Thank you for the reviews and follows, though they are few, it keeps me motivated to write. Unlike my other story, which is long overdue for an update, I actually would like to finish this one in its entirety. I will add though, her father was somewhat of an adventurer, his responsibilities had kept him from ever becoming a pirate, though he doesn't regret it one bit. Child Aiko was also very fun to write, and you will definitely be seeing more of her in the future. Those two men come with a slight twist. But that's all i can say. To all my lovely readers, enjoy this next installment- I've actually had more time to write it, and a lot of factors in my life have given me a plethora of good ideas as well. Thanks for reading!


Interesting People

A pair of sleazy eyes were carefully watching the coffee haired woman, as she reminisced about a memory from her childhood. Grotesque and greasy, the drunk man slowly made his way over to her. Aiko didn't bother paying attention as he sat down a stool away from her. Instead she was too wrapped in her head about those lovely thoughts. Law who had been sitting next to her at the counter, was also distraced...well slightly. One of the members of his crew was talking his ear off about what island they would reach next. Although he appreciated the much needed information, he was also quite peeved that his interesting conversation was being interrupted.

"Hey wench. You look damn beautiful, what's with that manly get up of yers?" The slimy man down from her asked, with a look of lust in his eyes.

Oh fucking great. She heard what he said, how he said it, and wanted nothing to do with it. If she replied, he might take that as she was interested. If she didn't he might think she was insulting him- and by god she wanted to say extremely rude things to him.

With a snarl, she turned sharply in his direction. Knitted eyebrows, a scowl where her once happy smile had been, and beady glaring eyes.

"Piss off, you fat greasy sack of dog shit. I am not a wench either. So if you'd be so kind, please direct your attention to the whores of the bar." Her harshness even surprised herself, it had been quite awhile since she had said something along those lines, and for some reason, it felt really good to say them.

The large man shot out of his seat abruptly, with a grimaced look on his ugly face.

"What the hell did you say to me you bitch?!" His voice bellowed through the bar, walking up to her and slamming her body through the counter.

Shit...possibly a bad choice of wording, but damn..that hurt like a frigging bitch! The counter splintered out, cracking in some areas as she managed to pull herself from the destroyed wooden structure. She moaned, her body starting to ache, little by little. Law, whom she had been previously talking with, also had a demonic look on his face. Wine on his hoodie, and glass on his pants and boots.

"Stupid bitch that'll teach ya not to talk to me that way! Learn your place, this is a mans world!" He yelled again, violently snatching her up by her arm, and dislocating it in three places. She winced at the slow pain that seeped throughout her left side. Fuck...

Quickly, she used her lower body strength to push up her leg and kick him square in the face- her arm reverberating with pain, at we sudden movement. The large man stumbled back slowly, dropping her from his grip in the process, as he held his hurting face. Aiko smiled to herself, it had been way too long since she had been involved in a fight. She held her limp arm in place as she watched him collect himself before he could attack her again.

The bar was silent, even the owner of the establishment didn't try to say or do anything. In that moment only a few words were spoken.

"How troublesome."

Aiko turned her head towards the dark voice behind her. It was Law, and he was pissed. That fat fuck had ruined his clothes, and interrupted his somewhat calm evening. As mad as he was, he wasn't going to waste his Devil Fruit powers on scum such as him. So slowly but surely, the Dark Doctor waltzed over to the atrocious looking fellow, nodachi in hand, and a very grim, almost devilish look present on his face.

"What the fuck are you looking at? Is she yer woman or somethin'?" A raspy, and grimy voice asked in front of him.

"You've interrupted my evening. I could care less about you hurting someone else, but I was in the middle of an interesting conversation."

"With some wench? How interesting could that be?" He snorted.

Law was silent, without a single word he unsheathed his sword, holding it to the mans' fat neck. The look on his face changed dramatically, almost looking like he was about to piss himself. He cursed under his breath every which way, snorted and stumbled out of the bar.


Aiko was more stunned than relieved. She never assumed a man who carried himself like he was a badass, would turn out to be such a wimp. As funny as it was she was still in no mood to smile. The fight was indeed her fault, and now she had to apologize to Cyril, and Law, again.

