As always I ask for any comments, criticisms, and reviews are welcome. As long as it's not aggressive/mean (and I promise I won't take being told something is poorly written or pointless as mean.)

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)

Chapter 4: Welcome to the Crew

Emerging from the forest Law's group had two more bodies with them than when they entered, the dead jaguar being carried on Jean Bart's shoulder and the cheerful girl that walked happily with the pirates, and all had smiles. The first thing the group did was head to Town Hall to present the felled beast and receive the reward. However half way there, already at clearing where the towns people had cleared out the trees but didn't live long enough to do anything with the land, Bepo asked a question that somehow escaped everyone's mind, including Law's. "Who gets the reward money?"

At the question everyone stopped. All smiles instantly dropped from their faces, except for Law's. "We keep it of course." He answered easily.

At this the previously cheerful girl protested angrily. "Hold on! I killed the jaguar, you guys couldn't even touch it!"

Bart ready to argue with the girl pointed out "I carried it back. If we weren't there then how did you plan on bringing it into town?"

Caught off guard by the question Arianna took a second to think it over. "I would've skinned it and given its hide to the mayor as proof. It's probably what he's going to want to do with it anyways."

Shachi couldn't help but mutter to Penguin, "Crap, that's a good argument." The man nodded in agreement.

Luckily Law had the perfect answer for their debate, which he gave as he continued to walk towards his reward money, "The Heart Pirates get the money because I decided that you are going to be coming with us as the newest member of my crew."

Everyone in the group, except for Jean Bart, collectively shouted in disbelief at this arrogant man's words. Penguin and Shachi both cheered at the news. A girl on the crew! Bepo was rather excited at the prospect of this kind, young girl becoming a member of the crew as well.

Only Arianna wasn't smiling, rubbing one of two pieces of twine that reached up from her wrist around her middle finger and back down on her right hand in frustration. "You think you can decide just like that who joins you? I'm not looking to join a pirate crew. I'm a hunter and I won't let you stop me from going after my prey."

The previously cheerful girl is now showing a serious face to the pirates, her bright green eyes dulled slightly as dark thoughts ran through her mind. Now stopped, Law turned to address the girl, "And who exactly are you hunting Huntress-ya?"

The girl resumed walking, telling Law as she passed him "That's private."

The serious atmosphere that surrounded the two was destroyed however when a low unexpected sound made itself known. Arianna's stomach didn't simply growl, it roared in protest of being empty for so long. The five pirates stared at her with deadpan faces as Arianna quickly wrapped her arms around her stomach as if to hide it, her face bright red. Looking up at the sky, she realized the sun was almost at its highest point and her last bit of food was eaten before it was even up. Penguin walk up to her smiling, "Don't worry about it. We will probably make it to the ship just in time for lunch, you can eat there and get to know the rest of the crew."

"I never said I'd join your crew." She said stubbornly.

"How were you planning on leaving the island then?" Shachi asked.

"So I'm supposed to become a pirate just to leave one island quickly?" she countered, avoiding any actual answer.

"No. You're supposed to become a pirate so that you can visit as many islands as possible. Wouldn't that be the best way to find someone you want to kill?" Law reasoned.

"Where are you all going?" Arianna asked, changing her view on the situation.

"For now we are sailing around Paradise. When we're ready, we will be going to the New World." Law answered.

Closing her eyes in thought, Arianna was seriously considering his words. *Traveling with a pirate crew would get me around much faster. More importantly they will no doubt get into a lot dangerous situations. The whole arrangement could be good for me. So long as it doesn't get in the way of my goal. And honestly I can't think of good reason not to.* "Alright, I guess I'll go." She sighed in defeat.

Grinning, Shachi and Penguin ran to the girl, each taking an arm and leading her quickly into town with Bepo close behind. On their way they heard Law call after them "Just go directly the ship, Bart-ya and I will collect the reward."

When he heard them call back in confirmation he turned to his last companion. "Let's go."

