"Your hat needs to go too. I guess your sweater's fine, since we're wearing jackets above it anyways.", I told the pirate captain in a definite tone. I had found a slightly thicker blue cardigan for myself. It was a rather warm day in November, so that was enough to keep me warm.
"I'm not going out without my hat.", Law insisted. He understood quickly weapons like a sword weren't usually carried around in this world and were seen as a serious thread. The lord assured him to store it away safely until he returned.
"Surely there is another hat for you to wear, right Rose?", I turned to the old maid, who nodded in affirmation. She pulled out a coat rack with multiple hats dangling from it. I was still amazed by the wide arsenal of different clothings they had ready for use. Standing in the dressing room, Rose only needed to reach out and pull out different caot racks or stands to present a variety of jackets, shoes, hats and more. It was as though they had their own clothing store.
"Forget it. I'm not wearing another hat.", Law looked through the coat stand of jackets all the while.
I sighed. There was no getting through to him. I understood well, that this one hat was something he had left from childhood, but it was just for one short trip. For a single day, he could wear another one, couldn't he?
I had met the lord outside as I was taking a stroll in the garden to clear my mind yesterday. I guessed I looked gloomy or deep in thoughts, because I remember Lord Trafalgar approaching me with a concerned look on his face. I told him about my dilemma with Law. Though I tried not going into too much detail, since the lord apparently didn't know about the manga. That was no surprise. I basically told him the same I told Law. That it was rather popular with my generation and that he resembled one of the popular character too much to not attract a lot of attention in public. But I had no idea how to convince Law to change clothes without showing him the story, which I'd rather avoid. After thinking about it for a minute, the lord told me to leave it to him. I was doubtful if he could do it, considering he didn't even know the whole truth, but agreed nevertheless. I had no idea how to handle it anyways.
I was glad the lord somehow managed to convince Law, but now he wouldn't understand the severity of him wearing his trade marks. "Well, if you're fine with people constantly asking you for a photo with them. I'll be sure to keep my distance then. I wonder if leaving an hour early might be enough to make up for the wasted time...", I pretented to think about this seriously, in hopes the idea of being bothered by strangers constantly was appalling enough for Law to give in and change hats.
I actually didn't know if I had exaggerated with people bothering him constantly or not. But the idea of being the center of attention during the whole trip was nerve wrecking. And certainly possible in my mind.
"I'm afraid one hour might be a little short on time. Maybe two-", Rose thankfully played along, pushig Law to the extend of interrupting her.
"Alright, alright. I'll take a look at the hats.", he grumbled. Rose gave me a wink, while I thanked her silently with a smile of my own. Content with my persuasion results, I returned to my room to pack the last of my things.
I put on my backpack and received the tickets for the flights to London and Berlin from the lord. It was finally time to depart.
"Take care on the way you two.", the lord said while giving Law his tickets and a freshly made passport, as well as a folded piece of paper.
"What's this?", I asked curiously. Law handed me the piece of paper. As I unfolded it, I saw instructions written down for Law on how to get back to the estate by himself later. I handed it back and he let it slip into his pocket. Law wore a light coat, which he left open and a black hat with a small brim. It suited him, though he looked a little bit like your stereotypical spy.
"Carmilla will drive you to the airport. If you forgot anything, just call. We'll mail it to your address then.", Mr. Sheffield gave me his business card. I nodded. I double checked if I had had everything, so it was unlikely that I forgot something, but better be on the safe side.
"We should be going then.", Carmilla said. Law and I nodded. We turned around and went outside. A dark blue volvo sedan waited in front of the fountain for us. Carmilla went around to get into the drivers seat. As Law and I both got inside, I heard the lord calling out one more time.
"We'll await your return Law!", he called. Trafalgar Law nodded briefly as he got inside the car. Not long after, Carmilla turned on the engine and we drove off.
"We'll approximately arrive in an hour and a half at the airport.", Carmilla said.
I was lost in thoughts during the drive. I kept thinking about home and how my family would react to see me again. Imagining the reunion, I had to be careful not to get too emotional already. Though there was still this uneasy feeling I had since going through the portal. And even when I tried to distract myself by watching the landscape outside the window or other cars, it wouldn't go away.
Law soon dozed off. He was fascinated by the way of transportation and it's speed at first. Driving through Barnstaple, he curiously watched the city and the people, but after getting on the highway, there weren't many new things to observe. The only new thing he needed to get used to was the speed of our travel. He was obviously uncomfortable at first, but I guessed seeing Carmilla and me relaxed, helped him relax as well.
I was pleased to notice Carmilla being a relaxed driver in general. She didn't loose her cool when two trucks effectively blocked the highway since one was trying to overtake the other. Slowly. She also didn't loose her cool when someone obviously ignored our right of way, causing Carmilla to dodge them so she wouldn't need to hit the breaks too hard. Her driving style was very comfortable.
