-Chapter Thirty-Two-
"Nah, I'm good" I dismissively waved.
"Your sure?" she asked.
"Yeah" I nodded. "Plus, you two are too far away—can't reach" I grinned, half-heartedly swatting my hand up in their direction and causing the ginger to roll her eyes.
"Ace is so calm and orderly, he cleans his forks and plate after every meal" Vivi couldn't help but comment as she watched the raven-haired man busy himself with wiping down his eating utensils.
"Makes me think there's hope for his gender after all" Nami absentmindedly sighed.
"Dammit! You give it back!" quickly was my attention drawn back toward Zoro upon his outburst. Upon spying him pulling on the captain's cheeks, I burst out into a fit of laughter at the ridiculous sight.
"Never!" Luffy cried through his clenched teeth as I wiped at the imaginary tears that had started to build in the corners of my eyes. My laughter grew in volume over how silly the situation appeared.
"Why would you even want your food back after he's eaten it?" I laughed, not really understanding the swordsman's motives in retrieving food that was already in the captain's mouth.
"Because it's mine, dammit!" Zoro snapped, causing me to finally topple over into another fit of frivolous laughter.
"Sure, beats his incompetent brother" Nami sighed as she watched the three of us. "Ace is cut from a different cloth, that's for certain, judging by his good-mannered personality—you never would have guessed he had a staggering bounty on his head."
"Ace has a bounty on his head?" Vivi curiously questioned.
"It's such a large sum that every bounty hunter around the world is hellbent on catching him" Nami stated, causing my laughter to come to a sudden halt as I now fell into a deep thought.
Bounties.
They were such a common thing in this era seeing how the amount put on your head would basically tell everyone around you just how important you really were. With a group of pirates like Luffy and them, it was clear that some of them would at least end up getting bounties on their heads—not all of them, but some of them. I couldn't help but wonder if there was a chance that I'd ever end up getting one during my time traveling with them—how much would I be worth?
Then again...if I got one...then you would have to add that amount onto...
I shook my head, quick to push such thoughts to the very back of my mind.
"Fire Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates, there's not a pirate alive that isn't scared at the mere mention of his name" Nami almost seemed to boast, her voice dragging me from my thoughts and back into reality.
"If Ace is so imposing enough to scare his peers, then this Blackbeard he's chasing must be just as terrifying" Vivi shivered.
"He's terrifying alright—a bloodthirsty traitor that killed his own crewmate" Nami solemnly nodded. "If I were laying odds, I'd say Ace is going to keep chasing him for as long as it takes" she guessed before peering over towards me. "And what exactly are you thinking about over there?" she suddenly asked.
"Huh?" I blinked.
"You've got this distant look on your face—what are you thinking about?" she asked once again, now looking genuinely curious as she leaned forward a little and waited for me to share whatever it was that was taking up all my attention.
"Oh, nothing really...just unimportant things like that the weather" I smiled, quickly brushing her off as my gaze darted elsewhere. Mentally sighing, I soon felt my lips twitch downwards as unpleasant memories now desperately tried to resurface. But once again, I found myself pushing them further back into the corners of my mind, not wanting to deal with them at the moment...
Or ever really.
-Later-
"Done? Well, it's time we get going" Nami said, putting out the fire. Despite declaring that breakfast was over, Zoro and Luffy were still arguing with one another about the food the captain had stolen which only annoyed the ginger. "Guys..." she growled, only to be ignored.
"I believe you should stop," I said, standing, "right now!" I struck the backs of the two's heads, bringing an end to their bickering at once.
"Thank you" Nami heavily sighed, her lips twitching upwards into a small smile.
"Eh, it was no problem" I dismissively waved with a smile.
"Now hurry and clean up, we're leaving for Yuba!" Nami ordered as she placed her hands on her hips and glared down at the two rubbing their heads before finally, getting to work on helping the others herself. Just as I was about to follow her lead, I yelped when I was suddenly yanked downwards until my face was now only inches away from Zoro's.
"Hello, can I help you?" I cooed out, my smile now stretching from ear to ear as I took notice of his harsh glare. "Aw, what's the matter? Does your head hurting or something?" I innocently asked, causing him to growl. "You want me to kiss it all better?" I teasingly asked.
"Oh shut it!" he embarrassingly snapped, his face flushed red.
"Aw, is someone embarrassed?" I giggled before leaning forward without warning and rubbing the tip of my nose against his, practically turning him into a sputtering mess in mere seconds. "You're so easy to tease, you know?" I grinned, plopping down beside him as I somewhat echoed the familiar sentiment he had made some days ago.
"A-am not!" he sputtered, blush only getting worse as he lightly shoved my shoulder.
"Look at this mess" Nami huffed.
"Whoa, awesome! Floating meat!" Luffy suddenly gasped, causing my eyebrow to raise.
"Floating meat? Luffy, are you feeling alright in the head there?" I asked.
"When has he ever been alright in the head?" Zoro grunted.
"Good question" I said, not really having a comeback to something that was so blatantly true.
"Listen, it's talking too" Luffy said, scrambling to stand as he pointed right behind us.
"What's the matter with you? You aren't making any sense!" Nami snapped.
"Whoa! Now it's running away—wait, meat!" he shouted as he took off running, kicking up clouds of dust in the process as he chased after this supposed piece of flying meat.
"Wait, Luffy!" Nami shouted.
"Too late, he's already too far gone" I chuckled as the ginger groaned in frustration.
"Just forget it, we'll chase after him once we're finished cleaning up..." she grumbled before snapping out orders towards the rest of us.
