An Eternal Bond

The Birth of Blackbeard

"And the monster duo's done it again." Izo said as Ace and I returned from a mission.

It's been three years since the confession, and we've been nicknamed the 'monster duo' around the ship.

"Kind of..." I scratched the back of my head. "I almost burnt their whole ship though."

Ace tossed his soaked hat with dark burn spots onto the ship. "Thankfully, she made the whole damn ocean flood onto the ship."

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it did, but you almost drowned everyone."

Marco laughed. "She always has reckless solution for reckless problems. It's nothing new." I shook Ace's arm. "Wait, the crew wanted to talk to you about something. Just go to the showers."

He nodded and made his way to the showers, where the crew told him some interesting news.

"Me? The 2nd division commander?"

The crew nodded. "We haven't had one for a while, and you'd be the perfect fit!" Ace contemplated for a moment. "I don't know..."

I leaned on the wall outside the showers. "Hm..."

During lunch time, he was seated next to Teach, one of the members of the second division. "Well? You've been here longer than me, Teach. What do you think?"

"I don't aspire to those kinds of titles, so you can do it... Commander Ace."

I glanced to the kitchen and tugged on Thatch's sleeve. "Thatch...? Can I ask for a favour?"

•••

"Let's hear it for our new 2nd division commander!"

The beer glasses clanked as Ace held an entranced stare at the crew. "Don't go looking like that!" Thatch patted his back. "This is all for you!"

He looked around. "Where's Y/N?" Jozu shrugged. "I don't think anyone's ever been able to accurately answer that question, Ace."

Almost on queue, I came flying in. "Sorry, I forgot it was today. Just give me a second." I ran to my room, the bag I was holding swaying over my shoulder. "What's in the bag?" Atmos leaned over to see past the crowd.

"She said she needed something from one of the nearby islands." Marco said. "Something for Ace."

"MARCO, WOULD YOU QUIT SPOUTING MY SECRETS?!" I yelled from my room.

Ace's face flushed. "Right... I'll check on her later."

About half an hour later, I came out of my room, making all heads turn. Each of my fingers were wrapped with a bandage, practically one for each individual knuckle. Sewing seems a lot harder when it's through leather.

"Y/N, what the heck did you do?" Haruta cupped my hands in his. "What were you doing, playing the knife game?"

I shook my head. "I was, uh... sewing."

"But you're normally really good at sewing!" He sighed. "Whatever, Ace has been waiting for you. Come on."

Ace saw the bandages wrapped around my fingers. "W-What the-? Y/N, what did you do?" He held my hands in his, as Haruta did. "Relax, Ace. It's just... it's harder to see through leather."

I reached into my bag and pulled out the hat I made for Ace, all back to normal and dry. "I had to find fireproof fabric so that it wouldn't burn from your Devil Fruit power." I fidgeted with my fingers as Ace examined the hat.

"I love it, thank you." He kissed my forehead and my cheeks burned. I held my forehead and knelt down, facing the deck. "Why did you do that?" I squeaked.