Awake
Strange, unfamiliar beeping was the first thing to greet her as she started to wake up from her days of dreamless sleep. She didn't bother to look for the source of the noise when she slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry. Her stomach stung so hard from the cut she had made on herself that it made her queasy. When her stomach spun rapidly inside of her, she closed her eyes to keep herself from getting sick. She waited a few seconds before reopening her eyes to clearer vision and a more calm stomach.
Lying there, she continued to listen to the strange beep around her. She wondered what it was and where it came from before her eyes locked onto the strange sky above her. Somehow, though her fuzzy thoughts she started to notice that something about the sky wasn't like it should be. The sky above her was an unfamiliar grayish blue and had lines and strange, small circles in it. She had never seen such a sky before. She wondered, since the sky was dark, if it was going to rain. But she felt no water in these strange colored clouds above her.
The smells around her weren't familiar either. The familiar smells of trees, the sea, fresh wind, dirt, grass, animals, and flowers she was use to smelling were oddly absent. It was replaced with several smells she had never smelled before. And her animal friends were nowhere around her. She couldn't sense them anywhere near her. She wondered where they were. She wondered where she was. She sensed the sea near by like it always was. But something about it wasn't right.
She shifted and found that the shirt she was use to wearing also felt different. It was softer and tighter on her body. And the hard ground she was use to lying on was a lot softer than it should have been. She raised her hand, touching her fingers to her chest, and found that her shirt was in fact missing. It was replaced with something she couldn't identify with. She ran her hand down her body, and under the cover that she didn't even notice laying on her, to find the strange fabric went all the way down to her thighs.
It was at that point she realized that she wasn't outside in the wide open spaces, but inside some kind of building or something. The beep in the room increased. It made her jumped. The sudden movement caused more pain to shoot through her already throbbing body.
The unexpected rush caused her head to spin at the same time her stomach did. She closed her eyes in an attempted to settle the spinning, ignoring that rapid beeping that was now filling up the room. When she finally reopened her eyes, a man appeared in her view. She flinched causing the beeping to increase even more. His eyes were hidden behind a black and white hat, but his lips were smiling at her. "Ah, you're awake now?"
…
Penguin was walking down the halls of the medical bay when he heard the heart monitor beeping faster. He entered into the room to find that their female guest had finally woken up. He leaned over the bed and smiled at her, missing the frightened look in her eyes. He said, "Ah, you're awake now? Hold still. The captain will want to see you before you move."
"She's awake?" Shachi asked from the door.
…
She jumped at the second voice entering into the room. There were two of them in this place with her. It caused her breathing, and the beeping, to increase even more. She turned her head to find the source of the beeping, but her eyes found the another man instead. This one wore a green and red a hat with sunglasses hiding his eyes and was standing near the only door she could find. She had an escape route. Now all she had to do was get past the two men. Her body turned completely cold. She didn't know if she could get past them or not. But she had to try, somehow. She had to get out of here.
…
"Yeah, she just woke up," Penguin replied, turning to his friend. "Inform the captain right away."
"I'm on it," Shachi chirped. He turned to leave the room to fulfill his little order. He stopped when the heart monitor started beeping faster than it should and turned back to the girl.
…
Her body turned even colder. A third person was going to be coming soon. The more people the worse and harder it was going to be for her to escape. She had to get out of this place. Now. It was just causing her fear to rise even higher and higher. She shot up into a sitting position. Something tugged against her skin, almost pulling her back down to the bed. She looked down to find some kind of round patches attached to her chest just under the strange clothing she was wearing. She ran her fingers over the fabric and wires in confusion. She began to pull on them in desperation to get the strange things off of her body.
…
"You shouldn't move," Penguin said, turning back to her just in time to see her trying to pull off the heart monitoring patches and her bandages. When she looked at him he saw the fear in her eyes. The poor thing. She must know that we're pirates and is now afraid we're going to hurt her. He lifted his hands in a nonthreatening position and slowly started to walk towards her. He kept his voice low, trying his best not to scare her anymore than she already was. "Just relax. We're not here to hurt you. I know you're scared, but we really are not going to hurt you. I know we're pirates, but we're nice."
"Maybe we should get too close," Shachi said from behind Penguin. "She's clearly very scared right now."
"I know, but we still can't let her move," Penguin said as he continued to walk towards her. "The captain won't be happy if she pulls out his stitches." He reached for her.
