Two Years Later

"Yahoo!" Shachi screamed as their former home island started disappearing behind them. The wind teased his hair and filled the sails as the island got smaller and smaller. The bright sun beamed down on them, almost like it was happy they were leaving as well. "We're finally leaving! We did it!"

"This is so exciting!" Penguin said leaping up off the deck. His boots thudded on the wood when he fell back down. "We're officially pirates! We're officially a pirate crew!"

"This is scary," Bepo said. He was standing near Penguin and Shachi, staring out at the sea for possible threats that might be just beyond his sight. "I wonder if we're going to run into any pirates soon. I don't see anything yet."

"Don't get carried away," Law said. He guided the ship with one hand while holding Lami to his hip with the other. "We still have a long ways to go. First we need to continue building up our skills. Second we need to get a lot of treasure so we can get a submarine build."

"Aye aye, Captain!" the crew cheered.

"Dada Dada." Lami reached up for Law's hat and pulled it down over his eyes.

"Lami." Law pushed his hat back up. "I'm trying to steer the ship. Don't block my view. Don't want to crash, now do we?"

"Ah! Dada." Lami grabbed his hat and jerked it off. Laughing she shook it up and down.

"What am I going to do with you?" Law sighed.

Penguin broke away from the others and headed up to the helm. Reaching his captain he held out his hands to the toddler. "You want to come here, Lami?"

Lami giggled and leaned towards him. "Penin. Penin."

"Come to, Uncle Penguin. That's a good girl." Penguin picked his niece up and gave Law his hat back. "Daddy's busy steering the ship. You can mess with him later." He faked lowering his voice. "But in all honesty I think the captain should pay attention to you rather than steer the ship. You're far more important than some ol' ratty ship."

"Funny," Law said. "Just keep her entertained for a while."

"You got it." Penguin nodded and headed down to the deck. He grabbed a few toys out of her playpen before sitting down on the deck with her. Scattering out the toys, he played with her for the next couple of hours. Holding a wooden ship in his hand, he sailed it around in the air, making cannon, and guns sounds.

"Shippy!" Lami clapped her hands and laughed. "Shippy!"

"That might be a bit much for a toddler," Shachi said leaning against the railing of the ship.

"Hey, at least it gets her started on the sounds," Penguin said. "Besides, she's enjoying it."

"It does not," Shachi said. "You sound nothing like a cannon or gun."

"Well, it doesn't matter," Penguin said. "I'm sure she'll hear them soon enough. I just hope they don't scare her too much."

"Where are we heading to first?" Shachi asked.

"We could go anywhere," Bepo said. "There are several islands in the direction we're heading to."

"We should probably stop there and see if anyone would join our crew." Penguin looked up at Law. "What do you say, Captain? Would that be too soon?"

"No, it'll be fine," Law said. "We might be able to get some treasure while we're there."

"Our first heist? Nice." Shachi grinned.

"But we are not going to hurt innocent people," Law said. "I absolutely forbid it. Other pirates and Navy men are find, but normal citizens are not."

"Makes sense," Shachi said.

"I wouldn't want to hurt them anyway." Penguin smiled at Lami. He tapped the front of the ship onto her nose, making her squeal. "Isn't that right? We were once normal citizens, too."

"Up." Lami held her hands up to him.

"Come here." Penguin picked her up and placed her in his lap. "Better?"

"Food." Lami tapped his chest. "Food."

"She's hungry," Bepo said.

"She's so cute when she speaks," Shachi said. "I'm getting a bit hungry myself."

"I suppose I could start lunch," Penguin said. "It's after twelve o'clock anyway." He stood up with Lami on his hip. "Any requests?"

"Make my favorite," Law said. "That's something good for Lami to eat."

"Taking care of a baby has been hard work," Shachi said. "I love Lami but I'm glad she's finally transitioning to solid foods more. It'll be easier on our wallets and us. I never noticed how much money it took to take care of a baby."

Lami whined as if she felt insulted by his words.

"You upset her, Mean Uncle Shachi," Penguin said. "Shame on you."

"I'm sorry, Lami." Shachi patted her head. "I love you. It's just a fact that babies use up a lot of money. We had to steal quite a lot to take care of you."

Lami smiled.

"Glad to have your forgiveness," Shachi said smiling.

"Come on, Lami." Penguin turned and headed for the kitchen. "Let's see what we have for you to eat while I'm getting lunch ready." Entering into the room he placed Lami in her playpen. They decided to put multiple playpens on the ship for Lami in the rooms they used most and the kitchen was obvious. They didn't want her to get into something that would hurt her. They were simply designed with wood and would be easy to take down once she didn't need them anymore. He stepped over to the cabinets and searched through them before deciding to cut her up a banana. He peeled it, placed it on plate, and started cutting it up before stepping over to her. "This should be good enough for now. You love bananas."

