Disclaimer: I don't own One piece.

Warning: Chapter contains minor language.


Chapter 7.

The world froze. Even time seemed to stand still. Nami slowly moved forward. She felt as if she was in a dream, seeming something unlikely like that. Ace didn't look up as she stopped by the table. He was completely focused on something else, which irked her.

When she looked down, she halfly expected to see some dirty magazine (sure, that would explain his deep concentration). Instead, she saw countless numbers and formulas filling the pages of a book.

He was reading. Reading!

She pinched herself in the arm. Then she got held of the book, and pulled it in front of her.

"Hey!" She ignored Ace's outburst. She stared at the front of the book.

"You're studying chemistry?"

"Nice going, Sherlock."

She put a hand against his forehead. He pulled back, frowning. "What are you doing?"

His skin was cool. She removed her hand, put her fists against her waist, glanced up at the roof, and sighed. "How cliche can you get, Ace?"

"What?"

She glared at him. "'Indulging in a particular subject to win a love interest' has been used in too many movies. Does Robin love discussing chemistry?"

Ace dropped his shoulders. He couldn't hide anything from her. "Nah, I'm helping her."

Nami smiled. This was great. She could barely contain her laughter. "Ace. Portgaz D Ace, is making the Effort, capital E, to conquer a girl's heart. Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

"It won't hurt improving my grades too."

She snickered. "If you only accept money from your parents, you'll be set for life. Why indulge in books?"

"I don't need their money."

Nami coughed twice. Ace shot her a confused look. She sighed. "Of course you don't. You can become a billionaire by yourself."

"Money isn't everything."

"I'm not following," she said. "Could you repeat that?'

He gestured at the books. I need to continue, if you don't mind?"

"Oh, don't let me interrupt."

She left the kitchen, and checked her phone. There was a missed call from Koala, and Nami wondered what she wanted. So far, she was on friendly terms with the girl. No, strike that; the brunette would eat out the palm of her hand, or lie down and roll over if she asked her to. If she called, it was necessary that Nami called her back asap.

There was something much more interesting on her phone, though. An email, sent to the address she used in school. A student was asking for her advice in a matter about grades. The student was Nico Robin. She thought about writing back to her, but then decided to approach her in school tomorrow. She preferred to discuss things in person, and she had yet to actually speak to Ace's new classmate.


Robin noticed her arrival from meters away. Wherever Nami appeared, the atmosphere among the students seemed to drastically change. The popular girl was accompanied by a short brown-haired girl, whose name Robin didn't know. What she didn't expected was that the student would stop right in front of her.

She smiled. "You're Robin, right?"

"Yes."

The girl extended a hand, and she shook it. She was aware that almost everyone present was watching them. "I'm Nami."

Robin wondered why Nami bothered introducing herself. Everyone in the school knew who she was. Nami was just the type of person who attracted attention as if it was a necessary part of life, like eating or sleeping. It was impossible not to know who she was, even for those who were new to the school.

Robin nodded at her. "Hi."

"I received your mail yesterday," Nami, who was student body president, said.

Robin glanced around them. "Yes. Err..."

The girl understood. "I saw an empty group room close by. Let's go there?"

It wasn't actually a question, but rather a command. The brown-haired girl, who still hadn't said a word, followed closely behind Nami like a duckling does its mother. Robin reluctantly stood up from the bench she'd been sitting on. It felt like everyone was staring at her, wondering what it was she had to do with Nami.

She didn't much like being the center of attention. If there was a rock nearby, she would have hidden beneath it. But there wasn't, sadly, so instead she straightened her back, raised her chin and tried to look as confident as possible.

The room Nami mentioned was really close. She asked her friend to wait while she finished some school business. As they both were inside, Nami pulled the curtains to the corridor outside closed, and settled down on a chair with her legs stretched out in front of her. "Sometimes, I seriously hate high heels," she mused. Her brown eyes looked up at her. "You can sit down - I don't bite, I promise!"

Robin blushed and calmly yet quickly sat down.

"So, there was some issues with a couple of the teachers," Nami said, bending forward across the table.

"Yes, well... I'm not sure I should be bringing this up with you, but I hoped maybe you could tell me what to do."

"Absolutely." Nami smiled assuringly at her. She is really beautiful, Robin thought.

