I don't own One Piece
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3 Years Ago
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I frowned, my arms crossing at the tall male in front of me. My eyes narrowed as he glared at me. There was no way I was backing down.
"No." Mamoru deadpanned, leaving no room for argument.
"Come on!" I pushed, "I don't miss my shots anymore! And I managed to land a hit on you yesterday! I'm way stronger!"
"I said no, brat!" He shook his head as he adjusted his jacket. "You can't do patrols."
My glare hardened as it became breezy in the bar. "I can!"
"You're fourteen, Katsu-"
"Almost Fifteen, old man! I'll prove you wrong! Fight me!" I glared, my hand clenching.
"Still no. I'll beat you later." Mamoru rolled his eye before walking out the bar. "Keep an eye on the bar, and don't go into the kitchen. You gotta earn your keep somehow."
I rolled my eyes with a growl and huffed. Looking down I straightened out the overly large shirt on me, making sure to cover my shoulders as the sleeve kept slipping down. Then I crossed my arms and frowned. "That's some bullshit."
Snickering drew my attention to another pirate. He wasn't too much older than I was, probably seventeen or eighteen. A orange cowboy hat sat on his head though some raven wisps of hair were ruffled around his face and his cheeks were speckled with freckles. Strangely enough he wore a yellow button up shirt, but he purposely kept it unbuttoned and showed his chest on purpose. I don't know why anyone would wear such things like that. I certainly didn't want to be showing any skin.
"What are you laughing at, Freckles?" I bit out, scowling at the male.
He smirked at me, his snickering dying down. "You kinda remind me of my little brother."
My scowl dropped and I calmed a little, nodding my head. "Ah, he must be smart then."
The pirate snorted. "Nah, he's an idiot."
I blinked, then scowled once more. Did he just indirectly call me an idiot? "Double charge." I muttered, writing up his bill.
"Huh?" He squinted at me. Then his head slammed into the plate in front of him.
I paused, staring at the pirate in confusion. "Did he just die?"
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Mamoru will be angry, yet I don't care. The bar was becoming stuffy. Besides that, the weird pirate fell asleep randomly two times. Each time after he tried to continue the conversation.
I rested my head on my hands, my elbows resting on my thighs. Recently I had found this cliff which overlooked the docks. On multiple occasions I would come here to just draw the different ships as the pirates docked. It was intriguing to see that no two ships were alike in their designs.
However, today I did not want to draw. My anger from earlier was still present. This had not been the first time Mamoru and I had this particular argument. Though for whatever reason, it really bothered me today.
"How can he not trust me?" I growled, the wind picking up around me. "I can fight. Idiot." The wind blew harder, knotting up my hair.
"Strong winds today." I snapped my attention to the voice. My eyes instantly rolled at the male. "Can I sit here?"
"You gonna fall asleep again?" I rolled my eyes once more.
He chuckled, plopping down beside me. "I'm Ace," He grinned, "You remind me of this lady I met before."
I hummed in acknowledgement.
"I don't think he doesn't trust you." Ace said, looking down at the ships. "I think he's worried, and he doesn't want you getting hurt."
The wind settled down a bit at his words. I pursed my lips in thought. "Mamoru doesn't care that much."
Ace laughed, "Oh please! He reminds me of the lady that raised me! He just refuses to show he cares." Then he glanced at me and rose an eyebrow. "I could help you with your devil fruit."
I stiffened, finally looking towards him with narrowed eyes. "Devil fruit? What do you mean?"
This time it was Ace who rolled his eyes, a smirk on his face. "Like it's hard to notice. You control wind, it happened in the bar." He frowned a little then, "But you don't really have a lot of control, do you?" At my sigh and frown he smiled. "I got all week, and I'm sure my crew won't mind if I'm busy doing this."
"How?" I narrowed my eyes, "It's not like you have a devil fruit."
"Oh?" A grin pulled at his lips as he looked at me challenging. "Do you not know who I am?"
"You said Ace." I shrugged, "Am I supposed to know who you are other than that? Don't be so full of yourself."
"I guess you may have a point." He chuckled, then held up his hand which clenched up into a fist. My eyes widened when his hand caught fire. "I'm Fire Fist Ace, captain of the Spade pirates. So clearly, I can help you."
I paused as the fire died down and stared at Ace. He didn't seem too bad. He hadn't tried to attack anyone on the island either. Plus, if I could control my devil fruit a little more, maybe Mamoru would trust me.
"What do you want if you help me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He shrugged, "I think free food would work."
I nodded slowly, then stuck my hand out. "The name's Katsu." His grin widened as he shook my hand. "Nice to meet you, Ace. You got a deal."
