As always I welcome any comments, criticisms, and corrections :)

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

Chapter 7: Distrust

Once he entered his room, Law sat down behind his desk and Marcus took the seat in front of it. "So Marcus-ya, what do you think of our newest crewmember?"

"She's a child, that's for sure. But she does concern me. The way she treats knowing that she's being watched as a game; she's confident that she could handle herself if we decide to treat her as an enemy."

Law thought of his subordinate's conclusion. "Did you see anything that suggests her confidence has some standing?"

"I'm sure that we could defeat her but…" Marcus stopped remembering the way she moved like a ghost and the speed at which she downed the deer, "She just might be able to do some damage to our crew."

If almost any other member of the crew had told Law that, he wouldn't give the words much thought, but he trusted Marcus' opinions and observations. "Did you notice any details about her abilities?"

"It seems that at least her sense of smell is stronger than should be possible, but she did refer to all of her senses as good. And she has a small blade on her right wrist that retracts into her sleeve. It's probably under the wristbands that she always wears."

The news that she had a hidden weapon was surprising. She wasn't shy about carrying around her other two, so that she had not made a point of showing off her third weapon to Shachi and Penguin, as they were constantly trying to get close to her, was unexpected. If she had then he would know since he told them to relay anything new they learned about her if it was something that concerned her abilities as a fighter. "Anything else?"

Thinking on everything that happened in the forest the only thing Marcus could come up with was "She said she has trouble telling buildings apart, so she'll probably get lost in towns if left alone."

A little thrown off by the odd piece of information Law chose to mentally file it away. Undecided as to what to do with the rest of the information considering that she did behave herself in bringing back food for the crew and did not make a move against Marcus, Law wanted to wait and continue to watch her. "Thanks for keeping an eye on her. I found us a tavern to stay at for tonight and I will announce our plans for tomorrow before we go, after Thomas-ya returns."

Taking that as his dismissal, Marcus stood up giving a "Not a problem, Captain." and he exited the room. Leaving Law to consider what to do with the new information he was given on the girl, it may not be much but any amount needed to be carefully considered when dealing with someone who was as a much of a wild card as her.

()

Continuing with the task given to her by her "Captain", Arianna was stripping the meat off of the bones of the animals she brought back. Though the process of skinning the pelts while causing as little damage possible then removing the muscles and organs whole from the bones looked a little complicated it was actually quite menial, giving her brain the chance to think on Law and Marcus' distrust of her. *I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he doesn't trust me, but we interacted so little since I joined that I can't see where I could have done something to make him uncertain. Could it be a normal thing when a new person joins the crew?* It felt like a reasonable conclusion. Remembering what Penguin had said about Jean Bart having joined the crew not even a week before her, she settled to ask him if he was under scrutiny at first. As if just realizing something her hands stopped their work. *Why do I care? This arrangement is a means to an end. He's right to be suspicious, I'm going to leave the crew once they become a hindrance to my goal.* Sighing in thought. *Well, it's not like I want to hurt them, I just don't want to be one of them.* She groaned. *Why does being deceitful have to be so difficult?! NO! No room to feel guilty! Worlders aren't meant to be Friends of a tribe, their influence can only bring trouble.* As always the thought of her Family brought the familiar ache of homesickness to her heart. *Raven. Ike. I wonder where you are now. Are you sailing safely or maybe reached another island? Is it one already on our maps, or a brand new one?*

"Ah, Arianna. I see you brought us some good meat." Looking up from her bloody work, Arianna saw the face of Thomas. He had put down the load he was carrying back to the ship to inspect his newest helper's haul, looking at the furs set aside to identify the piles of meat. "We could easily use the deer. Maybe if you can collect some more rabbit it could make for good stew. But there's nothing I can do with that squirrel. Why did you bother with it?"

Inspecting the squirrel that she just happened to be currently stripping of meat for any sign of being spoiled somehow, worried her wondering mind caused her to miss something, she saw nothing. "What do you mean you can't do anything with it? It's perfectly healthy, nothing's wrong with the meat."

"Why would we eat a squirrel?" Thomas was starting to sound a little impatient again. Why? Arianna had no clue.

"If you don't want it then I'll keep it for myself. Meat is meat, what kind of animal it comes from doesn't make it inedible." And with that Arianna returned to her nearly finished work.

