Here's a fix it! Longer than my previous short ones, and a lot different! I was was watching Jujutsu Kaisen and then decided I wanted to switch from dragon stories to demon ones! There's another demon one, but I'm unsure about whether to post it. It was not well written lol. Anyways, this fic is rated M for explosive violence. Literally, you'll see later. Romance with Marco and Ace but definitely not the main focus of the story. So, enjoy~
Ace's eyes snapped open, and he grabbed his chest, gasping, only there was nothing there. He ran his fingers over the spot he should have a hole in. He rubbed both hands over it, feeling nothing there but smooth, toned skin. He felt confused, and then looked around, seeing he was in a dark room. Almost pitch black, though he could somehow see himself perfectly. It was creepy, but he didn't freak out.
Maybe this was hell. He was expecting it, even if he had hoped to see Sabo. He was no doubt in heaven. Ace would be stuck down here for forever. At least he had all sorts of memories to enjoy, going to try and block out everything after he met with Luffy and his funny crew in Alabasta. He could suffer physically while reliving his life, as much as he could remember.
He walked forwards, not knowing where anything was. He could fall down and he wouldn't know the ledge was down there. He finally called, "Hello?" loudly, waiting for any sound. But there was none, until suddenly, it was like the lights were turned on. He saw a creepy black figure standing a few yards from him, staring at him.
It wasn't solid black, more like the body had been messily filled in with scribbles. Eyes appeared, four white gaps. It had two larger eyes and then two smaller ones underneath them both. But Ace was unafraid, sort of expecting to see monsters in hell. But if this black void was hell, then damn it would be boring.
"Hello?" Ace probed, watching it closely. It didn't react until a mouth formed, and it relaxed from the aggressive pose it had had until now. It said his full name, using "Portgas" instead of "Gol", and then said nothing else. "Yeah, that's my name. Who are you?"
It didn't answer, instead saying, "You'd make a good host." The words sent chills up Ace's spine and he backed up a step only to find there was a wall pressed against his back. One that hadn't been there before. The black creature stepped closer, morphing into Ace's body, but with the four eyes still there, only they were of Ace's eyes.
Ace demanded to know who it was. "The king," it said. It put it's face right up to Ace's face. It was freezing cold, giving him chills and making his teeth chatter, unable to help it. It felt like he was suddenly on a winter island without his fire powers. He hadn't felt cold in three years. It was a weird change. "Would you like one more chance? To be alive again?" it said, using Ace's own voice, but also sounding creepy at the same time.
Ace couldn't help but want to jump on that, to save his family. Wanted to see Luffy, make sure he was okay. God, please let him be okay. It touched Ace's cheek, then gently gripping his chin. "You want that, don't you?" it said softly. Ace frowned, but asked what the catch was. "You'll share your body with me."
"And what exactly are you? What is the king supposed to mean?" It pulled away and put its hands in its short's pockets, wearing what Ace had, but without the blood stain. Ace had everything on him, he just realized. All his accessories that he'd lost after the fight with Teach that ended his life. Took away his freedom.
The creature in Ace's form said, "The king of everything dark. At least, in this place, in hell." So, Ace was in hell. It was a pretty boring setting. Ace asked what would come from sharing bodies. What would happen. "You'll share your time with me. I'll be in control half of the time." That was way too much. Ace would only live half of his day? And what would this monster do?
Ace asked what it would do to him when he was in his body, controlling him. "I'm not unreasonable. I won't hurt anybody you care for, but I just wish to live as a human. In a body in the human world. Hell is… boring," it said casually. Ace didn't trust it. That it wouldn't fuck things up. Wouldn't kill his friends, his family, for fun. It said it was the king of hell, right? Well, wouldn't that make him evil or something?
The human said he didn't trust him. "That's to be expected. I am supposed to be evil, am I not?" the demon said. It seemed like a demon, so Ace would call it that. "But, I am capable of not being evil. In the human world, I'll have nobody to rule. I won't need to discipline others. I won't need to keep up appearances. I can just be a creature living in the human world."
"And you won't hurt anybody I care about?" Ace asked slowly, cautiously. He had no idea what to choose. To be selfish and come back? Or to leave things as they were. No, that wasn't right. He had things to do. People to apologize to. He wished he could take Thatch back, and… Pops, too, probably. Would this happen to them, too? They'd all wake up at the same time?
