Stained Heart [Trafalger Law]

||NINE||

Roxi nervously started sweating when the entire crew focused on her. What the hell was she supposed to do!? Roxi had never been one for social interaction. And...god, crowds were one of her worst enemies. She absolutely hated attention.

Roxi practically buried herself behind Law.

Even back when she worked for the world government, Roxi would never do speeches or explain things to groups of people. Whenever her research bore fruit, and it often did, Roxi would hand the research to a trusted peer, and they'd share the information instead of her. If course they'd credit her, but she would never be the one to present research.

And research was some thing she actually knew about.

But now she was stuck as the center of at least twenty people's attention, and she had absolutely no idea what to do! Which brought the question: What the hell should she do!

As the green haired woman's mind worked furiously to come up with something, anything to say, she eventually arrived at a conclusion. After a long and painful ten seconds, she concluded that she should probably introduce herself.

Introduce herself....

How the fuck does she do that!

Roxi had the strangest feeling that just saying 'Hi' wasn't a very good introduction. Okay--calm down. Think if what the people you've met did! They...Roxi struggled to remember anything in her distressed state. They....right! They greeted her. Said their name. And stated their profession and skills!

Okay.

Roxi nervously pulled on a lock of her bushy green hair.

She could do this!....maybe....she hoped.

"Um...my n-name is Roxi..." And---she already started off awkward. Okay! first part down! "A U-umm scientist, right." She couldn't decide whether to simply state scientist--or former-world-government scientist-that-ran-away.

Next...skills! Huh... "Right so I do uh...a bunch of science-y stuff...Although I specialize in Chemical weapons...I also know some other stuff and yeah..."

"WHAT KIND OF INTRODUCTION IS THAT!?" The crew exclaimed.

"Chemical weapons!?" They yelled in a mix of shock and fear.

"Y-yeah..." Roxi shifted uncomfortably. Her expertise in that field wasn't exactly something she was proud of. "You know..." She waved her hands around in uncertainty. "The kind that kill people..." She paused. The green haired woman observed the crew's apparent dissatisfaction in her answer. What did she found wrong?...Roxi looked back on her introduction....and finally realized what she missed. "Ah! Sorry...I forgot to say hello..."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT'S WRONG!" The crew shouted, their voices dripping with disbelief.

"What a wonderful introduction that definitely wasn't at all awkward!" Unko (sarcastically) commented.

Roxi winced. She knew it was awkward, but man, the lizard was just rubbing salt in the wound.

Law sighed, gesturing to the violet eyed woman. "So....as you see--Roxi-ya will be joining us from now on." The stormy eyed captain stated dryly.

"EHHH!?"

Just then, the door once again squeaked open. Roxi's eyes widened. It was the adorable polar bear! God he was cute! "Huh?..." The bear drowsily rubbed it's eyes. "What's with all the noise?..." He yawned. Roxi's violet eyes seemed to gleam with delight. Roxi stood up, and basically rushed to the bear. 

Roxi has always felt way more comfortable with animals rather than humans.

The green haired woman hid behind the bear, it's large body shielding her from the unwanted stares of the crew. The bear, blinked. Then turned his head, looking around. "Huh?..." Finally, the half asleep bear seemed to wake from his trance. "C-Captain who-why?! Eh!?"

Law groaned. "Roxi-ya, come back..." Roxi noticed that her captains voice sounded really really exasperated. Kinda like he was being slowly worn out by various things. She wondered why he would possibly be tired. 

But never mind that, there was no way Roxi would come out from behind the bear...She really din't want to be in that room, you know! People are scary! 

"You know this is absolutely pathetic right?" The lizard on her should stated in a matter-a-fact tone. His tail shifting on her shoulder.

"Of course I know! You don't have to tell me..." the green haired woman paused. "B-but I can't help it you know!" She defended. Even a genius like Vegapunk had never been able to coax the girl out of her inherent shyness. 

"Mhmm." Unko didn't seem convinced. 

Anyway, back to the room. Law looked...well--kinda, getting more impatient by the second. His face was twisted into a scowl. Roxi had the strangest feeling that that wasn't a very good sign.

"Room." A familiar blue dome encased the room.

Roxi quickly recalled her knowledge on the Ope Ope no Mi. The information immediately came to her brain, after all, while Roxi did have a stupid habit of forgetting everything normal....once she had spend hours looking for a book, only to realize she had been holding it the entire time-- Roxi had a talent when it came to remembering things she cared about.

However, before she could put that knowledge to any use, the woman and bear were already right by Law's side. They--or rather, she--Law would never glare at his precious first mate--faced Law's icy cold glare. "Next time you'll come when called." He stated.

Roxi, in her infinite awkwardness, failed to respond.

Her captain's glare seemed to become even more intense. "Correct?" He said in that silky smooth voice that never failed to sound way to dangerous.

Finally, startled out of her trance, Roxi quickly nodded.

After that encounter Roxi drifted over to the shadows, away from the bright cheery crew. As Croi finally called pit that food was done, she thought back to what had just happened. She had learned two things. One, Law was not a morning person. And two, his eyes were really pretty.

In her earlier encounters with the man, she hadn't paid much attention to his appearance. She never did pay much attention to people's appearances. Out of all the people in her life, quite a lot through the years, there were only a few she could clearly remember. Her first supervisor. Her mentor. A certain someone who, despite how much of a complete bastard he was, she might even consider a friend. Unko. And now Law.

Roxi doubted she'd ever be able to forget how intensely those silver eyes seemed to wash over everything.

Honestly, she really should've payed more attention to them earlier. But during those previous encounters Roxi had been much to occupied with other things. Joining the crew, avoiding social interaction, trying not to die. Y'know, the usual.

But don't misunderstand. Roxi wasn't particularly against the act of dying. However, it just wasn't the right time.

"Let's add being suicidal to the list of reason's you're an idiot."

Roxi pouted at that, but didn't deny it.

While lost in her thoughts, Roxi unknowingly ended up right next to a certain pair of troublesome mechanics.

-----

My lord I hate not having internet.

God, I try reading manga, watching YouTube, or playing games.... just to realize that I have--

NO GODDAMN INTERNET 😭

Jeez, moving into a new house is hard.... I should get internet next week. In the meantime, I must apologize for the late update.

Anyway! What'd you think of this chapter?

I feel like it wasn't very interesting and didn't present enough information as the previous ones.