Chapter 12

Playing with Fire

Ace was sitting on his favorite sofa, playing with his fire, when Shanks barged through the door followed by his first mate. Looking around the shop, his eyes finally came to rest on him.

"Why is Calypso on my ship talking about kisses and dates with Yasopp and Lucky Roo?"

The raven-haired man could only blink in return, bewildered.

"What?"

"She is on our ship talking about relationship stuff with some of the men."

Benn's voice was calm and a little exasperated, probably due to the extreme reaction his Captain had to the subject.

"Really? She chose them to discuss things with? Some times I wonder what this girl is thinking."

Shakky decided at that moment to join the conversation, her amusement barely concealed. The attention of the three men in the room instantly turned to her. Benn, being the only one of them still not out of his mind, was the one to answer her.

"When we left them, Yasopp was giving her some advice, and Roo was throwing comments here and there."

The woman looked interested.

"Oh? I wonder what kind of advice this man could give to a twenty-year-old girl..."

Shanks, who seemed to grow more distressed the more time passed by, finally walked to the bar and brought his hand down on the wood with enough strength to make the barkeeper give him a warning glare.

"He was giving her kissing advice! Yasopp was giving our little girl kissing advice! Shakky, I am worried. What if he decides to talk to her about other stuff too? Shakky, what are we going to do?"

Benn Beckman walked closer to his Captain and patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"Captain, you worry too much. Yasopp knows better than to do or say anything strange, and Calypso is not the kind of girl to pursue such an intimate conversation."

"But, Benn!"

"I must admit, Shanks, that your first mate is the one who is correct here."

"Am I the only one here that worries about her innocence?"

Shakky rolled her eyes at the overwhelming worry on the redhead's face.

"Dear God, Shanks, she's twenty! She's a grown woman!"

"She's still too young!"

Sighing in frustration, the woman turned to the other pirate.

"Can you beat some sense into him, or shall I do it?"

Shanks visibly flinched at her question.

"Now, now, dear Shakky, that would not be necessary. I am perfectly sure Calypso is mature enough to not openly discuss this subject in the presence of a bunch of men. Yes, she totally wouldn't."

His last reaction led to a deep sigh from the other occupants of the room, with the only exception being the younger pirate who was sitting silent during the whole conversation. The only change in him was the widening of his eyes and the tensing in his body. Noticing that, the bar's owner turned to him and studied him better for a while.

"Are you alright, Ace? You look a little pale."

The young man simply stood up and walked towards the door, his hat down to cover his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just going to go for a walk."

When the door closed behind him, the woman turned to look at the red-haired man who was now making himself comfortable on a stool, smirking.

"Did you have to go that far?"

The man simply nodded.

"The poor boy looked horrified."

"Well, he seemed too sure of his conquest, so I had to shake him up a little to force him to take things more seriously."

The woman rolled her eyes and smiled.

"You're such a trickster when you want to be one..."

He grinned back.

"I only want our little girl to be happy, and if that means making this moron jealous, I won't give it a second thought."

"You are a horrible person, Shanks. Would you like a drink to help you forget the fact?"

Benn gave a loud chuckle at the woman's words.

"That, I bet he would want. He's Red-Haired Shanks after all."

"Oi!"

The gray-haired man laughed at his friend's reaction and sat next to him.

"Bring some this way too, Shakky. It's unacceptable for my Captain to drink alone."

She shook her head but obliged, and soon the three of them were having a good time talking and sharing stories.

••••••

Out in the groves where pirates were usually docking, Ace was walking with his head hanging low and his hands in his pockets. In his mind he could hear Shanks' words again and again, and that did nothing to improve his slowly burning anger which he did nothing to hide and that, he was sure, was the reason people were rushing out of his way.

Once he could hear the sound of the sea over the sounds of the people he raised his head and looked at the many ships until he spotted the one he was searching for. The merry chatter and the laughs heard from it caused him to frown and a few tiny flames to dance around his hidden fingertips. Quickening his pace, he crossed the distance to the ship and jumped, successfully landing in the middle of the deck and between a bunch of pirates playing poker and drinking what smelled like rum. When they saw him, they instantly stumbled to their feet and were ready to take out their weapons to attack him. Being in a very foul mood, the young pirate simply took his hands out of his pockets and allowed the small flames already there to grow and envelope his arms almost to the elbows. Upon seeing the fires the other pirates lowered their weapons and moved aside to open a way to the back of the ship where most of the noise was coming from. The raven-haired pirate nodded to them, his eyebrows still furrowed, and started to follow the newly opened path, completely ignoring the countless stares he was receiving from the other men.

