What's this? An actual update that's on time? Wow, must be a cold day in Hell then. Well, I did promise this one before Saturday so here it is! Granted I didn't get as far as I wanted thanks to this scene going on longer than I expected. Ah, well. Disclaimer: I do NOT own One Piece. Only Mina.

Chapter 5: Another Unfamiliar Ceiling

"Don't accept rides from strange men- and remember that all men are strange as hell." -Robin Morgan

Waking up was always a hard thing to do. Even more so when your body felt like it had just been hit by a rampaging Sea King. Not that Mina would know what being hit by a Sea King felt like; she may be unlucky, but she wasn't that ill-fated. Groaning softly, the brunette rolled over on the bed she was on. Wait... Bed? Her eyes snapping open, Mina found herself staring at a row of beds pushed against a wall. Her bronze irises flicking around to the various things in the room, it was safe to say that she was in an infirmary of sorts. The room was rather large and open, metal cabinets lined the far wall, and it reeked of disinfectant and rubbing alcohol. Crinkling her nose at the smell, Mina sat up. Or tried to at least; she ended up back on the bed clutching at her right side as it suddenly felt a bit hard to breathe. Right... Asshole Olaf decided to deck her in the ribs. Her breathing returned to normal after a moment of clutching at her side and she struggled to sit up once again. Pushing off the mattress with her left arm this time, she made it into a sitting position.

As Mina's mind slowly woke up, she suddenly realized that she wasn't in her jeans and shirt, but rather light blue loose-fitting pants and an equally loose-fitting button up shirt of the same color. Since the cuffs of the long sleeve shirt were undone, Mina saw that there were bandages covering parts of her arms. Gently pushing the sleeves up, she saw that a good ninety-percent of her arms were bandaged. The few patches of her tan skin showed through wherever the big oaf had missed cutting due to the amount of blood on her arms at the time and the bad lighting.

"Oh, you're awake," A male voice observed.

Her bronze eyes flicked away from taking in the sight of her bandaged wounds to a smiling man in a white boiler suit wearing a red, plaid woolen hat with ear-flaps. It took Mina a grand total of two seconds to figure out what happened and where the hell she was. Looks like she had another fun-filled day with Captain Law in her immediate future.

'Oh...' She realized. 'Fuck my life, I'm on a pirate ship.'

A voice in the back of her head told her that she was saying that quite a bit lately, however Mina quickly stomped on the voice and focused her attention elsewhere.

"Since you're wearing that boiler suit, which is an... Interesting fashion choice I might add, I'm going to assume that you're a member of the Heart Pirates," Mina told the woolen hatted man.

The man's smile wavered a bit, but stayed on his face.

"You'd be right to assume that," He said. "The name's Astor and I'm a medical assistant."

"So are you the one who bandaged my arms then?" Mina asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Nah," Astor said with a grin. "That was the Captain. I have to admit that it was surprising to see him carry you in."

Now that was some interesting information there; she didn't know that Law was also a doctor. Though his knowledge of anatomy coupled with his Devil Fruit powers made him a rather scary guy if you just so happened to piss him off.

'Again,' Mina thought. 'A rather creepy guy if I do say so myself.'

It was then and there that Mina decided to play nice with the pirates. She had escaped one close encounter with death just to land in another situation. What was the saying again? Out of the frying pan and into to deep-fat fryer? Though there had to be a reason why Law would pick her up off the ground and tend to her wounds; and that was what unsettled her the most about the current situation.

"So, what's the grand tally for my injuries?" Mina asked; rather curious about the number of cuts on both her arms and about her ribs.

"You've got a broken rib on your right side," Astor started with her most serious injury. "I wouldn't lift anything heavy or do any heavy activity until that heals up. You'll be in pain for a few weeks, but a mild painkiller can ease that. And then come your arms... You've got a grand total of fifty-seven cuts; twenty-seven on your left and thirty on your right. I have to ask, did you get tossed through a plate glass window or something?"

Mina took the news of her injuries rather well. The cuts would heal and so would her rib, but the no heavy activity put a damper on her mood. Not really the thing she wanted to hear at the moment; she had been hoping that her injuries weren't that bad.

"No, I was used as a human knife-sharpener for four days while being interrogated by a guy who made a fencing foil look sharp."

Astor blinked; or what Mina guessed was blinking since she couldn't see his eyes thanks to his hat, but as he didn't so much as move a muscle after telling him what had happened to her she guessed that he was processing her words.

"Oh," Astor finally said after a minute.

Mina frowned slightly. That's all he had to say, 'Oh?' He's the one who asked her what happened... Whatever, she didn't plan on getting attached to the pirates anyway.

"Well, I'm going to go get the Captain," Astor told her as he turned on his heel to walk out the door.

