The following morning Ace woke up, probably an hour before sunrise, and turned over onto his back to see if Ryoko was awake yet. However, the yawn he had been stifling died in his throat seeing her sleeping bag was empty and her bag and person was gone. He sat up before getting out of the tent and looking around, holding up one hand it burst into flames to give off enough light in order to see a bit further ahead, his eyes landed on the tracks in the sand that lead away from the tent.
Ace moved over to the make shift fire pit and lit a small fire with the leftover wood that Ryoko had set aside the previous night. Once the flames took on the surface of the wood, to give him something to look for if he got lost, he began to follow after the tracks, "Ryoko!? Are you out here!? We shouldn't be splitting up! Come back to the fire!" he called out to the sands while looking around flames still encompassing his hand.
He hadn't even completely left the campfire's light before he hear the sound of sand shifting down to the dune nearby. Ace was alerted to something approaching rapidly towards him, causing him to spin around towards the flying object and sending flames into the air in front of him as he leaped back. The light from the fire glinted off of a curved blade, which had been thrown towards him. He had just enough time to become entirely made of flames so that the blade passed through him harmlessly.
Ace's flames shifted around the chain, his right arm being the first part to reform as he gripped tightly onto the chain of the weapon that had been thrown at him. The chain was wrenched back, however Ace's stance didn't change and he looked towards the source of the attack. His eyes landing on a silver raven skull mask which reflected the fire light, and the black feathered cowl and cloak that the figure wore. The figure was slightly hunched forward, boots digging into the sand at their feet. The shifting sand forcing them to focus not on recovering the weapon, but instead keeping themself upright. "To whom do I owe the honor of the Death Collector making an appearence?" Ace questioned, not loosening his stance at all, and keeping them at a stalemate for the moment.
The silver mask tilted forward slightly, showing the dark and stormy grey eyes of the Death Collector. His own right hand clasping the chain, which was also wrapped around his forearm. The eyes narrowed towards the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, "No one dictates where I go..." The voice slightly bouncing around within the mask, muffling the exact tone of voice, but it was certainly filled with anger and contempt. His form tenses for a brief moment before quickly launching off of the dune arms spreading out for a moment as the cloak around his shoulders billowed into feathered wings to launch further towards Ace.
Ace grinned as he tugged onto the chain which was around the wing of the Collector and quickly wrenched it past himself and let it go as the raven began to fall towards him. He drew his right hand back in a fist before punching towards the falling bird, sending out a billowing flame, Fire Fist.
The collector turned back into their human form and barely manages to pull himself out of the way of the flaming fist, rolling in the sand past Ace. His thick gloved hand clenching tightly around his now retrieved weapon as he pops back up on his feet. He ran to the left in order to dodge the line of fire that had been sent at him, spinning around he flicks a clasp on the neck of the weapon and the metal covering on the blade head falls into the sand. The collector slowly began to spin the now duller grey stone weapon around on the end of the chain launching it once again towards Ace.
Ace didn't panic as his form turned to flames and he side stepped the attack, however a surge of exhaustion hit him along with a sharp sting against his left side. "Deciding not to play fair, huh?" he says upon full solidifying as he leaps out of the way of a second strike from the weapon. He glances down noticing the nick on his side which was bleeding ever so slightly. "Why are you here?" He asked as he dodged out of the way of another strike.
The Collector caught the handle to their weapon eyes focusing on the fire fist, pointing the blade towards the man, "Came here for my sister. What has she told you?" he says in a low tone. For the moment he did not continue to attack the man the campfire now at his back.
Ace looked at the man and furrowed his brow in confusion for a moment, not expecting that type of response, "Why should that matter?" he asked cautiously as he eyed the strange weapon that was pointed at him, "And why did you attack first, I'm more than happy to talk things out. If you'll put the weapon away that is." he adds trying to descelate the current situation.
The man kept his stance, "Answer the question first." He demands still being wary of the commander, not dropping his guard or his weapon. His free hand moving to his other hip in order to draw the second weapon which still had the sharp metal covering over the stone like sickle.
"We've spoken about many topics so you would have to be more specific, if you are asking about what she has told me about you it has only been that you are her brother and her concerns for you." Ace says raising on hand, looping his thumb into his left pocket. He then looked away from the man remembering the first thing that Ryoko had told him about her brother, "she also told me of your dislike of being looked at, I apologize."
The man paused at that, taken off guard seemingly as he lowers his weapon slowly, "Sis told you what I was like... Why are you respecting my wishes of not being looked at?" he asked looking towards Ace a bit confused by what he was playing at by averting his eyes.
