Heart Log

by Kinjiru

To the world they were the Surgeon of Death and his shadowy crew: thieves, murderers, pirates - the scum of the world. But not all those who lurk in the shadows have dark things to hide, not all the time anyway. Vignettes and flash fiction about the Heart Pirates with many a fan theory, headcanon and spoiler peeking out from around the edges. {46. After Party}

37. Maze

Character(s): Trafalgar Law

XXXVII

It wasn't so much that he was alone that bothered him but the thought that his crew was possibly in the same troublesome situation. From many directions he could hear his crewmates' muffled voices – some calling and others cursing – through the towering thorny hedges that flanked him.

Law grunted as he continued to stab the shrubbery with his sheathed blade. Five feet in and his weapon was still meeting branches, and sturdy ones at that. Whoever grew this accursed maze was intent on ensuring that those who wandered into it could not cheat their way through.

Law would have been the perfect exception to that rule, his devil fruit being what it was. He had actually considered cutting his way to an exit, maybe carve his Jolly Roger into the maze's pattern just to spite the man that made it, but familiar voices reached him. He knew then not to be so rash for his crewmates would get caught in the crossfire. Being neither able to see them nor accurately judge their location, he would not be able to fine tune the damage dealt by any of his devil fruit-imbued slashes.

Who knew what dangers hid between him and his crew? Exposing them to any of it when they were in shambles wouldn't be very responsible of him, even though some part him thought that would be funny.

With a sigh, Law drew back his blade and rested it on its usual place on his shoulder. A shiver of displeasure coursed through the demon sword for being used in such an undignified manner.

"Oh calm down, Kikoku," Law said as he turned to the nearest of his crewmates' voices. "You'll have your fun later."

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A/N: This was originally supposed to be longer, more of an Interdependence type one-shot than this disembodied little scene, but I had no idea where to go with it. I liked the opening scene too much to scrap it, so here you go. I have a few more snippets like these stocked up in my notebook somewhere, so expect a few more shorts this month. :)

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To ThexWhitexPhoenix, Trafalgar-Sev, and 10th Squad 3rd Seat:

I'm glad to hear you like the idea. I thought it might have been pushing my luck with this particular headcanon.

To ToxicRain42:

Thanks so much! I will definitely be having a chapter for my headcanon Kikoku in the future.