"Kudra, Law. Seriously, what's your aversion to bread?" Karmen helps herself to a bowl of rice and fixes another in one of Bepo's oversized dishes.
The man's shoulders stiffen but he gives no other sign that she'd surprised him. He looks at her over his shoulder with steely eyes. "Secretary-ya," he says in form of greeting. "How did you got on my sub?"
"Torpedo chute," she says matter-of-factly.
He looks at the towel around her neck and the food in her hands. "You're making yourself at home, I see."
"Oh, please," she drawls, waving her hand to draw his attention to three dripping baskets of vegetables in the corner. "I brought a trade."
He sighs, but she takes it as a general sign of acceptance. His eyes scan the room. "I take it you didn't come here alone?"
"He's here. I sent him to find Bepo for me." Law's scowl deepens. "Listen, about Pierce-"
"Captain! Pierce is on the sub! I think Karmen-" Bepo enters the kitchen and stops when he sees his captain glowering at Karmen as she finishes lumping rice into the larger bowl. "Oh." His surprise is replaced with a wide, toothy grin. "Welcome back."
Law turns his glare to his navigator. "Don't be so quick to welcome uninvited guests."
A low chuckle sounds behind Bepo. "I'm pleased to know you still consider us guests, invited or otherwise." Pierce steps into view and bows deeply. "It is good to hear your voice again, Sir Law." Karmen hands him the large bowl as he rises.
"So, you're still alive." Despite obviously still being irritated about their sudden appearance, he can't hide how his eyes soften the smallest amount as he sees his former patient. He looks back at Karmen and finds her grinning at him. His glower returns, but it's obviously just for show. He closes his eyes and leans his large sword against his shoulder. "While you're here I may as well give you a follow-up exam."
Pierce and Karmen set there bowls down at the table. Pierce sits while Karmen runs to the polar bear and leaps at him. "I missed you, B!" They throw their arms around each other and hug as they continue their greetings. He bends his head down so she can rub his ears while they laugh and mutter conspiratorially about catching up later.
Law sighs and joins Pierce at the table and Karmen eventually returns to her food. He allows them to take a few bites of rice before prompting her to speak again. "Why are you here?"
"Where did you sell that gold seal I traded you?"
His eyebrows shoot up. "Don't tell me you need it back."
She shakes her head. "Not at all, dearie. I just have more contraband to get rid of."
"What kind of contraband?"
"Celestial Dragon heirlooms." The flippancy of her voice suggests that it's quartz replicas that she's planning to sell. She reaches into the front of her diving suit and pulls out a long chain of jewels, unmistakably real.
Law exhales and a tension runs through his body, so subtle that you'd have to have observation haki to even notice it. "You like living dangerously, Secretary-ya. I'd appreciate you getting that off my submarine before anyone comes looking for it."
"Gladly," she says, tucking the necklace away. "As soon as you share." His eyes narrow, but he relaxes some. "You're a man of science, meaning you did your research and found someone with no connections to Doflamingo or the Gallowcombs. Someone who wouldn't turn around and shoot you in the back for passing contraband of this caliber across the table."
He smiles for the first time as he leans across the table, placing the fingertips of one hand on the surface. "Our partnership only goes so far. A name like that is valuable."
"How about twenty names in exchange for a reliable fence?" Karmen reaches into her suit again and slaps a thick folder wrapped in plastic near his hand. He moves to reach for it and she pulls it back. "You're still looking for hearts of influential pirates to trade for the immunity of a Warlord's status, aren't you?"
"Room." The folder is suddenly under Law's hand, leaving the plastic under hers. Karmen merely eats her rice while he flips through it. He looks at her over the top. "This is intricate."
She swallows a mouthful. "I have sources, but I don't have a fence."
"Chambers." A pen and pencil appear next to his hand. She never sees what he's switching them for, but she gets the feeling he's pulling some tricks with paper clips and other small objects that he can stuff up his sleeve and toss quickly. He picks up the pen and scribbles three names with corresponding islands before sliding the paper across to her.
Karmen glances at it. "You have a doctor's handwriting." He moves to pull it back, but she places her hand over it. "I'm a secretary. I can read it just fine, dearie." She slips it into her diving suit after the necklace, making him wonder what else she has stashed down there.
