Last post of 2022 year! Happy New Year my dear readers! I wish you all an even better year to come in 2023! I know for certain that Charlotte's life will be different come the new year! Feel free to read below and through Missing Pieces to understand just how Charlotte's life changes! As an added bonus, I've posted a character sketch of Charlotte on DeviantArt (for now, may move to another platform since I think DA isn't as popular anymore - let me know if I'm wrong on that!) under the same username. Link below and also available on my profile!
Anyway! Happy New Years and please enjoy and continue to follow Charlotte's journey in 2023!
Charlotte Sketch: xxair/art/The-Vile-Within-the-Hearts-942997218
- Airi
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, just the OC
Chapter 8
She had gotten what she came here for. Her hunt was done. All that was left was to trade him in. Except—"Where the hell is the island?!" Charlotte hollered, spinning around to glare at the two pirates in boiler suits hiding out by the metal door. They were surrounded by nothing but water. The forest of mangrove trees nowhere in sight
"W-we left!" One of them stuttered, ducking behind the other at the flare of anger that was sent his way. "An admiral was coming. There's no way we'd stay there and wait around." The other scoffed. He was a lot more confident than the first. And a lot angrier, Charlotte noted, following the burning golden eyes towards the captured heart. She moved the heart left, then right, then quickly around and she frowned when his eyes followed it like a homing beacon. Slowly, she hid the heart behind her, out of his line of view. She couldn't afford anyone taking it from her now.
"Well, turn it around. I have business there." Charlotte ordered and turned back towards the sea. Her eyes fixed at the opposite direction they were going. The island will be there. She told herself, waiting for it to come back into view. "…Why aren't we turning?" She snapped. Her eyes challenging the white-haired and angry one who looked like he wanted to bite her head off.
"We don't take orders from you." He spat, matching her glare easily. He had a cocky grin on his face.
"Then who do you take them from?" Charlotte asked, begrudgingly. A knowing feeling sinking into her stomach. The male tilted his head towards the side where Law stood next to the other pirate who was handing him his severed arms back. Of course. She droned. They only listen to their Captain! "Oi, Target, tell your crew to turn the ship back around!" Charlotte barked, and Law scowled the ordered. Charlotte tapped a finger against the boxed heart. "I wouldn't get ahead of myself. Remember the position your in."
Law stared at the beating heart and tapped the spot over his hoodie where his heart should have been. The fabric gave way easily, more than should be natural—a reminder that it was indeed his heart. "Cole-ya," He called, and the white-haired man stood tall immediately. Charlotte smirked smugly at the call. "We're diving."
"Huh? But Capt'n, what about…?" He turned slightly, tilting his body towards the female aboard and his captured heart.
"It's fine. Head inside and let Bepo know… to dive." He repeated with a subtle nod. The other jumped, yelling a quick 'Aye, Captain'. The two scurried off quickly. The metal door shutting behind them.
Charlotte's eyes narrowed at the sound of a deadbolt falling into place. She turned towards the only other person on the deck. His heart still in her hands. "Dive? What's diving?" She asked, suspicions clear in her voice.
"Hunter-ya," Law turned to meet her glaring eyes with a calm smile of his face. "Are you aware that you are standing on a submarine?" Water spilled over the edge, rushing in through rails as the yellow ship started descending. For once since Law met the huntress did, she seem panicked. He grinned at the sight. "You can't swim, can you?" He said, voice and tone far too cocky for Charlotte's liking.
"On the contrary, I can!" Law quirked a brow, remembering her earlier contradictory words at the Human Shop. Despite her words, Charlotte climbed onto the rail, avoiding the thin layer of water coating the deck. "And you?" She shot back, watching the doctor slump against the boat's rail, body growing steadily weaker. "Devil Fruit users are weak to the sea."
"That makes both of us." Law corrected back, smug despite the strength draining from him.
Her eyes darted towards the sealed door the two pirates had disappeared behind. The path already inaccessible. There was also no island insight either. This was suicide! She shot another glance at her prey, slumped against the rail and sitting on the deck. The sea water was reaching his stomach. Shit! She cursed, eyes darting towards the submarine below her. She lifted her free hand.
