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Chapter 3: Know about Ace and the Beast
Ace carried the Archer named Kikyo on his back and made it safely to the small town whose name he just forgot.
What he does remember was the town's restaurant he went in before, it was also an Inn, with the Inn Keeper a well known doctor, Ace looked at Kikyo who was hanging on but is barely breathing, "Just what happened to her exactly?" he thought to himself, knowing well that he was going to ask her later.
He was able to find the restaurant again, but as he enters through the doors, he gets an unwelcoming greeting from the old man.
"OH NO! You are not coming anywhere near here after leaving such a mess!" the Old Inn Keeper yelled at Ace, the short bald headed man with a fuzzy gray beard was holding up a mop, a young woman in dark red hair wearing a white apron was standing right beside him, trying to calm the old man down.
"Grandpa, please calm yourself, I'm sorry sir, but we're clo-" she stopped when she sees Ace carrying Kikyo who was looking even more pale than usual.
"I need your help, this woman is seriously injured," Ace said as he walks inside the Inn, nearly slipping on the leftover meal on the floor, "What happened here? It's like a pig used to live around here," Ace said.
"What happened here was because of YOU! You and your appetite left such a mess here, AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN PAY!" the old man scream, for his age he sure has a lot of energy.
"Grandpa! The Woman!" his granddaughter had him got back to focus, lowering his defense, he walked up to where he could see Kikyo closely, placing his hand on Kikyo's forehead with Ace lowering himself down for the old man to reach.
"Get her to bed upstairs, through the first bedroom door," he said in a serious tone, he turns to his granddaughter, "Millie, help him get to the room, I'm going to get the medicines," his granddaughter, Millie, nodded in agreement and led Ace with Kikyo to the bedroom.
"What happened to her?" she asked Ace.
Ace looked back at Kikyo, seeing her in pain, "I wish I knew," he answered.
They made it to the bedroom and as Ace placed Kikyo on her back on top of the single sized bed, the Inn Keeper returned with a case filled with medicine.
"She'll be okay, right?" Ace asked the Inn Keeper.
"Hold on pirate, I haven't even done anything yet," he said, giving Ace a cold stare, which made Ace feel a little annoyed, but he set his attention back at Kikyo.
It was a minute later did the Inn Keeper put anitbiotics on the wound, the pain of the medicine had Kikyo cry out a bit, which almost had Ace yelling at the old man, but after calming down, he watches as the Inn Keeper made stitches on Kikyo's shoulder, and finally patching it up.
"There, she'll be fully healed in a week or so, I must admit, I never seen a deep wound like that," the Inn Keeper said while he cleaned his hands with the wet towel.
"It is like an animal had attacked her," said Millie, surprised to see the woman now sleeping soundly.
"Where did you find her?" the Inn Keeper asked Ace.
"I met her lying on the sand alone, I barely noticed her injuries until she started to grow pale," explained Ace as Millie started to check on his wounds that were caused by the monster's attack.
He felt relieved to see Kikyo resting, she actually looked innocent rather than the crazy woman who tried to shoot an arrow at his face.
"Grandpa, maybe it was that monster that's been appearing outside of town," Millie said in worry, but her grandfather just waved away at that.
"I doubt it, I seen that beast's teeth with my own eyes, her wound is much thinner and it looked like it was slashed by a sword, but the way it was form, they were shaped like claws." The Inn Keeper said, making Millie even more worried.
"Yea, he's right, we took care of that monster and she didn't even get a scratch form him," Ace said, this caught both Millie and her grandfather by surprise.
"Really?! Did you beat it?" asked Millie.
Ace shook his head, "Nah, it got away before she could shoot her arrow at it," he explained, which made Millie feel down but quickly got over it, since neither him or the woman got killed, although the woman managed to escape thanks to Ace.
"So," Ace started, with Millie and her grandfather paying close attention to him.
"You got any food here?" asked Ace with a smile.
"NOT EVEN ONE PLATE FOR YOU!" the Inn Keeper yelled.
"Grandpa!" Millie scolded at her grandfather, "The least we could do is reward this man for saving this woman!" she said to the Inn Keeper.
Giving a sigh of defeat, he then looked back at Ace and Kikyo.
"Fine," he said, making Ace grin with delight.