…
She scooted back on the bed when the man was only a few feet from her. Then he did it. The last thing she wanted. He reached out his hand for her. She jumped at his closeness before scrambling off the bed. The strange patches pulled off her skin causing the unidentifiable beeping to slide into one long, uninterrupted beep. She jumped again. Her breathing became labored as her eyes darted around the room in desperation to escape. She was obviously panicking at her unfamiliar surroundings and the strange men. She had to get out of here. But the only exit she could fine was on the other side of these two men. Only small gap separated them. She could slip through, if she was lucky enough.
The second man held up his hands and took a few steps closer to her. He said, "Settle down now. Penguin's correct. You're safe here. No one's going to hurt you. And you really shouldn't move. You're going to pull out your stitches."
She stumbled back away from them. Bumping into something she didn't see, she knocked it and everything on top of it over. She lost her balance when she hit it. She crashed to the floor. She jumped at the clattering sounds the debris caused and started to scramble away from the source of the noise. She paused when a light glinting off one of the sharp objects that clanked on the hard floor. It was broken glass. She had knocked over a glass and the small table it was sitting on. The glass caught her eye. She grabbed a piece of the broken glass, the broken sides digging into her palm, and jumped to her feet.
…
"Oh crap," Penguin cursed. This was the last thing they needed. He held up his hands and took a step back to try and show her that he wasn't there to hurt her. He watched as her eyes darted between himself and Shachi. His eyes then dropped down to the broken glass that was by her side. He could see her blood already dripping down the transparent weapon from holding it tightly in her hand. On instincts, he shifted his body into a defense position, preparing himself to defend himself if it was need, but also tried to maintain an nonthreatening stance. "Take it easy now. Put down the broken glass."
Before he could do or say anything else, the girl took the broken glass, lifted it above her head, and swung it down, stabbing herself in the upper left side of her stomach. He's heart skipped a beat when she dragged it from the top left side to the bottom right. Iron poured out into the air while bright red blood soaked her skin and bandages. Penguin screeched, "Hey! Don't do that! Shachi, you better get the captain! Quick!"
"Right!" Shachi nodded. Spinning on his heels, he bolted out of the room.
…
The girl saw her chance. With the second man gone, she had enough room to run out of the room. She ran. Dashing around the black and white hatted man before running through the door. She ignored the black and white hatted man calling for her as she quickly moved towards her escape route. She looked to her left and found several doors. She looked to her right to find even more doors and one at the very end of the hall. That had to be the way out of this place. So she ran for it. She skidded to a stop when another man stepped out of one of the other doors. He said, "What's going on? Hey, what are you doing up?"
She spun around, running back the other way just before the black and white hatted man stepped out of the room she was formally in. He called after her again, asking her to stop and calm down. Of course she didn't. She was becoming desperate to get out of this place. She saw a possible escape. Stairs were at the opposite end of the hall. She bolted down them. They brought her to another hallway and to a bigger room with another door she assumed was an exit. She tried for it only to have more men appear to block her path. She stepped away from them. Turning around to find another way out, her eyes landed on something white, furry, and familiar. She blinked in confusion. There was a bear here. She walked towards the bear.
"Hey, you really shouldn't be up," the bear said to her.
She paused. Tilting her head in obvious confusion at his ability to talk. But she knew he was still a bear. So she continued on towards the talking bear. When she was a few feet from him, she reached her hand out for him. Before she could touch him, thundering footsteps came closer to her. She whipped her eyes around to see nine men now surrounded her. It made her heart stop beating inside of her. She bolted again.
"Wait!" the bear called out. "No! Don't chase her!"
He wasn't talking to her. But she didn't stop. She came to another set of stairs and ran farther down this odd building in complete desperation to escape. The thundering feet continued to follow her.
…
"Captain!" Shachi called as he ran through the halls of the sub. Everything was a big blur to him as he ran down the stairs and through the halls, hoping he didn't miss his captain somewhere. "Captain?! Captain, where are you?!"
"What's going on?" Law asked, stepping out of the storage room he was in.
"Captain, she woke up! She ended up breaking some glass and cut herself with it!" Shachi said.
"Captain!" Archer then called. The two men turned to see the other man running up to them. "She's running loose! The crews trying to stop her but she's so fast!"
Law sighed while he rushed forward, leading his men back up to the upper levels of the sub to put a stop to this before something really bad happened.
