***** DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ- A Pirate's Life for Me is the third (kinda fourth) published story in this One Piece Universe that I and Jesachi, u/711995/Jesachi, have written together. Many people really enjoyed the first one, The Way of the Sword and Rose, but Jesachi and I have moved on to other writing in our lives, and we don't think we're ever going to go back and edit these. Therefore, this is a WARNING that this story is completely UN-EDITED and also written as a roleplay between myself and Jesachi, so the point of view switches between the two main characters every now and then. If this bothers you, don't read it :) We are only publishing these because we thought our fans might want to see the direction we took with our One Piece Universe. I hope you enjoy! Raion and Eevee are an amazing couple, and Luffy's entire crew makes an appearance eventually :)**********
A couple of minutes ago...
Nami spun around, Luffy's arms twisting and twisting unnaturally and she laughed. He was a terrible dancer, really. But he was loving it and because his happiness was ultimately infectious, she was enjoying herself a hundred times more than she would have been without him.
She squealed and laughed as he dipped her low down, so low that her shoulder blades nearly touched the floor, for the last beat of the song. And in her vision upside down, she saw something interesting.
Raion ditched his partner, his little snake nakama and she was picked up by Heavy Point Chopper and Nami watched with mounting curiosity as her son zeroed in on someone and started making his way across the room. She followed his gaze to see... Eevee. The young woman was talking to Loo-Bear, having just finished dancing with him. Nami pinged her eyes back to Raion, then back to Eevee, then back to Raion and watched, fascinated, as Lukas swept the noble princess up and Rouge grabbed Raion and dragged him away.
Now, Nami was incredibly smart. And she'd been piecing dots together for two days now and it was all coming to a head.
Luffy snapped her back up and she gasped as she suddenly found herself upright. He grinned widely at her and laughed and she pulled his face down so that her lips were by his ear.
"Watch Raion," she said sneakily, "And tell me what you see."
Luffy's eyes darted around the crowd, until they settled on their son and she watched him watch Raion, tugging at her lower lip in anticipation for his reaction. The Pirate King made a thinking face, then a concentrating face and Nami followed her son. The young pirate prince was talking to Rouge, but every second, his eyes were watching someone else, someone lovely in a golden sunset dress...
"He's really frustrated..." Luffy commented slowly and she knew he was using his Haki to aid him. He made a fast pulsing motion with his hand near his chest, "His heart is..."
"But why?" Nami prompted, too excited to wait for her dimwitted spouse to come to the conclusion on his own, "He wants to dance with Eevee!" she whispered.
Luffy snorted with amusement, "Course he does. Everyone does!"
She growled in frustration and pulled his hair until his face was level with hers, "C'mon, Luffy, work with me here!" she demanded, "He's frustrated, his heart rate in elevated, he can't stop watching her... he was holding her hand when they walked from the ship this morning... together... she left the bonfire last night after he did..." she made a motion with her hand, encouraging him to get the point...
He stared at her for a minute, blinking and she was just about to spoon-feed him the answer when a slow, devious grin spread over her face, "The Mystery Feeling..." he whispered and she nodded.
"Come," she grabbed his hand and started pulling him through the crowd, "I have a plan."
Luffy chuckled, "I love your plans."
Raion spun his mother around the dance floor, "No, I love dancing with you," he assured her with a grin.
"But I'm not who you really want to dance with..." she hedged and he didn't know what kind of answer she was expecting so he just shrugged. His eyes automatically darted away for a brief second to seek her, dancing with Luffy, trying to teach him the steps and his sire laughing it off and twirling her around repeatedly.
"Are you having fun, baby?" Nami's question demanded his attention again.
"Ya!" he replied, "This is great! I think Brook and I are gonna steal the stage soon..."
She lit up, "Are you gonna sing something?"
He chuckled, "Maybe."
"Oh, your father would love that! He loves to hear you sing!"
Raion chuckled, "I know," Luffy was probably his number one fan when it came to his music. A typical night growing up in the Pirate King's household had been Raion playing the piano and Luffy singing at the top of his lungs, dancing Nami and Belle around. A regular favorite was obviously Binks no Sake, but he wasn't going to sing that tonight.
"TRADE YOU!" a shout came from behind them and Raion whirled around to see his father right there with Eevee. He whipped his head back around to see his mother grin knowingly and blow him a kiss before she was tugged from his grasp with a rubbery arm and replaced swiftly by a gold shimmery dress.
They fell into the step like two people cut from the same cloth of dance, he the music and she the rhythm. His body moved with hers so seamlessly that there was no leading and no following; they just were, like one mind and one body, born to the beat.
"Finally!" he breathed, glancing down at Eevee with a grin, "I was hoping you were next..." swear to god, if someone came to try and take her from him, he was gonna cut someone.
After years of dancing, it was pretty rare for Eevee to become dizzy from the act. Perhaps it was more the constantly changing hands and being passed from person to person that did it. It most definitely didn't help with Luffy grabbing her up for a second round, and, rather than obeying any of her dance instruction, he simply decided to spin her around like a top. Despite herself, she laughed, amazed by how his arm twisted like a rubber band, allowing her to spin endlessly while keeping a strong grip with his hand.
Luffy continued to spin her until suddenly she was stopped by him, and Luffy shouted out, "TRADE YOU!" Blinking, confused, Eevee looked up to find herself being maneuvered into position with...Raion.
Her heart stuttered in her chest, and a blush stole over her cheeks as he seamlessly placed a hand at her hip and another in one of hers, pulling her closer to him and into a proper dancing position. Except for Sanji and Lou, he was easily the best dancer of the evening as they began twirling across the floor together. Sanji and Lou may have had more practice and training, but she found she danced with Raion effortlessly. In a partner dance, the man was supposed to lead, and Raion did, but they moved so much so in sync that it was almost unnecessary.
His words made her heart quicken, and she smiled up at him, "You're certainly much better at this than your father is, though don't tell him I said that," she added the last part quickly, glancing over her shoulder at the pirate king, who doing the same to Nami what he had just been doing to her. Chuckling a little, she looked back up at Raion.
"You look dashing, senchou," she told him in a quieter voice, a smile playing at the edges of her lips and her eyes softened. The moment she'd spotted him, she'd lost her footing with Luffy during their first dance, not that the Pirate King had noticed. The lighter gray shirt emphasized the breadth of Raion's shoulders, and the black pants made his hips look even more narrow. With his mop of black hair an slashing dark eyes, the combination of it all stole her breath. Unconsciously, her fingers tightened on his shoulder as they danced, and she moved a little closer to him than she had with the other men she'd danced with that evening. "I like your choice of outfit," she said approvingly.
