Shivered Timbers
by Kaline Reine

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of the characters/settings. This is just a fanfiction story. I do own Shiori, she is my character. I also own a few other original characters in this story (not affiliated with One Piece), which will be introduced as they are needed.

WARNINGS: This story contains (or may contain) graphic adult content and language, explicit sex scenes, possible violence, gore, cursing, adult themes, etc. I do not censor my writing, but I do my best to warn people about the subject matter and potential subject matter. So if you don't like that kind of thing or can't handle it, then I suggest not reading this story. You have been warned. Also, I know this doesn't follow canon but it doesn't have to, that's why it's a fanfic. xD

Also... The beautiful cover image for this story is by my friend, EzariaUmiko on DeviantArt. All credit for the image goes to her. c:

Chapter 41: Angel Eyes

She turned just in time to catch a glimpse of a dark figure walking away from her...

"Silas-san! W-wait!" Lena nearly tripped over her own geta in her haste to follow him. The shoes caused her to stumble a bit, having to flail her arms about to right herself again before running after him.

He didn't stop, going all the way back to his barrel. Well, it wasn't technically his, but it was where he always sat. The tall man leaned forward, resting his chin in his hands for a moment, before letting them slip up to his forehead. He shook his head back and forth. It was most likely an attempt to come to terms with what he had just overheard. She knew he probably hadn't meant to be deliberately nosey, but now she had a new problem on her hands...

'What should I do with him?' The little girl wondered, pausing to fidget with the sleeves of her green and purple kimono, while fumbling for what to say. 'If his own crew doesn't even trust him, it's probably for a good reason... That means I have to be very careful here.'

Lena took a deep breath, which came out seconds later in the form of a sigh. "Alright, look... It's not what you think, I just- I can't exactly just betray my- Err, well, she's not, I mean... She isn't exactly my Captain. Not by choice anyway, I-"

Silas opened his mouth as if to say "Ah..." and nodded. He was listening.

"Okay so she took me prisoner a long time ago. That's what her ship is... A slave ship. I know it's considered terrible for a little girl to know about such things, but that's the world we live in. Most of her crew aren't even there by choice. We only follow her 'cause we have to. She blackmails most of us. She's really strong and her heart is infinitely cruel."

He felt like he'd heard all of this before, somehow... Yes, this girl's former Captain definitely reminded him of someone. But why tell him? The man gave her a questioning look, one of disbelief.

"Why am I telling you all this?" She watched him give a slight nod. "I dunno... I guess I just feel like I can trust you. After all, who're you gonna tell?" Lena then had to suppress a childish giggle.

It made Silas want to know the rest of her story. How had she gotten here? Fighting off an annoyed look, he gestured for her to continue. So she did.

"She captured me, and took me away from my temple- I mean my family's shrine- Ahh, there's no use explaining all of that to you I guess. I'm really just her prisoner and that's the only way I could earn my freedom back. I have to be free! That's all there is to it. But I am also very skilled in combat, so-" Her words faltered as she floundered to find the right ones. When she failed, her hands flew to her katana and she withdrew it from it's sheath. "So I'll be fine and can handle my own. Don't try anything funny, or else!"

He held up both of his hands with the palms facing her, to show that he meant her no harm. Silas gestured to himself and then pointed up, toward the galley where rest of the crew would be right about now. Then to himself again, but to his face. He moved his long dreadlocks out of the way, tossing them over one shoulder, then shrugged. She didn't get whatever he was trying to say and it was annoying him.

"Uhh, I don't get it?" She scratched her head, puzzled, but the sword had gone back into it's sheath... For now. "You, them? You? I dunno?"

Silas pointed to the crew. Then to his face. Then to her. He held up his other hand with his thumb pressed to his middle and ring fingers to form a sort of mouth. Then he opened it. Lena complied with his unspoken request by opening her own mouth, and in his fingers went. He pulled out her tongue, not far enough to hurt. Then he took his other hand and made a snipping motion by separating his index and middle fingers, as if they were a pair of scissors. Then he pointed back up to the crew.

