Ace let out a small noise of surprise at the sight of her ship which had Penny's chest-puffing out proudly. The Looking Glass was her pride and joy. Big enough to sustain the thriving ecosystem of her garden and the weight of her library, it was less of a ship and more of a floating house.

"This is supposed to be the fastest ship in the world."

"One of the fastest. We'd need an official race to give that title out, but it can outrun most Marine ships," said Penny, allowing Ace to walk in front of her as they went onto the ship. She wanted to change and wear something looser, more comfortable than the stiff suit and overcoat she'd worn.

"Thanks for inviting me on!" said Ace, ruffling his hair, far more comfortable with her than she was with him.

"Luffy never spoke about you." Penny paused by the railing and pulled her hat off, setting it aside. "I was there for a whole year, and he never mentioned having a brother."

"We weren't brothers yet."

"Must be some story."

"I don't think Luffy would mind if I filled you in. He talked about you a lot—showed us that snake you killed too. Must've been a real monster."

Penny shrugged. "Back then, it seemed like the most frightening thing in the world, but the world was a lot smaller too."

Ace smiled at her, less like Luffy and more like a candle flame of warmth. The Mera Mera no Mi suited him.

The moment her ship pulled out of the harbor, she unraveled from her suit and coat and reappeared in a loose, pair of pants and a white shirt that more closely resembled the image most people had of the Red Hair Pirates. Her hair was pulled up high, giving her a more youthful appearance.

"You'd be surprised how much hiding these," she grabbed her breasts and squeezed them tightly, "gets the Marines to leave me alone."

Ace's eyes grew wide, an awkward smile stretching across his face. "…right…" He looked out into the dark sea. "How is the ship moving?"

"Oh, it's cursed," Penny cheerfully informed. "Isn't it marvelous?"

"Cursed ship, magic garden, weird hair…Luffy was right about you being a witch."

Penny hummed, deciding not to refute the claim. Among her countless nicknames and insults, that was the lesser of all of them.

"I can make you something to eat if you're hungry?" Penny frowned to herself, wracking her mind for all the copied skills she'd picked up in her lifetime. Her Devil Fruit was more complicated than the standard ones. Copying skills was simply a surface-level thing—she had none of the muscle memories, passion, or heart that came with being a true master.

"I can cook too."

She nodded. Penny had a penchant for dining at restaurants rather than cooking. Most of her weeks at sea were spent consuming her attempts at gourmet meals and while they were good, they never quite lived up the standard she was used to on the Red Force.

Her kitchen was small, more of an afterthought once Penny finished designing the rest of the ship. She had some raw fruits and vegetables left over, alongside cheese and lots of wine. Not enough to have a proper meal, but it would keep them fed. She didn't like the idea of open flames near her ship, but Ace seemed far more comfortable in a kitchen than she did.

"…no meat? Are you sure you and Luffy got along?"

"I don't keep any onboard. I forget it's there and then it spoils, and the smell is hard to get rid of. I like to keep a tidy ship."

Ace turned out to be good at everything, which was a bit stupid of him. What was the point of being brilliant when you could be perfectly mediocre? It was simpler in the long run and earned you far fewer enemies.

He was far more polite and put together than she expected a relative of Luffy's to be. It was entirely discomforting. She wanted to jump ship and find Luffy to demand he offer an explanation as to why she had to suffer teaching him that forks and knives existed when Ace was clearly well informed about it.

It took a half bottle of wine for her inhibitions and surprise to melt away. By then, she was laughing loudly and freely at Ace's stories of his childhood with Luffy. Though he skirted around the issue of their mysterious third brother, he had Penny jumping between anger and hysterical laughter when he told her of how Garp had made a dartboard with her Wanted poster after her second bounty.

"He came home in tatters with the biggest lump on his forehead. But, it's Luffy so he refused to cry until he realized that tiger was still alive and ran away."

"No way," said Penny, snorting with laughter. The wine had turned her face pink and tongue loose. "I always told him to stop bothering the animals, but all he thought about was eating. I've never seen an appetite that big until now."

"Luffy does what he wants. He caused me so much trouble when we were young."

"I'm glad he wasn't alone," admitted Penny, a bit shyly. "I worried…even if it wasn't my place and I knew everyone would take care of him…it's not the same as having someone by your side all the time."

"We've been through loads together, but I'm going to beat him the next time we meet. Can't let him go around getting a big head just because he's a pirate."

