Title: On the Ocean Blue

Written By: NikoArtagnan

Genre: Fantasy/Friendship/Adventure

Rating: T, will eventually go to M

Summary: An outcast from Earth is flung headfirst into a hostile, unforgiving world, and finds themselves tagging along with a very particular crew of misfit pirates, and the boy who wants to be the King of them all. But this isn't the world of One Piece you thought you knew, and there are terrible things lurking in the shadows...

Chapter-Specific Warnings: Foul language, lots of slurs, internalized homophobia (*stares at Sanji*), major violence, attempted rape, the Daemons are fucking monsters in every term of the word, lots of trigger-y shit, few people in this thing are straight, have I mentioned that before? There is both femslash and slash in this thing. Just so you know. :D

Author's Notes: This took an unforgivably long time to get out. I had lots of reasons (illness, commissions, NaNoWriMo, sheer lack of interest, etc), but I won't bore you all by listing them here. Just know that I'm back, and updates should be a helluva lot more frequent.

The wonderful cover was done by the absolutely lovely birdfunk on tumblr, as part of our trade! It's amazing, and I love her art style so much.

(Also, I'm going to be doing my best to get this story transferred over to AO3 once the Arabasta arc is finished. That version will have a lot less errors than this one, if anyone would be interested in it.)

*Also, I want to make this very, very, VERY CLEAR before you continue. This chapter contains some VERY fucked up stuff happening towards a character, and though no explicit rape happens (and it never will in my stories, because even I will never go that far), sexual assault does happen. If you cannot handle that, please do not read the end part of this chapter, starting from the second Sanji section.

Proceed with caution.

Chapter Twenty-One:

Rage against the Dying of the Light

Kelly was impressed as Ace kept up with her as they raced through the streets of Alubarna, towards the palace, Shere and Gin pacing them. He's fast for a human, she thought with a grin. She glanced a look at her friend, who was almost completely unmarked from the Thralls' ambush but for a thin slash across one cheek that had already stopped bleeding.

Very nice.

In retrospect, Kelly wasn't quite sure why she felt surprised that he'd managed to keep up with her all this time. He was one of Whitebeard's sons, after all, and a commander to boot. And a person would be hard pressed to find a better Devil Fruit to fight Daemons and their ilk than one that gave the user control over fire.

Not for the first time she wondered why the hell Ace was doing this.

Curiosity, perhaps?

...Concern for his brother was a more likely reason, as was the incentive that she'd laid before him before they'd made the trip to Alubarna.

But it was strange. He was going far, far out of his way in order to help her and the Straw Hats, willing to pit himself against Daemons and Thralls in order to…help her? And it wasn't as though he didn't know what Daemons were capable of. He'd been in the New World and all across the Grand Line, so he'd definitely run into them before. And still he was helping her.

The very thought boggled the mind.

She skidded to a halt as a very familiar buzzing prickled over her skin, ten times stronger than she'd ever felt before, and there was a dark aura dropping towards them from the sky like a laser-guided missile.

"Move!" she screamed and dove to the side with Shere at her heels. Gin slammed Ace over, carrying them both out of range of the thing that crashed into the ground with an immense boom, splintering the dry ground in a ten-foot radius where it had landed.

There was a laugh, quiet, vaguely masculine, but with a strange undercurrent of malice that made the hair on the back of Kelly's neck stand straight up. As the dust cleared, Kelly saw a young, fairly muscled boy that didn't look much older than Luffy. His hair was a bland, plain brown cut short around his head, his skin was lightly tanned, and his clothes were every bit as plain as the rest of him – an ill-fitting rust-colored tunic and slacks.

But his eyes.

Kelly felt a hiss of fear leave her, a sound mirrored by Shere and Gin's fearsome snarls.

The boy…no, this was no boy, this was no human.

"Daemon," she whispered, and was answered by the thing's laugh.

"Mĕgēna," It replied, and turned to face her completely. "I must say, it is smart of you to make sure one of your anēkśnai was with you, but leaving the weaker one alone? That's not very wise."

