Ace didn't want into he dorm by himself, not knowing if he was allowed (god, he hated that term) so when All Might showed up, he gave Ace a reason to come with him. Ace walked behind him, hands in his pockets.

"Young boys and girls, welcome to your new dorms! They were built only just recently, but will be more than comfortable for you." Ace knew it would be mean to point out they'd only been built in a few days, so he didn't. There was no reason to say that. For enemy pirates, he would tell them that it would fall to pieces, being built so fast.

He almost snickered to himself.

"Classes will resume tomorrow, but for today, unpack and make yourselves feel at home. Aizawa-sensei has already briefed you on the rules, so relax and recuperate!" All Might declared. He said, "I am sorry that this needs to be done, but it is for your safety, which means the most to U.A.!"

The teacher then left, still smiling and pat Ace on the back on his way out. "ACE!" a bunch of the kids shouted.

"Hey. How are you all holding up?" Ace asked a bit awkwardly.

"You were AWESOME! How'd you get the nomu-thing to rebel!?" Sero asked. Freckles had a notebook out, ready to write. Ace said it was hard to explain, and a bunch of them sat down in front of him. It looks like none of them had been hurt besides Freckles fingers, which Recovery Girl had fixed since they were both fine to grip the pencil with.

Ace sighed and rubbed his head. "Fine," he said, and sat on the floor. "It's called haki. I already told you about the other two. Observation and armament. There's one more I didn't talk about, conqueror's haki. It's the rarest form, and you have to be born with it. Only one in several million. It allows the user to exert their own willpower over others.

"That's how I made the nomu do what I wanted. Pretty much I scared it to do what I wanted," Ace explained. "You can't use it the same with humans. For weaker willed ones, they just pass out on the spot."

They were quiet before Bakugo demanded he teach him. "I just told you you had to be born with it," Ace said, brow raised. "Besides, haki isn't possible for humans here. Only in my world," he added.

Ashido, the poison girl, said, "I saw you when you were fighting. It was cool, but pretty scary."

Ace shrugged. "I live in a scary world. It's only natural that I fight that way, too. But it didn't hurt anyone else. And I'm sorry if my rings of fire were scary. They wouldn't have burnt you since I didn't want them to."

Todoroki looked surprised and asked, "You can control what you want your flames to harm?" Endeavor couldn't do that, which was why he was most likely asking.

"Yeah. It won't burn you. You three experienced it first hand, right? I'm sorry I gave no warning I was in a hurry," Ace said to the three he'd scared. They nodded, and Ace noticed two of the girls staying far from him. The frog girl and gravity one. Ace still couldn't keep all of their names straight. They seemed afraid. He gave them an awkward smile, but then looked down. Freckles was writing like his life depended on it. And since his notebook said number 20, he did this a lot.

"Man, you really pissed them off," Kaminari said with a whistle. Ace chuckled, before he could hide it. "You enjoyed the fighting, didn't you?" he asked.

Ace said honestly, "Yeah. It would have been better if none of you were there, but battle is fun for me. Good mental and physical exercise. But you guys shouldn't think like that, right? You're supposed to be heroes. I'm not a hero," he said simply.

Frog girl asked, "Then what are you? What do you do with your powers?"

He wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want them to admire his way of life, even if he wouldn't go into specifics. "Hmm, let's just say I use it to protect myself and my friends. Heroes protect everyone. That's not me," he said simply.

"At least he's honest about it," Todoroki said. The others nodded in agreement. "You're in the news, you know? People know there was another fire user involved, but your face isn't out yet. Endeavor is pissed since everyone knows it wasn't him." Ace held in a snicker and smiled. God, he hated being mature. Why couldn't he complain and curse and insult? That was the most comfortable. Being around people you can piss off without damaging the relationship.

Ace shrugged. "It doesn't really matter to me. I don't leave the campus. Well, I did once, but that was with All Might and the only time I can or will." He wasn't a teacher, he was more like an assistant to All Might, so he could be honest with them without it being inappropriate.

Bakugo changed the subject again. "You think you're so cool don't you? Just cause you fought some minor villains and controlled the nomu." Ace frowned at him, wanting to snap back and say, "And what you did was any better?" but he sorta worked here now and didn't want to piss them off. Well, Bakugo already disliked him.

"Bakugo, he literally incapacitated more villains than Eraser Head and killed the nomu and got the main guys to leave us and save Shigaraki," Kirishima pointed out, sounding impatient. Bakugo grinded his teeth and looked away.

