Recap: A newcomer has joined the Whitebeard crew. She seems to be formidable.

Key: "'...'" (bold and italic) is when Ran speaks in her own language, meaning Ace doesn't understand what she is saying.

It had only been a week since Ran had joined. She was so good at blending into the back ground that the crew often forgot she was there, when eating, at meetings, any communal gathering, her presence was lost. So it was uncertain if the Whitebeard pirate crew had accepted her, but they at least tolerated her. When they remembered when she was there. Unknown to a lot of them, she was observing them, taking in any detail that was noticeable, which she stored in a log. Many times did Ace and Thatch and a smattering of other mischievous crew members tried to get into their newest member's room. However they couldn't do anything, because they couldn't get in there whatsoever. It was like a secret closet, and it made them even more determined to open the damn door, and see what she was hiding in there. Unfortunately she had caught them, since they couldn't sense her presence again.

"Why are you so excited to see what is in room?" She asked blankly.

"We just want to see what's so special about your room, if we can't open it."

"Okay."

That was rather easy. A lot of them were afraid now, what did she have? Skeletons? Weird science experiments? Dead animals? They watched her unlock her door and they were anticipating what would be inside.

Just a desk, a hammock and her suitcase.

"You guys satisfied?"

"Um."

"What were you expecting to see my panties?" She teased a little. Some of them went bright red at her remark.

"Don't get their hopes up miss." A familiar confident voice from the back of the crowd. Most of the men lost excitement and went to do their training and brawling.

"Ace-sama. How are you?" She politely asked.

"You don't have to call me Ace-sama. You can just call me Ace, miss." he grinned. She was so stiff and formal it was kinda funny. He laughed, he had never met a girl like her before. Like the others he often forget she was there, however he caught glimpses of her walking around, which reminded him that there was now another powerful addition to the Whitebeard pirate crew. He tried to stalk her once already, and not so surprisingly he wasn't able to keep up with her, she just seemed to disappear into thin air sometimes, and it was almost impossible to stalk someone who had just turned into air. She didn't talk much to him, or the others except Izou. For some strange reason she had struck a friendship with the cross dressing geisha, Ace assumed it was the similar culture they shared. If Ou Ran was seen, she was seen talking with Izou, who also liked the newcomer, joking around. Well it was mainly Izou talking at her, and she would occasionally reply, but would also laugh with Izou. Train with him as well, showing her his pistols and how adept he was with them. Whitebeard had agreed that Ou Ran could be Izou's subordinate, until she gained enough prestige to do solo missions. Ace thought it was odd that someone who was clearly very powerful, wanted to be a subordinate, but he assumed that since she was so polite and didn't want to be out of line, he believed that perhaps she was being so polite, she didn't want to come off as arrogant by demanding solo missions.

"Ace?" She called calmly, as she locked her door.

"Oh sorry, nothing Ran." He brushed off his thoughts. However he was realising that he knew nothing about Ran. When he first met her, she listed off all his titles, and bounty, but yet he couldn't find a thing. Not even her name in the census, or her birth place, or even her birth date.

"Well I have to attend to some business. I'll see you around Ace." She waved goodbye, walking off.

"H-Hey do you want me to come along? I mean."

"What do you mean?" she questioned, staring straight at him. He was sweating bullets, when she stared at him, it was piercing through him, and he couldn't shake off the nervousness he got from her stares.

"I meant, maybe. Maybe I can tag along and use this as a bonding experience." He reasoned, rather weakly. He was expecting her to deny it straight out, he would too. Once he heard what he was saying he sounded creepy and stupid.

"Sure, we'll have to see if Father approves of it first." she agreed most surprisingly and turned around to walk, leaving Ace standing there in shock. She looked behind her again. "Ace you coming?" Waiting patiently for Ace to snap out of his trance and follow after her. They both walked out onto the deck and to the circular lowered platform in front of Whitebeard. She bowed in respect, whilst Ace just stood there rather awkwardly. Whitebeard smiling at the both of them.

