Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eeichiro Oda-sensei and whatever else that has rights on it. This is for personal use and not for commercial use
Story so far: Things were bound to be messy when a war of the scale of the War of the Best in Marineford ended.
Chapter 10
POST BELLUM
Shanks stood in the middle of the very much damaged plaza of Marineford. The area was bustling with pirates and Marines alike helping their wounded comrades and collecting the bodies of the fallen. Shanks had laid down Ace's body and covered it with a white sheet of clothes; which was quickly tainted red with the boy's blood from his abdomen. Shanks couldn't help but to give a wistful smile as he saw Ace's smiling face in his death. That face reminded him so much of his late captain; the eternal Pirate King.
Shanks hadn't known that Ace was Captain Roger's son. He suspected that nobody of the Roger Pirates knew of that fact. During Shanks' time as apprentice on the Oro Jackson, he hadn't seen his late captain engaging in any sorts of relationship with any women. He had to have met this Portgas D. Rouge after he had disbanded the Roger Pirates. Shanks vaguely wondered if Master Rayleigh had known about this; he was, after all, a First-mate as well Captain Roger's only confidant.
Turning around, Shanks faced the magnificent body of the newly deceased Whitebeard. He stood there proudly; his long-time rival. In all honesty, Shanks didn't really consider Whitebeard as his rival. They weren't exactly competing for anything, both having no further goal than to enjoy life of freedom as pirates and to go around the world in adventures with their own respective crew.
The younger Yonkou couldn't help but to have tears pooling on his eyes as he gazed at Whitebeard's stiff body wistfully.
Once they had gathered the body and stored them properly on the ships, the Black Moby Dick and the Red Force sailed from Marineford towards the New World, where they planned to bury the bodies of the respected members of the Whitebeard Pirates. Shanks sat on the deck, looking at the horizon with a faraway look, when Yasopp suddenly approached him.
"Boss, there's something I gotta tell you." The crew's sharpshooter said as he sat down next to him.
"What is it, Yasopp?" Shanks asked without averting his solemn gaze from the horizon.
"Nagisa-chan was here."
That got Shanks' attention. He whipped his head towards Yasopp with wide eyes.
"Here? In Marineford? Was she participating in the war?"
"No, no." Yasopp shook his head and his raised hands. "I don't think so. She was with that Trafalgar boy, on board of his submarine."
"Trafalgar boy?" Shanks asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"That weird boy from North Blue. Remember?"
Shanks hummed for a while as he pursed his lips and furrowed his eyebrows. He tried to dig back the memories from years ago. North Blue? The last time he went there was years ago. Trafalgar boy? Trafalgar…Trafalgar…
Big eyes. Dark rings under the eyes. Slightly tanned skin. Furry hat. Scalpel.
"OH!" Shanks grinned as if he suddenly had enlightenment from Buddha himself. "Trafalgar Law? Isora's apprentice, eh? Yeah, I remember him—wait, WHAT? That was him? That was his sub?"
"You didn't know it was him?"
"By heavens, NO! So Law was the one saving Luffy? Oh my God!"
"You're forgetting Nagisa-chan." Yasopp sweat-dropped.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. You were saying Nagisa-chan was here?"
"I said she was on-board Trafalgar boy's submarine."
"She's with him? How come?"
"I ain't no clairvoyance, Boss. You gotta ask the boy and girl yourself."
"Well, at least now we know how to find her. We'll finish with this first, then we'll go after Nagisa-chan."
With a nod, Yasopp got up and walked away somewhere else. Shanks turned back to stare at the horizon, this time with a slight smile on his face. Trafalgar Law, that weird boy from North Blue. Shanks and his crew had gone there after he left East Blue, straight after leaving Luffy's hometown Windmill Village, to visit an old friend from the New World. In truth, it had been Shanks who had carried Sohaku D. Isora from Kaigara Island of Wano Country to the Reverse Mountain. They had been friends since long time ago; their friendships sparked from their mutual interest in swords. The Roger Pirates did come to Wano Country before, but they had docked on the capital and not the small Kaigara Island.
He remembered the mountains of questions that the boy threw at his face during his visit. He had asked him questions about the sea, about the other seas, about his adventures. Briefly Shanks was reminded of Luffy, but the Trafalgar boy lacked that 'happiness beam' that seemed to leak from his Anchor. He indeed was enthusiastic, but he was way more reserved than his obnoxious Anchor was. Law gave a well-bred vibe, and there was an aura of maturity that just seemed too advanced for a boy his age. Later on, from Isora's story, Shanks found out that the boy got it from the strict upbringing of his parents.
