Disclaimer: Shiningheart of ThunderClan doesn't own One Piece. Eichiiro Oda does.
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Chapter 6: Another Piece Added
Nadeen finished eating rather quickly and sighed, rubbing her belly. "That was awesome... Thanks Coryn!" The blond muscle-man snorted in answer, but didn't verbally respond. He took her plate away from her and left the galley to go back into his kitchen. The redhead bounced out of her seat and stood in front of Law, a half-smile half-smirk on her face. "Ready to go when you are, Captain!"
Law's eyebrow raised in question as Penguin, Shachi, and Derek exchanged confused looks. "You don't have to call me Captain unless you join the crew, you know."
Nadeen shrugged at him and put her arms back behind her head, rocking back and forth slightly on her toes. "Yeah, I know. But everyone else calls you Captain, and I'd feel weird if I was the only one calling you by your name. Unless, you know, you'd prefer Captain-chan?" His eye twitch was enough of an answer. "So Captain it is then!" She gave a cheeky smile with closed eyes, so she didn't see Law's reaction. She imagined it was something along the lines of making a move to hurt her, but restraining himself. She did hear him leave, though, so she turned to the gathered Heart Pirates. "See you guys later!"
They gave their own farewells even as she left the kitchen and hurried to catch up with the Surgeon of Death. He hadn't gone very far, just down the hall. Law didn't look at her as he spoke. "You seem to be getting on with my crew rather well. Normally Derek annoys newcomers until they're about ready to throw him to the seakings."
She gave him a side-glance with a raised eyebrow. "Who says he didn't annoy me?" Law returned her half-glance before looking forward again. "He woke me up by literally kicking the doors in and yelling, and I quote, 'Nadeen! Time to wakey wakey!" She included an exaggeratedly huge smile and throwing her arms in the air. The pirate captain shook his head with a snort at her. Nadeen dropped her arms and a scowl returned to her face. "And then he tries to tackle me off the bed, but I'm pretty sure it was meant to be a glomp and not an assault."
Law grunted and pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "So that's what you meant when you said I'd have broken ribs to deal with. I was just planning on tricking him into telling me later and then reaping the benefits of his fear of me." She gave him a blank, disbelieving look and Law gave a smirk with a one-shouldered shrug. "I'm an asshole, what can I say?"
The look dropped from her face, dissolving into a smirk that mirrored his own. "Have fun with that. I only request that you don't break him. I haven't asked him about that stampede you mentioned yet. I still want to know what that was all about." They neared a staircase and she cocked her head to the side. "How big is this place? This is the first time I'm actually registering stairs."
The pirate captain waited at the top for her before answering. Nadeen hadn't even noticed she'd stopped walking to ask. She hurried up to meet him with a sheepish smile. Law was gracious enough to not say anything about it, though his eyes betrayed his amusement. "Four floors. The galley and kitchen take up the third floor, as well as some storage areas for non-perishable foods and engineering materials and things of the like." She nodded to show she understood. "The second floor is where the navigation room, infirmary, and various other unimportant rooms are. First floor has all of the rooming in it. That's where we're going. Fourth floor has all the engineering and mechanical things, but you won't need to go down there."
Nadeen nodded, committing it to memory. Or at least, trying to commit it to memory. She knew very well she'd probably forget it by day's end. Hopefully someone would give her a tour. Cyrus had only taken her from the infirmary to a bathroom to the galley. And she hadn't been paying attention to the path when she walked with Penguin and Shachi and Derek. "I'll probably be spending my time in the navigation room with Cyrus, then." Law gave her a sharp, flinty look. She didn't exactly hide the flinch that it brought to her, but she managed to ignore it. "Would it help at all if I said I'd be sitting down and resting the entire time?"
Law scowled at her and stuffed his hands in his sweater. Nadeen wondered if it was to withhold the urge to slap her upside the head. "No, it would not help. Cyrus wouldn't let you relax. Relaxing isn't just sitting in one place and having fun. It's letting your mind and body lose it's tension and not doing anything. If you spend your time with him, chances are your recovery rate will plummet."
She responded with a pout and a mutter while glaring at the floor, "You just don't want us around each other..." Half-expecting Law to be glaring and scowling still, she glanced up at him and faltered. He was looking away from her, mumbling words under his breath that she couldn't comprehend. "... You mean you actually don't want us bonding? Is that seriously the only reason?" His silence was about as telling as his death glare. This time, she didn't flinch. She threw her head back and started laughing. "W-What, are you worried about us g-gossiping about you?!"
He snarled at her and roughly grabbed her arm, dragging her down hallways. Nadeen allowed herself to be man-handled, if only because she nearly collapsed a couple of times from laughter. All the mental images she came up with involving Cyrus that could set the mighty pirate captain off... Stalking him through the sub, going through his trash, sniffing his laundry, watching him sleep... Oh God, her gut was going to fucking explode if she didn't stop thinking about this.
