Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

If someone asked, you wouldn't know how you got there.

You didn't even know where there was.

It wasn't a very large corridor, it seemed to be made of pure metal, with pipes and wires running along a greenish metallic wall. It was completely silent, except for the occasional sound of some kind of machine running.

The silence pressured your ears as if there was cotton inside it.

It was a little cold wherever you were. At least for you, in your denim shorts and dark blue tank top. You took a deep breath and let it out, wondering if you would see your breath in a vapor of cold air, but it didn't happen, it shouldn't be that cold.

You loosened your hair, that was tied up in a bun, in an attempt to cover more of your body, and it fell in a red cascade of curls and waves just past your shoulders. It didn't heat up much, but it helped.

You pulled your hair to the sides of your neck, covering your bare skin, and put the hairclip in you pocket, then you walked down the empty hallway, looking carefully for something or someone that could help you understand what was going on.

A moment ago you were on the street, weren't you? Going to buy something... You couldn't remember exactly. Your memory fuzzy as if you had been hit on the head and suffered a concussion.

Distracted, you turned down a hallway and crashed straight into a strange wall. It was big, but kind of fluffy, it still threw you backwards, causing you to almost fall on your own butt, if you hadn't caught the corner of the metal hallway wall.

You stumbled a few steps back but managed to stay upright, letting go of the wall.

You could have sworn the path was clear before you turned, you thought, lifting your head to look at what you had hit as you heard more than the sound of silence or machines running.

And it wasn't a wall. Far from it. It was a person. Come to think of it… You pondered again. You could hardly call him - it? - a person. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit with a strange black and yellow symbol on the chest, but it was a bear.

A large polar bear at least two meters tall, with sharp, pointy teeth potentially capable of tearing the flesh from your bones.

The blood froze in your veins and you felt the pressure leaving your body, your knees feeling weak and your heart racing.

The scream grew in the back of your throat and got stuck when you heard the sound again. A voice.

"Who are you? How did you get here?"

And it came from the bear.

You remained static. Trapped between confusion and fear. Was it a costume? It didn't seem like it. You could see the inside of his mouth when he spoke and there were certainly fangs and tongue and everything else, not a man's face or any other sign that would indicate a person wearing a bear suit, but a real bear. Talking.

Maybe you had actually hit your head and was hallucinating now. You didn't have dreams so real.

"Intruder!" The bear suddenly screamed, assuming a funny attacking pose, which reminded you of old martial art movies and Jackie Chan.

Not with what you should be worried about, given the circumstances.

"Ah, wait…" you tried to speak, to explain that you were lost, but the talking bear continued to shout the intruder alert and soon you heard hurried footsteps echoing down the metallic corridor.

It didn't take long for you to be surrounded. There were men in front of you, where the bear remained in an offensive pose, and men behind you, blocking any possibility of escape.

Fear surfaced again, nervous about the number of male threats around you in an unknown place.

"How did you get in here? It's been hours since we left the last island, were you hidden this whole time?" A man with a funny penguin hat questioned, despite the accessory, his expression was cautious and his posture ready for an attack as well.

"What was your plan? Are there others besides you?" Another man, also wearing a hat, next to the penguin man asked next.

You opened your mouth to speak, but there were too many questions at once and some confused you. How did you get there? You wanted to know too. And island? There were no islands so close to where you lived.

A few men on the white bear's side suddenly looked back.

"Captain!" Some of them spoke.

Captain? Were you on some military base or something?

The path between the men opened in the middle and a different man appeared, different from most of the others who wore white or orange clothes, he wore a black and yellow long-sleeved shirt, with the same strange symbol that you saw on the bear's overalls, but much bigger and in the center of the shirt; and jeans, as well as a funny rounded white hat, kind of… Familiar.

What really made you remember was the long sword with a black handle that he had in one of his hands, almost as big as himself, what made you question how he would use it the first time you saw him.

Because, yes, you had seen him before. Black hair, equally black goatee and sideburns, sharp gray eyes and gray circles under his eyes as if he didn't sleeping well. Gray eyes like you've never seen before.

Not outside of television.

Not in real life. In your real life, at least. Because here he seemed very much real. With sharp and palpable physical features, not drawn and colored.

“Trafalgar Law…” you whispered, astonished.

He shouldn't be there, in front of your eyes, outside of a manga or a television screen. But he was anyway, imposing, tall, dangerous. You swallowed hard. Attractive. Even with an aura that said he could cut you in two seconds.

And you knew he could.

You looked around again and recognized, now thinking with more direction, the bear was Bepo. The men with hats, Shachi and Peguin. You hadn't gotten very far in the story, so you didn't recognize the others.

But they were all story. Anime. TV series, at most. But you had touched Bepo, bumped into him and almost fallen because of him. You knew they were physical and very real now.

"You know who I am. Then you know what you were doing when you trespassed my ship." Trafalgar Law said, his deep voice giving you goosebumps.

Ship. All that metal structure… You knew where you were now. Polar Tang. The Heart Pirates Submarine. You were in the middle of the One Piece ocean. One of them, at least, that should only exist in fiction. Several meters deep, probably.

The idea made you slightly sick. Or maybe it was the situation as a whole.

"I didn't trespass." You managed to say, swallowing hard. You were really getting sick. You had no affinity with depth, the idea scared you a little, but you had other reasons to be scared right now.

Law drew his sword and pointed it at your neck. You took a step back, but Law touched the blade to the thin skin of your throat, as a warning, and you stopped, frozen, vaguely aware that you were shaking.

He smiled, but there was something dangerous about that smile.

"Interesting. What do you call boarding someone else's ship uninvited?" He asked, his sharp eyes not leaving you for even a second making you almost as nervous as the tip of the sword at your neck made you feel.

"I know it's hard to believe… But I don't know how I got here." You said, controlling your breathing as best you could, trying to slow your heart and, with some luck, lessen the nausea bubbling in your chest. “When I realized, I was already here.”

Behind Law, Penguin laughed in a mocking way

"What, are you a sleepwalker by any chance?"

Law raised an eyebrow at you.

"I am not." You replied, pursing your lips slightly irritated by the irony and disbelieving smiles that Penguin's comment generated.

But thanks to that, the nausea receded a little, although your heart continued to pound in your chest.

"Why would I invade a submarine ship completely unarmed? It would be stupid." You tried to argue.

"In fact." Law agreed "But people can be stupid."

You almost huffed in frustration. You wanted to prove that you were telling the truth, but how? They were right to be suspicious of you, but there was no reason. The only one who knew this, however, were yourself.

"Pat her down." Law ordered.

You tensed in fear when a man stood out from the others to touch you.

"Hang on." Law spoke again, interrupting the man "Ikkaku, you do it."

"Yes, Captain." A woman stood out from the group behind you, she was slightly familiar, the only woman in the crew if you remembered correctly, and a small sense of relief washed down your body.

You looked slightly grateful at Law, you didn't know if he had noticed your nervousness with a strange man touching you and if he had purposely put a woman in charge of the frisking, but you were grateful anyway.

You knew Law. He was a good person. Even if he was pointing a sword at you right now.

"This is all I found." Ikkaku walked away, depositing the found objects in the captain's free hand.

He looked clearly confused at the contents.

"Stay still or I'll cut you into two pieces, got it?" Law said clearly to you, who nodded quickly, short and stiff, sweating cold, then he lowered his sword to pick up one of the objects, lifting it up and showing it to you "What is this?"

It was your cell phone. But of course he didn't know. In that place they used communicating snails as a telephone. You could use that, convince them that you were telling the truth with something they had never seen before.

You had nothing to lose, so here goes nothing.

"Again, it's hard to believe, but where I come from, this is a cell phone. It's a communication device, like the communication snails you have here." You pointed to his other hand carefully, avoiding any reaction from the crew. “That’s money where I come from.”

Law frowned.

"Where do you come from?" He asked.

You held back a frustrated groan. You couldn't believe the words that were going to come out of your mouth and you were almost certain that it was going to ruin any progress you had made in making them believe your situation, but starting to lie now wasn't going to help either.

So you crossed your fingers and chose the truth.

"I'm not… From this universe?" You said, frowning, in a tone of doubt that certainly didn't help, but the words sounded even worse out loud "Even if I said the name of the city or even the country, you wouldn't know it, because… It doesn't exist here."

There was a silence as strong as at the moment you realized you were in that empty metallic corridor, a silence that pressed your ears with its force, you waited anxiously, swallowing the saliva stuck in your throat.

And after a moment, Law only said two words.

"Arrest her."

And you knew you had really ruined everything by telling the truth.

Chapter Text

In case there were other intruders, the captain of the Polar Tang ordered the crew to surface in order to avoid damaging the interior of the submarine in the event of a fight. You, the intruder, was taken to the deck and they attached one of your wrists with handcuffs to the metal railing that ran around the entire deck.

You breathed a little more comfortably in the open environment, the sky was blue, the sun was gentle and there was a calm constant breeze, the temperature milder than in the metallic interior of the Polar Tang. Despite the fact that there was only water everywhere, what unnerved you a little.

You didn't really like the idea of being in the open sea, you were never a fan of boats, ships or anything like that. You had never been on a ship, but you really didn't mind it and never thought about changing that status. You knew how to swim since you were a child, but that didn't stop you from having anxieties about the sea and creatures you couldn't see underwater.

Part of the crew had dispersed, remaining inside the submarine, probably to control the ship and others looking for more intruders, the remaining few who you didn't remember from the story went up on deck with you, in addition to Bepo and Captain Law, who still watched you like a hawk.

He no longer pointed the sword at you now that you were handcuffed, but his eyes were already sharp enough, and you were sure that all you had to do was make a remotely threatening gesture and you would find the tip of that sharp blade back at your throat in mere seconds.

Maybe worse. Law didn't look like a very patient person or prone to give second chances.

He crossed his arms in front of his slim chest, you noticed that your cell phone and money were no longer in his hands, it disappeared at some point between Law ordering the crew to arrest you and you being escorted to the deck.

"So. Another universe, hm?" He asked, clearly in disbelief.

"It’s the truth." You tried to say, needing to lift your head to look at Law from the ground; he looked even bigger and more intimidating "I can't prove it, but why would I lie? I'm already trapped. You won't find any other intruders, I was alone when I showed up here. You saw that I was unarmed. And I was carrying things you never saw before, right?"

You knew there were a lot of islands in One Piece, and it wasn't hard to think that your things could very well belong to other cultures on an island that the heart pirates didn't know about, but you hoped that this along with the other facts you pointed out would make them believe that you were telling the truth.

Law pondered in silence, you bent your legs closer to your body; his intense gaze didn't make you less nervous the longer it lasted.

He suddenly sat down on the floor next to you. He crossed his legs and placed his sword in his hands, but he didn't draw it, he just kept it close.

"Let's say you are telling the truth. That you actually came from another universe." He considered and you sat up straight against the railing, hopeful about the direction of that conversation. “How do you know who I am?”

Law arched an eyebrow in challenge, ready to catch your lie by the flaws in the story. And if he suspected you were lying… You doubted he would leave you in one piece for much longer.

You took a deep breath, you weren't lying, so you had nothing to fear. You just needed to tell the whole truth, no matter how absurd it seemed. And trust that the truth would set you free. Literally in this case.

"Where I come from, this world is part of a story. Like a comic book. Called One Piece."

"One piece?" Law repeated, the name of Gold D. Roger's treasure was obviously familiar to a pirate from this world.

"Yeah, it's a long story, with several episodes, I recently got to the part where you came into the story. Trafalgar Law, captain of the heart pirates, ate the Ope Ope no mi and apparently has zero qualms about cutting people up." You said and regretted your final words a little, the words were just flowing out of your mouth; you didn't want to remind the pirate that he could cut you, but you saw a slight twitch in the corner of Law's mouth, seeming to find your description amusing, so you got more relieved.

"I saw you face the navy in the Saboady archipelago and manage to escape after Admiral Kizuru appeared."

"Kizaru." Bepo corrected you behind Law automatically.

"Or that." You said almost uninterested "He's not my favorite character, not even close. The way he talks irritates me."

That slight twitch at the corner of Law's mouth increased, now it actually looked like an amused smile.

You took advantage of the positive reaction and added a little more.

"He sounds like a turtle talking."

Bepo let out a snort, quickly being scolded by his crewmates around for laughing at the intruder's joke, but some of them were clearly holding back their own laughs.

You smiled a little, satisfied. If you could make them laugh and feel even a little bit more comfortable in your presence, you imagined they would be more likely to believe your absurd story.

"You have some nerve to talk like that about an admiral, woman-ya." Law commented, looking at you with a little less suspicion, and with more curiosity.

"Because it honestly doesn't feel like he's real in my head." You said sincerely, frowning, thinking about the possibility of someone so powerful actually existing in the same world you were in, breathing the same air… "He wasn't until yesterday, none of this was real." You added looking at Law, the pirate. And then shook your head in denial "It was nothing more than fiction… To me."

You turned the palm of your free hand over your legs and stared at it, trying to see if your own presence was still there at that moment, your real flesh and blood as you remembered, or if you would see a drawing of what it used to be.

That was when you felt a touch on your neck, you looked up at Law and saw that he had wrapped one hand around your neck loosely, two tattooed fingers pressed tighter directly over your pulse, and his thumb was touching so lightly on the other side of your neck that you felt goosebumps.

"I'm very real." Law said, and his deep voice even closer didn't help with your goosebumps.

Truth be told, when Law first appeared in the series, you were enchanted by the pirate captain's mischievous smile, sexy voice and cool attitude. He was one of your favorite characters.

Outside of a television screen, Law was equally attractive. Maybe more. You quickly noticed the tattoos on display on the back of his hands and on his forearm, uncovered by the long sleeves now raised to his elbows.

It made him look like a bad boy. And your inner teenager was drooling over it.

Law raised an eyebrow and one of his infamous mischievous smiles tugged at his thin lips.

"Your pulse quickened." He pointed out with amusement in his voice, running his thumb down the skin of your neck, brushing aside a few strands of red hair.

And you were sure your pulse raced even more at that, the thin hairs on the back of your neck stood up. You felt your face heat up and turned you head to the side, removing the pirate's hand from your skin and looking away from Law, deliberately observing the blue of the wide ocean surrounding you.

"...Real indeed..." you said after a moment of hesitation, ensuring that your voice would remain normal, or as normal as possible. It sounded just a little louder and breathier than usual.

Any doubts you might have had about whether the pirate in front of you was real or not disappeared right away with the sensation of his touch, the warmth left behind still very much present.

A much appreciated distraction appeared when Shachi and Penguin opened the hatch that led to the interior of the submarine, getting everyone on deck tô look at them, you as well, but then you saw that Law was the only one who kept staring at you. His gray look intense. And this time you couldn't look away.

"We found no intruders, Captain." Shachi informed.

"As I said." You spoke petulantly, staring at Law.

"What do we do now, captain?" Bepo asked, clearly lost at the situation.

"Should we leave her on some nearby island?" Someone from the crew whose name you didn't know asked.

And you swallowed hard. You knew nothing about this place, except what you watched in the One Piece episodes. You knew here was a dangerous place to be alone, Law and the heart pirates probably were in the New World by now, and you wouldn't stand a chance alone in a wild place like this.

You looked at Law, waiting for what he would decide with your heart rammering in your chest and your mouth dry, forcing you to run your tongue over your chapped lips.

