'Pzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz- Romeo Sierra fleet, this is Bravo unit, over.'
Ta-ta-tap… Ta-ta-tap…
'Go ahead Bravo, over.'
'Routine check, over.'
'Standby.'
Ta-ta-tap… Ta-ta-tap…
'Bravo unit, this is Romeo Sierra. All clear, break. No signs of Whitebeard, over.'
'I read back: all clear, no signs of Whitebeard. Verify, over.'
'Correct, over.'
'Acknowledged. Do not answer, out- Pzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…'
Law's brow furrowed, his fingers never ceasing their constant drumming against the metal desk in front of him. He had never asked how exactly Shachi knew the exact frequency of Marine broadcasts, nor how they even could be picked up 100 metres under the ocean, but he wasn't complaining in the slightest. Without doing something downright stupid and sticking the Polar Tang's periscope above the surface this was the only way he had any knowledge of what was going on up there.
Even if most of the information being sent was military drivel.
'Pzzzzzzz- Foxtrot Delta fleet, this is Foxtrot Charlie fleet, over.'
'Go ahead Foxtrot Charlie, over.'
Uuuuh off they go again.
Ta-ta-tap… Ta-ta-tap…
'Foxtrot Delta, Firefist moving to gallows, break. Hold positions, break. More to follow, break. From Fleet Admiral. Read back, over.'
Ta-ta-ta…
Abruptly straightening to his full height fast enough it ached, Law loomed over the tiny tapping snail. Staring at it with eyes intense enough to bore holes through its reinforced shell.
'I read back: Firefist moving to gallows, hold positions, more to follow, from Fleet Admiral, over.'
'Correct, over.'
'Wilco, over.'
'Roger, out- Pzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…'
Sighing, he flopped backwards to blankly gaze up at the ceiling. Another piece of nothing. After all that hang up, he would have least preferred something a bit more interesting. Especially when the Fleet Admiral had been mentioned. For him of all people to command a message like that, it should be something a little more important. Although maybe that was just Law's head overreacting to it all. With all the stress going on he felt as if he was this close to having a goddamn heart attack. And that's even with him knowing it wasn't medically possible!
His fingers went back to drumming the table
To make matters worse, he hadn't heard anything from Strauss since the previous day. Granted, it was probably near impossible to contact him at that moment without being shot on sight given the fact that the entirety of the Marine forces were about to go to war with an Emperor, but still. She could have at least tried. For his nerves dammit!
"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu…" Law draped a hand down his sleep withdrawn face.
He shouldn't have suggested something like this. No way. Not even if it got him an immensely capable crewmate who was somehow more competent than the rest of his crew (except Bepo who was perfect) combined and could clean the Polar Tang to something even better than the day he'd nicked it and managed to telepathically know whenever he wanted coffee before he even knew it himself…
On second thought, that coffee was definitely worth it.
Damn he wanted coffee…
The door to his study swung open, "C-Captaaaaaain!"
Urgh. "What?" He snarled, lolling his head back just enough to see Bepo bumbling into the room. Instantly his tone changed to something calmer, "I thought I shouldn't be disturbed unless it was something important."
"B-b-but that's the thing, Captain. It is important!"
"Well… go on then." Flicking his hand Law beckoned for him to continue. "What is it?"
"We've, uh, picked up something strange on the sonar…" Bepo's fuzzy brow furrowed. "Something big. And it's heading this way!"
Now it was Law's turn to frown, "And you're sure it's not a Sea King?"
"W-well that's the thing, Captain. Even though it is still quite far away right now, and judging by the speed it will take some time to get here, we can tell that it's not a… uh… how do I say this…" The mink's claws clacked together as he struggled for an answer that his captain would accept. "It's not alive."
The blood drained from Law's skin in an instant. As his face broadened into a grin that bordered on maniacal desperation.
"We… think it's a ship!"
So. He was finally here, was he.
.
Ba-dump… Ba-dump… Ba-dump…
Strauss's hand was trembling. Shaking faster than a leaf. But… she couldn't help it. Not when…
The cube in her grip thumped- one beat, then the next- perfectly in time with her own pulse.
It hadn't been particularly grand. Especially to those who couldn't quite figure out what was happening. To them, all that had happened as they blinked their eyes was that the strange fleshy thing she'd been holding had shrunk a bit, and pulsated a little faster. They had no idea about the switch that had been made.
To allow two beating hearts to return to their rightful owners.
She couldn't describe how she felt. To finally have her own heart back after all those months. It was as if a wave of relief, or maybe pure joy… no, she couldn't figure out what it was. This was too… too… indescribable of an emotion for even her own head to put into words. They looked so similar, yet couldn't be more different. Law's heart had been warmer, and a slightly deeper shade of pink. So this was… so different. Yet so familiar all the same.