The demon swore that he would do nothing against Ace's own interest. "I will not be a monster to my host." Ace didn't like that word. "Keeping you healthy and safe is of the upmost importance. If you went mad with grief and guilt, I would be trapped in that as well. And that doesn't sound very fun."
Then it said, "Form a contract with me, and then we can know each others' terms. Can know what is allowed, and what is prohibited. A contract will bind us both to keep our word. Of course, we can negotiate changes, but the contract will be permanent unless we both agree to change it. I'm not unreasonable, I can think for myself," it said casually.
After staring at the outreached hand for a short moment, Ace jumped off the ledge and took his own hand. The only difference between Ace and the demon were the eyes, and facial markings under them and on his chin. Not an abundance of them, but clearly noticeable. Ace asked what his terms were.
"I am allowed to be you at night. You can have all day, and I will have all night," it said. Ace asked about sleeping. "Your body and mind will rest while I'm in control." Ace wanted to still be able to sleep with Marco at night. But he didn't say anything and let the demon continue. "I can do what I wish at night, but follow the rules of your superior. Whoever that is. I will not harm anybody you care for. I will just have full control of your body all night."
Ace asked, "I would like to be allowed one hour after falling asleep so I can share at least some of my night with my lover." It said that was very reasonable and he accepted that term. "You won't interfere with me while I'm in control. I can do whatever I want while I'm in control."
The demon agreed to those terms. "And you won't harm anything or anybody I care for." It agreed to that, as well. Ace tried to think of more things, but couldn't come up with any. He added that the demon was not allowed to alter his body. Like, get a tattoo or piercings. "Very well. I have no desire for that regardless."
It grinned Ace's smile, only making it more unsettling, and said that it had more powers that Ace didn't. "No using any powers that are detrimental, dangerous or damaging. Unless it was to real enemies." It casually repeated that it wanted to keep its host safe physically and mentally. He would do nothing to drive him insane. It was talking about everything so casually that it irritated Ace. The young man, the human, asked him what his powers were. "Bending reality to my will, create things," it responded. Ace was biting his lip, so worried.
Ace said he couldn't hurt anyone or anything. "Very well. I will do nothing to permanently alter the world without your approval. I will never harm anyone or anything. I won't do anything to cause you harm physically or mentally. I will allow you one hour to be with your lover, but will have control until the next morning. My deadline will be until sunrise. After all, sunlight will harm me and I would need to return to hell."
He asked what Ace's terms were. "This has no loop holes and you are not reading between the lines. You will do as I say without twisting my words."
"Agreed. This contract will be written in stone unless we agree of something to change. However, if I break my contract, I will be eliminated and removed from your body. But, if you break your contract, I will get your body permanently." Ace didn't understand what he could do to break the contract. Nothing was changing for him. What would he do to break it? "That's why it's lucky for you. The only way you can break the contract it to try and remove me from your body somehow."
Ace had no idea how he could do that, but he nodded. "I hereby pledge to follow the contract we have made, not taking any word out of context." He told Ace to repeat, and he did. And then suddenly he woke up, the blackness no longer pressing, no longer deafening him of anything but the demon's words. His voice that was Ace's voice.
He felt he was on a hard table, in the dark. He was in a body bag. He sighed and burnt through the bag since he couldn't unzip it from inside. He got up and out of the bag and looked around. It was dark, so he lit his hand on fire to find the light switch when he saw the other body bag on the floor, too big for any table.
The young pirate stared at it blankly for too long before he fell to his knees and burst into silent, hysterical sobs. It was during that that he grabbed his chest, feeling for that scar. But his was horrified when his hand sunk through his chest. H-how? He was alive again, but the terrible wound was still there! It wasn't a burn scar, but a hole. That hole destroyed his tattoo. How would he plug it? He was glad that his predicament distracted him from the reality that he was the one to be the death of their captain.
Ace hadn't wanted them to come, but if he hadn't lost to Teach, then they would both be alive. And where was he, anyways? This wasn't the Moby Dick, but he could feel so many less presences here. This was not his family's ship. He could sense his fellow commanders but also a small crew of other, very strong people.
Shanks was here. That was odd. He needed to know what had happened. Ace blocked his sight from the huge body bag, blocking his feelings very well. Well, not blocking his feelings, getting his hopes up that Pops would come back to life, too! He wished that the demon could have put him in the past, or could have brought them back to life, too. But he hadn't asked, and now he might never know.