What was it talking about? What the hell did ana…anei…aneiksenaii (was that how it was even pronounced) mean?

She'd never met a Daemon who used confusion as a way to incapacitate their enemies.

The Daemon laughed. "The blond boy. The blond boy with the delicious blood that our Ārnēā brought to us word of. You should take better care of your whores, Mĕgēna."

Kelly bristled at the insult, before the full comprehension of the monster's words hit her like a ton of bricks.

-…"The things the Daemons create, their servants, they're connected. It's like a hive-mind of sorts," Kureha says from her seat by the younger Magus's bed. "The servants can share their memories with their masters."

"How?" Kelly asks, leaning back against the wall, fascinated despite the horror of what she is hearing.

"The Daemons use bits of themselves to create creatures, or to corrupt ones that already exist. If they consume the creatures again, they gain their memories, everything from taste to smell to sight. They're less…mm, less wrong to the sense of a Magus than their Masters are."

And for a long moment Kureha's eyes are dark, distant, before she continues.

"It makes it easier for them to hunt down our families that way."…-

A tiny voice in her head was screaming, screaming. It had been screaming before, but muffled, distant. Now it was loud, a siren wailing.

In her mind's eye she saw Sanji's injury, where the Thrall had bitten him. She remembered the way she felt about him, the weird, unbearably intense feelings he engendered in her-then what the Daemon said registered, and it was as though every vein in her body had turned to ice.

The second Daemon was going after Sanji.

Her shock must have shown in her eyes, because the Daemon laughed, cold and chittering.

"Like I said, very stupid to let your whore go wandering off," the thing said, and its skin began to bulge, twisting and its mouth expanded, rows of silver-sharp teeth replacing the human ones. It grew and grew and Kelly backed away before she could stop herself.

Highborn! Her mind was screeching. It's the Highborn!

And, with a roar of bloodlust and menacing laughter, it was on her.

NAMI

"Shitshitshitshit-oh shit!"

It was pure luck that she tripped as the deadly slice of air flew over her head. Nami rolled into a ball and wrapped her arms around her head as the pillar shattered under the force of Mr. 1's blow, sending a rain of rock, clay, and dust raining down on her.

She staggered to her feet and kept running, the Baroque Works' officer right behind her.

He had underestimated her, and that had saved her life from his first strike.

But her time was running out, and running out very quickly. She'd tried using the staff Usopp had made for her but…if she hadn't been exhausted from running, she would have fumed at Usopp's idiocy.

Great for entertainment at parties, her ass. She'd told him to make her something she could actually use in a fight and he'd given her a toy. If she fucking survived this, she was going to kill him.

But then.

Then.

Something hummed. The air danced as though she was looking at the word through a heat haze and a voice spoke to her. In her. In her head.

Whispering her name. Nami. Nami. Nami.

"Who are you?" she whispered back, clutching her head and swaying in the middle of the street. Was she going insane? A fine time to do it, but she wasn't all that surprised.

Drop!

The voice was a command, a piercing alarm through her skull, and Nami hit the ground, feeling a rush of air pass over her head. Strands of hair that hadn't gotten out of the way quick enough fluttered to the ground around her, and Nami stood, facing the Baroque Works' officer.

How can I win? She thought, watching him. How can I win against someone like this? Is he made out of metal?

…Or is it just something that grows on his skin?

Her grip tightened on her staff, and she felt the metal roll under her fingers as a thought crystallized in her head on the heels of an idea she wasn't even sure would work.

I hope this works.

Mr. 1 lunged forward, his arms coming down in a deadly arc that would separate her head from her shoulders.

There was warmth in her heart, in her arm, in her blood, rolling like the waves in the ocean. She could taste ozone in her mouth as she dropped, dodging the strike, and brought the staff up as she went.

CALL FOR ME, the voice screamed. CALL FOR ME!

"Fulgur!" she cried, and the heat poured into her hands, into her staff, as the words sang through the air like a promise, slipping easily from her lips. Mr. 1 cursed as the staff connected with his chest. "Ad te clamo, nomine testamentum sanctuarii!"

