Setting Sail
"Well, he's all cleaned up," Makoto said. She walked closer to Luffy and Law. Her eyes locked onto Law's. "Is there anything else you'd like me to do, Doctor?"
"Just keep an eye on him for a while," Law said. "And get him to a more comfortable bed."
"Will do." Makoto took a stepped closer to him. Lifting her hand she drug a long nail over his arm. "But I'd much rather show you to a more comfortable bed."
Law stepped away. "Pay attention to the patient."
"Monty will survive." Makoto frowned. "He's been hit a lot worse than this before. And if you're really going to be on our crew you'll need someone to show you around. Luckily, I'm up for the task. And I'll be more than happy to show you to the crew's quarters. I have my own room being the only woman on the ship."
"That'll be enough, Makoto," Laden said.
"Captain," Makoto said turning her eyes to the man standing near the door. "Why must you always sneak around like that?"
"I didn't sneak at all," Laden said. "I opened the door like I always do and stepped inside." He looked at Law and Luffy. "You'll have to excuse my little vixen. Men are often her prey."
"I've noticed," Law said.
"If you two will come with me, I'll show you around the ship," Laden said.
"Yahoo!" Luffy ran towards the door.
Law followed him at a slower pace. He grabbed his sword on the way out and placed it back on his shoulder. The weather seemed to have gotten cooler as they stepped back out onto the deck. They walked back the way they came and stopped when Laden opened the first door that Law had seen.
"This is the doctor's quarters," Laden said as he stepped into the room.
Luffy went in next.
Law then followed. Looking around the room he found it was almost wall-to-wall of bookshelves stuffed full of books and notebooks. A desk, also clutter with books, was sitting under the porthole on his right. The bed was shoved in the back left corner with a couple books spread out on the cover.
"So many books," Luffy said.
"He had a love of reading any medical journal he could get his hands on," Laden said. "A lot of them most likely will be useless to you. Like the books on women pregnancy."
"You have a woman on your crew," Law said.
"Makoto has some medical issues that don't allow her to get pregnant," Laden said. "Despite that we have had other women crewmembers who have gotten pregnant. But they are immediately dismissed. No pregnant woman is allowed on this ship. They get in the way too much. Having them here is too much of a rick for both them and their baby and the crew. As I'm sure a man of medicine you can agree."
"Understood," Law said. He said it but for some reason he didn't believe it.
"So do I sleep here as well?" Luffy asked.
"You will be sleeping down with the rest of the crew," Laden said.
"Aw! How come Tra get's his own room?" Luffy asked.
"Because that's how this ship works," Laden said heading back out the door. "A doctor can't get much work done if the crew is being noisy. So it made sense to let the doctor of the crew have his own room. Besides he'll need to be close to the medical bay if any of the wounded need his attention."
"Well thought out layout of the ship," Law said. "Did you commission it yourself?"
"Indeed I did," Laden said walking down the stairs. He pointed to the level right across from them. "That's my quarters. I wanted my room close to the deck so I could hear if someone comes aboard. I'm a light sleep you know. I also wanted to be close to the helm. On the backside of it is the navigation room. Razor doesn't like anyone going in there so steer clear unless he has given you permission to enter."
"So where's the kitchen?" Luffy asked.
"And here's how you get below," Laden said as he stood near an opening in the deck near the mast. He descended down the stairs. "This floor is where the galley, the crew's quarters, and the washrooms are. I have over fifty rooms on this floor for the crew's bedrooms." He stepped over and opened one of the doors. "Most bunk up with one or two while a couple chose to have a room of their own. My crew has a total of a hundred members so we clearly have plenty of room. Everyone on the ship is required to keep it nice and clean. And there will be no exceptions. That means you two will have to clean."
Law and Luffy peaked inside. The room had two sets of bunk beds built into the wall with four closets. Law asked, "Are all the rooms set up like this?"
"The bedrooms are," Laden said.
"So boring," Luffy said. "I'd rather steer the ship."
