I apologize for the long wait between chapters. Life has been kind of hectic, but I've made this chapter extra long to make up for it. Still, I'm not entirely satisfied with it, but I'd rather upload it now and revise it ten times later than leave you hanging another month.
(I also apologize because I've been awake for twenty hours and I'm sure the dumbest mistakes have slipped past the radar. Expect fixes.)
Guest-22: Your review made me super happy. I know how hard it's to give a chance to OC's and I'm very glad you like Saki and the style of writing. Thanks for the encouragement!
7. Explosive rain
(Raindrops keep falling on my head)
That month had not been a good one for the Marines stationed on the North Blue. Truth be told, months were never good for North Blue Marines, but most counted themselves lucky not to have been assigned to the Grand Line, because they'd heard the stories from transferred colleagues and oh, man, those guys had bad weeks packed in single days.
Still, peace was not a word these Marines had been very well acquainted with those past few weeks. On top of the usual criminal activity their sea was already known for, and a bunch of rookie pirates causing trouble so efficiently that some were beginning to wonder if they were coordinating their attacks, something had happened that had dismantled the usually clockwork behavior of the region's organized criminals. Two stray ships had already been captured by the Marines since the internal confusion had begun, and many more had been deviating from their usual schedules. Helpful, because this newfound chaos had made it much easier to catch them in the middle of their dirty deeds, but the Marine bases soon had found out they didn't have enough cells to hold that many people, nor enough staff to round up every ship they found conducting illegal business.
Captain Marina was fuming as she read the last report that had been brought to her—the pile on her desk kept growing before she could clear it up—and when she got to the part that said 'lost in a storm' and 'missing cargo', threw the stack of papers against the wall with murderous intent.
The explosion of paper missed an incoming sailor only by inches, but the man took it with admirable stoicism.
"Ma'am, we've received a communication from base! The target has been spotted thirty miles west of our location. Our other ships are already giving chase."
As if her problems weren't bad enough, she also had to deal with the incompetence of her colleagues in other Blues.
"Are we heading there?"
"That's, ah… Lieutenant Mako up in the bridge says there's a suspicious boat trying to hide behind the… crag to…" The sailor's explanation lost steam as he saw the face his superior was making.
"TELL THAT IMBECILE TO CHANGE THE COURSE AND GIVE CHASE TO THOSE DAMNED SMUGGLERS, NOW!"
The soldier was saying 'Yes, ma'am!' and running out the room even before the woman could finish the order.
With a groan, Captain Marina flopped into her chair and massaged her forehead. She'd had her subordinates on watch ever since receiving a warning about a stolen Marine ship that had crossed the Calm Belt to the North Blue, and it seemed like her persistence had paid out. Trying to intercept a stolen Marine ship in the middle of a downpour wasn't how she had planned to spend the last twenty-four hours, but failure wasn't an option. Many eyes had been on her since she had begun rising through the ranks in her twenties, and more than a few were waiting for her to slip up and claim her position.
Feeling only slightly better, she rose from her seat and made her way to the bridge with long strides.
North Blue was her territory, and she was going to serve justice.
—
For the fourth time that week, Saki woke up with a start too early in the morning and couldn't fall asleep again. She'd hoped to be able to sleep like a normal person after a month away from home, but old habits died hard. And apparently, so did recurring nightmares.
She crawled out of bed, put on a pair of slippers and walked as quietly as she could up to the galley. Her original target had been a glass of water, but she saw that there was leftover coffee from the day before, so obviously she did the stupid thing and warmed it up. She was taking the first sip of caffeinated goodness, feeling it wash away the hope to catch some more z's, when she heard a distant sound.
Still not very awake, she followed the noise to its source and soon found herself standing in front of the operating room. The door wasn't completely closed. She heard a small clink of metal against metal, and when she pushed the door open the smell turned her stomach. Saki wasn't a particularly squeamish person –she couldn't have been, considering her track record—, but something deader than what she was used to was there.
"Captain? What are you—" She walked up to his side. "That is not what I think it is."
"Hm?" Law turned around nonchalantly. "Ah, you're awake. What hour is it?"
"Way too late for this shit. Or too early. I don't care. I'm not even going to ask."
