Chapter 11: Poison

"Really? really? you're not pranking me right now right?"

Law let out a soft chuckle before fixing his hat on his head. He looked one more time at Yulie. She was wearing their crew's white overalls for a while now but this time she had tied up the upper portion of it on her waist leaving only a black turtle neck shirt on top. It took Law some time to get used to her wearing their overalls without him wanting to rip every fabric off of Yulie and lock her inside his bedroom.

Seeing her wear them made him hope that she'd want to stay on the crew so he had let her use them as much as she liked.

"Come on, you should explore the island once in a while"

He had lent out his hand to her to which she had gladly took. Yulie had already been feeling restless cooped up inside the Polar Tang. She had always hated that feeling, she wanted to be out in the open and have her feet on the ground. Law noticed this and instantly asked her out so they could look around the area. He also wanted to spend a little bit of alone time with her. His crew had made it a habit to drag around Yulie during the morning. They said Law can't hog Yulie all day since she was already sleeping in his quarters. 

Yulie was beyond ecstatic to see the island, she knew that there were different islands with different trades and products but she never imagined them to be plenty. She had walked or rather dragged Law to every store they passed by with the latter just bearing with it. 

He didn't want to stop Yulie, not when he can see how she was enjoying herself. 

"Is this your first time seeing these?"

Law pointed at the bottled maple syrups that were the primary trade around the island. Yulie looked at him and nodded.

"I knew what they were because Makino had them in her recipe books but I've never seen them in real life except for now"

"Makino?"

"Ohh that's the name of the barkeeper that looked after us in the island"

"So you grew up with her?"

"Well not exactly"

Law tilted his head in confusion to which Yulie just laughed at.

"I grew up with everyone in the village and the mountains looking after me. Since grandpa was always away and well, so did my dad. Ace grew up with the mountain bandits before Luffy and I joined them there after years on the village"

"I didn't know that"

"Well, Luffy wasn't the type to tell stories about this and that. All that idiot cares about is food and being a pirate"

Law laughed at this. Yulie smiled when she saw Law's genuine laugh. She knew just how rare Law's laugh was and she was proud of herself for being almost the only person who could make him laugh like that.

"Mugiwara-ya certainly didn't had a knack for telling stories"

"So… do you still hate him?"

"No offense love, but your brother is annoying"

Yulie laughed at Law's honest remark, she found it intriguing how Law could point out exactly what part of Luffy was annoying but he would never answer her honestly if he hated him or not. Not that Yulie ever pointed that one out.

"Oh right, let's look for books"

"More books love?"

"They may have some rare ones"

Yulie excitedly explains before he tugged on Law's hands. Law found himself almost pulling Yulie into him and kissing her. He couldn't understand how he always find himself on the brink of insanity whenever Yulie touches him. She was driving him insane and he can't even think of a solution for it. 

Yulie intertwined her fingers into Law's before walking alongside him. She looked at their hands before looking at Law who was looking around too. No one in the island seemed to know who he was because no one was whispering about him being a pirate and something like that.

"What about you?"

"What about me love?"

Yulie treaded carefully before she said her next sentences.

"Can I ask about your family and childhood?"

Law finally looked at her, his eyes wild, like he had just been shot in the back. But when he saw Yulie's worried look, he understood that Yulie didn't have any malice behind her words.

"Do you genuinely wanna know?"

Yulie fiddled with their fingers before nodding at him.

"I want to know more about you, but, if you aren't ready yet then I can always know some day"

Yulie smiled at Law which made the lad's heart beat profusely. Eventhough she was curious about him, she was still giving him the time and space in case he didn't want to talk about it, and Law was thankful that the person he fell in love with was a kind one. He finally pulled Yulie into a half hug before placing a kiss on top of her head. Yulie could feel her face heating up from the sudden display of affection by the lad.

"Thank you for understanding"

And that was when Yulie realized that Law's past was a heavy burden for him that he might never talk about. She let out a sigh before hugging Law back tightly.

"You can tell me someday then"

Law stared at Yulie and wondered. Does she realized that once we get to Elbaf we'll have to separate? When she said someday when exactly could she mean?

He was about to ask her when the nearby store's brick wall shattered just in time for Law to shield Yulie from the flying debris.

"Wha—"

"Trafalgar Law let's have your head"

Law clicked his tongue when he realized that he should've known there were bound to be bandits and pirates in this area too. Ironically, his first thought was to protect Yulie only to find her looking seriously at the pirates rushing towards them.

"Law, do you know them?"

Law shook his head at her and was ready to pummel down the pirates when Yulie opened her satchel bag and spread her arms upfront. She was muttering something under her breath and in an instant her butterflies flew towards the pirates.

If Law hadn't trained his Haki, he wouldn't have noticed how the tiny butterflies went and pierced the pirates who in turn one by one stopped running and fell to the ground. In an instant the pirates were on the ground, unconscious with a purplish bruise on their skin.

Law looked at Yulie who recalled her butterflies and closed her satchel bag.

"How?"

He disbelievingly stared at Yulie who was still calm and composed after what had just happened. Yulie looked at Law and smiled proudly before saying.

"Poison Butterflies"