Chapter 72
Self-Control

It seemed so fast and slow at the same time, hard and easy, right and so deliciously wrong.

After a few strong heartbeats, Ace had lifted Eli in his arms and, if she hadn't been so excited by his wild behavior, the girl might have teased him for carrying her 'bridal style'. A large grin on his freckled face, the black-haired pirate had dashed through the snake's stomach while the girl pressed against his body let her mouth kiss his neck hungrily. Hopping onto the ruins, he jumped into the window of the first almost intact house he saw.

It was made of decrepit stones. What was probably once furniture had turned into piles of worn planks and dust. The little campfire the young man made with vines and woods cast its dancing lights upon the dark room, warming up the cold atmosphere yet, not as much as he did; his hot hands wandering on the girl's sensitive body, it didn't take Ace long to bare Eli of the little clothing she was wearing.

After unrolling a sleeping bag on the floor, Ace laid Eli on this makeshift bed, not that she cared the lack of comfort. The girl was dazed to a degree that prevented any kind of superficial consideration.

And then it began, what people called foreplay, and it really felt like Ace was playing with her. Teasing every portion of her pale skin, the young man elicited strangled noise of pleasure from Eli. So good and so bad, rough and delicate, his hands, his mouth, his tongue were doing things the girl couldn't discern. While a heated haze was covering all of her senses, the only thought that echoed faintly in her mind was that she didn't want him to stop.

Inside of her, Eli could feel herself burning with passion, she could feel her hollowness once more awakened by his touch, and she could feel that, while her moans became uncontrollably louder, to the tip of what was probably her legs, she was almost breaking her own toes.

Ace was torturing her and indefinitely exquisite was the anguish he inflicted upon her broken body. His touch was throwing her over the edge, yet she wanted more and, as the game had lasted long enough, panting and burning, Eli was starving for more.

But the game wasn't over. Ace kept playing and teasing; he wanted Eli to ask for the release of a complete invasion. And she did. Hell she did. Mouthing pleadingly her want to the ear to the mischievous flame user, she begged.

All this excitation, all this expectation, they had thrown the girl into such a fiery state of mind... Therefore, when Ace abandoned her, putting an end to their intercourse, it all burst through her mind now blurred with rage.

Ace looked rather dumb when he stared at the beanpole holding a huge boulder above her head, it was probably weighting five times heavier than her. Ace looked rather puzzled when the object of his affection set on fire before his dark eyes; wide opened they reflected the flames licking all over her body until the shadow of the huge rock being thrown at him darkened his glistening orbs.

The punishment was indefinitely clement compared to what he really deserved.

"Luffy," Eli called out rather harshly, walking over to the rubbery boy who was strolling carelessly through the reptile's insides. "What the hell are you doing here ?"

"Eli !" As she got closer, the torch she was holding cast its light on his stupid, grinning face. "I was fighting with this guy and I ended up in this magic cave."

Magic... cave ? Eli blinked a few times as she came to a stop in front of him. How could someone not be aware that he had been swallowed by a giant snake ?

"It's not a cave." Eli sighed. "It's a snake."

"A snake ?" Luffy eyes widened as they traveled around them. "That's so cool !"

'Cool' wouldn't have been the adjective Eli would have chosen to describe the fact of being swallowed alive and stuck in the stomach of a colossal reptile, but watching Luffy grinning broadly, she decided to keep her comments to herself and started looking for a possible exit with her captain. Since being 'pooped' by the reptile wasn't a very appealing prospect, no matter how natural Luffy made it sound, the two pirates were looking for the mouth of the snake.

"Hey !"

Looking behind them, Eli and Luffy saw Ace walking in their direction. A torch in his hand, he was waving at them, a large smile plastered on his stupid, freckled face.

"Ace !" Luffy yelled out. As enthusiastically as his brother, he was waving his hand while Eli resumed her walk through the snake's insides.

"Eli, wait !" She heard the two morons yelling in unison.

Speeding up her pace, grumbles, quite intelligible, left her mouth. The girl didn't want to see the flame user and having him only a few meters away from her, only caused anger to resurface and flow through her blood. Therefore, she kept striding forward, ignoring the two black-haired pirates as she did. Yet, she couldn't ignore the sound of their footfalls, especially heavy ones. Dangerously, they were getting closer, and with every thud, her ire grew stronger, her heartbeats too. Furiously, Eli tightened her grip on the torch.

"Hey, Eli." It was his voice, his stupid and slightly husky voice, and it grated on her thudding ears.

