[ Author's note: this chapter might be a little confusing at first but it will all make sense later, I hope. Disclaimer: I don't/ never will own One Piece. Enjoy the chapter! ]
(He could hear the sound of water dripping. He could hazily make out the shape of another human towering over him. His eyes lazily glanced around the room, his body was tired and late in responding. His cloudy grey eyes looked to his right at a pipe, where the frigid water could be heard slowly dripping onto the cold concrete floor. His gaze returned to the figure above him. Now, the figure was not paying much attention to the boys gaze, much to preoccupied in the various medical tools spread around the bed that Ace was strapped down on. The child's half closed eyes ventured to the tool in the figure's hand; a rather decent sized syringe.
The man then took note of his subjects now conscience form and smiled, a creepy and sadist smile. Roughly he then proceeded to grab the child's chin, and shifted it both ways to examine the freckle infested face. "Looks like the monster is awake." The person then positioned the syringe to the younger Ace's upper arm, to which the younger's eyes widened, or at least tried to due to his drowsiness. "Now we can't have this can we? Your screams would only be a distraction, and quite frankly, annoying." Ace tried to scream, but his voice came out horse, and the clear liquid in the syringe was dispensed into his arm. He tried glaring up at the guilty party, but his gaze was more fearful then anything. No matter, he could not fulfill his attempt. The drug that was shot into his arm started to take affect, and his already hazy vision was then filled with an increasing amount of black dots, to which his vision eventually became pitch black. The last thing he heard was,"Let the examination begin.")
Ace immediate jolted up, he was heavily panting and sweat was covering most of his body. He regretted this almost instantly, as a searing pain was shot through his body. He winced, and moved his hand to rub at the most aching part of his body; his back. "Hey now! Don't go reopening your wounds, Mika will kill me if her work goes to waste." The pretty nurse mumbled the last part to herself, before realizing what kind of state her patient was in. "Oh! Would you like any water or anything to eat? You've been out for a pretty long time. It might also be a good idea to have your bandages changed, and a shower, since, no offense you kinda stink." She started her work on fixing Ace's bandages and tending to his closed wounds. "Thanks. I'm Ace. Where am I exactly." The nurse didn't stop in her work and answered immediately. "I'm Nurse Chamilia but you can call me Cham, and your on Whitebeard's ship. We took you and your crew to treat your wounds after you collapsed." Ace's eyes widened, and then narrowed , "IM ON THAT BASTARDS SHIP? HE FUCKING KIDNAPPED ME." His eyes flashed gold again, but Cham wasn't affected by his yelling and didn't catch the sudden eye change. She only looked at him in the eye. "Don't insult oyaji." Ace didn't care, and shrugged off the hand that was applying gauze to his stomach wounds. "I don't need any help. Where's my crew, they better not be harmed, If anything happened to them I swear-." She sighed," Your a real brat." She ran her hand through her short red hair. "God, what is wrong with your generation? Do you really think the same crew that is tending to your wounds would hurt your crew?" Ace scowled, "I don't know what you assholes are thinking." "After you passed out they tried to come back for you. We kicked there butts and brought them aboard as well, they're around, they were offered to join the crew, but just like you I guess they're stubborn. They want to wait for their captain to wake up before they do anything." She saw the frown that was apparently now permanent on the teens face, and smiled." After I dress your wounds I can get someone to show you where you'll be staying, then you can go to see your crew or something." Ace glared at her, but let her finish dressing his wounds. After all, it wouldn't do much if he died before killing Whitebeard, as morbid as it sounds. When Cham finished she stepped back to check over her work, and with a nod she deemed it worthy. Ace just sat in the bed, waiting till she gave him the ok to leave. "Alright! That should keep you alive... Heh. Anyway I'll go call Marco to show you your room and stuff." She walked over to the door, and took a second to turn her head back to him before she left,"Don't go anywhere yet okay? You don't know your way around and you might over exert your body." And with that warning she left.
'Yeah. Fuck that' His eyes narrowed. As soon as the door shut Ace was up. He gazed around the room for his beloved hat, and promptly growled when he saw it wasn't anywhere in his vicinity. Giving up on his mission to find his hat in the room, the teen moved to the door. When he got there he pressed his ear to the door, trying to hear signs of voices or anyone on the other side. When he thought the cost was clear he slightly opened the door to gaze out. "What do you think your doing, yoi?" 'Crap' Ace looked up from his hunched position and gazed into piercing blue eyes. A chill was sent down his spine, as he glared while shifting his body so it was standing straight and out of the way of the door. Into the room walked a tall blond wearing an open purple shirt, Cham following not to far behind him. The symbol that Ace oh so hated was proudly displayed on the man's chest. Like he had done with the other Whitebeard member he had seen, the first thing he did was glare at the new face. What met his glare was a lazy bored look. "Where's my hat." He crossed his arms and continued glaring at the commander. But of course, he wasn't affected. The blonde made a gesture for the spade captain to follow him, to which after a second of consideration, is what the teen did. "I'm pretty sure Thatch picked it up. He's the orange haired guy with big hair; fourth division commander. He probably had it." He continued walking, Ace following not to far behind; trying to memorize the ships routes so he could easily get around.
