Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Answer to reviewer:

Jag: she did kill Lee. It's why the dagger was bloody.

Start

Law returned the clearing to normal after gathering all of Ariun's daggers. He walked over to where she was sitting against a tree and held out the daggers. She took them with a light smile and attached them to her belt, "Thanks."

"No problem," He took a seat across from her, "You did fairly well and if it hadn't been for the shadows, you probably would have won,"

Ariun shrugged with a small smile, "Nah you would have found someway beat me even if it weren't for the shadows."

Silence fell around them as Ariun reached into her canvas bag and pulled out two water canisters. She handed him one before opening the other and taking a long drink from it. He opened his canister and took a drink while observing Ariun. She had returned to her normal form a few moments after the spar ended which allowed him to see the beads of sweat running down her form. Now that they were sitting and not fighting, he noticed something that shocked him. A tattoo ran up and down her left arm. It started just above her wrist and ended just below her shoulder. It looked like a mixture of black waves, dots, and jagged lines. Ariun seemed to notice his stare and smirked prompting him to ask, "What does that tattoo mean?"

She lifted the arm up and twisting it slightly to show that the tattoo went all around her arm, "It means connection, freedom, and fighting," she let her arm drop, "The waves represent my connection to my caretakers and friends. The dots represent my freedom from my past. The jagged lines represent my will to fight against that which is determined to take away those things," She rubbed the arm lightly, "I got it a few years back to cover the scars on my arm."

"Scars?" He frowned slightly.

"My left arm was injured the night my mom died," She answered while staring down at the tattoo on her arm, "The doctors said that it was miracle that I was able to still use it after how bad the injury was," She sighed softly and looked up at him, "If my caretakers hadn't found me as soon as they had, I would have either lost my arm or bled out,"

Law was silent as for a while which allowed me the time to push my memories back and focus on relaxing so that I would hurt as bad later. Law finally spoke after a while, "Ariun-ya who are your caretakers?"

I froze at the question before sighing. Perhaps now would be the best time for him to find out. Nodding to myself, I offered him a smile, "Believe it or not, my caretakers are pretty famous," He offered me a raised eyebrow, "Shanks and his crew were the ones that saved me all those years ago."

"Redhair?!" Law's eyes were wide and I couldn't stop myself from giggling, "W-why the hell would he do that?"

I shrugged my shoulders with a small laugh, "I still don't really know. Shanks is the kind of guy that would do stuff like that," I laid my head back against the tree I was sitting against and sighed softly as my eyes closed, "Even after all this time, I wonder why he chose to save a kid like me, but in the end, I'm glad for it."

Law was silent which meant he was digesting the information. I was kinda glad for that because it allowed me to think of the man and I silently wondered just what he was doing now. Probably still drinking like crazy and enjoying what life offered. My lips twitched slightly and I smiled softly. I wonder what you would think of me now Shanks? Have you seen my bounty poster? Are you proud of me?

Law couldn't believe that Ariun knew Redhair Shanks; a fucking Yonko! Yet, he could tell she wasn't lying which meant it was true. Glancing at Ariun from below the rim of his hat, he noticed her smiling softly. She must be remembering something good about her past. Perhaps is she really did know Shanks, he could use that connection to strike a blow against the pink bastard. He would definitely try, but for now he would just file that information away since it would be awhile before he could actually use it.

Law and I went back to the hotel just in time to watch Callen get sent flying into a wall. I looked at Law before looking towards the one that had done that and felt my jaw drop. Maki was giving the green haired male one of his 'I'm-going-to-kill-you-slowly-and-feed-you-to-the-seakings' glares. It made me shiver and wonder what the hell Callen had done to piss Maki off that badly. The fact that Kuro was actively holding back the normally calm man just proved how pissed off Maki was. I was about to question the situation when Law called out, "What is going on here?"

"Captain!" Shachi called from his place near Kuro and Maki, "You're back,"

"Captain," Bepo walked up to us as a group of crew members walked over to Callen with frowns on their faces, "Callen was bad mouthing Ariun. He was saying things like how Ari-chan shouldn't be one of us and that we should have just left her where she was," Bepo offered me a sorrowful look, "He was saying that the only reason Ari-chan was on the crew was because you were using her as a-"

Maki let out a loud growl cutting Bepo off and making everyone fall silent, "Fucking bastard don't talk abou-"

"Maki," I cut the silver haired man off using a cool tone that I normally didn't take, "Stop,"

"But Stor-" Maki protested as he turned towards me only for me to hold up a hand.