"That'll be a sight. Luffy's probably gotten so much stronger."

Ace smiled, taking a swig of the wine bottle. "From what I hear, you're not one to lose either. That name they call you—"

"Oh, no." Penny took the wine from him, stashing it away. "Don't make that face. I'm not fighting you."

"Come on," said Ace, flexing his arm. Penny hoped he got a full refund on his misspelled tattoo. "It's my dream to defeat the strongest—"

"You wouldn't win, so keep dreaming."

"You sure you're not askin' for a fight?" asked Ace with a laugh. He tilted his hat up with his index finger, "That kind of confidence makes Pops kick my ass."

"I'm stronger than you and older," said Penny. Her hand hovered in the air and then awkwardly patted his shoulder as one did to a dog they were afraid would bite. "You'd lose."

"I've never lost a fight."

"Neither have I." Mostly because she was excellent at grand escapes, but that was better left unsaid.

"Alright," said Ace, cracking his knuckles. "Let's go."

"You'll destroy my ship." Penny's desire to fight someone as famous as Fire Fist Ace bordered between faking her death to avoid it and making invitations so everyone could come to see her win. "And I doubt you can pay for the damages, so kill your ego a bit and accept the fact that you'll never fight me."

"Old ladies are a different breed."

Penny slapped a hand on the table. "Not you too!"

"Luffy prepped us for ages—it's hard not to think of you as Onibaba," teased Ace, recalling Luffy's insistence that Penny was both old and a witch.

"I can't believe him. I'm barely anyone's friend, so—"

Ace's smile warmed the entire room, "Let's start there then."

"Oh, um, see, I'm not here to stay?" As soon as her task was done, she'd go back to looking for the one person she desperately wanted to meet since childhood. "Maintaining connections is something I'm notoriously bad at. I have serious commitment issues. You can ask my doctor about—"

Ace was snoring heavily, face pressed into the table. Penny felt a bit dumb for talking to the air, but it wasn't the first or last time she spoke to herself. The Looking Glass would listen even if no one else did.

Penny pulled at one of the many pieces of fabric she tied around her wrists as makeshift bracelets, copying it over and over again. Making quick use of her hands, she had a blanket knitted together in a few minutes. Penny draped it over Ace's shoulders. Experience with Luffy taught her it was better to let a sleeping man lie than try and move them.

Tomorrow, she would tell him.

Ten Years Prior

Ace's eyes cut to the ring that Luffy wore around his neck. It was held on a leather cord, too big for his fingers, but he would likely grow into it one day. He wondered if it was worth telling Sabo about it, so they could stash it with the rest of their treasure, but doing so would mean acknowledging that he watch Luffy as closely as Luffy watched him.

"Ace, wanna see something cool?!"

"No. Go back to the house!"

"But—"

"I said go back!"

Luffy stared at him for a long moment. Ace turned around and stomped through the grass, grumbling under his breath. His mind flashed to the girl that had been looking for Luffy one day. The only reason he remembered was because of the smarting bruise he'd dealt with for weeks afterward. "Don't you have someone else to bother?"

"Nope."

"No one?"

"Not anymore." Luffy's smile dimmed slightly, before coming back full force. "Wanna play?"

Had she died? She looked sickly, which likely meant she was six feet under somewhere. It didn't matter, thought Ace. The quicker he got rid of Luffy, the better.

Present Day

When Ace woke up that morning, finding a small breakfast of freshly cut fruit waiting for him, he ventured out onto the deck, finding Penny talking to her plants as if they were people. Her casual wear was gone, replaced by a blue, gauzy gown that looked like a cloud spun of fabric. Her wrists were covered with small knots of fabric.

"It's a bit odd, isn't it?" Penny questioned a rose bush. She paused as if listening for an answer and convincing Ace that his theory about the world's strongest being synonymous with the craziest. "I was half convinced those revolutionary idiots were at it again, but it's probably just Captain Hook."

"Who's Captain Hook?"

"The Warlord, of course. The one with the dreadful scar on his nose and gaudy hook?"

"His name's Crocodile."

"Is it? Odd name—I can't imagine anyone's mother wanting to punish them so harshly."

What had Luffy said about Penny again? There was too much nonsense to remember, but he felt like among the many stories, there was always a thread of weirdness to the girl. Trying to reconcile Luffy's stories with the woman in front of him was going to give him a headache.

