Will of the Sea

Chapter 14: Sailing the Blue Seas

Warning: mentions of PTSD, mentions of nightmares, mentions of illness, seastone, over-use of Devil Fruit powers, alcoholism, mentions of flashbacks/flashbacks, Marineford, past character death/character death (in a flashback), past character death

After the Spades dropped off Luffy at the Gecko Islands, Ace and Sabo had come up with a plan for what to do for the next year or so until they both turned 17.

"Should we try and find more crew members?" Deuce asked his Captain.

Ace looked at his crew: Deuce, Aggie, Ducky Bree, Saber, Mihar, and Finamore were all looking to him for direction. Sabo was leaning against the railing, his pipe in his hands.

"No, we should just sail throughout the Blues for the time being. Maybe get out of East Blue and go to another Blue since the East is the weakest sea for a reason even though there have been monsters born in this sea." Sabo answered Deuce.

"Do you two know something we don't?" Finamore asked as the brothers shared a look between them.

"Yeah, but you don't need to know about it until later." Ace told the Spymaster.

"Which Blue do you want to go to?" Deuce asked quickly, not wanting this to turn into an argument.

"South Blue or West Blue." Ace answered.

"Uh…how are you planning on getting across the Red Line?" Aggie asked. "I mean, if you want to get to West Blue or North Blue you kinda gotta get over or under the Red Line. And we don't have the technology or the know-how to do that, Captain."

Sabo glanced at Ace, tapping his pipe gently on his shoulder. "Is there any place we can get that type of seafaring tech?"

"Only place I know is Water Seven, and that's further in the Grand Line. First half called Paradise." Aggie told the blonde.

"Why there?" Mihar asked, interjecting and looking toward the 16-year-old.

"I've got to find something in South Blue, and its personal." He thought about his mother and her home island of Baterilla, wondering if the island's inhabitants would even allow him to dock since he was the reason for the massacre.

"And West Blue?" Ducky Bree asked.

"I want to try and find Nico Robin." Ace said casually, shrugging. He didn't know where his brother's crewmate was at the moment, possibly with Crocodile? But he wasn't sure, all he knew was that Luffy had burned the World Government's flag for Nico Robin.

Ha! Devil Child, yeah right! Ace snorted thinking of how scared they were by Robin, Luffy, and him even existing in only rumors. His father and Dragon really did a number on the Five Elders. Good riddance, they should be scared, terrified by what he knows and what he'll do.

His crew stared at him in shock. Sabo looked at him like he had changed into a girl (he remembered Ivankov's Devil Fruit), the others were concerned about even going near any place where Devil Child Nico Robin was sighted.

"Why?!" Finamore yelled.

"She's one of the few people in the world who understands me, and I want to ask her something." Ace said.

Sabo looked down to the deck with a heart wrenching expression on his face. Ace just smiled sadly at his brother.

"Huh?!"

"What could you possibly want to ask the Devil Child?!" Ducky Bree asked, horrified.

"She isn't a devil!" Ace yelled at his crew, angry at them calling a little girl a devil just because of the knowledge she holds. "If anyone calls Nico Robin a Devil Child, I will throw you overboard and have you drown." Ace hissed, grey eyes narrowed in anger, Haoshoku Haki in his voice.

"Do you all understand?" Ace asked his crew in the flattest voice possible.

Everyone remained silent.

"Sabo, Aggie, set a course for South Blue." Ace commanded.

Sabo sighed and did as he was told, dragging Aggie toward the helm, the Shipwright-Helmsman stumbled as the blonde dragged him away from the fuming Captain.

Ace left the rest of the crew on the deck, going below and heading to his room, the Captain's quarters.

The dark-haired teen went over to his desk, pulling out the photograph of his parents and the Roger Pirates, needing some comfort, even if its just from the picture.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

"Ace, can I come in?" Deuce asked from the other side the door of the Captain's quarters.

The black-haired Captain put away the picture of his parents and his father's crew back in the desk drawer. "Yeah, come in Deuce."