They were impossibly close, much closer than would have been appropriate for a partner dance. Every step brought them a hairsbreadth closer, her body flirting with his, one moment her breasts against his chest, the next twirling out of his arms and then tugged back again, pressed flush to him for a scaldingly brief time before she adjusted her grip and once again, the cycle of flirting would begin anew.
"You'd think he'd be better at it by now," he replied, watching his father twirl his mother until she stumbled and fell into him, dizzy and laughing, "He loves music and dance," he spun Eevee and brought her back into him again. His hand settled on her hips, over that shimmery gold material. It hugged her curves like a second skin down to her knees, then flared out reminiscent of a mermaid's tail.
He chuckled at her comment, her tone almost pleasantly surprised, "We uncivilized pirate folk can clean up good," he teased, "We just choose not to..." he skimmed his hand over her hip and back, the material slipping under his hands like mercury. He leaned in close to her, his cheek against hers and said, "You, however, put the Pirate Queen herself to shame tonight... and don't tell her I said that..."
So into dancing with her, as effortless as breathing, he didn't notice the observers they were gathering. At first, they paid attention because they were waiting for a break in the music, any excuse to snatch up the beautiful woman for another round. Then, with mounting curiosity, they watched Raion, widely known within his family and friends of being a bit of a bad boy with a velvet smile and devil-may-care attitude, soften and respond to the beauty in his embrace. And they continued to watch because of the smooth, seamless way they moved together, like two opposing forces drawn together. He the Dark Prince, cloaked in his father's shadow of legacy and she a brilliant beam of sunshine, a Bella Donna of elegance and class.
And not a soul interrupted them, their spectators gossiping, laughing and whispering yet hardly daring to breathe the wrong way lest such a delicate combination shatter like fine crystal.
The world had narrowed down to the two of them as they danced, and Eevee forgot about everyone else on that ship. Their dancing was so in tune that it was effortless, and she could direct all of her attention on him. A blush stole over her features at his praise, and she shook her head at him, but didn't comment. Inside, her heart had leapt at his words, and the feel of his cheek brushing against hers.
"Well, I'm glad that such things as the Pirate Ball exist in this world...as much as I hated being a noble, I did enjoy balls," she told him with an excited smile. "I especially love seeing how each person decided to express themselves in fancy garments as opposed to their normal wear." He spun her away until she reached the limit of his arm, where she was tugged to a stop for one weightless moment before she was wound back in to the circle of his arms. At this part of the dance, she came to rest with her back to his chest, facing away from him. It gave her the chance to sweep her eyes over the crowd, many of which, to her startling realization, were watching them with great interest.
Throughout the ball, she'd made it a point to see every person she'd become acquainted with over the last two days because of this interest to see what they would look like in gown or tux. She realized though, that there was one person she hadn't seen. Rouge's mother, Mara, was absent. She frowned a little, because she'd really wanted to see what the blond woman was going to look like in a gown, fascinated as she was by how the woman moved. Dahlia had informed her that Mara had eaten the mizu mizu no mi, and so was made of water, which explain the surreal grace she had. Wearing a gown, Eevee had been sure she'd be positively ethereal.
But she wasn't here, the only one out of the Strawhats' friends and family. Eevee also knew that it wasn't that she just hadn't seen her yet, Eevee knew that she wasn't on this ship at all, though she didn't know how she knew that.
Raion gently pushed her out from his chest into another twirl, but now he pulled her back in so that she faced him once more. Her hand returned to his shoulder and she tilted her head back to look up into his handsome face. "Raion, where is Ms. Mara? She isn't here tonight..."
Raion's anxiety peaked when Eevee came back into his arms and asked her question. Mara wasn't here, of course. She was with Ace because everyone had felt terribly guilty about leaving him all alone. He didn't think that anyone would notice her absence, honestly. The Ball was too exciting and Mara was an innocuous enough character that she was unlikely to be missed as opposed to say, Luffy or something.
Apparently, Eevee noticed. He shouldn't have been surprised, really. She was quite observant.
"She's not feeling well," he replied offhandedly as they danced across the floor, "She's resting in her tent. She might join us for the after party though, if she's feeling up to it," the excuse came out smooth as silk. Like his mother, Raion had an aptitude for lying and deception if he needed it. Unfortunately in his house, Luffy had an affinity for sensing lies and tall tales. He didn't get away with it much as a child.
The music shifted again and automatically, he changed pace to match the rhythm. He realized with a flush that he'd kept hold of her for something like three songs already. He glanced around and his ears pinked as it seemed like everyone was watching him. Rouge and Lukas were talking and sneaking glances at them. So were his parents. And Sabo and Dahlia. Margherita was gossiping with his sister and her friends and the snake girl's yellow eyes were following him and Eevee.
What the hell? Were they watching him or were they watching her? He tried to tell himself that they had to be watching her; her dancing was beautiful and sophisticated. But he had a feeling in his stomach that they were watching him too and he didn't like it.
For some reason, Eevee knew he was lying. His words sounded sincere and truthful, but they were a lie, and they made her chest constrict because she didn't like the fact that he was lying to her. Her eyes narrowed just the slightest bit, but she smiled and nodded anyways, deciding that now wasn't the time to confront him about his lie.
She was starting to become unnerved by these hunches she was getting. Ever since the storm, she could feel that certain things were true. She was becoming more and more aware of her surroundings and the people around her, and she wasn't looking or studying them any more than usual. What could it mean...? She resolved to ask Raion or Sabo later, once everything had calmed down and their pirate life returned to normal.
She let out a little sigh and put her troubling thoughts from her mind. Her focus returned to Raion, and she realized, with a start, that the music was different. She'd shifted her dancing with him without even thinking about it, so in tune to his body movements-and so used to dancing to different types of music-that she'd shifted automatically to the new music.
A blush stole over her features, and she wondered what everyone must be thinking, that they had danced for as long as they did. What did it mean, that he hadn't stopped their dancing? His lying was temporarily forgotten as her heart warmed. She liked dancing with him, and she was happy to have a reprieve from "teaching" as she'd been doing all night.
Eevee opened her mouth to say somethin to him when the music abruptly stopped. For three seconds after, they continued dancing, as if the two of them had some silent music they danced to. When they finally stopped, she turned her face towards the band, and saw that a tall skeleton had taken the stage, and cheers were going up around the dance floor.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's about time that we spiced this night up with a little music from yours truly and Monkey D. Raion! Yohohoho!" Brook announced with a wide grin, a guitar in his bone hands.
