Chapter 16

Shayla was training her element out on the deck with Jinbei. He was teaching her how to use the water in the air because apparently, that was a thing. It would have been nice to know that years ago but rather late than never. She just needed the practice to learn it better.

Thatch and Whitebeard came out to the deck as the Fishman was about to leave and asked him about a certain rookie. "I don't know him that well, but he got this logia fire fruit," he said before leaving soon after.

The cook gave Shay the newspaper and she looked confused at him before reading it. It was great news, her friend had turned down the shichibukai position and the girl couldn't stop smirking. If he did accept, she would have judged him so hard.

Shayla had followed Ace's journey throughout the first half of the Grand Line. His bounty was quickly rising too and if he kept up that pace his would soon surpass hers. That meant she would have to work hard to not let that happen.

"I've seen you been curious about him quite a lot since he started out," Thatch came up beside her and was reading too, "What can I say, I might be a fan" she winked at him, "or do you have a crush on that pretty face" he teased, and the girl looked around before whispering to him, "it's not a crush I love him" that caught the cook-off guard.

"I- you can't love him. You don't even know him, Shay" the commander said in disbelief, "I do know him, Thatch" she was looking at the picture, "You can't know anybody just by reading about them."

She had planned to tell them at some point but a surprise would work better. It was going to be priceless.

When the time came to reunite with Ace or rather fire fist as his new emphasis were now, a great name actually, they would be totally shocked. Shay just hummed as the older pirate walked away.

But at some point, after he entered the New World, she lost knowledge of his whereabouts. Where was he and what was he doing?

Shay sighed, 'Well, news about him will soon come. He doesn't live life boringly'.

-x-

One day Shayla saw a huge ship in the distance easily towering over The Moby Dick, "Oh, they're here" Rakuyo started, "It had been a while" Marco continued. Shayla blinked a few times and guess they were allies but who would need such a big ship.

She soon saw a huge green creature on board as they got closer and on the sail was the name Oars the third. There was at least two more his size… awesome!

The name somehow sounded familiar, and she then remembered a story Garp told her about the continent-puller and that they were bigger than any giant. It sounded about right, but she thought they went extinct centuries ago.

"Who is that?" she asked Haruta who was next to her, "He's one of our allies. That's little Oars jr," he smiled, "Little?" her eyes were wide, "I'm not sure why they're calling him that but he's great. You're going to love him" and Shay was sure it was true.

The whitebeard pirates were cheering on him and Oars jumped off his ship and into the ocean. His body made a big wave come toward them and everyone panicked a little. Shay took a deep breath and stretching both her arms in front of her.

The water was a little hard to hold back because she wasn't used to anything at this size. That why she decided to freeze it to catch a short break before unfreezing and the water to fall straight down.

Well, that was something she had to practice too.

"Were you the one who did that?" Shay suddenly heard a voice next to her, and she turned her head only to see the ancient giant in the water beside the ship. "Y-yeah" why was she nervous, "can you do it again," he asked, which almost made him look cute.

"I can show you more than that if you let me draw you" the pirate girl smiled at him, "Sure, now show me" if not for his very deep voice he would have even sound cute too.

Shayla moved the water around then over him, and Oars looked so happy. Her heart softened a little bit, "Can you touch the bottom" Shay asked him, "No, why?" she tramped the deck before moved her hands up and could feel the rock hitting his feet, "You can now". His face beamed up.

She tried to use it to lift him up a little, but she was struggling and only managed to lift him up about a meter. When she let go, she could see Oars fall back down a bit.

He laughed and lifted her close to his own face, "That was fun. What's your name girl" Shayla stood up in his palm, "Shayla" and she had never seen anything look that adorable.

"Are you one of the continent-puller I've heard a story about?" her eyes were shining, Oars just smiled before he was modeled for her.

He and his crew left the next morning.

-x-

When Shayla saw an island in the distance, she quickly jumped off before surfing over there. The civilians look at her, "Whitebeard is on his way here" she said while walking past them. The pirate girl was starting to hear bells and people were starting to rush over to the port.

There were little girls smiling too with flowers in their hands and the entire city was ready to welcome the pirates. Shayla decided to use the extra time to explore the village before their arrival. She saw a forest nearby that she had to see but then heard some girls fighting.

