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Encounters
Chapter IV
Light filtered into the room from cracks in the wall as the sun rose. Ace watched the room grow lighter and began to pick out shapes with his tired eyes, eventually rising into a sitting position. He looked around again at the small room until his eyes settled on Lazue.
She had the blankets tucked up to her neck and her long brown hair fell in waves around the pillow. He was positive that she was asleep, as her expression was peaceful and her breathing was soft and invariable. During the night it had certainly grown colder in the room, but Ace had managed to warm the bed with his incessant heat. He just hoped Lazue wouldn't notice the strange temperature too much when she awoke.
He didn't really know the exact reason why he was concerned about hiding his Devil Fruit abilities from her. He supposed it was because she might become afraid of him if she knew the truth. Maybe even to the point of calling the marines to his presence. Mostly though, he figured it would be wise to keep a low profile while he remained in this city. He didn't want said marines to chase him out so soon.
It had been a while since he'd set foot on dry land. He wanted to enjoy himself a bit more. After all, food was always fresher when one was on land.
As Ace sat there, thinking about what he planned to do after getting out of Lazue's servitude, he heard faint knocking coming from down the hall. He listened intently, hearing groggy voices one after another, becoming louder as they neared his position. There was more knocking to be heard, each time accompanied by angry people roused from sleep. Ace slowly got to his feet and padded towards the door, this time listening in on a neighbouring conversation.
He froze as he overheard his name, settling in to eavesdrop.
"Portgas D. Ace, one of Whitebeard's men. This is his wanted poster." Ace heard the rustling of paper and a slight gasp. No doubt they had glimpsed the bounty set on his head. "Have you seen him?"
"N-no," the other voice, a man's, stuttered. "Is he nearby?"
There was no reply and Ace could clearly make out footsteps moving towards the door he himself stood behind.
"Why would you be searching for such a man?" The neighbour's voice exclaimed. There was a clear streak of fear in this person. "If he is in this city, why aren't the marines being notified?"
Ace let himself breath again. The man who was now looking for him could not be a marine. If he had deducted right, the man was some kind of third-party. If Ace was lucky, the man searching for him was one of Whitebeard's extended family members who lived the retired life. He had met a few of these men in the past, all happily settled with families and living an easier life than one lived at sea.
"Rest easy friend, the marines are mobilizing and searching for this man as we speak."
Ace was jolted out of his thoughts at this new revelation. He cursed under his breath.
The neighbour's door shut softly and Ace braced himself for the knock that was sure to come upon the door in front of his face. When at last it came, a frantic rapping, Ace steadied his fist and readied himself for a quick bit of action, just in case.
He swung the door wide open to gain the advantage and was surprised at the sight in front of him.
He certainly hadn't been expecting to see Tool, holding Ace's crumpled wanted poster in his hands and looking just as stunned as Ace was. Then Ace saw relief wash over the man's piggish features.
"Finally, I've found you," Tool grunted. "Lazue is here, yes?"
"Yes," Ace replied quietly. "You've been looking for me. Why?"
Tool broke eye contact with Ace to scan the hallway, then inclined his head before stepping forward, intending to take the conversation into a more private place. Ace allowed him in and Tool shut the door behind them.
"There isn't much time, pirate." Tool's voice was rough and Ace felt a slight hint of irritation well up inside him at how angered and disgusted Tool's voice sounded. "Listen to me, and then leave this island."
Frowning, Ace said nothing and Tool continued. "You were reported to the marines by bandits, believe it or not, the ones that live in the valley on this island and can't stand competition from pirates. The marines thought them normal citizens, not outlaws. But anyway, rumour has it you fought with them and killed one of their members. Is this true?"
Unashamed, Ace nodded. While he didn't directly kill anyone, he could be seen as the trigger. Besides, no one would believe a pirate to be innocent of a crime.
Tool sighed, thoroughly vexed. "There's more. Citizens have been coming forward to the marines – who docked in the harbour last night and are combing this island searching for you might I mention – saying that they've seen you with a woman. And Lazue has been identified to be an accomplice and as such has had an accomplice's bounty placed over her head."
"What is the bounty?" Ace asked quietly, looking over his shoulder at the girl who slept unaware. She certainly didn't look like a fugitive, a criminal or outlaw, yet now she'd been branded as such.
