Old Adventures: Party Reveal
The sound of laughter filled the air while the men drank and ate away. It was dark out but the Moby Dick was brightly lit with colours of happiness. Many men crowded over the pinkette as they offered her endless amount of food. Thatch threw his arm around Irin while Marco held a cup of beer towards her, the two had once again stolen Irin away from Ace.
"Have some beer-yoi, Irin-chan!" Marco offered, holding the cup of alcohol closer and closer to her face.
Irin smiled awkwardly, "N-No thanks, Marco-san," she rejected kindly.
"Oh c'mon, Irin... Don't tell me you're a lightweight and you're scared of getting drunk..." Ace taunted as he brought his cup of beer nearer to her face.
She glared at him and snatched away his cup of beer, taking a sip from it, "For your information, Ace, I've never been drunk before."
All the men that were present at that time stared at Irin with wonder and hearts in their eyes. A girl who could hold her alcohol was attractive after all...
"... But that's only because I've never drank before,"
There was a beat of silence as the men stared at her with little imaginary hearts that broke above their heads.
"Wow, this is pretty good..." she whispered to herself, looking at the drink in her hand with wide eyes.
Ace, Thatch and Marco blinked, staring at the girl in disbelief..
"Pfft! You've never drank before? What have you been doing with your life this whole time?" Ace laughed, breaking the silence and making fun of his childhood friend. One thing that he had always done to her since they were little was make fun of her, he didn't know why but he enjoyed doing so.
Irin pouted as she glared at Ace, "Shut up! You're still so mean!" she scolded as she chugged the beer, till there was not a single drop left.
"Hey! That's mine!"
"Too bad! It's gone now! Whatcha gonna do about it, hmm?" she stuck her tongue out. This was the side of hers she reserved for Ace and only Ace. Growing up with his snarky comments and constant teasing she learned how to retaliate towards his annoying remarks, though she never really meant harm. Neither did he. The two were just strange in that sense.
Ace then smirked, "I'm just worried that you'd get knocked out after a single cup, that's all... I mean, after all, you've never had alcohol..." he crossed his arms smugly, "Consider this as a... Friendly concern..."
"Since when did you start to worry about me? Aw, did the strong, all-powerful Ace grow soft on me?" she chided and under old circumstances, Ace would have blushed and shut up but the current Ace was no longer as much of a tsundere he was.
He sat straight up, raised a brow then tilted his head to the side, "Of course I worry about you, you're my best friend," he stated boldly
Catching Irin off guard, she was unable to form a comeback, "Are you really the Ace I used to know? That sounded way too mature to be you," she stared at him with wide eyes.
"Huh?! Are you saying I'm childish?!" he yelled.
Irin smiled at her best friend softly, her smile was gentle, beautiful and sincere, "No... Not anymore at least..." she whispered as she stared at his charming features; his freckles, his slight blush and his beautiful wavy locks.
This time Ace blushed despite the fact that she wasn't trying to make him, she became even prettier than she was when they were little but she was still the same, kind yet fun to be around.
When they were young, Ace would always throw playful insults at her but there was once she snapped. She told him that he was mean and stormed off, however, at the end of the day she approached Ace and apologised to him for being mean, which made no sense whatsoever because Ace was the one who insulted her. She was the one who got hurt yet she was the one to apologise for snapping at him, he knew that he hurt her but he was too prideful so he never apologised.
"Alright Ace, stop trying to flirt with her, we know you don't really swing our way," Thatch said, pulling Irin away from the freckled man and towards a new group of men.
"Hey! I don't like men!" Ace growled.
"Sure... Keep telling yourself that..." Thatch snickered, in truth he was just making fun of the freckled man.
Marco was sitting with the group of men that Thatch was inviting Irin to. The group included Jozu, Vista, Izou and, of course, Marco. Thatch had dragged the pink haired beauty towards them and introduced her:
"Everyone here has not met her formally except Marco and I... She is the Navy Vice Admiral, Ace's best friend and our newest honorary member, Irin-chan!"
Thatch brought Irin forward and held his hand out towards the group of men that sat on the floor, "Everyone, this is Irin. Irin, this is everyone!"
The man with a curly mustache and a dark blue top hat stared at Thatch with a playful glare, "Oi oi... You gotta introduce us properly, Thatch," he joked.
The man with the pompadour hairstyle laughed, "Of course! Irin this right here is Vista, he's our 5th Division Commander!"
Thatch then held his hand out towards another man who was extremely muscular and had a dark skin tone, "This is Jozu, our 3rd Division Commander!"
"And last but not least, this is Izou! Our 16th Division Commander!" he introduced, holding his hand out towards a beautiful man who wore a pink and purple kimono. The man in the kimono looked at Irin with wide eyes as if he had just seen a ghost, his hand shook and he was speechless.
