Chapter Text
His heart pounded in his chest, the thrumming echoing in his ears in time with his feet. Voices melted into the background behind him and left him alone with his thoughts. Right. Left. Right. Scale a wall. This was the most physical activity that Ace had done since being resurrected and he just knew he was going to sleep better in the evening. Looking forward to sleep didn’t mean that it made him any more excited about the yelling Marines that were chasing after him.
Ace’s great plan was going fine, it was just a matter of getting out of the way.
The backstreets of Amriki were a maze of alleys and narrow paths, boxes and tarps. He ducked under an awning and took a hard right around some boxes. After all, what was he supposed to do if he let himself get captured? Ever since his silver haired companion had mentioned that they were tied together by an invisible thread of the fate that was the Tsunagu Tsunagu no Mi, he could almost pick up on where Rina was and what she was doing. She was also running from the Marines—they had two separate groups chasing after them, dividing their forces to weaken their numbers.
Earlier that morning the plan had seemed so simple…
“… you want to lure them to the docks?” her eyebrow raised, a calculated frown turning to him. “Whatever for?”
“You’re gonna have to trust me on this one,” Ace said simply, a confident smile on his face. “I’ve spent most of my life giving Marines, and authority in general, the run-around. I overheard the people saying that this is just one of the upstart captains. A vice admiral is supposed to be arriving shortly. If we can create some panic in their forces, we can maybe get them to act sloppy in front of their superior, they won’t be bothering this island anymore.”
Rina nodded, a serious expression on her face. “I… dislike the Marines. I want to avoid them as much as I can, but maybe with these disguises, it’ll be easier.”
Ace didn’t know whether or not to question her on her reasoning, but he had a sneaking suspicion that they didn’t have the time to unpack that at that moment. “Right… the disguises…” he sighed. Ace didn’t want to tell Rina that he felt stupid wearing it—he wasn’t some ninja-bird, and he also wasn’t the type to turn his back on a fight or hide! Still… if they were to get anywhere, it’d be easier to do it as a nobody—if the world found out that he was alive, then their progress would be severely hindered. He at least wanted to figure out how he was going to fight without his Devil Fruit abilities, much less with the acquisition of Rina’s and what her powers meant for the both of them. He’d wanted more time too to push her abilities to their limits. What could you do with a Devil Fruit that could bring someone back from the dead, by taking apart the user’s soul?
He didn’t know, but he was sure they were going to find out eventually.
It hadn’t taken them long to gather up their meager things, Ace’s reasoning being once they stirred trouble, they were going to need to be able to move off the island in case things went south. They were fairly close to the Red Line and Maryjoise, so who knew what kind of strength of marine could be at Amriki within a matter of minutes.
Once they were outside, Ace had Rina tell him the recent movements of the Marines on the island from a high position, staying out of sight as he tracked them on foot. They weren’t hard to find, considering they had once again returned to Chizo’s pottery shop/home. The poor old man couldn’t catch a break, trying to keep the brutes from breaking more of his delicate pottery. The largest of them all, the captain, had one of those pots raised above his head, ready to smash it on the ground along with the other shards of priceless art left outside of Chizo’s home. There was a small crowd gathered, and Ace could tell that they were upset, but there was nothing they could do about it. Just like so many other towns along the Grand Line and in the different seas, these people were powerless from being oppressed by those who were meant to help them.
“You ruffians wouldn’t know art if it smacked you in the face!” Chizo huffed, a trickle of blood trailing down his temple.
“Heh, this art isn’t worth our time or our skill to ferry, old man!” the captain gloated, a malicious smirk on his face as he let the pot fall, shattering irreparably on the cobblestones. Rina clenched her fists beside Ace, and he didn’t blame her at all. He was started to get worked up himself.
Maybe calling out to the Marines hadn’t been the smartest idea, but Ace had a bone to pick after being imprisoned and made an example of. “Hey ugly,” he called out, a challenging edge to his voice that had Rina looking at him almost warily. He couldn’t bother himself to care—Ace was far too focused on their task. “Yeah, I’m talking to you guys! Leave old man Chizo’s work alone.” He watched the men in white bristle, their hackles raised like the militant dogs they were.