Arriving at the airport, Carmilla helped us find the right terminal before saying her goodbyes.
"I'll come to escort you back in the evening, young lord.", Law nodded and thanked her. Then she addressed me.
"Farewell, milady. I hope you two have a pleasant flight."
"Thank you. And thanks again for the drive. Farewell.", I waved as we made our way to the line at the terminal.
As we waited in the line, I explained Law the procedure at the airport. Luckily, he understood quickly, though there wasn't that much to explain. He would show them his passport and the ticket to London when asked for it respectively. We didn't have any baggage to hand in, so that was no topic either.
"And then there is also the security check later.", I added.
"Security check?", he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. They'll check if you have anything dangerous or illegal with you. I'll explain in more detail when we get there.", I finished my instructions for now, as we reached the end of the line. The staff checked our passports and tickets. Every now and then, I glanced over to Law who stood next to me, being attended to by the neighbouring staff member. But it didn't seem like I had to help. We got waved through and made our way to the next stop. That would be the security check I mentioned to the pirate captain beforehand.
Waiting in line again, I now explained in more detail. Law didn't have a bag or alike with him so all he had to do was put everything in his pockets into the plastic box on the conveyor belt.
He was in front of me in the line. I watched him with a bit of amusement as he looked at everything curiously. It was natural, since everything was totally new to him, but he looked a little bit like a little kid. Asking me what was this and what was that. He was especially fascinated by the technological devices, like the x-ray machine over the conveyor belt and the magnetic scanner we had to walk through. Though he did pay attention to his appearance regarding other people around. He wouldn't wildly ask around like a little child would, but wait patiently until we were through and not many people were around anymore. And even then, I could see he had a lot more questions than he would ask.
His curiosity however distracted me from the uneasy feeling I still had, thinking about home. After we went through all the stops and only needed to wait for the plane, I dragged him with me through a few souvenir shops. I loved to bring souvenirs from trips with me.
"Hey look, wouldn't this be nice as a souvenir for Bepo?", I found a little plush polar bear. Bepo was always in search for another bear out there. This could keep him company if he ever felt lonely as the only bear around. Law inspected the little plush toy and finally smiled. I took that as a yes and bought it.
"Do you see anything for anyone else? Or maybe for yourself?", I asked him. He looked around, but shook his head. Most of the souvenir shops were quite similar. I was a tad disappointed, as I wanted to give him a souvenir to remember me, but there were still many chances. We would find something in London or Berlin for sure, I thought.
A bell rang through the hall, signaling the next plane to be ready any moment. "Come, we should get in line."
We didn't need to wait long until a staff member lead us and other passengers to the plane. It was a rather small machine, I noticed. Though Law was quite amazed by it. I smiled to see his amazement that openly. As we entered the plane, a flight attendant greeted us at the entrance and checked our tickets one more time to give us a direction to our seats. I wondered if that was really necessary, considering there were only two rows of seats on each side. And the plane itself wasn't very long either. Reaching our seats, I noticed I had the seat at the window. I was happy at first, but had a nice idea right away.
"Here, you have the seat at the window.", I told Law, thinking that it was his first time to fly so he should have the seat. He nodded and wriggled himself through. I sat down next to him after putting my backpack up into the overhead compartment.
I had mixed feelings while waiting for everyone else to settle down and the plane to take off. I was excited, since the take off was the best part of flying, I thought, and also excited to get home. But I was also anxious. Anxious something unexpected might happen, since that stupid uneasy feeling just wouldn't go away. I could distract myself from it a bit, but never completely. I also thought it grew stronger now that I got closer and closer of getting home. Taking a deep breath, I tried to ignore it for now.
"I think the take off is the best part about flying.", I told Law, who just raised an eyebrow. I grinned at him, anticipating the exciting part.
"You know, I still can't believe this giant metal thing is able to fly.", he told me in a low voice. I just continued to grin at him in response. "You'll see."
As we started moving, Law watched the outside intently. I looked outside as well from my seat. We reached the take off runway, halted for a moment, the turbines started to roar up and then started to gain speed rapidly. As we were pressed into our seats a little I couldn't help but grin from one ear to the other. This was the best!
As we took off, I glanced at Law, only to see his mouth slightly open as he stared outside. "Heh. This must be an amazing experience for him.", I thought.
The flight did not take long. There weren't any turbulances. The sky was clear. I noticed Law's gaze being glued to the window, watching the landscape outside. Once we reached our destination, we had a nice overview of London. Even more so as we couldn't land right away so we circled above the city a few times. I remembered us having quite some time until our next flight to Berlin. We could take a short tour through the city. As I thought about our possibilities being limitied, the London Eye popped up in my mind. That would be a nice idea, I thought. Law would get another overview of the city and it was rather relaxing. It wasn't far from the airport as well.