"Father I am leaving, I will be back in two days. I will not fail you." She summarised. "Oh and Ace said he would like to join me in gathering information." She asked gently, although she didn't show any expression she felt sort of nervous about this arrangement. And it was even stranger because she still viewed Whitebeard as a major person of authority, and now she would live and die by his name, but he took away that barrier of authority that she was used to when working for Master Ginlao. She felt her face warm up when she said the last bit of her sentence, because it was almost as if she was asking her father if she could go on a date with some boy she had just met. Not that she would know what that was like, but it was still embarrassing to some extent. She could hear a few cat calls and Izou screaming "Go get it." with some laughter. She was glad that she wore her mask to hide her blush.

"Gararararara. You kids. Fine I think it'll be good for Ace to go unnoticed. It's time he learned the art of silence." Everyone else erupted in laughter at his remark, even Ran smirked under her mask. Ace didn't know what to say but growl. Ran bowed one more time and walked to the very edge of the boat.

"How are you gonna get there?" She asked Ace.

"Where are we going?"

"The summer island of bing." She chuckled a little. Ace looked at her with an amused confused grin.

"Bing means cold in my language, and it's a summer island. You know irony?" She explained rather quickly and awkwardly. Ace just smirked at the silliness. And then stopped.

"Aren't you a little over dressed for a summer island?" He questioned, looking at her long muddy brown trench coat. A few calls of "Damn Ace trying to make her strip." and "Pervert" were thrown into the air, as he realised what he just said.

"I wouldn't worry about me Ace, I can look after myself. Don't worry." She brushed off the remarks, smiling.

"So how are you gonna get there?"

"I don't even have a map, let alone get there. How are you going to get there?" Ace questioned, sure she had her little boat, but it was definitely going to take more than two days to get anywhere from the Moby Dick.

"Avian."

"Ah I- What?"

"Avian"

"What the sunglasses?"

"No. As in birds. Avian. Not Aviators." The crew seemed to be in fits at this conversation, some of them were choking on their food with laughter.

"What kind of bird is gonna carry humans?"

"You'll see." She assured him, with a twinkle in her eye. He looked at her with uncertainty. He was trying to think of large birds that flew that he might have seen but to be honest nothing came to his mind. She brought out a normal leaf that was found on any ordinary tree and brought it to her mouth and once there was silence she closed her eyes and whistled a tune with the leaf that made the whistle a lot sweeter and higher pitch. After a few seconds had passed, they looked at the sky to see if any changes. A large dark shadow contrasted the white clouds and the deep blue sky, it grew larger as it came closer, and it changed colour. It was white and chocolate brown, with long wings, each wing was easily half the size of the Moby Dick.

"What kind of bird is that?"

"From my home kingdom."

"What kind of kingdom do you come from?!" Ace yelled.

"I don't know why you're yelling, this one is small compared to the others."

"Small?!"

"Okay if I have to keep repeating things because of your bad hearing, we're gonna have real problems later on." She watched the giant bird perch on the edge of the boat, patting its feathers and beak soothingly. The Moby Dick temporarily tipped on the side of the bird, the crew members all ran to the opposite side hopefully evening out the weight of the boat. Ace looked up at the humongous bird, also wondering how much meat would come from that one bird. He looked over at Ran who was putting a bridle on the bird, and was chattering to the bird in another language, which the bird seemed to understand, cawing in agreement. She pulled the bridle on securely and hopped on the back, looking down at Ace expectantly.

"Come on, we gotta go. Hop on!" Ace sighed, and smiled a little. It wasn't every day that he got to ride on a monster bird. He was surprised that the bird's feathers were surprisingly soft, so soft that he could sleep in them all day long. He didn't where to grab, and only could only see Ran's waist as the only option. So he hugged it tightly, but of course there were a few calls from his mates from down below. Ace was getting annoyed, and annoyed that he was blushing at their comments, so he pointed his index and middle fingers at his crewmates (Higan) shooting the bullets of fire, making them run around like ants in an ant hill.

"Done?" She asked. Ace was a little put out, she didn't seem at all nervous that he had his arms around her waist, but then again why would he be?

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"No problem."

"One thing. How are we going to get off this ship?"

"Flying duh."

"I know that, but we're quite low to see, and I know birds need a bit more height to soar and fly in the sky."

