I know I said it would be later updates, but it's the weekend and I had this idea in mind. So while I have time, I decided to get this chapter out of the way before the idea disappeared.

I know that the chapters are a bit short, but they should grow longer as the story goes on.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but I do own OC.

Chapter 2: Shoes please…

Drake wished he would have prepped better before they left days ago. Not because they were low on food, but because Leanne didn't have shoes.

Curled tightly in a ball in the seat beside him, she gripped her numbing pales toes tightly, trying to seal the heat to them from the bitter cold piercing through the metal of the mini-sub from the freezing water of the North Blue.

He should have let her put shoes on, but the moment called for urgency when he needed to leave the base, and all the running that they did warmed her body and feet. But now, the cold was getting to her. He offered her his own boots, but she just shook her head with chattering teeth, he needed the boots, too, and just like the loyal marine she once was, she put him first.

So, instead he searched the mini-sub for anything to warm her up from getting frost-bite. Luckily, he found blankets; they were thick, but they were also course to the fingers touch, causing an itchy-like feeling to appear on exposed skin.

She wasn't picky, and just wrapped the blankets around her shivering body and feet that included toes until he could barely see her passed the thick wool.

He saved one for himself and, in discomfort, he wrapped it around his shoulders.

The first island that they could to, he needed to get supplies, and Leanne shoes, and no sooner did he think this, did the radar beep a faster rhythm when it picked up on an island.

"Sir?" Leanne poked her head out from the mountain of blankets after Drake docked and was getting up out of his seat.

"I'm getting supplies." He answered her, walking with loud footsteps to the ladder leading to the hatch.

"What!" Her eyes opened wide and she struggling out of all the thick, itchy blankets around her. Finally, she popped out from the cage of wool and jumped to the floor, chasing after her former commanding officer with only a single blanket at her shoulders. "You can't go out there!" She warned, looking up the metal ladder that Drake was climbing.

"I have to." He replied, spinning the hatch open and crawled out into the frosty air biting at his exposed skin that the blanket couldn't cover.

Leanne was quick to follow after him, ignoring the biting ice at her feet from the ladder and the frost covered dock. "Sir!" She rushed to his side, gently grabbing his arm.

Drake turned slowly on his heel with a deep frown, looking down at her curl toes, watching them turn red and blue from the cold.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but you can't just go out in the open like this during the day. You are a wanted man now." She tried to reason with him, though she didn't know exactly what he did to cause treason, all she knew is that he did do something for the government to call him a traitor.

Drake was silent and just stared at her feet, the red and blue colors were staring to mix in a terrible hue of purple. "You need shoes." He said and turned back on his heel to the town covered lightly by a thin sheet of snow.

Leanne would have argued, but he was right. Looking down at her feet, she saw the purple shade darkening to black with each passing minute in the cold weather. So, instead, she quickly followed after her former commanding officer.

People stared at her funnily; shoeless in the North Blue's winter weather was always something to look at with surprise, but that's not what worried Leanne. It was Drake. He was an easy person to point out, though it was only two days since they left the base, the Marines were quick to get out bounty posters for anyone that was a threat to them. But luckily, people were more interested in her bare feet then her former commanding officer.

They walked into a small thrift store with odds and ends things, ranging from little house hold items to furniture. There was a small man behind the counter with glasses that made his eyes look three times larger then normal, and he shifted through a box, his head almost inside while he muttered something under his breath angrily.

"Excuse me." Drake spoke up at the foot of the counter.

The old man yelped and his hands dug under the nick-knacks in the box, letting them rain down on everyone as his hands went up.

Drake ignored the small metal objects bouncing off his broad shoulders and blinked slowly. "How much money do shoes cost?"

The man mumbled something; ignoring Drake for a second while he picked up small metal parts then replaced them in the box. "About 3,000 to 4,000 beli, depending on the pair." The man mumbled while reorganizing the contents within the box.

"Hat, gloves, coats?" Drake questioned further.

"The same, depending on the pair once again," the old man repeated.

