One of a Kind (Trafalgar Law)

4 - "Is It True?"

Punk Hazard, Present

"No!" I yelled out in my fear, sitting up quickly in an unfamiliar area.

The sudden movement made me wince, my hand grabbed the side of my stomach where the pain was the most intense. I moved my other hand up to my head and felt lightheaded for a moment. My memory was hazy, I didn't know anything right away since my mind was really foggy.

"You're awake!" A familiar voice said in an excited tone.

"Wait, wasn't I just talking to Luffy on the ship just now? Was I dreaming? A memory?" I wondered out loud. "No... I remember that the Vice Admiral was here too!" I quickly became concerned about being found by him in this condition.

I began to look around the place frantically, not knowing what's been going on since I was asleep or how long I was out for.

My hand automatically reached for my neck to find the necklace that I've held onto for years was missing from it's usual place.

'That means...! So meeting him really did happen... Finally.'

Memories from earlier began flooding my mind as I began to calm down. I was defeated by a former ally, the fight against the giant slime afterwards, getting down the mountain with everyone...

"Who?" Chopper asked me, giving me a sense of relief knowing that there seemed to be no risk of being found here. "A Vice Admiral?"

"I- I meant, the guy that Law and I were..." I trailed off, realizing it wasn't something to worry about for now. "Law, is he here with you guys? And just what is going on out there, some kind of a party?" The noise from outside was reassuring, filled with familiar voices close by.

The initial panic I felt had dwindled at seeing his confused expression. It didn't seem like there was any danger, in fact the noise from outside told me otherwise. I was mentally piecing together memories of what's been going on in the island, but didn't know why I was in this room.

"Where am I?" I asked Chopper, realizing I was covered with bandages. "H- How did we even manage to survive such a place?" I said, the pain of my body making me wince slightly as I moved.

Feeling how cold it really was now that I had calmed down some, Chopper quickly retrieved an extra blanket when I tightened the one I had wrapped around me.

"When you had collapsed after we descended down the mountain, everyone was really worried. I had no idea you were this injured, you hid it so well the whole time. Tra-Guy didn't really tell us what happened, but it was him who began to treat you first. How are you feeling?"

"I'll live." I said, realizing how sore I felt all over. "I thought it was going to feel a lot worse if I'm being honest with you. I'm surprised that I was able to keep these injuries from everyone for as long as I did, until it caught up with me that is..."

Wrapping the extra blankets over myself, I carefully stood up.

"Well, a whole lot happened. You were the last one we were waiting on to wake up. Mocha, she's just regained conscious." Chopper said, motioning me to follow him out of the room.

My balance was off the moment I tried to stand up fully, but I shook my head and continued onwards behind him. He opened the door and I was met with a smiling face.

"Is she going to be okay?" She worriedly asked Chopper before seeing me walk up from behind him.

"She is! It looks like everyone is going to be fine." Chopper told Mocha who visibly showed her relief.

Her size at first had caught me off guard just like with the other children, but she was still a child who Nami and everyone fought so hard to protect.

'I'm glad that things turned out this way. They will be safe from now on, and nobody else will hurt them.' 

Looking past her, there were other children of all kinds of sizes as well and talking to several of the adults who wore two different sets of uniforms. My face didn't hold back my surprise upon seeing the marines and the men who worked with Caesar Clown casually sit beside my crewmates.

"Is this... Uh... What's going on?" I asked, not knowing how to properly word the hundreds of questions running through my mind at the bizarre twist of events. "Sorry, my mind is still pretty hazy about things."

"Nobody here is an enemy. You'll have to ask the others for more details later on but, basically after made it off the mountain we all decided to celebrate." Chopper explained, which began to connect a lot of the missing parts together for me. "We were able to get all of the children free, and with Law's help they seem to making a lot more progress in recovering. This is for them, well, for everyone on Punk Hazard."

"I remember now..." I felt a proud grin form on my lips as I viewed the scene before me. "This is only something that Luffy could pull off."

"From what he told me when I woke up, that nice man with the hat was helping everyone get better!" Mocha said happily. "Let's focus on getting better!" She held out her hand which I placed my own in the middle of her palm and wore a smile for her.

"You were the one I was most worried about, you hadn't woken up in so long. With you and Mocha up, now there's something else to celebrate! Come on, Sanji is almost done cooking!" Chopper tells the two of us as he led the way and took us to stand in line to grab a bowl of the hot soup.

Keeping in mind with what Chopper said earlier, I let my guard down and relax around everyone. Some of the faces were familiar ones, people that I haven't seen in ages when I abandoned my post in Sabaody Archipelago that day and met Luffy for the first time.

Following Chopper and Mocha, I saw where they were headed to.

"Law." Chopper called out to him who seemed to be lost in thought as he looked was silently watching the children he treated earlier. "I'm sorry that I suspected you earlier."

"He told me. I got better because you treated me. Thank you!" Mocha said with a big smile, lowering Chopper enough to hand over Law a bowl of the soup Sanji made for everyone.

Law remained silent and didn't saw anything in return, even when he took the bowl.

"I'll catch up with you guys in a moment." I told them when they turned around to leave.

Mocha and Chopper understood and walked away, leaving me alone with Law.

"Chopper told me the same thing. Thanks for helping me back there. I mean, you were right back there. It's my fault that I got hurt. I shouldn't have tried to-"

"Don't get the wrong idea. Keep in mind that I'm a pirate too." He cut me off.

'Somehow, even as he says that... It doesn't sound too convincing knowing what he did for the children, and for me.'

"Either way, thank you." I told him, slightly bowing my head down in appreciation.

For a moment, the expression on his face was hard to read but he turned his head before speaking up again.

"What you told me earlier when we met. There wasn't a chance to really ask properly until now, but... Is it true?" He asked suddenly, taking out the familiar necklace I gave him and held it in his palm.

"Of course it was!" I said, taking a step forward and determined to alleviate his doubt.

"I'll go along with it for now. But it had better not be a wild goose chase." He said.

"I promise it isn't. If you still feel skeptic about it, I do have proof. I swear. It's on the Thousand Sunny right now, so for now, just take my word for it."

With a short nod, he turned to walk away from me, heading over to sit down next to Vice Admiral Smoker.

'What a sight. Enemies who fought before, casually sitting down in a ceasefire. That's the kind of power that Luffy has, and it's because of him that I was able to make it this far.'

"I wonder what she would think of this if she saw this. It's incredible. My captain can really make the unimaginable into something possible." Crossing my arms over my chest and smiling at the scene before me, I started making my way over to the rest of the crew who were eating. "I have a lot to catch up on before we head out to the sea again."

Twitch: Enrita11

October 8th, 2022