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How are you fine people today? I understand that my updates are getting slower and slooooower, and I am sorry, but my exams are getting harder and harder. xD
Thank you anniewanny2 and ZabuzasGirl for the favs and the reviews! Savage Kill, you are my buddy :3 Buuudeeeeh *_*
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Chapter 12: Rock N Roll – Avril Lavigne
Three days after getting back on Moby Dick, stories about the unusually exciting herb gathering trip were still circling. With no signs of stopping. Truth be told, Ace was getting a tad annoyed by the whole thing. There had been three of them, each quite a capable fighter, however, Thatch had made out Ace's attacks to be some kind of a heroic act. Now, whenever Ace passed some of the crew in the hallway, or on deck, they would act out the battle, with one side being enemy pirates and another Ace and his flames. Not to get him wrong, at first, the raven had basked in the attention. Then, it had become funny to see his brothers make up different attacks that the Logia definitely did not have. And in the end, it started getting fairly annoying.
Now he understood why Thatch laughed when Ace had tried to say that he hadn't been all that great, and that the Commander shouldn't spread spun stories. Since the pompadour hadn't stopped retelling the epic story of Portgas D. Ace, the raven went to doc. That didn't go too well either. After maybe an hour of being ignored, he tried bowing, asking very politely, definitely not begging nor groveling. In the end, the woman exploded and literally threw him out of the medical wing, telling him not to come back unless he had injuries. Maybe he hadn't been too tactful there. But it had been worth a try.
Next, Ace went to Leo. The blonde laughed at him first, and then laughed some more. In the end, he told the raven to wait it out. Once the crew got wind of something like that, they wouldn't let it go for a while. A new thing would come along pretty soon, Leo had said, and then, they will forget all about your epic battle. This didn't comfort Ace in the least. He sought out Marco next. If there was one thing that the flaming bird was, that was influential. Ace suspected that the man had a serious OCD problem. But, his control freak persona aside, Marco was rather helpful. In fact, he told Ace that all he had to do was outshine the epic tale that Thatch had been spreading. And that is exactly what Ace did.
It was late, and most of the crew was out cold. Their alcohol supply had been replenished and they had partied well into the night. Ace had pulled back a little today, preparing to set his plan in motion. The night before he had snuck into doc's office to use her tools. With them he made a gooey, green mass, he washed the tools thoroughly, too, wouldn't want doc coming after him, and put the goo in a jar, careful not to get any on himself. Having evidence on his person would be a dead giveaway that he was the culprit. So Ace fetched the jar tonight from his personal belongings, and crept up to Thatch. The Commander was laying on the deck, dead to the world and oblivious to the impending danger. Ace crouched next to the drunken man, cackling maliciously, and opened the jar. Using doc's disposable surgical gloves, he started spreading the green goo onto the Commander's hair. Next he carefully rubbed it in, stopping a few times, when it looked like Thatch might wake up, and made it back into the usual hairdo. In the end, the job was done, and he was home-free and hoping that his little stunt had worked. Not only would it be hilarious, but it would get the attention, finally, off of him. Ace threw out all the evidence of his crime next, making sure that no-one would catch him. He had learned one or two things about pranks growing up with Sabo and Luffy.
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Ran couldn't help it. The temptation was too much. With only a quarter of one wing to go, she took a small break and picked up the old core connector. It was a terribly bulky helmet, heavy in her hands. She fiddled with it for a while, recognizing Shrimp's work on some parts. Each mechanic had his or her own signature. The way they spun wires, put gears, imagined solutions, even if they were right or left handed. It all went into their work. Shrimp's was just as distinct. She had learned a long time ago to tell apart her uncle's, Shrimp's and Bohai's work.
Ran flipped the helmet around once again. It lay, harmless, in her hands. She took a deep breath and made her decision. The next few moments were fast. Her heart had started fluttering in her chest as she undid the breast plate of the Sparrow and plugged in the wires that Shrimp had recently changed on the helmet. Ran caressed the unhurt eye of her bird and whispered.
