-11-

╒══════════════════╕• Confused Mixed with Pride •╘══════════════════╛

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Pulling her black maxi dress up a bit, Hex huffed in frustration as splashes of sea water touched the hem of her dress. It’s been a long time since she wore something that wasn’t slacks and saying that it was uncomfortable for her to move is an undestatement. Shuffling in her seat, Hex stared at the growing Island in front of her, a clear sign that she was getting closer to Cake Island.

At first, Hex declined Sengoku’s task, telling him that she wasn’t ready yet for a heavy task such as infiltrating Big Mom’sisland. After all, what could a fifteen year old possibly do against a Yonkai?

After multiple times trying to beg Sengoku to give the task to another marine, the admiral scolded her for being weak minded, telling the silver haired girl that she should be grateful the higher ups were giving her something confidential as the one she’s being assigned on. Showing how disappointed she was after asking for a request for the very first time after joining the marines, Sengoku tried comforting her by telling the girl how brave she was for infiltrating the Red Haired Pirates who were also now introduced to the public as one of the Emperors of the Sea and for coming back alive.

Hearing the Admiral’s praises, Hex had nothing to do but accept the task.

Pulling her boat to the coast, tying it to a nearby rock in case the water goes high, Hex gave a loud huff before taking the large container box that’s been with her since she sailed. The cover Sengoku and Hex had made was for her to act as a traveller, offering Big Mom a large beehive, claiming it to have the sweetest honey in the world in exchange for a tour for two weeks around the whole island.

After asking a couple of trees that were weirdly speaking jolly to her, Hex finally found her way to Big Mom’s large palace, meeting the Yonkai herself. The silver haired girl almost fainted from nervousness after seeing how huge Big Mom was, but tried her best to regain her composure and tell the Yonkai the words she had memorised before travelling.

Hearing her explanation, Big Mom gave her thanks for Hex’s gift and told her how grateful she is for the silver haired girl to come all the way to her. Hex thought that all was going according to plan until Big Mom suddenly gave her two options in order to travel around Cake Island. The first one was to become a normal citizen and offer the Yonkai a part of her soul or get married to one of her kids.

Before Hex can even give her answer, - which was to decline both offers and leave the island the same day -  Big Mom suddenly told her that it was better if she just got married to her second eldest son, suddenly interested in having a silver haired grandchild for no actual reason.

Too shocked to tell the Yonkai that she wasn’t interested, Hex suddenly found herself standing in front of a huge door, there stood the man she was going to marry, raising his brow at her. At first, Hex feared that the man would see through her cover but to her surprise, the man was kind enough to greet her and offer a hand, telling him his name. Katakuri, as he introduced himself, toured Hex around the castle, telling her to ask anything she wanted for her to know the gist of the island since she’ll be living there after being married to him.

Even though the whole situation was absurd, Hex looked at the bright side and used the privelege to ask Katakuri about him, his family, and the island, completing her task a week before being married off.

The day of the wedding, Big Mom was excited with her huge wedding cake with Hex and Katakuri above it, the latter giving his written vows to the silver haired girl. After hearing his empty promises, Hex pulled out her own written vows, stopping time. Giving one last look to the man in front of her, Hex reached for his hands pulling the paper he was holding on to and threw it away, replacing it with her paper instead.

Realising that she was far away for them to chase after her, Hex stopped using her devil fruit ability, making all the guests that were invited on the wedding gasp in bewilderment seeing that the bride wasn’t there anymore.

Looking at his hand, Katakuri noticed that the paper he was holding wasn’t his. Opening the letter, the man mumbled to himself the words that were written on it.

“You’re a great guy, Katakuri. I’m sorry but you’re not the one I want to marry. I’m still young and the future is still there waiting for me. The next time we meet again, I want to apologise to you properly.

Sincerely, Hex.”

–

After Ace kissed Flare on the forehead, the two never saw each other until late afternoon.

After taking a bath, Flare jailed herself inside her bedroom, going out only when she needed to. And each time she went out, she was thankful that the raven haired man was nowhere to be seen, making her job easier. What Flare was unaware of was how Ace tried his best to stay out of her radar everytime she goes out because he knows that he’ll only make her feel uncomfortable.

Ace always left the house on purpose every time he heard the bedroom door creak and when he was sure that Flare was back in her room, that was the only time he'd go back and eat the meals that were on the dining table which was hard for him since he had to hold his hunger longer than he should.

It was a game of hide and seek until night time came.

Eyes closed but mind working, Flare thought of the incident that happened earlier and how Ace had responded. Even though she tried her best to avoid the thought of being rejected by the man, Flare can’t help but feel a bit angry with herself and somewhat disappointed with Ace. The way he responded made it look like she was forcing herself in the man’s heart, pressuring him to do something. And he, being the kind guy he is after seeing her all kissy, gave her a kiss on the forehead, so she wouldn’t feel embarrassed with the situation.

Which didn't work.

Thinking about it too much made the silver hair’s head hurt so she finally decided to call it a day and sleep. To her disappointment, no matter how hard she tried, she didn’t seem to fall asleep like she wanted to. After a couple of minutes of tossing and turning, covering her face with a blanket, puffing her pillow to be softer, and even counting sheeps jumping on a fence, Flare finally gave up on sleeping and lifted herself up the bed, and went out to the kitchen.

Deciding to make herself tea, Flare pulled out her mug out of the holder, trying her best to do everything without noise. Seeing the puff of smoke that was coming out of the kettle she had set earlier, Flare immediately extinguished the fire and poured hot water on her tea. Mixing the drink, she was about to head to the living room when she was greeted by a snoring Ace sleeping on the sofa. Seeing the male, Flare took a sip and stayed where she was.