XXXX FLASHBACK XXXX
"The boy doesn't like his parents." Isora suddenly said when Law had gone out of the room with the polar bear Bepo—who had grown as tall as Law's waist when he stood on his hind legs.
"He doesn't?" Shanks asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nay. Dare I assume, he actually hates 'em. Parents never give him an ounce of real love. They just feed him, clothe him, give him shitload of best education this island can afford—y'know, that kind of stuff." Isora said with a shrug, and downed his drink. "Parents are damn proud of him, would boast 'bout him to anyone with willing ears. Don't really love the boy for who he is, more like for his brains. Scary thing is the boy knows that. He's too smart for his own goodness."
"I see…" Shanks cast a glance over his shoulders to the door of the room that the said boy had used earlier on to exit the room. "Is that why he stays in your place most of the time? Because he doesn't want to see his parents?"
"Aye, reckon so. Parents came to me and complain until my ears almost bled, for the love of all Sea Kings. Gave 'em a piece of my mind to shut 'em up and listen to people for flippin' once."
"Isora-san, you're drunk."
"'M not! Aaaaw, I miss my Nagi-chaaaaann…"
"Definitely drunk." Shanks sweatdropped.
"Boy wanna go out the sea, outta dis borin' place, he said." Isora continued regurgitating whatever came to his mind out of sheer drunkenness. "But he also wanna be doctor. Gotta morbid fascination with anatomies, dat brat. Saw 'im cuttin' open a dead cat to see whassa goin' on inside. Hafta kick'im outta da workshop fer makin' a bloody mess…"
Shanks raised an eyebrow. Isora made it sound as if the boy was some psychopath or something. Well, at least the boy didn't kill the cat in order to cut it open. But anyway, Isora started slurring so badly and Shanks was starting to have a hard time understanding half of what he was saying due to the old man's special brand of drunken accent.
"But boy hassa goo' heart. Yessir… Da bear cub? 'e took care o' 'im 'till 'e's as goo' assa brannnew. Named 'im, even. Bepo, 'e said. Dunno why da' name. Can' figure out wattsa goin' on in da' big brain o' 'is mostta time 'ven when ma life d'pends onit." Isora hiccupped but took another swig of his sake. "Wanna be a pirate, 'e says. Be da cap'n, 'ave 'issown crew. Phah! Boy can' e'en saff 'is ass fr'm mee in sparrin'. Wouldn lastta min'te outterre in Grand Line. Knowin' 'im, 'e'd be da doctor 'imself. Boy's proud o'is medic' thingamajig. Doct'r-cap'n. Dere such thin' out in da sea, Shanks?"
It took Shanks a few minutes to translate the words that the old man was belching, and another minute to digest them before he could produce any answers. Gee, even when he was dead drunk on his feet it was never this bad.
"I guess there are pirates with double job on-board. But Isora-san, I really think you should stop drinking." Shanks began prying the sake bottle out of the old man's hands. "You should rest, or the boy will be angry at me for making you sick."
"…Yessir…Should'a rest. Nagi-chan won't likkit whenna drunk. Smell likka skank, she says." Isora hiccupped once more, but relinquished his grip on the sake bottle. "Boy also…Acts like a goddamn cold-heart'd lil' bast'rd, but nags worse dan ma own granmama…He'ssa good boy…"
Then he dropped like a dead leaf on the floor and started snoring like there was no tomorrow; prompting Shanks to grin like a fool. The old bladesmith didn't drink that often, but once he got drunk, he got himself wasted even worse than Shanks ever did. Shanks got up on his feet and went out of the house in search of the old man's apprentice. From his story, the boy was practically living in his workshop.
That particular town was covered in snow almost all year round. Shanks wondered vaguely why Isora had chosen that place. His own hometown in the New World wasn't on a winter island, and old men usually weren't compatible with cold weathers. The young Yonkou supposed that it had to do with the fact that Sohaku D. Isora was incorrigibly a quirky-bordreing-senile old man, even since the first time he got to know him.
