Taking Steps
"Come on, Lami," Law said holding his hands out towards his baby. "You can do it. Walk to me."
Lami blinked at Law then looked up at Bepo. The bear -who was holding her hands- smiled down at her and said, "You're growing up so well. I can't wait to see you walk."
"Yeah! Come on, Lami!" Penguin cheered. "Walk to your daddy!"
Law rolled his eyes at his subordinate. Whether or not he ever labeled himself her dad or not he knew his crew had saddled him with the title. And it was going to stick to the end of his days.
"You can do it, Lami!" Shachi added. "We're all rooting for you."
"You don't think the deck is to hot for her, do you?" Bepo asked. He looked up at the bright sun above them. Their little girl had kicked off her socks and shoes a few hours ago and refused to have them put back on. Every time they tried she would wail and wiggle like a worm. So they gave up and let her go barefooted. "It is rather warm out today."
"That's just you and your fur coat," Shachi said. "It's nice out here today."
"The deck's fine," Law said. "I think she's just being stubborn."
Lami giggled as if to answer him.
"I think you might be right," Penguin said. Placing his hand on the railing, he pushed himself up on it. "She's probably going to walk when we're not looking. Remember when she started crawling? She didn't want any of us to watch her doing it when she first started."
"That was funny," Shachi said. "We had to sneak around to even know she was doing it."
Law smirked and remembered when she first started to crawl.
Law finished getting Lami's lunch ready. He walked away from the counter and stepped out of the kitchen. Looking down he found Bepo was snoozing near Lami's playpen like he often did when she was inside of it. Law was about to say something to her when she pulled herself upon her hands and knees and started crawling across the deck. His chest swelled with pride seeing her take her first few attempts. His chest also swelled with fear and concern when she would fall back down. But it didn't seem to bother and she kept trying until she did it.
"Hey! Lami's crawling!" Shachi then shouted.
"What?!" Penguin yelled from somewhere inside of the ship. His footsteps were heard coming closer until he busted outside.
"What?" Bepo sat up and looked around then down into the playpen. "What's going on? Lami's crawling?"
But it was too late. Lami had sat down when Shachi had screamed.
"She's not crawling," Penguin said.
"She was! She was! I saw her!" Shachi said. "Come on, Lami. Crawl again for your other uncles to see."
Law continued to watch, but she never did. She only smiled up at them with a mischievous look on her face.
"Aw, man," Shachi said, his shoulders drooping. "She's not going to do it again."
"Don't worry, Shachi," Penguin said patting his friend's shoulder. "This was just the first time. We'll see her do it soon enough."
It took several more times before they all manage to catch Lami crawling. After that she knew she was caught and never stopped then.
"I get the feeling she's going to be quite the handful when she get's older," Penguin said. "Her teenager years are going to be wild."
"Well, she is getting raised by pirates," Shachi said. "And they're known for being a stubborn and wild bunch. It won't surprise me one bit if she tries to play us for saps at several points in time. She's already got us all wrapped around her pudgy little fingers."
"And she'll learn how to defend herself at a young age," Penguin said. "Especially if she ever gets control over that power orb thing she has."
"Or maybe that was just a one time thing," Bepo said. "She hasn't done it since then."
Law stared at Lami. Bepo had a point. Ever since that time Penguin took her out into the sea those orbs of her never had appeared. And with the limited resources on this island there was no way of finding any information about them. Part of him wanted to still believe it was a devil fruit of some kind. But what devil fruit could get around the weaknesses that came with it? None that anyone knew about anyway. It would defeat the purpose of the weakness. His eyes dropped to the deck. It worried him. This thing that she possessed could possibly hurt her. He couldn't help but wonder if it was some form of abnormality or curse that she inherited from her parents. Why he wondered that he had no idea. He just had all kind of thoughts and theories running through his head. It made him feel childish as well as helpless. If these orbs hurt her there would be nothing he could do about it, not even with his doctor skills. He could only heal physical wounds after all.