"For the record, what time is it?" Mina asked Astor's retreating form.

"Eight thirty in the morning," He told her over his shoulder.

Ah, so she hadn't been out long. The last time she looked at the clock it had been close to midnight; and that was when she was leaving Caito's mansion. The sudden thought of Caito made her scowl as she reclined back against the metal headboard. That rat bastard. Ugh, no wonder Alderman was firing him. Well, it was more like Caito dug himself into a hole and Alderman was just filling in said hole... With Caito still in it of course. That thought brought a smile to her face.

"I'm glad to see you're enjoying your stay Miss Mina," Law's voice was starting to sound rather familiar to Mina at this point.

Glancing towards the door, sure enough there was Law leaning against the doorjamb of the infirmary.

"Hmm, well I've stayed in worse places than this," Mina said honestly.

If she were to be completely honest with the fuzzy hatted man, his infirmary would be the equivalent of a five star hotel room to her. Just how many nights had she slept in trees or on the ground? Right... Too many to count. Not that she minded or anything, it just felt good to sleep in a bed sometimes.

"I'd imagine so if getting captured is something that happens to you often," Law remarked as he pushed off the doorframe to walk closer.

A frown pulled on her lips as she didn't like what he was insinuating there.

"Normally I'm not as careless," She stated dryly. "But there are certain things I can't control. Like how much information my boss decides to give me."

Law noticed how she spoke of her employer. If her tone was anything to go by, it was safe to say that there was a mutual hatred of one another.

"Glad you brought that up Miss," Law stopped at the foot of her bed. "Who exactly do you work for?"

A thoughtful look took over her features. Her bronze eyes studied him for a moment; searching for something. Apparently finding it, Mina sighed lightly and then winced.

"I work for a man named Alderman," She said point blank. She really didn't care if the pirate knew who she worked for or what she did. "He's the branch head for the black market located in the earlier parts of the Grand Line."

"You seem rather willing to talk. Why did Caito have someone torture you?" Law observed her willingness to talk to him.

Mina gave him a crooked smile.

"Ah, well you haven't threatened me. In fact you've done the opposite," She said, her eyes twinkling with mirth. "I'm much easier to get along with when I'm not being threatened. Also, Caito was an ass and I just didn't feel like cooperating with him or his men. Now, my turn for a question. Why did you pick me up and tend to my wounds?"

Law smirked at her.

"I don't remember agreeing to taking turns."

"It was implied," She countered easily. "It's only fair after all."

"I'm a pirate, I don't need to play fair," He countered just as easily.

Mina gave him a serious look.

"Any other pirate would've left me there facedown in the dirt; maybe even take my belongings. But you did neither and instead brought me on your ship and made sure I got proper medical care. I'm just curious as to why, Captain Law."

She was right. A few of his men had asked him why as well, but they were more easily placated with a simple glare than anything else. There wasn't so much as a peep out of them after that. However, Law had a feeling that Mina wouldn't be that intimidated by a simple glare and wouldn't even stop her from asking.

"It was because I felt like it," Was his long awaited answer.

Mina blinked and tilted her head to the side. She then shrugged slightly and dropped the issue completely.

"Alright. That's good enough for me."

That was it? All that fuss and all Law had to say was the he just felt like tending to her wounds?

"I find the answer 'because I wanted to' the reason for doing a lot of things in life," Mina answered his unasked question. "Just one more question if you'd be so kind as to answer it."

"If you answer one more of mine," Law made a deal with her.

Mina let her head fall back against the headboard as she stared at the ceiling. It was draining talking to this man; her brain was working overtime trying to understand his motives.

"Fine, shoot," She deadpanned.

"What exactly do you do for a living?"

Mina's head snapped up so fast that she thought she'd give herself whiplash; she was utterly shocked that anyone would ask her for her job description. Most people assumed that she was just another one of Alderman's grunts that ran a ship.

"Well, I don't really have a job per se," She admitted. "But if you must know I'm basically a cross between a courier and an informant. In short, I'm just basically a glorified carrier pigeon. Alderman gives me the documents he needs delivered, I deliver them; he needs me to retrieve documents, I go through hell and back to get them to him. The bastard probably loves making me sweat."

That was certainly an interesting profession and it looks like she wasn't happy with her job either if that's what she thought of her job.

"Your question, Miss Mina?" Law prompted.

"Yes, where do we go from here Captain Law?" She asked the million dollar question. "I have to get back to Alderman after all in order to get paid for the trouble I went through on this mission and I'm assuming you want to go about your merry way doing whatever it is that pirates do."

