They had a problem.
In Wendy's opinion, they actually had two problems, but they seemed to think it was just one. They said the problem was what to do with the two attackers – who now knew Ace was alive. Wendy thought that their different views on that was a bigger problem: Ace and Zoro wanted to take them along as prisoners. Nami was against that, and instead said they should just leave the two on the island, who was apparently just a forest with no means of communication and no way of getting out of unless another ship appeared. She assumed that by then, they would have joined up with Luffy and revealed Ace's survival.
Ace and Zoro disagreed and thought they could use the two as bait to lure the boss. Charle furiously opposed to that – as it would put her and Wendy in danger, which led Ace to change his mind – now opposing Zoro.
Chopper arrived in the middle of the discussion – and Wendy, Charle and Ace were surprised to see that it was a reindeer. They were even more surprised when Chopper spoke, clearly excited to see two of his friends again. The excitement faded fast as the argument resumed – and when he realized Ace was alive, freaking out about it until Nami shouted at him to calm down.
"I don't want to travel with prisoners on the ship," Chopper promptly manifested, siding with Nami, "I've seen this island, they can't get out and nobody comes here."
"We can't take that risk!" Ace protested, "look, if Luffy finds out through the news that I am alive, after so many others found out, he will be bothered. Also, if they realize that Wendy has the power to heal someone that had been fatally injured, both the Marines and pretty much every pirate crew in the world will start hunting her down. Can you imagine someone that can heal you instantly on a battlefield? That can make you invincible."
"She can also increase our speed," Zoro agreed, "she would be in danger."
"If we take them and someone attacks us, they can tell people about it and she'll be in even more danger! Not to mention the fact that they will be a constant threat, and she can't defend herself on a ship."
"I don't want to travel with prisoners," Wendy admitted shyly, finally joining the argument, and clearly displeasing both men. "I can fight if we are attacked, Ace-san," she assured him, now sounding more confident.
"Besides, she attacked the man who almost killed you in that war," Charle told them all, and they all reacted extremely surprised and alarmed to that revelation, "he might not know that she can heal, but he knows she can fight and that she decided to protect you and Luffy. He's probably already looking for her."
"You attacked Akainu?!" Ace repeated, now exasperated. "Are you insane?!"
"How did you even manage to hit him? That man is a monster!" Zoro added, impressed.
"Now we are definitely going to die," Nami cried, hiding her face in her hands, "he'll find out we are hiding her and come for all of us."
"They would anyway since Luffy broke out of Impel Down and messed with that war, then left alive," Zoro pointed out, "we also did declare war against them in Enies Lobby."
"Ok, we are three against two on leaving the attackers here," Ace spoke, focusing, "what about we get back to the ship and get moving before more of them come? We can talk on the ship."
Wendy groaned but agreed and they immediately went back to the ship – now with Chopper coming along. There, Nami gave Zoro instructions on where to sail towards, and Ace, Wendy, Chopper and Charle just sat down on the deck to talk and watch the stars. Well, Wendy collapsed from motion sickness.
"I might have something for that," Chopper commented, grabbing a bunch of herbs he gathered in the island and mixing them with water. He had Ace warm the water before handing it to Wendy, who drank hesitantly.
At first, she remained sick, but after a few minutes she started to feel better – until she didn't feel sick at all.
"This is amazing, Chopper-san!" She exclaimed, celebrating the fact that she could actually be on a ship without feeling extremely and unpleasantly sick, which she missed dearly ever since the motion sickness started.
"I'M NOT HAPPY, SILLY! I'M NOT HAPPY AT ALL!" Chopper suddenly ranted, blushing furiously
Ace had one knee bent so his arm rested on it, and the other leg resting on the floor. He looked at the sky, but his eyes seemed to be looking at something beyond it. Wendy noticed the tattoo on his back then and remembered that the man who called Ace a son had died in the war.
"I'm sorry about your father, Ace-san," she spoke shyly and in a low voice so the others wouldn't listen – Nami and Zoro were busy bickering and Chopper was talking to Charle, who scolded him all the time. "I couldn't heal him in time…"
He immediately looked at her and put one hand on her head gently, making her stop talking.
"Nobody could ever blame that on you, kid," he commented, on a far calmer tone than his usual one. "That's a risk we take when we chose this life… The one I'll have pay for this is Blackbeard."
She had a recollection of Blackbeard's voice and how people reacted to him, but back then she had been too focused on Ace to pay much visual attention.
