The sun had started to set again, and still the storm raged; waves crashing and whirlpools spinning. The submarine dipped lower into the ocean, now nearly 25 meters deep. A few people had woken up due to turbulence, and were mulling around the kitchen as Kaz, Hazek and Sanji cooked.

Kala was sitting on a stool and eyeing Law, while Kidd glared at the other pirate. Luffy was pestering Sanji about not cooking fast enough, to which the blond threatened to let him go hungry if he didn't leave him alone. Shachi was standing next to Zoro, and a few of Bonney's crew were talking amongst themselves.

"Soutaicho~" Sumiko's voice sing-songed as he walked into the galley. She was beaming, her mismatched eyes sparkling with amusement. She turned to someone behind her and beckoned them closer, and a few people made noises of confusion as a tall slender girl walked in. She had shoulder length tawny hair and gray-green eyes; a dark brown skirt fell to her ankles, and a light blue blouse covered her torso, her hands clasped behind her back.

The women, Luffy and Law seemed confused as to who the newcomer was, while some of the men wolf whistled and commented on the girls' looks. Kala frowned severely; what was she, a troll?

"Who is she?" Killer asked. One of Kala's men shrugged.

"She's not with us."

Zoro shook his head, his eyes glued to the young woman. "Or us."

"Then who the hell is she?" Kidd laughed. "There's no way someone as good looking as her is a member of the Heart crew."

The girl was silent and she looked over at Law, who didn't seem to care about the situation. She held up one of her hands, loose bandages slipping off. "It didn't hold." She said apologetically.

*insert light bulb*

"You're the fox?" Luffy cried in shock. Many others seemed flabbergasted as well to know that the new comer was actually Ayane, who nodded.

Law sighed heavily and nodded to a doorway to the left of Killer. "Sumiko, go fix her up." The brunette nodded "You got it, mon ami." She said, and started walking off when Kala jumped to her feet. The pink haired woman seemed angry for some reason, and both Kidd and Law shook their heads in exasperation.

"She's your woman," Law said to the other man. "You deal with her."

Kidd merely shrugged. "But her anger is directed at your woman," he replied in a teasing voice.

Luffy suddenly cheered and Law looked over to see Ayane holding one of Zoro's swords. Kala was cursing at the two women, her eyes bright with fury.

"How do two skinny, flat, body of a 12 year old pair of losers like you manage to get everyone to pay attention to you? I'm more beautiful than either of you, and yet I'm ignored!"

Ayane sighed and met the other woman's gaze, "Looks aren't everything, ma'am." Kala seemed even more angered after this and she unsheathed her saber.

"You little nobody, I'll show you!"

Kala charged at Ayane, who stood her ground. At the last second before Kala swung her blade, Ayane twisted, the back of the blade slamming into the other woman's side. Kala stumbled and screeched in rage, swinging her sword erratically. Ayane dodged the blows easily, slipping to the side gracefully and parrying every so often; the more she moved the angrier Kala became.

"Get her, Ayane! Put the bitch in her place!" Sumiko was giggling insanely, and Kala turned her attention onto the smaller pirate with a glare.

"Think it's funny do you?" she swung the blade with all the strength she could muster (which was quiet a lot considering she was tipsy and running on adrenaline). The blade arced towards Sumiko, who braced herself, but Law's nodachi blocked the attack and Kala seemed stunned that he had intervened. The raven haired man positioned himself in front of the brunette, and kept his grip on Masamune's hilt.

"That's enough, I won't allow you to attack my crew," he said in a hard tone. "Besides," he glanced at Sumiko for a nanosecond, "I prefer women who have personality. Looks mean nothing to me."

Tears filled Kala's eyes and she stormed off, ordering her crew to follow her. Before she exited the galley, she whirled around and looked at Law with a maniac expression of anger and pain.

"Why did you defend her?" she asked. "She insulted me, and yet you defend her."

Law's reply was instant, "You know exactly why."

Kala's face crumbled and she ran off, her crew rushing after her. Annoyed, Kidd followed the woman, shooting Law a glare.

After the excitement died down, Ayane walked over to Zoro, who seemed floored by the amazing swordsman skills she had shown, and handed him his sword back, thanking him. Luffy was laughing; commenting on the battle had been fun to watch.

Sumiko grinned and looked at Ayane, "That was amazing, yo! I should make you a sword." Ayane smiled gently and nodded, turning back to talk to Zoro about her technique.

Law tapped Sumiko sharply on the head with his nodachi, and the younger pirate whined, rubbing the spot. "Oww! What the hell, boss?"

