Chapter 3

A few days before Ace's departure

"Luffy has such a stupid devil fruit power. He's such an idiot. He ate it without even researching it," Ace said huffing crossing his arms over the book he had been reading. I looked at him with mild interest wondering what exactly could have brought up the sudden child inside of him.

My stomach twisted in knots as I looked at the book's title in his hands. A Guide to Devil Fruits and Their Powers.

"Ace," I said warningly as I tugged the book out from his grasp.

"Don't say my name like that, Jamie," he growled and held fast to the corner of the book.

"What do you mean?" I asked feeling lost at the sudden hostility. Ace rarely acted like this with me, it was odd to have him giving me such a hard time.

"You said it in the same tone you use when you talk about him," he said, his face flushing and he locked eyes with me. Neither of us refused to look away and I found myself biting my lip.

I knew who he meant by him. He meant my father. I felt the cold pit of dread well up inside of me at the mere mention of him. I tried to swallow or think of a valid excuse but there seemed to be none. Was that really the way I said Ace's name?

"You don't do it all the time. Just when you are upset. I don't like when you are upset," he rushed and smiled at me reassuringly. He effectively tugged the book from my grasp and tucked it safely under his own arm.

"Why are you looking at that book then?" I asked making another grab for it.

My finger's brushed just enough of the surface of the book to send it spiraling to the floor. It slammed and echoed loudly in the abandoned house causing both of us to cringe. It fell open to a place that had been neatly doggie eared. A picture of a vivid red fruit looked up at me.

"Ace…"

"It'll be so useful Jamie. It's the only fruit I want," he started and hurriedly bent down to pick up the book.

"You'll never be able to swim again…" I said feeling my mouth go dry. Silently I added 'What if I start to drown and need you' and then flinched at my thoughts. I wasn't so helpless as to need him every time I stepped into the water.

"Worried about me?" he asked grinning from cheek to cheek.

"As if," I said shoving him roughly.

"See you wouldn't be able to touch me once I'm fire," he teased winking.

"At all?"

"Nope," he grinned wickedly and took a step forward. "Get all your touches in Jamie. I'll be untouchable."

"I won't even be able to do this?" I took a quick step forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. My hands found their way into his hair and pulled his face closer to mine. I stared hungrily at his lips and leaned forward just enough so that my breath brushed over his lips. I cocked an eye brow and smirked when I noticed his intake of breath and how his hands found their way to my hips to hold me in place.

"Not even that," his voice cracked as he pulled me into a gentle kiss. Unlike the other ones we had shared for the past few days this one was soft. His lips explored mine with a gentleness I didn't know possible. When he pulled away, for the first time in my life, he left me craving for more than just a kiss.

I felt my dread set in and attacked his lips with more force than necessary as I pulled him into a back abandoned room of the house. I was thankful for once that the mountain bandits were actually out doing bandit things. The book fell to the floor forgotten in between us.

()()()()()()()()()

The fire cracked warmly in the cool winter night. Luffy's snores filled the air as the moon rose higher in the sky. The younger brother had his arms wrapped tightly around my waist and I couldn't help but laugh at Ace's glare. I scooted closer, careful not to jar Luffy too much and rested my head on top of his shoulder.

"It's been a long day," I whispered and squeezed my eyes shut willing the tears to disappear. I was glad I had moved closer to him, he couldn't see the tears he would undoubtedly make fun of if he saw them. I was going to miss him so much.

"Why won't you run away with me?" he asked his voice sounding hurt.

I looked up mildly surprised at his question.

"We both know why Ace… my father found out about my plans. He'll do everything in his power to stop me or hunt me down," the last part came out with hesitance. I wasn't sure how far my father was willing to go. All I knew was that I had to wait longer now. I had to wait for a few more years until this mess was forgotten. I had explained this, both to Ace and Luffy. Luffy clapped happy that he wasn't going to be the last to head out to sea.

"Aokiji," he hissed and curled his fingers into my hair. I winced at the name, a name I had long learned to not mention around these two. It only caused discomfort for all of us.

"He's too strong for me to take on," I said ashamedly and looked down at the frost bitten scar I had received on my shoulder. Finger prints of my father's warming, forever keeping me chained to an area near him… At least for a few more years. "He has a point though. An Admiral's daughter can't take off to sea as a pirate…"

"He has no point," Ace spat.

"Ace he's my father," I felt exasperated. "I'll be able to make my own choice once the government recognizes me as an adult. Then I can take the risk for my own actions."

"You can take them as soon as you head out to sea with me," Ace said pulling my hair so that I was forced to look up at him. It wasn't a painful hair pull, just enough to make it impossible to move out of his burning gaze.

"I'll find you once I head out to sea," I whispered and growled when he didn't release his hold.

"This is why I need that Fruit, Jamie. That's the only way I'll be able to protect you. I can't…"

"You have protected me don't say you can't," I chastised.

"No I can't… I don't know if I can leave you behind," he whispered his eyes suddenly burning with the intensity of the flames before us. My heart pounded in my chest as I tried to avert my gaze. My face flushed at an embarrassing speed, as I tried to study the freckles on his face with interest.

"I'll meet you out at sea. I promise. As soon as I can," I told him reassuringly hoping he would drop the matter I smiled and leaned up to kiss him.

His kiss was hot in return and he roughly shoved Luffy off my lap. I snorted as the younger brother continued sleeping unaware as Ace attacked my lips with his. We barely broke apart for air; neither of us could seem to get enough of the other.

He might never say it but I know. I know Ace loves me.