As if she had been made whole once again.
"S… Strauss?"
She knew who it was without even turning, which was just as well. Every fibre of her being was trained on that beating cube.
Sanji placed a tentative hand on her shoulder, "Is that…?"
"Yeah." Her breath was ragged from emotion. Simply breathless from comprehending the object on her palm. "I finally have it back."
It had been so long. So damn long. Part of her had even…
Ah! She shook the thoughts away. That hadn't happened, so there was no use thinking about it. It was here, in her hand. After all her scowling and cajoling and almost downright begging… Law had agreed to go along with her plan.
And that plan had worked.
The slight chill of the winter air still partially suspended above them snapped her back to her senses. She'd relish this sensation more later.
With a still somewhat shaky hand, Strauss deftly opened up the outer layer of her jacket to reveal the empty cavity in her chest. After ensuring her heart was oriented the correct way around (which thankfully Law had insisted on teaching her) she began lowering the organ in.
It wasn't like putting in Law's heart. That had always been a bit fiddly, what with forcing the flesh to contort and compress itself to fit the somehow smaller hole in her chest. One look at her Captain's face the first time she'd done it showed how discomforting it was. But this?
Like slotting in the final piece of a vast puzzle.
A slight tingle erupted around her torso as the cube's boundary began knitting the original tissue back together. Veins became whole again. Muscles flexed as one. Blood freely flowed in a central location again instead of being warped somewhere completely different.
She felt warm.
CRRR-UNK!
"WHAT ON EARTH WAS THAT?!" Nami shrieked while chunks of rock and broken piping rained down as the two halves of the Punk Hazard facility collapsed back together again. "T-THE CEILING JUST LIFTED UP!"
Strauss's face instantly reverted back to its usual expression of impassive annoyance, all signs of sentimentality gone as if they had never existed. "That was Law. I don't know why he did that, but he must have had a good reason to."
Hsssssssss…
"He must have had a good reason…" She repeated, eyes narrowing in on the plumes of purple gas that were sneaking through the newly formed gash on the wall. "LISTEN UP-" Her head swished back- "WE NEED TO MOVE AND FAST! EVERYONE GET RUNNING!"
"Yes!" Robin turned back towards the cowering children, "Everyone! Run to R Building!"
"But big sis…" One of the largest children whimpered. "I… I'm scaaaared!"
At that each children began piping up, babbling nonsensically over each other in a hurried mess.
"I… I'm scared tooo!"
"And my head hurts!"
"Big sis I can't feel my feet!"
"I don't wanna run anymore!"
A vein pulsed.
"OI!" Sanji yelled over Strauss's shoulder, "We have no time for wimping out, kids! Do as Strauss says and run."
"Don't give up, everyone!" cried Nami, flinging her arms out wide. "We've come so-!"
"Fine. We'll leave you behind then."
The panic hushed, resulting in the air being punctuated solely by the crashes of the facility falling in on itself and the menacing hiss of gas.
"You…" Nami was the first to react, taking a single step forwards with a menacing glint in her eye. "What're you talking about? We talked about this; we're not leaving these kids here!"
"And I hate to be the one to say it, but we are running for our lives right now," snarled Strauss. "We don't have time for any dead weight on our hands; especially since this entire building is going to be filled with deadly poisonous gas within the next few minutes!" Her face tensed. "I know it's harsh, and I know I'm going to be seen as heartless just saying this, but we can't wait on our asses for valuable seconds just to placate some whiny kids! We can't help anyone if we get ourselves killed."
"Then why don't you leave." Nico Robin said cooly. "If you are so unwilling to waste any time, why are you hanging around here to discuss it in the first place."
"We-" Strauss gestured between herself and the Straw Hat pirates- "are in an alliance. An alliance which would fall apart pretty quick if half of you kicked the bucket. I'm under orders to take care of you guys as best as I can. Which, unfortunately, means none of you can die on my watch. If any of the kids or the marines miraculously manage to make it out of this alive, perfect. Couldn't be happier. But I'm not going to risk my skin to save theirs."
Nami's brow furrowed. Almost as if she couldn't quite make sense of it. "Don't you have a heart?! You were around these kids being experimented on by a mad scientist for what? Months? Years? And you still don't have it in you to help them escape and return to their families?!"
