Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Fairy Tail
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"Knuckle Plant!"
Watching the vines extend towards him, Ace weaved and bobbed his way through an onslaught of attacks as Droy continued to send more magical plants in his direction. Both Ace and the remaining members of Team Shadow Gear had decided that every morning they were going to have a two on one spar, and Ace had made the exception that he would not make his body go into an elemental state in order to even the odds.
The former pirate had been the one to come up with the idea, not so much to focus on his own offensive abilities but rather focus on the defensive side of his combat style. Back on the Grand Line he had always charged headfirst into a battle with the knowledge that only those who knew how to utilise Haki would be able to injure him. Now though there was a multitude of ways for him to take damage and as such wanted to focus on being able to avoid taking blows head on and rather find an alternate way around them.
"Hayabusa TenshÅ," shouted Jet as he leapt off a plant he had been riding upon. Having heard the technique, Ace chose not to waste precious seconds by looking towards where Jet was but rather quickly leapt out of the way, only a split second before Jet's heel crashed into the sand. Ace quickly found himself on the defensive once again as several more plants attempted to bombard him with blows. Weaving around them however left him open as Jet charged forward with a burst of speed, attempting to punch Ace in the face. Lifting his arms, Ace managed to successfully block the first attack but felt a secondary attack in the form of a knee come up and crash into the base of his ribs.
While bile escaped from his lips, he was able to concentrate enough to grip Jet by the shoulders, the speedy magician quickly finding himself in an unescapable grasp before he was thrown skywards, into the path of an oncoming violent plant. "Jet," cried Droy as he witnessed his teammate get hit by his attack, this break in concentration however was all Ace needed to go on the offensive. Droy reached into his back pocket and prepared for drastic countermeasures. "Kabe Plant!" he shouted as he tossed several seeds in front of him, the magical plants springing forward to form a defensive wall between him and Ace. Yet it did little to stop Ace's assault as a piercing lance of fire speared through the wall, coming to a stop only inches away from Droy's face. Beads of sweat ran down his face as he breathed a quick sigh of relief, only to feel the cold metal of Ace's knife rest atop his shoulder.
"I win," claimed Ace calmly as he held the blade in place. A groan of defeat escaped Droy's lips as the magical plants he had summoned vanished in a brilliant glow of light. Without the weight of Droy's attack holding him in place, Jet got up to his hands and knees, brushing the sand from his lips with the back of his hand.
"Can't believe you're that good without trying," said Jet as he rejoined with the other two mages.
"Don't be too hard on yourselves," said Ace reassuringly. "You've got good synchronisation which is something you should be proud of."
"Thanks," said Droy as he ate a piece of fried chicken that had seemingly come out of nowhere.
"Well good luck with your training, I'll see you guys tonight and we'll have another match in the morning," said Ace as he took off at a jog, the two Fairy Tail mages waving in the background. With his adrenaline pumping as it was, Ace was determined to get run a few miles in order to improve his endurance levels if only slightly. Yet he hadn't even taken the first corner when he felt the presence of somebody watching him.
Coming to a stop, he surveyed the people on the street surrounding him but couldn't see any that were watching him or deliberately avoiding eye contact. In a nearby alleyway however he did see a glimpse of a small white dress and quickly made a beeline through the crowd to enter the area. The person he found hiding poorly had his mouth agape. "First Master?" he said in disbelief as he looked at the petite form of the first master of Fairy Tail.
For the longest of moments the two merely looked at one another, before tears started to swell up in Mavis' eyes. "I...I thought I had a good hiding spot," she said as she sobbed softly.
"You did, you did," said Ace shaking his hands back and forth as he tried to make amends for something he had unintentionally done. "I...uh...just used to play hide and seek with my brothers a lot so finding people is kind of like second nature," he said trying to make it sound believable.
"Really?" said Mavis looking up at him hopefully.
"Yea we did," said Ace with a smile. He knew it was kind of a half truth, knowing that he and Luffy had often found themselves hiding away from hired goons whenever one of their adventures to town had gone pear shaped.
"Okay then," said Mavis as she brushed the tears from her eyes, cheering up slightly with the news.
"Excuse me for asking...but, shouldn't you be back on Tenroujima?" asked Ace.
"Well it gets boring being there with nobody else to talk to, so I thought I'd come and support you guys for the tournament," explained Mavis.
"That's nice to know," said Ace with a smile.
"Except, I wanted it to be a surprise...but now that I've been found..." Once more tears appeared within the corners of Mavis' eyes.
"I won't tell anybody, I swear," said Ace reassuringly, not wanting the first master to cry.
"Thank you," said Mavis. "Since you're doing that for me, I should probably help you as well."
"That's really not necessary, I'm going to be getting the information I need from Macao," explained Ace.
"I can save you the trouble," said Mavis, her tone becoming serious. "Ace, your magic is not of this world, I don't even know if you have the capability of learning any of the magic that we contain. I figure there is roughly an eighty percent chance that you wish to contact one of the mages back at the guild to enquire about learning fire magic."
"You're good," admitted Ace, pondering over how long Mavis had been watching what they had been doing.
