Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. *sobs*
Ace's head incessantly buzzed, and his hands shook fiercely as he attempted to twist open the bottle cap of a ketchup bottle. He was tempted to smash it onto the ground or the wall at this point. Taking a deep breath, he set it down to get some fresh air, thinking that'll help his fever, and before he actually smashed it and created another mess.
"You should really rest," came the voice of his other self out of the blue. He poked his head out of the doorway leading to Ace's room, eyes red from staring at the computer screen for hours. The entire time, he had been using it to do research on Blackbeard and the rest of the world, going through pointless threads and other news Ace would usually disregard as useless. He secretly wondered if Portgas was just using this excuse to play with the computer.
"Whatever. Get over here to help me open this stupid ketchup bottle," he replied whilst glaring at said object.
Portgas snickered. "You're so weak you can't even open that?" he jibed cheekily.
Ace growled and tossed a fireball towards his other self. The flame, however, melted right into Portgas's body, and it was only then when he realized that they were both users of the Mera Mera no Mi, so launching fire at him would do nothing, except earn him a smirk. How could his own self be so irritating?
Portgas, though, walked over to the kitchen anyways and popped open the bottle easily. "Here you go."
Ace snatched it angrily out of his hands and proceeded to pour a generous amount of the sauce into one of tonight's dishes.
His counterpart leaned against the wall, shoving his hands into his pant pockets casually. "You should take it easy today. Your fever's not gonna be gone like this, ya know," he commented.
The mafia member ignored him. "Still gotta cook dinner."
"Order pizza," the former pirate countered.
"Too late."
"Why the hell are you so stubborn?" Portgas was now irritated. Ace was definitely a workaholic; he couldn't stop, even when his health was already disastrous as it is.
"Because," Ace scowled, "if I don't do this, no one else would. I obviously can't depend on Luffy to do anything, can I? Like he can cook and clean the house, like someone else could take over my duties as the second commander. I still got patrol work tonight." He stirred the soup a little harsher than needed, and some of the contents splashed over the edges. A hand suddenly grabbed onto his wrist, forcing him to stop with what he was doing. "Let go."
"No," his other self's voice was firm and cool. "I don't know why you're such an ass right now, but I want you to stop everything you're doing. You know that I can take care of the stuff you do, and that the old man will let you off tonight since you're sick and all. Even if you had to go anyways, I could always take over. I know everything as well as you do."
Ace's free hand switched the fire off. "I don't know why I'm like this," he admitted. "I just feel so uptight for some reason, because I'm afraid to be sick. I'm afraid of leaving Luffy alone to deal with his stuff, and I just-" he broke off, running a hand through his unkempt hair. "Ugh, I don't even know anymore."
Portgas began pushing him out the kitchen. "Well, go call the pizza right now. Can't have you get even worse." Once Ace was out of earshot as he called to order, he muttered under his breath, "Sometimes I feel like I'm the older one, even though we're exactly the same."
A few moments later, his counterpart turned back to him and opened his mouth. "I'm don-" He was interrupted when his eyes rolled back, and his knees suddenly gave way. The mafia member had blacked out.
"Oh my god, you!" Portgas groaned. He kicked his counterpart in the side, and none too gently. Hopefully the man wouldn't question the strange bruise that had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He hauled him up roughly by the arms and proceeded to drag him back to the bedroom, shoving him back onto the bed and pulling the covers roughly over. Then he adjusted the bed sheets so they were fully wrapped around Ace.
He dipped the towel that had been previously prepared into a small bucket of cold water, twisting it to get all the extra moisture out, and laid it on the other's forehead. "You better get well soon, or I'll die trying to take care of you," he said softly and sighed.
Once he was seated again in front of the addictive computer, he started typing away furiously. Portgas had to say he was pretty surprised at the speed he could type. At first, he had assumed it'll take all eternity for him to find each letter on the keyboard, and then after practicing, it became much easier, and through a short test he found out that his WPM speed was at 95. That got him thinking. Was it possible that the unique skills from his counterpart were somehow passing over to him as well?
Portgas passed many strange websites, one of them called 9Gag. He didn't understand most of the things posted, or the strange faces that appeared in every little comic strip. He decided to move on, since the website clearly didn't have anything he needed.
On to Reddit, Twitter, and Tumblr.