"Also, I lost the right to call him father-" these words surprised Wendy. Ace's hands closed into tight fists, "all this mess happened because I refused to listen when he told me not to chase Teach. No, because I let Teach go rogue in the first place when he was under my command."
"I don't think that changes anything for parents," she gently suggested, then thought of something, "why did Luffy-san call him old man? Aren't you brothers?"
"Not really, and Whitebeard isn't the man who gave me life, he is just the only one I will ever accept as a father."
She smiled and hugged her knees then.
"I get it," she said, and now he looked a mixture of surprised and amused. "I was an orphan until Grandeeney found me. She's my mother because she raised me, but then she disappeared for a long time, and when I found her, she…" Wendy looked down, fighting the sad memories of the Tartaros battle.
"Heh, I would never guess someone like you would have any sort of sadness in your past," Zoro said, approaching them. Wendy heard and sensed him coming, and Ace wasn't the type to act startled, so he didn't get a reaction from suddenly meddling. "You don't have that look."
"What look?" Charle asked, joining them.
"Never mind," Ace shrugged, then lied down with his arms behind his head, "man, we really should get us some booze as soon as we can."
"I want Sanji," Chopper added, and Nami agreed to that.
"Who's Sanji?"
"Our cook," Zoro answered, "he's a pervert and annoying but his food is decent…"
"How do we even meet up with them again? We need to do something so they know we're heading to Sabaody," Nami commented, thinking.
"Do something that gets you in the news," Ace said simply, "that's the easiest way to spread the word about you. Could even help Wendy if she shows up too, her friends might see it."
"So would the people hunting her and then we'll be their target," Nami protested, clearly not willing to draw a battle to herself. "We are outnumbered and without two of our three monsters."
"We have Wendy for support and Ace for offense now, though," Zoro pointed out.
"No offense, but I don't feel all that comfortable with the odds like that, I don't feel comfortable without our whole crew." Chopper interfered, while Nami and Wendy both suddenly tensed.
The bluenette stood up and hurried to the edge of the deck, same as the navigator.
"There's a storm coming," they both said in unison, surprising one another. "Zoro, help me change our course!"
"How did you know that?" Ace asked while also moving to help, and actually aiding in giving orders – to which Nami seemed actually glad.
"I can sense the change in the air pressure," she answered, focused, "Nami-san, the storm is moving east, if we go west we can miss it!"
"It will pass inches away from us, it might still sink us!"
"I can control it," she surprised them, her tone firm and confident, "I'm sure I can control that much."
"What do you mean control…"
Nami didn't wait for Ace to finish his question and agreed with Wendy, changing course to west instead of southwest – which would mean going backwards and wasting time. She and Wendy stood in front of the group handling the sails and helms, until the hurricane – of huge proportions – came into view.
"Charle," Wendy called, and the Exceed grabbed the bluenette and flew with her ahead. From the distance, they couldn't see exactly what was happening, but they could see the air changing directions as if avoiding her. Then, it seemed like it was going inside of her.
When the ship reached it, it wasn't strong enough to do any harm, and Wendy and Charle landed back on the ship that now had four impressed pirates.
"What did you do?"
"How did you weaken the hurricane? It looked like it went inside of you!"
"Air is my element," Wendy said, looking more energetic and stronger, "I can control it, and I trained for one year to get better at that. I can eat it, too," she explained timidly.
"Eat air? How is that different than breathing?"
"Have you tried to breathe in the middle of a hurricane?" Charle questioned, shutting Zoro up.
"But that is a weird storm," Wendy said, and they all turned to look at her, "the hurricane air was full of Ethernano."
It took her a while to explain what ethernano was to the rest of them, and by the time she was done, dawn came, surprising the group who had been tired but ended up not sleeping. Upon seeing the first light, both Zoro and Ace suddenly lied down and fell asleep as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
Nami sighed at the sight of them.
"We'd better let them rest first, Nami," Chopper stated before the navigator woke the two up, "if we have to fight, we need them to be ok!"
That convinced her, and she went back to navigating, while Charle decided to fly around their area to explore. What followed were uneventful following days, as no enemies crossed paths with them. With far more ease than they expected, they finally reached Water 7.
Which looked a lot more like a warzone – even if not on the same level as Marineford.
"What is going on?" Chopper asked, apprehensively staring at the upwards built town. It still had the same shape as always, but buildings were falling, burning, and they could hear faint battle cries from afar. Well, the pirates could hear faint sounds, Wendy could hear them loud and clear. She threw a concerned glance at Ace before retreating into the ship.
