"Come on! Hurry!" I yelled as I ran with a barrel of water in my arms.
"Everyone! Hurry and get on the ship!" Vivi exclaimed as we kept running.
"Get on the ship?! Are we leaving the island?!" Usopp asked.
"No, we're going up to the river on the ship, then into the desert!" Vivi replied, "We only came to Nanohana to get crucial supplies!"
"Hurry up! Marines are coming! Get on and raise the anchor!" Nami exclaimed as she got on the ship along with everyone else but Luffy, Vivi and Carue.
"Hey, where's Luffy?" I asked as I just realized that my dear big baby brother isn't here.
"What!?" everyone exclaimed in shock.
"That baka!" Nami growled as she clenched her fist. "If he came back, I'll kill him!"
"You won't dare…" I growled as I glared at her before turning my attention back to the town, not minding Vivi and Carue were talking to each other while everyone were preparing to set sail.
"Everyone! Set sail now!" I told them, "Luffy will come later soon! Takao, Ro! Go pick Luffy up!" I told the two and they nodded before they flew away to town.
"By the way, Eri." I turned as Zoro called me, "That guy back then, he really you and Luffy's brother?" he asked.
"Yep!" I replied with big grin.
"Well, I'm not surprised that both of you got a brother, but why is he here in Grand Line?" he asked again.
"He's a Pirate." I replied, "He's the Second Commander of Whitebeard Pirates second division!" I continued. "He's handsome, right?" I asked as I giggled.
"Whitebeard Pirates!?" the Straw-Hats exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yep! Ace is five years older than me while he's three years older than Luffy. So he left the island 3 years earlier than both of us." I said. "He ate Mera Mera no Mi at the time he just started his pirating life, so he's literally fire and he's hot, right?" I laughed.
"Even so, Ace is really strong before he ate one. Luffy never beat him once in a spar! I beat him once and beat Luffy several times." I explained.
"Not even once Luffy beat him? Against a regular human?" Nami asked in disbelief.
"The monsters' brother must be one hell of a monster." Usopp commented.
"Yep, we always got out asses kicked!" I admitted and laughed before Takao landed on the deck with Ro on his head and Luffy on his back.
"Yo everyone!" he greeted as he jumped off from Takao's back.
"Luffy, where's our water?" Sanji-san asked as he realized that the barrel of water he brought earlier is not in his grasps anymore.
"Huh?" Luffy replied before realized something, "Oh! I accidently spilled it all when have a spar with Ace! Sorry!" he laughed as he said that, which earning a kick in the head by Sanji-san.
"You idiot! That's our precious water!" he yelled, shark-teethed.
"But I bet I could beat him in a full spar now!" he exclaimed and laughed as he sat down beside me on the railings.
"That's a groundless statement." Zoro said as he sweat-dropped.
"He's going to kick your ass for that." I said with a smirk. And sure enough, Ace jumped and kicked Luffy's head, making him fell flat to the deck while Ace landed on the railings beside me.
"Just who can you beat, Luffy?" he asked with his usual smirk.
"ACE!" we called in excitement while he grinned at all of us.
"Yo." He replied before turning to the Straw-Hats, "Hey everyone, thank you for taking care of my little brother and beloved little sister." He said as he bowed at them.
"No kidding." They replied as they bowed back.
"Anyways, I'm glad I saw you two. I'm here as I heard rumors about someone defeated 'Blackbeard' here, so I'd like to figure it out." He said, "So I'd try to meet up with you two too."
"Blackbeard?" I echoed as my expression changed drastically from before, "That asshole…" I muttered as I frowned and crossed my arms across my chest.
"Well, why don't stick with us?" Sanji-san asked, "It would be easier to find that person together with us."
"Well, if it's not too much of a trouble, I don't think it's a bad idea." Ace replied with a smile and lighted up Sanji-san's cancer stick.
"Then you'll stick with us?" I asked with excited face, imaginary small stars appeared around my face. That apparently earning a red faced Ace before he nodded. "YES!" I cheered up and ran in circle, which earning sweat-drops from the Straw-Hats and a laugh from Luffy.
"Then, why don't you come inside and we'll talk? I'll make some tea." Sanji-san asked before turning to me, "And Eri-chwan~! I'll make your sweets stocks and a special cake for you~~!" he said as he swooned with noodle dance, totally in love mode.
