I cannot stop listening to Bang Bang Bang. I need help.

To dear amgs, word of warning, this is going to be a long reply. But I felt that proper words of reply was required.

And to anyone interested in the furture of this plot and the character of Jyuri, feel free to read this - what used to be - half a page of really bad writing in mechanical pencil.

First, let me start by saying that I'm super glad that ( amgs) you like the interactions, it's incredibly motivating for someone to say that, especially since I love writing Ace and Jyuri's interactions myself. Now for Jyuri's character, I understand that she might seem selfless to a surreal extent, which frankly, I can say is part of what makes this fiction and not, you know, real. Though more frankly I wish Ace was real. I guess my understanding of many characters in One Piece is that they are quite extreme in their beliefs and whatnot. Which is partially why Jyuri is as...surreal as she might seem. But at the same time I wanted to construct her to be a character who gradually interacts with other characters in a more 'Jyuri' way, rather than the 'Nyx' way she currently interacts in. If that makes any sense at this point of the story. I do think, regardless of how the plot progress, Jyuri will never fully be rid of 'Nyx', just as we as normal people brings with us parts of our childhood as we grow into adults. Though, I can frankly say that I think all Jyuri's sacrifices are now in her past, and despite how selfless she may seem, there is an ultimate darkness to her that she's suppressed. I am going to talk about her past within the chapter and the next few, which means this entire paragraph of rambling will make more sense. I will apologise in advance however, because I have the ending of this story in my head already, and I'm really not one of stray from major events in the canon story. But I do have the plans to do two endings, because Oda-sensei will not give us nice feels, and I'm a fanfiction writer. The point is, I can try my best not to break anyone's heart too much (everyone I know in real life says I'm 100% dead inside so I have no emotions apparently but what is this flowing out of my eyes every time I get to One Piece Chapter 574?), but ultimately we all know what will happen...

Anyways, let's move on.

I'm a horrible human being. IDK


Jyuri woke up feeling warmer than she had in quite a while. And she quickly discovered it was because Ace was sleeping next to her.

Because she had put him there the night before.

It made sense.

Though, Jyuri mused to herself, she was really letting down her guard when she was with the young captain. And that really wasn't a good thing. The large volume of The Art of Resource Management was in her lap, and she had fallen asleep while reading it.

"Oh well, I'm still alive." She muttered to herself as she set the book onto the bedside table and got out of the bed. Away from the warmth that she knew her body craved.

"Never let yourself become complacent, be aware even if you feel as if you will die."

The cold wasn't going to kill her, but she didn't really see the point of being hyper aware next to a sleeping seventeen-year-old who probably was going to wake up with a bad case of headache. She decided she was going to just let Ace sleep, and go down to the kitchen of the hotel to see if they would let her whip something up to cure an oncoming hangover. Then she would see if there was some mysterious way for her to distract Ace from the ship. She still didn't quite like his mood from the day before.

With her mind pulling up a schedule for the day, she took out some fresh clothes and began changing. Until of course, her keen ears picked up on the change in breathing from the other occupant of the room.

Oh boy, she had forgotten about the chance Ace would wake up before she was gone.

"Captain, for your information, you set fire to a table while being super drunk last night." Jyuri told him in a soft voice, knowing that loud noises will make his hangover worse. "And then I paid for the replacement before dragging you up here."

"Chii, could you maybe remember to change somewhere else next time?"

"Captain, you could just turn around." Jyuri sighed. "And you know, this is my room."

"I don't think that's the problem here Chii."

"And I don't know what your point is, Captain." Jyuri replied and finished buttoning up the last button on her blouse. She turned and strapped her trusty rapier to her side and looked at Ace.

Definitely hungover.

But the mood was still there.

"Come to think of it, where did you even go last night, Chii?" Ace sat up and put a hand to his head. Jyuri halted her steps to the door and turned to look at him.

"The casino, I was looking for Mr. Rayleigh." Jyuri replied truthfully. An unexplainable expression crossed Ace's features, but disappeared within an instant. Jyuri decided to ask. "Captain, do you have something against Mr. Rayleigh or something?"

"That's the first time Chii's asked anyone from the crew something about themselves."

Jyuri just looked at Ace, and attempted to brush a comb through all the memories she shared with the Spade Pirates. And Ace was right. How he had actually noticed, was beyond Jyuri, but some part of her was glad he noticed.

"Privacy is an important part of life." Jyuri opted. "I respect that everyone has their secrets, and I never know when I might touch upon that."

"But you decided to ask just then."

"Which was clearly a mistake." Jyuri said quickly and opened the door. "I'm going to go see if I can grab anything to help with hangovers."

