The Ferris wheel began to turn again, and there was nothing to do about it now. I couldn’t believe how uncomfortable it was inside of the gondola. How did we end up here?
I sat on the bench, hunched up awkwardly against the wall. Next to me, Ace gazed happily out the window at the scenery.
Sitting across from us and looking rather grumpy was Isuka. She didn’t spare a glance outside, just glared at the two of us in silence.
I wanna get off this thing!
We had barely started moving, and already I could hardly take it. I felt like I was going to suffocate. How could there be a Navy officer and pirates riding together in the same Ferris wheel gondola?
There was no way to enjoy the view. It was like being in prison. Were we still going up? When would we get back to the ground? I never knew the agonizingly slow movement of the wheel could be so terrifying.
I want to get back down… No, wait. What’ll happen when we get there?
Since there was nothing any of us could do in the cramped gondola, Isuka was behaving for now. But who knew what she would try once we were back on solid ground?
What’ll happen to us when we’re on the surface again?!
I inhaled and groaned. This was hell. It was hell inside the gondola, and hell waiting when I got back out of it.
But while I was squirming around feeling sorry for myself, Ace simply said, “So once the bubbles get a certain distance off the ground, they pop, huh?” He was the only one of us who was actually ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the view.
Ace, buddy, how can you be so calm over there? Isuka’s sitting right here, staring daggers at you. In fact, I might even say she’s staring laser beams at you.
I was so alarmed by the situation that I could hardly look at her. Instead, I stared at Isuka’s hands to avoid the ferocity of her gaze. One of them featured a very nasty burn scar. I’d noticed that scar the first time I ever saw her, in fact. Up close like this, it was clear that the scar was quite old.
“Curious?” she asked me, rather suddenly.
I was so startled that I jumped. Silence settled over the gondola.
“I asked, are you curious about my burn?” she repeated.
Now that I understood her meaning, I mumbled, “Uh…yeah. I mean, no…”
“It’s all right,” she said, smiling. “This happened when I was a kid. Pirates attacked the village where I was born. Within moments it was a sea of flames. The fire took my parents…”
The word ‘fire’ elicited a reaction from Ace, albeit a subtle one. He continued to stare silently out the window, however.
“I was trapped by the flames and smoke. It was a Navy officer who raced to the scene and actually saved me. That was Lieutenant Commander Dorrow, although he’s been promoted—he’s Vice Admiral Dorrow now. He’s the reason I wanted to join the Navy,” she explained, tracing her burn scar.
“Every time I look at this hand, I remember my youth. I don’t want any other children to have to go through what I did. That’s why I swore an oath to lock up all the villainous pirates,” Isuka continued, smiling gently. Her burn was both a painful memory and a signpost guiding her future way.
It occured to me that this was the first time I’d ever seen her looking so peaceful and pleasant. Maybe it just seemed that way because she wasn’t wearing her usual Navy uniform. Or maybe…
“Listen to me, Fire Fist,” she said, at the end of her story. “Quit the pirate life.”
It was so unexpected, I gasped.
“From what I can tell, you don’t seem like a bad person.”
Time seemed to slow down inside the gondola. I suddenly realized that the shouting and screaming of the children at the amusement park had drifted away. We were near the top of the ride. Ace continued to look out the window without offering a word.
“W-what are you saying?” I asked the ensign, stunned. “Q-quit being pirates? If we’re not pirates…then…what are we?”
She cut off my stammering. “If you have nowhere else to go, come to the Navy. I can give you a personal recommendation.”
Isuka was staring at Ace, her eyes passionate and full of intent. “I’m sure you would look good in a Navy uniform. We can take care of all of your friends together. What do you think? It’s not a bad deal, is it?”
This lady’s crazy…
I was at a loss for words. But Isuka was clearly dead serious. She was seriously, honestly trying to recruit Ace and the Spade Pirates to the Navy.
Since we’d entered the Grand Line, she’d been our enemy at each and every island we’d visited. Navy and pirates could never be anything other than pursuer and pursued, hunter and prey—so how could she possibly suggest such a thing with a straight face?
Perhaps, through our many evasions, Isuka had begun to accept Ace not as a pirate, but as an individual. Pirates caused the death of her parents, so she viewed all pirates as evil—until she had seen enough of Ace to realize that he wasn’t that bad.
Ace maintained his silence throughout her speech.
Then there was a familiar clicking sound.
“Hey, the door’s open,” Ace said, turning back with a worried look. Somehow the lock on the gondola had come undone. Air was rushing into the cramped interior from the open doorway.
“You’re not supposed to open—I mean, it’s not supposed to be open like that!”
The gondola door was wide open at the very top of the wheel. I’d thought Ace had just been looking out the window in silence this whole time, but apparently he’d been tinkering with the door all along.
“Sh-shut the door! It’s dangerous!” I told him, but Ace was already rising from his seat.
“Actually, I’m getting hungry, so I’m gonna jump down first.”
“Huh?!” I screamed, as Ace leaned his body out of the doorway.
“Wait,” said Isuka, “You haven’t given me an answer yet.” Her arms and legs were crossed, and she wasn’t budging an inch from her seat.
“Quit pirating to be a Navy man? Afraid I can’t do that,” said Ace, turning back to face her. His eyes were the color of the bottom of the sea, like I’d seen once before.
But it only lasted an instant. Just as quickly, a cheerful smile was on his face. “Later, Isuka,” he said, and jumped out, landing on the roof of the next gondola down and bounding off of it. In midair, fire erupted from his body.
He bounded from roof to roof down the series of descending cars, like going down a flight of stairs. It was the most dynamic method of descent I could have imagined.
Eventually he reached the ground and waved up at us. Isuka and I watched him rush away in total silence. Our gondola passed the apex of the wheel and began to descend.
“What now?” I said at last, unable to bear the silence.
“What now, what?”
“Ace isn’t going to stop being a pirate. And the Spade Pirates will continue to follow him. So no matter what, we’ll only be enemies in the future.”
“I suppose that’s true…” Isuka said, slightly disappointed.
“Are you just…going to take me hostage?” I asked. Obviously, I hoped the answer was no. “If you do, Ace will come and rescue me rather than running away. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”
Isuka only grimaced. “Since when does a person on the side of justice take hostages? Fool,” she said. Then, much quieter, she muttered, “That’s exactly why I want him on my side.”
The gondola slowly made its way back down. My trip on the Ferris wheel would soon come to an end.
When the ground approached, Isuka made a big show of turning away from me in a huff.
“I’ll be back to try again. You’re free to go today,” she said. “The truth is, I’m not on duty now. I was on leave.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I climbed out of the little gondola booth, leaving Isuka behind in her conspicuously obvious vacation clothes.