Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, all rights belong to Oda this is simply a fan created spin off not used for profit.
Author's loving note: Hello! I will give a bit more background info on the next chapter, just try to enjoy this one no matter how confused you are! If you're coming from the original Eden: His Story, then Hello Again! If you're coming from A Home -ASL Fanfic then I'm glad you're back! If you have no idea what those stories are then welcome and that's a little asl stock for you if ya need more ;). Enjoy the story!
"Take him." Gasp. "Don't look back." Gasp. "And run!"
And run.
Those words echoed through his devoid head as he stared down thousands of flames devouring and multiplying across his . . . his home.
There were desperate and multiple screams, with each one puncturing his ear drum.
Luffy.
The adolescent began frolicking, turning even biting and scratching what was holding him back. Wait, holding him back? He felt the strings that gripped onto his lips and tickled his nose. His eyes traveled to the bottom of his sockets; He found alluring and sweet strawberry blonde colored hair that seem to bounce and dance in the wind.
"Please calm down, Sweetie. Being aggressive will only create more problems."
The person talked. They're a girl, a girl with blonde hair, maybe around average height. None of those characteristic seemed close to any girl he's met before. The struggling intensified as his throat began heating from the emotions that were feeding off of his thoughts.
"Who, Wh-, Wher- What?" The seven year old started to scratch and bite for meat now to show his captor, or whoever this was, that he wasn't one to be trifled with.
The imprisoner chastened his defiance and maneuvered the small boy, so that he was placed in front of her. "I'm trying to save you." Freckles? Weirdo.
"Save me from whom?"
"Your demons."
My what? The raven haired kid was obviously baffled, by such a response. The only feedback he manage to make vocal was, "Huh?" But the harmonious moment soon dissipated as he was thrown harshly onto a boat.
"Wait. Luffy! Where's my brother?" He analysed the conversation in his head over again and was 1. Appalled that this was the most he's spoken to someone besides Luffy and sabo and 2. As outlandish as this conversation was, he still hasn't gotten any information about his brother and none of his questions were answered.
"He's alright. Although I don't know when's the next time you'll see him again."
Wait what? The behaviour of his captor incited the same script from him repeatedly. She would say something and it would require a, "what?"
"Now listen to me. Please don't say anything until afterwards, ok?" A silent nod was enough to encourage the lady to continue. "You are escaping this place. You will not look back nor will you come back. You will ride this boat, which is heavily supplied with food and water, to another land. There you will start a new life and find yourself someone else to take care of you or if you want, you can take care of yourself."
She searched for a sense of understanding in the boy's eyes, that seemed to be widening by the second. "You won't be able to see your brother for some time. You must learn how to live your life and how to become free."
Her impetuous pant drew the unbreaking attention of the child's. "Now look at this." It was a box, with intricate designs of black and prosperous gold. Click. Now, instead of the midnight glare the box was giving off, he was amused by the blazing colors that was produced by the substance that seemed to dance and contrast with the colors of the box. "This is a devil fruit. I am not one to assume what the power is, but I am betting on it to keep you safe."
Ace hadn't realized that his hand began to approach the enigmatic fruit, until the box was forcefully slammed shut. "Although with a sense of light there's always a shadow. You will be wanted more as a slave and it will take awhile to get used to power. Although it's your best bet of protection since you will have no one to protect you."
Flames grew wilder like a plant surrounded only by water, light and fertilizer. "You're not coming?" Wait huh? Why would I ask her? What about gramps? Luffy? Hell, even the bandits?
A smile crept on the female's face, "Alright, now you have to trust me. Put that in your mouth and swallow. Don't think just swallow."
Nope. Sounded suspicious already. That was the last straw. Their eyes made contact and the younger only sighed before reaching for the fruit. "I don't understand what this has to do with any-" WHAT THE HELL IS THIS OWBFOFBOFIFRFR?!
His gag reflexes kicked in, only to be intercepted with hands boarding his mouth shut. "Swallow." The woman's voice became stern and unsympathetic. Ace squeezed his eyes shut and prayed to whatever god was out there.
He checked his hands, his hair, his knees. Everything was the same, he felt warmer, but he chalked that up to the fire that was growing ever impatient. Wait there's a fire going on and i'm having a chat with this random lady. Where's Luffy?
