Welcome, ladies and gents!
I apologize for the wait, however, like I said in the beginning, this story isn't really a priority of mine. Honestly, I didn't expect it to get so much attention. xD
I would like to thank animebella09 and srooone for the favs! And also, animebella09 and AkaNeko-chan for the alerts, welcome to the family, my darlings! :D
Lilikoikoi, anytime, love :)
After this chapter, I'm actually considering going up in rating. I'm not sure though. I'm not writing anything explicit, just giving some hints here and there. However, I tend to curse a lot through my writing, and I do consider sex to be a normal part of the whole life journey, so I'm considering going up in the rating… I would love to hear your opinion guys! :D
Anyways, I give you:
Chapter 10: Wake me up - Avicii
The sea was raging when Ace finally sighted the Moby Dick. He ignored the cold drops hitting his face in the rain. He adjusted his body temperature again, evaporating the seawater.
"Moby Dick on the horizon!" Ace yelled over the railing of the small crow's nest. He didn't see anyone react. The howling of the storm was too loud. The young pirate abandoned his post, and crossed the deck in minutes, reaching Vista.
"Moby Dick is on the horizon!" Ace panted over the raging sea's cries. The Commander nodded and boomed suddenly.
"All right men! Our home is in sight! Prepare signal flares! Hard to port! Follow the Moby Dick!" Ace jumped slightly at first, surprised at the volume that Vista reached. His men on deck immediately reacted. The Commander himself headed for the wheel, intending to steer them home. He turned to Ace, and seeing him a bit dumbfounded there, Vista bellowed. "Back to your post!" Ace jumped, snapping out of his daze and hurried back up the rigging.
Vista smiled to himself, dismissing the pirate at the wheel. He had learned quite a bit about their new recruit in the past few days. The Commander gripped the wooden wheel tight and steered the small vessel. He had seen the young pirate interact with the former slaves, especially the one girl that had stayed on their ship. The small girl had begged Vista to take her along. The Commander didn't promise anything. He wasn't one to choose whether to recruit. He could only get her to Pops. The old man would make the final decision. That, however, seemed to brighten the girl's day.
"Commander Vista! The First Commander is approaching!" Vista nodded to his crewmate. Marco was probably being his usual worrywart self. The First Commander might not show it, but he was definitely a person who worried. It wasn't too unusual for him to go and visit the incoming ships and help them dock. Considering the storm outside, they could use some of that help right now.
The phoenix landed onto the wet deck, transforming back into the first mate. Marco locked eyes with Vista and then ran towards the group that was working on sails, helping.
~~~~pb~~~~
Hot hands wondered down her bare back. Ran arched further into the man before her, accepting yet another kiss. The air outside the club was wonderfully cold on her, sweaty from dancing, body. She moaned softly when the man rubbed against her just right, sending tingles down her spine and into all the right places. Suddenly, she didn't regret accepting Shrimp's invitation to go clubbing. She wasn't usually one to go. And she most certainly wasn't one to leave with a guy. Most of the time she was the designated driver who would look for her cousin and have to awkwardly separate him from a half-naked woman.
The man holding her bit her neck unexpectedly and Ran gripped his shoulders tighter, her leg going further up and to his hip. A hand reached behind her knee, and her 'friend' for the night picked her up and pushed her further against the wall. Ran welcomed the feeling of cold, hard bricks digging into her back. Then again, she also welcomed the feel of the warm body grinding into her and the attention that the man was paying to her neck and collar bone. She allowed her head to fall back, colliding softly with the wall. She liked a bit of pain. She really was an M. Ran sighed and pressed against the man's obvious arousal. She had a good feeling about the end of this night.
The nimble fingers danced across her skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps everywhere they touched. Her own fingers found purchase in her partner's longish hair and she gently pulled and massaged his scalp, enjoying the sounds of approval that he was giving. He pulled her down and kissed her once again, his skill obvious. He didn't just sloppily try to get her to follow him, he allowed her to lead a bit, but it was clear that he was in control of the kiss. She could feel the smile on his lips.
But, there was something missing. She couldn't quite put a finger on it, but her alcohol muddled brain was protesting somewhere in the background. True, right now her desire had taken the wheel, but she just wasn't getting there. Then, Ran realized what it was that was missing. The abnormal heat of the body pressed against her and the taste of rum in the kisses. She pulled back and evaded the next kiss. Fuck, she thought. The man latched on her neck, clearly not realizing where her thoughts were going.
