H A Z I N G Trial by Fire

Series: One Piece

Main Characters: Ace (obviously), and Whitebeard (also obvious), and a bunch of OCs.

Rating: T as of yet, mostly for cussing and pillaging and violence…you know, pirate stuff.

Genre: Humor and Action/Adventure, but really a little bit of everything.

Summery: Ace is picked up by Whitebeard's crew, but it'll take even more than a Fire Fist to earn his place in the elite crew. That is if he survives the hazing.

General Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or anything associated with One Piece. Anything here you recognize as from One Piece is therefore not mine, I'm not making money off it and I don't claim to have created it.

Note: I hardly know anything about Whitebeard, so most everyone one his crew is made up.

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H A Z I N G : Trial by Fire

By LGR

(Beta-reading done by Raptor the Predator, thank you Raptor!)

(Under-Crewman Saga: Vice Admiral Kaizer Arc)

--Log Entry Zero--

Story Time

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"Think he's dead?"

"He's not dead, he's breathing isn't he?"

"Well, maybe he's a zombie or something…"

"You idiot, zombies don't exist!"

"So…he's not a zombie?"

"He's sleeping you dumbass!"

Whitebeard crewman and Carpenter Saikoro "Pips" Matatabi proceeded to smack his fellow crewman, known only as Waku, upside the head. Zombies? What the hell was Waku thinking?

Besides, Zombies didn't breathe, an idiot knew that.

Saikoro turned back to his main problem: the freckled brunette kid in black cargo shorts and a ridiculous orange hat, sleeping face up on the deck of a stolen Navy Galleon. He looked maybe, seventeen, and was well muscled and fairly tall. Why he didn't have sunburn from not wearing a shirt was beyond him. How the hell had he managed to steal a Navy Galleon? And why the hell was it supposed to be Saikoro who had been ordered to vault onto the possible dangerous ship, and then figure out what to do with the guy? He was the Carpenter for Christ's sake!

He sighed and pulled off his spotted bandana, to run his fingers through his dirty blond hair as he chewed on a tooth pick, and then scratching his unshaved chin, trying to think what he should do with the guy. After a second of thinking, he settled on just telling the Captain about it and letting him decide. He'd been ordered to kill anyone on the ship, but maybe Whitebeard would change his mind. If this kid was capable of stealing a Galleon from under the Navy's nose, then he could be a valuable member for the crew. Hell, he needed a new apprentice.

"Waku, stop poking the dude," Saikoro said exasperatedly to his partner who had been repeatedly jabbing the kid in the shoulder to no affect except to cause the adolescent to let loose a loud snore, "If he hasn't woken up by now, he probably won't, so come on let's give the all clear and tow this guy over to Whitebeard."

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Portgas D. Ace blinked his eyes open lazily to find himself, not on the stolen navy ship he'd apprehended (ah, he wanted to burst out laughing just thinking about it) but on a completely different boat surrounded by a crew of menacing pirates. Hmm, did they qualify as menacing? Let's see: one was biting down on six knives and had more scars than an Eastern Blue Fighting Fish, another looked like one of his parent's had been some sort of bear for the size of his muscles, he spied a bunch of spidery looking guys hanging from the rigging...Oh, and they were all glaring threateningly. Yeah, they qualified as menacing.

Despite his current situation, he wasn't all together worried. Portgas D. Ace didn't get worried. Nothing really fazed him very much (except for maybe food, or lack there of. Heck he was one of the D-brothers, after all; infamous in Fuchsia Village for being bottomless pits), and besides that, he had a trump card….

Yawning lazily, he pushed himself up, crossing his arms behind his head, and looking over the pirates without the least bit of outward care.

He blinked.

They growled.

The bare-chested boy let loose yet another yawn and then said, in typical D-brother fashion, "Hey guys, got any food?"

Half the crew face-faulted into the deck, and one blond bandana-wearing guy in baggy pants, a carpenter's belt and black shirt, left his mouth open, slack-jawed and the tooth pick he'd been sucking on fell from his mouth onto the ground. Perhaps the only one who remained unchanged was a young looking guy who was just glaring from his place leaning against the mast.

He smirked, pulling the lip down on his broad-rimmed orange hat. Yeah, that one always got 'em. Oh, how he loved giving shocked reactions. There was just something so great about them…

A loud chuckle rang from behind Ace and he kicked himself into a standing position, and turned around to see who thought he was so funny.