"Take care of me now, old friend." And then she slipped the helmet onto her head.
Nothing happened. The thing probably didn't even work. It was old, for Calypso's sake. She went to take off her helmet when she heard it. Soft chirping. A bird was singing somewhere. Ran looked around, searching for the sound. It was coming from the core. She bent forward, squinting. She could see a shape in the glowing orb. She bent even further forward and the singing got louder.
There was a tiny black bird flying around in the core. It almost looked like a play of light, a shadow, but if you looked closely, you could see it. Ran smiled softly as the bird did air tricks much like the pilot did herself.
"Hello there." The pilot greeted. The bird chirped, as if acknowledging her presence. Ran couldn't help but feel giddy. There she was, core connecting. She couldn't see why it had been so bad. Why was this forbidden? Why would someone stay here, instead of going back? The small shadow bird called out again. It was standing still, now, looking at the newcomer. Ran gave it yet another smile. "Did you get tired?" She asked the small animal. It chirped again. "You aren't going to fly anymore?" The bird sang a longer tune. "Why don't you show me your pretty wings?" And the bird did.
Ran stumbled back as the Sparrow moved suddenly, the gears hissing and turning, un-oiled, the wires pulled at each other, some of them snapping, and the wings that she had barely attached to the glider spread, creaking. The pilot looked up at the machine, her eyes wide, heart thumping insanely fast. She wasn't sure whether to be happy or terrified. This shouldn't be possible. The wings couldn't hold their weight yet. They shouldn't be able to. She hadn't finished her work yet.
Ran sat on the ground, mind blown, until the bird from the core called out again. The pilot realized just then, that she had fallen down in her shock. Her legs wouldn't obey her. She was laughing suddenly. The Sparrow lives. He is alive and would fly once more. He wanted to fly with her once more.
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Let's get one thing straight. Ace wasn't a very patient person. He was stubborn, rash, reckless and more than often quite insane. His impatience, however, it had gotten quite better during his years with Luffy. Sure, more than once, errr always, he would explode at the younger brother and solve the problem with his fists. But, after Sabo's death, Ace changed his ways. Not really. He had tried, though. He was still just as impatient as ever, but he could hold it in for a while.
Which brings us to the current situation. Ace spent the day after putting the green goo on his friend's hair in anticipation. He kept looking at Thatch during breakfast so much that Marco pulled him aside later and told him that it was perfectly fine to play for the other team as long as Pops knew. Ace didn't quite get it, but he nodded to the phoenix and ran off to stalk Thatch. It was in the late hours of the morning that Leo found the raven and dragged him away from his 'position of advantage' a.k.a. the crow's nest. The second division was in charge of communications and it wasn't the best of tasks for our favorite Logia today. Not only did it frustrate him, because he couldn't see Thatch who was working on deck, but he was also pretty absentminded. More than once, he had to ask the person on the other side of the Den Den line to repeat.
It was understandable that Ace didn't do too well with waiting. He had grown up on his own, taking what he needed and when. There hadn't been anyone else until he was a bit of an older kid, and Sabo had never made Ace wait. In fact, his brother had often been just as impatient as Ace, but his extensive schooling on manners had broken that trait in early childhood. So when the duo got together, they didn't really put much on hold. And Luffy... Well... Luffy kind of just fueled that.
"Hey! Anyone there?" The voice from the Den Den Mushi caught the pirate's attention. Ace blinked a couple of times, trying to collect himself. He had drifted off into a flashback. He missed his brothers.
"I'm here, sorry." The raven said into the speaker.
"So, you wrote all of that down?" The voice of their allies asked once more. Ace looked at his empty paper. He rubbed his temple. Damn. He wished he wasn't on this duty today.
"Sorry, could you repeat it, please?" The voice laughed.
"It's a surprise to find such a polite pirate. Alright then, you ready to write?"
"Yes." Ace straightened in his chair, positioning his pencil.