Law gave her a stern look and she smiled sheepishly. "Why do you always antagonize people?" he asked. Sumiko shrugged and shuffled her feet, mumbling something he couldn't hear. "What was that?"

She glared at the floor. "Because she was messing with you." She sighed in exasperation. "She kept on flirting with you and stuff."

"And that bothers you?" Sumiko gave a barely perceptible nod. "Why?" he asked, even though he knew the answer. She mumbled something again, and Law noticed that Shachi, Penguin, Freyr and even Kidd had stopped to watch them.

Ayane smiled and looked at the duo. "It's because you're her mate."

Sumiko's face reddened so fast that Freyr thought she'd pass out or have an aneurysm. She glared at Ayane and pointed at her, "SHUT UP!" Ayane smiled wider and walked away from Zoro, moving to sit next to Chopper and Bepo. Law seemed mildly amused, and Sumiko bolted, running out of the kitchen. Kidd laughed. "You better go get her before she does something stupid." Freyr was grinning from ear to ear, and Law smirked, walking after Sumiko.

He found her in her little storage closet, humming that same song to herself as she shifted through various bits of metal and glass, looking for enough materials to fashion a sword with for Ayane. She spun on the spot, digging through a box with eager frustration.

"Where'd I put the fucking shaft?" she growled to herself, crossing her arms and kicking the box back into a corner. "Aish!"

Law almost laughed and he leaned against the door frame. "You are a very strange girl, you know that?"

Sumiko looked around, and color bled into her face. She shrugged and looked away, sitting down to dig through another box of trash. She started humming again, ignoring Law, and assuming that if she didn't pay attention to him, he'd leave. It worked. After a few minutes, Law turned to leave and Sumiko watched him go, her heart constricting painfully.

"Boss?" she called out.

"What?" Law asked from down the corridor.

Sumiko took a deep breath and fastened two chunks of metal together with her hand. She remained silent for a few seconds and noticed Law come back to the doorframe out of the corner of her eye; she kept her gaze on her work. "I love you." She said it so quietly that Law had her repeat herself. Sumiko scowled and dropped her project, standing to face her captain.

"I'm in love with you."

"Really?" He smirked. "I hadn't noticed." At least not immediately.

Sumiko frowned and opened her mouth to speak but stopped and crossed her arms, walking past Law who simply followed her, smirking again.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Freyr was taking bets on what would happen between the two. Shachi and Penguin were on his side about the two having mutual feelings, and Kaz, Sel and Starr were saying that Law was too naïve to understand how Sumiko felt about him. Ayane found the bet childish, and she resumed her conversation about martial arts and sword fighting with Zoro, while Luffy fought with Sanji over food.

Law came back from the hallway and stuck up a conversation with an irate Eustass, who yelled at Law for not fighting him. Sumiko made her way over to Ayane, who blinked up at the other girl. "Yes?"

"Why did you say that in front of him?" she whisper-yelled. Ayane merely blinked again and seemed a tad confused.

"Would you rather him remain oblivious and risk any chance you'd have together?"

Sumiko paused and tilted her head. "I didn't think of it like that." She shook her head. "But still! You don't just say stuff like that, it's embarrassing!"

Ayane frowned. "Why would the truth be embarrassing?"

Sumiko facepalmed and groaned in frustration. "Never mind; you're weird, you know that?"

"Probably." Ayane answered.

Zoro liked how witty Ayane was acting, and her slight naïveté about love and the like was endearing. He frowned suddenly as he caught some of the Kidd pirates leering at her, and he moved closer, making them look away. This tactic didn't go unnoticed by Ayane, who smiled a little.

It was nearly three whole days before the storms ended, and everyone went their separate ways to Marineford. Luffy, to rescue his brother, Law (who gave into Sumiko's begging), to help aid the fire user, and Kidd because he was stalking Kala's ship.

It would take at least a week to get to Impel Down, which is where Luffy was headed, hell bent on busting his brother out of the pirating prison. Notorious criminals from around the world were held there, and Sumiko wondered if maybe her oldest brother was there, but Freyr didn't know.

"Hey, boss?" the girl asked as the Thousand Sunny and Shi no Gekai prepared to leave the Sabaody sea line and head out towards the Calm Belt. She looked over at Law, who was talking in whispers to Luffy.

"Hm?"

"What about her?" Sumiko pointed at Ayane, whose tail swished to the side as the warm breeze moved over the ships. Law's eyebrows knitted together and he frowned, what about Ayane, indeed.

"Mugiwara-ya," He turned to Luffy, who quirked an eyebrow. "Never mind, no one cares what we want-Ayane?"

