Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece


Start


I offered the group of six a smile as we waited for Maki, Kuro, and Kaze to join us. The group consisted of five mechanics and one navigator. Shinji, Rook, Josh, Callen, and Kiri were the mechanics. The navigator was called Shippo. Out of all of them, Shippo was the only one that really stuck me as someone that could be good at this if only because he reminded me of a kitsune. I wonder if he had a devil fruit and if it allowed him to transform into a kitsune. Before my thoughts could really take off, Shippo spoke, "So what're we doin' exactly?"

"You guys are going to learn the fine art of infiltration," I was met with dubious looks and mentally rolled my eyes, "One of the things we're going to teach you is how to break into places without being noticed,"

"Why would we want to do that?" Callen asked with a slight sneer, "What can a woman like you teach us?"

Inwardly rolling my eyes, I kept a passive smile on my face, "If you can infiltrate a place we want to steal from, you can get important information that would keep us from running into trouble. As for what I can teach you," I darted towards him and wrapped my arms around his throat with a dagger, held loosely by my tail, aimed at his jugular, "Speed, stealth, and so much more is child's play to me. Just because I'm a woman," I released Callen and returned to my former resting place against the wall, "Doesn't mean shit. If anything, it makes doing such things easier since most rich men won't think a pretty face could be a threat."

I tossed my dagger into the air as Callen snorted, "So fucking wha-"

Without a thought, I flicked my dagger towards him and watched as he slammed his hand against his neck. My dagger was imbedded in the wall of the training room behind him and I offered the man a smirk as I watched him remove his hand which revealed a small trail of blood coming from a thin almost not there cut, "I don't miss Callen dear. If I wanted to, I could kill each and every person on this ship before they realized it," I offered the suddenly pale group a sweet smile, "It's a good thing we're all members of the same crew isn't it?"

They nodded as the trio we were waiting for walked in. Kuro took one look at the scene in front of him before let out a bark-like laugh. Maki looked at me in amusement and asked, "Which one?"

I gestured to Callen, "Cal-dear decided it would be such a good idea to underestimate what a woman could do," I offered the still bleeding man a look of faux concern, "Perhaps you should go to the infirmary. Bleeding like that isn't good for training."

Before the man could utter a single word, Kuro walked over to him and threw him over his shoulder, "I'll take him. You guys get the basics down."

We watched Kuro leave with a red faced Callen and I yawned before looking at the others, "Okay we'll see where you stand and start from there."


Law looked up from his files when the door the infirmary was thrown open, "Kuro-ya what are-" He caught sight of the struggling green haired man, "What happened to Callen-ya?"

Kuro let the struggling man drop to the floor, "Bastard decided to be the one idiot on this crew to underestimate what Storm could do," Callen laid there for a few moments as Law stared at the man incredulously, "He's lucky that we're crewmates or he might have more than a scratch on his neck."

Law felt his anger rise. Part of it was from Callen being an idiot and letting his past rule him. Another part of it was at Ariun for hurting a crewmate. He mentally groaned before watching Kuro leave. Callen was standing up and Law gestured to one of the exam beds while he stood up from his desk. He gathered some supplies and made his way over to the sitting green haired man. He looked at the bleeding neck before asking, "Callen-ya do you know how close you are to dying?"

"What?!" The green haired male paled, "But that bitch missed-" He paused before murmuring, "She said that she doesn't miss..."

"Just a few inches closer and you would have been bleeding out," Law felt slightly amused at the fear coming off the man, "Callen-ya she is just as much a member of this crew as you are, so treat her with the respect you do the rest of the crew,"

Law took a closer look at the wound and mentally calculated just how close to death the man had been. Upon finding the results, he found himself glad for taking Ariun on as a crew member once again. Just a single inch more and Callen's external jugular would have been severed. He chuckled softly as he worked to close the wound, "Callen-ya you will have to wait a few days before you can train with Ariun-ya and the others."

Callen froze before swallowing, "A-alright."

Once Law finished, he sent Callen off while smirking in amusement. While he was still angry at what happened, he was too intrigued by Ariun's skill at wielding her daggers. While he had seen plenty of her skill, it was clear that she didn't show off half of that skill most of the time. Perhaps he should spar with Ariun and see just what she could do without her devil fruit. It would be rather nice to see where he stood against a skilled opponent and if it turned out that they were somewhat close in skill, they could continue to spar and grow stronger together. He felt his smirk grow and nodded to himself. Yes that was perhaps the best use of his time when not busy with his duty as a captain or studying his new medical journals.


I blocked Shippo's kick and nodded to the man causing him to back up, "You're pretty good at hand to hand and finding the weak points of the body. With a few adjustments and adding a weapon to your style, you'll definitely be good at this."

"Really?" Shippo's grass green eyes lit up as he ducked his head under the rim of his black minstrel hat and tugged at one of his exposed red bangs.

