A/N: This is the first extra/filler chapter that was strictly made for more AcexFalco moments but it ended up barely having any fluff and a lot of action, so I really enjoyed writing it! As always, please leave a review!
-Jae
Chapter 4: Ducere
To be forced to fight
Is death itself
To not be in control of your own future
Is weakness.
Falco picked her pen up and felt its smooth edges along her skin. For now, she just wanted to get used to the feel of holding it. Ace had taught her all the basic letters and characters, but it still looked wobbly.
Holding a sword is easier. She thought cryptically, smiling at the inked pen.
It was two weeks since she had met the Whitebeard Pirates. All her days so far consisted of so much joy that she felt herself subconsciously lose track of time. Even Ace's snoring, something she had detested before, seemed like a lullaby now. But alongside her joy was also worry, consistently questioning herself if it was okay to be this happy. She hadn't practiced once since that last battle with the Marines on deck and she could already feel herself getting slower and slower.
As for the rescue mission, Marco announced that it would be delayed due to tracking difficulties, as well as the lack of communication between the main fleet and the Third Division's commander, Jozu, who couldn't be reached.
She could hear Ace's soft snoring and Amare rustling on the bed next to her. Smiling softly, she stood up and tucked the young girl in. When she went to the vice-commander though, she hesitated for a moment.
"So don't fight alone anymore."
His words had echoed in her mind throughout the past two weeks, always making her smile. She still wasn't completely used to everyone, but it made her happy that there was now an actual place that she could call home.
Falco looked at the peaceful face of Ace sleeping. It was easy to approach Amare and tuck her in or give her a hug, but it wasn't always like that with the vice-commander. She felt that it made them seem too close. Ace, she found out, was pretty popular with almost everyone within the crew. He had been spending so much time with her that she figured he didn't have a lot of friends outside of their current group, but that seemed to be completely untrue.
Ace was young and good looking—but that wasn't all. He was also ridiculously strong, and even Marco had mentioned that he probably wasn't as strong as Ace in his twenties, so everyone was looking forward to his growth. Despite his childish nature at times, there was a strong sense of responsibility when it came to his crew members, and his unwavering loyalty towards Whitebeard made him a strong candidate for the commander position.
Falco found it increasingly harder to approach Ace the more she found out about him. He already seemed miles away when Falco had first joined the crew, but that distance seemed even greater and more daunting now.
She pursed her lips and tore her gaze away from the sleeping vice-commander, turning around to grab a cup of tea.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her wrist and yanked her backwards, causing the girl to fall onto the bed.
Ace flipped her over so that she was below him, their faces only inches apart.
"A-Ace—"
He grinned at her flushed face but didn't say anything, opting to just pin her down silently. Falco could feel her heart pounding, and she was pretty sure that she was warmer than the Mera Mera no Mi user at that moment. It was the first time she had seen someone's face so close and it made her feel... nervous.
"What are you doing up so early?" he finally asked, playfully tapping her nose and standing up. Falco cleared her throat and sat up, feeling awkward.
"I went to sleep pretty early yesterday," she whispered, not looking at him. "What about you?"
The vice-commander opened the door and grinned at her. "I was hungry. C'mon, let's go eat some breakfast."
The girl was about to decline his offer but then realized that the dining hall was practically empty this early in the morning. Smiling slightly, she nodded and trailed after him.
Romance Dawn: Bearer of the Silver Flames
IV: Ducere
The dining hall, surprisingly, wasn't as empty as she thought it would be. A few people were already beginning to eat, as the food had been prepped early.
Ace inhaled the greasy scent of bacon and eggs and sighed happily. "We should eat before the others get here."
Falco quietly grabbed a plate and placed some bacon as well as a pancake. Ace, on the other hand, had dishes lined up on his arm as he put mountains of food on top of it.
"It's breakfast," Falco pointed out. "Aren't you going to get sick from eating all of that?"
He laughed heartily. "Of course not! I could probably clear this entire table."
I have no doubt that you can. Falco thought cryptically. Grabbing herself a cup of warm tea, she put down her dishes to begin eating.
"Vice-Commander Ace!" Someone called out. The two looked up curiously at the voice. Falco saw two beautiful women—one with long, black hair and the other with short grey hair—wave at their direction.
"Mir! Talis!" Ace smiled brightly. "C'mon, let's go eat with them."
The girl felt hesitant but followed his lead, nonetheless. Ace sat next to the black-haired woman, and she sat next to the grey-haired one.
"Falco, these guys are the vice-commanders of Marco's division," Ace introduced them with a smile. He pointed at the black-haired lady. "Mir."
"And I'm Talis," the grey-haired woman said. "You must be Falco—we already heard a lot about you from our commander."
"Oh," she smiled, feeling awkward. "N-nice to meet you."
