Okay, so before we get started. I wanted to let you know that I'm taking suggestions and ideas for epithets, all except Quinn and canon characters (such as Ace, for example). So as I introduce characters to the crew, or even if you just want to shout out ones you think are cool for whatever reason, feel free to leave any ideas you have in mind! Reviews/PM's are always welcome.
Also, for those interested, I recently posted a couple of drawings of Quinn on my tumblr, so if you want to check them out then go ahead! There is also a picture of Roddie and Jones too if you want to see them. Just copy and paste, its a bit weird because doesn't like links, but it should be the first thing that pops up in the search engine. The first is for Quinn and the second is for Roddie and Jones.
terrutt tumblr com/post/187075147035
terrutt tumblr com/image/185184248697
I'll probably be adding in more and more character pictures/profiles as we go. I actually have designs for all of them and draw them a lot in my spare time. I post a lot of One Piece fanart as well, in case anyone wants to check that out.
Thank you.
Ace sneezed.
Eyes creaking open in a few painful blinks, vision blurred by the sun glaring down from above. A groan escaped him and he licked his lips. They were dry and cracked and tasted weird. Ace sat up and stretched, breaking out into a yawn, back popping as he righted himself. Oh, ow. He pulled a face, eyes closed. He didn't need to open them to know that he was, most definitely, covered head to toe in sunburns. It felt like he'd fallen face first into a fire.
He let out a groggy grumble, "Damn… I must've fallen asleep…"
That hadn't happened in awhile.
He'd been getting used to not conking out randomly. It was weirder not having to deal with than he'd like to admit- and the medication he'd been taking to avoid sudden sleep attacks seemed to now make waking up harder than he thought it would be. His limbs and eyelids felt monstrously heavy and his body ached. Though that may have just been because of the sun.
"Hey, Quinn." Ace carefully rubbed a hand over his face, wincing at having to touch his burns, voice croaking in his throat. "You finish with my hat yet…?"
There was no answer.
He struggled to creak an eye open once again.
"...Quinn? ...Kat?"
He swallowed thickly, snapping fully awake. Ace ignored the pain of the light burning his eyes.
It was an… island. A sandy mound covered in rocks and a few mangly trees with wicked looking branches. On all sides, nothing but sea stretched out as far as the eye could see. Water lapped at his feet. A crab the size of his pinky's nail skittered across his leg.
"...Oh."
Ace breathed.
He was all alone.
...
...
She raised her hand up into the air, eyebrows knitted together as she stared at the… odd display. Mystified.
Neither of them seemed to notice anything weird about the picture. "Okay, on my count." Quinn managed to speak. Voice muffled by the needle she held between her teeth, careful to not tangle the orange thread. They both grunted out their confirmation, eyes narrowed determinedly at the horizon as she began the countdown, "Three…"
Ace tensed.
"Two…"
Katsura ran his tongue over his teeth.
"One…"
They were both raring to go and the air was filled with pent up energy. Bumbling nerves bouncing off the rocking waves. Dimly Quinn couldn't help but feel her heart excitedly beat in her chest and let herself get distracted from her project.
"GO!"
Ace and Kat took off like a shot. Racing past the boat and sending up waves before her hand had even dropped.
"...what a bunch of losers." Saying that, Quinn couldn't help the silly grin that spread over her face. "A swimming competition, really?" She chuckled and fondly watched them go for a few seconds longer before shaking her head and pushing the needle through the last little bit of the orange cowboy hat in her hands. It was almost fully repaired.
Ace let out a battle cry as Katsura began to pull ahead, arms stroking faster as he struggled to keep up. Katsura chanced a glance over his shoulder and cackled.
"I told you, Ace! No one can beat a fishman at his own game!"
"Like hell!"
He may have been a tad enthusiastic but Ace refused to lose.
How'd this all happen? Simple, really.
Katsura was bragging about how many fish he could chase down and Ace had laughed and said he could do better. It all went downhill from there until the fighting had pissed Quinn off enough that she suggested they do something else to get off each others back. Naturally that took the form of a swimming competition to prove who was better.
And Ace was winning it, damn it.
It didn't matter if Katsura was beginning to pull ahead.
Or that the currents were still strange and pulling him down. A bit of leftover strength from being near Belle still.
Katsura pushed forward. "Hey, get back here!" Ace… may have grabbed his ankle to yank him back but- hey! Nobody said no grabbing! Ace was more than willing to pull underhanded tactics in order to win.
"Y-You-" Kat sputtered. "-asshole, that's cheating!"
"Chehaha! All's fair when you're a pirate!"
Now, in hindsight, probably a bad thing to say. Because while Kat's face had soured it also lit up with a wicked gleam as an idea struck him, taking the exclamation as an affirmation for what he was about to do next.
Quinn fumbled with the needle as an indignant screech went up. Unable to do anything but wince as the boat was upset by the lip of a wave and a loud slap of water-hitting-water erupted in the distance.
"Uh, everything… okay over there?"
It was followed by wild cackles and then a telltale string of curses of Kat biting his tongue so she, getting annoyed, kinda just assumed everything was cool. Quinn sighed. They were absolutely crazy. With a roll of her eyes she went back to Ace's hat.
Ace didn't know what hit him.
All of a sudden he was being flung head over heels and swallowing about a gallon of water and when the spinning finally subsided and he could get a breath of fresh air it was followed by a rather undignified shriek, not that he particularly cared what he sounded like but- "I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON YOUR OWN TONGUE, KAT!"
From the sounds of it his hope came true.
Ace snarled a wicked laugh, fist pumping in triumph. Well, a short lived triumph as-
"Ah, you jerk! You knocked me way back!" He was way off course and Katsura was pulling ahead despite his unfortunate habit. "Get back here…!" Ace went to swim after him.
Or, at least, he tried to.
"The hell?"
It felt like he was being tugged back and Ace blinked, he was going against the current. Except, it definitely wasn't as weak as before. It was unbelievably thick, like the ocean had been stirred-
"Oh, come on, Kat! That's just rude!"
The asshole had made the ocean push back.
Ace would be way more angry if it wasn't for the fact that he was kinda, totally impressed.
He had cool crewmates. Luffy would be jealous.
Still, Ace pushed against the waves. "I'll just have to catch up and still win!" See, his plan was to just push himself harder and force his way through the ocean hard enough and fast enough that he'd show up Kat and get all the praise. Well- as much as he could get considering the only other person was Quinn. But, unfortunately, this plan didn't seem like it was going to work out for him. And failure came pretty freakin' fast honestly.
'Cause Ace got tired.
And not the- oh, he's pushing himself too much and wearing himself out kind of tired. Nope. That would be all too simple.
It was a kind of familiar tired that made him struggle to focus and his head swim.
Well, shit.
He fell asleep.
...
...
Just one more stitch and she'd be done. Quinn felt herself relaxing as she hooked the thread under the line and prepared to pierce and tie the knot. While the project had been more than a little fun, even when attempting to do it without steady ground, it was reassuring to be done and she almost sagged in relief. Almost.
"QUINN-!"
"Gah! Holy shit, dude, don't scare me like that-"
"IS ACE HERE?! Did he beat me somehow? I won, right?!" Katsura practically flung himself into the boat. Top half scrambling to pull the rest of himself up and over, inches away from her. Vibrating with such excitement that even sitting still he was rocking the boat. "Huh, did I? I did, didn't I? Please, tell me I did! Tell me, tell me, te-"
"Augh, stop!" Quinn shoves her foot in his face to push him back, rubbing her ears. God, he was loud. "Yeah, you did. As far as I can tell. Haven't seen Ace even come over the horizon yet." Which seemed a little weird but maybe he just couldn't keep up with a fishmans physiology.