"I told you no problem."

"Wha-"

"'Wind'" She cut off Ace, talking in her own language,holding the bridle, closing her eyes.

"Ran-"

"Ace hold on to me tightly. We can't waste time now, I don't want you falling into the sea, and then having to save you since you're a devil fruit user." She demanded politely and seriously. "'Wind'" Ace was looking down in silence, expecting to see the boat. He saw the boat just that he could see it from a birds eye view. He looked at Ran, in surprise and at the boat again. The bird hadn't started to flap its wings so how were they so high up?

"Ready?" She asked.

"No how the fu-"Ace was questioning. The bird cawed in response to her question, it had started to flap its wings but it didn't move an inch, it was as if it was waiting for something.

"'Come big wind, guide us, help us'" She said, her eyes closed as if listening intently. And before Ace knew it, the wind was whistling in his ears, and hugging even tighter to Ran's waist, he looked down, and only what seemed a second after take-off, the Moby Dick was out of sight. He couldn't even see it in the distance, he felt the familiar cold tingle of adrenaline and fear on his skin and his palms feeling sweaty. Not that he was afraid of heights, it was because they were incredibly high, so high that the clouds seemed to be touchable and the sea didn't seem so close, it was just a large area of blue. It seemed surreal, sure he's seen a lot of things in his twenty years of living but this was just incredible for Ace. They were flying at such an incredible speed, that islands that took days to get to were passing under them in just seconds and disappeared in minutes. He saw many boats and ships littered around in the sea, gave him that familiar twinge of homesickness that he got sometimes. He looked at Ran, whose mask was rippling in the wind, hoping to see a glimpse of the lower half of her face, like its owner, gave nothing away. He noticed that she was shivering a little, and found it odd because he wasn't the least bit cold.

"You okay?"

"Yeah I just forgot how cold it gets up here. You?"

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm fire-fist Ace. I am fire." He grinned at her, and then it hit him. Just because he was a walking fire doesn't mean everyone else was.

"Well at least you're fine. Can you try and warm me up please? I'm not wearing much under this coat and this coat isn't great at keeping me warm." She admitted bluntly. Ace blushed a little, he was used to girls being really shy, and barely showing any skin. They would flirt with their charms and would shyly and deviously hint at what they might be wearing under their clothes. He was a little taken aback at her bluntness, but saw that she was shivering and pushed those thoughts away. He slipped his hands under her coat and held her stomach and torso, feeling some woolly material.

"Ace!" She shrieked, he laughed a little because she was so composed usually but that shriek was so unlike her.

"What?" He laughed

"I didn't mean under my coat you dumb ass!" He noticed that she wasn't slapping away his hands, and that her hands were gripping the bridle very strongly. He smirked. Perfect

"Ace let go of me!" she squawked.

"No can do mam. I would fall off and as you said you don't have time to waste to save my ass if I fell into the sea."

"What-I see what you did. Shut up!" She fumed, holding the bridle and only concentrated on flying. Both Ace and the bird were laughing.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ace felt the speed drop, and he looked down to see an island that was mainly a tropical forest, with the sun just about to set, giving off orange and purple hues in the sky. The journey seemed pretty long, but he was surprised they made it before night time and was thoroughly impressed with the humongous bird. Now he was thinking about chicken, and then about roosters, before he knew it he was tired, enjoying leaning on Ran to sleep on. The next time Ace opened his eyes he was flat on his back, next to the bird for warmth, but his arms were empty. He was alarmed now, where did his comrade go? Did she do a ditch and run? Did they get sighted by enemies and split up and he was somewhere safe and she was fighting the enemies? He looked through his little bag to find a note.

Ace,

Going to find them.

Will be back.

No worries.

Don't start any fires.

And don't leave Zao alone, otherwise he will get frightened and fly off.

And don't eat him.

I'm being serious, don't eat him. Go munch on a leaf, I'll bring back food.

DO NOT EAT ZAO.

