One Piece 1. Chapter 0: Prologue

**Prologue**

A man turned a page of his thick book with a big, fat 'PATHOPHYSIOLOGY' written on its cover. Then, without looking away from the printed words, he reached for a white mug standing on an old, well-maintained desk. He was already in the middle of the page, when he took a sip of the drink. A quick frown crossed his tanned face, as only now he glanced at the container – his coffee was already cold.

The man let go of a small sigh, put the book and rectangular glasses away on the desk and stood up from his, now irritably comfortable, chair. Rubbing a bit his nape, he walked to the metal door - the only, beside two portholes, part of the walls, not obscured by bookcases and cabinets.

Thinking that he finally should install a coffeemaker in his office, the man walked to a nearby, metal staircase. Each his step echoed from the walls, mixing with an unintelligible murmur of conversations held by other passages. Going one level up and down a long corridor, the amber-eyed man passed few other men. Each of them greeted him with a simple 'captain' and, unlike him, every one of them wore a white boiler suit instead of a hoodie and jeans.

Eventually, the man reached a spacious messdeck. Upon answering to his subordinates greetings with a small smile and a nod, he made a beeline to a saloon-like doors. They were the last obstacle separating him from a galley, from a coffeemaker. On the way, he passed a wall decorated with wanted posters. Some of them were old, some were new, but the biggest part showed his face right over his name. Trafalgar Law – the captain of the Heart Pirates.

The man smiled even wider, as he noticed that the coffeemaker was on, and its pot was almost full of the dark liquid. He poured his cold coffee into a sink and refiled the mug with a hot portion. Going back to the messdeck, Law lifted the mug to his lips. He was taking in the strong aroma, when his attention was, way too soon, taken away by a happy call.

"Captain!" Law's newest and youngest subordinate approached him in few, bouncy steps. He saluted with childish enthusiasm - what looked comical in his case, as his boiler suit was plainly too big for him. "An island on the horizon, captain!" The boy was almost shooting words out his mouth and an unconcealed joy was visible on his freckled face. "And it looks like there's an autumn!"

The boy didn't even finish this statement and all present crewmates cheered in happiness. It was understandable – each island they had passed in last month was a summer one, or there had been summer, while the biggest part of the crew came from much, much colder places.

"Bepo says it should be Anvis!" The boy reported, when the cheers quietened. "It's quite big, mountainous and covered with coniferous forest! But I've read it's uninhabited, while Flynn spotted two buildings!" he shouted, with a confusion appearing on his face.

"Maybe your data was old, Jess," Law reasoned in careless tone, from over his mug, and took a sip of the bitter drink.

Law trusted in Bepo's - his navigator – abilities and knew that this boy had an abnormal memory, so 'outdated information' sounded like the best explanation. If it was a whole city sprouting out of nowhere on an empty island, he might get a bit worried, but two houses meant nothing.

"It's possible." Jess gave an instant nod, already accepting his captain's interpretation. "There's a small cove near the cliff with the buildings, Flynn asks if he should sail there, or swim around the island first."

Law had to swallow a mouthful of coffee before speaking. "What more do you know about this island?"

"Not much," the boy admitted, blushing and frowning a bit, while scratching the back of his head. "Its sixteen seasons change regularly, animals are rather aggressive and a lot of ships disappeared around here."

With the rim of the cup touching his lips, Law lifted his eyebrows so little, only few would notice. If the whole crews were disappearing, he wondered who could live in those buildings. Maybe no one? Maybe they had been abandoned a long time ago? "Tell Flynn to sail into this cove," he commanded briefly.

"Aye-aye, captain!" The boy saluted again, swinging widely his whole arm and once again looking comically. Accompanied by few muffed snickers around, the boy turned around to walk toward the door.

"And Jess," Law called and continued only when the boy turned around, with a question written all over his a tanned face. "No more coffee for you." Law ordered calmly, looking at the boy from over his own mug. His chest resounded with a quiet chuckle at Jess's reaction – his wide smile pretty much turned upside-down. Although, Law's chuckle was completely drowned among the other's open laughs.

"Aye-aye, captain," Jess repeated, completely without the previous vigor, and left the messdeck with his arms sulked.

Law watched him, casually sipping his strong drink, but after a while, he decided to follow the boy to the control room.


	2. Chapter 1: Emil

**Chapter 1: Emil**

The yellow submarine surfaced and, not long later, was neatly stopped inside the circular cove. Some pirates were assigned to take care of minor repairs on the vessel. Few walked up a small stream to refill their fresh water supplies. Others started gathering wild, sweet berries just behind the line of big, old trees, looking for a possible prey.

