Thank you so much to everyone who has read and loved the last two chapters! Thank you to CurlyBrowSaka and SaChan22 for the follows! :D

Warnings: None, unless you count bratty children.

Copyright: I do not own One Piece. That right belongs to Oda. I only own Adira, Khalil, and any other OC's I make up.

Chapter Two: The Itch.

Adira set her satchel on the threadbare cot in Khalil's spare bedroom. The room itself wasn't much to look at-nothing but wooden walls, an empty wardrobe, a full length mirror, and a small potted plant in the windowsill- but at least it was something. Shifting uncomfortably from one foot to another, Adira pondered how to navigate this living situation.

Would Khalil be like Nasi?

Nothing but critical and antagonistic?

Did Khalil expect Adira to pay rent?

If she did, how much would she need to pay?

Adira sat on the cot, the springs from it squeaking slightly under her weight. Furrowing her eyebrows, she thought, 'People aren't this generous. They usually expect something. Khalil wants something from me…doesn't she?'

Subconsciously, Adira touched the tiny shell dangling from her necklace. Ace was out there somewhere, most likely on the Grand Line by now. Her eyes widened at this realization. Groaning, she smacked herself in the forehead.

"Of course he is", she mumbled to herself, "Loguetown is the last stop before entering the Grand Line."

Ace was most likely sailing on the Grand Line. The Grand Line was infamous for its dangerous weather patterns, never-ending conflicts, and ruthless pirates. If she truly wanted to find Ace, Adira knew that was her best bet: to find a way onto the Grand Line.

However…

Adira sighed and laid on her back, staring at the white ceiling above her. The sun streamed in through the window, the rays of sunshine illuminating a yellow glow over Adira, highlighting the color in her golden eye and the tiny dust specks floating around the room. Adira closed her eyes and thought back to Khalil's words, reflecting on what she said to her on the beach.

"My parents." Adira said out loud, still feeling like those two words when applied to her, felt foreign. 'I've never given much thought to it…but why can't the thought leave my head now?' Adira opened her eyes and stared at the sunbeams above her.

Khalil, unknowingly, had given Adira an itch she felt like she couldn't scratch. An unfamiliar weight settled on Adira's chest, heavier than the one she felt when she thought of Ace's silence and unknown whereabouts.

"Mom…where are you?" Adira asked out loud. The silence that remained reflected the silence that came from Adira's answer to that question. She didn't know. How could she?

Hell, even growing up, she'd ask Nasi where her mother went. Every time Nasi would answer, "Living her life, free from a brat like you." After a while Adira had stopped asking, but knowing how Nasi was, Adira was certain that the old woman didn't know either.

"Why the fuck would you leave?" She whispered to herself. As much as she hated to admit it, right now, she felt envious of the girls out there that had mothers in their lives. What would all those moms say when it came to Adira's situation? Would they scold her for trying to look for Ace? Would they encourage her to follow her heart? Would they tell her to go back to Beaumont Island, or to go venture onto the Grand Line?

Adira sat up, and exhaled a large breath. Thinking about her mother led to thoughts about her father.

Like she said to Khalil earlier, Adira didn't know who he was. Adira stood up and walked over to the full length mirror and looked at herself.

As she gazed into her own reflection, Adira concentrated on the grainy image she had of her mother: a woman with long curly lavender hair, soft pink lips, and wide golden eyes. She was a beauty from what Adira could remember, but as Adira looked into the mirror, she didn't see much of her mom in her own face.

Unclipping her hair, Adira shook it out from its bun, and looked at the gentle waves of her magenta hair. Her hair was a much darker shade than her mother's light purple locks. Adria's face wasn't heart shaped like her mother's face, as Adria's face was more cut like a diamond. Adira's hands went up to her face as she leaned in close to the mirror, lightly tracing each line and freckle that dotted her features. Her mother had skin as pale as snow, but Adira's skin was a light tan, both naturally, and from being outside with her mussels and clams cart.

Adira stopped tracing her face as she noticed her hands and looked at them, holding them close to her eyes. They were rough with callouses from her years of operating her mussels and clams cart, and the shape was much different from her mother's soft delicate lady-like hands that Adira could remember.

Adira's eyes flickered back up to the mirror as she looked directly into her own eyes, which was perhaps the biggest difference from her mother. Whereas her mother had big doe-like golden eyes, Adira's eyes were just as big, but one eye was black and the other eye was gold, like her mom's.

No, there wasn't much of her mother in her looks, so that meant…

"Dad." Adira said quietly as she looked at her reflection. There was plenty of her father in her features, whoever he might be.

