An Eternal Bond

Fire Fist

"Thatch?" I pulled on his sleeve. "Marco said Jinbei should be visiting today. But where is he?"

Thatch crossed his arms, his face with a concerned expression. "I'm not sure... we'll check out the island that the papers say he was last seen."

The ship sailed forward as I scouted the area from the front of the ship. "I don't see- Wait..." I squinted. "Marco, you're here, right?"

"Yeah? What's wrong?" He stood behind me and I pointed at an island. "There's fire, on that island." He stared far in the distance and saw what I was talking about. "Y/N, why don't you hang out in your room for a while? Vista, you go with."

Vista nodded and took my hand. "Come on, let's go."

I sat in my room reading a newspaper. "Vi-chan, what's a... Shichibukai?"

"A Shichibukai? They're pirates that work under the government. Jinbei is one of them."
I traced my finger over the word. "Ace... didn't want to be one. According to this."

I looked through the crack in my door, noticing Whitebeard walking past. "What is he doing...?" I peeked out the door and saw Whitebeard walking off the ship.

"Y/N, what are you looking at?" Vista walked up behind me and I looked back at him. "Oyaji is going onto the fire island."

"Huh?" Vista ran out of my room and to the front deck.

I saw a wall of fire emerge around Oyaji, and I shut my eyes. Once I looked through Oyaji's eyes... "A-Ace!"

•••

"Is be okay? How hurt is he? Was that Jinbei back on the island?"

I ran the many questions I had as I hovered next to Oyaji, who was carrying the unconscious Fire Fist Ace.

"He kept his hat? What about his crew? Is the people that are running over right now his crew? What were they called again?"

"Alright, tiger." Marco pulled me down. "I'm sure Oyaji doesn't want you running your mouth right next to his ear."

I put my hand on my arm. "Oh... sorry, Oyaji." He laughed. "Don't worry, Y/N! I don't find it annoying." I grinned and followed him to the back room.

I sat at the end of the bed Ace was resting in. "So he did keep the hat." I whispered, running my fingers along the crimson beads.

"Y/N, where are you?!" I put down the hat. "Coming!"

"There you are." Thatch sighed. "Teach needs help cleaning the dishes. Why don't you help him?" I crossed my arms. "Any reason you can't?"

"Just do it, Y/N."

"Fine..." I walked to the kitchen and saw that Teach was already almost finished. "Do you need any help?" He turned his head and grinned. "Nah, I'm fine. You can just go on with your day."

"A-okay." I walked off and sat at the front of the ship again. "Marco, give me your coat. You keep ripping it."

As I sewed, I unconsciously started humming the same song. Izo smirked. "Always the same one. She's going to end up making all of us fall asleep."

However, my singing seemed to do something different.

Upon hearing the familiar tune, Ace's eyes slowly opened. "Ugh... what the?" He looked around the room he woke up in. "Where..." He opened the door and saw the vast ocean, not an island in sight.

"Dammit." He dropped down and leaned back on the ship's wall.

"Hey, looks like you're finally awake." Ace looked up and met eyes with the ship's cook. "I'm Thatch, the fourth division commander. If you're sailing with us, I'm a good friend to have."