Hi guys! Here is the next chapter!

And happy Christmas and New year to everyone!

This is a bit late, but it is here!

I hope you enjoy

Read and relax

Whitebeard looked up and saw Ace coming into the galley and sat down to eat breakfast, and she looked a bit wary, but okay. Marco had come to him earlier and said what had happened during the night. How Marco had found Ace out by the railing by her room and looking very distraught and upset by a nightmare, and Marco stayed a bit with her until she fell asleep again and seemed calm, Marco saying he hummed for her a bit. And the captain knew Marco's powers could help calm someone when he hummed, to keep nightmares at bay, and that was something Ace might need. Whitebeard really hoped Ace wouldn't be plagued by more nightmares. The captain hoped she would never see or hear about this Dolus. If their paths would ever cross, he hoped Ace would not see him, and they could take care of him before she saw him. This guy was a terrible person.

When Ace sat down, she started to converse with a few and he hoped Ace was feeling better and it did look like it. The day then went on, and after some hours, they could see an island a bit away and headed there to have an evening and night to have a bonfire. They had been there a few times to have a party on land. They then docked soon and everyone got ready to make the bonfire. It was a warm place so it would be no issue when they got drunk and people started to pass out and fall asleep here and there, the reason they liked this island. It did get a bit chilly, but nowhere near cold.

He decided to stay on the boat for now, sitting in his chair for now. After a couple hours, he moved off the boat and to the island to help if needed. Everyone was excited to have this party, and he got it, he was himself. It would be good to relax here until tomorrow or one more day, they would see.

-x-

Marco looked at everyone moving around and preparing the bonfire and party. They all had their designated tasks, but most did offer and everyone helped. As he looked around, he saw Ace by the forest edge and looking at some flowers there. He moved over and saw she had a smile as she looked at them. As he was close, Ace saw him and Marco hummed. "You like flowers, yoi?" Ace nodded. "Yes. They look like the one my mom liked. But it is the wrong color. She liked the blue ones, these are red." Marco nodded, he would remember that. As Ace looked at the flowers, she quickly gave an irritated sound as some of her hair fell in her face and she moved to get it away from her face as she mumbled something about her hair being in the way all the time, especially as this island had some wind.

Marco hummed. "I looked in a few books I have, and I saw a braid in one and it looked very nice, yoi. I could give it a try if you want to. If not, I can ask Izou, he's good with hair." Ace blinked, looking shocked, but also something shined in her eyes that he couldn't decipher, before she nodded. "Okay. Can we say in half an hour? I need to shower. My hair dries at once because of my fruit." Marco nodded. "Of course, yoi." Ace nodded and stood up and went to shower. Marco then got an idea and moved further into the woods. If these flowers were here, and he knew the this type, and they liked to be more in the shade and closer to vegetation that was deeper in the forest. They were also very beautiful, the flower looked like a mix of an orchid, rose, and dahlia. After walking for a couple minutes, he found what he looked after.

He went and found a few which were blue, and they had a special shade of blue that was very deep royal blue. He picked them and made sure to use his knife to cut the stem to make it a perfect cut. He then moved his hand to the stem where he cut it, and made his fire come forth. He then made sure to move over the stem fully and use his fire a bit. A small perk of being a phoenix, he could make plants live forever when he did this. The only thing was that the flower did need to be watered now and then, just a small spray and it was good for a long while. He then put them in his pouch, before he walked back and waited for Ace. When she came out, he had gathered a few hair bands from Izou.

When Ace came out, they moved to sit down by the edge, a bit away from everyone, and he went to work to braid it, doing it carefully to not pull on Ace's hair, and to make sure he remembered the steps. As he went along, he carefully put the flowers in. It would take time, but it seemed Ace was okay with it and spoke a bit with Ace as he braided her hair. After a bit, him being maybe halfway, Ace moved her head a bit, and as he looked at where she was, he blinked as he saw a cat. Why was a cat here?

As he was about to ask, Ace spoke. "Hi, kitty. Are you okay?" The cat gave a meow, before it walked over to Ace, and leaned against her, before it moved into her lap and laid down and started to purr. Ace seemed shocked, before she moved a hand to stroke it, and it purred more and Ace seemed to like the cat and petted it as he continued to braid her hair.

When he was done, he looked at Ace. "I'm done now, yoi." Ace nodded and looked at the cat. "I think I got a new friend. It's a male and he is so cute!" Marco chuckled. "He seems to like you very much, yoi. Want me to grab a mirror?" Ace nodded. "If you could." Marco nodded and went to Izou, who was close and got a mirror the crossdresser had. As he turned around again, he saw Ace had moved a hand to her hair and looked shocked as she felt around. "What is in my hair?" Marco hummed. "You'll see." He said as he handed the mirror.

