Chapter 39

Chapters in Advance:

https://www.pa treon.com/MessyLife

....

Chapter 39

Title: The "Truth"...

….

A while after they leave the Animal Island, Ace is just lying on the ground, seemingly out of energy.

"What is wrong with him?" Asks Deuce, not used to seeing Ace so out of energy.

"I dunno." Says Sabo. "I have never seen Ace like this either, and I have known him for over a decade."

Everyone was surprised by this, Ace is always full of energy and seems to never get tired. 

"AHHHHHH!!!" Screams Ace suddenly, making everyone flinch and look at him. But he is still laying down on the ground.

"Oy! Ace! What was that for?" Yells Sabo, he flinched and spilled a drink on his shirt.

"I am bored…" Says Ace suddenly, annoying Sabo at this.

Sabo sighs at this and gets another drink and says. "Can you at least not scream sud-"

"AHHHHHH!!!" Ace screams suddenly once more, making everyone flinch again as it comes out of nowhere. Sabo's drink spills on his shirt once again.

"Oy! Stop it, Ace!!" Yells Sabo, again annoyed by his captain.

"No, I am not gonna do anything about it." Coerces Ace, a smirk on his face.

Nojiko comes with a tray of drinks for the rest of the crew and sighs as she looks at Ace. "Is he trying to start a fight again?"

"Yeah, he is apparently bored." Informs Desire.

"Hmmm…" Gin seems to be thinking. Suddenly he has a realization. "Ah, I understand now. He wants to raise our fighting experience, that is why he wants to do that."

"Nah, you are reading too much into it. He is just too bored." Says Desire, taking a sip from the drink. "You have gotten better at making drinks Nojiko, Ace's are still better though."

"No, there must be some brilliant plan that we can't see." Gin is confident in this.

BOOOM!

Suddenly, Sabo comes crashing through the ship.

"Hell yeah! Now the boredom is gone!" Exclaims Ace.

Nojiko huffs at this. "Told ya. You are reading too much into this."

Gin shakes his head still unconvinced. 'Ace is brilliant and smart. So there must be some kind of multiple layered plans that we can't even catch a glimpse of.'

Bartolomeo, Deuce, and Cat just sip on their drinks as they look at the scene in front of them with amusement in their eyes.

'Ace… the man who will become the Pirate King.' Contemplates Gin. 'How can everyone assume that he is so simple? I saw it then… that day I clearly saw the man he can be. Even Marine Elites wouldn't look into his eyes and just fell unconscious just by his presence alone.'

…

Sabo is annoyed by this and exclaims. "Well, if that is what you want! Then I will comply with you, Ace!"

Ace smirks. "Now that is more like it. Give it your best shot Sabo."

Sabo's lower body turns into fire and he shoots towards Ace at top speeds. His flames don't burn the ship, because he has gotten superb control over his Devil Fruit, if he doesn't want to burn something then he won't.

As he gets close to Ace his eyes widen, as his long-time best friend twirls, and with the momentum, he is kicked in the face.

BAAAM!!

Sabo feels the power behind the kick and the one thought that runs through his head is. 'This power… he has gotten stronger?!!'

*SPLASH*

Sabo is kicked in the water and as a Devil Fruit user, he is immediately weakened. Gin jumps overboard and goes to save Sabo.

A couple of seconds later and he brings Sabo above water. Ace smirks at this. "You thought you were the only one getting stronger? Nah, I didn't just mess around in Animal Island ya know."

Sabo smiles at that. "Heh, one day I will beat your asś."

Ace has a smug look on his face when he hears that. "Yeah~ of course~ maybe in a couple of decades, if I decide to not attack you and just let you hit me for a couple of days you might leave a scratch… maybe…"

Sabo gets annoyed once more at this, he can't help it, as for as long as they have known each other. Ace has always been like this. A certain petty selfishness about the smallest things.

Suddenly Sabo comes to a realization and smirks. "You trained more because you felt threatened by me when we fought on Sixis Island."

"What? Hell no!" Exclaims Ace with an annoyed look on his face. "I would never do something stupid like that! I don't need to train to beat your asś."

"Uhuh… keep saying that to yourself." Says Sabo once more with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Ace gets annoyed again. "Fu*k you!! I don't need to train to beat you!! I can do it naturally you dumbass. I just wanted to train for fun."

Sabo still has a grin on his face as Gin pulls him on board. 

Ace only huffs and walks towards the kitchen cabin. "I am going to cook something."

…

-Ace POV-

As I enter the cabin, the annoyed look on my face morphs into a smile. Well, that was more fun than expected...

Now Sabo got a new goal to chase after, he thinks that he still has a chance to defeat me with his fruit. Well, I will let him keep thinking that. It should push him to train more, the stronger Sabo gets the better it is for me.

I go to the kitchen, put a pot on there, and start boiling some water when I hear Nojiko's voice come from the door. "Hey, Ace."

I stop smiling and look at her with a calm look on my face. "Yeah?"

"Is everything okay?" Questions Nojiko as she enters the kitchen cabin and closes the door behind her.

"Yeah, don't worry. I am not really angry." I tell her, I obviously know that she won't believe it. After all, she 'knows' what I am like. Honestly, no one in this world knows what I am really like. 

Well, even in my last world, only one woman knew what I was like. An image appears on my head, a plain girl, not too pretty or ugly, but more on the cute side.  

'We will have each other's back forever…'

"Ace?" Calls out Nojiko, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Are you really okay?"

I look at her, for the first time just with a calm look on my face. 

"Don't worry Nojiko, I was annoyed in the beginning. But now I am okay." I tell her another lie, by now the lies I have told just her have gone in the hundreds. I haven't even known her for too long either.

"I see…" Is all she says as she comes next to me. "Ace… why did you decide to pick me for your crew?"

"Because of your pretty face and nice body." I tell her jokingly, but that is the truth. She isn't anything special, she is a mediocre cook and a kinda okay shooter. 

"C'mon now~" She whines. "Be serious."

I smirk and give her a chicken to cut. I have taught her to cut it into eight parts. 

Even though I told her the truth, she didn't accept it. I could tell her that I wanna fu*k her sister when she grows up. But if I say it in a certain joking way, then she won't take it seriously. She has accepted the 'truth' that I am naive around matters of love and attraction.

What even is the truth? Well, it's just a lie that we tell repeatedly to ourselves. 

Truth never exists, there are only facts. I am a 'nice' guy because everyone believes and says so. I am 'naive' because that is what I want them to think… and because this is my truth.

This 'truth' is who I want to be, jealous of simple people. Because they can truly enjoy themselves with simple things. 

Unlike me… who will never be satisfied with what I have.

"I picked you for my crew because I saw potential." I tell her another lie, so many that I have lost count of. "Unlike your sister, you also have talent in something else."

And so I use her instinctive jealousy of her sister's intelligence to make her feel good and have her fall into my web of lies even further.

I don't even need to look at her, I know that she is blushing.

"ISLAND SPOTTED!!!" Yells Bartolomeo, breaking both me and Nojiko from our thoughts.

...