Nayla watched from her seat with curiosity as the crew gathered on the beach as they came ashore, looking at the large piece of paper the crewmember beside Law held open for them to see.
It was difficult to tell from where she was sat on the grass some distance away but it seemed to be some sort of schematic of their ship, he was probably relaying the position of the damage on the hull to them, talking at too quiet a volume for her to make out the exact words.
Losing interest as the man became obscured from her sight as more of the crew huddled around him she relaxed back and set her hands palm down on the grass behind her, deciding to take notice of the beautiful little island around her instead. She looked above her at the overhanging canopy of the tree she had sat under, the sunlight glistening through the spaces between the leaves as they swayed softly on the mild morning breeze.
Hearing what she recognised to be Law's smooth tone, she glanced back at the crowd on the sand to find him addressing his men with instructions, indicating to the side of the beach and then to some of the thicker looking trees further in.
The crew began lifting the heavy-looking coils of ropes from where they had been set down on the ground around their feet and began digging into the large tool trunk they had brought on shore whilst Law walked towards the trees and summoned a Room. He unsheathed his weapon and effortlessly sliced down dozens of them, cutting their leafy tops off and manipulating them to slam upright into the sand in two rows, parallel to the shallow water.
The crew crowded around them, wasting no time in securing the rows of trunks together with ropes as Law sliced their tops in one clean sweep to level them all to the same height. He manipulated and settled the unused trees on the ground behind him to lay between and atop the trunks that comprised the rows to connect them, waiting patiently as the crew scrambled to rapidly secure them in place before releasing his Room.
Nayla realised, as she looked at it, that in less than two minutes flat Law had nearly single-handedly made a makeshift framework for his vessel to rest on. 'Geez, what an annoyingly useful Devil Fruit.'
Law turned from watching his crew work to flash her a smug grin at what she quickly realised must have been a look of awe on her face. She huffed and looked away from him, deciding his crew was far more interesting to observe now.
It didn't take them long to finish, they began to call across to each other to confirm the parts they were each working on were secure. She watched as a few climbed on top of the framework, jumping over the joints to test the sturdiness, calling down to the others who were pushing against the trunks at the bottom with their shoulders in similar tests.
Nayla spotted Shachi and Connor walking back towards their captain from the part of the frame they had been securing, Connor removing his cap to wipe his brow with the back of his sleeve before replacing it.
Shachi spoke to Law, getting a nod of approval before he turned back to the shoreline and waved his arms at the sub, signalling for it to approach.
She could hear the heavy, metallic clinking of the anchor's thick chain winding up from there, watching as the sub began to manoeuvre gently towards the shore. She narrowed her eyes in confusion, it didn't matter if they had made something to set the sub atop to work on it, there was no way to get the sub onto it by sailing it closer. Even she could tell that if it came any further inland that it was going to run aground on the sand below the shallow water.
Law summoned a Room, just large enough to engulf the entire sub and Nayla watched in amazement as he lifted the vessel clean out of the water with nothing more than an upturned finger, moving it carefully to rest onto the framework, water rushing off of the hull to splash noisily into the sea below and across the sand of the beach as he moved it.
The crew steadied the trunks upright, helping support the framework as it slowly burdened the weight of the sub, sinking deeper into the soft bank. The sub was finally allowed to settle its full weight as Law lowered it completely. He unsheathed his Nodachi and created a slice through a section of the hull, peeling away the detached part with a flick of his finger to rest on the beach below.
Nayla looked through the peculiar cross-section of the sub he had created, seeing two large, flooded storage rooms, recognising the brig she had been kept in, the section of hallway she had managed to run across and the compartment she had nearly drowned in that morning. The water inside of them held still, despite the lack of fourth wall now.
Law's alteration of space and physics was such a bizarre display. She watched him turn his head down to look at the crewmembers still underneath the sub, unsure from this angle behind him if he had said anything or if they had understood with a look from him that they were to get out from underneath it.
As soon as everyone was out of the way he released his Room, the seawater pouring from the cut compartments onto the ground below. He gave out commands as he re-sheathed his Nodachi, eliciting a loud round of 'Aye aye captain' as they scampered to prepare to begin repairs.
'Just what the world needs, a sociopath with ESP-like powers,' she sighed to herself as she watched Law enter conversation with the crewmember with the schematic of the vessel again, she couldn't recall his name but was going to guess he was one of the main mechanics spearheading this repair.
'Well, guess I can take comfort in the fact that if I had died this morning, they'd have gotten me out pretty fast,' she thought morbidly, spotting the soaked pillow and blanket she had been using in the brig sitting on the sand below the sub where the water had drained. She turned to look behind her at the beautiful green foliage as she caught a subtle, sweet scent as the wind changed direction. Some of the shrubs further back between the trees were in full bloom with some colourful and interesting looking fruits and flowers.
She contemplated going over to look at them but her attention was brought back to in front of her by the increasing sound of the familiar, boisterous voices of Penguin, Shachi, Jeff and Connor as they made their way across the beach towards her, talking animatedly amongst themselves. She smiled at them as they came closer, stepping onto the grass in front of her.
"What did ya think of that lil lady, pretty cool huh?" Jeff grinned down as they reached her.
"I'll only admit to that if you don't tell your captain." She sat up, pulling her legs in to allow more space for them to settle onto the grass near her.