Determined as to what to do next, I looked forward to Law's reaction. Would he be just as amazed as now? Though he had had a nice overview over the city already. I started to ponder again about what to do. It was just past eleven in the morning. Considering the stops through the airport, we would need to get back until 12:30 p.m.. So we had about an hour left to kill.
"That's not enough time for the London Eye. What a shame.", as I thought about how to kill the time we had, the rising people from their seats pulled me back to reality.
"What's the time now?", I asked Law. He looked at his wristwatch.
"11:22 a.m.", he replied. I nodded, confirming my own assumption.
"We have about an hour left to kill. Are you hungry? Or do you want to take a stroll around?", I asked him. I was fine with either. The only thing I wanted was to not sit around and wait. I needed some distraction from the uneasy gut feeling. This was truly nerve wrecking.
"Then let's take a stroll.", he prompted. I nodded.
There weren't many places we could go to, as we only had an hour and there weren't any sights near the city airport to reach by foot. Walking around, we found a park with a café not far away. As we walked through the park, a silent atmosphere fell over us. I couldn't keep ignoring the uneasy feeling like this. I needed a topic to talk about.
"So, what do you think of the city so far? Are there any cities this big in your world?", I asked Law. He thought for a moment before answering.
"I haven't been to all the big cities yet, but Water 7 is quite big. Since our world is mostly made up of islands, there aren't that many big cities. How many people live here?", he asked back, probably for comparison.
"I don't know for sure. Maybe around 6 to 7 million? Or more. Berlin has about 3 million citizens, but London is a lot bigger. Even more so since it's border isn't as defined as Berlin's."
"6 million people. That's amazing. If I remember correctly, there are about 10 million people on whole Sandy Island.", Law muttered. "Sandy Island?", I asked. That island didn't ring a bell.
"Alabasta kingdom is located on it. Heard of it?", "Oh, yeah. I know about it.", I confirmed. I always thought the island would be called Alabasta as well.
"Well the difference in population isn't that much surprising, if you look at the geography. This world has a lot more land than yours and you can't build that big of a city on islands. I mean we have 6 continets to live on. As far as I know, your world's only continent is the Red Line, right?", I concluded. Law nodded.
"Though I think I do prefer smaller cities. All the technology here is quite amazing, but there are so many people and everything's cramped together.", he said with a frown decorating his face.
"Yeah, I get you. I like smaller towns more as well. I was born and lived in Berlin, the capital of Germany, my home country. It's a fairly large city as well, but I do prefer the land outside the city. It's just so much more relaxing.", I thought back to my grandparents house, located in a rural area. Though instantly regretted that thought, as it just intensified the uneasy feeling.
Taking a deep breath with my eyes closed, I thought: "God, what the hell is this?! Why am I so nervous?"
"I'm getting hungry. Let's eat something at the café.", I proposed and changed directions without waiting for an answer. I just really needed something to take my mind off things. Hopefully filling my stomach would help in some way.
"Wait a second.", Law grabbed me by my arm to stop me. I turned around in surprise. "What is it?"
"What's up with you lately?", he asked, frowning at me. I returned the frown and tilted my head, as though I wouldn't understand. I guessed I must've acted strange because of the uneasy feeling I had this whole time, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about it. Saying it aloud felt as if it would make it reasonable. As if it wasn't just a stupid worry worth ignoring.
"What do you mean?", I asked him thus.
"You're spacing out all the time and your mood changes unusually quick for some reason.", his gaze told me to tell him about it. Although he still held me by my arm, I felt that I could go and stop this conversation any second if I wanted. He basically gave me the space to end this here and now, but this was his offer to share what was on my mind. Whether it was out of curiosity or concern, I wouldn't know.
"Ever since we came through that portal, I had an uneasy gut feeling every time I thought about home. I just labeled it off as nervousness at first. Being away for so long and just suddenly reappearing, they'd be surprised and I didn't know how to act when I returned home. But ever since we departed from the estate, the uneasy feeling grew, as if something was telling me not to go home.", I started to speak my mind.
"But it's so weird. I mean I'm happy to get home and I'm excited too. So why is this uneasy feeling there? Is this normal? But shouldn't it get less over time? But Instead it's just getting stronger as we get closer and closer. I could distract myself from it at first, but that's not really possible anymore. At least not completely.", I kept rambling on and on about my worries, while Law just silently listened. He had let go of my arm by now. Although I didn't get hysterical or started to panic, at some point, I had wrapped my arms around my stomach in an attempt to comfort myself.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZT2frk3phi
