Two Hearts

Just Because

After two days of sailing, the crew was unable to locate the dinghy. The rain started in hard on the night of the second day. The navigator advised Law to pull under and wait out the storm where they would be safer, but the captain refused. They continued to sail.

Around midnight, a bolt of lightning split the sky. The echoes of thunder that followed cued the storm to come in full force. The wind picked up the waves, throwing them at the ship as if they meant to drown it. Bepo held on tight to the support beam in his room. Shachi and Penguin held each other.

"Law!" Jean called above the screaming wind. "Get inside!"

The captain obstinately gripped the railing. He hadn't achieved his goal yet. Storm be damned, he was going to find that trouble maker and keep an eye on her! Another bolt of lightning ripped the sky, illuminating for the first time another ship. The sails flapped wildly in the wind, clearly damaged even at this distance.

He pointed towards it. "Jean-ya! Take us in!"

Jean ground his teeth. He didn't like Law staying out in the storm alone, being a devil fruit eater, but he followed orders. He did as he was told.

The storm tried desperately to stop them from reaching the other ship. Sometimes by pulling it just out of their reach, others by trying to capsize both of them. Finally, Law and Jean were able to force their way onto the ship. Once aboard, it was glaringly obvious that it had been a pirate ship until quite recently.

Quite recently someone had murdered the entire crew. Bodies lay strewn around, tossed about at the storm's mercy. Water and blood made the deck slick. Law checked several of the crew-members, but found no pulse. Most of them of them had their throats slashed, others had been stabbed upwards through the soft spot under their jaws.

A faint gurgle caused Law to turn towards the captain's quarters. A man crawled towards him, one hand reaching. Jean kept them both steady as they made their way towards the dying captain. The movement of the ship kept them at bay long enough for Law to be powerless to save him.

His last words, almost too quiet to hear, were, "she's... a demon!" Almost as soon as he stopped breathing, his body turned to a jelly-like substance, coating the ship with yet more treacherous ground.

Law stepped over the remnants of the captain and into the room. Miraculously, the hanging lamp was still lit and intact. The flickering light showed that Law's suspicion was correct. Leaning against the thick wooden bedpost, covered in blood, was Aisuru. A curved dagger rolled on the ground between her splayed legs. Her clothes, which had once covered everything except her face and hands, had been torn to almost nothing during her fight. A thick metal shaft protruded from her chest, perfectly in the square where her heart should have been.

While Law could deduce that much of the blood pooled around her was not Aisuru's, it was likely that too much of it was. Three quick, unstable steps took him to her side. He scooped her up, wincing as he saw that the shaft belonged to a grappling hook, and the barbed metal claws had lodged themselves firmly in Aisuru's shoulder, back and side.

Her head lolled against his shoulder. She groaned unintelligibly as her body flickered with a faint glow. Law felt her trying to drain his strength, but held firm. She clearly had no idea what was happening. "It's okay, Aisuru-ya. I will keep you alive."

She either heard him, or was too exhausted to fight any longer. The flickering faded out, and Law enabled his powers. "Room!" The blue sphere of the Ope-Ope fruit flooded the ship, expanding its border until it encompassed the Polar Tang. He took himself and Jean through the walls, directly to the operating room.