She paced.

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth… back and forth…

"Damn it!" She cursed and kicked a rock, sending it flying across the room. "Enough with the back and forth already!"

Swiveling around she ground her teeth together and ignored the painful grind of her lip being caught and cut between them, chewing on the skin haplessly. Her stress levels and anxiety were through the roof and, she wiped her arm over her eyes to stop the tears that sprung forth, everything was just completely overwhelming. This was not…

She groaned and pressed a hand to her forehead, the pain in her neck bringing out a whimpered growl.

This was pathetic, really. She was pathetic.

"I really am aren't I…?" Quinn moaned.

Damn it. How did this even happen?!

She stopped chewing on her lip and let out a frustrated snarl, whipping around and kicking once again.

Which was a bad idea, by the way. "Ow! Ow… Ow…! Freaking… ow…!" She ended quietly with a whine, clutching onto her foot. "Why-!"

And she groaned. Because, honestly, this was all her fault.

All of it.

She collapsed to the concrete floor with a huff, flopping onto her back without a thought to the dirt or the bugs that were probably clinging to her hair by this point. The ceiling was just as dark and decrepit as the floor. To make matters worse there was a mysterious dark stain running up alongside the wall that Quinn really, really did not want to question.

She pressed her lips together into a thin line.

"Oh, look, little ol' Quinn Varela all by her lonesome," she mocked, borderline hysterical, "Again. Doesn't it always seem to come back to that, huh? It just does, doesn't it?"

She grabbed her hair and tugged harshly, cursing.

This whole situation was completely out of her depth. She'd have never thought she'd end up locked in a cage- and one they liked to call a jail cell. Quinn snorted. Yeah, right.

"You know…" Quinn jumped, eyes flinging wide open, "You're not doing yourself any favors by talking to yourself."

There was a moment of silence. Where she twisted around to see who had appeared before a sneer enveloped her face. Her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

"Oh, it's just you." She muttered darkly, disinterestedly.

She flipped back around and settled into her previous position. Only it was tense now, uncomfortable. She felt stiff and rumpled, as if a bucket of water had been dumped on her. Leaving her feeling stale and worse off. Quinn ignored the offended laugh, a fake noise that made her clench her fists together and bury her nails deep into her palm. In the back of her head, the pain registered as a comforting distraction.

"I missed you too," he called over, "You know it's your own fault that you were put here."

She did. But she wasn't about to admit that.

"Kindly." She drawled, "Fuck off."

Quinn raised her hand in a symbol that was thankfully cross-dimensional.

"Always with the language." He all but purred. "You would've been fine if you had just returned the fruit back to the Marines or, hell, even the pirates! My crew…" He paused, as if stumbling over his words, realizing the mistake. "Well, whatever. Not like you'll live long enough to tell anybody."

She paused, turning around. "Excuse me? What-?"

He looked guilty. And he pursed his lips and dragged a hand over his tan face, blue hair ruffled. "What did you expect? I had everything planned out and you just had to come in and ruin it all. Do you know how much of a pain it is sneaking into Marine Bases? Let me tell you, it's not as easy or as fun as one would think."

Was she missing something? She felt like she was grasping at straws here and none of them were the right one. "Ha-huh?" The question, that was more of a noise than anything, came out strangled.

"To be fair, I probably shouldn't have hired you in the first place, despite the doctor sending you my way. The ass. You were bound to get caught up in all of this eventually," he sighed, catching her eye with a hard look, "Why did you have to go and eat the Devil Fruit, huh? Real stupid thing you did there."

"I didn't know it was a Devil Fruit…!" Quinn hissed, pulling away. No. That wasn't right. She knew it was a Devil Fruit but, at the time, it hadn't exactly computed. "I was still… confused…"

She settled on the word after a long pause. It was probably the closest she could get to explaining without admitting that she was from an entirely different world and had been ripped away rather cruelly into this one. Her brain still felt rattled from the realization sometime after eating the damn-weird-disgusting fruit. Almost as if her brain was lagging a few weeks behind.

The fruit had cleared that up right quick.

And while it hadn't changed much initially… that was until the Marines came knocking at her door.

Quinn bit her lip. A pirates world… The One Piece world was just…

...and she was already getting a glance at how corrupt it was and how ready it was to take advantage of her.

"If the Marines got it first then I could have just bribed the Marine Captain... If my Crew managed to get it first then it would be easy making it look as if it was just another random Pirate attack…" He groaned under his breath. "This was supposed to be easy. Either way I would have gotten the Fruit and been rich!"

"What does that have to do with me?!" Quinn scowled at him, still feeling as if she was missing something. "So I ate the fruit. You can't get it back! Move on with your life instead of getting hung up over BS things like this… you didn't have to turn me into the Marines."

She threw up her hands and gestured around herself, "Look at this place. It's disgusting! I didn't even do anything illegal!"

"Once a Devil Fruit is eaten you can't get… it… back…?" He eyed her sharply, repeating what she'd said.

