Author's note: Thank you for the follows, favorites and reviews. They mean a lot to me and they literally make me go like SANJI MODE:ON [heartspoppingouttamyeyes]
Disclamer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my OCs.
Chapter 4 - Tragedies happen, life goes on
"Aaaah it's getting chilly! finally!." Lilou said cheerfully and inhaled the cold breeze. She placed Corazon's purple feather coat on her shoulders and walked out of the cabin of their boat.
"We're finally gonna do it, Cora-san! We're gonna live the life you gave us to it's fullest!" she whispered to herself as she smiled at his name tattooed on her slender fingers.
It was finally time, they were going to buy that submarine they've been saving money for at the next island. Soon they could start their journey to the Grand Line, as the Heart Pirates.
It's been seven years since that tragedy, since Corazon sacrificed his life to save theirs, since he stole the Ope-Ope No Mi and fed it to Law, since that bastard, Doflamingo, emptied his pistol on him, on his own brother, on Corazon.
Lilou closed her eyes as she remembered his face 'Hold my coat for a little while, Lil. Take care of it for me ok?' his voice echoed in her head. They say when somebody leaves, the first thing about them vanishing from one's mind, is their voice. Lilou giggled at this stupid saying. She could recall Corazon's voice as if he was standing right in front of her talking, smiling. She could see his face with all it's details whenever she closed her eyes. She could remember his last smile as he was closing the chest Law and her was hiding in. How could someone possibly forget such things ? The day she forgets all this, would definitely be the day she's dead, there's no other way.
Seven years ago, after they escaped that damned island, they took their little boat and ran to one of the neighboring islands. Law spent every day and night practicing for weeks, until he managed to use the ope-ope no mi powers to cure himself, and then Lilou. The treatment however left her with some side effects, none of them were actually troublesome since she still had her Ghoul part intact and her fruit abilities as well. But her physical strength as a Ghoul was no longer immune from the effects of the Sea Prism Stone. Not that she cared much though, it was miraculous enough for her to know she would be able to live. Sometime during their time on Swallow island, they met Bepo, Shachi and Penguin. The five became inseparable until this day.
They weren't all alone anymore, they lived on, as Corazon wanted them to.
Lilou narrowed her sharp eyes at north direction. She could see the silhouette of their destined island.
"Hey Lil! Bepo says we'll arrive in less than an hour. Make sure not to leave any of your stuff behind."
She turned and met Law's tan face. She twinkled her nose and sniffed him. Law frowned and backed off.
"What're you doing?! You ate a full human yesterday!" he said and his body tensed. Lilou chuckled and said
"And you have the delightful smell of two different women on you, when did you become so perverted, Law?!" she teased and laughed out. His eyes widened
"Mind your own damn business you weirdo!" he shouted annoyed and turned his back to her.
"I'm seeing the island right in front of us by the way!" Lilou shouted and chuckled again as he kept walking away and ignored her.
His frown remained on his face as he walked to where others were. 'What's so funny?! That damned freak! I washed my body more than three times, WHAT IS WITH THAT NOSE?!' he thought annoyed and huffed.
"What's with the gloomy mood, captain?" Penguin said cheerfully as he saw Law walking towards them. He growled and didn't answer. Shachi laughed out
"Oh I know! He's sad cause Lilou-chan will leave in two weeks and won't be back for a month!" he said playfully and grabbed his chest in a dramatic way like his heart was aching. The two laughed out and continued on their silliness about Law's suffering and heartbreak due to his dear Lilou's absence.
Law sat on the railings and sent a deadly gaze at them.
"You know she can hear you. Don't give her an excuse or she'll gobble you up before you know it." he coldly stated and watched them in amusement as they shivered and fell silent.
They were right though, he was stressed about her trip to that Navy base in East Blue. He knew she could handle it better than anyone else, but they have been together for nine years now, and it was the first time she was going to leave for so long. Before that, she would only leave for not more than a week or two, sneaking around low ranked Navy soldiers gathering information, spying in pirate ships or hunting.
Her training sessions with Doflamingo turned out to be quite handy as they got older and involved in more serious matters. In fact, there were only two matters; Avenging Corazon's death from Doflamingo, and One Piece.
Lilou stole the map of the Grand Line from some big-name pirates, or as she mentioned, her lunch box, when she was 14. Afterwards, she obsessively kept spying on Doflamingo's every movement. She couldn't use her fruit powers to make a mind tunnel between herself and Doflamingo, he already knew all about her powers and was constantly blocking her with his Haki. She could still track his whereabouts perfectly, though, it became nearly useless soon as he became a Shichibukai. Law was obsessed with him too. Both of them seemed to care about their revenge even more than the One Piece treasure. Their nakama knew about it as well and were ready to do anything to help them, however, Law and Lilou decided long ago, that when the day comes, they definitely wouldn't drag them down along with themselves, for they knew they might lose their lives while doing it.
Lilou of course, had another target as well. Caesar Clown. Most of her spying trips revolved around getting any kind of information about Caesar and Doflamingo. And she couldn't find much from low ranked soldiers, she needed to get into the Navy HQ in the Grand Line. Until then, she planned to sneak into every single one of the Navy's most important bases in four Blues. And there was only one left, the East Blue base, which was where she was going in two weeks.
They decided that Law and the others should continue on their route to the Reverse Mountain while she was gone, and she would catch up with them in a month.
Law took a deep breath and turned his face to Bepo, his favorite polar bear from the Mink Tribe, who was carefully reading a map as Sakura, Lilou's huge, pink bird was sleeping on his lap.
"Bepo."
