Disclaimer: One Piece and all it's characters belongs to the brilliant Eiichiro Oda.

Credit goes to Akalilly for the names for some of Law's crewmembers. Thank you for letting me use them! :)


Chapter 8

Trafalgar Law groaned loudly in his bed as footsteps and yelling echoed through the Heart pirates' sub.

" You come back here right now Nicolai or I swear I will rip your intestines from your body and feed them to the next Sea-king I lay eyes on!" Pulling a pillow over his head he attempted to drown out the noise, and upon failing he briefly pondered on Kiko's choice of words. 'She sounds almost like I would.' Shaking his head he buried his face in the mattress before finally letting out a deep sigh and getting up.

He'd woken up to this at least two times a week the last month now and in his opinion that was way to often to be healthy. Every time it started with Nicolai, or occasionally Demitri, stealing, or "borrowing" one of Kiko's tools and every time it ended with Kiko kicking them green and blue in her fit of rage. About two hours later however, when she'd come to her senses, she would feel very guilty and come find them with an apologetic expression on her face. But she would never actually apologize, oh no, she is way too stubborn for that. Instead she would keep them company for a while and then leave them with a gentle pat on the shoulder.

But not today. Today Law had had enough. This was going to end. Now. Pulling on a pair of pants and his furry hat but not bothering with a shirt (Way too early for a shirt anyway being 6 in the bloody morning) he left his room and followed the racket to the kitchen where Kiko had Nicolai pinned in a corner, a knife in her hand and rage in her eyes.

" Where is it Nicolai? Where the bloody hell is it? " Nicolai however didn't seem very faced by the knife, he had a huge steak-knife and a saucer for protection to his assistance, Kiko's tool nowhere in sight. He had a cocky smile on his face (this had turned into more of a game for him and Demitri and they occasionally made bets on how long they could keep the tool before she got her hands on it.).

"It's in a safe place."

" I swear to god, if I don't have that tool in the next two minutes your head will be-"

"ENOUGH!" both froze as they spotted their captain to the right of their position, rage set firmly on his normally calm features.

" Will you never be quiet? It's impossible to sleep in all the noise you make every time this happens!"

It turned deathly quiet in the kitchen before both crew-members dropped their weapons and pointed at each other.

"He started it!"

"She started it!"

Kiko looked at him with a bewildered look.

" How can you even try blaming this on me? YOU stole MY tool!" Nicolai shrugged.

" Can't hurt trying."

" Why you little-" Kiko was about to jump at Nicolai and probably punch his face in when she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist lifting her up on a shoulder. A very Naked shoulder. She saw Nicolai disappear out of sight as Law rounded a corner and continued walking, the sound of Nicolai running away to put himself into safety could be heard and Kiko turned to the tall man beneath her, or rather the back of his head.

" What did you do that for? I was gonna hack the quartz brained maggot to pieces!"

" I can't have you killing the rest of my crew miss Kiko, that would simply not do. And why on earth are you running around in just pajama pants and a tank top? "

" Why are you walking around without a shirt?"

" Touche my dear, but I asked you first."At this Kiko sighed in defeat.

" Nicolai woke me up as he was sneaking out with one of my tools. Again. Now, why no shirt?"

" Why, you don't like the view?" She could practically sense his smirk as her face heated up.

" I didn't mean it like that."

" So you admit you DO like it? " he dropped her down on the floor in her room that had been moved to next to the engine room for convenience about a week into her stay at the sub. Face burning she turned away from him muttering something inaudible.

" What was that miss Kiko? Didn't quite catch that." Rooting around among her stuff, obviously looking for something else to wear, she spoke a little louder but still very quietly and carefully.

" I said it sort of suits you."

" Sort of? Mind elaborating?" She looked at him briefly from behind her bangs, eyes passing over his half naked form and the corner of her lip twitched before going back to rummaging through her dresser.

" If you're gonna walk around shirtless you should walk around hat-less as well, it looks a bit out of place. " Law was now grinning from ear to ear, a look of mischief shining in his stormy eyes, all the previous anger now completely forgotten.

" Then I will say that that tank top suits you perfectly, wouldn't change a thing with it. " With that he stepped back out the door, walking back to his own room. Kiko's eyebrows furrowed with obvious confusion until she saw her reflection in the mirror. The tank top she was wearing was white and almost a bit see through and it stuck to her like a second skin. Since this was her bed wear she didn't have a bra on beneath it and she stuck her head out the door and yelled after her captain.

" YOU BLOODY PERVERT!" and threw a screwdriver towards him just for good measure.

'Asshat'

Later that day when Kiko was leaving the engine room she almost tripped over the wrench lying on the floor just outside the door, Nicolai had finally decided to give it back. Smiling slightly she picked it up and returned it to it's rightful place in the toolbox.

Looking around she could feel a mixture of feelings wash over her. She didn't regret joining the Heart pirates (even though Law, the ass that he is, practically forced her to) but at the same time she constantly had a knot in her stomach, never quiet feeling completely at ease with where her life was going. Suffering from her own experience she had never been successful at following her heart, were it in love or dreams of the future it had never ended well.

A knock interrupted her thoughts and Sam, one of the cooks, stuck his bearded head in.

"You got mail." He threw some envelopes at her and then left her alone. Sam was always quiet and said only what he felt was necessary to say, which was never a lot. But what she like about him was that he never meddled in her personal business, like her past. He never pushed her to tell him anything. In difference to Law who had her revealing several embarrassing memories from her childhood just a few weeks into knowing her.

She had three letters, one was from Fez most probably saying she was fired. That one she threw in the garbage without opening it. The second was from her former landlord saying that since all her stuff was missing and so was she he had to give her apartment to someone else. Destination : Garbage. ' If he considers me missing how did he send the letter to me? Dense old geezer.' The third letter was completely vacant of any lettering other than her name and crew. Finding it odd she opened it with a lot of caution, eyes widening when she saw the insignia on the upper right corner of the letter.

'The marines really should get a cooler insignia.' she thought as she quickly read through the letter. A huge lump was forming in her throat as her eyes reached the end. 'Signed ? Who the hell is that? Probably some low commander. 'Giving the marines info on Law had been tempting the first month or so but Kiko was having doubts she still wanted the defiant captain to die. The letter said that she could pretty much ask for anything in return for information but could she really do it? Betray the ones she had come to know as friends? She hadn't had proper friends for a very long time, was she really going to give them away to die?

Sinking to her knees she looked around at her room again. Would she ever be able to live with being a pirate again? It could turn out like last time she tried. Kiko shuddered as memories of blood, agony and death came to the surface and a fresh tear escaped her eye. She roughly wiped it away. 'There's no use in crying Kiko, never helped anyone.' Stuffing the letter and mini den-den mushi in a box in the closet she left the room, going in search for someone that might be able to tell her who this 'Akainu' person was.

Entering the kitchen she found Sam making a stew, probably for dinner.

" Sam?"

"Hm?" As said earlier, a man of few words.

" Who is Akainu?" Sam was in the middle of tasting the stew but stopped himself and looked at Kiko, eyebrows knitted together.

" One of the three marine admirals." then he turned back to his stew, a slightly worried expression still adorning his features. Kiko paled and ran straight back to her room.

" Thanks Sam." He looked after the younger woman, now even more concerned but as usual did not want to pry. But she had asked about Akainu, one of the most dangerous people in the world, he could not help but feel an urge to tell the captain. 'This needs some serious thinking about, Sam.' His face took on an annoyed expression as the stew reached his tongue. 'And this stew needs more salt.'