"That's would be great, thanks." I replied as I turned to him and grinned, not realizing a death-glare from a certain brother of mine that is now on fire. Then I turned again, only seeing Ace smiling at me, totally innocent. I just shrugged and walked inside, totally missing a flaming Ace once again.
"Oh yeah, Eri-chan," Sanji-san called again, "I actually brought you Alabastan outfit, but it seems that you already have one." he said as he started boiling some water.
"Really?" I asked as I sat down, while everyone else is coming in along. "Can I try it?" I asked.
"Of course Eri-chwan my Mellorine~~!" he swooned as he twirled to me and miraculously, a bag appeared in his hands and offered it to me. I took it and walked out from the main room to Women's Quarter to try the clothes on.
Apparently, it's an Alabastan dancer outfit. I stared at it with blank face before shrugged it off. Well, I'm just trying it on, not wearing it on the journey.
I took off my current clothing and wore the dancer outfit before looking at myself on the mirror. It's the typical dancer outfit like Nami and Vivi's ones they wore. It has dark purple color for upper one and light violet for the long skirt. I tied my hair in ponytail before nodded and walked out the room to the main room.
"Yo, minna." I said as I walked in, which earning everyone's attentions, "How do I look?" I asked as I grinned, not realizing a really deep-red faced Ace and he choked from his tea and now coughing hard as Luffy slapped his back to help him up.
"You look gorgeous, Eri-chwaaan~~!" Sanji-san praised as he turned into his love-mode. "As expected from my Mellorine Love~~!" he added.
"Eh? What wrong Ace?" I asked in worry as I saw him coughing hard before calmed down.
"No, it's nothing." he replied softly, still with a little reddish face.
"Are you alright, Ace-san?" Chopper asked, "Did you get a fever?"
"No!" Ace quickly replied, "No no, I'm perfectly fine! Don't worry about me!" he added as he started sweating a bit, still with red cheeks.
"Are you sure? You can just tell me if you're sick, I'm the ship's Doctor." Chopper said as he smiled a bit, quite relieved that Ace is not sick.
"But," I started as I twirled around, "It shows off my back to the world." I continued as glanced at my scarred back.
"Besides, if I wear this, I'll get sunburn, you idiot." I deadpanned and Zoro snorted at that.
"Ha! You hear that, Aho-Cook? She definitely refused to wear that shit." Zoro spat and laughed loudly as Sanji-san is sulking because of my comment.
"Hey Ace! Help me out, will you?" I called him as I offered him my camera. He actually understood the signal and nodded as he smiled and about to take a photo of me. But…
"Hey Eri! Can I eat your sweets?" I heard Luffy said and I quickly turned and about to yell at him about it, but unbeknownst to me, Ace took a picture of me while I got distracted and I ran up to Luffy to pinched his cheeks and pulled them apart as I saw him taking a handful of sweets from my plates of sweets.
"NO ONE TOUCH MY SWEETS!" I yelled as I pulled his cheeks apart with shark-teethed before kicked him away to the wall hard. I growled in annoyance before protecting the plates of delicacies that Sanji-san made. "Its ma' sweets." I stated short and firm with my old accent to Luffy, who was already unconscious because of my attack just then.
"Okay, it's done." I heard Ace said and I turned, only seeing him grinning with the camera in hand.
"Eh?! So fast!" I exclaimed and ran up to him. "Am I pretty?" I asked with twinkling eyes.
"You're gorgeous." He said before ruffling my hair with a grin. I grinned back and took the camera to see the result.
Unbeknownst to me, almost everyone is watching us with knowing looks and same thought.
'Ace likes her…'
XXX
"Wear this Luffy-san!" Vivi said as she offered him Alabastan coats.
"Huh? Why? It's hot." Luffy replied simply.
"You wear it because it's hot. The desert gets over 50 degrees Celsius. You'll get sunburned if your skin is exposed." Vivi explained.
"Why are your clothes so skimpy, then?" he asked as he looked at Vivi's and Nami's clothes, because I already changed the dancer clothes back to the clothes I bought.
"We're going to wear coats too." Nami replied, which earning a certain Cook to yell in disappointment and I pinched his ear as I sighed in frustration.
"Stop being a pervert, Sanji-san." I told him firmly before let his ear go and turning to Ace, who was already wearing his coats and watching our activity silently.
"You still have that necklace with you." I pointed out as my eyes landed on the red-beaded necklace I made years ago.
