| The Saver | Portgas D Ace x Reader

Chapter 9: Reunion

-"Shit!" Ace gasped out seemingly shocked by your appearance.

You came to a halt in front of him without breaking eye contact. You continued to stare at him, as if transfixed. Taking in every detail of his form, like you were trying to prove to yourself that he was real.

He stared right back at you, trying to make something out of you, calculate you. You continued to gape at each other in silence for a moment more before your locked gazes were ripped apart by the voice of the marine officer Smoker.

-"Is she one of your little thugs Portgas D Ace?" His eyes looked up your form. You could feel that his eyes were gauging your powers.

-"No. I don't have anything to do with her. Why? Are you interested in me?" Ace mocked. While he was talking he continued to glance your way with sharp curiosity. At that moment the chef from the restaurant could be heard shouting "It's her! She is the one that didn't pay for her order!" as he watched by the sidelines, too scared to come in close proximity of Ace and the marines.

-"She is just some thief. Don't put me up with these weaklings" Ace laughed as he said it and glared a little in your direction. You could feel your face heating up from irritation and embarrassment. Not taking any notice to your discomfort he continued. "Don't we have business to settle? I have a meeting with my little brother" and as soon as he said it , he moved with the intent to actually finish this mess as soon as he could.

Suddenly a fire had surrounded the marines that had gathered as each of them shouted in disarray trying to save themselves from getting caught in the fire. Smoke could be seen rising in the air as some marines were unfortunate in their attempts to flee. Smoker snarled and tried to attack but Ace was long gone from his past spot. An explosion in the middle of the field sent another wave of panic across the marines. They must be the weaker bunch you thought trying to keep the thought that you were one of those weaklings away from your head. While everyone was trying to find order, in the corner of your eyes you could see Ace leaving towards the sea where Luffy's ship resided.

You wanted to shout for him to wait, but you knew better than to call attention to him. So, you ran after him, hoping to catch up.

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Ace wondered if he had done a good job of making the marines believe that the girl wasn't a part of his crew. Does this girl enjoy getting into unnecessary trouble? He sighed. His thoughts fading away as Luffy's ship came into his view. He could hear their chatter and Luffy's laugh even from where he was standing.

-"Yeah he is super strong! But if we were to fight now I would totally beat him!" Luffy shouted before he started laughing loudly.

-"Is that just a baseless statement again?" a man with green hair asked Luffy. Just then Ace jumped up onto the deck where Luffy was standing, a little bit of fire trailing after him. "Who are you saying could beat who again? Luffy." His eyes went over the people standing on the ship. Approximately 5 people stood before him.

-"Ace! When did you get these powers!" Luffy shouted clearly happy to see his brother again and excited at his newfound power.

-"Thank you for taking care of my stupid brother." Ace said as he bowed to his new acquaintances and dismissed Luffy's shouts. They immediately bowed back and stated that it was no problem. He smiled. Luffy had found himself nice crewmates.

-"Why don't you come in? I'm sure you have lots of things to discuss with our captain. I will make you guys a cup of tea" Said a man with blond hair and weirdly shaped eyebrows.

-"No, it's alright you don't need to bother with such a thing." Ace said as he thought back on the girl he had left on the dock a while ago.

-"I need to leave soon anyway. I need to take care of some business I have at the dock." Ace eyes the blond mans hand and raised his hand, lighting the cigarette in his hand on fire. Jumping a little at hit sudden flame, the crew turned back to him to stare in admiration when shouting from a set of ships across from them started to be heard. 5 pirate ships could be seen as the ships moved closer to where they were located.

-"Those guys again? Man they've been at our back four hours." Luffy complained. Clearly annoyed by their constante stalking. Ace looked over to the ships and stared back at Luffy "I'll take care of em. And Luffy. Let's see each other again." Ace smiled as he jumped off the ship.

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You gulped on air looking at the five ships that were engulfed in what you presumed to be Ace's fire. You hadn't been able to catch up to him after his escape but you were happy to know where he was.

Before today you had some worries over if any of this was real such, but after seeing him you felt that you had no concern over the reality of your situation. Ace had been proof enough for you to believe that you were not dreaming a dream. It had only been 2 days since you arrived here and you wanted to get stronger every second of it. Hating the feeling of being weak and little to no help to yourself or others around you. You could feel the heat of the fire even from where you were standing. Ace was astonishingly powerful and even more up close.

You tightly gripped the soil as you watched the fire from where you were sitting, in a forest close to the dock. Suddenly a shape appeared next to you. You raised your staff for protection but relaxed when you noticed that it was the old man you had seen in the snowy forest. He leaned against one of the trees and smirked as he said:

-"I thought you were supposed to be protecting him." At his words you let out air from your noise with annoyance.

-"It's technically only been a day since I have had these powers, what do you expect me to do? Blow everyone up? And I thought you weren't supposed to interfere with the events of the cycle? Why are you here?"

-"I am not interfering. I am just watching. Sorry but I can't help you fight your battles." He chuckled. As if on cue someone else from the shadows of the trees emerged with slick movement. In seconds the old man had vanished from your side, long gone as you faced the man who had appeared before you.

Smoker.

Well shit.

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Hope you guys enjoyed. I'm really tired right now. Omg I just checked the time I thought it was like 12 or something. Turns out it's 2 in the morning. I need to take care to look at the time more... Well, see you in the next chapter!