After buying lots of food Aika was ready to leave. She left the harbor and steered away from the island, but anchored before she was too far and prepared to paint the island. Although this island wasn't all that wonderful nor did it have interesting history, it was her first island here and her dream was to travel Grand Line and paint every island she visited.
After painting for few hours the blonde painter decided she got the structure of the painting and she could continue on the details later. She lifted the anchor and started to sail ahead the island her Log pose was pointing at. The weather seemed to be changing from nice and sunny into cloudy. It did not make her worry yet, since she thought – being just as stupid as she could be – that the weather couldn't be that dramatic at the beginning the adventure on Grand Line.
Aika was dead wrong about the weather. The wind was blowing hard and she had to struggle to not fall. But the worst thing was the rain which poured so hard it was impossible to see more than hundred meters forward. The rain was making everything so damn slippery too, she cursed her stupidity again. She regretted leaving her home. The waves were getting bigger and bigger, until they were at a point she thought if they still grew she would probably break down, scream of fear and frustration and wet herself. She now remembered very well why she liked her home island so much. The weather was much more reasonable at least, not to mention it was pretty awesome to have some solid land under your feet. Aika sighed worried about herself. She was quickly getting more tired.
On a ship's deck nearby a man was looking trough an old telescope.
"Oi! I think there's a boat in there!"
"Are you serious? I don't think any boat would be floating in this kind of storm."
"Well, it's more like a small ship to be accurate."
"Really, now. I can't see anything."
"Look for yourself!" The telescope was given to another man.
"Oh, now I can see it. Should we tell commander?"
"Sure, I guess." They quickly went inside, happy to have an excuse to do so. It was getting cold to stand in the pouring rain. They slowly walked to the kitchen, since it was about the time he usually ate there.
"Oi, Marco", the other man called their commander at the kitchen's door.
"What is it?" Apparently the man called Marco answered while eating some fine meat.
"There's a small ship nearby. What should we do about it?" They asked in unison.
"Well, we should probably welcome it's crew. It's probably hard to steer a small ship in waves like these", he said yawning. He then stood up and went to wash his dishes.
"I'll come to the deck to greet them soon", he said and the men understood they were no longer needed and went to tell the whole crew about the visitors they would be getting. They really did not want to go outside.
Her curly hair was dripping wet just like she was thoroughly. Her hands were shaking because of the cold but she could not take them off the steering wheel to warm them up. She occasionally tried to warm up her right hand, it was after all the hand she painted with, but didn't help much. Then something dark seemed to be coming towards her. 'Sea kings? Oh great, that's just what I needed', she negatively thought. The shape was oddly familiar to her, but the other ship had to came real close before she recognized it. Aika felt
relieved, but she couldn't relax yet. Who knows if they were just trying to rob her.
'That would not happen', she smirked as she felt her new sword resting on her hip.
"Oi! You there! Need help?" Aika looked up at the ships deck and saw people looking at her. She felt ashamed of her lack of carefulness. She felt really stupid, but she just had to take a blow to her enormous ego and say yes.
"I guess.." She muttered quietly, cheeks red because she felt she was too dependent on others' help.
"What?" It seemed that they didn't hear her. No wonder since it was raining heavily.
"Yes, I could use a little help!" She shouted. She then saw they threw a strong rope on her ship's deck.
"Attach it to your boat, so we'll tow you out of the storm!" The man told her.
"Okay, I got it", she answered quickly and tied it up. The rope felt very abnormal, maybe it was made of some material she didn't know. A normal rope would've probably broke off quickly.
"Would you mind to come to greet us up here?" The same man asked her. Aika was about to answer yes I would mind, but then she thought it would probably be polite to thank them. She did not leave her sword though.
The men lowered ladders for Aika and she grabbed them and climbed up to the ships deck. It felt like the hardest thing for the sometimes very lazy painter had to do for years, climbing upward on slippery ladders.
'I should probably get used to do things like this', she thought before taking the final step. She gasped as she got to see the men on the bigger ship. Her eyes widened at the sight – Her helpers were the Whitebeard pirates. The thought of the strongest pirate, Edward Newgate made her feel terrified but the fact the first commander of the Whitebeard pirates, Marco the phoenix was standing in front of her wasn't making her feel much better either.
