Disclaimer: I own nothing obviously.

xXx

Saviour

Chapter 20

Amethyst took a deep breath in, looking down at the gap between the two ships, the divide fell heavy on her shoulders, the last time she stepped foot on this ship, she caused a lot of pain. Her mind kept flashing back to seeing Ace in the infirmary, looking through her with such immense pain on his face.

"You know..." She started, feeling an all too familiar presence shadowing behind her. "...Instead of just watching me, you could try and give me at least some words of encouragement?"

He chuckled at the obvious panic in her voice. "Looks like you're making great strides of progress to me," He replied jokingly. "The view from back here isn't too bad either."

She would've had a lot to say to that but was panicking too much to care, she went to back up when she felt a hand fall softly on her waist, goosebumps rising in that spot. She looked back and saw Ace with an encouraging smile on his face as he spoke.

"It's fine, he's not as scary as he seems." He leaned closer to her, his lips right beside her ear, she could feel his breath fanning across her cheek, her heart almost jumping out of her chest when she felt his lips brush against her as he spoke. "He's actually a real softie, but don't tell him I told you that," he whispered, backing up to the appropriate amount of space.

She gave a tight smile before nodding firmly and taking another deep breath, she went to walk again but couldn't help herself from hesitating, huffing in frustration, she looked back at him with a wry smile. "Sorry," she let out in embarrassment.

He only chuckled, no sign of annoyance or judgement in his features, he walked in front of her, taking the slight leap to the other ship that she couldn't, he turned to face her and held his hand out. "I've got you," He reassured.

She looked at it warily, glancing between him and his hand as if he were going to grab ahold and then let her go plummeting towards the sea.

"Trust me, Sunshine," He said teasingly.

She gave him a playful glare, not particularly loving the nickname but nonetheless she didn't hesitate this time, taking his hand almost instantly at the words 'Trust me' as if her entire body and soul answered solely to him, his being pulling and attracting her like gravity. He squeezed her hand, his other arm taking ahold of her waist and securely wrapping around her as he leaned down a bit, fingers gripping tightly but carefully on her waist, she let out a small gasp as he lifted her up the rest of the way before placing her gently back on her feet.

She looked up at him before placing her fist on his chest and pushing him away from her. "Thanks, Flame Brain," she said, laughing at the 'wounded' look on his face, hiding the disappointment she felt as she saw no recognition towards the nickname.

"You wound me, Sunshine," He replied in mock hurt, a hand dramatically grasping at his chest.

"Well, you two certainly became close in the past hour or so," an amused Marco let out, breaking the bubble the other two were unconsciously in, Amethyst wondering if he lived in the shadows watching all the time as he seemed to pop out from nowhere at the most inconvenient looking situations.

"Well, she is my saviour, right? We should become close," Ace said winking at him, Amethyst almost made a face when she saw that, she knew what that meant and she was not about to entertain his little idea like she was some girl he found ogling at him in a restaurant.

"Yeah... but not too close right?" She inserted with a challenging look on her face, which was met with a raised eyebrow and an almost smug-looking smirk which she could tell meant 'challenge accepted' she felt almost amused thinking about how Ace would react if he saw how he was acting towards her right now.

Marco watched as the two of them seemed to get stuck in a staring contest for what seemed like the thousandth time. "Okay... enough you two, Pops wants to see you both."

The two broke eye contact and looked at him. "Me too? I thought it was just Sunshine here."

Amethyst rolled her eyes at him before walking away from the two, confidently striding across the deck, ignoring the stares from the other crew that were around her and stopping in front of the door of the man she called her true father. She looked back only to see that the other two were stuck in the same place, giving her a strange look as if she were from an entirely different planet.

"What?!" She shouted out to them. "Hurry up! I don't have all day, I wanna go back to Luffy."

"Yeah!" She heard a familiar shout from the other ship making her let out a laugh, a smile crawling onto her face as she heard the enthusiastic voice of her dear little Luffy. She turned her attention back to Ace and Marco who finally started walking towards her, she could see them whispering to each other. She was well-aware they were trying to figure out how she knew the way to Whitebeards room, which made her a little bit happy knowing they were wondering about her.