"Look! She's going to do it!" Shachi said in a hushed voice.
Law looked up. His heart leaped when he saw Lami had released Bepo's paws. Then it happened. She moved her right foot and then her left foot. She did it again. And again. And again until she was right in front of him. He opened his mouth to praise her but stopped when she saw an odd look in her eyes. She was worried. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things, and then looked again. He wasn't. Lami was actually worried about him. It shouldn't have been impossible. Yet there she was.
"Captain, is something wrong?" Bepo asked.
"No, it's nothing," Law said. He picked up Lami and cuddled her to his chest. "You did a very good job, Lami. I'm very proud of you."
"Da…dada," Lami cooed.
"She's too cute!" Penguin squealed.
"All right, that's enough of that." Law stood up with Lami in his arms. "We should practice sailing more before the sun goes down. Shachi, you take the helm."
"You got it, Captain," Shachi said heading up to the helm.
"Penguin and Bepo, unfurl the sails," Law said.
"Aye aye, Captain!" the two nodded and started to climb up the ropes. A few minutes later the sails were down. They waited for the wind to pick up. Once it did the sails become full. Shachi took the helm and carefully moved the ship away from the island. The warm weather cooled off a bit with the wind blowing around. The pirates settled into watching the world pass by around them.
Lami looked up when a seagull cried out. She pointed at it then grabbed for it. "Ah…da…pa...ah."
"Hm?" Law looked down at her then looked up to see what grabbed her attention. "Sorry, Lami, you can't play with that bird. It's not a pet."
"A-ah!" Lami whined.
"No whining now," Law said bouncing her a bit. "When I say no I mean no. You're going to have to get use to that."
Lami whined again but stopped reaching for the bird, her attention when to her fingers. She put them in her mouth and started gnawing on them.
"I wonder how many pets she's going to want as she gets older." Penguin walked over to Law. He crossed his arms over the railing and look at Lami. He smiled when she giggled at him. "At least she'll have Bepo to play with."
"Hey, I'm not a pet," Bepo protested.
"You might think that, but Lami might not," Penguin said. "Despite that you'll still let her love on you."
"Yeah." Bepo nodded just before a pod of whales started breaching the water. "Hey, look, Lami. Whales."
Lami squealed, kicked her feet, and reached for the creatures.
Penguin laughed. "I think we have an animal lover on our hands."
Suddenly, a whale breached the water right beside the ship. The large wave it created threw the ship to the side. Shachi spun the helm too hard and it dipped the ship even farther to the left, throwing the pirates off balance and onto the deck.
Lami wailed at the sudden force of flying.
"Hey, careful!" Law said holding Lami tighter to his chest. "You could have hurt her!"
"Sorry!" Shachi said while spinning the helm to the right to straighten up the ship. "That whale came out of no where!"
"Get a grip," Penguin said fixing his hat. "There's going to be a lot bigger sea creatures to deal with once we leave this place."
"Shut up! It just threw me off!" Shachi said. "That's all!"
"Whatever you say, Shachi," Penguin said.
"If you think you can do a better job then-"
"Enough," Law said. "It's over and done with. Just try and be careful from here on out."
"Aye, Captain," Shachi said.
"So it's been a while since we started all of this," Penguin said. He tucked his feet underneath him and remained sitting on the deck. "Have you decided what you're going to fight with? You said you trained with all kinds of weapons when you were with the Mingo family. But do you have a favorite?"
"I've been thinking about that a lot here lately," Law said. He placed Lami down on the deck and gave her one of her toys. "I think a sword would suit me best. It seems logical for the devil fruit power I have."
"It would be like a scalpel," Bepo said.
"A sword like a scalpel?" Penguin said. "I can see it. So you going to look for one once we leave here?"
"Yeah." Law nodded. "I'm not completely familiar with the types. So I might have to pick up a book on an island so see which type I'd prefer."
"Maybe we'll pick up a couple when we're fighting other pirate crews," Penguin said. "They'll have swords and other weapons. Just thinking about it gets me excited."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet," Law said.