While almost everyone were working, Law decided to take a walk on top the limestone cliff. Accompanied by his polar bear navigator, he enjoyed the chilly, autumn air, as they headed to the buildings.

The closer building was a two storey house with a sloping roof and a wide, covered porch. The other had almost flat roof, was made mainly from a stone and definitely looked like some workshop. Unlike the second building, from a chimney attached to the house flew a thin line of a smoke. Taking it as a sure sign that after all someone lived there, Law decided to go there first.

As they came closer, they could hear a laughter – a child's laughter. With Bepo following soon behind, Law stepped on the terrace, passed the simple, but elegant benches and a garden swing, and knocked sharply on the door made of dark wood.

They could hear the laughter growing louder, as its source apparently came closer. A moment later the door swung open to reveal not more than ten year old boy with a wild, black mane. Though, just a second later his smile vanished, tanned face paled and barely visible eyes widened in shock, mixed with fright.

"Miki?" A similar looking woman walked into the short corridor from an adjacent room. As soon as her eyes feel on the unexpected quests, she made exactly the same expression as her – probably – son.

Although, unlike the boy, she didn't froze in place. "Miki!" the woman shouted with a horror clear in her voice and - in a second - reached the door. She attempted to slam it and her eyes widened even more, when Law hadn't allowed that.

In turn, the woman swept the boy from the floor. "Emil!" she screamed and, squeezing her son to the chest, ran away, inside the corridor and up a staircase at its end. "Emil! Pirates! Pirates are here!"

As if he was a regular guest, Law walked inside the house, unhurriedly following the runaway and Bepo did the same.

They reached the wide entrance to the adjacent room, the woman had walked out. It was a bright and rather spacious living room. In the middle stood a low, oval coffee table with two burgundy armchairs and a sofa around. All were turned toward a stone fireplace with a fading fire. And Law could swore, that some old guy was hiding behind the further armchair.

Something whined miserably and when the guests glanced toward the staircase - toward the source of the noise - a man turned on the landing and walked into their sight.

A white towel on his head was obscuring his face at that moment, so all they could see were only his wet, black and short strands. The man wore a brown, thick hoodie and a pair of black trousers. They were so big, he could fit in them at least twice. Legs were so long, that even after tucking them up, all Law and Bepo could see, were only pale toes. This boy looked even more ridiculous than Jess did.

"Hello." Sliding down the towel, he greeted them in a cheerful, careless manner. It was so different from the one granted them by this woman from earlier and many, many other people before her. "Please excuse them." Hanging the damp cloth over the railing, the young man made a brief wave toward the upper floor. "Barely three days ago they got out pirate's captivity."

"Captain," Law's bear friend whispered, leaning a bit over his shoulder. "Is he…?"

"Blind. Yes, Bepo," Law finished for him, looking straight into those pale gray orbs with almost not noticeable pupils. They were nice – without any deformation, nor discoloration. Law had no idea what could had caused the blindness... But he would like to know.

"What happened that you are blind, Emil-ya?" Law asked bluntly, guessing it was the right name. Then he looked all over him, in search of any other interesting traits.

Even though, that this very young man was standing on the first step, his eyes were still a little below Law's. Except for a yellow and rimmed with black spot across his small nose, his round face was normal – maybe pretty, if someone asked.

The next thing, which pulled Law's attention, were two pairs of black, short strips in the crock of his pretty thin neck. Only after a short while Law realized that he was looking at gills – Emil was a fishman. Or rather a half-fishman.

He definitely was lean, but was he muscular or skinny? Those clothes were hiding his body quite well, but living alone on this said-to-be dangerous island, for sure gave him some musculature.

"I was blinded by a devil fruit user," Emil admitted in the same, careless tone and directed his pale eyes exactly into Law's, causing a small frown on the captain's face. Had he guessed where Law's eyes were, leaded by the voice for example, or was there some other reason? Haki?

"He was able to manipulate people's senses," Emil continued, stepping down this last step. Now, he was reaching only to Law's unshaven chin. "Do you need anything else, mister Trafalgar?" the host asked, walking to the living room, gracefully avoiding Law and Bepo, as if he knew where exactly they were.

To tell the truth, Law was a bit tempted to ask Emil for his eyes and brain - to check how exactly those devil fruit powers affected his sight. On the other hand, there were other things the captain would like to know as well. "How long does it take for Log Poses to lock onto this island?" Law asked in a rather kind tone – there was no need to intimidate this man, as he seemed to be willing to help. At least not now.

"Thirty two days," was an instant answer, as if this was usually the first question every single guest asked him.

