Wow, an update on time? Haha, I think I'm getting good at this whole update on time thing. Anyway, even with everything that happened this week I still managed to get this chapter done. It's been a bit hard lately... Anywho, I do not own One Piece! Mina's mine though. Anyone who you don't recognize as canon are mine too. Oh, another thing: There's a lot of swearing in this one...

Chapter 7: Another Chance Encounter

"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." -Jean de La Fontaine

One week. That was all that was left with Mina's contract with Alderman and then she could go catch up with Law. However, the courier was wondering if that was really the best idea going from one job to the next. Alderman was an asshole and had proved to be an even bigger one these past two weeks. Mina was just tired of it now. Tired of being worked like the dog she wasn't, tired of not getting paid enough to even buy a loaf of bread sometimes, and just plain tired of dealing with black market morons. She needed a vacation and tracking down Law seemed an awful lot like work for her. The pirate had earned a bounty last week if the wanted poster she yanked off the wall in a bar was anything to go by. Apparently Law had a pretty bounty of 88 million sitting on his head. A respectable bounty in Mina's opinion but that also came with bounty hunters and rival pirates as well as the Marines looking to pick a fight with the Heart Pirates. And if there was one organization that she could choose to avoid for the rest of her natural life, it was the Marines. Being a pirate would equal Marines coming out of the woodwork at any given time which would then conflict with Mina's wishes to never see another Marine again as long as she lived.

The sound of rapid footsteps snapped Mina out of her pondering and she dashed behind an open door for cover. Mina was currently on another job; probably her last big job for the asshole and boy was this one a doozy. Her mark's name this time around was Enki and he was one of Alderman's business associates; a very important business associate. Enki was second in command and actually helped Alderman build his black market empire from the ground up. This man was nothing like Caito and Mina wasn't taking any chances this time. Enki's guards were actually functional as people instead of being hulking oafs who just hit hard and asked questions later once they tied you to a chair. No, these men would shoot to kill if they ever thought their boss was in danger. Now why couldn't Mina have been hired by Enki? It seemed like he actually knew how to treat his employees if they were loyal enough to search every inch of this sprawling estate for her. Enki's men knew that there was an intruder, they just couldn't catch her. Mina had taken precautions with this mission; namely sitting in front of the mansion in a tree to study who came and went for three days. Then there were the preliminary break-ins and simple reconnaissance. Basically it took her five days in order to get to this point and Mina was making damn well sure that she didn't get caught and strapped to a chair. Chances are, knives wouldn't be the only thing she'd see if she got caught and her arms had healed up so nicely too; hardly any scarring. Sure there were some faint lines here and there where her little ordeal was documented, but Law had cleaned her wounds nicely. Her side still hurt every now and again, but it had become manageable so long as she didn't strain herself.

Peaking out from behind the door, Mina saw that the coast was clear. This mansion was less tacky than Alderman's and Caito's combined with the pale walls with a touch of green in the paint and light blue carpeting had the mansion feeling light and airy. Feeling at peace with strolling down the wide hallways, Mina kept her ears open and her eyes peeled for any sort of guard activity. Suddenly, the power was cut; the well illuminated hallways went dark and Mina was left with the feeling that something was not right in the mansion. Her bronze eyes shifting back and forth, she couldn't make out much thanks to the sudden change in lighting. Ducking behind a suit of armor that Enki had collected, Mina waited until her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She also kept searching for any sort of noise in the mansion; anything to cue her in on what was happening. There was nothing; not even the faint sounds of guards could be heard. Something was not right and she knew that she should just duck out of there, but she was so close to her target that she couldn't get spooked and run out like a chicken. Normally she'd act on those instincts to get the hell out of there, but ignoring those feelings she crept down the hallway. Coming up to a corner, she sidled along the edge of the wall and peeked around the corner; there was nothing. Keeping her eyes open for any sort of movement, Mina finally reached the doors to Enki's office as she rounded the corner. As she walked to the doors, she kicked something; immediately jumping back, she surveyed the floor to find a gun. She blinked at it in confusion. Why would there be a gun on the floor before Enki's office?