“Who has the gall to talk to marines in such a way?” a soldier barked as he turned, his eyes hidden in the shadow of his uniform cap.
“I do. I have a problem with bullies. These people rely on Marine protection and yet you and your washed-up boss do nothing but pick on them, steal from them, and call yourself their saviors,” Ace’s eyes narrowed darkly from underneath his mask. The captain himself bristled as well, a general upset murmur floating over the crowd as more horrified and curious Amrikian townspeople stuck their heads out of their doors and windows in order to watch alongside the gathered citizens with bated breath.
“Ace, they look mad…” Rina whispered from beside him, her fists clenching. “I-I don’t know if I can do this…”
“We’ve got this. I won’t let anything happen to ya’, promise,” he murmured back, his gaze never leaving the captain. Calling back out to the Marines, Ace set himself into a prepared stance. “I think it’s about time you left the people of Amriki alone. You can walk away quietly, otherwise… you might not like what happens if you don’t.”
“I am Captain Tsuji,” the largest marine spoke, his jacket denoting his position if not his words. Rina tensed beside him, though Ace couldn’t tell if it was due to nerves or something else. She… felt nervous. Maybe he was picking up on it because of her body language, but his understanding of her feelings somehow seemed deeper than just that. The marine continued to talk as he continued to ponder what that might mean. “At least show us your faces before we beat you both into submission.”
“Yeah, what is it, costume day?” Ace refused to show any kind of weakness, but he sighed internally. The costumes did feel lame. “Hiding your faces like cowards behind those bird masks!”
“We’re hardly cowards!” Ace blinked as a voice rose from his side. “W-we stand for justice! The kanji on your uniforms is hypocrisy.” Rina was angry, her previous nerves quickly melting away into a rawer emotion once she’d shaken off her previous fear.
“You’ll regret your words…!” Captain Tsuji growled and reached behind his back for a large wooden flail, the ball covered in splintering wood. That was a unique weapon and seemed distinctly cruel. Weird… “Men, capture them!”
“YES SIR!”
Ace’s body tensed in preparation, watching the first wave of marines to run through. The petty officers weren’t anything special, and raised swords and bayonets had Ace moving to stand in front of his companion. They were getting smarter, trying to attack all at once, but not smart enough because they were still just a bunch of goons. Ace smirked behind the mask—these “costumes” that Rina got might have been a little ridiculous, but the armor aspect wasn’t a bad idea, especially considering he’d have to get used to getting hit again. As a logia user, underestimating his own mortality was his downfall. He wasn’t going to let the same mistake happen twice.
Raising a hand, Ace pushed a bayonet out of the way of his face, using the barrel as his own temporary sword as the marine holding it stumbled towards the stone street. From behind him, Ace felt the wind from Rina’s movement as she ducked under his arm. He nearly called out to her in order to get her to stop, but he watched in an impressed stupor as she swiftly spun and planted a firm kick on the nearest marine’s chest, sending him crashing back into his squadron where they collapsed on the street with a small cloud of dirt.
“Nice work,” Ace snagged the bayonet he was using like a makeshift shield, pulling it out of the marine’s hands to use it like a club. Man… he really needed to get himself a pipe.
That was their fighting strategy, from there on out. Ace would knock them back, and Rina was a tactical striker, dashing in to get off a good, hard hit, and then pulling back behind Ace once more. She was strong, he had to concede that much. At least… a lot stronger than she looked. They worked well, getting through the goon squad before them. However, the son of Roger could feel the tension building in the air. One glance at their captain was enough to tell him that the man wasn’t going to sit idly by for much longer. Just as that thought struck him, Captain Tsuji began to move, and Ace felt his muscles tense even more as he used the butt of the bayonet to knock another marine unconscious.
“Uddo Uddo no…!”
Oh shit.
