Chapter 11: Got to grow up some day

Months passed since Farra's departure. Ace had convinced Sabo and Luffy to forget completely about her and the fact that she even existed. Easier said than done to say the least. Luffy was the most vocal about his feelings. He often complained about how the food Ace or Sabo prepared was dryer or more burned than Farra's cooking. Sabo drowned his feelings in his maps of the forest he made. That left Ace. He had to be the one most affected by Farra's absence. Every night he was haunted by the memory of her leaving the club house that night. He still remembered how she smelled, how she tasted, how she cried. To say he missed her was an understatement. She loved him for who he was and he loved her. Despite all of this the boys vowed to get stronger. Luffy's undying determination to become the next Pirated King had driven the other two boys to work as hard as they could to beat him to his goal.

"Farra would have wanted me to be the next King." Luffy whined after being beaten one day. That caused the other two boys to go crazy and beat him more.

"Shut up and don't mention her name again!" Ace growled running away.

"Ace!" but he was gone before either boy could catch what he said. Ace ran to the pond where he and Farra spent that one night dancing. The water slashed over the shore line reminding Ace of the way the water licked over their feet as they danced. How in the world would have known that the love of his life was going to be ripped from him. His heart hurt.

Meanwhile….

Farra spent most of her days training with Nora, actually most of her days being beaten by Nora. The only reason Farra was training was so she could be strong enough to be able to meet up with Ace and the others when they become pirates. Ace….

Farra's heart rate shoot through the roof. She really hadn't took the time to think about Ace since she left. Which was strange because she was doing this for him. Memories of him suddenly flooded her mind. She was so obsessed with making sure Ace, Sabo, and Luffy were safe she didn't even consider their feelings towards the matter. Or his feelings. She loved Ace so she thought she was doing the right thing. By leaving? Her heart was in a million pieces now, she didn't want to leave but it seemed like the most responsible choice.

"Farra, Dear, you are not paying attention." Nora said smiling lightly to herself

"Yes Ma'am, I'm sorry!" Farra shock her head furiously trying to rid herself from those thoughts.

'I can't get distracted at a time like this,' She thought.

"Farra, don't over work yourself," Eric called from next to June.

"I'm not trying to!" She growled angrily at her brother. He sat next to the pinked haired bounty hunter. It was hard to believe that Eric and Farra were on talking terms. She was furious with him for making her make that decision, she didn't consider him any brother of hers.

"Leave me alone," She growled . it was about time she got mad at him, I mean seriously. It had been three month since she left Ace and the pain still remained. She missed him the most but she had to move on and keep going forward. She could still hear Luffy complaining that he's hungry, and Sabo still arguing with Ace about who was going to be the next pirate king, Luffy joining in, and Ace walking her to Dadans' always shyly kissing me when she wasn't expecting it. She let out a long sigh.

"Something wrong, Farra?" Nora asked stretching back against the floor.

"Nothing." She responded. She walked away without another word. No one went after her either. She just wanted to be alone.

Farra~

I sat down next to the lake in the center of the town. This was such a strange place. Species that had gone extinct years centuries ago were now here, they were living amongst the people like no big deal. Such strange things.

"Hey!" Rang a cutesy voice behind me. I flipped around to find to see a small girl with black hair in all directions. She was a lot smaller than most girls I saw around the place. "You're Farra, right?"

"Who are you?!" I gasped.

"Oh, yeah, you're new so you don't know!" She jumped down from the boxes she was on. "My name is Sparrow. Sparrow Thatch." She smiled ear to ear.

"Sparrow? What? Am I supposed to know that name?!" I snapped angrily. She looked at me with sudden curiosity.

"Well, maybe not Sparrow, but Thatch yeah, DUH!"She smiled pounding her head with her finger.

"Like I said I'm supposed to know that name?" I said rolling my eyes.

"Well, you at least know my Father, right?" She asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Father?" I asked trying to sound unamused.

"His name is Milo Thatch!" She said.

"Never heard of him!" I snorted curling up in a ball.

"Oh," She said, "Well you ought to meet him!"

"No thanks!" I retorted.

"Why not?!" She whined.

"Cuz I don't want anything to do with this place! I need to get stronger so I can leave this dump!" I growled.

"Oh okay," She sighed. She began twirling her thumbs.

"Is there something else?!" I growled.

"Want to be friends?" She asked smiling. I looked at her with complete disgust. That's the same thing Luffy asked Ace when they first became friends. Luffy. Ace. Sabo. Ugh, I hated this! It was all his fault!

"Leave me alone!" I growled. Before she could touch me I stood up and ran again. Maybe this time I could escape this bad dream. Yeah, that's it! When I wake up I'll be in the same room as Ace, Sabo, and Luffy. Luffy will bug me about breakfast, Sabo will go outside and look at the clouds, and Ace would say morning to me and help me pull Luffy off my leg. Thinking about that made my eyes water. Was I crying? Well, since no one was looking…I busted out into tears of self-loathing. I felt complete hate and animosity. I just wanted it all to end. My body was in ruins, I couldn't go on.

"Hey, are you okay?" Came an older sounding voice. I turned to see I was totally wrong. Instead stood a girl that was around my age. She had shoulder length black hair and a book tucked under her arm.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I wiped my tears away.

"Something is bothering you? Care to share with me what it is?" She asked emotionlessly.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I find it easier to talk to strangers about my problems, rather than someone close to me." She held out her hand, "So I don't make my friends worry about me."

I looked at her hand hesitantly.

"You don't have to, if you don't want to." She waved her hand in front of me. I smiled and took it.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"No problem, by the way my name is Nia." She bowed.

"I'm Farra, what are you doing here with a book ?" I asked.

"I was on my way to see my teacher." She said as I followed her.

"Your teacher? What do you learn?" I asked.

"He's a linguist. I learn about language." She smiled fixing her book.

"Why learn about language?" I asked.

"Atlantian is a dying culture, no one but my teacher knows how to read it. So I'm learning it too." She smiled.

"Who's your teacher?" I asked.

"His name is Milo Thatch." She smiled.

"Huh?" I stopped in my tracks.

"What's wrong?" she looked back at me.

"Oh um…." That girls voice rang suddenly in my head.' Well, you at least know my Father, right? His name is Milo Thatch!' "It's nothing!"

"M'kay." She shrugged.

'So that girls' father is a linguist. Hmm, not something to be all high and mighty about. Well, I guess she thought he was so important because he's the only one able to read their dead language.'

"Do you want to meet Milo, Farra?" Nia asked suddenly.

"Huh? Um...okay but what for?" I asked.

"You are new here so it would be nice if you met the city's king, after all." She stated.

"HUH?! DID YOU SAY KING?!" I felt my body go numb.

"Farra?"