A/N: Here we go, chapter eleven :3
Hope you enjoy ~~
Chapter 11: Directly home
The young woman behind the counter thanked while smiling at me when I handed her the money to pay the things I was buying. Once the bandages and medical supplies were running out, Cora-san gave me money to buy some more. Shit, it made me feel even worse, spending his money to buy something I didn't really need.
With plastic bag in my hand, I left the pharmacy looking for Cora-san, who was talking to a skinny guy with long black hair in a messy low ponytail, wearing an apron and eyeglasses. As far as I remembered, he was the bartender from the first day. They appeared to be very attached with each other. I hadn't spoken to him since that day, so I approached slowly until he noticed me.
"The boy from the other day, captain told me that you are living under the same roof" His voice was harsh and he was with arms crossed, staring at me with a frown on his face.
"That's right, and you can call me... Bepo" It was still hard to remember my name was no longer Law.
"I'm Ravan, the barkeeper and one of the best friends of captain, so you better don't make him regret helping you or.."
"That's enough, Ravan. I can take care of myself." Cora-san interfered "I gotta go, it's my lunchtime and I haven't eaten anything yet. So, see ya." we walked way from the bar, waving our hands to Ravan.
"Did you buy everything that you need?"
"Yeah" I showed the plastic bag in my hand. "I'm curious, how long do you know Ravan?"
"Soon after I came to this city as a captain, he opened his bar. I stopped there by chance and we talked a lot, since then we are friends. He is one of the people I trust the most." Somehow I envied him, but I wouldn't tell Cora-san that, of course.
"I think he didn't like my guts."
"That's because he doesn't trust you. He told me to not be so gentle with you, that you might be dangerous and that sort of thing."
"And what did you say? I mean, what do you think about that?"
"I told him that's for me to decide, I can't judge someone without giving him a chance to prove his side. But don't be mad at him. He is worried about me, just like you."
"That's okay, I'm used to not having people's trust."
"This is a sad thing to say, don't you think?"
"It's only the true." And that was all right, I'm not the type of guy who deserves trust, although I wanted his.
"Nah, let's stop talking about bad things, will ya? Man, I'm really hungry. There is a nearby ramen restaurant, what do you think?"
"Anything will do."
As we sat at the counter, Cora-san ordered two bowls of tonkotsu ramen, which was the specialty of the place, according to him. When we were waiting for our order, I noticed two guys entering the restaurant and sitting near us. It could be just my imagination, but I could swear that they weren't there for eat. It seemed that they were just pretending to read the menu while taking some glares to us from the corner of the eye. I was about to tell Cora-san about my suspicions when our food arrived, so I decided to keep quiet and eat. I didn't want to bother him with things that could just be paranoia.
"You are so serious, what's the matter?"
"Just thinking."
"About?"
"A lot of things, but nothing that would be useful to you."
"You never told anything about yourself. C'mon, how can you expect me to believe in you if you don't trust me?"
"I trust you."
"So, tell me about your past a little. Your family, your friends, your work and those things. I know nothing about you."
"My life isn't exactly the most interesting thing we can talk about."
"Gosh, just tell me."
"Okay, okay." I sighed, what could I say? "My parents were doctors and they taught me all about medicine. I always wanted to be like them, unlike my little sister, who was always asking me to play with her when I was studying. Sometimes it was annoying, but I liked to be with her in my spare time. Perhaps I should have played with her more..."
"Don't think about changing the past, it's not something possible. The important thing here is that you love her, and I bet she loves you, too."
"Yeah, I think she loved me."
"Oh" he looked away for a moment "Sorry, she... well, she passed away?"
"Yes, so did my parents. But that's okay, it happened a long time ago."
"If I had known about this I would never ask you to tell me your past."
"Like I said, that's okay."
A strange silence hung in the air until we finish our meals. This wasn't something I could complain about, I never liked to talk about my past, after all. But that wasn't the biggest problem. The fact was I didn't want to lie to him even more. Fortunately, the chat about my story ended without a single lie.
While Cora-san was paying the bill, I noticed that the seats of the two guys from before were empty. I didn't see when they left, nor if they ate or not. I tried to not think to much about this, it was probably paranoia, after all. On the way home, Cora-san remembered that he had promised to attend to the first training of the new recruits, which was going to start in about 5 minutes.
"Damn, if I don't make it in time, they are going to kill me. Do you know how to get home?"
"Yes. Wait, are you intending to let me walk on the city by myself?" I smirked at the thought that he had a little more confidence in me.
