We Fall (Ace/F!Reader | 4/5)
a/n: This took longer than expected, should be done tomorrow though. This is said assuming I can stay on schedule.
-----------------------------------------------------
“You're not even going to fight?” Ace questioned, side eyeing you amidst the chaos of the battlefield.
“No, I don't have the green light from the doc to fight, especially because I'm still running errands for him,” you sighed, hanging back as Ace takes over the fighting. At this point, there are already rumors that Ace is alive, and someone–you–took his place when Akainu plunged his attack straight through them.
“What–” you point to his left, he ducks and subdues the enemy quickly, “errand?” You watch him fight, a front row seat, because he doesn't stray far from you. Worried he'd lose you once again. “Is that a secret?” You nodded, “then, who's this doctor you're talking about?”
“Vegapunk, he gave me this body that trapped my soul, it's a long story. I'll–” the plume of fire ignites brightly, burning someone who attempted to grab you in the process. In one swift movement, you threw them over your shoulders, knocking them unconscious. Ace raised his brows and whistled at your swiftness, "I'll tell you when we're not fighting for our lives.”
“I mean,” he crouches beside you with a smile, “you handled that pretty well. I would say we're not fighting for our lives right now.” He smiles, leaning in to retrieve a light kiss from you.
You chuckled softly, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss, “well, I don't think your new crew would be very happy to be left out of information that can potentially aid them.”
“Please, I'm still a Whitebeard pirate through and through, I'm just,” he hums, sliding his arm around your waist possessively, “‘protecting’ my brother as I've promised,” he grins. He knew it was an excuse, if not for Luffy, he would have been caught by the Marines a long time ago once again. His embrace tightens thinking about it; if not for Luffy, he wouldn't have lived long enough to find you again.
“Didn't Marco disband the Whitebeard pirates?” Ace's eyes nearly popped out of his head when you brought it up.
“Yes, but, how did you know?!”
“I visited him after his final brawl with Blackbeard,” you thought about it. He also recognized you without hesitation just as easily as Ace had. “He didn’t seem all that surprised, but he did mention you were on a journey with your brother, and I may run into you.” You smiled up at him, watching the battle wind down as Luffy pulled a fast one on the King of Dressrosa. “He won, not a surprise,” you grin.
“That's my brother– your Den Den Mushi is ringing, who's it from?”
“Vegapunk,” you answered simply, picking up the call. Hearing an explosion in the background of the call sounds like an experiment gone wrong: “Be careful, doc, just because I’m not there to help, doesn’t mean you should try to blow up the lab.” You laughed a little when he responded that it wasn’t his intention.
“A-anyways, the Marines gave you a green light, you can go retrieve Doflamingo’s blood,” he sounded happy, like he had a part in this whole situation. But you were pretty sure it was because Luffy beat the living daylights out of the Warlord. “I suppose you already found your fiancé? When should I be expecting you to be back with the blood?”
You flicked your gaze at Ace, who smiled in response, “Soon. I was going to stock up before coming back, but you didn’t give me a lot of Berries to be flexible with, doc.” There was probably yelling in the background from the other versions of Vegapunk before he hung up the call. “The doctor’s a mess,” you sighed, hoping by the time you return, the island wouldn’t have gone to ruins.
“You’re leaving soon…?” His voice drew to a soft whimper, hugging you tighter. “Let me come with you, I don’t want to be separated from you again.”
“It’s a long flight back, and I don’t have a boat.” You smiled softly, trying to ease his anxiety. “How about I stay with you until the next island? I have a sneaking suspicion Luffy will make his way to Vegapunk.” You reassured him with a kiss.
He looked defeated as he nodded gently, tightening his hold on you.
“I’ll be back soon, let me just go collect Doflamingo’s blood as Vegapunk instructed, okay?” Reluctantly, he lets go, watching you in your Seraphim form approach the Marines. After a bit of back and forth, you draw blood from the unconscious former Warlord. You thanked the Marines and left quickly, securing the blood sample.
Ace ‘kidnapped’ you back to Kyros’ ship to catch Luffy’s team, still recovering from the fight. Before entering the house, you had switched back to your human form for better cuddling, much to Ace’s surprise. As questions erupted to ask about you, as Ace wrapped his arms around you possessively, you could only laugh since you had only recently started remembering everything.
