Hello friends! I just wanted to quickly say thank you too StrFri for reviewing! Thanks friend!

Set list:

Going Going Gone, Maddie Poppe (first two verses of the song)

Warnings at end of chapter

KYUKA ISLAND, PARADISE

"Oh the islands in the south are warm and their heads get really hot. They grow pineapples. They grow coconuts. And they're morons! The islands in the north are snowy and their heads get really cold. They're very chilly-chilly. They're very willy-nilly. And they're idiots!" I continued humming to myself as I poured the last of the scrambled eggs into the massive bowl of already made eggs.

"What the hell are you singing?" Deuce asked as he walked into the galley.

"Oh hey! Morning! I made breakfast if you want any." I said with a smile.

"Did you make anything other than meat this time?"

"Of course! I made eggs too!"

"We really need to find a chef." He sighed.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

I can cook!

"I'm just saying you and Ari do your best I'm sure. But it would still be really nice to have a professional who can actually cook. You know so we could have something other than meat, rice, and pasta now and again." He said while grabbing a plate of food and going to sit at one of the tables. I looked at what was left and sighed.

Ok good point.

"Yea you're right." I said, grabbing my own (much bigger) portion of bacon, eggs, and toast before going to sit with Deuce.

"Speaking of Ari." He said and I immediately felt my face start to blush. "How did things go last night? After she finished singing you guys went outside and never came back."

"Oh um. We just felt like going back to the ship." I said.

"Right for some alone time. I get it."

Alone time? What we just wanted to talk away from everyone- WAIT DOES HE THINK WE DID THAT?

"IT WASN'T LIKE THAT! We just talked and stuff." I shouted as I felt my face get even more red.

Deuce burst out laughing and said, "I didn't say anything bout sex I just said alone time! You are the one who immediately thought about that."

"Well I mean yea. Have you seen her? She is ridiculously hot." I said nervously.

Obviously my mind would go to that! But we just got together! It's way too soon for that!

"And she's your girlfriend."

"Yea she is." I said with another smile. "But we haven't really talked about anything like that and I don't want to push her into anything."

"Well then get to talking cause damn that girl has got to be fun in bed."

"Deuce! That's my girlfriend! And your vice-captain so watch it!"

"Ok sorry sorry!" He said, putting his hands up. "So, do you guys have any plans today?"

"We didn't make any, but we'll probably go do something. Didn't Skull say that we would be stuck here for a few days?"

"Something like that. Man, it is so weird that normal compasses don't work here. Being forced to stay on an island until a device locks onto the next island seems so counterproductive."

"Right? But that's how things are here. So, so be it I guess. Also have you heard anything about the pirates that attacked Vira? I want to take care of that as soon as possible." I said, taking my last bite of eggs.

"Not yet but that is what Skull is looking into while we're here. He has really thrown himself into the whole information agent gig."

"Well he's a smart dude so it suits him. But if he's on it then I don't need to worry about it. We'll catch up to those bastards in no time." I said before picking up my glass of water and taking a drink.

However, I ended up immediately spitting all of that water out when I heard someone whisper, "I would appreciate that Captain." In my ear.

"What the fuck Mihar! Don't sneak up on me like that! Shit man." I shouted as I wiped around to look at him.

"S-s-s-s-sorry." He stuttered before backing up.

"No, it's fine you just surprised me." I said as he backed up into the wall. "Anyways. There's a little more food in the kitchen if you want any. I think me and Deuce ate all the bacon, but I think there's some eggs and toast left."

"T-t-t-t-t-thank you Captain." He muttered as he walked quickly into the kitchen.

"Right I think I'm going to go try and find Skull and see if he's found anything." I said while standing up.

"You aren't going to do something with Ari?" Deuce asked.

"She isn't even up yet. So, I'm going to go do the captainly thing and check on one of my men before I go run around with a pretty girl."

"Well look at you being all professional and what not."

