Bonus Chapter: Celestial Dragons' Libel (or Renaissance du Corsaire)

These sudden meetings took some getting used to, but Nesi made sure to prepare some manner of gift for whoever hosted them. Many would say she was a bootlicker or some other manner of insult, but this was a test of her studies and her patience with others. For a true gentleman showed respect to those who were of no use to him, regardless of how others viewed it. Nesi was sure that was the only reason why the nobles liked her. She gave them their respects all while rebuilding and re-establishing city-states according to their laws. Legally, they couldn't touch her since she committed no crimes against the countries, and she was training to serve the countries... just not in the way they would like. She was more than happy to play their game if it meant she could advance the wealth of the people. She did as promised for the people she knew or came across in all her travels. All monies earned for her privateering work went straight to them, and, with a noble on her side as a secondary rule of privateering, she was able to get her own harbor in a short amount of time. This didn't save her from the nobles' hatred, though.

There were some things she did that made them cringe or spit on her. She lawfully purchased a handful of slaves their freedom. What made them angry was the lack of bloodshed or fighting that they were used to, even by their own kind. Instead, she behaved well and spoke to whomever as though she were in a business meeting. Nesi still had some balls, though. She was not above reprimanding a noble for their "shit" behavior, and the sudden bluntness of her words often shocked them, but she would respectfully leave a noble's sights and quietly warn the other slaves about their masters' aggression. Should they need shelter, they could use the Vivre talisman she would leave behind for safety. She had to give Ace even more gratitude for giving her a Vivre card after they "married". It was his version of a wedding gift.

Moga and Schooner forced them to talk after the Siege of Harebell Cove had been won. Ace taught her about the significance of the Vivre card and how that small piece of paper connected another person. He worried about his floor scrubber immensely after the battle, especially after watching her be shot by rifle fire in order to protect him, and he wanted to keep a better eye on her. At first, Nesi thought Ace was coddling her, but his behavior showed he was just genuinely spooked. War visuals were hard to digest. She could attest to that. How she managed to power through the worst of it, she couldn't honestly tell another person. She supposed not having much to lose was part of it, but it didn't seem like that was all of it. All in all, no amount of criminal activity is as bloody, traumatic, barbaric, or thankless as a battlefield. Soldiers were paid in peanuts for this kind of work. Once Ace found that out, he didn't want to hear anyone's explanation about it. He almost kidnapped her twice!

She remembered that day clearly, though, because his third attempt wound up being the last since he was allowed to visit. Since he participated in the battle, his status as a pirate was ignored and Pieter van der Does, his favorite privateer (gotta say it with strong sarcasm), gave him a temporary privateering permit to allow his visitation rights. After being shot, nearly drowned, and caught in the blast of cannon fire, it was a miracle Nesi made it out alive and was recovering exponentially in an infirmary. Supposedly, Ace had lost his mind with his constant pacing and cussing, according to Pieter, and his crew gave him the idea to just transport Nesi back to the barracks at Mariners' Bay to recover since the Spades were freer to move around there. The first attempt was a bust, but Moga and Schooner helped the second time. They almost had it! They just forgot the privateers worked with marines, so the marines tried to jail them the second time, hence that became a bust. Pierre LeGrand tried to calm the chap down, but Ace was a wreck and couldn't sit still without knowing if Nesi was okay. Nesi giggled at this, but her smile was warm and infectious. Pieter told her about everything her poor captain tried to do to no avail until he legally could see her. When the doctor gave her the final checkup on her wounds, she was allowed to start physical therapy for two to three days, depending on Pieter's standards. Privateers required more intensive care because of their fruit's powers, so, if he felt she was ready, then she was clear to leave. Ace... was indeed a wreck when she limped out to sit on some grassy plains.

"You are scrubbing floors until your fingers fall off!" Ace screamed, scaring everybody at the medical station.

"Uuhhh... I think you might need a drink, captain," Nesi suggested, flinching at the tone of his voice. Yup, should've stayed inside.

"Well, maybe I do! That sounds nice! Thanks!" Ace shouted, towering over her. Veins were bulging out of his neck.

Nesi called out to a quivering nurse and asked, "I'm sorry to trouble you, nurse, but would you mind getting some smintergreen grog for the captain here? If you have any, of course."

"Won't that make him worse?" the nurse questioned.

"I'll show you what worse looks like without it!" Ace roared, scaring the nurse away.

"We might not have grog here anyway," Nesi sighed, looking to her side. "I'd like some mint water myself, though. Hang on, I'll go see what we have at rations."

"You can stay your ass - !" Ace started, snatching Nesi by her shoulder. He forgot she was still sore from battle and panicked when she grunted loudly and crumbled to a low crouch. Not thinking, his eyes widened and he yelped, "Babe, are you - ?"