Ace looked in it and blinked, looking stunned as she looked at the braid. Some were braided at the left side and backwards into a sort of loose bun ponytail mix, and had a few flowers intertwined. The rest was braided to be over her head and had flowers in the hair and looked like a sort of flower crown. The braids were made loose to not pull on her hair as he knew she didn't like that. There were still a few strands down beside her face, as he felt that fit and she had seemed to like that in previous braids.

Ace looked a bit emotional, before she smiled. "It looks… amazing. You found the blue flowers." Marco nodded. "I did, yoi. They like shade and vegetation." Ace nodded. "I love flowers, but they always die so fast…" Marco nodded. "I get that. But these ones won't, yoi. I can use my powers to keep flowers alive forever. They only need a spray of water once every other week at the most." Ace blinked, before she looked at him in shock. "R-really?" Marco nodded. "Really." Ace looked emotional, but happy as she spoke. "I love it. It's not too tight, it's out of my face, but not all. And the flowers… they fit perfectly." Marco smiled. "That's good, yoi. I know it took a while." Ace shook her head. "No. Or, it kind of took a bit, but it was worth it. This looks so perfect." Marco smiled. "I will keep my eyes out for more braids, yoi." Ace nodded. "I would like that, if you don't mind. I hate that it gets in my face a lot." Marco nodded. "I get that, yoi. There is a reason my hair is short." Ace blinked. "You've had… long hair?" Marco nodded. "Yes, yoi." Ace looked at him. "I can't see it." Marco chuckled. "Most can't."

Marco then crouched a bit down and petted the cat that was still in Ace's lap, making it purr louder. "He is very cute, yoi." Ace nodded. "He is. I wonder why he is here. I thought this island was uninhabited." Marco nodded. "It is, yoi. Must have been with another boat, either a blind passenger and got off here, or left to die. Unfortunately that happens." Ace blinked, looking shocked, before she looked at the cat. "We can't leave it here to die! We need to take him with us!" Marco blinked. "It is a cat, yoi." Ace blinked. "But we have Stefan? And I mean, rats and mouses, this cutey can help if they get on! Thatch mentions he has seen a stray rat or mouse now and then, he can help!" Marco thought it over, before he hummed. "We do need to ask Pops, yoi." Ace nodded. "Then we do that. We can't leave him behind and let him die!" Marco smiled, Ace was so caring.

Ace then got up slowly and the cat moved so Ace could carry it and it purred as it leaned against her, before it moved to sort of lay on her shoulder and down, and Ace moved her hat to cover him. They then walked to Pops, and the man smiled as they were close and saw Ace's hair. "That is a very pretty braid, Ace. Who did that one?" Ace hummed. "Marco did. And I love the flowers as well. But… don't be mad and don't just say no." Pops blinked. "I am not sure what could make me mad, daughter. Did Marco do something?" Marco gave a look to Pops, did he think he would? When Pops saw the look, he gave a small shrug.

Ace gave a small sound. "No, I love this braid. But…" Ace moved the hat away and showed the cat, who purred as it was nuzzling against Ace's neck. "I found a cat, and it seems abandoned as it is here and no one lives here. And we can't leave it to die! So… can we keep it?" Pops blinked. "A cat? Here?" Ace nodded and moved to show the cat, holding it in her arms now and the cat was really trying to have most of his body against Ace. "Yes. It was probably abandoned or or just an unfortunate passenger that got off here. And I don't want it to be left here to die all alone. I mean, I get it is a cat, but we have Stefan, why not a cat? And he can help with catching mice or rats or something. It's not his fault he ended up here. We need to help him!" Ace looked at Pops with a pleading look.

Marco could see Pops thinking, before he smiled. "Of course. We can help him back to an inhabited island to give him a good home." Ace blinked, as if not expecting that, before she moved and hugged the cat. "You hear that! You're going to be okay!" Ace moved the cat a bit away. "I am going to call you Pepper!" Marco blinked and looked at the cat. The cat was both black and white, so he felt a bit confused. "Why that name?" Ace hummed. "He is black and white, and pepper is black and white. And we found him on an island, and white pepper tastes more earthy than black, and he was abandoned here and white pepper is often forgotten, and he was forgotten. So, I want to call him Pepper." Pepper gave a purr and nuzzled Ace, who smiled. That was a nice name and it fit.

