Work Text:
'Oh, Sun God and Demon Lord!'
You pleadingly thought to yourself as you exited the rear door of the Polar Tang that led you to one of its exterior decks. The wind blew, clouds were nowhere, and the sun winked in all its radiant glory—it was a good day for outdoor activities but above all, it was a good sign for a gamble.
Today was the day, you told yourself once more. Your heart had been beating far too long for your captain and after the events in Dressrosa which he told everyone of what happened, the idea of an unfortunate future seemed to weigh heavily in your mind. After all, you were pirates and if there was anyone who was under the peeved eyes of the government (hence always dancing with death in a way), it was your captain. That three billion-Beri bounty on his head was simply a prize that bounty hunters would want to get their hands on. Marines hunting him down was already a given, it wasn't even worth thinking about at all.
The way of life of a mighty pirate captain, it seemed...
"Sun God? What's a 'Sun God'?" Penguin appeared nearby, emerging behind you from the same door.
A startled gasp escaped you. "What are you doing out here?"
"Cleaning duty. You're thinking out loud again. Want Captain to overhear you?" He chuckled, knowing full well what he was talking about. You noticed his sleeves rolled up and the pail hanging from his hand simply affirmed that he was indeed there to clean the rear deck.
"He's not even awake...yet. Probably."
Penguin let out a teasing hum. "Aware of his schedule, huh? That's kinda suspicious."
Captain waking up around that time in the morning's common knowledge to the crew, you sighed and muttered under your breath as you set your gaze to the horizon.
The waves quietly crashing against the submarine's walls were calming. Birds were cawing out and about with a few News Coo scattering to deliver the daily paper, one of them actually perching on the railings after a short wave. You gently grabbed the rolled newspaper in its beak and slipped a few Beris onto the bag around its neck—and of course, you just had to complain about the rising price of daily news while you were at it, to which Penguin just chuckled at. The bird didn't fly away until you gave it a small pet on its head where its hat is and when it finally did, you started heading back inside.
"I'm gonna give this to Captain," You told Penguin who hummed in agreement and began to work.
Not everyone was awake, however. Walking along the currently empty halls inside the Tang, you could make out the quiet humming noise coming all the way from the control room. The valves and pipes leading up there were fairly quiet, with some occasional steams from the couplings, but they were nothing worrisome; probably just time for the monthly maintenance that at least half of the crew always ran away from.
Your heart began to pound as you made it closer and closer to the captain's quarters.
Lifting your hand to knock, you took a deep breath; hopefully he wasn't asleep or anything...
"Captain, newspaper." You spoke through the door with no sense of urgency in your tone as you started to sound as unbothered as you could.
It took a little while but eventually, the door squeaked and your mighty captain stood behind, his hair messy and his clothes...his pyjamas were dishevelled.
It definitely looked like you bothered him at the wrong time. You could only wish he wasn't really annoyed by that, but the resting scowl on his face certainly was no help.
"Uh...newspaper," you blinked, chuckling in nervousness. "Sorry, Captain. Did I wake you up?"
Law grunted a little, pinching the bridge of his nose as he winced. "No, I was already awake. Thanks."
What a liar, your captain.
You watched him take the rolled up newspaper from your hand. "Bye."
You were just about to turn on your heel when he spoke again, "What's with the rush?"
Again, your heart began racing at him beckoning your attention. "Morning duty! I...I was gonna help with the breakfast..."
He took a good look at you as if he was considering something deep down. You could almost hear the gears turning in his head.
"Is that more important than the captain's orders?" He started, a small teasing smirk curving the corner of his lips.
Well, if he had something for you to do, then it would come first before anything else—even your plan to confess to him!
You took a huff of air to calm yourself down, totally unprepared for whatever this was. "You need help with anything, Captain?"
He simply jerked his head towards his cabin and you took that as your permission to walk inside and your eyes immediately fell on his bed that was still unkempt, the pillows slanted and the quilt uncovering the mattress underneath but Law swiftly got to work, poofing the pillows and fixing the sheets altogether. There was an ounce of hurry to his movements, as if he didn’t want to be perceived as a messy person—which he wasn’t.
“Captain? Is everything alright?” You asked again when he gave you no answer previously.
From the window of the captain’s cabin the sun’s glow began to shine through, striking the space inside with the right amount of light for you to see some particles in the air. It was a pretty glow but Law pulled the temporarily installed curtains to block as much sunlight as possible while he rubbed his eyes, yawning and stretching yet again.
This might be a bad time to confess… You thought, sighing quietly to yourself.
“It’s early morning and you keep sighing. I thought you wanted to be of help?” Law raised an eyebrow and he proceeded to his cabin’s bathroom, leaving the door open as he did his morning routine.
There was no hiding the subtle teasing in his tone. No denying it either. If you could hear it, you were pretty sure he heard it too but you refrained from assuming anything. Your captain was just being his usual self. He teases everyone—you were not “special”.
