(A/N) Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

LB

Chapter 35

Third POV

How hard would it really be to off Mila? She was only fourteen for grand line sake. Would it be too shallow to grab her by surprise while she was sleeping? It was easy enough in the small quarters of the skiff they were traveling on. Maybe he could whack her over the head with one of her giant ass books. The massive duffel bag she had dragged into the skiff along with her own helpless self was only filled with books and a few random pieces of clothing. You'd think if she was planning on helping him that she would at least bring along more supplies, but there was not a single useful thing with her. Those books might be worth a pretty berry if he sold them after her untimely demise. The really big ones especially.

Said Mila looked up from her book. She could feel Ace's dissecting gaze as she flipped through her novel. His face was screwed up in frightening concentration, as if trying to solve a particularly nasty philosophical question. He looked as if he was contemplating life itself, or ate a particularly sour blueberry. Either way, it was one of his more unattractive looks. "Are you constipated? Because there's only one bathroom and I want a solid warning before hand."

Ace twisted his mouth in more serve concentration after she spoke. She is even more annoying when she talks, Ace thought to himself silently.

Mila rolled her eyes him, "Are we almost there?"

Ace kept his gazed leveled at her as he spoke, "You would know that if you were the one navigating."

"I'm just observing, remember? It would be cheating if I helped." She said, looking back down to her book while smirking, "Even if my navigational skills are superior to yours."

"We're almost there, half a day more at least."

"Finally," Mila breathed, "I don't think I could last much longer."

"Mila," Ace started seriously, "do you really still hate me?"

Mila kept her eyes glued to her book and her face expressionless. "People say hate is a strong word, but I personally believe words like antipathy or abhorrence are much sturdier." She paused and Ace feared the worse. He didn't hate Mila, he hated the way he acted towards him. Ace had clearly seen her smile and laugh with her brothers, when he overheard her conversations, he was surprised to find out he liked her personality, but she had only ever showed him animosity. "I don't have any sort of antipathy towards you, or even hatred. I don't trust you," This wasn't much better than what Ace had feared. "You crash into my home and tilt my world a whole 90 degrees and change everything. I don't like change, I was very content with my life for the past four years, they have been the best of my life, and now it's different. I don't know how exactly you'll affect my life from now on, so I don't trust you till I find out."

"I don't want to ruin or change anything."

"You might not know till it's too late."

They rode the rest of the way to Foodvalten in silence.

When lading on a supposedly drug infested island, one would assume they would land among the slums and bums, not in a bustling, oddly cheerful port.

Mila had set her book aside when Ace had announced that they were within sight of the island. Foodvalten was enclosed by towering cliffs dotted with trees and other greenery, the bluffs soared high above the island. The only entrance to the island was a break in the cliffs, the Whitebeard flag hung proudly in the gap. Mila craned her head to gaze up at the flag as they smoothly sailed into the island's harbor, sun gleaming down on the pleasant spring island.

"Did you know that," Mila started as they were within sight of the small harbor town, "the natives of Foodvalten were feathers on their head. One of their oldest customs."

"No, I did not know that Mila." Ace commented dryly as he slowly steered the skiff into the harbor.

"The soil is so fertile here that even in times of war and drought that the plant life can still flourish endlessly. That is one of the key elements that makes the food made by the world renowned chefs here so delicious. The dirt." She proclaimed.

"The dirt?" Ace said, "And here I thought it was the so called 'world renowned' chefs that made the food so good."

Missing his sarcasm, Mila continued, "That's only part of it. The cooking programs here are so intense here that out of hundreds of child applicants, only about a dozen are chosen."

"All very interesting, but is this supposed to be important?" Ace grumbled as he narrowly missed a leaving boat. The men aboard the boat waved down at them as they whizzed past on their vessel. "I thought we weren't talking."

Mila kept her eyes on the island, "I'm simply educating you. These are the things you should know before going out on a mission."