Lightning leapt from her staff to Mr. 1's chest. Nami rolled away and to her feet as arcs of pure, yellow fury danced over the man's brown skin. He staggered as the light faded, and clutched at his arm, the metal having turned the sickly red-brown of rust. He gaped at her, any hint of composure now long gone.

I did it! She thought, amazed.

We can win, the fire inside her whispered. No…We will win.

ZORO

"You can't keep up with me, little boy!"

Pain flared in his arm. Zoro yelled, agony and rage – he hadn't even felt her coming! – thrumming through him. He yanked his arm away from those damned needles, and backed up, trying to ignore the numbness in his fingers.

Miss Doublefinger laughed, and cracked her knuckles, spikes exploding from her fingers.

"I expected something a little bit better from Roronoa Zoro!" she said and then she was in front of him, and her fist was smashing into his stomach, hundreds of razor-sharp needles piercing his flesh. Zoro gagged as the blow knocked him back, bright pain curling in his perforated stomach.

He staggered. She was too fast.

Too damn fast and he couldn't hit her.

The woman smirked, and rested her bloody fist on her hip. "Pathetic, really, but I suppose that's to be expected from someone from East Blue."

Anger flared, for a second brighter than the pain. If he couldn't beat this one enemy, this one piddling officer of Baroque Works – how the hell would he ever manage to survive the rest of the way through the Grand Line? How would he ever managed to defeat Mihawk if he couldn't win against this one opponent!

How could he ever tell Luffy his swordsman wasn't strong enough to stand at the side of the future King of the Pirates?

(How could he ever face Kuina?)

She came again, and he dodged back – but her foot swung up and connected with his chin. Pain exploded through his jaw. He was lifted off his feet and flung backward, crashing into the ground.

Zoro flipped to his feet, and growled as the woman laughed, her amusement mocking and cold.

"Impatient for me to kill you, hmm? Well, I suppose I should hurry this up, if you're really so eager to die."

Zoro ground his teeth as the woman began to sway towards him. His head felt faint and his limbs shaky. Blood loss, he realized. Serious blood loss. He had to finish this and finish it soon.

-…"You've got no patience, Zoro!" Kuina laughs as his back hits the ground. He glares at her, but it only makes her laugh all the harder.

He's never been able to intimidate her, and he probably never will, even when he does get bigger than her. (He seriously hopes he'll be taller than her one day. If he doesn't ever get taller than her, she will lord it over him forever, he knows that.)

"I can't hit you," Zoro grumbles, but takes the hand she offers him and lets her pull him to his feet.

"Well, you don't wait for me, that's all," she says with the air of someone dispensing information he should already know well enough.

He blinks, then growls in confusion. "Kuina, what're you talking about?"

Kuina sighs. "Pull your sword up in a block position. Remember what Papa taught you today?"

He nods, and obeys.

"Now I want you to watch. Watch and wait, like Papa says. Watch my moves, watch where I'm going to strike. You've gotta be patient, if you wanna be the best. Use your anger and whatnot to guide your strikes, but use your patience to block any attacks," she says, and Zoro sees her arm shift and waits, waits, waits-there!

He gets his sword up just in time to block the strike, knocking it to the side. Kuina grins, pleased.

"See! You can be patient! But, uh," and then she sweeps his feet out from under him in one swift motion, and he groans as his back hits the floor of the dojo. "You aren't nearly as fast as me, Zoro!"

He swears at her, and her laugh is so, so bright…-

Zoro breathed, slow and steady, and let his feet press solidly against the ground. The woman smiled, eyes cold and ugly as Kuina's had never been.

"You're pathetic, brat. I thought I would actually get a decent fight today, but apparently not. Ah, well," she commented with a mocking laugh.

Anger fizzled up Zoro's spine, but a strange sort of calm accompanied it. A dark, raging, demonic calm. He closed his eyes, and let the anger curl around each bone, but kept a tight grip on it. Not yet, not yet.

Wait. Wait.

"Aren't you going to plead for your life?" She asked, cruelly amused. "Your captain probably did, when the Boss killed him. Maybe you just have more honor and pride in yourself?"

