Instincts

"Aw, this place is boring," Luffy said while he wondered through the isles. I want to have some fun. Hey, Tra, where did you go?"

Luffy wondered into isle after isle in search for his friend before he made his way up to the next floor that Law was on. He found his friend sitting at a table with a ton of books spread out before him. Smiling, he walked over. "Hey! There you are! Why did you disappear like that?"
Law continued writing.

"Hey, Tra?" Luffy asked. "What are you doing?"

Law still didn't answer.

Luffy picked up one of the books. Flipping it open he saw a diagram of a male body and several words with arrows pointing at different parts of the body. "Femur, hamstrings, ligaments…ugh! So boring! How can you read this stuff?!" He dropped the book back on the table and ran back for the stairs. "I'm going to go find something fun to do!"

With one giant leap he landed back on the ground floor. The thump of his feet on the floor echoed through the library. A harsh shush coming from the woman behind the deck made him look over to her. She said, "Sir, please, this is a library not a play ground. Keep it quite."

"Sorry." Luffy ran for the door with laughter.

"Hey! I said quite!" the woman said.

Luffy pushed the door opened. "Freedom! Now let's find something fun to do!"

Luffy ran down the sidewalk, his eyes searching for anything of interest to do. But all he saw was houses. "Aw, come on! There's got to be something fun to do around here!"

Running down a few more blocked he came to a small playground. It was void of people. He ran his eyes over the equipment. Everything appeared to be made of some kind of white stone. He walked over to a dome shape that had several holes in it. Placing his hand on it he found that the surface was smooth. "I know! I can work with my powers! Let's see…I'm rubber like. I think. And I can stretch. Surely that's enough for me to figure it out."

Luffy walked away from the dome. Pausing he thought about what he should try first. Then like a gentle voice on the wind, something told him to suck in air. So he did. He sucked in the air around him. His body started to expand. "What?!"

The air left him when he spoke. His hands flew over his now flat body. "What the heck was that?! I blew up like a…like a balloon or something!" He laughed. "That's so cool! Maybe I'm a balloon man! No! I'm a rubber man!"

He drew in his breath again. His body grew more and more round. Once he couldn't suck in any more air he started bouncing around on his feet before launching himself around the playground for a minute. Parting his lips he let the air out of his body. "That was so much fun! I wonder what would happen if I fell from the sky like that!"

Luffy threw out his hands to the monkey bars. He angled himself into the air as best he could then left his feet off the ground. The wind rushed over his face and hair. His hat fell off but caught on his neck thanks to the string around it. His body started to slow down. He waited until he was falling to draw in his breath again. Holding his lips tightly closed he waited for the ground to come closer and closer. The ground came faster and faster until he hit. Dirt flew up around him before his body sprung off in another direction. He hit the slide and then the monkey bars and several other structures before finally releasing his breath. "That was so awesome!"

He pulled back his fists and fired at the stone dome. "Gum Gum Gatlin!"

The stone rumbled, cracked, and crumbled to the ground.

"I did it! I did it!" Luffy jumped around. "Thanks to my Gum Gum Gatlin!" He jumped around for a few more seconds before pausing. "Wait a second." He dropped to the ground, crossing his ankles and arms in thought. "Gum Gum Gatlin? Where did that come from? And why did I even say it in the first place? I'm not made of gum. Gum stretches but it doesn't snap back into place. So what does? Um…rubber! I have to be a rubber man. But that doesn't answer where the Gum Gum came from. Gatlin is like a gun that fires multiple rounds."

Luffy looked up to the sky. "This really isn't fun at all. I can't remember anything but for my name still. But that whole Gum Gum thing sounds familiar. And it fits some how."

He fell back on the ground with a sigh. "I want my memories back. It's too lonely like this. Something else is missing. But what? What could it be?" He kicked and failed his arms and legs. "Aw! Come on! I need some friends! Maybe they can help me figure this out! And I'm still bored!"

Luffy sat up. "I wonder if Tra is done with those books yet. Things are more fun with him around. I should go back. It's been a long time since I left. He's probably wondering where I am."

Luffy jumped up and ran back to the library. Entering into the building he ran right up the stairs and over to the section where Law was still sitting. "Hey, Tra! Guess what?!"