Ace spoke up and said, "I really hope you don't think I'm your competition."

"So what if I do?" Bakugo snapped. Ace was irritated with not being able to rile him up more.

"Then that's pretty pointless. Hopefully I'll be long gone before you get anywhere close to my power. Besides, you can't compete with someone who isn't in the same occupation as you," Ace replied honestly.

Momo spoke, the fifteen year old whose boobs are always popping out of her costume, saying, "You probably could never match him anyways, Bakugo-kun. Even if his power wasn't fire, he has other ways to stop you using your bombs. Or using it to his advantage. Remember when he blew your own arm up with your secretions?"

Bakugo stomped away.

"Are you the strongest in your world?" Iida asked, pipe legs and class rep, as he likes to announce. Ace scoffed.

"No way. I'm one of those in command on an emperor's crew, but I'm still way below my father and captain. And some of my brothers are stronger than I am. I'm definitely not even close to being the strongest. I think those in my world would not be a match to anyone here. Not even All Might." The others' jaws dropped.

Headphone girl asked, "What's an emperor's crew? And why is your family so strong?"

Ace thought about how to explain without giving away that he was a pirate. It was getting harder to tiptoe around that. He didn't know what to say. "Most of my world is made of ocean. You live on the sea pretty much if you want to have an interesting life. And you have to be strong for the sea monsters and enemies out on the sea with you as well. My captain is one of the worlds' highest powers. I'm a commander on his crew, with 100 people under me." Then he grinned. "My father/captain is so strong even All Might recognized it."

"Liar!" Bakugo accused. Damn, he really hated Ace.

"But he can also tell you he's a nice guy. Terrifying, but a good guy. He's three times as tall as All Might also. I'm one of the smaller members on my crew," Ace explained, loving bragging about his family. He missed them, but enjoyed making them sound impressive by telling the truth. He wasn't inflating any of this.

"His name is Whitebeard. The strongest man in the world," Ace declared. "He's so strong he could destroy the world if he wished. He has the power of creating earthquakes and tsunamis. If he wanted to, he could completely reshape the planet. He would never do that, but that's why people call him the strongest." He was grinning by the end.

The kids looked frightened, and Ace was glad they understood how powerful Pops was. Momo said, "Then I'm glad he's not a villain here. He could hold leverage over the entire planet to do what he wished." The others nodded.

"Well, once he dies, someone else will have that power. Our powers do not come with us. We find them. And once the user dies, the power will be reformed somewhere in the world for another to take its power," Ace said. "Devil fruits have still never been explained by science, even after thousands of years of studying them."

Bakugo sneered. "So someone else has had and will have your power?"

"Yup, that about sums it up. But that also makes us be able to compare our power to the previous user. I don't know who had my fruit before, though, so I can't really do that," Ace said, not offended like the hothead probably wanted him to be. "There are many devil fruits that are similar to some of yours, only slightly different."

Mineta demanded he tell them, even though Ace didn't know many powers similar to his sticky-ball-head. "Sure, why not? Well, there's a bomb fruit, he can use any part of his body as a bomb. His foot, hand, face, anything could explode if he wanted it to. There's an invisible fruit, turning all clothes and anything they are holding invisible as well. Like Uraraka's gravity ability, somebody is able to control it at will. He can put gravity on you so you're crushed to the ground, unable to move. That idiot can also bring asteroids to the planet.

"I don't understand why he would do that, but to each his own. As long as I'm nowhere near the impact. There is one like Kaminari's, he can control and summon lightning at will. Or heat things up with lightning, melting metal or burning flesh. There is an ice logia, along with a magma logia. They can both become, create and control their element, like I can.

"There is a light logia that can make beams out of any body part and move at the speed of light. And sort of similar to Ashido, there are two types of poison users. One who secretes all types of poison from their skin, and one who created poisonous gasses. One of them guards the biggest prison in the world. It's a not a pleasant place filled with torture." The kids were entrapped, eyes wide and wanting to hear more.

Bakugo was pissy. Someone had his power but better. Gravity girl was shocked about Isho's power.

"Who else…" he said, trying to think. "Hmmm, I can't think of any other fruit I know of that is similar to any of yours. But, you wanna hear the scariest one? More evil than anything you've probably heard?" he asked, feeling like Thatch telling ghost stories.

"Yeah! Tell us!" Kirishima said excitedly.