Raion heard his name through the microphone and barely had time to register that Brook was asking him to come up on the stage when there was a shout across the ship.
"HELL YA! RAION!" it was Luffy, arms in the air, looking like every single nerve in his body was pumped full of excitement.
He laughed at his father and winked at Eevee, "Guess it's time to make some music..." he grinned at her, brushed his mouth over her knuckles like he was a perfect gentleman and wove through the crowd of people. He jumped up onto the stage with ease and peeled himself out of his jacket. He tossed it into the growing crowd, where a gaggle of girls squealed and started a little mini-tug-of-war for the garment. He chuckled as one girl managed to grab it and shrug into it before someone could steal it from her.
His skeleton teacher came over and they quietly discussed what song they were going to do while Raion rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and adjusted his tie. Brook's suggestion for a tune made him laugh. It was a good one, a pirate song that Brook had written years ago and it was quite... befitting, to the young Pirate Prince who was about the sing it.
He grabbed the mic and tapped it with his finger to test it. He loved to sing and perform, but there was rarely an opportunity to do it on a stage. It was majority consensus in his family that he had a wonderful singing voice, a smooth tenor, perfect for rock and roll.
"This one is my mother's favorite..." he said, grinning wildly and pointing at Nami, "Because she had to raise a hellion like me," she laughed and waved like it was nothing.
The first chords to the song began and Raion counted a beat, his eyes flickering through the crowd. He caught Eevee watching and his grin widened. This one was for her, definitely.
"Girl, you never known no one like me," he pointed to her as the crowd cheered, "Up there in your high society," he leveled off his hand above his head, miming the words, "They might tell you I'm no good, but girl they need to understand just who I am. I may be a real bad boy... but baby I'm a real good man."
Several girls squealed right in the front of the stage and Raion saw Margherita and Rouge's faces go huge and swivel their heads back and forth between him and Eevee. Whatever.
"I may drink too much and play too loud. Hang out with a rough and rowdy crowd," all the pirates, males and females, cheered extra loud, "But that don't mean I don't respect my momma or the Pirate King," Luffy waved and gave him a thumbs up, "I may be a real bad boy. But baby I'm a real good man."
The music sped up, Brook going crazy on the guitar and Raion put the mic back in the stand, "I might have a reckless streak a least an ocean mile wide. If you're gonna run with me it's gonna be a wild ride. When it comes to lovin' you, I've got velvet hands," he gestured like he was contouring the curves of a woman, "And I'll show you how a real bad boy can be a real good man."
He swept up the mic again and jumped off the stage. The crowd naturally parted for him, in reality too anxious to get that close to him, but girls reached their hands out anyway like they could touch him and he brushed their hands with his his feet taking him towards one woman in particular.
"I take all the good times I can get. I'm too young for growing up just yet," He reached her, ten feet from her with not a soul between them, like the space around them had suddenly become the stage, "Ain't much I can promise you, except to do the best I can," he walked towards hers and stopped, giving her a blatant once over. Girls nearby swooned, "I'll be damned. I may be a real bad boy. But baby I'm a real good man," in front of her and he brushed his hand over her cheek, "I may be a real bad boy... oh, but baby I'm a real good man... yes I am..."
He gave her a wicked grin and then turned on his heel and headed back to the stage, his body moving in time to the rocking guitar solo Brook was performing. He jumped back up and by the time he got the mic back in the stand, the last chords were ringing out and he played the air drums with his hands, the crowd cheering like mad.
Even most nobles knew who Brook was because of his famous music, and when it became apparent that he was going to perform for the ship, her stomach tightened in excitement. She'd never been allowed to go to any of Brook's concerts because the music was considered too rough for a 'lady' like herself. Add Raion into the performance, and her heart was already beating faster.
At first she feared that she would be swept up into another dance by one of the eager men who'd surrounded them during her dance with Raion, but it seemed that everyone's attention had turned to the stage for the performance, and Eevee more than happy to do the same. She hadn't heard Raion sing much, and she was eager to become more familiar with his voice.
The first few chords rang in her blood, like all music did, and she felt a smile tugging at her lips at all of the females near the stage going wild. They even fought over his jacket, and when one girl finally won and shrugged into it, Eevee felt an uncomfortable tightening of her veins. Wearing a man's jacket seemed very intimate, for some reason, and she didn't want this girl to be wearing Raion's. Her jealousy, though, was quickly forgotten when Raion's voice starting ringing from the speakers.
He had a lovely voice, a manly tenor that made her shiver. What was more, he was pointing right at her as he sang. Her eyes widened and heat stole into her face. He was singing this song for her?
As she listened to the words, it became apparent how apt the words were for their situation. When he got to the point where he spoke about his "velvet hands," Eevee had to cover her face with her own hands, the memory of the night before too fresh in her mind.
There was a sharp rise in the cheers, and Eevee pulled her hands away from her face to see that Raion had jumped off the stage, and was walking straight her way. She felt rooted to the spot, staring at his encroaching form with wide violet eyes. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, as he continued to sing in his amazing voice, giving her a once over and brushing his hand over her cheek. Her shocked expression remained in place even after he turned back to the stage and headed back. Only when he was back on the stage did she let her breath out in a rush, feeling freed from a spell.
Suddenly, Dahlia was right next to her, and Eevee started a little at her appearance. The dark-skinned woman smiled ruefully at her, and patted her on the shoulder. "He has that affect on people, cherie."
Eevee's eyes flickered to the other girls going wild over him, and nodded dumbly at the statement.
Dahlia studied for her a moment, then flickered her gaze up to Raion, and back. "Are you in love with him?" she asked shrewly, and when Eevee's surprised eyes flashed to Dahlia's face, then skirted away, Dahlia nodded slowly, not needing words to confirm her suspicion.
"Raion is a playboy, you know. I don't say this to try and wedge anything between you too, cherie, but I tell you to warn you. He will break your heart, if you do not safeguard it, yes?" Dahlia said, her voice solemn. "You are too nice of a girl for me not to warn you about his history of women."
Eevee felt her chest tightening, reminded about what Margherita and Rouge had said earlier. However, they'd said that he treated her different...Eevee opened her mouth to say as much, and Dahlia held up a hand, shaking her head. "You don't need to say anything. I just felt that you needed to know. Just be cautious with your heart, cherie."
Dahlia gave her a smile, another pat on the shoulder, then headed over to Sabo, who was watching them curiously. Eevee watched as they two took each others hands, unsure how Dahlia's warning was supposed to make her feel.
