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I rubbed at my arm with a sigh as I opened the door to the bar. I heard the sound die down slightly before picking up. I walked over to my regular seat and plopped down. One of the waitresses walked over with a slight frown on her face, "What can I get for you Storm?"

"Something heavy," I answered causing her to grimace.

"Bad day?" She asked while writing down my order causing me to grimace, "Oh,"

She headed over to the bar to give my order to the current bartender. I rubbed at my arm again as the door opened and chattering men entered. The waitress set my drink on the table just as I heard, "Oi! Ariun!"

I turned my head and smiled slightly upon seeing that it was Shachi, "Hey Shachi."

His crewmates stared between the blue hatted man and I as he walked over to me. Penguin followed after him as both grinned at me. The grins faltered upon seeing my ruffled appearance and Penguin asked, "You alright?"

"I'm fine," I took a small sip of my drink and sighed as it burned my throat on the way down, "How are you two?"

"We're fine," Shachi answered as the door opened again.

"Where's Bepo?" I asked since the mink hadn't been among the group I had seen.

"He's with Captain," Penguin answered causing me to hum.

"Ah that would explain it," I nodded my head lightly.

Shachi and Penguin sat down at my table as I heard, "Hey Ariun."

I turned my head and smiled at the polar bear mink that said that, "Hey Bepo how are you?"

"I'm fine," he beamed down at me as he walked over.

"No trouble with anymore thugs right?" I asked and he nodded.

"Nope! I was extra careful," I grinned up at him as he bent down and hugged me.

I rubbed between his ears and said, "Good. I'd hate to see such a cutie get hurt."

He blushed at the praise while Shachi and Penguin groaned, "Why the hell does he always get the girls attention?"

"He's cute," I answered with a grin, "You two aren't,"

They glared at me just as a smooth voice spoke, "You are the one that helped Bepo earlier, correct?"

"Yup," I turned and found my gaze locked once more with cloud grey, "You must be their captain,"

The man those eyes were attached to nodded and smirked down at me. My gaze drifted over his body without shame and I had to admit he was good looking. He has dark hair, a majority of which is obscured, save for his sideburns and small goatee by an odd hat. The hat is white and has spots on the bottom and along the rim. He had tanned skin and wiry muscles though much of it was blocked from view by his clothes. He wore a black-sleeved and hooded yellow hoodie with what I guess was his jolly roger out on the front of his chest and the sleeves rolled up. He wore a pair of jeans with odd markings on both the knee and ankle areas, similar to the ones on his hat, but darker in color, and a pair of dark, pointed shoes. He has a pair of small earrings on each ear. My eyes were drawn to the tattoo's visible on his arms and hands. They were tribal in nature and very well done. The letters on his fingers however were crappy and spelled the word DEATH making me wonder why he would want tattoo's like that. I ignored the tattoo's for the moment and looked at his eyes again. The cloud grey was very striking and only drew more attention because of the dark bags under the man's eyes. All in all, he was hot. He smirked at me and asked, "Like what you see?"

"Yes," I answered with a smirk of my own, "But those tattoo's on your hands suck,"

I heard gasps, but ignore them as the man gave me a raised eyebrow, "Oh? What gives you the right to say that?"

"I'm a tattoo artist," I explain while eyeing the letters with disdain, "Whoever did them really needs to have their eyes checked," I then looked up at him, "I can fix them if you want,"

The area around us was silent as I waited for him to speak. It took a few moments before he chuckled and shook his head, "I'd rather not. I rather like them the way they are."

I hummed softly and look at them a bit closer, "They're old so you must've had them for awhile, so I guess you must've grown attached."

"True," He seemed amused, "My name is Trafalgar Law. What's yours?"

"Ariun," I answered with a grin, "Snow D. Ariun though most call me around here call me Storm," I held up a hand as he opened his mouth to speak, "I don't know why and no one's bothered to tell me, so I just go with it,"

He chuckled and sat down at the table, "I have to say you are not what I expected."

