Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters/plot. Most of the plot in this chapter originates from those little drawings at the beginning of the One Piece Chapters. It starts in Chapter 272, entitled 'Ace's hunt for Black Beard'. There's a whole bunch of 'em… So, yeah, I don't own that plot. But I do own over fifty reviews! Huh-yeah!
Friend and Foe
Chapter VIII
"Hullo!"
Mel greeted the girl cheerfully. Ace had gone to find another restaurant in, what Mel referred to as, the most gorgeous town they had ever stopped by. The houses and streets were made of stones overgrown with all kinds of plant life. Small stone bridges connected the interweaving lanes; even the rooftops seemed so close to each other that they were almost touching- all this under a magnificently blue sky.
Mel couldn't get enough of the view and had therefore journeyed a bit along the small river that cut through the island. That's how she ended up helping Moda, the girl she met by the river.
Moda had been filling up a few buckets of water when the blue haired woman strode along and greeted her. She was surprised to see a stranger wandering along this rather secluded area of the island where there was nothing but grass and the little river. They got into a friendly chat as Mel asked the girl a little about the island and helped her with the pails.
Moda had middle length blonde hair, a cute face, and charming manners. Mel was delighted to see that the girl lived in a little farmhouse and owned quite a number of petite cows. The girls were on their third trip to the river to get more water, laughing and chatting animatedly, when Moda suddenly gasped and Mel almost tripped over her own feet at the sight of something very big floating down the stream.
Ace had forgotten that he had no more money before he gulfed down quite a few plates of food in the little restaurant he had come across. So he apologized briefly and escaped the wrath of the cook by jumping over rooftops and looking for Mel. She wasn't anywhere in sight, and thus he decided to go on seeking information on Black Beard.
He asked a few fishermen near the port whether they had seen or heard of a big man with a black beard. They told him about their doctor who, apparently, fit the vague description, but before they could tell him any more, Ace had already disappeared to find this man.
Shortly afterwards, Dr. Black Beard, the resident medic of the island who had never even set foot on a ship in his life, found himself being attacked by a young pirate for no apparent reason. Needless to say, he was not very happy with receiving a kick in the face, and together with a few outraged townspeople and the angry cook who had finally caught up, kicked Ace into the nearby river as punishment for his foolishness.
So was it that Ace was found floating down the river, half drowned, by Moda and Mel. They almost let him drift by in their astonishment, but Moda quickly regained sense and rushed to fish out the poor young man. She was honestly clueless as to why the older female was trying to hold back laughter as she proceeded in reviving the half drowned pirate.
"Hey Ace, wake up." Mel slapped the boy's face repeatedly in an attempt to wake him up, not really worried about him, but trying to figure out how in the world he had managed to fall into the water. The situation, nevertheless, struck her as being somehow incredibly funny, and so it proved very hard for her not to break into a fit of laughter. She held back for Moda's sake, but couldn't help letting out a tiny chuckle when water shot out of Ace's mouth like a fountain.
Having briefly explained how she knew Ace, Mel then helped Moda with pulling him to the cottage after picking up his hat (which the girl had miraculously managed to fish out as well). They seized one foot each and dragged him down the river bank- not the best way to move a body, but hey, it worked.
Mel watched admiringly as Moda busily tucked away Ace with motherly care. The girl looked to be twelve at the most, yet she seemed to be living all by herself. Mel had never been one to patiently take care of others, and so she felt a sort of respect for the younger girl who was now removing some of Ace's larger accessories to hang up for drying.
Moda on the other hand, was in awe of the blue haired woman next to her. She admired her as she would an older sister. Mel, to her eyes, was extremely courageous, witty, and pleasant- not to mention pretty. When she told her this, she received a light laugh and an amused "Thank you." from Mel.
Ace awoke in the last place that he would have expected to wake up. He was in a small cottage, by the looks of it. When he had been thrown in the river, he had only hoped that Mel would find him, since she had told him that she would be wandering along the water for a while. Mel didn't own a cottage here, did she?