He found the girl comfortably sitting cross-legged in between a dozen men, chatting and laughing completely relaxed. One of the men, a blond with caramel-coloured eyes and a green bandanna around his head, was passing her a bottle of rum which she accepted with a big, honest smile. Ace saw the man returning the smile and, for a moment, he also thought he saw him blushing. He didn't have much time to make sure though, because it was at that moment that the girl turned to look at him, her smile still on her delicious-looking lips.

"Hey, Ace, what are you doing here?"

Another older man with brown dreadlocks, whom he remembered as Yasopp, looked up at the mention of his name.

"Well, well, if it isn't our little girl's newly-found love interest. Are you here to steal her away from us?"

Ace's burning eyes instantly turned to glare at the man who dropped his head back in laughter in return.

"You are too young to scare me with a glare, you know."

Everyone else present, including Calypso, laughed at Yasopp's teasing of the younger man, something that made the boy's irritation grow more and more and the fire hidden in his eyes grow brighter. The witch, noticing his soon-to-be overflowing emotions, gave a soft punch to the sniper's shoulder and started to raise herself, only to slip a little in the process. The blonde man from before was instantly on her side, keeping her from falling. Seeing this last scene unfold before his eyes was the last straw for the freckled pirate who, losing no time, marched to the girl and forced the other pirate's hands away from her, pulling her the moment she was free on his chest; his eyes never straying from the other man who seemed as shocked by his actions as the girl in his arms.

"Ace? What's wrong?"

He allowed his eyes to fall on her worried face when she called his name and he felt her soft hand on his cheek. His expression immediately softened, and he loosened the grip he had around her waist, but never let go entirely.

Ace could feel the people around him watching, waiting to see what he would do next. He could also feel the slight amusement coming from some of them, Yasopp being an example, but he himself had only eyes for the woman in his arms, and so his voice didn't waver when he talked.

"Go on a date with me."

Her eyes grew wide and her mouth opened in surprise. Then she blinked and moved around in his grip to get a better look at his face.

"You mean it."

It was an observation, yet he could tell from the tone of her voice that she wanted his confirmation.

"Yes. Tonight."

She shook her head.

"Tonight? I...I can't. I have nothing to wear tonight."

"I don't care. I'm getting you out on a date tonight and you cannot refuse. I forbid you."

"But-"

"If clothes are the problem, I seem to have the solution."

Shank's voice made everyone look towards where he was standing with Shakky and Benn at his sides. Seeing the confusion in the pair's expression he laughed.

"In one of the many islands we visited in the New World, we happened upon a very nice dress and decided that, since we were planning to visit soon, we should bring you a present. Guess that means you can go on a date now."

The smile he gave the witch was one of innocence, but not innocent enough to fool her. After staring at the one-armed pirate for a while, she looked up at Ace and grinned.

"I accept your offer."

Waiting for no response from him, she maneuvered herself out of his grip and walked to the three newcomers. She stopped once in front of the redhead and looked him straight in the eyes.

"I know you had all this planned."

Then she walked up to Shakky.

"Will you help me dress?"

She smiled and put a hand on her back, pushing her towards the captain's cabin.

"Of course! I will also do your hair since I have some really cute ideas."

The witch gave the older woman a side glance.

"I am suddenly regretting asking for your help."

Shakky laughed.

"We both know you're going to come with me anyway."

"That, I'll do. I am actually quite curious to see what your plans for my hair are."

"I'm sure you'd love them."

"Can I come over and help too?"

It was Shanks who asked, and so it was him who received the glares from the women.

"No."

"Alright. Have fun on your own then."

••••••

The sky was still decorated with the colors of the sunset when Calypso came out on the deck again. The moment she walked out into the light, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her. Ebony, who was all this time flying around the crow's nest, carefully came to rest on her shoulder and cawed happily, causing the girl to smile.

"Thanks, Ebony."

"I hope he said you're beautiful because, if he did, we all have to voice our agreement."

"I see, Shanks, that you still have a unique way to compliment women. Anyway, where is my date-to-be?"

The man laughed.

"He's been waiting on the shore for some time now. He almost got into an argument with one of the crew, so we had Benn take him out before he turned us all, and the ship, to ashes."

The girl shook her head and sighed in defeat while quickly making her way towards the gangplank.

"What am I going to do with this hothead...?"

Before she left the ship she turned to look at the crew one last time, giving them one last smile and wave. She then walked the rest of the way to the shore and looked around for her pirate. She found him sitting a little farther away admiring a docked brig with Benn and walked up to them, tapping them both in the shoulder when right behind them.

"Hi."

