"Ow!" whined Samei. Law grinned at the young man without pausing in administering first aid. After another moment of rubbing the anti-biotics onto the scratch on the young man's cheek, Law stepped away and began writing on the clipboard with Samei's patient records.
"You'll be fine, luckily. Just a few bruises." From behind him, Law heard a sigh of relief. Putting the clipboard back down onto his desk in the infirmary, Law crossed his arms and studied the blonde in front of him.
Samei was the newest and youngest member of the Heart pirates. He'd had a complicated past and was no stranger to violent situations, particularly since he had the same fascination with dead bodies as Law did. On top of his regular duties as chore boy, Samei often got to play with Law's leftovers as Law slowly taught him some of the principals of medicine. He was more than a chore boy, but less than an apprentice.
But still, his background just made this not right.
"So. You got jumped."
There was a blush on his cheeks as Samei's dejected and ashamed gaze glued itself to the floor. Law waited a moment, taking in every minute muscle twitch. Luckily, although Samei was many things, he was an awful liar.
"… Yeah… I… uh… might've had a drink… or four…"
Law's eyes narrowed. His crew had strict orders when it came to debauchery. They were paired up, and took turns with letting loose. One night it would be one person's turn, the next night the other person. This allowed his crew the freedom to party without inhibitions, while still being aware of the fact that they were wanted men.
That being said, Samei's partner was Quilo, who was working on obtaining information for Law. "It was not your turn to drink."
The blush only increased in intensity, as his ears turned a nice bright red. The boy began stuttering out a mumbled excuse.
"You were having sex, weren't you?"
And that's when Samei froze, guiltily catching Law's eye before returning his gaze to the floor. Law shook his head.
"Make sure you use protection when you do so. I don't need you leaving a string of children behind or catching god-knows-what from whoever you choose to keep as a bed partner."
"Y-yes, sir."
"And no more wining and dining with a partner unless you have one of the crew with you – honestly you should know better."
He nodded once, just the barest shake of his head. Law figured that he was done embarrassing the boy.
"You're confined to the ship until it's repairs are finished for being drunk on the job. I don't need you causing any more trouble while we're here, and since no one is on the ship besides you and me and Ms. M, you can clean it from top to bottom until not a spec of dirt remains."
"… Ms. M?"
Law crossed his arms, raising a single eyebrow at the tiny spark in Samei's eye. "Down, boy. She's the mechanic fixing the hull."
Samei blinked. "Our mechanic is a girl?"
"Woman, actually, don't let her size fool you – she could probably punch a hole through your stomach."
Samei's eyes went wide. Law dismissed him to begin his cleaning, and called Bepo to get him to bring Samei's things from the hotel back down to the sub. To be honest, this killed two birds with one stone. One more crew member for Ms. M to get used to, and no chance that the same thugs that beat up Samei would find him again. Law sighed. He couldn't believe that the young man had been jumped so easily.
That left a few possibilities.
Option number one, it was a fluke. He'd clearly been at least a little intoxicated in more ways than one – Law still remembered losing his virginity. Depending on the partner, it was a rather intoxicating experience. That combined with any alcohol consumed would definitely factor into the young man losing his senses. It was possible he bumped into some men who, like with Minnow, worked for the local mafia and felt some sort of entitlement. In which case it would have been a coincidence.
Option number two, he was targeted by coincidence. His crew members all wore the same boiler suit, so it was easy to identify them. If they were in the same local mafia as the men that jumped Minnow, it was possible that they saw the uniform as Samei was wandering in a daze and jumped him to teach him a lesson instead.
Option number three, he was targeted from the beginning. The woman he had been with could have slipped him something and set him up to be attacked. There were a plethora of reasons she might do that – maybe it was a husband or lover that set him up. Maybe the woman worked with the mafia. Maybe someone just didn't like Samei's sweet and innocent looking face.
Law snorted, as he knew the exact circumstances that led to Samei joining his crew. Sweet and innocent, indeed.
If it was option one, Law would want to put some minimal effort into retaliating. After all, someone had attacked his crew member. That would damage his reputation that he was working very hard to garner. If it was option two, he would put all his efforts into retaliating – but not yet. Too soon and there would be no escape if it turned into an all-out war between his crew and the local mafia group, plus it might scare off his easily startled mechanic.
