It was when she was struggling to her feet, brow furrowed in concentration, and trying her hardest to balance next to Ace a few hours away from Saigen's shore that she finally said, "Is it a bad time to point out that this is my first time being on a ship?" It was intensely harder than she'd thought it'd be to stand up straight. The ripple of waves beneath her feet were not helping her balance either. Ace gave her a surprised blink, but upon seeing her failure to stand seemed to nod his head in understanding, sweat dropping.
"Chehe, really? I couldn't tell."
"Your sarcasm is much appreciated." Quinn deadpanned and, as best she can, wobbles past him to take a seat. Ah, there. Nice and safe on the floor in crisscross applesauce. "No, really, I love it. It's an immense help."
Ace waves her off. "Don't worry about it Varela. I'll show you how to use- and be on- a ship properly!" He offered.
"Thanks. Good to have at least one of us knowing what they're doing…" She trails off, taking a moment to gaze in the direction of Saigen. The departure from Saigen wasn't a sad affair, it could only be described as quick. Quinn and Ace, both in a hurry to not be noticed by Garp and keep their pursuers off their tails, had jumped into the small two-person Marine ship that Quinn had requested in a stroke of genius and taken off. Not even taking the chance to wave goodbye to the islands inhabitants before they were being swept out to sea and out of range, left to stare at the dot on the horizon.
Not so much a dot now, Quinn let out a toneless hum, the island wasn't even visible anymore.
"It's a good thing you called for this ship. Varela." Ace scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Mine got destroyed in a storm and I barely made it to the island." It was a bit disconcerting hearing this from the guy who just offered to teach her how to operate a ship. But Quinn didn't let it get to her, instead ignoring that little tidbit and focusing on something a bit more pressing to her personally.
She narrowed her eyes at him thinly, thoughts stuttering to a halt in confusion.
"...Why do you call me that?"
When she poses the question its after a few awkward moments of silence and her trying to reorganize her bag.
"Call you what?"
And Ace doesn't get it. Not that she entirely expected him to. She chewed on her bottom lip in thought, thumb pressing against it. "That's weird." Actually, now that she thought about it he wasn't the only one. "Dahlia and Maple did that too. Well, when they weren't spouting nicknames like Varley."
Ace repeated the question, raising a hand slightly. "Call you what?"
"Varela, of course?" She said it as if it was a question, brow raising as his furrowed.
"Wait- that's… not your name?!"
"No, it is."
Oh.
"Oh," he deflated in relief, "then what's the problem?"
"It's my surname. It's just kind of… odd."
"Ah, wait- you introduced yourself as Quinn Varela, right?" At her nod he frowned, before his eyes lit up in understanding and he gave her a pitying look, "You can't introduce yourself properly."
"No. That's not it." Quinn denied dryly.
"You gotta introduce yourself surname, given name." Ace explained ignoring her denial. "Otherwise you're doing it wrong and people will get mixed up. Here, you try it out!"
"I'm Quinn Varela."
He made an X with his fingers, making a buzzer noise.
"Bouu! That's not right."
"Quinn Varela."
"Bou, you're bad at this!"
Quinn wanted to facepalm, "No, Ace, it's a... cultural difference? I'm not changing the way I introduce myself. Just call me Quinn from here on out, please."
"Quinn." He played with the name, unsurely. It was shorter and simpler than Varela at least, easier to say. He nodded and went to fiddle with his compass, they were headed North at the moment, hopefully far away from Saigen. "Ahuh- your cultures weird."
"And here I was thinking you were polite." Quinn deadpanned. "And what're you doing?"
"Lookin' at this. See?" Ace waved a hand for her to come forward.
She rolled over to look over his shoulder, instead of struggling to stand up again, blowing hair out of her face. He had an overall quite blank looking map in his lap now and was holding a scraped and old compass in his hand. "I'm not much of a navigator, never been good at it, but…" He pointed to an empty space near the middle of the map. "I think we're right here?" He didn't sound too sure, Quinn frowned.
"That's quite a bit of ways away from Saigen… I don't think we've gone that far yet."
Ace shrugged, "'M guessing, mostly." He scratched his head. "And we're heading over…" he pointed. "Here. Yeah. I heard there was an island here at least."
"Heard?"
"Overheard some guys talking about there being treasure there." It brought a wide grin to his face. "We're gonna get it!"
"If it's there."
Ace conceded unhappily, "...if its there."
Quinn eyed the map. It didn't have much on it, but there was a large landmass at the bottom of the page and a few smaller outlines drawn near it- nothing that stood out though, and there was a lack of labels. "Which way did you come from?" She asked. It'd probably be smart to get an idea of the world around her.
"Hm? Oh, here." He pointed to the edge of the larger landmass, near the corner of the page. "From Mt. Colubo!"
"And how long did it take you to get to Saigen?"
"About… five days?" He tilted his head, "I got stuck in a storm though so it probably took longer than it should've. My ship got wrecked in it." Ace grumbles the last part under his breath. That boat had taken a lot of time to put together- especially since Luffy, the little jerk, kept sneaking on board and eating all his supplies the days before, and he had even taken the time to paint it.
Quinn blinked slowly. "But that's nearly double the distance and-" She looked back over her shoulder at what she had gotten the Marines to prepare. "I don't think we have enough food to last that long."
And she was pretty sure that Ace's appetite wasn't exaggerated, especially given how easily he devoured the basket of food he had on him before. She shuddered, covering her mouth. "You sure you wanna go for a straight shot? We could probably stop at somewhere closer and restock before-"
Ace's eyes practically lit up in barely held excitement. "I'm sure!" He turned back to the smile at the map. "I don't know what kinda treasure it is but I bet it's a lot! Imagin' the ship we could buy with that kind of money?"
She chewed on her lip, looking back at their food. It wasn't a lot. Maybe a few days if they were lucky, which, apparently she was so… Okay. "I- it's your call, Ace. Let's just be careful with our food then."
He gave her a thumbs up.
Ah- this didn't feel like it was going to end well.
…
…
Quinn picked her way over the length of the boat carefully, not wanting to take a dive by accident or stumble, ignoring the gentle and hollow thump of her shoes on the base of the ship. It took a bit of effort to balance and step over Ace's splayed form, the ravenette more quiet than she ever would've expected. Even if he was by no means a silent sleeper. He didn't snore, no, not at all. But he could never in a million years be described as quiet. His breaths were deep and scratchy and every now and then he'd grumble out something in his sleep.
That wasn't even counting the fact that he tossed and turned and his hands would grab out searchingly, like he was used to having something with him. It made it harder to get around him.