"The first one is the chemistry teacher. He'd never spoken, not even once. It's of course bad for each student in the class."

Nami nodded. "And the other one?"

"The english language teacher. I've received a 'g' on a report I handed in. It's not on the grade scale. And I don't think I'm the only one, either. I asked him why I got it, but I didn't get a clear answer."

"Hmm... Have you spoken anything with the principal?"

"No... I was thinking about the guidance counsellor. I'm a foreign student, but I've read about the local grade system. I also know how studies are conducted here, from what I read on the Internet."

"You should go talk to her."

"To who?"

"The guidance counsellor. She will surely help you. I can come with you if you like."

"It's fine. Thank you for the offer, though. And for your help."

"I didn't do much, but you're welcome." Robin started to stand, yet Nami was still sitting. She slowly walked towards the door. "Are you liking it here?"

She stopped. "Yes."

"It must be a huge change, moving to another country. I hope you're not feeling left out."

"I found people here very kind."

"So you have some friends already." She nodded. "Great! I'm glad to hear it." She looked towards the window. "I noticed you met Ace already."

"Yes. Do you know him well?" Robin asked.

"You could say that." Robin waited for her to explain further what she meant, but she didn't. Instead she decided to finish the conversation. "I hope that you'll contact me, either in person or via mail or phone if it's urgent, if there's anything else you need to know in the future, Robin."

"I will. Thank you." She headed back out into the corridor, who was more void of people now than minutes ago. Nami's friend (or follower) was still waiting outside, even though the next classes would begin soon. Robin said hello to her, then hurried to her classroom.


As usual during chemistry, no one really knew what was going on. The teacher had written down some formulas on the whiteboard when the class started. Right now, there was flames emanating from two different bowls at the table in the front of the classroom - one flame blue, the other yellow. The fluids in the bowls had almost burnt out, and there had been no accidents. Not yet, at least.

"What's he doing?" Despite that several weeks had passed, the chemistry teacher still hadn´t said a word. Ever since the first day, Robin used to sit next to Ace, in the front of the classroom during that class. Her and Ace differed when it came to amount of schoolwork made. She read much, often more than she needed to, while Ace was much less concerned about workload. But chemistry was the one subject where he excelled her, and she was glad to be sitting next to him since he didn't hesitate to help her.

"He´s making water out of wine," Ace explained. "Or, to be precise, alcohol."

"Right." Robin wrote down the formulas in her notebook, hoping to figure out more about it later.

Rocinante turned around to put away the matches he´d used. Just as he turned back to face them, his luck ran out. The freely hanging, heart-shaped ends of his absurd cap waved through the air as he swiftly turned. One of them passed right above the flame and managed to catch on fire. Yet he didn´t notice straight away; he just stood still, his hands tucked into the pockets of his pants.

Only when a student yelled to him, did he notice. He threw the headwear on the table in front of him, and hit with his arm on the cloth until the small fire went out. Unfortunately as he did, he also knocked over one of the bowls, and the alcohol flowed out and onto the table - a table made of wood. Naturally it caught on fire too.

Robin stood up and cautiously backed away, so did Ace, Sitting on the front row had its disdvantages. Everyone else in the class were too shocked to react, or do anything at all.

He took one of the alcohol bottles and opened it.

"Don´t..." Ace began, but he´d already poured it´s contents over the flames. The fire rapidly grew.

The alarm finally went off. The students got up and quickly headed for the exit, avoiding the burning table.

Robin was about to leave as well, but hesitated when she saw Ace sitting crouched over his bag. "What are you doing? We have to go."

"Ah, here it is." He picked up a sports water bottle from his bag, and then made his way over to the teacher, appearing extremely calm. The classroom was already deserted, apart from her, Ace and the teacher, and it would be easy to get out quickly.

Rocinante had pulled off his shirt and was trying to quench the fire. Ace poured water onto the table, and the fire miraculously went out. Only smoke remained.

The teacher looked at the burnt table and his shirt in front of him, looking very depressed. He reached for an ethanol bottle, opened it and brought it closer to his mouth.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" The older man looked at him defintly and started drinking from it in an alarming speed.

Ace put the empty bottle down. "Tell everyone it was you who put out the fire. You´ll probably lose your job anyways, but you can avoid prison."