"It's my first time, give me a break. I was pushed off the ship pretty fast, not a lot of time to prepare don't you think?"

"So," Mila shot Ace a stupid grin, "you have no plans what so ever at this time and point?"

"Not any in great detail," Ace mumbled.

"And you see, that is the reason I'm here, I'm a superlative strategist."

"I thought you helping me was cheating?"

Mila absently twirled a piece of her stormy blue hair, considering his question. "Well," she decided, "if you're stupidity is threatening my own well-being," she flipped the tip of her hair at his face. "And in this case, I personally think it is, I don't consider it cheating."

Ace puffed out his cheeks in irritation, "Whatever, what's you're big strategy then, Miss Superlative Strategist?"

"I'm so glad you asked," Mila smirked and whipped out a map from her book, smoothing it out on the boards of the deck. "There are only three prominent towns in Foodvalten." Mila whipped out a finger and jabbed at a point on the eastern side of the island, "Yukihira, this is where you find those world renowned chefs and their five-star restaurants. We'll be staying here. I called in a favor from a friend, she owns one of the resorts there and offered us a room." She dragged her finger across the map to the right, "Broadus is our main suspect for production. Taking up the whole western side of the island with fields and labs, Broadus is a town for the farmers and scientists of Foodvalten. Nothing food related about the town. They produce narcotics, a variety of drugs, and alcohol."

"There's a whole town dedicated to drug production?" Ace asked, a little dumbfounded, "And we just let that go on?"

"Of course," Mila scoffed, "we're pirates after all, who are we to say they can't make their drugs."

Ace frowned, "Then why are we here? I thought we were going to investigate some drug trafficking that had to do with the missing crew members, if you already knew about this whole town of druggies, then why are we here?"

"Because this is different," Mila grumbled, her eyes taking on a steely quality, "We, mostly me these days, keep a record on each and every drug they produce in Broadus. We monitor their distribution too, just to make sure nothing gets out of hand. Never," she said, "have we ever had a case similar to what we are investigating, never had we had our own people get hurt before."

"Do we know exactly what this mysterious drug does?"

"No, only rumors."

"So how do we know what we're looking for?"

"That's our next stop on Foodvalten," Mila dragged her finger back over to the eastern side of the island, "This is Corningstone, if you thought that Broadus was a party, you're mistaken. The good men and women of Corningstone are dedicated to fulfilling any and every sexual fantasy you can come up with. A town of whores."

Ace cleared his throat uncomfortably, "That sounds . . . unsanitary."

"Not in the least. All the doctors in Foodvalten live in Corningstone, everyone in and out go through deep physical examinations. They're strict too," Mila grumbled, glaring at the spot on the map, "they won't let anyone under the age of eighteen within 100 meters of the place. Even me, and I'm a Whitebeard!"

Ace pulled up an eyebrow, "Are you interested in that sort of thing?" humor laced his tone.

"No," Mila huffed, "I was just curious. My brothers always go there when we visit and I was feeling left out."

Ace choked on a laugh, "And that's where you think they're distributing? Why?"

"Most illegal activity is centered around Corningstone. Some of the doctors there like to make a little extra off the top, so dealing drugs is nothing suspicious. This rumor drug fits the criteria of what someone would like to use in Corningstone."

"You didn't answer me before, what does this drug do?" Ace was honestly afraid of the answer.

"From rumors I've acquired, the drug is supposed to dull a person's inhibitions, making them more susceptible to suggestions."

Ace grimaced, "Why would someone take that, no high or other fun stuff? I see no reason for it."

Mila shrugged, "Its only rumors, we can only speculate at this point. I only need to know that whatever we find, and whatever it does, that we have to destroy it."

"I guess that answer is good enough for me," Ace said as he steered the skiff into a tiny spot the deck hands had directed to him. The boat bounced as it hit the dock.

