Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or anything related to it except for my OC and unrelated plots in this. I also do not own any pictures.

______________________________________________________________________________

It's been days since their encounter with the Whitebeard Pirates.

Having recently captured a run-away pirate that had escaped from a different division, Shiki and her men had landed on a winter island with this being the last island they were going to dock before returning to Marine HQ with the recaptured pirate in their procession.

With huts and bars and fortunately stores for supplies. Shiki ordered most of her men to stock up while she took two of them to come with her to a bar.

Well, more like one man volunteered himself and the other wanting to follow her.

Although, she would had preferred if she could go alone to the local bar. She rather not get lectured when she ask the the bartender a question. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

"Vice Admiral Shiki, what are we doing here?" Leo asked, focusing straight ahead.

"Finding when the log pose will set."

"But didn't Marine HQ give us a list of the island's log pose? And what about our Eternal pose?" Oni asked, wrapping his arms around himself tighter to stop shivering in his acquired coat.

Sadly it was no use.

"..." Shiki continued walking.

Oni furrowed his brows, "The list should be in the top drawer of your desk, don't tell me you- we lost it?"

"I'll get you a new one when we're back." said Leo with a smile, though he could barely keep his eyes open from the cold wind.

"Thanks, Leo." 

Oni snapped his head at his friend with wide eyes before whipping back to his Vice Admiral, "What?! No, I was going to do that - an extra one since there's no way our Vice Admiral could lose our log pose list and the Eternal pose!" there was no way he was going to miss out being a good subordinate to his Vice Admiral!

"..."

Shiki only let out a nontrivial grunt.

Hearing such a reply, thinking he did bad, Oni tried to appease his Vice Admiral with the prospect of him doing his extra best while Leo tried to calm him down, and Shiki... Shiki let the chatter wash over them in comfortable silence, letting this continue all the way to the bar.

However, as soon as Shiki walked in, she immediately ducked, letting a man in a boiler suit fly over her head, knocking her men into the snowy ground instead. 

Without missing a beat, she stood up and continued her way to the bartender behind the counter like everything was as usual. 

And since it was as usual, she ignored the party she had just turned awkward and tense simply because of her the scythe she was shouldering, and her Vice Admiral coat fluttering behind her.

Setting herself down on a stool, she gestured for the poor ashen old bartender until a shout cut through the silent bar.

"Captain, it's the Heart Pirates!" Oni exclaimed, wrestling with the boiler suit man on the ground, "They've been making a name for themselves lately, it's getting out of hand!" 

Hits and kicks were exchanged, yet it was mostly coming from the boiler suit man, while Oni tried to block and keep him down.

Shiki tilted her head towards him with a blank face, seeing as one of her men was holding a guy with a penguin hat on his head, she could sense the other pirates standing up, about to pounce at any moment, knowing that one wrong move could end badly, but there was one thing that made the Vice Admiral confused.

"Who?"

"The Heart Pirates!" Oni repeated once more.

"..." Shiki just stared at him as time ticked by, eventually turning back to the poor old bartender who looked like he was about to faint, "When does the log pose set?"

"H-huh? A-ah, in t-three hours!" he stuttered out.

Shiki hummed in response and picked up a menu, looking over her options.

"Vice Admiral Shiki, what about the pirates?" Leo asked calmly, shutting the door behind them, to prevent the snow from coming in.

"Not our problem, we already have a pirate in our ship." she waved them over, "Leo, Oni. Come order something, we have three hours to waste."

Oni reluctantly let go with a disappointed sigh, while Leo sat next to his Vice Admiral who had leaned an arm on the counter with her cheek leaning on her palm, her amber eyes cruising down the menu.

There was no point arguing with her.

"Captain, why can't we capture them?!" Oni asked, frustrated that they wouldn't capture the Heart Pirates who was right in front of them, "And you!" he pointed at his fellow soldier, "Why aren't you disappointed?! Pirates are right here!"

"One pirate is noisy enough, a whole crew would be a nightmare. We already done our part, no need to do more, also..." she flipped the menu to see if there were any more options, only to frown in disappointment.

"Also?" Oni pushed, hanging on her every word with wide eyes.

"It's cold." she stated flatly, handing the menu over to Leo with a flick of a wrist.

Leo shrugged, accepting the menu, "I'm only following our Vice Admiral, and she always follows orders from the higher ups, nothing new."

A chuckle resounded from behind Shiki, sensing that her two soldiers became stiff, she lifted her head from her hand and turned to find-

"Trafalgar Law!"

-yeah, that guy, a tall lanky guy, wearing a yellow hoodie with black sleeves, brown spots on the ends of his jeans that covered most part of his black boots. On his face was a goatee, gold piercings and to top it off, a fluffy spotted hat on his head.

"Is that why you won't capture us?" Law questioned with a smirk, casually shouldering his nodachi.

