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hannahbarberra162 · 3 months ago

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Heat Transfer, Chapter 2

On Ao3

The other chapter

You're on the ship and you weren't eaten...yet. Who knows what these humans want from you?

Here's a video of what Baby was trying to do on the pipes

You came to consciousness slowly in a metal cell within a wooden room. The metal bars were widely spaced but still brought a chill to the air. It smelled musty, like it didn’t get cleaned or aired out much, making you scrunch your nose. The cell was almost empty, with only yourself and a few blankets inside. Even with the meager blankets, you were still freezing. Rings were built into the wall of the cell, but nothing attached to them. There was some water in a container available to you, but you were too cold to drink right now.

Looking beyond the bars, the room didn’t have much in it either. There was a bench built into the opposite wall, but other than that there wasn’t anything to indicate anyone lived here. Maybe this was where they kept their live prey. The Harpy hadn’t eaten you yet, but maybe it wanted a live meal instead of a passed out one. You were at a huge disadvantage, but you weren’t going to let the Harpy win that easily. You were a warrior by blood, and you’d fight to the death.

You figured you were on the large boat you’d seen by your island but you weren’t sure how much time had passed. You were groggy and slow, unable to think as well as you normally would. You curled up as small as you could, covering yourself up with every available material. Just the top of your head poked out of the bundle you’d made of yourself. It was slightly better, but not enough.

After a while, Fireman came into the room with more blankets in his arms. You watched him with anger as he approached you, but you didn’t move. Not yet. Let him get close and you’d save your energy to strike at him. But the Fireman seemed to have enough sense to put the blankets on the ground and push them through the bars of the cage with a rod he brought with him. He crouched down to your level, giving you a frown. He started talking to you again, pleadingly, but you still didn’t know what he was saying. He made a pantomime of a small box and gestured to himself, as if you would now understand what he meant. You narrowed your eyes, flicking the tip of your tail in annoyance. You didn’t take the blankets. He pushed them even closer towards you with the rod. You turned your head away from him, almost completely hidden by the blankets. He sighed and stood up, you heard footsteps and the door open and shut.

You did take the blankets after he’d gone, but you were still cold. You’d have to wait until the daytime to make any kind of significant movement. The blankets smelled strange, like many different people. One smelled like Fireman, you detected the ashy scent. Another smelled like the wildflowers that bloomed in the spring on your island. It was pleasant, you moved that one up by your face. You weren’t sure what the message behind the blankets was, but you were glad for their meager warmth.

It was nearly dawn when the door opened again, but this time you perked up immediately, your tongue flicking out to taste the air. Fireman was back, and he brought cooked meat with him. You knew they were feeding you to fatten you up for the Harpy, but you needed your strength if you wanted to inflict damage on the creature before it devoured you. Perhaps you could still die an honorable death. Fireman held out the food in front of him on a plate, near the iron bars. You moved closer to him, bringing your blankets along, but he pulled it back before you could get close enough to the meat. You could feel the heat radiating off of him, making you want to curl around him again.

“Ace,” he said, pointing to himself. After he pointed to himself, he handed you a piece of the meat. You snatched it from him and ate it, licking your hand afterwards. “Ace,” he said, repeating the motion towards himself. He fed you another piece of meat, getting even closer to you. Ok, his name was Ace. He did it a third time before you got annoyed. You were hungry and not in the mood for games. You wanted the whole animal, not just these slivers. Maybe he just wanted you to say it?

“Acccccceee,” you said back to him. The word was foreign on your tongue, but you could approximate the sound. He raised the corners of his mouth, baring his teeth to you. Normally when animals did that, it was a sign of aggression. But you had a feeling he was pleased with you, his eyes were almost shut from how he was baring his teeth. He yelled out an exclamation and you held out your hand for meat. He gave you another morsel.

“Acccceeee,” you said again, pointing at him and then asking for more. He spoke to you in a sing-song voice, pleased with you again, and handed you another piece. You wouldn’t mind learning human if it got you whatever this animal was. Ace didn’t smell like the meat, you didn’t think he cooked it. Maybe you could get to Meatman again.

