Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

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I yawned and stretched before grinning at Bepo. The navigator was still sleeping and looking even more adorable. I glanced towards the port holes and judged by the light that it was at least eight. Nodding to myself, I slipped out of bed and grabbed my clothes for the day before hoping into the shower.

Law glared at the clock telling him that it was eight in the morning and grit his teeth. Why the hell couldn't he do something as simple as fall asleep?

When I walked out of my room, Bepo was up and yawning, "Morning Sweetie."

"Morning Ari-chan," Bepo smiled at me, "Did you sleep good?"

"I feel a lot better than I have since we landed on the last island," I told the bear with a grin, "Let's go get some breakfast,"

"Kay!" The bear got out of my bed and the two of us made our way to the galley.

We met up with Shachi and Penguin on the way up. Both seemed nervous, but Shachi commented, "You look better today."

"I feel a lot better," The ginger haired man seemed relieved, "But my threat still stands,"

Both mechanics pale a little at that, Bepo looked at me in surprise, "You threatened Shachi and Penguin?"

"Their imagination got away from them," I informed the bear as we walked up the stairs and onto the next floor, "Hopefully this will convince them to not over exaggerate,"

"Hopefully!" The bear beamed making me giggle softly.

"Oi! It's not funny!" Both pale mechanics shouted.

"Sorry," Bepo immediatly deflated.

"Don't do that!" I face palm at their action.

"Sorry," I wrapped an arm around Bepo while glaring at Shachi and Penguin.

"It's alright Bepo," We reached the galley and walked inside, "They're just being mean,"

We reached the buffet style tables and picked up our breakfasts before heading to our table.

Law looked up at the group of four reached the table before addressing the sole female, "Our bounties went up."

She sat down and took the newspaper as he held it out to her, "I'm now at 69 million beri while you're at 100 million."

Before she could speak further, Kuro took the newspaper from her, "Surgeon of Death Trafalgar Law and Spotted Death Snow D. Ariun kill the Flake Bounty Hunters? When the hell did you two encounter bounty hunters?"

"Last island. It's why I had blood on me when we returned to the hotel," Ariun informed the green eyed man, "Not to mention our bounties probably increased because of the raid on that shelter place," She then frowned, "I wonder why you guys don't have a bounty yet,"

"Perhaps it's because we haven't gone out of our way to make ourselves noticeable," Maki replied and Ariun opened her mouth to protest.

"Ariun-ya perhaps it's for the best," She turned to look at Law with a frown and question in her eyes, "If they are not well known, they can easily slip into places we wouldn't be able to because of our fame,"

"Right," She hummed softly, "Perhaps that's for the best,"

Law looked at her curiously as he wondered what she meant. Shachi asked the question before he could voice it, "What do you mean Ari-chan?"

"Well if you guys don't have bounties and switch up your outfits, you could actually infiltrate places," Ariun explained with a smirk appearing on her face, "Once inside, you could feed us information that we could use to either fight opponents or find areas that have stuff we want to steal," She looked at him, "Wouldn't that be a good idea?"

Law contemplated the idea before nodding, "It would be a fairly good idea, but not many of the crew know how to sneak into places."

Ariun smirked, "Give them to Maki, Kuro, and me, we'll get them good at it in no time."

Law laid back against Bepo as Ariun curled up in her leopard form next to them. No one else was on deck making it the perfect place to nap. He moved his hat over his eyes and made himself comfortable before trying to fall asleep. He was slightly surprised and a little annoyed when Ariun spoke, "Law have you made a decision on whether or not to allow the guys and I to train some of the crew?"

He mentally sighed at the question and contemplated what to say. While the idea had plenty of merit and would be a fairly good idea, he knew it would also be risky. He rationalized that having more information about the places they would steal from would lead to them gaining more from the excursions, but it also might lead to his men getting hurt. But then again, piracy was a job where you were guaranteed to get hurt at any point in time. He sighed out loud, "Ariun-ya even if you do manage to teach them, you can't guarantee that they will not get hurt."

"They're pirates," She retorted with a small huff, "They're bound to get hurt,"

He felt slightly frustrated at her words, "Ariun-ya-"

"Law I know you care about them," He pushed up his hat to glare at her for the interruption, "I do too, but how many of them are actually doing a lot on this ship?" He opened his mouth only to argue as he remembered some of the complaining about their lack of work, "I've heard quite a few of them talk about needing more to do. They don't feel useful when they're not doing the small amount of jobs they have," He closed his eyes at her reasoning, "I know you don't want to hear this from me since I'm still new and you're the captain,"

"What would you suggest I do?" He bit out while trying to push down his irritation and anger at the situation.

"Let us train some of them," He opened his eyes to look at her, "If we can teach them to sneak into places, it will give them another job to do and help us get more information,"

"More information?" He asked while sitting up slightly.

She nodded her head, "Joker has people in a lot of diffrent places and those people will keep records. You can have the crew get information with ease without Joker's people or Joker himself realizing it."

