With different eyes

A day in paradise

I shiver to myself and snuggle deeper into Roger's coat. Now I would like to have Ace devil powers. Speaking of Ace, he comes up to me and wraps his arms around me. Immediately I feel warm again despite my wet clothes. Oh yes, such a living source of warmth is nice. Roger grabs Ace by the shoulder and tells Ace to follow him. Ace lifts me up and runs after Roger. And again someone carries me through the area. Ace follows Roger through the corridors. I look him in the face and he wears a thoughtful expression as he watches Roger's back. Roger continues to lead us through the Jackson. I start to shake in spite of everything. Ace looks at me with concern. "Are you okay?" he asks. I nod and hide my face in the crook of his neck. "I'm just cold. Wet clothes are not beneficial when you're a frozen person," I say to Ace. Ace laughs softly and keeps burning his arms. This makes me a little warmer again. Roger seems to have gotten where he wants to go, because he opens a door. Ace carefully walks through the door and we enter the room. I open my eyes. "My goodness, I thought your room was a disaster, but this beats it by a mile. Do you D's have an aversion to order?" I say, horrified. Ace looks around and then says, "It's not that bad, is it? And how do you know the room is Roger's?" I look around this battlefield and say, "D's are the only people who manage to survive in this mess. I honestly wonder how you guys sleep in rooms like this." Roger laughs and goes to a closet. Ace wants to put me down but I claw at his neck and say loudly, "You better not let me go! I don't want to touch the floor who knows what will hit me!" Ace laughs harshly and says, "You cleaned my room, didn't you?" I push my lower lip forward and growl, "Yeah, because Marco made me! He would have let me sleep in your pigsty ice cold!" As I say this Roger throws a red shirt at my head. I grab it with my fingertips. "Oh please let it be washed!" I say, but don't dare smell the shirt. Ace does let me down in the end, since I have to change anyway. Roger is even decent enough to turn around so I can change. I pull the wet dress over my head, now I wish I had a towel to hand. I pull Roger's shirt over me and since I'm a midget compared to him, it also goes to my knees. I smooth out the shirt and turn to Ace. He tilts his head. "Yeah?" I ask. Ace grins and shakes his head. Roger turns and I ask cynically, "What would have happened if I hadn't finished?" Roger laughs darkly and says, "First, no one takes that long to get dressed, and second, so what?" I smile and say, "Tell that to my brother Nico, he takes longer in the bathroom than some movie stars in makeup." I turn around and leave the room before the two of them can say anything back. I see Ace following me again and again he has such a thoughtful expression on his face. I go ahead and take a closer look at the ship. When I think that I am here on the ship of the pirate king. In another world in the past. I have to grin and turn to Ace, who doesn't really look at the way but is busy with his thoughts.

The next days pass unspectacular. We sail over a calm sea and something else is calm: Ace and Roger. The two creep around each other, like two tigers, only they don't talk to each other. It has a little something of 14-year-olds in love. If one looks, the other looks away and vice versa. I look at the whole spectacle and can only shake my head. Standing at the railing, I watch the island as it gets closer and closer. How can I get these two stubborn guys to talk to each other and not act like adolescent idiots. I rub my forehead in annoyance. "We'll reach the island tomorrow morning." I hear Rayleigh say behind me. Taking a look over my shoulder, I see him standing there. He has his arms crossed and is looking at the approaching island. I look at him asking, because I don't get the feeling Rayleigh is done. "Do you have any idea how we can get these two to actually get to know each other?" asks Rayleigh. "Besides chaining them together with sea stone and locking them in a dark room? No not really." I say sarcastically. Rayleigh snorts and says, "Go to sleep it's getting late." he says and turns away. I giggle and go below deck to join Ace in the room. I finally get to my room and see Ace lying in the hammock. A hammock like that is something, especially when Ace is the pad. I walk over to the hammock and look down at Ace. He has his eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face. Well, I really have to stifle my grin because he looks so cute when he's asleep. I stroke the bridge of Ace's nose with my finger. He wrinkles his nose and turns his face away. As I do, I have to stifle a laugh. I now stroke my finger over Ace's cheek. Ace grumbles and now turns completely away from me. I have to laugh now. Ace seems to have woken up, because he turns to me again and grabs my arm. With a strong jerk he pulls me to him in the mat and wraps his arms around me. I contentedly lay my head on Ace's chest as his warm hand runs up and down my back. I almost start purring because of it. This is when I start stroking Ace's chest with my hand. He hums and I can feel the vibration in my own body. I feel his lips on my head. "Ace, when do you want to talk to Roger?" I ask Ace. Ace hums again. I huff and give him a slap on the chest. Not that he would really notice, but the gesture counts anyway. I have to laugh again when I hear a soft snore. That's one way to avoid a conversation. I jerk back and forth on Ace's chest to get more comfortable. After a bit of rocking back and forth, I find a nice, comfortable position. It's strange when I was always alone in a bed, I kept turning back and forth until I found a comfortable position. That took forever, now I jerk back and forth a bit and find a comfortable position. Well this one is always on Ace. I nestle my face against Ace's neck bend and close my eyes with a deep yawn. After a short while I fall asleep, accompanied by Ace's soft snoring. Slowly I wake up and still feel the sluggishness of the remaining fatigue. I stretch contentedly and lean on Ace's chest. Ace still seems to be fast asleep. I try to move out of the mat as quietly as possible. I see how the mat swings back and forth with Ace. The sun is shining right in his face but he doesn't seem to care. I go to the porthole and see that we have already anchored at the island.