"Don't hurt me!" Aika squeaked when one of the men dared to move. They all looked at her like she was impossibly stupid, before they started laughing in unison. She felt a bit dumbfounded about her wariness but it didn't make her relax either.
"We wouldn't help you just to beat you up!" A guy in a dark denim boiler suit said while laughing.
"That's right", Marco the Phoenix said making the crew more quiet but the chuckling still continued merrily.
"We're a bit bored here so we're happy to have same guests here." He continued trying to make the girl relax since she was shaking visibly, because of the cold or the fear he did not know.
"The name's Marco", he offered his hand to shake hands with the girl. He was somewhat curious about the blonde girl's name – Who was crazy enough to travel Grand Line alone, when it was obvious she was a newbie?
"I'm Lec Aika. It's nice to meet you. Thanks for helping, too", Aika blabbered. They shook hands quickly. His hand felt hot after standing in the rain for long.
"It's no problem. Would you like to join Whitebeard pirates?" He asked so fast Aika could barely get what he said. She did feel flattered about he asked her to join even after they saved her from her extreme stupidity. She actually had to consider it for a quick while, but joining them wouldn't just feel right after she decided to travel alone. It was also because they were pirates and she wasn't interested in pirates.
"Join you? I'm sorry to say no, but I'm more of a revolutionary than a pirate", she tried to decline without offending them in any way.
"A shame!" Few men sighed.
"You don't really know what are you losing", a woman with a violin holster on her back sighed, but she seemed to be somewhat joking.
"You don't really seem know who you're turning down!" A dude with long black hair laughed loudly. Hearing that made her tremble even more.
"That's right, beware of the man in front of you, girl! Marco has no idea when to back down when against a woman... According to what happened last night!" There was a very laid back guy leaning on the wall, who seemed to laugh at the memory.
"Shut it, Groove", Marco said, but smiling as he saw the crew was just having fun.
"We'll you must want to be an ally of ours, right?" Marco asked Aika his eyes half lidded and smiling brightly. That actually sounded good to Aika. Sure, she would definitively want to be allies with the Whitebeard pirates, that would scare some bounty hunter off when she got her wanted poster. Not like she really desired for one, but that was going to happen sooner or later if she got to work with the revolutionaries. They also seemed to be a happy-go-lucky amongst themselves. It seemed like a fine deal. Also, she did owe them after this, since the waves were still big as hell, though the rain seemed to be stopping.
"Sure. I'll make sure you won't regret for having me as your ally!" She dared to even smile.
"I'm sure we won't!" He then turned to face the crew.
"It seems like we can throw a party once we get back to Pops' ship", he said, making everyone one the deck hurray. Well, they really did seem like a happy bunch, Aika sighed. She was still very nervous about being with them and thinking about meeting the whole Whitebeard crew made her sweat. But if the party was for her becoming their ally – which was weird, it wasn't much of anything to party for—it was probably polite to be there... Not like she had the strength to steer the ship in a storm right now.
"Wakey wakey!" Will, as the woman with the violin had introduced herself chirped at Aika's sleeping form. Aika groaned, she couldn't believe herself. She fall asleep on unknown ship, which could still be dangerous even if she agreed to be their ally. Her muscles were sore, especially her hands were hurting from hanging on to Heart Cake's ropes and from handling the steering wheel.
"Sorry to wake you up, you look like you haven't slept in years!" Will laughed.
"Oh great", Aika yawned and thought darkly that she must look like zombie now. She didn't still stand up because she wished she could still sleep for few hours.
"Don't be like that! You better brush your hair and change into your own clothes, we're going to show you around on Moby Dick. You're going to see pops, too", she grinned evilly, as she saw Aika's eyes widen at the thought.
"You mean Whitebeard himself?" There was fear in her voice. No wonder, Whitebeard was rumored to be the strongest pirate alive.
"Yes I do", Will tried to muffle her giggles as Aika rushed to change her clothes.
"I'm ready!" Aika hurried out of the bathroom in a minute. Her hair was still a bit shaggy, but otherwise she looked normal, if those dark circles under her eyes weren't noticed. She checked that her sword was still hanging on her belt, which made her feel more confident.
"Awesome", Will said while braiding a wisp of her light green hair.
"You ready to go meet the strongest pirate on earth, the future pirate king Edward Newgate?" Will continued, still smiling. Aika assumed she didn't have much choice on the matter and nodded.
