•Black Hat•

•50•

"I HATE YOU!"

Again and again and again. The same phrase. Luffy couldn't think of anything else other than that phrase Pearl had screamed at him before she ran into the forest. Perhaps he had gone too far accusing her of using his brother. Until that moment he had never thought that he was overreacting. That explanation he had formed seemed completely logical to him. He didn't even question it once. But now as he was rethinking everything he realised that the one who ought to probably apologise was him. He had somehow made her so angry that she told him she hated him and he knew she didn't mean it.

Having a few more minutes left before the rest of the crew would arrive to leave for Whole Cake, Luffy ran into the forest as fast as he could and reached the Right Belly looking for Pearl. He would tell her that he was wrong. Apologise a million times if it was needed but he had to make up with her before leaving. As he was running he spotted Zoro and rushed towards him.

"Have you seen Pearl?" Luffy asked him. He was overly energetic and his eyes glimmered impatiently as he looked at Zoro. Zoro was quite taken aback from his question.

"What do you want her for?" He asked trying to get a hold of himself.

"I need to talk to her, I need to apologise, do you know where she is?"

The green haired man looked around nervously not knowing what to do. Luffy was his captain. He had asked him a question and he had to answer him honestly even though he knew the answer would hurt him. Pearl had asked him multiple times not to say anything to the boy but he couldn't bear it in his consciousness.

"She's with Law" he said plainly hoping that Luffy would understand.

"Alright. Thank you!"

"No wait!" Zoro said and grabbed him from his shoulder as he was ready to climb up the stairs that lead to Law's chambers. "Don't go there"

Luffy stared at him confused. "I don't have much time-!"

"What is it that you don't understand? She's sleeping with him!" Zoro spat and realizing that he had spoke a bit too loud he worriedly looked around to see if anyone had heard them. Luckily the minks had gone to treat Zunesha's wounds so they were alone.

"Sleeping?" Luffy stuttered. He couldn't understand or better he had something in mind that he didn't want to believe was what Zoro meant.

"For god's sake. They're having sex Luffy, you know what that means right-?"

"I know" he interrupted him. His eyes suddenly seemed to have lost all the life and sharpness they had had a second ago. He stared into nothing trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "Why?" He muttered eventually.

"She was waiting for him outside his door. It seemed like she had been crying, her hair was messy, her pants had been torn in various places and she asked Law if she could come in. She looked sad" Zoro confessed.

"But why?" Luffy said loudly and Zoro rushed to seal his mouth. Luffy threw his hand away "I'm going in!"

"Don't be dumb!" Zoro hissed. "You want to make a scene here where everyone can see you? These things need to be settled privately!"

"I'm going to kick the shit out of Law!" Luffy hissed but didn't scream again. "I know I hurt her with what I said. That's why I came back, to say I'm sorry why is she-!" He couldn't finish his sentence. He raised his eyes and looked at Zoro pleading for a satisfying answer.

"Come here" Zoro said and threw his arm around Luffy's shoulder. The duo began walking towards the exit of Zoo where Luffy was to meet up with Nami and the rest of them. "How well do you know the girl?" He asked his captain.

"Well enough! Better than anyone else here, why?"

Zoro bit his lip nervously. "The girl isn't right on her mind Luffy!"

"Shut up! How can you say that?!"

"Did you forget how she acted yesterday? You forgot how she pulled on her hair screaming-?"

"Stop it!" Luffy snapped and brought his hands up to cover his face. "Stop it stop it! She's not crazy!"

"It's a miracle that she's only like that after what she's been through!"

"How would you know?!"

"Luffy listen to me! You know nothing about her, let her go. Please, it's better for both you!"

"You know nothing! I love her!"

"No Luffy you're the one who knows nothing about her!" Zoro snapped and stopped walking. He moved in front of the short black haired boy and placed his hands on his shoulders. "She saw her mother being killed by her father, Kizaru the marine admiral, with her own two eyes. She ran away from him and in the end was captured by your grandfather and was locked in prison. There she was raped and exploited constantly but somehow she survived! You can't expect from her to be normal. You can't expect from her to love you. She can't, don't you see that! She's too messed up for you and for anyone else!"

Kizaru, Garp, rape! It all sounded too surrealistic to him. In the back of his head he actually remembered her fighting Kizaru back in Marineford but she had never mentioned any of these things to him. One could say he hadn't asked but that was untrue. Luffy had tried many times to make her tell him her life story but he had never succeeded. He didn't know what pained him more, the pain Pearl had been through or the fact that Zoro knew it before him. It was as if in an instant he had forgotten about Pearl sleeping with Law.

"Why do you know all this?" He asked eventually. His eyes that had began to produce tears had now taken the angry look he only wore when something frustrated him to the fullest.

"I had been bugging her for a while now, for leaving us at Sabaody and for-" sleeping with Law he was ready to say but judged that skipping that would be better since the whole situation was already bad "acting weirdly and all. And last night she was probably really drunk and sad that my comment irritated her so much to make her confess everything to me"

"But I had asked her too! So many times so many damn times!" Luffy shouted. "What's wrong, what do you mean you're protecting me, why were you in prison, are you alright, why did you leave, why did you lie, why why why why?! A million times! Why did she speak to you?! Why didn't she come to me-?"

"You ignored her because you were mad about the bounties" Zoro noticed.

"TO HELL WITH THEM I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! Even before that, in Ruskaina, in Dressrosa I kept asking. I wanted to help her, because she meant so much to me. I didn't care about her protecting me I just wanted to give her a purpose! But instead she talked to you and now she's sleeping with him!" He shouted and punched a rock behind them making it break apart.

"She wanted to protect you"

Luffy glared at him and for the first time Zoro saw him rolling his eyes while smiling sarcastically as if he was saying oh really? I'm bored of this!

"She left Sabaody because she feared that if her father who was near by at that time found her with us... actually no, if he found her with you, she would have burdened you with one more unnecessary enemy. Her father is also the reason that her bounty is so high. She's been secretly renowned between the high ups in the Marine Headquarters ever since she was eight. It's not the hat. That and her joining the crew was just an excuse for finally making her wanted all over the world"

All of the sudden Luffy understood. He felt like the puzzle had been put together and his anger had somewhat disappeared. The image of Pearl in Law's bed still stung him as the only thing he couldn't interpret. Other than that he had finally manage to find out who Pearl was and that was the only thing that mattered right then b