'What are you two whispering about?'

She let out a whooping laugh, in complete hysterics as she watched them freak out at the sudden voice that invaded their minds. As they finally got to her they looked quite unamused, figuring out that she had something to do with the voice as they watched her holding her stomach, tears running down her face.

"Oh my fucking life, y'all should've seen your faces." She pointed at them as she continued to keel over in hilarity. After finally calming down, breathing heavily a shocked look came across her face suddenly, her hand taking hold of Ace's shoulder.

Their unamused faces became serious when they saw her expression instantly changed. "You okay Amethyst? What's wrong?" Ace exclaimed, worry etched on his face.

"I just realised that I could die right now, that moment just made my life," She said in a serious tone, her face then completely breaking in pure joy as she began laughing again. The two let out groans of irritation, Ace pushing her hand off his shoulder and shoving her head away in annoyance.

"Seriously?" Marco huffed, rubbing his temples in frustration.

"Oh, come on, you have to admit that was hilarious," Amethyst said, voice full of amusement.

"You three seem like you're having a grand ol' time out there and I'd hate to stop any laughter but if you could come in already, I have much to discuss." The three of them turned towards the closed door that the voice came booming from, Marco making the first step to open it.

As the door swung open and Amethyst could see the full view of the room, she had to bite the inside of her mouth to keep from getting emotional... again.

"You coming in, Sunshine?" Amethyst scoffed the initial feeling of being overwhelmed completely dying replaced with irritation as she looked at the smirking pirate sitting at the end of the way oversized bed making him look very small despite being quite the opposite. "Would you stop calling me that, Flame Brain?"

"You first," He looked at her a challenge shining in his eyes. " S-u-n-s-h-i-n-e," He drawled out tauntingly.

Instead of taunting him back with his own nickname she simply showed him her slim little pretty middle finger, a sarcastic, humourless smile on her face.

"Okay, lovebirds, enough. Let's listen to what Pops has to say," Marco interrupted despite his interest in the twos growing connection that seemed tangible.

Whitebeard watched the two in amusement before settling his focus on the girl. "Amethyst, we have been looking for you for a long time," he stated.

"Yeah... I heard," she replied awkwardly, avoiding eye contact. She knew that to talk to him or even just being around him was going to be intense and slighting unsettling but actually being in that moment was another situation entirely.

He watched her for a couple of seconds before speaking up. "First of all, I'd like to thank you for saving my family, not only Ace but you protected a lot more than him by killing Akainu that day, I don't know how we could ever repay you," his voice was dripping with gratefulness as he spoke.

She only shook her head. "I didn't do it for anything in return," she said genuinely a small smile on her lips.

"Then why may I ask?" He questioned finally, no beating around the bush and straight to the point. Both boys were listening intently waiting for a clear answer as to why she would do something like that for a complete stranger.

"Well," She started. "I was in the right place at the right-"

"Leeet me stop you right there Sunshine," Ace spoke up, cutting her off. "That excuse is outdated and the only reason I let it slide was that we were in front of everyone, I think we'd appreciate a better explanation." He crossed his arms looking at her expectantly.

"Yeah," Marco agreed. "Truth would be nice."

She kept her face blank, knowing full well they would see through her but searched her mind for an excuse. "I didn't like Akainu?"

"Is that an answer or a question?" Whitebeard questioned inquisitively.

"An answer?"

Marco and Ace groaned in frustration almost being driven to banging their heads against the wall, she was really trying their patience with her vague responses.

"Amethyst..." Whitebeard said almost fondly yet firmly, giving her a look that said he wasn't going to give up until she gave an acceptable answer.

Puffing her cheeks up and blowing a puff of air out she rolled her eyes. "Fine, I had been scorned in the past by the world government and when I saw what was happening in the paper, I took it as a chance to get revenge on the government and Akainu for what they did," She finished mixing truth and lie imperceptibly as if she was a natural-born actress.

The room was silent and she could tell by their faces that they were trying to analyse whether or not to believe her, she kept her face void of emotion, challenging them to try and accuse her of lying.