"Geez" he muttered, looking at the humongous bird. Well he couldn't blame her because he had thought about how much meat the bird could make if he cooked it. Anyways Ace heeded the letter, making sure he was still in an area where Zao could see him. Since Ace didn't have his special boat and he didn't know the tune that called the monster bird, he definitely didn't want his only source of travel and freedom to suddenly leave. He found some fruit in the trees, harvesting some for the bird and Ran for when she came back. He was staring at the sea, it was pretty calm now, and ominous since it was pitch black with no stars illuminating the surface. He thought it was a shame that there was no stars, he could have enjoyed the view with Ran.

Wait what?

Enjoy the view with Ran?

This was not a date.

This was a bonding experience, so why was he trying to be all poetic and look at the stars with his newest crew member?

Well it doesn't have to be romantic if I don't want it to be. I can bond with my newest crewmember by looking at the stars. I mean stars aren't romantic, are they?

Ace was trying to think back to previous dates and other affairs he's had. It wouldn't be so surprising that the twenty year old had been on a couple dates with girls, and had some other sexual affairs with some others. He was a handsome young man, with a devilish smile that screamed bad news that drew girls to him, especially with his lax and devil-may-care attitude. And it certainly helped that he walked around with this shirt half open or just half naked showing off his young, toned and fit body. He never mistreated a woman, he would always be giving and courteous, however he never had a need to stay in a relationship with one, or even have a desire to go out with one. He just liked to experiment a little, and was very grateful that these girls wanted to go on a date with him, and appreciated that they understood his fast pace life as a pirate. However his duty as the second commander of the Whitebeard pirates overrode any starting relationships, and he didn't want to be tied down so early when he just started exploring.

"Ace?" He jumped at the sudden soft call of his name, and turned around to see his comrade.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just a little startled." He admitted, he tried to get his heart back to its regular pace, he forgot her presence was untraceable, and practically goes under the radar. She patted his shoulder reassuringly and pointed her thumb behind her at the meat she had brought back, which he was impressed with. The bird was still sleeping, the fruit untouched.

"Come on, I'll fill you in with the details whilst we eat." Ace easily set a fire and Ran was feeding it enough wood to keep it going as they started to cook the meat, discussing what Ran had found out and their plan of action for tomorrow. As they finished their conversation, the talk had dwindled down to silence, which was uncomfortable for Ace. When he went on missions with other commanders they would have been friendlier by now, but with Ran there was this awkwardness still.

"Won't people be able to see the fire?" Ace questioned, turning his meat.

"Nope, I put up a hallucinogen barrier. So people will think it's just the edge of the island and the sea. We're pretty much blended in, unless you go outside the barrier. It's really important to stay quiet in a hallucinogen barrier.

"But we're talking pretty loud."

"I also put up a sound barrier. It's pretty hard to breach it."

"Is that what you put on yourself?"

"No, I'm just naturally very quiet, you have to be if you're in the line of work that I used to be in."

"What spy?"

"Sort of, more like an assassin. I worked under Master Ginlao. He forms all sorts of alliances with all sorts of people, and he directs us. He used to be one himself, as he was a part of father's crew. Intelligence and networking is incredibly useful if you have the right people working for you." She explained quickly.

"Was it fun?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know? You went into that line of work because you wanted to right?"

"Well to be honest, I've only been in that job. Since I can remember."

"What? You worked as an assassin as a child?"

"No no, I didn't kill. I trained a lot before I started my job as an assassin. I was like a street rat, and I was being chased by people in my home kingdom. And I found a small boat and left, without so much as a scrap of bread. I was half dead when I was washed ashore of another island that Master happened to be on. I told him my whole story, because I was half dead, I mean what harm could it possibly do if I did tell him, I was going to be dead in about another day. I remember thinking." She simply reminisced. Ace was just staring at her, he couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth.

"Master Ginlao was everything I had. He taught me everything." Tears were starting to pool in her eyes, she was looking down at her meat, not wanting to look at anyone. "He could have left me to die but he didn't. I asked him once why he saved me. It would have been easier for him to leave me for dead, since my own kingdom wanted me dead and that I was some street rat. He said that a great pirate he knew told him 'Don't you realise how painful it is for a father to see his own child to die before him?' And I never asked the same question since." She ended her story, she blinked away her tears, as she smiled under mask at the memories.

