Back on deck, the group continues partying while Ace stares in confusion at Hakuren's half-finished plate.

"She doesn't eat a lot, does she?" He asked a man who sat beside him.

"Ah, she's always like this. She just doesn't like to hang around people."

"Why's that?"

"You saw it too, didn't you? Everyone's afraid of her … unnatural eyes. Not often you see something like that, even in the Grand Line, so most of us still find it sca- Hey! Stop falling asleep!"

"How noisy." Hakuren whispered to herself in her room. She stared up at the ceiling as she listened to the muffled music and laughter coming from above. Quickly sitting up, she glanced out of the window only to see these slightly familiar boats approaching from afar. At that, she got, placed her hood around her head before opening the door and going back onto the deck.

"What is it Hakuren? You gonna rejoin the party?" Thatch asked as she leant against the railing and looked out into the sea.

"Ships."

"Ships?" Jozu asked as he peered toward the horizon himself. She then turned towards her right to find Marco leaning against the edge of the ship. Looks like he noticed them before Hakuren did.

"They're asking for a death wish." She whispered emotionlessly.

"They're a bunch of fools." Thatch said with a careless smile. Everybody knew that they wouldn't put up much of a fight against them.

"Looks like the party's gonna get a little more live!" Ace said, standing next to Hakuren holding a rack of meat. She felt it again… That sensation which she couldn't place her finger on.

"Hakuren, you take care of them." Whitebeard said as she stared with a bored expression at the ships appearing from the thick mist.

"It's been forever since I've seen you in action." Thatch said. He seemed interested in seeing Hakuren fight.

"Be quiet." She muttered.

That instant, the ships all started firing at each other. In a matter of seconds, all of the ships had sunk into the dark depths of the sea. Hakuren closed her eyes, bored at this all, as the crowd behind her laughed.

"I always wonder what's going through their heads when Hakuren's busy with them." Marco said with a smile.

"So, what did they see this time?" Thatch asked out of curiosity as she turned to walked away.

"Hm" was her only reply before she returned to her room again. When she entered her abode, the first thing she noticed was the orange hat lying on her counter. It was the same hat Ace was wearing, only his is black and hers is bright orange. She supposed she must have bought it in the same place as him, or something along the lines of that. She couldn't remember how many years she'd been hanging onto it. But as to why, she had forgotten.

"Did I even buy this?" Hakuren wondered, rolling the hat around her hand. The design was lame in her opinion, and it just wasn't her taste. So why in the world did she have it? Just then, she heard somebody knock on her door.

"Who is it?" She demanded, turning towards the slightly opened door that revealed Ace.

"Am I disturbing you?"

"I don't remember giving you permission to enter."

"Ah, sorry. Would you like me to knock again?"

"What do you want?"

"I thought you might need this." He answered, smiling. "Here."

Hakuren was baffled as her hand was grabbed by Ace. Suddenly, she found herself holding… a rack of meat.

"You picking a fight, idiot?" She asked after a short silence.

"Well, you didn't look comfortable after you pulled down your hood and left, so I thought you might still be hungry."

"Mind your own business." She coldly said, throwing the meat back at him. He just threw it right back.

"It's not healthy to eat so little." He stated with a small grin. His eyes then widened at the orange hat still in Hakuren's hands, nearly identical to his. "That's a nice hat." He said, now with a large grin.

Without saying a word, Hakuren tossed it to him. Ace caught it, and stared at her in confusion.

"It's worthless to me. Yours is an eyesore."

"Don't you need it?"

"Scram."

"Ok, I'm leaving." Ace said with his hands beside his head in defeat. He walked out of her room. Just as he turned to close the door, Hakuren threw something random at the door, causing it to slam right in his face.

"Ow!" She heard him cry out on the other side, but she didn't care.

Hakuren sat down on the other side of the bed and looked longingly at the meat. With a soft sigh, she gently started nibbling on it while she watched the sea through her window. Meanwhile, outside of Hakuren's room, Ace sat on his bum while rubbing his face, trying to make his nose stop bleeding.

"Zehahahaha! You angered Commander Hakuren, didn't you newbie?" Teach laughed, walking over to help the fallen Ace back onto his feet.

"Yeah." He admitted, smiling sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it. She's always like that. But by the looks of your nose, it seems like you annoyed her good."

Ace looked back at the now closed door, and picked up his newly acquired hat.

"Anyway, why are you here Teach?"

And so, the day drags on. But no matter how Hakuren saw or thought about it, only one impression of Ace was embedded into her mind. He was a stupid, dine-and-dashing pirate. However, he seemed to do as she said and replaced the ragged hat with the one she had given him. Not that it changed his idiotic head. No matter what he did, he's just so…. pathetic to her. It was a miracle – for him - that she could put up with it simply by ignoring him. Just today, she was leafing through the updated wanted posters. In the stack, she found Ace's. It was then that she realized Ace might not be a half bad pirate. And she came to a conclusion that she must have seen his wanted poster before, and that's why he seemed sort of familiar. Time dragged on like this for another month when Hakuren received a new job from Whitebeard.

"Even though he left the crew long ago, I can't ignore this request from my ex-son. It seems like he really wants you to escort him to Lily Bloom."

"… I understand."

Beta-ed by Tropicall J