Look at who's updating! And I only made you wait a month this time!

I've organized my Tumblr a bit more, so now there's a page for all the drabbles I've posted related to this story, and if you go to the Saki tag, you can see the amazing art jazzin juke, girlgladiator, and Synodic have made of her. And check out their fics while you're at it, they won't disappoint.

(See me? This is me over the moon because a fic of mine got gift art. Don't mind me, I'm still recovering. I don't think I'm getting over it anytime soon.)

A million thanks to Guest, AlexisGrimm, Sky65, girlgladiator, CaN'T-lIFe, Malorne-10, jazzin juke, sarge1130, Terikel and Erina for reviewing! And as always, thank you to all of you who've favorited, followed or read this.

Thank you for your continued support, and I hope you all like the chapter.

9. The first slip

(I'm on the highway to Hell)

The lantern Bepo was holding came dangerously close to the murky water when he bowed, but Law caught it before it was too late.

"Too close for comfort," Penguin commented.

"Can't we get to the sub from outside the sewer?" Saki asked.

"We'd have to swim to the sewer's exit and dive against the current." Bepo took a glance at Law. "So it's out of the question."

Shachi had his arms crossed and was scanning their surroundings nonstop, maybe hoping for a staircase to materialize out of thin, foul air. He said, defeated, "This is what happens when you put the bear in charge."

"I-I'm so—"

Feeling a budding headache, surely because he hadn't been able to finish his fourth coffee cup of the morning, Law cut the apology short. "Now's not the time. Bepo, do you know in which direction the sub is?"

He signaled towards the stone wall with a paw.

"Are you sure?" Shachi insisted.

"Completely. I just don't know why this… wall… appeared here instead of the stairs…"

"We'll find another way," Law said, playing the reassuring captain role even if he didn't have an inkling of where they should be heading. "As long as we know in which direction we need to head, we should find it."

And so they walked to explore the turns they had left behind, and after a while the sharpest members of the team started to worry about the remaining oil in the lantern Bepo was holding on again, but they didn't dare voice their concerns out loud.

—

"That's my left foot!"

"I told you it's mine!"

"No fucking way, look at these scratches, my boot has identical ones."

"I have a birthmark on my pinky toe, check it out—"

"I'm not touching that, you take off the sock."

"I don't have hands!"

"Guys, has anyone seen my right arm!?"

Marina was fuming as she watched her men trying to piece their body parts back together. Her mother had insisted she sit on a bench so she could take care of the scratches that adorned the captain's face. Buttercup and Waffles had made a thorough job before she managed to shake them off.

"I can't believe you did it again."

"What did I do, dear?" Angie asked, with the air of a patient parent enduring a child's tantrum.

"Harboring pirates! You outright lied to me in front of my men!"

Angie brought a hand to her chest, looking hurt. "But I didn't think you'd find out!"

"T-t-that isn't the point! It's the second time this month!"

The older woman's expression changed to something more serious, and she pointed an accusatory finger at her daughter. "They were caught in the middle of the downpour. Don't tell me you'd have let them stay outside to brave the weather by themselves. Is that how we raised you, missy? What sort of behavior is that?"

"N-no, mom, but you have to understand, we're talking about dangerous criminals—"

"Nonsense, they were very polite guests. They even paid up front! Like the gentleman who gave me a card reading two weeks ago. Such nice hair he had, too—"

"B-but—"

"Don't talk back to me! You're always blowing things out of proportion, since you were a kid. You need to be more accepting of different folks."

Marina couldn't reply that her job specifically entailed not being accepting of criminals, because a projectile flew towards the bench and slapped her across the face. She stared dumbfounded as it hit the ground. A hand wiggled its fingers up at her.

One of the men roared, "Will you watch what you're doing, you piece of—"

"I'm very sorry Captain, my hand slipped!"

She needed a raise and a vacation somewhere far, far away.

When she was, at long last, able to escape her mother and her men looked reasonably whole, she hastened to the alley where she had lost sight of the Heart Pirates. Some other Marines followed her, alert to any hints of an attack, but Marina knew they wouldn't be so lucky. The pirates had taken the chance and fled. It made no sense to stay around.

"Ma'am, we've contacted the unit at the port. No trace of the pirates or their submarine anywhere 'round the island."

"It must have surfaced somewhere to pick up the pirates. Are we sure we didn't miss it?"

"I asked the same, ma'am. Lieutenant Mako says that even if he is in urgent need to renew the prescription of his glasses, he can still, and I quote, 'tell a yellow submarine apart from a goddamned fishing boat, who do you think you are to question my eyesight, recruit?'"

"…I see." That had to mean that the pirates were still somewhere in the island. As long as the coast was being patrolled they wouldn't be able to board their vessel. Now it was a matter of finding out where they were hiding.

Philip and Howe, bodies already recomposed, were inspecting the alley along with Marina. Philip bumped his foot against something and would have fallen if the captain hadn't caught him by the scruff of the neck.

"Careful, Marine."

"Yes, Ma'am, sorry, Ma'am. I tripped with a cover. I don't think it's well secured."

"We should notify the town hall to fix it," Howe suggested.

"Leave it for later, we have more pressing things to do," Marina said, and she tested the metal covering the manhole with a boot to make sure that it would stay in place if someone stepped on it. Upon closer inspection, the cover was loose, but not deformed. It looked like somebody had lifted it and didn't put it back in place correctly.