"We haven't decided when we're leaving just yet," Bepo said. "Or has that changed, Captain?"
"I want Lami to be at least two years old when we set sail," Law said.
"That's still a young age," Penguin said.
"It's just the first step," Law said. "We're still not all that strong to take on other pirate crews. So we'll spend a few more years building up our strength and fortifying our crew. And during that time we'll also get our own submarine to use."
"How many crewmembers are we planning on having?" Bepo asked.
"I'm not really sure," Law said. "You all have an affinity for the marital arts so we'll probably have that as a main force in our crew. I guess it all just depends on a person's skill and if they can get along with the crew."
"I hope we can find women to join," Penguin said with a grin.
"There will be no sex within the crew," Law said.
"What?!" Penguin and Shachi gasped.
"He heard that but nothing else of our conversation?" Bepo looked up at the man at the helm. Shachi had a forlorn look on his face.
"And you will be careful when you have sex with women, assuming you will, when we stop on islands," Law said. "There's no excuse forgetting yourselves in trouble because you can't keep it in your pants."
"Captain," Penguin said. "We're going to have needs and desires."
"And you can deal with those needs and desires as you see fit," Law said. "But as the crew's doctor and captain it's my responsibility to make sure you all don't become so stupid and get sick from something preventable. There's no excuse for it."
"Right," Penguin said with a depressed sigh. "Now I feel like your child, too."
"Very funny," Law said.
"We should get in some fishing before the sunsets," Penguin said. "If we catch anything we can have it for supper."
"Fish sounds great," Bepo said standing up. "I'll get the poles. You going to join us, Captain?"
"Sure." Law nodded.
Bepo nodded back then disappeared inside of the ship. He came back a few minutes later with three poles in his hands.
Law placed Lami into her playpen and took the pole from his navigator. Then he, Penguin, and Bepo dropped their lines into the water. It didn't take long before the fish started biting. They managed to haul in four fish for each of them before the sun started to set. Law then said, "We should call it a day."
"Right!" the crew said.
Shachi guided the ship back over to the island. Once it was in place they furled the sails then headed down to the island. Penguin piled up some wood together then cleaned the fish while Shachi opened his bag of kitchen supplies they had gathered at one point since they didn't always sleep and eat on the ship. They figured they would spend a lot of time on it once they started sailing and decided it would be best to spend as much time on land as they could. As they worked the sun fell farther and farther down below the horizon, bring the cool night air with it.
"Where are the matches?" Shachi asked while he continued to dig into the supplies. "I know I just saw them."
"Will you hurry it up?" Penguin rubbed his hands on his arms. "It's freezing."
"I'm trying! They've disappeared or something!" Shachi said. "I know we haven't ran out! Maybe a raccoon or something took off with them?! And it's not that cold out here!"
"It's an oddly cold night," Bepo said.
Law nodded. He checked the blanket he had Lami bundled up in before pulling her into his lap. "Lami's going to get a cold at this rate."
"I can warm her with my fur if you want," Bepo said. "I can unbutton my shirt and put her inside of it."
"That might be a good idea." Law waited for Bepo to get his shirt unbuttoned then passed the baby over to him.
"There you go. Nice and warm," Bepo said tucking the baby into his fur.
Lami cooed up at the bear before looking over at Shachi when the guy cursed.
"I can't believe it! Where are those darn things?!" Shachi growled.
Lami turned her eyes to the wood piled up. Giggling, her red orb appeared over the wood.
"Captain, she's doing it again!" Penguin said. "It's the red one this time!"
"Huh?" Shachi looked over at the orb. "Do you think its fire like the captain said?"
"Guess we'll see soon enough," Law said just before the orb lit up with a warm flame. The flame dropped off the bottom of the orb and fell onto the fire. The branches snapped and crackled. The fire flared to life, spreading its warmth over their cold bodies.
"So, it does look like she can control the elements," Shachi said closing up the bag.
