Can I Steal Your Heart? - A LawLu fanfic

(Luffy) Chapter 22 - Panic

"What do you mean he's been captured?!" Luffy found himself yelling into the snail. Law had promised to call him back once they were safe. Luffy had tried not to worry when six hours had passed, but found himself calling again when the tenth hour passed without word from his friend.

Penguin sighed from the other end, sounding more than a little like his captain. "Exactly what I said, Mugiwara. Captain Law's not here. He's been captured by the Marines, along with three of our other crewmates."

"But he said he had a plan!"

"Yeah, well...." Penguin had to clear his throat to continue. "The plan went off the rails."

That wasn't supposed to happen. Luffy was always what derailed Law's plans, right? And Luffy wasn't there with him, so the plan should've been perfect. So how was Law in danger now? It wasn't right.

"Where are you?" Nami said from behind him, equally concerned. "We'll catch up and back you up to retrieve him."

"I don't know. Bepo would, but he's locked himself in Law's office to study Law's contingency plans. But I doubt you'd be able to make it in decent time. We were at top speed for the majority of two days while they chased us. We're submerged now, just barely high enough for the snails to work."

Silence fell across the deck of the Sunny at that. After a minute, Penguin seemed to get uncomfortable with the lack of response. "But, we think there's hope. There seems to be an ally of some sort among the Marines that captured him. Jean Bart made it back and had a note in his pocket saying that the captain would be fine, and to be on the starboard side of their ship at midnight to retrieve him."

"That's obviously a trap," Usopp commented from where he sat.

Apparently Usopp's comment was loud enough to be heard through the receiver. "Yeah. We think so, too. That's why Bepo's working his way through the contingency book — to come up with a backup plan. Or more accurately, to see which one Law came up with for this scenario."

"Well, tell us where to go and we'll get there as soon as we can!" Luffy huffed. "We're a great backup plan!"

"I don't know how to tell you that, Mugiwara. Unless you've got a piece of one of our Vivre cards or Bepo gets out here, you should probably stay put. Law's contingency plans haven't been updated to account for your presence."

"Contingency-schmingency! He's my friend and I wanna help him!"

"Stay on your current course, Mugiwara." Penguin's voice was hard now, and he was clearly done with the conversation. "Our captain's not some helpless pushover, and neither are we. He and Shachi and Ikkaku and Clione will all be fine long enough for us to get them back. I'll have him call you." The line clicked closed.

Luffy looked to Nami. "Please tell me we have a way to find them?"

"Sorry, Luffy," she said, shaking her head. "None of them have given us Vivre card pieces. They have yours, but..."

"So I just have to wait?" When she nodded sadly, he groaned. "I hate waiting."

Usopp chuckled a little at that. "We hadn't noticed."

"How far are we from Impel Down?" If they left now, could they get ahead of the Marines, stop them before they brought Torao and his crewmates in? It had to be easier than getting them out after they were already in. They probably had tightened security since he'd broken in to try to find Ace, but he couldn't let Torao go through Impel Down's tortures.

And he definitely couldn't stomach losing someone else to that damn execution stand. Even if Ace had made it off, however briefly, the image of his brother chained on that stand waiting for death had been burned into his mind. Even the thought of Torao on a platform like that made his stomach churn.

Nami did some mental calculations. "It'd take... no less than two months to get back there. That's assuming favorable conditions, which, really, when do we get those?"

"Besides which," Usopp added, coming over, "I can tell what you're thinking and it's a BAD IDEA. You barely got out of there alive before!"

"But that was before my training with Rayleigh! I'm loads stronger now!"

"Yes, but their defenses will be, too! And what if they don't even take Torao there?!"

"Then we'll break back out and find him! I won't be alone this time! You guys would be with me!"

"Exactly!" Usopp shouted. "And if it all goes wrong, they capture all of us. You and Zoro and Sanji might survive for a long while, but what about the rest of us? How long can Chopper survive that hell? Or Nami or Robin or me? What new tortures would they devise just for us? Will they tear Franky apart to study his machine parts? Poke and prod at Brook until he dies again?!"

"None of you are that weak either! We could win. We always do!"

"But at what cost would this one come, Luffy?" Usopp dropped down next to Luffy, his voice quiet again with the somber question. "Whose lives would you trade to save Torao's?"

The soft question made Luffy's heart drop. Would it really come to that?

But Usopp wasn't done either. "Torao's strong, Luffy. He's damn near as strong as you and Zoro, or he wouldn't be among the 'Worst Generation'. And he's smart. You have to trust him and the people he trusts. He wouldn't have chosen them if he couldn't trust them to have his back, right?"

A sob formed in his throat and he found himself slumping over onto Usopp's shoulder. "He's our friend. I... can't lose anyone else," he managed to choke out without letting that sob escape. He was glad that Zoro and Sanji weren't here. Usopp and Nami might understand a moment of weakness. He wasn't sure if Zoro or Sanji would. "I was supposed to be strong enough to protect everything now."

Nami sat down beside them, reaching an arm across Luffy's shoulders. "We know. But Usopp's right. It's all the more reason to be careful. You can't borrow trouble. Especially not trouble that big. Maybe he'll escape, with or without his crew's help. Maybe he'll be taken to a different prison. Maybe he'll be closer and we can intercept the ship he's on. Don't jump to extremes. If we find out he's being taken to Impel Down, we'll form a rescue plan, and this time we'll be with you every step of the way. But let's wait until we confirm that before charging back over there."

"... So we're back to waiting?"

Nami smiled and ruffled his hair. "Yep. Back to waiting."

"Whatever you're waiting for, it doesn't have to be dinner," Zoro said, walking over as he untied one of Sanji's aprons from his waist. "It's ready."

That brightened Luffy up, but not as much as he pretended. "Yay! What are we having?" He bounced to his feet, Usopp and Nami just behind.

"Some kind of pasta. I can cook it, but don't ask me to pronounce it. It tastes okay, though Sanji's is better. Not sure what I missed."

"Speaking of, how is he?" Nami asked.

Zoro sighed. "His fever broke and he says he's feeling better. He thinks he'll be back to cooking tomorrow. Chopper's in there now, trying to convince him to rest for another day."

"Glad he's feeling better. I suspect the sooner he's better the sooner you two can be official." Usopp chimed in with a knowing grin.

Zoro glared. "What, not enough of your bets won with our little break up last week?"

"Nope. Still 3 more in play, and I wanna break Nami's bet bank!"

Nami grinned back, shoving him light-heartedly. "Not gonna happen. House always wins."

Zoro shook his head, but Luffy could see the embarrassed smile on his first mate's face. He would listen to Usopp and Nami, then, and keep the news that Torao had been captured quiet until they knew for sure that he would need their help. Let the rest of the crew smile for now.