When she got closer, Shay saw 4 girls bullying one girl, "Who are these ugly flowers for?" a blond girl said to someone, "It isn't for you. Give it back," a brown-haired girl said.

The blond girl smirked at the poor girl before throwing the bouquet on the ground and trampling on it, "She wouldn't even look at a loser like you" she laughed, and her minions laughed too.

The whole thing irritated Shay and wanted to give those arrogant girls a piece of her mind but before she could the girls walked away. The girl kneeled down to pick up the trapped flower but when she saw how ruined it was, she sighed.

"Were those flowers for someone important?" Shay asked in pity, "Yeah, I wanted to give it to someone onboard Whitebeard ship, but I can't now because of those stupid girls," the girl didn't take her eyes of the plant.

"You can still give it to them" Shayla tried to help, "I always wanted to meet her, but they ruined it for me. My revenge will be humiliating," she said dramatically, and Shay was starting to like her.

"You can't give up yet. If she's someone you respect, she'll accept them even as that" the pirate girl encouraged, "You're right, if I want to be like her but I have to meet her first," the girl said. Shayla smiled as she looked more closely at her and she looked about her age.

She was about her height too and looked like an ordinary girl. The girl stood up when a bell suddenly ran very loudly, "They're here. Are you going to welcome the Whitebeard pirates" she looked at Shay with a bright smile.

Shay just nodded before going back to the port where apparently the entire village has come to welcome them with cheers and flowers.

'Great, give some of the strongest men in the world flowers. They are really going to love them' Shay snickered to herself.

The Moby Dick had laid anchor and the pirates were ready to board while smiling at the people. The flower girl just waited patiently at the port next to Shayla.

"You can't just leave the ship like that" Haruta was coming their way making the girl look confused and she tried to defend herself, "I-I didn't," she said but the pirate stood right in front of them, "Next time you do that, at least take me with, Shayla".

"Nope, you'll just slow me down" Shayla winked at him and heard a gasped from beside her, "You're Hell Bender!" the girl from before gave her the broken bouquet of flowers.

"Oh, were those for me?" She had thought those were for Whitey Bay. Okay, who was she kidding, Shayla had a feeling those might be for her. There aren't that many girls on the crew, allies maybe a few but not onboard the ship. There were her and the nurses who took care of her father. This girl may her fan but she didn't recognize her, weird

Shay stood there and didn't know what to do, "Smile and say thank you," Marco said as he continued walking past her and into the island.

"Thank you," she said awkwardly to a girl, "We are the ones who should be thank you. Without Whitebeard protecting our island, it would have been destroyed long ago" the girl gave her a bright smile.

Shayla chucked and walking with her, "My name's Lina. I've always wanted to meet you, Hell Bender" the pirate girl blinked a few times, "Really, why is that?" she asked surprised.

"A lot of pirate crews have come to this island and I've rarely seen a girl as respected by her crew as you're. Women in the world are often looked down upon as the weaker gender but you give us hope that the world can change" she smiled.

The pirate girl was slightly blushing, "Thank you," and she now noticed how beautiful the land was here. Shayla smiled at rushed woods but saw the girl was still standing there, "come on let's go".

"Where are we going," Lina asked, "I want to draw the forest. Oh right, my sketchbook" and Shay took the girl's arm and lead her back to the ship. She released it then they went onboard but again the girl was hesitant.

"Is this really alright" Shay sighed and took her hand again before dragging her onboard. "Let's put those in my room, grab my book, and then we can explore that beautiful forest".

They had to pass the throne-chair where her father was sitting and Rain next to him, "Hey, dad. Why aren't you at the island with everyone else".

"I might be going there later, treasure. Don't worry about me" he smiled in a fatherly way. Shayla smiled and patted her partner that was spending a lot of time with the captain. "Alright, I'm going to the forest with Lena," the youngest said and the two continued.

"It's Lina. That was the legendary pirate Whitebeard" she said before entering the room, Shay just smiled and went over to her desk, laid the flowers on the table.

She opened her drawer and took one of her books out. "It's a beautiful room" the girl complimented, "Thank you" and the two left.

The two girls ran through the beautiful forest and they soon arrived at a river. Shay sat down and started drawing, "Why were those girls mean to you" it caught Lina off guard. "Oh, you saw that. They think I'm weird and they will use every opportunity to remind me of it" she sighed.

