From The Sea - Dive rgence Chapter 20: Ashes, an one piece fanfic

I actually AM trying to shorten my chapters compared to my recent trend, as shocking as it might sound (editing is a pain when the document is over 75 pages long), but the progress is… slow.

To the Guest: Thanks for taking the time to write that comment! I don't have nearly enough imagination to stray completely from canon (and I like the actual story enough to write a story about it), so I just stick to it instead haha.

To Lizz: Undoubtedly, absolutely, totally understandable. Ace is here, by the way :) You're welcome (well, if you like my take on him well enough).

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, so anything that you see in this fic and that you can recognise as belonging to One Piece is not mine. If I did own it, I wouldn't have to write fanfiction. Duh. Also, I don't own the picture.

Part One - Dive|rgence

NINETEEN

And you burn burn burn

burn down the world that spits in your face

burn up his smile

burn through my fear and the stability under my feet

I see the ashes crawling up your legs

Will you let me burn them out for you?

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Chopper browses through the test sheets he asked Elynna to fill, humming along to one of the songs he heard during his welcome party.

She did much better on the practical questions -especially those related to external wounds- than on the theoretical ones, which is coherent with the self-teaching she did so far, but she also seems to have a bit of leftover knowledge from school, although it's not all accurate.

It's clear that she has a good memory and pays attention to detail, though.

He can work with that.

"Okay! I'll give you a few books on external wounds to look at so you can get some theoretical knowledge to fit the practical one you already have, and you can ask me any question if there's something you don't understand. That's what you'll assist me the most on, so the more types of wounds and body parts you can memorise the better! And I'll make something to help you learn some basics on diseases and poisons just in case."

"Sure thing, boss." His First Mate hums as she picks up the two books he pushes towards her across the desk and tucks them under one arm, before heading to the door.

She stops on the way and turns back to him.

"You doing something with those, Hebi?" She asks with a finger pointed towards the dried flowers he found when he unpacked his bag.

"Oh, those? I- Wait, what did you just say?"

She quirks a brow at him, like she didn't just-

"I asked if you were doing something with-"

"No, I meant- Why are you calling me Snake?"

"Oh, that? It's your nickname."

Suddenly the story of the Rainbow Pirates doesn't seem that funny anymore.

"But why?" He tries again, arms waving through the air in an attempt to convey his frustration. "Snakes are sca-"

("Dad, dad! I saw the monster again today! Its fur was all red and sticky, it was gross!"

"Again? Dear, are those hunters really doing their job? We can't let our children have fun outside alone when that grotesque thing is lurking around."

"Don't worry. It looks scary, but it's actually pretty weak. The hunters just have a hard time tracking him with the snowstorms. Once it calms down a bit, they'll get him."

"Don't forget, Chopper. An antidote is often made from the very poison it's supposed to counter. You have to be extremely careful when dosing the ingredients."

"Oh, Luffy? He's a rubberman. It means he's a monster.")

Chopper stares.

She stares back.

"I'll take this as a compliment, but it's just because I'm in a good mood, so don't be too flattered, human!"

She laughs, reaching out to softly brush a finger from his forehead to his nose.

"I won't, I won't. Ah, I don't know if someone already told you, but-"

She bends down to whisper a few words.

"What! Why did no one tell me before?!" He squawks, flailing and going through several forms as he paces through the office space they created for him in the anchor room.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Elynna leans back against the door of the anchor's room, gazing down absently at the titles of the books Chopper gave her.

Initially, he only called her to check whether or not Kureha's experimental medicine still worked, given that none of them knew how long the dose would last in her system.

She's still fine, though.

(still adjusting to -savouring- the feeling of being fine)

But is she really?

If Kureha is right and the nerve endings of this body are simply too new and too raw, then the medicine will help her deal with the fallout while her physical enveloppe adapts to outside stimuli.

But what if her own theory is closer to the truth? What if the problem is her mind and the norms concerning human limits it was socialised into, but is perhaps growing out of? Then the medicine is only dealing with the symptoms and not the cause, and if one day something happens that her mind absolutely cannot compute…

Will she die?

(In fact, wouldn't it make the problem worse by making her unable to notice when she's close to her breaking point?

…

Should she limit her intake?

Lie to Hebi so she can make sure that her body is holding up from time to time, just in case?

Can she lie to a doctor this good about whether or not she's in pain?

Can she lie when the medicine makes her just a bit less of a liability, espcially when they're about to dive in the middle of an actual godforsaken civil war?

Can she lie, when it feels so good to feel normal?)

She sighs, eyes closed as she lifts her head and lets it fall against the door with a slight thump.

It's not like she goes out of her way to get severely injured on a daily basis, even as a pirate.

Everything that lives kicks the bucket at some point anyway.

…

Yeah, her crewmates have got to be crazy to come to her for comfort.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Usopp shoves her into what she's pretty sure is the kitchen, hands still covering her eyes despite the fact that they almost fell at least four times in the last three minutes.

"Happy birthday!"

Nami blinks, the phrase sitting uncomfortably in the grey zone between familiar and foreign.

(How long has it been since she was home on the anniversary of the day where Bellemere found her and Nojiko?

This isn't the home she used to long for, drifting on a dingy boat with coffers full of gold and nothing in her stomach

-no tears left to cry in her heart-

but it's home all the same.)

She smiles, and lets Usopp guide her by the shoulders to the place of honour at the table, which is creaking under the weight of all her favourite food, including recipes from her hometown that Sanji apparently somehow managed to recreate just from her description.

"You guys didn't have to."

"Shut up and eat." Zoro grumbles, because no one can put food on their plate as long as she doesn't unless they want to fight with Sanji, which he doesn't -he's too damn hungry.

"Birthdays are important!" Luffy beams, legs kicking through the air excitedly despite Usopp's squawks of protest from his place in the opposite seat.

"You know this isn't your birthday, right?" The sniper grumbles.

"It's all the same to his stomach as long as there's a feast." Elynna replies dryly as she slips into one of the remaining seats next to him.

Chopper and Sanji join them with the last plate of food once the former is done explaining quietly to the latter the different herbs he can use for infusions that might help them all -but Usopp and Nami especially- sleep, and how to prepare them.

The meal is as rowdy as usual, and Nami is barely able to hear Vivi's stories about the embarrasingly lavish birthday presents of her father despite the fact that she's sitting right next to her, mostly beccause Usopp's cutlery and Luffy's hands are warring for dominion over Usopp's plate.

(Nami can't quite believe that someone who is this good of a strategist wouldn't realise how much of a dumb idea it was to take the seat opposite to Luffy when the closest seats on both sides are occupied by Zoro and Lynna.

Zoro's patience with Luffy's antics dives right through the zero limit during mealtime, and even if she doesn't eat as much, Lynna loves food about as much as her Captain -and she's downright savage about it.)

It's only when Luffy snatches an untouched plate of food out of someone's hands for the third time to set it by her side with a stretch of his arm so she can take as much as she wants that Nami understands the gesture to be his gift.

It's just like him to decide something like this at the last moment, but the fact that Luffy of all people is letting her eat all the food she wants while looting the plates of most of the others makes her chest warm in appreciation as the heat of the food settles in her stomach, and Sanji leaning closer to her to whisper that Luffy insisted on helping him in the kitchen -under tight surveillance- makes the meal taste even better in her mouth.

By the time they get started on the dessert, Zoro throws a small pouch at her, which she opens to find filled with money.

A lot of it.

At least 200,000.

"There, I paid you back, so next time you need some idiot to play servant, don't even try to ask me."

She giggles.

"Fine, fine. How did you get all this money, though?"

"Stole it from Wapol's soldiers."

Her smile widens.

Money stolen from people like them always weighs particularly satisfyingly in her pockets.

"You've got good taste when it comes to money, Zoro."

"I'm never borrowing any from you again, you witch."

"Uh. He does have good taste." Elynna comments with a grin as Vivi slides a clumsily wrapped box towards Nami.

It's a bracelet, red, orange, yellow and pink strips of fabric woven together into an intricate, silky chain which holds a flamboyant stone that seems to have captured the liquid, golden fire of a setting sun. Nami has learned enough about treasures to know, even before Vivi opens her mouth, that this is one of the sun stones, produced by an animal living exclusively in the deserts of Alabasta and a few other islands.

"I bought a few things from Alabasta before leaving… to help with the homesickness," Vivi explains bashfully. "But I'm going to be home again in a few days, so I'd like you to have this-"

"You don't need to convince her Vivi, she'd never reject a gift like that!" Usopp hollers mischievously.

"Luffy, I think that Usopp still has some food left on his plate." Nami informs her Captain absently, ignoring the sniper's cries of despair as she profusely thanks her friend.

Sanji goes next, handing her a bag with the exact brand of high-quality paper and ink she uses for her maps and that she ran out of a week before, as well as a pair of earring she spent quite some time eyeing in Loguetown before giving up on it due to its price. He looks like he wishes he can give her more even though he has also prepared all this food, and she makes sure to hug him longer and tighter than ever before.

Chopper gives her a bottle of artisanal incense, and when she brings it to her nose to try and recognise the scent over the smell of the food, she breathes in the fresh acidity of the tangerine she told him about.

("Is there a reason you like tangerine so much?" Chopper asks with the same small, encouraging smile with which he told her that she didn't have to answer any question she felt uncomfortable with.

Nami hums.

And she wonders-

Should she hate that tangerine grove where Bellemere was killed and her childhood died and Arlong broke her all over again with the help of the Marines who were supposed to protect her?

But the scent of that grove is buried in every thread of the sunny memories from when her world revolved mostly around two people, and Nojiko is the one who picked up Bellemere's work and kept that grove going with the same patience, and those tangerine trees kept growing with the blood of Bellemere soaking their roots like she was still spitting in Arlong's face even in death.

"It's home." She says with a smile.

Chopper blinks at her, stares at all the instruments he brought with him from Drum Island, and nods.)

So when the small reindeer mumbles excuses for not giving her a better gift because he only learned about her birthday the day before, she thanks him instead -and manages to snag a fluffy hug in the process.

Then Vivi gives her another bag after taking it from Elynna's hands, and Nami opens it to find a familiar pair of shoes.

Her favourite pair, worn out after one too many race that they're probably not supposed to be used for, and that resulted in a broken heel.

"You repaired them?"

"Yup. And they're reinforced with a metal alloy that shouldn't be too heavy, so they should last you some time. Also bonus, the blacksmith I visited with Hawk -he helped me fix the heels once they were made so I wouldn't inadvertently lose a hand or something- was discussing launching a brand based on this concept with his husband when we left his store, so don't worry if people stare at you in the street, you're just a walking advertisement for cutting-edge fashion."

"It's not that visible, you know." Usopp huffs at the dramatic statement, shoving as much cake as he can in his mouth before carrying on, since he can't be sure the cake will still be in his plate by the time he finishes what he has to say. "And you better appreciate it, because we spent three training sessions on this."

Nami glares at him in exasperation.

"And when are you going to tell us what you're doing during these training sessions?"

Usopp's smirk is nothing short of smug.

"Wait and see, young lady. You have no choice but to be patient. The secrecy between a Jedi and his Padawan is of the utmost importance."

"What is a Jedi?" Chopper whispers.

"Don't try to understand him. It's a waste of time." Zoro grumbles back.

"... Be honest. This is actually a gift for you, right?" Nami eventually asks Elynna with a frown that does little to hide the amusement on her face. "You just want to see me step on people's face after we beat them up."

Elynna shrugs.

"Guilty as charged. This is the hottest thing you've ever said, by the way."

Nami laughs.

"Since I like those shoes, I'll forgive you."

Her crewmates collectively throw her out of the room at the end of the meal and ban her from washing duty, leaving her to be dragged away by Usopp so he can show her how to use the weapon he made for her.

She loves every single moment of it (how much attention he paid to her to come up with something like this, how much he trusts that she can make it into a weapon even though he himself wouldn't know where to begin to do what she envisions) right until he tells her that he even added stupid party tricks so she can make parties more fun.

The only thing that keeps her from punching him in retaliation is the thoughtfulness of his gift.

(the thoughtfulness that come from knowing fear in a way their three main fighters don't, and from dragging the weight of their fights long after they're finished -won or lost- the way even Lynna doesn't know)

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Flour, olive oil, dried foodstuff for when we're in the desert… Might as well stock up on spices here too, since Alabasta is one of the best producers…" Sanji mumbles to himself as he goes through the pantry.

Behind him, Elynna nods as she scribbles down what he mentions so that they can buy everything they need in one go once they dock at Nanohana.

"You should be able to find some new shirts to replace those that got damaged, too. I heard that the quality of their fabric is pretty good."

Sanji looks up curiously, humming as he straightens up and blows out a thin trail of smoke.

"You're right, I heard something about that from a client at the shitty geezer's restaurant."

Elynna nods again, pen roaming aimlessly across her sheet until she ends with a doodle that looks suspiciously like a magic circle, and then sniggers after a few moments of cloud-like silence.

"I still can't believe that you lost more shirts to Sea King's eating habits and Hawks' experiments than to enemies in a fight."

Sanji grunts, teeth gnashing at his cigarette in exasperation.

"Me neither. It makes me want to kick their asses again."

This time Elynna laughs outright, patting his shoulder as they turn around to exit the room.

"Just tell Rain to make these two pay for the money you use to buy those shirts. I'm sure she'll say yes. Your fashion sense is pretty much the only one she approves of among all of us."

The cook makes a half-embarassed, half-pleased noise at that, which transforms into something more curious half-way up his throat as they step out to find everyone else gaping at the rapidly fading sight of a ship.

"Mr. 2?!"

They exchange a glance.

"Okay, what the fuck just happened?" Elynna eventually asks, frowning harder as Nami explains that Usopp, Luffy and Chopper just made friends with an enemy in five minutes top, the enemy in question being an okama with a Devil Fruit that allows him to copy others' physical appearance.

"Vivi-san? Are you alright?" Sanji enquires softly as he kneels down by the prostrated form of the Princess, drawing everyone else's attention.