While Ace looked at the girl, his expression was warm, affectionate, maybe a tad amused. Eli's however, was darkened with wrath. With a huff, full of disdain, she gave her head a shake, and quickened her steps. But Ace didn't seem to understand it was best for his own safety that he left the girl alone. As he walked by her side, the flame user curled his fingers around her arm, the warmth spreading from his skin heating the girl burning mind.

"Listen, I-"

"Luffy !" Eli jerked her arm out of Ace's grasp, fearing of what his enticing warmth could do to her. "Could you tell Mr. Portgas that I don't want to talk to him ?"

"Ace, Eli said that-"

"I heard Luffy." A frown appeared on his face as Ace gazed at the angry girl. A sigh left his mouth before he leaned a bit in her direction, bringing his mouth to her ear. "I'm sorry, but we couldn't... Not with Luffy hanging around," he whispered.

"Luffy." Keeping her glare set in front of her, Eli took a few steps away from Ace. "Tell Mr. Portgas that-"

"I'm right here Eli !" Ace said harshly kicking the ground as he spoke. "Stop acting like a brat !"

"... Tell him that he should leave me alone." Eli finished.

"Ace, Eli said-"

"Shut up Luffy !" Ace barked, turning his anger against his young sibling.

Resentment painted across their faces, the two older pirates glared at the rubber teen as his belly laughter resonated throughout the snake's stomach. Silent, they kept strolling into the ruins, stepping over skulls and rocks. Two of them rather focused on finding, at last, the exit while the third was giggling and jumping, his ecstatic behavior further getting on the first two's nerves.

"Hehe, I'm a King !" Luffy said loudly.

Looking questioningly at him over her shoulder, Eli rolled her eyes in annoyance. The teen was wearing a dirty and quite big crown over his straw hat. Standing proudly on the top of half a house, he was grinning like a complete idiot.

"A king..." Eli muttered.

As she resumed her hike, the girl spotted something shiny partly hidden behind a heap of rocks. Curious, she approached, the flame of the torch she was holding reflecting on the yellow metal and gems of several pieces of jewelry.

"Haha." The corners of her lips curled up as Eli picked up a large and very pompous crown. After dusting it rapidly, she put it on her head and swirled around. "I'm a Queen !" she sneered.

Luffy's eyes sparkled almost as much as the jewels inlaid in the girl's luxurious headgear when he stared in awe at the proud beanpole, posing magnificently on a pedestal made of all kind of junk. Ace, however, did not seem to share the two pirates' glee. His eyes shifted from one to the other until he lifted a hand to his forehead and rubbed his skin while uttering a rather annoyed sigh.

The loud giggles flowing from the childish pair reverberating into the 'cave' morphed into cries when the snake seemed like shaken by powerful spasms. The tremors jostled the three pirates from a side to the other of the reptile's stomach along with boulders and entire buildings.

Using her speed, Eli hopped during her fall and evaded skillfully the rock-slide while the two brothers used their own abilities the best they could to avoid being crushed.

A minute later, the snake-quake came to a stop and the paramecia went in search of her crewmates. As she strolled through the mass of rocks and buildings, the girl felt something warm grabbing her bare leg. Her face snapping downward, she gasped as Ace pulled her down.

"Idiot !" Now lying across his body, she slapped his knee and he chuckled. Eli rolled her eyes while she sat up on her feet. "Have you seen-"

"Shhh..." Ace smirked while hushing the girl by putting a finger on her lips. "Let me talk first."

Looking away, Eli slammed her hands on her ears. "BLAHBLA-"

"Will you shut up !" he whispered, his hand pressed on the girl's mouth. "I'm sorry, Eli, I really am, but we couldn't keep on, not while Luffy was here. You know I'm right..."

Even if she pretended she didn't listened to him, Eli heard every word and somewhere, not so far hidden behind her childish behavior, she knew that his excuses were valid but the frustration lying just above her reason, veiled her judgment. It was stronger than anything; a sexual frustration, it was raw, burning, and primal. The girl felt wounded to her very core, and despite how sweet he would act, the only thing she wanted from Ace was for him to fill her emptiness with his wild and burning passion. All that she wanted was to feel, at last, the bliss of the release of their want.

Swarming along with her ire, her lust was restless; she wanted sex, nothing else.

"Twig, please, it's not like I don't know how you feel." Ace sighed as he pulled one of her hands away from the girl's ear. "You've been teasing me way before I did..."