"You're not allowed," Laden said. "You're just part of the crew who will do as they are ordered."
"That's no fun," Luffy said frowning.
"Just be quiet, Straw Hat," Law said.
Laden lead them on down another set of stairs. "This floor is where the brig and several storage rooms are held. Most of the time we don't have prisoners. But when we do they'll be right in here."
Law sniffed the air finding it void of dirt and dust. The captain here really did keep a clean ship. He was impressed but refused to say so.
"And that's pretty much it," Laden said.
"But what about your treasure?" Luffy asked. "You're pirates so you should have treasure."
"Indeed we do," Laden said. "That's on the last floor down. But there's no need to go on down there. Nothing of importance to see really."
Law's eyebrows drew together. Laden's nonchalant of the treasure room didn't sit right with him. He was going to have to check the floor out himself at some point. That would be best once the crew was asleep. He should be able to get into those rooms easily with his powers.
"Captain, we're ready to set sail," a voice said from the floor above them.
"All right," Laden said. "Well, that does it for the tour. There's not much else to see. You'll get in the swing of things in the next few days."
"Yeah!" Luffy cheered. He ran up the stairs. "Let's go!"
Law sighed.
"He's so full of energy," Laden said.
"I'd like to take some of that energy out of him," Law said. He frown when all Laden did was laugh and head up the stairs. With a shrug he headed up the stairs. The crew was working in tandem. They lifted the large anchor, unfurled the sails, and made sure all everything with the ship was ready to sail. Within a few minutes the ship was pulling away from the cluster. He walked to the edge of the ship, leaned over a bit, and looked towards the horizon. He had no clue where they were sailing. Suddenly, the surface of the water was breech. His body jerked back when giant seahorses lifted into the air. They're scales shimmered from the water dripping off of them. Their fins looked more like wings to him as they moved through the air.
"Wow!" Luffy exclaimed. "They're so huge!"
"Are they dangerous?" Law asked. He looked up to see Luffy was leaning over the edge of the crow's nest.
"Only if you provoke them or get between them and one of their offspring," Laden said from the helm. "Most of the time they're very friendly. I've even heard tales of some sailors who have ridden them."
"What?! Really?!" Luffy asked before throwing out his hand. He grabbed one and swung up on it.
"Straw Hat! What do you think you're doing?!" Law demanded.
"I'm riding a seahorse!" Luffy called back. "It's so fun!"
"That idiot!" Law said.
Laden laughed. "Well, I guess the rumors were true. And he's going to be a handful, isn't he?"
"More like a constant headache," Law said.
"No worries," Laden said. "Sometimes the younger fellows can be reckless, but they always settle down after a while."
"I wouldn't count on him settling down at all," Law said. "And expect him to give you a lot of headaches."
"Been with him for a long time, have ya?" Laden asked.
"Not sure but it feels like a lifetime," Law said.
"That reminds me," Laden said. "You might find some books about memory loss in your room. They might not help much but they're there if you want to look through them."
"I might do that," Law said. He headed up the stairs and stood beside the captain. "By the way, how is it possible those seahorses are flying?"
"Not really sure," Laden said. "An old sea tale says that the creatures here evolved from the unique sea. As I'm sure you noticed it's different from any other water."
"Right, the sea." Law walked back over to the side of the ship. His eyes observed the dark star covered water. He wondered if they would find anyone who could give them a logical explanation, or a guess, as to why the water looked like it did. He also wondered if it was that dark under the surface. "Hey, is the whole entire sea like that or is it clear once you dive under the surface?"
"It's oddly clear when you go under," Laden said.
"I see," Law said. He looked back to Luffy. The seahorses were getting farther away from them. "Hey, Straw Hat! You better get back here for they dive under the water and you drown!"
"Oh! Right!" Luffy threw his arm back to the ship. He grabbed onto the crow's nest and retook his spot he was at before. "Hey, Tra! You should come up here! The view is amazing!"
"No thank you," Law said. "I'd rather stay right here."
