~Flashback cont. Ace pov~
I tried to get out of the dance but every time I turned around someone would push me back into the town square. I stumbled around as they all pulled me this way and that. I had managed to spot Clarity in the center of the town, dancing on an unsteady table. "Clarity!" I called out to warn her but she only waved in my direction. I began to push my way through the crowd, "Excuse me, pardon me..." I hurried over to her just as she step off the edge and caught her.
"Olè!" The crowd shouted as the song ended and then broken in cheers for the band. "Are you okay?" I looked down at Clarity. She looked up at me as I set her on her two feet. I held onto her so she wouldn't stumble and hurt herself. "Ace?" She looked at me with the biggest puppy dog eyes I had ever seen. "Yes?" I asked her, trying to ignore the alcohol on her breath. "There's something that I have been meaning to tell you..." She glanced down at my lips, leaning in. "Tell me what?" I asked, trying to keep her focused. She was drunk and, despite the fact that I wanted to feel her lips against mine, she wasn't thinking straight.
"I think I'm in love with you."
Our lips collided and it was like fireworks had gone off deep within my chest. Through the very strong alcohol taste, I could taste a slight sweetness as if she had been snacking on candy beforehand. I pulled her just a bit closer, deepening the kiss between us. Suddenly, she pulled back and looked at me as if she had seen a ghost. She frowned, "I-I...think...I think I need some water." She patted my chest before turning on her heel and going to find a glass of water. I went to grab her arm but Thatch managed to grab me first and put me into a headlock, rubbing the top of my head with his knuckles, "Heeey, loverboy~" I pulled out of his hold with ease, "What are you talking about?" Rubbing my head from his rough knuckles. "What am I talking about? Are you kidding? The whole town saw you kiss her!" I cleared my throat, trying to figure out a comeback, "She's drunk, she probably didn't know what she was doing." "That didn't seem to stop you." He pointed out and I thought about it. He was right. I hadn't stopped the kiss. "I should find her and explain." Now I felt guilty that Clarity might think I was taking advantage of her drunkenness. "If you can find her in this crowd." Thatch pointed out and I looked around. It was dark and crowded. The only lights were around the festival, everywhere else was lit up with street lamps.

I pushed my way through the crowd after searching the festival and started down the roads around the darkened town. "Clarity! Clarity!" I called out, searching down each road and alleyway looking for the beautiful woman. I had made my way over to the Moby Dick by the time I spotted her staggering down the road. "Clarity!" I called out in relief as I hurried to catch up to her; as I got closer, I could hear her sobbing. I felt the guilt settle heavy in my heart and my stomach twist in uncomfortable knots as I reached for her shoulder, "Clarity..." She jerked her shoulder out of grasp. "Don't touch me!" "What's wrong?" I was a bit confused on why she was suddenly so hostile to me. "What's wrong?" She repeated and turned to me. "What's wrong?? I'll tell you what's wrong!" She poked her finger hard into my chest. "How dare you kiss me back!" Now I was even more confused, "But you kissed me first?" "I know!" She stomped her foot, swaying slightly. "I know..." She stated softer before she looked at the ground, "Ace, we come from different backgrounds. I don't really know if we can be together." "What do you mean?" I stepped forward and carefully reached out to lift her chin so her eyes could meet mine. "I lied to you." She admitted with a deep breath, "I've lied to all of you. My name is actually Kana, and I am a Navy soldier. I can't remember anything of my life before the age of eighteen." She cleared her throat and dried her tears. "I can't lie to a good man like yourself. I can't do it anymore." "You're a Navy soldier?" I asked her "Were you reporting to the Navy at all on our ship?" She shook her head no, "No, honest. I was on Captain Smoker's ship when a storm rolled in and the ship threw me overboard." I didn't know how to feel about her explanation. It felt like I was torn into two pieces; one half of me was furious over the lies and the other half wanted me to pull her in tight and tell her it didn't matter that she was Navy. "I overheard a radio transmission, the Navy will be here soon. You need to gather everyone and leave the island." She became serious as she looked at me. "What about you?" I inquired. "I will be here, I have no where to go, and I am sure after they find out who told you about the Navy's arrival I will be stripped of my rank and severely punished." She shrugged her shoulders before gesturing to the Moby, "You better hurry. They will be here soon." I grabbed her by the shoulders, "I'm not leaving without you."
"You don't have a choice, Ace!" She rose her voice as she was trying to get her point across but I just pulled her into another kiss, shorter than our first one.
"I do have a choice, Clarity, and I chose you." She stared at me with widened eyes. "Now let's gather the rest of the crew and get out of here." I grabbed her arm and led her back into town.
~end~

