Chapter 21: Women, Women, Everywhere

They remained on deck for the duration of the trip. Despite the excited conversations peppering the deck, neither Law nor Mara spoke. The situation back on Sabaody hadn't left her and with all this time she suddenly had to think, it was souring her mood more and more.

Every once in a while she would turn to look back at Law, leaning against the wall not even three feet behind her, and find him looking at the floor in thought. Or, as it happened this time and once before, she found him looking directly at her. Neither one showed any particular emotion, both clearly lost in their own thoughts.

They held each other's gaze for a long while. Law appeared to be looking for something in the deep blue depths of her eyes, and Mara did her best to read what it was he was feeling. How was it that such a man could gain her attention in the way that he did? No one had ever interested her as much as Trafalgar Law did.

With a frown, she tore her eyes away from his and looked back to the front. What the hell was he looking for, anyway? The intensity of his eyes made her think he was trying to look straight into her soul, trying to find an answer to some unknown question. Determined not to know what it was he was after, Mara promptly ignored him.

This was made easier by the island looming ever closer, now just ahead of the Kuja ship. Mara heard a lot of things about Amazon Lily. In all honesty, she wasn't comfortable accompanying an all male pirate crew right into its heart. Especially when the Jolly Roger marked gates opened to thousands of cheers from women lining the canal they floated on.

Having their Empress guiding them did absolutely nothing to comfort her. Presumably, none of these women knew the situation. How long until one (or four dozen) decided to attack the awed men on the deck of the submarine? She was giving it two minutes.

"Smells nice!" One of the Heart Pirates commented, completely enthralled by their new location.

"I feel lightheaded!" Another agreed.

"This must be heaven!"

"Hey, you guys," Law called in a tone that clearly said they needed to remember a little more about the island. The three turned to their captain in question. "You gotta go back in, otherwise you'll die." Blunt and to the point. Mara liked it. Even as the words left his mouth, an arrow lodged itself into the wall right where his face had been not seconds before. The man hadn't even opened his eyes to see the attack, simply tilting his head to the side.

Body acting on its own, Mara shifted so that she was blocking Law from such easy shots. The woman didn't even notice she did it. Law did, cracking one eye open to watch her. "The women here aren't pushovers," she reminded the men. "We're in the middle of dozens of highly trained warriors."

His crew looked absolutely horrified. They turned to see where the arrow came from… only to find a barrage of about fifty more heading right for them. The Hearts on the deck (understandably) began to panic. Not that it was necessary, as arrows coming from the large ship in front of them destroyed the attack easily.

"People, stop! They're not our enemy!" Hancock called. "Luffy is in that ship! He suffered greatly, mentally and physically, during the battle at Marineford, and he is hanging between life and death now." Finally, the Empress came into view to stand on the back of her ship facing the submarine. "Ladies, carry Luffy to the Kuja Castle as soon as possible!" Her tone took a one-eighty. "I'm going to look after Luffy…"

"Wait a minute, Snake Princess!"

Hancock looked to the shore in confusion. Who would tell her no? "Granny Nyon!"

Mara could just make out the shape on a short old woman standing on the rocks. "It's fine if it's just Luffy. But we can't allow those men on that strange ship to set foot on Amazon Lily. It's against our country's policy!" The old woman reminded Hancock.

The Empress didn't stop to think. Nyon spoke the truth, after all. "Then, let's just allow the doctor and the woman to come with him, so…"

"No!" Hancock flinched as she was interrupted sharply. "We can't allow any man to come onto the island, even if he is a doctor! We have so many good doctors on this island!" She reasoned.

Mara gave an unladylike snort. "Yeah. Because your doctors would be able to treat Strawhat in his current condition."

A small smirk graced Law's lips at her words. "Well, I don't care either way, but… do you have the same medical equipment and technology as my ship?" Finally, he looked up at the Kuja women, the smirk already gone. Neither responded. "If his wounds open up, he's going to die." He looked away again, the smirk already firmly back in place. "Take Mister Strawhat if you don't care about it."

The Snake Princess was horrified at the prospect. "Luffy's going to die?!" Her hands flew to the sides of her head, unable to take the news. "If that happens by any chance… Oh, I'm going to… I'm going to…" She panicked.

"Calm down," Mara scolded lightly. Instantly, that was chalked up on her board of 'don't try this again'. "He said if you take him away from us." She locked eyes with Hancock. "I trust Captain Trafalgar's ability to save Luffy, and no one else's. So if we can't set foot on your island, we'll just have to go somewhere else to do it." She studiously ignored the hole being burning into the back of her head in favor of staring the Shichibukai down.

"Impossible!" Hancock protested. "We'd be attacked by the Sea Kings! Even if we get away from them, the marines could find us at any time!" Frustrated and becoming disheartened, she placed a hand to her head. "What should we do?"

