The Demon Ace pirates were resting on a small island with only a dozen or so coconut trees.
Most of them were sombre as they were closing in on Dressrosa. Although they felt like they were ready for such a challenge, most of them were still repulsed by the title of a warlord.
Yes, they vice captain had filled them in on what they were about to do... As for the captain, he was sleeping on the sand, enjoying the weather while most of them panicked.
But it didn't take long before they realised that they had stayed 14 months with another warlord and trained with her crew.
"I mean, aren't our crew obviously scarier than some Doflamingo? Think about it, our collective strength is above that of The Kuja pirates, another warlord. Then we have nothing to fear right?" Yennow argued, his eyes darted to his captain and found relief, they had all come to known that his strength was beyond what they had believed.
"The Kuja pirates are strong, especially the Empress... But as a crew, they are still weaker than the Donquixote Pirates..." Jojo Pojo said as he thought back to his days as captain of the Hammerfist Pirates.
He had clashed with Doflamingo Donquixote once, and lost gravely.
"Then.. are we doomed?" Ronaldino asked as he held his gun right in front of his nose, inspecting if quality is still good.
He didn't really seem to care.
"Hmph, doomed, as long as we have that beast of a captain, I won't be afraid of even those four!" Jojo retorded.
*Gulp* Nami did not like the sound of those words.
"But I got to agree!" Apoo said.
Everyone looked at him as if he had grown a few heads, yet lost his brain.
Not afraid of going against "those four"? Who else but the Yonko? And yet, the most cowardly ont he sea, claimed to not be afraid?
Seing how everyone was looking at him as if expecting some kind of explanation.
"Our captain is so strong that if we do fight one of... Those four... I'd be slapping captain in the face if I joined. To make sure he gets as much glory as possible, it's better for me to stay as far as possible! In fact this island seems good." Apoo said as he sat down, his legs shaking by the thought of going against the Yonko.
"And there we have it." Gaga sighed in relief. She got worried that Apoo's brain was broken.
Suddenly, Ace stood up with a big frown.
"Capn'?" Ronaldino questioned.
Everyone else also noticed the demeanour change in their captain, so they looked at him waiting for some answers.
"What a weird feeling..." Ace said as he stood up and looked at the sea.
"What's wrong?" Nami asked.
"It feels like... " Ace got silent, he didn't know how to explain it.
They all looked in the direction their Captain looked, but they couldn't see anything, nor feel it with their chakra.
Apoo got even more shivers and his legs started shaking.
"No matter what, I'll be the first to protect you captain!" Apoo said bravely, yet with every word, his legs shook even more.
"Captain..?" Jojo also asked.
"I'm not sure, but it feels like... A big part of me just sailed in that direction."
"Part of you? Like.... Your shadow?" Law finally spoke, his eyes darting to his captain's shadow. He had heard some rumours that his captains feeling reminded him of. Another warlord.
"No, more like a limb.... No, maybe... Hmm it's more like a ball of flame that I shot away, yeah that's the feeling, but at the same time it's not." Ace spoke some words that he barely understood himself.
He felt like he had shot a firefist, and it had somehow travelled very far and somehow it was flying by close enough for him to feel it again... But here the weird thing, it doesn't feel quite like a fire from himself, and it's travelling way slower than a firefist.
Everyone looked at eachother, weirded out.
They looked at their captain and found that he had all his limbs in place.
"Captain, don't tell me.. that someone cut off your... Lil limb and that's what you're feeling is travelling out there?" Yennow asked as his eyes fell down to Ace's shorts.
*Boink*
"Don't talk nonsense." Ace said.
Yennow was down on the ground, unconscious, he couldn't talk at all.
"It's getting further away... Let's ignore it for now, we have other matters at hand." Ace said.
He could've just flown there, but it was far enough that he might waste a lot of time.
And he doesn't know what it was that gave him such a weird feeling, that almost tingles his devil fruit abilities.
Maybe it was a weird devil fruit user that could give him some troubles because of it's weird abilities.
He had to postpone finding out what this was.
"Then, should we set sail to dressrosa?" Nami asked.
Ace nodded.
"LET'S SPIKY SPIKY GO!" Suddenly Spikewards shouted.
Everyone looked at him weirdly.
"What?" He asked meekly.
"You've never done that before, what's your deal?" Gaga asked with an eye twitch.
"I felt like a background character that's quite forgettable, so I need a new catchfrase." Spikewards admitted.
His cheeks got pink as he said that, and his two fingers were against eachother while his eyes averted from the eyes of the other crewmembers.
It would've been cute if he was a 5 year old child, sadly he was a grown man with spiky hairs and a scar above his eye, making him look like a crook.
They ignored him and went aboard the Black Pearl.
It took them half a week of sailing before they saw land.
"Aaaahh, finally, this is Dressrosa right???!" Ace asked happily.
"It's the green bit" Nami corrected.
"Ah, so we're not there yet ugh..." Ace's shoulders fell as he turned around.
"No we are there! That's a smaller island connected to dressrosa!" Nami explained.
Ace turned around happily and pointed to green bit.
"Lets spiky spiky go!" He shouted happily.
"That's my catchfrase!!!" Spikeward angrily retorted.
Nami stood there looking exasperated, but truth be told, she was looking at her captain and Nakama with warmth.
Her captain might be silly, and dumb, and somewhat evil, but he is kind at heart. She remembers how he had saved her from her destiny as an Arlong Pirate.... He is her hero, not matter how annoying he gets.
"What's wrong Nami?" Ace asked seeing her looking kindly.
"Nothing let's go." She turned with a smile.