"Vivi, you didn't know what Mr. 2 looked like?" Luffy asks curiously.

The former spy shakes her head, voice muffled by her hand.

"I didn't… I've never seen Mr. 2 and Mr. 1 or their partners, but I heard rumours… that Mr. 2 looks and talks like an extremely flamboyant okama, and that he wears a swan coat that reads 'Okama Way' on the back-"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Zoro scowls as Nami and Usopp scold the younger girl while Luffy straight up laughs at her.

Seriously, how many people has she met that fit the description?

Then he takes one look at his First Mate, and thinks-

Shit.

Elynna is staring at the Princess, eyes wide and so absolutely incredulous that the rest of her face has fallen into blank slackness.

In any other situation, it would be funny, but they have all noticed that their First Mate goes out of her way to not interact too much with Vivi, like she's an employer rather than a friend, and that she's not too keen on throwing herself -and the rest of them by extension- in the middle of a civil war, whether to help the country's next ruler or to have a go at a member of the Shichibukai.

As it is, Zoro loosens his knees, half-prepared to catch his crewmate in the air just in case she actually attacks the Princess for not looking like she's taking this seriously when they're risking their life on it, and not just for their own satisfaction.

(But even as he prepares to stop her, he considers letting her

People who aren't serious about putting their life and others' on the line annoy him as much as they annoy her.)

Elynna clenches her teeth and stays put, though, focusing on the fact that Mr. 2 now has not only stolen the King's, but most of the crewmembers' faces as well.

"Hang on," Zoro raises a hand before everyone can panic about the possible consequences -and before Elynna can possibly go back to being angry at the Princess. "It's true that this guy can do a lot of damage with those faces, but now that we know what he's capable of, we just have to set up a counter-measure to make sure he can't use them against us."

He has to bear with Elynna's comments about smart is sexy, but at least she calms down, which means that he doesn't have to deal with an attack on a royal in the meantime.

(The Princess may have been a spy in a criminal organisation longer than Lynn has known how to fight

but he taught her himself.

He knows, perhaps better than anyone else, that Vivi has little to no chance to win.)

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Man, this takes me back!" Luffy exclaims, hand flying across the air and hitting his brother's just right, in a gesture of habit that even three years apart could not unstitch from their muscle memory. "What are you doing in this country anyway?"

"Uh? You mean you didn't get the message I left on Drum?"

"Your message?"

"Well, it doesn't matter now. I just have some business to take care of in this part of the ocean, so I thought I would try to get in touch with you. Anyway, we should probably try to find your crew. What part of the harbour are you docked in?"

As they start moving towards a stretch of sea that is visible between two buildings further down the street, Luffy's face screws up in painful reflection for all of three seconds before he shrugs.

"You know what, I have no idea."

Ace's sigh is long-suffering but not surprised, and his mouth is straining to not open and let out an amused laugh.

"You know, as the Captain, you probably should try to at least remember that."

He tilts his head back, pensively counting the presences that are accumulating around them.

"So, what's your crew like?"

"Hmm… I have a dancer who thinks too much, a swordsman who wants to be the greatest in the world and wears a haramaki, a navigator who loves maps, mikan and money... A cook who makes the best food in the world. Oh, and a liar and a reindeer who's a doctor! For now we also have a Princess and a spot-billed duck as nakama too! Everyone's super funny!"

Ace snorts in good humour, eyebrows furrowing as he counts up all of the people he saw running with his little brother in his head.

"You're probably the funniest, entering the Grand Line with such a small crew. That's just like you. But wasn't someone missing when I met you guys in the market?"

"Ah, that's Ann! She stayed on the ship." His smile widens, characteristic laughter resonating in the street and making Ace's lips lift up reflexively. "She said she doesn't like the heat and doesn't want to carry anything, but she probably wanted someone to guard the ship. Hmm… Or maybe not. She's pretty laz-"

"Fire Fist Ace! Stop right here!"

Both brothers stop, one looking slightly bored and the other entirely confused as to what is happening.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Even with her ears mostly immersed in the water, she can feel the thumping of feet on the upper deck. Her mind emerges from its lethargic state, and she rights herself up, shoulders loosening again as she identifies the voices as her crewmates'.

Recognising the lilt in their voices as agitation, she quickly makes her way up the rope, and unties the one looped around her waist, not bothering to wring the salty water out of her now heavy shirt -it will keep her cool.

"Ah, you're here."

She looks up, but Zoro doesn't seem too worried, so she concludes that the situation isn't too bad (yet). The headdress is a surprise, and her eyes flit around his form.

It suits him pretty well, but it will make it harder to get her hands under his shirt.

Well, she'll bear with it. It's not like they're going to settle here.

(She certainly will not.

She's always preferred the cold to the heat, but although she's never been in a desertic area, she knows that this is somehow worse,

that something is making her mouth too dry, her head too heavy, the beat of her blood too loud-)

"What's going on?"

"Luffy somehow got spotted by Smoker of all people. Chased him through the whole damn town."

Smoker? Wasn't he assigned to Loguetown? Did that mean that he was here without the backing of his superiors?

… Well, it wouldn't be strange, considering his reputation. And either way, it was a nuisance for them.

But-

"Where is he? Sea King, I mean."

Zoro freezes as he suddenly realises that he can't hear his Captain's loud voice anymore, and grits his teeth.

"Damn it… That idiot!"

He stomps back to the front of the ship, muttering threats the whole way as Elynna makes her way to the girls' cabin to dry herself up a bit now that she's sure there's no emergency. Finding Luffy won't be too hard anyway -they just have to look for some kind of explosion. And their Captain may be a magnet for trouble, but he's also ridiculously lucky when it comes to finding his way back to them even when he's running around carelessly.

She twists the fabric of her clothes in the shower stall so as to not have to mop up all the water afterwards, and then steps back into the girls' room while pressing her hair in a towel to take out most of the water. With the window shadowed, the room is pleasantly cool and dark, and a shiver makes its way up her spine at the temperature difference.

She rolls her shoulders, and plops herself on the ground with the book she's been reading, waiting for her hair to be somewhat dry.

A surge in volume is the only thing she needs to know that the Captain of the Straw Hats is back. She finishes her chapter, vigorously rubs her hair in the fold of her towel once more, and rises to her feet, putting her book back on the only bedside table of the room.

Just as she's about to leave, though, a change in the luminosity filtering through the window catches her attention.

Pushing the curtain aside, her eyes widen at the sight of the fleet, and the very specific symbol on all the ships' sails.

Then her gaze is drawn to a small boat cutting through the waves like a motorboat.

She watches, eyes dark and mind numb, as the man (or is he still a boy?) vaults high over the entire fleet in a tornado of fire, watches as an avalanche of flames roars through the dozen of ships like kindling, skating on the surface of the sea without seeming to weaken at all -as long as it is sustained by the will of its owner.

"Hey, hey, guess what! Luffy has a big brother!"

"Oh, good. We should probably meet to discuss our crazy younger siblings."

"No way! Ace is much cooler than you! Besides, their sibling bond is super strong!"

She feels caught off-guard. It has been a long time since a sea-dream washed across the shores of her mind.

Up till now, the memories were dredged up by the sea with more time left before they became relevant, and more time for her to prepare. But she only felt the foreign, seething contempt sizzle within her chest at the distant sensation of flames smoldering and enthusiastically licking seawater into thin air a few minutes before her crewmates reached the Merry, and the voice of her sister is still echoing inside her own head.

(But maybe it's better this way.

She doesn't think she can prepare herself for him.)

If she knew exactly where she was in the timeline (if she were a better sister), she wouldn't feel this way.

As it is, she's vacillating on a thin thread (sometimes she thinks it might just be her sanity), caught between knowing and not knowing, and she. Hates. It.

(But if she knew everything, she would agonise over whether or not to change anything at every single second that she could recognise, over the consequences of each action and inaction, over whether she had the right to do anything-

And she knows, with the same certainty that she knows she stole Fang's rightful place, that she would have either run away or killed herself by now.)

With a sigh, she turns around, body heavy like wringing the water (the water that cleared her mind) out of her hair and clothes just brought back everything she tried to let go of.

But it's not like she has the time to deal with it.

(As usual.)

So she would just have to go the unhealthy way: compress and press everything down, close the lid, lock the door, and get her good-for-nothing self moving instead of standing around.

(As usual.

goddamnit she doesn't want to meet him -can't meet him- because she just knows he will be as fucking loveable as everyone else and she can't do this because the pieces of her heart she gave up in the Before didn't come with her in the After and she can't-

can't deal with more memories gliding through her sleeping mind like sharks and lapping under her tongue like a lake of acid and-)

First things first, if she's ever going to get out under the sun at this time of the day: a glass of water.

With more ice cubes than water.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

He's still crouched on the railing of the ship when she emerges from the kitchen, like the possibility of falling down into the sea isn't worth considering in his mind, even though he ate a Devil Fruit.

He seems perfectly at ease despite being surrounded by strangers. There's utter confidence in the loose line of his tanned shoulders, in the lazy slant of his smirk.

She's a bit jealous.

She leans on the small balcony, taking a small sip of her cold drink.

The ice cubes clinking against the glass are apparently loud enough to attract everyone's attention to her.

She gulps down the water, forcing herself not to shift and give away the fact that she certainly doesn't feel like Luffy's brother.

"So. Do I want to know what this is all about?"

"Elynna."

In a flash, Usopp's hands are on her shoulders as he faces her, tone grave and solemn.

"That's me."

"You know you're my favourite person in the whole wide world, right?" Nami's smile is cheeky as she steals a sip of her drink, standing at her side.

"What kind of favour are we talking about?"

Usopp's sigh is loud, and the whispers that follow barely qualify as such.

"I'm thinking… that we need a session."

"A looooooong, nice session between us three of the Smart Trio."

"These brutes, mistaking intelligence for weakness, right Nami?"

"Right. A session, as I was saying, to complain about said brutes."

"Uh huh."

"You know, like Zoro's sense of direction, or rather absence of it."

Nami's smile is positively conspirational now, and for once Usopp completely ignores the menacing noise coming from the swordsman and adds in his two cents.

"Like Luffy's total lack of common sense."

"And how Zoro leaves his ridiculous weights lying around at the worst moments. Oh, and their complete disregard for their injuries."

"Like Luffy being the complete opposite of food safety, or Sanji's dismal attention span when a woman is on his radar, and how his brilliant brain is wasted on him."

"Wow, you're great at back-handed compliments, Hawk." Elynna comments nonchalantly.

"Their willful ignorance of human limitations. But mostly Luffy's."

"Their general thick-headedness. But mostly Luffy's."

"The girls' room. Tonight. Because I am not going on a desert trip before unloading all these frustrations. I'll bring the booze."

"I'll bring Chopper." Usopp follows up, perfectly serious.

"Nanohana's smell is horrible!" Said reindeer supplies most helpfully, hooves rising to his nose at the thought.

Elynna thinks that it's a pity she's not sadistic enough, because he looks very cute with teary eyes, and she wouldn't mind seeing that more often.

"Thank you Chopper. See, he'll fit right in!"

Nami gives a decisive, approving nod to Usopp's assessment.

"Ok, we're now the Smart Quartet."

"I'll take notes." Elynna volunteers with a lazy wave of her hand.

"For posterity?"

"No. To blackmail you."

A thin arm curls around her shoulders, and eyelashes flutter in a way that only Nami can pull off without looking absolutely ridiculous.

"How about a right of negotiation on your next five loans?" She purrs, eyes laughing.

(Laughing like they never did before, when using her beauty was a matter of survival only, when the lives of a whole island was nestled in the curve of her seductive smiles.)

Elynna shrugs, face still flat for the sake of the joke but somehow softer with the warmth of affection.

"I guess I can always lose them."

"See?" Luffy's loud voice is a waterfall of amusement. "Don't they crack you up?"

The only answer is a laugh, crackling and rumbling from Ace's chest like the flames that erupted from his fist just a few minutes before.

"Looks like you found a fun bunch."

Elynna's eyes are like magnets, snapping over to his form.

The only thing she can remember is how her sister dragged her out of her room at some point in the series. How she clung to her throughout the whole showdown.

The only thing she can remember is lava,

(-red like blood, bubbling hot with the life it just stole, leaving behind a gaping hole, broken hearts, and a boy with empty hands and a drained soul-)

Ace's tears,

(-and his horrible smile brimming with things a smile should never say-)

and Luffy's scream.

(-silent and booming, an explosion of emotion that burst forth from the screen and slammed into her dull, brittle heart-)

How her little sister criedcriedcried for a fictional character when the man and the boy who are standing and laughing in front of her

lost.

(How she cringed at the unusual, clutching embrace, uneasy and unsteady at the display of emotion that she doesn't know how to deal with.

How she felt her own eyes burn with unshed tears and her throat hurt with repressed sobs like they do in every remotely emotional moment of her life, real or not, because she clamps down on everything she can't deal with in the moment but is too weak to keep her hold strong, and so the smallest thing makes it rise within her like a gigantic wave.

And she knows that someday, keeping her body locked and her mind still and empty won't be enough anymore, that someday the wave will sweep over her and she will drown, and it will be about as helpful as a tsunami crashing over the land of her mind.

It's too bad that she can't quite bring herself to care.)

"Elynna?"

Chopper's voice is worried, a ray of sunlight through the opacity of her thoughts, and she blinks back the memory, realising that she has probably been staring at the newcomer's chest for a bit too long -although it's a very fine chest.

She takes a sharp breath, reality rushing back.

"What? Can't a girl appreciate a hot guy -or girl- anymore?"

Ace snorts and raises an amused eyebrow, arrogant smirk unwavering, with no sign of embarassment.

Chopper squeaks and Vivi blushes, both still unused to the dancer's brand of humour -and her absolute lack of shame when using it. Usopp is getting better, the pink on his cheeks barely visible as he rolls his eyes heavenwards in a clear prayer for his mental innocence.

