"What's wrong Scorpion?" Luffy asked seeing the older man was getting slightly clammy.
"It's uh huh hahaha!" The man laughed although Ryoko glanced over the rock toward him, something in her gut told her that this man was terrified. Which was probably the most logical reaction. "So sorry! But this is the day where your luck runs out! All those heroic songs and tales your supporters flatter you with ends today!"
"Don't be stupid... turn back..." the eldest whispered peeking out from under the woman's flowing white outfit and over the rocks.
Ryoko's lips formed a frown hearing that and she looked towards Ace who met her eyes briefly when he glanced down at the kid, his slight grin hadn't faded.
"This is so exciting!" Luffy exclaimed, still sitting behind Scorpion, "Ace it's a serious fight! So don't pull any punches!"
Ace was irked at his brother's statement, "I wasn't planning to!" his stance shifted from his irked lean forward form back to his relaxed stance, "But before we fight there's something I wanna know! Move aside Luffy!" he demands
Ryoko jumped slightly hearing the man suddenly yell, "Ready?! Here I come!" She immediately grabbed both boys and ducked as Ace leaped over them onto the rock now moving towards the man. She released the boys as she turned around fast looking over at the scene.
The man took out a contraption, perhaps of his own design, as his ostrich ran forward and Luffy hopped off the back. A net was launched toward Ace but was easily sent back to the source as the younger man burst into a pillar of flame entirely unphased.
"Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot!" The man yelled rolling around in the net on the hot sand, trying to get the net off while the ostrich kicked sand back at him.
"Whoa, Ace just threw the net right back at him!" Ussop exclaimed in surprise.
Both boys were now looking over the rock in concern for the man who got the net off of him, however, the man had sustained some damage.
Ryoko clenched her fists as she stood up from behind the rock, noticing the smoke curling off the man she hopped up on the rock pulling her mask over her face.
"I guess I should be thankful, if defeating you was easy it wouldn't be much of a victory," Scorpion said with a grin.
"Yeah? Well, you have some skills yourself." Ace says, his ears picking up the sound of boots running over rocks.
"Well, I'm glad you approve, 'cause this fight isn't over. Popo the compressed extinguisher gun!" Scorpion exclaimed and his ostrich ran over and dropped some sort of contain down in front of him before running out of the way. "A special compressed air gun full of extinguisher foam! Don't let the foam confuse ya, this gun has the power to blow a hole clean through ya!" he exclaims as he assembled it swiftly and began running toward Ace.
Ryoko slid down the side of the sand crater, eyes widening as the rock that had been behind Ace had two holes blown clean through it. Her heart began to pound with worry as she watched the fight continue.
Ace had leaped over the man, causing him to turn around so there would hopefully not be any bystander injuries, his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked towards Ryoko who had slid down into the dune. He ran forward a grin on his face as he narrowly dodged two shots of the foam while clenching his fist. As he got within range he threw a punch right into the man's diaphragm.
Scorpion made many wheezing gagging sounds as he stumbled forward past Ace and slid down the other side of the second dune.
"I expected as much, you lied about beating Blackbeard didn't you," Ace says looking down the dune towards the man. "You figured using his name would drag me out into the open. Am I right?"
The man began to move, his body clearly feeling the tax of the rather one-sided fight. "That's right. A clever deceit." he says with a wheezing laugh, "I'd say that first round was a draw." he says slightly shakily. "Now it's time to get serious." The man says as he flips himself onto his back.
"Stop! You can't beat him, Father!" The eldest boy yelled fearing for his father's life.
Ryoko moved forward quickly
The man coughed a few times before looking up at the top of the sand dune, "I'll be alright son."
"Stop the fight!" one of the young boys yelled as they ran past Ace and Ryoko sliding down the dune toward their dad. "Father! You don't have to be doing this! Fire Fist Ace is too strong!" they plead.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you at home?" the man asked concern on his face as he cupped his son's head, "when did you leave the badlands?"
"They were looking for you. For the ten days." Ryoko thinks unable to bring words into reality while looking down the dune clenching her fists, "They wanted to make sure you would be safe!" her shoulders begin to tremble. Her head began to pound, her heart beating in her ears without mercy, as she took a step forward she was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder.
Ace looked at the trembling masked figure, his grip firm to keep her from going down. He met her gaze seeing so many feelings swirling around her eyes, he squeezed her shoulder and shook his head silently.
Ryoko took in a slow breath as she tried to calm down, her head turning to look back at the boys and their father. Her breath hitched in her throat as she caught the last part of what the man was saying.
"Popo! The Bazooka!" Scorpion exclaimed slowly climbing up the dune. The ostrich set the requested weapon down in front of him before darting out of the way once again. The man hoisted it onto his shoulder "Prepare yourself, this is the end!" He lit the fuse.
Ace thought quickly as he tossed Ryoko off to the side, hopefully out of the blast radius. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her begin to get up out of the sand he had tossed her into.