The day had given way to night faster than either of them had expected and soon it was hard to see more than a few feet in front her, clouds taking over the sky and only letting the barest sliver of moon glow through.
Something latched onto her ankle and nearly sent her face first into the side of the ship.
Quinn glared ahead, not glancing down. "You're awake, aren't you?"
There was startling silence for a just a moment before Ace let out a weary groan caught somewhere between a laugh and being honestly annoyed, "You know what time it is? Why're you moving around?"
"No, I don't have a watch. And," she twisted around on one foot to scowl at him, hopping awkwardly, "Can't sleep. Can you let go?" He grumbles under his breath for a minute but does so.
Damn, she crouches down next to him to rub her ankle, he had a killer grip.
"Why not?" Ace laid back down, blearily rubbing his eyes.
"Hm?" Quinn stopped massaging her ankle long enough to tilt her head curiously at the question, he gave her a dry, tired look at the lack of answer. "Oh." The boat jostled her out of her thoughts. "Not used to being on a ship I guess."
Lo and behold her first time ever on a ship, not even a quality one, and it wasn't going super well. How surprising was that? Adding on that it was going to be for an extended period of time with a someone who she basically stalked without meaning to, yeah that was a…
Quinn coughed.
More than a little weird.
And that was probably the best way to put the feeling into words. 'Cause cutting straight to the point it was not the most comfortable of situations.
"You'll get used to it." Ace assured, or as best as he could considering he proceeded to nod back off without so much as another twitch. Quinn snorted unladylike at him, chuckling softly at the action. Huh. She wished she was him, Quinn thought jealousy. It would have been wonderful to lay back and do nothing but sleep…
She shook her head, shuffling over to sit with her back against the side of the ship- it would probably do well to find a distraction.
Except there was literally nothing to do.
Nothing.
A lot of her chagrin was coming from the fact that Ace had basically nothing on himself besides the clothes on his back and what was in his bag, and Quinn was far, far worse off. Only having a bare minimum of necessities(if that) and a wad of crumpled up cash in a currency she didn't understand at all, not even a deck of cards to mess around with. So she was out of luck.
Until that thought caused her to freeze.
Quinn raised a hand up to her face, only getting out the vague outline of her palms and fingers.
She stared.
"How…" she spoke gently so as to not wake up Ace, "How do you work?"
Jones said that it was the Luck Luck Fruit so that made her a… Lucky Human then?
...That's so lame.
"Power up!" She whisper-shouted.
Nope.
"I command thee…"
Na-da.
"Lucky prism power! Make-up!"
"Mhph-?"
No.
"It's morphin' time!"
"Snk- che…"
Nothing.
"Let's see…" She hummed. A bit of a farfetched one- "Lucky-bots, Roll out!"
Not a thing-
"Chehaha!" Quinn jumped, gasping as Ace sat up suddenly and chortled. He lifted himself up onto his elbows and coughed into his fist. "What're you doing?" He asked.
Instead of answering right away, she instead ducked her head, shoulders hugging her neck, and asked politely, "Did I wake you again?"
He waved her off. "Yeah but no worries. Not anymore!" His eyes practically gleamed and he continued to look at her imploringly, grin slowly stretching wider and wider on his face. "What were you doing?"
"Just-" She bit her tongue. "Just trying to figure out how to use my Devil Fruit powers."
"I got that much," Ace grinned even sharper now. "But what were you doing?"
She hung her head.
"...Being a massive dork."
The resulting cackle had her glaring at Ace venomously. "Oh, shut up! I don't know how these things are supposed to work. Especially with this sort of power." She hissed.
It only served to make his snickers simmer.
Taking way longer than it should've for him to come down from his high, he finally said, "I don't think catchphrases are going to help you figure it out."
"Look. I'm tired." She groaned.
"Chehe. Okay, okay," Ace raised his hands up in sign for peace, "Your powers luck right? That's what that guy said?"
"...Yes."
"Then does that mean you're just naturally lucky now? Or can you control it?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." She paused though, thinking it over. "But… I think it's definitely not the former. I'm not feeling any luckier than normal, in fact I think I've had some of the worst luck I've ever had these past few weeks. Which is saying something." Quinn glared up at the moon.
"Then it's simple!" Ace chirped and Quinn had to lean back because he was suddenly all up in her face, blinding grin set. "You just need to figure out how to control it!"
She pursed her lips.
And gave him a dead look. "...Any ideas there, Captain Obvious?"
"Well, Luck tells us absolutely jackshit, so… no." He says it rather cheerfully and Quinn has to facepalm. She has to.
She doesn't.
It takes an extreme amount of willpower.
Her eye twitches almost imperceptibly but Ace still catches it and has to hide his amusement.
"Well, it's a good thing I just had something come to me then."
He blinks when she holds up a coin.
It wasn't hard to come up with. And it hit her abruptly, like a slap to the face.
"You up for a good ol' game of heads or tails?"
…
…
The game was all in all quite simple. Quinn decided the best way to go about experimenting with what was supposedly her power was to call on her experiences with sixth grade science and the Scientific Method. As in, guess what's gonna happen, why, and do trials.
Her and Ace's Assumption?
She'd always get it right. No matter what. Or, at least, would have way more wins than him.
Why?
'Cause she was a dumbass who ate a Devil Fruit and now has such an intangible and ungrounded power like luck.
But that wasn't important at the moment.
To figure out how to use her powers they set up multiple, simple trials. Each trial consisting of twelve coin flips, to leave room for error and inconsistencies, and after each trial she would try something different to figure out how her power worked. Did it work naturally? Did she have to be the one to flip the coin? Did she have to be the one to guess? What if Ace guessed?
They continued on, with her marking down who got what right in her head and hopefully finding that her fruit worked for one of the attempts.
"Heads."
Tails.
"Tails."
Tails.
"Tails."
Heads.
Newsflash, it didn't.
At all.
Every trial done and away with and they were each 50/50 on pretty much every single one of them. And on the ones where they were somewhere around 60/40 or 70/30 were all in Ace's favor at that! Quinn growled at the coin, eyes straining to see their failure in the dark. "Well that told us nothing."
Ace steals the coin and begins playing with it, flipping it himself and slapping it onto his wrist to see if he got it right. "Maybe it was a fake?" He suggested, grumbling as he got it wrong.
Quinn immediately wrinkled her nose and shakes her head. "No… Definitely not a fake." To be put through as much shit as she had been by Roddie it had to be real. There was also the fact that the absolutely rank taste it'd left was still in her mouth assaulting her taste buds even after all the time that had passed… yeah. It had to be real.
