Nineteen years after the words that have since driven countless fearless men to the seas in search of the treasure beyond anything they could possibly imagine had been spoken; a new generation of eager adventurers flooded into the seas in search of the greatest treasure the world has to offer, the One Piece. That man who, in his last breath accepted his own fates, smiled, and with the words that resonated through the waters and shook the very foundation of the World Government, set in motion the Great Pirate Era. Now, not two decades have gone by and a young pirate from the East Blue has set out on his own journey to the Grand Line in a quest to acquire the One Piece and claim the title King of the Pirates. Seventeen year-old Portgas D. Ace, the captain of the Spade Pirates, and son to the late Pirate King Gol D. Roger has gathered up his crew for their entry into the worlds' best ocean. With the Grand Line in sight the newly formed crew makes their trek out of the calm waters of the East Blue and into the tumultuous sea known best as the "pirate's graveyard."
"Captain Ace, why are we stopping here?" one of his subordinates asked as he scaled the main mast up to where his young captain had been reclining.
"We need to gather supplies. We're heading to Reverse Mountain as soon as we stock up, and I'm not sure how long it will be before we dock at our first island in the Grand Line." The relaxed captain replied, not even bothering to take his eyes of the ocean before him to acknowledge his crew member.
"Aren't we going to stop at Loguetown? It's much closer to Reverse Mountain after all." The young pirate continued to probe his superior.
"An outpost for Marines and other rival pirates getting ready to test their own luck on the Grand Line, no thank you." The captain chuckled with a tip of the brim of his hat to block the afternoon sunlight from his eyes.
"But captain, don't you want to see the place where this era started; the place where the Pirate King was executed?" The scrawny caramel-haired youngster continued to beg; dissatisfied with his hardheaded captain's decision.
"Where not here to go sightseeing Izzy. We have no use for such trivial matters, our focus right now need to be on getting into the Grand Line. We can set our sights on a bigger prize once we get there. We're going to claim this era as our own." Ace declared with a slight smirk emerging from the shadow cast by his beloved hat.
The pirate captain hoisted himself up from his comfortable position in the crow's nest and proceeded to climb down to the deck where the majority of his relatively small crew resided. "Drop anchor here." The youth ordered still gazing at the vast ocean before him.
"Aye-aye captain!" his subordinates resounded ardently and promptly obeyed their captain's orders.
"Alright men, don't get too comfortable, we won't be staying here long." The young skipper began addressing the bewildered looks on the faces of his crewmen. "We're stopping here only to get supplies. We are going to leave here as hastily as we can, I'd like to be sailing the waters of the Grand Line by sundown"
With a nod of his head the pirate dismissed his crew unto the town and descended from the dock of his ship to the rocky waters below.
"Stock up on whatever you think we may need until we reach the first island of the Grand Line, but keep it only to the essentials. Our ship is small, she can only hold so much. I will be inquiring about a more sufficiently sized vessel once enter the Grand Line, we are bound to find a skillful shipwright somewhere on that ocean. Now, I must see a man about a log pose." The captain added as a final piece of advice to his novice crew before setting them loose into the town.
The raven-haired captain strolled through the lively marketplace en route to the naval supplies store, within mere seconds the effect of the atmosphere took hold. He was overcome by the decadent aroma of the various outdoor eateries that slowly drew his attention away from the task at hand.
"Log pose first, dinner later." The suddenly hungry adventurer told himself as he came upon the shop he had been looking for.
He pushed open the wooden door and entered the small store, causing a bell to chime and recognize his presence. He was welcomed by the sound of the cheery voiced man behind the counter who had been doing inventory when the captain arrived. "Splendid afternoon good sir, what can I do ya for?"
"I seem to be in need of a log pose, might you have one by chance?" the captain inquired in his usual respectful manner he'd grown accustomed to using around unfamiliar adults.
"You're in luck my good man, we just got 'em in today. They're right over there." The shopkeeper directed the young man's attention to the display on the far left wall of the store. "With this 'Great Pirate Era' under way it's hard to keep 'em stocked!" the merchant let out a deep, husky chuckle, defined by his advanced age.
"Thank you sir." Ace bowed towards the name before turning his attention to the display housing his item of interest.
The bell at the front of the store rang once more and an elegantly dressed connoisseur entered the store and sauntered up to the front counter. He removed the cigar from his mouth and extinguished the flame in the ash tray before making conversation with the man behind the counter.
"Did you hear of the latest tumultuous events occurring in the New World?" The socialized casually.
"Aw, there's always something happening in those violent seas, you'd have to be a brainless fool to get involved with those affairs." The shopkeeper shook his head; seemingly uninterested by his guest's tales; as he busied himself with the stock in the back.
"Well, that new generation of rookies has just flooded in and I hear they're making quite a ruckus." The suave man remarked, igniting another cigar and after a long drag releasing a steady stream of smoke into the air.
"Ah yes, the Devil's Five, well, we all knew they'd be trouble, especially that one group. What're they calling themselves nowadays; the Blue Phoenix Pirates." The owner casually engaged the man in his casual conversation, more concerned over pricing the latest shipment of spyglasses.
"Yes, the rowdiest bunch of the whole generation with a mythical zoan using captain." The man paused for a moment to take another drag on his cigar. "Did you hear what happened to them?"
The man withheld his story as to piqué the shop owner's interest. "No, what?" he asked suddenly drawn into the story. He set aside his work, now enthralled by what his visitor had to say.
"That rag-tag bunch of lunatics tried to take on the devil himself." The guest chuckled darkly; the fumes from his cigar encircled his face, obscuring his features from the young pirate secretly observing them.