()

After they made it to town Arianna managed to shake Shachi and Penguin off her arms so that she could simply follow them to their ship, instead of being dragged. The duo chatted away about the crew and their previous adventures. She tried to listen at first but soon got bored and instead focused on watching them, taking note of as many details of their appearance as she could. There were no little details to be missed when looking at Penguin, white jump suit with an odd yellow smile that she assumed to be the crew's symbol, brown boots and his hat that hid all defining features of his head. However upon closer inspection to Shachi, who wore the same clothing, his own hat and sunglasses, she realized he had odd markings just barely sticking out of his sleeves, not that she could she come up with an idea of what the rest of the tattoos were.

Glancing at Bepo she saw that the polar bear was smiling happily, making her feel suddenly guilty of the vest tucked away in her bag, *I'll sell it first chance I get, wouldn't want to hurt his feelings.*

"Here we are!" Shachi announced happily. Looking up Arianna realized that the ship she was led to was not a boat but some kind of metal structure that she had never seen before.

"What is that?" Voicing her confusion.

"She's my baby! The Heart Pirate personal submarine!" Penguin announced proudly.

Still confused, her questions continued, "Okay… So what's so different about a submarine than a normal ship? And how is it your baby?"

"Simple. A sub is built to go underwater as well as stay on the surface, and she's my baby because I'm in charge of all things mechanical when it comes to her." Arianna sweated at her new comrade's insistent use of the pronoun she when talking about the structure.

As she continued to look up and down the huge, yellow ship, she noticed that there was a small hand-full of men in the same body suits as Shachi, Penguin and Bepo. "Looks like the stooges managed to come back!" one of the men announced.

*Stooges?* Arianna felt certain that there was a giant question mark above her head at this moment, first a type of ship she had never heard of now a word.

"Who's the girl?" another asked loudly, gaining the attention of any crewmember who didn't seem to react at their comrades' return.

The men surrounded the small group, all asking various questions, too many for anyone to really understand one. As if fighting the loudness of the group of men all trying to talk over one another, the girl's stomach roared once again as it was still empty; and once again the noise left everyone around her silent.

"That's right, you were hungry weren't you?" Bepo remembered.

"Let's go get lunch! It's ready right?" Penguin asked.

"Yeah, Thomas already called everyone in to eat. A few of us wanted to keep an eye out for you guys and Captain." A man with an orange bandana explained.

Giving the new girl a curious look he then asked "Who's the little girl?"

"This is Ari-chan. The girl who went into the forest to hunt the jaguar yesterday." Shachi answered smugly, Penguin wearing an equally smug smile on his face. Arianna raised an eyebrow questioningly at Shachi. *Ari-chan?*

All the men that surrounded them couldn't even try to hide their shock. Bepo, apparently ignorant of the shock consuming the men, looked down cheerily at Arianna, "Let's go get some food. I'm hungry too."

"Yay!" the girl cheered happily throwing both hands in the air and a foot popped up too, looking even more like a child to the man with a bandana than before.

With Bepo leading the way the, now larger, group of pirates reached the galley very quickly. After he opened the doors Shachi and Penguin ran in announcing their return to their crewmates, and excitingly told everyone that they "brought a surprise home with them" while Bepo announced, much more quietly, that Law and Bart will be there shortly. The former of which brought the entire crew's attention to Arianna.

Thankfully this time she wasn't swarmed, so she was able to follow Bepo to a large opening in a wall connected to the kitchen to get food. Deciding it she would be better off staying with the sweet bear for the moment, she then followed him to one of the three long tables to sit and eat. Shachi and Penguin apparently didn't want to leave her just yet, so they followed too. After a few bites of her food Arianna realized that the man with the bandana sat down, watching her, and a man with black hair sat down as well, more so to talk with Shachi and Penguin than her.

"Marcus and Connor." Bepo said. The two men and the girl looked at the bear. "Their names." He continued, repeating their names, this time pointing at them so she would know which is which.

"Why are you here?" Marcus, the one with the bandana, bluntly asked the stranger.

Now angry at the taller man, Penguin defended her "Captain asked Ari-chan to join of course."

