Law and the Lawbreakers

Chapter 8

Through the trees they were hiding behind, Law could see Luffy's grandpa knocking on the door to a shack. Luffy was running around behind him, chasing a butterfly. A woman with orange hair braided along her head, older than their dad but younger than the marine knocking on the door, answered, screaming her head off about killing whoever was knocking. She seemed to recognize the old man though, and shouted his name - Garp - right after.

"Hey, Law," Artemis whispered. "Why can't I go play with Luffy?"

"Because his grandpa's a marine and you have a bounty."

"Oh. Okay. Can I go over when his grandpa's gone?"

"Sure. But I think the people who live in that house are mountain bandits."

Artemis groaned. "I hate mountain bandits."

"Good and bad people in every profession, Artemis," Lammy reminded her. "Remember what Makino said?"

"Oh yeah. Do you think they're good or bad mountain bandits, Law?"

"I dunno. I can't hear what they're saying."

"Hey, Law?"

"What, Artemis?"

"Do you think if we climbed the trees we could get closer without them seeing us?"

Law glanced upward. The trees were pretty tall. It was unlikely they'd look up, and even if they did they probably wouldn't spot them. But if any of them fell out they'd probably break a bone and Law didn't really want to have to set a broken leg again. "Maybe," he said. "But I don't think we should. It'd be dangerous if any of us fell out."

"You could catch us with your Devil Fruit though."

"Do you know how fast my reaction time would have to be for that?" he whispered.

"I trust you!" Artemis beamed at him and began climbing the tree closest to her.

"Artemis-" Law hissed.

"Let her be, Law," Lammy said. "If she falls she'll learn the consequences."

"If she falls she could die, Lammy."

"She'll never climb a tree after that then."

"Because she'll be dead!"

"If you pay attention," Lammy muttered, "then she won't die."

Law took a breath, then turned to look at his youngest sister, already halfway up the tree by now. "Fine," he muttered under his breath, forming a room up to where Artemis was and increasing its size as she climbed higher. He tried to make sure that it wasn't visible from where the mountain bandit and Garp were but the trees were pretty tall and he hadn't ever tried to create different shaped rooms before. "Artemis," he whisper-shouted. "Stay as low as you can in the trees! My room can't reach that high."

Artemis looked down at him from the branch she was now sitting on. "Alright," she called back.

She jumped to the next branch, then crawled towards the end of that branch and jumped to the next tree. Law switched her with a leaf farther down the branch when it looked like she would fall. "Thank you!" she called down to him.

"Can you tell what they're saying?"

Artemis listened intently, then called back. "The old man is leaving Luffy here with someone named Ace," she called down, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible.

Law felt someone else enter the room and turned around to where they were. "Someone's here." He brought himself and Lammy up into the tree Artemis was sitting in and dropped the room. "Stay here and be quiet," he said. Artemis and Lammy nodded. Then, the branch the sisters were sitting on snapped. Lammy grabbed hold of the branch above her but Artemis's arms were too short and she plummeted toward the ground, screaming.

"Artemis!" Law screamed, creating a room and switching her with a rock on the ground.

Garp whipped around and the mountain bandits looked over as well. "Those damn pirate kids," Garp muttered, running toward where Artemis was sprawled on the ground.

Law expanded his room as much as he could and switched Garp with a leaf on the very edge of the room.

The curly haired woman's eyes nearly bugged out of her head when Garp disappeared, but she didn't try to go after Artemis so Law left her alone.

Luffy turned around too when he heard her scream and started running toward her. "Arty!"

"Luffy!" she called back.

Law and Lammy both dropped from the tree and ran towards her.

"Artemis," Lammmy shouted. "Are you okay?" she asked, once she reached them. There was a shout from somewhere behind the cabin, something about 'damn pirate kids', and Law decided there wasn't enough time to worry about whether Artemis had a skinned knee right now. He grabbed her and started running toward the trees, Lammy hot on his heels.

"Where are you guys going?" Luffy called after them.

"Away," Law called back. "Artemis still has a bounty and your grandpa's still a marine, good or not. We have to go!"

"Alright," Luffy called. "You guys can come find me when he leaves, okay!"

Artemis smiled at him from over Law's shoulder. "Okay, Luffy!" She waved back at him.

"Stop yelling," Law said to her. "That's my ear."

"Sorry, Law," the younger girl said, giggling. "Thank you for saving me. I knew I could trust you." She kissed his cheek.

Law blushed and told her to shut up.