“W-wait, Captain! We’re not out of the way!” a marine blanched, and Ace tensed himself for what could only be the abilities of a Devil Fruit.
“Tetsu no Mori!” The man’s hand’s extended, rapidly shooting outward toward where he and Rina were fighting, smacking marines out of the way. Thinking quickly, Ace turned and pushed Rina out of the way, and she stumbled over.
In between them, Ace couldn’t help but gawk as tall slender trees shot up from the ground, cracking the pavement and rising to the skies.
“Heh, these are my special Ironwood trees! There’s no way you’re getting through them,” Captain Tsuji boasted, resting the shaft of the wooden flail on his shoulder. “Just one ability of my Uddo Uddo no mi! Now, men… capture them! I’ll go after the small one!”
It wasn’t until he spoke that Ace realized that Rina was on the opposite side of the wall of trees from him. Swearing under his breath, he watched the marines pick themselves up off the ground. Damn… if he just had his Flame Flame fruit, he would burn through those trees in no time at all! But he couldn’t dwell on something that would never help him. Instead, he realized he’d have to cut through Amriki’s side streets to try and cut over and make his way back to Rina. “Go!” he tried to shout through the new thicket of trees between them. “I’ll find you there!”
“Ok!” the soft confirmation from the other side gave him a small wave of confidence, and Ace turned to look at the Marines that were slowly encroaching on his space. His eyes narrowed before he turned and ran toward the system of alleyways…
“I see the bastard!” The shout brought him out of his head, and after huffing under his breath, the freckled male turned around to throw the group the middle finger.
“Man, marines are so slow these days!” he chuckled, watching as the group roared in anger. Call him toxic, but this felt therapeutic, in a way. He knew that he was still recovering from muscle-loss for the time he was… what, “incubating?” The thought made him shiver—maybe that wasn’t the best way to describe it. Still, messing with grunts for the sake of a town? Didn’t seem like a bad take on his part. The only thing that concerned him was knowing that the devil fruit-using captain had gone after Rina. She was still learning… everything.
Something stung his side, and he hissed underneath the mask. What the heck was that? Gripping his side, he searched for a bullet wound, or some sort of scrape, but he found nothing. His gaze sharpened at the phantom pain, turning back to see that he had a decent lead on the marines behind him. Odd—it was almost as if something had grazed him…
His thoughts fled to Rina once more, the momentary distraction cut short as he began to feel another creeping sensation of worry for the female crawling up his spine. She’d done well to keep herself out of conflict all this time. Guilt slid alongside the worry like a venomous snake as he couldn’t help but wonder if he was some sort of curse to those that he encountered. Her life would have been perfectly fine and normal if she hadn’t gotten mixed up with him somehow. It was the least he could do to protect her, then!
Just as he thought that he felt something… odd. Ace was still running from the marines, cutting corners through different alleys, and dodging them at every turn he could, but there was an almost warm feeling emanating from deep in his chest. He couldn’t describe it, but all it seemed to feel like was… a connection with the silver-haired female that had suddenly become the only person in the world to know of his existence.
“Rina…!” he couldn’t help but call out, the words slipping out of his mouth before he was even realizing he was talking.
Ace’s surroundings changed.
Where before, he had been surrounded by buildings on either side, their shadows cutting off the sunlight from overhead, now there were buildings on one side, and the docks and open ocean out to the other. Nearly tripping over his feet at the shift, the smell of the sea hit him like a tidal wave, filling his lungs with a salty tang. What… just happened? His running slowed to a jog.
“H-hey…!” a gasp sounded behind him, and Ace turned to see a similarly dressed individual on her knees, a large marine who looked to be made of wood towering over her from behind.
Rina?
Had Ace… teleported?
He didn’t have much time to think about what had just happened, as the wooden man’s arm changed to that of a club, and he rose it with the intent to strike his friend. Ace’s gaze caught sight of a two-by-four in the corner of his vision, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of Rina’s collapsed form, blocking Captain Tsuji’s arm with said piece of wood. He grunted, his teeth grinding together at the force, before Ace’s strength surprisingly won out, pushing Tsuji back a good couple of feet with a cry, the two-by-four splintering and jamming into the captain’s arm-club.
