Chapter 2:
"Cap'n!" one of the crew mates yelled, trying to gain their captains attention.
Before he even knew it a rolled up newspaper came slamming down on top of his sleeping head, knocking his hat off of his head and into his lap. Ace glared at his first mate, but it was slowly replaced by a happy from as he stared at the bounties before him.
"25 million beri!" He exclaimed, pointing to his own bounty.
The overzealous captain continued looking, reading off the bounties of everyone on his crew. Just as he read the last one, another bounty caught his attention. Curiously, a few of his crew mates looked over Ace's shoulder to take a glimpse of what had made their captain stop in his celebration.
"Well, ain't she a beaut." one the the shipwrights whistled.
Soft freckles danced across pale peach skin, and the delicateness of her small dimples could be seen even in her sadistic smile. Her lips were round and plump; ruby red and her eyes were wide and the color of the darkest depth of the sea. She had a delicate finger on her lip, with a malicious glint in her eyes. Her hair was thick, long and wavy, with a range of blues dancing around as her locks. At the top of her bounty, the word "Thief" was written in large fronts, and under her picture "Wanted Alive, Mistress of Deception, Blue D. Cheshire."
Ace's grin widened, before he pointed at the picture, holding it up for this crew members to see. Many of them whistled and howled, but immediately stopped with a glare from their captain.
"This is the girl I told you all about, the one who stole money from a town of Celestial Dragons and Nobles to give to the poor."
"Is that the same one who decided to put down the shingles first, and nail a wooden plank down diagonally?" asked the first mate.
"Yup."
"You never said she was this cute." one crew member stated.
"She's like the same age as my little brother." Ace stated, eyes showing disgust, "Besides, that was a few months ago. Her last reported sighting is on Dongoi Island."
"Isn't that where we're going?" the navigator stated, brushing a hand through his auburn hair.
"Maybe you'll meet up with her." slurred the old cook, winking suggestively at their captain.
.
'Damn pesky marines,' she swore under her breath, jumping from roof to roof. She jumped down and swivelled into a dark corner as she heard footsteps run past her and blue clad figures run by.
She had been trying to leave the island for weeks now, but was always interrupted by marines, ignorant pirates that wanted her on their crew or for her treasures, bounty hunters or even sea kings and bad weather. It was like everything tried to keep her on this island for some strange reason. Cheshire had been here for almost a month now, and as the weeks went by she became more impatient and anxious. There was a whole world out there, one which she couldn't even see since she can't even leave the island.
Heading in the direction of the forest, she scourged the area for food and predators, before finally finding a reasonable place to sleep. Her makeshift bed as mad of large leaves and cotton; the most comfortable things she could find.
'Ever since I got that bounty, my life has been a mess. Although running for your life can be so exciting, I miss my little cottage.' she thought, staring at the sky, 'I wonder how my little village is.'
She rolled over, staring into the burning red and orange embers of the small fire she made to provide heat for herself.
'I wonder how that boy's doing... what was his name?... Archie?... No, that's too long, his name was like four letters or something...'
"...Captain!"
She jolted upright immediately, hurriedly putting out the fire and grabbing her belongings. As the footsteps came closer, she made her way into the darkest piece of the forest, behind a tree where she could monitor the people entering her camping grounds.
"Looks like there was someone here, recently too." A tall person with light brown hair in a man bun stated, long scar going from his cheek to the left corner of his mouth.
"Yeah, and they left in a hurry." A raven haired man with a scraggly beard stated.
'Pirates.' she hissed in her mind, eyes turning to slits as she glared from her spot.
She stood as still as can be, and pressed into the bark of the tree, not wanting to fight. She was sure she could take on two people, but if it could be avoided, she would. Just as she thought the prospect of danger was gone, Cheshire felt something breathing down her neck.
"What do we have here?"
She felt something shift in the atmosphere. Drawing all of the water vapour she could muster, she made it form a whip, and slashed it against the unsuspecting persons chest. She jumped to dodge a bullet that had been aimed at her from one of the other pirates, and kicked another in their stomach. Just as she was about to send another attack at the trio, she heard leaves rustling, and felt a familiar presence.
"Stop!"
The trio lowered their weapons, but glared at the woman. Cheshire didn't take her eyes off of them, but she didn't lower her guard at the human behind her either.
"It's okay," she heard, "They won't hurt you Ches."
At that point she knew who that person was, even before they stepped out in front of her.
"Ace."
She could feel that wide smile of his without even meeting his gaze.
"Cheshire."
...everybodywaskungfufighting...
