Sorry for this wait. Stupidly busy with work and other things that don't matter here. Anyways enjoy :)

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

Chapter 11: Sleepers and Sleepless

It was getting late, but Law simply couldn't sleep, instead he was lying in bed for hours on end with his mind running nonstop. He had nothing to do necessarily as he and his crew was still sailing for their next island so there was nothing to make plans for and everything in stock was counted already. With sleep apparently out of reach Law decided to put on the first shirt he could find, his hoodie unsurprisingly, and walked up to the deck. Since the Heart Pirates had been at sea for over two weeks now Law had approved Bepo and Bart to keep the ship surfaced at all times so anyone can go outside for fresh air whenever desired. Like now.

Once he made it to the deck he took a second to close his eyes and took a breath in the cool, clean air. As much as he liked his sub he had to admit, it could get stuffy and stale at times. He made his way across the deck to the far side and stretched out on the floor to look up at the clear sky. He figured that if his mind won't calm itself enough for him to sleep on its own, then maybe watching the sky would help it along. It was working and he could feel his mind slowly growing quiet as he let his vision swim around the distant lights above him. "What are you doing up here?" said a quiet voice.

There goes his quiet moment alone.

"I should ask you the same." He said not looking at the only girl on the ship since it wasn't like he needed to check who it was. Law didn't owe her an explanation, so why give her one.

"Would you mind if I joined you?" She did not give him an explanation for her presence either.

Arianna, surprisingly, stood awaiting his answer. "Might as well." He said finally, to which she walked over to the railing at the edge, about two feet from Law, and laid down with her leg dangling over the side.

With her closer to him he realized that she was wet and wearing the clothes she had the day before: black shirt and dark pants though like him she was bare foot and oddly lacked any leather bands from her arms and wrists. She was holding something big and furry that Law did not recognize. "What is that?"

She glanced down at the object in her hands, than held it up for him to see. It was a long dark brown fur vest, the fur seemed vaguely familiar to him for some reason. Remembering a conversation they had in his room weeks ago, Law asked, "I thought you said you only had the fox and wolf furs. Where did that come from?"

"Hmm. I don't have the fox anymore, remember?" She paused, apparently unsure on how to finish. "I hadn't been wearing this because I don't want to freak Bepo out. It's a bear skin after all." She said nervously.

*Bear fur. No wonder it looked sort of familiar.* Considering the amount of time Law spent napping on his animal companion, it isn't a shock that he could recognize bear fur. "That's stupid. Just do it. Bepo does realize that you likely killed bears, he'll quickly get over the confirmation of it." Law's tone was entirely flat, showing his lack of concern for the subject.

Her face simply blanked out, probably surprised. "Okay…"

He looked up and down her clothes again, the back of his mind reminding him that she has been going back and forth between what she's wearing now and what she wore that day. "You should've taken that last day on Breezy Cove to get new clothes, it's not sanitary to go only be wearing the same two outfits like this."

She frowned. "I don't have any money. You took what little I had when I joined and also my reward money from the day we met, remember? Besides, it's not like I'm wearing dirty clothes. I wash what I'm not wearing every day."

"I said 'get' not 'buy'. You're a pirate and we were leaving that day, it really wouldn't have mattered if you caused any trouble to the town at that point." It seemed odd to him that he had to remind the girl that she was actually a criminal, and the thought of stealing some clothes shouldn't be so shocking.

When he looked at her face he could see that she was bothered by his comment but then he could see a new thought coming across her mind as her expression changed to something more accusatory. "Don't tell me... You didn't pay for that night we spent at the tavern, did you?"

Law's face lifted into an amused smirk, "How could I? The man working at the time we left was preoccupied."

"'Preoccupied'? Is that what you call bleeding to death on the floor, Doctor?" Someone was still unhappy about the killing.

"Technically he was already dead before he hit the floor. And why are you so upset about my killing that man when you killed plenty in the same day?" He wasn't particular bothered by her opinion of his actions, but he was curious as to why she carried this particular double-standard.

"That man did nothing against your crew. All the men I killed were trying to kill us." She didn't sound like the talk of her killing others bothered her, but Law did notice that she held the fur in her arms slightly tighter.

"It's interesting that you say 'your crew' and not 'our crew' or something along those lines." He sharpened his eyes to watch her every movement.

