Here~ I~ Am~ And I'm not late~

Whoooooo~

I'm actually early! See, confinement has its positive points.

And I'm going to start on the next chapter right now (wednesday, cause I finished this one wednesday, congrats to me) so I won't be late anymore~

Ok. Whatever. Enjoy this (kind of) serious chapter.

Enjoy~ ^^

CHAPTER 12: Serious conversations

"Hey, Trafalgar."

Zoro-ya's voice surprised Law. Somehow, the Straw Hats turned their lunch into a party, everyone was laughing, talking, and doing really stupid things not worth mentioning. Bone-ya was playing his strangely shaped electric guitar and the boys were fighting over the bits of food left in their plates. Black Leg-ya was gone somewhere, probably the kitchen. Nami-ya and Nico-ya were calmly discussing something and Luffy-ya was stuffing herself next to Law, who was reading his book. He ignored it all, and nobody paid any attention to him. Why would the green-haired man suddenly call him?

"Can we talk a second? In private?" the swordsman said with a serious look, with another bottle of sake in his hand and not even a tiny bit drunk at all.

"Yeah, I guess so." Law stood up, wondering what Zoro-ya wanted. Luffy-ya raised her head from her plate, gulping down an impossible amount of food. Really, who was paying here? The restaurant would be ruined soon like this.

"Where're you going? You're not eating anything."

"Zoro-ya wants to talk to me."

"Ok. Look after Zoro, we don't want to lose him."

"Oi!"

"Uh huh. Let's talk outside." They went out of the private room. Law led Zoro-ya to the restaurant's exit. The man stayed silent with a frown on his face. Outside, they started walking aimlessly. Law waited for the other to speak.

"You love her." He said, suddenly and bluntly. It wasn't a question, it was a statement, of someone who knew what he was saying was true. Law shot him a glance but didn't reply. There was no hostility in Zoro-ya's voice, just plain straightforwardness. "I'm not like the others. I trust Luffy, I know she is strong. I'm not worried about you doing anything to her. I just wanted to make sure." He took a drink. Law stayed silent, processing what the man just said.

"Why?" he finally asked.

"I don't blame you, nor hate you for it. Just know that all of us Straw Hats love Luffy and we would protect her with our lives if necessary. That's why nobody trusts you. We're all afraid for her, after what happened two years ago."

"What happened?" Law said softly, not forcing any answer.

Zoro-ya froze. Then he sighed and resumed walking. "We... were ambushed. It was terrible. These gigantic robot things attacked us, followed by one of the most powerful Government agents. We couldn't do anything. Luffy, Ace and Sabo were the strongest, they tried to protect us, but it was just too much. The robots were nearly inderstructible and kept shooting laser beams at us, itt took us all our energy to just take down one of those. The Government agent was incredibly fast, he almost killed me. Old Rayleigh held him off afterwards but we still had the robots after us. All of us were near death when Luffy ordered us to run and leave her behind. 'Captain's orders', she said. Screaming. Desperate. We obeyed, of course. Ace and Sabo stayed too to buy us time. She promised she would survive and come back. She never did." His voice broke.

"You don't have to talk about it."

He shook his head and continued. "Luffy… Luffy sacrificed herself for us. So we could escape the Government people. Later, only Ace came back. He was crying, devastated. I had never seen Ace cry before. He said… He said Luffy and Sabo were taken by other guys, who weren't from the Government. Only he managed to get away. With a message from Luffy for us. 'We'll see each other again soon. I'm sure you'll be stronger.' She said it with a smile. The grief was terrible."

"Zoro-ya." He was ignored.

"We always believed in her, that she was alive, wherever she was. That she'd come back to us. We devoted ourselves to becoming stronger, just like she told us. After two years, Ace, who was much more affected and took longer to recover from the shock, found out where she was taken and by who. We always knew he was fully into the search, but he didn't tell us anything when he found the answer. He went there alone and attacked these people. We didn't know. We couldn't do anything." There was so much pain in the man's voice and eyes. Law understood it, the terror of being powerless against something much stronger. He had felt it.

