I'll probably take more time than usual to upload the next chapter, because I need to plan things in advance and, well, Fire Emblem Fates just came out in Europe. No, I have nothing to say in my defense. It's Fire Emblem. As always, updates about the writing progress will be on tumblr.
I don't know if by the end of this chapter I'll owe some of you an apology, so just in case: I'm sorry! /runs away like a coward
Guest-22: I have a friend over there and she says there's One Piece everywhere! But yes, in a skirt, down a sewer and crotch deep in nasty. Good people have killed for less. And I'm sorry for not updating very often, I swear I do what I can! But chapters keep getting longer and the story keeps getting messier, too…
10. Ends and beginnings
(I can see Paradise)
Marina did not have the good night's rest she deserved.
They did not find pirates in Lymes' sewer, but they found something else. It was mid-afternoon when one of her officers reported that they had found a stash of sealed boxes filled with firearms, gunpowder, and strange-looking fruits. In one of them was an invoice that pointed to Asteria, a seedy town under the jurisdiction of another base. It was widely known that crime ran rampant in that place, but the usual policy was not to interfere as long as it remained contained there.
Marina didn't agree, because crime was a cancer that took every opportunity it had to spread. Her protests hadn't earned her many friends between her colleagues in the area. It was all well, since she didn't have any sympathy for them.
When she had surfaced with her men and the cargo, they had been told that two of their ships had shipwrecked in battle against the Heart Pirates. The irony wasn't lost on her.
She decided to be the bigger person, to not pay a visit to the mayor in that moment, and let her men go back to the base. It wasn't easy, but today's battle had been lost and there was no point in denying the truth.
She spent the rest of the day filling in paperwork and staring at the note they had found in the sewer, unable to get it out of her mind.
Somebody had been using her own city to smuggle weapons under her nose. All these weeks spent chasing smuggling ships, wondering where they were heading and what had made them so uncoordinated, and the leads had been hiding below her feet.
Cross the Calm Belt with stolen ships. Transfer the cargo to another ship and hide it in the sewer. Recover it when the coast is clear and ship it to Asteria.
At full speed and with good conditions, Asteria was less than a day's sail from her location, maybe less if they only loaded the barest essentials on the ship. The only problem was that going there would be overstepping her bounds and onto somebody else's toes.
The Den Den Mushi on her desk rang, and she took a deep breath before picking it up.
"Marina speaking."
"We got the preliminary reports, Captain Marina. Headquarters is not happy."
"Commodore—"
"You've lost two high bounties in two weeks and four ships in two days."
Marina gritted her teeth. "Make that five, according to your propaganda. What was the meaning of that?"
"You are fully aware that we can't admit to the public that we lost a ship to smugglers. A pirate attack is a more adequate explanation for a shipwreck. And this was still the result of your inability to control the waters under your supervision."
"Commodore, we're undermanned, if you'd let me—"
"No, shut up and listen for once, woman. It was ability that made you rise to your rank, and your continuous ineptitude will sink you just as fast. You know that your appointment to the Lymes Branch was not without controversy. If you cannot take the responsibility of guarding the entrance to the Grand Line, we will remove you from your post. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"We expect a full report in the morning."
The Den Den Mushi went back to sleep, and Marina smashed the receiver against her desk, getting tiny fragments stuck in the palm of her hand.
"HOWE!"
The hallway outside Marina's office went deadly silent and Howe appeared tentatively from behind the doorframe.
"C-Captain?"
"We're going to Asteria. Make sure our fastest ship is ready to set sail at dawn."
Upon seeing that he was not going to be on the receiving end of her anger, he squared his shoulders. "Yes, Ma'am!" And with a salute, he left.
—
Saki woke up with the first morning light, and decided that five hours straight of sleep were a success that warranted celebration crepes. She was getting better at this resting business.
Last evening Bepo had docked the sub on an island that reminded her of aunt Fern's descriptions of her homeland. She had once mentioned living near the Red Line before moving to Asteria. Why would anyone in their right mind move to that dump, Saki had never understood, but apparently it had something to do with the island being full of ferns and her parents lacking a healthy dose of imagination when choosing names for their kids. In any case, Saki had always suspected that the woman was slightly off her rocker.
In her sleep-dazed state, she didn't know how much time had passed between her getting out of bed and ready for a new day and the growing pile of crepes to her right. It reached her shoulder, but she knew they'd be gone in a blink when the resident mechanics woke up. Not to mention she had a bear to feed, too.
She started brewing coffee the moment she heard Law's tired footsteps coming from the mess hall. He took a look inside the kitchen, and when he saw coffee wasn't yet ready, went out to the deck.
The pile soon got taller than her, but there was still batter to go, so she kept going.
A wanted poster rudely interrupted her eye contact with the pan, and she had to blink a few times to bring the letters to focus.
"Congratulations," said Law, passing the poster to her.
She dropped the spatula when she saw her picture staring back at her and the words below.
Lucky Clover Saki. 12,000,000 beli.
"What the hell?" She blurted out, thoroughly weirded out. "Where did they get this?"
"What do you mean?"
"This?" She pointed to the epithet.
"You were wearing that dress, remember?"
She blinked a few times as the information tried to permeate her early morning brain. "…Ah. Of course." Memories of being called 'clover girl' and other variants during that day came to mind. "Are the clovers really so conspicuous?"
"They just latch onto the first thing they can think of and stick it to the poster."
She handed the poster back to Law to pick up the spatula from the floor. She recovered from the silly moment with a sarcastic comment, "Good thing 'Red Hair' was taken, or Marine HQ would have been in trouble when my roots started showing."
Law chuckled as he snatched the coffee maker from the range. "There are worse things to be called. Penguin and Shachi got theirs, too."
"And Bepo?"
"I don't think any Marine saw him."
She made a disappointed sound and silently eyed him for a moment. The heart tattoos on his shoulders were yet again poking out of the sleeves of his shirt. She had never seen them entirely, but they looked so well done that she really wanted to. It had absolutely nothing to do with the well-defined deltoids they were inked on.
Heart tattoos. Heart Pirates. It has to mean something.
