Ace took a moment to think about what was just said, "Eleven or Twelve years huh?" he questioned while trying to look the girl in the eyes, a simple nod of her head being the only immediate response. "Why have you been hiding it for so long?" he asked venturing a guess towards why she hadn't figured out her devil fruit abilities. Seeing her eyes dart to the ground immediately told him he had guessed correctly.
Ryoko's gaze never lifted from the sand as she spoke, "Because of what happened the first time... I don't want to tell the others that. I don't want anyone to see it." She began to ramble while clenching her fists as sweat beaded on her forehead.
Ace's brow furrowed for a moment before he gave a grin of reassurance, "I'm sure the others wouldn't hold whatever happened against you." He put his free hand onto her other shoulder so that she was fully facing him, "You don't want your crewmates to know, perhaps you should try to figure out what you can do. You said you turn into something so that would be a zoan-type fruit, if ever you have the time you could come to the Moby Dick with me. I have a friend named Marco who is a zoan fruit user, he's a phoenix."
The silver blue eyes slowly glanced up to meet the onyx eyes of Ace, seemingly hesitantly as she reached up and grabbed both his hands and took them off her shoulders before releasing them and beginning to walk a few steps after the main group. The girl looked behind her for a moment, seeing Ace standing there for a moment processing, she quickly returned to his side and grabbed his hand, "Come on, I'm not leaving you behind." she says softly.
This snapped the boy out of his thoughts before he looked at the girl holding his hand and began to walk with her, the silence felt loud but not as awkward as he had thought it would end up.
It was a couple minutes of this silence before the quiet was broken by Ryoko, "I'm sorry... I just didn't know how to react... I shouldn't just walk away without saying anything..."
"You don't have to if you don't want to, I figured it might just be helpful. Not to mention the Whitebeard Pirates are all very skilled so you wouldn't need to worry about any of us." Ace says with a cheeky grin, pushing the rim of his hat up a bit, "I can tell you a bit about Marco and Pops if you want."
"Pops?" Ryoko questioned glancing at him, eyebrow raised in interest.
"Yeah, Whitebeard." Ace says with a bright grin, "He's an amazing man, I think of him like my father, all of the crew does too. He is very compassionate, but he does have a certain appearance to uphold, so he can be rather... not hostile... he can be hard on people. But don't worry, since you know me and I know you, he wouldn't be too hard on you."
Ryoko blinked at him a few times, "What about this Marco fella you were talking about?"
"Ah, Pineapple." Ace says causally, grinning wider upon hearing the choked-off laugh Ryoko let out, "He's one of the reasons I joined the Whitebeard pirates, he never did give up on me. He's a good man. I think you and he would get along well."
Ryoko snickered quietly, "And why the nickname?"
"His hair looks like the blond version of the top of a pineapple, he hates the nickname," Ace says with a laugh. "It's half of the reason that I call him that."
The girl smiled at that, "it's a silly but endearing nickname huh?" she says before picking up the pace a little, still dragging the boy behind her.
Ace grins brightly and nods at her comment, "That would be the case," He says as they finally reached the rocks. "We should help the others set up camp," he says causing the girl beside him to nod and walk off towards where Zoro was currently putting up the guys' tent.
The reason was pretty clear as to why Ryoko decided to go help Zoro, as Sanji was putting up the girls' tent and certainly wouldn't allow her to help him. Ryoko grinned slightly toward Zoro as she helped him by holding the middle of the tent up and in place so he could fix it in place between the rocks. Even though it wasn't entirely necessary, it did make putting the tent up faster.
"Thanks," Zoro said simply before entering the tent while Ryoko left the tent, exchanging an appreciative glance before setting up his bedroll.
Ryoko smiled, "Glad to be able to help." She says quietly before walking over towards two other rocks and taking out her own small tent, humming as she began to put the tent together, "Ace if you want you can use my tent since the guy tent is pretty cramped I assume."
"Ah, you can have it," Ace responds sending a grin in her direction.