He just looked at you for a long moment, murmuring a deep, thoughtful sound in his throat, his gray eyes letting nothing escape him.

Then he stood up suddenly, holding the sword carelessly with one hand over his shoulder and bowing his head with the other hand, emitting a long sigh.

"Bepo. Uncuff her." Law ordered.

You gasped softly and a small, relieved smile tugged at the corners of your mouth. Did he believe you? The relief didn't last long though, because the pirate kept talking, and now a very strange smirk took over his face. A sinister smile that withered the smile on your lips.

"Take her to the infirmary. If she is from another universe as she claims to be, she must have a different body constitution in some way that proves it. In that case, I will examine you thoroughly and find out if you are lying or not." Law smiled in an almost psychotic way that sent a coldness down your stomach.

He walked to the open hatch from where Shachi was still observing the situation and placed a hand on it, turning his face over his shoulder in your direction. The sinister smile was still there giving you goosebumps.

"I'm going to analyze your body piece by piece, be prepared." He warned and passed through the hatch, disappearing inside the submarine.

You stood there on the deck, terrified, remembering what that man had done to a marine battalion inside his 'operating room'. You licked your lips again as Bepo crouched down beside you to open the handcuffs.

"C'mon, C'mon." Bepo said as soon as he finished releasing your wrist.

You stood up on wobbly knees and followed Bepo 'willingly', with Shachi right behind you, ensuring you had only one way to go.

The cold inside the submarine sent shivers through your arms in the short time it took to walk from the entrance hatch to the infirmary. And like everything inside the submarine, the room was full of metal walls, there were two stretchers covered with sheets arranged at the bottom of the room to the right; a cabinet with transparent doors with various basic medical supplies by the wall next to the entrance; a table with an office chair and a small pile of papers at the top to your left and a door further down, on the left.

"Captain. I brought the intruder." Bepo said loudly.

You frowned. You looked around, but couldn't see Law. You took a quick look to both sides of the corridor outside, but only saw Shachi.

"Good, close the door and handcuff her to one of the stretchers, leave the keys and then go back to your duties, Bepo. Shachi too." The man’s deep voice came muffled from behind the door at the back.

You didn't know how Law knew that Shachi was there too, but you were too nervous to think about it at the moment.

Bepo took you to the first stretcher, making you sit down, he closed the handcuff on your other wrist this time and the other end on the lowered metal bars of the stretcher, then Bepo turned and left the ward, leaving you alone with Law still behind the closed door.

The stretcher was high and your feet didn’t reach the floor, and it was even colder there. Like a real hospital environment. But without the smell of alcohol and cleaning supplies that you remembered from your visits to hospitals.

It didn't take more than a few seconds after Bepo left for the door inside the infirmary to open and Law come out. Your face felt hot again.

Law was really hot.

The thought came before you could stop it.

Law was wearing a white lab coat now. As well as one side of a pair of sterile gloves, a stethoscope around his neck and no white spotted hat, completely leaving out his spiky black hair in all its beauty. They looked soft and you wondered more than once while watching him on television what it would feel like to run your fingers through the captain's locks. And you got yourself wondering right now again, fingertips tingling to do so.

He went to the entrance hatch of the infirmary and locked it with a loud click in the silent room, then walked slowly towards you; he took the key that Bepo had left on the small table between the stretchers, out of your reach, and began to open the handcuffs.

"Before you can unlock that door, I'll catch you. So don't even think about running away." Law warned, without bothering to look up from the handcuffs to emphasize his point, but the message was very clear.

You glanced quickly at his sword, resting on the side of the table near the entrance. And you silently agreed not to run away for the sake of keeping your intact legs in place.

When you were free, you vaguely stroked the wrist that was in contact with the metal of the handcuffs and watched Law walk away towards the door on the back of the room. He looked back and, seeing that you were still in the same place, signaled with his index finger for you to follow him.

You jumped the small distance between the stretcher and the floor, and walked obediently towards him, who leaned on the edge of the door with his arms crossed and an easy smile, watching you pass between his body and the opposite door frame.

The room inside the infirmary wasn't very big and resembled a dentist's office. There was a reclining chair in the center, high cabinets along all the walls, except the one by the door; a sink, a small stool near the chair and some medical equipment that you didn't recognize on the counters.

Through a small hatch at the back of the room, you could see the sea and the sun shining outside.

"Sit down." Law pointed to the reclining chair and went to the counter behind it.

Again, you complied, shivering softly at the contact with the cold fabric clearly not in use for a while of the chair.

Law didn't take long to return and you took a deep breath when you saw that he had something sharp in one of his hands, both with gloves now.

"Let's start by taking a sample of your blood." Law smiled, holding the syringe with a long gray needle pointing upwards. He seemed unnecessarily amused by the idea. The sadistic smile that sent chills down your spine back to his face.

You had no problem with drawing blood, but you didn't like the pain. Neither Law's dangerous expression. The combination of both was frightening.

"Why do you need it?" You asked, your gaze following his actions as Law handled your arm and placed it on the wide armrest, stretching it with the palm facing up.

You expected for him to tie something like the medical staff in your world did at the times you drew blood, but instead he squeezed your arm with one hand, fingers long enough to go around your arm, and held it down hard enough to act like a tourniquet, highlighting your veins.

"I want to analyze your blood type and the elements in your blood." Law replied, more helpful than you expected, which gave you a little more hope that he was tending to believe you more than the opposite.

He quickly cleaned the area in the middle of your arm where he intended to pierce and, with one hand, pierced your vein with the needle, then he released his grip on your arm.

"Don't move." Law ordered as you instinctively retracted your arm at the pain of the needle breaking your skin, pulling away from the source of pain

You turned your face away, avoiding seeing the needle going into your arm, which helped you to stay still. You had no problem taking blood, but you also didn't really like seeing it; there wasn't didn't a single masochistic vein in your body, the more pain you could avoid, the better.

The procedure ended gracefully quickly, Law had efficient hands. He walked away again to the cabinets behind your chair and you let out a relieved breath that you had been holding, casually stroking the skin where the pirate had squeezed your arm.

Your skin marked easily and there were marks from his fingers slowly disappearing from your skin now.

"Now" Law said, returning to your field of vision; he leaned in so that his face was almost aligned to yours and close enough to your own face heat up again. "Open your mouth."

You just stared him at loss of words for a moment, but it was enough for Law to put matters in his own hands and speed up the process. He grabbed your jaw with one hand, his index finger slipped between your lips and pulled down, opening your mouth.

"Open it." He reinforced.

Your face heated up even more and you leaned back, away from Law automatically, but the pirate was undoubtedly stronger and held you in place effortlessly.

Then he shoved something in your mouth, you protested with a grumble, but was unable to actually utter any words; you squeezed your eyes almost shut, feeling him rubbing something on your tongue and down too close to your throat to be comfortable, and then he pulled away.

You leaned on the back of the chair, coughing a little, covering your mouth and part of your face with both hands. You half opened your eyes to see Law with something that looked like a long cotton swab in one hand, one of its ends wet with your saliva. He placed it inside a thin glass tube that was in his other hand and sealed it with a satisfied smile.

"That was unnecessary." You complained, dropping your hands and pouting. “Doctors in my world are kinder.”

"I'm not kind, I'm efficient." Law said.

He left the materials he just used on the counter and came back imto your front, taking off his sterile gloves and dropping them on the small metal table next to your reclining chair.

"Now, take off your shirt." He ordered, gesturing towards you unassumingly.

And that was way too much for you.

"I seriously doubt this is necessary." You retorted immediately, pulling your legs up towards your body and crossing your arms over your chest protectively before Law did as in the last exam and decided to take off your shirt himself.

Law approached you again, leaning so close that you could feel his body heat, you retreated even more in search of a false sense of protection, because you knew very well that the pirate had more than enough strength to expose you in one second.

His hands went to the armrests around you, trapping you between the chair and his body.

"I'm the doctor here. Don't be shy, I'm professional in my evaluations." Law said, but the malicious expression on his face said something else.

His thumbs hooked onto the hem of your shirt without you noticing, only becoming aware when Law pulled the fabric briefly before pushing it up, revealing a tiny strip of skin of your waist.

"Want me to help with that?" He asked, clearly amused by the situation.

You quickly grabbed his hands, eyes wide, cheeks warm. And you vaguely noticed how big Law's hands were compared to your own.

"No need. I'll take it off. By myself." You stated with rushed words.

Then Law backed away, briefly raising his hands in surrender. He rested his hip on the nearest counter and crossed his arms over his chest, looking at you expectantly, waiting.

"Go ahead, woman-ya."

You bit your bottom lip, frustrated. Your only choice was to obey him, but Law's fixed gaze made you extremely aware that you would be half-naked in front of the pirate captain.

"My name isn't woman, it's Rissa." You said, looking for a topic to distract him from your undressing figure.

"Rissa-ya." Law repeated, seeming to test how the name sounded in his mouth, and from the expression on his face, he was satisfied.

It didn't work to take his attention off you, so you resigned yourself, lowering your face, trying not to think about how good your name sounded in his deep voice; you grabbed the hem of your shirt that Law had just touched and slid the fabric up, close to your torso in a failed attempt to expose yourself less.

You didn't want to look nervous in front of the pirate so that he wouldn't take advantage of this and tease you even more, although it was a little too late for that, so you didn't hesitate to pull the fabric over your head, folding the shirt in your hands and holding it over your lap.

It took you a moment to look up, but Law wasn't saying anything, so you forced yourself to look up at him.

He was near the entrance hatch now, arms still crossed, waiting. The same amused eyes fixed on your now half-naked figure.

"Let's continue outside." Law said as soon as he saw your attention on him. And he kept waiting for you.

You took a deep breath and sighed, without a choice, you got up from the chair, covering part of your upper body with the shirt in your hands - telling yourself that it was because of the cold, not because of Law's eyes - and passed between him and the door again.

"Sit down." Law instructed, pointing to the stretcher you used earlier.

You stood on your tiptoes to reach the high stretcher and sat quietly, lowering your folded shirt back down your legs and straightening your body, not wanting to appear nervous.

"Put your hands on your knees." Law instructed, sounding surprisingly professional, although there was still a gleam of amusement in his eyes that left you unsure about what he was going to do now.

You did as he asked, relaxing briefly, only to tense up again when you felt Law's broad hands on your bare hips, his warm palm squeezing your skin. You almost jumped with a surprised twitch.

"Stay still." Law murmured, running his hands up your naked torso slowly.

"What are you doing??" You squirmed slightly, sensitive to tickles, but when Law raised his gray eyes to you, the warmth of his hands spurred others... Sensations.

"Physical exam, now do as I say and stay still." Law repeated, distracted voice as his attention focused on the assessment in his hands.

You sucked your bottom lip into your mouth and endured it. You tried to stay still as much as possible, but it was difficult with Law holding you waist firmly.

"Chest cage without significant changes." Law murmured and you realized it was more for himself than for you to hear.

You had to admit, he really seemed focused on his role as a doctor right now, but that didn't change your situation at all.

"One, two, three…" he counted in a low voice, sounding illegally attractive in your opinion, his hands going up and up, too close to your bra, and then past it; your arms were full of goosebumps by now and you silently prayed for Law to not notice it "Twelve ribs too."

His hands slid across your collarbones, meeting in the center and moving down equally slowly.

"Sternum…" he continued and ran both hands down between your breasts, going down until he fit both in the middle of your ribs, almost cupping your breasts between his thumbs and index fingers, the others holding your ribs firmly, and then he stopped.

A moment later he chuckled.

You looked at Law in confusion.

"Breathe, Rissa-ya." Law said after his shoulders stopped shaking from laughing.

And only then you realized that you have being holding your breath for who knows how long, but long enough for you needing a long and very welcome breath when Law pointed out.

Your cheeks were hotter than ever now. You pressed your legs together, mortified on the inside but trying to pretend that nothing had happened on the outside.

"Sensitive." Law finally analyzed, moving his hands away and taking a step back.

You clenched your teeth, resisting the urge to flip the pirate off. He wasn't wrong, but... You weren't going to admit that and increase the captain's ego even more.

"It would be a lot easier if you stopped teasing…" You grumbled.

A moment of silence later you backed away on the stretcher, surprised, supporting your hands on the edge to keep yourself from falling off when Law suddenly invaded your personal space, fitting himself between your legs and leaning down enough to keep your eyes at the same level; his hands ended up on top of yours, cornering you.

"Teasing?" He repeated, his voice an octave lower, his eyes half-open but intense on yours, "You haven't seen me teasing yet, Rissa-ya."

One of his hands briefly went up your body's side, touching the column of your neck with the lightest of the touches, immediately eliciting a shiver from your body, and he gently brushed some wavy strands of hair behind your shoulder.

Your legs instinctively contracted, but Law's body between them prevented you from closing them, slamming your knees uselessly against his firm and slender thighs. You felt slightly feverish in places you didn't dare to mention. You didn't want Law to even suspect of what he was capable of doing to you. Not in detail at least.

It was wildly different from the firmer touches he used when he was evaluating you. This ones were much more intimate. Much more dangerous. Not in a physically bad way, it was bad for your heart; It wasn't... Unpleasant. Far from it. But Law was terribly provocative and you didn't want to feed that part of him.

You were sure he could already feel you tachycardic pulse. And this was already getting humiliating. You couldn't let Law affect you that much, not when you didn't even know how long it would take to get back home. He was going to end up killing you without even needing to use the sword.

Gathering what was left of your dignity, you pushed him back with your free hand and Law let it - it was clear that if he really didn't want to, you wouldn't have been able to move him from his spot.

He straightened up and put his hands inside his lab coat’s pockets, watching you from small steps away. There was a wide smile on the captain's face now, not just those mischievous little tight-lipped smiles. But an open, satisfied and fun smile.

"You are a menace, Trafalgar Law." You stated, almost smiling a little because of the contagious expression on his face.

Law was a real danger. Exactly like in the anime. It was worse when you experienced it firsthand in reality. But you always had fun with his appearances. It was hard to control it now too.

He removed the stethoscope from around his neck, taking a step closer to you again.

"I'm a pirate, what did you expect?" Law said, sticking one side of the stethoscope into his ear and holding the rounded tip with one hand. "Let's keep going, we're still far from done here."

You gave up with a sigh, resigning yourself to what felt like a long day still ahead.

Chapter Text

You were exhausted. Physically and mentally.

Law's evaluation lasted hours. Very different from the quick medical evaluations you had gone through in your life. True to his words, Law almost literally turned you inside out, analyzing every corner of your body.

You considered yourself lucky that you still had your shorts on when it was over.

You were panting with effort, the task of sending oxygen to your lungs being way too hard. After the last exam, Law left you lying in a chair of a room that was right next to where he had started the evaluation.

He had you runnning like your life depended of it on what was basically a treadmill like the ones you remembered from your world, but with lots of strange buttons and cables that the pirate attached to your chest as you ran until you couldn't run anymore - literally.

You said several times that you couldn't bear it anymore, and Law insisted that you could keep running if you were still standing and complaining to him. You had no idea how long you were on that mat, but long enough for your legs to burn with the effort and your chest to feel so tight you could barely breathe. Your stomach turned, sick, and the sweat ran down your body, first hot and, by the time you were about to give up, cold.

