Why hello there friends! It's been awhile, about two years in fact. Well surprise! I'm still alive! College has been pretty hectic, and lets be honest, it's kicking me in the butt. I've had this chapter written up for a while, but I wanted to write more in advance before I posted this up. I'm a slacker, so don't expect much from me, but reviews do motivate me ;D Hint hint wink wink.

Also, thank you to all my reviewers for the last chapter, this chapter is for you wonderful folk!

Disclaimer: One Piece is Oda's.

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Chapter 8: I'm just a florist!

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She jerked her arm away from him and gestured for him to continue as they passed a flowering bush of yellow forsythia. "What, pray tell, is your question?"

Law kept a leisurely pace next to her and asked her his first question.

"Who are you?"

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"Who are you? Law had asked.

Letha raised a questioning brow at him as she led them farther past the colorful and fragrant flower gardens to the edge of the forest.

She thought it was obvious. Honestly, what kind of ludicrous question was that? She had thought she had already made it clear.

"I'm just a florist," Letha stated with a hint of incredulity at his question, "I take care of, and sell, plants and flowers."

Shachi and Penguin scoffed at the answer, but otherwise remained quiet. Florist, pfft. Yeah right, more like weird plant lady.

Letha had expected a question about the facility, not her. She didn't even know why he took such an interest in her at all. She was just forgettable Letha Smith, owner of Smithy's Florist. An independent twenty- er, ninety-something-year old woman that was about to marry a boy named Peter Willis.

Boy did that sound strange to her now, but Letha put the thought out of her mind. No point in worrying about that when there were murderous pirates in front of her.

They entered the forest, and immediately the temperature cooled because of the shade the canopy of leaves above them provided. It was darker in the groves, but the artificial light that filtered through the leaves of the trees allowed Letha to guide the group deeper into the forest without tripping. The trek was a lot more tiring for her than usual, and she had to stop often to catch her breath.

In the meanwhile, Law contemplated the answer the pruney little granny gave him in silence, walking alongside her as he found himself on a dirt path that led to a small opening in the trees. In the middle of the opening, two mine carts connected by a coupling stood on steel railroad tracks that stretched further into the dark mist of trees to Roger knows where. It was all strange, Law felt. She so easily wrote herself off as "Just a florist." There had to be more to this old mouse. In fact, the whole 'I'm just a florist' routine sounded rehearsed.

Letha walked towards the red steel carts and opened a door on the side of the first cart. She motioned for them to step into the trolleys.

"We'll take these carts to the herb garden. It'll be faster," she announced, stepping into the cart and waiting for the pirates to settle themselves. Letha had hoped the Heart Pirates would all sit in the other cart, but unfortunately Law had decided to join her in the first cart and Shachi and Penguin were stuck in the second cart, where they had immediately begun arguing about personal space.

The look on the florist's face could only be described as petulant and pained, what with the corners of her mouth twisting down and her general expression saying something like "I'd rather jump off a cliff than ride with Trafalgar Law." Whereas the pirate captain had on a rather wry smile and a sort of inscrutable look in his eyes that masked what he was really thinking, which was "How far could I push before she breaks?"

Nonetheless, Letha forced herself to ignore their riding situations and pulled a lever that caused the carts to squeak slowly into motion. The old woman adjusted her goggles and scuffled her boots, feeling rather uncomfortable in the small cart with him. She was careful not to sit too closely to the doctor pirate lounging beside her, but the cart was rather cramped.

"I don't believe a simple florist would be able to operate a fully functioning underground facility such as this all by herself." Law imparted to Letha as the cart crawled at a snail's pace before advancing faster through the forest. He stretched his arms out to rest along the back of the cart, one of his arms resting behind Letha.

Letha cast a scowl at him and wished she could wipe that sly smirk off his face. She knew what he was doing, he was trying to intimidate her. Either that, or humiliate her. Well, she refused to let him. The florist was determined to ignore his tactics.

"Believe it or not, we florists have always taken care of these gardens." She couldn't help but stiffen when the cart jolted and Law's arm brushed against her shoulders.

She could hear Shachi and Penguin snickering behind their hands in the other cart despite the wind rushing past her reddening ears. She couldn't wait for all this to be over.

"We? Then you are not the only florist that cares for this facility?" Law thought back to the picture framed on the wall in the parlor. The cart jolted again, and this time Law's arm fell off the back railing to rest on Letha's shoulder. She immediately tensed at the sudden weight, and glowered angrily at him, but otherwise answered his question.

"…Yes, and no. I'm the only florist here now." She wasn't lying. Her mother was on vacation, and besides she had long since passed the job onto Letha.

