Hi there~
Sorry, it took some time. But there had been stuff that I wanted to put in the chapter and couldn't really decide how I should do it.
But here is chapter 16 enjoy ^^

~Chapter 16 – The friendly enemy~

Luffy flew as fast as possible for him. He was still pouting that Ain had decided that she, Vivi and Dorry will look what had happened while he should get Law in case someone got hurt badly.

He understood that it was the best thing because he really was the fastest from them all. But… he wanted to have some action and adventure, too. It was too interesting to see what had happened.

But Luffy had to get back to Shippy. Hopefully, Law wasn't cranky when he woke the older one up.

Law massaged his temples while he looked at the … no, he couldn't say man… just because of the way the other dressed the surgeon knew that there now was an Okama on board.

"Thank you for saving me", the Okama chirped and spin around like some dancer. They probably were one, if the shoes were giving any hints.

"Don't mention it", Law mumbled. He wasn't really sure how he should judge the situation.

He had only laid down for some minutes after Luffy had left with Ain, Vivi and Carue when Bepo had started to shout for him, Chouchou barked loudly and Conis even came straight into his office, as he liked to the sickbay, with a slight panic look.

They had fished up a person. A still living one. The mentioned Okama.

It didn't felt right to see other people on this island as it seemed impossible for humans to live here for a longer time. Normal humans.

"Who are you even?", the surgeon narrowed his eyes at them. "Who am I? I am Bentham." So they introduced themselves with a male name does that mean, he considers himself more like a male or not?

This didn't help Law to make him feel more comfortable with the situation. He wasn't really a people-person. He might know more about society but when it came to simple small talk he let Ace and Luffy take charge. Especially the younger one was quite social despite his sometimes rude behaviour. He started to wish at least one of them was here to deal with the Okama. He should have made them take a Den-Den mushi with them, at least Luffy.

"So Bentham… why are you here? I'm mean, just what I have seen from the island not many people seem to be visiting it", Law carefully asked. "I went overboard because of some mist appearing around my ship. I didn't know how I survived until I was fished up by you, guys. You have may thank for this. I don't know many people who would just help a random stranger."

Law waved his hand to make the other understand that it was fine. But he narrowed his eyes. So there was a chance that more people would come to pick Bentham up.

Now the Okama did seem friendly but could be said the same thing about their Nakamas?

"Torao."

The voice of his young captain interrupted his thoughts. Why was he already back? He expected that Luffy wouldn't be back before it would be dark. So something must have happened.

The straw-hatted boy landed on the ship and started rambling: "There was some kind of explosion. Ain is checking it out with the others. But there was a chance that Ace and the others are involved and someone got. So … Wait, who is that? Swans? Do they talk? Wait, you look like one of these people from this heart Island. Are you following the 'oh come my way'-style?"

Law wanted to facepalm. How easily did Luffy become distracted? Well, he did say the important things like there was an explosion and that it was possible that someone from them had gotten hurt. Also, to be true… he had kinda wished that the young one was here to get him out this social interaction.

" 'Oh come my way'-style?", Bentham looked slightly confused. It also did seem like Luffy's bubbly personality was slightly too much for them. Maybe he should explain.

"He means Okama. Yes, Luffy, Bentham is an Okama. He got washed up here and will be picked up by his crew soon", Law explained carefully and a bit impatient. "I'm sorry, Bentham, but you heard him. There is the possibility that our Nakama got hurt. So we gotta go and help them. I guess…"

"You can wait here until we are back. It is much safer here on Shippy. Until your Nakama are here, you can stay", Luffy said with a big grin. Law looked slightly annoyed at the younger one. He shouldn't be so trusting. They didn't know much about the Okama. It could also be possible that they made Bentham uncomfortable and turn the other against them,

But the reaction of the Okama wasn't really something which the surgeon would have predicted. They started to cry. What was going on?

"You guys are so nice", they said sobbing. So were these tears of some sort tears of happiness?

"Ace, you stupid idiot! Wake up!", Ain shouted slightly angrily. Her hands and her feet were in wax and it felt like they also mixed some sea stone in this especially for her so she wasn't able to use her powers. She also felt weaker. So there must be sea stone. At least for her.

Bartolomeo looked pretty unaffected by having his hands covered in wax. The problem was that the former mob boss wasn't able to create barriers without moving his fingers. Something he should train maybe.

Also, Zoro and Sanji weren't also very helpful while Mister 3 had started turning them into wax statues. The swordsman had even tried to cut off his legs with the statement that Law would be able to fix him later.

Fortunately, the cook had been hitting him so they had started to fight and made Zoro forget the idea for now.

But it didn't help the situation in general.

How did they even get this situation?

Stuck on some wax cake while Dorry and his friend Brogy got tricked into another fight against each other while getting covered in wax.

How was that even possible that these Baroque Work Agents who were easily defeated the last time caught up so quickly and now had the upper hand?