Shachi jumped in as well "She's awesome! She can fight logia devil fruit users!"

The previously only slightly curious Connor's full attention went to her. "What?! How?"

Arianna simply smiled as her mouth was full of food, having never stopped eating since her first bite. Deciding that she's being rude though, she swallowed and answered with words for a change, "I was taught what you call Haki at a young age."

Raising her hand, she covered it in the black armor that allowed her to kill the jaguar. After allowing the two men to see it Arianna released the energy with a toothy smile before returning to eating her meal, unwittingly giving all four men and bear something else to stare at her about.

"Ari-chan. What happened to your teeth?" Penguin asked. Still chewing she simply cocked her head to the side, silently asking him what he meant.

"You look like you have some kind of wild animal's fangs instead of human canines." Marcus further explained his friend's question.

Swallowing her current mouthful Arianna said in a challenging tone pointing her fork at the man, "Who's to say you guys aren't the one with messed up teeth? Everyone in my family has them like this."

Before the group could debate the matter of her fangs being normal or not, Law and Bart walked into the galley, immediately earning the whole room's attention despite not saying anything. They simply walked to the window, got food, and then Bart walked to the table furthest from the door to sit, while Law walked to the group that was around Arianna, immediately addressing Bepo. "When you finish eating go to the navigation room and get the ship moving on to the next island."

His order earned an, "Aye, aye!" from the ever cheery bear.

Then turning to Arianna and ordering "Stand up." Which she did, swallowing what was her last bite too in case he expected her to say something. Instead he turned away from her to address the whole crew sternly. "This is Arianna. She's our newest crewmember. I expect no problems from any of you concerning her."

Wanting to make a good impression to the crew she was now a part of Arianna smiled, "It's nice to be here! Let's all get along!"

There was a collective sound of happy noises from the men. Sitting back down since she didn't know where to go with her food done, she simply looked at the men around her and glancing at the captain that commanded them all.

Law looked at her then switched his gaze to Connor since he didn't have any food with him to begin with, "Show her around the sub. She's going to be staying in storage room F. When you're done take her to the infirmary."

Connor stood up, giving a "Yes, sir." with Arianna standing as well and Law taking what was her spot next to Bepo.

Following the black haired man through the submarine, Arianna didn't seem to be capable of being more amazed at the whole ship. Connor couldn't seem more bored though. He explained the various levels of the large ship. The top of the sub was entrance and infirmary. The next level down was a variety of storage rooms, three separate training rooms, and a bathroom that was simply a room with two rows of about eight shower and a wall with a row of toilet stalls. The third level was where all of the crew quarters were.

Each room had four beds sticking out of the wall with drawers attached to the underside of each. The only exceptions to the shared rooms rule was Law, Bepo, Bart, and now her. Law as captain gets his own quarters, no one wants to bunk with Bepo, and Bart to too big to share a room. Also on the third level was the galley and kitchen. The bottom level was split into two parts the navigation room, which is where Bepo and Bart could be found a lot of the time as one of them needed to be there at all times if the ship wasn't anchored, and the engine room. The whole tour took about thirty minutes, having started on the bottom and working their way up since Connor was supposed to take Arianna to the infirmary when finished. When they reached it Law was there and waiting.

"Thank you Connor, you can go." Was all Law needed to say for the man to happily leave. Motioning Arianna to sit in a chair not too far from him, Law walked to a small metal cabinet of only two drawers, opening one and pulling out a blank file. While he did this the girl looked around the room. It was fairly big in her opinion, but then reasoned that she didn't know how such a room would normally be sized. There were beds nailed down off to the side with a large machine standing close to them, and large, flat, uncomfortable looking beds that stood on wheels close by.

Just behind the beds there was a door. Throughout the wall behind the chair she now sat in there were glass door cabinets, all with various glass bottles in them, over a counter that had a sink. The wall she was facing was mostly bare, similar cabinets and a counter ran along half of the wall, stopping at the metal cabinet with the files, which was next to a desk with her new captain sitting in a chair at it.