"That's more acceptable... I guess," Ace said then, breaking the silence that had taken over the room. "You still aren't off the hook though, we know that's not all of it."

Amethyst huffed in frustration. "You're quite infuriating you know?"

Ace smirked at her. "Could say the same about you, Sunshine."

"Marco, Ace, I want to talk to Amethyst alone," Whitebeard said firmly.

Amethyst felt herself panic, the only reason she was able to keep herself from a complete breakdown in front of the man she considered her father was because there were people present. Ace seemed to see this panic and felt a weird ache in his chest, he gave her a look telling her that everything was going to be okay, he saw her relax a little bit but could tell she was still very tense. He didn't know what came over him exactly but he acted first before he could think.

Amethyst felt the breath knock out of her as she felt the familiar but somewhat distant weight on her head, she looked up, the brim of the hat blocking her view slightly, it was still much too big for her head.

And there it was... The scent of cinnamon and Ash that she had become so accustomed to in the past, her entire body shivered in relief and relaxed as the scent absorbed into every pore and cranny of her body, overwhelming the nerves she had previously. She hadn't realised her eyes were closed until she re-opened them, looking up at Ace.

"thanks..." she whispered softly to him and watched as the two walked out wordlessly, both men equally confused at his sudden action of affection, leaving only her and the man towering over her who she had grown to adore.

"Amethyst... you are hiding much, aren't you?" Whitebeard questioned all too softly for her liking, it was getting hard to not show her emotions as she pleased when he sounded so much like he did before even though this version didn't know her which made it all the harder to stand.

"I..." She trailed off, biting her tongue in the process knowing that if she didn't then she would blurt out more than she could handle. He hummed in understanding as if the lack of response explained everything he needed to know, it was a sullen almost sorrowful sound. He patted the space beside him on his bed, indicating for her to sit next to him.

He watched with tender eyes as she hesitated before eventually giving in and standing up, vision blurring slightly as she could feel the tears well up, quickly blinking it away, only to freeze after a step. Hesitation creeping up again but before her mind could take over and back her away she locked eyes with him and suddenly it was like her worries weren't valid, her mind being overridden and she was sitting next to him, eyes breaking away to scan her hands that were on her lap anxiously.

"Brat..." He started solemnly, a sadness twinkling in his eyes as his eyes ran over the girls seemingly tough front. "Holding in that much pain must hurt, no?"

Amethyst's head snapped up suddenly, locking gazes with him and the last shred of self-control she had broke, her eyes widening before they filled rapidly with tears, she bit her lip to keep the sobs away.

"It's only us here, let it out."

And just like that all the pain and anguish from seeing them came bursting forth again and she let out a wounded, repressed sob filled with such grief and mourning that Whitebeard couldn't comprehend what could have distressed her so, what she could have been through to have come to this point, to release that kind of a sound that even to him was hard to not be tormented by such unbridled pain, it was unlike any cry he had ever heard and he with the family that he does have who all come from backgrounds of such hardship and seen every single one cry but this was much different, it was the sound of someone who had nothing and lost everything.

After a while, her sobs grew silent but the tears never stopped and Whitebeard took this as a chance.

"Tell me," Whitebeard says, it's short, more of a demand than a request.

Amethyst became tight-lipped then, shaking her head. "Can't... I'm just.." She trailed off again grasping at her chest, a silence spreading as she said nothing. The right words leaving her until she felt the pain stab at her, balling her hand into a fist, lifting it before bringing it back down on her chest hitting it over and over. "I'm so exhausted..." she looked back up at him.

Whitebeard saw the torment and anguish filling her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks, the emotions clenching at his heart.

"I'm sick of feeling this way all the time, I'm sick of fighting, I'm sick of waiting, I'm sick of trying, I'm sick of existing, I'm sick of breathing," She choked on her words, thinking about the words that the voice had told her, frustration and helplessness encompassing her. "I just want it to end... I want everything to just stop."