"Not that interesting." She said quietly, once again squeezing the fur a little tighter but nothing else.

He was still watching her every little movement, *There she goes again. Answering a question or accusation with a comment that really just distracts from the fact that she didn't answer.* Law thought. Looking back up at the sky, Law tried to salvage that mental peace that he had just before she came up, lucky for him Arianna stayed quiet.

After a few minutes of silent staring Law decided to get up and leave. "Don't stay awake too much longer." He warned, not bothering to tell her to come inside soon since it was unlikely that she would listen that order.

She made a noncommittal noise but otherwise didn't respond. Once behind the closed door Law scratched his head in thought. *She never did say why she was awake. Now I kind of wish I'd pushed her a little to get an answer. Oh well. There's always tomorrow.*

()

Unsurprisingly, Arianna stayed outside for the rest of the night. She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, she spent the night staring at the stars until she opened her eyes to the subtly grayish blue sky of dawn. Once awake she rushed in downstairs and was relieved that she was not late for breakfast duty, though she wasn't as early as she normally is. As the newest member of the crew she was going to be one of the few who had to stay and work while most of the others got to relax and wait in the galley, in fact it was just her, Thomas and another cook named Kai. *Is this stupid "newest member" rule going to last forever?* Slipping her vest on her body since it was still in her arms when she entered, Arianna quickly got to work on the mindless jobs that Thomas assigned her to. Since they had been at sea for so long the head chef was starting to have to get creative or minimal with his meals, today it was oatmeal. It was something simple, and similar to types of food that she would have cooked when with her Tribe so she actually had a good idea of what she was doing. Of course it helped that all she to do was stir the slop in her pot every so often while setting up the window, and Kai did the same while Thomas looked over a list of the food that was left to plan out the next meal. It didn't take long and within five minutes the food was done. "Go ahead and start pouring the pots into trays to start cooling before the rest of the crew comes down."

Once again it was a simple enough task. As the two started shoveling the thick, hot breakfast into trays Arianna started to let her mind wonder back to her conversation with the pirate captain the night before. It really did seem odd to her that he was out there and she was still curious about whether he had woken up and went outside or couldn't sleep at all. She would've asked him until she got an answer but then she would be obligated to tell him what was keeping her up. She could give him a simple answer but considering how closely he was watching her reactions an undescriptive one might've upset him more than no answer at all, they had been on peaceful terms since the fight that interrupted their training day back on the island and it made her life with the pirates easier. She was deep enough in thought that she didn't realize that she stepped into Kai, who was dumping the last of his oatmeal into a tray. Though it wasn't like there was any force in her step he wasn't paying any attention to her either so when she bumped into him he couldn't stop himself from spilling the hot oatmeal. "Ahh!"

Arianna's cry brought the attention of Thomas to his two workers and he saw that Arianna was on the floor holding her lower legs, which along with her feet were splattered with the food, and Kai kneeling next to her with a discarded pot next to him. "I'm sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry! Ari-chan are you okay? Crap, I'm sorry." Kai apologized frantically.

Now that the surprise of what happened subsided Arianna started to try and calm the man. "No, it's okay. I was the one who stepped into you. I wasn't paying attention."

She started to push herself up off the floor the then Thomas was over her. She looked up at him, expecting the chef to start yelling at her for not paying attention, but instead he picked her up wordlessly and carried her out of the kitchen. In the galley, which was occupied by about eight pirates now, every eye was on her. "Austin, go make sure Kai cleans up the kitchen. Marcus please tell the Captain that I'm taking her to the infirmary." The two men did as the chef told them as everyone else continued to watch as Arianna was carried out of the galley. Marcus rushed ahead of Thomas since he had to go to Law's room while the chef just had to make a straight shot upstairs.

Arianna was certain that she could walk just fine, but the stern silence coming from the already stern man kept her from saying anything. Just as they were making their way into the infirmary, the man sat her down on a bed and finally spoke to her. "Why aren't you wearing shoes?"

"I slept in and was worried that I didn't have time to go to my room before coming to the kitchen."

"You weren't sleeping in your room?" Thomas was giving her a suspicious look now. "Where were you then?"

Not quite understanding his suspicion, Arianna looked back with a naturally innocent expression. "Outside. It was a clear night so I slept on deck."

