Sack of Potatoes

Cara's boots thumped on the metal floor as she ran up stairs and down hallways, sometimes stomping on the men who caught her. As she ran passed, and over, the men she noticed a lot of them had burn marks on them and their clothes. Burn marks also peppered the walls, floor, and ceiling. She hummed, recalling the guy's name and that she had seen him in the newspapers before. "Fire Fist Ace, huh? Why did that old man pick him of all his crew to come get me? He's new to the crew."

Cara shook her head. It didn't matter. The only thing that did matter was getting out of this place and away from Ace.

Another staircase came into view. Cara growled. She had ran up six staircases already. When was she going to get to the deck?

Upon reaching the top of the stairs she spotted an open door. Beyond it was the horizon. She had reached the top. She dashed for the door.

Salty air assaulted her nose. She scanned her surroundings and found they were indeed sailing on a submarine. It was painted gray so it blended in well with the ocean. Smart move. It would be hard for other passing ships to spot this beast of a water vessel.

Glancing to the right she was greeted with a thick forest. Between some of the limbs she spotted lighter greens and whites. It was possible that there was a town over there. Might not be a good idea for her to go there. She had no idea how many pirates were on this crew. If she went into the town she might get ambushed by more of the pirates.

So she continued to scan the area. Down the beach she spotted a small ship that appeared to be abandoned. Or maybe it the was ship Ace came in. Either way it looked to be her best option. She took it.

Running towards the railing, she jumped on top of it then pushed off towards the island. Dirt swirled up around her ankles upon impact. She raced for the ship. Finally. She was going to be free of Whitebeard. Even if she had to swim to the ship she was going to get as far away from Sphinx as possible.

Fire flew in front of her, cutting her path off to the ship. Heat brushed her skin. She stepped backwards.

"Hey! Why did you hit me?!" Ace appeared through the flames, his cheek bruising from her punch. "I'm not your enemy! I told you I'm a part of Whitebeard's crew!"

"I couldn't care less if you're apart of that bastard's crew or not! I'm not going with you!"

"Hm?" Confusion pooled in Ace's eyes, his head tilted.

"Get out of my way," Cara said with a swipe of her hand.

"Not happening." Ace shook his head. "I'm doing what my captain told me. You're coming with me."

"Then I'll just go through you!" Cara rushed towards him. She pulled back her fist. Ace readied for the punch. She jumped and roundhouse kicked towards him.

Ace brought up his arm, blocking her kick.

Cara gasped as Ace barreled towards her. His arms wrapped around her waist. Both their bodies flew through the air for a few seconds. Pain erupted in her head, forcing star bursts in her eyes. She groaned. Through her groan she heard the young man sigh.

"Sorry about that," Ace said. "I didn't mean for you to hit your head on a rock."

Cara growled. Wiggling an arm free of his hold, she felt her head. A bump was growing up no blood brushed onto her fingers.

A few minutes later, Ace grabbed Cara and flung her over his shoulder.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Cara growled. "Put me down!"

"Not going to happen." Ace walked towards the water. "I was ordered to find you and take you back to Sphinx. So get use to the idea and quit squirming."

"I won't!" Cara kicked her feet up in hopes of nailing Ace in the nose.

"Man, how in the world can such a skinny little girl hit so hard?" Ace gave his cheek a gentle touch. He winced. "You used armament haki, didn't you?"

"So what if I did?"

"You must be naturally strong with how you sent me flying like that. You're abnormal, aren't you?"

"Shut up!" Cara screamed. Her head spun. She shouldn't have been screaming like she was. It was only aggravating her already throbbing head.

"Calm down. Getting upset like that is only going to aggravate your head."

Cara waited a few seconds before replying. In the silence a seagull cawed a couple times then went silent. The leaves rustled in responds to the wind. She drew in a few slow breathes to calm her head. "It wouldn't have happened in the first place if you hadn't tackled me."

"It wouldn't have happened in the first place if you hadn't ran off. What's up with that anyway? Most people want to return home after being kidnapped."

"Well, as you can already see, I'm not a normal girl. Now put me down and go away. You can't get out to that ship anyway. You have a devil fruit. I don't see a rowboat." Cara's ire vanished when she heard Ace chuckle. She parted her lips to ask him what was so funny but was stopped when Ace bent his legs and shot into the air. Heat rose up on her skin. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed Ace's lower body was on fire. She jerked to get away from the flames.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to burn you," Ace said. "I have full control over my devil fruit powers."

Cara eyed the flames with distrust. But he was right. The flames stayed away from her. Only the heat touched her skin. Soon the blue water was replaced with the brown wood of the ship's deck.

Ace landed with a thud. The ship swayed at the disturbance.

"Put me down. I'm not a sack of potatoes." Much to her surprise, Ace sat her back on her feet. The sudden change sent a wave of dizziness through her. Her knees buckled and she fell to the deck.

"Take it easy." Ace squatted in front of her. He looked at her then up at the sky when a rumble of thunder passed overhead. Dark clouds were gathering in the sky. "Well, looks like we should stay here until the storm passed." He reached for her. "Let's get you inside."

Cara slapped his hand away. "I don't need your help." She pushed herself to her feet. She stumbled but forced herself to remain up right.

Ace gave her an annoyed glance before standing. He waved to the small cabin behind him.

Cara didn't move. She wanted to knock this jerk on his butt again and take off. But her head wasn't going to let that happen. At least for a while.

Thunder rumbled, louder and closer this time. That was also going to cause problems in escaping.

She had no choice but to go inside. With a heavy sigh she forced herself to her feet and headed for the door.