Ace put his hand on his hat thoughtfully, still not looking at the man, "Cause Ryoko cares about you, even if she seems scared of you, she was thoughtful enough to relay that wish onto me in conversation." He explains and out of the corner of his eye saw the man lower his weapon down, but kept it in his hands. "She also told me how my brother invited her to join his crew despite her not having done too much fighting. My little brother is a pretty good judge of character, some times."
A low growl was heard, "Didn't tell you the second part of how she joined the crew." The man said as he slowly put away his weapons back on his waist, slowly moving around the fire towards where the tent and gecko were.
"She didn't, but that is her choice, it is none of my business." Ace says, keeping his eyes on any object around the man but keeping himself from looking at him directly.
"Didn't know about what I did to Luffy when I heard she joined his crew." The dangerous tone of the collector spoke, causing Ace to become rigid, "He is fine. He had to make a deal with me, in order to travel with Ryoko. This deal included his crew, however you do not count as part of the crew. You need to make a deal with me too."
Ace looked over to the death collector, who was looking into the campfire and wasn't seemingly aware of the gaze on him. "What sort of deal?" he asked warily, staying where he stood.
The man kicked some sand onto the flames, smothering a small portion of the flames, "She's been talking to you too much, all of her conversations do not leave you and the straw hat crew. You hurt her in any way, mental, emotional or physical, 'll hurt you a hundred times over physically." He says before looking towards Ace, eyes meeting once again, a chill running down both of their spines at the eye contact, "Made myself clear?"
"Quite, she also said you were rather violent, this conversation was unexpected." Ace says shifting his hat on his head, tilting it back slightly. Neither man breaking eye contact, that is until the collector tense which made Ace break the eye contact to keep from provoking him further.
"Ryoko seems keen on calling you a friend, given what you did to her leg, you're lucky she cares enough about you that I didn't attempt to actually kill you." The man says still glaring to Ace, hand absent mindedly rubbing over the leg that would be burned, "Remember you too... Which is the other reason I didn't take you down."
"Remember me?" Ace questioned looking at the man briefly, "Since I don't know your face, could you give me your name? Perhaps I might remember you as well."
The man stared towards him for a couple moments, "'m Ryoto. Ryoko and I are aware of how similar our names are." The man now known as Ryoto says after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. "You're one of those boys she befriended on Dawn Island. Ko was pretty soft on you after your stupid little gift, pretty gross to give a girl garbage as a going away gift... 'm done here..." he says before getting up and beginning to walk away.
"Hey, wait. Where's Ryoko?" Ace calls to the feather cloaked figure who paused to look over his shoulder.
"Waiting for me to leave... She'll be back in a little while." Ryoto says before spreading his wings and lifting off of the sandy ground, and disappearing over the near by dune.
Ace sat there for a couple of moments as he slowly breathed through his nose while looking up at the sky, a strange scent hit his nose. The smell of ozone was blown away by the wind as he thought about the gift he had once given a girl before she had left. A pair of pretty destroyed earrings he had found in the grey terminal. Not long later the trudging of boots through sand could be heard approaching.
Ryoko looked utterly confused as she looked at the fire that Ace had made before looking back into the sand and nodding her head, "Yes? It wasn't very fun walking back, I think the bandaging has sand all in it again." She says as she sits down next to Ace as she peels the bandage off of her leg. It had been a few days, so it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been, and no longer qualified as an open wound at the very least. "Since we aren't walking, I think I'll try keeping it off for now." She says bunching up the cloth and tucking it away in her pocket.
Since the duo didn't have any food to eat, they packed up camp dousing the fire using the sand before climbing on the back of the giant gecko. They began their search once again for Luffy and the others, or at least a town to perhaps ask around in.
After a decent amount of time, Ryoko tapped Ace's arm and pointed towards a greener area where there seemed to be a town or village, "Good place to get a drink and some food I would say."
"What sort of drink?" Ace teased slightly with a cheeky grin, "I know you meant water, it was a joke."
"Yes I meant water, I hate the taste of alcoholic beverages," Ryoko says with her nose scrunching up adorably at the idea, while the gecko ran towards the town quickly.
Upon entering the village, the duo began to walk around with their new gecko friend following after them. The female sniper holding onto the straps of her bag while looking around quietly, watching as a few children ran across the road in front of them playing tag. Her eyes followed after the duo that ran ahead of the girl who was currently 'it'.