A fork went flying into his shoulder and he flinched, embracing the pain to come afterwards, but instead was met with a sense of warmth flickering on his arm. His pupil crept to the corner of his eye only to be bewildered by the sight of fire creeping on his shoulder. "Im . . . I'm being burned! Put it out!." He immediately started patted the flame, until the 6th pat that he realized that the flames weren't harming him.
"Well then now that you know. I must go." The woman, who he still hadn't learned the name of, backed away after giving a little nudge to Ace's boat. "Remember what I said. Trust no one. Be strong enough to look after yourself." She waved.
Had it been daytime or even a sliver of light, the young boy would have caught the tear rolling down the woman's face. "I love you." The words faded into the night with the fire that rampaged.
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"Ouch."
Ace laid there on the, sand? Yea, the sand as he shaded his eyes with his hand. He reluctantly pushed himself up and got a better view of his surroundings slowly realizing that he was surrounded by heaps of trash and unwanted belongings.
"Terminal?" No, he shook his hand. That wouldn't quite make sense, since he sailed for what was at least an hour. He placed a hand down to help his legs shakily get up.
"Where am I?" He breathed once more before wiping his forehead, wherever he was the sun was not having mercy on him.
His calm demeanor quickly morphed into one of panic as he yelled, "Where's Luffy?" If Ace remembered correctly, the random lady hadn't told him anything about the bandits, Garp, or his little brother.
He felt a quick coolness as a shadow graced over him; however, his gratefulness was replaced with aggression and caution as he stared back up at a man with black hair . . . and a spoon stuck on his face?
'Clunk'
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One eye flickered open and was groggily followed by the other. Ace could only contemplate the throbbing of his head, since that was his brain's first priority.
"Good-Mor-ning~," A figure with dramatic pink feathers covering a whole part of his body, practically cooed out. "How are you feeling?"
"Who are y-"
"Who are you? Is what I should be asking." The man cut Ace off with a quick and precise tongue. "I couldn't care about who you are, but moreso: why are you here and where did you come from?" The man paused, his word lacing with aggressive interest. "You show up in my front yard and ask who I am?"
Ace held back a snarl at what he considered to be a rude remark and contemplated his situation: It was a group of people, they were all near adult ages, maybe they're the mafia or a gang or something, and they're not curious about who I am (That's a plus), and the Birdman that was speaking to him has ripped abs.
He slowly breathed in and out just as Makino had taught him, looking up with his most blank glare, "I came from a far island, somewhere near in Goa Kingdom. I was drifting upon the water to escape disaster and hadn't exactly planned a landing spot." He dragged the words of his sentence, as his eyes darted across the room like a fly trapped in a jar. The more he analyzed, the closer he was to escaping; he moved his wrist around, getting a feeling of the rope's tightness.
"Disaster you say? Care to tell."
That stupid, bird like smile. "Yea, I sort of do." Ace retorted mockingly, before squinting his eyes, and focusing on his peripheral. Two men near the door were both pretty heavy set, and should be easy to escape from.
"Hmmmm. Well, I hope you know. I can't just let you go any time soon, so we have time to spare." The man took a bite out of the fish he was eating.
Ace's stomach rumbled from the aroma and reminded him of the absence of food for nearly a whole day. "Funny you say that." The young boy remarked dryly before he took a large breath and squeezed his eyes shut. 'Snap'
Ace's head snapped in the direction of the door as his legs quickly reared up and dashed towards it. His adrenaline and mind ran much faster than what he was physically capable of. His hand was burning but his newfound energy concealed and warped the sensation he was feeling in his limb. A hand reached for him which he slipped out of the way and kneed the man's arm. Ace's fingers inched towards the door knob and the young boy could envision what he would do once outside. Except his plan fell through as his body was compressed by two arms that wrapped around his waist.
"My, my, my," snot dropped onto Ace's arm, which makes him recoil in disgust. He reluctantly looked up towards the source, it was a slimy looking man. "Who knew you'd try to escape?" His smile, crept into a frown. "Neeeee~ Doffy wasn't finished talking to you was he?" His voice made Ace feel as though a swamp was swallowing him in its murky waters.
