Chapter 18: Long time no see
The two whitebeard pirates have been searching for Teach the New World, but there was still no sign of him. They heard many rumors about him and only a few seemed to be true. That he changed his name to Blackbeard and he had attacked a small island at the start of paradise as they called it.
Now, Ace had sailed them to a winter island that had 6 huge chimneys like rocks. But the traitor and his crew of five had been this kingdom. You can imagine their disappointments when they found out he wasn't there anymore.
It had been a long trip to get here, and they decided to get something to eat before leaving again.
They went into a restaurant and people were talking about someone name Scorpion who had defeated them. The two friends looked at each other before Shayla went over to them, "Excuse me, where can I find this Scorpion guy" she smiled innocently.
"He lives in the sand kingdom, Alabasta. Why do you ask girl," a man asked, "Teac- I mean Blackbeard killed my friend and I want to meet the one who killed him," she said while leaving. Shay had a hard actually believing them and her friend looked skeptical too.
"Ace, did you hear that. We are going to Alabasta" she said determined, "Yeah, let's go right now" he replied and both of them ran out of the place as fast as they could before anyone noticed.
Shayla had sailed with him for a long time now and she was used to his dine and dash. If he wasn't going to pay, why would she fight him in that?
They were pirates after all.
After their meal, Ace went over to two men and asked them about Blackbeard. He wanted to confirm the rumor, to make sure the men in the restaurant weren't the only ones who heard it.
They told him that after he and his crew were long gone now but they had a hard time believing he was dead now. "Then I'll ask you another question. Has a straw-hat-wearing pirate ever come here?".
Shayla looked surprised at him and she had totally forgotten that meeting Luffy was actually a possibility now. 'He must have entered the Grand Line now' she thought with a huge smirk.
Then Ace show them a bounty poster of him, "If he does come here…" he said and it somehow scared the men, "If he comes?" they asked before taking a step back. "Tell him that we'll wait in Alabasta for 10 days. I'll leave it to you" the young commander replied as he turned around to leave and Shayla followed him.
"Hey, wait a minute. What's your name" the tall one of the two asked, "Oh yeah, that's right. My name is Ace. When he comes tell him that and he'll know who I am" he grinned mysteriously as if he was trying to impress them.
"Oi, someone, grab those two. They ate and ran" an older man yelled behind them and Ace grabbed her hand before they both ran away, again "I'm counting on you" he shouted and disappeared.
-x-
Ace and Shay have been waiting in Alabasta for 8 days now and she was growing impatient. When was Luffy going to show up, damn it? She hasn't seen him since she set sail 6 years ago.
How strong was he now and what kind of people were crazy enough to follow him?
Shay had just bought this beautiful fan from a small shop. She would use it to fight like when she first learned air bending. Out of all the elements, the easiest to control was water because she was always surrounded by it and always had access to it.
She had a lot of time to practice.
They were walking down the street when a man stopped them "Would you two like a golden apple, you will live for 1000 years only 1.000 berries," The man said. "Sorry, I'm not interested in living 1000 years. If I can live through today it will be enough" Ace responded as they continued.
"Is that guy stupid? Who would fall for that?" Shay said annoyed. The pirates stopped at a little shop while asking the old lady if she'd seen Luffy used his bounty. The old lady told them to ask in the restaurant a little ahead. Both liked the idea because they were hungry.
They sat down at the bar and ordered their food.
Once their food arrived, they both dug in like hungry pigs. Not one better than the other as they had a mental competition and none of them wanted to lose.
Suddenly Ace fell face-first into his food as Shay finished her food and started to eat his. People around her tried to tell her something about poison strawberry but she didn't listen.
She was used to his little sleep attacks and she have eaten about half of it when Ace woke up.
The people panicked and a woman asked if he was okay but instead Ace took her skirt and used it to wipe food from his face, "Oh, I fell asleep" he said and ate what was on his fork. Shay punched him over the head, "Don't disrespect a woman like that" was the only thing she said.
People around them started to complain and the commander didn't understand why they reacted like that. She would have to explain it to him later. Ace looked at his plate and was shocked when most of his food was gone and his gaze automatically went to Shay.
