Chapter Two - Storm
She didn't know all pirates were this stupid. Emilia sat on the deck of the new pirate ship, her briefcase firmly against her hip, her back against the amidships, the men jostling around and screaming with joy for God knows what. Emilia stared at the ocean, her thoughts wondering about whether she made the right choice of choosing to travel with the Spade pirates. She hadn't ever heard of them before, but since they were rookies who had managed to enter the Grand Line, she knew she didn't give them enough credit.
"Hey, why're you sitting over there all by yourself? Scared of a few men?" One among the stupid pirates teased her, and Emilia simply ignored him. She had no time for this; she had to be on the lookout for what she was in search of. Whitebeard was in the same sea they were in, and she wondered why that was. He usually sailed the seas in the New World, just like Red Haired Shanks, another name that brought in unexplainable fury inside her, but if he had business in the Grand Line, then it was something she had to look out for.
Emilia had a black cloak around her now, her hair in a loose pony-tail behind her. Her boots and the rest of her attire were pretty much the same, and it had been a day since she had met the Spade Pirates. Ace had not approached her after their deal, something she was thankful for, but she knew he kept his eye out for her, just in case she tried to escape. But, Emilia was not stupid, unlike the ones celebrating for no apparent reason. She darted her eyes to the herd of fools gathered in front of the deck, and watched as they bellowed with happiness and laughter.
Was this what they call nakama? She wondered, and turned her head away, clutching onto the briefcase tightly. Emilia didn't need this thing they called nakama, she didn't need friendship, her mind was of her own will, that was what she considered true freedom. Not having to risk your life for another, not having to live for another, this was what she called freedom. She hadn't ever come across anyone she held dear, but that one time. When she was a little girl, she had something she could call a family, but it ended right there. No one was ever truly blessed.
"You look so lonely and sad; I might actually pity you, girl-with-no-last name." Ace said, and Emilia did great in ignoring him. "I get the feeling you don't want to talk." Emilia chuckled at his next statement and said, "You've got good instincts. You should listen to them sometimes."Ace was annoyed, but he didn't show. He leaned beside the wall she was sitting against, and said, "Don't mope around on my ship. We've all got things to do, people to see. You're sitting there as if you're dying." Emilia shot up to meet Ace's gaze and said, "What if I am dying?" Ace turned blue. Emilia let out a giggle and turned away and brushed a hand through her hair before saying, "That was just to spite you. This wasn't part of the deal." Ace cocked his eyebrow.
"What isn't part of the deal? Talking to you?" Emilia shook her head and said, "No, giving a fuck for what I do. I can sit and mope around or do whatever the fuck I want, you don't have to save the time and bother yourself over why I behave the way I do. My past isn't any of your business and also, we're not what you call nakama, so buzz off, fire-boy." Ace torched his hand and brought it dangerously close to Emilia's face and said, "I can burn you-""I can use Haki and kick you out of this ship, but that'd be stupid considering you're the ringmaster to these line of freaks." Ace clicked his tongue and backed off. "You're right, I shouldn't bother about you. If you die anytime soon, then that treasure is-""All yours. That's why I'm here. Got it, now leave me alone." Ace turned on his heel and walked away.
There was one thing Ace couldn't understand about Emilia. Not the mere fact that she didn't have a surname or the fact that she could use Haki. She was no older than he was, but she was skillful enough to know how to use the Conqueror's Haki, something that confused him the most. She sat there all by herself, not giving a rat's ass about the celebrations on the ship, and unlike other women, Emilia wasn't the sensitive, submissive kind. He had no time to deal with her now, he had to sail through the Grand Line and go off to the New World. There, he would meet Shanks, someone he had to thank. A smile crept on Ace's face as he thought about talking to Shanks about Luffy, and a chuckle escaped his lips as he realized he had been thinking about his brother.
Ace turned to his first mate and said, "How long till the next island?" The first mate, whose name isn't too important, grinned cheekily and said, "No clue, Cap'n, we've been sailing for hours."Ace clicked his tongue and checked the Log Pose, but no answers came to him. "Great just when we-""Four hours headed north-east, we'll come to an island named Novita. If you're out of stock, you can re-fill there. It's got cheap prices and everything." Emilia said, and Ace turned to her direction and scoffed. "How do you-"Emilia grinned at the male and extended her left arm to reveal an Eternal Pose. Ace clicked his tongue. "Also be careful about that cloud over there. It's bringing a storm." Ace grumbled under his breath when he heard his first mate say, "Listen to the woman, men."
"Cap'n's usually the ladies' man, but you're really something else lass, making him angry and everything." A pirate told her, and Emilia blinked. "Ladies man? What, him? He woos ladies with what? His hat?" The crew laughed and Ace grunted, "Men, get ready for the storm, don't slack off and laugh." With one turn, Ace grabbed Emilia's cloak and yanked her away from the place she was sitting toward the deck. "You don't get to sit around and give orders, either. If you want to sail with us, then make yourself useful." Emilia grunted and said, "Oh, feisty. I like that in women."Ace frowned as Emilia stood up and turned to the briefcase. 'I have to do something about this,' she thought.