They stopped in front of a door. "This is where you'll be staying till you join the crew. It used to be the second division's commanders room so it should be pretty spacey." Ace scowled," I'm not joining your crew. Why are you doing this exactly? I'm your enemy, I want to kill your captain, what good will keeping me here do. Shouldn't you lock me up like an actual prisoner." His arms were once again crossed and his eyes were narrowed. To his surprise, the man questioned chuckled," Listen brat, first off your not prisoner. Oyaji generally wants you to accept his mark and become his son. And second, your are a century too young to be able to kill Pops." The commander opened the door. "Dinner should be in an hour, I'll come and get you to show you where. For now, you can get settled." He turned to leave, leaving the pissed off teen even more pissed. 'Yeah right. I'm not eating there food and I'm sure as hell not staying in this room. Their probably gonna poison me or something. Fuck this, I'm gonna complete my goal then get the fuck off of this hell.' He walked to the door, opening it and looking both ways before he walked out. 'Now where the hell is the old guy?' He started walking right, the same way he had came when he left what he presumed was the infirmary. He tried smelling the air for Newgate's scent, but he realized he didn't have any idea what the captain would smell like. 'Urg.. god, this may take a while.' He tried sneaking around, avoiding all people he heard around him. On his was towards the infirmary he heard some people coming his way, forcing him to take a sharp right into another corridor. To avoid them, he continued down the corridor, taking a few more turns. When he stopped, he realized that he had no idea where the hell he was. He angrily sighed,'For fuck's sake. I guess I'll have to wing it. Maybe with all the time I spent with Luffy some of his idiotic luck rubbed off onto me. Onward it is.' He continued walking, sometimes stopping to smell the air to see if anyone was near. 'Stupid fucking fruit. At least it comes in handy sometimes.' He reached the end of the hallway, where he heard a voice through the door next to him. A voice that sounded like- "GURARARA." "Oyaji you should really slow down with all the drinks. It's really bad for your health!" Ace grinned, maybe the devil was on his side. He raised his fists...and then charged in.
It took only a split second for the old man to notice the incoming 'threat'. And it only took a second before Ace was flying over the edge of the ship, heading straight towards the dark dismal sea. 'CRAP' He fell straight into the water, and could feel his strength being ripped from him. He tried struggling, but it was futile, he then began to lose consciousness.
On deck the member of the crew were looking over to where the the teen had splashed into, not seeing any sign of him resurfacing. Oyaji! The kid's not surfacing. Namur!" The fish man nodded to the fourth division commander, before diving in after the kid.
(A younger Ace was thrown into a small pool full of seawater, yet again. He tried struggling not against the man's grasp but his attempts were failing."DAMN IT BRAT. I fucking told you when you use your abilities then I'll stop throwing you." But the kid was stubborn, and not yet broken. "Go fuck yourself" he whispered, drenched from just being thrown into a pool and shivering from the same freezing water. He was exhausted, and the saltwater on his skin taking his strength didn't help. The man sighed, and went to grab the kid again. He mumbled to himself,"Fucking government doesn't pay me enough to do this." He got ready to throw the kid, but was halted when the kid's sharp almost fangs dug into his arm. He slapped the boy across the face. "Why you little-" Nocking could be heard from the steel door on their right. The man dropped Ace on the floor and went to answer it."Doctor Edwards? Akainu wants to see you." The now doctor sighed, "I'll be there in a second. Can you take the monster to the infirmary? The last thing we need is him dying from hypothermia or a simple fever." Ace's vision began to blur again, a sign that a narcoleptic fit was about to occur. Within minutes he was lightly snoring.)
