I do not own anything within this fanfiction and any names used are purely coincidental with those of the One Piece anime. All rights go to the creators and editors of the One Piece universe and to its writer Eiichiro Oda.
"What? I was hungry."
...
It had been several days since Rachael had talked with Law. Though she now let him clean and bandage her wounds, she still didn't trust him and each time he did seemed like a chore to her. The pain in her head had finally gone and bumping it no longer made her feel any pain. Though she didn't let any emotion show on her face, she felt empty on the inside. She missed her friends, the feeling of uneasiness haunting her every night before she finally drifted off to sleep in the late hours of the early morning. She couldn't sleep until that time and when she did it wasn't for very long. Being an insomniac still seemed a little difficult for her to live with, with her not being one for very long. It had only been recently, when she was still in her world that she had begun to not sleep until such times, her parents objecting to doing so.
She reflected on the time she had spent with the Heart Pirates so far, and in looking back, it did seem to her as if she was freeloading. She had eaten and slept here and had done nothing in return for such hospitality. Though they were pirates, they were still fellow humans, or polar bears in Bepo's case. She thought about how to repay him, and she came up with an idea that she had a hunch that Law may possibly have come up with too.
As she felt the sub surface, she opened the exit door, coming out onto the wet deck, still barefoot, finding it more comfortable that way. She walked to the railing, leaning on it as she looked out to sea. Hearing footsteps, her ears perked up but she didn't turn around, noticing the quiet tapping of shoes on the ground. It was unmistakeably Law's footsteps.
"Here you are. You like it out here don't you? You're out here before I am most of the time." Law said, continuing "I have a proposition for you."
(He thinks the same.)
"Let me guess, you want me to join your crew, right?" She asked, looking at him, expressionlessly.
"How did you..." he began.
"Great minds think alike." she interjected.
They stood there looking into each other's eyes for a while, not wanting to look away until one of them blinked. Law smirked.
(Her eyes are as blue as the sea. So beautiful yet holding so much pain. I wonder what her story is.)
"I had a feeling you'd be more resistant to the idea. What made you change your mind?" He asked, curious of her thoughts on the matter as I leaned on the rail close to her.
"I guess you could say I don't like being a bother to people. After all, since I have been here, you've looked after me medically as well as feeding me and giving me a place to stay. Saying no would make me seem like a freeloader and I'd rather leave before doing that." She replied. Even though most of the time she seemed to others to think only of herself, she was really thinking of the wellbeing of the people she cared about. It wasn't in her nature to be heartless yet she decided not to show emotion either.
"Being a doctor, it was no trouble. I had to make sure you got better. If I'd have left you how you were on that island, you would have died." He smirked.
"I am in your debt for that, another reason to join your crew. And don't smile like that, it's creepy." She replied, looking back out to sea.
(She has a heart of gold)
"Don't you have family or nakama? Any home to go back to?" Law asked, curious of her past and ready to do some digging into her inner self. After all if she was to be on his crew, he ought to know her first.
"Once." She replied. One word answers, especially after questions like that were always a bad sign.
"Once?" Law asked, delicately pushing at the situation.
"Yeah. I'd rather not talk about it. Don't concern yourself, just forget I said anything."
"If it is something bothering my crew, then it is my concern. Tell me." Law said, trying not to sound too forceful.
"I said forget about it. Keep your nose out of it, Law." She replied, her voice sounding a little annoyed, her face remaining expressionless.
"You will tell me!" He shouted at her, now ordering her to tell him.
"Make me!" She shouted in his face before running back into the sub, her feet making close to no sound as she ran, her wet feet making it difficult to run.
She began to cry quietly to herself as she ran from Law, not letting her emotions make her blubber like a child. Tears ran warm down her cheeks, her insides feeling like they had just been churned like butter. Her stomach felt knotted and she didn't feel like doing anything at all. She heard the running footsteps coming from behind her but she just didn't care.
(Go away Law, I just want to be alone)
"Hey!" Law called from behind her. She ignored him. "What is wrong? Tell me! I can't help you unless you do."
(I don't want your help, Law. Just go away!)
She ignored him again. The sound of the door to the outside closing echoed through the hall. "Tell me!" He shouted, his pace quickening. Not wanting to deal with his shit right now, she broke into a sprint, her tears spread to the wind as she ran. Finding her room, which was one of the rehab infirmary rooms, she slammed the door shut and locking it from the inside. Jumping onto the bed and crawling into the corner, she brought her legs up to her chest and hugged them. Her sense of insecurity taking over and her feeling of not wanting to talk to anyone kept growing, uncomfortable on so many levels.
Law cut the door down, entering the room with the nodachi swung over his shoulder. She looked up at him, crying angrily. "Stay away!" She shouted, only succeeding in making the tears flow more. Tightening her arms around her legs, she continued to scowl at him through teary eyes.
(Why are you such a dick, Law?! Just go away! I want to be alone, why can't you understand that?)
"So, you gonna tell me or am I going to have to get answer out of you somehow?" He asked, his eyes closed. Opening them as he heard her get off the bed, his opening eyes met with her fist. He dropped his nodachi, stumbling backwards, taken by surprise at the suddenness of her actions and the strength of her punch. She ran past him into the maze of corridors in the submarines
(You win this one)
"What a jerk!" She shouted to herself. Shachi and Penguin must have heard her as they came running out of the food hall to meet her.
"Hey, you ok?" Shachi and Penguin asked in unison. She stormed past them both. Looking at each other and then back at Rachael as she walked off.
She walked for a good few hours around the sub until it resurfaced, giving her space to breathe and time to reflect on what she had said and done.
(I'm still just a child at heart. Fragile, frail and scared. When will I ever grow up? I punched Law for fucks sake, what is the matter with me? Why do I act like I do around him?)
Hearing those familiar footsteps, each quiet tap on the floor seemed like loud bangs, chipping away at my heart like an emotional chisel being hit with a mallet.
(Perhaps I had pushed her too hard. She had cried but her eyes were angry, not sad. Was I the reason she had cried? Had I made something within her snap?)
"You push too hard, you know that?" She said, her voice straining to stay normal, a side effect of holding in the tears.
"Why won't you tell me? I am your Captain now, and that means you can tell me anything. The wellbeing of my crew is my priority, so having one of them unhappy for a reason I cannot comprehend worries me. Besides, that punch to the face was nothing to sneeze at. You have something bottled up in there, buried deep and untouched." The surgeon noted, being a master of the human body and some of its behaviours.
"And I'd prefer it to stay that way." She said, turning around. This time, Law hadn't got his nodachi with him. She looked him dead in the eyes, her reddened eyes intently focused on his grey ones. "I am only going to say this once, Law. Don't ask where I came from."
"Why?" He asked simply, wondering as to her motives.
"Because it is better if you don't know."
(Yet)
Vocab Translations and meanings:
Italics - Shows what the character is thinking
Thanks for Reading! Please Review! I hope you liked the new chapter. Let me know if there was too much dialogue, because I definitely think there was a fair amount. Law had it coming to him. :P More developments to come in chapter 30! So don't go anywhere...
