A/N: Heeeey! I know it's been a while, but I have an excuse! I've already written up till about chapter 18 and I reeeeeeeaaaallllllyyyyy didn't wanna come back to this chapter because I'm at the part where Valerie meets the Strawhats and OH. MY. GOSH! I can't wait for you guys to get there, which means chappies should be coming out quicker now that I've finally finished typing this one. As an apology, Chapter 18 is gonna be suuuuper long, like it's currently at 11 pages, in writing, and I'm still not done! So look forward to it! Because I surely am! Is it wrong that I'm a fan of my own work? Eh, whatever. That all for now I guess. Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes, I really couldn't force myself to go back and read this chapter AGAIN. It's not back, actually one of my favorites, it's just I've had to rewrite and reread this thing so many times I'm sick of it. For now. Favorite. Follow. REVIEW!
DIsclaimer: If I owned, Ace deariest would be alive.
Chapter 16: You Should've Known Better
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A moment passed before Penguin stood. "We have to get back to the Control Room but we'll come back to check on you in an hour." He said and Shachi stood as well.
"You should look around." Shachi said, gesturing around the room with a knowing smile. Valerie narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but nodded and waved as the guys left.
Following the perverts' instructions, Valerie looked around. The room was exactly like Law's, only smaller. White walls, white mattress, white sheets, white nightstand, white lamp. So terribly colorless. An evil grin spread across her face.
'Not for long.' She thought.
Valerie sighed and flopped back on her bed, the same way she did on Law's, and held Kuma above her head. He looked down at her and kicked his legs. Valerie smiled.
"So, little one, how do you our new room?" She turned him around to look at it. When she turned him back to face her, she could've sworn he was frowning.
"I know" she said soothingly. "I liked Law's room better too, but it would be best that we don't bother him anymore." When Kuma kicked his legs again. Valerie brought him down to her chest. He looked her right in the eyes as if asking, 'Why?' Valerie huffed.
"You heard what they said, right? Law likes me. Maybe." She sighed. "But he can't. I'll only end up hurting him by leaving." She looked into the cub's coal black eyes. "I guess that means I'll end up leaving you to." She hugged him and smiled reassuringly. Whether for herself or the cub, she didn't know. "Don't worry. The guys 'll take good care of you." Sighing again, Valerie stood up with Kuma tucked securely under one arm.
"Well, enough of that girly bullshit. Let's see where these doors lead to." She said, eyeing the three doors in the room.
Moving to the one to the right she muttered, "I think this is the one leading to the hall. She opened it and stuck her head out to confirm her suspicions. "Yup, just the dull metal hallway." She closed the door and walked to the next one near the middle of the left side wall.
She open the door and sighed as the first thing she saw was white, but gasped at all the things within the bathroom. There was a shower with a separate tub, a toilet and sink, a full length mirror, and two cabinets stacked atop one another beside the sink. It may not seem like much, but it was a lot more than she expected. Smiling, her placed her little bear on the sink and looked at the cabinets with interest. "These show some promise." She said and opened the bottom cabinet first. She crouched down for a better look and rummaged through it.
Inside was one shelf. At the bottom of the cabinet was a number of washcloths and towels. What color, you ask? You guessed it. White.
"I believe a certain someone has an obsession with a certain color. What do you think Ku?" Kuma made a sound of agreement from the sink.
On the shelf was a variety of bottles. There were different scented shampoos, conditioners, and body washes. Valerie smiled, not sure if she should be insulted or grateful that the crew wanted her to smell good.
'Somehow I feel like this has something to do with how females should be. Che. Sexist jerks.' She thought.
Closing the cabinet door, Valerie stood and open the one above it and gasped again. Inside was the biggest collection of makeup she'd ever seen. Everything she'd ever need was inside, if she constantly wore makeup that is. Foundation, concealer, eyeshadow, eyeliner, makeup wipes, brushes, and more! You name it, it was in there. There were even some things she'd never seen, but she was more than happy to find out what they were. But at a later time. For now she was still exploring.
Leaving the bathroom, picking up Kuma as she went, Valerie turned to the second door and took a deep breath before pushing the door open. Valerie flicked on the lights and nearly dropped Kuma in surprise.
"Oh. My. Gosh." She said through sharp intakes of breath. It was a walk-in closet. Not very odd or surprising about that fact. What had Valerie hyperventilating was what was in the normal walk-in closet. One either side of her was a rack of clothes. The articles of clothing at the forefront were hers, the one's she'd bought with Law, however the clothing behind them were costumes. And not sweet innocent kids Halloween costumes. No. They were slutty costumes that couldn't even be called clothing because some of them were nothing more than a scrap of fabric. But the torture doesn't end there. Above the racks on white shelves, were toys.