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Ran went to the library that day. Her mother had barely let her go, but since Shrimp would keep her company, the woman had caved. Her cousin had insisted that they drive there, even though it was on the same level. Ran accepted, even though she wasn't thrilled about it. It was a short ride. A couple of minutes later, Shrimp parked Betty and they got out and locked the vehicle.
The library was a large, construction cloud and metal building. It had giant golden and silver statues on each side of the decorated gate. They both represented huge golems, who stood with their hands raised, as if stopping people from entering. It was said that those golems had once guarded the library, as living, moving robots. They were considered the guardians of knowledge, as they had supposedly gathered all the books that lay alphabetized on the long shelves of the library. They stood, even now, with their palms raised, stopping all the abusers of knowledge from entering the sacred library. Not like that stopped the nobles from using the information inside to make war machines.
Ran entered first, Shrimp following her. He didn't like going to the library much. He didn't enjoy the smell of old pages, or the hours of searching for the right book. He preferred to have Ran go and find all that they needed and then bring it back home. Reading, that Shrimp loved. He liked to study the different patterns, structures and ways of using the Gear Technology in his work.
The two walked down the circular staircase and into the wide room below. There were no guards. The library didn't need any. The rooms were mostly square shaped, with high ceilings. They had cases and cases of books, carefully sorted. Each had a ladder, allowing the readers to climb up and reach the higher shelves. There were also a couple of tables, surrounded by chairs, allowing the readers to get comfortable while doing their research.
Ran quickly found the section that she needed. Gear Technology was some of the most visited themes on her agenda. Finding a book about core connecting was a bit harder, but she did find two that could contain something about it. Deciding that those were as good as it was going to get, the young pilot pulled them off the shell and blew the layer of dust away. Shrimp frowned at her choice of reading material.
"Let's hope uncle doesn't find out." He joked, but Ran knew better. His tone was flat, and the smile didn't reach his eyes. Her cousin was worried about her. She pulled out a chair and grabbed the oil lamp from the middle of the table, adjusting her lighting. Shrimp picked a book for himself and settled down next to her. He opened Gearing for Dummies and started skimming through. Ran sighed and placed her hands on the hard cover of her chosen books.
"I need this, Jinhai." Shrimp lowered his book and locked eyes with her. "I need my wings." Her cousin smiled sadly, his eyes darting to her wingless back.
"I get it, cuz. Trust me, I do." There was a small pause where Ran opened her book, thinking that the discussion was over. "But you need to tell me how to help you." The pilot raised her head, shaking it at him. She didn't want him involved. Shrimp gave her a grin. "Really? I'm working on golems, cuz. You think I'm worried about your dad yelling at me for helping you?" Ran tried to stifle her chuckling, but it failed.
"How in the White Sea did you know that I was still working on the Sparrow?" She asked after a bit. Shrimp raised a single eyebrow at her. "Ok. Ok." She raised her hands in mock surrender. Ran ignored the hopeful, puppy eyes that Shrimp was giving her and continued reading. After a while, the stare was getting annoying. He was trying to burn a hole in her forehead, wasn't he? Ran remembered a conversation that she and Ace had had a while back. She raised her head and locked gazes with a smug looking Shrimp. "You remember me telling you about Ace, right?" She asked.
"The cute pirate that has an old fashioned boss?" Shrimp was smirking even wider. Ran went to correct him that it was a Captain and not a boss but he continued. "Oh, and did I forget that you also called out his name in the heat of passion and that you may or may not have a crush on him but you surely want to fuck him? That Ace?" He leaned back in his chair, looking like some kind of a mafia boss, all proud. "Did I forget anything?"
"I also kissed him." Shrimp sat up straight in his chair, eyes bulging out in surprise. "Twice." Ran said with a smirk, watching his reaction with joy.
"Woah, you've been holding out on me, cuz." He leaned back again, this time smiling contently, as if he knew something that she didn't. "So, what about that Ace person?"