He looked at Law and said "What is it captain?"
"Would you buy some waterproof color when we get there? We should paint our jolly roger on our sub."
Bepo gave him a wide cheerful grin "Sure thing!"
"Huh!? Does any of you can even paint?" Shachi said raising an eyebrow at them. Law placed his nodachi on his shoulder as he stood up from the railings "We'll just ask someone to paint it there."
"Hey hey hey hey! I can paint!" Penguin shouted annoyed "You guys seem to have no clue about my painting skills!" he pouted and moved his cap which had the word 'PENGUIN' printed on it on his blonde hair.
"Yeah well you talk so much that we actually ignore most of your blabbering. We must've missed this valuable piece of information about you while doing so." Shachi casually said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU BAKA?!"
"EEEH? WATCH YOUR MOUTH YOU BRAINLESS SEAWEED!"
"I'LL KICK YOUR FUCKING ASS SHACHI YOU BASTARD!"
Sakura opened her round golden eyes and looked at the always fighting pair with annoyance. "Rouuu!" she puffed her wings and called out with a high tone.
"Aaah you waked Sakura! Stay quiet she's resting here!" Bepo calmly said.
"BRING IT ON SEAWEED!"
The three kept arguing as Law walked away from them quietly. Routine. He smirked in amusement and walked to the other end of the boat, where Lilou was still standing. He leaned his nodachi at the railings then sat down and leaned his body against them as well. He rested his head on his crossed arms and looked up at Lilou's standing figure. She was still really fragile. As kids, they used to have few inches of height difference, but now the tip of her head would barely reached his chest even if she stretched herself. She was holding that picture in her hands again.
"I wonder when will I meet them again, Law!" she said calmly, but her voice was keeping slight tracks of excitement.
Law hummed absentmindedly "Probably soon." he nearly whispered "Fire Fist Ace-ya is already out there, somewhere in the seas."
"And I know Luffy is already out there too. We were supposed to set sail on our 17th birthday. He has been out for at least a month now, I guess..." she took a deep breath "He must think I'm dead..."
She grabbed her arm. The letter were tattooed on her left arm vertically, one of the two Ls designed upside down so it matched with the other one like a vertical rectangular. The back of her both hands and all her fingers were covered in tattoos too, letters of the word 'HEART' tattooed on her right fingers and the letters of 'CORAZON' tattooed on each phalanx of her left ones with a simple black heart on the bottom phalanx of her index. On her chest she had their smiley jolly roger surrounded by a heart, right above her perky breasts. Similar to Law's chest tattoo but smaller in size. He smirked as he remembered the day two years ago, when they decided to tattoo each other's bodies.
"You have a bounty poster Saru, it released three weeks ago, I'm sure they seen it by now."
She giggled and sat down next to him.
"Well Ace probably does. But Luffy doesn't really pay attention to things such as news. I'm sure he has no idea." she laughed out cheerfully. Law narrowed his steel grey eyes
"Not possible! You were all over the news after that havoc you wrecked in the south base! A 70 million bounty is not that common for someone who hasn't even been to the Grand Line yet, let aside the fact that it's your first bounty!" he said in disbelief.
"It's like I said, he doesn't pay attention at all. He wouldn't possibly know about it unless someone directly tells him something like hey have you seen this? It's your sister, she's not dead and she's a monstrous spy and a wanted pirate!" she said as she tucked the picture into her armband again.
Law frowned and looked away. He knew she was aware of the fact that from now on, both of her brothers would technically be considered as potential enemies since both of them were pirates, like themselves. She always said that Luffy is the man who will become the Pirate King, and she wasn't just saying it, she seemed to deeply have faith it in it. And it bothered Law, they were after the same thing after all, and he couldn't help but worrying what will be her decision, where will her loyalty lay, if she was to choose between him and Luffy in the end.
Aside from that, her 70 million bounty was worrying him even more. Marines and bounty hunters already been after them. His own 20 million bounty wasn't that much of a problem since they were about to travel in the sub, but Lilou was going to be away from them most of the time, and the World Government seemed to be extremely obsessed with her already, especially after her reckless rampage in the South Blue Marine base. Not that her power were exaggerated though, people fear anything that is unknown to them, and a man-eating Ghoul was definitely an unknown mystery. To be fair, it was a reasonable amount for a Ghoul/Spy/Pirate Captain, as Lilou and Law both held the position of crew's captain, her actual alias was the Black Siren, Absent Captain of The Heart Pirates, and Law's was the Surgeon Of Death, Captain of the Heart Pirates.
As odd as it was for a pirate crew to have two captains, it was what both of them really wanted from the beginning. After all, they started their journey as equals, and they definitely wanted to keep it that way through any situation.
Two hours later, they were all packed and ready, standing in the port waiting for the seller to show up.
"Aaaah... I'm getting bored!" Lilou nagged and threw her arms on Sakura's back "Where's that ossan? We've been waiting for half an hour now!"
"We arrived earlier than the scheduled time. It's about time he shows up Lilou-chan." Penguin smiled at her.
"Oh? Look! Bepo is coming back with the colors and... what's he walking with?!" Shachi narrowed his eyes at their left side. They all turned to see what was he talking about. Bepo was walking towards them with two buckets of waterproof color in his furry white paws and beside him was a...
"Is that a huge dango ball?!" Penguin asked confused.
"It smells like human! What the heck the guy looks like a walking takoyaki!" Lilou said and twisted her eyebrows.
"That's Fussen-ya, the seller of the sub." Law calmly announced.
"Fuusen(=balloon)?!" Lilou raised one eyebrow at him.
