Fencing
Trafalgar Law sat on the rocky cliff near the wall edging the bay where his submarine was moored, turning Monkey D. Luffy's straw hat over in his hands. He had a great deal to think about, not all of directly connected to the grieving pirate who had stormed off into the trees, Jinbe at his heels. While Straw-Hat's connection to the Yonko Shanks was an interesting puzzle, it was not what his mind had returned to again and again over the past two weeks, starting even before the Marineford War.
Law was trying to pin down what had brought Straw-Hat Luffy to the attention of Pearl, the Dark King's daughter. He could see one thread and had made an educated guess at another following the announcement of Straw-Hat's parentage, but knew there had to be more than that. It wasn't the obvious connections the Surgeon of Death was looking for, but the little things. The little things were frequently more significant.
He also wanted to know more about Dracule Lisska, the pursuit of whom had been what brought the shimmering network of interpersonal connections he could barely perceive to his attention.
After the debacle at the Auction House, destroying the Bartholomew Kuma look-alike and escaping Admiral Kizaru, Trafalgar Law had indulged his curiosity and set about pursuing the interesting woman who had arrived with Straw-Hat Luffy. He knew very little about her, but quite enough for a good start: her name was Lisska, she had white hair, she had been acknowledged by 'Dark King' Silvers Rayleigh as his granddaughter through her mother, she knew the Straw-Hat Pirates very well, she had experience in flaying people and had some kind of Devil Fruit Power that enabled her to communicate at a distance. It was more than enough to find a person with on such a densely populated archipelago as Sabaody.
It took him less than a day to get a lead: Penguin came back only a few hours after leaving with news of a teahouse in grove twenty-two run by a lady called Pearl who had a daughter called Lisska. Dracule Lisska, as it happened. Law was even more curious now; while Lisska herself seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth, that her mother had somehow captured the interest of the Shichibukai Dracule Mihawk long enough for him to sire a child was noteworthy. More interesting was that this Pearl was certainly the daughter of the Dark King and so worth visiting. So he collected Bepo, Penguin, Shachi and the newly-freed Jean Bart and went to have a look for himself.
It turned out that the so-called 'teahouse' was in fact a complex worthy of being called a fortress, its true nature hidden under a layer of verandas, balconies and window boxes. Intrigued but now far more cautious, Law walked right up to the open gate and stepped inside, his crew trailing behind him. The Dark King had been a loner, but his daughter had fortified her position and likely had a very large crew backing her up.
"Welcome to the Blue Pearl teahouse," said a woman who approached him through the people milling around and streaming in and out of the building. "Are you here to dine, for tea, for entertainment or for conversation?"
Conversation? It had to be a euphemism of some kind. "It is lunchtime," Law noted, "so I think we will eat." It would be a good way to observe their surroundings.
The woman nodded, making a note before glancing up at him over her spectacles. "Will you be wanting to dine in the VIP room or in a private dining room?"
"What's the difference?"
"The VIP room has a separate kitchen and is popular with pirate crews who can afford the surcharge and want to eat without being gawked at by the general public," the woman said calmly. "There is also a wider range of dishes available."
"And the private dining room?"
"Again they have their own kitchens, but each has a smaller staff so there is a reduced range of meals and a longer wait for food. It is however totally private, accessible only to you and your guests with the option of private entertainment and conversation during or after the meal." It would also be much more expensive, Law deduced. However he liked the idea of privacy and an opportunity to ask questions.
"A private dining room please," he decided.
"Very good," the woman made another note. "Just for five, or are more people expected?"
"Just five," Law confirmed, amused that the woman who had obviously recognised him had yet to address him by name. Nor had she written his name on her notepad.
"Please step this way then sirs," the woman said, turning around and heading off through the crowd. Law followed barely a pace behind with his crew surrounding him, taking in his surroundings with interest. The construction was solid and on a massive scale, large enough even for giants to enter the central hall without bending over. However they were led down a side hall that was less high, but still massive enough than Jean Bart could have met himself coming the other way and still had room to stretch out his arms without touching hands.
"The public dining room is to your left," their guide said briskly, her shoes quiet on the wooden floor. "The tea rooms are in the opposite wing, so you will not see them. We serve traditional tea in the Wano style as well as afternoon tea and high tea. In addition to serving food we also offer private rooms for meetings or parties and rooms to rent for the night."