"Room."
There was only one place to go.
"Shambles."
The Polar Tang made a full successful dive.
Inside the yellow submarine, Bepo turned over his shoulder, beady black eyes focused on his friend who had ran in earlier. "Are you sure Captain will be okay?" This was their first dive with their Captain not inside the ship. Cole had locked him out before they started submerging. "He ate the Ope Ope no Mi."
Cole nodded, though he, too, was worried. "Capt'n said it's fine. Trust him." He said not sure who was trying to convince. He wiped his sweaty hand against his boiler pants and steadied them against the metal bat again.
"What are you doing, Cole?" Penguin asked, walking into the room. A bandage tightened around his thigh where the Pacifista had got him.
"…Waiting." Cole muttered quietly, fingers twisting against the handle again. He was crouched slightly, elbows bent, and arms lifted like a batter ready to hit a ball. His hazel eyes staring up at the ceiling where a purple film was peeking from.
"Waiting for?" Penguin quirked a brow at the strange response. "Hey, where's Captain? Rike wants to know if he should start Jean Bart's check-up or if Captain will be administering it." Their latest new crew member was still in the infirmary after having brought Penguin in there.
"Cole locked him outside." Bepo explained or didn't really.
"What?!" Penguin snapped, twisting quickly to run towards the deck. "But we've already dived!" He fell to his knee, blood staining the white bandages. "Why would you do that?! You know Captain can't swim!"
"I ordered him to leave us." A voice came from behind them. Penguin glanced over his shoulder, relief washing over him at the familiar sight.
"Captain!" He greeted along with the bear who was quick to hug the man.
"You're alright!" Penguin added when Law held up against Bepo's much heavier weight easily. "Who's 'us'?" He added after a moment pause.
Bonk.
Penguin and Bepo peeked around their captain towards the sound. Just in time to see Cole smash the bat against the back of a red scarf-wearing huntress. Her eyes rolled backwards, and she fell forward.
"Good work, Cole-ya." Law said, catching the unconscious woman before she could fall face first against the metal floors. He passed her towards Bepo and plucked his heart from her hands.
"C-Captain, who's heart is that?" Penguin asked, nervously. It was rare for Law to be playing with organs outside of his infirmary, surgery, or with no marines around.
"I'm surprised you knew where we would appear." Law said honestly, ignoring Penguin's question.
Cole scratched the back of his head with a chuckle. "I went to the only place where ya can see the purple room." Law nodded, understandably. It was a smart deduction.
"How'd ya know she was goin' to come in?" Cole asked. While the plan worked, the risk was huge. "She could have swum away with ya or worst, kill ya and then make her get away."
"Whatever her business was, she needed me alive. Else she wouldn't have gotten through all the trouble of getting this." He held up his beating heart. Penguin perked up at the heart, hand raising to ask his ignored question again. "She could have easily attacked to kill in that split moment when she turned the battle into her favour. Also, she can't swim either. She's a devil fruit user too." It was the only explanation to her powers. Though what her ability remains a mystery.
Penguin's hand dropped to his side, mouth wide as Law lifted his shirt and placed the boxed heart back into his chest. What the hell had happened while he was getting treated?!
"What should we do about her?" The others turned towards the unconscious huntress cuddled against Bepo's soft fur. "The closest island is Sabaody Archipelago and we don't know if the admirals left yet. That's where she wants to go too." They scowled at the last part. She had business to trade in their captain there.
"We're bringing her." Law said easily. He turned her onto her shoulder and reached for the pair of handcuffs dangling off her belt, next to where her heavy gloves were tucked into her back pocket. He flinched, feeling his power leave him as touched the rings. Seastone prism handcuffs. He noted with a frown. Those would have been troublesome to be in. She came prepared. He clipped the cuffs around her wrists and pocketed the key. "I want her as part of our crew."