"What?! Why?!" Luffy said. "Come on up here!"
"No thanks. I'll stay right he-" Law was cut off by Luffy's hand landing on his shoulder. His body then hurled through the air. Everything turned upside down before the air in his lungs vanished when his back hit the floor of the crow's nest. "Straw Hat! You're going to pay for that!"
"Sorry." Luffy laughed.
Law picked himself up and adjusted his hat. The temptation to slice Luffy's head off was great, but he picked up his sword, turned away from the young man, and watched the horizon. It seemed to be shrouded in mysteries. Yet somewhere out there were the answers to who they really are and where they had came from. And so were his answers to whom that girl was who spoke to him.
"Wow! This is so cool!" Luffy said leaning over the edge with his arms spread out wide. "Yahoo!"
"If you fall overboard I'm not going to rescue you," Law said.
"Of course you will if I need your help," Luffy said. "But I can save myself with my Gum Gum stretchy powers thing."
"Nice title," Law said. He stayed up in the crow's nest for ten more minutes before warping himself back down to the deck. Looking around he found the pirates were scattered doing their own thing. So he walked over to the wall, sat down, and let the brim of his hat drop over his eyes for a nap.
Law stood staring at her. The girl was standing beside a large white flower. She was looking up at the sky so he wasn't sure if she knew that he was there. But she did seem him. She glanced over in his direction; some form of blur hid her face from him. Her delicate hand lifted up, reaching for him to come to her. He did. He walked over to her without hesitation and placed his hand in hers. Her hands were soft and looked very small next to his. "Who are you?"
"I am you," she said.
"What does that mean?" Law asked.
She stepped closer to him.
He noticed she was a whole head shorter than he was. The top of her head came to his chin. Without thinking he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to his body. His heart skittered. His stomach turned into a flock of butterflies. "Where are you? Where can I find you? I need to see you."
"I don't know where I am," she said. "But we will find each other."
"But how?" Law asked. "I don't even know who you are. I don't even know who I am."
"Keep going," she said. "Just keep going. We will find each other."
"What does that mean?" Law asked. She started to fade away from him. "Wait! Where are you going?"
"I don't know," she said just before completely vanishing from his sight. The world around him went dark and cold. Glowing red eyes with yellow irises stared back at him. In the darkness it smiled, showing its pearly white teeth. "Who are you?!"
It's smile only got bigger.
"Are you holding her hostage?!" Law demanded. "If you hurt her so help me I will kill you!"
Deep laughter broke out from the smile before it too vanished before him.
Law woke with a startled gasp. Sweat ran down his forehead and cheeks. He placed a hand on his face. "That girl again. That's the second time…"
"You okay, Tra?"
Law looked up to find Luffy squatting in front of him with a concerned look on his face. Looking past him he saw several of the crew were also staring at him. "What?"
The crew looked away from him and continued talking amongst themselves.
"You were talking in your sleep," Luffy said.
"I was?" Law asked.
"You were saying something about killing someone," Luffy said. "What were you dreaming about?"
"Nothing important," Law said. "It was just a strange dream."
"Okay then," Luffy said. "You're the doctor."
Law frowned at him.
"You really shouldn't be up yet!" Makoto yelled.
Law and Luffy looked up towards the upper deck to see Monty was coming down the stairs with Makoto following.
"You just got shot in the stomach for crying out loud!" Makoto said.
"Hush, brat," Monty said. "This little scratch is nothing. I have a job to do here."
"You can't do that job if you're dead!" Makoto said. "So go back in that room and get some rest! And don't call me brat!"
"I'll call you that all I want to, brat," Monty said. The man's limp was more noticeable when he reached the deck. Some of the crew cheered and welcomed him back but didn't move from where they were sitting. "'cuz that is exactly what you are."
"And you're an old geezer who needs to just die already!" Makoto stomped down each step. "And that's exactly what's going to happen if you don't get some rest! Why don't you ever listen?! Seriously! It's a wonder that you're not dead yet!"