(Admittedly she hadn't actually tried swimming yet. Not wanting to experience drowning anytime soon.)
Ace hums, flipping the coin. "Then you just suck at this, huh?"
She shoves him, using her shoulder to bump into his. "Yeah," she rolled her eyes, "I can gather that much." She huffs, crossing her arms, dragging her thumb against her teeth thoughtfully. "But… I definitely used it at least once before. Remember when that gold stuff went up into the air? It kinda looked like smoke?"
"Uh-"
Ace falters in his catch. Staring at his shoulder.
"You mean this?"
"Huh?"
There. On Ace's shoulder where she had bumped him was a gold mark. He was shirtless so it wasn't that hard to spot the golden splotch of color standing out amongst his skin and freckles. Quinn's own gaze dropped to her own shoulder- oh. Her jacket had fallen down slightly.
"Is… Is that it?" She murmured. "Skin on skin contact?" Before eyeing the mark harshly and hurriedly gave him the coin, "Let's try again. I want to see what changed!"
This time Quinn expected herself to get the better score but no. Once again she was wrong.
Ace steamrolled her.
"Heads."
Tails.
"Heads."
Tails.
"Tails."
Heads.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
"Chehehehe! You suck at this, Quinn!" Ace cackled. "Are you even trying?"
She ignores him.
"Well… that's unexpected." Quinn blinks at the mark. It faded, falling away into the same wispy smoke that she had seen before. Completely disappearing. "I think I… gave you luck."
They stared at each other.
And jumped up.
"NO WAY!" They shouted in unison.
Or, in Quinn's case, whisper-shouted.
"You gave me luck!"
"I… gave you luck?!" Quinn repeated. She didn't know whether to be horrified or excited so she settled somewhere uncomfortably in the middle of the two and pressed her hands together, covering her mouth. "That's so…"
Kinda lame but.
She'd figured it out!
"Cool!" Thankfully Ace filled in for her chipperly, keeping the mood positive. "It took my brother years to figure out how to use his Devil Fruit properly, it always ended in disaster, but you've gotten the hang of it way faster."
"I wouldn't say that…" More like she used it. Once. And it went well. Once. "Ah- your… brother?" She tilted her head, acting curious. "What fruit does he have?"
She didn't want to open that can of worms too far, but from the look on Ace's face he seemed more than ready to pop it open and spill it out all over the table. She almost immediately regretted the question the moment hr started talking. Almost completely forgetting that they had been talking about Devil Fruits in the first place. "My brother? His name's Luffy, he ate the Gum Gum Fruit and became a rubber man-!"
All things she knew. Not that he knew she knew.
Quinn held back a sigh but settled into reluctantly listen.
"-and he took this huge bite of watermelon and started spitting seeds out of his mouth like a gun at these farmers who got super pissed and started chasing after him-"
It was going to be a long night.
…
…
It was on the fourth day that they ran out of food and Ace's voice started to die after practically singing stories about his brother, Quinn knew that he was nowhere near out of material but she liked to hope, so the days were looking bleak. Especially considering that Ace was seemingly doing much worse than she was. He didn't complain, no. But he was definitely more irritable and his stomach was way louder than his mouth ever could be. She winced at a particularly loud gurgle.
He was splayed out on deck like a starfish, glaring up at the sun through the limited shade his hat provided.
Another thing- Quinn wrinkled her nose- Ace burned. Like real bad too, his arms peeled and he looked like a bright red lobster, sweat dripping down his face. Her own skin, darker than his by quite a bit, had always tanned so she'd never really had a sunburn experience. Thankfully. Still didn't mean that the pale scratches where he had rubbed the skin off were any less gross than they were.
She leaned over him. "Hey, Ace."
"...Whaaat?" He groaned, breathing hard.
"I think that maybe, just maybe, we should stop to restock for supplies next time before going to find some treasure island." Quinn smirked. "Just maybe."
Ace cast her a mutinous glare.
"Shuddup, Quinn." He slapped her away weakly.
Quinn let his hand hang on her face, not even blinking. "I found a pen. Wanna play tic-tac-toe?"
It was a sad state of affairs when Ace let her use his arm as paper to carefully trace out grids for them to play with- and the only complaint or question he asked was, "Why don't we use your body?" To which she simply glanced down to her sleeve covered arms and legs and the fact that the only part of her skin being even somewhat revealed was her collar and a slip of her stomach and gave him a stubborn but deadpan, "I'm shy." And a look to drop it.
Ace didn't know what it was. Maybe it was the fact that Quinn constantly sat in ways that Ace knew would drive Nobles crazy and make certain people blush, or the double layer of tank tops and the obvious bra straps showing without a care, or the shorts, or, most likely, the irritated look on her face when he asked the question, but he was pretty sure she wasn't shy.
"Do you wanna be X's or O's?"
"Always X's!"
"...That was a little fast of an answer." Quinn pointed out with no small amount of amusement as he took the pen from her and marked down his first spot, the center. "Any particular reason?
"When pirates mark their treasure on a map they always do it with an X, that means that's where the treasure is. Everybody knows that!" Ace explained. "Apparently the Marines, I heard this from Jiji surprisingly, used to also distribute fake maps with an X on it to get pirates to go to certain locations so they could catch them easily. But all those maps look really new so the older stories and maps are usually real. Or not. If there's an X that means there's treasure!"
Quinn nodded at the explanation, glancing down at the X written on his arm, and couldn't help but ask, "You really think you're a treasure?"
"Huh?"
It takes a minute for Ace to put two-and-two together but when he does Quinn has won the first round and he blushes so furiously and looks so taken aback that Quinn can't help but start laughing until he also chuckles, "I'm just kidding! I'm just kidding!" She's already drawing out another grid on his arm, "Kehehe. With a look like that on your face it almost makes me think you've never heard a joke before. Don't tell me you're that stuffy!" She raises both her eyebrows at him and watches as he grumbles and steals the pen away from her before she can get the first turn in.
"It was a dumb joke… and I'm not stuffy." He muttered. "Oh, hey, I won!" He stuck his tongue out at her.
"Oh, please." Quinn rolled her eyes, smirking as she brushed a gold mark over her own skin, "Now, let's play for real this time."
Ace gawked, "Oy, that's cheating!" He exclaimed.
"What- no, its not. I just have a bit of luck on my side." She gestured to the fact she'd rather literally marked it on her side. "And its more fun this way! For me, specifically."
He narrowed his eyes at her, sour.
"Besides, it'll help me get used to using my power." She reasoned.
Ace cut her off, "And also win."
"An added plus but sacrifices do need to be made."
