"Ahem, no need to fight anymore." Using a cough to cover up her awkwardness, Sakura helped Kuina up and patted the dust off her.
"Sakura-nee, you...!" Kuina shot her a resentful look. "So, why did you stop me?"
Sakura didn't answer her, merely jutted her chin towards Ace.
"Sakura-nee, long time no see." The freckled black-haired boy raised his hand and scratched the back of his head.
"Huh? You thief! Who are you trying to claim relations with?" Kuina, hearing him use the same term of address as her, unhappily rested her hand on her sword hilt.
"Alright, I taught him swordsmanship before."
Sakura pressed down on Kuina's head and rubbed it. "He's practically my half-disciple."
"No wonder his swordsmanship always felt so familiar!" Kuina's eyes widened, and her sword hand slowly lowered.
Ace, standing nearby, hugged the medicine bottles tightly to his chest. After taking a few deep breaths, he bowed deeply. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble. It's just that my friend is badly injured, and Deuce said if I could get the medicine from here, it would heal him."
"You could have bought it. Can't you directly buy universal-type blood plasma and medical potions from the shops in the city? The prices aren't high, right?" Sakura shook her head, her voice filled with helplessness.
Ace guiltily looked away, smiling awkwardly. "Well... we ran out of money on the way here."
"....."
Sakura fell silent.
She couldn't say much else, but this guileless, straightforward honest nature was certainly inherited from Roger. Also, the trait of not being able to hold onto treasure for more than three days was very similar.
Luckily, it was just one warehouse he broke into. The loss was still within acceptable limits. Sakura herself didn't plan to hold him accountable, after all, which family didn't have one or two spendthrifts?
Just as she was about to speak, the shadows around them stirred. Dark wings spread, and the massive Night Sparrow emerged from beneath the ground.
"Sakura-chan."
Leviathan flapped her wings and gradually shrank. After greeting her, she perched on the girl's shoulder.
Then, she turned her head towards Ace and waved a wing. "And Ace-chan, long time no see."
"You're really good at keeping secrets!" Sakura lightly knocked on Leviathan's head with her fist. "Wouldn't it have been simpler to just say it was Ace?"
"Hehehe, I just didn't want to put you in a difficult position?" Leviathan chuckled.
Her Devil Fruit ability activated, manipulating the surrounding darkness to slowly spit out a few unconscious people with their heads hanging down.
Seeing these figures, Ace's eyes widened. "Deuce, Mihar, Wallace, Banshee? What are they doing here?"
Leviathan spread her wings, flew onto Ace's shoulder, and pecked his head with her beak. "You'll have to ask your companions what good deed they did~"
As Leviathan's lazy voice sounded, Sakura frowned, sensing the situation was not simple. "What happened?"
"To divert our attention away from this guy, they set a fire in our luxury goods specialty shopping mall." Leviathan said, pecking Ace's head a few more times.
It seemed Leviathan was extremely dissatisfied with these guys who had made her work overtime nonstop.
"Luxury goods?!" Ace's heart seized up. He had the impulse to turn around, carry his ship, and flee into the night.
'Of all the things to burn, why did these idiots have to burn a luxury goods street? Were they afraid their captain was too wealthy, and wanted me to spend a lifetime paying off debts to Sakura-nee?'
But the Spade Pirates' members had their own defense!
If they hadn't burned the luxury goods mall and endangered those distinguished guests, how could they have maximally diverted the kingdom's defensive forces?
Suppressing the urge to curse, Ace asked, "What was the damage? Any casualties?"
"No casualties, after all, there are many ability users on the island. A single fire..." The pitch-black Black Sparrow narrowed her amused little eyes, drawing out her words.
"Then!" Ace's face showed a glimmer of hope.
'No casualties, so if I gritted my teeth and compensated Sakura-nee for her losses, it should be fine, right?'
"Unfortunately, that fire also ignited the flag hanging in our mall." Leviathan ruthlessly shattered the glimmer of hope rising in the boy's heart.
"Pirate... flag?"
Ace's voice was hoarse. He raised his hand and drew a square shape. "The one painted with the exclusive emblem of a pirate crew, displayed as the pride of the crew... that flag?"
Leviathan nodded, extending her small wing to drape over Ace's shoulder. "And, kid, do you know who was visiting that street at the time?"
"—Big News Morgans! He took pictures and slipped away~ How about that? Surprise? Unexpected?"
In the brief span of a few minutes, experiencing great joy followed by great sorrow. Finally, Ace's suspended heart was completely dead.
'I'm tired. Let it all end!'
Who among the family understands? He's in the middle of stealing medicine, and then a huge blame comes crashing down on his head out of nowhere.
He, Ace, did want to challenge the Emperors and take their thrones, but he never imagined laying a hand on Sakura-nee!
Now, his companions, with whom he had shared life and death, had burned the Emperor's flag, and Morgans had photographed it. It would probably be reported worldwide by afternoon, wouldn't it?
This couldn't even be simply summed up as a provocation. This was damn declaration of war!
"Sigh, Sakura-nee, look... can we settle this peacefully?"
Sakura's gaze calmly swept over Ace and his unconscious crew members. She took a deep breath. "Since things have come to this, let's treat the wounded first."
…
Marian, Upperworld Cloud Port.
"Ugh, I'm... alive?"
On the Spade Pirates' ship, Vice-Captain, Masked Deuce, gradually regained consciousness.
Then he saw that Skull, who had been critically injured, was completely healed.
Although still unconscious, his vital signs had stabilized, and his originally pale face now had a healthy rosy hue.
'It seemed Ace had successfully stolen the medicine.'
As Deuce thought this, he woke the other few unconscious companions. They pushed open the cabin door and walked out.
Then, on the deck, they saw an absolutely unimaginable, nightmarish figure.
—Emperor of the Sea, Higanbana, Haruno Sakura!
"Ace... Ace, th-that person?"
The other Spade Pirates' members opened their mouths wide, unable to speak. Only Deuce's voice trembled as he raised a shaking finger, pointing at the girl standing beside Ace, her hands resting on the gunwale behind her back.
"Ah, Deuce, you're awake. This..." Ace's smile was a bit awkward. "This is Sakura-nee, my swordsmanship initiation teacher."
"Eh? Eh!!!!" xn
Exclamations immediately drowned out the entire Spade Pirates' ship. Each crew member opened their mouths wide, unable to close them, their eyes bulging as they unbelievably stared at Ace.
"That Emperor? The legend of the sea, is your initiation teacher? What's going on?!"
A bunch of Spade Pirates' members excitedly rushed forward, grabbing Ace by the collar and rolling around with him.
"Well, well, I'll tell you about the internal circumstances slowly later, but for now..."
Before Ace could finish, Sakura interrupted him.
"But for now, the main point is that my pirate flag was burned by you!"
Sakura reached into her coat, pulled out a freshly printed newspaper, and tossed it in front of the Spade Pirates' members.
Without even looking, she knew what kind of headline Morgans would use.
"So, kids, what am I supposed to do about my reputation after what you've done?"