…
Blood dripped out of her wound, landing on top of her feet. Her feet slid on the wet substance when it trickled down to the bottom of her feet. It caused her to slide across the floor and into the hallway wall. She lifted her arms to try and catch herself but the hit still sent pain through her already damaged body. Ignoring the stabs of pain, She regained her balance just as some more men came running down the hall. She turned in the opposite direction and ran from them, her feet slipping a few times before the blood got wiped off enough for her to maintain her footing. The strange men still calling for her to stop.
"Hold it!"
"Wait!"
"You shouldn't be up!"
"Come back!"
She continued ignoring the calls of these strange men as she tried to get away from them and out of this place she was in. But it didn't matter which way she went she just couldn't seem to find her way out of here. All of the halls looked the same. There were several rooms, but none led to outside. Turning another corner, she plowed into a very solid force. She stumbled backwards a few steps before stabilizing herself barely recognizing the solid force had a voice. It asked, "Why are you causing such a ruckus on my ship?"
She didn't look at the man she ran into. With her eyes closed, she just raised her hand and swung the broken glass at the one who just spoke to her.
…
Law saw her move coming. He caught her wrist with ease when she swung at him. He held her firm as she tried to pull away from him, but his grip was far too strong for her. She desperately tried to pull free of his grip with weak punches and kicks. He paused momentarily and took in how fast her pulse was beating in veins before squeezed her wrist causing a sharp pain to shoot through it. He watched as she bit back her cries. She stopped struggling so much against him and the glass fell involuntarily from her hand. It clanked to the floor, causing her to jump and her pulse to rise once more.
She swung her other fist at him only for him to grab it as well. He placed both of her thin wrists together and, holding them with one hand, he lifted her feet off the ground. Her frantic voice screeched out for the first time, ringing down the halls of the sub. "No! Let go of me!"
"So you can talk," Law noted calmly as she continued to struggle against him. The gathering crew watched quietly as their captain held the girl in place as if she were a rag doll.
"Let go!" she screeched again, bringing her knee up as hard as she could. But he saw her moves long before she could execute them. Waiting for the right second, Law bent his elbow under her knee, holding her leg against his upper arm. It was also the perfect position to hold her in to keep her from biting him, if she got that idea. "Let go!"
"Stop screaming and thrashing around like that. It's not going to get you freed," Law chided. He continued to feel her throbbing pulse in his hold. Scared just wasn't the right word for her. Petrified didn't even fit. He couldn't think of a word that would be befitting for how terrified she was feeling. He could feel the crew quietly watched as him as he trudged back to the infirmary with the half crazed girl in his hold. She continued to buck up against him, trying to use her only free knee to jab into his body. But the hold he had on her, and the strength he had over her, didn't allow her any more than tiny little bashes against him. Her attempts at getting away were completely futile. He nodded at Penguin and Shachi. "Come with me."
"Aye, Captain," they said before following him to the infirmary. They watched quietly as their captain carried the girl back inside of the operating room.
Law looked back at Shachi and Penguin. "Shut the door. Then both of you come over to the table."
"Aye, Captain." Shachi nodded, completing their order for the both of them.
"Hold her down," Law order when his two subordinates walked over.
"You got it!" Shachi and Penguin chirped.
Penguin pinned down her legs freeing up Law's arm.
Law then took one of her wrists in each hand. He pulled her arms down for Shachi to hold to the table by her sides.
"Let go of me! Let go!" she shrieked desperately.
Law continued to ignore her desperate cries. He turned away from the three and walked over to his medical supplies.
"Please, calm down," Penguin pleaded to her while she wiggled and jerked her legs in his hold. "We're not going to hurt you."
"For someone who's so small, malnourished and weak, she sure has a lot of fight in her," Shachi pointed out. His hands were already starting to cramp against her struggling.
"No kidding. How did the captain manage to hold on to her for as long as he did?" Penguin nodded. He was just about lying on her legs to keep her in place.
But through her struggling she managed to push Penguin away from her. She continued to struggle. Twisting her body every which way she possibly could. This caused pain to shoot through her newly wounded stomach, but she didn't notice due to her fear.
"Settled down, please," Shachi begged as he desperately tried to keep his hold on her wrists as she thrashed wildly on the operating table.
"Good grief," Penguin mumbled to himself. He stepped back over to the table to reclaim her legs. She twisted her body at that point. Lifting up her leg, she brought down her heel onto his ribs, actually knocking the man to the floor. "Oof!"