"That's long," Bepo commented. The bear could seem a bit disappointed by this information, but Law knew him good enough to catch a note of satisfaction in his voice. No wonder – he had already liked this island's climate… and Law would lie saying, that he hadn't.

"I know it's long, but what can I do?" Emil asked with amusement, walking to the fireplace to throw one log into the fire. "Mister Wermin, please go upstairs and tell Terrence to get out the wardrobe," he requested in a soft voice, turning toward the further armchair.

Just like Law had thought - an old, skinny man with a puffy, white hair only over his ears walked from behind the furniture. Twisting his bony fingers and looking everywhere, but at the pirates, the man mumbled something in agreement and left the room in few, quick steps.

Only then, looking back after the old man, Law noticed flags decorating the walls on both sides of the entrance. Eleven black flags with different Jolly Rogers, eight colorful flags from merchant ships and two white flags with blue seagulls. Law knew only few of them.

"You have an interesting collection, Emil-ya," he commented briefly, looking back at their host. He was already sitting in the armchair and Law decided to follow the lead. The captain claimed the other armchair, while Bepo sat on the sofa, holding his captain's sword in both paws.

Law glanced around, searching for other interesting artifacts. To the right from the fireplace stood an old piano with a simple gramophone on top. Next to it, on the wall opposite to the entrance, were shelves. They were filled with records and small sculptures of various animals. Under a big window on the last wall - which separated the room from the terrace - stood a wide, antic commode. On top of it, stood a crystal vase with a bunch of dried flowers and a human skull. A young adult male skull, as Law didn't fail to notice.

"Thank you, mister Trafalgar. I have much more upstairs, but only those were presented to me," Emil explained with the usual tone of amusement and a warm smile.

"I-If those are presents," Bepo started, blinking rapidly his beady eyes. "Then what are those upstairs?" he finished, tilting the round head in a rather cute manner.

"Trophies," Emil answered with a proud smirk.

"What happen to those crews, Emil-ya?" Law questioned in laid-back tone, as if he wasn't interested at all. But the truth was that this boy was pulling more and more of his attention.

A half-fishman living alone on a relatively big island, dealing with crews strong enough to enter the New World. He was kind and polite, but possibly only as long as he didn't dislike someone. Blind for sure, but with – most probably – color of observation haki, strong enough to freely move around. Emil was strong, but the question was: how much?

"When a crew attacks me, I usually destroy their ship, kill the strongest ones and let animals eat the rest." Emil's careless tone suited more to a conversation about some bugs, not people.

"What about the cargo?" Law questioned, watching Emil's eyes – their movements. For some reason, Emil was moving his eyes as if he was able to see. When he was talking to Law, he was looking at Law. While talking to Bepo, his eyes were directed at Bepo. When this boy was answering a question, his eyes at first were wandering to the side, as he recalled the right information.

"I usually take what might be useful for me and sink the rest together with the ship," Emil admitted, still in the same carefree and a bit cheerful tone.

"Do you collect Log Poses from those ships, Emil-ya?" Law asked, frowning slightly. There was something odd about Emil. Something out of order and just at Law's fingertips, but it was constantly slipping out.

Emil chuckled, before answering with an amused smile. "You know, you are only eleventh captain who asked this, mister Trafalgar." He stood up and walked to the commode. "Unfortunately, I rarely take them and the only Log Pose I have here now, belonged to a crew which visited me…" Taking out the top left drawer an old looking Log Pose, Emil frowned in wonder. "Something around two weeks ago," he finished with obvious uncertainty and handed Law the small item.

Just like a Log Pose in the control room on the submarine, one needle of this Log Pose was pointing at the island, while the other two were twisting and bouncing all the time.

"Around?" Law repeated, reaching out for the item, but in the end, he grabbed Emil's whole palm. "How come you don't know when exactly it was, Emil-ya?" Law asked in a casual tone, taking a good look at Emil's rather cold hand. It was small and with a thin wrist, and forefinger was clearly longer than the ring finger. Those were hands of a female. Emil wasn't a man. He was a woman. She was a woman.

"I'm blind and I live alone most of the time - I don't worry about the date, mister Trafalgar. I don't know if it's noon, or evening right now. I'm not even sure what month we have," Emil explained, not even trying to take her hand away from Law's grasp. "Is something wrong with my hand, mister Trafalgar?"

"No, Emil-ya," Law answered shortly, taking the Log Pose and finally letting go. "Everything is just fine. I only wonder why you don't collect Log Poses, when you know that they might be useful to your guests." There was absolutely no way, that Law would admit out loud, that only now he had realized what gender Emil was.

