AN: Hello Darkness My Old Friends! I began this fic in the summer between my Junior and Senior year of high school. And now, here I am in the summer between my Junior and Senior year of college. Let's pick up where we left off friends:

(recap so you don't have to go all the way back to the beginning) Akane was presumably stranded on an island by her captain, Mama Morton of the Cutthroat Pirates where she is then picked up by Law and joins the Heart Pirates. They sail around in an effort to expand Law's crew as they traverse the New World only to reveal that Akane and Law both have ulterior motives. Law is seeking revenge against Don Quixote and Akane against her younger sister Kira who stole her parents research on a method to resist sea stone as a devil fruit user. This all culminates when Kira's crew, the Pumpkin Pig Pirates, steal from Law's submarine. The Heart Pirates massacre the Pumpkin Pig Pirates only to be interrupted by the Marines. As they are leaving, Akane cannot resist finally being able to kill her sister which results in the Heart Pirates having to face the Marines and the remaining Pumpkin Pirates in a fight to the death. They survive, but Law takes Akane's heart away and banishes her from his crew, leaving her on the island. Law leaves his crew to go to Punk Hazard and Akane, now reunited with her marine sister Nori, go back to Segre in order to take back the island from the 1000 pirate alliance and regroup with the remaining Cutthroat Pirates. Akane, Nori, and the Cutthroats just got their asses kicked by Captain Maggie's crazy metal devil fruit powers and here we are.

Now, ON WITH THE SHOW!

The wind swept through his cloak as Law stared out into the black waves on the A Thousand Sunny, the sensation of chill lost on the North Blue native.

After an excruciating battle at Punk Hazard, and forming an alliance with the Straw Hat pirates, he found himself on a boat heading toward Dressrosa. Possibly his doom.

Law sighed, removing his hat to brush off the snowflakes before turning his back to the sea, peering through the porthole at the wild party the Straw Hats were throwing. A headache was already beginning to form just by looking at them so he took to pacing around the deck in lo of joining in their celebration of what he deemed a "minor victory".

He found himself at the helm of the ship, watching the water ribbon in front of them as the Sunny shoved through the choppy waters. The stars and the snow mingled together and the moon stared down at him like a large, peering eye. Accusatory.

"Hey Traffy-"

Law didn't turn at the dreadful nickname.

"Doctor Traffy," the voice tried again, carefully edging toward him.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Law saw the Strawhat's doctor, Chopper.

"Yes, Doctor Raccoon," he greeted, arms crossed as he leaned on the railing.

"Sanji was wondering if you wanted anything more to eat."

"I'm fine, but thank you. It's been a while since I've eaten something without the fear of being poisoned," Law said humorlessly, the nervous laughter sputtering from the reindeer causing him to turn. "Any other reason you've decided to come out here."

"No not really…well yes, but-" The cocked dark eyebrow was enough to get the statement out of Chopper. "It's just…you never really meet any pirate doctors out here and after everything you did for Luffy-"

"Say no more," Law said, holding up a hand. "It was no trouble at all; the operation was child's play, so to speak. And I know exactly what you mean about not running into doctors. You'd think with how often people get killed out here there would be a surplus, but I suppose doctors are supposed to be more honorable than joining up with the likes of pirates. Truth be told you're only the second doctor I've encountered, and the youngest for that matter."

"Really? Who was the other one you met?"

The mellowness was sucked out of Law's eyes, and he turned to the sea again. "You ever hear of the Cutthroat Pirates?"

"Not really, no…should I?"

"They were recently disbanded, however, I was able to meet their ship's doctor: Kousa Akane of the first tier, better known as the Noir Nurse," Law said, her name swirling in the white puffs of air as it escaped his lips.

"What happened to her? Was she a good doctor?" Chopper asked, wary at the sudden change in the air surrounding the doctor.

Law's smile didn't reach his eyes. "She was a great doctor, but a terrible nurse."

"Traffy!" Luffy said, sliding out onto the deck to greet the two medics. "You've been out here forever; aren't you cold?"

"I'm fine, Strawhat; aren't you cold?" he asked, motioning to the young captain's flipflops and shorts.

Luffy started shivering violently as the realization struck him. "Brr, how can you stand it?"

The length of Luffy's stupidity and obliviousness never ceased to amaze Law as much as it did irritate him to no end.

"I was heartless up until a while ago so I supposed I'm still rejecting the warmth mortals crave," he said, sarcasm dripping of his voice like the snot from Luffy's nose.

Brring

"Hey, what's that noise?"

Brring.

The three looked around the deck, listening for the ringing.

Brring

"Traffy, I think it's coming from your pocket."

Brring.

