Protectors [One Piece Fanfiction]

Old Adventures: Meeting Whitebeard

"Oi oi! I said keep your hands off her, Thatch!" he scolded as he stood in front of Irin protectively. The two started arguing again, like how they did back in the bar and Irin remained behind Ace while trying to collect her thoughts.

Her hands were clasped on her cheeks as she tried to cool her bright red face, her world was spinning from what had just happened. 'Mama always said to say thank you whenever anyone gave me anything and that includes compliments right? Right?!' she thought to herself.

She emerged from behind Ace's protective stance and looked at the pompadour man, "T-Thank you, Thatch-san... It means a lot to me..." she thanked as she tried to maintain eye contact with him but failed. Pink dusted Thatch's face, "No problem, just stating what's true!" he smiled genuinely.

"Gah! Irin!" Ace exclaimed as he watched the scene unfold with disgust and an annoyed feeling growing inside of him.

Thatch smirked at Ace, "What can I say, Ace? Guess I just know the way into a woman's heart~" he teased.

"Tsk! Let's just go!" he huffed, pissed off from the situation that was laid out in front of him. The freckled man walked ahead of them and headed onto the ship with irritation radiating off him.

Marco, who had already gone on the ship much before the others to inform Pop's about a certain Vice Admiral's arrival, stood aboard the ship as he called out to them, "You guys are taking forever! C'mon we can't keep Pops waiting, now can we?"

At the mention of that, Irin immediately started to grow nervous again. She bit her bottom lip as she looked ahead at the massive ship that stood before her. The pinkette trailed slowly behind the two men, Ace was already far ahead while Thatch was just slightly in front of her.

She took her first steps onto the ship and looked around, there were so many men. Irin gulped, fearing that she might end up doing something wrong and making everyone hate her. She tensed up, it was like she had been thrown in a lion's den. There were so many stares, so many eyes looking at her. So many whispers as she walked deeper into the ship and there were also many whistles as she continued walking. Her face didn't show much emotion, just a slight pout from her over worrying which can only be spotted if people looked at her closely.

Ace could tell she was worried, he turned his head slightly, looking at her from his peripheral vision as he continued walking ahead. He knew her well enough to tell what she was feeling despite her amazing ability to mask her emotions.

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An extremely large person sat before Irin's eyes, her mouth slightly agape, 'Is this what the Strongest Man in the world looks like?' she wondered as she silently admired the man in front of her. She heard stories of him and read about him in many news articles and now he's right in front of her!

"Pops! Remember the best friend I was telling you about?" Ace waved at Whitebeard excitedly, he couldn't wait to introduce Irin to his father. Sure, he was worried about her but he trusted her enough to know that she wouldn't do anything stupid. Well, about that...

"Gurarara! I told you to gather supplies, Ace, not bring back a girlfriend" Whitebeard laughed as he noticed the girl behind his freckled son.

He had a slightly strange laugh Irin noted but dismissed it. She quickly tried to compose her whole introduction in her head.

"What?! No! This is my best friend that I told you about, Irin!" Ace introduced, "I'll never get myself into a relationship, you know that!"

"So he really doesn't swing that way huh?" Thatch whispered to Marco.