"I didn't mean to bring up bad memories for you."

"No, it's fine. I guess I'm starting to open up a bit more to you guys, it's weird to talk about my background and it's so different in this family. We used to not talk at all, because our master valued secrecy as much as us, and we barely talked because of our jobs. I wouldn't be able to tell you where my comrades came from, we were that secretive." She admitted. Ace although he felt bad that he had made her cry and revisit what seemed to be the painful memories of her past, he felt a little warmer, a little closer to his new comrade.

"If you like I can talk about my past."

"No need. I know you're the pirate king, Gol. D. Rodger's son."

"Wha- Wait should I even be surprised?" Ace for once chuckled at hearing the name he had hated for so long. Even Ran seemed surprised that he was laughing.

"I don't know you can be surprised if you want to be. I only know because it was our job as we worked alongside you guys. You just didn't know it."

"So you've known who I am for a long time?"

"I guess so."

"So you're a stalker of mine, eh?" He teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"If you want to think of me like that, then yes." She answered simply, giving no expression at all. Ace looked away guiltily, he couldn't feel any sort of emotion from Ran, but he knew for sure he had made some old scars resurface and ache for her.

*Time skip* (I'm too lazy to write what they were doing, she'll report the same thing to Whitebeard anyways)

The gigantic bird lowered itself down onto the Moby Dick, next to the pile of food, flicking away the pirates that were nearby. Ace hopped down as Ran slid down gracefully. She walked towards Whitebeard into the lowered central circular platform in front of Whitebeard. She bowed her head respectfully then looking up at him, as Ace also entered the circular platform.

"I see you have had a successful mission Ou Ran."

"Yes, father." She bowed again. Pulling out a large bundle of documents that shouldn't have been able to fit into her slim trench coat without sticking out.

"I would never expect any less from you Ou Ran." As he took the papers. "Did you two have fun?" He asked a little cheekily, the other crew members were also intrigued. She stared straight past Whitebeard not saying anything in response.

"I did." Ace chuckled, without little care, laughing.

"Ou Ran?" Whitebeard asked.

"I did not." She hissed.

"Oh come on, it wasn't so bad."

"Ace the point in my job is to do it and get out without someone finding me or noticing my presence."

"Yeah the point in my job is kick the opponent's ass."

"That wasn't your job! It was mine, you just tagged along."

"Yeah well you seemed to be in trouble."

"You set the fucking tree I was hiding in on fire, so I fucking fell you retard! So of course I was in trouble!"

"Because a monkey stole my fruit and I was hungry, and it just happened to climb up your tree. I thought you would use your dome thing."

"I TOLD YOU THE HALLUICOGEN DOESN'T WORK WITH MY OTHER DEFENCES. I HAVE TO BE STILL OR SLOW MOVING AND QUIET, OTHERWISE IT DOESN'T WORK."

"MAKE A BETTER ONE THEN." Ace was quickly silenced as there was a sharp kunai near his throat. He smirked, as if a little blade was going to harm him. He simply turned his throat into a column of fire to melt it, since it was metal, it would easily melt in his incredibly hot flames. However he noticed that she hadn't moved her hand at all, and he looked down to see the kunai surrounded by his flames that should have melted the weapon, but was unharmed at all.

"A little fire won't melt my weapons. They're all made of metal that withstands ridiculously hot temperatures, edged with sea prism stone so any devil fruit users are taken care of, and they all have armament haki. So I will cut you if I have to flame boy, if you get in my way ever again." She threatened.

"Ou Ran, no threatening to kill commanders yet. You're still a subordinate." Whitebeard sternly reminded her, but still smiling a little. His children were so funny.

"I wasn't threatening to kill. I would never kill one of your sons father, I was simply implying that there would be some serious repercussions if the commander of the second division got in the way of my job again. That is if he comes along with me on another one of my jobs."

"Come on, it wouldn't have been as much fun if I wasn't there and you know it." Ace tried to reason, not taking in the scary cold look in Ran's eyes, that everyone else had taken notice of and ran to the other side of the ship, with Marco at the front to protect them from any serious future harm.

