First of all, I humbly apologize for not updating this story for too long and make readers (if there are still any) wait for the continuation of this story. I am really really sorry. Without further ado...

"You're up already."

Gladius remarked, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame. His eyes fixed on the young man who was sitting by the window, legs stretched out, his one elbow on the sill, hand in chin, eyes staring out the window. His left sleeve was empty as he was resting that arm inside his kimono.

Law turned his head up, looking at Gladius as the older man approaching him, sitting down, crossed legs and facing him.

"What brings you here?" Law questioned, as he was crossing his legs mirroring Gladius' position.

"Where is she now?" Gladius asked instead of answering the question.

Law straightened his back, letting out a sigh, "Jora called her."

Gladius nodded. His eyes wandered around the room, noticing the folded futon at the corner of the room and the long sword that was on the sword stand, before landed on Law.

"You don't come here just to look around this room, do you?" Law asked when Gladius didn't say anything.

"I just did." Gladius replied shortly. His eyes finally landed on the futon in the corner.

Law took a quick glance to where Gladius was looking at. That futon, it reminded him of the incident that morning. When he opened his eyes, he caught her staring at him. It was amusing when he saw her eyes widen and face slowly turning red as she tried to hide her face. The corner of his lips curved upward as he let out a quiet chuckle.

"The ship will arrive in 10 days." Gladius informed.

Law's smile faded as he looked at him.

Nami strolled along the road mindlessly ignoring the remnants of pink petals that raining down around her. Not until she walked past an abandoned tiny restaurant did she realize where she was. She stopped in her tracks. Her head slowly turned to look at the small abandoned building, which had previously been her second home.

/Nami had just finished cleaning the sink and about to pack the garbage before she heard another female worker's scream in horror.

"Gen-san!"

Her mind quickly registered something bad was happening. Leaving her task, she ran past the kitchen area.

When she arrived at the office section, her colleague was on the floor, covering her mouth with her hands, tears streamed down her face. Tables and chairs turned upside down as if it was hit by a tornado. Lying there, on the floor, was Gen's lifeless body. Blood pooling on the floor around him. She felt weak all over and fell down to her knees. She couldn't do anything. All she did was staring at the body.

She was still in shock that she did not notice a group of men were entering the office area. She couldn't even do anything even when the men grabbed her and took her away.

The only thing she remembered was, Gen's limp body before her eyes then everything went black./

A commotion snapped her back to reality. She saw a group of swordsmen were making a fuss, kicking out tables and kiosks, hitting random passersby and calling out names as if they were looking for a certain someone.

She pulled up her neck scarf to cover her mouth and nose and took the opposite direction. She did not want to get caught in the commotion. As she strolled mindlessly, something bumped her arm and knocking all of her things onto the ground. She crouched down, picking up her stuff.

"Sorry."

Was the only voice she heard. A male. She took a quick glance and only saw his back as he was walking away, somewhat in a hurry, before she continued picking up her stuff. Then she noticed a scroll inch away from her.

"That guy." She thought. He must have dropped it when he accidentally bumped into her. She looked up again just to see the said man was nowhere to be seen. She picked up the scroll, examining it as she pushed herself up.

"Must be important." She said to herself.

She looked at the direction where the man last seen, and thought, she should return the scroll to him. Without a second thought, she headed to the direction where she he was going.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Nami was panting as she kept climbing the stairs. Pulling down the scarf from her neck, she looked up to see there were a few more steps before she could reach the peak. Drawing a deep breath, she let it out and continued climbing up. Reaching the peak, she saw a man standing, wearing a monk-like attire, a sword impaled on the ground next to his feet. She recognized him. That was the man that bumped into her.

"Hey." She called out as she walked up to him.

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"You just dropped-"

"Shh" The man instructed her.

He was wearing a serious look on his face when she caught a glimpse of him. Then, she heard voices, shouting and calling out names. She turned around and saw a few swordsmen were climbing up the stairs. She needed not to think much to know those swordsmen were looking for him. "Oh! Those were the guys from-"

The sound of a sword being drawn stopped her from her thoughts.

"...!"

The man already had half of his sword drawn. If she let him, there would be bloodshed. And she did not want that. No, she wasn't going to get herself into trouble. She needed to stop him.

"Wait! What are you doing?" She reached out and grabbed his sleeve but tumbled and fell down together. She was sure they were going to roll down the hill but somehow, they didn't. She felt her arm caught in a vice-like grip to prevent them from falling.

"What are you doing?" The man growled at her as he pulled her back.

Hearing the voices became louder, she quickly jerked her arm from his grip, removing her scarf and covering his head and forcefully pushing him down to his knees.

"What are you doing, woman?" The man growled again.

Ignoring him, she removed her haori, covering him with that piece of clothing. She then sat next to him, her right arm draped around his shoulder.. Without saying anything, she showed him the scroll and his mouth fell open. Quickly he placed his hand on his left chest. There was a pause before he looked at her and sighed.

"You're welcome." Nami snorted. She nudged the scroll to him.

