And I live again. At least it didn't take me four months to write this one, eh? Haha! And I've finally reached chapter 10. Yay! Well, anyway, disclaimer on: I do not own One Piece. Mina and her cohorts however, are indeed mine.

Chapter 10: Another Tale of Piracy

"Does it involve sneaking and stabbing? Please say yes!" -Cicero, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

It hadn't been much of a shock for the orange haired man when those pirates refused to pay. It was a rather common occurrence for the King Pirates to have to deal with those foolish enough to refuse to pay. Of course it never occurred to their captain that not everyone had that amount of money. Duncan was a rich man from the start and if there's one thing that his crew would admit, it's that the epithet of "King" was rather fitting for the man.

The orange haired man as well as his associate, Flynn, had made their way through the woods of the Crissor island. The winding paths and surrounding trees made it a rather difficult area to traverse, but the two made it up to their hideout without much of a problem. The forests on the island were dense and mostly full of conifer trees; the green needly trees were highly abundant around the island. The King Pirates' hideout was an old castle. That was the main draw for the pirate Captain. He loved the idea of living in a castle and this one just so happened to overlook a nice town. The castle itself had been in a slight state of disrepair when they first arrived, but there were some quick renovations courtesy of the townspeople. A twisted arm here and there and the pirates were sitting pretty in their castle and the gray stone walls were as sturdy as ever. The castle was by no means a sprawling estate, but rather a small one which proved to be easy enough to defend if need be. It was comfortable in the sense that there was enough room for the King Pirates to comfortably live without stepping on each other's toes. Of course not everyone was happy with the decision to stay in the castle and quite a few of the men wanted to go back out to sea soon. Duncan, however, had no real plans to leave and had told his crew that if they didn't like his decisions to keep it to themselves otherwise there would be a practical use for the dungeon after all. Needless to say, the crew kept their opinions to themselves after that.

"Hey Scotty," Another King pirate said to the orange haired man when he came to the gates. "I didn't expect you to be back until dinner."

The orange haired man chuckled a bit.

"Well Karl, some rookies decided to take their chances and not pay our toll," Scotty explained. "I think Duncan needs to start looking forward to seeing some heads roll, don't you?"

"Come on Scotty," Karl sighed. "They're probably a bunch of kids. Why don't we let it slide just this once? You know that the toll is rather outrageous."

Scotty's blue eyes narrowed as he swung his arm around Karl's shoulders.

"Hm... If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that you were going against Duncan's orders," Scotty said coolly.

Karl laughed nervously. The blue haired man didn't need any trouble from his Captain. Quite frankly, this was the reason why Scotty was Duncan's right hand man despite that supposedly affable personality.

"Oh come on, I was joking," Karl insisted. "Those brats won't know what hit them once we're through with 'em."

The first mate patted Karl on the back with a wide grin.

"That's the spirit," Scotty was pleased to hear Karl change his tune so quickly. "Now, I can't keep the Captain waiting now can I?"

With a laugh, the first mate vanished into the castle. Karl glanced at Flynn only to freeze in terror. The young man's eyes were fixated on Karl. Those piercing gold eyes were enough to make anyone freeze in utter horror.

"Come on Flynn!" Scotty called to him.

Much to Karl's relief, Flynn followed orders leaving the blue haired male to contemplate his future with the King pirates.

-:-

Meanwhile at the Charming Angel's bar, Mina and Arthur were in the middle of their "happy" reunion with one another. The Heart pirates were still processing the eccentricity of Arthur and more than a few of them considered leaving. This included Law of course. Out of all the people they've met on their journey to One Piece, Arthur was single-handedly one of the weirdest they've met in a long time. However, the weirdest thing had to have been the scene currently in front of them.

Mina still had Arthur by the ear and wasn't showing any signs of letting go anytime soon. Needless to say, the blonde haired man was whining that it hurt every time she pulled on his ear. On top of the rather... Creative death threats she was issuing, it was proving to be too much for the Heart pirates.

"My, my, my! So violent Mina!" Arthur was remarking on her death threat that involved a can opener and a paring knife.

"What can I say? You irritate me to no end sometimes," Mina was about ready to toss the man into the wall by now. "And you still haven't answered me."

"Well maybe if you let go of my ear, then we'd be able to talk more civilly," Arthur was becoming irritated with her.

With a huff, Mina let go. Arthur then went to rub his poor abused ear with his free hand. Why only one hand you ask? Well... To put it lightly, Mina was currently sitting on his back and had his left arm pinned across it. Yes, a rather interesting turn of events but all that really needs to be said is that there was a breakdown in communications. Arthur really just pissed her off to no end sometimes, so she reacted accordingly. She had pulled him over the counter and slammed him on the ground with what some could call "excessive force" because the whole bar shook when Arthur hit the floor. It had been quite the spectacle really.

