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Me: Oi! I can too be good for something!

Disclaimer: -raises eyebrow- Oh? Care to elaborate on that?

Me: Yeah! I can be used as a bad example!

Disclaimer: ... -rubs temples- Just start the damn chapter...

Me: Shout out to Kiteria, who reviewed every chapter so far!

Chapter 11: Tension Rising

The group of Heart Pirates, plus Nadeen, stared at the door to Doc's office with varying faces. Law and Nadeen's expressions were blank, not letting anyone see what they were feeling. Shachi and Penguin were exchanging dark looks, while Cyrus and Sam were both baffled. There were voices inside, all recognizable and all yelling. Mostly Doc and Mitchell were yelling at each other, but the quiet voice of Michael was there too.

Nadeen hadn't heard the younger brother speak before. Where Mitchell had a friendly voice, Michael had a soothing one. Their respective natures suited them, Nadeen thought. And so she wondered why such an argument might come up. Doc was apparently going to retire soon. The sub would be his last job before leaving the shipyard to one of his two sons. Mitchell was the elder, and the business should have rightfully gone to him. In his mind, at least.

Michael didn't really seem to care much, so long as he was able to work with ships. They were more than just his hobby, or even his work. Fixing and building them were his life, and something he'd do until the day he died. Whether Mitchell was in charge, his father, or himself, Michael would be happy. In fact, he seemed to prefer one of the former.

That was why Doc chose him instead. Mitchell would sell the business if he ever got bored with it. He only worked there as a necessity. If he ever decided to leave the island, the shipyard was doomed. And since he'd gotten 'attached' to Nadeen, it was likely he might ask either her to stay or Law if he could join.

Penguin, who had let Nadeen down but still had a supporting arm hooked around her waist, muttered from the side of his mouth, "So it's all your fault." It earned him a hard elbow to the sternum, and his breath rushed out of his lungs in a rushed but quiet, "Ooph!"

The door in front of them abruptly opened and Mitchell ran out. He didn't even seem to spot the pirates, though he shouldered bodily between Penguin and Shachi. Nadeen grunted when Penguin instinctively tightened his hold on her. It wasn't a painful grunt, since that wasn't a wounded spot, but more one of annoyance. The grip he had on her seemed possessive, and that was kind of against the image she was trying to make.

She elbowed him in the gut and morphed her expression into one of concern, just in time for Doc to step outside of his office with a disgruntled expression. "I suppose you heard all that, huh?" he grumbled with narrowed eyes. All of the gathered pirated nodded, waiting to see what he'd do next. "Can I ask you not to mention it to anyone outside of this group? I don't want it to get out that I'm retiring and leaving the business to Michael instead of Mitchell."

Nadeen looked at Law from the side of her eye. It was really up to him if any of them could speak, though she didn't see why any of them really had a reason to. The pirate captain looked at the old man in thought before nodding. "I'll have to tell my first mate, but aside from that, I don't see how it's any of our business." Law ignored the sigh of relief and went on with the reason they came. "I need access to my medical equipment. It seems a certain someone doesn't understand the meaning of the phrase, 'Keeping the hell still'."

He gave Nadeen a half-annoyed, half-amused look. She stuck her tongue out at him before faking a cringe, trying to play the pitiable injured person. By the way Doc's expression softened, she guessed she was doing a pretty good job. "Alright. It's only the outside that needs maintenance, so allowing you in won't disrupt anything. Though, if I may ask, how did you get so injured in the first place?"

Doc's tone and face betrayed only honest curiosity as he led the Heart Pirates towards their submarine. Nadeen half-smiled, half-smirked. "I'm glad you asked, Doc! It's an epic tale of keeping strong in the face of adversity! A tale of such corruption and horror that I hesitate to even speak a word of it! Take heed of what you ask, Mister Doc. The story might very well invade your dreams and become your worst nightmares!" From all around, there came snickers and poorly concealed chuckles. The story was indeed horrible, but nothing as extravagant as one might think from the way she spoke.

The elderly man glanced at her for only a moment before smiling and facing forward again. "You fell down some stairs, didn't you?" It was so far off the mark that Nadeen wasn't the only one to blink. "Aye, you'd be good for Mitchell indeed. He pulls the same crap whenever he has a simple injury. Last week, he got a burn on his hand from forgetting his gloves for welding and said he faced a dragon all on his lonesome and that he barely got away with his life!"