Quinn leaned away at a sudden foreboding, chewing on her lip once again.

Thoughts running a mile a minute before, with a dawning realization, her mouth formed a soft and near silent, "Oh…"

"Except…" Roddie leaned against the bars of the jail, "There is one way to get a Devil Fruit back."

She shrunk in on herself.

"You… wouldn't…?"

Roddie nodded, "The Marine Captain was promised a promotion for the exchange of the Devil Fruit to a Vice-Admiral a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the Marines don't want a person. At least… this way, now that I've turned you in, I may be able to steal the fruit before any higher up gets here and I won't have any blood on my hands."

His allusion was not lost on her.

"You… had this all planned out…?" Quinn asked dumbly, tongue feeling twisted and heavy in her mouth.

A cold stone settled in the base of her stomach and left her feeling queasy and nauseous, as if she was going to vomit. Had Quinn been standing she was sure that she would have thrown a punch at him, even if bars were separating them. But instead her fingers scraped along the concrete and she tossed a handful of dust up at him. It had the opposite effect and what little breeze there was sent it puffing back into her face.

She coughed at the bout of bad luck.

"You…?!" She managed to grit out harshly, at a loss for words. "You- traitorous scumbag!"

"Yeah! I get called that a lot." He chirped abruptly and Quinn was given the most plastic printed look she had ever bore witness to. Everything about this man was fake! "But with you gone my Crew and I will be living the luxurious life with the money we can get from that fruit! I hear it's quite the expensive piece~"

Quinn was left sputtering in his wake.

"That's it…? You're just going to let them kill me," Quinn's face slowly scrunched upwards and her brow furrowed downward, eyes cold. "Just like that? No…"

Roddie paused in step, shooting her a cursory glance over his shoulder. Quinn stopped chewing on her lip to grasp the bars and pull back into a sneer. Angry, pissed. An obsessive fire promising death. He decided that he didn't like that look. It fit a little too well on her normally apathetic face and sent a shiver running up his spine.

"You're too much of a coward to do it yourself."

He turned away, "Ooh~ Trust me, that's not it! I just enjoy sticking to a plan."

The door to the room opened and a Marine came to stand next to him, offering the tense pair a confused look. Clearly wondering what sort of conversation he had stumbled upon. "What's she talking about?"

"Fufufufu…!" He huffed out a terse chuckle, "Oh, don't worry about it! It's just the ramblings of a little-lost-in-the-head prisoner, they usually start spouting nonsense eventually."

The explanation only seemed to confuse the Marine more. But he ended up settling on not questioning it, like a little sheep. Quinn growled. It was just another sheep following the herd, something that Quinn had decided all the Marines were back when she first read One Piece. Unimpressive, delicate, and just the same as all the rest.

"You're pathetic you know that?" She bit her tongue to keep from adding, even more than me.

And Roddie grinned. A cold, cruel curve that held no humor or any of the fakeness she had previously seen on his face; it didn't quite reach his eyes. "We're not so different then, huh?"

She reeled back.

Before she could add anything he raised his hand in a childish wave, "Byeee~!"

And she was left. All alone.

"Alone… again…" She sighed, staring at the space that Roddie had once occupied. And the Marine that followed him went with.

"So help me, I don't care what happens to me, but I want that cowardly bastard to suffer."

But, locked in a jail cell somewhere beneath the Marine base she had been thrown into when Roddie had turned her in, she couldn't even touch him.

She sighed again.

And than her neck decided to act up and she smacked her hands over it with a yelp.

It hurt like a bitch.

Unknown to her a certain new-to-the-seas Pirate was picking his way through the island.

Or, he was lost.

There was that.

...

...

Strutting down the street with a blonde on his right and an empty street in his wake was definitely something he could get used to. But, he scrunched his face up, the island itself was not fun. Nothing but boring buildings. Boring people. Not a hint of fun to be found.

"Sir," the Marine sideyed him, "We sure about the kind of fruit?"

He spun on heel, walking backwards to enjoy the sight of said Marine. The grin on his face a little too prominent, little too joyful. "Yeah. Cherries. Sour Cherries specifically."

And isn't it wonderful that as soon as he learned that lil' fact he'd gone on a little greenhouse excursion and found himself with fruit just ripe for the picking.

"Uh-huh."

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. You just seem happy."

"Shouldn't I be?" Roddie quirked a brow, the Marine sighed through his sick mask. "I mean, I'm getting quite the sum of money aren't I?"

"Yes. But-" He pointed out thinly, tucking his hands into his pockets, "-I'm the one that has to deal with you afterwards. And we both know you get nightmares. You're not too great with cold blooded kills."

He twitched.

"...You're such a killjoy, Jo-"

"-GEH!"

"AH- urg, ow…!" Roddie yelped. Collapsing to the ground, head in his hands. "...What the hell-?!"