"With that being said, you're power is greater than many fire mages," continued Mavis. "However, while you cannot use magic the same way that we can, your strength is not as limited as ours; I can't even calculate if you would run out of magical energy after hours upon hours of fighting."
"I fought a pirate warlord called Jimbei to a draw after five days of solid fighting if that helps your calculations."
"That is not surprising, but putting that to the side, you could be one of the strongest members of Fairy Tail, yet I believe there is only a fourteen percent chance that the third master will select you to join the team to participate in the competition with an extra eight percent chance that you would be selected as a reserve member."
"So you're saying there's no chance that I'll even compete in the tournament?"
"That is provided, you focus solely on your fire abilities," said Mavis which caused Ace to raise his eyebrows, wondering how the first master of Fairy Tail knew about his inherited strength. "You hold a power unlike anything else, you merely need to be able to harness it."
"So what do you suggest first master?"
"There is no point in increasing your levels of endurance; if you are able to compete in combat for five days straight then competing in a tournament of this calibre will be no problem to you. While your endurance levels are excellent, there is no shame in increasing your top speed of both your running abilities, your attacks and your reaction time, the last two more so than the first. Your fire magic doesn't hold properties like normal fire magic, but rather fire as a whole. Utilise that knowledge to your advantage."
"And what about my other power?"
Mavis turned and pointed towards a nearby mountain. "In two months time, go to the peak of the mountain where the snow is the heaviest this time of year. You are to spend nine days in the cold conditions where creatures thrice the size of you will attempt to eat you or get you off of their territory by force. Under no circumstance are you permitted to leave the area until noon of the ninth day. I believe that should give you enough time to be able to willingly be able to tap into your strength but not sufficient enough to the point where you could label it as being mastered. So long as you are able to access it, it is enough."
"So you're saying that I need to be able to show off to the current master that I can use this power and my chances of becoming a part of the team will dramatically improve," summarised Ace.
"I assess that your chances would climb by at least sixty percent dependent on how much strength the rest of the guild members achieve," explained Mavis.
"Well then, you've given me a lot to think upon," said Ace. "Thank you for the advice first master."
"I find it interesting," started Mavis, causing Ace to stop momentarily. "Only now do you address me by my name, prior to this moment you had been calling me by my title. Why is this so?"
Ace tilted his hat and looked skywards, a handful of clouds seemingly blending in to the blue sky. "I mentioned the story of how I battled against the pirate warlord Jimbei, many months prior I had actually been offered a position to become a warlord myself but refused. This was half due to the fact that I didn't want to be considered working for a governing body, but also due to that with a title comes an expectation, but people come to know you simply by your title out of respect. Calling somebody with a title solely by their name, I feel brings a sense of understanding between the two."
"There is much more to you than how you are first perceived, I predict great things to come from you being a part of the guild," said Mavis with a smile.
"Once again thanks and I'll see you at the tournament, one way or another," said Ace as he casually saluted the petite girl with two of his fingers, causing Mavis to giggle slightly as they parted their separate ways. However, just before Ace left the narrow alleyway, he heard Mavis' voice cry out from behind him.
"I should warn you that your speed training starts now."
Turning his head, Ace saw no sign of the first master of Fairy Tail but when he faced forwards once more he found himself within close proximity of two men wearing matching blue uniforms. "Is there a problem?" asked Ace, curious as to what these two men were after.
"If you come with us sir, we can take you somewhere you can be with other people like yourself," said one of the men calmly.
"Wait, what group of people?" asked Ace.
"He doesn't even seem to realise that he was talking to an empty alleyway for the past few minutes," said the second man to his comrade, Ace's hearing however picking up on the message.
"Come on sir, there's no need to be frightened, we can help you," said the first man.
"As much as I appreciate you offering to help, I don't really need it," said Ace starting to back away as the two men approached him. Without giving them time to respond, Ace twisted on his back heel and took off as fast as he could, that split second helping him gain an early lead on the two pursuers. Cursing, Ace sprinted down the alleyway, realising that for some reason only he had been able to see Mavis, and hence somebody had called in officials believing that he was crazy. A small smile caressed his lips as he turned a corner, realising the irony of the situation if he decided to defend himself since the truth was that he had been talking to a person only he could see.
...
Two months had passed since the encounter with Mavis, two months of solid training and speed building. The night after meeting with the first master, Ace had broken down what he had wanted to improve on with both Jet and Droy, creating a routine for the three to do every morning and evening with Ace working on his elemental abilities during the afternoons. Now however he found himself atop the snowy mountain that Mavis had pointed out for him. While snow fell heavily around him he felt immune to the cold, his powers over fire keeping him warm despite the frosty conditions. Moving further up the mountainside, he knew that the first thing he would need to find was a place to sleep during the nights. It didn't take him long to find a cave and he made his way inside, flames dancing off his fingertips illuminating the depths. However, it also alerted many of the caves inhabitants of his presence, almost all of which started charging towards where he stood.
"Home sweet home," he commented as he braced himself for the fight that was about to occur.
...
Hope you enjoyed.
On a side note, the reason I brought Mavis into the equation is due to her appearance in the fourth OVA. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go watch it.
Insaneblain: I think this is due to the fact that it's possibly the easiest part to enter a character into the story, where it doesn't overly affect the greater flow of time.
Ja Ne