The young man searched the room for any sort of clothing, and found a towel that he wrapped around his mangled chest hole. He also realized he had no pants on, either. Well, what to cover? The dick or massive cavity? Everyone here had clearly already seen him naked since he was in the body bag. And his clothes weren't in there.
He took a deep breath and decided to keep the towel just high enough to cover the top of the hole and just low enough to barely cover his junk. His hands shook as he opened the door and walked down the hall. Nobody noticed him or his presence before he made it to this ship's galley. Everyone was silent there, and he could see everybody had some sort of wound. He flinched at seeing Jozu missed an arm.
Ace would much rather somebody saw him than him bringing attention to him. It was too quiet, and he felt wrong to break it. So he stood in the doorway awkwardly before trying to walk away and find some pants from somewhere. Or a shirt to cover the massive and unnatural hole. Was this actually being alive? If the demon left him, then would he die? Meaning he was trapped between life and death, still.
"ACE!" Haruta screamed, and Ace both hated and loved the fact that he'd been noticed. There were shouts at him to "fuck off" before he stood and ran to Ace, hugging him tightly. He, Haruta and Thatch had always pranked together. Then Thatch died and Ace left on his own. Haruta must have felt so lonely. Ace hugged him back, the towel falling down.
"H-How are you ali-?!" and then he cut off when he saw the still present, gaping hole. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but he was still missing what he should need to breathe or even have his heart beat. Then people were crashing into him, crying loudly, laughing through their tears. At least one good thing had come from what happened from his death till now. From the mess that was Marineford.
"I… I don't know how to explain, but can I get some clothes first?" Ace asked, feeling overwhelmed. "Po… it didn't happen to Pops, too." They all deflated while Haruta ran off to get him clothes while others spread the news throughout the ship. Ace heard shouting from all around, and put his hands over the hole in his chest. He wanted to know what the big idea was about coming back to life with the hole still there!
Maybe it would heal? Or was he really just possessing his own body? God, what a mess. Ace was given clothes by Haruta, who was ugly crying. Ace was, too, and quickly dressed himself. Wearing a shirt was wrong, he felt wrong doing it. But he couldn't even show his chest now.
He was startled out of his thoughts when he saw Marco down the hall, looking to be in emotional agony. Ace ran to him, needing to stop that look in any way he could. Marco hugged him tightly, sobbing into his neck. Ace kept apologizing for everything. For getting everyone killed, for wasting their efforts, getting provoked like an idiot.
Marco got ahold of himself enough to say it wasn't his fault. Teach's fruit was just too powerful, and he was the one to kill their father, not Ace. Ace gasped in shock, and Marco nodded, saying he had killed him and stolen his devil fruit somehow. Ace growled in anger. But before he could say anything else, Shanks came over, looking to be in shock.
"It's good to see you back, Ace. However this is possible." Ace nodded, and asked why they were on his ship. Jozu, one armed now, said that Shanks came and stopped the war just by telling the marines to stop." Ace raised his brows, impressed. Only if he had come earlier. Pops… was in bad condition even before he arrived. Even if Ace had escaped, deep down he knew Pops would have died regardless of whether they took him with them. Ace looked around, and his face fell deeply. Marco touched his face, and Ace whispered that the Moby Dick was gone. All of their memories there. Of Thatch and Pops... they were gone.
Marco had more tears down his eyes. He said they couldn't do anything about it but get new ship and carry on how their Pops wanted them to. Ace scowled and said they had to make Teach pay for what he'd done. And he felt so pathetic to be an instrument in his plan to become a warlord. But would he have been able to cause the war if it had been Luffy instead? If he hadn't gotten Ace?
But they would have gone to save Luffy for Ace's sake regardless. He was just relieved he was the one to die and not Luffy. But he didn't know that! Suddenly he grew very desperate, asking if Luffy was okay. Marco smiled and nodded. It had been a few weeks since the war as they'd made it to the New world.
Luffy had gone back to Marineford and done something they were sure was for his crew, some sort of message. He was alive, but they didn't know where. "I have to let him know I'm alive." Haruta said they should definitely find him and assure him that Ace was alive, somehow.
"That kid is crazy, but he freed you. We made sure to help his escape, and he got away," Jozu said. Vista commented that he was surprised Luffy had conqueror's haki. Just like Pops. Ace didn't say anything about him being able to use it since it hadn't happened again since he was a kid.
Ace smiled and said Luffy was always crazy, no matter how old he was. They moved to the galley, where all of the commanders were. None of then had died but for Ace. He didn't feel he deserved to be commander anymore, but he really didn't want to start whining about it so soon, annoying anybody.