"Fine then. We are going to start taking what you have done down to the freezer in the kitchen along with the food we bought in town." Retaking the crate that he had put down, Thomas went into the ship. Having been left to her work, Arianna quickly finished and gathered the furs and some of the bones then retreated to her room, she changed back into her dark blue pants, green shirt and tying the fox pelt back to her waist. Grabbing her bag she rolled up the pelts and put them and the bones in it for later, she then returned outside. Finding a clear spot on the ground, Arianna built a small fire and using her knife she sharpened a couple of long sticks and skewered the chucks of squirrel before placing it over the fire to cook it. Her mouth started to water at the sight of the cooking meat. She was so focused on the meat that she didn't notice the man walking up behind her. "What are you doing?"

"Ahh!" The girl couldn't stop herself from jumping with a shriek. Turing around she saw Oliver, who looked just as startled having not expected her scream.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." The shy medic quickly apologized.

Taking a deep breath with a hand over her heart, Arianna calmed herself. "No, don't be. I shouldn't have been so focused on the meat. And to answer your question I'm cooking this squirrel for myself since Tom-san said he doesn't want it."

"Okay, so why are you cooking it out here over a fire? Why not use the kitchen?"

"I don't know how to cook on those things." She answered bluntly, watching the cooking meat again.

Chuckling softly, Oliver sat down next to her. "You should hold off on eating it. We usually go into town when we're done restocking, and since we brought in a good amount of money at Feral Enclave we might actually eat there."

"Oh. I guess I'll just save it then." Arianna was slightly disappointed at being told she should wait to eat, she was looking forward to her first fire cooked meal since tagging along with the Heart Pirates. Looking over at the blondish man next to her, she couldn't help but smile a little. "You're rather polite and quiet for someone living such a dangerous lifestyle. Why are you sailing as a Heart Pirate?"

To say Oliver was shocked at the question would be an understatement. He started to fidget uncomfortably.

Realizing it was apparently a private matter, Arianna decided to calm him. "I get it, I get it. It's your secret."

No longer fidgeting, Oliver gave her a small smile in relief.

The meat adequately cooked, Arianna removed the pieces from the stick, sliding them directly into a smallish bag she kept in the large one slung across her shoulder rather than waiting for them to cool down to handle with her hands. As she was putting the fire out she heard Law's voice call out louder than she ever heard him. "Everyone gather on deck!"

Double checking that the fire was put out, she stood up and followed Oliver back to the ship's deck. He quickly found a spot next to Connor who nodded in greeting at the two, then looked towards the door into the ship where the captain stood. Looking around, Arianna spotted Shachi, Penguin and Marcus all talking amongst each other, Tom-san discussing something that was likely cooking related to one of the men she recognized from the kitchen, Austin if she remembered correctly, and Bart sitting near the railing with his arms crossed, waiting for the reason of this meeting to be announced. Once the whole crew was on deck Law began speaking.

"The log post takes fifty hours to set. Tonight we will be eating and staying at a tavern in town. The ship will be in no danger for the first night so everyone can come." At this the whole crew cheered unable to contain themselves. Law apparently expected it because he stopped talking and waited for the noise to die down. "Apparently there are Marines on their way to this island and they are expected to be here tomorrow. Which means no one is to drink too much. I don't want to see a single one of you hung over tomorrow." The stern look on his face said that this was a direct order. And an obvious unhappiness came over a majority of the crew, their plans clearly ruined. Ignoring the new general unhappiness of the men, the captain continued on. "We are staying at Rocky Side Tavern. Everyone can have free time for the rest of the day; just make sure you are prepared for a fight tomorrow. That's all."

The news of free time seemed to be enough to at least somewhat lift the crew's spirits and they started to clear out with smiles on their faces, except for Bepo who stood close to Law. Arianna turned to leave as well, only to hear "Not so fast Arianna-ya."

Looking at the man with a frown, she whined out "Why? You said 'everyone' gets free time."

Keeping a serious look on his face Law answered, "When I recruited you the reason was your Haki. I want you to start teaching it to me."

