The Piece of Spadille rocked violently as it moved along the canal up Reverse mountain. At one point it looked as if the ship was going to collide with the side of the canel, an unexplained gust of air caused the ship to move away from the side of the canel. What Ace couldn't understand was where that gust of wind had come from but it had been at exactly the right time, yet something had caught his eye that seemed a bit off around the time that gust had occurred. No, it wouldn't make sense. Unless- was it a devil fruit?

After entering the Grand Line it was smoother sailing, at this point Rina seemed to lose the strength in her legs and collapsed into a seated position on the deck. Deuce knelt next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She was quick to push his hand off her shoulder but looked back to him and advise him that she was fine. It had just been a tense few moments back there.

Deuce gave a small smile and nodded in agreement, leaving her alone. Soon after though Ace sat next to her, his knees up so his elbows could rest on them as he regarded her. He didn't need to say anything, she'd gotten used to him enough that she could read his face without words being spoken. She moved to get up only for him to offer his hand to her as he used the rail of the deck to pull them both up to their feet.

After this gesture, Rina headed below deck. She called over her shoulder, giving the excuse that she was going to check on her herb supply. Ace raised his left eyebrow and quietly followed the silvery haired blonde. To his credit, he was incredibly quiet, however she could recognize that heat anywhere. She turned back and smirked coyly before informing him, "if you wanted to tag along to do inventory, you could've asked Captain Hotshot."

He regarded Rina for a moment before asking, "what are you?"

Rina's brow furrowed in confusion as she answered, "umm—I don't know lately. 5'2, 107 lbs, maybe? I mean—give or take obviously!"

"That's not what I'm talking about," Ace growled out, lowly. He grasped her arm and pushed her into her quarters, locking the door behind them. He then cornered her against the cabin wall and rambled off, "that gust of wind came out of nowhere, exactly when we needed a miracle the most. It was strong enough to push us off of a collision course. From the corner of my eye, I saw you. You'd had your hand raised. What are you? What did you do? Most importantly: how?"

Rina's light grey eyes met the burning black of the teenager before her and she gave a heavy sigh before stating: "If I tell you, you'll have to share something with me too. Something you wouldn't want anyone knowing about you, Ace D. Portgas."

"Why the hell-"

"Because if I tell you the truth behind those questions—I'll be taking a risk that could result in my life being forfeit. So, I'm asking for some assurance that what I tell you stays between us. Even under threat of torture or death. I keep your secret, you keep mine," Rina explained, her demeanor as calm as gentle waves.

He backed up and thought for a moment, he sat down on the edge of her bed he bowed his head, his hat falling off his head. He paid it no mind while running a hand through his raven locks and then looked her in the eyes while he revealed in a near whisper, "my biological father was a man named Gol D. Roger, the infamous King of the Pirates. He was publically executed before I was born. I never met him, all I've ever known about him is what I've heard. The World Government was determined to eliminate his bloodline, and when he was captured my mother was nearing the end of her pregnancy… or at least she would've been. She was determined to protect me, so through force of will she prolonged her pregnancy by another eleven months. The exhaustion her body endured lead to her dying in childbirth. She lived long enough to name me, Gol D. Ace. I feel I owe my life to her, so I began using her name instead and became Portgas D. Ace. That's why Vice Admiral Garp adopted me as his grandson and entrusted a bandit named Dadan to raise me. Only my closest friends know all of that. Some people know that I'm Roger's son—but they don't know why I don't have his name. It's a wound I'd rather not rip open. But what I've mostly kept to myself is that it's always made me wonder if it's even a good thing that I'm alive. Would everyone be better off if I had been executed too?"

"I'm sorry all that happened Ace—I can't speak for them, but—it would seem to me that your mother truly did love you. Maybe—I can't say for sure, maybe your father asked this Garp to help ensure your survival," Rina offered.

Ace nodded in agreement before looking to her pointedly. Rina gave a small smile, deciding that show and tell might be the best approach. She raised her right hand so the palm was facing up towards the ceiling at chest level for her. Ace watched as a sphere of pale blue energy began to gather at the palm of her hand and floated above her open palm.

"What in the-?"

Rina looked to Ace as she revealed, "I'm not exactly human. I'm humanoid, but I'm actually from a very different world. A world filled with spirits, that's my true form. I suppose some would call me a ghost, and they wouldn't be far off."

Ace paled a little before countering, "but—the crew can all see you, it isn't just me."

"I can explain that," Rina answered as the sphere of energy disappeared from her palm. She sat on the floor across from Ace and began, "first you need to understand that there are two main types of spirits, plus spirits and hollows. I'd be considered a plus spirit. A hollow usually has a white mask over their face and a hollowed-out hole somewhere, to symbolize their heart is missing. Some plus spirits have what are called Shinigami powers, and that's what I am. I'm a Shinigami, as are both of my parents and my siblings. We have a few main duties as Shinigami. The first is to protect our home, Soul Society, from all threats. The second is to protect humans and plus spirits from hollows. We also help earth-bound plus spirits find their way to soul society, and—we purify hollows."

