I apologize for the long delay. I haven't had much time lately for any writing :( Enjoy!

Chapter 25: Let's Make Money

When Law woke up it was only a little after seven in the morning and he was overcome with a realization. He basically had the ship to himself. Regardless of who made it back the previous night there is no way any of them would be awake for probably another few hours and Bepo loved to sleep in too when he got the chance. He stayed in his bed for a handful of minutes while thinking about how he would spend his morning, returning to sleep was certainly an option but for once he wasn't tired and had no desire to continue resting. In fact it was just the opposite; he wanted to get to work. He wasted no time in getting dressed in a short-sleeved shirt that looked just like his hoodie and a pair of his spotted jeans then going down the hall just outside of his room to Arianna's. Without bothering to knock as he usually didn't the pirate opened the girl's bedroom door with the intention of waking her up and dragging her outside for an early morning sparring match but shockingly she wasn't there. *She didn't come back last night?*

He sighed, it's not like he said anyone had to come back last night, they just needed to come by some point in the day. Even so he was surprised. Staying out all night was something he expected from the wild guys like Shachi and Penguin or Kalas, but not Arianna.

He didn't want to wake up Bepo and none of the other members of the crew who might be around would make for a good sparring partner so Law resigned himself to do something that he rarely does. He went to one of the training rooms and worked out with the various weights that lined up the walls of the space. Weight lifting and muscle training were by far his least favorite form of training which is perhaps why he avoids it and why he's less muscular than a lot of other pirates, members of his crew included. *What was it Arianna called me? "Scrawny"?* It may have been a while since then and she may have said that she was mistaken but that didn't mean she was completely wrong. …Relatively speaking. It was a boring process to him but he worked out regardless. Perhaps about forty minutes into it he was covered in a layer of sweat and felt like he was overheating so he took off his shirt and put away all of the weights. He approached a bar that jutted out a couple of feet from the wall with a decision that the last thing he was going do before taking a shower and going out into the city was pull ups. It was while he was doing this that the door opened. "There you are!"

He paused while holding himself up and turned his head slightly to look at Arianna who rushed into the room. "I've been looking for you."

Law rolled his eyes and resumed his task. "Your greeting made that obvious."

"Yeah well…" She trailed off for a moment. "Could you stop for a minute? You going up and down like that is distracting me."

"Nope." He answered curtly, partly because he knew he wouldn't want to start again if he stopped and partly because he was running out of breath.

He heard a slight hum from the girl before a pair of little hands appeared on the bar next to his but from the opposite side and she was following him up and down. "I was hoping that while we're at the island I could stay with a friend in town."

*She probably stayed with this friend last night anyways.* It made no sense to Law that she would ask permission to do something he certainly had already done. "Why?"

"If I stay with him then I won't have to worry about getting lost every day when I go out."

"'Him', huh?" He said as suspiciously as he could while his shoulders and arms struggled to continue holding his weight.

Arianna pulled herself completely up and past the bar then slipped her legs over it to sit. "Yeah. He had me stay with him when I was here before and asked if I wanted to again while we're here. Is that okay?"

Law dropped from the bar and wiped his face with his previously discarded shirt. "I don't care what you do."

"Great!" She jumped down with a quick sweeping glance up him and a smile.

He smirked at her and there was a bit of a glint in his eye. "Just make sure you don't leave this island pregnant."

"Wha-?! Yna oui lnywo? I wouldn't do something like that!" She was in full panic mode and rambled on in her native tongue, absolutely none of which Law had managed to figure out yet. The man took a step back just to give himself a better view of her posture, watching her ramble in her flustered state was fun. His delight at her panic must have been all over his face because when she happened to glance at him her expression frowned into a pout complete with pink dusting her cheeks in a residual blush. "You're not funny."

The man snickered and tossed his shirt into her face. She shouted with her voice muffled by the clothing. "Why?!"

He left her there with her face covered in his sweaty shirt, the hall's cooler air felt relaxing around his torso and he walked directly to his room. Taking a hot shower felt soothing to his swelled muscles and he dressed in white t-shirt, dark blue jeans and his hat. When he reached the deck it was almost a surprise that Marcus was outside wearing nothing but sweatpants and an undershirt, stretching out his arms and seemed to barely be awake and incredibly hung over. "Oh. Morning Captain."

"I didn't think anyone would be up for a while." He responded rather than with an actual greeting.

The man groaned slightly. "Yeah… Habit I guess."

"Any idea on who made it back to the ship last night?"

Marcus yawned before speaking. "Oliver and Connor for sure; they didn't come out with everyone else last night and I was the first to leave the bar. That was at almost three."

Law hummed in thought as he looked out at the city. "I'm going to go out. Stay here for a bit while everyone shows up."

"Sure. No complaints here." He spoke with a bit drawled out.

"'Morning." A lazy male voice called out from off the ship and one the dock.

When the captain looked over the railing he saw a tall and muscular red haired man looking up at them.

Marcus approached the rail too. "Jack?"

Law looked at his friend. "Who?"

"He owns the bar we were all at last night." The medic answered.

A bar owner tracking down their ship usually didn't mean anything good. Law waved for him to come aboard with a sigh. "What did my crew do?"

Jack looked a little surprised by the question but otherwise held a completely relaxed, almost lazy looking demeanor. "Nothing. The Heart Pirates were about as well behaved as a drunk pirate crew can be. Thanks for that by the way, I always appreciate good business."

"So why are you here?" The captain asked.

Before he could answer a blur of brown and green jumped him and the bar owner immediately reacted, throwing the creature over his body, causing it to slam onto the wooden deck of the sub with a painful grunt. Arianna rolled to her side a little with a groan, Jack knelt over her. "Nice try. Good morning Aria."