A gloved hand stole her coffee and she stared with disgust at the place where Law had brushed her hand. "Please tell me you haven't been poking inside that with those gloves."
"If that's what you'd prefer."
"…Now tell me why I shouldn't wipe my hands on your clothes."
"Because I'm your Captain and that won't get rid of the bacteria." He held the mug in front of her. "Thanks."
"Keep it."
Law's smirk was partially hidden by the rim of the mug as he took another gulp. She hoped he choked on it.
"Why?" Saki asked at last, looking at the scaly… something… that was dissected on the table. She wasn't able to make out what body part that had been.
"I thought you weren't going to ask."
Saki blinked her bleary eyes a couple times and turned around. She should have stayed in bed.
"I retrieved some of Rickhard's pieces to investigate," Law had the courtesy to explain, stopping her on the way to the door. "By the way, you did me a favor bleeding him to death. It made the preservation process easier." On second thought, he asked, "What did you do with his sword? I didn't see it anywhere when I went back."
"It wasn't his," she said, slightly annoyed, even though she was aware that Law had no way to know. "I gave it back to its owner. What is it about this piece of garbage that interests you so much?"
"Didn't you notice that something was off when he transformed?"
"I was more focused on not dying, to be honest."
"You had to see it. He got stuck mid transformation."
She remembered, now that he'd said it. "I thought he didn't have full control over his ability. I don't know how Devil Fruits work. Is that not supposed to happen?" She looked at the piece of her ex-boss with curiosity.
"Indeed it isn't."
"Then why did it happen?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out. I've been meaning to ask you, did you get Devil Fruit shipments often?"
"Not at all. There was drug trade, a fair amount of weapon shipments, but never fruits. I'd have known, Rickhard would have been ecstatic to get his hands on one. Couldn't keep quiet about something like that even if he tried."
"I see." Law didn't look disappointed, just in thought. He doubted he was going to find out anything else, so he changed the subject. "Why are you up at this hour?"
"I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep."
Law looked at her with a clinical interest and Saki found out that she didn't like it. It was disquieting, to say the least, to be stared at by a known murderer in an otherwise empty surgery room (where, in her own opinion, she had already spent more than enough time from day one). As many pirates as she had met in her life, she had never spent more than a few hours around the same ones. She couldn't tell at which point it was safe to share a room with one of them and she wasn't sure that she wanted to find out, either.
"Does this happen often?" He walked up to her and she took a step back. "I have sleeping pills. Maybe you should—"
She cut him fast and backed away while she spoke. "Nah, I'm fine, have fun with your dead junk, bye!"
Law didn't bother go after her. It wasn't like she had anywhere to run to.
He took another gulp of coffee, trying to decide if it was time to trash the piece of meat on the table. The smell was starting to get to him.
—
Early in the morning, a small ship docked on Asteria's port. It was a regular trading ship with regular people on board. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Nobody bat an eye when its crew set foot in town. Some went to talk to other merchants, some thought they deserved to get some proper sleep at the nearest inn. Two of them went off somewhere else, in the direction of that no local dared to set foot on, but they were fast and nobody noticed, or else didn't care enough to warn them. Asteria's citizens weren't strangers to finding a traveler in a ditch every other week. As long as they didn't clog the sewage pipes, no one minded much.
Like ghosts, the two figures disappeared into an alleyway as the sun began to rise over the city's buildings.
—
If you had asked Saki a month ago, she'd have said that living in a sub with a bunch of guys and a bear had to be horribly claustrophobic. But there was a certain charm about being hundreds of feet underwater, being able to watch the sea creatures swim by and see the seabed when the waters were clear and shallow, and above all, knowing that there was an ungodly thunderstorm above and you weren't one of the poor souls that were caught in it on open sea.
There was just one small, but admittedly critical detail that bothered her, if you didn't count the (possibly likely unstable) man who seemed to enjoy cutting up human remains in the wee hours of the morning. The tip of the eyeliner brushed against her eyelids, leaving a smooth, controlled line.
Just a little more, just a—
The sub's steady rhythm shifted and the floor under Saki's feet moved.
GODDAMMIT!
