Altessa lifts both of her hands to her head, feeling the pain was worst then it was at Farah's house. Now sitting on the bed Farah had sent her to with the portal, she had a bit of trouble moving from the spot.

"How can it be so strong? I had stopped feeling it back there…"

The quick portals Farah used to make a person pass from a place to another known place was known for taking the person's energy, but she didn't thought it would enhance the headache.

"If someone was to attack me in this state, I'd probably die on the spot. I still have to move, though"

She lowers her head, feeling a strong throbbing coming from it, and slips her legs off the bed carefully. She puts her bots to the ground and tries to stand up, but feels her head spinning the moment she does. She grimaces. She really should have listened to her own advice when Ace had handed her the mug last night…but now was no time to think about this. She places a hand on the wall, waiting for the spinning to stop. To her relief, it did, though after some minutes. She takes deep breath and lifts her gaze towards what seemed to be the only door leading out of the room. She removes her hand from the wall, gladly noticing she wasn't tipsy anymore, and walks in a careful step towards the door, a bit surprised she was able to walk silently even then. She places her hand on the doorknob and opens it. There was no doubt she was inside the ship as she wasn't seeing the blue sky just yet. She looks a bit around, closing the door of the room as she walks out of it. It was a simple hallway, but it was hard to say which direction she should take. She had no idea where on the ship she was and even less how to find her way in it. Maybe she should walk around a bit. Maybe it would get her even more lost, but at least she wouldn't stay on the spot without even trying anything. She goes towards her left in a calm step. Once again, she had left Farah's house without really thinking through what she would do when on the field. If she remembered well, Farah had said she saw Fire Fist with her in the crystal ball. He was the last of the Whitebeard pirates to have seen her, though he did knock her out, for some reason. Right now, she needed answers and he might be the only one who could give them to her. Of course, she needed to find him first…or rather second. It might be a good idea to find her way to the deck before thinking about finding someone.

Her gaze turns troubled as she goes forward. This ship was incredibly large. She had no trouble when she was in a town, having the possibility to go to the rooftops to situate where she was and where she needed to go. Inside a ship, that was not an option. She closes her eyes a moment, but opens them once more. Why was the place so silent? She takes some more steps to suddenly hear footsteps in front of her. Someone was coming. She stiffs, just as she usually did, and her hand approaches the scabbard. When the shape appears, she blinks a little, her eyes crossing the other person's.

"Ace…"

Before having met his gaze, he seemed to be have reached his wits' end, looking tired, worried, stressed out, angry, his fists clenched, his hat looking as if it had fallen with him not bothering to place it back. But when his eyes met hers, relief passed in his hazel orbs, tension disappearing from his shoulders as he unclenched his fists. He still looked dead tired, though. He walks towards her, looking somehow calm.

"Altessa! I was looking for you!"

Altessa grimaces, her head pounding a bit more at hearing him shout. She stops a curse from leaving her lips and tries her best to hide the pain she was feeling once more.

"You were?"

She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. Of course, if he was searching for her, that meant he had noticed she was gone, but what would he say? Judging how tired he seemed, he mustn't have slept a lot last night. Had he even slept at all? Maybe she should have asked Farah if anyone had noticed her absence. When Ace reaches her, he looks at her straight in the eyes, having to look down and the young revolutionary having to look up. She takes a little step back, feeling as if she was about to fall, but Ace quickly catches her with an arm, surprise now visible in his gaze.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She sighs a little, lifting a hand to her forehead.

"Unless I stumble to the ground, I should be able to pull through, yes"

He gets a slight smirk at her words.

"So, you have a hangover"

She looks away, ashamed, and he chuckles a little.

"You really can't take alcohol"

"Obviously"

"Well, at least that was more obvious than what you are"

Altessa stiffs a little at his words and looks back at Ace. He looked serious, now. She opens her mouth, wanting to say something, but he covers it with a hand and shakes a bit his head.

"Not here. Don't think you want too many people hearing you"

He removes his hand and she stays silent, though looking quite seriously at him now.

"Let's go to my room"

He lets go of her, but catches her hand as he starts walking down the way she had come from. She looks up at the back of his head, a bit unsure. He didn't seem aggressive or victorious or…any other feeling that she had normally witnessed when someone had captured another or was about to do some terrible things to them. He seemed a bit nervous, looking swiftly when a noise would resound, as if he didn't want anyone to spot them, but his grip on her hand wasn't harsh or angry or nervous. It felt as if he only wanted to ascertain she was following, squeezing her hand slightly more when he thought someone was coming, but removing the pressure after having made sure no one was there. He stops advancing after a while, opening a door and letting go of her hand to invite her to come in. She walks inside, recognising the room she had left sooner, and Ace closes the door right after coming in himself, looking straight at her in a calm way.

"Might be better if you sat down. I've got some questions for you"

She nods a bit and goes to sit down on the bed. Ace places himself against the wall, his arms crossed, and looks straight at her.

"What do you remember from last night?"

"Before or after you gave me the mug?"

He lifts a brow, still looking serious.

"What do you think?"

"I would say after, but that's all I can say"

His gaze narrows and she grimaces.

"Not that I want to be stubborn and say I won't tell a word, but I don't remember what happened after"

Ace's gaze widens at that.

"Not at all?"

She shakes her head slowly and he sighs, his face disappearing under the rim of his hat.

