-8-

╒══════════════════╕• Aggressively Weak •╘══════════════════╛

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Waking up in an unknown place is alarming, especially when your hands are shackled and your feet are tied.

Hex, trying her best to gain her senses back, woke in a small room with nothing but a small window. Staring at the direction where the ray passed, the young girl noticed a line of metal bars in front of her. Blinking, she slowly realized where she was making her growl.

The ten year old girl was currently enclosed, sitting in the middle of a tight prison cell under the Red Haired Pirates Ship.

Using all the strength she had left, Hex tried her best breaking the seastone cuffs but to her dismay, nothing happened. Huffing a breath, she stared at nothing in particular, waiting for her demise. The girl had no idea how many minutes or hours had passed as she sat there. Silence soon was broken when loud footsteps started thumping, ghe sound nearing her until it stopped.

Looking at the man in front of her, Hex gave Red Hair Shanks a death glare, one that a ten year girl shouldn't have mastered at such a young age. Seeing how the silver headed child stared at him, Shanks gave a stressed sigh as pity slowly crept in his heart.

Before he even took the initiative to invite Hex to join his crew, Shanks already had a rough idea that the girl was one of the marines' underlings as whispers around the sea about a young marine reached his ears. At first, he found the news laughable as he thought that the marines wouldn't go too low to accept and train such young kids to their benefit.

But alas, he laughed about the gossips and it bit his own ass.

After finding all the lies the girl spat, he immediately tried to capture her but to his surprise, Hex almost took all his crew down and if she hadn't stopped, only him and his sturdy subordinates would've only stayed alive.

Pushing all his thoughts away, Shanks tried to talk to Hex but unfortunately, the girl wouldn't talk making him sigh once more. Massaging his temples, the captain tried again once more to talk and asked the girl to tell them what her mission was but to no avail, his questions were left unanswered. He was about to use force for Hex to talk when suddenly Yasopp came running down towards the prison cell, a rolled up parchment in his hand as he yelled "captain" a few times.

Taking the paper off of Yasopp's hand, Shanks opened and read the words written in it. As he read each sentence, his facial feature's changed making Hex frown. His face held confusion, then a frown, exasperation soon took over until a snort came out of him. Crumpling the parchment, Shanks eyes met Hex' silver ones making him smile.

"Wait here, after three days I'll be sending you back to the marines. You're a great kid. If we found you sooner, I would've made you an official crew here in our ship with Luffy. Too bad."

"Do me a favor will ya'? As your soon to be ex-captain, I order you, Hex from the Red Haired Pirates, to grow and become an honorable marine. I'll see you after a few years."

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Nothing but bewilderment was written on Flare's face.

Staring at the sleeping man infront of her, Flare tried to poke Ace several more times to wake him up but to her utter confusion, it was no use. She wanted to shake the raven but her shoulder was stinging too much whilst her body was covered with bruise.

Letting out a sigh in defeat, Flare sat there leaning against a coconut tree, eyes never leaving Ace' face filled with nothing but peace. As she listened to the sound of soft waves crashing down on the sand, the woman couldn't help but feel relaxed. Even with her body limp and weak, something inside her was healing.

It wasn't long after that the bruised woman also felt light, her head turning hazy as her eyes flicker to stay awake. She wanted to wait for Ace to regain his consciousness but with her body being too tired to even move, sleep swooped her as her eyelids fell closed.

Minutes had passed since Flare fell asleep, her rhythmic breathing was broken by a hitch as something small yet cold fell on her bloody shoulder. Ignoring the sensation she felt for a short period, the silver head groaned before loosing her consciousness once more.

It wasn't until the third droplet fell on her shoulder that Flare realized how strong the wind was already blowing. The peaceful waves of the sea turned harsh making her jolt. Opening her eyes, she saw the gray clouds looming under them making her panic.

Setting sail for years, Flare already was aware on how the sea and sky works. Seeing how dark and gloomy her surroundings is, the woman was sure that a strong storm was going on their way.