"Oh?" I looked at him with a raised eyebrow as I took a deep swig of my drink, "What were you expecting?"

"Someone like the woman from last night," He answered making me snort.

"I'm not usually like that," I set my cup down, "I'm usually more relaxed, but yesterday wasn't a good day and Kuro was asking for it,"

"Kuro?" Law looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "The man you were with?"

"Yup he's one of the local idiots," I leaned back in my seat, "He and I are friends,"

Shachi spoke up, "What'd he do to deserve having his head slammed into the table?"

"He annoyed me on a bad day," I answered with a small shrug, "He usually doesn't stop annoying me unless I either do what he wants me to or do what I did last night,"

"How long have you been friends?" Penguin asked.

I hummed as I thought about it, "We've been friends for years. I can't really remember not having the idiot around."

"Where is he?" Shachi asked making me shrug.

"Eh don't know," I pick up my glass, "Idiot usually shows up to get himself drunk or drag me around," I took a sip, "He should be here soon enough," I set my drink down, "I do have a suggestion when it comes to him; If he's selling something, do not buy it,"

"Why?" Bepo asked making me snort.

"He's a con," I answered without hesitation, "He'll rip you off unless he likes you, so don't buy anything,"

"Shouldn't you be defending him?" Law asked prompting me to chuckle.

"Idiots landed us both in the local jail more times than I care to count because he can't stop being an idiot," I ran a hand through my hair as I heard the door open, "Why defend him? We maybe friends, but I'd rather not spend a night in the local jai-"

"STORM! WHAT THE HELL?!" I turned my head to look at Kuro as he walked towards me.

"Kuro what-" He cut me off as he slammed his palm into the table.

"WHY THE HELL DID MAKI JUST TELL ME THAT DANY FIRED YOU?!" I winced as the bar immediatly fell silent and all eyes focused on us.

I groaned softly and mentally promised to kick Maki's ass for telling Kuro that, "Because he did."

Kuro glared down at me, "Why the hell did he do that?"

I sighed softly and massaged my ears only to wince as my left arm brushed the table, "Oh I don't know. I was late, he yelled at me, I yelled back-"

"He hurt you," Kuro grabbed my left arm causing me to hiss sharply, "Shit,"

I pulled my arm away from him as he released it. He looked at his hands as if they had just been attached to him while I lightly rub at my arm to ease the pain, "It's just a few bruises. I'll be fine by tomorrow."

Kuro groaned softly, "Damn it. Now what're you going to do?"

"I dunno, but I do know that I'm kinda glad I don't have to work for him anymore," I smirked up at him, "He was a racist bastard anyway,"

Kuro's eyes flashed upon hearing that, "Seriously?"

"Yup," He tugged at his braided brown hair, "Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out,"

"You got fired because of us?" Shachi asked bringing my attention back to him.

I shook my head, "Nah Dany was looking for reasons to fire me. The only reason he hadn't was because I was really good at my job and clients kept flooding in," I ran a hand through my hair, "He was a right bastard and always made sure to pay me less than the others cause he hated me."

"Why hire you if he hated you?" Law asked making me smile sadly.

"He didn't hire me," My voice became soft, "The old man that used to own the place did. I've worked there since I turned 14,"

"A 14 year old working?" The group seemed surprised.

"Had to or else I wouldn't have survived," I shook my head with a small sigh before turning to Kuro with a grin, "Wanna celebrate?"

"You got fired and now you wanna celebrate?" Kuro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure!" I chirped, "I'm not working for that bastard anymore, I've got plenty of money saved up, and I can probably find some other job,"

"True," Kuro shook his head with a smile, "Fine. I'll even pay,"

"Great!" I cheered at the thought of free alcohol then noticed the looks of confusion on my table mates faces, "I'm look on the bright side of a crappy situation. It's something I've learned to do over the years,"

I downed the rest of my drink and Kuro went to order more. I leaned back in my chair with a slight smile on my face. Shachi seemed to snap out of the collective shock I put those at my table into, "So Ariun what are you going to do now?"