He put a hand on the necklace before grinning at me, "Of course, baka. It's a gift from you, so it's my treasure." He replied and stood up before pinched my cheek playfully. "What, you thought I will lose it or broke it?" he asked.
"Well, considering you're an idiot and as troublemaker as Luffy, yes I did." I replied with a grin, which earning a hard pinch on my cheek and I yelped in hurt.
"What do you mean by that, Baka-Eri?" he asked deviously with an evil smirk.
"It's the truth, Baka-Ace!" I replied with muffled voice as my cheeks were pinched by my beloved big brother. "Now let go of my cheeks! It hurts!" I complained and he did it as he laughed and I rubbed my cheeks in pity.
"You're still childish as always." He replied with a smirk.
"Shaddap!" I spat playfully and stuck out my tongue at him before grabbing my bag and sling it on my back as I realized we just arrived.
"Alrighty! Everyone ready?" I asked to everyone with some supplies in their hands.
"Guess so." Usopp replied simply.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," I started before jumped off the ship with my bag on my back and turned around, facing everyone that still on the ship, "Alabasta has many wild and vicious animals, so be careful." I warned and laughed as I saw Usopp is cowering in fear and started making excuse about his usual 'unknown disease' and both of my brothers jumped off the ship before walking near me. Then I turned around and saw a herd of Kung Fu Dugongs near the ship at the coast.
"Kung Fu Dugongs?" I pointed out and crouched down before took a picture of them, "They're so cute and cool." I said and giggled.
"Whoa, what the hell is that?! A turtle?! A seal?!" Usopp yelled in shocked as he jumped off the ship and saw a Kung Fu Dugong that went neared him.
"It's a Kung Fu Dugong." I told him.
"Kung Fu?" Usopp replied in confusion.
"No, Usopp-san! Get away from it!" Vivi quickly warned, but not quick enough as the Dugong already beat his ass down.
"They're strong." I added as I saw Usopp is lost by the Dugong.
"You lost." Zoro stated as he sweat-dropped.
"Well, we have a winner over here…" Nami pointed out as she pointed at Luffy that beat the dugong up.
"Don't beat them, either!" Vivi exclaimed. "It's kung fu dugong law that the loser of a fight becomes the winner's student!" she continued as the kung fu dugong bowed to Luffy.
"They're martial artists then." Zoro said and suddenly, almost all the kung fu dugongs were following Luffy as he did a stance of punching, or whatever it is.
"How did it get so many?!" Vivi yelled, shark-teethed.
"Come on, we better go." I told them and Luffy whined about it, the same goes as the dugongs. "We got no time for this… Chopper, Takao, tell the dugongs to wait here and don't follow Luffy. If they still refused, give them food." I told those two, who nodded and did what I said. That eventually worked and we started walking away from the coast full of the herds of dugongs.
"Now, let's go to Yuba!" Luffy cheered as we walked.
"You wasted almost all of our food!" Sanji-san grumbled at Luffy.
"If Eri didn't tell Chopper and Takao to talk them out of it, we'd be in major trouble!" Nami scolded.
"Yeah, they kept saying, 'we'll go with you'…" Takao pointed out.
"Why don't we take them along?" Luffy asked.
"No, they'll be dead if we take them along through the deserts because of lack of water." I told him.
"Besides, we can't get into any towns with that many trailing along, you idiot!" Nami continued.
"The dugongs in this country are pretty weird, Vivi-chan. They live in the river?" Sanji-san asked.
"No, the ocean." Vivi answered. "Ever since ancient times, the Sandora River has sustained this country." she explained, "But lately, the river has lost the force it once had, and now it's being pushed back by the sea, downstream."
"Then the water those dugongs live in is…" Sanji-san trailed off.
"Salt water, obviously." I answered as we walked through the dead and almost buried up by the sand town and I wiped off the stray sweat off my forehead.
"Is that why this village dried up?" Zoro asked.
"No, they collected water on the rare occasions when it rained, and the town survived off of that, most of the time." Vivi replied, "Up until recently, this town was a lively place, full of green plants."
"This place?" Sanji-san asked as I looked around the said green town, which obviously dried up and half-way buried in the sand and I saw a skeleton in the sand. I crouched down and took it in my hands as both Luffy and Chopper also saw it, but with different expressions while the others were keep walking and we ran after them.
"Is that port town going to be okay?" Chopper asked to Vivi.