The rage curled poisonous and hard around his bones, but he kept still, kept himself from reacting to the insult in any way beyond a silent promise to himself to make sure she paid for what she had said, tenfold.

He opened his eyes, and the woman blinked, taking a step back. Something prickled over his arms and legs, and the air was heavy.

Alive.

"Are you going to attack?" He asked, and he could have sworn he felt a darkness suffusing his words.

"Or are you just going to keep blathering?"

Her face tightened. "You little shit!" Spikes exploded from both arms, and she lunged forward, murder in her eyes.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait-

Now!

The words came to his lips as Miss Doublefinger raised her mace-like hands over her head in preparation to strike.

"Hyakuhachi…Pound…HO!" he yelled, and the woman screamed as three slashing projectiles of air that seemed more like steel slammed into her. Spikes shattered, and she went flying, to slam into the wall on the other side of the street. It buckled beneath the force of the blow that had carried her into it, and the wall shattered into debris.

Zoro straightened as the woman staggered upright, bleeding horrendously from several wounds. It had worked. Not as strongly as it could have, and he was still so damned weak…but it had slowed her down.

Her eyes met his, and he smiled at the fear in them.

She was much, much more wary of him now.

USOPP & CHOPPER

If there was anything Chopper was thankful for, it was the fact that he and Usopp could both be fast when they needed to be.

And it helped that the Daemons weren't really trying to kill them. They were playing with them. Feints to the left and right, claws flicking out to draw minor cuts on their skin. But no definite strike, no lunge for the jugular.

Chopper slammed his antlers into a Thrall that had gotten too close to Usopp, knocking it back. On a normal animal, such a move would have broken its back, and even one of these creatures should have been halted by it.

But the creature, after a gesture from the tarantula-woman who led the monsters, stood back up, its bones or whatever held its skin in place snapping back, and it leered at Chopper, who shuddered.

Usopp was trembling. Exhaustion and despairing terror curled around his scent. Every shot had been ineffective, and the Thralls were getting closer.

The tarantula-woman laughed.

"I think you should just lay down, monso," she said mockingly. "Why don't you just lay down and die? It'll be simp-ler for us, and less pain-ful for you. Because you will die."

Chopper couldn't deny the painful truth in her words.

But he didn't want to lay down. He didn't want to die.

She tsked.

"No? Not even you, little cow-ard?" she asked of Usopp, who froze. "You aren't very ap-pe-tizing, but your death would be quick. I could make it so. And you will die anyway, once Ladon-vāmī and Chimera-ilā kill the mĕgēna. And even mag'ra jo will make quick work of the others. Why fight? Why not just die, like the other monso did? Like the monso with the hat did?"

Usopp froze.

Chopper ground his teeth.

The woman let out a fierce, chittering laugh, and the rest of the Thralls mimicked her laughter, the cacophony of their combined voices making Chopper's nerves twang unpleasantly.

"Pathetic! He squealed and cried before the other Ārnēā! Then he died, but that's to be expected." The woman's smile stretched wider than any human's ever could as she shrugged and the other monsters giggled and snapped their teeth.

Chopper trembled.

Luffy. What this monster was saying…

"Y-You're lying."

The reindeer jerked his head to Usopp, who was glaring at the woman.

"Oh?" she said, cocking her head to one side.

"Luffy would never lose to someone as pathetic as t-them. E-even your masters…he'll kick their asses! You're the pathetic ones! Luffy would n-never do any of that! You're lying, and he-he'll kick Crocodile's ass!" Usopp said, pointing a shaking finger at her. "Luffy's my c-captain, and I'm not going to l-let a jerk like you in-insult him while you hide behind your freaks!"

The multi-faceted eyes narrowed with rage, and Chopper felt Usopp's slingshot come up, faster than anything.

"You would dare-?!"

"Kaen Boshi!"

The woman jerked back, and then she screamed.

It was an awful, piercing, wailing scream as her long blond hair caught fire. Long claws began scrabbling at her skull, pulling huge chunks of burning flesh and hair from it as she writhed on the ground, surrounded by her keening, shrieking minions, who all looked in as much pain as their Mistress.