"Fussen it's Fussen! I told you his name before!" Law growled at her annoyed.
Shachi narrowed his eyes at Fussen
"It's not that different anyways, he is a fuusen!"
"Eeeeh? He's a funny-looking ossan! Nice job Law!" Lilou laughed out amused.
"WELCOME MY DEAR CHILDREN!"
They all slightly jumped as he nearly screamed at them with an unbelievably high voice. Fussen opened his arms as he reached them and bowed in a hilarious manner. He was incredibly round and short. The buttons of his orange long suit seemed like they would pop open any second on his rounded belly. The sun was reflecting on his bald head that somehow looked awfully small on his huge body. He curled the tip of his grey mustache and smiled at them.
"Fussen-ya." Law nodded at him.
"Aaaah Law-kun! So great seeing you again! These must be the rest of your nakama. And... My!"
Fussen bowed again in front of Lilou as he pulled out a red rose from his sleeve and handed it to her "What a blissful day it is, having a breathtaking young lady such as yourself here, Black Siren my dear."
Law hardened his grip around his nodachi and tried to control himself not to cut the old man in half. Lilou laughed out loud childishly and said
"You're such a perverted funny ossan, Fussen-kun! Hahahahaha!" his face turned red at her bluntness "Thank you, this rose is very beautiful." she chuckled.
"Oh you're welcome dear, no rose could hold enough beauty in the presence of a magnificent lady like you." he politely answered, obviously offended by her blunt statement and obviously knowing about Lilou well enough not to talk back to her.
Law smirked in amusement. Classic Lilou, painfully blunt and never even seemed to consider it rude when it came to speaking her mind.
"I ran into Fussen-kun in the west port, he was telling me about the Polar Tang's navigating system." Bepo said.
"Ah yes, I was telling Bepo-san about the splendid work my talented boys did on this special submarine you have your eyes on." Fussen proudly said, then he turned around and called two of the engineers working on a little engine boat. They immediately left. He turned back to them and cheerfully said
"My boys will bring the Polar Tang here in a minute."
"Very well." Law nodded politely "We'll pay you after we checked the inside of the sub one last time. I hope it's ok with you."
"Of course my dear, of course. The interior design in slightly changed from the last time you visited however. Since you mentioned you need advanced operation equipments, we designed a super high quality operating room with latest medical and operation systems for you. I believe you'll find it quite fitting once you see it." his chest swelled with pride as he saw their impressed faces.
"Wooowww that's awesome!" Lilou said with sparkling eyes. She fisted her tiny hands with excitement "I can't wait to check it out it sounds SO COOL!"
Fussen smiled at her delightfully and a moment after, a deep roaring sound came from under the water in front of them.
"OH HERE THEY COME!" Fussen screamed excited and made them jump again.
Two yellow metal masts appeared on the water and the submarine started to surface gently. It had the size of a regular ship, and the shape somehow reminded Lilou of a giant fish since it had a fish-like fin at the end, it was colored green in the front and yellow in the back and was completely made out of metal, except for the upper decks which were made of wood, and there were two tall masts on both the front and back levels. Circular windows line the craft and lights that resembled street-lamps on the outside in order to allow sight underwater. After it surfaced completely, a heavy metal door on the upper deck opened and the two engineers from before came out and threw the ladder down for them.
"Anytime you wish dears." Fussen opened his arm at Polar Tang's direction and said.
Bepo put the buckets on the ground and said "I've seen the interior before. I'll stay here with Sakura."
"Alright. We won't take long." Law said "Lilou stick to the group plea-"
"WOWWW IT'S SO SO PRETTY AND YELLOW!" Lilou shouted as she already ran off and jumped high straight on the deck ignoring the ladder. Law sighed and followed after Penguin and Shachi 'Of course she won't stick!'.
By the time they got to the infirmary Lilou has had already checked the whole sub inch by inch three times. She tagged along with Law and others and almost jumped instead of walk as they headed out. Lilou and Law were more than pleased by the job the designers did with the infirmary.
After several minutes of bargaining, Fussen finally agreed on 980 million berries. Of course it costed way much more but he didn't fail to understand how dangerous his customers actually were and he absolutely didn't want to make the surgeon of death and black siren angry over the price. 'They're pirates anyways. Nothing less to be expected.' he thought to himself while he waved at them with a fake smile as they started to take off with the sub.
Penguin already took his time and plastered their jolly roger on the exterior while the others were busy with their bargaining.
"I CALL THE QUEEN CHAMBERS!" Lilou shouted with a wide D shaped grin as the five of them plus Sakura were gathered in the navigating room.
"You can't just call the biggest room in the sub! You can't possibly have that much stuff and you're not even here to use it most of the time! AND it's not even called the queen chambers to begin with!" Law barked at her with annoyance.
"Of course I can! Plus, I already put my stuff in there so it's officially mine. I'm gonna use it as my room and my office at the same time, and..." she grabbed Law's shoulders and as she was hanging from his tall figure continued "It has a super cute private bathroom Law!" her face was shining with joy as she tried to pull an innocent impression on him. He frowned and pushed her off his body.
"Fine." he growled "Then I'll take the room down the corridors, and the one next to it for my office. There's a lot of rooms here anyways." he turned his face to Bepo
"Bepo, can we submerge here?"
Bepo checked the many diameters and screens in front of him and answered "Not now, there's some underwater currents ahead. We can submerge after we passed them, I say in ten or fifteen minutes if we keep the speed steady."
"How fast can this thing go?" Shachi asked.
