Meet Ace Again

"Good boy, good lizard. As long as you lead me out of this desert, I will find you lots and lots of food. Okay?"

After the coercion, Meli resorted to bribery.

The monitor hesitated for a moment, then grunted reluctantly, as if accepting its fate.

"Okay! Let's go!"

With a flap of its tentacles, the giant lizard carried Meli forward, like a purple warship plowing through the golden sand.

The wind whistled past her ears, and Merry breathed a sigh of relief.

With a mount, I finally don’t have to walk anymore.

If she continued walking any further, she suspected she would soon become a sizzling octopus.

The sky gradually darkened and a cool breeze blew.

The setting sun completely disappeared on the sand surface, and the temperature of the desert dropped drastically.

The coldness crawled along the sand and penetrated into the bones in the blink of an eye.

Meli's teeth were chattering from the cold, and the breath he exhaled quickly condensed into white mist.

“It’s freezing cold!!!”

What the hell is going on in this desert!?

The fish was almost dried up during the day and frozen to death at night!

Just as Merry was shivering from the cold, the monitor lizard suddenly stopped.

In the distance, yellow-brown tornadoes swept in at an extremely fast speed.

The monitor lizard turned around twice anxiously and suddenly buried its head in the sand sea.

"Hey! Wait..."

Before Merry could finish her words, the monitor lizard had disappeared into the sand, leaving only her there.

The sandstorm arrived in the blink of an eye. Merry had no time to run and was swallowed up in an instant.

Meli was swept up by the quicksand and fell underground. The world turned into a turbid yellow-brown color. She tried to breathe, but inhaled a mouthful of sand.

“Cough—cough—”

The sand is still seeping into every crevice of the body, causing the skin to rub and hurt, and causing moisture to be lost and become dry.

Meli's consciousness began to float, and he felt as if he had turned into a grain of sand, gradually losing consciousness completely.

——

The sea breeze, carrying moist water vapor, gently brushed across Meli's cheek.

She suddenly opened her eyes and saw seabirds circling in the blue sky.

Eh? Wasn't she buried in the sand? Where is this?

Merry sat up suddenly and found himself lying on a narrow boat. Most of his tentacles were soaked in sea water, regaining their elasticity and luster.

"Hey, Merry," came a familiar, brisk voice, "you're finally awake."

Ace was squatting at the stern, a bright and cheerful smile on his face.

"Ace!"

Meili's eyes suddenly lit up, she sat up happily, opened her arms and rushed over, "Long time no see."

"Hey, hey, hey, be careful of the boat capsizing..."

Before Ace could finish his words, he was hugged by Merry.

With this swoop, the ship tilted suddenly and shook violently.

Merry hurriedly used his tentacles to stabilize the boat, splashing water everywhere, soaking the two of them.

"Hahaha, sorry, I'm so happy to see Ace." Merry wiped the water droplets from her face, her eyes curved into crescents, "Did Ace save me?"

"Of course it's me," Ace stretched out his finger and poked Merry's cheek. "When I found you in the desert, I almost didn't recognize you. I thought you were some dried octopus fossil."

"Thank you. I almost thought I was going to die in the desert."

"By the way, why did you come to Alabasta? And why did you end up looking like a dried octopus?"

"Actually, I'm here to look for Luffy. I promised him I'd board his ship once he's out to sea."

"What?" Ace covered his chest in mock pain, like a dog abandoned by its owner. "Huh? You're only looking for Luffy? Not only have you not come to see me for three years, but you also rejected my invitation to join Spade before. It's really sad to see you like this now!"

"Ah, that," Merry quickly waved his hands to explain, "I promised Luffy ten years ago. You asked three years ago. In the timeline, I promised Luffy even earlier."

"Oh—I—am—so—sad—ah—" Ace dragged out the tone, still with a pitiful expression of being hurt.

"Besides, I don't want to go on Whitebeard's ship." Merry muttered softly.

Ace straightened up instantly, his eyes serious, "Hey, Merry, what do you mean by that? I won't allow you to say bad things about Dad!"

Merry put his hands on his hips and said as a matter of course: "What? Compared to Whitebeard, whom I don't know, I prefer Luffy and Ace."

Ace was stunned for half a second, then he threw his head back and laughed, "So that's what you mean. But, if Dad knew he couldn't beat a kid who just went to sea, his beard would be twisted with rage."

“There’s no comparison between the two.”

“Hahahaha~~”

The laughter died down, and Ace restrained his expression, his eyes serious: "Luffy has left Alabasta now, why don't you just come with me? Dad will definitely be very happy to have another daughter."

"What!" Merry didn't notice the gentle fire in Ace's eyes at all. She hugged her head and screamed, "Luffy left!?"

Ace rubbed his nose helplessly: "Well, actually it shouldn't be too far away. I can catch up if I want."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go after Luffy!"

"...Okay, let's go."

The flames started from the bottom of Ace's feet and spread rapidly. The fireboat instantly cut through the sea, turned a corner, and sped away.