"I don't care if there wasn't as much fun. We got noticed, and luckily I had my mask on, and I made you a mask they don't know what you look like. But they know who you are, since you used your stupid signature fire-fist move to destroy it all."

"Well if you didn't intervene then they wouldn't have known who I was."

"WE WERE SUPPOSED TO LET THEM LIVE, IF THEY DIED THE- Oh you know what? Forget it." She spat out.

"I'm sorry I caused a scene in front of you father." She apologised, bowing and leaving heading towards her room.

"You know you're kinda boring!" Ace yelled at her retreating back.

"My son, you're far too stubborn for that woman. Don't you know the saying? Happy wife, happy life." He laughed at Ace's apparent blush, and so did the rest of the crew.

She heard the laughs, she was far too infuriated to say anything back, she wanted some sleep and to get away from the stupid flame head. She dumped her bag on the floor, locking her door, and casted her hallucinogen dome, so it appeared open and that no one was in it. And masked her presence as she sat down in front of her desk. She opened the secret compartment in the wall and took out her contact lens case and a mirror from her pocket and took out her left contact lens out. Her reflection showing her usual black right eye and golden yellow left eye.

"Yes fire fist Ace I am kinda boring." She admitted sarcastically, blinking as she looked in the mirror again, her golden yellow eye reflecting the light from the candle.

It had been two weeks since Ace and Ran had returned from their mission. Ran was actively dodging Ace, he wasn't sure if she was busy or if she was doing it on purpose. Well it wasn't as if Ace was following about the annoyed girl who was always in her trench coat, well following her a little. Well he couldn't follow her if he wanted to, because she was disappearing into thin air once again, and Whitebeard had been keeping him busy, knowing full well that there would a massive fight between Ran and Ace if he didn't try to intervene.

Ace was rudely awakened by the first commander, who told Ace that there was a secret meeting now, and it was compulsory to attend. Ace grumbled as he rolled out of his hammock onto the floor, groaning in slight pain and pulled on some underwear and his shorts, he didn't particularly care for a shirt, because he couldn't feel bothered and it's not as if he would be cold anyways. He brought a chair from the corner of Whitebeard's room and placed himself between Thatch and Marco, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. He saw all the other commanders also sitting, or slouching or napping in their chairs as they were waiting for everyone else to settle in.

"Now my children. Oh Ou Ran did you set up-"

"Yes father, no one can hear us or want to interrupt us." The hollow voice answered, they saw the ever-invisible woman at a desk, flicking through hundreds of pages.

"I thought we had to be quiet to not-"

"Ace just listen to the meeting." She retorted back, in no mood to joke at all.

"My children, we are about to embark on another journey, but it's going to be slightly different this time. It's going to require the entire crew."

All of the commanders looked between one another in surprise, what on earth could be so big that required all of the commanders.

"I'm sure you are all wondering what journey we are embarking on that needs all the commanders on board. Well we have finally found the hiding place of one of the largest criminals from the underworld." Ran stood up to straighten the papers and started to distribute the packs of information.

"Selenco?"

"He goes by many code names, but Selenco is the most common one known by the underworld. He has many fingers in many pies, he specialises in human trafficking and fisherman and merpeople trafficking, he's one of the biggest sponsors for the Sabaody Archipelago Human auction house." All of them growled in anger, that someone could be so horrible to another human, another creature just for wealth, it disgusted them.

"So why don't we go in there and kick his ass? Old school."

"Because he has so many different locations where he trafficks, his subordinates would definitely slaughter and kill their captives if we killed their master first." Whitebeard answered.

"So what? We-"

"So we kill them first." Ran offered in a neutral manner. "That's why we need all the commanders to be there, we have assigned you the different locations based on abilities and skill. You will be partnered up as well, and there are no swapping of teams." She sternly added.

"Wouldn't they notice all of their subordinates being killed?"

"Not if they were killed at the same time, and at a time where he needn't be worried at all. And if he is, he wouldn't be able to lift a single finger." Ran spoke softly, and almost threateningly.

"What are you implying?"