The pilot relaxed once again in the embrace and groaned. She wanted this. She wanted release. The alcohol made her front become stronger. The booze made her become bold. She needed release. But not like this. This wasn't the man that she was lusting after. Fuck, her mind screamed. She needed some right now. It's been a while. She'd go find the man that tastes of rum later. With that thought, Ran attached her mouth to the neck offered to her and let her hands roam under her partner's shirt. She felt his fingers brush along the underside of her breast and she sighed once again, murmuring the first name that came to mind. Then everything stopped. Her partner pushed her back slowly, his green eyes locking with her blue ones.
"Who the hell is Ace?"
~~~~pb~~~~
"Hahahahaha! Oh, by the Storm Thief!" Shrimp was practically rolling in the driver's seat, laughing his ass off.
"Shut up!" Ran complained from her position. They were heading back to the Third level after the club closed. Surprisingly, Shrimp was less drunk, so he offered to drive.
"You called him by the wrong name! This is epic!" Shrimp laughed again. Ran remained quiet, fuming, her face red. "I thought that only happened to guys. Obviously not! Hahahahaha!" And he was laughing again, making a left and pulling in to the level documents check-in. He showed their status badge to the guard and got the ok to go through. "So, why'd you call out that pirate dude's name, anyway? You like him, cuz?" Ran snorted.
"As if!" She retorted, still fuming. Shrimp gave her a sly smirk.
"It's ok to like someone, cuz." He said to her softly. Ran turned in her seat, looking at the road.
"I like him, but not in that sense. I'm not really sure how I like him. He is cute and handsome at the same time. And he's dorky and serious. And he's real fun to be around. I like to hang out with him." She concluded, trying to explain what she was feeling.
"But, you also want to fuck him?" Shrimp pointed out.
"Yes." Ran answered before her alcohol influenced mind could catch up. "Wait, no! Wait! Erase that!" But Shrimp was laughing once again.
"It's ok to feel like that, cuz." He said once he calmed down a bit. "I felt like that. Bo felt like that, too. He used to whine to me about his romance drama all the time." Ran chuckled at this. "Just see where it goes. Don't rush it. It's always better to start as friends anyways." They passed yet another wall security. Ran was silent while Shrimp chatted with the guard.
The pilot wasn't too sure what to think. She didn't think about the young pirate often. She couldn't really explain why she had moaned his name. Ran met a lot of people during her travels. She flirted and made friends with quite a few hot guys. Sure, she was partial to the Whitebeard Pirates, but then again, she was just looking for protection. Insurance. And Whitebeard Pirates provided both safety and friendship.
She didn't really know why she was thinking about Ace. He was just another boy. Good kisser, but just another boy. Ran didn't do relationships. She did flings. And she did friendships. If you were a fling, you weren't a friendship. For her to break that rule, the man would have to be bloody amazing. As soon as flings became friendships, or vice versa, it became messy. Ran didn't do messy.
Shrimp pulled into their driveway and parked. The two got out of Betty in silence and walked towards Shrimp's house. They planned to do some more drinking before bed anyways. And where better then on the roof? Shrimp unlocked the door and the half-drunk duo stumbled in. They slowly crept up the stairs and towards Shrimp's room. He had some chocolate liquor stashed there. A door opened behind them and Bohai's messy head appeared in the hallway. He gave them a sleepy disapproving look.
"I hope it's worth the hangover." He mumbled. Shrimp grinned.
"She called a guy by the wrong name." This got Bohai's attention. He seemed rather amused as Ran hit her cousin's shoulder with the back of her hand. "And just when it was getting hot and heavy, too." Bohai started snickering. Ran punched Shrimp's shoulder now and left the two brothers in the hallway, heading for the booze.
~~~~pb~~~~
It was a few days after Ace returned to Moby Dick with Vista that he sat with Leo in the crow's nest. His former mentor had offered to exchange duties with a couple of pirates from Thatches division. This meant that while the two pirates were washing clothes Ace and Leo were drinking in the crow's nest.
It took the blonde two days to stop fawning over Ace's tattoo. The raven was amused by his former mentor's antics, of course. The blonde kept saying how Gator did an amazing job, as always. Leo had to admit, he was a tad jealous. But, all in all, he was glad to have his friend back. He had missed Ace. This surprised the blonde, because he hadn't been friends with the crazy narcoleptic pirate for long. Leo wasn't one to bond quickly, but he had gotten attached to Ace a bit too fast for his comfort. He didn't think that it was a bad thing. In fact, he was glad that he found another one of those easy-to-get-along people. Ace reminded him of Thatch a lot sometimes.
"Hey, Leo." The blonde turned to his friend. He accepted the extended bottle and took a sip, enjoying the burn of the alcohol. "I saw flaming chicken do something interesting in that storm." Ace left the sentence hanging, gaining full interest of his blonde friend.