Amusement lit up his eyes. "Oh? So free food for the week then, right?"
I nodded, "I'll even throw in some sake while Mamoru's gone."
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We've been walking for well over two hours now. The sun had long since set, and the street lamps had come on to give light to the streets. My face was beginning to burn from embarrassment as I looked back and forth on the street. Normally I was by myself when I was finding my way back to the bar.
"Do you need help?" Ace snickered, covering his mouth with his fist to try to cover his laughing.
"No-No." I answered quickly, starting to walk in a direction as I focused my eyes up towards the sky. "I just like looking around at night."
"Mhmm, right." He grinned, continuing to walk beside me. "Well, sometime we should get back to the bar."
"We will!" I snapped, then by some blessing I managed to catch sight of the lit up sign. "See! I just wanted to walk around a bit before we got here. Stupid."
Walking faster I dodged any of the passing pirates. The bar should be getting crowded now, which would mean Mamoru and Yumi would be there. Which meant I just might get in trouble with both of them. Swinging open the door I caught Mamoru's eye instantly, which glared at me.
"You little brat!" He growled, making some heads turn to look at me as I walked towards Mamoru. "I leave you in charge of the bar and you leave! And you take forever to get back."
"I wanted to take a scenic rout." I growled, "And I wasn't looking forward to seeing your old ass face!"
"So you got lost again." He taunted, "There's no hope for your direction! It's the worse case I've ever seen I swear!"
I growled quietly as the wind began picking up in the bar, but I ignored it as I stepped onto a stool and looked at the blue haired pirate in front of me. A dark blue mask was placed around his eyes and he looked at me with amusement. I sighed slowly, then plastered on a big overly friendly smile.
"What can I get for you?" I asked.
"There you are!" My attention quickly went to Ace, who sat down next to the masked man with a big grin. "Sorry it took forever for me to get back. We got lost."
"We did not!" I denied, my smile dropping to glare at the Spade captain. "I told you! We were looking around town!"
"Oh! Katsu!" Ace grinned, completely ignoring me much to my annoyance. "This is one of my crew mates, we call him Masked Deuce."
I looked at the man that I had been smiling at earlier. In front of him was a book which he had open and was currently writing in. Seeing me look at him, he offered a small smile. His writing had paused as he waited for me to speak to him.
Having noticed his writing I leaned in closer to his book with interest. "Whatcha writing about?"
Though I swore I almost saw some annoyance, he quickly covered it up with another smile. "I'm writing about our crew's journey."
My eyes lit up as I then smiled at him. "Oh! Kinda like how I draw everything! But I think yours would explain better than a picture." I frowned a little towards the end.
The annoyance had dropped from his face as he shrugged and started writing again. "Well, they say a picture says a thousand words." I glanced down once more to see him writing my name in his book.
"Brat! Get to work!"
My eye twitched as I picked up a glass and held it in my hand tightly. The temptation to chunk it at the old man's head was great, and I think I would have done it if it weren't for Yumi.
"Mamoru, go easy on Katsu!" Her voice was harsh before softening as she addressed me next. "Katsu, I made some food for you, and I managed to get some oranges as well. I know it's your favorite."
While the Mamoru grumbled complaints, and I grinned in victory walking to Yumi, the two Spade pirates watched in amusement.
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"Your emotions control your actions too much." Ace sighed, motioning for me to sit. With a huff, I listened to his unspoken command. "This doesn't just go for your devil fruit control. In any fight, you need control over your emotions."
Sweat dripped down my face as I steadied my breathing. Ace wasn't holding back in our fights, which I was thankful for. However it meant I was getting my ass kicked constantly.
"You're good at fighting." I muttered.
He cracked a cheery grin, "Well I am the Captain of the Spade pirates. Besides, next time I see my little brother I can't let him win in a fight against me."
There was that nagging feeling again. It felt like a rock had sunk in the pit of my stomach. All at the word 'brother', and it frustrated me to no end on why I would feel like that. Instead of thinking more on it, I shrugged the thought off and instead smiled at Ace.
"You seem like you're a good big brother." I mumbled, lying on the ground.
"I wasn't always." He sighed, sitting down next to me crossing his legs. "But, he's someone very important."
"Of course he is!" I rolled my eyes, "he's your younger brother. I bet he thinks the world of you."
He didn't say anything back, though I was quick to notice a smile on his face. I'm sure he agreed with me.
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End of Chapter 41!
So after I wrote this chapter is was a bit over 5,000 words... so I went ahead and split it into two chapters. Which means you'll get at least one more chapter with Ace!
This is not edited.