"Still tender, still tender!" Nesi replied, not even hearing his fumble.

The pain was a little too strong for her to respond correctly since all she could do was wave a hand and try to breathe in stages. Her hands started shaking as she tried to balance herself on her bent knees. Ace calmed down immediately when he saw her huddled over and bolted down to his own knees to look in her eyes. His prior blush from calling her a romantic pet name was completely erased in favor of checking her wounds himself. He caged her face in his hands and sighed in relief when she let out a short laugh and put a weak hand on his shoulder. She was fine. He went to pick her up bridal style, but she refused and instead moved his hands away to use one of his arms as a crutch instead. She nodded to the grassy area and let him lead the way. When they were able to sit comfortably, Ace sort of curled into a ball of emotions for a little while. Nesi laid back until she could see the sky and clouds. Ace took that opportunity to place a Vivre card on her stomach. Nesi mumbled a response before she picked up the paper and turned it over only to realize that the paper was blank.

"Y'know... my old man used to tell us that he hated the nobles up top for torturing people just because they could. That he didn't realize serving them meant serving their dark desires. Tch!" Ace scoffed. "Now, here I am, watching someone I care about serve the same people who see him as a sworn enemy. And for what?" He turned to her with a sad look in his eyes and repeated, "For what? Combat pay is worthless. You wanna risk your life for people who don't give a damn about you?"

Nesi merely smiled and said, "Wrong people you're referring to, captain. I'm not doing this to impress the nobles."

"If you're not fighting for them, then why are you risking your life like this?" Ace demanded. "They are not worth it!"

"I said I wanted to see change from the very beginning. The nobles don't have the right to just treat people like dirt under their fingernails or see the earth we all once lived on as less than beautiful. All the places I've seen with you and with the privateers are gorgeous in their own way! There are better ways to improve the conditions of a civilization and they know that! I'm not asking for much, I'm just asking for a better solution. The same amount of time they spend making up new reasons to tax us or jail us could be spent improving the economy and developing medicine. I get the idea behind good is good and evil is evil. Really, I do. There are some people in this world who just grow into extremism, and all they want to see is pain. There are dirtbags that have no remorse for their actions. Those people earn their consequences, and they're at the mercy of whoever polices those wrongs. I wouldn't handle that act of judgement any differently than a noble probably would. If you kill without remorse, I have a right to decide whether or not I should deliver death to you because you could keep doing it and inevitably destroy the country. It's a matter of moral ethics and social benefits. How does sending a person who is already impoverished into an environment with even more poverty help anything? That's why I fight!" Nesi said, lifting herself up slowly. "I know we've never really agreed on this, and I don't expect anything less or different from you when it comes down to it, but that 'worthless pay' is one of many tools I need to make them change. I never said this was going to be an easy thing to do. It started off hard since the day I dreamed of this path. Yes, you came in my time of need and guided me for a solid year, but that didn't mean you made my journey easier. You made me realize that this investment was going to require more. I needed to be a different person to get what I want out of this fight. I needed to do a different kind of work to get what I need in order to fight efficiently. None of this made the task easier, and it's not going to make my life easier. I knew it was going to be hard. Mutilation and death will always be waiting for me in this fight, but it is one fight I will gladly commit to if it means that boys like you will be able to live freely. That young men as vibrant and crazy as you won't have to steal or destroy to earn a living. If you want to travel the world, travel the world! Keep steady work and enjoy that work! But don't look down on someone because they're not born right next to you. That's all I want. If a bullet to the chest is what it'll take to make it happen, then fine!"

"Nesi, I'm not letting you get yourself killed for something that won't change!" Ace argued, slamming his fist into the ground.

"If someone doesn't do something, nothing will change," Nesi countered, about to fold the paper in her hand.

Ace reached out quickly to stop her and said, "Then, tell those nobles to fight each other if it's so important! Pieter is one of them! Make him do it!"

Nesi smirked when Ace blushed a bit at how close he got to her without thinking, but he didn't back away nearly as quickly as he did to stop her from tampering with the paper. She then replied, "Fight for the life you want. That's the motto of the Spades crew. Isn't that what you taught me how to do? You would've thrown me out if I had one of the boys take my place in everything I did. You've tried to slow me down ever since you met Pieter, but you never told me why. What is it about my dream that scares you so much?"

"You dying isn't enough of a reason?" Ace questioned, gulping quietly.

