"The cloth slipped from the girl's hands as her fingertips touched the back of the man's shoulders, and Ace remained perfectly still as Mouda pressed her forehead to the bare skin of his back." — A Country Girl's Pirate, chapter six

— Ace's memory jogs at the best and worst moment.

Recollection

He was good at coping with pain. He could take a lot in a fight, and although it had become rare for him to actually get hit, he got back up the second after he was. Solid kicks and punches could be shaken off easy, and the consistent throbbing of bruises wasn't hard to ignore.

But as the wet cloth ran across his back, Ace couldn't stop himself from flinching. The sensation was annoying. It would be a sharp jolt through his nerves, so quick he almost couldn't register it until it appeared again from another touch of the dampened material the girl was using to wash the wounds on his backside clean. It was impossible to keep the sparks of unpleasantness out of mind, for they were always renewing themselves.

"I'm sorry" her voice was quiet but firm as she spoke. "It stings, but it needs to be done"

"Yeah. I know"

What she had said sounded so motherly. At least, he thought they did.

He didn't have many memories of his mom, but the girl's actions and tone of voice was…similar to what Ace might have thought to be his mother's. What would the girl think of that?

A grin crossed his face and he started chuckling, to which the girl questioned. He explained his reasoning for the sudden laughter, telling her that saying something like that to a stranger like her would have sounded weird. As he spoke, the pirate felt like he was lying.

She was a stranger.

He didn't know her name.

But it felt like he'd met her before.

The girl went quiet for a moment, the wet cloth running over his lower back. "A-actually…"

The sound of her voice was quite, so he turned his head towards her slightly to hear her better. "Hm?" she seemed to shrink at his actions.

"Actually…we…you and I have met before…" the girl's words were very faint as she spoke. "I'm sure you don't remember. I live on a farm that sells milk- you stayed for the day after I pulled you out of a river…"

He did remember milk, now that it was mentioned. Cold milk with sandwiches and fruit. He remembered kicking some Blackbeard-like doctor in the face, too, and getting tossed in a river. After that…

"You saved me?"

"…And delivered some things for me…nothing…special…"

Sometime after that he'd delivered a letter to a nearby marine base and a mail office for a girl…a cheerful blonde haired girl that had pulled him out of the river, who had a cow called Moo-moo. A girl named…

"Yes! I'm Mouda, by the way!"

"That was about three months ago…I….a few days ago I found out that you were going to be executed…it was strange news to me. Actually, I didn't even know you were a pirate or anything until I read about it, so I felt…a little overwhelmed…I didn't…think about…it…much…"

Her voice faded off with a shaky whisper, and there was a soft pressure on his back as she rested her forehead against it. The man felt a warm sensation trailing down his skin. He realized that the girl who had saved his life was crying on him.

"I'm Portgas D. Ace. Thanks, Mouda"

"I'm glad you're okay…"

Mouda sounded so sad, so happy, and so in love with him that Ace jumped up from where he sat out of pure shock.

A shorter chapter for you all, though I'm allowed to do that because these are only drabbles, anyways, haw haw!

So there you go. Ace remembered. He just had a bit of bad timing. I kind of made him look like an asshole, jumping up like that when Mouda was talking all emotionally and crying, so hopefully this redeems him. If I was him I'd be shocked too.

A nice treat while you wait for the next chapter in ACGP!