"What do you mean?" Leo asked, scanning the horizon for ships.
"This wave came and almost knocked the mast off, but Marco stopped it with one hand." Leo gave him a smirk.
"I have no idea what you mean." The blonde responded. Ace scowled.
"Don't mess with me, Leo. I may be a new recruit here, but I was a Captain in the New World first." Ace caught Leo's hand, making him look at the raven. "I am physically strong, but even I can't stop a massive mast from falling, especially while it's being pushed by a monster wave. And on top of that, it was only one hand." They locked eyes for a moment, arguing silently. Leo chuckled lightly.
"Haki." He smiled, looking at the horizon again. "Busoshoku Haki."
"Can you use it?" Ace didn't even skip a beat. Leo laughed now, shaking his head at the raven's antics.
"Some of it, a little bit." The blonde replied. Ace gave him a dubious look.
"That means that you can." Leo didn't reply. "So, teach me." Ace deadpanned. This caused Leo to turn and give him a long stare. The blonde stared at him some more. Once he saw Ace's determination, he sighed.
"I'm going to push you. And you will need Pops permission to learn Haki." Leo paused a bit. "And we should get Marco to help out. He's a master Haki user." The blonde nodded, thinking.
"Hey, isn't that a ship?" Ace remarked, breaking his friend out of his musings. Leo looked through his binoculars and saw the blue seagull flag.
"Marines!" He yelled towards the deck, jumping to his feet.
~~~~pb~~~~
It took two weeks for Ran to actually start understanding the meaning of mantra that her cousin was teaching her. The first time that he tied a cloth over her eyes and made her evade stuff was painful. However, it was also safe, as he was throwing inflatable balls at her. About a week later, Shrimp asked to watch them training, and he actually stopped Bohai from continuing. That is when Ran found out that her cousin had been throwing knives at her for three days already. She didn't speak to him that weekend.
The pilot couldn't quite describe this mantra thing. It was like hyper awareness. It was like tuning into the air current, feeling its flow and strength. Sensing where to lean and when. But only there wasn't an air current. There was only energy all around them. And she could feel it. Very softly, but she could sense the small shifts in the currents. Of course, Bohai tried to flare his killing intent as much as he could, so that he would be easily noticeable. However, at the end of the second week, Ran could proudly walk around the house with a blindfold without hitting into things.
Since her work on the Sparrow had been so slow, she had contacted Elder Pinjao over her Den Den Mushi. The old man told her to come visit whenever, and to take care. Ran felt bad that she had both delayed her job and had to cancel her arrangement to arrive to the Elder's house by the end of the month, but she couldn't help it. With the Sparrow still disassembled and not ready for flight, she couldn't risk going. It was going to have to wait.
On the other hand, her work on the Sparrow had been great. The gold was nicely melting into the damaged iron parts, fixing it. She was looking forward to applying the paint in the end, along with yet another anti-rust layer. Shrimp had tried to fix the connection helmet, but neither of them had gotten the time to try it out yet. Ran, personally, was a bit afraid of using it. She had heard the stories how people went into the cores with their minds, only to never come back. Sure, their bodies lived on, but they were in a coma-like state. It terrified her that something like that could happen to her.
It was at the end of her fourth week at home that Ran put the Sparrow back together and charged the Breath Dial that propelled the glider. After working on it every day for at least twelve hours, it was ready for a flight test. Since Shrimp was at work, and Bohai was busy with training army recruits with Ran's father, she had to test the glider on her own. The pilot pulled her machine from the garage and settled it nicely onto some prop wheels. She stood just below the belly of the Sparrow and grabbed the bars on the underside. And then, Ran ran. She wanted to give the machine the momentum it needed to go up without using the dial. Soon, the girl felt her glider going up, lifting of the ground and leaving the wheels behind.
Ran swung herself back and forth a few times and then flipped over the head of the Sparrow and onto its back. The glider trembled a couple of times, but stayed in the air. Ran chose to fly low, in case something went wrong. She leaned left and right, making a couple of circles, watching the golden fill-ins carefully. The Sparrow flied smoothly. She got brave, feeling the lump in her throat vanish and stepped on the hidden paddle.
It all went wrong. The bird jumped up, propelled by the air burst and then plummeted down. Ran felt her hands grip the bars for dear life, all air leaving her lungs in fear. She heard the screaming of the wind in her ears. Then she realized that she, too, was screaming. The ground was coming closer, and fast. She felt her heart skipping beats as it tried to jump out of her chest. On instinct her foot pressed the hidden paddle again right before the glider collided with the rocks.