"Ace-ya came back heavily wounded, something large and burning pierced his chest. Mugiwara-ya was carrying him." Law sighed. "I had no idea this happened. I only know that Ace-ya fought something terrible when he tried to save her."

"Sabo's gone." Another statement, simple and matter of fact. "He might be dead."

"Maybe."

"Luffy has an ability to feel other people's presence and make connections with those closest to her. Sabo must've left a huge hole in her. Ace too. I'm hoping you can fill the emptiness she must be feeling."

These few words surprised him. Replace the two people she loved most? Him? "What makes you think I can?"

"You make her happy."

"What do you mean?" He made her happy. This simple fact somehow filled him with pride.

"I saw her when we were going to with only Usopp. She had a sad, gloomy look in her eyes, that slight frown, not at all like herself. Usopp didn't notice, of course. He's an idiot. Luffy was trying to hide her despair, but I've known her longest. Her guilty look disappeared when she saw you. You make her happy. I don't like it, but it's a fact. She's only happy when she's with you. And I want her to be happy."

Law was really surprised now. Not only because the green-haired swordsman was much smarted than he looked, but because the surgeon knew it was the truth. Luffy-ya didn't show a hint of sadness when with him, only relief. Her cheerful expression when he told her he was going out was fake.

"You're happy with her too." Law snapped his head towards the man. "You love her, there's no point in denying this. I just wanted to see if you'd admit it."

"I wish I couldn't love."

Zoro-ya raised his eyebrow with a mildly intrigued look. Law scowled at him.

"Love will always turn into despair one day. It's dangerous. I don't ever want to feel that kind of horror again. But… I can't help it. I can't do anything about it. I know I need to love, that it can protect me." He thought of his past. How he was saved by Cora-san's love for him. How he was filled with so much grief and hatred when his family was killed. "But it can also destroy me."

The green-haired man chuckled darkly. "It can."

Luffy-ya was doing some stupid ugly dance with chopsticks in her nostrils when they came back. Law didn't like it. Why was she even doing something like that?

"Mugiwara-ya."

"Torao! Zoro! You're back!" A few of her friends glanced at them. "I'm glad you didn't lose Zoro, we don't want to search for him in the whole city."

Law gave her a serious look. "Stop that. It's ridiculous."

"Oh. Ok~"

Everyone stared this time.

"Oh, my." Nico-ya smiled, resting her chin in her hand. She seemed amused, unlike Nose-ya, Nami-ya and Robot-ya, who were shocked. Black Leg-ya looked relieved that Luffy-ya wasn't doing the horrible dance anymore, but still glared angrily at the surgeon, who didn't understand the dumbfounded reaction.

"Yohohoho! How surprising!" Bone-ya sang, adjusting his skull-shaped mask. "I'm so surprised my face dropped! Ah, no, it's not my face! It's a mask! Yohohohohoho~"

"Wow. It's the Surgeon of Death's power of persuasion," Tony-ya said, his eyes twinkling in admiration.

Nose-ya trembled. "He put her under a spell to obey his every word!"

"Maybe it's not Luffy." Robot-ya wondered.

Nami-ya hit them on the head. "Stop saying such nonsense!" She sighed. "I understand. Let's talk a bit, Trafalgar."

And for the second time in less than half an hour, he walked out of the restaurant to have a serious conversation with a Straw Hat.

"What's the problem?" He asked once they were out, still confused. "I only told her to stop. This dance is ridiculous."

Nami-ya stopped and leaned against the wall of the restaurant. "Law…" He noted how the woman used his first name this time, "for Luffy, a party without dancing isn't a party."

"What do you mean? That wasn't a party, it was a lunch. The party's tonight."

"Every collective meal is a party when you're in the Straw Hats. Anyway, this stupid dance is almost sacred for Luffy. It's her idea of what you do in a party. She gets pissed whenever there's a party with nobody dancing or singing or whatever."

"So?"

She gaped at him incredulously. "So? You just made her stop dancing! During a party! Just by telling her to do it! Do you have any idea how insane this is? Of course everyone was surprised!"