He continued to stare at her like he was looking for something but he was met with a complete lack of understanding. Suddenly his gaze slightly softened and he placed a hand on her head, rubbing it slightly. Arianna continued to stare back but smiled softly, until she heard footsteps on the other side of the door and looked over to watch as it opened and serious faced Law entered with Marcus at his side. "What happened?"

Thomas moved to Marcus' side, leading Arianna to realize for the first time that they're the same height, and answered for the girl. "Kai spilled hot oatmeal on her."

Law looked her over then nodded towards a door at the far end of the room. "There's a shower behind that door. Wash your feet off with cool water and come back. Thomas-ya and Marcus-ya you two can go back down to breakfast."

They both nodded and left the infirmary as Arianna walked into the little private shower rinsed off her feet and pants. *My other pair should be dry by now since they got washed last night. I'll change them once we're done here.*

When she came out of the room Law was sitting waiting for her, so she took the same spot as before and let the doctor examine her feet. "You have some mild burns but they are mostly on the tops of your feet. If you were wearing shoes like you should've been you probably would've gotten away without any. Let me guess. You slept outside and then rushed to the kitchen without bothering to go to your room."

Arianna couldn't help but pout a little at the way this man spoke as if he knew her every move. "If you know what happened then why bother guessing?"

She didn't miss the proud smirk that pulled his expression up. He started trying to put some goo on one of her feet and she couldn't stop it from twitching away from his touch. He must have started to get impatient because he grabbed her ankle and held it firmly in place while he rubbed the medicine in her burns. Since she couldn't avoid the touch anymore she couldn't help the flinch that came to her face in reaction to the stinging, closing her eyes tightly trying to block the feeling out. "Of all the injuries that has happened you, this is what bothers you?"

Law's question brought her attention to the man. He looked entertained and it bothered the hell out of her. "It's just that it's a weird place for me to get hurt. I'm not used to it there."

"That it feels unusually painful on top of your feet is actually because there is no fat or muscle protecting your bones and the nerves trailing along them." Law was using what Arianna like to think of as a doctor tone. Oliver has it too, and so does Nona and Lumie.

After he finished coating her burns in the goo, Law wrapped her feet in a light bandage. "Keep them bandaged for the rest of the day. I'll take them off tomorrow, and decide what to do then. Go to your room and put your shoes on though."

Once again he used his doctor voice, bringing a chuckle to his patient. "Yes sir."

The comment was half mocking but enough of a joke that it apparently didn't bother him, since when he did speak it wasn't about something else. "Are you going to tell me why you were up late last night?"

She wanted to leave the conversation so she said the first thing that came to mind. "Sure. As soon as you tell me what was keeping you up."

Yellow eyes narrowed now. "I'm not allowed to not be able sleep?"

Looking at the shadows under his eyes, she remembered when she was curious about what made them though at this point she was simply used to his appearance. "Same to you."

When he said nothing to this Arianna took it as a sign that he'll drop it for now and she's free to leave so she walked out of the infirmary.

()

After being dismissed by his captain, Marcus went back down to the galley with Thomas. "What a stupid little girl; being in the kitchen without shoes. I should've seen that and sent her out." The older man was mumbling to himself as they made their way down stairs. *What kind of idiot walks around bare foot in the first place though?* Marcus didn't bother verbally commenting on Arianna's idiocy though. When they made it to the galley more of the crew had made it in and were in line or sitting and eating. With the chef going into the kitchen, Marcus took his spot in line, it didn't take long for him to get to the food since about a third of the crew weren't even bothering to wake up and come to breakfast anymore. Such people included Connor, Shachi and Penguin.

Marcus sat down at his usual spot, joining Bepo and Oliver who were discussing any signs of the possibility of making it to land soon. "I'm sorry. According to the maps we took from the Marines, we will be sailing for another four days." The navigator bear apologized as if it was somehow his fault that the distance between islands was so big.

"It just can't be helped. I'm just worried we might run out of food before we make it. I'm getting sick of tasteless meals." Marcus told him, letting the thick slop slowly fall off his spoon.

Oliver was quick to hush him in a low voice. "Quiet! If Tom-san or Austin heard you they might get mad."

The warning did make him glance around for any sign of the two. Austin had joined the chef and they were both in the kitchen now, well out of ear shot. They were good cooks but the steadily shortening of supplies was really starting to show, Thomas even declared a no seconds policy for the time being to the dissatisfaction to much of the crew.