It didn't take long before Shanks found Isora's apprentice. He was sitting on a boulder, his thin body hunched over as he read a terrifyingly, mind-bogglingly thick book—thick enough to bash someone's skull open when handled 'properly'—with the polar bear playing in the snow nearby. Shanks deliberately made noises as he approached the boy, since the boy had this perpetual wary look on his face when he wasn't with the old man. It was as if he didn't trust people around him, even the villagers, except for his mentor. It was kind of sad, in Shanks' opinion. He fleetingly thought of kidnapping the boy and dumped him on Luffy. Perhaps his Anchor could fix that.
"Hey there, boy." He greeted him with a wide smile.
The boy looked up from his book and scrutinised him from head to toe. When Shanks was close enough, the boy scrunched up his nose.
"Gramps got himself wasted again, didn't he?"
"Ah, yeah. How—"
"First, you reek of sake. Second, Gramps doesn't chase me out of his house when he's having guests, only when he wants to drink—and highly likely get wasted into oblivion in the end. He rarely drinks."
"Oh, so you've seen him getting drunk before?"
"No. When I go back there, usually he's already out cold." The boy closed the book and jumped off the boulder. "C'mon, Bepo. Gramps is out of it again."
"Okay." The bear-cub muttered softly before standing up and walking to the boy's side.
Shanks followed them silently as they made their way to Isora's house. Shanks then wondered why the boy hadn't cut open the talking bear out of utter fascination. He sounded—from Isora's description of him—like someone who would do that just to figure out why a bear like him could talk.
"Say, Mister Red-hair." The boy suddenly asked while glancing over his bony shoulder.
"Hm?" Shanks noticed that his stormy-grey eyes were fixed on the empty sleeve of his jacket.
"Do you know that you can re-attach a severed limb after a few hours of dismemberment as long as the limb is still in good condition?"
Shanks just had to laugh at this. The boy's tone suggested that he; the 14-years-old boy, could fix Shanks' arm.
"Unfortunately, my left arm is lost forever. It was eaten by a Sea King about two years ago."
"Hmm… I see. That's too bad." The boy went back to staring straight ahead the road.
"I heard from Isora-san that you want to go out to the sea and be a pirate?"
"Yeah. What of it?"
"Nothing." Shanks grinned; talking with a boy who wanted to be a pirate just reminded him of his dear Anchor from East Blue. "When one day you go out to the seas, you'll see a pirate wearing a straw-hat."
"A straw-hat?"
"Yep. A boy a few years younger than you, with a straw hat and a scar below his left eye."
XXXX END OF FLASHBACK XXXX
The moment they were out of the danger zone of Marineford, Nagisa had quickly retreated to Law's private room and holed up in there for indefinite duration of time—until the surgery on Luffy and that fishman was finished, she supposed. Despite the insistence of the crew that they were not grubby bunch of men (supported by the fact that their captain was a clean-freak surgeon, for Trinity's sake), that they knew their manners around ladies ("YOU FRIGGIN' TRIED TO CATCH ME WITH A NET LIKE A FISH THE OTHER DAY!"), and that they were ordered not to touch her at all (of course, that was the deal with Captain Psycho), Nagisa still did not want to mingle with the rest of the crew. In the first place, she didn't really like boys anyway.
In the end, Nagisa sat on the carpeted floor of the room while hugging Ren like a little girl would hug her dear teddy bear. She could feel the sword resonating with her presence; she hadn't forgotten her original master. For a moment, Nagisa was washed over by a feeling of nostalgia, remembering the good old days when she would play with her grandfather, when she would eagerly train her swordsmanship with the hope that someday she would wield Ren in battlefield with pride—a dream that now was as good as dead. She still couldn't rest well with the fact that her grandfather had given the ownership of the nodachi to Trafalgar Law, but she would respect his last wish.
It was too bad that Captain Psycho still hadn't discovered Ren's true spirit underneath the blade. If only he knew the real extent of what Ren was capable of…
Nagisa's musing was interrupted when suddenly she sensed a distortion in the air. She stood up abruptly and took a sword-drawing stance. Was someone invading the submarine of the Heart Pirates?
As if answering Nagisa's unvoiced question, the scenery before Nagisa's eyes suddenly quivered. Nagisa knew that sign; the dimension was being ripped apart. Soon enough, and true to her suspicion, there was a black hole floating in the middle of the air as the dimension was cut and pulled apart. Instinctively Nagisa bent her knees lower as she readied herself for a possible incoming battle with the intruder. However, something was nagging at the corner of her mind.