Ace said, "It's in the hands of a little girl, but she's not. She will just never age. She ate the hobby hobby fruit. It allows her to transform any living being into a toy, and then the rest of the world forgets that the toy was ever a person. Their family forgets them, nobody remembers them. And worse, if she does, she can given them an order that they must follow for the rest of their lives as toys. The only way to transform all of the toys back is for someone to knock her unconscious.

"She helped rule a tyrannical kingdom by turning any dissenters into toys. My younger brother's friend defeated her though, and set all of the toys free. But that, in my opinion, is the most evil fruit. It would break your soul to be forgotten and only able to follow orders. You could never find peace, trapped inside a toy-slave's body."

Their jaws dropped and some of the girls were holding each other. "You can see why I have to be strong right? In a world full of those types of fruit users and haki masters, you can't be weak," Ace finished, satisfied with his storytelling, even if it was the truth.

Freckles said, "Your world sounds horrible." Others nodded in agreement. Ace started laughing.

"In many ways, yeah, it's a lot worse than here. But I like that world more than this one, and not just because it's my home and where my family is. Being out on the sea is the best, not being trapped in some country, unable to experience other cultures monthly, explore ruins, castles, forests, deserts. I would choose to stay in that world over this one any day of the week," he said, and finally finished with, "When my family figures out a way to get me back permanently, I'll be glad to go back home."

It was pretty late by now. He looked at the clock. "Well this was supposed to be me just saying hi, but there you go, nightmare fuel." A couple of the kids started laughing, and Ace stood up. "I will say this. You guys keep me interested, so thanks for that. See you tomorrow," he said, and left through the nearest open window.

You'd be proud of me, Thatch. He chuckled to himself. He then froze, noticing who was outside the window. "They're fifteen, they should be fine," Ace said to All Might.

The man laughed. "You painted quite the dark picture of your home. Well, it was the truth, so better than lying. But they might tell their parents."

Ace shrugged. "It's not like I told them any weaknesses. Besides, their parents don't dictate where I go here. If they did throw a fit, you could just toss me out of the class to do some other work, like guard the wall again."

All Might said, "We won't toss you out, don't worry. I do not think telling them about your home was wrong or a bad choice. You were honest, and I admire honesty. Even when it's being framed as a scary story."

Ace laughed and went to go get some food before any of the kids got there.

-x-

Ace opened his eyes slowly, seeing he was still in the dark room with no life. He rolled onto his back and ran his hands down his face. He'd woken before the alarm went off. He lit his hands on fire, looking at the flames. The only thing familiar to him from home was his body and flames. He was so glad they transferred with him.

He sat and took a few deep breaths, touching the keychain near the bed, calming himself, the rising hysteria of wanting to go home. The loneliness, the isolation. Ace got up and dressed, staring at his reflection in the window. He balled his fist, wishing he could punch a hole through a window or wall. But he couldn't.

Not only would he be wrecking something that wasn't his (not that it was the first time, it just mattered this time) but he'd be showing he was unable to control his anger. Anger, and despair. He pressed the pendant to his forehead. "I'm coming back. Wait for me, just a little longer," he whispered. He still didn't know if he'd been imagining things when he saw his family in the window. It hadn't happened since, so he was inclined to think he saw something he wanted to see in a moment of desperation.

He switched the light off and headed out of the empty dorm corridor and to the cafeteria. It was fancier looking, but didn't look like home. And he knew it was stupid to say a school didn't look like home. But he had to live here now. This was his home for now. He hated it. Hated the shiny walls. Hated the big windows. Hated the tile floor. Hated the ceiling lights. Hated everything.

He took a deep breath, trying to pull himself together. He went behind the counter, where cooks were, and asked them for something quick. The head cook handed him a breakfast sandwich she made on the spot. "Thanks," he said, glad the kitchen staff liked him. He'd helped them do the dishes when he was bored a few times. It wasn't much, in his opinion, but they said any help was great.

After eating, he went to find All Might, looking for powerful presences. He put him in the infirmary, and saw through the open door that All Might was having his stomach examined. Ace gripped the walle tightly, worried that it had failed, that Marco's cure was not permanent. But that was wrong.

"All clear. You're still as good as well," Recovery Girl said cheerfully. "Oh, Ace! Are you here for a check up, too?" Ace shook his head, just saying he wanted to find All Might. "I still can't thank you enough for helping All Might. Not only are his wounds healed, but his high blood pressure is gone, and cholesterol has lowered! It's amazing!"