"Uh… You two know each other?" Marcus asked dumbfounded.

Law's mind went to something else. "This guy is the friend you want to stay with?"

"Wait, what?!" The medic shouted then held his head feeling the effects of his hang over again.

Jack grabbed Arianna's wrists and pulled her off the floor and dropped her to her feet but spoke to Law. "Yeah, I'm that guy."

"Did you find the ship okay?" The girl asked the red head.

He crossed his arms when he answered. "A yellow submarine does stand out."

"Yeah…" She looked at Law now.

"Get over it. I like my ship this way."

The girl rolled her eyes then jumped up on top of the ship's entrance and disappeared onto the smaller deck on the other side before immediately returning with the back pack that she was gifted on Beau Jardin. She was quick to start shoving the red head back off the ship. "Can we get going?"

Jack grabbed her by her head and pushed her away and held her at his full arm's length so he could resume talking to the two men. She swung her arms in a blur as if she honestly thought one of the strikes will reach him if she flailed fast enough. "Are you okay with her staying at my place? I just don't want to deal with her wandering around lost in the city every day when she comes out my way."

Law would be lying if he said that the Arianna going out to meet this man everyday was somehow a given didn't bother him but he was okay with lies. "Like I told her, I don't care. If anything, Arianna just needs to check in with the ship every day."

"Okay." She agreed quickly.

"What's your rush?" Marcus asked her.

"We've got somewhere to be." The girl answered.

The two male Heart Pirates stared at her with suspicion.

"Right... We should get going." He released her and she stumbled at losing the force pushing against her. Jack nodded to the other two men and walked off the ship. "See you around."

Arianna followed behind, walking backwards a few steps while she spoke to them too. "I'll be sure to check in tomorrow. Bye!"

"So she's staying with some guy for the next nine days…" Marcus comment, probably to himself.

"She said she was living with him last time she was here." Law informed him.

"Seriously? I never took her as someone who would shack up with a guy."

"You do realize that she's essentially doing that with 15 guys by being on our crew?" Law pointed out.

"Uh…" The response he gave confirmed that he actually hadn't thought of it like that.

Law decided to leave him at that and started his decent off the ship.

"Are you going to follow them?" Marcus asked sounding shocked.

The captain narrowed his eyes a bit in annoyance. "I was on my way off the ship before that man even showed up. Unlike you I stayed here last night."

The medic looked like he wanted to back away that second. "Right, sorry…"

Law left his ship and medic and entered the town. The streets were far less crowded than they were when he was out for the supply run the previous day. Clearly a large number of individuals were not waking up early like him. He found a large directory sign that mapped out the city and examined it; placing a sign like this was odd but useful. He memorized some spots that looked like they could be of interest before picking a street and walking. There was no need to rush and see everything this island had to offer since they were going to be there for more than a week. If anything Law was certain he'll become bored of it all by the time they will finally be able to leave.

The further into the city that he went the slightly more interesting the surroundings became but there were quite a lot of locations on the earlier map that had nothing happing. He realized that there was a high probability that whatever happens there happens at night or at least later in the day. So he instead tracked down some food for his much delayed breakfast. He didn't want to make too much of a habit of eating out while at the island but he also didn't want to go back to the ship just to eat when he's barely been off of it. He settled on purchasing a small dish of grilled fish from a food stall and continued on his way as he ate. With little happening near the docks and around the cluster of streets that were dotted with bars, Law went further into the city where the locals were most likely to be living and spending their outing time. He eventually found where he had decided to spend his morning at while he waits for things to liven up a little: the library. The building was white and grand and incredibly welcoming looking. Besides there was some research he wanted to do and a collection of books as large as this might give him some answers.

He walked in and was greeted by a pair young women sitting behind a large ornate desk. They both smiled upon seeing the pirate but one was quicker to speak up. "May I help you?"

"Where would I find information related to the New World?"

The librarian stood and began leading him down a hallway to his left. "Right this way."

They entered a large room lined with bookshelves the size of which Law had never seen and he slowed for a few steps to take it in. They didn't stay in that room for long though and walked through a large arching doorway that served as an entrance to another room, this one smaller but still of noteworthy size. "Unfortunately information and literature on the New World is a rare find so we don't have as much as we would like. These four bookcases are everything we've been able to collect." She told him, indicating to a meager collection of books compared to the massive expanse that surrounded them.

"Is there anything in particular you were hoping to look up?" She stepped a little into Law's personal space, an obvious attempt a flirting, but the pirate had no interest.

"I've got it from here." He dismissed her poorly performed advance on him and proceeded to completely ignored her. He scanned the spines of the books along one shelf and was actually impressed by the collection they do have. It was as the woman said, information from that part of the ocean is very hard to come by. He found a title that held promise on the information he was interested in and pulled it from it place, found a comfortable looking chair and began reading.

()

It was a little after three in the afternoon before Arianna and Jack had managed to finish up and get back outside. As the pair walked down the crowded street, only moving apart when a horse or cart approached, the girl stretched her arms up and yawned as they walked down the streets followed by the man yawning widely as well. "What are you tired for? I'm the one actually working."

"What I do is work too. Besides I'm up most of the night for the bar and up early almost every day."

"No one is making you…" She pointed out.

"I have a lot of work and I need to always set a good example for my staff. Besides I make a point of not doing any work on Tuesdays."

"Yeah, I remember. Are we still going to the same warehouse?" Arianna asked.

"Yep." He answered as he lit a cigarette and took a deep inhale.

"Ugh…" She groaned in disgust. Arianna truly hated the smell of smoke and used to try and convince him to stop smoking, at least when she's around but had never been successful.

"Shut up… This is my first all day. I will try to quit but now isn't a good time. When things calm down at the bar it'll be easier. For the time being though I need it to take the edge off."