"There's someone floating in the water! Look!" Zoro called, pointing at the water near the docks where, indeed, a man floated unconscious. There was no sign of people around them, everyone was probably busy with whatever war broke out in the island. Wendy had been busy trying to figure out a way to get Ace to stay on the ship when Charle gasped.
"Gray!" Wendy's head snapped and she hurried to see what Charle was seeing. The Exceed flew down to the water and returned carrying an unconscious Fairy Tail mage. Now fully focused on him, the bluenette hurried to look for wounds and heal whatever needed healing. She could hear his heartbeat, steady, and couldn't find any lethal marks anywhere.
"I think he's just exhausted," Ace told her, kneeling next to her. "I've seen plenty of wounded and dead men on the sea. He looks unharmed."
That wasn't as soothing as he probably meant it to be, but he was right about the exhaustion: Gray wasn't in danger, she assumed he would wake up soon. That brought her mind back to her main concern.
"We should find a place to hide," Nami spoke, looking up at the city. Zoro and Ace looked like two kids whose parties had just been cancelled. The navigator looked annoyed at them, "now listen here, you are not fighting because then Chopper and I will have to fight-" she told Zoro, "and you are supposed to be dead!"
"What do you expect us to do? You were the one who wanted to regroup here, get a better ship and whatnot. I don't see us doing that peacefully now, do you?" Zoro shot back.
"W-Wendy?" They both turned to look at the man they just rescued. He was sitting up, looking around confused and tired. His eyes locked on the young girl – probably due to the fact that she was the one familiar thing he could see. "What happened?"
"We ask you," Ace said, and Gray turned to look at him, tensing as he caught sight of Zoro and Nami, "you were the one floating…"
"You! You are the man that caused the war! You were supposed to be dead!"
Everyone tensed when Gray stood up and assumed a battle stance, pulling Wendy behind him protectively. The bluenette and Charle looked confused at their friend.
"H-Hey, aren't you her friend?" Nami asked, stepping ahead of Zoro and Ace, who both seemed ready to fight.
"How do you know about the war, Gray?" Charle asked, flying around him to stand next to Nami.
"Hundreds of people died thanks to him! Wendy, he's dangerous! I don't know how he would survive the level of injury I heard he…"
He seemed to realize then just how someone could survive those injuries, because he slowly turned to stare at a worried Wendy, who moved around him, standing between him and the group of pirates.
She was about to explain what happened when a louder explosion on the city made them jump, alarmed. Wendy then remembered something much more dangerous she had to deal with first. Ignoring Gray, she turned to the ship's navigator.
"Nami-san, can I talk to you, please?"
Nami nodded, still tense due to the near-conflict, and moved away with the healer while Charle stayed to make sure Gray didn't decide to attack. Ace and Zoro stayed, too, though it was clear they wanted to know what she wanted to talk about.
Wendy sighed before speaking, once they were far enough so she could whisper without being heard.
"I can hear everything," she told Nami in a very low voice, "I can hear them shouting one name, and one laughter I've heard once before…"
Nami frowned, confused.
"They are calling the name of pirate that killed Ace-san's dad, and I can hear his laughter."
Author's Note:
Ooooookay, so there's a whole debate over OP vs. FT on the comments that I definitely did not expect. I am all for healthy discussions so I'll totally support that it happens as long as y'all can keep it polite and nice, okay? I can't actually control what happens but I'll ask this: no insulting or offending others just cause their opinion differs from yours, please. If you're here I'll assume it's because you like both stories to some extent, and even if you prefer one, you can't expect everyone to share that preference. I'll also dare say this: both sides vouching for which characters are stronger are wrong and right at the same time, because since there's no way of actually testing it – and if it were put to test, it would be up to Oda and Hiro's wishes anyways – none of you can claim to be correct or wrong. Just agree to disagree, guys, and have fun trying to convince the others to see it your way.
For the ones actually reviewing, thanks for the compliments, suggestions and corrections! I'm taking all of it under consideration, I swear. I'll disagree with the whole "only One Piece uses the power of friendship" and "only Fairy Tail uses power of friendship" thing because honestly I think both stories – and pretty much every other manga/anime – do that, and there's only so much logic one can apply to a fight between people with magic powers (that itself is illogical after all).
Thank you for reading, and I hope you stick around! J