"Oi, why'd you eat my food," he said annoyed, "Haven't you heard the saying: you snooze you lose," she said and used a tissue you wipe the food around her mouth. Ace took Luffy's poster from his bag and asked the owner if he had seen him.
But before he could answer someone interrupted them, "I guess you have no problem eating in public, Whitebeard pirates second division commander Portgaz D. Ace and his true daughter Edward Shayla," A marine introduced them.
Everyone looked shocked at them and they started mumbling among themselves, "What is, not one, but two famous big-shots pirates doing in this country" he asked again. "We're searching for our little brother," Ace said before facing the man.
Shay ignored him because Ace could handle it and there was no need for her to get involved. What finally got her attention was the marine and her friend being slammed through the walls and a familiar voice sat next to her, "Old man, food, food, food. I need it badly" her ray of light said smiling.
She didn't realize how much she had missed that smile.
Shay was so happy to see him and while he's clicking his cutlery together, she jumped and hugged him from behind. She gripped her legs around his waist the minute he was done ordering.
The young pirate captain was not expecting anyone to do that so and he looked at her.
His smile grew when he recognized her too and stretched his arm with his rubber power to hug her... reverse, too? "Shay is that really you. What are you doing here" he asked, "What, sunshine aren't you happy to see me?" she said almost offended.
"Of course, I am, but I thought you would join your father's crew. Don't tell me you want to join me instead. Yosh!" Luffy looked so cute happy. She almost didn't want to ruin his good mood by telling him that she was on a mission with Ace.
She was still clinging to him when the marine came back and started to talk to Luffy. He just kept eating and she kept hugging him totally ignoring the older man. Shay was still on his back when Luffy started running.
She really did not understand why he would run while she was here to protect him.
Maybe he wanted to protect her for a change, she let him do it and she just closed her eyes to relax.
She could feel Luffy jumping onto a building and she looked behind them to see the marine was still following them. His smoke almost touched her back, and Shay was about to blow him far away but suddenly tripped fell down between two buildings and they landed in trash.
Shay was about to punch him over the head for being reckless but Luffy quickly held her around the waist and started running again. She loved him but if he continued to carry her around like a doll, she was going to get angry.
Soon Shayla heard more voices "Luffy, did you kidnap that girl" probably Luffy's crew. Before he could answer she felt her friend's fire attack and the two brothers finally reunited, "Ace" he said in disbelieve, "you haven't changed, Luffy." the older brother looked at him with a grin.
"Ace, did you eat a devil fruits?" the young captain asked, "Yeah, the Mera Mera no mi. By the way if you continue like that, she's going to kill you" the commander warned, "Don't worry. There's no way she'll kill me" he had the nerve to laugh.
The conversation didn't last long, and Ace told them to run while he fought the marines.
The small crew ran and asked their captain who the man was. Luffy smiled as they stopped and told them that it was his brother.
"What about her" someone asked.
Before he could introduce Shayla, she turned herself around and kicked him from the back of his head to the ground, "Let go of me, already" she almost screamed, and she didn't look too good.
"I'm sorry," he said before finally loosening his grip around her, "I forgive you" she smiled sweetly at him. The crew looked at her for a few seconds and the decision to run back to the ship. Shayla knew when Luffy took the wrong turn, and she was thinking it was a good opportunity for a brotherly catch-up.
Shayla and the rest of the crew arrived at the ship, "What brings a beautiful girl like you to our small ship," a blond man asked with heart eyes. "Nothing special really just wanted to see, Luffy," she said casually.
She saw curiosity in some of the crew's eyes, "Who are you" a long-nosed man carefully asked. She laughed out loud "I'm Shayla, Luffy's sister, sort of" that surprised them, and it was clear in their eyes that Luffy didn't talk about them.
They set sail to keep the ship safe while still looking for their captain. She just observed them, the pirates seemed pretty dependable, and she was happy for Luffy.
"This heat is making my hair dry" Shay complain as she touched her waist-long curly hair to laid it up to a loose ponytail. Then she took the bandana she had around her waist and tied it over her head so the curls would still be there.
A certain long nose would understand her struggles.
-x-
The young captain came back 15min late as he crashed into the blond man named and the cute reindeer. Luffy started telling his crew about the two, like how strong they were and that he could never beat them as a kid, but he probably could now.