She had let him dodge the question.

Emotional connection was still somewhat beyond her.

Some part of her remained curious however, to the answer of the question.


"Captain, where were Douglas and everyone else last night?" Jyuri questioned as she set a cup of ginger tea in front of Ace. Ace looked at her as if he was trying to decide whether she had asked to tease him or asked in genuine confusion. "I'm asking because I cannot find them."

"Chii, they're men." Ace replied dismissively. Jyuri's brain, as alert as it was, was not clicking the information into place.

"I am aware."

"They went to a brothel." Ace told Jyuri after a long pause. Jyuri froze for a split second, and mouthed 'oh'. Her question for Ace as to why he didn't also go was caught at the tip of her tongue, and she swallowed it. Curiosity was not a good thing to her.

"Captain, I need to head to Spadille for a bit, would you like me to get anything for the ship?" Jyuri opted.

"I will go with you."

"No, you won't." Jyuri said. "You look like you've been hit by a truck Captain."

Jyuri also left out the fact that she didn't particularly want Ace to see Rayleigh. For whatever reason Rayleigh changed his mood. She liked the grinning and goofy Ace. The two teens stared at each other for a while, each making their point, before Ace shrugged.

"You don't need to get anything." He told her and took a sip of the ginger tea. "But why do you need to go there in the first place?"

"Because I was going to ask Douglas, but I can't find him."

"For what?"

"To talk to Mr. Rayleigh." Jyuri told him and suddenly remembered the vials of poison she had left on the bed last night. "Captain, did I by any chance accidentally set you on top of some vials?"

"These things?" Ace asked, showing her one of the vials. Hemlock. Great.

"Yes," Jyuri replied. "It would be great if you could move them somewhere before going to sleep once more."

"What are they?"

"You don't want to know." Jyuri opted and opened the door. "I should be back within the hour, if not, please don't freak out, I probably just met someone I know."

"You came here often?"

"It's the stopping point if I had a job outside of the New World." Jyuri told Ace, and received a nod. She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.


"Jyuri-sama?" Jyuri recognised the voice. She also recognised the footsteps. Silent and deadly, the same as her own when Jyuri was not purposely making noise when she walked. Jyuri turned and saw one of her brother, Louis', personal maid, May. May's pair of honey brown eyes greeted her warmly. May was excited to see Jyuri. "Jyuri-sama, when was the last time we've seen you, I missed you."

"I thought I was bound to see one of you in Sabaody." Jyuri smiled. May hugged her, but Jyuri made no move to hug the other girl back. May didn't seem to mind however.

"We received news that Big Mom had lost contact with one of her executives, and Louis-sama sent me to see if it was Jyuri-sama's doing." May said.

"It was." Jyuri replied softly.

"Say, Jyuri-sama," May asked after a short silence. "Will you be returning to Altair now?"

"Not yet, I need something else from Big Mom before Louis is safe." Jyuri shook her head. May looked disappointed, but didn't press Jyuri. "How's Louis?"

"He misses Jyuri-sama."

"Besides that?"

"He's a little temperamental lately," May said, and Jyuri immediately understood why from her expression. It was near Ume's death anniversary. "But everyone is healthy, and we all understand Louis-sama so it's ok."

"Thank you."

"It's our duty ad we enjoy it, if you thank us one more time, I will be offended on behalf of all my sisters, Jyuri-sama."

"If you say so," Jyuri laughed. The girls exchanged a few other words before Jyuri heard the familiar footsteps of Ace. What was he doing out of bed? "May, do you have a spare eternal log pose on you?"

"I had to exchange mine for something, can you give me it?" Jyuri asked, and immediately May pulled out an eternal log pose. "Thank you May, I believe my current chaperone is here."

"Chii, a friend?" Ace asked as he approached Jyuri and May. Jyuri nodded and May bowed.

"My brother's personal maid." Jyuri introduced. "And this is the Captain of the Spade Pirates."

"Chii, do you have something against names?" Ace questioned.

"No, I do not." Jyuri lied, and she knew he could see through her lie. "Anyways, let everyone be on their ways, say hi to Louis for me May."


If there was anything Jyuri was proud of herself for, it would be for keeping Ace away from Rayleigh and Spadille for three whole days. But, she understood something else – she didn't particularly want to see Rayleigh too much herself. The old man just always sounded like he could see through her. And she wasn't comfortable letting others see her vulnerable side.

"Captain, exactly why are you here?" Jyuri asked Ace as he sat down next to her in the crows' nest.

"I'm the Captain, why can't I wonder around on my ship?" Ace asked.