He decided to ditch those, too, since it was mostly nonsense and nothing particularly important. Even if news about last night were plastered all over them, all of the posts were similar to the post he saw on FaceBook in the morning. In short, they were all propaganda and useless stuff, not to mention half of them were horribly written. Did kids in this world not know how to spell or write properly? He'll have to ask Ace about that later when he woke up… if he ever woke up today.
Going back to FaceBook, he half-heartedly typed in Marshall D. Teach and was not surprised when no results came up. Of course… I'm such a vain idiot for wishing so…
The computer started beeping strangely, jerking Portgas out of his current annoyance. "What the hell?" he said out loud, and spotted a black square that appeared on top of the screen.
Marco is calling you.
You could call on the computer? He clicked the answer with video button cautiously, and the line connected. Marco's face popped out on the screen.
Portgas leaped back in surprise and terror. "Ahhhhh!" he screamed, "How the fuck did you get into the computer?!"
"Portgas?" was the amused answer. "I'm not in the screen. This is something called video chatting."
He immediately felt dumb. "I knew that," he said quickly.
There was a small chuckle on the other side. "Sure you did," Marco said, grinning, while the other scowled. "Anyways," he continued, changing the topic quickly, "Where's Ace?"
Portgas shot a look behind. His other self was still asleep, gently snoring and overall unperturbed by his sudden outburst. "He's sick so he's sleeping right now," he explained.
"Sick?" Marco raised an eyebrow. "How sick are we talking about here?"
Portgas listed out all the symptoms. "High fever, sweating, shivering, unnatural flush, and such."
"Oh dear," the other murmured, "that must be caused by the blood transfusions."
The younger's eyes widened. "Blood transfusions? What happened to him that was so serious?"
Marco gave him a strange look. "Didn't you see what happened in your dreams while you were in a coma or something?"
Portgas paused for a moment, thinking back to the last things that had happened. Chaos, people fighting, seastone, bullets… "Ohhhhh…" he said. "I see…"
"Yep," the Zoan user replied grimly. "It's probably not going to pass very soon."
He sighed. "Looks like I'm stuck been his babysitter for a while, huh," he remarked.
Marco laughed. "And Luffy, by the way. Speaking of him, I believe you have to pick him up afterschool today, because Ace usually does that."
It took a moment for the sentence to sink fully into his head. "What?! Luffy's 17, surely he doesn't need a person to pick him up?"
The older shrugged. "They've always been doing that for whatever reasons."
"That's just great," said Portgas in a sarcastic tone. "I don't even know where that high school is."
"Take Ace's phone when you leave," Marco instructed, "I'll send the address over as a text message. You know how to follow directions, do you?"
He rolled his eyes. "What do you take me as?"
The other cracked a smile. "Ah well. Ace can be a little bit directionally challenged without his compass."
Portgas blinked. "I'm pretty sure I don't have that problem. Oh yeah, that reminds me of a theory I have."
"Go on."
"I think maybe some of his abilities are transferring to me, and it might be the other way around."
Marco appeared to be deep in thought as he pondered over the possibility of the theory. He scratched his chin absently. "Hmmmm… I really don't see how that would work."
"I don't either," Portgas said, "but try explaining why I could type so fast. I have never really typed on a keyboard before. We always just used voice recognition and den den mushis."
"Huh… go pick that gun over there and see what you're going to do with it," Marco suggested.
The younger looked behind him to the bed stand besides his other sleeping self. There were parts of a gun. He fingered a piece hesitantly, having never shot one before. His combat skills and Devil fruit never had him resort to these kind of methods. Fiddling with two other pieces, he somehow got them all attached together, and the other just fitted together easily like a jigsaw puzzle. The bullets were loaded, and he cocked the gun. "Like this?" he asked, waving it in front of the screen.
Marco looked mildly surprised. "And how did you know how to do this?" he questioned, his voice suspicious.
Portgas shrugged. "I don't know. The stuff just fit together like some weird puzzle. Ain't that hard."
"Actually, it's not as simple as you take it to be," Marco countered.
"… Are you serious?"
Marco nodded. "You might be right, but I honestly don't see how that works."
"Maybe because we're the same people and we're currently in the same universe?" Portgas offered.
"That makes no sense."
He pouted. "Can you sugar coat your words next time?"
