Chapter Text
The sea was calm.
The sun blazed and beat unforgivingly, singeing bruised skin. And on that vast stretch of cerulean blue was a girl. Alone on an isolated skiff.
Reluctantly, she opened her eyes, facing away from the blinding sun and curling deeper into the ball she’d used her arms to wrap herself in. She’d also refused to sleep, out of fear of the nightmares that might shake her.
I… still feel trapped.
Her hair was a mess, the tattered rags that mockingly adorned her body stung her skin and the bracelet that sat on her wrist felt heavy enough to render her immobile with guilt.
But I’m free now, aren’t I?
Sitting up slowly, her shoulders instinctively hunched forward. How long had it been? In reality it had only been a few days. Though it certainly felt as though it had been longer. But at some point along the line she had stopped counting the days. The faint remnants of a tally etched on the interior side of the boat long forgotten.
This is what I always longed for… what we had always longed for.
She had barely eaten any of the minimal food the boat had been provided with, the despair and anguish rotting inside her stomach doing well to put her off the appetite that grew exponentially by the day.
So why do I still feel like nothing’s changed?
A sour and unpleasant taste lingered in her mouth, her fingers twitching. She was tired. Desperately tired as her mind edged the bottomless pit of despair.
Would I.. be more free dead than alive?
She wasn’t foreign to that particular thought in the slightest. In the past few years, it was a recurring thought that bothered her. Like an itch at the back of her brain that she couldn’t quite reach.
Her eyes looked over the small skiff. The fishing rod she never got to use, the flashlight that didn’t really work anymore, the books never intended for herself to read…
…and the knife.
The knife that lay not too far away caught the light from the scorching sun, the glint drawing her tired, dreary eyes towards it. Her gaze tracing the sharp edge of the blade at an agonizingly slow pace.
Without thinking, her hand reached out for the handle.
In a practiced movement, the knife clasped in both hands, she brought its cruel, sharp end up towards her own chest as its edge grazed the rags. It certainly wasn’t the first time this had happened.
But maybe…
Her heart beat pulsed at a low steady rhythm, deaf upon her own ears. The knife pushed a little deeper.
..it’d finally be the last-
“HEEEEY!”
She froze. Her heart stopped momentarily. Her arms went rigid as she stiffly and slowly turned her head in the direction of which the voice came from.
And there he stood.
He was on a small skiff, similar to her own, and right next to hers. He was shirtless with a well-defined body and one hand hung loosely on his waist whilst the other held down the brilliant orange hat on his head.
Being the first person she’d met since she set out, he was quite the character. And… were his feet on fire?-
“Whatcha doing?” he asked plainly, a boyish grin adorning his face.
She didn’t respond at first, partially from shock but also partially from the fact that the answer to that question was clear from a simple glance. Why was he even asking?
However, she had no time to think up a response before he jumped off his own skiff, and straight onto hers. Standing across from her with a hand on his hip.
Immediately she panicked, scrambling to her feet. She stumbled with the knife in her hand to turn it away from her own chest and pointed it at the stranger.
"Stay back! Or I'll... I'll.." she trailed off, her voice hoarse from not having been used in days. What would she do? What could she even do? She was weak, hungry and in no shape to expend what little energy she had left.
But if she were to die, she at least wanted it to be on her own terms, not from starvation, nor from the clutches of a random nobody. Despite the circumstances and her dimming resolve, she swallowed and her grip on the knife tightened.
“Stay back, or I’ll.. kill you?” she tried again, internally wincing at how it came out as more of a question as opposed to the assertive statement she was aiming for due to the way her voice came out more high pitched towards the end.
The guy merely blinked at her.
It was silent for a while. She looked at him and he silently looked back, until a moment passed and he let out a short laugh.
“Why are you asking me?” he smiled amusedly, not at all fazed by the words she’d said as he took a few more steps forward, “Will you?”
She glared at him and silently cursed herself for how she probably looked like a joke.
“I will!” she raised her voice, but the way her arms trembled slightly told a different story, “Just… leave me alone.”
He didn’t listen, instead stepping forward yet again. Her fingers curled around the knife’s handle in agitation.
Then she lunged forward without thinking, her actions fueled from fear.
The guy shifted, not at all caught off guard as he sidestepped easily on the cramped skiff, the blade slicing air just inches from him. She tried again, swinging her knife, slower this time causing him to tilt his head to the side.