"It is five million beli," Tool answered angrily. He was feeling nothing but spite for the man in front of him, dragging Lazue into such a travesty.
Ace frowned at the numbers. "That is far too high for a 'starter' accomplice-to-a-pirate bounty."
"You're a Whitebeard pirate."
That statement, spat at him with malice, said enough. Ace once again glanced behind at Lazue, expecting her to stir to full wakefulness. She lay still, light snoring coming from under the sheets.
A ragged exhale left Tool's lips and Ace met the man's eyes again. "She cannot remain on this island. Most people know her face and will report her." Tool clasped his hands in front of him. "Now, I'm not going to waste breath saying exactly why her tarnished reputation is your fault because I believe you know that much. All I want to ask as a friend of Lazue's, is that you take her to the next island along the Grand Line, away from the marines. So she is safe and not arrested for crimes she didn't commit."
At once, Ace agreed. As the circumstances were, he himself would have to leave the island today anyway. For tarnishing Lazue's reputation, he owed the woman a lift. "I have a skiff docked in the harbour."
"If it was a skiff with two black masts, then the marines have already set it on fire," Tool informed him gravely. Ace cursed under his breath; he'd foolishly left his belongings, which consisted of several changes of clothes, locked in a compartment on that ship when he'd set out yesterday for food. He hadn't foreseen the events that transpired yesterday and hadn't thought he would be gone long from his baggage. "It seems they know more about you than you thought."
Tool turned to reach behind him but kept his gaze locked on Ace, his hand finding its way to the doorknob. "I don't know how you will explain this to Lazue without making her upset. But please, take care of her and if she resists leaving this island, gently force her. She personally helped me out in the past and I am returning the favour."
The door swung open and Tool stepped out into the hallway, but not before pressing a folded up piece of paper into Ace's hand.
"Wait, you're leaving?" Ace asked, his voice betraying the sudden worry that had enveloped him. He didn't want to be the one to wake Lazue up and try to get her to follow him. He didn't know if the woman would believe a word of what was transpiring outside. And if she didn't believe him, then what?
"I do not want to be seen with the likes of you," Tool spat, his eyes dark. Ace watched as the burly man spun on his heel and stalked down the hallway, turning a corner out of sight.
Ace rushed to shut the door, knowing that Tool had shown the wanted poster around to the inn's occupants earlier in hopes of finding him and Lazue. He looked down at the paper Tool had given him and unfolded it, lighting the tip of his finger to see better in the dim light of the morning. He opened the paper and was met with Lazue's stern face, the picture showing her standing behind a counter in the tavern, drying a glass plate with a hand towel. If he squinted he could see the back of his head through the window that linked the kitchen to the bar. It was a slightly blurry picture as if it'd been taken in a hurry.
Below Lazue's picture and obscuring the bounty's amount was a piece of paper with a note attached to it. Ace read the first line, found it held nothing but an apology, and coerced his eyes away. He respected the privacy of others as a general rule. The note was for Lazue from Tool, with explicit instructions on the front fold to burn it after reading.
Ace's eyes then flickered over to the bed, in time to see Lazue groggily pull herself into a sitting position. His heart sank and he waited for her to speak, to be mad at him for what Tool had informed him was going on.
"Oh, you're awake already. Good, we have to get to work soon," Lazue said sleepily from her place sitting on the bed. She was running her hands through her hair, trying vainly to get the knots out. "This is your last day before I set you free. We'll be unloading a shipment of supplies from the dock today. It should be more interesting than washing dishes. I think you'll like this type of work."
She hadn't heard a thing that had transpired. Great, Ace thought sarcastically.
He then groaned as he realized that he would have to immediately repeat what he'd just learned to her; he'd been hoping to at least have a few moments to prepare himself for this confrontation. He didn't know how to begin to tell her about her new status as an outlaw.
Especially when she was innocent.
At last Ace cautiously said, "Tool came by already. We're not going to the tavern today."
The woman's brow furrowed in confusion and she got to her feet, going over to stand in front of the pirate. Wordlessly he gave her what he held, wondering if he should light a candle that would help her see better the contents she now squinted at.
"This…" Her voice, weak from morning sleepiness, trailed off uncertainly.
Lazue read aloud what was printed in front of her, "Five…million?"
