OH! Second chapter is here! 8D I was going to updated this story earlier, but I had college work to do u-u And I have to say, Adobe Illustrator hates me and the feeling is mutual. Also, I don't have an update schedule, it's totally up to how much stuff I have to do to college that week and how much inspired I am to write~

Thanks for the reviews (answered at the end of the chapter cause I like to do this publicly) and favorites and follows and all that s2 I luv u all s2 You made me write a lot faster than I usually would s2 But why is everybody thinking the Phoenix is Marco? It could be anybody~

Now, about the chapter o-o There's not a lot of superhero and supervillain action YET. But there will be. I just need to set some stuff first~ about MarAce action... you'll see :3 Oh, and I... had something else to say here but I forgot what e-e probably nothing important e-e

Disclaimer: I'm a cupcake! How can a cupcake own a manga like One Piece? Luffy would've eaten me before the story even started!

Ace didn't know why he was doing that. It was the type of thing Luffy would've done, which means it was a stupid and potentially lethal idea. But, well, there he was, running around dark and desert streets, later than he should, alone and after of who could be easily the most dangerous man he ever met. Well, not counting Gramps. And that guy. But he really preferred not to think about him right now. His mind was busy enough trying to make sense of why the freaking fuck he was running after the Phoenix.

Well, or why he would be after the Phoenix, since he also had no idea of where the thief was. Or where he was for that matter.

"Damn it" he cursed low, looking around after getting out of yet another alley to an open space. It was some park and he actually knew the place. He and his brothers used to go there a lot when they moved to the city. It was easy to see most of the place from practically any bench – during the day, at least, because now he couldn't see shit – and there weren't many things that he could get into an accident with. The perfect place to take a younger Luffy with way too much energy to spare.

It was, however, the worst place he could possibly be. There were no places the Phoenix could be hiding there. Especially at night with those glowing wings of him. The wings... Ace really hated them right now. Them and his own stupid powers that totally fooled him into believing the blue flames were calling for him, like the man was inviting him to something. And he simply dashed after a supervillain because of this. Ace would never admit out loud, but Sabo was right: he was an impulsive idiot. Fuck, even if he was right and the Phoenix was indeed inviting him, it was a stupid thing to do.

But like hell he would just give up after getting to that point. He'd just get his cell phone to use the lantern and-

Okay... wrong pocket...

Again, he would just get his cell phone-

It wasn't there either...

His jacket's pockets? He wasn't even wearing one.

"You gotta be kidding me!" it was still on the car. He had forgot his damn phone on the damn car. He had to breath, breath and calm down. He couldn't just burst out in flames and cause a fire just to relieve some stress. Well, not at a public space like the one he was at that moment.

Ace wanted to punch something. Until he heard someone chuckling. Then he wanted to punch someone.

The boy turned to the glare at the spot the chuckling came from only to find a light post. After some seconds glaring at the poor and innocent post like all of his problems were its fault, the look on his face turned into one of confusion. He was pretty sure the post couldn't have laugh at him. Or he hoped so, because if it did, it meant there was something very wrong going on with his head. Listening to the chuckling again didn't help to easy Ace's concerns about his own mental health, but did make him risk a look at the top of the post.

Ace's expression went back to a glare at the moment he spot the Phoenix there, looking down to him with an amused smile on his face. Or, at least, a smile Ace presumed was an amused one. It was hard to tell with that dumb mask covering most of the guy's face. Thinking of this, the younger's glare slowly melted into a more curious expression, as he took the time he had to take a better look and examine the thief's appearance.

The first thing that caught his attention – other than the fire wings, but those had been replaced by normal human arms now – was the mask: it definitively was extremely well made to look like a bird's head, and a very bored looking bird. Weird. It was a shade of light blue, like the jacket it was tied to by the hood. The jacket was simple, except from some kind of gold ornaments, same color of the pair of gloves he was wearing, from the top of his head to the bottom of his back that Ace had thought looked like feathers while he was chasing the Phoenix. The pants were simple, darker than the jacket and looked a lot more confortable than anything Ace ever saw a hero wearing – he wondered if the guy just put on the first pair of pants he saw laying around before going out. There was also a sash around the man's waist Ace soon identified as actually being the tips of the jacket – apparently longer than he first thought – tied and hold in place with a golden belt.