Kat cheered. "Wow! I must've been going faster than I thought I was. I thought he'd catch up, especially after I threw him off course. He seemed pretty pissed about that!"
"I imagine he would be."
His enthusiasm wavered.
"Ah, do you think it was too much? He won't... hate me now, will he?"
Quinn snorts, bemused.
"No. No, he won't hate you."
He's suddenly struck by the feeling that he's being silly and Kat blushes. "W-Well, okay, if you're sure…" He perks up. "I knew I'd win! Hell yeah!"
She watches him descend into cheers and rolls her eyes, going back to look at the horizon in order to wait for Ace to show up. Probably cursing up a storm or demanding a rematch. Katsura eventually settles down next to her and they both watch and wait. Giddily, after a minute or two pass them by, he says, "Wow, I didn't realize I was doing this well! We were neck and neck at the start."
A couple more minutes tick by and Quinn's starting to frown, her brow furrowing.
Longer than that, Kat is sweating and his palms are all clammy. Suddenly he doesn't look all that happy that he's won anymore, looks almost like he's going to be sick actually. Quinn eyes the water with a dangerous glint.
"Kat…"
He jumps. "Y-yes, Q-Quinn?"
"You said you threw him off course didn't you?"
The questions has him sweating buckets now.
"Y-Yeah! B-But he was right behind me, I swear! It certainly wasn't far enough for him to get lost!" At least, not this lost.
It only served to make the frown on her face deepen. Kat winced as Quinn used him for balance to stand up, hand squeezing his shoulder a little harder than what was necessary. There was still nothing on the horizon line, nothing out at sea that could possibly confirm a blip of Ace's existence.
"Kat."
"Y-Yes, ma'am!?"
"Backtrack."
"Huh?"
She clicked her tongue impatiently. "Follow your footsteps. Hurry up. And check below the surface as you do."
"B-But w-what about you-?"
"I can't swim, so I'll take point in case he comes back." Quinn eyed him when he didn't make a move. "Kat."
"Y-Yes?"
"Go."
He went. And Quinn scowled at the sea as the red spot of hair dove under and was gone further than she could see in a second. It wasn't that she thought he was dead or in trouble-
He lived in the manga didn't he? She didn't think her presence would cause a sudden and unexpected death of a major character, especially not by sudden drowning. When they weren't even a devil fruit user yet, either!
-but a bad feeling still settled in the pit of her stomach. And, if on the off chance something did happen, then, guiltily, she was the one who made them start the stupid competition in the first place.
Resolutely, Quinn sucked in a breath, and began to call.
"Ace! Where are you?!"
-0-
He opened his eyes to burning salt water and harsh twists of currents that felt more than a little like the underwater tumble he'd taken at Belle. And, just like Belle, there didn't seem to be anything but ocean in sight. At least, not from what he got the chance to see before he was being flipped over heel, slamming his head into the sand, and being dragged back up to shore.
"That's…" He coughed up spit and water. "Not going to work, is it?"
It seemed like he truly was stuck, huh.
The island is… well, its an island. But Ace is a bit hesitant to even make that leap. There's not a lot he can say about it, sitting cross legged in the sand, frown on his face.
There's blue scraps of what might've been clothes torn to shreds and strung across the trees, like someone's jacket had gotten caught and they had ripped it through in a hurry. There is a bunch of broken and burnt wood that might've once been a ship but had now been used as kindling. And then there's a bunch of sand that looked like it had been upset, maybe a few hours ago at most, the shape of a small boat being dragged up and then back into the ocean pressed into the ground.
Other than that. There's sand and then there's the most disappointing trees he's ever seen.
That's about it.
Dimly, something bubbled up in his chest that registered as frustration and he dug his nails into the skin of his arms. It didn't help to pout. Not when he couldn't see any glimpse of anything beyond his little blip of existence. But, for a moment, as Ace had never been really good with dealing with emotions, he let the anger steep.
Kat was going to think he had won...
The sudden thought has him choking on his tongue and snorting back a laugh and all at once the vexation drains from his shoulders and he buries his face in the crux of his arm. "Cheh-!" He flopped back. God, he was so stupid. Why would that be what he thinks about?
With the sun above, it made it hard to keep his eyes open but easy to stay awake. The sunburns made every move a struggle and Ace was pretty sure there was more than a few handfuls of sand down his pants. Which, he was pointedly deciding to not think about, face scrunching more and more as the minutes ticked by.
He was being silly, wasn't he?
Er, well. Not that he wasn't before. He'd had the forethought that a swimming race with Kat was a bit… out there, but that hadn't really stuck out in his mind. Too focused on battling out a rivalry that wasn't really there to begin with. Which raised the question of why he'd been so gung ho about it, especially with Quinn sighing and shaking her head at them and telling them they were being ridiculous with that sort of look that reminded him of nobles and-
Lips chap and mouth dry, the taste of salt water thick on his tongue, making him click his teeth together in disgust and shiver.
Ace took one from both Quinn and Kat and slammed his teeth down on his bottom lip with such dismay that he couldn't even bring himself to react to the pain.
"Nope. No, no, no," he shook his head, "not doing that. Not making that comparison. The both of them are nothing like those two. Nuh-uh."
Okay. So, maybe- just maybe! He'd been missing his competitions with Luffy and started them up again with Kat. And maybe Quinn's whole disposition had reminded him of something or someone and had only egged him on further but that-!
That was neither here nor there.
"C'mon, they're their own people. Not similar at all." Which was, admittedly, quite true and probably the only reason that the uncomfortable feeling in his chest began to ease.
Ace tapped a finger against his knee, the rhythm easing his nerves, sucking in a deep breath.
He hoped they got here soon.
Being stuck on an island alone sucked.
...
...
It's night. It's been too long.
Her chest heaves and her voice is a scratchy mess that cracks with every word as her vocal cords strain against every attempt at speaking. "How are the waves looking?" She manages with a hard whisper. The evening air is making her shiver and she rubs at her arms to try to keep warm, water soaking through her leggings and shorts.
Kat didn't look that much better. Gills blue from the cold and eyes red rimmed and shifting around in a tired panic. "Nothing. I-I can't find anything."
Quinn rubs her eyes.
This is not good.
"...alright, alright. Let me just… think for a second. Take a… I don't know, take a breather." She turns and squeezes her hands over her face, unable to solidify a string of thoughts that didn't stop with an unsavory end. "He's got to be somewhere, otherwise there'd be a body."
It's probably not the best thing to say. As Kat gasps and clutches at his shirt, face paling such a drastic color that even the green of his skin begins to lose color. She can't really begin to feel guilty or remorseful for not censoring her words because not acknowledging the possibility would only cause more problems. Especially if Kat were to pick up a corpse.
The unfinished hat lays at her feet and Ace's boots are long forgotten at the back of the ship.
"...Nothing?"
She can't help but ask again.
He shoots her a look.
Ok, maybe that was in bad taste but still… "Truly nothing? No, what, fish? Sharks? Even currents?" She bounces her knee with the compulsive twitch of someone who has been stuck on one thing for far too long and was now getting antsy and borderline paranoid. "There's just… nothing to go off of. No evidence?" Her voice cracks at the end and she winces. The pain in her throat making her tongue heavy in her mouth.
Kat is wide eyed.
