"At least you're my friend, right, buddy?"
A soft smile tugged at my lips as the baby transponder snail grinned at me, it's eye stalks bobbing up and down. It had been almost a week since our close call down by the river, and not much had changed.
Ace was still an asshole, and even though Luffy and Sabo were nice to me most of the time, they still treated him like their merry little gang leader. If he said leave me behind, they did as told. They were out on an adventure again, as usual, and I had finished my chores, so there wasn't much else to do other than laze about.
"They're the ones missing out. I'm fun. At least, I think I am..." I sighed, finding myself staring at the little snail. Glasses and all, it was a spitting image of Doflamingo, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. A queasiness swirled around my stomach, but it wasn't quite fear.
Maybe he was right..?
"Oi, girly, you've got a visitor!" Dogra poked his head into the room, and I rolled to block his view. Only the boys knew I had the snail, and I wanted to keep it that way.
"A...visitor?" Confused, I tucked my little friend away and ventured outside, cautious once I saw a woman carrying a large bag.
The moment she saw me she offered a friendly smile, and even though I should have known better than to trust an expression, all my caution flew out the window.
"You must be (Y/N)! My name is Makino, I'm good friends with Luffy!" She reached out her hand, and I shook it slowly, unsure of the whole situation.
"Um...nice to meet you?" Sensing my confusion, Makino crouched down, placing the bag to the side.
"Garp stopped by last week on his way to the port and mentioned you were staying here. It took me a little while, but I gathered some clothes for you, so you're not stuck wearing Luffy's hand-me-downs!"
Are most people just genuinely good in the East Blue, or..?
Glancing down at the shirt I was wearing, complete with stains from God only knew where, I looked back up to her.
"I, uh, I don't have any berries to pay you for them..." I explained, flinching when she took my hands in hers.
"Oh, no no no, sweetheart! I'm giving them to you! I know Dadan's the only other woman all the way up here, so her clothes wouldn't fit. Oh, I really hope you like them!" There was just something about this woman that seemed so comforting. Motherly, even. It was hard to stay on guard with her.
Allowing her to lead me back into the room I shared with the boys, I removed the grubby top I had borrowed and began trying on what Makino was offering to me, if only to make her happy.
"So...you know Luffy?" I asked, trying my hand at small talk, seeing as she had been doing most of the talking.
"Yep! He used to live down in Foosha Village, where I do, so I watched him grow up." She answered, smiling fondly at the memory. "I also know Ace and Sabo, but not as well. They're all charming young boys."
I stared at her blankly for a few moments before I just couldn't hold back my snort anymore.
"You're kidding, right? I mean, Sabo and Luffy are okay, but Ace?" I scoffed, pulling my hair out from beneath the neck of a shirt she quickly slipped over my head. "He can go stick his head in a bucket of piranhas."
Snickering at my response, Makino sat back on her heels and admired my new clothes.
"Is he picking on you because you're not a boy?" She questioned, and I nodded once. "Well, you'll just have to show him he's being silly then, huh? He's stubborn, but he'll come around, I'm sure."
We sat around and chatted for a while, and I told her a lot, minus where I exactly came from, and who I belonged to. About a dear childhood friend, travelling to the East Blue, and how ugly I thought Ace would grow up to be. It wasn't until the boys got home that we returned to the front of the house.
"Makino!" Luffy leapt into her arms the second he was close enough, and the others waved their greetings as they dragged the corpse of what appeared to be a bear.
"Luffy! Boys! It's great to see you again!" Makino laughed, patting each of their heads in turn. "You've all been busy today, I see?"
Ace puffed out his chest, leaning against the scruffy fur of what would soon become dinner.
"Yep. As the real men of the place, we gotta do the hard work." He boasted, making sure I was paying attention. Oh, I was, and I was getting pretty annoyed.
"Now, Ace, women do hard work too, you know?" Makino corrected him, finally placing Luffy back down on the ground. "Take me, for example. I've lost count of how many times I've had to carry Shanks back to his ship after he's had one too many drinks at my tavern."
Red Hair Shanks? Cool.
Ace didn't look too impressed, but his balloon of pride seemed to have taken a critical hit.
"Yeah, well, look at her. She's tiny. She couldn't knock a shrivelled leaf off a dying tree!"
Fed up with his attitude, I decided to prove him wrong. Sure, it may have been immature to lunge right at him, but hey, I was a kid. Because my reaction came out of nowhere, Ace was taken by complete surprise, which allowed me to knock him clean off of his feet.
I had him pinned for a few seconds, but the moment he regained his senses, he overpowered me, flipping me over and pinning me down with a hand either side my head, one tangled with my hair so I couldn't even lift my head.
"G..get off, you jerk!" I barked, squirming and kicking to no avail.
"Hah! Pinned ya and proved ya wrong!" The freckle faced boy laughed, but his expression fell when we heard Makino giggle. Looking over to her, we saw she had a hand over her mouth, which was curved upwards in a smile.
"What's so funny?" Sabo asked, a question we all wanted the answer to.
"Oh, it's nothing, really. I just think it's cute how Ace is trying to hide his feelings, is all!" She snickered, and in the blink of an eye Ace was as far away from me as possible, looking horrified. I wasn't donning the most pleasant expression either.
"F..feelings?! What feelings?! I don't have feelings for her! That's gross!" He spat out, whilst in the meantime I made some rather dramatic gagging noises.
