I don't like you!

by BloodyMarryMe

By pure chance and unluckiness Miyako finds herself at the Sabaody auction house as a slave. And of all the people, the one interested just had to be the most smug, egoistical and sadistic pirate she has ever met. So at least she can give him as much trouble as possible, right? LawXOC

40. Chapter 40

"I don't like you!" by BloodyMarryMe

*whew* Another long chapter done. I kinda took my time with this one since it was long but I wanted to put the whole "episode" in one chapter and not stretch it out more. This is just a little something before the Abney Cove Arc. Sorry for the wait but here it is! :D Also, sorry but I didn't have time to proofread it this time but I really wanted to upload it today since if I don't do it today I won't be able to for at least another week. With that said; sorry for any grammatical mistakes. I'll proofread it later when I have the time so for now if you find any mistakes please point them out to me and I'll fix them. Thank you! Have a nice read! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of its characters but the plot and the OC Suzune Miyako is mine.

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CHAPTER 40

"Unacceptable. Completely unacceptable!" Akainu was sitting in his leather chair, tapping his blunt fingernail impatiently on his mahogany desk. With his other hand, he was clutching a wanted poster almost to the point of crumpling it. His eyes were piercing the face on the poster; Trafalgar Law – Surgeon of death, bounty: 310 milion Beri. "I don't have time to deal with such nuisance at this time. We already have enough work as it is."

"Hn…I thought that weirdo Abaddon got him good but it seems he survived after all. The Heart pirates were spotted near Christmas island, a few weeks ago." Sentomaru was sitting in a chair, across Akainu looking unpleased about the situation as well. They didn't really have time to deal with it and Sentomaru hoped Law died when Abaddon pierced him but the Dark Doctor obviously had more luck then they thought.

"And to think they escaped you and Abaddon, along with all the marines I sent with you." Akainu almost grumbled as he stared at the poster. The Fleet Admiral stretched his short, trimmed beard that framed his angular face. His hard features looked even darker than usual with the unsatisfied expression he wore.

"They had help. I don't know why but the locals from the island helped them escape. Fool, all of them!" Sentomaru still didn't understand why somebody would help a pirate unless they were criminals themselves and Unak wasn't telling them anything. "But we got their leader, his in level 1 in Impel Down. I'm sure that will teach him a less…that traitor." Even though the marines didn't find out much from Unak, searching his history they discovered he was a marine reported missing in action a long time ago. Everyone already thought he was dead but it seemed he was saved by the locals and stayed on that island…and was now helping pirates! Sentomaru got a bitter taste in his mouth as a feeling of disgust followed his trail of thought. *Marines working with pirates? What's next; an alliance between the World Government and the Yonkou?!*

"Hmm…" Akainu hummed in thought as he planned his next move. No, he didn't have time to go after petty pirates right now even though those petty pirates were getting more troublesome by the day and even though he firmly believed all pirates should be erased from the face of the earth. But right now practicality came first and he couldn't afford to lose more men. "For now, we will raise their bounties and hope the bounty hunters do their jobs for once." Then another wanted poster got his attention; the newest member of the Heart Pirates who has been giving them trouble as well. "Burning-Eyed Miyako…What do we know of her?" He looked at the woman on the photo, her cold, sharp eyes staring at him from the picture and she was obviously in the middle of a fight when it was taken.

"I fought her on the island. She's strong but not strong enough to beat me. Tch, I almost had her but she was able to escape…along with that talking bear. She could cause problems in the future though…especially since she's from Wano. Their warriors aren't to be taken lightly, you know. It seems her caretaker was one of the four samurai who ran the country but he died in a war they fought a few years back."

"Is that all?" Sakazuki wasn't very pleased with so little information. And as soon as he heard the name Wano, he was even less pleased if the dark frown on his face could be any indication. Wano was always somewhat of a thorn in the World Government's side. No matter how much they try to negotiate, Wano refuses to become their ally nor be affiliated with them.

"For now…We're trying to find out more." Sentomaru answered simply. It was harder to find out anything about the woman especially since she was from Wano, a country that never wanted to work with the marines. They weren't exactly cooperative.

"In any case, these pirates are becoming more of a pain ever since that bastard Whitebeard announced One Piece exists. And these Supernova rookies are especially tiring. I want them wiped out before they reach the New World." The Fleet Admiral glared at the faces on the papers as his fist crushed the wanted posters in his hand.

~….~

"Aaah~ This sucks…" Josh was lying face-first in his bed. He looked completely out of energy and bored as hell, which he was.

"You're right, I can't take it anymore. It's hot and stuffy in here…especially with you guys taking all the oxygen. I want some fresh air!" Bepo added, as he looked at the rest of the pirates with the corner of his black eyes.

"You take most of the oxygen, you big bear!" Penguin yelled back, annoyed at Bepo's attitude.

"I'm sorry." Bepo answered quickly as he bowed his head down with a depressed expression.

*He's way too weak..* Were the thoughts of everyone there as they looked at the first mate.

"But there's no helping it, there's a storm outside and it's been like this for a week. Even if we resurfaced, we couldn't go outside and it's safer to be underwater than sailing on it right now, with all the waves, wind and lightning outside." Shachi answered as a voice of reason.

The Grand Line was a tricky and dangerous place, and one of the biggest dangers was the ever-changing whether that didn't let a navigator rest for even a second. There were deadly, strong storms raging for days outside and the Heart pirates were never so glad they were traveling underwater as they were now. The strong currents were still hard to deal with but at least they could escape the worst conditions by diving deeper into the sea.

"But I'm so boooored." Josh complained though his voice was muffled since his face was still buried in the pillow. The others wondered how he could even breathe in that position.

"Then go read a book." Miyako said simply, ignoring the complaints coming from the redhead. For a change they were in their quarters instead of her small room. The girl was resting on Cody's bed while the medic was working in the infirmary and she had a small book she borrowed from Law. At first she asked her friends to borrow her something but soon realized all their reading material was…well, more suited for men to read than women; let's just leave it at that. After that realization where she accidentally opened one of Penguin's magazines and regretted it instantly, she decided to go ask Law. Also, Penguin and Miyako made a silent agreement to never talk about what she saw in there either. It was best for everyone if that stayed undiscussed.

"And I'm hooot!" Bepo whined together with the medic as he rolled on the floor with his big red tongue out.

"So go take a shower." Miyako countered simply once again not even raising her eyes from the book she was reading. Luckily, Law didn't only have medical and scientific books. The current one was about a scientifical and philosophical discussion about the existence of Sky islands that were topics of many rumors among sailors and pirates. There is no real proof of their existences, only the reports of ships falling from the sky, sailors swearing they were on one and items they had with them that were never seen anywhere else on land. However, suddenly the book was snatched right out of her hands. "Hey-!" She tried to protest, but it was too late.

"What are you reading so intensely?" It seems Josh tried to kill his boredom by bugging her as he stared at the title of the book that was now in his hands.

"Give it back, shorty!" Miyako tried to grab it back but Josh was quicker and he dodged her attempt to snatch it back.

But as Josh stepped back he stepped on Bepo's paw who was still helplessly lying on the ground in hopes the metal floor will cool him down a little. "Hey, watch where you're stepping!" The bear growled as he got involved as well. Little by little the men's quarters of Room 2A were getting nosier and nosier. Somehow Penguin and Shachi got involved as well as Shachi tried to help Miyako get her book back and was arguing with Bepo about him carelessly lying on the floor under everyone's feet, which the mechanic considered a bother.

Everyone was so busy that they didn't even notice a newcomer in the room. Miyako swung her hand trying to get the book, but Penguin accidentally pushed her as he was fighting with Bepo and her hand only hit the book, making it fly from Josh's hand and right towards the open doors where Cody stood. The tall medic caught the book easily with one hand before it could fly into his face and glared at the group that suddenly stopped their actions and watched him silently. For a moment there was complete silence as Cody tried to control his annoyance that was showing in a form of a vein on his forehead and the group was silently watching him in shock, too afraid to say anything to thick the medic off even more. Cody looked at Josh and Miyako, since that's where the book came flying from but as he did, both the medic and the samurai pointed accusingly at each other as if saying 'he/she did it.' Unfortunately that didn't help Cody's annoyance at the group that were all acting like kids in his opinion but he sighed, relaxing and getting over it, he still needed to do what he came here to do after all.

"Miyako-chan, the Captain wants to see you. He's in the infirmary." Cody simply delivered the message, the reason he was sent here in the first place.

Miyako was sure she didn't get in any trouble but now she wondered what the doctor wanted from her. *I'm sure I haven't done anything lately nor gotten into any trouble…I think.* Sometimes it was hard to remember all the mischief that happened around here, especially with such a crew as the Heat Pirates. However, she was sure she was playing nice recently and she didn't even pull a prank on Josh in a while. At least not after that frog incident when she saved it from Law's experimental clutches in the infirmary and hid it in Josh's room. Well Josh wasn't kidding when he said he was afraid of frogs, or rather their croaking, that's for sure. The short medic was slowly losing it and didn't sleep all night because he could hear croaking somewhere in his room but couldn't find the source. After being the whole night awake he concluded he was hallucinating and going crazy, but that's when Cody came to him and asked if he saw a frog somewhere on the submarine. Miyako could still remember the redhead's twitching eyes and half-crazed look from lack of sleep and hearing frog croaks and hoped Josh will never discover she was behind it or he'd seriously kill her. The girl snickered to herself at the memories. *Ah~ Good times, good times.*

That's when she noticed she was still in the men's quarters staring into space and grinning stupidly at the memories while everyone was looking at her as if she was really losing it.

"Are you alright, Miya-chan?" Penguin asked looking at her suspiciously.

The girl could feel her cheeks and ears getting hotter from embarrassment. She smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, sorry. I'll be on my way then." She quickly left the room while her friends followed her with questioning looks on their faces.

~…..~

Miyako knocked lightly on the doors before entering the infirmary. "You wanted to see me, Captain?" She saw Law hunched over an operating table, standing in the blue sphere of his Room. He was currently working on something but Miyako had to come closer to see what it really was and when she did, she couldn't help but feel uneasy about the sight. There, tied to the operating table was a creature, an animal they found on the last island they visited. They just made a short stop at the uninhabited island to restock their water and food supplies. There was a strange species there that Miyako had never seen before. They almost looked like monkeys but they weren't more than a meter tall and walked on only two feet but they had pig-looking noses and bear-like ears. It was a strange combination of animals all in one small package. Law found the species interesting since he never saw it before so he ordered some of his crewmembers to catch a few of them alive, so he could experiment on them no doubt. However, it seemed the pirate captain was a bit disappointed with the results since he didn't find anything special nor fascinating, even on the inside. So he decided to at least use them to practice his Devil fruit powers, which he was doing now.

The strange animal on the table was still alive even though parts of it were cut up and floating in the air in the Room, even its insides, as Miyako saw a heart float by near the animal's head. That's when the girl noticed another of those creatures on the operating table next to her but that one was already dead and discarded, probably of no interest to the Surgeon of Death anymore. Right now, that nickname served Law justice more than ever. At least since this was the first time Miyako witnessed Law actually cut up a living-being with such precision and a sharp eye following every reaction he was getting. Usually he would just cut up his enemies and use Shambles on them, than leave them be in their own misery or death, uninterested. But right now Miyako could see the analytical eye following closely and with interest every action Law took and every reaction he got from it. Miyako had to admit; she was starting to get interested in what he was doing since he was awfully focused on his task but it still made her a bit uncomfortable to see that Law could cut up and experiment on a living being without batting an eye. At least the creature didn't seem in pain, since it was unconscious; the only reason Miyako knew it was alive was because the machines it was connected to showed a pulse, giving off a regular beeping sound.

Even though the girl entered his Room and came next to him, though keeping a safe distance not to get in the way, Law didn't answer her or even acknowledge her arrival even though he noticed her. He was obviously doing something important and Miyako could see he didn't want to be disturbed right now since he was in the middle of something. Still, there was a slight frown on the girl's face. *Then why did he call me, if he's busy?* She sat on the operating table across the one being used and waited patiently, observing the operation, as she put her chin on her hands and propped herself with her elbows on her knees.

She didn't quite understand what Law was doing, though. He would cut out an organ with his scalpel, then create another small Room around that organ and watch how the animal's conditions were doing with that organ out of its body. It seemed even though the organ was out, the animal still lived on, as if it was working properly inside of it. Even if the organ was out of the Room where the creature was, it still didn't affect the creature's life signs but if Law did something to the body parts or organs, like making a small cut with his scalpel, it was obvious the creature could feel it because the pulse and blood pressure would get higher. Once again Miyako was glad the creature wasn't awake since this would certainly be painful to experience. She couldn't help but grimace when Law cut the creature's heart out though it was in a little box formed by his powers. He gave it an experimental squeeze through the box and watched the machines as the pulse suddenly got quicker and the sound warningly started beeping faster and louder. As Law released the heart, the machines slowly went back to normal along with the animal's life signs. Law hummed, pleased with the results he was getting. He was obviously making progress, judging by the discarded corpse of another creature that was a failure.

Finally, Miyako decided to break the silence, seeing Law in a good mood. "What are you doing?"

The captain spared her a quick glance before focusing back on his task. "I'm seeing how far I can use my powers and keep it alive even if it's in pieces."

Miyako tilted her head curiously as a child would. "But you could do that before too, right? I saw you cut up marines countless times and even patching them together differently and they were still alive after that."

"Yes, but I would always cut them from the outside." Law explained and made a slash in the air with his scalpel as if showing her an explanation. A clean cut followed and the head of the animal came off. Law made a slight movement with his fingers and it easily put itself back to its rightful place. "Now, I want to slice from the inside." At this, Law moved his free hand again and the creature's heart flew back inside its body, then shortly after all the rest of the organs floating outside did as well, and finally the creature's torso which was cut open closed as if someone sew back a ripped puppet. However, it seemed Law wasn't done with his show and tell. With a flick of a finger the animal flew in the air and Law slowly put the tip of his scalpel in front of where its heart should be, but not touching the animal. Then, with a simple movement of the scalpel as if he was pushing something, that cube-like mini Room appeared again, going outside of the animal's body and Miyako's eyes widened when she saw the creature's heart was trapped inside. The creature was still alive as before, even though the Heart was out of its body completely, floating around in the Room before it reached Law and he grabbed it in his hand and put it back into the animal that was once again lying on the table. "Also, it would be good if I could use this with only creating the small room around the organ and not having to use my standard Room for it. I need some more practice but it could work."