Then again, his "easily startled mechanic" didn't seem perturbed when he'd insinuated killing people before.
Option three would be much the same as option two, but with the added benefit of slowly torturing a young woman and the added headache of making sure that Samei took more care in partner selection. Knowing the young man, he would blame himself for years. Meaning years of no sex for him, and Law having to deal with a young man already suffering the end of his puberty with pent up sexual frustration.
Law reached out for the den den mushi again and called Quilo this time. He was going to have to add one more thing onto his list of things to investigate.
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Law tried to relax on the deck with his book, but he was quickly becoming frustrated.
Quilo had found nothing substantial about M. One of his local contacts on the island (as Quilo seemed to have at least one on every island) only stated that she was bad news and that Quilo should stop asking. It was like an information tease. In a way, it told Law a great deal, but again nothing was concrete. No one else on the island knew her.
His crew also reported getting looks of fear from shopkeepers who were formerly friendly, which was making Law suspect that the local mob had more power than he'd initially suspected. He'd thought the woman yesterday had found out about his bounty and reputation, but he now thought that maybe it was because she had found out that his crew had pissed off the mafia.
Again, it was all just theories, coincidences, and suspicions.
Was Samei targeted and attacked? If so, was it the mafia? Was it bounty hunters? Who was M?
And goddamnit it, if Shachi and Penguin did not shut up –
"HA! You lose. Give up your sock!"
Law groaned. Shachi and Penguin had insisted on staying behind after they had inspected her work this afternoon. Supposedly, they wanted to ask her questions about what she had done, and see if she could help them solve the heating problem on the sub. They had roped Samei into a game of cards while they waited for M, which had quickly turned into a loud game of strip poker. His assistant mechanics were currently sitting in their boxers while Samei had an innocent smile and a smug gleam in his eye.
Initially, Law had been against this. But rather than tell them no, he had weighed his options and gone with the order that they were less likely to disobey.
They were to give her space and focus on making slow movements. Law informed them that she spooked easily without going into details. Despite being obnoxious and a bit self-obsessed, Shachi and Penguin were trustworthy crew members. So Law took a leap of faith.
True to their word, they stayed seated on the floor, a box of donuts opened and half eaten next to them and a plate with another wrapped meal from Couri set apart from the group. Law checked his watch. The sun had already gone down for the evening, so the young woman should be here any moment.
"This is not what we negotiated, Trafalgar Law."
Law didn't move from his spot, nor did he look up from his book. He was hoping that he hadn't jumped. He snuck a glance at his crew, but they had not noticed their guest had arrived.
"We negotiated that you would fix my ship in seven days for 500,000 beris. There was nothing saying that I couldn't visit my home in the meantime."
Law paused, slowly putting his book down and looking at his crew pointedly.
"The one with the clothes on got jumped by some local thugs. He didn't seem to think much of it, and it might have been a fluke, but I'd rather that he stay out of harm's way."
She didn't say anything, so Law turned to look at her. Whatever she had been thinking, she had long since buried it, keeping her scowling mask in place on her face. Law smirked at her.
"The other two are blown away by your work and wanted to learn a bit from you."
The scowl slipped slightly, and a blush returned.
"Tomorrow it'll just be you, me, and Bepo."
She nodded, cracking her knuckles and shifting slightly on her feet, clearly uncomfortable.
Taking the nod as his cue, Law turned towards the three amigos. "Men, say hello. M, your food is over there. Feel free to eat any leftover donuts as well."
Shachi waved jovially while Penguin loudly lamented the loss of his last sock. The only thing he had left was his underwear, meaning he was out of the game (Law had already told them that they were prohibited from stripping naked and terrifying M). Glancing at her now, she seemed unfazed at their lack of clothing.
Another thing to file away.
The scowl on her face deepened as she inched just close enough to get the plate of food.
"Excuse me, Ms. M," started Shachi, "we were just wondering if we could watch you today."
Penguin nodded his assent, and both politely and quietly waited for her to respond.
