Ace and Merry
"She seems to be saying something."
Deuce observed for a moment, then leaned over and put his ear to Merry's lips.
Ace also bent down and put his ear closer.
Meli was too hungry to speak, and she was trying hard to move her lips.
"Hungry——" The voice was pitifully small, as light as a mosquito's hum, almost inaudible.
Ace shot upright, excited, "Hungry? She said she was hungry!"
He turned around immediately and rummaged through the drawers in a panic.
After a while, Ace dug out a lot of messy food and poured it all on Meli.
Ace's eyes sparkled with anticipation: "Eat, eat quickly."
Merry couldn't even lift a finger, and couldn't speak clearly. She could only slowly roll her eyes and stare at Ace pleadingly.
Ace was stunned by the look and said in a confused tone, "Why aren't you eating?"
"She was too weak to move on her own."
Deuce drew his dagger, pried open the lid of the can, scooped up the meat inside, and held it to Merry's lips.
The fragrance came, and Meli opened her mouth suddenly and bit the meat quickly. The whole piece of meat was sucked into her mouth, and her cheeks bulged like a hamster hoarding food. She didn't even bother to chew and just gobbled it up.
"Pfft..." Ace was amused and also picked up a banana, peeled it and handed it to Meli's mouth.
Meli continued to open her mouth, almost without chewing, and swallowed it in two stirs, then continued to open her mouth waiting to be fed.
Ace's shoulders shook with laughter. "It's really funny. It's like feeding a dog."
Diusi glanced at him helplessly, "Hey, isn't that a bad analogy?"
"Ha ha ha ha."
Merry accepted everything and ate heartily. She soon finished all the food on the deck.
After eating a lot of food, Meli's face finally looked brighter and his voice was a little louder than before.
"Still, want..." Meli's voice was a little hoarse and stuck, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time.
Ace pressed the brim of his hat helplessly, the corner of his mouth twitching: "You ate all our food. How come you can eat more than my brother?"
Meli could feel that the boy in front of her had no ill intentions. She blinked her eyes, and two tentacles reached out, wrapped around the arms of the two boys, and shook them like a spoiled child.
"Hungry... and more..."
The voice was light and soft, but it accurately struck the conscience of the two young men.
Ace and Deuce looked at each other. She was still a child, and they couldn't just stand by and watch her die.
"Deus, do we have anything to eat?"
"Let's go fishing." Deuce scratched his head helplessly. "She's a mermaid, so theoretically she should eat fish too."
"So this is a mermaid." Ace poked the tentacles on his arm with his hand. His fingertips sank in and bounced back, soft and elastic.
"Isn't it obvious?" Deuce couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"I'm a little curious since it's my first time seeing you." Ace grinned.
"Fool."
"idiot."
Although Ace and Deuce were bickering, their hands were not idle at all. They took out their fishing rods and started fishing.
Ace looked at the blue sea and suddenly had an idea. Fireballs rose from his palms and smashed into the sea like marbles.
He wanted to try boiling the sea water with flames to see if the fish would jump out on their own.
"Hey! Are you crazy..."
Deuce hurriedly spoke out to stop him, but it was too late.
boom--
When the fireball hit the water, it instantly exploded into a large cloud of white mist on the sea surface.
Several fireballs flew over, steam billowed, but not a single fish floated up.
Instead, the sea water temperature rose sharply, bubbling, and Ace and his crew's ship also became much hotter, and it was a little hot to the feet on the deck.
"It's hot..." Meli was burned and kept crying for help, his face red with heat.
The little food she ate barely restored a little bit of her strength, but she had been frozen for too long and her limbs were too stiff for her to move freely.
Being baked by the heat wave like this, it’s really going to become grilled squid on a teppanyaki grill.
"Help......"
Ace finally reacted and quickly used fire to drive the boat to escape from the hot and scalding waters.
After a series of twists and turns, the sun has set and the sea has become dark.
Ace and Deuce caught a lot of sea fish. Deuce simply processed the fish and then threw them to Ace to roast over the fire.
The firelight cast a warm orange hue on the boy's eyebrows and eyes, and the fish fragrance spread and penetrated into Meli's nostrils.
She moved her stiff tentacles and quietly approached Ace.
Ace laughed: "Don't worry, it will be ready soon."
Dozens of fish were eaten at an extremely fast speed, and Meli finally regained his strength, but his body was still a little stiff.
"Thank you... for saving me..." Merry's voice was still hoarse and awkward from not speaking for a long time. "My name is Merry."
"Merry?" Ace bit into the grilled fish, raised his eyebrows slightly, and repeated vaguely, "Merry... I seem to have heard this name somewhere."
Merry tilted her head in confusion.
"Ah!" Ace's eyes suddenly lit up, "Do you know Shanks and Luffy?"
When Luffy was mentioned, Merry blinked, and finally remembered slowly that in her previous life in Alabasta, Merry had seen Ace.