“Y-you alright, Rina?” he whispered, offering her a hand while also making sure to keep the marine captain in his sight. She took it gratefully, wincing as she stood. Ace couldn’t help but notice the tear in her uniform, on the same side that he had felt a bit of pain just moments before. “I… I felt you get hurt, right before I appeared here.”
“I called for you,” Rina breathed, and even without seeing her face, he knew her eyes were wide, lips parted in shock. “Not out loud, of course, but I wished you’d get here… and then you were here!”
“We’re going to need some kind of nickname for each other, so we don’t accidentally blow our cover,” Ace muttered while both he and Rina faced Captain Tsuji, who still seemed to be processing Ace’s sudden appearance, as well as regrowing his arm. “But there will be time for that later. Right now, we’ve gotta deal with this guy…”
“Any bright ideas?” Rina asked, her head cocking slightly to one side. Ace nearly made a joke about how bird-like it looked with the plague-doctor mask on, but he refrained.
“How’d I get here… you called for me?”
“Yes, and then I felt it like a tugging, in my chest,” she nodded.
“Hm… I felt the same thing, and then I was at the docks. I’m gonna fight this loser, and maybe we can try it again,” Ace couldn’t help but grin, his hands balling into fists as Tsuji let out a frustrated huff, his arm fully replaced. “I think I have a few ideas of how we can use this…!”
“Okay, just be careful,” Rina’s resolve was as firm as his. Stepping back and holding her injured side, Ace set himself into a more confident stance in front of her, arms raised with his fist clenched as Captain Tsuji stepped forward. Now he had that same flail from earlier, and his wrist swung lazily out to his side, it taking little movement to get the ball swinging in steady rhythm.
“Those who defy the navy are scum…!” his voice was grating on Ace’s ears. “I’d ask what you two lunatics call yourselves but you’re just gonna die right here…!”
“Oh, you were still talking?” Ace blinked, tilting his head to the side. The marine captain growled loudly before rushing forward, swinging his flail. “Get ready, Rina, to move behind him. Then, on my command try to call me again…!” Ace grinned behind the mask, letting the man approach. His footsteps thundered on the dock as he rushed the two of them.
“Right!” she readily agreed, and out of the corner of his eye, Ace could see her pull her arms up, a slight bend at the knee signaling her readiness. The wooden man roared as he swung his flail toward Ace, who waited for the last second to jump, black half-cape whipping and snapping behind him at the movement. Captain Tsuji’s flail splintered the dock, lodging deep into the wood as he grunted at the effort to pull it out. Rina took the opening provided to duck behind the captain, toward the other side of the dock.
“Get back here…!” Tsuji grunted, reaching out for her fleeting figure as he dropped his weapon’s handle.
“Hey, I’m you’re opponent!” Ace smirked, rearing back for a full, well-grounded kick that the captain moved to block.
“NOW!” Ace cried out, and suddenly, he felt that tugging at his chest. This time, maybe he was imagining it, or maybe it was a manifestation of their now-shared Devil Fruit abilities, but Ace could almost see a red string that left him and was being pulled taught toward Rina. One glance at her costumed figure showed that she was physically pulling on the string, tugging him toward her.
“Go!” Rina shouted, her vocal cords straining at the effort. Ace let a battle cry loose as he followed through on his kick, both the height and the power behind it surprising the captain, as it snapped his other wooden arm in half, striking his face through his defenses.
Letting loose a cry of pain upon impact, Tsuji bounced backward, the docks creaking and shuddering at the force. He nearly went over the edge, and that would have been it if he had fallen into the water, but at the last moment, his hand shot out, extending the dock underneath him to keep himself from falling into the ocean. Ace swore under his breath—of course it would never be that easy.
“I saw it… the string that connects us,” he chuckled at their good fortune, grinning behind the mask as he turned to face Rina. When Rina had talked about her Devil Fruit, he hadn’t been sure what kind of abilities the Tsunagu Tsunagu no Mi would lend itself to, but he could think of a few clever ways to use it, now that they were exploring it’s uses.