Law frowned. "Oh."

"I get it. All this just confirmed it. Luffy really likes you. You love her, don't you? I know we weren't nice to you, but something terrible happened two years ago and—"

"I know. You don't want to lose her again, Zoro-ya told me. I know you don't trust me. I don't mind. I've lived most of my life alone, don't worry."

"Zoro told you? That's unexpected. Well, then, if you know about it, you should know that all of us are much more protective than before. We accepted you, together, but Usopp and Sanji still don't like you. Usopp's a naturally mistrustful person and Sanji's probably just really jealous. Be prepared for more attacks from them."

"Oh, don't worry about Nose-ya," Law smirked somewhat evilly. "I don't think he'll be picking on me again, after the way I made a fool of him earlier."

"Huh." She smiled amusedly. "I'm not sure if I want to know what happened."

"You can ask him."

"But there's still Sanji, and I don't think he'll ever appreciate you, even though most of us decided to be friendly to make Luffy happy."

"I don't mind. Really," he added when Nami-ya gave him a dubious look. His mouth curled up a tiny bit into a small but soft smile. After a while, she sighed.

"All right. Also, Luffy's right. You can be hot when you want to."

"Tch." Law glared at her. She waved, sniggering, and entered the restaurant again. He followed, wondering if another Straw Hat would decide to talk to him later.

"Torao. Torao! Listen to me."

Law looked lazily at the young woman who was distracting him from his book. "Hm?"

"Let's go to the hospital."

He glanced around him and noticed the party had calmed down, all the food had disappeared, the Straw Hats were talking normally. Bone-ya was finishing a slow bit of music. "Lunch is over?"

"We reached our food limit for the day." Law decided to not ask questions. "So, let's go to the hospital."

"Cora-san told you about the strange activity happening in Ace-ya's brain?"

"Something happened to his brain?" Luffy-ya's eyes widened in panic.

"No. There's just more activity, which could mean he's thinking, and if he's thinking, he's at least a bit conscious. It seems like he's getting out of his coma soon."

"Oh!" A huge bright smile appeared on her face. "That's great! Hey, Chopper."

The small teenager standing shyly behind Law blushed when the surgeon turned to stare curiously at him. "Um. A-are you going now?"

"Yes. Why?"

"W-well, you see, I-I want to be a great doctor who can heal any disease, and, um, I developed a new medicine, um, I would like it if y-you could check it out and give me advice on it?" He said nervously.

Law frowned. "You made a new medicine?" A nod. "What is it?"

"I call it the Rumble Ball. It can be used to help with mental illnesses, but I still have to perfect it."

"Never heard of it. How old are you?"

"F-Fifteen."

"Impressive. What's your name again? Why didn't I ever hear of you, if you create medicine yourself at such young age? A talented doctor like that should be famous."

The teenager blushed bright red. "I-I, um, I… I… Y-Your compliments don't make me happy! Idiot!"

"His full name's Tony Tony Chopper." Luffy-ya answered. "He doesn't expose himself a lot to the public, he's been bullied a lot before for his small size and his strange dressing habits, and his eyes. He's also very sensitive to compliments." Law studied the blushing teenager closely and noticed the unusual shade of blue of his round eyes, which had a pupil too wide for a human and made him look incredibly creepy but captivating at the same time. Tony-ya also wore a large blue cap with antlers on the sides.

"Strange clothes and strange eyes, huh? But it's cute. When do you want me to see the Rumble Ball, Tony-ya?"

"A-After the party, maybe? I can bring them tomorrow." The surgeon nodded and Tony-ya's smile widened. He was about to add something when Nico-ya called him and he rushed off to her and Zoro-ya, throwing a quick "Bye" at Law and Luffy-ya. Once with the two adults, he started chatting excitedly, holding the woman's hand.

Law had an almost indiscernible smile. "Cute. They're together?"