She must look a little crazed. Black eyes harsh and brows furrowed, hair sticking to her forehead and stuck up and wild in all different directions. Which, admittedly, was its usual state, but the dark light hitting her face was not helpful in making her look rational. It's probably not a good thing that her mind drifts to True Crime and Law and Order and other crime shows and she's grasping at straws at this point in a desperate attempt to try and figure out where they can go from here.
"There's just…" she gestures lamely, "nothing?"
Kat scowls and then opens his mouth and-
He freezes.
"N-No." She waits for him to continue. The sudden realization striking him like lightning and having him hop to his feet. "Currents! I d-didn't notice at first because I'm so used to seeing them but… but areas out here, away from Belle. They're not supposed to have currents like these, are they?"
Quinn doesn't know the answer to that for sure but it sounded like they were finally getting somewhere so she nodded.
"T-Then… does that mean that…" Kat's eyes shimmered with barely held hope. "That he could've just been dragged out and unable to swim back? O-Or gotten lost?"
She almost says don't get your hopes up, the twinge of negativity thick on her tongue, but she covers it with a cough that's only half real. Shoulders coming up to hug her neck, crossing her arms over her chest. "Y-Yes, let's hope. We'll have to follow back each of the currents until they end and see if Ace is anywhere nearby." The water looked a bit less like a grave now. The night a bit less endless. "Let's start by-"
Something hits her nose and Quinn blinks a couple times in surprise.
Kat holds up a hand. "Rain?" He grimaces, gills thrumming to life with sensitivity to the sudden drop in temperature. "The clouds are heavy but we should still have a few hours until it storms unless… oh no."
It sounded like their day was about to get worse. She was almost afraid to ask. "What is it now?"
"There's a downburst. It's pushing the rain over here."
"Okay, and that means?"
"We're about to be right below a thunderstorm."
Damn it.
Damn it, damn, damn, damn it all- Quinn muttered a few choice curses under her breath. "How bad? Can we handle it?"
Kat hesitated. "We… could try to. It's not as bad as it could be but in a boat this small, we wouldn't be able to do much." Especially since half the ship is a thrown together amalgamation of boards, tarps, and old nails.
Quinn closes her eyes. The rain is already harsher than it was before and she can feel it drip down her forehead and across her chin. With the wind beginning to pick up her hair blew back from her face and the curses were repeated like a mantra to go alongside it. If they capsized she would drown for certain, Kat wouldn't be able to watch her every move and she didn't want him to have to. But if they left then Ace would be left out at sea, potentially fighting back against the storm. If they stayed, the boat could be damaged and then Kat would be the only one left. If they left, Ace could die.
"But Ace won't die."
She's not really assuring Kat as much as she is assuring herself.
Quinn bounces on the balls of her feet and comes to a decision. "Turn the ship around. I want us on the edge of the storm, just outside of it. We're waiting until it ends to search for Ace but we're not leaving this area if we can help it."
Kat opens his mouth to argue but slams it shut. The conviction in her voice leaving no room for it and the upset in her eyes making his reluctance feel superfluous. It wasn't even his place to start a feud, not when the order was justifiably reasonable. Not when Ace is gone and the person he was meant to defer to was right in front of him. His teeth still twist around his tongue, a dull ache on the muscle, and fists knotting his shirt. It didn't mean he had to like it.
At least Quinn didn't seem like she liked it either.
It made the command easier to follow.
"He'll get tired, won't he?" Kat glances out. "Fighting back against the currents would be tough on anyone, especially full blooded humans."
Nevertheless, he drops his hand to the ocean surface and the boat is being spurned onwards. Away from the oncoming storm and towards the edge of the dark clouds they could only barely see in the dark of the night.
"True but…" She says it with such confidence that Kat is convinced but Quinn can't help but feel as if its almost misplaced. There wasn't much she'd seen from Ace that told her otherwise but her own intuition and her own knowledge gave her the sense that she's right. That she has to be. "Ace is his own kind of Beast. A little ocean and time won't kill him!" God, she hopes she's right.
Quinn slouched, a gentle sigh breaking through her nervously bitten lips, and she pressed a hand to Kat's back as the rain began to let up on their heads. "Once we get to a place where we're out of immediate danger, take a rest."
He startled at her murmur.
"I can keep going! I'm just fi-"
She gave him a look. He didn't look fine. Not at all. In fact, he looked like he was about to keel over from fatigue. The hand turned sympathetic on his shoulder. He'd been in and out of the water with a vigorous resolve as Quinn stood and called out for Ace, pushing the boat where she could and carefully checking under the water as best she could. She felt useless by comparison. She was really starting to get irritated with her inability to swim.
"It'll make me feel better if our navigator was well rested and ready to look for Ace as soon as the air clears." She directed the comment at him with an assertive lilt to her tone. "Don't worry!" She forced a light-hearted smile onto her face. "I'll stay up just in case he finds us first."
Now, Kat really had to struggle with his reluctance.
But Quinn didn't look like she would welcome any sort of argument.
"I-I, w-well, um, okay…"
Quinn let the smile drop as soon as Kat curled up on his side, facing away from her, slumping against the side of the ship into an unceremonious heap. Head in her hands. She didn't think she was going to be able to sleep tonight anyways. Distress evident in every crease on her face. What a way to start her so-called adventure.
She dragged her heads over her eyes, fingers twitching with a sudden urgent need to do something, wrists burning under the weight of the need.
"Shit…" she took a deep shuddering breath, struggling to keep quiet.
A night to herself suddenly felt like a bad idea.
Kat used his palms as a pillow, cuddling his claws to his chest in the hope they would offer some sort of comfort. Luckily enough, it did seem to allow him to quiet his mind for the time being. Enough that his already heavy eyes could begin to close with a restless sleep made worse with the sound of Quinn staring out at the sea with a loud apprehension. A firm belief came to him that caused a sickening churn in his stomach.
This was all his fault.
...
...
Okay, so maybe it was going to take his crew a bit longer than he first thought. Not that big of a deal. Ace could wait a bit longer. Admittedly, he wasn't the most patient of people but this is fine. They probably just got lost or caught up in the storm that was beginning to brew above his head.
Which, he'll honestly say, he was semi-worried about. Especially with the thunder rumbling in the distance and the streaks of lighting searing itself into his eyeballs.
Not about himself, mind you, more so for them.
Wasn't it supposed to be super bad to be out on the water when there was lightning?
"Gr. I don't know this stuff!" This is what he got a navigator for in the first place. Urgh, but he'd bet Quinn would know. She seemed to know a lot about random things. But she wasn't here either to ask! "C'mon, guys… what's taking you so long?"
There wasn't anything for him to do here. Absolutely nothing. There were rocks, stones, and sticks strewn about as if someone had been there before him but, as far as Ace could tell, they had gotten off the island. Which he was a bit upset about. At least, if they were still here, he'd have someone to talk to and make friends with. He didn't like being alone.
But, to be fair, he didn't think he'd want to meet himself either.
"I mean, I am kind of an asshole…" Totally an asshole. Did he really just wish for someone to be stranded with him?
He wondered what they were like; he wondered if he would've asked them to join his crew and if they would have agreed to it; he wondered if they would get along with Quinn and Kat; wondered if they would've figured out his heritage and accepted it; and then he stopped wondering because he realized that it really didn't matter and he was just running with the first thoughts that came to him.
...He wondered if Quinn would figure it out.
Ace swallowed thickly.
He really, really wanted to stop wondering right about now.
It's the hunger that finally breaks the chain and it's probably the first time that Ace welcomes the emptiness in his stomach with a hint of relief. Unfortunately, that relief is short lived as Ace takes a moment to stare out over his little mound of sand and disappointment fills his being. "I forgot…" There was absolutely nothing that could curb his appetite.