Under usual circumstances, Marina would have assumed it had been moved by a maintenance worker, but deep in a case featuring vanishing pirates and submarines, all of her alarms went off.

The sewage system of Lymes was so extensive that the entire island was basically hollow, a necessity because of the usual rough weather. The pirates could have hidden in it, but they would have to come out, because it had no exits other than the manholes sprinkled throughout the island.

Those were a lot. Fortunately, Marina also had a lot of people at her disposal.

"Howe, take ten entire men and come with me. Make sure they have enough limbs and have them carry lanterns. I want everybody else to keep watch of every single manhole in the city. We're going underground."

She crouched down as her subordinate hurried to relay her orders and pulled the cover up.

"Captain, you don't need to, let me—"

She didn't pay any mind to Philip, lifted the cover and pulled it aside. It didn't smell too bad. The flood had probably washed away most of the residues, but they'd need to be mindful of toxic fumes nonetheless. Staying inside for long wouldn't be wise. She tugged on the ladder stuck to the hole to make sure it was well fixed. The last thing she needed was more broken soldiers.

She stood up and waited for the men to come to the alley, one hand resting on her hip and the other twirling a chisel in a circular motion. Marina gave a satisfied smile. "We've got them trapped."

—

Meanwhile, the pirates were having a jolly walk under the streets. Bepo had told them to watch out for stairs, but so far the closest things they had found were a series of slopes that broke off from the main canal and sent water further into down the sewer. Not exactly the way they'd take, given a choice.

The water level went up and down as time passed; it was probably raining on and off outside.

When nearly an hour had passed with no satisfactory result, they had to accept that they needed to go out or they'd end up contracting some unknown and deadly disease.

"If we come alive out of this," Saki said laconically, looking at the flowing water now lapping at her ankles, "remind me to never wear a skirt again."

She got a sympathetic shoulder pat from Penguin as they separated a few meters to search for the nearest manhole. "At least it doesn't seem like this can get any worse."

Shachi groaned near him. "Now you've gone and jinxed it." He walked as far as the light allowed him, inspecting the ceiling. Not that he could see much with the sunglasses, but he was so used to them that the thought of removing them never crossed his mind.

"Stop being so superstitious."

Being the tallest one, Bepo held the lamp over his head as they searched the area, but the light could only get so far, which made the exploration more tedious.

The following scene unfolded in a matter of seconds and would be used in conversations between the crew for years to prove that cosmic irony existed and it was not to be fucked with lest it fucketh with you.

Just as Law was about to tell the others to be careful after stepping on a slippery spot, Penguin slipped on something nasty, put a foot in the canal and balanced precariously on it for the fraction of a second it took Shachi to react and grab him by the leg he had in the air. Naturally, this also left Shachi in a rather bad spot, and Penguin had enough momentum to pull his friend into the canal with him. Still, further disaster could have been avoided if Bepo, who was hurrying along Law and Saki to help them out, hadn't slipped in the same spot Penguin had, crashing into the two men and sending the three of them down a slope with a flurry of screams and disgusted noises.

Stunned, Law watched his companions disappear down the tunnel, and their only source of light with them.

"We are so fucked," he heard Saki say after an uncomfortable silence.

—

"I'll never feel clean again." Penguin emptied the dirty water inside his hat on the floor.

"My glasses are disgusting," Shachi said as he inspected them under the light of the lamp. Bepo had somehow managed to keep it over his head all the way down. "Where are we?"

"This is the lower level of the sewer," Bepo explained. His fur was covered by a grimy brown layer that he did not want to think about. He'd need someone to help brush it off. "I passed by here when I went up. The sub shouldn't be too far."

"Shame we left half the crew behind." Penguin approached the slope as much as he could without getting in the water and yelled. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

Nothing. Cue collective sigh. They could already could themselves lucky that Bepo had managed to keep the lantern out of the water during the fall.

The bear closed his eyes and concentrated on the sound around. Penguin and Shachi stared until he signaled to a nearby corridor. "I hear something over there."

Shachi kept pulling his glasses up and down in a futile attempt to see. "You sure it's not the water?"

"It is. But the current's different," Bepo said. His ears twitched as he listened again to make sure. "There's more water volume. The place where I stopped the sub is where all the water leaves the sewer."

"It's not like we lose anything by trying," Penguin said, leading the way with a pained face. "And I want to drop off this Log Pose before we somehow manage to break it."

"We also need to find a way upstairs," Bepo reminded him.

"Hey, they know where we are. They only need to want to follow."

Shachi looked at his friend, surprised at the outburst. "Pen, you okay?"

"Sure. My ribs feel like someone mistook them for a xylophone and I've been useless luggage while everybody else went on rescue missions and kicked Marine ass."

"Dude, don't be like that. You've been holding up like a champion."

"And you're the guardian of the Log Pose," Bepo chimed in. "We couldn't have done this without you."

"Yeah, yeah, thank you," Penguin grumbled, but he had gone a slightly red and was trying to hold back a smile.

Shachi threw an arm around his friend and grinned. "Now let's go find our daughter and rescue those two useless lumps we left upstairs."

"I'm sure she's lonely," Penguin said.

Bepo followed after them to point the way. "Who's your daughter?"

"The sub, who else?" Shachi said.

"Cool!" The bear grinned. "Does driving her make me the husband?"

"What?" He sounded horrified at the suggestion. "No!"