For what felt like an eternity, they stared at each other, neither saying a word. The tension in the air was high, as were the looks of surprise of his water-chained crew mates and the girl herself.
"Ace?"
Her voice was soft and trembling a bit. She honestly didn't think that she would be seeing him outside of the newspapers anytime soon. The world was a big place and what were the chances of actually seeing someone twice? Just as quick as it came, her shocked expression left, replaced with an angered look as she slapped him hard.
"You ate me out of a house and home you bastard," she yelled angrily, "And you spilled food on my brand new carpet when you fell asleep. It took me weeks to get that shit out! Now your pesky crew here attacks me for nothing!"
Ace chuckled, scratching the back of his head as he did so. 'She didn't change at all.' he thought to himself.
"I don't mean to interrupt this heartfelt union," came the brunette who was chained to the tree upside-down, "But can you please take us down?"
With a wave of her finger, the pirates were released and began stretching their limbs.
"Damn, you sure can hit girlie." another muttered, rubbing his sore arms.
"Yeah, when did you get that devil fruit ability?" Ace asked, "I don't remember you having it when I last saw you..." he paused taking in her confused expression, "...Unless you never showed it."
"Wow, you've gotten better at reading me since the last time we've met." Cheshire stated with a smug look on her face, "Must be because this new pirate status has brought about more women."
"Is that jealousy I hear?"
"Jealousy? Who am I supposed to be jealous of? You or the women?"
She laughed a little, clutching her gut as she did so. It was a soft, velvety sound, with a rugged edge like she didn't do it a lot. All of a sudden, the hair at the base of her neck began to stand up.
"A group of Marines are coming this way." She states the same time as another one of Ace's crew.
"Head back to the ship." Ace ordered before turning to Cheshire as they were about to run away, "Coming?"
"Let's see if you boys can keep up Mr. Pirate."
-get-in-loserssss-
Ace stared into the darkness of the ocean as he and his crew sailed away from the island. Luckily, they avoided confrontation with any Marines, but they would need to stock up at the nearest island.
"Can't sleep?" he heard behind him.
He didn't even need to turn around to know who it was, so he wasn't surprised to see long blue tresses swaying in the breeze from his peripheral vision.
"No, what about you?"
"Nah," she admitted honestly, rubbing her arms to keep herself warm, "I find it hard to sleep in unknown places, at least until I can relax or pass out from exhaustion."
"Sounds like you've done this a lot."
"Seems like you've got a lot on your mind."
"And what if I do?" Ace asked, finally turning his head and looking at her.
"Then sometimes it's best to talk about it. I read that in one of my mom's books." She turned to face him as well, blue locks hanging over the ship rails as she did so, "So is this one of those times?"
"My brother Sabo's birthday is coming up."
"You have a brother?"
"Two actually. Both are younger than me. Only Luffy's alive."
"Oh."
"Yeah. He died because of a Celestial Dragon. They blew up his ship while he was on it, then ran over it with their yacht."
"Oh."
"Is that all you're gonna say?"
"Is there anything you want me to say?"
"No, not specifically."
"Then I won't say anything then."
There was a moment of silence after that, like they were both giving their respects to the dead.
"We all had a dream to become pirates, and promised that we'd all leave the island when we're seventeen. Luffy's about your age, so he'll be leaving soon." Ace chuckled, "Funny how we were all competing to be pirate king."
Cheshire gave a low whistle, "Big dreams, to be pirate king you'd have to do a lot of big things, and be strong enough to do it to."
"Yeah, that's why I'm gonna take the head of Whitebeard."
Cheshire nearly choked on her own saliva, eyes widening as she stared at Ace as if he had grown a tail on the back of his neck.
"Are you crazy? He's the strongest man alive! How the hell do you plan on doing that?"
"I'm not going to do it now, but soon, he's gonna pop up in the newspapers again. That's when I'm gonna go after him."
"Does your crew know about this?"
"Yeah."
Running a hand through her hair to massage her scalp, Cheshire sighed, "If that's what you wanna do, then go ahead." She then turned and yawned, "I'm gonna try to catch some sleep."
"Cheshire." Ace called.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for the talk."
"Welcome." she giggled.
"And Cheshire?"
"What?"
"Good job switching the topic back there."
"Its my job. Thieves like me gatta have a silver tongue."
"Night Cheshire."
"Night Mr. Pirate."
"That's not my name."
She could feel the smile in his voice without even turning around.
"I know." She whispered, her voice soft as watched him staring at the stars for a while before disappearing to her room.