You barely had the strength to complain to Law, concentrating on breathing, your mouth half open for air, when your legs finally gave up and faltered, making you stumble off the treadmill.

You were going to fall, but you were relieved that at least that torture had finally stopped, but then Law caught you from behind, one arm wrapping around your waist and calmly getting you off the mat. He seemed to be waiting for that moment. He removed the wires that he had attached to your chest and carried you to a nearby chair, where your shirt was hanging, leaving you there to recover.

"You did well." Law said nonchalantly, approaching the treadmill and working with the machine's buttons.

You gave a dirty look to the pirate. He was facing away from you, taking notes on a black and yellow notepad while looking at a monitor attached to the top of the treadmill.

You wanted to curse the doctor, but you were out of breath.

Beside the physical part, mentally, you still had to put up with the tease that was Law. Unable to completely hide how he affected you since you were half-naked in front of the pirate all this time, he had a lot of fun at your expense.

You couldn't take it anymore. You wanted to either suffocate Law with a pillow or kiss the pirate. Maybe both. Damn attractive captain, that's what Law was. A danger, definitely.

"Your resistance is very low." Law commented after a while of silence, except for your loud breathing in the room.

You looked up briefly to see that he had moved away from the treadmill and was now standing near a counter with some jars in front of him, mixing the contents in a cup with a thin spoon.

"Bite me." You mumbled, still tired, but the nausea was finally receding at least.

"I don't say that offensively, it's curious. Your resistance is abnormally low. Like a child. Worse than one, in fact." He added, his voice really neutral, as if he was just telling the result of the evaluation.

You pondered the information for a moment. You remembered Luffy's childhood, which had already appeared in the anime, and how he and his brothers beat up huge creatures without much effort.

"It's the children of your world… They are abnormally strong." You defended yourself, taking a long breath in between your words. Overall, the people in One Piece were abnormally strong compared to ordinary people in your original life.

No ordinary person could survive a punch that sent them through a wall. Which was extremely common here. Nobody had enough strength to punch a person through a wall in the first place.

You looked up and noticed that he was no longer near the counter with pots, but rather standing in front of you, holding the small cup in which you had seen him mixing substances. The glass was filled with what appeared to be water, just a little murky.

"You'll feel better." He said, handing the glass to you.

You took it with a shaking hand, lacking the energy to question anything, and Law returned to the counter, his back to you.

Your head lowered again, you put the glass between your legs. You would drink in a while, you just needed a minute more breathing. Just one more…

"Hey, haven't you drunk that yet?" Law complained suddenly, you looked up quickly.

Confused, you saw that Law was no longer wearing his lab coat and the white hat was back on his head somehow. A minute had passed? Probably more. You dozed off? Your breathing was still labored, but not as much as before.

You noticed that the glass Law gave you was in a loose grip between your hands, in fact it was almost falling over the edge of the chair. But before you could get a better hold of it, Law took it out of your hands with a click of his tongue, "tch", taking it by the cup's openning with his fingertips.

"Come on, drink." He cupped your jaw with his free hand and pushed your head back with unexpected care.

You felt the tip of the glass on your dry lips, and you ran your tongue through them automatically; you didn't have the energy to protest and, honestly, some liquid in your dry throat seemed like a great idea.

You opened your mouth a little, and Law tipped the glass. The liquid filled your mouth, practically tasteless, some bitterness at the end, and you gratefully drank every last drop, then Law moved the glass away and his warm touch persisted for just a few seconds longer before moving away as well.

A grateful sigh left your lips.

You snuggled closer into the chair, ready to sleep until tomorrow, leaning against the back and clasping your hands between your thighs, head down and eyes closed, ginger hair falling around your face.

Soon your breathing was no longer so loud and your chest no longer burned to breathe, although your legs still felt weak and wobbly. The nausea also went away.

"Lunch should be ready, let's go to the kitchen." Law informed after a while, walking to where he had left the sword and holding it in one hand before heading towards the exit hatch.

When you didn't move, he stood next to the open door and raised an eyebrow.

"Can't you even move?" He questioned, narrowing his eyes.

You swallowed, trying to moisten your throat to speak better, way too tired to lift your face to look at the pirate.

"I can… I just need to get some rest." You said, taking long, slow breaths in an attempt to catch your breath faster.

Food didn't sound like the best idea right now, but there should have something to drink in the kitchen, and that you would love now; just what Law had given you didn't even cover a quarter of the amount of liquid you must have lost because of the captain's spartan evaluation.

Out of nowhere, you were suddenly in motion, your eyes widened as Law had grabbed your waist and pulled you out of the chair, your feet dangling in the air; he slung you over one of his shoulders as if you were a backpack.

You gasped in surprise for a moment, but honestly you were too tired to react and worryingly getting used to being manhandled here and there by Law. So you let yourself be carried out of the room through the hatch and relaxed your body on his shoulder.

"Could you not carry me like a sack of potatoes…" you sighed, but without actual expectations of anything better.

Surprisingly, Law relaxed the arm on your back that was holding you in place and pulled you down, carrying you against his chest now, sliding his arm under your legs, his hand on your back for support.

You could see his face now just tilting your head back a little; he looked expressionless and slightly bored, or perhaps tired if you took into consideration the ever-present dark circles under his eyes.

He continued walking and carrying you as if nothing had changed, and a smile slowly spread through your lips.

"Is that a little guilt I see, Captain Law?" You teased, smiling wider as he actively avoided your eyes.

You didn't know if Law was feeling awkward or if he actually felt guilty to some degree about exhausting you, anyway it felt great not to be the one teased for a change.

"Keep talking and I'll leave you on the floor." He threatened, eyes fixed ahead.

You stayed quiet, but you felt properly revenged for everything he had made you go through now, so you rested your face on his shoulder, relaxing in the height provided by Law's arms.

The impossibility of what was happening hit you briefly.

You. In the arms of Trafalgar Law. The doctor pirate captain from One Piece who you excitedly waited to show up in every new episode.

It was madness, but the heat of his body proved the reality. The question was: How? What had happened to you in your world that brought you here? You were walking down a street, you remembered again, but it was difficult to continue from there, your memory simply interrupted.

"You're too weak for a spy." Law commented halfway, distracting you from your train of thoughts.

"That's because I'm not one…" you replied right away with a tired sigh, not out of exhaustion now, but because you felt that you kept saying that same answer over and over again ever since you arrived in this world.

"What are you doing here then?" He asked, you didn't notice, but his eyes moved to assess your face, measuring your expression.

"I'd like to know that answer too." You sighed, absentmindedly looking at the red ribbon tied to the hilt of the sword Law carried in his free hand sway gently with the pirate's footsteps.

When you both reached an opening, Law suddenly stopped and you felt him lower your body until you were standing up on your own legs again. It still felt a little shaky, but at least you had enough strength to not fall.

Automatically, you looked up at Law, silently questioning the sudden stop and lack of a ride.

"You might want to put on your shirt before going inside." Law said as if giving a suggestion, casually crossing his arms and resting his hips on the hallway wall.

You payed attention and heard the voices that came through the opening, probably where the kitchen was, you looked down briefly and remembered that you were still half naked, your shirt on Law's shoulder.

Awkwardly, you quickly grabbed the piece of clothing off the pirate's shoulder and pulled it over your head, the shirt was wide enough to pass through without any problems. In five seconds you were already dressed.

Law didn't comment this time, he just pointed for you to go ahead, and you did so, lifting your feet slightly to go through the opening.

A wider room showed up, at the back you noticed the kitchen equipment lined up against the wall, a man in front of the stove, stirring the contents of a pan over the fire. In the middle of the room there were two long metal tables, with equally long benches attached by iron rods on both sides, and a chair also attached to each head of the tables.

The tables were filled with people wearing white jumpsuits, except for Bepo, wearing an orange one; the heart pirate crew. Everyone talking, laughing and joking like good pirates around tables full of food. Until they noticed your presence.

The silence that fell in the kitchen dried your mouth. You hated being the center of attention, especially negative attention, which was clearly the case by the suspicious glances in your direction.

"Keep walking." Law poked your lower back with the tip of his sheathed sword.

You didn't notice that you had stopped walking; you forced yourself to swallow the discomfort and walked again, slower, unsure about where you should go. Law guided you with subtle touches towards one of the empty chairs at the ends of the table, making you sit down with a hand on your shoulder.

The metal seat was cold and you shivered, retreating your body from the surface as you could, before settling down better; shorts and a tank top definitely weren't a good match to the submarine's climate.

You kept your eyes down, avoiding the crew's gaze that made you wish you were anywhere but here right now.

"Give her plenty of water and something to eat while I check the results of the evaluation." Law instructed, looking at the crew, but stopping his gaze specifically at the cook, who had turned from the stove to see what was the reason for the sudden silence.

"But captain!" One of the members spoke indignantly "Why feed an intruder? She could be planning something!"

You sucked your lower lip and bit it to keep from defending yourself. Even if you said something, you didn't think they were likely to believe you. And you couldn't blame them, you were highly suspicious, but it was still frustrating since you were innocent.

"We don't have enough evidence yet, so keep an eye on her, but do as I say."

A few more members complained, but Law dismissed their concerns with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

"She doesn't appear to be a fruit user, furthermore you have my permission to react to any threat she may present in any way you see fit." Law said as he slowly walked back to the passage you had just passed through "And I'm here, I wouldn't put my crew in danger."

"Captain!" The members exclaimed together, emotionally. And everyone said over the other that they would keep an eye on you and that Law could rest assured and trust them.

Then Law disappeared beyond the passage with a wave of hand over his head, leaving you alone with a crew slowly falling silent again, their attention now completely on your quiet figure.

Nervousness twisted your stomach, you had serious doubts that you would be able to eat much of anything like this. Extremely aware of Law's words to the crew to deal with you 'however they seemed fit'. That is, they could decide to arrest you for taking the knife and fork in a remotely threatening manner or shoot you for the same reason.

They were all pirates after all. You saw guns and swords among other weapons on the hips or backs of several of the crew members.

You jumped not so smoothly in your seat when an arm came from behind you and placed a large glass of water on the table right in front of you. You looked shyly over your shoulder and saw the cook of the heart pirates with a guarded and hostile expression. You looked back at the table immediately.

"Water." He clarified, tone rispid, obeying his captain's orders "Drink."

You nodded curtly, slightly annoyed at the fact that so far everyone on this ship who spoke directly to you was so bossy. Like captain, like crew, you imagined.

But when you cupped the glass in both hands, you noticed that it was refreshingly cold and dropped your thoughts right away. The fact that your mouth was dry from so much thirst became a priority. You took the glass and drank in long sips until you felt your throat full and needed to take a break.

"Thanks." you said automatically to the cook still nearby. You were really grateful.

The man made a noncommittal sound and walked back to the back of the kitchen, rummaging through a cupboard of dishes. At the table, slowly the crew went back to eating and talking, but now the subject of the conversation was you.

"You should admit the truth soon, intruder, it will be less painful for you if you don't anger the captain." Shachi, the man with the orca-like hat and ginger hair said; he rested an elbow on the table and his chin on his hand.

"I'm not an intruder." You sighed for the umpteenth time, sipping the remaining water.

"Are you sure you know our captain? I thought you knew what he did to those idiots of marine in Saboady. If he find out that he wasted his time on a useless evaluation… You're going to be in real trouble, girl." Penguin added with a slightly sadistic smile, clearly trying to scare you.

However, Penguin's words gave you an idea of how to convince them that you were telling the truth about not belonging to this universe. Trying wouldn't hurt. They didn't trust you already anyway, it wouldn't make any difference if you failed.

"I know everything that happened in Saboady. I watched it all like a story’s episodes in my world. Ask away." You dared them with as much confidence as you could muster "I bet marine must control as much information as possible about this kind of thing around here, right? But in my universe it's all a story, so everything is recorded."

"You could have been there and saw the whole thing." One of the crew's men that you didn't recognize retorted.

You almost laughed. It was funny to imagine someone without any power like you in the middle of a mess like that.

"Do you really think I would be alive after meeting a marine admiral? Considering how easily you trapped me here."

No one agreed with you verbally, but from their expressions, you knew you had a plausible point.

Penguin crossed his arms and leaned back against the back of the seat, clearly accepting the challenge.

"Then along whom captain fought off marine in Saboady?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Easy, you thought.

"Straw Hat Luffy and Eustass Kid." You replied without thinking twice, "Luffy is the main character of the story, by the way, so most of the scenes are focused on him and his crew. If it's something very specific about you guys, it probably didn't appear in the story and I won't know how to answer."

"The Straw Hat? But he's an idiot." Bepo said indignantly "Captain would be a much better main character!"

Now you couldn't hold back your laughter, covering it by drinking more water. Law's crew definitely adored their captain.

"Stop following her wave, you're already believing in this absurd story of another universe." Shachi scolded the bear, who immediately apologized with his head down.

"Quiet you both, another question: against whom did we fight after we separated from the Straw Hat?" Penguin continued, determined to find a gap in your supposed lies.

You lifted your eyes in thought for a moment, remembering that Law's crew and Kid's crew reunited after the battle - or rather, one-sided beating - against the marine. Then they found…

"Kuma. I don't remember exactly if that's his name, but he's a marine corsair who looks like a bear." You answered and saw Penguin open his mouth to say something, but you quickly added information that you believed was specific enough for them to believe your story even if just a little "But it wasn't really him. It was some kind of android with his appearance. Not as strong, but still hard to defeat."

Penguin's mouth closed again and he narrowed his eyes at you, as if trying to see inside your mind somehow.

You got startled again when the cook came up behind you and placed a plate of food in front of you with a little more strength than necessary, no food spilled off the plate though.

"Enough talking and finish eating before the food gets cold. She could very well be spying on us since Saboady, there's no point discussing this now, wait for the captain's results and keep an eye on her as he asked." The cook said, ending the discussion and getting the crew to start eating again. Penguin was slightly upset, but obeyed.

The cook looked down at you.

"You eat too, I don't want captain mad at me."

You looked down at your plate, you didn't recognize anything. But anime food always looked very appetizing and the one in front of you was no exception. Then you took the fork and knife, cut off a small piece and tasted it.

Your eyes widened slightly and then you closed them with a satisfied murmur, proceeding to cut off a larger piece and putting it in your mouth, the pleasurable murmur repeating itself.

You didn't know what it was, but it was delicious. You suddenly found yourself hungrier than you had thought, eating enthusiastically but enjoying each bite without rush.

"Law won't eat?" You asked, looking at the kitchen’s entrance and suddenly realizing that he had left you all behind at lunch time.

"Captain has terrible schedules, he’ll show up sometime or we take food for him." Bepo explained, shoving a huge spoonful of food into his mouth before being scolded by his comrades for giving unnecessary information to the intruder; he apologized depressedly, his huge cheeks still filled with food.

You hummed in understanding, turning your attention back to the food, and not long after, another plate appeared in front of you, the cook slided it through the table with much more delicacy this time; you glanced at the pirate questioningly.

His face looked slightly red and his eyes didn't focus on yours.

"Taste that too." He said, practically an order again, but in a softer way that you couldn't identify, looking at you with some expectation.

Thinking it was wiser not to disagree, you analyzed the new dish, it looked like some kind of salty dough that you would see in a cafeteria in your world. You took a small bite and it was wonderfully crunchy, the sound clicked in your ears and you moaned again as the dough inside crumbled salty and delicious on your tongue.