She really knew so, so little about him. Or, better said, she knew a lot of things about him, but none that were relevant. He didn't like pickled plums and bread, he like his coffee black, although she suspected his coffee habit was more a need to stay awake than a taste for it, he had abysmal sleep patterns, he liked to take naps leaning against Bepo when it was sunny outside. She knew many whats but no whys.
Running the spatula under the faucet, she said, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Do I get one, too?"
"What?" He wanted to ask her something? "Sure, go ahead."
"Why did you smell like a walking tangerine yesterday?"
She was pleasantly surprised by the question. "You noticed?"
Law shrugged. "Hard not to when you're in a sewer."
But guys never noticed these things. Maybe he really was a special snowflake. "Mrs. Angie lent me her shampoo. I was thinking about getting it for me, too. What do you think?"
Law looked at her as if she had asked his opinion on the mating rituals of sea cows. "Why do you want my opinion?"
"If we're going to be stuck in the same ship for the foreseeable future, I might as well ask. What if you hate tangerines, or are allergic to them or something like that? I don't want my captain to be allergic to me."
He gave her a sideways smile. "I'm not allergic to tangerines."
"Good. I'm getting it, then," grabbing another dish to pile more crepes with noticeably more enthusiasm.
"And your question was?"
She thought about the question she meant to ask. She tried to make it sound casual, because it was definitely not on the level of the one he had asked, and now she felt really awkward springing it on him. "Why are you a doctor?"
Law didn't answer right away. In fact, he stayed quiet and still for so long that she thought he had been mortally offended by the question and she began to try to smooth it over, "I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, I was just thinking I don't know much about you and—"
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Don't backpedal. You didn't say anything wrong," What felt wrong was her trying to take it back. Just like her thanks in the sickbay, it made her look smaller, somehow less than she was, and she was small enough already. It was unnerving. "…I was thinking."
"…Oh. Sorry."
"My parents were doctors," he said at last. "I've been studying medicine as far back as my memory goes."
The past tense was the first thing that jumped out at her. Of course someone like him wouldn't have a happy family waiting for him somewhere in this sea. Shachi and Penguin didn't have parents, either. She didn't know if Bepo had, but if he did, they were surely far away. Piracy didn't attract people from nice households.
It surprised her, though, for an entirely different reason. "Yesterday you said you didn't like doctors," she probed. She wanted to know more, but she didn't know how far was too far. Family was always a sticky matter.
"My parents weren't included in that statement, if that's what you're thinking."
She cracked a small smile. "That's good to hear."
Law's own mouth curved up imperceptibly at her reply, but disappeared when he volunteered more information. "I had bad experiences, as you would call them, with doctors as a kid."
That caught her attention. "Why? Were you sick?"
"Very," he said, pensive, staring idly at some point of the kitchen's wall. "Until I was thirteen."
"But you're okay now?"
He turned to her when he heard the alarmed tone, and he found a set of green eyes staring with concern. He searched for traces of pity underneath it, but he couldn't find them.
(He hadn't lied when he said he didn't have that shade in his collection. He'd have to look harder amongst his future victims.)
It was better to think about that than about having someone other than Bepo worry for him. But it was reassuring, particularly after the vote of confidence she had given her yesterday in their downwards slide. She hadn't disappointed, but that had been expected. Law was too good at gauging people to make that sort of slip up. And now he, too, was unintentionally making mental puns about the whole situation. He wondered if they were spending too much time together or it was that he just hadn't had his first morning coffee.
He smirked at her. "I'm here, am I not?"
She stared a bit longer and let out a long breath. "Thankfully."
He wasn't sure how to reply to that, having expected a joking remark back, but she spared him the effort by turning back to her cooking.
The scratch on her neck was still there, less red than the day before, and this time he did lean in and reach for it, fingers lightly brushing the skin when he moved her hair to take a better look at it. The moment he touched her, her face changed and she dropped the spatula again with a jolt.
She snapped her head around to face him, her hand reflexively covering the spot where his had been. "Look, surprisingly, I don't mind all that much that you intrude my personal space, but there's a line and you just crossed it. Don't touch my neck without warning."
Law watched her take a deep breath after the outburst and pick up the cooking utensil, again, while she tried to appear relaxed again without avail. Her shoulders were tense and she was avoiding looking at him. He should have apologized, but he was far more interested in her outburst than sorry.
"What's with that reaction?"
"What reaction," she said indifferently.
"You looked afraid for a moment."
"I was not afraid. I was startled because I don't want those things you have on your fingers going near me."
Law chuckled at the save. He'd let it slide this time. "They aren't contagious."
"I wouldn't be so sure. You caught them on both hands."
And just like that, she poured more batter into the pan and proceeded to use the dirty spatula on the new crepe, which she placed on the empty plate.
Law's brain didn't register right away what had just happened and stared at the crepe with narrowed eyes.
"You…"
"Those two sleep too much. You and Bepo get yours from the other plate."
Deeming it too early to argue, and perhaps because a spiteful part of him wanted to see the world burn for all the inconveniences his insomnia caused him, he dragged himself to a table with a steaming cup of coffee and an empty crepe from the safe pile, leaving her to deal with her bad mood alone.
He wondered if uncomfortable morning talks were going to become a thing between them.
—
Tsubaki always ran late to school, very literally and on purpose. It was an excuse to get some exercise and cut through some of her less explored (read: rather unsavory, unsafe, and many other adjectives that started with a negative prefix) streets. They were okay for the most part during the day, even if she sometimes had to dodge blackout drunks and they were so unkempt that her trips through them resembled an obstacle course.
Again, it was healthy exercise.
There was, however, that part of town that she never set foot on, and if the things she heard around town were true, there had been more movement than usual around that zone since her sister left. Not even Tsubaki was reckless enough to get near that place. Bad things happened to nosy people in Asteria, and she wasn't going to volunteer to find out the specifics of that.
She remembered with a pang of guilt the time Saki had to get her out of a nasty situation. Her sister's nose never was quite the same after that, but she waved it off saying it gave her character. And when people asked about it, she always said she broke it in a bar brawl. Come to think of it, it was her go-to explanation for every other injury she had gotten. Tsubaki was pretty sure her sister had never been in a bar brawl before, but everybody else had no trouble believing it. Must be the tattoos and piercings.
