Hope you enjoy!
"As if you were on fire from within.
The moon lives in the lining of your skin"
-Pablo Neruda
Law wanted to believe he was a professional. His patients stopped being of interest when they reached his operation table, their bodies simply becoming canvases for him to work his magic on. Their ailments were the only thing that captured his attention. So when his eyes kept darting at the woman's cleavage, he willed himself with all he got to focus on her wound. He pushed the velvet off her shoulder and examined the situation.
Thesa's pale skin spoke to Law, whispering stories of the woman's life. Three round wounds in her shoulder told him she had been shot before and from the messy way they healed, Law guessed she had no real medical care. Three little exit points were found on her back, right where he expected them to be. And now she had another wound, lower on her shoulder, where the robot Kuma hit her. That one was not going to leave much of a scar, he'd make sure of it.
When he finished bandaging her up, the pirate captain sat back in his chair and inspected the woman from afar. Without those ridiculous glasses and the red hat, he could see the resemblance to the dirty woman he first met. The crimson dress fitted her way better, such a shame it bore a hole in the solder.
The mercenary was curves in all the right places. Her breasts were the real surprise, Law had no idea how she managed to hide their size so well beneath only a white shirt the last time he'd seen her, but as he learned the hard way, women had a way with their secrets. Like that fake beauty mark that came off when he rubbed it off with sanitary alcohol. He would never admit to a breathing soul that his fingers lingering on her face, tracing her lips and the curve of her jaw. There was just something enchanting about her.
Maybe it was all the rumors, or the fact that she became a different person on every job she took. He understood the clothes, the make-up, even the dyed hair, but the eyes? How did she change their color? Or perhaps it was the small armory she carried in her handbag that made him curious. He already knew her boots hid blades, since one sprouted out and almost cut Bepo when he was placing her on the table. And what was it with her fascination towards gloves? Was she a germ-freak? He took her frail looking right hand in his and peeled the black fabric off. It revealed a small, creamy hand. Each nail was immaculately painted red. He pushed her sleeves up a bit. No hideous burn marks, no tattoos, nothing specific to tell her arm apart from another woman's, no dead give-away to her identity. So then why make the gloves a trademark?
Her pet growled at him. Law's eyes darted to her pet. Another thing that got him wondering about Theresa Frey was the fact that she had that black beast posing as a house cat. The panther had its eyes fixed on him. He would lie if he said the feline did not unnerve him the slightest. Not the huge claws and teeth, or the speed and brute force, but the way it looked at things and people, with an intelligence rarely seen in animals. The panther growled only once at Bepo when he lifted the woman to bring her to their submarine, as if it was warning him, trusting he would nurse his master back to health, but ready to slice his throat if not. It watched Law carefully as he cleaned and stitched her wound and decided he was not a threat. Or perhaps he was just over thinking and the panther was one oversized stupid cat.
The animal's ears lifted and turned to the woman. She was wide awake, looking around the room. She stared blankly at him for a while then moved to get off the bed.
"You should rest for a while longer, Frey-ya."
"Trafalgar?" What? Was it such a surprise? They'd been in the same auction house and she did save his navigator, tough it might be wise not to admit that last part. "Why am I here?"
"I patched you up." She freaked out for a moment, better assessing her state. She pulled the dress back over her bandages and stared at her hand for a while.
"Why take off my glove?" If she was mad at his intrusion, he couldn't tell.
"I needed to assess the damage." She looked unconvinced, one eyebrow raised, but thankfully she said nothing more. Instead she swung her legs down the bed, picked up the discarded glove off the table and headed towards the door.
"Thank you." Such apathy in her voice… "I'll be on my way now if you don't mind." She didn't spare a single glance at her pet. There was no need; it jumped right at her feet, yawned lazily and followed.
"Where will you be going?"
"How is it your problem?" Ah, there it was! Her voice dripped with ire. So she did mind him snooping around. Maybe she wanted people to fear her, to recognize her. That was why she had the panther, why she hid her hands in gloves. She needed the rumors.
"You still owe me." A smile crept on his lips. He wanted to have some fun, see if he could spark that anger. Maybe get a glimpse of the feared mercenary, Theresa Frey, Breaker of men.
"Ah, protecting your interest." She sounded calm again, though Law couldn't see her face.
"And, as I saved your life, you owe me double now." He took a step closer to her. Was he pushing his luck?
"I saved your bear. We're even." She was almost at the door.
"I could have just left you there to bleed away. I owed you nothing. You on the other hand, Frey-ya…" She turned to face him and he closed the distance between them, grinning. He had no idea where he was going with the conversation, or why the prospect of her owing him even more made him smile. Her gaze did not falter, intense eyes burning holes into his. Her eyes were steel-grey, almost mirroring his own. How did she do it?
"Fine. Whatever."
"What?" So easily? He was kind of disappointed, he hopped she would put up more of a fight, struggle out of the obvious cheat. Why was she in such a rush to leave?
"I said okay. But thread carefully Trafalgar Law, for I will agree to only one of your requests without question. Only one, as per our initial agreement." That was maybe the longest string of words he had heard come out of her mouth. She had a nice voice, shame she didn't use it more.