Ace beamed, happy to hear praise for his brother. Marco would love hearing that. "I'll make sure to tell him that." All Might got up and walked over, putting his shirt back down to cover where a terrible wound used to be.

"Ace-san, today Eraser Head will be explaining-"

Ace grunted as he hit a familiarly comfortable bed. He rolled over and bit his lip, trying not to cry. He was home, but for how long? How long would he be here before cruelly ripped back away into another world? It had only been five days, but it felt like an eternity. The key chain on was a small bandage covering a gaping wound.

Was he stupid for being so upset? Was he weak for it? He rubbed his face on his blankets, taking a deep breath of them. It smelled like home. He sighed, wiping his eyes before he stood up and rushed outside his room.

Did they miss him? Was anybody waiting for him? Did anyone even notice? But then Haruta was there. "Ace!" he shouted and slammed into him, knocking him down. Ace hugged him back, both of them blubbering out "I missed you!" and "I was so worried!"

"How long have I been gone?" Ace asked, wiping his eyes on Haruta's shirt.

"Hey!" he shouted angrily as Ace continued to wipe his face all over Hartua's sleeve. "Stop it, moron!" Ace just started laughing and Haruta kicked his head. "That's gross! And you've been gone four days! What have you been doing?"

Ace stood up, and said, "A lot happened. I'm just… I don't want to talk about it yet." Haruta frowned and put a hand on Ace's shoulder.

Haruta smiled and said, "You're home now, Ace. For however long, you are home. Back with your family." Ace nodded, rubbing his eyes. "C'mon, let's go tell everyone you're back and we can have a party!" The youngest nodded again.

He hurried out into the galley and was dogpiled by Thatch and several of Ace's division, Haruta throwing himself on top of all of them. Ace hugged Thatch tightly. He was crying, too, now, only louder than both Ace and Haruta put together.

Pops came from behind and picked him up, holding him tightly. It was a bit strange, but comforting. "We missed and were worried for you son, but we are happy you're back," he said with a warm voice and kind smile. Ace nodded, and Marco was there, hugging him, too. So many hugs. He had no physical attention in the other world since he didn't have any trust or desire to hug anybody.

He loved how comfortable and familiar he was here. This was his home, these people were his home. "How close are we to the island from here?" Marco frowned, saying they still had five weeks at least. Depending also on external factors. Ace's face fell and he nodded. There was nothing they could do to speed it up or anything like that.

"Now, we're having a party for your welcome back!" Thach announced. "Bring out the grills and booze!" The pirates cheered, and soon Ace was on deck, he headed straight to the figurehead and stood on it, closing his eyes and taking in the breeze, the sound of waves lapping against the ship, the smell of the sea.

He almost cried, but didn't. This wasn't the time to cry, it was the time to enjoy being home with his family. A good thing was that he was not in the other world for as long as he was with his family last time, even if it felt much longer.

Marco came up from behind him, and said, "We'll get there Ace, no matter what." Ace nodded and Marco put a hand on his back. "Now let's go catch up over some alcohol, the party will start soon. They're already taking the sake and food out. It'll be a big party," he said with a grin. Ace nodded and hurried over.

Over drinks and food, Ace explained his time in the other world, recounting the fight, helping the kids out, freaking them out with his stories. "I wish you guys had been there to fight, too. It was a big fight, and really fun. I freaked the creep out pretty bad."

Thatch and Haruta started laughing. "You did all that to freak him out, didn't you? You could have offed the nomu thing without controlling it," Haruta pointed out. Ace pouted and crossed his arms before he couldn't help smiling.

"Yeah. I wanted to show my strength and piss the dude off. It was awesome! The only really fun part of being there at all. At least I got to fight. In other situations, regular 'heroes' aren't allowed to fight without a license," Ace explained animatedly.

The others still thought that was stupid. Ace nodded. But the other world was much more different, as most people had powers. In this world, only a small amount had devil fruits. Quirks seemed weaker than devil fruits, as they had more limitations. They could grow tired using them. Sure, devil fruit users got tired from using their abilities too much, but it wasn't as bad as some quirks.

Even Endeavor had weak spots. He could get too hot that it harmed him while Ace was able to easily raise his body temperature to bend metal. He drank gladly, laughing with his brothers, like nothing weird was happening. They were getting closer to the island, and he couldn't wait to be back home.

None of them considered that it wouldn't work and Ace would have to do this forever. He didn't know what he'd do if he had to be in this loop forever. But, he couldn't lose hope. Izo pointed to his hat's new keychain, asking what it was.