He mouthed a single word, as well as he could anyway. 'They.'

Lena gasped, her emerald eyes opening wide in terror as she pulled away and he let her go. "They did that to you?! They made you a mute? Did they..." She hesitated, not wanting to say it, even if she had a hunch that she was right. Her voice lowered to just above a whisper. "Did they cut out your tongue?"

Silas nodded, sadly.

"..." She was speechless, unsure of what to say.

He shrugged. But it wasn't a careless shrug like before. It was pointed. He did it in a defeated way, as if all hope was forever lost... And he did so while casting a look toward where the rest of the crew was.

"And here I was thinking they might actually be nice Pirates. Guess my first instinct was right though. So... You don't care what happens to them, is that what you're saying?"

He nodded.

"You'll keep my secret?"

Again this was met with a nod, albeit slightly more hesitant than the previous.

"And will you help me, then?" The little blonde was becoming positively giddy with excitement now. Her face lit up when this too was given a firm nod. "Ahaha yay! I knew we'd become the best of friends! There is still a lot of stuff I need to do... O'Hara-sama is going to let me go free, but these Pirates terrify me too. We've gotta get out of here!"

Ace had been hoping, but what little hope that was left in his heart was very faint... He'd never expected to see her again after everything that had happened. They had just experienced not one, but two terrifying avalanches in the timespan of a few short days. The crew had believed her to be dead. But Shiori was back, and he couldn't be more happy! He didn't think he'd been this happy to see anyone ever, possibly in his whole life.

For a moment he'd sworn that he had to be dreaming... Or dying.

He felt a faint blush tinge his dotted cheeks when he realized that he was currently face deep between her breasts. The meek girl had come out of her proverbial shell long enough to hug him, but it hadn't exactly worked right, due to the way he'd been kneeling when she'd walked over. He was unable to resist putting his arms around her and returning the sweet embrace, in spite of himself. He stood up to make it a little easier. They were on equal ground now.

Shiori felt overly sensitized wherever he touched her, as he returned the hug. It somehow felt like it was becoming more intimate than she'd originally intended. Not that it was a bad thing, being this close to him was nice, but... His hands on her skin were at the same time unsettling, and comforting. It was familiar. It was also like lightning igniting her veins, seeping into her very pulse through her skin. Tiny prickles of ecstasy began to well up, and as much as she wanted to break away... She also didn't want their embrace to end. And the comfortable silence they shared wasn't helping any either.

It was her turn to blush.

She felt her knees getting weak, even though she'd previously believed that to only be a strange figure of speech. It caused her to collapse on her knees in front of Ace. Shiori knelt there, still hugging him close to her, not even caring about boundaries at a time like this. Her cheek pressed against his bare stomach, which oddly wasn't even cold, and she could feel him tense up, so she stopped. All she'd wanted was to be back by his side, and it was clear from the way his arms wrapped around her in turn that the feeling was mutual.

"Shiori... Shi-chan..." He tried to find the words that would finally break their silence, but they failed him. She couldn't do anything but squeak in turn, and it was all she could do just to manage that.

Ace didn't want to let go of her either. For one pure moment, they were the only two people who existed in the entire world. This moment that they shared was more important and profound than anything had any right to even be. Just being close to her usually gave him butterflies in the absolute worst way. But this... This was pure electricity and it was an entirely different experience. He ran his fingers through her silky hair and it only intensified the feeling of closeness that they shared.

He briefly wondered if maybe their Devil Fruits could be reacting to each other, given how opposite they were. Ice and fire were usually like that. It probably wasn't good for two opposing forces to be so close to one another like this, but he couldn't break away. Not yet. He needed this. They needed this moment. He could no longer deny that there was something more between them, and yet... Something not quite there yet. It was impossible to even fathom, and the effects of attempting it were dizzying. He saw why she'd fallen.

