Hello there! Sorry for the late update, but now that I'm navigating the waters of post secondary, I haven't had a lot of time to write. I'm pretty excited about this chapter, though. I had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope you enjoy!

And now for the disclaimer: I, frostmoon13, don't own One Piece or any of its characters. I only own my OCs.

Chapter 15

"Ace, you're letting your guard down again."

Ace landed on the rigging, and clutched his ribcage. "Damn, that was a tough hit there."

Zia looked up at him from the roof of the medical wing. She was standing there with her arms crossed, and an eyebrow raised. "Are you just so used to not getting hit that you won't block anything?" she jabbed.

Ace jumped from the rigging and landed on the roof beside her. "No, you just landed a good hit. That's all." Her unseeing gaze coupled with that eyebrow raised in that way was starting to become a welcome sight, since that was the look she got whenever she was either teasing him, or found his antics mildly amusing. It was certainly preferable to her glare, a glare which Ace felt fortunate not to have seen for nearly six weeks.

Daily sparring sessions over six weeks. Those fights were a highlight of his day, that was for sure. And since he couldn't use his fire against her, he had to rely on the skills that he had honed on Mount Corvo as a child, so it was good practice.

But even though Ace felt their relationship had at least become stable enough to talk to her without constantly checking his thoughts, he still hadn't asked about the scars around her eyes. There just never seemed to be a good moment. He didn't want to ask her when there was an audience, so the time during sparring matches was out, since they sparred on a crowded deck. And Zia still spent the bulk of her time in the galley with Thatch and Teech, or out on patrol with Marco, or a fellow member of the first division. Despite the amount of time they'd spent together, they had never been alone together. Not that he was complaining. Sometimes things could still get awkward between them if they weren't sparring.

Then, something collided with his stomach, and he went flying backwards, into the mizzen mast. The shock went right through his body, and he fell twenty feet to the deck.

A group of men from the fourth division scattered as he hit the ground.

"Oi, Zia!" he snapped. "What was that for?"

"I thought you were going to be paying attention." Zia said, hopping off the roof, and landing in front of him. She smiled innocently. "I expected you to dodge."

Ace hauled himself up. "Thanks. I was lost in thought." He brushed the dust off his shorts. "Feel free to smack me out of it any time."

"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer." Zia smirked. Then she stretched. "Well, I think we've done enough for the day." She looked like she was about to turn away, but then she stepped up and felt his forehead. "Are you feeling okay? It took you longer than fifteen seconds to come up with a comeback."

"Oi." Ace grumbled. He stepped forward to Zia, fully intending to give her the comeback that she was asking after, but something snapped inside his head, and then everything went dark.

"Oi." Ace grumbled. He closed the distance between us with a step. I thought Ace was going to give me a comeback like I'd asked, but then, Ace stumbled forward, and fell to the deck with a solid thud.

I stepped back, narrowly avoiding having him fall on me.

Ace just lay there, not moving.

I stood there, mouth open, trying to make sense of the scene in front of me. "What just happened?" I wondered aloud. I knelt down and put my fingers against his neck, feeling for a pulse.

Okay, he was alive at least... But what happened? He just collapsed.

Then, Ace sat up and blinked, making me jump backwards. There was a moment of silence between the two of us , as Ace looked around. "Huh." he said, staring right at me and scratching the back of his head, "I fell asleep."

My jaw dropped. "You fell asleep?" I repeated incredulously. I laughed out loud. "Is Thatch keeping you so busy that you were tired enough to just fall asleep like that, or is this narcolepsy thing just something that happens to you?"

"Oh shut up." Ace muttered, hauling himself off the deck.

I just stood there smiling, my arms crossed over my chest. "That doesn't happen on the battlefield, I hope." I said. "Because that could cause things to go to hell in a handbasket real quick."

Ace shrugged.

There was a moment of silence. That silence was not comfortable in any way.

Ace scratched the back of his head, and gritted his teeth nervously.