Half of Valerie wanted to scream,blush, and slam the door. The other half, the louder one, wanted to look through the costumes just to see what the crew had picked out, and from there decide how bad she was going to have to torture them, however all the… toys would burn. All of them. And whoever's idea they were along with them.
She placed Kuma on the floor then walked over to the rack on her left and started leafing through the "clothes".
"Slutty nurse, slutty rabbit, slutty pirate, slutty...ghost?" Valerie's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as she took the costume down for a better look. "How the hell did they even manage that?" Shaking her head, she put the scrap of fabric back and continued browsing.
"Slutty waitress, slutty slut, oh!" Valerie gasped and took down the outfit showing it to the little cub. "Ah..a little too slutly for my liking, but it's so cute!" The costume she held up in front of her was a black french maid uniform, complete with a short skirt, low bust line, countless bows, and frills everywhere. Also connected to the hanger was a frilly head piece, thigh-high socks, and black garter belts to keep them in place. Right beneath where the costume had hung was a pair of black semi-flats.
"I've got to try this on!" Valerie exclaimed happily. She crouched down and gently pushed Kuma out of the closet. When he tried to walk back in she shook her head.
"Nope. You're a boy. No boys allowed where I'm changing." With that she shut the door and the little bear seemed to heave a sigh.
After thirty minutes of battling with the costume. Valerie finally emerged. Spinning around in front of the cub she asked, "What do you think?" Kuma gave her a bear smile and a small yip, translating to 'Pretty!'
"Thanks Ku! I'm really starting to think you're a lot smarter than you let on." She said with a questioning look at the little bear. Kuma made a noise and her a look that could only be described as him says, '"stupid." Valerie ignored the little bear and turned back to the bathroom.
"I think I'm going to play with some of that makeup now." Valerie and Kuma went back into the bathroom and Valerie reopened the top cabinet. Pulled out a bottle of liquid foundation, she held it up to the side of her face and in the mirror. The color matched the caramel of her skin perfectly.
"Hm… Someone on the floating bucket of death must have been, or still is, a makeup artist… or a drag queen. Which do you think Ku? I'm betting on drag queen." She looked down to him, pulling more things from the cabinet. "Glad to see you agree. Well, let's get started!"
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A knock sounded on Valerie's door an hour later. "Hey, Val! We came to check on you!" Penguin called from outside the door. Valerie looked down at herself and glanced in the mirror. An evil smirk appeared on her face. She walked to her door. She hid behind it as she opened it. Once the door was opened wide enough for them both to walk in, she peek her head from behind the door.
"Hey guys!" She said in a cutesy voice. Shachi and Penguin frozen and stared at her face. She looked just like a doll. Her skin positively glow, her eyes looked bigger with fuller eyelashes, her eyebrow nicely arched, and her lips were smaller with a light brush of pink gloss on them. Her hair was down up in an intricate twist of braids into a bun and the frilly maid headpiece sat just behind her free bangs.
Valerie put a faux expression of worry on her face at her two frozen friends and stepped from behind the door. "Are you guys o-" Before she could even finish her question the two collapsed into puddles of blood streaming from their noses.
Valerie looked down at her bloody friends and couldn't stop the evil chuckle that escaped her. She picked Kuma up from beside her and cradled him in the crook of her arm. "Ku, I think I just figured out how I'm going to get back at the guys." She said with another evil smirk. The little bear mirror her expression in his own little bear way.
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The ship was in utter chaos by the time she reached the floor below her room's. She's pasted nearly half the crew and, being the poor deprived men they were, they all fainted from severe nosebleeds. But Valerie's reign of terror wasn't over yet. Oh no. There was one very special person she wanted revenge on, and she wasn't going to stop until she found him and saw his face bloodied and unconscious. Even if she kinda didn't want to see him because of her stupid sad feeling.
Valerie walked to the training area, where she found Bepo beating up a punching bag. The poor thing looked about ready to burst. Valerie smiled and called out to him.
"Hey Bepo!" He turned to her and cocked his head to the side.
"Hello Valerie. Where are you wearing that?" He asked then quickly apologized. Valerie waved the apology away.
"It's fine. It's for revenged." Bepo nodded, a little confused what she'd be getting revenge for with but decided not to ask. Valerie poked her little cub in the head.
"Say 'hello' Kuma." The cub growled in response and turned his head away defiantly. The polar bear frowned.
"You're my subordinate." Bepo said sternly. Kuma didn't turned back and instead made a noise that screamed of insubordination. Before Bepp could respond, Law came down the stair in the training room. A deep scowled marred his face and his eyebrows were knitted in frustration.
Valerie, having had her back to the stairs, started to ask, "Bepo, have you seen-," but was interrupted. At her voice Law had looked up, not really seeing because of his anger, and his scowl deepened.
"You!" He growled out angrily.