Chopper looked at Usopp, who was grinning fit to burst, though the smile trembled. The boy looked down at him, and the grin grew to almost Luffy-like proportions.

"I know how to beat her, Chopper. Let's kick her ass!" Usopp declared, and flipped his goggles down.

Chopper tried very hard to keep the stars out of his eyes, though it was a struggle.

Usopp was just too damn cool.

SANJI

He was lost.

Not just lost-lost, no, he had officially reached Zoro-levels of lost, and that was rather humiliating. Sanji rubbed his temples as he wandered through the deserted streets of Vivi-chan's home, trying to keep the palace that lay in the far distance in sight.

The winding streets and hidden passages of the city were proving to be quite an obstacle. He had lost track of the duck that had brought him here when he had run into a group of rebels fighting a group of soldiers, and was forced to make his way on foot. And without the duck, who had obviously known were they were going, he had quickly gotten lost.

Sanji sighed, and ground the stub of his cigarette under his foot. He hoped Nami-chan and Vivi-chan were all right. He hoped none of those…those things had caught up to them. He clenched his fists and picked up speed.

Then a stray thought meandered into his head. Is Ciel all right?

Sanji's cheeks reddened, and he wiped a hand over his face to try and stop the blush.

Of course the scoundrel would be all right. He had taken on all those damn banana-crocs back at the casino, hadn't he?

-…He has only the briefest glance of Ciel being dragged to the ground as the Thralls leap upon him, before he is out of view. But the other man's screams are ringing in his ears, drowning out even the sounds of the war…-

Sanji groaned, then slapped himself. The scoundrel would be fine. He was strong, unbelievably so, and in any case, he had Luffy's equally strong brother with him.

-…Fire flares, explodes into waves of unceasing destructive force, and Sanji knows he is staring, but he can't help it as the ships crumple into ash…Ace lands on the railing again and just smirks, a bright and wicked grin that matches Ciel's answering grin inch for inch, and Sanji feels a weird fluttering in his chest, one that comes back whenever he sees the two of them together or whenever they look at him…-

Sanji closed his eyes, then looked into the sky.

"There is something really wrong with me," he said with a long sigh, and shook himself, before continuing on his way.

He had only walked for several minutes when he heard a faint cry. He stopped, his ears cocked, and he heard it again.

"…help…" It was faint and broken, but he heard it.

A woman's voice, choked with despair, and he was moving before he even realized it, darting down an alley to his right. It was dark, littered with debris from a mortar that must have gone astray and knocked several walls down.

He clambered over one such fallen wall, and found himself in a small courtyard, shaded by the interlocking rooftops of four houses. And in a corner, curled up in the shadows, was a woman.

She looked up as he hurried over to her, and his breath caught in his lungs. She was beautiful, perhaps the most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen, even for the dust and blood that marred the beauty of her face and clothes.

Flawless, pale skin, watery, sapphire blue eyes that trembled. Her blond hair seemed to float around her face, and the torn robes she wore clung to her body's curves.

Her full, red mouth trembled as he knelt beside her. He grimaced as he saw her leg, bloody and obviously broken as it was.

"I thought," and her voice was as beautiful as the rest of her, even though the pain made it raspy. "I thought I would be left here!"

"Don't worry, princess," he said, and began slowly moving away the debris that had pinned her into the corner.

"I came back to try and find my dog," she said, sobbing now. "Oh, I am so stupid! It was smarter than me, and it probably left already."

Sanji's heart softened in the face of her anguish.

"Princess, you are not stupid for worrying about a treasured pet. Wrap your arms around my neck, and I'll get you to safety."

Now just where that safety would be, Sanji had no idea. But she would be safer with him than trapped in this alley. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

As carefully as he could, he placed one arm behind her back, and the other beneath her knees.

"This is going to hurt, princess," he warned, and she buried her head into his neck, letting out only a pained whimper as he lifted her up, into his arms.

He would have to find a safe place to get her before he worried about anything else.

As he walked out of the alley, he didn't see the smile that curved her lips as she looked over his shoulder, or the shadows that danced over the fingers clasped behind his neck.