"Is it... Is it really you?" He asked, still half expecting her to be a mirage.

She nodded meekly, as her knees almost gave out on her again, but he steadied her. "Mm-hm... It's me."

He knew it was the real Shiori. It couldn't possibly be anyone else and still feel like that to hold her. There was no way.

Sweeping her hair out of her face, he pulled her up to face him, still helping to steady her in case she stumbled again. His arm went around the small of her back, supporting her and bringing her in even closer to him. He picked her up and gently crushed her against him, giving her the world's biggest and longest hug. He had to... He'd thought he might never be able to do this again!

He fought down the urge to kiss her right then. It probably wasn't the most appropriate time, given what they'd both just been through. His selfishness won out, however, and he allowed himself to quickly and sweetly kiss her cheek. His lips just ghosted across her face, but it was enough to send a new shiver down her spine. He could even feel it move it's way down her frail body. How could she have survived not one, but two avalanches? Ace had as many questions as he was certain she did.

"It is you." He struggled to find his voice again, pulling back slightly, his eyes searching hers. He was a little ashamed of himself for almost giving in to his baser impulses and doing more than what was appropriate. "I thought... We all thought you were gone. When you disappeared after the first avalanche, I was so afraid... You know, you weren't going to make it back. When the second one happened, I was devastated."

"I'm here now." She chirped, as if it were really that simple. Nothing about this was simple.

"And I'm very glad you are. Everyone was so worried! I didn't want to give up... We were actually on our way to look for you. I had a search party with me, but when the second avalanche happened, they thought it was too risky to keep going. They all turned back without me."

"I... d-didn't realize you... cared so much." Very hesitantly, she forced herself to pull away from him. It was so unpleasant. The weather was freezing and he'd been so warm... She instantly regretted doing that when the howling wind blew past her, scattering her loose pearlescent locks around her head again.

"Of course I do. Anyway, uhh..." There was an awkward pause. Had he just revealed too much? "We should really get back to the ship. Everyone's going to be so relieved to see you're alive."

As much as she dreaded hearing those words right now, she knew he was right. It was cold and the ship's interior would at least be warmer than this. Plus she was getting weak from lack of food, after not having eaten anything for several days, she realized. There was nothing else left for them on this island. Even if there was, it would be way too dangerous to even bother going after it. O'Hara and her crew had already bled the place dry. She had managed to get one important thing though.

Suddenly recalling the jaunty end to her recent adventure, her rose colored eyes lit up like magic... "Okay, but I have so much to t-tell you!"

"Really? I'm all ears, Angel Eyes."

Try as she might, Shiori was helpless against the forces that dragged the smile out of her right then. "Don't give me a weird nickname like that." She shook it off.

"And why not? It's true." He looked deeply into her eyes for a few seconds, a smirk appearing on his freckled face. "Your eyes are beautiful..."

Okay, now he was deliberately doing it to mess with her!

"A-ace-kun, stop..." She looked away, blushing with renewed intensity.

Ace took that as a sign to move on. He didn't want to risk making things too awkward between them. Try as he might, he couldn't avoid his feelings for her forever, but he could damn well try to at least wait until she was ready. He also didn't want to act too brazenly when they'd only just been reunited. He'd missed her terribly and wasn't thinking straight when his supposedly dead girlfrien- His friend and crewmate who was presumed dead had shown up out of the blue again.

He'd already busied himself with picking up the supplies his impromptu search party had been so courteous as to leave behind for him. Trying not to feel utterly abandoned, the Captain hurried to pack everything before he could get too carried away in his thoughts again. They might need some of it for the trip back.

Something rustling in the woods caught their attention for a second...

"Oh, there you are!" Shiori giggled when her furry friend leapt out of a nearby tree and onto her shoulder once again.

'Why were you lagging so far behind?' She asked her, where Ace couldn't hear.

'I was giving you some alone time with your boytoy before we-'

'That's a bad kitty!' The albino girl silenced her instantly. 'Be quiet!'

