Disclaimer: We don't own One Piece, Oda does. We do however own the plot of this story

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Blackbeard's POV:

I looked around me and at all of the different books that filled the many shelves that were inside my office. Wrong. Wrong. Everything was going wrong. Things shouldn't have turned out like this, and the worst thing was that I had to make it seem like I was glad that things were like this. I was lucky that I was a great liar, or else I would have been discovered a long time ago. Everything was going wrong, but I knew that my plan would still work. I just had to fix one or two things.

I had let Portgas D. Ace, the son of that bastard called Roger, lead the last battle, and it had proved to be a great error. While it had been a defeat it hadn't been as big as I hadn't intended it to be. Vivi, the daughter of the king of Arabasta was still alive, and that was just one of the things that had gone wrong. She was alive because Ace had saved her, and also prevented the rebel army from massacring us. I needed that massacre, and more especially, I needed Vivi to die. I needed the heir to the throne to die. However Ace had saved her. I hadn't expected him to do that when I had told him to lead the battle, but I knew now that I should have expected it. If only I had paid a bit more of attention to how he was I would have been able to avoid this. That young man was a danger to my plan, and I needed to get rid of him as soon as possible. I suddenly heard several knocks on the door.

"Come in" I said with a monotone tone of voice.

The door opened, and revealed to be Ace. He had a serious expression on his face, and looked quite weary. He looked almost... suspicious, and I couldn't help but wonder of what. He had fought with Dragon and hadn't been defeated by him in the strictest meaning of the word. Could the rebellion leader have told him something? I knew that that man had spies here that were all over the place. In fact, it was possible that they were watching me right now. I closed my eyes as I started to think about the situation carefully. Judging by Ace's expression he surely knew now that there was a traitor. I have to be careful now.

"What do you want, Colonel Ace" I said with a formal and emotionless tone of voice.

"I was informed that you wanted to see me" He said, still eying me with suspicion.

"Ah, yes" I said with a more relaxed tone of voice. "I wanted to talk to you about the battle that we will have tomorrow" I then added.

"Isn't there going to be a meeting in an hour?" He asked me.

"Yes, but I wanted to explain to you the basic plans for tomorrow" I then said "It will be important" I then added.

He nodded and continued looking at me.

"Sit down, please" I said as I pointed to the other vacant chair in the room.

He nodded again and sat down. "What is your plan?" He then asked with a serious tone of voice, going directly to the issue.

I smiled. He was intelligent, so I had to be careful. He was a danger to my plan, and I already had an idea about what to do in the battle to ensure that he was killed or captured.

"We will attack them at their weakest spot. We must be quick, now that they think that we are weakened. We will attack through the mountains of the east, near a town important to them." I said "I'll explain more during the meeting, but I called you here to tell you another thing" I then added.

"What is it sir?" He asked me.

"Seeing the results of the last battle I want you to lead this one again. I will also be leading, and Kizaru will be present as well" I said.

He nodded yet again, eying me with surprise in his eyes. "Thank you sir" He said.

"What do you think that was the cause for our defeat?" I then asked him, purely out of curiosity.

He thought for several moments. "The strategy proposed and followed by Akainu was the wrong one, if we had followed a better one we would have won even with Dragon there" he replied after some moments with confidence.

I nodded. "Interesting answer" I said, knowing plain well that he had just said the reason for the failure.

He then looked at me with hesitation, as if trying to decide whether he should tell me something or not.

"You look as if you want to tell me something Ace" I said, trying to convince him to tell me whatever that he was thinking, that surely was what Dragon had told him during the battle. Yes, Dragon had told him something important, and I wondered what it was and to what amount of detail.

"I'm not sure if I should tell this… but Dragon told me something during the battle" he said slowly.

"Really?" I asked with fake curiosity.

"He told me that there was a traitor in the higher ranks, and I was… wondering who that traitor was" He said.

"I can't believe it" I then said, trying to sound as truthful as possible.

"I couldn't either, but that man hasn't got a single reason to lie to us. I was thinking about it for a while and I think that it is true, but I don't know who that person can be" He said then, sounding a bit forceful while saying that.

I nodded, knowing that he had just lied. Judging by how he had looked when he had entered the room showed that he did have more or less and idea of who that traitor was, and I was certain that he suspected me. I closed my eyes and thought about my plan again. I would soon be governing Arabasta instead of the current king, and Ace was a danger that was bigger than what I had thought at first. "I have to get rid of him as soon as possible" I told myself mentally.

"Well, you may go now Colonel Ace, remember than in an hour there will be a meeting in the meeting room. Don't miss it" I said.

He nodded. "I will not sir" He said with respect, but with a glint of suspicion in his eyes before he turned around and left the room.

As soon as he did this I got on my feet and walked out of the room. I would have to be careful with this. I had to talk with my most loyal followers to plan in more detail tomorrow before that meeting. I would get rid of Portgas D. Ace and make sure that he would be out of the way. The kid knew far too much.

