Hi! I hope this chapter isn't going to be boring. If it is I promise the next one will get better. I have to explain the situation and set up the plot first otherwise it will get a little confusing. I also have to retract what I said about their ages. Since Luffy is going to be this stories driving force more so than Ace, I eventually need Luffy to get older. So the ages are going to be Luffy-10 and Ace-17 (watch as I make it all official below) I can honestly say I have no idea where this story is going. I really need to figure that out. Also I feel like the content of this story is going to get a little more mature then I originally intended it to be. (Ie a plethora of cussing, darker imagery, torture, sexual themes and drug use).
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Luffy-10 Ace-17
Ace glanced over at Luffy in concern, the little boy still hadn't said one word to him. Although his demeanor did greatly improve the further away they got from the ballroom. Ace honesty couldn't blame him, he hated that stupid room just as much. These prissy stuck up people had no idea how to throw a party. Now pirates on the other hand, they were notorious partiers.
He glanced around at the decorated hallways and walls suddenly feeling claustrophobic. He desperately wanted to get out of here, but the inhibitor collar on Luffy prevented him from leaving the building. If he went too far out of his boundary it would detonate. The thought made the fire just below his skin squirm angrily. What sort of depraved monster would do this to a kid? Ace sighed forcing himself to calm down before his body temperature began to rise. The answer went without saying.
"Hey Luffy, I have an idea." The little kid stopped to look up at him curiously.
Without warning Ace reached down and lifted Luffy onto his shoulders. Surprised all he could do was hang on as Ace broke out into a run. He led them through the twisted hallways until he found the stairwell. Despite how huge the mansion looked on the outside it was even bigger on the inside. He must have ran up at least 20 flights of stairs before finally coming to the attic level. One of his hands wrapped around Luffy protectively as the other heled him climb to ladder onto to the roof.
The darkened sky was grey and brooding and seemed to stretch on forever. Somewhere in the distance he could hear lightning. Way out across the island where the land seemed to meet the clouds there was a small strip of sky glowing orange with the light of the rising sun.
Stepping outside onto the slanted roof he carefully set Luffy down beside him. He almost laughed at how big his eyes had grown.
"Has it been a long time since you were let outside?"
Luffy nodded enthusiastically as he took in the surroundings.
Ace for his part could only imagine what that would be like. He had been raised outside, grew up in the forests and slept under the stars whenever he felt like it. He didn't know what he would do if someone tried to take that away from him.
"Okay Luffy." He said sitting down, "Here's your chance to say something. Nobody will hear you up here."
Luffy blinked at him confused.
"Whatever you want to say, surely there must be something right?" Ace didn't doubt it had probably been years since Luffy had last talked, but he had faith the kid knew how too. He bet in some parallel universe he was quite the chatterbox.
Luffy opened his mouth then closed it unsure. "Ace?" He finally said after a moment. His voice was soft and gave out slightly.
Still Ace beamed feeling pride swell up in his chest. He felt like an overprotective father who just watched their kid take their first step.
"And your name is…"
"Luffy?" The little boy said almost as if asking Ace if he was correct. Ace cheered throwing his arms up into the air in celebration. He could see the boy's cheeks turn just the tiniest bit red at the praise.
"So Luffy? How did you end up being a slave?" Luffy turned and blinked at Ace, clearly not understanding the question. As far as he was concerned he was a slave, there was no other alternative. Thinking back it was nearly impossible to imagine a time when he was anything else. A memory tugged painfully at his heart as if demanding to be remembered. But the harder he tried the further away it became.
Ace watched Luffy struggle as hints of emotions flickered over his face. Years of training and conditioning had turned Luffy into a complacent doll. He was exactly what the nobles wanted, a lifeless doll. Something less then human who obeyed orders without thought. Up until now they must have believed they had succeeded in breaking him.
