Chapter 10: The Concert
Two weeks passed and it was time for Ace´s farewell concert. Luffy had locked himself in to his room, refusing to come out to watch the concert from the TV. Zoro had given up a while ago and was now on the living room with Chopper, waiting for the concert to start.
"Are you seriously going to watch that Marimo?" Sanji asked, but got no answer. He was worried; both Luffy and Zoro had been acting weirdly the past week. And it was definitely not like Zoro to watch something like that; the only things he watched from TV were some stupid swordsman things!
"Do you think we´ll see Margaret and Kaya in the audience?" Chopper asked from Zoro, getting Sanji´s attention, too.
"Maybe" Zoro said "And keep your eyes open for Robin, too"
"Robin-swaaan!" Sanji yelled, running to the sofa and sitting next to Chopper.
"You think she´ll be there?" Chopper asked, making Zoro nod "Most likely"
"Why would she be there, Marimo?" Sanji asked, but got ignored again. The blonde sighed; Zoro was definitely hiding something.
"Ma-"
"It´s starting!" Chopper cheered. Sanji sighed, starting to watch the concert. He´d ask later.
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Ace sat down on the sofa behind the stage, sighing. The concert had gone well and he had ended it with his favorite song, Memories, but that was not the problem now.
"Something wrong Ace?" the freckle faced singer looked up to see his manager, Edward Newgate.
"I gave VIP tickets to… two of my friends, but I´m not sure if they´ll come" he said with a sigh "We´ve had our fights lately"
"Is that who those two were? Your quests?" asked Marco, the drummer, who just arrived.
"You mean they came?" Ace asked, standing up "Can you sent to the VIP rooms in fifteen minutes so I can change?"
"Why? You look good" Marco said, laughing as Ace glared at him. He knew Ace didn´t like the outfits he was made to wear; like the punk rocker outfit he had now.
"Luffy´s gonna die laughing if he sees me in this… and Zoro too" Ace thought. He knew Luffy didn´t like waiting, but he would not let his little brother see him in this outfit.
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Margaret was so excited that she couldn´t stay still even for a small moment. She was trying to make a good impression on Ace, so she had dressed in her best: black miniskirt, black boots with high heels and a bit too revealing white top, which in the right light was see through. Kaya had a much simpler outfit: light yellow dress and yellow coat, her shoes being white high heels. They looked so different but still good.
"This so weird; I still can´t believe we´re meeting the Ace!" Margaret giggled to her friend. Kaya just smiled, thinking it would be rude to remind Margaret that they would have met him at school anyway.
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"So Luffy is coming?" Robin asked from Ace who had taken a quick shower and was now drying his hair on the couch in the VIP room. He was wearing simple light brown shorts and a yellow t-shirt that wasn´t buttoned. He likes loose and simple clothes; there was no use in denying it.
"Yeah; I only sent VIP tickets to him and Zoro, it can´t be anyone else" Ace told.
"Are you sure about that?" Robin asked, adjusting her purple cow boy hat that matched with her purple skirt and corset top. High, purple boots finalized the outfit. She had a mature, perfect body, and no one would have believed she was already on her late twenties.
"What do you mean?"Ace asked.
"You sure Luffy ain´t coming with a girlfriend?" asks Sabo, Ace´s brother who just came in. He had long blond hair that was tied in a ponytail. He was wearing the same punk styled outfit as his brother did not long before, just to annoy him. Ace burst out laughing.
"Luffy having a girlfriend?" he asked, amused "The old geezer has an affair with Shanks before that happens!"
Robin and Sabo sweat dropped; that was a bit too much.
"Maybe we should start with saying that you will have a girlfriend before that happens, shouldn´t we Ace?" Robin asked with a knowing smile, making Ace blush. Despite his career he had never dated.
"Don´t pick on him Robin, you know full well why" Sabo said with a chuckle.
"Shut up; both of you" Ace hissed, crossing his arms. They laughed.
"We must go now; Kuma-san is already waiting for us" Robin said.
"You go ahead" Sabo said "I´ll catch up in a minute"
Robin nodded, realizing that the brothers needed to talk about something. When she was out of the room Sabo asked: "Is Luffy still angry at you?"
Ace sighed.
"Yeah" he confirmed "I don't get it; he said he was okay with it"
"Well it´s Luffy we´re talking about; we might even be wrong about why he´s so angry"
"But can you say any other reason why he would be angry?" Ace asked.
"No" Sabo said, shaking his head "If you really want to know then try asking Zoro"
"Can´t you try to make him talk?" Ace asked, grinning as Sabo gave him a death glare.
"You do remember what happened last time I tried that, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, you-"
"No need to say it out loud!" Sabo hissed, making Ace laugh.
