"Ace, aren't you freezing?" you questioned and pulled your jacket closer together as your shivered.

"Ah come on, [Y/n], it's not that bad," Ace said as a snowflake evaporated when it landed on his shoulder.

"Okay Mr. Fire logia," you muttered and rolled your eyes.

Winter islands weren't your favourite, you were used to the heat of the burning sun from Alabasta that anything less made you wear foreign attire to keep you warm. You were fortunate enough that your captain ate a fire-related devil fruit. The other crewmates would tease you when you clung onto Ace for warmth, thankfully Ace didn't mind, if anything-

"You want a kiss to warm you up?" Ace winked at you, wearing a teasing smirk.

"A hug would be enough," you stated, facing away from him as your chilly cheeks became a darker red.

Ace chuckled at your reaction and slyly planted his lips on your cheek, colouring your whole face into a red rose. You shook out of your flustered state when you heard Ace laughing. Taking advantage of him being distracted, you knelt down and picked up a handful of snow, shaping it into a ball.

"What are you-" Ace got cut off when you threw a snowball at his face. "Hey!"

"Who's laughing now?" You stuck out your tongue. Ace only grinned back at you, and you realized your mistake. "Uh oh!"

"So is that how we're going to play it?" Ace crouched down and rapidly made an alarming amount of snowballs.

"Oh no!" you started to dash away from the scene.

"Not so fast!" Ace called and you saw a snowball zip past you.

Your legs spirited as more snowballs came charging towards you. Ace chased you through the winter forest, hitting the trees, rocks, and anything that got in the way of his target. The few times you did look back only resulted in you getting hammered by snow. You were so concerned about dodging the snowballs that you slipped onto your back and slid across an icy surface.

"Ow..."

"You alright, [Y/n]?" Ace asked, making his way over to where you were.

"Yeah, I'm fine," you reassured him as you sat up.

"Hey, you found an ice rink!"

"An ice what?" A puzzled expression painted over your face.

"An ice rank, it's when water freezes over and you can walk on it," Ace explained as he stepped onto the ice. "My brothers and I used to play all the time on these."

Curiously, you watched as Ace pushed himself across the ice with unique strides. He glided around the surface, hands behind his back, and once he knew you were watching him, Ace started to show off. He twirled around, balanced on one foot, and for his final act, he jumped into the air and landed on the ice with a continued glide before coming to a stop.

"Ha! I finally landed it!" Ace exclaimed, proud of his achievement. "Sabo was the only one of us that could pull it off, I never knew how he could do it."

"You were amazing, Ace!" You applauded your captain.

"Thank you, thank you," Ace bowed dramatically, making you giggle. He glided over to where you sat and held out his hand. "Would you like to join me?"

"Oh!" You blushed, glancing at his hand and then trailed back to his eyes. "Uh- I'd love to but, I don't know how..."

"It's not that hard," Ace reassured. "I'll show you the ropes."

As you were ready to place your hand in his, a quiet crackling played in your ears. Your gaze moved to the ice where Ace stood, watching lines spread across the surface. Instincts took over. Grabbing Ace's wrist, you twisted your position to launch him into the patch of snow off the rink, sliding yourself to the center of cracks in the process.

Ace popped his head out of the snow. "Hey, [Y/n] what did you do that for-"

Your captain stopped, seeing the brief worry in your eyes, and could only watch as the ice broke beneath your body. You disappeared below the icy water, your jacket being the only evidence of where you once were. Ace felt his heart drop to the bottom of the ocean and he flew over to the hole in the rink, hovering over the water. He stuck his hand inside the water, splashing water around as he tried to find your hand.

"[Y/N]!" Ace cried into the water. "GRAB ONTO MY HAND [Y/N]!"

Yet nothing but the cold grasped his hand.