Nesi was quiet as she analyzed Ace's body language. For a moment, the way he was breathing and the look in his eyes almost made her believe that deep down her captain may have felt something for her. It almost made sense why Moga and Schooner tried to marry them on the battlefield. It even made her laugh a bit when she remembered what Pieter said about him panicking. For a second, she thought Ace wanted to close the distance between them, but she knew better. Ace was a handsome, dashing rogue. Those freckles couldn't hide it, the women that flocked to him at Mariners' Bay couldn't resist it, and strangers passing by could all agree that his boyish charm and desire to prove himself was inspiring and infectious. Masculinity doesn't permit boys like Ace to find love in lizard beasts. He killed them, gutted them, made them his trophies. She'll turn into another of his prizes someday. Instead of whining about it for the millionth time, she plucked his nose cutely like she normally did when she found him sleeping in some unusual place or circumstance and inspected the paper again.

She finally asked, "What's this paper you dropped on me?"

"Vivre," Ace said huskily. The tone in his response almost startled Nesi. He saw her jump before he snapped back to reality and said with a more serious tone. "It's a special kind of paper that connects people together. No matter how far you are, the other person will know if something happened to you or even where you might be. It's almost like a wayfinder of sorts."

"Huh, that's pretty handy!" Nesi replied, impressed by this. "Does it lose its effect when you fold it or something?"

"I don't think so, but I also don't have a clue," Ace answered. "Don't ruin it, alright?"

"If you're giving me this big sheet of paper, you must want to know where I am at all times," Nesi said, jokingly.

"You go out another battlefield and I'll glue a notebook on your forehead," Ace threatened.

"What if my head gets cut off?" Nesi asked. Ace took exception to that and popped her on a bruised part of her side. "Ow! I said tender!"

Nesi smiled at the memory of their laughter just as the elevator was opening. She wondered how the nobles' faces would look once they figured out that their tax money was going to be cut hard within a few years with her work. The privateers were granted permission to have their harbors be registered as city-states for policing duties, and each one had to meet with at least one of the higher-ups above Vice Admiral Barangot. Honestly, Nesi couldn't care less about it. If nothing else, she was excited to have earned rank and eager to continue her training into advanced territory. Supposedly, her teachers wished for her to meet with a member of the Celestial Dragons, but no one had disclosed which one. It had to be someone of great importance, though, because there was talk of them being interested in the privateers. Nesi was of interest because of her high success rate in guarding cargo ships, battle plans in times of war, and her ability to rebuild towns with little to no slave labor. The privateers had a strong political presence that rendered them a threat, but Nesi was easily going to be one of the worst yet. Such a big fuss over ethical leadership! Honestly, it was exhausting!

Boarding the elevator, Nesi took her time to relax before this meeting. She would have to wait for a spell since another person of importance was just before her in order of appointments. This was going to be a long day. All of this rubbish over a new set of naval training! But... Nesi couldn't help being curious about it. She didn't think being a privateer would require so much, but the laws and regulations and the violations and penalties corresponding to the laws and regulations were numerous. This role was a very delicate balance between criminal and licensed police officer. It's why their space was limited to a harbor and neighboring town, their number of ships was limited by experience, their number of crewmates had to be specific to rank, all of it was confined to the walls of a militant box. Nesi smirked, though, and merely enjoyed the ride up as she often did in her life as a pirate. She pushed her cart of goodies to the side, expecting to give them away or clean up what the nobles throw on the floor, and let herself lean on the back elevator caging. The sounds of gears and pulley systems working had a particularly calming effect on her for some reason. With it being dark on the ground floor, Nesi could pretty much take a nap. With it being a long way up, she did just that.

It wasn't a long nap, but it was a good rest. The elevator stopped on the first floor and the cage door opened, but the new passenger didn't wake Nesi. In fact, he was taken aback by her looking so relaxed. He analyzed her for a moment until he heard her let out a deep sigh and watched her shift comfortably again to return to her nap. She was oddly trusting of the nobles, but he said nothing and merely stood next to her at a distance. Part of him wanted to wake her to keep her alert, but the other part of him was curious. They hadn't seen each other since he dismissed from his ship. How long had she been on this elevator to have fallen asleep while standing? Oddly enough, after all this time, her perfume still smelled good. She still washed her uniforms to perfection from the looks of it, but her lipstick and mascara were different. She practically never wore makeup! And blush on her cheeks? She abhorred such things! Nevertheless, he couldn't help but look at her calm face... until the elevator stalled and woke her.

Nesi yawned, stretched along the wall, and relaxed with her arms up until she detected the scent of another. It was someone from the seas, no doubt. The recognizable saltiness couldn't be ignored. She poured herself a small, disposable cup of coffee from her cart before greeting the stranger. She wanted to return to her nap, honestly.

"I would say 'Good morning, sleepyhead', but then this would be even more awkward," Shanks started, yanking Nesi back to Earth.

She snapped her head towards his face and was greeted by his smirking face.

"Eek!" Nesi screamed.