“Accee,” you said a third time, holding out your hand. But this time he didn’t give you anything, to your annoyance. “Ace,” he said again, pointing to himself. Then he pointed to you. He did it again, pointing to himself and saying his own name and then pointing to you. Oh, he wanted to know your name. You didn’t think he’d be able to say your Naga name, he lacked the tongue dexterity. So you told him the nickname your sisters called you. You pointed to yourself and said “Bayybee.” It was a little weird saying it, it wasn’t like you’d ever said your own nickname before. You repeated it again, and held out your hand expectantly for a bit of meat. Ace cheered, causing you to shift backwards. But you still remained close to the bars, you were still hungry and you saw he had more meat.

You cut to the chase. You pointed to Ace and said “Ace,” then to yourself and said “Baby.” He clapped for you, saying something to you that ended with your name. It seemed like he asked you a question, rubbing his jaw, but you didn’t care because he put the rest of the meat through the bars. You finally unhinged your jaw for a warm meal.

Ace POV

Ace felt more pity for you now that he knew your ‘name.’ No one had named you, you just knew of yourself as a baby. You were a little lost Sea Naga, left to fend for yourself on some island. It was a cute name though, Ace thought. He would just call you Baby, since that’s what you were used to. It was a little unnerving watching you unhinge your jaw to eat, but Ace wasn’t in a position to talk about dining etiquette. And frankly, it reminded him of Luffy, which made him smile.

It was the early morning, the ship was about to set sail. Ace felt bad putting you in the Moby’s jail, but there wasn’t anywhere else for you to go right now. He and Deuce were going to make a crate for you, to be put into Ace’s room. Ace knew you needed more heat than the jail was providing you, and he could keep you warm. But right now he didn’t want you roaming the ship or being left unattended. The rest of the crew didn’t know about you yet, and he didn’t want you to be scared. Or worse, hurt. He watched you lick your hands, promising to himself to feed you as much as you needed. You were so thin and devoured anything you’d gotten from them in a flash.

Ace had gone back to your cave in the few hours you’d been passed out. He had seen some of your meager belongings and thought you might feel more comfortable with some of your items. He had left your knife and the baskets in the cave, you wouldn’t need those anymore. He did bring a couple of furs and some bones you’d used for decoration. He’d put them in your crate when they were done building it to make you feel more comfortable when you were in there. He wanted to remain with you when the boat started moving, he knew you wouldn’t be familiar with the sensation.

Sure enough, when the anchor was raised and the ship began sailing, your long ears twitched and you looked around wildly, as if searching for the cause within the room. Ace wanted to reassure you by holding you, but he didn’t think you’d want him near you right now, you looked angry. He couldn’t stay for long, as the Second Commander, he had to lead some navigation efforts for the Moby now that they set sail. So he sat near the bars of the cell, gently heating the room to rid it of the morning chill. You grew more and more agitated and as the air warmed, you started slithering around the cell, perhaps looking for a way out.

Ace knew you only wanted to go back to your island because it was familiar, not because it was a wonderful place for you to live. You’d soon realize they wanted to help you, to nurture you, not to hurt you. He sighed and stood up, he had to get to work. He’d be back later for you, after he and Deuce built the crate. He wasn’t sure yet how he’d transfer you yet, he might ask Marco or Thatch to drug you. He didn’t want to have to force you to do anything, that would not give you the right impression of them.

He’d spoken to Pops about you, how he’d found a baby Sea Naga and wanted to keep you. Pops was mildly interested, allowing you to remain on board as long as you didn’t prove to be a problem.

“Have you ever seen a Sea Naga before Pops?” Ace asked while sitting on the yonko’s shoulder, kicking his feet.

“About twenty five or so years ago I encountered a Sea Bitch -” Ace frowned. He would have to get Pops to drop that name, he didn’t want you hearing it.

