Claiming Waters

Chapter 16: She's Awake

(Reader) POV:

This isn't heaven but I can't say I'm in hell. Maybe I'm somewhere between because I don't think hell would be this quiet. Yet I always thought heaven would be some kind of sweet release into bliss where in some dream-like miracle my father would be there.

I awoke to a gentle humming, I felt a comforting weight running along my head.

As my eyes cracked open, the fuzzy vision of a person became clear. I realized Luffy had shoved his face right next to mine. He was intently staring at me

"Lu-luffy" I mumbled. I quickly felt my body scream with a numbing pain and stiffness. Of all the days I woke up feeling sore, this was beyond awful.

Luffy's expression soften at my voice "(Reader), you're awake, I was so worried you wouldn't wake up"

"Huh? Wa-what do you mean?"

"Well after-" I couldn't hear what Luffy was saying, I was too busy taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. For the first time in a long time, I was on a solid earth. However, more than that I was surrounded by rock walls. Moss, vines, and vegetation crawled on what surface it could. Twisting my head around with wide eyes, I could see water was surrounding my tiny island.

I roughly shoved up torso, interrupting whatever Luffy was talking about.

"What the hell? Where am I? What happened to the ship?" I shouted

"(Reader) calm down" law, who I only noticed now, began to pull himself up onto the rock, his intention to grab me.

"No! Get away from me!" I yelled. Scrambling backwards, I made the mistake of trying to stand up to run. One, there was nowhere to run to. Two, as soon as I put weight onto my leg, my body crumbled, immediately I tripped and collided with the water. I was disoriented by the fall, quickly slashing at the surface.

"(Reader)!" Luffy yelled. He swam closer in an attempt to help me.

"Don't touch me," I tried to swim away, but my attempt was futile. Luffy was by my side in a flash. He grabbed my flailing arms.

"No-ooo!" I fought against his hold. Landing kicks on him wherever I could.

"Ack! (Reader) stop struggling." Luffy said, though I wasn't free, I was certainly causing him bruising. "Law," Luffy was asking him for assistance in restraining me.

Law who had been sitting on his rock perch, watching the whole ordeal with a grin on his face, clearly amused by my unhappy disposition.

"I'm coming," he said, sliding back into the water.

"No! Stay away from me," I fought harder at his approaching form. Once closer, He grabbed my legs. Unfortunately by the time Law was restraining me, I didn't have the strength to fight him off. My body was exhausted from thrashing in the water. I started to slump, Crying, my tears mixed with the ocean water.

"Shh... it's okay (reader), we've got you"
In the wake of my tired form, Luffy's hold became more of an embrace. Luffy took this opportunity to cuddle my sniffing self in the comfort of the water.

"Please, ju-just let me go" I pleaded with my captors "I don't want to be here"

Law came around to my face, cupping my cheek, "mmm sorry love, can't do that, but don't worry, it won't be long until things get better."

I couldn't hear what he said over the ringing in my ears. Was this really the end? Did the people I had come to think of as friends really just kidnap me for the sake of their delusions? Was I to live the rest of my life in a watery world? No, no! I can't give up, everything I've done up to this point cannot go to waste. But where do I start? I don't even know where I am. I was internally battling between hopelessness and determination.

They must have kept me in the water for a long time because eventually I lost count of how many hypothetical minutes went by. Luffy was humming while Law patted my head. Even though I had regained some of my strength, fighting was pointless. Instead my attention turned to figuring out an escape.

"Luffy?" I spoke up from the silence.

"Ya"

"Can you please put me back on the rock island?" I asked.

He hummed clearly thinking about what he wanted first. "Hmmm... five more minutes"

In the next ten minutes, Luffy ended up tugging me out of Law's hold. I was pulled flush against him. So now my chest was pressed against his. Luffy was hugging me tightly like his favourite stuffed animal, his head buried into my neck. At first my arms hung by my side, but I knew what he wanted. Slowly I brought my arms up to gently embrace him. Luffy seemed to like this, purring into my skin.

Good, this was one of the first steps, I need to build their trust in me. During the time I spent floating, I figured that if they believed I loved them back, they would allow me to be left alone or maybe tell me useful escape information.

I noticed Law had perched himself back on top of the rock. He watched with an envious face, no doubt he was planning on how he would make up for this 'loss of affection' later, when Luffy wasn't around.

Finally Luffy swam me back over to the island rock, he passed me off to Law who pulled me up like a doll. I now sat next to the tattooed man. Out of the water I had a chance to look down, I could see my leg was bandaged. Suddenly a memory came forward. 'That's right, I was attacked by a shark' I thought to myself, staring down at my wound.

"You're lucky we found you, you were very close to bleeding to death." Law said.

"We? I'm the one who found her" Luffy complained

"Well I'm the one who saved her," Law snapped back. So I was right to assume that Law was the one to fix me up.

I didn't have the energy to focus on their childish conversation. Instead I just allowed for my head to roll over onto Law's shoulder. He stopped talking at my new action, surprised by my sudden affection. Though, I didn't mean to be affectionate, but if it meant gaining trust points, I didn't care.

"Aww, someone's tired" Law cooed as he stroked my head. "Do you wanna go back to sleep?" He asked.

I nodded my head. I couldn't tell if I was simply giving into Law's commands or rather I was truly tired from fighting two men while injured. But whatever the case, I was content to do so. Maybe they'd even leave me alone.

"Luffy go get (reader)'s bedding" Law said. Bedding? Interesting, does that mean I'll have something to sleep on rather than a rock with patches of grass?

"What? Why do I have to?" Luffy retorted.

"Because I'm going to stay here" Law replied, 'well that's disappointing' I thought.

"No way, you go, I'll stay with (reader)" 'how bout no one stays with (reader) and both of you leave me along like I so nicely asked.' Is what I wanted to say out loud but didn't.

"No idiot, you already got to hold her earlier, now it's my turn" the two's petty jealousy was annoying, for gosh sakes I'm a person not a puppy.

I didn't care who left or who stay, since it was clear one of them would be here anyways. I shifted my body around to be lying down. I curled up using my arms as a pillow. Law saw this, and instead moved my head onto his lap, which to be fair was more comfortable. Though the feeling of fish scales against my face was a little bizarre.

"Oh no, now I'm trapped under (reader) guess I'm stuck here." I could see Law smirking.

"No fair, you did that on purpose, I shou-"

"Go" law's voice sharpened. He was clearly done arguing with a child.

Luffy grunted, "hmph... fine, but when I get back it's my turn." And with that he disappeared under the water. I tried to see which way he was swimming, but Law kept my head down with his hand.

"There now that the noise is gone you can rest" I had to agree. I closed my eyes and for a while I was thinking of plans and questions, like where the hell is my boat?! Perhaps, Law noticed this, and that's why he began humming. The soft melody was lulling me to sleep, however I was resisting. But this time I had figured that like Sirens, their enchanting melody was able to control listeners. Now I wasn't sure of the extent of their possession. But I wasn't too keen to find out. At some point I relinquished myself and sunk away, know the next time I'd wake up my determination for freedom would be even stronger.