Heat Transfer, Chapter 9 (Ace / WBP + Sea Naga Reader, angst and fluff)
18+ MDNI | on Ao3 | the other chapters
back from hiatus <3 anyone remember this story?
Mega thank you to @razzledazzleelderberry for helping me with the fighting / beta'ing this work. I'm never writing action EVAR AGAIN! (I probably will). Thank you for your patience <3
Baby POV
Holy fuck your sisters were incredible.
You’d never actually seen them in battle before. At least, nothing beyond the various training regimens that they put you through. But what they did with you on your old island wasn’t fighting. Hell, they barely moved when they were training you, using only the ends of a tail or one hand to teach you whatever lesson they had in mind.
But this was no training session.
The air was thick with yells and the sounds of metal clanging against your sister’s spears. Your sisters were hissing, the waves crashing against the gigantic ship spraying sea water all over the deck. Even with your blunted senses, you could taste the gunpowder and blood in the air, which only had your adrenaline pumping harder. Whatever happened with the Marines was nothing compared to the fighting you were seeing now. It was chaos and coordinated attacks and parlays and everything you’d ever wanted to see.
This was awesome.
Even amidst the chaos of the fighting, you could tell your sisters weren’t fighting to kill. None of the humans had been launched into the water, and none had been eaten as far as you could tell. The ship was still floating in one piece, and you’d seen them reduce fleets to drifting splinters for getting within eyesight of your island.
“BRING USSSSS BABY!” Maela yelled, already engaging with some of the Commanders, notably Blenheim and Blamenco, fighting the two of them off as she wrapped a tail around the main mast of the ship. She was parrying a slash from Blenheim, his long sword coated in haki as he tried to push her back against the railing. Maela’s upper body suddenly went slack, confusing Blenheim momentarily. She used the advantage to whip the middle of her long body towards him. Blenheim flew backwards and crashed into the wooden railing, though he stood ready to fight again only moments later.
Blamenco on the other hand was using his massive wooden hammer to try and bash Maela’s head in, though Maela easily saw through the attack. She quickly bit through the leather covering of the hammer with her teeth, gripping and shaking the weapon. Blamenco jumped away as she tossed the hammer overboard. He wasn’t phased though, quickly pulling a great sword from his mouth pocket. You had always wondered about his power, and it seemed to be an excellent one.
Typha had her body wrapped around the bow of the ship, squeezing the grinning whale until it groaned under the pressure. She laughed as lesser ranked pirates tried to stab her thick hide with their implements, repelling them with ease using her spear. Despite being swarmed by the hundreds of lower ranking members, it looked like Typha was playing with them, almost like she used to play with you. They drew near only for her to push them away once more, the whale being constricted ever tighter.
Meanwhile, Tsuna increased the waves of the water, sending the humans tumbling with ease as they crashed against the ship. To your delight, some of the humans looked like they were going to be sick, turning green from the onslaught. Tsuna twirled her spear, grinning wildly as she spied Jozu, his arm already turned into diamond as she reared back to bite him. He met her head on, his arm easily keeping her jaws from shutting. She hissed and tried to wrap the end of her tail around him but was stopped by Jiru, who had started running her spine. She tried flicking him off, but ended up using her spear to sweep him off her back.
There was a fourth enormous sea Naga fighting Marco off in the distance. You’d never seen her before – nor Marco in a fight. His speed and strength only highlighted how careful he’d been when handling you, which made you angrier than you’d been before. Who did he think he was to treat you like your sisters did? The fourth Naga surged up from the water, her massive body striking in its deep black and white bands. She lunged at Marco, her mouth wide open, ready to drag him into the depths of the water. Marco dodged her initial assault, flying higher to avoid her sharp teeth. However, the Naga caught him on her descent, smacking him at full strength with her paddled tail. Marco flailed through the sky, but for only a moment before righting himself. You saw him shift into his full Phoenix form for the fight. Clearly, he thought this fourth Sea Naga was a major threat, enough to shift into his full harpy form.