I bit my lip. "Uh..." I said, trying to at least break the silence, "Well then... If we're done for the day, I said I'd help Marco with a couple of things."

Ace straightened quickly, like I'd startled him. "Oh, uh, yeah, right. See you."

I turned away, and started walking towards the stern. "Yeah. See ya." When I felt I had disappeared in the crowd, I broke into a jog.

Ace slumped into a sitting position on the deck, and hung his head. "Dammit..." he grumbled. That didn't go well. He had wanted to keep a conversation going, but anything close to a coherent thought left him once things got awkward.

"Looks like someone's down in the dumps."

Ace looked up and saw Thatch standing over him. "Oh. Hey Thatch." he said.

Thatch flopped down next to Ace, and put his arm over Ace's shoulder. "C'mon, Ace, tell your division commander what's got you down. You know I said to tell me if anything's going wrong."

"Thatch, that was six weeks ago." Ace said, raising an eyebrow at him. And Thatch had been there whenever Ace needed anything, whether it was to chat or navigate another potentially explosive interaction with Zia in the earlier days of their sparring sessions. But after six weeks, Ace figured that he should probably stand on his own two feet. "Besides, it's nothing too serious."

Thatch's mouth twisted into a grin. "Oh?" He cocked his head to one side, making his honey blond pompadour flop to the side. "You have daily sparring sessions with a pretty girl and you still look this down? Damn."

Ace felt his cheeks get hot. "I don't know what you're talking about." he said.

"Ah, c'mon," Thatch pressed, "You two meet up every day and spend an hour together at least! Don't tell me you've never spoken to her outside of that context."

"I haven't." Ace said, " And why should I? It's not like we're great friends or anything. The sparring is fun, but I'm still walking on eggshells."

Thatch laughed. "Y'know, you could join her in the galley now and then. You know how much time she spends in there, and it's a great social environment. You might even get to make a move."

Ace scrambled backwards so fast he whacked his head on the wall. "What?!" he yelped.

Thatch threw his head back and roared with laughter. "I'm just teasing you!" He leaned forward and studied Ace's face. "You are red as a beet, kid."

"Sh-shut up!" Ace snapped, shielding his face with his forearms. Finally, he sighed. "You know what, forget it."

Thatch grinned, and opened his mouth to continue, when Zia jogged up to them. "Hey, Thatch!" she called. "There you are!" She stopped, and raised an eyebrow at the two of them. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

Ace stood up. "No, Thatch was just taking a jab at me." then he grinned. "Do you know how to make him stop?"

Zia frowned for a second. "Y'know, Ace, after five years, I've learned to just roll with it. He'll get bored eventually."

Thatch snorted. "Anyway, what's up, Zia?"

"Marco assigned me to help you with the supply run this afternoon." she said. "I think you were after a few of the giant cooking oil barrels and a couple of new kitchen knives, wasn't it?"

Thatch nodded, then, Ace noticed a devious look cross his eyes. "Y'know, Zia, I've got bogged down with my paperwork this month. I'd better stick around and finish it. Why don't you take Ace?"

Ace raised an eyebrow at his commander. "Uh, Thatch..." he said.

"You got an issue, Ace?" Thatch grinned at him.

Ace sighed. "No. You okay with it, Zia?" he asked.

Zia chewed her lower lip for a second. Finally, she shrugged, and said, "Eh, why not?" She turned around, then looked over her shoulder, "Oh, Ace, we'll be leaving in about two hours, so use that time to get ready."

"Yeah, sure." Ace said.

Zia nodded and walked away.

Thatch got up and stretched. "I'll go and make you two some lunches for the trip." he said, "Can't let you kids go out alone on an empty stomach." He waved offhandedly as he sauntered back to the galley.

Ace sat alone on the deck, trying to process that last exchange. A supply run with Zia? Just the two of them. He sighed. Let's hope it's not as awkward as this morning...

