Del couldn't tell what the worst part about being alive was at this very moment. Whether it was the unbearable heat of the interior halls of the submarine, the nipping freezing water that felt like sandpaper on her skin, or the fact both her ears felt like they fell off after Ikkaku's constant yapping and complaining about her life on the crew.

"And then Penguin told Captain that I was the one who was supposed to keep guard that night, so it was apparently my fault we were attacked by Marines, even though he was using the periscope that night..."

The woman complains, whipping the soapy luffa around with shampoo still lathered in her hair. Del groans and continues washing herself, rinsing the soap off her body and bringing out her sawfish hand. She brings the fish under the running water.

"She talks more than Loro..." Del whispers to Bonaparte.

"Hm? You say something?" Ikakku looks over the metal shower wall at Del.

"Nothing!" Del yelps and hides further in the corner. She quickly turns off the shower and grabs her two towels before Ikakku can finish, grabbing her still-dirty mask and putting it over her face. The Heart Pirate steps out after a few seconds, wrapping her slender body with one towel and one around her head.

"You and your crew don't take showers often, huh?" Ikakku asks Del, resting a hand on her hip.

"No, we're Fishman. We don't need showers. We just swim."

Ikakkus scoffs, looking at herself in the mirror and grabbing a toothbrush.

"Your crew may have gotten to swim, but I overheard Captain say you had an issue with being in the water. Why is that?"

Del sighs and shakes her head. "I'm just not a strong swimmer. I didn't live near much water growing up."

Ikakku raises a brow. "A Fishman never growing up near the water? That's unheard of."

"W-well, it's more common than you think. It.. um.. it rained a lot where I lived, so I didn't really have issues with drying up."

"Huh, well, I guess it's a different life for everyone. Your new change of clothes are in that locker by the way."

She points to the tall locker beside Del. She opens it and finds her new black boiler suit, shorts, and a white tee. She groans slightly, feeling the rough material of the boiler suit, and changes into it.

"Oi, you should take off that dirty bandana."

Before Del could turn and object, her eyes widen. There in Ikkaku's hand is the tie-dye bandana she wore prior to being saved. "You… you saved this for me?"

"Uh… yeah? Your Captain insisted we keep it safe since it was important to you, said a friend made to hide your… condition." Ikkaku hands her the bandana and begins to change into her uniform. As she does, Del silently proceeds to dress herself.

"So… you saw it then?" Del mutters her question as she turns her body away from the Heart Pirate and replaces the dingy one with her original.

The woman brushes her teeth as she watches Del from the mirror.

"Can I ask about-" As Ikkaku points to her face, the young woman quickly snaps.

"No…" She says without hesitation, keeping her back turned to Ikkaku, who only sighs and continues brushing her teeth.

The Heart pirate finishes up and gestures for her to follow. As they walk, Del takes note of the familiar hissing pipes and small hallway. She hesitates to go further, but Ikkaku nudges her slightly to continue.

"Look, I know you don't want to, but my captain still needs the information you promised," Ikkaku says as she opens the door to the white room cell. Del nods, slowly making her way in and sitting in her corner. She sighs, bringing her legs to her chest. "He's getting impatient, Del. You should really-"

"I got it," she snaps. "I brought this upon myself. When his navigator is done with those maps, I'll tell your Captain everything."

Ikakku nods and closes the doors, stopping as Del calls for her.

"Those two... Penguin and Shachi… are they…"

the Heart pirate huffs.

"Those two knuckleheads are fine. What you and your Captain did was nothing compared to what they've been through as kids."

Ikkaku locks the door and walks away without hearing Del's response. She hides her head in her knees, wondering if she could ever apologize appropriately for the damage.

Law pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing his baggy eyes with one hand and the book in the other. The hours he has spent reading the children's book over and over again did nothing but bring memories of his own home. Blurry memories of his mother reading him a different series from the same author as a kid haunt his mind as he skims the pages once more. He remembered his sister in their father's lap, acting out the different scenarios in a silly voice as if it had happened yesterday. Bepo sits across from him, his inked paws print the litter of pages, and he can't help but make a slight tear as he wipes away pencil shavings. Still, the maps are made well enough to be coherently read.

