His Firecracker Her Rock

Chapter 11 - Back to back

Chapter 11 - Back to back

"When did they get here?!" Nami squealed as an enemy pirate almost cut her in half with his sword. Luckily Zoro was quick to draw his sword and stop the attack. After following the map for the better half of the day the crew had finally made it to where the x marked the spot only to be ambushed as soon as Dawn used her devil fruit powers to raise the treasure chest out of the ground. "Luffy? Haki?"

"Where's the fun in that, Nami?" Luffy laughed as he started punching the seemingly never-ending swarm of pirates.

"Yeah Nami, this is good target practice," Usopp said shakily from one of Franky's shoulders, above all the fighting. Dawn being the closest to the treasure chest was having the most difficult time keeping all of the assailants at bay. Not that she found it hard, just rather annoying since they just kept coming.

"Need a hand?" Ace cockily said as he jumped into the chaos fighting back to back with Dawn—the treasure chest in between them.

"Yeah, can you go get Sanji?" Dawn teased. However, unlike the last time she teased him his face didn't flush with embarrassment instead he rolled his eyes as he glared in the cooks' direction.

"What's he gonna do that I can't?" Ace sassily questioned as he used his fire like a baseball bat and smoked some pirates. "Homerun!"

"Not sass me in the middle of a battle for starters," Dawn quipped as she threw a rock in Ace's direction stopping a bullet from hitting him. "Or need me to prevent him from getting shot,"

"I can't be shot!" Ace stated as calmly as he could, which wasn't very much as Dawn was beginning to push his buttons more than she ever had. "Remember?!"

"Nope!" Dawn smirked as she rolled over his back switching sides effortlessly with him, before ducking right as he sent a wave of fire out to set the pirates back a few paces from the treasure chest.

"Wow, they work really well together," Nami said to Robin who nodded her head as she broke the necks of over a dozen pirates.

"Although they act like oil and water, they still flow together flawlessly..." Robin lightly laughed at the two quarreling while completely being in sync with each other's movements.

"Dawn!" Ace warned as another shot was fired but this time towards her. She was in the middle of crushing several pirates between two boulders and didn't give herself enough time to avoid the bullet. She squeezed her eyes shut in preparation for the pain but it never came. Instead, she felt a warmth to her left and when she opened her eyes she saw Ace looking right at her as the bullet wound closed up on his arm almost instantly thanks to his devil fruit power.

"Thanks," She muttered with wide eyes, not expecting him to do that for her.

"Anytime..." Ace smirked, making Dawn's heart skip a beat as the two looked into one another's eyes neither wanting to look away first.

"Yeah, you better run!" Usopp shouted as the enemy pirates finally started retreating, snapping Ace and Dawn out of their daze. Nami didn't hesitate to sprint over to check on her treasure chest which was filled to the brim with gold and weighed a literal ton. Zoro easily picked it up and brought it onto the ship as everyone else followed suit and collapsed onto the deck enjoying the cooling breeze after their workout.

Slowly Chopper made his way around with water for everyone. Making sure they stayed hydrated was an important part of Chopper's job. Chopper shrieked and started shouting for a doctor when he saw Usopp's nose which he had broken climbing down from Franky's shoulder.

"Oh, that's right! I'm the Doctor..." Chopper laughed before starting to help Usopp. "Dawn, can you pass out the rest of the water?"

"Of course Chopper," Dawn smiled, glad that the cute little reindeer could rely on her. Even if it was just for something as simple as passing out water, she liked feeling useful. Dawn looked around and noticed Ace was the only one without a cup of water. She walked over to him and took a seat on the railing next to him before handing him his water. As he reached for it Dawn couldn't help but notice his bloody knuckles. "What happened? Why didn't you heal yourself?"

"I punched a guy with sea stone armor, and I can't heal it with my powers. I have to wait. But, I'm fine," Ace said as he pulled his hand out of Dawn's grasp. She looked behind her to see Chopper struggling to fix Usopp's unusual nose and decided to help the little reindeer out again by bandaging Ace's hand.

"Give me your hand," Dawn ordered as she pulled out some gauze and held her hand out. At first, Ace didn't move but once he saw the serious look on her face he quickly gave her his hand and let her wrap his knuckles. The last thing he needed was to piss her off, especially with the damn cook trying so hard to get with her. His blood boiled as the image of Sanji sitting too close to her last night popped into his head. "There, all done,"

"T-thanks," Ace muttered while trying his best to avoid looking towards Dawn. something that did not go unnoticed by her. She leaned forward while still sitting down on the railing only to find Ace turn away.

"Ace?" Dawn questioned as she stood up and stepped in front of him. It was obvious she was trying to get him to look at her. The only thing not obvious was why he was refusing to do so. Dawn smirked as a rather evil plan crossed her mind. "Fine, guess I'll go help Sanji then..."

"Tsk, figures," Ace said before he could stop himself. Jealousy was not a pretty color on him.

"What is your problem?" Dawn snapped, after partying all night and then fighting all day she was starting to get a bit cranky which did not bode well for Ace.

"Look in a mirror," Ace retorted with a scowl.

"What does that even mean?" Dawn whispered to herself as she walked away from Ace. Not before letting out a big huff in defiance, that is. Ace sat on the railing angrily, brewing as his orange hat fell off his head and rolled to a stop at Sanji's feet. Sanji, showing a kindness that's rare for anyone besides the female species that is, picked up his hat and brought it back over to him.

"Stop moping around and go get her you buffoon," Sanji spoke up after a minute of Ace ignoring him. "She doesn't like me..."

"Oh yeah? And how are you so sure," Ace jutted out his bottom lip in one of his classically dramatic pouts.

"Because all she could talk about last night was how excited she was to see you again," Sanji said through gritted teeth as he frustratingly crushed his cigarette in his fist. "It's obvious I have no shot, not while she's still...in love with you,"

"She doesn't lo-" Ace tried to argue.

"You idiot! Shut up and listen for once!" Sanji ordered as he gripped Ace's beaded necklace threateningly. "If a girl was ever that head over heels for me I would have proposed! Heck, I might have even gotten hitched!"

"I-"

"He's right, Ace-kun," Robin said, announcing her presence. Neither of the men had noticed her approach, either too engrossed with their conversation or unaware of Robin's sneakiness, who could say?

"You really think so, Robin-nee-san?" Ace asked the older woman, his friend.

"That's 'nee-chan!' you imbecile," Sanji screeched.

"Thank you, Robin!" Ace smiled before running off to find Dawn, completely ignoring Sanji. Who slowly melted into a puddle at the rejection, only to bounce back at the sound of Robin laughing at his misery.