"Uh, I should explain what happened… y'know, how I'm alive with a gaping hole in my chest." Many were shocked, not having seen it, so Ace lifted the garment up, and they were shocked but for those who had seen it before, who just looked so bothered, not looking. Marco's shaking hands touched the edge of the hole, asking if it hurt.
"No. It doesn't. Even though I have no heart and lungs, I can still breathe and my missing heart… somehow I'm still pumping blood. There's only one explanation for that. I…" It was going to sound stupid. "Sort of made a pact with a demon that brought me back to life." They were all silent, some believing him and others looking skeptical and almost annoyed. "He'll be coming out at night, an hour after I go to bed so I can cuddle with Marco at all."
Kingdew asked if he was serious, always the grumpiest one. "Yeah. I am very serious. I don't know how he'll act or what he'll say, but he's not allowed to hurt anybody or anything I care about. He just said he wanted to be in the human world in a human body, even if it was just stuck on a ship," Ace explained in detail, sounding absolutely serious, as he was.
And it explained the impossible body Ace was functioning in. They looked bothered, as they should, but Marco was just so happy he was back, leaning his head against him. Ace then asked what the plan was. What they were going to do next. Marco sighed, and said they would be burying Pops at a perfect resting place. They weren't sure what after that.
"We need a new ship, that much is for sure. Even if Pops isn't with us anymore, I don't want the crew to fill apart. We… we've already had some leave. They couldn't deal with Pops being dead. I understand, but I don't want to fail everybody. I have to be the captain now," Marco explained. He had never wanted to be the captain since it would have meant Pops was gone. Ace felt for him, as he'd never measure up to their late father, even if he was the most wonderful captain.
He wasn't their father or real captain. But Ace would never leave him, or not help him be a captain. Their family was broken. Thatch first, and now Pops. The trauma of Ace's gruesome death no doubt was painful, but the loss of Pops was the most terrible. The crew had gotten used to Thatch being gone. Ace hadn't, but everyone else had. It had been many months. Four months. It still hurt Ace. He was close to Thatch, as were Haruta, Izo and Marco.
The good thing was that they weren't missing Ace now. Izo was already at the table, embroidering the Whitebeard mark onto another shirt for Ace. They couldn't have him not wearing it. Now that his chest was hard to look at and completely unnatural, he needed the mark somewhere else. He wouldn't hide it. Never.
"I'll never leave you," Ace said to Marco, kissing his shoulder. He had bandages around him still, as did many. He wondered why Marco hadn't healed yet. It worried him. Marco shed some more tears and hugged Ace tightly.
"And I'll never let you go," he said quietly. Ace nodded, and felt the indent in his shirt. It was ugly, messy. He would hide it forever unless it somehow stared to grow back alright. He sighed and asked Marco how Pops had gone. He wanted to know how the prideful and strong man had gone. It was raw enough that bringing it up didn't hurt more. They already hurt.
Izo smiled sadly, and said his last words were that the One Piece was real, where he screwed over the World Government. "His last words also told Teach he would never be the king of the pirates. I think he was hinting that Luffy would, that reckless kid." Ace smiled and said Luffy would become the pirate king.
"Ace, you know we wouldn't have cared about who your father was, right?" Haruta asked quietly. Ace looked upset. He was killed for that. He said he didn't trust anybody with that truth but Pops and his original brothers. It was nothing personal.
He just couldn't bring himself up to be a demon child. Then he laughed dryly. "I really do have a demon in me now." He sighed. "I guess there will just always be something wrong with me." It was a rare show of the real person he was under the laughs, pranks, and bratiness. Show he was deeply insecure. They finally saw the side of him only Pops and Marco had seen.
Shanks was at the table over, though he was listening closely. Ace didn't care. Shanks could do whatever he wanted and Ace wouldn't be angry. He'd saved his brothers and Luffy. All of his brothers. His crew ones and his closest living brother. "There's nothing wrong with you. You're biological dad caused you a lot of trouble, but you're not a demon child for that," Jozu said firmly.
Marco hadn't said this before, but he said, "I met Roger many times. When I was just a cabin boy. I'm sure Shanks could tell you, too, but he wasn't a bad man. He left a bad legacy to those who didn't know him. He was Pops' friend. Do you think he would have been friends with somebody who was evil?"