KELLY

She was at a serious disadvantage, here in the desert. There would be little water available normally, but this was a desert city that had been suffering through horrendous drought no less.

And there was a godawful panic in her bones that simply could not be thrust down, no matter how hard she tried.

Could Ace get there in time? He had Gin with him, and he was no slouch, but that wouldn't matter if the other Daemon simply decided to not bother with the hassle and kill Sanji immediately.

The chittering, multi-limbed thing that danced over a gust of wind that shattered the wall behind it laughed, a chilling sound that sent gooseflesh rippling over her arms.

"Don't worry, mĕgēna. My valage ēk will take her time with your whore. She adores the rēkiga." It shook its heads in a parody of affection, then its multiple mouths smiled.

"She'll rip your whore in half, and drink its blood and tears," the smiles spread past the point of sanity as Kelly trembled in fury.

"Does that make you angry, mĕgēna? That you can't protect you whore?"

Kelly shot forward with a scream, cyclones ripping into existence at her fingertips.

She smashed them into those hateful, horrifying smiles with a roar of "VENTUS TOLE VOS!"

The Daemon shrieked and black blood splattered. It screamed again as Shere darted in, snarling, and hamstringed two of its legs. It stumbled and hit the ground, and looked up at her with rolling, mad, enraged eyes.

"You'll pay for that!" It shrieked.

"And you'll pay for the very crime of your existence!" Kelly hissed, and leapt at it once again.

SANJI

"This is bad," he said, hiding in an alley as two groups of soldiers clashed with a group of rebels. Gunfire tore through the air, mingled with the screams of the dying. And he had a precious burden in his arms, one he had to get to safety.

The woman in his arms trembled.

"Don't worry, princess," he assured her. "I'll keep you safe."

She shook in his arms as he darted down an alley. Hopefully this would-

"You know," the woman said after a brief silence, and her voice had a dark note of amusement curling through it. "I never expected a whore of a mĕgēna to be so utterly stupid."

He looked down at her, confusion twisting through him, and then his world was pain. Teeth were latched onto his neck, and Sanji screamed as they bit deep, his blood gushing. He crashed to the ground, a great weight settling onto his stomach.

The teeth wrenched back, and another gasp of pain left his lips, and he couldn't move his hands.

The woman straddled him, her mouth rimmed with his blood, her once beautiful blue eyes now a mad, awful shade of red.

She smiled as his eyes widened and leaned in close.

"Delicious," she said, and a forked black tongue darted out to swipe over her lips.

Sanji began to struggle, terror shaking his limbs, but he couldn't move, it felt like a mountain was pinning him to the ground.

"Oh, no need to go so soon," she purred, the skin around her face bulging and twisting. "Your blood tastes so sweet! I'm goIng to take mY time wiTh you."

The skin split, limbs and eyes and teeth growing where they should not, a monster, this was a monster. Terror blanked out every coherent thought in Sanji's head.

Limbs with too many joints and fingers that ended in talons curled around him, and Sanji's back arched as the bones in his arm were snapped, a scream tearing its way free from his throat.

"Yes! ScrEam, littlE whore! You're mIne, And no one's coMing to helP you!" The thing laughed and fastened on of its mouths on Sanji's neck.

It hurt.

It hurt so much, and he couldn't make her, it, whatever the thing was stop.

He squirmed, trying to throw her off, and felt a strange pressure against his leg as the thing rutted against him. He shrieked in terror and disgust as he realized what that pressure was.

"KEep wrIggling, whore! IT only mAkes me moRe excited!" The thing crooned with the mouth not attached to his neck. It ground harder against him, and panic rushed up to mingle with the terror now, white-hot and overwhelming.

He couldn't get free. He couldn't get free. This thing didn't want him dead, but he knew what it did want, and the knowledge of that almost broke him. His fingers scrabbled at the skin of the thing, hoping to strike some sort of blow against it, not caring when his fingernails broke and bled.

Talons ripped through his shirt, and spread his legs wide, and the bulk of the thing settled between his legs, rutting against him. The feel of the writhing skin against his own was a horror in of itself.