"No, no," Mir said, picking up a piece of Ace's bacon with her fork. "We saw her once as a dragon up on deck two weeks ago, remember? When the Marines tried to invade us?"
Talis nodded. "Right. I almost forgot about that."
Ace glared at Mir before taking some of her eggs. "Speaking of which, I heard you guys went on a mission. How did it go?"
"Good," Mir seethed. "Stop taking my food, you pig."
"P-pig?" Ace sputtered. "You eat almost as much as me!"
Mir grabbed one of Ace's plates and stuffed everything in her mouth, shocking Falco. "Well that's a shame because now you have no food!"
Talis sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry—those two fight all the time. But they're close because they've been on a lot of missions together."
"You come too," Mir pointed out, stabbing Ace with her fork. "And don't get the wrong idea, miss. We're close because our fighting styles are compatible with each other."
Ace yelled out in pain. "OW! You little—"
"Mir has the Kaze Kaze no Mi," Talis cut him off. "And Ace has the Mera Mera no Mi. Mir's devil fruit can effectively enhance Ace's fire attacks, so they're a power combo."
Power combo? Falco sweatdropped, looking at the two vice-commanders who were fighting over the last piece of bacon. They look like they want to kill each other…
"What about you guys?" Mir asked, finally settling down. Falco could tell that Mir had won the short brawl as she munched away happily while Ace looked sullen. "Heard you were rooming with Ace. Have you gotten any sleep yet?"
Talis looked at Falco seriously. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."
Ace rubbed his eyes in weariness. "This snoring joke is getting so old—you guys know it's not that bad."
"Yeah it's not bad. It's horrendous," Mir nodded. "I always got a separate room from you, remember?"
Ace looked astonished. "You said that was because you sleepwalked!"
Mir and Talis doubled over, laughing. "You actually believed that? Has anyone even seen me sleepwalk?"
The vice-commander looked at Falco begrudgingly. "To be honest, I think Marco and Thatch snore louder than me."
"Put the three together and you get the overnight symphony of death," Talis smirked. "We're just messing with you, Ace. You all snore really loudly."
"…Thanks?" He went, unsure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He suddenly stood up and grabbed the empty plates, frowning at Mir.
"I'm going to refill my plate now that this… thing devoured my entire meal in one go. Need anything, Falco?"
The girl shook her head. "N-no, I still have some food left."
Ace shrugged and went over to the buffet table, piling up his dishes again. The moment he was gone though, Mir jumped over the table and sat next to Falco. Both of the vice-commanders leaned in closer, mischievous looks on their faces.
"So what's actually going on with you and Ace?" Talis asked, nudging her playfully. "You interested in him?"
Falco's face turned red instantly as she thought about how close Ace's face had been this morning. "I-I barely even know him!"
"Really?" asked Mir, giving her a teasing smile. "Because I know that I wouldn't be comfortable sleeping with someone like Ace on a nighty basis."
"Stop," laughed Talis. "You said you were over Ace!"
Falco looked at the two women confusedly. Over him?
Talis slightly turned her head to look at the vice-commander. "Okay, I don't go for younger men so this feels weird for me to say, but you have to give it to the guy. He's cute. Even Mir liked him for a while."
"Stop," the other vice-commander laughed. "I'm pretty sure every girl on this ship has liked him at one point or another. He's good-looking, strong, polite, and works hard. What's not to like?"
Falco blinked, feeling even more distanced from Ace. "Oh. Has he had a lot of… you know…"
"Girlfriends?" Mir said, looking at the ceiling to think. "I don't think so. At least not during the time he was part of the Whitebeard Pirates. He's definitely a romantic for adventure and stuff, but he's too preoccupied in trying to make Oyaji the next pirate king, so he's not that interested in relationships."
"Which is also why Mir gave up so quickly," Talis teased. "But I knew from the start so I didn't even bother."
The black-haired vice commander looked thoughtful for a moment. "But now that I think about it, Ace isn't really the type of person to be very open—maybe that's why he hasn't dated much. Sure, he's funny and nice to everyone on the crew, but he rarely talks about himself. It's hard to get to know him."
"Then again, everyone has their reasons for joining the Whitebeard Pirates," said Talis, smiling softly. "Ace probably has his own story that he doesn't want to share."
"I know that," said Mir. "I just mean… despite how much he talks and hangs out with everyone, no one still knows him very well."
Falco wanted to ask more about Ace, but she felt a hand rest gently on her head.
"Hey," Ace said. "Let's go—I finished eating."
How long has he been standing there for?! Falco thought, crying internally.
Mir looked confused. "Already? How?"
The vice-commander shrugged. "Just did. Anyways, we're going back to our room now, so I'll see you guys later."
"Bye," said Talis in a sing-song voice. "Don't to anything you're not supposed to!"
"Very funny," Ace rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Let's go."