Whitebeard sighed, laying a finger on her head and rubbing it comfortingly, knocking the hat off her head so that it hung around her neck. Amethyst closed her eyes and relished in the security it gave her. "Don't think about everything you've lost, think about everything you have to gain, everything you've already gained," He stares down at her thoughtfully. "That Strawhat brat is a hell of a boy, and his crew are full of amazing kids who I'm sure you care much about."

Amethyst nodded awkwardly, his finger weighing her head down a bit.

"Let me ask you something," he started seriously. "Why do you fight?"

Her eyebrows furrowed at the question, not quite sure as to where he would be going with this. "Why... do I fight?"

"You seem to have been battling a war within yourself for a while but you're still alive and well, relatively, so why? Why are you still here? Why do you keep going?"

Sucking in a breath she felt herself come to an understanding, smiling finally. She shook her head in disappointment at herself. She had been wallowing in her own suffering and forgetting about everything she strived through and fought for. "I see, I lost sight for what I was enduring all of this for..." She glanced up at him, gratitude evident in her expression. "Thanks, Po- Whitebeard," She quickly said, hoping he didn't catch her mistake.

Whitebeard didn't miss the slip-up but chose to ignore it, smiling down at her and giving her a light tap on the head. "You sure there's nothing else you would like to tell me?"

Amethyst grinned. "Oh there's probably much that I would like to tell you but you'll find out when the time is right," she said finally, a new burst of energy in her from the pep talk she received, she felt like she could wait for a hundred years... though not literally.

"You're quite the mystery aren't you brat?"

She chuckled in response and stood up, feeling the conversation coming to a close.

"Thank you, Amethyst," he said suddenly, his head bowing slightly. "For saving my hotheaded son when I would've been too late."

Smiling softly she closed her eyes as the image of Ace being punched through the chest flashed in her mind, grimacing as her eyes watered a tad. "Don't worry about it, I went through too much to let that moron die, there's no way in heaven or hell that I was going to let him die."

Whitebeard stared at her, a small smirk gracing his lips. "So, you didn't save him just to scorn the government?"

She narrowed her eyes playfully at him, shaking a finger at him cheekily. "Hey, hey, you'll find out soon enough... but I have a request first." Expression turning calm and solemn. "My prize or payback for saving Ace or whatever you want to call it..."

"Yes? Nothing is too much."

She fiddled with her fingers before looking at him seriously. "When you find out about me... don't... just don't feel bad, okay?"

"Mm, understood."

Amethyst walked back on the deck of the Whitebeards looking around looking for Ace or Marco, she wanted to be around them as much as possible, knowing that she was able to without anyone getting hurt, she just needed to get them to remember her, how the hell she was going to do that... she was gonna have to wing it.

"Hi, excuse me Amethyst?"

She turned to the voice and saw a very serious looking woman, analysing non-discreetly as if she were some puzzle to solve. "I would like to run some tests on you if that's okay with you?"

Amethyst stood stark still for a couple of seconds before letting a loud laugh. "Sure thing... you sure do just get to the point huh, April?" She questioned, shaking her head in amusement, she thought back to meeting the doctor the first time and smiled softly at how different she felt compared to back then.

"You know me?" April then questioned, attention momentarily flickering away from the girls' body as she had been scanning it inquisitively as if she could somehow figure everything out about her just from her body.

"You could say I've heard things," before she could respond Amethyst began speaking again. "Well, anyway what would you like for me to do?"

April stood, posture straightening out, tapping her chin inquisitively with her index finger. "Well, I'm not going to experiment on you and if the things I've heard about you are true then this should be as easy as Thatch."

"Hey!" Thatch yelled from his seat on the floor. "I wasn't even apart of this conversation, why am I being insulted?!" "Because you were born bread-head, that's why," Amethyst teased before seeing the looks from the people there who had heard her, cursing under her breath. 'I'm assimilating way too quickly, take it slowly Amethyst, slowly.'

A laugh cut the silence which was then followed by everyone else laughing. "That was a good one, Amethyst!" April chortled, slapping her thigh as she laughed.

"We finally gonna have a look at those overpowered abilities of yours?" Marco spoke up then from his place perched on the railing of the ship.