“Hey now,” he said lightly, still dodging, “You really gonna try poke holes in your only visitor?”
She ignored him, lunging again with renewed force which gently shook the skiff. It threw her slightly off balance, and she stumbled forward.
He naturally caught her shoulder, and a surge of electricity sparked through her veins and towards her shoulder, straight to his hand. In the process shocking him both literally and figuratively.
“Devil Fruit?” He asked. She ignored his question.
“I didn’t ask you to get on my boat.”, she said, panting heavily from the fatigue and exhaustion of starvation and deprivation of sleep from the past days catching up on her. “Besides, I’m a pirate, I can do what I want.” she spat.
“Yeah? You’re a pirate?” he asked. She noticed him give her a once over, taking in her disheveled rags and bruised form, she wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t believe her.
Yet, not a trace of doubt could be seen in his eyes.
“Then… were you really planning to die out here?” he then asked, suddenly serious, dropping the smile on his face.
For a moment she faltered, and in those few seconds when her guard was down, he caught her wrist in one swift movement.
The contact brought her back to her senses and the anger slowly filled her face again.
“What’s it to you? You don’t know me.” she shot back through gritted teeth, sparks crackled where his hand met her wrist but he bared through the pain, seemingly unaffected.
“You’re right, I don’t,” he shrugged, his grip on her wrist tightening enough for her to drop the knife in her hand but not careful enough to inflict pain. He grinned daringly.
“But as a pirate, that’s quite a boring way to go, dontcha think?”
The words struck deep within her, resonating with a buried memory she had casted aside long ago. And when she snatched her wrist away, her legs gave way and she sat herself down with a soft thud.
She sighed defeatedly, holding her wrist and looking down with a forlorn expression.
“Who are you?” she asked hesitantly, her eyes flitted upwards but her head hung low.
He smiled at her, all bright and cheerful as if she just hadn’t tried to kill him a few moments ago. As if he had been waiting for her to ask this very question.
“Portgas D. Ace,”
She raised her head up, looking up at him. The glint in his eyes was alluring yet at the same time intimidating.
“Portgas D. Ace...” she repeated, a blank stare that lasted a few seconds before she spoke up after a while, “That’s… quite a long name.”
“It’s not that long..” he frowned, crouching down slightly to meet her height so that they were at the same eye level, with his hands on his knees, “Just call me Ace.”
“Ok then,” she said before taking a slight pause, “Ace..”
He nodded with a grin.
“What’s your name then?” he asked, his eyes on the knife on the skiff’s floor. He then used a hand to slide it behind him in a discreet manner. She watched but didn’t say anything.
He then looked up. Smiling expectantly.
“Well?”
She couldn’t find it in herself to smile back. Her brows furrowed.
“I’m not telling you that.”
It went eerily quiet. They held each other’s gaze and from the lack of response she was starting to think he didn’t hear her.
“Hm? Why not?” he blinked at her, still smiling.
She narrowed her eyes, who was he to question her?
There was no initial response from her. She stood up shakily, choosing not to repeat herself. Her head was pounding and her mouth dry. She swallowed.
She could tell it wouldn’t be long before she passed out from exhaustion.
And when she did, she didn’t want this ‘Ace’ around. She still hadn’t the foggiest idea of just who he was. For all she knew, he could be working for them.
Ace glanced at her, watching her place a hand to her head in pain. He raised a brow.
“You good?-”
“You can get off my boat now.”
…
Silence.
He stared at her. A blank look on his face as if he had misheard her. She glared back. It was only after a few seconds when he seemingly finally caught up.
“What?” he frowned, well it was more of a sulk, “Already?”
He looked up at her for a long moment, really looked, as if trying to figure something out. Ace then rose back to his feet from his crouching position with a small huff so that he was looking down at her.
“Why?” he said, a look of genuine confusion on his face.
Her eye twitched.
“What do you mean ‘why’? This- this is my boat.” she said incredulously, her head nodding to his skiff that was still stationed next to hers, “Go back to your own.”
He scratched his head, still a bit perplexed and not looking her straight in the eye, “Yeah, but-”
Suddenly, the water shifted.
It was a few subtle ripples at first, ones that merely rocked the two skiffs up and down.