"How long?" Ace asked his First Mate.

"About three weeks, but we have no way of getting through the Calm Belt. That's currently our only issue right now." Deuce informs his Captain.

"Getting through the Calm Belt won't be an issue. I'll handle it." Ace told him. Deuce was still in his room, leaning against the door frame. "Anything I can help you with, Deuce?" Ace asks, glancing at his friend.

"What's up with you? You've been completely out of it since we were with Captain Buggy. What is going on, Ace? I'm your Doctor, if something is wrong with you, please tell me so I can help you."

Ace closed his eyes. "I have PTSD and nightmares. I drink to cope." He tells his First Mate/Doctor.

Deuce wasn't surprised, but his Captain was only 16. What could he have gone through…what could do that to the strong-willed teen in front of him? What haunted him?

"What are your nightmares about?" Deuce asked gently, crouching down next to his Captain.

Ace scowled at the wooden planks. "A lot of things that I don't want to remember or talk about." He stressed.

"Ace-"

"No!" Ace yelled at the blue haired young man. "You don't get it! None of you do!"

"So explain it to us! Don't keep it all bottled up! That's not good for you!" The blue haired man told his Captain sternly.

Ace let out a yell and burst into fire. Deuce cried out in pain as his eyes burned from the light and intensity of the flames as he brought his arms up to try and block the heat from the Devil Fruit user.

Sabo was worried about his brother. Now knowing that people were after him and were trying to kill him just because of his father….was incredibly hard for him to grasp.

He didn't get it. Well, he did. But it still sickened him to think that there are people out in the world that would do anything possible to kill Ace, and by extension Luffy.

He wouldn't let that happen.

His brother will live despite what the Government wants. No one will harm his brothers, he wouldn't let them, even if it kills him.

His thoughts derailed as he heard an explosion in the direction of his brother's room, where Deuce currently was.

Shit. Did Ace attack Deuce? Sabo ran toward the explosion but all he saw was black smoke and stains of black on the wood, along with Deuce on the ground, near the wall, clutching at his eyes.

"Deuce? What happened?" Sabo asked, as he inspected the damage to the room and their First Mate/Doctor.

"Ace flipped. I wanted to know what happened with Captain Buggy." Deuce said after a few minutes of staring at the place where Ace previously was.

Sabo sighed. "I get that. But you must be patient with Ace. He's got a lot of demons, some not even Luffy and I know about." He was sure that Ace was hiding a lot more from them than just what he told them before they dropped off Luffy.

Deuce narrowed his blue eyes at him. "You know something." Sabo didn't answer, just frowned. "Sabo, something is wrong. He has PTSD from something that none of us even know about! Not even you and Luffy. Aren't you curious and worried?"

"Something is wrong, but I can't tell you since I don't know either, Deuce." Sabo told him, pulling at his hair. "My brother is hurting in a way I can't get to him! And we have no idea-"

"Crow's nest." Aggie interrupted Sabo's rant as both males turned to the Shipwright/Helmsman.

"Mihar and Finamore are watching over him, make sure he don't do nothin' stupid." Aggie told the First Mate/Doctor and the Devil Fruit Specialist.

Sabo now had an official role on the crew since he didn't want to be the First Mate to his brother. Maybe in the future, but not now. Ace had given him two of the three pairs of Seastone cuffs and chains that they had locked up in the infirmary, should they encounter any Devil Fruit users, and the last pair stayed with Deuce. But that meant that Sabo had control over whether Ace had use of the Mera Mera no Mi, not that Sabo would ever have Ace in a situation that he couldn't use his Fruit (only if Ace was seen harming himself, that is) but the point still stood. Ace trusted Sabo with something no one in their right mind would entrust to someone, even if they were family.

But that was just it. Ace wasn't in his right mind.

And that was what worried Sabo. Hell, that was why Luffy wanted to stay with them, just so he could snap Ace out of his flashbacks in necessary with his straw hat. Now, Luffy was gone and with it the straw hat, so…what could they do if Ace had a flashback in the middle of a battle?