"No! I mean sure I want to, but-"
"Ooookay everyone let's just cool things down a notch." Sanji forcibly inserted himself between the two furious women. "You both have very valid points. Nami-" he whipped his head behind him- "trust me when I say that Strauss does in fact have a heart, she's just very pragmatic about it. And Strauss-" back the other way- "part of our alliance was a mutual agreement to rescue the kids." Brow furrowing, his voice lowered to a hushed mutter. "Believe me, I'm pissed at them too, but at the end of the day they're just innocent kids who we don't want to have gone through the same shit we have. We didn't have many people we could depend on, why not give these guys something we missed."
For a while (or what felt like one to him at least), Strauss said nothing. He wasn't even sure if she was even emoting at this point, or all she was feeling was pure nothingness.
Nami, on the other hand, merely waved his objections away in a huff, "Yeah yeah sure whatever, we've all got our demons and all that jazz. Doesn't mean we should impose them on others."
"Point taken."
Her voice sounded so coarse. As if it was physically hurting her to speak. But the look on Strauss's face seemed anything but pained. If anything she just seemed… tired.
Exhausted of the world around her.
It… hurt. In a strange and selfish way. Parts of him wondered if she was really the same person he'd worked with… or if time had irreversibly changed her into a stranger.
Marineford. It all came back to her presence at Marineford, didn't it?
Where Ace had died…
Something horrid boiled in his blood. Something he didn't want to acknowledge. So he didn't. And just pushed it deep down inside of him, hoping it wouldn't ever resurface.
Even he knew it was entirely disrespectful to be jealous of a dead man.
"H-huh?"
A sudden cry from one of the marines made them all turn.
"Is that…" The man squinted, one heavily scarred brow furrowing as he caught sight of a flash of baby pink down the corridor ahead of them. "It is!" His face lit up. "CAPTAIN-CHAN!"
All at once the rest of the marines erupted into a bellow of noise, each one pushing and shoving the others just to catch a glimpse.
"Captain-chan! It's really you!"
"I'm glad you're okay!"
"So you beat that bird woman, huh?!"
Out of the corner of his eye Sanji noticed the bottom corner of Strauss's lip twitch. He wasn't quite sure about what had happened during her fight with Monet, but he had a sneaking suspicion that one way or another it had hurt her pride. She'd failed, at least in her eyes, to hold 'that bird woman' back. And Strauss hated failing people.
At least… she'd used to…
"...ut why're they coming from that direction?!"
Now what were those idiots on about? He grimaced. Couldn't they just read the room and shut u-
"Yeah you're right! I thought they were behind us to let us get away!"
He froze.
Hang on a minute… they. The last person he'd seen with Tashigi was… and that had been back at the…
A flash of green hair appeared through the wall of marines. Running directly their way.
One by one his knuckles cracked, each of them seething with perfectly fine and completely reasonable emotion. Since he still had something to discuss with that asshole. Namely, how the hell he'd pissed Strauss off so quickly?! She'd worked in the service industry for crying out loud; even when she'd been irritated by something she could always keep it under wraps.
This was one of the first times Sanji had seen her take such a blatant dislike of someone. Other than his stupid younger self of course.
The idiot swordsman must have done something stupid!
"Zoro!" Nami screeched behind him. "Head back the other way!"
Zoro grimaced, heels digging into the smooth stone flooring in a pitiful effort to try and slow himself down. It gave Sanji a decent amount of time to see that the bastard was carrying Tashigi on his shoulder despite all her desperate pleas for the opposite… which only proved to make his rage burn brighter. If she was saying no then he should listen to her wishes dammit!
"Oi. Roronoa."
Sanji blinked hurriedly to see Strauss moving quickly towards the two figures skidding towards them. Zoro himself seemed somewhat confused, "What?"
She gestured forwards with an arm. "I'll take the Captain."
B-But she was injured! Sanji flexed his fingers wordlessly as he clamoured for his thoughts to align themselves. Strauss couldn't… Her shoulder was… She'd dislocated… She was injured! She couldn't carry someone like that! She shouldn't!
Zoro's brow furrowed, "Too much hassle."
See?! Even that idiot could tell that this was a terrible idea! Well he had phrased that incredibly poorly, but that's probably what he'd meant right? So he should just back down and let Strauss heal up in-
"No, if anything you carrying her is the hassle." Strauss rolled out her shoulder experimentally. "We'll need all the fighters we can get and maybe you'll be useful to cut our way through obstacles. That is-" her eyes narrowed into deadly slits- "if you don't think they are too weak for you."
Too w… just what had Sanji missed?! He'd thought that he had arrived fairly quickly to their fight with Monet… but had there been something beforehand that he'd been too late to hear? Something about that idiot calling Strauss weak… which didn't exactly sound like him, but hey he was willing to accept anything at this point!
