Carved

Choices

As we broke off the stare, I heard him walking to my aisle. He turned to me and smirked.

"What's a Vice Admiral doing here alone?"
He said.

I stopped myself from answering as I saw Eric is walking behind Trafalgar.

"She's not alone, actually."
Eric appeared behind him with a sigh.

This took the surgeon aback as he didn't notice Eric's presence.

"Can't a Vice Admiral enjoy her day looking through books?"
I raised an eyebrow in amusement, returning my focus towards the books.

He must be thinking I'm here to catch his ass.

"Medicinal herbs?"
Now he's raising an eyebrow.

"Is that a problem?"
I sighed as I gave the book I took out earlier to Eric.

Then I walked past Trafalgar to the next aisle.

"I've never seen a Marine meeting me without pointing their guns at me."
He commented, leaning his weight to the shelf.

"I don't use guns. Moreover, my fleet is not here to catch you."
I said as I continued to eye the books in front of me.

"And why should I believe that?"
He asked, now losing his smirk.

"If I'm lying, your bear right there would be either captured, or dead already."
I glanced at the sleeping polar bear.

He stayed silent before smirking once more.

What's with him?

I rolled my eyes and continue on searching for what I needed.

After a while, I finally got all that I needed and went to the cashier to pay. There I saw Law still following me around. But now with his bear awake. He even paid for his tower of books after I paid for mine.

I thought once I'm done shopping for books, he would stop following me, but he didn't. He followed me and Eric into a restaurant. Even sat with us, making it super weird.

But I ignored their presence and just eat my lunch while talking about something trivial with Eric.

"When will the pose set?"
I asked him.

"Tomorrow morning it seems. Where should we spend the night, Chujo?"
He asked.

"We'll spend the night in the ship. I don't want to trouble the local office with our accommodation."
I sighed.

"Alright, I'll inform the others."
Eric stood from his seat and head outside to contact the others.

Now I'm left alone in the middle of these two pirates. The looks I received from the locals are obvious. It's very weird to see a Marine Vice Admiral sitting together, having a meal with two pirates.

"Why are you staring at me?"
I said as my attention is still on my food.

"You're interesting, Chujo-ya."
He showed a small smile.

"Because I didn't try to capture you and your crew?"
I lightly scoffed.

"You can say that."
He shrugged.

"Then I have to say you better be careful, surgeon. Once the higher ups heard about us being on the same island, the order might come to me."
Now I finally looked into his eyes.

We continued the stare down, none felt intimidated by the other. I guess he thought that I was joking about not capturing him unless there's an order. Of course I'm not.