"Really, really and truly? Ha, what became of the poor young fools?" the shopkeeper questioned, now intensely focused on his visitors story.
"What do you think happened?" The urbane visitant responded insensitivity with his cigar still in his mouth. "They were annihilated by the Whitebeard pirates. They don't call him the strongest man in the world for nothing."
Ace, who had observed the entire conversation was needless to say intrigued by what the man had to say. "Strongest man in the world huh? Well, we'll just see about that, won't we Whitebeard." The adolescent pirate captain plotted to himself, his future course of action.
"I heard that the old man incorporated the survivors into his crew, and rightfully so. If they were reckless enough to challenge him to a fight and strong enough to fight him and live to tell the tale then they must be worth keeping around for something." The man guffawed at his own statement pulling out another cigar and offering it to the storekeeper.
"Nah, I try to stay away from 'em." He muttered, declining the man's offer."
"Well alright, suit yourself." He shrugged and returned the item to the inside pocket of his sport coat.
"So that's it then, for the Blue Phoenix Pirates. One down, four to go."
The other man nodded in agreement "But I can guarantee that this isn't the last we've heard of Marco the Phoenix." The man stated only then acknowledging the presence of the young pirate.
"Yeah, it ain't every day you come across someone with as powerful an ability as a mythical zoan." The shopkeeper remarked and both the men exchanged low chuckles as Ace returned to the counter of the store, log pose in tow.
"And do you intend to pay for that sir?" the store owner questioned suspiciously as he eyed the youth up and down.
"Uh-" Ace was cut off by the fearful stammers of the other man in the store.
"Y-y-y-your th-that local rookie, the one with the twenty-five million beri bounty on his head!" The man cringed, his complexion went as white as a the smoke surrounding his face.
"Huh?" The pirate captain was left utterly dumbfounded, unaware of his gained infamy due to his endeavors in the East Blue.
"I knew I recognized that face from somewhere." The shopkeeper exclaimed from behind the counter. "I just never thought such a big name would come to this little backwater town."
The two adults trembled in fear before the young captain. "You must be mistaking me for another." The young pirate tried to explain. As far as he knew, there was no bounty on his head, especially not one as high as twenty-five million.
"Take whatever you want!" Please, anything you want, just leave our town in peace. It's been years since our last pirate attack, please. Anything you want, it's yours. Anything in the whole store, you can have. Just please leave our little town in peace!" the man pleaded to the utterly confused captain.
"But we're not attacking, we just need to gather supplies for out voyage-" The captain again tried to elucidate but was cut off by their dreadful cried.
"Please, anything from the store, it's free of charge if you just don't cause any harm to the citizens, pirate!"
The two grown men cowered in fear at the apparently foreboding appearance of the freckle-faced seventeen year-old.
"Even this log pose?" The pirate raised his eyebrow at the owner.
"Yes, yes, it's yours." The storekeeper appeased out of his tremendous amount of fear for the young captain.
"Keep him calm!" The other man advised "Give him anything he wants. I've heard he's quite violent!" the visitors legs quaked at the sight of the smiling young pirate captain.
"Really? Gee, thanks mister!" Ace grinned widely and eagerly shook the owner's hand. "I owe ya one!" He added before exiting the store.
The two men let out long awaited sighs of relief as they watched the young pirate walk away. "I can't believe we saw the latest big name rookie to come from this blue, Portgas D. Ace." The posh man expounded as he dabbed the beads of sweat; that had accumulated on his brow; away with the once perfectly folded handkerchief from his pocket.
"Should we warn the rest of the citizens?" The store owner questioned reaching for a den-den mushi to contact the local authorities.
"No, that will only fuel his rage, don't be fooled by his youthful appearance, I've heard some dreadful stories about him."
The merchant relinquished the den-den mushi hesitantly. "He is the one who brought an end to that tyrants reign back in the waters of Sandomico."
"Then should we contact the navy?" the shopkeeper again probed.
"The navy is always busy with the steady stream of pirates flowing in and out of Loguetown, we've always taken a back seat to them. I'd say just let him go and hope he keeps his temper under control. He and that first mate of his, they're bad news, let's just hope no one crosses them the wrong way."
"I'm contacting Naval HQ and telling them of his whereabouts; perhaps they'll send someone as well and stop him from causing more trouble in the Grand Line." He announced picking up the den-den mushi which gave him direct contact with Navy Headquarters.
"I bid you well sir." The mysterious visitor took his leave.
"Hello, who is this?" A gruff voice greeted the man's call.
"Yes, hello, Vice Admiral Garp, this is Benedict, I'd like to report the whereabouts of a certain pirate."
A/N: This story is pretty much all the adventures of the Spade Pirates, as well as some of the events of happening in the Grand Line before the current storyline. I figured since almost all of the history of the Spade Pirates is unknown I may as well write it ^-^
This will NOT change any canon plotlines, it is meant to be what happened before, and slightly during the current storyline. If it interferes with anything we learn in the future, well I am sorry, however I think I'm pretty safe.
This story will not have any romance or pairings, it's just the adventures the Spade Pirates had.
Disclaimer, I do not own One Piece of any of it's characters, however I do own my OC's.
Going along with that, OC's are both accepted and encouraged since I have a whole crew to fill and a lot of the Grand Line to see, I also take requests if there are any characters you'd like the Spade Pirates to encounter, but it has to be within reason. Like if we know that the characters never met then I cannot incorporate them.
Rated T for violence and language, just in case.
Benedict comes form Benedict Arnold.
Lastly, thank you for reading, your viewership is much appreciated.