Monty's eyes landed on Law and Luffy. "I heard we got some new crewmates. Which one of you is the doctor?"
"He is." Luffy pointed at Law.
"You, huh?" Monty eyed Law. "Kind of young for a doctor, ain't cha?"
"No," Law said despite not remembering how old he was.
"Such an embarrassment being saved by a snot nosed brat." Monty shook his head then laughed. He winced at the pain in his stomach. He stopped laughing and grabbed his stomach. "Ouch."
"See? You're not ready to get up." Makoto crossed her arms and leaned against the mast. "Get back into bed."
"Hush, brat," Monty said. "Anyway, I do thank you for saving my life. If it wasn't for you I would surely be dead."
"Just go back and lie down," Law said. "You're going to kill yourself."
"That's what I just said," Makoto said.
"I'm just fine," Monty said. "I have a lot of work to do on this ship. I'm the cook you know."
"So what's for dinner?" Luffy asked. "Something good I hope!"
Monty chuckled. "A hungry one, eh? Don't worry, sonny, I'll cook you up something good."
"Monty!" Everyone turned their eyes to the captain as he walked down to the deck. "It's good to see you up!"
"That it is," Monty said. "I assume the mission went as expected?"
"Indeed it did." Laden hugged Monty.
"Captain, tell him to go lie back down," Makoto said. "He's going to kill himself."
"I thought that's what you wanted, brat." Monty smirked.
"Monty knows his body best," Laden said. "If he wants to be up then he can be up."
"Fine!" Makoto, throwing her hands in the air, stomped back towards the medical bay. "Then don't come crying to me when your favorite cook drops dead in his stew! I'll just say I told you so! And serves you both right!"
"Gotta love that little spitfire brat," Monty said with a light chuckle.
"So when are you going to start cooking?" Luffy asked.
"Impatient one," Monty said. "The name's Monty."
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" Luffy grinned.
"Trafalgar Law," Law said.
"Nice to meet you both. And welcome to the crew," Monty said.
"Thanks! It's great to be here! This is so exciting!" Luffy said.
Law huffed and wondered if Luffy forgot their plan or if it was just this stupid. He decided it didn't matter. As long as Luffy didn't reveal his plan to anything it would be fine. And maybe with Luffy excited about sailing the younger man wouldn't bother him as much.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some food to prepare," Monty said before descending down to the next level of the ship.
"I'm coming too!" Luffy said. He followed Monty but paused on the stairs. "Are you coming, Tra?"
"No." Law stood up and headed for his room. "I'm going to do some studying on memories loss."
"Sounds boring, but okay! See you later!" Luffy continued on down the stairs.
"Need some help?" Makoto asked just before Law got one boot on the stairs.
Law looked up to find Makoto draped on the railing in a ridiculously seductive manner. She had apparently changed clothes at some point and was wearing a short skirt with the side obviously ripped on purpose to show more of her thigh. He continued up the stairs and brushed past her. "No."
"You're no fun," Makoto said. "I could help you. I helped the previous doctor before."
Law opened the door and slammed it behind him without giving her another glance. After a few minutes of scanning the books he plucked two off the shelves and sat down at the desk. He placed his hat beside the books, his sword against the wall, and started reading.
…
"Wow!" Luffy exclaimed upon walking into the kitchen. Several triangular tables were lined up in the large room. In the backside of the room there was an L shape counter tops, including a stove, several cabinets, and a large refrigerator. In the middle of the kitchen was a square fire pit with a vent above it for smoke to escape from. "This place is huge!"
"Has to be to accommodate a crew of our size," Monty said pulling a large pot out of the corner of the room. He placed the handle in the hook over the pit then moved over to the fridge.
"So what are you making?" Luffy asked. "I hope its meat."
"You like meat, eh?" A wave of cool air rushed through the room when Monty opened the fridge.
"I love it!" Luffy said. "Or I think I do. I ate a lot of it when we caught that one fish before. And it tasted really good."
