Remnant's new ACE hunter
Chapter 2: Broken ribs and apologetic cookies
"Talking."
Thinking.
ATTACK!
DISCLAIMER: I have no rights, nor will I ever, to either One Piece or RWBY.
...6 years later, Woods outside of Patch…
"Hurry up Ruby! We're almost there," A child with blonde hair in pigtails said as she dragged a smaller girl with black/red hair. It was early morning and Yang had taken Ruby into the woods after breakfast.
"You haven't even told me where 'there' is Yang," Ruby whined as she tried to break out of her sister's grip, to no avail. Even as children, Yang dominated Ruby in strength. Though she couldn't break out of Yang's grip, Ruby was certainly making it difficult for Yang to drag her.
"Alright already," Yang said, clearly impatient, "If I tell you where we're going, will you come along willingly?"
"Yes," Ruby said with a smile.
"So basically I was out exploring yesterday, and you know what I found? A treehouse!" Yang exclaimed while raising her arms into the air. Ruby immediately ceased all her struggles and looked at Yang with wide eyes.
"Really!? A treehouse!? Well what're we waiting for. Let's go!" Ruby said as she immediately started running ahead of Yang. Said blonde hadn't moved from her spot and was giving the retreating form of her sister an amused look.
"5...4...3...2… and 1," Yang counted down as she saw Ruby coming back towards her.
"Yang? I kinda forgot that I don't know the way. Maybe you should lead?" Yang gave a happy chuckle before motioning for Ruby to follow her. They continued walking for a few minutes before coming into a clearing about 10 meters in diameter. There, right in the middle, was a tree with multiple branches. Near the middle of the tree was the treehouse Yang had told Ruby about. It wrapped around the circumference of the tree and sloped into a spherical roof. A rope ladder went farther up still and led to a small crows nest. In the crows nest was a pole with a flag that had a burning fist on it.
"Wow," was all Ruby could say as she stared in awe at the tree bound abode.
"I know right?" Yang said with a smile.
"Who built it?"
"Don't know, don't care. C'mon, let's go explore it!" Yang said as she started making her way to the rope ladder at the base of the tree.
"I thought you already explored it," said Ruby. Yang shook her head and said that it was almost night time when she found it, and had to get home. Ruby nodded in understanding and looked back at the tree house. Instead of excitement, her face showed unease.
"Should we really be going inside? This is obviously someone's tree house. Wouldn't it be rude to just barge in?" Ruby asked as she looked at Yang. The blonde haired girl had started thinking about Ruby's concern. Her face suddenly lit up as she had found a way to convince her sister to enter the treehouse.
"Ruby, if whoever built this didn't want anyone exploring it, then that person would have done a better job at hiding it," Yang said with confidence. Ruby seemed to buy the child like logic of Yang's argument.
"Oh, i guess that makes sense," Ruby said. "Let's go inside." With that the girls climbed the rope ladder and entered the tree house through a hatch on the floor. Looking around, Yang couldn't help but be impressed. Whoever had built this had included a long window going sideways along the wall. Not only did it let a lot of natural sunlight in, It gave the girls a spectacular view of the forest floor. The space inside the treehouse was occupied by a couple of bean bag chairs and a crate that was turned upside down. On the crate was a stack of-
"Comic books!" Ruby squealed in delight. She plopped herself on one of the bean bag chairs and proceeded to look through the collection of comic books. Yang, not really being a fan of comic books, decided to up to the crows nest. Yang climbed up another set of rope ladders and entered the crows nest through a hole cut out of the bottom.
"Wonder what the burning fist means," Yang asked to no one in particular as she stared at the flag. Shrugging her shoulders, Yang decided to see what else the tree house had to offer.
...A few minutes away…
Ace was excited. Today was the day he was gonna climb to the tippy top of the tree and build another crows nest. In one hand he had his black bo staff, and in the other he was dragging a small cart full of tools and wood. The staff was in case something, human or not, attacked him. The supplies he had procured through a mix of buying, borrowing, and steaĺing. In his defense though, he was planning on re-paying everyone when he was older.
"Maybe I'll be able to see the orphanage from up there," Ace said with a huge grin. As he was nearing the clearing, Ace thought he heard children laughing. Weird. He had never seen any other children playing near this area before. It was one of the reasons he had his tree house there. Ace, having already decided to be a little cautious, crouched in the bushes just beyond the clearing.
Ace gazed up at the tree, and, sure enough, he saw a head of blonde hair up at the crows nest. Narrowing his eyes, Ace left his cart of supplies in the bushes and readied his Bo staff. Before acting, Ace checked one more time to see if the blonde was distracted. Seeing that she was, Ace darted towards the tree with speed surprising for a child his age. Foregoing the rope ladder, Ace jumped on one of the lower branches and snuck his way to the long side window. He saw a small girl in a black skirt, red shoes, and a white shirt with a red, sleeveless, capped hoodie over it.
The girl's concentration was currently focused on a comic she was reading. Ace quietly entered the room through the window and snuck up to the girl. Not wanting to hurt her, Ace tapped her head with the end of the Bo staff. She gave out a startled yelp and turned around to face Ace, all while backing up into the wall.