The wind rushed past them, the soft click-clack-click-clack of the cart echoed in the woods, and in the distance they could hear the sound of crashing water grow stronger. In a matter of seconds they passed a small waterfall pool surrounded by mossy rocks. The glimpse of the sight was gone, and they saw trees once again.

"Who built this facility?" Law inquired further without a bat of his lashes, as if he didn't have his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"My great grandparents," Letha replied tersely. "They're dead now."

"And the rest of your family?"

"Gone."

Law glanced at her from the corner of his shadowed eyes. Letha kept her gaze on the tracks before them. She wasn't used to lying, but if it meant protecting her family she would lie, lie and lie.

"Really? No relations alive at all?"

"None whatsoever."

"Not even a grandchild?" He questioned.

"Never married." Not yet at least, Letha thought. She briefly wondered again how she was going to go about that. She had an inkling only Bonney could take the curse off her, yet she knew Bonney was long gone by now. Suppose...suppose she went on a journey? She immediately chased the thought out of her mind. Her mother would never allow it.

Law continued the barrage of idle questions. "Brothers? Sisters?"

"Dead." Missing, actually. Letha pulled the lever again, taking the chance to lean forward and away from Law's arm. She remained sitting forward. He let his arm fall into the space behind her.

"Parents?" Law tried with a hint of amusement in his voice. The cart began to slow; the click-clacking noise slowing as well.

She gestured to her age. "Obviously dead by now." It seems Bonney's curse came in handy when it came to lying. Her wrinkles and crinkles were helping her lie easily, whereas her terrible lying skills would have shown easily when she was still twenty.

"Of course, however I could have sworn you said something about your mother not wanting you to let pirates into the basement. You seemed to talk about her like she was alive."

Letha twitched. When did-? Oh. "I think you're mistaken. I never said that." Golden rule for liars caught in a lie: deny, deny, deny.

The vehicle creaked to a stop in the middle of the forest and they piled out. Letha gave a sigh of relief. If she had to stay in that trolley with him for a second longer, she would have jumped cart. She gingerly brushed the invisible dirt off her shoulders. Behind her, the corners of Law's lips tugged up a centimeter.

They followed Letha as she brushed aside some foliage to reveal a small cobble-stoned path and then followed her down the path into a clearing that revealed a pond and a bridge that suspended over it.

Law remembered it was one of the biomes displayed on the monitors back at the control room. He could spot the surveillance den den mushi that sent the video feed.

They passed the bridge, their images reflecting on the murky pond waters. Lotus flowers and lily pads were sprinkled across the water, serving as landings for slimy green frogs.

Letha led them into another, larger clearing where rectangular wooden boxes were outlining raised soil where different types of greens grew. It was easily the most organized and extensive herb garden Law had ever seen.

"This is it. Medical herbs galore. Take your pick, pirate."

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"Bula bula bula bula. Bula bula bula bula."

Bepo stood at attention on the porch of Smithy's Florist with Law's nodachi in his arms. He cocked his head toward the house, where he knew the ringing of a den den mushi originated. He wondered briefly where the captain was and why nobody was picking it up.

"…Bula bula bula bula. Bula bula bula bula." He supposed he could pick it up, ah- but the captain told him to wait outside. Bepo began to squirm. He wondered what he should do.

"Bula bula bula bula…" He shook his head. The captain gave him orders to stand watch, and stand watch he will! He grunted in determination. Ah, but now he wondered who was calling so early in the morning… Perhaps, a female polar bear?!

Suddenly the ringing stopped. Bepo shrugged, probably not. He started to ponder when his captain would come back; it had already been an hour and a half since he went inside. Bepo began to worry, but he knew his captain was more than capable of annihilating any threat aimed towards him. He stopped squirming and he cast his thoughts towards another subject.

The bipedal bear sniffed the air for a second, noting the smell of flowers in the salty air mingled in with the scent of his smelly crewmates lounged in front of the Smithy's Florist. Then he turned his attention to one particular newbie in the crew.

His beady eyes glinting, he shuffled over to the individual, leaned in close to his face, and said in his gormless voice, "You're new. So you're below me, got it?"

The newbie dropped his jaw and sweat-dropped. "Uhh…"

"Not this again Bepo," one of the other pirates said, "listen kid, don't pay any attention t-" Bepo perked his ears and turned towards the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Marines!" A boiler suit clad pirate yelled coming up the pathway.

All the man jumped to their feet.

"Where?" They asked him.

"On- on the coast! But they're coming fast!" He answered, gasping for air. Then he turned to Bepo, "Where's the captain-"

But Bepo had already gone inside the house to look for Law.