“I did too… I think… we can use it like a chord…” Rina breathed, sounding a bit winded but otherwise alright. “A literal bungee between us… I wasn’t able to teleport you this time, but rather pull you.”
“You VERMIN!” Tsuji’s shout interrupted their scheming, and Ace sighed, putting a hand on his hip as he turned to face the marine captain.
“Well, isn’t that rude…? Me and the Mockingbird were just have a good conversation,” he spoke calmly as he felt Rina’s curious gaze from beside him. Pointing to the beak of his plague-doctor mask, Ace turned his head to face her. “I thought our codenames could be birds, ‘cause of the masks!”
“Mockingbird… really?” Sarcasm dripped from her speech. “Then I’m gonna call you a Killdeer.”
“That sounds cool,” Ace nodded, not putting much thought into it. “I don’t know what kinda bird it is, but I like the name! Killdeer. I could get used to that.”
“I-it was supposed to be symbolic, if not ironic, but—” another angered shout came from the captain for being ignored, and Rina was forced to cut her thought short. “Oh, never mind! Let’s just finish this guy off!”
“You read my mind, Mockingbird,” Ace grinned widely, flexing his hands for a moment in preparation. If she was going to make him wear a silly costume, he was going to make the best out of the situation! The wooden man had switched from his weapon (which was still embedded in the dock) to shooting long, tangled branches from his arms, the old, dead wood that Ace had splintered acting like prickly spikes shooting out toward them. Both costumed fugitives were forced back off of the dock and toward the town in order to have more room to duck and dodge.
“He grows those limbs so fast…!” Rina cried out, narrowly missing getting her head clipped by a long branch.
“Y-yeah, a lot faster than before!” Ace agreed, hastily throwing himself to his right to avoid the same thing.
“Stay still, worms!” Tsuji’s insult-game was getting old.
“Captain Tsuji!” A general cry wrang out as the average marine grunts finally found their way out toward the docks, a small crowd of villagers following them cautiously. “We searched for you everywhere, and you were here?”
“Don’t just stand there, you idiots! Kill them!” Tsuji roared, his men jumping to action, and Ace couldn’t tell if they feared their superior or not. It wouldn’t surprise him if they were. As the marines scrambled to mobilize, Ace pulled himself back over toward Rina again, this time, latching onto the string himself to tug her close to him at the same time.
“I-I’m not sure I like the feeling of being tugged,” she admitted with a bit of a pant, catching her breath as form stiffened.
“Well, we’ll have to work on our techniques in the future,” Ace mumbled, holding Rina’s forearm gently as he wondered if they should run or not. They were outnumbered here, and he couldn’t exactly protect Rina from getting shot with no cover in this portion of Amriki. The seafront was mostly cliffs save for the occasional beach and this dock, and he silently wondered if he could swim or not, since technically he and Rina were sharing a Devil Fruit ability. “For now, let’s focus on getting out of here alive…!”
“You leave those kids alone, ya hear me!” a voice broke out above the general chaos of the mobilizing troops, and the marines looked in surprise to see old man Chizo pulling himself out of the crowd, a broom in hand brandished as if it were a mighty sword. Despite his age, he cut quite the impressive figure, his eyes, usually hidden deep underneath his large, bushy eyebrows, wide and flaring with rage. “They stood up for Amriki! Our home, that you keep trampling through, rampaging like wild bulls!”
“Y-Yeah!” Chizo’s words had caused a ripple through the attending townsfolk, more people gathering to look at the spectacle. A few still trembled in fear as the gaze of the marine captain swept over them, his wooden face stoic.
“Amriki isn’t just a steppingstone for you…” a young man called out, his voice cracking, unlike his resolve. “We’re surviving, and you can’t just go about like you own the place and threaten our livelihoods like we’re nothing!”