"Because I like having guests here," Emil admitted with a small shrug, sitting back in her armchair. "In fact, my house is so nicely finished, because few crews were helping me with it." The woman smiled warmly at the memories. "I know this place like the back of my own hand. If you want I can help you to get comfortable here for those eighteen days, or we can ignore each other. Or…"

Emil gave the doctor a small smirk. This moment Law knew she was going to provoke him. Him! Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death!

"I can give you an Eternal Pose under two conditions. You'll wait here a week and then safely take me and six my guests to Floris, island to which points the Eternal Pose." There was an angry chirp behind Emil's neck and a small head of a sparrow stuck out from within her hood. Emil snorted, completely losing this whole 'I'm-deadly-serious' façade. "Us and this little guy," she added, pointing at the bird.

"Please explain this to me, Emil-ya," Law almost whispered and leaned forward in his seat, resting his chin on entwined hands. "Why should I agree instead of taking the Eternal Pose by force?" he questioned in his darkest tone, which made Bepo glance at him.

The woman let go of a soft chuckle. She didn't seem to be unfazed by his thread even the smallest bit. "Because the Eternal Pose is not inside this commode, mister Trafalgar, nor this house." Emil mirrored Law's position and once again directed her mischievous eyes exactly in Law's. "You won't be able to find it without my help."

"We can always… persuade you, Emil-ya." Anyone would run away and hide in some dark corner under the tone he had said this sentence with. Anyone, but Emil, who still had the same, careless smile on her lips. She was either incredibly dense, or really strong… Or both, and Law had a strange luck to meet people like that recently.

"Threads against my person won't work, mister Trafalgar," she replied with an undertone of entertainment and corners of her lips traveled millimeters up.

"What about your guests?" Law mirrored this facial expression, but decided to go a little further – to his trademark smirk.

With a corner of his eye, the captain noticed that Bepo was looking back and forth between them. He was nervous. Why was he nervous? Were his animal instincts telling him something Law didn't notice?

"Go ahead," Emil replied in her calm, smooth voice. Not even a single muscle twitched when she said that. She was serious. She was encouraging Law to go upstairs and massacre her guests.

Without a word, the surgeon stood up and turned around to the doorway, ready to play with those six unfortunate souls the floor above, no matter who they were. He reached out his hand toward Bepo for the nodachi.

"Bepo, do you like summer?" Emil asked in friendly tone, as if her conversation with Law had never had a place.

"Uhm…" The navigator looked at Law, unsure if he should answer this question. "N-no? I don't like it."

"There's a summer on the Floris right now." Emil lazily leaned against the backrest, while Bor nested comfy on top her head, making her look ridiculous. "Journey there with Eternal Pose would take you three, or four days. With a Log Pose, you would have to visit other island first and it would take two weeks. The summer should end in around ten days." The woman smiled warmly at the bear. "While a winter should start here in few days."

She stood up and walked to Law, who was looking at her with calm expression, which wasn't telling whether he was going to agree, or not.

"I'll of course pay you for the transport in money too, mister Trafalgar and if the summer doesn't bother you, we can forget about the first condition." She gave Law a wide, childish grin.

"I'm going to hunt something for the dinner, mister Trafalgar. You can feel invited to join me and informed that if you decide to fulfill your threat, I'll do my best to make your stay here the biggest pain in your ass." The woman announced with such amusement, as if she couldn't wait to fulfill her own threat. Then, she nodded at Bepo and left the living room, and soon the house.

"Captain…" Bepo pleaded and Law could feel two teary eyes drilling holes in the side of his head. Law's chest quivered, as a deep chuckle made its way outside his body.

This woman indeed was interesting.


	3. Chapter 3: The Hunt

**Chapter 2: The Hunt**

Bepo was feed up with summer. He didn't want to go to another summer island and was pretty sure, that he had lost some weight due too much sweating during last month. The bear wanted to wait this week, Emil had mentioned, on this nice island – enjoy its pleasant climate, swim in its cool water and catch awfully lot of delicious fishes. Though, Law was his captain and the oldest friend – a man for whom Bepo would do anything.

In silence, the bear followed Law, who walked outside the living room. Bepo gulped heavily, so loud the man heard him for sure, when he had looked in the direction of the staircase. The polar bear still could have a hope, that his captain would do as he wished for.

"Don't worry, Bepo," Law spoke with a quiet chuckle and turned to the exit. The bear let go of a short sight of relieve and trotted behind him.

As much as Law didn't like to admit it, Emil's offer was actually in their favor. Besides, if the crew got to know… Or rather _when_ the crew got to know, that he knowingly leaded them to another summer island, the already low morale would drop even more.