All of the above was the reason that, as soon as she saw an unknown girl heading there, she stopped her sprint to shout. "Hey! Don't go there! It's dangerous!"
When the stranger turned around to look at her, several things ran through her mind at this point:
She doesn't look much older than me.
She's so beautiful.
And,
I wonder where she bought that skirt?
The girl rubbed the back of her neck and grinned at her. "Sorry! I got lost in the alleys. You say it's dangerous over there?"
"Yep." It was obvious now that the girl wasn't a local, or she wouldn't be asking that sort of thing. "That part of town is really dangerous for everybody. But this part," she gestured to their surroundings, "is dangerous for travelers too. I'd leave if I were you."
"Oh, wow! I had no idea! It was so quiet I thought it was safe."
"The market is down that alley and to the right," Tsubaki offered. "That's better. There's only pickpockets there."
"Better be on my way, then. Thank you for the info! You take care too!"
Tsubaki waved her goodbye and watched until she disappeared around the corner just to make sure nobody jumped her. What was she thinking, walking alone wearing such expensive-looking clothes? And she had such a pretty smile, and it had been all for her. Tsubaki giggled as she resumed her race to school.
Tourists.
—
Law only noticed he had fallen asleep next to his third coffee cup when the lively voices in the mess deck woke him up. From his undignified position on the table he could see his three furless crewmates chatting at the farthest end of the table, and as the conversation advanced he wasn't sure he wanted to know what the topic at hand was.
"Why is yours bigger than mine?" Shachi lamented.
Saki gave him a smirk and a knowing smile. "What, are you jealous?"
"Wha—no! But this is how I measure up against other guys now!"
She waved him off. "You wouldn't know what to do with a bigger one anyway."
"Oh, I do. I'm gonna work on it until it gets huge, and first thing I'll do when it goes up will be wave it in your face!"
"Why are you so competitive? Penguin's is smaller than yours and he's fine with it."
"It doesn't matter how big it is, but what you do with it," Penguin said sagely.
"This guy knows what he's talking about."
"That's what guys with tiny ones say," Shachi muttered.
Penguin bonked his friend on the back of the head. "Not cool, man. Besides, if we're talking about impressive ones you just have to look Captain's."
Law blinked lazily when he heard himself being mentioned.
"I know, he showed it to me this morning!" Saki said.
Law blinked again, startled. He did what?
"He did? I didn't think he was the type to brag."
"Oh, you know, he put it casually on the table, like he didn't know what he was doing, but who pulls it out like that if he doesn't want others to look?"
"There's one thing that bothers me about it, though," Penguin said, and his companions eyed him curiously. "It's so long I don't know how it fits!"
"Yeah, it's a mouthful," Shachi agreed. "Whoever has to make that fit has one hell of a workload."
"I knew a girl back home who did that sort of thing. Said customers always wanted everything crammed in without any regards for her."
"Some people are dicks."
At the mention of the magic word, Law realized that maybe the conversation wasn't about what he had thought it was. "What are you talking about?"
"Morning, Captain! We were talking about the bounties!"
"Your name and epithet barely fit on the poster," Penguin said.
Eyeing said paper, Saki added, "How does it feel to have a surname?"
"Now that you mention it, he's the only one of us who has one, is he?"
"That's why I'm the captain," Law said, amused.
"Well!" Shachi said, stretching on his seat. "Now that everyone's awake, what's the plan for the day?"
—
Stowhaven was a small but busy town close to the Red Line. It wasn't as close to Reverse Mountain as Lymes, but at the same time, it was much farther away from the Marine base. Law would have preferred not to waste time there, but arriving to Lymes under such bad weather conditions, not to mention the situation with the Marines, had made it impossible to stock up properly. Even if the crew was small, he didn't want to set foot on the Grand Line without provisions for months. Who knew what they would encounter there and where they could replenish supplies? He wasn't going to leave something so vital up to chance.
Alone with Bepo in the bridge, he watched from a window the rest of his crew as they left with a shopping list the size of the New World. He needed to review their route with Bepo and prepare for any kind of emergency.
The navigator was on his desk, books and papers all over, concentrated on a map of currents. He'd been at it since dawn, and when he hadn't appeared for breakfast Saki had brought him a plate of salmon filled crepes. She had a soft spot for Bepo and tried to cook things she knew he liked. Law never questioned this logic, because Bepo did deserve the best and it was nice to see someone else valuing his job for what it was. He handled an enormous responsibility, and anybody who questioned his navigator's abilities just because he wasn't human could go fuck themselves.
"If you keep furrowing your brow like that, it's going to get stuck that way," Law said to his friend.
"Huh? Like yours?" Bepo commented absentmindedly. Law was struck speechless for the second it took Bepo to realize what he had said and cover his mouth with his paws. "I'm sorry!"
He brushed it off. "I guess I brought it on myself. Any luck with the route?"
"Ah, yes," Bepo was glad to get an excuse to change the subject. "The way to Reverse Mountain is clear, but as I said before, we need to be very careful with the currents. I'll need help with the helm. We also need to watch out for the weather. It changes fast, so I won't be able to tell how it is what we'll find until I can see the clouds above it, but the book says that blizzards aren't unheard of. We may have to turn around if it's too bad…" He said, avoiding Law's gaze during the last part in a silent apology. "There's one good thing, though!"
"Which is?"
"The curve of the path isn't too sharp from North Blue, since the Grand Line goes in the same direction we'll be sailing towards. Sailors from East and South Blue have it worse. They have to pull a swerve in a forty-two degree angle," Bepo shuddered. "That's suicidal."
"Do you think there will be wreckage on the way?"
"It's likely, but it shouldn't be a problem unless we find it a lot of it at the top. Once we've made the turn and are on our way down, we just need to keep straight."
"Easier said than done, if the currents are that strong."
"Don't worry," Bepo said, determined. "As long as I'm here, we'll be safe."
Law smiled. "I don't doubt it one bit."
