Hello, everyone, so this is my very first fanfiction! Yay!
I would like to first clear up some things:
1) there are OCs in story
2) Aria is a cannon character, onlay in One Piece he is male and goes by a different name. You will understand as I begin to expand my story.
3) you are always welcome to comment or PM me, I will do my best to reply in a timely manner, or in the story. (Some authors do that, in considering it.)
4) I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE!
I will warn you all: this story will have SLOW UPDATES!
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and enjoy!
"Hey! Wait up!" Someone called out, catching her attention.
"What is it now, Mikai?" She asked patiently as she slowed her pace to let her blue-eyed companion catch up.
"You're shorter than me, so you should be slower! How do you walk so fast?" He muttered indignantly as they both stopped, having reached their destination of the helm.
"If I didn't you'd be bothering me all day." She replied calmly, enjoying the slight breeze and the gentle swaying of the ship.
"Hey! You love my company." He retorted cheekily.
"Mhmmm." She didn't bother to reply, effectively ending the (pointless) argument.
"Anyway, we're docking on the island soon."
"Good." She smiled.
"You need something?" He asked curiously. "What is it?"
"Sometimes it pays to have a zipper sewn onto your mouth." She dodged the question masterfully, recalling the Cipher Pole 9 agent with the big mouth. "Perhaps it might be useful in keeping your curiosity in check. I could find someone to perform the necessary surgeries for you, if you'd like."
He shot her a playful glare.
"How long till the new year?" She asked abruptly.
"Today is December, the 28th." He grew somber.
"It's that time of the year again, huh?" She turned her gaze onto the sea, and in the distance, the barest silhouette of the island showing.
"You're going to go on vacation, again, right?"
"Of course."
"And you won't tell or bring anyone along with you, either."
"Naturally so."
"You're so lucky- you go on vacation all the time…" He whined. "Tell me!"
"You've been asking me ever since you joined this crew. The captain doesn't mind giving me time to relax, why should you? You could ask him for time off, too. I'm sure that he wouldn't mind."
Mikai snorted. "Are you trying to get me killed off because I annoy you too much?"
She smiled at him briefly.
"But I'll get it out of you one day, just you wait." He said with determination.
"Perhaps."
"Mikai-sama!" A crewmember ran up to them, gasping for breath. His eyes widened as he beheld the two people that stood in front of him, and opened his mouth, about to make amends for only noticing Mikai in his haste.
Impatient to hear whatever news he has to give, they both waved their hand dismissively, and motioned for him to continue.
"The island is being attacked by pirates! What are your orders?"
"Pirates? Which crew of pirates in their right mind would attack one of our islands?" Mikai asked incredulously.
"It's a rookie crew from Paradise, the Red Fang pirates. Their captain has a bounty of 189 million belli, and his first mate is worth 45 million."
"That makes sense. After all, this is just a few islands from Fishman Island. Should've known it would be the annoying rookies."
"Not so long ago, you were one of the annoying rookies, yes?" Aria asked in amusement. "As for the island… This is one of Kaido-san's islands, we can't just let it be destroyed when we're planning on docking today, can we?"
"It was quite fortunate that we were nearby."
"Indeed, the village already suffered a lot of damage and it could have been worse." Mikai agreed.
"Status?"
"There are about a dozen villagers that were badly injured; the pirates were apparently too caught in the the 'pillaging' part to go out of their way and murder everyone in sight, though, of course, after they had gotten their gold, they wouldn't have just left quietly. The wounded were the ones that attempted to fight back. Thankfully, no one is dead, but one of the pirates thought it would be a good idea to set part of the village on fire. It'll probably take a few weeks to rebuild everything. Luckily enough, they are a wealthy village and will be able to afford rebuilding." He paused at this.
"We'll pay for this." She said, waving her hand. "We promised them our protection when they took our flag, and besides, we did cause quite a lot of damage when we intervened."
Mikai grinned broadly. "I knew you'd say that. I already did it. Should we report this incident to Kaido-sama?"
"As I had predicted you would ask, I have already made a satisfactory report back to him. We are to reunite with the fleet in four days. Apparently, there's been a traitor that need to be…. dealt with."
"You're going to miss your vacation!" He exclaimed, aghast.
"And I'll just disappear longer, next time."
Though this did just complicate things a bit more. This meeting was quite important, indeed. Unfortunately, she just could not miss this gathering, not when the whole crew and almost all of their allies had been summoned.
"Have the men stock up on whatever supplies we need." She ordered, then stood to leave. "Stay and guard the ship. Do not follow me."
"Okay, okay." He said sullenly.
Twenty minutes later, she sent a messenger coo on its way with a package.
Sorry, Ace Sabo Law. Looks like I won't be able to make it this time.
"Hey Ace! You're finally awake!" Thatch cheered, then handed him a napkin. Ace proceeded to wipe the tomato sauce of his face with it.
