The bow dropped to the ground as Aria staggered, her knees buckling. Her shoulder throbbed, and blood trickled down from a cut on her neck. She sank to the ground, panting heavily.

But she relished the view ahead of her. Kaden running away, three arrows in his shoulder. One of his subordinates was helping him stay upright.

As he disappeared, she tried to stand but stumbled, falling to one knee and groaning at the pain. The bullet in her shoulder sent waves of agony through her body, her right arm hanging limp. She reached for her bow, but spots danced across her vision, forcing her to close her eyes and focus on her breathing. Her observation pulled back, trying to lessen the pain.

"Shit." The word hissed from somewhere behind her. Running footsteps and someone grabbed her wounded shoulder.

Aria hissed in pain, jerking away. The movement caused her to fall, but firm hands caught her.

"Let's get you to Hongo." It was Benn. Of course. His eyes flicked over her face, then settled on the edge of her shirt where blood soaked through.

She didn't protest as he lifted her up, laying her shortbow on her stomach. Her left arm stretched across his shoulders and she clung to his cloak. When she groaned in pain as her right arm hung down, Benn stopped long enough to rip a piece of cloth from her cloak and made an emergency sling.

She tried to force her breathing to slow down as he ran, her face in his neck. He was speaking, but she didn't hear it. Blood roared in her ears, her heart raced.

Kaden had caught her off guard while she was hunting, far from the crew. His gunshot had echoed through the sparse woods, a signal the crew couldn't miss. She had managed to wound him and kill two of his subordinates, but the effort had left her exhausted and injured.

But of course he would track her to an uninhabited island! She couldn't understand his persistence with this.

"Aria!" Benn's voice finally broke through the fog of pain. When she looked at him, he sighed. "I thought you passed out. What happened?" His voice softened, but his eyes blazed.

She coughed, spitting up a little blood; falling from the tree, she had cut the inside of her cheek on a broken tooth. "Kaden."

His grip on her tightened, and she couldn't hold back the whine of pain that shot through her shoulder. He slowed his pace and readjusted his grip. "Where did you get shot?"

Aria nodded. "Shoulder."

Ahead of them, the crew was waiting. Shanks' eyes blazed with barely contained fury as they approached. "What happened?"

"Kaden," Benn said through gritted teeth. "Where's Hongo?"

Shanks jerked his head towards the ship. "In the surgery. Where's Kaden?"

"Running with arrows in his back," Aria coughed, grimacing. A fresh taste of blood touched her tongue.

A twisted grin spread across Shanks' face. "Hopefully he backs off for a while."

Aria gave a low huff. "He hasn't yet. I doubt he will soon."

Shanks' gaze fell on her arm, the makeshift sling already coming loose. "Go see Hongo. That looks bad."

Benn carried her aboard swiftly and brought her into the surgery.

It was empty.

"Dammit…don't tell me he's drunk already," Benn hissed, setting her down on the table. "Will you be alright while I look for him?"

She shook her head. "He's asleep in his cabin, but I'm not sure if he'll be easy to wake." Using her observation, she could feel his signature below them, but it was heavily muted. Roux was working in the kitchen, a few people were sparring on deck, and a fair amount of the crew on the beach were agitated. "Get him, then go tell Shanks Kaden was on the far side of the island." At the limits of her observation, she could feel Kaden's cold signature. He hadn't left yet.

Benn was off in an instant.

Aria shrugged her cloak off, letting it fall to the table. Groaning as her arm moved, she settled herself more comfortably and waited. Closing her eyes to focus better, she smiled a little as Hongo's signature suddenly brightened, afraid then angry, and Benn's furiousness tearing off the ship.

The door opened and Hongo rushed in. "Where were you shot?"

"Right shoulder. Can't move my right arm very well," she grunted, pulling her shirt strap down to show him the hole. It was seeping dark red blood. She winced as she moved.

Hongo didn't hesitate as he got to work, only pausing once to ask, "Will you be alright sitting up?" When she nodded, he carefully used a long pair of tweezers to pull out the bullet. It clunked on the table; seastone.

The pressure in her shoulder eased after than and she breathed a sigh of relief. She may not be a devil fruit user, but seastone bullets hurt a lot more than metal ones. When they had a metal casing, it was even worse.

"You've got several more cuts, and I can see your back is bleeding," Hongo said after he had patched up the hole. "Can you remove your shirt, or do you need help?"

"Might need some help," she admitted. Hongo tried to help her pull it over her head, but she nearly blacked out from the pain, so he just cut it off.

She closed her eyes as Hongo worked on the rest of her wounds in silence. None of them were as serious as the bullet wound, but there were a lot. She should've aimed for something other than a bramble thicket to land on.

She kept herself distracted by focusing her observation on the others.

A large group had gone through the woods, splitting up before they reached her limits, but they were already on their way back. Kaden had left before they got there. Benn was racing back ahead of them. Several others were on the beach, and the ones on the ship had stopped their sparring and taken various positions around the ship.

"I think you have some nerve damage," Hongo said, jerking her back to the surgery. "You'll have to keep your arm in a sling for the time being, but as long as your shoulder heals, you should be okay. Might be a little weak, but give yourself enough time and you'll be back to normal." He leaned against the table as he removed his gloves, then tossed them in the bin nearby.

Aria resisted the urge to flex her shoulder. "How long until the slings off?" She'd been so busy paying attention to the others, she hadn't noticed he had put her arm in a far more comfortable sling. She used her free hand to drape the cloak around her, biting her lip against the pain, as Benn came back in.

"By the time we got to where his ship had been, he was too far out for us to shoot." Benn narrowed his eyes, his knuckles white around his rifle.