—
"'Kay, guys, brace yourselves for the next one." Saki turned the pages of the shopping list, looking for the few things that were left. She was carrying three bags on each arm, which was nothing compared to what Penguin and Shachi were lugging around. "Huh… I think we're done!"
Shachi mouthed a 'THANK FUCK' to the sky above and let the bags fall to the ground with a thud.
Penguin grimaced. "I hope you weren't carrying the eggs."
"…Shit."
"ANYWAY!" Saki exclaimed right away, deciding she had not heard what had just happened, "I need to find the post office. I won't make you cart this around," she added as soon as she saw their faces. "You can head to the sub and I'll be back in no time."
"You sure you'll be fine on your own?" Shachi asked.
Saki put a hand against her hip and eyed her companion with suspicion. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You have a bounty now."
Saki's mouth formed a perfect circle. "You're worried about me?"
"What—no!" He spluttered, flushing slightly.
"Aw, Shachi, you do care!"
"Remind me to never be nice to you again."
"I'd hug you if I weren't carrying bags!"
"I'll pass, thanks!"
"Who are you sending letters to, by the way?" Penguin interrupted.
"They're for the kids back home."
Shachi's jaw fell and he said, alarmed. "You have kids?!"
"Wha—" Saki stared at him, at a loss for words, and started laughing as if she'd heard an amazing joke. "They're my siblings, dumbass!"
That didn't seem to calm Shachi. "You mean there are more of you!?"
"No, we're not related by blood," she said when the laughter subsided.
"Good, you had me worried."
"Yeah, it's for the best," she agreed, earning her a pair of raised eyebrows. "Well, see you in a bit. I'm sure you want to drop off those as fast as you can."
"Don't take long," Penguin said. "We need to rescue Captain and Bepo for lunch."
"Yeah, don't know how they can spend so much time indoors."
With a nod from her, the guys began to make their way to the sub, and she watched until they disappeared in the middle of the crowd.
It dawned on her how strange it felt to be alone on the street again. She hadn't had a chance to walk outside on her own since she had left Asteria, and as used as she was to go here and there on her own, now there was a nagging sensation at the back of her mind. Maybe the bounty was making her uneasy.
Yes, it was definitely the bounty. It wasn't that she missed the company.
Unlike the occupants of Lymes, the people of this town didn't seem to mind pirates. They had docked safely in the port, where their Jolly Roger had not been the only one proudly displayed, and she'd only seen passing glances at the emblem on the guy's boiler suits. He wasn't so sure that having the Jolly Roger emblazoned on the back was such a good idea, though. It was like asking to get stabbed from behind.
The comparison brought her back to the incident in the kitchen, and instead of dwelling on that she decided to ask somebody for directions and get her solitary trip over with.
She didn't know what made her angrier, the (unintentional, a little voice in her head reminded her) scare he had given her or the fact that she had gotten scared in the first place.
It was his fault. You didn't touch from behind a woman who had been working with shady guys for years. Particularly not on the neck.
The same annoying voice from before told her it was her own damn fault for letting her guard down, and this was why getting comfortable with others was a mistake.
She had already felt like an idiot for getting startled the day before when they had fallen in the canal. It was one thing to help him because that was what was expected of her, and she would have done regardless it of circumstance because she owed him, but her heart skipping a few beats when she had realized he wasn't rising from the water because he was physically incapable to had been completely unnecessary. She had took the scare out on him and it was well-deserved.
She held back a frustrated groan when she realized he had scared her two days in a row. This wasn't good, and the things he told her weren't helping. He could have been an asshole –to be fair, he was an asshole, but in a different way, and Saki wasn't a glowing example of human decency either—and she would have had a good excuse to dislike him and not build any kind of attachment to him, like when she worked for Rickhard. But then he had gone and unceremoniously lifted her impending death sentence from her, showed concern for her health, and he had decided to divulge that he had been sick as a child, too.
In the month they had known each other, he had treated her better than most people she had known her whole life. She couldn't dislike him if she tried, and the worst part was that she didn't think she wanted to.
She could see why Bepo liked him so much. She could even understand why Penguin and Shachi had decided to join him. There was something alluring about him when you got over his ridiculous fashion sense and godawful tattoos, that much she could easily admit.
Funny how the idea of leaving the crew had vanished from her mind.
Deciding that lone errands were not worth it if they were going to make her think so hard, she made her way distractedly through the busy street, idly apologizing when she bumped into someone with her shopping bags.
It was her last day on North Blue and she didn't want to waste it with heavy thoughts. She'd think about her new tangerine shampoo. Fruit always made everything better.
—
Bepo was organizing all the maps strewn over his desk in a neat stack. Law was gave one last look at them, and he saw different type of document under one of the papers.
It was a drawing of Indent Bay. Law instantly recognized the landscape that they could see from the deck of the sub for the week they had been there.
"What's this?"
Bepo looked up from his papers. "Ah! Saki's doing these landscapes to mail them home. I saw her one day while she was drawing and asked her if she could get them done for the logbook too. I thought you'd like them."
"So this is a copy?"
"No, she mailed the first one when we were still on Indent Bay. She made this one last week or so. I must have gotten it mixed with the other papers." Bepo cast his head down. "Sorry, I meant to tell you before, but I forgot."
"You've been working hard," Law said, and Bepo looked relieved. "We'll need to find someone who can take turns with you when we're sailing. You need to rest, and I know I'm not much use up here."
"That's not true! You help a lot at night while I'm sleeping."
"Wouldn't you prefer not to have all the navigation duties fall on your shoulders?"
"Well… yes, but I can manage. Don't worry about it."
Law smiled. "We'll find you some help."
Bepo smiled back. "Speaking of finding, Penguin was complaining yesterday that he and Shachi could do with a few more hands in the boiler and engine rooms. And Saki's been saying for some time that she's no cook and she doesn't think she'll be capable to keep up when the crew gets bigger."
Law stood silent for a moment, perplexed. "Why haven't they told me?"
Bepo shrugged. "I don't know. I guess they don't want to bother you. You haven't been looking too good lately."
"You say that because you know me. It isn't that evident, is it?"