You took another larger bite and smiled, chewing contentedly.

And suddenly another plate was pushed on the table at your other side with another type of food that you didn't recognize either, but that resembled puree, accompanying a piece of meat with an apparently succulent sauce.

You looked at the cook again, a little disconcerted. You didn't have the stomach to eat that much, but you didn't want to seem ungrateful and worsen their opinion about you.

"Don't be soft on the intruder just because she likes your food." Someone sitting at the other table said with a sarcastic tone, being supported by a wave of other comments from the crew.

The cook's face became even redder than it was, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water, speechless.

Oh. Oh. You began to understand and put a hand over your mouth, hiding your smile so as not to embarrass the cook even more.

"Shut up! I'm just obeying the captain!" The cook defended himself after composing himself, but the others didn't believe his excuses for even a second.

"One compliment and you let your guard down completely." Another pirate's voice rose above the chaos and the cook began to look like a tomato, pouncing on the man.

No one tried to stop them, in fact they seemed to encourage the fight, taking sides and betting on who would win. The kitchen was as noisy as it was before you arrived, alive and full of laughter, and you suddenly realized that you were in One Piece world. One Piece. Your favorite anime; despite the dangers, this universe was great and had incredible characters that you could really meet now.

You didn't know how it happened or how to revert it, so you could try to enjoy it while you can instead of worrying about something you didn't know the solution to.

Returning to the plates of food, you ate what you could after understanding that the cook was pleased with your positive reaction to his food; you definitely weren't about to say that you couldn't eat that much.

Despite your best efforts, however, you still left food on your plates, but you really couldn't eat another bite. Your stomach felt heavy and unable to expand even an inch more, even for the dessert that arrived for the crew while you were eating.

Fortunately, the cook didn't separate a dish for you this time, he just placed the dessert within everyone's reach and let them help themselves, although he told you to also eat when you finished your dishes.

He joined the table to eat his own meal after that, and you were silently thankful that he had his own food to focus on now so you wouldn't feel so guilty about skipping dessert and not eating everything that was served to you.

You were so full by the end of lunch that you began to feel lethargic and sleepy.

You drank the rest of the water in the glass given to you when you arrived to help the last spoonful go down properly, then you put the empty glass down and leaned back on the seat with a sigh, your eyes feeling heavy.

Like probably most ordinary humans, you used to get a little drowsy with a full stomach, but you were surprised at how strong the feeling got you this time.

Maybe it was the different food? Or the different universe, who knows.

Whatever it was, you barely had the strength to fight it, sleep like a heavy blanket over your eyes, over your entire body.

"Hey, intruder." You heard someone's voice, it sounded like Penguin, but you weren't really sure; the words sounded like a slurred mumble, too far away to be understandable.

"Isn't she a little pale?" Another distant voice spoke next.

The meaningless sounds accumulated like static in the back of your mind, it felt like when you were sleeping at home and little by little you started to wake up, trapped between a dream you would like to return to and reality, while the dream slipped through your fingers.

But in this case, you felt like you could get back to the dream without much effort. And you were about to let go when a different voice penetrated through the thick blanket in your mind.

"Rissa-ya." You heard. And you felt something touch your head, lifting your face.

"Hmm" you murmured to indicate that you had heard, but without the presence of mind to open your eyes.

Someone opened one of your eyes for you, a careful thumb on your eyelid pulled it up and a blurred image of Polar Tang's kitchen appeared in front of you, several shapeless dots around it and a human silhouette right in front of you, tall and difficult to recognize.

Then your eye closed again without the external stimulus and the darkness returned, the meaningless sounds returned, the hand on your head moved to the side as the dream won over reality, your body weighing to the side, and then nothing.

Chapter Text

You had a very strange dream. You rarely had dreams that you confused with reality while living it, but this was one of them.

You were lying down, an unusually still dream; At first you thought it was sleep paralysis, you once had a really bad period with episodes frequent enough to recognize one, but you were able to move, although only the tip of your feet and hands. And you couldn't open your eyes no matter how hard you tried, the heavy sleep trying to pull you to another deeper layer.

There were some very low sounds around you, completely incomprehensible, you couldn't tell if it was voices or something else. You felt something touch your hand at one point, you tried to close your palm around it and recognize what it was, but the weight of sleep overcame you and the dream disappeared like smoke further and further into the air.

The darkness reshaped itself into another equally confusing scene. You were standing in the middle of almost complete darkness, human figures passed around you like normal people walking down any street, but you couldn't see faces, clothes, anything, just a dark figure.

The sounds were oddly muffled, you felt lost and still strangely lethargic, although now at least you could move more freely - which ruled out the theory of sleep paralysis.

You closed your eyes and lowered your face, trying to clarify the situation, but when you raised your face again, there was a figure right in front of you, scaring the living daylights out of you; without giving you time to understand, you felt a sharp pain in your chest right after, you screamed and then lunged yourself forward in a sudden movement and light suddenly flooded your eyes.

You blinked hard for a moment, your eyes burning from the sudden light, and braced your hands under your body, feeling dizzy, realizing you were sitting, not standing. You noticed that the sounds had returned to normal when you heard your loud, labored breathing in your own ears, your heartbeat was so fast that your pulse jumped in your throat, visibly pushing the skin.

"You wake up really full of energy." You heard a familiar man's voice to your left.

You opened your eyes and turning towards the sound, then wondered if you were still dreaming.

At the table in front of the stretchers of the infirmary room where you were during what should have been a dream in which Trafalgar Law, captain of the heart pirates from One Piece, performed a medical evaluation on you, was the captain himself in flesh and bone, rising from his chair in his usual jeans and t-shirt, black-spotted hat over his dark hair, long sword resting on the side of the table.

"Did you have a nightmare or are you feeling something?" He asked, stopping in front of the stretcher that just now you noticed you were sitting on, the same one you had been on during the pirate evaluation, but without handcuffs this time.

You didn't pay attention to what he said, you just looked at Law, quite faithful to what you remembered of him. Impossible to confuse. And, with the feeling of the strange dream still lingering in the back of your mind, not yet fully back from it after waking up so abruptly, you reached an arm out towards him.

With part of you expecting that it would pass right through him or that his image would disappear before your hand could reach him, the tip of your index finger touched Law's torso and you felt the rigid surface of his body hidden under the shirt stop your finger.

He was still real. You hadn't dreamed. Not this, at least.

As further proof, you felt very strong and real when Law held your wrist with one of his hands as soon as you touched him; you looked up and saw the furrowed eyebrows in a look of confusion on his face.

"What are you doing?" He questioned.

You sighed, relaxing your arm, but Law continued to hold your wrist in the air and you noticed how thin and small your wrist looked in the captain's large hand.

"I thought I might still be dreaming…" you replied, coughing a little when you realized that your throat was dry "But apparently I'm still here."

"And where did you think you would be?" Law asked, arching an eyebrow slightly.

"At home."

"And where would that be?"

You huffed, a little irritated when you remembered that no one believed your story here, and pulled your arm out of Law's hand. You also pulled your legs closer to your body, crossing them to get into a more comfortable position.

"In a continent, not an island, for starters. And no, I'm not talking about Mariejois, do I look like snobbish royalty to you?" You added quickly when Law's eyes widened a little when you mentioned a continent, knowing that the only one in this universe was the Red Line, at the top of which existed the land of Mariejois, home of the sacred celestial dragons.

Also known as a bunch of narcissistic assholes, according to yourself after a careful evaluation of more than 300 episodes of One Piece.

Law looked at you for a moment, actually looking for resemblance to celestial dragons as you suggested - albeit sarcastically - then he opened a relaxed smile, shooking his head slightly, as if the idea was absurd; with one hand supporting the opposite elbow and the other touching his own jaw, his fingers disguised his smile a little.

"Not with that hair." He said, the amusement barely hidden in his tone.

You put your hands in your hair, imagining that it must resemble a bird's nest considering you had just woken up from a very strange dream, but you pulled your left arm back down almost immediately, feeling as if you had received a small shock.

"Ouch." You complained, looking down at the middle of your arm where you felt the sharp sting.

"Careful." Law said, a little too late, and adjusted what you now saw was a thin IV tube stuck in your arm. Law adjusted the bandage that kept the tube in place and that you had partially detached with the previous movement.

Only then you wondered why you were on a stretcher in the infirmary. Actually, and why on earth Law had put you on a drip? You looked up to your left, where there was a tall metal rod supporting your IV bag, and there was almost no liquid left in the clear bag.

Just how long have you been here?

"What happened with me?" You asked, confused.

Law had looked at the IV bag as well and determined that it was enough now that you were awake, so he began the process of removing the IV.

"You fell unconscious after lunch, don't you remember?" Law informed, removing the bandages in your left arm with deft and careful fingers so as not to move the tube while it was still inside your skin.

You tried to remember. You were having lunch with Law's crew. Dessert arrived, which you didn't have room to eat even if you wanted to. Then? You started to feel drowsy, didn't you? You had a small glimpse of Law around that sleepy time, but you really didn't know what happened after then.

"Did I fall asleep?" You asked. You never did that, black out without realizing it. You could count on one hand the times that happened after you passed childhood.

"Fainting would be a more appropriate word."

Your eyes widened, slightly scared. This certainly hadn't happened before.

"Really? Why? I feel ok." You questioned, worried. You really felt normal, your heavy breathing due to the dream had already returned to normal and the dizziness had just been caused by getting up too quickly, it happened frequently, but it went away quickly, it was no different now.

Law removed the tube from inside your arm, causing little to no discomfort, and pressed the tiny hole left behind with a piece of cotton, stopping the small amount of bleeding, then looked up at you.

He studied your face for a moment, as if analyzing the truth or not when you said you were fine.

"I am not sure." He finally answered, occupying his hands with a new bandage for your arm to stop the bleeding throughout the day "When you fainted, I brought you to the infirmary and examined you, but I didn't find anything wrong…"

Law hesitated for a moment, as if he might change his mind, but then shook his head, dismissing the thought.

"Not necessarily wrong." He chose to correct the words. And you didn't understand what he meant by that, but you waited for the doctor to finish his line of thinking.

"But since you wouldn't wake up, I had to administer an IV or you would get dehydrated and end up too weak if you woke up."

You shivered, an icy feeling flooding your stomach at Law's choice of words. If.

"If? How long did I sleep?" You asked, glancing briefly at the nearest glass hatch, however the submarine was submerged now, so you couldn't guess what time was now from the surroundings.

"All day. You passed out yesterday. It's around seven in the morning now." Law said, finishing the bandage process and returning to his desk.

The words escaped your mouth, processing the new information in silence. It didn't feel like you had slept that much.

"Here." Law returned to your stretcher and left a disposable package in front of you before returning to his own desk, where he had a similar package next to the various papers that you supposed were about medicine.

You raised an eyebrow at the pirate, thinking about asking what it was for a moment, but Law was busy opening his own package, so you just observed, soon discovering that it was food, which he began to eat calmly.

Turning your attention now to your own package, you opened it and saw that there was also food, a small variety of light foods and a fruit, clearly a breakfast.

You looked at Law eating again and smiled softly. You thanked the pirate, who only emitted a murmur to indicate that he had listened, continuing to eat.

Despite being considered an intruder, Law took the time to look after you and also kept you well fed. He really was a good person.

"You said you live on a continent." Law commented as soon as you got more comfortable on the stretcher, leaning on the backrest and fitting the package between your crossed legs before starting to eat.

"Hmm" you mumbled, swallowing a piece of toast so you could speak "There are 6 of them from where I came from, most people live on continents."

Law raised an eyebrow, curious.

"There are no islands?" He asked, one cheek still round, full of food.

"There are islands too, like here, and people living on them, but they are the minority." You clarified, taking a good look at the breakfast food which, like the previous day's lunch, was delicious.

You wondered if Straw Hat’s Sanji's food was as good as this or even better. You would love to have the opportunity to try it before this madness of another universe ends.

"Ah" You remembered "The seas are different too. We have seven that we call oceans."

"Seven seas? It's hard to imagine how you survived so many sea kings to this day with such a weak body." Law commented, no malice in his voice, from what you could tell, but it still made you puff out your cheeks and purse your lips in annoyance.

"For your information" you said, sounding a little more bratty than you intended "We don't have sea kings where I come from. Not that we don't have dangerous sea animals, but nothing that big, at least not nowadays and not that I am aware."

"No sea kings." Law muttered, pondering to himself as he chose what to eat next.

"No pirates either." You added casually, closing your eyes then, enjoying what seemed to be some kind of sweet pancake melting in your mouth.

"No pirates??" Law raised his voice, clearly surprised.

When you raised your eyes to Law, you saw that he had stopped with his food halfway to his mouth and was looking at you, gray eyes slightly wide.

"Well, not exactly without pirates. They exist, but it's not even close to being an era of pirates like you live here. There also aren't these huge ships, or black flags… They're just common bandits. But in the water."

Law shook his head as if it was hard to believe, he lowered the food back into the package, focusing on you instead.

"What about navy?"

"We have one too. And an army, air force… Military organizations. But none of them have as much influence as the navy of this place. I mean… The army was responsible for a coup once, military dictatorship, you know. Reminded your navy at that time. But it happened years ago and I wasn't even born." You gestured nonchalantly.

Law's expression was one of almost complete confusion. You couldn't blame him for that, after all, you knew about his universe because you literally watched it as an anime, but Law on the other hand probably never considered the existence of another universe like yours.

No other universe, probably.

So, while you both were eating breakfast, you explained more about your universe to the pirate, who finally seemed willing to listen and believe your story.

"So you don't have a commander, admirals, vice admirals, anything like that?" Law asked after all the food was gone and only the topic remained, referring to the people in your universe.

"You didn't get it. We do!" You paused to organize your words, gesturing with your hands automatically as you explained again "All these navy positions exist, but they don't have skills like the ones here. They aren't strong or have powers since devil fruits doesn't exist there."

You had already gone through the conversation about Devil Fruits, another information that surprised Law, since he was so used to the existence of these fruits, even if they were difficult to find.

"So how do they fight when an enemy appears?" Law questioned slowly, absorbing the information.

"Well..." You pondered, stretching your legs out on the stretcher, the empty food package now on the small table between the stretchers. "Since there are no fruits, the enemy also has no skills. People often go to war using gunpowder-based weapons, there is a big variety of weapons. The technology from where I come from is very advanced, unfortunately in terms of warlike as well."

Law tilted his head and closed his eyes for a moment, then sighed and stood up from the chair behind the table he was at, picking up the empty food container and tossing it into a nearby trash can.

"What a strange world."

You let out a short incredulous laugh, looking at him picking up your empty package and also throwing it in the trash.

"In your world fruits give people random powers. That's strange." You argued.

"That's normal here. Strange are weak people at the forefront of the navy. Now enough of this talk for now and let's get out of here.”

Law took his sword and then opened the entrance hatch of the infirmary and held it open, gesturing with his head for you significantly.

"So, do you believe me now?" You asked hopefully, glancing briefly to the side, at the captain, as you passed through the open hatch.

"I haven't decided yet, so don't start getting too comfortable."

You couldn't help the small smile that pulled your lips. It was a start. At least he was considering the possibility that you were telling the truth.