"They're only calling you weird because you different from them and there's nothing wrong with different" Shay grinned. "I was right. You really are amazing," The girl praised.

The two looked at each other and they both had the same thought, 'Maybe I can actually have a female friend my age.'

"You know what Lana. Let's gave fun" the pirate girl stood up, "Again, it's Lina but what do you have in mind," she asked, and Shayla saw an old boat a little down the river, but it had a big hole at the side.

Lina was about to go back when Shay jumped on board and fixed the boat by freezing the hole. The pirate girl held her hand out to her new friend and Lina gladly took it, "but we don't have any oars" Shayla smiled, "we don't need them" before moving her hands around and the boat was following.

There was a small stream which the boat followed and there was laughter throughout the forest.

Later that day the two girls went over to the bar where Shay's crewmates were. They were having fun drinking and gambling their money away. Shay and Lina sat by the counter and ordered something to eat, "I'm going to the bathroom" the island girl said.

Shayla just nodded and went over to Vista who was losing a lot of money, "Excuse me" there was a familiar voice and Shay looked back and saw the girls who were bullying her new friend.

The pirate girl looked at them for a second and when they didn't say anything, she looked away, "you're Hell Bender" the blond one stated, "I am" Shay didn't look at them, "I'm a huge fan and I've wanted to give -" but suddenly Lina bumped into her and the flowers the blond girl was holding fell to the floor in front of them.

Lina pushed past them to reach the pirate girl while stepping on the flowers, "Shayla, let's go our food is ready" she said and Shay quickly turned around, this time dragging the brown-haired girl behind.

The two friends pushed past the others after stepping on the bouquet yet again. "That was brutal. I knew I liked you" Shay smirked before she started to eat, "Humiliate mean girl and minions in front of their idol, bang" and the two high-fived.

The blond girl came back with each a drink in the hands and was ready to throw that at them, "Take that you filthy loners" but the drink didn't hit any of them but was frozen in mid-air. "What..." everyone was confused,

"I don't think you know why, they call me Hell Bender" Shayla just snapped her fingers at the sake before it burst into flames. "My father is the mayor, he allows Whitebeard to do his trades here". Did this entitled little shit really say that.

"No, my father allows this island to exist. Without him, it would be nothing" Shayla glared, "We don't need you why don't you just go, then" the blond said, "Well it's not up to you, and even if the deal was off who can stop us from plundering it like pirates" She smirked.

The pirates cheered which made the girls look like they were about to shit themselves and they ran outside before the entire place burst into laughter, "That was great, Shayla. I hope that humbled them down a bit" Lina admired.

After the fun day, Shay went over to Lana's house to relax for a bit before heading back. The girl gave her a towel in case she wanted to take a show, which she gladly accepted. It was nice to just let the hot water hit her skin and there was this amazing smelling Shampoo.

When she got out, Lina prepared clothes for her too. She put on a long beautiful red dress which felt nice to wear, but her hair was still damp. If she didn't soon fix it, it would turn into this ball of frizz. "You have really beautiful hair, Shayla, but it looks like much work" Shay sighed, "yeah, it really is" but she wouldn't trade it for anything.

"My mother showed me a way to straighten hair with a hot comb if you want" Lina smiled, "I've never seen my hair straighten, can you really do that without any damage" Shay smiled brightly as her curiosity took over.

"It might take some time to do, but yeah" and the pirate girl was ready.

It took about 2 hours to do but the result was definitely worth it. Shayla's hair was reaching her hips and Lana cut off the damaged ends, "This is actually insane. I love it" Shay was admiring herself in the mirror and she couldn't stop touching it.

It felt weird that her hair was this flat and it had no volume, but it was so smooth and soft. "You look like a whole new person" she really did. There was a much more clear transition from black to her blond ends. She could totally fool her crew to think she was another person now.

"Thank you, Lina. Today has been fun and I hope we can meet again" Shay hugged her and waved goodbye before going back to her ship.

The pirates were drinking and enjoying themselves out on the deck. Shayla put on her sunglasses before going on board the ship and she noticed everybody looking at her, "What do you guys think" she spanned around.

Everyone started cheering, "amazing", "gorgeous", "a real angel", "undescribed beauty" and the girl blushed a bit. Shay took her sunglasses off and put them on her head. Izo was the first one to approach her, "what did you do with your hair" he touched a strand of hair.

