Chapter 7: Shields And Bullets

"AH! You've got to be joking!" Erisa yelled at herself as she once again failed to deflect Ace's flames, making Thatch throw yet another bucket of water on her to douse the flames.

"Are you trying to turn me to ash?!" Erisa yelled at Ace who was now bent over laughing.

"It's not my fault that you cannot control your Devil Fruit abilities," Ace said as he prepared to throw yet another handful of fire towards her.

"Hey Thatch, can you go fetch some more water? I think Erisa's going to need it," Ace said as he grinned up at Thatch who was now laughing.

"Sure thing!" Thatch replied as he gave Erisa a sympathetic look, before going off to fetch more water.

Uh! Stupid Ace! He thinks he's just so cool since he can control his freakin' Devil Fruit! If only there was a way I could get my shield to reflect his attack instead of blocking all the time. Erisa thought to herself as she looked down at her hands in curiosity.

"Heads up!" Ace yelled as he chucked yet another ball of flames towards Erisa, breaking her out of her train of thought.

"Goei Goei block!" Erisa yelled as she blocked Ace's flames just before they could land a potentially fatal hit.

"You're INSANE! You could have just killed me right there!" Erisa yelled in anger towards Ace who wasn't even paying attention in the slightest, making Erisa fume in anger.

At first I thought this was going to be rather boring, but seeing her react like this actually makes this quite entertaining. Ace thought to himself as he causally looked up from underneath his hat to see Erisa throwing a fit and yelling at him, obviously angry at him.

"Erisa I'm not even trying ,trust me. If I wanted to deal a fatal blow I would have!" Ace said to Erisa, trying to suppress a laugh.

"OK fire boy! I'm ready this time! Hit me with your best shot!" Erisa taunted, trying not to let Ace see just how angry she was becoming.

"Really? You're ready? If I recall that's the tenth time you've said that to me," Ace said as he prepared this time a bigger fireball in his hand.

I really hope this works. Erisa thought as she looked back to see that Thatch still hadn't brought back any water.

Cause if this doesn't...I'm totally toast. She thought as she looked up at Ace, hiding her worried expression as she steadied her stance.

"Well, alright then...Here goes NOTHING!" Ace yelled as she reared back and chucked the now very large fireball towards Erisa, whose eyes went wide at the size of the fireball as it came closer and closer towards her.

It was only when Ace noticed Erisa just standing and staring at his fireball when he got nervous.

What the hell is she doing!? If she doesn't move, it's going to hit her! Ace thought as he continued to watch Erisa, feeling more and more nervous.

Almost, just a little closer... Erisa thought as the ball of flames continued to fly towards her, picking up speed as it went.

"Now! Goei Goei Reflect!" Erisa yelled as suddenly, instead of the thick light green shield that she was used to seeing when she blocked attacks, was now replaced by a dark purple shield that was set solidly in front of her as Ace's fireball hit the purple shield for a second before being thrown back towards Ace with blinding speed.

"YES! It worked!" Erisa said as she yelled with joy at her accomplishment, not realizing the strength of the attack she had just sent spiraling towards a very unsuspecting Ace.

(~o0o~)

Son of a Bitch, I'm lost and I'm late. Victoria thought to herself as she started to re-read the note card that Erisa had left for her when she had woken up.

Hey Victoria!

I know that you sleep late so I didn't want to wake you. I went to go train with Ace so I can improve my skills so I can defeat that snake bastard! Oh, and since you insist on coming with me, you have to train as well. At 2 pm meet Marco for training in the training room with the number 27 on it. It's on the south side of the ship. And please don't make him wait.

Love ya like a sister,

Erisa:)

"Love me like a sister, huh? You sure didn't seem to think so yesterday evening when I was trying to keep you safe," Victoria said out loud, feeling a sense of relief as she turned the corner to see a cabin door with the number '27' on it in bold black lettering.

The sooner I get this over with, the better. Victoria thought to herself with a sigh as she turned the door handle and entered the room.

As Victoria entered the room, the first thing her eyes came across was Marco, who, as much as she hated to admit it, to her delight wore his shirt yet again wide open, revealing his perfectly toned abs and bold dark purple tattoo.

Man, I'm turning into a total pervert! Victoria thought to herself as she looked over to see Marco in relief to see that he was sleeping soundly on the training room floor.

"You know you're an hour late, right?" Marco said suddenly, making Victoria jump in surprise and blush as she realized he probably caught her moment of her drooling over him.

"I-I got lost!" Victoria said as she watched Marco get off the floor and yawn as he looked at her and grinned.

'I got lost?' How stupid! Why do I always get all stuttery around him!? I've had plenty of boyfriends! And I'm a pro at flirting, so why am I feeling so nervous around this guy? Victoria thought to herself, getting frustrated with her body's out of character responses toward Marco, who she had only just said a couple phrases to.

"Oh well, ok then," Marco said to Victoria as he then walked up to a wall on the opposite side of the room which was covered with all sorts of weapons.

"Well, pick your weapon," Marco said as he moved aside to make room for Victoria as she walked towards the wall and looked over all of the weapons. She didn't even have to think twice about it as she grabbed the black pistol and held it firmly in her hand.

"That's your pick?" Marco said a little surprised at her choice.

She certainly doesn't seem like the blazing gun type of girl. Marco thought to himself as he looked over Victoria. He let his eyes wander as he looked at her long blonde hair and shapely body before quickly pulling his mind out of going any deeper into those sorts of thoughts. He then met the gaze of her blue eyes as he then began to explain to her what to do.

"Ok, so all you have to do is to shoot these targets as close to the red point in the center as you can get. And if you decided that a gun is your weapon of-" Before Marco could even finish his sentence, Victoria shot a bullet almost directly into the center of the target, making Marco stare at her in disbelief.

"You talk too much," Victoria said as she couldn't help but smile at Marco's shocked expression.

"So it seems like you already have a weapon of choice," Marco said as he replaced the shot up target with a new one.

"Yeah, it's just a hobby I had back at the island," Victoria said, not trying hard to hide the smugness in her voice.

"Eh, it was an OK shot," Marco said as he then picked up another pistol and shot a whole dead through the middle of the target as he looked at her.

He hit a bull's eye and it looked like he wasn't even trying! Victoria thought to herself as she watched Marco set the pistol back on the weapon wall.

Though, before she could even comment all of a sudden, with a loud crash, Ace came bursting through the wall. Shocking both Marco and Victoria, Ace quickly brushed off all of the wood. And besides the long line of swear words that followed when he sat up, he acted as if he wasn't even phased by being flung into a wall.

"Damn her! Is she trying to kill me!" Ace stated out loud as he grabbed his hat in an angry fit and stormed out of the new exit that he had made, leaving Marco and Victoria staring at each other dumbfounded.