Ace's left eyebrow was arched again as he listened, contemplating if this girl honestly took him for a fool. However, he sat and listened as she explained what the Gotei 13 was, and that she had spent the past eight months before meeting him jumping from one world to the next, finding a place to hide a powerful artifact as well as several decoys to further throw off the threat from locating the correct artifact.

She then stopped and looked directly into his eyes as she revealed, "I won't tell anyone about your secret, but I will say this: I never thought in my travels I'd meet someone who's story was even remotely parallel to my friend's—never mind that they'd share the same secret as him."

Ace blinked a little before she began describing a boy who looked a splitting image of his father, the son of a man who had been obsessed with power to the point that he created an object called a Hogyoku and tried to sit in the throne of Heaven. That man had previously been a Captain of the Gotei 13, a traitor to their organization, who went against the vow all Shinigami swear upon graduation from the spiritual arts academy. Rina hadn't played a direct role in the war, but her father had, as had a man she called 'Uncle', her mother's Captain. She confessed that if she was honest, she saw her uncle as more of a father figure than her father, owing to the fact that he'd been around her entire life.

She went on to explain that her friend possessed the ability to create time warps within a limited field, which allowed him to advance or reverse time within those warp fields. He had used that technique on his biological father to extract the Hogyoku from the traitor. Rina had snatched it up and used her blade to mimic her friend's abilities which allowed her to dwell at what she called 'the apex of time and space'. This Apex is where she was able to return to jump to another world with ease, and why everyone could see her. Utilizing the Apex to jump between worlds would cause her to appear human in any world she went to, but she'd also retain her Shinigami powers, such as the sword he had momentarily seen a few times. He noted however that her Zanpakuto seemed to continuously change.

Rina nodded and a katana manifested at her side, it was in a multi coloured sheath like a rainbow. The wrapping was red the tsuba was circular and had a reflective surface, like a mirror. She held the sword in her hands, presenting it to Ace. He could accept he'd never seen the sword looking like this before. She then stated, "this is my Zanpakuto's true sealed state. Her name is Tamashi Kagami, or Soul Mirror. As it sounds by her name, she can reflect the abilities of other Zanpakutos, but at a price. The Zanpakuto being mirrored by her is temporarily unavailable to their true owners. For that reason, I tend to restrict her abilities to Zanpakutos that belonged to Shinigami who are no longer alive. One of my favourites is Yukihyo, another is Minazuki. Failing that I use the Shikai of a few Shinigami who would rarely, if ever, activate their own Shikai, preferring to fight with their Zanpakuto in its sealed state. Because my friend's ability isn't very effective against hollows, he only used his shikai in a fight within the last year against his birth father. That's why he and I were given this task by the Captain-Commander. If one of us couldn't do it, it fell to other. The last time I saw my friend, he was wounded- I haven't been able to really connect with him which could just mean he's comatose. Even still, I feel horrible for being so far away from him."

Well, he couldn't deny he'd seen the sword appear in a few different colours, and sizes for that matter! He looked to her and asked, "you really are a shinigami?"

Rina nodded as she confirmed, "yes. I've hidden the artifact already. But now, I have my own concerns about something else. Until I can confirm if that concern is a real threat or not I'd rather remain—if you'll still have me."

Ace nodded as he concluded, "I think we can manage that yeah. Don't worry, this stays between us. I doubt anyone would believe me anyway. But I do wonder one thing—you're a combatant, right? So how do you know this medical stuff?"

"I do and I don't. All Shinigami are given basic level field medic training. I can handle just about any injury a human could acquire but the more severe injuries—like the ones that my kind endure—bifurcation as an example—that I would be way over my head to treat."

Ace couldn't help his eyes bulging out of their sockets at the last sentence. Her kind could survive—umm what?

Realization seemed to dawn on her as she added, "oh, right I didn't mention that part—we're a bit more resilient than humans—and we live quite a bit longer. You've been under the assumption that I'm fifteen, but in truth, I'm actually much older than that."

Ace almost scoffed as he jested, "yeah, what are you, forty?"

"Hmm, no. Add two to the fifteen and throw a seven at the end," Rina countered. Ace's body went limp and he began to fall forward. She was quick to push him back onto her bed before he could fall onto his face.

AN: Tamashi no Kagami is a rough translation for "Soul Mirror", since a Zanpakuto's abilities are reflective of their weilder's true nature this means that each Zanpakuto in the bleach universe is a piece of their weilders soul. Since Rina's Zanpakuto mimics the abilities of other Zanpakuto I thought "Soul Mirror" was a fitting name. It also makes her a bit of a chameleon, and a fairly strong combatants.