Sabo was half-awake, though once he processed what he was looking at he was coaxed into full alertness.
"Who are you two?"
"I'm Coral," said the girl.
"Finn," said the boy.
"Your captian arbitrarily kidnapped us this morning," said Coral.
Sabo eyed the two obvious fishmen. Then he sighed and took out a clipboard from out of nowhere.
"Orphans?" he asked.
Coral nodded.
"I'm guessing from your appearance the people on your island were less than happy having a pair of fishman siblings present," said Sabo.
Finn nodded warily.
"And some idiot used the word 'freak' in a derogatory manner while describing you in full view of Ace, who took offense and decided that if the islanders weren't going to acknowledge your potential, he'd simply kidnap you and take you to someplace that does," guessed Sabo.
The both nodded, blinking in surprise.
"He does this often?" asked Coral in surprise.
"I don't know what Ace's history is with being called a freak, but whenever he sees something like this he refuses to sit back and do nothing. You're not the first people he's arbitrarily kidnapped without explanation, and I sincerely doubt you'll be the last. Oddly enough word has started getting around the fishmen community that there's a doctor willing to help relocate orphans that live above ground to other islands without asking payment," said Sabo.
After the fifth time he did it, it became clear that word had spread about Ace's...habit. Apparently the fact he honestly did not give a damn about whether you were a fishman, a human or a mermaid seemed to impress them a little. Sabo would not be surprised in the least if word spread to the point that if an orphan saw the flag of the Spade pirates, that they would be packed up before they made port.
At the very least they could probably get away with pretending to be a merchant vessel or something if they took on enough people. After all, the Marines were still having trouble equating "Pyrite D. Ace" with "Portagas D. Ace", regardless of how proud Garp was that his oldest grandson had become a legitimate doctor.
(Sabo had openly laughed when Ace explained what pyrite was and the obvious name pun. The fact the marines hadn't noticed was pretty damn hilarious.)
"I don't get it...what purpose does it serve to kidnap us and take us somewhere better?" asked Coral.
"There is no purpose, beyond the fact Ace hates standing by and watching abuse happen when he has the power to do something about it. He doesn't care if it's legal or not, if he has the ability to help he will," said Sabo. "At most he'll ask that you do the chores while you're on the ship until we reach an island that won't judge you based on your heritage."
Finn wilted.
"And here I was hoping to meet the infamous Doctor Pyrite."
Sabo's lips twitched.
"Doctor Pyrite?"
Finn looked rather animated.
"He's supposed to be some legendary super genius that walked into the exams and came out with three licenses all on the same week. They say he knows how to heal anyone, regardless of their heritage and doesn't give a damn if you're human or a fishman."
"You're a fanboy of his?" asked Sabo, trying desperately not to laugh.
"Finn wants to be a surgeon, but no one wants to train a fishman," said Coral.
Ace yawned as he walked in, and Sabo smirked at his brother/captain.
"Hey Ace~... Guess who has a fanboy?"
Ace stumbled and cursed.
"What are you talking about?" he demanded.
Fans were a nightmare, and Sabo found it absolutely hilarious how paranoid Ace was about them.
Then again the blond never had to run like hell away from a fangirl horde.
"Finn here has apparently heard of 'Doctor Pyrite' and wants to meet him."
Finn and Coral looked absolutely confused. Ace scowled.
"I will get you back for tricking me into those exams," he swore.
Sabo cackled.
"I'm confused," said Coral.
"Do you know what Doctor Pyrite's full name is?" asked Sabo.
"Pyrite D Ace. He wears glasses, proper clothes, and looks younger than he is," said Finn immediately.
Ace made the groan of the damned...then he pulled out a pair of glasses and pulled his hair back.
Finn stared in shock.
"No way."
"See this is part of the reason why I put on that disguise when I took those exams!" said Ace exasperated.
"You're Doctor Pyrite?!" said Finn excitedly.
"I was feeling rather punny the day I walked into the base to take the exams. Not like the Marines noticed," said Ace.
"I don't get it," said Coral.
"Pyrite sounds almost like 'pirate', and it's other name is Fool's Gold. I still don't get how so many people know about my pseudonym when I only used it once," said Ace. "Besides only an idiot would waltz into a well-staffed Marine base to take an exam when they have an active bounty on them without wearing a disguise first."
"Most people don't walk out with the license to three different doctorates after only staying a week."
Ace snorted.