"There are only two girls in the girls' tent anyway. You probably would like a bit of space anyway." She retorts as she finished securing the tent and turned to face the freckled boy who chuckled and rubs the back of his neck.
"If you insist." He says finding it quite funny to see the girl puffing her cheeks out at him childishly.
Ryoko put her hands on her hips, "I do insist." she says before puffing out her cheeks once again at him. She pouted more as he laughed her off, and moved over to her in order to put one arm around her shoulder.
"Thanks, seriously," he says with the same mirthful smile.
Ryoko's pout faded rapidly into a shy blush as she pulled her mask in front of her face once again. Quickly she turned her face away from Ace who just laughed a bit, and patted her shoulder before going to help Sanji start a fire to cook over.
She moved over to the girls' tent silently and went inside it to set up her sleeping roll while trying to calm her breathing and her heart rate which had been sent racing. She set her pack on the ground at the top of her bedroll and sat at the foot of the roll. As she sat down on her bedroll she took the sheaths off of her waist and unsheathing both weapons to look over the crescent-shaped sickles. Eyes narrowing behind her mask she flicked the weapon around in her hand to inspect it while thinking to herself.
Why was it a close-range weapon? Why did it have the seastone cores which made it so tough to wield? Why did she bother to carry them around for her brother? She could almost feel the presence of her brother glowering at her, and as if he was behind her she could almost hear him answering her questions. "It's not just a close-range weapon, you just don't know how to wield them with the chains." was the first response she understood. "The seastone is to deal with anyone. No matter their abilities." Ryoko shut her eyes tightly as her grip tightened on the weapons, "A naive goal to try and keep them away from me, especially when you can't stop me." The mocking tone caused Ryoko to hunch forward stabbing the weapons into the sand.
"Leave me alone damn it." Ryoko hisses and grabs the side of her head to shut out the surroundings, and the pressure of her brother's presence seemed to dissipate, causing her to slowly begin to relax again as her eyes opened and she glanced behind her. The only thing that was there was her bag and her own shadow which almost seemed to be hunched over the bag.
She let out a sigh of relief, perhaps it was just the heat playing tricks on her. She took out her waterskin and took a drink of the warm water, her stomach felt uneasy as the liquid settled within. She moved and laid down on her bedroll looking at the tent roof for a moment before reaching up and taking the mask completely off her head.
The small reindeer doctor came into the tent and looked down at the woman, meeting her silver-blue gaze, "Sanji says dinner is going to be ready before sundown." He says with a smile that melted the girl's heart a bit.
"I think I am going to pass on dinner, at least for now, if you could tell Sanji I would appreciate that, I'm going to call it an early night," Ryoko says reaching up and gently patting the top of the doctor's hat.
Chopper hesitated, knowing that it wasn't a good idea, but also knew from how she was speaking that she wasn't going to listen to him, "Okay." he says before exiting the tent.
Ryoko draped her arm over her eyes as her exhaustion began to wash over her. Sleep took her without any issue, leading to an oddly dreamless sleep.
The next morning Ryoko woke up later than normal, eyes flitting open as Vivi crouched next to her to wake her up. Ryoko covered her mouth as she yawned and slowly sat up, "Morning..." She got out between her yawns and she then rubbed her eyes tiredly.
"We were just about to have breakfast," The princess said with a warm smile on her face, "Did you sleep alright?"
Ryoko nods as she gets up and shakes out her bedroll before rolling it up and tucking it on top of her bag and tightening it into place. She then heads out of the tent and into the sun, she looked around tiredly before seeing Ace sitting up on a rock while eating his share of breakfast. She retrieved her own before looking up toward Ace and climbing up the rock to sit next to him happily. "Great view of the impending chaos." She says as she began to eat her breakfast while sipping at the water from her waterskin.
Ace glanced over to her as he continued to eat his food calmly while looking down at the others, nodding in agreement.
And so it began, "This is all the breakfast we get?" Usopp asked clearly unhappy with the portion size.