Well, he could eat rocks and sand but he didn't think that would go over nicely and he wasn't quite starving just yet.
He laid back down.
At least the cloud coverage kept him from getting even worse sunburns, a steady drip of rain starting to pour over him. And at minimum if he got thirsty all he had to do was open his mouth and enjoy the rainfall.
Ace let himself drift off to the rhythm of his stomach growling.
He hoped that by the time he woke up Quinn would be placing his hat on his head and Kat would be showing off all the fish he caught. That would certainly be a good thing to wake up to. He let a smile curve over his face. Yeah, he wouldn't mind waking up to hearing them calling his name.
...
...
The second day is marked by an unnatural quiet.
There is nothing but light mist and an absence of color.
Quinn's lack of energy is refueled with a forced attitude of chipperness, or as chipper as she physically can be; and, instead of sagging on her feet, she keeps her legs and back ramrod straight. The tiredness something she was more than a little familiar with and able to push to the back of her mind.
"...some coffee would be nice…"
She rubbed a finger over the brim of Ace's hat, feeling the material and the thread with a thoughtful motion.
"What?"
She jumped. "A-Ah, nothing. Nothing. Sorry, I'm just talking to myself." Kat's stare followed her shaking her head. "Any luck?"
He recoiled at the question. A low whine breaking through his lips and tears beginning to prick his eyes, Quinn was momentarily taken aback by the reaction, as he whipped around, forearm coming up to wipe at his face furiously. "Nn. N-No." She stood awkwardly as his shoulders shuddered with what might've been crying. Oh, fu- he hiccupped. Definitely crying.
"Um."
Quinn raised a hand lamely, as if she was about to rest it on his shoulder and comfort him. Unfortunately, her nervousness got the better of her and she ended up dropping it back down to her side in failure. She wasn't good at handling her own emotions, she didn't think she was going to be any good at handling others either.
"...Why don't we move onto the next set of currents?" She tried, a clumsy looking smile on her face that Kat thankfully didn't turn around and see. She doesn't even sound good. Voice all but dead at this point, every single word a violent struggle.
Kat sucks in his breath loudly, face scrunched together in order to try and keep himself together.
"Alright, okay. Yeah, I can do that."
Quinn watches him dive over the edge of the ship again and disappear beneath the surface. The storm hadn't ended until late into the morning and the wind was still frost bitingly cold with a light shower of rain pitter pattering against the ocean surface and the wood of the ship.
She sighed.
It still felt too quiet. Too empty.
"Ace, why don't you throw us a bone and show yourself already?"
She turned his hat over in her hands. The day passed slowly and there was no reward for their efforts.
When evening came and it got too hard to see Kat pulled himself into the boat with arms shaking, a shivering mess of red rimmed eyes and cold skin, he found Quinn with her legs half bent in front of her. Ace's hat sitting in her lap and a tangle of thread in her hands. They didn't say anything to each other. Quinn just bobbing her head sadly as Kat shook his head and buried himself next to her.
The night was going to be cold.
She draped her jacket over his wet and shaking shoulders without a word. Not knowing what she could possibly say to help other than a quiet, almost silent whisper: "We'll try again tomorrow. If nothing else, we will find him." There's blood dripping from her dry and cracked lips now and, if Kat had been paying more attention in the span of his exhausted delirium, he would have noticed the tear tracks that broke through the speckles of blood smeared across the lower half of her face.
"One more current. It'll only take one more current."
She only hoped she would be right.
...
...
It was easy to miss the endearing presence of Luffy.
The tactile nature of his brother was something that, at first, was hard to get used to but when Ace had finally let himself fall into it- boy, did he fall. It felt like the end of summer. When the seasons changed and the leaves began to fall and the warmth of the sun just wasn't as bright as it had been before. A soft memory in winter days that kept you spurning onto the next year- to the next day. Ace had gotten used to the rubbery hugs and shouts of praise and loud laughter that the sudden absence was unbearable.
He'd never admit how hard it was to set sail. How hard it was to not look back.
(How he failed that attempt even now. Facing the direction like a desperate compass that could only assume the way back home.)
It was jarring.
And more than a little unsettling.
Did he regret it? No way in hell. This was his dream, their dream- but… but did he miss it all the same?
Yes. Yes, he did.
It was just a fact of life, Ace mused not for the first time. Everybody left home eventually.
It was lonely.
And Ace hadn't had to deal with his own thoughts like this in a long, long time. Didn't have the time to. Too busy fighting off beasts, protecting bumbling kid brothers, and getting stronger.
The sun bearing down on him, curling his toes in unsavory ways, and stomach aching in a nauseous dance of hunger; Ace had a lot of time on his hands and plenty need to distract himself. Even if it meant settling in the darker recesses of his thoughts.
He was lonely.
(He wanted to turn and see his brothers face like he used to be able to. Both of them.)
A hand crawled up his arm and fingernails dug into the skin with an almost manic fervor. The crossed out S was clenched tightly under palm and something in his stomach unwound.
God, Ace was so fucking lonely.
It was a wonderful thing that he'd found crewmates so quickly. It wasn't as if the void had been filled, no that wasn't happening and probably never would, but a once empty space had been…
Touched.
Just enough that the ache in his heart was curbed and the touches he was starved for began again.
Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly true. Ace snorted almost as soon as he finished the thought. It wasn't as if Quinn was dishing out hugs and good words, instead serving them up like they were money. That is to say, greedily. And Kat- admittedly, he hadn't known him as long, but he seemed to jump with just about every small movement. Biting his tongue the next. And Ace didn't really know what to do about that one.
It was different. In a way that he thinks he could get used to.
Every fresh touch or pat or even punch in the arm was like a new adventure folding out before him. A strange one that wasn't something he thought he'd find exciting- it was more Luffy's territory. Then again he supposed his brother had to rub off on him somewhere.
It was discovering new people, new… friends. The closest thing Ace had had to a friend was Sabo and that was a terrifying thing to think about or even compare and-
He wrestled it down.
Luffy was the one who could figure out what made a person tick and decide whether to set them off or keep the timer runnin'. Luffy was the one who chased people down and once they were in his clutches he'd never let go. Luffy was the one who made friends and left Ace watching from behind with an, only slightly jealous, wonderment.
This was uncharted territory. Especially for him. And, he can't believe he's even thinking this, but Ace could stand to try to be a bit more like Luffy.
It sucked that he's only really experienced in setting people off or chasing them away.
...At least, being alone like this, with no food and no water, and just the sun above to keep him company, was not the result of his own failure.
Maybe from his own stupidity but, really, he was more inclined to feel just unlucky.
(Huh, so did that make it Quinn's fault or…?)
Seriously, why did the medication have to completely fail then of all times?! That's such bullshit. Whatever, it made his stomach cramp anyways and made him tired to the point of excessiveness and he was pretty sure he was out of it all anyways. Good riddance.
Ace didn't have a lot of experience with medicine anyway.
He'd maybe had painkillers and things shoved down his throat as a little kid in the rare times that a fever had sprung from an infected, broken arm or when Dadan or one of the other bandits thought he was being stubborn and forced him to take it. That said, the longest he'd had to take medicine before was maybe a week. Not for… a full month? Yeah, he thinks that's how long its been.
The only reason he decided to try out anything to stop his narcolepsy in the first place was because he didn't want to fall asleep when he was recruiting his first crewmates. Didn't want to make a bad impression, like how Makino had told him not to.
Ace snorted.
Yeah, that would've gone down well in front of Quinn and Garp.
"Gyeh-!"