"It better," Mila jumped off the skiff, scooping up her book and grabbing her bag in one giant swoop. Not offering Ace help as she skipped to the end of the dock. Ace noted her lack of help, and decided not to mention it to her, he wasn't sure if he liked silent Mila or talkative, annoyingly sassy Mila better.

By the time Ace had secured the skiff with multiple ropes and knots, and tipped the deck hands, Mila was cheerily chatting up a local. Ace could tell it was a local from the man's feather sticking out of the back of his head. As Ace wandered over to them, his supplies piled over his shoulder, he heard them chatting rapidly in a language that sounded similar to the clunks and clicks of a chicken. Pulling his hat up onto his head, shielding him from the sun, Ace leaned against the side of the building not far from Mila. He watched them curiously, not even attempting to follow their conversation. Mila looked so pleasant and friendly talking to the man. He might even venture out on a limb and say she looked cute. Like one of those really fat baby birds that waddle around the nest and that chirp constantly.

Mila and the native man exchanged a weird handshake that involved what looked like a fist bump, and parted ways. She twirled around to look at Ace, still jovial from their conversation, "That was one of the natives, I was doing some reconnaissance and-"

"You really jump into these missions, don't you?"

Smirking, Mila continued "And he said the best place to get food on the docks is that way," She pointed behind her.

Ace let loose a laugh, amused at the little glint in her eyes, "So you're not all business all the time?"

"When I'm here," she started "food usually comes firsts, then business and if all that's done, hot springs and spa days come next," Mila winked at him, enjoying herself immensely.

"Is this your favorite territory then?" Ace asked, trying to keep Mila talking and in a good mood as they walked.

"Favorite territory?" Mila contemplated the question carefully, "Foodvalten would be in my top five for sure, but I don't think its number one. That spot most definitely belongs to Fishman Island," she concluded.

"Oh, Fishman Island you say?" He pulled up an eyebrow while a previous memory came to light, "Does this have to do with a certain boy?"

A blush erupted across her cheeks, "What?" she said shakily, avoiding eye contact, "What boy?"

Ace chuckled, "Don't think I haven't forgotten of your fishman? Everyone is always talking about how good of a kid he is."

Her blush deepening, Mila looked down at her feet, refusing to look him in the eye.

"I think I spoke to him once," Ace recalled, "His name is Killian, right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mila mumbled, silently wishing the burning in her cheeks would disappear.

"Of course you do," Ace rammed his shoulder playfully against her. He was taking great pleasure in Mila act like a flustered teenage girl, it reminded him that she wasn't a scary encyclopedia killing machine resembling a teenage girl. "There's no reason to be embarrassed, everyone has crushes when they're younger."

Mila whipped her head up to glare at Ace, a glare he recalled from the days when they were at each other's throats, in a complete literal sense. "It's not a crush!" Mila hissed, stomping further in front of him.

Oh, oh. Apparently this was much more than a crush, "Have you told him?" Ace said, in what he hoped was a soothing voice.

"Why would I listen to your advice," Mila yelled, spinning around so he could get the full frontal force of her teenage rage, "You're probably going to die alone!"

Ace was going to assume the answer was no then, "I may die alone, but I am packing a few years' worth of romantic experience you have yet to gain," he said, patting the space over his heart with what he hopped looked like pride. More like no years, but he'd keep that tidbit to himself for the moment, "Boys are stupid, you're going to have to spell it out to him if you're going to get anywhere."

Her face was scrunched up in severe concentration, focusing on Ace himself. Just looking at her made his brain hurt, he could tell she was weighing every variable in her head as she considered his words. He only hoped she didn't pick up on his bluff. The part about stupid boys was true, he had personal experience with that, but he was honestly bullshitting her at the moment.

She seemed to have reached somewhat of a conclusion within that blue head of hers because he face muscles got to relax a fraction, only a small fraction. "Whatever, I'll see you at the resort."

Then Mila did what she did best, disappear and leave him completely dumfounded on a strange island with drug trafficking, prostitutes and people with feathers sticking out of their head. This was going to be a long trip.