This kind of phenomenon…It can only be caused by one thing…
Then, someone stepped out of the black hole into the room. Nagisa's eyes widened as she realised just who it was that she facing. She fell on one knee and bowed her head.
"It is an honour to be graced by your presence, my Lady."
There was a silence, before it was broken with a peal of laughter. It sounded very amused by Nagisa's action.
"You shouldn't be doing this to me, girl. Rise up."
Nagisa stood up—it was an order, after all—but she still didn't feel quite right to just stare at a Trinity's face just like that. She wasn't even in the rank yet, so why did a Trinity approach her? Gawd. Had she been an airhead enough to break one of the Commandments without realising? Had the Trinity come here to deliver her punishment? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear—
"Look at me, girl."
…She had no choice, hadn't she?
Tentatively and with cold sweat all over her nape, Nagisa looked up and her eyes met with a pair of dazzling amethyst eyes. They studied her from head to toe, all the while tinkling with amusement. There wasn't even a scintilla of anger or whatever in those eyes; just good-natured amusement. So she wasn't in trouble, then?
"What's your name? I can't call you 'girl' all the time, can I?"
And why was she so casual?
"Sōhaku D. Nagisa, daughter of Sōhaku D. Izumi, at your service, my Lady. I hail from Kaigara Island of Wano Country."
"Why so formal?" She chuckled. "Stop addressing me with that 'my Lady' thing. I'm never a Lady and I'll never behave like one."
"B, but—"
"Call me by my name, that'll suffice."
"I…"
"Nagisa."
"Y, yes, my—I mean, yes, Aria-sama."
The name felt strange as it rolled from her tongue. For some reasons, the name Aria had an odd ring to it. It felt unnatural, as if it was a name that a Trinity wasn't supposed to have. Nagisa had been taught the names of the Trinity by her mother, and their appearance had been described in great details. Her mother claimed that all witches would have seen at least one of the Trinity in their entire life, most likely during their service time. It was a must for a witch to recognise a Trinity at one glance.
"Good." The Trinity smiled widely in satisfaction. "Now, why are you out of the New World?"
Nagisa gulped. Inwardly she prayed that being interrogated by a Trinity wouldn't be worse than being interrogated by a livid Meifeng. She really did hope so—an apoplectic Meifeng was the Devil Incarnate, she swore. A witch worse than Meifeng? Oh, the terror…
"I am not yet in the ranks, so I suppose I am still allowed outside the New World. I intended to visit my grandfather who had gone to the North Blue eleven years ago, but..." Nagisa licked her suddenly dry lips. "I've just recently discovered that he has passed away two years ago."
She could feel the eyes of the Trinity staring at the crown of her head—Aria-sama was TALL—as if she was trying to see through the shell of her body, inside her. Nagisa had to fight the urge to twiddle her toes in nervousness.
"I see." Aria-sama finally said at length. "And why are you on-board a pirate's ship?"
"I…" She bit her lower lips. "In agreement with the captain of this crew, I will direct him safely into Marineford if he allows me to board his submarine without trying to kill each other."
"Hmm…" Aria-sama tapped her chin thoughtfully. "It seems that you are well-acquaintance with him, then."
"NO!" She protested, and then realised that she had just yelled at her superior. "F, forgive me for my insolence, Aria-sama. I deserve punishment."
"Nonsense." To Nagisa's surprise, the Trinity before her waved a dismissive hand with a laugh. She seriously sounded very entertained by her and Nagisa couldn't figure out why and how, for the life of hers.
"But I've broken the Command—"
"You are not in our ranks yet; as you've pointed out earlier, so most of the Commandments don't apply to you. Not yet, at the very least. Besides, it's not within my right to decide whether you deserve punishment or not."
"But you are one of the Trinity."
"I am just an avatar, my dear girl." She said with a soft finality in her voice.
Oh. Now THAT was new. She had never heard of any avatars of the Trinity!
"In any case, I was told that Monkey D. Luffy is on-board this submarine."
"Yes! He is being treated by Captain Psy—I mean, Trafalgar Law of the Heart Pirates. Right now he's performing surgery on him, I suppose."
"Oh, oh? Was that a term of endearment that you almost said out loud?"
"Aria-sama!"
"I was just teasing you, dear. But you blush so hard!" She laughed. "You're so amusing. Well, in any case, it was a good decision of me to approach you first before going straight to where Luffy is. If I were to appear out of nowhere in the surgery room, it would only end up disastrous, don't you think?"