"Now then," Mina calmed herself down some. "Willing to talk now?"

"Well if you got off my back then yes," Arthur deadpanned. "And maybe if you stopped trying to break my shoulder too. Seriously, I'm not all that flexible."

Rolling her eyes Mina got up off his back and much to her annoyance, the man sprang back up as spry as ever. She swore the man was nearly indestructible sometimes.

"Well then, that was an interesting event," Arthur said as he swept off his dress. "Now where was I? Ah, yes, the King Pirates."

Mina took her seat at the bar once more and ignored the stares coming from her new crew mates. Apparently they hadn't expected her to literally lift the man up off the floor by the collar of his dress and put him in an armbar. Arthur began to right some of the chairs and tables that had been disrupted when Mina practically thrown him on the floor and sat on him in order to make him talk.

"Well, there's not much to say about them. They came to Crissor nearly four months ago," Arthur began.

The Heart Pirates had finally recovered a bit now that things had finally calmed down in the bar. They listened closely to the story Arthur had to tell.

"It was pretty average at first. Well, at least until their Captain, Duncan, wanted to make their base here. Long story short, they had the masons in the town renovate the castle to their needs and I didn't really appreciate it when they dragged people kicking and screaming out of my bar," Arthur gave a heavy sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck. "My attempts to stop them didn't end well. It sort of ended in me seemingly jumping off a cliff and faking my death. Thus, Annie was created. I've sort of been biding my time, but none of my plans really have a chance of working."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who's had a rough couple of months," Mina remarked dryly. "So you got your ass kicked. What about their Captain?"

Arthur sent the brunette a look. She didn't have to say it like that... But that was Mina for you. She had the tendency to be very blunt about certain things.

"Duncan... Well, he's a Devil Fruit user. I witnessed that much. All he did was so much put a hand on the mayor and the poor man was screaming something about how his face was melting off. I... Sort of regret looking at his wounds. Ugh. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick again," Arthur did go a bit pale at the memory.

"What kind of injuries did he have?" Law spoke up for the first time in a long while.

Arthur crossed his arms over his chest in thought.

"Let's see here... How to describe it..." He muttered to himself. "Ah! I know. Ever leave a candle on the stove? Yeah, it was kind of like that except there was a lot more blood and stuff. Also there was fizzing. Lots and lots of fizzing."

Well, that did sound gruesome. There were quite a few grimaces at the description; no one wanted their face melted off. That didn't sound like their idea of fun.

"Yeah, not exactly pleasant," Arthur said flatly. "The poor man died a few days later in Doctor Trent's office."

Law made a mental note to visit the doctor on the island for some more information. Though to him, it sounded like severe acid burns. Although he'd need either photos of the incident or a more professional opinion in order to make a decision, this information was very important.

"Anything else, my dear Mina?" Arthur looked to her.

"I got my information," She remarked. "Anything else, Captain?"

"No," Law was done with this exchange. He just wanted to leave now.

"Excellent," Arthur suddenly said as he clapped his hands together. "Now, Mina dear, care to answer a few of my questions?"

Mina did not like the Cheshire cat grin on his face nor did she like where this was going. Arthur hummed to himself as he went back behind the bar. Vanishing quickly, the man rummaged around under the bar. The gentle clinks and clangs of the bottles and glasses beneath the bar were the only things heard other than his humming. Suddenly, Arthur came back into view with a paper in his hand and his face in Mina's. He was quite furious for some reason with his eyebrows drawn together and a frown settled on face.

"What exactly is this!?" He snarled with rage in his eyes.

Mina looked rather taken aback. Her eyes went to the paper in his hands and her mood did a complete 180. Wincing comically, the brunette sighed.

"Oh come on," She sounded defensive. "I was 17 and on a bit of a wild streak."

"Wild streak!?" Arthur roared. "You call prison break, assault on Marine officers, theft, disturbing the peace, and dine and dash a wild streak!"

"Yes," Mina deadpanned. "I haven't skipped out on a meal bill since then."

Arthur deflated rather quickly after that response. His jaw dropped and he slammed his face on the bar counter, the paper still being held to her face.

"Not the point..." Arthur sighed. "So not the point... What would the Captain say...?"

"He'd laugh," Mina kept a straight face.

The blonde haired man just groaned into the countertop.

"What are you two talking about?" Sarge asked. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Heart Pirates were rather confused as to what the big deal was.