"Sorry, sorry! My bad, I didn't mean to hit you there."

His mouth fell open.

"You okay? You have a really hard head- ah, that was rude, wasn't it?"

Behind him his Marine was snickering.

"Anyways- uh, hey, I'm-"

"Why- are you upside down?"

"Huh?"

"Upside down. Why." He demanded, rubbing his palm over his forehead. Well, this was unexpected. And a little bit concerning.

The kid frowned- smiled?- tilting his head and crossing his arms over his bare chest. His hat, a bright orange cowboy hat, hung from his chin, and his hair flopped down to show off steely grey eyes and freckles. He quirked a smile towards them, glancing back at his feet, "Ah- I was taking a shortcut." He was hanging upside down from a post, feet hooked around the top next to a delicately swaying flower pot threatening to fall.

Roddie took a step away.

"A… shortcut."

"Yep." He twisted, landing on his feet. Now that he was standing rightside up Roddie couldn't help but gape at him. Then, he bowed. "You have my sincerest apologies."

"Yeah, sure, kid."

Said kid balked. "Kid?!"

"Sorry, that's my bad. Pre-teen?"

"Hey, you li-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by his blonde Marine coming to his rescue. He gave a ow, practiced with a long sweep of his arm, hand placed on his chest, and a flourish. "Sorry, sir, we're just a little bit stressed with an execution beginning and a Vice-Admiral visiting. You'll have to excuse Roddie's attitude."

The kid still seemed miffed. "...sure. Have him apologize for you, huh?"

Roddie shrugged. "Guess so~"

"Thank you for being reasonable. We'll be on our way."

And he was dragged off, sticking out his tongue at the ravenette, before anything else could be said. Walking down the street again with a bit more pep in his step.

"Nice save! You're pretty good at that." Roddie complimented. Tossing a glance in the distance. The villagers had formed a party at the docks, leaving nobody to be seen- with the exception of the cowboy kid -as they prepared a welcoming committee for some Vice Admiral he hadn't heard the name of just yet.

"Tch." The blonde didn't seemed happy, looking rumpled. "You know I hate having to suck up to randoms." He shuddered.

"Yes, don't we all?" Roddie cooed. "But you're excellent at it! Besides, think of all the fun we can have with this. It's fun just tricking, manipulating, roleplaying-"

"I'm not into roleplaying with scrubs."

He froze.

"I- did you just call me a scrub?"

"Nuhuu- I did."

The "kid" watched the pair leave with a raised eyebrow. A bit befuddled by the encounter. He shrugged, shouldering his bag into a more comfortable position, and grabbed his hat that had plopped onto the ground when he had flipped onto his feet. Dusting it off with a few gentle pats Ace placed it back on his head and turned towards the road, "...An execution, huh?"

And a Vice Admiral apparently. He'd have to watch out for them.

But… and he grinned here, "Wonder what they did to get a death sentence-!"

Pfft!

Something bounced off his forehead.

"...Ha?"

A piece of…

Ace blinked.

...paper?

"Psst-!" He caught another before it could hit him. "Psssst- Hey!"

He looked to the left. To the right. Nobody.

"Hey you!"

Oh, a little kid!

Ace pointed to himself.

"Me?"

As far as he was aware he'd never seen a kid outfitted in a ninja costume before. Certainly not one that would throw crumpled up pieces of newspaper at him in order to get his attention. Even Luffy wouldn't… er, nevermind. He cast the kid a bemused look, they didn't look older than- twelve? Yeah, twelve. And she was partially hidden behind a building, one hand cupping her mouth and the other fisting a handful of more paper.

"Yeah- you!" She hollered, tossing it. It fell short. "Over here- come, over here! Hurry, hurry, damn it, come on!"

Ace continued to stare but picked his way over slowly.

Much to her chagrin.

"Finally-!" She puffed out her cheeks, eyeing him up and down, a foot taping impatiently. "Hmmm-"

The focusing on him intensified.

Ace jumped when she slapped a hand onto his stomach.

"Wha-?"

Was… was this normal on this island? Those other guys didn't do anything like this. He shivered at the feeling of her hand splayed across his stomach. "Uh… can I help you?" Hold up. Ace froze. She was feeling up his abs! "Hey-?!"

She scrunched up her face, patting him once, before nodding her head firmly.

"You'll do."

Huh?

Disturbed, and feeling vaguely violated, Ace took a step out of reach of her grabby hands and crossed his arms over his chest. "Wait- I'll do?" He choked. That sounded ominous. "For what?"

Apparently he wasn't going to get the chance to find out because the girl spun on heel and took off, only taking a second to throw a shout back over her shoulder- "Come on then! Follow me."

"Follow you-?"

"Yeah- hurry the hell up!"

He blinked openly, not bothering to keep his surprise at bay. Then shrugged and did as she said- or ordered, more like, curiosity getting the better of him.