The older male gave her a look and smiled at her in approval before turning away to return to his ship while Ace kept staring at her for a long time. She couldn't blame him. The dress Shanks bought her was a simple, white, strapless dress that reached the middle of her thighs. The fabric was soft and the stitches were causing it to hug her slim waist perfectly while also keeping her bosom in place. The bottom of the dress was designed into an a-line and was dancing freely in the breeze. Over the dress she was wearing a see-through lilac short shirt, left open, with slightly puffy petal-shaped sleeves. Her hair was carefully gathered to the right side of her head; a few strands were pulled up in a very well-done bun that had two black feathers stick out of it, but most of them fell in perfectly made curls over her shoulder. A single curl was left free to fall on the left side of her face, tickling her slightly when caught in the wind. Her look was complete with black high-heeled shoes held to her ankles with little straps and silver bracelets and earrings. Regarding her make-up, she only renewed her cherry lipstick and dark eyeliner and put on a bit of red blush, just enough to make her look more innocent.

When he was done staring at her, and after a teasing caw from the raven on her shoulder, the pirate brought his eyes up to meet hers and smiled.

"You look...Am I allowed to say cute?"

She grinned mischievously and gave him a little peck on the cheek.

"You can say whatever you wish today, my jealous pirate."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Jealous?"

She giggled a little.

"Oh Ace...Anyway, where are we going?"

It was his time to grin.

"Surprise."

"Fine, then, Mister Portgas, lead the way."

She allowed him to take her hand and lead her towards the crowded areas of the tourist side of Sabaody. They were walking for a while when he pulled her to a stop in front of a big building.

"What is this place?"

"This is a pub. One where people can also dance."

"That sounds interesting. Let's go inside."

They walked past the door into a big room mainly made of well-polished wood, which gave it a very warm feeling. In the middle of the room was a wooden dance floor with a small orchestra on its side, playing a soft waltz for the few couples currently dancing.

Calypso and Ace found a small, empty table right next to the dance floor and, after ordering a bottle of sweet red wine, started talking about the events of the day and Shanks' crew. Ebony was adding his own opinions here and there from his place on his Mistress' shoulder, leading to chuckles from both the witch and the pirate.

After they ran out of things to discuss, Calypso turned to look around at the now-almost packed pub. Between the many customers were a few marine officers and soldiers and so she, in a very low voice, informed her companion that they should be extra careful, to which he, surprisingly, agreed. Having that settled, she focused her attention on the dancers twirling around in front of them. Ace was quick to catch up.

"You want to dance?"

She looked at him with her unique eyes and shook her head.

"Oh, I get it. You don't know how to dance."

His tone was teasing, something that didn't go unnoticed by the pink-haired girl who turned to look at him amused.

"What makes you say that now?"

"I don't see any other reason you wouldn't like to dance except that you don't know how. You're a witch and a thief after all, not a dancer."

"I see...So you believe I am not dancing because I don't know how."

She sounded amused, and that confused Ace.

"Yeah. Why, am I wrong?"

She grinned at him mischievously.

"How about this, Mister Portgas. We will bet on it and then I will get up there and we shall find out if I can dance or not. What do you think? It's interesting, right?"

"A bet, huh? And I suppose I can request anything I wish if I win."

She nodded.

"Yes. And so will I if I win."

"It's a bet."

She smiled once and bent down to do something under the table for a few minutes. Then she straightened herself again and removed the purple shirt, throwing it over the back of her chair.

It was when she stepped up on the floor that Ace noticed she was not wearing her shoes anymore. A quick glance under the table confirmed that they were indeed safe, hidden under it. His eyes fell to the girl again who was now discussing something with the small orchestra while, at times, she was softly hitting a tabor.

Soon she had the musicians nodding and smiling and the other dancers leaving the stage so she could have the floor to herself. Still holding the tabor in her hand, she gracefully walked to the middle of the stage and, throwing one last grin to the pirate, moved into a position with her right foot slightly forward and only its toes touching the floor, which caused her slim waist to turn into a tantalizing curve. Both of her arms moved up over her head, tabor on her left hand with the other ready to hit it. And it did. Once it came in contact with the membrane of the instrument for a few seconds, it allowed a single note to fill the otherwise silent room and the golden coins on its side to jingle in answer to the first sound. Then twice. Then once more. Every time accompanied by the sharp move of her hips to the left and back in place. After a few repeats the tempo quickened and the sound of a drum beating in the newly given rhythm took the lead. The girl on the floor started to move her hips in a circling move, always following the lead of the drum and, occasionally, giving a simple beat on her tabor.