"Mew..." Vanora mewled innocently and proceeded to groom herself, before moving on to Ace's shoulder when he walked by. "Purrrr?" She tilted her head and looked at him with two big bright blue eyes.

"Awww, I missed you too Vanora-chan!" He scratched under her chin, which he'd discovered was one of her favorite things in all the world. "Have you been taking good care of my Angel Eyes for me while she was gone?"

"Actually, she sort of did..." Shiori chuckled, stooping to help him pick up some of the little satchels and knapsacks that had been left discarded by their makeshift camp. "That first avalanche did bury me, you know."

"You were buried alive? Under that much snow? And still made it?" He raised an eyebrow and stared at her in momentary disbelief. "I'm gonna have to stop underestimating you from now on..."

It was her favorite look of his, and immediately sent her stomach into all kinds of somersaults. What had they been talking about again? "F-for a while I was... Maybe about half a day? Imagine how shocked I was when Vanora-chan showed up to dig me out! I was able to turn myself into snow and squeeze out through the tunnel she'd made." She demonstrated all of this with various hand motions, in between talking and packing.

"Wait, are you serious? How did she even know you were down there?"

"Umm, well..." She thought about telling him for a second, but there was no way he would ever believe her. At the risk of sounding like a complete lunatic, she opted to keep their unspoken bond to herself, at least for now... "Instinct, I'm guessing? Maybe she could just sense that I needed help."

Ace nodded in agreement. "They say animals can do that... She must have a sixth sense."

'Something like that! Hehe!' Vanora chirped happily, chasing a little gray squirrel up a tree before darting back down to her owner. Then she licked her paws as if playing off the fact that she hadn't caught it. 'Pesky rat!'

"You probably shouldn't underestimate her either." The Valkyrie wore an amused smirk.

"Yeah, she's quite the little huntress... Can't even catch us dinner, but she can rescue you from something like that. Haha..."

"I'm just happy to be out of there. I had a run-in with that other Pirate crew too. That was afterward though." Shiori noticed the way he instantly tensed up and became very serious as soon as she mentioned the Scarlet Pirates. "I had a hell of a time with one of them... I think her name was Rita Maria? She knew how to handle a sword, I'll say that much! I managed to defeat her by sheer luck. Eventually I made it all the way up the mountain... And I fell into a deep cavern. That's when I got... This."

She took out her curved blade from it's sheath. Ace took a moment to stare at the scimitar in sheer awe, his jaw dropping immediately. It was like he could literally feel the power emanating from it's core somehow. And the regal way she handled it with such care was a sure sign of its importance as well.

"Is that... what I think it is?"

Suddenly, a sharpened sheet of crackling ice extended outward from the metallic edge. It stopped just short of his neck. He figured it was just Shiori messing with him, but little did he know she wasn't the one who had done that. She'd managed to get a grip on Arashi's chaotic energy just in time though.

'Shit! I'll have to be more careful from now on...'

"Say hello to Arashikari!" She smiled victoriously, remembering all too well the difficult battles she'd had to fight in order to get it...

She also recalled her lioness friend who inhabited the beautiful blade. They were partners now, fighting together for the same goals. That part would take some getting used to.

Ace let out a long whistle, inspecting the silvery blue of the magnificent scimitar. "Wow... So you really got it, huh? This is crazy!" He ran a hesitant hand along the side of the blade once the ice had rescinded, feeling each of the intricate carvings under his fingertips.

"Was there any doubt that I would?" Shiori put it back into her sheath. There would be plenty of time to show it off later.

"A little... I mean, there at the end, you know..."

Suddenly, her mauve eyes widened in understanding as she realized what had probably happened. "You really thought I wasn't c-coming back didn't you?"

Ace went silent for a few minutes. He stood there, looking at her with absolute desperation. She took a step forward and felt him collapse against her. He was hugging her again. The action sent devastating butterflies all throughout her body, until at last they nestled in her chest, leaving her feeling exhilarated and giddy.