"Nanohana gets its water supply from the oasis at Katorea, so they're safe." Vivi answered. "Even in Alabasta, no rainfall has ever been something to worry about, for thousands of years… but there was always one place that got more rain than anywhere else."
"The capital, 'Alubarna'. The city built around the king's palace." Vivi continued. "People call it the 'King's Miracle'. At least, they did up until that day…" she trailed off and told us about what happened, which two years ago, some people were pulling a cargo with big sacks before there's a small accident and the contents of the sack were poured out, revealing it as a green-colored powder called Dance Powder.
"It was Dance Powder?!" Nami exclaimed.
"Yes." The princess answered.
"Hey, you know what that is?" Luffy asked.
"It's also known as… 'Powder that calls rain'." I answered.
"Powder that calls rain?!" Luffy echoed back.
"It was created by some country with no rain, long ago." Nami started, "The powder emits a mist-like smoke that rises up into the air. It speeds up the creation of ice particles in sub-freezing temperature clouds and causes rainfall." She explained.
"Basically, it's a powder that makes artificial rain." I finished.
"Aha! So it's a 'mystery powder'." Luffy concluded.
"It makes it rain." Zoro stated.
"Huh? So that would make it perfect for this place, right?" Usopp asked.
"Originally, yes." I answered as I make a cross made of dry woods and tied it by a cloth. "The people who created it called it Dance Powder cause it made them dance with joy, but there was a large pitfall to all this." I continued.
"'Artificial rain' is the process of nurturing clouds that aren't ready to rain yet, it sucks the water out of the clouds." I explained.
"I see. It steals rain from clouds that would mature over neighboring countries!" Usopp replied, finally understood.
"Yes, and it started a huge war. The loss of life was profound… since then, the World Governments have outlawed the manufacturing and possession of Dance Powder world-wide." I continued before looking down in dread. "A powder that brings happiness and misery at the same time…" I muttered.
"That large shipment of dance powder appeared in Nanohana. Soon afterward, an abnormal weather pattern started, and no rain fell anywhere except for where the king was…!" Vivi agreed in dread.
"It's normal to distrust the king." Zoro replied. "They must have thought he was using the powder to steal all the rain."
"Dang, Vivi! You dad is evil!" Luffy exclaimed as he pointed at her, which earning a kick in the head by Sanji-san.
"He was framed, you idiot! Vivi-chan's father would never do such a thing!" Sanji-san exclaimed.
That, of course, ignored by the princess, who kept talking about that Alligator's terrible plan was already in effect and her father was suddenly surrounded by a scandal he had nothing to do with as she took the skeleton from my hands and brought it up to her forehead.
"It was all a trap set up by Crocodile…! A rebellion arose… just as he planned! Towns dried up, people starved, and an army of furious rebels started a bloody battle with an innocent country…!" she said in dread, "The kingdom's peace… the trust in the Royal family… the rain…! The towns… and even people's lives… were all stolen. And it was done by one man… Crocodile! WHAT RIGHT DOES HE HAVE TO DO THOSE THINGS!?" she exclaimed.
"I WILL NEVER…! EVER…! LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THIS!"
Slowly but surely, Luffy, Sanji-san and Usopp's anger started rising up as shadows crept up their faces and the three walked toward one of the ruins and destroyed it to pieces, which snapping Vivi away before they walked back into the group.
"Hey! What were you doing?" Nami asked in confusion.
"Let's move forward already." Luffy replied. "I'm anxious now."
I just stared at them with blank face as they walked away. I approached Vivi and wiped away the bloods from her lips with a cloth and smiled at her as I took the skeleton from her hands.
"Don't worry, Vivi-chan," I said and put the skeleton on the sand and the cross I made earlier behind it before prayed at whoever skeleton is this to rest in peace and turned back to Vivi as I finished. "We're definitely gonna kick that Alligator's ass and his Agents' asses down!" I reassured her with a big grin before helped her up.
"So don't forget if we also here to help you up!" I continued, still with a grin. "We are Nakama, right?" I pat her head softly and grinned as she stared at me and tearing up a bit before nodded and we ran toward where the others are, who were waiting for us.
'Don't worry, Vivi.' I thought as I glanced at her, 'We are definitely will save you and your country.'
'Because we are Nakama.'
XXX
"Aaaaaaahhh…"
"Aaaaaaahhh…"
"Aaaaaaahhh—"
"Would you two stop going 'aaahh aaaahh' already, Luffy, Eri?!" Nami yelled at us, "You're just wasting energy!"
