𝗚𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 & 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝘁𝘀 ┃One Piece

43. Constipated feelings

You ignored Barto's fangirl squeals, smiling at the sight of your friend, he was unusually dressed for his normal attire, though the hat remained on his head, his outfit was much more appropriate for this type of festivity.

"Ace? Are you following me or something, it's not long since we saw each other."

He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, pointing behind him, where some men from Whitebeard's crew were strolling around looking curiously at the city and the fair that was set up in the streets.

"The old man knew there was a party and we all signed up, are you following me?"

"Pfft- you wish, actually, I wish I was chasing you and not here out of obligation."

"Obligation?" confusion flashed in his eyes, not understanding your situation, a hint of concern that you were in danger "What happened?"

"It's a long stor- ouch what?" you frowned at Bartolomeo, you almost forgot that he was still there babbling things like crazy, of course you understood what he meant when his eyes kept moving between Ace and you "Oh yeah, Ace this is Bartolomeo, he's a big fan of Luffy, I guess that's why he seems a little nervous, he admires you too and all that.

"Oh I see... it's a pleasure, man!"

You watched the interaction in silence, as they began to talk a little about something that wasn't much of your interest, you decided to think of something much better, your escape plan, if Whitebeard was here along with Ace and the others, they wouldn't mind helping you a little to escape from the crazy flamingo no? You hoped not to be too annoying by asking for help, but if they couldn't help you you should had a plan B just in case. Your dreamy state ended as you watched Ace snap his fingers in front of you, Barto seemed to look at his hand as if he never wanted to clean it again, with a silly blush on his face, you shook your head at his antics.

"So are you coming or...?"

You had missed a bit what Ace was trying to tell you, but you continued on with a confident nod, the three of you walked towards the busy street full of games, food and betting stalls to meet up with Ace's other friends. Marco and Thatch seemed surprised to find you there, Izo greeted you calmly with a small smile, for once, you indulged yourself in enjoying the night, since you've been in Desdrossa you've noticed how stressed and tense you've been, puzzling over for a night wouldn't be so bad.

"Hey, so is he your boyfriend? I thought it was a lie but it seems real, man."

You froze as you heard Thatch who seemed to have remembered that conversation with you about boyfriends, you hadn't thought about it before because you really forgot, but now that the cook mentioned it, Barto's appearance was stupidly the same as your description, you sweated as you saw how the green-haired man looked at you just like the pirate.

"Hahaha whaaaaaat...? You sure? I don't remember any of that."

You sweated as you saw how he narrowed his eyes, feeling a tug on your hand, you saw how Barto ran his fingers through yours, glancing sideways at Thatch, he got closer to you, kissing your forehead softly.

"We like to keep it to ourselves, is there a problem with that?"

"Oh no- I was just- I was just curious."

You stepped on Marco's foot, who was standing near you, seeing how he seemed to want to start laughing as loud as he could. Ace didn't understand a damn thing about what happened, but you thanked the heavens that your new fanatic friend had followed your lie without knowing anything, you shared a brief look, still with holding your hands, with a slight gesture, you silently communicated to him that you would update him about that.

The night went by as normal as possible after that, you greeted Whitebeard when you saw him enjoying a show in front of the stage, you danced, laughed, enjoyed a good meal... your mood was declining as the hours passed, became aware of your problem again, and you decided to get away from all the hustle and bustle of the party, in a quieter place to cool your thoughts and calm down.

"Here you are, I've been looking for you."

"I just needed some space, there were too many people pushing to see better the stage and it was starting to bother me."

Ace gave a low hum, nodding at your discomfort, fiddling with his fingers for a few moments before looking back at you, you seemed to have a calm expression, however your mouth was slightly twisted, that thing you do when you try to hide that you're upset, at first he thought of taking it easy, asking little by little, but his concern won out.

"Okay, I forgot about the subject earlier to enjoy the night, but the truth is that what you said to me before has been bothering me and you never answered me" he took a breath, noticing how your brow was now furrowed, with your mouth slightly open, he took a breath to continue "Why are you here out of obligation? Are you kidnapped? Is someone holding you prisoner? I can beat them up-"

"Doflamingo, Doflamingo is the one who keeps me on this island."

"Oh..."

You let out a long sigh, a weight you didn't know you were holding on your shoulders as you saw Ace's concern for your well-being, you were so fine a moment ago and now, thinking about all the shit you've been doing here, all the wasted time... it's not like you were mistreated, but taking away your freedom to decide for yourself was enough of a punishment for it to affect you so much, you broke down for the first time in a long time, maybe you were just being a little exaggerated, maybe you were just a little overly sentimental, but the stream of emotions flowed like a thin waterfall of tears from your eyes as you began to recount between small gasps everything that had happened to you since the last time you saw Ace.

"I'm so sorry, if I had known anything before I would have kicked his feathered ass, fuck."

He wrapped you in his warm arms, giving you enough support to relax your whimpers, imitating his action your arms surrounded his waist, you don't know how long you were in that position, but he didn't break the hug until you finished unloading all the congested emotions, only until you decided that he let you go. You wiped your face with a handkerchief, your defeated expression turning completely the opposite, you clenched your fist in anger, with a new determination shining in the black pupil of your eyes like burning fire, Ace smiled seeing that ferocity of yours again, knowing that you had a new idea brewing in your head and completely relieved to have improved your condition.

"Ace, by any chance do you have gunpowder?"