It was strangely comforting that no matter where you went and how unexpectedly life changed, some things always stayed the same. It just could have been something else, she mused while she redid that line for the third time. Then, the door to her room burst open, and it was a testament to the steadiness of her hand that she didn't draw all over her face.
"You there, Saki?" Penguin's voice called.
She left the bathroom to find the man along with Shachi inside her room, carrying bundles of white fabric.
"You'll never learn to knock, will you?" She had been annoyed the first five times, because 'privacy, do you even know what that is?' to which they had replied 'nope, we've always shared rooms'. Then she had locked the door, only to discover that Penguin would unintentionally headbutt it when he was going fast and the door didn't budge. At that point she had decided that having them barge in unannounced was better than stumbling onto a concussed man on her doorstep.
"Sorry, we're not used to—wow, you look like ass." Shachi blurted out, and quickly added, "No offense. Bad night?"
"None taken," she avoided the question and gestured to them. "What's that?"
Shachi raised the cloth in his arms. "New boiler suits!"
"Can we use your desk? Bepo has his covered in maps and he kicked us out of the bridge."
Saki shrugged. "Sure. But are you planning to work in those? Doesn't seem like a good color for dealing with machinery."
"We're making uniforms," Penguin held up a piece of black fabric and a pair of scissors. "We're going to sew our Jolly Roger on."
"Nice."
"Do you want one? We got spares." Shachi offered.
It was generous of him, truly, particularly if she took into account that they started off on the wrong foot right from the moment they met. Still…
"Nope."
"Told you, buddy."
"Why!?"
There was a pause in which Saki tried to find the words to avoid sticking the previously mentioned wrong foot in her mouth, but it was difficult to describe the embarrassment that would mean being caught in one of those without being offensive, so she settled for saying, "Not my style."
"But it's a sign of companionship, trust… that sort of thing," Shachi insisted.
"Yeah… You'll have to find another way to trust me, then."
"No team spirit," Shachi grumbled. "Your eyeliner's uneven."
"Screw you too."
Suddenly, the sub made a strange movement and they had to grab onto the closest furniture to not fall.
"The hell is Bepo—?"
But Shachi didn't have time to finish the question before an alarm began to wail inside the sub, and immediately, Bepo's voice boomed through the speakers.
"A projectile almost hit us and I can't see what's going on with all the rain! We need to surface, Captain!"
The three occupants of the room shared a moment of understanding when they realized they were in dep shit and ran upstairs to find out what was happening. Law was already standing by the door, waiting for the water to be at a reasonable level before opening it.
"Be ready for anything," he said.
A thick curtain of water hit them as soon as they went outside. Visibility was bad, but it wasn't all that difficult to make out the shapes and colors of three Marine ships at a distance. No one was surprised to find out that the shooting was being done by them. The strange thing was that they weren't aiming at the sub, but rather at each other.
There was a moment of collective inactivity as the crew watched one of the ships burst aflame right after an enemy projectile made contact with it. Not a minute had passed when they saw panicked people jumping over the railing and trying to swim away from the ship as fast as possible.
Penguin said out loud what everybody was thinking. "Cannonballs don't work like that."
Shachi took a few steps towards the edge of the deck to see better. "What the hell could they be—Wait! Those people don't look like Marines."
"Civilians?" Penguin said.
"Why would there be so many?"
"A stolen ship?" Law suggested.
"AH!" Saki startled everybody with the sudden yelp. Something had clicked in her brain. "Of course, smugglers sometimes use Marine ships to—oh shit. We need to leave."
One didn't need to be a master at subtlety to notice the sudden urgency in her words, but if there was any doubt, the frantic gestures she was making at Shachi to step back didn't leave any room for misinterpretation.
"What's wrong? It doesn't look like they've seen us."
Law thought questions would be better asked when they weren't in imminent danger, and at any rate, it was in their best interest not to intervene. "Shachi, step away! We're getting out of here!"
They didn't fully make it inside the sub before the huge explosion and the ensuing shockwave knocked them downstairs along with a fair amount of debris. The metal door closed on its own, a wave put the sub in nearly vertical position for a moment, and the pirates slid down the hallway until they slammed against a wall in a miserable pile of limbs.