"Marcus, how's Ari-chan?" Bepo's gruff voice brought Marcus' attention back to the bear.

"Fine, I'm sure. Captain's the one looking at her." Marcus answered as he finally put a spoonful of the oatmeal in his mouth. *It's bland.*

As if hearing herself being talked about, Arianna entered the room and was quick to find her way to the food window then to their table. He watched her walk, checking her head to now covered toe. "Finally put on shoes? What kind of idiot goes around bare foot?" Just because he didn't voice his question to Thomas doesn't mean he won't to the girl herself.

She frowned unhappily at Marcus but then she smirked triumphantly. "Captain for one. I saw him last night on deck and he wasn't wearing shoes."

"Why were you meeting Captain on deck?" Oliver asked.

"I wasn't. It was just a coincidence. He said he couldn't sleep, and I felt like going outside."

"What kind of answer is 'felt like going outside'?" Marcus was not a fan of her roundabout way of explaining.

Before the girl could say anything to the man's question Bepo took the attention of the three people sitting with him by getting up and leaving the table, making a quick exit of the room.

The three watched in silence at the bear's swift retreat from the galley. After a second Marcus decided that Bepo was going to ask the captain why he wasn't able to sleep. Oliver must've too since he also resumed eating quickly, leaving only Arianna to continue looking at the door confused. Oliver must've felt compelled to clarify while Marcus did not, since he explained to her. "Bepo always worries about Captain, especially when it comes to sleep. Captain says he's always had the shadows under his eyes so no one should really give it any thought but Bepo can't help but worry. Though I think it just annoys him."

"Hmm." She hummed in thought then took a bite of oatmeal.

"Why is the oatmeal so bland?" Marcus decided to ask her. She cooked the food, she should know.

She looked at him with the spoon still in her mouth. "What are you talking about? It tastes just how it should."

Oliver started getting a dreamy look in his eyes, "Honey or cinnamon in oatmeal is definitely better."

Arianna perked up at his words then she got the same look. "Oh. Honey is my favorite treat."

They both were in their own little worlds so Marcus decided to just finish his breakfast and go see if one of his other friends were awake yet. As he was walking through the hallway a thought occurred to him. *I never got an answer about why she went out to the deck.*

()

Connor was having too pleasant of a dream to willingly wake up. His dream wasn't anything special, it was simply having a peaceful day at sea with the crew with some minor differences, his favorite of which was being able to have Oliver's hand in his publicly. They and all their friends were all on deck playing cards and for whatever reason, even in his dreams he can't beat Penguin.

"Connor…" A voice that was not coming from his dream intruded.

*Shut up! I'm sleeping!*

Nope. The voice was not giving up.

"Connor. Seriously, wake up!"

To his displeasure, his dream started to disintegrate and he could see nothing now that his mind could only register the blackness behind his closed eyes. "What do you want?" His voice was entirely groggy and he still wouldn't open his eyes.

"Will you just wake up!? It's already 10:30!" Of course it was Marcus. Who else would go around interrupting everyone else's peaceful sleep?

Connor simply shuffled closer to the wall and deeper into a blanket cocoon. "Who cares? I'm going back to sleep."

Marcus started trying to pull at his blankets now. "You can't just spend the whole day lazing around in bed."

Connor pulled back. "No. You can't spend the whole day lazing around in bed. I can just fine."

For a second he stopped pulling Connor's blanket, but then one firm yank stripped the cloth off of him. "Hey! What the hell?!"

Marcus looked back with a completely stern face. "Good you're up. Don't forget today is laundry day for our room's blankets and sheets." That was he said before he dropped the warm blanket on the cold floor and walked out of the room with his own blankets.

With his warm nest already destroyed Connor decided it wasn't worth it to try staying in bed. Besides, chances are Marcus would come back.

Sitting up, he took a few minutes to rub his face and neck and slowly stretched out his limbs. He was always slow to wake up; the only time he can ever get up quickly is if there's an emergency or if Oliver is waking him up. Then again Oliver is brutal when it comes to getting him out of bed, usually kicking him onto the floor and if that doesn't work he gets cold water in the face.

