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O-Tama knows that she shouldn’t do it. If anyone found out that she was sneaking onto the Spades ship she would be in trouble. Ace told her all about his wild little brother, that always ran into danger. Okay, maybe he didn’t tell her but his crew. And, Ace thought she was asleep.“Why are you keeping so close to her?” Banshee, the cook of the Spade pirates, asked.Ace patted the top of her head, running his fingers though her hair. O-Tama kept her eyes closed, halfway asleep.“She’s so small. It reminds me of Luffy.” Ace said, his voice soft. Full of something O-Tama never heard before. She wanted to stay near it though. Not wanting to let them go.Deuce laughed, “Does that mean we should worry about her in the future? You’re bother doesn’t listen and runs into danger right?”“He does, the worst nightmare for an older brother. If Shanks wasn’t watching as closely as he was, Luffy might have tried sneaking onto his ship.” Ace said, “But, O-Tama’s a sweet girl. I don’t think we have to worry.”O-Tama felt a little guilty about this. She shouldn’t do this. However, the idea of not seeing Ace again was too much. She wanted to stay warm every night, and listen to all their stories. If she learned more about her devil fruit she could help out more. Promising to train harder than anyone on the ship. If they forgave her this little bit of disappointment.Hiding in a box that held rope. She waited, feeling the rocking of the ship. Darkness around her, making it hard to stay awake. She blinked hard and long. Before she knew it she was asleep. Unaware of the failure to beat Kaido, due to him not being there. Then there was the night Ace stayed with Kiados son.When O-Tama opened her eyes, it was quite. Shifting from her spot, her legs hurt. Standing was hard, thanks to being in one spot all night. She carefully made her way out of the box. Looking around she she walked along the deck. Looking out over the endless sea.“Woah, how far does it go?” She whispered, putting her hands on the rail, while looking between the bars.Two hands grabbed her and lifted her up. She screamed, kicking the air. “What are you doing here little lady?” Skulls voice asked. O-Tama turned to see the masked man looking at her. A frown on his face.“Oh uh, I’m you’re new crew mate!” She said, hoping that lie would work. It didn’t as Skull took her to show the rest of the crew. All of whom looked a little mad about this.“We have to go back.”“That’s not an option. If we go back now then we might not be able to leave.”“What else are we supposed to do?”“Drop her off at another island?”“Oh just kidnap a child and dump them in a different island. That’s the honorable thing.”“Well, at least I’m coming up with ideas.”“You’re ideas suck!”“What if we use the striker?”“The waves are too big to get in. Even if Ace got them back alive the striker would be busted, and he would be stuck.”O-Tama watched them argue about what to do. None of them looking at her. Ace wasn’t here yet though. Something about sleeping off a night of drinking. Deuce was quite as he watched listening to them bring up different ideas. “Okay, we can’t do anything right now. Not without Ace knowing about this. For now, we’ll watch her and keep sailing.” Deuce said, sighing.O-Tama got to run around a bit. But, learned not to run on deck. It was slippery and dangerous. She could fall into the water. She listened the best she could, trying to show how great it would be to have her here. After all she only didn’t listen to them the one time.O-Tama, was helping them fish, sitting patiently. When a very familiar voice asked, “What’s going on here?” Turning there was Ace, looking at O-Tama.Deuce shifted, “We sound a stowaway. Though we’re not sure what to do with her. It’s too late to go back to Wano. But, leaving her on another island seems cruel.”Ace nodded, the frown on his face not leaving. O-Tama had never seen Ace look so blank. Was he mad at her? Was he going to leave her? Or worse was he going to give her to Kaido?“I see, how has our stowaway been behaving after getting caught?” Ace asked, finally looking away from her. O-Tama felt like crying, tears welling up in her eyes.“She’s been pretty good, listening when we tell her to not run, and helping us with stuff.” Banshee said, putting a hand on her head. O-Tama didn’t know what to say. Banshee seemed like the one that wanted her to leave the most.Ace knelt down, putting his hand under O-Tama’s chin. Lifting her face from the ground so they could make eye contact. “O-Tama, you know what you did was wrong, right?” Ace asked. O-Tama nodded her head. “You know that we didn’t take you because there are bad and scary things out here. That you were supposed to stay because it was safer for you. Why did you sneak on our ship?” Ace asked.“I-I I WANTED TO STAY WITH YOU!” O-Tama said, the dam breaking. Tears flowing down her face. She was bad, and knew it. “I DON’T WANNA BE ALONE!” She couldn’t see, the tears were too much. She could hardly hear them when she felt two warm hands pull her into a hug. Patting her back.“Guess she’s staying then?” Deuce asked, as she hiccuped.Ace shrugged, “Nothing to do about it.” He was a sucker for a kid that didn’t want to be alone. Thinking back to Luffy, Ace had to admit that shanks was a lot better than him.