The two boys rushed up the dune and gripped the man, pleading for him to stop in every way they could think of while tears streamed down their faces and snot began to drip out their noses from crying so hard.
The man broke as he let go of the weapon and hugged both of his sons.
The weapon began to bounce down the sand and Luffy, Ace, and Ryoko immediately had their eyes widen before each of them began moving. The bazooka went off as it hit the large rock formation.
Ryoko moved on instinct before leaping forward arms spread to the side as they morphed suddenly into two white majestic and powerful wings which beat only once as she landed on the sand in front of the trio and the explosion went off above them. Her wings curled over the three and her own head as the rocks began to fall.
Ace let loose another strong fire fist attack which broke the rock pillar into three and shoved the rocks out of the way from falling onto the four. As the fire subsided and the rocks stopped falling he hurried down the dune with Luffy towards the four.
The scene was clearly better than it could have been, the Scorpion was lying on his back stunned while the two boys clung to him and the three of them were weeping. Ryoko who had been covering them all was lying face first on the ground her left wing still stretched out to the side while her right hand grasped at the sand. She began to move slightly as she pulled herself up onto her elbow and knees before hissing in pain. It became apparent as to why she made that noise, the feathers of her left wing were under a nearby rock.
Her body shifted closer to the rock while turning her left arm, her left foot pressing against the boulder and her right hand pressed into the sand along with her right leg. She let out a growl as she pushed on the boulder hard, causing it to shift off of her wing for long enough that she could wrench it free. The wing folded before shifting back into her arm, a slow shaking of her shoulders began as she looked down at her hand.
Ace hopped down off of one of the nearby rocks and walked over to her, "you alright Ryoko?" He asked offering her a hand up which she took and began to stand up. However, she remained silent, "Alright, let's get you back up to the others, Luffy can you help them gather their stuff so they can head home?"
Luffy gave a big grin, "Of course!" he exclaimed before beginning to run around collecting the miscellaneous gadgets the man had made.
Ace began to lead Ryoko back up the dune, his ears catching the sound of shaky and airy chuckles coming from her.
"I... I did it... even just a little... haha... ha..." Ryoko says quietly while her body was shaking, "...I didn't think..."
Ace stopped their walking and turned her to look at him, her hands were trembling so he gripped them tightly to stop their shaking, "You did well. Take a few deep breaths though, it seems like you are still coming to terms with what you did accomplish. Don't force yourself."
Later that evening after having spent the day packing up all the scattered items from both sides Ace stopped, shifting his bag onto his shoulder, and looked at the group, "Well then." he says with a grin.
Ryoko felt her heart sink into her stomach at how he said that.
"You aren't really going to leave us, Ace, are you?" Chopper asked looking up at the man.
"Yup, seeing as it has been confirmed that Blackbeard isn't in Alabasta I have no reason to stick around," Ace explains with a smile on his face.
"You sure?" Luffy asked with a slightly blank expression.
"Any idea where you'll be heading next?" Sanji asked while holding onto his cigarette.
"I have a lead to Blackbeard's whereabouts, Scorpion heard about a man that saw him out west." Ace explains reaching into the pouch on his left leg and taking out a piece of folded paper, "Guess we'll see." he says before tossing the paper, "Luffy, do yourself a favor and hang onto that."
"But it's just a scrap of paper," Luffy says unfolding the blank scrap of paper slightly confused.
"That scrap of paper will reunite us someday." Ace explains, "You, don't want it?"
"No, I'll keep it," Luffy says still confused, but willing to keep it since Ace seemed to deem it important.
"It's perfectly natural for a guy to worry about his bumbling kid brother, right?" Ace says with a closed eye grin. "He might be a bit much for all of you to handle, but take good care of him for me." Ace requests with a small bow to the group, upon straightening his face was more serious, "Luffy, when next we meet, we'll both be top pirates.
"Right," Luffy says with a grin
Ace grinned at the smile he was given, "The top, you and me."
From behind the group, the young boys yelled a farewell causing the group to turn around.
Ryoko looked at Ace and took a few quick steps and caught his arm, as he started to turn causing him to look back at her. Her heart fluttered, it was now or never, she leaned up and placed a quick peck on his cheek before whispering, "When you get back to the ship, go into my room and in the top drawer of my desk, take one with you okay?" She says her face bright red as the man grinned widely.
"Alright then, I gotta go before they try to stop me, we can talk about that later," Ace says freeing himself from the girl's grip before his form burned away and flew off in small flames.
Ryoko smiled bitterly as she pulled her mask over her face to hide the flush of her cheeks before turning and waving towards the two boys and their father as they also split up.
Luffy turned around and noticed Ace's disappearance, "Where's Ace?" he asked Ryoko who simply shook her head.
"He's on his own adventure again. Had to go before you broke him into staying now didn't he." Ryoko says before bursting with a laugh, "Pfffahahahaha! You do make people wanna stay around you Luffy."
Luffy grinned at that, "We'll see him again!"
"Yes, we will. I look forward to it." Ryoko says looking out towards the setting sun with a grin on her face