𝙄𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙒𝙚 𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙? ☆ [ONE PIECE]

7. Buttered Popcorn

Alastor heaves as she collapses on her back, tired from practicing her teleportation skills as the moist grass tickles her neck. Teleporting to a specific person drains her energy too much and since she doesn't know what Jenny's new ship looks like yet, Alastor is forced to sit around Mt. Colubo.

She slumps against a tree, frowning at the idea of her best friend abandoning her.

Okay, Alastor knows Jenny hasn't abandoned her but the idea of not being able to see her due to her new living situation has Alastor pacing circles around the mountain, ignoring even Dadan as she mutters irritably to herself.

The lack of Jenny in her life keeps her on her toes, teleporting everywhere in Dawn Island. It has her entering random shops and bars that offer nothing but a bottle of sake, nothing good for a child. Even then, most bartenders working would have still poured her a glass if she asked.

Alastor learned that after waltzing into a bar near the bottom of the mountain where she'd accidentally teleported to. The man running the bar, an old geezer with a thick gray scruffy beard, had locked eyes with her and without another word, poured a glass of alcohol and held it out for her little hands to grab. One chug of that and her world already felt woozy, yet she climbed up onto a barstool and demanded more, handling its alcohol dosages like a damn pro.

Okay yeah, maybe developing an alcohol addiction at the grown age of 7 was not the best card to play, but when raised by a group of bandits who more or less left her unsupervised, it's hard to be surprised.

"What are you doing?" A rough voice and a poke to her side snaps her from her thoughts. Ace stands in front of her, jabbing his staff into her abdomen.

Sitting up, Alastor grabs the staff and flings it back towards him, causing Ace to grumble as he reaches to pick it up. She rolls her eyes and kicks him in the shin as he makes his way back to her side, rolling over on the grass rather than standing up.

"What do you want, Ace?"

"You look stupid, can you just get up?" Ace leans the staff away from him, digging its end into the dirt as he rests a hand on his hip. "I don't wanna keep Sabo waiting."

Alastor exhales before standing up, making a weird noise erupt from her throat. Her feet wobble slightly as she walks due to her lack of energy but she continues to push forward, trudding her feet along the grass as Ace walks full speed ahead in front of her.

"Who's Sabo?"

"My friend."

"You have friends?"

Ace abruptly turns around and uses his staff to smack Alastor across the forehead, leaving a harsh line on her tanned skin. She yelps in pain, falling backwards onto the grass as she fans her palms over the red flesh.

"I don't wanna go with you anymore!" She interlocks her fingers with the grass beneath her palms, squeezing and seizing them in increments to release her annoyance.

"Wha- No, you're coming with me!"

Ace reaches over to grasp Alastor's arm, attempting to pull her up as the girl begins to kick and scream in protest. He uses his staff once more to poke her sides, tickling her as a mechanism to stop the resistance.

-

Eventually, Ace gets Alastor to come with him to Gray Terminal. Though, he doesn't leave scratch free.

She stiffens a laugh as she walks behind him, trailing like a lost puppy while Ace rubs the forming bump on his head from a killer punch that landed right atop his crown.