Chapter 25: Awake

The day that Luffy woke up started like any other. Sunny without a hint of a breeze, men playing cards, Mara reading a book, and, oh yeah, a scream followed by an explosion from inside the submarine. The yellow craft rocked violently.

Law, Jimbei, and Mara were on their feet, the objects they had been occupying themselves with discarded in the dirt. They ran to the submarine, only to be stopped feet from the shore when something small exploded out of the top and launched into the air.

Mara's eyes widened in shock. "Was that Luffy?!" He wasn't supposed to be up yet, let alone launching himself all over the place!

Indeed it was Luffy. He landed on the ground in a tumbling roll, head over ass, until he landed on his stomach near the middle of their little shore space. Law was unable to voice anything, his shock so severe, but Jimbei called, "Luffy!"

The heavily damaged boy pushed himself up with shaking arms, fingers digging into the dirt. "Ace… Ace…" Luffy ground out, his voice cracking near the end. He reared back, shrieking, "WHERE'S ACE?!"

The following maddened rampage was accented by Heart Pirates flying in every direction as they unsuccessfully tried to stop Luffy from moving, chasing him around in circles. Mara could tell by the blank look in his eyes that Luffy had absolutely no idea where he was or what was going on.

"Watch out! Calm down, Strawhat!"

After the initial shock, Law and Jimbei planted themselves back on the ground. "What will happen if he carries on like this?" Jimbei asked the doctor.

"Well, it's simple," Law said evenly. "Like I said when we got here, if his wound opens up, he will die." There was no point sugar coating it, not that Law ever would.

Mara crossed her arms. She was still standing as she watched the 'battle' happening in front of her. Luffy tripped. The Hearts took that as their queue to leap on the boy in an attempt to hold him down. "Now's our chance!"

A muffled, "Let me go, dammit!" reached their ears.

"Stay still, Strawhat!"

"Shut up! I'm looking for Ace!" Luffy insisted angrily. Nothing was more important to him than finding his older brother.

"Fire Fist Ace has already-"

"I said let me go!" The Heart Pirates were thrown from Luffy in a surprising burst of strength, for someone who was mostly dead. "WHERE'S ACE?! AAAAAAAAACE!" Mad with pain, he took off into the trees at full speed, shouting his head off.

"He's completely beyond our control! Straw Hat! Stooooop!"

"Ah, shit," Mara cursed, watching as Jimbei ran after the boy into the forest. She rubbed her head with a sigh. What were they going to do now? Luffy wasn't likely to calm down before he killed himself. That seemed like a poor way to live the life that had been rescued.

"Let them go," Law called to her.

He said himself that the boy would die, but Mara listened to him and took a seat where Jimbei had been. "Hard not to like him, isn't it?" she asked him.

An amused breath came from the captain. "That would explain the convicts, pirates, Yonko, and Shichibukai who helped him."

"Where did they run off to..?" Shachi wondered.

"Don't ask me," Penguin replied, holding his hands up in defense. "We're under orders from the Empress and her crew not to set foot beyond this area."

"Still…" Shachi trailed. "They say any man who sets foot here will be turned to stone and never return. I guess he must be prepared to gamble his life."

Mara rolled her eyes. Of course Strawhat Luffy was prepared to gamble his life. When did he not? He punched a Tenryuubito in the face, for god's sake. Then, according to what Emoprio Ivankov said, broke into Impel Down, the impenetrable prison fortress, and fought his way down to level six and back. Right before heading to Marineford.

"I'd sure like to see the land of women for myself..!" Penguin said.

"I'd like to see the Isle, too," Shachi agreed.

"Don't be stupid. You'd get killed, you know!" Despite Penguin's words, both men bad stupid, blushing looks on their faces.

"D'you think there's be any female bears?" Bepo asked hesitantly.

They turned on him instantly. "It's the Isle of Women!" They shouted, as if that was all they needed to say.