The girl nodded, standing up. She didn't really have an appetite anyways—Mir and Talis were nice, but they were still a bit overwhelming for her. Plus, she didn't want to think of her roommate in that way.
Falco quietly followed Ace down the hall and back into the room. The man immediately fell onto the bed, sighing happily.
"I'm sorry, I should've asked if you wanted to sit with Mir and Talis," the man said quietly. Falco looked up in surprise.
"No, it's fine!" she insisted, putting on a smile. "They're really nice and funny—everyone seems to be friendly here!"
Ace chuckled. "That's good. I'm glad."
Falco blinked, suddenly thinking of something. Did he… take me back to the room because he could tell I wasn't comfortable?
She gazed softly at the man resting on the bed. He didn't need to be so considerate...
"Where's Amare?" she asked, suddenly realizing that the young girl was nowhere to be seen. "She was sleeping before we left."
The vice-commander shrugged, snuggling into bed. "I dunno. That kid disappears from time to time, but she'll be back eventually." The moment he said so, however, the door flung open, revealing the young girl.
"Hey! I heard my name," she grinned, skipping next to Falco's side.
The swordsman smiled back. "We were just wondering where you went."
"I was on the deck," she shrugged. "Watched the sun rise. Oh, guess what? We're going to have the Ducere Tournament today!"
Ace practically threw the sheets off of him, jumping up. "WHAT?! How come I wasn't informed of this?"
"It's like… six in the morning," said Amare. "Oyaji decided late last night and was planning on revealing it in today's general meeting. We're near the island."
Ace looked out the window, where the sun was still continuing to rise. "Right… I'm just not used to waking up this early."
"Ace is always late to his generals," Amare explained. "I know because he wakes me up every time he forgets, screaming about how much of an idiot he is for sleeping through his alarm."
"I can never hear it go off!" he pouted. "And it's hard to remember when we have meetings."
"You can't hear it because your snoring is louder," Amare scoffed. "Anyways, you don't have to go today since this was the only news that was supposed to be delivered.
"You sure?" asked Ace. "Then again, we did just have a general yesterday…"
Falco blinked, feeling confused. "Uh… what is this Ducere Tournament?"
Amare went to her side and jumped up and down excitedly. Falco noted with affection that she was wearing one of the blue summer dresses she bought for her.
"It's like a massive scavenger hunt!" she exclaimed. "Oyaji hides treasures all over the island and we go search for them! We're not allowed to use our Devil Fruit abilities but we're given guns if we want to fight."
Falco looked shocked. "Guns?!"
"She means paintball guns," Ace smiled. "Devil Fruit users must also wear vests with a little bit of kairoseki in them—otherwise people like Amare would slay us all. There's a lot of small treasures everywhere on the island, but there's one major prize. Each participant is given a clue in the beginning and you can take the clues of every person you've shot down, though you can't take their prizes."
"And you can band into groups to strengthen your chances of winning!" smiled Amare. "But then you'd have to split whatever you find, so most people go solo."
Just as Falco was about to comment, someone knocked on the door.
"Vice-Commander Ace?" A pirate asked, standing outside. "We were getting ready for the Ducere Tournament. Will all of you be participating?"
"Hell yeah!" he cried, jumping up. He glanced at Falco. "You will too, right?"
Falco nodded. "I'm down for some prizes."
"Count me in!" smiled Amare. "This is my favourite event!"
The three began to put on their jackets when Ace said: "Even though the vests have a bit of kairoseki—causing our powers to nullify—Amare is still a really good shooter. She almost won the last time we played."
"Yeah, if it weren't for that stupid phoenix," she muttered, clipping the vest on. "I'm going to freaking roast him this time."
"Marco beat her when we played last month," explained Ace. "You good to go?"
"Yeah, said Falco, checking her straps. "I'm actually kind of excited now. I don't need to talk to anyone, just shoot them, right?"
"That's the plan."
"Sweet."
Romance Dawn: Bearer of the Silver Flames
IV: Ducere
Falco held the large rifle nervously with her hand, feeling slightly anxious. She was separated from Ace and Amare who were stationed elsewhere on the island. From quite a distance away, she could see another pirate that she did not recognize—perhaps he was on one of the other three ships.
"When the race starts, you'll feel a vibration from the ground," she remembered Amare saying. "That's from Oyaji's devil fruit power—the Gura Gura no Mi. Once that happens, you can start moving around and start searching or shooting."
Falco wasn't a big fan of guns. She considered birds to bee one of the freest animals on earth, having the ability to soar the skies without any restrictions—but firearms were one of the only things that could always kill them. Though guns were the main weapons for this event, she was glad that the rules allowed her to carry her swords—a katana and an odachi, since there were no real advantages or disadvantages in doing so.
But on the other hand, this could be an easy way for her to get to know her other crew members. She would gladly accept any alliances because getting to know others was more important than finding loot.