~~~~pb~~~~
Bohai had finished extra work early and gone to see how his cousin was doing with her glider. When he didn't find her in the garage he got a bit worried, however, he went to search for her. Ran had, quite probably, gone to test her machine. He knew his cousin well. She wasn't a patient person. At first, he just looked around, trying to find the flashy glider. When he found it, his blood froze. The Sparrow was on fire, its rider a little ways off, lying still on the ground, bleeding.
Bohai rushed forward, dropping his bag and landing hard on his knees next to the unconscious pilot. He carefully rolled her to her back, watching out for her injuries. She seemed so tiny then, bleeding in his arms. His little tiny cousin. He thanked the Storm Thief for his military knowledge of first aid. He tore off his officer jacket and folded it under her head. Bohai tried to locate all the bleeding with shaky hands and he grabbed his bag, tearing apart a spare shirt to stop it. After doing all he could, the soldier pressed the distress button that each military officer had.
~~~~pb~~~~
Penny searched for Ace on the Moby Dick. Whitebeard had allowed the small girl to stay on the ship until they docked. The Yonko had told her that if she wanted to stay after spending some time on the pirate vessel, he would take her as a daughter. She had already made the decision, though. After meeting the crew, the Commanders and the nurses, she adored the pirates even more.
The girl hated how her body unconsciously reacted to them sometimes. She would get antsy and jumpy around the men that she knew less. She couldn't really help it. She would remember the unwanted hands touching her when someone simply tapped her shoulder for attention. Penny hated herself when it happened. True, Ace's words had helped her. She wanted to overcome her trauma. She wanted to choose her own path, without being ruled by something that was in the past.
Ace was napping on deck, free of duties, when Penny found him. The girl felt like the raven was some kind of a savior. Not only did he help her and get her out of that hellish ship, but he gave her advice and tried to save her from herself. In her eyes, he was an angel.
"Ace-sama, good job today." Penny knelt down next to the relaxed pirate and placed the tray that she had been carrying down. The pirate raised his hat a bit, locating the blonde with one sleepy eye.
"Oh, hey." He gave the small girl a smile, causing her to blush. Penny made herself comfortable on the hard planks of the deck.
"I brought you a snack, Ace-sama. Kondor said that you were training hard, so we made you something." She pushed the tray towards him, gesturing with her hand. Ace sat up, stretching. His face lit up when he saw food.
"Nice!" He tried some of the arrangement on the plate. "This is great!" Ace mumbled through a full mouth. Penny sat, just watching him eat. She seemed content just seeing the man inhale food. The everyday action somehow comforted her. Especially since it was her angelic pirate inhaling the food that she had prepared.
"How is training with Leo-sama and Commander Marco-sama going?" Penny asked once the pirate finished his meal. Ace drank the juice that she had brought and nodded after putting his glass down.
"Horrible." Ace laughed at her shocked face. "I just don't get it. This Haki thing is ridiculously hard." Penny frowned. The wrinkles on her nose looked strangely out of place on her face. With that adorable expression she looked at the pirate.
"Is there anything I could do?" Penny offered, hopeful. Ace gave her a grateful smile and lay back down.
"Nah, but thanks for the offer. I'm just sick of the flaming chicken beating the crap outta me." Penny gave a cute laugh at Ace's words. She quite liked Commander Marco. However, the raven didn't share her opinion. He found the phoenix annoying. Or more like, annoyingly powerful. He was well aware that the first mate was still out of his reach. That made Whitebeard miles away. And it sort of scared the crap out of him. Sure, he wasn't trying to take the man's head anymore, but he wanted to be powerful. He wanted to be able to hold his own.
The reason why he wanted that power had changed with time. In a few months he had been entirely overwhelmed by the Whitebeard Pirates and the way that they did things. They had that old time sense of respect and honor. When Ace had asked Ran why she did so much business with Whitebeard, did it outweigh the risk of being on the bad side of another Yonko and the Marines, she had told him about that. And that is when the raven realized that, he too, had been seduced by the old ways of the pirate crew. There was just something very appealing about the giant family. He couldn't put his finger on it. But, he knew, he wanted to make Pops the Pirate King. No regrets.
"Can I steal him for a while?" Thatch said from somewhere above Ace's head. The young pirate searched for the pompadour and located him easily. Let's be honest, his hair was like a freakin beacon. Oh, that was a great idea! He should find a way to make the thing glow. Oh, that would be a blast. Ace couldn't stop the mischievous grin that made its way onto his face, eyes twinkling with the new ideas. Thatch gave him a wary look. Oh, he should be wary. He knew that look all too well.
