Growing up with a marine admiral for a grandpa is hard, factor in that said marine is insane and puts you through outrageous training every day, and you have a recipe for anguish. Some nights Ace could barely make it through the front door before he collapsed from exhaustion, but then compared to Luffy, that was nothing.

Garp was always pushing Luffy, forcing him to expand his physical, and to a sense, his mental limits. It didn't matter if he succeeded with the training exercise his grandfather had given to him or if he failed horribly, Garp was never satisfied. He always looked at Luffy with that unreadable stare of his and said "You could do so much better." Ace watched as Luffy torn himself to pieces, pushed himself to limits that succeeded human understanding, never giving up or staying down, listened to his little brothers' quiet whimpers at night from the pain, and tended to the numerous injuries Luffy always received while training. Even with all that Garp was still unsatisfied, and he let them know. He wasn't going to hide the fact that he thought his grandson was a complete blunder.

And that more than anything, hurt far worse than any physical wound could. Luffy looked up to his grandpa, and though he'd never admit it on pain of never being a pirate, he craved approval and praise from the man he looked up to, but that was one wishing that went unfulfilled. The old fart was scaring Luffy mentally and it was pissing Ace off; he decided that this needed to stop and soon.

The day had been one of the longest in Ace's memory; every time he tried consulting with his adoptive grandfather in a "peaceful" manner, he was interrupted. Either by Luffy, "Ace-San, Ace-San look at this! It's a beetle and it's HUGE!" Sabo, "Hey Ace, do you wanna go beat up some dump pirates with me? Maybe score a few more beli?"

Thinking of dump pirates always made his stomach ache; thinking of his little brother in the hands of marauders, being tortured for information was not something Ace liked to dwell on.

An eternity later, everyone (bandits included, stupid oyajis excluded) Ace was finally able to confront his not quite grandpa.

"Garp, why are you so callous with Luffy? I mean come one, I've seen what he can do and it's incredible! He tries extremely hard to get your approval, and you just stand there and look at him like he's some piece of garbage you had the misfortune of stepping in!" Garp sighed, a deep bone weary sound, expression morphing into one of anguish and self-hate; "I'm afraid" he whispered, "of losing Luffy again."

Confusion and wariness flooded into Ace's face, hearing the family patriarch say he was afraid of all things, was slightly perturbing. What does he mean losing Luffy….again; from what he recalled he didn't know a lot of Luffy's past and maybe, maybe he should've known more…

Ace jumped as a book was shoved under his nose, looking up Garp simply said "It will give you the answers you seek." The Portgas heir glanced at the book in his hands and almost dropped it. Ace knew this book, it was hard not to as it was the only book in the whole house. It used to be something he frequently spent hours contemplating what was inside, every time he tried to get the book though, Garp would always appear at the last second and scream at him.

A smirk crawled across the youngers face, it was like someone had given him the keys to the mystery he'd spent years trying to uncover.
Ace stared at the door before him contemplating his opinions, he could exit and brave the forest at night or he could stay here and risk being caught. Giant animals or pesky siblings….definitely giant animals; both of his brothers held tightly to their pasts and not even Luffy would divulge his secrets.

Such a blatant disregard for his privacy would definitely distress his youngest charge and fracture the respect Luffy held for Ace; no, he had to go to the fort, some primal instinct warning that he needed to be alone when he opened the book and faced the horrors he knew would be hidden, cleverly disguised by ink and paper; it would not be pleasant experience.

There were three things Ace would admit to. One – the walk to the tree house had been less eventful than he thought it'd be. Why he'd only had to fight a couple of those giant blue tigers – child's play, not even slightly hindering. Two – It was freaking cold (which Ace mused was to be expected as it was almost winter) and he really should have been more prepared, after all, he only brought his coat and a thin blanket he'd purloined off Dadan's Bed, and three Ace was scared, terrified actually, not that he'd tell anyone that embarrassing matter. Now, he wasn't scared of being out so late, or the giant animals that yearn to tear him to shreds, no he was scared of what horrors awaited him, because of the rather suspicious book, Garp had entrusted to him. Scared of the book that smelled of spice and magic, which now that he really thought about it, was how Luffy vaguely smelled.

