A/N: Thank you to xxOMGgalxx, RayC736, SamIAmNot, akagami hime chan, Juliedoo, writrgrl, GirlKitsune, PhoenixRage92 and Shadowed-Shikyo for the reviews. Thanks a bunch. :D

Pick Your Poison
Chapter 13

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Unlike Simiania, Pandora really had been to this island before. It was a autumn island, so while it was a little chilly, it was comfortably so. All she needed to keep warm was her customary jacket. It was also a peaceful place, so there were no alarms when the Heart Pirates came into the village. Nor any people shooting at them, thank goodness. After all, poor Paul was now walking on a limp.

She read the items on the piece of paper Rene had given to her. "We need carrots, peas, some dried meat... Oh, and oranges! Wouldn't want any of us to contract scurvy, would we?"

"No, we wouldn't," Bepo announced quite gravely.

Liam stared.

"...Mr. Bepo, why are you here?" Liam asked. Wasn't this a job that the kitchen helpers were assigned with?

The bear started before he hung his head. "...I'll go away then."

"Bepo, you don't need to go." Pandora put a hand on his arm and used the other to make a striking gesture across her throat to Liam to 'cut it out!'

"...Y-yeah! You can stay!" the teenager hastily assured the morose first mate. "I just thought you would be with the Captain!"

Bepo shook his head. "No... The Captain is buying medical supplies and he always takes a long time, so I get bored."

Liam's eye twitched. "'Sat so..."

"Well," Pandora shrugged at his reaction. "Now we have more helping hands to carry the groceries."

Bepo shook his head. "I'm not doing that, since you guys are my subordinates."

When the young women stopped walking, the two men(?) stopped.

"Bepo," Pandora looked up. "You're going to be carrying the groceries."

A dark cloud appeared over the bear's head. "...Yes."

"You've become so beautiful, haha!" the bearded man bolstered out.

Pandora smiled halfheartedly. They had been shopping for hours and were almost done. This man was the last on their list. Good thing too since Bepo and Liam (but mostly Bepo) kept asking her if they were done yet.

He grinned wholeheartedly. "I shoulda thanked ya properly before when ya helped me with cutting down th' tree in my backyard, huh." A hand to his bearded chin. "Think I can do anything for ya while ya still in town, Pandora? Haven't seen ya for a year. Never thought I'd see ya again, in fact."

Pandora looked behind her to see her crew mates surrounded by groceries. Bepo seemed depressed and Liam seemed aggravated. That can't be good...

"Do you happen to know where I can buy a Den Den Mushi?" The town was fairly small, but on the small chance that there was some kind of vendor here...

Sam frowned. "'Fraid there's no place to buy 'em here, but..." He reached into the pocket of his apron and opened his hand.

Her eyes widened. On his rough palm was a little baby Den Den Mushi. It was in its shell, but must have felt a change in its location. Two stalks peeked out from the shell to stare at her. She stared back and it slowly withdrew back into its shell.

Pandora put a hand to her mouth. So... so cute!

"Mah adult Den Den Mushi just had some babies. I don't know how she did it though." He sighed as he handed her the little snail. She cradled the shell gently. "I'm assumin' it was with the neighbour's snail, if anything. Must have snuck out while I wasn't looking."

"Does... does it have a name?" She had this strange urge to squeal as its shell rolled around.

"Nope. I didn't want that kinda attachment," he explained. "I've been trying to get rid of 'em to good owners. Just abandoning them would be terribly cruel, you know?"

"Well, thank—"

"Holy shit! The eggs!" Liam's voice hollered.

"Oh no," Bepo said, sounding quite crestfallen.

There were a few more exclamations from the pair after that.

Pandora was afraid to turn around, but knew she had to eventually. After this, she was definitely dropping them off at the ship or leaving them somewhere. She needed to be alone for a while. Even if for only a little bit, just to take a breather. She sighed and was about to pivot on her heel—

"Ahaha!" the man in front of her laughed while he pet an adult Den Den Mushi that looked to be crying for some reason as it looked at the little shell in Pandora's palm. "Those two weren't with ya a couple of years ago, were they? I'm guessin' they're pirates judging from the jolly roger, right?"

