Ace let out a large sigh as he easily stepped around the clumsily drawn fist thrown his way, he was so not in the mood to deal with this right now. Originally this was meant to be a quick hunt, he would go in, takeout everyone with a bounty, hand them over to the marines and leave with the money. But no, nothing ever went according to plan when he was involved.

Instead of walking in on the relatively small pirate crew he was supposed to dealing with he walked in on one relatively small pirate crew and their significantly larger allies crew. Great, just great. It wasn't that he couldn't handle them, he could. Easily at that, but they were fucking persistent and it wasn't long till the supposedly fithteen minute job turned into a good hour and a half clean-up session.

You'd think that after seeing significantly stronger crewmates being beaten easily the weaker pirates would just give up and let him leave but noooo the stupid idiots just had to keep on fighting and while Ace admired their persistence it was getting really fucking annoying. He supposed he could have just used his Haki and be done with it, but honestly, he was still reasonably new to the skill and using it was exhausting. And seeing as he was planning on heading off to the next island as soon as he was done, the bounty hunter really didn't want to deal with the side effects.

Ace's sigh, turned to a large grin as he took in the lack of people attacking him, and realised the pirate he had just taken down was the last one standing "Fucking finally!"

Still grinning to himself, the young bounty hunter started to whistle a cheerful tune as he weaved in and out amongst the unconscious bodies, tying up anyone he recognised as having a bounty. Ace had been stuck on this island for the past four days waiting for his log pose to settle and had decided on one last bounty hunt to gain some funds before leaving.

Letting out a happy smile as he tied up the last of the pirates, Ace moved the tied-up pirates onto his boat and continued to whistle cheerfully. Shit eating grin firmly in place as he ignored the groans and complaints of the now conscious pirates.

After all it was incredibly easy to ignore death threats and complaints when the pirates giving them were currently tied up in a clump of pain. After a quick sail, the bounty hunter docked at the nearest marine base. Ignoring the curious looks he got as people saw the line of tied up pirates reluctantly trudging behind him, Ace smiled widely and proceeded to the marine's area for bounty drops.

Smiling politely the young teen tapped on the shoulder of the closest marine "I'm here to drop off some criminals and collect the bounties." The man, a lieutenant if his uniform was anything to go by, nodded with a scowl "name, and bounty hunter licence?"

"Portgas.D Ace, and here you go." handing the man the card Ace merely watched as the man nodded and made a note of his name before hissing commands at a lower ranking officer and handing back the card. "Everything seems to be in order, I've just sent someone to collect the bounties for you."

Ace nodded a polite smile still fixed firmly in place despite the look of utter distaste on the marine's face "Thank you." Realising that the reception was currently empty except for the two of them Ace's eyes lit up with a mischievous glee "Are you hungry?" The marine looked at him as if he was mad "Because you look like you're hungry." The man gritted his teeth "I'm not hungry."

Ace feigned concern "Are you absolutely sure you're not hungry?" The man nodded, irritation clear on his face, as Ace nodded seriously. Continuing to stare at the marine, the teen enjoyed the man's obvious discomfort, before suddenly widening his eyes, letting out a shocked gasp and putting on a sombre face. "Of course, you're not hungry, you poor soul, I'm so sorry that must have seemed incredibly insensitive of me. What with your...condition...and all."

The man's irritancy changed to confusion and slight nervousness as he noticed the young man's solemn face "What do you mean condition?" Ace let out another loud gasp "You mean you don't know?! You poor soul, don't worry I'm sure the doctors can still cure it in time."

Ignoring the lieutenants now white face Ace sent a small grin to the shocked marine that had just shown up with his reward money. Winking at the other marine, Ace put an exaggerated look of sadness on his face and grabbed his money before giving the lieutenant a solid pat on the back "Don't worry, even if only thirty percent of victims survive I'm sure you'll be one of them."

Shaking his head as if in regret Ace secretly savoured the look of terror on the man's face (as well as the amusement on his subordinate's face) and left the marine base. The teen made the fithty meters back to his boat before he collapsed on deck laughing, if all marines were as stupid as that one was, it was little wonder the oceans were filled with pirates.

Shaking himself out of his laughter, Ace started to prepare the boat to set off considering how strange it still was to be working with the marines. Well ok he wasn't exactly working with them but still it was strange, especially after spending most of his childhood denying that he'd ever have anything to do with the organisation.

Afterall if his last name was ever discovered it would be the marines, not the pirates, that would hunt him down for execution regardless of if he himself was a pirate or not. Well maybe with the exception of his gramps but even then, the shitty geezer might have no choice in the matter.

Ace tried to make the scowl that had appeared on his face at the thought of his parentage fade, but after a few seconds gave up trying. Ace had never wanted to follow in that man's footsteps, not when it put everyone he loved at risk, not when he would live a life of constant comparison not to mention the risk if anyone ever found out who he was.

But at the same time Ace loved the sea, something about adventure called to him and after refusing the ideas of both piracy and the marines he settled on the idea of bounty hunting. It wasn't ideal. And it had certainly been much more difficult trying to explain to Shanks why he had wanted to meet and thank him, and that he wasn't just a cocky bounty hunter trying for a yonkou's head. But with the money he had earned Ace had managed to buy a small and comfortable ship capable of being sailed by one person and with it could enjoy his freedom to his heart's content.

Finishing his preparations Ace let out a small smile as he looked down at the log pose on his wrist, he was looking forward to the next island. Not only was it a summer island famous for its fruit and meat dishes but it was also supposed to have incredible scenery. However even with his excitement about the next island Ace couldn't afford to be too relaxed, afterall the next island was whitebeard territory.

Authors note

Hi to anyone reading this so I'm Autumn and this is my first fanfic, I'm a huge one piece fan and this ideas been floating around my head for a while so i figured I'd give a try at writing it, I hope you enjoyed reading it! I'm planning to upload a second chapter soon but I'm not a hundred percent sure when, please leave a review so I know what you think!