My eyes widen in panic. All morning I've been in a frenzy, trying to get to class on time and do things right. I just found out yesterday that the better you do, the faster you can leave. I've been here for three months now — the Academy's still being haunted.

I run through the hallways in the main castle, bumping into people. I accidentally push someone into the wall and another boy into a door which opens and he falls inside. I take a quick glance at him and let out a snicker. He fell into the girls bathroom.

I turn my attention back to my destination and ignore everyone else around me. I dash down the hallway, turning around the corner, trying to get to Shank's class. But I slam right into a person.

I fall, eyes bugging out in shock, and brace myself for the impact with the floor. Instead I feel myself standing upright, my feet balanced evenly on the ground. But an arm is wrapped around my waist. I gaze up into gold/grey eyes that look equally as surprised as I am.

Law.

I immediately step back, glaring at the him but a bit flustered. "Move."

"Sorry." He says quietly, stepping to the side, turning his head away. But I see his red face and look at him in confusion.

Well, this is awkward.

And is he blushing?

I shake off my thoughts and look at him once more, a cold look in my eyes. "Where're you off to anyway?"

"Training and Strategy with Shanks." He says coolly, regaining his composure as well.

I raise an eyebrow and point down the way he was coming from. "You know his class is over there, right?"

"I wanted to go to the library to study medical books." He responds swiftly. "My time here is decreased every time I help someone at the infirmary. I offered to work there along with Chopper-ya earlier this school year. The staff and faculty have let us."

"Yeah well, I better get to class." I say, walking away. I stride down the hall but hear footsteps behind me. I glance at him. "Not going to the library?"

"I've been skipping class for months now. I might as well go now rather than never." He shrugs.

"That explains why I've never seen you in Training and Strategy before." I reply thoughtfully.

We walk into class right on time. Shanks sits at his desk, feet propped up on the table. A book covers his face and his snoring can be heard. Exasperated, I walk up to him and kick his chair over. He lands on the floor with a thud.

"Ow." He whines, his chair on his legs. He looks around groggily. "What's going on?" His eyes finally meet mine, my face angry. He gulps. "Hey, (Y/N). How's it going?"

"Shut up and teach, Old Man."

"Got it!" He says cheerfully, getting up and fixing his chair.

I roll my eyes and slide into my desk, Law taking the seat beside me and Luffy occupying the other.

"Oi, (Y/N)!" Luffy smiles goofily. "We're going to the Arcademia after. Come with us."

"Okay." I smile a bit at him.

Shanks clears his throat, his eyes trained on me. "Today we're going to be fighting beasts. But you have to come up with a way to defeat them. I'm telling you now, they're as smart as humans and they've eaten SMILE fruits."

"Where exactly are these beasts?" Someone asks.

"Have you ever wondered why there's a tall barbed wire fence surrounding the school?" Shanks asks, a grin on his face.

~

There's a girl screaming. Actually, it's more like the screeching of a banshee.

It's Shanks.

All the beasts chased after him and now he's cornered. He was stupid and forgot to bring his sword. He already used Haki twice but there are too many of them. But I know he can still defeat them easily. I can tell that's he's trying to see if anyone else is able to defeat them and 'save' him.

It's a test.

I stand on a high up tree, the height making me a bit dizzy causing a slight dull headache to form. But I ignore it and focus on Shanks. Most of the students were too terrified to fight. They're 'smallfries' anyway, making me wonder how they made it to this school for delinquents. But they ran off back onto campus. I suspect they'll have their time here extended.

Getting expelled from this school is impossible. Either improve, or stay here longer and suffer. Or you can escape like I'm planning to.

I stand up on the tree, leaning against the trunk looking at Shanks with an amused expression. After a few minutes of his annoying, girly shrieking which continues to make my headache worse, I sigh.

Guess I have to go 'save' him.

I swing around the trees deftly and leap until I'm on the ground, in the middle, surrounded by beasts and standing next to Shanks. I look at him with an annoyed expression. "Too old to fight, Old Man?"

He glares at me. "No," he says in a childish voice, crossing his arms.

I shake my head. "Well I guess I'm here to 'save' you. What happened to your students that were supposed to fight the beast? Weren't you supposed to observe us from afar and not pretend to act like your weak?" I ask.

