I wake up in a jolt when there's a loud 'BANG!' right next to my ear. I shot open my eyes and sit up. I look around and see Luffy is also waking up, but he falls asleep again. I turn my head and my nose bump into something cold. I rub my nose as I blearily see a pipe staff and slowly process the sight.

Pipe staff…?

I look up and see Ace is looking at me with a blank look. We stare at each other for a moment before I plop back on the floor and go back to sleep, ignoring Ace completely. Ace is not happy about it and hit my head with his staff. I groan and sit back up, rubbing at the bump in my head as I glare at him.

"The fuck man, that hurt you stupid 10-year-old kid!" I shout at him, who just getting angrier.

"Shut up you brat! Wake up now or I hit you again!" Ace shouts back. I just scowl unhappily in silence and hit Luffy on his rubbery head to wake him up.

"Luffy, wake up! We need to do stupid chores!" I shout. Luffy groans and sits up, rubbing at the bump I gave him.

"…Do we have to?" He asks sleepily.

"I mean, I'm fine if you don't wanna eat, but I'm not going to join you," I reply as I stand up, groaning as the soreness from the wounds and bruises I got from getting lost in the woods and from fighting Ace last night.

Apparently, someone moved me back inside and tended to my wounds last night. Whoever did it, they have my gratitude.

Even so, I'd love to have a bath at this moment because I smell and feel like shit, but Luffy is far quicker than my morning brain as he grabs me and runs outside the house and into the woods, ignoring Dadan's yelling while Luffy calls for Ace.

"Hey, you brats! Come back here and do chores!" That's what she said before we're out of range. Luffy just laughs while I just sigh at his antics.

"We're after Ace again?"

"Yep! Shishishi!"

I try my best to keep up with Luffy, but alas, my wound on my calf actually slowed my movements and we eventually lost Ace, again. We also eventually got lost in the end that we just returned with empty hands. I'm just relieved that I finally get to take a good warm soak in the bath.

Fuuck, I need this so baad. This feels so fucking good.

I let out a pleased sigh and look at Luffy, who is in the same barrel-like bathtub as me, back to back. I close my eyes and submerge, thinking about the next many days that will be spent on us both running after Ace all over again. I rise back up and turn to look at the back of Luffy's head.

I hug him from behind and grab his cheeks before pulling them out in annoyance.

"E-Eris?! What are you doing? It hurts!" Luffy complains.

"Shut up! I got a feeling that tomorrow we're gonna chase Ace again and we're gonna get new injuries again! And I'm really mad now because today we almost got eaten by crocodiles, again!"

After the bath, Dogra fixes my injuries and I'm off to get dressed in a bluish-green tanktop and grayish-blue shorts. Apparently Garp literally just dropped us off in this shack with only our clothes on our back, so we literally just wear Ace's old clothes.

Since I got thrown into this world, I never really wear any footwear. I prefer it compared to wearing shoes or sandals, but for safety, I grab myself a pair of sandals at the corner of the room and put them on. I tie my hair up high using the cloth I found and turn to look at Luffy.

"We're not chasing Ace again today. Only once a day until our injuries are healed up. Not complaining because we need to forage for our lunch, then do our chores." I tell him.

Luffy, being the child that he is, just purses his lips and starts to complain as I pull him along into the forest by the back of his collar to look for mushrooms or something, while the bandits are all just watching us with a disbelief look.

Every day, every week, and for months, we kept chasing after Ace and almost died repeatedly. Thankfully, our old injuries are healed up and new ones aren't that bad for us to be a hindrance, but we're still been left behind. Repeatedly.

I bang my head on a tree a few times. So hard that some leaves flutter down around me before I stop and let out a heavy sigh, glaring at nothing in particular. I'm really mad for some reason, and I really want to punch something.

It's frustrating that I'm just a powerless kid, trying to keep Luffy's ass from being bitten by death over and over again.

From what I observed, everyone had some kind of super-strength in this world. Their strength is different from the other, but it's still beyond what is considered 'normal' back on Earth. And from that, I slowly realize that it also affects me in a way, but it's still not enough.

"Hey Eris, you got huge eye bags there," Luffy comments, pointing at under his eyes to state the obvious. I just glare and growl at him, which shuts him up as he pales.