She was a bossy kid. So he could forego the pleasantries, "So- what the hell's your name?" She wasn't very fast either. He was already running ahead of her by the time she managed to get a few steps in.

"Gah! So fast!"

"Thanks."

She swallowed, "I'm Maple!"

"Oh, like the syrup?"

He half expected her to give an indignant shout, or be offended, or something along those lines. What he definitely wasn't expecting was the loud, shocked gasp that she emitted or the hands being flung to her cheeks in horror- or childlike wonderment. The two were surprisingly easy to mix up. "A-A-A-Are you a Psychic!?" She exclaimed. Stars in her eyes, positively delighted. Oh, so it was the latter. "THAT'S SO COOOL~!"

He nearly stumbled under foot.

Definitely not the reaction he was expecting.

Coughing, "Uh- no, I'm not. Where'd you get that idea?"

"B-B-But how'd you know then?!" She gasped. "That's my given name! Syrup! I'm Maple Syrup!"

"...Your name is Maple Syrup?"

That had to be some kind of cruel joke. It must be. To name your kid… Ace grimaced. Syrup. Especially when their surname was Maple. Creative, sure. Kind though? Not at all.

"Yep but everyone calls me Maple!" She chirped. "Even my sisters- ah, don't tell them I called them that! They don't know yet."

Ace sputtered a laugh, greatly amused by the claim. "How can they not know yet?"

"I only met them a week ago- they saved my life! And I've decided that they're mine now so, ergo: They're my sisters." She explained. As if it made any sense. "They just don't know it yet."

Ace sweatdropped.

"I… see."

"Good! 'Cause I and my bigger sister need your help." She chirped. "Varley-nee pulled a goof and got in trouble! So Dahlia-nee and I need to help her- and that's where you come in! We'll be heroes~"

She wiggled her eyebrows. As if that would convince him, which- it did quite the opposite.

"Me?" He sputtered out a short laugh and Ace shook his head, "Look I think you got the wrong idea. I ain't no hero, I'm a Pi-"

When he turned to try and explain to the kid that no, he was not a hero and would not be doing any special excursions as one, he wasn't expecting to barrel face first into a rock wall. "GAH!"

He was sent spread-eagle on his back. Hat falling off to cover his face, groaning, and slurring out, "Who puts a wall in the middle of the street…"

"Oops, sorry! Coming in a little hot there aren't you?"

Not a wall then. Definitely not a wall.

"Who…?" Ace cut himself off, shaking his head. "Ah, ma' am, sorry for bumping into you. My apologies."

"Oooh~ you got us a polite one Maple!"

"Dahlia!" Maple squealed. "Okay- you're here now too! That means we can get started."

The woman, a brunette, Dahlia he was guessing, laughed boisterously. Her whole body shaking from the sheer loudness of the noise- to the point where Ace had to stick a finger in his ear to try and clear out the ringing that came from it. "I'm glad as well!" She winked, "...little sister!"

"AH- YOU HEARD?!"

"Indeed I did, sweetie! Varela's gonna make fun of you~"

"Noooo-!"

Ace coughed into his fist. "Pardon me-" He grimaced when they both turned to him with wide, hoping looks. "But I think I should be going-!"

"Nope."

"Sorry."

"No can do."

They each patted their hands onto his shoulder in apology- subsequently pulling him back in the same motion. Voices equal amounts deadpan and leaving absolutely no room for argument.

Ace twitched, failing to keep away his disgruntled sneer, "I'm not a hero-!" He argued. "I'm not going to help anybody if it makes me one- I'm a Pirate!"

They glanced at each other in unison.

Ace sighed, "Look- Let me explain. You see a hero is someone who, say, has a piece of meat and will divide it amongst everyone! But a Pirate will-"

"-Feast on all of it themselves!"

"Right!" he grinned. "See- you get it! Wait… YOU GET IT?!"

Dahlia snickered, "Of course! It's only logical."

Maple nodded to herself proudly, "Naturally. Naturally."

"So then…" he tried, "I can go explore?"

"No~ope!"

"Why the hell not?! If you get it-"

Dahlia cut him off with a joyful grin, "Because it's even better if you're not a hero!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"You just said that you needed to save your sister!" Ace accused. "Varley- or something!"

"Varela!" Dahlia corrected.

"But if you're a pirate then we won't have to deal with any of that moral crap!" Maple sung. "It's just so much easier this way."

"Morals?" Ace repeated. Before freezing, making a face, fists suddenly at the ready and snapping, "I ain't killin' anybody for you!"

"No, no, no, no!" They quickly reassured, horrified. Realizing how he made the insinuation. "No killing!"

His scowl fell away, and he lowered his hands. But Ace still narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously, "Then what did you mean by morals?"

Dahlia hummed, tapping the pads of her fingers together. Both her and Maple glanced to each other in unison and, with a count of three, opened their mouths and said:

"Well, it's simple really-"

"-a big part of the story you see-"

"-our little dearie, Varela, as you now know-"

"-is in trouble with the Marines, or so we've been told!"