An irritation started to form as her mouth twisted into a frown. 'Why couldn't she have left me the decency of leaving her name with Nasi, or at least my father's name, in case she didn't come back? Why was she so careless?' Adira thought to herself.

Adira scoffed.

What a bitter irony. Adira looked just like a man who she had never even met, let alone a man whose name she didn't even know.

Feeling the irritation grow, Adira stepped back from the mirror. "To hell with this." She mumbled as she went to her cot, grabbed her bag, and left the room. Going downstairs and leaving the loft, Adira walked down the street.

"Why should I spend my time looking for them, when they sure as hell never looked for me…or even came back for me, in Mom's case." Adira grumbled as she marched down the street. "What kind of parents do that to their kid?" She said as she passed a small girl who was peering into the window of a toy store.

Sitting on a bench, Adira put her head in her hands and said, "Why am I even thinking about them? They've never crossed my mind up until now, so who cares? Having parents is overrated anyhow. What use are they?" Adira spoke harshly, garnering a few strange looks from people passing by.

Adira scowled as she could feel people giving her weird glances as she spoke to herself. Who cares what they think? At least they have families to go home to…

At that moment, while she was wrestling against herself in this internal debate, Adira heard someone shout, "STOP HIM!"

Adira's head snapped up as she saw a thief from down the street steal a motorbike. A few people tried to stop him, but he shoved them off. Starting the bike, the thief zoomed down the street. Several people jumped out of the way, as the thief refused to stop. As he was coming closer, the little girl in the green dress stepped a couple paces back to get a better look into the toy store window display. The little girl was, in fact, so memorized, that she didn't notice that she had stepped directly into the path of the motorbike.

Adira looked at the girl and said loudly, "Hey kid, get out of the way." The girl ignored her and Adira's eyes widened as she saw the thief wasn't slowing down. "Kid! Move!" Adira said louder as she stood up to look at the girl.

The little girl kept on ignoring her and as the motorbike came closer and closer, Adira shouted, "GODDAMMIT!" Lunging forward, Adira yanked the little girl out of the way right as the bike passed them, barely missing the blonde haired girl by an inch. Adira felt her body deflate in relief as she looked at the little girl in the green dress who was glaring up at her.

"Are you okay?" Adira asked the girl as the little girl shoved her away and smoothed out her dress.

Glaring up at Adira with a small pout on her lips, the little girl said, "You wrinkled my new dress!"

Adira looked at the small child in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? You nearly got run over and you're worried about your dress?!"

The girl's hands balled up in anger. "My daddy bought me this dress last week and now you've gone and ruined it!"

Adira gritted her teeth and leaned down, her eyes narrowing at the little girl. "Okay, you little shit, maybe I should have let you get run over!"

The little girl was about to respond, when three shots rang out. It startled the both of them, as Adira and the girl looked down the road to see an older man in a hat and a poncho pointing his gun down the street. There was a screech and the sound of a crash as the thief on the motorbike (who was barely a speck in the distance at this point) lost control of the vehicle and crashed into some trash cans.

Adira stood up and her jaw dropped in shock. 'This man shot his gun and caused the motorbike to crash, yet, he was so far away. How is that possible?' Adira thought as the man looked towards Adira and the little girl, approaching them in a serious manner.

The little girl's eyes lit up as she opened up her arms and said, "Daddy!" She ran up to the man and he picked her up, holding her close. The same serious man who just shot down the thief, turned into a blubbering mess as he said, "Carol! My princess! I came out of the shop just as I saw what happened! Are you hurt?"

The man looked over the little girl as she shook her head. The little girl, Carol, crossed her arms and pouted. "No, Daddy, but that mean lady wrinkled my new dress when she pulled me out of the way." Carol pointed at Adira, who stood as still as a statue.

The man chuckled and kissed his daughter's forehead. "That just means we'll have to get you a new dress, Princess!" The little girl squealed in delight and wrapped her arms around her father's neck. "Thank you, Daddy!"

Adira rolled her eyes. 'What a spoiled brat. Her dress is fine, barely even wrinkled. She doesn't need a new one.' Adira thought to herself, but she kept silent otherwise. The man put down his daughter, and held her hand as he walked over to Adira. Adira gripped the straps of her bag as she shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

The man stood in front of her and gave Adira a kind smile. "Thank you for saving my precious little girl. I don't know what would have happened if she got hit."

Adira gave him a tight smile. "It was nothing. She's so…." Adira struggled to think of a word to describe Carol before finally managing to say, "...cute."

The man kneeled down and said, "Carol, do you have anything you want to say to the kind lady who just saved your life?"