Groaning, he finally stood and giving his whole body one more good stretch, he put on a t-shirt and his boiler suit just zipping and tying it at his waist rather than wearing it over his whole body then dropped his short trident like mace through a belt loop. Not wanting to deal with Marcus pestering him about the laundry, Connor yanked everything off his bed and grabbed the blanket off the floor and carried it down the hall to the laundry room next to the bathroom. The machines were all already running, *Friggin' morning people.* He complained mentally and dropped his load into a bin to be cleaned later.

After backtracking into the bathroom, he tried to make his way upstairs to the deck. It was close to 11 so that should be the first place to check for anyone. But before he got far Shachi and Penguin shuffled towards him still half-asleep, they definitely stayed up late and were probably among the list of people that were being forced awake. "Marcus?" He asked referring to whoever woke them.

Shachi yawned. "Yeah."

As they passed him Penguin mumbled. "Don't forget to check your station."

In the crews little hierarchy Penguin was directly above Connor as the head mechanic, which means it wasn't a choice to "forget" to do so. Though he really didn't want to, Connor called back a reply. "Yeah, yeah. I'll go now."

Now moving down instead of up, Connor went into the engine room and checked the gauges and inspected the bolts for the engine cooler that he was in charge of. With everything working properly and requiring no maintenance the mechanic finally started his climb back upstairs and outside. Sure enough Oliver, Marcus, Shachi and Arianna were among the people on deck. He found it funny that even though everyone on the crew were friends, supposedly, it was usually the same groups of people who would collect together to hang out and pass the time. He was certain that once Penguin was done with his engine check the man will come up and go directly to his spot among their group. The thought tempted him to find someone in the crew who wasn't in that group to talk to, but he made his way to his regular friends anyways. "Morning." He announce with a yawn, apparently he was still sleepy.

"Barely." Marcus replied.

"If you're going to give me crap about sleeping in then you should for Shachi and Penguin too."

"Hey! Don't drag me down with you." Shachi spat back.

Connor could hear the only female voice giggle at the interaction. He knew she was always awake early. *Friggin' morning person.* He thought. "So Half-Pint, did you manage to get through the morning without getting in trouble with Tom-san or Captain?"

She almost never could so he knew it would stop her, and it worked. She stopped giggling and looked away with a slightly pink shade to her cheeks. Oliver piped up for the first time since Connor got there. "Kai accidently burned her feet in the kitchen."

A small impulse of worry sparked through him but then he calmed, she was sitting just fine and didn't seem to be in any pain or even bothered by an injury. "How'd that happen?" Shachi asked with a layer of panic in his voice.

The two medics who were present at the accident stared at her with flat expressions. However it happened, it was definitely because of something stupid she did. "How is not important. Besides I'm fine."

"Sure..." Connor was extra curious now. He'd have to ask when they were without the girl.

Just at that moment Penguin appeared out of nowhere and practically tackled the already sitting Connor in his bid to make an entrance. "Hey! What're we talking about?"

"Nothing. You pick a topic." Arianna was quick to prevent the conversation from going back to her.

"Um… How about how starving I am?" The head mechanic said.

"Same." Shachi and Connor both chimed in.

Marcus made an annoyed face. "Then you should've woken up for breakfast."

Oliver and Arianna nodded in agreement. Connor couldn't help but mutter, annoyed. "Friggin' morning people."

Oliver started to laugh at the comment, while Marcus smirked and Arianna tried to hold in a laugh of her own. It truly seemed that the only ones on his side of things were the two other people who slept in and missed breakfast too.

"Hmm. Now that I think about it, lunch will be in about an hour. At least you won't have to wait long." Oliver was trying to be helpful now that he was done laughing.

*How to pass the time?* Remembering his dream, Connor made a suggestion. "How about we play cards until lunch?"

Penguin had a big smile on his face. He loved cards, mostly because he was great at it. "Sounds perfect!"

Then with a general agreement from the group the hat wearing mechanic ran down to his room and, faster than ever and returned with a deck of cards and a bag of poker chips. "Five card stud?" Shachi asks the group.

It wasn't really a choice since that was the only game they had been able to teach Arianna since she revealed that she had never played poker. With the chips all distributed Penguin began dealing cards. The game was fun, though like always Penguin was winning. *There's no way he isn't cheating.* Connor thought to himself like he does every time they play. He wasn't sure that the man wasn't cheating but he had never been able to prove that he was. The girl was getting better since the first time she played, though if she was watched closely enough her expression would still give away whether she had a good hand or not.

