Chapter Text
The sea had a way of blurring time. Days bled into weeks, weeks into months, until you couldn’t remember when you’d first stepped aboard the Polar Tang. You weren’t sailing for a long time, the five of you, but all you knew was that it felt like home now.
It was an evening like any other. Law sat in the corner with his book, pretending not to listen. Bepo was curled on the rug, sipping tea, and Penguin sprawled with his legs thrown across the arm of a chair.
Shachi leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at Penguin, who had just finished bragging about his date with a bargirl on the last island you had stopped at.
“So, you got your first kiss already, huh?” His voice was teasing, though the jealousy was hard to miss.
Penguin smirked, tugging at the brim of his hat. “What can I say? Some of us have charm.”
“Unbelievable,” Shachi muttered. His eyes slid over to you. “What about you? Have you had your first kiss?”
The room suddenly felt warmer. You shifted in your seat, every pair of eyes turning your way. “Uh… no.”
Shachi’s grin spread like fire. “Wanna do it together?”
Penguin nearly choked on his drink. “Shachi—!”
“No!” you blurted, face heating.
“Why not?” Shachi shot back instantly, leaning closer. “Better one of us than some stranger, right?”
“Still no.”
Shachi groaned dramatically, collapsing against the back of the couch. “Fine, fine. But if you had to, just hypothetically—who would you kiss? Me, Penguin, or…?” He jerked his chin toward the room, eyes full of mischief.
“I’m not answering that,” you said, folding your arms.
“Come on,” Shachi whined, dragging the word out.
Bepo tilted his head curiously. “Why don’t you just answer him? It seems easier.”
“Bepo!” you gasped, betrayed.
Across the room, Law closed his book with a snap. “Shachi,” he said flatly, his tone carrying the weight of command, “stop harassing the crew.”
Shachi raised his hands in mock surrender, not even bothering to hide his big grin. “I’m not doing anything. Just asking questions.”
It was quiet for a moment, and you dared to hope he’d given up. But it was Shachi—of course he wasn’t ready to let it go. His smile widened even more as he exchanged a quick, conspiratorial look with Penguin. Then, just as suddenly, his attention snapped back to you.
“Would you kiss our dear captain, then?”
You arched a brow, meeting his challenge head-on. “Better him than you. At least he’d keep quiet about it, unlike you. You’d hold it over my head for the rest of my life.”
Penguin burst out laughing, nearly tipping his chair backward. “They’ve got you there!”
Even Bepo snorted into his tea, ears twitching with amusement. Law didn’t even bother to comment, though he went through the motions of pretending his book held all his attention—an obvious performance, if anyone cared to notice.
Gradually, the conversation drifted away, but not from your mind.
Later, you found yourself sitting beside Law on one of the deep, worn couches tucked into a quiet corner of the submarine's library. You could feel his shoulder brushing against yours from time to time as he turned the pages. You ought to be reading too, letting your mind drift along with the words on the page, but your attention was elsewhere.
Finally you broke the silence, your voice low enough that you weren’t sure you wanted it heard. “Have you?”
He didn’t even look up. “Have I what?”
“You know.” You could feel your pulse in your throat now. “A first kiss.”
He closed the book he had been holding, set it carefully on the table beside him, and shook his head once. “I haven’t.”
“Oh.” You pressed the book harder into your lap, as if clinging to it could steady the sudden rush of your heartbeat. You forced yourself to look anywhere but at him, tracing the lines of the metal floor with your eyes.
“Why so surprised?”
“I… I’ve seen women approach you sometimes,” you admitted, your fingers tightening around the edges of the book, “and—objectively—you’re… good- looking.”
“You think so?”
“It’s a fact.”
“Well…” He leaned back slightly, stretching one arm along the back of the couch, keeping his gaze fixed somewhere past you. “…you’re good-looking too. So why haven’t you kissed anyone? I saw a guy approach you lately.” He threw back at you.
“I don’t know.” The words left your lips, tasting surprisingly honest. “I’ve had… opportunities. But it never felt right. It feels… intimate. Maybe I overthink it. I want it to be a sweet memory, you know? I can’t imagine that from a stranger. And yet… I’m curious. What’s the big deal? Aren’t you curious?”
“I guess.”
“Yeah.” Your fingers toyed with the edge of your sleeve, nervously twisting the fabric. Then, almost before you could think better of it, you leaned slightly closer. “Wanna do it… together—”
The words tumbled out, reckless and earnest. Immediately, your brain tripped over them. “Fuck—shit. Forget I asked. That was stupid. Just—leave it, alright?”
Law’s mouth twitched, the ghost of something like a smile. “No. We can, if you truly want to.”
“Wait—really?”
“Yeah.” His answer was short and decisive. “We can learn. No judgment.”
“I do trust you the most, but…wouldn’t that be weird? We’re friends.”
