Dr. Heart Stealer
Ch21: What Happens in the Sub, Stays There
"Jake, what's up with the little girl?" they asked Jake. Jake looked over to the two of them and frowned.
"That's Harmony. She ran into Bonney when we were at the island." Jake told them.
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah, I know it's weird, but can you be a bit more quiet? Your freakishly loud voices will echo around the sub," Jake asked the duo, annoyed by the extra noise that was not by any means helping him get rid of a now-forming headache. They nodded and did as told.
Just as Jake was about to start speaking again, so he could explain the reasoning behind Harmony's age, Law's voice rang out above their heads.
"Everyone meet in the mess hall. That is all," then his voice was gone, replaced by the click of the den den mushi. Jake, Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo looked to each other before they began to walk towards the mess hall, Harmony trailing behind in curiosity.
"Hey, guys. Where are we going?" Harmony asked from behind the group. They didn't respond. She tried tapping Jake's shoulder, as she was more comfortable with him than the others. He glanced down at her and smiled reassuringly.
"We're just heading to the mess hall. The captain wants the crew to meet up. You should come as well." he told her, she nodded and continued to follow behind him.
~X~X~X~
The group arrived at the mess hall within five minutes. The mess hall was packed, despite it being the biggest room on the sub. The people in the front were seated in folding chairs, but the space that was left was standing room only.. Jake, Shachi, Penguin, Bepo, and Harmony were among those unlucky souls forced to stand where they could hardly see due to all of the heads in the way.
Law stood up on one of the tables in the center of the room. His voice echoed throughout the room as he spoke with authority, and the light chatter quieted down.
"Everybody, I have unfortunate news," he said, and the room once again began to murmur. "Calm down, it'll be fixed within two weeks or so." the mumbling died down once again. "Kazue-ya had an encounter with Bonney-ya, and has been de-aged by five years. She no longer remembers the Heart Pirates, and believes her name is Harmony." he finished. The crowded room broke out into gasps of shock and shouts of anger against Bonney. Then Itsuki spoke up.
"Does Kazue still have her devil fruit powers?" he asked. Jake looked over to Harmony, who seemed downright confused, and so did everyone else. Harmony looked up into Jake's eyes.
"What do they mean by devil fruit? They don't exist, they're fiction - from an anime! What's going on?" she whispered to him furiously. Jake looked away from her and out to the crowd.
"I don't think so," he said. Next thing they knew, people began asking Harmony questions.
"Can you swim now?" one asked her. She nodded while trying hiding behind Jake.
"Do you still know how to sew?" another asked her. She gave him a confused look.
"Of course I can swim! Who can't? If you can't I would gladly teach you... No I take that back, I don't know any of you... And no, I can't sew. Who would want to do something so time consuming, when I could be playing video games?" she asked back. Everyone was either stunned or confused. How could their seamstress not enjoy sewing? She seemed to lock herself in her room for hours to sew when ever she could.
Did Bonney's powers cancel out a devil fruit ability? That could be the only reason behind her being able to swim.
With an annoyed huff, Harmony turned around. "shut up! You are too noisy! Let me go home! I want the best treatment while I'm being forced to stay in this filthy pla-" She was in the middle of a demand when a bucket of sea water was dumped on her head. She gasped and turned back around to face the water dumping culprit. The one who poured water onto her head was a man with spiky forest green hair, it reminded her of evergreens in a forest unlit by the sun. His gleaming red eyes were the beast's that hid there, stalking the forest for any prey. The red orbs were hidden behind dark purple sunglasses, that seemed to represent the dark glum of the forest. An empty bucket was in his hands positioned as if he was still pouring the water from inside of the bucket. His face was angry, and annoyed. He set the bucket down next to him.
"I don't know who you think you are! But pouring cold water onto a girl!? That's low for anyone! I want ano-" Harmony's rant was cut short by Mikio.
"Yeah? You want this and you want that! How old are you? Thirteen?" he asked while making himself look superior. Harmony was about to retort, but she was stopped by Mikio continuing to talk. "Trust me, the fact that you're shut up now will save all of us some trouble. Now run before you die a horrible death. Captain doesn't take to kindly to commands that he doesn't give." she glanced behind the man's shoulder to see Law. He was irritated to say the least. Jake picked up the wet girl. Harmony began to struggle against his tight grip as Jake walked right out of the mess hall to Harmony's room.
Penguin, who was still in the mess hall along with everyone else, leaned over to Shachi.
"Well, at least we know that seawater doesn't affect her..." he mumbled. Law waved his hand for attention.
"I think we shall go give our captive a visit," he said to the crew. They all nodded in response.