"Yeah," she said, not sounding very excited about it. "I joined their crew..." ...through some unfortunate circumstances involving climbing on a talking bear's back.

Sam grinned. The girl –now a young woman— had stayed on this island for two weeks. While it hadn't been terribly long, he could tell that she had never been one for crowds if she could help it. Seeing her now joining a whole crew was awful funny to him.

"And you're having fun with 'em, right?"

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes. "Tons of fun."

The man threw his head back and laughed.

"You're the Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law, aren't you?" the middle-aged woman behind the counter suddenly enquired.

Law turned slightly from the medical supplies he had been browsing through and gave her a disarming smile. "And if I am?"

"Nothing. I just recognized you from the bounty poster is all." She shrugged. "We don't want any trouble." She took another breath from her cigarette.

She blew out a stream of smoke. "I've heard in this small town that a certain someone is with you. Maxwell Pandora."

He was done collecting all he needed and headed to the counter. "...I have heard from her that she was here for a while."

"She stayed here for a while and helped out around the place." There was some shuffling as the woman processed all of Law's purchases. "She seemed decent, but really hated the fact I smoked cigarettes." The woman frowned as if she was irritated. "Anyway, she came into my shop to get some stuff for her boat. Interestingly enough..." The woman tapped her finger to her chin. "She bought a lot of burn ointment."

Law remained silent, even after she handed him back his goods (though he did obligingly give her a nod). It was strange. As the storekeeper had said, it was highly unlikely that she would suffer a burn on a ship, let alone a boat. An abrasion from a stray piece of metal or a splinter from the wood were far more likely to happen.

She had been thinking for quite a while.

Pandora's mouth was set in a miserable slant. Anyone who had come near her had probably thought that she wasn't quite right in the head because of the mutterings under her breath every now and then. Actually, that would only be true if anyone was near. She'd chosen a more quiet yet seedier part of town. There was also little reason for her to believe that any of her crew would be here. There were better places that would welcome them, after all. But as an added precaution she'd donned a simple cap to hide her hair.

What would be best... She'd reiterated this question what seemed to be a thousand times in her hand and she was finally to the answer.

The best decision would be—

Pandora's stiff shoulders relaxed in a resigned way.

She had her desired goal, but she had no idea how to get to it.

...I guess what will come will come. Pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes, she groaned, frustrated.

This was going to be... tricky.

The two townsmen had finished work and, out of money because of excess drinking, were now wandering the dark streets of Vernon. It wasn't until they saw a woman walk ahead of them that they perked up. She must have been a traveller because they were certain they would have recognized someone with such a sensual body. It was incentive enough to approach her.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the woman watched warily as they formed a circle around her. She crossed her arms over that nice rack of hers, making the pair leer appreciatively.

The man with a scar on his cheek wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. He, along with his blond friend, were wearing dirty clothes that hardly counted as rags and had large bodies and hands. Hands that were big enough to squash the girl's head like a broken watermelon if they so wished. "You don't know who we are, but you could."

"Not interested," she said and tried to walk away only to have the other thug step in front of her. He used his arm as support on the wall as he loomed over her.

"Why not, sweetheart? We won't bite. Promise you'll have a lot of fun if you come with us." He grabbed the young woman's arm.

Her immediate reaction: to punch him across the face.

There was a flash of regret on her face before it disappeared.

The man howled in pain, while Scar Face looked incredulous for a moment before turning a fiery red. This girl should be grateful that people like them wanted to show her some fun.

"You dumb bitch!" he screeched while he tried to grab a hold of the woman they had only moments ago, been trying to pick up. She had surprisingly dodged and ducked beneath the wide berth his arm's swing had given her to escape.

Needless to say, Scar Face's friend had recovered and grabbed her wrist by a hairs breadth before flinging her back on the wall. He put his hand on her mouth, just in case she tried to cry out for help.

She didn't and bit his hand instead. Hard. He let go, grimacing and then shrieking when he felt something (a knee?) get him right where it hurt. The blond man yelled in a pitch like he had just been castrated. She didn't wait for him to recover and instead headed towards the other shell-shocked man, ramming her shoulder into his chest. He grunted. He was a lot bigger than her, but fell down successfully due to the damn woman's boot behind his own foot. He felt something, the woman's boot, step down on his chest.