Which only made you wonder – who was she?
Of course, you hadn’t been able to see any of this from the stupid cell Ace had put you in. He had been talking at you and trying to get you to respond while your sisters approached, but you were steadfastly ignoring him. You were trying to watch your sisters – and someone else – from the small window. Ace had been yapping while the ship rocked heavily from side to side until the ugly mollusc in the corner of the room opened its mouth to yell. You didn’t really understand how the stupid snails worked but Ace had made you stop eating them a while back.
“WHERE ISSSS SHEEEE?” you heard Typha yell from outside your jail cell. You thumped your tail so hard against the floor in your excitement that it actually ached.
“All Commanders to the deck!” it boomed, in the voice and likeness of Haruta. Ace looked at you momentarily, biting his lip.
“I gotta go, Baby. Stay here, I’ll be back when this is all settled.” You ignored him, unable to say anything even if you wanted to since the muzzle was still on your face. And based on how shitty he’d been to you back on the island, you still didn’t want to. Ace ran from the room, dropping the eggs from his palm onto the ground. He did lick his hand before turning it to fire, making you worry. Your sisters were strong, but not impervious to fire. You stifled a mental image of Ace cooking Tsuna from the inside after she’d eaten him. You shook your head, ridding yourself of the thought. Your sisters were strong, they’d fought tough crews of humans before.
Ace’s footsteps soon became lost in the patter of humans scurrying about. You waited one more moment to make sure he was gone before springing into action. Luckily, when Marco had brought you down to the cell, he hadn’t secured you to the chain that kept you from escaping the first few days you were on the ship. Whether it was on purpose or not you weren’t sure but you were going to use it to your advantage.
At first you tried squeezing through the bars. But unlike when you’d first joined, you were no longer at your lower winter weight. You were pretty close to being able to squeeze your way through, but not completely able to. If only Thatch hadn’t invented cooked meats and eggs…the eggs!
You reached through the bars to grab the eggs Ace had dropped on the floor. You flicked your tongue as much as you could through the muzzle, tasting the deliciously fried eggs through the air. It was sad to see them wasted, but you would have more cooked eggs in your future now that you knew the secret. You rubbed the oily mess over your ribs, but more importantly, your hips and ass. Whatever Thatch had been feeding you had filled you out there more than anywhere else on your body. You could stretch yourself a little, but you would have to elongate yourself to the max in order to break out of your cell.
You rubbed the remainder of the mess on the bars themselves, unperturbed by the rocking of the ship. If anything, it only made you happier to know that your sisters were fucking shit up. And if the boat broke apart and everyone fell in the water, you’d be perfectly fine.
Your stomach rumbled – you really wished you got to eat the food. You didn’t think you could eat any of the crew right now. Not because you felt any particular allegiance to them after what they’d done to you, but because of the muzzle over your face. Your sisters would take it off of you. Unless they felt like it was something you would have to do on your own, you thought with a roll of your eyes. Like the time you got stuck in your own molting…focus!
You gripped the bars of the cell and slipped the end of your tail through, all the way until your hips started getting stuck. You wound the end of your tail around the thick wood legs of an anchored bench on the opposite side of the room. It would help give you extra leverage. You gripped tight, angled your body and pushed and pulled your way through the bars. The slow progress of squeezing yourself through the metal was excruciating, making you curse every delicious, surgery cookie you’d eaten with Fossa.
You had the most trouble with your thickest section, your ass. The bars cut into you painfully on either side as you tried extending your spine even further. If you got stuck like this, you’d stay on the ship for sheer humiliation if nothing else. You pulled with your tail and pushed with your hands and finally! You were able to wiggle free of the bars. The rest of you was far easier, your ribs barely posing a problem. The ship rocked violently to the left and stayed there, making you wonder if one of your sisters was on board now.