“He’s right,” a woman called out, her baby clutched tightly in her arms. “Our children have futures because we struggle, with or without your help! We don’t even have to worry about pirates because Amriki is usually missed… instead we have to worry about you!”
“So that’s how you really feel…” the captain grunted, his teeth sliding together in an unpleasant sound.
“Sir… we’re meant to be protecting them…” a trembling marine spoke up. “I get we don’t see much action here, but isn’t peace a good thing…?”
Ace smiled behind the mask again—these people would be fine long after he and Rina were gone. They were strong, they just needed to remember that fact.
Captain Tsuji, on the other hand, looked ready to explode, multiple wrinkle-lines appearing in his forehead as he drew himself to his full height. “You would dare defy your captain…?” His expression was deadly. “I suffered to get to my position—I’m up for a promotion—and all you can think to do is defy my orders?” Oh no, of course he had some borderline god complex. “A soldier who can’t follow basic orders is as good as dead on the Grand Line… so go die and save me the trouble!” The soldier swallowed harshly, taking a shaky step back. “This whole island is a curse—no one would care if it disappeared,” the captain continued, looking out over the people, his arms raising. “In fact, it would do this hunk of rock some good to get lost in the woods a bit… maybe overgrowth will show you how useless this island really is! Uddo Uddo… ha no mori!” the ground shuddered as trees began to grow at a rapid pace, cracking the cobblestones and sprouting up around houses, cracking the exteriors.
“This is bad…! Those houses are going to get destroyed,” Rina yelped from beside him.
“Help the villagers,” Ace motioned to the gathered crowd. “I’ll try and stop him!”
“Be careful,” Rina nodded, dashing toward the villagers. Above the rumbling, and the panicked shouts of marines and villagers alike, Ace heard her usher the villagers away from the ocean, moving them inland to avoid the battle.
“Sir, you have to stop!” another marine spoke up in the meantime, and his boldness was received by one of Tsuji’s now-tree-trunk-sized arms batting him like a fly into a building.
“I’m the captain here, unless you’ve forgotten already!” he bellowed, his stature now at least twice as big as his already large form. His limbs were as thick around as old oaks, and his marine cap had fallen off of his head to reveal a head of leaves for hair. “Without this island, we’ll be free to follow orders elsewhere, and do work that really matters, not work as ferrymen and merchants for some backwater village! I’m just doing the inevitable for them and returning their island to obscurity!”
During his speech, Ace’s gaze was drawn out to the ocean, a familiar-looking ship on the horizon catching his attention. He couldn’t help the small chuckle that left his lips. Clearly this wasn’t going to fly by his superiors, so what was his plan here…? Perhaps he was hoping that if everything seemed overgrown and in shambles, he could pin the blame on Ace and Rina? Of course, that would require catching them, which Ace wasn’t about to let happen. All he had to do was stall long enough… either that or somehow knock this guy out.
“Uh… K-Killdeer,” still unused to the nickname, it took Ace longer than it should have for him to realize that he was being spoken to. Turning and looking to see a marine of all people, he tilted his head. “W-we’ll help Mockingbird get the people to safety… our captain’s gone full crazy!”
Ace merely nodded. He would be naïve to think that all marines were bad, just as not all the pirates that he’d met in his years on the open seas had been good, either. In fact, most pirates were dirty scum, but he’d been lucky to have been part of Pops’ crew, so he could extend the same hand that Pops had given him to others.
“You’re causing a real mess of this place,” Ace growled, side-stepping the trees that were growing out of the stone like it was nothing. “Some of you bigger ranking marines just have no--” he blitzed to one side of the tree man, jumping up on top of his arm as he clumsily swung at him. “--tact!” he growled, latching on before slowly climbing up. Due to the bigger nature of his tree-man form, Tsuji was a lot slower. An intelligible groan that sounded like creaking wood left his lips, and Ace narrowly avoided getting crushed under his other arm as Tsuji swatted at him like he was some kind of insect.