Zoro's sigh is so deep he probably has no air left to express his thoughts on the matter.

Luffy cackles at their reactions, and Nami's airy laugh joins him, because she just knows that this pun is perfectly intended and more than probably designed to be annoyingly ridiculous.

Sanji only throws a vaguely jealous look at their guest, because her stare didn't feel really appreciative to him, and her eyes are a bit too glassy to be teasing. But then the usual dimpled grin of his First Mate slides over her face as she takes another sip from her glass, and he shakes away the memory of the silent, unsubstential ghost that haunted their ship for a few days.

She joins them on the deck, and Ace inclines his head towards her, intent on following Makino's lessons.

"Sorry for intruding. I'm Ace."

Elynna's lips twitch, amused at the stark contrast between his attitude when dealing with the fleet and the present one.

"I know. You're pretty famous, after all. I'm your brother's long-lost common sense, but you can call me Elynna. And it's hardly an intrusion when it comes to our Captain's family, right?"

"Wait- you knew about him?" Usopp frowns in confusion, prompting Elynna to turn around with a surpised blink.

"You didn't?" Her eyes fall to the deck for a moment in thought. "Well, it's true that I was alone with Sea King the few times it came up in the conversation…"

"Sea King?" Ace repeats, because she clearly lost him on that one.

"Don't pay attention. That woman is a total weirdo when it comes to nicknames."

"Anyone you call a weirdo is the height of sanity, Fang." She shoots back.

Nami snickers.

Zoro snaps.

Sanji gets in his way.

And the situation descends into its usual madness under Ace's vaguely incredulous gaze -because impressively enough their little group somehow manages to be just as lively (read: just as noisy) as his entire Division- until his brother loudly calls for a party.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Kanpai!"

Ace's expression is unimpressed as he watches Luffy and two of his friends -the liar and the reindeer if he's not mistaken- clunk their tankards together once again, their accompanying toasts getting more and more ridiculous.

They're celebrating something obscure involving chopsticks and jam right now, which he's pretty sure he doesn't really want to know about.

"Don't worry, they're just looking for another reason to say 'kanpai'. At this point, I'm not even sure they know what they're screaming about." Their navigator plops down beside him and holds out a mug, which he takes with a grateful nod.

"That's probably the most reassuring option considering what's coming out of their mouth." He answers dryly.

She giggles in agreement, and he smirks in appreciation as she knocks back her whole drink in one go.

Damn girl can hold her liquor.

"So, what brings you to this part of the sea? I might not read as much as Lynna, but I know enough to say that someone of your level has no business being so close to the start of Grand Line."

The question draws the attention of his little brother, and Ace watches the rest of his beer swirl in its container as he contemplates how much he should say.

(-as he makes sure that all memories of him are tightly locked away,

so that he can focus everything he has on the hate and the rage, let it tear him apart, let it burn and consume him,

because he swore on his damned soul that Luffy would never, ever have to bear his weakness-)

"I'm looking for a man who goes by Blackbeard these days. He used to be part of the Whitebeard Pirates, but he's committed the worst crime. As the Commander of the Division he was in, it's my duty to see to it that he meets his end. I got a lead that he might be in Yuba, so I ended up coming here."

As the blue-haired Princess perks up and his little brother jumps to his feet, exclaiming that he could join them since they were heading there too, the redhead sitting next to him frowns pensively.

"Blackbeard? Somehow this name rings a bell… But I can't remember where I heard it."

Ace drags his eyes back to her, body tense at the possibility of more information.

(the hunt has been long, but it only makes him burn more fiercely,

memories of cheerful laughter and sudden death,

of smiles he thought sincere and treason branded across his mind,

drawing his attention like lighthouses in the night, and when he will find that bastard who dared to go against everything their family stands for-)

"Probably in the newspaper."

The new voice flows easily into the conversation, low and neutral. He looks up, until his eyes lock with those of the crew's other female member. She's sitting on the railing not far away behind the navigator, her feet on a barrel in front of her and her head leaning against her knees, an empty mug dangling lazily from her grip.

Her eyes are already watching him, dark and opaque -unreadable like a quiet, seamless ocean in the middle of the night.

"Yeah?" He prompts.

She hums affirmatively, eyes roving through the darkness that has quickly spilled like ink over the sky since they left Nanohana.

"There are mentions of him here and there. I didn't really look for it up till now, since we weren't close to the areas he was sighted in, but I'm pretty sure the articles are getting bigger. And from the pictures that aren't too blurry, I'd say that he's gathering a crew, too."

Ace swears under his breath.

It will make things harder.

(But he won't give up, and he won't stop.

Not now.

Not for this.

Not when the memory of the warm back that leaned against his no matter how much dirt is encrusted beneath his skin

-and it won't come out ever

because his blood just keeps frothing with rotten foam no matter how hot he burns-

and the warmth of the food that was made by the warm hands connected to that back is still imprinted at the bottom of his stomach and eating away at him more painfully than stomach acid because he gave his trust and got a cold body and a frozen, eternally confused smile in return-)

"Do you know where his most recent location is?"

Her stare turns heavy as it settles back on him, and he's not quite sure that she's actually looking at him anymore.

(She looks like what he sees in the mirror,

in the mornings when he's convinced that his existence is the worst thing this world has to deal with.)

"Tell you what."

Her bare feet touch the deck, dragging his gaze and thoughts back up to her. Despite the importance of the conversation, he doesn't miss the way her sleeve seems to catch onto something tied to the back of her forearm, and he briefly wonders how many weapons -because he's pretty sure that's what it is- are hidden between her skin and the fabric of her ample clothes.

"I'll go pack my things for this joyous trip we'll lose a whole life's worth of water in, and I'll take everything I can find on him. Since you'll be joining us, we can compare what we have. At least boredom won't kill us before dehydratation."

"You always are great for pep talks."

"Shut up, you brainless gorilla! Don't worry Elynna-san, you are a ray of sunshine in my life!"

Ace snorts, and nods at the girl.

She nods back, then turns on her heel and leaves the party.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

She straightens up, and brushes her forehead against her shoulder to chase a few strands of hair out of her eyes, hands straining to close her bag with everything she put in it.

Vivi told them to pack as small a bag as possible, and while she's not carrying anything too heavy apart from the watter bottles she'll add before departing, it takes space.

Finally, she lets go with a sigh and, after eyeing the item suspiciously for a few seconds and waiting in vain for it to burst open, she deems it ready and places it back beside her bed.

Then she sits down, and expels all the air in her lungs right out of her mouth.

"Fuck."

Did that man have to go and look like Blackbeard ripped the world to pieces under his feet, like he could barely wait to kill him for it?

Now she opened her damn mouth, and she's going to have to find a way to give him as much information as she can without clueing anyone in on the fact that she knows more than she should -it's really too hot for some shitty drama about her being Blackbeard's spy or whatever.

(... She wishes someone had information to give her about the one who ripped her world to pieces under her feet, too.)

With another sigh, she rubs at her eyes and snatches her phone off the nightstand.

She needs a break.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Oh- Sorry, Elynna-san! I didn't think anyone would come here."

…

This isn't her definition of a break, what the hell.

Elynna sighs again, and closes the door softly behind her as she steps on the afterdeck.

"It's fine, Vivi-san."

She hesitates for a moment, and then slides down the wall to sit on the deck, breathing in the night chill as it cools down the warm flush under her skin from the heat of the fire on the other side of the ship.

"It's changed."

The Princess' voice is so quiet that Elynna doesn't bother to answer, not even sure that she was supposed to hear that.

"Usopp-san said that Nanohana didn't look like a town in a country going through a civil war, but it's changed. People didn't use to look so tense and so gaunt…"

A hush falls again, Vivi's head falling into her hands as she props her elbows on the railing before she goes on.

"I've been gone for so long, I-" She gulps, quiet and loud in the silence. "I don't know if I'm doing this right."

And Elynna stays silent again, because what is she supposed to say to that?

She's not in Vivi's place, and if she was she would've started with sending actual spies and assassins in both Crocodile's organisation and by his side, rather than risking her own, politically important existence on a plan she's never been trained for.

But that's neither here nor there, because she's pretty that Vivi didn't say this to get this kind of answer.

"Ah, I'm sorry for bothering you with this, I'll just-"

"For what it's worth, I don't think there's a perfect way to deal with a situation like this. And even with the mistakes you're bound to make, I'm pretty sure you're still leagues better than scum like Wapol."

Vivi blinks at her, before reaching up to brush away the wetness clinging to her eyeslashes with a watery chuckle.

"Yeah… Thank you."

The smile is clearly for show, but Elynna doesn't know what else to say, so she looks back down at her phone.

"You can stay, if you want. I just came here to unwind."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Um? What's that noise?" Chopper suddenly asks, ears twitching wildly.

Nami makes a distinct effort to look away from the unfairly cute sight so she can focus on trying to detect the sound he's talking about, and smiles widely after a few seconds.

"Hey," she whispers as she leans closer to their newest member, "you haven't seen Lynna dance yet, right?"

The small reindeer cocks his head on the side, blinking with a curiosity that makes Nami repress a squeal in the back of her throat.

"Dance?"

"Yup! Wanna come and see?"

He nods eagerly, setting his tankard aside to follow her.

Nami pauses, and turns around when she realises that she's hearing the sound of a lot more footsteps than one person would make.

"Guys," she hisses. "Keep it down."

A chorus of loud whispers reach her from Usopp and Luffy, who are struggling to walk in a straight line and not over each other, still tipsy despite the fact that she made sure to stop them from drinking any more beer than they could handle.

Sanji is quick to subdue them, putting them into a headlock with one arm each and dragging them after him.

The music is still slow and the voice low when they peek around the corner.

Elynna's eyes are almost closed in her trance, and even if Vivi is sitting not far from her, it's clear that she's dancing for herself.

Each movement is slow and poised, weighted by a silent, waiting hope carved out from pain and determination as her limbs glide along the soft curve of the voice.

Her body slides into tighter and faster curves when the music becomes more urgent, rushing and then receding like waves wearing down rocks patiently, the ripples under her skin attesting to the fact that the thickness of her thighs owes more to muscles than fat as their strength lifts her up against the demand of the gravity for her to stay down and keeps her standing even as she spins through the space, free to follow the song as she wants.

The silence is eerie when she slows to a stop, charged with the adrenaline crackling through the air in the wake of the music and something else that makes Vivi's lips quiver as she sniffles quietly.

Chopper makes a strangled, awed sound in the back of his throat.

"Is that English?" He whispers.

"Yeah. Don't worry too much about learning it, though. Lynna's a pretty good teacher, and if you need help you can ask us."

Elynna's dark eyes settle on them in faint exasperation as she registers the noise of their conversation.

Nami stares right back with her most innocent smile.

Elynna rolls her eyes.

"Ann! Another one! I wanna see another one!"

"No."

"Awww… Why not?" Luffy pouts, supported by Usopp and Chopper's sparkling eyes.

"Because I need sleep to prepare myself mentally for tomorrow. Did I mention that I hate the heat?"

"Yes. Several times, actually."

"Well too bad, I'm mentioning it again." She answers dryly as she opens the door to go back to her room, flipping off her Captain as he whines in disappointment.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Sitting on one of the kichen's chairs with a groan, Usopp rubs at the back of his head where Sanji wacked him, earning himself an eyeroll from Nami that says you reaped what you sowed.

It's really not his fault, though.

Luffy is the one who started to wash the dishes with the mop, he just followed his Captain's initiative.

(Okay, so he also wanted to retaliate against Sanji for giving all the remaining coffee to Nami two days ago.

Next time, he'll make sure to leave Luffy between him and whoever he's pranking just in case.)

In an attempt to hide his blush as Luffy rambles on to his brother about all the cool things his crewmates can do, he whips out his sketchbook.

In the middle of drawing a small comic strip of Nami's recovery (one where he's useful and she doesn't get better and then worse, unlike his mother and the dream he had that night), Elynna waltzs into the room and straight to the fridge, from where she pulls out a bottle of water that she proceeds to guzzle down as enthusiastically as Luffy eats his meat, tugging her top upwards to wipe off the few drops that rolled down her throat instead and muttering under her breath about revenge plots against Zoro for making her train this hard in this kind of heat.

With narrowed eyes, he watches as she throws a flitting smile at Luffy's brother before turning to Sanji to take her breakfast and sit down, all the while fending off Luffy's attempts to steal her food with a side hug and debating with Nami which of the perfume samples she brought back from the market smells the best.

Yeah. She's totally avoiding Ace.

And judging by the way the man himself is staring at her with a slight frown, he's noticed.

Which isn't really that surprising, considering that she hasn't spoken to him once outside of when she introduced herself and offered to help him look for that Blackbeard guy, and that most of the time she barely seems able to look him in the eye.

(and then there were a few times where she just-

stared at him.

With the same pensiveness that makes her face look like the mask of an empty shell, as if she's retreated so far into herself that the world can't touch her anymore.

Usopp might not be able to read his First Mate when she doesn't go out of her way to be expressive, but he knows that no matter what she said when she first met Portgas D. Ace, this has nothing to do with attraction.

Because if it was, she would be more likely to straight up ask if she can jump his bones than just… stare.)

"Ah, Ace, Ace! Ann is super cool when she fights, too, like whoosh, and then bam!" Luffy mimics nonsensically, almost bouncing off his chair with the force of his enthusiasm if not for Elynna's arm still around him.

Said girl rolls her eyes at him.

"Stop spouting bullshit. The only reason why I haven't lost a limb yet is because I usually use surprise attacks, and you or someone else has my back when we're outnumbered."

"You still beat a Fish-Man, though." Usopp feels the need to point out, because how is he supposed to feel proud about it if she doesn't?

"Yeah, by almost getting killed." Nami snorts bitterly with an insistent glare at her roommate that conveys exactly what she thinks of the methods the other girl employed to get her way.

Elynna shrugs, barely looking fazed by the reminder.

