Missing Piece

Chapter 37

"This is your great hunting skills? What a letdown." Cole exclaimed. He, Penguin, and Shachi decided to tag along out of curiosity to watch the great huntress at work. Cole, more so, to see just how damn efficient the huntress can be. He was still sore what happened at Fishman Island. He hoped it would be more entertaining than what he witnessed so far though. He eyed the still ever-present bandages. He was not worried. "Oh, wait, now I see the difference: a sane person wouldn't even bother asking such an insane question and expect a coherent response."

"If all you're going to do is mock the way I do things then you can get lost." Charlotte retorted, annoyed. "What are you guys doing here anyway? I thought you were certain my heart was on a stupid winter island." What was the point of that dramatic departure if they were just going to come along?

Law eyed her condition, relying on his sight seeing as how she threatened to destroy all the medical equipment aboard if they tied her back to the ECG. Her skin was a healthy color and breathing even. She looked fine. But he knew that her condition could change at any moment. And it worried him. It wasn't safe for her to be alone. "I thought we were racing. With how certain you are about your heart being here, how could I possible forgo that." He said instead. Not that he was going to admit his worries to the hunter.

She rolled her eyes at the comment. "Can't you guys like scatter or something if you're going to be around? You're drawing too much attention!"

"Does it really matter if all you're going to do is straight up and ask someone: 'hey, I'm looking for a heart. Where can I get one?' As if anyone's going to have an answer for that." Cole threw his arms behind his head as he rambled on, ignoring the growing annoyance of a certain violet-haired female.

Just as Charlotte was about to strangle the man, a small girl with ink-black hair and scarlet-red eyes tugged on Cole's pant's leg. "Are you looking for a heart, Mister?"

"Um... excuse me?"

"If you're looking for a heart, I know where you can get one." She beamed.

The pirates exchange glances. Did they just hear her right? She did say heart, right? Like a live beating human heart. Like it was a normal everyday conversational topic and not some kind of morbid experimental surgery gone wrong that no one wanted to talk about, no matter how hard Law wanted to bring the topic up. This little girl wouldn't happen to be like a miniature female Law, would she? The Hearts wondered simultaneously.

"Y-you're talking about a beating, working heart... right? Not one of those hearts that people draw—" The little girl nodded, smile still on her face.

She was!

"He's not looking for one, but I am." Charlotte interjected, giving Cole a quick see-what-did-I-tell-you look. "Do you really know where I can find a heart? Can you show me where?"

The girl nodded quickly, shaking her head up and down furiously and quickly grabbed Charlotte's hand, leading her away.

"Are you sure it's safe for the small girl to be walking off with Charlotte, a known bounty hunter?"

"Don't you mean, is it safe for medically-inept Charlotte to be walking off with a six years-old who talks about displaced body organs like it is the weather?"

The group's antics stopped short when Law stepped forward, silently following Charlotte and the unnamed child. "C-Captain, are you sure it's safe to go?" Law didn't respond. He didn't have to for them to get the message: are you really scared of six years old? "Ah, Captain! Wait for us!"

Grebbon's Heartery? Charlotte mused as she read the skinny white letters hanging off the front of the antique-style smithery the little girl brought them to. The little store was cramped, almost every inch of space was covered by some heart-shaped décor or metal casing of some sort. Equipment and the likes stood on the far side, divided by some sort of reinforced glass.