"I really did mean it, you know!" he said, chasing me down the hallway.

"I don't believe someone like you is capable of remorse," I hissed back, looking at the green cast on my broken hand.

I heard him mumble something under his breath, but I couldn't make out the words.

I turned around abruptly, causing him to stumble a little so that he didn't run into me.

"I want to go home," I demanded.

"No," he vetoed. "You're part of the Heart Pirates-"

"I don't know what kinda bullshit you have in your fucked-up brain, but don't you ever think that I'm one of your crew members," I interrupted irately. "Now take me back to my ship."

"Not possible," he said.

"Why the hell not?" I asked.

"Well, we don't know where your ship is, and if we did, I wouldn't take you there anyway," he said. "It takes a week for this log to set according to the bartender last night, so even if I could take you back, it would be a week until it was even possible, and since I have no desire to do that, you're stuck here probably forever."

I screamed in frustration and kept walking away.

"Nori-ya, where do you want to go?" he asked. "I'll let you pick today."

"What? I'm allowed to have an opinion now?" I asked cynically. "I want to go away from you."

"Done," he said. "Walk around town freely."

I stopped in the middle of the hall again and looked back at him.

"What?" I asked. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," he said. "I... I owe you this much."

I raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you feeling ok? You've stated before that nice isn't in your vocabulary."

He looked a bit annoyed and said, "Do you want to go out or not?"

I nodded.

"Go. Before I change my mind."

I smiled and started running up towards the deck. He was actually letting me run around town freely!

The blissful day of freedom seemed to go on forever. I walked around the lovely town and spent my time enjoying the silence and solitude.

I went into a quaint park and just stared at the fountain for a good hour or so. When that became too incredibly boring, I moved on to the shops in the town. Even though I didn't have any money, it was still fun to peruse all the shops. I saw a couple familiar faces from the crew and walked by without saying a word.

None of the town people seemed to be too friendly to me. Of course, I was wearing a notorious pirate's t-shirt and sure, that didn't make me a likely friend to society, but hey. I was a good person, Law wasn't.

And speaking of Law, not once did I see him all day. He really meant it when I said I could have alone time in the town away from him. Though, now that I think about it, all the places he'd want to go to are places I would never step foot in. So that was definitely a contributing factor to my wonderful day without Law.

Around two o' clock in the afternoon, my stomach began to hurt. Not because I was hungry, but because of my stitches. To be completely honest, I totally forgot they were there. I figured it was just regular pain that came with the healing process and dismissed it.

I began to get bored around five in the afternoon. I'd seen almost everything and I didn't have any money to buy food either. I thought about going back to the ship, but I really didn't want to deal with Law if he was there. This was supposed to be my free day from him, and I doubted that it would ever happen again.

I sat down on a bench and sighed, thinking gloomy thoughts of going back to the ship.

That's when Law appeared in front of me and said, "Come back to the ship now."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Why now?"

"You've been out here for almost seven hours, I think that's enough alone time, don't you think?" he said.

"No…" I muttered, standing up.

"I have a surprise for you back at the ship, if that makes you feel any better," he said, smirking.

"What? Is it more torture?" I asked sarcastically.

He didn't look amused. "No," he said. "Just wait."

What could he possibly have for me…? I thought.

"Wait!" I said, excitedly. "Is it my heart?!"

"No," he said. "Why would I ever give that back to you?"

"It is my heart, you know," I pointed out. "You don't own it."

"Actually, I do," he said.

I rolled my eyes.

"Tada!" Penguin said, sporting jazz hands.

He was standing in front of Law's closet.

"We got you more clothes since you're staying here with us," Penguin said happily.

"What… the…?" I said. "Why? What? How do you know my size…?"

Law smirked. "I checked the size of your shirt when I threw it away. And I checked the size of your jeans when you were in the shower."

"That's disgusting," I said, thoroughly freaked out. "That's just… Oh my god. No."

"What?" he asked. "Do you not like it?"

"Well, not how you obtained the means to get these!" I said. "You can't just go snooping around while I'm in the fucking shower!"

"Do you want me to take them back?"

"NO! What the fuck? Are you kidding me? This is great," I said. "Now I can change my jeans."