"Tool wrote you a note," Ace said hurriedly. He was silently praying that Tool had tried to explain the situation to her in that note. If not, he was seriously going to screw it up. He wasn't very good at calming down women; that much he'd learnt over the years.
Lazue looked at the note, her face going through a varying mix of disbelief, anger and sadness as she read silently. When she finished she looked up at the man in front of her, seemingly seeing him for the first time. Ace shifted uncomfortably, for in her eyes was fear.
"You're…a Whitebeard pirate," Lazue whispered nervously.
Ace inclined his head at the woman in awe. "I thought you knew. You said you saw my tattoo. Hell, you bought that shirt to cover it up!"
Lazue bristled at the memory. Now she knew why people had stared at them as they walked past. She recalled their shocked faces and hastily diverted gazes when she'd looked back at them. "I had no idea…I don't know pirate marks!"
This time, Ace was surprised. "How could you not know Whitebeard's flag? He's the most notorious pirate on the seas right now! He was well-established before either of us were even born."
Lazue flinched and Ace instantly regretted his raised voice. When it came to his captain, Ace couldn't help but get a little too passionate. He opened his mouth to apologize but Lazue cut him off.
"A pirate is a pirate. To a person like me, pirates are all the same."
Ace gulped down any arguments that were beginning to form on his tongue and reminded himself that he had faulted her. Before long he regained his composure and said softly, "We need to leave the island right now before the marines find us."
Lazue's eyes widened and she clutched at the front of her nightgown. "I can't just up and leave! I've never left this island! You don't understand. This is my home."
A single tear snaked a trail down her cheek and Ace turned away, feeling guilt at being the cause of her misfortune. He hated it when people cried in front of him, it made him want to lash out for unknown reasons. Ace tried to find words that wouldn't culminate in a volley of tears on the part of this woman but found he couldn't fully grasp Lazue's position as his was so vastly different.
"I've always been pulled to the sea," Ace finally admitted. "For as long as I can remember I've always wanted the tide to take me out with it. Dry land holds nothing of significance for me. I'm sorry, but I can't understand you."
Lazue sniffed and turned her back on him, walking towards the bed. No matter how bad he felt that he'd caused her so much misery, Ace wasn't about to let her go sob in a corner. She would be caught and imprisoned in no time if she behaved like that.
"We have to leave right now!"
"I get it!" Lazue yelled, her voice breaking. "Let me get ready!" She pulled the nightgown over her head and threw it onto the bed. She was bare except for her skimpy undergarments and Ace's face burned despite the situation. He hurried to give her some privacy, facing the wall and fighting to get his beating heart under control. Between their argument and her sudden risqué exposure, he'd gotten fired up.
Lazue came up behind Ace, toting her bag of possessions slung over her shoulder. Ace looked her over now that she was decent and noticed that she'd somehow gotten herself under control. Though her lower lip trembled, unchecked.
"I'll carry that," Ace offered. Numbly he was handed the bag and Lazue wrapped her arms around herself subconsciously. This was a protective and heartening habit she'd developed. She'd never known a kind, warm hug but had seen them given amongst her patrons. Now she found herself wishing someone would give her a comforting embrace.
"You'll have to help me find the harbour. We have to try our best to stay out of sight."
"I know the city well," Lazue assured him quietly. Her voice was as hard as a pair of sea stone handcuffs. Ace knew that she was concealing her anger for his very existence. He would be patient with her and hope that her anger wouldn't intensify and explode without warning.
They didn't spend any more time in the inn's room. Neither had anything more productive to say to the other. They gingerly slunk out of the room and snuck along the inn's corridor until Lazue found them an alternative exit. They were brought into an alley and from there Lazue brought them to a ladder. She knew how the buildings around the area connected. They were the same height after all and moving between them was child's play.
"You better have a way off this island," Lazue muttered as they kept their heads down out of sight and moved across the buildings.
"I did," Ace replied casually, wary of stirring her to tears.
She stiffened. "Did?"
"According to Tool, the marines destroyed my skiff."
Lazue made a gagging noise and Ace swung around to face her, worried she was choking. She glared at him. "Then what're we going to escape on?"
"We'll see what's in the harbour."
"You're going to steal something!"
Ace instinctively clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shh, someone will hear us."
She pushed his hand away violently and swung out a sloppy kick, aiming to knock him off balance. It was easily dodged.