"Zoro and Robin live together. They took Chopper in when we moved to Punk Hazard, his home is in Grand Line. We all have a few guest rooms because there's always someone who'll come crashing for the night. We mostly go to Brook's cause it's the biggest, but Usopp likes to go to Franky's workshop and Nami often stays at Robin's where Chopper and Zoro live too. Sanji lives in the Baratie. In Grand Line two years ago, we stayed in Alabasta, that's where we're having the party."

"Alabasta? You mean, the home of the Nefertari family, who deals with water supplies in the dry areas of the country? Alubarna, the village they own in the desert area of the New World, almost got destroyed by the Shichibukai Crocodile two years ago, right? There was a big fight and the boss was almost overthrown, but they were saved by a Government agent named Smoker who beat and capture Crocodile."

"Oh, Smokey. Wonder where he and the Croco bastard are now? Vivi used to be part of our group, but she stayed to take care of her father and the company. Let's go, then? Bye, guys!" She skipped over to the exit and waved at her friends. Nami-ya raised her hand, a frown on her face as she scribbled something. Robot-ya gave them a thumbs up and Bone-ya saluted by raising his hat, busy packing up his electric guitar.

"Nooooo!" Black Leg-ya wailed. "Don't go, Luffy-chan! Don't go with him! Oh, to lose my beautiful angel gives me a feeling of indescribable despair! My heart is breaking like fragile glass as I see you leaving me for that barbarian! Is this what they call pain? Anguish? No, something much more refined. Love! But whatever you do, wherever you are, my passion will always burn as strongly—"

"I'm just going to the hospital, Sanji. You're so weird." Luffy-ya stared at her friend. "And Torao's not a barbarian. Don't say that."

Nose-ya balanced his chair on two legs, fiddling with something. "Bye, Luffy. I'll be at Franky's workshop if you need me." Nami-ya folded whatever paper she was writing on and walked to the exit too, pushing down on Nose-ya's face when she passed him by. He fell on his back with a surprised shout.

"I'm going too. And, Sanji, stop that. Luffy's not yours." She was gone. Black Leg-ya was left in a whining, sobbing puddle.

Law scowled at him. It was strange, how possessive the man was. "You're overreacting, Black Leg-ya. Learn to trust your captain a bit more and let her do what she wants. I feel like I trust her more than you do."

He grunted something incomprehensible. Luffy-ya pulled Law's arm impatiently and he let her. Once they were out of the restaurant, a horribly familiar laugh rang out.

"You see? I told you they were together! Poor fangirls!" Law turned and saw the one person he really wished wasn't here, accompanied by a girl he definitely didn't appreciate. "Nice to meet you again, Law! Shurorororo!"

He cursed under his breath.

Yeah, that's how I'll end it. Hahahahaha. Only Law's POV in this chapter. Hahahaha.

I wanted to add a scene with Shanks in it but I couldn't be bothered to figure out how to include it. So, no Shanks. He'll be in the next chapter. Hahahahahaha. And yeah, I kinda changed Chopper cause HE VERY WELL CAN'T HAVE A BLUE NOSE.

…Excuse me. I meant, I changed him, Chopper is actually 17 post-timeskip and this is supposed to be post-timeskip but it's not interesting that way so no. I want him to be a really young genius.

k. cery: Lol yeah I guess so. Add "Without paying 100,000 beri and without getting a kick in that very special place between the legs" because Nami is evil like that.

I'm kinda depressed now cause my liner pen ran out of ink and I can't draw my One Piece manga comic pages anymore because pens somehow take one month to get here so I went to cry in a corner instead of writing *sob sob*. Hahahahahaha.

Why am I even laughing. Hahaha. *sob* I just realized I forgot to post my manga pages on DeviantArt. Well, who cares. Haha. Hahahahaha.

See you next Friday in a new chapter… Maybe… Hopefully…. Let me cry in my little corner dammit.

Haha. I'm probably going insane now. *sob*

Btw I have an idea for a new fic (LawLuAce) and I can probably make it since it's summer holidays in two weeks. This one will stay my main story tho. Holidays soon! Now I stopped crying.

*sob* Just kidding.

See you.

Next chapter:

Ace