With different eyes

A small secret gets uncovered

Lucia's POV

Luffy is whining and clawing at Ace, who is trying to get his brother's rubber arms off him. But it doesn't really work, because after explaining to Luffy that Sabo has already left, we wanted to go on our way. Well, we wanted to, because Luffy clings to Ace like a limpet and looks at him with huge eyes. I can't look at him, otherwise I would give in. That's why I've already gone to the striker and am now leaning against it, while I watch Ace's pathetic attempts to get rid of Luffy. "Luffy now let go. You need to keep training!" he says to the rubber boy. Rayleigh is standing next to me watching the whining too. "You could do something!" I say with a grin. He laughs and agrees with me, "I could!" but he doesn't budge.

We both prefer to watch Luffy clawing at Ace, howling like a puppy while Ace is richly overwhelmed. "Ace will have no chance at all against your child!" laughs Rayleigh. I nod and reply to the dark king, "I've already resigned myself to Marco and I doing the parenting." "SHUT UP BACK THERE!" hisses Ace over and shoves Ruffy off him. Which doesn't do much good, as it just stretches the rubber angel's arms and legs. I tilt my head. "What do you think would have happened if Luffy and Roger had been on the same ship." Rayleigh turns pale. "I don't even want to imagine!" he firmly refuses. In my opinion, that says it all.

But since I'm getting ready to leave, I say to Luffy, "Luffy, we can start from here, then we'll definitely come back here. Then we'll bring you food from the other world too." you can't see as fast as Luffy lets go of Ace and stands next to him. "Okay." is all he says. Ace looks at him wide-eyed before narrowing his eyes and smacking Luffy. "So food is more important to you?" asks Ace, growling. "But you told me to let you go!" defends Luffy. Ace puffs himself up and wants to reply, but I'm not in the mood for the ensuing discussion. I reach into my pocket and grab the knife. "Ace I'm leaving now, if you want to come then come!" I say, although to be honest I don't know if I can leave without Ace at all. "I'M COMING!" he just yells and comes over to me. Luffy looks at us curiously and Rayleigh looks interested too.

I unwrap the knife and offer my hand to Ace. He stands behind me and puts an arm around my waist. We reach for the knife and the world blurs into colour. I close my eyes as I feel sick. Shortly afterwards I open my eyes and stand in my mother's kitchen. This one is empty, thank God. Another reprieve. I take a deep breath as Ace lets go of me and looks around. I desperately need nerve food! Otherwise I won't make it through the meeting with my mother and I can already hear her in the living room. She's talking something over with my father. I look at the fridge.

Oh yes, how nice that my mother doesn't change. There's a tin on top of the fridge and if this world hasn't turned a hundred and eighty degrees, my mother will keep chocolate chip biscuits in it. I stretch and try to catch the damn thing, but unfortunately I'm too short. If I pull up a chair now, my mother will know I'm here. I bite my lower lip as Ace reaches past me, grabs the can and hands it to me. I beam at Ace and open the tin quietly. I quickly start to eat the biscuits until I notice Ace looking at me. He looks at me as if he would starve if I didn't give him a biscuit now. I look wistfully at the biscuit in my hand, the last biscuit. I sigh and give Ace the biscuit. He stuffs the biscuit into his mouth and puts the tin back on my hand gesture. My mother doesn't have to know what's going on right away.

I shiver a little, feeling as if I have to flee. I swallow and Ace puts an arm around my shoulder, grinning. 'I'm glad you find this so funny,' I grumble. Ace laughs and gives me a kiss on the forehead. Silence falls in the next room. Damn, my mother must have heard Ace. I rest my forehead against Ace's chest and hope that this conversation will be delayed a little longer. Ace puts his arms around me and I feel his amusement. "You mess with Marco without a second thought and run to Garp, but you're scared of your mother?" he asks me. "There was no danger with them, but here with my mother?" I mutter and hear a shout behind me. And off we go!