"Oh, I found this at a shop. All Might bought it for me. It reminded me of Marco and Thatch." he unclipped it and handed it around where others looked at it.

"Awwww, Ace you got a reminder of me and birdbrain!" Ace laughed, saying it made him feel better sometimes, when he was moping. Nobody said anything about his confession to mope, which was not something he usually did. They could no doubt sympathize with him, knowing he was upset and knowing they would be as well.

Ace asked if they were having trouble without him, sounding guilty. "Don't worry, we've got 15 other commanders, right? We aren't in a tight spot in that way, but we do miss you, even if you're only gone for a few hours usually. We miss you and worry when you're gone. We love you, off course we miss you," Marco said softly.

Ace didn't cry, but his face crumpled. "I just want it to be over. It'd be so much more interesting if I had someone with me. But I think I'd get in trouble if I started bringing other people. They mistrust me enough already. They said they were keeping me on campus for my safety, but I think it's a different reason," Ace said, and Vista filled in the blank.

"They think you're too strong, and a danger. So they're keeping you under supervision. It makes sense in their world," he said. Ace nodded, but then said it was his plan to stay on campus, he just didn't like being told he had to by other people. He hated being told what to do.

Pops was listening in and said, "I'm proud of your restraint, son. But I'm also sorry you need to hide your true nature." Ace shrugged, and said there was nothing else he could do. But did wish he could fight some pro-heroes other than All Might.

"I'm sure he would have fought better if he hadn't been so injured. Oh, and apparently it wasn't just his injuries that healed, Marco. His high blood pressure and cholesterol levels have gotten better. He gets a check up ofen and there have been no problems," Ace explained with a grin. Marco smiled back, looking proud. Ace was proud of him as well. He loved bragging about them, about their strength in this unforgiving world. Even though the other one had villains, they didn't deal with the government and environment going after your heads. There were no sea monsters or weather that defied physics.

After the party, Ace slept in the chair in Pops' room, not wanting to be alone to sleep. Pops snored badly, but Ace could deal with it just fine. The chair was comfortable and big enough to sleep on, so he had no problems in there. He woke when Pops did, and they both went to breakfast.

Ace was doing his best not to touch his brothers too long and risk bringing them along like he had with All Might, but they simply refused to not hug him at all or mess with him. "You guys are jerks, you know that? I disappeared covered in paint! I had to walk through the whole school dripping with paint," Ace said at breakfast.

The table broke out into laughter. "It's not funny!" Ace shouted angrily. It was nice to shout, to be able to show anger, any anger, instead of being sad or polite. But they continued to laugh.

"It's not our fault you were the one to walk into our trap! It was just bad luck," Haruta said. Ace wanted to throw his food at him, but that day wasn't a day for a food fight. Ace grumbled that they were still assholes, and should have told him since he was one of the tricksters with them. How dare they leave him out?!

Ace sighed and looked around the galley. "In that world, galleys are called cafeterias. It's not cozy at all. I love this ship so much."

"Awwww," Thatch cooed, and Ace shot him a look.

The youngest got up to get seconds and then thirds. He felt so much more comfortable eating a lot here, when there was more than enough for him to eat and still let the others have enough as well. He also felt less uncomfortable stuffing his face. They were his brothers, and he would always be more comfortable around them.

All day, he never was by himself. He begged people to go into the bathroom when he was in there. It wasn't like the toilets were all grouped together, though the urinals were on the wall and not in stalls. They thought it was weird a bit, but Ace explained he didn't want to be alone, so they humored him.

He stuck to his closest brothers like glue, and they didn't get irritated with it. While he was there, he did his best to make up his duties as a commander, not just enjoy his time. He still had a position, and he worked with his division on the paperwork, asking them for any details they had of the time he was gone. It was a group effort, and they were all happy he was back enough to be happy to help.

They also asked some curious questions, but thankfully after the paperwork was over. "I'm proud of you guys for adapting back to not always having a commander. It's been five years and four years since then, but I've heard nothing but good things. I'm glad you are good enough to function without me, and I'm sorry I have been gone," Ace said with a sincere smile and voice.

Some of them blushed and looked awkward before accepting the compliments. "There's no navigation for me to do there, I miss it. But I would be a lot more upset if something bad happened while I was gone. But I trust you all. I have since the start," he added, just piling on the compliments that he meant from deep down.