Ace grimaced, his luck apparently had faded and he was back on earth with the devil whispering in his ear about how their contract was nearly up. "I wasn't aware."
He was put back, or the better term for it would be dragged back to where he originally was. He bit his lip as his adrenaline slowly faded, only to be replaced by rigid pain in his hand and slight anxiety. Could you blame him really? He was a child and while Ace an extreme badass he is (he believed from Luffy's constant statements), a miracle worker he was not.
"Well, well, seems your plan didn't quite work out. Now will you answer my questions?" The man apparently named, Doffy, asked. Ace realized the man hadn't moved during the whole fiasco. He either was too shocked by the situation that unfolded in front of him, or he held trust for his crew to quickly retrieve the boy back. Ace guessed it was the latter.
He struggled to look up and keep focus on the birdman before him, "let me go," was all he could strangle out through bared teeth.
The man's eyebrows raised, a vein appearing on his forehead, "Eh? I don't think that's what we were talking ab-?" but as quickly as the vein was formed, it disappeared after catching sight of the younger boy's hands. 'Dislocated?'
"What?" Ace's eyebrows furrowed from the sudden pause in the man's sentence.
Understanding washed over the older man's figure. "Your hand? You . . . did that." He stated slowly as his posture erected and an expression of amusement settled on his face. "Hu . Huhuhu . Huhuhuhuhu . . ."
Ace was least to say shocked from the exaggerative change in the man's demeanor. "Wh - What's so funny?" He glowered, spewing little aggression and danger. The hell? A pedohile?
Doflamingo stopped and stared at the boy, "You." His smile grew, "I like you." He lifted his arms up in a grandiose fashion and kicked his leg over the other, into a more comfortable position. "Join me."
Ace's stomach dropped, and he felt the sweat on his skin turn cold as he stiffened, "I don't even kno-"
"I'm Doflamingo, my family calls me Doffy, and these are the Donquixote pirates." He gestured to the people sitting around the table, glancing at the young boy rather menacingly.
Ace quickly recognized one of them, it was the man with something stuck to his face, Ace could better see it had been a spoon that was. "Well as much as I would love to, no." He declared with a straight face. "I don't wanna." His bratty voice had slipped out, hiding his growing agitation.
"Then what will you do?" Doffy became increasingly intrigued with the child by the minute, much to his crewmates' chagrin.
"Go home." Ace didn't realize the problem with the statement until it left his lips, however, he stood clear cut with his statement. "i will go home."
Doffy's grin widened slightly, "How exactly?"
"I . . ." Ace for once in the conversation was on the verge of being stumped. He didn't have a boat, he didn't know how to navigate, hell he didn't even know where he was crying out loud! "Um."
The man chuckled, "How about you thin-"
"You want to be a pirate don't you?" A new addition to the conversation made its way there, the voice belonged to a young boy with slick black hair and dreadful bags under his eyes yuck what a weirdo.
Ace's top lip scrunched as his eyes narrowed laced in suspicion,"How'd you know and moreso what's it to ya?" He realized he hadn't once said or mentioned anything about being a pirate, so of course this caused him to tense up.
The older boy, by maybe 4 years, simply shrugged, "I mean if you were half as smart as I pegged you for, then you'd take it." The boy tilted his head upwards with a patronizing sneer.
A vein popped on Ace's forehead, "What did you say, say it again? You flip shit looking dodo bird!?" He practically foamed at the mouth trying to insult the older boy.
"I-" The boy began.
"Law that's enough." Doffy held his hand up to put a stop to the farce. "Well young one? It's just as Law said, so will you join me?" The man's voice oozed with greed and manipulation as he pronunciated his words.
"One reason." As he watched the other man's eyebrow raise, he clarified, "Give me one reason to join you." Ace's word bit like a guarded dog.
The man smirked, "Well that's simple."
The boy was shook. Ace felt for the first time that the man was truly concentrating on him. He didn't need to see his eyes behind the glasses, he could just feel the man's eyes piercing him down with an intense gaze.
"Where else could you possibly go? Who else do you have?"
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'Who else do you have?'
'Who else do you have?'
'Who else do you have?'
