Ace and Sabo both looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"You?!" Sabo asked. "King of the Pirates?!"
"But you're a girl!" Ace said. "You can't be the king if you're a girl!"
"Then I'll be the Queen of the Pirates," I said, a little annoyed at their reaction.
When they finished laughing hysterically, they kept walking away.
"Wait!" I said. "Can you at least properly introduce yourselves?"
"I'm Ace," said the boy with the freckles.
"Sabo," said the other.
They didn't stop to look back at me.
"Don't follow us," Ace called as they walked further and further away.
I frowned and ran to catch up with them.
Sabo rolled his eyes and said, "Don't you have something to do?"
"Not particularly," I said casually.
"You're gonna ruin your dress," he scoffed.
"I don't like this dress anyway," I said.
Ace finally stopped walked and turned around, holding his fist up threateningly.
"Stop following us," he said menacingly. "I'll kill you, you know."
"What's the big deal anyway?" I asked. "So what if I'm following you?"
"We don't want nobles knowing where we-" Sabo said, but he stopped himself. "It's none of your business where we go!"
"Oh, oh!" I said. "Do you have treasure? Is that where you're going? Is that why you stole my coin purse?"
They both looked at each other nervously.
Ha! I hit the nail on the head! I thought.
Ace and Sabo both started sprinting away from me.
I sighed and decided to give up. I'd already received what I came for and they obviously didn't want me to follow them. I about-faced and started to head back to High Town.
I got lost a couple times and fell once or twice, but I eventually found my way back to the garbage dump I later found out was called the Grey Terminal. I went through the dump, Edge Town, and finally arrived in High Town.
One of the police officers found me under orders from my mother and brought me back to our mansion.
My mother gave me a suffocating hug and said, "I was worried sick! Are you hurt? Did the hooligans do anything to you?!"
"No, Mother," I said. "I'm fine."
She hugged me again and said, "Don't ever do that again, young lady!"
My father gave me a curt greeting and I went upstairs into my room to take a bath under leave of my mother.
"You're so filthy!" she said, looking at the state my dress was in.
I trudged upstairs and put the coin purse on the end table next to my bed.
As I was in the bath, it got me thinking about the two boys.
Why did they have to be so rude? I asked. Why can't they just be civil? Well, I guess if you're gonna be a pirate when you grow up, you don't have to be civil. But still, some manners at least would be nice…
But I mentally slapped myself.
Stop thinking like that! Emily, you are going to be a pirate too someday, you need to get your act together! Or… not together?
"Mother?" I asked at dinner. "Do we have anything scheduled for tomorrow?"
"You have homeschool," she said.
"On Sunday?" I asked. "But I never have school on Sunday! Why now?"
"Tomorrow is Sunday?" she asked. "Oh, I am mistaken. We don't have anything planned for Sunday. Oh, wait. We do have some company coming for dinner. Why do you ask?"
"No reason…" I said, smiling mischievously.
I decided to go back tomorrow and try to find them again.
I dressed myself the next morning in clothes that I could get a little dirty in. It was also an outfit I would be comfortable running in.
As I crept down the stairs, trying to be sneaky, my mother came out.
"What on earth are you wearing, Emily?" she asked, looking horrified. "I thought we threw away those ghastly things!"
"Umm…" I said, trying to think of an excuse. "My friend invited me over."
"You most certainly are not going in those clothes!" she said, hiking up her long skirt and coming up the stairs. "Did you dress yourself?! Where was your maid?"
"I wanted to dress myself, Mother," I said, rolling my eyes. "I look fine. They don't care what I look like."
My mother looked taken aback and said, "A lady should always look her best."
I sighed and pushed past her. "I'll be fine, Mother."
I opened the front door and walked out.
"Emily-"
I shut the door and took a deep breath.
I started for the forest, going through the gate at High Town, Edge Town and finally into the Grey Terminal. After the Grey Terminal, I walked into the trees and started looking around.
"Ace? Sabo?" I called around. "You here? I wanna talk to you!"
I started to retrace my footsteps from the day before and ended up in the same spot where the two had ran away.
"Ace! Sabo!" I yelled. "Come out, come out wherever you are!"
When no one answered I began to get frustrated. I looked around, trying to remember which way they went.
"I think it's this way…" I said, walking hesitantly.
After I'd gone that way for quite a while and called out their names more than a few times, I heard them yelling behind me.
I whirled around and saw them running after me with pipes.
When I saw them, I was confused. I looked back behind me to see if there was something they were going after.
Nope, nothing. They were coming after me.
But as I realized that, it was too late.
Both Ace and Sabo had already jumped into the air with their pipes in hand and were about to hit me with them.
Ace hit me straight across the cheek, but Sabo missed only because Ace had hit me before he had the chance to.
I flew face first into a nearby tree and heard felt the taste of blood in my mouth as I slid to the ground.
They… actually… hit me… I thought.
I tried to stand up, but felt extremely dizzy.
"You could've held back a little, Ace…" Sabo said.
Ace scoffed and said, "No, she's an annoying pest who needs to be dealt with."