“Throw me a gun…!” he shouted to the marines that were left behind. They all looked skeptical, and scared, but he didn’t have time for their bullshit. “I don’t have one. He’s either going to make you lose your jobs, or demote your ranks for his action, help me take him out!” Ace had to spend his time doing an impression of a spider monkey for a little too long, but ultimately a private threw a pistol to him, which he (thankfully) caught. “Alright big guy, lights out!”
Ace aimed the pistol at the sky, but brough the gun straight to Tsuji’s neck, wheezing as he was clipped by the man’s fist—that hurt, a lot. Still, he managed to load the chamber and fire toward the sky, relying on the flint lock spark to try and set Tsuji’s wooden form on fire. The first shot didn’t start anything unfortunately, and Ace didn’t know how much longer he could last until he was either crushed or thrown off of the captain’s back. The irony was not lost on the freckled male—if only he’d had his previous Devil Fruit abilities, this marine captain would be firewood in no time. He didn’t have the luxury, however, and so he aimed once more, muttered a swift swear under his breath, and fired again. The spark flickered against his neck, fizzling out…
And then caught! Ace couldn’t help but let out a whoop of delight as the flames quickly spread, only realizing how unusually hot he was getting, before scrambling off of the marine captain. He was quick to go up in flames, burning and roaring and stumbling about.
“C-captain…!” the marines called out in fear.
“Quick, put him out!” one called.
“Lure him into the ocean!” Another. “That way he’ll transform back too, and then we can fish him out!” They all seemed to nod in agreement, using the butts of their rifles to push the panicking, burning man toward the ocean. Ace slid backward, looking back over the docks as the loud ‘SPLASH’ of Captain Tsuji falling into the water sounded around him. Everything was… really messed up, that was for certain. Ace sighed—he had hoped that they would have been able to avoid more unnecessary damage, but it seemed like some things didn’t die with his old body, and one of those things was always seeming to leave a mess wherever he went. At least the people of Amriki were strong—he’d been impressed with the way that they had stood up to Tsuji in the end, even if it did cause a lot of damage in the long run.
Hauling Tsuji out of the water had been more of an endeavor than the marines had realized, but Ace was grateful for the break. He took the time to slide out of the limelight, sneaking into one of the back alleys where he could wheeze in peace. The day’s actions were finally beginning to catch up with him, now that the adrenaline and excitement of battle were wearing off. He wasn’t feeling as weak as he thought he’d be, and yet a creeping soreness in his muscles told him that if he just waited for the following day, he might be corrected.
The marine ship pulled into the harbor, more men and women in white flooding the small docks as a vice admiral stepped out onto the scene. Ace had no desire to stick around to see what that was about, and so he moved deeper into the village. Feeling a tugging on his chest again, Ace closed his eyes and allowed himself to be pulled through the link to wherever Rina was. When his eyes opened, he was happily surprised to find himself back in their shared room at the inn, Rina standing before him, unmasked with a small grin.
“I could get used to the teleporting,” Ace laughed, a wheeze passing out of his lips at the strain as he de-masked himself, running a hand through his messy black locks to work out any major wrinkles.
“You’re hurt, Ace…” Rina frowned, moving over to get behind him.
“What’re you--?” Ace mumbled with a frown, feeling her small hands on his back.
“Go to bed! You’re probably exhausted after fighting that tree-man,” the female sighed, shaking her head. “Besides, it’s your turn for the bed anyway.” He wanted to protest, but his body wouldn’t let him, and instead moved him obediently toward the soft sheets that were awaiting him.
“What about… leaving before the marines find us…?” Ace mumbled sleepily, climbing into bed.
“I’ll make sure none come around and fight you… just sleep please,” Rina smiled softly, moving to seat herself at the table like Ace had done the other night. “We’ll worry about tomorrow’s problems… tomorrow.” He liked the sound of that. “You were… really cool out there today. Your strength, and ability to keep a calm head, even in peril. Well… I appreciate it.” He nodded, not internalizing her words while he was this exhausted. Being able to tell this, Rina chuckled softly. “Goodnight, Ace.”
“Good-“ he was out like a light halfway through his phrase, and Rina sighed.