"We look forward to you being here permanently. We'll fix it somehow!" Orashi said with his hand in a fist, all fired up. He was the best map maker of the division besides Ace. Luckily, and also a bit sadly, Ace had made maps for the previous island, so he wouldn't need to make a new one. He wished he could map the island that caused this nightmare.

But it was his own fault, he knew that. But he didn't exactly expect this to happen, he just was curious. He should have listened to Thatch that time. Man, how scared he must have been. He had already apologized for it, but still felt guilt over it.

Ace grinned at his subordinate's attitude. "I seem to be the one most afraid. I'll try to find strength from your belief. But, it has to work out. And if it doesn't, we'll try something else. It takes a long time for me, but you guys won't have to suffer as long as I do." Then he corrected himself. "I don't suffer. The people are nice, most of them, but I just miss you guys. It would be an awesome adventure if I wasn't alone, you know?"

The others nodded. One of the more quiet members said, "You should try to enjoy it. I know it's upsetting, being alone, but you're on an adventure no one else has been in!" Ace nodded, thinking that was a good point.

"It's just strange. I'm a wanted criminal, yet I'm living in a school meant for heroes, who go against criminals. It's like I'm undercover," he joked. It really was ironic. The same quiet spoken one, Tomi, said, "Well, are criminals the same as villains there?"

Ace thought about it. "I'm sure regular law enforcement deals with things like theft. The heroes mostly deal with those using their powers for bad. I don't think I use my powers for 'bad', but I don't believe there are such things as good and bad. There's always a gray area. We pirates know that well," he said with a smile, glad he could think that way, it made life easier. The others nodded in agreement.

"I hope you guys know that I'm proud and sorry to not be there for you."

"Of course we know. You're our commander, but were first our friend. We know you care and you don't need to feel guilty," someone in the back said earnestly.

Ace grinned. "You guys are the best." They grinned and laughed. It was a happy moment, him making sure everyone knew he didn't like what was happening, and knew that he missed and loved them all. "The awesome thing is that I'm so damn overpowered there! Hah, it's awesome! Here, I'm not the strongest by a long shot, there are plenty of people stronger, but there, nobody knows haki. They all have weaknesses that devil fruit users don't have.

"And I looked in the library they have. There is no seastone in that world. My only problem is water, and there are no oceans surrounds a small island. Or nearby rivers or lakes. And one person I trust is the only one who knows. I know he won't tell anybody else," Ace explained. "He's a good guy. Doesn't agree with our career, but understands why we do what we do, and doesn't look down on us for it.

"It's really lucky he ended up coming with me. Not only was he healed, but he was able to prove I wasn't lying about not being from there. And, he could tell our bonds and understands when I'm moping. I try not to, but I can't help it when I'm alone," Ace confessed. He could trust his crew, mostly his own division and the commanders with heavy topics. He didn't feel weak in front of them. He felt calm and supported when he showed any emotions that some would consider weak.

They knew he was strong and capable, but they also knew he was a human with a heart just like anybody else. And that no matter how strong you are, you will always have moments of weakness. He loved his crew so much, and for them, would do his best to make the most of his time away.

The next two days were sent sailing, fighting off a swarm of sea kings, a marine attack and multiple storms. He was glad he always had something to do here. He liked being in charge and having responsibilities, not always free time. Being back to normal was good for him.

He was napping in the library, a book resting over his face, when Thatch came in and presented him with a smoothie with chocolate flakes on the top. "Acey-chan, wake up~" He used that ridiculous nickname to piss Ace off.

"Get lost, or I'll sic a nomu on you," Ace grumbled, hiding a smile beneath the book. Thatch laughed. It had become a joke, Ace sicing the nomus on anybody that pissed him off or annoyed him. He'd drawn it for the others to see, and they all wondered how it had an exposed brain.

"Noooo, not a nomu!" Thatch whined. "Now, drink this or I'll drink it myself. Or spit it on you. You won't leave with paint on, but spit and smoothie." Ace moved the book and shot a glare at Thatch before taking the drink and downing all of it.

"It was good, you're safe from the nomu for now," Ace said, both of them starting to laugh. He was enjoying life here in full, spending time with everybody. So, when he was suddenly on the grass, he grinned. He shook his head, and made sure his hat came with him. His dagger was still in the drawer, as it hadn't been on him the last time he disappeared. Poor Thatch was probably lamenting over something silly now. Well, ace would be back. He had no doubt that he would not be stuck here permanently.


So they moved into the dorms after USJ, not after the training camp. At first it was an accident but then I thought it worked better for the story. See you next week!