She didn't have time to think about it, though, because Sanji suddenly appeared at her side, clear determination in his eyes. "Luffy got to dance with you twice, and Raion claimed three songs. I would like another one too, beautiful schwan!" he exclaimed, holding out his hand gallantly. Eevee couldn't help but smile as his pouting face, and nodded to him in response, slipping her hand into his. She'd have to ponder Dahlia's words later.
Sabo was never far from Dahlia. It happened when you didn't see each other for month on end. You tended to make the most of it. He'd disappeared for a minute at the tail end of Raion's musical number and when he came back, he saw his girl talking to Eevee. And something about the doctor looked... flushed and confused. Dahlia squeezed her shoulder and came back over to him.
He took her hands and kissed her face, "What lies are you feeding my nakama about me now?" he teased lightly in French.
She shrugged, "Just how much trouble you boys are," she replied innocently.
"Me? I'm no trouble. It's all Raion," he chuckled, turning his head to watch as he best friend got ready for another song, a wide, wild smile on his face reminiscent of his sire.
"I know," she said, grabbing his chin and squeezing his face together, "In all seriousness, my cherie, don't let him make a mess on your ship."
He rolled his clear blue eyes, "He always makes a mess. What's makes you think this time will be different? I'll be cleaning up after him as usual." he loved Raion and had long since accepted his many flaws. Even embraced a few.
Dahlia's gold eyes flickered over to Eevee as Sanji swept her up in another dance, "Does she have any idea what she's getting into?"
Sabo made a face, "I should hope so..." it went unsaid that he doubted it.
The Pirate Ball went considerably later than it normally did. People just kept showing up, pirates trickling in from around the area, people from the Kingdom and the village flooding in. It was close to midnight before Loo Bear and his staff finally cut them all off. Everyone breathless from dancing and laughing, headed back up to the clearing near Garp's to continue the party.
Somehow, there was even more sake. Barrels upon barrels were hauled up to the clearing. Where it all came from, no one was really sure. A little from each of the ships, some from Makino's store room, personal stores, wherever. It came from somewhere.
With massive amounts of panic and flushed anxiety, Raion had enlisted Franky's help in carting the old piano from Party's Bar up to the clearing. The cyborg used one of his fancy machines from the Sunny's Soldier Dock System.
"Don't drop it!" Raion flinched as the instrument swung, in his opinion, precariously. Half of his face was covered with one hand as if he couldn't bear to watch in case disaster struck but at the same time, he had to supervise.
"OW! Raion-little-bro, I got this!" Franky assured him with a laugh. The captain counted his blessings that this wasn't his piano, at least.
Still, he needed a large, stiff drink after it was settled safely on the grass in the clearing.
A huge bonfire was roaring in the dark, even bigger than it had been the previous night. Tables were everywhere, though, Sabo was in the process of dragging a few together to assemble a makeshift stage. Zoro and Nami had literally taken a whole keg to themselves and were trying to drink each other under the table, a small crowd gathering around them to cheer them on.
The younger girls - Belle, her friends, Zoro's twins Lulana Jace and Kuina, and Cerise and Margherita - had started a game of volleyball, which was turning into a drinking game at the suggestion of Jacie. Jacie was just like Zoro and Kuina just like her mother.
"RAION!" he swiveled around to see Rouge standing on the table, still wearing her slinky dress from earlier despite that most everyone had changed into civilian/pirate clothes, "I DEMAND MUSIC OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY!"
He laughed, "Alright! I'm coming..."
By the time he settled at the piano, his cousin had been joined by Mara - who was apparently "feeling better" - and Tikka. The three ladies were well-known for their grace and dance and as he started rocking the first chords of Binks, they linked arms and started dancing.
Within minutes, Brook had joined him on the violin and half the crowd was singing at the top of their lungs, everyone with a mug of something to drink. It was shaping up to be a fantastic party.
When the Pirate Ball had drawn to a close, Eevee had joined Margherita in changing into a less formal outfit; for Margherita, she simply didn't want to be in a dress any longer than she had to be, and for Eevee, she didn't want her lovely gown to get ruined. They changed back into the clothes they'd had on before, then went to join everyone else at the "after" party.
A huge bonfire was already roaring by the time they got there, and a piano was just being settled. Excitement was buzzing around the field, and Eevee found herself grinning with anticipation. She knew that pirates were rowdy partiers, from her own experience even, but she was looking forward to partying with these pirates in particular. She'd always heard stories about the epic parties that the Strawhat Pirates threw back in their hayday. They'd practically been legendary.
Margherita went to find them some drinks, and Eevee's eyes were drawn to Garp's cabin, not too far off from the party. With the same aggravating intuition she seemed to be having lately, she had a feeling that someone was in that cabin. Oh! Mara wasn't feeling good. She was likely resting in the cabin.
It was still extremely odd that she felt like she knew someone was in that cabin, but she couldn't dismiss it like she had before. More than once, her new 'hunches' seemed to be right, and she felt them more strongly every day, especially when she focused on them.
Maybe she would bring it up with Raion or Sabo tomorrow, she reasoned with herself. If anyone knew why she felt this way, they likely would.
Margherita returned with two mugs, and Eevee accepted one with a smile and a quick thanks. Music started to play, and she looked over to see Raion a the piano. Three people were dancing on a table, and she moved a little closer to see who they were as everyone started singing the lyrics to a popular pirate song.
Rouge, Tikka...and Mara.
Eevee stopped, blinking. Frowning a little, she turned her head to look at Garp's cabin. Mara wasn't in there? She looked back, taking a slow drink of her sake as she mulled these thoughts over. Mara was clearly right in front of her, which meant her hunch about someone being in that cabin...Was it wrong?
Suddenly, she had to know. These damned hunches had been confusing her ever since she started having them. With a slow glance around the party, she could account for every Strawhat and family member, and she didn't think anyone else would go into the cabin. So...if she went to investigate, and found it empty, she knew she was crazy and making things up in her mind, but if it wasn't...then she knew her hunches were more than just hunches. Something had to be going on with her.
Eevee glanced over at Margherita, and the girl was belting out the lyrics of the song loudly and rambunctiously, joined by a boy and a girl she didn't know, likely village folk or other pirates. She gave a little wave to her nakama, indicating that she'd be back, and stole away from the pirate.
It was slow moving at first, because every person she passed wanted to talk to her, cheers with her, or asked her to sing with them. Eventually, though, she managed to detangle herself and headed for the cabin, hoping the darkness of the edge of the party would conceal her movements.