"We aren't marrying our daughter off to the first guy who asks!" Penguin exclaimed.

"He's steering her rudder and fingering her buttons every day!" Shachi lamented. "How have we been so blind?"

"I'm sure that's illegal somewhere. Bepo, you're gross."

"I'M SORRY I ASKED."

—

"Marco!" Saki closed her eyes, not that she needed to, and waited for a reply that never came. She insisted. "Marco!"

"No," Law replied with the air of a petulant child. She was sure he had his arms crossed and was making a sour face.

Saki huffed. "Can't you make a small effort? How do you want to get out of here if we can't even find each other in the dark?"

"We weren't that far away. Just walk."

"I'm on the edge of the canal. You were closer to the wall when the light went out." The slimy thing that had been her cremates' downfall was under her right foot and any error in movement was a potential dive into murky waters. And she was wearing a skirt! Did he understand how dire her situation was? Getting water up there would be the worst, and it had been a close call when the water level had risen.

Defeated in the face of Law's silence, she said, "Say something else then. Whatever crosses your mind, just keep talking."

Law let out a sigh that offended Saki a lot, because as far as she was concerned the one making a display of infinite patience was her, but he complied. "Campylobacteriosis, cryptosporidiosis, escherichia coli, encephalitis, gastroenteritis, giardiasis, hepatitis A, leptospirosis, methaemoglobia—"

He listened to the splashes her unsteady steps made get progressively closer, and he stopped when Saki's hand touched his arm, and then the fingers held onto the fabric of the sleeve as if to make sure he wouldn't go off on his own and leave her to her luck, which she'd say was pretty rotten if anyone asked her opinion.

"Captain Nerd found!" She got an elbow to the ribs she didn't complain about, just to deny him the satisfaction and because it had been worth it, anyway. "What were you listing?"

"A few illnesses you can catch in a waste disposal facility."

"Charming. The alphabetical order gave it a nice touch," she commented, looking around them despite knowing perfectly well that she wasn't going to see a thing. "You know, there may be a bright side to this," she said in a hopeful voice.

"…Was that a fucking pun?"

"Wha—Oh. It was, wasn't it? A bright side. A ray of sunshine. A light at the end of the tunnel. A break in the clouds."

"Do you have a point?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Manholes have those little holes on the cover to lift them. We'll see the light filtering so much easier." She was silent for a bit, and then said with a grin that could be heard in her voice, "Or maybe it's just a pipe dream."

"Stop that."

"Aw, don't be such a wet blank—"

"It's an order from your captain."

"Sheesh, fine. I should have called you Captain Grumpypants. You know, wet skinny jeans are very uncomfortable, are you sure you aren't cha—"

"If you finish that sentence I promise I'll push you down a slope."

She huffed, and Law felt her grip on his hoodie slacken. "You should enjoy the little pleasures in life, Captain. Even if they are stupid. Sometimes it's all you have at the end of the day."

"Is that why you are so chipper despite the situation?"

"I guess." The hand on his arm trembled, and he wasn't sure if something was wrong until she spoke, barely containing her laughter. "It was so ridiculous. Did you see their faces when they fell?"

Law found himself smiling against his will. "I did." He cleared his throat in an effort to remind himself that he was supposed to be a serious person. "Do you have any other life lessons or brilliant ideas before we try to stumble our way out?"

"Did you just make a fucking p—"

He elbowed her again.

"Right. I don't know, you're the one with superpowers. Can you glow in the dark?"

He didn't answer right away.

"Actually…"

"Are you fucking kidding me."

Law's hand illuminated for a few seconds. Saki saw thin arches of electricity enveloping it, and she felt the electricity coursing through him, passing to her and tingling unpleasantly through her body. The effect, and the light, were gone as soon as they had appeared, and she was thankful when all her hairs returned to normal.

"It isn't going to work," Law said with apparent annoyance.

"What did you do, exactly?"

"I've been trying to make a defibrillator with my Devil Fruit power, but as you can see I'm still working on it."

"You realize that we are standing on water."

"That's why I regulated the voltage."

"You… Please don't do that again when I'm holding onto you."

Law shrugged off her petition. "Let's try to hug the wall to advance. We need a source of light before we can find the others."

"Before we move, just to make this entirely clear, if you fall into any kind of water you become as useful as a potato, correct?"

"Not quite. A potato can float in salt water."

"Great," she said, and right away she slipped on something slimy and barely managed to keep her balance. "Just making sure."

"Watch where you step."

"Might want to change your verb of choice—"

No sooner than Saki had started replying, they heard voices around the corner and coordinated steps moving fast. There was no question that the Marines had caught up to them. Saki immediately let go of Law to grip her sword properly, and she could feel Law moving to do the same.

"So… we steal the lanterns from them?" She asked in whisper.

"We steal the lanterns from them," he confirmed.

"Finally we're getting somewhere."

But Law pushed her behind him as she got ready to receive their pursuers. "Watch the back for reinforcements. I'll handle these."

"What are you on about? I don't need you to protect me." She paused. "Well, maybe from Captain Carpenter."

"I know, but I'm the one with superpowers," he threw back her words at her. "Unless you have the means to turn projectiles around, in which case, be my guest."

"Good luck, Captain, you're my hero."

Law smirked to himself. "I thought so." He extended his Room, invisible in the dark, and waited for the Marines to approach.