Shay was about to protest but saw Ace doing that just fine and he introduced himself.
But they were interrupted when baroque's works ship came to capture the two brothers for their bounty, not knowing that Shay had one too.
"I'm going to take care of them," she said while stretching, but before she could go Ace jump down to his little ship and went after them, impressing the small crew. He jumped over the 5 ships and used his signature attack, fire-fist to sink all five.
He came back a few minutes late and Shay went over to him, "oi, I said I was going to do it" she slammed her flaming fist down the rail shocking the others. "You have fire powers, too," a cute little reindeer asked with shining eyes.
Shay smiled and kneeling down to pat his head, forgetting her anger, "Well, aren't you a cute one. I can do more than that. I'm what they call an element bender" she patted his heard, "Yeah Chopper, she can control fire, water, air, and earth. She is very strong and can make lighting too." Luffy said in admiration
"That why you have to join my crew" he continued excitedly. "Show us, please" the long nose guy and the reindeer said with stars in their eyes.
"Okay, okay, stand back," she said as she stepped back too. Shayla took her head back before leaning forward to breathed fire out like a dragon. Then took her fan and started dancing as she released a strong wind that blew at them, cooling them down.
She giggled at their reaction before she took her hand over the rail to call the water. She moved the water around them before taking it to her palm. Shay crunch her hand into a fist and brewed into it.
When she opened her fist again for everyone to see and could hear them grasp, the water was frozen into a big ice cube.
Shay took a step back and she held two fingers up as she made circle motions and started lighting gathered. She aimed at the ocean before shooting it out.
The crew started to clap and cheered at the amazing show when a green-haired guy said, "what about earth, can't you control that too", she slammed her foot down the deck, "Oh right, but be careful about what you ask for" Shayla warned as a few seconds later a big rock came out of the ocean and over his head.
Seconds before he could take out his swords to cut the stone, Shay held her arm up to stopped the stone and threw it into the ocean again.
"That is amazing and all of that comes from a devil fruit," the orange hair girl asked in amazement.
"It's not from a devil fruit, apparently it's a power I inherited from my mother. Don't know where it came from, but I only got it after my mother died and by then it was too late" Shay answered. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," the girl said.
"Don't worry, it happened a long ago", it was too annoying to explain now. It was perfect because the blond guy came out with drinks and everybody forgot it for time being.
Meeting Luffy's crew was interesting. They were a bunch of strange people, that had their own thing going but fitting together perfectly. Shayla went over to the two girls and everybody started to introduce themselves. There was Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Vivi, and her weird duck.
It was quite surprising to know that Vivi was a princess and even more surprising that she was traveling with pirates to save her country.
"Ne Vivi, what part of the country is the most unique and beautiful" Shay curiously asked. "Mhh, Rainbase it quite a sight. But the capital Alubarna is both unique and beautiful" Vivi stated.
"Why do you ask" this time it was Nami. "Because I want to draw it" Shay beamed.
There were drawings of Wano, Foosha village, Dadan's old hunt, the brothers, Whitebeard ship, the captain himself with his powers, and his 16 commanders.
They are all beautiful. "Wow they are amazing, Shayla-san" Sanji complimented with heart-eyes as he danced around her. "Thank you" she smiled at his playfulness.
Luffy asked both of them to join his crew, but Ace explained the situation and that they were going to Yuba. Seen it was the crew's destination too, they decided to travel together.
The two best friends' clothes weren't dessert friendly, Ace was only wearing his black shorts and orange hat, not that Shayla was any better, she was wearing a short-sleeve black shirt and loose white pants.
Nami gave Shay a long dark grey cardigan and black scarf. She tried her hair into a bun before she wore the headscarf. Yet, her hair could still be seen down her face and she used a part of it to cover half her face, too. Ace always had a long black cardigan with red flame-like pattern at the end and a white scarf.
Where did he get that anyway?
Shay stole his hat, "Hey, give it back" he protested. "No, it's payback for stealing my glory," she said.
Ace sighed and let her have it.
They went off the ship to travel to Yuba. Vivi started explaining the countries affairs.
The crew was not used to this heat and was struggling to walk. Vivi who was born here was fine. As for the two friends, Ace being fire, the heat didn't bother him at all.