The alarm was still screeching furiously, but still the sound of quick steps could be heard from the corridor, as everyone was heading outside.

"Where exactly are we supposed to go?" she asked.

"In case of fire, everyone should go to the nearest exit and then gather at the front of the school."

She nodded, and started heading for the exit. Just before she stepped over the threshold, a tall figure appeared in front of her, and she jumped back, startled.

The figure took a step forward, and she recognised the principal, Doflamingo. Despite the sunglasses covering his eyes, he seemed to be glaring down at her. "What are you still hanging around here for? Get going!" A vein stood out on his forehead.

"I..." Robin started, but couldn't think of anything to say. She felt a hand close around her arm, and simply followed as Ace led her into the now empty corridor.

"Clumsy fool," they heard the principal mutter, before the heavy door closed with a noticeable thud.

"Well, that was strange," Ace said, breaking the silence. She then noticed that he was still holding her arm, and tugged it free.

"You did well in there," she spoke.

He shrugged. "Ever since the first lesson, I've been keeping water with me. I also know where the closest fire extinguisher is."

She looked at the closed door. Nothing could be heard from the other side, but she didn't see the leader of the school as a calm, collected individual. Do you think Rocinante will be forced to quit? This small fire wasn´t as bad as the liquid nitrogen accident, when he froze and almost amputated his feet, and the principal overlooked that then."

"I don´t know. It seems he has a soft spot for him... we´ll just have to wait and see I guess."

"This sounds terrible, but I hope he has to leave. If he doesn´t, I may quit chemistry."

"I do see where you´re coming from, but..."

"You don´t agree?"

"He won´t exactly win a teacher of the year award, but with him, chemistry is never boring."

"Not boring? People were almost hurt today. The school could´ve turned to ruin."

"Do you always think of the worst possible outcomes to any situation?" She didn't answer. He smiled apologetically at her. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"Then why point it out?"

For once, he didn't say anything in response. He just looked down at his feet, hands in his pockets, for the first time looking really young. She sighed inwardly, and started walking. After a few breaths, he caught up to her. She felt him take her hand. She stopped. She didn't hold his.

She turned to face him. "What?" she asked, keeping her voice empty of emotion. She looked straight into his eyes. The usual, gleeful appearance they so often conveyed was gone, and replaced by something else. A kind of seriousness, almost sadness, though she didn't understand why.

"I know you don't particularly like me," he said. "You made up your opinion about me before we met. And, I confess, some things you've heard about me might not be entirely false..." She remained still, waiting for him to continue. "I know we didn't know each other very long, but still, I..." He glanced to his right, took a breath, and looked at her again. "Please, Robin. Give me a chance. I'm not the person you think I am."

A chance. It was true that she'd made up her mind about him before they met. But he'd always been nice to her. A voice in her head, which sounded suspiciously like Zoro's, told her that he was just putting up an act.

She looked at his freckles, of all things. It was kind of rare for a person to have that many. They didn't look out of place, or ugly, at him. Instead they added some cuteness to a face that without them might have looked years older.

She closed her eyes. She thought about what it'd be like. Did he just want to be friends? Or more? Would he ask her out? The thought of visiting a restaurant with Ace wasn't an uninteresting one. They had only eaten together once, during the first day at school. She remembered how he, despite his otherwise polite manner, had gulfed down food like five starving men put together. She smiled slightly at the memory. She opened her eyes, and noticed Ace's expectant face.

Whether she wanted to or not, she had to make a decision using her head. Charming manner and overall attractiveness aside, Ace wasn't good for her. "We should go outside," she said, but didn't make a move. She could still feel Ace's strong, warm hand holding hers.

"Ace!" When she heard someone calling, she instantly pulled her hand away and stepped sideways. The person shouting was a student, looking younger than them. He was shorter than Ace, but had the same unruly, dark hair, and similar eyes as his. He wore a strawhat, and he kept a hand on it to keep it from falling off while he was sprinting towards them.

"Hi, Luffy." It seemed like the boy would throw himself into Ace, but instead he came to an abrupt halt right in front of him. He was panting, and she wondered why he had been in such a hurry.

"We didn't see you anywhere! I-I thought you were in danger!"

"Hey, it's my job to worry about you. Not the other way around."