Ace paused, his eyes snapping to the water. The ripples got stronger, strong enough to nearly make her lose her footing as she stumbled weakly.
“What was that?-” she began, but her voice was drowned out by the sharp and sudden surge of movement beneath them.
The sea erupted.
Emerging was a giant mass of scales, with a roar that shook the girl to her core. The sea water sprayed around them and she had to bring an arm up to cover her eyes whilst Ace held tightly down onto his hat. The skiff continued to shake violently.
In the midst of it all, a large sea creature launched itself out of the water. Its long, curving crimson body stood out in the abundance of blue. The jaws of the creature were wide enough to show off its many sharp fangs, and its menacing glare was enough to send a shiver down the girl's spine.
In the small number of days she had been out at sea, she had yet to see a fish of such magnitude and threat.
Are these the Sea Kings that Sol used to talk about?
It wasn’t as though death was her biggest fear. But in that very moment she felt her heart nearly stop. As much as she didn’t want to embrace her fate in this way, there was really nothing else she could do. Her body that was once tensed in retaliation, relaxed in defeat, her hunched up shoulders falling down.
She looked across the boat hesitantly, half expecting Ace not to be standing there anymore. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if he had jumped back on his own skiff and fled to leave her to fend off the sea fiend on her own. She certainly hadn’t given him the friendliest welcome.
What she didn’t expect was him to be standing there calmly, way too calmly, grinning up at the Sea King. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, looking far too excited considering the situation that was at hand.
“Well damn,” he said before turning to face her, “Is this your way of making me leave?”
Her mouth opened to say something back but no words came out, she soon decided rather to keep quiet and look at him with a dumbfounded expression. Was this really the time to be making jokes? Was he not scared at all?
She had no time to comprehend his bold behaviour before the Sea King dove straight for her. Its jaws snapping ready to take her and half of the boat all in its mouth. Her body stood still, frozen with fear..
“Look out!” he shouted, one arm reaching out to grab her own and yank her towards his body just in time to dodge the fish’s sharp teeth. The arm held her shoulder firmly against him, the other winding back all of a sudden.
Stumbling backwards into his chest, she tensed as a column of fire was launched from his arm and straight at the creature. The flames charred it and some of the boat in the process and the Sea King sent backwards, pummeling into the water.
Her eyes widened as her head whipped to look up at him in shock, partially from the fact that he was still standing here and had just saved her from death twice. If she were in his shoes, she surely would’ve up and left by now. She found it hard to return the reassuring smile he was giving her.
But she also couldn’t ignore the unexpected heat he had launched from his arm.
Has he eaten a Devil Fruit as well?
Her eyes narrowed.
“You-”
She was cut off from the rush of the Sea King returning emerging from the water again, more of its body was out of the water this time as it fully towered over the pair that were diminished due to its great size. Its eyes locked back on her immediately.
His own eyes had drifted from hers, and were looking up and back at the creature, gently moving her behind him and out of the way before stretching out his arm.
“Hey. Eyes on me, big guy.” he said, the same grin still plastered on his face.
She had barely registered what was going on before his entire body lit up, flames flickering across his bare shoulders
Then he disappeared. Gone in the blink of an eye. A burst of fire launched him into the air causing her to flinch backwards from the sheer force of it.
She looked above in awe, where Ace met the Sea King in midair. It changed its course and snapped at him, mouth wide and teeth sharp, but he twisted with practiced ease, evading the strike in one fluid motion.
“Fire Fist!” he shouted, flames gathered in his right fist before he slammed it into the side of the beast’s head.
The Sea King was pushed back, its screech tore the air as it twisted in pain before crashing back into the sea with a loud splash that shook the boats again. The skiff definitely wasn’t taking the force from the sudden movements and flames well, as opposed to Ace’s that was still nearby. In all fairness, it wasn’t made to last as long as it had.
She wasn’t doing too well, she coughed and spluttered from the water she had been splashed with, feeling even weaker than before. She had to hold onto the fragile mast to keep herself upright.
And then—
Thud.
Then he landed. Right back on the damaged skiff across from her like it was nothing, a few drops of water sizzling off his flaming skin as the fire around him died down.
He was beaming smugly at her and ready to lightly, until his smile slowly dropped, concern flickering across his face upon seeing her disheveled form.
“Hey, you alright?”