She was only slightly surprised by his words. Arianna already knew that he couldn't use Haki and that she could had a lot to do with his recruiting her, but she somehow didn't realized that he was expecting her to teach him. The request also caught Bepo's attention, "I thought we were going to search the island for what the Marines are protecting."

Looking over at his first mate Law shrugged it off, "I decided this would be a better use of time."

Truth be told, she didn't want to teach him, at least right not now. So she gave him her reply. "No."

At first Law was shocked that she so bluntly refused, but anger was quick to replace it. Glaring at the defiant girl he told her "That wasn't a request. I'm telling you, you are going to start teaching me Haki."

Not liking the look he was giving her, Arianna decided to restate her refusal in a way he will accept. "Everyone needs to be ready to fight Marines tomorrow, right? Haki training is very exhausting, if we start today there's a good chance that you still won't be back to full strength tomorrow. So why not wait until you will have the time to rest before going into a fight?"

Though he could see her point, Law still didn't like that she was refusing his order to start training him. "We're pirates. There's never a guaranteed moment of safety. It's only because the Marines are coming from a base and the townspeople said that it takes them a full day to reach the island that we know we are safe for the night."

Still trying to talk her way out of teaching him, Arianna further pointed out "But you do know for certain that we are going into a fight, so why risk you being tired for it?"

Hearing the reasoning Bepo spoke up concerned, "She has a point. We don't know how heavily the training will affect you. What if it does tire you out too much and something happens tomorrow because of it?"

Looking at Bepo, Law knew he wasn't going to get anywhere if his first mate was against it. The bear was one of the few crewmembers whose input he would seriously consider in a decision. "Before we leave this island, we will have begun the training." He made sure this statement was perfectly clear with no room to argue.

Not even trying to hiding her happiness at having gotten out of the training, at least for today, Arianna turned back towards town with a big smile on her face, "Understood! I'm going to go back to the forest then!"

"No you're not." He immediately shut down her plans.

Now clearly unhappy, she turned back to him with a pout on her face, "Why not? I wanted to spend my afternoon walking around the forest."

"You get lost in towns easily correct?"

She flinched at the question, slightly blushing. Obviously a yes.

"I'm taking you to the tavern and you are to stay there."

The thought of being stuck in a building for the rest of the day made her desperate. "Can't I just come with you for whatever it is you're doing?" There was a certain begging tone to the question.

Pleased that she was unhappy, Law smirked. "No. You had your chance to stay out. Now come."

Leading the girl to the tavern, Law would glance back in satisfaction at her expression. She looked like she wanted to throw a tantrum, but instead kept a pouty frown up. She kept the pout up on her face until she saw a fairly good sized tree, so she called out to Law and Bepo "Hold on."

When they stopped and turned to look at her, she trotted over to the tree and jumped up into its branches. Walking over to the tree, Law called up the obvious question "What are you doing?"

"Gathering branches." She answered plainly, as if it was the most normal thing to do. What she didn't realize was that there were plenty of people looking up at the oddity in the tree. When she had cut an arm full of branches from the tree with her tomahawk she leapt down and looked up at Law, "Alright lets go."

This time Bepo decided to ask the obvious question, at least it was obvious to everyone who wasn't Arianna. "Why did you gather a bunch of branches?"

If her confused expression was any indicator, the question was definitely far from obvious to her, "I need them." Her answer was to the point, and lacked any actual explanation.

Sighing Law turned to resume walking, "I don't care anymore. Let's just go."

Finally arriving to the tavern, the three saw that there were actually a few of the crew members already there and eating. The sight of food reminded Arianna that she wanted to eat dinner. Law walked over to the bartender and retrieved keys for the girl and himself. "This is your room key. You're going to be staying by yourself."

She turned her wrist to take the key, careful to not drop any of the branches in her hands. "How generous. I was certain that you would make me and Mr. Babysitter room together. Worried I might try to hurt him in his sleep perhaps?"

Not bothering to acknowledge her mocking question, he continued on with what he was saying, "Your room in between mine and Marcus-ya's. So I'm not worried about you sneaking out. And if you do we will find you, rest assured." Law smirked confidently in his words.

Arianna started to smirk at the man herself, seeing his words more as a challenge than a warning.

Wanting to stop the situation before it got out of hand, Bepo took a step towards the girl, "How about I help you carry those upstairs and find your room?"