"The closest are deer," Emil started as soon as they walked out. She was sitting sideway on the bench, tying her boots. "Then are boars, few bears, snakes – very strong, but they won't get outside their caves until night. In the middle of the island are rabbits, my favorite. They are big, strong and fast, therefore funny to hunt and their meat is delicious." Emil stood up and dusted her rear. "So? What would you like to hunt down, mister Trafalgar?"

"You, Emil-ya." Law answered casually – without a dark tone, nor smug smile.

"With pleasure, mister Trafalgar," Emil nodded her head in a small bow, smiling carelessly. "But if you allow, I'd like to fulfill my obligations of the host first."

"Then, I guess, I'll have to satisfy myself with those rabbits you mentioned, Emil-ya." A smile crawled on Law's lips. Bepo knew this smile – it appeared every time Law found next piece of some kind of a puzzle, or something entertaining.

"As you wish," Emil replied with a cheerful smile and swirled around to walk down the terrace. "Would you like to go to your ship first, mister Trafalgar?" She reached out her hand and – to Bepo's surprise – caught a small bundle wrapped in a black cloth, what was accompanied by a metallic rattling. There was a pleased caw, but all what flew down was the sparrow.

Bepo growled, asking the little bird what was that, but he only chuckled in a way suitable to his species and sat on Emil's shoulder.

"I'd like to go down first, Emil-ya," Law answered with pleased smile, following the woman.

Well, Bepo wasn't really surprised by this smile. Emil was genuinely polite, save for this small provocation earlier wasn't really ordering Law and was going to somehow entertain him. If she provided the captain some good, medical books, he probably would be in heaven.

"Captain!" A happy voice reached them as Jess approached them in bouncy steps. "Captain! Everything was repaired!" he announced so rapidly it was hard to understand him. "Water refilled! Stan-san found a clearing with herbs!" He stopped only to take a very deep breath, but not bothering to stop waving his hands in all possible directions. "And we are ready to set sails whenever the Log Pose locks!"

"Jess, have you drunk coffee since I forbidden it?" Law questioned coldly.

The young boy blinked few times, utterly dumbfounded and trotted in place. "No, I haven't, Captain," he finally answered, still rather puzzled. "I haven't touched it." Jess looked at Emil and pointed at her, as if only now noticing her. "Who's that?" he questioned in quiet voice.

"You can call me Emil." The woman stepped forward and reached out her hand with a warm, friendly smile. "I believe I'll be your host for the next few days. Am I right, mister Trafalgar?" Shaking Jess's hand she turned her head to give Law a blind glance, waiting for his answer.

"Yes. Indeed." Law somehow made this short agreement sound like a warning. Even if, much likely, it wouldn't give much results. "Jess, inform the crew, that we are going for a hunt and if any of them want's to join, should be ready as soon as we get down there."

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Jess saluted with a wide swing, swirled away and ran down the hill. Not more than fifty yards away he tripped over some rock or his own legs, but after a lot of shouting and flailing, he managed to regain his balance.

"He ate coffban," Emil announced with amused chuckle, sniffing her hand – the same she had exchanged with Jess. "It's a fruit which looks like a banana, but is full of caffeine. One of them is like a big cup of strong coffee."

"Then I guess he won't get a month of laundry duty." Law admitted, walking closer to her. "Is there anything you do without some hidden reason, Emil-ya?" He questioned in rather… amused tone and passed her on the way down.

"Yes. Some things I do are plainly ridiculous." Emil and Bepo ran a bit to catch up with Law, but while the woman walked side by side with him, the bear walked two steps behind them. "But everything I do, I do because I want to." She let go of another chuckle. "For example, right now I want to be a great host!"

"We'll see that, Emil-ya." Law replied with a small sting of sarcasm.

"It's not nice to make fun of blind people, mister Trafalgar!" Emil commented back. Even though she was scolding Law for something she could take offence, she still wore the careless expression with a lopsided smirk.

"I'm a pirate, I can do whatever I want." Law wasn't going to explain himself.

"The title of pirate doesn't have to be linked with being a crude lout. I though you have more class than to pick on disabled people." The tone of amusement was getting clearer in her relatively deep voice.

Law held down a chuckle, but smirked anyway and started to wonder if she was able to sense it too. "I'm not some Neanderthal, but I can't say that my manners are without a stain. How detailed it your kanbunshoku haki, Emil-ya?"

Emil stepped closer to Law and reached up to his head. He watched her hand a bit warningly, but let her do as she wanted… at least now. After a soft touch on the side of his hat, which he almost didn't feel, she showed him a small, yellow leaf – one of many which were occasionally flying around. "Very detailed, mister Trafalgar," she announced with a warm smile.

"E-Emil?" Bepo started, looking at the woman with tilted head. "How do you know our names? We've never met before, r-right? I didn't hear the woman calling our names, so… How?"