She shakily let go of the mast and stood so she was fully facing him. She should have wanted to thank him, she realised now that she owed that to him at least for rescuing her from the clutches of death two times now. But something in her throat felt tight, restricting her from expressing her gratitude, her hands fisted by her sides.
“Why did you save me?” she asked instead, avoiding his gaze and slightly shivering having been recently soaked. “I don’t have anything to give you.”
Ace watched her carefully for a moment, then merely shrugged.
“I dunno, just felt like it.” he said before smiling, “You have to admit though- I looked quite cool didn’t I?”
Her jaw clenched subconsciously, she didn’t even realise it but she was swaying slightly. “Well then, maybe it would’ve been better if you had just left when I told you to.”
“I’m better off dead anyway...” she whispered low, more to herself than anything.
But still, Ace had heard, and he stood across from her with an unreadable expression. The words she had uttered left him wanting to say something – anything. He instead opted to keep quiet, his eyes drifting elsewhere.
In her eyes, there was no way anyone would go out of their way to do something as such for someone they’d met moments before without seeking anything in return. She hated nothing more than being indebted to someone, yet here she was, owing her life to this guy she hardly knew.
Then the possibility of Ace working with them crossed her mind again and it was almost too much to bear. The memories filled and throbbed her head, her hand latched onto the wrist with her worn out bracelet on, her nails digging into her skin.
“Like I said before, you can get off now. I don’t need your help.” she said, her head clouded, “I know what you’re trying to do. And- and I’m not going back. I’m not…”
She was disorientated, her eyes hazardously heavy and the sluggish sways of her body not helping her case.
Then- all of a sudden her knees collapsed and her body crumpled forward without warning.
Ace was already moving, rushing forward to break her fall, “Whoa, hey–!”
He leaned down and caught her effortlessly, arms wrapping around just before she hit the floorboards of the skiff. She screamed at herself internally not to let her guard down, but her body disobeyed her mind’s inner torment unconsciously relaxing in his arms.
He’s… warm.
It was the last coherent thought that ran through her head, before she allowed herself to succumb to the pent up exhaustion of the past few days and the darkness filled her vision.
“Oi, don’t pass out on me now…” Ace muttered with a troubled frown.
But her eyes had already fluttered shut.
— — —
She had no idea where she was.
Her senses tingled. The sun was still relenting in its heat and the faint smell of sea salt on the wind's breeze. Her body still felt numb, the only physical feeling she had was the way her body was slumped and her head hanging limp.
“Ace… who … this?”
She heard an unfamiliar voice vocalise. The words were hard to make out, the pain in her head had yet to fully dissipate.
“She… actually I don’t know … … passed out.”
The fragments of the second voice, however, happened to be familiar. She eventually opened her eyes, the blurred voices singled out so the words could be discerned.
“Ace, you can’t just kidnap random people and bring them here.” the first voice said. Not too far in front of her stood a tall man with blonde spiky hair.
“It wasn’t kidnapping! I just brought her here cause she looked like she needed help.”
Her eyes drifted to where the second voice came from. Surely enough, there Ace stood, talking to the pineapple looking guy with an earnest expression. His orange hat no longer sat atop his head and instead hung loosely on the back of his neck.
“That’s exactly what kidnapping is. You don’t even- oh look. She’s finally awake.”
She looked at the two guys with a vacant stare who both had their attention now drawn to her, still blinking back the last remnants of tiredness.
Rubbing her eyes, she tried to get a better bearing of her surroundings. She noticed that she was on a ship, a large one at that, one that also looked similar to ones she’d seen before.
Behind them, she also noticed the small crowd that had gathered around Ace and the other man. They were talking amongst themselves and watching her with a range of different expressions which she tried to ignore but couldn’t help and shrink back in discomfort.
Looking past them and around the massive ship for some hint towards just who these mystery people were, her eyes locked onto a glimpse of a familiar long, white coat in the distance.
Her heart dropped as worst fears were confirmed, the sight alone enough to trigger something inside her. Though the rest of them weren’t in uniform, she had learnt first-hand that looks could be and were deceiving. Before she knew it her mouth was open.
“You guys are marines?” she blurted, the panic evident in her tone. Her heart rate picked up, it was a futile and impulsive statement.
They stared at her. There was a small pause of silence. Now there was no doubt about it, what was she expecting? They were marines and the entire escape had been in vain, and now they were going to take her back and-
Suddenly a sharp snort was let out.