The distraction worked. Smiling kindly at the bear, Arianna nodded gratefully "Please."

Planning on giving him only half of the load she was surprised when Bepo took all of the branches. Law decided to stay down stairs and ordered a drink before heading out to search as was his original plan for the afternoon. Walking up the stairs, Arianna and Bepo came to a long hallway that ran the length of the building, which turned out to be longer than it looked from outside. Arianna took a step forward, letting her foot fall a little heavier than she normally would, and the wooden floor groaned loudly. *So that's why he's certain I can't sneak out.* Lightening her footsteps, Arianna was irritated to find that her every step earned a squeak or groan of some kind. Finding the door that matched the room number on her key, Arianna opened it so that Bepo could come in. Looking around she saw two small beds, a small dresser, a nightstand in between the two beds with a lamp, and a door that lead to a small bathroom. The sight of a private bathroom was a huge relief to her. She had been rushing through her showers out of fear that one of the men would walk in on her. Bepo placed the wood on the floor and smiled reassuringly to the girl. "I'm sorry you aren't allowed out."

"Why is that? I was wondering if maybe it's just that I'm new, but somehow that doesn't seem right." She grumbled out, arms crossed.

"I think Captain is uncertain of your loyalty. You said that you were hunting someone and that's why you didn't want to join the crew at first. But you changed your mind so quickly and without much persuading, so it makes him suspicious."

*So that's it.* "I changed my mind quickly because when I actually thought about it I realized it would be beneficial for me to sail with the crew. I would probably still be on Feral Enclave if I hadn't and I figured that pirates get a lot of dangerous situations right? I know I'm not strong enough to even be an annoyance to them yet, so this is a good way for getting stronger." She explained the reasoning behind her quick decision change while avoiding actually addressing the matter of her loyalty. She was never good at lying, having once been told a blind and deaf man could catch her in a lie, she would simply radiate guilt from it. So she learned a different form of deception, telling only part of the truth and leaving out the part that you wanted to hide.

That explanation was enough for Bepo, who was smiling cheerily, "In that case I'll tell him that I don't think he should be worried about anything. But until then don't do anything to make him more suspicious. I should go. Here's some money to buy food and drinks downstairs, bye Ari-chan!" After handing her about 3000 beri from his pocket, the bear left Arianna alone in the room.

Feeling stuffy already, Arianna decided to open the window. Looking out she could only see the buildings across the street, no trees or sense of nature in sight. It was upsetting to her. *I might as well be locked in the sub. Though, I know I could jump out the window without getting hurt. But Bepo said he'll talk to Law about trusting me and that I should continue to behave until then.* When she looked down she saw Law and Bepo walking a little ways down the street already; a polar bear in an orange suit and a tall man with a fuzzy spotted hat carrying a huge sword really stood out. With nothing else to do the girl walked over to the pile of branches, sat down and emptied out her bag of the pelts, bones and the leather throngs that she had previously used for the traps. *I should get this done before anything else.*

Unrolling the pelts, she made a square with the branches sized to each one. Once all the squares were sufficiently tied together, she pulled out small hook shaped bones, rib bones from fish, and measured equal spaces in the squares. At each spot she carved a small notch in the wood, then wedged the bones into them. Next she hooked the pelts into the square and leaned them against the wall to admire her work. The two deer, three rabbit, and one squirrel hides all stretched and airing out. *They are good quality furs.*

Now that the last part of her hunter work was complete, she grabbed the money and key that had been left on one of the beds and went down stairs to finally eat. At first she was going to eat the squirrel but figured it would be best to save for a rainy day. Once down stairs she saw a group of familiar white suits with a yellow and black smiley faces. Shachi and Penguin were in the center of the rowdy group, naturally. Catching sight of her, the duo got very excited. "Ari-chan! Come join us!"

Sighing with a smile, she walked over to the rowdy group thinking *Why not?*

()

After leaving the girl in the tavern Law and Bepo headed out to look around the happy town of Breezy Cove. It still looked just as it did at Law's first impression of it: boring and cheerful. Only now the people weren't as overly cheerful as before. As he walked down the streets Law could hear some of the people discussing the impending Marines on their way, as they would be at the sight of any ship.