"Bepo, please tell me you recognize these islands." Law groans as he sits back on his chair.

"I'm sorry, Captain, I don't. They're just… fictional islands."

Law furrows his brow and slams the book shut, standing up to inspect the maps.

"They look so odd." The man grabs one of the pages and inspects it further. "Half the maps are only borders. You'd think the author would've wanted the whole island to be drawn out."

Bepo hums in agreeance as he continues drawing out the sketch of one of the maps, accidentally pressing another inky paw print on the side as he spins the paper to get the rounded edge of one of the islands. Law sighs as he takes some tape and fixes one of the torn edges of the paper.

"It's strange. I feel like I've drawn them before, but they don't look familiar." Bepo states as he draws out the grid.

The Captain raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean you feel like you've drawn the before?"

"Some islands are new to me as I draw them, but some come out smoother as if I had the muscle memory to draw it."

Law picks up another page to inspect it. He squints, his eyes stinging from fatigue as he can't help but let his eyes follow down the fake island's border.

"This looks like…" Law begins to trace his finger over the border, only to smear the ink with his finger.

"Oops…"

Bepo huffs, taking the page from Law's hand.

"Captain! I told you not to touch them yet! They're still drying!" He wipes away the smudge as best as he can, leaving a dark stain of where the border once was.

"Sorry, Bepo, maybe I was just seeing things…" Law sighs and reaches for the book again, wiping the ink away from his hand with a towel. He heads back to the book, looking for that particular map that he ruined. The thought that that border seems so familiar is eating away at him. As he continues to examine the fictional drawing, Ikkaku peeks her head through the door.

"Sir, Del is ready to be interrogated again." She informs and steps in, inspecting the table with crudely drawn maps. "Are these even useable?"

"They better be, or her head will be displayed in my office as a reminder not to waste my time." Law grits his teeth as he makes his way past Ikkaku. "Help Bepo finish the maps."

As he quickly makes his way to the White rooms, Law's mind continues to rack over the border of the supposed fake island. He keeps thinking why the border looked familiar, but the rest of the island didn't.

"It must be a coincidence. There's no way it could be…" He shakes his head, coming upon the door and quickly opening it.

Del jumps at the sound of the door opening, making eye contact with the gold eyes she now fears as her arm hairs rise. She stumbles to her feet as she backs into the corner. Her body tenses as he steps closer, reaching for her arm and pulling her away from the wall. Her heart pounds in her chest. She couldn't help but feel this was her final moment alive, that he just decided to dismember her anyway as he threatened earlier. Her eyes begin to water as she has no choice but to follow him down the hall.

"This will be your only chance to prove you're worth keeping alive, do you understand?" Law says sternly as he drags her back to the navigation room. Del only grunts and nods, unable to speak as the adrenaline pumps through her veins.

Once they both reach the room, Law shoves her inside. Her eyes meet with the black orbs of the polar bear dressed in the orange boiler suit. He looks angry, or as angry as a bear could look, bearing his teeth at the sight of the pirate who hurt his friends. She wants to ask so many questions about the sentient bear, but her eyes are drawn to the maps displayed on the table.

Del looks at the craftsmanship of the maps, noticing the ink splotches and tears. "They… look like crap."

"I'm sorry…" Bepo slumps in the corner, a sudden change from the glare he had. His head hangs low as he taps his inky paws together.

Ikkaku furrows her brow and smacks Del on her head.

"Apologize to our navigator! He worked so hard to make these for you!"

Del looks up in pain and confusion as she rubs her head to soothe the pain. "Alright, I'm sorry! Jeez…" She grumbles, then straightens up as Law approaches her. He holds up one of the maps to Del, nearly shoving it in her face.

"Bepo says he doesn't recognize any of these islands. Tell me why you needed these made if the islands don't even exist."

Del gulps, takes the map from the man's hand, and walks to the table. She places the map down before searching for another.

