Hiiiiiiiiiiiii guys, I'm still alive...heh...*hides* Anyway, I finally updated this after like 3000 years..sorry about that. I do intend to finish this and my other One Piece story, but you know how it is. Knowing that there are people wanting to read does help, nothing like knowing you have an audience to share your story with. Enjoy!

0~0~0

"Rina, can ya hear me?"

"Mmmph.." the blond rolled over onto her side, her brow wrinkled. "...mmm 5 more minutes.."

"RINA!"

"...Huh?" she blinked awake, to find Anyu hovering above her. The memories of the battle suddenly came crashing back. She shot up, her green eyes wide. "What happened? Where is Captain...?"

"Shhhh, everything is fine, Hun, calm down," Anyu soothed. Rina slowly sank back down onto the mattress.

"What happened?" she repeated, sounding small. Anyu sighed.

"What do ya remember?"

"Prano..." she said, crinkling her brow as she tried to remember. "It was very shrill...and then Law...not much after that."

"Prano was a devil fruit user, and she blew out yer eardrums. The Cap'n kinda tore them bits after that," Anyu explained.

"How long have I been out? Where are we?" Rina asked, feeling disoriented.

"Closest pirate friendly island we could find. Ya were out for about a day and half. Cap'n wanted ya to get plenty of rest."

"A day and half? I think that's plenty," Rina sighed, sitting up. "Let me guess, bed rest?" Anyu gave her a sad smile.

"I brought you some magazines," Anyu offered, gesturing to a stack on Rina's bedside table. Rina eyed the collection. A stack of books were with them.

"Where did you get the books?" she asked.

"Oh, Cap'n knew you were needing reading material," Anyu said, giving her a wink. After making sure she was comfortable, the cook left her to attend to other duties. After she left, Rina eyed the stack of books.

"Oh Captain, what am I going to do with you?" she sighed.

0~0~0

The booze here was terrible. But they did have a variety. Law was determined to try them all. Currently he had some piss-poor grog, but the stuff was strong. It was a seedy pub, the kind of place his crew avoided. Most of the other patrons gave him a wide berth, knowing him from his wanted posters. That was fine by Law. He needed to left alone, away from the crew, get properly hammered, and think.

Maybe it had been a mistake to bring Rina into the crew. She was proving to be...most distracting. Angrily he gulped down more of the swill in his mug, banishing those thoughts from his mind. It wasn't her fault he was so out of sorts. He nudged his mug, now empty.

"I'll try the rum," he told the barkeep, putting a few beris down by the empty drink. The man raised an eyebrow at him, but shrugged and filled the cup, taking the money. Law tested the brew. Better than the grog, but not much. Taking a long drink, his mind drifted to the scene of the marine ship.

He could not deny the feelings that had sprung forth when he had seen Rina go down. When he had seen the blood dripping from her ears. The pure white hot fury that had engulfed him, because she had harmed Rina..

Law poured more rum down his throat. He couldn't...wouldn't admit it to himself, not yet. It would be a little longer before he was willing to confront the swirl of emotions within himself. For now, he was content to distract himself with a very strong buzz. Suddenly, he was interrupted from his solitary drinking session by someone taking a seat next to him at the bar. It was a woman, wearing a tight fitting yellow top and black shorts. Her pink hair was piled into a loose bun, and had a natural beauty mark under her left eye. Law tried his best to ignore her, but still over heard her order a mixed vodka drink.

"So what brings you to this dump?" she asked casually, eyeing him. She sipped on her beverage, playing with the straw as she did so.

"Just getting a drink, why else would I go to bar?" Law grumbled. The woman tilted her head, studying him.

"Wait I know who you are...you're one of those 'most dangerous generation' pirates that's been causing all of that fuss, Law, isn't it?" she asked. He took a drink.

"At your service," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"You rescued Straw Hat," she continued, her voice changing in tone. She sounded..angry? Law risked a glance.

"I had my reasons, why you know the kid?" he asked. She glared into her drink.