Gently picking it up, the wood grain was cool in her hands and the gunpowder was fresh. Despite not liking guns at all, Mina could tell that this one hadn't even been fired recently. Shaking her head, Mina stood up and knocked on the office door; the light thudding resounded in the hallway eerily. A shudder ran up Mina's spine and her instincts told her to get the fuck away from the mansion. However, having come too far just to turn back, Mina grasped the knob of the door to find it unlocked; it opened easily. Going in and closing the door behind her, Mina found that the office was dimly lit due to the power outage, but thanks to a literal wall of windows, the fading rays of sunlight shone through; it was dusk now and the sunlight was fading fast so the illumination would only last for twenty minutes at best. The office was large with Enki's desk towards the back of the room in front of the windows. The walls were decorated with pictures of places Mina had never seen and even doubted their existence, china cabinets held rare items and statuettes from ruined civilizations, and a bar was located off to the right. A very tempting idea, but Mina decided against that little decision; she was still on the job after all.

Looking at the desk, she found Enki's wing-back chair facing away from the doors to his office and looking out the window. Figuring that the old man, Enki was well into his sixties, was either not there or had fallen asleep looking out the window, Mina approached the desk with the gun still in her hand. It was at her side, but the fact that she had it put her nervous mind at ease.

"Alright Enki, if you're here speak up," Mina more or less ordered him. "Alderman sent me to get some paperwork from you."

There was no answer, but as she stood in front of the desk Mina saw a hand resting on the armrest of his chair.

"I know Alderman's an ass, but pretending I'm not here won't get us anywhere," She sighed. "He told me to get the paperwork without you knowing, but I figured you could just give it to me and call off your guards so I can get back to the idiot without risking my neck."

Still, there was no answer. Perplexed, Mina went around the desk to look at the man herself and then wished she hadn't. The buzz of lights turning on barely registered in her mind as she took in the sight in front of her. Red stained the brown leather chair as it ran from a wound on his head. The trail started at his temple and ran down his arm and chest. Thankfully the man's eyes were closed as his face rested against the side of the chair. Enki was dead to a single gunshot wound to his head. The gun suddenly feeling heavy in her hand, Mina went to place it on the desk when the thundering sound of people breaking down the door invaded her mind. More than twenty armed guards wearing black suits and sunglasses spilled in from the hallway with all the subtlety of stampeding bulls and aimed their guns at Mina's frozen form. She was as still as a statue and had paled considerably at the sight of the guards.

'Fuck. My. Life,' Mina thought. 'I'm screwed. I'm SO screwed.'

No, scratch that; she was more than screwed. She was just plain old fucked.

"Enki sir!" The main guard called to him.

'Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck,' Mina swore in her head. Enki was deader than dead at this point and once the guards figured that out she was as good as dead as well. Taking a breath and schooling her expression into one of tranquility, Mina took control of this situation.

"He's dead," She deadpanned as she dropped the gun onto the desk; it hit the wood with a clatter. "Wasn't me though. He was dead before I got here."

The guards' posture stiffened and Mina saw many of them put more pressure on the trigger of their guns. Adrenaline kicking in and making her mind go into overtime, she hit the floor the moment the leader of the guards opened his mouth to scream, "Fire!" Gunshots rang out in the room as they attempted to gun her down. The sound of glass shattering and gunshots were the only things Mina heard as her heart and mind raced a mile a minute.

'I should've run...' She thought in a moment of clarity.

Instead of moping about what she should've done, Mina knew that she didn't have the time for regrets, she looked around at what her possible escape routes were. Suddenly, it hit her. No, it wasn't a bullet or a large shard of glass, but rather the realization that she was in front of windows. Smirking to herself, she knew that she'd get out of here alive. As the rain of bullets tapered off, she would have to get the timing absolutely perfect in order to get out without a bullet wound. Quickly looking around, she saw that the large paneled windows had been shot out thanks to the guards' fabulous aiming skills. Getting to her feet, Mina bolted for the window that had taken the most damage. Glancing behind her once, she saw the guards taking aim once more but by then it was too late for them. Flinging herself out the window, Mina felt gravity take over as her stomach dropped with the sensation of free-falling. Her bronze eyes watched the ground come up to meet her.