"Well," Penguin said sheepishly. "We didn't get… under things, so you can just get that by yourself tomorrow."

"Sounds good…" I said awkwardly.

"Well, there you go," Law said. "Now put something else on, the whole crew's going to dinner at one of the fancy restaurants in town."

"Yep!" Penguin said. "I hope you like everything!"

"Thank you, now leave," I said, shooing them out the door so I could change.

They really did pick out some nice things for me. I even had pajamas, too. Most of it was my style, but some of the skirts and frilly shirts I was sure I would never wear. They even got me one dress and four more pairs of shoes (one pair of black heels, tennis shoes, sandals, and combat boots.)

"A fancy restaurant, huh?" I said to myself, eyeing the dress.

I shrugged and decided to try it on. It was a bit hard with only one usable hand, but somehow I managed.

I looked at myself in the mirror and pulled my hair over to the side with my good hand like I usually did when I was the captain of the Spike Pirates. The red tips of my hair were completely faded now and I was back to being a brunette once more.

Over all, I really did like the dress; it was very beautiful on and off the rack. I picked up the black heels and put them on, becoming at least four inches taller.

Despite being one that didn't like frilly, lacey, girly things, I could walk in heels like a pro. It was a skill, I believed, that all women should learn and master.

I walked out of the room and started drifting upstairs, wandering around. Most of the crew was off the ship already.

Maybe they've all left for the restaurant… I thought.

"Oi, Nori-ya," Law said, behind me. "Let's go, everyone's waiting for you."

I turned around and started walking towards him. He just stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said. "You look… better."

"Thanks?" I said, wondering if that was a compliment.

He was wearing a nice shirt and black pants. He still wore his silly, furry hat even though it didn't match in the slightest.

"Oh, and remember, Nori-ya," he said. "Be nice."

"Aren't I always, though?" I said sarcastically.

He smirked and said, "Just do it. And that's an order."

"Fine," I said. "I'll try to maybe be a smidge bit nicer than normal, ok?"

"Perfect," he said.

The restaurant in question was fancy, indeed. The whole crew took up one of the bigger rooms and three rows of tables lined up with dozens of chairs and people smashed together.

Law sat at the head of the middle row and I sat in the seat to his left. Penguin, Shachi, and Bepo, a real bear, not a person in a bear costume, sat in the adjacent seats.

I felt sorry for the waiter and waitresses that had to serve this rowdy bunch of pirates.

I learned very quickly from talking Penguin, Shachi and Bepo that not many people liked me in the crew. In fact, I think Penguin and Shachi were the only ones.

Yes, Bepo strongly disliked me. He thought I was taking away his captain all for myself when in truth I wanted nothing to do with him.

I hadn't really ever talked to Shachi that much. He was best friends with Penguin, so that made him seem a little bit better than the rest of the crew. I found out that he was one of the ones that helped me when I dislocated my shoulder.

He was a rather sarcastic and crude individual, much like myself, but could be serious when the time was needed.

Law didn't talk much during the first half of the dinner. He responded to the occasion question and ordered what he wanted to the waiter but that was almost it for the first part.

I almost died laughing when Law said that he hated bread.

"How do you hate bread?!" I asked. "Not even sandwiches or anything?"

"Nope," he said, grimacing at the basket of bread on the table. "I hate it."

"That's really weird," I said, taking a piece of bread out of the basket. I smothered the piece in butter and stared at Law as he watched me eat it, scowling.

His eyes fell to the basket of bread on the table, grimacing and saying, "I hate it."

"Yep, the captain's a strange one sometimes!" Shachi joked.

Law narrowed his eyes at him and Shachi shut up immediately.

It started to grow quiet as the night progressed. I lost my appetite by the appetizer and didn't even order an entrée. My stomach still continued to pain me. I think that was the reason I didn't feel hungry anymore.

By the end of the meal, my stomach was churning wildly and I began to feel a bit nauseous. I cringed every time I moved for fear of upsetting it further. I knew something was definitely wrong with me by the time I started to feel really cold, but was sweating.

I swallowed up the pain, not wanting to cause a scene and put on a brave face.