Just at that moment, the ground shook violently and swept her off her feet. The girl looked around frantically, feeling shocked.
Whitebeard really isn't someone to be messed with. She thought, amazed at his power. The island, by no means, was small. In front of her was a massive forest, and she could only see one other person within her vicinity. Even so, Whitebeard had shaken the entire land which had created massive waves behind her, and she was quite inland.
The pirate that she saw earlier started heading into the forest, looking around suspiciously. Falco watched his movements carefully and realized that going in was probably safer, since the trees and bushes could hide her better.
Grasping the gun in one hand, she too, headed towards the massive jungle.
Oh yeah, the clue. She realized, bringing it out of her pocket. The only thing on it were the numbers '1-1' and a tiny portion of what she assumed was a larger map. It was her goal to find an ally so he or she could help her understand the final clue.
And it's also why we have to eliminate as many people as possible. She realized. To collect all the pieces since we don't know what the final map looks like. And I wouldn't be surprised if hundreds of us had the same hint as well.
She quietly maneuvered through the green forest, staying cautious of her surroundings. Most of her training on Root Island had been in a forest and she'd practiced her camouflage and stealth abilities extensively as well, so she wasn't worried about being caught in surprise.
The girl almost stepped into the open but immediately halted when she saw two crew members standing some distance away from each other. She immediately ducked behind a bush and peered through the leaves, watching anxiously.
"Let's be allies!" a tall crew member with a red bandana said. The other member, who she recognized as the Fifth Division's vice-commander, Reagan, smirked and held up his gun.
"Sorry, but I'll have to decline. I'm aiming for the top alone."
With that, he shot several rounds mercilessly. The crew member tried his best to dodge and shoot the vice-commander back, but Reagan had merely sidestepped with incredible speed.
What an amazing reaction time… Falco thought, watching them in awe. Whitebeard's vice-commanders truly have been well-trained.
The crew member was drenched in pink paint by the time Reagan had stopped firing. He looked downcast as he handed over his clue, but Reagan also didn't look amused.
"We have the same clue," he muttered, frowning. The crew member looked at him with disbelief.
"I told you we should've been allies!" he cried, but Reagan merely smirked and patted him on his back.
"It was a good match. Better luck next year."
Falco watched the two converse a bit more before before holding her gun and aiming it at the vice-commander. Since she knew that he wasn't interested in forming alliances, she could shoot without hesitation.
His reaction time is amazing so I probably only have one shot at this, she thought, looking through her scope. Huh? Where did he go?
"Are you looking for me, little lady?"
Falco whipped her head around and fell over at the sight of Vice-Commander Reagan, who was also crouched down and looking at her intently. She fumbled for her rifle.
"V-vice commander," she stuttered. "How did you—"
"I knew from the start that you were here," he smiled. "You have a really strong presence. Great when fighting, but not so great when you're hiding, huh?"
No kidding… she thought. "Why didn't you shoot me down?"
He thought for a moment. "I actually wanted to talk to you," he admitted, scratching his brown hair. "You came to the general meeting several weeks ago, right? With Ace? I saw you briefly on the way out, but I wasn't sure if it was the right person since non-commanders don't usually go to generals."
She nodded wearily. "I-I was invited to introduce myself. Did you want to ask me something?"
His green eyes danced with mirth. He extended a hand, pulling Falco up. "Just curious as to what Maria's daughter would have been like. You guys kind of look alike."
"You knew my mother?" she gasped. Reagan shrugged nonchalantly.
"I'd just joined the crew when your mother was getting ready to leave," he said. "But I did see her once when we were fighting. I can see the resemblance."
Even though Reagan hadn't directly talked to her mother before, Falco was happy that people recognized her. "Thank you."
"I'm also in the Fifth Division so I figured you wouldn't see me too often," he shrugged, extending a hand. "I'm Reagan, by the way."
"I know," she said, shaking it. "It's a shame we can't all fit into one ship."
"It doesn't matter," the vice-commander smiled. "We always have events every once in a while that lets us get together. That's why we're all so closely bonded to each other, even if we live on different ships."
Falco wanted to ask more about Maria when suddenly, several of the bushes across from where the two were standing began to rustle.
"Looks like we have company," Reagan said, loading his gun again with paintballs. "I'm still going to run solo, but do you want to partner up just for this fight?"
"Sure," she said. Quite frankly, she didn't care much about winning and wanted to hear more stories from the vice-commander.
Neither of them, however, expected twelve crew members to slowly come out from hiding, pointing their guns threateningly.
"Oi, oi," muttered Reagan. "You guys are going to split the bounty with twelve people? It's not worth it."
"We'll battle it out in the end," one crew member said, never letting his eyes off of the vice-commander. "But we figured we should hunt you down first."