"Cyril, I apologize. I didn't mean to-" she was stopped mid sentence by Cyril.

"Young lady, I am just glad you weren't severely hurt. A table such as this can always be replaced, but you, you can never be replaced. I know you meant no harm, he was a horny brute. Plain and simple." He smiled kindly, as he went to fetch a broom to sweep up the shards of glass.

"At least let me pay for it. Please.. I wouldn't feel right about this."

He gave her a stern look, meaning that he would hear no more of it. "I manage to save and make enough to replace this thing. Do you really think this is the first time it's been crushed?" He smiled, matter-of-factly.

Aiko smiled back slightly at his words. He really was a very doting person, even if he didn't know her or anything about her. "I guess you're right. But still I am sincerely sorry about this, I really don't like causing trouble."

"Stop worrying! Now, you and that man you seemed to be having a nice conversation with, can go take a seat in a booth." He smiled, ushering her away from the broken wooden remnants of what used to be a counter.

Law who had been standing there for a short while, nodded slightly to the man, as the two walked into the booth, sitting across each other.

"What a troublesome woman you seem to be."

Aiko scoffed at his prudent observation. "No. Things usually don't go south like this for me...well at least not in five years..or so..." A deep frown tugged at her lips, but she quickly collected herself and smiled.

"Oh? Why's that?" He pried, with that curious look on his face.

She just shrugged in return, and ran her fingers through her hair. She wasn't going to tell him her life story, that was a fact. Those were dangerous waters that she dare not tread. Choosing her next words very carefully, she managed to find a reply.

"I used to work on a ship, I traveled a lot because of that. No man likes a woman stronger than himself, and much of the time I had no other choice but to defend myself."

So she worked on a ship at some point? A pirate maybe? No. A marine? That didn't seem all that likely either. Possibly a merchant ship- that seemed more of a likely option. He smirked to himself. What a strange woman indeed.

Law examined her carefully, as she stared off at the crowd and his crew, reveling in their drunken merriment. Her features were also unique, it's not everyday you see someone with eyes, bluer than the daytime sky. She was definitely not from these parts, any more than he was. But that didn't really matter to him, he wanted to use her in the plan he had spent years, conjuring; even if it was only for a short while. Hell...if she proved to be super useful, he would just trap her forever.

"Yo. What're you so deep in thought about over there, Law?" She asked, breaking his train of thought.

"Nothing that concerns you." He lied.

'It actually concerns you a great deal.'

"Oh...well whatever. I was gonna ask if you wanted to see how the fruit works?"

Well that was certainly...unexpected. He thought he would have to ask, or even force her- but this worked for him just as well.

'Very compliant.' Another smirk played at his lips.

Law nodded. "Show me."

Law most certainly did not like to be touched by anyone, but if he wanted to see her use her powers first hand, he decided he'd let it slide...just this once. Her touch was cold, but gentle and soft. Deciding it was rude to read his thoughts, she decided to search his memory.

So he was from the North Blue, huh? Formed his crew from there. Doflamingo...? Oh...so, this man Law, was the snake, that he mentioned to her a few years ago. How interesting. Quickly, before she dug any deeper than that, she let go of his hand.

"You're an interesting man...Trafalgar Law. You're also very, very far from home...the North Blue is a cold place, but it is indeed beautiful." She smiled, satisfied with her findings, but nothing that helped her in any way.

He smirked wider at her findings, knowing she definitely saw more than that, but decided not to press the matter. The woman, Aiko, would definitely prove to be of great use to him. But how he would go about stealing her, that was something he was still carefully contemplating on.

"You are also far com home, I don't have to be a mind reader to know that." He countered, seeing if he could bait her into his trap.

Home? Feh...no such thing, at least not in twenty long years. But that was her goal- to go back 'home'. It would be a tiring journey, but one that could be somewhat worth it.

"Yeah, I am...though it doesn't matter one bit to me. I like traveling so much more. I'm leaving this island early tomorrow morning." The mere mentioning of, 'morning', sounded like hell to her as she said it.

Bait taken.

"Oh? How interesting."

Aiko laughed, before saying anything further.

