For quite a while, she held her head back and stared at the ceiling, while Ikkaku's steady breathing spread a sleepy mood around the room. Her chamber mate had indeed drifted off into the land of dreams and left her behind. Alone and lost in thought amidst a mountain of questions.

Without further ado, Naoe stretched her head in both directions before sitting up straight again and suppressing a pained groan. Her neck was far too stiff. Whimpering, she placed a hand on the back of her neck and massaged the hard points with her fingertips before rising and glancing at the pirate.

She had indeed fallen asleep. Completely relaxed, not at all alert to pay attention. A state that seemed so peaceful that Naoe would have liked to join her. But the thoughts in her head didn't stop. She wouldn't be able to calm down until she had a rough overview of her situation.

A way to prove to Law that he could rely on her.

Thus, her path led out of the room, guided her through the corridors of the Polar Tang and had her stop in the dining room. Two of the crew had settled down at the table, desperately busy wafting cold air to themselves. The heat inside the ship was enormous. Naoe felt it on her skin too, but the missions and the various islands had hardened her. Besides, she was better dressed. Being able to slip into different clothes all the time made it easier to adapt. In this case, with a light jacket, little underneath, and a pair of jeans that felt like a second skin. The men had a harder time with the uniform jumpsuits, which didn't seem very air-permeable. Presumably, they even had a certain thickness so that no one burned themselves on the pipes that made their way through half the submarine.

Barely noticeably, Naoe cleared her throat. Pity was hardly going to get her anywhere. "Have you seen Trafalgar?"

While one of them hung his head light-heartedly, the other turned to her. His face half covered, her gaze fell on his eyes, which harboured no life at all. Neither irises nor pupils were visible, only the clear white of his eyeballs, with tiny red veins running through them.

"The captain is in his cabin. If you want something from him ... you should go to him." Nodding thoughtfully, he tried to agree with his words. The heat had melted his clear thoughts.

Naoe accepted it, turned away and strode back into the corridor. According to Ikkaku, Law had his retreat at the very front, at the beginning of the ship. So she walked back the way she came, strolling past the door to her own refuge and letting her eyes wander past all the other heavy barriers. Finally, in front of the first entrance, she stopped.

Although she didn't know how she would begin the subject, she knocked and waited to be invited in. Law didn't answer for what felt like an eternity and just as she reached out a second time, intending to pound harder against the wood, she heard his voice on the other side - coupled with a stifled invitation.

Slowly, she opened the door and entered the room. His chamber offered more space than the one she shared with Ikkaku. He could move around more freely and fit more in.

He had paved much of the walls with shelves, cluttered with books squeezed tightly together. Even though she couldn't read most of the titles from where she stood, she guessed that most of the readings were for teaching medicine.

To her right was his bed, sufficient for a man of his size, and next to it was a nightstand, as well as a desk barely two steps away. Buried under sheets and books, it was the only thing that expressed at least a little life. There was no carpet on the floor to soften the bleak sight, nor was there anything that seemed personal. Only the chest she spotted under his desk conveyed something familiar.

"What do you want?" Tonelessly, Law dragged her from her thoughts and leaned back in his chair. His attention was entirely focused on her, which is why she came closer and stopped right next to him.

"I have been thinking about this situation here and I must confess, I don't have an overview of all this. That's why I started wondering what you plan to do with my power. It seems silly to think of it, but are you planning the same thing as most? Is there something from your past that you want to change?" Tilting her head slightly to one side, Naoe waited for his answer.

For a moment he looked at her, seeming to fathom something in her, before shaking his head. "Nothing like that."

"That's surprising. There's nothing you'd want to change?"

"We all want to change something, but everything has a certain period in which you can change it. Mine has expired."

Puzzled, she raised a brow and leaned against his desk. Her eyes scrutinised him. He did the same, but seemed only half as suspicious.

"That's why my ability is so popular, I suppose. There's always a chance."

"And a change."

"None that really matters."

The breath found its way deep into his lungs as Law closed his eyes for a moment. His thoughts were visibly attached to something specific that she couldn't grasp. Her only option was to wait and hope that the conversation wouldn't end at that point.