"Screw you." I said with a laugh while flipping Deuce off and walking out of the galley.

Where the hell is he?

I had been walking around the city for what felt like hours now trying to find Skull. I had been into every bar that I could find, looked down every alley, I even checked all the pawn shops! And I still couldn't find the dude!

Ok what am I missing here? Should I just start asking around? Might not be a bad idea actually…

I quickly spotted a lady running a vegetable stand. I walked over and said, "Excuse me miss I was wondering if you might have seen a friend of mine. He's a little taller than I am and wearing a skull mask. Actually, everything he wears is covered in skulls now that I think about it…"

"Oh! No sorry I haven't seen him. But I'm off in a little bit and if you want, I could help you look for him? If you aren't from here, then you probably don't know the island too well." She said.

"That would be great! Thank you!" I said with a bow.

"Great! My replacement should be here in an hour or so. But when they get here, we can go look and maybe grab a bite to eat?"

I was about to reply when I felt someone grab my arm and looked down to see Ari. She smiled at the girl and said, "Thank you but that won't be necessary. I know where our friend is already. But thank you for being so helpful." Before jerking my arm and walking away. Once we were a few feet away she said, "Geeze Ace we've been together less than a day and you are already flirting with other girls? How rude."

Huh? Flirting? With who?

"What? I wasn't flirting with anyone!" I said.

"Oh my gosh do not try and tell me you didn't notice the way that girl was looking at you."

"How was she looking at me?"

"Did you not see how much she was batting her eyelashes? How could you have missed that hair flip? It was honestly embarrassing how desperate she was being." She said while tossing her hair over her shoulder and huffing.

"But you always blink fast and toss your hair around."

"Yes. Because I was flirting with you."

Oh. OH.

"OH! So that's what that means!"

"You are impossible."

I felt my neck heat up when I said, "Sorry."

Ari laughed and said, "Don't worry that's one of the reasons I like you."

"Just one of them?" I asked with a smile creeping onto my face.

"Ace, we're already in a relationship. There's no need to fish for compliments."

"I- I wasn't!"

Ari just laughed more as I sputtered. Eventually I was able to form a coherent sentence again and asked, "So where is Skull? You said you knew where he was. Or was that just an excuse to get me away from the cute shop girl?"

Ari gasped and said, "Excuse me? Cute? OH PUH-LEASE! That little girl was so not cute! Did you see her hair? It was so dry and sad, ugh and it was short. There is nothing cute about short hair! And her outfit! What she was thinking when she-"

I interrupted her by kissing her quickly and when I pulled back, I saw that her face was red. I kissed her again and said, "I was joking. And you look beautiful today by the way. I like your hair being up, it looks nice." Then I stepped back a bit to admire her. She wasn't wearing anything special, just her standard t-shirt (red today) that showed a bit of her stomach, her jeans, and her jacket. But her hair did look quite nice in the ponytail she had it in.

Ari glared at me for a minute before saying, "Shut up."

I laughed as we started walking again. "But do you know where he is?" I asked.

Ari rolled her eyes and said, "Of course I do."

Where Skull was ended up being a pawn shop. Surprise surprise.

I swear I came in here like 5 minutes ago…

"There he is." Ari said, pointing towards the back of the store.

We walked over to him and I clapped him on the back saying, "Skull! Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"

"I've been here Captain. They have a lot of really nice items here. Look at this knife I found!" He said cheerfully, holding up a knife with a few skulls engraved onto the blade.

"That's great. But I was hoping that you had found something a bit more… useful."

"Oh, you mean about the pirates that attacked Vira. I haven't found anything yet but I'm working on it."

"Ok cool let me know when you find anything alright?"

"Will do Captain." He said with a mock salute. "So, what are you and Ari doing today?"

"I don't really know yet. I just met up with her a few minutes ago."

"Well there is a beach on the opposite side of the island that is pretty secluded. Looked like a nice place to sit and relax."