Dahlia finished with, "And her execution is scheduled in just an hour!"

The hell? Why were they switching back and forth?

Ace tilted his head with a sudden realization. "You mean the execution that those guys mentioned?" He gaped. What a coincidence. "She's your sister?" At incredibly high speeds they nodded their confirmation. He gave them an even more suspicious look than he had before, "...What'd she do?"

They jumped back in offense.

"What's with that look?!"

"What makes you think she did anything?!"

"Uuuh-" He chuckled incredulously before stating the obvious, "She's being executed."

They're mouths froze open.

"...Oh yeah."

"YOU FORGOT?!" He slapped the air.

"Whoopsies~"

He facepalmed.

Maple frowned suddenly, clenching her fists. Finally attempting to answer his question, "We're not too sure what for."

"Huh?"

"She didn't do anything. Well-" she paused. "Yeah. No."

"What was the well for?"

"She's kind of a jerk."

"Yep."

Both his eyebrows shot up, "So she's getting executed… because she's kind of a jerk...?"

Maple blushed, "I said I wasn't sure!"

"She hasn't exactly done anything illegal," Dahlia explained, "At least not to our knowledge and the Marines refused to explain. Apparently her boss, Roddie, is in on it or something though. He's been paying her visits and hanging around the Marines and- that in itself is pretty shocking."

"He's not a people person and he hates the Marines!"

"I might be starting to see why." Dahlia grumbled. "But, anyways, since the Marines refuse to tell us why- without making up some bullish excuse-"

Bullish? "You mean bullshi-?"

"Shh. Dahlia doesn't like cursing!"

"-Maple and I have decided to perform a heist. To be her saviors!" She chirped before stabbing a finger at him, "And you'll be helping us!"

"No way!" He denied.

"You don't have a choice- sorry, not sorry!"

"The hell I don't!" Ace snapped. Taking in a deep breath and failing to keep his face straight. "I'm not interested in being a savior. Wish I could help you but you guys can save her yourself-"

"Here." Dahlia held up a basket filled to the brim with bread and treats. "I have some snacks that you can have if you promise to help us."

"Deal."

He didn't even hesitate to snatch it up and sit down, already tearing through the food.

"Ah- just like that?!"

Maple threw up her hands, "YAAAAAY!"

Dahlia pressed a hand to her lips. Failing to keep in the bout of laughter that shook through her, "Hahahahahaha! That was so easy! Why didn't you just say that you needed some incentive?!"

"Didn't know you had any." Ace couldn't help but give a grin, swallowing. "So- what's the plan to get Varrie out?"

"Varela!"

"That's what I said."

"No, it-"

Dahlia tapped a finger to her chin, "Well… since a Vice-Admiral is also coming to this island everyone is distracted preparing the docks for his arrival, including the Marines, so I'm hoping that we're going to have a pretty straight shot at getting over to her! But~ We need someone to distract the guards so we can get through and bust her out. That's where you come in!"

"I'm just distracting?" Ace blinked. "If you had just said that in the first place I would've done it."

"You would've?"

"...No."

He admitted. He probably wouldn't have even thought of helping.

It didn't help their case that they were both mighty suspicious-looking.

Well, whatever. Maybe he'd get a bounty out of messing with the Marines? That possibility certainly bolstered the deal.

Dahlia snorted, "Varela was taken a few days ago. So I bet she's getting real impatient right around now- so let's hurry-" she pointed towards the obvious shape of a Marine base, "-thattaway!"

"Mm-hm, mm-hm!"

Then they both took off down the street.

Ace watched them leave. Staring at the half empty basket of food and sighing. He could take off if he wanted to but… "Made a deal, better get to keeping it…!"

Besides, from the sound of it, this Varela chick might have quite the story behind her attempted execution.

"Wonder if she'd be willing to tell it to me! I'm sure I'll have time-" maybe he could scrounge some more food out of her and her sisters, even. "-and she might even be interested in joining my crew!" Ace realized with a start. "Shit! I gotta catch up with them then!"

...

...

"Hup!" Luffy was having a pretty typical day on Mt. Colubo, well, typical for him. If anybody else saw the rather impressive display of jumps and hops from one rock to the next they'd undoubtedly be more than a little impressed- and then summarily horrified at the fact that wolves were snapping at his heels. "Woo~!" The fact that a child, just barely on the cusp of adulthood, was running around a forest that made most grown men wet their pants was not normal in the slightest. Given that said child was made of rubber and had the attention span of a cricket, well, logic was basically thrown out the window at this point.

"Shishishi-!" Luffy couldn't help but stick out his tongue at the wolves. "Blegh! You can't get me!"

The growling seemed to increase exponentially.

Luffy had a pair of dead deer shrugged over his shoulder and hanging limping, rather comical bumps on their heads and x's in their eyes. He'd been hunting all day and it hadn't been going well until he'd- accidentally -catapulted into a group of deer. Of course, where there was downed food their were predators and Luffy didn't have the luxury to hang around as a pack of starving wolves attacked.