Lami squealed when he placed the plate with her banana slice on the floor beside her. She picked one up and pushed it into her mouth.

"You behave now while I cook," Penguin said. He watched Lami munch on her treat before standing back up. He then wondered about the kitchen, preparing his captain's favorite meal that he has come to know well. Since cooking for them all he noticed that he was getting a little better at it. He also decided that when Lami got old enough he was going to teach her how to cook, among several other things. There was no way they were going to let her go uneducated. She was going to be able to handle herself no matter what trouble she or they got into during their journeys as pirates. Throughout cooking he took several glances over at Lami to make sure she was fine. She was. She was too busy eating her banana to even think about causing issues. He smiled and finished up their meal. Once it was done and set on the table, he stuck his head out of the room and yelled, "It's ready!"

"About time!" Shachi said.

A few seconds later he heard their boots coming towards the kitchen and their bodies soon came into the room. They sat down around their small table. Law plucked Lami out of the playpen before sitting down in front of the plate that Penguin obviously set up for the two of them. One of the fish had already been shredded and was completely bone free. Lami happily dug her fingers into the fish and, in clumsy attempts; she brought the fish to her mouth and pushed it inside.

"We're going to have to make sure we keep this place clean if we're going to keep the number of rats down," Shachi said as he watched fish fall from Lami's inexperienced fingers to the floor and her shirt. "I don't think any of us would like it if she got bit by one."

"Don't worry," Bepo said. "I can sniff them out. We'll keep it as rat free as we can."

"That or the captain will experiment on them, especially if they bite his kid," Penguin said before biting into his onigiri.

"Maybe I will," Law said. "I've gained a lot more control over my devil fruit, but practice is always good."

"Speaking of which," Shachi said looking at their baby. "When do you think she'll do her little orb trick again? She hasn't used them since the fire on the beach that one time."

"It's hard to say," Law said. He paused to take a drink of his tea. "My guess is that the older she gets the more aware she'll become of them and use them more. All we can do is wait and see what happens."

"And pray she doesn't burn the ship down in the process," Bepo said.

"If you jinx us I'm going to skin you alive and use your fur as a blanket," Penguin said with a frown.

"I'm sorry." Bepo ducked his head.

"We'll be fine," Law said. "It's already clear that Lami doesn't want to hurt us. I doubt accidents like that will happen. But we will need to be prepared for when they do."

"I can't wait to see her grow up," Penguin said. Reaching over he ruffled her hair. "She's going to be powerful. I just know it."

Lami looked at Penguin and grinned before shoving some rice into her mouth.

"There we go," Law said when he had her diaper removed. Holding her close to his body, he crawled into the shower, checking the water to make sure it wasn't too hot before letting her get wet. Cupping water in his hand, he wet her little body before kneeling down to place her on the wet floor. Carefully he washed her body and shampooed her hair, bushing away suds multiple times so they wouldn't burn her eyes before taking his own quick shower. He stepped out of the shower and dried their bodies off. He put his clothes on but headed back to his quarters to dress her. He laid her down on the bed and placed a diaper back on her before putting her in some dry clothes. Next he rocked her in his arms for a while before she yawned and started showing signs of being tired. When she finally fell asleep he placed her in the crib that he had anchored in the corner of his room. He watched her sleep for a few minutes before climbing into bed himself. He flicked off his lamp and closed his eyes.

The next morning small fingers tapping on his cheek woke Law up. He opened his eyes and was startled by seeing Lami sitting on his bed. "Dada."

"Lami! Law shot up in bed. "How in the world did you get onto my bed?!" He looked over at the crib; his heart pounding against his chest as he thought the thing somehow fell over and he didn't hear it. But it didn't. The crib was still in place where he had it mounted. His heart rate slowly dropped back to normal. She wasn't hurt. He brought his eyes back to her. "It's fine. Then how did you…?"

Lami's eyes sparkled up at him as she smiled secretively. "Juice."

Law shook his head. "Let's get up then." He picked Lami up from the bed and sat her on the floor. He stepped over to his dresser and pulled open a drawer. After getting dressed he turned around to find Lami squatting down and making grunting noise. He hummed and thought about potty training. "You might be coming ready for that. I'll have to tell the crew to keep an eye out for more signs like that."

He waited for her to finish before changing her and putting her in some new clothes. He then picked her up and headed for the kitchen. The sun was barely up when he stepped outside. The morning air was cool but not enough for him to put warmer clothes on her. So he proceeded on to the kitchen, knowing it would be warmer once breakfast was done. There he sat her down on the floor of her playpen. She waddled over to one of her toys and picked it up off the floor. "My toy."

"Yes, that is your toy," Law said. He grabbed some apple juice from the fridge and filled a sippy cup for her. "Here, Lami. You still want juice?"

