Aim for the Heart - Law x OC
After Marineford, a former White-beard pirate must find a new reason to travel the seas. They find a common goal with the dark Captain of the Heart pirates, but will they find more as secrets unveil and hearts open?
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Self indulgent One-Piece x OC fic that I wrote for myself but decided toshare
Read on AO3
Chapter 1: Melody Yuki
Chapter 1: Melody Yuki
They almost made it. White-Beard was dead but Ace was finally free.
They almost escaped. But that despicable Admiral, Akainu, and his poisonous words, prevented them from being together again.
That day in Marineford, the whole world changed. An era ended alongside its strongest emperor, but a new one would soon begin.
- - -
Bepo, Shachi and Penguin gasped as the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock stepped on the deck of the Polar Tang. Bewitched by her beauty, and also focused on the gigantic snake that towered beside her, they first didn’t realize that another person was standing at her side.
Once the three Heart pirates were reassured that the nearby navy ship was no threat, they finally noticed the tall and slim figure who quietly stood on the deck with the Empress. Their pale face and short messy mop of white hair felt familiar, but they couldn’t quite pinpoint where they last saw it. Striking topaz eyes like theirs should be hard to forget, but aside from deducing from their owner’s corsair outfit that they were pirate and not navy, neither of them could remember who they were facing.
“How is Luffy?” Boa Hancock asked at the same time as her companion.
A few seconds later, Trafalgar Law emerged from his ship, whipping his bloodied hands on a towel.
“I did everything I could” He said grimly.
The white-haired pirate’s face darkened while Boa Hancock’s own face lit up with hope.
“You mean he didn’t make it?” The stranger whispered gravely, but the Empress, who didn’t interpret Law’s sentence the same way asked if that meant Luffy was okay.
“We were able to stabilize him but there is no guarantee he will survive” Law announced his diagnosis and while Hancock’s expression fell, the stranger beside her sighed in relief.
“Thank you. For doing your best” The tall stranger bowed their head. They were soft spoken and respectful, a demeanour that was quite uncommon for a pirate.
Law smirked. “I would never have thought I would one day be thanked by one of White-beard’s men”
Bepo, Shachi and Penguin’s eyes switched from Law to the stranger and then back again. Their jaw dropped when they realized who stood before them.
“Yo-you’re Fire Fist’s right hand man! White Snipe, Melody Yuki!”
The pirate nodded in acknowledgement. “Indeed. It would have been a pleasure to meet you, if in other circumstances”
Melody Yuki. Bounty 50 000 000 Berries. A discrete member of White-Beard’s second division and a talented sharp shooter. Not much more was known about them as they weren’t in the top strongest men of the Emperor’s crew.
Yuki’s detachment and cool attitude clashed with the events that recently unfolded. White-beard and Ace’s recent and brutal deaths didn’t seem to affect them as much as they should.
Law eyed them more carefully and realized their presence was faint, like they were used to being discrete and go unnoticed. Their carefully put together expression probably was a mask used to hide the strong emotions that must be ragging inside them.
Soon, Ivankov and the new-kamas from Impel Down joined them, and Boa Hancock let herself be overwhelmed by sadness. She started crying, and moved to hide her face into Yuki’s shoulder.
“Poor Luffy, what a tragedy” She sobbed. Then her arms came to circle Yuki’s neck. “Sister. I am feeling so sad seeing my dear Luffy fighting at the doors of death. I cannot imagine how much your heart must be bleeding too after the loss of your beloved”
The empress cried some more, and Shachi gave Penguin an interrogative look. “Sister? What is she talking about” He whispered to his friend who shrugged, clueless. He was more surprised that Boa Hancock was allowing a man to touch her.
Yuki gently patted the Empress’s shoulder. “Like I already said Snake Princess, I am flattered but it was not like that. Ace is-” They stopped themselves and bit their trembling lips before they continued. “Ace was my best friend. And I am not your sister-in-law”
The empress ignored the comment and after a few more sobs regained her composure. The group was joined by a very badly injured Jinbei, and Boa Hancock offered to shelter them in Amazon Lilly, where Luffy could rest without risking to be found by the government.
- - -
The members of the Polar Tang’s crew were reaching their limit. They were halfway to Amazon Lilly, sailing across the Calm Belt when Luffy started thrashing and screaming in his sleep. Still unconscious, he kept calling for Ace, night and day, relentlessly, to the point where no man on the submarine could get some much needed sleep.
Law tried several medicine but to no avail. Too strong doses in his weakened state might kill Straw-hat, and he could not risk it.
Shachi kept hitting his head against the sub’s lining, hoping he would knock himself out. “I can’t do this anymore. I need to sleep or I’ll go mad” He whined while Penguin tried his best to cover his ears with his hat.
In the operating room, Law stared at Luffy, helpless. If he didn’t succeed in keeping Straw-hat quiet, he was sure to lose control of his crew. The previous day one man jumped at sea to avoid the noise, and this very morning he caught another one injecting himself with a sleeping drug. He needed them fresh and focused to help him with Luffy’s treatment, not drugged or lost at sea.
He kept racking his brain for a solution, but found none. Despite never sleeping much, the Heart Pirate’s captain himself found it difficult to concentrate after so many days of tiring medical procedures without any time to rest.
A soft knock on the door was heard between two fits of screaming.
“Enter” Law shouted to cover the noise Luffy was making.
Trafalgar was surprised to see Melody Yuki step inside the operating room. They had forgone their coat and were only dressed in a frilly white shirt and fitting brown pants with darker brown knee high laced boots. Their pistol and dagger hang at their belt and Law frowned. No weapons were normally allowed inside the operating room.
“What do you want Snipe-ya?” He cautiously asked.
“I would like to request a moment alone with Luffy”
Law raised one eyebrow. “And what for?”