Time to find out.
Things were finally turning in your favor. You thumped your tail against the wall in excitement as you slithered through the ship. There were humans running about with their weapons drawn, all probably trying to defend against your sister’s attack. No one even noticed you, much less stopped you in your sprint to get to the deck. You tried to remove the muzzle along the way with your claws, but it was still no use. Finally, you breached the top deck and saw the most lovely sight of all.
Your three older sisters, fighting. Your mouth would have dropped open as you stared at them in their element. They were true warriors, each handling several Commanders and fending them off. Scanning the deck, you saw that the Old Man hadn’t even gotten out of his chair. He was watching the fighting, his naginata ready in his hand as he observed.
“WHERE ISSSS SHE?” Maela yelled, stabbing her spear through one of the many large sails.
“RETURN HER TO USSSS,” she demanded, pulling it sideways to shred the fabric. Now the Old Man had finally stood up, and shit was about to get real. You knew your sisters were strong, but you didn’t even know numbers as high as the Old Man’s bounty on that paper.
“We’re not giving her back!” Ace roared, fire exploding from his hands in a blazing arc. Maela hissed, retracting her spear and spinning it rapidly to deflect some of the flames. The sails started to smolder, but that was more on Ace than on Maela you thought.
“Enough!!” the Old Man roared, thumping his naginata against the deck before using it to stand up. He didn’t yell as loudly as your sisters, but he didn’t need to. All of his humans stopped fighting, and stood at attention, waiting for his orders. The Old Man was gearing up to do something, you just knew it. You’d never seen him actually fight, but he was definitely capable. And despite it all, you did like the Old Man, and didn’t want your sisters pounded to dust or their bones ground into bread or whatever his power was.
The fourth Naga launched a final, half hearted attack against Marco, snapping her giant jaws against his wings in an effort to bring him down to the water. It didn’t work, with Marco getting away and flying higher into the sky. The Sea Naga dove deep into the water, you lost sight of her and weren’t sure where she went.
“Baby, speak to your sisters,” he ordered, glaring at you as you stood by the door before sitting back down. How had he known you were there? One more mystery of the Old Man that you’d be uncovering another time. You would be communicating with your sisters, but not because he told you to, you thought petulantly.
Three giant tongues flicked out in the air and three sets of yellow eyes snapped to you. Your sisters moved in tandem, all immediately ignoring the Commanders in favor of circling around you. Their long tails remained in the water, their upper halves all boarding the ship, like half submerged mermaids. You slithered to the approximate center of their circle, looking up at them as they laid eyes on you for the first time in months.
The deck fell quiet as the humans themselves also turned to look at you. Whatever, they could watch all they wanted. It was a little embarrassing reuniting with your sisters while hundreds of humans gawked at you, but it wasn’t like they’d be able to understand what you were saying anyway. Well, once you could talk. You turned to face Maela first. She typically acted as the leader of the trio, so you assumed she was the one with the plan. Maela pursed her lips for a moment, her eyes flicking over you.
“So you aren’t dead after all,” Maela finally said in Naga, thumping the bottom of her spear against the deck. Typha and Tsuna looked at one another but didn’t interrupt their eldest sister. You’d definitely spent too much time with the humans, you thought as you swallowed dryly. Because you had been imagining they would be happy to see you, when in reality, you should have known better. Maela hissed as she took a better look at you.
“But they did see fit to restrain you, like a pet. Can you not break out of the simple leather mask?” Maela sneered, her disdain nearly palpable. For as excited to see them as you had been, you suddenly remembered why you sometimes preferred being alone rather than in the company of your sisters.
You didn’t know if it was your human half showing, but you didn’t feel like you could stand tall against their inspection. Not only did you come up short, but you knew you’d be hearing exactly how as well and likely for quite some time. You shook your head silently, waiting for the rest of what was sure to come.