Somehow, she could actually see that. He gave off that kind of vibe. Nadeen wondered if she should correct the old man and looked at Law from the corner of her eye, trying to gauge his thoughts from his expressions. She was surprised to see him doing the same, and they held a silent conversation that none of the ones around them noticed.

She tilted her head towards Doc and blinked in an inquisitive manner. Nadeen half-wondered what she'd do if Law didn't understand her intended question: "Should I tell him the truth?"

A small frown tugged at the pirate captain's face and he subtly shook his head while slowly blinking his own eyes. She was amazed at herself when she found she had no troubles deciphering his meaning. "Not yet. I want to see how this plays out first."

She nodded in acceptance before forcing a slightly sheepish giggle and redirected her attention to Doc. "It was actually my fault, really. I was making fun of one of the Heart Pirates and he chased me around for a bit before. We weren't paying much attention to anything and there were puddles on the floor, so when I went to go downstairs..." Nadeen trailed off, letting Doc draw his own conclusions.

-Law's POV-

Law admitted to himself that she was actually believable. Not that the story was entirely false, considering what had transpired previous to the meeting with the sea king. He wouldn't have believed her, of course, but that was because he was naturally distrustful of what others told him. Doc, bless his naivety, didn't seem to think Nadeen was even capable of lying. He laughed so loudly it echoed. "And who was it that made you fall?"

From the corner of his eye, he saw her flash a cheeky grin his way. "No one important, don't worry about that." Law wasn't sure if he wanted to scowl or smirk at her. He was still feeling rather playful, though, and so gave an exaggerated hurt face just bordering on being a pout. Nadeen put a hand over her mouth to hide the smile, and she quickly looked away from him. He wondered if she was trying not to laugh.

They walked for a bit more, and Law felt Nadeen slow down before forcing herself to keep up. He frowned and questioned somewhat sharper than he'd meant to, "Just how far is my submarine?" If he thought they were capable of it, he'd be worried about an ambush. He'd left his nodachi with Bepo back at the hotel they'd all temporarily moved to. The only weapon he had on him was a scalpel he always kept in his pocket. Some pirates were never without daggers or guns. Nobody payed attention to a tiny little blade when he carried a huge ass sword around with him.

Doc gave him a nod, like he knew and understood his worries. "What, you think I'll just leave a pirate ship blatantly out in the open? The jolly roger is painted on the freaking side. What am I gonna do if an official from the marines drops by, throw a sheet over it and hope they don't ask about it?" He shook his gray-haired head with a snort. "I had some of your boys put it in the back, where it can be hidden."

Nadeen sighed and stopped, making the group stop with her. Law saw the way she cradled her side and frowned. There was no telling how much damage was being inflicted on her injuries with all this movement. She was probably in greater pain now than she really cared to admit, but Law was starting to think she'd rather suffer than be seen as weak. He could relate, in a way. "How much farther is it? I was already carried once today. I don't want to ruin my pride any more than it's been!" Oh, that he could definitely relate to.

The old dock worker gave a sheepish smile to the lady. "Not much farther, I promise. I didn't know your ribs were hurt too when I moved the sub." He gave a thoughtful pause before continuing. "Though, now it makes sense why Captain Law asked if you were accident prone."

The words flew from Law's lips before he could stop them. Really, since when was he this impulsive? "Which she is." Oh, right. He became impulsive when he first saw the face she made to his teasing. A mix between an annoyed glare and indignant pout. To keep up appearances, he continued, "You fell down stairs, sliced your arm open, and may have further cracked your ribs all in one week. You can't deny that, even if you're not accident prone, you have some serious bad luck."

The annoyed glare dropped, but the indignant pout was ramped up. "Do not. It's just your ship. It hates me."

Penguin grinned mischievously at her. "That may explain the first two, but what does the ship have to do with your possibly hurting yourself more than you already were?" Nadeen scowled at the engineer, who laughed out loud. "No response? You know we're right!"

She stuck her tongue out at him and said, "You two are mean. I'm gonna walk with Sam now." She slowed down to take the arm of the mostly silent 15 year old, who blinked in confusion. "Sammy loves me, don'cha Sammy?" Sam blinked and looked at Law, as he if was really asking for permission to answer. Law resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Even after two months on board, Sam still didn't know how to act like a normal person. Nadeen shook his arm to make him look back at her. "No no no, don't look at him! Look at me!" He looked pointedly away from her and whistled innocently. "Sammy!"