"Eh? Izou? What's wrong-yoi?" Marco asked, noticing his friend's shocked expression.
Izou continued to stare at the girl as he tried to tear his gaze away from her, "N-Nothing..." he stuttered.
"Captivated by her beauty, aren't ya-yoi?" Marco teased, "Don't worry, Thatch and I were the same-yoi!"
Izou sweatdropped at Marco's forwardness, "It's not that... " he chuckled awkwardly, "She looks a lot like someone I knew..."
"Hm?" Marco raised a brow, "Who?"
"She used to be someone very close to Oden-sama... But she died... Long before he died... At least that's what I heard," Izou said as he made eye contact with Irin, she smiled at him kindly. 'She looks just like her!' Izou internally exclaimed, the only thing that was different from Irin and the person he knew were her eyes. Irin's eyes were fiercer looking compared to the person he used to know, she also had different coloured eyes.
"Er... Nice to meet you, Veesta-san, Jozu-san and Izou-san..."she furrowed her brows, trying to remember the names Thatch had just introduced to her, "Did I get that wrong?" she smiled awkwardly.
The five men laughed heartily, "It's Vista-yoi, but close enough! Nice try, Irin-yoi!" Marco corrected as he signalled for her to sit with them.
Vista laughed at Irin's attempt at pronouncing his name, "Don't worry about it, Ojou-chan," he grinned, "Anyways, come join us for a drink!"
Irin was ushered closer to their group and was seated beside Izou and Jozu as Thatch poured a cup of beer for her. She held the beer in her hands as she stared at it before taking a sip out of it. Just as she thought... She liked the taste of alcohol. Irin smiled happily at the drink in her hand as the men around her laughed at her antics.
"Irin-chan here has never had a sip of booze in her life before tonight!" Thatch laughed, announcing to his friends about Irin's inexperience with alcohol. They all chuckled at the girl as she put down her drink and giggled awkwardly.
Izou silently observed the girl in front of him, he didn't know if he should ask him about the woman she looked like. He imagined scenarios of him completely embarrassing himself.
While Izou was busy contemplating whether to ask Irin whether she knew the same woman as he did, Irin was busy drinking away and enjoying the fizzy alcohol.
"Man! Ojou-chan can really drink!" Vista complimented, "Thatch! Pour her some more!"
Thatch grabbed the bottle of liquor and held it towards Irin's mug, he attempted to pour the drink into her mug but was stopped by Ace. The freckled man pushed Irin's mug and replaced it with his, allowing the beer to be poured into his mug instead of hers.
He downed his cup of beer, "Ahhh!" Ace sighed.
Irin pouted at the sight of Ace drinking the beer that was meant for her, "That was supposed to be mine..."
"Dumbass, if I don't stop you, you'll get drunk," Ace said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "And I don't wanna deal with a drunk idiot, that'd be a pain to handle."
Thatch laughed, "Don't worry I'll pour more for you, Irin-chan!"
"Hey!" Ace scolded, reaching for the bottle of beer.
"I agree with Ace, we shouldn't let the girl drink so much," Izou interjected, finally joining the conversation, "It's her first time drinking alcohol after all..."
Ace grinned at Izou as he took a seat next to him, basking in the fact that someone had backed him up, "Izou! Thanks!" he thanked, "Oh yeah! Irin! Izou is from Wano Country! Didn't you say that you were from Wano?"
Izou's attention was caught as he stared at Irin, curious as to what she had to say. Their group was silent as they all stared at the pink haired girl.
"Huh? When did I say that? I'm from Kano Country, dumbass," Irin replied as she stared at Ace with a confused face.
"Huh?! But I swear you told me something related about Wano Country when we were little!" Ace defended.
Vista, Jozu, Thatch and Marco burst out laughing after Irin said she was from Kano Country instead of Wano Country. Izou on the other hand continued to stare at Ace and Irin, paying close attention to what she had to say.
"I said 'I want to go to Wano Country', not 'I'm from Wano Country'..." Irin deadpanned as she stared at Ace with her hand sticking out in a 'what' position (A/N: kinda like that one meme and that one mikasa meme lol).
"Oh."
Izou raised a brow at Irin's declaration of wanting to go to his home country, "Irin, I'm not sure if you know this but Wano Country is currently under the Sakoku Decree... This means no one can enter the country, nor can anyone leave..."
The pink haired girl smiled at Izou, "I know, but I'll find my way in because Wano Country is somewhere I have to visit at least once," she said, "I've heard a lot about the country when I was younger and I promised my mother that I would visit Wano Country at least once in my life..."
The world seemed to stop for a split second for Izou when Irin announced her reason as to why she would like to visit his home country, "Your mother?" he asked, trying to piece together the puzzle pieces in his head.
"My mother's from Wano Country," she told Izou.
"Oh yeah! I remember you telling me that!" Ace laughed, chugging down another cup of beer.
