It was his freckles.

Not to way his flashed his charming, crooked grin, not the way that time slowed when their eyes locked, not the way his ebony hair fell into his eyes, not his chiseled body, or even his sense of humor.

It was just his freckles.

Sure, all of those other things were great. Sora's chest tightened when he smiled, and the background blurred when he caught his gaze, and perhaps that time he had walked in with nothing but a towel and she made like she was pretending to check him out wasn't really pretending. But the part of him that really got her was his freckles. She felt like she was eighteen again, looking up at—

No, she couldn't think about that anymore. Not now. She had worked so hard, pushed so much to try and move on with her life. She had almost succeeded, too, until Ace had appeared, suddenly a part of the Whitebeard Pirates, and reminded her of what she had lost.

It wasn't like she hadn't heard of him. All the Whitebeard Pirates who had bounties had their posters on the walls of the Sky Pub. She had heard of Hiken no Ace even before that, when he had been offered the position of a Shichibukai. But from then, just looking at his picture, the first thing she noticed was his freckles. She thought that maybe he wouldn't show up to the island along with Whitebeard, but of course, he did. And so Sora was, once again, putting on a façade.

The morning sunlight dripped into her room as she pulled on a loose tank top and shorts, tying her thick black hair back. She turned around, to face the bed on the opposite side of her nightstand, to watch the second division commander snore. She smiled to herself, noticing that the only part of his body covered by the blanket were his feet. The rest of his body was splayed out on the bed, claiming it as his.

Sora watched the way the light hit his body, accentuated his muscles, and causing his hair to shimmer. He looked so peaceful, but so strong at the same time. She shut her eyes, forcing herself to stop staring at him and turned around again, letting out a quiet sigh.

"Why are you always up so early?" she heard Ace groan. She turned, seeing him roll around to look at her, his eyes still glazed with sleep.

She laughed, putting her hands on her hips. "It's not even early."

"If it's not lunch time, it's early," Ace told her, smiling tiredly at Sora.

"I got stuff to do, studly," Sora told him. "Hanging out with Marco, you know, that kind of stuff," she finished with a laugh.

Ace groaned loudly and rolled over again so his giant purple Whitebeard tattoo was staring straight at her. Sora just giggled, making her way over to his bed to shove Ace's back playfully. "Stop it, you. We're just going to go shopping for things for the bar. We need groceries, and new dishes, and—"

Ace rolled over again to face her. "Go to dinner with me."

"Are we asking or are we commanding?" Sora asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Commanding," Ace joked, propping himself up on his arms.

She laughed, crossing her arms over her chest and started for the door. "No dice."

"Okay, asking," Ace called after her, changing his mind. He sat up.

She put a hand over her ear. "I didn't hear a question."

"Fine. Will you, Sora-something, accompany me to dinner tonight?" he asked, sitting up straight and flashing her a grin.

"Sora-something?"

"I don't remember your last name," he informed her, and she laughed.

"De Belleville."

"De Belleville Sora, I would be sort of honored, I guess, to take you to dinner of a place of your choosing since I don't know this place," Ace tried again, only causing Sora to laugh again.

Sora made a face as though Ace had hit a strike, scrunching her face jokingly. "Ooh, that was pretty lame. Have you ever even taken a girl out before?"

"What's the right answer?" Ace asked, still smiling at her.

"The honest one."

"Yes, I have," he said, trailing off. Ace locked eyes with the woman, and added, "But none of them were as weird as you."

She laughed, waving him off. "Oh, I'm blushing," Sora teased, and then she sighed in feigned exasperation, and Ace knew he had won. "Okay, fine, after Marco and I do our thing, we'll come back and go to dinner."

"Is Marco coming?"

She raised her eyebrows, cocking her hip. "Do you want him to come to dinner?"

Ace's answer was quick and precise, "No."

"Okay, then he's not coming."

"I'm feeling like ramen tonight. But you'd have to take me there."

"You're paying."

"So, is this like a date?"

"Do you want it to be?"

"Yes."

Startled by his answer, Sora didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth to try and speak, but couldn't think of a comeback. She flailed mentally. Sora hadn't expected Ace to actually answer the question. It was rhetorical. Did he not think it was rhetorical? They were supposed to be going out as friends, what was all of this about a date suddenly? What—

"Ope, just kidding," Ace said, holding his hands up. "Not a date, I was just kidding. Ha, ha, let's laugh now because this is awkward and I don't want you to cancel." He said, waving his hands as he laughed, actually saying "ha, ha" as he did so.