"Nice we'll have to check it out. Thanks."

"Course. Anything to help out our resident lovebirds."

"We aren't lovebirds! We just like each other!"

"You sure? 'Cause you know Sirens were traditionally portrayed as birds in the old folk lore instead of being associated with mermaids and so you know she is kind of a-"

"Yea yea that's really interesting! Well we need to go so you ready Air? Ari?" I said while I looked around.

Where did she go? Wasn't she right here?

I walked away from Skull and around the corner of one of the display shelves to see Ari looking at a guitar that was hung up on the wall.

"Wow. You are a pretty one aren't you…" I heard her whisper as she lightly ran her fingers over the instrument.

"It is pretty." I said which made her smirk.

"There is a tradition in the Kuja that they name all of their children after flowers. These are mine, Ariadne Butterfly Ranunculus." She said while touching one of the flower designs on the guitar. "They mean radiant charm. Or something like that."

"Well you are charming, so it fits."

She laughed before turning to me and asking, "Did you get what you needed from Skull?"

"Kind of he is going to look into some stuff and get back to me."

"Ok then do you want to go do something? We could go find something to do in town?"

"Sure, yea sounds fun." I said as we walked out of the store.

WAIT! I should go get that guitar for her! She obviously liked it! But wait if she wanted it then wouldn't she have gotten it herself? Did she want me to get it for her? WAS THAT A TEST?

When we were a little ways down the street I said, "Wait I forgot something. I'll be right back."

"I'll come with you." She said.

"No, it's fine you wait here I'll be right back!" I said before jogging back into the pawn shop.

I quickly walked past Skull who tried to ask me something, but I ignored him as I grabbed the guitar off the wall and took it up to the counter. "Good move Captain!" He yelled at me.

I paid for it quickly and ran back to where I had left Ari. She was leaning against the wall of one of the other stores when I got back to her. When she saw what I was holding she groaned and said, "Ace! Why did you buy that?"

"What? A musician needs an instrument! And you even said that this one had your name on it!" I said with a smile on my face.

When I smiled Ari froze for a second and just stared at me. But then she blushed and looked away before saying, "Thank you." Before she took the guitar and held it gently.

She's so pretty!

I put my arm around her shoulders and said, "Any time Air."

"So where are we going anyways?"

"Skull said something about a beach on the other side of the island. It sounded like a nice place if you want to go check it out?"

"So long as there isn't any sand that sounds great."

She doesn't like sand?

"Is there something wrong with sand? I figured you would love the beach given how much you love the ocean."

"I don't like sand. It's coarse, rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere." She said.

Ok then?

"Ok then we'll try and avoid any sand."

Ari laughed lightly before saying, "If you want somewhere secluded where we can talk then I would recommend the base of the massive tree. People don't usually go to the back side of it since the only way to the top is on the front."

"That works."

"What's your favorite color?" I heard Ari ask.

I moved my hat off my face to look up at her from where I was laying on my back and said, "Hmm, either red or orange. What's yours?"

"Blue" she said.

"I could have guessed that." I said while I reached up to touch her hair.

She chuckled and said, "The blue hair is actually a new thing."

"What color was it before this."

"Yes. I have dyed it pretty much every color and even had a rainbow pattern for a while."

I tried to imagine her with rainbow colored hair and just couldn't do it. "Well I like the blue."

"Thanks so do I." She said before turning her attention back to the guitar in her lap. She had been messing with it for a while now and told me that she was tuning it when I asked what she was doing.

After a little while of just enjoying the cool breeze I asked, "So have you written any more songs lately?"

"I have been working on a little something actually. But it isn't finished yet."

"I wanna hear it."

"But it isn't finished!"

"But I still want to hear it!"

"Ugh fine." She groaned before sitting up a bit more and adjusting her grip on the instrument.

