Wake up. Cell. Smell. Humid. Dark. Chains. Weapons. Commands......Walk....Gladius. Shield.....Metal bars opening........Light. Blinded....Shouting. Yelling. Clapping. Stomping. Loud. Deaf........Close your eyes....Open your eyes....Stone steps. People. Sand. Rival warriors........Blood. Pain.................FIGHT!

    Wake up. Sun shining through the window. Tact of silky bedsheets. Comfy cushions. Relaxing fragrant bath. Fresh toga. Marble floors and walls. Luxurious wall and ceiling paintings. Plenty food. Tasty desserts........Horse.......Praetoriani. Emperor. Salute. Senators...............S.P.Q.R.

Law's P.O.V.

    The solar clock was reading almost midday when I stepped out the Tabularium. The sun was bright and its heat was making the inner layer of my white and purple toga pretexta, clung to my skin. Walking around the Forum Magnum at the hottest hour of the day it's not pleasant at all, so I speeded through the stone paths towards the nearest shadow. It was the Aedes Concordiae where many newly married couples were leaving offerings to Concordia and praying for their marriages.

-"Salve, senator. Legionarius Sachi te salutat"

    Lifting myself from a stone bench that was next to a big white column, I turned around to meet a ginger man clad in a red tunic with a silver lorica segmentata, a pilum and a scutum. But what caught my attention the most was that stupid shit-eating smile that was plastered on his face.

-"What do you want, Sachi? I know that face. Spit it out already".

-"Aww, Law. You're so mean. I'm in watch duty around the Forum and I saw you here. So I came to salute you."- He complained.

-"Well, you already did it, so be gone"- I tried to shoo him away before he started with his nonsense.

-"C'mon Law, lose that scowl. You must relax and have fun, or you'll turn into one of Medusa's stone sculptures."- He laughed like it was a good joke.

-"I have no time for that. I have ta meeting soon at the Curia Julia."- I replied, adjusting my senator's golden emblem.

-"If that's the case, why are you here? Reliving old memories? Old dreams? Old wishes? About someone? About a certain female, maybe?..."

-"Shut up, legionarius!"- I cut his incessant rambling and eyebrow-wiggling- "I'm here for some shadow since this is the nearest place from the Tabularium."

-"Whatever you say. Here."- he threw an apple at me.

-"What's this for?"

-"Put it under Concordia's sculpture. You'll need all the help possible if you want to find that girl. Hahaha"

With that he flew away before I could throw the apple at his head.

     Sighing I passed under the big marble columns, making my way out of the, now empty, templum. When I was about to step down the frontal steps, I looked at my left hand, still full with the apple and looked back.

'I suppose a little try won't harm anyone'

Hesitating I turned around and approached Concordia's white sculpture. Watching if someone was around I placed the apple at its feet, thinking in that strong and smart girl that my young preteen self, wanted to marry someday.

-"Where are you? Are you still alive?"- I murmured thinking back at how I met the nameless girl.

----------------FLASH BACK------------------

    My family was rich and noble. My father was a Patricius and a senator. He had privileges that, with time, they would pass onto me. And one of those privileges was the ius occuppandi agrum publicum, the right to take for himself some of the conquered territories and to take in slaves for his use.

    That's why we were there, at the Ludus Magnus. One of the places where the gladiators were being trained, being them free men with a liking to that life-style, or slaves and foreign prisoners that were being forced to become fresh meat for the Roman entertainment.

    While my father was off searching for new slaves to buy, I went to the small arena to see the training gladiators. But in the middle of a crowd of small-dressed, sweating men, I saw a little boy that seemed my age holding up a rudis, a training wooden sword, and training alone. That boy seemed weak and his movements with the sword weren't the best. So I decided – forgetting my status- to go to him and show him how to attack and defend with my own gladius.

    After showing some movements to the child, I asked him why he was there. Was he a free person or a slave? But what surprised me was not his answer, not his strong accent, but his FEMININE voice.

-"I captured. I not Rome. I tribe. Parents death. Me only. I fight. I survive."- Even with that strong accent and poor lexicon I understood it.

-"You're a girl?!"- I was shocked. Never I'd seen a girl fighting before. I'd heard about gladiatrix, but never seen one. They were a show for adults only, not like the male galdiators.

-"Yes. I girl...But I fight! I strong. I strong. I better fight. I not for bed. I fight!!"- She seemed rather nervous with me, trying to make her point clear. Even at my young age I understood that the slave girl was from a barbaric tribe that lived off the limits of the Roman Empire, just seeing her clothes and accent. And the future for a barbaric prisoner of her sex and age was to be a sex slave or –if the girl was strong enough- become a gladiatrix.

    As I stared at her I didn't notice two gladiators fighting near us. One of them was winning and with a final blow of his trident, he sent flying the opponent's sica towards my right shoulder. The sword cut my toga and made a small indent into my flesh that quickly started to bleed, staining my clothes.

-"No! you good? You good?"- She asked with worried eyes at the sight of my blood.

-"Argh! Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry. It's nothing"-I tried to calm her.

-"No. You no good. You blood. Here. I help. I help." –With that she grabbed my other arm and, in a blink of an eye, I was being carried bridal style to a small bunk with metal bars in the door and six straw "beds" on the humid floor.

-"O-oi! L-l-et me g-go! Put me down! I'm a man!"- My face was deep red from anger and embarrassment for being carried by a girl. A smaller girl than me, to make it worse.

-"No. You no man. You boy. Quiet. I help. I many hurt. I cure. Froze you. No move."- Sitting me down on the smallest bunch of hay, she ripped the fabric of my bloodstained toga, leaving my shoulder free.