"Gum Gum…"

Luffy grinned, rearing a foot back.

"KICK!"

He shouted, coolly. Landing a kick into the chest of a large wolf that took his taunting as a chance to jump him, followed by the loud and sickening crack of what was probably a ribcage collapsing. And, of course, everyone knew that if you named your attack it would be stronger and would look totally AWESOME!

...Except he didn't like that name for this attack.

Namely because it wasn't exactly a kick. It was bent and curved. Not straight on.

"Hmmmmm..." he crossed his arms, coming to an immediate halt. The wolves all froze in their jumping (the ones who weren't knocked away that is) and stared at him cautiously. "Gum Gum... kick? No. Circle? Booo~ no."

He pulled his leg back in and huffed, "Come on. Come on!"

His face turned a bright, bright red.

Pretty sure it was going to start steaming pretty soon...

"-That's it!" Luffy shouted, the painful feeling finally alleviating, "I've got it!"

He suddenly noticed the absence of the deers around his shoulders, "EEEEH?! MY MEAT?!"

Growling ravenously he spun around and looked all around. Those damn wolves! They'd managed to sneak one by him. He hollered after them, chasing down the pack that were desperately trying to make their escape through the trees. "You bastards! Get back here- That's my meat!"

He sucked in a breath and swung his leg around, "Gum Gum...!"

As if sensing the coming danger the wolves let out high pitched whimpers of pain and sorrow and misery of all the things they knew were to come.

"WHIIIIIIIIPPPPP!"

The wolves went flying away.

Luffy pouted before picking up the bitten and chewed on carcasses, "My meat...! Stupid wolves."

He gasped as he picked up the second deer, oh no, one of the wolves had taken one of the legs! Oh man... If Ace were here he would have stopped them before they took his food in the first place. Luffy clenched his fists, a fire in his eyes, and began making his way towards Dadan Country.

"Hmmph! I can do this myself."

'Cause Ace wasn't here anymore- which meant he had to be the one to stop them next time. After all, Ace had just left five days ago and was off on his own adventure now! Luffy grinned and shivered in excitement. Just three more years and it'd be his turn!

"Ooouu…" he still had to whine.

It was pretty lonely without them.

"Ace, Sabo! I'm next okay? Have fun!" He shouted. "I've still gotta get stronger!"

The only reply he got back was a bunch of chirping birds and the door to the bandits hut slamming open. He got there just in time to see an irritated Dadan scowling at him, cigarette clenched between her lips, "Oi, brat! You got food, huh?!"

"Yeah!" He chirped, holding up the deer. "The wolves chewed on them a bit though…"

"Whaaaaaa-?! Go throw them back!" Dadan screamed. "Go get somethin' else!"

He shrieked at the order. Clueless as to why.

"What?! Why?"

Dadan stomped towards him, looking incredibly pissed off- which wasn't out of the ordinary.

"Erk... And where's Ace?! He should be with... you..." Dadan slowed down. "Oh, right."

"Ah- are you missing him, Boss?" Dogra and Magra stepped up from somewhere. Luffy bounced from foot to foot, pouting. Were they ignoring him?

"No, of course not," she snapped furiously, "you shitty bastards! I don't miss that brat at all! Wah-ha-ah!" The fact that she had pulled out a box of tissues and had begun sobbing loudly said otherwise. The two bandits sweat dropped.

Dogra looked over at Luffy, "Oh, did you bring back food, Luffy?"

He perked up at the attention, "Yeah but Dadan wants me to get rid of it!"

"I'm sure we can cook around the bitten bits," he assured the straw hat wearing teenager who nodded enthusiastically despite not getting why they would want to cut around it. It was just a bit nibbled on. And, after all, all meat was good meat!

"Ah- it's a good thing Garp had business to take care of before he could come back to the East Blue otherwise Ace would have been taken off to the Marines," Dogra mentioned to Magra. Luffy blinked between the two dumbly with a grin on his face.

"Yes. Apparently he ran into a bit of a fight with a big name pirate on the way out of the Grand Line. He has to restock at some Island called Saigen, too, before he comes over here."

Dadan suddenly froze in her sobbing and turned to the two with almost robotic movements. Eyes wide and mouth hanging open, her cigarette dropped to the ground, "...That's where he was heading."

"...What."

"Yeah! Ace said there was an island called Saigen nearby that was supposed to have lots and lots of food- it did trading or something!" Luffy chirped. "Mou~ I wish I could go."

There was a long pause.

All their faces turned pale.

"OH NO!"

...

...

"Hi," he whispered, blinking wildly.

She couldn't help but jump back a few steps.

Quinn swallowed nervously, "...hey… there?" She didn't know whether to slink into a dark corner and hide or poke him in the eyes to get him to go away. She settled, reluctantly she might add, on shuffling her feet and crossing her arms over her body, simply returning the wide stare he offered her.

