Chapter Three - The Port Town Novita
Novita was not a special kind of town. It was rich enough to have a money exchange office and that was where Emilia was headed. As soon as she stepped down the ship, a hand gripped hers and Emilia grunted when she came face to face with the Fire Fist. "What are you doing?" She asked him, rather she snapped at him, and Ace cocked an eyebrow before saying, "I don't trust you enough to let you roam freely. What if you run away?" Emilia rolled her eyes and said, "Ah, wouldn't have thought of it. I won't run away. I told you I wanted to go to the New World, didn't I?"Ace chuckled and hopped down the ship, bringing the girl along with him. "Don't trust you, won't let you go alone."
Emilia grunted when she realized Ace was going to be following her. "We'll meet again at the ship by sundown." Ace informed the crew members and went off with the girl, letting her lead. "I can escape easily-""Whoa there, you caught me off guard when we first met. I can also use Haki, you know." Emilia stopped walking. She didn't know that. "When I first met you, I didn't know you could use Haki, didn't even expect it. But then you do use it and that was bewildering. Don't get me wrong, I don't know a lot of women who can use Haki." Emilia rolled her eyes before muttering, "Wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know women at all." Ace didn't hear that. "Where do you want to go? You seemed pretty eager-""You're following me. It's annoying." Emilia snapped, as Ace simply grinned.
Emilia frowned internally, knowing that she couldn't do much now. She had to state her plan to Ace; otherwise he wouldn't let it happen. She knew for one thing that he wasn't going to let her out of his sight, and even though that was an annoying fact, if she were in his shoes, she would have done the same. "Hey, listen…" She began, alerting the male and Ace hummed in response. "Carrying around this briefcase is a drag, so I was thinking I'd exchange it for something easier to carry around. That way, you can exchange it for something else when you get me to the new world. Gold's price increases every day, so that shouldn't be a problem. What do you-""Like I said, I don't trust you." Emilia turned to the male and said, "I'll let you choose the damn object too. It's only for safety. A briefcase is easier to steal when compared to jewelry or something. Try and use that brain of yours." Ace frowned.
"Do what you have to." In all honesty the male didn't really care about the money at the moment. What really stirred his curiosity was the woman's story. Why did she need to go to the new world so badly? What did she need to accomplish? She was a lone pirate, almost one of the only ones out there, and she was strong. She had a back-story, something anyone could have noticed, but Ace just didn't know what. He knew she wouldn't tell him either, and he wasn't going to ask. Emilia and Ace walked to a gold store and the girl turned to a gold bracelet that seemed expensive. She was an expert when it came to what costs how much, and not a soul could cheat Emilia into paying more than what the object deserved. The bracelet luckily was crafted from a unique form of gold, alloyed with another metal that was very rare. It had valuable gems in it, which would only increase it's price every day. It didn't take long for her to buy it.
"Why do you want to go to the new world?" Ace asked, unable to contain himself and Emilia turned to him and said, "Curious much?" The male didn't react to that and Emilia simply sighed. "Does it matter to you why? I just need to go there, it's my own business. Not yours. Like I said, you're not my captain. And we're not allies." Ace scoffed and said, "I just want to know what kind of trouble you'll be attracting, that's all." Emilia chuckled at that and said, "Is the Spade pirate captain afraid?" Ace glared at her before remarking, "No, just a little too generous to beggars like you." Emilia huffed and continued to walk. "Where are we going anyway? Novita's not a big enough island to keep walking like this-""To a bar. I'm sure that's where the crew is." Emilia rolled her eyes.
Once inside the bar, Ace and Emilia reunited with the pirate crew and she could see the ruckus that they were creating. Pirates create uproars wherever they go, it's their nature to be loud, she thought and found a lone table where she sat, and Ace's eye was clearly on her. She would escape but now was not the time. She had a glass of beer in front of her and Emilia took her time in gulping it down. She was nothing like the pirates she was travelling with, and calling herself a pirate was simply for show. There was no way she could be a pirate, which was out of the question. She was simply in search of someone and that was the only goal she had. If she had to cheat, she would do it without question, for she had no morals. She glanced at how happy the crew looked and she let out a breath. Suddenly, she frowned and looked to her left, sensing another presence. Before she could react though, a hand grabbed hers and the person pulled her close to his face.
"Would you look at this dame here, sittin' all by herself?" He was drunk for sure, and Emilia wasn't fazed. Ace quickly glanced at her direction and watched with amusement, knowing the girl would be fine on her own. "Say lassie, why don't you come along with me for a while? It'll be fun-"A second later, Emilia's foot was on the male's face and with one kick the male was sent flying to the other side of the bar. She brushed her clothes and let out a breath. "This is annoying." Ace and the rest of the crew broke out laughing at what had occurred, but it was only Emilia who thought it was nothing to laugh about. Men taunted her everywhere she went, it was nothing new, but there were times when she couldn't fight back.
