There was a single moment of blessed silence before pandemonium erupted across the room. There was general panic as the customers attempted to scramble out of the restaurant, while the bartender edged as far away from the two men as possible, his path to freedom unfortunately blocked by a sturdy table knocked over during the scuffle. Cedra quietly tossed a pebble to a corner well shielded by furniture, but stood her ground, a few paces from Ace. The cause for all the commotion, meanwhile, was calmly picking his teeth, seated comfortably atop his stool. With deliberate slowness, he leaned back against the bar.

"Oh, nothing much, just looking for my younger brother," he replied with a cocky grin. "So? What can I do for you, Captain?"

"Give yourself up without resistance," Smoker replied, exhaling another cloud of dense white smoke.

"Sorry, Smokie, no can do. Such a shame." Ace sighed dramatically. In spite of his relaxed attitude, Cedra noticed the way his shoulders tensed subtly, in preparation for a fight.

"I'm currently hunting for another pirate right now, so I wasn't intending to take your head…" Smoker drawled lazily, sauntering towards Ace. Only his fists, clenched in his pockets, betrayed his battle-readiness. Cedra braced herself as well for the battle that was sure to follow, angling her body towards the nearest exit.

"Go on then, I'm not stopping you." Ace propped both elbows up on the bar behind him.

"No can do, Fire-Fist," Smoker echoed his earlier words with a predatory grin. "I'm a marine, you're a pirate. What comes next should be no more than obvious."

"Boring as usual," Ace sighed, then smirked. "Well then, let's see what you can do." Cedra frowned. In the background of their conversation, she could hear the sound of a familiar yell, rapidly growing louder. The doorframe of the Spice Bean creaked suspiciously. Eyes widening, she dived to the side just in time to avoid the hurtling ball of rubbery human that crashed into first Smoker, then Ace, sending them flying through the back wall of the tavern and into several rows of houses beyond. Dust, broken brick and splintered wood showered the throng of cowering patrons. Sitting in the midst of rubble, Luffy let out a wild whoop.

"At last, a restaurant! Serve up all the food you got, I'm starving!" His dash to the destroyed bar was mirrored by the rush of terrified customers funnelling out of the tavern through the newly carved opening. "Come on, mister, give me some grub!" He pounded on the bar impatiently, goading the longsuffering bartender who was, by now, pasty white and beginning to look as if he wished he had taken sick leave that day. With shaking hands, he carried out a few plates of food that were originally meant for customers who had fled the premises long ago. Luffy began stuffing his face at a pace that rivalled his brother's. Cedra picked herself up and cautiously approached Luffy, who caught sight of her and waved with a fork, mumbling out a greeting between bites. She could not help but smile and wave back at the hilarious sight of his elastic cheeks ballooning with food. Just then, both Ace and Smoker arrived back at the restaurant. Ace's face brightened instantly, whilst Smoker's darkened with grim purpose. Ace's excited greeting was abruptly silenced as Smoker shoved him down to charge up to Luffy.

"Straw Hat!" He roared at the boy, who seemed momentarily puzzled. Recognition lit his face, and he sputtered out a few indecipherable exclamations, spraying Smoker with the contents of his mouth. The reddening of the mariner's face as he wiped off the slimy remnants of the bartender's best efforts indicated his mounting rage. Grabbing all the nearby dishes with his arms, he shovelled the whole lot, plates and all, into his mouth and sprinted out the way he had come in. Smoker followed in hot pursuit, roaring out unsavoury threats. Ace picked himself up for the second time that day, gritting his teeth. A spreading bruise was beginning to shadow his cheek. He paused only to straighten his hat before sprinting off as well.

"Wait, Luffy, it's me!"

Cedra stared longingly at the food left behind by Luffy, then at Ace's rapidly receding figure. With a sigh, she grabbed a wrap stuffed to bursting with lettuce and roast chicken and grabbed several thousand beli from the pouch in her waist. She was not exactly rolling in it, but compassion for the bartender had her paying for her meal several times over. The expression of teary gratitude on his face, she decided, was worth the cost.