"So, Nori-ya," Law said. "How was your day away from me?"

"Fine," I said. "I mean, it was great."

"Did you miss me?" he said, smirking.

"Nope, not at all," I said.

"Ah, that's too bad," he said. "I missed arguing with you."

"Yeah, I didn't…" I said, gritting my teeth as my stomach flopped over, soaking me with chills.

"Are you ok, Nori-san?" Penguin asked. "You don't look well."

"I'm fine," I said, smiling. "My hand just hurts, that's all." I quickly glared at Law for a split second and continued smiling.

"You wouldn't be sweating if it was your hand," Law said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing that can't wait," I said firmly, dismissing the subject.

When dinner was over and everyone was either drunk or sleepy, everyone trudged back to the ship and said goodnight to Law.

I'm not joking. Literally everyone said goodnight to him.

I picked up a pair of sleeping shorts and a t-shirt from my new wardrobe collection and headed off to the bathroom to change. I knocked on the door when I came back and he said I could come in.

He was still putting on his shirt when I was coming in. I blushed profusely as I stared at his tattoos that I didn't know he had. He finally put on his shirt and I looked away, thoroughly embarrassed.

Forgive me Crow for looking at him… I thought. But he really does have a nice body… What the heck am I saying?! I am engaged! Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean that I can't applaud him for being fit… Yeah, that's what I was doing.

He sat on the bed next to my while I lied down on the other side, getting ready to go to sleep.

"Nori-ya," he said. "Are you feeling ok?"

"Yeah," I lied. "I'm good."

He stared at me blankly, clearly not convinced.

"What?" I asked. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"You don't know that," he said. "What is it?"

"I just feel nauseous," I said.

He suddenly put his hand on my forehead. "You're burning up."

"So then it's a cold," I said. "Great, problem solved."

He raised an eyebrow and said, "I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth."

I groaned and said, "Fine. My stomach's been bothering me since the afternoon."

"The nausea?" he asked.

"No, like pain," I said. "The nausea came later."

"Lift up your shirt for a second," he said. "Let me see your stitches."

I hesitantly slid the end of my shirt up. He crawled over the bed and inspected them closely.

"Shit," he said. "They're infected."

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're infected," he said angrily. "Shit…"

"Why are you mad?" I asked.

"Just come with me," he said, taking my hand that didn't have a cast on it. "How could you not tell me before?! They're really bad now."

"What?!" I asked. "They just started hurting today!"

"How could you not notice it before?" he asked. "You took a shower, why didn't you see them looking black, purple and yellow?!"

"I didn't think about it, ok?!" I said. "This isn't my fault! This is yours. If you'd done your job correctly, maybe this wouldn't-"

"Shut up," he demanded. "Just shut up."

He took me back into the operating room and knocked me out before operating on my infected wounds.

The next morning he prescribed me a medication I had to take everyone morning by mouth.

"Why didn't you give me this shit before?!" I asked. "This all could've been avoided if you were a proper doctor! I'm calling malpractice. You're a real shitty doctor."

"Don't ever call me that again," he said, face becoming chillingly serious. But somehow, this was different than his other outbursts of anger. He really seemed deeply hurt by my words.

I shrunk back in terror and swallowed the pill reluctantly. "I'm sorry…" I said.

"It wasn't my responsibility to look after your wounds. You were a prisoner," he said. "And a stupid human being. Why the hell didn't you keep checking on your stitches?!"

"I forgot about them, ok?!" I yelled, angrily.

He burst out laughing. "How did you forget me cutting you open?" he chuckled.

I groaned in frustration and said, "I don't know! It just kinda… happened…"

He smiled at me and said, "You're really cute when you're angry, you know that?"

I raised an eyebrow and really thought about slapping him. "Excuse me?" I asked sharply.

"What?" he asked.

"Don't you ever call me that," I spat back at him.

"Call you what?" he implored, egging me on.

I took a calming breath and said, "I'll have you know, that I am happily engaged to the Vice Captain of the Spike Pirates, Crow. So don't you dare try to pull anything or I swear I will choke you to death with my bare hands."

He smirked and said, "Oh, are you now?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and walked away.

