A Small Adventure (One Piece fanfic)

Filler: The Ace Chronicles (Pt2)

ALMOST posted my One Punch Man fic. But I'll finish the Wano arc first
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It's been about two days since I've seen Freckles. Well, it's about to become three days now. It's not that he's on my mind, but he did say that he'd some see me again. I'm just curious as to when that'd be. It gets boring around here when pirates aren't acting out. Surprisingly, there have been no major problems with pirates passing through.

I put the last tankard with the rest of the clean ones and looked around the empty restaurant. "(y/n), your shift has been over for a while now, you know," Boss said.

"Yeaaaa I know, but you needed help with cleaning up," I replied, leaning against the bar and looking at him.

He shook his head. "Curse me for raising such a perfect kid. Thank you for staying. You should get going, though. What about all those things you have to make for the townspeople?" he asked. I shrugged. He grabbed a sake bottle off the top shelf behind him and tossed it to me. "I'm telling you to scram, kid. Go live your young person's life for once."

I caught the bottle and grinned, "Is this bottle a form of bribery? Because I'll take it. See you later, Boss."

"Two days! Your next shift is in two days! No sooner!" he shouted as I walked toward the entrance.

"I don't know, I'm hearing one day. I'll see you then," I waved over my shoulder and walked onto the street. I could hear him heave a sigh. I chuckled to myself and tossed the bottle into the air a couple of times as I made my way down the street. "Looks like I'll be having a nice drink while I finish up a knife or two."

"Mind if I join you?"

I nearly dropped the bottle after hearing that very familiar voice. In my scurry to get a good grip on the bottle again, footsteps approached me from behind. I gripped the neck of the bottle just in time for Freckles to step beside me.

"Did I scare ya?" he asked, grinning widely.

I punched him in the stomach halfheartedly, standing upright. "Yea, how could you tell?" I shot back sarcastically.

He held up his hands, "Hey, I didn't mean to. With how well you fight, I thought you'd have felt me standing outside the bar already."

"Well, I didn't. And are you a vampire or something? Why do you show up in the middle of the night?" I questioned, my free hand motioning to the stary sky above our heads.

"What if I said yes?" he mused. This got an eye roll out of me. He laughed a little. "Where are you heading? Home?"

I held up a hand, "Whoa there, you planning on following me home?"

He reeled back a bit and shook his head, "No, no, I swear I'm not creepy, I was just asking."

My eyes squinted at him quizzically. He started sweating profusely. "Alright, I'll say I believe you. For now. Plus, I'm not heading home," I said, turning and walking down the street with the expectation of him following after me. He did.

His strides matched mine so he could walk beside me. "Really? Where are you going so late then?" he asked.

"I've got a forge, and that's where I'm going. I like to do blacksmithing," I responded. I took a glance at him. He wasn't looking at me this time. His eyes looked ahead on the path, or they were lingering on anything we'd pass that was interesting. Taking a look at the rest of him, I could see he's completely void of a shirt this time, but his hat and shorts look the same. He's got a tattoo on the arm facing me, reading 'ASCE' with the S crossed out. There was something on his back, too, but I couldn't get a good look at it from this angle. I looked forward again. "And to answer your question from earlier, no I don't mind if you join me."