“Marines?” the one with blonde, spiky hair repeated, “That’s the worst insult I’ve heard all week.”
The rest of them followed suit, a chorus of laughter rang out, they’re rowdy voices filling the air. And all she could was sit through it, as confused as ever.
Ace joined in with a short snicker of his own, “That’s my fault, I forgot to mention.” He gave her a warm smile, “We’re pirates. Just like you.”
She stared, “Pirates?” For some reason, she hadn’t even considered that to be a possibility.
“Yeah. Not the bad kind.” he said before scratching his head, “Well, depends who you ask.”
“Then…” she looked around once more, “this is a pirate ship?”
“Not just any pirate ship.” The blonde man explained, “You’re on the Moby Dick, kid.”
The name certainly didn’t ring any bells, then again she didn’t know any pirates or much about the pirate world. At that moment, she had so many questions, why was she even here– and how did she even get here. Last she remembered she was–
“You kinda passed out,” Ace started again, crouching to face her, “and it didn’t feel right to just leave you there. So…”
“So he brought you here,” the other man continued flatly, “based on the same gut instinct that got him stranded for three days last month.”
Ace whipped his head to face him, a frown on his face as he addressed the man who stood beside his crouched figure, “That was a different situation, Marco.”
“Was it really? Cause if I remember correctly…”
She drowned out their banter but took note of the blonde man’s name being Marco. Her mind wandered elsewhere, thinking back to the previous conscious moments she had before she woke up here. Then something suddenly came to mind.
“Where’s my boat?” she asked, in the midst of their back and forth.
“Oh yeah.” Ace drew his attention back to her, eyes slightly wide and then tilted his head up a sudden newfound interest in the way the clouds were shaped in the sky, “About that…”
Marco crossed his arms with an easy smile. “Go on, tell her.”
Ace gave him a quick side glare.
“I was going to,” Ace muttered, then looked back at her nervously. “It, uh… didn’t exactly make it through in one piece.”
Her stomach dropped. “...What do you mean?”
Ace grimaced at the expression she made, already starting to feel bad. “I tried to pull it up, but by the time you fainted, it was already starting to… you know.” He made a vague sinking motion with his hand.
“Oh.” Though she knew the boat wasn’t really going to last long, she still failed to hide the dejected look that appeared. It was one of the last memories she had of him after all.
“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that…” he said, voice full of remorse.
She looked down, she couldn’t really get mad at him, and he really had no reason to be apologising. In reality she should be down on her knees thanking him relentlessly for all that he’d done up until this point, but instead she found mouth restricted once again.
“You said you’re a pirate?” she heard the man named ‘Marco’ start, causing her head to raise and look up at him. “You look a bit young.”
“So? I’m still a pirate.” she shot back. But now that she was sat in the midst of actual real life pirates and on a real pirate ship, she realised she must’ve looked quite pathetic.
But just like Ace earlier, Marco didn’t seem to be judging as he looked down at her, a hand hung loosely on his hip.
“Where’s your crew? Maybe we can help you find them.”
She frowned. “I don’t have one of those...”
“Right.” His brows furrowed. “And your ship?”
“That boat was my pirate ship.”
Marco sighed, pinching his fingers between his eyes.
“So you really have nowhere to go…” he said plainly, a conclusion he had gathered from the conversation at hand.
She opened her mouth to protest but ended up closing it and looking down, fiddling with her bracelet. As much as she hated to admit it, the man’s words were true.
Ace had kept quiet for a while now, his eyes still glued on her with a blank expression, they hadn’t left since he bent down to face her. Suddenly, a smile appeared on his face.
“She can stay with us, can’t she?” he spoke up in the midst of the quiet.
She blinked, slightly taken aback at the Ace’s words. Sure she had nowhere to stay but she didn’t fully trust these guys, even if up until now he’d been nothing but considerate. Marco looked equally shocked at his suggestion, but he recovered quickly before looking at him with a small smirk.
“What, now that you're the Second Division Commander you think you can just decide that on your own?”
Ace turned to look up at Marco with a sheepish grin, “...Yes?”
Marco shook his head, “If anything, you should first of all speak to–”
“What’s this?” a new voice barged in, pushing through and emerging from the crowd.