Carol looked as conflicted as Adira had been, before muttering out an insincere,"Thank you for saving me."

Carol's father looked satisfied enough as he stood up and offered his hand to Adira. "I'm Daddy Masterson. Pleased to meet you."

Adira took the man's hand, shaking it firmly. "I'm Adira. The pleasure is all mine."

Taking her hand from his, she put it in her pocket. "Really, I can't thank you enough for saving my daughter. Let me get you something as a 'thank you'. " The man reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet. Adira's eyes widened and she waved her hands in front of her. "No, please. You don't have to do that."

As much as Adira needed the money, the last thing she ever wanted was a handout. Daddy Masterson furrowed his bushy eyebrows, his hand still reaching into his wallet to get out a couple berries. "Then how can I repay you?"

Adira gave him a small smile. "You don't need to repay me. It's enough payment to do the right thing."

Daddy gave her a gentle look, before grufflystating, "Alright." His hand reached into his wallet, and he pulled out a small card with his name and address on it. "A favor then. If you ever need me for anything, don't hesitate to ask." He said as he gave the card to Adira. Adira took the card, pocketing it in her bag. "Thanks. I appreciate the gesture."

Daddy put his wallet into his back pocket and looked lovingly at Carol. "Let's go, Princess. Daddy needs to take out the trash." His head turned in the direction down the street towards the thief who was knocked out cold from crashing the motorbike. Daddy took Carol's hand as they made their way to the wreckage.

As Adira watched the father and daughter walk away, that weight from before fell on her again. Her smile faded as Adira watched Daddy and Carol walk hand in hand. A sense of longing started to creep up in her, as well as the itch she couldn't scratch.

Adira shook her head and did her best to shove down the feeling. "It's not that big of a deal." She mumbled as she walked away, back to Khalil's loft. Yet, Adira stopped and turned her head in the distance, looking as Daddy put Carol up on his shoulders.

Swallowing thickly, Adira felt the weight in chest become heavier, as if there were actual stones inside of her, weighing her down.

"Fucking hell." Adira snapped as she turned around and hurried back to the loft. She could feel her muscles tense and as Adira entered into the loft, she went straight to the spare room and sat on her cot. She put her back against the wall and thought about Daddy and Carol.

"He raised a brat. She's so obviously spoiled." Adira said out loud as she brought her knees up to her chest, placing her chin on top of them.

"Who's a brat?" Khalil's head popped into the doorframe of Adira's room. Adira's eyes widened in surprise. "I thought you had a shift. What are you doing here?"

Khalil, who was drying her hands on a dish towel, stepped fully into view and leaned against the doorframe. "A guy just robbed the bar and stole a patron's motorbike. Unluckily for him, the guy he stole from was a Marine. Now we got Smoker interviewing everyone downstairs. I just got done with my witness report and thought I'd come up and rest until he was done."

Adira tilted her head quizzically. "Smoker?"

Throwing the dish towel over her shoulder, Khalil crossed her arms and smirked. "Yeah. Smoker. He's the commander of the Marine base here."

Adira snorted, and quickly covered her mouth as laughter escaped her. Khalil gave her a humorous look. "What's so funny?" Adira put her hand down and grinned. "I'm sorry, but that's the most ridiculous sounding name I've ever heard. And I literally just met a man named 'Daddy Masteron'."

Khalil's jaw dropped as she looked at Adira in aghast. "You met Daddy Masterson?!" Khalil walked over to Adira and put her hands on her hips. "What did you do?!"

Adira shrugged her shoulders. "Not much. I only pulled his kid out of the way from the thief on the motorbike. Why? Is he someone important or something?"

Khalil nodded, her eyes still wide in wonder. "Umm, yeah! Aside from Roronoa Zoro, Daddy Masteron is probably the most famous bounty hunter in the East Blue, and perhaps the most dangerous. He lives here in Loguetown with his little girl."

Adira tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ear. "Yeah, well, his little girl was the brat I mentioned earlier. I pulled her out of the way and she got mad at me for wrinkling her dress! Her dress was fine! She was just being a little hellion." Adira growled that last part out as Khalil chuckled.

"Yeah, I've heard around town that Carol is spoiled to the core. I can't say I blame her though. Rumor has it that Daddy has been overindulgent in Carol's every want to make up for the fact that his wife died while she was little."

"Spare me the pity." Adira remarked as she thought about Carol's attitude earlier. "How long do you think the interviews will go on?" asked Adira, hoping to change the subject. The more Adira thought about Carol and Daddy, the more the itch began to gnaw at her.