Law was positive they offered girls to rent for the night and other things as well, considering this was the lawless zone. Their guide was of average height with brown hair in a high ponytail and an oval face with large-lensed, circular spectacles with thin rims that made her eyes look larger. In conjunction with her sea green kimono and white apron, she looked fetching but not overly distracting. Law suspected she had door duty for that very reason.
The Heart Pirates were led around another corner and up a staircase, then around yet another corner before their guide handed them over to a much more striking young woman with pink hair wearing a peasant blouse and a short skirt. "Five for a private dining room," their guide said easily to the other girl, "they haven't decided one way or the other about extras yet."
"Very good then," the pink-haired woman said brightly, producing a key and briefly sticking her head into the room she was standing in front of. "Dining room for five!" she called out.
A lean blonde who moved like a martial artist emerged from the room, wearing a skimpy outfit that was nonetheless easy to fight in.
"Sirs, this is Amber who will be your waitress for the evening. Harassing the wait staff in this establishment will get you thrown out of the nearest window, so please don't." With that the pink-haired woman handed Amber the key and a clip board. "Enjoy your time here!"
Law blinked at the unusual addition to the introduction, but his smile didn't falter. Oh, this was going to be fun. This was definitely a place a pirate could appreciate. Feeling more interested than ever he followed the blonde in the ridiculous little pleated skirt down the hall and into the room she unlocked.
"Trafalgar Law, Captain of the Heart Pirates and crew," Amber said quietly once they were all inside the room. "Please be seated and I will fetch appetisers and drinks." She took the key away with her, but the door had a latch on the inside that could be pulled across to lock the door from the inside. Law sat down on the large, comfortable chair at the head of the table and looked around the room. It was large enough that the massive table did not restrict access around it, with five comfortable but solid chairs and two large windows on either side of a sliding door leading to a balcony in the wall opposite the door. The head of the table was at the side of the room to the right of the door, giving the person there a good view both out of the windows and down the hall whenever the door opened. A layout that appealed to his paranoia.
The door opened again and Amber returned with a large tray loaded with finger food, at her heels a girl of no more than eight carrying a tray with five glasses.
"Captain Law, this is Seras," Amber said as she deftly unloaded the food onto the table. "She will be assisting me." Seras carefully placed each glass by each pirate, biting her lip in concentration.
"What would you and your crew like to drink, captain?" the little girl recited, looking him in the eye with her hands clasped over her apron. Law smiled a little wider.
"What do you have?"
The little girl straightened her spine. "We have beer, ale, cider, huangjiu, mead, palm wine, sake, red and white wine, fortified wines and a wide range of spirits," she said decisively. "Is there anything in particular you would prefer, or do you simply want something that will complement the food?"
Law glanced at his crew, who seemed more boggled by the selection than anything else. "Palm wine for now," he decided, "and sake with the meal." Palm wine was a terribly finicky beverage to make as it had to be served on the day it was brewed, so he hadn't had any in months.
"Very well captain," the diminutive waitress said brightly, hurrying out of the room with her tray clasped to her chest. Amber remained.
"Now captain if there are any questions you would like to ask regarding the extras on offer I would be happy to answer them," she said, pushing the door closed behind her.
Law turned his seat so he could look directly at the waitress he could tell was a highly capable fighter.
"At the door we were offered entertainment or conversation," he said, lacing his fingers together. "What does each of those offers entail?"
"Entertainment covers everything from music while you eat to a pretty woman and a private room afterwards and practically everything in between," Amber said bluntly. "This is a traditional teahouse, so we have geisha for the more classically minded as well as the pretty faces and exotic dancers."
"And the conversation?"
Amber actually smiled; the expression was sly and teasing. "This is Sabaody, the pinch-point of the Grand Line. Everything headed into Paradise or the New World passes through here but some people keep a closer eye on what moves than others and all people talk. Here is where the talking happens. Any particular conversation you had in mind, Trafalgar Law, Surgeon of Death?"
Law grinned. He had stumbled upon an information market! How fortuitous. "I met Silvers Rayleigh at the Auction house and a woman called Lisska that he acknowledged as his granddaughter," he said boldly. "I'm interested in her and her connection to the Straw-Hat Pirates."
Amber looked at him, really looked at him and in that instant Law caught a glimpse of a sharp mind and the possibility of a really good fight.
"Conversation then," she said blandly. "I'm sure madam Pearl will be able to make time for such a polite and well-informed pirate." She turned and opened the door for the returning Seras. "Now that has been established is there anything particular you would like to eat?"
I didn't expect this chapter at all, but Law wanted to share what he'd been up to, so: flashback!