I had to admit he was kind of cute doing that. The bashfulness and the fact he had yet to lose the boyish edge to his features made the twenty year old quite cute. I avoided saying it aloud since it would both make this awkward and I felt uncomfortable saying such things. I mentally grimace as I turned to watch the spar going on between Kaze and Kiri. Why was it that I could flirt with and tease Law without any trouble, but I couldn't do the same to Shippo? I mentally sighed and ran a hand through my hair as I turned my attention to the other sparring matches. Kuro was currently paired with Rook while Maki was currently paired with Shinji. Josh was leaning against the nearby wall; I winced at the sight of the blooming bruise on the man's cheek. I had sparred with Josh first to set the tone and found the man to be an excellent fighter. Because of that, I hadn't held back and Josh had suffered for it. Sure the black spiky haired man had waved me off, but I still felt sorry for red eyed man. I walked over to him and he offered me a smile though he winced, "How'd Ship do?"

"Fairly well," I eyed his cheek, "How are your ribs?"

"They're fine. I'm going to see Captain after you dismiss us," He waved off my concern, "Don't be sorry about that. It was bound to happen since I could tell you needed a good fight,"

"Still I should have held back like I was supposed to," I blushed lightly in embarrassment, "I'm usually better at it than that,"

"Can't be helped now," Josh once against waved off my apology, "Ship how'd you think you did?"

"Good," The green eyed red head eyed the black haired man, "You okay Bro?"

"Fine," I stared at the two in surprise.

"You two are siblings?" It didn't make that much sense since they didn't have any underlying scents that spoke of kinship.

They shook their head, "We're brothers through bond not blood. We used to work as mercenaries before Cap. found us and offered us the chance to join," Josh offered Shippo a grin, "Ship here was the navigator of our mercenary band while I was the second in command. The boss we were under got himself killed and Cap. took us in."

Ah that explained why they both could keep up with me.


After the sparring matches ended, we figured out where to start with them. It was lucky for us that each of them had some experience even if it wasn't a lot. It gave us a base. Once we dismissed them, I helped Shippo take Josh to the infirmary. I had found some sort of companionship with the two over their past as mercenaries and the fact we had a few common clients. Law looked up as we entered and asked, "What happened to Josh-ya?"

"I got excited when he showed that he could keep up with me during our spar and didn't hold back like I should have," I flushed with embarrassment as I admitted that, "Sorry about that,"

"This is the second crewmember you sent in here," Law commented as we helped Josh to the exam table, "What seems to be the problem?"

"Well Cap," Josh grinned sheepishly, "My cheek hurts quite a bit after Neko-chan here hit me," I offered him a dry look for that nickname, "My ribs hurt a little bit and are bruised from what I can tell. My left leg aches a bit every time I step on it,"

Law offered me a look of amusement as I ducked my head, "Sorry."

After that, Law sent us out and I walked with Shippo towards the main deck since we were currently above water. I took a seat on the railing and Shippo commented, "Josh'll be fine and he's probably kicking himself for losing to you."

"Really?" I offered the red haired man a raised eyebrow.

"Yup," He leaned against the railing and stared out at the waves, "Josh was the second in command of our band of mercs after all. The fact he lost to a girl five years his junior is probably like a kick to the teeth for him," He let out a laugh, "But it'll teach him to not get cocky. The only one who really challenged my brother was the Captain and Captain always wins,"

"So it's like having his eyes opened?" I asked while watching the clouds float overhead.

"Yup," Shippo snickered softly, "It's a shame I didn't get to take a picture of you taking him down," Yup Shippo could be a fox in mischievousness alone, "The thing ya gotta watch out for is getting complacent-"

"Don't worry about that," I cut him off while rubbing my right arm as it flared in phantom pain, "I'm not about to get complacent...Not again,"


"She's strong Cap," Law listened to Josh as he made sure that the man did indeed only have bruised ribs, "She could probably give you a run for your money if you sparred with her," The black haired man's red eyes looked at his fuzzy hat wearing Captain, "You gonna spar with her or those other two soon?"

"I'm planning to," Law smirked upon seeing Josh grin, "Ariun-ya and I will spar on the next island. I'll spar with Maki-ya and Kuro-ya soon enough,"

"Cap she's a fast one," Law paid close attention to the red eyed man, "And flexible in ways that remind me of a cat,"

"Hence the nickname 'Neko-chan'," Law summarized with slight amusement while recalling the dry look Ariun had given Josh.

The beat up man nodded, "Yup. Oh and watch out for her tail. She abuses the shit out of it and those rings she's wearing only give you a little warning. If it weren't for those rings, I probably woulda been on my ass faster than you could say 'Neko'."

"Noted," Law's idea to spar with Ariun was getting better by the moment.

Law quickly finished with Josh after that and smirked as he cleaned up the supplies he used. If Josh was telling the truth, Ariun would be a tricky opponent. With what he had seen of her skills, Law was willing to agree with Josh. A spar between them would interesting indeed.

End