Reagan looked at the twelve, and then at Falco. He sighed and shook his head before leaning towards her face.
"I guess I'll just win next year," he huffed. "Listen, I'll distract them and you can run."
"What?" Falco seethed. "No. I'm not a coward."
"Maria saved me during my very first battle on the sea," he whispered. "I couldn't pay her back, so let me at least help you—even though this isn't a life-or-death situation."
Falco's golden eyes widened. "You'd do that for me? I just met you."
Reagan winked. "That's what family members do for each other. Also, these guys probably targeted me from the start anyways. I'm famous for being able to dodge bullets."
That would explain the reaction time… she thought, remembering his short match before. "Will you be alright?"
"Maybe," he shrugged. "Make sure you get away though. I don't often do this for others."
Falco nodded, getting ready to pull back. "Drinks are on me the next time we meet."
"Deal."
Reagan's eyes focused on one crew member who had his index finger wrapped around the trigger. The moment he pulled it, he shoved Falco away and sidestepped, pointing his gun at another shooter.
"Run!" He cried, firing another round. Falco quickly slung her rifle over her shoulder and dived between the trees, sprinting as fast as she could.
She could hear several more gunshots in the distance but she didn't dare to turn around and look back, in case someone was targeting her. She didn't want Reagan's kindness to go to waste.
I guess my mother really did impact a lot of people, she thought, spotting an exit from the forest. A crew member that couldn't even defend himself in his first battle has now become powerful enough to be promoted to a vice-commander, and he is now capable of defending his allies.
Her lips curved up at the thought. This crew really does have some amazing people.
She had sprinted without thinking and her thoughts were cut short when she crashed into something soft. She heard a male voice curse, but she was too preoccupied by her own pain.
"Ow, what the hell?" she muttered, holding her head. When she looked up, she saw Ace spitting out sand after falling face-first.
The vice-commander muttered something about deja-vu before realizing who had crashed into him. He held his rifle up threateningly, causing Falco to raise both of her hands. Her weapon had fallen an arms length away from her.
"This is paintball, not tackle," he smirked, aiming at her body. "Were you running from something?"
"Y-yeah," she said. "Vice-Commander Reagan helped me escape a difficult situation."
Ace raised an eyebrow. "Reagan? No ways, he was so excited about winning this tournament. He's good at dodging fast-moving objects."
"So I've heard," she said, looking at him wearily. "Look, Ace, why don't we form an alliance? You don't have to share the treasure with me. I'll give you the entire prize."
Ace looked at her suspiciously for a moment before retracting his gun. Giving her a wide grin, he said: "Sure. I wasn't interested in winning anyways."
Falco raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Then why are you playing?"
He winked as he helped Falco up. "Revenge. Marco got me in the last tournament so I'm going to make sure to get him this time."
The girl nodded, feeling tired already. "Oh yeah, what's your clue? Mine just says '1-1' on it."
Ace fumbled the piece of paper out from his pockets and held it in front of Falco's eyes.
"It says '1-6'," he said. "With some sort of a squiggly line on the back. I'm guessing it's part of the outline of the island."
She nodded, inspecting their clues carefully. The two quickly went back into the forest, feeling a little bit more relaxed. It always felt safer exploring with an ally than alone.
"There's a rule that you might not know," he said, lifting a branch so she could walk through. "Oyaji hides several 'item drops' on the island, but there's only ten or so each year. Finding one can give you a major advantage."
"Advantage?" she asked. "Like what?"
He looked up thoughtfully. "The vests we're wearing right now are made of kairoseki in order to nullify the powers of the Devil Fruit users, but an item drop may be a regular vest instead, so that person could use their Devil Fruit abilities for a limited amount of time. For someone like Amare, it would be more advantageous for her to find this item first, rather than shooting random people down. But you have to use them wisely since after being worn, the ice that holds the kairoseki inside this special vest melts with body heat, and within a few minutes that vest will nullify your powers again."
Falco sweatdropped. They planned these things out really well, didn't they…
Both of them continued to walk aimlessly until Ace suddenly halted. Then, he jumped forwards and crouched down behind a bush, observing carefully.
Falco trudged towards him and crouched down as well, trying to see what he was gazing at so intensely.
"Whoa," she said. "Why are all those people standing there?"
They were right next to the shore where the Moby Dick was anchored, and there was a crowd of people chatting and milling about next to Whitebeard, who was drinking sake.
"People who have lost come back here," he whispered. "It's good that we found this place early, so we can see who's still playing."
Falco scanned around for one person, and to her dismay, found him. "Oh no, it looks like Reagan's out."
"Oh no?" smirked Ace. "More like oh yes. Now we have a better chance at winning."
"I still feel bad that he sacrificed his chance for me," she frowned. "I should go thank him later."