"Wow…slicing from the inside, indeed." Miyako couldn't help but feel impressed as she muttered the comment. "And if you really manage to use that as an attack, stealing people's organs, without having to put up your Room every time, that would be even more amazing."

Law smirked but it looked absentminded as he stared at his 'guinea pig' on the operating table. "Yes, but it would be more useful to try it on humans instead of animals."

Miyako couldn't help but freeze nervously as he said that, especially since she still didn't know why he called her to the infirmary and this comment wasn't giving her a peace of mind.

Law looked up and saw the girl's shocked and nervous expression with her eyes slightly wider and her face paler than usual. The captain almost laughed when he connected the dots and realized what the girl must be thinking after hearing him say that in this situation. However, he managed to control himself and only gave her an amused, though slightly devilish, grin. "Don't worry, I don't experiment on my crew…despite what the rumors are saying." There were many rumors flying around about the infamous Surgeon of Death and one of the more often ones was about him experimenting on people. Well that was true enough, but he didn't use his own crew for it, he would simply kidnap a local for that.

"I knew that…" Miyako said though she didn't really look believable as she looked sideways instead of at him.

Law just sighed and shook his head but didn't comment on it. Instead, he released his Room and unconnected the still unconscious animal from the machines. He gave it a big needle shot that Miyako didn't know what was it for and then put it back to its cage. He would later get someone to take the cage away from the infirmary, for sanitary reasons. He liked his working space clean and without animal germs just like any doctor would. He took off the white, surgical gloves he was working with and washed his hands in a small sink. "I called you here so we could work on my haki some more." He finally explained.

Miyako was a bit surprised though, since they trained together all morning. Law worked with his haki every day, constantly training, ever since Miyako told him he had it. "You shouldn't overexert yourself though, it's tiring to use it a lot, you know." She tried to warn but somehow knew that won't do her any good. When Law wanted to do something, he would do it, no matter what anyone says or thinks about it.

*Well it's less than two weeks to Abney Cove…he wants to perfect his haki till then so that's probably why he's working so hard.* Miyako stared at the Dark Doctor, unconsciously. Law always seemed like a laid back and relaxed person but he was actually a man constantly planning his next move or working towards his goal. Actually seeing him take a break was a real rarity and those dark circles under his eyes were a proof of it.

"As you wish." Miyako sighed, knowing there was no point in trying to persuade him further. Law seemed pleased with the answer and he started walking towards the practice room. It was actually one of the bigger storage rooms on the sub but since they were unable to practice outside on the deck, Law ordered for one of them to be cleared out and made into a training room. The space wasn't very big but it was enough to serve its purpose. It didn't have anything in there accept a few old, empty crates that were sometimes used for Law to practice his haki slashes on them. He created his Room, encircling the whole space then took his nodachi in one hand.

He remembered one of the first things Miyako told him when they started this training. "Remember the power you felt when we fought; remember how it coursed through your whole body. That's the best way for you to recreate it." Law concentrated on that feeling and he could actually feel tingles throughout his whole body, getting stronger and stronger. Then he remembered the rest of Miyako's instructions; "Then channel that power towards your hand, imagine it flowing towards where you want it. Concentrate on the feeling in your hands, on the sword you holding, and then release it."

Law opened his eyes and with a sharp stare at the creates in front of him, he swung his nodachi, feeling the power traveling through his body, arms and finally sword, then out of him completely and into the air. The pressure in the air released in the form of a cut as it traveled to the creates and sliced them all in one clean cut. Law could feel some of his energy disappearing but he wasn't as tired as he was when they first started training. At the beginning, using haki would really take a toll on his body and after two or three slashes he would already be out of breath and feeling weak. Now, however, he barely felt a change in his, but then again this was just the beginning of training.

Miyako nodded approving at what she saw. "You're improving very quickly." She was impressed by how fast Law was learning to use Busoshoku Haki.

Law smirked at her comment. "Why are you so surprised by that?"

Miyako just returned the cocky smirk. "Now don't get too conceded, there's still much you need to learn." She looked at the crates again. "You're precision has gotten better, but you're still a bit lacking in stamina. It's no use having powerful haki if your body can't follow. You'll need a lot of endurance for this."

Law frowned a little at the teacher-tone Miyako was using to warn him. Well, he knew she was the teacher now but he was still a captain and he really didn't like being preached to by anyone. Miyako obviously noticed his displeased look because she smiled a little, though it didn't look taunting. "Don't look at me like that, you're the one who asked me for help."

"I might have asked you for help, but don't get too full of yourself. You're still just a subordinate on my submarine and I still don't like to be ordered around." Law warned though his voice didn't sound menacing. It sounded more like a simple comment, without any real anger behind it.

Miyako rolled her eyes but her amused smile was still on her face. "Aye, aye, captain." This time Law did heard some mockery in her voice, though and he turned to glare at her warningly. Seeing his expression, Miyako's lips formed a thin line, indicating that she'll stop teasing, but there was still some amusement in her eyes as she looked at the pirate captain. However, she decided to become more serious since it was time to get back to business and Miyako cleared her throat before continuing. "Alright, let's start with a short duel to see how well you control your haki now." She took a stance, one hand on the sheath of the sword and the other on the hilt, as her eyes became sharper and that pressure from her samurai spirit was once again enveloping her and being directed right at Law.

The said pirate captain unsheathed his nodachi and gripped the handle with both tattooed hands. "Let's start."

~….~

Law was panting heavily as he sheathed back his nodachi. He wasn't sure how long they've been training but it must've been for several hours. Miyako looked tired too, but he noticed she wasn't having so much trouble since she was already used to using haki unlike him, he had to admit it irritated him a little. She didn't look smug about it, though.

"I think we should stop here for today." Miyako also sheathed her katana and rolled her shoulder a little, grimacing in slight pain. She felt stiff and sore all over from all the training. She hadn't trained this hard since she left Master's house.

This time Law agreed, since he was in no better shape. It was enough for today. His body was used to the strain and he had quite the stamina, but it was still far from being enough to keep up with the haki level which was rising every day through his training.

Just then, Miyako and Law could hear Sai's voice trough the intercom and they both looked up at the pipe which led the sound from the control room to the training space. "Captain, you better come to the control room. You need to see this." Sai didn't explain anything else, which meant he didn't know how to explain it.

Law and Miyako exchanged curious glances for just a second before they both headed to the control room. Law could feel the submarine slowed down which only made him wonder more about what was going on.

~…..~

"Mister Bart, Mister Sai, what's going on here?" Law walked in the Control Room where Bepo, the first mate, was already waiting for him and greeted him with a "Captain" before turning around to look outside the main window. Miyako was right behind Law and walked over to where Bepo was, to see what he was looking at.

"Well the good news is we're out of that awful storm. It's weird; it was as if we just passed through a wall where the storm stops." Sai said, fixing his knit hat on his head. "However, this doesn't look much better; look outside."

Law walked over to Bepo and Miyako, who looked like they were stuck to the window as they looked outside. The pirate captain looked through the glass as well, seeing sharp rocks, ending with sharp pinnacles, most of them reached all the way to the surface. There were a lot of underwater twisters around as well, swirling on the surface though they couldn't see it since they were still below, in the water. However, the most interesting sight was at the sandy bottom of the sea, where Law could see numerous shipwrecks, some old, some new, spreading throughout the seafloor. There were dozens of big and small ships that got wrecked on the dangerous sharp rocks or sucked into one of those whirlpools that were raging from the surface all the way to the bottom.

"It's like a graveyard down there." Miyako muttered as she looked at all kinds of busted ships.

"I don't like this place, Captain. It's creepy…" Bepo looked around as they just passed by another dangerous rock. It was good that they had a skilled navigator, since they could easily end up like one of those ships if Jean Bart's skills were any less exceptional.

"They must've got caught in one of those sea twisters and then sent in those sharp rocks. But we're in no less danger from that happening just because we're underwater." Jean Bart warned, as he avoided yet another whirl that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. This was even more dangerous than they thought since those twisters seemed to appear suddenly every now and then.

"How come the scenery and weather changed so much?" Law muttered, but loud enough for everyone to hear, as he stared at the ruined ships.

"This is the Grand Line after all, we have to be prepared for anything here." Bart said and Miyako turned towards the first navigator to see his troubled face.

"We're approaching an island. Its climate and magnetic field probably effected the change in weather. " Sai explained as he looked at his radar, but then he looked at another screen that showed some numbers and temperature. Miyako couldn't be sure what it was but it looked like it measured and kept track of the conditions outside. The numbers were rapidly changing though and the samurai girl could see Sai's expression change into an even more troubled one. "It seems that storm we just got out of is coming towards this island and fast. If we get hit by those waves and currents in this place, we're done for Captain. We'll end up in those rocks and down in that graveyard for sure."

Law's face darkened at the thought and their bad luck. "Get us to the surface, Mister Bart. Let's see if we can dock here somewhere. We won't be able to get out of here fast enough and avoid the storm. We'll have to wait it out." Law explained and tapped his fingers on the metal railing impatiently.

"Yes, Captain." Bart obviously agreed with that plan though it was hard to tell from that stoic, always-serious, face. But the navigator slowly started heading upwards to the surface as Sai measured their decreasing altitude.

After a while, they emerged with a loud splash as the submarine created waves around them. However, the situation on the surface wasn't any better than underwater. The whirlpools were all around them and one formed close, almost sucking them and throwing them into the nearest rocky spike, but Sai quickly increased some speed and Jean Bart managed to moved them in time and escape the pull from the whirlpool. The wind was slowly picking up in speed and Miyako noticed the first, small droplets of rain falling on the glass of the window. It didn't help that a fog was starting to form around the area, getting thicker by the minute. They sailed slowly through the watery chaos as the navigators tried to find some shelter where they could wait for the storm to pass. As they approached the shore of the island, they could see it was a big rocky surface with nothing other than big cliffs and sharp mountaintops on it.

"Tch, it looks like it's impossible to get close enough to the island in these conditions." Sai muttered through gritted teeth as he looked at the scenery outside, irritated.

"Captain, there!" Suddenly Bepo called out and pointed towards a cliff up ahead, that had a slight dent below, making a small, shallow cavern. They could be safe from the hard wind and big waves there.

Law's lips formed a slight smirk, showing he was pleased with Bepo's discovery or rather relieved since they were running out of time to prepare for the upcoming storm. The rain and wind have already gotten harder as the storm approached from behind them.

Jean Bart carefully sailed towards the small cavern while Sai warned everyone through the den den mushi to prepare for docking. Miyako could hear the rushed footsteps on the halls as pirates ran around.

"Come on, we're going out too. Bepo." Law turned to walk out of the control room with Bepo following by his side. The pirate captain gave Bepo his nodachi as he always did.

Law stopped at the door with Bepo abruptly stopping behind him. The bear blinked in confusion when he saw his captain turn around. Law looked at Miyako with a lazy look he usually wore and fixed the hat on his head. "Aren't you going?"

The girl was surprised that Law expected her to go with him but decided she didn't mind accompanying him. Miyako smiled and turned around to follow the captain and first mate. "Yeah." She simply said and walked towards the exit, resting one hand on the hilt of her katana.

Outside, the Heart pirates were preparing the sub, making sure it was secured with more than one anchors and tying the chains to some nearby boulders and rocks to stop it from moving as much as they could. The waves could still reach here even if they won't be that strong, and they had to make sure the submarine won't be tossed around and damaged on the rocks. Meanwhile, Miyako looked behind too see the approaching storm. Dark clouds were quickly moving towards the island, carrying the wind and rain with them. It was already blowing hard and Miyako wiped some water droplets from the sea and rain that fell on her face. The fog was getting thicker too and it was getting hard to see their surroundings, not to mention the night was slowly falling over them. At this rate the conditions for sailing were really impossible and they could only hope that this storm will pass quickly.

The pirates managed to prepare for the storm in time and Law ushered everyone back inside. Somehow he didn't like the atmosphere around here and he could see Bepo was thinking the same thing since the bear's hairs stood up as if he was threatened by something. He looked over to the stormy clouds. The whole sight looked ominous. The night slowly falling, the winds and rain picking up, the dark clouds heading towards them with the sounds of thunder and flashes of lightning, the rising fog around them and the dangerous terrain of bare rocks and whirlpools just waiting to add another ship to the graveyard collection at the bottom of the sea. Law didn't like the sight of it all as well, especially when his instincts were warning him about something.

"Captain?" He heard an inquiring voice of his samurai beside him. She could spot his troubled gaze as he stared at the oncoming storm.

Law looked at the girl who was looking at him a bit worried. Obviously she didn't like the atmosphere either and his troubled look wasn't helping his crew's nerves. He closed his eyes for a second to regain his usual calm composure. "It's nothing." He assured her and saw that her expression softened with ease a little as well. However Bepo was still nervous as he almost glared somewhere in the fog. The bear gave up after a while and started walking inside the submarine with everyone else. "Let's go everyone!" Law called out to his crew, waiting for everyone to go back in to safety, before closing the heavy metal doors behind him.

~….~

Most of the crew was sitting in the big dining room since they had nothing better to do at the moment. They made sure to be able to set sail and get out of here as soon as possible, though. It seemed nobody really wanted to stay here for long. For some reason this place was just eerie. It gave you the creeps even though nobody really knew why. But there was obvious nervousness around the crew even though nobody really wanted to show it or say it out loud. Instead, they played cards games or read books or just talked while drinking sake and rum after their dinner.

The raging of the storm was clearly hearable even there as the thunder roared over them and every now and then flash of lightning could be seen through the windows of the submarine. The wind howled outside, making strange sounds in the sub as the sound traveled through the metal pipes. But the strangest part was the thick, milky fog surrounding them.

"It's unnatural. There shouldn't be any fog with all this strong wind and rain outside." Sai murmured, more to himself, as he walked over to one of the windows and stared outside. He rested his hand on his chin while thinking about the strange Grand Line weather.

"You're forgetting this is the Grand Line, you know. Everything's possible here." Kai, the second in command chef, answered. However Sai didn't look content with such an explanation.

"I don't like this place…" Once again Bepo murmured.

"Shut it, you said that five times already! You're making everyone else nervous as well!" Penguin yelled at the bear in annoyance. One of the head mechanics looked more irritable than usual.

Bepo just quietly bowed his head down in depression.