"You really can't take alcohol, can't you?"

"I had no idea if I could or not before last night, to be honest"

"So, no matter what I say, you wouldn't be able to deny or confirm since you don't remember a thing?"

"Not necessarily. I still know what I am capable of, aside from my alcohol limit, even if I don't remember about last night"

He huffs a bit.

"Aren't you the slightest worried about the things you've said and done?"

She bites her lower lips. At this point, it was making her nervous. She didn't thought she would have done something wrong, but the things she could have said were more than enough to put her in danger. She keeps silent, not knowing what to answer.

"Aren't you going to answer?"

This felt exactly like whenever Farah and Dragon were testing her will. No one else than these two had ever done so, before. Farah was right. Maybe she really didn't know how it was when people were trying to fool her.

"Is that really necessary? Compared to the persons I see the most, I cannot tell whether you are testing me or not. It sounds as if you do, especially since you seem to make a point of hiding your traits as you are speaking, which means I would have to be careful about the way I should formulate my sentences. But since I do not recall any of the events from last night, it would be hard for me to know if I am making things worst or if I am only rambling for no reason. If there is something, wouldn't it be better to say it straight?"

He seems to nod a little, but doesn't lift his hat, leaving Altessa in the dark as to what he might have in mind.

"I'll go straight to the point, then. Are you really part of the Revolutionary Army?"

So, she had sold herself out. She didn't want to lie.

"I am"

He stays silent a second before continuing.

"You said you learned about us from a book and that you had taken part in gathering information for this book. Is that what you are doing, right now? Gathering information? Is that why you approached my boat back in town?"

"I did take part in the making of this information book, but that is not what I am doing now"

She closes her eyes.

"I did not approach you for such reasons. I wasn't supposed to go to the harbor at all that morning. I got closer because I thought I recognised the boat, which was the case"

"So you were just curious?"

She grimaces a little, opening her eyes to look at her hands. She had closed them together without noticing.

"As stupid as it may sound, yes"

"What about the things you told me in town? About your name and the things people said about you?"

"I wish I could say it was a lie, but everything I've said was the truth. I kept my status a secret since even out of mission I am usually forbidden to talk about the revolutionaries, but there were no lies"

She turns her gaze on the side, feeling her heart squeeze.

"You don't need to believe me, of course. I would understand if you didn't want to believe me, though. I wouldn't"

She tightens her grip on her hands. She suddenly sees a movement from Ace and bends a bit back, but in her current state is unable to avoid anything coming her way. She feels a fist bump the top of her head, enhancing her headache and making her lift her hands, closing her eyes with little tears forming on the sides. It hadn't been a real hit, but with her headache, it sure was worst.

"What kind of speech is that? I'm asking 'cause I want to understand, not to know if I can believe you or not"

She opens one eye, seeing he still looked angry, his fists on his waist.

"I had trouble believing your blabber about you being a revolutionary last night since you were drunk, so I had to know if it was because you were trying to show off or not"

She lifts a brow.

"Show off? Why would I try to show off by saying I'm part of an organisation? That would be utterly stupid"

Ace smirks widely.

"Well, the way you kept smiling and nodding and puffing out your torso, you looked like you were quite the show-off"

She grimaces.

"Puff out my torso? I doubt I did such a thing"

"You did. You even remove everything on the top, flat board"

She pouts, looking at him in an insulted way, though she still felt some heat go up her cheeks.

"I did no such thing"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because of the nickname"

He smirks even wider.

"Don't like the nickname?"

"I don't, because it's false"

"What's false about you being a flat board?"

"I'm not flat. It's placed so it would be flat"

"Don't believe you"

"Want me to prove it?"

Ace's gaze widens a bit.

"Altessa…are you still affected by the alcohol?"

"Why?"

It's his turn to grimace.

"Are you seriously asking me why?!"

She tightens her grip on her head.

"Don't shout!"

"I won't, but you can't be serious about proving it"

"I am"

She lowers her hands and passes her bag over it, then starts removing her coat.

"Altessa…"

Having removed her coat, she slips her finger under her cardigan's lower rim. Ace turns somehow red and catches her hands.

"Stop! I get it, I get it, you're not a flat board, but keep your clothes on!"

She lets go of her cardigan and he lets go of her hands. She smirks a little.

"And that is another proof that I didn't do it"

Ace blinks a little, not understanding at first, then groans as he places a hand in front of his face.

"You tricked me"

"Not really. I was going to show you what was holding it flat. I never said I'd strip"

He removes his hand, still a bit red, but a simple smile now on his lips.

"I still think you might have some alcohol left that needs to be assimilated. You seem way too open about taking of your shirt"

She shrugs a little.

"Like I said, I wasn't striping"

"Yeah, yeah"

He places his hands on her shoulders and makes her lie down on the bed.

"Still think you'd better rest a bit more. You still have the headache to get rid of"

She lets him do, not even sure if you could have resisted had she wanted to, and Ace moves her bag and coat from the bed to put it on the desk.

"You'll have to talk to Thatch when you are feeling better. He was with me when you started rambling about what I used to be and what you are"

She lets out a sigh.

"I suppose I do owe him an explanation as well"

"You bet you do. I still have some questions, too, but I'll wait until you're back to normal. Now rest"

He leaves the room, closing the door behind himself. Altessa closes her eyes, feeling the throbbing. Would sleep really help? Only one way to find out.