Though tic-tac-toe was not a game she'd say relied on luck it was still one that she could try her powers out on. Monitoring when the mark disappeared, seemingly at every time Ace got distracted.
Hell, she had used it on him once and it'd looked like he was about to nod off at one point!
The games of tic-tac-toe commenced and then a new one, and another, and another, until Ace was drawn up to his sleeves and he was struggling to write on the ones covering his legs and abdomen. Quinn had to pull back a few times and hold back a laugh, struggling to keep it in at the comical sight. "Congratulations, Ace, you won. But only a quarter of the time." He glares at her, annoyed. "Wanna do one more? I think there's room on your neck still."
"No luck?"
"No luck." At the confirmation he agreed to do one more and Quinn had to describe it for him and mark it out herself since he couldn't see it in any way. "Oh, will you look at that? I still won."
Ace cursed, ears turning red, and he rolled away from her. "It's just cause I'd get distracted and forget where you put it last, damn it. I would've won otherwise!"
"...Are you pouting?" Quinn couldn't help but ask.
"No!"
He was pouting.
Quinn snickered, "Okay, tic-tac. Here, have this for your troubles." She leaned over, dangling a granola bar in front of his face and watching him light up blindingly. Jesus, even without a devil fruit he lit up like fire.
"You-" he snatched it up, with his mouth Quinn should add, and tore off the wrapper ravenously. Damn, he almost got a finger-! Quinn hissed. "Where did you get this?!"
"I found it in a side pocket in my bag."
"Aren't you hungry?" Ace asked, mouth full.
Quinn stared, disgusted. "Not anymore."
She shook her head, dusting herself off in case of any crumbs and stood up, the ship swayed a bit more beneath her and Quinn huffed at her inability to balance. "Oy, Quinn?" Ace asked suddenly, still chewing his food. He was looking up. "Is it just me or is that a really weird looking bird?"
She had to cover her eyes from the sun, sweat sliding down the side of her face, but- "No, it's not just you." She narrowed her eyes. All she could really pick out was the birds silhouette but even that was striking, to say the least.
It's neck was extended out and ribbed, an elongated beak that looked too sharp to be normal, and most notably it's wingspan was something else. Even from this distance Quinn could could tell that the bird was just humongous. Ace crunched down on the granola bar, gaze blank for a few seconds before he blinked boredly and rubbed a fist over his eyes, "Uh- Quinn?"
"Yes, Ace."
"Did it just drop something?"
"Yes. Yes it did."
Another second passed.
"Huh."
A shadow was quickly growing bigger and bigger and bigger above them. Ace and Quinn shared a blank glance, looked back up, then back at eachother and- "Oh shit! It's coming right at us!"
Okay, so they were a bit slow on the uptake.
It hit with a crash, sending up waves and water. Ace and her both jumped to the other side of the boat and slammed down with all their weight- just in time too, barely lifting the boat out of the way. And when Quinn said they were cutting it close they really were cutting it close: the wood was slightly frayed and splintered from where whatever-it-was clipped the edge of the ship.
"What was that?!" Quinn hissed, crawling to the side of the boat. The water was completely unsettled and they were being blown a few feet away from the spot of impact, the waves making standing up in the ship even harder than it normally was.
Not that that affected Ace. He had one hand on the back of his hat and the other braced only slightly against the mast, brows furrowed. "Hey, was that screaming on the way down?"
Quinn paused.
It took her a minute to process what he said before Quinn managed to recall a gruff scream, even though she'd only managed to catch it for half a second.
Quinn blinked in shock at the pair of boots and hat that was suddenly stuffed into her arms, not even noticing when he had shoved them into her hands so he could jump into the water.
She shook her head. Watching the shadows under the surface as they seemed to collide and slowly began rising to the surface. The back of Ace's head was the first thing she noticed, he was carrying something in his arms.
"Over here, Ace!" She called. "Damn, that was fast..."
He hefted the… thing… into the ship.
It... was weird.
"Devil Fruit brother." He offered in way of explanation.
"Right, well, I'll know who to turn to then. Should I fall in the water." She then frowned and Ace followed her gaze back over to the thing. "But… what… is that?"
"It's a… Treasure Bush?" Ace tilted his head, wringing out his shirt.
"I know some people treasure their bush but usually that one involves burning. This is a bit too-" Quinn grimaced. "Literal. And far less stimulating for the senses." Well, other than the nose. It reeked something awful and it'd probably take her awhile before she could push herself to the point where she could ignore the smell.
Ace didn't even seem slightly bothered. Smirking at her, bemusedly. "You have weird euphemisms."
At that there was a loud groan followed by deep, hoarse breaths. Quinn and Ace jumped as the treasure chest shook and shuddered and a pair of dirt crusted Hobbit-like feet popped out of the dark confines opposite to the green bush-end. "What the hell?! It is a person!" Ace exclaimed, somewhat disturbed and no less shocked as the box-man managed to take in a choked breath. "I was right when I thought I heard screaming!"
Quinn nodded along dumbly.
"Geh-gurk-hrrk!"
There came a fountain spray of water, straight up into the air.
"Ragh!"
That was…
...certainly weird.
"Phank Yous! I tho-" he slurred, water dripping out from the corners of his mouth. "I thought I was gonna die!"
"Lucky you fell near us."
"Real lucky." Ace agrees, with a glance at Quinn.
"What? I didn't do this."
She paused. Staring at her hands.
"At least, I don't think I did."
"D-Did what?" The box-man coughs and struggles to his feet. It's quite the sight. Quinn sweat drops. "I got here of my own accord-!" He exclaims. It doesn't take a genius to figure out he's lying.
"Really?" Both Ace's eyebrows shot up, amused and unimpressed. "Then what was with the bird?"
"A-Ah- you got me! It was a lie-" Wow. Who would've guessed? "-I-I was just carried here by one of the animals. I must've really pissed this one off if it carried me this far from the island."
"Island?" Ace perked up. "Animals? You mean that you're from that Treasure Island I heard about?!"
He froze at that. Suddenly stiff and mechanical as he looked at Ace, "How... How do you know about that?" He asked. And Quinn glanced between the two at the sudden shift in attitude.
"I overheard some guys mentioning that there was a treasure around here. Apparently people have been searching for it for years and years or something." Ace all but chirped. "Me an' Quinn are looking for it too!"
The box man's face fell, shrouded by his chia pet-like hair.
What was his name again? Quinn pursed her lips, eyeing the guy critically as Ace babbled on about why they were heading to the island, trying to shuffle through all the names she knew relating to this story. He's familiar in a sort of bothersome way and the name's on the tip of her tongue.
"I- I see. You're... treasure hunters then?"