"It was a trick." He beams. "I'm seeing how people would react. I'm rooting out the cowards and the strong ones. This is training right now. After this, the strategic classes will begin." He explains. "All the cowards will be kicked out of my class and they'll have their time here extended."

So I was right.

"What about Law and Luffy?" I ask, my brows furrowing in confusion.

He grins. "They've already fought a lot of these beasts on the opposite side of the forest."

I sigh, turning to face the wild animals. A dangerous look crosses my eyes as I grab the hilt of my dagger, my hair cascading down as I pull the small knife out.

"Well, let's get this over with."

~

"Why the hell did you even become a teacher?!" I scream at him, looking at the beaten and bloodied students in horror.

After the whole 'defeat the beasts' fiasco, the majority of the students are now severely injured. They're currently being carried to the infirmary where Law and Chopper have already immediately rushed off to treat them.

I hold Shanks by the collar, anger in my eyes. "To protect Luffy of course!" He replies cheerfully, despite the fact that he might meet my wrath.

I shake my head, letting go of his collar. "Let me guess, Mihawk is here to watch over Zoro's progress? I heard Zoro trained with him for two years. And Dragon is here to see how his son is doing." I say. "Additionally, Sabo must be here with Dragon and to see Luffy and Ace."

Shanks nods. "Basically. We don't trust Doflamingo. We're gonna beat him up soon. But we want to spend time with Luffy and the others a little longer." He replies. "We have lives to get back to, you know. We can't stay here that long."

I shake my head in disbelief. "You guys are unbelievable. But I guess it makes sense." I admit.

"Oh!" He suddenly says, a grin lighting his face. "Another reason is for the money."

"Money?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Obviously to buy alcohol!"

"Seriously?"

"(Y/N)!" A voice shouts, interrupting our conversation.

Both of us turn our heads to see Luffy running up to us. "Are we still going to the Arcademia?" He asks, his wide innocent eyes boring into mine.

"Sure." I say, my lips quirking up into a small smile.

"Then let's go!" He laughs, grabbing my hand and leading me into the forest.

"Can I come too?" Shanks calls, his voice hopeful.

"No, Old Man." I scowl. "You're too old. Besides, if you know about the secret Arcade, shouldn't you have already told someone?"

"I go there sometimes." He pouts. "Just because I'm a teacher, it doesn't mean I'm strict!" He defends himself.

I shake my head, a small laugh escaping me.

The people here sure are weird.

~

I jam a coin into the coin slot and sit down in the seat. Luffy sits beside me and we both put our hands on the wheel in front of us. My eyes stay fixated on the screen as the countdown begins.

Three...

I tap my foot impatiently.

Two...

Luffy eats a chunk of meat.

One...

Both of us lift our foot above the pedal each of us have.

Go!

I slam my foot on the pedal forcefully, determination in my eyes. I zoom forward, currently in the lead, Luffy not far behind. I turn the steering wheel.

Left.

Right.

Straight.

Upside down.

Wait what?

I look down and see that I'm nearly pulling the wheel off the machine. Hastily, I jam it back in and miraculously, it continues to work. I focus my eyes on the screen again.

Luffy's ahead of me.

His red ship sails on ahead, going into more dangerous waters. I smirk.

Didn't you see the warning sign, Luffy?

I veer right onto more calmer waters but come upon a trench. I huff out a breath, obviously annoyed but sail my way through it.

I come to a dead end.

Irritated, I go back and take the same route as Luffy. But I'm too late.

He won.

He jumps out of his seat, cheering and chomping on meat. I frown at him.

"You cheated." I lie.

"I didn't!" He exclaims indignantly, food still in his mouth, his cheeks puffed out.

I can't help but burst into laughter at his expression. "I know you didn't, silly." I manage to gasp in between fits of laughter.

Kid passes by us, an annoyed look on his face. "What're you laughing about?"

"Nothing." I reply swiftly, my laughter dying out. I glare at him.

He glances at the game. "I'll beat you." He shoves Luffy off the seat but the rubber boy's too busy eating to care as Kid sits down.

"The person who loses gets pie in face. Deal?" I say randomly.

"Deal. I'll win obviously." He says smugly.

~

He lost.

Luffy and I start laughing hysterically after I shove pie in his face. We're literally rolling around on the floor, clutching our stomachs making weird dolphin noises.

"Shishsishi." Luffy laughs, calming down.

I continue to laugh like a dying whale.