She got to the door, and paused, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest. Whoever was in the cabin...their presence felt very...powerful, for some reason. She had a moment of second thoughts, pulling her hand away. But the need to prove herself right or wrong stayed strong, so she squared her shoulders, opened the door, and stepped inside.
"Hello...?" she called, peering around. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the right, a kitchen, when a figure moved suddenly, as if to leave the room. She caught sight of him, though, and said, "Wait, who-"
The man spun around to face her, brows drawn into a frown over dark, surprised eyes. A hat rested on his head, and he was shirtless, exposing massive muscles and a scar in the center of his chest. There was light coming through the window he'd been standing by, and it fell across his startled face to reveal freckles and long-ish dark hair.
She knew that face. She knew it because she'd read every news article that existed about the Strawhats and Monkey D. Luffy.
She was staring at Portgas D. Ace.
Her mouth dropped in surprise and her eyes widened. Disbelief held her tongue for all of one minute, and the man's face betrayed his thoughts as he debated bolting, then decided the damage was done already.
"You...you're Portgas D. A-" Eevee exclaimed, a hand raised and a finger pointing directly at the man. Her words, however, were cut off when a hand suddenly slammed over her mouth, and another one came over her eyes. She'd been so shocked she hadn't realized the door had opened behind her. She could hear quickened breaths, as if the person behind her had been running.
"Don't. Say. That." the words were ground out by her ear in a tense voice, and she was startled to realize...they belonged to Sabo.
Something everyone should know about Sabo.
Sabo was a bit of a Black Sheep in his family. He didn't have a devil fruit. He didn't seem to have an affinity for Haki. He couldn't claim a powerful lineage. He was just yet another nameless pirate among a slew of many. It couldn't even be said that he preferred it that way. It had become necessary to maintain his anonymity since the very idea of his conception. Therefore, it was preferable because it was a necessity and because the alternative was far to ghastly to imagine.
Sabo had been content this way for years, after all, the people who knew who he was and his father's status were far and few between and they were the people that mattered.
This changed slightly after Lukas was introduced. Sabo could even recall the very moment his feeling on the subject matter changed. On the Sunny-Go, returning from Impel Down, when less than a half a mile out from his island Ace had blown a column of fire in anger. Sabo at one turn had been terrified his father was going to kill him, but seeing Lukas's face as the man connected the dots had been... thrilling. It had given Sabo a spark of guilty pleasure to introduce someone to the secret cult of knowledge that a piece of the history textbooks was wrong. That Portgas D. Ace was alive, breathing and thriving in isolation. And he not only had a daughter, but a son as well.
Sabo was singing loudly and proudly to the lyrics of Binks no Sake as Raion and Brook played. It was the high of life, nothing beat the adrenaline rush of a good pirate party at its very finest.
He took a sip from his tankard of sake, eyes drifting around the crowd, taking it all in, when movement caught his attention.
Up by the house, someone was entering the front door.
It was Eevee.
Rarely did Sabo feel panic to such a degree as he did in that moment. Suffocating, hot, dizzying. But because he was always calm and collected, a trait he'd inherited from his malleable mother, he was the picture of ease as he placed his mug on the table and smoothly walked to the edge of the circle of the light created by the bonfire. Once he hit the shadows, he booked it like the seven hounds of hell were licking his heels.
He burst in the front door and barely took the time to process the situation, his father standing shocked in the dim light of the kitchen and Eevee's eyes round as saucers as four damning words threatened to spill from her lips. He was behind her in a second, clapping one hand over her mouth and the other over her eyes.
"Don't. Say. That." he growled in warning, "There are people outside with very sensitive hearing."
He turned his eyes up to his father. Ace's expression was apparent. The damage had been done. She'd seen what she'd seen and there was nothing to it now.
And that little thrill of excitement raced through him at the thought of initiating another person into the cult. Just enough that he stopped feeling at least suffocated by his panic.
"I trust you didn't turn on any lights or anything to attract attention to yourself?" Sabo asked, talking over Eevee's head, but not releasing her.
Ace gave him a look that had a chuckle escaping him. "I thought she was your mother, actually, at first," the fire man said, his voice low, "Her footsteps were light enough. Who is she?"
"Nakama," Sabo supplied, then sighed, "Well... what do you think?"
His father gave his answer by striding through the house and closing all the curtains. Then, he turned on the soft lamp in the living room, "Might as well make nice, right?"
Sabo agreed, feeling that thrum through him again. Carefully, he turned Eevee around and guided her into the living room, "Don't freak out," he told her, slowly releasing her eyes, but not her mouth, "He's very real and he's very alive."
"Yo!" Ace greeted, grinning, sticking two fingers up in greeting.
At that moment, Raion chose to burst through the door. Sabo turned his head around and watched as rapid understanding bloomed on his captain's face, flirting for first place with anger and panic. He lurched forward and slapped a hand over her eyes again.
"What the hell is going on here?" he demanded in a low hiss, his dark eyes flickering from Ace to Sabo to Eevee and then back through the rotation one more time, "Why is she in here?"
"I don't know," Sabo answered, talking over Eevee's head again at Raion, his hand on her mouth still and Raion's over her eyes.
"Did you bring her in here?" he growled, "Are you trying to satisfy your irrational need for acceptance?"
"No!" Sabo replied tartly, making a face.
"Then what the hell is she doing here?"
"Why don't you just ask her?" Ace interrupted, cocking a brow.
"Shut up, Ace/Dad," Raion and Sabo turned and said to him at the same time before turning back to each other again. Ace flipped his hands up and dropped his long body onto the couch.
"What should we do with her?" Sabo wondered.
"Desert her on an island?" Raion suggested.
"I was thinking more like swear her to secrecy, but you're the captain..."
"Well, I don't really wanna kill her..." Raion made a face.
"That escalated quickly..." Sabo said plainly, cocking a blonde brow, "Killing her is senseless, we need a doctor."
"Boys!" Ace's voice cut over their conversation sharply, "For fuck's sake, you're scaring the poor girl," he stood and took two steps and yanked her out of their grip, "I'm Ace," he greeted, dropping his body a little to be at eye level with her, "And don't listen to them. Nothing's gonna happen to you."
Just then, the back door opened, "Oi!" Luffy called quietly, "What's going on in here?" he appeared and stopped dead, his eyes flickering around, then pointed at Eevee, "She's not supposed to be in here..." he hedged slowly, like he wasn't quite understanding yet.
Raion rolled his eyes, "No shit, Dad," he sighed, "We're figuring out what to do now."
"Why is she in here anyway?" Luffy asked, then turned to Sabo, "Did you bring her in?"
