Encounter

Ace was starting to feel bored. He'd been in Nanohana for six days now waiting for his little brother and was starting to run low on funds. He hadn't dined and dashed yet, wanting to keep a low profile as much as possible until it was time for him to move on, but soon he would have to if he wanted a decent meal. Shaking his head, the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates pushed his empty glass towards the barman, who silently refilled it. It was early in the evening for getting drunk, but after three years sailing the Grand Line as a pirate Ace had a cast iron liver.

There was a rustle to his left as someone dressed in the concealing over robes commonly worn on the island settled themselves in the seat beside him. Ace was set to ignore the interloper when an arm was thrown across his shoulders and a familiar voice laughed in his ear:

"Miss me, hothead?"

Ace turned, wrapped his own arm firmly around the woman who'd just invaded his personal space and dragged her onto his lap. "Not a chance, gorgeous. You always find me before I start to pine."

The white-haired woman giggled, one hand tangling in his hair as the other waved a wad of beli at the barman. "D'you serve food here, kind sir?" she crooned. At the man's nod, she went on, "then bring us whatever your cook feels is best and keep it coming."

Ace' arm tightened around her waist and he pulled her headscarf down so he could nuzzle her ear. "You, my dear Fox, are a queen among women; a true goddess of the sea."

"You only say that because I cater to your appetites," she teased him, the innuendo making him smirk lecherously and playfully nip the end of her nose.

"No, it's your magnificent body, charming wit, brilliant mind and stunning range of skills that captivate me, princess," he retorted, her presence soothing the ferocious, smouldering rage that had taken hold of him nearly three weeks previously. "A man who fails to fall at your feet upon beholding your true nature is either completely blind to the finer things in life or dead."

"Or not interested in women," Fox retorted.

"Nope, Izo's as crazy about you as the rest of the crew. Gender preference has nothing to do with it," Ace said smugly, shifting her slightly so she was sat sideways across his thighs. "Did you know we visited Mystoria Island a few months back?" he added wickedly, leaning closer so he could whisper directly into her ear. "You never mentioned you were worshipped as a goddess there; the captain thought it was hilarious."

The white-haired woman groaned softly and buried her face in his chest. "So mean," she whimpered. Ace would have gone on teasing his friend about her involuntary apotheosis but the barman had returned with a respectable quantity of food and he was hungry.

"Sir, ma'am," the older man said gruffly, putting the plates on the bar. Ace helped Fox shift so she was facing the bar, then set about devouring what had been put in front of him. A soft chuckle tickled his ear and at the edge of his vision another wad of beli changed hands.

"Let me know when we've eaten through that," Fox said, turning her attention to her own meal and shifting her weight so her back was flush against Ace' chest.

Portgas D. Ace chuckled softly. It looked like his remaining time in Alabasta might not be so boring after all.

Once dinner was over –and Fox had parted with a terrifying amount of money keeping him fed– Ace let his white-haired friend lead him back to her boat. He'd been sleeping in his own craft, not being susceptible to cold, but that didn't mean he'd turn down a comfy mattress and soft pillows if he could get them. That the Swift Hunter only had one double bed didn't bother him in the least; Fox was relentlessly tactile around the people she trusted and Ace had no problems cuddling up with her at night. Of course the first few times he'd woken up to find her wrapped around him had been rather, well, panic-inducing –he knew exactly whose daughter she was– but with Marco's reassurance he'd quickly got used to it. It was rather flattering really, not to mention a secret guilty pleasure: Fox was one of the most stunning women he'd ever seen and certainly the loveliest he'd ever been allowed to touch.

He generally kept his attraction well-buried though; he didn't want to end up like the rest of her former conquests. How Hawk-Eyes managed to track down each man his daughter had ever been romantically involved with was a mystery, but the fact remained that almost every last one had died at the hands of the World's Strongest Swordsman. Ace knew he was good, but he wasn't that good.

Falling into bed with the only woman he'd ever seen stark naked but not had sex with, Ace pondered how he had gotten to know the secretive and whimsical woman who had shaken his world time and time again and beaten him over the head with his own irrational behaviour until he admitted his foolishness and begged forgiveness.

