This is the last chapter before I start revealing some of the kings! Any last guesses for who the gold king is, cast them in now.
It happened when they were sitting down for dinner.
The pair of them had stolen food from the kitchen (A lose word, it was let go freely but Ace was paranoid) and hidden away from the rest of the crew, in a little hidey-hole that Ace had found when he'd first been brought aboard. It was tucked into a wall that was rarely passed but had a view of the ocean, and an easy escape. Good for paranoid people.
Ace had fallen asleep against her shoulder, totally limp, and Kari dutifully guarded his food for him whilst she ate hers. At first, she almost didn't notice. This feeling was not the foreign one that had raced across her skin so many years ago, an aura she had never known. This was prosperity, it was gilded gold that dripped across her skin, shimmering and cold on the back of her left shoulder.
The only reason she noticed at all was because, without her say so, her skin was abruptly sparkling with a pale light like sunshine.
She looked down at her hand, the rush of power that followed after making her heedy and full of strength, stronger that one. Stronger than ten. Stronger than a hundred men.
It was gone as soon as it had come, but Kari knew it for what it was.
The Gold King had been chosen.
Kari felt her stomach sink. She had spent years searching for the Silver king, and now Gold was chosen and she was no closer to her goal. She was using up her time visiting her boys and squandering her resources making social calls.
Squandering? Mikoto asked. He sat, in the corner of her sight, on the deck rails. Smoke trailed up from the ember at the tip of his cigarette. Kari tried not to look at him head on. It still hurt, the loss of everything. Kaida, Golden Girl, have you forgotten what I asked you to do?
Kari's head squeezed.
I can't, she thought. I have to find them. I have to protect them.
Kaida. You promised me two things. One when you came to me, asking me to save Anna. And another when I lay dying, and you came to me.
Kari wanted to cry. She shook her head. She knew she had made a promise but that one was so, so much harder than vowing never to be afraid. She didn't know how she was supposed to keep it.
The red mark on the back of her hand, a bright flame that danced in the dimness of the moon cast across the sea, heated and warmed her skin. The warmth of Ace's body curling against her ebbed away the gold that came with the Gold. She wondered what this mark would take the form of. A silver heart, a red flame, and the old gold shaped across her shoulder in interlocking geometry with a complicated flower in the middle.
She looked up when someone approached. Shifted minutely closer to her boy.
The person who approached was the man from the kitchen, a commander. He had no devil fruit, but his numbers were high. He was strong and his Shatter Points were small. He had an easy smile and an old school hairdo. The two swords that he kept strapped to his sides were absent.
Kari relaxed minutely.
"He doesn't sleep very often," the man said. Kari's brows furrowed minutely. Ace had had narcolepsy for most of his life. He went to sleep every night at nine o'clock at night and got up again at five thirty in the morning, when he took ritalin and nortriptyline. At two in the afternoon he took a nap for twenty minutes. He had been managing it since he was twelve years old.
If he wasn't sleeping, he was going to aggravate his symptoms and if he fell on a boat he might just die. Kari was going to kill him.
But he had to have a reason for it, so she didn't mention his narcolepsy to this stranger.
"I don't think I got your name," Kari said, instead of anything else. Ace's breath changed but he didn't move. When she looked down she could see the smallest twitches of his fingers. He was stuck. Kari ran her fingers up his back gently. She hoped there were no hallucinations this time.
"Thatch," he introduced. "How long have you known Ace?"
"I dunno," Kari shrugged minutely, jostling him. "Forever and a half. Since we were little kids. I think he was six? Seven?"
"How'd you meet?" Thatch asked. He eyed Ace, who was still frightfully still.
"I was mad, I ran into the woods, I killed something and he was there. "
"...Sorry, what?" Thatch looked ready to laugh.
"I don't know, that's just what happened! "
"And when did he propose?" Thatch's smile spread into a grin. Kari rolled her eyes.
"I think he was ten."
Thatch snorted and started laughing. Kari rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
"He's a dork," she said fondly. An elbow abruptly dug into her side.
"I can hear you!" Ace finally lifted his head. If he was a little pale, she didn't comment on it. Kari bopped him on the nose fondly.
"I know," she said cheerfully. "Get off me, I need to pee."
Ace grunted and peeling himself away, letting her up. She patted his hand and nodded to Thatch. "I'll be back soon."
Now that Ace was awake and alert enough Kari left him behind. Thatch would do him no harm. If anyone here wanted to hurt him, they would have done it already. Kari picked her way through the ship until she found where Ace had stuffed his baggage. Not hard, when you'd known him his entire life. It was in an old broom closet, with Ace's things in a hole in a wall and a clutter of what normally people called trash, but her and her boys knew to be useful. Old ropes, cracked pots and broken knives.
Kari dug through his bag and, just as she'd feared, the bottles were empty. And Ace wouldn't willingly tell anyone here about his condition. Fuck.
Kari ran her fingers through her short black hair, tugging the hairband free. She turned it nervously over in her hands. She was going to have to pick him up some at the next island they were at.
Goddamn these boys. Where was Sabo? He was the sensible of them!
After chewing Ace out for a solid two hours Kari left him to plan his next 'assassination' attempt. Strong they may be, but subtle? Her boys were about as subtle as a brick in the face. Sabo could try, but he was extra and had a flare for the dramatic.
Not that Katja Glows-In-A-Fight Kari had much room to talk.
They were all shit.
Kari shook the thoughts from her mind as she walked through the hallways of the massive ship. The Moby Dick, which she still wasn't over the name of, was a colossal vessel, fit for an emperor and large enough to carry much of his extended family. It wasn't hard for Kari to find Whitebeards room. It wasn't really guarded, but there were nurses who came in and out regularly, and only a fool could miss it.
Kari knocked politely on the door. He didn't have guards. Why would the strongest man in the world need them?
"Come in," came the voice of the old man. Kari opened the door and stepped inside. He was laid up on a massive bed, with tubes and wires poking out of his arms and nose. It was strange. Legends were told about this man, and here he was. Old. Sick. Hooked up to machines, like her own grandfather had been so many, many years ago.
"Ah," Whitebeard smiled at her. "Ace's fiance."
"I still haven't said yes," she told him mildly. She shut the door behind her and went to his bedside. She felt small, like a child next to him. It was strange.
Whitebeard laughed, one that shook the room along with him.
"What are you doing here, little girl?" he asked, looking down at her. His eyes were kind.
"I've been asking around," Kari said, "And everyone says that you want to make Ace your son. Is that right?"
Whitebeard nodded towards her. "It is."
"Good. I'm Glad. Ace is… he's one of my best friends. He's mine, and I can't- I can't protected him, and I can't look after him like I did when we were kids. So I would appreciate it if you would. He's got a chip on his soldier from his biological father. So please be patient with him," she bowed to him, almost perpendicular to the ground.
When she looked up, he was laughing again.
"You don't need to be so formal, or to ask such silly favors. If he is my son I will love him as a part of my family. It's that simple."
Slowly, a smile spread across her lips and a weight lifted itself from her shoulders.
"Then I'll entrust him to you."
She left him then, going off to find a bathroom. She tried to use a mirror to see what was on her shoulder, but all she could see was something that looked a little like a crown with two holes in it. It was in the exact wrong place for her to be able to see what was on it.
Maybe Mikoto was right. Maybe she should just give up this quest and stay with her family. Luffy would be just setting out right about now, if she hurried she might even catch him before he got to reverse mountain. If she was lucky. All the way in the Grandline, it was a long ways to East Blue.