The first group to appear around the corner became a rain of limbs, weapons and, conveniently, a couple lanterns on the floor.

"Oh, by the way," Saki chimed in, "watch out for flying chisels."

"Sure—Wait, what?"

—

When she saw the five men in the vanguard fall in pieces to the floor, Marina knew that she had found what she was looking for. She ran up ahead of the other soldiers, closing the distance between her and the man with the face she'd been seeing in every bounty poster for days; when she captured him she'd be able to go back to the base and get some peace and quiet away from this city that was a constant reminder of everything undesirable in her life—

The first chisel she threw barely missed the pirates' heads (Law ducked when he was still processing the Saki's warning; the girl just stood there and let it fly over her head, because being short had its pros sometimes), and then lunged forward and she stabbed the air instead of that damned man; she was inexplicably standing ten paces away from him and somehow he was passing a lamp to his crony, that shameless woman who had stolen her dress and got two cats on her face. When had Buttercup gotten so plump, anyway?

"Captain, get back, we'll—"

"Stay behind me!" She bellowed at her men, quickly looking around, and only then she noticed the blue hue the tunnel had taken, even under the warm light of the flames. Deducing it must have been part of his Devil Fruit ability, she moved right outside the limit of the dome and shot a murderous glare at Law.

"Smart move," he said tauntingly. "I thought you'd rush in again."

Marina wanted to stab him in the eye with a chisel and see if he'd still be smirking afterwards. "You have nowhere to run, pirate," Marina said, refusing to dignify the man by using his name. All pirates were the same. "The only way out is up, and I have all the exits watched. Reinforcements are on the way. Surrender now."

"Are you sure you're in a position to make demands? You know what will happen if you take one more step. We can be here all day."

"Do you expect me to believe that you can take on an entire unit?"

"Try me."

Marina toed the line that marked safety apart from Law's territory and sent him a chilly smile. "That's exactly what I'm going to do."

—

The yellow submarine floated in the middle of an enormous canal and grinned at them in all its Jolly Roger-painted glory.

They tried to ignore the appropriately foreboding "DEATH" on the hull and just be happy at the discovery.

"I told you it was here!" Bepo beamed.

Shachi patted him on the back, grinning. "Good job, mate."

"Now to find the other two, I assume?" Penguin asked.

In absence of Law, Bepo was the oldest crew member of the bunch and the leader by default. It was time for him to take charge and show the newbies who was boss. "Penguin, you go inside and start the engine. Shachi and I will take the closest stairs and get Captain and Saki back."

"Won't we get lost again?"

Bepo put his paws on his hips and smirked, or came as close to smirking as a bear could. "I can hear the sub's noise from all the way upstairs."

"Stop trying to look cool," Shachi said, and Bepo was starting to apologize when he added. "You're a talking bear already, you don't need to posture. Lead the way."

Penguin shook his head with a smile and walked up the gangplank.

—

Marina was proving to a much bigger complication than Law had expected. The woman moved at the speed of light and threw her weapons faster, not to mention the freakish strength with which she aimed. There was a collection of broken stone tiles around them, making quick movements more risky than they already had been with the slimy floor and body pieces.

With a gesture of his left hand, he lifted the chisels stuck on the floor and made them fly towards the Marine, granting him some distance between the two when she dodged, and at last he managed to get a cut in with his nodachi.

Marina's right arm fell to the ground with a splat and she retreated out of Law's sphere to catch her breath. She didn't look anywhere close to giving up, there were more men behind her, still waiting on her order to attack, and there was no telling when more would come.

He had told her they could be there all day, but it was a big fat lie. They had wasted enough time as it was, and he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to hold up his Room.

"Captain," he heard Saki whisper with urgency behind him. "I hear footsteps. They are coming from behind us."

He didn't take his eyes from Marina while he spoke in an equally low tone.

"How's the lantern?"

Saki turned it around in her hands, inspecting it quickly. "Sturdy, cold blast model. These guys don't hold back with equipment. Why do you ask?"

"How much do you trust your captain?"

Her face told him that she didn't like the question even before she replied. Narrowing her eyes at him with suspicion, she asked, "Is that a trick question?"

The corner of Law's mouth turned up. "Good answer. Run towards where we lost the others when I tell you to."

Her only answer was a nervous laugh, which he took as a good signal.

"Now!"

Saki ran immediately ran the same way they had come, even though she didn't know why and she wasn't sure she wanted to know, but orders were orders and Law seemed to have a plan.

In the blink of an eye, Law retracted his Room and ran behind Saki. The Marines' rushed footsteps echoed behind him right away, but he wouldn't let them catch up. Soon, they were in the same spot from before and Saki had made a slippery stop to avoid a crash against a wall. Law didn't waste a moment to put an arm around her, and he leapt into the canal and onto the slope where the others disappeared. Thankfully, there wasn't enough water going through it to render him without strength, so the trip down the sewer resembled a ride in a dirty and potentially mortal aquatic park. He didn't think the final part was going to be as pleasant, but this sort of thing was why he had a crew in the first place.

The string of expletives (likely and most deservedly directed at him) leaving Saki's mouth was muffled against his shoulder, but despite that she was holding fast to the lantern, protecting it with her arms (and hopefully the glass was thick; otherwise she was going to get a set of burns), and at some point through this he caught the smell of fruit again, like at the inn, and he realized her hair smelled like tangerines—

They fell into a waterway with a splash, and Law wasn't aware of anything else until he was dragged onto solid ground.