It was when the violin entered, adding a sadder tune to the mix, that she started twirling right and left, her white dress flowing around her and her pink curls hugging her neck in a soft embrace. One moment she was twirling left, and then, with a sudden move and a slight slowing in the music, she would stop and hit her tabor a few times repeatedly before making a few side steps in the other direction. Her hips never stopped moving with the music, rendering the pirate sitting at the table together with the raven unable to remove his eyes from her waist which kept moving like a snake. It came to his attention a while ago how the temperature in the room started to rise since Calypso got herself lost in her dance, and the intense gazes she was throwing him at times were not helping the situation at all. Another quick twirl to one side and then another and here she was again, gazing at him in a way that looked seductive and intense. Then it was half a turn and she was looking away from him, his only comfort being the hypnotizing swaying of her hips, and then the music changed. The flute joined in and the drum went crazy, beating in an insane rhythm, causing the girl's dance to grow so quick that it looked to Ace as if her feet were not touching the ground anymore. It looked as if she simply took flight. And she kept dancing. And he kept looking. And it was when she finally allowed herself to fall to the floor, leaving her tabor to the ground, and started raising herself with shakes all over her body that caused her breasts to bounce in a dance of their own that the raven-haired man decided this was a side of his witch that he had never seen before and that he was finding very sexually attractive. And it was when she was standing straight again and she started moving her hips more vigorously and making sharper moves with her hands that she gave him the most wicked smile he had ever seen in her face. Then she turned and twirled and she twirled once more and the music quickened and grew louder. She kept twirling and twirling and Ace noticed that it was not her dancing to the music anymore but, instead, the music following her dance. It felt to him like this woman, because he couldn't really look at her like a girl anymore, had bewitched him and possibly everyone in the room. And, although he was finding it slightly disturbing, he was also finding it arousing. He was actually feeling his whole being screaming to move closer to her, grab her, get lost in her.

But he wasn't quick enough.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed one of the Marine officers rising from his chair and making his way to the lone dancer trying, once he was close to her, to grab her and bring her towards him. She didn't react, didn't stop her dance or say anything. Instead, she just used her right hand and gave the man a soft push, throwing him half a step back and giving her more power to twist herself away with such grace that, to anyone watching, it would look like a part of the original dance and not a way to remove unwanted attention.

Only when more men started rising and making their way to her trying to get her attention and her body against theirs did Ace lose control of himself and, almost, of his flames. In an instant, he was up and marching towards his date, throwing glares and warning looks at the various men here and there. Some proved more stubborn than others and tried to ignore him or intimidate him, but they only had to look at the burning rage in his eyes to back down. Soon he was right next to the girl, one arm placed tightly around her waist, securing her in his embrace and the other on her hair, which started coming loose from all the dancing.

"You are playing with fire, my witch."

Calypso simply raised herself so she was standing on the tips of her toes and whispered in his ear in a low, seductive whisper.

"Seems to me I do it oh so well though, Mister Portgas. You are on fire."

In the few seconds of shock following her words she managed to slip away from him with a twirl and a smirk on her delicious lips. Ace, losing himself entirely to his needs after her last little game dashed after her and, grabbing her extended hand, gave her a tag and she twirled back on his arms once more. That wicked smile was on her lips again but this time accompanied by the bright gleam in her eyes he saw once before the first time he kissed her. Around them, many men and women were holding their breaths, waiting to see what will happen next and even the music seemed to reach a peak. During it all Ace was simply lost in her eyes, but this was not enough for him and, throwing one last glance to the men around him, smirking at their anger and envy, he slightly used his body weight to push her back so her spine would make a perfect curve.

"Mine. Only mine."

And he kissed her, more passionately and possessively than he ever would, passing with this hard, bruising kiss all the bundled emotions he was feeling at the moment. All the jealousy and anger and all his need to claim her, tell every other man in the world that ever tried to get close to her that she was his and his alone to love and cherish. If the smile he could feel on her lips was for the reason he thought it was, then she understood and she was accepting it.

Then, the music ended and with it ended their kiss, but not before she nipped his lower lip softly.

"Does that mean I win, oh my jealous pirate?"

He took a few more breaths to compose himself better before answering.

"Damn right you do my dear witch."

She smiled happily.

"Then let's go home. I really need one of your massages after this, my whole body is suffering."

He laughed at the way she pouted her lips and her voice grew a little higher in complain.

"As you wish. Let's go get your stuff and your raven first, and then I can carry you home. Shakky will skin me if I let you walk all the way there after all this dancing and overexert yourself."

She laughed and then quickly made her way to their table to gather her things, get the raven in her shoulder and, after leaving a few Berry Ace gave her on the table for their drinks, run towards where the pirate was standing and jumped on his back.

"Off we go, then?"

"Oh yes."

And they left the pub, ignoring the various looks of shock and disgust from the other costumers and, also, ignoring the few threats towards Ace from some competition he pushed aside. It was not like they stood a chance, anyway.