Sora giggled at Ace's attempt to save the conversation. She regained control of her tongue. "Ah, okay. Date then," she said, and Ace's face lit up with confusion and happiness swirling together. She held up a finger, letting him know she wasn't done talking. "Date as friends."

Ace's expression dropped, and he made a face at her. "That doesn't even make sense."

"It's like, two friends going on a date," Sora said, not even sure what she was saying herself.

"I thought this was to establish that we are friends first."

"You're the one that said it was a date."

"I asked if it was a date."

"I answered."

"With a question. That's grammatically incorrect. I hope you're not teaching Kohaku this stuff," he added, grinning at her.

"Okay, fine, no date then."

Ace furrowed his brows together and squinted his eyes. "What? You just said it was."

"But you said earlier that you were kidding, so that totally nulls what I said."

Ace sighed, sounding genuinely disappointed. "Sora. Stop these games. Why don't you just admit that you want some?" he teased, pointing both of his index fingers at himself, receiving an eye roll from the older woman.

"Sora?" Marco called from downstairs. Sora turned to the sound of her name being called.

"Sorry, dear peasant, but I must take my leave. My knight is calling to me," she teased, feigning an accent while Ace rolled his eyes, both at her statement about Marco and at the fact that she called Ace a peasant.

"Shut up."

She picked up a small tote off the floor and slung it over her arm. "See you tonight, studly."

"Wait, so date or no date?" he called after her as she opened the door.

She turned back and smiled. "Haven't decided yet," she said, winking lightheartedly. "Byeeeeee, be a good booooy, stay out of trooouble," she trailed off, waving her hand in wide, slow motions as though Ace were two years old.

"Bye," he said, rolling his eyes. The door closed quietly behind her.

Ace, in the room, plopped down on his bed, letting out a breath. That had almost not gone well. He couldn't help but grin. He wanted to get in her head. Not because he wanted to play her, but because he wanted to just know her.

He wanted to know everything about her – her likes and dislikes, fears, and dreams, everything that comprised her existence – but he knew he didn't stand a chance when Sora was friends with so many of Whitebeard's crew. He realized that she would probably hang out with Marco a lot, and Thatch, and spend time with Jozu, and Oyaji himself, or maybe some of the other division commanders, like Vista, and Fossa, and Izou…Ace sighed again. He had no idea how long they would even be here, and if she was always with the other men of the crew, how was Ace supposed to even get a chance to talk to her besides the brief conversations they had when she came home or before she left? He needed to get in her head because he needed her to want to spend time with him. He needed her to choose him every time. And if she was asked if she would do it all over again, Ace needed her to say yes.

But for now, Ace had done good. He inhaled deeply, and then exhaled, allowing all of his anxiety to flow out of him. He rolled over, feeling the cool breeze against his back. He closed his eyes, ready to fall back asleep. Now all he needed to do was wait.

On the other side of the door, Sora was also chasing her breath. What the hell did she just do? She had just been telling herself that no, it wasn't his smile, or his sense of humor, but she had just fallen for both of those things and was not having dinner with a man she couldn't possibly dare to even get close to. Yes, she wanted to be friends, nakama, even, but she couldn't afford anything more intimate than that.

What was she even thinking? They were just going out as friends. She was making too big a deal out of this whole 'date' business. Sora closed her eyes for a moment. She needed to guard. She couldn't let Ace get in her head. It wasn't that he was aggressive about it, because he wasn't; it was just that she knew that she couldn't constantly think about Ace. The last time she had become involved with a man, she had been crushed and four years later, she was still struggling to recover. She couldn't become that weak again. She had people she needed to protect. Sora needed to fight the voice in her heart that whispered for her to bring down her walls and get to know another human being again.

Swallow a lump in her throat, and plastering her façade on, Sora opened her eyes and moved, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she walked down the stairs to where Marco was waiting for her. "Yo," she greeted as though the incident with Ace hadn't happened at all.

"I was wondering why you were taking so long," the blonde told her, smiling kindly from the barstool he was seated on. "You wake up late?"

No, Ace's sleeping form had distracted Sora from leaving the room. And Ace's awakened form had also distracted Sora from leaving the room. "Yup, sorry."

"That's pretty unlike you," Marco teased, and hopped off the chair. "Ready to go?"