As my scrambled brains and fuzzy vision started to fix themselves, I began to feel the pounding in my cheek and head from the blow.
"Th…Th-that's all you got…?" I taunted, yet I still didn't have the strength to stand up.
All of a sudden, Ace was directly in front of me. He bent over and point to my face. "Listen here, you little princess," Ace said with calm rage in his voice. "There'll be more where that came from if you try to follow us again. So I suggest you beat it before we have to kill you."
"But… But I th-thought we could be f-friends…" I said. "Since we wanna be p-pirates."
Sabo laughed behind his friend. "Ha! Why would a noble like you wanna be a pirate?"
"So I don't have to have my life planned out for me!" I said as my vision became normal. The blood in my mouth was an overpowering taste... I had to spit it on the ground rather ungracefully.
Sabo and Ace looked at each other.
"Pirates don't have to obey rules or be forced to marry someone they haven't even met," I continued. "If I run away to be a pirate, I'll be the freest person in the world!"
"She has our ambition…" Sabo said, looking hesitant.
"That doesn't matter," Ace said. "It doesn't change the fact that she's weak and a girl."
"She did beat you yesterday…" Sabo said.
"Yeah!" I added.
"Shut up!" Ace said. "That was a fluke. I pummeled you today, remember?"
"Like I'd forget…" I said under my breath.
"Why did you even come back here, anyway?" Ace said.
I averted eye contact with them and said, "Yesterday, I saw you running through the streets. You guys looked like you were having fun… And then you stole my coin purse so I had an excuse to talk to you. I've never had a friend, let alone had fun with anyone before… And it just so happens that you wanna be pirates too. I thought… maybe… Maybe you'd let me be your… f-friend…"
"Tch…" Ace said. "If we're gonna be pirates, we can't have any weak friends."
"Oh…" I said despondently.
They obviously don't want to be my friend… Ugh. What was I thinking anyway? Of course they wouldn't…
"So you gotta prove yourself to us," he said.
"What?" I asked, looking up at them.
Sabo held out his hand for me. I took it, really confused as to what was going on as he helped me stand up.
Ace punched my shoulder and said, "Come back tomorrow ready for a duel. If you really wanna be our friend, you gotta beat one of us in a fight."
"Let's do it now!" I said, energized. "I'm ready!"
Ace laughed and said, "Blood's spilling out of your mouth. You're in no condition to fight."
"Yeah, it has to be a fair match," Sabo said.
I self-consciously wiped the corners of my mouth and said, "I'll be there."
"Meet us back here," Sabo said. "We'll be waiting."
I ran home the happiest girl in the world. They were giving me a chance! I couldn't pass this up. I was going to beat one of them for sure.
I suddenly skidded to a halt.
"What am I going to tell Mother?!" I asked myself, horrified. "I can't just walk in with a bloody mouth and say everything's ok!"
Speaking of bloody mouth…
I put my hands on my jaw as I started walking again and said, "Ow… That really hurt… I'm surprised my jaw isn't broken."
I tried to massage my jaw, but that just made it hurt even worse.
"Maybe I fell…?" I said, brainstorming. "No, that's stupid. I could fall down the stairs… Yeah, that's better. I'll say that."
So with that plan in mind, I walked back to the Grey Terminal, through Edge Town, and into High Town. I found a water fountain at the park to wash out all the blood in my mouth and spit out the rest before I went home.
"I'm home, Mother," I said.
"You're just in time for dinner, Emily," she said, appearing from around the corner. She looked at me and sneered. "You look filthy. Go take a bath before coming to eat. We have guests this evening, so wear something other than that."
I trudged upstairs very thankful that she hadn't noticed anything was wrong. After I took a quick bath and got dressed 'appropriately', I ran downstairs and into the dining room.
I came in to see a very ugly family sitting down across the table. The parents were both horribly unfortunate looking, the boy was almost ten times worse and around my age.
"Sorry I'm late," I said, taking the seat next to my mother.
"You're just in time for the main meal, Emily," Father said.
I looked to the guests, wondering who they were.
"Allow me to introduce you to our good friends, the van Tinkle Family," Mother said.
I tried my best not to laugh at their even more unfortunate surname.
"And, this handsome young man across from you is Clarkson, your fiancé," she added.
I'm pretty sure I almost threw up, but I kept it down and tried to mask my bewilderment.
"Excuse me…?" I said.
"Hello," Clarkson said, smiling. He had a high-pitched, nasally voice and buck teeth.
I looked at him with disgust. "It's a… pleasure to meet you…" I said, not meaning a word of it.
"And you as well," he replied.
His voice made my skin crawl.
No way am I marrying this guy… I thought.
I was forced into meaningless drabble about different boring subjects nobles usually talked about. When the van Tinkles finally left, my parents pulled me into the drawing room.
"So?" Father asked. "He's a fine gentleman, yes?"
"What do you think?" Mother asked.
Wow, they want my opinion on something…? I thought.
"Honest opinion?" I asked. They both nodded. "He's gross-looking and annoying. I don't want to marry someone I don't like."
Father looked furious. "How dare you insult one of the noblest aristocratic families High Town has ever seen!"