Kid's face turns beet red, similar to his hair. "S-shut up!" He yells, flustered.

I grin at him. "Your face was priceless."

"Whatever." He grumbles, storming out of the building.

I shake my head, regaining my composure. I turn to Luffy. "It's late now. I'm leaving."

"Bye!" He says enthusiastically, going to look for Sanji, wanting to ask him for meat.

I shake my head.

Like I've said before, the people here sure are weird.

~

I punch him.

Hard.

He looks at me shocked, clutching his stomach. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong?" I fume. "You just stabbed me!" I scream, gesturing towards the bleeding wound in my arm.

"It was an accident!" Law says, narrowing his eyes at me. "You got in the way."

I take my dagger out of my hair, furious. A venomous look in my eyes. "Well why don't I accidentally stab you too?"

He backs away. "Are you crazy, (Y/N)-ya?!" He holds his sword deftly in his hand, a bit of my blood trickling off the tip of the sharp blade.

"Maybe I am!"

"Stop!" A voice shouts. Shanks runs in between us, glaring at the both of us. "What's going on here?"

"He stabbed me, that's what!" I screech, pointing my dagger, carelessly at Law.

"It was an accident!" He defends himself.

"How exactly was it an accident?" Shanks asks, just as bewildered as I am.

"I was fighting Eustass-ya but he ran off as soon as I stabbed (Y/N)-ya who came in the way to stop us." Law replies smoothly.

Shanks looks at him weirdly. "Is this your way of trying to make friends?" He says, gesturing to my stab wound.

"N-no!" Law stammers, his cheeks heating up. He looks at me and my bleeding arm and I notice guilt flash through his eyes. But it leaves as fast as it came. "I'll help you with that."

He walks over and takes me by my good arm, leading me towards the infirmary and leaving Shanks behind us. I try to yank my arm back but he doesn't let go. I scowl angrily at the back of his head the entire way.

"Sit." He commands.

Mumbling profanities, I obey and take a seat on the infirmary bed.

He gently rolls up my sleeve and I wince a bit. I look down and see a bloody arm with shredded skin. I look away.

He gets to work, disinfecting and cleaning it. But by the time he wipes the blood away he frowns.

"Why is the wound smaller now,
(Y/N)-ya?" He asks, completely confused.

"Because it was small." I answer, rolling my eyes. "You didn't stab me that deep, Law."

He shrugs it off stitching and bandaging it up anyway. I watch him the entire time as he wraps my arm with precision, making sure the bandage isn't too tight or too lose. He finally finishes.

"Thanks." I say, getting up.

He starts putting the medical supplies away. "I'm just repaying you."

"For what?" I ask, furrowing my brows.

"For stabbing you of course."

"Well, I'm leaving now." I say, stretching.

"Okay." He replies, still busy.

I frown at him but make my way towards the door. "And Law?"

"Yes, (Y/N)-ya?"

"You know, if you want to be friends, you could've just asked."

I see him freeze and smirk.

I didn't interfere in any battle. Kid wasn't even there. I was walking to class when he suddenly stabbed me by 'accident'. Anyways, knowing Kid, he would never run away from a battle. Especially from a battle with Law.

"I'll see you in Training and Strategy with Shanks tomorrow." I wave him goodbye and walk off onto the campus and towards my dorm.

I guess I've have been opening up a bit too much. Why am I trusting people I just recently met?

They'll just hurt me.

Memories flash through my head in a whirlwind leaving me dizzy as I walk down the hall.

I won't let that happen again.

But having a little fun wouldn't hurt.

Right?

Oh god, what is this place doing to me?

✥

A/N

New chapter!

(⌒▽⌒)

Sorry for putting it up later than I said.
But hey! Good news!
I finished writing some the big chapters with the main action!
So you can't yell at me.

Σ(￣。￣ﾉ)ﾉ

The next chapter is already completed. I made it before this chapter - I know that's weird but oh well. I decided to make this another filler chapter because I think the story's going too fast.

But the next chapter is really when everything begins!

o(^▽^)o

And I really don't feel all that good about this chapter.

>~<

I don't think I displayed Law's personality well.
Any tips?

Comment

Vote!

Question:
Too rushed?
Sorry.

~ mwzxxx

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NEXT UPDATE: FRIDAY
(Not tomorrow. Next week on June 24, 2016.)