“- she was absolutely magnificent. Strong, cunning, ruthless, nearly got me with her spear. Finally I was able to pin her down on the deck, but it took a lot to do it.” Pops had a wicked gleam in his eye as he spoke, he must have enjoyed the fight. Ace took in the information but it didn’t seem like Pops knew a lot about them, just what he’d seen. He was going to ask Marco or Izou to look for information in the library on Sea Naga. Maybe they’d be able to find something useful.

The morning passed slowly, Ace wanted to be done with his work and go back to you. He was worried you’d be scared and lonely, he wanted to reassure you. Finally, by mid morning, he was able to take a break. He stopped by the kitchen to pick up more roasted chicken for you. Thatch had been cooking meat non-stop, hoping to fatten you up, saying it depressed him to see you so thin. Ace wasn’t complaining, he’d gotten to eat a lot of meat before getting caught. But he knew the majority was for his little Baby. Opening the door to the jail, he called to you that he brought meat but was met with a sight of …nothing. The cell was empty with blankets strewn on the floor. Fuck.

Your POV

After Ace had sufficiently warmed the room and you’d eaten a hot meal, it was time to move. It was nearly day time, you could use the warmth you’d gotten to hide away from Ace and the Harpy. You needed to get off the ship before it sailed too far away from your island. If it was still close, you could probably make it back to the island even in the frigid water. All you needed to do was find a way down to the water undetected after you determined where the island was. Or, you needed to survive for a few weeks. You’d last seen Typha about a month ago, so someone was going to stop at the island looking for you within the next month or two. And you couldn’t wait for them to come find you.

Escaping would be a little trickier than you first thought. You’d figured out quickly that the cell had been made for someone much larger than yourself. With your winter weight, you were able to squeeze your human half through the bars and your tail followed suit. Once you were out of the cage, you slithered across the wooden floor. It was colder than you anticipated, but you could make it. Turning the knob like you’d seen Ace do, the door opened into the narrow hallway. No one was there, but you could hear many footsteps coming from above. Humans were on the move, you needed to be careful. You weren’t sure where anything was, including any windows.

You moved down the hall, trying to find something that might help you. It was dark with many doors. You couldn’t understand the order of anything. You didn’t really understand the purpose of many of the rooms, but you didn’t stop to ponder the strangeness of humans. As you reached the end of the hall, you heard steps coming closer, so you went into the closest room.

Quietly shutting the door, you glanced around in confusion. You weren’t exactly sure what the purpose of the room was. It had a porcelain and metal fixture, like a little chair with water at the bottom. There was a window and you looked out it hopefully, but could only see the ship slicing through the sea.

There was another adjoining fixture with knobs. The other knob opened the door, what did this one do? You turned one carefully and water came out of the spigot. Incredible! Maybe humans had some good ideas. You touched the water and realized it was getting warmer. The water couldn’t come from nowhere, you heard it moving. Touching behind the fixture, you detected the water was moving behind the wall.

Prying the piece of wall off the frame, you saw a hollow area with tubes running up and down. One of them was warm and led further down into the ship. You smiled.

Ace POV

Ace was so fucked. He’d promised Marco over and over that you wouldn’t escape, that you’d be totally secured, and that he would take care of you. And he’d already lost you. Ace had enlisted the help of Thatch and Deuce to try to look for you inconspicuously on the ship so no one would notice anything was wrong. Although, Ace had a suspicion that if someone else found you, he would find out quickly with some strong language or…screams maybe.

They’d been searching for over an hour and hadn’t made any progress in finding Baby. Ace was getting worried that you’d found a way off the ship into the frigid waters below or that you’d gotten hurt somewhere on board. He tried to get Stephan or Kotatsu to help find you by smell but Stephan wasn’t smart enough to understand what he wanted and Kotatsu wasn’t interested. Ace was going to have to swallow his pride and ask Marco for help. Ace took a deep breath before entering Marco’s office.

“Marco,” Ace began by giving his best puppy face to the First Commander, who was busy in his office looking over patient reports. It worked sometimes.

“No, yoi.” Marco didn’t even look up.