As he came back to his senses (hat to his right, check; sword next to it, check; respiratory system working, check), the first thing he heard was, "You. Are. An. Asshole."

Saki was soaked, and under the flickering light of the lantern she looked like a dandelion-clad devil come from the depths of hell to devour the souls of sinners.

"Are you suicidal?

"It got us out of there, didn't it?"

"T-that's it? You—That's—You—!" She spluttered, and Law noted with increasing amusement that it was the first time she had seen her lost for words, but it didn't last. "That's it!? What if the fire of the lantern had gone out!? How would I get to you!? You could have died!"

He thought it was supremely funny that she had worried for his life instead of being thrown into a waste disposal system, so he laughed in her face, she called him more names –'fucking smartass, jerkface, eye-searing blowout fingers'—, which prompted him to laugh harder, and she tried to slap him with his own soggy hat, but he caught it with ease and stood up.

"Let's go before someone tries to follow."

She picked up the lantern and got up, red-faced and still glaring at him. "You are the worst."

"It's in the job description," he said with a smile that reeked of self-satisfaction. Probably of other, less pleasant things that one could usually find in a sewer as well, but it was better not to think about that when the promise of a shower seemed so far away.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the part that wasn't busy feeling indignation, Saki wondered how many times had this man narrowly escaped death to be taking it so well, and why had he relied on her getting him out of the water without as much as a warning of what he was planning to do. She'd blame it on the adrenaline and her flustered state, but upon glancing at his face as they walked, Saki fleetingly thought her captain looked far too handsome for his own good when he smiled like that. She looked away and tried to forget said thought had ever existed, mentally chanting 'leopard-printed noodle' over and over, so when a voice called out from not too far away she welcomed the distraction with open arms.

"Who's there?" It was Shachi, and they moved in the direction of his voice. "Anyone?"

"It's us," Law called, and before he could react something huge appeared from a dark path and crushed him in a literal bear hug.

"Captain! You're safe!"

Shachi appeared from behind Bepo. "Yo," he greeted Saki, "I'd hug you too, but you look like ass. Again."

"Haven't checked any mirrors lately, have you?" She grinned back at him, and then she went serious as her ears picked up something. "Is that the rumbling of the sub I hear?"

"Yeah, it's right around the corner; Penguin's gone ahead to start it. We were about to go upstairs to look for you when we heard you frolicking in the water."

Law managed to get out of the bear's arms to talk. "Perfect, let's go the—"

Several splashing noises from behind interrupted him, and the pirates went on their guards at once.

"Captain Marina, there's another path down the slope! The pirates—"

They didn't wait to hear the end of the report and ran after Bepo and towards the sub.

—

Shortly after, Marina received a report by Den Den Mushi from the Marines on the harbor saying they had detected a submarine near the island. Ship had been dispatched to deal with it, as everything pointed to the Heart Pirates being there.

Still, she had her men search the lower level of the sewer for any clues, but while her unit was still spread over the infinity of tunnels under Lymes, she happened upon a huge hall with a canal wide enough to house a ship, and she knew what had happened.

She'd need to have a few choice words with the mayor. Maybe before she took a shower, if she was still this angry.

Gripping one of her chisels harder than she had to, Marina kicked the stone wall, leaving a nice indent on it. Fucking pirates.

—

The sub sailed out of the sewer, keeping underwater. Everybody was up in the bridge, hoping for a stealthy getaway, but when they were beginning to think they were safe, Bepo took a look at the radar and announced, "They detected us. We're being followed."

"How many ships?" Law asked.

"Two. We can lose them as soon as we get to stronger currents."

Law hesitated before giving an order. The best course of action was, without a doubt, to get away as fast as possible and forget about the Marines.

The incident that had sparked their miserable day had been the explosion of the two ships that had been pinned on them. The sub had torpedoes, obviously, but they were difficult to replace, and not something he'd use without an exceedingly good reason. He wouldn't have attacked Marine ships in a thunderstorm for no reason.

His crew was tired, soaked, smelly, and, personally, he didn't think he had caused the Marines nearly enough grief today for what they had put them through.

Still, torpedoes were expensive. Very, very expensive. They couldn't be wasted sinking ships for sport.

"I don't care," he told Bepo, staring at the beeping points on the radar screen. "Sink them."

This wasn't sport. This was petty revenge and it was a thing pirates were perfectly justified to do anytime, no matter how stupid it was.

There were cheers behind him and the navigator.

"Aye, Captain!"

Besides, it was good for morale.

"Bepo," Penguin intervened with urgency, making them wonder if something was wrong. "Can I fire the torpedo?"

The bear grinned at his crewmate, flashing his teeth. It would have been unsettling had he not been on his side. "Sure! Be ready for my signal."

Penguin stepped up to the control panel and the rest watched Bepo slow down the sub and maneuver it until the torpedoes were aiming at the enemy vessels.

"Three, two, one… Fire!"

Penguin smacked the button with glee and the projectiles flew to the approaching shapes of the ships, impacted on the hulls and exploded.

There were a few sighs of contentment in the room, like the balance of the universe had been restored and now they could rest easy.

The aftershock rattled the sub slightly, but as the ships began to sink, Law deemed the action satisfactory enough to make their exit.