"Touché, Captain." Jyuri replied, and offered Ace her mug of pear water. He looked at it, and raised an eyebrow to question what it was. "It's pear water."

"What?"

"Pear water." Jyuri repeated. "It's good for your throat."

"And we finally find out what the mysterious liquid in the kitchen all the time is." Ace mused. Jyuri frowned, but didn't say anything back. "Chii, did I ever tell you about my little brother?"

"If Captain did, I must've not listened." Jyuri replied honestly.

"He made me promise not to die when we were younger." Ace began. "And we promised we will be freer than anyone."

"Strange promises for children." Jyuri commented softly.

"Not in a place where humans aren't treated as humans."

"Let me guess, really dumb nobles?"

"Pretty much."

"Captain is in a sharing mood today."

"I will boast about my brother any day." Ace replied with a wide grin. "He's three years younger than me, so when he sets sail at seventeen, he will also make a name of himself."

"Captain really likes your brother."

"He's name is Luffy, and he's pretty amazing." Ace's eyes sparkled with what Jyuri recognised to be pride. "So we've got to try harder, so I can still laugh at him when he gets out in the ocean."

"We?"

"Spade Pirates."

"I see."

"First things first though, we need to wreck some havoc in the New World."

"I have a bad feeling about this."


"Captain, this is a letter addressed to you." Jyuri said as she sat down next to Ace in the crow's nest. She handed Ace the letter and a box of cookies. "It's from the government."

"What does the government want?" Ace raised an eyebrow and popped a cookie in his mouth before taking the letter. Jyuri shrugged and waited for Ace to open the letter. A few moments later, when Ace had read the letter, he laughed. Jyuri moved herself closer to Ace and skimmed the letter. "They want me to be a Shichibukai."

"After the accident a few days ago, I would think they want Captain as an ally." Jyuri commented. "You either raise the bounty of the crew that destroyed your supply base, or you want them as your ally. What are you going to do Captain?"

"Decline it, of course." Ace grinned, and Jyuri smiled back.

"Very Captain-esk." Jyuri replied and took out a second letter. "We received a letter back from the Red-Haired Pirates."

"Oh, what did they say?"

"Captain, what makes you think I read it?" Jyuri said as she passed the unopened letter to Ace, who took it quickly and opened it. He finished the letter with a satisfied grin. "Where are we setting off to now?"

"Chii, you're going to hate this, but a winter island, where the Red-Haired Pirates are." Ace grinned as he stood up and Jyuri sighed. She ran her hand through her pink hair that she had not bothered to tie up that day, and looked up at Ace.

"At least," Jyuri started as she took Ace's outstretched hand to help her up. "I got some winter clothes at the last island we stopped at."

"Well, wasn't that lucky Chii."

"Please don't sound so nonchalant about that Captain, since you were the one who destroyed my old clothes." Jyuri said as she patted away some dust. "Also, I want to make an official complaint, since Captain keeps accidentally setting fire to things."

"It wasn't an accident Chii, you were the one who let yourself get pushed into the fire." Ace countered. Jyuri just frowned. "Ok, maybe I also didn't look and thought you were an enemy. There was a lot of people."

"And you missed this head of pink hair?" Jyuri asked. Ace grinned apologetically in response. "Ah fine, whatever, I give up."


Jyuri wrapped the coat tighter around herself. She had not expected the island to be so cold. It honestly hadn't even felt so cold when they docked. It was only when Ace disappeared from the ship that the coldness registered in her head. Ace had said that they were going to have to restock at the island as well, which meant that they were going to wait a week at the godforsaken island for the log pose to set, and then set out.

"I want to stab someone." Jyuri muttered to herself as she climbed the mountain. Apparently, notorious pirates liked the caves better than the town itself. "I want to stab Captain." She had told him about her sensitivity to her surroundings, he could've at least thought to take her along, not to mention the poison that was lodged in her by Harpy. Having some sense not leave her in agony was an expectation. But then again, she was not technically part of his crew, he had the right to not take her along. "I will be his crew if it means not having to climb a snowy mountain ever again." Jyuri told herself as she approached the entrance of the cave, guarded by two of the Red-Haired Pirates.

"Who are you?"

"I'm looking for my dumb Captain." Jyuri said, ready to curl into a ball and end her own life. Really, it was that cold. Ace had to go with a coat. "I need to talk to him about his decision to come to this godforsaken island."

"Chii, what are you doing up here?" Ace had poked his head out of the cave before the two pirates could give Jyuri a reply. "You look cold."

"I AM cold Captain," Jyuri replied, already feeling herself slightly warmer. Ace's abilities were truly god sent. "This godforsaken island will be the death of me."