Law left it without a comment, but slowed down a bit. He had thought this other woman told Emil, who they were while they were upstairs, but if Bepo hadn't heard anything like that... This could be interesting.

Emil chuckled with clear amusement, before answering. "I have a friend, who's mister Trafalgar's big fan." She pointed at Law and turned around to face Bepo, so she was walking backward. "She lives on Floris and every time I visit her, she drowns me in facts and rumors about the Heart Pirates."

She grinned. "The captain in rather unusual hat and with ridiculously long sword. Bipedal bear as a crewmate and a submarine - it wasn't hard to figure out who you are. In the worst case you would simply correct me." Emil ended with a small wave of her hands as if dismissing the mere idea that she could have been wrong about that.

Bepo glanced over his shoulder at Emil's house, then back at their submarine and frowned – it was at least three hundred yards. "How big is your range of kanbunshoku haki?"

"About two miles in every direction is top," Emil said as if this wasn't a big deal. "But I usually go with half a mile."

"What about busoshoku haki, Emil-ya?" Law asked without much interest in his tone, but only in his tone. He still wasn't able to use neither of them, but if they were going to spend some time on this island, maybe she would help him with that later.

"Not as good, but I'm not complaining." Emil once again turned around so now she wasn't going backward. "And no Bepo, I can't use haoshoku," she added and the bear closed his mouth.

"Captain-chan!" A freakishly tall and lean okama in a pastel pink cook uniform, waved at them and his brown, gravity defying curls were bouncing with every move, as if alive on their own. The okama-cook was standing in front of a small group involving Jess, the first mate Penguin and the mechanic Shachi, but not more than a moment later, he was right in front of their host. "And you must be Emil-chan!" he hummed in singsong voice and lifted the much smaller woman. "I'm Cheri, my little sweetie."

"Hello Cheri," Emil replied in high spirit, though her cheeks were dusted with a bit darker shade of pink than Cheri's jacket. "It's nice to meet you."

"Aww." Cheri immediately hugged her tight and spun few quick pirouettes, causing a wave of laughter from the half-fishwoman. "Captain-chan! Emil-chan is so cute!" He laughed, together with her, while the rest was snickering. "Can we keep this sweetie?"

"No, Christopher-ya," Law answered with a straight face. "And this answer won't change, no matter how many times you ask," he added, passing the hugging pair and approaching the group. "I understand only you go on the hunt with us."

"Yes, Captain! They found something else to entertain themselves." The man in a hat with big 'Penguin' written on the front, pointed behind himself, in the direction of the cove, where the rest of the crew was. Some courageous ones were swimming, most was wrestling, or simply fooling around, few were resting and one was even making angels on the soft, almost white sand.

"Then, I guess we can go." Law turned to the cook, who was still hugging the woman. "Christopher-ya, would you be so kind to put down Emil-ya?"

"Yes, of course, Captain-chan," the tall man sang once again and placed her back on the ground, but he didn't forget to ruffle her hair like some small child, gaining himself a pleased smile.

"Rabbits are roughly a mile away from here." Only now the pink hue disappeared from Emil's cheeks. "Do you want to walk there or run?"

"We are fully capable of running, Emil-ya," Law replied in serious tone.

"Alright." Emil put on her large hood, hiding half of her face in shadow and smiled impishly. "You've said you would like to hunt me, mister Trafalgar, so I suggest a small game called 'try to catch me'."

Law couldn't help, but to smirk. This woman was reading in his mind. "Three," he started to count down. Everyone around chuckled or giggled, but no one moved. "Two." Emil turned toward the tree line and started to run, or rather jog. "One."

They all had to admit it – Emil was fast. She was _really_ fast, but it was her speeding, which left half of them with their jaws on the ground – from the careless trot, she jumped to the speed worth of a cannonball in just a split of second. Emil already ran between trees, before any of the Heart Pirates started chasing her.

The first to react was Law's most reliable and favorite little minion – Bepo. The second was Jess on his caffeine rush. Penguin and Shachi glanced back at the captain to make sure he wanted them to fulfill his own job, before joining the pursuit.

"Emil-chan is an interesting little girl. Don't you think, Captain-chan?" Cheri giggled, standing right next to his captain.

Law glanced up at the taller man. He wasn't really surprised that this okama had noticed Emil's gender so fast, while it took him a while. He wondered how fast would be the rest of the crew. "She is," he admitted and decided to finally join the chase, before he would lost all of them from his sight.

_Emil_ – this couldn't be her real name, just a nickname. On the other hand she had never said it was. Why was she hiding her gender? Was she even trying to do that? She could simply prefer oversized clothes and short hair.