"My old crew encountered him, briefly, on Jaya. He beat our captain and humiliated us to our captain's superior," she explained. Law nodded, mostly to himself. It wasn't unheard of. Larger pirate crews often had smaller crews that served under them, forming fleets. Whitebeard had done it, and most of the Big 4 did as well. Smaller captains were also known to do it.

"Which crew are you in?" he asked, giving up at avoiding conversation.

"We were the Bellamy Pirates, under Captain Bellamy, but after Straw Hat beat him our superior nearly killed him," she replied, voice dripping with disgust, "after that Bellamy was determined to make it up to him, so we journeyed to the Sky Islands above Jaya. We brought back a huge golden pillar from some ruins the locals gave us, and after that Bellamy disbanded the crew to bring the gold to the boss."

"Wait...Bellamy...I've heard of you..." Law said, his blood running cold.

"Oh? Sure we were infamous but not nearly as big as you've gotten," she sounded surprised.

"You were a minor crew under Doflamingo," he said, focusing his steely gaze on her. She shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, yeah, Captain Bellamy was obsessed with him. The rest of the crew never really cared, and frankly, we hated seeing him make Bellamy kill the first mate. Since being disbanded we serve no one or have joined other crews. Why?"

"Nothing," he sighed, loosing his fire. This woman wouldn't know anything, being as low as she was. "I just really don't like Doflamingo, you could say."

"Don't blame you, but what can we do against a War Lord, right?" she asked, visibly relaxing. She then offered her hand to him. "I'm Muret, by the way. I was the ship's doctor."

"Oh?" he quirked a brow as he took her hand.

"You don't need a doctor do you? I haven't found a new crew yet," she asked, a small smile starting to form on her features. "Anyone who dislikes the War Lord can't be to bad," she declared.

Law ran the possibility through his mind. Having another fully trained doctor on board would be useful to him as an assistant, but at the same time, she would have little other purpose. He could tell she wasn't very strong, and she also potentially held a grudge against the Straw Hat pirates. He had saved Luffy for leverage purposes, and if he ever ran into the crew he planned on collecting a favor. That could cause a problem later down the road if she harbored ill feelings. There was also all of the drama sure to be brought up with bringing another woman on board. One that was obviously attracted to him, if the way she was looking over him was any indication. Normally Law had no problem with bringing females along, but this one just seemed wrong for his crew.

"I'm actually a surgeon myself," Law found himself saying, "so our medical needs are quite covered at the moment."

"Oh, so you're a doctor too then?" Muret scooted closer to him, leaning on his arm. Her ample cleavage was hard not to notice. "I would love to go over our techniques," she purred into his ear. The pent up frustrations in Law screamed at him. She was wrong for the crew, but for this situation, she was perfect.

"Let me buy you a drink," he said.

0~0~0

Rina stared at the numerous open magazines she had open on the bed. She had been reading everything she could get her hands on, and now she wanted to study something for herself. This was how Anyu found her when she entered with Rina's dinner.

"What are ya doing?" the cook asked. Rina glanced up at her briefly.

"Observing," she said, not offering anything else. Anyu put the food down and crouched next to her.

"And what are ya observing, exactly?" she pressed. Rina motioned to the pictures in the magazines. They were all of people, and not one was alike in appearance. A tall, ebony skinned man grinned from one page, a petite porcelain skinned woman shyly looked up from another. There was heavy people, thin people, and every skin tone Anyu could think of displayed in the magazine pages open on the bed.

"I am determining beauty," Rina declared. Anyu stared at her blankly.

"You're what?" she asked.

"I'm trying to grasp my definition of visual beauty is, since I was blind for most of my life," Rina explained. "But there is only one thing I can come up with, after studying various different images."

"And what is that?" Anyu asked, curiosity piqued.

"There is visual beauty in everything, if you look hard enough. Look at this," Rina said, holding up one image. "This man would be considered ugly by most people." Anyu had to agree. The man was grizzled looking, with a large hairy mole on his nose. He was also quite heavy-set with a double chin.

"But he is so drastically different from everyone, and I think the sheer diversity of everyone is beautiful. Even him," Rina continued, holding up the clipping of the Celestial Dragon she had almost married. Anyu gave Rina a hard look.