"Why?"

"Because I'm older. And there actually isn't a fire going on anymore."

"Thanks to Rocinante. The chemistry teacher," Robin inflicted. She'd decided to give the teacher another chance, after hearing what Ace said. A little danger couldn't hurt.

Ace gave her an amused look, and she smiled back in response. "Exactly."

"Who're you?" Luffy asked.

"This is Robin, she's in my class."

"Nice to meet you," she said. Luffy didn't lift her arm to shake hands, and neither did she. He stared at her for a few seconds.

"Are you Ace's nakama?"

She blinked at him. "I don't know what you mean."

"Nakama. It's japanese for friend."

"We're classmates," she said, without looking at Ace as she did.

"When did you learn japanese, Luffy?"

He lit up. "Sabo is teaching me!"

"He is?" Luffy nodded, the bright smile never leaving his face. Ace sighed deeply. "Couldn't he teach you something useful instead, like multiplication?"

"Japanese is useful!"

"When?"

"When you go to Japan, of course!"

She chuckled, but Ace just sighed again.

"As long as you do okay in school..." he muttered.

"I am! But, in our group project, Sabo made me work with Usopp, instead of him."

"He what? Who´s he working with?"

"The new girl." Luffy pouted, making his kind of childish face look even younger. "I don´t like her."

"I see. I really need to have a talk with him later," Ace muttered. He bent forward to come face to face with Luffy. "Reading books can be hard. Don´t overexert yourself, okay?"

"I won´t."

"Good." He ruffled the younger boy´s hair. "If you ever need any help, just ask me."

Why does he discourage him from studying? Robin wondered.

"Thanks." Luffy picked up his phone, and started typing something.

"I'm surprised anyone returned back inside," Robin said.

Ace eyed her, and turned to Luffy. "That's right. You can't go into buildings when a fire alarm's going on."

"But Sabo did!"

"He... did?"

"We were worried about you. I'm just telling him we're safe now," Luffy said, pointing at his phone.

Robin was surprised. That kind of loyality to one's friends bordered with insanity. But maybe she just found the behavior weird because she never had a strong bond like that with anyone herself.

She wondered if Ace would have put himself in potential danger to help a friend. The answer came to her immediately; of course he would.

Most of the time, he acted like a selfrighteous, pushy, sometimes absurd individual. But seeing him now, she had no doubt left there was a good heart residing behind his charades.

Ace and Luffy started to walk, and she followed right behind them. She picked up her notebook, wrote something down in a corner, and ripped it off.

They walked to a staircase, down one floor, and then they could see the stueents gathered on the yard, on the other side of the dual glassed exit doors. Almost every student stared at them as they approached.

Ace held the door open for Luffy, and then for Robin. As she passed him, she reached out and put the piece of paper in his hand. She sensed his fingers closing around it, before she returned her hand to her side. No one had noticed what she did. Well, no one except the four people who looked very closely.


"We're going out catching some drinks tomorrow. Wanna come with?" Teach asked.

"Who's 'we'?" Ace asked.

"Just the guys. The same crew as usual."

He thought about it, while sipping his coffee. "Yeah, sure."

"Lucky we don't have to bribe the door guard to get you inside anymore," Teach said, laughing. Ace smiled.

"It'll be my first time drinking legally at a pub. Great."

He hummed. "It's a special occasion. We'll need to find a good place. Somewhere outside campus. Somewhere fancy."

"We'll ask Marco then. He'll know."

"Hehe, yeah. Probably." Teach leaned back in his chair. "Should be goodlooking chicks there too."

Ace just shrugged. But he was more excited than he seemed.

Teach looked towards the sink. "The dishes are washed. Nami is still here, huh?"

"No." Teach raised both eyebrows. "Hey, as opposite to you, I know how a dishwasher works!"

He ignored the comment. His face turned more serious. "How long are you going to keep this up?"

"Who? Keep what up?"

"It's about time you tell Nami already. How you feel about her."

Ace rolled his eyes. "I think she already knows."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Don't be a pussy, Ace. You love the girl. Do something about it, walla."

He met Teach's eyes, before he lowered his gaze to the table. He tightened his twohanded grip on the coffee mug, almost to the point of breaking it. Outside of all the people in the high school, Teach was his closest friend. But there are some things that you don't even tell your best friends. "How's your internship coming along?"

