he was, but nicer. As in no more snapping at her for the most pointless of reasons.
But he still wouldn't address her by name.
Well, it was fair, since she never addressed him by anything except 'Trafalgar'.
"Kuzuri, Shachi, accompany our cook to buy new clothes," Law ordered, placing a bag of belli in the navigator's hands.
"Eeh? I have to go shopping?" Kuzuri whined.
"Wait, Law, I want to go with her!" April whined.
"No. Kuzuri and Shachi will go with her."
"Why do we both have to go?" Shachi followed.
"To carry what she buys," Law said, knowing that women loved to shop, and practically bought everything in sight.
"But I wanna go shopping!" April pouted.
"You have enough stuff!" Law sighed, exasperated.
"But you've already seen all my clothes!"
"Your things take up two storage rooms, April," Law told her, annoyed.
She opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Law's eyes said he was done with the topic. She clamped her jaw shut, but a pout remained on her lips.
Looking at her out of the corner of his eyes, Law found April the perfect example of why neither crew member wanted to go shopping with the green haired girl. Females loved to shop, and if the man they were with didn't buy what they wanted, they whine and beg and use any method possible to get what they want. The short length of all his past attempts at relationships proved it. No longer interested in women—they're all the same—he turned his full attention onto piracy and medical knowledge. April was only tolerable because he didn't let her off the sub to shop.
And the sex was good.
"Let's go," the cook took the two by their sleeves and eagerly dragged them off, only confirming Law's point about women and shopping.
He sighed, belis flying away in his mind. Maybe he should have halved the money he gave them.
"Oi, what's the rush?" Kuzuri demanded.
"I'm walking around in Trafalgar's clothes like I just rolled out of his bed," she deadpanned.
Only then did the two males notice all the stares their cook was getting. Disapproving, disgusted stares from the women, and disapproving, leering stares from the men. They unconsciously started walking closer to her, as if to shield her from the stares.
"Here we go," she muttered when she saw a decent looking shop, and pulled the sleeves of the two men to get them to stop charging forward and enter the shop.
She glanced around before starting to shuffle through racks.
"Does Trafalgar have any rules about clothes?" She asked.
"No, not really. We have to wear these suits, but since there's nothing your size, you need normal clothes," Shachi told her.
She nodded absently and continued looking until she found something. She grabbed three pairs of white shorts, and three identical black tops that almost seemed like dresses, if not for the bottom being only four strips of cloth that hid nothing past her waist. She headed into the changing room to try on the outfit. They fit perfectly, and she quite liked the top. It was a sleeveless piece that buttoned up to the collar and hide skin, and was wind and waterproof. She also got three pairs of matching arm warmers and some socks. All high quality material, durable. She changed back into Trafalgar's clothes.
"Done?" Kuzuri asked, surprised at the speed.
"Not quite. I need shoes too. But before that…" She gestured, and the two men paled.
"No. No, no, no. You go. Alone."
She shrugged and headed into the underwear section. Two bras and five pairs of underpants in her hand, she went back to the relieved men.
"That will be 20700 belli's," the cashier said.
The two men blinked in surprise, handing over the money.
"Shoes next," Lor said, and the two men followed her obediently.
"Ummm… Lor-chan, was that enough?" Shachi asked hesitantly.
"Yes, why?" Lor blinked back at him.
Shachi and Kuzuri shared a look. "Nothing."
"Okay."
The stop at the shoe store was even faster. She took a look at a pair of thigh high white boots with a strip of amber running down the front, tested the quality and the feel, and paid 5000 beli. They were done shopping, and didn't even spend 26000 beli. They only spent about a quarter of the amount their captain had expected them to need.
"Please tell me the rest isn't for jewelry and makeup," Shachi whispered in Kuzuri's ear.
Kuzuri nodded sadly. "It probably is."
And it was then that she remembered something, and dragged them into another clothing shop.
"I forgot to get pajamas," she informed them.
"Where are we going after this?" Shachi dared to ask.
Lor looked at him blankly. "To meet up with Trafalgar."
"You mean you're done?" Kuzuri said in disbelief. "No bags, no makeup, no jewelry, no designer clothes?"