A shiver ran up his spine and his eyes snapped open.
"Oh, fu…" If he had fallen asleep while running with Quinn then Garp would've surely caught up to him and he'd be stuck on a Marine ship, stuck and-
Ace slapped his cheeks to bring himself out of his slight doze. "Ahg, nightmare…!"
That was something so terrifying that he never wanted to think about it again. Ace shook his head violently. It was just too horrible to even try comprehending and he, for one, was not going to venture down that rabbit hole.
Thankfully- er, well as thankful as he could be considering what it was that had him rolling onto his side and groaning in pain- his stomach cramped uncomfortably in hunger causing him to run his tongue over his dry mouth. There had to be food somewhere on this little patch of land and he'd be damned if he didn't tear through it searching for even a nibble. That other person had to have eaten something, right? They survived long enough for rescue after all!
And he only had to wait for Quinn and Kat to find him. He didn't think it'd be much longer now anyways.
...
...
The days have been oddly quiet. Blending into the next with heat, sweat, and sun, and the pull of the waves getting harsher and harsher with the longer they stayed in the area.
It's the third day.
Nothing has changed.
Quinn threads the needle with quiet precision.
Whatever form of concentration that has fallen over her gets broken when the boat seems to hiccup and shake. She glances to the side at Katsura. His eyes are rimmed with red, tears and snot stream down his face, and the boats shaking stumbles over itself with every breath he tries to swallow.
Quinn shifts uncomfortably in her seat, not knowing what to do.
"This… is all my fault."
"No it's not."
It didn't seem like he believed her.
But Quinn let herself breathe a sigh of relief as he scrubs a hand over his face. She manages a smile of reassurance in between her discomfort.
The day was moving at a snail's pace and she didn't know whether or not to be thankful. The sun still yet to reach its peak and the cold chill of morning helping to steady her hands as she worked. Her spool of thread clinking against the sides of the boat, every lap of water sending it rolling into a tizzy. For a long moment, Katsura stared at her, not knowing what to say either. Teary eyes jumping from hat to face and brow creasing with every second that ticked.
He wiped his nose against the back of his arm. "Does… Does it really take that long to fix a hat?"
Quinn's reassuring smile falters and she breaks out in a nervous sweat, shoulders hunching and head ducking in a lame attempt to hide behind her hair. It fails. Only leaving her with hair in her mouth and her nose closer to the needle than it probably should be. "...n-no."
"Then why?"
She bites her lip.
And opens her mouth.
Then closes it.
It's hard to form the words. Or at least put them in an order where they make any legible sense.
"Because…"
She looks down at Ace's hat.
"Because… um…"
It should have been finished forever ago. Restored to its previous self with only a scar of thread peeking through if you squinted, the simple design along its brim pulled back into place with not a string out of place; good as new. Well. It's come a long way since then. Quinn almost feels guilty, but can't bring herself to really acknowledge it. The design has been upgraded. The once simple triangles that lined it-
(A detail that was never drawn. She wondered how many other details she didn't know about.)
-were pulled off before she could input the final seam. Instead, they had been replaced by a detailed embroidery of equally orange thread. Flames hung where they should have been, elegant waves that drew the eye just enough to not be busy. She had to say it was some of her best work. Odd. Especially considering the way the needle seemed to shake in her hands now that they weren't moving.
Quinn sucked in a breath through her nose.
Even stopping for just this one moment has her itching to do something and her heart beating sickeningly slow in her chest. To stop it, she slams her nails into her palms, not caring if they bled or not.
"I like being able to do things with my hands, that's all."
Even as she says it, voice small, it's an obvious lie. Katsura can tell.
She wipes her hand across her legs. If they were bleeding you wouldn't be able to tell. Red blending into the dark fabric that covers her legs.
She starts to embroider again.
"...'Cause it's something I can do to help out."
They've settled uncomfortably next to each other. The air tense and palpable with something that Quinn can't label and Katsura doesn't want to.
"I just…" She sighs. "There's not a lot I can…"
She shuts her mouth, lips pressing into a thin line.
A coin toss? Yeah, right. She'd already tried that multiple times while Kat was off out of sight and it didn't provide anything. A luck mark wiped across her or Kat's arm didn't seem to prove useful either. Whoever said devil fruits were good were liars. She- She couldn't even swim to see below the surface. There was just nothing but standing in the middle of the boat, shouting her head off, that she could do.
Katsura wipes a thumb over his eyes. "But…" He shifted nervously. "...isn't extending the process counterproductive?"
She immediately, and quite visibly, sours and its more than likely that if it wasn't for the fact that Kat noticed and quickly tried to retract his question she would have snapped at him. Instead, bitterly, she says, "So long as I'm working…"
It comes out much softer and too self pitying compared to how it was meant to sound.
"I'm not a waste of space, right?"
Kat doesn't really know how to react to that so he settles on a soft, "Oh…"
And now she just wants to scream. Biting her lip and ducking away. "I- nevermind, forget I said anything." Quinn stood up to hide her red face, embarrassment and horror making her burn. "I didn't mean to make it sound like that. I-I didn't mean to make it sound like anything. We… We should start looking again."
The attempt to change the subject was poor and obvious and wouldn't have normally worked, at all. Fortunately, Kat didn't care how obvious it was. Wanting a subject change as much as she did.
"I… We haven't found anything."
Just maybe not back to this.
"...I know. Sorry." Quinn clenched the hat in her hands. "I haven't exactly been helpful, have I?"
He tugged the jacket around him tighter. "N-No, you've… been great actually." He thinks he would've already fallen apart at this point if she wasn't always there. He's not good with keeping himself calm.
Also, her jacket had likely kept him from freezing to death during the night so.
Kat felt a shiver run up his spine, completely unbidden, and snuggled into the jacket more. It wasn't thick by any means and it smelled like stale sweat and moldy cotton but he wasn't even close to complaining. Trying to get what little warmth he could before he had to dive back into the water and the stress got unbearable. Again.
Quinn felt bad watching him. She'd be forcing him back into the water to search where she could not. Brutally useless and only able to order him to do her bidding.
"...Don't worry, man. We'll figure this out."
Or, she will. She'll have to. She doesn't want to see Kat come out of the water again with anxiety seeping off him in waves anymore.
"Just… the currents. There's still so many we haven't gotten the chance to look at. Maybe- Maybe you'll find something. Anything. Just come back and tell me, and we can look together. Spread out further if you have to."
He nods reluctantly. "O-Okay, okay. Y-Yeah. I'll go."
"Oh, and Kat."
The least she could do was let him know that he wasn't useless like she was.
"You're doing good. Be safe."
...
...
He thinks he's going to be sick. Sweat dripping off his brow and mouth drier than he thought was possible, he felt entirely hollow. Dirt and a bit of blood was smeared across his face from when he took a particularly (clumsy, shut up) nasty fall and lost his footing on some sharp rocks, scraping his forehead.
Who was he kidding?
It was late into the third day, the sun was beginning to lower and the moon was already up. And nowhere. Nowhere. Were Quinn and Kat. What was he thinking? Ace let out another groan as the incessant pain in his torso suddenly increased exponentially as he stared out at the empty horizon. "There's no way they would come looking for me…"
Ace needed to stop lying to himself about people.
They'd all just disappear on him sooner or later. In this case, much, much sooner than he'd ever comprehend. And for seemingly no reason.
He squeezed the palm of his hands to his eyes.
There was no reason to think that anyone ever was going to want to save him.
He didn't want to think about it. A part of him wanted to believe they were searching, another was vicious and told him that they took off at the first chance they saw.