She smiled and nodded, following Marco towards the bar's exit. He pushed opened the door for her, and together, they walked towards the town square, where they would be shopping.

The village was bustling, people chatting in the streets and heading for the market, some returning from the town square as well. Marco looked up, needing to shield his eyes from the sun.

The sun. For the past few years, Marco knew for a fact that it was rare for the sun to ever really be visible. The island was normally covered in an overcast of clouds. It wasn't cold and rainy, but it wasn't conditions for a perfect beach day everyday. But now the sun was out, shining its light onto the entire island. It seemed to brighten the spirits of everyone. He hadn't been too surprised when it was sunny a few days ago, upon the Whitebeard Pirates' first arrival, but normally, the overcast returned within several days, as Sora pretended to smile.

But Marco could see it; he could see the corners of her eyes crinkling when she laughed. Her dimples showed when she smiled, too. Sora had always been a little quirky, but less so these past few years. However, now it was back, and Marco saw in her the woman he had fallen in love with a long time ago, even before—

"How's rooming with Thatch?" Sora asked, snapping Marco out of his thoughts.

"Hmm? Oh, well it's nothing new. We live together practically everyday anyway," Marco shrugged. He smirked at the younger girl. "How's rooming with Ace?"

Marco expected Sora to just shrug and put on that face like she didn't care. She did this, but oddly enough, Marco saw the sliver of a smile pulling at the corners of her thin lips. "It's been good. He's nice."

"That's good to hear," Marco told her.

"Yeah, we're going to dinner tonight, too," she slipped in, shrugging as though this were a little event. Dinner? Marco knew Sora. He knew that she normally ate dinner alone because she knew that it could become an intimate activity and God forbid, whenever those so-called 'intimate' moments happen, Sora just flees in the other direction, or puts up walls so high no one can even see the top. For the past four years, Sora just ate the evening meal by herself. Even when they hiked the previous day, they had stopped for dinner at a little yakitori shack, but Sora hadn't eaten a thing. Now she was having dinner with Ace?

"That's interesting." Marco voiced his thoughts aloud, raising his eyebrows.

Sora looked up at him, her big blue eyes capturing his own. "Why?"

Another thing about Sora was that a lot of the time, she pretended not to know how she was. She pretended like everything was okay, or like she didn't know that she ran from emotional situations. "No, nothing," Marco said, shaking his head. "It's good that you and Ace get along, since he's new and everything."

"Yeah, he's nice," she said again. "Anyway," Sora added, changing the subject. Marco let himself forget about Ace and Sora, deciding to enjoy the time that he was spending with her. They had become very close in the past few years, and he appreciated that much of the time he was on the island was spent with her. It wasn't always alone together – some of the other commanders and crewmen often joined them with drinks or meals – but Marco appreciated it nonetheless.

Marco joined Sora into picking out vegetables and meat for her bar's food. The ingredients at the Sky Pub were refreshed at every meal. Kohaku and Jozu had gone out for the breakfast shift, so Marco and Sora were doing the lunch and dinner shift. Sora was carrying bags and bags of food in her hands and Marco's arms were also full of ingredients. Marco was half-afraid that the tiny girl would fall over from the overload of baggage.

"Think we got enough?" she asked with a grin.

Marco chuckled. "More than enough."

The two shared a laugh and Marco followed her back to the bar, smiling all the way.

"Hey, bro, guess who landed a date tonight?" Ace called out to Kohaku. He leaned against the wall and pointed his thumbs at himself, smirking, and the younger boy just laughed.

"Really." Kohaku's voice was laced with skepticism. "Imaginary girl or no?"

"Sora, you jerk," Ace told him, pushing himself off the wall. He rustled Kohaku's hair as he passed.

"Wait, seriously?" Kohaku followed after the older man, hopping down the stairs. This was unbelievable. "You asked her on a date? And she said yes?"

"Well," Ace started, thinking back on the conversation. He squinted his eyes to emphasize that he was thinking. The last thing he wanted was Kohaku getting out of hand, and then spreading rumors, and Sora freaking out or getting upset. "I asked her to dinner."

Kohaku leapt onto a barstool. "And she said yes?"

"Well," Ace said again. It was like the conversation was archived in a special folder in Ace's brain. "She didn't say the word yes, but she said 'okay, fine', and that counts, right?"

Kohaku rolled his eyes and laughed. "For your sake, I hope so."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Aneki doesn't go on dates," Kohaku answered simply, shrugging. He was now uninterested in the topic, as though he was the one talking to a child. "She just doesn't. If she says she hasn't decided or something like that, it means definitely not, but she's just trying to be nice."