"Dream on," the older replied. "Anyways, try aiming at something and shooting."
Portgas's eyes widened. "Wouldn't that make a loud bang which will draw the neighbors' attention? And then they'll call the Marines and all the shit that'll follow which leaves us screwed?"
Marco laughed. "This apartment has been reinforced so that it's soundproof and bulletproof. To the outside, it'll seem as if this place was deathly quiet all the time."
With a wicked grin, the younger pointed mischievously at his other self's head. It didn't matter if he shot him, anyways, since it'll go right through because of his devil fruit powers. He was just about to pull the trigger when Marco yelled out frantically, "Don't do that!"
Hearing the other's cry, he fumbled with the gun before it slipped out of his hands and clattered onto the ground. "What?"
Marco breathed a long sigh of relief. "All the weapons we use here in the mafia are reinforced by seastone. You do that to Ace, he'll probably die."
Portgas gulped nervously. "Thank god you stopped me in time," he mumbled weakly.
The other rubbed his temples exasperatedly. "As if I don't have enough trouble with one Ace… I swear, one day, you'll be the death of me. Either one of you.
"Ehehehe… Sorry." His eyes roamed around the room and located a valid target. It was a big, fluffy looking pink pillow in the shape of a heart, with white, frilly laces stitched to the edge. He was sorely tempted to shake his other self awake and ask why he would buy such a thing, while hoping Ace wouldn't mind a hole in it. Using both hands, he focused on that small heart stitched to the middle and pulled the trigger thrice quickly.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He winced as his ears rang obnoxiously from the loud noises. Peeking out of one of the windows, his eyes darted around, wondering if any neighbors had heard and were alarmed. Nope. It was dead silent, with a few birds flying overhead while calling out. He waited for a few seconds. Nothing.
He switched his attention onto the pillow, which now had one large smoking hole in the middle where the heart was. Portgas frowned. Didn't he shoot twice? Checking the gun told him that three bullets were missing, so he did. "Marco, for some reason there's only one hole in the pillow," he said, puzzled.
"Show it to me," he commanded.
Portgas obliged and lifted the object up to the screen.
There was a pause, then Marco said, "It's because you shot in the same place, idiot. And you completely obliterated the heart."
"… How did you know that there was a heart?"
"… Because I was the one that bought it for Ace…"
…
"Wait. You bought it for – you know what, I'm not even going to ask."
"It was a dare."
"Oh really, was it?"
"I don't swing that way."
"A likely story."
"It's time to pick up Luffy."
"… what."
"I'm serious. Time's up! Get your ass moving!"
"You're trying to shoo me away, aren't cha?"
Marco grinned, not bothering to hide it. "Go," he said, waving his hands. And the video call went dead as he hung up.
"Sheesh…"
Twenty minutes later, Portgas spotted the large and very fancy looking building of Luffy's school. He didn't dare to push his luck and take Stryker the motorcycle, because for all he knew the weird passing-abilities theory was just false, and he'll crash the bike into something, then endure fines and maybe even accidentally burning something. The school was altogether very impressive, and was a private school, which lead him to wonder how much it cost. Surely a hefty amount? If Ace had so much money, why didn't he invest it into a house? He could understand that the other would want to give his younger brother good education, but the idea of Luffy studying was just strange.
Students were slowly emerging from the large double doors, decked in the blue and white formal school uniform, walking with dignity towards their respective limos as sleek looking butlers and footmen bowed to them. A corner of his mouth went up into an amused smirk as he imagined Luffy wearing such a thing, or acting like a rich kid. He'd bet all the beli he had that the kid probably forgone the uniform completely, or at least took off the tie and jacket. The smirk widened as he spotted the younger with the said clothing articles slung casually over his shoulder. However, it quickly disappeared when he noticed his younger brother looked strangely subdued and anxious, in contrast with his usual hyperactivity and sunny attitude. What was wrong? From the worried faces of his friends, it was clear that something was up with Luffy.
The younger caught sight of him and said a hurried goodbye to his friends, racing over to Portgas's side. "Where's Ace?" he demanded, his voice sounding on the edge of hysteria.
Portgas briefly wondered how Luffy could tell the difference between the two, then answered, "He's too sick to pick you up today, so I came instead."
