Chapter Two: Entering the Grand Line "Ace, Are you sure about that Jacque guy?" Deuce asked as he helped his captain load the supplies into their ship. " I think he is a good guy." Even when the man mocked his goal, it didn't feel like he was looking down on him. It still pissed him off, but it wasn't said with ill intent. It sounded more like teasing the mockery, to be honest. " Well, I am indeed a good guy…." a voice suddenly remarked behind them, scaring the two pirate. " When did you get here?!" Ace was pretty sure they were the only ones on the ship. " Since you two boarded the ship. I thought it would be rude to interrupt your discussion." Jacque sat on the crow's nest with his feet hanging between the wooden railings. He had on a dark green and red leather jacket, that would have been hard to miss. " You were eavesdropping then!" Deuce exclaimed. With a sheepish smile he responded. " well, not intentionally." It was hard not to hear when they were so loud. " How did you get here anyway? we barely left the deck." Even when they were carrying the supplies one of them stayed on deck to watch over the remaining supplies. "… Let's just say I am good at being undetected." His vague response didn't exactly assure Deuce. " That's so cool." Ace, on the other hand, was excited about his new crew member's sneaking abilities. " I didn't see you at all." Jacques seemed amused by the sudden praise. " Did you get all the supplies you needed?" " Yeah, but I am not sure we got enough food for the captain here. That guy's stomach is a bottomless pit." Ace sheepishly laughed at the accusation tone of his first mate. " Shouldn't your cook deal with that?" A sea cook was an important member of any crew. " We don't have one. Banshee kind of took that position." Deuce responded. They were fortunate that they had someone who could at least cook on their crew even if they weren't a sea cook. With that, the new crew member started helping them with store the rest of their supplies. It wasn't long before the rest of the crew arrived. As the captain, Ace introduced Jacques to the crew and vice versa." This is Jacques. Our ship's navigator." " Pleasure to meet you all. I look forward to working with you all." Jacques' response was a little stiff for Ace's taste. He made it sound like he got hired for a job. Jacques was used to working for merchant ships as a navigator for hire. It was one of the many odd jobs he had taken during his time at Grand line so he reflexively slipped into his business model. Ace roughly patted him on the back. " No need to be so formal. You are one of us now." His cheerful and carefree tone reminded Jacques that he wasn't on a temporary job. No, he was a pirate now. He didn't know how to feel about that. His feelings towards pirates were always conflicted between admiration to downright hate toward piracy. A look at the crew and his lips twitched. They looked promising and he couldn't wait to see the mayhem that they would cause. Ace went along introducing the crew to Jacques who kept assessing each one of them.

" Aye Aye Captain, you guys can call me Roi. Jacques is my business name." He was hesitant about giving his name to the crew at first, however Ace's cheerful welcoming eased his worries. No one who would willingly follow such a carefree captain could be untrustworthy. He decided to put his trust in Ace and his chosen crew. It also felt fitting to use his birth name to be a pirate. He was following in his old man's footsteps after all.

There vary reactions to their new crew member. Some were excited to have someone new aboard. Some were relieved to have an actual navigator and some were a bit wary of a new stranger.

" Jacques? That name sounds familiar." Skull remarked. A man in a greenish leather jacket carrying two weird-looking duel pistols. As a pirate enthusiast, he had quite the sizable knowledge or piracy and related topics like the marines and fellow bounty hunter. Although the name Jacques wasn't widely known in the east blue. It was common knowledge among the bounty hunter business. A casual pirate hunter that tended to catch high profile pirates that many bounty hunters would avoid. A few years ago he helped the marine headquarters in Loguetown capture all-rookie pirates trying to venture to the grand line.

" Roi-san. You wouldn't happen to be Jacques the duel wielding bounty hunter?" Skull trusted his captain's judgment, however, he also knew how kind heart Ace could be.