"Alright, we're off!" Zia said, stretching and jumping from the deck, landing gracefully in the small boat next to Ace. "See you in a few hours."

"Safe travels!" Thatch called from the side. "Have fun kids!" He chuckled at the hard look Zia gave him as they cast off. He waved at them as they sailed away.

"That was fun." he said to himself, making his way back to the galley. He whistled as he walked down the deck, enjoying the sun.

"Thatch, what do you think you're doing?"

Thatch turned to see Marco standing next to the door, regarding him with a raised eyebrow. "Heya Marco." he said, "Whatever could you mean?"

Marco sighed. "You know what I'm talking about." he said, "You going out of your way to get those two together."

Thatch shrugged. "Yup. Pretty good, huh?"

Marco pinched the bridge of his nose. "This was your bright idea? Thatch..."

Thatch chuckled. "You gotta admit, they're pretty cute together."

"I hate to be that guy, Thatch," Marco said, walking up to him and crossing his arms, "but you know how Zia will react if she finds out what you're up to. That, and you're not being very subtle about it."

"Just think of it this way: Experiencing more things together, even the most mundane of things will help them get closer."

Marco sighed. "Yes, or this plan of yours could ruin whatever rapport they've built up over the past six weeks. Didn't you ever think of that?"

"Ah, have a little faith in the both of them!" Thatch said, poking Marco in the forehead. "I'm sure nothing will go wrong, and this'll take them three, four hours tops. This can only do them good."

Marco sighed. "Maybe you should work on helping them become friends first." he said.

Thatch smirked. He opened the door to the galley. "Don't worry so much, Mother Hen. And besides, what fun would that be?" With that, he shut the door, and walked across the galley to the kitchen.

"How the hell did things manage to go south so fast?" I shouted against the roar of gunfire.

"Damned if I know!" Ace called from behind the opposite wall. "All I know is, we've been cornered."

I leaned forward a bit so I could hear him better, but pulled back when I sensed a bullet flying my way.

The wood panelling on the building to my right splintered as the bullet made contact.

I tried to wrap my head around just how we had managed to get into this mess.

(thirty minutes ago)

"You think you could help me with this, Ace?" I said, as I struggled with my barrel. "I've got a knife dangling point down from between my fingers."

"Oh, sure." Ace clinched his barrel between one hand and his chin, and reached out and plucked the knife from her fingers by the blade. "There we go. You may now thank me."

I snorted. "You've been hanging around Thatch too much." I said, "You're starting to act like him."

"Oh? Does he annoy you, then?"

"Nah." I said, adjusting the barrel in my arms. "He's family, and he's been there to keep a bit of levity in my life since I was a kid, so, I can't get too mad at him."

"Me however," Ace began, then he stopped, as though he thought I would blow up at the least of wrong moves.

"I don't get angry when I've got a barrel of cooking oil in my arms." I said, not turning my head to him.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Because if you were to piss me off that much, I would have thrown my barrel at you, breaking it. Then of course everything would go up in flames. So I don't think I'll take that course of action."

Ace chuckled uncomfortably. "Fair enough."

We rounded a corner leading to the docks, and stopped short. "Uh," I said, turning my head to Ace ever so slightly. "You can see, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but is that a crowd of marines blocking our way?"

"Uh, yeah." Ace said. "You're right."

"Freeze pirates!" Shouted a tall man in a marine coat. Drop your cargo and surrender!"

I turned to the side so I could raise an eyebrow at the marine captain. "Really? That's your opening line?"

Ace chuckled. "Well, Zia? What's the plan?"

I put down the barrel of cooking oil and stood up to my full height. "First thing's first." I widened my senses so I could check on our boat. A bunch of people were milling about, checking under every crack and crevice of the damn thing. "Looks like we're gonna have to get them off our boat, too. Better hurry before they decide to smash it or something. So, I'm gonna give you a bit of advice." I turned to the marine captain. Then, I focussed. The cool feeling of armament haki spread up my arm. Then, I jumped, closing the distance between me and the marine captain. "Stonebreaker!" I smashed my fist into his nose.