"Are you okay!?" Bepo said through the speakers. When he realized no response would come because his companions had no way to talk with the navigation room, Bepo rushed downstairs only to find a heap of humans on the floor. "Captain!" He ran to their side to help them get up. The sub was still rocking heavily.
"We're alive," he said, taking a hand to his forehead and grimacing. "I think."
"And sort of deaf." Saki covered her ears to make a vacuum, but she frowned when she removed them and her hearing was still dull. She decided that she wasn't still ready to stand on swaying ground and sat on the floor.
"Don't do that," Law said, dropping to the floor as well. "Your eardrums could be damaged."
"This ringing sucks," Shachi commented. "How long does it last?"
"From seconds to up to a lifetime."
"WHAT?" He said, scandalized.
"From seconds to up to a lifetime," Law repeated, louder.
"No, I heard you right the first—"
"So, what do we do now?" Penguin commented from a lying position. He put his hands over his stomach and decided to keep still until his sense of balance came back or he barfed, whatever came first.
"Bepo, what's the situation out there?"
"A Marine ship blew up and another was caught in the explosion. The third one looked fine."
"And the sub?"
"No damage taken!"
"Good. Let's submerge and continue to Lymes. Fast."
"Yes, Captain!"
As they heard Bepo clank up the metal stairs, Saki explained, listless. "Standard protocol for the guys handling cargo. You're about to get caught, you burn or blow up any proof."
"How the fuck did they get a Marine ship? Did they just attack one in the sea and took off with it?"
"No idea. I've heard about them being used to sneak through the Calm Belts, though."
Penguin would have been eyeing her with suspicion if he hadn't been comfortably staring at the ceiling, so he had to verbalize his feelings of mistrust. "Why do you know all this?"
"I'm a psychic."
"We should be hitting land at dusk," Law said, morosely, seeing as he already had the info he wanted. Spirits were low, but they had work to do regardless of the circumstances. He got up, significantly more steady than a few minutes prior. "Go get ready."
The automatic reply was a chorus of grunts that ranged from 'I don't wanna deal with this shit right now' to 'I'm sure if I stayed in bed Bepo would be able to buy the exact measure of screw we need for the humidifier.'"
"Move."
—
Captain Marina got to the scene of the crime to be greeted by the remains of two ships, a third one rescuing the survivors and no trace of the criminals or the documents and cargo they were carrying. She stared at the dark mass of water, hoping that with enough intensity she'd be able to rise with pure frustration whatever had sunk to into its depths, to no avail.
She felt water trickling down inside her raincoat and anger rising again. This was those idiots' fault; you don't simply let a bunch of smugglers steal one of your ships and cross the Calm Belt so the Marines on the other side deal with it.
"Ma'am," the Marine from before spoke over the ruckus, "some of the survivors said they saw a yellow submarine with the Heart Pirate's Jolly Roger."
"So they were involved." A lead, and a good one, at that. "They won't go far in this weather. Tell Lieutenant Mako to head to Lymes."
She could imagine what the vultures would say if she didn't put a lid on this issue fast.
—
There were fallen things everywhere. When they had finally managed to stand up without holding onto the walls, Penguin and Shachi had begun a checkup for structural damage and then disappeared somewhere. Saki had been left to tidy up the galley and the suspicious appearance of broken plates and glasses near the table made her think that the guys had asked to use her desk just because they didn't put away their stuff after having breakfast.
Miserably, she wiped the last of her favorite apricot marmalade from the floor, thinking she should have eaten it sooner, and coming up with ways to sabotage the oafs' meals discreetly.
A shadow fell over her.
"Did you bite a lemon?" Said Bepo.
"Nah. I lost my breakfast."
She almost fell inside the trash can along with the ruined food when Bepo amiably patted her on the back.
"I know how it is. Captain and I lost a lot of breakfasts when we tried to cook ourselves."
She didn't know what to say. She didn't want to be condescending, because this bear was a professional, a person whose work kept the crew alive daily, but he sounded so freaking adorable when he said that.
"It's good to have you here. You haven't lit anything on fire yet."
Oh, screw it.