Ace then gave a smile to Pops. "Thank you for letting me help him!" Pops smiled and shook his head. "It is nothing." Ace then turned and started to walk towards the boat. "I'm going to show you your new home for now! You're going to love it!" Pepper purred and seemed happy with this. As Ace was gone, Marco looked at Pops. "It's a small cat, Pops." Pops looked at him. "If you want to, feel very free to go tell her we need to let it die here, seeing how she has felt abandoned a lot and alone, and especially after all that has happened the last few days." Marco blinked, before he sighed. "We have a new family member then, yoi. I can not tell her to leave him, even if we find a home for him." Pops nodded. "Agree. We just have to make sure everyone is on board with this." Marco nodded. They now had a cat.

The night then went on and the news about Pepper was soon the main topic, and everyone wanted to see Pepper, and the cat was so cute and everyone seemed to like him. After a bit, Thatch came over to them, and as the bonfire was lit a bit ago and evening starting to come, Thatch had already started to drink, and he looked upset as he looked at Ace, who held the cat. "We can't have a cat! We have a kitchen! Cat hair is not good in the food! And what if someone is allergic?!" Ace blinked. "But it is a cat! He can help chase away rats and mice! And I named him Pepper!" She said as she held the cat out, who gave a meow.

Thatch blinked and moved his hand to feel his fur. "This is a lot of hair! We can't ha-" As Thatch's hand was close to Pepper's head, Pepper moved and started to lick his hand. Marco moved closer as he knew Thatch could be a bit… stubborn when he was tipsy and drunk. Thatch blinked. "You said… his name was Pepper? Why? He is not all black." Ace hummed and said what she had earlier, about white pepper being more earthy in taste and was often forgotten, and Ace looked happy, but also had some sadness in her eyes, probably as she often felt forgotten or abandoned. Thatch blinked, and Marco was now close and about to speak, to be sure Thatch didn't overstep, when Thatch spoke. "He is very cute and I like his name. I agree with the name, it is perfect. Can I… hold him?" Ace nodded and Thatch moved to hold the cat, and he tried to rub and nuzzle against Thatch, but quickly gave a small sound, before he jumped back to Ace, and nuzzled against her and purred. It had Ace smile, and Thatch nodded. "We have a new family member! We need to celebrate!"

Marco blinked, but quickly smiled as he was glad Thatch wasn't mean and angry about the cat. The party then went on and almost everyone got way too drunk, beside a few. Marco was with those, as it was basically impossible for him to get drunk, unless he was chained to seastone, and he would not chain himself to it just to get drunk. A few others on watch were also sober, and Ace was barely tipsy. But it was as Ace had said once, she burned through it fast because of her powers, and for her to get drunk, she needed to really drink heavily for a long while. But she seemed okay as she was petting and watching over Pepper, and being sure no one got too close as they were drunk. It was a good party.

When the sun rose again, everyone started to wake up and had various hangovers, so they spent a bit of time for everyone to get their mind back to normal, before they set sail again, and he hoped things would go well now. Ace did seem more okay, and he felt it was a mix of pretending and actually feeling better, maybe also because of Pepper. He hoped things would be okay and that guy, Dolus, never was within 500 feet of them, and if he was, Ace would not see him and they would handle him. He also did his best to be around Ace, to learn more about her. He wanted to confess his feelings to Ace, but he didn't know how and didn't want to scare her either. She had been burned by someone she trusted, and he didn't want to come forward too strong or fast. But Ace was such a beautiful person, and an amazing personality to accompany it. He would try and find a way to tell her without scaring her away.

-x-

Whitebeard sat in his chair out on deck. They had left the island they had the bonfire party on 3 days ago, and everything seemed to go fine. They had all gotten used to their new travel companion, Pepper. It was a cute cat and seemed to get everywhere, and was very cute. He also a few times saw Pepper going around with small things in his mouth, like small flowers or items, and quickly after, Ace had it with her. When he had asked, Ace said it was gifts that Pepper brought her, and she really liked it. And he had heard about cats giving gifts to their owner as a present to make them happy, and it was clear it made her happy, and she said it was like Pepper knew what she liked and she really liked the small presents. It also seemed to cheer her up and Ace looked more calm, but also something seemed to bother her, but she said it was nothing. Although he didn't believe it, he didn't want to push too hard. Ace would hopefully open up with time.

When the clock was almost noon, Whitebeard blinked when he saw a boat coming closer to them. It was the group he had sent off to a mission, but they weren't due back yet. Why were they here? Has something happened? He did tell Jozu to go to Bay and have her ready in case, all just in case someone was hurt. When they were close enough, they all met them by the railing, and the first one up was Deuce, and as Izou was about to ask if they were fine, Deuce took off running without a word. The next one up was John, and Whitebeard looked at him. "What happened, son? Why are you back so soon?" John shook his head a bit. "Deuce refused to go on after he read about someone in the newspaper. We can't navigate without him. We tried to, but he kept making us unsure with small comments like 'those clouds there look sketchy', or 'water current and wind is changing'. We couldn't go on." Whitebeard blinked. That did make sense, Deuce really cared about Ace.