The man flew backwards through the air, crashing into the road and dragged a huge rut into the dirt before stopping in a smoking bloody heap.

"Captain!" The roar of the marine was suddenly drowned out by the crack of gunfire and the pinging of bullets.

Sensing that it was probably best that I got out of there, I grabbed the barrel of cooking oil, slung it over my shoulder, and ducked behind a building.

"Ok," Ace shouted. "That was cool and all, but what's the plan now?"

"We fight our way through!" I shouted. "What else is there?"

(present)

That plan hadn't worked out too well. The marines had sent in reinforcements. We were effectively blocked from the port by now.

"Okay, any chance that Thatch wouldn't make a scene if we came back empty handed?" Ace asked, "This stuff is impeding our fighting ability!"

"I wouldn't put it past him to do that!" I shouted. "Besides, we'll be on the open ocean soon, with no islands for a good four days journey! We can't come back here later!"

Ace paused for a moment, seemingly considering his options. Then, he grabbed his barrel, and shouted, "Catch!" before throwing it at me through the onslaught of bullets.

I caught the barrel, grunting against the weight, and placed it beside me. "Hey, what're you-"

My question was cut short as Ace bolted across the street, heedless of the bullets, that just passed through him. He skidded to a stop right in front of me, then looked right into my face. "Ok! Now we don't have to shout at each other!" He crouched down until we were almost nose to nose. "So. Plan. We got one?"

"Not in the past fifteen seconds." I said, raising an eyebrow. "You could ask them to lower their guns and let us pass to our boat."

Ace laughed at that obvious not-plan. "Maybe not." he said. "But if we stay here, they'll surround us completely, and then we won't be able to keep Thatch's stuff bullet hole free."

"That might have already happened." I said. "There are about seventy five men coming in from the North."

There was a loud pop! and a bullet whizzed towards us.

"Heads up!" I shouted. I jumped back, shielding my head with my arms and Haki, and blocked the splintered wood that erupted from just to my right. It had hit the barrel to my right. The splintered barrel was now leaking cooking oil on my boots.

I sighed. "Ah, damn. Looks like Thatch'll have to be a bit more careful with the rationing in the next two months."

I grabbed the now very leaky barrel, stood up, and said, "Y'know, Ace, I think I have a plan."

"Oh? What's that?"

I grinned. "Hold tight and pretend it's a plan." Then, without missing a beat, I stepped out into the street, and lobbed the barrel over my shoulder.

It sailed through the air, and hit about seven marines who didn't get out of the way fast enough. The split wood burst, spilling the oil everywhere. "Now!" I shouted. "Run!"

Ace, intact barrel under one arm, cooking knives held gingerly in his fingers. Together, we barreled through the ranks of the startled marines, occasionally ducking under bullets, now and then checking a marine out of the way, and ran like mad down the road to the dock.

My senses dulled for a second, and then I felt a sting that made me stumble. A bullet had grazed the side of my neck.
I hissed in a breath through my teeth and brought a hand to the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. "Shit!" I swore. That threw me off balance, and broke my concentration enough that I stepped on a rock wrong, and my ankle bent. I fell forward, and landed painfully on my wrist.

"Ah!" I gasped.

Ace skidded to a stop beside me, and planted himself between me and the advancing marines. "Back off!" he shouted. He sank into a fighting stance, and pulled back his fist. Then, he punched. His arm erupted into flames. "Fire Fist!"

There was a roar as the huge blast of flame engulfed our pursuers. The fire spread, making the marines farther back scatter, crying out in pain and alarm.

I sat frozen behind Ace, the hot wind whipping my hair about and making my skin feel dry. My breath felt shallow. All I could do was focus on the inferno in front of me.

Ace turned around and started off. "Come on!" he called.