He couldn't even blame them. They were them after and he was… He was Ace.
He wouldn't have stuck around to help himself if he was in the same position and had the opportunity to leave.
Ace was just exhausted. Every single move and thought was sluggish and required too much strength to make moving worth it. And, if he stayed still, the steady ache and emptiness in his stomach eased. If only a little. Unfortunately, he forced himself up to his feet, sluggishness making him feel as if he was treading through a swamp where he couldn't hope to see the other end. Forcing himself to wander along the edge of his island patch, careful on the rocks so he didn't slip and fall again in his delirius state, and ignoring the way his lack of energy screamed at him.
"1… 2… 3… 4…"
While exercising burned calories that he really didn't have, it was the only thing that shut his head up and kept him sane. The repetitive actions of running, jumping, stretching, sit ups, and push ups soothing his cramping muscles and letting him take deep, borderline meditative breaths.
He wondered what Sabo would do. He was always smarter than him. Coming up with plans and ingenious ideas fueled by an imaginative and creative mind while all Ace could think to do was execute and attack.
He sometimes felt caught between his two brothers. Even if he couldn't compare to one of them anymore. It still felt like life was laughing in his face when he failed at something he knew Sabo could have figured it out, as intelligent as he was. Or how Luffy would have been dumb and creative enough to defy the impossible and get out of anything he got himself into.
Sabo would have the mind to create smoke signals or a boat out of what little scraps he had or just figure out how and when was best to swim against the tide.
Luffy would've rocketed out to sea and somehow been lucky enough to land in the arms of relative security.
Ace would… Sit here and wallow. Ideas that formed were either something he lacked the means to accomplish by himself, caught between impossible and even more unlikely, or half-baked concepts that he couldn't take two steps further because he simply couldn't think of how.
"...32… 33… 34…"
He wondered what Quinn would do. Probably about the same as him, if not worse, and that made him feel a little bit better about it. A devil fruit that was not always conducive of definitive results was not exactly helpful… especially when the person couldn't help themselves.
Kat though. Kat he didn't even have to think about. He would've been able to straight up swim away.
Heh. At least he knew who would've won that swimming competition now.
"67… 68…"
Maybe if he just tried really, really, really hard he'd be able to power through the waves.
Ah, wait, he already tried that.
Ace hung his head, and when he was at full strength too.
"105… 106-!"
He paid for his lack of attention when his toe got hooked on the edge of a sharp rock, sending him stumbling face first into the sand and sending up dust and dirt.
"Mnf, mn, rrrgh."
Ace groaned against the sand, rolling over, wiping his face with his hand and squeezing his eyes shut.
God, he was hungry. He was half tempted to just start eating rocks. There wasn't even any bugs or worms or things. (Look, he was basically a toddler in a forest and he didn't exactly grow up knowing better. He wouldn't recommend but hey. It's still good and, ya know, edible.) And the little crabs that scuttled in the sand were so tiny that he struggled to pick them up without immediately crushing them, and there certainly weren't enough that made it worth the energy it would take to expend to feel like he ate even a bitefull.
He punched the sand with the back of his fist. Shaking his head and sitting up, drawing his legs up to his chest in the process before having to stop short.
"...Hm?"
His foot collided with something soft and squishy.
He hoped it wasn't what he thought it was and when he opened his eyes he found that it certainly wasn't.
Something orange and bright peaked out from the sand that he had knocked against, a weird shape that he couldn't make out at first lying beneath. The sun seemed to hit it and bring forth a whole new set of colors, the orange brimming with flickering yellows, reds, and pinks that had him squinting his eyes.
Ace brushed aside the sand.
"Is that…"
Now, as hungry as he was, and how he was most assuredly not thinking straight, Ace didn't register a lot of details. Like the swirls or the flame pattern or the curly, weird stem. Maybe if he had been healthy and not suffering from possible heat stroke he would have realized upon first glance that he was holding a Devil Fruit and not some ordinary, weird apple. Maybe he would've at least thought twice about eating it and getting stuck with some unknown power.
"FOOOOD?!"
But Ace was hungry so he really didn't give two shits about sticking it in his mouth, even despite sand crunching in between his teeth as well.
If there was anything in his stomach he might've thrown up.
Reduced to gagging and dry heaving as soon as he swallowed and the most disgustingly, foul taste hit him like an off ramp train. Completely unexpected but could've been prevented if necessary measures had been taken. Like, you know, not eating freaky fruit off the ground.
"That's the worst…"
Ace couldn't even bring himself to care about the flavor. Already taking two more disgusting bites in an attempt to just fill his stomach. As soon as he finished the horrible meal, Ace settled back into his seat and sighed a relief at his cramping but finally acknowledged hunger.
Maybe things were starting to look up after all.
Of course, that's when he lit himself on fire.
"AAAAAAA-!"
...
...
Kat had found something.
It didn't amount to much at first. It wasn't land or rock or anything of the sort. Just a simple temperature shift from cold to warm that made him wonder if he just swam through a spot of fish urine. In which case, gross. Then he felt it again and had to stop. Frown on his face and tired thoughts swirling. It was far too abrupt to be normal. And if he stayed still it was almost like there had been nothing at all. Gone with a twist and leaving goosebumps breaking out over his skin.
Before coming back again.
"Currents…?" He had to question.
It felt like it.
Another system he had yet to check.
Which was odd, he was certain they'd been over this way yesterday. He didn't think they'd traveled along this one though.
The temperature changed. A shiver ran up his spine.
Huh. With how cold the storm had made the water he doubted he would've noticed it, especially with how cold his own temperature was and-
His frown lightened a tiny bit.
It wasn't much. But it was something to go off of. Something new, at the very least.
Following Quinn's instruction he took stock of the location so he could find the exact point again and bolted back to the boat. The hope that he did still have was stomped on and shriveling but Kat firmly didn't think more on it. Not wanting to raise them.
He doubted it would be any different.
He came to the edge of the boat gently, treading water and careful to make his presence known. Lest he scare her like he had the first time. "Oy, Quinn…" She clearly hadn't noticed him, even with him going out of his way not to make her jump, flinching and shaking off the sudden fright. "I found another current. I think we missed it 'cause of the storm. Do… do you want to try it out?"
"It can't hurt."
Transporting them to the proper location was the easy part. All Kat had to do was force the water to act as a sort of pathway for the ship, look for the area he had marked off, and locate the specific current that he'd found before. It took a few minutes at most, with Quinn half thrown over the side of the ship looking along the horizon and the waves for anything out of place while he was focused on accomplishing his task.
It both helped and didn't that neither spoke.
The silence dragged on. Almost companionable.
Between the glances out at sea and the calls that failed to get a response Quinn dragged her gaze over Kat. The redhead was a wound up spring, pulled taunt, waiting to snap at a moments notice. The waves dragged him down for a long moment and, when he came back up, the breath he sucked in was frustrated and filled with anger. If something pushed his buttons she was pretty sure he'd go ballistic- and if she said something she was also sure that it'd make things worse before it made them better but…
"You know," she begins to say reluctantly.
Kat gives her wide, desperate eyes over his shoulder. A shadow of guilt fell over her and Quinn struggled not to bite her lip as Kat slammed his teeth onto his own as she spoke.
"He has a little brother."
He jerks, as if stung.
The guilt on his face seemingly doubles.
Quinn made sure to keep her expression cool, even as her insides festered, distressed that she didn't have another way to speak. Even ordering her words differently may help better but Quinn had never thought of herself as especially well-spoken, not in this aspect.
-but she has to say something and she's already in this deep.