-:-

It had been three weeks since the end of Mina's supposed contract with Alderman and Law was getting somewhat impatient. Although he knew that this was the Grand Line and the chances of both of them meeting in the same place again were slim at best thanks to the fickleness of Log Poses and electromagnetic frequencies that said compasses lock on to. Still, one would think that the meaning of "I'll catch up" would mean that she'd catch up soon. Shoving those thoughts away, Law relaxed in the atmosphere of the bar once again; land was always a welcome sight to the doctor as it meant he was one step closer to One Piece and being the King. The bar was slightly crowded which gave him and his men ample cover as they drank to their hearts' content in the corner they had claimed for themselves. Since their seats were close to the doors, the pirates had an excellent view of those coming and going as they pleased, so it proved to be of use in case any bounty hunters or rival pirates walked through the door. But, so far it was just vagabonds and locals; nothing to worry about.

Seeing that there were no rivals around, some of the Heart Pirates began talking and flirting with the women in the bar so the crew was enjoying their stay in the dimly lit tavern. Law stayed on the sidelines for the most part, not finding any women there worth his time. Besides he was there to relax and he could get a girl anytime he wanted; a shark never stirred when in the presence of mere guppies.

"Miss, I'll have another round," He told the passing woman thinking it was a waitress.

However, Law was incorrect when he thought it was a waitress. Either the alcohol must be pretty strong or the lighting was worse than he thought, but when she stopped to stare at him her identity hit him like a brick on the head.

"Law?" A genuinely surprised voice asked.

It was Mina, but she looked a little worse for wear upon closer inspection. Dark circles shadowed her eyes and she looked smaller than he remembered. It was another moment before he realized that she had dropped a bit of weight, which probably wasn't a good thing considering she had already looked to be underweight when they first met.

"Did you just think I was a waitress?" She asked the man with a quirked eyebrow. She certainly didn't look like a waitress in her torn jeans and black tank top.

He just smirked at her. He wasn't going to answer that question.

"Won't you join me?" Law asked in return; rather pleased about the latest turn of events.

Rolling her eyes at his tone and his smirk, Mina made herself comfortable in the seat opposite of the man. It was a simple booth made for four, but Law had been sitting there alone as his crew gallivanted around the bar flirting with women or just relaxed at the bar drinking.

"So what have you been up to Miss Mina?" Law was interested in what had kept her.

Apparently though, it was the wrong question to ask as Mina scowled at the thought.

"Trying not to die," She said bluntly. "I think I've seen enough guns to last a lifetime."

"And just who is trying to kill you?" The pirate was a bit curious as to what happened.

Mina sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I believe the question is, 'Who isn't trying to kill me' because it seems like everyone and their mother wants me dead for some reason or another," Mina admitted.

When Law didn't say anything else, the brunette knew that she just couldn't dodge the question. She'd have to tell him...

"Fine," She grumbled. "It's a long story but I'll give you the short version. Alderman sent me to pick up some more paperwork from his buddy Enki. Enki pretty much helped Alderman become the black market tycoon he now is and somehow I got framed for Enki's murder therefore pissing off every black market dealer this side of the Grand Line. Oh, and I'm broke thanks to me having to bribe some merchants in order to avoid getting killed by a bunch of armed goons. Some severance package eh?"

Law almost found the whole thing funny. Maybe it was because someone would have to have some a lot of bad luck in order for that to happen.

"You have extremely bad luck don't you?" Law chuckled.

"I'm glad you find it funny," Mina's words were dripping in sarcasm. "And it's not so much as bad luck as is the fact that I attract complete and total bastards."