"How did the bar turn out?" She asked. He had only just bought the building when she left so it wasn't open for business yet.

"Good. I named it The Ripper's House." He informed her.

"Haven't you been trying to keep to yourself? Why bring that name up?"

"I'm not worried." Sometimes he truly didn't seem capable of worrying about anything.

"You kind of sound like Law." Arianna said with a sigh.

"Interesting that you call your captain by his first name..."

"Is it?" Apparently she didn't think so.

"…Almost as interesting as your insistence against telling him what you're planning."

"You promised not to tell!" She was quick to shout back.

Jack rubbed his finger in his ear as if to clean it out to show that he thought she was being loud. "I know and I won't. I just think it's stupid that you want to keep it a secret. He'd probably be happy to hear that you are going to try and make back all the money that was stolen."

"I made a mistake and I want to make up for it but I don't want to tell him yet since I don't know that I actually can."

"Are you sure you don't just want to surprise him with what you do manage to make so he'll pet you and tell you that you did a good job?"

He saw in his peripheral vision that Arianna blushed a bit and gripped the straps of her backpack tightly. "That has nothing to do with it!"

"So you do want him to." Jack taunted her with the cigarette still in his mouth.

"W-well, he's my captain. Of course I want to do something that makes him happy." She tried to make an excuse.

"I suppose... Here we are." He stopped at a large brick building and opened the unlocked door. The inside was just a large empty space with a network of metal beams spider-webbing across the ceiling. It was their preferred training spot. "Alright…" Jack sighed as he rubbed out tiny nub that was left of his cigarette on the wall and dropped it. He knelt beside the door and set a kitchen timer for its max, an hour. "Let's see if you've gotten rusty."

Arianna smiled confidently at him. "I haven't."

"Alright…" He slowly curled his fingers into a fist then swiftly backhanded her but she blocked and let the force throw her further into the room. The girl was quick to retaliate and came in close to deliver a palm strike which he sidestepped with ease and shuffled away before he finally put his hands up in a stance was seemed too open to be real. He stood with his feet wide and his right arm extended with his entire posture relaxed. Jack was the picture of relaxed to the point of seeming lazy, just like always. He allowed her to punch and kick all she wanted while all he would have to do is step away or redirect her. The little warrior was becoming frustrated with him and rushed him particularly quickly so he instead caught her fist. It took his body a moment to absorb the impact of her force but once he did Jack shot his fist directly into her abdomen and sent her clear across the building into the far wall about twenty feet away.

When she didn't get back up right away he walked over to her. She was still doubled over on the floor heaving and it looked like she threw up bile. *That's why we never eat first.* He reminded himself.

"Want to keep going once you catch your breath?" He asked.

She groaned but he recognized it as an agreement so he sat down next to her while he waited.

"You're stronger than when you left. That punch had plenty of power and you are definitely faster than before." He told her his current assessment.

She took a deep breath as she sat up and leaned against the wall. "I'm still not good enough."

"You do pretty well for someone who fights with weapons."

She didn't respond and he assumed that she rolled her eyes at him like she usually does when he said something encouraging to her.

"Alright…" He patted her calf. "Let's get back to it."

He took back his relaxed stance and she took an extra second to take an extra deep breath but got back on her feet and charged without further warning. She opened her assault with a roundhouse kick this time and when he blocked he bounced her foot off him and pushed her off her balance but she was quick to readjust and threw herself to her hands and kicked straight out with her other foot into his open chest. Jack was thrown back this time but he took the attack better than she and returned to his feet without missing a beat. "Good. You all warmed up then?"

She looked at him with her slightly crouched stance and her partially closed fists held protectively in front of her face and chest. She was looking at him with sharp predatory eyes. "Yeah."

Jack pulled in his extended arm a little and tightened his stance slightly. He rushed her now and threw his elbow directly at her face but she caught it and punched for his left eye. He angled his neck so that it only grazed his ear. With both her hands occupied he kneed her side to put some distance in between them. They were going to be fighting up close of course but that close was at her advantage since his reach was longer than hers. He adjusted his fighting style to be equally as aggressive as hers, every time one of them created distance between them he would rush back at her just as fast or faster than she. This was how it always went when they sparred together, it was their agreement. He was an experienced hand-to-hand fighter so he was the one who adjusted his power and initiative in his strikes and their only rule was that they do not strike the face. It was a rule they never actually followed though they rarely made contact with those attacks anyways.

They continued on like this, a mass of striking fists and feet, for over two hours. When they took breaks it was signaled by the timer going off and it didn't lasted longer than three minutes and when they, usually Arianna, got hit they just got back up and tried not to get hit again. This was how he taught her to fight; well, fight without her weapons as an advantage. When he punched through her block and his fist connected directly with the right side of her chest she craned slightly so instead she threw her upper body completely down so she was on her hands and rabbit kicked him in the diaphragm again. It knocked the breath out of him but Jack caught her foot and threw her. She landed on her side hard and rolled a little. Arianna pushed herself back to her feet a bit too slowly for a real fight but it was fine at the moment since just as Jack estimated the third hour was up and the timer shrilled to tell them so.

Jack took a few deep breaths, he needed it after that last kick, and slowly walked over to turn the knob and silence the little mechanism. "I'm out of time."

Arianna flopped onto her back and wheezed as she tried to breathe normally, covered in sweat. "Yeah, I remember."

Jack approached her and stood over her, examining the sweaty girl's chest. She gave him an uncomfortable look. "Why are you staring?"

"You still don't wear underwear, do you?" He asked with a tone that one might use on questions as mundane as asking about weather.

She looked like she wanted to snarl at him but was too busy panting to pull it off. "I do too wear underwear!"

"So it's just bras that you don't wear?" He offered his hand as he asked.