"He was closer to death than me when we were done."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"-and I usually stay away from fights, you know, since I am pretty useless when it comes to that-"

Chopper throws him a look so genuinely confused that Usopp stops talking.

"But isn't it better for you to fight from far away? Nami told me during the party that you're so good you managed to use a cannon perfectly on the first try! Besides, Zoro, Luffy and Sanji seem more used to fighting than the rest of us, so it's normal that-"

"Elynna does the same, though." Usopp cuts him off, the words falling out before he can stop them, and just a glimpse of the attentive curiosity on Chopper's round, furry face makes more words tumble into each other and out of his mouth, tasting light after weeks of being turned and mulled over in the sleepless nights of his mind. "She had a normal life. Piracy wasn't even considered a possibly good lifestyle in her family like it was in mine. But I think the fight on Drum Island is the only one she wasn't involved in since she really started learning how to fight. She's always in the thick of it with the guys and it's like she never even feels scared or has a-"

He stops suddenly, face burning with horrified shame as he curls in on himself in an effort to keep everything else inside, because how could he say that when she told him that she was scared-

But that was so long ago, and she never doubts, never hesitates, even when she hits so hard that blood spurts out behind her fists with cracking sounds and screams that still make him flinch in his dreams, when the adrenaline doesn't beat loud enough in his ears to cover the sound-

"A nightmare?"

Lips sealed tightly, Usopp stares down resolutely at his feet.

There's a pause.

"Actually, she did have some, although it was a temporary problem for her and only occurred when she or another one of you came very close to-"

"Wow, wait wait wait! Are you even supposed to tell me that?" Usopp frets, looking back up suddenly.

Chopper smiles, looking absurdly pleased.

Like asking this is worth more than his victory over a Fish-Man.

"Elynna told me that I could tell you a few of the things she told me about if it would help you."

Usopp sniffles, and wonders how it is that their First Mate seems to understand all of their problems so much more easily than they understand hers.

Maybe they were just that lucky.

"It's true that not everyone who is exposed to violence will present traumatic symptoms, or present them to the same degree. But that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you, or that it's your fault, Usopp. Emotions aren't universal. They are influenced by the society where you grow up, by the morals you develop, by the circumstances. Some people cope better with fear or guilt or hate depending on how they've been taught to perceive violence, how much training they've had before, whether they were alone or not, and a lot of other factors. Elynna told me that a good part of the entertainment culture on her island is about violence, and that she tends to repress feelings more often than not. You might have both felt fear, but it doesn't mean it's the same fear, so you can't compare your reactions to hers when there's this much difference between you, alright?"

That sounds way too easy.

He has to have some responbility in how much of a coward he is.

But now Usopp can't help but think about all the people he talked to when visiting islands to restock, whereas Elynna rarely talks with anyone outside the crew unless she needs to to get things done.

Like she just isn't interested in people who aren't part of her circle.

Polite, respectful.

But not caring.

He wonders if she sees something else than the reflection of her own fear and the nightmares of loved ones and strangers alike losing their families and their lives twisting together on the faces of those she strikes down.

If she sees something else than what he sees.

"Ah. Nami told me that you're very good at drawing. Could you maybe illustrate some of the first-aid lessons I will give to everyone? I don't think reading a book is the best way to make Luffy learn anything."

Usopp opens his mouth.

Closes it.

And then-

"It's really, really not." He chuckles, because there's too many things buzzing around in his head for him to process, even if he wanted to.

He doesn't.

Thinking that it's his fault was perhaps easier, if it meant that he could do something about it.

"And Usopp?"

He turns around, a hand on the door handle.

"I prefer to write things down to organise my thoughts, but I read somewhere that drawing can work too, depending on the person."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Hey, Usopp!"

He blinks, Nami's face coming into view in front of him.

He presses his sketchbook closer to his chest.

"Why are you just staring into space like this? Something wrong?"

"... I was about to reach a state of perfect, soulful harmony, you know."

Nami scoffs, rolling her eyes in amused exasperation.

"As if. Stop talking nonsense and come work on the Logbook with me, since everyone else in this crew is useless when it comes to creative writing."

Usopp grumbles, even though he still gets up to follow her.

"You're useless for that too, you know. I'm the only one who makes reading our Logbook remotely fun- Ow!"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Leaning on the ship's railing between Zoro and Ace, Elynna watches as Vivi and the others send Karoo off to deliver a letter to the King.

Her eyes slide over to Luffy's brother as he scoffs.

"I'd heard that Crocodile was around here, but taking over a Kingdom? What a bad joke." He smirks to himself as he turns around to lean back against the railing, the dark, smoky grey of his eyes glinting mockingly under the glare of the sun. "Pirates don't settle down."

She hums.

"Uh. Hadn't thought about it like that."

Zoro straightens up on her other side at that.

"You agree."

"Well," she shrugs. "Crocodile strikes me as a smart man. Ravaging the country you want to rule over doesn't strike me as smart. 'Sides, considering how subtle his operating mode is -and we probably don't know everything, it seems weird that his goal would be this straightforward. And he's basically allowed to do as he pleases as a member of the Shichibukai. If what he wants is power or wealth, there are easier and much quicker ways to get it. But since Sea King is set on kicking the guy's ass, I figured there was no use worrying about it, especially since I have no idea what his actual goal is."

Unless she puts together the presence of Miss All Sunday by Crocodile's side, what she knows of the woman's past from her sister's star-struck ramblings about her favourite female character, and the importance of the Kingdom of Alabasta in ancient history.

It seriously reduces the possibilites.

But it's not like she can explain away that kind of knowledge, and it won't matter if Miss All Sunday's morals are sufficiently different from Crocodile and if Luffy does kick his ass, so she keeps her mouth shut.

"It's still good to know." Zoro grumbles.

She waves a hand through the air.

"Fine, fine. I'll be sure to tell you next time. Dear diary, I have a confession to make-"

She ducks under the katana that sails over her head, its tip slicing through flames since Ace doesn't bother moving, too busy sniggering at the pair of them.

"Keep your damn confessions to yourself. I don't want to hear them." Zoro snaps, before stomping away.

No. He really doesn't want to hear about what he is -was- in her first home.

"Oh, come on, which is it? Am I supposed to tell or not?" She yells at his retreating back.

She dusts off the thin, silky pants Nami gave her for their desert trip, and looks up to find Ace looking at her pensively.

She smiles, and turns away to join her nakama.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Say, Vivi-san, what's this road?" Sanji mumbles around a cigarette as they drift through the empty shells of Erumalu's wailing ruins.

Vivi's whispers are the only sound around them apart from the occasional gust of howling wind as she explains another one of Crocodile's manipulations.

"This used to be the canal that people from Erumalu used to draw water from the Sandora River. But even this was mysteriously destroyed."

"Mysteriously?" Elynna mumbles as she stops, staring down at the dried-up, sand-filled canal.

The others stop as well when Vivi turns to her, something like dread fluttering flimsily along the planes of her face like a mirage cast by the rays of the sun and the shadows of her hood.

"Yes… The frequency of sandstorms increased as the drought went on, and-"

"But that's just it." Elynna cuts her off, blinking owlishly at her and feeling distinctly like she missed a part of the conversation, to the point that she needs to state the obvious to get back on firmer ground. "Crocodile's power is all about sand."

The Princess stares at her for a long moment, lips parted.

"It's always like this," she hisses eventually from behind clenched teeth. "We can't tell or can't prove anything at the beginning, but in hindsight…"

Watching her clutch the skull of a dead person to her own forehead as she professess the same hatred and grief and uncomprehension she has been professing since they met her (her, not Miss Wednesday) at Whiskey Peak is a lot like waking to the warmth of Nami or Luffy after dreaming of a sister who pointed at their black-and-white-and-paper-thin faces.

(it's a story -a truth- that settles not just in Elynna's mind, but in the air around her

until she's breathing it in and its taste is roaming and rotting in her mouth as her throat works furiously to gulp it down and sweat it out)

She's too weak and too freaking hot to bring down a building over it like Sanji, Luffy and Usopp, but she follows them to feel the satisfaction of watching it happen anyway.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"What a bunch of kids." Zoro grumbles while Ace smiles in amusement next to him, even as he crouches down to dig through the sand for Vivi to bury the remaining bones. "Yuba is where the Rebel Army is, right?"

"Yes. I'm going to persuade them to stop the war before it begins."

"Persuade?"

"Yes. Everything my people suffered through has been planned by Crocodile, so I'm going to tell the Rebels' leader the truth and stop this useless bloodshed!"

Zoro frowns harder.

"Right. Okay."

He turns around to follow his crewmates, staring at his Captain and First Mate walking ahead of him.

His Captain, who has been going on and on about beating up Crocodile even before they really knew what he did.

(like his blood has been zapping and heating with something hungry, too-)

His First Mate, who at this point is probably going along with all of this mostly for the rest of the crew rather than for Vivi or her subjects. Who has only gotten really annoyed when someone -usually Luffy- said something she considered really too stupid for the seriousness of the situation… or when someone -usually Usopp- said something she considered too naive.

(unless he counts that one time when she actually got angry

and the result were the blue and purple ink of damaged blood vessels around her neck, enough dried Fish-Man blood to paint one of her hands entirely, and a vicious, vicious smile that dug sharply into the fat of her cheeks-)

His First Mate, whose mood is clearly not affected positively by Alabasta's wheather.

He scowls.

Yeah, this is going to become a fucking mess.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"It's hooooot-"

"No, really? I thought it was supposed to be refreshingly cool."

"Can't even... sweat anymore!"

"Yeah, me neither."

"It's hooooooot…"

"And neon pink socks are trendy."

"Toooooo hoooooot!"

"Die."

At that point, they figure out that Elynna's usual -and frankly terrifying- patience with their Captain's antics is inversely proportional to the temperature, and Sanji quickens his steps to catch up to the duo, linking arms with the girl to draw her gently away from the rubber boy.

"I guess that Alabasta is your least favourite island so far, then?"

"Damn right." Elynna grouches snappishly as she blows sweaty strands of hair away from her face and trudges along beside him. "Too much heat, not enough water. Drum was a thousand times better."

He hums.

"You should like Fish-Man Island, then."

She blinks up at him from under the hood of the pale blue outfit he bought for her, and suddenly the exasperated annoyance etched onto the sweaty glaze of her face melts into a bright grin, dimples and tiny, barely-whiter-than-her-skin teeth included.

"I sure will. Especially with the mermaids."

Sanji coughs, catching his cigarette before it falls to the ground and slowly putting it back into his mouth so he can regain his composure.

"Um… Well-" He sputters, frantically trying to guess if wanting to see mermaids weave their way through sea currents is on the safe side of things or not.

Elynna's grin widens teasingly as she knocks a shoulder against his arm gently.

"Think one of them will agree to give us her number? I think being friends with a mermaid is my new dream."

"There's… no reason it can't happen." He eventually settles for with a chuckle, shoulders slumping back under the weight of his backpack and his relief.

"You're right, you're right," she agrees with a solemn nod. "We make for good conversation, and you've got the gentleman style down pat. As long as you don't start talking about all the ways a good cook can cut fish, we can totally get at least one numb-"

"You idiot! She said one gulp, not thirteen! Give me that!"

"No way! You made me spit it all, so it doesn't count!"

"Doesn't count my ass-"

Elynna's head snaps towards the screeching mess of brawling limbs Usopp and Luffy have transformed into, thunderous glare seeping out of her eyes and steeling the rest of her face into a dark mask.

"Oi. Pipe. Down." She spits, Snaji looking away at his side and hiding his smile behind his hand for good measure, because with the disheveled mess of her hair and the haggard look she has been sporting since entering the desert, his First Mate looks more like a hissing cat than anything else.

The two boys spring apart with a simultaneous yelp.

"Yes, sir!"

Elynna growls.

Sanji pats her hand, and stirs her a bit further in the back by their linked arms.

"Think mermaids, Elynna-san. Think mermaids."

"When," Elynna grumbles like an elder exasperated by the youth, "are you going to drop the -san with Rain and me?"

He blinks at her, before sighing fondly.

He thought that the respectful suffix would be a good way to atone for his mistakes, among the many (too small) other ways he plans for everyday, but doing what they want sounds like a better plan.

So he smiles, and pats her hand again.

"Think mermaids, Elynna-chan. Think mermaids."

"Yeah. You're right. Mermaids."

She takes a deep, exaggerated breath, closing her eyes and letting Sanji lead her steps as she mumbles a litany of mermaid friends under her breath.

"Are you… okay… Elynna?" Chopper wheezes pitifully a few minutes later after he asks Zoro to bring the makeshift sledge he's agonising on closer to Elynna.

Prying an eye open, he stares up at the slight sheen of haziness barely visible over Elynna's dark eyes.

She blinks down, before understanding the question he's actually asking.

Is the medicine wearing off?

She smiles, and shakes her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Me and deserts just don't get along."

The small reindeer whines in agreement.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"So heavy… and hot…"

"You should know not to play rock-paper-scissors by now, Sea King. Your luck is shitty in that department."

Luffy groans, eyeing the single backpack on her back somewhat balefully as he drags everyone else's bag on another sledge.

"Annnn… Help meeee…"

"I am. Look, I'm carrying my own stuff instead of giving it to you. If I try to take another bag along on top of mine, I'll probably get sunstroke, and then you'll have to carry me and my bag-"

"Rock sighted at 12 o'clock!" Usopp calls out.

"Break time!" Luffy yells in response, kicking up a mini sandstorm as he promptly runs off.

"At least he ran in the right direction." Elynna remarks dryly.

"The power of food, I guess." Nami comments, nodding sagely next to her.

"Huh? Why's he running back here?"

"Chopper, come quick! There's some injured birds over there!"

The injured birds in question turn out to be swindlers and tricksters, as Vivi explains while Sanji and Luffy are busy fighting over the loss of most of their belongings -and most importantly the food.

Slowly, Elynna lets her own bag fall to the ground, before reaching up to lace her fingers over the back of her neck and carefully stretching her spine into the intertwined hold, imagining that the tension of her mind that is magnifying her heat-induced headache is bleeding out into the hollow of her hands along with the ache of her back muscles.