"It was actually four, but I already had one as a surgeon so they didn't bother to give me the dentistry one."
"...I seriously question where you learned all this stuff, when there was hardly any books available on our island," said Sabo.
Ace had the feeling Sabo would believe him if he said it was from his past life at this point. But he liked driving his brother up the wall too much to say anything.
Ace turned to an excited Finn.
"So, surgeon? Any particular field of surgery or just general?"
Finn and Coral blinked.
"There's different types of surgery?" said Coral.
"There's several different kinds. Cosmetic surgery, field surgery, dental surgery, trauma surgery, brain surgery..." listed Ace.
"What's cosmetic surgery?" asked Finn.
"Basically it's remodeling what the body looks like, usually because someone is being extra vain or to fix scarring and battle damage," said Ace promptly. "Mostly vanity though, like making a nose smaller or someone's bust bigger."
Finn was absolutely positive that Ace was Doctor Pyrite now.
"Can you teach me?" he asked hopefully.
"Depends on what you want to learn," said Ace. "Like I said, if you want to be a specialist I will teach you as much as I can."
Finn looked like Christmas come early.
"Why?" asked Coral.
"Knowledge like how to save lives shouldn't be hoarded, but spread to anyone willing to learn. At the very least I'm going to get you both up to speed on how to use CPR. Even my idiot little brother Luffy can do it reliably."
It surprised Ace how few people knew how to perform CPR in this world, when it was predominantly covered by water. It had taken Luffy a month to learn how to do it reliably.
Ace was still trying to drum in basic first aid and medical knowledge so Luffy could keep his crew alive on islands without medical care. At least until he got a proper doctor.
Later that night...
Ace turned to Sabo with annoyance.
"Any particular reason why the name 'Doctor Pyrite' has spread so fast?"
"A kid barely old enough to set out to sea on his own walks into a Marine base to take a doctorate exam...and walks out with three of them, one of which is completely unrelated to human anatomy and takes far longer to complete compared to the first two. Yeah, I can't see why anyone would bother remembering him," said Sabo sarcastically. "They probably sent it out in a newsletter or on the Den Den Mushi once the Marine HQ found out what happened."
Ace grimaced.
"Thank god I had the sense to use a psuedonym and a disguise."
"How much you want to bet Garp still hasn't stop bragging about it after I sent him that letter?" joked Sabo.
"No bet."
Ace was tired and all he wanted to do was let his narcolepsy kick in so he could sleep.
They had docked for the night at some random island on the New World, and most of the crew was out taking a well deserved break.
Ace would not be shocked in the least if Coral or Finn decided they would go with Luffy once he set off on his journey as a proper pirate captain in a few years. Coral found him to be an annoying little brother, and Finn was absolutely smitten with the fact he was learning under the Doctor Pyrite.
He still couldn't believe how fast that stupid name he made up as a joke had spread. The second anyone saw him wearing glasses with his hair tyed back, they called him "Doctor Pyrite". They had to spend a few days on different islands so he could handle any cases sent his way.
On the plus side, word had definitely spread out to the fishmen that there was a human doctor willing to treat them without any of the usual hatred or disgust sent their way. A doctor who also had the habit of relocating orphans that lived above the ocean to sympathetic islands, even if it he rarely asked permission.
Coral had been the one to spread the flag that "Doctor Pyrite" sailed under, and they occasionally made stops in the ocean so Ace could treat any fishmen that needed help. Finn was his very enthusiastic helper/apprentice during those times.
He was half-way asleep when it happened.
A loud explosion woke him up and Sabo's voice sounded from the Den Den Mushi.
"We're under attack!"
"Marines?"
"Pirates trying to rob the island. Not even the fact this is one of Whitebeard's is stopping them."
Ace cursed. The only reason they bothered going to claimed islands was because none of them were stupid enough to try anything.
Luffy had been over the moon when he found out they had landed on one of Shanks, the first time it happened. Shanks had laughed when Luffy called him and told him about the island later.
He rocketed towards the town and started laying waste to anyone that wasn't a civilian or part of his crew. Luffy was already making a nuisance of himself by taking out several people at once with his Devil fruit powers.
It took them seven long, irritating hours to route out the last of the idiots stupid enough to attack one of the islands under Whitebeard's protection, and another three for Ace and Finn to finish treating the worst of the injuries to the people that lived there.
Finn got some hands-on training in triage, freeing up Ace to deal with the more serious injuries while he dealt with the minor ones. Even Luffy helped out.