If there was one thing Teach liked, it was talking about himself. That particular trait sometimes annoyed Ace, but now he was glad the subject changed, as Teach started a monologue about the to-dos at a computer office. Ace barely listened, and nodded at appropriate times.


The next day, Teach stopped by at 19 to pick him up. He sat in the backseat, while Marco sat in the passenger seat and gave directions to Teach, who hadn't lived in the city as long as the others, having recently moved there.

Ace thought about his friends. They were entirely different people, with only one thing in common: rich parents.

Thatch was from a noble family. But unlike Sabo's, his parents were actually nice. His mother was a former famous actress, and his father was acquainted with members of the royal family.

Marco's mother had inherited a company which owned several supermarkets throughout the country. Another branch focused on import and export, collaborating with farmers both local, national and abroad. . The food industry wasn't very rewarding in itself, but she was very skillful - easygoing, charismatic and intelligent. Marco had inherited some traits of her (sadly not the brainpower. Ace loved to make teasing jokes about it), and he was a good friend.

Teach's parents, originating from the UAE, exported oil, or - as Teach called it - the dark gold. His relatives probably had more money than the other three's combined. But he never acted like he was above them in terms of status.

They all wanted to do similar things this evening: Get drunk or get high (or both) and pick up women. Ace had already finished one beer at home, and gladly accepted another from Marco, during the ride. His arab friend stopped the car on a small street. They walked to a park, currently void of people. Marco looked around, then put a magazine on a picnic table. He picked up three small plastic bags, each containing white powder, and looked questioningly at them both.

Teach waved dismissively with his hands. "I'm driving."

Ace grinned. "More for us, then."

The blonde chuckled, and carefully put two small lines on the table. He only used a little, saving most of the cocaine for some other time. He inhaled the powder first, then Ace. The effect came immediately.

Filled with drug-imbued euphoria, the walk through the park towards the city seemed to pass quickly. He felt like he was walking on clouds. As they approached the downtown bar, music and chattering of people started to appear. Seeing their expensive suits and their aura of importance, the queue parted almost immediately to let them through. The guard looked suspiciously at him. But he wasn't unsteady. He smiled, and held out his ID. The large man grimaced, but waved them through. Super.

Noises and comfortable heat engulfed them as they entered. Ace darted quick glances around, taking in the atmosphere, noticing the other visitors. Marco touched his shoulder, and pointed. Even from behind, he recognised Thatch's hair. The brown-haired student was sitting in a couch, at a table, surrounded by several people. The trio made its way towards them, and there were more thanenoough space for all three, including the large-by-comparison arab.

Ace recognised the three other people present: Jozu, Iso, Vista. All of them college students. All of them belonging to the privileged world of the rich.

He bowed, politely greeting them, sat down at the table, and promptly fell asleep.

When he awoke, the table wasn't as crowded as before. Thatch and Jozu had gone to sit at a table with some giggling girls, looking very much underage. Vista and Izo was on the dance oor, moving fervently. Teach was nowhere to be seen.

A glass appeared in front of him.

"Drink some water," Marco said, and he obeyed. The still liquid soothed his neck, taking away some slight nausea he felt. As the glass was emptied, Marco pushed another, smaller one, filled with a brown liquid, towards him. Ace glanced at him.

"We others already had one." He gestured at the empty glasses around the table. Ace nodded.

"Cheers," he muttered, and emptied the glass.

He looked around again, feeling dazed but still sober.

"You sure you're all right, yoi?"

"Yeah." They started talking, mostly about what they did during summer. As they did, Ace continued to glance around the dim room. Two girls were sitting at the bar, with emptied glasses in front of them. He nodded towards them. "Think they're thirsty?"

Marco shrugged. "Ask."

"Wanna come?"

He shook his head. "Not tonight."

Weird, Ace thought, but didn't ponder on it as he made his way toward the bar. He leaned towards the dark wood, facing the girls, putting on his most charming smile. The girl furthest from him, a scampily dressed blonde, looked uninterested at him for a moment before rolling her eyes and turning her head away. Her friend though, a pretty red-hair, looked at him with glittering light blue eyes. The color of her eyes reminded him of something, but he couldn't remember what exactly.

