Lovely Snow [Trafalgar Law]

[XI] Busted Lip

Warning: Violence, threats, and brief mention of self-harm

"Can I buy you a drink?" A shiver ran up Miyuki's spine at the sudden closeness of the stranger. His breath reeked of alcohol and he lacked the concept of personal space. Miyuki tensed up. She wanted nothing more than for this man to go away.

"I'm not interested." Miyuki didn't give a shit of how cold she sounded. She wanted the man gone. She hated to admit it, but she looked over at Bellamy, desperate for an escape. Unfortunately, her crewmate wasn't paying attention.

"Don't be like that. It's just one drink." The drunk man reached out and grabbed a strand of Miyuki's hair. He twirled it around his finger with a sickening smile. Miyuki pulled away from his touch.

"Don't touch me." Her voice held an unspoken threat, almost daring the man to try it again. The drunk held up his hands in defense.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. Your hair is just so beautiful."

Miyuki flinched. This man was really starting to freak her out. Sure, she could easily get someone's attention for help. But a stubborn part of her said that she needed to handle this on her own. She could handle this drunken fool.

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear," she paused to look the man in the eye. "Get lost." Miyuki hissed. Her voice cold as ice. Nothing about her was inviting and she needed the man to get the message. She didn't have the patience to be polite. Possibly because the girl who had never drank before was now two drinks in.

The drunken man stumbled away, mumbling "Bitch" under his breath. Miyuki breathed a sigh of relief that he was gone. Finally, she could enjoy her peace again. She downed the rest of her drink and her head began to spin. But just after signaling the bar keep for another round, the man returned. And this time, he brought friends. Three of them.

"Hey, Ice Queen, my friend here says he wants to buy you a drink. So make things simple and let him by you a drink." The man who spoke was a lot bigger than the drunk man. His presence was intimidating and he popped his knuckles to add to the effect. Or so he thought. Compared to living with pirates, this man seemed to be a joke.

Miyuki looked him over with narrow eyes. "I'm good." She was completely uninterested in everything going on. She wanted no part of this. Miyuki had read about women receiving unwelcomed attention in places before, but she never thought it would happen to her.

"I don't think you understand," the bigger man said, "this isn't a request." He sounded so stupid. Miyuki couldn't believe that those words had just come out of his mouth. To successfully say something like that, the person needs a lot more power to back it up.

Miyuki fought the urge to laugh in this guy's face. "I said I'm good."

The man angrily stepped toward Miyuki, an obvious attempt at intimidation. But no one was as intimidating as her Captain. No one was as good at anything as her Captain. Hell, maybe if she wasn't so focused on her captain she would have let the drunk guy buy her a drink. On second thought, maybe not.

Miyuki shot off her chair to square the man up. She held her head up high and looked at the man with narrow eyes. She was itching for a fight.

The man made a move to reach for Miyuki but was stopped short by a hand. "Don't touch her." The deep voice belonged to Bellamy. Miyuki took a quick glance at her crew mate before locking her eyes back on the man in front of her.

The man yanked his hand back and backed up a few steps. He held up his hands in surrender but it didn't feel genuine. "My bad, didn't know she was your girl."

Bellamy narrowed his gaze. He disliked this man just as much as Miyuki did. "She's not my girl."

"Oh," the man feigned surprise. "Then you won't mind if we take her for a spin. The cold ones don't bite if you warm them up just right."

Bellamy was disgusted by what he heard. He was about to rush forward when he saw Miyuki extend her arm with her fist closed. It was mostly the alcohol talking, but he heard her say, "I'm ready for a fight."

Bellamy grinned and knocked his own fist into the side of Miyuki's. "Yeah," he replied. "Let's teach these guys what happens when you mess with the Heart Pirates."

Miyuki reached her hand onto the counter, picking up the glass the bartender had left for her. She cooled it down as cold as she could in her current state, before throwing the contents on the man in front of her. All hell broke loose.

Hands were flying. There was no room to think. All it took was a single hit to sober Miyuki up, suddenly her head was spinning for a new reason. Her lip burned and she tasted iron but that didn't stop her.

Miyuki was on top of one of the men, repeatedly punching him in the face when her captain walked into the bar. Law looked around the scene, ordering both Bellamy and Miyuki to stop what they were doing. "What's going on?"

"Captain, these men were touching Miyuki." Bellamy's words made Law's blood boil. "They were saying all sorts of nasty things." Law looked at the men crumpled on the floor. It was obvious which one was the leader. It was the man that Miyuki had scrambled off of when Law entered the bar. Law looked at the man with disgust.

He kneeled down, grabbing the man's chin. "Don't ever touch my crew again. Do you understand?" The man immediately recognized the surgeon and nodded profusely. He started pathetically pleading for his life, swearing up and down that he would never touch another woman without consent again.

Law was prepared to use his devil fruit on the man until he saw the state of Miyuki's face. She needed medical attention, so torturing this man would have to wait. Miyuki had blood running down her face from a split in her eyebrow. Her lip was split open and she had a deep gash on the bridge of her nose. Law looked over to Bellamy and was relieved to see that he looked relatively unharmed. Though he would have an awful shiner in the morning.

"Miyuki-ya, back to the sub." Miyuki nodded and followed after her captain. The duo walked in silence the whole way back to the infirmary. Law had already begun cleaning the blood off Miyuki's face before he spoke. "Why are you smiling like that?" His every action was soft and gentle but his voice was cold.

"They had it coming." The expression fell off Miyuki's face when Law ran the alcohol covered cloth over the slit in her eyebrow. She didn't understand why her captain seemed so upset. The men had violated her space and wouldn't take no for an answer. "Why are you questioning me and not Bellamy?"

"Only one of you is in the infirmary." They fell into silence again as Law finished cleaning the blood off of Miyuki. "You didn't answer the question, why were you smiling like that?"

Miyuki sighed. She really didn't want to answer the question. Not to him. But she had no choice. "I like the pain." Her voice was barely audible but Law heard. His brows immediately furrowed and a scowle took over his face.

"Miyuki-ya." She refused to meet his gaze. Miyuki couldn't look at him. Not after what she had just revealed. She knew something was wrong with her and that this wasn't normal. But Miyuki couldn't help it.

"Miyuki-ya." Law gripped Miyuki's chin and forced her to look at him. He looked conflicted. Law was frustrated that Miyuki was like this, but he was also concerned that he couldn't help her. Depression is a tricky subject, and Law isn't the best at handling emotions.

He ran the cloth over Miyuki's busted lip. "No more fights." His voice was much gentler this time, much like his movements. Law threw the cloth to the side and reached for bandages.

Law carefully placed butterfly bandages over her wounds. "Why do you care?" Miyuki's voice was barely above a whisper. Law paused at the vulnerability visible in her voice. She looked so fragile and broken. The spark in her eyes was gone.

"Because you are special."

Word Count: 1419

Published: 4/10/2024

Unedited