"Bepo, can I hug you?"
He was startled for a second. "Uh… okay?"
So she did, and then she realized she hadn't even hugged a pillow since she said goodbye to the kids back home. Human contact, pah, who needed that when your navigator was a fluffy teddy bear of death and destruction.
—
The storm was still raging when they reached an island. The one town in it, Lymes, was one of the nearest to Reversal Mountain, and as such, a very frequent stop to travelers and pirates alike. Marine activity was high on the zone, with a base a mere hour away.
Law had one clear objective to accomplish there: get a Log Pose and leave before they could attract any undesirable attention. It was a stealth operation, not helped by the bee-colored hoodie and white boiler suits with huge Jolly Rogers on them.
No one had said that subtlety was the Heart Pirates' forte.
Bepo volunteered to stay in the sub, away from the city's main docks and ready to pick them up should any emergency arise. In the spirit of honesty, he admitted to himself that he wanted to see the city, but there was a downpour going on and wet fur was a bitch to deal with. Humans were smoother and better equipped for rain, in his humble opinion, and he was sure he could trust his captain and subordinates to acquire a quality Log Pose.
When everybody else left, he sat on his chair on the navigation room, put his feet on the table and made himself comfortable with a beer and a book called North Blue Water Currents.
—
Night had fallen, stores were closing and no one dared say a thing.
The four pirates weren't sure at which point one could be said to have stopped walking and began swimming (although having Law around and breathing was a nice indicator), but they'd wager they were at least wading by then. The curtain of rain was so heavy it barely let them see what was in front of their noses, and Shachi had already tripped twice and brought Saki down with him. When Law slipped after they were unceremoniously thrown out of the fourth shop, everybody did as if they hadn't seen it. The general mood was sour enough with all their body parts in place.
"What's the problem with these people!?" Penguin immediately regretted opening his mouth when he choked on some rainwater.
"Dude, don't spit this way!"
"You take off those sunglasses and stop tripping!"
"You know they're prescripti—OOOFF!"
A nearby door opened and hit both mechanics square in the face. Penguin and Shachi picked themselves up from the floor in time to see a middle aged man yelling at them.
"What are you doing out there!? Come inside! It's raining cats!"
"Don't you say!" Penguin retorted.
"No, it's actually raining cats, Margaret is—"
A glacial screech resounded over the storm. The pirates turned to its general direction and something wet and furry hit Saki on the head. She screamed in a very undignified manner and the animal ran away after leaving a nice scratch on her neck.
"Will you come inside or not?"
The four ran into the building and the man closed the door behind them. It was a small inn with only a few patrons around a table, playing cards. They weren't paying the pirates, nor the screaming outside, any mind.
"Margaret—that's the neighbor next door—she gets really nervous when it rains, you see, she was once caught in a flood—"
"Florence! What was that noise? Did you go outside?" A woman peeked from behind a bead curtain and got startled when she saw the newcomer's state. "Oh dear, oh dear, hold on a second, I'll get you towels!" She disappeared, still talking to herself.
Florence herded them to a table near the fireplace. "What were you thinking, walking outside in that weather? Storms around here are something fierce." He took a long, nice look at Law.
The woman from earlier came out, carrying so many towels that she couldn't be seen behind the pile. "Here! Hurry, dry yourselves, you don't want to catch a cold in summer. Oh dear, you are drenched."
"We were trying to buy a Log Pose and be on our way," Law said from under a towel. His hat was on the table and halfway through making a puddle on it.
"Heading to the Grand Line, are you? Tough luck. You aren't going to find anyone willing to sell."
Every pirate paid extra attention to him after that.
"Why is that?"
"Everybody's talking about the Marine ships you sunk this morning. With the base so near, no one's going to risk getting on their bad side."
"What are you on about, Florence? Don't tell me these are those pirates!" The woman took a step back.
"Either they are, or the Surgeon of Death has a twin brother."
"We didn't sink any ships." Saki said, annoyed. The cat's scratch was itching. "A Marine ship blew up and sunk another with the explosion."
"What she said," Penguin added. "We almost got caught up in it, too."
"Someone must have told the base that we were nearby and they made up the rest of the story."