Everyone laughed at the pathetic if comical image she portrayed, even Law who usually just smirked in amusement. Cyrus picked her up gently and set her on his shoulders, since the ceiling was far above their heads. "How's this, love? You get to keep your pride and get first sight of the sub!"

Law had to take a step back to avoid getting a crick in his neck when he looked up at her. Cyrus was freaking huge. He was a foot taller than Bepo, who was already one of the tallest on the crew. Nadeen's face had such a childish excitement on it that the pirate captain almost, almost, found himself giving a genuine smile. "Holy shit! Cyrus, dude, how tall are you?" The only way it could be better was if she gave a squeal of happiness. Law was kind of glad she didn't, though.

The Surgeon of Death took this time to annoy her further. Really, it was becoming a bad habit. An amusing one, of course, but bad all the same. "The better question is, how old are you? You're acting like a child sitting on a parent's shoulders in a carnival!" It suddenly occurred to Law that he didn't actually know her age. It didn't really affect the treatment, since she seemed to be close or at least near his own age, but it was his curiosity once again rearing it's head. "Actually, I don't really think you ever told me your age."

Nadeen leaned on Cyrus's head to look down at him. "Silly Law, you never ask a woman's age! It's considered rude among my species!" Law waited patiently while Shachi and Penguin snickered. The redhead giggled as well before complying. "22. My birthday was about two months ago. What about you?"

Since he didn't think it was important, he shrugged and answered, "24." Nadeen whined and pressed her forehead against the top of Cyrus's head. Law chuckled and said, "I'm honestly quite surprised Mister Cyrus hasn't already told you everything about me." The grumble that came afterwards was unintelligible. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Nadeen picked her head up only to blow him a raspberry and regain her place. Law decided he wasn't going to get anything more from her without her being immature, so he switched his attention to the amused-looking Doc. "What can you tell us about Chelydrus?"

The good-natured air around the old man disappeared to be replaced by a somewhat depressed state. "I can tell you quite a couple of things about it. Like how it killed my wife and countless others when it first appeared ten years ago." Even Nadeen perked up in interest. "We used to be a big tourist attraction. There are undersea ruins down by the south. People used to pay us to take them down to explore. My wife, Marcelle, was a tour guide. And a rather loved one at that! No matter how many times she visited those old buildings, she never lost her enthusiasm.

"It was a day like any other. Even better, in fact. The mini-sub she used to go to the ruins was full, sold out. We'd be set for months! They were gone for hours, which I didn't think was all that long. Usually she was gone all day. But the sea just kept getting rougher and rougher, huge waves slapping up against the beach. I was getting more and more worried as the day wore on. That night, I went to the southern beach, where the sub usually is..."

He took a shaky breath, as if preparing for the next part. The pirates let him collect himself for the next bit. But when he didn't continue, it was surprisingly Shachi who prodded him further with a gentle, "And what did you find?"

Doc took a big gulp and, when he spoke, his voice was strained. "The beach... There were..." Law looked at the elder man and saw tears were dripping silently down his cheeks. "Metal scraps. From the sub. I recognized the logo on one of them. The ocean... It was stained red that day. Marcelle, the driver, and everyone that had left that day... All gone." Though his shoulders shook, Doc made no noise. They all watched him, but none stepped forward to comfort. "I'm sorry." Doc wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "I just... I still haven't gotten over it, after all these years."

"You wouldn't." It took a moment for Law to understand where the words were coming from. To his surprise, it was Sam. Everyone, even Doc, turned to look at him in shock. But the young one turned away to avoid looking at any of them. The weight behind the words made it sound like someone much older was speaking. "That kind of pain never goes away. It proves that, even now, you still love her. You haven't forgotten about her. And that's the only thing you can do; remember her. Remember her laugh, her smile, all the good and bad times you went together. Doing that... Well..."

He turned to look at everyone again, the smile on his face soft and understanding. "It's like she's still here, right?" No one responded, and Sam turned to his captain with that same smile on his face. "I'm gonna scout ahead." Law didn't argue and instead nodded, watching along with everyone else as the young pirate ran ahead.

Words: 2710

Pages: 5

Me: Okay, so it wasn't all that actiony. But it was still heavy, right? Thanks for reading, now review!