Chapter 21: And we meet again!

"We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools"

Alabasta. The island drew to a clear outline of golden sand, which did not make Sky particularly excited at the prospect of land – she'd never liked sand. It stuck to everything, like fingerprints all over every inch, especially the grainy feeling at the soles of her feet. Ace stretched, cracking his back in anticipation whilst the striker reached the sand with a soft thud.

"The only thing I'm looking forward to is finding the rubber idiot." Sky grumbled, glad that boots saved her from the sediments in between her toes.

"I wonder how he's changed." Ace mused, squinting to find any source of filling his appetite. Upon spotting an eatery, he dragged Sky, who would most rather prefer a better form of transport rather than walking on… soft dirt.

"Do you even have money?" Sky asked, not exactly fond of his dine-and-run habit mainly because she'd not been accustomed to his less than legal ways of living. (she was on the right side of the law most of her life, despite injuring countless… pirates)

Ace gave her an incredulous stare that definitely reminded her of Luffy and a smirk. Of course he didn't have money – he was already prepared to finish the restaurant's food supply. When Sky grabbed his arm in a hurry, Ace didn't think anything of it – typically cautious Sky. Smoker was in front of their faces, much to his slight annoyance, Ace wanted to eat, not burn the meal he was much looking forward to.

"Well, if it isn't Fire Fist Ace." Smoker remarked, his trademark cigar sending out wisps of smoke, making Sky hide her nose in her sleeve. For a pirate, her tolerance for smoking was rather low – especially if they were Marines. (whom Sky thought should take care of themselves better than booze-filled pirates)

Smoker's gaze hovered over to Sky whom he regarded with mild curiosity as compared to his previous wariness of the very infamous Portgas D. Ace.

"And you… look a little familiar." Well, her poster came out not too long ago, she didn't expect him to remember her. (unlike many of her crewmates, she found being recognised more of a hindrance than an honour)

Sky sat on the barstool beside Ace, with a polite smile, she replied his suspicions. "I'm Sky, Ace's crewmate." Smoker's star immediately hardened, as Sky sensed his guard being raised much higher at the prospect of fighting with two from the Whitebeard crew.

Ace leaned back, with a emotionless smile, he said amiably, "I don't really feel like fighting with Marines today. I'm on another mission."

"If you were already behind bars, we wouldn't have to fight then.'" Smoker spoke in his rough, authoritative voice that made Sky tense – this man was no easy opponent. Normally, Marines walked past her without a second glance but she guessed being a wanted criminal was probably another story.

Just as the both of them were prepared to engage in battle, an enormous crash that send the pair, excluding Sky, flying through several houses caused Sky to observe the damage that was made by a certain hasty pirate.

"FOOOOOOOOOOOOD!"

"How long has it been since I heard that voice…" Sky chuckled, a little sorry towards the two (dignified) men who had been unknowingly interrupted by a starving teenager. Secretly grateful that she had avoided being pummelled through walls of concrete, Sky sat beside the still oblivious Luffy, who had started eating plates of food at an inhumane rate.

"It's good to see you Luffy."

The Strawhat captain merely gobbled a few more mouthfuls before giving her a furtive glance – that made him jump up in absolute glee, giving Sky a crushing hug (as crushing as rubber bodies could go).

"SKYYYYY! YOU'RE ALIVE!" That's a nice greeting, being relieved at her living status.

Clearing her throat, she poked his chest. "I see that you aren't Pirate King yet huh?" Luffy looked temporarily crestfallen, but bounced back up like a rubber ball, almost forgetting to eat, although he managed to stuff some morsels of food before spouting a whole length of hows and whys he hadn't reached his goal.

On the other side, Ace growled, cursing the idiot (who had to be his brother) who happened to piss both him and Smoker off with his over-excitement. Smoker cracked his knuckles ominously, muttering "that dratted Strawhat… I'll kill him. Just in time too."

"Luffy? It was Luffy?" Ace paused in confusion, then realised the situation before rushing back to the restaurant – while remembering his manners to bow to those whose houses got destroyed in the process.

"STRAWHAT!" Luffy leapt off the stool when he saw Smoker charging towards them, whom Sky would have assumed he was very much wanted by as well. The Marine had pretty much thrown away the thought of catching Ace, instead persisted on Luffy.

Ace came running a few seconds later to find a dazed Sky who merely told him, "Luffy's getting chased by that marine."