Shachi thought it made a lot of sense. "Guess it saves more face saying they were attacked by pirates than they fucked up themselves."
Law clicked his tongue. "This is going to complicate things."
Florence let out a sigh and shrugged. "Ah, well, not that I care. I wasn't going to kick you out with what's going on out there. Are you staying? We've got empty rooms."
"That might be for the best," Law glance out the window. "It doesn't seem like it's going to let up anytime soon."
"Margaret's worse than the storm!" One of the patrons said. Apparently, they were too busy with their game to look, but not to listen in. "By the looks of it, she's still on the fourth, and she has eleven."
"Seventeen," another corrected. "Remember Peaches had kittens last week."
"God damn. The day she dies those cats will eat her."
The other patrons chorused in agreement.
Florence ignored the lot of them and went back to the pirates. "That'll be fifteen hundred beli each, dinner and breakfast included."
Shachi was wiping his sunglasses with the towel. "And how do we know you aren't gonna sell us out while we sleep, huh?"
Florence slammed a hand on the table and everybody jumped a little. "Are you not going to pay?"
"We are," Law replied quickly.
The man's friendly demeanor returned. "Then that's it. I'll go get the keys."
The woman stayed with them. "So young and heading to that horrible place…" She shook her head. "Oh, forgive my rudeness. I'm Angie, and Florence is my husband. I'll see if I can find you some clothes to wear while yours dry off." She then gestured to Saki, who was wringing out her hair. "Sweetie, come with me."
"Me?" She was confused. No one had called her 'sweetie' since she was a kid. She had made sure of it.
"Yes, you. I'm sure I have some old clothes that will fit. Come here already."
She hesitated at first, but none of her companions tried to stop her.
"Hey," Shachi said when she was leaving. "Your eyeliner's running."
Startled, Saki brought her hands to her face and examined her fingers in a hurry.
"Wait." All clean. "It's waterproof, asshole."
Shachi laughed, and Saki could've sworn someone else was hiding a smile behind his hand.
—
Saki went back to the main hall significantly drier. Angie had lent her a long sleeved dress with printed daisies and dandelions that was only mildly ego-puncturing (the pale blue one with hot pink hearts, though, had been met with a polite refusal). But Saki wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth for long, and on the bright side, the dress gave her a chance to parade the clovers along her calf. She'd inked those on herself when she was sixteen, and the old man hadn't let her near a tattoo machine for a month after that. What an overreaction.
She threw a quick glance at the room. The patrons were still on their spot, the only difference from before a few more glasses on the table. No new customers, which made sense. No sight of danger, either. She sat next to the fireplace and waited for the guys.
The door opened again as Angie was setting a warm drink in front of Saki. A tall woman flanked by two Marines who seemed to be feeling pretty crummy stepped into the room. Their raincoats dripped water all over the entrance.
"We're looking for Trafalgar Law," she said as a greeting, giving the room a cursory glance.
Saki made herself small behind Angie.
"C-Captain Marina, can we get in?"
She turned around to face her subordinates, and the word 'Justice' on the back of her red raincoat billowed in the wind. "No way! Stand guard outside! Those pirates might be trying to sneak away in the storm!"
The men cringed, but nevertheless obeyed.
"Anyway!" she centered her attention again on the current occupants on the in. "Have you seen Trafalgar or any of his henchmen today?"
"Why are you going after such a small fry, Mari-chan?" One of the patrons said, grinning. "You're better than that!"
"I'll talk to your bosses for you," another offered. "You should be fighting crime in the Grand Line!"
"The Yonkou will tremble in fear the day she sets foot there!"
The table exploded in laughter.
The Marine's face became an interesting shade of burgundy. "S-shut up, Ron!" She pointed at the man, trying to hide her embarrassment with indignation and failing. "Have some respect! I'm on official business here."
"You work far too much, sweetie," Angie said, concerned. "When will you take a vacation? Dad's worried, too."
"Mom, this is not the time."
"There's always the time to take a breather, and all the more with this awful weather! Tell your boys to come inside, too!"