Law took in the information and toyed with the idea before nodding, "Alright. I'll allow you three to train them, but I want Kaze to help."

Rather than argue like he thought she might, she nodded with an almost smile on her transformed face, "Kaze will actually be a lot of help. I was planning on requesting that he join us."

"You'll begin training a small group of crew members in two days," Law ordered her, "They will be your main focus,"

"So no cooking duty for me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You'll be helping to make breakfast, but that's it," He leaned back against Bepo, "Until that group is good enough to not need your constant help, you will be focused on training them when they're not needed,"

"Alright," She laid her head on her paws, "Who are we training?"

"I'll make that decision later," She shrugged and closed her eyes.

Glad for the change in topic, he returned to his previous position and fell asleep.

Once again, Law found himself glaring at his ceiling as sleep continued to evade him. He had taken a nap earlier in the day with Bepo and Ariun which allowed him some rest, but now he couldn't even catch a wink. Growling to himself, he got up and grabbed his sleep pants from the floor beside his bed. He pulled them on as he decided to head up to the top deck for some fresh air.

I stared up at the brightly lit sky and the moon the overshadowed their light. It was almost funny in a way. The night's greatest draw were the stars, yet the moon took the focus when it was full. I found it slightly melancholic that the stars beauty was taken by the moon just as the beauty of the clouds was taken by the sun. Unlike the clouds however, the stars were given much reprieve seeing as the moon could only overshadow them three days a month. My lips twitch slightly at those thoughts as my eyes burned slightly from the tears that wanted to fall. I almost jumped as I heard, "Ariun-ya what are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep," I nearly cursed at the slight tremble in my words.

Why the hell hadn't I heard him approach? Oh right my memories were getting to me. Before my thoughts could become bitter, I felt a hand on my shoulder prompting me to turn my head to see Law looking at me. He looked slightly uncomfortable and I wondered why even as he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," My voice trembled and I wanted to curse.

Law sighed and I was surprised to feel his arms around my waist. He pulled me against him and I relished in the warmth while feeling very confused, "Ariun-ya I dislike liars and repeating myself. Tell me what's wrong."

I bit my bottom lip only for him to remove it from between my teeth. Sighing softly, I murmured tiredly, "My mind decided that today was the best day to remind me of my mother."

"Your mother?" Law's head settled on mine.

I was slightly surprised at the action, but I decided to take what comfort I could get, "You know how I got up so quickly after our nap and took off?"

"Yes. I was slightly pissed off at you for doing that," My lips twitched slightly, "Why did you take off?"

"I needed to get away from everyone to get myself to calm down," He frowned at that, "I ended up remembering the night my mother died,"

"I thought you couldn't remember your nightmares," He would punish her for lying to him.

She shook her head and he marveled at how soft her hair was, "It wasn't a nightmare. Before we ended up getting chased by a mob and her being killed, we were having a really nice day. It was one of the best days we'd ever had," He felt her tremble slightly and grimaced as something in him twisted at the thought of her crying, "My mom took me out shopping and bought me this really nice set of drawing supplies that I had wanted for a really long time. She did it because I had managed to do a half-transformation. She was so proud of me and took me out to dinner to celebrate," Her voice trembled and he felt her press a little closer to him prompting him to wrap his arms around her a little more, "It was after dinner that we ended up encountering the mob. I...I..."

She shook her head again, "Ariun-ya..."

"Why does it still hurt?" He felt her shaking and wetness hitting his arm, "Why won't it stop hurting?"

"Because she was your mother," He felt his heart ache at the sound of her voice, "It's only natural for it to hurt even after so many years," It still hurt for him to think of his family and Corazan as well, "The pain won't truly go away. It'll still hurt, but the hurt eases when you remember the good memories,"

She was quiet, but he felt her shaking ease. She spoke after a few minutes as she raised a hand to her face, "How do you know?"

"Because I've lost the people that I loved," He wondered why he was telling her this, "It still hurts, but every time I remember the good memories of them, it eases a little,"

She turned her head towards him and he caught sight of the tear tracks going down her cheeks. The sight of them made something inside of him twist. She stared into his eyes for a little before reaching up and cupping his cheek. He tensed at the contact, but she didn't seem to notice. Her voice was soft as she finally spoke after a while, "The darkness in your eyes stems from the deaths of those you loved," She moved away from him and slipped out of his arms, "You know what I feel, yet it's much worse for you because it wasn't just one person," She turned fully towards him, "I must be pathetic if losing just one person affects me the way it does when you lost so many, yet the pain never shows in front of others."

"You aren't pathetic," She seemed surprised at hearing him say that, "Everyone feels and deals with pain in diffrent ways, so you shouldn't be pathetic,"

She smiled slightly before moving back over to him and kissing him. She pulled away after a few minutes and murmured, "Perhaps you're right," She moved away from him and turned her head towards the moon before heading towards the door, "Goodnight and thank you Law."

He stared after her before looking up at the moon. He groaned softly and muttered, "What the hell is going on with me?"

He was answered with waves crashing gently against the sub and a soft breeze.

End