She took it despite being dissatisfied with his questions. "Do you have a point?"

Jack opened his mouth to answer but then closed it and reconsidered his options. "I guess not. Any plans while I go to the bar?"

She rolled her neck and rubbed at its base. "Go back to your place and nap?"

"Are you going to shower first?" He asked as they walked out of the building and started heading towards his house.

"Why would I do that? I'm going to get even worse when I go to Ryder's tonight."

It was a decent point. "Then at least lay down on an old blanket or something."

"Sure."

Jack wanted to say something to pass the time so he picked a question that had been bothering him all morning. "I'm curious, how much did you tell your captain about me?"

"That I stayed with you last time I was here and that we are friends."

He looked at her with a touch of concern, as much he could be bothered with anyways. "That's it?"

"Yeah. Why?" She answered.

Jack needed a cigarette now. "He didn't seem to like me very much."

"I noticed but he doesn't really like anyone outside the crew. I'm not even sure he likes everyone in the crew." She told him nonchalantly.

"And you want him to pet you?" He teased.

"Will you stop talking about that?!" She complained loudly, earning his laugh. Jack led them back to his house and took a shower and changed into a clean grey shirt and black jean pants. By the time he cleaned himself up the girl was fast asleep on his couch without having put a blanket down first. He however went back to The Ripper's House where a couple of his bartenders were waiting and lifted the shutters that opened the room and they began setting up for the night. It wasn't long before he saw wave after wave of people enter the bar and start ordering drinks. Work was steady and the time moved quickly. It didn't feel like it took long for the first hour and a half to pass and it was at this point that he saw a handful of familiar patrons enter the building. A few members of the Heart Pirates wandered back. He never officially met these four men and they were not wearing their uniforms but he recognized their faces so he greeted them. "Hello gentlemen."

"Yo!" A jovial thick man with sleeves of black and grey skulls, smoke, waves and demon tattoos responded.

"Do you need something?" Another with black hair and a cane asked, with a polite tone.

"I wanted to introduce myself since I didn't last night. I'm Jack, the owner. You are members of the Heart Pirates right? Do you know your captain is going to be coming tonight?"

A different man, kid really, with ruddy brown hair looked like he was thinking about it before answering. "Probably. Why?"

"I met him earlier today and I think I need to talk to him about something."

"About what?" The tallest and clearly the oldest of the group asked suspiciously. Jack examined him and recognized the calloused knuckles of a hand to hand fighter.

"It's something involving Arianna."

"Oh…" As expected the sheer mention of the girl was enough to tell them that she created a problem.

"Wait… You're the guy that Arianna is staying with?" The oldest of them asked.

"Yeah. She gets lost too easily and I don't want her holding everything up every day."

"Holding what up?" The guy with a cane asked.

"She… She asked me to keep it to myself." He felt a bit bad for telling them to their faces that she was hiding something but when they shifted and looked around uncomfortably rather than push for answers it was apparent that they assumed he was referring to a private relationship of some kind.

"And what exactly is she telling you to keep to yourself?" The voice of Trafalgar Law spoke up from behind him.

"Why don't we talk over there?" Jack said, pointing to the bar top.

Law complied and Jack grabbed two beers, offering one to the pirate.

They both took a sip before the red head spoke. "Arianna didn't explain anything in detail right?"

"I don't want those details." Law looked away from him and back at the growing group of Heart Pirates.

"My point exactly. You think Arianna and I are sleeping together right? We're not." Jack told him flatly.

Law laughed but it sounded a bit sarcastic. "Does she know that? Because most of the time she's too ignorant about other people."

"She not that stupid, trust me. Besides she's cute and all but I've no interest in a kid 12 years younger than me, especially when I have a wife and six year-old of my own."

The pirate looked shocked, most people are when finding out Jack is 33. Law jumped past that though when he responded. "You're right. Arianna left out those details. This is exactly what I meant when I said she's ignorant when it comes to other people."

*How ironic.* Jack thought with an internal laugh. Law didn't know that Arianna was doing something borderline crazy for his praise, though she insists that making up for her mistake is the first reason and his praise was a separate goal.

"Where is she anyways?" He asked.

"She's probably eating dinner with my family by now." Jack guessed.

"Hmm." The pirate gave a nonspecific hum but otherwise said nothing more. Well, almost nothing more. "So what is she keeping secret?"

"It's nothing bad, I told her I would keep it to myself though." Jack suddenly got a bit of a smile on his face. "But if you happened to find out on your own that wouldn't be my problem." The bar owner pulled a napkin over and took a pen from over the bar. He scribbled something on the paper. "If you go here in the morning she'll probably panic and put on a good show."

Law took the napkin and smiled. "That's always enjoyable."

With their misunderstanding out of the way the two men began to have a normal and casual conversation that the other pirates slowly joined in on. By the end of the night Jack came to a conclusion. Arianna had found a good crew to get herself caught up in.

()

The morning was slow going for Thomas; a night of drinking would do that to a guy. He felt compelled to follow his routine and went into the kitchen. While he was very doubtful that practically anyone will be getting up early but it wasn't exactly early anymore. Actually it was past ten.

When he got to his destination Austin was there and cooking, the smell of bacon and eggs filled the air. Thomas leaned against the wall and observed as his apprentice worked away, completely ignorant that he was being watched. Austin's focus was good and he kept everything moving when it needed to be and left untouched where necessary. It was this kind of skillful care that made the difference between food that was nothing special and food that was great. Thomas decided to make himself known. "Want a hand?"

The younger man looked at him with his grey eyes and smiled. "Naw, I'm about finished. Don't know how many people are going to be coming down though."

The senior chef looked at the cooking food and estimated the amount of ingredients used. "I wouldn't make more than that."