"Do you like it" she smiled a little. He didn't say anything and just stared at it, "my curls will come back when I wash it" and it was like Izo could breathe again.

Marco came over too, "Don't mind him. I think you are beautiful no matter what hairstyle you have", he really was amazing. Looking into his eyes was a mistake because her heart skipped a beat when she saw his sincerity in those ocean blue eyes, "Thank you" she said as she looked away.

-x-

The Whitebeard pirates had gotten reports that a rookie had burned down their flag on Fishman island a few months ago.

Now that same rookie was fighting Jinbei on one of their supply islands. She didn't know who this pirate was, but he got a lot of nerves to do that. Everyone in the entire world knew they were the strongest pirate crew, so why did they always think they could win.

Since they were attacking their territories that meant that they knew they couldn't defeat them, so they were trying to weaken them. Bad timing because this Doma guy was attacking another one of their islands too.

Whitebeard has already sent someone over there and he wanted to personally see this rookie. It didn't happen often but was interesting to see what kind of guy pops wanted to join. It didn't matter if didn't agree on it, it wasn't up to her.

So, when they were close to the island and saw most of the crew were ready for a fight, Shay went into the kitchen to steal some food before Thatch found out or her.

Shayla took the food into her room and ate it. When she was done, she went out to the deck again, but the fight had just ended 5 minutes ago, "oi, what happened to the captain?" she asked Jozu, "Pops beat him up and we took him into a room to recover" he answered.

Shay stood there with Jozu, Thatch, and Marco when they saw the crew of the rookie, "give our captain back" they were running toward them, "I'll handle them" Shay jumped overboard and to the island. "you're Hell Bender" some blue-haired guy with a mask said, she smirked before charging at them.

She was about to kick him but stop when she saw he wasn't going to defend himself, "What are you doing" she asked a little pissed off, "Our captain said not to fight you" a man with a skull mask answered. "Why is that?" her anger rising, "He only said that he knew you" she sighed. Who was their captain anyways and decided to kick their ass.

It was quickly over, "Shay, get them up to the ship" Marco commanded, "What, why?" she looked at him, "because we want their captain to join us, but we can't exclude his crew" he reasoned, and she got them up.

-x-

The next morning or noon, Shay found out that the rookie tried to kill her father while he was sleeping last night. Some nerves. If he tries again, she will deal with him herself.

Shayla was sitting next to the captain near the throne-chair when she felt a shadowy figure coming behind him with an ax. She was ready to attack when Whitebeard stopped her, and she got a good look at the pirate rookie while he was in mid-air.

Shay stood there for 10 seconds when she recognized who it was, but he was sent flying into the ocean by her father. "He can't swim. Somebody go get him" a man said, Shay went over to the rail and used her water bending to get him out and throw him hard into the deck, landing on his stomach.

Shayla let the guy get control over his breathing but when he tried to sit up, she didn't waste any time and used her foot to slap him into the deck again. Some of the other crewmates got worried and tried to stop her but she was more focused on the man with her foot still on his back "What the heck are you doing, Ace".

He reacted to his name and paused for a second before he turned around to look, "Shay?" he asked as if he didn't expect her to be here. "What the hell are you thinking attacking my father," She screamed at him, "It's nothing personal. It's a battle between pirate captain. So, it doesn't concern you".

The other pirates could only watch the two fight – did they know each other?

This made Shayla angrier, so she smacked him over the head, "Idiot, what if your father was alive and I wanted to kill him," Ace got heated up too, "Go ahead, I'll even help you kill that bastard".

The two were up in each other's faces and then it clicked for her; He was doing this because of his father. She knew that Ace hated Roger but she wasn't really sure why although she had a few guesses.

Her friend was always stuck behind The Pirate King's shadow and a way for him to escape would be to surpass him. That's why he went after her father; to fight and defeat the one Roger was equal to.

It's heartbreaking that he has to prove himself like that and she heard that he let his crew escape just so he could attack Whitebeard without any regard for his own life. Shay sighed before she heard a throat being cleared and turned to the cook.

"Shay, what's going on?" Thatch interrupted, "This guy is trying to kill, pops" she hissed. "Yeah, we got that, but you don't normally care that much when people do it. Why do you now?" this time it was Marco.