Amethyst glanced at him with a small smirk on her lips. "You sure you can handle it pineapple head?" She taunted making everyone there stare at her with wide eyes before bursting into laughter. He looked slightly flustered at the sudden nickname but then 'tsked' and looked her up and down trying to get a read on what kind of person she could be... so far she was completely obliterating every and all expectations he had for her.

"You know that if you were anyone else outside of this crew, you'd be dead meat, right?"

She almost scoffed at what he was trying to imply with that comment. "I'm not scared of a little birdy like you, first of all." She made a small hand gesture and suddenly his hair lit on fire and he started to flail before his blue flames spread and put it out, not a scratch or hair out of place. "Ugh, your self-healing is irritating."

"You have fire abilities like Ace?" April cut in before Marco could scold her for attempting to permanently damage his hair.

"Mmm..." Shaking her head she let out a small laugh. "Not quite, Ace is literally made of fire, I just can command it and control it by will." They all seemed to nod at that, April quickly taking note of it in a book that Amethyst had no idea where it suddenly popped out of.

She thought for a bit trying to figure out which ability to demonstrate next. A small crowd had gathered on the ship deck, all interested in seeing more of the abilities this girl had and suddenly she was filled with amusement at the sudden contrast the real first demonstration of her powers was in comparison to this seemingly more accepting display.

Amethyst looked to the side and she locked eyes with Ace who was walking from inside the ship, having been called from his room by Thatch who followed closely behind him. He smiled at her and that's when she remembered she still had his hat dangling around her neck. She made a move towards him but then stopped as an idea popped into her head and she smirked at him, letting out a small laugh as his eyes narrowed suspiciously at her. Before he could question her or get closer she snapped her fingers and disappeared from sight.

Noises of shock ran through the deck at the sudden void space in which the girl had just occupied. "The fuck?"

"Behind you."

Ace and Thatch jumped in fright at the sudden voice, swivelling around and seeing the girl that they were sure was just on the other side of the deck a millisecond ago, now right beside them. "Your hat." She said, her voice filled with mirth at the reactions of the two people she was once close with now looking at her like she was wearing a second head. He went to grab the hat from her hand when she suddenly snatched it out of reach and made another hand gesture, the hat now rising out of her hand and floating in midair before landing on his head with grace.

"So now you know three of my abilities." She said smugly, winking at the shocked looks on all the crew's faces before she could fully get into showing off anymore she felt something familiar wash over her brain and snapped her fingers again, a pillow forming in midair and dropping to the ground, soon followed by the fire-user who landed less than gracefully on top of it but otherwise safely as his head landed squarely in the middle of it.

She shook her head smiling in exasperation. "Sheesh, this guy is working towards brain damage at this point," She mumbled under her breath as she let out a sigh of relief.

"How'd you know to do that?" Marco said, finally getting over his own initial shock and now looking at her suspiciously, sure his condition wasn't exactly a secret but it also wasn't just wide-known news either.

Shrugging nonchalantly she dismissively replied. "Part of my abilities, I get this kind of tick when someone is in need or danger is near kind of thing, I'm not fully sure about my own abilities so I wouldn't know how to accurately explain it to you with my own lack of knowledge."

"You don't know your own origins?" He questioned, genuinely surprised.

"I've heard some guesses about who I am or more so what I am." She sighs glancing to the side as she spoke. "But I don't know. I was just born like this so... yeah." She sat down then, noticing the crew now dispersing as they sensed that she was done with the demonstration for the day.

"What about your parents? They didn't tell you about your history or something?"

Laughing a little at that she shook her head again. "I don't know my parents like that. We weren't exactly on talking terms."

"Sorry, I-"

"Eh.. not a big deal." She said waving it off. "I mean, I can't be the only one with daddy issues on this ship, right?"

He scoffed at that. "Yeah, I guess not. But just daddy issues?"

Cocking an eyebrow at him she wondered if he was brave or stupid for trying to get into her personal business without knowing how she'd react, for all he knew she could kill him right then and there... well she wouldn't but that's beside the point, the point being, it's not like HE knows that.

"Let's just say," She turns the words over in her head carefully before saying them. "...the daddy issues were the cause of the mommy issues so can't really say I blame her all that much y'know?"