"Do want the paper to read?" She held out the newspaper, neatly folded into an origami boat. "I'm done looking at the pictures and with the crossword. My horoscope's shown me a bright and pleasant future, which is astounding considering I'm a pirate. I didn't know when your birthday was so, I couldn't look."

"Penny…did Shanks knock you around a lot?"

"No more than what was necessary. Why do you ask?"

"You're a weirdo."

"Thank you. Having a unique personality is rare in this world. Most people are sheep."

Ace's cheeks puffed as he withheld his laughter. "Alright.

"The Navy's moved a fleet of ships our way. They're on standby on the premise that our meeting spells an alliance between me and you."

"Does it?"

"I have no desire to play Shanks' secretary nor form an alliance with a man who's been after a treasure for fifty-plus years and never once managed to get a hold of the map."

Ace bristled despite knowing she was speaking without a filter. "You talk a lot of nonsense for someone who wouldn't last a second against Pops."

"He'd have a difficulty landing an attack. Theoretical fight aside, we should shake off the Navy. They tend to throw cannons at me which I have a hard time appreciating."

"Let's be honest," drawled Ace, torn between laughing and backtracking to the insult she issued Pops. "Between the two of us, I'm the one the Navy wants more, so relax."

Penny scoffed, "Enough people are patronizing me. Don't add yourself to the multitudes."

"Yeah," grinned Ace, "I'm sure the Navy's terrified of your vocabulary."

"They tend to be undereducated swine, so that's hardly surprising."

It wasn't hard to find the Marine ships that she was talking about. Forming a semi-circle to try and cut their path of escape, they cast eerie shadows over the blue waters, looking like pillars of teeth rising from the ocean.

"Just three, I think," muttered Penny to herself.

Penny was gone before Ace could even think to jump in and clear their path. A shadow whisked between one of the ships, too quick for the eyes to track. Ribbons wrapped around the ship and sailors on it, tightening until the ship creaked and cracked.

Penny stood on the mast of the neighboring ship, holding onto the end of the fabric.

She pulled on the length of fabric wrapped around the ship and in an incredible feat of strength the ship moved, ramming into the one next to it. The ships shattered to pieces against one another. Jagged pieces of wood splintered apart, the mast falling into the water, sending a huge wave their way. Ace paused, watching the crash happen with stunned eyes.

Penny was already gone, moving onto the remaining ship to string the sailors together between long bands of ribbon. Tying off a neat and elaborate bow, she tossed the bundle of sailors over the side of the ship.

Her hand pressed against the wood and like magic, it seemed to grow and warp until a whole copy of the ship floated above them. Penny swung herself back to the Looking Glass with a smile as the ship dropped onto the other one, sinking both.

"Stop your inane flailing," she called to the Marines who seemed to be rolling around on the surface of the water as the fabric tied around them inflated. "You won't drown. Though, I'm surprised the Navy hasn't hired you all as their theater troupe."

"Let's go," said Penny, patting the helm with a satisfied smile. The boat groaned and moved, skimming the water at an impossible speed. Saltwater sprayed them and Penny laughed, spinning the wheel around entirely with little worry of what direction they were taking. If Ace wasn't used to traveling high speeds on his own, he might have been nauseated.

When the Looking Glass came to a stop, they were docked in the bay of a small island that seemed uninhabited. The gangway of the ship dropped onto the sand. Penny ran ahead with little care.

When it came to the Red Hair Pirates, Penny was the least dangerous of them. Stronger than most of the people who sailed on the Grand Line, but never the kind of person who crossed anyone's mind when they thought of the word Yonko. Even Pops thought of her as some sort of joke from a man who was known to love a good laugh.

But, Ace had always held his reservations about dismissing her so easily. Luffy had always said that Penny's first instinct was to say no and second was to do whatever she wanted. Luffy didn't hold people on pedestals, but he'd also never taken off the hat he received from Shanks, nor Penny's ring. Anyone his little brother called a friend had to be amazing.

"You've got the same look everyone else does," said Penny, turning to him with a grin. Further up the beach, there was a lavish garden, rivaling the one on her ship. "I know I'm far prettier in person than in my pictures."

Ace shook his head with a loud laugh, "I was thinking that Luffy was right about you."

Her hands flew to her cheeks, a blush spreading, "The rumors he's been spreading are probably worse than all the others."

"He didn't say much—I think he was afraid you'd pick us over him."

Penny went quiet, a thoughtful look on her face. "I gave him a way to find me, so he should already know I picked him. Luffy was my first real friend outside of the crew. I always thought that we would end up in the same place one day."