There was an awful, gut-wrenching keening in the air, and Sanji realized on a distant level that he was making the sound, but he couldn't stop himself, even as his head was pulled painfully back and a long, black tongue licked at the gaping wound left by rows of shining teeth.

"So sWeet! I coUld feast on yoUU forever…MaYbe I Will!" The thing crowed with laughter as it tore at his pants. "I wOnder wHat you'll moAn when I hAve you, whore," it whispered, and his eyes were stinging with tears, rolling down his cheeks as it began tearing at his pants-

"HI-KEN!"

Fire exploded, and the weight was knocked off him, and he could breathe again, he could move again. There was a scream of a wild animal, and a black blur shot by him, snarling.

"Hey, blondie, are you all right?" There were hands on him, and he flinched.

"It's okay…Sanji, right? It's me, it's Ace, Luffy's brother." And the terror faded a little, and he looked up. Ace knelt beside him, fire curling around his shoulders.

He shuddered, and struggled to sit up. Ace looked him over, a hand cupping his neck, keeping him propped upright.

"Did…Did that thing do this to you?" The other man asked, his voice flat and deadly cold.

Sanji bit his lip until he was sure he could talk without bursting into godforsaken, unmanly tears.

"Yes," he whispered, gritting his teeth.

Ace closed his eyes, and didn't even flinch when the black blur landed beside him. Sanji recognized the animal instantly.

It was Gin, Ciel's beloved pet. The panther nuzzled his arm, looking at him worriedly.

"I'm…I'm okay," he said weakly, raising a bruised arm to stroke at his head. It was a blatant lie, but he couldn't bear the look in the animal's strange, silver eyes.

"All right, let's get you away from here before that thing comes back," Ace said, and then Sanji was in the other man's arms. He squeaked, then gasped as pain radiated from his broken arm.

"Damn, sorry," Ace said, shifting his grip in an effort to give Sanji as little pain as possible. Ace strode away from the alley and out into the bright sun.

There was a curious coldness in Sanji as Ace sat him down on a barrel near a boarded up store, after nicking some dusty clothes from the building. Ace pulled a small, strange box out of one of his many pockets, and snapped it open. Resting inside was a gleaming ball about the size of a marble, that swirled with deep reds and oranges like a fire opal.

Ace held it up to Sanji's lips.

"Swallow this," the black-haired pirate said, and Sanji did as he was asked after shrugging the dusty clothes on with shaking limbs.

Fire left a trail down his throat, and Sanji choked, then screamed as the bones in his broken arm snapped back into place again. The wound in his neck closed, and the pain eased, cuts and bruises fading under the fire rolling in his belly.

He would have pitched headfirst off the barrel if Ace hadn't grabbed him and held him upright.

"What the shit was that and why the hell did you use it on me?" he said, when he could finally talk. His legs were steady under him, and he felt strong, the pain muted now.

"It was a gift from…a friend I met in the New World," Ace said affectionately, and stowed the box away in a pocket. "You needed it."

Gin nudged at Ace's legs, as an unholy howl rent the air.

"Right, you need to get going," Ace said, his tone suddenly businesslike again. "I'll take care of the Daemon."

"Wait," Sanji said. "You…You're going to take that thing on?"

Ace grinned. "Worried about me, blondie?"

But Sanji's fingers were trembling again, and the panic was trickling back.

"You…you don't, that thing, that thing will kill you," the words were spilling out, tumbling out, and he wished the cold was back, instead of this gasping terror that threatened to strangle him, "It's so powerful, I couldn't even fight it, I couldn't even-"

Warm hands cupped his face, and Ace's forehead pressed against his own.

"Sanji. I will be all right," he said, and there was a fond assurance in his voice, and an iron-hard determination. "This isn't the first monster I've fought, and it won't be the last. You need to go. I saw one of those Baroque guys heading towards the palace. If you take the street behind us, you should intercept him."

Sanji's fingers rested on the hands cupping his face, and there was a curious light in his belly.