You sighed once again, mustering the courage to respond to his remark just moments ago. “Yeah, I did, Captain…”
When Law emerged from the bathroom, he had already brushed his teeth and washed his face. “Help me rearrange my cabin? I’m not going to make you do the heavy lifting, so don’t worry.”
“...Rearrange?” You repeated in disbelief. His Devil Fruit could literally do that with one flick of his wrist or two.
“That’s what I said,” He turned to you. “Unless you have something else to do?”
That snarky tone again…he’s testing your limits, you could swear! But he was your captain so you had no choice but to obey; not that you didn’t want to, anyway.
An hour or so had passed since you two began redoing his cabin. You spent the majority of it dusting and sweeping while your captain used his Devil Fruit abilities to swap furniture around for easy access of the floors beneath and behind where the limited sun never shined. At times you helped him lift the heavier stuff, such as that trunk begging for a replacement and when he checked it (because he forgot what was even inside) an astounding collection of boxes came into view.
But they were not merely boxes. They each housed a coin—commemorative coins that were too intricate not to display, yet too fragile to expose. Apparently the designs of those ones required substances that would activate when exposed to ultraviolet rays so even if there was not always sun in his cabin, Law couldn’t take the risk. Granted, not all of the boxes contained the precious coins but the vast majority of it did.
“It was tedious, trying to get these,” Your captain spoke.
You continued wiping down the last area that needed a good cleaning: the wall now stripped of old notes taped to it.
For a moment, there was silence as Law fiddled around with his hidden collection but after a while, you heard him call you.
He stood close to you, but not too close it was uncomfortable. “I don’t have room for this one. Wanna have it?”
You inspected the box on his hand. It cushioned another coin inside.
“A coin?” You asked almost incredulously.
Your eyes traced the details of the coin. Pinkish hue lined the outline of a flower, a good amount of burgundy providing enough edge to the design that made it look premium (which it was). You could make out the word “TOKEN” embossed at the bottom, which told you it took inspiration from those sketchy parks that required entrance fees.
Despite being in awe of the pentacle, you shook your head. “I…Captain, I can’t accept this. It’s part of your collection.”
Law turned to look at the door, suddenly finding it interesting. “I could spare you one as a token of gratitude, for all the hard work and dedication.”
A token of gratitude, indeed.
You took the coin from his hand, finally accepting it. You couldn’t deny the flutter your heart made, you could just wish he wasn’t using his abilities to scan your organs for no reason.
“Thank you, Captain.” You smiled, a faint blush tinting your cheeks. “I promise I’ll take good care of it.”
“Hm. You better.” He smirked again.
God, he looked cool when he smirked. Not to mention when he was not wearing his hat.
It suddenly reminded you of the thing you wanted to tell him.
Your heart skipped a beat as you looked at him straight on, eyes boring through his with determination and a right amount of fear.
Because what if he deemed it improper? What if he didn’t feel the same way? What if he—
Nope. You steeled your resolve and took a deep, albeit shaky breath as you spoke…
“Captain,” You started, firmly holding on to the coin he just gave you. “I need to tell you something.”
Law’s stern expression softened a little as he nodded, urging you to go right ahead.
“You’ve been a great captain, uh…Captain.” You faltered a little, scoffing your blunder away. “You’ve been good to me, showed me kindness and care in your own subtle ways. The crew would agree but…”
You trailed off. Suddenly your lungs felt tight and your entire body felt hot. Every single fibre of your being was telling you—screaming at you—to not proceed because the uncertainty was simply too huge to ignore. Things would definitely change once you let go of those words and that scared you to your core.
The awkwardness that would come after if he didn’t reciprocate your feelings. The pain and heartbreak that would haunt you for weeks, maybe months. The regret of ever confessing.
But you decided you would regret it even more if you didn’t confess right there and then.
Forcing yourself a smile, you parted your lips once more to speak. “Captain, I think I’m in—”
The Polar Tang shook violently, sending you stumbling and holding onto the nearest surface, the words dying at the tip of your tongue.
And every time you tried to confess to him, you always got interrupted. It was a cycle of normal living, a chance alone with your captain, then mustering the courage to confess but somehow, every single time, the words always seemed to cut off at the very last second and you hated it. You were sick of it. Sick of being ready to confess but never being able to, sick of holding onto these feelings.
Was this fate mocking you for having romantic feelings for your captain?
You sat in the common area, head in hands as you pondered on your situation. You tried confessing to your captain, what, around five times now? And it was still a failure because you kept getting interrupted. To add insult to injury, he didn’t seem to pick up on the connotations of what you were trying to tell him despite the fluster that you exuded all those five times.
Another sigh escaped your lips.
“What’s with the frown?”
You turned and saw your captain looking at you with intrigue. He wore a simple white tank top paired with that oddly spotted trousers, a dark blue coat draped over his broad shoulders like a cape. It miraculously stayed on, even during the raid in Onigashima where he also wore it amidst all the fighting he did.
