Every so often she just wanted to forget who she was and the lifetime of misery that preceded the day. So she changed out of her usually 'Miss All Sunday' style, left her wani at the casino and headed into a village that barely looked up as she passed.

It was in one of these little places she found herself dragging dark hair and freckles into a quiet and cool corner. She wasn't drunk, just pleasantly buzzed and excited to forget the world for a few moments. He was shirtless which gave her hands plenty of skin to trace and grab as she kissed him, taking advantage of her slight height over him to press him against the wall.

“how long has it been since someone hugged you?" (for Nami from @spcdesace )

Nami's mouth fell open for a moment, before she collected herself and her eyes hardened with defensiveness; it was one of those days, well, several of those days, in which she did her best to keep to herself so that she wouldn't end up snapping at her crew. But hey, this was Ace, he was crew-adjacent. "Do we count Luffy jumping on me every time he gets excited?" she asked, "Platonically, obviously. I'm not even sure he knows what girls are." It was one way to deflect like any other, but Nami's eyes searched for the ocean to keep distance from Ace. Being hugged by someone who meant to comfort her? It had to be before the day Arlong came. She had hugged her friends in relief back at Arlong Park, though. Still different. Still not being hugged.

@spcdesace asked: [ ALIVE ] Muse A pulls Muse B in for a tight hug, glad to see they're alive. (From Ace for Luffy)

Luffy automatically released a huff of surprise and annoyance as his brothers tight arms wrapped around him, but he went with the familiar motions and immediately gripped back onto his big brother too; clinging onto Ace as he took in the scent of fire and smoke that he hadn't smelled in years.

"'m right here Ni-chan, ya don't need to cling so tight" Luffy grumbled fondly as he kept tight to his brother regardless.

He was expecting his brother to appear at some point, especially once news spread about Impel Down, he wouldn't be too surprised if Shanks finally broke the promise and hunted him down like Captain Killian hunted down Harry; he'd been making waves much sooner than he probably should have.

Living in Mock Town was a trail if you didn’t know how to work with the pirates that came in and out. Caravel had lived there her entire life, but even that wouldn’t help a person if they weren’t smart. She balanced the life as easily as she could, but there had been times in her childhood which she carried some scars for. Her mother lived a quiet life but Caravel had decided that she wanted more than just being one of the shadows that drifted through the city.

Still getting off Mock Town safely was an issue.

Pirates came and went, but none of the crews felt…right. There was always something off in how they spoke or acted that sent alarms in her head. If she was going to leave her mom behind she didn’t want to get stabbed in the back by the same people. There was also her name, living on a ship meant close quarters and if Big News figured her out she was in trouble. The world erased her father, but the older Marines would remember him and cause a world of hurt on whatever crew she was in. An asshole crew would beach or sell her, and she worried she’d only land with one of those.

So, she worked at the port as a quick fix shipwright, her devil fruit allowing her to repair small to medium objects without much issue. Full shipwright work was out of her league, but she was always working on bettering herself.  Today had been filled with small repairs from Mock Town itself, the rough crowd kept her in good money, and some new ships pulling in. One caught her eye because….it wasn’t a ship. Caravel had no idea what it was and she left her little space on the dock to look it over.

Jinbe had not seen Ace since their five day battle. Since before the boy had become a commander in Whitebeard's crew. The young man had impressed him during that fight, as it was not an easy battle, as fire was not something that could easily be used against water. The fact the logia had held his own against him... it surprised him that the boy was not a Warlord as well, since there had been an opening when Ace had defeated Hanafuda. It was something he would wonder about, wonder if there had been the offer and if so, why had Ace declined.

He often served as a sort of emissary for the Whitebeard Pirates and the Ryugu Kingdom. Which was why he was face to face with the young pirate once again. "You really have moved up in the world. Not the young rookie who thought to take down an Emperor anymore."

"I don't need a key." Jo sounded pissed. She set a finger against the lock, grumbling under her breathe about people arresting her guests, arresting her favorite guest! The lock began to glow red and then the metal it was set in as she poured heat into it. "Pull your arms apart." she suggested.