Once she feels her spine pop satisfyingly, she unfurls her limbs, and picks up her bag again.

"Hermes."

"Yes?" The cook looks up curiously, just in time to catch the backpack.

"There's not much in there, but do what you can."

"Of course."

"Ah, here. You can take this too. I bought it at the harbour, but it's not my thing." Ace adds as he throws a small bag of dried fruits to the cook.

They're interrupted by another scream as Luffy suddenly runs off after the herons who apparently came back to brag about tricking him, despite Nami's screams about the risk of him getting lost.

"Think you can drag him back from here?" Usopp mumbles as he plops himself down on one of the rocks near Elynna.

She crosses her arms, fingers tapping against her left biceps.

"Hell no. He's already too far. And we both know that with my aim, I'm more likely to miss him or impale him than anything else."

"Just checking your head isn't getting too big."

"Nah, don't worry. Your teaching style is pretty stingy with compliments."

"Treat your master with respect, young Padawan." The sniper grouches as he idly kicks -or more like nudges- her calf with his foot, eyeing the slowing speed of her fingers with relief.

And then Luffy comes running back.

Followed by a camel.

Followed by a hella huge purple lizard what the fu-

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"It's a Giant Sandora Lizard!" Vivi gasps, rattling off a series of facts in the time it takes for the Monster Trio to get rid of the beast, and for Ace to incinerate the other, since apparently they always move in pairs.

"I'm so sorry! I should've told you about this sooner!" Vivi stammers as she wrings her hands together in a way that looks almost painful.

Nami sighs as she sits down next to her, before smiling indulgently, Sanji opening his mouth to reassure the other girl from where he's cooking the lizard's meat on a sun-heated rock.

"Oh, good. At least we both agree that this bullshit has to stop." Elynna cuts in before he can say anything.

Vivi's head snaps up, wide-eyed and aghast as she stares up at the First Mate standing right in front of her with her arms crossed and fingers tapping impatiently as she stares down at her.

"Wha-"

"Since we're on a break, you might as well start explaining what are the dangers we might end up facing in this desert -and I mean before we actually face them. Maybe we won't all listen to you or remember what you say, but you can at least do that, don't you agree?" She pauses, and bends down until she's face-to-face with Vivi. "After all, you're our only guide, here. To some extent, our safety and our survival are your responsibility. Some of us are probably strong enough to get out of this desert relatively safe and sound anyway, but that's not my case, and I'm not willing to take any chances. With any of my crewmates. So. Please do your best, Vivi-san."

The older girl stares at Vivi for a moment longer, before straightening up and turning away to go sit down on another shadowed rock next to Usopp, snatching some food from a dumbfounded Sanji along the way.

She's never talked to her like that before.

And as her cheeks heat up and she blinks away the tears to stumble through the beginning of her explaination about the main dangers of the desert, Vivi realises that the First Mate only calls her Vivi-san instead of Vivi-sama because Vivi herself asked her to.

That most of the time she only sees the dancer when she approaches the crewmate or crewmates she's already with.

That Elynna rarely addresses her directly, and that when she does she's nothing like what she is with the others. Still calm and mature, yes. But not caustic, not mischievous, not casual -whether in her affection or in the way she holds herself.

Polite.

Nice.

Obliging.

Because she's a criminal who is already thinking about the future consequences of associating with a royal -being forced to pretend otherwise at best and accusations of kidnapping from the Marines at worst.

Because she sees her as Alabasta's Princess instead of a friend.

Because she sees her as an outsider, a temporary fixture in their lives that she doesn't want to get attached to, unlike the rest of her crewmates.

(Except maybe Mr. Bushido.

He didn't speak much more to her, and if there is one combination of the Straw Hats that she has never approached for something that isn't business-related, it's the First Mate and the swordsman, whether they're napping, sparring, or talking.)

It's exactly the kind of thing her tutor in applied politics and diplomacy has been forcing down her throat since she was twelve, and Vivi hates that she has come to understand it, even if only just a bit.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

It takes about fifteen minutes after they've eaten dinner before Luffy realises that the temperatures have dropped below freezing.

"Ann!" He hollers imperiously.

His First Mate, who is flipping through the pages of one of her notebooks, sighs aloud for the sake of it, and puts away her stuff, before opening her arms wide as he runs at her with puppy-like excitement, sending the both of them to the ground.

Elynna doesn't complain even once about the sand that will be in her hair and clothes when she wakes up -she's probably already fucked on that side anyway, and sets about finding a good position for the both of them instead, wrapping herself around Luffy like she knows he likes while he happily nuzzles himself into her neck and hair.

"Banzaiiiiii!"

Nonchalantly, she rolls away from where she and her Captain were lying as she hears Usopp's cry while dive-bombing towards them.

The sharpshooter slams face first into the ground, and emerges from the sand with loud, desperate coughs, sending Luffy into a fit of giggles.

"Rahhhhhh!" Usopp takes to pawing at his tongue, trying to get the sand off of it. "What the hell, Elynna?!"

"What the hell yourself. What am I, a pool?" She grumbles in reply.

Luffy laughs louder, while the slingshot user, having now escaped death by self-sand stuffing, rolls to their position and throws an arm and a leg over both of his crewmates.

Luffy's fist rises from the three-man heap.

"Yay! Cuddle pile!"

"Ow. That was my ear, Sea King."

"Sorry, Ann! Shishishishishi!"

Hearing footsteps, Usopp twists his neck, until he sees Zoro approaching them.

"No no no no no! Not you too, Zoro!" He raises both arms into a cross. "You're banned from cuddle piles! You have way too many muscles, so if you move around during the night, there's no guarantee that I won't die in my sleep because I'll end up below you at some point!"

An audibly smirking voice echoes from under Luffy's hair.

"I wouldn't mind being below him. Or above, real-"

"Oh my god, Elynna, shut up. Anyway," he turns back to the swordsman with a regretful shake of his head, "that's just not happening. I can't possibly in good conscience allow you to join us."

Zoro's brow arches up, because sleeping alone in the cold would be good training and all, but no way is he doing it when sleeping next to them would reduce the amount of sand that is somehow going to creep between his layers of clothes.

So he raises his hand.

From which a blue-nosed reindeer is dangling like an offering, looking hopeful to join in on this new activity.

A warm, furry, fluff ball of a blue-nosed reindeer.

There's a stretch of silence.

"Zoro, my man! Come join us!" Usopp's hand thumps against the ground repeatedly in invitation.

Elynna makes absolutely no effort to hold back her snickers, taking complete advantage of the fact that Luffy's rubber body is between her and Usopp's bony elbow.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Usually, she doesn't really mind waking up at the bottom of some kind of cuddle pile.

But there's a bit too many people this time around (as in, everyone but Ace), and it's too freakin' hot for this.

So she does the most logical thing, and pokes the closest person in the ribs.

Hard.

It turns out to be Luffy, if the wildly swinging, boneless whip of an arm that suddenly streaks through the air in the corner of her eyes is any indication.

And considering the resulting yelp, some part of that arm knocked right into Chopper.

Which is all well and good, except that apparently being woken up suddenly equals turning into the biggest form possible for the reindeer.

Usopp thus wakes up to a roaring creature that his mind doesn't really identify, and he screams as he tries to move -but ends up elbowing Zoro in the stomach instead.

She walks away from the rapidly degenerating situation like she has nothing to do with it.

A frugal breakfast and another sandstorm later, she stares at the decidedly crewmate-free and very much sand-filled horizon like she's contemplating the technicalities of how to murder a desert (she is), hand still fisted into the first clothes she managed to get a hold of in the blinding tempest of sand.

"Fuck." She breathes.

Only held upward by the clenched hold she has on his clothes, the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates snores on blithely.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"So. Blackbeard." Ace prompts once he realises that his brother's First Mate isn't going to speak first.

She was noticeably tenser since he woke up to find himself stranded in the desert with no way to find Luffy and his crew, gait even more stiff than when they entered the desert and eyes staring into space as she gnaws continuously at her lips and the stress lines on her forehead and between her eyes deepen.

He doesn't know if it's the absence of her crew or the fact that she's alone with him that makes her this uneasy and anxious.

He doesn't really want to know either.

What he wants is information on the disguting scumbag who-

Her eyes flit up to him before she resumes her staring, lips pressed tightly together.

"He's eaten a Devil Fruit, right?"

"... He stole the one Thatch found." Ace grits out through clenched teeth.

She hums.

"The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia doesn't include all Devil Fruits. But based on the descriptions the newspapers gave about his attacks, I'm pretty sure that Fruit is the Yami Yami no Mi."

"What does it do?"

"The Encyclopedia only says that it functions mostly like a black hole that can absorb anything and everything. From the various testimonies, it seems like the people or things absorbed end up in a sort of storage space, since they can also be expelled back out -though I don't know what effect this storage space has on living beings. But the most problematic for you is that he can apparently nullify Devil Fruit powers."

He stops, and she only takes a few steps before doing the same, returning his stare for the first time since they met.

"What?"

"It's apparently what happened to one of the Marines, according to a testimony. The reporter seemed to think that the witness was simply in a state of shock, but as far as I'm concerned it would explain why Blackbeard went so far as getting on the bad side of one of the strongest pirate crews of the world. And the Encyclopedia does say that this Fruit can absorb anything and everything."

"So… Fighting him would be like not having eaten a Devil Fruit at all."

She nods as they resume walking.

"Well, Devil Fruit powers are a lot more abstract than matter, so I would guess that it takes him more energy to absorb them, or maybe he needs a specific condition to activate that particular technique, like direct contact with his target, for example. But yeah."

"Great." Ace grinds out sarcastically.

She smiles, flitting and humourless.

"And it might be pure speculation on my part, but you should remember that while he can eject what he absorbs, he doesn't necessarily have to."

It takes him a moment to link the thought to the previous topic of their conversation, and his breath hitches as the memories of his subordinate twist further into something unrecognisable.

"You're saying he could steal someone else's Devil Fruit?"

She shrugs, but her jaw is locked tightly.

"It's just a possibility, and I don't think it's something he can do easily. But yeah."

She looks at him again, half-lidded eyes listless and soft with something like resignation.

"But you're not going to give up on taking him down anyway, right?"

"No."

Not if he wants to be able to look at Thatch's grave.

Not if he wants to feel worthy of leading his men again when he failed them by keeping that bastard among them all this time.

Not if he wants to sleep at night.

"Hm. Then don't go in there thinking you have the upper hand, because even without his powers, he knows how you fight, but you only know what the man he pretended to be. And if you're anything like Sea King, for fuck's sake, work on your dodging, because I'm pretty sure that the bulldozer method isn't going to work in your favour."

Ace smirks wryly.

And here he thought that leaving his crewmates meant no more nagging about his recklessness.

He should have known his little brother would end up with someone like this on his crew.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

They walk in silence for most of the day after that.

Ace wishes he ended up alone with someone more talkative.

(wishes he ended up alone with his little brother)

He's already spent enough time alone since he left the Moby Dick to be sick of it, of turning every memory in his mind to find all the moments where he should have seen through Teach's lies (all the times when he didn't prevent what happened that night-), of imagining all the painful ways in which he can end that fucker (and how it will never bring back Thatch, just like nothing can bring back Sabo-), or realising that his failure to notice that one of his underlings was such a despicable bastard only gives him more reason to hate hims-

"Oh my god. I hate you."

Ace blinks, and looks up from the campfire he's lighting for the night, unsure of what he did to warrant the comment from his brother's crewmate.

(Or maybe it's because of what he is

Maybe she figured out how worthless he-)

"Seriously, how did you both manage to get hair that looks this soft? Ugh."

He blinks again as she looks away from his hair with an expression of clear distate, muttering something about Luffy's hair all the while.

He grins.

"I got worried that my little brother picked someone normal to be on his crew, but actually you're pretty weird too."

"I'm pretty sure that sentence is supposed to be the other way around, but thanks," she answers dryly. "Now give me some nice stories about all the shit Sea King pulled as a kid."

He raises an eyebrow at her, amusement still tugging at his lips.

"You know blackmail won't work on him, right?"

"I sure do. I just want to have a good laugh at his expense."

He chuckles.

"Give me some stories from your time with him, and you have a deal."

He hasn't seen Luffy in the last three years, after all, and since it's him, he's probably gotten into an endless amount of trouble during that time.

Luffy's First Mate holds out a hand to shake the one Ace extended over the fire.

"Deal."

After a mutual silence as they both think through their memories, he's the one who speaks first.

"One day he confused the grape juice he ordered at Makino's bar with the glass of wine of Makino's friend who was sitting next to him. We had to go into Edge Town at least three times for pickpocketing to get enough money to pay for the damage, because he had no control over his powers when he was sober, and even less when he was drunk."

"... The first thing he said when he met Buggy the Clown was how big and red his nose is. At this point, I think it's an instinct."

Ace snorts.

"Probably. For one of Makino's birthdays, he brought her all the animals he'd hunted during a week. But since most of the villagers visit Makino at least once a day and there was too much meat, she ended up selling some, so the butcher didn't sell anything that week, and the moment he saw Luffy walk through the village he ran after him with his knife collection."

"Being chased through the town does seem to be a recurrent pattern." She comments with a sage nod. "Once he ran into a kid who turned out to be some mafia princess trying to lose her bodyguards to run away from home, so she accused him of kidnapping so they would focus on him. We found out when he ran past the pub we were in with half of the mafia on his tail, while he was running after the kid to kick her ass for involving him in something he had no interest in."

"Well, to be honest, humans weren't usually the ones who were chasing him at the time, since he often did things like poking a bear out of hibernation because he saw on the calendar that we were supposed to be in spring."

She glances at him suspiciously, lips twitching.

"Did he read the calendar correctly?"

He smirks.

"Nope. Dadan just wrote down 'spring cleaning' because the house was too filthy. And the bear was just sleeping."