While Austin finished up Thomas poured himself a generous cup of black coffee and sipped it slowly.

He saw his protégé smirk and chuckle slightly. "I've got to admit, I don't miss drinking as much as I thought I would."

"You don't say?"

"Yeah. Everyone really does look like idiots when drunk. I have a good enough time sober." Austin was half laughing, clearly pleased with how the previous night, probably two nights went.

A few of the men slowly wandered into the galley in search of coffee first and food second, all obviously nursing hangovers. Kai clambered over, unsteady on his cane. "Morning guys."

"How are you feeling?" Thomas asked.

"Sore…" He answered.

"Yeah, that's because you kept falling over." Austin added.

"I only have one good leg, how am I supposed to stay up right?"

"You've been following Captain's instructions, right?" The chef asked.

"I have. Doesn't mean putting weight on the leg doesn't suck…"

"You'll get there eventually." Austin tried to be encouraging.

"You're lucky, you don't have to go through any physical rehab." The man complained slightly.

"Sure. I just have to follow special nutrition boundaries for the rest of my life. Lucky…" Austin reminded him.

"Well chances are I'll never get full strength back in my leg." For some reason Kai wanted to continue to argue that of the two Austin was the lucky one.

Thomas rolled his eyes at the childish behavior and proceeded to ignore them when Austin took the bait and they started to banter on the matter. He took a plate for himself and with his coffee left the kitchen and sat at one of the tables. He usually didn't get to eat in the galley with the rest of the crew but he enjoyed it when he did.

To his surprise Law sat down across from him.

"Good morning Captain."

He nodded in reply but continued to sip his own black coffee. Law had done quite a bit of drinking the previous night too.

"Anything planned for the day?"

Law sighed out after swallowing. "Not much. I'm going to the library but after that I don't have anything specific I was going to do."

Thomas laughed internally; his captain would spend his free time at a library. "I get it. There isn't much going on in the mornings."

"What about you, any plans?" Law extended the same question to the chef.

"I was hoping to look around the restaurants to see if I can get any ideas for new meals this morning but otherwise same as you. Nothing in particular decided."

"I thought this place is supposed to be fun…" The captain complained slightly.

"I'm having a good time. I just wish there was more going on during the morning, though I'm sure by the time we leave we won't be much for mornings anyways."

"Fair enough."

They ate in silence from there and Law left first. When Thomas got up to clean his plate Austin had already cleaned up the kitchen and eaten his own breakfast so they left together. It was relaxing to be just the two of them for a change, the chef felt like he hadn't had much time for his apprentice lately and when he did that apprentice was off with other members of the crew doing who knows what. *Maybe he's running late in his rebellious phase?* While Thomas was by no means old, he was only 34, he would still consider everyone else on the crew a kid; everyone but Bart that is. Austin in particular was actually the youngest of all at 19, not that he would ever willingly admit to that fact, which was fine since he usually was one of the more mature members of the crew anyways. …Usually.

They couldn't actually go around buying food at all of the restaurants so instead the pair looked at the food the paying customers were eating, and keep their noses open for anything that catches their attention. A few things caught Austin's eye but nothing really interested Thomas.

"Tom-san, do you want to keep looking around?" They had already passed by all of the restaurants in the unofficially designated tourist area of the city but that did still leave all of the smaller, quieter places that would mostly be locals, which probably also meant better quality of food.

"I guess." Thomas looked at Austin who was watching a group of excited people in the crowd with mild interest. "Something in particular you want to do?"

Austin stammered a bit like he was embarrassed. "N-no. I was just curious where they're going."

"Then let's find out."

"That's okay! We can get back to work." He was definitely embarrassed. It made Thomas laugh.

"Come on son, it's just you and me. I don't mind being done for the day."

"I'm not your son so don't call me that!" He acted upset but Thomas knew better than to believe it.

"Don't be like that, we both know you like it." Thomas teased mostly because the fact that he didn't believe it aside, it was a bit hurtful when he was denied like that and he wanted to upset the boy.

"No I don't!"

The man rolled his eyes but chose to not continue engaging in the pointless exchange. He instead followed after the group that had caught Austin's eye and the moody boy followed him.

There was the growing sound of cheers. It was coming from an abnormally large alley where the two found a crowd of men and women all standing against the buildings or sitting on crates that seemed to only have that as their purpose and all were focused on a collection of four horses attached to small passenger carriages, all had empty cabins but three had men sitting in the driver seats. "Come on! Don't we have any other brave souls who want to take the gamble?"

"This must be one of those races we heard about." Thomas said.

"Let's do it." Austin said out of nowhere.

"What?" Thomas wasn't sure if he should take the crazy suggestion as serious or not.

"Yeah, it looks like fun."

"It looks like a race to the death." The older man said disapprovingly.

He could see Austin hesitate but then clenched his fist. "I'm doing it."

"No you are not!" Despite his mentor's yell the boy ran up to the announcer and pulled out some money from his pocket. He handed the stranger the money and was handed a parchment in return.

"Damn it… He really is in his rebellious phase." Thomas groaned as he followed and wasted no time in jumping into his certain death with his student.

"Changed your mind that fast?" Austin said tauntingly.

"Were you going to steer and navigate alone?"

The ruddy haired boy didn't say anything to that probably because he didn't have a clue how he would have done that.

"Your crazy idea, you take the reins. If you kill us you're on dish duty for the rest of our journey with Captain." The chef said warningly as he swiped the parchment that he correctly assumed to be the map with the route drawn in. The race track seemed to span five blocks with eight spots marked. "What are these X's about?"

"He said they're checkpoints and we have to pass all of them or else we're disqualified."

"Racers! Take your reigns!"

A sudden thought crossed Thomas's mind. "Have you ever driven a buggy before?"