He made a small gesture of understanding at that. "You know I thought you'd be much more uncomfortable on this ship, you seemed to be pretty out of your comfort zone when you were coming here."

"I didn't know exactly what to expect so I was a little nervous... but now I do so it's not hard to get comfortable, plus Ace is on this crew so it can't be that bad."

He looked at her slightly sceptical. "You think that highly of Ace? Someone you barely know."

Laughing she leaned her cheek into the palm of her hand. "No... I think that highly of Luffy and Ace being his brother so... can't be that bad of a person, hence it can't be that bad of a crew."

"And yet... you're not feeling like it's a permanent thing, huh?"

Her smile faltered at that. "What?"

"Ace told me you were 'holding out for someone'" He emphasised the words. "Those were his exact words at least."

She rolled her eyes. "I see that I can't say anything without it being passed on."

"It's a pretty big deal, why haven't you let them know? It's real' shitty to just let the crew think you're someone you're not and have them have expectations that you're gonna betray in the future."

Her eyes narrowed at him and what exactly he was trying to pointedly imply with that. "I'm not fucking Teach, you dick. They'll find out on their own and a couple of them already basically know, so don't fucking act like you know shit about me or my relationship with them." She glared hotly at him as he tried to cut in. "Why don't you just keep your mouth shut and not butt into other peoples family business."

Thatch sat down across from her, next to Marcos still standing form. "Everything okay here? Looking kinda tense." The atmosphere went slightly awkward after that, none of them knowing what else to say both wanting to say a lot but both holding back for different reasons.

"That was crazy!"

Amethyst jumped at the sudden interruption of Ace now finally waking from his medical condition and continuing with how he left off before he made his grand exit. Laughing she shook her head, 'Great timing idiot.' "You're a bit late to the party sleepyhead. Everyone has moved on already."

He looked around slightly groggy. "Ah... sorry I have-"

"Narcolepsy," She interrupted. "I am well aware and so are many others. Unfortunate condition to have considering you're a pirate. You ever been captured cause you fell asleep in the wrong place?"

He huffed at that. "No, I'm not that disabled," he responded petulantly.

She snorted at that but quickly tried to hide her widening grin. "What's funny huh, sunshine?"

"Nothing at all." She responded before more giggles escaped between her lips and soon she wasn't able to hold it in and she started to laugh, unrestrained and full of unbridled amusement, the corners of her eyes crinkling, filling with tears as she couldn't stop the warmth in her chest from bubbling out. When her laughter started to die down to small giggles she gathered her legs to her chest and leaned her cheek against her knees, looking at him with a gentle smile. "Absolutely nothing."

Ace couldn't look away from her, she was... stunning. Everything about her was breathtaking and made him want to look at her and never look away, he couldn't stop the smile from slipping on his lips as he watched her laugh at 'nothing' she was much different than what he had expected. He expected, brooding, angst and black... a lot of black considering his last memory of her. What he didn't expect was this, sunshine and light, tanned skin and bright smiles, heart tickling laughter and beauty beyond comprehension... no, he definitely was not expecting that. The only expectation she had met was her inexplicable mystery.

"Hey-"

"AM!"

Amethyst looked away from him and stood up, turning to look down at the other ship. "Yeah?" She shouted back at her captain who was looking up at her with a small pout.

"When are you coming back? Sabo is boriiiiing! Bring Ace!" He was hit in the head by the blonde who appeared behind him with an indignant look on his face.

Before she could respond to him she felt a warmth appear behind her that made her eyes flutter closed and she relished in it for a couple of seconds before looking back at him, Ace smiled down at her, leaning his chin on her shoulder before looking down at the other ship as well, she followed his line of sight and saw him locking eyes with the blonde who looked up at them with a furrow in his brow and she felt a small pang of hurt at that before scoffing and pushing away from him gently. "Stop."

His whiskey eyes snapped back to her with confusion for the first time she had actually recoiled from him with distaste written all over her face.

"I don't wanna be apart of your pissing contest. Leave me out of it."