"Thanks for the food!" She called over her shoulder before following Ace as fast as she could in the converging crowd of people.

When she skidded to a halt before the billowing cloud of smoke and fire, half the street stores lining the dock were already ablaze. Neither Logia fruit user could gain the upper hand in a fight between the immaterial substances. When they broke apart for a moment, Cedra rolled a stone behind smoker, and switched herself behind him. As he whirled to face her fddin surprise, she brushed the hand gripping his sea-stone weapon, the hand he was forced to keep solid, and tossed another pebble as far into the ocean as she could.

"Sorry, captain," she grinned before she switched the dumbfounded man right into the ocean. The bunch of marines charging at them immediately transferred their attentions to their drowning commander, shrugging off their vests and leaping into the ocean to rescue him. She turned to face Ace, who was regarding her with the same expression of complete bewilderment as he had in the Spice Bean. They stared at each other in silence for a few moments, before a chorus of yells notified them of approaching company.

"I'd like to ask you many questions, beginning with who you are, but perhaps we should find a better place for that." He jerked his head as an indication that she should follow, and darted towards the milling crowd of onlookers behind them. They quickly lost the marines who were preoccupied with one very sodden and half-drowned captain. Slipping into a remote alley, he checked for pursuers before turning to her. "Thanks for helping me out just then, not that I needed it," he began with a grin. "Now I'd like to ask who you are, and why you seem to have a…let's call it an interest, in me."

Cedra swallowed against the lump that had suddenly planted itself in her throat. Now that she'd gotten his attention, her rationale for searching for him for the past five years seemed grossly inadequate at best, and disturbingly obsessive at worst. "I, uh…" Glancing around for inspiration, she caught sight of the immense tattoo on his back. "I want to join your division in the Whitebeard pirate crew." He raised an eyebrow incredulously, as if he doubted the veracity of her explanation. She did not blame him; she found herself wildly unconvincing as well. Looking anywhere except at him, she waited for his response.

"Well…you're a devil fruit user, aren't you?" She nodded, daring to allow her eyes to slide across his face for a moment. "And you seem to be rather determined to join." He scratched the side of his head vigorously, then sighed. "I guess I could take you on probation, but the real decision's going to be made by Whitebeard himself. It's his crew after all." Cedra nodded dumbly. His eyes suddenly narrowed and he leaned in threateningly. "Take care, if this is some sort of ploy to harm Whitebeard…you'll be paying for it tenfold." The intensity of his threat seemed to press down on her with unbearable weight. She nodded mechanically, staring resolutely at the ground. As abruptly as he had moved in, he rocked backwards on his heels. "Well, come along then. I've got a younger brother to lecture before we go on our way."

"You're leaving with him?" Luffy peered curiously over the side of the ship. Cedra nodded, helping Ace coil the ropes he had used to secure the Striker to the Going Merry. "Do you know each other?" This time he addressed the both of them. Cedra closed her eyes against the flood of memories. Perhaps once, but not anymore.

"No," Ace answered. ""She just expressed an interest in joining the Whitebeard Pirates. Since you've rejected my kind offer, I decided to take her instead." He continued with a lopsided grin. Hooking the loops of coiled rope over a post, he climbed into the main seat of the raft, feet fitting neatly into slots connected to the engine. He eyed Cedra thoughtfully then jerked his head towards the back engine. "Stick close to the mast. It's a one man raft, but you don't look all that heavy. Don't worry, it's insulated." He turned back to Luffy before she could ask why insulation was necessary. "I'll see you next time…at the top." With that final challenge, he reached down to release a lever and set his legs aflame. The Striker rocked violently, engine sputtering, for a moment, before it shot forward, accelerating powerfully, forcing Cedra to cling tightly to the mast. She could barely hear Ace's chuckles over the roaring engine. As promised, despite the furnace beneath her, the surface of the engine she sat on was barely warm.