—

Saki was feeling much better after a shower. She put on a t-shirt and shorts and left her room to go to the bridge and see if Bepo needed help. He had volunteered to drive the sub while the rest of them cleaned up, possibly because they were offending his nose, but judging by the way he had been scratching behind his ears, he was aching to get the grime cleaned, too. She also needed to get started on lunch, though at this rate it was going to become dinner.

She was stopped by a chorus of ghostly laments that echoed on the metal walls of the submarine and appeared to rise straight from the underworld.

As she approached the stairs, the wailing from the next life got louder and more defined. She stood on the first step and looked down.

"Foooooooood. Foooooooooooood."

"Are you serious?"

Shachi was the one to reply. "Of course we're serious, we've been walking for hours and we're still working."

"Foooooood."

"Do I need to remind you that I'm not your mother?"

"What's going on?"

Law came out from his room in all his recently showered glory, wearing a t-shirt with his Jolly Roger in the middle. One day she'd hate to ask where he got all his personalized clothing.

"The chicks are in their nest cawing for food."

He looked at the staircase and said blandly, "As long as nobody regurgitates on the floor…"

"Not funny! We're starving in here!"

Law directed his attention at Saki. Might as well check up on everybody now that things had calmed. "How are your arms?"

She furrowed her brow, confused, and looked at them. "Fine? Should they be not?"

He took her by a wrist, and turned it gently to look at the inside of her forearm. "You were hugging the lantern on the way down. It didn't burn?"

"Oh, you mean that! Not at all, I told you it was well made." She gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, no worries."

Law almost believed her, but then he took a cursory glance out of professional habit and saw something that made him arch his eyebrows. "What's that?"

Saki followed his gaze and found herself staring at the scrape on her leg. It was red and angry. "It's nothing." She waved in dismissal. "I got it when that Marine captain chased me. I scrubbed it raw with soap and water, that's why it looks like that."

"You realize that you've been treading through a sewer for hours with bare legs?"

"It's okay—"

"I'll decide that. Go to the sickbay."

"Don't be like that, I cleaned it first thing, I'll be fi—"

"You. Sickbay. Now."

She threw her arms up in surrender as she walked upstairs. The pained cries of the mechanics resounded in the distance.

"Foooooooood!"

"You know where the kitchen is," she heard Law say as he followed her.

When they got to the sickbay, he made her sit on a cot while he searched for something.

"Are you sure you cleaned it well?" Law asked as he inspected the inside of a small refrigerator.

Saki wondered what he could be looking for in there. "Believe it or not, I've got hurt a few times in my life and I'm still breathing."

"That's relieving to know. When did you have your last tetanus shot?"

"I don't think I've ever—" She retreated until the back of her knees hit the mattress when she saw Law approach, needle in hand. "What do you think you're doing?"

"This," Law said, slowly, as if talking to someone particularly slow, "is called a vaccine. It's used to—"

"Don't patronize me, and don't get that thing any closer to me!" She considered if backflipping from her sitting spot would catch him off guard enough to book it out of the room.

"Stay still and it'll be over soon."

"And you just had to make it sound creepier—" He grabbed Saki's right arm. "Aren't you supposed to disinfect the—Ouch!"

"And give you the chance of running away while I get the alcohol? I won't risk it."

"I hate doctors," she mumbled.

"Me too," he said, and just this once it didn't sound like he was mocking her.

Saki made an effort to not look at her arm during the process and instead concentrated on what he just said. Why would he hate doctors when he was one? Saki realized she didn't know anything about his life. He had never offered the information, and she had never pried because she understood too well not wanting to talk about private things. But she was curious by nature, and there were so many questions to be asked. What island was he from? Why did he become a pirate? Did he have any family?

Oh my god, what if he has a wife and children?

Well, maybe not so many questions.

Still, she hadn't forgotten that he had known about Joker when she mentioned him. All excuses aside, she was sure that he wouldn't have helped her if she hadn't provided that bit of information. He had wanted to get inside the smugglers' hideout as much as her, and he had come back after she was gone to do who knew what.

He had earlier asked her how much she trusted him. A man didn't ask his hammer if it trusted him, he just hammered away. That's what tools were for. Saki wasn't sure she knew how not to be a tool, but she found herself wanting to extend that bit of trust, and she didn't know if she liked that.

And she found herself thinking again that in the sewer he seemed to have taken for granted that she'd pull him out of the water.

What an idiot.

Saki wasn't entirely sure to whom that thought was directed.

She didn't look at him until she felt him press a piece of wet gauze on her upper arm, and she felt herself go a bit light-headed; exactly what she had been trying to avoid. She gripped the sheet under her between her fingers, trying to pour all her attention on the texture of the fabric and the softness on the mattress underneath and goddammit it wasn't working and she kept feeling worse and worse.

"There you go, drama queen" Law said, and when he noticed her blank expression he stopped and stared at her face. "Are you okay?"

"Perfectly fine." She was getting dizzier by the second, he sounded so far away and this was going to be so embarrassing.

"You are pale as death."

"Haha, says the Surgeon of—"

"Are you afraid of needles?"

She pressed her lips together, made a colossal effort to look at an extremely interesting row of pill bottles Law had aligned inside of a cabinet and said an entirely unconvincing, "No."

"You can't be serious. You work with—"

"It's not the same. I-I've had bad experiences, okay?"

"With needles."

"Yes."

With some exasperation and no previous notice, Law pushed her down on the cot. "Get your legs up and don't move until your feel well."