A large house peeked out from behind the massive gardens. An entire side of it was made of glass, revealing an eccentric collection of furniture, and collected décor. Books piled high in one room and giant rolls of fabric took up an entire floor. Having seen bits and pieces of Penny's ship revealed that she was somewhat of an avid collector, but none of it seemed to have any value.

"I'm looking for something," said Penny as an explanation. "Unfortunately, the only woman in the world who can read Poneglyphs has managed to avoid me for years, so I'm stuck pinning my hopes on working around them."

"There's someone who can read Poneglyphs around?"

Penny waved her hand, pulling out an elaborate skeleton key from her dress. "That doesn't matter. What does matter is that you keep this island a secret."

"I thought Red Hair only had territory in the New World?"

"It's not his. It's mine. I bring all my lovers here." Penny paused, turning green in the face. Her finger went into the air, circling rapidly. "Rewind. You are not and will never be in that category. This—" She gestured to all of him, "—is not my type."

"What's wrong with this?" asked Ace, copying her gesture.

Penny pressed her hands together, bringing them against her mouth, and inhaled deeply. "There are billions of species on the Grand Line that can send you into the dreary depths of hell in a single, undetectable nibble, and yet, you knowingly walk around in a state of undress. To willingly invite such carelessness in my bed would be gross incompetence."

"Meaning?"

"You look like you've caught pox before. Worry not, though, I understand that you're at the age where companionship might be on your mind, so no judgment."

Ace keeled over laughing so hard tears streamed out of his eyes in rivets. Penny smiled, glad that some of the negative air hanging around him seemed to dissipate. Ace was kind, but it was a kind of kindness that seemed to be making up for something else. Penny wondered what kind of pain had turned him away from the prickly mess of a boy who had threatened her with death to a pirate worth respecting.

"You don't need to cheer me up," said Ace once he regained his ability to breathe.

She scrunched her nose, "I wasn't trying to."

It was easy to get lost. Penny lived life chasing after her every whim, often forgetting what she was doing in the midst of it. Ace watched as she searched for something 'very important,' only to return from the kitchen with a knife and a thin sword now looped around her waist.

Dragging him outside, despite him already setting a countdown to his departure, she sat him on a giant pillow and climbed one of the trees, tossing several fruits his way.

Joining him, she pulled a pomegranate from one of the many and carefully cut it open with her knife, staining her hands red.

"What are they like?" asked Penny, knowing the question will lead to a lengthy story. "Your crew? Whitebeard-san? He's the only one of the Four that I haven't met yet."

Ace wanted to throw his own question back—when and where had she met Kaido, but Penny doesn't seem like the type to spill, and he missed his crew too much to not entertain her. Marco with his brilliant mind and cool temper. Deuce who had followed him without a single thought when he had gone after Pops. Pops was getting sicker by the day and Ace feared what would come when he was gone, but for now, he would hold onto the love Pops gave each of them, freely and wholly.

And Thatch, blood-stained on the deck of the ship, already gone where none of them could follow.

For the first time since it happened, since Ace stumbled upon the body and murder of his brother, he could speak about the happier times. Thatch welcomed him into the crew, never scolding him but offering practical advice every time Ace went after Pops. The kindest and most trusting of them, stabbed in the back over something as stupid as a Devil Fruit.

Penny's bowl of pomegranate seeds overflowed by the time he finished spilling his bits of himself. Did Penny already know? She pressed the bowl into his hands, sitting back on her heels, and cracked another pomegranate open, this time for her. The seeds were crisp and sour and achingly sweet.

Penny breathed out, looking only at her hands. "It wasn't until Shanks took me in that I could hope to have a family again. It was the same on Foosha, my world got a tiny bit bigger. What Blackbeard took from you, he can never return. Not even with his death."

"It's more than revenge. He spat in all our faces and stabbed Pops in the back. It's my duty for the crew to make sure he's taken care of."

"Did Thatch-san have a proper funeral? It's important to do the correct rituals or his spirit will—"

"We took care of it," said Ace shortly. His hands clenched around an invisible body, slick with blood and still warm.

Penny bowed her head, pressing her stained hand against her heart, smearing the juices all over the delicate fabric. "My condolences—it's always hard to lose someone you love. Not that I would be knowledgeable in that field, but I have an active imagination."

Maybe she was more like Luffy than he thought. As smart as she came off, there was a sense of airheadedness that matched his little brother perfectly. "Thanks, Penny," he said with a slight sigh of exasperation.