"What kind of devil spawned you?" she spat. He didn't answer, instead just offered a twitch of his lips to suggest that he knew something she did not. It irked her when men did that.
Lazue pulled a face full of disgust for the pirate and crept out onto the edge of the roof they were currently on. They'd come a long way from the inn and, peering out over the rest of the city, they could see the ocean. Lazue estimated they could be at the harbour in about five minutes…if they had the ability to run through the city, which they did not.
Ace, meanwhile, was checking out the boats moored at the waterfront. There were a few caravels that looked to be cargo ships. Even if Lazue were a seasoned sailor it would be impossible to sail a caravel with only two people. He squinted for something smaller. There were fishing boats but they would be useless as they didn't have a single mast to catch the wind. Ace didn't want to row all the way to the next island and he doubted that Lazue would help him with any sort of work. He continued searching the harbour.
Then there was the problem of the huge warship bustling with marine activity. Ace glanced over at Lazue and found her staring with horror at the mass of troops piling out of that colossal full-rigged monster. He reached out a hand and touched her shoulder gently to break her trance.
"What the hell is with all of these marines?" Lazue hissed. "Surely you can't be such an important person that they'd send a warship after you!"
Rather than inform her that he'd had numerous warships chase him at the same time before, Ace remained silent. He resumed scanning, only pausing to wonder if his log pose had set. He wasn't sure how long it would take those magnetic fields to do their thing on Lazue's island.
Fortunately, the log pose strapped to his arm was pointing straight ahead, away from the island. It also meant that they'd have to go straight out of the harbour, though Ace wasn't sure if that was to be a blessing or a curse.
The wind answered him, pushing his hair forwards and into his eyes. Ace smiled in that weird way that moved all of the freckles across his face. He knew exactly what kind of a ship they'd need for their capricious voyage.
"Come on, let's go," Ace urged, tugging at Lazue's elbow for her to stand up with him. She staggered and struggled out of Ace's grip. She went back down in a slump to hide behind the wooden support wall on their roof.
"What are you doing? They'll see us!"
Ace gave her a daring grin. "At this point I don't think it'll matter." As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized something vital; he couldn't just pull his usual fiery escape. His smile drooped. He sank back down to the roof, feeling quite sheepish.
It was better if Lazue didn't learn of his freakish abilities before they relocated to a safer place.
"We need to get close to the harbour without being seen," Ace mumbled, still disappointed in himself that he hadn't thought about the woman sitting beside him. Even if they did make a run for it she wouldn't be able to keep up with his pace. That and there was a very high chance that the marines would shoot at them with their long distance rifles.
Unlike him, Lazue wasn't immune to artillery fire.
"Damn," Ace muttered, soft enough so Lazue wouldn't hear and become even more anxious than she already was. He knew just what to do, if only he could get them safely to the harbour.
Lazue watched Ace's ever-changing expressions as he went from giddy to irritated and then to a look that came across as downright defeated. "You said we need to get to the harbour without being seen. Why don't we just get disguises? Look, there are tons of people down there who haven't cleared out yet because of the marines. We could blend into the crowd."
Ace stared at her stupidly, wondering why he hadn't thought of such a simple plan beforehand.
Probably because he wasn't used to settling with simple plans.
"We'll have to hurry though, the marines seem to be telling everyone to go home. But look; see that merchant ship that those men are unloading down there? It was the one we were going to get our supplies from today…for the tavern." Lazue's voice broke at the end and Ace shook her arm to try to fend off the inevitable female crying fit. She slapped his hand away and any tears she may thought to cry were replaced by a burning anger that reached out and scorched him.
Ace would take anger over tears any day. He had experience with the former and could deal with it, though his methods were a bit heretical.
"Okay, so that schooner down there that you say is a merchant ship…are we going to pretend we're helping to unload her?" Ace tried to take the girl's mind off of what she was leaving behind and put her in the present. Lazue looked up at him as he sat upright and nodded that he had indeed guessed her plan.
"Then let's do this," Ace said firmly, picking Lazue up and throwing her over his shoulder. Without further thought, he jumped down from the building. The girl opened her mouth to scream but they were already on the ground by the time sound started to come out.
When Ace set her down on her feet she fixed him with fierce glare and slapped him. Hard. It made nary a dent in his composure.