~X~X~X~
Jake and Harmony sat on her bed as she tried to dry off her damp hair, while being watched by Jake. She turned her head to the side looking anywhere except the strange person staring at her. Her eyes landed on a black gun, some kind of pistol. She hopped down from the bed where she had been sitting to go examine the gun sitting on the steel bedside table. She put her hand on it. That's when Jake finally decided to step in.
"Hey, don't touch. The owner of that gun would be mad if you hurt it," he said seriously. She turned around, gun in hand, and cocked her head to the side as if confused.
"Why would you put a gun in the room of your prisoner? I could use it to kill you and everyone else on this ship... And then I could have my escape," she told him, equally as serious. There was a stare down for a minute or so before Jake burst out in laughter.
"You can't be serious! You couldn't even aim it if you wanted to! Just give it to me, and we'll all be fine," he said. She shook her head, she was not about to let this opportunity to escape her captors slip by so easily. She aimed the gun at Jake quickly, both hands steady as she moved them around, trying to find the perfect angle to shoot him at. She decided to go for his chest. It was the broadest spot on his body after all.
She took a step forward.
"I-I want to go home!" she stuttered, obviously intimidated by the object she was holding onto so tightly. Jake only laughed at her comment.
"This is your home, believe it or not. And I'm your brother! Would you really shoot me?" he began, "I know you most likely won't believe anything I'm saying... But what have I done to you, to make you want to shoot me? I simply brought you ho-" the sound of gunfire echoed through the submarine's steel walls. Jake skillfully stepped to the side.
"Don't shoot at me!" he shouted. A clamor of footsteps could be heard rapidly approaching from the halls. Law and half of the crew burst in from the halls in a slight panic.
"What happened?!" Hiro yelled in panic. Harmony moved the gun clenched in her hands to point at Hiro. As more and more people flooded her room, she moved backwards and moved the gun to point at various people, aiming different ways each second, and she was beginning to shake uncontrollably. She fired the gun, the bullet ricochet off of the steel wall opposite of her. People moved away from the ricocheting bullet with ease. That ticked her off. How can people control these things?! she mentally yelled. She was about to fire again in panic when a whip wrapped around her wrists and gave her a sharp tug to the left. The tug was enough to make her drop the gun. She ungracefully fell onto her shoulder, the cold, hard deck plating didn't help with her landing much either.
A shattering sound was heard.
Everyone looked to where the gun was now lying. Shattered.
That set Jake in a mode of panic. One thought continuously ate away at his mind like a termite eats away at wood. What was Harmony going to do when she goes back to normal? After all, no one hurts her 'baby'.
"Let me go!" Harmony screeched, she had gotten onto her knees while everyone was distracted by the gun, and tried to tugged her hands away from her bindings with little luck, snatching the attention from the broken gun to herself. She looked up in anger to whoever was holding her hands together. It was a mean-looking man with long hair resembling a raven's feathers, and eyes that looked to be plated in the purest gold. He held a whip that had a handle colored a dark midnight blue with splashes of red, resembling the dark night sky littered with bloody stars. The thong was black, as was the fall, although the popper was a dark, rusty red that reminded Harmony of dried blood. It most likely was though. She continued to struggle.
"Why should I do that when you're just going to attack everyone in this room?" he asked the struggling girl, whose life was currently being handled with his harsh hands.
"Because I have no weapon. That was my one means of escape. I'm now at your mercy. Plus, you are attacking a little unarmed girl," she tried to convince him, but it only lead him to tightening the whip's hold on her wrists. She let out a distressed cry as he did so. He was starting to draw blood, only more gore to add to his collection on his already bloodstained whip. Someone put a hand on his shoulder. From what she could see, the two men looked very similar. Although, the one trying to help the situation had a kindhearted face, not a mean one, his eyes looked as if they were dipped in the richest of gold, much like the man next to him, his hair, despite being much shorter, was the same as the person's holding her wrists tightly.
"She has a good point. Logan, let her go. Be a gentleman sometimes. Please," the kind-looking man said to the evil-seeming man, apparently named Logan. Logan's eye twitched as he slackened the grip on her wrists. She pulled them free the moment she had the chance. The stinging tears remained in her eyes as she examined her bleeding wrists. She blinked the tears away as she came to a conclusion. Her captors wanted her alive, but were still open to violence. And her demands were thrown into the wind along with her ideas of escape. The whole group was probably delusional, as they all thought that they were from the One Piece world.
"A-am I allowed to ask for a doctor? Or will that get more sea water thrown on my head?" she asked Jake who was across the room next to Law. The whole crew had her surrounded in a half circle, her back flush with the wall behind her. Jake laughed at her.
