LITTLE star - Ace

#4

Chapter 3

Home sweet home in Cocoa village

Ace couldn't understand how he got here. One moment he'd been rushing away from a crowd of violent and angry shopmen, and then the next he was... in a blanket? With an angry blue-guy staring daggers into his soul.

It was an igloo. The snow walls had always painted a distinct picture inside of his head — cold and slippery, not at all comfortable. Yet, never once had it occurred to him that it would be toasty inside.

The home was decorated with pelts and very few possessions, but a few meagre books and a wilting blue flower on the table. It wasn't very lived in despite the traces of well worn wooden boards along the floor.

Meanwhile, Ace was somehow bundled up in a prison of blankets, cocooned uncomfortably inside rolls of fur while a familiar blue-haired man sat inches from his face, frowning.

Ace bared teeth in obvious distaste of the proximity. Does this guy even blink..? His sweat dropped.

The man leaned forward into Ace's personal bubble with a menacing, icy glare. Ace stared blankly back at the man as he raised a tray of steaming hot chocolate and marshmallows to his face.

"Cocoa?"

Is this guy for real?

Ace's mind whirred in confusion as he set down the tray and held up a tray of candy.

"Maybe some chocolate?"

Oh, geez... he's serious...

Ace could only be glad it was him being imprisoned by this man and not Luffy. If they ever met, Ace knew Luffy wouldn't last a second in battle...

"Or, I have some food if you–"

"Stop being so polite!" Ace finally snapped.

"I apologize. It's a force of habit in this country. We tend to be too polite with our customs — its a time-honored tradition to offer our guests chocolate."

He raised an eyebrow, silently staring at the blue-haired man before him whose icy disposition had not changed despite the polite small talk.

You call a stampede of people chasing me through a city polite!?

Then again, they had been threatening him with food...

The man continued on, questioning and poking at Ace who was completely unbothered and ignored nearly all of them while struggling not to fall asleep.

"Okay..." Ace acknowledged the man flatly in response to one of his questions, making him perk just the slightest bit. "So how do you know Wallace D. Fillot?"

The man's mood fell back into its icy disposition.

"I don't." The man's plain expression bore into Ace. "But if I did, I'd say you should stop poking your nose where it doesn't belong."

He contradicted himself again...

Ace deadpanned."You either know him, or you don't."

"Things aren't so simple around here," he huffed in response.

How is it not that simple!?

"And I don't like nosey pirates in my town. Especially not when they go around town causing a ruckus."

Ace blinked uninterestedly. "So what exactly is 'this town' anyway?"

"You're in Cocoa village, the last remaining city on Yeti island," The man hummed, placing his hands onto his lap.