"Speaking of Cap, interesting exchange you guys had on the beach." Connor remarked casually, sitting down beside her, exchanging a look with Penguin as he sat in front of her.
Nayla's smile faded as she caught the playful grins on their faces. "I think my 'exchange' with Shachi was far more interesting." She muttered, trying to divert the direction she suspected this conversation was heading. "Don't you agree, daddy?" She grinned at Shachi as he sat himself down on her other side.
"Geez, Nayla-chan, don't call me that." She enjoyed the poorly fought-back blush appearing on his cheeks as he gave Jeff a wary look as if expecting the man to thump him again.
She pressed her hand to her chest in phony heartache. "What? Would being the father of my child be so terrible? Shachi please, I'm hurt."
"No no, it's not that. It's just these morons will tack that on as a nickname if they hear it too often." He spared the other pirates a look as they quietly snickered. "And I do not want to be called 'daddy' by a bunch of men all day." He sighed.
"Fair point." She laughed, happy to have managed to direct the conversation away seamlessly.
"Is your wrist ok by the way Nayla-chan?" Penguin asked nodding his head towards it.
"Yeah no problem at all, just a lil sprain." She held her wrist up and flexed her fingers at him over the top of the splint in a little wave, illustrating her point.
"Speaking of that, did your medical with Captain go as well as your conversation with him in his quarters?" Jeff bluntly asked, exchanging a sly side glance at Connor, immediately making her round on him in annoyance.
"Jerk."
"I didn't say anything, I just told 'em what I saw sweetie. They just came to the same conclusion that I did is all." He leant back on his hands beside her with a teasing smile.
"What you saw? And what was that exactly? Two people talking to each other over a desk?"
"An inch away from each other, apparently." Shachi chimed in quietly, looking away innocently at a tree off to his side, earning a chuckle from the other men.
"…I was just going to bite him in the face." She crossed her arms, glaring at Connor for opening his mouth.
"Sure ya were lil lady." Jeff laughed.
"Listen, I'm normally game for a little good-natured teasing but I have had a rouuuugh morning. You don't wanna deal with me right now. Lay off and change the topic or I swear I'm leaving." She said grumpily.
"Alright, we get it. You don't wanna talk about your chat with Captain in his quarters." Jeff raised his hands in defeat, feigning thought for a moment before exchanging a devious smile with Connor and speaking again. "So let's talk about your medical with Captain instead. If you've had it so 'rough' this morning, tell us about it. Just how physical was your physical?"
Shachi snorted with laughter as Jeff waggled his eyebrows at her with a grin. Penguin tried to stifle his laugh, unsuccessfully and Connor just didn't even bother trying to cover up his.
"Alright, that does it you bastards." Nayla started to stand, making them laugh even louder.
"Aww don't get mad Nayla-chan, we're just kidding with ya." Shachi managed before chuckling at the irritated face she turned to give him.
"Yeah, don't be like that lil lady, there's no shame in it."
Nayla stood straight and looked down at Jeff confused. "Shame in what?"
"Most women fall for Cap, he's a real lady killer, my main competition when we go out. Not like these duds, they couldn't pick up a chick with a forklift." He gestured with a thumb and an unimpressed expression at Penguin next to him.
"Oi!" He swatted Jeff's hand out of his face in annoyance.
"…I actually wasn't that mad before but now I'm pissed. Fall for your douche bag of a captain? Are you being serious? You better take that back, right now." She seethed, bending down to Jeff's face.
"And whatcha gonna do if I don't?" He challenged deviously.
Nayla snatched the hat off his and Penguin's heads, turning to yank Connor's off, Shachi –seeing it coming– held his on with a hand on either side, promptly provoking her into snatching his sunglasses off instead.
"Wha-!"
"Oi!"
"Where ya going Nayla-chan?"
They watched dumbstruck as she stomped down to the beach, clutching their stuff in both hands.
"Aww crap." Penguin said getting up, realising she was heading straight to the water.
"Aww come on sweetie, don't be like that! We were just playin'!" Connor yelled getting up to hurry after Penguin.
Nayla reached the water before they could catch up, swiftly hauling her hands back and tossing the hats and sunglasses as far into the sea as she could manage. Sighing in satisfaction at the sound of them hitting the water and of the frustrated groans of the men as they trotted to a stop on the beach behind her. 'Music to my ears,' she smiled to herself, feeling much better.
"Dammit Nayla-chan, my sunglasses sank…" Shachi whined, watching the hats starting to slowly soak up water and descend.
"Yes. Yes they certainly did Shachi-kun." She shielded her eyes from the sun to watch as the other three men started wading out into the sea to fetch their hats. "You should probably go get them whilst you can remember where you saw them enter the water." She said nonchalantly.
She turned to look at him as he sighed, pouting at her. "You shoulda just given me your hat. Chop chop, before one of them step on your glasses by accident."
Shachi turned to see the other pirates stepping dangerously close to where he had seen them fall in, groaning in defeat as he rushed into the water to catch up to them.
"You have beautiful eyes by the way!" She called after him, enjoying the small blush on his face as he turned to look at her over his shoulder before continuing to slosh into the water.
Penguin had rescued his hat, wringing it out as Connor reached into the sea to pick up his own. Jeff beat him too it, scooping Connor's hat through the water to fill it and slapping the cap onto his head, full to the brim.