"Because this moron is my best friend" holding him up by his shirt showing him off as a trophy, shocking the pirates, "But that will soon change if you don't get a grip".

So far people who would attack them would either end up dead or joining them. Shay just had to make sure the first won't happen. She was sure her father wasn't going to kill her friend especially when he already wanted him to join.

Shayla was also confident that her father was going to charm his way into Ace's heart as she had, but the question was how long would it take? For her, it was about a day but for Luffy who chased him every day for months.

No matter what Ace did, her little Sunshine refused to give up and endured whatever was thrown at him. How many months was it again… three maybe?

Then she smirked, "you know what, never mind". Would her father be that patient? No, it was more like could she be patient enough while seeing her best friend try to kill her father for that long. She sighed, well she had to, like Ace said it was a battle between pirate captains.

So, she had to at least try, and if it didn't work, it might even affect her relationship with the young captain. If he did join, he would be her nakama like they've always dreamed of and they would be together.

That thought only was worth it and gave her hope. She knew him well enough to know that he needed to be with someone who cares and love him despite his heritage. Why couldn't he see their family right here and see that whitebeard cared for everyone equally?

Shay was sure he was going to join and then got eyes on Thatch and thought of a way to gain some money from this.

Ace looked at her suspiciously, "what are you up to", she blinked innocently at him, "Me, nothing" while smiling and went over to Thatch whispers into his ears, "Tell everybody who wanted to join. I bet 100.000 berries that he will join us in 3 months or 100 attacks" he smirk rivals her, "I'm in" and he left.

Shay went over to Ace and gave him a hug, "I really am happy to see you" and took his arm leading him close to the throne-chair. "Tell me about your adventures so far. I heard that you refused to join the shichibukais" Ace smiled telling about Luffy, how he fought a vice-admiral and how he met Shanks. The funniest of all was how he got his devil's fruit.

Shayla laughed so much that she could hardly breathe, "You got trapped on an island in East Blue for over a week. When you got hungry you found a weird-looking fruit that you thought was poisonous but still ate it. Then suddenly you were on fire and ran into the ocean and almost drown." He had the nerve to call Luffy stupid.

"Shut up" he looked embarrassed. Whitebeard observed the two carefully and a big smile on this face. He was happy to know that his daughter had made a friend even though it appeared to be more than that.

"So, how did you meet then," Haruta asked sitting next to them, "This moron's crazy grandpa was the reason." She pointed at Ace.

"Damn this old man makes his own grandsons shit themselves. So, I got curious and followed him up to the mountains. That was the place this guy lived, and it was a rocky start but at the end, he became my very best friend" say said while clapping his back.

"Oh, speaking of grandpa. I met him a while after setting sail and he almost got me to join the Marines" the pirate girl laughed which confused the other pirates. "Poor thing. I've managed to avoid him so far" he said smirking. "Lucky" she pouted.

The fox ran over to them and licked Ace's face. The young pirate captain laughed a little then patted her, "I've missed you" he said to Shay before looking at Rain, "and you too" she smiled.

'So, this was one of the people their Hell Bender spend all those years with,' a common thought.

"Was he the one who begged you to say?" Izo whispered to her, "No, it was his little brother, but he was one of the reasons I stayed for so long," she smiled at the thought of her little sunshine.

-x-

Ace kept attacking her father about every day. Sometimes multiple times a day and it was getting really annoying. Mostly she had ignored his outbursts because she had this feeling that he would soon give in, but it seemed almost hopeless.

It had been two months since he came on board when she found him unconscious in the infirmary, "Seriously, what are you doing, Ace" she went up to him and ran her fingers through his hair when she felt someone coming.

Shay recognized him from one of the spade pirates, "Don't worry, he'll be alright" a blue-haired man said. "I know" she didn't take her eyes off her friend, "you seem really close". She was facing him this time, "He was the first friend of my own age, so yeah. I see you're close with him too".

"He saved me and was the first one to believe in me. I owe him my life" it was clear to her that he meant every word, "Ace is lucky to have you" Shayla was smiling, "I'm the lucky one" he said confidently.

Masked Deuce left them alone and Shayla put her forehead on his before sighing, "I don't want to keep seeing you like this. I know you have a strong will, but this was getting ridiculous".