"Oh, just a bounty poster. For me," Mina said. "Nothing big really. Just some petty crimes from a few years ago."

Mina slid the poster out of Arthur's grasp and handed it to Law. Her crew mates crowded around their Captain to look over his shoulder.

The Heart captain glanced at the poster. He actually wasn't sure it was Mina on the poster though. The photo was of a teenage girl with cropped dark blue hair that barely reached the back of her neck. She was looking over her left shoulder with a very obvious grin on her face obviously directed towards the person taking the shot. The girl was standing there with a Marine officer in her grasp; the much larger, rather unconscious looking man was being held off the ground by his collar. The words in bold read: Wanted Dead or Alive, Cela. And the bounty was a measly sum of 7,000,000 beli.

"It was mainly because I made an ass out of this Marine Commander," Mina remarked as she remembered the events leading up to those charges with an amused smile playing at her lips.

"Are you sure you're not joking?" Shachi voiced the skepticism of the pirates.

"Why would I lie about a bounty that small?" Mina said with a quirked eyebrow. "Arthur probably figured it out because of my tattoo. He was there when I got it, so he'd know better than anyone else."

Tattoo? That prompted another look at the bounty poster. Sure enough, the halter top the girl was wearing in the picture didn't quite cover up the top of a tattoo on her back. The inked symbols were rather hard to make out, but it was there.

"Then why's it have your name as 'Cela'?" Sarge said gruffly. "And your hair is different."

"Alias," Mina answered easily. "You'd think I'd give my real name to a bunch of Marine goons? Especially since I wanted to travel unhindered at the time. And I had dyed my hair for fun. Rule 1, right Arthur?"

The man was still taken aback by Mina's nonchalance about the whole situation. Arthur just grumbled a response that was really only intelligible to the countertop. If his Captain could see him now... He'd probably be getting his ass kicked. Back then, the treasure hunters had elected Arthur as Mina's glorified babysitter. They weren't about to let a 13 year-old girl run rampant wherever she pleased, so the leader of the treasure hunting crew, a hefty middle-aged man by the name of Garrett, assigned Arthur to make sure she never got into too much trouble. Even meeting again as adults, Arthur still felt some responsibility for her actions. Old habits die hard and apparently Mina's reckless attitude was still there despite her having much more life experience than she did when she was 13 or 17.

Mina just looked amused by her friend's current state of mind with a small mischievous smile tugging at her lips. It then grew to an even larger smirk as she patted the man's head.

"Stop moping about an ass kicking that'll never happen," She told him.

With a heavy sigh, Arthur lifted his head off the counter and gave her an mildly annoyed look.

"And what're the chances that you're going to tell me that you somehow managed to get into even more trouble after this?" Arthur just sounded tired.

Mina just let her smirk speak for her. Even without her saying another word Arthur groaned and just put his head down on the counter again.

"I don't want to know, so don't tell me," Arthur said. "It'll just give me a conniption."

The bronze eyed woman just chuckled.

"Fair enough," She muttered.

Also Mina didn't want to get her ass kicked by Arthur. If he found out that she fell in with Alderman... Oh, she was kind of deader than dead at that point. There were a few people Mina never wanted to piss off to the point where they'd want to kill her, and Arthur was a man on that list. He was right below Law currently.

"Thank you for the information, Mister Arthur," Law said as he got up. "But-"

"You aren't thinking of leaving are you?" Arthur perked right up and cut Law off. "I thought you were going to stay here while Mina scouted the fort?"

Dead silence seemed to be rather popular in the bar because it was happening quite a lot. And confusion. Confusion seemed to be as popular as silence nowadays.

"Huh?" Seemed to be the general response of the Heart Pirates.

Arthur just gave them a look that spoke volumes; it was the type of look that just screamed "morons". Mina just shook her head.

"You know, I wasn't exactly volunteering my scouting services," The brunette sighed. This was going to be a pain. She just had that feeling again.

"I'm more interested in why Mister Arthur thought you'd be scouting, Miss Mina," Law wasn't aware that scouting was part of her list of skills.

Arthur snorted before rolling his eyes.

"What do you think we used her for? Her frightfully non-existent social skills?" The blonde haired man said sarcastically. "No, we used the fact that she could fly and blend in to our advantage. No one bothers to look in the trees for Devil Fruit users lurking in them because they don't expect them to be there."

Mina didn't appreciate the jab towards her social skills. She wasn't that bad. Was she?

"My main job with the Hammerhead Treasure Hunters was scouting whenever I wasn't hunting for food stocks," Mina explained as she crossed her arms over her chest. "As long as there's proper cover for me, I'll be able to spy on the King Pirates."

