*Five Days Later*
The pirate alliance wasn't without it's drawbacks.
For one, Law's own crew never took their eyes off the Kid Pirates out of distrust. And vice versa. Law couldn't walk by the submarine without having 5 sets of eyes following his every move. It got to be quite taxing but there wasn't really much to do about that.
Treating their injuries had been difficult as well. Kid insisted he be first, just in case the Dark Doctor had any ideas of malpractice. What's more, every single thing Law did was questioned by the redhead. He had to explain what everything was or what it would do before he could even begin to touch his broken arm.
The rest of his men were just as suspicious, hesitant to give him their injured limbs when he was holding stitching needles or any sort of drug.
It took several days for his crew to start to heal, as they continued to agitate his ministrations despite his several warnings not to. Law gave up counting how many times he had to replace a pair of bandages or resew stitches. On several occasions he recalled how bad of a patient Summer herself could get. At the same time, though, she never was this stubborn as to ruin his handiwork so many times.
While they were recovering, Law put Shachi and Penguin in charge of fixing Kid's ship. Any leftover boards they had in storage were brought out and carefully inspected by Kid himself. With several complaints about the low quality of the wood they carried with them, he nodded and oversaw their repair work.
After the crew was almost entirely healed from their injuries, Law and Kid sat down together by the shore with the intention of hammering out the last details of the alliance.
"You'll tell us how you communicated with the buyer and help us find Summer-ya." Law said bluntly, not wanting to skirt the main topic. Kid shook his head.
"To hell with that. What would I be getting out of that deal?" He picked up a stone and weighed it in his hand. Tossing it, he winced when his shoulder shot a sharp pain across his arm. He wasn't fully healed yet. "I went through all the trouble of finding you guys and now I gotta help you out? What kinda bullshit is that?"
"We healed your injuries and fixed your ship." Law pointed out, watching as Kid picked up another, smaller stone.
"Huh, and here I thought that was out of the kindness of your heart." He quipped, tossing the stone out into the water with less force. This time his arm didn't hurt him.
"What exactly are you looking for out of this deal? You are, after all, the one who suggested this alliance in the first place." Law unconsciously fingered the three daggers attached to his belt. Upon realizing it, he tightly closed his fist and picked up a small stone to distract himself. He'd been doing that more and more lately. He was too proud to admit it was because he clung to anything that reminded him of her.
Kid tossed one more stone. "I want gold. Whatever gold is on that guy Viper's ship, I want. Also, whatever ships we run into, I want their loot."
"If that's all you want-" He raised a hand, stopping Law's sentence.
"And if you want me to cooperate, I gotta have some kind of insurance that nothing will happen to my crew." Law's eyes narrowed.
"And what insurance would that be?" Kid's own eyes became slits as he thought it over.
"I want you and your first mate to remain on my ship until we find the girl."
"And why exactly would I agree to that?" The Dark Doctor replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
"If you really wanted my help, you would do whatever it took." He replied with a shrug.
Law was silent, trying to think of another possible way to give Kid that assurance that his crew would be unharmed. Kid's voice broke through his thoughts.
"One more thing. I get to kick that guy's ass myself. After what he did to my crew and my ship, he's gonna pay with my foot up his-" Law's dark chuckle stopped him. "What the hell's so amusing?"
"You might have to get through Summer-ya for that privilege. She's not too fond of the man herself." Kid grunted in consideration.
"I can see why. He's not a pretty sight, believe me."
The two captains lapsed into silence, looking out over the ocean in deep thought. After a while, Law glanced at Kid. As much as he wanted to hate him for kidnapping Summer in the first place, and he was still angry about that, he was also the only one capable of helping them find her as well. They had much bigger problems on their hands. So if he had to sacrifice his reputation of being a merciless pirate and team together with one of his most unbearable rivals, so be it.
"In exchange for repairing your ship, treating your wounded, and giving you all of the valuables in the ships we raid, you'll help us find Summer-ya. Does that sound agreeable?"
"Only if you and that bear remain on my ship so I know you aren't planning anything behind my back."
"On one condition. I am allowed a den den mushi to communicate with my crew." Law countered. Kid considered this before nodding.
"Fine, but I will be watching. Don't think you can communicate secretly. I have ears everywhere." Law only smirked.
"Do we have a deal?"
Kid rubbed his chin with his finger, humming lowly. Law knew he was going to agree and only looked torn for show. Kid was pretty big on image. Just like him, he thought with a small smirk.
Kid finally stuck out his hand. "Alright, you creepy bastard. Let's just get this over with." Law took the hand and it seemed like a large weight had been lifted off his shoulder. Suddenly, he didn't feel so hopeless anymore.
'I'm coming...' He thought.
"The King and his men stole the Queen from her bed,
And bound her in her bones.
The seas be ours and by the pow'rs,
Where we will, we'll roam."
Summer tugged at the chains on her wrists for the hundredth time that morning, not expecting anything other than the extreme blisters on her shackled skin to the darkness of the room, she couldn't see the skin but it felt like it was red and now and again a bead of hot moisture would run down her wrist. Nonetheless, she once again yanked the metal and dug it into her skin.
"Yo ho, all hands,
Hoist the colors high.
Heave ho, thieves and beggars,
Never shall we die."
The pain kept her conscious of time, along with reassuring her that she hadn't passed out from hunger again. The meager rations Kid had supplied her with her last days as his captive was a feast compared to the crumbs Viper thought to give her. Each movement of her limbs flamed another bout of her rumbling stomach, but at least she was still alive. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.
"Some have died and some are alive,
And others sail on the sea.
With the keys to the cage and the devil to pay,
We lay to fiddler's green."
Her almost silent singing to herself was just another way to assure that she remained conscious. Though her voice was capable of no more than a hoarse whisper, she repeated the verses over and over again to keep her sanity alive. Sometimes she compared her current captivity to that of Impel Down, and always she thought that at least in the icy prison there were noises other than the laughter of her captors to keep her awake.
"Yo ho, haul together,
Hoist the colors high.
Heave ho, thieves and beggars,
Never shall we die."
Footsteps thumped above her and she slowly raised her eyes to the pitch black ceiling. Low voices accompanied the sound and she closed her eyes against the headache that was beginning to form. Looking up hurt her brain, so she decided against doing so again.
"The bell has been raised from its watery grave,
Do you hear its sepulchral tone?
A call to all pay heed the squall,
And turn your sails to home"
What scared her most was the difficulty of picturing the faces of her nakama. How long had it been since she was kidnapped? A week? Maybe two? She wasn't sure but it couldn't have been more than a month...right?
Maybe it was from the never-ending darkness, the lack of decent rest, the meager rations she was fed, the unknown amount of elapsed time, or her own head working against her...Whatever it was, she struggled to recall the faces of her friends onboard that little yellow submarine. Even the moody captain with his devilish smirk took ages to appear correctly, or what she thought was correct, in her mind.
Was she going crazy? Maybe…
"Yo ho, haul together,
Hoist the colors high.
Heave ho, thieves and beggars,
Never shall we die."
ns 18.68.41.179da2