Walking side by side with Law, you followed Polar Tang’s metallic corridors; your sense of direction wasn't the best (not Zoro level like, but still bad), especially in unfamiliar places, so you didn't realize you were walking back to the kitchen until you recognized its entrance arch.

Again you heard voices before you even entered, indicating that there were people in the place, and when you passed through the arch, you had a feeling of déjà vu when you saw the crew gathered around the two long tables, enjoying good food and chatting as a friendly loud mess.

"Everyone here, great. I have a few things to say." Law spoke upon spotting his crew.

"Captain!" Some of his comrades announced in unison.

"Hey, the girl woke up." Ikkaku commented, noticing your presence next to the captain, slightly behind him.

As soon as you entered the kitchen, you remembered that everyone else still considered you an intruder and a liar, so you retreated discreetly, trying to make yourself less noticeable, and Law's one meter and ninety centimeters frame offered a decent hiding place for your one meter and sixty-almost-seventy centimeters self.

Law tilted his head to look at you, seeming to question what you were doing, but he didn't say anything, turning back to face his crew.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk about." He continued.

From the end of the table to your left, one of the pirates stood up, and you recognized the cook immediately; he had a strange expression on his face, you noticed, worried but also determined.

"Captain, I swear, I didn't put anything in her food. Your orders were to keep an eye on her and that's what I did. Nothing more than that." He defended himself, from what was clearly a prior matter given Law's response.

"I know." The captain said "I asked the first time because it was the most likely option, but I didn't doubt it when you told me you didn't poison her. I trust my crew."

The idea of your food being poisoned hadn't even crossed your mind until now. It wasn't something you would normally think back in your universe. But now you are on a pirate ship and a lot of bad things tend to happen in One Piece.

The color drained from your face as you recognized the possibility and you instinctively placed a hand on your stomach, looking for any unusual sensation, although part of you already knew that everything was fine since you woke up feeling as usual.

"Hey!"

You looked up at the sudden sound, realizing it had come from the cook, who was now looking at you with reinforced determination.

"I'm a cook! A real cook doesn't spoil food with poison, got it?!" He said directly to you.

His eyes daring you to doubt, his hands clenched tightly on the table, surrounded by food that he had made for the crew.

You remembered the taste of the lunch that that same person had served you, the breakfast that he had probably also made knowing that it was you who would eat it and yet he made it as good as the other’s food.

The color returned to your face, feeling more at ease. Instincts told you that a man like that wouldn't poison even an enemy's food. And that he was telling the truth about not having poisoned yours.

You nodded, smiling a little as Sanji's image popped into your head. The people of this universe had faithful values when it came to their life dreams. It was impressive to see a glimpse of that with your own eyes when in your own universe it was something rare.

"The breakfast was delicious too, thank you." You thanked him.

Just like you had seen yesterday at lunch, the blush returned to the pirate's face.

Law raised an eyebrow, observing his subordinate's reaction.

"Did you happen to fall in love with someone else who fell in love with your food again?" He asked, what caused a wave of laughter among the crew and intensified the blush on the cook's face.

"I-It’s nothing like that, captain!" The pirate tried to defend himself.

"You should have seen him yesterday, captain, stuffing her with food." One of the men said, laughing.

"He would marry any woman who complimented his food." Ikkaku commented with a grin from ear to ear, then turned to you "Careful."

Your eyes widened, unsure for a moment whether the warning was serious, after all, you were in One Piece, a crazy world, and marriage definitely wasn't your goal. You just wanted to avoid being seen as an enemy in this story. And the food really was delicious.

Your reaction only made the others laugh even harder and, to your surprise, you heard Law laughing quietly beside you, making you tilt your head back to see that there was, in fact, a smile pulling his lips.

It was the first time you had seen a smile that wasn't teasing or malicious on the captain's face.

He looked even more handsome. Quite boyish.

It didn't last long though.

"Now that's enough, be quiet all of you."

Soon Law caught the crew's attention, pulling you by the shoulders against your will, you stumbled slightly and was placed in front of him, right in the center of the attention you didn't want.

"With the results of her evaluation, I can't say that she doesn't belong to this universe. But. Despite her body constitution being similar to ours, there are some differences. For example, her blood type isn't one I have ever seen before. And she has no trace of several common diseases that a child here should have contracted. As if she had never been sick. What's practically impossible.” Law informed the crew, who listened intently.

He let go of your shoulders and took a few steps away enough to see your face, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"By chance, were you locked up, without outside contact, before breaking into the ship?" He asked.

"I did not invade the ship. And no, I was living my life normally, in my world. Like I already said." You replied, hugging your elbows and trying not to look nervous.

Law looked at you, silently pondering. You wondered if he was thinking of finally giving the order to throw you off the ship and you hoped they would at least dock on an island first and not just throw you into the sea.

Although being thrown onto some island in this unfamiliar place was also practically a death sentence. It was better than being eaten by sea kings, at least.

Finally, Law sighed.

"Her bone constitution is very fragile compared to that of a normal adult, her body as well as her resistance are biologically weak." He said, and you remembered how he had talked about your lack of resistance the day before during the medical evaluation.

You wondered if that was what Law meant when he said 'not necessarily wrong' earlier today.

Law turned to the crew again.

"My theory is that my evaluation from yesterday was too much of a strain on her body, hence the fainting." He said, more specifically to the cook, nodding briefly to his crewmate in a gesture of trust, reinforcing it; the pirate nodded back, pleased.

"So, keep an eye on her for a while longer, until I decide that there is no danger in letting her go or stolen information that will harm us if she goes. In the meantime, just be careful, remember that she has a fragile body. " Law warned, walking over to you and placing a hand on one of your shoulders "Remember this too, I don't want to have to deal with broken bones because you tripped over a hatchway."

"Yes, Captain!" The crew agreed without complaining after Law's explanation.

Law nodded and continued walking towards the kitchen entrance from where you two had come.

You quickly turned towards him, taking in the information.

"Wait. So are you going to let me stay?" You asked loud enough for the pirate that already was some steps away to hear.

From what he had said, Law still didn't trust that you didn't have information about the heart pirates tucked away in some corner of your body and that you wouldn't rush to hand it over to the navy as soon as you set foot outside the Polar Tang; But he wasn't sure either.

Law stopped halfway.

"For now." He said "And under supervision, don't think you can wander around. Now follow me. I'll show you where you're going to sleep until I decide what to do with you." He looked back and gestured to you meaningfully, then continued walking to leave the kitchen.

Out of Law's sight, you opened a wide, relieved smile. You had a place to stay with at-least-familiar people in this universe now, without having to worry about being arrested or thrown away in the sea at any moment - at least until Law made up his mind.

It was enough. You were sure you would get home before then, somehow. Then you ran towards Trafalgar Law to see your new room until that time came.

.

You didn't hear Shachi and Penguin talking behind you as you ran after Law.

"You know, she doesn't really seem like an intruder." Penguin pointed out, spreading purple jelly on a piece of toast.

"True," Shachi agreed, his elbow resting on the table and chin on his hand, looking at you from afar. "She's kinda cute. Look at that, running after the captain."

"Hey, the two fools there, stop ogling the new girl and go eat." Ikkaku scolded as she ate an omelet roll.

"Ikkaku, do you want us to say you're cute too?" Shachi joked, feigning astonishment, causing a round of laughter from his fellow mates nearby.

Ikkaku responded by throwing a half eaten roll in Shachi's face.

Chapter Text

The hallways of the Polar Tang were similar since they were all made of metal structures, so you tried to pay more attention this time as you followed Law down the path where would be your room during your stay on the submarine.

You both followed the same path that led to the kitchen, but at a certain point Law turned into a hallway opposite to the one that led to the infirmary, the path was empty and silent with the entire crew busy with breakfast, and soon you found yourself in a small hallway with two hatchways on opposite sides.

Law opened the hatchway on the left, the metal door making a deep creak under its own weight, and gestured for you to enter first. It was dark and you couldn't see anything before the captain lit some lamps fixed to the walls.

It was a very simple room, there was a single bed against the wall opposite to the entrance with a round hatch just above it, overlooking the sea; a bookcase with drawers on the left, full of various books on the shelves; a mirror and an armchair on the right, with more books on top; and finally on the floor at your feet more piles of books were piling up, arranged against the wall.

"It's a spare room that I use to store the rest of my books." Law explained, finishing lighting the last lamp near the mirror and handing you the lighter to store wherever you thought best since you would be using that room from now on.

"There are still more?" You asked, slightly incredulous, observing the amount of books scattered around the room.

You looked at the closest pile and noticed that the first one on top was about medicine. Law must have used this room as a study room as well as storage, considering the armchair.

"Yes, in my room. The ones here are the ones I use the least." He replied, casually picking up one of the books that was on top of the armchair and analyzing the cover.

You had to admit, Law wasn't known as surgeon of death for nothing. Although there was a violent double meaning in that title, he clearly tried hard to be a good doctor too. He was the man who saved Luffy from the brink of death after Marineford after all.

Avoiding the piles of books, you walked a little further into the room, observing everything around you.

"You can wear those clothes." Law pointed to the bed and you noticed that there was a change of white clothes on top of the mattress, as well as other personal items like a towel, which reminded you that you could use a bathroom now.

It had been at least a whole day since you had seen a shower and, with the cold air of the submarine, a hot bath would come in handy.

"Law, can I…" you started to say, turning away from the pirate, then stopped when you saw yourself reflected in the mirror.

You hadn't noticed before because Law was in front of you, but now you could see yourself and you were not like this the last time you looked at yourself in a mirror in your universe.

You walked closer, observing your whole body.

The denim shorts and blue tank top were familiar, the red hair in a set of waves and curls too, but unlike in your universe, the color came from your roots, natural. Your body was also different, a mix between what it was and the design of One Piece.

You certainly never had a waist like that. But you remembered that most of the female characters in One Piece had considerably thin waists.

You reached out and touched the reflection of your face, shocked by the difference and similarity at the same time. Your skin was perfect and your eyes particularly beautiful, bigger and brighter. You looked beautiful.

Not that you had any major problems with your appearance before, but these new features were interesting.

"What's wrong?" Law appeared reflected in the mirror behind you, looking at your reflection up and down, looking for any problem.

When you first saw him, you noticed that Law's appearance had gained traces of reality, but you only stopped to really look at him now. It was the same mixed appearance of One Piece and reality - your reality, in this case - that you had now that made him pretty real in your eyes.

"Nothing, it's just..." You touched your own face, looking at yourself in the mirror again "I hadn't noticed before, but I look a little different here in your world."

"Different?" Law asked, looking closely at your body now, which made you highly aware of the pirate's proximity, his deep voice close to your ear.

You squirmed awkwardly, trying to take his attention away from your body.

It worked, Law looked up, a slightly questioning expression on his face that you didn't bother to clarify, but he seemed to understand the situation anyway by the amused smile that appeared on his lips.

You moved away from the mirror, looking for a subject to change the focus. Law's undivided attention was disturbing. In a way that you preferred not to think about too much right now.

"Yeah, but there's no way you would know since you didn't see me before; anyway, I would like to take a bath. I can go to the bathroom, can't I?” You said quickly.

Law looked at you without saying anything for a moment before answering.

"Follow me." He finally said, walking towards the entrance hatchway.

You picked up the new clothes and towel from the bed and followed behind the captain.

Then Law showed you the bathroom, which was a large communal space with several closed shower stalls on one side and toilets on the other, as well as a long wooden bench in the center, some sinks with mirrors and a long metal cabinet against the furthest wall. It was close to your room, easy to remember the way.

Law left you alone after showing you where the products you could use were, closing the entrance hatch as he left, and you sighed, finally at ease without company.

You took off your clothes and left them on the wooden bench, next to your new clothes, picked up the towel and chose one of the empty stalls, hanging the towel on the door and thinking about the madness you were living.

You tried to remember once again what you were doing before you appeared on the submarine, but the memory seemed to have been ripped away from your mind; the water that you learned was ice-cold didn't help either, although it was good anyway to take a shower after such an irrational day.

You let the water fall over your head with relief, thinking of ways to get back home, but without knowing how you got here it was difficult to make a plan to go back.

That strange dream that woke you up earlier still haunted your mind, which was unusual, because you used to quickly forget what you dreamed about throughout the next morning, but you still remembered the touch on your hand. As if it had been real.

The pain in your chest that still made your heart race in fear. The frightening silhouette of an unknown person.

You still didn't know what to do with these pieces of information, but you suspected they were part of the reason you were in this universe. Maybe the next time you dreamed, things would become a little clearer, so you could start thinking of a way out of this madness before Law decided you weren't worth the risk and got rid of you.

Sure, maybe it was just a meaningless dream, but it was the best guess you had right now. And also the only one. You had to work with what you had at hand and hope for the best.

You didn't stay as long in the shower as you intended to because the cold water and the naturally cold environment were about to make your jaw tremble, so you wrapped yourself in the towel and got out, grabbing your new clothes from the bench.

It was the same white jumpsuit that most of the crew wore. You dried yourself and put it on. The sleeves were too big, so you had to roll them up over your wrists. The legs also went past your feet, but there were elastic bands at the ends, so you just had to pull them up to your ankles, a layer of fabric gathering there.

It was comfortable despite the obvious wrong size. You were glad that at least you had clean, comfortable clothes to wear; it helped dealing with the cold of the submarine.

You fixed your hair with a brush from the closet Law had pointed out, using the mirror that faced a row of sinks, and as you did so, you noticed that there was a skin spot on your right arm.

It was a bruise, a reddish and almost purple mixture, in the form of two horizontal lines on the outside and another on the inside. You touched the top of your arm where they were and frowned a little. It was sensitive and sore.

It was the mark of Law's fingers, you realized. From when he took your blood and improvised a tourniquet with his own hand.

Your skin had a tendency to bruise easily, you were aware of that, but that was ridiculous.

Law wasn't lying when he said your body was weak, you weren't like that in your world, for some reason in this universe you were unusually fragile.

The worst place to have a weak body. One Piece was full of strong and violent people. You would have to be very careful. You had never broken a bone in your life and you certainly didn't want to start now.

You continued to fix your hair, drying it as much as you could with the towel afterwards; when you finished getting ready, you put everything you used in its proper places and gathered your belongings, then opened the hatch to leave, confident that you would find your way back to the room.

You were startled when you saw someone standing outside the hatch and almost tripped as you took a step back.

It was Ikkaku, and by her posture with arms crossed and leaning against the metal wall, she seemed to be waiting for you.

"Are you done? The captain ordered me to keep an eye on you." She pushed herself away from the wall, looking straight at you.

You nodded, still surprised that someone was waiting for you, but it made sense, Law wouldn't leave you alone wandering around the submarine if he didn't yet fully trust your story.

And you weren't alone for even a moment. Ikkaku accompanied you back to your room, and when you tried to leave a few minutes later, intending to ask someone what to do with your used clothes and towel, she was still outside, on guard.

She took responsibility for taking your things to the laundry, getting the clothes from your hands, and looked at you as if asking if you wanted anything else, and you went back to your room feeling slightly pressured.

Personally, you would have preferred to take a look around and see the famous Polar Tang, but you felt a little uncomfortable doing so, so you decided to get to know the room better.

Like the rest of the submarine, the entire structure was made of metal, including the bed support. The bookcase was made of wood, however; you looked at the titles more closely, confirming that they were indeed medical books, all of them from what you saw.