Present day

I woke with tears fresh in my eyes and ashamedly wiped them away. I needed to get over this. I didn't want to get over Ace. I just wanted to get over this handicapping heart break with in in. Was it possible to get over heart break when you still loved someone so fully? My very dreams haunted me of memories of his face, of times we had spent together. It had been years before I met Ace at sea, and only after he had died. A promise I wasn't sure if I had fulfilled or not.

I shook my head and stretched feeling a few joints pop as I did so. I let out a satisfied sigh and laid there a moment longer. It was just before dawn. The morning was grey and threating to break over. It was the earliest I had been awake in a long time, and for some reason I actually felt well rested.

"You talk in your sleep," Nami grumbled.

I froze taking in a sharp breath and cursing silently.

I peeked out from under my covers and took surveillance the room. Robin was still sleeping peacefully in her bed, the rise and fall of her body unbroken.

Nami was hunched over her desk, a reading light on over her. She was scrawling angrily and I wondered briefly if she was drawing or writing something but decided I didn't care.

"Did I keep you up princess?" I asked. My voice cracked with sleep but my tone oozed with sarcasm.

"Not at all," she answered without missing a beat. She didn't once look up from her paper. "I was just wondering what could include Ace so much."

I turned beat red and flipped the covers off sitting up. Maybe staying in a room with two girls wasn't such a good idea after all. Closed quarters often led to higher tensions and I didn't want to burden Luffy with such a petty thing when this was first brought up. Now however I was more than willing to make a big deal out of it. This was not the first time Nami had been so careless with mentioning Ace to me. I hissed and made a move to grab for my belt but found it sadly depleted of my choice weapons.

"Where are my knives?" I growled turning to face her.

She held up her hands innocently and finally turned to face me. Her eyes narrowed dangerously at me.

"Want to kill me?" she asked her voice low. I wondered briefly if Robin was really asleep for the woman now looked unnaturally still.

"No," I answered after a moment. "I just want to do some target practice." 'On the back of your chair' I finished silently and moodily plopped back into my bed.

"You like Luffy," I said bluntly eyeing her and changing the subject.

"Of course I like Luffy. He is my captain," she said rolling her eyes at me.

"You like him how I like Ace," I said quietly. Her face tinged slightly and was the only confirmation I needed. "I'm no threat Nami. He's like my little brother…"

She nodded and silently pointed to an area behind her desk. I raised an eye brow but stood up to look into the bin she had pointed at. There rested three silver very well-polished knives. I smiled knowing that I hadn't been the one to polish them last.

"Do you have any interest in maps?" she asked pointing to her drawing. Robin stretched dramatically and grinned at us from her bed, not even pretending to rub sleep from her eyes. I smiled but shook my head no.

After that it seemed we had something almost close to friendship.

()()()()()()()()()

The morning was bright overhead and I found myself lazily flipping through a discarded magazine I had found in our room.

"Nami-swann, Robin-chwannn, Jamie-chwannn. I have a wonderful new drink for you," Sanji said appearing to my left. Although the other two women went along with this man's fantasies I couldn't bring it in my heart to be anything but cold. It astounded me that he still included me in his little attempts to woo the girls. I sighed but accepted my drink wordless and smiled when I a took a small cautious sip. I might not be that crazy about Sanji but he was now my nakama and he was a decent cook.

The other two girls offered their thanks in their own way and he was off to now make drinks for everyone else (it was lesser quality he assured us, as if that would give make us give him extra brownie points or something stupid like that).

I listened to Brook break out into song and smiled happily to myself. It was so peaceful aboard this ship. It was like a vacation from heart break when I felt so at ease like this. I felt a pang in my heart and stiffened my body uneasily. I shouldn't be at ease. My eyes darted restlessly as I tried to find something else to focus on. Anything to focus on was better than the pain that was threating to take over. My eyes landed on Robin who was writing down something in a hand held journal. The notes looked very descriptive and professional, almost like she was taking notes on how to teach something.

"Robin, what is that?" I asked politely trying not to appear too interested in what she was doing. It did look cool though. I found myself practically leaning over the older women to study the odd shapes I saw on the piece of paper. She gave me a funny searching look before answering calmly.

"It's an ancient type of writing lost to this world."

"What's it say?" I asked feeling my interest spike at the word lost. I hadn't always been interested in history but now it was becoming apparent that there seemed something off about all the history I had learned in school and there was even a missing void that the school had claimed been lost to the world.

She gave me a long hard look before chuckling to herself.

"If you want I can teach you."

At the way she laughed I knew this work would be time consuming and demand a lot of focus. I was willing to give her all of my attention, anything but the pain that lingered in the shadows of my heart. I needed an out or I would officially go insane (although according to Chopper I was boarder line now as it was).

I found myself nodding vigorously and scooting closer to the older woman.

"Then I'll start with the basics. See how this line goes down like that. Think of that as an equivalent to the modern day alphabet for the letter A," she said smoothly and pointed to the line that went down. "It can be a bit confusing at first because some of these symbols represent letters while others represent thoughts. It all just depends on what is being told."

Her blue eyes were lightening up with excitement I hadn't seen before and I found myself hanging on every word she said. This would be the best thing to get lost in. I smiled encouraging her to tell me more.

A/N: Hey everyone. The next chapter is the last. Getting closer to a wrap up.

Thanks to my reviewers. You guys rock. :).

Girlbeforeman, raerae, becauseIamariett, and TheMaskedShuppeteer. It means a lot to me that you guys took the time to review. :)