They then left the room and headed outside. The corridors were filled with people looking at them curiously, making Aika sweatdrop.
'Mind you own business', she thought still irritated from the lack of sleep. On the deck they met Marco, who seemed to be waiting for them.
"There you are! There was traffic at the corridors, but I managed to bring her", she joked first, but then she whispered something to Marco who nodded. Aika wasn't looking at them, though, she was left gasping air as she saw the huge ship beside the ship she was on. Her Heart Cake looked like a little paper boat compared to Moby Dick. The ships deck reminded a whale, which was very fitting for the ship. It truly was a whale when the other ships were just mere fish.
When most of the crew had proceeded to Moby Dick to greet their buddies Will gestured her to follow after them. As they got up on bigger ship by temporary stairs they moved trough the crowd easily, because the people were respectively giving way for Marco who walked in front of them. Suddenly Will stepped aside, winked and gave her thumbs up and told her to follow Marco. Aika dashed after him worried about how might Whitebeard deal with her.
'Oh god!' Her mind was screaming when she saw the captain of the Whitebeard pirates. He was surprisingly tall, which made Aika even more afraid. All looks turned to them when Marco started talking.
"Oi, pops!" He saw the blonde painter's horror and tried to calm her down by patting her shoulder, but that just made her jump.
"This is Lec Aika. She said we wouldn't regret being her ally", Marco explained easygoing. 'Why did I put it like that? Now I sound like I'm full of myself!' She considered fleeing and jumping off board. She didn't dare to look at Whitebeard, so she looked on the ground in front the seat he was sitting on.
"Gurararara~! So your name is Aika?" Whitebeards laugh echoed on the sea as the crew were silent. Aika couldn't bring herself to say anything, so she just nodded.
"We will not regret to have you as our ally, is that right?" The tall man said repeating the words she had told Marco. She felt a huge amount of pressure on her shoulders. She felt the stares on her. If the blood wasn't rushing so fast off her face she would've been red because of the attention she was given. Sweating and trembling visibly she gathered all the courage she had and looked up, to meet the eyes of the strongest pirate alive. His look was so powerful Aika felt like she could faint, but the she got the words out of her mouth.
"Tha-that's what I said, I-I will not go back on my words", she stuttered.
"Gurararara! I trust you to keep your promise then!" The atmosphere changed immediately, as the people started whispering about the party they would be having.
"Well, then. Marco, did you bring the sake I asked for?" The attention was now turned to first commander.
"Sure I did. Men, will you carry them here? And bring the food we bought, too", He asked, turning to the crew who did what they were told. As he saw them getting to work he turned back to the captain.
"We'll have to celebrate our alliance, don't we?" One of the commanders grinned happily.
"That's what I had in mind", Marco smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
"You do anything to have a feast, don't you", another one of the commanders commented.
"It's been a while I had some good sake. We might as well celebrate", Whitebeard finally accepted the idea.
"If you say so", the commander with a cowboy hat grinned, getting eager to party. Aika quickly bended in the group and peered over the heads trying to catch a sight of Will, because she already knew her and she seemed nice.
"Would you like to have a tattoo to prove you're a true ally of ours?" Groove, who she had earlier seen asked her. She considered it for a while. It would be a cool way to scare off bounty hunters, but would she like to have it forever on her skin? Well, if it increased her chances to stay alive, it was okay.
"How much does it hurt getting one?" She asked brows furrowing as she was thinking.
"Not much at all!" Groove waved it off and started asking her questions about what kind of a tattoo she wanted, while he leaded her inside trough many corridors inside his tattoo room.
"Where do you want it?"
"In here", she decided fast, before she could regret. She pointed at her shoulder blade.
"Okay, this will hurt a bit", he said, but before she could say anything he had already started doing the tattoo.
When Aika and Groove got back to the deck where the party was at it's wildest, Will had already made her appearance. She now had the violin in her hands, ready to play. There were other musicians on her side, so Aika guessed they were going to play together. She wiped the last tears off her eyes, so no one would notice she had cried. Not that they wouldn't notice how puffy and red her eyes still were...