The black-haired young man suddenly jumped onto the railing of the Merry and greeted everyone with a smile: "My useless brother is causing trouble for everyone."
It turned out to be Ace!
The smile in the memory overlapped with the boy at the moment, and Merry's stiff tentacles began to dance with excitement.
It’s Luffy’s brother!
This is our family!
Merry's speech suddenly became fluent: "Of course I know him! Luffy and I are good friends."
Ace paused, then raised his hand and smacked his palm in sudden realization. "Oh!!! You're the mermaid friend Luffy mentioned, right?"
The boy showed a warm and bright smile, "I'm Ace, Luffy's brother."
"Brother Ace! Hello." Meli nodded happily.
Ace casually reached out his hand and rubbed Merry's head: "Hahaha, I didn't expect that the little mermaid I rescued would be Luffy's friend. What a fate."
Meili's eyes curved, the setting sun reflected in them, and suddenly there was a sparkle in them: "Yeah, I didn't expect it at all, what a coincidence!"
Ai Si laughed out loud: "Your body hasn't recovered yet, and it's not convenient for you to move around, so just follow me for now."
Merry looked at the pitifully small Charger. With three people sitting in it, there was almost no room to turn around.
She still smiled and nodded: "Then I'll trouble you, Brother Ace."
Ace's voice stopped.
Meli looked carefully and saw that Ace was still holding the grilled fish, but his eyes were closed and his breathing was even.
"He fell asleep again." Deuce was no longer surprised. "Don't worry, this guy often falls asleep in the middle of a meal."
Fell asleep in the middle of eating?
Merry burst out laughing: "As expected of Luffy's big brother, it's amazing!"
"Ace is a brother complex, so it's okay for him to always mention his brother, but why are you also..."
"Hahaha, because Luffy often falls asleep in the middle of eating too."
"It seems that brother complex is contagious..."
"Huh? Where was I?" Ace raised his head suddenly, "Yes, that guy Luffy..."
Meli laughed out loud: "Really? Hahaha..."
The two of them kept talking about the silly things Luffy did as a child, and they had a great conversation.
Deuce took a big bite of the grilled fish and mumbled vaguely, "You two! Stop treating me like I'm invisible!"
Unfortunately, no one paid any attention to him.
Ace suddenly stretched out his hand and gestured to Merry, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes: "As I recall, aren't you two years older than Luffy? Why do you seem so much shorter than Luffy? Doesn't mermaid growth differ from humans?"
"What? Luffy is taller than me now?"
"Yeah, Luffy is fourteen years old now, and he's been growing rapidly lately."
"That's not right. Luffy is fourteen?" Merry counted on his fingers in disbelief. "But I remember I was only twelve."
Deuce finally had a chance to join in the conversation: "Being frozen will reduce the body's physiological functions. Perhaps you have been frozen for many years?"
Meili was a little confused: "Wait, I'm not sure, I just felt like I had a good sleep."
Ace stopped laughing and said, "Where were you frozen in ice? And aren't you a member of the Red Hair Pirates? How did you end up frozen into a lump of ice? Floating alone on the sea?"
Meli was stunned, and the memories before being frozen came flooding back like a tide.
——
Haiyuan calendar year 1512.
Princess Otohime, who had devoted her life to the pursuit of peace, was assassinated.
When Merry heard about this, he made a special trip back to Fishman Island to see Princess Otohime off.
During those days, the entire Fishman Island seemed to have suddenly lost its light, and intermittent wailing sounds echoed repeatedly in the Sea Forest.
Countless tears rolled down and gathered into a river, soaking the entire island and reflecting the sad faces.
-
Merry left Fishman Island sadly and passed by a small island in the West Sea.
The lead-gray rain clouds were hanging low, heavy rain was raging, and the sea breeze was blowing waves that were constantly beating against the coastline.
Suddenly, a gunshot pierced the rain.
On the slippery cobblestone path at the end of the pier, a thin figure was running desperately.
Robin was completely soaked by the rain, but she had no time to find a place to hide from the rain. Behind her was a large group of pursuers, and gunshots and shouts rang out one after another.
"Devil's son! Stop!"
The pursuers' curses were hot on his heels, but Robin didn't look back, letting the sounds of pursuing bullets pass by him from time to time.
The strong man running in the front raised his hand and fired another shot, and the flames flashed in the rain.
The bullet grazed Robin's ear, and she stumbled and fell forward, her palms scratched by the rough gravel.
The pursuers behind him arrived in the blink of an eye, and gunshots rang out again. The bullets hit the bluestone slab at Robin's feet, and a cluster of sparks burst out.
"Damn it!" Robin bit his lips until they turned white, and the blood drops at his feet mixed with the rain spread out.
The sturdy man grinned and stretched out his big hand to Robin.
Just when the fingertips were about to grab Robin, a pink tentacle stretched out from the side like lightning, accurately wrapped around Robin's waist, and suddenly retracted.
“!”
Robin's eyes widened in shock.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