She was glaring at him, green eyes flashing. "When I said no, I meant no, you deaf bastards."

He tried to speak, to curse at her, but was interrupted by a single voice, a male, saying a single word.

Then everything went black.

Within a few seconds, he had put his nodachi back into his sheath.

Pandora's back was turned to him and she was looking toward the mass of dismembered flesh on the ground. He didn't know how interesting that was for her, seeing as how both men were unconscious now. She moved then, turned slightly.

"...I didn't need your help," she told him. They had been drunk and they hadn't been that good anyway. From what she had done before Law had interrupted, you'd think he would know that. "But even though I didn't need your help... thanks."

Even though she could have completely handled it alone.

"Your movements were calculated." He carried such an interested look about him that she couldn't help but backtrack a little.

"Err... thanks?" Were her movements not supposed to be calculated? Did he expect her to be just whacking people blindly? She may not have been as good a combatant as him, but a few years on the sea alone had taught her some things. Plus her mom's aid had helped. She didn't really understand where he was going with the statement.

He smirked.

"...What?" she demanded, instantly suspicious.

"Why were you in a place like this?" he dodged her question.

"I was thinking."

"About?"

"The crew." And you, she added inwardly. It was partly the truth.

If she had known him better, she would have thought he looked disconcerted. As it was with their relationship right now, he just looked bored. "You needed to be all the way here to think?"

Pandora contained the urge to roll her eyes. "I needed a quiet place to think and for the most part, this town is peaceful. There may be some people like them here..." She stared pointedly at the mass of flesh but looked away just as quickly. "...but they're usually drunk and not that great at fighting."

"Can we move away?" There was something unsettling about the bloodless diced up bodies. Not disgusting, just... uncomfortable.

Law kept quiet and pivoted on his heel.

She caught up with him soon enough. Posing a similar question to his, she asked, "Why are you here?"

He held the bag of medical supplies up.

"There are other places to go rather than that place," Pandora remarked bluntly. "Cleaner places." She smiled a little. Not that she should be talking since she had gone to that store too. She recognized the handmade logo on the bag. It was nice to see that the lady there was still in business.

"I wouldn't have purchased there if the supplies were sub par," he said quietly but cuttingly. She hastened to catch up to his steps. He was walking briskly. She raised an eyebrow. It was probably the adrenaline from a few minutes ago.

"Besides," He glanced at her. "The atmosphere was well-suited to someone of my profession."

"Would that be as a doctor or a pirate?" She put her palm to her chin in mock contemplation.

"Depending on someone's perspective, it could be one or the other."

Wow, he made a joke. She couldn't help but smile for a bit before it disappeared.

Or was this what people called flirting?

Pandora stopped walking and suddenly said to his back, "I don't hate pirates or doctors." She floundered inwardly when he turned his head, but pressed on regardless. It could have been the atmosphere that was making her say all this. "Doctors are only doing their job, after all..."

"And why do you not hate pirates?" He continued walking. She huffed before catching up so that she was beside him.

She hadn't expected him to ask.

"Because my dad was a pirate." If Law was surprised by her admission, he didn't show it. "For me, he disclaimed the idea that all pirates are stinky, violent and coarse." He wasn't a saint, but the few times she had seen him, he hadn't acted like a pirate.

"Not all pirates are 'stinky, violent and coarse'?" he echoed, amused.

Which reminds me, should I tell him that it would be nice if some of the men took baths more often?

Her internal debate raged on until she became aware of something.

"Eh..." Her steps slowed to a stop. She looked around. "Where are we?"

"An alley."

"What I mean is why we're in an alley?"

Law pressed his lips to hers for a brief moment before pulling away.

It took her much longer than it should have for her to process what the hell had just happened. A small twitch in her right hand's index finger was the only movement from her as she stared unblinkingly at him. She couldn't see his eyes because of the brim of his hat and his mouth set in a neutral line. She couldn't discern what he was feeling. She couldn't even discern what she was feeling.

What the... Was he trying to do something else but ended up kissing me instead? Did I just imagine that? Why did he do that?

What just happened?

Pandora slowly raised her fist to her mouth and coughed. Definitely not my imagination. She could feel a slight tingling on her lips that refused to go away now.