"Cheer up already. You're such a wimp when it comes to tattoos it makes me wonder if you're nuts to sail alone!" Groove tried to get her in a better mood. It kind of worked and when the orchestra started playing, she was feeling pretty good even if she already started regretting the tattoo.
They played a happy and melody, which made her smile thoughtlessly. People started dancing, she saw them stumble and laugh at each other, others we're bickering because the someone had just stepped on the their feet and some were dancing gracefully along the crowd. When Will started to sing, almost everyone started to sing along. Aika didn't know the lyrics, so she just hummed along. They all looked purely happy. She started to wonder, if she should ask if she could stay.
There was a delicious smell in the air, when she remembered she was actually very hungry. Just when the thought of food crossed her mind, her stomach started to rumble. The food table was not very far so she walked to it. There was a loth of people gathered around it.
"Stupid! Don't steal mine!" A guy with a boiler suit shouted angrily at the guy, who had just stolen his beef.
"Don't worry, there's still plenty of them there!" The guy pointed at the other end of the table.
"Idiot! Then why are you stealing mine!" Boiler suit guy groaned. He then stood up and tried to get something from the other guys plate.
"Hey! Hands off!" The guy, who Aika now recognized as fire fist Ace complained.
"I want revenge!" The other gnarled.
"Have mine and shut up, Smiley!" A man sitting next to second commander offered his plate. Smiley did indeed have a smiley in his boiler suit.
"Fine... If you go get me some sake also." Smiley grinned.
"No way, take it or leave it!" Guy who had a yellow cap on his head said. He was getting tired of their lack of etiquette.
"Oh hey! Aren't you the new ally of ours? I'm Ace!" He introduced himself, even though he didn't need to.
"I'm Aika", she said and they shook hands very casually. Or so the second commander must have thought, but Aika was still very aware he could probably kill her instantly.
"Oh hi! I'm Smiley!"
"My name's Cheberon", yellow capped man said and they all shook hands promptly.
"Nice to meet you all", she said trying to keep her voice as normal as possible.
"Have some soup!" Cheberon offered her a plate after seeing the way she looked at their plates.
"Hey Melda, make some space!" Smiley ordered the woman next to him. Aika sat there and poured a lot of soup and started eating like she had never seen food before.
"Calm down or you'll drown!" Cheberon made fun of her, but she didn't mind. The music made her feel giddy and the fact she had some wine didn't help it.
Soon after eating Smiley asked her to dance with him and she agreed. It was dance where pairs changed quickly and the rhythm was too fast for her so she stumbled a lot, but so did everyone else it seemed. She looked at Will who was passionately playing the violin like there was nothing else in the world she could care about.
"C'mon!" Her soon to be dancing partner hurried her when she seemed to pace out. Aika smiled widely and grabbed his hands and so they tried to catch the rhythm.
"Left-left right-right go-go back-back go-go twirl and jump!" They tried to count them out loud, but it helped none as they started laughing at how stupid they sounded. So their pairs changed again. Marco, who just joined the bunch of crappy dancers, took her hands and the counting started once again.
"Are you sure you don't want to join as a regular member?" He asked, holding her hands firmly.
"I don't like crowds." It was the alcohol which brought her true impolite ways in daylight – or in starlight, as the sun had set already.
"But you certainly seem to be having a great time", Marco was not fazed by her sudden frankness.
"At times, yes, but not always. And I don't like to do anything people tell me to", She answered truthfully.
"I expect you won't be staying too long, then?" Marco got just the time to ask that, before the pairs changed once again.
"You right about that one!" She smirked and waved before she introduced herself to the next guy.
"Oi! Oi!" The music finally stopped after few rounds, which made Aika notice how exhausted she was.
"Pops' nurses just complained about the noise. They have to wake early so why don't we move into the main hall to give them better sleep, as they are farther away from the hall." Everyone agreed, of course, they didn't want to bother their fellow crew mates even if they enjoyed to party.
The hall was just as big as you could expect from a ship that big. It had many sofas on the sides, so Aika settled on one of them. Will came along too, bringing what was left from the sake which made the party princesses and princes gather around them as well. Cheberon had had too much to drink, so he fell asleep on the other sofa opposite of them. Poor him, because that's just about when they stated having heated conversations about everything that came to their minds.
"Have I ever told you I have a brother?" Ace slurred. There were plenty of sighs heard, but Aika got interested about the second commander's brother.