The blonde man threw his hands up, "Why does everything think it's my fault here?"
"Neither of these knuckleheads have bothered to even ask her why she came in," it was Ace's turn to roll his eyes.
"Well then, why are you here?" Luffy asked the obvious question.
"That's not what's important!" Raion said, hauling her back over to him. He grabbed her chin gently in his hand, "Listen," he said, looking her straight in the eye, "These two men right here," he pointed to Sabo and Ace, "No one, and I mean absolutely no one is allowed to know about them," his tone wasn't anger or mad, but very serious and grave, "The consequences of their identity are too gruesome to describe. The calamity that the Marines would bring down on us would make the last war look like a fucking joke. The very reason I breathe on this earth is to make sure nothing, I mean nothing, happens to him," he pointed to Sabo. Ace and Luffy nodded seriously.
"Basically," Sabo said with a shrug. Raion was making this sound oh so serious. He was right, but it was a little unnecessary, "You're one of us now and if you tell anyone, there will be no one to protect you from us." he grinned.
Luffy laughed, "This is all so exciting."
At first, Eevee was too shocked to be able to say anything, even without Sabo's hand over her mouth and eyes. As she recovered, though, she started to become annoyed, first with Sabo and then with Raion, who she managed to catch a brief glance of before he covered her eyes too. Exasperation filled her, not fear, when the two began discussing what they were going to do with her. She knew, somehow, that they would never really hurt her.
Sure, it was a big deal...no...it was a VERY BIG deal, that Fire Fist Ace was alive, but now that she'd gotten over the shock, she was happy and excited more than anything. She'd read a lot about Portgas D. Ace and had always lamented the fact that she'd never be able to meet him, even if she became a pirate. Now...he was standing not ten feet from her.
The bickering that was happening over her head between Raion and Sabo continued, and Eevee was just contemplating biting Sabo when suddenly she was ripped free from their grips. She might have stumbled, but the hands gripping her shoulders were strong and firm, and she found herself facing Fire Fist Ace, so close she could practically smell the fire-ember scent that came off of him.
She opened her mouth to return a greeting, giddiness starting to fill her veins, when another voice interrupted her. She turned her head to see Luffy come in. About to greet both Luffy and Ace, Eevee found herself once more tugged back over to Raion, where he gripped her chin and leveled a stern stare at her, explaining the seriousness of the situation.
Which she'd already figured out.
Finally, she'd had enough.
Eevee thrust his hand away from her chin and stepped back from him, whirling around to face Luffy and Ace. "Alright, alright! I got it! I'm not an idiot, Senchou," she turned her head and said pointedly to Raion, her voice filled with exasperation. She turned her head to look at Sabo, lifting a hand to point at his chest. "You're father is Fire Fist Ace, and your age betrays the fact that he is still alive, which is why your sister, Rouge, can be known as his daughter because she was conceived before his death." Her words held an edge to them that betrayed her earlier frustration as they bickered over her. She paused, and a little smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "I just knew there was more between you and Rouge...I never would have guess that you were siblings, because that seemed impossible...but I just knew that you two were connected somehow..."
Her eyes slid back over to Ace, and awe filtered into her gaze and excitement trickled in to her voice. "And you...are a legend. I can't believe I'm meeting you! Of course I wouldn't tell anyone; I just left nobility to become a pirate, I'm not about to blow up my life's dream and one of my childhood heroes. I'm Burbanks Evelyn, it's so wonderful to meet you!" She gripped the hems of her long shirt/dress and held them outwards like it was a gown, and curtseyed as she would have if she were meeting another noble for the first time, so overcome with excitement that she forgot that pirates don't do that. When she straightened, she looked at Ace, then Luffy, and finally to Raion and Sabo. "I came in here because...well..."
She fell silent, her eyes flickering around the room as heat filtered in to her cheeks. Was she going to sound crazy?
Finally, her eyes settled on the ground and her fingers started winding nervously in her hair. "Maybe I'm crazy...but I knew that there was someone in here. I just...had this feeling. Just like I knew that Sabo and Rouge weren't on the ship the morning I woke up and they had left...and I knew that yesterday, when..." her words faltered a moment, and she glanced at Luffy quickly, then back down at the ground, "I knew that after Monkey D. Garp died, that Luffy wasn't alone with him. I also knew that Mara wasn't at the Pirate Ball, and I knew before I had the chance to look around and see if she was or not. I just have been getting these hunches lately, ever since that storm... and I wanted to see if I was just crazy or if there actually was someone in this cabin. I thought maybe that Mara would be in here, because that would make sense, why I thought there was someone in here...but then I saw her dancing outside, and...well...I came to find out why I thought there was someone in here." She finished with a lame little shrug, not daring to look up until someone said something.
He couldn't believe this was happening.
He'd been playing the piano, getting started on having himself a grand time drinking and partying, when he'd felt such a spike in panic from Sabo that he actually stopped playing for a heartbeat. The feeling had been so palpable that he had to work out whether it was his own panic or not. And when he'd realized it was Sabo and it was coming from the house, he'd asked Brook to take over and had beat feet over there.
He'd burst through the door... and there was Sabo and Ace-oji and... Eevee.
His first emotion had been confusion before it melted to anger then had been quickly replaced with panic then irritation. Just like he had no secrets from Sabo, Sabo had no secrets from him and Raion was very aware that a tiny little part of his best friend craved acceptance on a... public level. He got a spike of thrill to introduce himself to people, not just as Sabo the Pirate, but as Portgas Sabo, son of Fire Fist Ace.
It didn't happen very often. Rarely. Ever. So his first thought had been Sabo had done this on purpose, as some cock and bull attempt to integrate her deep into their world and get Raion to commit to her or something equally far-fetched.
Apparently not, as she shuffled her feet against the ground and twirled her hair over her shoulder and nervously explained her weird "hunches".
Huh. That sounded a lot like...
Luffy started to chuckle, "She has the Haki," he grinned, "Kenbushoku Haki; 'observation' haki. That's gotta be it."
"Really?" Raion furrowed his brows and cocked his head at her like he was studying her, "Are you certain?" his question was aimed for his father.
"We could do a little test to find out..." Luffy's grin turned a little maniacal.
"No." Raion put his foot down on that one, knowing exactly what 'test' the Pirate King had in mind.
"C'mon, it's not so bad."
"You blindfolded me and hit me with a baseball bat repeatedly." Raion gave his father a droll look, "I have dents in my cranium thanks to you."
"You hit your son with a baseball bat?" Ace cocked a brow at his brother.