"It can't be that hard, right?" He answered terrifyingly unconcerned.

"GO!"

Austin raised and snapped the reigns against the horse making them take up and whipping the two back into their seats. The three other racing pairs were all just as fast to coax their animals and a few stacks of crates were suspiciously strategically placed to narrow out the opening into the street so much that the carriages could barely squeeze out two at a time. Everyone else continued to usher their horses forward faster than Austin did and they watched as the leader passed through followed by two carts that were nearly touching as they exited the alley. When they exited onto the street he quickly realized they needed to turn and immediately to follow the other racers and pulled one side of the reigns so fast and far too much, making the horse stumble slightly as it was forced into its sharp turn and the carriage skidded on two wheels. When all of the wheels made it back to the road Thomas took the leather straps from Austin. "Alright, you've already almost killed us, we're switching!"

"Sorry…" He sounded embarrassed as he took the map but Thomas didn't care right now, he had to focus on catching up to the others so he ushered the horse to move faster as he followed the path through the people that was already cleared for the other three.

"Is the next turn left or right?"

The boy inspected the map for a second. "Left."

"Got it!" With his first move decided the chef steered his horse slightly to the right and came up behind the buggy racing just in front of them. While he wasn't about to play it completely safe and simply lose he wasn't keen on being overly risky so he will take the turns a little wide. They were side by side with the third place cart just as they were at the turn. Thomas was focused on his horse and timing the turn just right since at the speed they was going flipping the cart and injuring the horse was incredibly easy while Austin glared at the two racers beside them. When Thomas pulled the left side of the reigns to make the horse turn Austin yanked him down just as the sound of a gunshot rang clearly. When he looked up the chef saw that the racer not controlling the horse on the opposing buggy was pointing a flintlock pistol at them, taking aim for a second shot.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Austin screamed as he yanked the leather reigns side to side so that the horse run erratically, causing the carriage to rock dangerously and slam into the other one, unbalancing the racers and the shot fired off into the sky.

"ARE YOU NUTS?!" Thomas yelled.

"No, they are!" The younger pirate justified himself.

The panicked dispute was ended at the sound of a crash a little way ahead of them and they saw one of the other racing carriages still rolling and the horse crying loudly on its side with the splintered wood from the attachment shaft beneath it. One of the racers on the one cart further ahead looked like he was settling back onto the seat.

"Looks like no one is playing fair…" Thomas grumbled.

"You were right this is a race to the death." Austin begrudgingly admitted.

As Thomas steered around the wreckage they came in closer to the cart that they had previously rammed and it was suspiciously lacking a passenger. As that realization processed itself in the chef's brain a foot kicked Austin and he fell from the seat but caught himself on a lantern hook beside the cabin door. Thomas wrapped the reigns around one of his wrists and held it as still as he could while he stood and turned the rest of his body to face the attacker on top of the cabin. He punched straight into the man's knee causing it to bend in an unnatural way, sending him to his side and screaming in pain. Once he did Thomas was quick to grab his shirt and tossed him in to the street.

With the intruder no longer a concern the man leaned over to give the younger one a hand back onto the bench but a shot was fired off and nearly hit him. Austin had hoisted himself up and held onto a rod that bordered the roof of the cart and looked at the now lone racer on the cart beside them. "Get closer!" The young cook shouted.

Thomas understood what he wanted to do and smiled sinisterly. Since no one else was racing fair why should they? Thomas steered the horse around what was already the third turn, leaving only three more, then pulled in a little closer to their current opponent who saw this and attempted to ram into them and crush Austin. He was strong and fast though and he pulled himself up and held in a handstand for about a second to allow the cart to hit then steady enough for him to jump across. Once there the man pulled his gun and aimed it for Austin who stepped on it at an angle that would keep it from hitting him or Thomas then kicked him square in the jaw and the racer lost hold of the reigns which fell into the space between the carriage seat and the horse. Austin saw this and quickly jumped back to his and Thomas' carriage. Within seconds the horse's foot caught the leather, tripping it and it fell neck and shoulder first and rolled, the cart flipped over as well and the man was likely crushed beneath.

"Ready for the next one?" Thomas asked as he closed in on the final racer.

"Let's do it!"

One the fourth turn Thomas had managed to catch up to their opponent and Austin wasted no time in jumping the roofs and one of the two racers was up on the roof with him with a knife pointed and ready. Thomas couldn't help but smile. *This guy doesn't realize that he just picked a knife fight with the wrong pirate.*

Austin pulled a thick combat knife from under his shirt at the small of his back and held it with held it with a backhanded grip and low stance. There wasn't much room to maneuver on the carriages but when the racer stepped towards Austin to stab him the young pirate easily deflected and hit him with the butt of the handle, unsteadying his balance and then kicked him off the cart. Thomas couldn't see what he did to the final driver from his position when the boy leaned over the front of the cabin but he was quick to return back after and the other horse wasn't running with as much urgency as before. Passing the carriage became easy and when he did he saw the man laying on the bench with a small amount of blood trailing from his head. It wasn't wide enough to suggest getting cut so the cook probably just hit him too.

They slowed their horse since they were no longer racing anyone and they now had to actually worry about the crowd walking uncaringly in the street. Austin dropped down heavily next to Thomas with a smile. "We're all clear."

"Good, now direct me where to go."

Austin pulled the map out from the crease between the seat and back of the bench. "Where are we?"

"Passing Mrytle Lane." The older man answered as he read the first street sign they passed.

"Um… Okay! Take the third left and that will be the last turn."

"Finally..."

"You say that like you're not having fun." The younger man teased.

"As fun as almost dying is I don't like driving carriages."

"I'll drive." He was quick to reach for the reigns again.

"NO! Not after the way you took off! Just sit back and let someone with experience do this." He harshly rebuked.