"Hmm." Drake hummed slowly as he pressed his lips in thought. "I'll be right back. Do you mind if she stays here?" He pointed to the slightly shivering brunette as his side. "I don't want her getting frost bite."

This got the old man's attention and he leaned over his counter to look at the girl's feet. "By Santa Clause's red suit of jolly! Those are the worst colored frost bitten feet I've ever seen!"

The two just blinked at him.

"Right." Drake said slowly. "Do you mind if she stays here?" He repeated the question.

"Yes, yes." The old man waved it to the side. "She can stay."

"Then I'll be back shortly." Drake nodded to the man, turning on his heel sharply to the doorway.

"Oh and Sir!" The man called before he left, making Drake stop and glance over his shoulder. "Be careful out there, I head the Jackal Pirates are docked and they're nasty." He warned gravely.

"I see, thanks for the information." Drake said calmly and turned back to the door.

Leanne watched the back of her former commanding officer leave the store before looking around the packed room, spotting an old musty high-back armchair. With a flop, she sighed into the cushions as the chair's old wooden legs creaked under her weight. She curled her legs up at her stomach, resting her chin on her knees as she wrapped the blanket further around her body to cover her numb toes.

She wondered what Drake was doing. From what she knew, he didn't have money on him, so maybe he had some in the sub and was getting it. Though, he would have gotten it before they left, wouldn't he? She just shrugged it off; he knew what he was doing. It was like that in the past as well. He was hard to read, even in the toughest situations, but he always had a plan that worked out in the end. No one knew how he did it, not even the Vice Admiral knew. Though Leanne just figured it was how Drake was, which is why she looked up to him so much. He was a good man.

...Which, is why she was still confused on why he was now considered a traitor to the Marines. He must have done something terrible...yet, she knew Drake well enough that it wasn't for naught. Just like he had a plan for everything, he had a reason for everything. And if he trusted her, then she would trust him as well.

The little bell above the door dinged, snapping Leanne from her thoughts to see Drake as he walked in through the door again.

He strode over to the counter and then placed a wad of beli in front of the old man. "Let us see all the winter gear you have."

The old man looked at him with wide eyes and turned around to the back of the store that followed with the sounds of moving boxes.

Leanne found the reaction of the old man to be odd, and she looked at her former commanding officer curiously. "Sir…" she leaned forward in the seat, gently placing her bare feet back to the cold wooden floor.

Drake turned to look at her with an expressionless look with something dark spattered on his face, but the dim light made it hard for her to tell.

"Where did you get the money…?"

People were now staring at them like they were an item walking down the snowy streets side by side.

Drake had replaced the terribly uncomfortable thick wool blanket for a heavenly comfortable thick navy colored coat with buttons along the right side of his chest, plus a belt wrapped around his waist. And to stay incognito, he wore a black hat covering to just above his eyes, hoping that it would help him hide who he was, but the large x scar on his chin was a dead give away.

Leanne, though, wore a similar coat in a dark crimson red with a fur lined hat to match and, most importantly, she was also now wearing a good pair of sturdy black boots. She didn't have to worry about being noticed, one she was a low ranking marine and two, the government probably didn't know she was with Drake, but they would find out sooner or later.

She blew into her gloved hands, watching her breath collect in her hands then flutter way with the wind towards the bulletin board filled with wanted posters and she stopped in her tracks while Drake continued walking.

There in the middle of other bounties was her former commanding officer. It was a picture she was familiar with since it was the one that was in the paper when he became a Rear Admiral, but that's not what made her stare at it wide eyed. It's what it said.

X. Drake

Wanted Dead or Alive

Pirate - 50 million beli.

Leanne slowly turned her head from the poster to Drake.

He was looking over his shoulder, and in the glistening light from the snow she saw that then spots on his cheeks were dark red: blood.

She stared at him for what seemed like eternity before whispering softly so only he could hear. "Pirate…"

So that's the end of that. I have a idea where this is going and I'm glad people think it's good so far.

Also, I don't know if the bounty is too high or too low. I figured since Drake let the marines to be a pirate he would have a larger bounty, but still not too high because I don't want him to have over 100 million before he even gets to the Grand Line.