But I couldn't move. I tried, but my legs wouldn't move. I couldn't move my arms to haul myself up.

Ace ran back to me and pulled me to my feet by the arm. "Zia, come on!"

That snapped me out of it. I managed to stand shakily, and start moving. We ran as fast as we could with what was left of our supplies back to the boat. The marines previously there must have been called in as reinforcements earlier, because the boat was completely abandoned. We jumped aboard and cast off.

As soon as we were far enough off, Ace unfurled the sail, and the wind caught it, speeding us away.

As soon as they were a comfortable distance from the island, Zia sat down on the bow's bench. She crossed her injured right angle over her left knee, and her hands were clenched together, pressed on her shin. She didn't seem to notice the still bleeding wound on her neck, just staring off into space. Her hands were trembling.

"Hey, Zia," Ace asked, "what's the matter?"

She didn't answer him. In fact, she gave no sign of having heard him at all.

Ace felt a knot form in his stomach. "Zia?"

She finally seemed to snap out of it, and faced him. "What?"

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine." she said. She took a deep breath. "A-are we on course?"

Ace nodded. "Yeah, but are you sure that-"

"I said I'm fine!"

Her tone made Ace take a step back, bumping into the barrel, and almost knocking it overboard. He hadn't heard that tone in a long time.

He sat down on the bench opposite her, and leaned forward. A thought that had been eating away at him since they had left town finally became unbearable. "When I spoke to Marco six months ago about sparring with you," he started carefully, "he told me to try to keep my use of fire to a minimum while you were around." He waited for Zia to snap at him, but she didn't. She didn't even meet his gaze. "I thought it was because my use of fire had annoyed you in the past, and might make you even angrier if I used it carelessly." He took a deep breath. But that's not it, is it?"

Zia didn't say anything, but she did at least lift her head enough that he could see her eyes. She was waiting.

"Zia," Ace finally asked, "are you afraid of fire?"

Zia didn't say anything for a moment. She bit her lip, as though she were weighing her options.

That made Ace more nervous than anything. He had seen Zia come up with comebacks, jabs, and answers to even complex questions at the drop of a hat, with often a smart remark or a joke thrown in. To see her like this now just confirmed Ace's suspicions.

Finally, Zia nodded almost imperceptibly. "Yes." she said quietly, "You could say that."

Ace sat back, and bit his lip. So that was it. "Why didn't you ever say anything?" he finally asked.

"Why do you think?" She said dryly, a bit of the old snap returning to her voice. "To be a member of the Whitebeard Pirates and feel threatened by a guest on his ship and later new recruit, just because of a fear of fire? No. I wasn't about to give a stranger that kind of high ground." Then, she sighed. "Ace, I..." She took a deep breath. "I owe you an apology. Th-the way I've treated you-"

"Hey, hey." Ace cut her off. "You don't owe me anything."

"J-just listen." Zia pressed, "It was wrong of me to assume the worst, before I even knew you. And when you were brought on board, I was even more convinced of this when you were just turning to fire randomly, seemingly carelessly." She gritted her teeth and clenched her hands together tighter. "I couldn't separate you from your devil fruit power. For that, I'm really sorry." She faced him so he could once again stare directly into her eyes. She didn't cry, or turn away. Nor did she ask for forgiveness. All she did was present her apology, as though it was all she could do.

Ace was speechless. What could he say to that? He hadn't expected anything so direct, even from her. Finally, he felt he had a response. "You didn't need to apologize, Zia." he finally said, "Thank-you, though." he said. For a second, he wondered if he'd offended her. But he didn't see a hint of it in her face.

They sat in silence for a while. The only noise being the wind in the sail and the waves lapping against the sides of the boat.

"Can I ask why?" Ace finally asked, looking at Zia.

Zia sighed. "I... I guess..." she said.

"Don't feel pressured!" Ace said, "Hey, why don't we have a look at that cut on your neck? It must be giving you some trouble."