Nayla couldn't help the laugh that escaped her as she watched Connor freeze as the water poured down his face, turning to look at Jeff dangerously slowly as he pointed and laughed at him.
"Nayla-ya."
She jumped at how closely Law had spoken from behind her, glancing up at him over her shoulder as he watched Connor shove Jeff over into the water.
"Why did you throw my men's hats into the water?" He asked levelly.
"Disciplining your crew." She answered easily, turning back to them to watch as Jeff pulled Connor into the water with him and as Shachi yelled at the two to be careful until he found his sunglasses.
"What did they do wrong?" He asked turning his gaze to her instead after watching Jeff and Connor exchange a mischievous look before teaming up to pull Shachi into the water with them.
"They…oh, nothing important actually." She said sheepishly, deciding to turn away from his piercing look to watch them as Penguin laughed at Shachi's misfortune, trying to evade the attempts to have him pulled in too.
Law sighed, watching the childish display. "Nayla-ya, please refrain from encouraging them." He muttered, watching as the three finally caught Penguin and tackled him into the water.
Nayla giggled, ignoring him and watching them have fun, almost tempted to join them though she'd had her fill of seawater for one day, almost literally.
"Captain."
They both turned to the direction of the sound of a heavy thud in the sand a little way from them as a gangplank was lowered to the beach from the deck of the sub.
"Everything is ready and re-calculated for the next island. It should take us less than a week to reach it from here." Bepo announced, walking halfway down the gangplank towards them.
Law nodded. "Good, help the others check what stock is salvageable." He gestured over his shoulder making Nayla look around him. Sure enough the crew were hard at work in the two freshly drained storage rooms sorting through the boxes and crates of flooded cargo, the men inside the ship tossing down the unsalvageable items to the ones on the beach below to discard.
It really was surreal watching them through the sliced cross-section of the ship, even more surreal watching a polar bear in a bright orange boiler suit hop directly into one of the opened compartments of the sub from his position on the gangplank with an 'aye aye Captain.'
"When are you gonna piece your sub back together?" She asked curiously, watching the bear trying to take charge of the men inside the room.
"I'll leave the flooded areas opened to dry them out for a little bit. Once I put them back together the men can work on the hull repair."
"You're gonna put it back together ok, right?" She asked a little sceptically, imaging an untimely end if they tried to submerge with a shoddily replaced hull whilst watching Bepo get depressed and apologetic as the crewmembers yelled at him for his bossy behaviour.
"Would I have done it if I couldn't?"
"I guess not…" She hummed, still a bit unsure.
"Let's resume our talk." Law turned to walk past her as she reluctantly moved her gaze back to him.
"Ugh, do we have to? Haven't we talked enough for one day-week, even?" She asked as she watched him head towards the grass, silently gesturing for her to follow as his response to her question.
Sighing she looked back at the ocean longingly but her severe temptation to join in with the clowning around going on was soon squashed when she saw the men were already walking back to the shore and by the look on Shachi's face. He'd found his sunglasses, those were back on, he grinned at her, using his index finger to indicate between her and his captain before giving himself a hug and making mock-kissy faces, much to the amusement of the other three sloshing back through the water onto the beach with him.
She narrowed her eyes at him, opening her mouth to correct his childish taunt when she felt a hand snake around her waist to rest on her hip.
Nayla looked up at Law as he stood to her side, smirking down at her knowingly. "I take it this is what they did to provoke you into throwing their belongings into the ocean?"
"It's your fault. If you hadn't said what you'd said to Connor this morning then th-"
"Hmm, less than two hours to spread to the whole crew. That's a record, even for them." He said, ignoring her to glance over at the other crewmembers who were watching with interest from around the sub, elbowing each other and grinning.
"Why would you purposely give them the wron-" she took in the widening of his smirk as he turned back to face her. "Right…'enjoyable,' get off of me, you ass." She spat, attempting to walk back up the beach only to feel him tighten his grip and pull her closer to his side as he strode leisurely alongside her.
Groaning in defeat at the chorus of wolf whistles coming from the crew around the sub she gave up and walked back towards the grass with him, not missing the one finger that had 'somehow' managed to slip between the bottom of her hoodie and top of her shorts onto her bare skin.
"You four. Stop messing around. Work." He demanded easily over his shoulder at the four soaked pirates as they neared the beach. They shouted their affirmatives over the noise of the crew, grinning ear to ear despite the mild scold.
Law released her as they reached the grassy part of the beach, sitting himself down in the same spot she had occupied not long ago, patting the ground beside him in invitation. "Have a seat, Nayla-ya."
She sat herself down beside him groaning like a petulant child and bringing her knees up to rest her crossed arms on.
He remained quiet, watching as his crew turned away from observing them to continue working on their flooded rooms. Nayla on the other hand watched her four soggy pirate friends reach the beach again, jostling each other playfully, undoing and wringing out the top halves of their boiler suits before tying the arms around their waists and going to help out. She smiled at their playfulness, deciding to pull her eyes away from them in favour of watching the gentle waves lapping onto the shore ahead of her.
She rest her chin onto her arms, the peaceful, natural ambience nearly made her forget the dangerous man sitting next to her until he spoke up.
"You aren't a Devil Fruit user or you'd have been doomed the moment the brig began flooding and it doesn't look like any form of Haki I've ever seen though it seems to work in a similar way." He thought out loud.