He took the scroll from her hand, and slid it inside his sleeve.

"Are they looking for you?" Nami asked, uninterested. No answer was coming from the man. She could sense the swordsmen were now behind them. And that made her uncomfortable as if they were staring at her. She turned around and met with their stare. There was a long pause before she asked them. "What's the matter?"

"Let's go." Said one man after a while, maybe the leader of the gang, she concluded.

She watched as they climbed down the stairs until they were out of her sight. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Honestly…"

She heard him talking and turned her head at him.

"Why did you do that?"

She saw him removing the scarf from his head and handed it to her. Her brows furrowed, "I came looking for you to return that scroll. I don't want to get into trouble."

She took the scarf from his hand. Eyes still on him.

"It seemed like those people are known to you." He stated.

"Eh?" Nami was confused. "I don't know them. I have never seen them. What? What do you mean by that?"

The man stood up, removing the haori and handed it to her.

"Nothing." He replied shortly, adjusting his clothes. "I need to get going." He continued as he picked up his sword and other stuff wrapped in a cloth.

"Where are you going? The temple is over there?" Nami pointed out the opposite direction when she saw him climbing down the stairs.

"I wasn't going to the temple." He replied as he waved his hand.

When he was out of her sight, she picked up her stuff that scattered on the ground and climbing down the stairs.

"Bring this over to Lao G-san." Jora instructed.

"Okay." Nami replied as she took the tray of meal from Jora's hands.

Upon seeing Law entering the kitchen, Jora smiled.

"Hey Law, Nami-chan is a good worker." Jora complimented.

Nami flashed a smile at them. Law only watched as she walked past him and disappeared into the hallway.

"You just made her do the work." Law replied.

"Don't say that." Jora brushed off the accusation. "Nami-chan asked if she can help me, so I only ask her to do chores." She continued arranging clean plates on the shelves. Then she moved to the irori, pouring hot water into the pot.

"Gladius went out already?" She asked as she pouring hot tea into the cup and took a sip. Then she arranged the pot and cup into the tray.

"Hmm." Law replied shortly.

"Also, can you bring this tea to Lao-G?" She ordered Law, handing him the tray.

Law stared at her, sighed but still taking the pot and headed out to Lao-G's room.

When he was about to reach Lao-G's room, Nami exited the room.

"Tea?" She asked him.

"Hmm." He hummed.

"I'll bring it inside." She offered as she took the tray from him. Not long after, she slid open the door and stepped out of the room. She could feel him following after her as she walked along the hallway. Arriving at the kitchen, she turned around.

"Have you eaten?" She asked.

He shook his head. She nodded.

"I'll bring lunch over to the room. Wait there." She suggested then stepped down the kitchen. Jora was no longer in the kitchen. She started to arrange some food on the low tables then exited the kitchen.

"Hmm… I see… A banquet with Cobra's family?" Doflamingo put the card on the table and leaned against the chair, his fingers slid down to his chin then dropped away, resting his arms on the chair's and his head on the headrest.

"Are you going, Doffy?" Diamante asked.

"Should I go?" Doflamingo asked him instead, closing his eyes.

"You can send somebody to attend the invitation." Trebol suggested.

"But maybe, this isn't just a normal invitation." Diamante concluded. "Two of his strong men died shamefully. What if he is offering alliance?"

"Interesting." Doflamingo stated, eyes still closed. "Considering he was the one who refused my offer in the first place."

"The last incident might have opened his eyes." Diamante concluded. "That he is nothing without ally."

"Strong ally." Trebol added.

"You know Doffy, you can now put an end to his little faction. Just send away our men." Diamante suggested. He and Trebol then laughed.

"I'll attend the banquet." Doflamingo stated, sitting up right and smirked. "I'll see what he has to offer."

Nami had just finished cleaning up the kitchen. She took one last look at the area before heading back to her room. The inn was certainly quiet. No one seemed to rent a room there. Only Law. What kind of inn running without customers? Her mind flooded with lot of thoughts but all of them disappeared as soon as she opened the door to her room. Eyes landed directly on the man that was sleeping soundly on the window sill.

Watching him reminded her of that yesterday's evening and made her smile. She felt elated. And safe. Slowly and carefully she stepped closer, did not want to wake him up while she was eyeing him. This time, he had not had his sword with him. His head leaning against the window frame and arms folded across his chest. She was tempted to smooth his hair but she resisted. She took a quick glance at the sword stand noticing the sword propping there neatly. Then her gaze fell back on him. He had this stoic look when he was awake, but sleep softened his face, it was hard to tear her gaze away.

The cool spring breeze caressed her skin and she saw him shudder and hug himself a bit tighter. Yet, he was still sleeping. She went to the closet, pulling out a blanket and went back to where he was. She tucked the blanket over his shoulder securely, allowing the back of her fingers to stroke his cheek gently - just once. Her gaze paused at his mouth and his eyes… wide open, awake eyes that were now locking hers.

P/S: Sorry, this chapter is really short. Hahaha