"Who else?" Ace moaned, flipping the blanket off of him as he felt his skin heating up a bit from the warmth. The young boy creeped up towards the window and glanced out of it, blankly.
"I'm a pirate." He blinked, "I'm a pirate." He bit his lip as he replicated the words more so they would sink in, "A donquixote pirate. Pirates don't have fam-"
*Bang* *Bang* "Boy open up."
The boy's shoulder tensed visibly at the sudden sound of the door. 'Why had he accepted their offer again?' Ace crept quietly towards the door, slowly turning the knob. "What is it?"
The light blinded him with it's harsh rays at first, but slowly revealed the man who Ace had met first at the trash heap and a little girl who had a yellow that adorned her black loosely curled hair, she had fair skin with dark eyes. "Training." The spoon man dryly commented.
"Training?" Ace raised an eyebrow. "Since when do pirates train?" He hadn't hear of pirates training, training was for marines. Pirates spent their time looting, partying, adventuring, and fighting. The battles they came across unexpectedly was their training.
The spoonman began to leave the premises, but not before muttering. "All the time."
"Heehee. Since you're new here you must be weak. So you have to train, weakling!" The younger girl's smile shined just as bright as the sun and gave Ace a headache.
10 minutes later...
*sniffle* "How- How come . . ." The younger girl sat in the corner facing the wall as tears dripped down her face. "You're new. You should be weaker than that." She limply dragged her finger across the wall.
"Baby 5, your movements were sluggish. You were too confident." The spoon man stated before directing his gaze on Ace, "Boy, you are better than expected, but don't get ahead of yourself. You have an eternity of things to learn."
Ace snorted, "Shuddup before I kick your ass, weirdo spoonman." He flicked his middle finger towards him and stuck out his tongue.
Another 10 minutes later...
"Heheh. That's what you get." The girl named Baby 5 giggled in Ace's ear. "Mouthing off to Vergo like that, are you alright?" Her tone of voice quickly changed after the lack of response from the other boy.
Ace continued to stare at the wall as the lump on his head only grew in size by the passing second. After a minute of silence, the boy felt a hand timidly touch his head, "Here, let me help you."
"Don't touch me!" Ace practically spat out, before making eye contact with the girl and glaring at her.
Baby 5 glared back, before quickly turning away and sniffling, "I just wanted to help." She muttered to herself.
Ace startled back as he wasn't expecting the girl's tears. At least two years with Luffy had softened Ace up from his usually stoic and anti self. So you couldn't blame him for feeling the guilt that was creeping up his throat. "It - It's ok." Ace stuttered out, looking away in a bit of embarrassment from his sudden change of thought
The sniffling slowed down, "Eh?" Baby 5 began wiping at her eyes.
"You weren't in the wrong. I- I'm sor-"
'Slam'
The door slammed against the opposite end of the wall, "Up you two. Time to go to Doffy." Vergo revealed his spoon through the door.
Ace bit his tongue,"Ok." He looked down, stiffly yet quickly walking out.
"Wait for me!" Baby 5 dusted herself off and ran after him. 'Hehe. He apologized. He needs me~.'
Ace picked up the pace, ignoring the calls after him.
~(^.^~) \(^ - ^)/ (~^.^)~
"We still don't know your name."
Ace felt all the eyes rest onto him as they slowly began to peel him apart. Of course. "Well does it matter?"
"Unless you want to be referred to as boy the whole time, then I believe it does matter."
"Portgas."
"Portgas?"
"Portgas D. Ace." The newly named boy rolled his eyes.
"D?" Doflamingo's eyebrow raised. "You're a D?"
"What are you talking about? What's so important about that?"
The feathered man chuckled to himself before simply shaking his head. "Nothing at all. Ace how educated are you?"
"Scuse me?" Ace looked lazily at the man before him, "What does that have to do with anything?"
Doffy's grin grew wider, "Intelligence can get you whatever you want in this world. It's important, very important."
Ace scrunched his nose up. "Wh-"
"Also do you know about haki?" The man cut him off changing the subject and began tapping his finger impatiently on the table.
"What's that?"
"Simply answer with 'No, I do not know,' or 'Yes, I am aware.'" Doffy clicked his tongue, "Alright?"