Ace woke up for the second time today, panting and covered in sweat. He was trembling. The nightmare he just had was seared into his mind, and he hated bringing up old memories. He was in the room the Whitebeard pirates had decided on letting him stay in. He curled in on himself, still trembling, not noticing the other presence in the room; far to busy trying to calm himself down. "Are you alright, yoi?" The still trembling teen looked up fast, and gaze landed on the blond commander who was seated in a chair fairly close to the bed. Ace tensed up,"W-w-why are you here." He cursed himself for stuttering. He tried to sound intimidating but stuttered due to his still trembling form. "After Pops nocked you into the sea, Namur went and saved you. You were passed out when he found you so I volunteered to stay until you woke up. You were drenched, so I hope you didn't mind that I changed your clothes." Ace looked down, he was wearing what seemed to be the other man's clothes. 3...2...1.. "YOU DID WHAT?!" Ace was horrified, and it was clear on his face. If the man had changed his clothes then he had seen-. Ace buried his head into his knees, he hoped to God that he didn't understand the language scared into his skin. As if reading his thought the man responded, " I haven't seen that language since I was younger but, yes, I did recognize it." Ace shifted so he was in a tighter ball, and tensed up. Nobody knew about that scar, with the exception of Luffy and Sabo.I won't say a word if that's what your worried about." Ace looked over at Marco, his eyes were glossy; a sign that he was close to tears. "Why exactly." Ace rested his head back on his knees and continued,
"I'm not anything to you. What good will keeping my secret have. Why would you keep it from your crew mates, what would you get out of it." Marco smiled at him," Your wrong." Ace looked at him, narrowing his eyes." Even if you don't think your gonna join, I already consider you a brother; as do many others. And I don't want anything, it's not my secret to tell, yoi." Ace sighed and leaned back against the headboard of the bed. "I don't believe you, everyone wants something." He glared up at the ceiling. "Maybe your right, yoi." Ace wasn't surprised to here that. "I do want something." Ace knew it, 'Everyone wants something. It's a never ending cyc-.' "I want to be your friend, yoi." 'What.' Ace looked completely dumbfounded. 'I want you to give our crew a chance, yoi.' Marco smiled at him, making Ace even more dumbstruck. 'Just give me and the crew a chance, and I promise I won't tell anyone about the scar on your thigh, yoi.' Not that it mattered. Marco had no plans of ever sharing the boy's secret.
(Marco's POV) Marco went to get a towel as soon a Namur dived after the kid. After falling in the ocean the teen would no doubt be wet, and for devil fruit users, which he assumed the kid was, salt water meant bad news. When he returned Namur was back in deck, carrying a passed out Ace. "I can take him, yoi." Namur nodded and handed the unconscious figure to Marco, who wrapped the body in the fluffy towel he had gotten earlier. The towel was very useful, it dried and warmed Ace, and it prevented any water from getting on Marco.
The commander carried the 18 year old back to the old second division leader's room. When he got there he laid the boy on the bed, and with a quick look at the body, left to grab some off his own clothes to replace the teen's still damp ones.
When he returned he was carrying a small pile of folded clothes, to which he set down on the desk near the occupied bed. He then stared down at Ace, who was slightly shivering in the bed. Marco sighed, staying in damp clothes would definitely not help the kid, especially seawater. Marco knew how seawater felt for fire users, which, due to earlier events he assumed the boy was, and it was not pleasant; and without the fire there was the possibility of hypothermia.
Marco couldn't leave the boy like this. So, he decided to change the male into dry clothes. It wasn't really a big deal to him, he had changed many of his siblings when they got seriously ill and sweated out their clothes. He liked to help his siblings and the nurses quite appreciated the help as well. To him, this wasn't much different, he already considered Ace family. After he undressed the teen, leaving his underwear on of course. He didn't think Ace would have reacted well to be wearing his 'enemie's' undergarments. He grabbed a pair of black knee length shorts, a rather smaller size that didn't fit him any more, and shifted Ace to put the pants on him. When he turned him, however, he saw something peculiar. On the raven's back thing was a scar, written in a language he knew, but thought was dead. He read what it said, twice to be sure, and to be honest, he found it strange, and infuriating. He stared at it for a few minutes, it seemed to be a message cut with a knife and smothered dirt on so that is would scar, and that pissed him off.
After a few minutes he realized that Ace was still practically naked, and if he woke up... Let's just say he wouldn't be the happiest. So Marco continued dressing the teen, finishing when he pulled a plain white tee shirt over the other's head; choosing against anything with the Whitebeard logo on it, as the teen was still a little apprehensive at it. When he finished he laid the much drier Ace back on the bed, and moved to sit on a chair fairly close to the bed. He began to think, 'Why would the kid have a scar in that dead language? And even more so, why (Government Property)?' He didn't like this, there's a story to this, and he doubted Ace would ever tell him. His thinking made his almost miss when the teen shot up, panting and trembling.
[So that was the chapter! :3 I hope you all enjoyed, and if anyone's wondering the language was supposed to be Hebrew; but I didn't know how to translate/ didn't trust the Internet. I would also like to thank the people that followed/favorited last chapter (JayJayftw, captainmikeallen23, Lacus01,poemado, XxFire-PhoenixxX, Pana-sule). And I want to thank Shadow2wolf for the review, which by the way was awesome. Anyway,
Bye For Now! ]