“I don’t think it has to be weird if we don’t make it weird.” Law’s voice was calm. Impassive even. Like it wasn’t a big deal at all. “Right?”
“Right.” The word came out small but certain.
You leaned in, expecting the touch of lips. You braced yourself, uncertain how to move forward, a wave of panic rising—had you even brushed your teeth? What if you were terrible? Embarrassingly terrible? Would he still be able to be your friend?
Maybe it was the stupidest idea you had. Asking your best friend for a kiss.
Law’s golden eyes met yours, and then, with a movement that was almost teasing in its brevity, he brushed his fingers across your knuckles as if sealing the promise.
“Alright.” He stood. “Let’s do it soon.”
The words were spoken like a plan, like a ship’s course to be set. Like he just finished crew’s meeting. Then he left the library in long, purposeful strides.
You stayed frozen, the lamp making a halo around the space where he’d been. His retreating footsteps echoed down the corridor, and a thousand questions swarmed in the silence he left behind—what soon meant, what this would change, whether you were ready.
The island had been a safe place and offered you a surprisingly peaceful day. You wondered why Law decided to visit it, still expecting him to announce a secret mission. Or for Shachi, Penguin and Bepo to run to you with some trouble.
But instead you tagged along Law, who seemed unusually relaxed while he led you to another market stall or a hidden garden demanding attention. You had laughed more than you had in months, eaten too much at a seaside tavern, and watched the sun fold itself into the ocean until the sky rinsed itself in violet while you two walked along the coast.
Then he looked at you and asked, gentle and almost shy for him, “So, do you still want to have your first kiss with me?”
You blinked, the memory of the library and the promise and the way his fingers had brushed your knuckles morphing into the present.
“I thought you forgot about it.”
“I didn’t.” He met your eyes with that careful attention he reserved for maps and plans and things he meant to follow through on. “I wanted to make it nicer for you.”
It sounded almost ridiculous—Law being deliberately, unabashedly considerate—and yet he was. He whisked you away to a beautiful island, indulged you with food and anything your heart desired, and now led you on a walk through breathtaking scenery.
“Wow. That’s awfully and—kinda weirdly nice of you.”
He shrugged, a tiny, almost embarrassed movement that said more than the words. “I did what I could.”
“You did make it nice. Really.”
“Shall we?”
You nodded. “Yeah.”
When he leaned in, it was slow, uncharacteristically hesitant, as if he were just as nervous as you. His hand settled at the back of your neck, and your own came to rest against his chest. For a heartbeat the world narrowed to the press of his lips and the murmur of the sea. The kiss was tender enough to make your heart race, yet gentle enough to feel comforting.
When you pulled back, you found his eyes on yours.
“Well,” you murmured, “that felt nice.”
“Yeah,” he said, and there was a small, pleased sound in it.
“Can we—never mind.”
“No. Go on.” He sounded impatient now in the best way.
“Can we try again?” you asked. “Longer… maybe?”
So he did. The second kiss lost the careful testing of the first and settled into something more exploratory. You dared to deepen the kiss by slowly brushing your tongue against his. He responded, losing all hesitation, meeting you as best he could.
It wasn’t flawless, and you still didn’t quite know what you were doing, yet in its imperfection, it was exactly how you would want your first time kissing to be.
“Thank you,” you said when you parted, because it felt like the only thing that encompassed everything—not only for the kiss but also for the way he had chosen to make it a sweet memory. Just like you wished for it to be.
“Thank you for trusting me,” he whispered back.
You surrendered to the island, the night, and the warmth of the man beside you. For once, being curious had led you somewhere serene, and you let the moment hold you both until the stars watched in silence.
Cards lay abandoned on the coffee table; a scattering of cushions made a messy nest where Bepo had been dozing earlier. Penguin was idly counting change into a tin, Law sat across from him, and Shachi—of course—was in the center of things.
He jabbed a finger in your direction after bragging about his heartfelt goodbye to some island girl.
“I had my first kiss before you,” he announced, amusement bright in his eyes. “See? You should’ve done it with me.”
You rolled your eyes, folding your arms like a practiced defense. “Nah. I’ve already had it.”
The grin blinked out of Shachi’s face immediately. “What?!” His voice hit two octaves higher. Penguin looked up, delighted. “When? Why? Who was it with?”
“You’re too nosy,” you said smoothly. “Not your business.”
Shachi pushed off the couch and leaned forward as if proximity might extract the secret. “Come on—who was it? Tell us.”
“Nope.”
“Well, in that case…it’s only you—” he pointed his finger at Law, “and Bepo left.”
Law remained impassive, though a faint lift of his brow and the slightest twitch at the corner of his mouth betrayed him. Silence stretched, until Shachi practically bounced with anticipation.
Then Law said flatly, “I’ve already had it too.”
The room went still.
“What?!” Shachi’s voice cracked like glass. “With who?”
“I don’t kiss and tell.”