Chapter 8

—Third Person—

–Year 1522: March 2–

—Grandline: Alabasta – Nonohana—

The atmosphere chilled as soon as she stepped inside the restaurant. The people were looking at two different pirates and a Marine captain.

"Oh! It's Alvida! What are you doing here!?" Luffy asked with his mouth full of food.

"I came here to kick Crocodile's ass," she replied while looking past Luffy at Smoker, who emerged from the rubble.

"Oi! The one who is going to kick Crocodile's ass is me!" Luffy suddenly stood up and pointed a finger at her.

Ignoring Luffy, she looked under Smoker's legs and saw Ace faceplanted on the ground, which made her smile a little. 'Still, I didn't expect the One Piece world in real life to be this goofy,' she thought as she took out her pistol and pointed it at Smoker.

"What's that supposed to do to me?" he asked with a straight face as his hand turned to smoke.

"I don't suppose you want to find out how a Haki-infused bullet would fare against a Logia." A smug grin appeared on her face as she saw the surprise in his expression.

"I see, so the report that you know Haki is true after all," he muttered as he exhaled smoke from his mouth.

"Also, you don't want to destroy this establishment and kill all these innocent people during our fight, do you, Smoker?" she said with the same smug smile as her crewmates entered the building and stood behind her.

Seeing that a fight might break out inside the building, the people were quick to try and escape but were stopped by Kuro, whose hands were suddenly inside his gloves with claws.

It was so fast that no one except Alvida, Smoker, and Ace—who was using Observation Haki to sense what was going on—could see when he took out the gloves and put them on.

"I advise you to do as my captain says and leave this building, White Hunter Smoker," he said while pushing his glasses up with his wrist.

'Damn pirates and their filthy methods,' Smoker thought. Looking around and seeing the pleading gazes of the people inside the building, he ground his teeth and finally fixed his glare on Alvida.

"You'll come to regret this," he said, giving his final word before walking out of the building via the hole Luffy had made with his and Ace's bodies.

While all this was happening, Luffy was uncharacteristically silent.

Using Observation Haki to sense if Smoker was gone for good, she discovered that he was still hiding behind the wall. 'Likely trying to confirm if I really have Haki,' she thought as she pointed her pistol at the wall where Smoker was hiding.

"Don't just stand there, Smoker. Go away! If you come back with your battalion here before we all leave this place, I promise you that I'll level this building and the ones around it."

Her words made the people inside the building shudder in fear, while Luffy looked at Alvida for a moment before turning back to eat his food.

"Fire Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates. I was looking for you." Her words made Luffy stop eating for a second as he looked in the direction she was staring.

"A-Ace," he muttered in shock as the man in question stood up and adjusted his hat.

He was a tall, muscular young man with jaw-length curly black hair. He also had freckles and a tattoo on his upper left bicep that spelled "ASCE" vertically, with the "S" crossed out.

"Yo! Luffy!" He ignored the beautiful lady in front of him for a moment and walked up to Luffy, who was flabbergasted and shocked to see him there. Placing a hand over his straw hat, he looked at Luffy, who had now shaken off his shock and jumped to hug him.

Seeing him ignore her, Alvida looked at them with a pout on her face. 'He's ignoring me,' she thought.

He shook off the hug after a few seconds and looked at Alvida, who was pouting.

"Now then, my bad for ignoring you," he said with an apologetic smile. "Not that I mind that such a beautiful lady was looking for me; it would be nice to know why," he smiled as he asked.

'C-cute!' A red tinge crept up her cheeks before she shook her head from side to side as she looked at him.

"I have information about 'Blackbeard' Marshall D. Teach." Her serious words silenced the smile on Ace's face."And I heard that you were searching for him around these seas," she said as he nodded.

She looked at the restaurant owner and asked, "Can we get a private room?"

The owner, clearly shaken by her threats to the building and its patrons, nodded his head frantically. "U-upstairs," he pointed to the staircase as she looked at Ace and then at her crew, nodding.

Kuro understood what she wanted: 'Do not let anyone out until we come back.' He responded with a nod of his own.

Walking up the stairs, she saw a room with a balcony overlooking the town. She stood there, looking at the town for a few seconds before she felt Ace join her side.

"So, what's this information you have? And I don't suppose I can get this information for free?" His voice was smooth as he asked her.

"Hm, I want a favor from you. I'll give you the information that may even save your life if you promise me that," she said seriously, glancing at him from the side of her eyes.

"Very well, I, Fire Fist Ace, will owe you a—" Before he could complete his words, she interrupted him.

"I want the favor not from Portgas D. Ace, no. I want it from the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Portgas D. Ace."

Looking at her with a scrutinizing gaze, he weighed the pros and cons. 'If I do this, it would mean the whole Whitebeard Pirates owe her a favor. Though I doubt she would have the confidence to make this deal if she were lying about the information.'

"Very well, I, Portgas D. Ace, the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, will owe you a favor if this information of yours is useful," he said seriously, looking up at her face.

"That's all I need to hear," she replied, nodding as she looked down at Ace, who was shorter than her by five inches.

"Hear my words carefully, Portgas D. Ace. If you continue to chase after Blackbeard Teach, you'll die." Her words were ominous, but that mattered little to Ace as he was ready to explode after hearing her next words.

"You'll get caught and then be sold to the Navy as a bargaining chip to get Teach a position among the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Then you'll be used as bait to lure the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies to Marineford by declaring your public execution. With the might of the entire Navy and the Warlords, the Whitebeard Pirates will be crushed."

The temperature rose sharply as he heard her words, flames igniting from his body as he looked at her with an enraged expression.

"Explain," he said, his tone leaving no room for rejection.

"I do like my men hot, but this much heat, even I'm not sure I can handle," she joked with a smile. However, seeing that the joke did nothing to calm him down, she raised her hands in the air and sighed.

"The Dark-Dark Fruit," she said, looking at him with an uneasy stare. "It absorbs Devil Fruit powers and nullifies them."

"What?!"

———————————————————

Make sure to read the author's note, some reviews would be great to motivate me to write more you know.