She laughs at that, leaning back on her hands as she stretches out her legs in front of her.

"Yep, he really hasn't changed. Y'know, there was that one time where he got scammed into buying a so-called treasure map. But when Rain told him it was a fake, he ran back to the stall to punch the shopkeeper. Except he actually punched his female twin sister. Though, in his defence, she was just as beefy as her brother and had her back to him. Anyway, she apparently fell in love at first sight because it was the first time a man managed to catch her off guard and land a hit on her. So he got chased through the town again. That one had brass knuckles. Apparently, that's how she showed her love."

There's a moment of silence.

"Once he lost his grip on Makino's gift while jumping through the trees, so he dived to grab it back. Except there was a giant yawning alligator just under, so he ended up being swallowed, and we- I had to run after that damn thing to beat it up so that he wouldn't come out of it to drown in the river."

She snickers, as amused by the story as by the easiness with which she can imagine it.

At this point, there are very few extraordinary situations in which she doesn't think that her Captain can get himself.

Then she pauses, eyeing Ace's smirk and the glint in the smoky grey of his eyes as he stares at her, chin nestled into his hand.

Wait, is he trying to one-up her right now?

...

Ohhhh, this is so on.

She waits for him to take a swig of the flask of water, and then-

"I gave him The Talk." She says blankly.

Ace breathes wrong, and hacks loudly as he thumps his closed fist hard against his chest.

Elynna - 1

Ace - 0

"I'm so nice, it's almost a shame." Elynna laments in a sigh, staring at the flask of water he was drinking from a few moments before.

Seeing the great Fire Fist Ace spit water everywhere would be funny, but this desert trip was such a bad experience so far that she was pretty sure the sight of so much water wasted would actually hurt her more than him.

"I'm not sure I can leave my little brother in your charge when you say that." Ace wheezes with a glare.

"Who do you think manhandled the other into joining their crew?"

He chuckles at that.

"He really hasn't changed at all."

"If he ever reaches seventy, I'm pretty sure he'll still be smiling like he's seven."

"He had a gap tooth at seven."

"Which one?" She asks curiously. "If he still hasn't started to lose his teeth at seventy, I'll be sure to punch the correct one out of his mouth."

He's silent for a long moment, and when she looks back at him she finds him staring at her, half-amused and half-something else.

"So you'll still be there?"

"Having a child is a lifelong commitment." She drawls blankly in her best imitation of a pompous sage.

He snickers, and offers her a bit more of their limited reserve of water in a show of solidarity.

"More seriously," she goes on once she gives him back the flask, "people who can put up with me being bitchy and an all-around killjoy are the main reasons I personally feel like life is worth it. So unless they really don't want to be with me, I'll stick with them, y'know?"

He hums in a way that is probably supposed to be non-committal, but she thinks that it's not really what his face seems to say.

"... Okay, you get the job then. I leave him in your care."

"Ew. No. No no no. Too much responsibility. I decline."

"Denied. You already confessed your feelings."

Her lips quirk up just a bit further as she remembers how Luffy refused to hear anything else than 'yes' from potential crewmates.

(it helps her to swallow down the words she wants to tell to his brother about how she really, really isn't strong enough to care for someone properly, and has no idea how to even go about it)

"Oh, so it's actually your fault that Sea King is this stubborn about getting his way?"

"Are you picking a fight with me right now?"

"Me. Picking a fight with one of Whitebeard's highly-respected Commanders. The audacity. I would never dare." She deadpans.

He laughs, warm and low like the glow of the flickering flames in the night.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Ace falling asleep in the middle of his sentence is so unexpected that Elynna barely has the time to stop his forehead with her hand.

He doesn't wake up, and starts snoring softly instead.

She breathes out slowly, heart beating louder against her ribs than it has in most of her recent fights, and shuffles closer to lay him on his back.

In the flickering light of the fire, the splattering of freckles across his nose are winking and streaking through the tan of his skin like stars, and the relaxed planes of his face are warped into lights and shadows that almost look like the smile she saw him throw at Luffy in the last few days.

She looks away, and flops on her back, wiggling her toes to take in the warmth of the fire as she stares at the stars.

"I'm a certified idiot." She tells them.

It doesn't matter whether or not she can manage not to love him.

(She won't even if she tries to avoid him again. She can already tell.)

He's a decent person as far as she's concerned, and more than that (before anything else), Luffy loves him.

And she loves Luffy.

Anything she can provide that will make him happy is another reason for her to live.

It's as simple as that.

So she sits up, reaches out to take hold of her bag, rifles through it for a notebook and pen, and starts jotting down the specifics of the original story that she remembers best and hates the most, in a language that no one in this world is supposed to know.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Ace doesn't wake up breathing in food, and for a moment he blinks at the silence because he's so sure that he's back on his ship and someone pushed his plate out of the way-

The faint sound of pen scratching against paper stops as he frowns up at the sky that doesn't move and the deck that is too still under his back.

(Is that Marco? Or Thatch thinking up a new recipe for him to taste-)

"Hey, sleepyhead."

His insides twist so hard that for a moment it feels as if his stomach is in his throat and his lungs have replaced it while his heart has crashed into pieces somewhere around his feet.

"I thought your nicknames were supposed to be original." He muses nonchalantly after gulping a few times to slot everything back into place and smooth over the scratchiness in his throat that makes his breath catch and burn.

He listens as his brother's First Mate clicks her tongue and starts writing again.

"That's not a nickname, Ignis. I just like to show my love by insulting people."

He very carefully buries the L word that she probably doesn't mean in the back of his mind, and props himself on his side to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"It means fire in an old language." She offers by way of explanation without looking away from the notebook in her lap.

"Original." He snorts, feeling the need to comment so that he doesn't have to think.

She stops writing to lift her head, and stares at him.

"Original doesn't necessarily mean complicated. Do you like complicated things?"

He pauses.

And he thinks.

Thinks about the man who brought him into this world when he never asked for it, how so many people hate and fear him but Garp of all people respects him-

("Huh? Are you dumb, Ace?" Luffy asked him once in that insulting but genuine way only he can manage. "I love you, so I'm staying with you. It's easy!")

He thinks about that day when flames licked at the night sky because some people thought of themselves as gods and others were greedy for money and others couldn't be bothered to look past the grey skin and bad smell to see the eyes of other human beings-

("It was hard, where I lived before." Sabo whispered one day while they were lying down in the shadow of some trees, the sky blue of his eyes hidden under his eyelids and his face warmed by his easy, happy smile. "There were all those stupid rules I had to learn, and they made everything complicated. Being with you and Luffy is easy. It's the best thing ever.")

He thinks about the man who lived with them for years and betrayed them for years for the powers of a fruit that doesn't even taste good, never as good as Thatch's meals-

("Your First Mate was right when he said that you think too much. I just want to make you my son and take you in our family. It seems pretty simple to me.")

He lets himself fall on his back again with a huff.

"Nah. 's fine."

She hums, and after a few minutes he shuffles over to her so he can sit with his back against hers.

It barely takes a few seconds before the weight of her increases, body pliant against his as her skin drags his heat into her to ward off the chill of the night.

A dancer who thinks too much, Luffy said.

At first Ace thought that his brother's First Mate was like his own, serious to a fault (too serious as far as his careless little brother is concerned) and with a tendency to use her brain before her fists like Deuce.

But maybe Luffy's words also meant that there's too many things spinning inside her mind, blurring and fogging the world when really, she just wants simple things.

(just the answer to one fucking question, damnit-)

He drifts off to the sound of her writing and occasional humming.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Oh, and I'm telling you right now just in case, but I don't do well with the heat, so don't trust me too much in a fight, because I probably won't last long."

He snorts. They might be criminals in a country on the verge of civil war, and she might look like she frets enough to compensate for all of her crewmates, but they're still in the middle of a freaking desert. It's not like there's a lot of people around to be attacked by.

"Not that I won't say no if we get the opportunity, but I'm pretty sure a fight won't happen."

She looks up from where she's checking her backpack, and gives him a decidely unimpressed look.

"You're Sea King's brother. I would bet money that we're going to get into trouble."

He scowls faintly as he nonchalantly cleans up any trace of their passage, vaguely offended by the comparison.

"I'm not even half as good as him at doing that."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Foreigners are always such an easy pick, right boys? Come on, you two, stop right here and raise your hands. I'm sure we can help to lighten those heavy bags of yours!"

They stop as the loud, raucous laughter of the group who calls themselves desert bandits bounces from member to member.

Elynna sighs in an attempt to expel the mounting, unwarranted frustration despite how grating the sound feels, reverberating under her skull like sun rays under a magnifying glass.

Next to her, Ace makes an outraged sound in the back of his throat.

"You jinxed us. This is your fault." He grouches lowly.

"Hardly. You don't need help with a secret family technique like that. Now pay up."

He does so nonchalantly, seeming more amused about the whole thing as he slaps a few banknotes into her waiting hand.

"Oi-" One of the bandits begins.

"What does a pirate even need money for? You should've bet on food or something."

The way Ace goes on without a care is so much like Luffy that Elynna feels her lips stretch to accomodate the light amusement fizzling in her throat like thin clouds of sunlight.

She scoffs.

"Clearly, your treasurer is nothing like ours."

"Hey-"

"Sorry, mister, but you're not even half as scary as our treasurer when we're missing on our first installment to pay her back -with 300% interest."

Ace whistles.

"Shut your mouth and give us that money!"

She steps back and away from the thrust of the curved sword.

Ace lets another blade run him through, and raises a cocky eyebrow at the slack-jawed man on the other hand of it, amusement lapping at the edge of his lips.

"Rude." He says, and Elynna swivels on her feet to survey the bandits circling around their back, because goddamnit does he have to be just her type?!

The bandit stumbles away from his pseudo-victim with a yelp, and the others step forward in an attempt to keep up the level of intimidation.

She takes a step back and to the side in response, shoulders bumbing lightly against Ace's shoulder blades.

"Hey."

He hums, casual and confident in a way that settles the line of her shoulders, as if the knowledge he has of his superiority over all of them is a weight thrumming in the air and breathing in her lungs.

"You got a good balance on sand?"

"Yeah?"

"Cool. Make sure to keep it."

"Huh-"

She snags his ankle with her foot and abruptly drags it backward as he yells, pushing her back against his to force it into a position parallel to the ground.

The momentum is just enough for her to swing her legs above the both of them, and with her hands splayed over his shoulder blades for balance she pushes herself into a handstand before kicking the same bandit who is coming at them again in the face.

And suddenly his hands are on her ribs, heaving her a bit further away from him so he can straighten up without hitting her as she comes down.

Her feet touch the ground, and he stares at her, a bit wide-eyed, mouth seeming to hesitate between annoyance and appreciative surprise.

"I could have dealt with it."

"I know." She grins, impish, and just as he huffs and rolls his eyes at her, she presses his shoulders down and sends herself sliding between his legs, tripping the closest bandits and planting a hand on the shifting ground to stop her movement and send a stronger kick into the man's face before he can even fall.

She goes on, sounds mostly indistinct around her except to tell her when someone is getting too close.

But by the fifth or sixth bandit who falls she's already panting, throat too dry and too hot, chest heaving, backpack sticking to her clothes and her skin with sweat, light throbbing under her skull, and she huffs a shuddering breath as she reaches up to flick hair away from her eyes, blinking to chase away the blinding spots left by the sun.

There's too many of them, at least thirty, and she's not used to doing this alone-

An almost scathing hand closes around her shoulder and tugs her backward.

She bends over with a yelp as she feels the air sing above her with the slash of a sword.

"Thanks," she pants.

"You're welcome." Ace smirks as he punches the bandit away.

"Hand!"

He lets go, and she bends further to fall into another handstand, legs swinging over to send the woman coming up behind him sprawling with a kick to the chest.

She stands back up, and if they weren't in a desert she would smile at the heat of Ace's presence that stays close enough to feel.

(Okay, she does smile.)

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Ace learned very soon that half of fighting (half of winning) is about rolling with the punches.

(about taking pain that could never compare to the constant ache in his chest whenever he thought about children holding their parents' hands and the same people who told him you should die ruffling kids' hair even though it wasn't their kid

about taking pain and throwing it into the everburning furnace of his anger that gnashes it into cinders

about throwing that fury into the enemy's face and making them feel pain a hundred times stronger

Fighting, winning, Ace thinks, is about who can hit the hardest and hurt the longest without crying.

And he's very good at both.)

But then he realised that it didn't have to be.

Because he met Marco and his clinical strikes.

He met Izou and the other snipers of his division.

He met Jozu and his boxing lessons.

It may be too late for him to learn it (though not many people can still give him pain), but he knows that fighting can be thought through, can be practical, can be made into an art.

Kicking yet another bandit in the ribs casually and sending the man sprawling into one of his companions, Ace watches his brother's First Mate, and wonders how she warped fighting into this.

Because it takes rolling with the punches to a whole other level.

He grabs the blade aimed for his ribs and heats up his fingers until a high-pitched yelp tells him that he can let go, and keeps watching as a tall, muscled woman punches Elynna in the temple.

Watches as Elynna falls to the side and grabs the woman's face on the way down, throwing her to the ground so hard it brings her own body back up.

Watches as two fans suddenly appear in her hands, one of them flicking open as she flings her arm to the side and cuts deep between the ribs of an upcoming bandit, before her other hand follows up and smashes the guard of her fan in the face of another who was aiming for her unprotected chest.

Watches as she lets her own momentum and the missed dodging that earns her a thin gash across her upper arm send her into a spin that ends up turning into-

He turns around to finish off his part of the group.

"Where did you learn to fight?" He asks as they walk away after everyone is down and Elynna is done patching herself up.

Her eyes flicker to him and back to the dunes stretching lazily in front of him.

"I remembered choregraphed fights I saw when I was a kid and decided that fighting and dancing really aren't that different. Also I was too lazy to learn an already existing style from scratch when I had a basis to make my own. Not that I had the teacher for the former, mind you. Or the time, since Sea King insists on getting into trouble at least every other day."