"Aaaahh… I'm burning…" Luffy said with his tongue stuck out as he walked with a stick as a support. "Can't even sweat…" he added.
"I'm dying…" I trailed off as sweats were trailing down to my chin, hard, using my bo staff as a support as I walk. "This… is… practically… a hell…" I added and stopped for a moment for taking a breath.
"Want me to carry you, Eri?" I heard Ace asked in concern; seem unfazed by the strong heat, as he doesn't even break a sweat.
"No, I'll manage for a moment…" I waved it off, "Besides, you're too hot for my favor, especially in this strong heat." I added and continued to walk while I heard him laughed awkwardly.
"I can't stand the heat… but I'm fine in the cold…" Chopper said as he was being pulled by Zoro on a slide.
"It's cause you're all fuzzy." Usopp replied as he also walked with a stick for a support. "Why don't you take that costume off?"
"DON'T MESS WITH A REINDEER, YOU BASTARD!" Chopper exclaimed as he turned into Heavy Point, seems furious at Usopp's comment.
"GYAAAA! A MONSTER!" Usopp screamed in fear.
"Don't get huge like that, Chopper! Or else I won't pull you!" Zoro exclaimed.
"Zorooo…" I called and he groaned as an answer, "I'm dying… carry me…" I said and plopping down onto the slide, which earning a protest to the moss-head.
"Get off, you baka! Go walk with you feet!" he yelled.
"No." I replied shortly and about to drift off to sleep.
"Don't fell asleep you baka!" he yelled, which of course ignored by me.
Unbeknownst to us, a certain man with orange cowboy hat was watching us with a death-glare and I could feel the place was getting hotter than before.
"It's getting hotter…" I pointed out slowly, "Am I in hell already?" I muttered as I sat up slowly while Zoro obliged to pull me up on the slide while Chopper is on Takao's back, along with Ro, who was meowing happily to both Takao and Flame, who were side by side.
Unfortunately, the action makes my head hurts and my eyes were spinning. I swayed a bit as my eyes were comically spinning and makes a spiral signs before fell off the slide as I blacked out, thanks to the heat-stroke, which of course earning worried cries from everyone.
XXX
"Stupid Eri and her stubbornness." Ace cursed softly in worry as he carried his beloved little sister in a piggy-back ride, which was still unconscious because of heat-stroke.
"Well, Eri-chan is infamous by her stubbornness, so it doesn't really surprise us when she suddenly blacked out because she refused something from us." Sanji said as he laughed a bit at that, as there is one time she refused to drink a medicine when she got a cold at Baratie and she blacked out because of it. Ace just stared blankly at him before continuing to walk along with everyone else.
"Say, Ace-san," Sanji started, "I assume you like Eri-chan, right?" he asked oh-so-openly, which almost making Ace tripped over his own feet.
"Wh-wha—"he spluttered out as his face started to heating up in deep red, like a roasted lobster. While Sanji, who knew about the obvious like the looks Ace gives to her sister and his affections to her, smirked knowingly at the sight.
"Hee, it seems I'm right on the spot, isn't that right, Onii-san?" he said and laughed at that.
"Shut up, will you!?" Ace replied with hushed voice but loud enough to tell the Cook that he's serious, but the Cook just laughed harder at that, which earning a more red-faced Ace.
"Now, now, don't worry about it, Ace-san." Sanji told the fireman, "No one's gonna take her from you." He said.
Ace looked kinda caught off by that before he asked, "What do you mean?"
Sanji grinned, "We all know that you were jealous to me and that marimo earlier." He said. "It's kind of obvious that even Luffy knows it." he continued. "Cause he's the one that told me that you were jealous of me because I was swooning over Eri-chan back on the ship." He huffed out the smokes from his mouth after he said that.
"L-Luffy knows it…!?" Ace exclaimed in low voice, but still loud enough to the Cook to hear, who was nodding as an answer.
"Too bad Eri-chan is much denser than Luffy." Sanji sighed in defeat, "If she's not, she's probably already realized your feelings by then."
Ace didn't say anything at that before looking back to the front as he kept walking in the same pace as Sanji's, as they were talking to each other a moment ago before Ace quieted down.