Whoa, this guy must be taking his vitamins. Sitting there in a huge chair was the biggest guy Ace had ever seen. He was an old man hooked up to a number of IVs surrounded by a team of female nurses in short pink dresses and flower print boots. He must not have been that sick, however, as evidence from the barrel of rum he held in his right hand. The guy was obviously the Pirate Captain and he had the most bizarre crescent shaped mustache. It looked like it could be removed and then tossed around like a pseudo-knife-boomerang, and Ace found himself staring at it. I wonder if he ever cuts his lip on it…

The giant man finished laughing, saying, "You've got spunk, kid!" he took a swig of his rum, "So, who might you be, Spunky, and what were you doing on a Navy Galleon?"

Spunky? Hell NO am I gonna be called Spunky! That's nowhere near cool enough for me.

Stupid nickname, or not, Ace gazed lazily over the giant's shoulder feeling relieved, (not that he had been nervous. As stated before, Portgas D. Ace doesn't get worried or nervous), it was a load off his shoulders to know he wouldn't have to barbeque anyone…or hopefully wouldn't have to barbeque anyone…

He tried to decide whether to answer truthfully or to lie, but figured it wouldn't really matter either way, except that if they found out he was lying, his life might be in jeopardy, so maybe telling the truth was safer. And besides that, it kept him from having to think up something.

"Well, Captain…" Ace trailed off. Crap, I don't know his name.

"Whitebeard," one of the crew supplied. Ace raised an eyebrow but didn't otherwise make any comment toward the crewman. Whitebeard…it rang a few bells.

"Er, Captain Whitebeard, I'm Portgas D. Ace, and as to what I was doing on the ship: I was sleeping." Yup, the absolute truth.

Captain Whitebeard started cackling again, but a couple of the crewman got angry and started incoherently babbling stuff about not being a smartass or they'd have to hurt him. Quartered with the sabers they had pointed at his neck, it was quite a convincing display. Ace almost felt apprehensive; the key word there being almost.

"Sleepin'!" Whitebeard guffawed, "Ha, he was sleepin'! Funny kid, we knew you were sleepin' but how'd you wined up on a Navy Ship?"

"Oh, I stole it from them," he replied casually, nodding at his answer, and then straightening his hat.

"Really? And how might you have done that?"

Hmm, obviously they wanted him to elaborate; well it was a long story.

"Okay, take a seat guys this is going to take a bit," he said. Much to his surprise the crew got really excited and all sat down in front of him, leaning on the sides of the boat and propping their arms up on elbows in expectation. Everyone was sitting somewhere or leaning against something, or sitting amongst the rigging. Granted, some were more expectant than others and at least three crewmen seemed to be very embarrassed by the rest of the crew's actions, but there was still a general air of 'fun'. This, Ace thought, was quite unusual on a cutthroat pirate ship.

And then simultaneously, the closest of the crew started chanting "Story-time! Story-time!"

Okay, that was a little weird. Can you say kindergarten, much?

"Well, see," he began and everyone leaned in closer. It was disconcerting to say the least, "I left my home in Fuchsia village fairly recently on a mission to become a pirate and perhaps find One Piece and become King of Pirates," a lot of the pirates nodded, it had been their dream too, "But I didn't have a boat or anything," Ahh, yes they knew what that was like, "so I stole this small little raft-thing from this mean lady at the docks and apparently she was the wife of some Navy officer or something—Anyways, the hag calls the navy and suddenly I have this big Navy galleon after me."

Gasp!

"I'm a pretty good sailor and the raft was surprisingly fast so I was making good time. Thought I might get away. And then I fall asleep at the rudder,"

What? How the hell do you fall asleep at the rudder!

"Hey! I have a condition! I'm a narcoleptic!"

A Narca-whatta?

"NAR-CO-LEP-TIC, I randomly fall asleep. Usually at crappy times."

Oh, that must suck…

"Yes, but what can I say, life's a bitch. Anyways, the next thing I know I'm in the Brigg."

Uh-oh, how did you escape that? They all asked.

"I'm getting to it," he assured them, "Okay, so I'm really hungry at this point and there happens to be this old guy in there with me with this big fruit." A few let out triumphant Oh!s. They knew where this was going… "Well, while his back is turned I decided he wouldn't really mind if I just, you know, tasted it. So I grabbed it and put the thing in my mouth."

"When the guy woke up he was really mad and started wailing on me but he caught on fire,"

Caught on Fire?

"Yeah, he caught on fire…"

Wait, how did that happen?

"Well, I kind of did it…"

KIND OF-did it, or DID-do it?

"Can you guys just shut up and let me finish!"

Jeez, fine…

"Okay, so as some of you might have realized, it was a forbidden fruit. The Mera-Mera fruit to be exact," he demonstrated by holding up his now flaming fingers.

Ooooooh! A few of them were nodding smugly to their neighbors saying "I told you So!", and "Didn't I tell you?"