Luffy chuckled and shrugged, "I had to know if he was just quick or reading moves ahead. Seemed like a good way to rule it out at the time."
Sabo, having been unusually quiet up to this point, finally rubbed his chin in thought, "Come to think of it," he hedged, "Lukas' mother has Kenbunshoku Haki and to hear him talk about it, it's strictly a sensitivity to people and emotions. She can't predict a punch, but she can tell you the gender of a woman's baby mere weeks into a pregnancy, long before any doctor can. It might be a stroke of excellent luck for a doctor to develop the same sensitivity."
Raion chewed that around in his head, then turned to Eevee, "How many people are outside?" he asked her.
"Ooh! Ooh! I know!" Luffy raised his hand and waved it wildly around, "Pick me!"
"I didn't ask you, baka." Raion scolded, "I know you know."
"That's too easy," Sabo crossed his arms over his chest, "She can just list the people in her head," he narrowed his blue eyes in thought, "Gotta give her something medical..." he snapped his fingers, "I have an old injury on my body somewhere. What can you tell me about it?" he asked her.
"She isn't going to get that." Raion told him.
"She hasn't seen it?" Ace asked.
Sabo shook his head, "I don't make a point of walking around the ship naked."
"Ooh! Ooh! I know! I know this one too!" Luffy waved his hand again, "Pick me!"
Haki...? Eevee frowned, looking around the room. All eyes were on here, most intensively in fact, and she blushed a little. Her knowledge of haki was limited, but she knew that it normally manifested in powerful fighters, where their will becomes so strong it can take physical form and strike even logia type-users. Sabo had explained a little of it to her.
But...she most definitely wasn't strong. Still, what Sabo said about Gabbi's mother made sense: she'd only met the woman a few times, but she'd been eerily perceptive about Eevee, which made sense if she had this Observation Haki. She couldn't imagine that such a gentle woman was perticular strong, so it was possible that she, herself, could have a similar sense. She'd always been rather attuned to people's personality types; Gabbi had always said she'd had a good judge of character, even from her first meeting with someone.
So, hesitantly, she nodded and looked at Sabo, studying him. "I'll try, I suppose..." she murmured, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. She didn't quite understand what she was supposed to be looking for, and for a little while, her mind was completely blank, unsure what, exact, she was suppose to do.
If she was supposed to use haki, and haki was the same thing as those hunches she'd been feeling...then perhaps she should seek out the feeling inside of her that she got when she felt these hunches. Her brow furrowed, and she realized it was a lot harder to seek the feeling out that to feel it come to her without asking. Or perhaps she was asking the wrong way?
Eevee let out a little sound of frustration, and closed her eyes, unable to focus with all of their eyes on her. She almost told them she couldn't do it, that they had to be wrong; but she remembered her confusion over her hunches, and the way Luffy, and even Sabo, had looked hopeful when they looked at her...Having Haki would make her a bigger asset to her nakama. If she had it...then these were the men to discover it in her, and they were the ones to help her learn to use it better.
She took a deep breath, and cleared her mind of her doubts. She stopped thinking, and just let herself...feel. After a moment, like a slowly brighting light, she realized she had an impression of...heat. And pain. The sensations were like echoes in her mind like an old memory, and she realized that she'd had the faintest knowledge of them even before she'd tried to figure it out. It was like a butterfly's wings gently brushing against her mind; an awareness that something was there, and only with concentration had she picked up the feelings that lay in them. It was like feeling a faint breeze, and only with an inhale did one scent what was on the wind.
There was another feeling brushing at her consciousness since the injury had been mentioned: guilt. She frowned, wondering why someone would feel guilty about being injured, and then she realized the feeling wasn't coming from Sabo. Somehow, it had a different flavour to it than the feelings she felt from Sabo.
Her eyes flickered around the room, and finally landed on Ace. The feeling was coming from him...
Sabo had an injury that had something to do with intense heat, pain...and guilt from Ace. Fire Fist Ace. Her brain connected the dots in a rush, and she gasped, her eyes flying back to Sabo from Ace, and at the sound, every man in the room was suddenly staring at her harder, anticipation on their faces.
"This sounds a little crazy to me...but...I think that you were burned. By your father...I don't know where or how badly or anything...but I can feel heat and pain coming from you when you think about it, and from Ace-sama..." her eyes flickered back to Ace, and she blushed a darker color. "A lingering guilt from you when Sabo mentioned the injury." She held her breath, waiting for the laughter to follow at her craziness.
The anticipation in the air was so tangible he could taste it. She glanced around at all of them, her nervousness evident. Well, they were putting her on the spot. But he had to know. If she had Haki, even just the Kenbinshoku Haki... the fighting capabilities they could train her to do were endless. He would have to train her; no one else had Haki on the crew - though he kept hopefully waiting for Sabo to develop it, though it was unlikely - and he was kinda excited to have that one to one time with her. Not that he wanted to swing a baseball bat at her head or anything...
She closed her eyes and her face pinched in concentration. He held his breath. Minutes dragged on. It was too hard. She wasn't gonna get it. Pinning down the residual feelings from an old injury? That wasn't necessarily the easiest thing to ask of her. Though it was certainly a sure-fire way to determine if she had Haki...
She gasped and her violet eyes flew open. There was a collective tensing in the group. Luffy and Sabo practically leaned forward on their toes, like birds about to take flight. Ace had a little furrow nestled between his eyebrows.
And then... she nailed it. Not perfectly, but she fucking got it and he grinned and Sabo started to laugh.
"That's fantastic!" Sabo exclaimed and he pulled up his shirt and tugged the hem of his shorts down just a little, "You're right!"
Raion almost didn't remember a time before the scar marred the left side of Sabo's torso. It had been a training accident just after the break in at Impel Down. No one was sure of exactly why it had happened because Ace was anal retentive in controlling his devil fruit abilities when sparring with his children. It was a classic 'wrong place, wrong time' situation that ended up with Ace nailing Sabo in the hip with a fist of white-hot flames that had resulted in violent second-degree burns and months of surgeries. The scar was expansive and terrible, like Luffy and Ace's chest scars. It spread from Sabo's rib cage down the left side of his body, over his hip and flank and the upper reaches of his thigh. He'd have to get naked to see the whole thing.
"It was a training accident," Ace said, his face a little tight, "We're lucky I didn't kill him."
Sabo dropped his shirt and waved away Ace's comment, "I wasn't gonna die from a burn. Infection and transplant rejection, however, that was a very real possibly."
His father rubbed his hand over his face.
