One Piece and its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda. Dominica belongs to me.

"Left, right, left, right, block, left, kick, dodge, aim for the throat!" Dominica patted the cub who had finally managed to land a proper hit without actually touching her. That he managed to follow her instructions without messing up was good enough. When he got bigger, and she could stand upright instead of crouching on the floor or ground, she would be taking him a bit more seriously. For now, she would teach him the basics and have him practice them.

"How is going with that book, Trafalgar?" She called as she held her palms out for the bear to hit. "I'm almost finished." The boy replied, too engrossed in the topics of the book to really care much for what his guardian was saying. She raised an eyebrow but he didn't move from his spot nor did he look up to wonder why she had suddenly turned silent. While she did find it to be a good thing that he was not so easily distracted when he was reading anymore it was a bit disheartening that he, at the age of six, almost seven, lost himself in the books. He was at the age where he was supposed to run around and cause a ruckus, giving her trouble with his explorations.

'He needs to get out more.' What he really needed were friends but there were not many children in the town, only a few. The town was quite small, after all. She flickered the cub's forehead and the animal fell onto its back as she stood up and pulled the book out of Law's hands. The boy looked up startled, eyes wide, afraid he had done something wrong but she shook her head and marked the page he was on before putting it down on the table.

"We're going into town."

"But we were there yesterday." Law said confused. They never left the cabin more than twice a week to buy food, clothes and do check-ups on patients. Why would they go back to town on a day he knew she didn't have any patients to check up on?

"I know, now come." She said and pulled him to the door with the cub bounding after them faithfully.

"But…. Why?" Terror filled him for a moment, and he feared that perhaps everything she had said was a lie, that she did not care for him, that she was going to stop teaching him medicine, that she was about to throw him out and that she was going to bring him back to the facility he had escaped from almost a year ago.

"I just want to go into town Trafalgar. What's wrong?" She furrowed her brows when she noticed that he was trembling and kneeled down in front of him. "Trafalgar?" The boy was so fearful of her he started to tug at his hand to free himself and she pulled him into an embrace to calm him down.

"L-let go, don't-" Tears made their way down his cheeks but she only rubbed his back in a soothing manner. "Calm down Trafalgar, calm down."

"Don't…. don't-" He sobbed and she whispered soothing words to calm him down. Several moments passed by before he had managed to calm himself down enough to speak properly and she froze at his next words. "Don't take me back there… don't take me to the facility…" She had never questioned Law about where he had been before she found him in the forest. She knew that he had been involved with one of the many gangs on the other end of the island but she did not know which one. One of them was involved with a certain pirate crew she was trying to avoid so she had not really made an effort in looking into where he came from. She kind of felt horrible for it now.

'I could wipe them all out with not trouble.' She thought. "Why haven't I done that yet?' The answer was quite simple. She had laid low for over a year now, and knew that one mistake would attract the enemy in a heartbeat. If she were to take action against the criminal groups on the other end, the pirates running one of them would take notice that either their own group disappeared or that they lost an enemy.

She was scared of being found. Just like Law was right now.

"I won't bring you back to any facility Trafalgar. I told you, didn't I?" She said firmly. "I told you that you could stay with me until you grew up. I don't go back on my word kid." She said and moved back to look him in the eyes, rubbing the tears away.

"Y-you promise?"

"Pinky promise."

Ah, she had done it now. There was nowhere to run now, she was committed for life.