"Yes, pretty cool. So anyways, I end up setting the whole ship on fire, unfortunately I couldn't swim so when it went down I almost drowned, but there were a bunch of other Navy ships there—apparently it was a fleet, led by Vice Admiral Kaizer, but that doesn't really matter—one of them picked me up and I was going to fight them off and steal the boat but my narcolepsy kicked in and I ended up caught again."

Again!

"Yeah, again. But this time, I didn't catch the whole ship on fire; I just melted the bars to my cell and got out. They didn't have any seastone cuffs. It wasn't any problem to pretend a narcoleptic fit and wait for the guy watching me to relax his guard and put down his rifle. So then I generally kicked butt, and set the rest of the fleet on fire and sailed off with the ship, fell asleep and here I am!"

"Wait, that can't be right, a kid like you fought off a whole ship of the Navy?" one of the crewman repeated skeptically, "I mean, most of them are incompetent to say the least, but still."

"Well, they don't call me Fire Fist Ace for nothing. Or they wouldn't if they actually called me Fire Fist Ace. Which they don't…but they will eventually."

Huh? Was the general reaction. Oh, how he enjoyed confusing people…

The mustached giant was snorting in laughter, "Fire Fist Ace huh? Well, Ace we just happened to have an opening in the crew, one of my mates retired and we need someone to take his place."

Retired? Did pirates ever retire?Ace didn't know; he didn't see why any of them would want too. Whitebeard certainly hadn't.

"You up for the job, kid?" the Captain asked expectantly. A lot of the crewmen were nodding there heads in agreement and asking/pleading/demanding that he join. It would be so fun, they said. Ace thought they were all insane.

"What?" Ace was dumbfounded. When did this happen: First he was a prisoner, then an entertainer and now a crewmember? Ace was good, but he wasn't that good. Not yet anyways. He was pretty cocky but he was also realistic (unlike his brother Luffy) and this seemed a little sudden.

"You're serious about this? Just like that?" He'd been planning on being a captain, not a deckhand. And what about the ship he just stole, that was his ship! He could theoretically start to hire a crew and sail around pillaging or whatever. That had been his plan.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeease Ace?" One of the crewmen begged, hanging onto his pant leg and wearing the Don't-Break-My-Innocent-Little-Heart face that his little brother had frickin' invented. Hell no was he falling for that one. Even so, the fact that that face was on a grown man made Ace feel more than a little queasy.

"Pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeease?" four other crewmen grabbed onto his leg. Ace, lowered the rim of his hat in embarrassment. Come on, this is just juvenile.

"I just got a ship of my own; I was hoping to start my own crew not join up with someone else's." he told them, and they only increased their efforts, another two crewmen grabbed onto his leg, he tried to move but almost tripped. "Seriously people, if you don't let go, I'll have to burn someone."

No one let go. He sighed exasperatedly.

"Toss him overboard. He's trouble walking, not to mention obviously useless," someone from the crew said, and Ace felt a fire ignite in his attitude and he barely heard the outcry from the crew against the speaker. Despite his usually amiable mood, Ace could be a hot-head sometimes. And this was one of those times.

Insulting my legitimacy as a pirate…Oh, whoever said that was going to regret it.

It was the guy leaning against the mast. He looked about Ace's age, possibly a year or two younger, and slightly shorter with a build that was something between Luffy's gummy-ness and Ace's toned muscles. His spiky blue hair and glaring gold eyes were a little intimidating, but Ace would be lying if he said he hadn't seen intimidating looking guys before. Half the time they weren't all they were cracked up to be. Besides, this guy gave him the impression that this was how he always was.

Ace did find it strange he was wearing a long sleeved white captain's coat with a double row of buttons and lapels so tall they covered the bottom half of his face, and bandaged, wrapped shins and wrists. Whitebeard was the captain, not this dude. Whatever, Ace supposed that rank didn't necessarily have anything to do with one's concept of fashion. But still, it was untraditional.

Ace smirked ominously at the blue-haired guy. Can't take the heat, huh? Not a real Pirate, huh? "Fine I'll join the crew," I'll show that bastard.

There was a loud 'Hurrah!' as everyone on ship (well except for whatshisface) cheered, and began rushing him around the deck introducing him to his new crewmates, telling him people's names, which he forgot instantly, and passing around alcohol. There was also mention of introducing him to people on other ships in the fleet.

"What other ships?" he asked.

Yeah, Whitebeard had his own fleet.

"Really?"

Well yeah, he was The Great Pirate Whitebeard: Edward Newgate, after all. Only the Strongest Man in the World!

"I didn't know that."

Now, let us tell YOU a story…