Even with a still weakend body, Flare tried moving with her strength to push the still sleeping raven to wake up. To her surprise, before she can even touch the man's shoulder, Ace bolt straight and sat up, his eyes were wide while the corner of his lips were tianted with dried saliva.

If things were normal, Flare would've laugh at the man's face but seeing how the incoming storm grew closer, laughing wasn't the best of action.

Ace, after locking eyes with Flare, completely unaware of his surroundings, immediately lept out of his seated position. Kneeling in front of the woman, he immediately brought her close to his chest, engulfing her in a tight embrace. He wanted to ask questions, if she was alright, if her body hurts, if she's scared but nothing came out of his lips, only sighs of relief and worry.

"Ace?" Flare's muffled voice reached his ears but instead of letting go, his hug only grew tighter.

"Seeing you in that state earlier, being held captive by some fucking pirate, it made me angry." He voiced, telling nothing but the truth as flashes of Flare's face laced with pain fill his mind.

Hearing the worry lacing his voice and the warmth he gives as Ace engulfed her with an embrace, Flare couldn't stop the heat creeping up her cheeks and ears from the affection. Making her heart race and her breathing unstable, she couldn't lay a finger to what she was feeling.

She had received a good amount of hugs from a few but something about Ace' embrace was different. It was as if she was slowly melting, it was as if she belonged to that place. Other than the immense emotion Ace was radiating, his warmth also made her body tingle as if it were not for her shirt, their skin would made contact with another.

Their embrace lasted a few more minutes until the raindrops were starting to get heavier and the wind was blowing stronger.

"Uh, shouldn't we head back?" Breaking the silence between them, Flare's voice was muffled once more but to her relief, Ace seemed to have heard it as he suddenly unclasped his hands around her.

"Yeah, let's go." Ace stuttered, eyes quivering as he sucked a breath.

The crimson color tainting his cheeks and neck was unnoticed by Flare as she made a step towards their shared home. She was about to walk further away when Ace suddenly placed a hand on her unharmed shoulder, making her freeze.

Turning around, Ace immediate raised the woman's hands on chest level, holding onto her shackles with one hand. Setting it ablaze, before the heat can even reacher Flare's wirsts, in one swift motion he broke it making the woman mutter her thanks.

Changing into dry clothes, Flare and Ace sat in the living room in silence as both dried their hairs using towels. Flare, too focused on cleaning herself didn't noticed the raven's gaze at her sleeve that was slowly being damped with blood.

Ace wanted to say something about it as he was worried for her well being but he was also worried that if he speaks, Flare would ignore her.

"Ace." Flare, stopping on her tracks suddenly called his name making him jump.

"Yeah?" He replied, eyes meeting with hers as brief silence took over them both.

"Thank you." Bowing her head slightly, Flare tried her best on showing her sincereness to the raven.

There were only three people who she gave her sincere thanks to during her life as a marine; one was the captain who offered her place at the marines, two was Marco the Phoenix who pulled her up when she was thrown off the Moby Dick, and three, was Whitebeard who gave her a life that she never knew she wanted.

Thinking of Ace being the fourth person who saved her life, she couldn't help but to feel the tug of warmth that was slowly filling her body everytime she meets his eyes.

"It's nothing, just doing you a favor." Giving his signature stupid grin, Flare couldn't stop the skips her heart does that always made her froze.

Unable to move once more because of Ace, Flare's face stayed stoic making the raven's smile falter.

"Are you okay? does your shoulder hurt?" Ace asked, worried for whatever reason that made Flare stay still.

Waving his hands infront of her face, Flare suddenly snapped back to reality. Stuttering horrendously, she gripped onto the loose fabric of her shirt, avoiding the piercing gaze the man has on her.

Flare snapped back, stupidly stuttering the whole time she was talking, hands closed tightly.

"Yeah, just, well, you know, scratch." She mumbled, eyes quivering uncomfortably as Ace' presence was starting to grow larger making her even more conscious than earlier.