That was a good question. What was Law to do with her now that they'd already set sail from Inari Island and were now en route to the next island? Mina couldn't exactly commandeer a passing boat in order to get back nor could she find one of Alderman's associates to take her her back; she didn't exactly memorize their routes. Only when the trips were too far did she ever memorize the routes of Alderman's "business" associates. Even then the chances of them cooperating with her were slim at best.

Without so much as an answer, Law turned from his guest and went to walk out of the room.

"I'll have Chase bring you something to eat," And with that, he was gone.

Mina rolled her eyes. Why bring her along when he didn't even have an end game? I mean it wasn't exactly rocket science to figure that she'd end up heading to a different island. Though Lostrowan Isle, where Alderman was located, was an island after Inari Island, the chances of the stars aligning so that both the pirates and Mina were headed to the same place were slim. Running a hand through her hair she grimaced at the feel of dried blood and dirt running through her fingers. Her eyes flicking around the room once more, Mina located a bathroom. Sure the chances are that it didn't have a shower, but it was sure to have a sink.

Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she got to her feet only to nearly fall over. Apparently not eating anything for- What was it now, five days? Well, not eating anything for an extended period of time was not the best thing for the human body as it tends to rebel when it hasn't been fed. Shaking off the dizziness, Mina then located her suitcase by almost tripping over it. Stumbling forward a bit, she grabbed the headboard of the opposite bed to keep her upright. Apparently some genius had the bright idea of putting a heavy, reinforced leather suitcase next to an injured person's bed and in their way instead of putting it somewhere else. Like under the bed for example; or at the foot of it for that matter. Cursing their stupidity, Mina grabbed her heavy luggage and heaved it onto the bed. Sure they said no "heavy" lifting, but her suitcase really only weighed seven kilograms; she blamed it on the multiple eternal poses, her log pose, clothes, books, and more random things than anyone could shake a stick at; there probably was a stick somewhere in there. Now there was also another unusual feature about her suitcase. Not only did it have straps so it could be worn on her back, but there was a lock on it; a four-digit multiple-dial combination lock to be exact. Spinning the four dial with numbers etched into them, the combination was practically muscle memory for her; five-one-eight-one was the combination. Each dial had zero through nine on it so there was almost an endless amount of possibilities if someone tried to crack it. The lock popping open easily, Mina rummaged around in her suitcase for a moment to pull out a pair of black pants that would actually fit her. She found that upon standing that the ones she was wearing were a bit too long and she'd step on the cuffs when walking. Tripping over her own two feet wasn't something she wanted; it wasn't that she was accident prone. No, it was more the fact that she felt more comfortable if she wasn't stepping on the bottom of her pant leg every time she walked. Then she grabbed her bottle of shampoo that she always carried with her, closed the suitcase so it reset the lock, and headed to the bathroom.

Clean hair always made Mina's mood improve; it was because there was no longer any blood in her hair that did it. Upon walking out of the bathroom with her hair in a mess thanks to the rough towel dry she gave it, another man in a boiler suit, apron, and wearing a black ten-gallon hat walked in carrying a tray of food. Mina's stomach growled rather loudly when she caught a whiff of warm food.

"Here ya' are little lady," The man grinned as he set the tray down on the nightstand next to her bed. "Cap'n told me the story, so take it easy when ya' eat. Don't eat too fast, ya' hear?"

Mina blinked at the man's accent. He could give any country singer a run for his money with that accent.

"Uh, sure," Mina said slowly. "Thanks."

He smiled at her again.

"Don't mention it, Miss," He waved it off. "I reckon that ya' want some privacy so I'll get outta yer hair for know."

With that, the man she was assuming was Chase walked out just as easily as he came in, leaving a confused young woman to blink at the doorway. It was only when her stomach growled at her that she snapped out of her small stupor. With that, Mina finally had something to eat. Sure it may have been oatmeal and a warm cup of tea, but it tasted a hell of a lot better than anything she remembered cooking. Taking the cook's advice, she ate slow and let her mind work out the situation she was in. She was injured, on a pirate ship with a creepy Captain, and more or less late for her meeting with Alderman... She was not looking forward to seeing her boss that's for sure.

Mina had been lounging on her bed, her left arm behind her head as she studied one of the ledgers she had gotten from Caito's mansion when Law walked in again with one of his subordinates close behind him. She immediately glanced to the hat of the man she didn't seem to recognize, it wasn't a person she'd met before if the green baseball cap was anything to go by; of course if the crew wanted to screw with her all they would have to do is switch hats around and she'd be none the wiser. But she doubted that they'd play that sort of trick on her at this point in time. She snapped the ledger shut and sat up straight as Law stood at the end of her bed like he did earlier in the day. The man in the baseball cap stayed by the door, waiting for his cue.

"Hello again," Mina said. "I take it you've decided to answer my question after all."

Law chuckled lowly before answering.