She looked up to see another man stepping forward with an easygoing smile. He was just as tall as the other pirates, he had brown hair styled in a way she hadn’t seen before and a scar near his eye.
“Exactly what it looks like.” Marco said calmly, giving the man a look.
Ace’s eyes lit up. “Thatch! Hey!”
The man, ‘Thatch’, matched his excitement with a grin of his own directed towards him, then his eyes eventually wandered towards her. He looked slightly confused, eyes darting back and forth between her slouched figure against the railing and Ace’s crouched position opposite before an even wider grin broke out.
“Ace, you pickin’ up strays now?” he asked teasingly.
Ace let out a small carefree laugh at his words.
“She’s not a stray, she’s a pirate as well. And her name’s–”
He cut himself off, slowly turning to look at her with his smile turning into a small frown.
“Hey, wait a second… you never did tell me your name back then, did you?”
She stiffened.
It was true that she had avoided mentioning her name to him the entire time out of fear of not knowing who he truly was.
But with the recent circumstances in mind, she supposed that the least she could do now was to tell them her name…
GROWWWL
A low growl erupted from her stomach. Loudly. Certainly loud enough to break through the quiet anticipation that had built up as the pirates waited for her to say her name.
Her hands flew to her stomach at the sound, looking down with a flustered expression on her face. She couldn’t face any of them now, as much as she hoped the sound had failed to fall upon their ears, there was no way that would be the case.
What was worse was the sudden silence that followed after, which served to only heighten her embarrassment. She honestly felt like throwing herself overboard.
Thatch was the first to break the silence, throwing his head back with a booming, boisterous laugh. She could only shuffle slightly in discomfort as they looked at her with what she thought to be teasing smiles.
“Didn’t think a shrimp like you had it in ya to make such a sound.” Thatch commented after calming down, “You’re hungry?”
She meekly nodded, still avoiding eye contact. In her defence, it had been days since she had any proper food. He let out another short chuckle, his hands resting on his hips.
“Don’t worry, kid.” he smiled whilst leaning down slightly. “I’m Thatch, leader of the Fourth Division and the cook of this ship. You won’t be hungry for long after eating the food I’ve cooked up. After all…”
Thatch stood back to his original height, a closed-eye toothy grin. “You’re one of us now, right?”
She blinked. One of them? Her mind should’ve been wary of how overly welcoming they were, but instead her mind started to wonder about what that would mean for her. Would that mean they’d give her a free place to stay on their ship?
Would that make her a proper pirate?
Her thoughts however were cut off short from
“Not so fast, nothing’s been confirmed yet. And–”
He turned to face the cook in question, a questioning look on his face.
“Speaking of food, isn’t dinner soon? Go back to the kitchen already.”
Thatch raised his hands in defence, a relaxed expression as he took a few steps back.
“Hey, hey I’m going. Just wanted to check what all the commotion here was.” he smirked giving the Second Division Commander a quick look, “Figured it would have something to do with Ace though-”
“Oi, what’s that supposed to mean-”
But Thatch had already slipped away. Marco cleared his throat, turning to Ace.
“And you. Aren’t you forgetting something? Or maybe someone you should probably tell first?”
Ace immediately perked up, straightening his crouched posture and his face visibly lighting up, “Oh yeah! I’ll take her to meet Pops.”
Pops? What an odd name She couldn’t help but repeat the name in confusion.
“Whitebeard. The captain of this ship.” Marco explained. “You’re going to have to talk to him if you want to stay here.”
Marco watched her reaction, or rather lack thereof, and raised a brow.
“You haven’t heard of him?”
Her frown deepened, pausing to see if the name rang any bells “No…”
Marco gave Ace a quick look, but the latter didn’t seem at all fazed. He was quick to stand back up to his full height and look down at her with his hands on his hips and a grin.
“I’ll take you to him.”
She blinked up at him, “Huh?” Half-expecting him to be joking, there’s no way they’d make her meet face to face with a real life pirate captain…“Like- now?”
“When else?” he extended his arm out to help her up. “Can you stand?”
She looked at his hand for a long moment, considering whether or not to take it. In the end she decided against it, opting to stand up by herself, albeit really slowly
Ace looked embarrassed for a second, quickly retracting his hand and occupying it by placing his orange hat that hung on the back of his neck atop his head, hiding his face. A snort from Marco could be heard in the background.