Luffy tilted his head when Law didn't answer him. "Hey, Law! You won't believe what I learned about myself! I have a new attack! I call it the Gum Gum Gatlin! It's amazingly powerful! You have to come outside and see it!"

Law still didn't reply.

Luffy sighed and sat down in the chair next to his friend. "Come on. How long are you going to read those stupid books? Their boring!"

And Law still kept his eyes on the words before him.

"Fine. I'll just sleep then." Luffy sigh. He leaned back in the chair and fell asleep.

…

"Attention, patriots," a voice overhead said. "The library will be closing in ten minutes. Please clean up your work area and check out the books you'd like to take with you and make your way to the exits. We will reopen tomorrow morning. Have a pleasant evening."

Law glanced up from his writing. He had no idea that he had been studying for so long. Snoring brought his eyes to his right. There sitting next to him was Luffy. The boy was sound a sleep. Dropping his eyes back down to the notebook he found he had almost every page completely full. While he wanted to stay longer and get more information, he closed the books and shook Luffy. "Hey, Straw Hat. Let's go."

"Huh?" Luffy opened his eyes. "What?"

"The library is closing," Law said.

"About time!" Luffy jumped up. "I was so bored!"

"You didn't have to stay in here," Law said heading for the stairs.

"I didn't," Luffy said.

"What?" Law glanced back at the boy.

"I left for three hours," Luffy said. "I came back when I didn't find anything fun to do. You were still reading. So I fell asleep."

"I see." Law descended down the stairs. His had his hand loose around the notebook but his mind was on the work he did. Did he really get that absorbed into his studying that he didn't even notice Luffy was missing? He shook it from his mind. It didn't matter. At least Luffy didn't get himself into trouble. He looked back at Luffy again. "You didn't get yourself into trouble, did you?"

"Of course not," Luffy said. "I already told you there's nothing fun to do here. Oh! But I did learn new moves from my powers!"

"That's nice," Law said stepping outside. He looked up to the sky in an attempt to figure out the time but forget there was no sun. And nothing else suggested what the time might be.

"You want to see them?" Luffy asked.

"No," Law said as he continued walking.

"They're really fun!" Luffy said. "You'll like them!"

"Not now, Straw Hat," Law said.

"So what are we going to do now?" Luffy asked.

"We need to find some place to sleep," Law said. "I guess we could go back to the beach. At least we'll have some privacy there."

"Think we can catch some fish?" Luffy asked.

"Do you have a fishing pole?" Law asked.

"No," Luffy said. "But you can do your little sphere thing."

"My Room isn't for feeding you," Law said.

"You're room?" Luffy asked. "What room?"

"I'm talking about my sphere thing," Law said.

"Then why didn't you say so?" Luffy asked.

"I did," Law said.

"No you didn't," Luffy said. "You called it your room instead of your sphere."

Pressure pushed behind Law's eyes from Luffy's constant talking. "Room just sounds more normal to me. Besides whatever I do in them can't be done outside of it."

"I get it," Luffy said. "It's like how me and my attacks. It sounds normal when I call them Gum Gum then the attack name."

"What are you talking about?" Law glanced over at Luffy.

"I tried to tell you before," Luffy said. "I was working on my stretching abilities and named one of the Gum Gum Gatlin. I punched a rock or something and it shattered into rubble."

"That's nice," Law said.

"I also blew up like a balloon by sucking in my breath," Luffy said. "Want to see it?"

"No," Law said.

"I need a name for it, too," Luffy said. "Any ideas?"

"No," Law repeated.

"Gum Gum Ball? No that's not right," Luffy said crossing his arms. "Gum Gum Bubble? Yuck! That's even worse!"

"Don't strain yourself, Straw Hat," Law said.

"I know! I can call it Gum Gum Balloon!" Luffy said just before a loud explosion went off. The ground rumbled and shook under their feet throwing them off balance a bit. "What was that?"
"Looks like there's some kind of issue going on in the city." Law looked over towards the city to see a thick black cloud of smoke rising into the sky.

"Wow! Let's go check it out!" Luffy took off for the city.

