With different eyes

Shocking turn of events

Narrator's POV

Up at the railing, Whitebeard and Marco watch the chaotic duo. They both grin when they see Lucia jump into the sea and surprisingly the dolphins are immediately with her. Again and again the mammals nudge Lucia and encourage her to swim with them. Marco can see Lucia's eyes sparkle and she laughs boisterously as she keeps stroking a dolphin. Ace is right next to her on the striker, which he has laid on his stomach. Lucia seems to say something to Ace, who reaches out for one of the dolphins. And it comes as it must! Marco slaps his hand on his forehead and sighs, while Whitebeard laughs.

Lucia's POV

I keep laughing as I swim with the dolphins. "Don't you want to come out slowly?" Ace asks me with a grin. I shake my head and prompt Ace, "Come feel the skin is cold and slippery if you can't swim with it!" Ace laughs and wants to follow my request. He reaches out to one of the dolphins! But apparently another dolphin has become jealous or he wants Ace to swim with him, in any case he bumps into the striker. Ace, who has been leaning forward, loses his balance and lands in the sea. He promptly sinks. I'm about to dive after him when Ace pierces the surface of the water again. Surprised, I blink and then laugh out loud when I see the reason for Ace's new swimming abilities. One of the dolphins must have swum after him and Ace is lying on his back while said dolphin trills happily.

"I want a camera!" I say laughing. From above I hear Whitebeard's booming laughter. I look up and wave cheerfully. However, I tilt my head a little as I see Marco looking slightly distressed. Ace continues to lie exhausted on the dolphin's back as it swims happily around. Is it just me or is he really making sure that Ace doesn't sink? I swim next to the dolphin and say teasingly: "Look at it this way, you are the first devil angel to swim! Ace gives me a nasty look, but is quite unmotivated due to the sea water. A baby dolphin comes up to me and swims around Ace and me. I look at the young animal in awe and gently hold out my hand. The baby itself presses its head against my hand and I have to stifle an enraptured squeal. I turn to Ace and his new best friend and beam at them. "Say can you get me the Striker?" he asks me. I nod and swim towards Striker. I push the thing towards Ace and grab his hand to help him over from the dolphin's back.

I am about to pull Ace over with a jerk when a harsh: "Wait!" sounds from his direction. He looks at our clasped hands with wide eyes. Somehow he scares me. "Are you okay, Ace?" I ask gently. All at once he suddenly lets himself slide off the dolphin's back. I'm about to reach for his shoulder when he makes some awkward swimming movements of his own. I look at him with wide eyes and forget to swim myself. As a wave swallows me, I hear Marco's voice yelling from above: "WHAT THE HELL!" and he speaks from my heart. I make a couple of frantic moves and come back to the surface. "Don't you let go of my hand!" says Ace to me in amazement. "YOU TWO UP NOW!" roars Marco's dulcet voice, spooking the dolphins who frantically take flight. Ace and I swim towards the striker, with Ace looking quite strained. We quickly pull ourselves up and Ace steers the Striker to the side of the Moby. Ace throws me over his shoulder again and jumps up onto the railing with me. Then he carefully sets me down on the ground while Marco comes hurtling towards us. Whitebeard follows leisurely behind and looks very curious. But I'd like to know what that was all about! Why can Ace swim all of a sudden? Marco stops in front of us and looks at us desperately. He seems to be at a loss for words.

Congratulations Ace, you have performed a miracle! Marco's mouth keeps opening and closing while Ace and I just watch him. It's an interesting spectacle. "Can't you two just be normal?" says Marco in despair. Why is it our fault that the devil fruit of Ace can't make up his mind? If anything, it's Ace's fault! Whitebeard just laughs and seems to be having fun. "Son, why did you know how to swim?" he asks, probably so that Marco doesn't burn out his brain. Ace shrugs and says calmly, "I couldn't until I touched Lucia, before that everything was normal!" Did he just blame me? All of a sudden I get a questioning look. "How should I know what Ace's body is doing?" I ask then, because the looks are getting on my nerves. Marco pinches the root of his nose. He mumbles something to himself and leaves us standing here. Ace and I look after him questioningly. "Ace?" I ask. "Yeah?" he answers me. "I think we broke Marco!" I say dryly. "Aye!" he says just as dryly.