By the end of it Ace was bone tired and ready for some sleep. That or food.
One look at the villager's homes however said that it likely wouldn't be remiss to help them at least set up some basic shelter to work from until they could fix everything. He doubted his crew would complain overly much once he explained it to him.
Luck, however, was apparently not on his side because two days in, the Warlord known as Jimbei showed up looking for a fight with Ace. Apparently some idiot though the Spade pirates were the ones to destroy the village...and as a friend of Whitebeard's, Jimbei could not let that act go unpunished.
Ace...was not happy.
Five days later...
Jimbei woke up after the long, hard battle he had with Fire Fist Ace...only to discover his wounds expertly treated and a young fishman who bore a resemblance to a hammerhead shark checking up on him.
"You're awake!"
Jimbei was understandably confused, considering how irate Ace had been at his appearance.
"Captain should be back in a bit," said the younger man. "He wanted to make sure the mayor came to explain what really happened before you went after him again, since you weren't really inclined to listen earlier."
"What's your name?"
"Finn. My sister Coral is currently getting food to keep the Captain and his brothers from eating the village out of house and home since he's starving. Of course considering all three of them are black holes and Captain Ace hasn't eaten in five days it might take a while," said Finn cheerfully.
The Spade pirates had Fishmen on their crew? The obvious fondness the young man had for Ace made Jimbei think a little better of him at least.
Jimbei would openly admit to being astounded by the sheer lack of fear Luffy had for him, even if the questions were both odd and silly.
However it was something that Luffy quoted from Ace that made reminded him almost of Whitebeard.
"Why would I be afraid of you? You're people too, even if you're shaped funny. At least that's what Ace-nii says whenever someone talks bad about Finn and Coral," said Luffy confused.
Jimbei had the feeling he would come to like Ace in relatively short order, if that was how he treated fishmen. It was a nice change of pace from what they usually had to deal with.
However it was seeing Ace walk up to him that recognition hit. He knew that the teen had seemed familiar, and not because of the wanted posters!
"You're Doctor Pyrite?!"
Garp was unusually proud of someone by the name of "Doctor Pyrite"...in between frequent mentions of giving the teen his "Fist of Love" for some reason.
Ace stopped cold and glared at the blond next to him in annoyance.
"I don't know when, and I don't know how, but I will be getting you back for tricking me into taking those exams."
"Yeah, yeah. Not my fault you're a secret overachiever," said the blond dismissively. He shot Ace an irritated look. "If it were any of us, you wouldn't hesitate to join Shitty Gramps in crowing about our accomplishment, but the second anyone starts talking about you, you always try to change the subject as fast as possible. When are you ever going to proud of what you've done, instead of embarrassed by it?"
Ace grumbled in annoyance. Then he checked over Jimbei one last time before washing his hands of him. After all, the Warlord likely had his own doctor on his ship that could handle the rest.
"Why Pyrite?" asked Jimbei.
Sabo snorted.
"Because it sounds like 'pirate' and it's the proper name for a metal called Fool's Gold. Ace was feeling 'punny' at the time, according to him. He didn't even consider the irony of using the name until I pointed it out."
Because Ace was the son of the Pirate King, who everyone knew as "Gold Roger", or Gol D. Roger. Which meant his last name should have been Gol as well.
Ace looked like he could have hit himself for not considering that, but he still held no shame for using such a ridiculous name. Luffy had thought it hilarious regardless.
They were just picking things up when another ship came into view. One bearing the flag of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Ace looked ready to scream in annoyance and rage at having to fight again with hardly any sleep or food after spending five days fighting Jimbei and far too many hours healing the villagers after Whitebeard stated why he was there.
"Does no one bother to communicate with their allies anymore?!" he shouted irate.
Because he could have avoided this entire mess if Jimbei had the wits to tell Whitebeard that he was in the area and was planning to deal with it. Instead he had to deal with giving his crew a chance to run like hell for their ship and hopefully escape himself from the strongest man alive.
It didn't matter if Whitebeard looked like he was regularly hooked up to machines keeping him alive. Ace wasn't stupid enough to think he stood any chance against someone with actual experience.
You didn't get that old being a pirate (especially being a known rival of Gol D. Roger) without learning a lot of ways to stay alive and put down arrogant idiots in their place.
Ace knew he was boned, but he would be damned if he didn't make the old man work for it.