Doing nothing while she sat on a stool, Flare’s eyes suddenly landed on the section where she had placed her condiments and noticed that the amount of salt and pepper were now low. Bored but still high on energy, the silver haired woman took a parchment and pen out of one of the cup boards, deciding to list down supplies that needed to be restocked.

Focused on the task she created for herself, Flare forgot about the tea she made as she scribbled notes. Just as she was about to write ‘flour’ on her notepad, she heard someone clear their throat, making her pause. Gazing at the noise’ direction, her eyes landed on Ace who was standing just beside her, hands in his pockets while looking at her shyly.

“Flare, about earlier -” before he could even explain himself, Flare cut him off, making him pause.

“No, I get it. Let’s not make a big deal out of it and end the conversation. Okay?” Flare, not letting Ace talk, spoke. She didn’t meant to cut the man off rudely while he was talking but she needed him to stop as her pride felt like shattering into small pieces.

A frustrated sigh came out of Ace’s lips as he stared at Hex. If he was going to be completely honest, he was trying his best to stay calm and collected earlier just to stop himself from kissing the woman on the lips and taking her then and there. Even though he saw how Flare had given him a signal, he didn’t want to rush things between him and the silver head. He wanted their relationship to develop on its own and starting of their relationship for sexual desires was a bad way to start.

In order to avoid that situation, Ace tried to solve the problem that may occur in the future by kissing the woman on her forehead. He wanted to assure Flare about his feelings and to make her feel that he respected her and he thinks highly of her to just take advantage of her when she’s all vulnerable.

All he wanted to do was let things happen on its own but to his surprise, Flare took his intentions the wrong way. Ace realised that for the woman, it didn’t come out as a sign of waiting but as a sign of rejection. Flare was finally opening herself up to him but he suddenly unintentionally created a line between them.

Wanting to make things right, Ace tried approaching the silver head only to be stopped mid-sentence.

"Look Flare I just-" cutting him off for the second time, Flare turned her back to him, waving the notepad on her hand, enough for him to see it.

“I’ll  be out for a day. I need to restock our supplies” She explained, continuing the word she’d been writing where she left.

“Can I come?” Ace asked, wanting to use the time they’ll be sailing together to explain and make things clear between them.

Hearing his request, Flare’s eyes widened as she immediately responded with a “NO” loud enough to make the man flinch. Taking Ace out to another island was too much of a rish. She didn’t want people to recognize the man and report him to the marines, not after all the efforts she did just to keep the man alive.

Not knowing the reason behind her disapproval, a sad thought came into Ace’s mind, thinking that the reason behind why Flare didn’t want him to join was because she was too angry at him. With that idea in mind, all Ace could do was nod his head sadly, trudging his way back to the cabin’s living room.

With one last glance at Flare’s back, Ace watched her as she closed the bedroom door. Laying down the sofa, a sad sigh came out of his lips as he forced his eyes shut.

-

Already in the middle of the sea, Flare watched as the sun slowly rose. Checking the logpose on her right wrist to see how far the next island will be, the silver head pulled out her notepad and started scanning the list of things she needed to buy. Flare was halfway through her notes when her mind slowly wandered back to the island, thinking about the young pirate she left all alone.

Telling herself that the raven haired man will be fine on his own, Flare didn’t realise that she spent all her time at the sea thinking about Ace until she finally heard birds and fishermen. Surprised that it was already noon, Flare pulled the hood of her cloak above her head, tying her boat at the nearest rock before walking towards the market place of the small island.

Seeing a lot of people was both refreshing and bothersome for the marine. The place was full of merchants and customers, everyone holding on to something like vegetables, fruits, and even clothes. Pulling the hood closer to her face, Flare started buying things she need.

Finally at the last part of her list, Flare was now inside a metal shop looking for a small cauldron to purchase as her old ones were now getting rusty. Just before the woman can even pick up the one that got her interest.  A deep voice suddenly spoke behind her making her freeze.

Even though her back was facing the man, with only his voice, she instantly recognize the voice.

After all, who wouldn’t recognize the voice that had raised them?

“Excuse me, I know that you sell metal but do you somehow have seastones?” Flare knew the man was trying his best to sound polite but alas, it only came out rather harsh, almost demanding.

“Yes, yes! We do have some, good sir” The guy on the counter smiled politely, excusing himself before dashing off to the stockroom to go and find what Flare had assumed as sea prisms.

"That bitch, kicking me and destroying my jitte just to save that brat." Still frozen in place, Flare heard the man mutter to himself, sounding annoyed.

If it weren’t for her missing and hiding a supposed to be dead pirate at a deserted island, she would’ve turned her head and greeted the man with a grin. It had been so long since the two of them got close like this that Flare suddenly missed being at the marine quarters.

"Why is the man still not here? And where the hell even is Tashigi?" He was still mumbling to himself when Flare started moving slowly, exiting the shop. Trying her best to stay unnoticed, she was almost near the front door when both of them heard something snap.

"Excuse me ma'am, the strap of your bag broke, do you need he-" Not giving him a chance to help her, Flare didn’t waste any moment and dashed away, running like a mad woman, untying the knot that held her boat in place and started rowing away like crazy away from the island.

Bell’s of the door chiming, the man stared at the door as it revealed a woman wearing a black rimmed eyeglass, holding her knees as she took her time to take deep breaths.

"Smoker-san, I'm sorry I got distracted." The woman said in between pants, ready for her superior’s scolding.

"Tashigi, I think I just saw Hex." Smoker said in all seriousness, lighting up the cigars on his mouth, puffing out smoke.