"Nope! Pirates."
"Hm. I see, I see. That's good." Quinn frowned at him, it shouldn't sound like it was good to him. They just admitted to being pirates. "Then I guess you can forgive me for this."
"For what?"
If Ace noticed his creeping hand Quinn didn't let him get the chance to say anything before she was grasping the back of his shirt to tug him out of the way, calling out, "Gun!"
It was followed by her ear drums being assaulted by the sound of a shot. Quinn ignored the fact that she'd thrown Ace to the floor of the ship, eyeing the way that his hat had been flipped up to completely cover his face and was now sporting a sizable chunk missing from its brim, and grabbed the overgrown chia-pet by his hair with a hiss.
"Get off me! Get off me!" He howled, practically frothing at the mouth. "That's my treasure, you hear?! MINE! You can't have it!" He continued to holler.
Quinn wrangled the gun out of his hand, dropping him, and towered over the hobbit. "You asshole! We fished you out of the water and you pull a gun?!" Speaking of which, she glared down at the offending object, grimace falling away.
She has no idea what kind of gun she's holding. It's a pistol but that's pretty much all she can say.
...It's old?
"You know I'm kinda disappointed." And strangely offended.
What kind of asshole do you have to be to pull a gun from the 1600's on someone?
Ace furrowed his brow and glared at the sunlight peeking through the brim of his hat. The brim that was now… blown wide open. The material looking like it'd imploded on itself.
A scowl makes its way onto his face.
"What was that for, asshole?" Ace snaps, sitting up and letting his hat plop down into his lap. It looks completely lifeless, the material limp and hanging uselessly. And its state only serves to piss him off more.
He's vaguely aware that Quinn's holding onto the pistol like she's never seen one in her entire life and instead mutters a quick, but sincere, "Thanks," to her. He didn't need the help. He saw the gun before he'd even touched it and he'd dealt with far worse than some box gremlin with a trigger finger. It's the thought that counts though.
"You...!" The man grimaces before-
"I'm sorry okay! But this is my treasure, you got that?! And I won't let no Rookies steal what I've been protecting for seventeen years now!" He shouts defiantly, though there's sweat dripping down his face. "I'll die before I'll let some snot-nosed brats take it from me!"
Ace's eyebrows twitched.
"Is that so?"
Quinn pursed her lips. With his hat like that she couldn't tell exactly what he'd do- if it was anywhere near as important to him as the infamous Straw Hat was to the Protagonist then box-man was as good as dead. Though she somehow doubted that was the case.
"Well then..."
She's still not expecting the grin to take over his face.
"I guess we'll just have to get you back to your island so you can protect it properly!"
Nope. That was not what she was expecting. At all.
"...Hah?"
"You said it was your treasure right? And that you've been protecting it for seventeen years now? That's a long time. I bet you're insanely worried about it right now!" Ace chirped.
"I- I- y-yes?!" He looks about ready to cry. "Do you... mean it?! You'll take me back and you won't even think about touching my treasure?"
Ace confirmed, "You bet."
Oh damn. He really was crying now. They watched as he fell to his knees, seemingly overcome by gratitude. "I- Thank you so much! I can't believe it! Even after I shot at you and threatened you- thank you so much!
"Yeah, I can't believe it either." Quinn frowned at Ace, brow raised.
Ace returned the stare with a nod of his head towards the box-man, "You heard the man, he'd die before giving up his treasure. I'm not about to just kill him." He spun his hat in his hands, staring down at it. "Besides, seventeen years? It must be something really important to him if it's worth his life like that."
She opened and closed her mouth, not finding the correct words before settling somewhat on, "You are too kind-hearted."
Ace looked very taken aback by that statement.
Quinn snorted. "I've got a few sewing supplies, I think. I can fix your hat."
That seemed to pull his mind away from the comment. Face lighting up like the sun, "What- really?"
"Yes. Really."
They were interrupted by sniffling and box-man hopping to his feet, rubbing away tears. "Thank you so much. You are much too kind, just like your crewmate said. I- I have to apologize for my earlier behavior. You saved me and I gotta thank you for that."
"No worries, my hat can be fixed!" He waved him off. "I'm Portgas D. Ace. Nice to meet you!"
"Gaimon."
Quinn nearly snapped her fingers. That's what it was! It was on the tip of her tongue this whole time. She realizes that their expected her to introduce herself when they turn to stare at her. "Oh, uhhh, Quinn... Quinn Varela?"
"Chehehe." Ace sniggered, sliding over to Gaimon and stage whispering, "She can't introduce herself properly. But don't point it out- she gets embarrassed."
Gaimon nodded in understanding. The pair shooting her pitying looks.
"...Do you want me to fix your hat or destroy it?"
"I didn't say anything!"
-0-
Quinn could feel her nose begin to itch and blinked wildly, eyes reddening and looking decidedly pained. Ace took one look at her face and didn't know if he should be worried or dying of laughter in her expense. Given that she was struggling to hide a sneeze behind her arm, sounding like a dying bird, he'd go with the latter.
Now. It should be noted that Quinn was usually pretty cool when it came to animals and the like. But coupled with the fact that the pollen was practically raining down from the trees and every breath she took she could feel her throat and nose clog a bit more… well, she could not deal with it today.
"Chehahaha!"
"Shut the hell up Ace!" Quinn growled under her breath, pulling the strings on her jackets hood to try and protect herself. "The air is like poison here."
"What're you talking about?!" He cackled in disbelief.
"Allergies."
That only served to make him laugh harder.
Quinn pouted. Going to kick him in the shin, efforts dashed as he hopped out of range of her feet with ease. "Hope you get allergies… see how you like it…" She sneezed loudly as she caught an unfortunate whiff of air. "Never been in a place as bad as this. All the pollen, fur, and animals just make it worse." Gosh, and her eyes burned like they were on fire.
"You're allergic to nature."
"Shuddup."
"Che-!"
They'd managed to find their way to the so-called "treasure island" without much trouble. If "not much trouble" was Ace hovering over her shoulder and being a general pain in the ass as she attempted to start sewing his hat back together piece by piece while Gaimon cried tears of joy in the corner, pointing them in whatever direction he felt was correct.
Speaking of which, there came a sniff.
"E-Excuse me." They looked at Gaimon. "I can't thank you two enough!" He wiped his arm over his face. Ugh, he'd better not start crying. Quinn and Ace shared a look that spoke volumes of their uncomfortableness. "To think that'd you go out of your way to help me- it's incredible! You're amazing. I've never met a group of fellow pirates that would act so kindly to me and expect nothing in return. I'm so sorry that I was such a-"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Ace piped up, cutting him short in his apology, "We're starving! Got any food?"