"Oh, well… We only do it as an exception, but…" Nyon said slowly. Law and Mara looked over at the older woman. "You can stay in the area of the bay. The Sea Kings won't attack you there."

Completely pleased to an almost euphoric state, Hancock exclaimed, "Then, I'll stay with them to look after Luffy…"

"No!" Nyon shouted.

Euphoria turned to anger. "Damn Granny Nyon! You just keep saying 'no' to me!"

Satisfied with this answer, Mara nodded. "Thank you." Luffy's condition wouldn't do well if they had to take the time to go somewhere else. At least here, they could get medical supplies as the need arose. Hancock was still glaring at the older woman. "You gonna take us there or what?" The agent snapped at her.

The Shichibukai didn't appear to notice the tone used. Luffy's safely was all that was on her mind. Silently, Mara was thankful for that. She didn't really want to deal with the repercussions for being rude to an Ruler/Shichibukai. Twice. In the same conversation."Ah… Yes, of course!"

As the ships made their way in the new direction, Mara couldn't help smirking at the Hearts on deck. "Better get a good look, boys. I doubt you'll ever see this again."

With the reminder and the loss of the imminent death threat, the men went back to openly gawking at the women lining the canal. She was right, after all. They would never set foot in here again. "So beautiful..!"

"I've gone to heaven!"

"I wonder how many women there are here?"

"Well, well, Miss Mara." The stark contrast between Law's voice and that of the crew nearly startled her. It was lower in tone and completely calm.

She glanced at him over her shoulder at him. He was watching her with interest so blatant she was wondering if he was sick. Carefully watching him, she turned to face him and plopped her backside onto the deck. "You got something to say?" Mara asked defensively, pridefully ignoring the obvious direction this was headed.

Despite what she had originally anticipated, Law's face wasn't coated with taunting amusement. He was impossible to read. Mara made a mental note to never play poker with him. Vaguely, she wondered if that note was already there. "I didn't realize you thought so highly of my abilities."

A sigh escaped her lips. Yep, she knew it was headed straight here. "I can't believe you're making me say this," she muttered under her breath.

There was a pause; they could hear his crew gushing on the other side of the deck. Law hadn't intended to really make her say anything. He had expected her pride to explode again, her to snap some annoyed and possibly insulting words, then probably storm off below deck to seethe for a few hours. Or days. That was clearly not what he was about to get.

Mara heaved another sigh, pressing a palm to her face. "I guarantee you, I'm not repeating this. So you better listen." Oh, there was no way he was going to miss this. "I'd have to be blind to not recognize your talent. You're probably the most talented medical man I've come in contact with." Surely no one else she knew would be capable of doing any good to Strawhat. And she wasn't even going to get started on his fighting. Luckily that wasn't on the table.

The captain just stared at her.

Embarrassed. That was what she was feeling. Heat instantly flooded her cheeks and she was on her feet, turning her face away and to the floor, all the while gunning for the door below deck. "I'm gonna go check on Jimbei…" She muttered.

A hand shot out and placed itself firmly on the opposite side of the doorframe, a tanned arm blocking her path. Mara was forced to pull up short lest she be clothes-lined, and her gaze slid warily up the appendage to look at its owner.

Law, for his part, didn't use this opportunity to taunt her either. He was sure that over the past few weeks he had seen her react to things unconsciously, and he was willing to bet a whole lot on the fact that she herself didn't actually notice them. They couldn't have that, could they? No, that made the situation he was struggling with not nearly as fun.

Time to press his luck.

With her wary eyes on his face, she didn't notice his hand moving until brushed her jaw and kept her face turned toward him. The touch wasn't necessary. He had her full attention. "Are you beginning to actually like me, Miss Mara?" He wondered quietly, not that he thought anyone else would hear. It was a legitimate question. A few days previous, she would have point-blank told him to go to hell.

Her navy orbs never wavered from his steely gray ones. The internal war fighting right beneath the surface was visible through the connection. "I would never do something so disadvantageous." Just to keep the focus off her, she shot back, "You better watch out, Captain Trafalgar, or I might start to think you are beginning to like me."

An unidentifiable emotion flitted across his eyes and smirk came to his lips. "If there wasn't something I liked about you, I wouldn't keep you around."

The fact that his hand was still on her jaw was not lost on her. "I've got a few theories about that, I assure you." None of them explained his occasionally odd behavior around her. Like at the auction house all that time ago, or when he punched Eustass Kid in the face, or when Ace died. Or right now.

The sounds of the city were fading into the distance as they left the canal and headed around the coast of the island. Law retracted his hand, certain she wasn't going anywhere, and motioned for her to make herself comfortable again. The scowl and muttered words that escaped her as she did so were rude at best and, admittedly, fairly creative.

"I don't want to know," Mara told him. "Seriously."

Fair enough. Law wouldn't tell her. Wasn't going to stop his plans, but he wasn't going to voice any of it. "Alright."

Mara eyed him, clearly not trusting the answer. "Good."