"Whak ?" she said from behind his palm, looking at him with wide eyes.

"The forest ?" Ace offered, his dark brows rose on his forehead as he spoke. "The stupid fox...?"

Ah... The memory came back in her mind with the words.

Ace released her mouth as the girl anger gradually left her green eyes. "See ?" he said kindly.

"But you..." Unable to withstand his gentle gaze, Eli stared at his red necklace, her reflection in the crimson pearls further mortifying the girl. "You made me...talk... You made me... beg, Ace..." she managed to say, her cheeks burning up as embarrassment completely took over. "That's... unfair..."

Apparently, the young man was fighting, in vain, against a smirk that slithered on his lips and Eli's response was a glare of wrath piercing right through his dark eyes. Why did he have to mock her ? Didn't he see how difficult it was for her ? The girl had absolutely no experience in this domain, and the things she did, the things he did, Eli couldn't really control the effects they had on her.

Yet, he probably did.

Ace surely knew that as he lifted a hand on her cheek, so warm compared to her skin, Eli would feel his heat spreading inside of her and melting her doubts in a heartbeat or two. Ace certainly knew that while his dark eyes dove into her green ones, he'd make Eli forget all about Luffy, the snake, the Sky Island, the whole world... Ace undoubtedly knew that if the girl was silent, it wasn't because his lips were kissing hers, but because she had purely and simply lost her voice upon the divine and so deliciously warm touch.

"We'll do it, Eli." Ace said quietly against her mouth, while his fingers caressed her nape. "I know I want to... Very much."

"Without being interrupted ?"

"Without being interrupted." Ace nodded.

"Not in a snake...?" Eli asked hesitantly.

"Not in a snake," he said and laid a soft, smiling kiss on her lips.

Their foreheads pressed together, the two lovers gazed into each other's eyes. Without a word, they both knew what was going into the other's mind. They did not care if they were in a snake, for when they kissed, their surrounding morphed into a heated void. Their bodies were calling for each other, almost louder than the sound of Luffy and Nami's voices.

With a well synchronized sigh, Ace and Eli reluctantly pulled away from each other, stood up and scanned the area in search for a distraction against their desires. Soon, they found Luffy, Nami, Gan Fall and his bird Pierre, as well as a little girl.

"Eli !" Nami jumped into the pole bean arms. "I'm glad you're okay !"

"Uh...?" Eli patted the redhead's back hesitantly. "What happened ?"

"It was crazy," Nami said as she pulled away. "Enel took Usopp and Sanji down, a war is raging on Upper Yard, and then we got swallowed by this snake." She made a motion with her hand while her eyes traveled on the group's surroundings.

"Enel...? You mean the one they call god ?" Eli asked.

"God is the title of the leader of our country," Gan Fall said. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"But he is extremely dangerous..." Nami said, fear showing through her chestnut eyes. "We need to get out of here."

As if it had heard the redhead, another series of tremors shook the giant snake, while a bright light appeared at the end of the 'cave'. The ruins were collapsing from all around with a thundering noise, yet, despite the confusion the group, focused on the brilliant exit.

Pierre spread his polka dotted wings as Gan Fall jumped on his back while Nami jumped aboard a small vehicle: a small boat and a set of handles connected to a front wheel with a sort of engine attached to the rear.

"Hold onto the waver !" Nami yelled. "I'm going to start the engine !"

Hopping swiftly in the middle of the rock-slide, Eli turned her head around to look at the rest of the group. One of his rubber arm wrapped around Ace and the little girl, as Luffy grabbed the rear of the waver. Barely avoiding a boulder, the paramecia focused on her own escape. Dashing onto the slimy walls, she soon reached the exit, the light blinding her on the spot.

As she squeezed her tingling eyes, the girl felt the ground disappearing from under her feet. Uh oh... They were falling, all of them, and the snake too.

Loud screams got the girl's attention upward, her eyes snapping open despite the burning sensation on her orbs as she saw the snake, his jaws wide open, plummeting right above her and further, inside of his throat, Ace, Luffy and the girl were yelling before disappearing into the darkness of the reptile's insides.

"Go back Pierre !" Gan Fall ordered, getting off his bird thus falling like Eli and Nami. "You have to save them !"

"We'll crash down !" Nami yelled bewilderingly staring at the ground, getting closer to the three skydivers.

Below them, a whole city made of stones. Its magnificence could have impressed the paramecia, if the image of her body smashed onto its ground wasn't filling her mind with dread and that was then, as gravity was ineluctably attracting the girl toward her probable death, that she remembered...

