A/N: So. Yeah. My exams are done and I swear I was sleeping for two days straight but after receiving a small threat from someone I'm back on track and ready to finish what I started. Thank you all for reading and reviewing and favouriting and following, it really made me happy. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, just this small island and Leah-chan.

Day 2

The rest of the day was spent eating, picking apples, some more eating and mostly not talking. Leah offered her small bed to the pirate but he refused saying how could he let Leah-chan sleep on the floor in her own home. So with the help of a few more blankets he got comfortable on the floor while Leah slept on the bed. Well at least she tried to sleep but it wasn't her fault that she couldn't. The man sleeping comfortably (and occasionally snoring) on the floor clouded her thoughts throughout the night and by the time her eyes finally started to droop, it was already morning.

And so began her second day with the pirate.

Leah had been living alone for a few years now and having to cook for somebody else was frankly, a pain. And especially for someone who ate as much as Ace. She flopped down on one of the few wooden chairs decorating her so called living room and wiped her face with a towel. She had to make twenty pancakes. Two for herself and eighteen for the pirate. She had never cooked so much breakfast ever. Even though she had woken up just a few hours ago, she wanted to crawl back into her bed, under the covers and avoid any more contact with the pirate. The awkward silence that had been stretching between them since yesterday was making her very uncomfortable.

"This apple syrup is really good."

The girl looked up to see him stuff the last pancake in his mouth and lick the syrup off the plate.

"Thank you." She muttered politely.

And once again the silence took its designated place. Leah decided to shift to her bed from the chair and try to get some sleep. But yet again she found it impossible to do so with the pirate just sitting cross-legged on the floor near her bed and staring up at her. She turned in her bed and covered herself up with the pale blue blanket.

He started whistling.

"What?"

He raised his eyebrow at her annoyed tone and just shrugged nonchalantly.

Leah threw away the blanket completely and sat up in bed to face him, her feet dangling from the edge. She had never felt so irritated before. Never in her whole life had anybody gotten to her this bad. She could feel the blood rush to her face as she hissed at him, "If you have something to say then just say it."

An amused smile played on his lips as he took in her reaction. Clearly he was not scared of her angry side, it made him laugh. Leah immediately felt stupid for letting her emotions get better of her. He was a pirate after all. And he wasn't a part of just any pirate crew, no he was a part of the most feared crew on the whole of Grand Line. Why would he be afraid of her? If anything it should've been vice versa. But for some reason she wasn't afraid of him. She remembered how the townspeople had all left him to die when they had seen the tattoo on his back. She tried to remember if she had felt any fear at that time but her mind came up with nothing. She found it quite strange how her brain kept telling her that he was not a bad person, that he was not like those other pirates.

He cleared his throat to catch her attention and the red tint on her face deepened a little more from embarrassment.

"So." He said.

"So?" She asked.

"You could sell it." He said quietly.

Her eyes widened,

"I mean it, you know? You could make millions by selling it! There are so many people on the Grand Line who desire the power of that fruit, they would give anything for it."

Her body had gone stiff. She couldn't believe her ears. And here she had thought that this man was not like the other pirates.

"You could be so rich. And you could get rid of this shabby hut and leave this island and live someplace else, someplace better! You just have to sell that thing and your life would be set."

She stared at him with a blank expression on her face. She could tell from the look of excitement on his face that he was not lying. She clenched her fists and said through gritted teeth, "What do you know? What do you know about that fruit?"

He stopped talking and looked at her. His face was now stoic and his voice cold, "I ate one, you know. So yeah, I do know quite a lot."

"And what has that fruit done to you? Taken away your ability to swim? Taken away your chance to enjoy water? That fruit-"

"That fruit gave me power to protect the people I care about."

His words cut through her. Protect the people I care about. No. That was not what that fruit had done for her. Rather it had taken away the people she cared about. That fruit was the devil itself and she would never wish such misfortune on a fellow being.

"I'm gonna take a walk. You should get some rest."

With that the pirate walked out of her home and she covered herself with the blanket again hoping to fall asleep for some time.