A vein appeared on Ace's head as he began grinding his teeth as a repercussion for not stating something threatening. "O-k~" He forced a struggling smile.
"Now depending on what Vergo said about your skills, you need training, and a lot of it." Doffy leaned back before fixing his glasses, "You're going to get busy Ace. We will make you a person to be wary of."
Now that caught Ace's attention, one thing he understood about being the best pirate on the seas is that you had to be strong. He slowly nodded his head, "Yes, sir."
Doffy gave an amused smirk, "Now you're understanding it. You will have a schedule, it will include: Lesson with me, training with Vergo, shooting practice with Gladius, sparring with me, and free time to get to know your family."
"Family?" The word rolled off of Ace's tongue like poison. "I don't have that anymore." He looked away, cursing as the corners of his eyes began to sting.
"What are you talking about? We'll be your new family." His smile settled on younger boy, emanating a protective yet slightly disturbing warmth.
Ace shook his head and raised up from the chair. "Sure, is that all? I need some fresh air." He headed towards the door.
"Ah Ace Vergo will be around to get you at 6." Doffy stated quickly.
"Why so late?" The boy turned around with confusion marking his face. 'Who said you could call me, Ace?'
"Huh? Oh, no I mean 6 a.m."
"A . . . M . . ." Ace slowly turned around, his eye twitching at a contradicting speed. "Ehhhhhh?"
"Well, see you later, Ace boy."
~(^.^~) \(^ - ^)/ (~^.^)~
Wake up.
Train.
Shoot
Learn.
Fight.
Nap.
Be forced to talk.
This was Ace schedule which by the end of the day had Ace beat and walking like a dead man.
The boy yawned as he almost dozed off to the rock of the boat. "How much longer?"
"Only an hour left." Baby 5 giggled as she doodled a flower on ace's arm and critiqued it.
After a while the relationship between Ace and the- well his pirate crew grew, just as Doffy had said it would. However, to say that they were family was an overstatement but saying that he didn't care at all about them was quite the understatement.
"Good." Ace slowly let his eyes flutter down and relaxed his muscles against the boat. 'If I don't rest now. I won't have time to rest when we get back.'
"Young master!" Baby 5 ran to Doffy and clutched on his leg.
"You guys are back so soon," Doffy smiled looking down at the little girl. "Where's Ace?" He looked around for the short freckled kid.
"Hello." Ace looked down to hide his smile. Ace's relationship with Doflamingo had grown tremendously. The suspicion he held for the man was slowly replaced with adoration and respect, their relationship could easily be modeled after one of a older brother and his younger one. So saying that the man had asked him, made Ace immensely pleased. "I'm right here."
Doffy looked down, "Come on, we have much more to do."Once the younger boy nodded, he took him by the hand and lead him away.
"So how was the trip?" Doffy questioned as he laid down a bigger stack in front of the boy.
Ace shrugged, "It was ok. Nothing exciting, as usual. Where you bored while I was away?" Ace challenged, while digging into the next book.
Doffy chuckled, "Law kept me company. So to say I was sad, wouldn't be quite right."
Ace's eye twitched, the other boy had unconsciously been getting on Ace's nerves and he wasn't quite sure why. "Oh."
Doflamingo's smile receded a bit, "Mmm. Jealous?"
"What? N-No!" Ace nearly jumped out of his seat, almost accidentally knocking over the rest of the books. "Why would I be?"
"Huhuhu. I have no idea." He shrugged, before making his way towards the door, "Have these formulas and origins memorized before I come back."
Ace rolled his eyes before mocking the older man, "HaVE ThESe FORmuLas mEMoriZEd."
Ace felt his hand twitch by itself, 'Not again.' *slap* "Ouchhhh~," he groaned, nursing his throbbing and stinging cheek.
~(^.^~) \(^ - ^)/ (~^.^)~
*Thump* Ace's body was flung onto the ground, "Ow ow ow." He struggled to push himself off the ground.
"Stand, boy." Vergo inched towards him.
This marked the 5th week of him endlessly getting trained by Vergo and once Ace felt like he was finally coming around to beating him, Vergo did something unexpected.
