Chapter Eight

The afternoon swiftly bleed into evening and the sun sat reclined over the horizon as it painted the sky with a soft shade of orange. The wind blew in cold whispers, which went unnoticed by the crew but woke Ashley up. She groaned while stretching her arms skyward, fruitlessly trying to work out the knots in her back and neck. Shivers danced up and down her spine and she cast an envious glance at the still sleeping man by her side then her lips curled into a playful smile before she put both her cold hands on his warm neck. She burst into laughter when Ace woke up with a yelp. His annoyed face and intense glare prolonged her amusement.

"And I was having a nice dream, tsk, tsk," he grumbled, then he looked down and smirked, no doubt planing a small revenge so when he took hold of her bare feet Ashley froze.

"Don't you dare!" She said with a pale face, pulling her legs in an attempt to dislodge her feet from his vice like grip.

"Mm, don't I?" he said while lightly passing his fingers over the sole of her feet, wrenching a giggle out of her, "or do I?" he scratched her soles with more force making her wiggle and twist as she laughed harder and harder.

"NO!" She screamed between hysterical laughers. Her sides burned and sight blurred with tears. "STOP!"

"Maybe I'll, if you ask politely," Ace said with a grin as he continued his unrelenting attack till she was on verge of passing out.

"Pleeeease!" She gasped between bouts of laughter and tears. With a chuckle, Ace let her go almost immediately. Ashley had no energy to move so she laid on her back, breathing heavily.

"That will teach you." Actually, that didn't teach her anything since she was still planning on taking any giving chance at seeing his annoyed face again. The way he frowned and pouted was cute and definitely worth the hassle. However, before she could make a cheeky remark her stomach growled like a wild beast under attack. Ashley blushed but then her embarrassment turned to amusement when Ace's stomach echoed hers. "Ugh! This is your fault," he said while cradling his waist as if fearing his stomach would cave if he didn't guard it.

"How come?!" Ashley grumbled while poking his side with her toe.

"Hunger is contagious," Ace deadpanned and from his serious demeanor, he totally believed it. Ashley forcibly stifled her chuckle. At this point, she wouldn't be surprised even if Ace declared food as a religion and eating it as prayers. "All right!" He exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and then he started searching their surroundings while mumbling : "It should be here." And true to his words he found a tray filled with a meal for two.

When Ace put the tray between the two of them, Ashley had to concede that with Ace's love for food, his gesture of sharing it with her is him showing her his ultimate goodwill and she vowed to reciprocate the same way.

Since this was their lunch, the soup and the meat were cold. Both Ace and Ashley made their move at once, passing their hands over the bowls and plates which, under the influence of their powers, warmed instantly. They exchanged an amused look before digging in. The meal ended on a high note, with Ace glaring at Ashley for wasting food as he looked pointedly at the uneaten core of an apple.

By the time they finished, the deck was busting with activity. People were congregating around Whitebeard's chair like ducklings huddling under the wings of their mother. They had food, drinks and different musical instruments on their hands. The lamp dials all around the ship shinned brighter than stars and the Moby Dick looked like a little sun floating in the middle of the ocean. Chatter, laughter and signing could be heard. Not jarring on the ears, but somehow in soft voices unlike what one might expect of sailors.

"They do this everyday. They're strong enough to disclose their location without care," said Ace in a hushed tone, fearing his compliment may fall on the wrong ears and be taking as more than it was.

"Hmm," Ashley hummed, with eyes randomly darting from one person to another. Some twirled in a silly dance, others bickered over pints of beers. Some arm wrestled, others sat in the corner overseeing with a relaxed smile. They seemed tame in their wildness. They had freedom to do whatever they wanted, but they do everything in moderation with the goal of creating an atmosphere where each one of them feel included.