"You'd be correct Miss Mina," He said. "After talking with my navigator, he informed me that we'll be passing by an island while we head to the bearing on our Log Pose. Now, what is the name of the island you need to go to?"

"Lostrowan Isle," She said easily. "An Autumn island that's currently in the middle of Summer right now. I do have the Eternal Pose to it if you need it."

Law turned to his navigator for confirmation that it was the island they were passing by.

"She lucked out," The navigator mused. "We're headed to Tidenote Bluff but we're passing Lostrowan anyway."

It was sweet music to Mina's ears. Tidenote was a rather nice place to go, though they'd need to be wary of the sharks in the waters though.

"Careful of the sharks around there. They'll circle around you like no tomorrow; they just love people after all," Mina gave them a bit of a warning. Information was usually the difference between life and death on the Grand Line. Nothing sucked worse than being uninformed about anything on the ocean called the "Pirate's Graveyard." It was just asking for trouble. "I appreciate you stopping off at Lostrowan though. As long as you don't stay the full three days it takes for the Log to reset, you'll be in Tidenote in two days after stopping there."

"Well, we need some parts for the oven," The navigator informed her. "According to Chase it's been on the fritz for awhile and Inari Island was sort of..."

"In the sticks," Mina deadpanned. "Yeah, they aren't the leading island when it comes to anything related to machinery. No, they're more farmers than anything. You should be able to find a way to fix your oven on Lostrowan; it is one of the central hubs for the black market after all. Little-to-no Marine interference, plenty of ships carrying illegal goods, and pirates... You'll fit right in."

Mina had said the last part with a touch of humor in her voice. Ah, she loved it when things went her way for a change.

"No Marines?" Law asked rather curious as to why an island that was in alliance with the World Government would have no Marines or Marine base located nearby.

Mina grinned; still sporting the black eye but at least the swelling on her cheek had gone down.

"Alderman bought them off of course," She said before frowning. "Bribery and blackmail can get you far in life when you know how to play the game. I should know, that's how he roped me into working for him."

Ah, the greatest failure in her still young life... Oh, how she hated remembering how Alderman got his little hooks into her and made her work for him. He may have an evil mind that she respected to an extent, but he was just an ass. However, when Mina saw the smirk on Law's face she snapped her attention to him.

"He suckered you into working for him, didn't he Miss Mina?" Law's tone made her scowl at him.

"I'd rather not say," She said with an icy tone. "Alderman forced me into a contract saying that I 'cannot disclose the terms of employment' with anyone else."

Law still had that smirk on his face. She'd love to just wipe that arrogant smirk right off his face... However, that would mess up the agreement they just made and she didn't want to get tossed overboard for attacking him. Keeping a lid on her more aggressive side, Mina instead gave Law a rather dark glare.

"I-Uh..." The navigator brought attention back to himself. "I'll be needing that Eternal Pose though..."

Breaking off the glare, Mina reached for her suitcase again. She left it unlocked when she got the ledger, so finding the Eternal Pose was as simple as looking through the compartments where they were usually located. Sliding the Pose out of the compartment, she handed it to Law who then gave it to the navigator. Checking his wrist for the Log Pose and then the Eternal Pose, he proceeded out the door to give the new directions to the helm; leaving Law and Mina alone for the time being. With the navigator gone, Law reached into his pocket to pull out the keyring she had tossed at him the night before.

"You said you'd need these back, right?" Law asked her as the keys glinted in the light of the infirmary.

"Yes," She answered shortly. "Alderman needs those so he can 'take care' of Caito."

"Why were you at the mansion?" Law asked as he tossed the keys to her.

Catching them in her left hand, Mina studied him for a moment before answering.

"Caito was in charge of an outpost island," She said. "Basically Inari Island was where anything too important to be stored on Lostrowan was kept. Caito was suspected of... Bending the rules by writing false numbers down and basically selling things behind Alderman's back. I was to retrieve the ledgers so Alderman can compare them with the 'Master List' so he could decide what to do with Caito should he be found guilty. I got caught, tortured, and then I escaped and ran into you. The rest is history."

Law, content with the answer, turned from Mina and proceeded out the door; his heels clicking on the linoleum floor.

"We'll be arriving on Lostrowan the day after tomorrow. Take it easy Miss Mina, you wouldn't want to irritate your wounds," He said as he walked out the door.

Mina sighed, and then winced at the pain in her ribs. It was going to be a long two days.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a review then! Alrighty folks, important news here: I'm going on vacation for a week or so. Well, ten days to be exact. So, Chapter 6 won't be next week, but the following week. I doubt I'll have time to work on Chapter 6 while I'm away, but I'll probably get a few paragraphs in or so. So, see ya' in two weeks!