"Pretty fast. But it uses a lot of fuel at full speed. The tank is already full and we have enough fuel for at least a month in the storage room but we should purchase some everytime we land. The sailing mode would be pretty slow considering the weight of the sub." Bepo explained.
"Speaking of which" Lilou said "I need a space for my meals in the freezer room. Law, can you collect some body parts in those cubes for me down there?"
Law nodded. "We can keep them in the infirmary storage too, the cube keeps them fresh enough."
Penguin shivered at the thought of Lilou eating severed body parts. Lilou noticed and laughed out as she kept slamming his shoulder repeatedly "Oh come on Penguin it's been years, get used to it already. It's not like I can eat my nakama! Hahahahaha!"
Penguin frowned in pain and distanced himself from her "Fine fine! Stop hitting me! It feels like a hammer for God's sake! Know your own strength!" he said while rubbing his shoulder.
"Oh hahahahaha sorry sorry. Alright I'm gonna take a quick shower don't submerge without me!" she grabbed her two katanas and headed out with Sakura.
Penguin and Shachi's faces melt down in disappointment.
"Why do we have a room with private shower in here? We never should've bought this sub!" Shachi whined.
"She could've used the shower down the hall! It's pretty nice too!" Penguin said with a gloomy expression. Law immediately hit them in the head with his nodachi's halt.
"The hell's wrong with your perverted heads?! Quit it already!" he growled at them with a threatening gaze.
Lilou chuckled in amusement at her perverted friends as she climbed down the stairs. She never considered her position as their captain to be something that changes her behavior towards any of them. They all respected her and her decisions without hesitation, but what she valued the most was their intimacy and closeness as nakama. She couldn't help to think how pathetic some pirates were, as they saw their nakama as mere underlings. They seemed to never experience the joy she had by simply goofing around with them and having fun in their company.
Law was a bit different on the other hand. He too was close to all of them and loved them unquestionably, but he held a more strong prestige as their captain. It was, afterall, how his personality turned out to be as they grew older. He became more introverted and hard to get, especially after Corazon's death, even more sadistic and violent in so many ways. His constantly calm and solid exterior was something that even managed to frighten Lilou sometimes. Lilou and Law had already spent more than half of their lives together, and she knew him deeply enough to know that the amount of hatred and grudge he was holding against Doflamingo was something beyond words, and it was slowly changing him from inside as years gone by. Lilou too wanted revenge, and she too was heavily obsessed with Doflamingo, but her natural carefree personality rescued her from becoming as dark and cruel as Law seemed to be. She had found peace within herself and was trying to cherish Corazon's memory by living her life being as happy as possible. Yet, she couldn't find words to express her worries about Law to him, as he felt so absent and distanced compared to when they were kids. To her, it felt like he was putting up a wall around himself, like he didn't want them to be as close as they once were. They were still pretty close, however it was far way different from before, he was changed in too many ways, and he seemed to be ok with it. And Lilou wasn't fail noticing how his sleepless nights were growing in number lately, but then again, what could she say? He would defiantly jump at her to mind her own business rather than worrying about his insomnia and self destructing behaviors.
"I guess there's nothing for me to do, Sakura." she whispered and smiled at the bird as she stroked the soft pink feathers on her neck.
"Rouuu." Sakura called smoothly and blinked at her. She was another one of the blessings in Lilou's life. Sakura was the only creature in the whole world who knew exactly what went through her mind all the time. Lilou's mind was permanently connected to Sakura's provided by her fruit abilities. She would find Lilou in the darkest depths of the earth or at the highest summits of the sky and would take her anywhere if Lilou just asked her in her mind. Lilou smiled at her and opened the door to her new room.
It was a large room with a circular window beside the queen sized bed in the right side of it. Under the bed was a wooden dresser and a large closet and the left side of the room was decorated with so many, still empty, book shelves and a desk with a chair. On the left side of the main door was the door to the bathroom. Everything was so intact and perfectly made. Lilou inhaled the scent of wood and hummed with joy. She closed the door behind her and placed her puffy feather coat on the bed and leaned her katanas against the wall.
She took off her clothes and walked into the shower. Once the water got hot enough, she stepped under it and closed her eyes, letting the water run on her velvet-like skin and slowly wash the tension off her body. She buried her fingers in the mass of her raven hair and turned her face up under the running water. If she was a human, her skin would probably burn off at the water's extremely hot temperature, but the Ghoul she was, she found it so pleasing and not a bit uncomfortable to wash her body with that boiling water. She was actually more than grateful to finally be able to have a hot shower like that. She was slowly absorbing the fact that from now on, this will be the place she can call home. She smiled at the thought and washed off the remaining foams from her slender legs, and then shut the water.
She wrapped her wet body into a pink towel and slid her feet into her fluffy slippers as she walked into the room again.
The temperature inside the sub was lower than normal but she found it soothing. Plus, Bepo would definitely be more comfortable since he was extremely sensitive to warm climates.
Lilou opened her closet while she was humming a song and picked out a simple black dress and a pair of white, fluffy, under the knee heeled boots with black spots to match with her hat. She put them on and attached her katanas crossed to her back with a delicate leather belt that went around her shoulders, and then grabbed the two immovable parts of her outfit. She adjusted her white fluffy hat on her silky long hair and placed her feather coat on her shoulders as she walked out of the room. Sakura was already deeply asleep on her bed.
After a few minutes of wandering in the sub, she went back to the navigating room. Law's nonchalant figure was leaning on the wall beside the door with his tattooed hands tucked into his pockets, while Penguin and Shachi were drowning Bepo in millions of questions about the sub's controlling system.