As per her habit, Ashley comfortably sank into the darkness of her corner and quietly watched with a smile. Subconsciously, her mind drew parallels to her past but stepping forward to join the festivities has never been more possible than at this moment and, contrary to her family, these strangers would accept her with open arms. Maybe someday…. Ashley snapped out of her reveries when Ace poked her cheek. Though, he swiftly retracted his finger when she tried to bite it.

"All the nurses are up here," he said and with a head nod pointed at the women fussing over the captain, "let's go down the infirmary."

Except for a couple of invitations to eat or drink here and there, no one bothered the two and they reached their destination fast since, strategically, the first level below deck housed the commanders as well as the infirmary and the galley.

Ace suddenly stopped causing Ashley to bump right into his back. "What-" she started but was shushed mid sentence. Holding her tongue, Ashley pouted and begrudgingly rubbed her stinging nose.

Confused, Ace looked at the yellowish light spilling from under the door with tilted head and narrowed eyes. Last he checked Marco and all the nurses were on the main deck so the room should've been empty, though he didn't let that stop him from opening the door. He peered inside only to catch sight of a familiar face, "Deuce!" He called enthusiastically.

The young man was hunched over a medical machine, no doubt trying to fix it from the look of all the tools and gears scattered on the floor. "Cap'n!" He answered while quickly jumping to his feet. He wiped his palms on his pants before holding Ace's hand in a tight grip and they gave each other a small shoulder bump.

"What are you doing here?" Ace asked while looking at the repairing tools and equipments by their feet.

"As you can see," Deuce said with wide opened hands. "Killing time by fixing some scraps," tinkering with all kind of machines was one of his habits so there was nothing to hid…or so he wanted to convey. "You? Planning something silly again?"

Ace, ever the oblivious, didn't question Deuce's half-truth instead he pouted then dodged the question by stepping aside to expose the woman hiding behind him. "I'd like you to meet Ashley," he proudly introduced her with a grin. "Ash for short."

Deuce didn't like the way his captain's eyes glimmered since this meant he either saw food or ,two, wanted someone to join the Spades which was all fine and dandy, if he wasn't trying to rob in a candidate of Whitebeard's. The first mate felt a headache developing at the base of his skull.

Ashley's hello turned to a high note squeak when the blue-haired gent glared daggers at her.What the fuck? What crawled up this man's ass and died? She glared right back.

"Cute, isn't she?" Ace said with a chuckle, effectively ignoring the hostility sizzling between the two. That must be a special talent of his. "We're here to take back her things."

With two brows raised, Deuce pointed at a door at the far end of the infirmary. Ashley nodded before walking past him, happy to be relived of staring at this blue jellyfish. Ace made to follow her but was stopped. "We need to talk."

Since some of Ashley's courage stayed with Ace, she entered the office cautiously. The dark room, dimly light with moonlight, has full bookshelves on three of its walls and a desk occupying the empty side. The desk has files piled on top of it, a telescope and her beloved vials shimmering. With a murmur, Ashley conjured a small shining ball on the palm of her hand and with it ventured to the desk.

The first thing Ashley noticed was that all her potions were number labeled and open closer look at the desk, she found an open diary where each number was giving a small introduction. She chuckled when she saw the many interrogation marks adorning the page.

The person studying the potions had been playing the guessing game, writing some possible ingredients and crossing out others. This caught her eyes so she sat on the chair and start reading the content, but concentrating on spelling each word proved to be a challenge since Ace's and Deuce's voices were gaining more and more volume as the minutes passed. From what she could discern, they got most of the ingredients right but couldn't see how these simple elements has miraculous effects when put together.

Considering her next move, Ashley took the quill and spun it on her hand with its tip tickling her lips as Ace screamed something about not running away from a challenge and Deuce replayed with a scathing remark about him having a tunnel vision.

After thinking of how this researcher's efforts would go down the drain, Ashley decided to take the experimental potions only and leave the medical ones in his custody. Since the disappearance of half the lot would be no doubt noticed, she decided to take it one step further. She dipped the quill in ink and, with a frown itched between her brows, she slowly but steadily wrote in the diary.