Austin laughed. "And you said your old job wasn't good for anything. Should I go into the cabin?"

Thomas knocked him on the back of the head sort of lightly for bringing up his previous occupation as a butler; a butler to Austin's family to be more precise. "Once we finish this race I'm taking you back to the ship and beating this newfound attitude out of you."

"You wouldn't… Would you?" The dirty-red haired boy looked legitimately concerned.

"Well…. We'll see…"

There was a brief silence between the pair until Austin broke it. "There's a 34,000 beri prize for winning this race."

Thomas sighed, knowing what he was doing. "Fine, you're in the clear."

()

By about nine of the fourth morning Law had managed to drag himself out of bed and briefly pondered as to what he should do with his day, heavily considering sleeping through the remnants of his hangover. It wasn't that bad since he paced himself like always but it was still there. He didn't realize it but he once again fell asleep in his clothes from the previous day so he decided it would be best to start the day with a shower. The man walked out of the bathroom and back into the living area of his room in a towel and drying his hair and notice a small bag on his desk and knew it contained money, as had the bags that he had been finding on his desk the past two days. He took a step to open it and find out just how much but was distracted when he stepped on cloth. He took a step to open it and find out just how much but was distracted when he stepped on cloth. It struck him that he had let himself become a bit lazy and had been simply dropping his clothes after sleeping in them, and they were now strewn about along with his newly discarded outfit. Because he hadn't been in his room longer than needed to go to sleep and then wake up and leave the mess hadn't caught his attention before but now it seriously bothered him. He got dressed in a tee shirt, jeans and sweater then picked up all the clothes from the floor. While he did he found something white and papery in the back pocket from the pants he wore three days ago. It was a napkin with directions written on it. Law needed a second to think through the slight haze of that night since he had done a substantial amount of drinking then but eventually he remembered that it was directions Jack had given him to see what Arianna was up to.

The pirate glanced suspiciously at the sac of beri and conceded to his curiosity. "I don't have anything better to do."

The streets were already flooded with people who completely disregarded the possibility of getting trampled by horses or run over by carts just like they were every day. Law repeatedly checked the directions to make sure he was going the right way and when he reached Lamburg Road he saw exactly what Jack was leading him too.

In front of a smallish, pretty brick and wood building called Pancakes and Shortcakes was Arianna wearing a little black maid inspired dress with a poofy green apron, detached sleeves that almost covered her hands and exaggeratedly long green bloomers peeked out from the bottom of the short dress. He legs were covered in green thigh high stockings and she was wearing black cloth flat shoes. All that was missing was a headdress from her usual brown pigtails. She was speaking to a pair of women sitting at a little table and holding a tray closely to her body. The girl rushed back into the building and Law and Bepo looked at each other. Both were already smiling and working to contain their laughs. Without wasting another second they walked straight into the diner and Law scanned the room quickly. Arianna wasn't in sight but Jack was. He smiled and waved them over to the table he was sitting alone at. "Did you lose the instructions?"

"I wasn't in a hurry." He lied.

"What is she doing?" Bepo laughed out.

"Waitressing. Tulla and I own this place too and we had her work here before so we figured we could use her help again." Jack informed them.

Law watched as the girl walked through a door with a tray full of food and she walked straight outside with an obvious effort to avoid looking their way. He watched her give the plates to some customers through the window and return to the inside, still doing her best to pretend they weren't there. "Hey you, don't you know how to treat a customer?" Law baited her.

She stiffened but didn't move.

"Miss! We didn't get breakfast and we're very hungry." Bepo played along with his friend.

A different waitress in a blue version of the uniform stepped towards them but Jack shook his head no to her. With a deep breath first, Arianna turned and approached their table. "How are you here?"

Even though she asked she glared viscously at Jack, who didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"Weren't you listening? We're hungry. Are you going to take our order or not?" Law continued with his game.

She whined slightly. "Fine… What do you want to eat?"

"Before food I want coffee." The captain answered.

"I want a refill on mine too." Jack said.

"Water for me please!" Bepo added on.

"Okay." She rushed out of sight again and returned within the minute with their drinks as well as a few others which she immediately left them to give to other tables. While Law was watching the girl he noticed Jack look him up and down but otherwise said nothing.

She however couldn't avoid them for long and when there were no more customers that needed her services she returned to Law, Bepo and Jack. She sighed and looked at Jack with eyes that looked darker than normal. "You really couldn't keep this to yourself for at least three days?"

"He actually sold you out two nights ago." Law informed, intensifying her glare.

"I could've but this, among other things, is more interesting." Jack had a certain drawl to his voice that made Law suspect that there was something else that he now wants to know. The money that was most certainly being left in his room by her was a lot for simple waitressing.

She growled slightly but sighed and looked at her captain like she was a little nervous and unsure what to say. "Do you know what you want to eat?"

*Eat?* For a moment Law was confused but quickly remembered that he was previously heckling her by saying that he was hungry. Problem was he never actually looked at the menu, he didn't even realize there was one on the table. "No."

Bepo shook his head no behind him.

She didn't stick around another second. She disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a tray full of food that she gave to a family sitting on the other side of the room.

"That's part of why she's a good server, she can hear the cook when he says that an order is done. Since we're so small I don't want him yelling it across the diner and it can cause a problem if the girls aren't paying attention." The owner said as he sipped at his coffee.

"Why is she working here at all?" Law asked though he had already figured it out more or less.

"She-" He was interrupted by a flying tray that would have hit him in the face had he not caught it. Arianna was glaring at him from across the room.

"Then you tell him." The red head said no louder than he had been talking but she must have heard, seeing as how she heard everything else.

When she came to retrieve her large plastic tray she looked everywhere but Law. Jack lightly bonked her on the head. "Just do it."