Ran pushed the strands of her hair that had fallen out of her bun back behind her ears. "He is a Devil Fruit user. A fire Logia. That means that he can turn any part of his body into flame." Shrimp nodded, smirking.
"Kinky." Ran reached over and knocked the book out of his hands.
"Ass." She was smiling. "Anyways, we had this insane idea while traveling together. Don't give me that look. So, we wanted to make a smaller boat for him. One that would use his Logia power to propel itself. Similarly to what I use for the Sparrow." She finished, looking at Shrimp. He scratched his head, thinking.
"Something along the lines of combining Flame Dials with AGT, like the Sparrow?" He asked.
"No. He won't be able to tune it. I tried to show him how, but he was horrible at it." Ran chuckled at the memory of Ace freaking out about the tiny gears.
"Impatient streak, eh? Doesn't matter, I have an idea what might work." Shrimp jumped up, leaving his book on the table. "Be right back." And he vanished into the bookcases.
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When night finally fell, Ace was practically jumping with joy. The dark was like the sign of liberation. It meant that he was free of his duties. Ace checked in his papers and ran up to the deck, bypassing the cafeteria. Leo stopped, staring at the quickly retreating back of his friend. It wasn't just strange for Ace to bypass the cafeteria after duties. It was impossible. He had to be sick. Leo ran after the raven, worried. The blonde caught up to his friend on deck.
"Ace! Hey, what's going on? Are you alright?" Leo grabbed Ace's shoulder, trying to stop him. The raven slipped from his grip and caught his hand, pulling him along.
"C'mon! Hopefully it's gonna work." With that, the young pirate pulled his former mentor to the center of the deck where Thatch had been working. They passed Marco on their way there. The Commander gave the duo a once over, his eyes looking bored. Once they reached Thatch, Leo realized what was making his friend so excited. Undoubtedly, he had a finger or two in the prank. Probably all ten.
Thatch was sitting on a box, drinking some booze and talking with his division members. The pirates around him were doing their best to be completely serious, however, some were snickering. Thatch was telling some story, completely oblivious to his shining problem. His unique pompadour hairstyle was glowing like a bright beacon in the dark night. Leo couldn't suppress his laughter fast enough. It came out as a snort.
"Ah! Ace! Leo! Come join us!" The duo walked over, taking a drink and sitting amongst the pirates.
"How's it going, Thatch? Feeling like a beacon to your division?" Thatch gave Ace a weird look, but left it alone as the surrounding pirates snickered. Leo took a sip of his drink, choosing to stay away from the soon-to-be-sensitive topic.
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Marco had left the deck in favor of getting a drink and going to the crow's nest. He had taken the night shift again. From time to time, he needed a break. And time to do his paperwork. The aftermath of the Torres Islands incident was still following him like a bad dream. True, they had quite a few of those per year, but this was quite a feat. Human trafficking wasn't a normal element of those problems, and Marco wasn't sure how to deal with the aftermath. He wanted to get all the sold slaves back to their families, he really did, but he also didn't want to tango with the Tenryuubito. And slaves always involved Tenryuubito, one way or the other.
Marco sighed and took a sip from the bottle. He welcomed the burn of the alcohol and felt his mind relaxing from the overdrive that it had been in. Marco leaned against the mast and looked up. It was cloudy, but you could still see the slowly appearing stars. The night was darkening and the pirates lit up lanterns on the ship to guide their way. The Commander sat on the railing and looked down, a bubbly feeling rising to his chest at the sight of the partying family. Even after his years on the Moby Dick, he still felt like that all the time.
"Drinking alone again?" Izo sat next to the phoenix, smiling knowingly. Marco sighed, but didn't retaliate. That would've been just what the other Commander wanted. The two sat there for a while, watching the commotion around Thatch and his glowing hair. The man himself was still oblivious to his shining hairdo, which was a miracle, as the crew wasn't being too subtle with their reaction. Marco would bet that Ace had something to do with the prank. As soon as the phoenix had seen the hair-beacon from the crow's nest, all his suspicions about Ace's sexuality confusion had vanished.