Bepo looked down, dejected. "I'm sorry…"

This was starting to get painful to hear. Mara frowned and jerkily turned to face the sea. "God, if all men think like this I might just go join the women here."

Law looked up from the straw hat he had perched on his fingers (delivered via Bepo) to see her not-so silent fuming. To be honest, he hadn't even given any thought to being on the legendary island. He could see how this was eye opening to her, being an objective observer himself.

He shifted so he was sitting next to her, the straw hat never leaving his hand. "They're just men who haven't gotten their priorities straight yet, Miss Mara."

She scoffed. "Oh, and you have?"

"I like to think so."

"Are you trying to tell me that you're a pirate who isn't after 'booty'?" The serious tone to her voice just made the statement funnier, and both of them gave a light smile.

Law held the box hanging from his waist aloft, and gave her a crooked grin. "The heart of one woman is enough for me."

Instead of getting annoyed, as she expected the second he brought her heart into it, she laughed. "How charming." And she was surprised to find that it actually sort of was. Her smile turned gentle and she looked back out at the sea.

"You spend a lot of time looking at what's out there," he observed quietly, intending to keep the conversation from his crew.

Mara gave a tiny little laugh that made his heart clench. "I suppose I do. When I was a child, all I wanted to do was explore the world. See everything there is to see," she admitted softly. "My mother and my father did. That was how they met."

The memories of them make her happy and sad all at the same time. When they were alive, she had adored her parents and they her. But they had died when she was only seven, leaving her alone with Helios. She wouldn't have wished that kind of a life on anyone, even her enemies. The idea of going to sea and exploring the world as they had was the only thing that had kept her going as a child.

"You still can," Law reminded her, pulling her from her thoughts. "Plenty of people do." Merchants, naval officers, archaeologists, pirates… the list went on and on. "You're currently surrounded by people who do."

The sound of waves was all there was for a few seconds. "I never thought of piracy like that before." Surely, that was how Monkey D. Luffy saw it. She chewed on the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. "Actually, I've just never thought about piracy. I was too busy trying to appease Helios."

There was silence. They could hear the Heart Pirates going back to what they had been doing prior to Luffy waking up. "What would you do if you were allowed to just… leave? Without any obligations to anybody, and only this to guide you?" The box was lifted before them again, and Law sent her sideways glance.

Mara shrugged. "I don't know. Too many people control my direction for me to even consider something like that."

"Consider it now," he insisted. "If none of us were here to hold you back, what would you do?" He included himself in the list because he knew that was what he was to her. Something holding her back from doing what she wanted. Not that he expected to be considered anything else.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek in thought. What would she do? The question seemed obvious and yet… so out of reach. "I suppose… I would do whatever my heart told me to. You know, assuming it was there to talk to me," she joked, attempting to lighten the mood.

It only partially worked; Law chuckled slightly. "This is assuming it was," he assured her.

There was definite surety in her nod this time. "Then it would have to tell me what it wanted. Other than that, who can say?"

"That's an interesting answer, Miss Mara," Law mused.

"Why thank you, Captain Trafalgar." She leaned back, resting her hands on the grass behind her. "Do you do this kind of thing often, then?"

He contemplated the question. "What, kidnap attractive women, steal their hearts, and turn them into pirates?" Mara made an amused noise of confirmation. "No, I can't say that I do. I don't run across many who fit the criteria very often."

Sapphire eyes rolled, accompanied by a pleasing laugh. Mara was pretty sure he had just complimented her. Now she just needed to find out if he was being sarcastic or not. Gods, talking to him was a full time job. "My, my. So, if you did find many attractive women, would you?"

Law shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "I don't really look, so I can't say that I would."

Her brows rose straight up her forehead. "You don't look at women?" He shook his head, curious by her shock. "At all? Not even the flock in the clothing store back on Sabaody that all clearly wanted you?"

The captain quirked a brow. "What?"