"Fine." He would have to think this through carefully, see where exactly he could place the pawn with her name on the tactical map of his grand plan.
"Fine." Came her answer, short and rasp. She turned and opened the door.
His next words just blurred out of his mouth without warning. The sound of his own voice in his ears was almost foreign, but undoubtedly his. And once he heard them, the idea didn't actually seem so bad.
"Join my crew!" She stopped dead in her tracks, not moving a muscle, the door barely cracked open. Her pet purred loudly, but the mercenary wouldn't move. He was about to touch her shoulder when the door closed with a thud and she sighed.
"And there I was actually beginning to like you, Law." Using his first name. Bold! He saw her reach for her other glove and he watched with interest. She span around and the next thing he knew her hand opened up at the wrist, hanging as if on hinges from the lower edge. He lifted his hand to create his room, but nothing happened as a cuff sprouted from the hole in her wrist and latched around his neck. He was pushed to the ground, her legs straddling him. A weakness entered his body and he could barely move.
"Seastone." The cuff extending from her arm and pressing on his throat was made of seastone! More importantly, her hand was dangling awkwardly on her arm. Arm from which a metal cuff busted out! It dawned on his fogging mind that she was a cyborg. His brows furrowed, the ill state he was in made it hard for him to think. He felt something cold trace down from his ear to his neck. When she pointed it to his heart, he saw it was a gun. It was making him feel worse so he guessed it was also made of seastone. The bullets must have been too. That was how she killed stronger opponents, by spending a fortune on seastone and shaping it to suit her needs.
"So easy." He looked at her; the metallic shade of her eyes had darkened. She may have not been the 'Widowmaker' that rumors portrayed, but she was dangerous. A sheep with the means to kill wolfs just by pulling a trigger.
"What are you waiting for, Frey-ya?" He should have probably just shut his trap. But the whole scene was making him think weird things. Her hips pressed against him, the barrel pushed on his chest, the cuff pinned him to the ground. The danger was imminent and it was all rather exhilarating. The mentally slapped himself. If he got to live, he thought he should get laid more often. When the woman wanting to kill you turned you on, there was something definitely wrong with you. Or maybe it was all on the seastone, making his mind and also his resolution weak.
"Can my second request be to know what's in your mind right now?" Law would have given anything in that moment to see in her head, what were her exact thoughts moment before pulling the trigger, before ending his life.
"Not gonna beg for your life?" She lifted one eyebrow into a perfect arch. He almost snorted. Did she seriously think him the begging kind?
"Would that help?"
"Not one bit." Her lips were pushed tight, the corners slightly drawn downward. The black panther was growling, pacing mere inches away from Law's head. "I should kill you."
"You should." Her face relaxed as the gun was placed just beneath his jaw, safety switch triggered. She retracted the cuff and his suspicions were affirmed: the barrel was seastone too. He was still reduced to a weak mess.
"Do you have any regrets, Trafalgar Law?" That was not even his whole name. He was going to die a no one, failing Cora-san, while that bastard still lived.
"Many."
Law would probably never know if she was going to pull the trigger or not if her panther hadn't interfered. The giant cat came around her and tenderly pushed the hand holding the gun slightly away. Thesa stopped and looked at the feline, clearly distressed. That was all he needed, a few seconds without the seastone touching his skin. His hands grabbed her hips and he rolled her to the ground, pinning her hands above her head. His hat fell to the ground while he was breathing heavily, trying to regain his full strength. Surprisingly, the woman didn't struggle. She smiled playfully. It was making him think dirty for some reason.
"Not gonna beg for your life?" She rolled her eyes, smile never leaving.
"Would it help?"
"Maybe." The corners of his lips turned up. Why was he having such a relaxed conversation with her? She just tried to kill him. And without a real reason, may he add. He was just collecting what she had promised to him. "I should kill you." She laughed. She actually laughed. Law's smile grew and he even chucked a bit. Was she crazy? Had he been infected too? Was it rabies from the panther? Had she more aces up her sleeves? Did she think she could overpower him?
"Perhaps you should." He could play her game, too.
"Any regrets?"
"Hmmm…" Her eyes darted upwards and her lips were pursed. He watched her curiously as she thought about her answer. "Not really, no." Her head turned to the panther. It eyed them, barking its sharp teeth at Law. "One regret, depending on what you would do to Nori, if you took my life."
"If?" Did she imply he wasn't going to? Was incapable of doing so? She was teasing him. Law wondered if she could really escape him. She was obviously not a Devil Fruit user, but that didn't mean she was less dangerous. Why then was he distracted by the silky skin of her right hand? By the soft texture on her robotic hand. Was that silicon? It was ripped at the wrist, but her hand was back in place. He could see wires running underneath the jagged 'skin'.
"Just kill me."
"Is your life so unimportant?" Her brows furrowed, but not in an angry manner, but in an inquiring one.
