Here is a quite small one-shot that just popped into my mind while chatting with wonderful Hedgehog B. Rebecca! I hope you enjoy it! It is partly based on the episode 497 of the anime (I really love that episode, it's just so nice!). Well, I hope you enjoy this!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece
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He had met her some time ago, and even Sabo had become used to her and treated her like some sort of mother. So why did Ace blush every single time that he saw Makino? And why was he slightly nervous around her too? Every time she would appear there was that faint rosy colour on his cheeks that was clearly noticeable and that Sabo and I always laughed at, making Ace mutter some curse or threat at us. But it was starting to bother me. His blush would always get bigger when Makino touched him when she was helping him, and it was starting to bother me. Why did Ace always blush when Makino was around!
I had already tried asking other people, but they would usually just laugh at me. Dadan didn't bother answering, and instead teased Ace. Dogra had said that he didn't have a single idea with a very suspicious tone of voice. Magra had told me the exact same thing, and Sabo... I hadn't asked Sabo yet, but I think he didn't know either why Ace acted like that. Ace of course refused to tell me anything at all, and turned away with his face all red. Like a tomato.
Makino had come today to visit us and give us more new clothes, and right now I was sitting next to Sabo as Ace got his new clothes fixed my Makino. Obviously, he was again as red as a tomato. Sabo and I had been laughing and teasing him for a while, but this was bothering me a lot, and I couldn't stop thinking about it.
"Hey, Sabo..." I started asking, as I turned around to look at my older brother. "Why does Ace blush every time Makino is around?" I then asked him.
Sabo looked at me, surprised at first but then his facial expression changed to a thoughtful one. "I don't know, Luffy. He hasn't told me anything" Sabo then replied, before he started teasing Ace more, and receiving more threats in turn. This time I didn't join in, and just continued thinking about it. Why did my elder brother act like this? I wanted to know!
Soon enough Makino finished fixing Ace's clothes, and Ace went towards Sabo, who continued teasing him, surely to make true his threats. Makino then went inside the house, surely to prepare some food. I decided to follow her to ask her why Ace was acting like that. I entered the house, and soon found her about to start preparing the dinner.
"Hey, Makino..." I started saying
She turned around and looked at me with the smiling face that I was so used to. "What do you want Luffy?" She asked me as she turned around to look at me.
"I wanted to ask you something" I started saying, looking around, slightly embarrassed. Makino just watched me with a curious and patient face. I gulped, thinking of how I should ask this question in order to avoid telling her that it was Ace I was asking about. He would kill me if that happened, even if I didn't know why he did that. "What does it mean when you are nervous around someone and blush when you're with them?" I then asked.
Makino looked at me for several moments, and laughed a little. "Well Luffy, that means that you have a crush on that person" She quickly answered, with a smile on her face.
My face brightened. So that's it! "Thank you, Makino!" I said happily, as I ran out of the room and to the forest, to find Sabo and tell him what I had discovered.
I soon found him lying against a tree, waiting for Ace to finish doing something. "Sabo!" I then shouted excitedly.
The blonde boy looked at me, curiously. "What do you want, Luffy?" He then asked me.
"I found out what makes Ace do that!" I shouted, very excited and not noticing that Ace was coming towards us.
"Really? Tell me! I've been wondering about that for some time!" Sabo then said, very curious to know the answer.
"Ace has a crush on Makino!" I then said, quite loudly. Obviously happy that I had found an answer to my question. Sabo looked very surprised at me, and just then Ace stepped towards us.
"What were you two talking about?" He asked curiously.
Sabo and I immediately turned to face him, with shocked expressions, which just increased the curiosity of Ace. It was Sabo the one who spoke first, and it wasn't an answer to Ace's question.
"Ace, so you like Makino!" He said, with a very teasing tone of voice.
Ace blushed very hard, and immediately looked as red as a tomato. " I don't!" He shouted as he looked away.
Sabo laughed at this. "You blushed! You do!" He shouted, before starting to repeat many times that Ace had a crush on Makino, which made the other start repeating constantly that he didn't have one.
I would have normally joined Sabo, but something else was bothering me now. I felt a strange feeling inside, and I didn't know exactly what it was. I closed my eyes and concentrated, trying to discover what it was, and soon I discovered what it was.
"Jealousy?" I muttered, extremely surprised by my discovery. "Why am I jealous of...?" I then muttered again, as I continued concentrating and listening to Sabo tease Ace.