She frowned uncomfortably but finally looked at him. "I wanted to try and make some money. Back at Vertwall I was supposed to be watching the ship and ended up not doing my job, so I wanted to make it up to you."

*I knew it.* He tossed his sword up so that he could hold it from near the bottom and knocked her hard on her head. Not hard enough to crack her skull or anything like that but he was hoping to leave some damage. "Don't stupidly hide something helpful like that!"

She held the top of her head where he could already see a lump forming and whimpering painfully. "I'm sorry…"

"Ari-chan, why would you hide that?" Even Bepo seemed dumbfounded by her.

"Because I was the one who made a mistake, a huge one… I should fix it. I just wanted everyone else to try and enjoy themselves." By the time she finished her answer she had stood back up but continued to rub her head.

For perhaps the first time since knowing the girl Law actually appreciated what she was hoping to accomplish by keeping a secret. She was trying to be thoughtful in her unnecessary way. Why is she always so secretive? "You may have made a mistake but it wasn't your failure alone. You weren't the only person on the ship and I don't think you would have been able to make much of a difference unless you were planning to attack Clyde without provocation while the rest of the crew was away."

Bepo nodded in agreement with their captain's words, all the while Jack listened silently. Arianna met his eyes for a few seconds and then looked away with the slightest hint of a blush. "I want to continue with my plans while we're here."

Law reclined slightly in the wooden chair. "By all means, I certainly won't stop you."

The girl looked behind him towards the kitchen door then left, collected some plates from costumers who finished their meals and disappeared into the kitchen. When she came back she surprisingly brought plates of food to her captain and first mate. An omurice with a side of sausage for Law and French toast stacked like a tower of pancakes loaded with maple syrup for Bepo. The bear smiled joyously at his plate but Law stared at the girl confused. She just smiled and went back to working.

"How do you like the city now that you've had time to explore it?" Jack asked.

"It's a little boring in the mornings but otherwise I get it. Once the late afternoon comes it's easy to keep yourself entertained." Law answered as he took a spoonful of food.

"We can't be perfect." The local replied.

"It's okay, Captain's been going to the library in the morning."

"Find anything interesting to read?" Jack asked.

"Just looking into some things in the New World." *Not that I'm finding what I'm looking for.* He added to himself.

"You've been spending your mornings reading?" Arianna asked from behind him, she sounded confused.

"Is there a problem with that?" Law asked with a slight smile.

"No, but what's so great about reading?"

"If you could read then you would know." Jack interjected.

Law nearly choked on his food and Bepo dropped his right out of his mouth. "You can't read?!" The two pirates asked.

"Or write." Jack added in his lazy drawl.

Now the pirates looked her up and down again and noticed that she was not carrying any kind of notepad to write orders. She frowned with a slight growl directed towards Jack. "I can read."

"Not well."

"But I CAN read." She restated.

"My six year old reads better than you. Plus she can write." Jack continued.

"How do you not know how to read?" Law finally managed to ask.

"E drehg oui vunkud cusadrehk syzun." She spoke in her other language.

*Oh yeah.* He wasn't sure how but he managed to momentarily forget that she was bilingual and this wasn't her first language. "You need to learn how to read."

"I can get by, isn't that enough?"

"If it was then I would have said should not need." He was firm on this.

She flinched slightly when she saw that he was actually unhappy to find out that she was illiterate. "I don't know what you are upset about. I can read more than anyone in my Family, probably better than most Tribesmen actually."

"But you're with us now and you are going to learn to read."

She groaned, discontent in his decision but she started smiling after a couple of seconds. She crossed her arms and leaned on his shoulder, putting her face close to his. "Then you should teach me."

Law's eyes widened in surprise. "Why me?"

"You're the one who wants me to learn and I'm teaching you Haki so it's fair, right?"

Now it was Law's turn to groan. *Why can she make sound arguments when it's for her benefit?* Then again, he didn't have to care if her argument was sound. "I'm not teaching you."

She straightened herself as she puffed up her cheeks a little in a pout. "Why not?"

"I get final say and I say that I don't want to."

She grumbled something that suspiciously didn't sound like a word that didn't belong in his language. "What was that?"

"How can a grown man act like such a brat?" When she repeated herself there was a certain edge to her tone, not cutting but she was definitely provoking him along.

Jack laughed quietly and Law was having fun. "It's one of the perks of being the one in charge." He answered tauntingly.

When he spoke she looked a little surprised but was quickly taken over by light laughter, Bepo laughed now too.

She was still laughing when she turned to look through the window at some people who were sitting at an outdoor table. She looked back at her captain with a challenging smirk before going to the new customers. "You win this time Law."

"This and every time after." He said smugly before taking another sip of coffee.

Yes I realize this chapter isn't super exciting but if there's nothing but fights then how will any of the characters (Law and Arianna specifically) get closer? ;)

Comments, concerns, complaints and criticisms are all welcomed :)

Yay Comments! (´｡•ω •｡`):

sarge1130: I kind of like giving the Hearts a break so at least for now they aren't having to deal with anything excessively dangerous in the romping through the city. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Law seems like he's a good pirate captain so I doubt he'd force his crew to do anything horrible but forcing them to not be bums is different. I'm hoping to give you guys a look at some of the other boys while here so that they are a bit more like individual characters rather than just background noise. Shachi and Penguin seem like they are some of the trusted members of Law's crew since they are seen the most (along with Bepo) so I think no matter what they'd always have the best intentions for the crew at heart.

rainydaywritings: You're so sweet, you make me smile like an idiot :) It really does make me happy to know that you like my characters and stories. Grimmjow and Law are bae as hell and need more stories! Especially Grimmjow that poor man got seriously plot blocked when Kubo was forced to end Bleach early!