Law's dedication was impressive. He studied much more than what appeared in the anime. And your admiration for him since he saved Luffy after the unfortunate death of his brother, Ace, grew a little more. Although he was a real tease hard to deal with in person.

You ran your fingertips along the spines of the books, searching, but there wasn't a single story book to pass the time. Not in the bookcase neither in the piles of books on the floor. So you settled for an easy looking medical book.

You climbed on a corner of the bed, sitting with the book on your knees, and read about some interesting cases of patients of many doctors around the world. Some diseases that didn't even exist in your world and extraordinary cures that Devil Fruit powers made possible.

If all of this was a daydream of your head, you sure deserved an award. The details of this universe were quite convincing.

It didn't take long for you to get tired of the book though. You didn't know exactly how much time had passed, minutes, an hour? There was no clock in this place, God knows where was your cell phone now and the only light was from the lamps. You looked through the hatch above the bed that led to the outside of the submarine, observing the water that covered the submarine.

It was the longest you had spent without a cell phone and you realized how much free time you had now.

Sheer boredom made you get out of bed, forgetting about Ikkaku's gaze and opening the entrance hatch, slightly hopeful that she was no longer there.

And she wasn't. But Penguin was.

For the rest of the day, there was always someone there. The crew took turns keeping you under constant surveillance, but they didn't stop you from walking around the submarine, as long as you weren't alone.

Although hesitant, Penguin showed you the way through the Polar Tang when you left the room and said that you wanted to take a walk, because you were bored. You passed by places you already knew, like the kitchen and the infirmary, and you took the opportunity to reinforce the map in your mind and avoid getting lost in the future.

However he also showed you new places, like the crew's dormitory, which was divided into a few blocks large enough to accommodate all twenty pirates. And he took the opportunity to ask you more questions about Saboady as a way to test the veracity of your story again.

When Bepo switched places with his crewmate, Penguin seemed to be seriously considering that you were telling the truth, although he clearly still didn't believe you, now it was an actual doubt.

Looking better now that you were calm, you noticed that Bepo was less scary than he had seemed when you bumped into him the day before. He had really sharp fangs and was huge, bigger than Law, but he was furry and cuddly like a polar bear, one that wasn't willing to bite and rip your arm off if you tried to touch him.

At least you hoped so.

He took you to the library after you told him about the books in your room and how you hadn't found any that weren't about medicine.

The Polar Tang library was beautiful; unlike most of the other rooms, most of it was made of wood, bookshelves surrounded the curved back wall, filled with a wide variety of books from ceiling to floor, and there were round tables scattered around the center, as well as reading chairs in the corners.

Bepo sat down on one of the chairs and opened a book that he seemed to have left there earlier while you curiously searched through the shelves, admiring the view of the sea through the portholes located between them.

"No way." you said when you came across a certain book, pulling it out of the shelf by the spine "Noland, the liar."

It was the book that Nami of the Straw Hats had been reading in previous seasons of One Piece. You had watched it a while ago. A fairy tale based on a true story with a sad background. The life of a person who really existed in this universe.

Even though the extraordinary situation you were in should be clear to you by now, when you saw irrefutable evidence like this that you were no longer in your original world, you still got surprised.

After all, it went against all common sense you always had about life.

You took the familiar book from the shelf and sat in one of the reading chairs, occupying yourself for a good while with Noland's fantastic adventures, until the cook announced to everyone that it was lunch time.

At the table, the crew seemed more at ease around you, talking among themselves and not paying as much attention to you or asking questions, which made you more comfortable to eat and enjoy the cook's delicious food.

He slid an amount of food incompatible with your appetite again; it was equal parts sweet and problematic, because you knew you couldn't eat that much but also didn't want to leave leftovers when it was put down specifically for you.

You ate as much as you could until you were too full for even another grain of rice, most of the crew had already finished eating and were just talking among themselves, that's when the ship's captain appeared.

Law sometimes didn't eat with the crew, Bepo had said, so you weren't too surprised not to see him at the table, but you were surprised by his appearance now.

He wasn't wearing his usual hat, nor was he carrying his long sword, he seemed more casual and somewhat tired, the dark circles under his eyes as apparent as ever. You wondered what the captain was so busy with, but at the same time you assumed it was normal, after all he was the captain of the ship, right? The higher the position, the greater the responsibilities.

"I see you haven't fainted yet today." Law commented, sitting in the empty space next to you. The crew still wasn't entirely comfortable being so close to you, but Law didn't seem to mind.

Maybe because he could tear your body apart in an instant.

You glared at the pirate. The way he spoke, it seemed like you were on the verge of a crisis at any moment.

"I'm fine, thank you." You grumbled sarcastically.

Law’s mouth pulled into a smirk as he filled a plate for himself.

As he chewed the first bite, he seemed to remember something and reached into a pocket in his jeans, searching for a moment before placing something on the table between the two of you.

“Did you say this was a communication device?” Law asked, tilting his head to look at you.

You looked up at him first then down to the table and saw that it was your cell phone.

“Oh, my cell phone.” You reached out to take it, but Law covered your hand as soon as you grabbed the device, pressing it against the table.

The tattoos on the back of the pirate’s hand and fingers made it particularly attractive; long, slender fingers, a strong grip, you could barely move your own hand.

It took you a moment to remember that this wasn’t the time to admire parts of Law’s body, so you turned to face the pirate and raised an eyebrow significantly.

"Don't try anything suspicious or you'll regret it; don't forget, you're not a guest here, you're a prisoner."

He sounded and looked threatening enough for you to swallow hard and just nod in response, only then did Law released your hand, leaving a warm sensation on your skin. His husky voice was equal parts threatening and attractive.

You left your cell phone on the table, where he could see the screen when you turned it on by pressing a button on the side of the device. A photo of you smiled at you all. It was from the day you visited a new park in your city on a weekend. The color of your hair shone in the sun, but you could clearly see the roots, growing with your natural dark color.

"You weren't lying." Law observed, taking a good look at your face and then moving down your body, leaving you slightly embarrassed. "You do look different here."

"Like I said." You said slightly petulantly.

You unlocked your cell phone screen and looked at the signal. Obviously there was none. Your phone network was shitty in your city, what to expect in another universe? There was still some battery left even though it had been a whole day, since you hadn't used the device.

"It doesn't work here." You said, looking for the first contact that came to mind and testing a call. "Communication works through antennas that don't exist in this place, so there's no way I can call anyone."

The word 'Mom' appeared on the screen while you made the call on speakerphone, but there wasn't even an electronic voice, just a noise of an incomplete connection and the call ended by itself shortly after.

You shook your head slightly and sighed.

"No call, no message, it's pretty much useless here."

"Can you write letters with this device too?" Law asked, swallowing a rice ball filled with something black.

You looked at him and remembered that this was new to the pirate. It wasn't even close to the kind of technology that existed in One Piece. So you decided to show him a little more.

"Something like that. But it's instant messages. You can take pictures too." You opened the camera app as you spoke, it was probably one of the few things you could do now.

You grabbed your phone from the table and turned it to Law quickly, clicking the shutter before he could stop you. The slightly confused expression, the eyebrows slightly arched in surprise, but otherwise Law's essentially neutral face was recorded on your phone's screen.

You put the device back on the table so the pirate could see the screen, and half of the crew crowded behind and around you two to take a look too.

Most were impressed with the quality of the photo, some complimenting how well the captain looked in the photo and the rest pointing to themselves in the background of the photo, showing it to the others with a funny animation.

Even Law seemed a little impressed.

Involuntarily as he tapped the screen, he changed the photo to the last one in your gallery. It was a photo of you and your mother, from before some event, when you had just gotten ready.

"Who's the woman? She looks a little like you." Shachi asked, looking from the photo to you, comparing.

You noticed the smiling woman's dyed hair in the photo, although not the same color as yours, the subtle expression lines near her eyes, the beauty of someone who cared about health. And you wondered what she was doing now.

"My mother." You answered, voice quieter than you intended, the uproar around you automatically silencing so they could hear better. "I wonder if I simply disappeared. From her perspective. Or if I'm still there somehow. Maybe I switched places with someone here, I don't know... If I just disappeared, she must be desperate."

It had been a while since you had been away from her for such a long time. For the first time your mind was quiet enough to think about it and worry twisted you from the inside, chewing your interior painfully.

"Isn't your father with her?" Ikkaku asked, trying to ease your obvious concern.

You shook your head negatively, absently scrolling through other photos.

"It's just the two of us at home. My father…" you searched for appropriate words to describe him without having to go into details "He isn't a good person. He got involved with even worse people and my mom kicked him out of home. We moved so he wouldn't find us again."

Absently, you stroked a scar on the inside of your left arm, it was a straight cut from top to bottom, still red in the center, with the stitches’ marks around it; stitches that had been done in the emergency room of the nearest hospital on that damn day.

"Did he do this to you? Is that why your mother kicked your father out?"

You followed Law's gaze,he was looking at your scar, the skin harder and swollen, although it didn't hurt anymore. Remembering it hurt though. It haunted you. You swallowed hard, mouth dry, taking a deep breath.

"No. One of the bad men he knew did it. That's why my mom kicked him out, it was the last straw."

Ever since that day, you got uneasy around unfamiliar male figures. Especially when they were in a group. You couldn't control your anxiety, even if there was no apparent threat, your mind told you another story.

The room got unusually quiet, your story weighing down the atmosphere, but you couldn't revert that now; remembering your father and what had happened because of his choices left a bad taste in your mouth and an even worse feeling in the rest of your body.

Suddenly the plate you had been eating from was taken and replaced by a smaller one with a piece of pie with a white filling and a range of beautiful red fruits on top; and a small fork pierced on top.

You looked up at the cook who had served sweet-looking food.

"You didn't eat dessert." He said with an almost neutral expression on his face, except for his eyes. And his voice. Both were gentle... Delicate. And also slightly hesitant.

You wondered what kind of expression you must have made as you told the crew about your misfortunes. Something pitiful, by the looks of it.

You understood that it was a bad story and, if it were someone else in your place, you would feel sorry for them too. But that wasn't how you felt. Despite everything, you still had your mom, that incredible woman who protected and defended you from her own husband and left everything behind so you could be safe.

A small smile broke the anxiety that tightened your chest. While you still had someone, you didn't feel sorry for yourself, you felt lucky to have a mother who loved you so much.

And that's why you had to find a way to get back home soon.

"Are you trying to fatten me up, mister cook?" You asked, still smiling, but you picked up the fork and played a little with the pie's fruit top. It looked appetizing.

"A little more meat on those bones wouldn't hurt. A storm and you'd fly off the deck." He joked, but there was a tone of seriousness mixed in his voice.

You laughed and opened up a sincere smile.

"You sound just like my mom." you said between small laughs, bringing a hand to cover your mouth in a vain attempt to disguise it.

That was enough for the crew to burst into laughter, teasing and joking with their fellow cook. Others went back to eating and talking, and the mood quickly returned to its usual state. The pie took the bad taste out of your mouth. And you felt more comfortable with the crew now than when you had arrived for lunch earlier.

Law was so quiet beside you that your eyes were drawn to him, only to realize that he was already looking at you. He didn't look away when you caught him staring, he continued to stare with an intensity that furrowed the juncture between his eyebrows.

You wanted to look away, but it was harder than expected. His gray eyes pinned yours to him.

"W-what is it?" You finally asked.

The pirate watched you intently for a few more seconds and then said nothing, just back to eating.

You snorted, puffing out one cheek with a pout on your lips.

"Have you ever been told that you're terribly rude?" You asked rhetorically, swallowing your frustration along with a piece of strawberry with the cream of the pie.

"More times than I can count." Law answered without hesitation.

He spoke so sincerely that it almost made you cough the strawberry out with a laugh. And a crooked smile stretched the captain's lips, looking at you sideways.

"But it seems like you like it." He teased, still smiling.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." You quickly retorted, slightly worried that his Devil Fruit abilities could read your involuntary reactions to him, including those you avoided thinking about too much.

What was crazy, of course. Nervousness was speaking louder than reason. Law had the fruit of the operation, not of the mind reading, for God's sake.

Law tapped his index finger lightly on the screen of the cell phone still on the table, bumping into your hand that was changing the photos. His touch was comfortable; warm in the cold environment.

"There's a picture of me."

A picture of him, he said.

Your eyes widened and you turned to your cell phone, on which your fingers had been scrolling absentmindedly. There really was a picture of the pirate, a - good God - a fanart, more specifically, of the moment when Law shows the middle finger to Kid in Saboady.

Who needed a damn fruit to read minds if you just gave yourself away?

Yes, you liked him rude. You had a terrible crush for irreverent characters. But it was different in real life, much harder to deal with. And Law seeing that picture on your cell phone certainly didn't help at all.

Your mouth opened and closed repeatedly, without a single coherent word to say, feeling your face burning.

"When you talked about favorite characters, were you talking about me?" He continued teasing "How did you get that photo? I was in the middle of an illegal auction that day."

That was easier to answer, and it was a perfect opportunity to change the subject to one that didn't embarrass the hell out of you.

"Like I said, this universe is a story from where I came from, and it's quite famous. So there are a lot of pictures and drawings like these available on the internet."

"Internet?" Law asked, frowning.

Oh, of course. Internet didn't exist here. You were so used to this global network that it was strange to look at Law and realize that he had absolutely no idea what you were talking about.

So for the rest of the meal, while Law ate lunch and you slowly shoveled forkfuls of pies into your full stomach, buying time to digest and make room for dessert, you explained more about internet and cell phones and what else you could do with it besides taking photos - although most things wouldn't work without internet.

The long subject proved quite effective and Law didn't mention the picture of him on your cell phone anymore; when he finished eating lunch, he pocketed the cell phone again, still not fully trusting you, and left, reiterating that the crew should continue to keep a close eye on you.

Your eyes followed the captain's back as he walked away, then timidly asked if you could return to the library, unsure if you were in a position to ask for anything.

To your surprise, Shachi, your next guard, took you back to the library without question. You finished reading Noland the Liar; it wasn't a very big book, but it was long enough for another guard change, a free pirate that you didn't quite recognized, but had a mask on.

The rest of the day passed in the same way, with changes of watch when the previous person in charge had to return to his duties on the submarine. And when night fell - although you wouldn't have been able to tell if it weren't for hearing someone on the crew say the time - after everyone had eaten dinner, one of Law's men escorted you back to your room.

Although not everyone on the crew had retired for the night, you were under a curfew, so you were not allowed to wander around the submarine when they weren't sure if you were an enemy.

On the bed, there were now comfortable clothes to sleep in. You didn't know who had left it there, but you were grateful anyway. You locked the hatchway from the inside and changed your clothes, spreading your overalls on the back of the chair, and then fell on the bed with a sigh.

You watched the dark sea through the porthole above the bed in the silence of the room. You weren't particularly sleepy, but you were tired. More mentally than physically.

One day you were living your life normally, on land, without ever having set foot on even a cruise ship, and suddenly you were in a submarine thousands of meters deep, surrounded by pirates, without internet access to ask how to get out of this situation.

It was no surprise that your mental capacity would be exhausted.

Your hands were tied, there was nothing you could do, zero solid clues you could follow, so the only thing you could do was let yourself be carried away by the tide. At least until you had concrete footprints to follow that would lead you back to your world.