Luffy's eyes widened, his hands clenching into tight fists. "Oh no," he breathed in horror. "We've got to go! Now!" He grabbed the former pirate's hand and started to sprint down the street before the latter fully registered what was happening.
Portgas managed to keep up with his insane pace as they sped past the buildings at an unnatural speed, but slow enough to not attract unwanted attention. "What happened?" he asked urgently. Something was definitely really wrong.
"I had a vision," Luffy explained hurriedly, focusing on the road, "that Ace was attacked. By this big fat guy he called Blackbeard. He kidnapped Ace!"
Visions? "How do you know it's not just a dream or anything?" Portgas enquired curiously. Was Luffy somehow developing a sixth sense, or precognition?
"I don't know," the rubber teen replied, "but I just know that it's real, like how I saw what happened in your world."
His face paled. "Oh shit," he muttered. "I knew today was a bad day."
Luffy didn't answer.
Meanwhile, apprehension was growing inside of Portgas. He feared for the wellbeing of his other self, as well as Luffy. To be sick and kidnapped by Blackbeard… he didn't even want to think about it. Teach was horribly inhumane to the ones he considered enemies, and he had the first hand experience. And the only time he had seen Luffy this terrified and anxious was during the Marineford battle, which he hoped to whatever deities that existed would not repeat ever again in the entire history of humanity.
Luffy pretty much cleared all the stairs up to the apartment in one great leap, and with a second of hesitation, the elder followed. He jabbed the key into the doorknob and twisted roughly, yanking the door open. He stopped dead when the sight of the room reached him.
Portgas cursed under his breath.
The inside was virtually demolished, walls smashed down, furniture overturned and reduced to smoldering chunks, plates and glasses in shards as they littered the burnt floor. One of the windows was flung unceremoniously open, one of the panels' hinge creaking as it was disturbed by a light breeze passing through. Ace's bedroom suffered the most damage. It was obvious that he had put up a fight, although a vain one seeing as his body wasn't in a condition to do such things.
"I'm going to kill that bastard!" Luffy screamed out in rage.
Portgas agreed silently and fished out the iPhone from his pocket, dialing a number. In a low and grim voice, he said, "Marco, get here immediately." The other hung up without a word.
A little bit before…
Ace woke up, feeling very disoriented. He touched the piece of cloth over his forehead, feeling its cool moisture. Then he bolted upright, the towel falling onto his blanket. "Shit!" he swore out loud, looking around wildly, and noticed a small sticky note besides the bed. He picked it up and scanned through the contents:
Hey Ace,
Well, long story cut short, you passed out because you overworked yourself (IDIOT!), and so I had to drag you to your bed while you slept like the dead. You'll notice that I'm gone because I'm off to pick up Luffy (assuming that you're reading this while I'm gone because you have woken up, since I'd have torn up the note if you didn't wake up yet when I came back, blah blah blah). Had a short video chat with Marco about a theory I'm mulling over.
By the way, I hope you're not going to be too angry with the state of your fluffy pillow. I had to use it for a test.
Ace glanced quickly at the pink object and noticed a hole in the middle where the heart used to be. How lovely.
Anyways, I'll explain my theory when I get back to Luffy. Don't get up, just rest before you get any worse, and heaven knows if I can stand been your babysitter as well as Luffy's.
He allowed himself a brief grin before balling the note up and tossing it into the wastebasket in one fluid movement. Heaving himself out of bed, he saw that his phone was also gone. Portgas must've taken it to use it as a GPS or something, provided that he knew how to use it. Now, he wondered absent-mindedly, what was that theory all about? And what did it have to do with shooting holes into a pillow?
His head snapped up when his ears picked up a strange scuffling sound. It was definitely not a mouse. Too rough. Before he managed to give a second thought to that noise, shadows flitted around his window and it gave way with a huge crash.
Ace froze. Holy shit. His mind had one final morbid thought before it switched to its wary mode. My other self was right. Fate really does love screwing with us.
His most hated enemy, Blackbeard, was standing there in all of his disgusting glory with a large, gap-toothed grin.
Ace tensed, hands forming into fists, muscles tensing, as he slid into a defensive position.
"If it isn't my favorite commander! I missed you!" Teach said in a cheerful tone, his creepy smile never faltering. "But you don't seem to miss me."
"Like hell I would. What do you want?" Ace replied snappily, his fists lighting on fire.