"Justice never sleeps!" She cringed inside at how hammy she had sounded. She still wasn't pulling the dignified act. She never could. She should have requested that transfer to East Blue when she had the chance. "A-anyway! Have any of you seen those criminals?"
"How should we know? Can't pay attention to all the pirates in town."
"We put up wanted posters everywhere!"
"Yeah, and last week it was that Ten Dragoon guy and the week before that blonde weirdo. Give up, Mari-chan."
"Take a seat and have an orange juice with us like you used to!"
"We promise we won't tell anyone at the base."
"T-t-that was many years ago! Anyway, mom! You haven't seen him either?"
"No, dear."
"And you. The clover girl. I haven't seen you around before. Are you a visitor?" She paused as she stared at Saki's clothes. "W-why are you wearing that dress?"
Saki was forced to stop staring into the depths of her incredibly interesting drink and look at the Marine captain. She'd have felt more threatened if Anyway's Mom wasn't acting as a physical barrier between the two of them.
"She was caught in the rain, and you haven't worn it in such a long time. I thought you wouldn't mind."
"I-I don't! She can keep it! Anyway, no sight of those wretched pirates on the way here?"
Saki plastered on a smile. "I wouldn't know. I don't pay attention to wanted posters."
Marina groaned. "I'll be going, then. All of you, be careful. That man kidnapped a civilian at Indent Bay and sank two of our ships."
"We heard three!"
"Shove it, Ron! A-anyway, goodbye!"
"Take care, dear."
"Bye, Mari-chan!"
"Come play with us soon!"
"Get a promotion!"
"And a husband!"
The door closed after her. Not two seconds later, they heard blood-curling screams and frightened meows.
"Oh, dear," Angie shook her head. "I hope it didn't go for the face."
"What was that about?" Penguin, newly arrived, asked.
The other pirates came from upstairs along with Florence and took seats near Saki.
"I kept them upstairs," Florence said, appearing from behind.
"Thank goodness you did," Angie said to her husband.
"Not the first time, probably not the last." He went behind the bar and began cleaning glasses as if nothing had happened.
"Captain's got an admirer. Curly brown hair, deep dark eyes, tall and pretty…"
"Dreamy."
"Some guys are lucky," Shachi muttered.
"A Marine captain admirer."
Shachi made a face. Law didn't comment on it, but it was clear that he was growing annoyed by the second.
"We need a Log Pose," Law said, "and you three will have to take care of it, if I can't walk around freely. Tomorrow at—"
A fist slammed on the table, interrupting Law. The room went quiet. Every pirate glared at its owner, ready for a fight, and every other head turned to watch the scene.
"What's your problem?" Penguin said.
There was no trace of the cheerful man that had been making fun of the Marine woman. "Is it true that you kidnapped someone?"
The tension in the air could have been cut with a gomu gomu no butter knife.
"Sort of," Shachi said, completely unimpressed by the unspoken threat. There wasn't much left to fear in life after watching a rock hippo jump from a cliff to make mechanic mush. "I like to think about it as quitting my job in an unconventional way."
Ron wasn't sure what to say to that. "And you don't mind?"
"Are you kidding? You couldn't pay me enough to go back to that place."
"Not even with one of those electric generators on the latest issue of Mechanical Systems Monthly?" Penguin butted in.
"Nope."
"What about a mermaid on an electric generator?"
"Ah, that's harder to say…"
"Two mermaids on a generator?" Saki tried.
"Okay, maybe! Are you happy?"
"Is that so…" Ron said, feeling a bit lost but much relieved. He patted Law on the back so loudly that his subordinates winced a little. "Well, as long as you aren't that sort of people! Angie, the drinks are on me! As thanks for making Mari-chan drop by."
"What was that about?" Penguin said, watching Ron go back with his friends. The atmosphere in the room went back to normal.
"You're repeating yourself."
"Marina's our daughter, but we barely see her," Florence answered, aligning the bottles on the shelves with millimetric precision.
Angie continued in her perpetually concerned state. "She spends every day either in the base or running after pirates. It seems like she only ever comes home to ask for wanted people."
"She's doing fine, Angie. Don't worry about her."
"I know, but after Mack…"
"He's doing fine, too."
