Revelry

Ace wasn't sure how it had come up, but Fox had asked him if he wanted anything in particular for his birthday, since it was in the upcoming week, and suddenly Sako's wife Truei had insisted the islanders throw him a real party a few days after the upcoming banquet. Then she had dashed off, calling out names and spouting off instructions to the people summoned. Then he had been assaulted by women with knotted string and strips of fabric, been sketched, asked a barrage of questions about all manner of odd things –why did it matter if he had a pet? He'd mentioned Beastie which had satisfied them– and dragged away by an old lady. The old lady had bribed him with food, persuaded him to show off a bit to an audience of eager children –not that he'd needed much encouragement– then started an inquisition into his past, his relatives, his past exploits and just about everything else he'd ever done or thought. Having twigged by this point that this was the equivalent of getting grilled by your fiancée's grandma regarding your suitability, Ace had employed all of his intelligence, manners and natural charm to answer politely, coherently and mostly honestly without giving his previous identity away or naming too many names.

Having Fox' storytelling as an example to follow, his listeners were soon attentively following a slightly disjointed tale of his quest through the Grand Line to find a place where he belonged –which had secretly been the real reason, not the fame and acclaim he'd told Luffy he wanted– and gaining his fire powers, which his audience likely took as 'discovering' rather than 'eating Devil Fruit'. He told them of finding relatives among the mermaids, being welcomed as a son by his Pops and the first three times he'd encountered Fox, which all the children found very funny. He then followed on into stories of day-to-day like on the Moby Dick, the shenanigans he'd got up to when Fox visited and various other odds and ends. Of course, since he was trying to keep the number of names at a minimum Marco had become an actual phoenix who was his Pop's second-in-command, Namur was a shark, Atmos was a water buffalo and so on. Ace was aware his tall tales did sound rather like some of the myths Sabo had talked about, which made the whole situation more surreal.

He was getting hoarse despite being constantly plied with cups of palm wine and the sun was starting to set when Truei found him, informed all those present it was time to get ready for the banquet and led him back up the hill to the temple complex where he was 'helped' into a brand new pair of leather trousers decorated with red and white geometric patterns and pushed onto a stool so a teenage boy could brush his hair and do something to it. Ace put up with the indignity of being treated like a dress-up doll, sensing Fox was going through something similar but far more time-consuming that involved multiple layers, heavy jewellery and a hairdo that four different women were working on. At least he was only expected to wear trousers, gold armbands and whatever they were putting in his own hair.

He even let the young warrior who entered the room a few minutes later with a bowl of dark red paste draw on him; he was kinda curious what the point was, but the flickering designs that coiled up from his waistline and down from his shoulders looked a lot like they were supposed to be flames and were pretty cool really. The flame Logia was a little concerned when the red paste started to dry and crack, but the man who'd applied the designs simply brushed the dried paste away to reveal the patterns had been stained directly onto his skin and looked much brighter than the paste itself had. The boy working on his hair then stopped fiddling and he was led outside again.

He had to catch his breath as he did so: his lover looked stunning. Wearing a gown with a low neck and a high waist that showed off both her increased bust and prominent stomach, with slits up the sides to the hip that revealed another skirt underneath, Fox glowed with health and life. She was wearing at least six times as much jewellery as he was, from anklets and toe-rings through bracelets and belts to the myriad hair ornaments and golden crown on the top of her head. Someone had also outlined her eyes in kohl, making her golden irises seem larger and more prominent.

"You look amazing," he said with a grin, reaching out to wrap an arm around her waist. The procession headed over towards the main temple square, where a bonfire was already lit and the smell of food was steadily dominating the background scents of dry rainforest, sea salt and people.

"Be grateful you're male," Fox muttered. "Men hunt, train and go to war and later discuss law and the running of the tribes; women farm, raise the next generation and later keep the histories. Being the peaceful face of the tribes they also wear all the ornaments."