"If I'm remembering right, I think you're around the same age actually." Exactly the same age, give or take a few inconsequential months if her guess on Kat was correct, the teenager was definitely on the low end of the years. A sophomore at the oldest. "Anyways…"
She grimaced as he drooped, the horrified look crossing his face making her feel much worse than anything he could possibly say to her. She coughed into her fist awkwardly.
"A-Anyways, Ace talks the world of him. I- When I first ended up on the crew I had absolutely no clue what to talk about. I've never really, um, really thought about the possibility of becoming a pirate." Quinn gives a little laugh, unable to help herself, despite not finding anything about the situation humorous. "And then I got Ace talking about his little baby brother and, my god, he would not shut up. He talked until his voice was hoarse and he couldn't say another word."
Kat covers his face.
Quinn tries not to swallow her tongue, ball in her throat, and surprises herself with the genuine fondness in her own voice.
"Oh, yeah?"
When he pipes up his voice cracks, high pitched and watery, and she can tell he's failed at fighting back tears. She doesn't know whether to feel thankful that he struggles to keep his voice straight as well. Instead, she just feels bad. Because, damn it-! She's supposed to be helping.
"Yeah." Her own voice almost cracks, she swallows it back down. "His name's Luffy. He… He sounds like a real knucklehead and don't tell Ace I said this, because I'm sure he'd have my head even if he agrees with me, but- um- he doesn't sound too bright."
"Really?"
"Really, really. Apparently, though-" And while Ace had not directly told her this, he hinted at it through the stories he'd told and Quinn had a bit of a cheat sheet to the boy. "Apparently he's a very good judge of character."
Kat sucks in another breath. This one is still frustrated and angry but it's less so. More… tired and depressed. Quinn meets the bags under his eyes with her own as he drags his hands over his abnormally pale face. They haven't eaten much in the time that's gone by, haven't slept much either and, if they did, it wasn't well, and, in the case of Quinn, was virtually none at all.
"...Why are you telling me this?"
"Cause." It's hardly an answer and she knows it. Trying to pull the right words together. She's not sure if she's successful. "I mean, I may not have known you for long at all, but I don't think anybody would blame you for this, Kat. Especially not him, this… isn't your fault."
Quinn felt her chin tremble, shoulders rising, and eyes prickling. "Besides, we both know it's mi-"
Of course, that's when fire lit up the horizon.
"AAAAAAA-!"
She jerked. Blinking in surprise and subsequently the moisture out of her eyes, clutching Ace's hat to her chest until her knuckles turned as white as bone. "Was that…?" Ace.
Quinn and Kat shared a wide eyed look. The scream failed to stop. And now that her heart was hammering in her chest and the thump of blood in her ears made it hard to hear she was- she wasn't quite believing that she was hearing correctly. But, even if they were wrong, Quinn watched the fire creep higher and higher into the air with blistering heat that turned the water orange, she knew what those flames meant.
The Mera Mera no mi- the Flame Flame Fruit, Model: Logia.
"Kat. It's-"
He failed to respond. And she saw that he was frozen.
"Kat!" She shouted, snapping the boy out of his shell shocked daze, a hopeful grin blooming across his face as he came out of whatever reverie had hit him. "Let's go! Follow the scream!"
He didn't need to be told twice.
Almost taking off by himself before remembering Quinn wouldn't be able to follow as fast and without damaging the ship in the currents. Reaching out to pull the water and shooting them off at an inhuman speed that had Quinn gasping and almost falling out.
Even at the incredible speed it took longer than she hoped for them to catch sight of the base of the flames and, when they did, it was a speck to their vision. Farther off than they had been searching but close enough that she was disappointed that they hadn't gotten a hint of it earlier.
The flames were brilliant, bright, and as they grew closer, hot and untamed.
And Ace was furiously trying to pat them out, scream growing more and more desperate as he hadn't realized how they failed to hurt him. Too caught up in the orange in the absence of his arm.
Quinn buried her face in his hat to keep her blinding smile hidden.
"...you idiot…"
Keeping the hat close even as Kat also began screaming and gathered water, spraying Ace with enough that the flames immediately cut out and smoke began to stream up into the sky, leaving everything silent until Kat burst into tears and rushed up to tackle the hatless cowboy into the sand.
"Wha-?"
"ACCCCEEEE, YOU'RE OKAYYY!"
...
...
Unlike Kat, Quinn didn't rush to greet Ace. Even as the redhead laughed and laughed, refusing to let go even as Ace struggled to stand up, picking the ravenette up around his middle and swinging him around like a limp doll in his ensuing joy. She didn't make a move to stop him either. Watching the tension seep out of both their shoulders and the delightful few seconds of sheer coreshaken shock on Ace's face turn into a grin that hurts his cheeks and threatens to tear his face in half just from the force behind it.
She watched the scene for a few seconds before shaking her head and turning away, kneeling down in the bottom of the ship and putting Ace's hat down in front of her.
She had a project that she could finally complete.
Placing a shaky finger over the last of the thread and carefully tying a small but study knot on the underside of the brim. Using the needle to snap the string so nothing would hang and swiping a hand along the hat, making sure everything was perfect and in order. The flames felt like they had come at the right time, both real and embroidered, and she gave a soft sigh of relief as her work was finally finished.
"Hey, Quinn."
She looked up when she noticed the sounds of Ace approaching the ship, bare feet kicking up the sand beneath his feet, Kat hanging off his shoulder and wiping at his face in a furious and pathetic attempt at hiding his happy tears and sobs. Ace smiled at her.
He was shirtless, sunburnt, greasy, and looked worse than she'd even seen him before.
He also looked anxious and nervous.
Quinn had to fight her smile in a brutal match that she was certain she lost.
Ace rubbed the back of his neck, careful to not pat his burns. "I… I didn't know if you'd want to see me-?!"
She isn't paying attention to what he's saying. Otherwise she would have questioned it. Instead, she finally one hundred percent lost her battle with her smile, and pressed his cowboy hat into his face so he wouldn't see the relief pool in her eyes or the amount of tension she had been holding in her body be released.
A soft, silly grin spreading across her face: "It's good to have you back, Captain."
And, because of his hat, neither did she see Ace in a similar state. Taking a moment to gape in surprise at the move and the almost sweet tone of voice. His smile a bit more weepy and his shoulders a bit more heavy before his cheeks were straining against his teeth and he was pulling his hat down as far as it would go on his head, trying and failing to cover the strength of his smile.
"Yeah…" He blinked away the slight moisture in his eyes. "It's… good to be back."
While he had burst into fire just a few minutes ago, for reasons that he was only slowly beginning to piece together, he didn't want to leave this moment for even a second. He didn't want to think and get stuck in his own head again. Peeking out from under his hat's brim at his crew.
They looked bad, if not worse than he did, but he couldn't help but think they were some of the most stunning people he had ever seen.
-0-
The water was beautiful.
The reflection of the ship against the waves had tears springing to his eyes. The wind against his face, fresh, and failing to churn up sand and grit to blind him was more than he can put into words. The pen quivered in his fingers as he failed to put his thoughts on the page.
The only sentence he could manage, a resounding punch to the gut every time he read it.
Easing his shoulders and filling him with joy.
I am free.
And he was so happy because it was finally true.
That little patch of land, Sixis, as he had learned, was nothing but an unsuspecting trap for sailors, pirates, and treasure hunters. A fake map promising treasure but leaving victims stranded and doomed to die due to the horrible currents coming off of a nearby island called Belle. Small boats, like the rowboat he'd been using up until this point, would be and had been crushed. Nothing but shards of shredded wood.