Well… it wouldn't have been so easy for them if Ace hadn't fallen asleep. The fire user had fallen asleep even before she and Vivi had arrived.

Wasn't he taking his medicine? He was mated to the ship doctor so Law should normally keep an eye.

"Oi, stupid marimo, what are you doing now?"

Sanji's voice, which sounded slightly annoyed, interrupted her thoughts and she turned her head to look at these two biggering children because that's what they were sometimes in her eyes.

Zoro had unsheathed a sword of his and was now posing.

"Striking a pose. If we are stuck here becoming a statue, I don't want to be in a bad position like some ero-cook", the green-haired explained carelessly while also pissing off Sanji even more.

Ain wanted to facepalm. That was something she expected from Luffy when the kid had his childish tendency. But Zoro had struck her as someone who liked to be taken seriously despite having his moments sometimes. But now… nope, she couldn't take him seriously.

"Are you stupid?! Why can't you just use one of your sheaths to try to wake up the sleeping idiot there?", she shouted at him.

"Are you stupid, woman?! You don't do that with a sheath." "Don't call Ain-chan stupid, marimo." "Did you say something, ero-cook?" "Don't call me Ain-chan!"

"Uh… Guys, I don't think you should fight right now…", Vivi said carefully like she was trying to calm them down while Bartolomeo didn't seem to know which side to pick and also joining the fight.

"Okay, listen I know your style is bursting into people and fight them. But we can't. The man with the dreadlocks is a bomb man, the blonde woman can manipulate her weight, the black-haired one with the three on top of his head uses wax and the last one has a strange ability with colours. So our best option is that you becoming very small like a real dragonfly and wake Ace up while I'll take care of …"

"Stupid plan", Luffy mumbled while poking his nose. He knew that Ace would be hard to wake up. He could practically jump on the older one and his brother would still be asleep. "Can't you just do that mind-thing that you did with Zoro and Sanji?"

That was fun to see both flipping out when they were in the other's body.

"That's …" Luffy looked at Law as interrupted himself and seemed like he was thinking. "That's a good plan. While they are having trouble to adjust, we can easily knock them out and wake your brother up and rescue the others."

A big grin appeared on his face. Now that sounds like fun. Without waiting he started to speed at the bomb man. He could hear the noise from a slightly annoyed Law for not being able to wait. But he didn't care.

He dodged the bomb easily by getting smaller and turning completely into a normal-sized dragonfly. With the speed, his wings gave him, he was able to shorten the distant even faster than by using Soru. He let his Haki flow into his right fist while becoming bigger and hit the man with a haki-enchanted fist directly in the face.

Luffy grinned when he saw that the man crashed into the wax statue.

"What have you done to my beautiful statue? … Huh, why is my body over there? What is going on?"

"You couldn't just wait, could you?", Law asked while he came closer slicing the three still standing enemies apart.

"Uhm~ but we discussed the plan. So there was nothing to wait for any longer", Luffy expressed a little childishly while he started to poke his big brother. Ace only snorted and turned himself away from him. A pout formed itself on his lips. Luffy sat on Ace's back. Maybe he should try it that way.

"Nii-chan, wake up", he said a bit a louder and started to jump up and down. Seriously, how deep was his brother asleep?

Was that really just this narco-illness?

"Torao, is that really just this nap-thingy from Ace?", he asked the surgeon pouting who had put a stop to the progress of the others being turned into wax-statues.

"Is there any drawing on him?" "No~" "Than tell him there is no meat left for him."

"No meat?!" This was exclaimed in shock by both brothers. Law looked at them both like he was asking if they were serious.

"Welcome back to the living, Ace. Now help us out of here, will you?", Ain asked. The blue-haired woman started to look quite weak. Something which wasn't normal for her.

"Ai-chan, are you okay?", Luffy studied her. This four didn't do something stupid to his Nakama. "It's fine… they just somehow put sea stone on me…", Ain mumbled.

"What exactly is this sea stone? They seemed to be pretty careful about it", Sanji asked and scratched his chin.

"Sea stone is otherwise known as Kairoseki. It is a substance which is quite hard. It is said to be as hard as diamond. Something which makes it a brilliant weapon against devil fruit users. It is like the sea in a solid form. It blocks our abilities if we come into contact with it", Law started to explain while helping Ain after Ace had freed her from the wax.

Luffy didn't look at them. Because as much fun as it was when Law switched the minds of the crew around. Luffy didn't like it when the surgeon had to cut one of them apart to help them. But he knew it was sometimes the easiest way. Even if he didn't like it.

"Are you guys okay?", he asked the giants. Luffy hoped they were fine. It would be sad if their long fight was interrupted by this stupid intrusion.

"Don't worry, kid. We have been through worse. After all, we are pirates", Dorry said with a grin and the other one just laughed as Ace freed him carefully from the wax. "Yeah, being buried in wax isn't the worse, we had", Borgy added after he was freed with a grin.