Merry sat at the front of the bow, his tentacles scattered in the sea water, his long pink and gold hair flying in the wind.

The waves rolled up and crashed against the side of the boat, shattering into countless diamonds, reflecting tiny rainbows that flashed by in an instant.

Ace leaned against the mast at the stern, his arms around Bear, his profile illuminated by the firelight with a faint smile.

His eyes fell on the figure at the bow: "Merry, have you grown taller again?"

Merry turned around proudly, full of confidence: "Yeah, I'm much taller than Ace now!"

Ace chuckled: "Luffy will be shocked if he sees this."

Merry raised her chin. "What about you? You were shocked too, right?"

"Me? You almost scared me to death. Suddenly I saw a dried octopus." Ace raised his eyebrows, fire dancing in his eyes. "You are still so reckless. You dared to enter the desert without any preparation."

Merry gave an awkward laugh. "Haha. I didn't expect the desert to be so scary."

"By the way, this is my life card, do you want it?"

“Yes, yes, yes!”

“Puff——”

"why are you laughing?"

"nothing."

"It's weird."

————

Two days later

The Charger finally caught up with the Advance Merry.

Merry shouted excitedly: "I see! It's the Merry!"

In the distance, the Merry was leisurely sailing along the waves. Luffy was sitting on a sheep's head, laughing with his head tilted back. On the deck, Zoro, shirtless, was lifting heavy dumbbells. Usopp was squatting on the deck, tinkering with some new invention. Robin was sitting on a beach chair, reading a book and drinking coffee...

The scene was both quiet and noisy, and everything was exactly the same as in my memory.

Mina-san, I'm back!

Meli put his hands to his mouth, made a trumpet shape, and shouted forward with all his strength.

"Hey—Luffy—"

The sound was picked up by the sea breeze, crossed the sea surface and drifted towards the Merry.

"Eh?" Luffy turned around in confusion and looked at his companions on the deck, "Did someone call me just now?"

Usopp didn't even look up and shook his hand: "No, no one called you."

Luffy tilted his head, a bunch of question marks appearing in his head: "I did hear the sound."

Zoro frowned and listened for a while, then put down the dumbbell in his hand: "There is indeed a sound."

Robin looked up at the sea in the distance: "Is there something approaching over there?"

"Hmm?" Luffy immediately put his hand on his forehead, squinted his eyes and looked at it carefully. The next second, his eyes lit up like light bulbs.

"That's Ace's ship!"

Luffy's arms stretched out like a rubber band, and shot out with a "whoosh", crossing the sea between the two ships and grabbing the mast of the fire ship.

"Ace—"

The sound was still in the air when Luffy fell onto Ace with a "bang".

Luffy used his hands and feet to hug Ace tightly like a koala, grinning from ear to ear: "Ace, I thought you were gone!"

Ace stumbled a bit as he hugged his flying brother, then smiled, "I found an octopus and brought it to you on the way."

"octopus?"

"Hey, Luffy, I'm here."

"Merry!!!"

Luffy was stunned for half a second, then his eyes widened. He let go of Ace like a spring and hugged her excitedly.

The straw hats flew into the air in excitement, and Merry stretched out a tentacle to help catch the hats.

"Merry! That's amazing!" Luffy hung on Merry like a sloth clinging to a tree, "You've grown so tall now!"

Merry couldn't help but put his hands on his hips and laughed triumphantly: "Of course! I'm over three meters long now!"

“This is fantastic!”

"Okay, calm down. My little boat can't handle your noise."

"Ace is such a bummer. By the way, Merry, why are you with Ace?"

"It's a long story. Three years ago, when Ace was out at sea, he happened to save me from being frozen..."

"I see, as expected of Ace!"

The two chatted quietly as the fireboat gradually came to the side of the Merry.

"Let's go to my ship!" Luffy stretched out his arm to grab the railing, and with his other hand grabbed Merry's shoulder.

"Wait, I can do it myself..."

The two of them jumped back onto the deck of the Merry like a swing.

Ace didn't follow him up. He stood on the fireboat and smiled: "Luffy, I have other things to do. I'll leave Merry to you."

"No problem, Ace, goodbye~~" Merry and Luffy waved vigorously.

The fireboat turned around, opened fire at full power, and soon turned into a small red dot on the sea.

After saying goodbye to Ace, Luffy excitedly pulled Merry to the middle of the deck, his smile dazzling: "Merry, come on! Let me introduce you, this is my pirate ship, it's also called Merry."

Merry's expression was a little complicated: of course she knew it was called Merry. After all, it was her.

The others on the deck looked at Meli in surprise.

Sanji was the first one to recognize Merry among his companions. His eyes instantly turned into pink hearts: "Oh!!! It's the mermaid princess Merry-chan! After ten years, you have now been upgraded to an excellent lady! Please allow me to..."

"Bang—" Sanji was pushed away by the excited Nami, "Merry? Is it really you?"

“Huh?!”

"Is it really Merry?"

"How come you are so tall!?"