Ace however disagreed. Luffy wasn't broken, he was far from it. In order to stay alive his personality had been suppressed. He had been treated like an animal for so long his mindset had shifted to perceive himself that way. But throughout it all Luffy managed to stay defiant. Unlike the other slaves who followed their masters orders Luffy refused to obey. He shut them out refusing to bow to them or their ridicules orders. What others saw as simply a complacent slave Ace recognized it as rebellion. He was sure with a little encouragement his true personality would resurface. And Ace would be there to watch the whole glorious event unfold. He could already see their faces, blotchy and red with anger as Luffy told them to go stick it, or hopefully something to that effect.
Ace turned to look at Luffy realizing he was probably getting ahead of himself. Before that could happen Luffy had a long way to go. Maybe his time spent with the Tenryuubito wouldn't be as boring as he initially thought.
WHATDIDTHECOWSAYTOTHECAR?MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVEOVER (I think I'm pretty funny)
The next day proved to be a difficult one for the poor hung over nobles. Ace watched them trying his hardest not to laugh as they stumbled about snapping at their attendants and leaning heavily against the walls as if the world was about to cave in. Personally Ace was no stranger to hangovers, none of the Whitebeard pirates were. They knew how to party harder than anyone in the entire ocean. Still he felt no pity for these pathetic people. They were given more freedom than anyone else in the whole world, yet the squandered it. They didn't know the first thing about what the government had given them or how people murdered each other just for a taste of what they had. None of them had to earn it and thus they couldn't truly understand it.
"Ace sir, the Tenryuubito will see you know." Ace looked up as one of the slave' entered the room. She was stuttering badly clearly frightened of him, and his vast reputation as a pirate. Every time she moved the chains attached to her ankles rattled loudly, echoing off the empty walls.
Ace frowned at the thought of what he was attempting to do. If Oyaji hadn't ordered him to be here there is no way he ever would have associated with these people. But he owed that man his life, even if it meant being forced to negotiate with the scum of the earth.
"Lead the way." He said with mock enthusiasm as he followed her through the maze of hallways. At first he tried to keep track of the turns and corridors they went down but soon it turned into a big blur and he quickly gave up.
Eventually they ended up in a huge stone chamber with high arched ceilings. A single man sat at the center of it on an elaborate throne. He was clearly quite old and exceedingly stuck up considering he had built himself a throne room. He ushered for Ace to come closer which he eventually did, while holding back a glare.
"You must be the second division commander Whitebeard mentioned." He spoke without looking Ace in the eye. Instead his gaze was fixed sternly at a point just above his head. As if Ace wasn't worthy of his full attention.
"I must be." Ace agreed trying to hold back his sarcasm.
"Did you enjoy the party?"
As part of Whitebeards agreement Ace had attended last night's fiasco strictly on his orders. The deal was that if the Whitebeard pirates would do a simple favor for him they would release all of their slaves and instead hire indentured servants. As great as that would be Ace had reservations. The nature of the favor had yet to be determined. Whatever it was the government clearly couldn't do it for them. This most likely meant it was nothing good. Ace was sent to act as Whitebeards ears and report back to him which action they should take. On one hand pirates rarely associated with Tenryuubito mainly because they saw criminals such as pirates beneath them. Still the opportunity to free slaves and piss off the government was not one to be taken lightly. At the very least Whitebeard could listen to the proposal. And thus, Ace was stuck staying with his least favorite people in the universe.
"Yes, I saw many interesting people." He responded after a moment of careful thought. "Now about that favor?"
The Tenryuubito put up his hand to stop Ace. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, there is plenty of time to talk about that later, why don't you stay with us for a while and observe."
Ace's gaze shifted to the floor as he had to physically bite his tongue to keep himself from asking the man why he didn't go stuff his head up his ass instead. Then again, with what he assumed to be a giant stick already up there, he doubted there was any excess room.
Taking Ace's silence as a good sign the man continued. "It would give you a chance to get acquainted with the family."
That was quite possibly the last thing on earth Ace felt like doing. But he owed Whitebeard big time, how could he refuse an order from his captain. At the very least it would give him more time to get to know Luffy and begin unraveling the faulty persona.
"Wow, how can I possibly argue that?" He asked forcing a laugh. It came out as more of a pathetic squeak but the Tenryuubito hardly seemed to notice. The double meaning was quickly lost.