But sure enough, he found Mel squatting next to another girl in the grass once he stumbled out the door, yawning. The girls were ranting on and on about trivial things while they watched a couple of small cows grazing. They only noticed Ace when he came to a halt behind them and cleared his throat.
"Were you trying to commit suicide by jumping in the river?" was the first thing Mel asked him, standing up and placing her hands on her hips. Her tone was serious, but the amused look on her face was quite unmistakable.
"I seem to have failed spectacularly." he replied with a smirk as Mel finally let out the laughter she had been holding in for a while now.
"Are you alright?" asked Moda with wide, worried eyes. Ace assured her that he was, in fact, feeling very well.
"Thank you for saving me." he said to the girl, smiling warmly. Moda blushed slightly and suddenly found her feet very interesting.
"What, don't I get a 'thank you'?" inquired Mel, having recovered from her laughing fit to cross her arms, pretending to be offended. Ace blinked at her.
"You left me behind to be thrown into the water by a bunch of mad people!" he declared, crossing his arms as well and frowning emphatically.
Moda gazed openmouthed at the two supposed-adults who were suddenly engaged in a fully fledged, and rather childish argument. The odd thing was that neither of them seemed to be mad at the other, and so it sounded rather like a normal conversation, except that there were a lot of implied insults in the words they chose to hurl at each other.
They only stopped when Moda offered them some fresh, delicious milk. Mel gladly accepted the drink since she hadn't eaten anything yet and was getting quite hungry. Ace grinned at the sight of his friend's content expression and thanked Moda for all the hospitality.
"You're welcome." the girl replied happily. Then she asked the two to stay there for a minute while she went to fetch something from the cottage.
"Aren't you supposed to be full? I thought you ate already." Mel inquired when Ace downed his rather large glass of milk in one gulp. He just shrugged. She studied his expression for a while before finally concluding:
"You didn't pay again, eh?"
"My oh my, how did you find out?" Ace asked incredulously, smirking at the semi-serious look on her face. She rolled her eyes at him.
"No wonder they threw you in the river! You totally deserved it." Mel declared, the corners of her mouth twitching with mirth.
"I deserve to die for that? How about all those other things I did?" the pirate questioned innocently, his smirk turning into a lopsided grin.
"You want to know what you deserve? Oh, I'll tell you what-" Mel started with a wicked grin before she was cut off by Moda's hurried announcement that she was back. The girl had sensed another argument brewing up- honestly; she couldn't imagine how these two managed to get along so well while they seemed to be insulting the other whenever they found the chance. The fact that they never seemed to get mad at each other was even stranger.
"Could you do me a favor?" Moda asked the two adults a bit shyly, holding up an envelope.
"As long as it doesn't involve killing-"
"-or jumping into the river." Mel finished Ace's sentence with a sly look in his direction which he replied with a smirk. Moda shook her head wildly at these ideas, assuring that it had nothing to do with such things. The envelope only contained a letter to be delivered to the nearest navy base.
They stared blankly at her at the mention of the letter's destination. Then Mel burst out laughing while Ace assured Moda that they would certainly do her this favor. Moda thanked them cheerfully, only slightly confused at Mel's odd behavior, and waved after them a few minutes later as she watched their boat float away along the river.
There it was: the second division navy base in the Grand Line- generally referred to as base G-2. It really was only a few hours distance from Moda's island. Then again, Ace's boat wasn't just any other vessel that depended on the wind for movement.
"I'm hungry," declared Ace rather randomly as they observed the small island on which the navy base was built.
"Guess what," replied Mel a bit grumpily, "I haven't eaten anything yet."
"Well then, we'll have to find some food, won't we?" the pirate stated unnecessarily, steering the little boat towards the western side of the island.
The poor guard they came across was promptly knocked out and stripped of his shirt and hat.
"So, what's the plan?" inquired Mel offhandedly, eyeing the unconscious marine with pity.
