Here it is folks: Chapter 12! Woot!
So… thank you faithful readers… especially you my dearest reviewers:
Jen567, Moonlight Calls, Vampire Revan, TrunksgirlBlaze27, animelovercillas, and Youz
Okay, I'm done chatting: On with the story!
"I don't like rope anywhere near my neck." She looked away and got up. "Let's get some lunch." She walked out.
Alana made sandwiches for everyone and served them, with chopped vegetables, on the deck.
"Have you finished moving into the lower deck?" Law asked.
The wind woman nodded, stretching out in the sun.
"Good." Law nodded, leaning back against a sleeping Bepo.
"She's going to bake a cake for me for helping her move her stuff." Nicolai grinned.
"Right!" Alana chuckled. "I've got to go get started on that." She got up and stretched before going back down to the kitchen. The wind woman started dinner, then started on the cake.
For the most part, no one bothered her as she bustled around the kitchen, working.
Dinner that night was beef stroganoff over rice.
"So…" Roland's eyes lit up mischievously, "she's cute and she cooks. I'd say you picked a keeper, Captain."
"Roland." Law didn't look up from his plate.
"Huh?"
"Shut up."
Alana picked up the empty plates. "It's alright Captain. I just won't include him in desert." She shrugged as she handed out smaller plates and pulled a two layer cake from the fridge. It was frosted with chocolate and as she cut it and served it, they saw there was some sort of cream filling in the middle of the white cake. "And it's kind of a shame, since this is my two layer banana split cake." She sat down and took a bite.
Roland grumbled under his breath.
"So, Captain," Alana poked at her cake, "if we're headed for the New World and Fishman Island, why are we surfaced?"
Law smiled and produced a paper. "Because we're going to Marine HQ."
Alana blinked and snatched the paper. "They're executing Fire Fist Ace?"
"They believe White Beard will retaliate, or at least try to rescue him." Law smiled at her reaction.
"This will spark a war and you want to go watch?"
Law chuckled. "Why not? It could be the fall of the Marines." He plucked the paper form her hands. "By the way," he pulled a poster from the center fold, "you're officially one of my crew."
The Marine photographer had snapped a shot of Alana at eh auction house. She was running beside Bepo and Jean Bart, her eyes ablaze with excitement, caught mid-laugh. She looked happy. It was noted at the bottom that she was last seen in the company of the Pirates of Heart.
Alana sighed. "Well that was fast." She dropped the poster onto the table. "Someone else clean up." She walked out of the kitchen and slid down the ladder to the lower deck. The door to her new room locked with a resounding click. She sighed and fell into bed.
The next day they arrived, around mid-day, at Marine HQ.
The battle was already underway.
Alana stayed below deck, keeping her mind from the events occurring on the island.
Roland ran past the kitchen door on his way down to the engine room.
The sub sank below the waves, then popped up again a few minutes later.
She could hear yelling.
Roland ran into the kitchen.
"Go up stairs. Keep a look out from the periscope, and give me directions." There was both panic and urgency in his voice.
Alana nodded and flew out the door and up the stairs as Roland ran back down the hall and jumped down the ladder.
Law was ordering Bepo, Demitri, and Nicolai around as he operated on someone. "Bepo's taken over navigation; Alana get over here; you're going to be my nurse."
Demitri handed her a pair of gloves as he hurried past.
The next three hours were grueling.
They surfaced and Law sent Bepo, Demitri, and Nicolai out.
Alana took down the vitals of the man she now knew was Straw Hat Luffy as Law called them out.
Once he was finished, he walked out onto the deck.
The blond woman followed.
She stopped in her tracks and stared at the beautiful woman standing on the deck.
The woman glanced at Alana and suddenly went from condescending to enraged."Another woman helped in the healing of myLuffy?"
"I… uh…" Alana looked around, looking for some escape route.
Law stepped between Alana and the woman. "Please leave Alana alone, Miss Hancock. She is a very good chef and an even better nurse."
The woman frowned. "How dare you tell me what to do!"
Alana put her hand on Law's shoulder.
He glanced at her.
She turned into a breeze, disappearing from view as she moved to the Marine ship. The wind woman reformed just out of the beautiful woman's view.
"Alana?"
The blond whipped around and blinked.
The woman before her was tall and beautiful, with long, red-brown hair, ivory skin, and bright blue eyes that gave Alana a feeling of Déjà Vu.
"Do I… uh…. Do I know you?" The woman looked so familiar.
The woman laughed. "I suppose you haven't seen me since I got this new, beautiful body." She motioned toward her own well toned body. "It's me, Captain Wolfe."