Not even Zoro seemed to know quite what to say to that. Or even to have noticed the barb altogether. Instead he just said, "Sure," and tossed the protesting marine captain into Strauss's arms.
"Wha…?!" If at all possible, the embarrassed flush over Tashigi's face grew even more violent. "D-D-Dont' be ridiculous! I d… uh… don't need to be-"
"It's fine, I'm faster," Strauss said simply. Without another word she sped off, tucking her arm under Tashigi's legs for support, until the two of there were tiny dots down the vast hallway.
Even though it wasn't all that impressive, the sight practically took Sanji's breath away.
"Alright kids!" Behind him, Nami had snapped back to her senses and was moving to bark orders once again, "Come on and follow Strauss! She may be mean but she knows where she's going and we don't want to lose sight of her do we?!"
The children murmured amongst themselves, but the chaos from earlier had somewhat shifted their view on things. That and the rapidly approaching purple clouds of doom made them very easy to convince.
Sanji too began running with the rest. Not as a conscious choice- his legs had started moving on their own- since his mind was still preoccupied by that image. And at the small figure still speeding away down the corridor.
She hadn't been quite that strong the last time he'd seen her. Since (no offence to the lovely Tashigi-chan) carrying another person's body weight wasn't exactly an easy task, especially when moving at the speed Strauss was. For a brief moment he wondered if she was even strong enough to lift him now…
He winced, pinching his nose to stop the embarrassing rush of blood and almost tripping over his own feet in the process.
Why the hell did he have to be like this?!
Letting out a long breath, Law felt some of the remaining tension leave his body. He had his own heart back. As did his crewmate.
Behind him a viscous sickly green liquid dribbled from the severed S.A.D. containers, lightly hissing with the sudden air contact.
All was right with the world. He had done what he'd set out to do.
"Damn… how am I going to eat breakfast tomorrow."
He continued walking towards the exit, slinging Kikoku over his shoulder as he did so. White Chase slumped halfway there hastily lighting not just one but two emergency cigars. How that would help his broken lip and excessive blood loss Law had no idea. But then again, he hadn't ever treated a logia type. Maybe more of their element was all they needed. If only he could run an experiment on one…
"This really is a horrible turn of events." Vergo continued drawling, somehow managing to sound calm and collected despite the state he was in. "How dare you, Law. This is an upset."
Law resisted the urge to snort.
Big words for someone who'd had their body diced and surgically fused to a metal railing.
As if to prove his point Vergo's severed hand clenched into a fist on Law's right, "But I know you're going to regret it. Keep that in mind."
He was now almost level with White Chase, who still hadn't bothered to get himself up from the ground just yet. Law flicked his eyes towards him and arched a nonchalant brow. His response was a grimace.
So he was fine. Good.
"You don't know Joker's past, Law."
A vein pulsed in Law's forehead. Couldn't that asshole just shut up?! He'd lost, why was he wasting precious air on foolish threats?! It still boggled him that there were fools this prideful and idiotic in Paradise, let alone The New World.
"And that simple fact will cost you your lives. Both yours and your crews'."
He stopped walking.
For a second there was silence. Save for the drip drip drip from the destroyed machinery behind him and the slow hiss of far off gas. Then, with surprising fluidity given the amount of tension coursing through his body, Law turned. Eyes made of thunder.
"Upstarts like you who have only begun to taste the hints of fame can't hope to take over the world." Vergo's severed head proclaimed. "Not when it's filled with those who are much stronger. Go on, tell him Smoker."
He stared expectantly but the marine didn't even react, instead releasing a thick plume of smoke into the air with grim satisfaction. As if Vergo wasn't even there. And all he heard was a fly buzzing its death cries.
Law still didn't move. Knuckles still white on his sword.
"All you squirts've got is energy. You're still full of yourself because you and that kid were at Marineford. But you don't get that this world is mu-"
Shnnnnnng…
Vergo stammered, unable to say a single word more. Slowly, as if ripping a piece of paper, his head gradually parted in two halves. Clean. Bloodless. Perfect.
Kikoku sang as Law resheathed her and slung her and her scabbard back over his shoulder. "Don't worry about me. Or my crew for that matter." His voice was impassive, yet his face told otherwise. "Just worry about yourself."
Grunting to his feet, Smoker strode out of the room. Not once looking at either of them. Nor saying a word. He'd already made his peace it seemed. Although Law himself wasn't particularly bothered about marine dealings one way or the other.
Under the brim of his hat he surveyed the facility around him with grim satisfaction. "This place will explode soon," he noted, already seeing the telltale signs of rattling through some of the pipes. "So this will be it."