She snorted to herself, watching the waves glide back and forth across the sand ahead of them. "There are more things in this world than just Devil Fruit and Haki." She rest the side of her face against her arms as she turned her head to look at him. "In fact, I'd never heard of either until I came to the Grand Line…By the way, it's kind of ironic that Devil Fruit users remain around the Grand Line sea and don't travel inland as soon as they eat one."
Law leant his back against the tree behind him, regarding her quietly as she opened her mouth to speak again. "And by 'ironic,' I really just mean 'stupid.'" She said smiling, earning a small grin from him.
"Devil Fruits are mostly found on the Grand Line, Nayla-ya. By definition that means the people that find them are usually sea-farers. Marines, pirates, the like."
"Still. Stupid. If I were a sea-farer and got my hands on one of those I'd eat it and head straight into the middle of a nice, dry continent."
"Easy for someone who doesn't even like the sea to say." He adjusted his Nodachi more securely onto his shoulder.
"You do?"
"Your diversion tactic is wearing thin with me. Tell me what I want to know." He said flatly, raising his hands to interlock his fingers behind his head as he lay back fully.
She glanced at the crew as they worked. "…Will you tell the others?"
Law followed her gaze, not really expecting that to have been a hurdle in getting her to talk. "I don't plan on telling anyone on the crew anything you share with me. I'm the only one that needs to know."
Nayla met his eyes as he looked back at her, deciding that she believed him. Not because she could tell he wasn't lying, his expression and tone of voice were perfectly neutral. Just because he didn't seem to have any interest or reason in telling anyone else. She hummed to herself in thought before resting her head back onto her arms comfortably as she gazed at him.
"…I honestly don't think you'd believe me if I did tell you."
He sighed tiredly, closing his eyes. "Try me."
"Seriously, you're a doctor and you now know that I have a family history of mental illness. You'll think I'm crazy if I say it." She found herself watching the small flecks of sunlight that managed to seep through the leaves overhead glide back and forth across his handsome features as the breeze swayed the branches.
He smiled, opening his eyes to look at her. "Would it be helpful if I told you that I already question your mental health?"
"Ditto." She deadpanned, giving him an unimpressed look as his grin widened.
"You make the decision to board a pirate vessel full of men, alone, against all better judgement that I know you had at the time and think I'm the crazy one?"
"I think you're probably a psychopath."
He laughed at the seriousness of her statement. "Oh? What makes you think that?"
"Superficial charm, grandiose self-worth, cunning, lack of remorse, callous, definite criminal tendencies-" She counted off on her fingers. "-and if you became a criminal at ten then I'll bet you were a complete bastard of a child. You fit the profile of a psychopath pretty well, Law."
His eyebrows raised in surprise as he realised that she really was listing off the traits used to establish whether someone fit the medical criteria of a psychopath before smirking at her. "I'll have you know that I only scored twenty-two out of the necessary twenty-five to thirty required for a diagnosis of psychopathy."
Her eyes widened in horror as she looked at him, realising he was dead serious despite his grin. "...You actually checked?"
"When enough people call you a psychopath, you begin to wonder." He confirmed darkly, returning her eye contact.
"Twenty-two...is not something to be proud of." She said shocked.
"You do realise that you fit many of those criteria yourself, Nayla-ya?" He removed one of the hands he had tucked behind his head to mimic her count off on his own fingers. "Superficial charm, manipulative, lack of goals, impulsivity, poor behavioural control, killing people for money-no matter how you justify it, is also criminal tendency...and let's not forget promiscuous sexual behaviour." He smiled slyly at her look of offence as he rested his freed hand onto his chest. "I'd say you'd score at least an eighteen towards that diagnosis and considering you know the criteria off by heart, I take it you already checked for yourself too. Or was that just some more 'reading' you did?" He finished mockingly.
"Actually, in this industry you work with a lot of whack-jobs, you tend to wonder how stable your 'colleagues' are, that's why I looked those up-plus eighteen is still a lot better than twenty-two-and for the record, I am not promiscuous, Law!"
He raised a sceptical brow at her. "I honestly don't care if you are or aren't but your behaviour and clothing choices would suggest otherwise."
"I can dress and behave as I please. I'm more of a…" She paused, looking upwards, trying to find the right wording. "I guess I'm more of a 'you can look but you can't touch' kinda person? Not that you seem to be following that rule much." She said, muttering the latter part.
He hummed to himself turning his gaze from her to the open ocean in front of them. "I believe there's a technical term for that."
"…Really?" She asked in genuine interest.
"Yes, I believe the word you're looking for is 'cocktease,' Nayla-ya." He looked back at her as she glared at him.
"What? No! That's when you tease someone on purpose with no intention of actually sleeping with them!"
"Not surprising you would know that definition so well."
"Shut up, if anyone's behaved like one it's you!...Though wait, I guess it wouldn't be called cocktease if you're a guy…" Her irritation quelled as she tried to think if there was a name for it when guys did it, her brain generating a few crude terms but nothing she felt the need to voice out loud.
"Who said I have no intention of sleeping with you?" He broke her thoughts with a husky tone and devious expression, enjoying the wary look on her face as she subconsciously leant a little further away from him as he spoke again. "As much as I enjoy discussing your over-sexualised behaviour and probable mental defects with you, let's get back on track."