Turning to her, Law finally began speaking. "I needed to ask you questions for a medical file; I like to keep one on every crewmember since I'm also the ship's doctor."

Smiling at finally getting something to do, Arianna told him. "Ask away."

()

A small smile twitching on his lips as the doctor began, not realizing what he was in for. "How old are you?"

"21."

"When's your birth day?"

"April 22."

"How tall are you?"

"No clue." She answered plainly.

"How much do you weigh?"

"No clue." Once again.

Sighing Law tried a different kind of question "What's your blood type?"

She snickered at this "Warm."

Law just looked at her with an expression that showed he didn't think her answer was funny. "I'm serious."

"Me too. Do you get a lot of lizard and snake people on the crew?" She was clearly half joking, the other half sincerely didn't understand the question of her blood type.

"Not all blood between the same species is the same Arianna-ya. Since you obviously don't know I'll take some of your blood and find out along with your measurements." Law answered with a practice sense of calmness.

Now she was looking at him with a small smile "That's the first time you used my name." Law wasn't sure if there was a point to the comment so he just looked at her silently. "Even though you asked me to tell you my name you only called me 'Huntress-ya.' I was seriously beginning to question if you actually remembered it even though I remembered yours Trafalgar Law." She explained.

"You're in my crew now, so I should call you by your name, but as my subordinate you are to call me Captain. Understood?"

Arianna seemed a little troubled by this, her eyes going hazy. Obviously having some kind of internal debate that left Law a little curious but decided to hold off on forcing her to tell him depending on what she says next. Conflict apparently resolved her eyes focused back to her captain and finally answered "Understood, Captain."

Deciding to continue, Law resumed his questions "Where are you from?"

She seemed a little confused by the question "Yassun"

Looking up at her, Law questioned her answer "You said that was your name."

"The first part of it. Why would you ask me something I've already told you?"

Slightly annoyed now, "I asked where you're from, not your name."

Annoyance started to build in Arianna, but then her expression jumped instantly to embarrassment, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. "Your people don't have where they're from as part of your name do you?"

*Your birthplace as part of your name?* Law questioned this point to himself but answered "No. What do you mean by 'your people'?"

"My people use the term Worlders. It's simply anyone who isn't one of us."

"Us?"

Nodding a yes, she explained further "My Family is one of a handful of Tribes. We are Nomads, mostly in the New World. That's why we have the location we were born in as part of our name. Anyone who isn't a Tribesman is a Worlder. Worlders are divided into two groups: Landers, people who live in one place, and Nomads, people like us who are always sailing. Pirates, merchants and most Marines are all called Nomads by my people. Oh, and you won't find Yassun on a map or anything. We use our own names for islands since we rarely come in contact with Landers."

This new information was a surprise to Law. He had never heard of nomadic tribes in the New World, not that information of that whole half of the Grand Line was easy to come by. Thinking about what she had said in the forest concerning her family Law came to the conclusion that Tribesmen were likely to all be powerful, especially if they survived without contact with towns. Returning his focus to the Tribe girl before him, he realized she, may have truly been a lucky find. "I'm out of questions. I'm going to take some blood and measure your height and weight then you can go. Pull up your sleeve so I can get to the inside of your elbow." He told her as he was already gathering a needle and alcohol.

Loosening a tie on the cuff of her sleeve, Arianna pulled it up to her elbow as asked. As Law was pulling her blood she asked "Where am I supposed to go?"

"Back to the galley. Our chef, Thomas, can always use another hand in feeding the crew. When your duty is over the storage room should be cleared for you to use as a bedroom; I told Penguin, Shachi and Marcus to get started on it after they finished eating."

"Thank you." She said with a big smile, showing her fangs to him for the first time, catching him off guard. Unlike the others though, Law didn't say a word, having decided it was associated with the Tribes. After measuring her: 5 feet 3 inches and 125 pounds, Law dismissed her to her duties, pleased with the fact that this odd creature of a girl was now a member of his crew.

Authors Note:

April 22 is Earth Day, and since Arianna is a little wild and animalistic I thought it would be a fun match.