Miyako tried to ignore their bickering as she walked over to the window of the galley and looked outside. She couldn't see anything from all the fog, though. Then suddenly her eyes went wide as she saw something through the fog. It was for only a second that a shadow moved in the fog before disappearing. Actually, it was so fast that Miyako wasn't sure if she really saw something or not. *Was it my imagination…?* She stared even harder outside, to catch a glimpse of something again, but there was nothing. She could only hear the wind and rain through the thunder that was raging outside. She turned to Sai who was beside her, in hopes he saw it too, but he was still discussing something with Kai. The girl sighed feeling slightly troubled. If she says she saw something everyone will be even more nervous and on edge so if it turns up to be a mistake they'll hang her from the sub's mast at this point. However, if she doesn't say anything and they get attacked, it'll be her fault. Miyako scratched her head sighing. *What should I do? I guess, I need to be sure before I say anything, it was only a glimpse of something after all. I don't have anything concrete. I need to check somehow.* She squinted her eyes while looking outside hoping to get a better view but It didn't help. There was no sign of anything living outside. *Maybe it was just an animal…a bird or something…? How do I even check without going outside?* Law gave them direct orders to stay inside the sub since the weather outside was too dangerous. If someone accidentally fell into the sea now, they'd be crushed by the rocks and waves or swallowed by the sea whirlpools in an instant. She looked over to where Law was. He was sitting at one of the galley tables, his feet propped on the table and crossed, his white hat over his eyes to block the light. He seemed to be taking a nap though Miyako doubted he was asleep. Especially since Munk was standing right by his side with his fists on his hips, nagging Law about putting his feet on the table. The captain didn't seem to be phased by Munk's words and was successfully ignoring him. The pirate captain looked his usual relaxed self as if he didn't worry about their current situation at all. However, Miyako didn't know was that really the case or was Law actually having the same uneasy feeling she had.

Before Miyako could reach a decision, the lights in the galley flickered, then after a while went out completely. Complete darkness surrounded the crew and Miyako needed a few minutes to adjust her eyes to the dark and see anything. The crew went silent suddenly, before silent murmuring started throughout the room. The men were all looking around but completely clueless as to what happened.

Law instantly looked up, adjusting his hat back on his head and off his eyes. His eyes narrowed as his gaze became firmer and sharper. Something was wrong. He could feel it. His hand instinctively moved to his nodachi and he gripped it loosely. He turned to the brown-haired mechanic who looked just as lost as everyone else. "Shachi, go down and see if there's something wrong with the generators."

Shachi nodded. "Alright, but Penguin checked everything before we docked. All the machinery on first floor seemed fine." The mechanic quickly hurried out of the room and towards the lowest floor of the submarine. He was lucky that he already knew the whole vessel like the back of his hand before everything was completely covered in darkness and it was hard to move around. Luckily, Shachi didn't even need light for orientation, after all he was on this sub ever since it was created, not to mention, he also helped in its creation.

When Law saw Shachi run off he turned to his first mate. The bear was instantly beside him, ready for danger and to protect his captain from anything that might be coming at them. "Bepo, contact the control room. Maybe Mister Bart has some clues as to what's going on here."

"Tch, I knew it. This place just isn't natural." Sai murmured through gritted teeth. There was a troubled expression on his face even though nobody could see it at the moment. But the tone of his voice said it all anyways.

Suddenly the metal of the sub creaked as the vessel tipped to the left as if something pushed it. The pirates yelped in surprise as everyone was sent to one side, most of the men falling over. Miyako was lucky to be on the right side of the submarine at that moment so she balanced herself, putting one hand on the wall for support.

"Captain, I can't reach the control room! It's as if someone had cut the communications!" Bepo yelled, already slightly panicking.

Law had just about enough of this. Nobody would mess with his crew and his submarine. He gripped his nodachi tighter and yelled, just as another creak was heard; this time as if someone was scratching the metal with their nails. "Everyone get to your positions! Bepo, Penguin, Miyako, Sai; come with me to the control room!"

All of the crew yelled "Aye Captain!" as they ran around the dark sub, to their posts. Luckily, some of the crew members took flashlights used for such emergencies and everyone ran in groups just to be sure.

As Miyako ran through the hallways towards the third floor where the control room was, she felt a presence in the darkness even though she couldn't see anything. A hand instinctively felt for the hilt of her katana as she opened it slightly with her thumb on the hand guard. "Something's here." Her golden eyes looked as if they were glowing in the dark as she watched her surroundings sharply.

"What do you mean?" Penguin blinked as he stared at her in confusion.

"I felt it too. It's creepy." A shiver ran down Bepo's spine but the bear glared at the darkness bravely.

"For now, let's just get to the control room as fast as we can. Everyone be on your guard." Law muttered, still running.

When they finally got to the room, Law rushed in. The doors slammed at the wall loudly as the group went in. However they sighed in relief when they saw Jean Bart there, completely fine and out of danger. The big navigator blinked in confusion when he saw the group that just burst into here all of a sudden.

"You're ok." Penguin stated the obvious as he watched Jean Bart. The navigator was looking out through the windows in the control room, as if searching for something. Then, with a sigh he took the periscope to look all around the sub but only sighed in disappointment again. Sai didn't waste time as he sat down at his control panel, quickly pushing a few buttons and looking at all the radars.

"Oy, Jean Bart! I called the control room earlier, why didn't you pick up?!" Bepo looked annoyed as he asked the big navigator in a scolding voice.

However the man just frowned as if he didn't understand what Bepo was talking about. "What are you talking about, the den den mushi never even rang. I was here the whole time."

It seemed Bepo wanted to say something to that and he still didn't look pleased with Bart's explanation but Law cut him off. "The den den mushi lines must've been cut after all."

"Bart, what hit us earlier?" Sai asked from his spot as he looked over some stats on the panel, probably estimating the damage of the sub. Luckily, there was none. Whatever hit them, it didn't damage the vessel. Still, those creaking sounds could still be heard now and then, as if the metal was being stretched.

"I don't know, that's what I was trying to find out, but there's nothing outside. Not that I can see much through all that fog…And there was nothing on the radar, no warning of impact at all."

Before anyone could say anything, footsteps rushed through the hall and Shachi, one of the mechanics rushed into the room while panting. He was obviously in a hurry as he ran all the way from the room with the generators on the first floor. "Captain, the generators for electricity are still plugged in and full but we're not getting any light. I tried the spares but it was the same thing. Something's probably wrong with the connection; the men are trying to fix it right now. It's like the circuits are messed up all of a sudden and the electricity won't flow. Someone could've of messed with the wires I guess…"

"So it was done from inside the submarine." Law gritted his teeth. Well it's not like he didn't notice it…there was an unknown presence inside the vessel, though he couldn't tell was this a work of only one or more. "The power is down and we can't communicate through the den den mushi either." The captain closed his eyes for a second to concentrate and think of a plan. When he opened them again he looked at Penguin and Shachi. "Then we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Go and take a few men with you, then run and warn everyone there's an intruder in the sub. Tell everyone to stay in groups and take two search parties to search the submarine." He then turned to Bepo with more orders. "Bepo, you take two more men and guard the exit. Nobody is leaving this submarine until we find the intruder." Lastly, he turned to Sai and Bart; "Keep an eye on the outside, inform me if you notice any movement." He took out a small mobile den den mushi and tossed it to Bart. Luckily he had a few more of those in such cases. Shachi already had one and so did Bepo, and they were all connected to his own den den mushi which he always kept in his pocket.

"Are you sure the intruder didn't already leave?" Penguin looked around a bit anxiously, as if the said person could be listening in on them even now.

"No, he's still here." Miyako glared at the doors of the room as if something was on the other side. "I can feel it…But it's weird."

"Kenbunshoku Haki, ha? Must be nice to have that…" Shachi mumbled as he stared at the samurai girl. "Ah, but what do you mean, it's weird?" The brown-haired mechanic tilted his head in question.

"It's almost as if…it's not human." Miyako still held one hand on the hilt of her sword as she answered.

This time Shachi, Bepo and Penguin all looked at each other. "Y-you don't mean…G-ghosts?!" They huddled up together as if that would protect them from evil spirits.

"Don't be ridiculous." Law cut them off before they could say anything more. He didn't believe in such things as poltergeists nor supernatural powers. He was a scientist and as a scientist he always needed proof before jumping to conclusions. Everything can be explained by facts; that's what he believed. The crew was already on edge and they didn't need talk of ghosts right now; that would just make things worse. He knew some of the men were even superstitious and believed in ghosts so this would just be fuel to their anxieties. He needed everyone to stay calm and focus right now. "I gave you your orders, now go!" The captain ordered and the three quickly saluted before running out of the room. Between ghosts and an angry Law, they still preferred ghosts though.

Law then turned to Miyako. "Why do you think it's not human? I felt a presence too but I can't tell what it was."

"I can't tell what exactly it was either. But I've had my haki longer after all so it's more precise. I can tell the difference between living and non-living presence of things. This didn't feel like humans usually do."

Law sighed in slight annoyance. He didn't know what he was dealing with and Miyako's information didn't help either. He hated going into battles without previous knowledge of his opponent or any clues but he had no choice this time. "Let's go. I need your Kenbunshoku haki for this, mine won't be enough."

The girl simply nodded and followed her captain out of the control room and into the dark corridor. "Where do we start?"

Just as she said that, a loud call for help echoed through the submarine. Law and Miyako looked at each other before dashing towards the sound of the scream; the infirmary. Law didn't seem to mind the darkness around him as he moved swiftly through the corridors but Miyako didn't know the submarine as good as him so she had to follow the sound of his footsteps instead. They both arrived at the infirmary quickly and Law once again slammed the doors open and into the wall. The sound echoed through the dark room but there was no one in sight. The captain recognized the voice that called out; it was Garry's, one of the members of his medical team. However as they searched the room with a flashlight that Law found, they didn't see anything nor anyone.

Then finally Miyako spotted something behind one of the infirmary beds. There seemed to be an arm there, barely visible from behind the bed. "Law, quick!" She hurried to the spot, Law right behind her, and the captain shone the light over the body that was lying there. Indeed it was Garry.

Law moved Miyako to the side so he could get a better access to his crewmember. He crouched down next to the body and checked its pulse; as he did, he sighed in relief. "He's just unconscious." The doctor checked Garry for any injuries but didn't find anything. "Help me get him onto the bed."

The girl helped Law lift Garry up and onto the bed. There Law examined him more carefully but still found nothing. Garry was just sound asleep. The doctor furrowed his eyebrows in slight confusion. He tried to wake the medic up but it was no use. "He'll be out cold for at least an hour…" Law muttered before gritting his teeth in annoyance. This was getting serious and he was getting more irritated. Somebody dared to come on to his ship and even attack them.

"Who could've done this…? There's no sign of struggle either." Miyako interrupted Law's thoughts as she looked around.

"Whoever is doing this is trying to take us down one by one. Garry must've been alone. What was he doing here alone anyway…? That's why I told everyone to stick in groups." Law had a cold look on his face, it was a look Miyako was familiar with; the silent fury. And she knew that Law would make the person responsible pay dearly once he finds them.

"Well they're already gone now. I don't feel any presence here." Miyako said as she looked around the dark room.

Law nodded then proceeded to call Bepo so the bear could tell one man to come here and watch over Garry while Law and Miyako went on, searching for the intruder. As they walked on Law got a call on his mini den den mushi from Shachi, to hurry to the engine room. Once gain both Law and Miyako had a bad feeling about this call and they were right. As they went down to the first floor they found Sam, one of the mechanics, lying there on the cold floor. The machines were buzzing around them and Law had to speak up to even be heard over the noisy engine and boilers.

"What happened?" Law didn't waste any time as he cleared everyone who were surrounding Sam and once again checked the unconscious body. And once again saw no injury on his crewmember but couldn't wake him up.

"I'm not sure. We were searching through the first floor when Sam said he saw something in the engine room." Shachi started to explain. The engine room was big with lots of pipes and machines everywhere, which gave the intruder a lot of places to hide, especially in this darkness. "We split up to search the engine room when suddenly we heard a loud noise. When we ran over, Sam was lying on the floor totally out of it. We can't wake him up but he doesn't look hurt."

"Tch, just like Garry." Law mumbled.

Miyako bit her lip in thought. Suddenly Law's den den mushi ran again and Bepo was on the other side. "Captain, we saw something. It's in the shadows and it's fast! Come to the exit hall, quick!"

"We'll be right there, Bepo." Law answered and the group was just ready to start running when another call arrived. This time it was from Munk who was in the galley. "Capn' Kai here's seing things. Somethin' bout a shadow in tha gall'y!"

Just then another call came from Penguin who was searching through the second floor all the crew rooms. He reported they saw something that looked like a person that ran by while they were inspecting one room, but it was too fast and too dark to see what the person looked like. Also, another crewmember was found passed out on one of the beds there.

"What's going on here!? How many of these bastards are there!? And why can't we catch a single one!?" Shachi yelled in anger and irritation.

The others had the same angry face. Only Law stayed calm though he was getting more and more annoyed on the inside. He's going to cut all those bastards up once he finds them for daring to attack the Heart Pirates. Miyako was biting her lip as she stared at the unconscious body on the floor, trying to connect the dots and find an answer to what was going on.

"But how did so many people come in unnoticed? And how do they move so easily without being caught?" Miyako asked the questions out loud though she wasn't really expecting any answers. The others were just as clueless as she was about this. She was still gnawing on her lip, trying to find a reasonable explanation. Something just didn't sit right with her. *And why can't I feel their presence as well as I should…especially if they're people, I should be able to notice if someone was around this close. Yet they keep eluding me. They don't even feel quite human…*

Meanwhile Law ordered Shachi and Carl to take Sam to the infirmary, and ordered Penguin to bring the other crewmembers there as well. His crew was slowly losing their numbers and Law didn't know why or how. It was frustrating. The only consolation was that none of the attacked crew was dead but only unconscious. That and the thought of what he'll do to the intruders once he catches them. And he will catch them.

~…~

The group gathered in the infirmary. It has been more than half an hour since this wild hide and seek game begun. The group consisted of Law, Miyako, Bepo, Shachi and Cody now. The others were ordered to keep searching and some to guard the exit. 9 people were out cold and lying on the infirmary beds, all in the same mysterious condition. The calls about sightings kept coming but nobody could pinpoint the exact location as it came from all around the sub and all they could see were glimpses and shadows as the intruders ran by quickly and out of sight.

"I don't get this at all…."Shachi mumbled and looked around the infirmary. There were candles around to give them as much light as possible and to save the flashlight's batteries.

"Maybe we should call everyone and go in one big group? That way it'll be safer." Bepo said in a thoughtful tone.

"What about the control room? We can't let it be unsupervised when there are enemies on board." Shachi countered as he put a hand on his chin and sat on one of the empty infirmary beds with a sigh.