“I haven’t asked for anything yet!” Ace huffed, but then remembered he would shortly be asking for a favor. “What if I came up just to say hello?”

“You didn’t. It’s something to do with that Naga. I already told you that I wasn’t going to help you with it -”

“Her,” Ace interrupted.

“With her yoi.” Ace made his eyes as big as he could and bowed his head slightly.

“Please?” Marco looked up from his paperwork and cocked his eyebrow. Ace kept the smile he felt inside from showing on his face, he knew Marco would help. He used his manners so rarely that when he did it made an impression.

“Fine. But then you’ll have to do what I originally suggested. I don’t want this to become a regular occurrence or a problem.” Ace sighed at Marco’s words, a contrite look on his face.

“Thank you. And I’ll admit, you were right,” Ace said to a smug looking Marco. If there was one thing Marco liked to be told, it was that he was right. “We can’t find her, I think she’s still on the ship. The bars were too far apart for her and she squeezed through. Can you please use your phoenix form to smell for her, you have a more sensitive -”

“I already figured out what you want from me yoi. She’s not going to be happy when she sees me, I’ll get something ready.” Marco stood up from his old office chair, stretching his arms.

“Yeah, why is that?” Ace said, scratching the back of his head. He knew you didn’t like when Marco carried you off, but you didn’t like him before that, almost on first sight.

“Ace, what is my Zoan form?” Marco asked patiently but condescendingly, like he was talking to an idiot.

“Um, a bird?” Ace wasn’t sure where Marco was going with this.

“And what do predatory birds eat?”

“Small animals, fish, other birds, snakes…oh.” Ah. It now made sense why you didn’t like Marco. He just hadn’t connected all the dots yet. Well, when he figured how to communicate with you, he’d tell you Marco wasn’t going to eat you. Until then he’d keep the two of you apart. After Marco found you, that is.

“I don’t take it personally. Let’s find that snake yoi.” Marco shifted completely, the Phoenix already on the hunt.

Your POV

You were angry and upset at being kidnapped but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t like it down here. You were somewhere deep in the bowels of the ship, curled around various tubes with warm water running through them. You’d slithered through the hollow walls trying to find the source of the hot water, eventually ending at some kind of machine. Your sisters had described the strange things humans had made, but never something like this. You figured it was designed to bring hot water to various locations, but for you it was practically a new cave. It was dark and warm and dry and you absolutely loved it. You would have to figure out what to do around food and water, but you’d worry about that later.

You heard humans getting closer, but that didn’t bother you. They’d been coming and going all morning while you warmed yourself. You distantly heard Ace talking, but you ignored it. He was the one who took you, after all. Flicking your tongue out, your eyes darted to the closest hatch. You smelled the Harpy and it was coming nearer. You stayed put, hoping the Harpy was moving through the ship like all the other humans had. You could hear it talking to other humans, probably telling them how it wanted you to be cooked. They stopped in front of the hatch and you raised up. You looked above you - climbing up was much harder than climbing down, but you had to try.

You released your tail from where it was wrapped around a particularly large pipe and reached for the wooden frame above your head. Since you could constrict, you could climb up the pipes, it just took a while. You pulled yourself further up the pipe with your hands then started constricting the top of your tail right below you. You were in the process of bringing up the rest of your tail when the hatch opened, light pouring into the dark space.

The Harpy spoke to the other gathered humans and you reared back to strike. A human hand reached in and you bit it before they could react. You weren’t sure whose it was, but you heard a pained yelp so you knew you’d hit your target. You resumed trying to climb upwards through the narrow shaft above you.

Unfortunately, the Harpy reached in and grabbed your tail quickly, faster than you imagined possible. You felt a prick in your tail, similar to a thorn sticking to you. You hissed loudly, but the Harpy released you just as quickly, speaking to the humans again. You seized the chance, trying to move upward again. No one reached for you, you were confused by what was happening. You felt…calmer, actually. Tired, too. You stopped trying to climb upward, content to relax once more on the pipes.