One time he had (it was an accident! Really, Izou, I didn't mean it! You guys! Save me! Marco! Thatch! Noooooooo!) used the closest article nearby (one of Izou's prized kimonos that had been, for whatever reason, lying around carelessly- Ace swore revenge on the buffon that just left it lying there- not if it was Izou though) to wipe his face, and he had suffered.
Greatly.
In his defense, he was always drowsy when waking up and hadn't really paid much attention to what he had picked up.
Still, to prevent a repeat of that horrific incident, the crew swore that they would always, always make sure there was an unending supply of napkins nearby during lunch. They proceeded to almost drown (poor poor) Ace with them the first few days after said incident occurred.
Ace yawned. He caught sight of money exchanging hands and immediately jumped up. "You!" He accused dramatically.
Said group of pirates that had the misfortune of being pointed to jumped in surprise. "Huh?"
"You were betting me and my narcolepsy?"
"Dude, Haruta opens a betting pool for it every day. Better get used to it, because it's not going to stop anytime soon."
"Haruta!" Ace shouted.
Thatch snickered as the fire logia took off in to find a particular short commander. He held up a hand to Fossa, who handed over a share of the money he had won. "Told you he'd believe it."
"You know, Haruta's not going to forgive you for that." He remarked.
"She'll never know if no one tells her." Thatch replied gleefully.
"Bet you Ace will." Fossa bit down on his cigar.
"..." Thatch paled.
"You didn't think that far, did you?"
"Ace will what, yoi?" Someone interrupted.
"M-Marco!" Thatch stuttered nervously. "We were just talking about this year's drinking contest! Fossa bet that Ace would win this one!"
Marco raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Ace is all of seventeen years old, yoi. How do you expect him to win again?"
Fossa shot a glare at Thatch. "Kid's got a lot of hidden talents."
"True." He admitted. "Pops called a meeting for the commanders." He turned and exited the dining area.
Thatch sighed in relief.
"You suck at lying." Fossa deadpanned. "Even your poker face looks fake."
"I figured. It makes keeping pranks hidden a pain sometimes."
Fossa stood. "Wonder what this meeting is going to be about?"
"Bet you it's about Ace." Thatch smiled.
"Hmmm? You think so?"
"Uh…" Ace fidgeted slightly.
Fossa (and all the rest of the commanders, too) had been very surprised indeed when Marco announced that the meeting was called because of Ace.
Thatch had shot him a smug look, though he did get his satisfaction when the man was practically speared with a dark glare from a fuming female commander.
"So… Ah… Um…" Fossa turned his attention to the person who wasn't doing very much speaking at the moment.
The normally bold and fiery brat was (dare he say it?) quite nervous and fluttery over whatever this subject was.
"Ahem." Marco cleared his throat and shot Ace a reassuring look. "I can say it if you want." So, whatever he had to say had been run through Pops and Marco.
"No, it's fine." Ace shook his head. "So… Um… Inafewdaystheresgoingtobepeopelthat'll-"
"Calm down, Ace" Izou said, flicking his fan open.
Ace flushed. "In a few days, there'll be a… Uh… A few people that'll randomly drop by here?"
The assembled commanders exchanged confused glances.
Whitebeard laughed and drank more sake.
"Could you clarify?"
"Could you guys just drop me off on a island?" Ace blurted out.
"You heard that, right?" Thatch asked Jozu.
He nodded gravely.
"Ace, my man, I thought we were over this." Thatch sigh dramatically.
"That's not what I meant!" Ace retorted immediately in indignation.
"Then what did you mean?"
"I meant that I wanted to drop me off on an island for a couple of days."
"Uh huh. And why, per say?"
"There are going to be people that I need to meet soon. And uh… You might not be too comfortable with them on the Moby?"
"Ace."
Ace looked at Izou.
"We do trust you, you know?"
"Yeah…" He said softly. "But this is different."
There was a knock on the door.
"My apologies for interrupting, commanders, but a package came for Ace from a person named…" The crewmember trailed off as he squinted down at the package in his hands. "Aria."
The commanders didn't miss the way Ace's eyes brightened. He bounded over to the man, took the item and thanked him before tearing open the package like an excited kid with his birthday presents.
A log pose was placed on the table with a delicacy that they didn't know Ace had. He started skimming a note, from what it looked like, when his shoulders slumped in disappointment. Nonetheless, he strapped the log pose onto his arm carefully and folded up the note.
Haruta coughed. "Ace?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry." He said sheepishly. "Um, so L- Aria can't come. But the others still can!"
"Please explain." Haruta said stressing the please enough that Vista elbowed her discreetly in the ribs.
"Oh! Yeah so there were three people that were supposed to come but Aria said she can't because she's busy." Ace seemed oblivious.
"Okay… and when is this 'reunion' scheduled?"
"January first." He beamed.