"Sai-ya and Mister Bart still seem fine. I put Penguin there as well just in case." Law answered as he examined his last unconscious patient in hopes to find any clues but didn't see anything. Suddenly the captain saw something with the corner of his eye, a glimpse of a shadow as the light of the candle flickered. It could've been just his imagination or just a shadow that formed from the candle's light but Law was a natural skeptic and he suspected anything at the moment. He created a Room over the whole infirmary and unsheathed his nodachi.

"There!" Suddenly Miyako said as she saw something move as well and she quickly ran over to the spot with her katana unsheathed. But there was nothing and she could feel no presence in the room except the heart pirates. "Something's not right…" Miyako mumbled. Nobody was coming at them, nobody was attacking and Miyako noticed one of the shadows moving near the infirmary door as if someone was standing and moving on the other side. She wouldn't even notice it if Cody didn't turn on the flashlight and shed light to that part of the infirmary.

"There's someone there." Cody said and quickly started moving towards the doors, taking a scalpel from the tool's platter on the small table.

"Wait!" Miyako stopped him before he could open the doors. True, there was a shadow there but Miyako couldn't feel any presence on the other side of the room. It wasn't even that strange presence she felt when they were in a corridor and the control room; as if something was there but not human. Now, there was absolutely no presence at all. And a theory started forming in Miyako's head from that realization. She turned around to the rest of the group. "I think I get it now."

She pulled Cody back from the doors and towards the rest of the Heart pirates. "It's not our enemy, it's just a diversion." The men gave her a curious look and Miyako continued. "Think about it, if there were so many enemies as all the moving shadows the crew saw, we'd already be outnumbered and there would be more than just 9 people lying here. These shadows are just a diversion to lure or separate the crew. Most of the men who were attacked had flashlights or were near to some light and they saw the shadows."

"There's no shadow without light, huh?" Cody muttered in thought and it was more of a statement than a question.

Still, Miyako nodded agreeingly. "That's why I can't feel any presence from them; they're not alive. If our enemy can manipulate shadows that would explain it."

"So we're dealing with a devil fruit user?!" Shachi said in slight surprise.

"Most likely. But this isn't a bad realization; it means we're dealing with a much less number of enemies than what we originally thought." Law explained and this time the crew all looked at him in question so he continued. "If we focus only on the crewmembers that were actually attacked and estimate the time between each attack we can see that it took a long time from one attack to the next. The longer the distance between victims, the longer it took. It means that we are probably dealing with one, no more than two, attackers who had to sneak from one floor of the sub to the next. It makes things easier for us."

The group all nodded in understanding and Shachi and Bepo looked at Law in awe, praising the intelligence of their captain, as if Law was the only one smart around here. Miyako rolled her eyes at that thought, a little annoyed. She let it go, however, since they had more important things to worry about.

"So first, we should get rid of the shadows right? Which means we need complete darkness." Cody added as he switched off his flashlight.

Shachi and Bepo followed his example and started blowing out all the candles. "Hehe. We already know this submarine as the back of our hands so we don't even need light. This will be his loss!" Shachi grinned. Miyako wasn't so sure since she didn't already know the submarine that well as the rest of the crew. However she could rely on her haki and the rest of her senses so she wasn't that worried.

"So what would be the next step for our Shadowman?" Miyako bit her lips in thought again.

"Probably taking over the sub so he had full control?" Bepo asked a bit uncertain as if afraid he might say something stupid. However he actually had a good point.

The group looked at each other before everyone said at the same time; "The Control Room!"

~….~

"Did you find anything?" Sai turned to Jean Bart for a second to ask the big navigator. The said navigator was currently standing in front of the periscope, trying to look outside in case they notice something suspicious but no luck. Nothing could be seen through the fog. Sai was sitting at the control panel as he checked the radars now and then to be sure there was nothing approaching them. But everything seemed peaceful except the raging storm which was passing above them. With any luck it will pass by in an hour or two and then all they'll have to worry about is the dangerous sea terrain of rocks and whirlpools around them. That is, if they manage to solve the problems of the intruder in the sub but Sai had great trust in Captain and knew Law will deal with the person on board quickly. However the navigator was still a bit shocked when they heard how many people ended up in the infirmary because of the mysterious attacks. The current events really weren't helping him concentrate and it has already been an hour since the power went down yet they still didn't catch the person responsible. Luckily, the control room machinery was working on a special generator that didn't seem to be meddled with so they could still use the control panels. The room was in the dark, but the light from the radars and other machinery was lighting the place up a bit. Sai was glad at least for that.

"So who do you think is responsible for it?" Sai asked the big navigator as he got bored with the silence. Usually it wouldn't bother him at all since he was already used to it. Jean Bart never talked much and when he did it was in short sentences. However, right now Sai needed something else to focus on except the intruders running around their sub and the lack of knowledge he had about the whole situation. It bugged him and made him anxious. Especially since it had been about 20 minutes since he last got any news from the crew. It seemed they regrouped and Captain along with a few others went to the infirmary to check on the unconscious men. He didn't hear from anyone since.

"Hmm… I don't know. But those shadows are constantly rushing around the submarine. We've seen it too. However, something seems strange about them…." Bart answered in a deep, slightly thoughtful voice. The situation was bugging him as well.

"Yeah, I thought so too. The shadows are all around the sub yet we weren't attacked at all. Shouldn't the control room be the first to take care of?"

"Yes, though only if you want to take control of the ship. If you just want to kill everyone on it, it wouldn't matter."

Sai gulped at Bart's explanation. "Why do you think that?" He sounded more nervous than he wanted to.

"We're already out of power and can't move because of the weather and sea conditions. Taking the control room at this point is unnecessary since they don't need to mess with the submarine anymore. All they need is to take us out one by one now." Bart still had that thoughtful voice but was unusually calm as if he was talking about the most normal thing in the world. He didn't seem upset with the fact they could all die at all.

Sai couldn't really understand such calmness at this moment but the shorter navigator didn't really think they'll die either. Captain would surely come and help them if they needed it….right? The way things are and the lack of communications was making that greatly difficult to believe though, but Sai wanted to stay optimistic. He had great trust in Law after all and even though the pirate captain could be scary and cruel, he still took good care of his crew.

"But if they want to take over the submarine…We'd be in big trouble, right?" Sai concluded and he didn't really need Bart to confirm that for him; he already knew. The fair-haired navigator played with the fire on the candle that was on the control panel next to him. The light flickered, making small shadows on the walls as he moved his palm over the flame again and again.

Jean Bart turned to look at the other navigator. He could hear the quiet mumble of Sai's question and could feel Sai's tension throughout the conversation. Bart knew Sai wasn't the one to get scared easily but the fact that they didn't even know what they were fighting against must've made him more anxious than usual. But he also knew the smaller navigator was tense ever since they docked on this island; probably because of the bad weather conditions. Bart opened his mouth to try and say something reassuring to his crewmate but his eyes went wide at the picture in front of him. Sai's shadow behind the navigator moved even though Sai didn't, then it started to morph and raise until it formed into another person. Sai, who was sitting in his chair, playing with the candle's flame didn't notice anything as the shadow formed behind him silently. "Sai!" Bart yelled to get his attention, which seemed to disturb the strange shadow-person as well.

Sai turned quickly at Bart's voice to find himself face to face with a completely black creature. A creature without face, without anything human other than a person's form. His eyes went wide with shock but his warrior reactions didn't betray him so as the Shadowman reached for him Sai quickly jumped sideways from his chair and fell on the floor with a loud thud. He kicked the falling chair with his feet as it flew towards the shadow, but on his surprise the piece of furniture simply passed through the person. Just then he noticed Bart behind the Shadowman as he tried to land a heavy punch on it. The Shadowman noticed and surprisingly this time he moved away and dodged Bart's punch that left a dent on the metal floor. Sai's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he quickly got up. *Why did the chair go through him yet he had to dodge Bart's punch?*

Sai didn't have much time to dwell on it since they had a bigger problem. The shadow-person was gone again, not a sign or sound to indicate where it could be, but both Bart and Sai had a strong feeling that it was still in the room.

"What is that thing?" Sai whispered with strain in his voice.

"Shh" Jean Bart just shushed his crewmate as he tried to concentrate on his surroundings. Any movement or sound would be helpful right now.

"The rat bastard could be anywhere at this point." Sai said through gritted teeth as he took his rifle that was leaned against the control panel. He always carried it close to him. However he knew he couldn't shoot carelessly in here so his rifle at the moment wasn't helping him much. Even though he's shooting skills were one of the best on this submarine, they were currently in the most important room of the sub. He couldn't risk damaging any of the machinery in here and it didn't help that the darkness and constant moving shadows were impairing his vision and skills. Suddenly Sai noticed a rising form behind Jean Bart and called out for the big navigator to move. Unfortunately he couldn't shoot because there was a possibility the bullet would just go through the shadow and behind the person was an important machine of the control room. Sai cursed under his breath and jumped towards the Shadowman trying to hit him with the rifle, but the weapon simply passed through the person.

Sai found himself face to face with the Shadowman though the face was just a darkness of shadows that were swirling and moving around in the form. There were no features, nothing. Still, Sai could hear an amused chuckle and a tickling breath coming from its nonexistent mouth. The Shadowman reached towards Sai and the navigator just watched wide-eyed as the dark fingers touched his forehead. No, they didn't just touch it, they went through it. The Shadowman's fingers started going through Sai's forehead. Sai knew he had to move, jump, dodge, anything, but it was as his feet wouldn't listen to him. Was it fear that was stopping him? Or that dark form in front of him that seemed to be piercing him with his nonexistent eyes. Suddenly something changed in the Shadowman though Sai couldn't really explain what. But as it did, Sai felt tremendous pressure in his head, sheer pain running right into his brain where Shadowman's fingers were. He felt himself losing consciousness fast.

Sai completely forgot about Jean Bart being there but luckily so did the Shadowman, since he didn't expect Jean Bart to throw a punch at him. Weirdly enough, this time the punch landed, hitting him directly in the side of the face and making him crash into a nearby metal wall. Jean Bart sighed in relief when he saw Sai hadn't lost consciousness completely yet, but the smaller navigator dropped to his knees staring at the ground with an unfocused look. If Bart attacked just a second later, it would've been too late and Sai would have been in a dreamland with the rest of the attacked crew. Bart still didn't understand what this shadow-being was but he quickly ran through his mind everything they saw and learned so far. "It seems he can become solid or non-solid at will. That's why we can sometimes hit him while other times things just go through him." Bart explained as he helped Sai up.

Sai was feeling like he will lose consciousness any minute but his state was improving by the second. The vision that was blurry at first was clearing up now and his sharp eyes were slowly returning again. He felt his energy coming back as well. "Thanks, Bart." He muttered still trying to regain the rest of his consciousness. Bart just nodded with a short hum, but kept his eyes on the shadow form.

The Shadowman didn't seem to come near them again which was weird but he didn't move into the shadow either. Sai found that weird and suspicious so he wanted to test something out. He adjusted his rifle, carefully to only shoot its leg since the bullet couldn't hit anything precious if it went through there. He shot quickly in the direction of the Shadowman's knee. Even in this state the hit would be a clean shot if their enemy didn't quickly dodge, jumping to the side. He predicted what Sai would do as soon as the navigator raised his weapon so he was prepared. Sai cursed but it still peeked his interest. *He had to dodge it?*

"Maybe he can't become non-solid yet? So he has to wait a certain amount of time before he can do it again." Bart said exactly what Sai was thinking, so the light-haired navigator nodded in agreement. They heard an annoyed sound coming from the Shadowman before he slipped into the shadows once again and disappeared.

"You're right. I'll admit you have some skills and brains in comparison with the rest of your idiot crew. But that won't help you much." Sai and Bart heard a voice that sounded like it was combined with a numerous voices all talking in unison. It left a chill in the pale-haired navigator.

"So it can talk." Bart mumbled through there was no surprise or any other emotion in his voice.

"What do you want with the Heart Pirates?" Sai asked as he looked around the room, careful to spot anything suspicious. However those moving shadows were deconcentrating him. *What are those? At first I thought it was him, but there's only one attacker and these shadows are all around. Must be something he's creating, but how do we get rid of it?*

There was that cackle of a laugh again. "Oh, well that's an easy answer. We want to take you down."

Sai gritted his teeth in annoyance but then his eyes went wide and so did Jean Bart's. They were thinking of the same thing; *We*?

"Who are 'we'?" Bart asked but there was only silence in the room now.

"Tch!" The Shadowman made an annoyed sound as if he said something he shouldn't have and then appeared in front of Bart. Sai and Bart were back to back, to cover each other and look out for the enemy better. The Shadowman created something that looked like a sharp long spike, coming right from his hand. Since it was all black it was hard to tell where his hand ended and the sword-like weapon begun. Still, Bart had no time to think of it as the man attacked him, trying to pierce him with the sword.

But if he wanted to pierce him it meant he had to be solid now. Bart didn't want to let the Shadowman escape again so instead of just dodging he blocked with his big arm. The shadow sword went in and pierced the big muscle, but the navigator just gritted his teeth and hissed in pain. With the other big hand he reached at the surprised Shadowman to slam him down to the ground. But as he did, the enemy suddenly grew spikes all over his dark body making the navigator slam his hand right into the spikes and pierce it everywhere.

"Gah!" Jean Bart yelled in pain but still didn't bend as he slammed the enemy down to the floor with all his might. The Shadowman yelled in pain and surprise but stayed on the floor unmoving. He was still breathing but Bart didn't know was he unconscious or not due to the lack of face.

Just in case Sai pointed the rifle at the lying body. "You got him!" He grinned at Bart but then looked down again. He didn't want to lose the bastard.

"Hn." It was all Bart said as he looked at his arms. One had a pierced forearm but there wasn't much damage, though the other had numerous bleeding dots on its palm and some wounds even reached all the way to the other side of the palm.

Suddenly the doors of the control room opened and both Sai and Bart looked at the group that ran in, led by their captain.

"Captain!" Sai said in both relief and joy as he saw Law. Behind him were Miyako, Bepo, and Shachi. Cody bravely decided to stay behind in the infirmary by himself to watch over the unconscious men.

"Is everyone alright?" Law quickly checked the room and he looked at both Sai and Bart. Sai didn't seem injured but his sharp doctor eye examined Bart's wounds even from afar already thinking of the best treatment for his navigator. He would have some trouble using that palm for a few days, so he won't be able to steer the helm as skillfully as usual. That left a bitter taste in Law's mouth. They didn't need any more handicaps when the terrain was already dangerous and hard enough to deal with.