"Control and create," Law said.
"What do you mean, Captain?" Penguin asked placing two frying pans over the fire then the fish.
"She controlled the water before," Law said. "But she created the fire just now. So I assume that it can happen both ways."
"Controlling the elements is going to be a very powerful thing," Penguin said. "I wonder what her weaknesses are going to be. What could be weak against the elements?"
"Do you think there's something out there like the sea prism stone that will affect her?" Shachi asked.
"I think it's possible," Penguin said. "Only time will tell for sure." With his elbow on his knee, he placed his chin in his hand. "Again, I wonder what kind of weakness it would be. I hope it's something that doesn't hurt her. Looks like the fish is done."
"Smells good," Bepo said taking his share.
"Ah…" Lami reached for the plate in Bepo's paws.
"No, not for you," Bepo said. "The captain has yours."
"Be patient, Lami," Law said while digging into his fish with his fingers. He always made sure to remove the bones when she ate fish. He didn't want their tiny bones to get stuck in her throat despite having an easy way to get them out. Finally breaking up the fish, he brought the plate into his left hand and held it where she could reach it while he placed his own place on the ground beside him.
Lami happily dug into the fish, literally. Her fingers pushed and pinched the fish several times before she would actually put it in her mouth and eat it.
"Good food, huh, Lami?" Shachi said. "I love cooking on an open fire. It just makes the food taste a whole lot better than cooking inside."
"It sure does." Bepo nodded.
"So, Captain," Penguin said. "I've been thinking about our crew. We've talked about almost everything but what we're going to be called."
"That's right," Shachi said. "We haven't discussed a name for our crew yet."
"Do you have any ideas, Captain?" Bepo asked.
"Crew's name, huh?" Law asked. His eyes dropped down to Lami, pieces of fish were spotted over her face. He decided to leave it there for the moment since she was still eating. His mind flooded with all the good memories of her and of Corazon, of how the man gave him his heart back and how Lami had stolen it. A smile came to his face. "We're going to be the Heart Pirates."
"The Heart Pirates?" Penguin said. "I like it."
"So do it," Shachi said.
"I like it too," Bepo added. "We'll need to work on a jolly roger as well."
"I already have one in mind," Law said. "I'll draw it out later."
"We should get some custom made outfits with our jolly roger on it," Shachi said. "Something that matches so everyone will know who we are."
"Matching outfits?" Penguin hummed. "Maybe…but what should they be? And I wonder how much they'll cost us."
"Probably will just depend on who we're asking to make them," Shachi said. "Since we won't know what size people wear we can't really buy up a lot of shirts or whatever. That would be a waste of money."
"So then we'll just wait and see," Penguin said.
"Good plan." Shachi nodded. "Is that all right, Captain?"
"If that's what you really want to do then fine by me," Law said.
"Great! We'll have to make one for Lami, too!" Penguin said.
"We'll have to make her a cute one," Shachi said.
"Very cute, but not too cute," Penguin said. "Especially as she grows older." He looked at Law. "By the way, what kind of clothes are you going to allow her to wear? You going to dress her up as the girl she is or dress her as a tomboy."
"Tomboy," Law said.
"Good choice." Penguin nodded firmly.
Thanks for liking and commenting. Wasn't sure how this was going to go over since I'm not making Law and 'Harry' a couple.
xx-BrittCullen-xx: Thanks. I'm trying to do something different from what most do. We'll get a few small time skips. There's not much to do with Lami as a baby. Besides, I don't think I could come up with enough material to cover everything. I might do some flashbacks like I did with one. We'll have to see.
ElementalFoxGoddess: She's younger than them both. She's 6 years younger than Luffy, 9 years younger than Ace, and 13 years younger than Law. I'm trying to get updated faster. Like I mentioned somewhere before, the hardest part is getting myself to sit down and write. Once I do the chapter comes rather quickly. Also helps I'm only getting about 3k for each chapter. Some might/will be longer depending on the content.