"Of course you can ask. Just no demands," he motioned to Law, "Otherwise this guy will get mad. I don't think you want to be on a torture table, do you? Or is Law-kun mean enough to put you on a dissection table?" he laughed at his morbid joke. Harmony stared at him in horror, her mouth slightly agape in fear, and heterochromic eyes wide in terror. When Jake realized that he had scared her, he began to wave his hands around widely.
"I-I don't mean he would hurt you or anything!" he said in a panicked rush, his comment earned Law's chuckle, as well as a few of the crew's. That only served to add to her terror. He took a deep breath and calmed down. "He won't hurt you unless you provoke him, come on, let's get that wound patched up." Harmony tried her best to back further into the wall she was already against, shaking her head continuously. With a sigh, Sadao strode over to her shaking form. As she continued shaking he crouched down to her eye level, so she could get a good look at him.
He wore the Standard Heart Pirate uniform, a white boiler suit with Law's jolly roger on the back and left side, although the usual combat boots were substituted for shined black dress shoes. His eyes were polished pink ice cubes that had a black cat's fur rimming the left edge, his hair matching the theme of the cold by being as white as freshly fallen snow. The snowy hair fell down to just below his shoulders and was parted on the left side, his mouth was set in a small frown. On his back were two katana, both scabbards were identical: black with white splotches, much like a cow's hide, no red, no blood. The grip of the one on the left was the color of refined silver, it had a ribbon going around it the color of magma. The other was more plain, well it was one color instead of two contrasting ones, but by no means plain, it was a deep shimmering cobalt blue, the shine of the handle was smeared with fingerprints making it obvious that this one was the more used sword.
He held out a hand, suited for a swordsman, as if he was holding it out for a dog to sniff. A sign of her being allowed to test his trustfulness. She stared at his hand for a few seconds before looking to his face. Despite him looking cruel, for some reason, she felt an inkling of trust towards the man. She gave him her hand. His frown was changed into a very small smile, though if you weren't looking close enough, it would only seem as if his mouth was in a straight line. He helped up Harmony from the ground.
"Come on, let's go get that wound fixed," he said. The whole crew looked at Sadao with surprised faces. He was one of the coldest people on the crew, what had gotten into him? Helping a child? That was something that the crew had never even thought he would do. Sadao walked out of Harmony's bedroom, the young girl trailing behind of him. Law also walked to the medical bay, where he knew they would go. The crew got the hint and filtered out of the room.
~X~X~X~
The captain, swordsman, and little girl were in the infirmary. Sadao had attempted to leave once he had dropped off Harmony in the infirmary with Law, but she had insisted that he stay. Law had finished up bandaging her wrist awhile back. Although they were still in the room smelling of disinfectants. And the silence was overtaking their minds.
Harmony coughed breaking the unbearable silence. Law and Sadao both looked to her. She shook her head.
"D-don't worry creepy doctor... I-I'm sorry mister but I don't know your name," she said looking at Sadao. He smiled softly at her.
"My name is Sadao, my apologizes for not telling you earlier Ms. Zepheron," he said with a polite tone. Harmony looked at him in shock from being addressed like she was a lady. She shook her hands about wildly.
"N-No! Please call me Harmony! I'm not used to people addressing me so politely," she told him slightly flustered from the act of regard. He smiled at her.
"Okay, Ms. Harmony," he said kindly.
"U-um... I'll just be going to my room... bye-bye creepy doctor! Bye Sadao-san!" with that Harmony left through the double doors, befitting of an emergency room.
Law turned to Sadao with a smirk.
"You're being rather kind. This is quite unlike you, Sadao-ya," he said. The white haired man shrugged.
"I can't deny it. A gentleman should treat a lady with respect. The fact that she is not of age, well, it just adds to the fact that I should treat her with kindness, Mr. Law," he said. Sadao left after his speech, leaving Law to his thoughts.
Law leaned against the chair's back, where he had been sitting while the two were leaving. He closed his eyes in thought and sighed.
Why had I felt a tinge of sadness when she called me creepy doctor, and called Sadao by his name?
~X~X~X~
~X~X~X~
A/N: I had way too much fun terrorizing Harmony... This chapter was not supposed to end this way at all. I had wanted to end it too early way to many times. Originally I was going to just have her break her gun, cliffhanger, end chapter. But then the idea to have Sadao be all gentlemanly came to mind, I just had to do to it. Law becoming, dare I say it, jealous wasn't supposed to happen. I changed this chapter so much! But I like the result much better than my first go at this. Also I felt the need to go back and describe everyone's appearances better, as I mostly just said their names before. Also, I must apologize for my lateness, the time had simply gotten away from me, I'm sorry. Until next time, keep being awesome!