Shayla was another story since the night of betrayal, she had felt the weather more. It wasn't to the level as everyone else, but she felt the chilling cold more clearly now. Doing the day, she was sweating, and she hated it because she was not only disgustingly wet, but she was stinking too.
There had to be a way for her to get her old ways back and not be like everyone else.
She loved being special.
There was a long way to go, and everyone just had to help each other somehow.
The funny thing about the desert is, it's heating hot at day and freezing cold at night. Everybody helped to set up the camp and sat by the fire to keep warm.
Everyone else went closer to the fire.
Chopper, who was enjoining the stars was jumped by Usopp and Luffy lowkey Zoro too. They were trying not to freeze. Shayla was blowing fire to keep her warm, but she decided it was too much trouble and went over to her comrade. She gave him his hat back before cuddling against him.
And my God was he hot.
Ace already used to this took his arm around her and held her closer while observing the others. They were an amusing bunch they both thought. "It must be a real surprise for you" They both looked to see Vivi, "I mean Luffy-san, I was surprised too at first" she continued.
"Why would anything Luffy does surprise us?" Shay asked, not understanding what she was trying to say. "Maybe it that he isn't captain-like or that normal pirates captain is respected by their crewmate. But just this afternoon, a simple drink of water caused a big fight. But, you know, the longer I've been with the more I've come to understand- ",
"That's how Luffy does things" Shay finished while smiling, "eh" Vivi questioned. "He hasn't change one bit since he was a kid. Despite how he seems people always gather around him. Even though he's our little brother, he has this mysterious charm about him" Ace explained.
"Oh, you already knew" Vivi sounding surprised. "We go way back," the two pirates said in unison. "But thanks" the princess didn't understand, and Ace continued, "You were worried that we were concerned, right" the princess smiled, "Yes. But it looks like I didn't need to worry after all" Ace chuckled, and Shay fell asleep.
-x-
Shayla woke up the next morning in her tent to yelling outside. She hated being up early and half asleep she opened the tent and yelled "Shut up you bastards, I'm still trying to sleep-" she didn't get to finish before a big sandstorm was about to hit.
Everybody was already outside and Shay jumped to the middle and made a big circle of wind, to protect everyone. She didn't feel it was enough, so she bent the stones around them and a square with them inside which gave much better results.
"That was so cool," the funny trio said.
Sometime later, the sandstorm was over, and everybody went out "What a useful power" Zoro praised. Shay was about to go back to sleep when she saw the others was packing and start the journey again. "No, I haven't slept enough, I'm tired, and it too early," she protested.
The sun had just risen. Who in their right mind would be up at this God-forsaking hour?
"I know, come I'll carry you and you can just sleep" Ace offered which Shay happily agreed to, "Ace, have I told you how much I love you" she smiled, "yeah, but it won't hurt to hear it more often" he teased. "I love you," she said as she jumped up to his back and in seconds she was asleep.
-x-
Shay woke up again hearing Luffy and Sanji argued about something, probably something stupid. She sat in Ace's lap and her head on his shoulders. She looked at him and kissed his cheek, "I really don't deserve to know an amazing man like you," Ace did not agree.
"What are you talking about of course you do. If anything, I don't deserve you", smiling as she laid her head on his shoulders again. "By the way, what is their problem," Shay said annoyed. "Some bird stole their backs of food and water" She was shocked and was about to stand when Ace held her back saying, "We still got ours" That calm her down as she sat down again.
She really loved this man.
Luffy ran away to chase the birds, after waiting some time Zoro and Sanji went out to find him. "tch, he's a lost cause" The green-haired man complained, "you can say that again" Sanji agreed. "I'm sorry. For my brother's carelessness, I apologize" Ace said sincerely.
Before they even left the camp, everyone could hear a rumble coming their way and soon they a giant lizard chasing the young captain riding on a camel. Zoro and Sanji went to help him and the trio beat the lizard, but another emerged from the sand and was about to eat the two from the yonko crew.
Shay jumped out of the way and let Ace take care of it, "What a pain. Do you want to play? Okay, only if you're sure" he smirked as he jumped in his mouth and burned it from the inside.
The hungry crew decided to eat the lizard.