Law looked at her from the corner of his eyes. She smelt delightful, and her splendid breasts where showing off in her slightly tight, black dress, which was perfectly in contrast with her pale velvet-like skin. His heart raced faster as her light grey eyes met with his and a sweet smile shaped on her pink, heart shaped lips. 'Dammit! She can hear my heartbeats if she focus! Why on earth did she have to be a Ghoul with increased senses?!' he thought angrily to himself, then turned his cold eyes away from her face.
"We're submerging, Bepo." he calmly said.
Bepo and the other two turned around and noticed Lilou.
"Ok captain. We just passed the currents Lilou-chan, we were waiting for you." Bepo smiled widely at her "Get yourselves ready, we're going under now!" he said and pulled a leverage down.
The sub started to submerge slowly and after a minute they were completely surrounded by the water under the ocean.
Lilou gasped at the view. It was absolutely wonderful. The sub's lights were lighting their surroundings as they moved forward. Suddenly everybody gasped in awe and they cheered as a school of goldfish collided with the sub's heading and then split in half around them.
"Wowww this is the best of the best!" Lilou said in awe.
"We should be careful about the Seakings, they would crush us if we run into them underwater." Law coldly said with his eyes shadowed under his hat.
"Aaaah Law don't ruin the moment! We can worry about this stuff later!" Lilou jumped on him cheerfully and grabbed his sharp jawline "LOOK HOW PRETTY IT IS!" she turned his head up and made him look outside the wide window in front of them. He felt his skin burning where she touched it and immediately pushed her back harshly "I'm stating a fact!" he shouted at her.
"Don't yell at me, you jerk!" she shouted back angrily.
"Then don't fucking jump on me, you little beast!"
"Who did you just call a beast?!" she hissed at him with her blood-colored eyes flaming in rage as her Kakugan activated "I'll show you the beast if you want it that bad!" she said with a deadly voice.
Law mumbled a quick 'Room' and a blue spherical shaped in his palm and started to encompass them. "Oh then what do you want me to cut off first? Your wings or your teeth?!" he smirked as he grabbed his nodachi.
"Wow wow CHILL!" Shachi jumped between them hastily "Does it really necessary for you guys to fight all the time?!" he desperately asked as his eyes traveled between the two raged captains.
"There's expensive stuff in here guys" Bepo calmly said as he was still focused on the screens in front of him "There are training rooms downstairs, you can use one of them if you wanna fight." he continued and went back to his work completely relaxed. He had been gotten used to them, fighting countless times about stupid stuff during the 24 hours of the day.
Lilou sent another deadly gaze at Law who was already holding up his unsheathed nodachi and growled. Her eyes went back to normal as she headed for the door.
"I have better things to do than fighting with an idiot!" she grunted and left the room. Law slid his nodachi back in it's sheath and stormed out in the opposite direction after she left, without saying a word.
Penguin sighed and rubbed the back of his head "Law sure is getting moody again."
Shachi hummed and threw himself on the chair next to Bepo. "He's worried about her trip. He's just losing his temper around her."
"But he's been acting grumpy from way before her plans!" Penguin said twisting his face.
"He's gotten worse in the past mon-"
"Get used to it. Don't look for a specific reason, it's just the way they are." Bepo said with his permanent calm expression, knowing exactly why he was acting like that, tough they never actually discussed it. He knew his friend, he could totally sense the war he was fighting inside himself for almost three years.
Down the corridors, Law kicked the door of his room close and threw his body on the bed. He pressed his palms against his tired eyes and rolled on his side. His eyes caught the many boxes on the floor and he eagerly jumped out of bed. Arranging his books was exactly what he needed in that moment, making himself busy with something, in general.
He moved the boxes in the room next to his bedroom and started to put them in the shelves and arranged them by categories. He noticed some of Lilou's book were packed with his. He put them on the table and went back to what he was doing, but even her books were enough to make his mind wander around her.
It was literally overwhelming how much power she was holding on him without even knowing it. He knew she could take care of herself better than anyone else, that much he was sure. But he wasn't sure if he could take care of himself during her trips. He's already been suffering from overthinking and it affected his behavior towards her to the point he sometimes even hated himself for acting like a total jerk. But she was close and beside him and it was absolutely better than nothing at all. What was he supposed to do when she leaves? She wasn't the kind of person to use her Den Den Mushi that much, she never saw it necessary in fact, and that meant he wouldn't even be able to hear her voice. He cursed himself for being such a coward. He wasn't even sure what it was that he felt for her. It was new territory for him, he didn't even know how was he supposed to express what he was feeling, rather than waiting for her to show a little sign. Making her jealous was the best idea he came up with so far, not to mention the whole idea was stupid to begin with!
"Dammit!" he grunted and clenched his teeth as he placed another book in the shelf. Two knocks on the door pulled him out of his misery, only until he opened the door to see Lilou waiting outside the room with two heavy books in her hands. She smiled shyly and said
"These are yours, guess I wasn't paying attention while packing my stuff." she handed them to him. He grabbed the books and nodded his head.
"Some of my books are missing too, aren't they in your stuff?"
"They are." he said and turned around walking into his office again "Here." he pointed at his desk with his head and went back to his work. She walked in and grabbed her books, she frowned "Two of them are still missing."
"There's still some boxes left in my room. Maybe they're packed in them." he mumbled "Go check them if you want to, I'll be here for few more hours."
She stared at the back of his head. 'He's not even looking at me! Just what is his damn problem?!' she frowned.
"Ok... thanks..." she whispered and left him alone with his books. She then walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind her.
The room smelled like him already, like pine leafs mixed with a slight scent of steel, her favorites. She shook her head and started searching through the boxes one by one.