"Well, you might have a thing for meat then," Monty said pulling out a large piece of fish. "Your memories might be gone but your stomach and taste buds are still around."
"You making fish?" Luffy asked moving into the kitchen.
"A fish stew," Monty said placing the fish on the counter. "You'll love it."
"As long as it had a lot of meat in it," Luffy said reaching for the fish.
"It'll have plenty of meat I assure you," Monty said. He slapped Luffy's hand away. "Now don't bother the fish. No one can eat anything until it's all done."
"Can't I have a snack?" Luffy asked.
"No, you may not," Monty said. "We eat only when all of the food is prepared and everyone is ready to eat. And no snacking without my permission."
"What?!" Luffy gasped. "No snacks?!"
"We have to save all the food we can," Monty said. Pulling a knife from a drawer he started cutting through the fish. "And that means I have strict control and very strict rules over how much people eat."
"You can't be serious!" Luffy said. "What if I get hungry between meals?!"
"Are you hard of hearing? I said no snacking without my permission," Monty said. "I allow the crew to eat the right amount of food required for their height and weight. If I just let them help themselves to the food in here then we'd never have anything to eat. And don't think you can sneak in here during the night. My cabinets and the fridge have locks on them."
"Hm?" Luffy looked around. Several cabinets, a panty, and the fridge all had locks on them. "What?! Why are there locks on the food?!"
"You're a dense one, ain't ya?" Monty asked. "I assure you that my meals give everyone the correct amount of nutrition that a man needs. And you and your friend will be no different. Now you are permitted to buy food of your own and keep it in your room, but the food in here isn't for your taking when you feel like it."
"That sucks," Luffy said. "And your captain allows this?"
"He has approved of this," Monty said. "It's been like that since we've been sailing the seas. And that's been several years."
"So boring!" Luffy ran towards the door and back up to the deck. He looked around at everyone. They all were gathered in groups of three or more. He walked over to a group that had cards scattered between them. "Hey, what you doing?"
"Playin' poker," one said. "What does it look like?"
"Oh," Luffy said. "Can I play?"
"You got any money?" The man looked up at him.
"No," Luffy said. "And Law said I couldn't gamble because of that."
"Then leave us alone." The man turned his eyes back to his cards."
Luffy turned from them and looked over the crew again. Finding them uninteresting he headed up towards Law's room and entered into it. "Hey, Tra?!"
Law sat at his desk and didn't reply.
Luffy walked around the room before pausing behind Law. "So have you found anything of interest yet?"
"No, not yet," Law said. "This book is about head injuries. I highly doubt that's what's caused our memory loss. We don't have any kind of head injury."
"Hm." Luffy hummed. "So what was your dream about?"
"Why?" Law asked.
"Just asking," Luffy said. "You seemed rather shaken by it."
"It was nothing important," Law said. Part of him wanted to tell Luffy about it. But he remained quiet.
"So when do you think you'll put your plan into action?" Luffy asked.
Law's eyebrows rose. So Luffy did remember his plan. "I'm not really sure. We'll just wait and see what happens. While we've seen some of this crew in action we still don't know what they are capable of. If we get lucky we'll spend some time in a fight, whether from an enemy or within the crew. That way we'll see more of what they can do."
"Or we could just steal the ship from them," Luffy said. "Like when they're on an island or something."
"That's also a possibility," Law said. "But like the other plan, we'll still need to know what the crew can do. I doubt Laden will leave his ship unguarded at any point in time. And with how that one person was able to life us off the ground…if it wasn't for my powers, or whatever, we would have been killed right then and there."
"I see," Luffy said. "You think others who have abilities like that?"
"It's possible," Law said. "That's why we need more information on this crew." He looked up at Luffy. "Besides, even if we got this ship immediately, it's not like we know where to take it."
Luffy hummed before smiling. "It doesn't matter. We can just sail around until we get lucky and find someone who knows what's going on."