She didn't register that Law had dragged her into a room and threw her onto a bed until he pressed a pillow into her face, much like she'd done in the infirmary when she hadn't stopped laughing at him. It took longer than before to get the need for air, since she kept taking big gulps. The pillow smelled suspiciously like Law did, a mixture of musk and sweat and some kind of shampoo she couldn't identify. She'd never tell him it, but he smelled good. When she finally needed breath, she flailed her arms to try and knock him off.
Law was quicker, though. He dodged her limbs by backing away. When Nadeen looked, he was smirking condescendingly at her. She stuck her tongue out childishly after she had her fill of air. The captain chuckled as he walked away with the pillow tucked under one arm, and Nadeen took the chance to look around at the surprisingly clean room. The floor had the only carpet she'd seen so far, made of white plushy material that your feet would sink half-an-inch in. The bed she was laying sideways on had yellow covers and blankets with black pillows up against an elaborate headboard.
There was a desk on the far wall, opposite of where she was. There were loose papers on it, but folders nearby that suggested they were usually kept at least somewhat organized. To each side of the desk were two bookcases, but they didn't seem to have a lot of books in them. At least, there seemed to be spots where the books leaned to one side. Funny, she figured that he'd have more than that... Law must have seen where her gaze was because he spoke then. "Those are just the fiction stories I own. Everything else is in my office. Behave nicely and I might let you borrow one sometime!"
Wait, so this was his room? She thought he was taking her to where she'd be sleeping. A thought came to her, a ridiculous one that would probably get her killed for even saying it. But there was still some left over mischief from her messing with him, and she couldn't help but tease, "So we're sharing? I don't think Cyrus will like that very much."
She was expecting verbal retaliation, even another glare. What she wasn't expecting was for him to whip around and toss the pillow at her head with all the strength in his arm. It collided with her face and forced her half-way off the bed with a yelp. She scrambled to try and regain her position, but the neatly tucked blankets she was clutching came undone. When she fell to the ground, the blankets and sheets followed and covered her from head to toe.
-Law's POV-
Law stared in dumbfounded fascination as Nadeen yelped and fell off of his bed. It had been both instinct and reflex to chuck his pillow at her. Even after he'd yelled at her, glared at her, threatened her, she still mocked him about his navigator. It hadn't occurred to him that she'd fall off the bed. They'd both be lucky if her ribs didn't worsen. He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding when she popped up, still covered in his blankets, and shouted, "Holy shit, dude, you've got a fucking arm on you!"
He didn't reply right away. The sheets moved a bit, like she was trying to find her way out, but the movements were becoming more frantic by the second. Nadeen had somehow gotten the blankets all twisted around her and now she was having issues getting them off. He knew he should help her, but the sight was too damn amusing to just end it. Every grunt and curse she gave made his smirk grow wider until he had to hold a hand to his mouth to keep the snickers in.
One escaped, though, and Nadeen seemed to freeze. Slowly, she turned towards where he was. Though he couldn't see her expression, he got the feeling she was glaring at him. "You're laughing at me, aren't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. Just the bland way she said it made another snicker slip through his hand. "You are, dammit! You're laughing at me!"
Law forced his features into a serious face. He knew she couldn't see him at the moment, but it was more the principal of the thing. "No, of course not. My apologies, Miss Nadeen; I hadn't meant to knock you over." The mumble of 'bastard' just barely reached him, but he still heard it. "I would watch what I say, Miss Nadeen. Otherwise I might just leave you to fight against your bindings by yourself."
She immediately stopped squirming and stayed still as he walked forward. Since he could see the tangles better than she could, it didn't take much time to free her. He lifted a corner to see her pouting and glaring at him, a small pink blush on her face. The look was so undeniably cute that he had to pull the blanket back over her to avoid laughing again. This time he clearly heard her curse at him before she pulled herself out of the covers. Nadeen looked at them with a glare that could burn holes through the material before she sighed. "Sorry. I'll fix it."
Okay, this he wasn't expecting. Law stepped back in surprise when she separated the blanket and sheet. He absentmindedly caught the pillow when she tossed it at him and watched her make his bed. Normally Law felt he was a good judge of character, and that very few things could still catch him off guard. But so far, Nadeen has been throwing him curveballs at every turn.
When he met her on the marine ship, he thought she was proud and defiant. When she was telling him her story, she was quiet and compliant. Then in the galley, she talked back to him. She argued about her treatment and was stubborn. Then she was playful and childish, teasing him about Cyrus and laughing at his misery. And when she'd been eating brunch while talking with Penguin and Shachi and Derek, she'd been patient and protective, like an elder sister humoring her brothers. And even before that, when she was listing the symptoms of his insomnia, she'd been observant and calculative. Now she was being helpful and apologetic...