Your eyes started to feel heavy as you still watched the quiet sea on the other side of the glass and you didn't fight against sleep. And as you fell asleep, a vague thought swirled in the back of your mind: a hope that you wouldn't have another dream as strange as the last one.

Chapter Text

Long story short, you hoped in vain.

Once again, you were unable to move freely. There was light above your head, strong enough for you to know even though you couldn't open your eyes.

You didn't feel anything in your hands this time, you didn't feel or hear anything, just the intense light. And it didn't take long for even that feeling to fade as you slipped deeper into unconsciousness.

You were back to the figures now. Faceless, voiceless shadows. Just as shapeless as the people, the environment rushed around you as if you were in a racing car.

No, you were the one actually running. Running away.

Figures were chasing you for a reason you couldn't explain, you just ran, feeling your heart racing in your chest not from running, but from fear. You didn't know who they were or why they were after you, you just knew you were terrified.

You tried to quicken your pace as you saw them approaching over your shoulder, but your legs felt heavy, the ground felt like mud and slowed your steps to the point where you barely seemed to move after a while.

A hand on your shoulder suddenly turned you around, the sensation so real that your blood froze in your veins; you couldn't see it, but you felt your face losing color. The hand turned you abruptly and the figures were now staring at you with a face you knew well, all of them had the same appearance of the man you hoped to never see again.

Your father. The distorted face with a frightening glazed look stared at you, several equally disturbing faces looked at you. The one holding you by the shoulder held a knife in the other hand, a sharp blade shone in his eyes uncomfortably; he didn't say a word, just held the knife above his head.

Instinctively, you protected yourself by crossing your arms in front of your face and chest, and he stuck the blade in your left arm; The pain erupted with a frightening reality and you tried to scream, but only a moan escaped your lips. 

Your father's face faded with a soft light, the pain becoming an echo of what it had been a second ago and you rolled to the side, opening your eyes with some effort, eyelids heavy with sleep, your breathing labored. 

You were in bed. You had a dream with your shitbag father. A nightmare, better saying. You groaned, wrapping yourself in the sheets. When you talked about him, you ended up having these awful dreams that mixed your father and that day you were attacked because of him; you would have died if you hadn't received medical care as fast as you had.

You rubbed the scar on your arm, a persistent phantom pain there; you took a deep breath, trying to get your breathing back to normal. 

"Do you always wake up in such unusual ways?" A voice sounded close to you suddenly.

Your body jumped with a startled twitch and you turned in bed, pushing yourself up with one hand to sit up. You rubbed your eyes with one hand and had to blink a few times to chase sleep away until you could see more clearly.

You were in the room where they let you stay in the Polar Tang. The submarine. It was still here. It was still real. And on the edge of your bed, the ship's captain, Trafalgar Law, sat cross-legged, looking at you curiously.

He was still shockingly handsome, no matter how many times you saw him for the first time each day. He was so similar to the anime that it didn't seem real. His gray eyes like a contained storm were probably your favorite part of him.

Law didn't look away, still patiently waiting for an answer. When he wasn't threatening you for answers to a possible danger you may pose, he didn't seem to be in a hurry.

You observed the calm figure of the captain for a moment, considerably less threatening at that moment, and without thinking much, you stretched an arm towards him; Just like the day before, you touched Law's chest over the smiling drawing on his shirt, his rigid body against your index finger once again proving to you that the pirate really existed and that you still weren't dreaming.

Law sighed, already tired of your method of proving whether he was real or not, but this time he didn't grab your arm or stop you in any way, accepting his own fate with minimum complaint.

"Satisfied?" That was all he said after a while with you still touching him, raising a questioning eyebrow.

You smiled shyly, the drowsiness sliding away quickly and the weight of reality making you highly aware of what you were doing, so you backed up, supporting your hands on the bed to keep yourself sitting up, the covers piling up over your hips.

"Sorry, I'm still getting used to... All of this." You said, looking around, especially at the porthole showing the clear sea bathed in sunlight.

Law crossed his arms over his chest, his judgmental expression softening.

"Well, I suppose that's to be expected. What happened in your sleep? Did you have a nightmare or feel unwell?" Law asked next, his eyes moving up and down from your face to your uncovered torso.

You mentally thanked yourself for being dressed. Sometimes you didn't sleep with so many clothes on in your universe, but since the submarine was cold, you wore the full set of pajamas that someone had left on the bed the night before.

"Nightmare. I'm fine. I don't think I'll pass out like that again." You said, rubbing the covers between your fingers absentmindedly.

"Hmm," Law murmured thoughtfully, still observing you, as if he didn't quite agree with your opinion and wanted to evaluate your condition better by himself.

You looked away to the entrance hatchway in the silence that followed and then you remembered something that made you stop and think for a moment.

"Hey, how did you get in here? I locked the hatchway yesterday." You said, frowning in confusion.

You were sure you had locked it because it was before you changed your clothes. And you didn't get up from bed afterwards to open the lock, you just went to sleep. And then you woke up with Law sitting on the bed.

You lifted your eyes back to the captain, eyebrows still furrowed, waiting for an answer.

He lifted his eyebrows and looked at you as if it was the dumbest question he had ever heard.

"I don't need doors to get in wherever I want." Law said, uncrossing his arms, unfazed.

As he stretched out an arm, palm down, you were reminded that Law had abilities you could only dream of in your world.

"Room." Law murmured and a transparent blue sphere expanded from his hand, running across the bed towards you to the point that you carefully recoiled on instinct when it touched you, but it just passed without a palpable sensation, covering the room.

Ope ope no mi. The fruit of the surgery. Your jaw literally dropped as you looked around, the blue sphere remaining still as it reached the size Law desired. It was incredible.

You tilted your head back, looking at a blue layer that also covered the space above your head, and stretched an arm up high, letting out a joyful laugh as you saw your fingertips pass right through the dome as if there was nothing there. 

From your perspective, that was the equivalent of magic. And, as a good potterhead, you were delighted. Not that Law would understand the reference. 

The pirate looked at you as you had fun with the simplicity of a child and he smiled a little. 

Still with the excitement written on your face, you turned your eyes to Law. 

"Can you really move things around?" You asked excitedly. 

Law didn't answer, just stretched his arm out again, palm up. 

"Shambles." He said. 

And suddenly you were on the other side of the room, a little dizzy with the sudden change of perspective, laughing in surprise and admiration, in that way you did when you had your neck manipulated in the physiotherapy clinic with a quick movement and you heard the loud crack of the bones returning to the right place.

You were sitting in the armchair in the corner of the room and a book was in your place on the bed.

"This is amazing." You said with a big smile to the pirate before turning over on the armchair that was on the edge of Law's sphere, trying to touch the bluish layer as you had done before, but your fingers kept passing through as if it was just light, which still amused you.

It was quite cute. You. The thought crossed Law's mind. The entire crew was already used to his ability, so it had been a while since he had seen a reaction like yours.

You heard Law repeat the last command before you found yourself back in bed, looking at the bed's headboard instead of the dome of the operation fruit. It disappeared a moment later, you blinked in confusion, then turned in bed towards Law, who was still sitting with his legs crossed, his arms crossed over his lap now.

There were still traces of a smile on his face and Law smiled in that non-malicious way that you almost never saw, especially kind in that moment, so much so that it filled your stomach with butterflies.

“Looks like you are really fine. You didn't faint after any meal and woke up on your own after a normal sleep cycle." Law announced as he got up from the bed, his mission completed, which was to evaluate other possible reasons for your fainting.

"It's still early for breakfast, but someone will come to let you know when it's ready."

"Am I still a suspect?" You asked, just to check, although you were 90% sure of the answer.

"Yes." Law answered without hesitation what you already expected to hear "Then don't get into trouble. And don't lock the hatchway anymore."

You pouted after the pirate had already left through the hatchway.

"I was changing my clothes…" you muttered to yourself. What did he expect? That you'd risk someone coming into the room while you were naked? That wasn't going to happen.

But you made a mental note to remember to unlock the hatchway in the future to avoid annoying the pirate . You weren't in the mood to be cut yet, even if Law's cuts didn't kill, they would probably traumatize you.

You stretched with a yawn, the sound of your shoulders’ joints creaking loudly in the empty room, and got up from the bed, thinking about going to the bathroom before someone called you to eat.

As you changed your clothes, you vaguely wondered who on the crew would be waiting for you and how much longer you would have eyes following you wherever you went.

Would Law ever come to trust you at all?

You found out it was Ikkaku's turn again when you came out through the hatchway and saw the pirate leaning on the wall to your right. You greeted her, but she only nodded, still cautious. You sighed but let yourself be accompanied to the bathroom without commenting on the matter.

It was only your third day on board, it would certainly take time before Law and the crew would see you in a good light.

Like the last time she accompanied you to the bathroom, Ikkaku waited for you outside while you did your things. However, as soon as you entered, you heard the sound of water falling coming from one of the shower stalls further back.

There was someone with you. You briefly thought about leaving, but decided to stay and just hurry so you could leave before the person finished taking their shower. You wanted to avoid an awkward moment since the crew didn't trust you.

You were almost done drying your face, the shower further back was still running, when you felt a jolt that threw you off balance twice as much since you had a towel covering your vision at the time.

A gasp escaped you, torn away from your chest, and the hygiene items you have been using fell with a loud noise on the bathroom floor as your hands bumped on them harshly. You supported yourself on the wooden bench where it was, trying not to fall because of the sudden movement of the ship.

At the same time the water of the shower stall at the back stopped falling, and Bepo came out of the cabin wrapped in a towel, the small black eyes of the polar bear looking around until he stopped at your figure kneeling on the floor, with your hands on the bench and the small towel you had been using to dry your face also on the floor.

"W-What was that?" You asked, looking at the bear and then at no one in particular, looking around for any problem in the submarine that could have caused that jolt.

"The submarine surfaced. Sometimes it rocks a little. Did you hurt yourself? The captain said you need to be careful or you might break a bone." Bepo answered and walked over to you, his fur dripping water along the way. To your surprise, he helped you stand up.

"No... I just lost my balance a little. I think it was the shock." You said, rubbing the knees of your overalls that were a little damp from the floor.

After checking that you were in one piece, Bepo went back to the shower stall and got dressed while you cleaned up the mess you had made and put away what you had used.

Bepo came out of the shower wearing his usual orange overalls that matched yours white one. He sighed, looking excited, and you followed him out of the bathroom with Ikkaku right next to you.

"Finally some fresh air, I couldn't stand the heat in here anymore." Bepo commented, shaking his head, which was still a little damp and splashing water on both of you.

"It must be hard to have that much fur in a stuffy submarine." Ikkaku sympathized after complaining about the involuntary bath.

You frowned, listening to the conversation.

"Hot?" You questioned before you could stop yourself.

"Scorching hot." Bepo complained, the relief from the shower quickly wearing off; he quickened his pace to reach the open and refreshing deck.

"...Ikkaku." You spoke carefully, trying to sound polite; it was the first time you had called her by her name and you didn't want to seem rude. "You too?"

Ikkaku didn't seem to mind, but she looked at you with confused knitted eyebrows.

"Me too, what?" She asked.

"Is it also way too hot for you?" You elaborated.

"Aah" Ikkaku's expression cleared "Well, yes, but I'm used to it. Bepo can't handle the heat. His breed is susceptible to high temperatures." 

You watched the talking bear throw himself happily onto the open deck as soon as they opened the hatchway, thanking the morning breeze with a wide smile on his furry face, being watched with amusement by some of his crewmates who were already on deck. 

You were so confused. Because you didn't feel the slightest bit warm inside the submarine, quite the opposite actually.

"That's strange, I feel cold all the time." You admitted. 

"Cold?" The question came from behind you. 

You and Ikkaku turned at the same time, both tilting your heads back to be able to look at Law's face, who was standing behind you close enough to highlight the height difference. 

"Captain." Ikkaku announced as was the crew's custom, attracting a few glances from her mates and several happy greetings. 

Law nodded to his crewmate before turning his attention to you, questioning you again.

"Mmm" you confirmed and pointed with your chin to the hatchway that led to the interior of the submarine. "I thought it was normal, inside there."

But then again, there shouldn't have a refrigeration system in One Piece's timeline. Which would make the submarine a stuffy metal can. At least in theory. Since all you felt was cold, even out on the deck at the moment.

Law tilted his head curiously.

He stared at you thoughtfully for a few seconds; on the first day, when he noticed you were shaking, he attributed it to your obvious fear and nervousness, maybe even a cold sweat, but you didn't seem afraid at all now.

He molded the palm of one of his hands to your forehead. You blinked in surprise, but didn't pull away from his touch. It was the first thing warm and pleasant since you arrived in this universe.

"Did you get sick overnight…?" He wondered aloud, checking your temperature. "Did you have any other symptoms besides that?"

You shook your head negatively, Law withdrew his hand and you followed it with your eyes for a moment, in the back of your mind wishing the sensation would last a little longer.

"No, and it's not a bad feeling, it's just cold. Not a chill." You explained, pushing the intrusive thought further away.

Law observed you with curious interest. It was his medical curiosity in the face of a still unexplained condition. You saw the determination growing in his eyes, determined to find out the cause of that situation.

"Go to the infirmary after you eat, I want to run more tests on you." Law instructed.

You grimaced, remembering the last 'tests' the doctor had run on you. You weren't very excited about a repeat of that day.

"Do I really need to?" You tried to argue.

"Yes. And don't take long. It's not like there's anywhere to run away." He reminded you, relentless, then smiled evilly and leaned towards you with his hands in his pant's pockets. "You don't want me to come after you."

You groaned unhappy but agreed. It wasn't like you had any other choice. Besides, if there was something wrong with your health, it was better to investigate and find out what was going on.

Your body really wasn't normal. It wasn't just your appearance that had changed. You just hoped it wasn't something serious.

"Breakfast, y'all!" Soon someone shouted, warning the crew, and food began to be brought to the deck for an outdoor meal on that clear morning, much to Bepo's delight.

And the days passed like that.

You were always under surveillance wherever you went; medical tests conducted by Law whenever he remembered or found a new method.

Aside from the initial evaluation, Law didn't announce any other major results; the fact that you felt cold all the time remained a mystery, which only strengthened Law's determination to understand every unusual aspect of your body - much to your despair.

Fortunately, after the last strenuous test that probably contributed to your fainting, Law's tests were not so exhausting; sometimes it still tired you out, but you didn't reach the point of fainting again.

The relationship with the crew improved considerably as the time you were under character evaluation on the submarine passed by. Even without the captain's verdict, the pirates were clearly more relaxed with your presence, you could even say friendly towards you.

Since your days were especially boring without access to internet, which you were so used to in your world, you started to strike up conversations with your personal guards to pass the time. At first, they clearly had their reservations and interacted with limitations, but their curiosity and the lack of threat from you soon made them more comfortable.

Shift changes became expected by the crew, Ikkaku especially smiled and greeted you with a big wave every time it was her shift with you. As the only women on board, the conversation flowed especially easily and quickly with Ikkaku before any of the others.

They still called you an intruder, but now it sounded more like a nickname than an accusation.

The dynamics with the crew changed progressively, but it was especially after the sea gave you a scare that you noticed a clearer change of their behave.

"Oy, try not to fall off the ship, we won't jump after you, intruder." One of the men said from somewhere behind you that day.

The intruder still sounded contemptuous.

