My hiatus and exams are over! To celebrate, I'm updating all of my fics! Unfortunately the next chapter to Skip was deleted so I have to retype it... but it'll be up by tomorrow at the latest! I promise! Anyways, not going to keep you, so enjoy the update!
Disclaimer: This is like the 6th one of these I've written tonight so... yeah. You know the drill.
"How is it?" Luffy asked, crossing his legs as he shifted on the examination table, eyes following the little reindeer pacing across the infirmary floor. He'd known Chopper for many, many years and had been in his care countless times before, so he understood that look in his eyes all too well. The doctor was thinking—wondering about something that wasn't quite right. Whether it was good or bad remained a mystery. He couldn't really guess because when Chopper got like that, with his face mere inches from the results of the day's tests, his reaction never hinted at his findings.
It seemed his question went unheard as the doctor paced over to a sterilized, white desk in the corner, hopping onto the chair and filing through the top-right drawer. Retrieving a small stack of paper, he placed it on the desktop, right next to the most recent tests. Scanning the information, he sighed, brows furrowed. "I don't get it," he mumbled, voice tiny and hesitant.
"What?" the captain pressed, pouting when his words, again, fell on deaf ears. Chopper looked so focused—he had to know why! The suspense was killing him!
Eventually, ten minutes later, the doctor deflated with a sigh, slumping back in his chair before turning to his captain. "According to the blood tests, the properties that made up the liquid seastone haven't begun subsiding yet."
Luffy tilted his head, clearly not understanding what his crewmate was trying to say. "Is that bad?"
Chopper nodded warily, turning back to the papers, pushing them about the surface as he searched for something. What that something was, Luffy couldn't be sure. "I predicted it would be out of your system in a week or so, but…" his voice faded. Before he finished the thought, he hopped up and searched through the scattered mess of documents once more. Then, shortly after, he paused, hooves pressed firmly against the wood of the desk. "…It doesn't make sense, though."
The pirate king groaned. He wished Chopper would just tell him what was bothering him. "What doesn't?" he questioned a little less patiently.
The doctor didn't move, just stared hard at the white sheets. "…When have you ever seen the marines use seastone in a weapon?"
"The handcuffs, remember?"
"Those aren't weapons, though; they're restraints. They can be used over and over again."
"Mmm… Then what about Smokey? Part of his jitte was seastone."
The doctor's expression hardened further as he slowly, firmly shook his head. "It was only the tip." Finally he made eye contact. "Seastone is expensive, Luffy. That's why marines don't use seastone bullets or weapons—they can't afford to. So why…" He swallowed. "Why did they use it on you?"
"I'm the pirate king," he said with a shrug.
Chopper turned that down immediately. "No, it's something else." Then his eyes widened. "Zoro saved the syringe for me, right?"
"Luffy's keeping something from us."
Ace's ears perked up at that. He halted in his meal, attention falling on the two women on the other side of the table. He ate breakfast with them every day while Luffy was with Chopper, almost like clockwork. While he had yet to say anything to them, he was getting comfortable being around them again. His heart rate subsided, he breathed normally and sometimes, when they kept their distance, it was almost like before.
For the most part he ignored their conversations, finding little to no interest in them, but just then…
Robin slipped her index finger around the handle of her cup, pulling it to her lips with a smile. "That is not surprising, Ms. Navigator. The captain has been through a lot recently; it would make sense for him to keep some things to himself."
As usual, the archaeologist had a point. Luffy almost died so it would make sense for there to be a few minor health concerns that he kept from them, or for him to keep quiet about the experience in general. Ace already knew that he hadn't told the others about his talk with Shanks, so of course there would be other stuff that went unsaid. It didn't feel right, though.
Nami deflated with a sigh, leaning back against her chair. "I know that, but something's… I don't know, strange about it?"
Robin's eyes stared curiously at her crewmate, searching for more of an explanation than what she was given. "Like what?" she asked.
"I think something's wrong with him."
That time the rest of the room fell still, each of the pirates going quiet. Ace placed his spoon back in his bowl and turned to each of them, curiously examining their downcast faces. It wasn't hard to see that they all suspected the same thing—had that same worry buried deep within the recesses of their minds. So Ace hadn't been the only one to notice.
As the quiet drudged on, the child felt his heart race. He thought that maybe, despite that innate fear implanted in his core, he should try talking with them. After all, he spent the most time with Luffy—saw the most changes, from his sleeping habits to his behaviour while awake and even the changed texture of his skin.
He cleared his throat. "Umm, I…" Immediately he felt all of their eyes on him, staring at him, waiting. Ace stared hard at the bowl in front of him, trying to keep his mind off of the pirates, but it was hard. "I think…"
I think I know what's wrong.