"It'll be better if you put it inside-""I know. I just don't trust you enough. You might take the money and throw me out of the ship." Emilia said emotionlessly, and Ace scoffed. "If I wanted to take the money and throw you out of the ship, I would have done it." Emilia sighed and said, "Sure. But, honestly, you need me to survive this storm. This is the Grand Line, the ship can capsize. I can stop that from happening. Apparently, storms are my specialty." Ace cocked his eyebrow as he helped pull the sails, "Specialty?" Emilia grinned and said, "You'll see." It was her confidence in her Devil fruit abilities that made her say those words, something she had learned to use in the past seven years. She was ten years old when she first ate it, as a matter of fact, she was forced to. "Yeah, you've eaten a Devil fruit, what's the power?" Ace asked, going to the deck and Emilia groaned as she said, "A little patience won't kill you, Captain." Ace frowned.
Emilia turned to the sky and smelt the air. It had the freshness of a storm, the usual smell before the rain fell in the sea. The odor consisted of the smell of the sea, the clouds and most importantly – the wind. Emilia turned to the male who stood beside the sails and said, "Pull them down." The male, whose name wasn't important, blinked. "We're going to sail into the storm? Shouldn't we go past it-""Listen to me, we can't skip this storm. If we try, there'll be terrible winds and whirlpools which will most certainly be the death of us. So, do yourselves a favor and listen to me if you want to live." The male turned to his Captain and Ace nodded.
Emilia grunted. She turned to the men who weren't panicking enough and said, "See if you guys aren't convinced," She pointed to the north-east in front of them, to a large grey cloud which was too close to the sea and said, "That is a cumulus cloud. Want to know why it's so close to the sea? It's going to form a waterspout. Do you know what a waterspout is? It's a vortex; it's a tornado over water. It can kill us even before we touch the damn thing. We have to get past that, so the only way is to sail through the storm. And we can only survive the storm if you men put your minds into it. From the way you guys are acting, it's almost as if you want to die before we reach the other half of the Grand Line."
She didn't know if it was what she said, but there was a sudden rise in the tension on the ship. She was sure they had sailed storms before, but this storm was tougher than most she had seen, and she had been on the sea for over two years. If she could estimate how old this crew is, she would say that they had only joined together in the past few months or so, they clearly had no experience to sail at all. Ace, on the other hand, watched Emilia rather cautiously, because it was his first time coming across a storm such as this, and even if he wouldn't admit it, having someone who was experienced came to his advantage.
To the north west of where the Spade pirate ship was heading, the seas were relatively calmer but Emilia knew better than to sail through there. Always, in the Grand Line, the seas were unpredictable, and if there was a calm opening near a storm, then it only led to something worse. It was always a selection of worse choices, and you had to choose the best among the worse. Compared to a vortex, and an unpredictable danger, choosing a storm with a 45 percent chance of survival was the better option. Emilia bit her lip as she stood at the port of the ship, the ship now starting to rock left and right, crashing amongst the waves, and Ace frowned as it began to rain. He never liked the rain, but he knew this was just a drizzle compared to what was going to come.
"How long can the storm last?" Ace yelled, the loud crashing of the waves did no good in helping the sound of his voice travel, and Emilia heard him nonetheless. "If we're lucky, then fifteen minutes if we sail as fast as we can." The crew was startled. "Fifteen minutes?! What are you-"Emilia grinned as she stood on top of the bowsprit, the wind strong enough to knock her to the sea, but she didn't move an inch. Ace's eyes widened and he yelled, "What are you doing?! You can-""The wind can't hurt me." Emilia said, and grinned as they sailed closer to the stormy sea, the rest of the crew panicking. "Keep the sails down!" she screamed, as they were only a few meters away from the storm.
But, nothing happened after that. The wind suddenly stopped and the sound of the waves was replaced by a gushing sound of the wind, and all that the crew could smell was gunpowder and a dry smell of the desert wind. It was impossible, they were on the sea, and yet they smelt a dry wind, and as soon as Ace opened his eyes he could see Emilia standing on top of the bowsprit, her hands extended outward, and a thick layer of wind enveloping them. "We're headed north. Fifteen minutes is all I can do. If the storm doesn't clear after that, we can kiss our asses' goodbye." Ace didn't understand what was happening, and neither did his crew.
The thick wind barrier that enveloped them had to be Emilia's doing, he deduced, and he walked toward the mast to get closer to the woman. "What the hell-""Kaze Kaze no Mi. The Wind-Wind fruit. Impressive, huh?" Emilia grinned as she guided the wind barrier neatly around the entire ship. Ace would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed. A grin swept over his facial features and he turned to his men and said, "Prepare for impact, men!"After a roar of approval, Ace jumped closer to where Emilia stood and said, "You are useful, woman." Emilia scoffed. "I know that, don't need to be told." Ace chuckled.