Aria gritted her teeth, wincing at a fresh taste of blood again. "I don't understand how he found me this time."

Benn shook his head. "We have only a few islands under our flag as of yet, it makes sense that he would check the nearby ones we haven't protected yet, like here. Next time I'm coming with you."

Aria took a breath to argue, tell him she could handle herself fine, but stopped at his glare.

"I'm not arguing about this Aria." He held her gaze for a few seconds, then she dropped hers. She didn't look up as he gently placed one arm around her waist. His voice softened. "This is the third time he's shown up, and each time you were alone."

Aria closed her eyes but leaned into his chest. "Okay, you have a point."

His lips touched her forehead. "I thought I was almost too late today."

She nuzzled into his chest briefly. "I'm sorry. I won't go out alone next time."

He smiled and leaned against the table. His fingers rubbed small circles into her side and she relaxed against him.

Hongo moved around the surgery, putting away whatever he had gotten out but not used. "I'm going to give you some pain medicine, then I want you to sleep." He glanced at them over his shoulder briefly. "Benn, I will tell Shanks you aren't allowed below deck if you keep her awake."

Benn raised his eyebrow at that, but said nothing.

Aria cracked a small smile, then swallowed the two pills Hongo handed her a moment later. "After this, I would rather sleep anyway."

Benn gave her a feigned hurt look, but didn't protest. As Aria stood, he kept an arm around her as they walked. The ship was still mostly empty, most of the crew moving around on the beach. Shanks was on deck; probably giving orders to those on watch.

Hongo followed them down to the cabin area. Aria felt a little bad that Benn had to wake him, but it wasn't like her injuries could wait this time.

By the time they reached the cabins that the senior officers used, the exhaustion of the fight and the medicine caught up to Aria. Benn ended up half carrying her into their cabin and helping her into bed.

He said nothing when he noticed her shirt was gone, but helped her carefully put on a basic button-up that wouldn't require her lifting her arm.

Aria closed her eyes as he moved around the small room, then she felt him lay down next to her. She turned to meet his lips and felt his hand trace the bird on her neck. "I really do want to sleep, Benn," she murmured.

His chuckle sent warm breath against her cheek. "I know, and I agree. You should sleep. I just want you to know that you are the reason I am going grey."

Aria snorted and opened her eyes, her gaze flicking to the streaks of grey shooting through the black. "Oh please. You're going grey cuz you're getting old."

He growled and kissed her. "You're lucky you're hurt, or I'd show you how wrong you are about that."

Aria grinned, but just laid her hand on his cheek. "When I'm better."

Benn sat up briefly, turned off the light, and pulled the blanket over her. "You better promise that." His hand settled on her stomach.

She moved him away with a laugh. "Benn, I really don't want you banned from down here." She kissed his cheek and laid her hand on his neck. "But you may want to go before Shanks drags you out. He's already on deck and pissed."

She could sense him pacing. He rarely did that.

Benn sighed and kissed her again before getting up. "I'll join you when I can." He trailed one hand down the side of her face, then left.

Aria let herself sink into the bed the moment the door was shut and gripped her shoulder, letting out a muted whimper. Sitting up, she reached for the little drawer under the bed and pulled out the little bottle inside. Downing two pills from it, she put it back and made sure it was covered before laying back down. It wasn't often she took something more than what Hongo gave her, but this time she needed it.

She felt terrible for going out alone, but some of the crew were already drunk and Benn was busy when she left. She might've asked Shanks, but he was caught up in a conversation with Snake about their next course. Benn's own haki touched her briefly when she entered the forest, but she didn't respond.

Muffling a groan with her pillow, she thought about Benn was probably never going to let her off the ship alone after this. Her partner of two years meant well, and he was probably right to be worried about Kaden, but she knew this would drive her nuts. Maybe she could convince Shanks to have Benn take over his duties for a day, let Shanks have a break and her a breather.

Maybe spend some time with the captain who finally revealed that he had pushed her away because he overheard her conversation with Hongo the day he lost his arm. Knew that Benn wouldn't have said anything unless he believed Shanks wasn't interested in Aria, and vice versa. Aria smiled as she recalled that; she had thought Shanks would've been mad, but he just said it explained a lot and just felt bad for not realizing it sooner.

A stab of pain went through her tether suddenly and she couldn't back the gasp of pain. She gripped the blanket in a tight fist until the pain faded, then slumped as it faded to a dull ache. Six years since she had been able to taste things, she had thought for years that maybe being away from the experimentation made her lose it. In the last year, she wondered if her time in prison had somehow caused some sort of damage. It certainly had been hurting like she was hurt for the last few years. Or maybe she was sick with something and just didn't know it.

Maybe she should have Hongo look at it. He wasn't a scientist, but if this was a medical issue, he might have some idea of what to do.

A thick haze dropped over her mind as the extra medicine kicked in and she sighed. Finally. The pain from the bullet wasn't that bad; she'd had far worse in the last couple of years. A broken leg from falling from the rigging, an infection from losing two fingers to a sea beast, a concussion from a fight with a crew that tried to challenge Shanks.

But this stupid tether persisted through it all, and the dull ache barely lessened.

Trying to distract herself, she let her observation range out and knew a lot of the crew were back aboard the ship, preparing to leave. Benn was with Shanks in the captain's cabin, Hongo was asleep again, Roux was in the kitchen, Snake was with Rockstar at the helm. She let her observation keep an eye on them as she drifted off to sleep.

Benn woke her briefly, coming back to sleep until his next watch. She waited until he had slipped into bed with her, then pulled him close. By the time his arm was over her, she was asleep.