"Yes, please. Food. Of any kind."
"F-Food?" He stuttered. "Y-Yes, I can show you where to pick up food but-" He gave them a suspicious look. "Don't touch any of the animals."
Quinn sniffed. "Wasn't plannin' on it." As if on cue, she sneezed. Ace snickered at her.
"So long as we get something to eat- it's been days! I could eat anything!"
Gaimon seemed a bit reluctant but he wiped his face with his palm and nodded. "Alright then. Getting you some food shouldn't be too much trouble, especially after you went out of your way to help me! It's the least I can do."
Oh thank god.
Quinn was breathing out a sigh of relief. The thought of food of any kind was enough to have her drooling and her stomach growling even worse than it already was. Of course that was nothing compared to Ace. He was practically salivating waterfalls as he hopped after Gaimon, stomach sounding like a goddamn whale even from where she was standing.
"So where are we headed?"
Looking around the island, it didn't seem nearly as big as it had from the shoreline, in fact, if she squinted, Quinn would bet she could see to the other side of the island through all the trees that surrounded them. It was much smaller than expected. It didn't look inhabited either, no sign of Gaimon having a hut or anything. A real bush man then, huh?
"I've got just the watering hole. It's got anything you could want from there!"
"Oh, any fish?"
Gaimon practically sprang five-feet into the air as he whirled around, "No! No fish! Don't touch the animals!"
Ace shared a bemused look with Quinn, brow quirking. "You said that already, didn't think fish was included. So why not?"
"Well- that is, you see- a lot of pirates have come to this island over the last seventeen years only they aren't after the treasure here. They're all after the animals." He scowled darkly, not that they could see. "They'd fetch a nice price."
"The animals? What's so special about them?"
As if asking that question had an effect on the island around them Quinn slowed to a stop as a rather interesting group of birds hopped out along a tree branch, each of their wings held up in what might've been a salute from the looks of it. She felt her mouth drop open in sheer surprise. They were covered beak to talon in a mix of black and white fur.
"P-Panda-birds?"
They were some of the cutest things she'd ever seen in her life.
Ace let out his own noise of surprise, practically sparkling as he picked up some crazy creature off the ground, turning to show it off to her. "Oy, Quinn! Check out this weird snake!" It had quite the set of fuzzy bunny ears and bucked teeth.
"That's amazing!" Momentarily forgetting her allergies she let the creature wind up her arm and let out a rather odd hiss at her. "They're like hybrids. And it's such weird mixes too…"
Gaimon gaped at them. Then his face turned red with anger. "HEY! I said don't touch the animals, ya hear!"
They had the decency to look guilty as Quinn set the snake-rabbit back onto the ground. "'Sorry." They muttered in unison. Though Ace bowed in what she assumed was the appropriate manner.
Quinn added a painful sneeze for pathetic effect.
She shouldn't have picked up that snake…
Gaimon huffed at them. "So you can see why people come after them?"
"Yep!"
"I wouldn't worry about us though." Quinn sniffed.
Ace gave her a cheeky grin, "Yeah, even if we took one I think you'd die before we got more than a few hours out." She sent him an annoyed glare.
"So long as you understand and don't try anything…" Gaimon shook his head. "Hear we are: the watering hole!"
They would like to say that it was a majestic place filled to the brim with opportunities of food and quelled hunger but that'd just be even more disappointing. It was just a freshwater pond surrounded closely by bushes covered in berries, nuts, seeds and mushrooms. Of course, Ace was shooting past her and grabbing handfuls of what looked to be a rather suspicious looking plant but Quinn couldn't be sure, muttering, "I don't know what I was expecting."
She poked a mushroom that looked like it'd had a bite taken out of it. It was secreting something goopy and white. "Uhh… Are you sure that these are edible?"
"I haven't died yet!"
"...That's not very reassuring."
But she sighed and got to work collecting food, sneaking bites of things that looked moderately okay to eat. They'd need food once they got back on the road- er, sea.
Ace happily munched on whatever he could get his hands on. Making sure to ignore the snap or hiss of an animal every so often, or tuck some cool looking creature out of the way so he could get at an armful of something else. To him this place was practically a goldmine. Even if he couldn't hunt something down and eat it. "Quinn, let's get those old barrels we have and fill them up!"
"Already on it."
Nice. He grinned. They were not gonna run out of food again if he could help it.
The day went on and Ace and Quinn were in no hurry to jump back on their ship and take off, needing to stretch their legs and gather food. Gaimon seemed to enjoy their presence, apparently he hadn't spoken much to the previous groups that landed on his little island and instead scared them off with some sort of god-voice effect, but even as he jabbered on with them and asked every last question he could think of about the outside world they could tell that every time one of them left his sight for more than five minutes he'd grow increasingly uncomfortable and antsy.
Quinn settled down, falling into a seat across from the fire they'd set up at some point once it started getting darker. Her eyes and nose were a furious looking red and she looked absolutely miserable. "You know I'm kind of surprised you didn't point out Ace's tic-tac-toe mess."
"As a pirate you learn to not comment about people's strange tattoos." Gaimon winced. "It can lead to some pretty bad reactions."
"Kehehe. Oh, those aren't tattoos."
"They're not?"
"Yeah. We just didn't have any paper."
That was enough to send Gaimon into roaring guffaws.
"What'cha guys laughing about?" Ace asked, sliding down from a tree and munching on an apple. "Hey, Quinn, you should try these. They're really good!"
She just barely caught the fruit before it went flying over her head, mumbling a small thanks, "I was just mentioning how I kicked your ass in tic-tac-toe and-!"
"You didn't! You cheated!" Ace exclaimed, cutting her off. His finger shoved into her face.
"All's fair in love and war."
"It was just a game of tic-tac-toe!"
They paused as Gaimon's laughter tapered off and he wiped his eyes, "Ah- it's so good to be around people again after all these years! You two are amazing!"
It had Ace flustered and Quinn rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. The two of them muttering an almost inaudible 'thanks'.
Quinn shook her head, mind getting back on track. It was late now. Not quite night but dark enough it was beginning to get a bit hard to see and starting to make the wildlife around them spooky. "So what was the deal with that big bird we saw?"
"Huh?"
"You know, the one that dropped you by us."
Ace piped up to voice his own concerns. "If it pissed you off and you want to get rid of it I could take care of that!" He grins wickedly. "Bet it'd taste good…"
Gaimon doesn't seem impressed by the offer. She was almost thinking of pinching him but decided not to, instead giving Ace a dry look. He was just hoping for the chance to grab some actually meat.