She accepted a drink from him. They talked for some time. Marco came knocking at his shoulder, saying some of them were leaving. He was fine staying, he replied. Her friend left at some point, and she spent all her attention on him. He took a chance, leaning forward, whispering in her ear. She tilted her head, smiled, accepted.

They accompanied each other to the bathroom.

They returned some minutes later, ordering more drinks. The bar closed at 1. The night air was chilly. He held her hand in one of his, and checked his phone with the other. He squinted his eyes, trying to read the small letters in his phone number list. Before Sabo, a new name had been added. His thumb lingered above the green receiver.

The woman tugged at his arm, causing him to stop. Here's my hotel."


Years had passed, and the edges of the black cloth was beginning to torn. It didn´t matter that it had rarely been used. The edges had been folded and sewn together by a child, who in turn had been taught how to sew by an impatient teenager.

But picture painted on it made up for the bad sewing. A skull might be a simple thing to draw, but to draw it so well on thin cloth and using a simple pencil required some skill. The color had faded, but the drawing still impressed her.

She closed her eyes, and brought it closer to her face. The cloth still smelled faintly of smoke, and made her think of that day. The day when flames burnt a hole through the flag. The same flames that fed on her face.

She wasn´t afraid of fire anymore. She´d even learnt to control it, to some extent. Her father and sister never understood why she became so interested in cooking, of all things. And they gotten more confused when her interest for it continued to grow even after she entered the teens. Her dad told her how tough working as a chef could be, a job that included a lot of stress and working during evenings and nighttime. But he´d always supported her. And her sister was just glad she found something she liked to do so much.

She heard her father yell at her from downstairs, telling her dinner was ready. He shouted louder than he had to - sound travelled easy from downstairs, and he knew she never played music at highest volume.

She carefully folded the flag and put it in the paper box, which she pushed back to under her bed. As she headed down the stairs, she heard her sister´s voice. Scarlet had moved out years ago, but she used to come back to visit quite often. Scarlet and her had never been best friends; they were very different, and Scarlet was seven years older than her. But they cared for each other in a way only sisters do, and she felt happyevery time Scarlet visited.

But now, she also heard the voice of some man, and Violet´s mood instantly dropped. Every time her sister brought a guy home, the little green monster inside her made its presence known.

The newest addition in Scarlet´s history of boyfriends appeared to be at least thirty. It was the first time she had dated someone with so much age gap between them. He was tall, muscular, and had tanned skin and dark hair, reaching to his shoulders, and a beard as well. Perhaps he was a foreigner, like them. He wore a black suit, with a white shirt underneath the jacket, and a blue tie. Way, way, waaaay too formal.

Did Scarlet have any say regarding that outfit? She wore a dress in about the same color as the tie.

Riku was doing his usual, critical stare at the poor guy. But to his credit he didn´t appear intimidated, and calmly looked back at the older man. He was rather tough-looking, himself, with sharp features in the face and muscles bulging under the cloth. In other clothing, he would´ve looked dangerous. Maybe the suit wasn´t a bad idea after all.

They remained standing like that for another thirty seconds, before Riku nodded in approval and turned to face the kitchen. "Gotta take the gratin out," he muttered. Ever since Violet started her job at the restaurant, and he lost his, he had done more of the cooking at home, claiming that she already worked hard enough. He didn´t listen to any of her objections.

The man´s shoulders sagged, and she saw him breath out. Scarlet gently rubbed his back, her also clearly relieved.

"This is my sister, Violet. Violet, this is Kyros. He´s my... my..."

"Driving instructor," he finished for her, and Scarlet burst into giggling.

"That´s it. Exactly."

Oh, god. Violet gave her a disbelieving look, and she smirked and shrugged her shoulders. He hadn´t been lying. Scarlet smiled at her driving teacher/recent love interest. He smiled back at her, and only a blind person would have missed the affection they had for each other.

Knowing her sister, Violet believed they would last two months at most.

Kyros didn´t seem like her type, at all. Even with the matching clothes, they looked odd together. Yet he was clearly infatuated with her.

He reached his hand towards her. "Nice to meet you."

"Same." Violet shook it.