"I think…" Bepo mulled over his thoughts before replying carefully, "…they notice many things. We spend a lot of time together and we get along. No matter how much you fake it, they'll end up knowing if something's wrong."
Sheepishly, Law brought a hand to the back of his neck and looked away from his best friend. "I have a lot on my mind."
"I know. But remember we're here to help." Bepo said with a smile, and as an afterthought he added, "Yesterday was fun, wasn't it? And everybody worked together. I think you're putting together a good crew."
Law chuckled. "It's reassuring to hear it from you."
—
As soon as he went on deck, Law recognized the view. He knew he'd have to go outside sooner or later, but he still had made a point of staying with Bepo for as long as he could. The last time he had sailed to this town, it had been on a small boat, and when he left, he had left behind the local hospital in flames, thanks to Cora-san, who had somehow managed to catch his own coat on fire as well.
Law was tired of North Blue. Tired of happening time after time upon islands he'd already been to, and it was a testament to Cora-san's thoroughness that it had happened so often in the past ten years, travelling with Bepo wherever the currents took them.
He hadn't looked forward to making his last stop here. Lymes should have been the last one, if not for bad weather and timing, and he could have left this sea behind without having to remember, again, that despite having lived in it for twenty-four years there would be nothing left behind for him to show. Not even four tombstones that, by all rights, should have existed. Law didn't believe in an afterlife and didn't put much stock in honoring the dead, but this, not even being able to give them a grave where each of them could rest, made him bitter to the core.
He had been a kid, powerless and pitifully weak. But he wasn't one anymore, and he was going to set things right. He would make Doflamingo pay and raise hell for the World Government for as long as he lived. It was the least they deserved.
Shachi and Penguin were chatting against the railing of the sub, facing the town and the people coming and going on the port. Law noticed he was missing a red-head on board.
"Yo, Captain! Finally coming out?" Shachi greeted.
"Yeah," he said, lifting his hat to ruffle his hair and putting it down again. It was a hot day, as if summer was trying to make its presence known in its last days. He smiled at the men, trying not to dwell on thoughts that were doing nothing good for him. "Did you find everything on the list?"
"Yeah, already brought everything inside too. Oddly enough, there weren't many eggs for sale." Penguin coughed awkwardly.
"We heard chickenpox is doing a number on the island," Shachi said.
Law rose an eyebrow. "That's not how chickenpox w—"
"Aaaand now we're just waiting for Saki to come back," Penguin interrupted and sent a nervous glance at Shachi that meant 'shut up you pea-brained oaf' before Law could send them shopping again.
"She didn't come back with you?"
"She said she had to mail a letter—"
"—I told her it was a bad idea to go alone," Shachi said upon seeing Law's frown.
"We were carrying a ton of bags each."
"We could have carried them longer."
"She was trying to be nice, dude."
"Well she isn't, she doesn't need to try."
"It's all right," Law interrupted, releasing a small sigh. Figures she'd go off on her own despite the bounty on her head. He didn't think she'd get in trouble in such a short time span, but he'd have preferred that someone was there to watch her back. "This town isn't dangerous. But," he warned, changing the tone for a more authoritative one, "from the moment we get to the Grand Line, I want everybody in pairs at least, no matter what. Understood?"
Saki chose that moment to walk up the gangplank in a hurry. "Sorry! Am I late?"
"Don't go off on your own again. Understood?" He repeated.
The other three replied in a chorus.
"Told you so," Shachi said under his breath.
Mimicked a mock 'told you so' in silence and walked briskly to the door to leave her shopping bags inside.
—
When Bepo was done with his preparations, the pirates got off the sub and followed Penguin and Shachi to a decent tavern they had seen on their way back from shopping.
It wasn't far from the port, and it appeared to be filled by travelers and locals alike, bustling with conversation and laughter. That was, until the Heart Pirates went inside.
Saki had spent enough time luring unsuspecting victims in busy taverns that she had developed a sixth sense to know when something was fishy. Conversation became stilted when they went inside, and a few patrons glanced at them nervously before going back to their meals.
She decided she didn't care much for bounties if this was the effect they had on people. The stares were different than the ones she had noticed Law getting so far, though. In the brief time she'd been around him, she had noticed two main types of reactions from people who recognized him: they stared in awe or they tried their best not to look at him in case Law felt insulted and took away a few eyes for his collection.
(He hadn't been lying about it. Saki had found it during one cleaning day, behind the mysterious door between her room and the captain's quarters, and she had decided that she would leave the dusting of that particular storage room to Law. It wasn't that she was squicked by the eyeballs suspended in jars, but the smell was strong and she had been feeling a little seasick since their departure from Asteria. Best not to test her questionable luck.
She did take a moment to make sure that, indeed, he did not have eyes in her shade. From then she made sure to lock her door every night just in case, until Penguin's head became intimate with the wooden surface. She figured in the worst of cases she could live without eyes, but not with an impaired mechanic on whom the crew's life depended.)
But these people seemed curious, nervous, maybe, not afraid.
The bartender sized them up and asked, "Table for five?"
Law nodded.
"There's one over there," the man motioned to a free one, and looking nervously at Law, he said, "You may want to leave quickly."
"We aren't here to cause any trouble."
The bartender shook his head. "It's not you. Another pirate crew has been frequenting the tavern. You don't want to cross paths with them."
"Why wouldn't we?"
"They're the Splinter Pirates. Their captain's Splinter Leg Gonzalo."
"He's thirty-six million," Saki informed automatically. "Likes to break his peg legs on enemies' heads."
"That's laughable," Penguin said.
Shachi nodded. "And expensive."
"Let them come," Law said, completely calm. "We aren't going to hide."
The bartender didn't insist, but the eyes under his bushy eyebrows looked at them with pity, like someone who's seen many young people think they are at the summit of the world just to be stomped on by the next guy. The pirates sat, a young boy took their order, and nobody paid them any mind anymore.
Lunch went by without incident. The food was good. Law said to an uneasy bartender that they'd come back at night.
—
When they did, the bartender shot them the same you-don't-know-what-you're-doing glance as before, the boy took their orders, and they waited.