I'm staring at the ceiling

The clock, it won't stop ticking

I feel like I've been sleeping for too long now

It's like my heart stopped beating

And now I'm hardly breathing

And I'm afraid of leaving scared to break down

And what am I waiting for?

'Cause I don't wanna wait no more

And I'm the only soldier in this lonely world

And I don't wanna fight myself no more

Maybe I was meant to run

Maybe I was born to bleed

I don't know who I'll become

But I'll be going going gone

And even if it starts to hurt

I wanna feel it 'til my whole heart bursts

'Cause I will be forever young

So I'll be going going going going

"And that's all I have so far." She said with a blush.

Wow. How does she sound so much better every time I hear her sing?

"I like it. What made you want to write it?" I asked.

"I was just thinking about how I've never done this before. And it's new and weird but I want to try it and see where it goes."

"What exactly is new?"

"Everything we're doing. I've never sailed with a rookie crew before. With a crew that's, well, mine. I'd actually never crossed Reverse Mountain before I did with you guys. And then there's everything with us which is completely new for me."

"Well we're finally on the same page then, 'cause all that stuff is new to me too."

Ari laughed and said, "Guess we'll have to figure all this out together then huh?"

I sat up and pulled her into my arms before kissing her lightly. Then I smiled at her and said, "Guess so."

But with a girl like her by my side I don't think that'll be much of a chore...

When the sun had started to set Ari and I had decided to go back to the ship. We were sitting on the deck drinking some hot chocolate that she had made with Deuce and Mihar when Skull made it back to the ship.

"Hey Skull! Come join us! Ari made some super good hot chocolate!" I yelled to him.

"Sure, sounds good thanks Ari!" Skull said.

Ari just raised her mug and smirked at him.

"So, when can we leave this island?" I asked Skull once he sat down in our little circle.

"Log pose should be set by morning. So, any time after that."

"Nice. Were you able to find out anything about those pirates?"

Ari looked confused and asked, "What pirates?"

"The pirates that attacked Vira." Skull said. "I found out that it was the Fanged Frog pirates and they passed through here the day before we got here. So, if we are quick we should be able to catch up to them."

"Alright thanks Skull." I said.

"Why would we want to catch up to them?" Ari asked.

"You saw what they did to Vira. We can't let that go. They have to pay for what they did."

Obviously. Pirates aren't supposed to be doing shit like that. Pirates are supposed to go on adventures, drink, and have fun. Not kill innocent people.

"Why? We're pirates, why would we give a shit if they ransacked one little village?" She said.

"They didn't just ransack it they slaughtered everyone there! We can't-"

"Don't you get it Ace? That is what pirates DO. That is what EVERY pirate crew does! Hell, I wiped out my first island when I was 14! If you don't want our crew doing that then fine but that doesn't change the way the world works."

She did what?

Shaking my head I said, "Look I don't care what you think is acceptable but I'm not going to stand by and let some assholes slaughter innocent people."

"Then why are you wasting your time pretending to be a pirate? If you wanted to 'protect the innocent' then you should have become a Marine."

"I've made my decision Ariadne. If you don't like how your captain does things, then that's your problem."

"Very well then CAPTAIN." She said with a sneer before walking off the deck.

I was about to follow her but was stopped when I heard someone on the beach yelling at us. They said, "Portgas D. Ace we've come for you and that hefty bounty you've got!"

Oh, they should not have bothered me right now.

I snarled before running and jumping off the deck of the ship in a ball of fire. They immediately swarmed me, but I was able to fend them off easily with a combination of punches and flames. Things were going well until I felt something hit me in the head. Hard. I heard someone scream my name as I fell to the ground and everything went black.

Warnings:
No warnings apply

I hope you guys liked this chapter! I finally found a way to mention the meaning of Ari's name so that was fun :) Also props to anyone who notices the quote from a certain movie that I just HAD to include ;)

Obligatory beta plug! I am still looking for a beta so if you would be interested then drop a comment and let me know!