"Geppou ?" Eli asked, looking at Etowaru questioningly. "What is that ?"

"The second of the six Rokushiki teachings," he replied, lifting his eyes from his book.

"And it makes you fly ?"

"Not quite." A smile on his face, the young man completely turned around to look at the girl who was sitting on his bed. "But almost."

"Tell me, tell me," Eli urged, her green eyes sparkling with admiration.

"Mmmh, I don't know... You're not allowed to-"

"Towaaaaa, pleeeeaaaaaase." Clasping her hands together, she gave him 'the puppy face'. "Please, please, please..."

With a sigh, Etowaru ran a hand through his raven hair. "You have to promise you won't try it then."

"But-"

"Promise Lizzie."

The girl pouted and finally nodded. The only knowledge of something that was supposed to be kept secret from her was enough. At least for now.

"Good." Etowaru gave Eli a soft smile. "Geppou is..."

She remembered it all.

Maybe it was because the Sutan girl dearly treasured every memory of the young man, maybe it was because it was one of the only thing she had learned of the martial art that was kept secret from the females of her country, or maybe it was because she would, one day, need it. No matter what were the reasons, Eli remembered it all.

I'm sorry, Towa... she thought guiltily. I won't keep that promise.

As she was falling, now only a dozen meters above the ground, Eli closed her eyes, and breathed out to focus on her blood, on her heartbeats and accelerate her whole self tremendously. As her eyes snapped back open, the cries that pervaded all around her, instantly morphed into a low howling sound, while the rocks and people's falls almost came to a stop.

"We have to kick against the air hard enough to float."

Kicking the air rapidly, Eli felt, somehow, stupid. How can you kick the air ?

"You have to feel it. Concentrate enough and forget everything so that you can feel the materiality of the air, no matter how thin it is."

Despite how slow the fall was, the ground was still getting dangerously closer, or was it the other way around...? Shaking rapidly her head in order to clear her mind, Eli closed her eyes. She stretched her arms out and slowly spread her fingers. Her hair fluttering upward, she could feel the wind, and just like when she ran, she was one with it and she could feel the air. It was breathing around her, and the paramecia could feel its pulses.

One... two... Eli gave a kick and felt a faint resistance under the sole of her shoes.

One... two... With another kick, the girl felt herself lifting up.

One... two... It was almost solid now. The timing had to be perfect but for someone who could slow the flow of time around her, timing couldn't be an issue. A grin on her face, Eli kicked a few more times elevating easily in the air. Because of her speed, not only she could maintain herself in the air, she could actually jump higher.

Not bad, Eli thought proudly, jumping around in the air. She used the air and the boulders to propel herself up or down as it pleased her.

Happily, she jumped toward Nami, grabbed the vehicle and the redhead to whom it belonged. Stuck in her time bubble, the girl had a look on her face that made Eli think she would make a good Usopp impression. The air was her playground. The paramecia, hopped in the air, toward a building and rocket herself along with Nami right into a cloud.

Looking upward, she located Gan Fall and jumped up in his direction. As she grabbed and pulled the armored knight, felt her energy leaving her body rapidly. The man and his armor were much heavier than Nami, and the paramecia had already used most of her stamina trying to figure out the air-walking technique. Pulling and jumping, she felt the world's speed gradually increasing.

Just a bit more... Gritting her teeth, Eli managed to place the both of them right above the cloud where Nami was, a split heartbeat before she lost control. A wave raced down her body, the girl's muscles going lax on its path, and once again she felt herself falling, fast.

With a loud gasp, they both hit the soft ground, bouncing a few meters above the ground a few times, before stabilizing.

"Eli !" Nami scrambled over to the body of the beanpole, shaken by spasms of weariness. "Thank you !" she said, beaming at Eli, the tears of dread quickly vanishing from her eyes.

"Nami..." Wearily, the Sutan girl smiled back, her breath broken by consistent pants.. "I'm... so... hungry..."

The redhead's only reply was giggle and a pat on Eli's head.

to be continued

Okay, I'm adding this note for the ones who just read the chapter.
I didn't invent Rokushiki, Oda did. Geppou is one of the six techniques of this art. Rokushiki is used by the CP9 in the Water Seven Arc.
Sorry if it disappoints you :/

Thanks for reading, I'll be seeing you on Thursday for a little Twig. Until then, I'll be waiting for your reviews ;)