His gaze lingered at her face for a moment, before he looked away. Typical. Her sister had a beautiful, kind smile that would faze almost anyone. But whenever a man, or woman for that matter, looked at Violet, it was with eyes filled with pity or compassion, and disgust. And the gaze never lasted longer than a few seconds.

Perhaps one day, it´d be her turn to bring a date home for dinner.


One person Ace did not expect to see when he emerged from the shower in the boys' locker room was the petite head cheerleader. Bonney was sitting on the bench opposite the locker where he put his clothes, her back turned towards him, and from the sounds she made she must have been chewing on something.

He walked around the bench so that he was facing her. She looked up at him. Her green eyes were surrounded by too much eyeliner, and her lips were as usual painted with a small amount of bright pink lipstick. She'd pulled her hair in two pigtails, and was wearing the green cheerleading uniform.

He glowered at her. "What the heck are you doing in here?"

She snorted. Instead of eating pizza, she was now viciously chewing a gum. "Chill. The others left. It's only us in here."

"This is the boys' locker room," he pointed out.

"Yeah, it is. And Sanji peeks in the girls room all the time, but as far as I know no one has scolded him for it yet." She gestured at him. "You can get dressed. It's not like I haven't seen you before, and those times you were taking clothes off."

He sat down on her left, still wearing the towel. "What do you want?"

"To talk. It seems we barely have time for that lately."

"We have nothing to talk about."

"Yes, we do." She twisted her upper body, and placed her right leg across her left thigh, so that she sat facing him. "We have something."

"No, we don't."

"Well, alright, but we should!" she said, her eyes gleaming.

"Why?"

She edged closer. "Think about it. If I, the lovely head cheerleader, get together with you, the 11th most handsome guy in school, we'll be the most popular!" He briefly wondered who the ten before him were. "I'll be prom queen, and you... have a shot at the king position!"

"Ehm... What?"

Bonney giggled. "It's all clear to me. You get rid of Hancock, right before you hook up with me. And I get chosen as the new head cheerleader! This is a great opportunity, for both of us. Right now the only one in my way is Nami, and she isn't even a senior! If she doesn't get invited to the prom, I'll definitely win the title of queen!"

He snorted. "That is stupid."

She looked annoyed for a second, then she controlled her face and moved close enough so that he could feel her thigh touch against his. She started rubbing his stomach.

"That's not the only reason."

"No?"

"I've been thinking alot about you... about us..."

He batted her hand away. "There is no us, Bonney. You're just another girl. Now get out."

She frowned. "Is this because of that Robin girl?"

"Go."

"She's not even that pretty. And I bet the only reason she likes you is because you're rich."

"She doesn't like me. She barely tolerates me."

"That's not true! Haven't you seen the way she looks at you sometimes?" Bonney continued ranting. "She's from Russia, though. I bet all she wants is to get married here so she doesn't have to go back." He looked sceptically at her, wondering if she was joking. She took the attention as a positive sign, and planted herself on his lap. "I, however, like you for the way you are," she breathed into his face.

He pushed her down onto the floor. "Geez, get a life."

Her eyes shot sparks. "You're making a mistake."

He stood up and began walking around her to get to his clothes. "Don't you have some pizzeria to visit?" He really wanted her to leave.

"It´s not like I actually wanted you to be my boyfriend. My shower hose satisfies me just as much as you, and it never abandons me!" she almost shouted.

Ouch. He felt his patience disappearing, and whirled to face her.

"Got anything else to say?" he asked through gritted teeth.

She looked uncertain for a moment, before collecting herself. "That whore Nami will never love you!"

He crouched in front of her. She tried to move away, but he gripped her wrists, stopping her. "Apologize," he said.

"You fucking jerk" she shouted. She tried to push him away. He wrestled her down, pinning her arms to the floor. "Let go!" she shouted. She twisted and squirmed but was unable to get free.

"Apologise," he repeated.

She spat at him. Actually spat. Even though no saliva appeared anywhere near him, the action still annoyed him.

He wasn't like Sanji, who would rather die than hurt a female. But he had never hit a girl, and he definitely wasn't gonna start now. But he wouldn't take any crap from Bonney either. He leaned closer to her, and looked as intimidating as possible. "Say it," he said with a dark voice.

She stopped her efforts to free herself. Her eyes were wide as saucets. "Okay. Fine. Sorry."

