Ace decided to take Ruby back to his, well their room, to get some rest. After dropping Ruby off in the bed ace was going to go to the bathroom, but he suddenly fell over, Ruby, slightly startled, got out of the bed and crouched down by Ace.
'He must have been really sleepy' Ruby thought while she listened to Ace snore.
She managed to het Ace into the bed and then she laid down in between Ace and the wall. Ace slept until the call for dinner woke him up.
He sat up and stretched while yawning and said "Aww man, I'm hungry."
The color red caught his attention and was surprised to see Ruby staring up at him with one eye, the left one since her hair covered the right side of her face.
She quickly looked away when she noticed him looking back at her.
He smiled at her and said "Hey come on, foods ready and I'm starving."
They climbed out of the bed and made their way to the dining hall.
Opening the door to the dining hall revealed a large group of men surrounding several large tables covered in huge piles of food.
"Hey there goes Marco and Thatch." Ace grabbed Ruby's hand and led her to the table. "Hey guys." Ace said right before he began grabbing handfuls of food and stuffing his face with it.
Ruby looked on in wonder as Ace basically inhaled his food. She looked over at Marco and Thatch expecting them to do the same with their food. They noticed and stated chuckling,
"Don't worry only Ace eats like that, but you should hurry and eat before he eats it all." Marco told her.
She looked at ace one more time before she started eating as well. It wasn't as fast as Ace but Ruby was putting away more food than they thought someone her size would be able to. Marco and Thatch were shocked to say the least…. Ace had other things on his mind however.
It wasn't long after they finished eating that they decided to go up on the deck. A minute later someone else came upstairs. It was a man in a pink and purple kimono with red lipstick.
"Oh, hey Izo." Marco said.
While Marco and Izo were talking Ruby tapped Ace on the arm to get his attention. She waved her hand in a "come closer" motion. Ace leaned down and over so that their heads were closer, it was hard to whisper in the ear of someone who is 6'1'' when you're 4'9''. She whispered in his ear then he started chuckling.
"Hmm what's so funny you two?" Thatch asked. Ruby squeaked then quickly turned away.
Still chuckling Ace said "She said she thinks Izo is pretty."
Marco and Thatch stared laughing while Izo looked amused.
"You're pretty too ya know." Izo told her.
Ruby's response to Izo's compliment amused them to no end. Her face turned as red as her hair and she started waving her hands as if she was trying to push the compliment away, all while saying "No, no! I- I'm not pretty I" she suddenly clammed up and turned her head away.
Still laughing Thatch walked over and put his hand on her head, turning it so she was facing him. "There's no need to be so shy; he's right, you're adorable."
Thatch's hand kept her from turning her head but she turned her eyes away and sucked her lips in.
Laughing Izo told them "By the way I came out here to find out who she was," pointing to Ruby, "but she doesn't look like she wants to talk to me."
On any other day she would've kept quiet but she remembered what Marco had told her earlier, she didn't want to be a "scardey cat" so she answered Izo.
"Your name's Izo right?" she asked. He nodded. "I'm Ruby" she wasn't exactly looking him in the eye but it was close enough.
Izo noticed that Ruby had red marks that went around her wrists. He wanted to ask about them but decided it would probably be better to ask later.
"So are you new to the crew?" he asked.
She shook her head no then explained "Ace found me on the island," she pointed to the general direction the island was in "and found out that I didn't remember where I'm from so he brought me here to ask Whitebeard if I could stay till I remembered how to get home."
"Wow, that's the most I've heard you say all day." Thatch said, eyebrows raised.
"Ruby, when's the last time you've been home?" Izo asked with a concerned look on his face.
Oblivious to the look in his face Ruby replied "I don't know, but it's been a long time, some years." She shrugged her shoulders.
Izo decided to let it go for now, save some questions for later.
Soon after their short talk Ace felt like he should take Ruby to bed, despite her protest of "But I'm ok Ace."
"Nope, Doc said you need to rest. You don't want your ankle to stay messed up to you?" he asked.
She kept quite after that comment and let Ace carry her back to their room.
Ace quickly fell asleep after dropping Ruby off in the bed and woke up just like he did yesterday, with Ruby's intense one eyed gaze directed right at him. This would be how he woke up for the next several days, although there were some days where her eyes would be closed but Ace was pretty sure she was still awake.
A few weeks had passed since Ace had found Ruby and they had sailed past only a couple of islands but Ruby was sure she wasn't from any of them.
In her short time on the Moby Dick Ruby had gotten very attached to Ace, Marco, Thatch, and Izo. Now speaking of Izo, he was very fond of Ruby but there was one thing about her that had been bothering him and on the next island he planned to solve the problem at the next island with a nice, sizeable town.
A few days later when they made it to an island Izo set his plan in action. He had already discovered that the easiest way to find Ruby was to find Ace, who was always easy to find. Ruby had taken to silently shadowing Ace around the ship. Izo found them on the deck toward the back of the ship. Ruby was crouching near Ace, who had fallen asleep.
"Hey Ruby." Izo greeted her.
Ruby looked up and gave him a small smile and said "Hey Izo."
"So since it looks like you're going to be here for a while, I figured you'd like to get new clothes and some shoes." He explained.
Ruby was supposed, she hadn't spent any one-on-one time with anyone other Ace.
"I'd like to go shopping with you Izo." She told him.
"Great, lets go!" he said extending his arm out to help her up.