Maybe he hadn't notice the true length of the jacket because, even firmly tied to the guy's waist as it look like, it was still unbuttoned all the way down and just enough loose to show everything that had to be shown of the Phoenix's chest. Honestly, in any other situation, it was a really nice view Ace couldn't really complain about, but right now it was way too distracting. That tattoo wasn't helping. Ace knew he'd already seen it somewhere else, and that it had something to do with the rumours about the thief, but he couldn't remember what it was supposed to mean (and he may or may not be using it as an excuse to keep examining those abs).

A small movement from the Phoenix, practically made Ace jump from the surprise. Damn it. How long had he been staring at the guy's body? Definitively not blushing at all, Ace looked back up to the thief's face... or mask. As expect, it was impossible to know what expression the guy was making, but Ace was pretty sure there wasn't a smile there anymore. And his body language was also unreadable. The only thing the teenager knew for sure is that the man was also taking his time to examine him.

And then Ace noticed another huge problem on his idea of following a infamous and dangerous criminal with superpowers: Gramps was the Chief of Police. And more than one criminal tried to use him or one of his brothers to get to Garp. And now Ace was there, at a deserted park, alone, at night, with a supervillain he followed on his own account.

He hoped Sabo never heard about it. He wasn't going to just give up. He was going to fight the guy head on with his own powers if he had to. But still, if Sabo heard about it, he wouldn't let Ace live through it. Luffy also couldn't know, because the younger brother certainly would talk sooner or later. And Ace was being a terrible example for his baby brother; he knew he was being a terrible example. But it wasn't like he had a choice.

He got ready for a fight. Or simply anything the Phoenix could try and throw at him.

Well, almost everything.

He wasn't ready for the Phoenix simply sighing and flying off.

Just like that.

Like Ace wasn't worth fighting against or something.

And now he was really pissed.

"Hey! Where are you going? COME BACK HERE!" Ace screamed to the figure rapidly getting smaller and smaller on the sky, until he couldn't even see a dot where he was. It was frustrating to know the guy probably didn't even hear him. Not that Ace really thought he would come back this easily. That's why he was ready to blindly run in the direction he saw the other disappears.

"ACE!"

"Hey, Ace! Wake up!" Together with his brother's voice, came his brother's weight right on top of his guts, successfully waking the oldest teen up from his day dreaming state.

It had already passed a week since the fish robbery incident and usually Ace would've already forgot what happened and moved on. He wasn't the type to keep worrying too much about the past. But this time he couldn't take the thief out of his mind. There was just something very wrong about what's happened that night, but he couldn't really point out what. It was not how his flames tried to react of those of the Phoenix, though this was also bothering him. They didn't react like that to any other kind of flame or bird (and he've tried to make them do so during the week, resulting in a very awkward situation at the zoo involving a very angry turkey, a duck and a flamingo). Obviously, there was also the way the Phoenix simply laughed at him and then flew away without saying anything. Ace was still very pissed at him for that.

But back to the present time, he was very pissed at a certain blond some months younger than him currently sitting on his stomach.

"Sabo! What are you doing? Get out!" he ordered the middle brother, trying to push him off of himself. No good, he managed only to get a cry from Luffy after accidentally kicking his game control.

"No." the offending brother deadpanned, not even giving Ace a glance. "I warned you, didn't I, Luffy?"

"Yep" the younger answered smiling, visibly proud of himself for knowing the right answer and using Ace's legs on his lap as support for his arms. Of course he didn't lose the opportunity to kick the rubber brain for taking Sabo's side. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You're not supposed to agree with him!" Ace explained angrily.

"Eeh. But I only said the truth!" Luffy pouted "Ne, Sabo, Ace is being a meanie again!"

"Now, now." Sabo sighed at his brothers antics "You don't want Luffy to start to lie, do you, Ace?" he asked, finally turning to the oldest one, with a mock tone and expression of scolding on his face.

"Just shut up and get off already" he tried pushing the blond again, but the other reacted by making more force against his stomach and the back of the sofa. What even got into him to just sit there like that? Yeah, okay, Ace was occupying most of the sofa by lying there. But it's not like it was the first time. And Sabo was the one who said to prefer the armchair, so why the hell-

"Not until you tell us what's bothering you."