Understanding flashed across his face followed by guilt. "Ame-"

She shook her head quickly cooling her hurt expression before forcing a grin to her face. "It's fine. Let's go." She hip-checked him before winking playfully. "Our little brother calls and seeing as I'M the favourite." She smiled a little at the indignant look in his eyes at that. "I wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

His eyes followed her as she fearlessly jumped down to the other ship as if she wasn't just terrified a half-hour ago at the prospect of climbing onto the Moby Dick. He guessed it showed how comfortable she was on that ship in comparison. He felt an itch in his chest as he thought about her hurt expression from just seconds ago, he knew what he was doing when he looked down at the blonde and got too close to her. He could tell that he had an effect on her just as much as she inexplicably did on him, he knew that for some odd reason that his brother seemed to be affected by her as well although she showed no indication of reciprocation in that area. Still, he felt out of the loop like because the blonde was there first he was ahead of him as if he were in some kind of race which obviously she seemed to notice as well and... fuck. Rubbing his face he let out a sigh. "I'm such a dick." Also more than that he felt unsettled at how she had schooled her expression when she pointed it out, she was hurt, her expression crumpled and in a split second it was like everything was fine and he hadn't just used her to get at his brother.

"No arguments with you there." Marco appeared beside him wearing a massively unimpressed expression as he watched the fire-user turn to him. "Never thought I'd see the day that you'd end up having a crush."

Ace glared at him. "It's not a crush... I don't 'crush' she's just... well have you seen her? She's gorgeous."

Marco rolled his eyes. "I'm not blind I see that idiot." Sighing, he grabs the fire-users shoulder. "Be careful, she seems like an emotional person, so don't hurt her or I doubt it'll be good for any of us."

"Dude, she's just a girl." Ace defended, shrugging him off. He didn't like that Marco was making her seem like some kind of time bomb waiting to explode at the slightest gust of wind.

"Dude," Marco mocked back. "...you don't even know her, just like any other new person we know nothing about, just be cautious."

Ace rolled his eyes at him, he was being too overly-dramatic in his opinion. "Whatever."

Both crews had gathered on the ship and Luffy was as hyperactive as ever.

"Does he ever like... chill?" One of the Whitebeard pirates questioned seriously, watching the other captain bouncing around everywhere trying to talk to absolutely everyone, very different to his own much more reserved captain.

Amethyst laughed a little. "Trust me when I say, the last thing you'd want is a 'chill' Luffy," She glances at her crew members who seem to be listening in and nodding there heads in agreement. "It's not a very pleasant sign."

"Surely, he can't be that scary."

The Strawhats all looked at each other knowingly. "Usually I would like to challenge that statement but I'd think it wise not to, especially since we are rival crews after all and uh..." Amethyst moved closer to the man, whispering now so only he could hear. "I don't think you wanna get your ass kicked and start something we all don't wanna have to be apart of."

Feeling the seriousness in her tone he backed up and held his hand up in surrender. "Okay okay, I get it, he's not to be messed with."

She nodded a little in satisfaction before focusing her eyes back on her little brother, she squinted a little, her eyes catching sight of something before sighing. "Lu! C'mere for a second!"

Wordlessly he jumped away from his brothers and landed in front of her with a grin and a small tilt of his head in a questioning gesture as to what she needed from him. Shaking her head she smiled warmly at him before reaching out and rubbing at his face. "You know you're supposed to eat with your mouth and not your entire face, right?"

He made a sound of displeasure but otherwise didn't move away from her as she wiped what seemed to be food stains around his mouth. She looked over him a bit before noticing more things and sighing. "How do you even get food in your hair?" She comments whilst pulling out pieces of meat and bone. "Go wash and come back out, you're filthy!"

"But Am!" He whined.

"No buts!" She pointed at him seriously. "GO. Now."

He sighed dramatically and stomped his way back into the ship to do as he was told. The rest of the crew started laughing at the sad sight of their captain being scolded like the child that he still was.

"I don't know why you guys are laughing for." Amethyst shot them all sharp stares that cut their laughter short. "Franky, Sanji and Brook, leave April alone and stop being pervs or I will rip off your family jewels." All of them paled and backed off right away, going about their days as if nothing ever happened, not even Sanji made a comment about her.