"You've got some broken fingers, you know," he said. "It'll be hard to choke someone with one hand."

I flipped him off and said, "Go fuck yourself."

He appeared right in front of me once again with the same scary look on his face. "Nori Kamiko-ya," he said grimly. "I've said this a million times to you and you still haven't listened to me. That is no way to speak to your captain. Now, I understand that you are mad, but I will not tolerate this again, is that clear?"

"You literally say that every other sentence," I said, not taking him seriously. "'Or else this'… 'Do you understand' that… You've threatened me to the point where I really don't think you'll do anything to me anymore. I mean, you've taken my heart, dissected me alive, kept me captive here, broke my fingers, and threaten me every day about my attitude. What else can you do to me? I have nothing else to lose here. The only other thing you could do is kill my crewmates, which is impossible. You said so yourself that you don't know where my ship is. I really don't have any reason to listen to your empty threats, do I?"

He looked taken aback.

Yep, that's right. I won an argument! Completely blew him out of the park. No way could he recover from that one. I may be physically weak, but my words just dealt a mortal wound to the Surgeon of Death.

"Now, I'm going to go have breakfast, if that's alright with you," I said. "Captain…"

I strut back up the steps and into the kitchen.

About five minutes later he came into the kitchen and sat next to me during breakfast.

"Oh, you've recovered quickly from that blow," I mocked. "Did you remember to check your stitches?"

Penguin and Shachi, who both sat across from me (and were informed of what just happened), dropped their jaws to the table. Shachi looked like he was about to burst out laughing any second and Penguin was completely horrified that I just insulted the captain.

"Captain!" Bepo said from across the table. "How can you let this horrible woman stay on this ship any longer? She's completely disrespectful!"

Law smirked angrily, but never looked at me. "If that's how you want to play, Nori-ya, then so be it. You're not allowed to leave this ship until your attitude changes for good."

"What?!" I yelled, standing up in fury. "That's so not fair!"

He stood up, looming over me threateningly and said, "So you have nothing to lose, huh? Well, I've thought of the one thing you can't bear to lose. Freedom. You'll never see the light of day again if you don't learn some respect!"

I clenched my good fist in anger, ready to punch him. But that would only make it worse. I sat down calmly and continued eating.

Everyone in the room was dead silent. Law was still standing up, looking down at me in awe.

"You… You're not saying anything?" he asked. "You're not arguing?"

"You're right," I said, finishing a bite of sausage. "Freedom is the one thing I really don't want to lose. You got me. I surrender."

Everyone stared at me. Law sat down hesitantly. "You're serious…?" he asked. "That was what it took to get you to behave?"

"For now," I said.

"I'll take what I can get," he said, beginning to eat.

Since I wasn't allowed to go outside possibly forever, I stayed in the rec room the rest of the day reading books that didn't have anything to do with medicine. Surprisingly enough, there really was only a handful. Among all six shelves around the rec room, I found about fifteen that weren't medical volumes of some sort.

Bepo came in around noon and just stared at me intently for the rest of the day, I presumed on Law's orders.

When I got bored of reading the dry books, I got up and walked out of the room to go take a nap in Law's room.

I walked into the room and ran into Law changing his shirt again. I blushed sheepishly and felt a ping of electricity run through my body.

"You could close the door…" I said awkwardly, stepping out into the hallway.

He really is very attractive… I thought. SHUT UP, MIND! I'm engaged, if you don't remember! Crow is ten times better than this cruel jerk!

"Why are you so embarrassed?" he asked, putting on his hoodie. "It's not like I'm naked or anything."

That made me think of a very disturbing image I really never wanted in my head. And that, in turn, made me blush even more- if that was possible.

I was looking at the ground when a finger lifted my chin up. Law was face-to-face with me.

"You're very beautiful," he said, smirking. "Even when you're embarrassed."

My eyes widened, thoroughly creeped out. I backed away from him and said, "What the-"

"I'll get you eventually," he said, walking passed me.

"Um…?" I asked myself, alone in the room. "What just happened…?"

Wherever my heart was, it sure was pounding fiercely.

(I don't own One Piece or any of its content. This was made for entertainment purposes only and no copyright is intended.)