"Oh! Of course! I was just leaving. Excuse me." Penny scrambled to her feet, taking the empty tray with her. She gave a small bow to both pirates and ran off. Thatch followed her with his eyes, pensive. He smiled a bit and took her place on the deck planks.
"Cute girlfriend you got there, brother." The pompadour teased. He smirked at Ace's mortified face. The teen obviously hadn't overcome the shyness that came with his active sexual life. It was adorable. Thatch remembered when he, too, was at that age. It had been a real blast back then.
"What do you want, Thatch?" The raven skillfully evaded the question. The Commander laughed, accepting his defeat in the verbal pitching for the time being. There would be more chances to tease his new brother.
"I saw you training with Leo and Marco today." The pompadour paused. "It was…Errr… Interesting. Fairly amusing, too." Ace sat up, a scowl on his face.
"If you've come to laugh at me, you can keep it to yourself." The flame user jumped to his feet, preparing to leave. True, he loved his brother, and those brothers loved him, but it was a case of tough love. He was mercilessly teased most of the time. And almost all of that teasing came from Thatch.
"No. No. No! Hey! Wait! I'm trying to give you some advice, you hothead!" Thatch scrambled up and grabbed Ace's shoulder. The raven turned around, a suspicious look on his face. Thatch sighed. "Honest. No tricks." He raised his hands in mock surrender, grinning at Ace. The young pirate nodded, still a bit reluctant.
"What kind of advice?"
~~~~pb~~~~
Bohai paced in the waiting room, still clutching his bloody jacket. The red of the blood ad changed the pure red of his soldier uniform. He couldn't stop shaking. This was his cousin's blood. His little baby cousin's blood. He remembered holding her when she was just a wee thing. He remembered when she got her first glider. He remembered when she first started delivering around Arcadia. He remembered her terrified face when she flew away to the Blue Sea during the rebellion.
"Bo!" The nervous soldier whipped around, ready to strike. His brother crossed the half empty waiting room in two strides and grabbed Bohai's shoulders. "What the hell happened?" Shrimp growled.
"I-I-she-I- there was so much blood…" The elder trailed off, sinking back into his memories.
"Unregistered pilot Ranmao's family, please come to the front desk." Came the almost automatic, cold voice of the desk-nurse. The two brothers broke their eye contact and hurried to the front desk. A doctor was standing there, looking like he had just come out of surgery.
"How is she?" The two spoke at the same time. The elderly doctor gave a small smile.
"She is asleep. It was a minor head injury. They just bleed a lot. We have done a full set of scans to make sure that everything is well." The brothers visibly relaxed, breathing again. Shrimp clapped Bohai on the shoulder, a happy grin on his face. "I would like to keep her for overnight observation, but, that is all. I expect a full recovery in the matter of weeks."
"Thank you." Shrimp said, shaking the doctor's gloveless hand. "Thank you so much." And then he kept repeating the sentence.
"She must be a skilled flyer, to avoid major injuries in a split second." He doctor praised, a smile on his face.
"She is, sir, the best we've got." Shrimp was crying now. Bohai grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
"Let's go see our idiot now." The doctor laughed as the two brother's left towards their cousin's room.
That's all for now folks!
Oh, man, I love exploring Ace's character :D This chapter was fun to write. I feel like I had lost him for a while, went a bit OOC, but I think I'm back on track once again!
Savage Kill: Ooooh, yeah, Breaking the Habit does seem interesting as a comparison. I like thaaaat :D You are definitely imagining the right thing :) I was inspired by the comic and TV Series Firefly a lot, I adore them, and when I crossed them over with steampunk, One Piece, my insane brain, Atlantis (don't ask me why), Treasure Planet and many others, Arcadia was proudly born.
Ran is a little rebel, going against the system and all that. Hehehehee~
man is absolutely amazing. Or, at least, it was before the recent chapters, Hoshino is killing me (by killing people). I actually have this Kanda fic beginning, squatting on my laptop. I need some inspiration to finish that :D Anyways, back to the point, the golems that I'm thinking of are more like… hmmm big, bulky, flat and round heads, sort of like walking destruction machines. They are pretty sweet. But, yeah, Shrimp is being nosy and curious. Let's hope he doesn't get caught.
The rebellion… Ooooh, I will get there… I'm just trying to show how life on Arcadia is right now. I'm hoping to actually get Ran off of it in the next two chapters. I need more Blue Sea time for her. She is getting reckless and antsy without the whole flying solo delivery thing.
Hope you enjoy the chapter, love :3