"It's okay, Ace." Nami's soothing voice cut through the awkward stillness of the room. "You don't have to tell us."
Immediately he felt the tension leave his shoulders, his heart rate returning to a normal pace as he peaked up at the crew. The thick pressure coating the air quickly dissolved into nothing and everyone returned to what they were doing before—Usopp and Franky talked about some new mechanism that'd been added to Sunny, Sanji went about washing the dishes, Brook returned to playing a song in the background and the girls went back to eating breakfast.
Where was Zoro?
"We should be arriving in two days," he caught Nami saying. Ace glanced over to see the navigator open up a map, pressing her finger to a small body of land. He didn't know much about maps, though, so he couldn't read any of it. "So long as we don't run into any storms, at least," she added.
So they would be landing soon, huh? Ace… wasn't so sure how he felt about that. It was great and all that they would be able to restock on supplies and get some time away from the water, but he knew he probably wouldn't fair well were he to leave the ship. He wasn't recovered enough for that, and it wasn't like he was comfortable in crowds before, either. Still, he was tired of being so afraid. It wasn't right. He wasn't like this before—
…Before what, exactly?
The door to the mess hall swung open, revealing a familiar head of green hair. Zoro walked over to the table and slumped down in the first seat he saw, three away from Ace. He yawned groggily and threw his hands behind his head.
"Luffy'll be late. Chopper needs to keep him longer today."
After breakfast, Ace wasn't really sure what to do. Ordinarily he would go back to his room with Luffy to keep an eye on him as he rested, but Luffy was with Chopper. He felt lost, sitting in the mess hall, not knowing what to do. Eventually Robin approached him, asking if he would like to continue his lessons. He said yes in a heartbeat. He almost missed those, in a way. Learning how to read he found harder than learning how to speak, perhaps because he'd never been exposed to written language before. Still, he liked it. And if it was Robin, he didn't think he'd be so afraid. She took care of him a lot before.
They decided on continuing the lessons in his bedroom since that was where he was most comfortable. Ace sat on his bed, blanket wrapped securely around his shoulders, Robin across from him on a chair. As she spoke, going over the sounds of the alphabet, he didn't really listen—couldn't focus. He couldn't keep his attention because right behind her, staring back at him, was the face of Portgas D. Ace.
It was his face.
The poster was clearly old, yellowed with age but kept in as good of condition as possible on a sea-bound ship. Luffy must have treated it with the utmost care, seeing as most others had tears and frayed edges. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Sometimes Ace would dream. His dreams were always blurry and out of focus, but he would hear voices. They laughed. Sometimes they screamed. Even rarer still, they cried. Every time he heard those voices he felt nostalgic. And every time he heard those voices he felt alone. Staring at that image, the confident smile splitting freckled cheeks, engulfed in powerful, dangerous flames, he wondered if those dreams belonged to him.
Robin continued her lesson; rather than not noticing it, it was more like she pretended she didn't. He caught her glancing his way—knew that she understood that her words were lost to him. So why did she continue? Why did she go on, knowing how futile it was to try to teach him?
He glanced back at her, curious for a moment. Maybe she knew. Maybe she knew as much as Luffy. Thinking of that, Ace just had to know. He had to ask.
"Robin," he began, interrupting her lesson to point at the poster behind her, "what was he like?"
The historian turned her head, blue eyes washing over the faded image, allowing a faint smile to grace her lips. Turning back to her student, she put down the papers in her hands and looked at him. "I don't know."
He tilted his head. "You don't?" he questioned, disbelief clear in his tone.
Confirming that, Robin shook her head. "I never met Captain's brother," she stated. "Why don't you tell me?"
His eyes went wide. She knew. She knew who he was and that he knew. But if Robin knew, then everyone else had to as well, right? They all would have made the connection by then. The only one who wasn't told was Ace himself. He was the one left in the dark, left to figure it out with only Marco's one sentence as guidance. How should he feel about that? Should he feel bitter? Angry? Upset?
…Happy?
"What were you like?" Robin pressed, that ever-present smile settling him. He couldn't be mad—didn't have the heart. That didn't mean he was okay with it.
"I don't remember," he whispered.
The archaeologist considered that carefully before rewording her sentence. "What was Luffy like as a child?"
Ace snickered. "Luffy's Luffy—same as he is now." Back then he was such a pain, causing trouble wherever he went. That hadn't changed at all. "He was such a crybaby," he stated, "so I guess that's changed. He could be such a brat. This one time—"
He went quiet.
"Ace?" Robin called.
The boy didn't answer. He was too busy trying to figure out what he had been about to say just then. Words flowed from his lips like water, so fluidly that he hadn't realized what they were. Ace was so wrapped up in them that he hadn't even realized he spoke to the pirate normally—comfortably.