Even as ‘fake’ Lucy appeared, you didn’t quite budge. Sure, the two of you had a momentary beef with one another about the fruit, but what was he going to do when Ace was also aware of the situation? “I thought she was–”
Ace cuts him off, a history he doesn’t want to bring up, “She’s back, and that’s all that matters to me.” There was a childish side to him. Right now, he was showing it, burying his nose against the crook of your neck as you felt his arms around your waist tighten.
You chuckled a little, ruffling his hair and patting his forearms a little with your free hand, “Don’t act so childish, he’s your brother. He doesn’t mean any harm.” At least, as far as you’re concerned, he doesn’t pose any threats to you.
“Mm… sorry, Sabo, I’m just sensitive still,” Sabo nodded understandingly over his pain. Explaining what he was doing here and how much he missed both Luffy and Ace. After a bit, he takes his leave before Luffy wakes up.
You listen in on the team deciding to head to Zou, Ace forced you to go with them because you owe him some explanations. During the feast, where some groups had forced themselves to be Luffy’s underlings, you laughed at how joyous everything was. You were thinking about slipping away when Ace left the group to catch your wrist.
His eyes shone in disapproval, “Don’t try to slip away, you still owe me some explanation first. You promised, one more island before you turn in your delivery.” You chuckled lowly at that, nodding, and finding a place to sit in his hold away from the chaos.
“You most likely want to know when I’ll come back, if I will; how my Devil Fruit works; and if I am… well, me, correct?” You glanced up at him, and he looked like he was deep in thought.
“Something like that, except for the last part, I know it’s you. You don’t have to prove anything to me,” you hummed at his words, leaning against his hold that you missed so much. He responded by tightening his embrace of your body.
“Once I turn in these blood samples and make sure Vegapunk isn’t going to die from his creations, potentially, I’ll come looking for you again. I still have your Vivre card, you know?” You pluck it out of your pants pocket to show him the piece you were still holding onto with a smile. “I know you guys most likely will give Vegapunk a visit, so by the time I’m done, I think you will be on the island, so I think it would be safer to wait for you there.”
“Wait, why safer? Wouldn’t you be safer by my side?”
You looked up at him and smiled, “Just because I work with the Marines doesn’t mean I’m safe. I’m a defect according to the World Government. I’m only protected right now by this errand. After I turn in my delivery, the World Government has all its rights to terminate me on sight, I should stay with Vegapunk until you come get me.” You smiled softly, “the doctor wants to meet you too, especially since I talked about you so much to him when I first regained consciousness in this body.”
Hearing that you spoke so highly of him so often to a well-known scientist caused Ace to heat up physically, making you laugh at his embarrassment. “C-continue…”
“Yes, Commander,” you teased, watching him pout was a good change of scenery from the heavier conversations. “My fruit is a mythical Zoan fruit like Marco’s. I’m sorry I lied to you guys that it was a paramecia fruit prior, the fruit is rather shy. As Vegapunk told me, mythical Zoans have a will of their own; they pick their users, mine is just fun-loving in a sense. I guess it had so much fun it came for a second time,” you laughed softly.
“You are a very fun person, my love,” Ace added in, snuggling you.
“Thank you,” you hummed. “I have no idea what the hell I told you the fruit’s name was, but its real name is ‘Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Kumiho;’ you know, the fox spirit that seduces men and women to eat their livers? Yeah, I’m not much of a liver fan, but being able to transform is a tactic used to seduce the unexpected. The reason I could turn into you and hold the form as I died was because I had awakened it while training; it’s hard to explain. However, there’s a variety of skills I can do, and transforming and holding the form just happens to be one of them, of course. I need to know the exact anatomical makeup of the person down to a T.”
Ace eyed you a bit, then his eyes narrowed, “Does that mean–”
“Yes, I’ve seen you naked, you headass, you’ve seen me naked,” you laughed when he got flustered again. “My Seraphim body is self-sufficient, it functions as a human would, I do age, it only gives me the abilities and durabilities of a Lunarian does. Yes, they exist, but there’s only a small amount of them left now,” you sighed a little, closing your eyes as you leaned against him more, “any more questions?”
“Can you stay the night? I’m not ready to see you go just yet,” Ace whispered. You heard sadness and vulnerability in his voice.
“Of course, my firecracker,” you grinned. It was a nickname you both agreed on for him.
-----------------------------------------------------