The man walked towards him, "Are you done, already?" His feet laced in black sped up its pace, "I said, stand!" His foot stabbed into the ground, shattering the bricks located under it.
Ace struggled to tilt his head up, as the dark figure in front of him glistened in the sun. He could only squint as he gazed at the haki coated man.
Vergo stared at the boy for a moment, before releasing his held breath, "Pathetic." The man began to turn around, slowly walking out.
"I- I'm not done, y-yet." Ace placed a hand on the wall to keep his figure from plunging intot he darkness. "Let's continue!" His glared hardened, as his pupils concentrated on the force in front of him.
Vergo whistled then broke into a satisfied smirk, "Alright then kid. Let's go."
5 minutes later...
"Could you slide him up a bit, sugar?" Monet applied some cream to the side of his face. The little girl nodded before re-adjusting the boy's body.
"Thank you."
~(^.^~) \(^ - ^)/ (~^.^)~
"So how is it going?"
Vergo sat down and stretched his arms out, "The boy is outstanding. He's way more talented than me when I was a kid." The man looked towards the door, which led to the room where the boy laid unconscious.
Doflamingo chuckled, "I'm aware, however, I wasn't talking about that." His presence grew intense, "I was talking about conqueror's haki."
There was silence before Vergo smiled to himself, "Well let me correct myself. That boy . . . is a monster." He stated as he took off his jacket to reveal his wounds.
"He did that?"
Vergo slowly nodded, "And he was tired. Damn near passing out."
Doffy began cackling, "My . . . My, My . . . My, My, My." He hastily shook his head, while his stomach heaved and became upset from his fit of laughter. "This is amazing."
Ace opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. 'I passed out again, huh?' He lifted his hand until it came into his view. Slowly he covered his limb in a black substance. 'We had so much to learn Luffy and Sabo."
*Bam* "Ace!" The door slammed open, crashing into the wall.
Ace frantically sat up and put his hand down, "W-What?" He stated nerves lacing the word that came out his mouth.
Baby 5 squinted her eyes before looking at him suspiciously, "You weren't doing anything . . . weird were you?"
"Like what?" Ace's face turned red, of course he knew what. He wasn't as oblivious as he may have seemed.
Baby 5 sighed, "Whatever." She shrugged and shook her head in shame as the boy began to turn and look out the window, "Get up! Doffy said we're going on a family raid!"
Now this caught Ace's attention, "Family raid?" She nodded, "Why? Is there someone causing us difficult problems?" His voice daring to edge near concerned.
"No, silly." The girl giggled, "Doffy just wants us to go spend time with one another, I guess." She turned her back towards him, "Well I have to go because Sugar is looking for me."
Ace was confused, the more time he spent around all of these . . . fools. The more he felt himself wanting their warmth, as if it were some drug. "Ugh." He folded back onto his pillow, "Whatever. Stupid Donquixote."
"Ah, Ace there you are." Doffy smiled towards the younger boy, as he picked his fish apart.
Ace only nodded, still not trying to show his affection for the other man. "Did I miss anything?"
Doffy shook his head before continuing where, ace presumed he left off. Ace began to focus in on the notes, only to realize after a couple of times of glancing around the table, two familiar faces were missing. He frowned.
"Eh, Doffy . . . -san. I'm going to get some fresh air really quickly." Ace slid out of his seat.
Doffy raised his eyebrows, "Something wrong Ace?"
The boy in question shook his head, "No. Nothing." Then continued towards the door.
~(^.^~) \(^ - ^)/ (~^.^)~
Author note time! Helloooo my lovelies, please call me ziz 3 I decided during my strenuous summer break to simply revamp this story. Making it longer chapters and recycling the plot so that it incorporates all of the other brothers as well, since we alllll love ASL. I will say the most fun character for me to write during this whole thing right now is Sabo, because of ... well let me not spoil, but I hope you all stick to the story and i'm sorry if you feel like it's way too long in between chapters, i'm trying! :(
If you feel like you absolutely can't wait for the next chapters then feel free to sort of spoil yourself with basically the "light novel" of this story called: Fodder Eden. It won't stick to the guidelines of that story but it'll be fairly close. I'm happy to have you all along, thank you!