"I dunno," I shrugged lightly, "I don't really care anyway,"

"Why not?" Penguin asked with a slight frown.

"Life on this island has always been difficult," I answered as I watched Kuro get some drinks form the Bartender, "When you're me, it's even more difficult," I turned my head to look at Penguin, "Remember the thugs?"

"Yeah what about them?" Penguin asked while Bepo gained a look of comprehension on his face.

"They called you a beast," Bepo looked at me with curiosity, "Why'd they do that?"

"People will hate what they do not understand," I smiled sadly, "People like me will always be hated because some people do not understand how we can do what we can do,"

"What can you do?" Law asked prompting me to look at him.

"A lot of things," I answered noncommittally as Kuro returned and handed me a glass, "Thanks Kuro,"

"No problem Storm," He looked at my tablemates, "So who are you guys?"

Throughout the night, Kuro distracted anyone from asking about me. Because of him, I managed to avoid all question about why people hated me. I could tell that Law wasn't pleased about it, but couldn't care less. I hadn't know the guy for more than 10 minutes after we first met. I didn't know much about him now after three hours, so I wasn't going to be answering those questions. I yawned softly as I watched Kuro make a fool of himself as he flirted with the waitresses. With a shake of my head, I stood up bringing the attention of my tablemates to me, "While this has been fun, I should be heading back home."

"Now?" Kuro squinted at me, "But we jush got here!"

Again, I wondered how I got to be friends with this idiot. I turned to the guys at my table and smiled, "Sorry I couldn't stay longer, but I've got an early day tomorrow."

"Why?" Bepo asked with confusion on his face.

"I've got to get some shopping done and see if I can find a new job," I grabbed Kuro and reached into his pocket to grab his wallet, "Besides, I've got to get this idiot home before he passes out," I walked over to the bartender and payed once he told me the amount of money I owed, "Kuro c'mon we gotta get going,"

"I don'" He hiccupped, "Wanna,"

"Kuro if you come with me, I'll make you some brownies," He beamed at me as I grabbed his arm and began to tug him out of the bar.

"Brownies!" He practically shouted.

"Bye guys," I waved at the group.

"Bye Brownies!" Kuro shouted making me chuckle softly.

After dropping Kuro off at his apartment, I began to make my way to my own. As I was passing one of the larger alleyways near the docks, I was grabbed by my shoulder and pulled. I was shoved into a wall and held there by a pair of thugs while a man in a pinstriped suit smirked at me. My eyes immediatly narrowed and I hissed, "Diablo."

"Storm," The man's voice was filled with slime and hate, "You messed with my men today,"

"They were going to attack someone," I replied while looking for ways out of the situation, "I merely helped that person out,"

He shook his head, "You cut into my business-"

"Diablo let's stop procrastinating," I cut him off as I noticed that both sides of the alley were being guarded, "We both know that you're going to try to either A: kill me or B: knock me out," I rolled my eyes at both, "So let's just skip the talk and get down to the nitty gritty. I'd rather not be pressed against the side of a dirty building longer than I have to be,"

He snorted and eyed me in a way that made my skin crawl, "I'm here to offer you a job-"

"One that I'm going to refuse," I immediatly cut him off, "I won't work for a slimy bastard like you, so just go fuck off,"

"Release her," I eyed the man warily while immediatly sensing something off, "It's a shame you won't work for me,"

"A real shame," I mock while tensing and extending my claws, "Now if you'll excuse me, I really must be going,"

I heard a series of clicks and found all of the thugs pointing guns at me. I felt like cursing up a storm as Diablo chuckled, "Sorry, but I can't let you leave. You've been a thorn in my side for a long time. My boss isn't very happy with my output and wants me to get rid of the problem," He smirked as his eyes roved over my body, "It's a shame that I've got to kill you, but it's business darling. I hope you understand."

My heart beat faster and faster as I realized that he was going to try to kill me. I had to get out of here and fast!

End of chapter