It was the night before they would dock at the navy base where Law had ordered Velica to hand deliver the hearts to the marines. The crew had found Velica in the most unexpected of places. She sat at a table in the far corner of the mess hall with one of their strongest bottles of rum out on the table besides her. She somehow managed to drink through half of the bottle by herself, but she was left in a state that nobody ever expected to see her reach.

Velica was never one for the drink. She actually avoided it at all cost due to the effects it had on turning even the best of men into pigs. She would become royally pissed when she would catch the others indulging in such and would hide herself away from the rest of them until they sobered up. The crew knew something was wrong and so word quickly spread back to their captain about their worried crew member.

Once again, Law seemed to have been dragged away from his work just in order to inspect the woman that they had taken on his ship that seemed to cause them more trouble than actually help. He gave a deep sigh when he caught site of just how bad the situation had became. She sat with her back to him, her head resting against the table, a freshly poured glass clinging to her hand. Law scowled and approached the disappointing woman as he stepped to her side before she even bothered to acknowledge him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Law asked, watching as she raised her head with a slow motion. Her eyes were hazed over and her entire face was a cherry red from the effects of the drink. Her eyes tried to focus on his, but she was far too drunk for it and instead her eyes rested on his entire face as she did her best to form words that made sense.

"The hell do you care Trafalgar? It's not like you give a damn anyway." She lifted her hand that held the glass up and threw her head back with the rim pressed to her lips, swallowing the full glass whole. Her head seemed to be too heavy at that point and went crashing down against the table, shaking the large piece of wood as the noise echoed through the room.

Law narrowed his eyes, never before had he seen this woman so gone before in all his life. He sighed deeply, annoyance starting to become a trait with her around. He reached out and went to grasp her shoulder, only for her lightly fast reflexes to suddenly kick in and she knocked his hand away with her own. Her head shot back up again, a somewhat manageable glare being sent the man's way.

"Don't even think about it Trafalgar! Don't you dare try to be like him!" she shouted, confusing the man as to wonder what she thought he was trying to do besides take her back to her quarters and allow her to sleep off the effects. He placed his finger and thumb between the bridge of his nose and pinched it roughly. He didn't have time for this he had far better things to be doing right now besides arguing with the drunken woman. He removed his hand and placed his arms across his chest, his narrowed eyes holding an intense stare down toward the unaffected woman.

"Go get some sleep Velica. You'll need to be up early in the morning." He watched as her face turned into a sneering expression. She stood quickly, her balance becoming off slightly as she went to fall. She reached out and grabbed hold of Law, who was right in front of her, to stable her drunken self. He gave a grunt of displeasure as he felt her smaller body grab his hoodie and tug against it as she tried her best to keep herself held up against him.

He noticed that even in her drunken state that she still had some knowladge as to what was going on, though her reactions weren't slowed it seemed that her mind took a bit longer than usual. She pulled herself close to the man, pushing her face into his chest. He tensed up, not expecting her to do this. He looked down at the top of her head and heard her give a deep sigh, her eyes most likely closed as she pressed herself to him.

"What makes you hate me so damn much Trafalgar?" It was nearly a humming noise that came from her question. Law had never seen her like this with her guard dropped as much as it was right now. Maybe that's why she never bothered to drink because she became too venerable around Doflamingo, giving the twisted man the opportunity to do with her body what he pleased? Either way, if someone were to walk in right now and see the both of them wrong ideas and questions would be raised by their situation. He placed his hands on her shoulder, an uneasy feeling coming over him from the position.

"You always give me the shitty end of every situation," she went on having Law pause with his hands on her shoulders. "No matter how much I try to please you or prove myself to you, you never seem to accept that I'm doing my best for you." She looked up at him, her eyes finally being able to settle looking into his own. His eyes widened as she started to ascend toward him on her tipsy-toes as her face started getting closer to his own. He felt his heart betray him as it spread up with each inch she approached him, damn his body.

She was almost there, her lips were almost upon his own when he finally snapped out of his trance and pushed her down and away from him. It was almost instant that she fell downward, having to catch her in his arms. He was confused, she went dead weight against him the moment he pushed her down. He pulled her up slightly noticing that she seemed to have passed out. His eyebrow twitched, she passed out right before she was planning on kissing him. He sighed, the finally effects of the alcohol seeming to kick in just at the right time. He sighed, relieved that it happened right then and there before anything would have happened that they would have both regretted.

He placed his arms around her waist and hosted her body up and over his shoulder. Though she was smaller than him, her muscular body type made her appear heaver than he had expected. It was different carrying her like this prior to capturing her in the sack and transporting her that way. With her now over his shoulder he adjusted his hat on his head and started toward her shared room, planning on dumping her off in her hammock before leaving to return to his own room, never to speak of this incident again.

A Pleasant Next Morning

It was early morning and Velica was more than feeling the after effects of her poor choice of last night. She groaned as Shachi and Penguin had to literally drag her from her bed and force her up to the deck of the ship. They had surfaced about half an hour ago and were reading Law's plan to put into action. Velica growled, not wanting to go through with this plan at all. She knew that she was going to get caught and have a very pissed off Doflamingo after her.

Just as she was about ready to take the final steps to reach the door that lead out to the deck, she was stopped when something came around her neck. It felt like the wind was knocked clean out of her body as she instantly dropped on the steps and would have tumbled to the bottom had it not been for the hands around her body. She looked up, seeing Law behind her with a calm smirk upon his lips. She felt so tired and almost as if death was upon her just waiting for her to kick the bucket. She lifted her hand to her neck and realized what had been placed around her.

"You bastard... Sea Stone, really?" she questioned, as if this task wasn't going to be bad enough he had to add a weakness to her. Law's smirk widened as he pulled her up to her feet, knowing that she was still too drunk to realize that he had just done her a favor.

"Since you're still too drunk to comprehend what I have just done allow me to explain." She narrowed her eyes. Besides giving her a handicap she didn't really understand what he had just done for her. "I just made it seem that you really are my prisoner and that you're working for me against your will." Her eyes widened. Why had he done something like that for her? She knew now that when the marines had seen her with the collar they would assume that she was indeed a captive of Law.

"Why would you do something like this for me?" she questioned, wondering where this strange act of kindness suddenly came from from the man behind her, holding her up so as she wouldn't fall and hurt herself. She could feel her powers slowly starting to be drained the more she stood there with the collar around her neck. She did not enjoy the feeling to say the least, but Law was indeed doing her a favor. He shrugged, allowing his hands to slip from her body once he was for sure that she wasn't going to topple down the stairs or pass out.

"I'm not one to do nice things for people, but I figured that even a woman like you needs a break from men like myself." She was confused. Where had this idea suddenly came from that Law had thought it was a good idea to keep her from getting her ass skinned by Dofalmingo? Never mind, she shook her head, knowing that the longer she stood there with this damn collar on the more and more she was hurting herself.

Taking a step she started back up the stairs, the railing being her only means of her not falling to the ground. Law watched as she said nothing but made her way through the door with a scrawl on her face. He chuckled to himself, knowing that he was safe because she still didn't recall the conversation that the two of them had last night. He placed his hand on his head and adjusted his hat before he himself walked out through the door, his blade by his side in case things went south for everyone.