Ace looked down, knowing that way of thinking was very valid. But it didn't change the fact that he was haunted by that man's name his whole life. Marco added that Ace had every right to hate him because of his his name haunted him, but that he wasn't evil, and neither was Ace. Ace shrunk down, and Marco took his hand, bringing it to his lips.
"Your feelings are valid, and I'm not belittling them. I just hope one day you can see that his actions, no matter what they were, do not reflect you at all," he said softly. Ace nodded. The ship was sailing to the island they were burying their captain, no longer Ace. He was alive for now. The hole didn't matter at the moment. But he did hope it healed over some how.
When dinner came, everyone on the ship were subdued. There were totally not everyone there, as the Red Force was much smaller than the Moby. The others were on the allied ships and other two Mobys. Not the main ship, but the Moby 2 and 3. When night fell, Ace had trouble falling asleep.
-x-
Ace and Marco did not have their own room, but shared it with many others. They both slept on one twin bed, and Marco stayed up the whole hour, thought he pretended to sleep with his alive lover. And on the dot, 60 minutes exactly after Ace drifted asleep, Marco saw his eyes open, and that he had two smaller copies of the dark eyes under his original ones. He also had black marks on his face.
Ace had described his appearance, but this was creepy. Demon Ace sat up, looking at his hands with a grin. He pulled the shirt up and made a "hmmm" noise before putting it back down and standing up. Marco followed as demon Ace stepped over sleeping pirates, a creepy grin on. He left the room and slammed the door shut obnoxiously.
Marco trailed after him before he turned around. "You're the lover, right? I wonder how sex feels," he said, purposely trying to make Marco uncomfortable. That there would be somebody else in bed with them whenever they had the drive and time to make love again, not having done so in many months with the younger's absence.
"Demon Ace, what is your goal here?" Marco asked.
"To be in this body. It sure is more colorful here than hell. That place is boring as fuck. Don't worry, I won't do anything to my host's body. But it seems he hasn't healed yet. Well, it should be fixed eventually. Until then, I'm the only thing keeping him alive. So, how upset are you about your captain?"
Marco was glad he was very hard to provoke. Very hard to provoke, and he knew demon Ace was just trying to rile him up. Shit, every night this jackass would be in his lover's body, being rude through his voice. At least his face didn't look like Ace's that much. "We're very upset," Marco said calmly. Demon Ace showed a look of very brief frustration. Anyone else might have not noticed it, but Marco did.
"I want food," demon Ace said suddenly, and walked to the kitchen to eat something. Marco monitored that, knowing they had to conserve food. He pulled out left over chicken and ate that, making satisfied noises as he ate. He didn't get food in hell, as is body didn't need it. Ace's body did.
Something that did anger Marco was when he pulled his shirt up and watched as nothing happened. To the food. There was no stomach, yet he ate the food. He ate dinner without a digestive system functioning. "This is interesting. I can't imagine how painful it had been." He stuck his entire hands through it and touched his back. "You could use this body for game. See who can throw a ball through the hole."
This pissed Marco off, that the demon was making fun of the gaping and excruciating wound his lover had suffered from. "Don't make fun of Ace's pain," Marco snarled. Demon Ace gave Marco a haughty look.
"If you look close enough, you can see it almost looked like a fist. Not a hole. Though it had been a fist, hadn't it? The kind that burnt your precious ship away. How many people had been killed from those fists, I wonder? Boiled alive?"
Marco wanted to punch him in the face, but that was his lover's face and he'd feel the pain from it later. Marco sighed, and pitched the bridge of his nose. It was best to not get riled up by people like this. He turned and left the room and went back to bed.
Demon Ace continued to roam the ship, freaking out anybody he passed with his face. But damn, this felt great! He went outside, and felt a cool breeze. In hell, the air was stagnant and hot. No wind anywhere. He'd watched the human world for a long time, looking for just the right moment to enter a dying body.
He'd watched that war for anybody to take at the perfect time, and since Ace's death was drawn out, he was the perfect person to pick. He could have chosen Whitebeard, but he was old already. The demon wanted someone long term. Once the sun started to rise, he went back to the bedroom and got into bed with Marco, making a ton of noise and movement. He shoved Marco against the wall to get comfortable as he faded, and the real Ace came back.
When his presence turned back to normal, Marco put his arm around Ace and sighed. Every night from now on would have that asshole in control. For anybody else, he would have gotten a punch to his face for his words, not remembering that Ace would be the one hurting the next day for something he hadn't done.