Lor raised an eyebrow at him. "What do I need all that crap for? You can go back if you want. Just leave me 1000 beli's for this," she said.
"You go back first," Kuzuri told Shachi. "At least let captain know that she didn't spend all the money so he can stop worrying."
Shachi nodded, and leaving 1000 beli behind, headed to the meeting point. She grabbed a white dress off the racks after checking the price, and went into the changing room to try it on. It was short, but that was to be expected. What mattered was whether it was comfortable—which it was—because it would be her pajamas. And she was reaching for Trafalgar's hoodie when the floor fell out from under her. The startled girl disappeared with nothing but a yelp.
"What was that?" Kuzuri asked, brows furrowed. He knocked on the dressing room door. "Lor? You in there?"
Silence.
"Lor?"
He knocked harder. Something clicked and the door swung open. Lor was gone. But their captain's hoodie and pants were still hanging there.
"Fuck," Kuzuri breathed, eyes wide with panic. "She's gone." Then he groaned, knowing exactly what happened. "Captain's gonna kill me when he sees Lor being sold on stage."
She had a rather soft landing. The room was full of cages filled with… She recoiled in disgust. Men and women. Were they going to be sold? She began to look around, searching for keys, for an exit, anything. But there was nothing.
"No use searching, girl," a large man told her. "There's no way out."
"What is this place?" She asked, face still expressionless.
She just needed to get a grasp of the situation. She could stay calm. Easy. If only her heart wasn't racing like that. For a brief moment, she wondered if Trafalgar would know something was wrong when her heart raced in his box. But he probably wouldn't, she concluded. The man had taken to keeping the box near him all the time after she had stolen it back once, but he never opened it. Never.
"The Human Auction," an old man with silver hair said.
She glanced at him. Then her eyes doubled back to stare at him.
"What in the world are you doing getting sold here?" She asked.
The Dark King's brows rose, a grin forming on his lips. "So you know who and what I am."
She nodded.
"Well, I have my reasons," he said with a wave of his hand.
She nodded again, eyes roaming once more. He didn't look like he wanted to escape, so she'll have to leave herself. Her eyes paused on a giant glass bowl filled with water. She moved closer. It wasn't empty like she had thought, but rather a mermaid lay at the bottom, struck with despair. Reaching up to the brim, Lor heaved herself up and peered inside.
"Hello," she said.
"Hi," the mermaid said timidly.
"I can't believe they managed to capture a mermaid," Lor said, cocking her head.
"I'm Camie."
"Lorelei. Call me Lor."
"Ey, get down from there!" A man's gruff voice yelled.
Startled, Lor fell into the bowl with a splash and a yelp.
"Don't damage the merchandise!" Another man yelled back.
Grumbling, the man that entered took a stepladder to the top of the fishbowl and grabbed Lor's hair, yanking her up. Glaring, she bit him. He cursed and pushed her head underwater again, this time reaching in to attach the explosive collar around her neck. She fought, this time for air, but he wasn't letting her up. He smirked down at her, enjoying her struggles.
"Hey, you shouldn't treat ladies like that," Rayleigh warned.
"Shut up, old man," the slave trader barked back.
Lor's lungs felt like they were going to burst, and being submerged in water didn't help. Transform. Transform! She willed her body to obey, and like a wave of relief, her legs disappeared and a fish tail replaced it, and she could suddenly breathe underwater. The man holding her head down stared at her in stunned silence. Then his grin broadened.
"Hey, Disco! We got ourselves another mermaid!"
"What?!" The other men in the auction came running in.
Lor had fallen to the bottom of the tank like the hammer she was, the worried Camie placing her head in her lap and stroking the green hair. In siren form Lor could breathe underwater, but she couldn't swim, and she was still weak as a newborn chick. She could only wait to get sold, and once she was sure her neck wouldn't explode, she could escape from the person who was unlucky enough to buy her.
Then she was free…
Oh shit. Trafalgar still had her heart.
She groaned, turning her face into Camie's lap, or wherever a mermaid's lap was. She would have to return to that sadistic pirate captain, if only to get her heart back.