During the game, to everyone's surprise, Austin came over to them and told Arianna that she didn't have to come in for lunch duty. The news seemed to brighten her already good mood and she lost all ability to hold any shred of a poker face, making her so easy to read that everyone could play according to her face and she instantly lost all of her chips. The hour passed quickly and someone from the kitchen came up and called everyone to come eat, much to Connor's pleasure.

()

After hearing of his captain's difficulty sleeping the night before Bepo had indeed rushed to find him and talk to him. He was well aware of the fact that Law did not like the bear pestering him about his sleeping habits, but he also knew that the man appreciated the concern on some level since he would never allow it to continue otherwise. Law insisted that he was simply restless and that was what kept him up late, but he slept just fine.

Once the captain had calmed the bear's worry they both went down to get Law his breakfast from Thomas, since he had missed the meal because he had to treat Arianna then deal with a worried first mate. The galley had been cleaned out but the chef was always aware of who had eaten and since he had a good read on who wakes up for breakfast after a long time at sea and who doesn't, he had a talent for making just enough food for everyone and knew to set aside a meal for the people who were coming but got held up by something, such as Law.

Much to Bepo's pleasure he had also set aside the bear's half-eaten bowl after it had been abandoned, so the two sat down to eat together in peace. After the meal they discussed the food supply with Thomas and the three came to the conclusion that they were running out too quickly. Marcus may have been half-kidding when he said he was worried they didn't have enough food for the rest of the time they were expected to be sailing to the next island, but it turns out that he wasn't far off. Depending on how minimal the kitchen crew can use their stock for each meal, they may or may not have enough to make it. While a day or two without food wouldn't kill anyone, it certainly did not make for a happy crew. Plus they were pirates in the Grand Line. Any number of dangers could come to them and it was important that they all be at full strength.

With the conclusion made and no clear solution for their current predicament Law and Bepo left and went up to the smaller deck that was usually empty to take a break and think further on their situation. Even after making it outside he was still fairly hot, so the polar bear unzipped his boiler suit and removed it from his upper body so that it hung off of him and otherwise looked like pants. He was a bear sure, but he still couldn't help the odd sense of modesty that usually only existed in humans that drove them to wear clothes no matter the heat.

Now that his fur was free in the breeze he was beginning to feel much cooler, and the sudden desire to lie down and relax into a nap came to him. Almost as soon as he was sprawled on the floor his captain was on the floor too and propped up against him, probably settling in for a nap himself. It pleased Bepo to no end. He knew his captain didn't have the easiest time sleeping, so the fact that he seemed to fall asleep quickly when using the bear's plush body as a pillow gave him a sense of usefulness that always left a warm feeling in him. Without realizing it, Bepo began to hum and chuff happily while he tried to come up with a solution to their problem in the back of his mind. When he finally noticed the noise he was producing he stopped only for Law, who apparently wasn't asleep, to speak up. "I've told you before. It doesn't bother me when you do that."

Bepo was suddenly embarrassed and did his best to not stammer. "But it has to be harder to sleep with such a loud noise."

"It's more like white noise to me. Unlike the noises from everyone down there." It was hard not to hear the crew members who were on the larger deck, all talking and collectively they were very loud to Bepo. It seemed Law could hear them too.

"Who's going to tell them about our food supply problem?" Bepo asked uneasy.

"No one. We'll try fishing." The solution the captain came up with was the sweetest of music to Bepo. Fish was easily his favorite food.

With Law having provided a solution to their current problem the bear easily fell asleep on the floor. After who knows how long he was starting to feel uncomfortable and when the sound of Law's voice calling his name made it to his mind he woke up. He hadn't realized it but the uncomfortable feeling that was slowly coming over him was the feeling of being baked under the sun that had reached the peak of the sky and was also heating up the metal ship. Once he was fully awake the two retreated into the ship and with nothing to do Law decided that they might as well go to the galley and speak to Thomas about the thought of fishing and wait for lunch since it had to be soon. *Thank goodness Captain woke up. That could've been really bad.* Bepo thought to himself as they walked in the ship that felt very cool in comparison now.

Apparently, lunch was not soon. Lunch was now. When they entered the galley there was already a line for food so the duo stood at the end.