"Anyway" the star said "You did get the information out of him back then"
"Yeah, but that had nothing to do with Luffy" Sabo said "Zoro would never brake a promise, especially not to him"
"You´re right" Ace said. For a moment they were quiet before Sabo spoke: "I should probably go now; Robin and Kuma are waiting already"
"Yeah, have fun" Ace said. When his brother was already at the door he added: "And Sabo"
"Yeah?"
"Don´t get her pregnant" Ace said, dodging the pillow that was aimed for his face only a second later.
"Fuck you, Ace" Sabo said, slamming the door behind him. Ace laughed, looking at the clock. It would still take five minutes before Marco brought Zoro and Luffy.
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Margaret´s night wasn´t starting as well as she had hoped. Just a moment ago they saw a hot, young woman leaving the VIP room. The woman had looked at the oddly when she saw them and then just walked away.
"Maybe she was his sister?" Kaya suggested, trying to cheer up her friend.
"I doubt that; people would know if a famous singer had a hot older sister" Margaret said with a sigh, raising her head as she heard the door to Ace´s room open.
"Fuck you, Ace" they heard a blonde man say before he shut the door. When he noticed them he walked over to them, asking: "Are you two supposed to be here?"
Margaret was offended by that.
"Yes we are; we have the VIP tickets" she said with a smirk.
"To Ace´s room?" Sabo asked, suspicious. There was no way… when the girls nodded a thought came to him and he asked: "Did you, by any chance, get the tickets from guys named Luffy and Zoro?"
"Yeah" Margaret said "Do you know them?"
Sabo had hard time holding his laughter. Those two had actually given their tickets to two girls?
"They´re so doing this to annoy Ace" he thought, coughing a little so that he wouldn´t laugh.
"Yes; Luffyis my younger brother" Sabo told, making Margaret blink.
"So you´re Sabo?" Kaya asked, remembering the conversation in the lunch break a way back.
"He mentioned me?" Sabo asked, making sure he wouldn´t say Ace´s name. Luffy´s friends didn´t know about Ace; that much he was sure of.
"Yes, a while back" Kaya said.
"What´re you doing here?" Margaret asked.
"I work here" Sabo said without missing a beat; he knew they´d ask that, so he had prepared a lie so that Luffy wouldn´t be angry.
"Hey Ace!" he shouted "Your quests are already here; I´m sending them in!"
Sabo had hard time holding his laughter as he heard Ace yell: "Okay"
"You two better get going" Sabo said with a chuckle and took off. The girls looked after him for a moment before shrugging and going towards the door. Kaya knocked.
"Come in" Ace called, not understanding why they bothered to knock. His expression was full of shock and disbelief when two young girls entered the room instead of his little brother and his old friend. For a moment the three of them only stared at each other before Kaya broke the silence: "Umm, are we in the right place? I mean we have the VIP-tickets and we were told to come here…"
"Huh? Yeah you are; I was just… expecting someone else" Ace muttered awkwardly.
"Two guys around our age; the other one having dark and the other green hair?" Margaret asked. She was starting to understand how they got the tickets; Luffy´s brother was in good terms with Ace.
"Yeah, those two" Ace confirmed "You two friends of theirs?"
"Yeah, we´re in the same school" Margaret said.
"I see" Ace said, pausing "Umm…"
"Oh, sorry" Margaret said "I´m Margaret, and this is my friend Kaya"
"Nice to meet you" Ace said. That was a lie; he was so going to kill his brother and the damn swordsman when he got his hands on them! They had gone too far this time.
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Margaret and Kaya´s visit last about an hour, and after they left Ace were exhausted. They were nice, in a way, but Margaret was clearly a typical fan girl… well not the type to scream all the time, but you get the point.
"I know Luffy´s angry at me, but this went a bit too far!" Ace thought, deciding to call Zoro since Luffy wouldn´t answer his call anyway.
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"Hello?" Zoro said, picking up his shell phone.
"You have some explaining to do" Ace said from the other end of the line. Zoro sighed; he had seen this coming. But he couldn´t fight the smile that came to his face.
"What, you didn´t like the girls?" he asked with a chuckle.
"Very funny Zoro"
"Sorry, but just so you know it was Luffy´s idea" Zoro told, knowing that Ace must have guessed it anyway "I wouldn´t have done it my own; I know your fears after all…"
"Shut up!" Ace yelled, making Zoro laugh.
"Sorry sorry" he said "Anyway, Ace, there is something I need to warn you about"
A.N: If someone was waiting a bigger scene between Ace, Margaret and Kaya then sorry, didn´t happen. It was just so damn hard to write that I skipped it. However, I really enjoyed writing the scene between Ace, Sabo and Robin. Naturally those two will appear later too, but it´s probably gonna take a while. Anyway, review!