"Why don't you tell her about your feelings already?" Sanji asked. "I'm sure she will try to love you back if she's not." He continued. "Then again, Eri-chan will probably love you back, considering she looks so happy when she talks about you." He grinned as his minds trailed back to the time when she introduced Ace to everyone and when she stayed at Baratie for a month.
'Don't you have a family back at your home?'
'I do! I have three big brothers! The oldest is Ace!'
'Really? What's he looks like?'
'He's super cool! He's so strong and awesome! Well, he tried to kill me and Luffy once, but that's the past! He also has freckles across his cheeks and nose! He also…'
"Well, she definitely likes you; despite of her still doesn't realize her feelings just yet." Sanji continued. Ace just stared at him with surprised look, as he didn't know that Eri talked about him with such enthusiasm.
"Water…" the two men heard as they turned to the Captain of the Straw-Hat Pirates.
"Just enough to fill your mouth, Luffy." Nami told him.
"Right." Luffy replied and sipped on the water in the barrel with mouthful, well, a mouthful that a rubber-man could.
"THAT'S TOO MUCH!" both Nami and Usopp yelled as they punched Luffy's head, which making him spat all the water out from his mouth.
"Give it to me! That was your 13th swallow!" Usopp yelled.
"No wait, you just drank! It's my turn next!" this time, Sanji joined in before the three boys were fighting with each other because of that, which quickly being scolded by Vivi because it's just wasting out their stamina.
"Hey Sanji, let's eat lunch. 'Kaizoku Bentou' time." Luffy said happily as the three stopped fighting.
"Nope, not till Vivi-chan says it's okay." Sanji replied.
"Vivi! Let's eat! I'm starving!" Luffy whined.
"But we're not even a quarter of the way to Yuba yet, Luffy-san." Vivi said.
"Jeez, you're dumb. Haven't you heard this proverb? 'Eat when thou art hungry'." The rubber teen boy said.
"You just made that up." Usopp replied with a backhand motion.
"No I didn't! I heard it from Eri!" the Captain replied.
"Then she just made that up." Usopp said, don't want to lose.
"I understand… why don't we take a break when we reach the next rock?" Vivi suggested.
"Okay! Next rock…" Luffy trailed off as he looked around, which only showing mountains of sands.
"Rooooock?!"
XXX
I woke up with a cool thing was covering half-up of my face, cooling me down. I brought a hand and put it on the cool thing, which revealed as a wet cloth. I sat up and grabbed the wet cloth on my hand before I looked around. Its dark already and everyone were resting for a moment while I saw Sanji-san was cooking something on the bonfire.
"Oh, you finally woke up, Eri." I heard Chopper said as he walked beside me. "I was worried as you were unconscious for almost half a day, but I think you only got heat-stroke but not dehydration." He continued before offered me a flask of water. "Here, you better drink before you got dehydration. You haven't drink water since you blacked out." He said and I took the flask and drank all the water content inside.
"Thank you Chopper, you're the best doctor I ever met." I told him and he started dancing happily despite of him denied that he's not happy even if I said it and I giggled at the sight.
"Oh, Eri-chan, you woke up already." I heard Sanji-san said as he saw me woke up already. "Dinner will be serve in a moment, wait for it, okay?" he said with a grinned before turned back to his activity.
I just nodded and started stretching out and sighed in content as I did so before I heard cheering from distance. I saw the three stooges were playing with each other on the sand and were laughing happily before the three animals were joined in and they played with each other. I saw Zoro was watching them in distance for a moment before he fell asleep with a snot-bubble from his nose.
Then I sneezed as I felt a breeze of wind was wiping me up with coldness. Damn it, I forgot about the contrast temperature of the deserts in the day and night. Stupid bipolar place…
Then I felt a coat was put on me and I looked up, seeing Ace without his coat as he smiled at me. My face started to heating up as I pulled the coat so it covering my face from his visions.
'What the hell is wrong with me, damn it! My face felt so hot and my heart is beating fast! Am I sick? Probably! Maybe I should ask Chopper about it!'
"You okay, Eri?" I heard him asked as he sat down beside me, making me flinched a bit as I was lost in my thought earlier and shook my head hard.
"Y-yeah, kind of…" I replied and tried my best to calm my heart and face down as I sighed heavily a few times.
"Oh, okay." he replied as he shrugged and there was an awkward silence until Sanji-san cuts down the silence as he told us that dinner is ready.
