Slavery For Life
Chapter Four: Ma'am?

"Well somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looks like a girlfriend."
-The Killers (Somebody Told Me)

Blackbeard wore a grin as he walked backed into the living for his waiting guests; his eyes filled with a mischievous gleam. Lafitte looked at his friend with a questioning look, taking a sip of his wine as he leaned into his chair . Next to him, Auger nursed his cheek with his hand, stretching his jaw and slightly flinching at the sharp pain. It was Blackbeard who broke the silence.

"Auger, how's your cheek?"

"It's fine, though I guarantee I'll have a hard time eating tomorrow." Lafitte took another sip of his wine, pushing his black hat up so he could clearly see his large friend.

"So, where's Ace-san?" Blackbeard's grin seemed to grow.

"I just sold him." This caught the attention of Auger, who instantly stopped nursing his cheek and put his total focus on Blackbeard.

"Sold him? But you went through all trouble of erasing his memories twice. Plus, wasn't he a most valued enemy of yours?" Teach held up his hand to stop any more questions and nodded.

"Yes, I know. But I didn't just sell him to any one. It seems Mr. Monkey D. Luffy stopped by after me and Ace had a little scuffle and bought him."

"Monkey D. Luffy? You mean the rookie you were gonna go after?" Teach gave a nod. "How does this help you in your plan in capturing him? Not only does he have Ace now, but Ace's old friends are sure to notice his return."

"Zehahaha! This is working out beautifully! I made a great profit off of Ace, which is why I sold him. 550,000,000 berries! What a price. But now, since Ace still doesn't, and probably won't, remember a thing, I'll have a much easier time recapturing him before anyone notices his return! And I'll get that Straw Hat at the same time! And all the others of his little clan too! Zehahaha!" Blackbeard raised his wineglass into the air, his other two friends doing the same with small smirks. "Here's to slavery!"

XxXxX

After Ace and Luffy left the store with their bags of groceries for dinner, they started their way to Luffy's house. But on the way home, Ace stopped in front of a clothing store and stared into the window. Luffy soon stopped too and looked at Ace. "Do you want to buy something?" Ace opened his mouth, but seemed hesitant to ask his new master for something. Luffy quickly caught on and opened the door to the store, walking in before Ace could protest. The former slave followed, walking into the store where the soft touch of an A.C. touch his bare skin. He gave a slight shiver before to Luffy who was sitting on a bench, the groceries right at his side. Ace held his bags of food and stood staring at his master, slightly nervous.

"Are you sure I can buy something? I know you probably don't have a lot of money, and you probably want to get home already…" In response, Luffy just grinned and leaned against the wall to show his relaxation.

"Shishishi, no problem! Just make it a little quick, kay? I know my chef wouldn't want me to come home with spoiled milk and sour cream." Ace, at first stunned at his master's kindness, gave a nod and quickly set off to find something to wear. He had an idea of what he wanted to buy already, so he made his way to the counter to ask the cashier for help. He walked up to her, a women around 55 years old wearing a yellow dress with her silver hair up in a neat bun. She had slight wrinkles around her slanted eyes as she looked up at him with a gentle smile. (Kind of like the grandma from Windwaker.)

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"Hello, I was wondering if you had any open-button-shirts?"

"Of course! Right this way, ma'am." Ace rose an eyebrow. Ma'am? 'Do I look like a ma'am to you?' He had the sudden urge to flex his muscles, but resisted the urge to do so as he slowly followed to women to the child's department. She led him over to the children's shoes and kindly smiled at him. He gave a sheepish smile.

"Um, I'm sorry, but this is the children's shoes. I'm looking for men's open-shirts."

"Oh! I'm sorry sir! I thought you said 'children's moccasins!' Please, right this way!" Again, Ace kindly followed the old woman to the man's section and over to the ties. Ace gave a sigh and tapped her on the shoulder. "Yes?"

"I'm looking for open-shirts. Not ties."

"Sorry again, ma'am,"she apologized, and led him out of the men's department and over to the women's open-shirts. As he was too caught up in his thoughts about being called a ma'am, he absent-mindedly said his thanks and started looking through the women's shirts. It wasn't for a full ten minutes until he realized that he was indeed looking at women's clothing. He gave a frustrated sigh and decided to give up on the old lady and look for the clothes himself. He wandered into the men's department and looked around for a minute or two before suddenly finding a little rack with the shirts he was looking for. He skimmed through the pack and only found one he found to his liking. It was a faded yellow button-down shirt. He picked it out and smiled. 'Perfect.' He brought it up to the register and laid it down gently and reached for his wallet… only to remember he never had a wallet.

"Damn…" The old women looked at him with worried slanted eyes.

"Is something wrong, ma'am?"

"It's sir, ma'am. And I forgot my wallet. Let me go ask my master for some mon–"

"Oh, no, it's okay. I didn't even realize I've been calling you a ma'am this whole time! Hahaha…" Ace's eyebrow twitched, but he continued to smile. "I'll let you just have this shirt for free, as an apology for all my troubles." Ace's face brightened and he gave a bow as he grabbed his bag. He walked into the room where Luffy was waiting and found him asleep drooling. He gave a chuckle as he walked over and gently shook his master's shoulder, wondering how a kid like this managed to talk Teach into selling him. As Luffy was slowly coming awake, Ace fell into a narcoleptic episode, falling asleep standing up with his hat resting on his back. And as he fell deep into his nap, he could only think of one thing:

'Ma'am…?'

XxXxX
So yeah, I have NO idea where this ma'am thing came from. XD And sorry for it being such a short chapter, the next'll be longer. I am gonna start working on the fifth chapter of this soon. So keep an eye out! And thank you for all the wonderful, beautiful reviews! You guys are awesome! :D

The darkness I liveth, the darkness I love
~roo the vampire