It was the next morning when Kikyo had finally woke up, she was startle to see unfamiliar surroundings around her, sitting up from the bed, Kikyo looked at her left shoulder which was fully patched.
"Oh good, I'm so glad your awake," a woman voice was heard and Kikyo looked straight at the door where it came from.
"My name is Millie, thanks to your friend in the orange hat, he was able to get you here safely," explained Millie.
Kikyo began to remember, she was fighting the strange demon, although its aura was new to kikyo, it was never then the less dangerous, but it got away before she could finish it off, she then remembered that she fell and something warm caught her.
Her heart suddenly skipped a beat when Millie mention the man.
"Did you say a man in an orange hat brought me here?" questioned Kikyo.
Millie looked at her and nodded, "He's down stairs if you wanted to know, it was a good thing he came just in-," she stopped when Kikyo got out of bed.
"Wait! Your wound isn't fully healed yet, you need to rest," Millie pleaded Kikyo.
"It's alright, I'm fine now," Kikyo looked back at the bed and sees her bow and arrows sitting beside it, getting back her weapon, she turned back at Millie.
"You have my thanks," she said with a warm smile, Kikyo then walked past Millie but stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"And if you can, give the man my thanks as well," it wouldn't feel right if she didn't mention that.
Millie stood there with a worry look, and as Kikyo continues to walk and found the stairway, she bumped into the old Inn Keeper.
"Ah, so you're finally awake," he said in a rather displeasing tone.
"Were you the one who treated me?" Kikyo asked with curiosity.
The Inn Keeper gave a huff, "Ofcourse, I'm a doctor and Inn Keeper at this very building we're standing on," he said with pride, Kikyo responded his attitude with a smile.
"Thank you for your kindness," she said, this made the old man show redness on his cheeks.
"Well, I wasn't just going to leave you like that, though I still can't really figure out why that 'Pirate' would want to help out like that," said the Inn Keeper, Kikyo was caught off gaurd for what he said.
"Pirate?" Kikyo repeated, the old man looked at her in disbelief.
"Don't tell me you don't recognize him from the wanted poster," he said, he then pulled out a piece of paper from his shirt, revealing a wanted poster.
"Portgas D. Ace" "Wanted DEAD or ALIVE" "550,000,000 Berries," the poster had the face of Ace himself.
Kikyo eyes widen, re-reading the poster again and again.
"A Man like him is worth that much!?" she thought to herself, She is fully aware of Ace's power and this is without her seeing it herself, but Fifty Five-Hundred Million?! That's just ridiculous, the term 'berries' is what got Kikyo confused but she quickly learns that this could be what people are now saying now and days.
"So what ever reason he decided to save you is beyond me, but you be careful around him," the Inn Keeper warned Kikyo, giving her the wanted poster.
"Grandpa, does it really matter who he is, he saved this woman's life!" Millie scolded her grandfather, her innocence is what got to Kikyo, these were good people, and if they are afraid of this man, whose to blame them?
"Does it matter?!" the Inn Keepr repeated, "How many lives has he taken and how many ships has he sank, he may look innocent right now, but that's not going to fool me!" the old man looked back down the stairs.
"If he's not gone by the next hour, I'm calling the marines," said the Inn Keeper.
Kikyo can understand the old man's fear, with that much money-or berries-for his head, the 'Pirate' could have done something terrible, even if he did save her, there was still this feeling of destruction all around him.
"I should get going," said Kikyo, the Inn keeper moved aside and Kikyo went down the stairs, as she reached the first floor, she hears a starteling sounds of someone snoring, her heart beginning to beat faster, looking ahead of her, in a room that has a few tables, Kikyo sees the Pirate sitting in one of the tables.
She began to feel agitated, but she tries to remain calm, from her perspective, Ace was just sitting there with his orange hat covering his eyes, there was bandages covering his body, remembering the demon making that attack on him, there was a large amount of half eaten meat on plates surrounding the table, curious, she slowly walked closer to Ace, her heart beating faster.
The aura surrounding Ace was hard to describe even up close, it was just the same dark red fire energy, but there was still this hint of purity there, his power was so strong, Kikyo thought of it to be as strong as Naraku, if not stronger, "What is he?" Kikyo wondered.