Hunched over the desk and with her nose almost touching the paper, Ashley poured all of her concentration on writing letters she barely remembered that she didn't notice the quiet following the boys' quarrel, nor did she notice the man who entered the office and stood behind her with a pensive look.

Once finished, Ashley made to massage her hurting neck but ended up gasping when two hands shot from behind her and rested on the desk, effectively trapping her. After an agonizing minute, she heard the man whisper in her ear, "Whatever Cap'n told you about his birth, don't speak of it to anyone." The malice in his voice, almost tangible, made Ashley shiver. "If I have a smidgen of an inkling that you did it, I'll cut you to pieces." An unsettling quiet fall over the two and Ashley started mumbling a curse under her breath, but then Deuce added sarcastically, "Nice handwriting."

Unbeknownst to him, this mocking afterthought has saved one layer of his skin.

Ashley turned around and, with their noses almost touching, she smiled brightly like a child on Christmas day. "Thank you! It's been awhile last I wrote the mother-tongue, only runes, so I feared it won't be easy to understand." She suddenly got up forcing the bewildered Deuce to step back. "As for Ace," she said while shrinking the vials she wanted to take, "Ace is kin, so of course I won't expose his secrets."

Once Deuce shook himself out of his stupor, Ashley was long gone. "Kin?" He mumbled in disbelief. What's with socially stunted people and their desire to adopt Ace?! Deuce shook his head and with a sigh returned to fixing Whitebeard's heartbeat monitor.

Ashley found Ace outside the infirmary, face flushed from anger and mouth curved down. No matter how much of a happy-go-lucky person he was, fights with the people he considers important always leave a bad taste in his mouth.

"Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" Said Ashley with a frown. The dark mood doesn't suit him. Ace seemed hesitant, opening his mouth and closing it. Repeating the whole ordeal may cement some truths he rather not think about right now so he was relived when Ashley hold up her hand, asking him silently to wait. Then she took a small vial from her pocket, enlarged it with a spell and drank a sip from it. "Please don't be sad!" She said with a high pitched tone. Her voice thin and squeaky, something you would expect of a mouse instead of a human. Ace burst into laugher and laughed even harder when she giggled.

"Okay, okay," Ace said as he tried to pull himself together but her blue-eyes feigning innocence almost made him lose it again. "Hear me out. Pinch your tongue and say 'I Was Born on a Pirate Ship' repeatedly and as fast as you can."

Happy to oblige, Ashley did as told. They walked the deserted hallways with her chanting 'I Was Born on a Pirate Ship' in her squeaky voice and Ace chuckling. It took her five tries before her words were mashed together and she was proclaiming 'I was born on a pile of shit' aloud. She didn't notice it though, until she repeated it twice. Ace with his arms crossed around his waist, guffawed while trembling.

Ashley, now refusing to speak until the potion wear off, jumped on his hunched back and started smacking the back of his head. Their playful quarrel ended with Ace giving her a ride to the room she first woke up in. Once there, they sat on the floor with crossed legs, then she emptied her pockets and explained the effects of each potion.

Dying hair and skin, changing vocals, gender-swapping, truth serum, etc. They were harmless alright but used separately they won't amount to petty pranks. They needed time to hatch a plan, and time was all they got. "This one." Ace smirked while holding a gender-swapping potion, "I know someone who's asking for it."

Before she could question him however, the shuffling of feet and the creaking of the boards distracted her. The pirates were relocating to their sleeping quarters. This took time, which meant Ashley and Ace were stuck in her room until everyone was settled for the night. To amuse themselves, Ace pulled a custom made deck of cards out of his blue holster bag. The back of the cards had an eye catching red spade and a flaming skull drown into it that the witch rather liked. Before they start playing, Ace explained the rules with the patience of a loving father, he even gave her money to use as a bet….which he won back anyways.


Hey guys! Thank you all for reading this chapter and I hope you have a blessed day. (っ◔◡◔)っ ❤❤