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Vivi's POV:

I opened my eyes again to find one of our doctors treating me. The room was an artic white, with the smell of antiseptic in the air. I couldn't see the doctor's face, for he had a white surgeon mask on him. His eyes were calm and warm, as if to comfort me. Usually surgeons gave me the creeps because they looked like all they wanted to do was dissect me. My eyes traveled down one my body, observing the damage. I wasn't totally covered in bandages, but I had quite a lot. Nothing hurt though. I was numb, probably due to some medication they gave me while I was unconscious to dull the pain. It worked.

The only thing on my mind was Luffy. Ace saw what he did to me, and Ace would hunt him down for what he did. I've got to warn Ace how strong Luffy is! His life could be in danger. But my good-mannered personality refrained me from telling the doctor to leave me be. After a few minutes, the doctor bowed and left. Not five seconds later, Ace appeared. He wore a beige sleeveless top, the standard army pants, and boots. His hands rested in his pockets. One of his legs rested gently on the side of the wall as he leaded against it. Several bandages were on him, but not nearly as much as I had.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. I smiled at him.

"You're talking to a general here, I'm pretty tough, you know!" I said. He just laughed with me. He told me about his fight with Dragon, and I tried to tell him about Luffy, but I never seemed to have the chance. Damn that Dragon! Messing with Ace's head, comparing him to his father! Ace is not Roger, and I will always believe that. Is that why Ace seemed so mad during the battle? A few moments of silence passed and he looked at me. I was about to mention Luffy, but the look he had stopped me from speaking. Something in his eyes told me what he was going to say was important.

"I just had a talk with Teach, something's not right," he spoke in a serious tone.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"Call it intuition. I don't know why, but have you noticed that Teach has been acting rather odd the past few weeks?"

"Ace, at least use an honorific. He is your superior, you know," I reminded him of his position.

"Vivi, I'm serious." The coldness of his voice surprised me. "He seems… wary of his surroundings." I just nodded. "Dragon told me something other than about my bastard father." He looked down so that his eyes rested on the floor, but were full of determination and something else that I could not detect.

"What?" I was so curious now. Ace seemed so sure about something, but what? And how was Sir Teach involved?

"Dragon mentioned," he took a pause to breathe and his gaze made its way to me, "a traitor. In the higher ranks." My eyes widened. A traitor? Well, betrayal is nothing new to this war, but in the higher ranks? "I don't know why, but I suspect Teach."

"Ace!" I scolded. He seemed shocked at my outburst. "Listen to what you're saying! He's a highly respected man who has helped us through thick and thin! And you have the gall to accused him of betrayal?" How could he? Marshal D. Teach was a great man!

"Like I said, it's intuition. You don't have to agree with me whatsoever," he shrugged. With that, I calmed down a bit.

"Say," I began. His obsidian eyes rested on me. "You know, during my battle-" his voice cut me off.

"Don't worry, I'll kick that Monkey's ass for you," he smirked.

"That's not it," I shook my head. "He actually… saw me as an opponent. Most people don't do that due to me being a woman. He asked my name and rank, Ace!" I was overwhelmed with excitement.

"That so?" He looked at me kindly. It turned to cold and grave in seconds. "Have you forgotten what people like him have done to this country?" he seemed very tempted to yell at me. Why was he getting so mad? "Vivi, I saw him ram your head repeatedly into gravel. I watched him nearly kill you." His voice was rising with each word. "Do you know what it would mean to me if you would die?" I suddenly felt so insensitive and hurt at the same time. "I can't lose you Vivi!" he walked over to me. Those eyes of his were full of pain. Then they shut as his teeth clenched tightly. "Not like Sabo," my eyes widened. He never spoke of Sabo. Not since he died. His voice became softer. "Not like Sabo…" he repeated. It was almost inaudible.

"Ace… he's different." Ace raised his head and looked shocked at me. "He's not like the monsters that killed my mother. Nor is he like the people who killed Sabo. The only time I was actually able to get a hit was when…" Ace looked at me, listening intently. "He was distracted. Do you know what he was distracted by, Ace?" My friend shook his head. "You." I took a deep breath in. "He kept watching you and Dragon fight. He seemed so worried for his father. He can feel, Ace. He's human!" I shouted. "Don't compare him to the people who took my mother and Sabo!" I started to pant. Once again, Ace was stunned.

"Vivi…" he mumbled. "Why are you standing up for Dragon's son?" he voice was back to normal, but anger covered it completely.

"He has a name." I glared at him. Why did he keep looking down on Luffy? I didn't understand.

"Fine, why are you defending Luffy?"

"If you rushed out to fight him Ace, even someone of your power would lose." For a while, we just sat in silence. "He's strong, Ace…"

Ace just kept silent. He turned and started to leave. "I have a meeting to go to, see you 'round." With that, he slammed the door, leaving me to my own thoughts.