Missing Piece

Chapter 36

"Aye, aye, Capt." Rike's face darkened at the thought.

Law stared at the blue and yellow den den mushi, silently asking it where Charlotte had gone. Rike said he searched the entire sub and Law didn't doubt him. The problem was Rike's search was unfruitful and no one else had heard from her all day either. Not even Bepo who the hunter usually stuck to so she can relish in his soft and warm fur. An indulgence of hers that Law understood wholeheartedly.

It wasn't difficult to assess where she went. They agreed to a race to be the first to find her missing heart. It didn't matter that they were technically on the same side going for the same goal. Waiting patiently was not her strong suit, but was it so difficult to let them find it? Were they that unreliable? The thought frustrated the doctor.

Where did you go? He wondered. They didn't have extra boats and they were in the middle of the sea, far from any island and submerged in water. Law paused, glancing out at the closest porthole. The water was too bright for a tank that is supposedly deeply submerged.

"Do you think they're still there?" Charlotte questioned from the deck. The passing winds lifting purple strands into the air, mixing it with the scent of the sea. Platinum eyes glazed over at the ever rich blue before her. A breathless moment had it not been for the giant sigh escaping the skinny snail sitting between her long legs.

"They're nomadic. How am I supposed to know?" Came the languid response and Charlotte wondered if the long tentacles attachment on the snail would have mirrored Baako's earlobes if it could move. "Why do you think it's them anyway?"

Charlotte lifted her hand, black sludge dripping from her fingertip like a leaky faucet. She drew a circle against her other arm. Her skin absorbed the ink immediately. "I never forget an ability I've copied." She plunged her fingers into the marring on her skin and pulled out the bomb she had just drawn. The skin where the black circle stood empty again.

Devil Fruit abilities were unique. It wasn't possible for two users to have the same ability. Unless they were her, or the previous user had died. In that sense, Devil Fruit users had another theoretical fingerprint. The amount of time Charlotte leveraged that detail to track someone down was plenty. She didn't think that it would help her in locating her heart. Charlotte's ability to copy at touch activated automatically and she was painfully burned awake in the middle of the night. It was plain luck that she had copied an ability she already knew.

"Last I've checked, he wasn't dead."

"The brother is simply a tattoo artist now. What would a tattoo artist need a heart for?"

Charlotte made a noise in agreement. "The only person constantly with him though is her. It's more likely that the con-woman and thief have it than the brother."

"If that's true, then you're out of luck. That's not an insult to your skills. There's just no hunting a ghost. The only consistent information on her is that she's bewitchingly attractive."

"I know." Charlotte interjected and Baako whistled. Look at her, asking questions she already knew the answers to. "I don't need to track her. Just where she's been." If the leading theory of her changing her appearance ever so often is true, then that means she must dump everything that could connect to her past disguise. Charlotte's heart included. "How confident are you that she was on that island?"

Charlotte watched as the snail's lips pulled up on one side while the eyes turned into crescent slits. "Rumors has it that the island was visited by a beguiling spirit and the next day their islands relic was returned to them: a heart encased in glass."

"How long do you plan on disobeying orders for?" Law's question carried across the deck and Charlotte quickly bid the informant goodbye.

"Mm... I don't recall ever saying I was going to listen to orders." Charlotte hummed without looking back at the male now coming to stand next to her. He leaned back against the rails, looking back at the submarine instead of out towards the sea like she was.