Ace loved his brother, but he was a real son of a bitch sometimes.

"There's nothing bothering me," no way he would admit his stupidity only to receive a scolding from Sabo. One from Garp had been more than enough.

"Liar! Ace have been all distracted and angry and boring after going to Grandpa's work!" it was amazing how Luffy managed to be so sensitive exactly when people didn't want him to.

"Luffy's right, and you don't need to be a genius to notice." Sabo agreed, changing his expression for one of genuine concern afterwards "Have something happened there? Did the Phoenix do something to you? That's why you were riding a flamingo the other day?" while Luffy was sensitive sometimes, Sabo had to be smart all the time, hadn't he?

"EH? You were riding a flamingo, Ace? That sounds awesome! Can I ride one too? But I want it to be a bull or an octopus!"

"Nothing happened" Ace asked, averting his brother's eyes. He knew Sabo could read him better than anyone else, but it didn't mean he had to just admit everything to him. With luck the blond would at least understand that he didn't want to talk about what indeed happened.

"Fine." Sabo said after a moment of silence - if one didn't count Luffy blathering -, surprising Ace. "Then I'm also not getting up." of course it couldn't have been so easy.

Well, Ace did ask nicely.

Slowly, the superpowered teen started to raise his body temperature. Specially the area where his brother was sitting. The blond was distracted, explaining Luffy why they can't get a pet kraken, and the older raven-haired was taking total advantage of this. He had to bit back a laugh when the other teen started to show signs of noticing something was wrong. But just until smoker started to come from his brother's butt and he practically jumped out of the couch. Now, Ace made sure not to hurt his brother, but a little scare never really hurt anyone, right?

"WHAT THE HELL, ACE?" Sabo basically yelled, patting his butt to extinguish any fire that could be there. Obviously, the scene only made the other two brothers have a laughing fit each.

"What's the problem, smoking pants? You're the one who didn't get up when I asked. Right, Luffy?" the fire user somehow managed to say, making the better innocent looking face he could – which, give the situation and the way he was grinning, wasn't very convincing at all. He didn't really get a verbal answer, only a nod from the younger, since this looked like the only thing he was able to do in that situation. Sabo turning around and presenting to them a view of a hole in his pants didn't help any of them.

They both stopped, however, the moment he, muttering something about changing pants, started to walk away. No. Not walking away. Limping away. How the fuck they hadn't noticed it before?

"Eh, Sabo? Are you hurt? Ace! Look what you did to Sabo!" Luffy exclaimed, his voice full of worry and fear. His accusation only half-hearted as his mind seemed to be trying to come with an explanation to how they hadn't noticed it before!

"It wasn't me, Lu" Ace stated, not taking his eyes off Sabo. He'd had sit up the moment he noticed something was wrong. After seeing his brother flinch at the mention of his injury, he was ready to go beat the crap out of anyone who did that. The worst part was that, after Luffy's comment, the blond forced himself to walk normally.

"What are you talking about? I'm fine. See?" Thinking again, Ace wanted to beat the crap out of his brother. The son of a bitch was hiding his injury from them.

"Really? But, Sabo, you're walking all weird..." Luffy insisted, but with a more hopeful tone now that his brother said he was alright.

"Ah..." said brother hesitated for a second, probably totally aware of the older's glare directed at him. He wasn't actually going to lie, was he? "It was just a cramp." He lied. And with a smile on his face.

Ace was going to get up and force Sabo to tell the truth, not really caring of how hypocrite he was being. But at least he hadn't got hurt from his run-in with the Phoenix. And god knows if and what other kind of injury his brother could be also hiding from them. The only reason he hadn't got up to shake the truth out of his brother's mouth yet was a hand grabbing his wrist. Looking back at the owner of said hand also helped to stop Ace on his tracks. Luffy couldn't be really thinking...

"Luffy..." he tried to call the attention of the younger, to take his mind out of that, but was solemnly ignored.

"Really?" both older brothers left a breath neither had noticed they were holding when the rubberboy smiled widely. "That's good! I don't want Sabo to get hurt!" thank goodness, Luffy was naive enough to believe the obvious lie. The worry, however, was still there. And they knew why it was there. And they couldn't do anything about it. And it was the worst part.