Luffy laughed, "I hit my kid with baseball bats, you burn yours with fire. We're good parents," if anyone else had said that, their tone would have dripped sarcasm. Coming from the Pirate King sounded like he was just rationalizing that beating your children made them good strong men.
The Pirate King pointed at Eevee, "You know what this means, right?" he waggled his eyebrows and grinned wildly, "Raion gets to beat you silly to train you!" he steepled his hands and tapped his fingers together conspiratorially.
Raion rolled his eyes.
Upon seeing the burn scar on Sabo's side, her eyes widened and a hand went to cover her mouth. Her gaze flickered up to Sabo's expression, and it mirrored the feeling she got from him about his injury: he had no lingering regret about it, nor any ill will towards his father. Her eyes bounced between Ace and Sabo for a second, then landed on Luffy when he made his carefree comment about being great parents.
She stared dumbly at him for a second, hoping he was kidding, but getting the distinct impression he most certainly was not.
She turned to Raion and shook her head slowly at him. "You both must have had a very interesting childhood...vastly different from mine. The only beatings I got as a child were raps on my shins for not having my legs in the proper position for ballet." She drew in a deep breath, her eyes falling down to her own hands, "I can't believe I have Haki...this feels like a dream." She was staring at her hands as if the haki she possessed was within them, disbelief evident on her features. But she couldn't deny the fact that her hunches had been real: Ace was proof of that.
Just then, there was a loud boom outside and a sudden brightness filtered through the curtains as the fire got unnaturally bright for a moment, then dimmed back down. A roar of laughter echoed from the field where the party was in process. Clearly, it was starting to get very interesting.
"Oooy!" Luffy said excitedly, immediately distracted from their conversation as his wide, eager eyes flew to the door. "I bet Franky and Usopp are playing with fire and lazers again!"
Eevee couldn't help it; she giggled at the child-like excitement that was evident in every line of his body. She figured it was about time to get back to the party; people were going to start wondering where they were soon. Her eyes flickered over to Ace, though, when she realized he would have to stay here all alone.
"We should probably get back before our absence is missed," Sabo said slowly, but he glanced at his father with a somewhat pained expression at his words.
Eevee frowned, not liking that thought. How lonely it must be, to know that your very existence can't be known by most people for fear that you and your whole family would be put in grave danger.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She whirled around to face the bare-chested man, and grinned, "Hey! Do you want to come party with us?"
Every single person in the room frowned at her, and she could feel the spike of anger that went through Sabo and Raion, thinking she was teasing Ace. Her smile stayed in place though, and she held up her hands, gesturing towards her face and the makeup she wore. "I can disguise you. For some of my dance performances, we had so much makeup on and in such a way that it was impossible to tell who we were! I could make you unrecognizable very easily."
Ace's eyes widened, and Luffy blinked, looking between the two with confusion plain on his face. "Are you joking?" Ace asked with a frown, but Eevee shook her head, and his gaze flickered towards the covered windows, and yearning simmered in his eyes. "Are you sure...?"
Eevee's grin widened, and she nodded vigorously, glancing at Sabo. "How about it? Will you let me make-up your dad so he can join us?"
Sabo was staring at her, his mouth slightly open, and Eevee felt a pang in her chest at the feeling she got from him. It was a hesitant hope that slowly grew brighter into joy as a smile spread across his face. "Make him as girly as possible, please."
Eevee chuckled, and Ace's face broke out into a grin as Luffy laughed loudly.
Being the fastest, Sabo was responsible for fetching her make-up bag from the ship. After a moment of hesitation, Luffy and Ace agreed to let her look through Garp's shirts to pick one out for Ace to wear. By the time Sabo returned, having not even broken a sweat from his sprint, Ace was dressed in a loose button-down shirt with the lapels turned up. Instead of his customary shorts, Eevee had convinced him to slip in to a pair of long black pants that were a little loose on his narrow hims, secured with a belt.
Sabo blew a whistle as he saw his father, and shook his head ruefully as he handed the make-up bag to Eevee. "Pops, I don't think I've ever seen you in a getup like that."
"That's the point," Eevee pointed out with a smile, unzipping her bag. After a moment of peering inside to see what she had to work with, she looked up at Ace...and grinned. The man shifted a little uncomfortably, and glanced at her bag.
"If you put lipstick on me, I might just burn that bag of yours to bits," the dark-haired ex-pirate warned her, his black eyes glittering with malicious intent as he glared at the bag.
Eevee laughed and shook her head. "Don't worry, you'll look great."
"Fabulous, even," Sabo pipped in with a grin, and had to swiftly dodge a swipe his father took at him.
Half an hour later, the lot of them were walking out the front door, Ace last. He hesitated at the edge of the step, glancing out towards the rowdy party that was steadily becoming louder. The light of the bonfire fell on his face, and Eevee grinned, satisfied with the results of her careful work.
His freckles were gone, and his eyes were no longer black. He wore a pair of blue-colored contacts that she had only used once in a particular dance production. His hair remained black, but it was tied back at the base of his neck, and his hat was gone. Using foundation, highlights, and shadowing carefully, she'd subtly created the illusion that his face had different angles, with rounder cheeks and a softer look around his eyes. Rather than dashing and roguish, he now looked somewhat charming and gallant, the makeup around his eyes emphasizing the color and taking away from the harshness of his gaze. After looking at himself in the mirror, he'd turned to gaze at Eevee with awe in his gaze. Everyone had agreed that he didn't look like Fire Fist Ace at all anymore.
Outside, Eevee turned back towards the cabin, and beckoned with her hands. "Come on, Jack. It's time to party!" she encouraged, using the name they'd given him to go by while at the party. Taking a deep breath, the man nodded, and stepped out. With each step he took as they headed towards the massive bonfire, a grin grew bigger and bigger on his face.
As they met the edge of the party, Sanji, Lukas, and Zoro were playing a drinking game nearby. They looked up when Luffy, Sabo, Raion, Eevee, and 'Jack' passed, and hollered out a greeting.
"New friend?" Lukas asked, glancing at Ace. Then Lukas froze, and narrowed his eyes at him. Lukas, after all, had Haki, and was very familiar with his father-in-law. Lukas' eyes widened, and his face betrayed a mere moment of surprise before it was gone, and he smiled widely. "What's your name, stranger?" he asked, lifting his mug to his lips to take a large gulp of the beer inside.
Ace smiled back, and tipped his head, his hand lifting as if to go for his hat, before he smoothly slid his hand back over his hair instead, "The name's Jack. Nice to meet you!"
And with that, the party truly began.