"So there was another reason why Alderman kept you around," Sarge snorted. "Doesn't surprise me at all..."

The most peculiar thing happened just then. Mina's tan skin paled to the point where she looked like she had seen a ghost. Her body went as stiff as a board and she looked absolutely horrified at the mention of Alderman. The woman was utterly speechless as she stole a glance at the blonde man behind the counter; a visible bead of sweat traveled down her brow at the sight. Many pirates followed her line of vision and felt the need to run. Arthur was, for a lack of a better word, pissed. Very pissed. Livid would be the proper word actually. If a glare could kill, Arthur would've killed Mina three times over by now; his shoulder were taught and his mouth was pressed into a hard line.

"Mina," Arthur hissed out her name. "Don't tell me... Did you seriously get involved with that man?"

Mina swallowed thickly.

"I-I can explain..." Mina said tightly before giving a nervous laugh. "I didn't have much of a choice in the matter... Life or death situation?"

Arthur continued to glare at the woman. Her bronze eyes searched for a possible exit rapidly. The door was out of the question, he could just run after her. Though there was the open window over there... Yeah. That would work. Loosening her muscles, Mina gave another nervous laugh before taking a few steps back towards the window.

"Well, look at the time," Mina said as she glanced at her non-existent watch on her right wrist. "I think I better go do that scouting thing now, right Captain? Oh, I'll be back in a few hours so feel free to hang around with Arthur. I'm sure he'll get you something to drink."

Law was too stunned to form a response. Mina was actually afraid of this man to the point where she'd run away from him. She wasn't even trying to hide her fear at this point.

"Don't you even..." Arthur was just about to hop over the bar. "You're not getting away from me, Missy!"

With that, Mina dove straight out the window and Arthur hopped over the bar a bit too late. Running to the window himself, Arthur looked at the sky to see the retreating form of Mina in her hybrid form. He frowned deeply before sighing. That girl... She'd get herself killed one of these days if she kept hanging around with the wrong type of people. He and the rest of the treasure hunters warned her how many times to keep to herself? About three hundred times, but it was fairly obvious that she didn't heed their advice. He often wondered if she even listened to their advice.

"What... Was that about?" Law recovered his voice before the rest.

Arthur scoffed before turning away from the window with a heavy frown on his face.

"I knew she would be trouble the first day we found her," He said as he stalked back over to the bar. "13 year-old girls throwing spears and wearing animal bones for clothes are always trouble. Never forget that."

"Huh?" Penguin summed up the collective thoughts of the pirates rather well.

Arthur sighed once more as he grabbed some liquor from behind the bar. He poured himself a shot of his most expensive whisky. Why was it that she always made him want to have a drink? Oh, right. She caused him a lot of stress when it comes right down to it.

"That's how we found her," Arthur elaborated before downing his drink in a single gulp. Wincing as it went down, the man just shook his head. "On a deserted island actually. When we first walked into the forests of the island, a spear was thrown down from the trees and it nearly put a hole in the navigator's foot. We look up, and there she is."

Arthur smiled fondly at the memories as he poured himself yet another shot.

"We warned her so many times about the type of people she should associate with. Falling in with a guy like Alderman was what we wanted to avoid when I came to her. Now pirates I can see her falling in with pretty quickly, so you guys are fine with me," Arthur gave them his approval before taking his second drink. "Just... Keep in mind that when we found her, she was wearing a tiger skull for a helmet. Try anything funny with her and it might be your skull she's walking around with next."

Arthur couldn't help but smirk at the looks on some of the pirates' faces. A few of them actually looked a bit disturbed by that idea. Which idea it was, Arthur could only imagine.

-:-

Meanwhile, Mina was having a lovely flight. It was so good to feel the wind on her feathers again. Soaring over the island, Mina was high enough in the sky to avoid drawing attention to herself. The bird's eye view allowed her to see where the castle was located. Eyeing the path leading up to the large stone building, she angled herself downwards to begin her descent into the trees. The thicket of conifer trees allowed for plenty of cover during her scouting mission. Maybe this wouldn't be such a huge pain in the ass as she originally thought. She probably just jinxed herself right there though.

Bringing her wings in for a landing, her talons grasped a thick branch of an evergreen tree to perch comfortably high up in the tree. The dense covering would work in her favor around here. She was even a few feet from the path leading up the castle but she knew that there wasn't a soul who could see her through the branches. Taking in the sights and sounds of the forest, she acclimated herself to the area as quickly as she could. Even in her hybrid form, her eyesight was better than an average person's. It only took a few glances around before she felt comfortable to move again. Gliding to another tree silently, Mina did the same thing. She stopped to listen and look around her. Sure this meant she would take a while before she reached the castle, but better safe than sorry in her book. To her, scouting was the same as hunting. Almost. There were a few key differences, but the basic idea was the same. Being silent and remaining out of sight were her two codes that she lived by while hunting and scouting.