"It's ok now. This guy was trouble but Bart really did a good job at handling him." Sai smirked as he enjoyed remembering how the big navigator slammed him into the floor like the guy was nothing but an annoying bug. However the questioning looks on the group's faces puzzled him so he looked down and his eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed as he cursed. There was nothing beneath his rifle anymore. "The bastard escaped again!"

"He's still in here." Miyako quickly said as she put a hand on her katana.

"Die!" Suddenly that strange voice yelled in complete anger as he formed behind Sai and reached for him just as the navigator started turning around in surprise. The hand went through Sai's chest to grab his heart. If he solidifies and grabs Sai's heart it would be instant death from a heart attack. Maybe he'll be even able to crush the navigator's heart. He would rather do it to the big navigator who both injured and humiliated him but Sai was the closest and he wanted to kill at least one of the bastards who ruined his perfect plans.

But then suddenly the room was enveloped in a blue sphere and all the light from the candles and machinery went away. Everything turned off and all light disappeared and with it, the shadows.

"Wha?" The man could feel his powers disappearing as he started returning to his original form. Even his voice turned to a normal, human's one. Sai pushed him away too and the man fell on the floor. The darkness that was enveloping him disappeared and instead, a simple human around 20 years old showed underneath the ceasing shadows. He had spiky blonde hair and green eyes that were wide in surprise now. There was piercings on his nose, lower lip and ears. He wore simple black clothing with military bots that usually marines wore. The man looked stunned at his human hand that wasn't black anymore as he stood there but he didn't have much time to be wondering what happened since he was already surrounded.

A rifle was pointing right at his forehead and a sword was right at his neck. Sai was right in front of him still aiming a rifle at the man, Miyako was on his right with her katana out and dangerously near his neck, Bepo was behind him with a furry paw holding the back of his neck threateningly and Shachi was on his other side standing in a kung-fu position, with his leg near the man's head, ready to kick him into the oblivion if he moves an inch. The man looked around as he was completely surrounded by the Heart Pirates then he glared at the captain who was still near the door, smirking as he was pleased.

"What did you do?" The man asked with a menacing look but that just made the surrounding group have even a more threatening, dark aura that swirled around them.

"I would watch my step and my mouth since my crew is in a rather killing mood right now. They don't like what you did to their crewmates, you see." Law said still with that amused smirk as he sheathed back his nodachi and rested it lazily against his shoulder. But then his expression suddenly changed into a deadly one, that smirk completely gone as his lips moved into a tight line. "And I don't like brats trying to make a fool of me and my crew." His voice was completely cold and dark, almost in a hiss, as his stormy grey eyes pierced the man.

The Shadowman couldn't help but flinch and gulp as that look was directed at him, almost piercing him to death. The Surgeon of Death himself was here before him and he didn't look happy.

"I will be the one asking questions, Mister…?" Law walked over to the man as he left the question in the air, waiting for the blond to tell him his name.

The blonde man gulped but stayed firm never the less. "I won't tell you anything." He spat back though his courage was slightly disappearing as Law walked closer with that dark aura around him.

Law didn't look surprised, not even annoyed. Instead he just reached for the hilt oh his nodachi again. "Good. I hoped you'd say that." His voice was cold but there was something sadistic in his tone. Something that promised things the blonde didn't want to know about but was sure to find out. It made a shiver run up his spine. The rest of the Heart pirates didn't seem any better though. They all held sharp, dark gazes as they stared without a word at him ready to kill him in an instant if necessary. He looked at the only girl among them, if remembered correctly she was 'Burning-eyed Miyako; worth 900 000 Beri. But all he saw was a cold, murderous look in her eyes that shone slightly in the darkness.

Then suddenly the lights came back, but not from the candles. Instead the whole rooms brightened with unnatural lighting of the lamps and the machines in the control room started working again. "Ah, it seemed Penguin and his group managed to finally fix the power that you meddled with." Law answered as he looked up at the bright celling before returning his gaze to look at the blonde.

"So he was a devil fruit user." Bart mumbled as he looked at the blonde enemy.

"A logia?" Sai asked surprised.

"No, a paramecia." Law answered. "That's why he can't move now; because he can't just turn into a shadow and run. He probably needs the shadows to get his power going in the first place. Isn't that right?"

The man gulped and Law could see he was right on the mark but the blonde still refused to answer. Then after a while he said; "Don't think you won yet. Even if you kill me, it's too late; I already sent the signal." He smirked and opened his palm to show then a small device that had a red light blinking in the middle.

Law's eyes narrowed.

"That's right, captain. He said 'we' once. I think he isn't the only one here." Sai quickly said as he remembered their short chat from earlier.

Bart, who was near the control panel, looked at the radar. "But there is nothing moving around the submarine. The radar doesn't show anything."

The blonde smirked at that and suddenly the submarine shook and tipped to one side, just like a before. There was a scraping sound and again those sounds of creaking metal. Then the submarine was pushed and shook again. Everyone gripped the first things they could find to steady themselves.

"What's going on here?" Miyako said as she gripped the control panel trying to not fall down.

Suddenly a big dot appeared on the radar as it blinked and went beep beep constantly. Miyako didn't know a lot about reading navigational equipment but even she knew what that meant. "There's something heren near the sub!"

Sai ran up to the radar and his eyes widened. "Not just near…they're directly underneath us!"

Meanwhile, the blonde tried to use this commotion to run away and he started going for the door. Bepo noticed him first and yelled "Captain!" getting Law's attention and pointing towards the escaping enemy.

Law maintained his balance as best as he could since Bart was at the moment moving the submarine quickly so they wouldn't get crushed by whatever was beneath them. The harnesses outside made it hard to move and were surely breaking but he'll think about that later. Instead, he made a room that encircled all of the space and swung his nodachi. He saw the blonde's legs stop moving while the body fell forward, unattached to the waist. "Stay." Law said.

Law came up to the shocked man who was watching wide-eyed at his detached legs next to him. The pirate captain grabbed the man's shirt and almost growled with a menacing look as he pierced the blonde with his cold eyes. "Why couldn't we detect your friends before?!"

The blonde gulped but then smirked smugly though it looked nervous. There was a trickle of sweat forming on his forehead. "You think you're the only person in the world who owns a submarine? Think again! And ours is much better! We even have the technology to go unnoticed on the radars! We can sneak up to anyone…even you!" The blonde found some courage as he talked and his expression became more determined as he returned Law's stare.

Law didn't look taken back by that at all. He just smirked. Yes, he actually smirked with devilish gleam in his eyes. Law just got an idea and the blonde obviously didn't like it. "That's interesting….That's very interesting." Law mumbled, still smirking evilly, though it looked as if he was talking to himself more than the blonde. Law let go of the enemy's shirt and turned around, not interested in the man anymore. He got the information he wanted anyway and he knew the blonde was too stubborn to tell him anything else even if he dies. Ah, such foolish youth. Unfortunately Law couldn't sympathize; he didn't like fools.

"Mister Bart, tell everyone who is capable of fighting to prepare. We'll be under attack soon." Law said to his navigator as the big man used the newly established communications, thanks to Penguin and his group, to warn the other pirates in the sub. Law then turned to the blonde again. "I suppose you won't say anything about your companions, like how many are there?" Of course the blonde just made a thin line of his tightly closed lips and gave Law a stubborn expression. Law wasn't surprised by it at all.

Meanwhile, the two navigators were able to move the sub in time as a new submarine appeared right next to the yellow one. "They're here, whoever they are!" Sai warned.

Law put his nodachi lazily on his shoulder and started walking towards the exit and out of the submarine. "In that case, let's greet them." There was an evil grin on his face, though acertain darkness loomed over him. Law hadn't forgotten how they tried to mess with all of them and he still had to pay them back for that. Bepo, Miyako, Shachi and Bart walked out with him, while Sai stayed behind to give further instructions to the crew and watched the control room along with the prisoner. Still, the blonde won't be going anywhere while he was split in two by Law's powers.

~…..~

"You shoud've gotten some more information out of him about our enemies. We don't know what we're fighting against." Miyako sighed as they walked to the exit of the sub.

"It would be a waste of time, we don't have that much time right now. They're already here." Law answered lazily though he didn't feel like he had to explain himself anyway.

"We should've broken all his fingers and limbs." Shachi mumbled. It was a rarity that he would talk like that. Cruelty was usually Law's area of expertise.

"Captain just told you, the guy wouldn't have told us anything." Bepo reminded the mechanic matter-of-factly.

"Who said anything about getting information." Shachi simply answered, completely calm. The rest stopped for a second and looked at the mechanic. Even Law raised his eyebrow at his old friend.

"What?" Shachi just shrugged not seeing the problem with his words. The bastard who attacked them deserved it after all and he knew everyone here thought the same.

"Better save that mood for the enemies you'll be fighting now." Law warned as he opened the big doors and the group stepped on the dock. As soon as they did, Miyako stepped in front of Law, unsheathing her katana and blocking the incoming attack, all in one smooth motion.

Law sighed. "I see they're not wasting any time." He commented though it almost sounded bored as if he didn't want to be troubled by these people right now. He looked at the item Miyako just blocked, lying on the deck. It was a knife but Law's sharp eye caught the glistening fluid on the tip right away. It was most likely poisoned. He turned his head back to see six unknown people on his deck.

First he looked at the one who threw the knife at him. The guy was crouching but he looked short, even shorter than Josh, with a wicked grin across his whole face. His eyes were small and sharp as they pierced Law with their stare. He looked like the plotting kind. There was a belt with numerous weapons around his waist and an open coat where Law noticed something metallic glistening; probably more hidden weapons just like the knife that came right out of the man's sleeve. "So Benny failed heeh? Kekeke. What a useless kid. Kekekeke." The man laughed in a high pitched voice that already got on Law's nerves.

"I'm a little surprised. This is the first time Benny didn't do his job right. And everything was going so well…." A woman sitting on the sub's railing sighed in disappointment. She had a long black coat and only leather pants beneath it with only a bikini bra covering the upper part of her body. There was a typical, black pirate hat on her head with a long red feather sticking out of it. She looked at Law with a somewhat lewd look of her green eyes and smirked at the pirate captain, while playing with a strand of her long black hair. There was a saber tied to her waist, which interested Law more than her provocative looks.

The storm was still raging outside though it was a bit better than before since it was slowly passing over them. Still, the wind and rain was pretty strong and every now and then a roar of thunder could be heard nearby. The lightning would now and then hit the sea or the rocks on the island. They weren't at the heart of the storm but it was close enough. Near their yellow submarine, there was another one, a bigger one in grey, metallic color. The black flag fluttered strongly on the wind; a pirate flag that Law never saw before. A masked skull with two silver sabers tied at the hilt with a red sash; just like the red sash that tied the silver sabre at the woman's hip. *Was she the captain?* Law instinctively though.

It was hard to see from all the rain going into his face and eyes but he did his best to observe carefully every move their enemy was making. That's when Shachi called out; "That's the flag of the Silver pirates. They've appeared after Whitebeard's death and started rampaging around like the rest but they became a bit more famous due to their cruelty. They even took out a few pirate crews that were also getting famous after Whitebeard's death." Shachi explained as he remembered the sign and the wanted posters from the newspapers. Recently the Silver Pirates were burning tows and sinking ships whether they were pirates or marines. And Law was quickly understanding the plan they used to do it. First they would hide beneath and wait for the ship to dock which was easy being a submarine undetectable by even radars and sonars. Then they would send the Shadowman, Benny, to sneak in and incapacitate the crew, bringing panic among men. It seemed Benny could even use his shadow form to go into the circuits and cut the power or communication lines. Then all that was left is to his buddies to show up and take over the ship, though he still didn't know why they went through all this trouble to attack the Heart Pirates in this place. They must've been tracking them for some time, waiting for their chance. But why?

"What do you want from us?" Law asked, ignoring the pouring rain and the killing intent from the six people he was looking at. However, his crewmembers didn't lack killing intent either as they were ready to attack their enemies at Law's order.

The one who spoke this time was a man with a black cape and a big hood. Part of his face was covered by a silver mask so only his mouth and nose were showing. He had a trimmed black beard and by his deep voice and stature Law could guess the man was in his early thirties. The man seemed like an important authority figure among the group, even more than the woman, so Law guessed the man was the captain after all. "What any real pirate wants these days; make a name for himself in this vast sea. And what better way to do it than to beat one of the rookie Supernova that were becoming so famous."

"We spotted your submarine this morning and have been following you ever since. How lucky for us that one of the infamous Supernova; Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death, himself came to us. It was like a gift from the heavens, don't you think." The woman said with a wide smile and winked at Law, which the Heart Pirates captain ignored. "Oh, I'm Jun by the way." She said, still only looking at Law and completely ignoring the rest of his group.

"Hm, so you're just another bunch of wannabe pirates that found the guts to start rampaging now that Whitebeard is gone. " Law simplified their explanation with his own words and smirked with his head tilted to the side. He was taunting them on purpose, waiting for one of them to be a fool enough and attack him in rage. He knew if they attacked him carelessly and due to emotions they would lose for sure and they knew it too. That's why they weren't letting their guards down even while they seemed to just be casually chatting. But Law didn't care for casual chatting, especially in this dangerous weather and with these annoying, so-called pirates.

"Don't you dare disrespect Salvus-sama, you bastard!" A big man, almost as big as Bart yelled and was about to rush at Law but was stopped by the masked man, Salvus.

"Stop it Teck, he's just trying to provoke you." Salvus said to the big man as he raised an arm to stop Teck. The big man instantly stopped and nodded at his captain in respect.

*So this Salvus really is the captain.* Law though, a bit disappointed that Teck didn't attack him so he could cut him up and even the number between the two groups from the start.

"hehe Don't mind him. Teck is a good guy but a bit rash. He's a bit slow in the head you see…his mother dropped him a bit too many times when he was a kid." An old man who was calmly standing there, said. He had a long, pointy white beard with two snowy long mustaches that tangled along with his beard and fell down to his chest. He was completely relaxed, with arms at his back, but a strange aura that Law didn't like emitted from him. The Heart pirates could instantly notice he was dangerous and more than just an old man. The man didn't mind the glares pointed at him by Law's group as he continued. "Let me introduce myself. I am a bit better with manners than these youngsters here. My name is Liu-Fa, from the Silver Pirates." As he said that he made a little bow.

However Law's group didn't answer the pleasantries nor even nod back. They just kept their intent stare at him. "They all have such strong killing aura." Miyako murmured to the rest of her friends.