"Any reason for doing that?" That came out a lot more of a whisper than she would have liked.

"What reason would someone have for doing what I did?" he answered with a question of his own. She stared at him more. "Pirates' lives move quickly. I've adapted to this lifestyle."

"So what you're teaching to me..." She leaned back on the wall behind her. "...as a recently made pirate, I should live in the moment?" Did that include or exclude thinking about the consequences?

"Something like that," he agreed. She noticed that the bag swung widely as he took a step forward. "What's your decision?"

...

She finally smirked. "Captain, a word of advice: A girl likes to be swept off her feet before anything else happens."

There was a snapshot in time of vertigo and confusion as she felt his foot sweeping under her. She was one inch from acquainting her face with the ground before she felt fingers wrap around her wrist and drag her up so that she was vertical again.

"I did not mean literally." Pandora raised a hand to her spinning head, but was blocked. Law had his hands wrapped around her biceps firmly to keep her from falling.

"Apologies," he said sardonically. She was fully prepared to glare at him as she yanked her eyes up from the smiling Jolly Roger on his clothes.

In spite of the situation, she blushed.

"What if I had fallen?" she muttered.

"...Unlikely." He let go of her and with a glance, repeated, "Your decision?"

She followed that up by a drawn out yet close-mouthed kiss. Her bag fell off her shoulder and landed on the ground with a dull thud.

"Why not?" was her response before looking down uncertainly.

He raised an eyebrow at her behaviour but didn't comment. "If you don't want to..." He trailed off and his hands released her arms. In response, her hands on his shoulders tightened.

"Just take it easy on me, will you?" Her eyes hardened when she replayed her words. "No, wait. Do it. Definitely." She wouldn't be able to handle taking things fast. She could swear her face was the same colour as a ripe tomato as he tipped her chin back and put his lips over hers. It surprised her at first but then she relaxed a minuscule amount. Acting on instinct, she cautiously opened her mouth. He slipped his tongue in. He tasted of mint and rum.

Their tongues met and she felt liquid fire flowing through her veins as a wave of pleasure shot through her body. Her eyes snapped open and proceeded to widen when she saw that his dark eyes were staring at her, boring right into her until it felt like he was looking at her soul, the flaws and all. It was unnerving. It was terrifying. But... exciting. Just when she thought her heart was going to give out on her, he pulled away.

"That was... it was—"

She wasn't able to finish sentence. Couldn't finish it.

"At your pace," he said against her lips before kissing her again.

For an instant, she saw a pile of limbs and flesh in her mind's eye before willing the image away.

Because what will come will come.

Meanwhile, the cover of Pandora's bag had jostled slightly and thankfully, all the contents save for a certain shell were safely tucked within the bag. The shell rolled out before stopping and two stalks came out before a soft, slightly slimy body accompanied it. The eyes blinked slowly, as if tired from a nap it had been taking.

The only witness to the pair was a sleepy baby Den Den Mushi.

"WHAAAAAT?" Penguin and Shachi cried out. "The Captain and you are together now?" When had that happened?

"Yesterday," Pandora said rather vaguely and quietly. The two had shouted at the top of their lungs and everyone on deck were now staring at them, including the two men (the blond and the other guy who's name started with an 'M') they had played that game with. She made eye contact with 'M' only to look away when he winked at her. Ugh, she really shouldn't have told Shachi and Penguin if they were going to make this much noise.

"So soon too..." Now the two were speaking amongst themselves. Those three words made her look back at them.

"What do you mean 'so soon'?" They were expecting this to happen? That kind of made her feel... uncomfortable. She looked back and 'M' and the unnamed blond. Don't tell her that they were expecting this to happen too. That would explain him winking at her.

Shachi shrugged. "We were expecting this to happen is all. Everyone could kind of see it. I mean, now that I think of it, Bepo was the first one who saw it when he mentioned tea. Back at the ruins"

Penguin nodded. "Yep. Have you had tea with the Captain yet?"

"...No..." she replied, confused. What tea?

Shachi elbowed his friend. "I bet they've been having something better than tea," he snickered.

Penguin brightened before snickering too. "I think so too..."

On purely instinct, Pandora angrily smacked them on the head.

"Oww..." they both whined out.