"Comfortable?" He threw the query over his shoulder, looking at her long enough to see her nod. "Good, because we've got company." Ahead of them, five ships sailing abreast blocked the path to open sea. The Baroque Works symbol featured boldly on every mainsail. Shouts of challenge echoed down from their decks.

"Try and escape, Fire-fist! We know your weakness is the sea!"

The only warning Cedra received was Ace bending his knees, before he shot up into the air, propelled by twin rockets of flame from his heels. The force of his jump thrust the Striker downwards. Cedra barely had the time to gulp a breath of air before she was plunged into seawater. Eyes shut tight against the burning salt, she clung on blindly for dear life to the smooth wood of the mast as it continued to drag her forwards beneath the ranks of ships, propelled by Ace's flames. It seemed like eternity before she emerged on the other side, gasping for breath, shaking the wet ropes of her hair out of her face. She felt the thump that told her Ace had landed on the Striker, but barely registered his flustered apologies over the rapid thundering of her heart. A bottle was pressed into her hands and she used it to flush the salt water from her orifices, taking a few deep gulps afterwards. She heard a booming explosion as Ace destroyed the fleet in a torrent of flame. Leaning heavily against the mast, she tried to catch her breath. The boat continued to speed over the waves as Ace turned to her.

"I'm so sorry, I completely forgot you existed." Cedra grimaced at the unintentional irony of his words.

"Somehow I don't find that very comforting," She returned with a light laugh. He shook his head earnestly.

"No, really, I'm sorry. Are you alright?' Leaning over, he peered at her carefully. She flapped a hand at him.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just focus on driving." Reassured, he settled back into a comfortable position. The boat skimmed lightly over the waves, sprinkling its passengers with sea spray whenever it hit a wave. A refreshingly cool wind tugged at her cloak and hair, sending them streaming out behind her. Cedra shivered in her wet clothes. A thin sheet of flame suddenly flared up around her, drying her sodden blouse and pants before dissipating. She patted his shoulder in gratitude. Inhaling deeply, she savoured the taste and scent of the ocean. This was definitely a far better way to travel than her agonizingly long sojourn in the storeroom of Mr. 2's boat.

"You know, it is kind of dangerous to sleep on a raft like this." Cedra jerked awake. Ace knelt beside her, mouth curved in a slight smile. "Anyway, we're here." Waves lapped gently against the side of the raft. They had sailed through the night, and the sky was just beginning to lighten, streaks of washed-out gold working their way across the horizon into the powdery blue of a pre-dawn sky. On either side of them, boats of varying sizes bobbed gently along the beachside dock, tugging at their moorings. She clambered off the boat onto the damp sand, limbs still stiff from sleep, and helped him haul the raft ashore.

"Where are we?" She spoke her first words of the morning as he knotted rope around a mooring post.

"Welcome to the beautiful island of Crater. You will soon see where her inhabitants creatively derived her name from." Finished, he rubbed his palms together and shoved them into the pockets of his shorts. She followed him up along the beach to a collection of wooden houses. The small town comprised a few rows of huts gathered around a central marketplace. Vendors bustled around laying out their wares, preparing for the first customers of the morning. Smoke rose from a collection of food stores in one corner, where hot meals to start off the day were arranged beside piles of fish fresh from the ocean. To Cedra, it seemed to be a charming but nonetheless unremarkable fishing village.

"Are we here for provisions?" She asked as they made their way through the marketplace.

"No, we're looking for someone…I've been hunting my subordinate. He's a traitor, having committed the most serious crime of killing a fellow crew member. I cannot allow him to escape, and that's why I've been scouring half the grand line for any trace of him. Crater is where I last received news of him."

Cedra clenched her jaw. Having encountered few enough people she could truly call friends, she was disgusted by the thought of someone who could carelessly kill a crewmate. "What is his name?"

