Chapter Seven

Ace silently dragged Ashley to a less crowded place on the deck. He didn't notice her abnormally pale face or cold palm until they reached his favorite hideout on the deck. Even then, he attributed the cause to her confrontation with Whitebeard, "Oi, are you okay?"

"Em," Ashley nodded as she snatched her sweaty hand out of his warm one and hug it close to her chest, "thank you," she said breaking the silence that followed.

Ace scratched the back of his neck, a frown between his brows. He rarely interacted with women, Dadan and Banshee excluded, and had no idea how to comfort one. He doubted a smack to the shoulder or a side hug would do the job. Maybe give her food? Food is the ultimate all-cure after all.

"Excuse me," she mumbled, hesitant to break the awkward silence, "Are you a devil fruit user?"

This, he could talk about just fine. "Yah! I've eaten the Mera Mera no mi," he said turning his hand to a mixture of red and orange fire, "All by accident," he laughed thinking about the old good days. He leaned on the rail and start talking about his first adventure, how he shipwrecked on a island and met his first friend, Masked Deuce, who later become his first mate. How he found a funny looking fruit and thought it would be delicious. How both Ace and Deuce set sail, formed the Spade Pirates and settled on a Jolly Roger that satisfied them both.

Thirty minutes later and Ashley foresaw no end to his tales, not like she wished for one. She sat on the floor, listening to the boy who sported a wide smile and bright eyes. He liked to move his hands a lot especially to describe his fights, she noted, and to ask rhetorical questions to keep her engaged. He even wrestled a laugh or two out of her…Okay, maybe more but she has long lost count.

But then he reached the part of when his crew faced Whitebeard Pirates and everything dimmed. The story took a dark turn, focusing on that one villain who took everything. His hands tightened into fists and flames of rage licked at his skin. Ashley got goosebumps observing the drastic change of his demeanor.

At some point, his story reached its end and Ace stood there simmering under the memories of that night. Ashley sighed. Turns out Whitebeard has a history of kidnapping. "Can you please restrain your flames?" She said at last, breaking him out of his trance, "I'm not fond of fire." That was the understatement of the year since she hate fire. So far, the element was always linked to pain and punishment.

"Sorry, sorry," Ace said with a grin, "how come?"

"I'm a witch," she said in a duh tone of voice, but the boy only tilted his head in confusion silently asking her to elaborate. "Witches have bad reputation, you know, they're regarded as Satan's daughters on earth. The cause of mayhem. The bringers of disasters," she explained with a sigh, "when I was young, they blamed the drought on me and wanted to burn me at the stake," watching her trembling as she hugged her knees to her chest, Ace took his seat next to her and flared his power just enough to drive the chill, "When we reached the execution place, they had already started with…another person," the harrowing screams, the acute smell of burnt flesh and the towering flames as they swallowed the struggling silhouette would always, always hunt her, be it awake or asleep. She hesitated for awhile before resting her forehead on her knees, "My birth-mother," she then whispered.

The silence that followed, shrouded them in a rash of anxiety as their words failed to form sentences and whatever bits they concocted rested heavily on their tongues.

For a while, Ace opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish. Deuce's voice in his head viciously chanting a mantra of 'don't do it', gave him a headache. At last, he sighed in defeat. "I also have the devil's blood in my veins," he said, "Someone so evil, the whole world rejoiced for his death as I'm sure they'll do for mine," his hazy eyes were fixed on his wrists, on his veins. Then, no more than a second later, his eyes regained their spark. "But, did we ever ask to be born?" He asked with a breathy laugh.

When Ashley shook her head, Ace laid on his back facing the sky.

"Since the world didn't ask our permission then it owes us nothing, In fact we owes it a lot for all the pain and suffering," he said with a smirk, "Maybe we are monsters who shouldn't have existed," he added, arm stretched skyward as if planning to enclose the whole world within his opened palm, "but we're already here, right? So why not go with a bang."