Sabo hesitated for another minute or two, exchanging a glance with Ace and observing their baby brother turn back to the TV screen and his game, before excusing himself to go change his pants. Ace knew they'd made a silent agreement to talk about what happened later. And he also knew Sabo wasn't the only one who would have to talk. Hell, knowing the blond and how many years he managed to hide his family problems from him and Luffy, Ace was already expecting to be the only one talking. At least he had time to prepare himself, since none of them was planning to mention the matter anywhere close to Luffy again for some time.

"Ne, Ace..."

Damn Luffy and his sensitive moments.

Later that day – practically early morning of the next –, Ace was on the living room very awake. If anyone asked, he was ready to throw the blame on his narcolepsy. It wouldn't be the first time the disease kept him awake all night long, even if he had no idea of what's the logic behind that. If anyone stopped to really look at him and the state he was in, they would noticed that he was trying to force himself to stay awake. Not exactly successfully, since he'd already fallen asleep more than a few time through the night. But he had to speak with Sabo and he wanted to do it as soon as possible.

The problem, of course, was that Ace had no idea his brother stayed out until that late.

This made sense, though. Thinking back at all the times Sabo had came up with some night-time compromise, Ace couldn't remember just one time his brother had got home while he was awake. Not that it was really hard, but by what he remembered of Luffy and Gramps saying about it, they probably also couldn't remember. It had been already three years since Sabo moved out of his parents' place to live with them and none of them knew where he went or when he came back home. And now they discovered an injury he was trying to hide. Not to talk about the mysterious girl friend Sabo refused to talk about. Or any of the study groups, parties or jobs he went during nighttime and was very evasive or redundant while talking about.

Now he was feeling stupid for never noticing anything wrong before.

Since sitting alone on the living room wasn't doing any good for his self-mental beating or his self-imposed awaken state, the teen decided to turn on the television. It didn't really help. Apparently, there wasn't one good show at that time and he had to resign himself with just keep zapping through all the channels. Well, this or watch some trashy horror movie or some porn or some junction of both. Considering why he was there in the first place, none of these options seemed like a good idea. But just keep repetitively changing channels wasn't really helping either.

He was about to give up on watching television and try to play or go get something to eat (getting something to eat was always a good idea, even if they still needed a new stove) when an image flashed through the channels he wasn't really paying attention to. Certain that it looked just like a certain thief and with curiosity picking up, the teenager went back to the channel he saw it. Well, the man on screen certainly looked a lot like the Phoenix. Or, at least, a low budget version of him. The mask managed to be even more ridiculous than the original, the blue of the jacket was almost purple, there wasn't anything resembling the gold feathers, the tattoo was wrong shaped and not as bright, and the actor was a lot brawnier. Ace supposed that's the better they could do with the few pictures people have managed to take from him, but it still was so different and wrong from the man he met.

Nevertheless, he still decided to watch the movie, or he supposed it was something like that. The part he turned in was nothing special. The 'Phoenix' was invading some rich place to steal something. The 'Phoenix' went through some terribly made with crappy special effects traps and security system – also, the kind of stuff Gramps would arrest the owner of the place for having there in the first place. Rather quickly, there was the door leading to the 'thief's' target. Inside the room was... a girl... A very naked and very (not naturally) developed girl... And then they...

Ooooooookay.

Ace knew people had these kinds of fantasies with the masked members of society, but watching it was something completely different than just knowing. Especially if he (kinda) met the guy before. It was weird. Very weird. The fact that he'd been checking the guy's abs at the moment only made everything a lot weirder. And awkward. God, the guy on the movie was big. Ace wanted to restart beating himself mentally for the thoughts concerning the real Phoenix he had because of that.

"I thought we had agreed not to watch this kind of stuff when Luffy's at home" Ace jumped in place with when he suddenly heard the amused voice behind him. Of course the son of a bitch would get home at the worst time possible. "Was that supposed to be the Phoenix?" Oh, yeah, there was that too. Even without looking at him, Ace could imagine very well the 'what the actual fuck' kind of look on the blond's face.