He lets them eat for a few moments before transitioning into the next topic. "You were saying something about Pierce earlier?"
The bodyguard in question stops eating and turns his ear towards them. "He needs his medication adjusted to accommodate his new… accessory." She tries hard not to growl this last word, but her emotions towards it is still evident.
The doctor's gaze slides over Pierce's visor and he frowns. "Have there been any other complications?" The way he asks, Karmen knows he means whether or not Pierce had been showing any signs of PTSD or had any unusual changes in the mood or behavior.
"Not yet," Karmen says in a way that he interprets as: if they arise, she'll handle it in her own way.
Pierce interprets it as: if he chooses to hide anything else from her, she'll cause a few complications of her own.
It takes a while for them to finish eating. Both Karmen and Pierce get seconds. By the time they finish, the crew has started trickling in and are still greeting them when Law bustles them off to the examination room.
The surgeon draws his sword. Pierce doesn't flinch away from the blade. He'd grown used to Law's unique form of inspection while he'd recovered from the injuries inflicted by Ikaika. One "Room" later and Law is holding Pierce's spleen in his hand. Karmen leans down and pokes the square gouge. The bodyguard shifts to the side. "That tickles."
"The scar tissue is extensive, but not obstructive," Law says, ignoring their antics completely. He puts the spleen back and cuts out Pierce's other organs one by one to inspect them. As he works, Karmen notes the physical changes the artificial devil fruit had made to his body. His spleen is two times larger than an average human's. His lungs seem larger too, thin and papery, yet strong and unlabored. His stomach almost seems reinforced, and she feels it would have to be to receive all the food he has to eat just to function normally. His other organs all look healthy. Law removes his heart last, inspecting it closely. When he's satisfied, he smirks up at Karmen. "How quickly do you think I'd get promoted to Warlord status if I traded them this heart?"
Karmen snatches it from his hand so quickly that Pierce flinches, but her fingers remain light and gentle as she cradles the heart to her chest and turns away from Law. "Don't make me stab you."
He chuckles as she aligns the heart and shoves it back into Pierce's chest. "I wouldn't dream of it," he says, but the tilt of his gaze and the set of his smile suggests that he at least considers it. He laughs through his nose, trying to pass it off as a joke. "Alright, it's time for you to step out."
She crosses her arms. "I'm not going anywhere."
He shrugs. "If you want to see him with his pants off, that's up to you," he says. "You'll be deciding a few bets my men were making."
Pierce's cheeks flush. "Mistress, I believe Bepo was wanting to speak with you."
Law grins. "Off you go," he says. "Go play with the bear." Karmen discretely removes a dart from one of her quills and wraps it in her veil before handing it to Pierce, just in case. When the door closes behind her, Karmen gives an indignant huff at being shooed out like a child, but the idea of spending time with Bepo isn't at all objectionable. She moves down the hall, sensing out the bear with her haki.
She finds Bepo in the navigation room, concentrating hard on drawing a chart. She watches him with a smile. Sweat drips from the ends of his fur on his temple and his tongue hangs over his thin black lips as he does his best to make the lines come out straight. Despite his immense efforts, the quill slides a little in his paw and the lines come out wobbly. When he finishes, he holds up his work, accidentally smearing the side with ink.
"You're as dedicated as Nami," Karmen says, feeling it safe to draw his attention away.
He looks up and grins. "You like it?" he asks hopefully, holding it up for her to see.
She touches the dry area just under the smudgy paw print. "I love it." She takes it from him and hangs it up to dry. "Is this an island you just left?"
"It's where we're going," he says proudly. "I had to read three books to find a detailed description so I could chart it."
An idea sparks in her mind. She sits next to him and leans on the table with her elbow only inches away from a blotch of ink. I'm going to be in need of sea charts very soon," she begins. "If I were to send you descriptions and locations, would you be able to draw those up for me?"
He perks up. "You want my help?"
She smiles. "I can write descriptions galore and my rays can get me wherever I need to go, but I need a navigator who can recognize landmarks and doesn't mind the occasional challenge."