And wide stare it was. He was glancing around and trying to squeeze in better to get a good look at… her? The room? She didn't really know, didn't really care all that much either, but couldn't help but compare the feeling to being an animal trapped in the zoo. If this was how zoo animals felt being gawked at, well, they certainly had her sympathies.

She shuddered uncontrollably.

"Can I… help you?"

He scrunched up his face even further. Which seemed painful. He was already twisted to press his cheek into the ground and was trying squeeze his face into the small, barred space that was her cell window. From the looks of it he was laying down, chest pressed to the grass, and as close to the building as humanly possible. After a moment of working his jaw so he could speak, instead of slurring out gibberish because of how pressed he was to the bars, he asked, "You Varrie?"

"Varrie?" She choked, incredulous. "Uh- do you mean Varela?"

He grinned. Squished and blinding, not unlike the sun. "Yeah, that!"

Quinn squinted.

He sounded… remotely familiar, a sort of vague itch at the back of her head.

"...That's me." She eyed him suspiciously, "Why're you asking?"

"Your sisters asked me to help them!" He chirped. "And you!"

And that cleared up literally nothing.

"Uhhh..." Quinn uncrossed her arms slowly, bemused, wondering just what the hell he was talking about, "I don't… have any sisters."

"Ah-" she jumped at the surprised note, "Oh, right. That was supposed to be a secret, I forgot! Sorry." He didn't sound apologetic, in fact he sounded pretty happy with himself. "We're gonna break you out!"

"Secret-?" Quinn's mouth fell open, "Break me out?!"

"Yep!"

"Urk- I can guess who then."

She groaned. Dahlia and Maple. And the notion that they were looking to break her out brought on both a shiver of endearment- and annoyance.

"Those idiots…" She snapped her teeth down on her bottom lip and chewed, the skin ripping and tearing to the point where she was pretty sure it was going to start bleeding soon. They were gonna get themselves hurt. "So where are they then?"

"Hm?"

He squeezed in to get a better look, looking left and right; frowning.

"Huh." He blinked. "Don't know."

"...um. What do you mean you don't know?"

"I just figured they'd be here by now, looks like I was wrong." Quinn got the feeling that he was shrugging but she couldn't exactly see much of him to tell. And it certainly wasn't helping her increasing paranoia and overall befuddlement.

He held out a basket, somehow working his arm through the bars without moving his face, "Snack?"

Well, that was Dahlia's stuff at least, so she could guess he was telling the truth.

Still, she hesitated in taking the proffered treat, snagging an exceptionally small biscuit-like cookie, "-Thanks." Quinn couldn't help but glare at it. She hadn't eaten in over a day but strangely enough she wasn't all that hungry and the thought of actually trying to keep something down was a bit sickening. So instead of taking a proper bite she forced herself to do was nibble on the corner.

"Chehehe- No problem!"

He laughed, shoveling handfuls into his mouth. And- Holy crap. Did he lack a gag reflex? Quinn shuddered. He just kept gorging himself and didn't seem to be stopping. Yeah… she really wasn't hungry anymore. Looking past the… shocking appetite, to say the least, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him but-

She still couldn't quite place him.

"Uh- not to be rude but who are you?"

She scrunched up her face.

Black hair, freckles, semi-tan skin, a necklace with large red beads, and sunny grin-

Oh god. It was Ace.

As if to mock her, he confirmed. "I'm Portgas D. Ace. Nice to meet you!"

Grinning up a sunny storm that had her squinting furiously and inwardly cursing up her own inner storm- outwardly her eye twitched and she somehow managed to keep her voice steady in saying, "Can't say it's the nicest circumstances on my part. But, yeah, nice to meet you too." Before pausing and adding, "Quinn Varela. At your service." In possibly the most dry and hollow tone in her repertoire.

He nodded.

Like, you know, a normal person. And not a comic book (manga… whatever) character. It struck her as so completely odd that Quinn was pretty certain that her brain had just short circuited-

Quinn sighed.

This might as well happen today.

She'd just run with this. Yeah. Best option: not questioning.

...The universe enjoyed needling her, didn't it?

A sudden light came to his eyes and Quinn turned her attention away from her inner turmoil when he drawled, "So what did you do?"

"Huh?"

He gestured with the basket around the room. Quinn distantly wondered if his arm was stuck cause he hadn't pulled it back out, instead reaching his other arm awkwardly in between the bars to snatch up food to… uh... inhale it. That was probably the best word to describe his… rates of consumption. She shivered in disgust- moving on!

She rolled her eyes and helped push his arm back out, shuffling the basket after him. He gave her a grateful and surprised stare- looking delighted, almost. Quinn… wondered what that look meant.

"That's a pretty cliche question." She pointed out, the barest bit amused. ""What're you in for?""

"Well, what are you in for?" He pressed.

