Ginger looked towards where Law sat underneath a tree. He was only a few feet away, and yet he seemed to be relishing in whatever silence he could get. He was the kind of man who could tolerate being around other people but still wanted the comfort only being alone offered. It didn't mean that he disliked being around his crew, in fact it was quite the opposite. Law wasn't that type of person. He simply enjoyed the little time he could get from having his space.

It had been a day since they'd left Marineford with their lives and all the while Luffy was still unconscious, considering how they'd been received by the Pirate Empress and the women of Amazon Lily it was no secret that they were unwanted but were tolerated because of Luffy. There were complaints of food or too much fish as far as the crew were concerned, but there worse things to endure than having to rely on the sea for food.

She watched with slight enthusiasm as Shachi fished with no luck. It would perhaps be the second day of eating fish alongside whatever sides Keki prepared. She supposed she didn't mind so much considering that Keki's food more than made up for it. Her knuckle was pressed against her cheek as she sat cross-legged on the ground beside Keki and within Law's peripheral vision.

"He's warmed up to you." Ginger raised an eyebrow and looked at Keki.

"You think so?"

Keki took a bite out of her sandwich. "He's asked me on a few occasions about how you were holding up without your heart."

Ginger blanched. "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"Naturally," she answered. "I won't lie to my captain. No worries, Ginger-chan, it looks like Law's one step closer to giving you the trust you crave."

How Keki came to this conclusion she would never know. Law didn't seem to be warming up to her at all. It was mostly the same whenever she was involved in their meetings. Law kept quiet on his thoughts but made it known that she was still under suspicion. Even here on Amazon Lily Ginger knew that Law was quietly keeping her in his line of sight.

"I hope so. I'm getting used to living without my heart which scares me." She thought it was better to confess it now rather than keep it bottled up inside. Keki seemed to understand from the way she looked up at her. "You mentioned before that he didn't even know how long someone can function without a heart."

"You're fine as long as long as you remain within a certain radius and you show him that you're beginning to be a pirate." Keki took a handful of peanuts and popped them in her mouth, chewing slowly while looking away from Ginger. "Why he even proposed that plan in the first place is beyond me."

"I thought for sure he would've said no."

Keki hummed in agreement and said no more on the subject.

Ginger looked around once more and found that Law was stretched out with one arm propped atop his bent leg. His eyes suddenly diverted to her in one sharp movement. She lifted her chin and chose to look away rather than doing it out of embarrassment. No matter what, she promised herself, she wouldn't be afraid of him.

Besides, she had other things to worry about like finding Jax's crew and solving the puzzle as to why he made the deal in the first place. She wanted to know why she was targeted and briefly her mind wondered to whether or not the marines were in on it. Her mouth twisted as she thought on the possibility of being removed intentionally.

No.

They would've surely sent Cipher Pol agents in that kind of matter. Why would they waste time in making a deal with a wanted criminal in exchange for her death? What would they possibly gain from it? It was no secret that growing up she suffered some harsh treatment from the officers despite Marigold's attempts to protect her. The whispers she would endure when entering a room never faltered nor did the subtle jabs at her parentage seize to exist.

Wherever Ginger went the memory of what her mother did went with her.

It was hard to put that to rest. When she shifted she saw from the corner of her eye that Law was watching. She could practically feel his eyes on her without having to look to know. Her hands laid in her lap as she thought about something else to keep her mind off it. The longer she sat and listened to Shachi and Penguin complain about the lack of fish the deeper she could feel his stare.

When she finally decided to turn she was startled to find that he had sat down beside Keki. In his hand was the yellow straw hat that belonged to Luffy. Law turned to Keki with an eyebrow raised. "Where did you get the nuts?"

"Provisions."

"From?"

"My secret stash. I love fish as much as the yeti, but I've had enough of it to last me for another decade." Keki's reply was dry with the sense of humor that seemed to be reserved for Law.

At this, Law let a smile overcome his features. The straw hat dangled from between his thumb and index finger as he looked out towards the ocean. The smile quickly vanished as he became pensive. Ginger opened her mouth only to be interrupted by a sudden disturbance on the horizon. The others became engrossed too as a sea king quickly emerged from the water. The beast seemed to shift before suddenly collapsing on the surface of rippling blue water. She raised an eyebrow at the spectacle completely unsure of what just happened.

Law seemed mildly interested, waiting to see if the large creature would stir again. Just as the crew were about to react a man emerged from the water. The familiar silver hair should've been an indicator on the identity of the man. It took her sometime to register his face.

It was then that Ginger was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Silvers Rayleigh. He still found time to smile despite dripping wet from head to toe. His eyes went from Law to Keki and finally rested on her in a brief moment. He turned to Law then and greeted him as Law raised an eyebrow in return.