How strong was she? Was she as cold-blooded as he was? Would she do anything to stop him from killing her guests if not for that 'I decided to be a great host' play? Had she been merely bluffing back then? Law wanted to know. He wanted to know this mysterious being called Emil. He wanted to know if he could use her.

Emil faint brown hood and black pants were almost invisible between thick, dark trunks, as she ran deeper and deeper into the autumn forest.

Bepo's flashy jumpsuit was much better visible and was just few yards behind the hood. Always few yards behind. Then, in different places but in more or less the same distance were three white boiler suits. The next was pinkish cook uniform. Cheri was occasionally throwing his legs dressed in fishnets, in the air like some cancan dancer and constantly laughing his creepy okama laugher.

Law decided to stay in the back and watch them.

A high speed, an inhuman speeding, an amazing agility and a complete awareness of everything around, made Emil a very difficult prey.

With ease, she slid through a small gap under a mossy, fallen tree, surprising Bepo, who crashed into, and then had to jump over it.

Smiling from ear to ear, she ran right into Jess and avoided his grasp, by a sudden change in the direction, all in just a blink of an eye.

Later she slid between Penguin's legs and tripped him up, catching his ankles.

She replaced her hood with Shachi's hat and, laughing like an idiot, let him be on her tail much longer than anyone else.

Her laughter was nice to the ear - not too high, not creepy, not nasal and contagious for sure. Something what started as a hunt, ended up as some reversed form of tag, with Emil and her small sparrow in one team and the Heart Pirates in the other.

"Emil-ya!" Law called and spread out his arms. They'd already underwent almost whole mile Emil had mentioned - although making small spirals, she had run a much longer distance – and now Law wanted to see how would she pass him. He hadn't had doubts, she was going to accept this challenge, her previous actions toward the rest of the group made him sure about that.

Emil grabbed Jess's hand - who was about to catch her - and pulled him between herself and Cheri, successfully getting away from the cook's reach. Using this moment of confusion, and with a small help of her feathery friend, she turned them all around and pulled right under Bepo. She get away from this tangle of whining bodies in a second and, to Law satisfaction, directed right toward him.

Law created a small blue sphere under his right palm and, curious if Emil was aware of its presence, expanded it around himself. The operating room swallowed him, nearby bushes, Penguin - who happened to stand a little behind – trees around and a quite large patch of grass. Law smirked and locked his golden eyes with Emil's solver ones. She mirrored his smirk and readjusted Shachi's hat.

"Trebor!" She called and a short moment later a pair of brown-black wings growth from her sides. They flapped once, creating a blow of air, which hit the surprised surgeon. With wide eyes, Law and his subordinates watched as, those still growing, wings lifted the half-fishwoman and carried her way above their heads and the light blue dome. Only a moment later, when Emil flew behind them, they realized it wasn't her, who had wings, but she was held by a human-sized bird, which looked like a mixture between a sparrow and a crow.

Pirates retook their pursuit once Emil landed back on the grass and this odd bird changed back into her small sparrow.

The first to almost catch her was Penguin, but it was Shachi, who managed to more or less accomplish that – he bumped into Emil, as soon as she suddenly stopped.

"Ouch," Shachi groaned and rubbed his chest where Emil's shoulder hit him, leaving him breathless. "You could have warned me, Emil!" he said with a childish offence.

"Sorry, Shachi," Emil apologized with a warm smile, took off the teal hat and put it on its owner's head. Then she turned her head to _look_ behind, at the rest of the Heart Pirates. "We are here."

They were standing at the edge of a vast valley. It was divided in two parts by a small, curvy river and on its other side the Heart Pirates spotted a herd of rabbits – over thirty white, brown and black animals, at least twice as big as Bepo. They were grazing, or jumping around and from this fairly large distance, they seemed to be rather lovely.

"As I informed mister Trafalgar and Bepo earlier, they are fast and strong," Emil started, completely ignoring Shachi, who rested on her with his chin on top her head and arms on her shoulders. Law wondered if his old friend would do this, if he knew, that Emil was a woman.

"They are omnivores, but they have taken liking in human flesh. So much, that they rarely let away an opportunity to eat it and…" Emil stretched the last word, frowning. "They still don't know, they should ran away from you," she ended with her lips creating a short, straight line.

"So, they are running away from you?" Penguin summarized, leaning against Shachi. They seemed to find strange joy in piling on Emil now, when they were able to hold her.

"Yep," she answered shortly, ignoring the additional weight on her shoulders. "That's why I suggest you to start and I'll eventually join you later… unless you prefer to chase them rather than fighting," she ended with amused tone.