“Anyway, I also have things to be doing. Drop by the infirmary when the two of you are done for a quick check up.” he added while his figure retreated, his sharp eyes already having noticed something amiss with her figure
He briefly stopped in his tracks a few paces in, flashing the girl a small smile over his shoulder.
“And welcome to the crew.”
She watched as his figure retreated, watching for a little longer than necessary. Mulling over the words he’d said, she realised that maybe pirates weren’t what she thought them to be, were they always this welcoming?
Either that or her stupidity had gotten the better of her and she was being tricked, again. She tensed up at the mere thought.
Ace, however, broke her out of her inner turmoil,
“Follow me.” he said, nodding his head in a certain direction before walking
There was a brief hesitation in her movements, and then she followed, her bare feet padding against the sun-soaked floorboards.
— — —
The walk to wherever the captain was situated was quite a long one, the pirate ship was, well- enormous. She tried her best to stay behind Ace and not beside him to avoid conversation, whilst taking in her surroundings (and trying her best to ignore any odd looks from passing by pirates.
Eventually when they made it to the captain’s quarters, Ace gave a firm knock on the door.
“Pops! It’s me.” he said, giving the girl a quick look before entering, not really waiting for a response.
She entered as well with hesitation, nervous and not sure what to expect in seeing her first real-life pirate captain.
But nothing could’ve prepared her for the titan of a man she was met with.
Whitebeard was much, much, larger than she could have ever imagined. He only sat up halfway in his bed, but the sheer size of his upper body and the bed itself was enough for her to work out that he was absolutely huge.
And this very same man was looking straight at her with an expression she didn’t dare to interpret.
While she was still busy processing if this man was human, her expression surely displaying her shock, Ace started to speak.
“Pops! I brought someone here.” Ace said cheerfully.
The giant grunted, the noise rumbling through her chest, “I can see that.” His eyes were still fixed on her before looking at his son, “And who is this?”
He nodded, “Well, long story short: I found her out at sea and brought her back. She said she wanted to stay with us.” His grin widened, looking hopefully at the larger man, “can she?”
The girl was immediately sent into panic at how unreliable Ace’s story telling was.
“W-Wait- I didn’t- I never said anything!” she quickly refuted, not wanting to seem needy and wanting in front of this alarmingly large beast.
“Well, you did say you had nowhere else to go-” Ace raised a brow, still smiling.
“Yeah but… but…” she trailed off, fiddling with the sleeves of her rags.
The older man was quiet for a bit, a piercing gaze that unsettled her despite not making eye contact. Then he spoke up.
“What’s your name, kid?”
Her shoulder tensed, that same question that had kept coming up, the one that she dreaded to answer out of fear of who these strangers really were. But considering all that had happened so far-
“That’s the thing. I’ve asked her loads of times, but she won’t tell me for some reason…” Ace started, a hand on his chin and a thoughtful expression as he looked off to the side.Whitebeard’s silence continued, his gaze flitting between the two stood before him until he let out a large huff.
“Then, you’re clearly the problem.”
Ace was silent for a moment, as if not fully registering what he had said, then-
“What?! Me?” he said, taken aback and looking partially offended.
“Yes, you.” he said gruffly, raising a single hand with a shooing motion. “You can leave, I’d like to have a chat with this girl you’ve just brought in, that is if she really wants to stay.”
She gulped.
A talk one on one? With this giant pirate captain?
She looked up and toward Ace beside her, hoping he wasn’t possibly planning on leaving her at Whitebeard’s mercy.
Fortunately, from the frown on his features it was clear that he was against the idea of leaving and had something to say, but he eventually put his hands up and admitted defeat.
“Fine,” he eventually huffed, “though I doubt I’m the problem…” he muttered the last part under his breath before his easy going smile made its way back to his face.
He turned around to leave the room, and she watched him. Just before he closed the door he gave her one last look catching her gaze, and noticing her nervous expression.
With a quick reassuring smile, he shut the door behind him and was gone.
At an agonisingly slow pace, she turned her body to face Whitebeard once more. A passive expression on his face as he looked down at her, though a small furrow in his brows could be seen.
“What’s your name?” he asked again, his voice rough yet steady.
His presence alone was enough to stiffen her up, but for some reason she also felt at ease. She couldn’t sense any ferocity from him, and her name lingered on her lips. Still hesitating in letting her identity be known.