The conversation died down after that, and it seemed as if the patrons had gotten quieter, too. When they left, the only talk in the room was the pirates planning what to do the next day, and soon they headed to their rooms.
—
Law woke up early. He was not a morning person, and by the second coffee he was debating between going back to the sub with Bepo or staying the day cooped up inside the inn until the others returned –and seeing how they weren't up yet, who knew when that would be. Seeing how the sky was still overcast and drizzle was falling on and off, he was leaning towards waiting in the unrivalled company of Kikoku. Besides, there were the Marines looking for him. His crewmates could roam the town freely, but didn't have that sort of luxury.
He recognized the light steps approaching him from behind, so he didn't bother looking away from the window.
The newcomer unceremoniously sank on the chair next to him. Law turned around to find a red haired zombie instead of a person.
"Coffee?" Angie asked.
Saki made a guttural noise that could be interpreted as 'please'.
They stayed in silence while Angie brought her the drink and retreated to the bar.
"Why are you staring?" Saki asked.
Law honestly didn't know, but it may have had something to do with the fact that he was smelling something citrusy and couldn't pinpoint the exact source. He figured he was still somewhat asleep too.
"You got it right today." Whatever the case, he couldn't let the opportunity to be an ass slide. A reputation like his had to be earned with constant work.
Bleary eyes looked up at him and blinked a couple times before the comment sank in. When it did, she felt tempted to tell her captain to go fuck himself, but she knew that was the drowsiness talking.
"It's easier when the floor doesn't move," she admitted. "I hope my clothes dried overnight."
Law had to admit that even if the print wasn't doing the dress any favors, the clothes suited her. Judging by what she usually wore and how she moved, he'd thought she'd feel like a fish out of water in them.
A waving hand in front of his nose snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Earth to Captain."
Ah, crap. He'd been staring again, hadn't he? Maybe a bucket of cold water would help wake him up.
"Nice shirt, by the way."
If anyone had the gall to question Florence about the contents of his closet, for which his wife was one hundred percent responsible, as she had been for her daughter's, he'd say electric blue shirts with bright yellow durians were the latest fashion in Lvneel Kingdom and everybody was jealous of his magnificent taste.
Law hadn't questioned. He'd just wanted something dry to wear. "You're one to talk."
She actually cracked a small smile at his comeback. It was fun to see the human behind the bounty. "You're cranky about the Log Pose."
Yeah, he was. "You pay more attention than you let on."
"…Dumb luck. I'm still asleep. Don't mind me." She didn't know why she felt like a kid caught red-handed, but she didn't like when people noticed things about her. People who noticed things were family, not random people she met on the street. She was fine with being an idiot in the eyes of the world.
Law's gaze went from the coffee she appeared to be trying to drown herself in, to her neck and the scratch that ran down it. Superficial and clean; doesn't look like it'll get infected, he noted on autopilot. Law wasn't usually a man of impulse, but for a fleeting moment, he had wanted to reach out and touch the skin.
"Why clovers?" He asked instead. He wasn't sure if it was to distract himself from the earlier thought or out of genuine curiosity.
Saki hesitated, but a grin spread on her face right away. "So handsome men come ask me what they mean."
Law deadpanned. "Nice evasive. Has it ever worked?"
"Only if I mean to."
"You're not telling me. I get it."
"Not everything needs to have a deep meaning. Why hearts?"
Law stiffened so imperceptibly that she wouldn't have caught it if their eyes hadn't met for a split second.
Angie approached the table again. "I hate to interrupt, but Florence is making toast. Do you want some?"
The replies, "I'll pass," and "Yes, thank you," came at once.
Saki snorted in a very unladylike way. A lesser woman might have been frightened by Law's ensuing glare, but when one had seen the same one directed at a loaf of bread it lost much of its effectiveness.
"Such a cute couple," Angie sighed as she made for the kitchen. "You remind me of my husband and I when we were younger."
Silently, they watched her disappear behind the curtain.
"This is starting to become an unsettling pattern," Saki said.
"It's the clothes' fault." It better be the clothes' fault.
"I agree." That was a half lie. She really wanted to, though, and that had to count for something.
Penguin and Shachi couldn't wake up soon enough.