"He'll probably get pissed off that someone's interrupting his infernal practice of cutting people apart and sewing them back together." Nagisa murmured darkly under her breath.
"He's patching up Luffy, Nagisa." Aria-sama said patiently, like a parent explaining things to a child. "Although I'm intrigued on why he willingly braced the war in Marineford just to help Luffy."
"He said they had an agreement with another pirate captain, that they're going to meet in the New World, so he feels that it'll be a shame to let Luffy die here in Marineford." Nagisa dutifully supplied the Trinity with information, and added with a murmur, "Though I bet they'll just try to rip each other's throats once they meet. Typical of hot-blooded pirates…"
"Hmm…." Aria-sama hummed as she looked around the room. "Well then, Nagisa. I'll be giving you a mission."
"Your wish is my command, Aria-sama." Nagisa promptly dropped to one knee out of sheer habit, with one hand on the floor and the other arm across her chest.
"You are to look after Monkey D. Luffy until he is healed enough to walk around without accidentally killing himself."
"Understood."
Despite her loyalty at the Trinity, Nagisa couldn't help but to wonder why Aria-sama would go to such length to ensure Luffy's survival. Well, true that he was a kin, considering his middle initial 'D', but this was rather unusual. She suspected a personal connection with Luffy, but she dared not to question the Trinity. It seemed to be a rather private thing.
"Any question?"
"…Umm…" Well, there was one other thing that she really wanted to ask. "If I may ask…How did you come here, just now? I mean, what is your means of transportation…"
"Ah. Right." Aria-sama laughed softly. "I asked Yuma to lend me her power a bit. This bracelet here," she showed her a golden bracelet with a gem embedded on it, "contains her power, so it allows me to travel through dimensions. Though of course there are limitations with its use."
"I, I see." Nagisa was dumbfounded. She had heard of the powers of the Trinity from her mother and this was the first time that she had ever met one, and already she was witnessing the little bit extent of their capability. Travelling through space and dimensions? That was just so plain kick-ass cool!
"Well then, that settles it." Aria-sama suddenly grinned widely—a grin that was horrifyingly close to identical to Luffy's grin on his wanted poster—and leaned forward to Nagisa. "I'll be doing some travelling now. I'm counting on your to look after Luffy, Nagisa-chan."
"…c, chan?" Nagisa was feeling giddy. Why was the esteemed Trinity addressing her like that, of all things?
"Bye-bye." She waved her hand which had the dimension-travelling bracelet, and suddenly the dimension tore behind her and she leapt into the infinite darkness.
The room fell into pin-drop silence, with the low humming of the submarine engine in the background. Nagisa continued staring at the empty space with slack jaw; her brain was still loading and processing the event that had just transpired a few seconds ago. Aria-sama was…queer. She didn't know if the other Trinity were like that, but she somehow doubted it. Her mother told her that they were dignified women that bore the air of royalty. Rather than regal, Aria-sama was more like…down-to-earth. She was like a rogue princess of some sort.
"You are to look after Monkey D. Luffy until he is healed enough to walk around without accidentally killing himself."
Nagisa licked her dry lips; she had been so nervous of being in the presence of a Trinity that her lips had turned parched dry like desert. She then eyed Ren in her hands. She stared at the nodachi for a good while, feeling the sword's humming. Ren was her good-luck-charm sword. It was forged in the hope that its presence would help her broken spirit heal. When one's spirit started to heal, one's body would follow suit as well—so she was taught back then in her homecountry. Would Ren be able to help Luffy as well?
There's no harm in trying.
With that resolution, Nagisa stood up and stormed out of the room. It didn't take her long to find her way to the operation room, but she stood rooted just outside the room. The operation was obviously still underway. Just by standing so near to an operation room, Nagisa could imagine all kinds of medical monstrosities sitting inside the room. For a while, pictures of her nightmares flashed through her mind, bringing mental and emotional strains unto her.
Nagisa pressed her back to the metal wall opposite of the door to the operation room. She slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor with the nodachi cradled between her arms and her propped knees. She pressed her forehead against her cold knees, chanting words in her native language with eyes shut tightly and Ren gripped tightly in her hands; wishing that the nightmares would just go away and stop hounding her like that. Cold sweats dripped down her nape and temple.