In fact, he did her that favour and continued the topic after a few moments of silence. "Every change matters and not every one of them is beneficial."

"What chains you to this reality? One or two slight changes aren't an issue." Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Naoe couldn't help but think of the little background information she possessed about Law.

She knew where he had grown up. Great pirates always had a starting point and the more famous they became, the more interesting the birthplace became. She didn't know why, but people pursued such trivia for the pleasure of it. His brief stay with Doflamingo hadn't gone unnoticed by the revolutionaries either, which made revenge on Dressrosa not seem like a pointless dying wish.

Little bits and pieces between his escape from the Joker and his seemingly insignificant crew building had always been a small conversation piece of many other pieces of information - all because of the Devil Fruit he had eaten.

"Thanks to your assignment, you should be able to combine the rest." With a dismissive wave of his hand, Trafalgar crossed his legs. The coldness between them increased - dismissive and obvious. Perhaps because he was right.

When she thought about it, all roads were already blocked. Too much time had passed to change anything about his past.

"Halfway." Unsure of certain fragments in her memory, she avoided confirmation. A fact Law simply noted. There was no wonder, no astonishment, not even the hint of a question. Judging by his facial expression, he rather possessed the desire to test her.

"What do you think would happen if we went back to my childhood? What could we do?" He sounded probing.

"The first thought would be to evacuate all your fellow citizens. To tell them that the navy will come and everyone will die. However, I speak from experience when I say that people are too foolish to act on the words of strangers. Either they do nothing and die, or they feel strongly that they have to defend their country and die too. Nothing would change. So the second thought would be to at least save what you love. A part of what was very important to you ... family?"

His lids lowered a little. He listened to her words, followed her suggestions, and didn't move an inch. "A sister."

"If we were to save you both ... the dimensions would be ... greater than I had assumed." Mouth agape, Naoe put a hand to her cheek. "You probably would never have become a pirate for the sake of protecting your sister. I don't suppose either of you has been spared from the Amber Lead Syndrome. Your sister would have died before you could have saved her. Even if you had joined Doflamingo afterwards, regardless of how you found him, not much would have changed in the end." A sigh escaped her. "Since we are only allowed a limited amount of time in the past, it could be even worse. We can't accompany your past self, only send it away. So if, as a result, you had arrived on a deserted island, with no inhabitants ... your sister would have died, you probably would too. Doflamingo would now be the strongest man in the world because you and Luffy had no chance to stop him. Apart from that, Luffy would probably be dead now because nobody knows what would have happened to your Devil Fruit if you hadn't eaten it. With that, no one would have saved him after the war on Marineford."

"And with that, all the plans and realisations would have been for nothing."

"What about the day you ate the Devil Fruit?" echoed Naoe.

"Too risky."

She couldn't help but snort. Maybe it wasn't possible to save him, but Rosinante was another chapter in the middle of everything that had gone wrong. A few infiltrated members of her faction had found their place in the navy. Donquixote Rosinante's secret mission hadn't escaped them. Together, they could have beaten the small pirates from whom he had stolen the fruit. This would have brought him to Law unharmed and they would have started their escape - but would probably not have escaped Doflamingo.

Trafalgar had been too young to fight back at that point, Devil Fruit or no Devil Fruit. She knew there was no escaping Joker's fury. He would have easily tracked down his, to him, useless brother and killed him. Law would have been faced with a choice: a senseless death, or a sacrifice to Doflamingo's immortality.

Interfering was out of the question. Law didn't have the strength to take on the crew alone, and she herself wasn't much more suited to combat than any other ordinary foot soldier. They weren't able to protect anyone in the time given.

In the end, the result remained two dead thieves, and with Law's absence, the new world would turn into an absurd abyss. More drugs would be produced on Punk Hazard. Vergo would still make a remarkable naval force. Luffy would have been buried dead next to his brother's grave for two years. The storm Law wanted to conjure up would simply fade away like a gentle breeze of a wish once made. Nothing would remain of what she knew.