"Looking good Bepo!" One of the men on the crew, Clyde, jeered making him feel somewhat uncomfortable about the fact that his suit was still pulled down to his waist, exposing his furry body. Embarrassed, he fumbled to pull it back over himself. Law said nothing, he never did. He knew that Law disliked the people bullying him and would threaten anyone who wasn't a Heart Pirate, but he would never defend the bear from the jokes of the crew. Bepo wasn't sure why, and an easily dismissed part of him worried it was because his captain agreed. The rest of him was certain there was a reason that was for Law to know and Bepo to learn to understand on his own. Either way, he felt uncomfortable now and his eyes darted around uncertainly, catching sight of Arianna and Marcus sitting at the table their group usually used, both were glaring at Clyde obviously having heard his words. He couldn't help it when he shuffled through the line with his head down slightly. "Go eat without me. I'm going to talk to Thomas-ya." Law told him.

"Okay." He said and scurried over to sit with his friends.

When he sat down Arianna immediately scolded him. "Why did you let him get away with mocking you like that?"

Everyone else who wasn't Marcus looked at her questioningly. They must've not heard Clyde. Bepo shifted uncomfortably, "It's not a big deal, and he was only joking after all."

Marcus sighed. "What kind of first mate gets mocked and bullied by the crew?"

"I'm sorry." His depression hit him deeply.

"Stop that!" Shachi and Penguin both all but shouted.

"It kind of bothers me that Captain doesn't say anything about it though." Oliver commented quietly.

"He's the captain. He can't play favorites after all." Bepo tried to rationalize it to them, even if he wasn't certain himself.

Everyone was quiet and Bepo felt certain that they were trying to accept this possible explanation, but doubted they did. To his great relief the alarm went off throughout the ship, alerting everyone of danger. Immediately after Jean Bart, who Bepo only now realized was skipping lunch to keep look out thankfully, spoke over the communication pipe system that the two navigators used to communicate with the crew in emergencies. "We have a Sea King out here!"

At that, some of the crew rushed on deck. It wasn't to defend the ship, though they will if needed. It was to watch the display that they knew was coming. Once on deck the group looked at the Sea King in interest. It was large like all Sea Kings, though this one in particular was incredibly serpent-like, looking no different from a giant snake with the exception of a crown of sharp but somehow also frail looking spines that kind of reminded Bepo of a lion fish, and it had a solid dark gray color along its spine that faded to white towards it belly.

"What do you think Bepo?" Law asked thoughtfully.

"Looks yummy." He answered honestly.

At that Law opened a Room and effortlessly cut the Sea King over and over until it was in small pieces. Once his cutting was done the captain used his Shambles command to pile all of it on deck. He then turned to Thomas who also came up as well, to Bepo's surprise. "Our food supply problem has been solved."

Thomas roared a laugh and agreed heartedly, before turning to Arianna, who was the only member of the kitchen staff to come to deck, and instructed her. "Start carrying this into the freezers in the storage rooms. I'll send the rest of our worker up to get started too."

She nodded, surprisingly obedient considering how angry she had been getting the chef before.

Law sheathed his sword and rested it against his shoulder then told all of the men on deck that they needed to help too, before walking inside empty-handed other than his nodachi. Bepo didn't mind, though he was vaguely aware of the fact that some of the men were complaining, because all he can think about was the fact that he gets to eat fish for a long time now.

Even with the kitchen workers and spectators of the kill all carrying the Sea King meat in it still took a while to get everything packed in the freezers, then get an estimate of how much they had. It took several hours in fact and just before everything was brought in it even started to rain. By the time Bepo and Thomas had finished recording the weight of how much meat they brought in it was time for the chef to start getting prepared for his dinner shift. Bepo took the stock report up to Law's room and decided to take it easy and relax there until dinner.

()

She was walking through a forest. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew that she was going in the right direction, somehow. *Weird. I've been here before.* She realized. As she looked at the branches and trunks around her, Arianna did her best to place were she was. The sights and smells she was picking up touched a distant memory. Wherever she was, it had been a long time since she had seen it.

"GAHHHHH!" The loud piercing scream stopped her in her tracks for just half a second, then she sprinted as fast as she could in its direction. The more she ran the louder the scream was and the more voices she heard add in to it. She ran as quickly as she could but when the smell of blood slammed into her all at once like she ran into a wall she stopped. She knew exactly where she was, and she knew what was waiting for her at the heart of those screams.