"Name calling Miss Mina?" Law's smirk grew wider.

Mina didn't answer that one; instead she returned his smirk with her own. However, the smirk soon vanished as a complete and utter look of 'Oh crap' as she saw who walked through the bar doors. Law followed the woman's line of sight to a man in a trench coat with a hunting rifle slung across his back and sunglasses on his face. He stuck out like a sore thumb in the bar and thanks to that, one look at the man sent some people running.

"Friend of yours?" Law asked Mina.

The brunette swallowed thickly.

"Uh, you could say that. That's Sirus. Alderman's head of security and former bounty hunter," Mina explained quietly. "He's been tracking me for the past three weeks."

"Alderman set you up," It was more of a statement than a question on Law's part.

Her expression told it all. He was right; Alderman set Mina up.

"Actually he set me up twice," Mina stated. "Caito was supposed to kill me but since I didn't cooperate he didn't know it was me. Also, Caito was an idiot but you probably figured that out the moment he opened his mouth."

Law chuckled. Ah, Caito... What a moron.

"I went back to Inari Island at first to give Caito a shakedown," Mina said. "That's how I learnt about the first time and how I put two and two together. Then when I noticed it was Sirus chasing me, I knew for sure Alderman set me up."

Mina watched the man with the hunting rifle out of the corner of her eye. Maybe he won't notice her... It was then that Sirus looked directly at Mina and Law and began his approach.

'Dammit!' Mina yelped in her head as she desperately looked for a way out.

"Relax Miss Mina," Law's smooth voice made Mina give him a frantic look.

"Relax!" She hissed lowly at him. "How can I relax when there's a man with a hunting rifle hellbent on killing me walking this way!"

Law merely sent her a bemused look. She was way too tense in this situation. Maybe she didn't recall the deal they made six weeks ago, but it still stood. Sirus better turn around and walk away if he wanted to keep his head. Thanks to Sirus' idiocy and not knowing who was sitting across from her, the Heart Pirates were watching closely thanks to the fact that the am unknown man in a tench coat was approaching their captain. And when the man reached for his gun, many of the pirates abandoned what they were doing.

As Sirus stood next to Mina, who was studying the wood tabletop with some fervor at this point, his hand rested on the rifle slung on his back. Law just watched Sirus for the time being, however he was prepared to grab his nodachi that was leaning up against the wall.

"Mina..." Sirus spoke; his voice gruff. "You know why I'm here. Though I'm surprised you eluded Enki's men in the end."

Mina stopped staring at the tabletop as she looked up at the man. Her head tilted off at an angle as she gave a cruel smile.

"That's your problem then," She said eerily calm. "You should know that jumping out of a three story window won't kill me thanks to my powers. Alderman should have paid more attention to my skill set."

Sirus scowled at her attitude and his hand tightened on the rifle.

"And what would that be?" He asked tightly.

Mina gave a low chuckle as she narrowed her eyes at the man.

"Survival," She said. "No matter what this world throws at me, I survive it."

"Survive this," With that Sirus pointed the gun at her head.

The sound of metal was heard and a glinting blade was leveled at Sirus' throat. Mina looked at Law, a bit shocked that he'd do that. But when she saw the look on his face, she realized just how screwed Sirus was. Law wasn't angry, no he was more annoyed than anything. Probably because some asshole comes waltzing in like he owns the place and then interrupted, not to mention threatened, someone he was having a conversation with. No, Law didn't like that one bit.

"It's considered rude to interrupt someone's conversation Mister Sirus," Law said as he kept his blade level at the pale skin of Sirus' neck. "Now, is there something you need from my new subordinate?"

If Mina wasn't surprised before, she sure as Hell was stunned now. Her jaw dropped at that mention and something in the back of her mind reminded her of the deal they had made. Sirus however, was wary of the man holding the blade and tried to keep his shock to himself.

"Y-You're serious?" Sirus said. "You should know that every black market dealer affiliated with Alderman and Enki will want her dead once they realize what she did."

