One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Thirty Two [Rewritten]

-Chapter Thirty-Two-

"Nah, I'm good" I dismissively waved.

"Your sure?" she asked.

"Yeah" I nodded. "Plus, you two are too far away—can't reach" I grinned, half-heartedly swatting my hand up in their direction and causing the ginger to roll her eyes.

"Ace is so calm and orderly, he cleans his forks and plate after every meal" Vivi couldn't help but comment as she watched the raven-haired man busy himself with wiping down his eating utensils.

"Makes me think there's hope for his gender after all" Nami absentmindedly sighed.

"Dammit! You give it back!" quickly was my attention drawn back toward Zoro upon his outburst. Upon spying him pulling on the captain's cheeks, I burst out into a fit of laughter at the ridiculous sight.

"Never!" Luffy cried through his clenched teeth as I wiped at the imaginary tears that had started to build in the corners of my eyes. My laughter grew in volume over how silly the situation appeared.

"Why would you even want your food back after he's eaten it?" I laughed, not really understanding the swordsman's motives in retrieving food that was already in the captain's mouth.

"Because it's mine, dammit!" Zoro snapped, causing me to finally topple over into another fit of frivolous laughter.

"Sure, beats his incompetent brother" Nami sighed as she watched the three of us. "Ace is cut from a different cloth, that's for certain, judging by his good-mannered personality—you never would have guessed he had a staggering bounty on his head."

"Ace has a bounty on his head?" Vivi curiously questioned.

"It's such a large sum that every bounty hunter around the world is hellbent on catching him" Nami stated, causing my laughter to come to a sudden halt as I now fell into a deep thought.

Bounties.

They were such a common thing in this era seeing how the amount put on your head would basically tell everyone around you just how important you really were. With a group of pirates like Luffy and them, it was clear that some of them would at least end up getting bounties on their heads—not all of them, but some of them. I couldn't help but wonder if there was a chance that I'd ever end up getting one during my time traveling with them—how much would I be worth?

Then again...if I got one...then you would have to add that amount onto...

I shook my head, quick to push such thoughts to the very back of my mind.

"Fire Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates, there's not a pirate alive that isn't scared at the mere mention of his name" Nami almost seemed to boast, her voice dragging me from my thoughts and back into reality.

"If Ace is so imposing enough to scare his peers, then this Blackbeard he's chasing must be just as terrifying" Vivi shivered.

"He's terrifying alright—a bloodthirsty traitor that killed his own crewmate" Nami solemnly nodded. "If I were laying odds, I'd say Ace is going to keep chasing him for as long as it takes" she guessed before peering over towards me. "And what exactly are you thinking about over there?" she suddenly asked.

"Huh?" I blinked.

"You've got this distant look on your face—what are you thinking about?" she asked once again, now looking genuinely curious as she leaned forward a little and waited for me to share whatever it was that was taking up all my attention.

"Oh, nothing really...just unimportant things like that the weather" I smiled, quickly brushing her off as my gaze darted elsewhere. Mentally sighing, I soon felt my lips twitch downwards as unpleasant memories now desperately tried to resurface. But once again, I found myself pushing them further back into the corners of my mind, not wanting to deal with them at the moment...