Bepo nodded but nobody said anything.

"Kekekeke! Fell too many times on his head! Kekeke" The man from before who threw the poison dagger laughed loudly in that annoying, high voice of his. He was crouching on the metal railing, jumping up and down as he laughed.

"Settle down Kinrei." The last man of them said. He was big and muscular, a typical warrior type, with a big, heavy, war hammer on his back and a gun strapped to his waist. He had simple short brown hair and brown, piercing eye while the other was covered with an eye patch. The right side of his face was badly scarred, which explained the missing eye on that side. The man had a serious look on his face, completely expressionless.

"Heeh. You're no fun Dil." Kinrei answered a bit disappointed but settled down as ordered and styed crouched on the railing. He looked like some small but dangerous wild animal with no patience and just waiting to pounce and kill its prey. "Can we kill them now, Salvus-sama!? Can we, can we?!"

Law's eye twitched as he heard that and just then a bolt of lightning hit one of the mountain peaks on the island, blasting chunks of rocks everywhere. "Bepo, take care of the old man. Shachi, you take the man with the war hammer, Mister Bart, the big guy and Miss Miyako, you take the small animal-looking fellow. But be careful, it seems he uses poisons."

"Captain, then you'll take their captain and the woman all by yourself!?" Bepo wanted to protest. The woman also looked like a more authoritative figure, probably the first mate. Taking both the first mate and the captain together didn't seem like a good idea to the bear. The rest of the group didn't look pleased with that decision either.

"Captain, let me take care of the woman and this Kinrei fellow." Miyako protested but Law shook his head.

"No, if Kinrei uses deadly poisons then you'll need all the concentration you have to beat him without getting a scratch. It would be too dangerous to fight yet another opponent." Law explained and his tone was obviously saying he made up his mind and everyone were to shut up and follow his orders. It still didn't feel right with the Heart Pirates but they kept silent since they had no choice but to listen to their captain's orders hoping he would be ok. They didn't doubt him and they all knew how strong he was; but this group of pirates was suspicious and they didn't know much about them. Maybe they had more devil fruit users among them too. The group had to be careful in this battle.

"However, there is one more thing." Miyako said and she saw the others knew what she was talking about.

Law nodded. "Yes, but I wouldn't say we need to worry." He smirked and Miyako smirked as well.

"Yeah, they really have good timing." Miyako smiled.

They all noticed it already. They weren't so weak as to not notice so much people and they weren't stupid enough to fall into such a trap. Law was prepared for this from the start, but it seemed the six Silver pirates didn't notice it yet.

"However we are a bit unfair here. After all we can't risk when fighting the infamous Surgeon of Death. We need a small advantage...in numbers to be exact." Jun, the woman, said as she smiled wickedly with devilish gleam in her green eyes. "To be honest our crew is a bit bigger than just the six of us." As she said that she looked behind the group at the rest of the Silver pirates who were hiding behind the deck until now. They all looked like small fry to Law but there were at about 20 of them. "You could call us the generals of this small army of ours, you see." Jun explained, still with that sweet smile directed to Law which made Shachi a bit jealous and Miyako couldn't help but roll her eyes at the woman.

Law smirked at that. "I think you're not paying attention to your surroundings enough."

Jun blinked at him with confusion in her big eyes.

"They saw through it already." Liu said with a sigh of disappointment but he was a bit pleased that there was more to these pirates than he originally thought. So they were good enough to see through their little trap.

"What are you talking about, old man Liu?" Teck asked with his head tilted like a small child would do while questioning their parent.

"Their men are here too." Salvus answered simply.

Behind the sneering Silver pirates were the grinning Heart Pirates with their weapons prepared. Some of them had already taken down the first of the enemy and some had their weapons or guns aimed at the Silver pirates' backs. They sneaked out from another exit of the sub and came right behind the enemy who were waiting to ambush Law and his group. The Heart Pirates were led by Penguin, and as Miyako turned she saw Cody and Josh nearby as well. Josh had a wicked grin that promised nothing good while Cody had his usual serious battle face, ready to attack.

"When did you-? Tch! it doesn't matter. We're still six against five and we can take you lot down anytime!" Jun yelled over the rain and the wind that muffled her voice.

Salvus suddenly raised his arm. "Attack, everyone! Take the Surgeon of Death and the Heart Pirates down and show the world who is the real threat to the world!" he yelled, his voice carried in the wind and all his men, both the six 'generals' and the Silver pirates' army roared in unison.

Law wasn't one for all those dramatical speeches so he just prepared his nodachi. "Men! Kill them all! No mercy!" The Heart Pirates roared even louder than their enemies as their voices sounded even louder than the storm itself. Meanwhile, Law made his Room that encircled his whole sub, just in case, and unsheathed his nodachi before their enemy could do anything about it.

Miyako prepared herself in a stance. Behind her, the Silver pirates and the Heart pirates started their battle. In front of her, the Silver pirate generals ran towards them and already commenced their attack. She knew what she had to do; stop Kinrei and attack him before he attacks somebody else. And judging by the dagger he threw earlier he was probably packed with hidden poisonous weapons. However Miyako was both angry and prepared enough to beat him. She wanted revenge for her friends but she was level-headed enough to act with reason instead of emotion. But most of all, she felt merciless enough to kill them all without a blink of an eye. With her thoughts, her dark aura became even darker as her killing intent heightened. She saw Kinrei moved, trying to attack Law but Miyako swiftly slashed through the air using haki and cut off Kinrei's path. He turned and threw two daggers at her but she quickly blocked them and jumped in the air ready for an attack. Kinrei threw some more but Miyako easily created the haki barrier to block them and the daggers' tips bent as the weapons uselessly fell to the ground.

Kinrei made an annoyed sound that sounded like a screech as Miyako, who was now in the air above him, stared making her move in her fall downwards. * Ittouryu technique: Heavenly strike(1)* She swung down at him and used both her body and gravity to give her strike more power. As the hit the ground the rain which was falling, moved upwards from the blast. However Kinrei was fast and dodged the attack in time then Miyako saw more daggers coming towards her through the rain. She dodged to the side one and blocked the other with her sword but then she noticed that between two, was one more, concealed. Her eyes narrowed as it was heading right towards her and there was no time to dodge. If the dagger just grazes her she's dead since it was poisonous.

~…~

Law blocked Jun's sabre and pushed her away in one swift motion before slashing the air in another in hopes of cutting Salvus who was running towards them, but the masked man jumped and dodged it. Meanwhile Jun jumped and once again brought her sabre down on Law, aiming for his head but he blocked it with his nodachi. It was a long time since he had to actually make contact with his nodachi like that. Usually that only happened when he was fighting Miyako in their training sessions since the samurai girl was quick and skilled enough to get close to him and attack directly. But the raven haired girl in front of him was both quick and skilled as well.

Law still didn't know what their captain carried as a weapon but he soon found out when Salvus came near them. The man removed his cape to reveal light silver armor underneath. Then suddenly the gauntlet on his armor moved and formed an axe which the man threw at Law. The captain jumped backwards and dodged the heavy axe which stuck to the wooden floor where he stood just a second ago. *A devil fruit user!* So he was fighting a skilled swordsman and a devil fruit user; not good. But he wasn't that easy to beat either.

Law saw Salvus walk to the axe on the floor and pick it up with one hand. The weapon formed into a long sword in his hand. "I ate the Gin Gin no Mi, which allows me to control silver as I please."

"I didn't ask." Law simply answered and once again pushed Jun back who attacked him then as she was jumping backwards, Law used his haki and slashed through the air. He cut through the rain and wind and the cut continued to travel towards Jun who was determined to block it with her sabre, but before she had a chance to do so, Salvus appeared in front of her and blocked Law's slash with his sword.

"Don't be a fool. You're level of haki isn't good enough for that kind of attack yet." Salvus warned his first mate who made a pouty face at her captain. However, Salvus ignored her look and continued; "It's better to avoid such attacks. His devil fruit power is a tricky one."

"So you can use haki too." Law murmured a bit displeased since he thought he'd beat the two faster with the haki he's been practicing to use these few weeks. But Salvos' haki was obviously at Law's level, which made a quick win somewhat difficult. At least Law knew now that the other captain was a devil fruit user and a haki user which will help him in planning his winning strategy further. He didn't get an answer but instead Salvus formed some small daggers from his other gauntlet and threw them at Law. Law smirked and moved up his hand, twitching two of his fingers. The silver daggers were replaced by rain and instead they appeared above Salvus and Jun, falling down on them. The couple dodged to the sides and landed at each of Law's sides.

"This guy is full of tricks, isn't he? I like him even more now." Jun giggled and licked her lips staring at Law with that mischievous look.

"Jun, take this more seriously. We are fighting against one of the Supernova rookies after all." Salvus reprimanded the girl in a serious tone. It seems the captain of the Silver pirates didn't have much of a sense of humor.

"Yeeees~" The woman answered in a prolonged, monotone voice, voicing her displeasure. She didn't roll her eyes at the captain out of respect though, but there was a slight pout in her expression.

Law gritted his teeth in annoyance. It's as if they were completely relaxed, taking it easy, not caring that they were fighting the Surgeon of Death. He felt underestimated, which didn't sit right with the captain of the Heart pirates. He was even more annoyed at the fact that he couldn't go all out since they were on his sub and he couldn't risk damaging it now. He had to be careful not to do any damage to the ship or they'll be stuck on this chaotic island for too long. *We wasted enough time as it is. We need to get to Abney Cove soon and now these people are wasting my precious time as well.* Law's eyes narrowed at the thought. "You're in the way!" As he said that, he cut the air with another slash of haki aiming towards Salvus and Jun. The couple dodged, jumping in the air and attacked from both sides.

Salvus' sword turned into a long whip and the man aimed at Law, tying up the man's nodachi. The Silver pirates captain landed and pulled on Law's sword, while Jun swung her sabre, ready to decapitate Law. "I would prefer to take you alive and do a public execution for all to see who was the one who beat you, but I can't risk it. You're too dangerous to underestimate…so I'll just have to take your head instead." Salvus said calmly as he kept pulling on Law's sword, making it impossible for the other captain to use it and block the upcoming attack from Jun.

~…~

Bepo jumped high in the air to deliver another of his strong kicks at his opponent but his attack proved futile once again as Liu dodged by simply hunching over. Bepo's leg passed over the old martial artist. The polar bear wasn't done yet though and as soon as he landed on one foot he spun around and tried to deliver another kick at Liu. This time the old man didn't have enough time to move so he put his forearm up and blocked the heavy kick that would otherwise break his neck. Liu slid a few centimeters from the blow but then stopped, along with stopping Bepo's attack. The bear couldn't believe it, which was obvious by his expression and wide eyes. There weren't many people who could meet his strong kick head on and stop it. But this old man obviously wasn't anyone. He was skilled in martial arts and Bepo saw that after the first few seconds of fighting against him.

"You….Who are you?" The bear asked surprised.

The old man smirked, both of them still standing in their pose from before. "Nobody special. I'm neither famous nor feared. But I am skilled. I have been honing my skills in the art for a long time now." As he said that the man slid his hand over his white mustaches and beard as if combing it. Liu-Fa might not have been an infamous pirate like the supernova rookies but he was still a master in martial arts and Bepo could tell he was a dangerous man. Still the bear had no intention of giving up nor losing. The captain expected him to win so he must not let the captain down. As captain's right hand, as the crew's first mate, Bepo knew he had to win no matter what.

"Aye aye aye aye!" Bepo shouted his usual battle cry, which could reach Liu even over the sound of the wind and rain. With that, the polar bear ran forward and rushed at Liu, attackinghim ; punching kicking, throwing heavy attacks that were enough to break bones.

But the old man was surprisingly agile for his age. He was fast; so fast Bepo couldn't even land a hit. Suddenly the bear blinked and it seemed that was all it took for Liu-Fa to disappear from his sight. Bepo's eyes widened as his enemy wasn't in front of him anymore but luckily his keen hearing picked up a barely hearable creak of the wooden boards behind him. His one ear twitched and slightly turned towards the sound and Bepo jumped to the side, turning on his heel at the same moment just in time to avoid an attack from Liu. The old man was trying to kick him and his leg didn't even touch the ground when Bepo already leaped forward to use the situation now that Liu was off balance. Bepo was inside his personal space already, breaking through his defenses and throwing a punch at the old man. Bepo put all his strength in his punch, hoping the man won't be able to block this even if he tried. However, Liu did something else; something unexpected. He bended backwards as far as he could, even though one of his legs was still outstretched in the air from his failed attack and he was only standing on one leg in that awkward position. It didn't seem to bother him at all though. He was even more flexible than he was quick. He barely avoided Bepo's punch that passed an inch over his face.

"Oh-uh. Now if that had hit me even I would've been in trouble. We can't have that." He sounded almost impressed but Bepo just found it mocking when coming out of Liu-Fa's mouth. His black round eyes narrowed in annoyance but he didn't have time to be annoyed since Liu was already counterattacking. The man went even lower, putting his arms on the ground as if forming a bridge with his body and he pulled himself up. The legs that were in the air were now wrapped tightly around Bepo's outstretched arm, locking around it tightly. Then with one quickly movement to the side with his legs, Liu twisted Bepo's arm harshly. The bear might be too big for the old man to throw to the ground but that was part of the plan anyway. If Bepo didn't move accordingly, his arm would be broken in the shoulder and the elbow so he had no choice but to throw himself sideway, following Liu's movements to save his arm. But now Bepo was on the ground and Liu was still doing a handstand though before the bear could get up, Liu-Fa's heel was heading down towards the bear's head. He could feel the strength behind that attack even while Liu's foot was still moving through the air. It was enough to crush Bepo's head into the floor below if it hit him directly.

~…..~

It seemed the six warriors of the Heart pirates were in a pinch. Jean Bart was also exchanging heavy hits with the big but slow guy named Teck. They were both all bloody and full of bruises by now but both men refused to give in and kept fighting with bare fists. Shachi was having a hard time dealing with Dil who was wielding his war hammer, making holes in the deck every time he tried to hit Shachi but missed due to the mechanic's speed. However, Shachi didn't appreciate seeing the submarine, his personal masterpiece, being damaged by this guy and that just pissed him off even more. Like he wasn't pissed enough already because of the whole sneak-attack incident and the fact half of his nakama were lying in the sickbay unconscious. Right now Shachi was more than just pissed…his murderous intent was intensifying by the minute, or rather by every new crack Dil made in the yellow submarine.