"You said you wanted to know what I thought!" I argued.
"Do you really not like him?" Mother asked.
"No," I said, crossing my arms.
"Well, it doesn't matter what you think," Father said.
"What about me?!" I asked. "Aren't I supposed to have a happy life with someone I love?! Whatever happened to happily ever after? Whatever happened to true love?!"
"Oh, don't be silly," Mother scolded. "There's no such thing as happily ever after. That's only in fairy tales."
"You're the only problem child in our family," Father said, narrowing his eyes at me. "Why can't you be more like your sisters?"
I was about ready to punch both of them in the face.
"You're horrible parents!" I screamed. "You never listen to me and what I want!"
"Not everything is about you, Emily!" Mother said, raising her voice.
"Go up to your room, you selfish brat," Father yelled.
"Fine with me!" I yelled back. "I hate you two anyway!"
I stomped upstairs and slammed the door behind me. I flopped onto my bed and screamed into my pillow in anguish.
I couldn't wait to find Ace and Sabo the next day. If I became friends with them, I'd never go back home.
I ran out of my house as fast as I could and as early as I could the next morning. I didn't even have breakfast. I just threw on clothes and took off. No one even noticed I left.
I ran straight into the forest without looking back, knowing full well that I might've just left home forever.
I didn't care at all. In fact, I was happy to leave and wondered why I never left sooner.
It was late morning by the time I reached the sparring spot. I was the only one there. I heaved a sigh and sat down under one of the trees to rest since I'd ran the whole way. I put my hands on my jaw and remembered what had happened yesterday.
I can't let them beat me. I have to win! I thought.
It took an hour or so for Ace and Sabo to finally show up. I stood up, seeing that they'd arrived.
"Yo," Sabo said.
"How long were you waiting?" Ace asked.
"Like an hour," I said.
They both looked at each other and said, "Oh, sorry…"
"It's alright," I said.
I noticed they were both carrying their pipes.
"So, who do you want to fight first?" Ace asked.
"I don't care, whoever volunteers to go first," I replied.
"I'll go first," Sabo said. "Name the weapon and conditions."
"No weapons, hand-to-hand combat," I said. "Umm… Conditions…? Ok, I guess until the loser's knees touch the ground. That good with you?"
Sabo smirked and handed his pipe to Ace. "Perfect," he said. "Ace, you be the ref."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said. "How do I know you're not gonna rig it?"
Ace rolled his eyes and said, "I promise I'll be fair. This is a real duel."
"Ok," I said.
"Are you both ready?" he asked.
I nodded, getting focused.
"Yep," Sabo said.
"Set…" Ace said.
I clenched my fists.
"FIGHT!" he yelled, stepping back a couple steps.
I strategically started running around, trying to wear Sabo out before I began my attack. After a couple minutes of this, I noticed his movements slowed down and he started panting.
Perfect… I thought.
While he took a split second to rest, I charged for him, keeping my body low for more momentum and balance. I totally took him out, but he fell on his back, not his knees.
So I flipped him over.
"Emily wins," Ace said immediately.
I smiled at Sabo and held out my hand for him, but he stood up without my help and dusted himself off. He looked very angry that he lost. Why wouldn't he be, though? I mean, he did lose to me, a girl. There must be a big dent in his pride now.
Never the less, I was ecstatic that I'd won the first round. This meant that they'd let me be their friend!
Ace walked up to me and shook my hand.
"Welcome aboard, Emily," he said, smiling mischievously.
"That's Future Queen of the Pirates to you," I said jokingly.
Ace and I laughed, but Sabo just stared bitterly at me.
"What?" I asked.
He rolled his eyes at me. Ace noticed this and punched his friend in the arm.
"Come on, she beat you fair and square," he said. "A promise is a promise."
"Yeah well, whatever," he said, waving me off. I saw his cheeks were flushing red. He walked away to a nearby tree and sat down to pout.
"He'll get over it," Ace said, looking at his friend with a perturbed expression. "Don't let it get to you."
I nodded and said, "It's all good."
"Well, anyway," he said. "We're gonna go steal some more money for our pirate funds. Wanna come?"
"Yeah!" I said, excitedly. "Wait, steal?"
"Yeah, steal from the rich to give to the poor," he said. "Except we're the poor in this case…"
"If my family finds out about this… They're gonna string me up by my toes," I said hesitantly.
"Forget about what they think," he said. "You wanna be a pirate, right? Pirates steal stuff."
"Well, I do want to be a pirate…" I said.
He put a hand on my shoulder and said, "We'll show you how it works, don't worry."
I nodded and agreed to go with them.
"Sabo, get up," Ace said. "We're going."
He got up reluctantly and looked at me. "Is she coming?" he asked.
"Duh," I said.
Sabo rolled his eyes at me and Ace rolled his eyes at Sabo.
"Emily is coming, she's our friend now," he said. "Sabo, you in or not?"
Ace held out his hand. Sabo hesitated for a while before nodding his head and shaking Ace's hand.
"Good," he said. "Let's go."
(I don't own One Piece or any of the characters. This was made for entertainment and no copyright is intended.)