Law reached into his breast pocket and found his transponder snail ringing urgently. It didn't give Law the option to answer, shouting out the message:

"SOS! SOS! THIS IS MARINE LEUTENANT YOKO ON SEGRE ISLAND. I HAVE BEEN AMBUSHED BY THE PANDAMONIUM, YELLOW JACKETS, AND MAGNITUDE PIRATES AND KOUSA AKANE HAS BEEN CAPTURED. PLEASE SEND HELP TO SEGRE. SOS! SOS!"

The snail shut its mouth and quickly went back to sleep in stark contrast to the three who found themselves wide awake.

"Who was that, Traffy? I thought your transponder snail was on a secure line?" Chopper asked, Law shoving the snail back into his pocket.

"It is secure…and it doesn't matter who that was. We're going to Dressrosa."

"Nami!" Luffy called, a sternness suddenly taking over his face. The redheaded navigator poked her head out of the galley.

"What, Luffy?"

"How far away is Segre?"

"About three days away from where we are now; directly left of Dressrosa," she said, thinking for a moment. "Why?"

"No, we're sailing there now."

"Strawhat," Law interjected, a coldness striking through his voice. "We are not answering that SOS; it's probably a trap set by the Marines."

"We answered an SOS on Punk Hazard and it lead us to you," Luffy countered, stepping back into the galley.

"How could it be a trap if you're a war lord?" Nami chimed in as both Chopper and Law followed Luffy in as he relayed the message.

"Maybe not a trap by the Marines, but those other crews have formed a triple alliance and it could be dangerous," Law quipped, suddenly remembering that he was not in charge of this vessel or this crew of fools. "And that's a territory controlled by the Cutthroat Pirates; if they get an inkling another crew is coming-"

"They'll have to face us 3-10," Robin said, not looking up from her book. "There are only four bounties not turned in yet from the Marine office, and if that message was true, there's only three left and a Marine, but she's the one that sent the SOS."

"Who was captured?" Usopp asked, leaning forward.

"The Noir Nurse," Law said with a defeated sigh, taking a seat. "The Marine is her younger sister, and she was a part of the Cutthroat Pirates. She was also a member of my crew for a while before she betrayed me and my entire crew. That is why I'm not so keen on helping her."

"But we have to! We can't just ignore that SOS!" Frankie declared, clenching his fists. "And who else would help a Marine this far out? You said it yourself: Segre is controlled by pirates so why would the Marines step in for a lieutenant?"

Law looked around at the faces of the Strawhat Pirates. As much as he wanted to knock them for being naïve or foolish, there was a passion and goodness that made them trustworthy and reliable. Pirates without acting like pirates.

"Fine," Law muttered, leaning back in his chair, "we'll go to Segre, but we won't leave there empty handed. We'll take every last bit of beli off that island and make it worth our while."

"Now we're talking!" Nami said, and the crew clinked glasses and launched into another round of celebration for a battle they hadn't won yet.

"What are you still doing pacing the beach? No one's coming, girl," Hamako said, poking the fire with a stick before throwing it in.

Night had fallen on Segre island as the remainder of the Cutthroat Pirates and the singular Marine had found themselves nearly stranded on a remote beach, licking their wounds and regrouping after their troubling defeat.

"I sent out that SOS almost three days ago; he has to respond," Nori said, stopping to look in the direction of the voice.

"We should be making a new plan of attack-"

"With what? Wooden swords and rubber bullets?" Harper replied sullenly, her ostrich feet resting in the water. "It's either Trafalgar shows up or we leave the island."

"Don't say that! We had them on the ropes!" Miya chimed in, carving more arrows. "For us to take out nearly half that crew was incredible! And we sunk enough of their ships that they won't be able to get more crew or supplies without leaving permanently."

"And then what? We lose Akane forever?" Nori asked, kicking the sand. "I already did this once with her, I'm not losing her again."

"Yeah well we've done this twice with her and if this isn't a sign from the gods then I don't know what is," Hamako spat.

As the three continued to bicker, Harper stared past her feet and at the ocean. Squinting into the darkness, she swore she saw a dark mass coming toward the island.

"Um, guys…"

"And if she never shacked up with Trafalgar, Mama wouldn't have been captured in the first place!" Hamako said, eyes narrowed at the blind girl.

"Morton was one of the most wanted pirates out there; she was bound to be captured any day and Aka joined Trafalgar for survival after you guys left her to die!"

"There's a ship…" Harper said, trailing off as the argument escalated.

"Survival? The only reason that girl did anything was to kill that blasted tart of a sister and even then she killed Mama," the old mermaid said, towering over Nori.

"Only after Morton shot her through the heart! I'm surprised she's still alive after all the crap you people put her through!"

"You people? Well if you weren't blind-"

Nori, pushed Hamako back, unsheathing her sword. "Don't kid yourself, Grandma!"

