i did say luffy will appear, but i'm sorry if the interaction was short. next chapter i promise there will be lots!
also, after some thinking i think it's for the best is law view luffy only as his little sister.
oh, and, happy lawlu 10th anniversary! unfortunately i don't have any idea to make the fic for the occasion, and i'm too unmotivated to join the lawlu week challenge. i apologise, i am a very disappointing lawlu fan...
shachi panted as he kept dragging the sack of resources they collected. they all mostly consist of herbs and other resources that would help law with making medical items
"this isn't fair! law, why wouldn't you help us too!?" shachi yelled at law, who's in the distance is just leaning against the ship while closing his eyes.
"and penguin! what the fuck are you doing?" he added.
"what do you mean? i'm also doing some work, we are very much balanced here right now," he smirked while he continued brushing the railing of the ship.
"no? you don't need to wash the ship, we'll replace it anyway!" shachi complained once more but was ignored by law and penguin who may or may not snicker quietly.
law stopped leaning and stepped forward, "well, i guess i should help."
law picked up a nearby rock, much to their confusion. he then raised one of his hands, and to absolute surprise from both of them, a blue sphere appeared out of nowhere. law quietly mumbled 'room,' and the sack that shachi had been dragging was replaced with a rock, and said sack appeared on law's hand.
"there, happy?"
"what was that!?" both of them yelled.
law sighed, he knew he had to explain his fruit ability sooner or later. "it's a devil fruit power. yes, those exist. yes, i ate it. i ate this fruit called the op op fruit, which allows me to create this blue sphere you just saw and i can do anything i want inside it. be it teleporting objects, or even slashing objects like there was nothing."
they both stare at law with amazement on their faces.
"body parts included. they won't even feel pain as well." law added with a straight face.
they both stare at law with horror on their faces.
they found another island. there's a small town and a village at the other end of the island, both minding their own business. they anchored on the beach shore, which connected to a small forest. law ordered shachi and penguin to gather supplies in the town and made bepo stay on the ship to guard it. law, on the other hand, would try to collect any information regarding navigations and possibly, donquixote crew.
though the latter seemed to be unlikely. it's just a random island, after all, the chance of finding someone knowledgeable about that crew is very slim.
it's just another random, insignificant island, right?
he roamed around the forest, trying to find any plants or resources that could be useful later on.
mushrooms, plants, the usual. there are some rare ones here and there but it's nothing out of the ordinary.
he heard a rustling from behind, to which he didn't panic and tried to stay calm. perhaps it's an animal, but humans – enemies, might be the case too. he observed the surroundings and tried to keep his keen ears to hear any more of it.
it's dead silence.
he decided to continue collecting the plants but was more cautious about his surroundings this time.
"no, sorry, i never heard of that name before," the saleslady shook her head.
law tried his best to not show his disappointed face, "it's okay ma'am, thank you for your time to answer anyway."
he's been circling the town and asking all the people any question regardless of doflamingo, but it's nihil. it doesn't hurt to ask, anyway. the chance of any doffy's family lurking on a random island like these is close to none.
"by the way, boy, are you from the village on this island?" the saleslady asked.
he decided to lie, "yeah."
"i've never seen you before... you know, i visited the village often for extra supplies and just chatted with some of the locals there. i thought i already knew everyone there since it's a rather small village, but i guess i missed one," she chuckled.
law only nods.
"speaking of missing out, this reminds me of that one missing child here..."
"huh?" law turned his head around, interested.
she began to explain, "a few months ago, there's an announcement from the village that they found a child – stranded probably, roaming in the forest on this island. i forgot her details, but all i knew is that she had a very prominent scar on her face.
"they've been trying to find her, but she's extremely aggressive and swift, it's almost impossible for us to even try to calm her, that is if we even encounter her in the first place."
law said nothing. the saleslady stopped wondering and stared apologetically at law, "sorry, i got lost in thought. we've been very worried for her, this forest rarely contains animals, and most plants are inedible. though, i suppose you know that."
he nodded, "i'll.. keep that in mind. thank you again."
the lady smiled and waved goodbye.
he passed through the forest again to go back to his ship. this time though, because of that lady's story about the missing child, he became very, very cautious and observant towards every corner of the forest. well, he's always been like that, but it's more extreme this time, thanks to the story the previous sales lady told.
a stranded, feral child... well, great. just great.
he tried to manoeuvre himself to his ship as soon as possible while making sure no one was following him. so far so good, it's only the forest and him, not even a single animal in sight.
he finally gets out of the forest, and he sees shachi and penguin both waving at him. bepo seemed to be distracted with something, tinkering on whatever he was holding. sighing in relief, he went near the ship and climbed it immediately.
"what took you so long?" shachi asked.
"sorry, i asked a bunch of the citizens there some questions, regarding of doffy—"
"doffy?" he got interrupted by penguin.
"doflamingo, i was just trying to scrape up all the information i could find. though, i couldn't find any useful information, other than a stranded child roaming somewhere in this island's forest," he shrugged at the end.
"well that's very reassuring," shachi deadpanned.
law only rolled his eyes.
he then looked at bepo, who he finally saw messing around with a map.