-x-

2 weeks later Shay saw Ace was in the kitchen with Thatch. She was happy that he was finally opening up to the crew, "Stop telling everyone that I'll join if I lose 100 times" fire-fist complained.

"IF you lose 100 times? You won't even win if you fight him 1000 times. Anyway, set fire to the pot" the commander said, and Ace just did with his devil's fruit without saying anything. "Great, if you join the whitebeard pirate be sure to join the 4th division. I'll train you to be a great fire cook".

"Say whatever you want" Ace replied.

-x-

Another 2 weeks went by and Ace had just lost another fight again Whitebeard. He just entered the gallery before he sat down next to her and Teach. Soon Thatch came out with some food for him, "I heard that someone on this crew scared Shanks, who was it" the defeated pirates suddenly asked.

Shayla and Thatch looked at each other confused, "We don't know someone like that here" he answered, "Are you going to tell me that it wasn't even a commander! If it were a commander, it would have been big news" Ace said shocked.

"He must have gotten it doing my disappearance because he didn't have it back in the days and when I met him again, he already had it," the girl told him, "Do you know anything, Teach," the young captain asked.

"It was me" he casually replied and when he saw the three pirates' faces, "Just kidding," he said before laughing. Shay didn't think it sounded like he was kidding, maybe it was actually him who did it. She had to keep an eye out for him because he was acting suspiciously to her.

Thatch then mentioned that Whitebeard hasn't even used his devil's fruit against Ace yet, "dude, you're totally screwed" Shay laughed, "I still want your Mera Mera no mi, Ace. Fire powers are every cook's dream" the older pirate pouted.

"If you want his devil's fruit, you'll just have to kill him" Teach advised, "That's a bad joke. There's no devil's fruit that I want if I have to kill somebody for" the cook answered.

Was Shayla the only one of these idiots that noticing his strange behavior? How come no one else was hearing what she heard. She certainly felt a bad vibe coming from him now and scolded herself for not noticing long ago.

"So, what fruit do you want, Teach," Ace asked, "I know which devil's fruit he wants to eat," Thatch said, "Why… what do you know about it" the big pirate was shockingly surprised. "It's an easy guess, you want the Suke Suke no mi, right?"

It was like he relaxed, "Zehahahah, you found out the truth" and she knew that wasn't it. "I can understand, it's every men's dream to…" the cook could feel a cold chill down his spine, "To do what, commander," Shay asked with a menacing gaze.

"No-nothing" he quickly said before Shay stood up to talk with her father about a certain pirate's behavior. She exited the gallery and saw that the captain wasn't in his throne-chair, "Oi, Haruta, where's pops" he sighed before giving her the answer.

Shayla ran towards the infirmary and saw Deuce began to treat her father, "Dad, are you okay" she took his much bigger hand and saw small burn injuries. "I'm fine. Ace is getting stronger I wonder how many times we fought" Whitebeard smiled.

"So far, 99 times" the young doctor as the captain was calling him stated. "Friend or not I'm going to kill him," Shay said more to herself, "No, Shayla. Just be a little more patient" and it broke her heart that it had to be like that now.

Shay relaxed and sat beside her father while hugged his leg, "I really hope you know what you're doing, dad" because she had this urge to kill her best friend.

-x-

The very next day after eating dinner in the gallery Shay saw Ace sitting near the rail with his head on his knees. 'he must have lost yet again' she thought, and she was on her way to him but Marco got there first. But that didn't prevent her from watching them.

He had a bowl of soup and placed it next to Ace. The first mate looked at him one last time before walking away but a voice stopped him, "Why do you guys call him, pops." Ace said and looked up at him, "Because he calls us sons. To the rest of the world, we're just outcasts. I know it's just a word, but it makes us happy" the first commander smiled brightly.

Ace looked shocked before he looked down and Marco sighed before walking over to him and kneeling down in front of him, "how long are you going to risk your life like this, yoi. Make up your mind already. You can't possibly take pops head the way you're now. Are you going to get off this ship and start over or are you going to stay and accept Whitebeard's mark?"

Marco left him to think, and Shay smiled at him, "Thank you, I think that was the push he needed".

Shayla was right because, by the next day when she woke up, she saw Ace had their mark on his back.

'I'm going to collect my money soon' Shay smirked