Ace hums, glances down at the dried blood and scratches on her knuckles that used to be on his, at the scar tissue there thinner than his own, and tucks away the memory of a fight where pain and the enemy are just another dance partner.

(One step further from Deuce.

One step closer to him.

He doesn't want to think about whether he hates it or likes it.)

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

They somehow manage to find a town in the middle of the desert of all places, and to enter said town just in time to see a cart of food being taken somewhere.

They exchange a look, stomachs growling, and promptly follow it.

And since they're polite, they also wait for the official who brought the food to finish thanking the rebels he wants to offer it to before sneaking into the room where most of it is stored.

They sit down and dig into the steaming plates waiting to be brought to the nearby room as its occupants compliment their leader for coming up with the idea of pretending to be rebels to survive.

"Heh."

Shoveling another forkful of food into her mouth as cleanly as she can, Elynna glances up absently at Ace's wry smile.

"This guy is pretty smart. Though that kind of lie is probably not the best idea if he has no actual skill to back it up with." She comments after a moment.

Ace wipes the sauce off his mouth with the back of his hand, before reaching for the next plate with a shrug.

"I dunno. Just the mention of the rebels' presence is probably enough to send most bandits running anyway."

She hums pensively, lying down on her back to cool her overheated skin against the stones of the floor.

Neither of them bothers to move when the conmen come out to run away before the sand pirates that are apparently about to attack can reach the town.

Ace is prompt to insult them, get attacked, and beat them up, which she thinks probably sums up his usual first interactions with random strangers.

As he adds another plate to his pile more carefully than the previous ones, she sits back up with a yawn, startling the only conscious conman left.

They exchange a glance over his quivering form as he asks for their help in protecting the town from the sand pirates, and Ace points to the leftover food on the table with a jerk of his chin.

She answers with a thumbs up.

"What do you think about the plan to stop this whole mess?" Ace suddenly asks around a mouthful of chicken as the conmen scramble to prepare everything.

She snorts.

"I'm not sure that Sea King yelling that he's going to find Crocodile and kick his ass counts as a plan, but our best chance would be to take him and the strongest members of Baroque Works out, since they're probably the main players in his plan -and the ones who can do the most damage in one way or another. I doubt we can prevent all the damage, though."

She wipes the sauce off her plate with a piece of bread and pops it in her mouth, looking up to find herself faced with the confused frown of the Commander.

"What?"

"That's not the plan. The Princess said she was going to persuade the Rebel Army stationed in Yuba to not go to war with the Royal Army."

She freezes in the middle of cutting her meat.

Then, very slowly, she sets the cutlery down, braces her elbows against the table, and laces her fingers together, nails digging into the back of her hands.

"I should've known she would try something like this."

(-should've known that Vivi would go overboard, would try and save everyone who isn't already dead in this country,

because no one in this fucking world has ever heard about making goddamn compromises-)

She couldn't remember anything about Yuba in the newspapers she read, so she thought that there was someone the Princess wanted to see there who could help them, but-

She stares down at the way the skin of her hands twists to accomodate the pressure of her nails, and digs harder until she sees scratches drawn on the flesh, barely perceptible against the white of it.

"Then I think I'm going to have a conversation with Sea King -although he's probably already aware of it somehow. If he's fine with it, and is still fine with it after I explain why I don't like it, then I'll follow along. But I don't think I'll manage to look happy about it. Maybe the higher level of bitchiness will convince the Princess to come up with something else."

She unlaces her fingers, not bothering to look at Ace's expression, and reaches for a paper napkin that she proceeds to compulsively tear into progressively smaller bits.

"Ignis."

He hums, sounding more amused than anything else.

Or maybe satisfied?

It sounds positive enough, and that's the only thing she cares about, because it means that she knows one more person she doesn't need to play nice with.

"New bet. Guess the number of times I will have to imagine punching the Princess in the face before I get bored."

"You mean calm down."

"Same difference."

He laughs, broad and open like the sea bursting into blues and gold with the first rays of the sun.

"You know yourself better than me, though. I don't bet with cheaters."

"Nah. I might have had a very frustrating little sister, but I don't have any relationship that involves being within punching distance with any of the people who pissed me off this much in the past."

After all, those were mostly characters -or people- on the screen that she could only consider throwing her remote control at before thinking better of it when she realised that she would lose a TV without even getting to see someone's bloodied face in exchange.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Ah, They're over there. Oi, Luffy!"

Elynna slides down the weird lizard that served as their taxi just in time to catch a flying Luffy.

Despite the heat, her arms tighten for a moment in an avid attempt to suppress any kind of space between them along with the feel of his and the others' absence on her skin.

Luffy laughs, indulging her as he returns the embrace, before he lets go and sets out to enthusiastically inspect their taxi -and his load.

"Yo," Ace greets the rest of her crewmates with a raised hand. "I brought food."

She blinks up at him.

"I thought it was just for you."

He scowls down at her, too hard to be anything else than amusement.

"I'll have you know, I have more restraint than him." He replies with a jerk of his chin towards his little brother, who is arleady gulping down water greedily, cheeks and throat stretched out of proportions.

She wrinkles her nose.

"Congratulations." She says dryly.

With an amused huff, he steps slightly in front of her as Vivi approaches them, right arm bumping lightly against her left shoulder.

"Really?" She whispers under her breath.

He tilts his head slightly towards her.

"Twenty-seven times."

"Point taken."

"And you were cutting your meat very viciously."

"That comment was unnecessary."

Vivi opens her mouth to ask if they stole the food from the villagers, and Elynna promptly turns around to snatch Luffy's arm and drag him away from the rest of the group.

He lets her, arm stretched to snag a mango that he starts eating as he waits for her to speak.

"Do you know that Vivi-san wants to go to Yuba to stop the rebels?"

"Yeah," he nods. "She's being dumb, trying to solve everything by herself like this."

Well, it might not be for the same reasons, but at least they're on the same page.

"I…" She stops, frowning as her eyes roam over the aimless dunes around them while she tries to piece together the words in her mouth. "I don't like this plan."

"Ann."

She looks back at him.

He's frowning, too, but on him it exudes determination rather than hesitation, and the tension uncoils from her muscle, releasing them from the twisted prison they were locked into.

(and once again, she realises how lucky she was to stumble upon someone who makes decisions for her when she's too busy talking herself in circles and loops)

"I'm gonna beat Crocodile up."

She exhales a breath of laughter along the rest of her worry on the matter, and nods.

"Okay."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Well, I better go." Ace decides as he watches Luffy gives his hat and the Vivre Card to his navigator so she can stitch the latter into the strip of red fabric around the former.

"Wow! You know how to sew too, Nami?!"

"Of course I do, idiot. Usopp can, too. It's weirder that you don't know how to sew when you left your island alone, but I'm not surprised, since it's you." Nami comments dryly.

Luffy beams like she just gave him the biggest compliment ever.

"Yeah, uh, I only sew fabrics together. Skin-sewing is strictly an Elynna and Chopper thing." Usopp mumbles next to her, feeling the need to make absolutely sure that his Captain won't ask him to do that.

Like, ever.

"Ah. Speaking of, where's she?"

Nami's eyes flicker up to Ace's face curiously from where she sat down to complete her task.

"She's still sleeping. Or well, not sleeping, considering all the noise that Scorpion guy made, but she didn't bother to get up."

Ace smirks in amusement, before slinging his bag over his shoulder and turning around.

"Well. Guess I gotta thank her for her help."

He finds the First Mate in the rapidly declining shadow of the rocks where they settled down to sleep the day before, the only difference in her position being the blanket she threw off.

He crouches down next to her, nudging at her shoulder lightly with his fingers.

She cracks an eye open, squinting up at him, before groaning as she rubs at her eyes.

"Liar."

He blinks, entirely confused about what she means by that.

"What?"

She waves lazily at the general area of his face.

"Don't try to pull the sun-halo behind your head to make yourself look like an angel. I won't believe it."

It's not often that he wants to laugh instead of breaking someone's nose when they compare him to anything close to a devil, but this is one of those times.

"I'm not trying to trick you, I'm just here to say thanks before I leave. It... could've been bad if I went after him not knowing what you told me."

If nothing else, his brothers and the Whitebeard Pirates have drilled it into his head that getting help is okay, sometimes.

(or rather, they tried to drill into his head the fact that he can always rely on them

but he won't accept that

because if he only relies on others and is never strong enough to be relied on by them

then that means that his ability to keep those people safe and happy -the way he failed to with Thatch- can't determine the worth of his life

it means that he's back to square one, back to trying to determine how he can even answer his question-)

Besides, they went over all the newspaper articles that mentioned Blackbeard the night before, so he at least has a general idea of which direction to take, rather than wander around and follow rumours.

Propped on her elbow and the fat of her cheek squished against her fist, Elynna stares at him, humming under her breath before she holds out her hand between them.

He stares at it, dumbfounded.

Seriously, how many times is she going to throw him off his game? Is Luffy rubbing off on her?

"I already gave you all the money we bet."

She rolls her eyes.

"Stop being dumb and gimme your number."

He quirks an eyebrow at her.

"Even for you, that's bold."

"Do you want me to pass on any info I might find or not? Although, I don't mind mixing business with pleasure." She smirks deviously.

He reaches out to give a push to her forehead, and takes out a piece of paper to write the number of his Den Den Mushi as she falls on her back with an offended yelp.

"Ah," she goes on as she brushes a few strands of blue-green, straggly hair away from her eyes and throws him a vaguely irritated glare. "Would it be too much to ask for the number of someone in your crew, too?"

"... Why?"

"Because you obviously haven't contacted them at all to tell them how you were doing."

His face scrunches up into a dark, embarassed scowl that says how do you even know that?

"Sea King didn't bother calling Makino-san until I literally pushed a Den Den Mushi in his face. I'm pretty sure you're the same, or even worse. Plus I have an important question to ask."

"Fine." He huffs, scribbling down another number and dropping the piece of paper in her waiting hand, before smirking down at her. "Don't punch the Princess in the face, alright?"

"You're right. She can't do her job with a messed-up face. I'll aim for her stomach."

He barks out a laugh at her instant, blank reply, and then scrambles to not fall on his ass when Luffy throws himself at Elynna from nowhere, almost knocking him off his feet in the process.

And then his idiot of a little brother locks his arms around his First Mate, pouts up at him furiously, and proceeds to spout total bullshit.

"I already said I wasn't joining you, so you can't take any of my nakama either! Ann promised she'd stay with me!"

"Sorry, pretty boy. I'm taken." Elynna adds solemnly as she shrugs, since apparently she also can't keep her mouth shut.

Ace drags a hand down his face to hide his blush of annoyance, and gets up to leave.

Still stuck under her smugly satisfied Captain, Elynna eyes the line of his shoulders, already made heavy with duty, revenge, and all the grief of betrayal, and nudges her Captain's cheek.

"Hey, Sea King. Is your brother trying to be the bigger person right now? Cause that won't do. We're gonna have to drag him back down to our level."

He looks at her quizzically.

She answers with the long-suffering glance she usually gives him when talking their way out of a problem (or more like trying to, because he tends to sabotage her efforts without even realising, which is in equal parts frustrating and hilarious) is clearly not working and the only solution she can think of is beating their way out of it.

Go all out.

He beams.

And stretches his arms to catch Ace by his shoulders, wrapping his legs around Elynna's waist just in time to rocket both of them into his gaping brother's back, his First Mate somehow managing to put the older man into a loose headlock as all three of them crash to the ground and both brothers start wrestling like puppies.

Except ten times more violent.

"At least say goodbye properly you dolt-"

"Get off-"

"I don't wanna!"

"Elynna!" Ace hisses.

"Ignis!" She hisses back playfully without letting go, even though she's being squished between the both of them.

(-and for a moment Luffy imagines that Sabo is right there with them, happy and laughing at their antics and alive-)

Five minutes later Ace stands over both of his attackers as they lie on the ground and pant, one of Luffy's arms knotted around Elynna's thighs. They all have flushed cheeks, mussed air, and matching rashes from where the sand rubbed too harshly at what little skin is not covered.

"I'm leaving." Ace huffs with a baleful glare.

"Okay! See you!" Luffy answers with a sunny smile, before he goes back to trying to unknot his arm, tongue poking out of his mouth.

"Sure thing, babe." Elynna deadpans without lifting a finger to help her Captain.

Between her narrowed eyes and the unblinking stare she pins him under, Ace feels more like she's saying something along the lines of you better stay alive, or I will find a necromancer to teach me how to bitchslap people in the afterlife.

He rolls his eyes.

She grins widely in a way that doesn't look half as nice as Luffy's, and makes a shooing motion at him.

"Go on then, you gigantic knucklehead."

"Gigantic knucklehead!"

Elynna stares.

Luffy frowns harder at the mess of his arm and her legs.

"Pompous pyromniac." She goes on, turning back to Ace with twitching lips.

"Pompous pyromaniac!"

"Bumbling-"

She squawks as Ace kicks some sand at her with a half-furious and half-horrified frown.

"Stop corrupting him!"

"I'm teaching him some vocabulary!" She sniggers with a handful of sand of her own.

"Shut up. Luffy, kick Crocodile's ass as hard as you can, okay? I've never liked that guy."

And then he turns around and walks away with a last, lazy wave over his shoulder.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Nami rounds the wall of rocks leading to their camp.

"Hey, why did Luffy's brother look like-" She stops, staring down at her crewmates suspiciously. "Why do you look like you were dragged into a wrestling match?"

"Cause we were." Elynna shrugs carelessly, wincing as she gives up on unknotting her sand-crusted hair and opts for putting them in a loose bun at the base of her neck. "Well, we kind of dragged him into it, though."

"And we won!" Luffy informs them loudly as he looks up with his usual wide smile.

He holds out his hand for a high five, and his First Mate indulges him with a lazy smile, before turning back to the rest of the crew with a jerk of her thumb towards the messy knot of Luffy's arm.