Nothing. Not without getting severely injured in the process.

Ace needed to blow off some steam and the only way he could was overexerting his powers. He smiled bitterly. Marco would scold him, Thatch and Izo would wrestle him into seastone, and if it was bad enough (which it was) Pops would stay with him until he calmed down and just listen to him.

Ace screamed, not caring if his crewmates thought he was crazy. He was, he knew that.

Now all he could think about was Marineford.

And he couldn't stop fighting to be free. To get away from Akainu and Sengoku and all of the other people who are willing (and able) to kill him in the current situation.

Ace sinks heavily into a flashback.

…

Luffy and some of the other Impel Down prisoners had helped him escape the scaffold. They were running, Iva-san was with them and keeping a straggling Luffy upright and running (more like dragging the teen) with them.

But then the Marines closed in.

Now it was just Ace, carrying Luffy on his back, and Marco. (Who was still in seastone cuffs!)

But then Kizaru and Aokiji shot Light-based laser beams and Ice Arrows at Marco, making him stumble and fall onto the ground.

"MARCO!" Ace screamed, but his distraction cost him.

Badly.

The pink-haired woman with the very inconvenient and horrifying Devil Fruit had trapped Luffy in one of her cages.

"Luffy, RUN!" Ace screamed as he called on his Devil Fruit.

"HIKEN!" Ace screamed at the woman, she dodged, and let Luffy go.

But Ace couldn't get to him in time.

No…please, not my little brother. Ace thought in horror as Sengoku reached down to grab Luffy.

"Shinka: Shiranui!" Sengoku deflected the attack, but Ace wouldn't let anyone touch his little brother.

"LUFFY WAKE UP!" He roared as Haoshoku Haki blasted everyone back and away from his brother.

Garp was on his knees, staring in horrified shock at Ace and Luffy. But the old man couldn't do anything.

Not when Sengoku and all three Admirals were coming closer to them.

"Now you die! Son of Dragon! Son of Roger! You two should have never existed!" Akainu shouted.

Something in Ace broke.

And then the Mad-Dog of the Marines raised his Magma-coated fist.

"DAI ENKAI: ENTEI!"

But all it did was slow the other Logia down a little bit.

Ace reached for Luffy, hugging him close, as Luffy looked at him with a pain-filled expression.

"Ace?" Luffy whispered, just as the Magma Fist collided with them.

Akainu's fist went through Ace just as easily as it did every time. But now it went through Luffy.

Ace had tears streaming down his face, as did Luffy.

"…ace? Gramps? Sabo?" Luffy choked out.

"ACE!" That voice sounded like Sabo.

"Sa-bo. Get…out of here." Ace demanded, he couldn't let his other brother die because of him.

"Sabo? Give m'hat to Shanks." Luffy told his other brother.

Luffy choked one more time on the blood in his mouth and fell to the ground, a smile on his face as he died.

Monkey D. Luffy died before he could complete his dream.

"ACE, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

"Thank you for loving me…Luffy, Sabo."

Ace's smile was a small thing, content with the answer he now had.

I'm sorry you were never able to fulfil your dream, Luffy. Ace's final thoughts were on his brothers and of the people he was leaving behind.

Sabo and the rest of the Spades were horrified by what they had heard Ace say in his flashback-induced state.

Sabo more so, since he knew that someone had tried to (and succeeded) kill his brother! Apparently, both of them!

Deuce got out a pair of seastone cuffs and asked Sabo, "I need another pair. We'll need to restrain him, so he won't injure himself or anybody else."

Sabo volunteered to carry his brother. Setting him down on the bed, Deuce and Sabo cuffed both of Ace's wrists to the bed and let him rest.

"Can you…?" Sabo didn't know how to ask what he wanted from the Doctor, but Deuce understood.

He smiled sadly, "Stay as long as you want. He's your brother. Just make sure to eat, yeah?"

Sabo nods absently, staring down at his unconscious brother.