"Captain." Bepo started as if uncertain he should ask. "How can you be sure that there is something special on the island? Marines are supposed to protect people from pirates, so wouldn't it make sense that they be called when a pirate ship docks?"

"Yeah. When a pirate ship docks you would expect Marines to be called. But they aren't called for sightings of pirate ships, they are called for any ship sighting here. That's what makes it unusual. Why would the people here be suspicious of everyone who comes to the island if they did not have something valuable to hide?"

"Ah. I hadn't thought of it that way. I was thinking that the people here are just overly cautious. Especially with the increase in pirate crews running around."

Bepo made a thoughtful point, so Law gave it some merit. "Always a possibility, but it happened so recently and this island clearly hasn't suffered from it, so it's less likely. For now we're going to walk every street here, so keep all your senses open to anything abnormal."

Bepo, the ever faithful first mate and navigator, gave his usual happy "Yes Captain!" and started letting his eyes wander over every detail in view. While doing so he couldn't help but feel he was forgetting about something else he was supposed to do. Now he wasn't sure if he should continue to inspect everything he could, so stop walking and try to remember. The mental debate was clear on his face earning Law's attention. "What's wrong?"

Surprised at the question, Bepo quickly became depressed for distracting his captain, "I think there was something I was supposed to do but can't remember. I'm sorry."

Entirely used to the bear's whiplash level mood swings Law simply continued talking as if it wasn't happening, "If there was something you were supposed to do then it was for another crewmember because I didn't ask you for anything. Who have you talked to today?"

Thinking for a second Bepo quickly made a list, "Shachi, Penguin, Bart, Thomas, Clyde, Austin, and Ari-can. Ah right! I wanted to talk to you about Ari-chan." Becoming incredibly happy at remember.

The newest member of the Heart Pirates was starting to feel like all he got to talk about now. "What about her?"

"She's really unhappy at not being allowed any freedom. I don't think she'll turn on us either. Are you sure it's necessary to constantly have her being watched?"

Law couldn't help but sigh at the question. "If she were calm and had clear intentions then no it wouldn't be. But she seems quick to change her mind, and can't I trust someone so indecisive."

"I asked her about that. When she quickly changed her mind about joining the crew, I mean. She said that it was because she didn't think about it before the first time she answered, but after she did she realized it would be too beneficial for her to not join. She said she needs to get stronger before going after the people she's after."

"People? I thought it was just one."

"No, she definitely said that she's 'not strong enough to even be an annoyance to them' so it's definitely multiple people."

Giving the words a quick thought, Law concluded something. "I was wrong. Her intentions are perfectly clear. She's going to do anything she has to for the sake of killing her prey."

"So? What do you say about giving her some breathing room?" Bepo asked.

"Let's see how she does for the remainder of our time on this island first. Now let's get back to our current goal." And with that Law resumed walking.

Just as always Bepo gave a "Yes Captain!" and continued walking with him.

And done! I really wanted to have the Hearts fighting the Marines in this chapter, but I decided to cut it off here so that it doesn't go too long. :/ Oh well, something to look forward to next time. Farewell for now Lovelies!

L. t. tiger: Let me just start with saying I understand your disappointment with how I had Law and his group handle the jaguar a few chapters back. I never even thought about one of the pirates having a lighter, the whole idea was that they were not equipped to handle a logia in a head-on battle. I'm not really a good writer so that was honestly the best idea I could come up with to show that (at least in my story) Law and his crew are not prepared for the New World. But he knows it, that's why when the opportunity to bring in someone who can clearly fight enemies that they would need Haki for came he took it. But like I said, I'm not a good writer. I'm still totally new at it and I can promise that at each chapter there is someone who could handle it better. But the more I write the better quality of a story I will put out, hopefully anyways. Knowing that you're starting to like my Heart Pirates really makes me smile. I want them to all seem unique and as they are further developed I hope I succeed :)

I read through the paragraph that you said I had used the wrong word but I still can't find it, sorry. I plan on giving each chapter a few proof reads each after my complete failure with the capitan mix-up, but since no one else is going over the chapters too, a few mistake might slip through.

Okami1001: I'm happy you think she's cute. That's more towards where I wanted her personality to go. But I never even realized that I made her sassy too, it's kind of funny how characters tend to develop traits unintentionally like that XD