At this moment, Ashley discovered that the two of them were two extremities of the same branch. Two sides of the same coin. She thought she deserved less of what she got and decided to quietly fade away, while he thought he deserved more than the world can give and decided to raise above his heritage. To be known for his own person. To leave an everlasting mark. But, at the end of the day, they were no more than two self-destructive fools.

The idea tickled Ashley and she started laughing. "Go with a bang huh? How would we do that?"

"We are monsters, no?" He said with an amused chuckle. If they had him stripped of his humanity because of his bloodline, then he was not obliged to honor their rules and laws. "We do it the way we can," he added, hands pillowing his head, "The way we want. "

This got her thinking that maybe, if she changed, they could walk away from the edges of their extremities and meet at the middle. She could do with half his confidence, as he could do with half her cautiousness. But, change is scary. Change is hard. Change is high-priced. Would it be worth the hassle? One glance at the boy laying comfortably with a satisfied grin, had her answering her own question. If she could shake her fears and worries as easily as he made it be then 'Yes. It would be!'

"I feel like a newborn child," she said, blue eyes twinkling, "I don't know where to start to be someone, sorry, I mean to be a monster I'm proud of," they chuckled, amazed at how the insult had instantly lost its power over them. Now, the word was no more than an in-joke between the two. "But for now I decided to be a major pain in Whitebeard's ass," even if this journey wasn't a waste of time since she learned so much in a matter of a single day, but she felt vengeful for the way they kidnapped her. Besides, she just had many possibilities in front of her. She could be a healer, a rich woman of trade, a traveler but not a pirate. Being a pirate as she was now, spells a gruesome death.

"Oh-ho," Ace said, a smirk gracing his lips, "Count me in," he added as he extended a fist her way. With a smirk rivaling his, Ashley tapped his fist with hers signaling the beginning of their friendship. This day, also, marked the beginning of the Whitebeard Pirate's suffering they just were blissfully unaware.

"If we're gonna do this," Ace said as he sat up with legs crossed under him, "then let me share with you some information about the crew," he held three fingers up, face hardened in a serious demeanor, "three, never let down your guard around. Haruta, Marco and Thatch." Although a prankster, Ace explained, Haruta use his cuteness to get away with almost everything. Marco on the other hand was the mature one, the voice of reason, who convinced many foes to join WP crew without or with minimum bloodshed and lastly, Thatch, the most dangerous out of the three because he give free delicious food and food is the biggest temptation 'In the whole world,' emphasized Ace. "Two places try to avoid, Thatch's fridge in the morning and Marco's room," the fridge was protected heavily than the treasure room, hell, Ace had once stumbled on the treasury and no one stood guard at its doors, which were unbolted. At night, Thatch locks the damn thing with four padlocks. As for Marco's room, it supposedly doubled as his work place and he goes asshole-mood if anyone as much as put his toe past its threshold. "One don't miss with, Whitebeard. His head is mine to take."

"Got it," replayed Ashley as she squirmed away from the daylight to a shady corner. The sun has reached its zenith sometimes ago and she, opposite to Ace, didn't fancy the heat. "Do you have any idea where my staff and potions are?"

"That black wooden thingy you had?" She nodded and waited for his answer as he rubbed his chin and hummed in contemplation. "No, but it's probably with one of the commanders, not Haruta or Thatch tho. The potions are in the infirmary, they picked Marco's interest and he started studying their effects."

This raised Ashley's spirit and she excitedly urged Ace to take her there. He refused, since they would be easily spotted by the crew and he disliked to be under the scrutiny. Finally, they agreed to wait for the night's cover to roam free.

Not a moment later, a bell rang signaling the time for lunch and Ace groaned when he heard Thatch calling their names. "I'm going to take a nap," he said as he slide into his back, his hat falling to cover his face and he went out like a light. He, probably, didn't hear Ashley mumbling back : "I'll do too." as she leaned on a barrel and followed him suit.

Hello everyone!

I'm re-watching One Piece for the second time and I just finished Marineford Arc and I feel empty from all the crying (again).

Thank you so much for the people who take time off their day to read this Fanfiction, and a special thanks for those who Followed/Favored this story.

Have a blessed day guys! (ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ✿