Ace frowned. "You're killing me here."

"I'm just saying," the blonde said, ordering a glass of orange juice and a sandwich from the bar. Ace had slept past lunchtime, and he had yet to see Sora. "Just be happy if she doesn't bail out at the last second."

"She wouldn't do that," Ace said, waving Kohaku off. He paused and raised an eyebrow. "Right?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen her all day. I think she's with Marco again."

"Buying food and dishes for the bar."

"They did that already," Kohaku informed Ace. "They came back a little while ago, dropped off the stuff, and left again."

"Oh," was all Ace could say. He had a churning feeling in his stomach and his chest tightened. Sora wouldn't ditch out on their dinner, right? Sure, Ace had joked that it was a date, but he didn't feel like he pressured her into it. If she really was uncomfortable with it, then it didn't need to be one. He probably should have told her that this morning.

"Aneki normally works at the bar all day, too," Kohaku added, receiving his juice and taking a sip. "But she's been hanging out with Marco these past two days so she hasn't been in."

"Oh."

"But, I don't know, I mean, she could come, so you should just get ready to go out when she comes back."

Ace just remained silent. He didn't want to look like a fool, waiting on plans with a woman who had forgotten about him because she was hanging out with another man. But what if she did show up? He didn't want to not be there; it would look like he was standing her up. What time was "dinner" anyway? Some people ate at seven, others ate at midnight – and she was out with Marco right now so it wasn't like he could ask her. They could be anywhere. When Ace first arrived, he thought the village was small, but he realized that it had to be much larger than he assumed, as it needed to house over 1,600 pirates, and villagers. The fact that everyone knew each other was much more impressive now.

So Ace just waited. His mind wandered, and so did he. Throughout the day, he moved from hanging out with Kohaku, to drifting over to sit and drink a few bowls of sake with Whitebeard, to chatting with Jozu and Izou and the other crewmen. He had gone upstairs several times, rolled around in bed, taken a nap, came back downstairs, walked around town, stopped by the beach, and came back to the Sky Pub. When he glanced at the clock, the whole day had gone by; it was nearly nine. He just sighed and perched himself next to Whitebeard.

"Where's, ah, Marco?" Ace asked his captain.

The giant man looked down at his second division commander. "I don't know."

"Awesome. Just awesome," Ace mumbled to himself, finishing off his sake bowl. He looked up at Whitebeard. "Want another? It's on me."

The man's laughter rumbled through the bar, and Ace took that as an agreement. He called over Eiichi. "Yeah, two more of those," Ace said, gesturing to Whitebeard's massive sake bowl.

"Both for the captain?" Eiichi asked, scribbling it down on a piece of paper.

"One for me," Ace told him. "Oh, and I'll take some cheese fries or something, I don't know, something greasy." Eiichi nodded, and left, returning to the bar to take Ace's order back.

"Hey, did you even get ready or what?" asked a voice, and Ace glanced up from the table to see Sora standing over him.

"What?" Ace asked, furrowing his brows. He had been drinking all day and the nap hadn't exactly made the side effects disappear. Ace could handle his liquor, but he just needed a little while to chill and sober up.

"What do you mean, what?" Sora raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were going to dinner? Or did you forget?" She sighed and rolled her eyes, realizing that he was intoxicated. "I guess you did. Okay, well, I look like an idiot," she added, shaking her head as she started to walk away.

"Oy," Ace called, leaping out of the booth and catching Sora's wrist. The woman instantly yanked her arm out fiercely, her eyebrows creasing inward. Ace blinked several times, his vision clearing up slightly.

"Yeah, you don't get to oy me," Sora informed him, smiling dryly.

"Let's go out to eat," Ace said, ignoring her sharp tone.

The older woman scoffed. "No, you're drunk, so it's fine," she said, and shook her head. Ace saw her eyes darken, thunderclouds encroaching on a clear summer day. Ace's chest tightened and he prepared himself. "Unbelievable, because you're the one that wanted to hang out so badly. Whatever, I'll be back later to clean up the bar."

She turned to leave again but Ace didn't let her. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, taking her by surprise. "I didn't forget. It got late and I thought you weren't coming back for me."

"The best ramen place here opens at nine," Sora told him, her face emotionless. "It's an overnight shop."