Through the shock of her being so strong in the weak state she was in to the point of knocking down his best friend, Shachi's hold loosened on her wrists. Next thing he knew he was stumbling back from her and she was freed. She jumped off the table and ran towards the door. A thin blue film startled her before her hand could land on the knob. The next thing she knew was the air in her lungs was pushed out of her lungs when her back collided with something hard.
She regained her senses to find she was somehow back on the table. Her arms and legs once again being held down by the two men before. A few seconds later, the third man was crawling onto the table with her. His legs now pinned her arms to her sides as his harsh eyes pierced into hers. She was only able to hold his gaze for less than a second before adverting them. Warm fingers grabbed her face, causing her to flinch while they forced her to look at him. She closed her eyes tightly when he leaned down to the point their noses were almost touching.
"Enough fighting against us. You are going to settle down, by force if necessary. I have some questions for you and you are going to answer them." Law noticed she flinched at his words saying she was going to tell them about herself. Her eyes remained shut still. It was obvious to him that she was retreating into herself.
Shachi spoke up. He said, "I don't think she's going to tell us anything."
"At this current state, I don't doubt that at all. So..." Law held up the bottle he had been rummaging for in his medical supplies. He released her face so he could uncap the brown bottle. He then took her face in his fingers again. Applying pressure to her cheeks again, he forced her to open her mouth. He then poured the bottle's contents into her. "Swallow."
He wasn't surprised when she didn't. Instead, she spit the contents out while keeping her eyes tightly closed. He releasing a dangerous growl at his now wet, already blood stained, shirt. He leaned down to her ear. He felt her body jumping beneath him when he spoke to her. "We're going to try that again. This time you will swallow."
"No!" she screamed.
"You will. You don't have a choice." Law lifted away from her ear. He took her in for moment. She was defiantly keeping her eyes closed tightly. He kept a close eye on her as he took the bottle in his hand and brought it up to his own lips. He took a decent amount of the sedative in his mouth. He then retook her face in his fingers, he leaned back down to her and pressed his lips to hers.
"C-Captain!" Shachi and Penguin shrieked at the display the captain was putting on. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Her eyes popped open at his movements. He kept his eyes on hers and took in her frantic expression, noticing for the first time that her eyes were a dark gray and how frightened she really was. For a split second, he felt guilty for being so rough on her. He pushed past that and jammed his thumb into the bleeding cut on her stomach. When she gasped at the pain, he spit the liquid into her mouth.
He kept his lips on hers as he pinched her nose closed so she wouldn't be able to spit it out again or breath. He jammed his finger into her wound again. She winced and whimpered at the intense pain he caused in her stomach. This time she had no choice but to swallow the stuff in her mouth. It was either that or choke. When he felt she had actually swallowed the sedative he pulled back from her. She coughed and gasped for air. Some of the liquid had fell down her windpipe. Tears streamed out of her eyes as he crawled off of her. Once she was free of his towering presence she started to struggle against the men holding her once again. Law didn't respond to her or his men's questioning looks as he wiped her blood off his fingers.
"You know, Captain, you could have used a needle instead." Shachi frowned.
Law shrugged.
A few minutes later, Law noticed the sedative only made her a tiny bit sluggish. He had his arms crossed and was tapping his finger impatiently on his arm. "Very odd."
"What is it, Captain?" Shachi huffed from his loss of energy, but kept his hold on the still struggling girl.
"The sedative I gave her isn't working," Law replied.
"Well, people do react differently to it," Penguin said. He too was panting at his loss of energy, but kept his own hold on her. "Maybe she just needs a stronger dose?"
"The dose I gave her should have knocked her out immediately." Law released a puff of air through his nose. He stepped closer to the girl earning another flinch from her. He reached out and pinched a pressure point on her neck, causing her body to go limp.
"Isn't this a bit excessive?" Penguin asked. He lifted off of her and started to rub his side as Shachi shook out his tired hands.
"Do your ribs share that opinion?" Law questioned.
Penguin shook his head. His voice trailed off when his eyes locked onto the now unconscious girl. "It's just…"
"Is anything broken? Do I need to check them?" Law inquired.
Penguin shook his head again. "I was mostly taken by surprise. I didn't expect someone so thin to be so strong. She just so much smaller than us. I really don't see how she was able to struggle so hard and knock me to the ground."