Law stretched his arms and stood back to look at his perfectly organized little library. He shocked when he saw the clock on the wall showing eleven, he didn't even notice he missed the dinner. He walked out and headed for the kitchen. After grabbing a bite on the onigiri leftovers that were still on the long dining table, he checked on Penguin who was on the watch on the deck, then he went straight to his chambers, desperately hoping he could finally get few hours of decent sleep. He halted soon as he opened the door, as he saw Lilou's sleeping figure, laying on his bed with one of his books still open on her chest.
"Jeez you really can fall asleep in the middle of anything, don't you?!" he said and nearly slammed the door close on purpose. She didn't seem to notice him at all. Law slowly walked towards the bed and hesitated as he stood beside her. She looked so peaceful and her steady deep breaths were telling of how comfortable she was sleeping there.
"Fine!" he growled and laid on the other side of the bed. He knew she wouldn't wake up that easily when she fell asleep like that.
He stared at the ceiling while he listened to her breathing in and out calmly. He rolled slowly and looked at her profile, then he carefully picked up the book and placed it on the nightstand.
Lilou mumbled something in her sleep and rolled to his side and threw her hand on his masculine chest. He stilled in the half-raised position he was in and frowned at her. Still asleep. He sighed and laid back down, careful not to wake her. However, she half-opened her heavy eyelids and stared at him in the dark.
"who is it?" she asked, obviously not awake yet. He smiled with amusement.
"It's me, you fell asleep here." he said calmly.
"Oh?" she mumbled as her eyes closed again "Ok then." she crawled closer to him and rested her head on his arm. Law's eyes widened
"Oi! Stick to your own side!"
No answer. He looked at her face, 'Yup, sleeping again! Seriously!' he sighed and tried to relax. Cuddling with someone had always been the most uncomfortable sleeping position for him, but then again, it was her!
He relaxed the arm her head was on and tried to sleep, and to his surprise, a dreamless sleep embraced him after few minutes. First calm sleep in weeks.
He woke as he felt the early morning sunlight on his closed eyelids. He could smell something sweet under his nose and felt a warm presence against his body and opened his sleepy eyes to see Lilou's sleeping figure between his strong arms with her face buried in his chest. Her raven hair was spreading around her like a silky piece of cloth, shining under the dim light of the rising sun outside the circular window. It took him a minute to notice the position they were sleeping in. He must've cuddled her in the middle of the night, her right arm was on his waist and their legs were tangled together under the heavy blanket, her head still on his arm while he was holding her body and his face was buried in her hair, the source of that sweet smell, he noticed. She smelled like cotton candy and carnation flowers. He slowly stroked her bare shoulder and got shocked at how soft and flawless her skin felt like, he had never laid his fingers on anything as soft as the skin of this sleeping Ghoul who was peacefully tangled in his embrace. It has been years since the last time they fell asleep like this.
Her body moved slightly and she opened her heavy eyelids.
Law smirked and mockingly asked
"Didn't you like the bed in the queen chambers?"
She blinked and looked up at his calm face, still on the edge of sleep and awareness. She stretched her legs under the blanket and said
"Umhhh... I was reading one of your books here last night... why didn't you wake me?" her voice still sleepy.
"I tried to, but you seemed like you wouldn't wake up unless a cannon hits you."
"Oh? Sorry... Hey!" she narrowed her light grey eyes at their position "When did you become so gentle to hug me like this?!" she teased and playfully smirked at him. He frowned
"You hugged me! You literally trapped me!" he barked at her annoyed.
She chuckled childishly "Awww I missed this... We used to sleep like this all the time when we were little." she grinned.
"Yeah well now we're big! Use your own bed!" he coldly said and tried to sit up.
"Law?..."
He stopped and looked at her. Her eyes suddenly looked puzzled and a little frown was sitting between her perfectly shaped eyebrows.
"What is it Saru?" he asked with a calm voice. She shook her head and sighed. Then she looked up again, staring into his steel grey eyes that somehow seemed soft after months.
"Why are you pushing me away?" she whispered. Law barely managed to keep his expression calm as he was surprised by her straightforward question. "I mean... you act like... like you... hate me!" she continued "I don't know what have I done! But I can't think of anything that could make you loathe me to this extent!" she looked sad, and she wasn't the type of person who gets sad easily.
Law frowned. What could he say? Because I think I love you but I'm a coward so I decided to be a jerk instead?! Definitely not!
"You really are a baka! How could I hate you?!" he answered annoyed, not a bit angry however.
She kept staring at his face. Big eyes searching through his, she wanted an answer. He sighed and laid back down, their faces just few inches away. He stroked her hair softly and said
"I don't hate you. I never have and I never will. You know how much you mean to me." his calm, male voice sounded kind and was soothing her. She studied his tan face, suddenly he didn't seemed as strange and distant, at that moment, he was the Law that she loved from the bottom of her heart. She noticed it's the first time she's this close to his face. He was beautiful! Strangely, she found herself wondering how charming he truly was. His perfectly angled face and his deep eyes hypnotized her for a minute.
"I feel, lonely... when you act like that..." she whispered smoothly. Her warm sweet breath made his mind go completely blank. She was the center of his dark and empty world in that very moment, nothing else seemed to matter at all, just her. "It feels like... you're rejecting my very existence. And to live with such thought, that you out of all the people is rejecting me... it hurts..." her voice slowly dropped.
His eyed widened for a short moment. He never noticed how his actions could affect her, he was failing to notice how he was hurting the feelings of the one person who he was cherishing the most all this time.