She shrugged, "I ate a Devil Fruit that Roddie wants- my ex-employer and the current keeper of all my hatred -so he's planning on having me executed. That way, he can get it. Which, by the way, I would very, very much like to punch him in the face for."

Oh yeah, that hit was a long time coming.

Ace seemed taken aback. "What? That's it?!"

"I think it would be very therapeutic actually." She rambled. "Maybe I could do a bit more but I'm kinda going to die pretty soon so I don't really think I have many options right now-"

"No, no, no!" Ace exclaimed, raising up his hands. "I mean… that's it? That's the only reason that they're planning on executing you. Because you ate a Devil Fruit."

Oh.

"Sounds pretty stupid, doesn't it?"

"Yeah! Quite a bit!" He scowled, "What- and the Marines won't do anything?!"

"They're the ones holding the execution- and organizing it."

He looked distinctly taken aback for half a second at that, something a little dark and personal passing over his face, before scowling even further, muttering, "Should've guessed…!" Raising his voice, "What about the islanders?"

"They kinda hate me." She frowned. "I think. Or, they don't know. Or care enough. I'm just an outsider here-" She probably wouldn't care about anyone she didn't know or like being executed either. "Honestly, still kinda reeling from you telling me about Dahlia and Maple. Didn't think they'd…" she trailed off. Yeah. It was immensely flattering that they were trying to break her out.

Ace looked at her in disbelief. He cleared his throat, "So the Marines are executing you because somebody wants your Devil Fruit and nobody cares but your sisters-"

"Not my sisters. Friends, I guess, but not siblings."

"-and you didn't think anybody'd come and help you?" Ace asked. Unsettled. They had seemed pretty sure about themselves and the rescue- adamant. He had figured that their sister- sorry, friend would've been expecting saviors to come based on the pairs attitude. Quinn didn't have much of a reaction to the question, though she did wince, and try and give a- half assed- explanation. Ace pressed his lips together in a thin line, narrowing his eyes, and sucked in his bottom lip. Thoughts running a mile a minute.

"To be fair, I'm not the most optimistic of people." She offered. "But, I mean, yeah, sounds like a pretty shitty set of circumstances. Especially when you put it like that. And, I'll tell you, it is. Trust me, I got the experience." Quinn snorted.

"Yeah, I can see that!" Ace grumbled. The look on his face, Quinn hid a smile, was indignant; cheeks puffed up slightly. "What even is your Devil Fruit?"

Quinn couldn't help but let the grin slip, in a sort of ghastly amusement. "Get this. I don't actually know. Nobody's told me and I haven't been able to figure it out."

He swallowed his food sharply, coughing. "You have no idea?!"

"Zippo."

That only seemed to make him even more huffy and puffy.

Quinn sighed. "Dahlia and Maple were trying to help me figure it out but… no. Actually. Where-" She furrowed her brow. "Where are they?"

"You already asked that."

"Yeah. But unless they gave up-"

Ace was quick to shoot that idea down.

"Then they should be here by now." Quinn glanced back across her cell towards the shut exit door. "I mean, you beat them here. What were they doing? I- actually, how were you supposed to help them?" She narrowed her eyes. As far as she could see he hadn't done anything but offer food and kick back and interrogate her.

"Oh, I was supposed to distract the Marines while they snuck in to get you out." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, shuffling aside. "But I think it was a bit of overkill on my part. Sorry."

"What do you mean- oh my god."

Quinn's mouth fell open as he rolled out of the way. Revealing a line of downed and out Marines, all unconscious and nursing bruises that they'd definitely be feeling tomorrow. A very literal path of destruction.

She swallowed, unsure of what to say.

"That's… impressive?"

He chortled. "Glad to find out they deserved it."

"Don't worry they did. But- uh- you didn't… kill anybody did you?"

Ace looked decently offended, but begrudgingly accepted the question since he couldn't really fault her for it. "No!" He still exclaimed defensively, "What do you take me for?!"

"So far? Not much."

He grumbled, rolling back into place. Returning to the problem at hand- "But you're probably right. They should've been here by now. They went in the building to get to you so maybe they ran into trouble?"

Quinn sagged in clear disappointment, or annoyance. He couldn't quite place it. "...yeahhh… probably…" Those two had no sense of self preservation. "Whatever. No use in worrying I guess."

A grin split over his face, "Hey, if it's any consolation, they're probably fine. They seemed pretty determined and people like that aren't gonna be taken down so easily!"

Quinn snorted, "Or they're too dumb to fail. Like goddamn cockroaches."

"And that just means I can ask you what I've been meaning to ask you!" Ace chirped. Okay, the suspicious look was back again. He raised his hands up in the universal symbol for peace (or surrender, but he didn't seem the type to do that) and grinned, "It's not bad, I swear!"

"Sorry if that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence…"

He continued on, without a care in the world.

"Wanna join my crew?"

Quinn choked.