ᴀᴄᴇ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴘᴀᴅᴇꜱ

The Raid

══════════════════

You turned a corner and stopped abruptly, scratching your head in confusion as you stared at the scene before you. It was as if this place was purposefully made to cause a person to lose their sense of direction... or maybe that was just you. Maybe you were just as directionally challenged as Zoro.

Spotting a minibar just ahead, you pulled Nami aside and slid down the booth, heaving out a heavy sigh as you recollected yourself.

At least this was better than wandering around aimlessly. Now you had a place where you could sit down and take the time to recollect yourself. After tonight, you were in no mood to be getting any more disturbing 'surprises'.

"Mind explaining why you dragged me over, Y/n?--And nearly tore my arm off in the process?" Your ginger friend lifted you by the collar of your dress as she pulled you closer.

"My bad." You sheepishly rubbed the back of your neck as she released you, plopping down into a stool right beside yours. "I just wanted to get away from the crowd for a little while."

Your ginger friend raked a hand through her unkempt curls as she sighed out. "You mean Ace, don't you?" She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back. "I get it thought, he can be a handful sometimes."

You propped your arms over the counter and laid your head on them as you gazed up at your friend. "That's the thing," You shrugged, "I came here to have a good time, not to get myself into questionable situations. I swear, one of these days, I'm going to die of a heart attack."

"On the contrary, it looked like you were having a pretty good time." The ginger laughed. "If not, then explain that." She pointed at your flushed cheeks.

Perhaps the aftereffects of the previous event hadn't worn off yet...

"It's hot in here." You defended yourself, defensively lifting your hands to cover your cheeks.

"Right..." Your friend leaned in suggestively as she began poking at the hat on your head, coyly asking, "Well, if you aren't going to explain what happened earlier, then at least spill how you came across this."

You lifted your eyes to the orange hat.

"I'm holding onto it temporarily," You coughed into your arm, purposely giving yourself a reason to turn away from her intense stare, "The water would have ruined the leather."

"Oh, come on, Y/n. You can't just leave it at that! What happened! I mean, you didn't pull me aside for no reason, did you?"

"Actually, I did exactly that. Can you really blame me for wanting to get away from all that? And, just for your information, nothing happened between us. I mean, nothing. Literally, nothing."

"Why do I have a hard time believing that?" She fiddled with the strap under the hat.

The thought of his sharp, mahogany eyes staring at you briefly flashed through your mind as you were reminded of what went down a few minutes ago.