Go away, go away, go away, —
Everything's alright, Nagi-chan…
The nightmare disappeared. Nagisa felt like crying; Ren chased her nightmare away again.
"Miss Nagisa?"
Her breath stopped with a hic.
"What are you doing?"
Nagisa looked up from her position, and found herself staring face-to-face with Trafalgar Law. He was balancing his weight on his toes perfectly, with his elbows on his thighs and his back slightly hunched. Her eyes shifted to his dangling gloved arms—those latex operating gloves were bloody. Red, red blood. Lots of it.
"Miss Nagisa."
Her eyes quickly flickered back to meet with his stormy-grey ones. She was met with a frown.
"What are you doing here?" He asked again slowly, as if she was a retard.
She licked her dry lips again. She could do this! "Ren is my good-luck charm."
To her credit, her voice was perfectly composed and even. Law said nothing, but his body language was telling her to 'go on'.
"Her presence helped me recover from my…" She paused. No, there was absolutely NO way that she was going to tell him about that. "Nevermind. Anyway, I was thinking that if you put her next to Luffy, he may recover sooner."
Even when she wasn't looking at his face, Nagisa could feel the intense searching gaze from him. It practically scorched her. She could tell that he was considering her words, and she prayed that he could just gawd-damn believe her and just do as she bloody instructed!
"Personal experience?" It was more like a statement than a question.
Out of pure reflex and sheer stupidity, Nagisa whipped her eyes to stare accusingly at Trafalgar Law and just had to blurt out: "What do you know?"
Only then she realised that if she had put the brake on her mouth for a minute later, she would have thought of responding with a neutral response to avoid any further nosy questions from the sadist rather than getting all aggressive on such seemingly innocent question-statement. The way she responded just plain told the loco that the 'personal experience' was a big issue, and the asshole would just love to 'torture' the information out of her. Geez.
He didn't answer her straight away, but took his bloody sweet time observing her—she didn't know what he was observing and she didn't want to know, thank you very much. She just hoped to the gods up there—no, scratch that; they were just too bloody unreliable—to the Trinity that he wasn't thinking of how to goad her past out of her.
After a while, he stood up.
"We'll talk about that later." He said with finality. "Come."
"Say what?"
"You said Ren can help Mister Straw-hat. I assume only you know how to achieve that." He began walking towards the operation room again, his gloved hands hanging loosely at his side but with a degree of carefulness so that the blood wouldn't stain his clothes. "Because I certainly have no idea on how to do that."
Nagisa was speechless for a moment, before she picked herself up from the floor and walked tentatively towards the operation room. Right before the door, she froze again. She could feel her knees turning into flippin' jello, and she had to muster every ounce of courage she had to just step into the freaking room.
To her absolute annoyance and resentment, she saw Captain Psycho standing by the bed with a very amused look as he watched her taking small steps towards him. She cursed him in her native language with vocabularies that would make even the most foul-mouthed pirates blush and Buddha's ears bleed. Once she reached the bedside, she cringed at the sight of Monkey D. Luffy—most of his skin was covered in bandage, and he had the breathing aid strapped to his mouth. Nagisa bit her lower lips; the sight was disturbing and she just wanted to rip that thing on his face because it just didn't look right on him.
She hadn't been joking when she told Law that she considered him a family. They had never met, but Nagisa really felt like Luffy was her brother, just like Ace was.
Quelling the bile that was rising in her throat at the memory of Ace—she had seen his body in a flash when Law was still yelling at that damn clown to pass Luffy to him—Nagisa unsheathed Ren and held her upright. She leaned the back of the blade against her forehead, feeling the cold touch of the metal and the serene humming of the sword.
You'll help Luffy, won't you? Ren?
Everything will be alright…
Nagisa suppressed a sob. Thank you…
With a flick of her wrist, Nagisa jammed the tip of the blade to the metal floor of the operation room, right by Luffy's bedside. She could hear the squeaks of some of the crewmembers that were present there—Bepo yelped—and some of them had actually jumped in surprise. She could see Law raising an eyebrow but saying nothing from the corner of her eyes.
"Don't remove her. Just leave her by his side." She muttered, knowing that Law could hear her.
One nod from Law, and Nagisa quickly scrammed from the room.
When Law stepped out of the operation room and spotted her curling on the floor with her back to the wall, the first thing that came to his mind was that she looked terribly small. She was physically small, but in this instance she looked so…frail. It was like she had been crushed by the pressure around her. He was even pretty sure that she didn't notice her own shoulders shaking, albeit rather faintly.