How Rayleigh managed to find them remained a mystery to her.

"Why couldn't we stay?"

Ginger sat and gazed out the window from her seat in the chair. She didn't mind the feeling of fingers pressing into her wrist as her pulse was measured assuming that he was doing what he needed to in order to keep a record on her overall health.

"Straw Hat is fine." Came Law's monotone response as his gaze focused on the clock, meticulously counting away the seconds.

"He didn't look fine to me when he woke up screaming."

Their responses to each other were becoming slightly better save for the fact that most of his were still blunt. The dark humor he so often shared with the rest of his crew was seldom seen by her. Even now as they sat alone in the medical wing the tension was beginning to build the longer she stared out of the window. Seeing nothing but the deep sea surrounding their vessel.

She turned then with a slight frown on her face. "So-"

"If you're gonna ask about your heart again don't bother."

"I was actually going to ask what's with the free checkup." Her tone was flat as she watched him release her wrist.

His eyes never left the face of the clock the entire minute he had been checking her pulse. However, his eyes flickered towards her briefly before they settled on the utensils he laid out before him. His gloved hands picked up a cotton ball and dabbed it with alcohol before turning her wrist upwards and brushing it along the crease of her elbow.

"Make a fist." He instructed.

She did as she was told just as he slipped the needle of the syringe into the spot. The pinch didn't faze her only the sudden realization that he was taking her blood did.

"What's this for?" She questioned.

"Research." His voice suggested that he was used to Ginger's questions yet there was still an underlying tone of annoyance that she was asking in the first place.

"Well," she sighed, "as long as you're not planning to use your devil fruit powers to make a clone of me."

He remained unamused as he continued to draw blood. "My abilities don't work that way."

She huffed, sitting still as she allowed him to continue. "We left pretty fast. I was sure you wanted to stay and monitor him a little bit more."

"Jinbe and Rayleigh are there. Straw Hat doesn't need me to babysit him."

"You did go out of your way to save him."

Law's gaze looked up as a flicker of suspicion set into their grey depths. She rolled her eyes as he pulled away and removed the syringe from her arm. He carefully placed the vial of blood beside the utensils as he began to peel off the white surgical gloves.

"We're done."

Ginger held the cotton ball against the tiny incision as she looked at him. "What I meant was that it was unlike you. Back on Sabaody you two worked together with Kid, sure, but eventually we parted ways and let things carry on as they were. I'd just thought you would want to be sure he was fine."

"Whatever his fate turns out to be is none of my concern," Law said, passing her another quick glance. "He's my enemy. That's it. The only concern I have is my objective and my crew."

The silence hung in the air for a few minutes. The only sound that could be heard was him sterilizing the utensils and cleaning up his area in the medical wing. She slowly got up from the chair and threw the cotton ball in the trash bin beside it. It was then that she frowned while slowly turning to look at Law.

What Keki had said back on the island stirred within Ginger a new found hope. She knew that she was never accepted by the Marines because of her mother and father. Now she had a chance to change that and make things right with Law. If she wanted to be taken seriously as a pirate then now was her opportunity to do so.

"If I wanted to betray you I could've easily gotten a Transponder Snail and informed the admirals we were coming back there. I really have no reason to betray you. I would get nothing out of it."

Law didn't react at first, letting the information be registered as he continued on with his process. When he finally seized his movements he merely turned to look over his shoulder and peer at her with that impassive stare. "What makes you think you would've gotten away with it? Do you take me for an idiot?"

She shrugged. "I'm just trying to state my case."

He scoffed. "I'll be the judge of that." She supposed she ought to be grateful that she managed to get a light-hearted response from him. Just as she stepped beyond the doorway she heard Law ask, "You were born in the North Blue?"

Ginger managed to stop in time as she turned to look curiously at him. "Yes."

He was washing his hands at this point. His attention fixed on the gray wall in front of his face as he cleaned his hands. "It's probably a good thing you never stuck around."

"We never stayed long enough. To my knowledge, Greta left to sea with me a year after I was born."

"That was smart of her." He wiped his hands on a towel still not making eye contact with her as he dried his hands.

Ginger took this as a sign to leave, missing the look Law gave her retreating form.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I had some stuff going on and I wanted to finish what was left of Dressrosa in order to plan ahead. Since I really don't like writing fillers before a "filler" the next chapter will be a time skip of about four months ahead into the two year time skip. This explains why this chapter is short. That way I can just dive right into it before going to Punk Hazard and Dressrosa. Sorry ^^; I just really hate fillers for fillers.