“I will do it, little Guppy. Come here,” Tsuna said, extending her hand to you. She was the most outwardly kind to you of the three, you were glad she was here. You started to slither over to her before being interrupted by more yelling.
“Baby! NO!” Ace yelled, putting his hand up to stop you. You tried to snarl at him, how dare he use the hand motions in front of your sisters! You hoped one of them ate him just for that offense alone. Ace was running towards you on the slanted deck, but was held back by a large, hairy arm.
“They’re her family, runt. She’s gotta deal with ‘em. You heard Pops,” Fossa grunted, his sword aflame. You hadn’t seen it like that before, but it was a great touch, you thought. Not that you had anything to say to him either way. He was part of the reason you were in the stupid muzzle and why your ass hadn’t fit through the bars easily.
You slithered over to Tsuna, who sliced through the leather easily with her sharp claws. The mask dropped to the wooden deck with a clang as you stretched out your jaw. You picked up the muzzle and tossed it as far as you could overboard, satisfied watching it descend into the ocean where it belonged.
“They have dressed her like a little human,” Maela sneered, her eyes raking over your shirt. Your face felt hot – your sisters were completely bare of any clothing, save for jewelry they wore. Their breasts were proudly jutting from their chests, not concealed for the other human’s comfort like yours were. Part of you wanted to rip off your shirt and bare yourself like they were, but the other half didn’t really want the Harpy to see your boobs again. For better or worse, you’d learned some social rules from being around the humans, and some of it had stuck.
“Leave her, Maela. She was too weak to fight them off, you know this is the ship with the Harpy and the Old Man. Not to mention Diamond,” Tsuna interceded on your behalf, looking back towards Jozu for a moment.
“No, let her speak for herself. She is the reason we had to journey to begin with,” Maela said, her ire intensifying.
“She did not ask us to come for her,” Typha interrupted, thumping her tail against the submerged ship.
“No, we had to since she is too weak to fend for herself,” Maela said dismissively, with a slow blinking of her eyes. It was the Sea Naga equivalent of rolling them, and it stung you even more. You hadn’t asked for their help, and you thought you were doing pretty well on your own thus far. Yes, you had been stuck in jail with a muzzle, but you would have gotten yourself out. Eventually. Somehow.
“Come. We are taking you to a new island, suitable for your needs. Clearly, you cannot be left to live independently, and your old island has been compromised,” Maela said, beckoning for you with a flick of her tail. Her words stung your pride, making you move backwards away from her. You felt much like you had when you were a child – small and insignificant, always behind and unable to do the simplest tasks. Would your sisters ever see you as an equal? By the way Maela’s fingers drummed the deck in impatience, you thought not.
“What are you waiting for? Let us depart,” Maela demanded, her patience growing thin. Your mind raced as you tried to think of a suitable answer for Maela.
“I - I -” you weren’t quite sure what to say, to be honest. While in your cell, you’d thought of many scenarios where you and your sisters wreaked havoc on the ship and crew, but you’d never actually thought about the part where you’d have to leave with them. You glanced at the humans and then your sisters, their tails drifting lazily in the waves.
Really, you didn’t want to go back to your old island, or any new island either. If you were honest with yourself, you’d been lonely and depressed living alone. Living on the Old Man’s boat gave you something to do, aside from watching the coastline in the hopes that your sisters would come and visit you. The way you were living with the humans wasn’t ideal, but it was interesting and fun. If they had treated you better, maybe it wouldn’t have come down to this.
And you didn’t think that your departure from the ship would be so quick. You thought you would at least get to say goodbye to everyone, not just shuffle off the ship and leave in a group with your sisters. Your thoughts about leaving abruptly ended as the fourth Sea Naga rose from the now calm waves. Marco landed on the Old Man’s shoulder in his mixed form, watching along with everyone else.