"And Nami!" The girl flinched and smiled wryly. "Yes, sis?" Amethyst shook her head at the nickname. "Stop scabbing money off of our guests! I've told you so many times already to stop holding debt to our crew and yet you feel it's okay to do the same to others?" The orange-haired girl looked down and she shook her head, feeling like a kicked puppy.

"Also Chopper!" The reindeer shrunk back to size as he looked at her with wide eyes. "Stop showing off and changing forms when you know it's strenuous against your own body! I don't care how long you've been training and now you can withstand them longer, it's still not appropriate! as a doctor, you should know better!" His eyes started to water but otherwise nodded in agreement.

She turned to the last member of the crew and saw him sleeping, as usual, she stomped towards him and flicked him in the head, waking him up. "What the hell!?"

"We have guests! So either you stay awake while you're out here or go to your room and sleep! You're a grown adult and yet you act like some untrained kid! I don't care if you sleep out here when it's just us but there are other people here! Be respectful!" His eyes widened a tad before he looked to the sighed and breathed out heavily in annoyance but otherwise didn't protest.

Amethyst took in a deep breath and breathed out, turning back to everyone else who was staring at her like she grew an extra head. "So, you guys want anything? Food?"

They all shook their heads.

"Nothing to say to me?"

Amethyst looked amused and smiled at Robin. "You're the only one that isn't a complete child so no, you're fine."

"I'd say you're too hard on them but you're good with them... for them," Robin says, sitting beside her with a fond smile on her face as she watched the violet-eyed girl watching over the crew with a warm expression despite the scolding that just took place.

"Yeah well," She nudges Robin playfully. "One of us has to look after the kids."

Robin stared at the girl for a bit before giving a sad smile. "You're a kid yourself you know?"

Amethyst smiled at that before closing her eyes as she listened to the sounds of chattering and the waves of the ocean and couldn't help feeling sentimental at that moment, she turned the raven-haired woman's words in her head carefully before responding. "I don't think I've been a kid for quite a while now." She wasn't really expecting a response to that but when she didn't get one she opened her eyes and looked to the side letting out a small gasp of surprise as she was met with brown eyes staring into her soul. "Ace..."

He smiled softly, his freckles rising with the action. "Hey... can we talk?"

She felt her heartbeat rise with every second passing and she got up quickly, scratching the back of her head. "I'm actually pretty tired, tomorrow." She quickly left, walking inside the ship to get to her room. She scolded herself as she thought about the conversation or more so the one-sided conversation as she basically ran out of there without letting him talk. As she finally got to her room she felt a hand grab her arm and turn her around.

"I swear, it'll be quick. I just have to say it and you only need to listen, you don't even have to say anything." He backed her up into her room until she was against her bed and forced to sit as he stood in front of her, he sat down in front of her, looking into her eyes.

She brought her legs to her chest and rested her face on her knees, looking down at him slightly flustered but expectant. "What's up?"

He let out a breath of relief and smiled up at her. "I wanna say sorry, for how I acted before with Sabo n' shit." He was looking at her sincerely as he spoke, hoping she would hear him out. "It was a pretty scummy thing to treat you like some object to gain or some kind of competition prize."

She looked at him for a bit and sighed a small smile appearing on her lips. "Can I ask why you did that?"

Chuckling he scratched the back of his neck wryly. "Yeah, we've always been competitive and I guess we both think you're..." He trailed off looking to the side.

"I'm?"

"Interesting."

Laughing a little she cocked her head to the side. "Interesting? That's... something."

"You're a mystery and attractive as hell but not just the outside but you're kind of magnetising... I guess." He looked bashful but confident as he said it, looking her straight in the face as he spoke.

"Oh." She flushed slightly. "Thank you?"

There was silence for a few seconds before he stood up, clearing his throat. "I'm gonna," He jabbed his thumb towards the door and she stood up as well, smiling as she nodded.

"Goodnight." She said softly from the doorway as he stood outside.

He smiled warmly at her. "Yeah, G'night Sunshine."