They were finishing their meals, not without some lingering disappointment at the boring normalcy of the day, when the door of the tavern burst open and in came a group of men laughing loudly. The leader, who walked in front of the group, was the noisiest of all, and moved like he owned the place. His beard had bald patches and he also looked like him and his clothes hadn't seen water for a month.
The conversation in the venue quieted down as the pirates walked to a big table that was occupied by a group of young locals, who immediately stood up and went to the bar to pay, leaving their meals half eaten and their seats vacant. Some of the newcomers laughed, and they occupied the table.
The other conversations kept quiet, perhaps making the pirate crew sound more obnoxious than they already were.
"I didn't think these things actually happened outside stories," Penguin said, impressed.
"You said you didn't have trouble with pirates on Indent Bay, right?" Law asked.
"Yeah. I suppose it's because we supplied the Marines as well. You can imagine what would happen to somebody who screwed with our company."
"And we kicked out of the warehouse anyone who didn't want to pay up front. Saved us problems and relieved stress. Didn't happen often, though…"
"Figures. You part on bad terms with the guys who built your boilers, and what do you do when one breaks?"
"Cry and shower with cold water."
"Or not shower at all," said Bepo with clear distaste, casting a sideways glance at the other pirate crew.
"This kind of thing wouldn't fly in my town either," Saki commented.
"Really? Wasn't it a free-for-all kind of place?" Penguin asked.
"That's why. I saw some pirates try to pull this in one of the port's taverns," she smiled fondly at the memory. "It was pretty funny."
"What happened?"
"When the owner saw they were trying to intimidate his customers, he pulled a shotgun from under the counter and pointed it to the captain."
"And the full crew was in the room? That takes guts."
"Well, the thing is that when the pirates tried to attack him, the sailors around them took out pistols and knives to stop them, so then they grabbed a waitress hostage."
"That's low."
"It's routine," Saki shrugged it off. "She pulled a tiny gun from her sleeve—"
"What."
"—and shot the man in the arm, and when the others tried to grab her, her friend pulled a flintlock she carried under her apron,"
"What the—"
"—and a working girl threw a beer bottle at a pirate's head and yelled that if they wanted to grab some booty they could fuck off and look for hidden treasure or pay her five thousand beli each, and well, you can imagine how the rest went."
"They went for that girl?"
"Of course not," Saki said as if it had been a crazy assumption. "The sailors beat those guys to a pulp, the waitresses took their wallets as tips, and they turned up in a ditch a week later. I think their ship was sold to smugglers to pay for the damage to the building. The owner bought nicer chairs, too, so everybody won."
Shachi started laughing.
"…I didn't think these things actually happened outside stories."
The laughter caught the attention of the Splinter Pirates. They turned to see what the fuss was about, because how dare somebody raise their voice in the tavern when they were inside, and then one of them said, "Hey, you're the bitch that bumped into me earlier!"
Four heads turned to Saki, and in their faces was written 'what did you do when we weren't looking?'
She glared at the guys. "Some confidence you have in me. I have no clue who that guy is."
Law relaxed on his chair, at least apparently, but his eyes didn't leave the other pirates and rested his sword against his shoulder. He was ready to jump at any given second.
The staredown continued as Splinter Leg Gonzalo walked to their table with a knock-thump-knock sound and the tavern went quiet to watch the scene.
The Heart Pirates didn't look impressed. Bepo, in particular, was contorting his face as the man's stench assaulted his senses from closer up. This wasn't being a great week for his nose. Law sent him a sympathetic look.
"I've smelled worse," Penguin said.
Saki nodded without enthusiasm. "Definitely."
"Is this an intimidation tactic?" Shachi said in a fake whisper.
"Look at him," Saki said. "So dramatic. Basking in the attention."
"So much swag."
"When do you think he will start waving at the crowd?"
"How pretentious for a guy who can't grow a full beard."
"He doesn't even have a surname."
"HAH," Splinter Leg's voice boomed through the room, and it was painfully clear that he was talking loud so everybody could hear, "aren't you the new kid with the big bounty?"
"I have a name, Splinter Leg-ya. It would be in your best interest to remember it."
There was shuffling of chairs around the other pirates' table, but their captain put a hand up to stop them and laughed heartily. "I have better things to do than learn the names of every brat that flies a black flag and fashions himself a pirate."
Law was opening his mouth to reply, but Shachi blurted out, "Yeah, like taking a shower," and Penguin and Saki couldn't hold their laughter any longer. Law hid a very convenient cough behind a hand.
Disconcerted at the lack of fear he was instilling, Splinter Leg Gonzalo changed tactics and faced Saki, very serious.
"One of my men says you bothered him."
"This is what I get for being polite and saying sorry—"
"How are you going to compensate him?"
Penguin turned to her. "No, really, is this happening?"
The bartender interrupted them in an effort to save his furniture from destruction, "Sir, please, don't mind them, they were leaving already—"
"We weren't," Law said loud and clear.
"You'll be," and when Splinter Leg tried to step closer to Law, everybody in the table stood up. The presence of a grown bear in an orange jumpsuit became noticeable at once.
"Is… that a bear?"
"I am," Bepo replied.
There were a few screams around them.
"What in the—!"
"It's a monster!"
"It speaks!"
Bepo frowned and looked at the pirates defiantly. "I'm not sorry."
"Mister," Saki called the bartender, who was frozen with a vacant stare, probably wondering if the insurance would cover the damages that were about to happen, "if we get rid of them can we have our food for free?"
It wasn't probably the sort of question the man was expecting, but he nodded weakly, still.
At this point, the other pirates had left the table to come to their captain's support.
"Who do you think you—"
Saki ducked behind Penguin even before the man extended an arm towards her, and suddenly Law was up from his seat and the other captain was knocked out on the floor after getting a sword sheath to the windpipe.
For a few surreal seconds, the room sat in complete, stunned silence.
Penguin gently patted the bartender on the shoulder, prompting him to move before he got caught in the fight.
"Who's next?" Called Law.
Some were stupid enough to try, and the rest followed behind because they had to.
A blue sphere swallowed the room, and when the first few to shoot fell to the ground by their own bullets, Saki thought that this really was a useful power.