"What do you want, Izo?" Marco finally caved. The kimono wearing Commander looked up from the deck, an amused smile on his face.
"Ace has really done it this time." Izo laughed, watching as Thatch frowned at his snickering division members. Ace and Leo were still with the group, the raven watching his work proudly. Marco frowned at the pink Commander. Obviously the man was beating around the bush. The phoenix usually didn't have a problem with that, but today, he was a tad edgy. He wanted Izo to speak his mind openly. Marco sighed, calming himself down. He was just frustrated. Terribly. The first mate took another swig from his bottle before Izo took it out of his hand. The other Commander drank, too, and then lowered the bottle on the wooden railing, looking at it as if it held all the answers. The kimono wearing man ignored the commotion on deck as Haruta and Jozu joined the crowd that was making fun of Thatch. Apparently, he was still oblivious to the fact that he was now, literally, a beacon.
"The slavery thing bothering you?" Izo finally spoke, making the noise and laughter on the deck seem far away. He was looking at Marco. The phoenix knew his friend well. He wasn't talking about the thing that was bothering him.
"Of course, yoi." Marco didn't have the problem that Izo did. Izo wasn't good at showing his real motives. He was secretive, cunning and liked to hide behind a front, no matter how much he talked about feelings and romance. Maybe that is why he got along so well with Ran. The phoenix, on the other hand, he was tight lipped. He kept his personal life to himself. However, when confronted, he wasn't afraid to talk about his musings or dilemmas. Unlike his kimono wearing crew mate. "I've been with this crew for too long, yoi." Marco spoke after a while. "Being in the protective shadow of a Yonko, being the first mate, I feel like I can do anything. And then, something like this, where I can't lift a finger without causing trouble for Pops and the men, comes along. I wish I could get wasted for one night to clear my mind, yoi."
Getting something off his chest always helped Marco. He had a tendency to overthink and complicate things. Telling Izo was safe. Izo was a trustworthy comrade, no matter how meddlesome. He knew when to keep his fingers out of the mess and just lend an ear. Maybe a thought, too. Marco trusted all the Commanders, but he had been the closest to Thatch and Izo. Maybe it had been their unique ways that had drawn the first mate to them. Or the way that the two had bickered in the beginning. Well, more like argued. About every single little thing. Now, it wasn't as bad, but they often had long conversations in which they tried to convince each other about different things. On the other side, Marco often had to listen to the why-Thatch-is-annoying speech and the thousand-of-reasons-why-Izo-needs-help talk. He sighed on instinct. He wanted a vacation. Or a drink. The latter was possible so he took a long swing from the bottle again.
"You do more than other people even think of doing. I'm sure that we will find a way to fix this." Izo smirked. "Right under the Tenryuubito noses, too." He seemed a tad too excited about that. Marco chuckled and handed the booze over. Izo declined. "I was in navigation today. We are going to Wano Kuni." Marco turned to look at his fellow Commander, startled. Izo seemed sad and lost. His face had that faraway look. Marco knew that look. He had seen that face many times. Even on his own face.
"Ace, you little shit! You started this! Remember that! You started this!" Thatch yelled from the deck, breaking the moment. Izo smiled and waved at Marco, climbing down. Marco took another swig and grinned. About time, Thatch, the phoenix thought. He would be willing to bet that the Commander secretly liked the glowing hair.
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It took a while for Thatch to stop chasing Ace around Moby Dick. The Commander had tried to toss his fellow prankster overboard, but the raven was just a tad too slippery. Whitebeard and his crew laughed as the duo chased each other around the ship, the glowing hair alerting everyone to the Commander's position. In the end, Thatch gave up and started dancing with the other partying pirates, fully enjoying his glowing hair. Ace plopped down next to Leo again, and took up his abandoned bottle of booze. It was going to be yet another party on the deck of Moby Dick.