"Izou, you met her before-yoi?" Marco asked while the other three men were busily invested in their own conversation. "Irin, I mean..."
Izou shook his head, "No, I have never met Irin... But if my speculations are correct, I've met her mother before."
"Irin," Izou called out to her, "Would your mother's name happen to be Rina?"
She stared at the man in shock, how did he know her mothers name? First it was Whitebeard who knew her father and now it was Izou who knew her mother? Like her reaction when Whitebeard mentioned her fathers name, Irin remained speechless as she continued to stare at Izou.
"You're her daughter aren't you?" Izou asked excitedly, "You're XXXXXXXX Rina's daughter, aren't you?"
"H-How did you know?" Irin asked cautiously. Her mother had always told her to not reveal her surname to anyone, especially those from Wano Country. Was she a wanted woman? Irin didn't know, all she knew was that her mother always told her to not reveal her surname to the people of Wano because of their Shogun.
Izou, however, had just spoken her mother's name with zero spite and zero care in the world. In fact he was more than happy to utter her mother's name. "You look just like Rina-sama, Irin-sama," he told her as he got on his knees in a dogeza position.
"Ah! Izou-san, please sit up, please don't bow!" Irin exclaimed as she held Izou by his shoulder to help him up, "There's no need to bow to me, Izou-san."
He slowly got up, smiling at the pinkette as he teared up, "Oden-sama would be so happy if he knew that Rina-sama was alive..."
Irin frowned at the mention of that, "My mother... My mother is dead," she said, smiling sadly as she met Izou's teary gaze.
"Eh?" Izou gasped, staring at the pink haired girl, "How... How did Rina-sama die?"
"She died protecting me from pirates..." Irin bit her lip, "I'm sorry Izou-san, I was a useless child..."
Izou looked at Irin with a gentle smile, "Don't apologise for something like that, Irin-sama... Though I must admit that you're exactly like Rina-sama, always feeling responsible for something that isn't your fault," he chuckled.
"There's no need for the honorific, Izou-san," Irin said.
"Yeah Izou! Irin's just Irin!" Ace laughed, not reading the room at all, "She's an idiot!"
Izou gave a sharp look at Ace, "She's the daughter of Rina-sama and people in Wano Country respected her a lot, especially those who worked for Oden-sama. It's only given that I respect Irin-sama too," he explained.
"Yes but... I'm no one respectable, Izou-san..." Irin looked at Izou with a kind smile, "Besides, I'd like us to be friends..."
The man in the kimono gazed at the young woman in front of him and stifled a laugh, "Your mother said that too. She told the others and I that she didn't want to be addressed as 'Rina-sama' because she wanted to be our friend."
Irin chuckled at the information, she wanted to hear more about her mother from Izou, "Can you tell me more about my mother?" she asked.
Izou smiled and agreed to do so. He told her about how her mother was a very popular woman back in Wano Country and how he had heard about her before he even worked for Oden.
"Your mother was a woman well known for her medical talents and her outstanding beauty. Even the Oiran of the Tayu rank in that era could not compare to your mother's beauty. Many people wondered why she did not pursue in becoming an Oiran but that was because she wanted to be someone useful like a doctor, not that Oiran's weren't useful but your mother did not want to just sit still and look pretty. Even though she was the only female doctor in Wano Country in that era she was one of the best doctors we had, which was why Oden-sama invited her to work with us," he said.
"I didn't know my mother was such a popular person! I mean, I knew she was a doctor because she taught me everything I know about medicine but I didn't know that she was one of the best!" Irin exclaimed in shock.
She continued to listen to all Izou had to tell her about her mother, it was interesting and Irin loved listening to how her mother was like in her youth.
Ace, who had just been drinking away while silently listening to their conversation, observed his childhood friend. 'I guess some topics just allow her to be herself' he thought, smiling at Irin as he poured another cup of beer for himself. The girl slid her cup towards Ace and he glared at her, "Please," she mouthed. He grunted then poured the alcohol into her mug.
"Rina-sama was introduced to us, Oden-sama's retainers, when he invited her to move into his castle. He wanted her to live with us and meet us," Izou said, "He lied to her and told her that he was sick and he needed her medical attention so she'd move in," he chuckled at the memory.
"When she found out that he lied she only laughed and asked if she'd be too much a burden to take care of... She moved in and then Oden-sama introduced us to her. As expected. she was a very nice lady, in my opinion she's way too kind for the world but that's only to be expected since she's Oden-sama's younger sister."
Ace, who was listening to Rina's life story, looked at Izou with a raised brow, "Isn't that the first 2nd Division Commander's name?" he asked.
"Yeah,"
"And Irin's mom is his sister?"
"Yeah...? That's what I just said..."
A/N: holy hell! we're at 830 reads?! THAT'S CRAZY!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE READS!! <3
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