Around fifteen minutes later, the barrier reduced in intensity, and Emilia broke out in a sweat. "There's a limit for how long I can keep that barrier active. After that, it drains so much energy I won't be able to stand." Emilia said, and let out a breath. The storm had cleared, which only meant that the storm wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Ace thought about it for a moment and then said, "Hey, I don't want your treasure." Emilia blinked and turned to the male and her jaw dropped slightly. "What? A change of heart because I saved all your lives?" Ace turned away and scratched the back of his head. "Join my crew-""No fucking way in hell." Emilia snapped, and horded to the deck to check on the briefcase. Ace grunted with embarrassment.
"Didn't go as well as you planned, huh Captain?" Ace grunted and said, "How much farther to the next Island?" The first mate chuckled and said, "Novita's an hour away Cap'n, the woman was right." At least she was useful.
She knew the question would come sooner or later, and she always said the same thing whenever any pirate asked her that. She couldn't join a crew, and she wouldn't. She didn't believe in something called 'nakama', and there was no way she would risk her life to save someone else. She had long ago abandoned everything that she once held dear to her, only for selfish purposes and she had been living alright. She wasn't plagued with nightmares or traumatized with guilt like the stories said, and she was going to live this way for the rest of her life, that was what she had decided. Portgas D. Ace was a talented rookie, she wouldn't admit something like that to anyone, but she knew he was different. He wasn't an idiot, and in a few month's time he had managed together a crew and sail to the Grand Line.
She wasn't crew material. She wasn't pirate material. The only reason she was sailing the seas was to find someone. Her past was a memory, and the memory held more history than she realized, and that was why she needed to see that someone. She wouldn't understand what had happened in her past life if she didn't, it was a purely selfish cause, and yet she dove toward it with more determination than pirates searching for One Piece. In all honesty, she had no interest in treasure, as much as she pretended to have, but all she wanted was answers. And that one man can give it to her.
"You saved our butts, Emilia!" A crew member screeched and the woman ignored them. With their second reason to celebrate that day, Emilia wondered if she did the right thing by tagging along with these pirates. She turned to the untouched briefcase and sighed. She had to leave. She had no intention to travel with them, and she wasn't going to. Only Ace thought she would, now that she had proved to be useful. Only if he realized that it was all a plot, from the very beginning. Novita was where she would make her get away. Ace wasn't useful for her, she needed a ship, and any ship would do. But, what scared her was this one little thing.
"Don't leave Emilia! You can die! The sea is a dangerous place for a brat like you, what awaits you isn't freedom, it's death! The world is a deadly, cruel and dark place, there's no way you can survive, even with that ability of yours, lassie! Just give up and become my slave, for that's the life you have to live!"
Emilia grunted, and bit her lip till a red bruise formed. A wanted poster was what she had when she started out two years ago, searching for the one man that had turned her life hell. Even though she had never met him, she knew he was the one responsible, for he was the reason she was alive. She gripped onto the poster as tightly as she could, the name had faded from the age of the paper, it was crumpled and brown, as it survived storms before. It was over twenty years old, and the paper had the picture of the man she needed to see. This was a side to her she would never show to anyone, and Emilia hid all her weaknesses behind a façade. She only hoped she wouldn't have to reveal anything to anyone in the near future. For being the daughter of a monster, gave her no sense of joy.
Just as she watched the pirates celebrate joyously, a smile crept on her lips. As soon as she realized she was smiling, she replaced it with a frown. This was what she was afraid of. Getting along. Finding a home. Learning the meaning of 'nakama'. And she would prevent that from happening, any way possible.
In the end, all she wanted was to know her place in the world, whether if her reason to live was to steal and runaway, live a life of a lone pirate with no one to return home to. Was this why she was born? Was there an end to this? She believed with all her heart that the answers lay with that man, and her belief had led her to abandon everything that life had given her before. Answers were important; she sighed and then heard the crew scream as the island approached closer. Emilia was sure the time for her to stop betraying would never end, and she stood up, clutching onto the briefcase with a firm grip.
Author's Note: Chapter two came out faster than I expected, ah. I hope I made Emilia seem more mysterious in this chapter, because that was my intention. Hehehe. Ace is portrayed gentle and kind in other fanfiction stories, but he's actually a hot-head. That's what I think when I saw him in the anime. He might be a ladies man, that I can understand, with him being so good-looking and knowing what it does to people. (He walks around shirtless for God's sake!) But, when it comes to his crew or nakama, he knows when to get serious, and like his daddy, he has anger issues. He's not kind to everyone he meets.
Hopefully after this chapter I might get more reviews, I really need to know how I'm doing so far and I trust no one but my dear readers, huehue~