"I just sent Douglas a message, we're celebrating, so you might as well come in Chii." Ace said and Jyuri walked towards the onyx-haired male. "I'm surprised you didn't just teleport yourself up."

"With what? And it's so cold it hurts," Jyuri said as she moved herself under Ace's long coat and wrapped her arms around his torso. "Am I ever so glad I stole a Devil Fruit."

"Chii, you should greet people properly." Ace told her, though made no move to remove Jyuri from his torso. Jyuri whined slightly as she allowed herself to detach momentarily from Ace to greet Red-Haired Shanks.

"I'm Jyuri, currently freeloading off the Spade Pirates." She said with a bow, and instantly reattached herself back onto Ace. "I'm really sensitive to cold, so, please excuse me."


Jyuri woke up to howling winds outside of the cave. Thank goodness to Ace's abilities, he was warm, and she was nestled next to him, her head rested on his knee. Around them were men of both crews, as well as the mess left behind due to the celebrations that occurred a few hours prior. She had been given alcohol. That much she remembered. There was also a dull pain that told her she had probably drank quite a bit.

Really? They were ok with giving minors alcohol?

And she had taken it?

Jyuri really didn't want to think about it. The cold must've made her delirious.

Deciding that it was probably a good idea to clean up the mess, at least those left by Ace, Jyuri got up and set to work, promptly ignoring her headache. Pain was constant, which meant it didn't really bother Jyuri. Once she was done cleaning up the mess, she found some ginger in the Red-Haired crew's supplies, and decided to boil some ginger tea. By the looks of the pirates, she was willing to bet at least one of them was bound to wake up with a bad hangover (also she did kind of want some herself). Plus, she had to do something useful so she could ask Shanks the favour she had in mind since Ace had mentioned greeting him.

She curled up into a ball while she waited for the tea to boil. For some reason she felt really, really tired.

"Either my brain is giving up, or I'm sick." Jyuri muttered to herself.

"Chii, what are you doing?" Jyuri almost jumped when she heard Ace's voice behind her. She uncurled herself and stood up, involuntarily shivering slightly. Wordlessly, she pointed to the pot she had been watching over. "Ginger tea?"

"It helps hangovers." Jyuri explained.


...

"Hence, I would like to ask Mister to show Captain what Haoshoku haki is." Jyuri bowed to Shanks.

"So, you just want me to show him?" Shanks asked. Jyuri straightened up and nodded, then received a thumb up from the red-haired captain a few seconds later. She bowed again.

"Thank you," She thanked him before turning around to find Ace.

"You're the girl from Altair?" Shanks asked, stopping Jyuri in her tracks. She turned back to face him and nodded. "You could just show him Haoshoku yourself."

"An assassin has no need for the power to symbolise a conqueror." Jyuri replied. "Now then, I will leave Captain in your care, Mr. Shanks."


"Onee-chan?" Louis' pair of large green eyes looked at Jyuri, who was hunched over in pain. He had walked in just as their father left the room, and Jyuri did not miss their father's scrutinising gaze over her younger brother. The eight-year-old boy did not harbour a single scar anywhere on his body. He did not have the skills to be still for up to weeks at a time, waiting for the perfect chance to strike at someone's weakness.

He looked like a pampered eight-year-old.

Some part of Jyuri wanted to strangle him.

She bit back the pain, swallowed her hatred and smiled at him, straightening up.

"Louis, what are you here for?"

"I was looking for Onee-chan."

"What's wrong?"

"I heard from May that Onee-chan is getting sent on another mission tomorrow." Louis looked sad. Why did he look sad? She went so he didn't have to. What was so hard to understand about that?

Jyuri forced herself to once again swallow her anger.

She would convince herself to forget about it.

Accept her fate.

She would force herself to accept whatever fate hands to her.

She would.

"Hide yourself well, Louis, Onee-chan can't protect you while I'm away." Jyuri said to Louis, who was looking at her very seriously. "Do not let Father catch you."

"I understand, Onee-chan."

Did he really? Did her sheltered brother really understand what kind of place Altair was? Did he understand the extent of horror he would be subject to if he let himself be caught by their father?

Jyuri didn't think Louis understood anything.

But she smiled, patted him on the head, and did what she was told.

Protect your siblings.

She had failed to do so with Ume. She didn't want to repeat that.

"Louis and Ume doesn't deserve that fate."

Her mother had told her that she was expendable. She was the pawn to keep her siblings away from harm.

She was nothing but a puppet.


I have a really distinct feeling that I'm jumping all over the place and it might confuse people.

Also if any updates are late, I am to blame because currently I am spending all my brain cells on an original story about reverse time traveling and kingdom warfare.

Murasaki xx