"Wait, Straw Hat!" Law cried out. But it was too late. Luffy was already far enough away from him that he didn't hear him. He took after him. "That idiot! He's going to get himself killed!"

The city grew bigger the closer he got to it. More explosions went off as people rushed from the city. Law dodged a few people who almost ran into him but he managed to make it to the city in time to see Luffy throwing several punches at a falling piece of a building, saving a small group of people from being squashed by it. He scanned his eyes around the city in an attempt to locate what caused this mess. He figured he found it when he saw some people fighting. His eyebrows drew together when he saw a couple of the men had some kind of an electric charge around their weapons. One guy's sword was crackling with the electricity. He swung the blade and said something. The electricity shot though the air like arrows. A couple landed in the wall of a near by building while two stuck into the bodies of two people trying to get away from the fight. Their voices cried out from the shock that ran through their bodies. Law didn't have to continue to watch them. The smell of burnt skin filled the air amongst the smoke and gunpowder. The two unfortunate people were dead. He snapped his hand out and grabbed a man as he ran by. "What's going on here?"
"Two pirate crews arrived and they're fighting each other!" the man said. "You had better run! Most of them are wielding star flakes! Normal people have no chance against them! Run!"

The man wiggled from his hold and ran off. Law turned his eyes back to the fight. A low growl came from his throat when he saw Luffy was right in the middle of the fight. "That idiot. What does he think he's doing? Is he trying to get killed?"

"I don't know who you are but you are doing to die!"

Law looked up to see a large man, about ten feet tall wielding a large mallet hammer, coming right at him.

"So die!" the man shouted.

Law grabbed his sword. Pulling it from the sheath he sliced the head of the mallet hammer in half.

"Huh?" The man pulled back and looked at his broken mallet hammer.

"Room!" Law held out his hand. The blue sphere spread out around them. "You should never take your eyes off an enemy." He sliced the man's body up.

"Ah! What did you do to me?! I'm going to die!" the man shouted. "Huh? Wait a second…I'm not dead. What did you do to me?!"

"That idiot. Where did he go now?" Law looked to find Luffy was missing. He took off to find him. He glanced around as he ran to avoid being hit but also to take in the fight. There were a lot of strange moves being preformed. One guy waved his hand and several pieces of debris from the collapsed buildings lifted up and flew at others, knocking them down. One guy lifted a group of people up with just a wave of his hand. Another was using the electrical attack he saw before only he was using a whip. The electricity was running down the whip and the man was snapping it at people. "This place is insane!"

Luffy's laughed brought his eyes up. The young man was still in the middle of the fight. And he was distracted by what he was doing he didn't see a man coming up behind him with an electrical attack charging on his fingers. Law picked up his speed. His heart raced in his chest. No matter how annoying he thought Luffy was something told him to not let the boy die. The man reached for Luffy. "Straw Hat! Get out of there!"

"Huh?" Luffy turned in Law's direction then noticed the man behind him. But it was far too late. The man reached out and grabbed Luffy's arm.

Law lifted his sword to kill the man but paused when he noticed Luffy wasn't hurt at all.

Luffy laughed again.

"What the heck are you made of?!" the man asked.

"Rubber! Apparently. Gum Gum Pistol!" Luffy punched the man in the face. "Hey, Law! I got another attack! It was amazing!"

"You're an idiot," Law said. "You could have gotten yourself killed from being so reckless. Why did you even come here in the first place?"
"I don't know," Luffy said. "I just came to see what was going on. Next think I knew someone was trying to kill me."

"So naturally instead of just defending yourself and running away you continued on fighting," Law said.

"How did you know?" Luffy tilted his head.

"Let's just get out of here before you get us both killed," Law said.

"Okay!" The two started running towards the beach. Suddenly their bodies lifted up off the ground. "Hey! What's going on?!"

"You two aren't going anywhere!" The two turned to find a man welding a club with four-inch spikes walking up to them. He wore only a pair of pants so all of his scars were revealed to them, including the one over his right eye that clearly blinded it. "I don't take very kindly to people who hurt my crewmates. And you both did just that."

"Your crewmates attacked us first," Law said.

"Doesn't matter," he said. "You're going to pay."

"What did you do to us?" Luffy asked while making swimming motions in the air. "Why can't we move?"