Ace furrowed his brows and shrugged. "How was I supposed to know that? I've only been here for like three days." He saw Sora sigh and blow the hair out of her face, crossing her arms over her chest. She rolled her eyes and then averted them, as though knowing she had made a mistake. Ace put a hand on her shoulder, gentler this time. "Come on, I'm still hungry. We should grab dinner."

She raised both of her eyebrows, her eyes clearing up like the sky after a storm. The weight on Ace's chest floated away; the worst was over. "Okay. Fine. But I don't like drunk men."

"Not drunk," Ace told her, stretching his arms out and placing the tips of his fingers on his nose. He repeated this several times as proof. But Sora didn't take it.

"I'll go with you but you have to drink my alcohol remedy," she offered.

"Yeah, okay," Ace replied instantly, shrugging. How bad could it be? Ace was a pirate. He didn't suffer from hangovers, and he ate and drank everything in sight. This was an easy way to get Sora to agree to going with him again.

Sora seemed surprised by his answer. "Are you sure?" she asked one more time, slipping past him to get behind the bar.

"Yeah." Ace didn't hesitate. Tonight had been a misunderstanding, but Sora actually showed up. Kohaku had been wrong after all. And Ace was grateful that she was here. He just wanted to make her smile and if drinking her little alcohol remedy was going to magically make it like nothing ever happened, then he would be more than happy to oblige.

"Okay, studly," Sora said, and disappeared behind the bar. Ace leaned against the counter, letting out an exasperated sigh. Today had almost been a disaster. If dinner had messed up, then the hike would probably be out of the question as well.

Sora reappeared within moments, in her hand a tall glass filled with dark liquid. She placed it in front of Ace, the glass connected with the wooden counter making a dull thud. She stuck a straw into it and Ace watched as the little plastic seemed to just be swallowed, like a tiny animal, dying slowly in a venomous swamp. Ace could also smell it from his position and squinted his eyes, fearful that the stench would actually burn out his eyeballs. "What the hell is that?" he said, making a face at the glass.

"Alcohol remedy." That was the last thing Ace wanted to hear.

"And you want me to drink that sludge." It wasn't a question. Ace was simply reviewing Sora's request.

"If you want to go out and eat ramen," Sora said airily, shrugging.

Ace kept his eyes squinted, gazing at the woman through slits. "But I'm not drunk."

Sora's answer was instant. "Okay, fine, we don't need to go eat dinner then."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Ace groaned, glancing down at the glass. "What's in this anyway? Rotten fish and swamp water?"

Sora laughed, and held a thin finger to her lips. "It's a secret."

Ace picked up the glass and pulled out the straw, dropping the now-heavy plastic onto the table. Ace was half worried that Sora's drink would actually burn through the wood on the table. "If I die, then my spirit will haunt you forever."

"Terrified," Sora stated, her voice monotone. She pretended to glance at her watch – and Ace noticed that she didn't even have a watch – and turned her big blue eyes back to look at Ace. "I'm pretty hungry, but I'm perfectly fine eating alone, you know."

"Shut up, I'm preparing," Ace said, and took a deep breath, staring hard at the glass as though it were his mortal enemy. Then in one swift motion, he pulled the glass to his lips and tilted his head back, pouring the liquid into his mouth. In one long sip, he finished the entire glass, slamming it down onto the table.

Sora giggled as Ace coughed and struggled to keep everything he consumed within the last three days inside of him and not on the floor of Sora's bar. To help, he held his hand over his mouth, coughing with his mouth closed. It tasted like…socks. Like old, smelly, moldy socks were mashed up in a bowl of stale bananas and pig's blood and ground in a blender, and that mixture of death was now plummeting down Ace's throat. Even after he swallowed several times, trying to get the taste of feet out of his mouth, the drink had been so thick that he was only getting remnants of the liquidized-feet to try and wash out more feet.

Ace looked up again and Sora was holding a glass of orange juice. Ace snatched it and down the whole glass. He swallowed, and kept his head tilted up to make sure that nothing would come back out. The orange juice seemed to settle his stomach. He coughed a little, and then flashed Sora a charming grin. "Ready," he told her, giving her a thumbs up.

She laughed, coming around to the front of the bar. "You sure you don't need to throw up? I'll only point and laugh a little. If it'll make you feel better, I'll tell the whole town tomorrow."

"I'm good," Ace reassured her, following her out of the bar. And even though he could have sworn he had just drunk dirty laundry, Ace couldn't have been happier.