The start of a new island, yay! From now on I will be keeping progress notice on my profile page in between chapters so feel free to check that if it seems I'm taking a while, it will hopefully give some kind of idea of where I'm at writing-wise.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own One Piece or those characters. They belong to Oda Eiichiro


Chapter 12: Shopping Trips

The sight of land was the most beautiful thing the Heart Pirates had seen in what felt like years. Three straight weeks at sea left every member of the crew sick of the ocean and ready to have solid land beneath their feet. Arianna in particular was ready to take in the feeling of ground and the scent of nature, all this time on an entirely man-made vessel was seriously starting to make her depressed.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" She whined childishly.

"We'll get there within the next hour, so calm down." Marcus chided.

She sank down, half of her body dangling over the railing, "We've been on this floating machine for so many weeks. I just want to feel grass beneath my feet not cold, heartless metal." She continued her whining tone.

"Hey!" She looked up to see Penguin. "This submarine is a masterpiece. Don't talk about her like she's a simple ship." Of course the lead mechanic was offended.

"Defend the ship all you want, nothing beats the feeling of grass underfoot." Nothing the mechanic could say would ever change her mind on that. The thought and excitement at being on land again was starting to make Arianna tremble.

Marcus put both hands on her shoulders in an attempt to stop her, "Jeez, calm down kid. You're practically vibrating."

She looked at him with a frown, then back at the island in the distance. She stood up with a sigh then started to walk back into the ship. "Where're you going?" Penguin asked.

"Sitting out here and watching the island until we get there will be torture. I'm going to take a nap or something inside to pass the time."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. You've been looking tired lately." Marcus said to the retreating girl, though he was thankfully looking at the island and had not seen the way she slightly stiffened in her step.

Once inside she made a hasty trail to her room and fell onto her bed rather than crawling in. Rolling with her blanket until it was wrapped around her then closed her eyes until she fell asleep.

It was the sound of banging on the door brought her mind back to being awake. It was a short nap since they were in sight of their destination, which also meant no time to dream. She tried to get up but the way she was wrapped in her blanket was making it impossible, and when she heard the banging on the door again she groaned and again tried to wriggle her way out of the fabric making her look like a panicked worm. Arianna turned her head at the sound of the door opening and saw Law walking in with an annoyed look on his face. But that look disappeared and he stared at her like he wasn't sure how to react to what was before him. "What? Why are-?"

"Help?" Arianna asked pathetically.

Without another word he walked up to her and yanked the blanket, effectively releasing the girl who fell to the floor. "Thanks."

Law tossed the blanket onto the bed and started leaving the room. "We've reached the island. Get on deck, and you won't need to hunt this time since we have plenty of meat from the Sea King."

"Yeah, okay." Turning herself over to get back on her feet, she took her bag and put her hunting clothes in it just in case she gets the chance to go for herself then changed into her old boots, put on her tomahawk and knife and went back to the deck. When she stepped outside a strong smell hit her. Whatever kind of island they were at she could already categorize it as having a dirty town. Apparently everyone had already been given there orders before she made it there, she could already see groups of white suits shuffling into the town, in one of them she saw a dark grey shirt and fuzzy hat. *Law's going on the supply run?* Arianna was surprised, she hadn't thought the captain would ever take part in such simple tasks like a supply run. "Ari-chan, are you ready to go?"

She turned to give Shachi a confused look, "Where are we going?"

"Shopping for you. You can't spend the rest of your life in those two outfits. Captain gave us some money to take you." Penguin, who was leaning on his friend's shoulder, answered.

"Yeah? Great! I'm getting sick of washing my clothes every night." She was excited. It had been a long time since she replaced her clothes.

Arianna bounded happily after the two men down the plank of the ship and onto the dock. The tall buildings looked to be made of cut stones as were the paths and streets rather than leaving it as dirt. "Ari-chan, you need to get up on the sidewalk." Penguin told her, tugging at her hand to guide her over to a slightly elevated and incredibly crowded stone walk-way close to the buildings. "Does it matter?" she asked.

Penguin let go of her when then were up on the sidewalk and both men looked at her with an adult air to them. "Yeah. People ride horses and cart on the streets, you could get hit."

Penguin turned to start walking along with the moving crowd deeper into the town while giving her an order. "Don't get separated."

