One Piece Oneshots

Ace X Reader

You shivered, stomping down the snow-covered alley. You were covered with thick scarf and coat from head to toe but the chill of wind blowing by still managed to get to you.

Most of the shops and store in the down had decided that it was too cokd already and didn't even bother to open. So it seemed you were the only one alive on the whole street. Well, apart from couple of other people, but the usual busy crowd was missing.

Finally you reached your destination, small bookstore that was one of the very few to be still in business. Inwardly cursing your boss for making you come alone to the shop and keep it even though no one was going to visit today, you stomped snow off your boots and hanged your coat to dry in the backroom.

At least the shop was warm and there was electricity and a coffee machine back. So you decided to kick back a bit and took one of the books and sat down by the counter. You kicked your boots off and pushed them by the radiator, since they were dripping with molten snow.

You leafed through the pages, searching for the place you had left off last time. On days like this there really wasn't much to do. You had no other work in the shop than to deal with customers, accept deliveries and clean the  shop up before going away. Boss dealed with accounts and other finances by herself, and since she disliked being near other people she had you to deal with them.

You pulled a woollen cover over your shoulders and crouched down to concentrate on the incredible adventures of Artemis Fowl. You held your thumbs when the Irish criminal mastermind and his old friend Butler went together with Butler's sister Juliet to have their memories of fairy race wiped. Secretly you were hoping for Holly or Artemis to come up with some sort of plan that would allow them to keep their memory.

Just as the great moment was coming and you were about to find out the great twist, bell above the shop's door made a twinkling sound. You looked up and saw a man, who wasn't covered with clothes from head to toe like normal person. He also didn't seem to have a pinch of snow on him.

With a longing look you tucked bookmark between pages to continue later and turned to the customer. Who to your great surprise had turned up, not minding the weather.

"Hello," you smiled warmly and sat up straightly behind the counter. "How may I help you?"

"Um...hi," he looked around him uncertainty of a person who has been to a bookshop exactly once in his life. And that time was now. "Do you sell maps?"

"Yes," you showed the cupboard full of rolled up and folded maps. "Are you looking for anything particular?"

"Map of island Theresal," he walked to the cupboard and shuffled through the maps. He unfolded some and looked at them for a moment before folding them again and setting them on the shelf.

You rose from your chair and padded over the floor to there. You had already searched up the map's location so you pulled out the correct roll on the second try.

"That's it," you handed him the yellowish paper. "I think we have a better copy at the back,"your eyebrows furrowed as you noticed the torn corner of it and some weird stains on  the middle.

"No worries, I think it'll do," but you insisted on going to have at least look. You said your boss would be very unhappy when you sold customer a ruined product. And you wouldn't like it yourself.

While you dug through the boxes of books, maps and textbooks, that had arrived a little while back but no one had bothered to unpack, tiny radio on the windowsill buzzed a bit and spouted out few notes of music and then a message.

"The.....storm has been estimated... least two days more.....temperature dropping," customer turned few knobs on the radio, irritated at the partly message. "So until the storm passes, there won't be any kind of nautical passing, apologizes to all the sailors," voice from radio chuckled despite the sad news it was giving and went on to babble about cooking a rat stew when people ran out of food.

"Here it is," you had finally found the map and gave it to the customer. "Pity you can't use it very soon," you put away the money he gave you for the map and sat down again, expecting him to leave.

"You mean the storm? Not a problem," he raised a hand and it lit up in bright flames, so you had to fight with an urge to pour a bucket of water over him.

"Heaven's sake, put that away," you looked worriedly around but thankfully he hadn't set anything on fire. "Do you know what a stray flame like this can do to a bookshop?"

"Sorry," man smiled apologetically and the flame went out as quickly as it had been lit. "Got a bit carried away."

"No harm happened," you didn't find a point in lecturing people when they already knew where they had gone wrong. "Are you going to a long trip? Oh excuse me," you added when you realised the question could be seen as aticking your nose into other's business. "You probably want to be on your way already."

"Not really," he looked out and grimaced at the heaps of snow. "I don't really like snow. And the trip won't probably be over a week," he answered to your earlier question. "My crew and I planned to look someone up on the island."

"Hmmm.....wasn't there some really famous village of fighters on Theresal?" You dug in your memory for a stray piece of information.

"That's exactly why we're going, my crew could use a few more people," you stood up from your seat and pointed at the backroom of the shop with thumb.

"It's a bit cold so I think I'll go get some tea, would you like some too?" He nodded so you went off and returned few minutes later with two steaming cups. "What sort of crew is it?" You asked interestedly, in your head placing bets on either a pirate or a merchant.

"Pirates," man grinned again. "I hope you won't kick me out at that. Many people don't like pirates at their shops. Ruins the reputation you see."

"Ain't my shop  and I don't exactly dislike pirates," you shrugged and sipped your tea. That sort of reaction seemed to surprise the man but he hid it well. "Is being a pirate nice? All adventures and such?"

"Not always, having a price on your head is cool," he grinned, which didn't make much sense. Having a price on your head meant that you were officially an outlaw. "Sometimes it's hard. But good times make up for it."

"Sounds pretty awesome," you thught silently about it. Your mum had been a pirate and abandoned you when you were a child to be raised by grandparents, so you couldn't say all the memories you had about  pirates were fond. But there had been plenty good ones too. Especially when mum visited from time to time.

"It is," guy grinned and the furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you a good navigator? I mean, can you read maps and sail a ship?"

"Sure," you were bit surprised by the question. "My grandfather was a marine and he made sure everyone in the family could sail."

"Would you like to join my crew?" Well that was even more of a surprise, you thought. "My crewmate has been navigating for now, but we could use a real navigator."

"I don't know," you looked around you thoughtfully. You had a life on this island. And family, so to speak of. But becoming a pirate sounded unteresting. And that would mean you could see all the wonders of the world you had only read about.

"What the heck, alright then, I'll come."

You became the loyal member of his crew, helping the troublesome bunch of pirates out of many troubles alonge the way. Sadly,  the great life with the crew didn't last very long. Everything ended for the small crew after Whitebeard came.