"Marshall D. Teach, but I heard he's calling himself Blackbeard now. He stole a devil's fruit and made off with a crew of his own." The way Ace spat out his name clearly indicated his opinion of the pirate was equally poor. As if driven by the prospect of vengeance, his strides lengthened until Cedra was forced to jog to keep up. They quickly left the town and proceeded down a dirt track hemmed by fields of tall grass. The land curved upwards steeply to a ridge, beyond which nothing could be seen. Scrambling and sliding over loose rocks, Cedra grabbed handfuls of the tough, scratchy grass to maintain her balance. She glanced enviously at Ace, who seemed to maintain the same pace uphill as on level ground, feet unerringly finding the best footholds. Eventually, she hauled herself over the top of the ridge, panting heavily. The sight that greeted her robbed her of all remaining breath. Barely a meter from her feet, the ground disappeared abruptly. It was as if someone had taken a gigantic ladle and carved out a perfect hemisphere from the land. Sharp cliffs formed the rim of an immense, rocky basin, devoid of vegetation, that curved from near vertical to gradually gentler slopes at its base. At the centre of the basin sprawled a city. Foul, dark clouds of smog hung over the city, partially obscuring their view of the squat, rectangular houses made of some curious material. Even from that distance, Cedra could smell faintly the tainted smoke that filled its streets. Ace turned and headed for a rickety wooden structure, one of several that perched on the edge of the basin. A crude harness seemingly woven from the same tall grass that covered the slopes behind them, hung suspended from a complex system of pulleys and ropes that connected to a wire cable which stretched deep into the city. Ace unwound a rope that secured the harness in place and held it out to Cedra. She glanced at the steep drop, then back at him again.

"Me?" Completely terrified, the single syllable seemed to be all she could manage. Ace rolled his eyes, and gestured impatiently to the harness once again.

"Yes, you, who else?" His voice was seemingly rough with irritation, but Cedra did not miss the twitch in his cheek that betrayed the smile he was holding back. He's enjoying this, she thought resentfully. Lifting her chin high, she strode forward with all the confidence she could muster and manage to reach for the harness with steady hands. Gingerly she stepped into the cradle of dried grass and tightened the straps, trying not to think of the terrifying drop awaiting her. As she readied herself at the edge, Ace stepped behind her to check the pulley system.

"Relax," he told her with a fiendish grin. "The grass held you up well enough when you were clinging on to it for dear life on the way up. Why doubt it now?" Scowling, she opened her mouth to retort. What emerged was an ear-piercing scream as Ace shoved her off the cliff. There was a heart-stopping drop that lasted a few seconds, followed by a jerk that threatened to dislocate her hips. Wind rushed past her, tearing at her eyes and forcing them into mere slits. The city accelerated towards her at an alarming pace. Tiny rectangles became houses, and spidery lines turned into a web of streets. She flew into the cloud of smog, and its bitter taste choked her. She was coughing so hard that she didn't notice the platform flying towards her, or the man who desperately gestured at her to begin running. The momentum brought her crashing painfully into a rope net, a last resort for clumsy or daydreaming passengers like herself. Dazed and completely winded, she slid to the floor on boneless legs as the platform manager ran towards her.

"Are you alright, ma'am? I told you to start running!" He helped her disentangle herself from the harness.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that." She mumbled her apologies, as Ace alighted neatly on the platform behind her, sporting a grin she itched to slap off his face. "Don't! Say a word." She glared at him, dusting herself off, before turning on her heels and marching off.

"I wouldn't, but the exit's this way," the smile in his voice was unmistakable. Fuming, she stalked off in the indicated direction, doing her best to ignore his laughter.

A/N: I ended up taking pretty long on this…it was a transitory chapter so I had a lot of inertia writing it, but nonetheless necessary to set up the stage for later events I guess :P Sorry guys! I should try to be more hardworking on this haha. Thanks all of you who favourited, followed and reviewed in the meantime it means a lot to me! Please do keep reviewing and constructive criticism is, as always, welcome!