"There will be a massive silent auction that is also a party for the nobles and wealthiest people, hosted in the Sabaody Archipelago. Selenco dominates this area and has various spots where a lot of his captives are rounded up and categorised before sent to the auction house. The commanders and their divisions kill the subordinates and leave some of their crew mates to take the den den mushi and call Selenco's executives to ensure that the captives have been sent to the human auction house. We put the captives in your ships and let them wait there, or release them if they want to go and find their own way out. And then the divisions will act as security outside the auction house once the doors are secured."

"What happens if they don't recognise us? And realise that we're not Selenco's men."

"Why would they? Selenco's men wear masks, they like secrecy, hidden identities and they're always gaining new recruits. They are strong in numbers but their foundation is weak, also it's not as if they're going to be listening very carefully to their lame subordinates. They're going to be too arrogant and self-assured. Assuming that their trafficking has to plan as it always has, no one has ever been successful in defeating them, so why would they worry?" She huffed a little in annoyance at this statement.
"Also they're going to be too drunk to notice anything." There was a twinkle in her eye.

"Okay so what's going to happen after that?"

"Well we'll see what happens, but it's going to be a free for all."

"What?!"

"Selenco's executives are all for the taking."

"Isn't this cold blood murder?"

"So his underhand dealings and stealing human children, men and woman for slaves killing those who resisted isn't enough for revenge? Allowing his men to rape and slaughter villages to be sold into slavery. Not to mention the atrocities committed against the fisherman and merpeople, is not cold blooded murder?" Ran stated.

"…"

"But why are the Whitebeard Pirates becoming involved?"

"They crossed our path and made a mistake."

"When?"

"They destroyed my village, and all I could do was run away as my siblings were sold into slavery" Namur admitted, crying breaking down.

"They crossed our path when they started trafficking and selling creatures for their own benefit. Every child is a child of the sea, they must be free and we as the Whitebeard Pirates are the heroes of justice. The world is corrupt and we are going to use our power to set the world right. Are you saying to me my sons that you do not want to help these desperate people in need? Who are so helpless that their only other option is death, and their only reason for their death is that they rather die than live?" He said with bated breath. Each and every one of them looked down, contemplating. Ran felt a little sad, were they really debating if they didn't want to help these people? It took her a couple months to look into this case that was given to her especially by her late Master, she wanted to finish her last mission as a final send off to her master.

"Yes father, we will not fail you." They said in unison, their hands placed on their hearts to show support and loyalty.

"See I told you Ou Ran. You are family and your family will help you." Whitebeard grinned at his children. Although no one could see her mouth, but her lip was trembling in shock and another emotion she wasn't familiar with. She knelt down in front of all the commanders.

"I am eternally grateful for your support in this next mission. I wish I could pay you back for all your kindness. I am so sorry Namur that I brought back horrible memories, I wish I could erase them too." Tears started to spill out of her eyes. Her voice was feeling coarse.

"Thank you so much commanders." She stood up, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "I wish I didn't have to involve you in this, but I wouldn't be able to even do anything with any impact with you guys."

"Why are you so personally involved in this?"

"Dude shut up."

"Selenco stole my best friend away from me. After I entered Master Ginlao's family I saw my best friend chained like a dog to a tree with a filthy collar forced around their neck. They begged me to kill them, they held my legs as I cried after being separated so long from them. They begged me to end their life, because they couldn't have any other way out." Her tears running down her face.
"They wanted to end their after living a shorter life than I have and they wanted to die. They thought death was a better option than living!" She screeched, clutching her throat. "I couldn't even get them the key because their slave master broke the key in front of them so all hopes freedom were destroyed."

Silence was emphasising her reliving the horrible memory, her shrieking voice contrasting the heavy silence.

"I didn't know what to do. So I left them my sword as I set fire to the bastard's house. Slitting his throat and hearing his last gasp for breaths didn't deafen my best friend's final screams before death stole her away from me."

"I told you to shut up dude. You had to fucking ask and now I feel bad and want to cry myself to sleep."

"Enough, we have all agreed, we'll start the next day." Whitebeard ordered. They all filed out, heading back to their own rooms. Ran dried her eyes, the last one to leave.