At some point, doc patted Ace on the shoulder and whispered a praise into his ear. The raven had actually paid attention to her botany lesson on the island and had used it to make the glowing goo. Leo had vanished into the crowd somewhere, and Ace was pretty sure that he had seen Izo drag the poor blonde with him. Soon, the young pirate, too, joined the jumping crew.
When the raven took a break from dancing and singing and zeroed in on the food plates. There, he saw Penny attempting to do damage control on the quantity of meat and booze being consumed. She seemed to be failing, as Kondor, who was grilling the beef beside her, was drinking from his wine bottle constantly and giving the plates of food to the passing pirates. Ace went to help out, which meant eat, but decided to stay away from the girl once he saw the look on her face. She was grinning. Smiling like it was the end of the world and she had no worries whatsoever. Ace felt a small smile make way onto his own face. Some things were hard to overcome, but it seemed that Penny was on her way to fight through.
"Ace-sama!" The tiny girl noticed him and waved him over. The pirate complied, noticing how Kondor put the fire in the grill out and left them alone. "Here you go! Good job today!" Penny yelled over the music and laughter and piled up his plate.
"If preforming my daily duties gets me a food bonus, I wonder what doing extra work will get me?" Ace joked, not really thinking about his words. Maybe it was the booze, or the fact that the other two women that he had interacted over the past few months were Ran and Jade, who didn't mind constant flirtation. The innuendo of his sentence caught up to Ace quickly, and he started spinning possible scenarios through his head, watching Penny carefully for her reaction.
The girl was a tomato red, but her eyes were determined. She was in the company of pirates, not perfect gentlemen. No matter how nice and protective they were, there were some things that were green in the pirate everyday life and red in hers. And if she wanted to stay in this world, she needed to overcome that.
"A bottle of rum." She replied, head held high. Ace could feel his face morph from anticipation, to surprise and then finally to joy. She was finally dropping the pirate jokes and not crying at an insensitive remarks.
"Whereah?" An arm wrapped around Ace's shoulder and someone leaned heavily on him for support. The raven looked to his right only to see a smashed Leo. Well, Izo and Thatch definitely had a hand in this. "Whereahs thsa rum?" The blonde asked again, looking at Penny. The girl glanced at Ace, unsure what to do. She didn't have a lot of experience dealing with smashed pirates. The Whitebeard crew didn't have many lightweights.
"Right here, Leo. C'mon. Let's go." And with that Ace attempted to get his drunken friend off deck and into his hammock, but that didn't quite work. Leo was a very touchy feely drunk. That meant that the raven had to stop the blonde from kissing him and hugging him one too many times before they even crossed the deck. And when they did, Leo decided that he really didn't want to go anywhere, so he sat down and wouldn't budge. Ace sighed in the end and plopped down next to his drunken former mentor, enjoying the atmosphere of the party.
Later, Thatch and Izo joined the duo, the former's hair still glowing. They brought booze and food, which Ace was grateful for. They attempted to feed Leo something to soak up the alcohol. Of course, the keyword is attempted. In the midst of Thatch holding the blonde's mouth open while Izo forced bread and meat in Ace felt his focus slipping and he dozed off, his head hitting his plate, as usual.
That's all folks!
I enjoyed writing Marco, even though it was a bit scary! I hope the chapter wasn't too confusing, as I wrote it in sections, and not in one go :(
Savage Kill: You're American, right? I'm so jealous! You guys have so many epic sweets places xD I really miss the US ' 3'
Oh Gods…. Das derp face xD Omg! Ahahahahahha! This is golden xD
I hope that this chapter gives you a bit more insight into the dreams :D Core connecting is like mind connecting, I got the idea from the Klabautermann, but went a bit further, since I was inspired by steampunk, too :D
anniewanny2: Thank you very much for your compliments! I'm glad that you feel like my characters are 'alive'. I feel like a lot of writers don't consider their characters as people and keep them too consistent. People are pretty unpredictable :P
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
ZabuzasGirl: Hope you enjoyed, love :D