"He went inside to tell the captain!" The newbie shouted, "Um, shouldn't we head down to the harbor?"

The others agreed. They'd protect the submarine until their captain came back.

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For the first time in her life, Letha seriously considered the many ways to poison a man. Her mother would be proud; perhaps she was her mother's daughter after all. The florist was already toying with the idea of various stinkweeds, foxgloves, azaleas, and oh, how many methods there were to poison a man. Don't get her started on the fungi.

When Letha was younger, she was petrified by how common some of these poisonous plants were on her island. She spent that summer spraying her strongest weed killer on the plants she could find so no child could accidentally poison themselves by consuming a leaf, or a bud, or a seed.

It took an order from her mother to finally stop her.

"Letha, stop spraying weed killer on the plants," her mother said. Of course, then Letha had stopped spraying the weed killer in totality. Later, when her mother asked her to spray weed killer on the plants that had become parasitic, she couldn't at all and it took awhile for Magnolia to understand why her daughter, with tear stained cheeks, collapsed when she tried to spray the ivy beds. She quickly rescinded her order and Letha could finally spray the invasive ivy beds without her stomach hurting.

By then, Letha had understood that children did not normally eat plants, and only her little sister was stupi- ahem, unwise enough to eat lilies. Peony thought people turned into fairies by eating flowers. Well, she certainly learned her lesson that day. However Letha had seen firsthand the effects of poison and vowed to never use them on people.

Now, at the age of ninety-something, Letha had finally begun to embrace her mother's teachings. At least, in her imagination she did. She fantasized over poisoning Trafalgar Law's tea, or maybe even giving him the wrong herbs, but she shook herself out of the delusions. She wasn't that type of person.

The aged woman was gathering rosemary, careful to only gather the sprigs from the ones that were about to or were already flowering. She decided to leave the tedious garbling (cleaning and separating of the herbs) to the pirates. They could tincture their own damned herbs as far as she was concerned.

My, how age has changed her, Letha considered momentarily. It seemed people did turn bitter as they grew older.

Letha threw another handful of sprigs into her basket, placing her gardening knife on the ground for a moment's rest. It was at that point Law continued his barrage of questions that seemed to only be asked for the purpose of annoying her. Even Shachi and Penguin took turns at asking her questions. Already she had spun a web of lies involving the florist shop and her family.

So far they've established that Letha was ninety-four years old. Her entire family was dead, and her fiancé died at sea before they could marry at the age of twenty-one. He was killed by a Sea King when he went out to find her a suitable wedding ring. The funeral was a terribly sad affair and the sky seemed to cry with her that day. She was also hard of hearing and suffered from a minor case of arthritis (and yet they still made her harvest their medical plants). Her favorite food was grits and she often went down to a café restaurant in town to eat lunch. She used to want kids, but now her only motivation for living was to put youngsters like them in their place.

All of which facts were established through Shachi and Penguin's obscure and irksome questions. Law, however, had asked tedious and specific questions about the facility. Letha was forced to answer truthfully, because she had no idea how to explain it otherwise.

The basement of Smithy's Florist covered the expanse of 70% of island's underground. She was working on expanding the facility until it covered 80% of the island. There were a total of seven small biomes in the underground facility, each of which housed many plants from all across the Grand Line. The greenhouse systems could replicate seasonal changes, controlling the temperature, ventilation, water, and sunlight factors that would affect the plants in all the sections. Of course, the sections could each be regulated independently from each other. The garden warehouse did not have every single plant in the world, but it had enough that many of their customers could be satisfied of the stock.

Law could not get Letha to tell him who her clients usually were- that was information that was under strict confidence she told him. She also would not tell him who funded the construction of such a large scale facility, though he had a guess as to who it might be.

"It is rather warm, isn't it?" Law drawled with his silky voice, briefly fanning himself with a wave of his hand, though he wasn't sweating a drop at all.

Law was at ease leaning against a fir tree. The pirate was content at observing the old lady picking his plants from the cool shade once he had gotten most of the questions he wanted answered.

"Blisteringly hot,"Shachi said sitting cross-legged.

"Damn straight." Penguin agreed from where he was sprawled on the grass. They were both in the shade with Law.

In reality, the temperature in this particular section was only 70 degrees Fahrenheit, 21 degrees in Celsius. They were only entertaining themselves by irritating Letha, who decided to ignore them after a while of answering their questions. No matter, it didn't deter the pirates from annoying her.

Law began to speak again. "I'm convinced the correct term for your occupation is horticulturist, madam. Surely you know the difference between a mere florist and a horticulturist?" Law said with exceeding patience, as if he was talking to a child. Letha bristled where she crouched, but maintained her determined silence. She wiped the perspiration forming on her forehead.