"Don't bother me again."

She pressed her lips together in a thin line. "I won't."

He tightened the grip on her wrists once, before letting go. He rose, and tightened the towel around his waist again. Bonney stood up as well, rubbing her red wrists while looking accusingly at him. He scowled angrily at her, and she lowered her head and hurried out of the locker room.

He sat down at the bench, and rested his forehead against his palms and his elbows on the knees.

No. He was not at fault. She had entered the other gender's locker room and verbally and physically harassed him, and he defended himself. Perhaps more harshly than he needed to, but still understandable.

Still, Bonney was the one who'd have arms covered in bruises tomorrow.

Now, he regretted that they got together at all. He wondered if the reason she joined the cheer squad was to impress him. It seemed absurd, but not unlikely. Or perhaps he was just overthinking.

After he finished dressing, he walked out to the school's parking lot. He quickly spotted the large, black jeep located close to a collection of trees. He could see Teach standing there, his eyes glued to Bonney who was balancing a glowing cigarette between two carefully manicured fingers. She now wore a denim jacket over the minimal top.

As he got closer, he heard what they were talking about. Or, the one doing the most talking seemed to be Teach.

"You sure you don't need a ride?" he asked, grinning.

"Oh, piss off." She suddenly turned her head, spotted Ace, dropped her cigarette to the ground, stomped violently on it, and stalked away. Teach eyed her as she left.

"You never said there are such good-looking girls in your school," he said as soon as she was too far away to hear.

"She's in my class. She has a terrible personality."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it... Think you can arrange a get-together for the two of us?"

Ace shook his head at Teach, who just grinned. He changed the subject. "How's the purchase going?"

Teach understood what he meant. "I managed to find what you asked for. Should arrive in two days."

"Good. How much do you want?"

Teach gave a generous price, and Ace promised he would get the money when he delivered the alcohol to his house. They shook hands, as true businessmen.

"I'm driving in your direction," he said.

"Thank you." Ace began walking around the car to the passenger seat's door, when someone called his name. It was Robin. He felt something tiny fluttering in his stomach.

"Yeah?" He leaned against the car, and studied her. She stood a short distance away. She was dressed modestly, with not much skin showing, wearing a skirt ending at ancle-height and a purple scarf loosely tied around her neck. Her straight, raven-colored hair framed her beautiful face, and the fringe almost covered her light-blue eyes. Her school bag was hanging over a shoulder, and she held it steady with both hands. She fidgeted nervously with her fingers, but quickly stopped once she realised what she was doing.

She didn't say anything, just stood there waiting. He finally understood that she was waiting on him, and walked around the car until he reached her. "What's up?" He could hear the sound of a car window open behind him, but he didn't care if a curious friend listened in on their conversation.

"I, well... I was thinking... She darted glances around. He'd never seen her hesitate like that before. "Zoro said you've lived here for a while."

"That's true."

She adjusted the bag further up on the shoulder. "I am new here. And he's often busy. I know I'm not exactly asking for a small favor, but if it's possible that you could-"

"Sure! I'd love to show you around town." He offered her a face-splitting smile.

Her eyes lit up, for just a second, and her lips curved into her small trademark smile. "Thank you." She visibly breathed out, her body relaxing as she did. "Just tell me when you want to do it." She turned to leave.

"Tomorrow after school." She turned her head around, looking into his eyes. Her smile had gotten some shades warmer. She nodded once. He waved at her, and then returned to entering the car.

"You seem to be in a good mood," Teach commented.

Ace blinked at him. "It's a beautiful day. Sun's shining. Why wouldn't I be?"


Author's note: I'm glad I finally managed to upload this new chapter. Sadly it's right before school starts. I don't know when the next chapter will be up.

This chapter contained a lot of AcexRobin, and I hope you enjoyed it! It's an underrated one piece pairing, imo.

Guest: I too am not a fan of yaoi pairings including Zoro. I do however think homosexuality is not a personality trait, but only a sexual orientation, and they are not the same (although a person can act like a 'stereotypical' gay, someone who is homosexual can also act as not-gay, if that makes sense). Also, in this story Zoro is bisexual (although Ace assumed he was gay).

Thank you for the reviews so far and please keep them coming. It really motivates me to write faster :)