His interlocutor’s calm was unsettling. They hadn’t slept either, and yet, their temper hadn’t risen or changed one bit in the last days. Despite the darker circles under their eyes, they remained cool and composed, as if their entire family never shattered in Marineford.
“I believe I could stop his mayhem, and give your crew some well deserved rest” Yuki offered, their expression determined but unreadable for Law.
“He’s still unconscious and needs constant medical monitoring. If there is something you want to try, you’ll have to tell me exactly what, and perform it before me”
Law wasn’t known to easily give his trust, and despite that pirate being a friend of the late Fire Fist, he couldn’t leave them alone with the patient he was trying so hard to save.
Silence fell inside the room as Luffy caught his breath, giving the sub’s occupants a very short break. Yuki mulled over Trafalgar’s words before they spoke again.
“Very well” They approached the operating table where Luffy was lying down, and raised a hand as if to touch him.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Law clicked his tongue, getting ready to use his power to stop them from doing anything fishy. But he stopped dead in his tracks, his heart skipping a beat when he heard them whisper.
“Calm” Yuki’s soft voice echoed with a deeper tone inside Law’s head, and in the next second, Luffy’s screams went unheard.
The Heart Pirate’s captain took a step back and had to support himself on a table full of instrumentation so he wouldn’t fall when his legs shook under him. Painful memories assaulted his mind. A radiant smile, the smell of smoke. A peace sign and three words he would never forget.
“You” He breathed, trying to look less shaken than he really was, even with cold sweat running down his back and his heart thundering in his chest. “You’re a devil fruit user?!”
Yuki inhaled deeply before acquiescing. “Indeed. I ate the Calm Calm fruit and became a soundless human being” They revealed. “I managed to hide it from the government until now. As White-Beard’s informant, avoiding all attention on me and keeping my methods a secret was vital”
Law watched them flabbergasted. He never expected to meet someone who ate the same fruit as that person who helped him so long ago, to whom he dedicated the markings on his skin and the name of his crew.
“I would appreciate if you kept my secret Captain Trafalgar. I just shared with you more than I ever shared with some of my dearest crew mates.”
There was no threat in Yuki’s tone, only a warm intensity in their big topaz eyes.
Law nodded solemnly out after he straightened up. Yuki just saved his crew from falling into insanity. He had no use for their secret. Or at least he saw no use to it yet. Yuki seemed doubtful about his sincerity so he verbally confirmed his approbation. “You have my word”
Yuki gave him a faint smile. The curve of their lips giving their face a more juvenile air. Despite them being part of the late Emperor’s crew, Law wasn’t sure they were much older than himself.
“The word of a pirate… This will have to do. I’ll hold you to it Captain Trafalgar”
Law wasn’t used to be addressed so respectfully. Yuki’s way with words gave him a strange feeling of unease. One that felt familiar but that he couldn’t explain or put his finger on. It was annoying.
Yuki sat crossed legged on the floor, back resting against the wall. “I will stay awake so the effect of my power won’t fade away. You should rest. You look terrible”
Were they trying to be kind, or were they trying again to be left alone with Luffy? Law could not tell. The dark shadows under Trafalgar’s eyes were larger than ever, but he would never allow himself to rest with such an important patient under his care. He was glad his crew could finally get some sleep, but he wouldn’t be joining them. Letting himself slide against the wall, he sat down opposite from the former White-Beard pirate.
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead”
- - -
A few days later, the Polar Tang safely accosted the shores of Amazon Lilly. It was decided that since males weren’t allowed in Amazon Lilly, all the foreigners would stay in a small cove east of the island.
Luffy had calmed down, his thrashing turning into a more peaceful sleep when the previous day Law finally deemed him stable enough to increase the dose of the sedatives he was pumping into him without risking to kill him.
Upon leaving the Heart Pirates and Jinbei, Boa Hancock invited Yuki to follow her back to her castle.
“Would you care for a bath and some refreshments? You must be exhausted after all the hardships you had to endure” The Pirate Empress showed them a kindness that was unusual of her, and that detail did not go unnoticed.
“Hehhhhhhhhhhhhh” Shachi and Penguin protested.
“Why does he alone get to go inside Maiden Island?!” Shachi complained.
“That’s unfair, I thought all men were forbidden. Even Captain who’s a doctor can’t go!” Penguin added, visibly frustrated.
The Pirate Empress turned to them, sending her scariest glare their way.
“You imbeciles! How dare you insult my dear sister-in-law of being a disgusting male?!”
Beside her, Yuki looked jaded upon being called ‘sister in law’ “Like I said. It’s not like that”
“Again with the sister thing? What’s that about?!” Penguin asked, albeit with a stutter caused by the Empress’ intimidating aura of wrath.
“Pathetic” Hancock scoffed. “You lowly men are not even capable of recognising a maiden when you see one!” Boa Hancock pointed at the two men, looking down on them in her signature pose. “Shame on you. Fools:”
A beat of silence, then a second. Then, the Heart Pirates all shouted in unison. “Melody Yuki is a woman?!”
“I am indeed” Yuki simply answered, nodding her head, and the pirates fell to their knees from that unexpected revelation.
“The world truly is strange and mysterious” Shachi commented to his crewmates.
Law who was watching the exchange with a calculating eye analysed the former White-beard pirate more closely.
Her slim and tall stature was androgynous and her delicate facial features could be called boyish more than girly. But a more professional and medically trained eye, once forewarned, could detect the more feminine curve of her calves, the softer edges of her muscled thighs, as well as the larger width of her hips compared to her shoulders. Even if she was lacking in feminine assets in the chest area, she was definitely female. What an interesting twist.
A secret devil-fruit user and a woman in disguise. It seemed Melody Yuki was full of surprises.
Link to chapter 2