During our trek to catch up with our captain, we eventually came across Ace—who I hadn't realized had disappeared from the group earlier—and a pair of children.
"What's up? Who are they?" Usopp asked.
"Children?" I questioned as I looked over the two boys. "What are they doing all the way out here in the desert? You're not orphans, are you?" I worriedly asked, my stomach churning at the possibility of someone potentially abandoning a couple of kids this far out into the desert.
"Please, sir, I have a favor to ask you" the older of the two suddenly begged. "There's someone I need you to find and catch for me" he pleaded with a tentative step towards Ace, it was clear he was intimidated by the older man. "It's important."
"Hm?" Ace hummed, motioning for the young boy to continue.
"I can give you a reward if you catch him for me—I'll pay you a million beli!" the boy hurriedly added as if hoping that that would be enough to persuade the man in front of him to listen and accept the task he was giving him.
"A million beli?" Nami questioned.
"That's quite a lot of money" I lowly whistled. "This person you're looking for must be really important."
"Yes—I can't pay you right away, but I will as soon as I grow up" the brunet nodded. "I promise, just help me find this man!" he pleaded, digging into his pockets before finally pulling out a crumpled-up photo of an older-looking man. "My brother and I have been on his trail and I know he's close—we've followed him from the Badlands."
"We need more details—what's his name?" Usopp asked.
"He's right, a photo isn't really enough to help us in finding someone—appearances can change, but then again, so can names" I mindlessly pointed out.
"His name's Scorpion—he's a bounty hunter" the boy answered, nervously shifting as his gaze darted anywhere that wasn't us as if he was afraid that we'd reject his plea for help.
"Hold on, you sure?" Zoro asked with disbelief as he closely examined the photo being shown to us, it almost looked as if he was having a hard time believing that the man in the photo was a bounty hunter.
"What possible reason would you kids have for chasing a bounty hunter?" Nami asked.
"Did he do something or do you need him for something?" I questioned.
"Well...um..." nervously did the children start to shift, unable to look any of us in the eyes as if they were uncomfortable with the questions we were asking.
"I have business with him as well" Ace suddenly confessed. "A man who defeated Blackbeard is here somewhere in Yuba—he goes by the name Scorpion" he explained. "My whole purpose for traveling to Yuba was to meet this man" he admitted.
"That guy defeated Blackbeard?!" we questioned in disbelief.
"No way, I don't believe it" Usopp gaped.
"I mean, you can't really judge a book by its cover" I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Just because he doesn't look the part doesn't mean he couldn't have done it."
"Yeah, but I mean just look at him! I find it really hard to believe that this man is a bounty hunter!" Usopp argued as he motioned towards the picture as if silently saying that was all the proof he needed to know that the man wasn't a bounty hunter like the children were saying he was.
"Yeah, but still..." I trailed off, not really knowing how I would go about backing up my earlier statement. It was true, the man in the photo didn't look like your typical bounty hunter nor did he look as if he would be strong enough to take down the guy that Ace was looking for. But...that didn't exactly mean he couldn't have done the things the rumors claimed he had done.
"I don't know, Ace, he just doesn't look like the type" Usopp continued as he turned his attention back towards the raven-haired man. "Do you really think that this is the guy that beat Blackbeard?" he asked.
"Not sure, the only way to find out is to meet him face to face" Ace answered with a shrug.
"A-Ace?" the youngest of the two children nervously questioned. "Wait, you don't mean the real..." he trailed off, nervously exchanging wary glances with his older brother.
"The real Fire Fist Ace?!" the brunet gaped.
"What is it?" Usopp questioned the second Ace's posture changed. No longer was the older male relaxed, his muscles now tensed as he stood and peered out into the vast desert with narrowed eyes.
"There are two...and maybe a bird..." he suddenly muttered.
"Chopper?" Nami questioned.
"Is something wrong?" I asked as the reindeer suddenly straightened out his posture and stared out into the vast desert as well, his nose now twitching as he started taking small whiffs of the air around us.
"They're here" was all he said.
"I've come for you Fire Fist Ace!" a man suddenly shouted as he came riding toward us on the back of an ostrich.
"Huh?" we owlishly blinked.
"I'm Scorpion, a true indomitable hero! I've traveled a great distance to challenge you and I expect an above-water fight—fair and square!" Scorpion proclaimed, his booming voice startling the children and causing them to quickly hide behind one of the many rocks that surrounded us.
"It's him, that's Scorpion" Vivi gasped.
"Yep, looks exactly like his picture" I nodded.
"Oh!" Luffy perked up as he poked his head out from behind Scorpion. "Goodie, you're all here" he grinned.
"Uh...Luffy...?" we questioned.
"Why are you riding with Scorpion?! He's the enemy!" Sanji snapped.
"What's wrong, Scorpion?" Luffy asked the moment he saw the look of distress on the older man's face the second they started drawing nearer to us.
"It's...um..." Scorpion suddenly burst out laughing instead of answering the rubber man.
"He's scared..." I mumbled, instantly feeling sympathy for the old man.
"Hm? How can you tell?" Zoro asked.
"It's hard to explain, but I think he's trying to put up a brave front by laughing like that in order to cover up just how nervous really is" I explained, mindlessly taking his hand and intertwining our fingers as I took a moment to think.
"Kind of similar to Usopp" he said, lowering his voice so the sharpshooter
"Yeah, kind of..." I nodded, the corners of my lips twitching a little in amusement at the playful yet all-too-true jab at our friend.