-Which, she could understand. But she had the mind to keep her mouth shut.
"Oh, yes. Well-" He coughed into his fist, cheeks burning a bright red. He scratched at his moss covered head and Quinn tried not to wrinkle her nose at the dried crumbling dirt that fell off him. "It's a bit of an embarrassing story, really."
"More embarrassing than getting trapped in that box?"
"...Hey, that was a serious accident! It could've happened to anybody!"
Quinn and Ace shared a glance. No. No it couldn't have.
"Grk- you see, it all started about a week ago," he huffed, deciding that he might as well explain, "when one of the squirrel-flamingos laid some eggs." Not the answer either of them were expecting but they motioned for him to continue. "I was just so excited that I'd check up on them every day. But then…"
It was a struggle but it'd all be worth it for just a peek. Gaimon's feet scraped along the tree trunk as he climbed, fists full of leaves and handfuls of bark. With one last heave he managed to pull himself the rest of the way up.
There. Among the branches, lay the most beautiful looking eggs he'd ever seen. It was almost enough to bring a tear to his eye.
That is, until, the largest bird on the island leaned down to stare at him. Gaze absolutely murderous with maternal protection.
He'd screamed as he was picked up by its beak and flown far, far out of sight of the island. The only thing out among the deep blue ocean beneath him was a curiously boat-shaped dot. And then he was falling.
"It was the squirrel-flamingo's mother that dropped me!"
"Chehahahaha!" Ace pointed at him and laughed, watching his face color several different shades. "You deserve it then!"
"Shut up! No I didn't it!"
"You did! You idiot! You don't go into another animals territory unprepared!"
Quinn nodded. Ace had a point.
That said, "Who knew squirrels were such a malicious species?" Quinn mused.
"No not the squirrels!" Gaimon shook his head. "It's all the flamingos part."
"...The flamingos?"
"Ain't those the big pink birds?" Ace asked. "Nobles have all these weird things with them on it that they put in the ground wherever they want."
"Yeah. Wait- Why would they just shove it in the ground randomly?"
"Don't know. You tell me."
"I- How would I know-" She shook her head, turning back to Gaimon. "We talking about the same big pink birds?"
He seemed to pale. Nodding frantically, "They're the most vicious animal on the whole island! Even the tiger-bears and lion-pigs cower before them."
She frowned, brow furrowing. "...So they're like… Geese?"
That was sort of understandable. Geese were viscous.
"No, they're like Flamingos!" Gaimon said incredulously.
"...I don't think we're on the same page."
"Chehaha. Why is this so hard for you to get Quinn?" Ace chuckled, poking her in the cheek. He sounded kinda condescending. She almost bit his finger. Settling instead on fixing him with the most disgruntled look she could muster.
"Sorry. Just can't see it."
Gaimon looked on at her with pity.
"I hope you never have to figure it out. Flamingos are one of the most violent and destructive birds." He clapped his hands together, as if to share some great wisdom. As far as she was concerned he was just spouting bullshit. "They will lead the world on a path of destruction - and pink feathers."
She opened her mouth to say something. Fell short. Opened it again and settled on: "What the fu-"
"But enough of that! It's getting late."
He practically conked out then and there. Leaving Quinn with her hand halfway thrown up in sheer incredulousness with her mouth hanging open, eye twitching, "uh-huh?!" Expression decidedly pained.
She leaned over to Ace. "Do you have any idea what he was going on about?"
"Oh. Not a freaking clue."
"Hm."
It was a small comfort.
The minutes ticked by and the quiet between them grew more than a little awkward. Especially hearing how Gaimon snored. Quinn found herself shifting uncomfortably, feeling Ace eye her out of the corner of his eye.
"...Thanks, by the way."
"Huh?"
"For pulling me out of the way of the gunshot."
"Oh. Sure."
Yeah, you'd think after spending the better part of a week with someone in a small, confined space it'd be enough to not have long awkward spans of time where no one said anything. But look where they were now.
"Don't do it again. I can take care of myself."
"...Sure."
Sounds like someone was a bit pissy too. For someone so prideful you'd think he wouldn't have surrendered to Gaimon's plea after he shot at him. Quinn frowned, oh? There was a thought.
They sat in silence for a few moments longer.
"So when are we gonna go look for the treasure?"
"We can go now."
Yeah, that seemed about right.
-0-
It was pitch black. Darker than it had any right to be. Because of the lack of light they were left stumbling through the forest like a pair of drunken teens. Feet catching on roots and nearly running face first into a tree, Quinn grumbled as she glared at Ace's silhouette. He was trying to wave her off.
"Go further away!"
"What- why?"
"'Cause I…" It came out mumbled.
"What?"
"I need to…" Mumbled. Again.
If it was lighter out she would've been able to see his ears turn red.
"Ace, what're you even saying?"
"Piss break." He hissed, red faced. "Go 'way."
"I can just stand behind a tree and face away."
"No! Shoo!"
She swore, throwing her hands up. "Why? You act like I haven't heard you piss in the week we've been trapped on a boat together!" Of all times for him to suddenly become bashful.
"Right. We were stuck together so it couldn't be helped. This is different!"
Quinn couldn't help but let out a breathless laugh. "God, you are so friggin' weird, Ace. I don't understand you at all." She turned away. "One second you're completely nonchalant and audacious, the next you're acting like a shy Japanese schoolgirl from a bad rom-com anime-"
"It's the principle of it!"
She put her hands up in surrender.
"Go away, Captain's orders!"
"I'm going! I'm going! Call me when your done."
The first time he'd ever pulled the Captain card and it was to take a piss. Quinn couldn't help but snort and shake her head.
This was ridiculous.
Whatever.
In looking for the treasure that Gaimon and Ace had talked about Quinn could vaguely remember that there was actually nothing on the island but a bunch of empty chests. That said she could not for the life of her figure out where the hell those chests actually were. And it was bothering her.
On... a cliff? She thinks that's right.
Quinn purses her lips and tries to squint through the dark.
Cliff... Cliff... Cliff...
"Psst- Quinn."
She ends up punching first.
"GAH- what the-" Ace nurses a busted lip and Quinn hisses, holding her wrist. "OY! QUINN!" He seethes. "What the hell was that for?!"
"You scared me! Don't jump out like that!"
"I called you. Twice!"
"I- You did?"
"Yes!"
"Then why were you being so creepy about it?"
"Creepy?! I wasn't being creepy at all!"
"You were..." she tried to find the word, "lurking."
"Lurking?!" He chokes as he repeats it, sounding absolutely incredulous. And a little bit peeved. "I was not. You just weren't paying attention."