The crew was about to continue when Nami had swooned over the camel she named Eyelashes. She went over to both Shay and Vivi letting them ride with her. When they were both on, they rode in the direction of Yuba threatening to leave the guys if they didn't hurry up.
The girls were leading the group while enjoying the ride and the guys were a little behind probably arguing.
It had been hours and at some point, Shay decided to turn around to see how the others were doing. She wasn't even surprised that most of the guys were gone only leaving Sanji and Usopp walking behind them, "Most of the idiots is gone" she said casually leaning back taking her arms behind her head closing her eyes.
The orange-haired girl kind of expecting this just kept going. "Aren't we going to look for them?" Vivi was concerned. "Don't worry they'll follow our track" Nami said calmly.
-x-
They continued for a couple of hours more and the sun was about to set, Vivi kept looking back hoping to see the others. Both girls noticed this, "are you still worried" Nami asked. But before Vivi could deny this, "It's written all over your face, princess" Shay interrupted.
"I'm sorry, I do believe in them, but…" Vivi started, "You're all amazing. I've been wondering since little garden. How is it possible for you to believe in your nakama so much?" she continued. "How? I've never thought about it actually," Nami answered.
Vivi was amazed, "That's even more amazing, not many people can believe in others without a shred of doubts".
Shay smiled remembering her own crew, "When you meet the right people, you will trust them without even realizing it".
Nami knew what she meant, "Well, I'm not sure, but maybe it's because everyone does what they can to the best of their abilities. You know a person can only do so much. No matter what you do, it's impossible to do it alone. You need nakama. But if they don't do all they can for you, it's meaningless, don't you think? Oh, that was a weird answer"
Vivi was shaking her head "No, thank you".
Shayla agreed, "Yeah, Nami that was perfect".
Not long after they saw Luffy, Zoro and Chopper came back all happy and they choose to set a camp up here before it got too cold. Shayla was looking over the horizon to maybe see Ace, but no luck "Where is that idiot? Without him I can't really sleep, I'm going to freeze" she said not too loud.
Sanji was fast to offer his company to the pirate girl but Nami interrupted him, "Shay, come sleep with us" Shay accepted without a second thought
-x-
The next morning, he was still nowhere to be seen. By noon they were getting hungry and the girls met the sand pirates, but Shayla didn't get caught like the two other girls.
She jumped to the rail ready to kick all their asses.
A man came over to her with a knife and she just punched him in the face and passing out. "If you don't let them go, I'll just have to make you regret it" she was craking her fingers.
To her, it was that simple, "No, don't Shayla-san" the princess begged, "You're right, I don't need them to let you go. I can just defeat them and do it myself" Shay realized before shooting the rope holding them with fire.
"Shay, kick their asses" Nami cheered and soon they saw a rubbery arm stretching and grabbing the mast. Luffy flew over to the ship and broke it all.
The young captain got along with them quite well. It wasn't that surprising, Luffy had this nature around him that made people come to him. The sand pirate captain suggested eating the camel and it surprised him, "You can eat that thing" Luffy questioned.
Shayla didn't think it was a bad idea considering, that they were hungry in the middle of the desert without food or water. Once they gained their energy they could continue without problems.
That was until a girl was shooting at the blue-haired girl. It appeared that she knew Vivi.
Shay was not really interested in their drama and just relaxed by the rail.
Luffy and Vivi along with two others left to get supplies to fix the part of the ship the black-haired man broke.
-x-
When they left the pirates, they ran into Ace who brought them food and water. Luffy ran towards his brother as well as everyone else. The only one who hesitated a bit was the princess, "um, Ace-san I didn't see that you were carrying that much money. You didn't steal it, right?"
Shay didn't like the way Vivi talked, "So what if he stole it. Are you forgetting that you're traveling with pirates? Don't come acting all righteous with us," Shay snapped as she went over to the food.
Just because they didn't act violently, they were still pirates. The princess had gotten too comfortable with their happy nature that she had forgotten that they were wanted and dangerous people.
Vivi was taking back, not expecting that to get scolded. "No, of course, I didn't steal it, the rebel army gave it to me," Ace said, "You don't have to defend yourself to her. She clearly doesn't like our lifestyle" Shay was still annoyed.