The weeks of starvation and staring out at sea with no hope of rescue were over once and for all. And even though his ribs still poked through his skin and his stomach was all but nonexistent he'd never felt fuller.
The man couldn't stop the radiant thrill from seeping out of his rapture.
He had all but given up hope when rescue came. And he had sobbed with snot and screams in his savior's arms despite the man's obvious discomfort. Taken aboard a ship that he hadn't expected, especially when he saw the flag raised on it, but he would never forsake his rescuers past if they didn't do so for him.
The blonde chef and first mate dressed in red, the short doctor with a hunched back, the other crew members he hadn't gotten the chance to meet, and the Captain that was the first to greet him.
"Okay. You're a doctor so you should know how this works."
He's too weak to catch the bottles that are tossed at his chest and so they land in his lap.
It's not exactly the bedside manner he expected but he's not surprised, can't even bring himself to be offended. He shakily lifts up the bottle to his face and can't stop the wide grin from cracking his burnt and peeled lips. Nutrients supplements. Made to help him get back on his feet without causing him to vomit food up if he accidentally ate more than he could handle. "Of course. Thank you." His words aren't enough to convey the gratitude he feels.
The doctor snorts. "Just remember to pay me for my services, got it? I put price tags on everything already."
He figured as much. Nothing in life was ever truly free after all. "Y-Yes, I'll make sure to figure out how to put together a proper payme-!"
"Fischer!"
He blinks in surprise when an apple bounces off the doctors- Fischer's head.
"Stop trying to charge patients when I said not to! Do Captain's orders mean nothing to you?"
Fischer rolls his eyes and picks up the apple, taking a nonchalant bite before walking off with it.
It was the Captain. The one who had saved him who had spoken. Stepping into his hidden little spot on deck and giving him a quick once over, lips pursed in thought as he took in his admittedly fragile looking appearance. He tried to stand up straight, chest puffing out, and pills and pen tightening in his hold. He's not an impressive sight, he knows. And before now he never thought he'd go out of his way to try to impress a pirate but the man almost can't help it. The curious and interested gaze that settles on him bores straight into his soul and he wonders if he can hear his thoughts.
His hand holding his pen shakes beneath his fingers. He desperately wishes to write of this encounter.
Of the way the world falls away and his hunger disappears and how all that matters to him in that moment is gaining the respect of the Captain- and, as if his thoughts have some effect on the world outside his little space, the mans face shifts into a smile and nods, confirming something to himself. But all the man can feel is relief. Dreams seemingly answered.
"Sorry about that," he grins, "Fischer is a bit of a miser. He's always trying to extort money from, well, from everyone. I wouldn't hold it against him. Fufufu. I mean, he even tries it with me! Of course, it never works."
He doesn't want to call him out but…
It's only a gut feeling but he's pretty sure that's a blatant lie.
"Anyways, now that it's been a few days and you're finally starting to gain a bit more weight," the Captain takes a cross legged seat in the chair opposite him, "I realized that I haven't exactly gotten the chance to introduce myself. Sorry about that. I didn't even think-"
"No, no. That's okay!"
He understood. He really did. He hadn't exactly named himself either.
"I… Don't even have a name. So it's not like I could properly introduce myself either."
The Captain is surprised. Clear as day, and he gives him an awkward grin in return. Having expected such a reaction. But what he's not expecting is for it to be followed by a loud laugh, like he truly can't believe what he's hearing. "Really? A mysterious masked man without his own name. I gotta say I should've expected as much. You're a real Zorro-type aren't cha'?" He waves off his astonishment quick enough. "Is it a part of your island culture or something? That's pretty cool, man. Got any ideas for a name? I can't exactly introduce myself if you can't return the favor."
"Not… Not much of anything. I'm not exactly good at naming things."
He'd been thinking of buying a baby naming book of all things and sorting through it but he didn't want to look weird when it was discovered that he didn't have a kid or was expecting one. Yeah, that would get him weird looks for sure.
The Captain stares at him blankly for a long moment.
The time ticks by and he finds himself growing more and more fidgety as it passes. The Captain appears to be mulling something over in his head, eyes fixed on his masked face before he finally speaks and he lets out a relieved sigh. He had a rather unnerving stare. Face not quite normal enough and eyes just different enough from normal people that it was unsettling.
"Are you-?"
"...Masked Deuce."
"Huh?"
The Captain smiles. "That seems like a good name, doesn't it? It just feels right."
"I…"
He can't help but to admit that he's right. As soon as he hears it something in his brain clicks into place. It's certainly an odd name. But, then again, he's not the most typical of people. Something tells him that the Captain isn't either.
"How'd you come up with that one?"
He bites his tongue to keep the idignance from being voiced when the Captain shrugs and says, "I don't know. I just came up with it. Neat, right?" Apparently, even without voicing anything, his thoughts on the explanation are obvious. "Fufufufu! Y-Your… Your face! Oh my god." The guffaws ease him into a sigh and he manages to crack a smile.
He was a little silly, especially from what he had come to expect from pirate captains, and he would've normally been reluctant to get along with such a man. But he knew he could be serious when needed, knew he could be kind too.
"Hey, hey, Captain, there's a body over here!"
"Are they breathing?"
"I'm not sure!"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, remembering the events of a few days prior but which felt like they'd happen so long ago.
"Fischer, I need medical attention, right now! We have a live one down here! And someone get-"
He hadn't been able to make out much of what was happening at the time. As delirious and as close to death as he was. How close he had been to letting go.
"I want a round the clock watch on this guy. I don't want him up and I don't want him to pass away in his sleep. Get Jones as well. I want him to confer with Fischer and get a meal plan set up."
"Yes, sir!"
Still. He had gotten the chance to catch a glance through swollen eyes and faltering consciousness. Gripping onto the man and crying salty tears that he was too dehydrated to produce.
"Don't worry, man. You're not going to die here. Not yet."
He let out another breath. Eyes opening to see the Captain reseat himself and stop laughing at his expense.
"Alright. If you say so."
"Wait- seriously?"
"Masked Deuce. At your service. I could never hope to fully express my thanks."
He was waved off. "Oh, I'm sure we'll find something, Deuce." The blue haired captain, hair a much darker shade than his own, didn't even seem to care about his gratitude. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He leaned forward in his chair, teeth shining, and hands on his knees.
"I'm Roddie."
.
.
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Okay, so I would like to say that I have not read Ace's story. The information I have on his canon crewmates is gotten from videos on youtube, one lovely person PM'd me and actually showed me Tekkings video on the Spade Pirates when it first came out (thank you so much, I would not have known otherwise, I don't really look into the spinoffs), and what I can read off the Wiki. So if there's anything inaccurate, apologies. I have notes on all the canon characters so if anyone does show up, such as Masked Deuce for example, I'm going to be sticking to that unless someone lets me know of other sources I can look into.
Fun fact, I created Belle with its trapping currents before Oda revealed anything and I am thanking whatever god there is that I'm lucky enough that I can tie it into Sixis, which was surprisingly similar in its geo-and-oceanography.
This story and its entire concept was born from me wanting to give Ace a crew when there wasn't one and I did that on my own before anything was revealed about him. Unfortunately, this means that I have a path planned out that does not follow canon. It's an entirely different route of the Grand Line, even. That said, I will try to remain semi-faithful to the source material, since I want this to be a sort of what-if scenario. The plot changing as new characters effect past events and relationships. And I guess you can see in this chapter the first major change.
Masked Deuce, original first mate and doctor of the Spade Pirates, has joined an entirely different pirate crew, yet still maintains his pseudonym.
What a surprise.