"It never was my intention... hurting you..." he whispered absentmindedly as he was still lost in her silver-like irises "I just feel, heavy." it was true, probably the realest thing he said to her in a long while. He was feeling heavy, overwhelmingly heavy and confused.
He tightened his hold around her small figure. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt his soft fingertips on her skin, it felt like her skin was melting under his burning fingers. She was resisting the feeling that was pulling her closer to him with all her might, it was like gravity, or a magnetic field.
"Why is that?" she mumbled, trying to push back her feelings and stay on topic. She could feel the heat and the frizzling sensation in the tiny space between their awfully close lips. His lips seemed so soft and irresistible to her and she couldn't help wanting to press hers on them. Law too was fighting with his aching mind, trying to hold himself back from kissing her full pink lips. They were becoming harder to resist any second, he was desiring her with every single inch of his being, he always had, and now it was about get out of his control, as he was slowly losing his ability to think in her warm presence.
Lilou slowly raised her hand and ran her soft fingertips on his perfect jawline, still in a paralyzed state of mind.
She breathed out slowly and stared deep into his hypnotized eyes, and it was more than enough for Law to lean closer and press his burning lips on hers without a second thought.
It was something beyond his wildest imaginations, to think such perfection could even exist. She leaned closer and pressed her lips on his soft ones, kissing him back tenderly. He tasted delicious, more delicious than anything else she had ever tasted, and Law's mouth filled with a fresh and sweet taste, and something iron-like, a slight taste blood.
She ran her slender tattooed fingers in his soft raven hair and pressed herself to his masculine and flawless body. She let out a little moan in his mouth as his tongue started ravishing hers. His heart raced faster at the sound of her delicious moan. He leaned up without parting his lips and pressed her body on the mattress, with his right fingers in her silky hair and his left ones on her waist. He ran his fingers up to her bare chest and moved them on her skin all the way to her shoulder blade and her arm and finally her hand. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand up above her head.
She felt like heaven itself, his freshly discovered heaven. She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him closer, how she loved the feeling he was giving to her. This pure flow of sensation wasn't like anything she experienced before, and she let herself get drowned in that flow.
He parted his lips and looked at her angel like face as both were heaving for air and the sound of their heartbeats and the sound of ocean waves slamming on the sub were filling their ears.
She stared into his grey eyes and saw a spark of flaming red reflecting on them.
She gasped and closed her blood colored eyes and turned her face away. She didn't even notice when her kakugan activated.
Law smirked with amusement and grabbed her sharp little chin
"That's beautiful. Don't hide it." he said as he rested his face in front of hers, his grip still around her tiny wrist.
She opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow while looking at his amused face with red irises surrounded by pure black sclera. He stroked her cheek
"Better."
Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she frowned. She opened her adorable mouth to argue but closed it again. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and casually said
"Personal issues."
Lilou raised her eyebrows at his out of the blue statement. He leaned up halfway and smirked at her confused face
"You asked something didn't you?" he said with a mocking tone.
She frowned slightly. 'There he goes again!' she thought annoyed.
"So is this how you deal with your personal issues?" her red irises still fixed on his grey ones. "Not exactly." he said playfully and placed a kiss on her little nose.
Lilou was still in the shock of what happened a few moments earlier. He leaned down and placed his forehead on hers, staring deep into her magical eyes.
"Can't you keep them like this all the time?" he mumbled, his soft lips brushing on her burning ones. Lilou blinked in disbelief
"Why would I?!" she whispered.
"They're spell-bounding." he simply answered.
"It'd be an unnecessary waste of Rc cells."
"Eat more then."
"We don't have access to food all the time. I might eat you." she mocked.
"That I don't like." he frowned a bit. Lilou smiled and sat on the bed next to his laying figure. She stared at her fingers tangled in Law's on her lap, deep in her thoughts.
"What's wrong?" Law asked while playing with the tip of her long hair spreading on her back with his free hand.
She didn't answer for a minute. She had never gave credit to her feelings about Law, simply because she thought he wasn't seeing her as something more than his childhood friend, and she just blocked her feelings completely, soon as she felt a painful bubble in her chest by witnessing him hooking up with countless women and never even seemed to care about her in a romantic way. She did love him, probably from way before he loved her, and this sudden change in their relationship was confusing her. She knew he wasn't the kind of person who could do romance, or even be in a romantic relationship, she wasn't even sure if he loved her or just merely wanted to claim her.
Lilou clenched her jaw, it was unacceptable, it was Law for God's sake! And she knew him enough to know he wasn't planning to give her the kind of love she longed for, for years.
"Law?"
"Hmmm..."
"We shouldn't do this. I... don't want this." lie. She tried to say with a steady voice.
After few seconds Law asked
"Why do I hear hesitation in your voice?"
She stilled. 'Because I want this more than anything...' she thought to herself desperately. "Imagination?" she calmly answered.
"Why don't you?" he mumbled "You seemed to enjoy it just few minutes ago."
She turned to face him. His black t-shirt was crumpled up and his abdomen muscles were showing off. In that moment, she just wanted to throw off his shirt and run her fingers on his perfect abs and v-lines.
She pushed back the thought and looked at his face. He looked... sad? 'Noway! probably just disappointed.'
"I did. But that was it. I don't want it to happen again." she sighed "It's confusing and unnecessary."
He raised an eyebrow at her
"Confusing how?"
She threw herself on the mattress and stared at the ceilings.
"Confusing like I ask you why are you treating me like an eyesore and you kiss me instead of giving me a real answer!"
