"Ready?" Ace asked smiling at me.

I shook my head.

No.

I don't know why they thought that this was even a semi remotely good idea. Because trust me it wasn't, not at all. I hadn't even been a pirate for a full three days and now they- namely Ace- thought that it would be a good idea for me to accompany them on the raid that kept getting closer and closer to Whitebeards ship.

"Why not? This will be fun."

Fun? I wanted to let out a groan but I bit my tongue and held it in. I didn't want to have this kind of fun.

"Ace I've been a pirate for less than a day." I tried to reason with him since a day was twenty four hours and if I had made it past the mark then it was only by a few hours. I had already tried to play the 'I don't know what I'm doing' card but that had failed. As had the 'I'm new' card and the few other cards that I had tried to play so that I could get out of doing this. I really didn't want to take part in anything resembling a raid, or the Whitebeard Pirate's idea of a raid, or what they called a raid.

"You gotta start somewhere." He said with another wide grin.

"Ace." I half whined half whispered. "I'll be in everyone's way and god only knows I'll get hurt or screw things up in some way shape and or form." I don't understand why I couldn't just sit this one out and just watch them do their thing the first time.

"Willow." He mocked the tone that I had used against him. But I doubted that I sounded like that or made my arms look like the flopping mess he had made his look as he half whispered half whined my name. "I'll be right next to you. And besides these guys are no match for us."

"For you maybe. I don't know if you didn't notice but the only things I know how to throw are those punches that you showed me. And I'm not exactly a thief and this isn't exactly my thing."

"You'll grow to love it. So do you want to swing over there or run across a plank?" Ace asked we pulled only meters away from the ship, nothing that long planks of wood couldn't fix, or really good jumpers couldn't cover.

"Neither." I grumbled at him.

"Swinging's more fun." He said as he wrapped an arm around my waist and went with the first of the two options he had given me.

When his feet slammed onto the deck he let me go and instantly punched someone's front teeth out. And when their large- three times Ace's size- body fell back he grabbed the sword and scabbard that had been slipped into the orange sash around his waist.

"There you go a weapon. If anyone who's not a crewmate approaches swing first and ask questions later." Ace told me before dashing off, ducking under somebody's leg and then slammed a flaming fist into another person's gut. I didn't even have to see his face to know that he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

And I obeyed his instructions, swinging blinding at anyone and anything who came near me. But I didn't kill anyone. And from what I could tell that wasn't really the goal.

"Willow." A voice said from behind me as cold fingers touched the skin of my arm.

Letting out a rather embarrassing scream I whorled around using the scabbard like a baseball bat. Instead of colliding with something solid- like their head neck or jaw- the black bat like weapon holder went through someone's head and the force that I had put into that left me spinning in a circle. Or rather I would have had an arm not reached out and a hand firmly grabbed ahold of my shoulder to keep me from spiraling to the deck of the enemy's ship.

Soft laughter reached my ears as I realized that the person who had tapped me was none other than Marco. Behind him stood Thatch who was saying, "I told you not to sneak up behind her like that."

But Marco paid him no mind. "I was thinking that you'd rather come search for their money with us then have to stay up here and fight."

"Considering you didn't even take the sword out of its scabbard." Thatch pointed out. "What damage were you trying to do to the people attacking you by swinging that thing around?" He asked.

I just shrugged and nodded at Marco. I didn't exactly agree with stealing money from people but I suppose they could always get more. Not only that but we were already here.

When I agreed a lazy smile appeared on Marco's face and I was led below their deck.

I thought that we were going to have a difficult time finding the treasure, valuables, and money that the crew had but it was apparent that the two commanders that I was accompanying didn't need my help; that they had done this a million times. The two of them talked and joked around about how they should really invest in making it more difficult for them to do their jobs as they collected the things and as we ransacked their valuables before quickly making off with them before we could be noticed.

Once we made it back to- dare I say it?- our deck the Whitebeard pirates all came back to Whitebeards ship and once the last member had made it across they pulled away the planks and with that we left them in the dust, stranded and without money. Well at least we hadn't destroyed their ship or killed everyone or left them in small lifeboats or anything like that. I mean I guess that wasn't too bad on the scale of horrible piratey things that the crew could have done to them.

"Girlie I see you haven't taken my advice yet." A voice said as I began following Marco and Ace to wherever we needed to put the bags of stuff.

"I'll take this." Thatch said taking the bag from my shoulders and slinging it over his other shoulder as if it weighted nothing. And I knew that it weighed quite a lot.

"Thanks." I muttered as Cole approached me.

"So what'd you think of your first raid?" She asked.

I just shrugged unsure of the words that I could use to describe what I had just done. My heart was pounding so loudly and I knew that my guilt was supposed to be overriding all of my senses, taking over my conscious but I couldn't think past the adrenaline.