Walking off to the shack's wall, I clench my fists before pulling one back and start punching. Everyone gasps as I keep on punching the poor wall until I feel something warm trickling out from my knuckles that I give one last strike and stop. I see that I leave a cracked wall behind, almost a hole, with my blood splashing over it.

I fall on my butt and sprawl on the ground, looking at my bleeding knuckles before giving it a lick, which actually makes the bandits nearby let out a disgusted sound. I lick it up until it doesn't bleed anymore that I cross my arms under my head and close my eyes.

A few moments later, I hear the door open and a set of familiar footsteps. I open one of my eyes and sure enough, it's Ace, walking away to hunt with his pipe staff in hand. I just huff as I stand up and turn to Luffy, who's just looking at Ace's slowly furthering away from us.

"Well? Are we going after him or what?" I ask Luffy, who turns to me and gives me a big grin before he hops on his feet and we both run off after Ace.

As we run, I hear Dadan yelling 'WHO THE HECK PUT A HOLE IN THE WALL?!' and I just snort at that.

We both run for a moment before our target dashes ahead. I scowl and curse loudly as we sprint faster, but the approaching rain is hindering our quest. Ugh great, now we're wet and I'm pissed off again. I look around and up, and sure enough Ace is at the peak of a cliff above us.

I was about to call him, but I hear a loud growling nearby. I halt and paled. This is bad; I know this scene.

"Damn! He ran really fast! He's amazing, isn't he?" Luffy says, not realizing the danger we're in.

And then a loud thump that pretty much shakes the ground is heard next to us.

"Is that Ace?" Luffy asks as he searches around for the sound's origin while I just slowly turn my head around and paled even more. It's obviously not, Luffy! Curse this child's obliviousness!

At that moment, lightning strikes, revealing the beast's silhouette. A tiger, and a huge one at that! It's the most dangerous animal on Mount Colubo. Fuck and double fuck!

Luffy falls to his butt, terrified. I tch-ed and try my best to defend Luffy behind me as I glance up to Ace. Despite all of the bullshits he gave us, he looks alarmed at what we encounter. The tiger growls while I try to return it, but who am I against a huge beast like it? I'm basically just a fly against this huge striped cat!

"I-I can't move my legs…!" Luffy says in fear, and I don't need to look at him to know that he looks absolutely terrified.

Before we can do anything or the tiger can do anything to us, another loud growl is heard behind us. I turn to see a huge bear with a scar on his face show up behind us, facing off the huge tiger. Seeing that, I quickly grab Luffy's hand and runs off, adrenaline-pumping hard that I barely can feel my injuries.

We run and run until I deem it far enough from those monsters that we finally stop to start to breathe. While Luffy falls on his back to the ground, I just slump down on a nearby tree. Fucking hell, I can't believe we survived that.

Eventually, the sky clears up and there's a rainbow as we both gasps in awe before we laugh our adrenaline out.

After that incident, we keep chasing after Ace every day nonstop, no matter the weather. We got new bruises and wounds, but we eventually managed to get past all obstacles Ace threw our way. Sometimes Dadan's family tries to stop us from chasing after Ace and me from destroying their walls in rage even further.

Months passed, and we finally arrive at the end of the forest. We grin at each other when we finally see the other side of the forest, revealing the infamous Gray Terminal. Wow, this is not the first time I see a place that's full of rubbish and junk, but it's amazing to see somehow.

And also super smelly. Bleh.

"What is this place?" Luffy asks, who doesn't seem bothered by the smell.

"It's Gray Terminal, a place full of rubbish in Goa kingdom and the outer side of… err, the main town inside that wall!" I answer as I point at the enormous wall at the end of the Gray Terminal before us. Luffy just 'oooh'-ed in return.

We walk toward Gray Terminal and around, while I'm trying my best to not mind the smell one bit. Ugh, this strong smell is hurting my nose and head. This is what I get for having a strong sense of smell.

While I'm just walking around, Luffy is jumping around on the trash, calling out for Ace before he jumps on a stone, crushing it and bringing him along down. I just snort and sigh in amusement as I peek down at him.