"I used my Gravitation Erase attack to delete the gravity around you," he said. "It's one of my star flake powers."

"Star flake powers? Now why does that sound familiar?" Luffy asked.

"Maybe because we were just told about them today," Law said feeling another headache coming on. "Don't you pay attention to anything?"

"I do when it's important," Luffy said.

"That is important!" Law snapped. "So remember it!"

"Okay!" Luffy said smiling.

"You two argue like my parent use to," he said with a swing of his club. "But it doesn't matter. You're going to die now."

Law gritted his teeth and spread out his Room. Just as the guy swung his club at them, he cut off the man's arm and moved it onto a piece of debris were it stuck.

"Wow! That was awesome!" Luffy said. "How did you do that?!"

"I'm not sure," Law said. "It just happened."

"Huh? How is it possible I'm not bleeding?" the man asked. "Do you have a star flake power, too? No, it can't be that. No one has ever used such a power in the star flakes." He shook his head. "No matter. You're still going to die. Aerolite."

"He's glowing!" Luffy shouted when the man started to glow.

The man held out his hand to Luffy and Law. Small dark spots appeared in the glow around his hand before getting bigger and shooting out at them.

"Ouch!" Luffy grabbed his forehead when one hit him. "That hurt!"

Law swiped his sword at the ones flying at him. He sliced them all in half until his sword suddenly flew out of his hand.

"Gravitational Pull," the man said. Law sword landed in his hand. The second the hilt was in his hand the man screamed out. "It hurts! What's this stupid sword doing to me?!"

"You idiot!" Another man ran over and kicked the sword from the first man's hand. "How stupid can you be?! That's a cursed sword! You can't wield it!"

"How was I supposed to know?" The man rubbed his sore hand.

"Let's just kill them already. The captain wants to get out of here soon." The two men turned back to Law and Luffy, their bodies glowing and their eyes smiling with blood lust.

"Shambles," Law said. He and Luffy disappeared then reappeared behind the two men. Just as the two men turned around they threw a punch at them. The men went sailing and landed in a pile of debris.

"Yeah!" Luffy said. "Take that!"

"Now let's get out of here." Law picked up his sword, turned, and ran towards the beach. As they ran they spotted an old man wearing an apron get a shot in the stomach. Blood spurted out of the wound as he fell to the ground. Four others, carrying swords or spears, stepped up to him.

"Hey!" Luffy ran towards them.

"Straw Hat! What are you doing?!" Law demanded.

"I have to help him! That old man can't defend himself!" Luffy called back over his shoulder.

"This isn't our fight!" Law followed him.

"Gum Gum Gatlin!" Luffy threw out his fists, knocking the men away. "Jerks! He can't even defend himself!" He knelt down next to the man. "You okay, old man?"

The old man coughed, blood splattered over his skin.

"Tra! You have to help him! He's going to die!" Luffy said.

"What? I don't have to help him," Law said. "You don't even know him."

"So what? You read all those medical books. So you can help him," Luffy said.

"Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?" Law asked.

"B-behind you!" the old man yelled.

Law turned to find several rocks hurling at them. He sliced them with his sword then sent them flying back towards the men who threw them in the first place. The rocks hit the men and the ground causing more damage to the city.

"Now you have to save him!" Luffy said.

"I do not!" Law said.

"He saved our lives!" Luffy said.

"We would have been fine!" Law said.

"Just help him!" Luffy said. "We own him that much! At least stop the bleeding!"

Law growled. With the feeling he wasn't going to get out of here without helping this guy, he knelt down and glanced over the man's wounded body. The blood gushed out of the wound. He needed to do something or the man would die. But he needed equipment to work with. "The bullet's in rather deep. I can removed it but I can't sew up the damage without the proper equipment."

"Then bring him to my ship."

The two looked up to see a bald man with thick black eyebrows walking over to them. "This battle is about over. Monty there is on my crew. He's my cook."

"You're a pirate?" Luffy asked.

"We are." The man nodded. "The name's Captain Lapis Laden."

"So you're the ones who started this fight," Law said.

The man laughed. "If only. But it was the other crew who started the fight. We were here for a peaceful mission to check things out. They attacked thinking they could take our heads and gain more popularity and higher bounties."