—
Saki knew, like she knew every night, that she needed to sleep, but instead she was folding clothes in her room. It wasn't even that late, but Law wanted to leave early in the morning to get as much daylight as possible when they got to the Grand Line.
It felt so strange to think about it. Her parents had worked in the Grand Line, before she was born, and she had hoped to see it someday, but never expected to be able to.
Usually, she wasn't one to be unnerved before a situation went awry, but she found herself nervously taking out the few clothes she had brought with her and rearranging them inside the chest in her room. There was a new item she didn't know what to do with. She looked at the folded square on top of her bedsheets, and a pattern of daisies and dandelions danced tauntingly in her vision.
She had planned to trash the dress, because she was absolutely, 100% completely sure that she was never wearing it again. But she hadn't, because when she had slipped out of it in the bathroom, she had noticed it had a saving grace that made up for every con.
It had pockets. Pockets! Two of them, nice and wide! So she washed it, put it in the drier, and sneaked it out of the laundry room before any of the guys could see it. They wouldn't understand. They had pockets everywhere.
She hid it under the rest of her clothes, closed the chest's lid and sat on it. She had a headache, but that wasn't anything new. She'd had them for years, never incapacitating but always pulsing in the background, though in the past two weeks they had been subsiding. She'd always attributed them to stress, but after what Law said the day before, it made her think that it could have been the aster powder's fault. Insomnia, headaches, nausea that maybe wasn't seasickness at all. She had been on heavy painkillers for a few days after the operation, so she had probably, unknowingly, skipped the worst of the withdrawal headaches. Wasn't she fortunate.
She was restless and she didn't feel like sleeping at all, so she took her sketchbook and made her way to the upper deck to get some drawing done while she had the time. It was always better to draw in front of the model than try to remember later.
She was barefoot, not a great idea considering the temperature outside, but she wanted to avoid bothering the others with the sound of her heels against the wood. Besides, she liked the cold.
She found the door to the higher deck open, and her first though was that Splinter Leg Gonzalo had come for revenge, as unlikely as it was given that they had left him no legs to splinter anymore, and she walked up the last steps in absolute silence. As soon as she went outside, it became clear that it wasn't the case, and she relaxed.
Law was leaning on the railing, staring absently at the scattered lights that were still lit in the town. It wasn't as if the view was very interesting, either. A fairly new building that housed the town's hospital was the major landmark in the view he had from that spot. She would have felt more inclined to be on the starboard side, in his place.
She approached him, quietly, because the floorboards of the deck weren't yet old enough to creak, and he didn't seem to notice her.
But he did. He always noticed everything, the bastard. She wondered why was she going in his direction at all, if she should say anything or sit far from him or turn around and resign herself to do the drawing from memory. And she needed one for Bepo, too.
Law lifted the weight of making a decision from her by speaking. "You should go to bed."
He didn't say it with much conviction, either because he was getting used to her irregular sleep patterns or because he was worse than her. At least she just fell asleep late and woke up early. He woke up constantly in the middle of the night, to the point that he didn't try to keep sleeping anymore. He took naps when he could, and coffee the rest of the time. It worked for him.
Saki thought there was no point on staying back anymore, so she went up to him, "Shouldn't you too?"
Law turned around with a smart retort ready, but he stopped himself to look up and down at her.
Saki automatically took a small step back. "What?"
He smirked. "You really are short." Without heels, the top of Saki's head barely reached Law's shoulders.
Stunned in surprise at the sudden offense, and out of any other semi-dignified course of action since bonking him on the top of the head with the sketchbook was not an option (not because it may have annoyed him, but because it was way too high up), she yelled, "You are too tall!" and left the way she had come, fuming.
She'd leave the drawing for another day.
—
"Go to the market! Run! Run!"
The air was thick with smoke and an unbearable heat, ashes raining down on the entire street. Take's cries brought Tsubaki back to earth, and without missing a beat she took his hand and ran as fast as her brother's legs and the uncomfortable weight on her back allowed them to, taking every shortcut she had learned in her life. There was flaming debris falling from the buildings, and she didn't register half of the people they crossed were running in their opposite direction. Getting to the market, where the street wasn't narrow and there was a quick path to the sea, was the only objective in mind. There would be neighbors there, and the grown-ups would know what was happening and what to do, and they'd only have to wait until grandpa came to pick them up and they were safe again.
But the closer they got to the market, the louder the yelling got, and they didn't sound as panicked as they should have been in the middle of a massive fire. As soon as the main street came to view, a deafening burst of gunfire hit the wall of a nearby building and stray bullets ricocheted inches shy of them. Tsubaki immediately pulled her brother between two buildings that hadn't been engulfed by the fire, not yet, and they caught their breath as they listened.
There was a battle going on behind them, on the market street, where they should have been safest. It wasn't like the shootings that happened every now and then, it sounded much bigger and more professional. Tsubaki poked her head just enough to look in the direction of their home, and she was horrified at the sight. From there, it looked like the entirety of the island had been swallowed by fire. Tsubaki had seen her fair share of fires in the town, because wooden structures were the norm, but neighbors rallied together when they happened and never let them get out of hand. This fire had spread too wide, too fast, and they barely had had any time to get out of their beds before it was upon them.
Take was hugging her waist and weeping quietly, swallowing his sobs as they came. She put an arm around him in a vague attempt at comfort, but she didn't know what to do. They couldn't stay there. They couldn't go back the way they had come, and they sure as hell couldn't find refuge in the marketplace. Who was fighting there? What was going on?
Water. It was the only thing that her mind could come up with. Fire couldn't get to them in the water.
"Take," she said with urgency, and the knot in her throat made it hard, "we need to move. Hold on a little longer, 'kay?"
She took his whimper as a yes, lifted the neckline of his shirt to cover his mouth and nose, and began to lead him through the alley, in the direction of the waterfront. The stone-built docks should be safe if they found a place to hide and none of the strangers fighting shot them, and they didn't swallow too much smoke… too many ifs.
There were more ships than she had expected, and she would have known because one of them was big. No big merchant ships or cruises stopped in the island, so she would have heard from somebody if one had. People rushed in and out of it, carrying firearms, and she did her best to stay in the shadows cast by the buildings against the flames in the near distance.