"Shall I explain to you the difference between the two occupations?" He began with a barely perceptible smile.

She said nothing.

"A florist-"

"No. Need. Please." She spat between her teeth. She already knew a florist is a person involved with the business of raising or selling of flowers and ornamental plants. Compared to a horticulturist, who is a person involved in the science, technology, and business of cultivating many types of plants for human use.

He finally got a rise out of her. Law quirked a quiet brow at her. Letha didn't need to look up from her work to see the sadistic amusement in his eyes, or the sly smile on his face. She imagined it was there already. The bloody pirate.

"It dawned on me that we know all these 'facts' about you, and yet we don't know the most vital fact of all." He pondered aloud. A feeling of dread seemed to pool around Letha's stomach. Letha finally looked up at the pirate captain and the curious eyes of his crewmates. His easygoing smile morphed into a chilling one, "What did you say your name was again, Ms. Horticulturist?"

For a brief moment fear flickered in her eyes when they locked onto his cool gray ones- fear the Surgeon of Death eyed at hungrily beneath his calm exterior.

She couldn't tell him her real name. Not just because he was a pirate and a stranger, but because she was sure he was the type to order people around for the fun of it. She also didn't like that sadistic glint in his eyes she saw before and now. She couldn't have a repeat of Jewelry Bonney.

"I-I suppose you're determined to know my name," she said with biting accusation. He didn't need to answer; that unrelenting gaze was more than enough.

She fumbled for a name. "It's Rose… Rosemary Smith."

It was silent for a moment.

Then he said, "Well, it's nice to finally know your name Ms. Rose Rosemary Smith." He smiled at her with innocence that was so utterly unnatural it made her wonder whether a man could look so devious with such a guileless smile. Or was it a smirk? She couldn't tell anymore, any sort of expression on him was clearly evil. It didn't help that his eyes were still so unreadable. She couldn't tell at all what he was thinking from just that sadistic look in his eyes. Maybe he was still planning to kill her, Letha worried. That had to be it. He was deciding whether to kill her or not.

At this point, Letha had completed the gathering of Law's plants and decided now was the time to get them out of her life once and for all.

"I-I'm done gathering your plants!" She wanted him and his crew gone right now. She quickly briefed him- standard procedure- of how to dry and store the herbs, as well as what most of the plants were for, though it seemed Law already knew their purposes and was merely listening to her out of polite courtesy, or hideous enjoyment of her panicked explanations of herbal care.

Letha paid no attention to the calculating look on his face. With a huff, and a shove of the basket into Penguin's arms, Letha made her way towards the carts without bothering to see if the pirates were following. It had been close to an hour and a half since the Heart Pirates came into her life and she was ready to wash them off like dirt on her hands.

They piled into the mine trolleys with the same seating arrangements as before. Letha pulled the lever and the mine trolleys creaked into movement. The ride back would be a tad more trickier than the ride to the herbal garden. There were some twists and turns she needed to make sure they made in order to arrive back at their starting point. Moreover, she was anxious to have them gone. It was because of this that Letha did not pay attention to how she answered Law's seemingly idle questions.

"I can't possibly imagine how terrible it is to lose your fiance." He said with sympathy.

Letha nodded, pulling the lever down to make a left turn. "Yes it was quite a horrible experience. I miss him plenty."

"What was his name?"

"Ah, it was Peter Willis."

"I see. Shame. How did you meet him?"

"Arranged marriage by my mother." Letha pulled the lever up to make the trolley take the tracks on the right of the fork.

"You must not like him very much then."

"I don't really have a choice. I have to marry him." Here was the tricky part, making an abrupt change from one track to the next in five successions. She gripped the lever again, eyes intent on the tracks coming fast before her.

Shachi and Penguin looked at each other in confusion.

Law smiled. "When?"

"A year from now." She pulled the lever again and the cart began to slow. She breathed a sigh of relief, glad the ordeal was over. All she needed now was their money and then she could wave a silk napkin at their departure from her life. She'd have to make sure to throw salt out her door after they left as well. Begone, evil spirits!

Eventually the cart stopped and they all stepped out to make their way back to the floral gardens in front of the control room. Just in time to see Bepo stumbling out of the control room to say, "Captain, marines are at the harbor!"

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Lotus flower= purity, enlightenment, rebirth; growing even in the murkiest waters into a beautiful flower

Foxglove= insincerity

Rosemary= remembrance, love, fidelity, loyalty

Fir tree= perceptiveness, resilience, honesty, remembrance