"I guess. Well it looks about that time, I have to try and get some rest or my insomnia will have me at my throat. It was a pleasure, 'Captain' Law." Her dry, yet oddly playful sarcasm, made him smile inwardly.

"Naturally. Good night, Miss Aiko."


It was still pitch black when Aiko arose from her feigning slumber. With a groan, and a line of short curses, she managed to crawl her ass out if bed. Thank the heavens that the bed wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. Missing an opportunity to get off this island, would be very, very irritating.

After her morning rituals, she pulled her hoodie over her face, and checked out of her hotel room. The sun was far from peeking over the horizon- sky still pitch black, and the stars were all too visible. She smiled at the endless cluster of celestial light above her. It was almost like the ocean: trackless, at times, yet so very beautiful.

She positioned her nap sack over her shoulder, as she made her way down toward the docks. The man that had hired her for help, was already approaching the ship as she walked up to greet him. As much as she hated mornings, she was in an extremely pleasant mood and happy to be there. After she had been guided to a room, where as to put her personal belongings, she was immediately put to work.

It was almost an hour or two later, the sun finally making it's rise point over the horizon, that she had seated herself for a break. The docks were gigantic, taking up almost the whole western side of the bay. With the light of day coming, she could see more people getting ready to set sail- even those bodies of the, Heart Pirates.

Her captain was also taking a leisurely break from loading cargo, when he noticed a scary face approaching their way. Like most merchants, they wanted nothing to do with pirates, ever. Even if they were conducting some sort of business transaction, it was still thin ice to be tread upon.

"Aiko!" He called out, signaling to her that there was a man approaching. She shot him a perplexed look, and then turned around to face what he was warning her about.

"Mister Law..good morning to you." She bowed, slightly, with a smile.

He nodded in her direction. "It would seem so."

Not much of a good morning, but at the very least it was calm.

"I didn't expect to see you again...well at least not here." She replied lighting a cigarette.

'But I most definitely did.'

"Well we are in the docks, an since our log pose has set it wouldn't be more than a coincidence"

She blew out some smoke to the side of her. Did he come to say something important or was he just bored? Aiko could read faces well, being Akainus' subordinate taught her a lot about that. The more she examined him, she could tell he wanted something, and was going to get it- one way or the other.

She sighed before asking him the damming question. "What do you want with me?"

Law smirked. She was sharp, very sharp. Most people couldn't tell what the hell he was thinking, but her? She was in a different ballpark. And if she was as smart as he was going to give her credit for, she was already forming possibilities in her mind.

"You know what I want."

She frowned, flicking the ash off her smoke. "You're the type of man he does anything, for something he wants. And what you want you always get. But the world doesn't always work that way, 'Captain'." Aiko replied sneering as her eyes narrowed into crass slits.

She wasn't going to tell him that she knew about his horrific, yet oddly interesting, Devil Fruit powers. Though she had a small inkling he knew, that she knew- and if he didn't she wasn't going to just go with him willingly.

Flicking the butt of her smoke, she positioned herself in a slightly odd manner. With an interesting look upon his face, he watched her move.


"I will turn you into a weapon. Your body, your mind, everything." Admiral Akainu spoke as the walked through the halls of the Marine headquarters.

"A weapon? Why is that?" His subordinate replied.

"The use of something that can break easily, is pointless. But your body, if you train it right it can be almost indestructible. I have spent countless hours, teaching you to hone your physical skills. But today, I'm going to show you something even better than physical combat."

Better than physical combat? How is that even possible? Aiko smiled to herself, she loved training with him- but something felt different about this time. When he took her on a his subordinate, he ran her into the ground with training. He was not nearly as vicious as that mad man, Garp- but he was definitely close.

"Combined with your Devil Fruit powers, and your Haki, which still needs practice- you can turn this simple method into a deadly weapon."

She hated how he beat around the bush. Frowning, she asked another question. "And what method would that be?"

Akainu smiled slightly. "The art of blocking a persons chi. Since I know how much you love close combat, I thought this would be perfect for you."

'He really is either trying to fucking kill me, or use my body as a tool. Either way...I don't want any more scars.'