"I don't want to talk about it. Hell, I don't even want to think about that!"

He nestled his head on her shoulder, and she could feel his warm breath on her neck, which didn't help with the butterfly problem any. Vanora was perched on her other remaining shoulder and she started to purr. Only the albino girl noticed the slightly cheeky little grin that the feline wore.

Shiori smiled, trying to play it off, and patted him on the back affectionately. "I'm excited to get back. I can't wait to see the crew and tell them all about what happened!"

"Yeah, I know we need to get going... Can you blame me for just wanting a few more minutes with you all to myself though?"

They both laughed as their embrace ended on mutual grounds. Shiori picked up where she'd left off on everything, getting the last of their gear together before leaving. She tried not to make any assumptions.

"I'm just glad I made it back in time. I was scared you'd all leave without me if I didn't come back for a while..."

Ace paused in his tracks. He turned to her with a deathly serious look on his face. "Shiori, listen to me... I would never leave you behind. Not ever."

She searched for words, but found none. There was nothing else she could say.

His crewmate merely nodded, as a silent understanding passed between them, and they resumed grabbing everything they intended to take with them. Vanora perched on her shoulder, playfully batting at her hair when it blew in the wind. None of them could wait to be back on the ship. When Ace started walking in what she presumed was that direction, Shiori followed close behind.

The whole way back, all she could think about was whether she should hurry up and tell him what had happened to the treasure... She'd promised to get it for him as payment for his crew bringing her to such a dangerous place. That had been their original agreement, and she hated going back on her word. They'd all risked a lot for her. It made her feel so selfish that she didn't have their payment, but still had her sword. More than that, she was nervous over how he would react once he found out that all she'd managed to bring back was the ice sword. Like ripping off a bandage, she really wanted to just get it over with, but she wasn't sure how to bring it up. So she reveled in the temporary silence that had befallen them.

She had delicately avoided anymore mentions of her brush with the Scarlet Pirates on the journey back to the island's shore too. It was no longer a secret that they were a sore subject for Ace, although she still wasn't sure exactly why... She had a feeling they were old enemies with the Spades or something, since they all seemed to know of one another, even if indirectly. They were most likely bitter rivals or something. It would definitely be rude to bring it up, so it was probably better if she left all of that out.

In the end, it didn't really matter what she'd been through, all that mattered was that she'd made it back. Even when the odds were stacked against her, Shiori had persevered... It was just like Whitey Bay had told her- she was starting to gain her confidence back.

'Tch.' She mused. 'More like finding it for the first time. I don't think I've ever been confident in any of my choices.' She glanced at Ace, who was walking a few steps ahead of her. 'Or my actions...'

A/N: (*Actually somewhat important this time!) FINALLY we're getting somewhere! Romance time! ;D

In all seriousness, I'm so sorry that I've had to unexpectedly be away for such a long time. I know this update took forever and ever, many people probably thought I'd given up, but as you can see, that is not the case at all. I promise I have really good reasons for not being able to work on this (or any) story for the past while...

Someone very close to me got really sick and had to be in the hospital for several months due to medical reasons. It was a difficult time for everyone and one of the toughest ordeals in my life. I had to take care of them by myself and work a full time job on top of it, in addition to my normal one, so I've been away dealing with a ton of things, and I've had no time to write at all, even though I've been dying to! They've recovered and I think our ordeal is finally over, after a long and difficult battle... Coming back, I did have a pretty bad case of writers block for a little while too. Everything has been such a huge struggle. I don't want to go on and on about it, I'm just so happy to be back! And even more thrilled to work on this story again! It is my baby, after all. xD

I sincerely hope I still have some readers left, and that you haven't felt too abandoned. I've been working on the plot while I've been away and expanding on some ideas, so I'm really excited to take you to all the amazing places that I have planned for the remainder of this story. Thank you all for the support and kindness you've given me so far. I hope to hear from you again soon. ;w;

-Kaline