They both started walking and missed the slight frown that came to their companion's face. *Right. I need a baby-sitter everywhere I go. No wonder Law didn't just give me the money himself and tell me to go buy clothes.*

She followed the two men silently and they didn't seem to even remember that she was trailing behind them, they were too engrossed in their conversation. "Where do you think it is? This town has to have one right?" Penguin asked.

"It better. After this long at sea I need a trip." Shachi said with what kind of sounded like desperation.

"How are we going to convince Captain to give us a big enough island allowance for a trip and booze?"

"We better think of something! Maybe we could ask if they are willing to give some kinda deal? 'Bring this many costumers and you get this much discounted.'"

"Umm." Arianna interrupted them to get their attention onto her. "If you guys are planning a trip somewhere I'd be happy to come."

They both looked at her with intensely shocked expressions, obscured eyes probably bulging out and jaws practically to the ground. "NO! YOU DEFINITELY CAN'T COME!" They both said, utterly adamant.

She clasped her hands behind her and tilted her head slightly to the right, then put on her best 'innocently curious' expression. They were always telling her she was a cute girl, so shouldn't she use it to her advantage? "Why not?"

They looked like they were at a loss for words. They wanted to give the girl what she wanted but they absolutely couldn't. Shachi did his best to calm his panic and, putting both hands on her shoulders, he looked her in the eyes from behind his sunglasses and with a dead serious expression he told her "You can't come because we are planning a trip to a whore house."

She looked at him for a second with an unchanging expression as her mind tried to process what he was saying, until… "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?! WHO PLANS SUCH THINGS WITH THEIR FRIENDS?!" She was more than shocked, she was embarrassed. She asked to come along, the fact that she didn't know where to doesn't change that. Nor does it change the fact that her yelling was attracting the attention of others in the crowd.

"We do." Once again both were dead serious in their answer.

"I'm going back to the ship." She said as she tried to make a retreat.

"No." Penguin said and she felt a hand grab her shoulder to stop her, though she couldn't bring herself to look at them and see whose hand it was.

"Come on. We didn't convince Captain to let us take you shopping just for you to go back to the ship before we make it to a single store." Shachi added.

This caught her attention. "You asked to take me? Captain didn't ask you to?"

A smile came up under a green and pink cap, "Nope. As far as I know Captain was just going to let you go by yourself."

"…And why did you take that away from me?" The medic's words were building a new anger in Arianna.

"If we went on the supply run like normal we would have been in charge of our groups and we wouldn't be able to look around for a who-" Shachi couldn't finish his sentence because the girl had shoved her hand over his mouth. She got the idea, it didn't need to be voiced.

There was nothing left to be said about the situation. Nothing that wouldn't make her feel more uncomfortable anyways, so she sighed and made a simple request. "Can we just get on with this?"

"Please." Penguin was just as quick to attempt to move past the conversation, and the three continued their walk into town.

()

With Shachi and Penguin taking Arianna shopping Law decided to lead the medic team's supply run. The two hadn't really explained why they suddenly wanted to take the girl out but the captain could come up with some guesses, none of which were good for his mind to stay on for longer than it took to form. He wasn't worried about their behavior towards the girl, their lecherous impulses didn't seem to extend to Arianna. Law knew that she simply wasn't their type. Thinking about her appearance honestly, Law decided that she was smallish though despite the jokes about her being childlike she didn't actually resemble a child. She was simply better described as cute rather than pretty, with a personality to match. The perverted pair on the other hand… They preferred their women to be more alluring in appearance and easy to convince that it would be a great idea to have sex with a complete stranger. *Simply put, they prefer whores.* Law thought with slight irritation. Those two probably spend at least half of the money they are given at each island on women.

"Captain?" Marcus interrupted Law's thoughts. Apparently his annoyance with Shachi and Penguin's bad habit, as he settled to call it a long time ago, was showing on his face.

"I think Shachi and Penguin are planning something." He said unhappily.

Marcus' expression took on a hint of dread. "Let's just hope they don't get us involved this time."

"If we pretend to not know what's happening we'll be safe." Law said, vaguely hopeful.

Marcus apparently could only chuckle nervously.

"Captain, this seems to be an apothecary." Oliver called out from the front of the group.