The first time Ace had met Fox, he'd not known her name. He had however done his utmost to kill her. He'd still been captain of the Spade Pirates then and she'd found him partying on a beach on the first half of the Grand Line with his crew and a good number of the locals. The celebration had been winding down when a then-seventeen Ace had noticed the woman in a flower-print shirt and deck trousers watching him, her head wrapped in a long scarf and her eyes shadowed. Sensing her strength, he'd approached her and been instantly provoked into a violent fury when the stranger had asked him who his father was.

The subsequent battle had been completely one-sided as the woman had dodged or redirected every single one of his attacks without missing a beat in the conversation. Well, verbal exchange: Ace had mostly been throwing insults and expressing his intent to rip her limb from limb while she pointed out how rude he was being and reiterating her inquiry as to his parentage. She'd eventually pinned him to the sand and explained that she'd thought he looked a bit like the late Pirate King and had been wondering if Ace was Gol D. Roger's youngest child.

Ace had cursed a blue streak and tried to shake the woman off, with little success. Eventually the woman had realised she wasn't going to get a clear answer from the irate pirate and vanished, leaving Ace behind, furious and humiliated by his defeat. His anger at being so effortlessly bested had prompted him to make more of a name for himself and eventually eat the Devil Fruit his crew later found.

The second time he met Fox, he didn't get a chance to fight as she pinned him to the ground with a Kairoseki knife before he even realised she was there. That happened on Fishman Island; he'd been exploring when she got the drop on him and mugged him in a back alley. She'd then politely apologised for the inconvenience and showed him a photograph, explaining that she was looking for Roger's youngest because the man's five elder, illegitimate children wanted to meet the youngest member of the family. Ace had been stunned stupid by the idea of having blood siblings and been put through a cripplingly embarrassing lecture about the likelihood of illegitimate offspring when a person was as free with their affections as most pirates were. Especially around mermaids.

After grudgingly admitting that yes, He was Roger's kid, Ace had been introduced to three of his older sisters, all of whom were mermaids and one of whom had two daughters of her own. All three had fallen on him like hungry wolves, peppered him with questions about his childhood and insisted on feeding him, hugging him and generally fussing over him. It had been a totally alien experience for a boy raised by mountain bandits and his utter incomprehension of their motives coupled with his reluctance to harm this new family had been ruthlessly taken advantage of by the frighteningly perceptive mermaids. It hadn't helped that they all either looked like him or acted like him and generally behaved like he was the best thing that had ever happened to them. His crew had all been jealous of the attention their captain had been getting, though he hadn't actually told any of them that the five gorgeous, half-naked ladies that refused to let him out of their sight were actually his siblings and nieces.

The Spade Pirates spent two weeks on Fishman Island and Ace was profoundly changed by the experience. His eldest sister, Gol D. Spitfire, was old enough to be his mother and the only one of the mermaid siblings Roger had actually met. He'd even given her her name, probably as a joke when the then-fifteen-year-old had fiercely declared her intention to become the first person to tame and breed Sea Kings. She had succeeded as well; Ace had met one or two of her 'pets' since and they honestly scared him shitless. She'd also done a lot to mitigate Ace' lifelong uncertainty regarding his own right to live, as he'd been unable to deny her brilliance and purpose.

His second oldest sister was called Ama, who ran the Mermaid Café, was four years younger than Spitfire and had two daughters, one of whom was his age. Ishilly was almost Ace' mermaid double in looks, nothing like him in personality and thought he was the coolest uncle any girl could possibly have. She'd made a point of introducing him to all her friends at the Café, which had made all the customers green with envy as the waitresses huddled around his table and fawned all over him. It had been rather awkward for Ace meeting his niece's friends who were the same age as the various women he'd romanced in the past, but he'd managed. Remembering how he'd dealt with his little brother Luffy had helped.

His third sister was called Seishelle, was only six years older than he was and married to prince Fukaboshi, the heir to the island's throne. Ace had not met the prince, but got the impression he was a good sort. Seishelle was also the largest of the sisters, large enough to be considered a giant had she been born with legs rather than a tail, though none of his sisters could be considered small. She was also relentlessly optimistic in a way that reminded Ace very much of Luffy, which Spitfire claimed had been inherited from Roger.

Ace had not seen the white-haired woman again until he was leaving the island, and then he'd only caught her for long enough to express his gratitude for her introducing him to his siblings and to ask for her name. She'd grinned at him and told him to call her Fox, saying her real name would keep for a while.

The third time Portgas D. Ace had met Fox had been on board the Moby Dick, shortly after deciding to join the crew. It was also when he had learnt she was a Shichibukai's daughter.