"You okay?" I ask before I climb and jump over next to him, who's just rubbing his head before standing back up.

"Yeah!" Luffy replies with a grin. I see that there's a human skull right next to him. I walk up to it and pick it up while Luffy continues calling out for Ace. Wow, it's a real human skull. This is my first time holding one. Kinda reminds me of Brook.

I just shrug and put the skull on my head as I follow Luffy as usual, who runs over a destroyed pillar and stands at its top before continuing. Eventually, some ugly bastard crashes onto us, but before he can say anything, I quickly grab Luffy and walk past him.

Of course, typical Luffy, he keeps on getting himself into some mishaps, like falling into a hole. I laugh but still help him afterward. After a while, Luffy sees Ace walking back into the forest. Luffy grins and runs off, while I can just call his name and run after him. Man, thanks to Luffy and Ace, I can feel that my stamina isn't as low as my real self back in my world, and probably also because I'm a kid right now. Children just have endless stamina for some reason.

As we approach a huge tree, I can hear voices. Before Luffy can shout his head off, I quickly drag him to a nearby bush and cover his mouth.

"Listen. You need to stay quiet." I whisper. He nods and I move my hand back.

"We're going to leave East Blue and go somewhere these people never dreamed of." I know this scene. I also recognize the voice; the one that belongs to my third favorite character, Sabo. Third, because Luffy is first, Ace is second, and then him.

"Just thinking about it is exciting!" Sabo says.

Well, according to the last chapter I read back in my homeworld, Sabo will be alive and meet Luffy in Dressrosa Arc. He was there because Ace's Mera Mera no Mi is the main prize there, so if I managed to save Ace, will the plot stay the same? Or should I try to think of another way to trigger the plot? But I'm definitely not letting Ace die though.

I was so lost in thought that I almost miss Ace's reply.

"Now put it away. We can't let anybody see it." He says. They're talking about their treasure, right? And they're planning to buy a pirate ship? To be honest, those guys are insane. And they'll try to kill us later…

"A pirate ship?! You guys gonna be pirates?!" Luffy suddenly exclaims and he's actually standing right under the tree. Since when he was there?! I mentally slap my forehead and try to stop my urge to strangle Luffy. Since I don't think they saw me yet, I stayed still.

"I'm going to become a pirate too!" Luffy adds and I just curse under my breath a couple of times before eventually revealing myself out and walking up to Luffy as the older boys are climbing down the tree at high speed. I curse again before they run at us and throw punches at us.

I manage to dodge, but Luffy isn't as lucky. They try again at me, but I quickly block and try to twist their hands, but a kick to my chest hurls me right onto a tree. A wind escapes me along with a few drops of blood as I accidentally bit my tongue. I can only groan in pain as I can also feel something warm flowing down to my neck.

Damnit, they're strong. Yet somehow I could dodge the first attack. I wonder…

Before I know it, we both are tied to the tree. I can only stare at the 10-year-old boys in front of us, who are staring back at us and definitely contemplating murder.

"Ace! I didn't know you travel this far every day!" Luffy comments happily, worsening the situation.

"Shut your trap, Luffy! It's your fault we were found! Now shut up or I kill you myself!" I yell at him and give him an animalistic growl, which instantly shuts him up. I turn back to our captors and I just growl at them too, which angers them even more. Then again, we did eavesdrop on them, and we know their treasure's location and plans.

"Are they Luffy and Eris?" Sabo asks Ace.

"You told him about us?!" Luffy asks Ace too.

"Just about how annoying you are and how she follows you around like a leech," Ace replies with a scowl, "Plus, she's brave enough to fight me."

"Well yeah, obviously." I scoff, "a shithead like you deserved it. I'll kick your ass again if you want." But before Ace can punch me, I continue, "Besides, I follow Luffy around because I don't want him to die in a dumb way."

I just stare at them with a bored look, while Ace seems ready to just snap my neck off and Sabo's face is blank.

"He also told me you're an airhead and she's a weirdo," Sabo adds. I clench my teeth together in anger and sharpen my gaze on Ace, while Luffy just laughs. I swear I'm going to punch these guys later!