The silence lingered, though the look in his eyes made it obvious that he wasn’t going to rush her for an answer. She let out an exhale at that, having time to relax herself as she let her hunched shoulders slowly fall.
“Olina… sir.” she said. Now able to look him in the eye without trembling.
He repeated her name once, taking note of her rugged appearance and lack of height.
“How old are you?”
She paused slightly at the question, then with her right hand she discreetly reached into her left arm sleeve, slowly tracing along the forearm. The embedded engraved lines giving her the answer.
“Fifteen- no, sixteen, sir.”
Whitebeard looked troubled for a moment, her answer bothering him, then a warm smile.
“There’s no need to call me sir.”
Her mouth parted briefly then closed, resorting to a simple nod.
“You have family? Or anything like it?”
Guilt welled up inside of her immensely at the question, the bracelet on her wrist feeling heavy again as she began to scratch the back of her hand to relieve the overwhelming feeling.
“They’re all gone.” she uttered, feeling somewhat pathetic.
Whitebeard gave her a tender look, but chose not to press on the matter.
“Where did you come from? Perhaps we can help you return-”
She abruptly froze as her pupils dilated, her nails scratching and scraping harder against her hand at the mere thought of going back
Whitebeard was quick to notice, pausing in his question as he rephrased his words.
“Do you have anywhere to go?”
Her hands grew less agitated as she looked down, shaking her head.
The captain breathed out deeply and brought a hand up to his chin, looking away thoughtfully.
“I know my son mentioned earlier that you’d like to join us but..” he lowered his hand, looking at her “What do you want, girl?”
She hesitated. Her throat burning with all the words she wanted to say, all the dreams and hopes the both once had been destroyed only a few days prior-
“I want… to be free.” she said. Her shaky voice isolated yet striking through the silence.
Some sort of expression flashed across Whitebeard’s face and then he nodded, looking somewhat pleased, “Then it’s decided.” he said, a wide grin broke out on his face and the fond look in his eyes that never really left as prominent as ever.
“You’ll be my daughter.”
She suddenly raised her head in disbelief at his words, wondering if she had misheard him.
“Daughter..?” she said quietly.
His grin grew, then he opened his mouth-
“ACE!” his booming voice resounded, startling her slightly, “Don’t you think you’ve been standing out there long enough?!”
Ace?
She looked back towards the door and surely enough, after a short pause, Ace opened the door and popped his head in with a guilty smile.
“How’d you know I was still out there?” he asked, entering the quarters once more.
Whitebeard merely let out a scoff, “I knew you wouldn’t stray far.” he said, before returning to topic. “And I was sure you’d be listening in on the conversation.”
She looked at Ace slightly surprised, he’d been listening the entire time?, the boy himself avoided both of their gazes looking mildly embarrassed. Whitebeard let out a hearty laugh that shook the room.
“Relax.” he smiled, “The girl can stay, I trust there’s no problem with you showing her around? Or at least finding someone to do so?”
Ace recovered from his embarrassment rather quickly, giving Whitebeard a firm nod, “None at all, Pops!”
Whitebeard hummed, “Good, make sure she settles in then.”
Part of her couldn’t believe what she was hearing, reflecting on the recent life-changing events that had led to her ending up here. How close she had been to dying if not for Ace’s interference, how lucky she’d got to have stumbled upon a welcoming pirate crew, the first pirate crew she’d ever seen in real life.
How she ached for him to still be here with her, to share this second chance at life they had both only been able to dream of.
Was it really that easy? The persistent nagging feeling deep down told her it was too good to be true, yet the warmth that constantly emanated from the two of them stirred something within her, melting the freezing trepidation.
Before she knew it, her hands stuck by her side as she lowered her head to bow at Whitebeard. Not trusting herself to face them head on without crumbling.
“Thank you again, sir.” she said, her voice already shaking.
“Like I said, there’s no need for ‘sir’. “We’re all family around here, y’hear?” he said plainly, as if it were the simplest thing to understand.
She looked up, rising slightly with a mixture of perplexity and surprise on her face. The word caused her heart to stop momentarily.
Family?
She blinked harshly, eyes stinging painfully as she looked downwards to avoid both their gazes.
But she had no complaints, only gratitude. So with a simple nod and another quick bow she followed Ace out the room, completely unaware of just what she was getting herself into.