"Feelings? You mean kissy mushy stuff? Yuck!" Luffy mimicked me, but Sabo seemed to want more of an explanation.
"You sure you're seeing the same thing I am, Makino? It looks like they hate each other, to me." He pointed out, and Makino placed a hand on top of his hat.
"Well, sometimes, when a boy likes a girl, he'll be mean to her, because he doesn't know how to process how he feels. Now, that's no excuse for treating someone badly, but it is a telltale sign that someone may have a little bit of a crush."
I think I might throw up!
There was a long pause before Sabo began to laugh like a drowning hyena, clutching his stomach as he fell onto his butt.
"Oh my god! Ace likes (Y/N)?! I don't get it, but it's hilarious!" He cackled, completely unprepared for when a red-faced Ace sprinted in for the kill.
"I d..do not! Shut up!"
Embarrassed, and unappreciative of the joke Makino had made, I stood up, brushing myself off and nodding to the woman, who was now trying to pry the ravonet off of the blond.
"Thank you for the clothes, Makino. I, uh...I have more chores to do...so I'll see you again sometime..."
I couldn't escape the situation quick enough. Having successfully rammed Sabo's hat into his mouth, Ace's sights were back on me.
"Oh, no you don't..! This is your fault for making me pin you back! Get over here!"
Yelping, I kicked myself into overdrive, sprinting as fast as my legs could carry me through the treeline, trying to outrun him. Ducking and weaving my way through vines and branches, I thought I was in the clear. That was until the ground gave way.
Down I went, tumbling over grass and rocks, straight into a thick puddle of what I really prayed was mud.
"Ewwww..." I grimaced, realising the smell wasn't muddy at all. Before I had the chance to even stand up, I heard a loud curse from above, and all of a sudden I was covered again, but this time from a splash beside me.
When Ace popped up from the mound of whatever it was, he processed the situation for a moment or so before he bared his teeth at me.
"Now look at what you did!" Offended by him immediately blaming me, I did the only thing I could think of.
I picked up a handful of sludge and smashed it right into his ugly freckled face.
"You gotta little something on your face there, buddy." I snickered, squealing when he returned the favour. Back and forth, it evolved into a literal shit-fight, and even if it was incredibly disgusting, it was honestly kind of fun. We were even starting to laugh.
That was until Dadan came to retrieve us.
"BATH! NOW! BOTH OF YOU, YOU STINKY TURDS!"
So that was how a slight embarrassment turned into a huge one. Back to back, Ace and I were in the bathing barrel, completely silent and red in the faces. It wasn't that I cared so much about being seen in such a state. Growing up, I was taught skin was skin, no matter how much it stuck out or didn't, but knowing that there was even a slight chance of Ace like liking me made me feel weird, even if we still had our briefs and boxers on.
"Jus' so we're clear...I don't have feelings for you..." Ace's voice was uncharacteristically quiet when he spoke, and I stared at my reflection in the water for a while.
"Good. I don't want you to. I have standards." I quipped back, receiving an elbow to the back.
"Shut up. I'm gold standard. I'm gonna be a big-shot pirate someday." He boasted, and I returned his elbow jab, albeit a little lighter.
"Big-shit pirate, more like it." I scoffed half-heartedly, pulling my knees closer to my chest. "Why do you wanna be a pirate anyway? All they do is sail around killing each other for treasure and bad reputations..."
Among worse things...
As Ace shifted, soapy water splashed over the edge of the barrel, and I watched the rest ripple around my knees.
"I wanna be free. What's more free than that? Besides, I don't wanna kill people. I don't gotta do that if I don't wanna." It was strange, hearing him speak to me so casually, without a shred of hatred in his voice.
"You won't have a choice if you're up against people like Do..." I paused, rethinking my words. "...People who want to..." I could almost feel the smirk as he leant his back against mine, but I kept my eyes down.
"Aw, are you worried about me? Maybe you're the one with those gross feelings."
In a fit of rage-fuelled embarrassment, I stuck my face close to the water, slurping up enough to fill my cheeks before turning my head and spitting it directly into his face, ignoring the soapy taste.
"Keep dreaming! I told you, I have standards!" I snapped, watching as he rubbed the soap from his eyes.
"Tch, yeah, well so do I! What good is a girl like you, anyway?! You don't even have a chest!" He bit back, splashing me full force with cupped hands. That was it. Back and forth, we sent water and soap suds flying, all the while twisting so we were still technically facing away from each other.
"I'm still growing, you pepper faced butt! You're disgusting!" Planting my hand into the side of his head, I pushed as hard as I could, very nearly smacking his head against the rim of the barrel.
"I'm a boy and even I've got a bigger chest than you!" He cackled, kicking against his side so he would crush me against mine.
"That's because you're fat! Fatty!"
"Better than being a flatty, flatty!"
"I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU TWO DON'T SHUT THE HELL UP, I'LL KICK BOTH YOUR ASSES!"
.
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.
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***The bath argument is almost word for word an argument I had with my boy best friend in a bath when we were like seven xD There's nothing weird about it in any way unless you're creepy and make it weird, and they both had clothing on the waist down.
I really wanna rush through the childhood part so I can get to the good stuff but there's still a bit I need to include hhhhh
Also, I think I've decided that Law will be the secondary love interest. It just fits.
Next Time: No Girls Allowed***