"I doubt it'll work that way," Law said. "Is that all you wanted?"
"No," Luffy said. "I just came up from the kitchen."
"And?" Law probed though he figured he wouldn't like the answer.
"That crazy cook doesn't allow snacking!" Luffy said. "It's terrible! We're only allowed to eat when he says we can!"
"What?" Law asked.
"It's true!" Luffy nodded. "How am I going to survive if I can't eat?!"
"You won't die if you're getting three meals a day," Law said.
"But that's not enough!" Luffy said.
"Then you'll just have to catch some fish and eat that," Law said. "Does he have anyone laws against that?"
"No," Luffy said. "He said we can have snacks in our rooms. And he never said we couldn't use the kitchen."
"Then there you go." Law turned back to the book. "You're not going to starve after all."
"Yes, I am," Luffy said.
"Why don't you go bother someone else?" Law asked.
"Everyone else is busy," Luffy said.
"And so am I," Law said. "But you don't seem to care."
"You're my friend," Luffy said.
"The crew can be your friend," Law said. "Maybe they'll fish with you."
"Yeah! Everyone loves fishing!" Luffy ran for the door. "See you later, Tra!" Stepping outside he found one man was walking towards the edge of the ship with two fishing poles in hands. Smiling he ran down to him. "Hey! Can I fish with you?!"
"Uh, sure," he said passing over a fishing pole.
"Great!" Luffy took the pole and sat upon the railing. He dropped his line in and laughed. "This is so much fun!"
…
Law stared up at the ceiling while he waited for the ship to go quiet. He read books all day, only stopping to eat when it was time. He never found anything that would suggest what caused their memory loss. He tried to think of other ways that could cause amnesia. Nothing came to mind. Finally the ship had fallen silent. So he got up from his bed and walked over to the door. He opened it half of an inch and listened. Everything on the deck was quiet as can be. Closing the door he grabbed his lantern then spread out his Room. "Room. Shambles."
His room disappeared. He reappeared in one of the rooms on the lower level. The light of his lantern washed over the room. Sparkling jewels appeared before him. He walked closer to a pile and knelt down beside it. There were several different gems and gold coins scattered all over the place. Picking a red gem up, he inspected it. "Doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary."
He placed the gem back in the pile. If they needed to steal some they could do that later. Laden might be the type that keeps a close eye on his treasure. And getting caught was the last thing on his mind. He warped to another room. It was the same as the last, full of jewels and gems. Four more rooms ended up being the exact same as the next. The next room, however, delivered something new. The treasure inside of this room was neither gold nor any kind of gem that he had seen in the other rooms. They were all sizes from half an inch to two feet long. His lantern beamed over the crystal blue jewels and matching glowing crystal blue spots peppered the walls and ceiling. It was only a small pile but the glow was brighter than his lantern. "Now this is interesting. What kind of jewels are these?"
Footsteps near the door made his heart skip a beat. Someone grabbed the door handle and jiggled it. He warped behind a crate and shut his lantern off a spilt second before the door opened.
"I can't believe the captain added those two," a man said. A light ran over the room, highlighting the jewels before scanning over the walls.
"Yeah," another said. "But he's the captain. So what can we do? Looks like all the jewels are here."
"I hate that we're having to sail with these things," the first one said. "I'll be glad when we get rid of them."
"Yeah, well, you know how the boss wants them."
"True. But why do we have to find them? He might be all powerful and running the-" The door closed.
Not waiting around to see if they'll come back, Law warped himself back to his room. Turning off the lantern the light from outside spread out in his room. He placed the lantern down on the desk then sat down on his bed. "What were they talking about? I'm sure they weren't talking about their captain. So whom are they working for really? Are they part of a bigger crew of pirates and this captain is only the captain of this ship? At least I know Laden has his crew guarding the treasure rooms or at least that one." He glanced over at the door. "I wonder what their mission is here."
Sarge1130: Thanks. This is the first time doing a story like this so it's probably not going to be all that good. It won't be very long either.