"Yer telling me that if you had somehow regained sight while married to him, ya would be fine with it?" she asked incredulously. Rina gave her friend a wry smile.

"While he is part of the diversity that makes humans so beautiful, I believe as a person his soul is quite ugly. But then again, a rare beauty of a person can also be quite ugly underneath. I've simply come to realize something I knew while blind. It's what's inside that counts, look for inner beauty on a person. Easier to do when you can't see. Also, attraction is something else entirely."

"Oh do tell me yer enlightened views," Anyu teased. Rina stuck her tongue out playfully before continuing.

"While I do believe everyone is beautiful in their own unique way, that doesn't mean we find them attractive. Attraction is your own personal preference, and an exiting new thing for a recently blind girl such as myself to explore," she said, starting to close the magazines and gather them up into a stack.

"Sounds like yer justifying yer 'attraction' to certain fuzzy-hatted individuals," Anyu said smugly, grinning when a flush spread across her cheeks.

"I don't...really know what is going on there..." Rina finally admitted, reaching for the food Anyu had brought. The cook sat back thoughtfully.

"Well, it ain't really my place to butt into yer affairs, I'll be nicer than normal and let the two of ya figure whatever is is ya got going out. I'll even be saying in...ah..new sleeping quarters so if ya decide to change yer sleeping arrangements yerself..." Anyu trailed off, wiggling her eyebrows at Rina suggestively. Rina blinked, and then felt her flush spread to her ears as she realized what Anyu was implying.

"OH! Nothing like that of course, Anyu," she sputtered. Anyu threw her head back in a hearty laugh.

"But why are leaving the room to me? Is it just while I recover...? No..." Rina speculated, watching the cook's reactions to her questions. "No...you finally made a move on Penguin didn't you?" Anyu just winked.

"Eat up, girly. I won't try and advise ya of anything, the Cap'n is way beyond my expertise. But do promise to me all the juicy details of anything that does happen." And with that, the cook was gone again, leaving a very pink Rina to simmer in the suggestive themes her friend had prompted.

0~0~0

Law really wasn't surprised things had gotten this far. While both of them drank more alcohol, Law and Muret had chatted and flirted away. She was proving to be quite clever and educated, and with her looks, she was just Law's type. He had allowed her to drag him to her room, and now that the door was closed behind her, any final restraint she had vanished. She sauntered towards him, her hips swaying seductively. When she reached him, she shoved him onto the bed with a flick of her hand. Grinning like a fool, Law let her come to him.

Muret kicked off her shoes and came to straddle his lap. He groaned as she slowly grinded herself on him, trapping his body between the wall and her soft body. Slowly he reached around and grabbed at her backside, earning a sounds of approval from her. Law let his hands roam her body, and work their way up to her chest. Muret was practically purring at his ministrations. He tugged at the zipper on the front of her top, freeing her of the garment and revealing a lacy black bra. Muret let him take her in with his eyes for a moment before she reached for his hoodie, quickly ridding him of it. She seemed delighted to discover he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath, and traced his tattoos.

With an aroused growl, Law flipped them over so he was now looming over her. He reached down, intending to claim her mouth, but he paused. Her dark eyes looked up at him, waiting. Her pupils were dilated in arousal, hell, he could practically smell it coming off of her. She was a beautiful woman, and the very site of her creamy skin exposed in nothing but a bra laying sprawled on the bed was enough to drive any hot-blooded male wild. But it seemed...wrong. Something just wasn't right. Her dark eyes, the pink hair..even the little mole under her eye...all beautiful, but it didn't belong. Law suddenly found he wasn't aroused anymore. Cursing under his breath, he pulled himself off of her.

"I'm sorry, Muret, but I must be leaving now," he apologized, pulling his hoodie back on. Before she had a chance to protest, he had fled he room. He rushed back towards where the sub was docked. He needed to be truly alone, in his cabin. He had found himself wishing those eyes had been green.

0~0~0

I know, I'm mean. This is also about as descriptive as I'm willing to get, nothing heavier. Stay tuned!

~ Tabby Out