"Going through the calm belt was worse. Even if there is lots of food. It's kinda annoying without the wind. Because of that you have to be awake all the time to get through there", the giant remembered with a slightly nostalgic look in his eyes.

Luffy looked up to them with admiration. These two giants had already experienced so much. It made him feel giddy with the thoughts of his own adventures which still laid ahead of him.

"Thank you for bringing us to Shippy", Luffy chirped happily when Dorry and Borgy put them down.

Something Law was thankful for. It was already a bother to keep the young captain still when he was on the ground. But on the shoulders of a giant. It was annoying. The only way had been that Ace caught his little brother and put him on his lap. Something that never changed was that Luffy craved for affection, even if he didn't say that out loud.

But he had to admit despite dealing with Luffy for not being able to sit still, it had been nice. Also, Zoro couldn't get lost. Seriously he was going a leash the next island, he could. The sense of direction from the swordsman was worse than Luffy's inability to keep a secret. It was annoying.

"Oh, Bentham, you are still here? Didn't your Nakama find you yet?", Luffy's question interrupted his thoughts.

Law was surprised to see that the Okama was still on board. He did expect that the ship of them hadn't been that far away.

"I couldn't just go. You helped me and even gave me some food despite me being a total stranger to you. So I had to stay until you are back and help a bit. Because that's what friends are doing, right? That's the Okama way", Bentham declared loudly and seemed very proud with the way, they had chosen.

Then the Okama seemed a bit sad. "I had thought of maybe giving you a little show. But since my crew is here. We must part for now. Maybe next time, I'll give you a view to the wonders of the Mane Mane no Mi", Bentham exclaimed before he spun off the ship and jumped on another ship, which Law hadn't noticed until now.

"Bye-bye Bentham", Luffy waved after him with a grin.

But Vivie did seem to be in a shock. "Is something wrong with the Okama?", Law guessed, watching the young princess carefully.

"Bentham… I didn't recognise it first. But he is also part of the Baroque Works. He is Mr 2, better known as Bon Clay. He is the only officer agent without a female partner", Vivi whispered.

"I wonder why. He does seem like a nice guy. Especially because Luffy likes him", Ace wondered.

"I think that his devil fruit is the reason, why he doesn't have partner. We should call ourselves lucky that we met him here and he did just not recognise Vivi, but also he did gave us a hint to his power. The Mane Mane no Mi. I heard of it. I think it is in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia. If I remember correctly the fruit isn't really for offensive attacks but for stealth and infiltration. The user is able to copy other's appearances and voices. But I don't remember how that is possible. But… we should be very careful when we reach Alabasta. If Baroque Works has someone like him in their ranks, there is the chance that a much bigger plot will be going on. With his skill, it is possibly better for him to work alone without having someone around who could blow his cover", Ain thoughtfully.

"So we just mark ourselves in case he could copy us by just seeing us. That way we should be able to identify each other", Zoro said with a shrug. "I hate to say it, but I think the marimo did have a good idea." "Who asked for your opinion, ero-cook?"

And there was the kindergarten again…

"Dorry, Brogy, thank you again for bringing us back here and also thank you for the information about the Logue Pose Time. But we have to depart now", Law said while he nonchalantly swapped Zoro's and Sanji's body again.

"No problem, little one. Ne, do you have some ale with you? It has been a long time since we had some", Brogy asked with a grin.

"Some ale is coming right now", Luffy chirped and went to get some barrels.

"Okay, everyone get ready to set sail and even if it is funny, swap them back, Law. We need these two in their own bodies because we don't know what will happen as soon as we leave the island", Ace ordered, fulfilling his role as vice-captain.

"An advice, just sail straight forward. Don't change the course until you can't see the island any longer."

"Thank you, we will follow your advice. Here is your ale", Luffy cheered and waved to the giants when they went in the same direction the ship would go while drinking the ale.

The world was strange. You didn't just meet friendly people who could be considered your allies, but you also met friendly people who would turn out to be your enemy.

It's not as black and white as the World Government wanted to paint it.

So the things which are the reasons that this chapter was/is late:
-the introduction of Bon Clay. I had multiple scenarios in my mind and just couldn't decide...
-Zoro strikes a pose. I rewatched Little Garden a bit and this scene got stuck and I really wanted to write this scene :x

Also, the reason why the pronouns they/them/their are used for Bon Clay. It's from Law's perspective and he isn't really sure with which gender Bon Clay identify himself. So Law just went with being neutral to not hurt Bon Clay's feeling. But now since Vivi spoke about Bon Clay as a 'he', Bon-chan will be described as he in most perspective, just maybe in some not depending on the character.

So that's it for this chapter and little Garden~
Next Chapter will be next month, I don't know when, but you will see ;)