"I think so..." the best strategy right now was probably to act like there was nothing wrong. It was hard, when the actress left out a particularly loud moan right at that moment. "I wasn't really watching it" he decided to add fast, turning off the television before things got more intense between the 'Phoenix' and the rich girl. They still hadn't introduced the thief's powers on the plot and Ace didn't doubt things could get a lot more intense and interesting if and when they did it. But anyway, he still had things to talk with his brother.

"I'll talk if you tell me what happened first."

For the first minutes, taken by surprised, Ace was surprised by the statement, without completely understanding it. When he finally grasped the full meaning of what his brother said, he couldn't really say if he loved or hated how much Sabo knew him. He decided it was good, for now, since they could go direct to what was important. But, still, Ace didn't want to talk about his experience meeting the Phoenix, or whatever was that that happened on the park. He was starting to get the impression it wasn't just to avoid the scolding. There was something else he couldn't explain... Not to say he also doubted his brother's excuse would be completely true.

"Luffy asked why we were lying to each other," he said, trying to convince himself more than the blond.

"..." They stayed in silence for some minutes. Observing his brother's face, Ace noticed he was thinking hard about something. Something Ace was sure the other was going to tell him when he was ready, but he definitively didn't have the patience to wait until then. "Are you going after the Phoenix? Do you decide to become a hero after all?"

Okay. This the powered teen wasn't expecting at all. Sabo knew very well the answer to that question, even having never got into this type of discussion with him or Luffy.

"And run around the city wearing a mask and tight pants? No thanks." Ace tried to joke, but for once, Sabo didn't look amused.

"But are you planning to go after the Phoenix or not?"

"I don't know, maybe"

"Don't do it."

Wait, what?

"Why not?"

He watched Sabo sighing and rubbing his eyes and started to grow irritated. He knew that behaviour. It was Sabo's behaviour for when he thought Luffy were being stupid and incredibly careless for not knowing something basic.

"Have you ever heard the rumours?" Sabo asked before Ace could open his complain "About the Phoenix."

"Something about the guy being related to some old villain?" the blond was lucky Ace was feeling curious enough to cooperate. Not happy. Exactly the opposite and making sure to show it. After years of brotherhood, Sabo's moments of being a know-it-all seemed to always be getting worse with time. "What about it?"

"Not some old villain. Whitebeard." Oh. So that's from where Ace recognized the mark on the thief's chest. And that's why Gramps was freaking out so much about him running after the guy, even saying he would never take him to his job again (not that Ace was complaining about that). "Ace, whatever happened..."

"You think it was a trap."

"I think it is a trap." Sabo corrected him.

"So, you want me to simply forget what happened?"

"I want you to not run after a guy, who probably has reasons to hurt, you alone in the middle of the night." Wait. WHAT? How could Sabo possibly know about that? "I asked Gramps." Of course. "Now, Ace. Seriously, promise me you're not going after the Phoenix unless you decide to run around wearing a mask and tight pants."

Ace couldn't help but laugh at how serious Sabo looked when he said this last part.

"Fine! But you have to promise not to hide any other injuries from us. AND you have to promise to get home at a reasonable time."

"Sure, mommy. Are you also going to remind me to brush my teeth and wash behind the ears?" Sabo said, rolling his eyes with a shade of an amused smile on his lips.

Hehe, hope you liked it~

Now to the reviews o-o

book reader-lover of 3000: I'm glad you enjoyed :3 and here, I continued it~

Guest (guest): MORE! HERE'S MORE! And SL = Sabo and Luffy? If so, don't worry! There'll be a lot of ASL! I love these brothers s2

Guest (Pest): Impress a cute guy? Who said he was trying to impress a cute guy? :v Hehe, glad you liked it! :3

matt-lea: As you wish, there's the second chapter! Well, he is a bird and birds eat fish, don't they? And Ace was simply on the way of his escape route, why would you think there's more to it?~ And thank you for reading it :D

Guest (Angelmon): I know, right? Now I feel obligated to keep writing this u-u

Guest (VampireFromPluto): Oh... wait... I had to explain the fish? Maybe... he really likes sushi? :v Who said he was showing off? It was only Ace's impressions. He could very well be wrong oOo And I hope I can meet your expectations~

Guest (Random Person): Was it? XD I don't live in the US and I have no idea of the conventions schedule on my own country XD Happy coincidence, I guess~ And here the update! Hope that was soon enough oOo