Just like old times.
Ryoko thought about those four words while continuing to walk alongside Ace, keeping her wits about her as the first time meeting the boy played in her mind.
~~~
The girl sputtered as she jumped at the sound of lightning crashing somewhere nearby with a roar of thunder. "Why... why do you cry sky? Everyone looks at you so fondly. Are you crying for something?" the girl asked the storm while tears began to fall as she hugged her knees to her chest. Another crash of thunder rolled through the sky as lightning crashed into the ground closer to the small camp. Looking outside she could see the area where lightning had struck and let out a startled scream as lightning struck once again, hitting the tree beside where she was taking shelter. She watched in fear as the tree split into two pieces and one flaming half started to fall towards her.
A terrified scream escaped the young girl's mouth as she stared at the tree in horror as it fell towards her almost in slow motion. However, a startled yell left her lips as her arm was suddenly grabbed and wrenched out into the rain. Her body tumbled across the ground before coming to a stop before another tree. Weakly the girl slowly began to push herself up onto her hands and knees before her eyes widened and she looked around for whoever had grabbed her.
Approaching cautiously was a young boy, about the same age as her, wearing an orange shirt and black shorts along with a pair of black slip-on shoes. The expression on his face was clearly agitated, causing Ryoko to shutter, "What, were you going to just let the tree crush you?" the boy asked crossing his arms, one hand holding onto a metal pipe. His black hair stuck to his forehead and freckled cheeks from the rain that continued to fall. When he didn't get any response he walked over to her and crouched down, knocking with two fingers on the top of her head. "Oi, what's wrong?" he asked getting a little annoyed. A whine left the girl's throat as her hands instinctively covered the spot where he knocked. "Can't you speak?"
The girl timidly nods her head, "...not used to..." her eyes darted to the forest floor, "...talk...ing... to people..." she says rather slowly, apprehension bubbling over in her words. The silence that followed caused the girl to try to shrink in on herself as she sits on the muddy ground and pulls her knees to her chest.
A sigh from the boy broke the silence, "I shouldn't leave you out here..." he mutters before he simply leaned down and picked the girl up, easily putting her over his shoulder, much like a big stuffed animal. "I'll take you home with me 'kay?" While it sounded like a question it was much more a statement.
"...Could walk myself..." She mumbles barely audible over the sound of the rain.
"It's faster and easier for both of us if I just carry you, you'd just slow me down." The freckled boy says with a huff at the idea. He continued walking, momentarily thinking about how he said that, "Cause you're not healthy right now." he adds as he heard a faint sniffle come from the girl.
As they began to go up the mountain, the girl yawned softly as her exhaustion began to crash into her. "...Please... don't leave me... behind..."
"You idiot, if I was gonna do that I would have left you at that leaf tent you made." The boy says, clearly annoyed at the fact she thought that way, but it was oddly comforting to the girl.
~~~
Ryoko snapped out of her memory as they entered the small town once again, "Alright, time to get this show on the road." She says with a small grin on her face as she began to run alongside Ace towards the mayor's house.
Partway through the main city entrance there was the sound of muffled talking coming from a bunch of large jugs. Targets located. Ryoko made note of the location of the jugs and was quick to keep pace with Ace.
Both individuals sprinted through the streets, both wearing serious expressions as they moved. Both coming to a stop at the mayor's house.
"Mayor!" Ryoko called into the house and a few moments later a shorter man with a kind face appeared, "Those rebel soldiers that are protecting the village defeated those terrible sand pirates," she began to explain.
Ace grinned before swinging his arm down in a mock punch, "They gave 'em a good Heyaw."
"Yes... But now there is another threat. There are a few sea pirates, but don't let their numbers fool you, they are much more dangerous and deadly than the normal sand pirates. But, I'm sure the soldiers can handle it themselves." Ryoko says with a small smile as Ace took out a wanted poster.
"One of 'em has a big bounty on his head too. 30,000,000 Beri." Ace explains as he hands over his wanted poster of his brother, still very proud of his brother's first bounty.
"They are approaching the outer wall right now, so you should inform the rebels as soon as possible," Ryoko stressed with a reassuring smile as the Mayor smiled.
"I will go call for them immediately, thank you very much for telling me." The stout man says with a bright smile before hurrying off to inform all he passed along the way, gathering a large crowd on the way.
Ryoko rose one fist up sideways towards Ace, being mirrored by the man they both knocked knuckles and headed after the crowd, "We'll have to go before them if we wanna also be out of the walls in time to encourage them."
"I wanna hear their first reactions, come on," Ace says taking the girl by the hand and leading her along to wait beside the house that the fake rebels were within. Ryoko's eyes landed on the linked hands and felt something bubble up in her chest, a happier feeling.