Blackbeard pouted, something he never wanted to see, causing him to shudder inwardly. "What do I want?" he drawled, enjoying the wary and (dare he admit it) the slightly terrified look in Ace's eyes, "You don't look particularly healthy, commander Ace."
Ace tried to ignore his throbbing head and the slight dizziness that was beginning to cloud his mind. "So what?" he spat.
"I'm hurt," Teach responded in mock-pain. "I am here to offer you to be part of my crew. Break away from the old man. His time's up. It's time for a new era."
"Don't insult him!" Ace yelled. "Hiken!" The fiery fist flew at the large man and hit him squarely in the stomach. And the response was surprising to say the least. Teach did not dodge; instead, he promptly dropped to the ground and rolled around, screaming "hot" repeatedly on top of his lungs as he tried to put out the fire, while destroying most of Ace's room in the process, but he couldn't care less. His eyes narrowed. Was this some kind of trick? He leaned against the wall, coughing a few times, and summoned little green fire balls which hovered near Blackbeard. "Hotarubi…"
Blackbeard was on his feet again, a comical expression of relief on his face as he finally put out the fire.
"Hidaruma!" The entire room burst into flames. The sickness was messing with his head, making his attacks become haywire. It wasn't Hibashira, damnit! His hazy mind barely registered that the target had disappeared and was behind it. Ace leaped back in surprise.
"Guess your answer is really a solid no, then," Blackbeard said. For someone who broke into another's house just for an invite, he didn't look terribly disappointed.
"You killed a crew mate just for a devil fruit," Ace seethed. "What kind of person are you?"
"One who knows the clear path to been number one," the traitor replied. "And now, I will show you why I wanted the Yami Yami no Mi so badly." He spread his arms out as a strange black mist flowed out of his body. It wasn't exactly mist, though, as it looked more like dark blackness seeping out of the man's body, with no definite form. They flowed around the entire apartment, seeping through the walls and crumbling them. Objects were smashed, plants became shriveled, paper crumpled into ashes, and the furniture were creaking and collapsing.
Just what type of ungodly power did the Yami Yami no Mi grant the user?
The darkness had formed a circle around him, as if they were trying to trap him in that small area. Too bad for Teach, Ace didn't intend to surrender without a fight. Crossing his index fingers, he yelled, "Jujika!" A column of fire in the shape of a cross flew towards his target but missed. Ace panted heavily, falling onto one knee. These attacks already sapped away most of his feeble strength. He had to end it soon. For the first time, he hated the fact that the walls were made to be soundproof. No one could hear anything in the home, even if someone dropped a bomb.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp tugging force on his body and to his horror, he was been pulled towards Blackbeard against his will.
The Yami Yami no Mi, apparently, came with a gravitational force, as well.
Ace fought to stay still, fingers digging into the soft carpet. The struggle didn't last when the force disappeared abruptly, and he fell completely to the ground, exhausted.
A thick hand curled around his sweaty hair and tugged roughly upwards, forcing his head to meet Blackbeard's.
"Not so tough now, are we?" he said with his same gap-toothed grin. "My offer still stands, commander. Will you join my famiglia?"
Ace spat in his face and felt sharp pain at the back of his neck before he sank into darkness. Fuck…
You guys didn't think Portgas was the only one that'd be messed around with, do you? Anyways, the last little scene was just my pathetic attempt at a reenactment of the epic battle between Ace and Blackbeard, with (sadly) the same results. And no, Ace shouldn't be any stronger than I made him to be. I know some of you probably think Ace is too weak in the fight, but remember, the poor guy's suffering a high fever. From personal experience, it sucks like heck and I feel very weak and dizzy when that happens.
I don't know where the pink pillow came from, to be honest. It just came in my head and so I was like, hey, why not? Portgas's jibe about Marco been gay was just a joke, I was not hinting any MarcoxAce and there is none. Sorry to you yaoi fans, but I decided to keep yaoi out of this fic, for now, anyways.
Well… it's pretty much permanent now that every chapter's going to be at least 4000 words from the original 3000 unless something happens that force me to shorten it. Hope you like this change! And of course, please review! Makes this little author very happy! And I'll be motivated to write the chapter faster! And more goodies! So, folks, please REVIEW! :D Till next time!