"Alright, you want to know what it is?" She challenged. "Then let me ask you something first, do you believe in malevolent spirits? Or demons?" She watched impressed as his expression remained perfectly still apart from a slight furrowing of his brows.
"…You think your power comes from demons."
She nodded at him, awaiting his response. There was a long pause as he looked her over, seeming to assess her critically before sitting up and letting his hands fall into his lap. He regarded her completely seriously before speaking in a neutral tone. "Do they talk to you, Nayla-ya? Are you able to hear or see them here with us right now?"
She tutted and rolled her eyes, looking away from him. "Law! See?! Now you think I'm a lunatic. I knew I shouldn't have said anything."
He smiled at her offence, trying not to laugh. "It's a little hard to believe."
"Oh yes, it's much more believable to eat a fucking fruit and suddenly be made entirely of rubber or to be a human magnet or to be able to dissect people and rearrange their bodies parts in mid-air."
He chuckled at her bending one knee to rest his elbow onto it as he followed her gaze to watch his crew clearing and salvaging their flooded storage rooms. "Point taken, I'll humour you."
"…Alright, let me ask you something else then. You saw the energy flowing uncontrolled when I was out of it the first time you treated me?"
He nodded in confirmation, mentally filing away she had described the black markings as an energy flow. "When you saw it, or touched it, did it make you feel unsettled? Anxious? A weird ominous feeling in your gut, like something was wrong?"
His face sobered as he remembered the foreboding feeling he had felt at the time, the unexplained sense of dread when he examined it. Bepo had felt the same.
"And you realise your weapon is a cursed blade right?" He raised his brows, wondering how she had known as he glanced at the Nodachi propped against his shoulder beside him.
"You probably don't feel it anymore, you're probably used to it by now but when you first gripped it, didn't you feel that same weird, negative vibe from it like you did from me?"
"Did someone on the crew tell you it was a cursed blade?"
"No, it's easy enough for me to feel it. I noticed it the first time you walked past me…Even Zoro picked up one of those." She muttered in distaste, wrinkling her nose as she looked down at it.
"You're saying that cursed blades are the work of demons?" He failed to keep the scepticism out of his voice this time.
"No, of course not. Your blade was obviously enchanted by the glittery wand crafted from a princess' unicorn's horn by a well-meaning tooth-fairy." She said dryly, earning a warning look from him at her sarcastic tone.
"Anyway, same deal. I'm the same as that." She indicated to his blade with her hand. "Except I get a continuous tap of it and I'm not an inanimate object. Cursed blades can only contain a set amount of unchanging energy in it."
He glanced back at his sword, mulling over what she said. He hadn't actually given much in-depth thought into why cursed blades were cursed. There was definitely something off with them, that much was real, but most explanations as to why that he had heard he'd immediately dismissed as being superstitious fiction. Stories of creatures inhabiting the blades or the human souls cut down by it haunting the weapon in resentment and bringing misfortune to the wielder or that they were the work of malicious spirits and demons.
"If you really believe that 'demons' curse these blades…why would they do that? What's in it for them?" He said eyeing his weapon.
"They feed off of human misery, it's nothing more complicated than that. No better misery than death, they enjoy lending their power to objects and people that will cause it. Cursing weapons is pretty standard for them." She eyed the tattooed word over the fingers that gripped the weapon.
"I'm using the term 'demon' loosely anyway. Some people think they're ghosts or spirits or whatever and religious people always link it to their own belief systems in some way. I'm not saying I believe in any of it but I know that whatever they are, they're horrible creatures."
He tapped a finger over his sheath in thought, trying to find the right questions to poke holes in her story, unwilling to believe anything so outlandish anytime soon. "So they enjoy playing a hand in misery and death. If that's the case then why wouldn't they lend this ability to people more often? You're the first I've heard of. People are far more effective at killing others than an inanimate weapon is."
"It's not compatible with life." Seeing the small flicker of confusion cross his face she continued. "The ability I have, it's a continuous version of the energy that's infused in your blade. Human bodies aren't built to deal with it, it's not compatible with life, it kills most people. That's why they have to settle for cursing inanimate things like weapons instead."
"Why are you able to survive it then?"
She smiled, practically seeing the medical cogwheels in his head turning as he looked at her. "Who knows, last person recorded to successfully use this ability died over 600 years ago, apparently. Maybe there are a few others out there who lay low like me."
"That long between people able to use it…that rules out a hereditary mutation." He mumbled to himself, looking back out at the sea. "It works by just making you physically stronger?"
"Not much more than that, yeah." She settled herself to lay down on her back on the grass, resting her own hands behind her head as she looked up at the sky between the leaves of the tree they sat under.
"What's the catch?"
"Hmm?"
"Every power comes with a price, you know mine, what's yours?" He asked, looking down at her with a smirk.
"Well, it's not as lame as being vulnerable to water." She said returning his smirk.
"I'll be the judge of that." He chuckled.
She contemplated withholding it from him but she had to reluctantly admit to herself that him being a doctor, an annoyingly observant one, he'd figure it out the first time he saw it anyway.
"Well, aside from the damage I can cause to my own body by pushing it past what it's naturally capable of-" She raised her splinted wrist in illustration. "-which is why I try not to use it bare handed and use weapons- I'm not immune to the effects of it. It doesn't kill me instantly but that doesn't mean it doesn't do damage to my body. The longer I allow it flow through the more damage caused and the longer it takes for me to recover between uses of it."