"Yeah, do that after we win," Ace smiled, ruffling her hair. "Then his hard work wouldn't have gone to waste."
Falco was trying to see if Amare and Marco were part of the crowd when all of a sudden, a huge blast exploded behind them, causing Ace and Falco to tumble out into the open.
The crew members that had been ousted looked at the two and at the blast in surprise. "Isn't that Ace?" someone asked.
Falco saw Whitebeard smirk from the corner of her eyes. "It has begun."
Two female figures strutted forwards from the dust. Their black and grey hair swayed from the gentle breeze that constantly circulated the tropical island.
Mir stepped into the open, putting black gloves on her hands. Talis was wiping her sabre down with a cloth, looking and Ace and Falco menacingly.
When Falco looked into their eyes, she felt herself go cold. These were not the same women she had talked to this morning. The traces of humour and happiness that they had shown during breakfast were completely wiped away, replacing the happy-go-lucky attitude with two serious-looking women, who had now begun to walk up to them.
"Oi, oi," she heard Ace whisper beside her. "Don't tell me Mir found an item drop…"
Falco whipped her head back to the vice-commander. She had, indeed, switched to the regular black vest instead of the grey kairoseki vest.
"Hello, Ace," Mir said, once they were several feet away from each other. "It's been a while since we've met."
"Yeah… a few hours or so," he smirked, a bead of sweat trickling down his face. "How did you know we were here?"
"Luck," she shrugged. Her eyes turned to Falco. "Are you going to fight or will you watch?"
Falco furrowed her eyebrows and prepared herself to pull out her katana—she had enough of running. "I'm his ally. I won't run away."
Talis tossed her cloth behind her and inspected her blade. "A mere paintball fight is a little boring for vice-commanders and the daughter of Dracule Mihawk, no? Why don't we settle this using the best of our abilities?"
At that moment, Mir whipped out something from her own bag and tossed it to Ace. When he caught it, he realized that it was another black vest.
"Get in it, Ace," she smiled. "We're going to settle this once and for all."
The vice-commander changed into the new vest straight away. "Fine by me, but you're going to regret this."
"Hey," whispered Falco, grabbing Ace's wrist. "Why are they so serious? They look like they're ready to kill you."
"You know how I said I wanted to get Marco for getting me out last time?" he replied. "Well, I was the one who got both of them out. I think they're still mad at me for that."
They're so serious about a simple game… Falco sweatdropped. But I'm not surprised. They do seem like they would be rivals.
Reagan stepped forwards to get a better look. There was a small crowd surrounding the four pirates now, watching their every move anxiously.
"What's the point of fighting in the Ducere Tournament?" Reagan asked. "We have the Hexadecagon Tournament for these kinds of things."
"Vice-commanders don't fight each other in the Hexadecagon Tournament, Reagan," said Talis, eyeing Falco in particular. "Besides, when else would I get to fight the daughter of Dracule Mihawk?"
Before Falco could even ask about the Hexadecagon Tournament, Ace stepped forwards, fist covered with flames.
"I don't really know your fighting style yet," he told Falco. "But we'll try our best. Just don't get hurt."
She nodded, holding her sword out in front of her. "You too."
Mir made the first move. "Wind Cutter!" she cried, slashing her arms forward. Falco and Ace immediately dodged on opposite sides and instantly sprang forwards, Falco towards Talis and Ace towards Mir.
Talis quickly sidestepped from Falco's upward slash and swung down with her own. Falco took that split second to flip her sword around and held it in reverse grip, locking the two swords together.
"Not bad," the vice-commander nodded. "You have a great reaction time."
"You're too relaxed, vice-commander," Falco smiled, reaching down for her odachi. Talis took a quick glance at how she was pulling the sword out and grinned.
"Do you ever hold your swords properly?" she asked. Falco withdrew the long blade in one, quick motion, forcing Talis to jump back.
"Reverse grip is a special trick I like to use often," the girl smiled. "I like to stick to the basics, but I also enjoy being creative with what I have."
Talis leapt forwards, forcing Falco to block with her odachi. She then flipped her sword using the correct grip and then sliced sideways, moving her odachi away just in time so it wouldn't hit her katana. Talis ducked and sprang up immediately to elbow Falco in the stomach, taking the split second to swing her own sword.
Falco quickly deflected it and tumbled back, slowing herself down by digging a hand into the sand.
She saw Ace from the corner of her eyes and realized that he was also having a difficult time. Most of his fire attacks were being blown out by Mir's Kaze Kaze no Mi, nullifying every move into simple punches and kicks, which she slowed down with her wind again.
She's really good at utilizing her Devil Fruit, Falco realized, eyes widening. Mir wasn't just blowing the fire out, but rather, she was making Ace use up his energy by simply waiting for his forceful punches and slowing them down with her wind, almost like a protective barrier around her.