She was interesting and far too skilled to be left on an island she didn't even want to be on. Not to mention her ability. Even if he didn't want to, she intrigued him greatly. If her ability was what he believes it to be, then it would be a huge asset that he couldn't pass up.
"Captain, need I remind you that she's a hunter after your head?" Penguin sighed at the declaration, knowing full well that his words were falling on deaf years. Leave it to their captain to go about crazy stunts like this. Though, he grinned, he supposed it was better than the Straw Hat Captain. That really was a crazy scene they had witness.
The first thing Charlotte noticed when she woke up was that she had been unconscious. The next thing she realized was that it wasn't the sun that was blinding her but strong artificial lights. She was in some sort of medical bay and her limbs were wrapped up in strange white cloths. Cloths that weren't there before and clothes that she did not own. She frowned when the bindings restricted her movements
"They're bandages." Someone explained. Slight surprise and curiosity lacing the undertone of his voice otherwise defacto voice. He eyed her curiously and the wonder and confusion that was glowing on her face. Has she never seen bandages?
Bandages? Charlotte repeated to herself slowly. That means she had been treated. The bandages cover only areas where she had suffered wounds from her battle with the Pacifista. It was tied tightly the same way Rayleigh had done for her the first time they met. Stop taking this off now. It's tight because it's meant to stay on. You're supposed to treat wounds so it doesn't get worse. Charlotte tucked her chin into her scarf. "Why?"
The other quirked a brow at the other and her brooding expression. Was she upset that he treated her? "I am a doctor." He stated as if it explained everything. It didn't, at all. Yet, for some reason it was enough for Charlotte.
The voice came up closer to her. A clipboard appearing in her peripherals. "How do they feel? Comfortable?" She wanted to say they were a bit restrictive, tight, but otherwise, they felt comfortable. Warm even. Except the words never left her as she turned to see who the kind doctor was. And her eyes took in the tanned skin marred with black ink and chiseled jaw framed with a goatee that she had memorized to the tee. Her target was standing before her, perfectly fine and free.
Charlotte darted forward, arms reaching out to grab him only to come up short. That's when she realized a very important and crucial fact that she had missed. Her gaze dropped to her wrists. Her eyes widened and instantly her sleeping Kenbunshoku Haki crawled out around her, spreading like a frenzied disease. And telling her exactly where she is and who's medical bay she was residing in.
Shit.
She was stuck. In the middle of an ocean. Surrounded by the Heart Pirates. Bounded by her own handcuffs. Handcuffs made out of seastone prism.
A chuckle broke her out of her shellshock and she shot the Dark Doctor the nastiest glare she can manage. "I thought you would have realized that sooner." He commented, lips pulling into a nasty grin. Her murderous intent was definitely nothing to laugh at. "Now that you're awake," He added easily, dryly and Charlotte's rage only fluttered at the comment. "Let's start your checkup. Can you please tell me about your medical history?"
"Huh?" Charlotte blanked and Law lifted his gaze from the clipboard to stare at the jeer on her face. "Why would I do that?"
"Well, Hunter-ya. If you're going to be staying on my ship, then I need to know of your current conditions, past conditions, allergies, diseases, vaccines and whatever else that may prove harmful to you or the members of my crew."
"Oh," She muttered with a small nod. "That makes lots of sense. Except for one biiiig thing—who said I'll be staying on your ship?"
Law met her challenging glare. "Would you like to leave?"
Charlotte stared at the vast open blue sea of the Grand Line, a blanched expression on her face. Her guard dropped and whatever snarky comeback she had before missing from her mind as she stared forward at the blue, and nothing but blue, waters before her. Law had surfaced the submarine just for her. Such a gentleman… not!
"You wanted to get off the submarine, didn't you?" Law's smug voice came from behind her, shaking the girl out of her frozen state.
Irritation rushed through her. Her hands clenched and unclenched before her. Her wrists still bound together. There wasn't even a single island in sight, not even the speck of one! She was stuck in the middle of the ocean of who knows where with a doctor who wanted her to swim to some unseeable land?! That's just impossible! Not to mention, she'll sink like a hammer as soon as she touches the water! Also, if she didn't, how was she supposed to swim with her hands still cuffed?