Ignoring the stares that were focused on me, I concentrated on Maki while pushing down my anger towards Callen. It wouldn't due for both of us to be angry after all even if I wanted to beat the shit out of the green haired bastard. I moved towards Maki and placed my hand on his shoulder as Kuro released him, "Calm down. Being hostile will get you nowhere in a situation like this."

"What the hell do you expect me to do?!" Maki shouted at me, "He was-"

"I don't care what he was saying or doing," I cut him off, "I've seen and heard worse ever since I ate my devil fruit. You know that Maki," He frowned and looked ready to argue, "Even with you guys protecting me, I heard the whispers and saw the glares. I've learned to ignore them,"

"It doesn't make it right," He growled out, "He's one of our Nakama. He shouldn't say shit like that,"

I could feel his anger draining and felt slightly relieved even as I murmured, "Maki I know, but that doesn't make hitting one of our Nakama right. Anger will do nothing, but show that he's winning," Maki sighed and slumped slightly which showed me that I was getting through to him, "So calm down, okay. We will allow our captain to deal with this."

"Okay," He ground out.

I turned to Law and saw him looking at me in surprise. I smiled tiredly at him, "I'm going up to my room."

Without another word, I turned towards the stairs and began walking.

As Ariun disappeared up the stairs, Law turned his attention to the groaning form of Callen and the still angry form of Maki. He had known that something like this would end up happening at some point, but he had hoped it wouldn't occur for a while yet. Frowning, he tried to figure out a way to deal with this situation. He would have to seperate the two, get their statements, and the statements of the crewmates around him before he made any decisions. The question was: What exactly was he going to do in the end?

After taking a quick shower and getting dressed, I opened the window while grimacing slightly at the lingering scent of blood. While I didn't mind the scent of fresh blood too much, I disliked the scent blood took on after an hour. It just turned my stomach. I pushed that thought out of my mind as I walked over to my bed and continued to dry my hair. After I finished drying my hair, I tossed the towel towards the laundry basket in the room and laid down. My mind went to what had happened downstairs and I sighed softly. I had known it would only be a matter of time before someone had such thoughts, but this quickly? No. I frowned softly as I stared up at the wooden ceiling. I heard a knock on my door and called out, "Come in."

The door opened and closed as I heard footsteps walk in. Law's scent flowed through the air making me wonder what he wanted. I was slightly surprised when he sat down next to me. He stayed silent for a little while before asking, "Why did you act so calm?"

"What use is more anger in that type of situation?" I asked turned my head towards him, "Maki was already pissed and I know Kuro was close to losing it, so why add me to the mix? I would have just made the situation worse,"

"So you decided to be the bigger person?" He asked her only to earn a hollow laugh.

He looked down at her and saw her eyes dull causing him to frown. She smiled a bitter smile, "Like always, I have to ignore every comment made about me to avoid making the situation worse. I have to be the one that calms down Kuro and Maki over every stupid little comment about me. I can't lash out because that would just make everything worse."

"Ariun-ya..." He trailed off as she shook her head.

"I thought everything would better," Her voice turned soft and she returned her gaze towards the ceiling, "I thought I wouldn't have to hear that kind of stuff from anyone save for strangers that knew nothing, but I was wrong," Law's fingers clenched as he grit his teeth, "I should have known the other shoe would drop and I would be hated by someone that was supposed to be family once again,"

"Ariun-ya," He cut off whatever else she was going to say, "Callen-ya is just one man. No one else on the crew thinks that way,"

"How would you know?" She looked at him with those dull eyes that he was beginning to hate.

"I know because they were glaring at Callen-ya as I was walking upstairs," He informed her, "No doubt they're reading him the riot act for those comments,"

"But why?" He found himself smiling.

I stared up at Law as I pulled myself away from the memories of hate filled whispers and spiteful glares. He was smiling making me wonder if it was a trick, but I shoved that away. Law wouldn't trick me like that. Law's reply made me smile, "Because you are a member of this crew and they care about you," I felt warm as I sat up, "If you don't believe me, let's go and see."

Hearing the guys rip into Callen verbally, I found myself smiling and relaxing. It would seem that even if I didn't spend time with everyone, they all did in fact care about me. I felt Law settle his head on mine as his arms curled around my waist causing me to blush slightly even if I didn't really know why. I pushed the blush down and murmured, "You're right."

"I know," He replied making me roll my eyes.

End