"So it's killing you." He summarised indifferently.
"That's why people that take it get some sort of seal. It allows only a single point for it to flow in and makes it easier to stop it when not using it." She stifled a yawn and closed her eyes. "Mine's on my lower back, away from vital organs but near enough to either end of my body for rapid flow if I need it." The drain of her early wake up and long morning crept up on her as Law quietly thought to himself, allowing her a peaceful moment to relax.
"It wasn't 'stopped' when you were comatose. You have to control it consciously." He concluded out loud, piecing together what he had seen with what she was telling him. "…that must be tiring."
"It was at first but you get used to it. I think the closest thing I could think of to describe it would be like how we breathe. We're doing it all the time without noticing it but we can take conscious control of it if we want to too…we also lose our ability to breathe properly if we fall too deeply into unconsciousness." She mumbled quietly, enjoying the sounds of the birds above and the calm waves.
"How long can you use it at a time?"
"…Mmm, not too long really, few hours or so."
Law watched her face for a moment, noticing that despite her closed eyes and seemingly relaxed facial expression, she seemed a little bit uncomfortable. He sighed and reached a hand over to take one of her own out from under her head and rest it on the ground between them, causing her to open her eyes and look at them.
"…Are you getting better at expressing your crush on me?" She asked with a raised brow, looking from their joined hands to his face.
He chuckled, releasing her hand and sliding his fingers under the cuff of her sleeve to her wrist. "Can you use your ability longer than a few hours?"
"What are you…you're measuring my pulse aren't you?" She deadpanned, realising he hadn't bought her lie.
"I wouldn't need to if you'd shake off that poor habit of lying to me, Nayla-ya. Can you use your ability longer than a few hours? Yes or no?"
She looked up at him stubbornly, refusing to answer and getting slightly alarmed when instead of the annoyed frown she had expected from him at her silence, she got a smirk that promised nothing good instead.
Law removed his fingers from her wrist, leaning over to rest on his elbow above her, placing his fingers across the side of her neck instead. Pleased with the quickening thrum of her pulse beneath his fingertips as he leant close to her face, keeping eye contact with her.
"What are you doing?" Her voice didn't come out nearly as sternly as she had wanted it to.
"Observing your eyes and it's more accurate to take your pulse from this artery anyway. Answer my question." He demanded lowly, enjoying her discomfort.
She glanced past him at the beach where he knew his men were. "…This doesn't look like you're trying to work out if I'm lying or not."
"No, it doesn't. I doubt they can even tell that our lips are still apart from that angle."
She sat up, growling in frustration at his gloating smile and shoving him aside from hovering over her.
"You can boldly declare you want Shachi to father your child in front of the entire crew but get embarrassed over what might be mistaken as a kiss with me? That's an interesting reaction, is it because you're genuinely attracted to me?"
"Oh shut up, Law! No one said I was."
"No one had to." He chuckled before leaning his face closely to hers, speaking in a low, suggestive tone. "It's almost a shame that you are though. There's no way I'll be able to tell if you're lying because of the way your heart races when I touch you, Nayla."
She clenched her teeth, contemplating another attempt at trying to punch the smirk off his face. "Cocky, arrogant, son of a bitch." She hissed, deciding it would probably be the wiser move to suppress her sudden, violent urges and leave instead. Nayla quickly stood but didn't take more than one step forward when she felt his hand wrap around her uninjured wrist. She looked back at him in annoyance as he sat looking up at her in unmasked laughter.
"You're not going anywhere." He pulled her back gently from the step forward she had managed to take away from him. "I'll stop teasing if you just answer honestly."
"And if I don't? What are you gonna do if I refuse to answer? Torture me?"
"Not in my best interest to torture someone I want to be cooperative."
"Wha-We just went over this! It's not in your best interest to annoy someone you want to be cooperative with you either but that hasn't stopped you so far mister 'it's enjoyable.'" She yelled down at him, though his easy, laid-back smile didn't falter.
"Annoying you is fine, torture is a little overkill. I do have some sodium thiopental on board though. Have you ever come across that in your 'reading,' Nayla-ya?"
She furrowed her brows in thought though Law quickly interrupted it as she felt him rub his thumb over the skin of her wrist, drawing her attention back to his grip. She chose to ignore it as she tried to decipher his threat. "…That's kind of an old-school choice of anaesthetic for a surgeon, though I guess that's to be expected from a quack."
"Actually." He suddenly pulled her towards him with more strength than she had expected causing her to stumble down to land with a hand on either side of him as she found herself on his lap. She winced a bit as her injured hand landed onto the grass beside his hip. "I don't use it for anaesthetic, try again, Nayla-ya." He pulled the wrist he still gripped behind him, forcing her forward to press her chest against his before she had a chance to react to her new position.
She looked up at his face, catching the subtle edge of lust in his expression as he dragged his gaze from their contacting chests to her eyes. A devilish grin taking to his lips as he chuckled at her discomfort, the reverberation of his deep voice, along with his warmth, soaking through the thin layer of clothing between them.
Forcing her brain to focus and keep functioning, she tried to remember the question he seemed to be awaiting an answer for. "…Lethal injection?"