~~~
The sound of a door banging open woke the girl, a weak cough escaped her lips as she was shifted back onto her feet for a moment before she slid down the wall next to the doorway. This allowed the girl to glance around the room she was now in, although her head felt like it was spinning.
"Oi, get up you can't sleep there." The boy says in a whisper yell trying to get the girl to stand up on her own, his frown turning to a scowl as he let her hand go and ran off to a ladder that lead up into another room.
The quiet was broken occasionally by the quiet coughs the girl made while leaning next to the door completely drenched from the rain. The girl moved sluggishly, fighting her body in order to move and shut the door with one hand. The door shut with a thud, which was accompanied by another thud coming from the nearby room.
"Come on Ace, why'd ya have to hit me? What's wrong?" A new voice spoke, certainly another boy, but when the duo emerged from the room a face was put to the voice. A boy, likely not much younger than the freckled boy and girl, with slightly curly blonde hair, entered the room. He wore a sort of top hat with goggles around the base and a rather nice coat. The new boy quickly ran over to some sort of cabinet and grabbed a few towels before rushing to the girl's side. "I get it now... what happened?" he asked carefully wrapping the girl's body with the large towel before beginning to ruffle and dry the girl's hair with the smaller towel.
A weak whine left the girl as she pulled the towel tighter around herself as her hair was messed up while being dried. "I don't know, I found her on my way back. Nearly got herself crushed by a tree." The freckled boy said, crossing his arms, which caused the blonde's eyes to widen a bit.
The girl's dull gray-blue eyes looked out from under the mess of crimson hair and the towel that was still on her head, "...'m Ryo...ko..." she says in a tired voice, still not used to being around or talking to people.
It took a moment for the boys to register, "That's your name?" a nod was the only response, "well, I'm Sabo and this is Ace." the blonde introduced while smiling reassuringly at the girl. "Let's go grab some dry clothes for you okay?" He suggests attempting to pick the girl up but didn't seem to be strong enough.
The boy now finally given the name Ace moved over and picked up the towel-wrapped girl with an annoyed sigh as the blonde ran off into the bedroom where they had come from. Entering the room his eye twitched seeing Sabo had grabbed a pair of shorts and shirt out of Ace's drawer. "None of Luffy's stuff would fit her, and I only have two outfits." Sabo defends setting the outfit down as Ace set the girl down on the foot of the bed.
"... So how are we gonna explain this to Dadan?" Ace asked now holding a blanket up to hide the girl as she slowly began to change out of the dirty rags that she had been wearing.
"We? I think you mean you. You brought her here, you gotta tell Dadan." Sabo was quick to say, his attention shifting to the youngest who shifted in his sleep nearby.
The girl lightly tugged the blanket as she finished changing into much drier clothes, however, she looked about ready to cry, uncertain as to what to do with the wet clothes in her hands. Sabo smiled and took the clothes, "I'll go hang them up, you should rest okay?"
Ryoko gave a meek nod followed by a squeak as the blanket that had given her privacy was tossed over her head. "that's your's now." Ace says crossing his arms at the girl who had curled up inside the blanket cave.
A pair of half-lidded eyes peeked out from under the blanket, "...Thank you, Ace..."
~~~
"Man, those guys are entertaining to watch." Ace snickers as he watched the crowd begin to follow after the fake rebels, "We should head back to the front gate, and quick. Do you trust me?" He asked holding out his hand to the girl with a grin.
Ryoko chuckled, "Do I trust you, after everything you did for me, I'd be hard-pressed not to trust you." She took hold of his hand, suspicious of what he planned before flinching as most of his body ignited in flames.
"Hold on tight," Ace warns launching into the air and moving quickly through the town, still being careful.
Ryoko stifled her startled scream, holding tight to the hand above her. Her heart was pounding as she occasionally had to run across the walls of a few buildings, "Ace!" she scolds as she made sure to pull her legs up over the outer wall as they continued around the edge of the city out of sight.
The face of Ace appeared out of the flames, "Sorry about that Ryoko." he apologized while giving an apologetic smile before once again going back into his flames.
Ryoko held onto his hand tightly, he lowered down as they get close to the front of the town. Ryoko began to run on the sand as she let go of Ace's hand and he reformed moving fast over to the wall next to the main gate. The girl quickly moved to stand next to the man who leaned on the wall cooly.
Ace tilted his hat to shade his face, glancing over to the girl as she shifted the mask over her slightly pale face and wrapped the scarf over her head becoming almost a completely white shadow.
Ryoko took a few deep breaths to calm her heart rate as she shut her eyes leaning against the wall and crossing her arms over her chest. She began to block out the scene that was about to play out, perhaps she should have gone to be over with Vivi and Nami but it was too late now. She began to think back again to the first memories she shared with the few people she could call childhood friends.