LET ME PROTECT YOU [Ace X fem! reader]

Chapter 16 // The Whitebeard Pirates

You can't exactly say you're overjoyed by all the intrigued stares following you as you storm past your fellow residents of the Community house holding the hand of a stranger. However, it would also be wrong of you to say a small part of you didn't enjoy the attention a tiny bit. 

You pass the reception and lock eyes with a baffled Juliette who attempts to kindly greet you like normally but even she cannot mask the single raised eyebrow lifted in a silent question.

"Tell Mila that I'll be back soon!" you shout over your shoulder. Juliette barely manages to nod in confirmation before you and Ace disappear out the front door.

♠

You snap your neck trying to spot the crow's nest hidden among the jungle of masts leaving cuts throughout the sky while you wait for Whitebeard to arrive. The increasingly impatient sun melting the skin off your face and the reeking air filled with rum certainly didn't help your hopeless search for it either. You could've lost yourself among the tangled mess of ropes for days or been stuck letting your gaze slide down the endless sails so large they only need to be accompanied by a calm lullaby in order to tuck in a small town. Luckily, a joyful whistle — crowding the already full deck — pulls your head back from the clouds. The familiar tune roars over the cheering screams coming from Kariko pier ages below you and shields you from the threatening glares you've desperately been trying to avoid.

You're aware you shouldn't be standing in the middle of deck right now. The suppressed whispers surrounding you just proves it. You know you're nothing compared to the countless great captains who've stood before the legendary emperor the same way you're about to do now. Just the sight of your brittle self walking the footsteps of these heroes must be a joke in itself to the pirates around you. They can see, even more clear than you already do, how wrong your presence in the company of a Yonkou is.

These shrieking stares have been weighing you down ever since you set foot onto this ship, ever since you pushed your way through the dense crowd down at the pier this morning, ever since you — ages ago — stepped outside of the city walls for your first ever patrol with your sword in hand, completely unaware of what you've signed up for. They've been looming over you like a dark shadow ever since that day at the shore, when she happily sailed away, leaving you in the dust... They have all been repeating the same phrase you've known since forever.

You don't belong here.

Yet somehow, for only a moment, you find your tense shoulders relaxing despite those stares. That heavy burden is suddenly a hundred kilos lighter. All because of a single merry tone dancing through the air and offering a helping hand to carry some of that weight for you.

You quietly turn towards the peaceful whistle leaving the chapped lips of the freckled companion by your side. By the way he rolls back on the balls of his feet while his drooping eyes get lost in the mazes of tangled mess above him, it's clear his head is everywhere but on top of his neck. If he was aware of the sea of eyes facing his way, he doesn't show it. Only traces of him are present on this grand boat right now, yet it's enough for your tired mind to rest if only for a moment.

"It's quite impressive..." Without lowering his chin, Ace's gaze shifts towards you. "Right?" By the smug look on his face, you realise you must've been gawking for a while.

In half a breath, you hurriedly move your attention to the striking sails overhead. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Well, the Moby Dick is one of a kind."

You dare glimpse over at him as his eyes return as glued to the waving flags and loose ropes breezing in the wind. The blinding sunlight pestering from above would've been too harsh on anyone's features, but somehow bathing in it only made Ace's skin glow brighter, complimenting the dimple on his sharp cheek as he sends you another sly grin.