Two weeks later they made it to the Calm belt, however they couldn't cross without Ace, who was still out cold.

Sabo had told the crew that Ace had a special way to get them across the Calm Belt, but not what it was exactly. (Sabo knew that both of his brothers had Haoshoku Haki, and that meant that they could control Sea Kings.)

(That was still crazy, but they were D-Bearer's, so anything could happen with them around.)

And then Ace woke up a few days later. He blinked, grey eyes shifting on where he was. What happened? Where was he?

"Ace?" That was Sabo. His gaze moved to his brother's blonde hair and blue attire.

"S-o?" Ace couldn't speak, he blinked sluggishly.

"We had to put you in seastone. You've been unconscious for two weeks." Sabo explained.

Oh. That's why he felt like he just went through the entirety of Impel Down and Marineford in nothing but heavy seastone weighing him down.

"W- ha-n?" Sabo gently lifted his head and let him sip the water that he had on the bedside table.

Ace coughed, inhaling the water and choking.

"Breathe, brother. Breathe, you're safe. Nothing's wrong." Sabo told him, a strained smile on his face.

"What happened?" Ace was finally able to say coherently.

"You have a flashback. It was bad." Sabo stated.

Then he grew angry. "Of course, Luffy and I love you, you idiot!"

Busoshoku Haki coated Sabo's arms as he slammed them down onto the bedframe, breaking it.

"Deuce and Aggie aren't going to be happy about that." Ace muttered.

"We love you, Ace! We want you to live!" Sabo cried, fat tears falling onto the blanket that covered Ace.

Ah. Sabo must know have found out about my last words to Luffy.

Then…

Wait, how the fuck did they all find out?! Ace was currently freaking out.

"How-"

"Bad fucking flashback." Sabo gritted out. Ace winced.

"Sorry." Ace mumbled, head down and fists clenched as he took in the two pairs of seastone cuffs around his wrists.

"Was that necessary?"

"Yes, it was. You almost destroyed the ship and killed us." Deuce said in the doorway of the infirmary.

"Shit. Are you all good? Did I hurt any of you?" Ace asked, concern and worry in his features.

"Everyone is fine, just worried about you." Deuce waved off the concern for the others, knowing that Sabo wouldn't have let anyone get hurt because of Ace, and knowing that he would take care of any injuries seeing as he was the Doctor of the crew.

"Where are we?" Ace asked, getting up from the bed with Sabo's help.

"Edge of East Blue to the Calm Belt. Can't cross it without you." Deuce told his Captain.

Ace nodded, "Get me up on deck." Sabo sighed but helped his brother.

Once on deck the others asked him how he was, but he waved them all off. He was fine, nothing to worry about.

(That's a lie.)

"All of you back up. And…don't freak out too much." Ace grinned as Sabo took in a deep breath and sighed heavily, knowing that all of them would freak out despite Ace's vague warning.

Ace's Haki made a Sea King immediately pop out of the water. Before his crew could do anything to attack it, Ace grinned.

"Take us across the Calm Belt." Ace commanded, Haoshoku Haki present in his voice.

The Sea King quaked under the weight of the Fire Logia's Haki and did as it was told.

The others didn't know where to stare at. Ace or the Sea King currently pulling them along.

"What…the….fuck?"

"It's called Haoshoku Haki, it's the rarest type of Haki out there, and Luffy and I have it. You have to be born with it." Ace explained to his flabbergasted crew. They still stared at him and the Sea King in equal measure of 'what the hell made me think signing on with this crazy kid was a good idea?'

The Spade Pirates crossed the Calm Belt and into South Blue in a matter of hours. Ace thanked the Sea King and grinned.

"You're insane!" Ducky Bree yelled.

"Come's with the territory." Ace shrugged as Sabo just groaned, his face in his hands.

"He's right, you know. He's crazy and Luffy's crazy. Can't help it." Sabo told the others.

"Alright…we're in South Blue. Where to next, Cap?" Aggie asked from the helm.