"So awesome!" Luffy said. "I want to be a pirate!"

Laden eyed Luffy. "You're kind of on the puny side to be a pirate, kid."

"I'm not! I'm a great fighter! And I'm made of rubber! See?" Luffy pulled his cheek away from his face.

"Ah, so you are a devil fruit user," Laden said.

"I don't have a clue," Luffy said.

"I noticed what you did for Monty," Laden said. "You have my thanks."

"No problem," Luffy said. "Tra here is going to fix him right up, too."

"I am not!" Law said.

"Then we better get back to the ship," Laden said. "I have a fine medical bay." He turned away from them. "Razor! Come carry Monty back to the ship! He's hurt bad!"

A man standing seven foot with broad shoulders and a three-day-old beard came walking over to him. He picked up the old man and headed towards the docks without a glance at the two new people standing with his captain.

"Let's go," Laden said.

"Come on!" Luffy grabbed Law's collar and ran towards the ship.

"Let me go!" Law demanded.

But Luffy didn't. He just continued running towards the docks. He only released Law when they stopped at the gangplank. He gawked up at the large ship. It was so big that it had three masts, the foremast near the front, the mainmast in the middle of the deck, and the mizzenmast near the back. "Wow! It's so huge!"

"Hurry up," Laden said from the top of the gangplank.

Law grumbled as he wandered up the gangplank as Luffy ran up it. On the deck he looked around. The ship looked to have three floors below the deck and two more floors above the deck. Towards the front of the ship was only one floor with a single door in the middle. He wondered if that was the captain's quarters. Turning his eyes to the right was two sets of stairs that led up to the two upper levels. On the very top was the helm.

"This way," Laden said.

Law turned his eyes back to the captain of this ship. Laden was going up the stairs to the first level he had looked at. The man then went to his left and around the corner, Razor was right behind him. Law quickly followed after tossing Luffy a look. The rubber boy was running all over the ship, gushing at how awesome it was. Once on the upper level he turned the corner to find another door. It was open so he walked inside. Antiseptics hit him upon entering. It was the medical bay. Six beds lined up at the foremost front of the room. Just opposite of it was the operation area. Razor already had Monty laying on the operating table.

"Once the crew returns tell them to wait outside. But tell Makoto to come inside when she gets here," Laden order. "I'll inform you all of any change that happens."

Razor nodded and left the room.

"Well, you're up, doctor," Laden said. "Let's see what you can do. Makoto is a nurse. She'll be here any second. She'll assist you."

Law frowned, wondering how he managed to let Luffy pull him into this mess. Still he walked over to the medical supplies and gathered up what he needed before stepping over to the sink in the corner. He placed his sword in the corner then washed up his hand, lathering them as well as he could, and then pulled on some rubber gloves. Just then the door opened and closed. He looked over to see a five foot five, short reddish orange hair, and matching eyes woman walking over to him.

"About time you got here, Makoto," Laden said.

"Shove it," Makoto said. "I was finishing up things in the city. One of the enemy decided he wanted to get fresh with me." She smirked devilishly. "At least he won't be able to reproduce now."

A shiver ran up Law's spine. This woman was a vicious monster apparently.

"So who's the newbie?" Makoto jerked her chin towards Law.

"He's a doctor," Laden said. "He's going to help Monty. I want you to assist him."

"Lucky me." Makoto ran her eyes over Law. "At least he's cute."

"Just scrub up and get ready to assist me," Law said walking over to Monty.

"Whatever you say, Doctor," Makoto said.

Law leaned over Monty's wound and inspected it. "Hurry up. I'm going to have to open his wound up more. He's losing a lot of blood."

"I know," Makoto said. She turned off the water, dried her hands, put on some gloves, and then carried the tray of surgical tools over to him and placed it down on a trolley. "Here you go."

"Put him under," Law said.

"Whatever you say," Makoto said.

Law exhaled and waited for the man to be put under. Once the man's breathing slowed down he picked up the scalpel and cut the wound opening more. An hour passed before he managed to sew up every bleeder he found inside of the man. Finally, he sewed up the man's skin. "There. It's done."

