Kari brought herself up next to the Moby Dick on a fine august day some weeks later. Paradise was aptly named, she'd run into little trouble sailing and even the New World was only a little bit more difficult, if she was cautious and generous with her activation of the Gold Sanctum.
By the time she hopped up on the rail guards gold crystals had started forming, framing her nose. cheeks, and rising towards her dark hair.
She hopped up from the little skiff she had commandeered on an island a ways off, caught a hand on the rail and planted her feet on the deck. She came nose to nose with a sleepy eyed man with spiking blond hair and an open shirt.
"Hello," Kari blinked first.
The man looked her over. There wasn't much to see. She was unarmed, her chokuto, Ryujin, lay in the tiny boat she'd exited. Ryujin was a good, solid blade. She'd picked it up on the same island she met Bartolomeo, and accidentally incurred the favor of the kingpin upon. Who knew that the night he took her home was the night someone set up a bomb to try and kill him?
Besides that she was in a blue skirt, her loose long black sleeves hung off of her shoulders until they almost obscured her hands. All of this was offset by a red sleeveless hoodie that matched the headband wrapped around her hair.
She looked less a pirate and more like a plain girl, besides the mark on her shoulder and the scar on her throat.
"Hey," the man didn't move away from her. She didn't blame him. She hadn't exactly been stealthy in her approach, which meant she was on of three things. Stupid, strong, or harmless.
"I'm looking for Portgas D. Ace. Is he around?"
She had to fight to keep her fingers from crushing the railing under her. She'd almost had an aneurysm when she found out what had gone down with Ace's fight with Jimbei, and as soon as she learned where he'd been spirited off to she had torn after him with speed that put riptides to shame.
She had only slowed when she reached Fishman Island and started hearing things about Whitebeard that belayed what she had heard before. That he was not cruel or vicious or anything of the like. That, while selfish and a pirate, he was a good man, a strong leader, and loved his crew more than anything. He was a father.
So here she was, more willing to do things peacefully than she had been before. Her other plans, black ops, fist fights and everything between, were set aside for one that might result in less pain and risk.
"What do you want him for?" the man, who she could swear was familiar, inquired. She didn't get to answer.
"Kari?!"
Both of them looked over to see Ace standing on an upper deck, holding a battle axe in hand. He had grown. Damn, he was way taller than she was now.
Just seeing him was enough to ease the breath out of her lungs. She hopped up onto the railing, storming towards him with a ferocity that had a path cleared. Fearsome pirates threw themselves out of the way. Whitebeard didn't do anything more than watch her from his throne, towering high above everyone around him. His eyes were sparkling.
Someone tried to draw a sword but a glare from her was enough for them to drop it.
"Portgas Delorean Ascension!" she barked. Ace burst into laughter. He set the axe on the ground and opened his arm of her. The anger melted away and she fell into his embrace, locking her arms around him.
"You worried me you shit head!" she scolded. "Are you crazy?"
"I'm fine," Ace huffed. Kari was one hundred percent sure that if it was anyone else he would have been much more awkward about the hug, but she and Luffy had broken him of that long ago. Ace squeezed her and kissed her cheek. Her heart soared. "And if anyone's crazy it's you. You can't just sail up next to a pirate ship like that! They could have shot you down!"
Kari snorted. "I would burn this boat and everyone on it first." She pulled back and smiled to herself when she saw the bright pink dusting Ace's cheeks.
"Those are big words for such a little girl," one of pirates sauntered up towards her. He towered above her head, looking down his nose at the young woman. Kari propped her hand on her hip and gave him a once over. Even without seeing his Shatter Points she knew she could take him. There were a number of people on the boat that she was more doubtful of, but this guy struck her as a grunt instead of someone to actually worry about.
"Yep," she agreed blandly.
"Ace, do you want to introduce us to your friend?" a man in white came up behind the hulking person. Kari wondered how much product he'd stuck in his hair that morning to get it that tall. There was a sword on either hip.
Ace dropped his hand to her shoulder and turned her to face them fully. Kari was loath to let go of him, but she went with it.
"Yeah. This is Kari. She's my fiance," Ace said proudly.
There was a clatter as half the boat fell over.
"FIANCE?!"
Kari elbowed him lightly. "I never said yes to you."
"You didn't say yes to Lu or Sabo either," he pointed out. Kari snorted before she sobered.
"So… you're here. Not chained up or nothing. Why?"
Ace tilted his head towards the mammoth of a man sitting on deck, watching the pair of them. There was a wide grin on his face. Whitebeard didn't even have a beard.
"I'm going to take that mans head."