"The island of Baterilla. However, I'll be the only one going. The rest of you are staying on Spadille and dropping anchor until I get back." Ace told his crew.

Sabo spoke up. "Is it what I think this is about?"

"Yes." Sabo went and hugged his brother.

"You aren't alone, Ace. I'll keep on reminding you of that for as long as I need to for it to sink in, got it?" Sabo whispered in his ear as the hug turned crushing, but neither Ace or Sabo pulled away, just got closer.

"Yeah, 'Bo. I know." The dark-haired teen (26-year-old) whispered back.

Ace took in a deep breath of the salty air.

Time to go home.

Ace turned into fire and reappeared on the beach.

"I've been waiting for you." A woman's voice called out to him.

Ace looked over at the woman. She was old, grey hair tucked into a tight braid, brown eyes that were still sharp no matter her age, and she was wearing a light blue skirt that reached her ankles and a light orange long-sleeve shirt.

Oddly enough, the color scheme she chose didn't clash.

"Who are you?" Ace asked the old woman. She just smiled and gestured for him to follow her.

Ace did.

This reminded him of when he met Lady Toki when he died.

Was this woman signifying that he was dying? The D-Bearer hoped not.

The old lady led him up to a secluded cottage on the hill overlooking the town. But she didn't go into the house, she moved to go to the back, to the cliffside that the house was resting against, however, not to close that it would be destroyed should a landslide happen or freak weather (that's usually in the Grand Line).

There was a grave at the back of the small house.

Ace gasped, tears streaming from his eyes.

"She's proud of you." The woman said and then left a bouquet of flowers on the grave.

Ace didn't even see her carry anything.

They were hibiscus flowers.

Ace fell to his knees and sobbed. "I'm sorry!"

And then Ace told his mother everything that had happened to him, both in his first timeline and in this one.

When he finished speaking his throat was raw, but his tears hadn't stopped. The sun was setting, catching the water like it was on fire.

He saw Spadille in the distance but spared it only a glance.

Portgas D. Ace stared at the grave of his mother, Portgas D. Rouge. He took in a shuddering breathe and was about to stumble away when a flash of silver caught his eye.

A key was left on the gravestone.

Was it the woman? She did say that she'd been waiting for him.

Who was she? A fortuneteller? A seer?

Maybe?

Anything's possible.

He took the key and glanced back to his mother's house. Looking down at his hand Ace made his decision. Inserting the key into the locked keyhole of the backdoor, he took in another breathe to try and calm himself.

It helped a little.

The door creaked open. Sunlight flooded the darkened house. Ace stepped inside and shut the door, blacking out the house, he muttered, "hotarubi," and lit up the house.

Looking around, he saw that everything was clean, there wasn't even dust anywhere. Someone had cleaned this place, but who? His thoughts drifted to the old woman.

Ace slowly made this way through the house, exploring and imagining himself being able to grow up here with his mother, maybe even with Roger if he hadn't of had his illness.

Then he made his way into the master bedroom, opening the wooden door he allowed some of his fire to follow him in and illuminate the room for him.

Ace's grey eyes caught sight of the table first and foremost.

There was a large chest on the table.

Slowly walking towards it, he gulped, Ace didn't know why he was so nervous. It was just a chest.

(He was in his dead mother's house, on her home island, and had just visited her grave.)

Now standing in front of the chest he lifted his hands (they were shaking) and opened the chest.

Or tried to. It was locked.

He looked around for a key. Ace found it on the nightstand next to the bed.

Ace slotted the key into the locked chested and unlocked it.

Lifting the lid, he couldn't hold in his breathe.

Laying in a bed of dark velvet was a beautiful sword. The sheath was black with gold and silver designs of the waves.

When he touched the sword, it warmed up in his hand, he gasped again, tears once more streaming down his cheeks. (Oh, how he hated crying this much. But he didn't think that his mother would mind.)

He instinctively knew the name of the sword, and who it previously belonged to.

Red Hibiscus.