Dark Ties: A One Piece Romance (Law x Reader)

Chapter 6: Surgeon of Death

"..."

"..."

A silver-haired woman sat up in her bed in deep concentration with a hand of poker cards. Across from her sat a fuzzy polar bear staring with determined button eyes. Intense silence filled the room as the bear waited for her move. 

"......"

"........."

Her cards smacked against the table revealing her hand. "Four queens! Quads!" She announced feeling quite victorious. She crossed her arms wearing a gloating smile waiting to hear the bear admit defeat. "Beat that!"

A star sparkled in the bear's eye, and with a slap of his cards against the table he secured his victory. "Straight Flush!"

"What?! There's no way!!" She cried in utter shock. Ash's head fell in her hands as the bear scooped up his winnings of fish crackers. Upon seeing the girl so upset though, his smug attitude did a one-eighty. "I'm sorry."

She sighed and calmed herself. "No Bepo, you beat me fair and square." She giggled. "Don't apologize, silly."

"Oh, alright. I'm sorry."

Ash's face dead-panned after hearing his apology yet again. "Bepo...you just apologized again."

"AHH!" He shouted. "I'm sorry!"

"...You just did it again."

"AHHH!!" He fell to the floor scratching at his head in complete and utter confusion, making Ash burst with laughter. She slapped her knees as Bepo had an existential crisis on the floor.

Ash wiped her eyes of tears, "Bepo you are hopeless, you know that?"

"Ugh..." Animated squiggles sprung up from his head in defeat. "I know..."

Ash crouched down and patted his soft and fuzzy head. "Cheer up, there's nothing wrong. You just gotta be more confident! Show me your game face!"

Bepo rose his head and flashed his pointy teeth with a silly face. "Grr!"

"There you go! Love it! Now let's play another round!"

It had been around a week since Ash boarded the ship of the infamous Heart Pirates. She now knows that their ship's name is the Polar Tang thanks to Bepo, who has also been keeping her company during her recovery. He told her that their ship was a special one, and can rise and fall under the sea. On occasion, Bepo would take her to a window to watch the fish swim by.

Several other crew members have been rotating taking shifts to track her progress with healing. The others have been kind as well, but Bepo's sweet and goofy personality had captured her heart. She has spent her time drawing portraits of the crew members as they stood post with her. It was nice that they all seemed to enjoy her work.

Ash glanced down at her hand that held her next hand of cards. Strangely, her hand that had been completely broken was good as new. This morning her cast was taken off, and she could move her fingers with ease. No cuts or stitches either...

"You know, it's incredible your captain fixed my hand...I thought it'd have to be removed. It was dreadfully smashed in the shipwreck. How'd he do it?"

"Our captain is the best doctor you'll ever meet!" Bepo's face lit up. "But also, our captain has a devil fruit power that helped too."

"Your captain is a devil fruit user?" Ash looked at the bear playing cards with astonishment. She had experiences with devil-fruit users but had never seen one of the fruits themselves before.

Bepo continued to smile, "Mhm! He ate the op-op fruit, so he has incredible abilities to manipulate space."

"M-manipulate space?" A sweat drop formed on Ash's temple. "That's absurd! You're telling me that guy can control space?"