Ace glanced toward Ryoko seeing a small smile had formed on her face which made him grin. His stomach then growled causing her to look at him as he began to move in the direction of the smell of food.
"Big Bro! Terrible news! Big Bro!" A frantic voice could be heard within the house that the duo and gecko were now approaching.
As Ace and Ryoko walked up the stairs to the second floor quietly, they began to overhear the current conversation. "Calm down I'm trying to eat here." The 'big bro' says annoyed at the interruption.
"Sand Pirates! Sand Pirates are attacking!" The tall man with a diamond on his forehead exclaimed.
"Seriously? What do we do?" the shortest of the group asked the taller man that had just run in.
"What do you mean? There's not many options. In fact, there's nothing we can do, we can't afford to run with our tail between our legs." The taller man says nervously. "Well big bro, what's the plan?"
As the individuals focussed on the blonde man who was clearly packing up, Ryoko and Ace entered the room in the house where there was food sitting on the table. Finally, they could put voices to face, while Ace immediately sat down to eat, Ryoko sat down to rest her legs beside him. Her eyes focused on the four people talking in the room.
"Duh, we're getting the hell out of here." the blond says standing up with his gun over his shoulder with a small sack hanging from it.
"We're running away?" The trio exclaimed looking to the leader.
"But if we leave here, what'll happen to us? Don't we have to go back to starving again?" The tall one asked looking nervous.
"Moron! What's the point of food if we don't get to eat it." the leader says agitated. "There are plenty of other villages out there just like this one. Come on."
"He has a point." the tall one says before turning around, all of them stopping upon seeing the gecko that had waited in the hallway.
Ryoko gritted her teeth as she listened to them silently, mask pulled in front of her face like a haunting white ghost beside the pirate who was chowing down on the leftovers.
"I think I'm about to lose my lunch." Ace pipes up through his mouthful of food. "You fellas have a lot of nerve calling yourselves rebel soldiers. Not that it is any of my business, but what the four of you are doing is damn despicable.
"Ya, you're right. It is none of your business." The tall one said as he pulled up his sleeve slightly. "And what the hell are you doing here anyway?!"
"You food thieves." The smaller one says causing Ryoko to lean forward slightly and Ace to narrow his eyes slightly.
Both of them moved quickly and efficiently as they knocked each of the trio over the head and Ace lodged the taller one face first in the nearby wall while Ryoko knocked one of them into a pot before knocking it to stand upright again so he was upside down inside it. "Like you're ones to talk." Ryoko hisses in anger as she flops back to sitting down next to Ace, grabbing a glass and looking at its contents for a moment.
Ace continued eating where he had left off and held up his empty bowl towards the leader, "More." he demands annoyed.
Ryoko wiped the rim of the glass before taking a sip of the bitter but cooler liquid in the glass, her nose scrunching up at the smell.
"Yes, I'm so sorry sir." The leader says as he takes the bowl from him.
"Oi, get me some water too," Ryoko says as she sets the alcohol on the table once again, shifting her mask back in place.
"Right away ma'am," the spineless leader says.
"This place has good food," Ace says while still eating.
The man was sweating heavily while smiling, "Thanks, I appreciate the compliment."
Ace continued to eat the food that was in front of him while Ryoko looked at the man who looked past her towards the trio who had yet to move.
The man knelt down and put his head close to the ground while putting both palms against the ground. "You have to forgive me. I beg you. Clearly, you both have such extraordinary power. As you can see we stand no chance against sand pirates. Unless we have help from someone like you two, please you must save us." the man begged.
"Eh, I'm not against the idea. On one condition." Ace says once again talking with his mouth full of food.
The man sat back on his heels, "Yes, anything you want."
Ace glanced at Ryoko who nodded with a grin behind her mask. "We demand food and water along with a sled and harness for our gecko."
"A lot of food, he eats enough for seven sometimes I swear," Ryoko says jamming her thumb toward the pirate next to her.
"Right away!" The man says before pulling his 'little brothers' with him out of the room to go and gather the requested supplies, leaving the duo alone in the room.
Ryoko turned to look at Ace and moved the mask off her face with a grin, "Here's to getting food and water for everyone." she says grabbing two cups, and the pitcher of water to pour some water into them. She handed one to Ace who took it and knocked his cup against hers, both drank the water, Ace letting out a sigh of contentment as he used the water to get a big mouthful of food down. "If you keep eating like that, you're gonna choke."
"You'd think so huh." Ace says with a cheeky grin of his own, "We'll head out after you eat some food too." he says pushing a plate of food in front of her.