Arianna crouched and curled herself into a ball, pushing her hands over her ears and closed her eyes, trying to block out what was happening. But nothing she did mattered, suddenly the screams and blood smell were not in the distance but instead all around her. She pushed her hands harder against her ears and squeezed her eyes tighter, pleading. "Please go away. Don't make me see this. Please go away."

"Anna-chan." A young voice called out to her perfectly clear, as all the other sounds of this horror world ceased.

When she looked up, she saw a girl wearing a bright blue dress and long black hair that fell half-way down her forearms, with her left one coated in blood coming out of her upper arm. She looked into the dark and emotionless ocean blue eyes of the girl she knew well as it began to rain. Arianna was suddenly aware of what she already knew would be there; dead bodies littered the ground around the two girls. Feeling a raindrop fall to her hand, she looked down at it and saw a crimson droplet pool on her skin. Looking at the grass and dirt around her, she saw that everything was slowly being stained red. *Raining blood.* She thought coldly to herself as she looked back to the little girl who stood before her, true terror in her eyes. *No. Not a little girl. An eleven-year old Raven.*

"Raven. Please help me." Her voice was pathetic and pleading, full of terror.

Raven slowly shook her head side to side. "Why would I help you?"

"You've done enough." The young voice of a boy spoke from behind her.

When Arianna turned to look at him, she saw the same empty expression that Raven had. The fourteen year old Ike looked at her with unfeeling red eyes and his dark brown hair was getting plastered to his head from the blood-rain. Her eyes froze on the blood flowing out of long gashes that ran across his left cheek and down on his collar bone. "You've done enough."

When Ike spoke his words again they began repeating in rushed whispers that came from everywhere and nowhere. Arianna couldn't contain her fear any longer and a terrified scream escaped her.

It was a scream apparently loud enough to wake her from her nightmare, as the next thing Arianna was aware of was that she was sitting up in her bed on the sub, soaked in sweat and panting. She wrapped her arms around her body to try and stop the tremors that the fear left behind but they didn't seem to want to stop anytime soon. She took a quick glance around her room and was relieve that no one was there. She knew that she was screaming for real if she was to trust her painful and scratchy throat.

She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, burying her face. "Crap... Another nightmare." Taking deep breaths, she went back to trying her best at calming herself. After what she was certain was a long time, her mind was clear enough for her to think and take in her state. All of her sweat had dried and she smelled horribly, her only consolation was that she hadn't worn anything to sleep in. In general it's not the smartest thing to do, especially on a ship full of men, but she doesn't have anything to wear just to sleep and she didn't want her dirty clothes on her bed. She looked at the small clock on her wall. *4:12 Ugh. That's early even for me.*

Considering the time, she concluded it's safe to go shower. Putting on her dirty clothes from the day before, she walked down to the showers and washed off the stench from her body and her clothes as well. Once she was done she changed into her clean clothes, the green shirt and one of her jean pants, she silently walked back to her bed room to hang up her now wet but clean clothes. While there she dug through her trunk and put on her shoes and pulled out her bear fur, hugging it closely to her body. Remembering that they had once again stayed surfaced for the night, Arianna went upstairs and found that the rain that prevented her from sleeping on deck had stopped.

Walking to the far railing, she swiped some excess water off of a spot on the floor and sat down with her legs dangling off the deck, ignoring the new wetness the seeped into her clothes. Pulling the fur closer to her face she inhaled deeply. The smell that was once there to remind her of her Family had long faded, but the act was still comforting. Breathing it in again she let herself fall backwards onto the deck floor and stared at the now clear night sky through half-lidded eyes. Closing her eyes again her mind drifted back to her dream, to the blood and pain that invaded what was supposed to be her time of rest and peace. *No. I've simply been lucky lately. The fact that that my nightmares had only started coming back these past few days since coming on the ship is nothing less than a miracle.* The thought only served to further sadden her. That was not going to be her last nightmare and she will have to get used to having them once again.

Yay all done! Next chapter is a new island too, so double yay :) I'll try and get my next chapter out a bit faster but no promises. Until then comments, criticisms, and corrections all make me smile so please do it :)