Mina went from tree to tree, stopping to listen and look every single time she transferred branches. The trip itself was informative because she saw a few black bear cubs that she wanted to avoid like the plague. Where there were cubs, there was the mother. Mama bear would not like it if she got too close to the cubs. Yes, best to avoid any confrontations with angry bears. Though that wasn't all she saw on her trip to the castle. She saw the standard foxes, squirrels, and other small woodland creatures. The trip was a bit slow, but she wasn't all that familiar with the terrain so she didn't know what to expect.

Upon arriving at the castle, Mina observed two guards out front. They were leaning against the large door with rather bored looks on their faces. She'd agree with them there that standing guard in a relatively secure location was about as dull as watching paint dry. Personally she'd love to just sit in a tree and watch the change in shifts, but she figured that spending the least amount of time around the castle would be for the best. The castle itself was taller than it was long with a small turret on the roof where the Jolly Roger of the King pirates fluttered gently in the wind.

Mina glided from tree to tree as she searched the perimeter for any other guards in the location other than the front door. She expected to find at least five other men at random intervals around the castle, but surprisingly there was no one. Not even on the roof. Did Duncan have his head so far up his own ass that he didn't even bother protecting his castle correctly? Mina was stunned at the lack of protection around the place. Or maybe his subordinates said "fuck it" and left their posts because it was so damn boring. Shaking her head gently, she travelled to the next tree and looked around. She blinked when she saw a window wide open on what she gauged to be the second floor. The large wooden window was rather tempting. Looking around once more and listening for anyone nearby, Mina jumped from the tree and silently flew to the access point. Her talons grasping and digging into the loose stones just below the window sill, she hung just below the window and out of sight of anyone in the room. Carefully peering into the room, Mina was greeted with the sight of a library. Blinking she took a quick look before gauging it to be a safe move to enter the room. The door was shut to the rest of the building so she would have some time to bail if anyone entered. Climbing into the castle, Mina reverted to her human form for this little expedition. The library was fairly large with stone walls and stone floors. Well that was to be expected; everything seemed to be either made out of stone or wood around here. However, despite the amount of shelves in the place, it was a fairly empty library; a few scarce books sat on the shelves. Though something on a table caught her eye rather easily.

Quickly slipping out of her sandals, Mina pulled a leather cord out from her left pocket to tie her shoes together and then tie it to her belt loop. Her sandals, although they provided little protection for her feet, were worn for this very reason. Mina's footfalls were silent when she didn't wear shoes and it's not like they really even mattered when she transformed into her hybrid or full form, so if it was up to her, she'd just go barefoot all the time. Padding over to the table, Mina blinked in surprise when she found that they were the floor plans for the castle. The blue paper had the architecture written as plain as day on it. Smirking widely, Mina rolled up the plans and tied another leather cord around it before tying them next to her shoes. Just as she was about to leave, the doorknob began to rattle. She wouldn't be able to make it to the window in time, that much was positive. Looking around quickly, she found the rafters being the next best place to go. Launching herself up to the rafters using a combination of pure strength by jumping off the table and her Zoan powers, she settled in the rafters just as the man walked through the door.

This man had completely foregone a shirt and just wore a pair of black pants with matching dress shoes. Granted he was a fairly muscular fellow, but that didn't excuse the act of stupidity he was just about to perform. The black haired man didn't even pay attention to his surroundings as he tossed the book in his hand onto a shelf without so much as a glance around the room. He then left; the door closing behind him. Disgusted by his lack of foresight, Mina hopped down from the rafters and looked outside. There wasn't a soul outside either. Shaking her head at how easy this was, Mina flew to the trees to begin her travels back to the bar.

Mina was about halfway back when she heard the loud laughter of men coming up the path. Stilling in the trees, she took in the sight of 4 men. Her bronze eyes widened in shock at what she saw though. One of the men, a huge bear of a man even larger than Sarge, was carrying a man in a white boiler suit.

I never said anything about me being evil now did I? Well, you should know that I'm totally evil. In all seriousness though, thank you to all those who've reviewed, favorited, and followed. And also for putting up with my shoddy update schedule. Your patience is much appreciated. The next one... Well, I'm gonna try for next month about the same time as this update. Oh, and another thing. If any of you catch the reference to one of my favorite game series in this Chapter, then you've earned my undying love. In the non-creepy way of course.