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clover1412 · 2 months

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Eyes as deep as the ocean

one of my all time favs

~ ♡ ~

Ever since she met him, there was something she couldn't deny, how beautiful his eyes were. They were so bright and expressive; she never had trouble figuring out how he felt because his eyes talked for themselves. No matter how hard he tried to hide what he truly felt like, she saw the subtle changes in his gaze, like the subtle changes of the ocean. His eyes even had the same depth, full of mysteries waiting to be solved.

When she'd first met him on his ship, promising his downfall, his eyes had an amused expression as he flickered into a flame. When she lunged to attack, there was a glint of fear as he dodged, but it was soon full of admiration of her power; he knew she'd be a powerful adversary. When she struggled to stay afloat in the choppy waters, she saw something new, something like recognition, but as he turned away, she didn't catch his words.

From then onwards, every time they bumped into each other, she'd see a new side to him, all visible through his eyes. It was sometimes happiness, pure excitement in seeing her; other times, it was annoyance that she was interrupting his meal. It had soon become a small game where she'd track his expressions, guessing how he was feeling. Of course, she had no way of knowing whether she was correct, but it was fun nonetheless.

There were times she'd catch him staring at her, an unreadable look on his face, and it annoyed her that she didn't know what he was thinking. He always looked away when she caught him, and it made her all the more curious about him. She'd asked a friend what it meant if a man kept staring at her and then looked away and if it meant he wanted to fight her. Her friend simply laughed and said sometimes it was hard to forget that she was barely an adult and never really had the time to experience much about being a child. In the end, she was none the wiser of Fire Fist's strange tendencies.

Obviously, that wasn't the reason why she chased him; that was because he was a pirate that deserved to be arrested. Absolutely no other reason. So why was she up at night thinking about him? When she saw a twinge of darkness in his eyes, why was she worried? She found herself constantly thinking about him, that stupid pirate and his stupid hat.

She remembered the time his gaze towards her had suddenly changed. It was after she'd jumped into a lake to save him. When she'd pumped the water out his lungs, and he coughed up the rest, he had stared at her with a whole new expression.

'Why,' his voice was croaky, surely his chest was burning, 'why did you save me?'

'I want to arrest you, I can't do that if you're dead,' she'd answered, tucking a strand of wet hair behind her ear. He watched her hands as they fell back onto her lap before looking back at her. He couldn't quite comprehend why she put herself in danger trying to save him, he who had done nothing to earn her respect.

They parted ways after that; Ace confused about his new feelings for her. The next few times they fought, she found him staring at her more often.

~ ♡ ~

Ace then stopped staring at her after she'd taken her shirt off, and they made eye contact. His head had turned so fast she was worried he'd break his neck.

They were trapped in a cave together whilst the rain poured torrentially outside. Isuka had gotten soaked in their attempt to find shelter and desperately wanted to be warm and dry. So she rid herself of her coat and shirt, trying to dry them by the fire.

He held his hand out toward her, and she looked up at him. He still wasn't looking at her, so she looked at what he was holding in his hand. It was his shirt.

'Wear it so you don't get cold,' she was startled by his voice; this was the first he had spoken since they entered the cave. He'd silently gathered wood and started the fire, his hat low over his eyes so she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

She accepted the shirt, suddenly aware of how exposed she was in just her bra and shorts, 'thank you.' She put it on; it was warmer than she thought it would be. She did the buttons up, leaving the top two undone. It smelt almost familiar; maybe they fought way too often.

They continued to sit in silence; they had never had a conversation apart from the insults and comments they made as they fought each other. She stared into the fire: it had been a long time since she'd been this close to an open flame as big as this. It made her sort of nervous, so she sat a small distance away, still grateful for the warmth.

Ace kept stealing glances at her, her small frame in his shirt. The yellow suited her well, the way it hung loosely off her shoulders. Seeing her like that made his feelings clear; he wanted to see her like that more often. This was a feeling she'd never seen in his eyes before; the warmth in his gaze confused her even more. Why was he so at ease with her? So Isuka pretended not to notice the way Ace was glancing at her; he would just stare and smile to himself.

She hadn't really seen him without his shirt before; he always had it on. It was weird to see him without it, but for some reason, she simply couldn't take her eyes off of him, having to force herself to look away so he wouldn't notice.

There was nothing they could really do, so Ace decided to make himself comfortable and sleep through the storm; hopefully, the skies would clear by the morning. Isuka, on the other hand, was still uneasy around the fire and decided to stay awake. When Ace woke up, the skies had cleared, and he could hear the birds chirping outside. Isuka was gone, his shirt was folded up neatly next to him, and her stuff was gone. The fire must have eventually died as he wasn't keeping it going.

~ ♡ ~

The next time he saw her was Sabaody, her dedicated self chasing him even while she was on holiday. When they ended up locked together in the Ferris wheel, he could feel her gaze burn into the side of his head, but he kept looking outside. Hearing her story, he cursed fate; how could he fall for her as a pirate who could turn into fire?

When Isuka proposed that he leave the pirate life and join him as a marine, she noticed the change in his eyes. There was a small darkness she'd seen before, and she already knew his answer, so when he jumped out of the capsule, she simply closed the door and sat back down, now facing a terrified Deuce.

Once they reached the bottom, she let him go too. Those on the side of justice shouldn't take hostages.