"can you read those?" he asked behind him.
bepo jumped a bit, before realising it was his captain. "yes, a little bit, but i'm starting to understand. i found some books on some of your shelves and... i'm sorry i looked at it without permission..." he looked down, guilty.
law patted his shoulder, "no, it's okay. as long as you don't destroy them, feel free to read any of the books."
bepo looked at law with awe on his face, still mesmerised by his captain. he's just so cool and kind!
"i, i'm sorry again, next time i'll inform you if i ever open one... b-but!" bepo tried to change the topic before he apologised more. even though he's aware of that now, "i've been interested in reading maps now, and i think i can navigate well now.. sorta... maybe i need to practise this first," he mumbled.
law was surprised, and he couldn't help but feel immense pride for his first mate.
"that's great, bepo. you could be our navigator since it's not exactly in any of our fields of expertise," he gazed a little at the other two before giving bepo another smile.
bepo's face was flustered, "t-thank you, i'll try really hard!"
shachi and penguin smiled as well during the conversation. it was heartwarming, the bear is just so cute. and their captain, it's rare for them to see him being soft and not plastering his stern face at anyone.
"alright, let's set sail," law announced to his crew and they all scurried up to hoist the sail as well as retrieve the anchor.
little do they know, an uninvited guest is lurking on their ship.
"where are we going now, captain?" shachi asked as he raised his head that he rested on the railing of the ship. he looked at law who was sitting comfortably on the floor with his back resting on the wall of the ship's cabin.
"the nearest island from here, i want to give bepo some chance to practise his navigation skill," law answered, not opening his eyes.
"alright, i hope there are enemies there we can fight," he grinned in anticipation.
law was secretly hoping that they won't come across any enemy or problem. he stayed silent.
"oi, bepo, shachi, did you guys eat the food?" penguin opened the door from the cabin, scanning the people on the ship.
"no i don't, why'd you ask?" bepo also shook his head.
"well, funny story. all of our food supplies are gone. not a single crumb, empty," penguin replied nonchalantly.
"..."
"what?" shachi yelled. bepo was dumbfounded, law tried to stay calm within shachi's commotion of panic. penguin just shrugged his shoulders to them, but he was still slightly irritated by the situation.
after all, food is important. and he's getting hungry. he's taking this surprisingly well, though.
"listen, we can always restock again when we get near the island. bepo, focus on the navigation and store your energy for later," law ordered.
shachi calmed himself, and all of them nodded.
"wait, i'm still confused though. who eats our food?" shachi raised his hand.
"i've been thinking about that. i want to say some rodents but our ship is clean and no way any rat or animal can eat all that much unless..." penguin trailed off.
"a human," law said. finally, he stood up. "let me investigate this. they can't get here when we're still on the island, since bepo guards the ship," he didn't have the heart to say that it's still plausible for the intruder to access the ship if bepo didn't do a great job of guarding it.
"it's probably right before we sail, it's the most logical one i could think of," law entered the door. the room was small, there was another door that connected to their bedrooms.
he's confused, if it is a human, how would they hide in this tiny ship? there are not many hiding spots, and it should be easy for the four of them to search together. he sighed, and decided to use an alternative technique.
he swift his hand up, and mumbled 'room.' the blue sphere appeared, which was noticed by everyone present. he made it as big as possible so it could fit almost the entire ship, and he scanned every entity on the range.
he found one.
it was... small?
he said 'shambles,' swapping whatever the entity is with a random object in front of him. what they see next in front of them is something beyond their expectations.
a little girl.
the room was silent, shachi and penguin had an absolutely shocked face while choking on air a little, and bepo was also shocked.
law only stared in disbelief.
"...huh?"
"... captain, it's a little girl, right?" penguin managed to say.
"...seems so."
and all hell broke loose.
shachi and penguin screamed for no absolute reason, bepo ran around in a circle, and law was still in place, but his jaw was dropped.
all the commotion makes the little girl even more scared, scrambling herself away from them until she's in the corner of the room.
"quiet, you guys!" law snapped out. both shachi and penguin stopped screaming, hugging each other. bepo stopped running and looked down, feeling guilty.
he stared at the girl again, whose eyes were wide – terrified.
'no, how the hell did she get here, or hide in the first place?' law thought, but he decided to leave it aside and focus on what was in front of him. he crouched to get in her eye level, but not moving closer.
"it's okay, we... we are not going to hurt you," he spoke calmly. the girl didn't respond, still staring at him with a somewhat curious eye. her scared state is still prominent though.
"..." she moved her gaze to the people behind law, observing them.
"i guess she's the one that ate all of our food. though, if i recall we stock up a lot, i can't believe she can eat that much," penguin commented. law noticed that when penguin spoke the word 'food,' the girl perked up. even if the motion was small, law managed to catch it.
"..are you still hungry?" law asked. they're confused as to why law asked that as his first question, but to their surprise the girl immediately nodded, before gasping and quickly shaking her head.
all of them sweatdropped, the girl is obviously still hungry, and she did a bad job hiding it.
law sighed, but she seemed to understand what they were saying, so that's a good start. "we don't have food at the moment, since you ate them all. we can feed you later, or you can leave us once we drop off the next island."
the girl looked shocked, and she still stayed quiet.
"let's just leave her alone in the room, for now, she's still wary of us," law said to three of them and none of them objected.
law only hopes that the girl doesn't destroy everything in the room, especially his books.