It's hard to picture a place that is usually so full of life vapid and quite a bit lonely, as Ace shimmied his frame through the hatch that served as the entrance to the club house; he got his first real glance at what it looked like. When Luffy and Sabo accompanied him, their little hole in the wall became something special. It became a place to go when you felt you had nowhere else to return to, a safe haven for them, a place they were always welcome. At this moment though, it was nothing more than a box of shabby wood nailed together; a place that screamed neglect at him. None of that mattered now; he had to start preparing himself to open the black widow's nest of secrets – some that might not be as innocent as others. 10 minutes later, candle burning brightly, blanket wrapped around small but sturdy shoulders, Ace was ready for the first pages, at least that's what he kept telling himself. Opening the cover Ace felt himself freeze, blood running cold, eyes wide with shock as he stared in horror at the page, at the neat, tiny words that seemed to be smirking evilly at him, mocking him as he gaped like a fish at the letters writing a phrase that could never describe Luffy.

Devil Child

Ace was momentarily struck dumb to say the least, who in the world would - could accuse LUFFY – dumb, innocent, annoying, but loveable Luffy of being a DEVIL, of all things? Not one person on this whole, bloody planet, no one in the universe even, would say that Luffy was evil. Easy to manipulate – yes, naïve - DEFINITELY, evil - not so much; with a sigh and a single unbelieving shake of the head, Ace leaned forward and picked up the book from the floor, where it must have fallen from numb fingers in his shock.

"Okay, so maybe I wasn't as ready as I probably should have been, but who would've expected THAT in a book about LU?" Ace mumbled to himself.

This time- this time, he was certain that he could handle it, he had to be hard as nails if he wanted to do this, if he couldn't even handle the cover page, then what was this all for? Taking a deep, lung aching breath, Ace opened the cover yet again and lost a bit of the nerve he'd hastily scraped together.

DEVIL CHILD

The Life and Death of a monster

As Told by: Monkey D. Lilith (1)

Once again he flinched, No he was going to do this, honor be damned; he didn't care if we was crying by the end, just as long as he got his answers. Ace shook his head to rid the flicker of doubt from his mind and trudged on valiantly.
October 5, 1716 - Entry One

"You're nothing more than lily-livered, mousy, spineless, paper tiger! Come on Dragon, Mr. I'm-A-Big-Strong-Warrior, show us what you're made of!" a young male - about 17 years old - was shouting, trying to goad another boy into doing something they both knew was stupid. Their friends stood behind them, silently watching the proceedings like it was nothing new, like it was an old annoying habit. The male was shouting again "Come on then, I thought you could handle it, but it appears I was overestimating you! You wouldn't be able to handle a tattoo the size of a pebble!"

The other boy finally reacted his words, standing up quickly and he approached his 'friends' side, "You really think I wouldn't be able to handle it? I was named after the mighty beast of governs both sky and sea, how are you able to look at me and not see that? I'll show you, I'll prove to you I can handle it!" Grabbing his companions arm, and sending a glance to the others, one that clearly said One-Funny-Comment-and-You-Won't-Live-to-see-Tomorr ow, they hurried off to the closest tattoo parlor.

If you had looked closely at the alley way between the buildings the group had just been standing by, you might have noticed the young woman observing from the shadows, you might have noticed the village outcast laughing her head off at how 'stupid these boy are.' Unfortunately, no one looked, so Lilith remained unnoticed.
Luffy awoke later that night with the feeling that something was missing, though through the haze sleep brought he only vaguely realized that there was only one body lying next to him when there should have been two.

However, the youngest brother was losing the fight for awareness and the siren call of sleep lured him back into the depths of unconsciousness. Dull brown eyes slipped closed yet again to the thought of 'Tomorrow. Tomorrow he'd figure out what was missing, but for now he'd sleep' and with that he curled against Sabo, never once regarding what could be happening to his other brother. Oh well, he'd find out soon enough.