"Why are you asking so many questions? It should be an easy choice, I tried to kill you! Why do you keep poking on my life?" Why was he indeed? Was it because she made him think of Corazon? Once? He knew nothing about her and had all the reason to just end her life. Was it his newfound fascination with her prosthetic hand? Cyborgs were rare. The implications of making a fully functioning hand out of metal and attaching it to a human body… He wanted to know more. Where exactly did the metal arm end? He could see thin black lines running up the inside of her left arm, probably were the metal edged met, enclosing the hardware that made up her hand. Where did the metal meet the skin? It was more than just her hand and wrist. Was it all the way up her elbow? Up to her shoulder? Was the hand the only addition to her human body?
"You intrigued me." She laughed again. Hard. Law looked at her dumb folded. She was clearly missing a few screws.
"I'm sorry. It's just… 'intrigued' isn't the first thing I get when someone finds out I'm not entirely flesh and bone." There were tears in her eyes from all the laughter. The gloves made sense if she wanted to hide her nature, but why bother? Being a cyborg wasn't bad. It was a revolution in science! He wanted to slice her up and examine her right there on the floor. He refrained himself from doing so by asking more about her.
"Who was that boy I healed?" She eyed him a few seconds, but decided to answer.
"Just a kid." Law raised his eyebrow. Was she shitting him? The answer came to fast to be true.
"Just a kid?"
"Yeah… He snuck on my boat while I was away and got into the wrong cabinet…" So she wasn't on a job that day. Her quest to save the boy was personal. But he hadn't expected it to be so… selfless. The kid was a no one, but she cared enough for him to offer Law 'anything humanly possible' in exchange for his health. She was smiling but it didn't quite reach her eyes. He'd get back on the subject later.
"How do you know the Dark Knight?"
"Ray-san? That is one long story…" She shifted her weight and Law noticed the blood staining the white bandage that could be seen on her shoulder. She had opened her stitches. Should he kill her? Use her? Just let her go her merry way? Imprison her? No, none of those options would help him in the big picture. He sighed and pushed himself off of her. It was clear to him she had to join his crew. He'd gain her trust and loyalty and she could help him with his revenge. Maybe one day she'd let him have a peek inside her wirings. He could also take all that by force… He could threaten to find the boy and kill him if she didn't hold her end of the bargain. She could do nothing once in his Room.
He felt her suspicious eyes on him as he offered her a hand. She lifted herself in a sitting position and stared long at his extended hand. She took it hesitantly, gripping it with her right hand. Law almost frowned, realizing he wanted to get a feel of the metal one. Motioning to the table, he sad saw her sitting back on it from the corner of his eye. Her legs were dangling on the side as she was starting to take off the bandage. She was also smiling. "Are we like friends now?"
"You are one weird woman."
"You clearly don't know many… And I've been called worse. When word gets out that you bathe in the blood of virgins, people get creative with names." He approached the table and cut the fabric of her dress with a scissors. "Hey…" What? It was already ruined.
"Where did all the rumors start from? I'm guessing there has to be some truth to them." Her head fell, but he pushed it back up with his fingers. For the first time since he knew her, which was really not a long time ago, she looked haunted.
"Let's just say I was different person a while back…"
"You were really a blood thirsty killed."
"Blood thirst? No. Cold blooded, yes." After her little display, he could actually picture her assassinating people just because she didn't like them. As he was re-stitching her wound, her pet placed its head on the bed, begging to be petted.
"Why didn't your cat attack me?"
"She likes you? Ouch." Law pulled the thread a bit too hard. He was tired of her dodging his answers. She looked at a spot on her lap, probably concocting another lie. "She would've attacked you if you had represented a real danger. You were not really going to kill me. Or, at least, there was no intention to do so."
"The cat can tell?"
"Hmm, I'm not entirely sure, Ray-san tried to explain to me once, about the scents we emit when feeling different things. I'm pretty sure she senses my moods. She distracts me when my mind goes in dark places." She was most certainly lying trough her teeth. He finished patching her up, his hand lingering on her skin. She was petting the feline, not minding his presence at all. She was not what he expected one bit and she kept surprising him. She was a cyborg, for crying out loud. Law realized he had a burning wish to understand her. The harder she turned away, hiding in her secrets, the more he wanted to uncover them.
"Will you join the crew?"
"Are you daft? I want you dead."
"You said you'd do anything!"
"I did. But I don't understand why…" She could be a valuable asset. If pointed in the right direction. But he doubted telling her she would be his executioner would persuade her to join.
"We're in need of a good mechanic."
"Pfff, sure. Go ahead and assume the cyborg knows shit about engineering." She was rolling her eyes again in an exasperated manner, her hands on her hips.
"Don't you?"
"I do, but it's rude to just assume that." Law wouldn't have believed her if she denied. There was no way she knew nothing about mechanics with an arm made of steel and copper wires. She would be completely dependent on someone else. Someone who could expose her little secret. The cyborg was going to join the Heart Pirates as a mechanic even if not willingly. It was perfect. He could study her and benefit of her unique talents in his war against Joker.
So she's a cyborg :D Isn't that like the coolest thing ever? [ i'm going trough a phase... hopefully it will pass before I turn all my OC's into cyborgs ]
So, I'll point out here that she's not as cyborg as Franky is for example [ or Kuma, who in my opinion was already past that... he was kind of a robot...] Thesa has just a little steel woven with her flesh :D
Let me know what you think.