"No, I haven't heard", she said looking at Ace's drunk figure.
"Oh great, here we go again", Marco, who was leaning on the sofa behind her groaned.
"Yeah I do have a little brother... Monkey D. Luffy", he said slowly, emphasizing the name. He then took a folded poster out of his pocket. It was a wanted poster of some guy, grinning madly. The bounty was 30 000 000 belis, which made her surprised.
"This was his first bounty!" Ace said proudly, which made the blonde woman's jaw hit the floor.
"His first bounty! How can it be this high? What did he do?" She raised her voice more than she intended to.
"I don't know what he did but this is to be expected from him, making me worry all the time", Ace sighed, but his voice didn't lose the proud tint.
"Do you have any siblings?" Will asked while sipping some sake.
"I do have a brother who's older than me by four years. His name is Aslak. He looks a lot like me, just a bit taller, so if you see him please tell him I'm on Grand Line as well", The blonde requested feeling melancholic. It had been long since she saw her brother and now she couldn't see the letters which were send to her home. She didn't even have his a den den mushi number. Not that she had a den den mushi anyway. Aika instantly decided she should get one sooner or later.
"Is he on the Grand Line, too?" Marco couldn't help but butt in. His curiosity demanded to get information about their newbie ally, after all, he's motto could have been curiosity saved the cat instead of killing. He was worried that it would make Aika wary of him, but his thoughts proved him wrong. It seemed she was too drunk to be afraid of them anymore or she just got used to them.
"He is, Aslak actually left my home island few years before me. He -" Aika suddenly stopped, realizing she didn't know could she tell them. The blonde promptly switched the topic she was going to talk about.
"He rarely wrote us any letters and if he did they were very... succinct", she remembered how annoying it was to get a letter which consisted a few sentences after she sent him a few pages full of writing.
Marco blinked his eyes, feeling like Aika had just left out something. Oh well, he got some information already, so he was satisfied and ready for some sleep.
"I'm ready for bed already. Have a nice night", he said smiling before he walked towards his own room. They all wished good night for him as well before continuing.
"I have a sister", Will started looking horrified to remember something she had forgotten long time ago.
"And I hate her. She always woke me up too early, she put gum on my hair and called me mold brain, because my hair color apparently reminds mold..." She gritted her teeth. They laughed at her childish sister.
"My brother was actually just as annoying back then", Ace said sympathetically.
"Sheesh, mold head... More like moss head", Smiley chuckled.
"No it's not! Moss is nothing like that. It's definitively grass green", Remmy, who Aika had earlier danced with said analyzing the color of Will's hair. She tried to cover it, but her hands weren't big enough.
"You must be wrong, it's actually the color of a bud of a birch leaf", Aika was sure about it.
"But wasn't your real name Willow?" A guy who's name Aika did not know yet said to them. He had a crazy hairstyle which made him outstanding.
"Sure is, Thatch. I thought I only told Marco, so how do you know?" Will's lips were curved downwards as she planned how she could have revenge on Marco for telling Thatch. Not that knowing her whole name mattered at all, but who knows what else he could've said.
"Don't be so serious! It must've slipped when we we're talking about your history", he smiled soothingly, before he realized what slipped from him.
"Uh, I mean... We we're wondering about something and..." Thatch tried to explain, but it did no good. Will had just reached the end of her patience and attacked, trying to make just one hit but she went nowhere near. It was hopeless for her, but it did keep Thatch busy. The group gathered at those sofas laughed at the sight.
It wasn't much after 02.00 when the last one of them fell asleep on the sofa or went to their rooms. First one to pass out after Cheberon was Ace, who wasn't quite in control of his sleep timings. He snored loudly, still in a sitting position. Willow used him as a pillow for her curvy legs and so did Aika – they both were allured by the warmth of the fire fist, which was slightly higher than normal person's. There was another person lured by the heat, Remmy, who hugged one of Ace's legs. Smiley, on the other hand was using him as a pillow. There were a bunch of people whose names Aika wouldn't remember in the morning sleeping harmoniously around them. Partying was hard, In fact it was at it's hardest on Moby Dick.
Don't expect chapters as long as this :D
It seems kind of stupid meeting the Whitebeard pirates so soon on the Grand Line, but these guys will me a minor thing for a long time in the story.