"It's just a scratch." She said shortly, "I've fought more battles than I think of off the top of my head before my fourteenth birthday. A gazed neck is nothing." She sighed. "Besides, most of the guys know, so it's kinda common knowledge." She chewed her lip for a moment, then she started. "When I was a kid, I used to sail with my folks on their cruise ship, The Patience. Dad and Mom had spent years of hard work saving up for that ship, and they even managed to create their own cruise line out of it. Think of that for a moment; to live in a place like Prodence Kingdom and still make a life like that for yourself.

Dad bought the Patience and installed a boiler below the passenger decks. New technology, you know. Their business was a great success, with people from all over coming to tour a small area of the New World. Most of the passengers were nobles looking for their own little taste of these waters. Things were going great.

But on my eleventh birthday, something went horribly wrong." She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, as though she were remembering the day. "The crew was having some trouble with the boiler, and called Dad down to help. Mom was getting ready for a busy day in the kitchen, and I was sulking out on deck. How it happened exactly, I don't know, but the boiler must have overheated, and it exploded. It took the entire ship out with it. It was horrible, a sudden blast that destroyed the ship, blinded me, and killed my parents and everyone else on board..." At that she stopped to take a deep breath. "I would probably have been killed too if Marco hadn't happened to be passing by and fished me out of the water. I spent three weeks on life support, and couldn't move for days after I woke up." She smiled sadly. "But Marco and Thatch kept an eye on me. And everyone was so nice to me. Pops even asked if I wanted to join his crew... his family. I was no one. A weak, blind orphan who didn't know anything about fighting or anything that pirates do, but they took me in. And, well, the result is sitting in front of you."

Ace sat there, staring at Zia with his mouth hanging open in disbelief. "Zia, I... I'm so sorry." And to think that he hadn't bothered to ask how she'd joined the crew. It was a little odd, a girl of her age being on one of the most famous pirate crews in the world.

Ace wasn't sure if he needed to ask now, but the question, burning in his mind for six weeks, finally slipped out. "Is that how you got those scars around your eyes?"

Zia paused. "Scars?" she said thoughtfully. She ran her fingers gingerly down her eye. "Oh yeah. I'd almost forgotten about those."

"And you were eleven when you were caught in that explosion?" he repeated.

She nodded. "Yup. Eleven."

Ace thought back to when he was ten years old, the day Dogura had returned with the most horrifying news. The news of the world noble firing on Sabo's ship and killing him. The ship had exploded, and he had lost his brother.

Zia hadn't been much older than Sabo.

"To think..." he said, his voice trailing off.

Zia sat up straight, and her mouth slowly curled into a smile. "Well, now you know." she said. "But don't pity me, Ace. I find that nothing good comes of pity."

"I don't pity you, Zia, believe me." Ace finally said. Finally, he said, "But how about this, did I prove you wrong?"

Zia raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to be a bit more specific."

"When I joined the crew, you said that we'd never be friends." Ace said, "Do you think we can be?"

Zia's smile widened. "Yeah. I think we can."

Marco wandered across the deck, taking in the sunset. It was a beautiful evening, warm, and the sun's rays were broken into soft pink and deep purple light.

"They're late."

"Ah, you worry too much, Marco." Thatch said, stepping up to him. "It's only been five hours, and Pops won't order us to leave without them."

Marco shook his head. "It should be a three-hour round trip. What the hell is keeping them?"

Thatch leaned against the rail, squinting against the light. "Hey, isn't that them?"

Marco took a place next to Thatch, and leaned forward, searching the horizon.

Just on the edge of sight was a small boat.

"That looks like them." Marco said.

As the boat pulled up to the side of the ship, Ace, his lower half turned to flame, and landed on the deck. "Hey guys." he said, "we're back."

There was a quiet thump, and Zia landed on the deck next to Ace. She was holding the cooking knife that Thatch had requested in one hand, and one barrel of cooking oil under her arm. She tossed the barrel of oil to Thatch. "Sorry we've only got one. The other one decided to go and get shot."