Charlotte pulled her lips back, sucking air through her gritted teeth, filling her lungs before exhaling through her nose. Forcing herself to calm, Charlotte found her voice just barely, breathing out a very controlled, "Yes". This was just plain ridiculous!
"You're welcome off the sub." The hint of smug amusement in his tone set her a blazed and Law knew it. He could almost see the air twist from her seething frustration. "Though, I would like to warn you first. If you leave now, you may find yourself missing something rather critical."
She didn't turn back to him, her gaze still focused on the empty sea before and all around her. "And what would that be?" She didn't bother to check the items she had with her, having a feeling that the doctor would clue her in any moment now.
Her eyes widened and Charlotte spun around when she heard—no, felt—her heart beat outside of her body. Sitting innocently in his open palm was a sight, that while normally impossible and definitely odd was a sight that Charlotte had quickly grown familiar with, having done something similar just hours ago. "When did you get that?"
Sitting in the palm of his hand, encased in a blue jelly-like box was an innocently beating heart—her heart. "It's not very safe to fall asleep on the enemy's ship."
"You and I both know that wasn't what happened!" She growled, legs sliding out and body drawing low into a battle stance. Law eyed the motion curiously. She couldn't actually think that she could best him, could she? "I wouldn't. I can crush this heart much faster than you can get it back." Law warned, steely eyes cold and harsh. He didn't make any move on her heart and Charlotte's focus remained on the beating cube
Her eyes flickered to meet his. "What do you want?" She asked, straightening. She tried to cross her arms only to remember they were bounded and grew frustrated. Again.
Law chuckled at the childish way she threw her arms around in frustration and her eyes snapped back to him, demanding him to shut up. "Join my crew." Law repeated simply in an almost lackadaisical manner. The glare doing nothing to him. Without waiting for a response, Law pushed off the wall he had been leaning on and headed back towards the lower decks, massaging a tight spot on his neck with the corner of his clipboard. "Now, shall we continue the check up?
"I refuse." Law stiffened. "E-excuse me?" Law couldn't help but think he heard wrong. To be completely honest, Charlotte's response was not one that Law had expected. Sure, he had expected some kind of resistance from the huntress, but not outright refusal. Especially not after seeing her heart held captive with no where to go.
"Join your crew and what? Lose my freedom?" Charlotte repeated, with a sneer. Platinum eyes absolutely livid as she looked down at him. She flipped her hair over her shoulders, haughtily. "Nah, I think I'm good. Drop me off at the next island."
"A-and your heart?" He almost choked as his mind rebooted from his shock.
Charlotte shrugged at the doctor. "What about it?" Law stared at her in disbelief. "If you were going to kill me with it, you already would have."
"So, you're just going to leave it here?" He watched her nod sharply as if they weren't talking about her vulnerable heart and life on the line. "I don't think I need to remind you that while you can live without an arm or leg, you cannot live without a heart." She nodded again and Law felt his lips twitch in irritation. At the lack of gravity of the situation. "What makes you certain that I won't use it to kill you later?"
Platinum eyes bore into steel. "Will you?"
Law flinched at that. Her earnest and unfaltering eyes.
She grinned, spinning around on her heels to face the waters once more. "Drop me off at the next island." She's got her answer despite his silence. She scanned the open sea for any spot of land. There weren't any. She turned around, making her way back towards the submarine. "Where are we going anyway?" She asked when she passed him by the threshold.
Law watched the confident woman walk pass him, eyes focused before her despite her heart sitting openly in the palm of his hand. Her calm heartbeat only a stronger sign of how comfortable she was with the situation. With a stranger keeping her heart. A large grin spread across his face. He didn't expect this. No, not at all. She was definitely amusing. "Marineford."
"Okay, then drop me off at Marineford." She continued down the steps. Law following behind her. He stopped when she paused. Isn't Marineford a place where pirates avoid? "What's going on at Marineford?"
"A war."