"I'm heading back to the ship." She muttered and walked out of the bar, Ace secretly sending one of his crew to follow her. She knew she was being followed, she wasn't stupid. And the one who was following her was a full-grown man, which confused her. Why was a grown-man part of a pirate crew with a seventeen year old as a captain? She couldn't understand. "I know you're following me." She said rather loudly and the male laughed and kept pace with her. After a minute, the two were walking side by side and it was then Emilia took a close glance at the older male. Tall, muscular and a few scars on his shoulder. He was bald, and tan skinned, with a dark green open shirt and white baggy pants. He had a dagger stashed at his hip and he had a wide grin plastered on his face. "I'm sure you don't know what my name is." He told her and Emilia nodded.
"Don't care." She said and continued walking toward the ship. The man, whose name was Joel, laughed loudly and said, "I guessed you'd say that."It was after half a minute Emilia found herself asking, "Why are you part of this idiot's crew?" Joel let out a breath and said, "Because Cap'n's just full of dreams. It'd be a shame if he doesn't achieve them," Emilia could have laughed. "He might seem angry and rude, but once you get to know him he's quite the gentleman. You might think I'm just talking, but initially I didn't like him either. He saved my life, that man…helped me from the navy when the world shut me out. My own family cast me out because I chose to become a pirate. But, dreams are like that you know, once you have one, there's no stoppin' you. I grew up wanting to be a pirate. And, thanks to Cap'n, I had that chance." Emilia listened quietly.
"I don't know what you're story is, Emilia…but whatever it is, it's not worth throwing your life away. You aren't living life right now. All you're doing is surviving. You might think us pirates are idiotic, celebrating when there's no reason, but you'll never know when you die…" Emilia gulped. "Live now, think later…that's what Ace taught me. That man's gonna be a great pirate someday…a pirate great enough that even you'll think so." Emilia chuckled and said, "Say, what's your name?" Joel grinned and said, "Joel. Pleasure to meet ya, lassie." Emilia chuckled cone more.
It wasn't as if she would listen to him entirely, she was moved with the admiration Joel had for Ace, but that wasn't enough to change her mind. As they walked, Joel and Emilia noticed a crowd not too far off, and Emilia froze. "Oh, God…this isn't good." She muttered and Joel seemed to notice. The crowd prevented the two from seeing what was happening beyond it, and Emilia suddenly jumped on the taller male and said, "Hold still, I need to…" She didn't have to explain. As soon as she could balance herself on Joel's shoulder's, Emilia grunted and hopped back down. "It's the navy." Joel sighed and said, "There're navy folk everywhere, why're you so-""We have to leave the island." Emilia said, and Joel blinked with confusion. There was something she wasn't telling him, but now was not the time. Seeing Emilia this panicked urged Joel to take action and he said, "Head to the ship, I'll get the captain. And, Emilia…" the woman didn't move, "Don't run off."
'What makes him think that I'll listen to him? Not that I'm going to run away anyway,' Emilia frowned and rushed to the ship, making sure the marine didn't notice her. She knew for sure that they would identify her, and that was her only concern. She didn't have the energy and time to escape from the navy once again. Emilia noticed the ship, safe and sound by the docks and quickly went there, covering herself with the black cloak and waited for the rest of the crew to show up. She scurried to the place where she slept the previous night and noticed that her bag was untouched much to her satisfaction, and every one of her belongings were right where they were. A sigh of relief left Emilia's lips and she sunk to the floor of the ship and relaxed. It's always this way, she thought, the navy never leaves me alone.
Joel reached the bar immediately without hindrance. He didn't understand why the navy scared the girl as much as it did, but that was a story for later. He was told that they needed to get off the island, and the girl had saved all their lives so he at least owed her this much. When Ace noticed Joel come back alone, the male stood up with a frown on his face and he yelled, "Did the bitch run away?" Joel shook his head and said, "She told us we had to leave the island." Ace was confused. "Why?" Joel shrugged and said, "She panicked after noticing a few marines, but I thought there was a reason." Ace grumbled and smacked Joel on his shoulder, not too hard, but enough for a warning and said, "She might have cheated you. She's probably running off now, with the treasure."For some reason, Joel didn't think she was the sort.
Ace and the rest of the crew split up, but it was then he realized that the navy had found him there. A marine, whose name isn't too important, approached Ace and smirked widely before saying, "Portgas D. Ace, with a bounty of 200 million belli. This is such a pleasant surprise." Ace frowned. 'Maybe she wanted to avoid this shit?' He thought and groaned before readying himself for battle. Ace jumped forward, burning the marine's hat, which caught him off guard and then kicking the man down. Ace grabbed on to his shoulder and turned his left hand into a torch before muttering dangerously, "What brings the navy here?" The marine, who looked like he was going to wet himself, gulped and stammered, "T-they informed she was with you…" Ace cocked his eyebrow. "Who's she?"