"My cup." Lami dropped her toy on the floor before waddling over to Law. She took the cup from him and drank.

Law leaned back against the counter and watched her for a while. His stomach grumbled.

"Food," Lami said.

"All right," Law said pushing off the counter. "I'll go ahead and make breakfast for everyone. But don't get use to it. I'm the captain. I have other obligations I'm going to have to fulfill."

"Food!" Lami said in a more demanding way.

Law laughed. "You're cute and can get away with that now, but don't expect it to happen all the time."

"Dada," Lami said.

Law sighed. He was wondering how much he was going to let her get away with. He knew he was already wrapped around her small fingers. He shook his head. Heaven help him when she finally realizes that. By the time he had the eggs and bacon fried, scrambled for Lami, his three subordinates came wondering into the room.

"You're up early," Shachi said.

"Lami, somehow got into my bed and woke me up," Law said.

"Did the crib fall over?" Penguin gasped.

"No, it's fine," Law said.

"Did she crawl out?" Bepo asked.

"She doesn't have those skills yet," Law said.

"She must have flew out then," Shachi said. The other three turned and looked at him like he grew another head. He shrugged. "Hey, it could happen. She already has manipulated fire and the sea."

"Maybe you're right," Law said. "Oh, before I forget. I think Lami is on the verge of wanting to be potty trained. I caught her giving one of the signs. So we need to keep an eye on that and encourage her to use the bathroom."

"You got it, Captain." The crew nodded.

"You are growing up so fast," Penguin said. He picked Lami up off the floor. "I almost don't want you to."

"If you want bread you'll have to get it yourselves," Law said placing the bacon and eggs on the plates he had sitting on the counters. "Other than that, breakfast is ready."

"Thanks for cooking for us," the crew said. They gathered their plates, their drinks, and their bread if they wanted it and sat down around the table.

Lami munched on her breakfast with happy noises. Her eyes wondered from each one of them before landing back on her plate. She had finished her eggs and picked up her slice of toast Penguin had laid on there for her. She licked off the jam and butter before taking a bite of the bread.

"Want a slice of orange?" Shachi asked holding a slice out to her. She looked at I then at him. "It's good. Try it."

Lami took the slice from him. She licked it before biting down on it. The tangy flavor made her nose wrinkle. The crew laughed when she continued to try and eat the thing.

"You don't have to eat it if you don't like it, Lami," Penguin said.

"Mine," Lami said taking another bite. Her nose wrinkled again and her body shook.

"She's so stubborn," Shachi said.

"I can't tell if she likes it or not," Bepo said.

"I think it's a mix of both," Penguin said. "I believe this is the first time she's tried an orange."

"I think you're right," Law said. They all watched her as she managed to finish the piece of fruit. Lami then looked to Shachi and held out her hand for more. "I think one slice is enough for now."

"No," Lami said wiggling her fingers at Shachi.

"Sorry, Lami," Shachi said. "The captain has spoken. You can have another slice later."

Lami whined but lowered her hand.

"I wonder when we're going to run into other pirates," Bepo said. "I hope it still ain't for a while."

"Speaking of pirates, we haven't made our jolly roger yet," Shachi said. "When are we going to do that?"

Law hummed in thought. He wasn't sure. Part of him still wasn't ready to put a flag up yet. It would mean putting Lami in danger. But he knew it would have to go up soon. He just didn't know if it should go up before or after they gathered more crewmembers. Having more members would decrease the risk of Lami getting hurt. "Well, I think it's best if we wait for a while."

"Why?" Shachi asked.

"We're still only a crew of four," Law said.

"Five," Penguin corrected.

"Right." Law nodded. "Five. I just think it would be better if we had a few more crewmembers before we announce to the world that we're pirates."

"That might be a good idea," Penguin said. "We're still a small crew."

"If that's what you think is best, Captain," Bepo said.

"We can still work on the logo and get the flag ready," Shachi said.

"Well, we'll work on the up to the point we get to the next island. There we'll get our hands on a flag and put our jolly roger on it," Law said.

"We can also work on our outfits," Shachi said.

"At least we won't be too bored until then," Penguin said.

"We could never be bored with Lami around," Bepo said.

"That's true," Penguin said looking at the girl.

Lami smiled at the attention then held her cup to Penguin. "Juice."

Penguin, with a laugh, took her cup to refill it. "Okay, juice it is." He filled it with apple juice then handed it back to her while sitting back down. "Here you go."

"My juice!" Lami took it and drank.

The men and bear laughed.

"Bossy little brat," Shachi said. They laughed hard when Lami smiled.

Finally! Massive writer's block prevented this chapter from happening! But it's finally done! I could use some ideas of what they can do before we get to the magic part of this story. I'd like to get to a minimum of 40 chapters with this story. Ideas? I'm also hoping my chapters will get longer.