"Take this as a chance to prove that you are really reliable." he sighed and looked straight on my eyes, with a demanding expression on his face. "Directly home, understood?" I just nodded.
Then we went in opposite directions, he to the navy and I to home. It wasn't much, but enough to make me a little happy. Directly home. Well, not that I had much to do. It was what I was thinking until I saw a scene on the end of the street. I stopped for a moment to take a better look and think what to do. Directly home... God, sorry, Cora-san, but I had to interfere, and I knew you would agree.
When I approached, I realized that the two guys who were intimidating Baby-5 and Dellinger – who was hiding behind her – were the men who were at the ramen shop. The two kids were almost against the wall, both frightened and close to tears.
The men weren't apparently armed, just seemed to be asking something that they weren't suppose to, using the clear difference in strength between them to have the answer. Directly home, his words were still echoing on my head, but in the end it didn't stop me from help those two. Not that I really cared about them, however I knew how Cora-san would feel if anything happens to those children. Besides, the men seemed to be after something much more important than just two kids.
"Hey, can I help you?" my usual smirk was on my face before I could even notice. The men jumped in shock by my voice, it seemed that they didn't see when I was getting close.
"We were just asking for some help" the blond, who appeared to be the older, tried to hide his suspicion appearance with a smile while spoke. He was tall and well-muscled, in contrast to his companion, who was small, skinny – almost rawboned – and with a black hair down to his shoulder. The latter was still recovering from his shock by the time the other guy spoke.
"Oh, I see. What kind of help?"
"We were asking for... for directions" the black haired guy helped his friend as he seemed a little wordless, although he himself stuttered as he talked.
"Sorry, that question was for the children."
"They were asking about you." I could see the hesitation in Baby-5's voice. Wait, what? About me? What the hell did they want with me?
"Children" the blond's laugh was clearly fake. "They have a huge imagination, don't they?"
"Indeed" I came back to my calm state as I stared into the depths of his eyes "But, you know, if you want to know something about me, you should ask me directly."
"Okay" he sighed when he noticed that this theater would end up being in vain "We were actually asking questions about you. So, what? You ARE suspicious, don't you think?"
"This is a point we both can agree. However, daunt some children don't make you much better."
"Perhaps. But we weren't aiming for that, we didn't ask to born ugly."
"Now you found something that I can't really blame you. So, what do you want to know about me?"
"I think it is pointless the try to fool you." my lazy nod was enough to answer that, although it was an affirmative sentence "We wanted to know who the hell are you, cause we never got to see your ass around here."
"That's because it's my first time on this city. I'm just a normal traveler with good medical skills."
"So, you aren't a pirate?"
"What makes you think that way?"
"It was just a guess. We are bounty hunters, and we thought that you might be a pirate or something like that."
"Sorry to disappoint you." when I was about to tell Baby-5 and Dellinger to come with me, I notice the unusual attention that the small guy was giving to my broken arm. "What do you want?"
"It... It's nothing" God, could he end a sentence without stutter? "Sorry to bother you. We.. We are going." With that they went away. I didn't make any protest about their leaving, not because I fully trusted their story, but because I didn't care at all. Even if they really were after information about me, they would never find anything useful. However, as a precaution – or maybe curiosity – I thought it was better to know what they've already found out and what they wanted to discover. And there was only one way to do so.
"Hey" When I bent down to talk to them, Baby-5 hugged me, crying as the baby she has always been. "Calm down a little." I tried to calm her as I wiped her tears. "Now, tell me, what exactly did they ask you?"
"Your name, what you do, where you came from, your strength and this stuff."
"And what did you tell them?"
"I said that all that I know was your name, Bepo, right?" I nodded a little reluctant, she probably was scared because she couldn't help them, not because she was worried about me. Sometimes, that fragile personality of her pissed me off. However, I didn't want to fright her even more, so I just petted her hair and told her to go home or wherever she lived and lead Dellinger there too.
When they disappeared from my vision, I sighed in relief. They were okay and that's all I wanted. I knew how Cora-san cared about them. Cora-san... thinking about him made me remember his words from before: Directly home. Damn, the least I could do was to run as fast as I could to get home.
Answers to the guests:
To Apple Boom: Thank you very much hahaha I'm doing my best to attend my followers's expectative ^^ And I bet Law also wants to know the story behind de hat, but will Cora-san speak about it? Idk :3 We have to wait to see ~~
To Rika: Yeah, I also think it was cute... You can't imagine how much I wanted to write it hahahaha It was SO Cora-san! And you are always welcome, I really enjoy writing this fic and know that there are people who enjoy reading it makes me feel even happier! Thanks for your support sz