Still, it was obvious the situation of the Heart pirates wasn't ideal. Far from it. But this was not the first time they were outnumbered and it won't be the last; and they were certainly not outmatched. However, the Silver pirates would disagree. They saw the Hear pirates struggling, they saw them down on the floor or unable to dodge, they saw them and they all thought the same thing; *How weak. An easy victory for us. This will bring us closer to our goal. This will bring us closer to the New World!*

However, the Silver pirates made one big miscalculation; they didn't know the Heart pirates. They underestimated them. They didn't know the strong feeling that was currently driving the Heart pirates on to fight even harder. They didn't know the pure determination each of them held so they could reach their goal. And they didn't know what the Heart pirates were all thinking at this moment; from Shachi, to Bepo, from Bart to Miyako and all the way to Law and everyone else fighting on the sub from his crew right now. One simple thing that gave them more strength than the Silver pirates could ever hope to have and that was the same thing all the Heart pirates secretly vowed to themselves after losing to Sentomaru on that dinosaur island;

*I will never lose again!*

~….~

Miyako's eyes widened as she saw the dagger flying towards her. Her katana was in a downwards and sideways position so she didn't have time to turn it and block the dagger. But still she acted in a split of a second after realizing there was a third, concealed, dagger. Miyako let go of the hilt so she could readjust her grip on it and then grabbed it again with the hilt upwards and the blade downwards. She had her hold on the hilt so she could handle it better; she only needed the hilt anyway. Miyako moved the hilt upwards just as the dagger was near her head, almost cutting at her but before it could, Miyako moved the hilt upwards into the flying dagger, hitting it in the middle and sending it off its course and in the air. The weapon flew in the air and then fell down on the ground.

Kinrei's eyes widened but he wasted no time and suddenly outstretched his hand with the wrist showing. There was a strange contraption on his wrist and as he moved it, a gas started coming out of it, towards Miyako; surely it was poisonous. But it didn't matter anymore because Miyako's mind was set. She re-gripped her katana again so she could hold it normally again and sheathed it.

"Battojutsu Ittouryu; Kiritateru"(2) Miyako rushed forward, unsheathing her katana and just the process of unsheathing it created a strong whirl of energy around the sword, cutting through the gas. Kinrei could only watch wide-eyed and paralyzed as the samurai appeared before him, not only cutting his poisonous gas but the man himself. Miyako was left in a stance behind Kinrei with Yawarakai-Te in her hand in a sideways position. The remaining gas dispersed quickly in the wind and the rain so it was not dangerous anymore. Kinrei fell on the floor, a slow puddle of blood forming around him and mixing with the water on the deck. Hopefully the rain will wash away the man's blood into the sea. She didn't even want to have his blood staining this submarine.

Meanwhile, Bepo was in a rather precarious situation himself but something like this wasn't enough to stop the polar bear. He was a first mate of the Heart pirates. And he had that title for many reasons; one of them was his strength. Not only physical strength but the strength of Bepo's spirit as well. The sheer determination to protect his captain and his nakama.

Liu's heel was about to reach him and Bepo couldn't dodge like this. So there was only one thing he could do; the bear put both his arms in front of him, preparing to block the incoming attack with his forearms. He didn't care how strong Liu's attack was; Bepo wasn't about to lose!

As Liu's heel hit Bepo's arms the massive energy behind the strike was so strong that the wooden boards beneath Bepo cracked and Bepo's whole body was pushed further down, making a dent in the floor. The old man smirked. Even if Bepo blocked, there was no way he could continue fighting after this. He might've been a bear but his arms must've been crushed completely, the bones broken. However, Liu's smirk disappeared soon enough when he realized something was wrong. The sleeves of the jumpsuit were ripped from Liu's impact and there were bright red marks on Bepo's furry arms, even a few bleeding cuts…but the arms weren't broken. Bepo was able to withstand the attack for two reasons; he was a bear which made him stronger, bigger and more sturdy than a normal human, and two; he was stronger and more sturdy than a normal bear too.

"I got you now!" The polar bear exclaimed as he gripped Liu's ankle with one hand and pushed up with the other.

"Wh-Whait! What are you doing!?" Liu-Fa felt a feeling he didn't feel in battle for a long time now. Worry. Worry that was slowly forming into panic as Bepo gripped tightly his ankle with both his hand and without stopping to even hear Liu's protests, swung Liu like a ragged doll. The body flew over Bepo who was still holding Liu and the bear slammed it to the ground with all his strength. The dent in the deck was much bigger than the one Liu created with the power of his foot.

However it was soon Bepo's turn to panic after he realized what he had done. "Eep! Shachi and Penguin will kill me if they find out I damaged the deck!"

~…~

Shachi was already panting hard from the fight since they had been going at it for quite some time now. He tried to hit Dil but the man would always block and then swing with his hammer. The mechanic rushed at the man again and jumped in the air, trying to kick him but Dil dodged by stepping backwards then swung his war hammer with both hands. The mechanic was in the air and couldn't dodge. All he could do was watch with wide eyes as the big hammer came towards him. Shachi turned in the air and kicked at the incoming hammer with his other leg. He knew that action would take some force out of the hammer's blow so when it hit, Shachi won't be crushed like a bug on the big weapon. Still, even with Shachi's attack, the blow of the hammer sent him flying into the railing that dented behind him from the force. The mechanic felt all air rush out of his lungs in an instant as he hit his back hard. He grunted at the pain and coughed some blood. A small crack appeared on his shades that annoyed his vision. Before he could fully recover, Shachi saw Dil running towards him and raising his war hammer again. In his mind, the mechanic's thoughts screamed that he needed to get up, now. He needed to dodge if he wanted to live. *Get up! Suck it up and get up! NOW!* Just before the hammer went down on him, Shachi half lifted himself while leaning on the railing and jumped to the side. Then with a grunt he stood up, still panting. He could feel his legs wobble for a second before he regained his balance and composure.

"Hn, so you dodged…That's all you can do, isn't it? Just run and run until you finally get splatted like a little bug." Dil said it as a taunt of course, but his voice remained cold and almost bored. Still, as he looked at Shachi with a corner of his eyes, a small smirk appeared on his face. That just infuriated the mechanic even more.

Shachi glared at the big man in front of him. Of course the man couldn't see the glare from under his hat and sunglasses but the dark aura around the mechanic was enough to guess what Shachi was thinking at the moment.

"That's enough. Don't you dare put another hole in this submarine…" Even his voice was dark and deadly serious, which was a big difference from the usual mood Shachi brought with him. There was no trace of the usual cheerful mechanic. Perhaps it was strange that Shachi cared more about the well-being of the submarine than his wellbeing at the moment but to anyone who knew the mechanic, that wouldn't be strange at all. More than being pissed about his condition and a probably-broken rib, Shachi was more pissed about what Dil was doing to the submarine with that big weapon of his.

Dil tilted his head to the side a little and raised an eyebrow. "Oh…You care for your ship, that's nice. Too bad for you though…cause I don't!" As he said that, Dil swung his war hammer and brought it down to the deck, making another dent in the floor boards. It was purely out of spite since he wasn't even aiming at Shachi. Dil smirked at the brown-haired mechanic. "If it bothers you so much…why don't you do something about it."

Shachi cracked his fingers, making fists and stood in a kung-fu stance. "Don't worry, I will. I'll make you regret those words."

Both Penguin and Shachi were usually cheerful and got along with each other and the crew. The Heart pirates respected them and it was always fun to play poker or just mess around with the two mechanics. They were usually the heart of every party among the Heart pirates. But the crew all knew one rule that they had to follow in order to stay on the mechanics' good side; NEVER mess with the submarine. There was a reason why Penguin and Shachi usually went wherever Law did and it wasn't only because they were the captain's old friends. Yes, he trusted them but the main reason was that they were strong. They never disappointed him and they didn't plan to do so now.

But right now, even more than thinking about his captain, Shachi was thinking about his submarine. The vessel he helped to build. The vessel he took care of every day. The vessel he already considered home. There's no way he would let this man, Dil, step all over his pride, his hard work over the years. The mechanic clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth in anger when he saw Dil's taunting smile. *There's no way I'm losing to someone like this guy!*

Shachi's thoughts were interrupted as the war hammer slammed down towards him but before Dil could hit him, the mechanic jumped and landed right on top of the war hammer. Shachi found Dil's weakness as they fought. The man had to swing the heavy hammer with both hands, which meant he couldn't block at this moment. "Now I'll punch a hole in you!" The mechanic roared as he ran straight at Dil, keeping perfect balance while running on the weapon. He formed a fist and jumped at Dil, putting all his strength in that attack as the big warrior just stood and watched in surprise the incoming attack. With a shout that sounded like a battle cry, Shachi punched Dil right into the face. Punched him hard enough for the bigger man to lose his balance, let go of his weapon that was still stuck on the wooden floor, and start falling on the ground.

Teeth and blood flew from Dil's face as his nose and check bones were completely crushed by the powerful attack. The man fell to the ground and stayed there unmoving. Shachi landed on the wooden floor, panting hard. He looked at the unconscious man on the ground.

Just then he felt something coming and quickly moved to the side. As he did a large body went flying passed him, creating a gust of wind as it went. It was Teck, the big stupid guy Jean Bart was fighting. The mechanic couldn't help but blink in confusion as Teck flew all the way overboard and into the ocean, soon disappearing in the sea as the waves and strong whirlpools carried him down. Shachi turned to see Jean Bart who was panting hard. His face was bloody and the wounds on his hand opened again but other than a lot of bruises and some cuts, the navigator looked ok. Nothing the big guy couldn't handle. Shachi grinned and gave Jean Bart a thumbs up though he was surprised how much power he had to put in just to do that simple gesture. The navigator saw him; he didn't smile but he also gave Shachi a thumbs up as an answer.

~…..~

"You can't dodge nor run now, Trafalgar Law. Accept your fate and go down quietly." Salvus said as he still held Law's nodachi with his silver whip, disabling him from using it.

Jun was running towards them and jumped in the air with a psychopathic grin that promised nothing good. "Hahaha. You're crew will be beaten and so will you. You're done for, cutie!" She laughed and swung her silver sabre towards Law.

The captain's head was down so the couple couldn't see the little smirk that formed on his lips. "Done for...?" Law muttered questioningly but it was too quiet for Jun or Salvus to hear. He looked up at the incoming Jun. "Fools." Law muttered and grinned at her, then rose his free hand. "You should've learned about my abilities a little better before challenging me." He raised two fingers in the air and muttered "Shambles." Before Jun or Salvus could realized what was happening, Slavus found himself on Law's place though there was nothing tangled in his whip anymore. Law was now standing where Salvus was a few seconds ago. However Jun couldn't stop anymore, it was too late.

"Stop, fool!" Salvus roared at her but it was too late. Jun's sabre went right into Salvus, cutting from his shoulder down to his torso. However, Law wasn't in such luck that it was enough to end them. It seemed Salvus wasn't a paramecia who could only control silver, but a logia. Salvus split and stayed like that for a while, before his body started turning into silver and regenerating.

"Waaah! I'm so sorry Salvus-sama!" Jun exclaimed in a high-pitched voice of surprise as she jumped up and down, looking at her split captain.

"Hn, like that would be enough to kill me…" Salvus muttered.

"That's fine." A deep voice of Trafalgar Law came somewhere behind them and as it did, Salvus felt a strange pressure, then saw Jun's eyes widen. Jun was standing in front of Salvus, her back turned to Trafalgar, so she was hiding the Heart pirates' captain from Salvus' view. That's why at first Salvus had no idea what was going on. But then Jun's body split into two before his eyes.

The girl screamed when she realized she was cut in two but still alive. A sickening feeling mixed with a horrible picture of seeing your own split body. As her two body parts fell down, Salvus could see Law with his nodachi in his hand looking as if he just used it, which he did. "Maybe you can't die that easily, but it was a good distraction." Law answered with a smirk seeing Jun's panicked face and Salvus' surprised eyes shown through the mask.

The captain of the Silver pirates glared with piercing eyes towards Law. "You just can't accept defeat, can you…"

Law looked a little surprised but it was obvious it was only a mocking expression. "Defeat? You should open your eyes and look around, Salvus-ya."

Salvus tilted his head as if he didn't understand Law's words but then he turned to see his crew. Or rather, what was left of his crew. The Silver pirate army of their small-fry crewmembers were all beaten by the Heart pirates and so were the 'Silver pirate generals' as Jun called them. They were beaten, bloody, cut up, unconscious or dead. And Teck wasn't even on the deck. The biggest man among the Silver pirates was nowhere to be seen. Salvus'eyes widened in surprise. Jun looked around as well and started shouting something about not believing what she was seeing.

"You are the only one left." Law said with a cold voice, looking at Salvus but the looks was hardly sympathetic. He prepared his nodachi as he gripped it with both hands.

Salvus gritted his teeth and formed a long sword from the whip he had, gripping it in both hands as well. "At least I will beat you. You may have haki but I'm still a powerful logia, you won't be able to cut me that easily!"

Law had a need to sigh tiredly but restrained himself. Honestly, why were all his enemies always so sure of themselves? Always so quick to underestimate him. He didn't work on his haki all this time for nothing. Salvus measured his haki power from what he saw of it earlier but the truth was, Law wasn't going all out earlier. He was only testing his opponents then. That's why Salvus was now underestimating him and that's why that will be the man's doom.

Both captains rushed towards each other. Once again, Law was going to make contact with his nodachi instead of just using his powers. Right now, his haki was the strongest when he channeled it right from the sword and towards the opponent, in close contact. Before, he only released his haki while making usual cuts through the air and towards them but using it in direct contact was much different and a lot stronger. He knew that from experience while fighting Miyako. He was now glad for all those hours he spent with her; it wasn't for naught.

As they clashed, Law released all his haki and put it into the power of his attack. Salvus did the same. The results were instant. Salvus' silver sword broke as Law cut through it and the captain's nodachi traveled further and into Salvus' body, cutting it. This time it wasn't silver that splashed around but regular, human blood and the captain of the Silver pirates was truly cut. He let out something between a grunt and a sigh before falling to his knees and then face first onto the floor. Law sheathed his nodachi and looked back at the lying captain. The man was still breathing but barely. Some of Law's power was taken in by Salvus' sword, which saved his life.

Suddenly Law heard cheers coming from his crew. They were all looking at the final attack. They all waited, not even taking a breath, to see what will happen. But not even one of them doubted that Law would win. Even Miyako smirked as she saw Law win. Even she believed in him and knew there was no way he would lose. Not to these guys. Still, she released a breath in relief that she didn't even know she was holding.