"Wonderful," Laden said.

"Not bad," Makoto said. "You have some amazing surgical skills."

Law stepped over to the sink. He threw away the blood gloves then washed his hands. His brain was going over the surgery he had just preformed. It shouldn't have been possible. But it was. He knew exactly what to do. He was a doctor, or something. He shut the water off and turned back to them. "He'll need at least two weeks of rest before doing anything extreme. That means no fighting."

Laden chuckled. "Sounds like you're trying to take over my position as captain."

"I have no reason to do that," Law said.

"I wouldn't mind," Makoto said, her eyes running over Law's body again.

"Don't do that," Law said. "My body is not here for you to ogle."

"And he's feisty, too," Makoto said.

"That will be enough, Makoto," Laden said. "You have a job to do."

"Aye, Captain," Makoto said. "I know my duty. Monty will be taken care of. Though he's not going to be happy about having to rest. You know how obsessed with cooking he is."

"He'll get over it," Laden said.

Makoto stepped over to the sink. She pulled out a basin from one of the cabinets and filled it with hot water. She then grabbed a couple washcloths and walked back over to Monty to clean the blood off of him. "He's going to be even more upset when he learns that his favorite apron is completely ruined."

"Again, he'll get over it," Laden said. "Besides he has about three hundred more that look exactly the same."

"Is he really up that high?" Makoto asked. "He's nuts. I don't even have that many shoes. And I love my shoes."

"You did an amazing job, Tra," Laden said.

"Trafalgar," Law said. "Only that idiot out on your deck calls me Tra."

"Trafalgar it is then," Laden said. "As I was saying, you're skills are amazing. Even better than my previous doctor."

"Your previous doctor?" Law asked.

"Yes." Laden nodded. "My crew's doctor died in a battle a few months ago. I've been on the search for a new one since then. And you have the skills. And that rubber friend of yours has some amazing fighting skills as well. Why don't you and your friend join my crew?"

"Sorry, but we must decline," Law said.

"Oh? That was a quick decision. What for?" Laden asked.

"We have…" Law paused. He wondered if he should tell this man what their problem is. There clearly were some benefits of sailing with pirates. One at the top of the list is how they know about this sea and the powers that people use. Another would be they could sail around the sea without restrictions. But still no matter how much he tried to justify this he still didn't trust this guy. At least he caught a glimpse of this man's powers. He was fairly confident that he could take the captain down if it was necessary. "The truth is we've lost just about all of our memories. We're on a mission to find what they are."

"I see," Laden said. "Well, I don't know nothing about lost memories but I do know skill when I see it. And you two have the skills to make great pirates."

Familiarity of the words hit Law again. It pushed him more towards making the decision to go with this crew.

"So what do you say?" Laden held out his hand to Law.

Law stared down at the man's outstretched hand. A few seconds passed before he found himself reaching for it. His skin connected with Laden's. The man's hands were rough from callouses and work from the hard work that he clearly has done. "Fine. We'll sail with you."

"Welcome aboard then, Trafalgar Law," Laden said. "I'll go spread the word to the crew."

Law nodded. He watched as the captain walked away before turning back to the man on the table. He hoped he was making the right decision. If he was careful he and Luffy should be able to take over this ship and sail out on their own. He just had to wait for the right moment.

"Tra!" Luffy came busting into the room. "Is it true?! Did you, did we really join this crew?!"

"Keep it down, Straw Hat," Law said. He grabbed the young man by the arm and pulled him away from Makoto to the other side of the room. He lowered his voice and added, "I have no intention of joining this crew."

"But I thought that…" Luffy started.

"I don't care what Laden said," Law said. "This is our way to get our own ship. We should be able to handle this crew well enough when the time comes."

"You mean we're starting our own crew?!" Luffy asked with a big grin.

"Don't be stupid," Law said. "We need this ship to figure out how to get our memories back. Laden and his crew are just a means to do that. So don't go telling them about my plan."

"Right!" Luffy nodded. "I won't say a word."

Law gave Luffy a skeptical look but decided that the young man wouldn't betray him. How he knew that he didn't have a clue. He just knew he could trust Luffy with his plan. It had to be his instincts telling him this was going to be fine.