"That idiot!" Ace grasped her wrist, off to save his brother who obviously could not move around without attracting too much attention. Sky looked back at the restaurant longingly – she would have liked to have a relatively peaceful lunch without all the chaos.

They found Ace's little brother revealing his crew members' hidden spots, much to their chagrin as Sky's eyes caught sight of the same old green-haired swordsman.

"OI ZORO!" Sky shouted, launching into a sprint much to Ace's shock (she preferred more energy-saving tactics most of the time)

"Eh? Sky?!" Zoro snapped out of his directed fury at his less than intelligent captain. "Umm, we gotta GO!" Ace stepped in casually, building a gigantic flame wall, blocking the way of Smoker who was thoroughly annoyed by the interference. He motioned for the Strawhat crew to make their quick getaway and mouthed for Sky to follow them.

"Are you going to be okay?" Sky knew she didn't need to ask, but Oyaji did ask her to watch out for any reckless antics coming from the prideful commander…

Ace smiled – really smiled this time, and she wondered why she ever worried. It was just another marine, after all – even though she thought Luffy surely would have picked that fight instead of running away… perhaps…?

Believing in her instincts, she bolted after the Strawhats, as they scrambled onto the ship with the stalled time given. Sky made herself comfortable on a conjured cloud, floating onto the ship with ease. Several crew members gaped at her appearance, as Luffy gave her largest grin she'd ever seen, proudly introducing her.

"This is Sky, and she's going to join our crew!" Sky boxed him in the head, as Luffy whined at her impended brutal hit.

"I am not you idiot! I already have a crew." The Strawhats had already previously understood from the tattoo they had seen from the bounty poster Luffy had showed them but Luffy still couldn't get it across the dense rubber brain of his.

"Huh? You quit being a bounty hunter?" This time, Zoro recovered from the shock, his presence was just as strong less than a year ago. Sky noted that he'd earned himself a few more scars – proof of his persistence.

"Yes… Long story…" Her eyes drifted to the rest of the Strawhats who kept a watchful eye on her. "So Luffy, I see your crew number has increased…"

"Oh that's Nami, Usopp, Sanji and Chopper! They're my nakama!" His chest puffed out in a fashion that made Sky thought the resemblance of a proud chicken.

There was a quiet creak of the wood at the edge of the ship as a new visitor arrived with an ever polite tip of his hat. "And I'm Ace, Luffy's brother."

"LUFFY'S BROTHER?!" Well it seemed apparent that Luffy hadn't thought of mentioning his brother to the very confused nakama of his. Ace was unruffled, resting his hand atop Luffy's head.

"He is kind of an idiot most of the time." He said cheerfully, much to Luffy's violent objections and his entire crew's unanimous agreement. They would have a hard time digesting how both of them could possibly be related in both physical and mental state-wise.

Ace swung an arm around Sky, his eyes facing Sanji with a slightly childish statement, "Oh by the way, Sky's also my girlfriend." It wasn't hard to avoid the numerous furtive, interested glances Sanji gave Sky, even though his affections were ninety percent Nami-swan oriented. Zoro guffawed at the cook's croaked protests, ending up blocking a lethal kick with the lazy raise of his kantana. Luffy was more excited about his brother and Sky's arrival, had not seemed to be bothered by the sudden announcement.

"Seriously Ace… When did we ever establish that?" Sky hissed, steadying her revolver to give him a good hit in the head (due to the fact that throwing a punch caused too long-lasting bruises).

"He was totally in love with you!"

Sky covered her ears and walked away, preferring to talk to Luffy very enthusiastically on the subject of lunch – and meat. Ace couldn't have caught her bursting into a wide smile.

"Ace's girlfriend, huh?"

ANDDD I'M BACK! A very late happy 2014! It's been more than a year since I've started on this story wow... we only just reached Luffy after 21 chapters thank you for sticking with me, I'm really grateful :)

I honestly don't want to make any promises about regular updates but I'll sincerely say that I haven't given up on this story AT ALL so I WILL continue updating! (ace is still my fav ^o^)

THANKS TO :

pinkus-pyon / NightHunterDeath / AliceLaw / FluffyDragonsLiveInMyHouse / chibianimefan26 / Molly Grace 16 / aqua-empress / frostmoon13 /

and all those who have favourited/alerted/read, I feel honoured ^^ Well, hope you liked this chapter because of course I'm going to go by the anime version where Ace travels with them for a while (and Sky) ~

Till next time! (where hopefully I'll get that romance part settled)