"Emilia the Sylph!" the marine shrieked, and Ace frowned. "Sylph?" The marine nodded and then let out a breath as he realized his team had arrived. "Men, let's take em' down." Ace ordered and a roar of enthusiasm later, a fight ensured. During the entire battle, all Ace could think of, was why the navy was tailing Emilia the way they were. Sure, this meant that she had a bounty and that she was a famous pirate, but so was he. It wasn't something to brag about, but the navy didn't tail him around like that. After finishing the fight, which didn't take too long, Ace and the crew headed to the ship, which was untouched and the fire user noticed Emilia sitting by the dock, alone. "So she did have a legitimate reason to evade the marines." Joel muttered and Ace sighed.
After approaching her, Ace turned to his men and said, "Set sail, men!" After a loud cheer, Ace smiled and turned to the girl who sat quietly, staring into the sea. The male walked over to her and before he could say anything Emilia was the first to speak. "Don't. I know what you're going to ask me." Ace cocked his eyebrow. Emilia turned to him and said, "You're going to ask me why the navy was tailing me. I don't want to explain myself, so don't bother."Ace chuckled and said, "Aren't you too full of yourself? Not an attractive quality for a woman." A chuckle escaped Emilia's lips as she said, "Don't really care, Cap'n." Ace leaned to the side of the deck and said, "I was only going to ask you why they call you Sylph. Isn't that supposed to be some mythological creature?" Emilia scoffed. "Marines have weird tastes for naming people. They call you Fire-Fist, don't they?" Ace didn't think it was weird.
"I asked you once before. I needed to know your story because I want to know what my crew is going to deal with." Ace said, sternly and Emilia let out a breath before saying, "I used to work for the navy as a spy," Ace blinked with surprise. "What?" Emilia chuckled. "I used the methods they had to find out something about myself. After which, I left. I just needed the information. I don't really care about the marines. They suck in my opinion," Ace didn't say anything. "What? I thought you didn't trust me. This shouldn't be too much of a shock, right?" Ace turned his head away and said, "They suck in my opinion too." His voice was glum and Emilia sighed before standing up to leave. "What'd they do to you? Kill a friend?" With that she walked off, leaving the male behind. Ace brushed a hand through his thick black hair and muttered, "…yeah, they did just that."
"Oyaji, look at this!" Marco rushed to where Whitebeard currently sat and showed him a few wanted posters. "Doesn't she look familiar, oi?" Marco grinned and noticed a smile crawl upon Whitebeard's features. "She's that squirt. The wind girl." Marco chuckled and leaned against the wall before saying, "They're calling her Sylph. Because of her devil fruit. Her bounty's a hundred and eighty million. She was a marine before she left, and now they're after her because they feel used, that girl's clever oi." Thatch, who was also in the room, laughed loudly before he said, "She has a knack to make people want to kill her. She's reckless." Whitebeard nodded before staring at the wanted poster.
"Black hair, black eyes, and a look of anger plastered on her face…she's after something." Whitebeard muttered and let out a breath. "She owes us though! For saving her life! I mean, come on. She even told Marco about the bomb-""There was no bomb, oi. That was her devil fruit." Marco interrupted Thatch who seemed baffled. "What? I thought you said she had wind abilities. How can she make something burst like that?" Marco turned to the brown haired pirate and said, "It was implosion. She used the wind pressure to increase the density of the flag pole before causing an implosion. It wasn't an explosion at all. She did that just to escape." Thatch let out a whistle before commenting, "She'd make a good addition to the crew, don't you think Oyaji?" Whitebeard hummed before muttering, "Where is this girl from?"
Marco smiled at the question, almost as if he were expecting it. "Loguetown," Whitebeard smiled a teethy-grin as he studied the picture. "Emilia the Sylph," Marco muttered once more, and walked out of the room.
Author's Note: Ah, so here's chapter three! Sorry for the wait, I was busy with...well, a lot of things. I don't really know why, but I sense Oda has this weird sixth sense that tells him what his readers will say once they read what he writes. You know what I mean? I mean, in Dressrosa arc, with all the latest events that are unfolding, I just can't sit back and figure out what Oda's trying to do. Sure, go make someone cool like Doffy the antagonist, because everyone thinks ten-foot tall men are villains, yeah. And Law's such a badass. He changed the damn symbol of the Don Quixote Pirates to the Heart Pirates by drawing a circle over it. Talk about creativity. Huehue. But, seriously though, Oda is one awesome story-teller. Genius, that guy.
Anyway, yeah, Emilia's kind of famous. There's a reason for it, as you all probably already figured out. Whitebeard spoke about her (how cool is that?) I really love Whitebeard. I wept like a sissy cried when he died. If you ask me, Whitebeard's death was more tragic than Ace's. Coming from someone who would probably name her son Ace, it's a lot. Read and review, my loves~!