"You've thought about this before, haven't you?" The silence that had fallen after his last statement broke as Naoe pressed further into the subject. "You're a lot more thoughtful than I am. In your place, I would have just done it ... without giving it a second thought. I would have realised the consequences far too late."

"You've already proved that." He alluded to the fight they had been in. Naoe could hardly blame him.

"And more than once, believe me. Someone like you wouldn't have made my mistakes. So it's really encouraging that most of your plans fail miserably, even though you think about it so much." With a smirk, she turned her attention to the books gathering dust in their rows. She knew Law was sure to give her a reproachful look. Even if he had been the cleverest person on earth, she would always have thought of a way to make herself feel better. Even if they were just little things, they proved he possessed flaws and was no less human than she was.

"Do you want anything else?" The irritated undertone in his voice made her look back. He had turned his gaze back to a stack of papers lying on the table in front of him.

"What is our next destination? Which island will we visit?"

"That hasn't been decided yet."

"Then I guess I'll be patient." With those words, she pushed herself off her hold and headed for the exit. One last glance over her shoulder revealed Law already engrossed in his work again; as if living in his own little world, amidst all those books and captivating emptiness. Surrounded by space that seemed lonely and left behind, while he himself was the only individual thing in the room.

She left the cabin, along with the conversation, behind her. She couldn't help him, that much Naoe had understood. At least not in the way she would have liked. Law was irreplaceable in the present after all he had achieved. To change that fact and upset everything was too dangerous. She knew it as well as he did, and yet he was more aware of it than she was. The fact had only become clear in her eyes after she had thought about the serious change. Her words, however, had been honest. She would have simply done it in his place.

Tonelessly, she laughed and shook her head, disgusted by the thought. She had simply done it. Without thinking, hoping to make a significant change. That naivety had given her a leg up. The result was the situation she lived in. An ebb and flow of hide and seek, assignments and stolen memories to which she could feel no emotion.

Just as Naoe was about to turn the corner, she paused. In front of her, Bepo had settled himself in the middle of the aisle and was letting his tongue hang out. "It's so warm again today."

"Then go on deck." Waiting, she put her hands on her hips and motioned for the bear to move. However, he only waved her off as he slowly turned his head in her direction.

"We're about to dive."

For a moment she looked at him, eyeing the orange jumpsuit he wore. His fur was sticking together in places, wet with sweat, and curled a little at the collar of his clothes. Going down had to be a very special kind of torture for him compared to the rest of the crew.

Crossing her arms behind her back, she watched Bepo a little longer until his interest finally slid in her direction as well. Her heart beat a little faster. His condition was becoming more indifferent with each passing second, giving way to the one question inside her that still wanted to be answered. Naoe had almost forgotten about it, but the sight of her counterpart made the statement she had once made shine again. "What is it about me that confuses you so much?"

His ears twitched unnoticed while he lowered his gaze, only to look up a little more shyly a moment later. "Sorry. It was just... You … you seem lost. Something about you conveys you're lost. It's a strange feeling that comes when I see you, and it confuses me."

Naoe's sudden laugh overshadowed Bepo, who scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as she lowered her head. His wince at her reaction made her crouch down with a wave. Even though she was standing a few steps away from him, she wanted to be on the same level as him. It made the moment more bearable when a weight fell from her shoulders and yet fear pushed a lump into her throat. Still, she gave him a genuine smile. "You are right. I am lost. Somewhere halfway, I took a wrong turn and now I can't go back."

"Will you tell me about it?"

"Tell, huh?" Her thoughts latched onto the images in her head. "Not today ... maybe never. It's not a special story that needs to be told. All we have there is a young girl who wanted to make life better than it was. Instead, she made it worse and learned that the past is not to be played with. The windows of the past are fragments of a whole life that we have built upon. Isn't it amazing? We build something and we're not too fine to just tear it down at the end because we don't see how horrible rebuilding can be."

"Was your rebuilding that bad?"

"There was a moment in my life when I didn't even know what my name was. For a moment, your existence blurs and you question it. I don't know if something like that is bad, but I remember the feeling. It hurt. Very much."