Oh, Onigashima. It felt like forever but at the same time, you remembered it like yesterday. Maybe because it only had been a few days since…but time became a blur. Had been, for a while now.
“Nothing, Captain. Just tired,” You replied, smiling at him.
He raised an eyebrow. “So you’ve been doing nothing this whole time?”
After leaving Wano, the whole crew was tasked with cleaning the Tang. It had been a while since the last general cleaning so there was a lot to be done.
“There’s a lot to be done,” Law huffed, still looking at you almost disapprovingly, reading your mind.
“I-I was just taking a breather! I was cleaning the halls with Ikkaku, see?” You gestured to the hall where Ikkaku was indeed mopping the floor, the sleeves of her boiler suit folded to allow for freer movement.
Law watched Ikkaku for a while before he returned his attention back to you. “Keep up the good work, then.”
You blinked when he didn’t get ticked off at your apparent laziness. Awkwardness once again filled the air…
“Where are we headed again, Captain?” You croaked as you changed the topic, standing up from the couch.
“Northeast of Wano,” He replied. “That’s the shortest route and therefore the best.”
You chuckled, remembering how Eustass Kid successfully baited him and Straw Hat into abandoning the “safer” route out of Tokage Port.
A reminder that beneath that stern exterior, he was still competitive and maybe a tiny bit less mature than he liked to be perceived as.
It was one of the characteristics that you liked about him. That you loved about him.
“Actually,” He began, pausing momentarily and glanced at you once again, “since you’re not doing anything right now—”
“I was cleaning the halls I swear…”
He chuckled at your interjection but he continued. “Do you mind checking the deck? I don’t think Bepo cleaned it yet.”
“Sure.” You nodded and started heading outside, your captain tagging along. Was he going to clean the deck too?
Outside, the sun greeted both of you with its golden rays, the calm winds brushing against your face. You could also hear the argument from the higher deck connected to the front deck where you and your captain were.
“...our work will never be done!” Penguin exclaimed, directed at Bepo probably, who was apparently rolling around while he and Shachi cleaned, therefore shedding fur everywhere.
“Captain,” You started once again. It was now or never. “I’ve been meaning to tell you…”
Law glanced at you. The horizon at the distance was urging you to finish your sentence, contrasting your captain’s patience. He simply listened to whatever you were going to say.
Just say it, damn it! You thought to yourself despite how your heart raced once more.
You grabbed onto the railing to at least calm yourself down even if a little bit. You couldn’t fail now. You needed to get this off your chest (and maybe your conscience).
“Captain, I tried so many times to tell you this but something happens every time. I…” You huffed, taking another breath. “You need to know this, Captain. We’ve been sailing for how long now, and I’m grateful for everything you do for the crew—and for me as well—and I just want you to know that I respect you, first and foremost.”
Law tilted his head a little, puzzled. Why the hell were you going the long route anyway? You just had to confess but you felt there was a need to assure him that you were trying not to overstep the line between you and your captain despite having feelings for him meant trying to do just that.
“What I wanted to say was,” You spoke again as you slid your hand into your pocket, grasping the coin he gave you, for strength. “Captain, you’ve been on my mind lately and I don’t know how much more I can take from this. I…I’ve been thinking of you…but I’m not distracted, I swear!”
“I’m listening,” He spoke, nodding once as if to assure you he was not judging you. It was hard to tell, considering he seldom let his emotions show.
Another breath. Here goes nothing.
“Captain, what I’ve been wanting to tell you was—” Your words were cut off once again when you noticed the fog—smoke?—from a distance, approaching.
It was moving. You could barely make out the silhouette of a giant raft bathed in the fog and it was getting clearer and clearer the more it moved towards you.
Wait…
“The fog’s moving,” You breathed out, noticing it and it finally clicked.
An enemy was fast approaching. A threat.
“Brace yourselves!” Your captain announced to the three Heart Pirates on the higher deck behind.
You gulped as the giant raft emerged from the fog—it was none other than the ship of the Blackbeard Pirates. Just the mere presence of it shook you to your core, because everything you had heard about the crew and their captain spelled bad news for their opponents.
And right now, that opponent was the lot of you.
Suddenly all felt hopeless. The fight hadn’t even begun just yet. Sure you could hold your own in battle, but not against these monsters!
As if noticing your unease, Law took a step forward to shield you from the incoming threat.
“No matter what happens from here on out, there’s no way we’re running away,” He stated firmly, to no one in particular.
But of course he was talking to you as well. The only way out of this was through.
You knew how to read the situation. The Blackbeard Pirates heading your way and their captain’s intimidating grin were enough to tell you this was not an attack on the Heart Pirates specifically but it was at least planned.
It didn’t have to be your crew, but it was.
As if fate was mocking you for the sixth time, your confession would have to wait. There were more pressing matters at hand.