Mir dodged one more punch before firing a punch of her own, accelerating it with the wind. Ace's body flew backwards, right next to Falco.
"Ouch," he groaned, shaking his head as he stood up. "Damn Mir. She knows my timing too well."
Falco remembered their conversation earlier of how Mir used to be Ace's partner for fights.
"They may know you," she whispered, getting ready to attack again. "But they don't know me."
Ace glanced at Falco. "You have an idea?"
Falco nodded. "I need a fire. A big one."
The vice commander shook his head and looked at his fists, which were enveloped in orange flames. "I can't. She'll blow them out, which is weird since she should technically be making my flames bigger…"
Falco looked at him confusedly. "What do you mean?"
He glanced at Falco before turning his direction back to Mir and Talis, who were both walking towards them. "Fire needs oxygen to keep burning—that's why we worked so well together. Mir can amplify my flames."
"Then aren't we at an advantage?" Falco questioned, wondering why Ace was so reluctant.
The vice-commander shook his head again. "I may be stronger than Mir physically, but when it comes to mastery over Devil Fruits, she's probably better. To put it short, if I control fuel and she controls oxygen, she can set her wind up so that there are more oxygen molecules than fuel, which would extinguish my flames."
"So you're telling me that you're pretty much powerless against her?" asked Falco. "I just needed heat…"
Ace looked at Falco. "Would it be okay if the fire wasn't consistent?"
The girl nodded eagerly. "Yeah. As long as the area around them is warm."
The man looked reluctant but wordlessly hit a fist into his palm, smirking arrogantly. "Let's do it then."
He threw both hands into the sand and yelled: "Kagero!"
A huge wall of fire enclosed the two vice-commanders. Falco's eyes widened at Ace's incredible power—it wasn't easy to utilize a Devil Fruit to this sort of extent.
But her excitement quickly disappeared when a burst of wind extinguished the flames, and neither vice-commander had even stopped walking after Ace's attack.
"Whatever," Ace smirked. "I'll just make my fire bigger and bigger—we'll settle who's stronger once and for all, Mir!"
"Fine by me!" The First Division's vice-commander smiled, intentionally slowing down her steps so Ace could have more time to attack.
"Kagero!"
"Bofu!"
The wind nearly knocked Falco off her feet, but she remained grounded, looking at the two with worry.
"I need the fire to stay a bit longer," she whispered. Ace nodded reassuringly. "You got it. Kagero!"
"That won't work, Ace!" Mir cried. "Bof—"
"Jujika!"
The moment Mir activated her Kaze Kaze no Mi, Ace connected his first attack with a cross-shaped column of fire directly at the woman. Just when it was about to hit, however, Talis stepped forward and sliced through the attack with her sword, smirking at Ace and Falco.
"You're going to have to try a lot harder than that, Ace," the vice-commander taunted.
Ace could feel his blood boil but forced himself to calm down, thinking instead of where to hit them next. All Falco wanted was heat—he would have to give it his best.
"Kagero!" He tried again, but Mir calmly blew the attack away.
"Ace," Falco whispered. "Can you connect your attacks so that she stops moving? I like this distance."
"What?" asked Ace. "But they're so far away! You won't be able to use your close-ranged combat and my long-ranged attacks won't work."
She shook her head. "No, the greater the distance, the better. Keep going."
The greater the distance? Ace had no idea what her plan was but decided not to question it. "Shinka: Shiranui!"
The long lances made of fire landed directly before Mir and Talis's feet, making them leap back.
"Your aim is shit!" Mir laughed. "Throw like a man, Ace!"
"Shut up!" he roared, briefly glancing at Falco. I hope she has a plan…
Ace steadily increased his attacks but Mir and Talis continued to dodge or extinguish his flames. He felt more and more frustrated as time dragged on.
"Hey," he panted. "How much longer is this going to go on for?"
Falco observed the two vice-commanders carefully and bit her lower lip. It should've happened a while ago…
Ace threw one more fire lance with a loud grunt, but this too, was deflected by Mir's winds.
Falco felt the soft breeze from the aftereffects of the Kaze Kaze no Mi. Her eyes flashed open.
"Ace, now!" she cried. "Use your biggest attack!"
The vice-commander was startled at her sudden change in tone but quickly gathered every last ounce of his strength and concentrated his flames onto his right fist.
"Special move," he said, running forwards. "HIKEN!"
"It's useless!" Mir cried, positioning herself to deflect the attack. "Arashi!"
Falco stayed some feet behind Ace but still closed her eyes, bracing her body for impact. But when she opened them again a second later, Ace's attack had connected to Mir, who was blown away back to where the crowd was.
"What the hell?" Reagan cried. "How come Mir's attack didn't work?"
Falco turned her focus back to the battle and locked her eyes on Talis, who looked at Mir's flying body in shock.