"I concur with that." Shachi nodded. "She defiantly gave us a good work out. How is that possible? Honestly speaking, she doesn't look like she'd be able to fight against a child. How is she able to fight against us like that? No way all of that energy came from sheer desperation."
"Good point," Law mumbled to himself. He studied his men before allowing his eyes to drop back to the girl. His mind spinning with all the questions he had about her as well as some new ones. How was this girl about to fight so hard against two well-trained men, pirates no less? How was she able to fight the sedative to the point it wouldn't work on her? "You two can go."
"Yes, sir." Shachi and Penguin simultaneously nodded then left the room. Penguin paused at the door. He turned his eyes back to his captain, who continued to stare in thought at the girl, before they dropped down to the girl. With a light, quiet sigh Penguin left the room and closed the door behind him.
Law remained staring at the girl, studying her, questioning her. With an exasperated grumbled he set to work stitching her new wound. While working his eyes noted something that shouldn't have been possible. It wasn't even possible to do with his devil fruit powers. Her wound, that he just stitched up yesterday, was healing rapidly. It was close to being half way healed.
Law kneaded his eyes brows. "That's not possible."
He shook his head and got back to work on her stomach. Once he was finished with her and redressed her loosened bandages, he picked her up and headed back to the recovery room. On his way there Bepo met him in the hall.
"Captain," Bepo said, his ears flat against his head. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Law asked.
"For not being able to stop her," Bepo said. "She was just so scared. I thought she was going to calm down when she saw me."
"What do you mean?" Law asked, turning into the recovery room. His eyes flickered over to one of his subordinates. His man was sweeping up the broken glass and cleaning up everything that she had knocked over. He nodded to the man when he looked at him and continued over to the bed.
"She was coming towards me at one point," Bepo said.
Law paused then turned back to the bear. "She was coming to you?"
"Yeah." Bepo nodded. "She was walking towards me. It was like she recognized something or me. But when the others came she freaked out again. I'm sorry. If I had noticed sooner that she was calm around me I would have stopped the others from running up to her. I thought she would be more scared of me because I'm a bear, but she wasn't."
"I see. Don't worry about it," Law said, laying her down on the bed. He then walked over to the communication system. "Someone bring up four chains to recovery room four."
"Chains? What are those for?" Bepo asked.
"To chain her down," Law said before yawning. The answer caused both of his subordinates to give him confused glances "I don't want another freak out episode to happen."
"Won't chaining her down cause her to freak out more?" Bepo asked.
"Possibly," Law said, pulling the cover up over her. "But she's a lot stronger than she appears to be. She might be able to actually hurt someone. I'm not going to take the chance. So she's going to be chained down until I can figure out what to do with her. And no one is permitted to remove the chains from her. Period."
Bepo exchanged a glance with his crewmate before they both said, "Aye aye, Captain."
Not long after that Shachi wandered in with the chains his captain asked for. He and his other two crewmates watched as their captain put the chains on the girl's wrists and ankles and attached the opposite ends to the bed. They continued to watch as their captain finished with the chains and headed for the door.
"Spread the word to the crew. No one is allow to release her from those chains," Law said.
"Aye aye, Captain," the men said as they watched their captain disappear down the hall.
"He is actually going to keep her on the sub?"
"I wonder why."
"I wonder that too. It's not like him at all."
…
Law paused when he was just outside of the door. He listened to his subordinates question his decisions. They were asking all the exact same things he was asking himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose. His brain was becoming groggy from having the sedative in his mouth. He swallowed a bit more than he intended on when trying to get the girl to fall back asleep. He was going to have to take a nap until it got completely out of his system. He felt like a nap anyway. Maybe it would clear his head and allow him to think about his next step, whatever that might possibly be.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he wandered back downstairs, avoiding as many as his subordinates as he possible could. He really couldn't deal with their questioning stares right now. And when he did come across one, he allowed his hat to fall over his eyes. A clear signal that he didn't want to be bothered, a signal they all learned very quickly. Finally reaching the third floor where his quarters were located, he walked the silent hall before coming to his room. He entered into the dark room. Once to his bed, he dropped his hat onto his nightstand and kicked off his boots. Lying back on the bed, he laced his fingers together while resting his hands on his chest and let his eyes fall closed while thoughts of the girl became more and more distant from his mind as sleep finally to him into a dreamless sleep. Only one question buzzing in his mind as he drifted off: Who is this girl?
