prismatica | [Video]

[Ace and Luffy are sitting together, and Ace has a serious expression on his face. This is kind of important in his opinion, they've got to figure out who their potential allies and enemies are here. Not that being a pirate is a promise of alliances, or Marines a promise of a threat, but it's still good to have a base to go off of. And to Ace and Luffy, piracy is freedom. And the Marines stand for things far worse.]

So this is a roll call. If you're a pirate, let us know. If you're a Marine? Let us know faster.

[Luffy laughs, waving at the camera. He sticks his little finger into his nose, and thinks for a second.]

I haven't seen marines here, or other pirates. Do people here know what a pirate is? [He laughs again.] We're pirates! And brothers!

[Ace's expression softens considerably, and he smiles. He's weak against Luffy's antics, even more so now that they've been separated and reunited.] Yeah, that's right. And we wanna know who else lived a life of piracy back in their home world. Especially if you're from our home world.

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Yeah! The Moby Dick was his flagship!

[Ace tilts his head though, trying to think of how many pirates where in his family.] I don't think my mom was, not sure, but she sure as hell kept company with 'em. The man who fathered me was a pirate, my brother is a pirate, Pops was a pirate, all of the crew counts for brothers and sister and I don't remember exactly how many there were off the top of my head.

[Orihime listens with avid interest, taking mental note of his answer. It sounds like his mom wasn't there for most of his life, either leaving or passing away, which means she shouldn't ask any further questions. Not everyone is as happy to discuss their late loved ones as she is.]

[More than that, though, his enthusiasm seems to be pretty positive! It's contagious, too, and she finds herself grinning more and more as he provides all kinds of interesting knowledge about his life as a pirate.]

Wow, that sounds fun!

[It honestly does. She'd love to go sailing with all her friends, hunting for treasure. So long as there's no burning down innocent villagers, of course.]

Did you hunt for treasure? Did you find anything really cool?

[And her grins make him all the more excited to talk about his positive experiences in piracy. The search for other pirates and the Marines have left more unpleasant talks than happy ones, so this is a joyful change of pace.]

It was really fun! I got to have this big, amazing family. And every day was an adventure! [It was a good life. Ace burned enemies and their ships to a crisp, but he didn't take out innocent people. No, his family knew how hard it was to be a poor person caught up between pirates and Marines. So Whitebeard worked to protect as many in his territories as he could.] Yeah, always! We had a big crew with a lotta mouths to feed, so we had to keep the search for beri going at all times. But it was fun, even when we failed we'd usually find something pretty great. [Hmm, really cool? So not just regular treasure.] So one time, we found a gold monkey as big as I am! It had a really ugly face, and we kinda fought if we should melt it down or not. But for about a month, we kept it on board and we dressed it and it even got a nickname. We finally got rid of it, we had bills to pay, but it was funny while it lasted.

Edited 2019-10-07 03:37 (UTC)

Ah ha ha ha! I wonder who made something like that?

[Of all the beautiful things that could be fashioned out of a rare and valuable metal, someone decided an ugly monkey was the best thing ever. And that's hilarious.]

Did your world have a name? Mine is Earth. There's a story about a white whale named 'Moby Dick' so it's a strange coincidence if our planets are different!

Right? Izo though it might have been a deity statue but no one found any information on anything like it. So who knows. Maybe it was a statue of someone's really ugly pet! We really never figured it out, but that's okay. Maybe it'd be disappointing if we found out the truth about it.

[They came across a lot of weird treasures and interesting things, but nothing quite topped the gold monkey.]

It probably does, but I was way more interested in the seas than the world, y'know? [He really think it's crazy that she had a story like that back in her home.] A story? Not that I know of. Pops' ship's face had a white whale, the others were blue... [He's thinking...] Do you have the new world, the grand line, devil fruits, and stuff like that where you are?

[Orihime smiles. She's glad she talked to him. The conversation wasn't all that long, but she's pretty sure he isn't someone who'd try to hurt her. He seems warm, and nice.]

[His question causes her to tip her head back, considering.]

I'm not sure... I think the Americas are sometimes called the New World. I haven't heard of devil fruits before but there are a lot of fruits and vegetables I've never seen. Is the grand line a railroad?

[Ace grins in return. Orihime seems like a fun girl, someone good to talk to. She also seems genuinely nice, and a lot of the people he's met here come with a side order of snarky or wary. Neither are bad ways to be, but it's nice to make a friend that's not quite as guarded or hardened.]

Huh... I dunno about the Americas, and the grand line is a crazy ocean current. Devil fruits give you amazing powers.

WOW REALLY?!

[Not the same world for sure, then, based on his explanation, but that no longer matters. Now there's fruit that gives people super powers???]

Is there one that lets you shoot lasers from your eyes?!

Yeah!

[He thinks about this for a moment, because there's so many...] I dunno. Maybe. Mine is fire, my brother is made of rubber 'cause of his, my friend back home could turn into a phoenix with the one he ate, and there's a ton of others!

You can turn on fire?! Does it hurt?

[She has to be sure of that part before she can even think of asking for a demonstration.]

I wonder if there are any fruits like that in this world. I'll have to keep a sharp watch!

I can turn into fire, yeah. It doesn't hurt at all. I can even choose what I burn.

[It's a unique talent, that's for sure. Most people with fire abilities can't control what gets burned or not.]

Maybe! What kind would you want, if you were gonna get one?