His eyes sparkle, but he holds onto enough self-awareness to ask, "What kind of challenge?"
"There are children on my island who were too young to remember much about where they came from. I'm working with vague details and I don't have your gift. You have a talent and I'd love to see what you can do."
Bepo is practically glowing, but the sound of a throat clearing in the doorway cuts off his response. Law. "Pierce is finished with his exam," he begins, eyes sliding between the two. "I don't appreciate you trying to recruit my crew behind my back."
The navigator bear turns abruptly to look at Law. "If it's alright with you, Captain, I'd like to help."
The man is silent for a few seconds as he considers it. Finally, his gaze fixes back on Karmen. Law grins and gets a mischievous look in his eye. "Want to play a game, Secretary-ya?" he asks.
She gives him a spectacle look. "What kind of game?" The look he's giving her says she probably shouldn't trust him, despite this being in the name of good-humored fun.
"I want to test your haki," he responds. "I'll cut out the hearts of every member of my crew, and yours, and you have to tell me whose heart belongs to whom."
Her eyes narrow. This has to be some ploy to get Pierce's heart or hers, but she can't sense the deception. "And what are the stakes?"
"If you can't do it, I hold onto your heart and Pierce's. If I lose, I'll let Bepo help you and you can wear my hat until you leave."
There it is. He has to be tipping the table somehow, or he isn't really after their hearts at all. "I'll bite," she says, to satisfy her curiosity. "But until he gets his back, Pierce will hold onto yours."
His grin widens with her distrust. "Then it's a deal." He holds out his hand and she slaps it to seal their agreement. No matter what he's scheming, she has faith in her own abilities and she needs Bepo's help. Law could be crooked, but he wasn't slimy, not in the way the people they grew up around were. He lived by his own code. The trick was finding out what that code is and using it to your advantage. He moves past her and picks up a com. "Park the sub and meet in the torpedo room." His voice echoes throughout the ship's speakers and, with the grinding of heavy metal, Karmen feels the submarine stop.
When they enter the designated area, she finds Pierce next to Bepo, looking confused and relieved that her safety isn't the reason why they'd stopped. His demeanor changes when he hears the conditions of the game. "Absolutely not," he growls, placing himself between her and Law. "Take my heart for ransom if you need to, but I refuse to let you lay even the back of your blade on Karmen."
Law looks fully amused. "She's already agreed, bodyguard-ya."
"How about we up the stakes a little," Karmen suggests, causing Pierce to bite back his next retort with a single gnash of his teeth. He turns his ear towards her expectantly as she ducks beneath his outstretched arm. "I find my heart first, you have to provide dinner."
Pierce's anger subsides and he relaxes, his stomach winning out. It seems to take Law a massive amount of effort to keep from laughing. "You expect that I wouldn't have already? I know you're technically a stowaway, but I'm not that ungracious of a host." The crew laughs good-naturedly. "But if you want to risk going hungry tonight, then it's a deal."
Pierce fixes Law with a sinister turn of his head. "No tricks."
The captain's grin only widens. "Where would the fun in that be?"
Karmen steps forward and allows Law to carve out her heart first and places it under the periscope. He removes his own heart and hands it to Pierce before Karmen allows for his to be taken. He then cuts out the hearts of every member of his crew and piles them on top of theirs. He spreads his hand to create a Room and whispers, "Shambles" along with something else. Karmen closes her eyes, but she can still sense the hearts swapping places with one another in a confusing torrent of motion. When it stops she opens her eyes. "Alright, Secretary-ya, where's your heart?"
She points to the somewhat smaller pile of hearts in front of her. "Not in there." She stands and leaves the room. Everyone follows her. She makes her way to the medical ward and gives a surprised laugh. "You put my heart under the vent hood?"
He gives her a playful shrug. "What can I say? You have a tendency to be toxic." She laughs again while she pushes it back into her chest. "It looks like dinner is on us."
Pierce shuffles the heart in his hands to the side so he can clap Karmen on the back while the crew gives a cheer. Karmen takes the heart from him and exchanges it for the one under Law's hat. He'd somehow managed to switch it earlier and she'd simply been biding her time to call him out on it, since she'd added her own conditions. She didn't want raw fish for dinner tonight. "Nice try." She hands the heart back to its rightful owner. This gets a roar of approval from the crew and Karmen can't help but smile as she tosses the hat back onto Law's head. "Just a few more and that's mine for the evening."