"We infiltrate the navy base." answered Ace as he put on the marine's uniform shirt. "And you hold on to this." he added, taking off his orange hat and promptly placing it on Mel's head. He smirked at the dumbfounded look on her face and found himself wondering whether she could look any more surprised. Curiosity got the better of him, so he succumbed to his sudden impulse and gave the young woman a quick peck on the cheek.
His smirk turned into a satisfied grin as he turned the corner and disappeared from Mel's sight, not before getting a good look at an unmistakable blush making its way across her cheeks.
Ace had quite an adventure snooping around the navy base until he found the marine cafeteria. An elderly woman, the cook's wife, laughed good-naturedly at the sight of one of the young marines piling up two trays with as much food as he could fit on them.
Everyone was utterly shocked when this particular marine knocked out one of his fellow men when he heard him talking rudely about a certain pirate called White Beard. Throughout the commotion, someone suddenly recognized the violent marine as Fire fist Ace- which brought immediate chaos.
Ace somehow managed to escape the angry mob of marines, only to run into a marine captain who ended up unconscious on the floor. And so Fire fist Ace took the man's clothes and disguised himself as a marine officer.
Meanwhile, Mel was having trouble containing her desire to poke fun at the many guards she could spot from her position. After she had gotten over the initial shock at Ace's sudden show of affection, she found herself feeling strangely giddy.
First she had considered following Ace into the gates, but had decided against it when she realized that she couldn't really go and disguise herself as a marine. So she stayed near Ace's boat, having stashed away the unconscious marine guard, and lamenting over the fact that Ace's orange hat probably clashed horribly with her dark blue hair.
Within a few minutes, however, Mel started tapping her foot impatiently, and decided that she couldn't wait any longer. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she snuck behind a couple of marine guards who were apparently debating over whose weapon was more effective.
"This baby can kill anyone with one blow." one of them was saying, patting his gun affectionately.
"Really?" the other replied monotonously. He sounded rather annoyed at his companion. Mel had to suppress a chuckle.
The first marine, obviously disappointed at his partner's lack of response, now pulled out a small, black and circular- "Put away that bomb, Bob!"
"Oh now you pay attention, huh?" he grinned stupidly at the other's reaction. He then decided (the mature marine he was) to scare his companion by lighting a match and pretending to set off the small but lethal bomb.
The other marine, of course, was not amused, "Dude, stop it," he muttered, nervously eyeing the little flame.
"Nuh uh!" the stupid one replied, waving the match dangerously close to the fuse. Observing the scene from behind a big boulder, Mel couldn't help rolling her eyes at the marine's behavior.
And as all things come to an end, this ridiculous display of immaturity turned abruptly into a life threatening situation by a sudden gust of wind. The small fire flickered and found a hold on the fuse, just before Bob, the idiot, dropped his match.
"What the..! Put it out, put it out!" yelped the more sensible marine, resisting the sudden urge to punch the other man in the head.
"Aak! YOU put it out!" shouted Bob, hurriedly offering the bomb to the other man. All would have been lost if Mel hadn't stepped in and saved the marines' backsides.
'Run? Nope, not enough time. So-get rid of the bomb.' was the conclusion she instantly drew in her head before jumping out from her hiding place. Ignoring the shocked expressions on the marines' faces, she yanked the bomb out of Bob's hand and threw it as far as she could out into the ocean.
This wouldn't have been a problem if any other person had been the pitcher. Ace, for example, would have sent the little bomb flying beyond the horizon to disappear with a small glint of faraway light. Mel just wasn't good at this kind of thing. While the bomb did hurl a safe distance away from them, it also happened to explode right on top of an incoming ship.
"...Oops." Mel muttered as she observed the fire spreading rapidly over the very important looking ship. The two marines beside her had conveniently fainted at the sound of the explosion.
"Ugh." Ace almost spat out the coffee he had just sipped. Sitting on a windowsill in his newly acquired marine officer's uniform, the pirate found out that the bitterness of their coffee was probably what made most of these men look constantly grumpy. He was however, not long occupied by these thoughts because of the sudden commotion throughout the hallway he was in.
