Rina stood looking at the ship before her. She definitely caught a strong sense of a fire theme with these people. For one thing, the ship its self had a flaming skull at the front of it, only the skull was a horse's. Attached to this flaming horse skull were two chains. The main sail was black, and bore their Jolly Roger, which also contained flames as well as a red spade. The skull that sat at the center of the spade along with the bones that made the X shape she was so used to seeing with pirates wore a hat very similar to its Captain's.

Then there was a smaller, second sail, which was plain white. She'd just been told the name of the ship Piece of Spadille. She honestly thought it was a little strange, but sure. She could go along with it. She glanced over when someone placed their hand on her shoulder. She spotted the hand, and noticed the bracelets first. Looking next to her she saw Ace who was looking at the ship as longingly as he would a beautiful woman, or at least she imagined as much. She narrowed her eyes at the seventeen-year-old who quickly caught on to the icy glare being directed at him. When he caught her eye he almost began sweating at the ferocity being directed at him accompanied by a single query, "am I inanimate?"

Ace relaxed, gave a small nervous laugh and moved his hand away from her shoulder, the rest of his arm away from her body with an apology while explaining, "I didn't mean anything by it. It's just comradery."

"I'm not comfortable with physical contact," she clarified.

"Good to know," He acknowledged as the others boarded the ship. She quickly realized that the men out numbered the women. He looked to her and asked, "you ever sailed before?"

"No," Rina answered as she looked over the edge of the ship, the dock moving further and further away from them.

"There's nothing like the sea air on your face," Ace sighed blissfully.

'It is peaceful out here, so far,' Rina thought to herself. She glanced down at the vastly deepening blue of the water below them. A distant memory of fishing at a lake with two boys echoed in her mind. If she was lucky both were still alive, but if she wasn't so lucky then-

Ace's voice broke through her thoughts, "you know you don't actually have to lean on me, right?"

She looked to him with her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Physically," he clarified. She understood the meaning and turned her attention away from him, turning back towards the sea as she reminded him, "we just met. Do you make yourself an open book to anyone you cross paths with?"

"If I have a good feeling about them," he admitted. He noticed no facial changes in her but he could've sworn the air got a bit cooler near her. Did she also have devil fruit powers?

"First impressions can be influenced by outside sources. Words are cheap, actions are expensive. I don't trust anyone who claims I can trust them without history to backup that claim," she revealed.

'Ouch. If I cross paths with whoever hurt you, I'll roast 'em,' Ace thought to himself. Why was he feeling so protective of her? The more he thought about it the more he realized maybe he did have a small crush on her, but also she sort of reminded him of Luffy, his little brother. She was younger after all, so it would make sense that his big brother side would come out of hiding when interacting with her. He decided that had to be it. He looked up at the sky and smiled as he watched a few birds flying by. He nudged her arm and pointed towards them, keeping his eyes on her to take in her expression. She followed his gaze and blushed at the sight of the seagulls. One of which seemed to be getting a piggy back ride from the other.

"Pervert," she accused him. He blinked at her momentarily before looking back and at once he realized what he'd pointed out to her. He slapped his open palm over his face before admitting, "they weren't doing that when I first spotted them. I swear."

"Uh-huh," She replied dismissively as she headed towards the cabins and asked, "So where do I put my stuff, Captain Hotshot?"

"Not with the men," Ace replied as he accompanied her to show her to her sleeping area. The ship seemed a fairly good size, she could tell it had been made with quality materials and the craftsmanship was more than sufficient. However, she couldn't shake a sense of guilt over her true reasoning for being on this ship. She knew what she was doing was something that had to be done, and more so that she was the one who would have to do it. This had been the plan if that traitor had ever escaped prison, a plan that she, her best friend, and the Captain Commander had agreed upon. It had to be either her or him, nobody else was capable of executing these plans. Putting it bluntly, they didn't have the means to.

"You're a swordsman, huh?"

Ace's voice broke through her thoughts, causing her to glance at her side. It was a little difficult to explain without going into the mechanics a bit, however the gist of it was that she and her best friend were able to appear as ordinary humans without the use of a gigai, which also meant they both possessed the ability to hide their Zanpakutos from plain sight most of the time. However, she knew that her resolve wasn't as strong as it should be. She was endangering these people by being here, and that went against her oath as a Death God, but if she didn't do this, more humans would be in danger and that wouldn't that be a greater affront to the oath she swore upon graduation?

She looked to him with a sly smirk, commenting that he wasn't as observant as he made himself out to be. He gave a hearty laugh as he agreed, "guess not."

She began putting a few of her things away. He turned his back so she wouldn't worry about him peeking at her unmentionables, but noticed she was setting aside multiple jars. He picked one up and examined it. If he was being honest, he didn't see anything special about it. It looked like some kind of root, but he imagined it had to have some kind of use.

"Medicinal herbs," she stated.

"I figured," was his acknowledgement as he set the jar back where he'd gotten it. She then turned around and saw his back facing her. She blinked slightly in shock. She hadn't expected a gentleman amongst Pirates of all things.

"You can turn around now," she informed him. He turned, his hands in his pockets and gave a small smirk as he admitted, "being part of the crew is fine if that's all you want, but if I am being honest I wouldn't mind being friends if you're up for it."

"Friends with the Captain, wouldn't that raise eyebrows? Besides, friendship requires a degree of trust and I already told you my stance on that," she objected.

She sat down on the couch, her feet up on the table while she picked up a book and began flipping through to what he figured was the last spot she'd read. He shrugged and answered, "Yeah, you did. I have no intention of forcing you to feel one way or the other about me—but know that I make one promise to every member of my crew: I'll never expect anyone to fight someone that could really hurt them. I'll take on those fights myself, alone."

"I prefer to refrain from fighting if I can. Sometimes you can't," Rina replied. She glanced at him over the top of her book as she added, "but you won't have to fight for me. Once I make up my mind—well I've never lost a fight yet."

Ace felt both of his eyebrows raise while he was sure his eyes were protruding from their sockets. This girl seemed to so mild-mannered, meek, and if he was being truthful, a combat greenhorn and yet she's never lost a fight?

He relaxed a little as he slowly accepted what she was saying. So she avoided fighting if she can, but if she does fight she doesn't let her opponent gain the upper hand on her. His mind tried to piece together how someone could do that so effectively to have never lost a fight. He considered asking her to teach him how to read people that well, but her next question derailed his train of thought, "So Captain Ace, this flaming Spade I have to get tattooed on me—any requirements on how big or where?"