He laughed at that, the motion of his toned chest pressing against her own reminding her that she should probably make an attempt to pull away from him, preferably before the crew spotted them. "You should know from my hospital visit to you that I'm not a fan of painless deaths, good guess though."
She tried to sit up but he didn't loosen his grip to allow it "…Truth serum."
"Truth serum." He confirmed, smiling down at her continued futile attempt to overpower him.
"You really are a quack, those don't work ya know." She wrenched her wrist free of him and sat back, rubbing the skin his fingers had gripped.
His brows raised at the sudden strength she had used, looking at the black markings across the hand he had just held captive. "Depends on how they're used and the interrogator. I've found them quite useful so far."
He leant forward from the tree he was resting on, closing the small gap she had managed to put between them as she sat between his legs. She watched his movements warily as his face approached hers. "I already asked you this question yesterday, let's see if you'll give me the right answer this time. Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way, Nayla-ya?"
She glanced over at the crew, thankful they hadn't seemed to have noticed their position. "If you stop annoying me on purpose then I'll tell you what you want."
He smiled, settling himself back against the trunk behind him, silently allowing her to leave his lap. "I won't ask the question a third time."
"...I can use it continuous for a few weeks at a time." She mumbled, leaving a generous gap between them as she settled herself back onto the grass next to him.
"That's quite a big difference from a few hours. Were you hoping to take my head the second I turned my back on you, believing you could no longer use your ability?" He watched the markings on her hand recede once more.
"Crossed my mind, I like to keep my options open." She admitted, matching his wry smile.
He chuckled at her, following her gaze to watch as Connor jogged over, stopping on the grass a few feet in front of them.
She couldn't help but notice that with the top half of his boiler suit and hat off and his shoulder length, wet, black hair loose he was actually a very appealing man himself. She was beginning to feel a little disappointed that Law had made it clear his men were off limits…though she was already wondering how bad the consequences would be if she were to ignore that order.
"Captain, sorry to 'interrupt'-" He spared Nayla a small, smug grin, stopping her thoughts short and halting her quiet admiration of his impressive build as she frowned at him. "-we've finished sorting through the stock."
"How much was salvageable?" Law asked as he stood.
"Well, not a lot actually. We lost most of the gunpowder and virtually all the stocked food that wasn't in plastic or metal packaging." He sighed, offering Nayla a hand as she moved to stand. She took it but still sent him a dirty look which he ignored.
"Are the rooms dried out enough to replace the hull?"
"Yeah the sun helped dry off the wood enough. The boys gave the rooms a quick mop up and towelled off the inner walls too. The rooms will dry up with the sub's normal level of ventilation no problem."
Law hummed in acknowledgement as they walked back towards the sub, he ran a critical eye over his crew's work and the pile of discarded cargo laying on the sand.
"Fine, I'll reassemble the hull." He held a hand out and cast his Room to engulf the section of exposed sub and the piece of it on the beach. "Have the team begin repairs immediately."
"Aye aye Captain." Connor crossed his arms and watched as Law manipulated the piece of sliced hull back into place with a single swipe of his finger as soon as the crew inside the rooms backed away enough from the cut edges.
Nayla, or she'd argue, the more perverted part of her brain that she tried to disassociate from, was more focused on the impressively muscled, exposed upper halves of most his crew. Some sweaty from exertion, an assortment of tattoos and scars…and piercings? She eyed Connor's torso through his soaked white undershirt at the point of interest with a raised eyebrow.
"Something of interest on Connor's chest, Nayla-ya?" Law asked without turning around as he released his Room.
Connor turned his head from watching his captain to look at her in surprise to find her staring at him.
"Oh…uh well, yeah actually…" She spluttered at unexpectedly being caught eyeing up his crew a little, wondering if Law had eyes in the back of his head hidden under that hat of his. She cleared her throat as Law turned from ensuring his handiwork was sound to look at her. "Interesting nipple ring you got there Connor. Didn't think you were the type." She smiled innocently up at him as he looked down at himself, as if only just remembering it was there.
"Oh right…yeah…I'm not, that uh, would be what happens when you drink too much around here." He muttered uncomfortably, averting his eyes from his captain's sharp gaze.
"Jeff goes around sticking needles into you lot?" She asked shocked, raising her gaze from his chest to his eyes.
"No not exactly but uh…the guys tend to convince you to do stupid things when you've had one too many. Managed to talk me into this somehow." He said gesturing to it.
She snickered at him. "Why didn't you just pull it out in the morning?" Nayla caught Law crossing his arms over his Nodachi in her peripheral vision as he looked at Connor expectantly.
"Well…the guys dared me to keep it, placed bets on how long I'd leave it in...Jeff bet one month for a pretty hefty amount, I agreed to leave it in for that long to let him win in exchange for a twenty percent cut…but don't tell the rest of 'em I'm in on it." He finished mumbling.
"Stupid." She stated bluntly, smiling up at him good-naturedly.
"Very." Law agreed walking away to talk to a crewmember that was approaching them.
Connor winced as he watched his captain walk away, turning back to Nayla as she spoke. "Well, at least you'll make some money out of your stupidity…and at least the crew were kind enough to make you get your left one pierced."
He paused his sheepish scratching at the back of his neck. "Why what does the right one mean?"
"No prizes for guessing." She giggled at his paling face. "Sounds like parties with you guys get wild, you often do this to your friends as soon as their judgement is impaired?" She asked prodding at the metal beneath his top.