She did as told, since her dignity had already fled off the window and far, far away, somewhere in the farthest recesses of the sea. Knowing her luck, a seagull had probably pooped on it, too.

"You should have told me."

She made a face at the ceiling of the sickbay. "Yes, because I love to share my irrational fears with people."

"I took blood samples before and after your operation. You were hooked to an IV drip for days."

"Honestly, I didn't think you'd care. I know it's a stupid fear; I didn't want to be made fun of."

"A vasovagal syncope is a completely normal reaction to needle punctures. I wouldn't have."

"Didn't know that back then, did I?"

Law seemed to accept that explanation, but still pressed the issue. "Regardless, don't you think I'd need to know if you're going to faint if I get a needle near you?"

"I didn't—you—don't exaggerate, I don't mind having them nearby and I've never fainted before."

"You were well on your way now."

Saki breathed a tired sigh and closed her eyes, pressing on the bridge of her nose as if it would help to get the pressure in her head out. He was right, she hadn't fainted, but might as well. She felt ridiculous for the umpteenth time that day.

She tried to keep her mind blank, just taking deep breaths, and with the smell of disinfectant in the air she almost could imagine she was at the studio, working on a new piece; the only missing piece was the familiar rumble of the tattoo machine... How many years had it been since the last time an entire month had passed without her doing a tattoo? She had been working with the Old Man since before her father died, so… eight years?

She jumped a little when she felt something cold pressing against the scrape on her leg, and she opened her eyes to see Law disinfecting it with a gauze. It stung like a bitch.

When he was done, he stood up to trash the used supplies. "Is this related to not liking doctors?" He said conversationally, like he was asking about the weather instead of potential childhood traumas.

"Yes," and she didn't know why she volunteered the information other than wanting an excuse for her self-perceived stupidity. "When I was a kid I got prodded with needles a lot. For nothing."

Law hummed in acknowledgement, and then she saw him approach her again, this time with a stethoscope.

"Why—"

"Be quiet," and he placed the chestpiece under her shirt.

"You know isn't courteous to grope a young lady without her permission, right?"

"Shhh." He listened attentively, searching for any strange sounds, and when he was satisfied he said, "I don't see any of those here."

"Now I don't know if you called me old, put my gender in doubt or questioned my manners."

"I'll leave that mystery unsolved," Law replied, unhooking the stethoscope from his ears. "I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Have you noticed any strange symptoms lately? Arrhythmia, chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath…"

"That last one, actually. Only today," she clarified when Law's eyes began to narrow and she worried that he was really going to tie her to a bed for the reminder of her life. "While I was running to the inn."

"And you aren't sleeping much."

"I never sleep much. Bad habit."

"We can't rule the possibility of those being symptoms of withdrawal. Your brain is used to the medication you've been taking for years. It figures that it wouldn't take kindly to the sudden change. It should fade away on its own, but if you need sleeping pills—"

"I don't want to take more than what's strictly necessary, and I'm used to not sleeping. I've had enough medication for a lifetime, thanks."

Law seemed to think a bit before letting it go. "Have it your way, but I reserve the right to spike your food if you can't wake up in the morning."

"Joke's on you, I'm the one doing the cooking. Can I get up now?"

"Sure, but—" Law finished the sentence too late. "—slowly."

"Oops."

Law turned around, shaking his head, to replace the stethoscope where it belonged. Saki watched him, pensive, sure that he was well aware that her eyes were trained on him, and she felt like she had to say something before leaving.

"Law," she called, and only when she had done it, she realized that it was the first time she called him by name. If his curious expression was any indication, he had noticed as well. "I know I must seem very ungrateful, but—I'm not—I mean—I appreciate everything you're doing for me." She looked away and cringed inside. She wasn't used to thanking people, not really, and it had come out lamentably.

"No problem," he said, quietly, and maybe because it had sounded a little too personal for his taste, he added, "You aren't ungrateful; you have a surprising bad habit of not giving a damn about your health. Taking care of my crew is my responsibility, and that includes you."

He had said the last sentence like it was the simplest thing in the world. But it was a difficult thing to take for granted, despite all the evidence so far. She supposed she'd have to get used to it.

And again, it brought Saki to the question of why he had helped her before she had joined him. She wanted to know, most of all, what his relationship with Joker was, but the way he had avoided the topic the first time she asked made clear that he didn't want to talk about it. She wouldn't ask.

'Why hearts?' she almost asked on a whim, again, her eyes following the trails of ink that peeked under his clothes. It didn't seem a fair question. She put the thought aside as quickly as it had come.

"Do all pirates get undeserved bad press or are you just a special snowflake?"

Law showed her a small smirk. "You can find the answer on your own. You are a pirate, too."

The thought was strangely comforting. "True."

—

"Food!"

"Not quite." Saki stopped the descent and squinted to see the mechanics sitting at the bottom of the stairs. "Why are you here in the dark and do I want to know?"

"The lightbulb just died. Everything else is running fine, though." Some of the light from upstairs shone on Penguin's cap as he looked up, enough to make out how far she could go without stepping on the guys.

Saki went a few more steps and she plopped down on one of them with a mix of a sigh and a groan.

"Did you just lay down on a step?"

"Maybe. I'm tired. Fuck, it's cold. I brought you beer."

She had barely raised the hand with the bottles when they were snatched by the featherless chicks of hell.