"No, we don't," Shachi answered plainly. "By the way – you have an interesting friend, Emil," he added, remembering this partly crow, partly sparrow creature, which now, in its tiny gray-brown form, was sitting on top his hat.

"Thanks. Bor ate a devil fruit and now he can change between a huge crow and a sparrow," Emil explained, but even before she finished, she made a sudden, waltz-like step forward and to the side. This way she got out, from under Shachi and Penguin, who – with surprised calls – fell to the ground. Jess chortled, Cheri giggled, Bepo snorted, Law chuckled and Bor chirped happily and lightly landed on Emil's shoulder, while she only turned around with a wide, amused smile.

"You could have warned me!" Shachi repeated with obviously fake offence in his tone. With a chuckle, he shoved his fist into Penguin side, who was still laying on top of him and laughing his lungs off.

Penguin let go of a short 'ouch' and rolled down his friend. "Emil!" he called when he finally calmed down. "That was priceless!"

"Thank you Penguin, I'm doing my best," Emil replied, with a slight blush over her pale cheeks and helped both pirates to stand up. "Now, get ready for your hunt, because rabbits have heard you." She pointed behind, at the valley.

The ground under their feet started vibrating, as over thirty heavy bodies bounced, constantly and rather quickly approaching their own hunters. Emil casually stepped behind pirates and pulled the black bundle from her pants pocket. "Their fur is really thick, but elastic, creating a rather good impact protection, but it doesn't help much against blades." She unwrapped the cloth and pulled out a short throwing knife. "So if you want to, I can lend you those."

Jess immediately snatched the blade away and held it close to his flushed, amazed face. "Wow! This is incredible, Emil-san!" he called out, looking at the knife from each possible side. "It's shape, weight, balance… Is it?" He scratched a thin, much darker fuller.

"Karioseki, yes," Emil finished for him and unfolded the bundle a bit more, revealing another seven throwing knifes. "Stabbing a fruit user with only one of those should be enough to make them useless," she explained with a careless smile.

Everyone glanced at Law and looked back at Emil, expecting her to turn toward the captain, but she was stubbornly 'looking' at Jess. "So, do you want them or not? Think fast, because rabbits are getting close."

"I don't need them!" Bepo announced and ran toward the bouncing animals.

"But I'll try it," Shachi added, pulled the blade out Jess's hands and immediately followed the bear.

"Oy!" Jess, now empty-handed, chased his older crewmate for few yards. Only then, he realized, that he could simply take another knife.

The boy returned and nicely asked amused Emil for the next blade, but was robbed once again - this time by Penguin. "Would they ever stop picking on me?" Jess asked, laughing miserably before getting two more knives.

"I'm afraid that's how they express their love, Jess," Emil chuckled, ruffling the slightly taller boy's brown hair.

"Then I don't want their love," he muttered, before joining his crewmates, who were already fighting with the closest rabbits.

Bepo swiftly avoided long teeth and punched a white-black animal right into its temple. The rabbit flew few yards backwards, but almost immediately jumped back on its muscular legs and charged back at the bear.

"So, I guess Jess is the youngest sibling in your crew," Emil assumed with a quiet chuckle.

Cheri responded with a giggle and once again snatched her from the ground, and whirled around. "Yes and you would be an amazing older sister, Emil-chan," Cheri sang and once again hugged her tightly.

"Thank you," Emil chuckled. With red cheeks, she hugged the much taller man back. "Well, I think I know when mister Trafalgar noticed I'm a woman," she said, pointing at Law. "But when did you, Cheri? When you hugged me?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Of course not!" Cheri exclaimed. "I knew as soon as I saw you, my little sweetie. Now." The cook placed Emil back on the ground. "It's time to introduce some rabbit to my old _amis_." He took out two kitchen knives and, giggling, danced toward the place of slaughter.

Bepo already had four rabbit on his count, while Jass had two and Penguin and Shachi had three each, although they were arguing who killed their last one now instead of hunting down more.

"How are you going to transport all of those rabbits, Emil-ya?" Law asked, standing right next to Emil.

Now, looking at his subordinated fighting with those stubborn rabbits, Law started to wonder if she was stronger than him. It was sure they would kill every single one of them, but no matter how much of them was already dead, the rest was still attacking. If what Emil had said was true and those rabbits were running away from her, then she had to be the one, who without a doubt, ruled on this island.

"We have it under control," she gave him a genuine, warm smile, petting Bor's tiny head.

* * *

Note: No, Shachi and Penguin doesn't know Emil is a woman. Yes, they will get to know that. Yes, they will freak out.

**desi-chan**: I'm happy to hear that~


End file.

One Piece, Adventure, Humor