-"What are you doing?! That's inappropriate! And do you have the slightest idea of how much this toga costs?"-I protested trying to pry her hands off my wound.

-"I no denarius. I help. Froze."- She pushed me back into the hay and searched between it for a small pouch. Opening it, she took out a handful of different dried plants. Selecting some, she put them in her mouth and chewed them making a paste. She took it out and applied it on my wound.

    As grossed out as I could be, the moment the paste touched my exposed flesh, the sting stopped and it felt a hundred times better, so I stopped my trashing around and let her apply more of the remedy.

-"Thank you. It feels great. How do you know how to cure with herbs?"- She smiled brightly at my words.

-"Mother of the father of my father. She show me. She.... Mother of the tribe. She cure animals. She cure person. All ask her. She says to them. She older. Person respect her. I be her in future.... No....Before, that before....Now, prisoner..."- As she talked, her smile disappeared. I could see the tears clouding her eyes. She was about to cry. I had to do something, for some reason the simple idea of that small and smart girl crying , bothered me.

-"O-oi. Don't cry. I'm sure she's okay. And I'm sure you'll be too. And if you become strong and you use the gladius like I've told you, you'll survive the fights and win your freedom."- I said trying to cheer her up.

-"You think? I freedom in future? You promise?"- She stared at me wiping her big sparkling (e/c) eyes.

-"Y-yes. I promise"- I said caressing her wild, short and badly trimmed hair while a bright shade of red was coating my ears and cheeks.

     As I was caught admiring her childish barbarian features, loud shouts interrupted my daydreaming. My father was searching for me.

-"I have to go. My father's searching for me"- I quickly let go of her hair and stood up, dusting my toga and trying to hide the bloodstains. As I was about to go out, a smaller hand caught mine.

-"Silver-eyes. You good... you...you...you friend mine?"- She whispered, nervous looking down and without letting go of my hand.

-"A-ah......y-y-yes, I'm your friend. I will come to see you again. I promise. Here. Take my gladius. You know? It's my lucky sword. It will help you to survive. Never lose it."

    Giving her the gladius with my family symbol I left to meet my father. That was the last time I saw that girl, but I never stopped thinking about her, her beautiful eyes, her shinning smile and her soft but scarred hands.

------------END FLASH BACK--------------

-"So many promises I've made to you, barbarian girl, and I didn't keep any... I'm sorry"- I murmured, walking towards the Curia Julia.

    When I arrived, everyone was there already. All the senators, being patricius or commoners, were dressed with the distinctive toga senatorial: all white and with two purple bands down the edge of the cloth.

    Fortunately, my late arrival went unnoticed, the whole place was in a state of excitement. Men were talking loudly and some were shouting. Joy could be smelt in the air. Soon enough a characteristic sound could be heard over the general chit-chat. The sound of many loud footsteps in perfect sync. When the door opened, nearly thirty armored men came in protecting and surrounding the emperor. The praetoriani.

    The emperor took a seat in front of the semicircle of senators, his large pink cape making a huge contrast against his white and gold toga.

-"Ave, Imperator. Patres conscripti salutaret tibi"

-"Ave"-He shifted in his seat lazily-"As you know my... cherished senators, thanks to MY rule, yesterday the 4th, 5th ant the 8th legions came back home safe and with the victory. To celebrate this, this afternoon will be a show at the Circus Maximus. There will be a tethrippon and a gladiator fights. You're all invited to assist, so you can enjoy my glorious win. Panem et circenses."

    When the emperor walked off with his soldiers, the whole group of men started to quickly leave the place, eagers to go an take the best seat at the reserved places for senators on the rows of the Circus's seats.

.........Time skip........

Kid's P.O.V.

    As I arrived at the Circus Maximus I could see that fucking senator. And of course the only free seat was next to him.

-"Salve senator. Equites Eustass Kid Salutat te"- I said in a mocking voice. There's no way I will show any respect to that asshole.

-"What's a farmer doing sitting next to me? Shouldn't you be lifting horses' shits"- He hissed back.

-"Shouldn't you be shoving your caput up your asinus?"

-"It's worrying how much you think about my ass, equitas. Would you like to tell me something?"

'Oh, how I hate that fucking smirk'

-"C'mon, dominae! Let the people enjoy the show, don't spoil it with your shit!"- Came the voice of another member of the Ordo Equitas, Scratchmen Apoo.

-"Today there will be a big surprise for someone sitting here"

'Well, fucking perfect, another creep'

-"Hawkings! Since when an augur like you came to the Circus Maximun?"- I shouted to the man clad in the toga trabea.

-"A nuntius came to me with an invitation"- He answered without blinking.

-"He also came to the Aedes Vestae"

    All of us turned around when the feminine voice sounded. There she was, in the row of seats behind the one reserved for equitas and senators, sitting next to the augur. Nico Robin, a vestal.

-"I've heard that there will be a surprise among the gladiators"- She said.-"Another one with the surprises? What in hell could happen to become a surprise?"

   A cornu sounded into the Circus, and the gates to the arena opened and the gladiators and aurigas started to enter. All of them formed a line before the emperor's seat, showing themselves and their weapons. When the last gladiator came out, the whole Circus erupted into shouts, cheers and claps. It was deafening. As the warrior came to the line and showed her bright and luxurious gladius I understood it.

-"A gladiatrix?!"

-"It's her!"- I heard Trafalgar whisper-shouted with widened eyes, tightly gripping his toga.

-"Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant!!!"