"We're pirates," Law shot back coolly. "We're used to it. And besides, we don't always pay for our supplies. Now, Miss Mina how exactly did you survive jumping out of a three story window?"

Mina took a moment to answer as her mind was currently on overload.

"I'm a Devil Fruit user," She said with her mind on autopilot. "I ate the Tori Tori no Mi. Model: Harpy Eagle. Jumping out of windows is child's play to me thanks to my ability to fly."

Now, Devil Fruit users themselves were a dime a dozen on a place like the Grand Line. Such abilities were commonplace when it came to high ranking pirates and Marines, but flight itself was a more rare ability granted by such fruits. Mina traded the underwater world for the world above the treetops and one that could almost touch the sky itself. Of course her powers were an accident so it was that she just got lucky; one of the rare moments she was really.

"Don't make such a fuss over that ability," Sirus snapped. "Compared to the other powers granted by those cursed fruits, flight is one of the more useless abilities."

Mina's eyes narrowed as her anger slowly built to a boiling point. Sure she can take insults about her personality or how she has bad luck rather well, but badmouth her capabilities and you're as good as dead.

"Shut your mouth old man," Mina said as a deadly glint appeared in her eyes. "I can tear out your throat with one movement of my claws. You've seen me do it before. What makes you think that I can't do it to you?"

"Because you'll be dead before you get the chance!" Sirus' hand tightened around the trigger.

But before anything happened, before any gunshot rang out and spattered blood on the walls and floor, blood ran from Sirus' throat and stained the floor where he stood. With a simple flick of the wrist, Law had cut the man's throat. Sirus' hands loosened and dropped the rifle as he wrapped a hand around his throat. Blood gushed out from between his fingers and he fell to his knees. His head smacked the table and Sirus fell over only to remain still.

With a simple flick of the wrist, Law cleaned the blood off his sword and sheathed it. Mina looked at Sirus' body with a quirked eyebrow and rather curious if he would manage to survive that little encounter with the table and Law's sword. Sirus remained still on the ground and even when she nudged the man's shoulder with her sandaled foot, he didn't move.

"Well, he's dead," Mina said bluntly. "Thanks for that one, though I wish you would've given me the chance to tear out his throat."

It was at this time that the Heart Pirates decided to see what all the fuss was about and came over to check on their Captain. Paying no attention whatsoever to the body on the floor, they just simply ignored it.

"What was that all about?" The ginger, Shachi if Mina remembered correctly, asked.

"He was annoying," Law simply said. "Also he interrupted our conversation."

His crew found that to be the most ordinary answer there was. As the men wearing boiler suits nodded, Mina vaguely wondered if everyone on Law's crew was just as crazy as he seemed to be. Shoving those thoughts away, the brunette wondered if they should move away from the body.

It seemed that Law read her mind when he stood up, leaning his nodachi against his shoulder and told his crew to vacate this bar in favor for a new one. Some men pouted because they had managed to woo some hapless women in this bar but once they realized that there was no other option, they went along.

"Coming Miss Mina?" Law threw the question out there.

"Did you really mean what you said to Sirus?" Mina asked suddenly.

Law chuckled.

"Of course," He said. "Interrupting people in the middle of a conversation is impolite, wouldn't you agree?"

Mina chuckled lightly in amusement before standing up herself. Stepping over Sirus she joined Law and the other Heart Pirates in walking out the door after someone paid the tab.

"Why is she following us Captain?" Bepo asked.

"Because Miss Mina has decided to join the crew," Law said.

"You know what that means right guys!" Shachi grinned widely.

Mina sighed as the men around her suddenly yelled out the word, "PARTY!" at the top of their lungs. Oh boy, this was going to be fun.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Review! Even if you just wanna say "Hi." Can I just say that this chapter was insanely fun to write? Haha! Yes, we're one Arc down with a long way to go. Next time Mina settles in. Just how well will that work out? Stay tuned! Catch ya' later.