The girl looked up, "Yes?"

"Are you at all interested at being a pirate, or simply joining one of our crews?"

Ayane was surprised he'd asked her directly, and she took a moment to think about it. She enjoyed talking to Zoro quite a bit, but she was also rather fond of Sumiko, who pouted as Ayane debated what to do. "I'm not really sure…"

Sumiko grinned and snapped her fingers, standing suddenly. "I have an idea!" she twitched in her excitement. "How 'bout we all stay here?" she turned to Law, "Hear me out; we're all going to the same place, this ship is damn near indestructible, and can maneuver underwater. If Straw Hat and Kidd's crews join us, we'll be fine. The sub is big enough."

Sumiko's eyes were pleading and Law sighed heavily after a few seconds. He looked at Eustass, who shrugged indifferently, and at Luffy who grinned. "It's alright with me." Sumiko beamed and hugged Freyr, who smirked.

It really is getting harder for him to say no to her…

The trip to Marineford was nothing like Kidd thought it would be; he expected that there would be more ships heading there as well, but for some reason the ocean was unusually empty. For the first few days of the trip, they stayed on the surface, Law stating that they needed as much fresh oxygen and vitamin D as they could get because once they got closer to Impel Down and the Marine HQ, they'd submerge and be underwater for the remainder of the trip. Law and Shachi were talking about stopping to gather supplies to last them all (there were roughly 40 pirates on board) the two-three week journey.

"There are three village islands between here and Marineford," Shachi murmured and Law's iron gaze roamed over the map. "Tartrail, Corel Archipelago and Sky Harbor." he smirked and Shachi met his captain's gaze with a wolfish grin.

"I take it that's where we'll stop?" Law nodded and Shachi laughed, folding the navigational charts and storing them away. "That'll be fun; we could use a vacation before war anyway." And so they sailed, the Kidd, Heart and Straw Hat crews were each planning their involvement in Marineford, and were deciding what materials they would have to get when they made port.

"Where are we going, sir?" Penguin asked, and Kaz echoed the question. Law simply shrugged, and Eustass Kidd glowered, he knew where they were going, but since it was Law's ship they were in, he had no say on where they stopped to gather supplies. The sun was high in the sky and everyone was on the top deck, some people simply relaxing and lying around, some stretching and sparring (Kidd trying to taunt Law into fighting), and some were off by themselves, just enjoying the momentary peace as they sailed through the ocean.

A cool breeze swept over the ship, and Ayane sighed deeply, her tail twitching, and her ears flicking lazily. Sumiko was sitting in the crow's nest, having been reduced to sentry duty by law since she did technically disobey him and fought Kala. She wasn't kicked out (which Shachi said he never would have done), but she was still being punished for insubordination, and was now ignoring the raven haired man, which others found funny. Luffy and his nakama were by the bow of the sub, and were talking tactics on rescuing Ace while Kidd's crew mainly stuck towards the stern and stayed to themselves.

"Hey, boss!" Sumiko called from her perch. Law, who was walking around to avoid Eustass (who adamantly demanded a fight), looked up.

"Can I get down now? It's cold up here, yo." She asked, glaring at her captain. The annoyed look didn't reach her eyes. Law shook his head and she pouted and lay on her back, shutting her eyes against the harsh rays of the sun, crossing her arms in an attempt to warm herself.

She growled at the unfairness, which cut off and turned into a yelp as she was pulled into a sitting position. She turned and saw that Law was sitting next to her. She was a bit surprised to see him, but that turned into full blown shock as his arms went around her and he pulled her against him.

"Uh…boss?" she asked. Law made a noncommittal noise and she shifted.

"You weren't kidding when you said it was cold up here," he frowned and sighed at the girl. "Stop fidgeting and ease up. You're as relaxed as a piece of plywood." Sumiko's face heated and she did as she was ordered, and eventually she leaned back into his hold, a small smile gracing her mouth.

"TRAFALGAR LAW IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HERE AND FIGHT ME THEN I AM GOING TO START TAKING OUT MEMBERS OF YOUR CREW!" the older man's voice disturbed the quiet peace that had fallen over the ship, and various people groaned in annoyance. Eustass Kidd stormed around the deck, raging about and brandishing his flintlock pistol around.

Sumiko snorted and giggled hysterically, and Law moved to the side, looking down to where the other captain stood, glaring up at the crow's nest with eager frustration. Law flipped him off (Eustass howling with rage) and went back to his previous position, causing Sumiko's face to turn redder than Kidd's hair.