That was when she turned, and Marco noticed that she was doing her utmost to keep her weight off her right ankle, and there was a line of dried blood running down her neck.

"What happened?" he demanded. "That was just supposed to be a routine supply run, how did you end up getting shot?"

Zia chuckled and scratched the back of her head. "Dunno." she said. Before Marco could protest the given answer, she continued, "We ran into a group of marines that had recognized us as pirates as we docked, probably. They ambushed us on our way back to the ship. The reason we took so long was because we were cornered behind a couple of buildings trying to figure out how to bust the marines and keep our stuff intact at the same time. And in the confusion, I got shot, and twisted my ankle. That's about it."

Marco pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're too reckless..." he said.

Zia laughed good-naturedly and poked him in the arm. "You know it!" she said. Then, she turned to Thatch. "So, where do you want that barrel put?"

"Oh no." Marco said, catching Zia by the wrist. "You are going to find Cynthia, or Jiru, or someone who will look at those injuries of yours. No stalling."

Zia rolled her eyes. "Sorry Thatch," she said, "I don't think I should push my luck on this one."

Thatch flashed her the thumbs up. "Don't worry about it. I'll just have Ace move it for me."

Marco did pause a moment to wonder why Thatch couldn't just carry it himself, but that didn't really matter to him.
Zia waved to Thatch and Ace as they set off down the deck.

"You're in unusually high spirits for someone who was just shot." he said, noticing the spring in Zia's limp.

"Let's just say that this was a good experience." she said, not turning to face him. Her smile widened. "But I'd say that Ace and I managed to get over our differences for good this time."

Marco smiled at her. "Good to hear."

They stopped at the sickbay door, and Zia pulled it open. She held it open and just stood there. "After you." she said.

Marco frowned and raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't think so. Quit stalling and get in there."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun, Marco." she said, as she stepped inside.

Marco started after her, but Zia stood stock still, blocking the doorway. "Oh no. You forced me to come here, but you don't get to come in. I'm sure the my commander is oh so busy." She then smirked at him, and shut the door.

Marco stood there, mouth hanging open. As he stood there, a thought occurred to him: She was right about one thing. He didn't need to hold her hand around a medic, or make sure that she behaved herself. Finally he chuckled. "Smart ass." he muttered, before turning away.

"Wow, so she told you all on her own?" Thatch asked.

Ace nodded. "Yes, but my answer isn't going to change from the last time you asked me."

They were sitting in the galley, Thatch behind the counter dicing up some vegetables, Ace in Zia's usual seat next to Teech.

Ace didn't really like getting grilled about the fight; he was still kicking himself for being so short sighted as to not notice Zia's fear of fire, and he felt that their conversation on the boat should be kept private. It would be just plain rude to Zia to mention just how distraught she had been.

Thatch was being annoyingly persistent, however. And Teech certainly wasn't helping matters, since he would laugh loudly every time Thatch made a comment that certainly would have been funny under normal circumstances, but not now.

Thatch leaned in close to Ace conspiratorially. "So, you got a chance to do a little combat alongside her. How'd the fight go?"

"I thought I told you," Ace said as he downed a bit more grog, "we were cornered behind some buildings for a while, then they came around from behind, so Zia got sick of waiting and threw one of the barrels at the marines, they scattered after that. Zia was shot while we were making a break for the ship. That's all."

Thatch sighed. "Oh, so no big reveal that she'd never really hated you?"

"No." Ace was pretty sure that even though they'd become friends, saying that Zia never hated him might have been stretching it a bit.

"You might need to try harder, Ace. Try doing something nice for her."

Ace raised an eyebrow. "Thatch, we're friends now. What more can I ask for?"

Thatch shook his head. "Are you really that dense?"

Ace frowned. "What do you mean?"

Teech chuckled. "He means you should-" he stopped when he heard the door open.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Marco asked as he walked bruskly to the counter.