She then took one more step and as she did, Ace's head went back and what she saw surprised Kikyo, his eyes closed and he was snoring with his mouth wide open, a bubble was even seen coming from his nose, growing bigger and smaller with each breathe he took, "He's asleep?"
Kikyo stood there, bewildered, blinking twice to make sure what she was seeing is real, this was the man everyone is afraid of? She couldn't help but getting an idea in waking him up, she raised her hand and pointing her finger at his hat, she only touched it slightly and yet Ace suddenly fell back on his chair on the floor with a big thump, still very much asleep.
Kikyo stood up straight, speechless, to think that this man would of been more threatening if not for this display, for the moment as she tries to understand this, she hadn't realize that her heart was now beating normaly.
"He fell asleep in the middle of his meal again?" Kikyo hears Millie coming from behind, "It's funny, no matter what that poster shows, he just looks like any other man," she commented, Kikyo looked back at Ace, unable to fight the urge to smile at this, Kikyo then remembered something rather important.
"Oh yes, before I go," she started, with Millie paying close attention, "I have one last question for you,"
Ace was able to sleep soundly, knowing that Kikyo would be okay for the next few weeks, but his moment of solitude has abrutly ended by the old man's yelling.
"OI, WAKE UP YOU NO GOOD FOOD HORDERING PIRATE!" cursed the Inn Keeper, Ace sit up quick thanks to the old man, rubbing the back of his head, not remembering when he fell down.
"Alright I'm up," he grunted, "So how is that Archer doing," the old man looked at him in annoyance.
"Why should you care, so that she could 'reward' you with all that she has, not saying that you weren't going to rob her anyway," he said bitterly.
Ace just ignored what the old man said, it's not like this is the first he hears people talking bad about pirates, but this Inn Keeper must be really brave or stupid for talking to Ace like that.
"You just missed her, she left not too long ago," said Millie, Ace's eyes widen, then stood up on his feet.
"What? Shouldn't she still be resting up?" Ace asked, Millie caught on in Ace's concern.
"She said she was feeling fine," Millie explained, the Inn Keeper crossed his arms.
"She left right after I told her who you are, 'Fire Fist Ace'," Millie just glared at her grandfather, but then her eyes suddenly widen.
"Oh yea, She wanted me to tell you something," Millie said, a smile shown on her face, "She said 'Thanks'."
This surprises Ace, a smile then crept on his face, "Guess she's not so cold-hearted as I tought,"
"Did she say where she was going?" he asked, Millie now suddenly looked a bit uneasy.
"She didn't say, but..." Millie looked down at her feet, Ace and the Inn Keeper noticed her hesitation.
"Millie, What's wrong?" the Inn Keeper asked, Millie, now looking up.
"She asked where the monster's have been seen most frequently," Millie said.
"What?" the Inn Keeper said.
"I didn't understand why she asked that question, I just answered her and she just left," her eyes saddened, feeling ashamed.
Ace walked up to Millie, "What did you tell her?" he asked.
Millie hesitated, but then answered as best as she could.
"There is this cave that you could find if you follow down the path," Millie pointed out the window to where the forest can be seen.
"When you keep going, there will be a second path that will directly lead you to the woods and to the cave, it was a home to a bear family, but since last week, the people here have been saying that they saw those monsters coming from the cave, We reported this to the marines and there were good amount of men that went to the cave, but..."
Millie stopped, taking a deep breathe, "None of them came back,"
Without another word, Ace started to walk out of the restaurant through the door, leaving Millie and the Inn Keeper speechless.
"What is that Idiot thinking? She just got patched up," Ace thought to himself, following the path that Millie pointed to, Ace hears the old man from behind again.
"HEY! Pirate!" yelled the Inn Keeper, "You didn't pay for your meal!" he said
Ace stopped, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot,"
He turned to see the old man a couple of feets away, the old man was surprised, "Is he actually going to pay, maybe he's not that bad after all," the Inn Keeper thought, but Ace then bow his head to the old man.
"Thanks for the Meal!" he said, and started running back to the path.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I ASK FOR!" yelled in rage the old man, his granddaughter trying to calm him down again.
As Ace run, all that was going through his mind was Kikyo and what she is going to do.
"Kikyo, are you just looking for trouble?!" Ace said to himself, hoping that the Archer didn't go too far.