“No. I want to see my worthless progeny,” the fourth Sea Naga said, her massive body splitting the waters of the now calm waves. You’d never seen another Sea Naga besides your sisters, but this one was easily the largest of the four of you. She was grizzled, and covered in scars along her body, clearly she was a warrior in a class of her own. Your sisters looked at each other, but said nothing. This one could silence even Maela, she was in charge.
You slithered back slightly, your torso hitting something warm behind you. Turning your head, you saw Ace had broken away from Fossa to stand next to you. You didn’t need him, didn’t even want him near you, but you didn’t tell him to leave either.
“So you are the whelpling for whom my daughters begged me to leave my cave. Disappointing, to say the least. I knew I should have killed you at birth,” the Naga said with a wicked laugh. You stared, saying nothing, standing even straighter. If everything she was saying was true, then the Naga in front of you was… your mother.
You’d imagined meeting your mother so many times as a child, the daydream just as familiar in your mind as the one in which your sisters let you leave with them. In your childish fantasies, your mother was apologetic for leaving you, and was proud to have you as a daughter. She would teach you how to be a better warrior, and you’d grow close as you trained and fought together.
Though, if you had really thought about it, this was much more likely to be the reception you would have gotten. Even though you knew Maela didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, your mother certainly wasn’t pulling her punches. Sea Naga only respected strength and power, and you were lacking in both regards. Your tongue flicked out in your nervousness, tasting the salty brine of the water.
“Baby, who is that?” Ace whispered to you as you tried to take everything in. You answered automatically, momentarily forgetting your anger towards him.
“Mother,” you replied in a quiet voice. Ace sucked in a breath as the Sea Naga laughed cruelly. Seconds later, she too boarded the ship with her top half. She was larger than even Maela, and larger than the Old Man. She angled herself towards the large chair, resting her chin on her hand. It almost looked like she was lounging, rather than an enemy boarding a ship.
“What’s she saying?” Ace asked, taking a half step closer to you. You didn’t really feel like repeating the words so you stayed quiet as your mother addressed the Old Man. She had a different smile on her face as she ignored you in favor of the Old Man, something akin to interest.
“We meet again, Edward,” Mother practically purred, her claws scraping the deck. “It’s been over two decadesss since we last fought,” she said, her tail flicking in the water.
“You’re larger than last time, Brin,” the Old Man replied, nonplussed by your mother’s advance.
“And you are practically ancient,” she said with a grin. The Old Man grunted, crossing his legs.
“Still able to take you, Old Hag,” he replied easily, looking her over.
“Issss that a threat or a promisssse?” Brin replied, her tongue flicking out in interest. Whitebeard’s eyes crinkled as he laughed, a booming sound over the deck. You gave a confused look back to Ace. What was happening?
“Depends on what you’re offering,” he said, tugging on his mustache.
“Are they…flirting?” Ace asked in horror, his eyebrows hitched in the middle. You shrugged, you had no context for any of Brin’s behavior. For as antagonistic as she was to you, she was certainly more accommodating towards the Old Man. Even Marco shifted as he sat on the Old Man’s shoulder, giving his father a strange look.
“This is actually the most scarring thing I’ve ever seen,” Ace said as Brin hissed in laughter at something the Old Man said, her breasts swinging with her movement. You nodded, in agreement with Ace for once.
“And what of the child? Does she wish to go with you?” the Old Man asked, his attention focusing back on you once more. Brin looked at you as well, her smile turning back into a cruel sneer.
“I care not what happensss to her. Keep her asss your pet, or kill her if you wish. You are her father,” Brin said with a shrug. “She is yoursss, Edward.”
notes:
I never overtly mentioned this, but all the sisters are named after deadly water based phenomena. Brin here is short for Brincile, also called the finger of death. It's an interesting phenomena to read about. It'll come up in the next chapter too, but I thought I'd give y'all a heads up.
Can you figure out what the other sisters are named for?
Taglist: @mfreedomstuff @rebeccawinters @greenbnny @moldychefboyardeecan