Ace POV

“How long do the effects last?” Ace asked, cradling Baby in his arms. Once you fell asleep, he’d pulled you out from on top of the water boiler. He was kicking himself for not looking there sooner, of course you’d go to the warmest part of the ship. Even in your sleep you were trying to wrap around his body, it was cute. He felt bad for what he was going to have to do, but there weren’t any alternatives. You’d bitten Thatch again and that was one time too many. Thatch was annoyed at himself for getting bitten again, but not at you. His arm swung uselessly while he walked.

“Probably about three hours for her, maybe more,” Marco replied. “She’s smaller than the men I usually dose it for, but I’m not sure about her Naga physiology, so I didn’t change the doseage. She’ll be fine yoi. Thatch, I think you’re going to have to wait it out again. I can’t find any agents to counteract the venom yet.” Thatch groaned.

“You just don’t appreciate your arm until it’s gone,” the chef lamented. “I’d just gotten all the sensation back in my right arm too. Ace, I'm blaming you if dinner sucks.”

“I’m sure Baby is sorry, she’s just scared” Ace offered, not worried about the food for once.

Ace was glad Thatch wasn’t holding a grudge, he knew some people on board who would have demanded you be thrown off the ship. Not that he would let that happen, but it would cause tension on board.

“You’re calling her ‘Baby’? Not very original yoi,” Marco chimed in.

“No, she told me that’s her name. I taught her to say ‘Ace,’ and she told me her name is ‘Baby.’ I don’t think she has a real name. I thought I would keep it the same since it’s what she’s used to.” Marco hummed.

“I’m not sure she’s actually a baby. She seems too intelligent for a child, too aware of her own limits. I think a child would have dived into the sea and tried to swim back.”

“Then why is she so small? That’s not normal I think,” Ace asked.

Marco shrugged, “we’ll have to find out yoi. I’m just saying she might not be as young as you think.” Ace thanked his fellow Commander for his assistance, promising this wouldn’t happen again. Ace brought you back to the holding cell of the Moby, where you’d been before. Since the day was spent looking for you, he hadn’t had time to start your crate. He’d do it tonight, while you were hopefully asleep.

Ace put your body on the nest of blankets he’d reassembled for you. The tip of your tail tried to wind around his arm, keeping him close, but he pulled it off carefully. Walking to the far wall of the cell, he brought a chain ending in a large shackle over to your limp form. He locked it around your neck carefully, pulling your hair out from under the collar.

“Sorry, Baby. I can’t have you escaping or biting anyone again. I’m sorry.” He rubbed his thumb over your brow apologetically. He wished you understood why he was doing these things.

“Sorry for this too,” he whispered, pulling a muzzle out of his back pocket. It was hastily made, Blamenco helped him make something usable for the short term. Ace placed it over your mouth and jaw, tightening the straps behind your head. Once in place, he locked it as well. Marco told Ace in no uncertain terms that you couldn’t keep biting crew members, especially before he found a way to reverse the effects of the venom. Ace knew things would smooth out in the future, once you got comfortable. But for now…..he looked at you sleeping soundly and pulled a blanket over you. He had work to do.

Your POV

You woke up back where you started. Your throat was dry and scratchy, you wanted to unhinge your jaw to stretch it. Trying to move your mouth, you brought your hands in a panic to your face as you realized you couldn't move your jaw. There was something strapped on it, keeping it shut. Your fingers frantically sought a way to take it off, but it was stuck on your face. You tried shaking it off, and felt an unfamiliar weight pulling on you. There was a collar around your neck, chaining you to the wall. It gave you enough slack to move in the cell, but not much else. You tried yanking it off the wall, but you weren’t strong enough to break it. You were filled with panic and dread as you realized you were trapped. For good.

Sea Naga didn’t cry. Only weak humans cried. Your sisters told you that many times. So if there were small drops of water that fell on the blankets as you prepared to meet your fate, you didn't notice them.

#heat transfer #sea naga #whitebeard crew #portgas d ace #portgas ace x you #thatch one piece #marco op #platonic yandere for now #tw kidnapping #angst #fire fist ace

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