They ran to the quietest part of the waterfront, an old dock where only a few abandoned and dingy boats floated, took Take in her arms and walked down the steps that ended somewhere under water level. She sat down as low as she could and leaned against the stone at her right, her boots half-submerged in the sea as she ran her fingers through her brother's hair in a soothing motion, like their mother did when a nightmare woke them in the middle of the night.
The screams and the gunshots didn't cease, and they became a background sound that accompanied her as she drifted in and out of sleep, wondering what would their parents do in her place, what would her sister do, and the weight of her own thoughts became too heavy to bear.
Tsubaki dreamed of mom and dad, alive and well, and Saki being back home and quiet and silent, like she was when they were little girls, and aunt Du that she had only seen in photographs but everybody talked so fondly of, and both of their families were together and happy like they had once been.
She woke up at dawn with a rifle pointed straight to her face. Somebody out of her line of sight saved her from an early demise.
"What are you doing? Get that thing away from them! They're kids!"
"The girl has a sword," a man said.
"For the love of—she's a schoolgirl, I met her yesterday when we were combing the hideout area."
The man lifted the weapon at once, and Tsubaki blinked a few times. Her eyes stung and she couldn't focus. She barely recognized the girl she had met the day before on her way to class, who kneeled next to her and reached out to touch her face.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Tsubaki nodded weakly, but the gesture was far from convincing.
"We need to get out of here. Let's take them to the ship."
Tsubaki heard approaching steps and somebody tried to take her brother away from her. She tightened her grip on him, but she was too weak to resist –'Don't worry, you'll be together' said the girl, and Tsubaki had no choice but to let go—, and she felt her own body being picked up and lifted a moment later.
—
"Holy shit, what is this wind!?"
"Do you listen to anything Bepo says?"
"'Course I do! But I don't understand half of it when he starts talking weather!"
"Will you stop bickering and help me!?" Saki yelled.
Penguin and Shachi got back to the ropes that secured the ship's main sail and pulled. The canvas, aided by the wild winds that blew near Reverse Mountain, resisted their efforts to move it. Any other weather would have been better –rain, hail, even a thunderstorm—, but it didn't matter how sunny it was when this sort of wind blew. Fishermen knew better than to venture when the winds blew so strong, and you knew you were doing something stupid when men who made their living in the sea decided to stay at home for the day. Bepo had looked at the cloudless sky over the mountain with furrowed brows, then at his expectant captain, and he seemed to decide something in the moment he declared he would sail the sub all the way up the mountain by relying on the engine. Law had shared a heavy look with him that none of the others understood, but the navigator didn't back down, and then he ordered to take in the sails.
They went as fast as they could, because even Bepo was having trouble keeping the rudder straight, and it was plain why as soon as they hit the deck.
After one or two minutes that seemed much longer, with the sub rocking wildly around them and getting splashed by high waves, the huge black sail complied and slowly retracted until it couldn't oppose any more resistance to the wind or change their intended course.
Law must have been watching from one of the bridge's windows, because the engine blared to life while they were still trying to regain their breath, and the sub began to make its way through the waves in a smoother way.
Saki held onto the railing that oversaw the lower deck to avoid being swept away by the wind. The Red Line stood, imposing, before the sub, and from her point of view it looked like they were heading straight towards a wall, but there had to be an opening there that she couldn't see. If Bepo said it was there, it was there, and there was no discussion about it. The guys soon joined her attempts to not get blown away, and their thoughts couldn't have been very far from her own. They had stopped talking and were watching with anticipation as the rocky wall grew closer and the crashing waves sent salt water spray everywhere, until they were so close they really began to think that they were about to become pirate pancakes on sharp rocks—
But they didn't, and then the sub shifted and its speed picked up, sending their backs against the metal bars. Saki turned around to see that it wasn't the wind or the speed what was sending them back, it was the inclination of the ship because they were sailing up a mountain.
If Shachi's face was anything to go by, he wasn't the only one in need to some time to let it sink. It was one thing to hear it, like with Devil Fruits, and a very different one to experience it first hand. Normal people never saw those sorts of things in their life.
Penguin, on the other hand, was looking at the foamy trail of the sub with a grin from ear to ear.
Then, like a theme park ride, the sub's speed decreased as they got to the top, and they had only a few precious seconds to see the traces of flotsam around them and take in what they meant when they began going down, and gravity and water currents worked together to put to shame the speed of the upwards trip.
Shachi almost lost his sunglasses with the momentum and wow he had pretty eyes, and with the distraction Saki lost her footing and would have met the floorboards headfirst had Penguin not hooked an arm around her in time. She straightened herself quickly, a hand never leaving the railing, and looked forward.
The submarine got to the bottom of the mountain and a giant wave splashed water over the deck. This was it.
The Grand Line.
They ran forward like sugar deprived kids after an ice-cream cart and only stopped to take in the view when they slammed against the front railing. The wind was gentler this side of the Red Line and the waters weren't as wild, but sunlight had trouble permeating the mist at the foot of the mountain. They could make out the shape of two lighthouses flanking the stream that led into the Grand Line.
The door behind them opened and out came Law and Bepo, both looking extremely pleased.
"Twin Cape," Law announced, and the rest of the crew broke out in cheer.
—
Marina's ship got to Asteria at noon, and she saw a phantom city. Her men grouped around her in high alert, but there was no movement, no sound, no life in sight. Smoke still drifted from some buildings, and the smell of burnt wood and paint and fabric and flesh permeated the air in a revolting stench. There were corpses. There always were corpses when something like this happened.
If I had come one day sooner, she thought. Just one day.
She walked up the main street, leaving imprints on the ashes and the soot in the ground, staring at the ruins with so much intensity that she could have willed survivors to come forth. But none did.
She took off her jacket, pulled a bandanna from a pocket, and tied it around her head with a firm knot to keep the long curls from falling on her face.
"Search the entire island and look for survivors." She ordered. "They are our priority. Anything else that comes up can wait."
The soldiers began organizing themselves and she walked to the nearest building to push aside a fallen wooden beam. She would find.