Roi grinned at his question " Oh you heard of me? I am flattered." His admission made some of the crew tenses at the possibility of danger. " I wouldn't call myself a bounty hunter…. It was a good job to get quick cash, but it isn't my cup of tea. I am not much of a fighter, to be honest." That sounded like an outright lie coming from such a person. " but difficult times call for desperate measures." He was broke and stranded on a closed-off island with people who were wary of outsiders. Needless to say, the only way for him to earn money was to take a few bounties. He unknowingly took some hotshot pirate crew and became infamous among the marines and bounty hunters alike. He didn't plan to follow the path of a bounty hunter mainly because he didn't want to deal with the marine.

" you are a man of many talents, aren't you ?" Ace teased his new crewmate. He didn't seem to care about his past as a bounty hunter.

Despite his earlier bravado, he seemed rather flustered with Ace's praise. He wasn't particularly used to people giving it in such a carefree and sincere way. "... I have been sailing the seas before you were born. of course, I know a few things." He humbly responded.

" what?" He didn't look that old. " How old are you?"

" I turn thirty in the fall."

" wait how old do you think I am?" Did he believe Ace was younger than he was? He did make that kid comment earlier.

"... aren't you a teen?" Jacques was slightly confused with where that conversation was going exactly.

" I am seventeen that means you were what you were thirteen when I was born. You started sailing that young?" He supposed it wasn't strange for someone to sail that young, but it was still surprising

"...Yeah... I sailed with my father once when I was ten… I guess you can say I lived the majority of my life on the sea than on land." His learned navigation skill out of necessity at first. Now thinking about it the sea became his home with him noticing. The crew scattered about the ship preparing to enter the grandline

" Oh, we are here! " Deuce exclaimed with excitement. The redline was something to behold. It was so massive, he couldn't even see the top hidden in clouds. It was straight out of an adventure book and Deuce was seeing it with his own eyes. He and the rest of the crew shared a mixture of excitement and slight dread. There was a huge storm brewing near the foot of the red line. The weather suddenly started getting colder as they approached their destination.

" Oi Navigator-san You are up." Banshee kicked Roito to get his attention. The man was immersed in his journal to pay attention to her call. Was he another scholar type? Did they need another one of those? She thought three was enough. He would get along with Mihar if he didn't prefer being outside unlike Mr indoor down there. Where was that bookworm? He was missing out on a momentous event.

Jacques scowled in irritation. He didn't appreciate being kicked in the side, however, he wasn't going to pick a fight with a woman. He was raised better than that. He jumped back to his feet and put his journal back inside his jacket.

" Might advise you all to put on some jackets. We are about to enter a rather troublesome storm. Fold the sails." It was raining heavily near the reverse mountain. Well, it was to be expected. Reverse mountain could be considered a winter island of sorts. He could already see a few water whirlpool forming ahead. Oh, Grandline unpredictable weather. He can't say he missed it. The warm moderate climate of the east blue was certainly a treat.

" Hold the rudder to the southwest and head straight towards the red line." As the ship navigator, he started giving instructions. After a moment of hesitation among the crew who were unused to such direct orders, they scattered about the ship following his orders. Skull and Bree folded the sails while Deuce and Saber held the rudder to the southwest.

" Oh, we are being sucked in."

" We are going to crash."

" Hold your horses, you rookies," Roi shouted over the sound of the winds. Reverse Mountain was known for its turbulent storm. One mistake and they would either crash into the red line or drift to the calm belt and honestly, he didn't know which was worse. He only encountered that infamous mountain once in his life and compared to last time, he was well equipped to take on that task.

The moment the ship hit the mountain's current, it was hosted up violently to the peak. Deuce kept a firm grip on the rudder however he couldn't keep his eye on the crazy event taking place. A river that takes their ship across a bloody mountain. Members of the crew frantically held into the ship as it defied gravity.

Ace was having the time of his life at the figurehead. Enjoying the thrill of sailing up a mountain.

"WE ARE GOING TO FALL….."

" HOLD ON TIED THEN... YOU TOO CAPTAIN. NOBODY IS GOING TO FISH OUT IF YOU FALL."

Despite the warning, Ace remained in his place. There was no way he missed out on their first view of the Grand Line. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

mystery18blue note: hi, guys sorry for the long wait. I had trouble writing Ace's character and writing his crew since we don't know much about them so I had to take some liberties ;p This story isn't a long one. I don't think it would more than ten chapters max.