When she mentioned about the nodachi being her good-luck charm, his minds immediately flashed back to the conversation he had with Gramps about his traumatised granddaughter. He honestly hadn't expected that the girl would come up with that theory that Ren would be able to help Mister Straw-hat as the nodachi did to her, but he had recalled her saying that she had known Ren better than he did. That was probably true. To be honest, he himself was curious on whether her theory was correct or not.
He had then asked—or more like stated—that her little theory was probably concluded from her personal experience. Expectedly, the silly little thing had caught up with the little 'slip'. Law didn't know if she was aware of it or not but when she asked that 'What do you know' question—most likely she had, and had also realised the sheer stupidity of such immediate, honest response; judging from the way she looked as if she had just guzzled down a bottle of laxative—she had sounded desperate. Very much like a frightened child who had her ugly scars discovered.
"We'll talk about that later." He said, somewhat knowing that she would pester him about it to no end.
Law had taken a bit of amusement from observing her gathering all courage she had to just walk into the operation room—he could see the deliberate efforts in each of her little step. She walked as if she was in a landmine zone. He had observed with intrigue as she held the sword in a ceremonious manner, and was rather taken aback when she slammed the tip of the nodachi to the floor, effectively rooting the blade to the floor.
"Don't remove her. Just leave her by his side." She muttered very, very softly that he almost didn't catch it.
When he gave her a nod to show that he had heard her, she bolted from the room as if the room itself was on fire. The crewmembers were staring at door of the operation room with incredulity on their faces—which was understandable.
"Do not touch this nodachi. Leave it as it is." Law announced as he took off the bloodied gloves and chucked it into the nearest bin.
Scarcely a moment passed after he announced it, that a crewmember came—or rather, catapulted—into the room and blubbered something about Shichibukai and deck.
"Ras, stop."
The young man did.
"Take a deep breath."
He did that also.
"Repeat what you said, this time slower."
"Captain! Shichibukai Boa Hancock is on the deck of our sub, and she's demanding to know the condition of Straw Hat Luffy! Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin are currently with her on deck!" The crewmember—Ras—said it all in one breath.
"Boa Hancock the Pirate Empress?" Law raised an eyebrow. "She isn't attacking?"
"No, Captain. Seems like she has kinda hijacked the marine ship, and she doesn't show any hostility." Ras paused. "Only that she's been too eager in knowing about Straw Hat's condition."
"I see…"
Now this was a very interesting turn of event, to say the least.
Nagisa didn't really mingle with the men of the Heart Pirates, even after briefly braving the War of Marineford together and actually getting out of it alive and intact. She didn't want to go all buddy-buddy with them, which would only serve to make parting harder later since she would definitely, absolutely ditch the crew once her mission pertaining to Luffy was done. Besides, she had this foreboding intuition that Captain Psycho was still intent on making her feel comfortable with the crew that she would stick around with them and help though she wasn't officially part of the crew—which was actually a way to cheat the Commandments. The Commandments of 'prohibited from joining a crew' was only applicable to official participation. She didn't know if he had figured it out himself or what, but she certainly didn't want to alert him on that fact. Hence, she kept that to herself and tried to segregate herself from the rest of the crew.
But alas, the men of the Heart Pirates were stubborn lots.
"Hey, Nagisa-chan! G'morning!" Penguin greeted her.
"Morning, Nagisa-chan!" Shachi followed suit.
These were the very few crewmembers whose names she remembered since they were around Law most of the time and that lazy jackass of a captain usually dumped all orders on these two. Above all, however, these two were the most forward in trying to befriend her, and they had the audacity to use such intimate honorifics when addressing her after only several days of acquaintanceship? Oh, the nerve…
"…CHAN?" She all but growled at them. She ought to cut their tongues off and forced those boneless appendages down their respective throats!
They froze.
"Listen up, you oaf. Address me with that honorific again, and there'll be no Father's Day to you."
Due to lack of response, notwithstanding the fact that the boys had frozen in their tracks, she cracked her knuckles.
"Crystal clear?" She growled ominously.
"Y, yes, Ma'am!" They all but squeaked.
With a huff and several choices of (decidedly ungainly) vocabularies muttered in her native language, Nagisa turned away and stalked down the corridor towards the deck.