Her shoulders hug her neck and she looks away, "That's... one theory."
"...You punch harder than I thought you would." Ace grumbles, pulling his finger away from his bloodied lip. Quinn doesn't know whether to be offended or not, wondering just how much he thought she'd pull her punches. "Don't do that again."
"Don't lurk and we won't have a problem." He shoots her a look and she raises her hands up defensively. "What? You don't walk up behind a woman in the dark. Everybody knows that! We got instincts, ya know?"
He continues to give her a look.
"I'm just saying..."
Still doing it.
"Okay, I overreacted! Happy?"
She throws up her hands and pushes past him when that doesn't change his reaction at all. "Whatever! I think I saw something over this way, let's check it out."
Ace's face breaks, "Chehaha!" He laughs. "You cracked really fast. Don't get all bent out of shape over it Quinn." He pushes past her. "Anyways what'd'you see? Was it treasure?"
"No but it's better than trees and flat land. It's a big rock."
"...I'm not sure if you've noticed, Quinn, but that's not much better."
"Mn- Well, it's more of a mini-mountain, really."
"Really?" He looks. "I don't know- I'd say it's more of a steep hill. All the way around."
"It's like the island thought about having a mountain but gave up part way through..."
Ace thinks that's just called a hill.
"Think anything is up there?"
"Wanna do a coin flip with my fruit powers? Yes, heads. No, tails."
He lit up at the suggestion. "That's a good idea! Let's do that!" Maybe her Devil Fruit was useful after all. Quinn pulled out the coin they used from before, flipping it up and slapping it to her wrist. Ace peered down at it. A grin splitting across his face. "There is! C'mon, let's climb up!"
"A-Ah- Shouldn't one of us stay down here-"
"No way! You climb too!"
Well there went that plan out the window.
Quinn glared up the rock. It was incredibly sheer but Ace had already managed to pull himself up a few feet. They couldn't even see the top of it in the dark. She grumbled, scrabbling up the wall after him. Or trying to. She cursed as the grip she had crumbled beneath her hands, sliding back down.
"Careful, Ace! The walls not stable!"
He opened his mouth to say something but cut off.
"Ace?"
Quinn frowned when there was no answer, dusting a mark of gold over her hand and flipping the coin again. "Hmph." She twitched as she checked it, taking two big steps back and away from the rock.
As if on cue the moment she moved there was a loud thud, the sound of rocks crumbling, and a distinctly surprised yelp. Quinn had the decency to wince before crouching down next to the collapsed Ace. She leaned over him. "Hey, Ace."
"...Whaaat?" He groaned, breathing hard.
"I think that maybe, just maybe, you should be more careful next time." Quinn smirked. "Just maybe."
He scowled, eyes narrowing. "Are you going to do this every time?"
"No. But..." He groaned at the but. "I like to think of myself as a voice of reason. And I think you're gonna be quite the folly to it." A smile quirked itself over her lips.
"That's-"
A twig snapped.
He faltered. Quinn simultaneously froze when she heard a loud gasp. "Oh. That's not good." They muttered in unison, turning to spot Gaimon, gaping at them in disbelief.
"Y-You- You-"
They winced as he stuttered, slowly raising an accusing finger.
"Uh- it's not what it looks like?"
That didn't work.
"YOU'RE AFTER MY TREASURE AFTER ALL!"
"Yeah. Sorry?"
Gaimon's face contorted in rage, "NOBODY TOUCHES MY TREASURE! YOU- YOU DAMN PIRATE SCUM!" He roared. "GET OFF MY ISLAND!"
Quinn couldn't help but glance around as the forest suddenly burst into low growls and high pitched hisses. She had a bad feeling about this.
"Oh, yeah?" Ace just had to go and challenge him, a cocky grin on his face. "You and what army?"
"Uh- Ace-?" She took a step back as shadows slowly began to appear out of the corner of her eye and inch towards them. "I think... that army." He followed her gaze.
"Oh."
"GET THEM!" Gaimon shouted.
"Ah."
Quinn squeaked as they were forced to take off running. Dodging fluffy feet, scaly talons, and toothy maws of hybrid animals trying to take them down on their way out.
"Oh, that one looks tasty-"
"Less talk, more run!"
They hit the deck of their ship and were far out at sea before the animals and birds finally let up, nursing scratches and teeth marks and clothes just a bit ripped up. Quinn collapsed onto her back with a loud groan, heaving as she tried to recatch her breath and steady her beating heart.
"Oh, I hope this isn't going to be a thing..." She moaned. "Being chased off every island that we go to is not going to be fun."
"Chehaha. It's not that bad, Quinn? Besides, we're pirates, I kinda expect that to happen."
"Ugh. Unfortunately."
Well, she took in a deep breath, for once her sinuses feeling like they weren't clogged, at least she could breath again.
.
.
.
This chapter was really fun to write and it was mostly for me to get a handle on writing Ace and Quinn. At the moment, I don't think I've got Ace quite down yet but I do like what I have of him. In part I think this is kinda because I haven't written in his Narcolepsy yet, which I have a reason for, and we all know Ace shines when he's fighting. Which there hasn't been any of yet.
But! We did get some info on Quinn's Devil Fruit, the Luck Luck Fruit- I actually chose this fruit before One Piece Film: Gold ever came out and I only recently saw it for the first time because I actually forgot it existed and when Baccarat and a few others popped up I was incredibly surprised. The movie actually has more than one fruit I was planning on using- fruits that I chose based on characters and concepts from other anime or shows I'd seen. Quinn was based on a One Piece fic where Sanji had bad luck, I unfortunately do not remember what it was, Domino(Marvel), Tia Dalma from Pirates of the Caribbean, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng from Miraculous, among other things. Originally she either was going to have a zoan type fruit, an arachnid of some sort, or simply be fruitless. But I decided against it for one reason or another.
But, anyways, because of me creating the Luck Luck Fruit before it was introduced, the powers work a bit differently.
Devil Fruit
Luck Luck Fruit {unawakened}
Blackmarket Price: [minimum] 1,000,000,000 B
Current User: Quinn Varela.
Type: Paramecia.
Primary abilities: to effect a person's karmic level.
Usage requirements: [current] skin-on-skin contact, user can use it on themselves, must be a living/sentient object. For example, plants and trees do not count.
Notable information: Leaves a gold mark on contact, disappears once used.
The price for this fruit is so high is because, well, its a luck fruit. You could walk into pretty much any casino and clean them out. And, if you wanted to, I bet a smart and particularly nefarious user could bankrupt a small country if they played their cards right. Buying it is an investment, but a worthy one if you have the skills.