-x-

When she woke, it was already evening and the sun was beginning to set. She cursed herself for falling asleep for so long as she pulled her head out of the blanket. A familiar smell greeted her, the smell of fresh mud. It must have rained, she thought to herself. Her eyes wandered over the small hut and she noticed the pirate sitting on the floor with his legs sprawled out in front him and his back leaning against the leg of one of the wooden chairs occupying the living room. He was munching on some apples and he looked her way when she got off the bed and stood up. She shivered and instantly wrapped her arms around her as she walked towards the kitchen. There was no heating system in the hut and she usually spent her winters holed up in a corner on the bed.

And all of a sudden, an unknown warmth spread through the small abode. She stopped shivering and let her arms fall to the side. She glanced at the pirate who hadn't moved from his position and was still munching on some apples which she was sure was he had picked from her trees. Without her permission. She continued her quest to make some warm tea and contemplated whether she should make some for Ace as well. Giving in to her nice side the auburn haired girl made two cups of tea and carried the tray towards the living room. She sat down, keeping her distance from him and kept the tray in the middle. He finished eating the apple and tossed the remnants of the fruit into the pile of fully devoured apples lying on his left.

He wiped his hands on his black shorts and without any warning he grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her next to him. She opened her mouth to protest and scream but instantly closed it as the warmth washed over her body. And she realised that it was coming from him. He let go of her arm but made sure that she didn't scoot away from him. He picked up the two cups and handed one to her. She held onto the cup tightly, her face growing warmer every second she spent next to him. The lack of distance between them was making her dizzy. She snuck a glance at him and saw that he was perfectly fine, calmly sipping the tea.

"It's your fruit." She stated squeakily.

"It's my fruit." He replied simply.

Silently they drank the tea. Sitting next to him, Leah felt a kind of warmth she had never felt before. That warmth made her happy. It made her remember all the lovely memories she had shared with her family in this small hut. She looked at him again, unsure of their status as friends because of the disagreement in the morning, but to her surprise she found him smiling at her. And before she knew it, her head was leaning on his shoulder, her eyes were closed and she was smiling in a way she hadn't in years.

"My mother had eaten a fruit. She was a performer. She went on tours and entertained people. My father was a simple sailor. He loved discovering new islands. He was the first one to land here, long before those shipwrecked people came and turned it into a town. He built this hut around 20 years ago. This hut is where my mother would come to hide from the fame and the pains of her job. She would spend days and days with my father and me, not bothering to let her manager know. One day while on her way to Saboady, her ship was caught in a thunderstorm. And she drowned. Nobody tried to save her. They knew that she couldn't swim but they didn't help her. My father never told me the abilities of her fruit. But whatever they were, they couldn't save her."

She didn't even realise when she started talking. She didn't even know if he was listening or sleeping. But for 5 years she had been talking to herself and now finally someone was there with her. Someone was there right next to her, providing her with the warmth that she very much needed. So whether he was paying attention or not, she decided to continue.

"My father taught me everything there is to know about a Devil Fruit."

"That's how you knew?"

His voice caught her off guard and she stumbled for a minute and then collected herself and nodded slowly, "Your blood. It flows differently."

"Is your father also…?" He trailed off already knowing the answer to his question.

"Yes, murdered by his own best friend because he refused to reveal the location of this island. You see his best friend wanted to sell the fruit just like you suggested. But from what my father told me, for every Devil Fruit that is plucked, another one grows somewhere else. And that is why he made me promise that I would never touch the fruit myself or let anyone else touch it. All these weird fruits and trees on the island were planted by my father in order to disguise the Devil Fruit. He tried his best to protect this one fruit from ruining someone's life. About 18 months after his death, these people came and built a town around these trees. I've managed to keep the fruit hidden from them all this while…"

"So you're saying nobody in the town knows about it?"

She nodded, "Nobody really notices my presence and hence don't care. I told you, didn't I? It's a simple name, very easy to forget."

The silence stretched on for a while. Both of them had long finished their tea. They just sat there, next to each other, letting the conversation sink in. Leah felt relieved. She had never talked to anyone so freely before and she could only describe this feeling as pure bliss. The loneliness that had crept up inside her and made a permanent hole in her chest was finally starting to disappear. She felt giddy and just so happy. She lifted her head off his shoulder and gazed at him.

He grinned as he brought his head closer to hers, "Well, for what's it worth Leah-chan, I sure as hell won't forget it."

And then he kissed her.

-x-

A/N: All of the Devil Fruit stuff is my own speculation, so I hope you don't find it weird. Let me know what you thought of it and yay just two more chapters to go!