"Buncha ninnies…" She murmured.
"I will really appreciate it if you can refrain from threatening the men on daily basis, Miss Nagisa." A low, droning voice drawled from somewhere behind her. Even when she didn't turn around, Nagisa wasn't an airhead enough not to recognise the owner of the Trinity-damn voice.
"'S not my fault if your men are all wimps." She scoffed as she quickened her pace.
Every time she talked with this psycho, her nerves were always strained to an extent that she never thought she possessed before, and she knew that it was definitely not good for her health. If she didn't get away from him as often as possible and as soon as possible, she swore that he would sooner or later be her death.
Currently, she was marching down the corridor towards the deck of the submarine. The vessel was presently riding the wave on the surface of the ocean, alongside a stolen Marine ship if she had heard right. The men had been gossiping like the true testosterone-driven creatures they were, gushing over the presence of the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock on the Marine ship that was accompanying them. They were talking about her divine beauty or some shits along that line. Really, it was disgusting how they would huddle up in the kitchen while talking about the so-called 'most beautiful female in the world'.
Several days ago, she had been informed by the captain himself that they would be sailing to the Amazon Lily, as apparently for some divine luck the Pirate Empress was head over heels about Luffy and was willing to shelter Luffy; thus the Heart Pirates by extension ("Damn!")
She holed herself up in the captain's quarter. That was what she did right after she braved the ordeal of stepping into the goddamn operation room just to bless Luffy with Ren's presence. She sat on the floor while hugging her knees—it was her die-hard habit—while waiting for Captain Psycho to come back so that she could question him about their destination now. When he did come back, however, he beat her to it.
"We are heading to Amazon Lily."
Nagisa blinked at this. She had not just heard that.
Alright, fine. She heard that.
"…I would've said that you've lost your mind and gone suicidal for Trinity knows what reasons if not for the fact that you're more inclined to go homicidal rather than suicidal. So, what gives?" She asked with a deep frown and a suspecting stare at him.
"Shichibukai Boa Hancock has offered to shelter us in Amazon Lily while we help Mister Straw-hat recuperate." He answered smoothly, and then smirked in…was that amusement? "And that was an interesting concept you have about me, Miss Nagisa."
"Like I said, it's a fact. More substantiation: you didn't refute that statement, which means it really is the truth. Glad to know that you're aware that you're a sadistic maniac with homicidal tendencies." She said dryly.
At that time, she had noticed how Captain Psycho had shown utter lack of interest when mentioning Boa Hancock. She didn't know whether to be impressed or appalled by the fact that Trafalgar Law was completely unfazed and disinterested in Boa Hancock. Rumours went that her beauty alone could melt the heart of the most battle-hardened warriors—except for a select few. Some even would turn into stones from her sheer Goddess-like beauty. Briefly she wondered if the 'Surgeon of Death' was gay or…necrophilia?
Oh Trinity. The fuuuuuugly mental image.
"What, pray tell, are you trying to do right now, Miss Nagisa?" She heard Law asking her in that irritatingly patronizing manner of his.
Nagisa was very much tempted to just bloody ignore the psycho, but by now she had had enough first-hand experience to know that ignoring the man was equal to asking for ugly confrontation with the lunatic. Through gritted teeth, she dutifully answered his query.
"Attempting to reach an open space blessed with blissfully fresh air and OUT of this steaming hell hole." She snarled while picking up her speed yet again.
"Ah…I see." She could oh SO hear the smirk in his voice. "It appears that the life in submarine doesn't suit you."
"Figures." She murmured breathlessly while keeping her eyes trained on the door at the end of the metal encased corridor.
When the New World native slammed open the door to the deck, she was rewarded with the sight of a ridiculously tall woman in purple overall sitting on a huge snake coiling around her like a throne. She stopped in her tracks, and the woman turned to regard her. Nagisa knew her from the articles in the newspaper; she was the Pirate Empress, Shichibukai Boa Hancock of the Kuja Pirates.
To Nagisa's surprise, the Pirate Empress showed a hint of recognition as the voluptuous woman with overly endowed chest studied the New World native.
"You are—"
To her chagrin, Trafalgar Law was there to hear it.
Author's Note: Okay, okay. It's been almost a month since the last time I uploaded. Again, I'm drowning in the massive workload the teachers dumped on us... By the by, 'post bellum' is a Latin word that means 'after the war'. And reviews, please.