M hesitated, and then picked up her plate. Law could tell from her posture that her guard was up.
"Oh," Shachi continued, "and we're sorry about scaring you last time. Bepo got really mad at us for scaring you. Captain only let us stay today because we promised to be good, and promised to leave if you were uncomfortable."
Her scowl turned to a glare. "Damn straight I'm dammed uncomfortable. What the fuck do ya think following me is gonna do? Teach you to fucking weld?"
"Uh… Well..."
Penguin took over. "We were hoping we could pick your brain on the matter of the heating system."
She scoffed. "If you mean the fact that this thing turns into a sauna underwater, then no. A fix like that doesn't come for free, nor cheap. That's a fucking big deal."
Law blinked. That was interesting. As far as he was aware, no one had told her about the issue with the heating. She was even smarter than he gave her credit for.
"Well," began Penguin, "we were Krill's assistants, so we can at least be an extra pair of hands. And… well, we of course hope you'd join us, but if you don't then maybe following you around will teach me and Shachi enough to keep the Tang safe and well until we find a lead mechanic."
Law almost felt like the air dropped in temperature. A glare of ice turned towards him.
"… That's your plan? Butter me up and then ask me to be a mechanic on your damned ship?"
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
Double shits.
He hadn't anticipated this. Law's thoughts raced for a moment. Clearly, she was expecting underhandedness from him. She was probably also expecting him to trick her into something. Kindness is unfamiliar to her, and he'd made the mistake of being too kind.
Time to back things up.
He returned her glare. "Bepo has taken a liking to you. You can fix my ship when no one else on this thrice-cursed island can. I've lost a damned good friend and a better mechanic than you can ever be. Has the thought of asking you to join our crew passed my mind? Damn straight. But there's no 'buttering' you up. You're doing the job I'm paying you to do, nothing more, nothing less. I've told them not to scare you because you're too goddamn jumpy, and if you bail me and my entire crew are fucked. Get off your goddamn high horse, Mechanic. If at the end of this week you fancy the pirate life, then we can negotiate. Otherwise don't bother me about the fact that my crew happens to like you. Don't forget it for a moment – they've killed before, and they'll kill again in a heartbeat."
With that, he stood up. There was fear back in her eyes again, but she clearly was back in more familiar territory. Law glared at his crew members.
"Penguin, you're in charge. I'm gonna go kill people."
Penguin giggled nervously.
Without another word, Law started twirling his scalpel in his hand so that she could see it, and teleported himself out of the warehouse.
With any luck, he just convinced her that he wasn't a good guy, but that he was a reasonable one. Meaning he just convinced her that everything between them in just another transaction. It was strange that she took comfort in that.
He thought to himself as he began wandering the streets for a victim to take his frustrations out on, keeping to the Black Market district to decrease the chance of his victim being an innocent. While Law was by no means a good man, he did take some care into basic rules of conduct. His victims were in some way guilty themselves or had chosen a life where they put their lives on the line. He wasn't overly fond of rape, and strongly discouraged it among his men (who luckily enough were vehemently against it). He avoided children when possible.
She hadn't seemed surprised when he turned cold to her. She knew his name, and probably had at least some inkling as to his bounty and reputation, so that made sense. It was strange, however, that she was taking comfort in his darkness. As if that was familiar to her, while kindness was strange. And there was the fact that she was unperturbed by practically naked men.
This new discovery brought to light a new, chilling possibility.
It was possible that she was involved with the mafia.
He could be wrong, of course. Without all the facts it was possible that he was entirely mistaken. She might not be involved with them at all, she could just live with a hermit on the other side of town that beat her or something, like he'd initially suspected. A person who lived for a long time seeing the darker side of others might assume that they were all like that and get uncomfortable with kindness as she did.
Then again, mafias often worked with backstabbing, smiling and feigned kindness in order to advance personal gain. She would suspect a Law that was being nice to her as someone that could turn on her at any moment until he proved that she meant nothing more to him than a pawn would.
If she was with this local group…
It might be the same group Law was now sure had attacked Samei last night.
The question was, if this played out how he expected, it could turn out into a full-out war between himself and this mafia.
If that happened, where would her loyalties lie?
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