The building looked like it was focused on herbs and holistic forms of medicine. While they usually didn't carry the types of supplies that Law looked for, he wasn't above using herbs and such as alternatives. "Let's go in then." He said simply.

There was a small chime from the door when he led the group in. "Welcome." An old woman in a dull colored brown and green dress and a large amber pendent from behind the counter said. Law handed her a paper "Do you carry any of the items on this list?"

Taking a minute to look it over "We have some medicines in stock that achieve the same effect as three of these drugs, but I know of other shops that do carry what I don't. Would you like me to give you the information?"

"Yes, please." Pirate or not, there was no reason for Law to not be respectful to this old woman, especially since she was being helpful.

"Just give me a moment then." She pulled three pieces of paper out from the counter and began listing what could be found and where from the original list. She handed it to Law when she was done who in turn handed them off to other members of his group along with most of the money with him. "Split up and get all of these. Marcus, stay with me." He ordered.

With all but two of the pirates cleared out the elderly woman went about gathering what Law would be taking from her, collecting various jars and measuring their contents out and pouring them in other jars. As she was doing her work behind the counter Law's attention was brought to her pendent, he realized that within the amber was a flower. He seen it before and wondered idly if it had some type of medicinal property and that's why the apothecary was wearing it.

"It's a violet."

"Hm?" The woman's voice broke his train of thought.

She simply smiled calmly in the way old ladies that lived a fulfilled life do. "The flower in my amber. It's a violet flower. It comes from a type of flower that covered this island when I was young, though most were destroyed when this city was built."

Marcus and Law both stared at her, uncertain if they should bother saying anything.

"Ah. Listen to me. I'm sorry. You didn't come here to listen to an old woman's rambling. Here's your order. I labeled the jars with what's in them and here's a list of instructions on how to dose them and what they do." She slid a smallish crate to their side of the counter with the instructions on top.

With Marcus carrying the crate the two leisurely made their way back to the sub.

()

As expected, as soon as Arianna, Shachi and Penguin found a shopping area in the town the two boys gave her the money Law had given them for her and basically ditched the girl. Honestly, Arianna was happy at not having to deal with the two men, considering their constant need to give their opinion on anything involving her they would have likely been unwanted critiques to every piece of clothing she picks. Plus now she can buy underwear without them standing behind her and seeing every piece.

She decided underwear than sleepwear were to be her top priority, so after getting what she deemed enough she moved through the stores to find cheap clothes. She honestly didn't care much for Worlder clothes nor was she given much money considering she was supposed to buy an entire wardrobes worth, about 21,000 beri, so the whole shopping part of the trip only lasted about 30 minutes, after which she began trying to track down the two fools who were supposed to be with her to begin with. The city and all the people in it was too overwhelming to her senses to attempt tracking them like she would prey and the Hunter's Sense would be too overloaded if she opened it to the presences around her to find them. *That reminds me, Law should be close to starting that portion of the Sense training soon.* The pirate captain made a point to get her to a training room with him for sparring a few times a week, though they can't really go all out inside the ship.

She can't exactly go back to the ship without them, Law might get angry at them or her, and she didn't want anyone to get in to trouble. So here she was wandering the streets to find two specific men in a sea of people while carrying two paper and her leather bag full of clothes. After what had definitely been at least 35 minutes of walking around in search of them she still hadn't seen a sign of them anywhere and Arianna was beginning to feel frustrated. Then seemingly out of nowhere she heard a loud and deep bell noise, causing her to look up at the buildings around her but then the one in front of her had a sign that caught her attention. It showed "Water Fashion". *Why does that look familiar?* She thought then looked down at one of the bags in her hand, it showed the same thing. *I've been walking in circles.* She thought horrified. *I can never let Law know I got so lost like this! I'll never be left alone on an island again!*

Taking a deep breath of the dirty air she decided to do the only thing she can think of that will hopefully allow her to maintain some form of self-sufficiency in the pirate captain's view, ask for directions to the dock and go to the ship alone. *If those two get in trouble, they get in trouble.*