Mara gaped like a fish for a few seconds. "You can't be serious. In fact, I'm certain you're not. What kind of a man doesn't notice such a blatant display of group affection?" On the upside, this meant he probably hadn't noticed any of the times she struggled with her random bouts of affection. Not that she was admitting to it or anything.

She couldn't have been more wrong with her thoughts. Law hummed in thought. "And what kind of a woman, I wonder, does notice it? It wasn't directed at you and I'm fairly certain you were supposed to be focused on clothes at the time." He wouldn't trade this conversation for the world. Her face was reddening, from anger or embarrassment he didn't know.

"Alright, fine," Mara conceded in annoyance. "A flock of horny women isn't good enough for Trafalgar Law. Does the completely gorgeous Boa Hancock slip under your notice, then, too?"

Once again, the pirate shrugged. "She's just a woman. Is there supposed to be something special about her?" The edge of teasing in the last sentence told her he knew what he was saying this time. The first one comment, it seemed, was his actual opinion.

Mara cast him an odd look. "You don't even think the most beautiful woman in the world is attractive?"

"That's a difficult title to possess," Law mused. "And I don't think it's true. That Shichibukai is just a woman who attempts to make herself beautiful so she can get what she wants from anybody." The rumors and articles about her were pretty clear on that.

Well, that was humbling to hear. "You're just a big ball of stubborn male honesty, aren't you?"

He chuckled. "And you're just a big ball of stubborn female denial."

Mara refused to rise to the bait. "Yeah, yeah. So while we're being a ball of honesty, why don't you tell me something." He made a noise of approval. "Why do you insist on keeping me around and being nice to me when every person here knows I'm trying to stick a knife in your ribs? Which, by the way, you've given me unrestricted access to." The knives and the ribs.

"Are you admitting to trying to kill me?" Law asked innocently.

Mara rolled her eyes at his tone. "Don't give me that. You've known that was my goal since the day we went to the human auction," she reminded him gruffly. "That's why you haven't been sleeping in your room. So you wouldn't be killed in your sleep."

"Hm." Was all she got from him for a while. She was forced to listen to the sounds of Penguin and Shachi debating the Isle of Women behind them as she waited for an answer. "That's a logical conclusion you've drawn there. But it's not correct."

She rose a delicate brow. "Oh, is it not?"

"No."

"Then what is the reason?" She asked irritated. Why else would he avoid her after their little encounter in the medical bay?

The look he sent her was intense and shot right to her core. She shifted uncomfortably under the penetrating gaze, wondering what was going through his mind. "That's something for another time, I think," he said finally.

A large splash of water shooting from the calm belt in front of the them interrupted her as she opened her mouth, and they both looked out at the occurrence suspiciously. It was called the calm belt for a reason. "Look, it's a Sea King!" Penguin called, looking through his binoculars.

"What's it doing?!" Shachi asked the other man. "Fighting?!"

"It's dead! Something killed it!"

"But it's so huge…!"

"I didn't see what got it," Penguin said worriedly. "The sea is truly a frightening place..!"

"Says the pirate," Mara muttered, now watching as the look of Law's face darkened in annoyance and surprise. Whatever it was, the captain clearly wished it weren't there. Mara leaned over the side of the cliff they sat on to see a older man climbing out of the water onto the rocky shore below. Well, she hardly expected to see him here.

"A person?!" Shachi shouted in confusion.

"Hey, who are you?!" Penguin chimed in.

"D… D…" Bepo attempted to say. "Dark King Rayleigh!"

"Oh, it's you," Rayleigh said, recognizing the Heart Pirates from the incident at the auction house. "We met at Sabaody Archipelago, didn't we?"

"Why were you swimming in the calm belt?" Mara asked slowly.

"Well, you see… my ship was sunk in a storm and I had to swim to shore," the old man explained. "I'm getting old, though, and my body doesn't work the way it used to."

"A storm?! There aren't any storms in the calm belt!" Penguin protested. "Wait, does that mean you wrecked somewhere else and swam all this way?! Then…" he put the pieces together. "Are you the one who fought the sea king?!"