"Grandma? Why you little-"

"LADIES!" Harper's voice boomed, turning her back to the shore, fists digging into her hips. "It doesn't matter! We have to stick together if we're ever going to get Akane or Segre back. It doesn't matter who said or did what, or who killed our captain, or even who hasn't showered the longest-"

"That has nothing to do with anything," Miya said, not looking up from her arrows.

"Regardless," Harper said, pacing up and down the beach, eyes closed in contemplation, "we have to set our differences aside, ignore the past, and prepare for the next battle. But first, we should probably deal with that incoming pirate ship-"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING EARLIER?!"

The four women hastily picked up their weapons and took a battle stance on the beach. As the ship inched closer, Harper turned to Nori as Miya began climbing up a tall tree with a platform on it.

"You're gonna need this," Harper shouted, packing in bees wax into an ear.

"Bee's wax?" Nori asked, her eyes shifting with every sound she picked up with her ears. "Why, is there something I must know?"

"Nah, just giving ya a heads up so you pack your ears tightly while Miya sings," she replied, and with a shrug stuffed the other ear with the wax.

Nori was going to ask for further details when she hear Miya clearing her throat. She hastily packed the wax into her ears and for the first time she felt truly blind. A slight sound was getting in but she relied on her ears so vastly that she was sure whatever Miya was about to do was going to be huge.

She felt a clammy hand grasp hers and she heard Hamako's muffled voice yelling, "It's Hamako calm down; we're not going to let you go deaf on top of being blind!"

The jolly roger on the mast was one Miya was vaguely familiar with, but they were a crew that posed no threat to the Cutthroat Pirates so they saw no reason to engage with them. The hat made the skull look friendly, but then again it was still a skull.

She cleared her throat one last time after Hamako gave her a thumbs up.

"Usopp, do you see anyone on the beach?"

Usopp was clenching the spyglass tightly, scanning for any signs of life.

After only seeing palm trees for a couple minutes, Usopp called down, "No, nothing yet! Maybe they're on the other side of the island?"

"We can't go that way, that's where the other pirates are stationed out!" Nami said, checking her map of Segre.

Usopp looked back up with a sigh and kept scanning the beach until he caught a mass of long flowing black hair mixed in with a swaying palm tree.

"Guys! I think I found someone up in a tree!" He cried, adjusting the focus of the spyglass. He saw a beautiful woman, but her eyes are marred with a calm violence. "She doesn't look too happy to see us!"

"If she's one of the Cutthroat Pirates that doesn't surprise me," Law said, watching the same woman from the deck below.

The silence that hung through the air was almost calming, the ocean lapping at the sides of the ship as the wind combed through the palm trees, but it seemed off considering the desperation laced in the SOS call.

Usopp waved his arm at the woman in a friendly manner only to be met with a soft smile before she opened her mouth.

"To my aye rig a jig in a juntin gun, ho eh, ho ah, are you most done?"

"I feel kind of funny," Luffy said, grasping his tummy.

"It was probably that entire cow you ate for lunch," Sanji quipped, sighing while lighting a cigarette.

"No, it's like I want to go swimming…"

Miya's voice became clearer as the ship drew closer to the shore. It was clear now that there were three others on the beach in a battle stance. Usopp began his long climb down to the deck to warn everyone and prepare to fight himself.

"With Eliza Lee all on my knee, Clear away the track and let the bulgine run!"

"Yeah me too," Chopper said, his small body vibrating in the same way Luffy's was.

"Me four," Brook called, his body swaying dangerously toward the side of the boat.

"Don't you mean me three?"

"I can't count well."

"YOU'RE A MUSICIAN!"

"I also feel drawn to the water," Robin muttered. She turned to Law who was trying to suppress the vibrating in his bones. "Do you feel it as well, Doctor?"

"Yes, I'll see if I can cast a room around the ship so we can have a safety net in case we dive in," Law replied. He stalked out into the middle of the deck, his legs feeling like they fell asleep. "Roo-"

Splash!

"Luffy!" Nami yelled, reaching over the railing to grasp at his red vest.

"I can't help it, Nami! The water looks so good!" He said, doggy paddling in mid air. The pull of Miya's voice made him break free of her grew and he plummeted down to the depths.

Splash! Splash!

Brook and Chopper followed shortly after, disappearing beneath the blue waves.

Law felt an iron grip crush him and looked up to see Frankie grasping he and Robin tightly in his strong robotic arms to prevent them from diving in as well.

"Oh the Margaret Evans on the blue star line, ho eh, ho ah, are you most done? Shes never a day behind the time, clear away the track and let the bulgine run!"

"I'm not letting you guys go down too!" Franky cried tearfully, clenching them even tighter to his chest.

"I'm afraid you'll be coming with us," Robin said as her arms sprung out suddenly and she began to force them into the water.

Law was barely able to break free of the cyborg before they hit the water.

SPLOOSH!