Luffy clanged his spoon against the metal shallow bowl he had been eating from, "Seconds! Seconds" He demands childishly.
"Oh come on!" Usopp exclaimed at the scene.
Ryoko pinched the bridge of her nose, "I swear... it is way too early for all this noise." She muttered as she began to eat
Sanji then kicked the young captain and Usopp in the face, cutting both of them off, "Don't be greedy, you've had enough for one meal."
With the cook's boot still in his face, Luffy reached over and grabbed meat off of Zoro's plate. "Luffy what the heck are you doing?! Keep your hands off of other people's food." the swordsman exclaimed.
Clearly, Usopp was kicking at Sanji's leg which was a poor mistake as the cook kicked him away, "There isn't any more okay?!"
"Normally I am more awake by the time I deal with everyone at food time," Ryoko says leaning against Ace's shoulder. He was cleaning his fork with a cloth since he had finished his food.
"Damn you! Give it back!" Zoro exclaimed stretching the captain's cheeks.
"Never!" Luffy exclaimed while grabbing onto the man's hands
Ryoko glanced at Ace's face seeing as he had put away his dish and fork and was now leaning his chin on his hand as he watched the chaos with a rather straight face, "Nah ah ah, don't go all thinking about bad things on me. I saw all of that as a kid. Enjoy the chaos."
This did seem to snap Ace out of his thoughts for a moment as he glanced towards Ryoko who was passively eating her food while leaning on his left arm, he brought a smile onto his face and simply nodded. "Right, I won't get to see it too long if the thread goes another way."
It was Ryoko's turn to drop the smile, "Right... You'll be leaving..." She says as she continues to slowly eat her food while looking around to avoid looking at anyone. She tilts her head slowly as she noticed two figures moving among the rocks nearby. She held onto her plate as she set her bag down on the rock and hopped down onto one of the shorter rocks. Her eyes widened as she watched the meat being lifted off of Zoro's forgotten plate.
Luffy noticed "Whoa! Awesome! Floating meat!" He says perking up and seeming to get more excited as the 'meat' started to 'talk' before darting away among the rocks. "Now it's running away! Wait meat!" he exclaimed hopping up onto the rocks and running after the meat.
Ryoko's eyes widened as she hopped along the rocks after her captain, "Luffy!" She called still holding onto her plate of food. Her brow furrowed as she noticed him dart off in the wrong direction. She sighed and hopped after the two figures, crouching down between two rocks once they had stopped. A sharp pain hit her chest as she realized that the two figures were younger children, the oldest being very quick to let his younger brother eat some of the stolen meat.
"So Chip how does it taste? That's our first meal in ten days, eat slowly." The older boy says, looking at the younger with great care on his face.
"I can't believe we got meat, here you have some." Chip says handing the portion of meat to his brother.
"Yeah, we never even got a scrap of meat in the badlands." The oldest says looking at the meat in his hands.
Ryoko tensed as Ace suddenly spoke, "Ah, the badlands, so that's where you're from, huh?" She looked over her shoulder seeing him next to her but up on the rock. Her eyes flicked to the boys as it was clear they were already intimidated. Rightfully so. "Smells good, you enjoying it?" the freckled man asked with a blank and cold expression while he fiddled with a pebble in his hand.
The oldest moved quickly and shielded his brother, "Stay back, I mean it!"
"You can't have the food back we ate it." The youngest says.
Ace simply stared coldly at the kids, the oldest drawing a pistol out of his pocket and pointing it toward him.
"You move a muscle and you're dead." The oldest says clearly frightened but trying to protect his sibling.
Ace grinned with a chuckle, almost cruelly, "As a general rule, I'm not fond of people pointing guns in my face."
"Dip. Listen. Have you ever even shot a real gun before?" The youngest worried, "Will it really shoot bullets?"
Ryoko deadpanned at that, they were too young. Her thoughts were broken as the oldest, in a panicked tone exclaimed, "I don't know. Hold on. I'm gonna." and began to pull the trigger. The youngest tried to stop him by leaping on his arms but the gun fired.
