Chapter 15: "It's Too Cold, Keep Me Company!"
Ace hadn't been a pirate for long, just a few months. At seventeen, he was a year younger than Roy, a ball of raw power and impulsive energy that had yet to be fully tempered by the Grand Line's harsh realities. In the short time Roy had known him, he'd already grown fond of the fiery idiot, but moments like these tested that fondness severely.
Roy and Joseph had been unceremoniously dumped into a damp, stone cell, their wrists and ankles locked in heavy manacles. Soon after, the rest of the Spade Pirates were thrown in with them, all still deep in their magically induced slumber.
"Hey! Is anyone out there?" a voice suddenly echoed from further down the cavernous prison. Roy recognized it immediately. It was their captain. "What do you want with us?"
Silence. Then, the voice came again, tinged with a bizarre mix of complaint and invitation.
"Hey! Where did that pretty Miss Butterfly go? It's too cold in here... someone should come and keep me company!"
Roy facepalmed so hard it echoed in the small cell. Is he for real?
With a sigh, Roy focused. He reached back and lightly touched the manacles on his wrists.
Crunch-crumble.
The solid iron shattered into metallic dust. He moved quietly around the cell, disintegrating the restraints on Joseph, Taft, Slott, and the others with a single touch. Despite the noise, none of them stirred; the hypnotic effect was potent.
Next, he placed his palm against the rusted iron bars of their cell.
CRACK!
A large section of the bars disintegrated, opening a clear path to freedom.
He followed the sound of Ace's voice, finding their captain locked not in a simple cell, but in a specially crafted cage. It seemed their captors knew exactly what they were dealing with—a Logia user required special measures.
"Hey, Roy! You came to rescue me!" Ace whispered, his face brightening.
"You're a Logia," Roy said, his voice flat with disbelief. "You turn into fire. How did you even get captured?"
"They used Seastone," Ace grumbled, gesturing to the heavy cuffs on his wrists and ankles. "I'm as weak as a kitten right now."
"You seem to have plenty of strength to yell about being lonely," Roy retorted, glaring at him.
Ace had the decency to look slightly abashed for half a second. "Just get me out of here!"
"Fine, fine." Roy reached for the bars of the cage, intending to reduce them to rubble. The moment his fingers made contact, a wave of nausea and weakness washed over him. His power sputtered and died. He snatched his hand back. "The whole cage is lined with Seastone?!"
"How should I know? I was unconscious when they threw me in here!" Ace shot back.
It seemed brute force was the only option. Roy took a deep breath, focusing his will into his arms.
"Armament."
A black, metallic sheen crawled over his hands and forearms. He gripped two of the Seastone-infused bars, the contact making his skin crawl, and heaved. With a groan of protesting metal, he bent them apart, creating a hole just wide enough to squeeze through.
"Come on," Roy grunted, stepping back and shaking the lingering weakness from his hands.
Ace shuffled out, the Seastone cuffs still sapping his strength. Roy examined the locks; they were complex and solid. Trying to break them with his power was too risky—he might shatter Ace's wrists along with the cuffs.
"We need the key. Or... we need Mouse," Ace suggested.
"Mouse? The guy with the spear? What does he have to do with this?"
"He used to work in Loguetown," Ace explained casually. "Before I recruited him, he was... acquiring things from docked ships. He's good with locks."
Roy stared. "You recruited a thief you caught stealing from you and brought him to the Grand Line?"
Ace just shrugged. "He's part of the crew now."
Roy could only shake his head in wonder. The logic of this world never ceased to amaze him. "Alright, let's go wake him up."
They returned to the main cell where the rest of the crew was still snoring peacefully. "They're sleeping like babies," Ace commented, a mischievous glint in his eye. He walked over to where Mouse was curled up and gave him a firm kick in the ribs.
THUD.
Roy winced. "Ace, what the hell?!"
Mouse slammed into the stone wall, groaned, and then pushed himself up, swaying like a drunkard. "Mmm... Captain? Is it morning already?"
"Morning, your head! Get over here and unlock these!" Ace turned his back, presenting the Seastone cuffs.
To Roy's utter astonishment, Mouse—still half-asleep—fumbled at his own belt and produced a set of thin, professional-looking lockpicks. He blinked the sleep from his eyes, inserted two picks into the complex lock, jiggled them for a moment, and with a definitive click, the first cuff sprang open. A few seconds later, the second one followed.
The moment the last Seastone restraint clattered to the floor, a familiar fire roared back to life in Ace's eyes. A flickering flame ignited on his fist, and a wide, vengeful grin spread across his face.
"Alright, men!" he announced, his voice no longer a whisper. "Time for payback!"
Before Roy could stop him or suggest a more subtle method, Ace raised his flaming hand. A wave of fire, controlled but intense, washed over the slumbering forms of their crewmates.
"YOWCH!"
"MY BEARD!"
"I'M ON FIRE!"
The cell erupted in a chorus of panicked yells as Joseph, Taft, and the others jolted awake, slapping at their smoldering clothes and hair, leaping to their feet in a confused, singed frenzy.
Roy could only sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. The rescue was a success, but subtlety was clearly a language his new captain would never speak. The chaos had officially begun.
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Summer or Winter? For me Winter.
If you like Winter then stones if not then.....hmm