Staring at him with a blank expression, Law took his time to analyze her with his grey eyes in return, feeling the tense atmosphere settling down on his side, but not quite. 

While it didn't look like the Vice Admiral was going to capture them, Law wanted to know if that was the real reason or if she was just arrogant.

But if the rumours are true, then they might get away easy.

He was not in the mood to deal with a Vice Admiral just yet.

After a few long stare from both sides, Shiki trailed her eyes over to his crew, unknowingly causing the pirates to tense up, ready for a surprise attack.

Not knowing if she was doing this on purpose or not, annoyance grew within Law the longer Shiki's eyes wondered over his crew without saying anything. Yet, still on guard, Law subtly placed his free hand behind him, ready to activate his 'Room'.

However, on the other side, Leo continued to peruse the menu, used to his Vice Admiral's behaviour, while Oni glared at the pirate Captain.

As her eyes settled on a bear in an orange boiler suit, Shiki blinked in surprise before finally responding, "Yeah. You have a bear?"

The pirates all fell before jumping back up, barking, "THAT WAS TOO DAMN  SLOW!!!"

"His name's Bepo." Leo answered without looking up.

"I'm sorry." Bepo apologised, head bowed in a gloomy fashion. For some reason, he felt responsible.

"Don't apologise!" the Heart Pirates barked.

As soon as the bear spoke, Shiki, Leo and Oni all stared at Bepo with surprised eyes.

"He can talk?!" Only yelled out shocked, voicing his group's thoughts.

"I'm sorry."

"Bepo!!!"

While everyone stared at Bepo, Law stood there, his hand lowered back to his side, eyes shadowed and a slight sweat coating the side of his face.

Was she messing with them? Or was she an idiot?

Though glancing at his crew, Law could see that they weren't so tense anymore with the Vice Admiral throwing them off, instead, they were all too focused on Bepo. 

Clearing his throat, Law stared at the Vice Admiral, gaze running over the distance between her hands and scythe, calculating the time to make a move if she were to wield such a weapon.

"Well I guess congratulations are in order, I've heard that the World Government got a new guard dog into their rank, a very excellent one that does her job well, no matter what, Vice Admiral Shiki." Law stated, hints of taunting in his tone, trying to get more of a read on her.

"The benefits are nice I guess." Shiki responded absentmindly, eyes still on the bear.

Law stared at her before chuckling.

SLAM!

The bartender shrieked, quickly running to the back for safety in case a fight finally broke out.

Everyone eyes now went from Bepo to Oni who had shot up from his stool to point angrily at Law.

"What! How dare you insult our Vice Admiral, you filthy pirate?!" Oni, taking a step forward, but unconsciously stopped when the Heart Pirates also stood up, sounds of weapons being drawn out.

Sitting between the middle, Shiki turned to Leo with a tired frown, "Did you want to order something."

Leo sighed, putting down the menu, "Oni scared the bartender away."

At that moment, the door to the bar opened to reveal the rest of her men, but the reaction was the same when they saw the pirates, "It's the Heart Pirates!" taking out their rifles, the marine soldiers immediately went into position, taking aim at them, "Vice Admiral Shiki, at your command!" they yelled in unison.

"Room" a deep smooth voice summoned.

A blue film suddenly enveloped them, but before anyone can make a move, Shiki held her hand up in front of her.

"A show of hands of who's hungry."

"..."

"..."

"I'm just a bit hungry." Leo was the one that answered.

"... I didn't eat breakfast."

"... I could eat."

"If... we're all gonna eat, I don't mind..."

Before long, the rest of her crew shyly put their hands up.

Shiki nodded, standing up with her scythe and began shooing her men out, "We have three hours before the log pose set, lets go to a restaurant, my treat."

"Vice Admiral!" Oni whined when the others began shuffling out of the bar.

Shiki raised a brow at him, "Are you coming or not?"

"But Vice Admiral!" Oni gestured to the Heart Pirates with both hands a few times.

"We already have a pirate back on the ship." she stated.

"But we already let the Whitebeard Pirates escape, why can't we capture just this one?!"

"I rather not deal with extra work."

"..."

"Do you want us to order something for you?" she questioned, already heading for the door.

"... No..." Oni sulked, trudging after her.

With the Marines gone, the Heart Pirates stared at the spot where just a few second ago, they were this close to battling a large group of Marines soldiers and a Vice Admiral.

The blue film slowly retracted himself until it was gone.

"That Vice Admiral was a strange woman." Bepo pointed out.

Everyone couldn't help but agree in unison.

Trafalgar Law rubbed the bridge of his nose. Though a strange but interesting woman, he hoped he wouldn't encounter her too soon.

______________________________________________________________________________

Another chapter, another assignment due soon, so much to get done :d

Well at least I'm nearly finished with most of them, hope you guys had a great day and enjoyed the chapter.

KuraChan-ya out!