~…~

Now that the victory was theirs, there was only one thing to do; take the spoils of war. The storm had mostly passed and only a slight rain remained. Law ordered Cody and Josh to take the rest of the medical team and take care of the injured. The unconscious ones in the infirmary were slowly beginning to awake as well so they had to be looked at too. Meanwhile, Sai and Penguin went to the enemy's sub to take everything they needed. But what Law was really interested in was the technology they had on their sub. The Shadowman said something about a way to cover their signal from being detected and that's what Law had his eyes on. Penguin and Sai will inspect the control room of that submarine and that technology will be his. Shachi had his own team and they were currently repairing the deck. Thankfully the holes were easily repaired with some wooden boards so there was no big damage to the sub.

There was one more reason why Law was especially pleased besides the free stocking of gold and supplies and new technology for their submarine. And that was the three people who were right now sitting on his deck, huddled together but back in one piece. Jun, Benny and Salvus were the only ones who were spared and not thrown overboard after the fight. However, perhaps 'spared' wouldn't be the right word since their fate was much worse. Law put them back together in one piece but took any weapons they had and Salvus and Benny both had sea stone cuffs on their wrists. All three of them were tied together with tight rope, beaten and barely conscious. Salvus especially, since Law didn't bother taking care of the captain's wound. He didn't need him for that long and he wouldn't waste his medical supplies on prisoners.

"Why did you keep us?" Salvus asked, looking up at Law.

"Yeah, what do you want with us?!" Benny, the Shadowman, was loud and arrogant as usual.

However, they both fell silent instantly when they saw the look Law gave them. That look was enough to answer their question, or rather, enough for them to not want to know the answer. A purely psychopathic smile that would make even Akainu have a bad feeling about what was to come. The three prisoners couldn't help but shiver and it wasn't because of the cold rain.

Miyako walked over to Law and the prisoners as she heard some of the conversation. "Really, what do you want us to do with them? Why are we taking them with us?"

Law turned to Miyako as she spoke and looked at her lazily, like he didn't want to really bother with explanations. "You should know that better than anyone…Didn't I already tell you today, when we were in the infirmary what I need?"

Miyako blinked and looked at him with a puzzled expression. She had no idea what he meant. "In the infirmary…" Miyako muttered as her mind played back the conversation she had with Law when she went to the infirmary and saw him experimenting on those animals. Suddenly she remembered his words; it would be more useful to try it on humans instead of animals. Miyako stiffened uncomfortably and a drop of sweat trickled down her temple, though it just mixed with the rain drops that were falling on her face. "Don't tell me…You'll use them as subjects for experimenting…?" Miyako wasn't sure she wanted to know the details anymore.

Law smirked when he saw the girl's face. It was amusing to say the least. And even more amusing were the faces of the three unfortunates who also heard Miyako's words. "Are you sure you want to know. I wouldn't want to be responsible for your lack of sleep." He said it as a joke but something in his eyes told her that it wasn't far from the truth.

"On second thought…I don't want to know." Miyako said as she turned around and went to help with carrying supplies from the enemy's submarine to their own.

Law looked back at the three prisoners tied and sitting on the floor. Their faces were completely pale and their eyes as wide as they could possibly be.

"W-what…You're not serious, right? I mean, you're not gonna seriously use us for experimenting, right? O-Oy…Say something…" Benny was slowly losing it.

"H-hey, you wouldn't do such a thing to a girl would you?! I mean, I like you, look we can make a deal. I'll join your crew. I'll do whatever, just name it, so let me go already!" Jun already lost it.

"You traitor!" Benny shouted at Jun and they started arguing and screaming at each other.

Only Salvus kept his dignity and stayed quiet, with his head down. But his didn't have his silver mask anymore and his face was clearly reviled and showed his emotions. He gritted his teeth as he cursed under his breath. How could this happen?! How could he lose?! He couldn't understand it; what was it that the Heart pirates had and they didn't?! What was it that Trafalgar Law had and he didn't?! It seems none of the Silver pirates could answer that question but to Heart pirates it's as if it was obvious from the start.

~…..~

Law was sitting at the desk in his room when he heard the slight knock on the doors. The pirate captain raised his head, removing his gaze from the papers he was reading at the moment. "Come in."

It didn't surprise him when he saw Miyako, who was balancing the tray in one hand while trying to open and then close his doors with the other. Munk was sending him food again since Law once again completely forgot about it. He was too busy having fun while experimenting on Salvus, though he was a bit disappointed when the man died sooner than Law expected. He wasn't surprised since the man had a serious wound but he thought Salvus was a bit sturdier than that so he would last longer. After his fun time in the infirmary, Law went to his quarters to write down the progresses of his research and a few other things that needed to be done. So before he knew it, it was already late morning and once again Law found himself in his quarters working all night without any sleep. It was already after dawn when they defeated the Silver pirates and finally sailed away from that island and it's been a few hours since then. Law let his crew rest since they all stayed awake all night but for him it was nothing unusual so he just went on with his daily duties without any sleep. He was actually thinking of taking another prisoner to the examining table but the crew would probably complain that they couldn't sleep well because of the screams, and the Heart pirates needed their rest after the fight.

Miyako put the try down on some free space on Law's desk and sighed. "You should really take better care of yourself."

Law smirked. "Oh?"

Miyako knew what he was thinking even without him saying anything else as a small blushed appeared on her face. "D-Don't get me wrong, it's just that Munk's always angry when you don't eat. And Penguin and Shachi are always worrying about you."

Law knew she would say something like that so he didn't even feel disappointed. "Ah, well I wouldn't want to worry Penguin and Shachi…" His tone was a bit sarcastic and his smirk a bit mocking. He knew Miyako would notice it and that was exactly his intention.

The girl narrowed her eyes a little and stuck her tongue at him. "Shut up."

Law snickered at her childish actions. "Very mature." He was in a good mood today. The day was a long and hard one with a lot of it happening but in the end they profited greatly from it.

Miyako sat at her usual place, across the table and propped herself on her elbows on the table as she rested her chin on her hands. "I'm mature when I have to be." She smirked back at Law. There was a moment of silence and Miyako, as usual, took the little plate with the dessert from Law's tray. It was ice-cream this time. It was already a silent agreement the two had between them since Law rarely ate anything sweet. She'd bring him his tray of food and take the dessert for herself. Law didn't mind though and somehow it already became normal for Miyako to stay and keep him company as he ate before she took the empty tray back to the kitchen. "Today was a pretty eventful day." Miyako muttered as she took some ice-cream on the spoon and ate it.

"Hnn, yes. But nothing we couldn't handle." Law said but it seemed his mind was once again trapped among the stats and facts on the papers around him. The food was getting cold in front of him but he probably forgot it was even there. Miyako frowned at the always-busy-captain. He didn't seem to be listening much either. Miyako wanted to test how much he was actually hearing of what she was saying. "Yeah…So I was abducted by pink pirate aliens who wanted to take my socks but after I started playing the violin they let me go cause they couldn't listen to the horrible noises anymore." Miyako had no idea where that came from, she just spouted the first thing that came to her mind, but now she was a bit worried for her sanity if that's the first thing that came to mind.

"Mm-hmm…." Law just hummed an answer as he was totally occupied by his work once again.

Miyako rolled her eyes. She was bored so she was actually kinda looking forward to spending some time with Law. Usually they're conversations were either interesting or infuriating but lately it was the first one. Her frown deepened as she thought about what to do. He didn't even touch his food either. She played with the spoon in her hand when she got a funny idea. A smile appeared on her lips as she scooped some of the ice-cream in the spoon, then turned it towards Law like a small catapult that was ready to fire as soon as she released the spoon's head.

Before she could, Law's voice surprised her. "Try it and you'll be the next on the list for my experiments." His voice was completely monotone and lazy as he didn't even lift his head to look at her. He was still reading the paper in his hand, his gaze glued to his work. Miyako was a bit surprised he even noticed but obviously he was more aware of his surroundings than he seemed. Well she shouldn't be so surprised, this was Law after all. He probably heard everything she said too and just pretended not to listen.

Suddenly Law lifted his head and looked at her with a big smirk on his face. "So pink pirate aliens, you say…?"

Miyako couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah." There was a grin on her face but for some reason, unknown even to her, she felt happy. Feeling so giddy just because she was alone with Law and talking to him, or because he was actually listening to her, made her want to hit herself over the head. *I'm acting like a school girl in love again.* The samurai mentally sighed and tried to return to her usual, calm self. But somehow she couldn't help but feel glad for this small moment of peace between them. She had a feeling it won't last long. She didn't know why she felt that way or why she had a bad feeling ever since they started sailing towards Abney Cove, but that bad feeling just got stronger as they were getting closer to the marine base. So she wanted to enjoy this peaceful atmosphere while she still could and she had a feeling Law felt the same way.

Still, she left those thoughts for later as she moved back to the present and sighed. "Still I doubt you'll need me for experiments. You already have a woman for that…you made me drag her to that improvised prison Shachi and Penguin made and I had to listen to her screams and complaining all the way there. Not to mention all her promises that she'll give you her body if you spare her. Seriously, she didn't hold back at all." Miyako commented with a slight annoyed expression. She understood the woman was scared but Jun didn't leave herself any dignity whatsoever. As a samurai and a woman herself, Miyako found it revolting.

Law tilted his head a little as if trying to decipher something from Miyako's expression. "Miss Miyako, are you jealous perhaps?" He called her 'miss' on purpose just to tease her more.

The girl lifted her head and looked at Law with wide eyes. "W-what!? Why do you think that?!"

"Oh, just a wild guess…But you've been complaining about that woman a lot, haven't you? Perhaps you didn't like what she said when we were fighting on the deck?" Of course Law was referring to Jun's lewd behavior as if she was trying to sleep with Law instead of fighting him. He really didn't care that Jun wanted of him. She was an intruder on his submarine and his enemy so he didn't view her any differently than any other enemy, be it man or a woman. To him, Jun was simply someone he needed to get out of his way so he didn't even care about her teasing words nor her body.

"I-it's not like that. I just…can't believe a woman would use such dirty tactics to fight. Yeah, that's right; I just think that you should fight with your strength and skills, not use your body like that. It dirties your dignity." Now Miyako was sounding like she was not only trying to convince Law of this but herself as well. She was mumbling and looking at the melting ice-cream, not meeting Law's teasing gaze.

She was so into her own thoughts that she didn't even notice that Law stood up and went up to her. Only when he leaned down next to her ear did she notice him and almost jumped as he spoke right into her ear. *When did he-?*

"Spoken like a true samurai." He whispered with an amused voice. "But I'm glad that even Miss Suzune Miyako feels jealousy sometimes; especially concerning me." Miyako turned her head towards him suddenly and opened her mouth to object but that proved impossible since Law used that moment to kiss her.

The girl didn't struggle or complain this time, but of course she had a small pout when he released her lips. "Geez, you always do these things so suddenly."

Law's eyebrow rose as he feigned surprise but it was obviously mocking. "Oh, is that the problem? Then if I do it slowly, you won't complain anymore." He didn't even ask; it was said as a statement, not a question, meaning he didn't leave any room for Miyako's objections. He kissed her again, this time slowly but the kiss didn't stay slow and gentle for long and he only let go when he was sure he left the girl flustered and completely breathless. Trafalgar Law smirked again, staring right at Miyako's big golden eyes. Those eyes that always looked like fire itself, burning even him as they stared back. "Good to know." He murmured. For a moment he felt lost in those eyes, a feeling very rare for him. But this girl was the only one who could make him feel that way; who could get him out of his secure, comfort zone.

Miyako smiled as a response to his smirk, which brought Law back to reality. She didn't seem mad and her pout from before vanished. "You really do whatever you want, don't you…" It wasn't even a question.

Law smirked. "Of course. That's one of the perks of being a pirate captain."

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(1) Ittouryu technique: Heavenly strike – A technique were one jumps in the air and uses both their body weight and gravity to strike down at their opponent with full force.

(2) Ittouryu Technique; Kiritateru– One slash, coming from the battojutsu stance, precise and strong enough to cut even through steel or stone.

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Wow, ok this was a long one… Not much Law/Miyako romance in this one since it was mostly about the action but I hope it was still interesting. As I said, this is just a little something before the whole Abney Cove Arc though I don't plan on making that Arc too long either. (We need to move to the New World people!) :P Anyway, as always let's go to some of your comments and reviews now.

Zoro et Robin: Yeah, the Heart pirates won't have it easy from now on. Oh well, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right? ;) hahah Don't worry, if your mother disowns you, I'll take you in. *pats head* XD And I think you nailed Josh's thoughts perfectly. XD

Amanda Beauvoir: Thank you for the review, I appreciate it. ^^ About the Punk Hazard, there are still some chapters before I get to that in my story (and by that time you'll probably watch that arc in the anime) so you don't have to worry about that. However, as the manga progresses there might be some info there that I might put in my chapters if I can connect something but there's still very little known about the whole Law/Joker thing so there's nothing to mention in my story yet, either. For now, it'll be safe to read it. :) In the future, I'll put a warning at the beginning of the chapter if there will be any spoilers in it so you'll know. :)

Girl-luvs-manga: Yep, little by little Miyako is accepting it. :) I don't know what to think of Joker yet, he didn't seem so bad when he was saying good-bye to Monet and Vergo in the manga but then again, he seems totally ruthless too.

robin3zoro: Unfortunately I don't have a set day when I update so I just upload as soon as I can and as soon as I write a new chapter.

Shiningheart of ThunderClan: lol Yeah, even when I was writing it I thought to myself; sorry Josh. Somebody had to be the casualty. XD Well perhaps it was a little foreshadowing but mostly I think Law worries for the whole crew that Joker might do something to them since he is planning to betray him. And Doflamingo seems like a ruthless guy.

Izzie (Guest): It says guest but I kinda guessed it was you. XP I think Law's crew is somewhere nearby and hopefully they'll soon appear (since Oda put them on the cover I guess they're still active). I can't wait to see them in the manga. :D Thanks for the review as always! Hm, I think I should put a bit more of Law/Miyako moments since everyone seems to like them so much. ^^

Rumu: Thanks! :) About the Shichibukai; soon. There is one small Arc that I'm planning to do, and after that comes the New World and Shichibukai title. :) Thank you or the review! ^^

VenVen: Thanks for all the reviews! :D I'm going to put more romance but I also want to keep both Miyako and Law in character. Sorry if some of the romance scenes were a bit ooc, it's hard to write Law in romance situations and keep him totally in character. ^^'