Two days later, she found out the truth about her life, about the morals she'd lived on for the past decade. She wanted to cry, to let it all out, but she stayed silent, tears streaming down her face as she had a hand on her mouth. She could dimly hear the ongoing battle. She didn't remember when her silent cries had become sobs, but Deuce had mentioned clearly hearing her as he faced Draw. Both Ace and Deuce had fought for their lives as she sat there uselessly, unable to think, let alone stand up.

When she no longer heard the sound of punches being exchanged, she looked up; Ace was offering her a hand. Just when she thought she couldn't laugh again, this man says the most outrageous things. During the fight, there was darkness in his eyes, especially when Draw blamed him for the children being put in danger, but now they were lighter, hopeful she'd take his hand. So she did.

She held on tight as they ran through the back alleys towards the shore, where a fleet of marine ships was making their way towards them. She caught sight of the Spadille as they neared the coast. His crew were shouting at him, asking him to get on, and it suddenly hit her; she couldn't join them; she couldn't do that to them. Ace was kind enough to look past their differences, but she felt bad for his crew. To them, she'd always be a marine, and she knew she wouldn't be able to look past it either. So when he leapt, she didn't; her shaky legs stayed planted on the ground. She almost didn't have the heart to explain when he shouted for her. He deserved all the love in the world.

'Don't die out there, Ace. Thank you,' she smiled as best she could, but she could tell her eyes didn't carry the message. The tears in her eyes clouded her sight, and she couldn't tell what Ace looked like as he disappeared on the horizon. She hoped his eyes were still bright as he looked to the future.

Only Deuce saw the longing in his eyes and the darkness that clouded them. He was always scared he didn't deserve to be loved, Deuce knew this not to be true, but Ace had a pain that couldn't be healed by medicine.

~ ♡ ~

It had been two years since she'd last seen him, he was now a commander in Whitebeard's crew, and she was now a captain. She hoped she'd bump into him in better conditions than this, but escorting him from his cell was not how she imagined their reunion would look like. She'd seen his pictures, how he'd grown, the man he'd become, but now as she held his arm to lead him, he was barely himself.

He refused to make eye contact, but she could see the lifelessness in his eyes; he'd accepted his death, and to her, it seemed almost impossible. The boy she met wouldn't accept his fate so easily.

She walked with him to the ship, letting the other marines take him from there, unable to chain him to his temporary prison. As she went downstairs, he caught her eyes, and she turned away, praying something would happen and he'd be safe.

The war itself was a horrible memory she never wished to go through again; the inhumane killing sanctioned by the higher-ups made her sick. She was forced to choose sides halfway through the battle, unable to hover between the two sides, and she wanted to rescue Ace. She used the distractions caused by Straw Hat Luffy to her advantage; Ace's eyes were full of fear as he watched his family fight for him. Isuka finally understood why he was ready to die; he was willing to die for those he loved, the stupid fool.

In the end, she could barely remember how they'd actually saved him, he was badly injured, like his brother, but they were safe. She was on the Heart Pirates' submarine, sitting by his bedside, watching him breathe. His eyes were shut, but if they were open, she thought they'd be empty. His captain and father had fought to the death to ensure his safety, and she knew Ace would blame himself.

~ ♡ ~

The next two years were hard. Maintaining his health, both physically and mentally, proved to be a task. When he wasn't being restrained because of his reckless tendencies, he trained with his brother, wanting to get stronger to go after Blackbeard again. She constantly had to tell him not to overwork himself when he was still recovering, but Isuka knew she couldn't stop him. There was a fire in his eyes no one could distinguish.

The one thing she could count on was that Ace returned to her side every night. Now that she was no longer a marine, considering she'd betrayed them to save him, she stayed with him. She planned to continue to stay by his side for as long as she could. The remaining Whitebeard pirates had all journeyed to see him at least once, the Spades had come to stay, and Marco had stayed for extended periods of time to help medically.

She looked up from her book as he entered her room; it was basically his as well, with how much time he spent in it. He smiled at her, and she made space for him next to her on the bed. He took it as an invitation and laid down next to her. They stayed in a comfortable silence until Ace moved her arm to allow him to crawl onto her, and she simply adjusted her position to make it more comfortable for the both of them. He was heavy as his weight pressed her down, but she found herself not minding; it meant that she knew he was there.

'Thank you,' he whispered as he buried his face into her neck; she carefully stroked his hair. He thanked her a lot recently, she wanted to tell him he didn't need to, but he won't stop.

'It's okay,' she whispered back as he fell asleep in her embrace.

Ace also enjoyed watching her work; whenever she had her books open to conduct research on various things, he sat next to her. She ignored his presence most of the time, especially since he usually fell asleep, but sometimes he stared at her.

'Stop looking at me with those eyes,' she pleaded, his gaze clinging to her. It was hard to concentrate when he looked at her like that.

'What eyes,' he asked innocently as she turned to face him. He looked at her with such pure adoration she didn't need to search his eyes to see what he was feeling. He'd made it clear that he loved her when he'd woken up and seen her passed out by his side, but in no way did he pressure her to return his feelings, just another thing she loved about him.

She leant over and placed a kiss on his lips, and he sighed contently; what an attention-seeking cat. He was resembling Kotatsu and his clingy behaviour more and more every day. But she still loved him more and more.

Now that she could clearly see his eyes, she didn't need to play guessing games; she didn't have to think about it; all she had to do was love him like he loved her for as long as time allowed her to.

~ ♡ ~

#op #one piece #fanfic #writing #portgas d ace #ensign isuka #isuka #spade pirates #marineford #fluff #whitebeard pirates #op marines #esuka

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