Minutes passed in pleasant silence, only interrupted by gulps, with the three of them just trying to get over the day's events. It was Penguin who spoke first.

"You said that you used to do tattoos for a living."

"Yeah."

"I heard you killed guys for a living," Shachi interjected.

"I wasn't getting paid for that."

"…Oh."

"I want a tattoo," Penguin said, ignoring his friend. "Can you do it?"

He immediately grabbed Saki's interest. "Of course. Just need to know what and where."

Penguin rolled back a sleeve to show his forearm and pointed a finger near the elbow. "I'd like it around here, a—"

"Are you crazy, dude, who knows what she'll do to—" He was promptly cut by a kick to the head.

"Say what you want about me, but no one talks shit about my tattoos."

Shachi rubbed the back of his head, not pleased at having found out how much a heel hurt there. "'Kay, madwoman, don't get violent. Just saying it would be good to see a sample beforehand."

Saki merely raised her right leg and pointed to the clovers. "I did those. I have other drawings on paper if you want to look at them, but I didn't exactly bring my portfolio with me."

Penguin got closer to examine the ink. "Nice."

"See, Shachi, this is why he's my favorite mechanic."

"Aw shucks, you're my favorite redhead."

Shachi muttered something that sounded like 'treacherous bastards'. Then he looked up, as if he was wary of somebody walking in on them, and said in a conspiratory tone, "Just to be sure, you didn't do the tattoos on Captain's fingers, right?"

"I don't think I can put into words how much that question offends me. I've wanted to fix that shit since I laid my eyes on him."

Shachi sounded extremely relieved. "Thank god, I thought I was the only one who thought… you know."

"I know. They plague my nightmares. Is it mutiny to say it out loud?"

"Possibly," Penguin said with a grin.

"Hm."

"So," Shachi rested an elbow on the step behind him. "Did you come down here for anything?"

"I put a cooking pot on the stove and it has to boil for a while. We're having soup, by the way."

"Haven't we had enough liquid for a day? Or a week?" Penguin complained, and Saki shot him a sympathetic smile.

"We're short on supplies."

"I thought you would go check up on Bepo when you were done." Shachi said. "You spend a lot of time with him."

"I wanted to, but I found him on the way to the shower. Besides, I'm tired and I can't hide in the bridge while Captain's there."

"Is that so." Shachi didn't sound entirely convinced.

Absentmindedly, Saki kept her hands busy by turning her bottle around. "Hey, what you said about the uniforms being waterproof—"

She could hear Shachi's grin even if he wasn't looking at him. "I fucking knew it."

"Oh, shut it."

—

The sub was quiet. There was a simmering pot alone in the kitchen, Bepo had kicked him out of the bridge after he was clean and chewed him out for jumping into water and not getting any rest on top of it, and the others were nowhere in sight. Not that he could blame them if they had fallen unconscious after the day they had had, but as the captain he couldn't allow his crew to be slacking off in the middle of the day.

He went downstairs to check up on Shachi and Penguin, and he was only three steps down the stairs when he ascertained that he was heading in the right direction.

"—never been able to do it on purpose."

"Really? Pen and I used to have contests way back when. Show her, man."

"Wait a sec, here it comes..."

The sound of a gargantuan burp rose from the depths of the vessel and shook the walls around Law. He felt extremely tempted to turn around.

Instead, he followed the chorus of laughter into the dark until a voice stopped him.

"If you go down two more steps you'll put your foot on my face."

He frowned and blinked to adjust his eyes to the dark. Penguin and Shachi were sitting at the bottom of the stairs, and Saki was lying down two steps above them.

"May I know why you are in the dark, and do I want to?"

There were a few seconds of silence until Penguin said, "Eerie." Law didn't get it.

Shachi cleared his throat and summarized, "Engine, turbines and boilers are in perfect condition, lightbulb blew out, food's cooking itself."

"Are you drinking?"

Shachi shrugged. "Why aren't you?"

He had to admit he made a very solid point.

Law took one step down. He saw Saki wince, as if expecting the impact, but instead he put his feet on the step below her and sat directly on the one above.

"You just love getting into my personal bubble, don't you?"

He took the bottle from her, to which she only sighed in resignation.

"You ratted me out to Bepo."

Saki didn't seem get what he meant at first, but when she put two and two, she let out a satisfied laugh. "Oh, yeah, before I forget again," she pulled out something from the pocket of her shorts and handed it to Law. It was a stack of beli bills. "The change from the Log Pose."

Law counted the belis. Twice. "Did you steal the Log Pose and pocket half of the money?"

"Yes, and I plan to blow it all on hookers," Saki deadpanned, and Penguin snorted the beer he'd been trying to swallow. "Was that a serious question? I got a discount."

In Law's eyes, that seemed more of a present than a discount. "How do you always get people to give you free shit?"

She grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. "I'm charming that way."

"A power dudes can only dream of," Shachi said wistfully.

Saki threw him a disgusted look.

"What?" Law asked, lost.

"He means a pair of tits," Penguin explained helpfully.

Law contemplated this new information and reached a decision. "You're in charge of all the shopping from now on," he said to Saki.

"Can these two carry the bags?"

"Fair enough."

"HEY!"

—

That afternoon, a small passenger ship docked in Asteria. The travelers booked rooms at one of the less run-down inns of the port, and spent the rest of the day exploring the local market and getting acquainted with the town.

Nothing out of the ordinary.