A group of marines rushed past him, shouting something about someone having set fire to the navy's Top Secret Scout ship. Ace couldn't help wondering whether Mel had had something to do with this. Grinning at the image of Mel laughing like a maniac over a burning ship, he followed the marines out.
-to be continued-
Comments Mkay. Yeah, I know, bad ending. But it would have taken about three more weeks to finish this chapter if I had decided to cover the whole .. uh.. marine base plot. It's been almost a month, I'm sorry that I didn't update earlier. As I said before, I'm in school again, and this year happens to be packed with all kinds of activities! Yay.
AAAAaaand, guess what? I've got something for you guys! Go to my profile to see some sketches I drew of Mel! They are, of course, not colored, because I had no time. And I'm not particularly good at coloring either! I like pencil sketches. I think the third one turned out to be the best. I like it. Any suggestions for sketches are always welcome!
Why don't we just hold a little .. ah… "event". Along with your review of this chapter (you may not forget to review!), please give me some suggestions on what I should draw. I can't really draw Ace, so don't even think about it. Anything with Mel. You can ask for certain clothing, hairstyles, actions (?)- anything, really. As long as its appropriate. I will choose one of the many suggestions (that I shall look forward to) and actually draw it! That drawing will probably be up before the next chapter, so you might want to check my profile after a week or so.
Thanks! I hope you like my drawing style..
Victoria: Aww, thanks! Keep reviewing; it might help with the updating speed! Haha.
Spiritual Stone : Of course I'll keep going. This story is like my baby (hmm..?). I'm glad you like it!
TrunksgirlBlaze27 : Thanks for understanding! I'll try to update faster next time… maybe. Mmmyeah. Anyway, thank you for always reviewing! You get to pat yourself on the back.
xX-Avast-Xx : Ooh, I like your nickname. Hm, interesting description of Mel. I guess she is fairly believable after all. Thanks!
Blizzardrake : Heh, that's one of those Mel-ish lines. She says that kind of stuff all the time (because I make her do so…of course). Thank you for the review!
Solo Loco Ellingson-Rose : Yes, dead people are cool. In the sense of temperature, that is. I hope you read chapter seven by now! Thanks for the review!
lil1diva : Wow, you actually bothered to review every single one of my chapters! That's awfully nice of you. Thank you very much!
Artemis die Jaegerin: Hm, ja die beiden verhalten sich wirklich wie Geschwister. Das hab' ich mir gar nicht gedacht. Du wirst schon sehen was den beiden noch passiert. Mwahahahaha.
madlibs44 : Yup, that it is. I think that English is not a very suitable language for … manga. So I try to keep the manga-ness to a minimum I try to make it more natural and realistic. Thanks for noticing that! Mel really is a lot of fun to work with (?).
EternallyJinxed : Yah, isn't that scary when that happens? Not that it ever happens to me… (probably a good thing). Well, this one has a bit of romance in it.. don't worry, there'll be more. Even though Romance is not one of this story's main attributes, it is definitely a part of it. Yeah, none of my close friends like anime either. It's so sad. They're totally missing out. Thanks for reviewing!
ace-lover 3 : No review? Uh oh (shifty eyes). Hey police! She went the other way! Mkay they're gone now. Oh look! Exactly what you wanted, a peck on the cheek. Don't worry, I'm planning on some more romance in the later chapters, so you can look forward to that. Auntie Em, another OC (and I'm not revealing anything but her name right now), will appear in the later chapters- until then, Mel's past will remain a mystery. Not that there's much to it. Thanks for another funny review.
firefistACE888888 : .. on what point? Haha. Be sure to be more specific next time. Thanks for reviewing!
fluffywhitekitsune: Oh wow. You actually read it more than once? I wonder how many people do that.. besides you and me. Thanks for the cookies. You're awesome!
Noir : The enthusiasm! Anyway, here's the update. Wasn't that fast? Haha. Thanks for reviewing again!
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Now's the time for a review!
Thank you very mucho.