"We'll see."
They move back into the torpedo room and Karmen picks up the two largest hearts and compares them. Bepo looks hopeful while Jean Bart looks mildly curious. "Bepo, when this is all over, I can't wait to show the children your work. They'll be so impressed." The heart in her left hand flutters. She hands it to the bear and the other to the giant.
Law nods. "Correct again."
"Penguin, dear, could you lie for me please?" she asks.
"The sky is red!" he calls cheerfully.
"That one," she points to one at the bottom of the pile.
"Shachi?"
"I wish our sub was purple!" Shachi declares.
"This one here," Karmen says, pointing to the right.
"This almost seems too easy for you," Law comments.
"Would you rather I did it blindfolded?"
This gets another cheer from the crew. Pierce removes his visor and hands it to her. It's a little oily from his medication, but otherwise clean. She slides it over her face. "Ikkaku, Uni, Clione."
"You're not inspiring for a female pirate at all."
"You don't intimidate me."
"I feel jilted!"
She works through all twenty-one of them systematically until there aren't any more hearts in front of them. Law's heart still beats in Pierce's hands while her bodyguard's chest remains hollow and empty. "Now the question is, Sir Law," she says, remaining calm so she doesn't give him the upper hand. "What have you done with Pierce's heart?"
She returns the visor and her gaze shunts sideways at the surgeon's widening grin. "You tell me."
Her teeth grind slightly, but she closes her eyes and searches the submarine with her haki. His heart is... not on board. Panic fills her gut with waves of nausea, but she shoves them back and expands her search. She senses the rays slowly circling the sub, Kudra, small fish, and… Her eyes shoot open and she runs to the window. There, floating in the black water, is a cube of flesh containing a fluttering heart. She may have dropped a string of blood-curdling curses in Law's general direction as she removes anything water soluble from her diving suit, but she honestly doesn't remember. "Send me out there. Now." Her voice remains quiet, but the growling threat that underlines her tone is unmistakable. The whole crew watches in silent horror, obviously not knowing anything about their captain's plan. They pale at her rage. None of them had ever seen Karmen this angry.
Law, seeming unconcerned, raises his eyebrow. "I have an operating room around us right now, but outside my field it's crushing depth. If you leave it you'll die."
"I said now." Uncontrolled haki sparks around her in flashes visible to those with observation haki. They gasp and step back from her, but Law doesn't bat an eyelash.
"As you wish." She takes a breath.
There is a pop as the pressure around her adjusts and Karmen suddenly finds herself surrounded by freezing water. The sudden shift is a small shock to her system, but nothing about it bothers her much. She briefly wonders what Law had switched her with, then decides it doesn't matter. She orients herself to the sub's position and turns around to find the heart. It's there, spiraling downward twenty feet below her. She kicks off, swimming swiftly through the water, graceful as any mermaid. She can sense the end of Law's field more than she can see it. The water down here has no light except for what's being emitted by the sub. Her window of opportunity is shrinking fast.
More organisms approach from all sides. There's Kudra, and there's the rays, but there's something else as well. She chances a glance over her shoulder. She can't see anything in the darkness, but something large is approaching fast. Karmen swims faster, one hand outstretched to catch Pierce's heart. Her fingers brush the corner and it begins to spiral off course. She gives another massive kick and she's able to get her hand under it and tuck it under her wrist. She doesn't stop. She can't. Whatever's behind her is still closing in. 100 meters. 80. 60. 50. Parvati swims forward, ready to help. Karmen can feel herself being drawn backward as the creature behind her opens its mouth. It brushes the halo of light being given off by the submarine's windows and she sees pale scales and teeth and a massive black eye. Parvati opens her mouth and Karmen shoves Pierce's heart forward into it. She releases a burst of haki strong enough to stun her bond mate's electrical sensors, causing her to fall away, out of danger. Parvati's mouth closing around the cube is the last thing she sees before she's drug down into total darkness.