Ace, seating beside her was doubting Flare's words but decided to let it be. He was still worrying about her and wasn't hiding it. The raven was unconsciously leaning closer towards Flare, making the woman feel iffy. The amount of emotions filling the silver head was too much that even the slightest touch of Ace's digits on her sleeve made her want to explode.

Suddenly, the room felt too small for Flare's liking.

Once again she felt that Ace was too much for her to handle.

Raising without a word, Flare walked out the living room towards the bedroom. Her eyes never once leaved the door that was on the other side of the cabin. Getting near ger room, the silver head, who was still silent immediately entered and shut the door with a loud bang.

Feeling weak, Flare slid down the floor, back leaning against the now closed door as she took a fistful of her shirt as she tried her beating heart to calm.

Ace was once again all alone in the living room, he was staring blankly at the place Flare was sitting on just seconds ago. Thinking of reasons why the woman had left her once more, Ace couldn't help but crease his forehead as he thought to himself. He wanted to walk a bit to clear his running mind but then remembered that it was too risky to go outside and face the storm.

Letting out a defeated sigh, Ace decided on staying on his seat, letting his mind wander on it's own until sleep blew his thoughts away.

Calming her nerves down, Flare wasn't sure how long she was inside her room. Feeling her muscles ache, the woman slowly stood as sge strethed her body. A sharp gasp escaped her lips, feeling a sting on her shoulder.

"Damn it. I even forgot my injury because of that stupid freckles." She mumbled, slowly opening the door as she took a small peek into the living room.

There he slept, was none other than Ace, eyes covered by his inked locks, mouth slightly open as his chest rose slowly up and down, an arm hanging off the seat he was resting at.

Sure that the reason behind her awkwardness was fast asleep, Flare took a step out of the room towards the sleeping beauty. Ace, even with no sign of smile or snicker, looked peaceful as he layed. Placing a hand, Flare gently raised the man's hand worrying about the strain he'll feel if he continued sleeping that way.

Noticing the thin strands that was covering his eyes, Flare slowly pushed his hair onto the side of his face. Realizing what she was doing, she immediat freezed from her position. It was surprising for her that her body moved on it's own but was even more surprised how soft Ace' hair was against her  fingers.

Taking a closee look to check if the raven was still asleep, Flare let out a small breath of air, thankful for Ace heavy sleeping habit.

Caressing his hair, Flare mindlessly spoke her thoughts awat, coming into a conclusion that she needed to let her feelings out.

"Hey Ace," she mumbles, voice small as she was too afraid to wake the man up.

"I just want to give my thanks for saving me and taking care of me when I was sick." Flare started, eyes never leaving Ace' face as she made sure the man was still asleep.

"Also, I want to give you my sincerest apologies for being cold and distant to you," she paused, heaving heavy as she was slowly being lost with her own thoughts.

"Its just that, well, I don't knkw, I just don't want you to grow on me because every time you're near me," eyes shaking awkwardly, Flare played with her fingers to keep her from feeling awkward.

"My heart races and seeing that stupid grin of yours, it makes me freeze. Being near you makes me more conscious about myself. It's all too foreign and I don't know what to do about it." Flare, finally able to tell everything in her mind stopped for a second, eyes checking whether Ace was still asleep or not.

"Why the hell am I even telling you this? You're off to some dream of yours." She laughed, brushing the silver lock that fell onto the man's face.

"Well, I'm atleast relieved. I finally got to let these feelings out my chest." Rising from her seat, Flare took a look at Ace before brushing herself, finally going to the kitchen where she was originally going to.

Cleaning the bullet graze on her wound after picking the first aid kit, Flare didn't notice a set of eyes as it stared at her, glinting in amusement.

A small smirk appeared on Ace's lips as he closed his eyes, stopping himself to break to a full grown grin.

"Thank you for telling me." Ace whispered before going back to sleep.