One last time he turned towards his aggressor. Towards the person that mere minutes ago had almost killed his crewmate.
"Goodbye, Vergo the pirate."
And then he left. Without so much as a glance behind him as the room began crumbling into nothingness. There was no point in hanging around. Before long the gas he'd intentionally let in would spread throughout the entire facility, funnelling everyone towards R-66.
Caesar would have no place left to run. He wouldn't be able to weasel his way out of this one.
"I take it now that Strauss has her heart back."
With a grimace, Law's attention switched to the imposing figure striding ahead of him, "I fail to see how that's any of your concern."
"Quit the bullshit." Smoker glared over his shoulder. "You're not the only person who's sailed with that kid. Nor are you the only one who cares about her."
There was a sharpness there that he didn't appreciate. And the faintest bitter twinge. If anything it was impossible to not read between the lines. His brow furrowed, "You missed your opportunity to recruit her you know. Even before she'd met me, she had a bounty on her head. And after the war… well…"
That same bounty had increased dramatically. How could it not, when Firefist had made his connection to her clear.
Hah! The mere thought of that idiot made him grimace. Such a simple act had caused him no end of trouble. Nor had Strauss particularly appreciated the gesture either. He and Straw Hat really were 'brothers' in all sense of the word, weren't they.
"Valentino-ya is a member of the Heart Pirates." He weighed each word carefully, measuring every single syllable to avoid being misinterpreted. He wanted this to be as clear as physically possible… so he wouldn't have to spell it out again. "She is a pirate, not a marine. There is a clear distinction between the two."
So keep your distance.
To his surprise however, Smoker just snorted. Releasing a rush of smoke through his nostrils so thick that it looked painful. "I think you've misunderstood me, Trafalgar." He readjusted his gloves, the edges of which slowly beginning to blur. "I don't give a damn about what the hell she does with her life. If we meet after this temporary truce is over I'll do my best to bring her to justice, our personal history be damned."
Law felt his nose wrinkle. If that was the case… then why had he even bothered asking about her? It made no sense.
"Just so happens that there's someone out there who does care about that precious crewmate of yours. And just like you take good care of your subordinates, I take care of mine." Half of Smoker's head dissipated, solid flesh and bone turning to flimsy smoke in seconds. "I'm going on ahead. You do whatever shit you've gotta do, my part here's done."
And then he was gone. Twisting and turning fast as the wind down the corridor, the speed sending ruffles through Law's coat.
Law pensively ground his teeth together. That could have gone better. And it could have gone worse. He wasn't exactly in a position to complain, no matter the outcome. At least he had more information on the matter now.
Hearing a rumble he cocked his head up, calmly sidestepping around a falling piece of debris.
White Chase was right about one thing. He needed to reconvene with Strauss again, and fast. Especially now that she no longer had a method of communicating with him.
Flicking out his fingers, he watched the familiar blue dome expand away from him.
He had to use this sparingly now. As much as he hated to admit it, the fight with Vergo had really taken it out of him. But right now there was no time to waste by walking somewhere, especially given the precarious state of the facility. So he'd call it a necessary sacrifice. Straw Hat would be the one to deal with Caesar anyways, and he trusted that someone had dealt with Monet in some shape or form.
His mind went back to what he'd said mere minutes ago in response to Smoker's question.
Strauss-ya is a member of the Heart Pirates, hm? Right now that was true. But for how much longer, now that their deal was finally coming to an end.
"Tch!" His lips coiled into a hiss, fingers deftly moving into position.
As if he'd sit back and let that happen. Not when he'd finally gotten his hands on such a competent crewmate. He'd be a fool otherwise, to simply let go of someone that talented and reliable. And even if he did, the rest of his crew wouldn't let him hear the end of it otherwise! His hands were tied!
"Shambles."
He vanished. Leaving only chunk of debris that resembled the ceiling a few buildings over in his wake.
So apologies, Strauss-ya, but he was going to have to alter the terms of their deal.
A/N
Hello! How has everyone been doing? Things on my end have been a bit hectic, which is partially why this chapter has come out so late. After doing my stint for NaNo (which I did pretty well on actually! Didn't win but came close) it took me a while to find my fanfic voice again, especially for this fic. And to be honest, I did NOT pick a good place to come back to! So yeah I hope this makes sense to everyone!
Not really that much to say here if I'm honest. I've given reasons for why I was gone, and nothing too dramatic happened this chapter. I guess all I can really say is thank you all for being so patient! My update schedule is going to get even more patchy in the neardistant future because of some life stuff being thrown my way, but I am so so SO grateful to everyone for hanging in there to read my stuff! Really means a lot ^_^
Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it! And I'll see you all next time :D