What did he mean by of course he didn't steal it? Normally he wouldn't hesitate to just eat and run.
Not knowing how to respond Vivi changed her attention to the rebel army.
They went to the small town and it was pathetic to see the "army" like that, so Shay stayed on the camel close to the two girls.
Shay started to think: Why was everyone acting like Vivi was in charge? She was just a princess the crew promised to help. So, why were they getting along with everything she was saying?
Challenging the rebel army was all over quite fast.
They walked for a couple of more days, Shayla and the girls were riding a camel, Vivi started telling her about her past and Shay just rolled her eyes.
She had no interest in the life of royalty and just leaned back before looking at the guys. Luffy had just pocked to something in the sand with a stick and a giant scorpion tried to attack him but his crew was fast to help.
Shayla smiled at them, they had an amazing relationship, and it made her heart warm that Luffy finally found the friends he longed for so long ago. She was happy to have witnessed the special moment.
-x-
It was a pain to see some bounty hunter trying to defeat Ace. He was apparently so confident that he could defeat them, that it was almost funny that lost with only one punched. This was the man who was supposed to have defeated Blackbeard? Not a chance!
Why are they all set on wasting their time?
After the scorpion thing and realizing that Blackbeard isn't in Alabasta, the two whitebeard pirates packed up their thing and were ready to go. "Are you really leaving Ace, Shayla?" the young doctor asked. "Yeah" they both said at the same time, "since Blackbeard isn't in Alabasta, we have no reason to say" Ace continued.
"Huh? But Shay said that next time we saw each other she would join me" Luffy protested. "I never said that I would join you. I said I would travel with you, but not now Lu this mission is to import-", she never finished.
"It's fine. I can handle the mission alone, you stay here and keep your promise" Ace insisted. "But" she started, "I'm the commander it's my responsibility. I am more than enough to handle this" he continued. "I know, but there is a reason that I went with you. Dad had a bad feeling about of this" Shay argued.
"You worry too much Shay, don't you trust me" before he could say anything else, Shay smacked him over the head, "Don't be stupid, of course I trust you. You never wanted to go with you, to begin with, right? Now you're just using this as an excuse. Okay fine promise me that you'll be careful," She decided to give up.
Her eyes almost looked desperate, and Ace had only seen her like this once before, "I promise" he said and Shay hugged him.
They stood like that for 10 more second before Shay turned around, facing the Straw-hat crew with a smirk, "I guess I'm staying then".
The crew smiled just as bright. Nami hugged her and she and the guys cheered for their new 'nakama'.
"Luffy, you take care of her" Ace stated seriously, Shayla was his best friend, and he wanted what best for her. "Of course, she's family" Luffy said and his brother nodded before he gave him something "Hold on to that, always" Luffy looked at it "oh, it's just a piece of paper" a little disappointed.
"That piece of paper will reunite us one day. Don't you want it?" Ace joked, "no, I want it," he said. "Don't tell him what it is, Shay. He'll find out one day on his own." Shay took two fingers across her lips and made a lock motion.
He sighed as he continued "Having a little brother who's a bit slow makes a big brother worried. I know he's a bit much to handle, but please take care of him." while bowing.
The bounty hunter was waving goodbye and the crew turned to them, but not Shay because she kept her eyes on Ace as he left, "Be careful. Don't make me regret this" she said, and the straw-hat crew continued.
-x-
They reached Yuba the next day, only to find it almost deserted and only one man was left. The old man apparently knew Vivi and got along with Luffy. They were tired after a long day, so they decided to rest in one of the houses. While Shay went to the bathroom a certain blond laid in her bed, "Get out of my bed, Sanji" she said tiredly.
"I don't want you to get lonely so I-" before he says anytime else, Shay stepped out of the way and she used the stonewalls to throw him off. "I don't have time for that," She laid down in the comfortable bed and was ready to sleep.
It has been an insanely long hot trip, only to find out the rebel army isn't here. Like couldn't the princess gather information to conform to their location like normal people? She felt a pillow hit her head and saw the guys fighting.
She needed to vent of a little, so Shay went over and jumped them all at the same time while laughing, "finally something fun".
Soon after they all fell asleep gathering their energy for the battle to come.