With the decision made she stopped the first person she could and asked for him to point her in the direction she needed. When he pointed her south she thanked him and went on her way, careful to stay on the sidewalk. Arianna tried to stay focused on walking straight and she did succeed for a decent while, until her ears picked up on something that wasn't the various sounds of footsteps or talking, it was a sort of metallic yet pleasant sound. She looked around for its source without success but she could figure the direction it was coming from. It was off in a different direction from the ship and she nearly considered continuing to the dock but her curiosity won out and she abandoned her current route to find the source of the noise. It didn't take long to find, just a few turns and walking past a handful of buildings. It was a beautiful woman with long, thick black hair, tan skin wearing a long purple skirt that fell to the ground and a top that really only covered her chest and shoulders; her whole body was adorned in small metal pieces and she was dancing with a round object in one hand about the size of her face with small gold circles around it making the musical sound. The woman was spinning, jumping, stomping and shifting her whole body in an incredible dance all the while hitting and shaking the circle rhythmically to create a wonderful noise for her body to move to. For whatever reason everyone else walking the streets were just passing her by, not giving her any mind, she was easily the most beautiful Worlder Arianna had ever seen and her dancing was enchanting to the out of place huntress.

The dancing woman stopped her movements with well-practiced precision and held her body with her left hand holding its place over the canvas stretched over the circle after its last strike and her body was turned so her right hip was out towards where an audience should be. At the performance's end Arianna applauded with absolute delight and an amazed smile that lit up her whole face and eyes. The woman looked at her single audience member and seemed to be shocked that she was there, but then her expression shifted into a coy smile. "You know, usually when you enjoy a street performance it's customary to put money in the bowl."

Arianna looked down and noticed an empty bowl for the first time. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realized." She reached into her pocket and pulled out what was left of her money, 2400 beri.

The dance stared in shock at the 2400 beri bill causing Arianna to worry. "Sorry if that's not as much as I'm supposed to give, it's all I have. I wasn't given much and I was told to buy a bunch of clothes since the captain is sick of me only having two outfits to wear." She rushed out the excessive information in embarrassment.

The shock still didn't leave the woman's face. "No, just the opposite. That's a lot more than traditionally given."

"Oh, well... You earned it, that dance was beautiful. Besides it not like I can buy anything with that and I can't tear the bills in half and they'll be worth half." She said with a laugh.

The dancer laughed heartedly than smiled beautifully at Arianna. "My name is Aishe."

"Arianna." She said, returning the smile.

"Well, Arianna seeing as you're by far my best audience how about I teach you some steps?"

Her green eyes lit up brighter than before. "Really?! That sounds like some a ton of fun!"

Aishe had smooth brown eyes that softened at the girl's excitement. "Great. Let's start with something simple. I'll go slowly so just follow my movements, okay?"

Arianna repeatedly nodded excitedly and scurried over to place her bags down at the wall behind Aishe than stood a foot in front of her so she could see all of the dancer's movements. As Aishe said the movements she was showing Arianna were simple enough and the girl had little trouble imitating them. After Arianna mastered a short series of steps and was putting them all together fluidly the two new friends decided to take a rest against the wall.

"You're a fast learner Arianna. Do you ever dance?" Aishe praised.

"Uh… I used to sometimes at parties with my Family. We celebrate things like lunar cycles and seasonal equinoxes with big bonfire parties. The dances we do are actually kind of similar to your dancing."

A loud bell noise went off again, causing Arianna to look around, then she heard Aishe giggle. "It's the clock tower. It rings every hour."

*Every hour, huh?* Thinking about it that was the second time she's heard it since leaving the ship. "I should probably get going. The captain might start to wonder where I am if I'm not back soon."

Aishe looked at her with curiosity, "Captain? Now that I think about it, you said captain before too. Are you a pirate by any chance?"

Arianna opened her mouth to say… What exactly was she going to say? Is she a pirate? Despite Law's words and her traveling with the Heart Pirates she never once actually considered herself a pirate. *This is only a temporary arrangement, sure. But does it still count?*

Aishe seemed to misunderstand her inner dilemma, as she offered a reassuring thought, "If you are it really wouldn't bother me you know. I actually somewhat admire the pirate lifestyle."

"Yeah. I suppose it is a good way to live your life. Sailing all over and doing whatever you want. But it isn't my first choice of a life. It's enough like my life with my Family that I can stand it, but I'm not a fan of the way Law seems to take pleasure in causing mayhem. And since he's in charge he gets to do whatever he wants and everyone follows his lead without thought. And worse yet I get treated like a child all the time." She couldn't help but end her statement with a pout.

