The Marionette

Chapter 24: A Vow To Sever Those Feelings

"Oh hey! The Captain was looking for you earlier!" Penguin called over to you as you exited your room, your heavy eyes could barely make him out from across the hall. Recently you hadn't been getting much sleep after Law told you his plan about becoming War Lord, it increasing your fear of one day coming face to face with Doflamingo.

You yawned while rubbing your eyes, "sorry I wasn't feeling well," you said while shutting your door behind you. You knew the submarine had emerged at the next island, Uni had made that announcement over the speaker some time ago, but you didn't want to see Law after your last encounter. It had only been three days since then, but it still wasn't enough time for you to detach yourself from your emotions.

Penguin frowned while studying your face, "you look a little pale, maybe you should have him check you over to make sure you aren't picking up on a cold," he suggested.

You shook your head, "no! That won't be necessary!" You hurriedly shut him down with a pleading look, Penguin raising both of his hands in front of his face as he took a step back.

"You sure you're okay? You're acting a bit strange," he said with an uncomfortable laugh. Even though you couldn't see Penguin's entire face, you could tell he was concerned by his demeanor. He held the back of his neck after you didn't respond, "well anyways," he coughed while looking away, "the Captain sent me to find you. He said you two were supposed to train today."

You bit the inside of your lip while trying hard to come up with an excuse, you didn't want to tell him you were feeling sick because as a doctor, he'd want to examine you. But if you showed up while still in this state, Law would only distract you and make you fail. If you were to help him with his goals, you needed more time to sort things out with yourself. "Tell Captain Law... that I didn't get enough sleep so therefore I'll be a detriment to our training," it wasn't a complete lie, but maybe he'd fall for an excuse like that. It wasn't too outlandish, and besides, Law knows you have nightmares often.

Penguin's lips twisted in thought as he processed what you said, "I don't think he'll be happy about it, but
I guess I can pass the message along," he sounded very unsure as he let go of the back of his neck.

You let out a relieved breath of air, "thank you Penguin," you said as you awkwardly shuffled past him. You wanted to go to the library for some quiet time, not a lot of the crew seemed to go there as the common area had more traction.

"Maybe we can go on the island together at some point, I heard this island is known for their cooking!" You didn't realize Penguin had begun to follow you, his footsteps were very light and easily were drowned out by the beeping noises on the submarine.

You abruptly stopped walking which nearly caused Penguin to crash into you, watching as he tripped over his feet but luckily caught himself on the wall. You thought back to what Ikkaku told you, keep it short and clear, you can do this. But when you turned to him, you immediately felt guilty for trying to turn him down. The way his grin showcased his excitement made you feel like a bad guy, you opened your mouth to say something, but an unexpected voice came out instead.

"Penguin I told you to find her, not ask her out on a date," the aggravated sound of Law snapped as he walked from around the corner. "You took so long I took it upon myself instead to come get her," he explained when Penguin's entire face turned red and he let out a surprised yelp.

"S-Sorry Captain!" Penguin stammered out as he backed a few feet away from you, your own cheeks glowing light pink at the situation. You felt ashamed that you struggled with basic human connections already, and now you were failing at letting one meager guy down.

This must look bad on you as Law already warned you once about Penguin being a distraction, and now it was happening again. "It's my fault," you spoke up while grabbing one of your arms with your hand and looking down at Law's feet, "I told Penguin I didn't want to train today and he was trying to convince me to go." The only thing you could do at this point was cover up the situation, you didn't want Penguin to get in trouble again on behalf of you.