"You don't have time to look away, vice-commander!" Falco cried, lunging forwards. As she ran towards Talis, however, she dragged her katana into the path of fire that Ace's Hiken had left behind. Her sword gradually became hotter and morphed into a sword of fire, just as she jumped up for her attack.
"This is the end!" She yelled, slicing downwards. Talis looked up at the last second and locked her sword with Falco, smirking.
"Nice surprise attack, but don't underestimate my reaction time!" she said, but her smile faltered at Falco's confident face.
"Gotcha."
Before Talis could even question the girl, the vice-commander's sword shattered. Not wanting to injure her, Falco also pulled her sword back, but took the opportunity to jump back up and kick Talis away, square in the chest. She too, flew back to where Mir was knocked unconscious on the ground.
Falco panted heavily and swung her sword down to get rid of the remaining fire. She turned slowly to Ace who gave her a huge grin.
"I… think we won," she whispered, looking at the two vice-commanders and the stunned silence of the crowd.
The man looked at her, equally as surprised and then back at Mir and Talis again. His face soon morphed into a toothy grin and he ran up to her, picking her up and hugging her tightly.
Falco's face flushed and she felt the temperature of her face rising as hot as her katana. "A-Ace, what are you doing?"
"We did it!" he cried, and just as he did so, the previous crew members that had been ousted also burst into cheers, running towards the two.
"That was awesome!"
"I don't understand what happened…"
"Holy shit! A new duo took down the most powerful tag team in the crew!"
"That was brilliant!" Ace smiled, ruffling her hair. "Your plan worked well!"
Thatch, who had been watching quietly the entire time, looked at Falco and Ace fondly.
"A tactician, huh?" he asked Whitebeard, gaze now focused on Mir and Talis who were being treated by the nurses. The captain took a long drink and smirked, watching Falco being praised by her crewmates.
"To Mir and Ace, this was a battle about strength," the captain said. "But to Falco, it was about winning. Even if it meant that Ace and Mir couldn't fully battle with their Devil Fruit abilities, she found out a way to win."
Thatch nodded in agreement. "She remembered that the kairoseki vests have a time limit to them, and that the ice melted with body heat.
"But she wanted to nullify their vests as fast as she could, which was why she made Ace do all those attacks. Not necessarily to hit them, but to make their area hotter," said Marco, walking up to Thatch and Whitebeard. "Falco ordered Ace to keep his distance, since she didn't want to risk Ace's vest melting along with Mir's."
"She knew that Mir's vest deactivated the moment she felt that final breeze—it was probably much weaker than the ones she felt beforehand which was when she knew it was Mir's last attack—but Mir was so focused on Ace that she hadn't realized her vest had melted," said Amare, who was also looking at the two with fond eyes. "That's when she signalled Ace to attack Mir, and that's why Mir's final attack didn't go through."
Marco nodded. "Talis's sword was weakening from the hot fire it was cutting through, and Falco knew it. She jumped up to apply more pressure onto Talis's sword and ultimately broke it, defeating her in the last moment."
Thatch raised an eyebrow at the two. "Speaking of which, where did you guys come from? Did you get ousted?"
Marco smirked and didn't let his eyes off Falco, who was now being thrown in the air by her crewmates. Ace laughed heartily as Falco yelled to be put down. The commander then turned around and pointed as his back which had a pink blotch on it.
"Amare got me out and found the final treasure," he smiled. "It was a good fight."
"Yeah, I thought our battle was epic," the child nodded. "But this one was way better. Do you think they'll be disappointed when we tell them that they've technically lost?"
The three adults smiled at the duo who were laughing and shouting as the sun began to set behind them.
"Somehow, I don't think they'd mind at all." whispered Marco.
Author's Notes:
One thing I wanted readers to notice was the fact that Falco lacks colour—she's not that interesting as a person herself. As the story goes on, the people around her will influence her to turn into certain colours, and by the end of the very last book, you'll be able to see a little bit of everyone she's journeyed with thus far.
She's like a purely white, blank canvas that is already starting to smear with the colourful personalities of her crewmates.
Also, I know I made Ace seem like a bit of a flirt, and it's always easy to see people these days with… ulterior motives, but I hope you can see Ace and Falco as more of an innocent romance as her story and her past is currently the more important thing that everyone is trying to figure out for now. The romance will follow quickly after, so no need to ship them every moment of the story.
Updates may slow down for the time being. I'm going to go back and edit the first few chapters and then re-write the last chapter so that everything connects in the end. The drafts for chapter 5 and 6 are done but the next chapter is pretty major (word count says 8700) with the first hints for the rest of the story, so I need time to edit it. Chapter 7 has been hell to write too ;w; (so leave a review to help me move :D)
-Jeis
Special thanks to:
204shipper
February 2019 Update: minor changes
By the way, Ducere means 'to lead'.