"Ah well…we try not to, it annoys Captain, a lot."
"Hmm killjoy." She said turning to look at him as he directed what seemed to be the mechanics, if the tool belts they had started strapping around their waists were any indication, to the damaged part of the hull.
"He got tired of people asking him to remove tattoos or treat badly done piercings the morning after, refused to do it anymore, which is fair enough really sweetie. He shouldn't have to spend his time on our self-inflicted stupidity." He said chuckling.
She laughed, trying to imagine a grumpy Law the morning after with a queue of hung-over crewmembers in his infirmary asking for assorted tattoos and piercings to be removed and treated. "Yeah I guess so."
"Speaking of which, I'm just curious…did he have 'the talk' with you?"
"The talk?"
"Yeah the uh…'safe sex' talk?"
"…Seriously? He polices your sex lives too? Tyrant."
"Well no, we can do whatever we want but he refuses to have to examine and treat our…ya know…anymore if it's because we were too irresponsible or lazy to use a condom. Was just wondering if he gave you the same deal."
"…No…I got the 'don't you dare get pregnant' deal but nothing about th-…wait he refuses to do it anymore?"
"Jeff."
"Ah right, Jeff."
"It was pretty funny, Captain doesn't often lose his temper but I remember this one time four months ago. He lost it, ranted about how he was sick of looking at everyone's junk, especially Jeff's." Connor tried suppressing his laughter, turning to look at the man in question on the other side of the beach, waving completely innocently at him as if he hadn't just said what he had.
Nayla burst out laughing at the thought of a grumpy Law, face-palming, losing his temper, possibly hung-over himself and having to examine and attend to his men after their drunken exploits at every port visit. Being doctor to a bunch of horny young men that drank too much must really be a job and a half.
Law turned to look over at them at her loud laughter, only making her laugh harder as he narrowed his eyes at her and turned to look at Connor, obviously trying to work out what had been said to have made her look his way in a fit of giggles.
"Imma take this as my cue to leave sweetie, stay outta trouble." He said patting her on her back as he watched Law finish his conversation and begin to walk back towards them. He took off to jog back up the beach towards Jeff and some other crewmembers, ducking his head a little as he passed his captain.
Nayla tried to settle her laughter down as Law passed him with a suspicious look and came to a stop in front of her. She wiped her tears away and bit her lips together as she looked up at him.
"Nayla-ya." He sighed at her widening smile before continuing. "With me." He inclined his head towards the gangplank as he made his way to it. She followed him onto it, snickering at all the mental images of Law's annoyance and discomfort Connor had so kindly bestowed upon her.
Law looked at her over his shoulder with a raised brow as they climbed back up to the deck. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing." She laughed, earning an eye roll as she smothered her mouth with her hand to try to suppress the new round of laughter he had unintentionally provoked.
She managed to settle herself down as he led them back inside silently, down the stairs to the first floor and stopped in front of the door to his quarters to turn and look at her. She seemed happy, hands clasped behind her back, looking up at him with an 'innocent' smile.
"Go make yourself useful and help Jake in the galley." He bluntly demanded.
She blinked at him her smile fading a little as she furrowed her brows in confusion. "What? Why?"
"Do you expect to just lounge around all day doing nothing whilst my crew work in between your jobs for Joker? You'll be expected to help out around here." He watched the grin fade from her face completely.
"What?! Then I'm doing THREE jobs for the pay of one?! The hell with that, I'm not doing it!" She said crossing her arms and meeting his stare in defiance, openly daring him to force her to do as she was told.
"Hmm, I had thought you might want to spend time with the crew and help them out but if that's not the case-" He opened the door to his quarters with his free hand. "-then I'm more than happy to have you spend all day and night with me, Nayla-ya."
"…Ok fine, but why the galley? Why not something else?" She sighed out, uncrossing her arms and looking away from him back down the hallway to the stairwell.
"I'm assuming you can cook."
She whipped her head back to him narrowing her eyes. "Why? Because I'm a woman?"
He raised his brows at her apparent offence, taking in the hand that had found its way to her hip. "Actually, I assumed as much because you've been on your own since nineteen…that was quite a 'sensitive' reaction." He said grinning slightly.
Realising she had just given him a new button to push she closed her eyes and groaned. "Geez, forget I said anything. I'll just go play obedient housewife-woman-thing and go cook." She said turning to leave.
"...You can't cook, can you?"
"Not worth a damn." She called back as she made her way towards the stairs.
"Then what good are you going to be there?"
"I'll find something Jake needs sliced up and pretend it's you." She sang back as she reached the stairs. "Hey, if the crew are outside working and you're sending me to go help in the galley, what are you going to do?"
"Nap." He said easily, leaning against his doorframe and enjoying the look on her face.
"Well that's not fair, I'm tired too ya know. You woke me up so freaking early and I nearly died. Where's my nap?"
"You're still quite welcome to join me, Nayla-ya. We can nap together." He purred lowly.
"I take it back. Enjoy your beauty nap. You need it." She placed her hand onto the railing and started to descend the stairs, hearing him chuckle as he entered and closed the door to his quarters.
Author's Note: 'Psychopathy Checklist Revised' by Robert D. Hare, fun times checking how close to a psychopath you and your loved ones are…or just me…probably just me.
