Welcome to my first story! I would like to apologize now for elements of the story that are clearly not my own. I will keep as much of it original as I can. Any comments, criticisms, and reviews are welcome. As long is it's not aggressive/mean (and I promise I won't take being told something is poorly written or pointless as mean.)

EDIT: the story starts on the weak side I know. It gets noticeably better a little later, I promise. Also it's been reformatted (originally the first 5 chapters were what has been described as walls of text).

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)

Chapter 1: Let's be Patient

"What?! We're not heading for the New World?!" The disbelief in his red headed subordinate's voice was clear.

So Trafalgar Law calmly looked at Shachi to answer. "We are simply waiting for the right time… that's all. No need to be hasty. It's not like One Piece is going anywhere."

Now it was Penguin, a man that kept all of his hair and half of his face covered by a black hat that displayed his name, to speak up "But what about Blackbeard, he and his crew stirring things up…"

Tired of having his decision questioned Law decided to put an end to all of his crew's concerns. "If pirates are fighting and taking each other out, then all the better for us. No need to get involved in the petty battles. Now stop complaining and just do as I say. When a position I need shows itself I'll just take it."

Just as he expected the whole crew erupted in cheers, including his sleeping polar bear first mate that was also currently doubling as a large cushion for Law to relax on. At the sound of the Bepo cheering Shachi and Penguin exclaimed "Sleep talking?!"

"I'm sorry." Bepo continued on to say, only to be further yelled at by the two.

After the crew meeting everyone was sent back to work. Law walked down to the navigation room to find Bepo and his newest crewmate Jean Bart. "How much longer until we reach the next island?"

Bepo was quick to respond with a big smile "We should be there within the next two hours."

Law smirked, "Excellent. Alert me once we are in sight of land." Then he walked out of the room and back down to his cabin to go over the stock lists to prepare for when they dock.

()

Walking through a town is always a strange experience for her. Strong, sturdy buildings that are permanently placed on the ground is such a foreign concept to her. Most of her life she didn't sleep in buildings. The closest to buildings she had as a child were small structures of leather, leaves and branches placed over a frame of wooden beams that are tied together. Not just the buildings were strange to her, but the people too.

No matter how small of a town she went to the population of its people were still much larger than the ones of her Home. She had been traveling on her own for nearly two years now but she still could not quite get comfortable when in the crowds of a town. Of course her appearance usually made the feeling mutual with the town's people. Though she did wear clothing bought from the towns that she traveled through since leaving her Family she still kept a touch of her old clothing on display.

She always wore leather bracers that extended from her wrist to three-quarters up her forearm, three braided leather bands on her left bicep, dried braided sage hung loosely around her neck falling on her collar bones, wolf fangs that have been halved vertically and carved and painted for earring, her hair was always kept out of her face with leather bands, and she always wore an animal fur of some kind. Though perhaps the most stand-out feature that made the citizens around her nervous were the weapons that she kept attached to her waist with a leather belt with holster loops. At her left hip was a dangerous looking tomahawk that was open in the center of the blade and the metal came out the other side of the wood at a spike, and a large hunting knife at the hollow of her back.

For today she almost looked like a the other people on the streets, at least compared to since she first started traveling to, what her culture referred to as, Landed towns. It was a word that simply meant stagnant person or population. She was dressed in a slightly loose fitting solid black t-shirt, with dark blue jeans that snuggly clung to her legs and tucked into her leather ankle-high flat shoes. Her tomahawk was mostly hidden and knife completely so by her brown bear skin vest that fell down to her mid-thigh. Her wavy shoulder-length light brown hair was pulled into pigtails behind her ears by two leather strings with little fringes of hair that were just slightly too short to stay put with the rest of it. Slung over her shoulder was a large messenger bag made by pieces of leather laced together and tied shut that held all of her belonging. Combined with her somewhat short stature and cheerful smile she actually looked rather like a cute young girl.

Even alone and in unfamiliar territory, Arianna tried to maintain a happy outlook. For the most part life tends to be easier and people nicer when approached with a cheerful attitude. Having just arrived to the island on a merchant ship the first thing Arianna is on her way to do is find the biggest bar on the island. Though not one to drink she quickly learned since beginning her travels that the best place to find information on nearly anything was at a bar, the sleazier and rowdier the better. Making her way through the streets she could already hear whispers of trouble on the island.

From what she can catch it had something to do with a wild dangerous monster. In her experience "monsters" are typically the alpha predators of the territory that either started to run low on prey in its hunting grounds, or its territory was actually being invaded by the town people and it's simply defending it home from the ignorant Landed. It wouldn't hurt to get more information on this supposed monster while she was at the bar, and then decide from there if it's something she should help with. *Decide there? You know you're going to help them. You never turn your back on people when you can help them.* Arianna's mind reminded her. Stopping in the middle of the street she couldn't help but sigh at her own thought. *How many times have I gotten myself into dangerous situations because I can't ignore it when there's a problem? No! Only help if they really seem to need it! You have your own important hunt to accomplish! Focus!* She thought, smacking her cheeks with both her hands at her last thought. *Now, off to the bar!*