"So, Fang. Can you cut through this? I kinda want to move now."

Zoro's smirk is positively thrilled as he puts his hand on his katana.

"Sure."

"Ann! You traitor!"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

They reach Yuba to discover a slightly less ruined version of Erumalu being drowned by a sandstorm, golden sand rushing into every opening and choking down buildings of naked stone and tattered wood.

It has become a regular thing since the drought started three years ago, the last villager left tells them, as battered as the shovel he has to lean onto, back curved under the burden of hopes, disappointments and all the hours spent bending over layers upon layers of sand to try and dig water out of them.

The rebels left when the merchants stopped coming here, and now they're low on supplies and plan to fight one last time.

They've lost their minds!

They're practically suicidal at this point!

Elynna stares at the man, at the gnarled curve of his fingers that memorised the shape of the shovel and at the wrinkles of his skin encrusted with sand (half-dead and buried, just like the town haunted with the noise of his burdened breathing and eternal digging), at the pain that can still wring tears out of his sunken eyes and over the protuding bones of his hollow cheeks, at his colorless clothes that envelop more air than flesh.

He radiates suffering, despair, and stubborn determination like the heat of dying embers. Foolishly, it makes her want to reach out, even though her touch would mean nothing to him like Vivi's does, even though he looks as if his body might snap if touched by something more substantial than the sand and the wind that come to tear off pieces of his hope faster than he can keep up.

(as if she might cut herself on the shards of his pain and the angles of his bones because he lost too much and that's all he has left-)

Please, he says.

Begs.

Falls on his knees and begs.

You have to stop those fools, Vivi.

"Please don't worry anymore. I'll stop them no matter what!"

Elynna listens to the Princess make a promise that she only has a slight chance to fulfill, and looks away.

Toto shows them to a room for the night.

She doesn't spare a glance towards the pillow fight that begins almost immediately as she steps in.

Instead, she climbs to the second level of bunk beds, lies down, and closes her eyes to stew in the silent, suffocating rage that swells and recedes with each passing breath and each argument of her own mind as it debates if she has any right to feel this.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

When Luffy suddenly plops himself down on the ground to lean back against a conveniently placed dead tree without any kind of transition, it takes a few seconds for the others to realise what he has done and turn around.

Except Elynna, because she has been waiting for this, near ready to trigger the confrontation herself if the rubber boy didn't do it before lunch, hierarchy be damned.

(the only things keeping her on a leash her awareness of the fact that the words that are digging into her muscles and needling at her skin and crawling between her teeth have been stewing in acid for much longer than she's known the Princess, that the acid is made bubbling hot and scathing dry by the sun and the heat and the too-white light and the too-rough too-hot sand

that there's only half of a truth in those words that are coiling up her throat and inside her mouth like heady snakes of smoke waiting for her lips to pull back

but there's more than enough seething exasperation to make up for the lack of sincerity backing those words, and no way to tell both apart in her voice)

"I quit."

She crosses her arms against her chest like chains to keep her chest cavity from being torn open by all the twisting blades inside of it.

"You're up against one of the Shichibukai in the middle of a civil war with thousands of lives on the line, and you're still hoping for everyone to get out alive, including us? Don't you think that's naive?"

"Luffy- At least try to understand Vivi's feel-"

"Wait, Nami-san. Let him finish."

"... So what if it is? What's wrong with wishing for people to not die?!"

"But they do."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

The words seem as loud as the explosion that tore apart Igaram's boat in Vivi's mind, to the point that she can't hear herself breathe, blood frozen and buzzing inside her like white noise until she realises that she's not actually breathing-

(And she doesn't know what to believe

Between the heavy, heavy sludge tearing at her insides with the betrayed memory of the promise this boy made to help her

-when she was standing alone with her back drenched in the blood of the man who protected her until the end and her hands drowned in the blood she shed to pay for information that feels like a bad dream rather than truth sometimes-

because he made her feel like it was as true as the sun in the sky and the sun in his smile

And the lava of fury that is blistering through the air in her lungs and the blood in her heart because how dare he-

how dare he talk of the death of her people so lightly after everything they've suffered when they deserved so much more than what they used to have for so much longer, after she's fought so hard and so long against odds big enough for their shadow to extend into her nightmares-)

She breathes in, and in the next moment throws herself at him with nothing but the howling need to make him hurt just like the people of this country -of her country- have been hurting all this time-

Her collar digs into her throat like thick, hot wire (or a leash, a leash dragging her back and down like a rabid dog-), Luffy's face turns into a blue sky, and then her back slams against the ground.

It knocks what little air her clothes didn't slice through right out of her throat, and for a moment her vision goes black and her hearing goes white, but even then her limbs flounder against the uneven, shifting sand of the ground in an effort to get back up, spurred on by the memories that taught her that freezing is the worst thing she can do when her life is on the line-

She only manages to lean up on her forearms before a foot rams her back down into the burning, gritty sand, hot leather pressing against her skin through her clothes and incinerating the air in her lungs to ashes.

She gasps, eyes flying open, and freezes.

The Straw Hats' First Mate is staring down at her, face flushed and sweaty with the heat washing over them.

It does nothing to make the dark, dilated eyes that are fixed on her any less scary. Not with the way her lips twist to uncover her teeth, looking nothing like a smile and everything like the bared challenge of the white lions that are raised in Alabasta's Royal Palace to keep the rare species from disappearing.

(and the glaze of respect that softened Elynna's smile everytime Vivi talked to her alone has disintegrated into a contempt that looks more sincere than everything else they shared

Everything except the hollowed out exhaustion of someone too full of emptiness to muster up anything close to politeness as they ate quietly under the rain of Luffy and a Giant's laughter

and that quiet piece of night where Elynna treated her almost, almost like just another crewmember-)

"What the fuck," she hisses through white, sneering teeth, "do you think you're doing?"

And then Vivi realises that she was about to lunge at this girl's Captain, and remembers the way Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine took advantage of the fact that said Captain was stuck under a giant rock to mock and deride him.

Remembers that the girl whose foot is heavy against her sternum, hindering her breath just a tiny bit (just slightly, like a knife grazing her throat with each breath, light as a feather and all potential-) is the same one who broke a few of Miss Valentine's bones and took a direct hit from Mr. 5 to give her Captain a better opportunity to strike.

Everyone's eyes are heavy on her skin, heavier than the heat of the sun, and for the first time Vivi realises that she asked for help from criminals that are dangerous enough to take down the highest-ranked members of Baroque Works, to talk of taking down a member of the Shichibukai like it's a possibility instead of a dream when not even Igaram could do so.

For the first time, she's scared of them.

"Ann." Luffy's voice is heavy like a physical thing as it falls between them.

Elynna's jaw twitches, head jerking slightly to the side in response even though she's still staring down at Vivi, the usually loose lines of her body now tense with a humming energy that seems ready to pounce out of her body and onto Vivi, eyes wide and dark and folding around her to-

"Let her go."

For a moment, the sneer widens, edges cutting into the plump, flushed skin of her cheeks, shoulders rising just a tiny bit further with an added breath of tension.

And then Vivi sputters as she takes in the weightlessness of her chest, scrambling to her feet, mind reeling to comprehend how the last few minutes happened or even what happened, until she takes one look at Luffy's frown and the still-too-flat line of his mouth, and all the added air in her lungs sparks with anger.

She doesn't take a step closer, spitting the fire the sparks catch on from afar and hoping that the heat of it doesn't blend in with the hot air between them, too keenly aware of the presence still thrumming behind her back.

"Don't- Don't ever say that again! People dying is exactly what I'm trying to prevent! No one in this country has done anything to deserve pain or death, so why should they have to live through it?! Crocodile is the one who's responsible for this!"

Even as Luffy frowns harder and opens his mouth to yell back, she hears the low, gnashing voice of his First Mate speaking to one of her crewmates.

"I'm done with this fucking mess. Call me whenever the shitshow is over."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

She walks, walks until she can't hear Vivi's voice anymore.

But even when she stops and the silent weight of the heat is the only thing she can hear, it's still in her head.

No one in this country has done anything to deserve pain or death, so why should they have to live through it?!

Laughter curls out of her mouth like knuckles cracking into a fist, harsh and low, creaking into something like wood too dry and ready to snap at the end.

(the unfamiliarity of it scrapes at her throat on the way out

but it feels more hers than the whispers that still shadow her words and guide her pen sometimes)

Deserve?

Since when is there a rule saying that humans get what they deserve?

(she almost wishes there is,

because then it would mean that she did something to deserve being here-)

Since when has there ever been an entire fucking country filled with saints?

Since its naive little Princess can decide who deserves to get what, apparently.

She laughs again at the sheer stupidity of the idea, but what she wants to do is scream.

(she doesn't know how anymore

but she knows mocking and denigrating)

She wants to scream, because Vivi is the goddamn Princess, and that's exactly where the problem is.

Shouldn't the heir to the throne be taught something about this kind of situation? Enough so that they don't talk about stopping a war and keeping everyone alive like they're about to walk into a street brawl involving ten people instead of a battlefield involving a million, like hundreds of people haven't already died in skirmishes and droughts and the economic wreckage? Enough to not have the audacity to look people in the eyes and say that they're going to waltz into the rebel forces' headquarters as the heir to the fucking crown and tell them you're all wrong, the King -you know, my father, but I'm perfectly unbiased- is innocent, everything is the fault of that one guy everyone thinks is a saviour and oh, I have no goddamn proof, but you'll believe me anyway right, since I'm nice?

And the worst is that a degree of naivety can be expected from someone who spent their whole lives in a castle, no matter how aware they are about the world.

But this is Vivi.

This is the Princess who wasn't just acting as Miss Wednesday, because she can't have risen so far in the ranks of an organisation this ruthless, can't have done it this quickly when there are this many competitors with just acting.

Can't have come back every night with her clothes and her skin clean.

But when Elynna hears the kind of fucking bullshit that this Princess can apparently still spew, she can't believe that this is the same girl who went through hell and back for her country, or maybe she dressed her country in shiny glitter while she was gone, and it doesn't matter anyway, because she wants to hit Vivi like Vivi was about to hit Luffy, and it's bubbling up her throat-

A large, heavy hand lands on her neck, shoving her head down slightly.

"Breathe."

She follows the order mindlessly, dislodging her nails from the sweaty skin of her palm with a harsh exhalation.

And then another.

Another.

She imagines the seething anger dissipating out of her like air bubbles in water, scrambling for rationalisations and justifications that taste reluctant even in her mind, if only to get back some semblance of control.

Not everyone can handle the pressure of what the Princess went through. Maybe not even the Princess herself.

This has been going on for three years and the final battle is just around the corner.

The Princess is doing this with seven people she met a week beforehand and that she can't trust as much as the man she lost a week beforehand.

No matter how good and well-trained they are, rulers are still human. If anything, a distate for any loss of life is proof that they at least have some measure of empathy for the people they rule.

(but every inhalation brings more breath to fan the flames of her temper,

and the heat of it sits inside of her like warmed syrup

and it's making her choke and she's too full, too goddamn hot, why are they still in the middle of a fucking desert-)

The hand tightens minutely around her neck, uncomfortably warm in the morning heat.

Elynna breathes out, tight and shaky with the anger still trashing behind her teeth.

She breathes until she can put the tension in her limbs and the aggressive spite in her throat on a hook and drag it back inside of her, muscles unlocking slightly one by one as the fury passes them by and drains out of them.

She pushes back against the hand, neck straining under the weight of it before it falls away.

"You good?" Zoro asks gruffly, keeping his gaze on the horizon rather than her.

Her tongue roams in her mouth and over her teeth in contemplation.

"I won't break her teeth when I turn around. I think." She eventually settles for.

His broad shoulders shake along with his amused scoff.

"Thanks, though." She adds, because as much as she wants to bash her head against a wall to forget about the embarassingly blatant display of her lack of control, it's a good thing he came -before she actually turned around and marched right back to the rest of the group to break Vivi's teeth.

(she still feeds the idea to her imagination, purely for cathartic purposes

and keeps the satisfaction unfurling low in her gut to herself)

"Don't do it again." He grunts in return.

"Worried about me?"

"Shut it, woman."

She can't laugh like she usually would because her teeth are clenched too tight, but her lips quirk up reflexively, and she figures that's the best she can do for now.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Do I go out of my way to pick the weirdest nicknames possible? Yes, I absolutely do.

I don't know Nami's actual birthday date, and I don't know when the Alabasta arc happens either, so let's just say that I did not fuck up with the timeline on that point. Also let's just say that Elynna's gift is actually doable. It's not even remotely the craziest thing possible in this world.

Ace is super hard to write in my opinion, because he's both very confident (in his fighting abilities especially) and very insecure when it comes to his self-esteem and relationships with others, and he's a mix between Luffy's goofiness/determination and a darker outlook on life/people/the world. In my opinion at least (SINCE WE DIDN'T GET TO SEE MUCH OF HIM BECAUSE ARGH!-)

Anyway. I hope I didn't do too bad of a job with him.

And sorry to those who were hoping for a different relationship between Vivi and Elynna, but not everyone can get along, and although both Luffy (or other crew members) and Vivi can be seen as idealists, the former isn't naive, and it makes a big difference for Elynna, whose worldview admittedly clashes with theirs on some aspects. That being said, while I like Vivi well enough, she also tends to get on my nerves. I tried to give her justice for the incredibly hard situation she's in, but I might have projected a bit ^^'

Sanji/Elynna brotp = simping for mermaids. I'm sorry (not) but I just HAD to do it once the idea came to me.

https: slash slash www dot youtube dot com slash watch?v=as-1YPJMxH4 - Briar Nolet - Rise

https: slash slash www dot youtube dot com slash watch?v=fkYO0bfohvY - Katy Perry - Rise | Dance

https: slash slash www dot youtube dot com slash watch?v=kzuv2WmeBIM - RISE! KATY PERRY NEW(Dance)OFFICIAL

As always, thank you to everyone who reads and maybe comments, it means a lot! I wish you the best and until next time!