A thought popped into her head. "...Which reminds me—" she began.

They were rubbing their hurting noggins. "What part of that could have reminded you of anything?"

"—should I be calling you sirs?" They gave her a bewildered look. She leaned forward. "You know, since you guys are higher rank than me?" She paused. "And should I stop hitting you guys?"

Shachi remarked, "Shouldn't you have asked us if you shouldn't hit us before you hit us?"

"...Maybe," she murmured reluctantly. Despite the lack of a proper smile, her demeanour brightened almost instantly. "So should I call you two 'sirs'?"

"It does have a nice ring—ow. I mean no," Penguin said flatly, rubbing the arm Shachi had just punched.

"Nah, that would be too formal and crap." Shachi waved it off. "We're all equals here."

"Until we need to do our jobs," Penguin added with a grin. "Then we're not equals."

"Hm..." She rested her head in the palm of her hand contemplatively. "Then why don't you call him by his name?"

She expected them to know who she meant when she said, 'him'. What she wasn't expecting was them stiffening up and plastering on offended faces. She grew uneasily and how enthusiastic they looked. It was inspiring to see them offended (however, baseless) for their captain's sake, but still very, very scary.

"Of course we would not! He's strong and smart and other good stuff like that. He's not like the dolts on this ship..."

"...He is a man that deserves our utmost respect!"

"Because he's the great Captain in the world!" they finished simultaneously.

"...Okay." She pressed her palms to their foreheads to push them back. While they were in their Admiration Mode, they had leaned a little too forward for her liking. She wanted to point out that the captain had his flaws, but the sparkling in their eyes (and sunglasses) were unnerving.

Bepo plopped down beside her. "You can call me 'sir'."

Pandora did a double take. "...Where did you come from?"

"From across the room."

"Why—

"And yeah," Penguin cut in, looking normal again. "Shachi and I make it a policy for new members not to call Bepo 'sir'."

"We forgot to tell you," Shachi said nonchalantly. "So we'll tell you right now: Don't call him sir. It's a policy. The Policy. Make sure you understand. Do you understand, Pandora? Do not call Bepo sir in any circumstances whatsoever. Just nod if you understand. Don't say anything."

...She nodded.

"You guys are lower than me so you should—"

"Yeah, yeah," both said. "We don't care though." Here, Pandora patted a gloomy Bepo on the back, just because it seemed to be the right thing to do.

"Anyway, just make sure you follow orders and it's all good."

"All right. Fair enough." But Pandora was still wondering something. "How does the Captain feel about all this?"

"He doesn't," Penguin chirped.

"What does that mean?"

Shachi clarified, "It means that he doesn't care one way or another."

"I think he likes it though," Bepo grumbled so quietly that only Pandora could hear. She gave him a questioning look, but the bear didn't seem to care or didn't understand why she was looking at him.

"Guys," she called out. "I'm going to town for a bit to say goodbye to some people. I'll be back within the hour though."

Pandora knew they were leaving within the hour, hence why everyone was on board as preparations to submerge were underway. Still, she had some unfinished business left in Vernon. The repercussions of her decisions the night before were already on her mind.

She didn't wait for their reply and headed off into the small quaint town.

"Really?" Law drawled when his first mate told him that he was the first one to know that something was going on between him and Pandora.

"Yep, really." Bepo nodded proudly. "She was worried about you not getting enough sleep even though she tried to laugh it off. It was really obvious too. Pandora's not a good liar." Bepo thought some more of that night. He contemplated telling before he shrugged. It didn't really matter.

"She hugged me super tight because, well, I told her how you and I met, Captain."

Law's pen stopped moving on the paper and he gave his first mate a look. "Why?"

"Er, the mood was kind of appropriate so I thought I would share—"

"No," he interrupted. "I mean, why..." He paused, notably thinking about something. He had diverted his attention entirely to Bepo, which made the bear pleased. He was usually multi-tasking whenever Bepo talked to him.

Bepo continued, "And then she told me a little about her mom." Law remained silent. The first mate wondered for the umpteenth time why the captain chose to save him. Though he didn't ask about it since he didn't think his captain would tell him anyway.

Bepo perked up as he thought about something else of that night. "She had these strange marks on her legs too. Right over here," he said, gesturing to his own body.