Ace however reacted swiftly and threw the pebble he had been holding, into the path of the bullet and both items fell to the ground.
"W-What happened?" The boy asked looking at the bullet that had landed in the sand in front of him in terror.
"You're playing a dangerous game kid," Ace says standing up on the rock while putting his hand on his hat. "Never draw on someone unless you can hit your mark."
Ryoko came out from her place between the rocks and moved in front of the boys looking at Ace. Her expression was entirely blank, but in her eyes could be seen a storm of crackling anger, "They are children Ace. Desperate." She says moving her arms out to shield them behind her.
The oldest dropped the gun into the sand and ran around the woman who held her ground, "Please sir, I have a favor to ask you." The boy says desperately while putting his hands on the rock that Ace was standing on. "There's someone I need you to find and catch for me! It's important!" This got Ace to hum in a bit of interest, "I can give you a million berri if you catch him for me."
"A million berri?" Nami questioned
"Yes, I can't pay you right away, but I will as soon as I grow up I promise!" Dip exclaimed in desperation, "Help me." Ace's brow furrowed as the kid brought out a tattered photo, "Find this man."
Ryoko looked over to the younger brother who still was terrified, and turned properly to face him. She crouched down in front of him and held out the plate with her breakfast still on it, "If you're still hungry you can have the rest of my food. You and your brother. It isn't much but it is quite good."
Ace took the picture from the oldest as the youngest began to eat some of the food that he was offered.
"My brother and I have been following him all the way from the badlands, we know he's close," Dip says looking down as his younger brother came up beside him, holding the plate of food in his hands nervously.
"What's his name?" Usopp asked sitting on the rock as he glanced at the image.
"His name is Scorpion, and he's a bounty hunter." Dip says before letting out a startled sound as Ryoko pulled him to sit down on the sand with her, the youngest sitting down and offering his brother some food.
"You can explain this more, but you need to eat. Especially if you haven't in 10 days." Ryoko says before taking out a cup and pouring some water from her waterskin into it and handing it to the youngest who sipped at it.
"Why were you chasing after a bounty hunter?" Nami asked concerned.
"I have business with him as well." Ace says still looking at the image, "A man who defeated Blackbeard is in Yuba. He goes by the name Scorpion. My whole reason for traveling to Yuba is to meet this man."
"That guy defeated Blackbeard?" the group said in disbelief at the claim.
"No way I don't believe it." Usopp continued looking once more at the image. "I dunno Ace, he doesn't look the type. Do you really think this is the guy that beat up Blackbeard?"
"Not sure. The only way to know is by meeting him face to face." Ace says looking up from the image.
The boys stopped eating and drinking, "A-Ace? You don't mean the real..." The youngest trailed off and the oldest picked up, "The real Fire Fist Ace?"
Ace stood up suddenly looking out at the dunes, "There's two, maybe a bird." He says narrowing his eyes slightly.
Ryoko's ears twitched ever so slightly as she looked in the direction of the strange noise she had begun to hear a little bit ago. "They're here." Chopper says as Ryoko nodded silently.
Over the dune came a man riding on the back of an ostrich, "I've come for you Fire Fist Ace!" The man declares. "I'm the Scorpion! A true indomitable hero! I've traveled a great distance to challenge you! I expect an above-board fight, fair and square!"
Ryoko looked at the man and the ostrich, her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked past him, "Luffy! Get over here!" She called causing the captain to peek out from behind the man.
"Oh goody, you're all here!" Luffy says with a big grin.
"What are you doing riding with the Scorpion, he's the enemy!" Sanji yelled at the captain.
Ryoko was surprised as the two boys moved and hid in the flowy fabric of her outfit in order to keep out of sight of the man. She didn't push them away, however, pulled them close to her to hide them better before glancing at Ace who had a small, yet intimidating, smirk on his face as he stared down the man.