She nodded as if she had done something of great importance. Ace briefly wondered how she survived on her own.

"Shanks did send me," admitted Penny, confirming Ace's suspicions. She set aside the fruit, smoothing out her dress. Phantom Penny wasn't exactly one to go looking for people. "He asked me to stop you from going after Blackbeard, but I haven't decided yet. If you had been anyone else…"

Had Penny come here knowing who his father was?

"What do you mean?" asked Ace sharply.

"You're Luffy's brother," she said with a smile, twisting her hands together. "What kind of ingrate would I be if I allowed you to go frolicking into danger on your own?"

"So, you do want to form an alliance."

"No, but I think you're ignoring the fact that Blackbeard managed to trick one of the strongest people in the world into giving him his trust and that makes you reckless."

Ace's fist clenched at his side, teeth gnashing together. "I'll let that go for Luffy's sake, but say one more word and I'll make you regret it. You don't know what it's like to lose a brother."

"Sorry," said Penny, genuinely and looking like she meant it. "I'm not good with people."

"Look, Pops gave me his permission and I don't think he'd like it if he heard that Shanks was interfering in his business. Sorry for the trouble you went through coming to find me, but I need to do this. For Thatch and the crew."

"I'm going about this wrong," muttered Penny, chewing on her thumbnail. "I'd like to help you if you'll let me."

Penny stood, ducking inside the house for a moment, and returned with a book and what looked like a stack of maps.

"I'm not any good at reading these things, but you seem like you might be. These are the last places Blackbeard was seen—I stole them from a Navy base before coming to find you. And this—" She held the book out. It was red and tattered with small characters along the spine reading Akuma no Mi Zukan. "—is a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia. The rumors said that Blackbeard ate one. Not all of them are in there, but it'd help to know what we're—"

"I'm better off on my own." Ace adjusted his hat and then bowed shallowly. "Thanks for hosting me, but I think it's best I left."

"Wait, Ace—"

He shook his head sharply, walking away. "If you help, this becomes bigger than Pops. It turns into a thing between two Emperors and Pops isn't the type to get outsiders involved in his fights. I'm not either."

Penny dropped the things in her hands into the grass, chasing after him. "I'm offering advice—there's nothing wrong with that!"

"We wouldn't have met unless Shanks told you to come. You might not be meddling, but he is."

Penny picked up a handful of sand, throwing it at him. "Stop making it sound like I'm following orders! I'm not!"

Ace grinned, pressing his foot against his boot and burning the line anchoring it to Penny's ship. "You'll probably see Luffy soon, so keep an eye out for him."

He took off, leaving Penny standing on the beach on her own.

"Well," whispered Penny to herself, as Ace's boat disappeared from sight. "That certainly could've gone better."

Stumped, Penny spent the next two days wondering if she should be the kind of girl who went a bit crazy after being denied something she wanted. She had taken her first break-up rather badly as a teenager and sent her first boyfriend to Impel Down.

She couldn't do that to Ace.

Even if it would get him to stop hunting down Blackbeard, it'd also get him executed.

Kidnapping meant she had to watch out for escape attempts. Death wasn't what Shanks was thinking of when he told her to go make friends.

Could she tell Luffy? He would probably help once she knocked it into his head how dangerous Ace's hunt for vengeance was, but that meant going to the East Blue and likely losing track of Ace.

"I don't know what to do," cried Penny to a patch of tulips. They waved in the wind with whispers of a voice too faint for her to hear. "Why is life so difficult?"

Her copy leaned over, shading her face from the sun, "Maybe you should take a vacation, boss."

"A visit to an onsen would be nice."

"Our shoulders are knotted. Some malicious vibes are going around in these waters."

Penny found a smile creeping on her face, wanting to squish her cute copy between her hands. "Penny-chan, you're so precious."

Copy-Penny waved her hand, blushing fiercely as Penny herself often did when something or someone met her definition of cute. If only other people were as simple as she was.

Though, in Ace's defense, he likely had been the one to find his dead crewmate and felt responsible as Blackbeard's commander. Penny sat up abruptly.

She had to find Blackbeard and deliver him to the Navy. He was such a nobody that she and Ace were likely the only ones invested in him. Penny thought about the tense look on Shanks' face. It was a rare expression that told her that it wouldn't be easy to capture Blackbeard, but doing impossible things was something Penny excelled at.

END CHAPTER