"But…"

Ace sighed, and then leaned forward. The cook's eyes shot open as warm, chapped lips brushed over his own in a chaste kiss that lasted for only a second before Ace pulled back, and grinned.

"Go, Sanji."

And Sanji went.

His mind was curiously blank, and his belly fluttered in a way that would have scared him to death if he wasn't so shocked.

ACE

He was the biggest idiot that ever lived, and that was saying something, considering he knew some rather colossal morons.

Taking on a Highborn Daemon, doing all of this, when he should be out there looking for the one who killed Thatch…

What was he thinking?

He sighed, and walked towards the sound of unearthly screeching, his hands in his pockets, as casual as if he were going for a stroll at the market. He hadn't been thinking, if he wanted to be honest with himself. It had been easy, too damned easy, to go along with Ciel, to do as she had asked when she looked at him with those big eyes.

He'd thought nothing of coming with her to this doomed city, to help his brother and her out.

Ciel had promised him information about Blackbeard (and he very much wanted to know how in the hell she had come about that information), but even if she hadn't it would have been far too easy for her to convince him to stay.

Ace felt Gin fall in step with him.

He thought his willingness to stay with her might have something to do with the warmth inside him. Not the fire he lived with normally, but a deeper warmth, bright and soothing, a fire in his heart that pulled him to her, and she to him.

A deep roar shook the air, a cry of utter fury voiced by a creature that could never be called sane.

He would think about it later, Ace told himself, and rubbed a hand over his lips, where the softness and heat of Sanji's lips remained.

Claws pulled from the shadows, hauling a body out into the light, its very presence an affront on all that was good in this world. Fire raced down Ace's arms.

He thought of the bruises and blood on Sanji's arms. He thought of Ciel's screams.

(He thought of the blood that pooled around Thatch's corpse, and the helplessness that had driven him to his knees on that day.)

"Time to die," Ace said, fire blotting out the world as the Daemon lunged at him, mouths gaping.

FOOTNOTES AND TRANSLATIONS

*The language of the Magi and their closest and most trusted allies, is known as inloqu'enim Creatores, which loosely translates to "the speech of the Creators" in the Common Tongue. Colloquially known as Sermo, or, in the Common Tongue, "The Speech".

Mĕgēna – Tējavī; noun: The name all Daemons use when addressing Magi. Loosely translated it means something between "Blood scum" and "Magic user", depending on tone of voice. It has its roots in the very Beginning of time, as records were found detailing the word be used among the First. No one is sure why this word is used to describe Magi.

Anēkśnai – Tējavī; noun, plural: The plural form of anēkśna, loosely translated to mean "many connections". It is used to describe multiple persons who have a bond with a Magus, particularly a high-ranking and powerful one.

Fulgur, Ad te clamo, nomine… - Sermo; phrase: Translated in the Common Tongue, it would mean something like "Lightning…To you I call, in the name of the covenant!"

Monso – Tējavī; noun: A derogatory term used by low-ranking Daemons to describe humans and other prey, best translation means something along the lines of "meat".

-vāmī/-ilā – Tējavī; descriptor: Means "lord/lady" when translated into the Common Tongue. Used primarily for upper mid-to-high ranking Daemons.

Mag'ra jo – Tējavī; noun: The name given to those who have Contracts with high-ranking Daemons. Loosely translates to something like "damned one".

Ārnēā – Tējavī; noun: A colloquial term which can be translated as either servants or slaves, depending on the speaker's inflection and tone of voice. Most often used when referring to Thralls.

Valage ēk – Tējavī; noun: A term of endearment used by lovers. Closest approximate meaning translates to "darling one".

Rēkiga – Tējavī; verb/noun: Means "to break" and "the breaking". Used to describe the process utilized by Daemons to "break" a captured Magus's mind without losing any of the power in their blood, essentially to render them unable to fight back. Usually involves the torture and slow death of fellow Magi and/or the captured Magus's family.

Ventus Tole Vos! – Sermo; declarative phrase: Best translates to "the wind will take you!" A phrase that, in its many forms, can be used to call a powerful set of cyclones that can be used in battle.