Firestorm (Ace x OC)

Chapter 7: Campfire Stories

After some time the sun had set and dinner was finally ready to be eaten, Ace got up and dusted himself off, going over to the fire and grabbing two servings of food before heading back to the tent where Ryoko was currently still sleeping. Her trembling had stopped as had her excessive sweating, however now the temperature had gotten very cold.

As Ace walked over to the sleeping woman he set down both plates before trying to rouse her from her slumber. Setting a hand on her shoulder he attempted to shake her awake only to feel a tight grip on his wrist. His eyes immediately darted to her face once again, noticing her eyes were now wide open and looking straight at him. It felt like time stood still at that moment as the grip on his wrist started to tighten almost painfully so, stormy grey irises stared back at him. "Hey sleepy head, it's dinner time." It may have sounded stupid but it did cause the grip on his wrist to loosen momentarily and Ace pulled his hand free. 

The way that Ryoko was looking at him seemed to have many different emotions tied to it, a trickle of sweat appearing on her brow before she shut her eyes tightly and pulled her mask over her face, "...The hell..." she mutters sitting up while taking deeper breaths seemingly to calm down. 

After Ryoko seemed to have calmed down, Ace set a plate of food on her lap, "Might want to eat your food before it goes cold, especially with how cold it is out here now," he warned as he then walked out of the girls' tent to go sit by the other tent entrance. 

Ryoko looked at the food on her plate as she slowly stood up, feeling quite a bit better since it had cooled down significantly. She carefully walked out of the tent and went to sit by the fire as she began to eat. 

"What happened? It was hot all day and now it's freezing." Nami says rubbing her arms with her hands before eating a bit more of her food.

"I know it seems strange, but it's caused by the lack of cloud cover. With nothing to act as insulation, it's scorching by day and freezing by night." Vivi explained, clearly also feeling quick cold. "The desert is full of unpredictable dangers."

Ryoko moved her mask to the side of her face as she began to eat her food slowly, glancing over to Chopper and seeing him looking up at the sky.

"Just look at all those stars," Chopper says wistfully.

"Couldn't you see the stars back on your island?" Usopp asked with chattering teeth.

"The sky of the winter islands are almost always covered in heavy snow clouds." Chopper says "So I've never been able to see this many before."

"I am way too cold to enjoy the stars right now," Usopp says shaking while trying to put a bite of food in his mouth.

"Cold weather doesn't bother me," Chopper says happily.

"That's cause you are wearing a nice fur coat," Usopp says rubbing his face against Chopper's furry cheeks.

"BACK OFF!" Chopper exclaimed pulling away from the long-nosed man.

"It's not my fault you are all soft and fluffy." Usopp pouts.

Chopper stood up and grew large, "Quit making fun of me!"

"Oh no!" Usopp panics, "Monster!"

"Chopper don't turn big, we have to huddle together for warmth." Zoro comments as Luffy ran over and hugged the reindeer turning him small and commenting on the warmth coming from him.

"It's quite nice honestly, coming from a winter island into the desert is very hard on my system. The cold air feels really nice, but probably won't in a little bit though." Ryoko piped up as she scooped more food into her mouth, a look of distaste briefly flickering over her expression.