"Yeah, yeah..." you muttered, probably not loud enough for the person to hear, but you didn't care either. You had no patience on the day of that incident for the crew's daily distrust.

You continued with your arms crossed, leaning on the railing that surrounded the deck, watching the endless blue horizon, enjoying the calm breeze of that weak sunny afternoon. It had just rained and the deck was wet and full of pirates drying the floor and adjusting the sails.

With several people around and most of them busy, you didn't have a guard specifically by your side this time in a public place and most of them were too busy to bother you with dubious looks. It was an almost normal day in which you didn't feel trapped by pirates.

If you weren't on a ship, you could even pretend it was an ordinary day in your world, a day where you just enjoyed the view and the breeze in some random place after work, with strange people walking in the background, minding their own business, living their own lives.

That's when you noticed the sea water bubbling right in front of you, a few meters from the ship. You looked back at the pirates working, none of them paying attention to what was happening, and you weren't sure if it was something you needed to call attention to.

It was just bubbles in the water. You had found out a few days ago that the heart pirates hadn't entered the New World yet by the captain's choice, but it was still the Grand Line. Considering that you were in the wildest sea in that universe, a few bubbles shouldn't be anything to worry about.

Well, you were terribly wrong.

Two things happened at the same time.

From the wide-open hatchway that led to the interior of the submarine, Shachi came running and panting with a terrified look on his face. He shouted something, calling the attention of the crew.

And the bubbles you were looking at began to move even faster, as if the water was boiling, and then exploded in a cascade of water in all directions, pushing you back.

You held onto the railing to keep from falling as the ship rocked with the sudden wave, Shachi's voice was muffled, all you heard was:

"King…!"

And then a huge sea creature emerged from where the bubbles were, it was made entirely of scales so thick that it looked like a reptile, it had a slender body that resembled a snake, but it was thick and had huge fins like wings in the shape of leaves.

It roared, creating a gale with just its breath, and you covered your ears immediately, the sound seemed to pierce your eardrums.

You had to look up to see the creature's head, as tall as a building in your modern world; its mouth was full of sharp fangs larger than your entire body, it had horns that curved behind its head and yellow eyes with thin pupils like a crocodile.

And its eyes were fixed on you.

Your legs gave out and you sat down hard on the deck, pale as a ghost; you had never seen a living creature of that magnitude outside of movies. Right in front of you, it seemed even bigger than anything you had ever seen on a television screen.

Much bigger, scarier, and more lethal.

You heard the crew screaming in the background, but you were so terrified that you couldn't understand a word they were saying.

"Stand back!"

"Get off the deck!"

"What are you doing?! Get out of there, woman!"

"Call the captain!"

What Shachi was trying to say suddenly made sense in your head. King. That was a sea king. The largest race existing in the seas of this universe, predators that infested the Calm Belt to the point of preventing the passage of most vessels, capable of destroying entire ships with a single blow.

When the creature opened its enormous mouth to attack, you couldn't move. You just couldn't. Your legs were unresponsive, trembling and limp. All you could do was watch as it stretched out its fins and tilted its head back before spitting a viscous green substance in your direction.

You barely had the survival instinct to dodge to the side, but not fast enough. Most of it fell on the deck with a hiss, but some hit your left arm and part of your shoulder, and it burned your skin.

The hiss of something hot touching something wet rang loudly in your ears, it was like fire and you instinctively brought your right hand to the burning place, which was a bad idea.

You gasped loudly, a scream stuck in your throat, writhing on the deck, your hand also burning from the contact with the secretion.

The creature roared again and you struggled to look at it above the sharp pain, your vision blurred and you blinked several times, trying to clear your eyes to see its next attack.

Then you heard a voice stand out from the crowd.

"Room"

And suddenly you were in the arms of Jean Bart. The newest crew member of the Heart Pirates that you had met. Who you hadn't seen in the first few days on board because he was in a recovery room in another floor of the submarine, under medical care after a long period of being a slave of Celestial Dragons.

You immediately moved away the part of your body that was burning so as not to affect the pirate as well, but he continued to hold you, arranging you better so that you wouldn't fall.

You looked at the sea, the creature was still there, preparing for a new attack, a long spiked tail rising from the water and ready to tear the ship, but then suddenly the tail got detached from the body of the sea king.

The creature screeched in rage and the tail fell on the deck with a crash that made it tremble, but without the strength of the creature it didn't break anything, it only damaged part of the railing where you had been a few minutes ago.

There was a broom where you were seconds ago and Trafalgar Law was between you and the creature, brandishing the long sword unsheathed that cut the creature's tail off with a single blow, still inside a large blue dome.

"Captain!" The crew cheered excitedly and relieved.

"Be careful with its secretion, don't let it touch the skin!" He instructed quickly, not taking his eyes off the sea king. "And take her to the infirmary now! Shachi, Penguin. Take care of first aid. I'll be there when I'm done here."

Jean Bart immediately went inside the submarine as per the captain's orders. You watched Law's figure staring at the sea king until you lost sight of him and all you could see was the metal walls of the submarine. Then the pain returned to the center of your attention.

It felt like you were leaning against a hot pan and couldn't move away. You groaned in suffering and clung to Jean Bart's jumpsuit as if your life depended on it. Your vision remained blurred and the hallways passed by you in a blur.

Soon you were in the infirmary room and Jean Bart placed you on the nearest stretcher. You immediately rolled to the side, still pressing your burning arm with your burned hand in search of even a small amount of relief, but honestly it wasn't working, it felt like the pain was slowly seeping into your bones.

You vaguely heard Jean Bart leave to go back to the deck and see if he could help Law; Shachi and Penguin searched the infirmary cabinets in the background, you didn't know if seconds or minutes passed amidst your pain-filled stupor before they were around your stretcher again.

"We need to clean it with saline solution." Penguin said, then you felt something wet on your arm.

This time the scream escaped your throat and you retreated as far away as possible. Shachi had to hold you so you wouldn't fall off the stretcher. That relit the burn as if the sea king had just spat on you again.

"This will help, but you need to stay still." Penguin argued.

You shook your head vigorously, all you could process was the immediate pain it caused.

Neither of them fully trusted you yet, but they looked at each other in conflict for a moment. At once empathetic to your suffering, but also determined to help you. Even if they had to force you. They nodded to each other.

"Hold her tight, it'll be over faster that way." Penguin instructed.

Shachi grabbed your arms and pressed his body against your torso, preventing you from moving more than a few inches.

Your eyes widened as you processed what they were doing. You tried to struggle, but Shachi was stronger than he looked. Penguin approached again and poured the clear solution over your left arm and shoulder.

With a determined completion, he continued cleaning despite your screams and pleas for him to stop; Shachi closed his eyes for a moment because it was hard to look at your contorted face, concentrating on immobilizing you, knowing it was the best thing for you, even if you didn't realize it at the time.

When he finished, Penguin cleaned your right hand, you didn't even have the strength to scream anymore, only a painful moan escaping your lips, feeling numb after so much pain.

Shachi released you when he realized you were no longer offering resistance, joining Penguin in choosing some materials they had taken from the cabinets.

You struggled to stay conscious, looking at the stretcher against your face, your vision still a little blurry. You noticed that the surface was wet and, upon closer inspection, realized that it was your tears. That's why your vision was blurry and your cheeks felt damp.

Shachi and Penguin adjusted you on the stretcher, making you more comfortable, and observed the burned surface of your now clean skin. You noticed the worry on their faces, but didn't have the energy to look at the damage done.

The hatchway opened at that moment and Law entered the room. Apart from the wet body, there was not a single scratch on the captain.

"What's the situation?" He asked as soon as he entered, approaching your stretcher.

"Burns of varying degrees, deeper on the arm. We cleaned the acid, but part of the skin was already dead." Penguin efficiently informed him. "Lighter burns on the right hand."

Law observed without touching your exposed burned skin for a few seconds, then began to give orders to the two pirates present. Your consciousness wavered, not quite passing out, but very vaguely aware of the voices in the background.

When you came to yourself again, it was to the movement of being transported on a stretcher out of the infirmary to some other place, only Shachi and Penguin pushing it from the sides, Law was nowhere in sight.

"What are you doing…?" Your voice sounded faint to your own ears, watching the familiar walls of the submarine passing by you.

Shachi turned his face to you without stopping, first making sure if he had actually heard your voice, then noticing your open eyes.

"We're going to the operating room, you need to remove this dead skin and dry these blisters." He answered.

If you had been more conscious, the mention of surgery would have scared the shit out of you, however you just nodded absently and fell into a deeper daze again.

When you opened your eyes once more, you were in an unfamiliar room, with a large light stand hanging above your body, you squinted at the bright light.

"Inject another dose of sedative." Law's voice sounded from somewhere beside you.

You looked around slowly, finding the captain near your stretcher; he was no longer wearing his signature hat, but a hospital mask and gloves, and had a scalpel in his hand.

He turned and noticed your eyes on him, so he approached you.

"It doesn't hurt that much anymore…" you mumbled when he leaned closer as he saw you were trying to say something.

You couldn't see his mouth because of the mask, but you were almost sure Law smiled.

"If you're trying to run away from surgery, it's not going to happen, Rissa-ya. But don't worry, you'll fall asleep soon."

You sighed.

"That thing… It was huge." You commented slowly. Your tongue felt heavy inside your mouth.

"This area usually has particularly dangerous sea kings. Next time, do me a favor and don't stand still in front of one."

"Mmm…" you blinked languidly "I'll try."

You felt a small pain in your arm, distracting yourself from Law. You saw Penguin with a syringe in his hand, he was also wearing mask and gloves now.

"Now sleep. And let's start the surgery." You heard Law say, perhaps a little too excited for the situation, his voice fading quickly and then you didn't hear anything else.

.

When you woke up for real, groggy and with a dry mouth, you were in an recovery room. Unlike the infirmary, the rooms were better equipped and divided into four wings with one stretcher each, separated by high curtains. All the other three were empty, except for yours with the curtains open.

You were on IV and had a bandage on your left arm and shoulder, as well as your right hand and a smaller one on the inside of your right arm.

You saw someone with their backs turned to you, throwing away a handful of dirty gauze, taking off their gloves and throwing them in the trash as well.

"Shach-" a cough interrupted your speech, your throat was dry and tight.

Shachi turned anyway and, unexpectedly, smiled broadly.

"She's awake!" He shouted to the side before walking quickly to your stretcher. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

You swallowed, trying to moisten your throat.

"Sore. Sleepy." The burned parts of your body still hurt, but it was a bearable burning now, uncomfortable, but bearable.

Shachi kept smiling, so you figured you were fine overall.

"It's normal, the sedation is wearing off, you'll be more awake in a bit."

You looked away from Shachi when you saw Law approaching, he was wearing his usual clothes and holding a clipboard in his hands.

"Do you remember what happened?" He asked, analyzing you with the seriousness he almost always did when he played the role of a doctor. Almost, because sometimes he let his professionalism aside to test your patience.

You nodded, mentioning the attack by the sea king and the secretion that burned your skin. Law nodded and asked a few more questions while he assessed you, now that you were conscious, making some notes on the papers on the clipboard.

During the whole time you were put off by Shachi's mood. He walked back and forth in the room, arranging supplies and helping Law, with his smile intact since you opened your eyes. Nothing against Shachi being in a good mood, but you couldn't think of a single reason for all that joy after being attacked by a sea king.

"Hmm, Law," you called out as the pirate was close enough to listen to your chest, speaking softly so Shachi wouldn't hear. "Why is Shachi so happy? Did something happen?"

Law stopped with the tip of the stethoscope still pressed to your chest, he just looked at you for a moment, then opened a crooked smile that gave you a chill for some reason. Something had happened. But it didn't look exactly good. Not to you.

"What happened?" You insisted, suspicious, looking at him pulling the stethoscope away and taking the tips out of his ears, wrapping it behind his neck afterwards.

"You talked during the surgery, but I doubt you remember it because of the sedation." He added when he saw your doubtful expression.

Good heavens. What had you said? You weren't sure if you wanted to know, but Law told you before you could say anything.

"You said Shachi is attractive."

You said what? Your eyes widened in disbelief.

"He's been bragging to Penguin all day, I guess that's why he's in such a good mood." Law kept going, crossing his arms over his chest and watching your reaction with unconcealed amusement.

If there was a hole right now, you'd hide in it without a second thought.

You covered your face with the hand that wasn't burned. At a loss for words after such information. You wished you hadn't asked, wished Shachi hadn't heard since Law didn't bother to keep his voice down and wished Shachi hadn't told the worst part.

"But you said that captain was more attractive than anyone else!" He said, looking equally or even more proud of that than having been complimented.

"No, I didn't." You denied it immediately, your face hot with humiliation.

It wasn't a lie. About Law, because you could barely see Shachi's face under that hat and you had no idea if you had seen it during the surgery, probably yes, but you didn't remember. But about how attracted you were to the captain, no one needed to know that. Law especially didn't need to know that.

"Oh, you did." Law confirmed, his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face.

"No, I didn't. Shut up, both of you. You didn't hear anything, I don't remember that." You insisted, pulling the blanket that was at your hips and covering your face.

You hissed in pain, the movement pulling at the skin worn away by the burn. A second later, the blanket was pulled from your hands effortlessly, exposing you to public humiliation again, but Law sighed with some regained seriousness.

"Don't move suddenly, I made a skin graft using skin of your right arm and you need to be careful until the graft takes hold." He instructed, his doctor self back, arranging your body in the safest position for the burned areas of your body and gesturing to the small bandage on your right arm significantly; it was from where he had removed the healthy skin.

Your face was still burning with embarrassment, but Law's change in posture helped a little. Shachi's unwavering contentment did not. Jean Bart appeared in the room not long after, looking for news of you, feeling that he had some responsibility for you since he had been the one to carry you to the infirmary.

Since that day, Shachi had become quite friendly, followed by Jean Bart, who constantly asked about your condition, and the rest of the crew simply adjusted to the mood in the following days, until the healthier relationship you had today.

You were particularly discouraged today as you reminisced about your last days lying in bed after breakfast.

You didn't have a single new clue about how you came to this world or how to get back to yours. You tried to not think too much about your mother and how she was without you, because there was nothing you could do about it and it only made you more frustrated.

But today it was harder not to think about it.

The cook had made the food your mother did the most for breakfast. And with his skills, it was as good as your mother's. You almost cried at the table. You excused yourself to go back to your room before the crew realized something was wrong and you had been locked in there ever since.

When you were sad like this, your mother would usually stay by your side, she didn't need to say a word, she would sit down to cut bread to make toast just to keep you company or she would say that there was a new movie she wanted to watch and spend an hour or two in the living room with you.

She usually already knew the reason, you didn't usually hide things from her, and if there was no advice to be said, she would give you her own time. And that always made you feel better. It made you feel loved.

Now you didn't have her presence to deal with the sadness and your eyes would periodically burn with unshed tears. You controlled yourself every time you felt them about to overflow. Crying now wouldn't solve anything, you didn't want to get red eyes and alert the crew to your mood.

A familiar jolt shook the submarine, throwing you a little to the side, and you instinctively held on to the edge of the bed.

The submarine was surfacing once more. You had gotten used to the movement by now and weren't scared anymore. It had been a while since they had last come up to the surface.

You pondered silently and got up from the bed. You put on your shoes and sat on the edge, deciding to leave the room and go to the deck. Some fresh air might make you feel better.