She just smiled at me almost knowingly. "Thrilling isn't it." There was a pause that acted as an agreement on my part. "So why exactly are you still wearing that skirt and those girlie clothes? I told you that you don't want to go around in outfits like that." Today her arms were bare except for a spider that I swear was purely black ink with a red hourglass on its back. And I sweat that thing was moving all up her arms and even up her neck.

"Um . . ." I felt stupid just standing there with what I now felt was an inadequate excuse. To be honest I was trying to work up the courage to put on such revealing, short and tiny clothes like that.

"Well fix it soon." She said before giving me a stern nod and walking off before I could verbally question my sanity, to question if I was seeing things.

There was no way that the tattooed spider had been moving right? But then again the trees in the forest not a few days behind us moved and that wasn't such an abstract idea.

The rest of the day passed at a sluggish speed until a certain time and then before I knew it I was feeling tired and decided to turn in for the night. I changed and climbed into bed. As it turns out most of the crew had hammocks.

The sound of the ocean slowly eased me out of my dreams, out of my deep sleep. But even when I was fully awake I just lay there not wanting to get up. I really didn't have to unless someone wanted me to do something. I could waste away all day- or most of it- in my bed, cocooned in the warmth and the covers.

I could but I didn't want to. So I kicked off the covers and grabbed a think well used, nearly out of paper sketchpad that Cole had managed to scrounge out for me. It didn't take any longer than a few minutes for me to lose myself in not only my drawing but also my head.

Unfortunately it wasn't too long before a knock at my door startled me out of my trance. "D-do you need a-anything?" I asked looking up to see Marco standing at my doorway. I felt as though I should have heard him opening the door because I closed it before I went to bed last night.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked ignoring my question, sounding as if he genuinely cared.

"Yes. Very good thank you." His question had come to me as a bit of a surprise because I was on a pirate ship and everything.

"That's good. Pop's wants me to start your training."

"Training?" I felt stupid sitting there cross legged on my bed with the sketchpad on my lap. It was quite obvious what training was supposed to ensue. But I still had a feeling that I didn't want to know.

Marco nodded his head and answered my unasked question instead of the one I had just uttered. "Armed and unarmed combat, self-defense and that's it I believe. Could you grab your dear horns- the crescent shaped blades- and tell me what you know?" I must have given him a blank look or something because added, "The things on the desk. Those were Myra's you know."

"Oh. Hey speaking of my mom." Actually it was the desk part of his sentence that had reminded me of the note. "Here." I said after grabbing to two blade thingies he had called both deer horns and crescent blades and the note that I had meant to give him yesterday. "She left this for you." I held it out for him and he took the piece of paper, didn't give it as much as a glance before folding it in half twice and sticking it into his pocket.

"Follow me." He said turning around.

I did and we arrived in a large room with matted floors and a wall that was made up of mirrors. There was also a shooting range that ran parallel to the width of the room.

"Alright Willow. Show me what you've got. Don't worry about hurting me." Marco said turning to face me once he had reached the center of the room.

I felt awkward holding the weapons that I had been told to grab and being expected to swing them at him as I would an enemy. "A-Are you sure?" I asked shifting my weight uncomfortably.

Because even if he was, I wasn't. Not at in the least.

"You couldn't hurt me even if you tried. But if it makes you feel better I can heal up any injuries you give me."

I let out a heavy sigh seeing that I wasn't going to win this. That for every argument I'd have against lifting my weapons and aiming to hit him with them he'd have reasons lined up and ready for why I shouldn't be concerned.

So I slowly walked to the middle of the room, having lingered just inside the door and when I reached him I swung at him. He didn't even step back, or flinch as a matter of fact.

"Willow if you don't attack me like you mean it I'll be forced to attack you." And before I could try again, more seriously this time, Marco pulled his now clenched fist back and rocketed it towards me as if he meant for it to collide with whatever part of me he was aiming for.

When I realized that he actually meant to punch me I ducked under his fist and mocked the uppercut that Ace had taught me. His head snapped back but instead of attacking me again or yelling at me he rubbed his chin with a smile and said, "Good."

He continued sloppily attacking me with wide open blows without much speed or force. But gradually his attacks became swifter, with less openings and far more force than he had started with. He also started moving and attacking at different angles. Most of the time I was unable to attack, just dodge and flail about in hopes of actually hitting him.

I was successful in cutting him a few times but in turn he had managed to disarm me and wretch both weapons out of my hands, embedding them both in the non-mirrored walls.

"Good job kid." He said straightening up and wiping his brow.

Unlike Marco who was still standing I was laying on the ground in the position I had landed on from the last blow Marco had delivered and landed.

"G-good?" I panted getting up and walking over to my weapons to try and get them out of the wall in which they were deeply embedded in. "How- how was that good?" He could have literally beaten the life out of me if he had wanted to.

"Here let me get that." He said his voice not far behind me as he reached around me and grabbed ahold of the handle of the bladed weapon.

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