"I was dissing you, didn't you get that? At least the weirdo has some common sense." Sabo comments with a slightly annoyed look, while I just growl at him loudly, which makes him change his mind. "Never mind, the weirdo is crazy." He quickly adds.

I just snort and scowl, trying to wriggle out from the ropes, but to no avail. The ropes are tight enough to trap a worm.

"They're finally here, even though I didn't use any conventional roads." Ace answers.

"Yeah no shit, Sherlock. I tripped over some stupid things," I say sarcastically, turning to address Luffy. "Thanks to you," I tell him in sarcasm, but he just laughs and replies 'no problem!' before turning back to Sabo.

"Hey, are you Ace's friend? Be my friend, buddy!" Luffy says cheerfully.

"Shut up! Don't call me buddy!"

"Don't yell at him!"

"Shut up, we aren't talking to you!"

"And why should I care, Freckles?!"

"What did you say, Weirdo?!"

We both just glare and growl at each other that even imaginative sparks can be seen between us. Luffy doesn't really care, obviously, while Sabo is just keeping watch.

"So, what's your name?"

"Sa—I don't have to tell you!"

"Oh please, I know your name, Blondie. So shut up." I snap without interrupting my glaring contest with Ace. Sabo seems surprised at that.

"Wha—how? Did you tell her, Ace?" Sabo asks and Ace breaks our eye contact to look at Sabo. Fuck yeah, I won the glaring contest! Suck it, Ace! I'm keeping a tally on this.

"No, not a word." Ace replies, who seems as disturbed as Sabo.

I let out a yawn when the wind softly blows over us. I'm starting to get tired all of a sudden. Either it's the fatigue, the blood loss, or both. Either way, taking a nice nap here sounds nice, so I doze off a bit before Luffy screams bloody murder, which snaps me immediately to wakefulness that I hit the back of my head to the tree.

I loudly groan in pain from both the back of my head and my ear as Luffy keeps on screaming not to kill him while the older boys are arguing about who will kill us and not knowing how to murder.

"Don't throw me into the water!" Luffy yell. Eyes wide, I turn and head-butt Luffy's head for that.

"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TOLD THEM, IDIOT!" I yell furiously.

"Okay, let's head to the river!"

"Why did he even say that?"

Because he's an idiot, that's why!

"How do we kill her?" Sabo asks, turning to me.

"Wha—damn brats! If you kill me, I'm gonna haunt you guys!" I scream back and just give them animalistic growls, while Luffy is still screaming that it could make my ears bleed. Through the noises, a conversation catches my interest that I pause my growling and turn toward the source of the voices, which is noticed by the older boys.

"…Yeah he stole it. I think his name is Ace or something…"From the panicked looks the older boys are exchanging, I conclude those are Bluejam's men.

Sabo quickly unties us and they dove into a nearby bush. I reach for Luffy when a hand grabs the back of my shirt and Luffy's, lifting us into the air and into the same eye level as the perpetrator, aka Porchemy.

"Ace! Help!" Luffy yells as he struggles and I too try to wriggle out from his grip, but it just tightens.

"Did you just say 'Ace'?" Porchemy asks.

"He's our friend!" Luffy answers, "Though he was about to kill us." He adds.

"Ace stole from us and ran away." Ugly bastard says. No shit, Sherlock. "Do you know where our money is?"

Luffy is silent while I just glare at Porchemy. Eventually, Luffy just averts his eyes and did his lying face and replies that he had no idea, which everyone immediately knows how bad of a liar he is that they just give him disbelief looks. And then Porchemy turns to me and asks the same question.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Fugly," I answer with a smirk. This infuriates them, but they calm down and start chuckling evilly. Fuck this, we're gonna get fucked! Either literally or figuratively, I'm still not into it.

"Well, well. Don't worry, I'll help you remember!" Fugly says as he takes us along somewhere. I growl in annoyance. Damnit, Ace! Why did you steal from them?! Are you stupid or something?! Fucking hell!

"Damnit, let us go, stupid!" Luffy shouts while I struggle to wriggle from the grip again.

"LET US GO, YOU UGLY BASTARD!" I roar out, but they just laugh and keep on walking.

Damnit Ace, after this is over, I'm seriously gonna kick his ass again!

(Posted on February 18th)