"I'm sorry father for causing a scene again."

"Why do you have to sorry my child? I'm happy that you opened up to my sons, I promised I would help you with your bereavement."

She bowed one last time in gratitude and headed to her room. She masked her room and locked her room again, she could never be too careful. She took out her left contact lens, wiping away the tears again. The weight of her shoulders was finally starting to lift off and for a long time, she could sleep with more ease.

Ace woke up due to his hungry stomach grumbling and after Thatch had shoved down a mountain worth of food down his throat he was still chewing on the last piece of food, walking down the corridors. He passed Ran's room, noticing it was closed. However he was questioning, was it really closed or was it another hallucination? He walked up to the door and pushed it open, so it really was closed to his surprise. He saw her in her hammock, murmuring in her sleep. Turning and tossing over.

"H-Hey Ran."

"I'm sorry."

"…" Ace stopped, he looked at her, her palm was near her head, and fingers curled, her face full of worry.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I never got to say sorry." She mumbled, turning to face Ace, who blushed a little but was a little sad that Ran had been burdened with so much. He chuckled a little as he noticed she slept with her mask on.

"Ran wake up." He called quietly, he tried to tickle her palm to wake her up. Instead it caused her to wrap her hand around his finger.

"No don't. Don't… I promised I would save you. Don't go." She mumbled softly, pouting, still holding Ace's finger.

"Ran! Breakfast's ready!" Ace heard Thatch call her, and some footsteps, so he did the quickest thing he thought off. He pulled on her hammock making her fall face flat on the floor.

"Owww" he heard her groan, lifting her tired body up.

"Ran your food isn't on the floor silly, wake up rise and shine!" Thatch enjoyed torturing Ran in the morning, the entire crew found out that Ran wasn't the happiest fluffy bunny in the morning, and Thatch the lovely guy he was, would hit a wooden spoon against a metal pan to wake up Ran, singing in a horrible pitch as well. Ace hid behind the door, waiting until Thatch was on deck, before helping Ran up.

"Ran?"

"Owwwwwwww. My nose hurts." She pouted, looking up at Ace. Ace almost took a step back as there was a smattering of blood that stained her mask. Ace looked a little guilty, since he didn't have to pull on the hammock, he could have just hid, but sometimes he did stupid stuff. He just didn't want to be seen alone in her room with Ran.

"Come on I'll clean you up." He took her arm, making her hold her nose to stop the flow of blood.

"Ace my nose really hurts." She whined. He looked back at her, seeing the blood stain her white mask. He sat her down in the medical area, and held her nose tightly so to stop the blood coming out, watching her reaction. She sat there with her eyes half closed, clearly needing more sleep.

"Aceeee. Why you pinching my nose?" She asked rather dumbly, with a little bit of a blocked nose. Even with her nose bleeding, she was pretty cute in Ace's mind.

"Because your nose is bleeding."

"Oh okay." She easily agreed, letting Ace do what he had to do. Since the blood had stopped coming out, he got a lot of wet wipes to wipe away the dry blood, he was smirking at the very sight of Ran. Slightly covered in blood, eyes closed and nose up for him to see up her nostrils. He made she was spick and span and walked her back to her room, making sure she didn't walk into some walls and doors, which did almost happen when he let her walk by herself.

"Ran you're in your room."

"Mkay Ace."

"You want me to help you-"

"Ace?"

"Yeah?"

"Ace?!"

"Yeah?" She seemed to actually wake up now, her body movements were not as sluggish, and more agile. She turned around, not facing Ace at all, which Ace found very odd.

"Hey." He tried to turn her around, but she was adamant on not turning around.

"I'll talk to you later Ace. Thank you for looking after me. See you on the deck." She found the door knob and closed and locked it. She breathed a sigh of relief, since he didn't have a reaction to her golden eye, so he mostly likely didn't see it.

Ace was outside, slightly put out by her sudden change in behaviour. He huffed as he walked the other way, looking back at Ran's door, starting to go out on deck.

"Wish she was tired a bit more." Ruffling his scruffy hair, squinting at the bright sunlight as he walked on deck joining his brothers.