Aishe laughed, utterly entertain at the girls rant. "Alright. I suppose you best be going then. He doesn't sound like a good man to make mad."

"Um-hm." She hummed as she gathered her bags and took a step away from her new friend before turning back and sheepishly asking, "How do I get back to the docks from here?"

The dancer stared wide-eyed for a second but then chuckled and told her. "If you take the first left down that direction and follow that road you'll reach its end with the docks in sight."

Arianna clasped her hands together as a thank you and called back as she walked away. "I'll try to come back later today, okay?"

"Okay. But if it's past four I won't be here." She warned.

"I'll do my best to be here before then. Bye Aishe!"

()

Law waited impatiently on deck for the only remaining members of crew to make it back: Penguin, Shachi and Arianna. Everyone else had already come back with all their supplies and left to have fun on the island. Law was clear with the two men, they needed check in with him before running wild in town. So the sight of Arianna walking down the dock to the ship alone was more than upsetting.

"Where are the other two?" He demanded angrily.

She looked a bit surprised. "They're not back yet?"

"How did you get separated from them?"

Something about the question seemed to upset her because she frowned and answered rather curtly. "I didn't get separated. They ditched me."

Law couldn't help growl and murmur. "I knew they'd pull something like this."

"Then why let them go with me instead of with their work groups?"

He was a bit surprised that she heard his comment, it was quiet and just to himself, but didn't dwell on it. Knowing the more he thought about the two pirates the angrier he'd get, Law decided to take in what was in her hands. It wasn't a lot. "Do you have any money left?"

"No. I didn't have much left after I bought this so I gave it to a street performer." She said plainly.

This greatly shocked Law and he knew it showed on his face. "I didn't take you for someone who buy with expensive taste. How did you go through 33000 beri and come out with just that?"

"33000 beri?"

*Why is she saying that like a question?*

Suddenly a rare show of pure anger washed over the girl. "THOSE JERKS SHORTED ME 1000 BERI!"

*Shachi and Penguin kept money for Arianna-ya for themselves?* There was a lot Law would allow between the members of his crew, he was their captain not their babysitter, but stealing money was not one. He felt a cold anger come over him. His lead mechanic and medic may have been Heart Pirates almost as long as Bepo but they were not exempt from his rules or anger.

"Arianna-ya. Go inside and leave your things. You can go explore the island for the rest of the day, just come back before morning." Law's voice was icy despite the ones he's angry at not being there.

"Uh, sure. Thank you." She said, looking more surprised than anything, and scurried into the ship.

She came back out, still wearing her personal bag though it was definitely smaller from having items removed, and as she walked down the ramp she told him, "I'll see later Captain."

Law didn't acknowledge her words, he was too busy planning his punishment for Shachi and Penguin. *Simply taking the cleaning shifts for the next week isn't going to be enough. They know better than to cheat money from a new crew member. They definitely are forbidden from leaving the ship the second they step foot back on. Depending on how long we stay here, I might keep them on the ship at the next island too.*

And of course his mind also wandered to the fun little experiments they just volunteered themselves for with this. Law usually experiments with surgeries and his powers on captured pirates or Marines, but if one of his own screwed up bad enough, like now, they would get be the testing dummy for some of the less potentially lethal experiments.

There was a loud bell sound again and counted now three hours of Shachi and Penguin running around, doing whatever they want when they were supposed to be with Arianna. Finally Law caught sight of two very recognizable hats with very recognizable boiler suits. It's good that they came back, the longer they were gone the worst it would be for them.

As they walked up the ramp their expression changed from those of carefree joy to utter terror, marking the moment they saw the dark, merciless smile on their captain's face. "Welcome back. I've been waiting for you two."

They had nothing to say except for screams of horror that was sweet music to Law.


I'm sorry it's not that long, especially considering how long you had to wait to get it. I spent extra time planning the whole arc so I don't write myself into a corner like last time, and life has kind of been getting in the way :/

(Looking at work building) Stupid job. Leave me alone! ( ̄皿 ̄)

Yay Comments (´ω •`) :

sarge1130: Where's the fun in telling the whole story all at once ;) More of her past will be explored in the future. She confirmed to Bepo actually that she's looking for multiple people, not just one. Thank you for the review, it's always appreciated ()

Son of Whitebeard: exactly what I was going for (●''●)