Slumping forward, he placed his head in his hands and shivered. "What… was that?"
After a short moment, Robin's smile returned. "Nothing bad," she assured.
"…Yeah? You sure about that?"
Staring at his lap, Ace heard her rise, taking short, confident strides nearer to him. The bed slumped with her weight and he jumped, feeling an arm wrap around his back, but didn't pull away from the touch. It was comforting, how warm she was—made it feel that everything really was alright.
"I'm sure."
"So," Sanji began, chopping vegetables from his place at the counter. "What did Chopper find?"
Zoro looked lazily at the bottle of booze in his hand, watching his reflection disappear behind the label as he turned it. "Not sure," he replied.
The blond's movements halted and he turned to glare at the first mate. "What you do mean you're 'not sure' you shitty marimo? He asked for you, didn't he?"
The swordsman took a swig from the bottle, embracing the burning liquid as it trailed down his throat. Finally he shrugged. "I just gave him the syringe they used to inject Luffy with the seastone. He didn't tell me why."
The cook sighed, turning to once more face the counter. "You're useless."
"Luffy's not doing so good, though."
For a second, neither spoke. Then, "We all know that."
A/N: I am dead tired right now ._. So... yeah. Hope you liked the update! It was kinda meh but at least we're getting somewhere now.
To my lovelies~
TheAnalei: He's figuring things out too slowly, seeing as his subconscious is catching up with him :P Yep, only 2 more. And this one is short. We've come a loooong way XD Really hope it has a satisfying ending for you guys ^^
READINGhearts17: So do I XD
doubledamn: Lol it was about the same as every other chapter XD
jam klaoo: Glad you liked it! That was the first time I wrote from Brook's perspective, so I was kind of worried about it ^^; You're welcome~
MysteriousEyez: You're right about that. Partially. Nope, they know something's wrong, they just don't know what.
Bluebird42: Lol it's okay, we all love angst, you're not alone XD Yeah, makes me mad too :/ Worst part? The university gave in.
Magic Morgana: Yep, it can get hot here. And I live in the southernmost part of Canada, so... really hot summers. Very humid. Yep, Toronto's like that. And I live 4 hours south of Toronto so... yeah. Lol yeah, there are a lot, I'm not sure why. I'm just taking a beginner's class right now though. If I continue I can get a minor in German in 2 years :) That's IF I continue. You are correct. Luffy only wants the best for Ace and thinks that it's better not to tell him, but because Ace doesn't remember his past he doesn't understand. Don't worry, I'll be sure not to disappoint you when we get to the drama-filled angst of their talk :D I said I was BEGINNING German XD I've only had about 4 weeks of classes, 4 classes a week for about an hour. We're still just learning sentence structure and my vocabulary is only about 400 words. But I understood more of that than I thought I would :D Can't successfully reply in German... brain not functioning... So I'll just say thank you! The air conditioning is working now because the university gave in to their demands, so we're not dying anymore. I'm actually pretty excited for winter, since it's been WAY too hot over here. (Maybe we can try talking in German once I finish the class in December :D)
Frostheart D. Blaize: Spoilers denied! You'll have to wait like everyone else!
ssspooky: Law... has his reasons. You're welcome!
Child-4ever: They really are =_=; It's fixed but the stupid university rarely turns it on because they're cheap... You're welcome :) I don't think I'm going to put him finding that out in the fic :/ Ace doesn't remember much of that either, after all.
azab: Glad you like!
xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx: I'm glad to have finally WRITTEN that part XD
Razhel: Here you go!
angelrider13: Yep! :D
Son Goshen: Lol I do the same while writing it XD Here's more!
YoMamaz: Well I'm glad I could be of service :) Lol it's okay, I forget about fics all the time (even the ones I'm writing =.=;) Hope you enjoyed!
Dreamerall: Agreed. I'm from southern Ontario :) A few hours away from Toronto.
Kitsune Foxfire: Yeah, the staring really slows down progress. Lol when I was thinking of how Luffy would respond to that I just knew I had to put it like that.
SilverToMo: I'm glad you like them! And no need to apologise XD I'm continuing all of my fics, just sometimes I can't get to one for a while. Like Skip. Wrote out the next chaptre and the damn thing deleted on me e_e I was not amused. You're welcome~
spoons-are-evil: Lol that'd be awesome XD Yep, gotta love the crew for that.
xRaven Of The Shadows: I will~~
(And I am DONE! Well, still gotta rewrite Skip but it's almost 2am so I'll probably have to do that tomorrow. Anyway,s I hope you liked it. Adieu~)