"Yeah, that's right. I have a good breaststroke." As if that was all the explanation her needed. Rayleigh sat down and started wringing out his clothes.

"That's not the point," Penguin muttered.

"Oh, yeah!" Rayleigh smiled disarmingly at Law. "I assume that Luffy must be on this island now." The captain's eyes narrowed.

Mara, imitating how he did to her, placed a hand on Law's shoulder to calm the smoldering man. "That seems like quite the assumption to jump to. How did you know that?"

"It is made sense he would come here," Rayleigh provided. "Boa Hancock's Warlord status alongside the island's reputation makes it the perfect hiding place."

That just rose more questions, but before Mara could voice them Law suddenly stood and declared, "In that case, it's time for us to take our leave."

"What?! But captain-"

"We've done our part," Law explained. Luffy was awake and someone else had shown up to take care of him. "It's time for us to move on. Prepare to leave." The men groaned out their complaints as they were carrying all the stuff back to the submarine. They were disappointed, yes, but they still respected their captain's decision.

The captain took hold of Mara's hand and she used the proximity to take the straw hat from him, which she handed to Rayleigh. "Careful. He's not in a good place right now."

"I understand."

"Mister Strawhat will need absolute rest another two weeks," was all the instruction the doctor gave. When the Dark King nodded with another smile, Law pulled Mara to the submarine. The crew had already gotten everything on board and were waiting on the two. The speed at which they accomplished the task amazed her.

"Got it," the old man confirmed. "Thanks for everything."

The tug on Mara was insistent, but she didn't want to just abruptly leave like this. Not that she had a choice. So she settled for waving at the man now sitting on a rock, and he waved back at her. Then she was tugged below deck and the door closed behind her.

"Prepare to dive," he called down the halls, letting go of her hand. The lack of a pull didn't stop her from following him all the way to the control room, where he sat in the captain's chair and kicked his heeled feet up on the beeping panels and folded his tattooed arms behind his head.

"What a waste… We were so close…" They could hear Penguin lament from the doorway.

"I wish we could have seen the Isle of Women…" Shachi agreed.

"I wish they were bears," Bepo murmured.

"Shut up, you!" Both Penguin and Shachi yelled at the animal. They didn't want bears. They wanted to see all the lovely shapes of the women.

"I wonder what the Dark King has planned…" Law mused. Mara sat next to him. "'D' will cause a storm again, that's for sure…" he chuckled darkly at the thought. "Can't wait to see him again."

"You are one scary man, Captain Trafalgar," Mara informed him, her light tone contrasting with his dark look spectacularly. The part she didn't say was that it was also the most attractive thing she had ever witnessed. A frown tugged at her lips and she couldn't fight the blush that rose to her cheeks.

She really needed to stab him. Like now. He was starting to get into her head, as she had expected, and she didn't like it at all.

His darkened, smirking visage was pointed at her now. "Oh?"

Mara nodded and planted herself cross-legged on the floor beside his chair. "Yes." In an attempt to steer the conversation away, she added, "where are we going? Straight for the New World, or do you have other plans?"

"I have other plans," Law confirmed. "We're currently heading for a small island named Khoriel."

Khoriel. The name was familiar, and she took her time figuring out why. "Isn't that… hm." That couldn't be right. There was absolutely nothing interesting there. "Isn't Khoriel the small island near Sabaody, the one that's too small and uninhabitable to be of any use to anybody?"

"Yes."

The woman frowned. "Why would you want to go there?"

Law's eyes never wavered from hers. "Do you recall the package that we delivered at Marineford?"

The conversation had taken a U-turn somewhere. "…yes?"

"We're scheduled to meet the recipient of that package the day after tomorrow on that island," Law commented easily.

"You mean a marine," Mara guessed. "What business could you possibly have with one specific marine?" Sure they were all his enemies, but this seemed… suspicious.

Law closed his eyes, relaxing into his chair even more. "I plan to kill him, of course."