He was about to speak, when he heard a small happy scream from Ace, before he heard laughter and turned to see her and Deuce hugging. Deuce then leaned back and looked at Ace, hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay? I came as soon as I read about it." Ace nodded. "I am okay… at least now." Deuce nodded and hugged Ace again. "I am so sorry I wasn't here when it was in the paper." Ace blinked. "It's not your fault you were busy. I didn't expect you back so fast. Got done fast?" Deuce blinked, before he looked at Ace. "How in God's name could I go on after reading that? I refused to work and started to make the others doubt themselves on heading forward, so we headed back here, I would only help with that." Ace blinked. "Well, you are very good at getting into people's heads." Deuce nodded. "I know." Deuce then dragged Ace off, probably to ask how she was truly.

Whitebeard gave a breath. It had been an important mission, but it needed to wait. Hopefully it could and it would go fine.

-x-

Deuce looked at Ace. "How are you?" He had just gotten back and into Ace's room. Ace gave a breath, before she said how she had been. He felt bad for being gone when it had happened and that monster had been in the newspaper. Ace did say he couldn't have known, which was sort of true, but still. He shouldn't have left. As she had said how things had gone, Deuce nodded. "But you're fine now?" Ace nodded. "Yeah…" Nope, that was a lie.

Deuce looked at Ace. "Ace, I know you. What is wrong? Something is clearly bothering you." Ace blinked. "I… it's nothing." Deuce blinked. "What is it? Did someone say or do something?" Something shined in Ace's eyes, and this was obviously the case, someone had said or done something. But who? It was clearly Ace didn't want to tell, but why? Since she was afraid? Or embarrassed? Hard to say right now, he would use his skills on how well he knew Ace and how to make her say what was really bothering her.

So, for the next few days, he did his best to get Ace to spill, but this was something she really didn't want to tell, making him believe it was either because she was scared or unsure, and he didn't know why. So, he went on a quest to ask everyone on the boat to see if they knew anything. He did it carefully, and no one did seem to know. When he asked Marco, the first commander said he had hummed for her, which was calming, and Deuce knew that. Ace had told, and she told how she saw a lot of happy memories, and even Deuce was in those, and he felt glad about that. Especially when Marco said it made the one who heard the humming remember happy memories to keep people calm, and Deuce was happy to know he was in those. Ace really liked him, and that was good.

But this helped nothing, he was no closer in finding out what was bothering Ace. He even asked the captain, and even Whitebeard said nothing had happened. Something had to be really bothering Ace if she was this scared or embarrassed to tell him. And based on it, he felt she was scared, and he didn't like she was scared. Something had happened to make her be this scared, to not even tell what it might be. Oh, if someone had hurt or mocked Ace, they would die by Deuce's hand.

-x-

Whitebeard sat out on deck, having just docked a bit ago and they would soon head off to gather what they needed and then stay a day or two. But after a small bit, Whitebeard blinked as Shanks came onto the ship and looked a bit frazzled. As the captain was about to speak, Shanks moved and hugged Ace who was a bit to the side. "I came as soon as I read about it." Shanks then let go and looked at Ace. "Are you okay?" Ace nodded. "I am." Shanks gave a breath. "Okay. That's good. I needed to just make sure you were." Ace nodded slowly, before she spoke, looking a bit unsure. "Do you… could we maybe head for a beer and milkshake? If you have the time." Shanks blinked, before he nodded quickly. "Of course! Let us find somewhere. I think I know a place." Ace nodded and the two headed off the boat.

Deuce then spoke as they were off the boat. "Did she just ask him if they could head off and talk?" The captain nodded. "Seems so." Deuce blinked. "Wow. That has never happened before." Whitebeard blinked, feeling a bit shocked himself. He had felt the woman wasn't the most fond of Shanks, so this did feel off. He hoped Ace was fine. As everyone went back, Deuce came over to him and said he knew something had really been bothering Ace since he came back, and she wouldn't tell Deuce what, which he felt was worrying. He was sure Ace told Deuce anything that was on her mind. Deuce did also tell he had a feeling it was because someone had said or done something, based on her reaction to his question.

And whatever had to be something that really bothered Ace, so much she couldn't even tell Deuce, but Shanks maybe, which hinted it was something about someone on the ship, maybe threatening her or blackmailing her and Shanks was safe. Whitebeard felt worried now as well, and if someone had been threatening or blackmailing Ace, the captain would be furious with that person or persons. For now, they needed to wait and see, and maybe Shanks would help Ace tell him what was worrying her.

And that's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed!

The next hopefully won't be late

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