Khalil put her hand up to her chin and thought for a moment. "I would say no more than another hour or so. Smoker is very efficient." Khalil emphasized this while smirking a little. Adira caught on to this and the corner of her lips tugged upwards. "Do you like him?"

Khalil giggled, sounding more like a teenage girl than a middle aged woman. She nudged Adira's leg. "What's not to like? He's handsome, has a job, and looks like he can throw me around."

Adira's face turned bright as she looked away while Khalil spoked about being 'thrown around'. Khalil saw this and stopped herself from saying anything else. "Sweetie, how long were you with your boyfriend for?"

Adira's head snapped up at the mention of Ace and replied, "Me and Ace? About five years. We got together when I was fourteen and he was fifteen. Why?"

Khalil gave Adira a puzzling look. "And in all that time, you guys never…" Khalil's words trailed off, but her implication was clear.

Adira's face turned a bright crimson. "Me and Ace?! Doing….THAT?! No, we never did anything like that."

Khalil's face became skeptical as she crossed her arms. "Uh-huh. Yeah, sure."

"We didn't!" Adira denied hotly, as she sat up straight. "Really."

"You were together for five years and you've never had sex?" Khalil's voice remained doubtful, despite Adira's vehement protesting.

"We were kids!" Adira shot back at Khalil. "Believe it or not, I wasn't thinking about doing that at fourteen, and by the time Ace left, I was too preoccupied with my cart than thinking about sex." Adira turned away as she thought about Ace for a moment. He was handsome, and they had definitely made out in the past, but it was always so innocent between them. It's not like the thought hadn't crossed her mind though.

Adira and Ace mentioned it once or twice in their letters to one another throughout the years that he was away, and what they might do to each other when they were reunited. Adira's eyes glanced to her satchel where she kept all of those letters. Her eyes went back to Khalil before she firmly said, "Ace left about three years ago. We've spent more time apart than together. Being intimate like that hasn't even been a possibility."

Seeming like she finally believed her, Khalil smiled a bit. "Well, at least you don't have that weighing you down. You can move on from him without that added heartbreak." Patting her knee, Khalil stood up to leave the room. Adira crawled to the edge of the cot and sat on her knees. "Khalil?" Her voice was soft as she had her full attention on the older woman.

Khalil looked back at her. "What's up?"

"How much rent do I have to pay?" Adira asked as she fiddled with her fingers.

Taking a deep breath, Khalil stated calmly, "You don't have to pay me anything. Just keep your room clean, pick up after yourself, and don't be late for work. Got it?"

Khalil turned to leave again, but Adira stood up, her voice stopping her. "That's it? There has to be something more." She insisted, taking half a step forward. "There's always something more."

"Not this time, sweetie." Khalil gave Adira a gentle smile, the corners of her eyes wrinkling just a bit. Khalil left the room as Adira sat back down.

"There's always something." Adira softly repeated to herself. "Isn't there?"

Adira laid back in her bed, feeling like there wasn't much else to do. She reached for her bag, unbuttoned it, and took out the stack of letters that she kept. Her fingers trailed down the stack, until she stopped at the one she was looking for. It was one of the last ones Ace had ever sent her, and it was also his shortest one. Adira looked over the letter, silently remarking in her head that Ace's handwriting was a lot nicer than the chicken scratch that was her penmanship.

"Dear Adira,

It's been a while since I've written. Things have been busy out here. We've recently sailed through a huge storm, and nearly had our mast torn down due to the severity of it.

But the sunrise made it worth it in the end.

I hope you've been well, and I wish my letter could be longer. However, there's not much to tell you, other than the fact that I miss you. One day, we might see each other again. Until that day, these letters will have to suffice.

It seems odd to me. Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday that I'd sneak off from Luffy and Dadan, steal a boat, and visit you on Beaumont Island. Things were so good and simple back then.

Wish you well.

-Ace

That was it.

No 'I love you, Adira', 'I can't wait to see you again', or even a 'Love, Ace' at the end of the letter. He did say 'We might see each other again'. At first Adira didn't notice that, but when his letters stopped coming, that phrase began to bother her.

When did they go from 'We will see each other again' to 'We might see each other again'? And when Ace talked about how 'Good and simple' things used to be back when he was still living on Mt. Colubo, was he trying to imply that things weren't good between them now?

As Adira looked down at the letter, she tried to find an answer.

But there was one plain truth to her question.

Adira didn't have an answer, and that bothered her most of all.

Thanks once again for reading this chapter! Please let me know what you think! When I read your reviews and I see your thoughts, I value them. So, let me know for you all feel about this chapter and I will see you guys in the next one! :D