His eyes widened. Why did it have to be like this? Like the moment he feels he can finally express his feelings, she starts to argue about it being confusing and unnecessary! What else he should've done?! It was all he knew, everything in his power, and there she was again, making a headache out of the sweet moments they were just sharing!
"You said you're feeling like I loathe you and that I'm hurting you!" he desperately said, not able to think of any better answer.
Lilou jumped up with a deep frown on her delicate face and her eyes flaming in rage. Law stared at her shocked.
"So you thought you should do the only thing you have learned to do around women?! My God you're unbelievable!" she grabbed her hat and stormed out of the bed and headed for the door.
"Lilou!" he walked to her hastily. He grabbed her arm tightly and turned her around.
"Don't ever touch me, you jerk!" she shouted at him and her kakugan activated again, and it definitely wasn't out of lust this time. She tried to pull her arm out of his tight grip but unfortunately he was strong enough to match with her inhuman strength and hold her back. He could even fight evenly with Lilou and manage to leave some bruises on her.
"WHY do you have to turn EVERY CONVERSATION INTO A FIGHT?!" he yelled at her and harshly pulled her closer as his furious eyes were locked on her raging face.
"WELL YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF WHY! YOU BRAINLESS MANIAC!" she screamed back in his face.
"How am I THE BRAINLESS ONE WHEN IT'S ALWAY YOU WHO STARTS SCREAMING AND BITCHING ABOUT ME BEING A JERK AND DON'T EVEN TRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT MAYBE IT'S TIME YOU GOT USED TO MY PERSONALITY!" he yelled while he grabbed her other arm and violently shook her body.
"YOUR PERSONALITY SUCKS THEN! LEARN TO TREAT YOUR NAKAMA LIKE A NORMAL PERSON WOULD DO!" she yelled as she was struggling to get out of his freakishly strong hands. His tall figure was completely blocking her vision. She gathered all of her power in her neck and hit him in the stomach with her head. He shrieked in pain and bent down. Lilou started to run to the door but only a moment after he reached his hand and grabbed her ankle, causing her to hardly fall on her face. He pulled the screaming Lilou close as she was struggling to free her foot, and stilled her on the ground as he was on top of her on all four. She punched his face and blood started to drip from the corner of his lips. He cursed and grabbed her wrists in one hand and slapped her face with all his might.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH! HIT ME ONE MORE TIME AND WATCH ME CUT YOU DOWN IN A MILLION PIECES YOU FREAK!" he yelled as pure fury was pouring out his eyes.
Her eyes were closed and crystal red teardrops were running like a river on her face. She struggled and yelled with a hoarsen voice
"LET GO OF ME! I'LL FUCK YOU UP LAW I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL!"
"FUCK YOU! YOU ALREADY ARE FUCKING ME UP!"
She kicked his legs and tried to free herself but he slapped her in the face once again.
"I SAID DON'T HIT ME!"
"AND I SAID LET GO OF ME YOU MANIAC!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and two flaring vermilion wings pierced her skin from inside out and she grabbed his whole body with them, crushing him to the point that he felt like his bones could shatter into pieces any second.
He pushed his elbows on the inner surface of her wings and with a massive amount of effort freed himself and rolled on the ground.
They both stood up quickly at the same time, Law grabbed his nodachi from the desk as Lilou charged at him with her wings transforming into sharp edged crystalized spears.
He covered his sword with Armament Haki and clashed it to her wings, stopping her just a heartbeat before losing his head. She growled. She held the exact same expression she had when fighting enemies. Even with Law's level of physical strength, winning her at this rate was close to impossible, she was completely loosing her mind to rage and the smell of his blood was driving her insane. She could feel the monster that Doflamingo had created inside her was begging her to run loose, to just finish Law once and for all.
Hurried footsteps from outside the door distracted her mind, enough to overcome the urge to kill him. Penguin's voice came in as he was slamming on the metal door
"Guys? GUYS?! Stop it for God's sake! The whole place is shaking!"
Law growled and pushed her back with his nodachi's blade and opened the door. Penguin's hand froze mid air as the door opened in the middle of his repeatedly knocking. His jaw fell down awfully at the sight of his messed up captains. Blood was dripping from Law's mouth as he was sending him a dreadful gaze with his unsheathed black blade in his hand. And Lilou's chest was harshly going up and down as she was heaving for air with her kagune activated, staring at him with her frightening eyes as her wings were flaring on her shoulders.
"What do you want Penguin?" Law asked. His voice was calm, cold, and deadly. Penguin's eyes widened in terror and he tried to open his mouth.
"Oh now you wanna fight him too?!" Lilou mockingly said to Law.
"Stay quiet, you damned woman!" Law grunted without turning to face her.
She stepped behind him "Move!" she ordered coldly.
Law tightened his grip on the halt and stepped aside after slamming the door completely open. Penguin jumped out of her way and only waited long enough to make sure he wouldn't run into her again before he ran out of the corridor.
Law slammed the door shut and sheathed his nodachi.
He let his exhausted body fell on the chair and threw his tall legs on his desk. He pressed his eyes shut. Ironically, the taste of blood in his mouth reminded him of the taste of her lips, leaving him wondering how could someone be able to make you feel like the happiest man alive, then before you know it, that exact same person would just leave you there feeling like the most miserable soul on earth.
The world sure worked in a strange way, otherwise, how could it be possible to love someone, and then hate them at the very same moment? 'Tragic, isn't it?!'
"And that's how we start the day, Cora-san!" he whispered at the empty room, with a dreadful amount of bitterness in his low voice.
From this point on, the story's timeline is synced with the original beginning of One Piece. And feel free to share your thoughts on the chapters with me;D