"...That may be why..."

"Captain?"

The devil fruit user shook his head dismissively before returning to his work.

Bepo knew it wasn't "nothing", but had learned that the captain didn't usually share his thoughts if he didn't want to.

So he nodded. "Okay, Captain."

"You're here somewhere, aren't you?" Pandora called out. There were no places in the town that didn't have at least a few people. On top of that, it was in the middle of the day, so she doubted the man would be anywhere in the town.

Which is why she had gone to the outskirts of town, at the edge of the forest.

"...Your deductive skills are impressive."

She immediately swivelled around, just in time to see a figure emerge from behind one of the numerous Maple trees. He had dark skin like Law's and a hairstyle that reminded Pandora of bullhorns. She felt her heart beat a little faster, not that it hadn't been going a mile a minute already.

Because a CP9 agent could kill her in a second, if he so wished.

If the man saw her nervousness, then he graciously didn't comment.

"Have you made your decision yet?" he enquired, voice devoid of emotion.

"Yes, I have," she said carefully. "...and my answer is no."

The air turned thicker with tension and she thought that she saw his eyes narrow very, very slightly. She briefly wondered if she would have enough time to get out any weapons to defend herself before he snapped her neck. But then her mind drifted back to her mother's words, to how the woman had said that one of the six techniques of CP9's Rokushiki was moving at high speeds.

She may as well just drop dead here and now, but—

"...I'm a wilful person," Pandora explained quietly. "So even if you kill me now, I will fight back." There was no reason for saying that to him. He wouldn't care. It just made her feel more courageous.

"You bought a Den Den Mushi, didn't you? To contact us..." It wasn't a question. She looked up, surprised. He must have seen her. How long had he been in this town? How did he know? "But you didn't tell your crew mates and I'm guessing you're still debating whether to tell them or not, meaning..."

She stiffened.

"...you lack proper resolve just now when you declined my offer."

"That wasn't..." Pandora started, squeezing the fabric of her skirt beneath her hands. She couldn't think of what to say because deep inside, she knew it was true.

He must have seen her wavering.

"Sasha was an excellent agent," he began. "Even though she belonged to Cipher Pol 8, she still had an admirable grasp of parts of the Rokushiki." His eyes seemed distant for a while. "I respected her... We were colleagues." He took in an inaudible breath. "But then she had fallen in love with a pirate, a pirate that she had been supposed to kill. Your mother betrayed us. She betrayed justice. And then they had you, who has the blood of a filthy pirate and a traitor running through her veins." She felt pricking behind her eyes then, but he continued without missing a beat. "When I found out, I was disappointed at her betrayal to say the least. She chose scum over justice."

...

Pandora wondered how this man was feeling. If they really were colleagues, then was it possible that he had been hurt, even a little bit, by her mother leaving? To this man, who believed in the World Government's justice more than anything, what was her mother to his eyes?

He cocked his head at Pandora, whose eyes were downcast. "Will you do the same, especially now that you have the weight of your mother's will and your father's whereabouts so close to being fulfilled?"

"I don't know," she said. Why did he have to say it like that?

...

"Well," he finally said. He threw her a card, which she caught. On it, was a Den Den Mushi number. "That is a contact that you will need if you change your mind. Keep in mind that it is not connected to CP9 since our division will be busy with some issues that must be dealt with in the not-so-far future."

She should throw the card away just to show him that she wasn't planning on changing her mind on this matter, that she wasn't as weak-willed as he thought.

But her hands tightened around his "gift".

He saw the action and smiled slightly before inclining his head. "Goodbye, Sasha's daughter."

When Pandora blinked, he was gone.

writrgrl: She had a feeling, but by the time her brain was going, "No! Get out of there!", they were already dragging her to the table. (: Aah, I would have melted into goop, haha. Aaaand... fixed finally. (:

A/N: I can anticipate what you guys will be saying about this chapter and all I'll be saying is, "Yes, I know." Unless you say something a bit out there like, "I imagine Gale to be a fat but wise hippopotamus in my head." ...Then, I won't be saying, "Yes, I know" LOL. (Edit 5/14) This means that I know that Pandora fell "in love" too fast.

Thanks for reading. Feedback would be awesome. Really.