Law tilted his head subconsciously while she worked. He'd told Shachi and Penguin earlier that he only brought her aboard because she was a challenge, a puzzle to be solved. He hadn't really known just how difficult she would be to crack. 'Just who are you, Nadeen?' He wasn't aware he was staring until Nadeen started staring back, already done with her self-assigned task. He blinked to clear the haze from his mind and impulsively asked, "Have you ever been diagnosed as being bi-polar, Miss Nadeen?"
She drew back from him, like she'd been startled by his sudden question. Honestly, he kind of startled himself. Then the redhead seemed to think about it before shaking her head. "No, never. It was tested, though!" She beamed brightly, like the possibility of being bi-polar was something to be proud of. "Nana had a behaviorlest, or however you pronounce someone who studies the human psyche, come examine me. He said that my mood just highly depends on my environment and who's around me."
He tossed that around in his head for a bit before deciding it actually made sense. She'd been with the marines for so long that her backbone had been a sort of safety net for her to fall back on during the mistreatment, which would explain the pride and defiance in her eyes. The subdued act was probably her reconciling with her freedom. She'd been with Cyrus before she started arguing with him in the lounge, and Cyrus could put anyone in the mood to argue. Each time she acted differently, she was surrounded by different people and circumstances.
There was just one thing he didn't understand. Law fell face-first into his bed and ignored her noise of discontent. It was his bed, dammit, she didn't have to remake it. He rolled over so he was looking up at her annoyed face upside down. "Explain something to me. If your personality depends on what's going on around you, why do you find such joy in tormenting me?"
Her expression changed from annoyed to mischievous in less time than it took for him to blink. "You reeeeeeally wanna know?" He didn't answer and instead waited patiently for her to answer. Nadeen made a show of looking around them to see if anyone was listening. Just as he was starting to get impatient, she lowered her voice to a whisper and said, "You look kind of cute when you're annoyed." He felt his eyes widen in surprise. It wasn't the first time he'd been complimented, but he hadn't been expecting it from her! "Oh look at that, you're cute when you're speechless too!"
Law snapped out of it and scowled at her. He felt the heat trying to build in his face, but beat the blush back. He was a pirate. Pirates did not blush when being called cute. "Oh, shut up and get out of here." He swatted at her half-heartedly and she zoomed out the door, laughing heartily the entirely time. 'That little...' He pulled his pillow over his face and groaned a little. He was still tired, and thinking about this would just make it worse. 'Maybe I can take a little nap. Someone will come get me for lunch.'
-Nadeen's POV-
She stood outside the door to Law's room, trying to stifle her giggles before anyone heard. The last thing she wanted was for someone to discover her laughing right outside of their Captain's bed room door. They might think she was up to no good. Nadeen twirled around in a circle and ignored the twinge in her side. She hadn't let Law know that fall from the bed really did hurt, but nothing had cracked. She'd probably be sore for the rest of the day, though.
Nadeen found herself wandering aimlessly. Law had only given her the basic rundown of the submarine the Heart Pirates called home. Normally she would explore herself, get a hands-on feel of the place. But Law had made it pretty clear that she'd heal faster if she stayed in bed. He didn't want her in his infirmary, but she'd kind of pissed him off before he could actually show her which room was hers. He'd told her that it was near his room, but there were so many doors and hallways that she wasn't sure where to go. Law probably didn't want to see her so soon after her attempt at making him blush- which had been semi-successful, since he started to before getting control of himself! And no one else knew where it was.
The redhead paused before a slow, evil smile came over her features. Well, there was one person who knew where she could go... "OH JAKE!" she yelled, skipping down the halls.
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Pages: 5
Words: 2885
Me: I'm kind of depressed at how short this chapter is, compared to the other chapters... A couple of things I want to address. One: Honor Among Pirates is now my top reviewed story! I'm so happy... -sniffles and wipes away tears- Seriously, I love you guys! There were EIGHTEEN reviews for that last chapter! Keep going like this and we'll reach 100 in no time! Would it be shameless plugging to say the 100th reviewer gets a special one-shot, if they want one?
Second thing. I want to write another One Piece story, but I'm not sure who to make it about. Should I make another Law-centric fic? Or choose someone else? Keep in mind that the only characters I actually want to write are Law, Ace, Marco, or Zoro. So those are your four choices.
There was a third thing, but I forget. Kind of sad, considering this is my own story and I forget what I want to say... I think it was about Law's blatent OOC-ness, but at least he isn't proclaiming his love for her after the first few chapters...