The Straw-Hats were quickly scrambling in and we ate happily in usual antics when it's meal times. Luffy, being the usual person he is, sometimes stole our food and we argue to each other, while Ace is watching us with watchful and full in interest looks as he also protecting his food from Luffy or my reaches, as both of us like to steal the foods from others fast.
XXX
Everyone was already sleeping, while I'm still awake as I stared at the clear dark sky that filled with stars and bright moon. The sight is so beautiful so I couldn't resist to not to take a picture of it. Slowly but surely, I started to remember about my family and my friends back on Earth, I wonder what are they doing right now? Did they miss me? Or not? But who knows?
I just shrugged it off before I saw fireflies floating around near me. But as I look at it closer, it's a small greenish yellow orbs-like thingie that radiating lights and slightly warm as I brought my hand neared it. But a hand quickly grabbed my wrist and I looked up, only get to face-to-face with Ace, who was smiling at me.
"Now, I won't touch it if I were you, Eri." he said and he sat down behind me, as he positioned me to sit between his legs.
"I know," I replied and leaned on his abdomen, "it will blow up and burns my hands in the process." I continued and huffed. "But still, something so pretty but so dangerous like Hotarubi* is awesome." I commented as I turned to look at him and grinned at him, the radiating lights from the Firefly Lights that surrounds us lighting us a bit.
I saw his face was tinted red across his cheeks and nose (and apparently, his ears were red too) before he looked sideways as he put a hand on his mouth, muttering something.
"But you won't hurt me right?" I asked, snapping his from his thoughts as he turned back to look at me, "As these are your fire, so it won't hurt me, right?" I grinned at him brightly before turning back to the Firefly Lights before taking a picture of it. Unbeknownst to me, Ace was trying his best to control his emotions, heartbeats and breathings after I said that trustfully words at him.
Then Ace suddenly hugged me tight and I was about to protest in confusion, but…
"Don't," I heard him said, "Just let me hug you for a while." He continued as he buried his face to my hair, unknown to me that he's blushing hard as his ears are also red.
Me, being clueless as always, just nodded and let him whatever he want.
As, he won't hurt me, right?
Right?
A/N: NEXT CHAPTER IS HEREEEEE! KYAAAAAAAAAAAA! THERE'S SO MANY ACE X ERI HEREEEEEE!
*Wait for a moment*
ALRIGHT! I'M PERFECTLY FINE! LIKE, OBVIOUSLY! *actually, no*
REVIEWING TIME!
For gamelover41592: Thanks! Let's just hope this one is more awesome!
For Guest: There are so many romances here! XD And nope! She's not Eri-chan's mother! XD
For One piece fan: Here's an updaaaattee! XD No, she won't talk anything about the future, as she hates giving spoilers (obviously!).
For imafangirlforever: Let's fangirling togetheeeeerr~~! (KYAAAAAAAAAAA!) AND HERE BUNCHES OF ACE X ERI ROMANTIC ACTIONS~~! What!? No! Smoker's mine! Ohfine, go take him! I'm with Marco instead! MARCOOOO~~! *Marco, who heard it, quickly flew away fast* NO WHY!?
For Pikachu17: Thanks! Here's an update! XD
For DragonHunter21: HERE'S AN UPDATEEEEE~~! XD AND MANY ACE AND ERI ROMANTIC ACTIONS~~! (Though Eri-chan is kind of oblivious about it, so yeah.)
For OnePiecefan202: Thank you very much! XD I'm doing my best at it! XD And here's an update!
For Freddie4153: CONTINUED! XD
Alright! Thank you all for the reviews/follows/favorites! LOVE YOU ALL!
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!
(I'm actually waiting for my friend to review, but he haven't so I decided to update it first. Sorry OP-kun!)
Alrighty! Now, who should I choose to say the disclaimer… *looking back and forth between Corazon, Law, Marco, Ace, and Sabo*
All: … (Please don't choose me…)
Alright! Corazon-san then!
Corazon: What?! Why me!?
Because I said so. Problem? *smiles with a cutter in hand*
Corazon: Absolutely no, ma'am!
Good! Now read the disclaimer! *throws a paper*
Corazon: *catch it* Uhh… Author didn't, and never will, owns One Piece, and always will be owns by Odacchi.
That's all? So easy. Now, Cora-san, why don't you become my husband? *wiggling eyebrows*
Corazon: WHAT!? *runs away*
WAIT FOR MEEEE~~~! *runs after him*
ThiefofStealth