"Nah." Thatch said, tossing him a mug of grog. "I was just giving Ace here a bit of advice on women."

"Oh?" Marco said, catching his grog, then shooting Thatch a pointed look. "Zia might laugh at you for that, Thatch, considering how your compliments are... how did she put it... extremely corny and presented in the most egomaniacal hilarious light."

Ace and Teech burst out laughing, while Thatch rolled his eyes.

Marco sat down on the stool next to Ace, and turned to him. "So, I hear you and Zia put your differences aside. Glad to hear."

Ace nodded. "You give pretty good advice, Marco."

Marco chuckled quietly. "Tell Zia that sometime, would you?"

Ace laughed along with him. "But I admit that things got a bit dicey for a second." He stopped when Thatch leaned in, his pompadour poking Ace in the side of the face. "Do you mind?" he asked.

"Seriously, though, why didn't you-"

Marco cut him off by pushing Thatch off his unstable perch on his knees on the counter, and he fell to the floor with a loud thump!

Ace couldn't help but laugh along with Teech and Marco at this, though he did get the feeling that Thatch would get back at him for this.

"So, yeah, that's pretty much it." I said, scratching the back of my head and grinning.

"I see." Pops boomed. "Good to hear that you and Ace are finally getting along. But how does your neck feel, Zia? I hear you took a shot."
I shuddered. "The shot was nothing, as was the twisted ankle. The scary thing was just how much of a stip Cynthia tore off me. She ranted at me for almost half an hour about my being careless enough to get shot in the neck. She kept saying I could have been killed. I'm pretty sure I got really lucky today."

"Gurararararara! That you did!" Pops laughed. Once he stopped laughing, he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "You two must have made a pretty good team out there."

I laughed. "Yeah, I gotta admit, though, I feel like a bit of a monster for the way I treated him for the first little while."

Pops didn't respond to that. And when he did speak again, he said, "Zia, could you do your father a favour and grab some more sake for me? I'm out here, and Cynthia won't hear of anyone getting any more. This might be my last chance."

I nodded. "You can count on me, Pops!" I said brightly. I hopped up and jogged towards the galley. "What could be bothering him?" I wondered aloud once I was fairly sure I was out of Pops' earshot. "It's not like him to just up and change the subject like that."

As I rounded the corner of the main barracks and stepped to centre deck, I found Ace scrubbing the deck. He was blindfolded with a neckerchief of some kind, and there was a piece of paper attached to his back. He certainly seemed a right fool, stumbling around, occasionally stepping on the broom and having the handle whack him in the face, or lose his footing on some stray rope.

I walked up to him and pulled the blindfold off his eyes, placing it over his forehead like a headband. "Okay," I said, "what did you do to piss Thatch off?"
Ace sighed. "Ah, I laughed at a pointed joke Marco made at Thatch. He pulled me aside after and said if I wanted a funny scenario, he'd give me one. And before I knew it, I was like this."

I laughed. "Yeah, Thatch will do that. You should have seen the last time. One of the guys decided he'd get salty with Thatch, and he made him do pretty much what you see here, but he also had his pants around his ankles. You're lucky he didn't think you needed that."

Ace gulped. "What?" He paused for a minute. "Hang on, I've seen you laugh at him worse than that. Has this ever happened to you?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Why not?"

I smirked at him and pulled the blindfold down over his eyes again. "He's not my division commander."

"Hey!" Ace protested.

"Thatch won't go easy on you if he figures out I helped you in any way." I said. "He'll let you off after about an hour. I've gotta go and run an errand for Pops. See you later!" With that, I skipped down to the galley.

So, Ace is finally not walking on eggshells around Zia! YAAAYYY! Though if he thinks that she won't rib him from time to time... Well, let's just say that she did pick up a few things from Thatch.

So, please review and tell me what you think!

The shenanigans continue in the next chapter! Until next time!

Frosty