Back to Clarity pov
"Basically we gathered everyone back on the ship and skipped town with no problem." Ace finished his story. I was at a loss for words, I didn't know what to do. "Don't worry, I didn't tell anyone your secret." He hummed as he laid back down on his bed, one hand under his head as an extra pillow as the other rested on his stomach. "You didn't tell on me?" I gave him a confused look and he just gave me a lopsided smile "I don't have a reason to, you aren't dangerous." I raked my hand through my hair as I let out a heavy breath, "That is a lot of information." I glanced down to see that my dress was in the floor. "We didn't...?" I hadn't realized as I had the blanket wrapped around me the entire time Ace had been telling me what happened after I got drunk. "No, you just took off your dress in the middle of the night. I guess it's not very comfortable to sleep in." Ace shook his head no as he stared at the ceiling. "Did you know that you get really clingy when you drink?" My gaze shifted from our shared blanket to his face, "I didn't know that. I'm sorry." I began to feel overwhelmed with all the information that he had given me. I wanted to curl up under a rock and die of embarrassment. I shifted to lean against the bedroom wall that the bed was pushed against and stared up at the ceiling, "What kind of fool am I?" "You're not a fool." Ace remarked and sat up in his bed. "Of course I am a fool." I turned to face him, "I lied to good people." "You were trying to protect yourself." He countered. "For three whole weeks." I stated in a rough tone. "Stop that, stop putting yourself down over something you couldn't control!" He grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer to him. "It's done, it's over. It happened, no big deal. Alright?" His other hand rested on my lower back. "Okay." I nodded, he was right. I needed to stop blaming myself for lies that were only to protect myself. "Now," He relaxed and let go of my wrist, "Why don't we go get some food to nurse any hangover." "Sounds good to me." I replied as he hopped down off of the bed, still wearing his pants. He searched through his dresser until he found a clean shirt, "Here, it should be big enough to be worn like a dress." He handed it to me before turning around to face the other wall. I wasted no time putting on his clean shirt and stepped down onto the wooden floor beside him, "Thank you Ace." I leaned up to kiss his cheek before heading towards his bedroom door.

I yawned as we headed into the kitchen to see what had been made for breakfast. The dishes were piled high into the sink and all over the counters. "I don't know if we are going to have any  breakfast made." Ace spoke as he walked over to the fridge and opened it, pulling out some food. "Care for a banana?" He chuckled as I stumbled to catch the yellow fruit being tossed in my direction before he shut the fridge and we headed out towards the deck. "Do you think anyone is awake?" I mumbled through my bite of banana. Ace just shrugged as he pushed the door open, "With the way everyone was drinking, you included, it amazes me that anyone is up." I followed him onto the quiet deck, squinting in the early sunrise. "Ah, good morning." Marco gave us a warm smile as he raised his coffee cup in our direction as a greeting. "Good morning." Ace greeted in return as I nodded in Marco's direction. "Up a little early, aren't you?" He questioned as we joined him at the table. "I don't even know what time we went to sleep." I muttered as I took another bite of my banana. "Oh, morning Pops." Ace called over to Whitebeard, who was standing near the front of the ship. Whitebeard turned to look at us, "Miss Clarity, may I speak with you?" I looked up to the giant man and swallowed the food in my mouth, "Yes sir." I set down the remainder of my breakfast on the table and slowly walked over to stand next to Whitebeard, now feeling severely underdressed.
I teetered on my heels as I waited for the mountain of a man to speak to me. "Clarity." He started, "Do you really love my son?" I looked up at him, taken aback by the question. That's not at all what I thought he was going to say! "Yes sir, I do." I answered him honestly, a blush rising to my face. "Do you love him enough to give up your rank for the Navy?" He asked me so calmly, that I nearly brushed over the fact that he knew about that. "I heard you talking to the boy last night while everyone else was in town." He explained. "You aren't mad at me for lying to you?" I played with the hem of Ace's shirt out of plain nervousness. "Do you?" He pressed and I nodded, "Of course!" He turned to eye me for a second and I could feel the courage leave my body. "Alright." Was all that was said. I blinked and stared at him for a few minutes before making my way back to the table, in utter confusion. "So do anything interesting last night?" Thatch's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Huh?" I gave a perplexed look, "When did you get here?" I completely ignored his question. He frowned, "Just a few minutes ago." He nudged Ace, "So?" Making this stupid winky face at him. Ace nudged him back a bit harder before continuing his conversation with Marco, "I honestly don't know how that man managed to stay on that bull for so long, especially after those beers he had." "I think they might have been watered down." Marco replied and sipped more of his coffee. I thought about the night before, trying to recall anything at all. Most of my memories were fuzzy from the amount of alcohol in my system. I reached down to start fiddling with the ring but I couldn't feel it around my neck. I glanced down to see it missing "No-!" I nearly tripped over myself get up from the table and rushing back to Ace room. I threw the door open with a lot of force and began to search ever inch of his room. Once I couldn't find it there, I retraced my steps as far as I could remember on the Moby Dick. "Clarity, what's wrong?" Ace asked me when I bumped into him. "I can't find my necklace!" I pushed passed him, hoping it was somewhere on the Moby Dick. "I don't recall seeing it around your neck last night." Ace called from down the hallway, "Well you had it up until you walked away from the festival." "You mean I lost my one chance at ever figuring out my past?" I leaned against the wall. I didn't have tears. I think I had cried them out last night as I confessed myself to Ace. "Just because you lost the ring, doesn't mean you lost your chance completely. I will help you search." Ace walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. "Why don't we just relax on the deck, we'll figure something out."