"You're a goddess of war as well though, aren't you?" Ace pointed out quietly as their arrival prompted a massive cheer and food was handed out. He had seen the statue in one of the shrines: barely wearing any jewellery at all, armed with a sword in one hand and a knife in the other and tiny mutilated corpses carved all over its plinth.

"No: I'm a goddess of life and death. Life and death are universal, just as prominent in times of peace as in war, so I'm generally portrayed as peaceful," his lover whispered back as she accepted a selection of food. "Unless the island's under attack, of course."

Ace nodded, his mouth full of meat. The food earlier had been good, but this was absolutely fantastic! Not wanting to talk with his mouth full, he addressed his lover mind-to-mind:

What are your aspects again? I know there's the main one and three minor ones but what are they?

Fox made a slight movement of her shoulders that might have been amusement or fondness. My main aspect is life, namely healing, nurturing and growing: a very female aspect and the statue in the main temple. My lesser aspects are for battle, which you were thinking of just now, sudden death and transformation. Sudden death has no face, no weapons and is followed by a white fox; transformation has a sea snake tail rather than legs, an Eternal Pose in one hand and very wild hair.

Ace swallowed. "You know, they do fit," he pointed out as he scooped up some curry in a piece of flat bread.

"Sako has a gift," Fox said lightly, dipping some prawns in a spicy sauce. "They've started work on your statue, you know."

Ace didn't mind being the centre of attention, he didn't mind telling stories or being plied with food and alcohol and could put up with people dressing him up. A statue however was a bit much. "Seriously?"

Fox' chin dipped as she chewed. You will likely get your 'divine' name on your birthday so it should be finished by then. I believe they have decided on you being a god of fire with the duality of protection and destruction: the hearth fire and the fire that clears away the underbrush with the possibility of the fierce wildfire and utter desolation if offended. Asura however has been firmly placed as a high-level demon of fear, darkness and slaughter who is to be appeased rather than appealed to. Hopefully meeting him in person sometime will calm a few fears.

Ace chuckled. Right now he was far more powerful than Zoro and he would always be more dangerous as his Ability was greatly suited to mass destruction. Asura however lived for violence in a way the flame Logia did not and he was only kind to Fox and the occasional little kid. Even when he was trying to be kind he came across as brisk and grumpy, which didn't help his image. Poor guy.

I did try to explain that he loved me and our child dearly, but I get the impression they filed that under 'incredibly possessive', Fox responded as she chewed some spiced mango.

Ace snickered, shook his head and took advantage of the fact that, being a guest of honour, everyone was bringing him food rather than trying to keep it out of his reach. Zoro was intimidating because he was strong and didn't bother to hide it, like his Pops hadn't. Shanks was scarier in some ways because you'd never know exactly how powerful he was until you pissed him off, at which point you abruptly learnt that he was at the very least stronger than you were. That lesson however tended to be final; Ace had never seen it in person but Fox had, and he'd seen her memory of it. He had immediately made a note to never, ever do anything that made the redheaded Yonko stop smiling: the flame Logia was strong but not that strong. Not yet.

As to the tricky matter of timing: allowing for travel time between arcs I estimate Luffy to have left Fuusha Village on his birthday -May 5th- and have arrived at Sabaody with his crew about halfway through September or slightly later. This puts the War of the Best early in the first week of October and the ringing of the Ox Bell three weeks after that, so lets the 26th of October.

Fox conceived almost four weeks before the War of the Best: the first week of September. She is due to give birth in the first week of June. As she is now almost at the end of her second Trimester, it is currently late February. Yes, Ace' birthday is the first of January but Fox moved it back ten months to when he should have been born so that Edward D. Spadille didn't have the same birthday as the son of Gol D. Roger. Thus, our Kajin has skipped his 21st birthday altogether and is about to be 22 on March 1st. Fox was 22 on September 17th six months earlier, the day after Kuma sent her flying; Zoro was 20 on November 11th, shortly after starting his training.

Thus, when the Straw-Hats reunite Fox will be 24, not 23.