"J.S. Loyd, the author, is as mysterious as he is genius..." she states before finding a specific map and placing it so one of the corners is in the middle of the first map. "In fact, he was once a pirate himself. He was the navigator of his own crew."

Law crosses his arms and lets out a short scoff. "A navigator who doesn't even know how to draw the islands he visited?"

"That's where you're wrong…" Del places another map halfway over the second map. "He drew many maps of the islands he visited, always redrawing them until they were perfected. He was more accurate than most navigators during Roger's era. But there is one thing he loves more than drawing maps… And that is puzzles."

Law is about to question her theory until a few more pages overlap and create a comprehensible island. Bepo looks over the table, and his eyes widen slightly.

"Hey, that looks just like Swallow Island." the bear points out the four pages that suddenly made up the bird-like island. As Del overlaps more map pages, Bepo can recognize small nameless islands and other sections. "This is... A map of The North Blue!"

Law leans over the table, watching Del place map after map of what were once fictional islands coming together to make real islands. He spots the map, which he accidentally smudged early, as Del places more papers.

"I knew I recognized that border…" He squints as the island he could never forget seems to materialize before him.

"Flevance, Rubeck, Lvneel… I didn't recognize them before, but now they're right here, in one giant map…" Bepo rubs his chin as he looks down at the placement of the maps. "But this one here… I don't recognize it."

The bear points to a land mass that looks like a jellyfish.

"Some kind of... Jellyfish island?" Ikakku questions.

"It's something like that… I can't remember what he said, but J.S. Loyd wrote about it in his log book," Del looks down at the maps, her brows dip in sadness. "But… I lost it when the Marines attacked us."

Ikakku thinks for a moment and turns to Law, who is already searching a drawer in the room. He pulls out a small leather book with gold lining and an octopus on the front.

"That's it! His log book!" Law stops her from grabbing the book and pulling it back. Del clenches her fists and returns to the table.

The Captain flips through the pages and begins to read. "Miracle Island…"

Del looks up, the name jogging her memory. "Miracle Island, a place full of kind people who used a combination of advanced medicines and prayers to aid him and his Captain after their ship capsized during a Marine chase."

"Advanced medicine?" Law's ears perk up as he continues reading at the mention of such a thing. "They used the tissue of their island for various medical purposes… how is that even possible?"

Del moves away from Law to grab her storybook from the table. "J.S. Loyd didn't like explaining too much in fear someone would find this island and use it for their own gain. My goal is to search for them anyway; I just… want to see the islands he saw, too."

She turns to Law and the other two Heart pirates.

"There are four variations of the books, but each Blue has their own different stories and maps that lead to these mysterious islands. He wanted people to go out and search for the books themselves, prompting their own adventures and experiences." She looks down at the cover of the storybook, and the illustration of the man pointing out to sea gives her goosebumps each time. "My goal is to find his books, discover the islands, solve his riddles, and experience them for myself."

Law tilts his head suspiciously at Del, eyeing her as she holds her book to her chest.

"You know an awful lot about this author. Are you some kind of obsessed fan of his?" he taps his long sword against his shoulder. "Sure, even I was a big fan as a kid, but I never really cared much for his backstory," he peers down at her through the brim of his hat. "What's even more intriguing is how a no-name pirate like you got access to his log book."

Del shifts nervously under his gaze.

"I… I stole it from him…" She says flatly as her eyes flick to the side. She's met with another smack to the head as Ikkaku yells.

"You're lying out of your ass! You're a horrible liar you know that!?"

Del yelps and rubs her head. "I-it's true! My Captain raided his ship... And... And I was searching the ship rooms stole it right from his dresser!"

Law continues to read through the pages, as Ikkaku smacks Del's head again as the young woman desperately tries to convince her how she has such valuable information. He spots some interesting writing at the end but closes the log book.

"Whatever the reason is, you kept your promise, Del-ya."

Law places the book in his drawer and looks over the maps. Bepo begins to add the position of the new island to his maps.

"Ikkaku, take her to the female quarters. She's no longer our prisoner."