Kari looked at Ace, then Whitebeard, then the battleaxe on the deck and sighed. This boy.
"You make a pretty shit assassin, love of mine. Want help?" she offered. The guy that called her 'little girl' stiffened and took a step towards her. Ace waved his hand at her flippantly.
"Nah. This is between him and me. It's a fight between men."
"I had a feeling you'd say that," she shook her head and made her way towards the captain. THere were so many people around her that she couldn't even begin to describe each of them. She quietly marked each of them as 'annoying to fight' and 'not fight'. The only one she thought of as 'dangerous' was Whitebeard himself. She looked up at him, eyes blackening as she took in his shatter points. He was still human, but his numbers were the highest she'd ever encountered. Higher than Garps, even.
Kari couldn't tell if she was excited or scared.
She bowed towards him. "Thanks for putting up with Ace's bullshit."
A laugh boomed loud enough it almost knocked her off her feet. She looked up at Whitebeard, and was surprised despite herself when he was smiling down at her. She was struck with the most bizarre thought that he reminded her of a father she hadn't known in decades.
Her throat tightened.
"Um," she said.
"So you've known Ace a while then?" Whitebeard asked. Kari nodded.
"Yes. I've known him since he was a little punk instead of a taller than me dick!" she shot the last few words at Ace, who puffed up, looking utterly smug. She'd been taller than the boys for most of their life. Being shorter was… disappointing.
"So you know all of his embarrassing childhood memories, right?" the blond that had met her at the railing strolled up to Whitebeards side.
Kari started to grin.
"Oh, yeah. I know. Them all."
Ace stared at her in horror.
"Traitor!"
Kari just laughed.
Kari cracked her neck from side to side. Her dark eyes narrowed ever so slightly, shadowing her iris' with lashes that had grown long and full. Strapped to her hip Ryujin hummed with energy. There was something about the sword that she didn't fully understand. It was old. Old, and powerful, and strong.
Ace stood before her, a cocky grin lighting up his face. It was as familiar as breathing to Kari. As was the way he stood, feet apart and heels lifted, his knees bent and his hands hovering. Perfect, just as she'd taught him.
He moved.
Kari twisted out of the way, spinning around the outside of Ace's arm. She caught his wrist, planted her palm on the back of his head and slammed him onto the deck of the Moby Dick. Her hand went through his neck and slammed into wood, scraping her knuckles. Fire swirled around her wrist, holding an inch apart from her skin.
Kari's eyes blackened. She sucked in sharply. Ace's numbers had changed. There was a number there that she had never understood before. One that she hadn't connected the dots on before.
"You ate a devil fruit," she realized.
The fire slunk away from her, reforming into a human a few feet away. He grinned at her.
"Fire type, you can't touch me now!" he crowed. Kari narrowed her eyes. It was pride that drove her to lunge at Ace, abandoning the perfect gold and the practiced stances for something low and hard and unrefined. Flames licked across Ace's skin but this time Kari was ready. He was the wrong type for this.
She hit him hard with a fist covered in fire that had no gold or orange, just red, sending the boy arching over the deck. He skidded to a stop and sat up slowly, rubbing his jaw. They'd already had an audience, but now it had doubled. Ace, and everyone else watching, stared at her with open mouths and wide eyes.
"How- that wasn't Haki!" Ace pointed at her. Kari cocked her head.
"What's Haki?" she asked, "I told you, I was the Red Queen. Fire's a part of that, love."
"No, no, no, no," one of the other Whitebeard pirates walked over and started shooing the pair of them. "No more fire on the ship. We are not lighting it on fire. No!"
Kari rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, no fire. Come on, Ace, swords."
"No swords either," the same man objected. "You're both insane! Wait until we're on an island at least!"
Kari rolled her head on her shoulder, blase. "As long as its uninhabited."
"The boat isn't uninhabited!" he screamed. Kari blinked at him blandly.
"No," she agreed, "But if you die because the two of us are playing around, you're not a very good pirate."
Ace threw his arm, warm and still half fire, around her shoulder, laughing loudly. Kari's heart beat harder and she grinned, leaning into him gladly. She had missed him. She missed all of her boys.
"Hey, Ace," she turned her face into his shoulder, eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks. "Let's visit Sabo this year, okay?"
"Sabo?" Ace's voice softened. "Yeah. That sounds fine to me."
"But first," he added, "I have to kill Whitebeard."
Kari rolled her eyes. Ace was good, but the numbers didn't add up. There was no way that he would win, not unless he stooped to levels she knew damn good and well that he wouldn't.