"I knew you would see it my way." A slave will come show you to your room.
'He must really want Pop's help if he is being nice to me?' He thought to himself as he turned away. Rather than waiting for a slave he decided to wonder around himself.
He had been here less than a day and he had already gathered Slaves weren't allowed to walk around freely. Either they tottered around with chains on their ankles carrying out mundane tasks, or even worse they were shackled to a wall and left there.
Ace saw both kinds as he explored the grounds. The frantic ones hurrying to carry out their assigned chores, or the ones who lay against the wall their dead eyes no longer reflecting the world around them. It made Ace shutter as he passed them. Even if they did manage to rescue them he doubted they would be able to have normal lives again.
He continued on, refusing to admit he was lost. It didn't really matter in the long run. He doubted his position in the giant mansion could lesson his hatred. Making his way further into the depths of the house to his surprise Ace saw a familiar face.
Luffy sat on a large wooden table seemingly in the corner of the room. His ankle was shackled to the table leg, and unlike the party it was locked instead of clipped. Ace was about to make his way over there when he heard footsteps approaching.
Figuring his goalless snooping would not be considered witty and charming he instead opted to duck behind the stone pillar to wait out the intruder. Unfortunately for him it was not another slave, instead it appeared to be an actual worker, payed to keep the slaves in order. Ace considered himself an active hater of these types of people as well. Not only did they choose to support human slavery, they tended to be power hungry and sadistic. To Ace's horror he stopped in front of Luffy an amused smirk on his face. Leaning as far forward as he dared Ace held his breath.
Still Luffy's gaze did not shift, his stare was as blank as it was last night. Good to know yesterday's lessons had already been forgotten. His eyes did not see the slave master in front of him, instead they looked right through him.
Seeing this the man waved his hand in front of Luffy's eyes trying to get a reaction from the little kid. He clearly did not like being ignored. When Luffy still did not respond he got frustrated slapping the little boys hard across his cheek.
"What are you so fixated on?" He demanded grabbing the little boys chin. "I order you to pay attention to me." When Luffy didn't respond or show any indication that he had even heard the man got angry.
He grabbed a candle from the wall while grabbing Luffy's jaw firmly with his free hand tilting it to the side.
"This will teach you to ignore me." He muttered angrily.
Ace sensed his intentions the second the wax spilled over. He charged from his hiding place and knocked the man to the floor with a single hit. The man screamed in pain when the candle fell hitting him on his palm. Ace scoffed at him in disgust giving him a light kick to his ribs.
"That will teach you to pick on children."
The man stared at him wide eyed before picking himself up and fleeing into the corridor and away from Ace. He clearly wasn't used to people standing up to him, Ace doubted he could handle a fraction of the punishment he so carelessly doled out.
Letting his anger to seep out of him he turned back to Luffy. As gently as he could he brushed the wax off his cheek frowning as Luffy refused to respond. He could see why the Slave master got so enraged. That glassy stare was creepy as hell and it sent chills down Ace's spine. It was almost like Luffy was just a delicately made toy.
"Luffy, it's me." He said softly as he knelt down next to the boy not daring to touch him.
After a few seconds Luffy blinked as the focus came back into his eyes. He stared at Ace for a second while his surroundings fell into place.
"Ace?"
"Welcome back to reality." Ace said as a his mouth twisted into a relived smile.
That started off pretty boring, sorry. I promise next chapter will be much more exciting. Thankfully I finally have an idea where this story is going to go! But I was right when I said it is going to get pretty dark. But it is also going to be super cute with lots of Luffy and Ace. Also if Ace comes off like he would rather use Luffy to annoy the nobles instead of helping him that is only because it's true. As much as Ace feels for Luffy they are still strangers and even though he plans on protecting him he might not always have Luffy's best interests at heart, YET! As the story progresses he will start to care much more about Luffy's wellbeing and put him above annoying the nobles. But that being said he still defiantly hates seeing people hurt/mistreat Luffy.