Del shakes her head. "Don't think this makes me part of your crew…" The Captain waves her off.

"Nah, it's best that the Marines don't know you're working with me. That will cause issues since I'm a Warlord." he strokes his goatee. "Anyways, you are still recovering as my patient after all. I'm sure all of this is wearing on your mental health."

He smirks, and those coin-like eyes meet hers.

"Best to call me Doctor for now, Del-ya. You may compensate me by helping me find these... Mystery Islands as payment for giving you a room to sleep, clothes, food and protection."

The young woman relaxes slightly and nods. "Fine… Doctor Trafalgar. I'll offer whatever help you need, but you meant what you said, right? You'll still help me find…"

Law looks away. He isn't 100% sure the rest of the Coral Reef pirates were alive, and he is certain Meguru was killed by the Marines minutes after they swarmed him. He sees that hope in her eyes, though, the same hope he held onto for years, hoping someone from Flevance survived that dreaded slaughter other than him. He should put out that fire now to save her heartache, but the shell of a girl wouldn't be of use to him. She can assemble the maps, saving him time and a migraine.

"Hm.. Pirates don't keep promises, but I suppose you upheld your end, so I'll uphold mine. I'll help you find your crew."

He could see Del smile from beneath her bandana, and she reached her hand out.

"Deal?"

Law hesitates, but he shakes it anyway. It wouldn't be his fault if her crew was gone, so he may as well take this risk. "Deal."

Ikkaku cheers and hugs Del, a sudden change from her aggressive attitude towards the girl's lying habits.

"Finally! Another woman on the crew! We're gonna be besties!" she pats Del's head and nuzzles her hair.

"Oi, don't get attached, she's not part of the crew."

Bepo joins the hug and nuzzles Ikkaku. "Finally, I won't have to deal with nail polish and sappy romance movies alone! Welcome to the crew, Del!"

"Bepo, what did I just say!"

Law groans, pulling the bear away, pushing the two women out of his office, and slamming the door.

Ikkaku giggles and leads Del to the female quarters. The hissing of the pipes are deafened by Ikkaku's chattiness.

"We're going to have so much fun! We'll do each other's hair and talk about boys and watch dramas and talk about boys-"

Del remains silent, Ikkaku's rambunctious behavior reminding her of someone.

'Ayo, a bond between us ladies is greater than any man's dream, got it?'

The words echo through her head as she touches her tie-dye bandana. Even with Ikkaku's senseless ramblings, Del wonders if she can learn to trust someone who isn't her crew.

Once they make it, Ikkaku hurriedly shoves her into the small room. There were a few bunk beds, but they look like they've never been touched. There is a single desk with books piled on it, a few romance books, some about the submarine interior and the mechanics of machines.

"You like this stuff?" Del flips through the submarine book, finding pictures of the inner mechanism of the complex machine.

"Well, yeah, what girl wouldn't? I mean, it gets a little complicated with the love triangles and the cringe fantasy tropes. It's just fun to- oh… You mean those books?" Ikkaku huffs and leans on the desk chair, and sighs.

"Captain requires all of us to read them so we know how to fix the sub if something goes wrong. It's a waste of desk space; I know this submarine like that back of my hand now."

Del sets the book down and turns to the other woman, who removes her suit. She had small burns from the pipes; she was pretty thin but had some muscle from training to fight.

"Oh… by the way, I saved this too." she reaches under her pillow, fluffing out the familiar blue and yellow hat. Del felt tears sting her eyes upon viewing it.

"Captain's hat… you…" she grabs it, clinging to it as if it was going to get swept away with the wind. "Thank you."

Ikkaku pats Del's shoulders and winks. "Our Captains mean a lot to us when they provide safety and leadership. I respect Meguru, even if he beat up half our crew."

Del sniffles, wiping her eyes as she crawls onto the bunk bed beneath Ikkakus, holding the hat and the storybook close to her chest.

"Grampa.. Captain… I'm going to follow my dream like I said," she whispers as the lights cut off for curfew, and her new journey awaits after her slumber.