"What are you doing in my tree house," Ace asked in a serious voice. Maybe it was the tone of his voice. Maybe it was the scowl he was giving her. Maybe it was the fact that she was backed into a corner and he was brandishing a weapon. Ace would later reflect that, in hindsight, it was probably all of the above that had caused the girl to yell for her sister.
"YANG! HELP!" The tone of her voice must have conveyed the terror she was feeling, because, less than 3 seconds later, the blonde one was jumping in from the hatch on the roof. What she saw was a boy around his age holding a black staff. Any other observation was overshadowed by the look of fear on her sister's face.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Yang yelled at the top of her voice. Without a second thought, she charged and tackled Ace, who was too surprised to dodge or block. The Bo staff went clattering to the floor as Yang laid punch after punch on Ace's face. The poor boy was much too shocked and confused to put up much of a defense.
"Ruby, get out of here!" Yang ordered, not letting up on punching the mystery boy. Ruby nodded and quickly made her way down the rope ladder as fast as she could. Yang followed her sister soon afterwards, leaving a dazed Ace to recover.
"What the Hell just happened?" Ace asked himself as he tried to get his thoughts in order. "Take it from the beginning Ace. First, you were intimidating a girl with reddish black hair, then she screamed for help. Then there were blonde pigtails and punches." Ace was brought out of his musing when he heard a familiar scream of terror.
"What now?" Ace said as he got up to look out the window. There, on the forest floor were the two girls from earlier. That itself wasn't very important. What was important was the Beowolf in front of them. It was small and young, so young that it didn't even have the characteristic bone protrusions normally associated with Grimm. However, it was still a Grimm, therefore dangerous.
...A couple of minutes earlier…
"Are you okay Ruby?" Yang asked with concern as she checked her sister for any injuries.
"I'm okay Yang. Shouldn't you be more concerned with yourself? You have blood on your fists
"It's not mine," Yang said, sparing a glance at her knuckles. "C'mon, let's get out of he-" Yang stopped talking when she heard growling. Growing a little scared, Yang looked around to try to find the growlings source.
"Yang," Ruby nervously said while tugging on her sleeve. Yang looked at her and saw the Beowolf a few meters away. The Grimm must have been attracted to the fear and unease Ruby had when she was confronted by the boy.
"Ruby," Yang said while trying to keep the wavering in her voice to a minimum, "Get behind me." Yang placed herself between Ruby and the Grimm. It wouldn't do much. What could a four and six year old do against a monster twice their size? The Beowolf suddenly snarled, causing Ruby to scream and stumble.
"Ruby get up," Yang pleaded. Though she was trying not to show it, Yang was terrified right now. She was convinced that they were going to die. They would never see their father again. Yang would never see her real mother. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes, despite her best efforts to keep them down. Ruby was already quietly crying, having thoughts similar to Yang. When the Beowolf finally lunged, Yang closed her eyes, hugged her sister, and tried to shield Ruby's body with her own.
*Thunk!*
When the Beowolf never landed on them, Yang opened her eyes. In front of her and Ruby was the boy from earlier. He had his Bo staff leveled in front of him, and, judging from the blood on one end, coupled with the fact that the Beowolf was now a couple of meters away and had a couple of teeth missing, it was pretty easy to guess at what had happened.
"You girls should get back into the treehouse," Ace said while sparing a glance at Yang and Ruby, who by now had also opened her eyes. His eyes snapped back into place when he heard the Beowolf growling again. Scowling, Ace tensed as he prepared to react to the Grimm's next attack.
"Go!" Ace yelled as the Beowolf lunged again. He quickly swung the end of his Bo staff at the Grimm's head. The Beowolf gave a growl of pain ass the staff connected with it's snout, causing it to stumble back a few steps. Not needing to be told twice, Yang quickly grabbed Ruby and raced towards the tree house. Seeing that its prey was escaping, the Beowolf lept at the sisters only to have the boy smash his staff on the back of its neck.
Recognizing that it wouldn't be able to kill the girls while the boy was still around, the Beowolf focused all of its attention on the freckled kid. The Grimm swung his clawed hand at the boy. The boy ducked under the blow and swung his Bo staff at the Grimm's knee.
Ace gave a small smirk when a crack was heard and the Beowolf howled in pain. Now the Beowolf was moving with a noticeable limp. Undeterred, The Grimm charged the boy again, this time slashing both hands down on him. Ace raised his Bo staff and blocked the two handed attack. What followed was a brief bout of strength as Ace grit his teeth and fell to one knee. Seeing that he was struggling to keep the attack off of himself, Ace quickly rolled out of the way as the attack made contact with the ground.
Ace took a moment to try to catch his breath. Ace was well aware that he was nearing the limit of his stamina. "Guess I'm gonna have to end this," Ace said as he braced himself. He then charged the wounded Grimm and twirled his staff to gain momentum. The Beowolf in turn charged at Ace.
Just before clashing, Ace jumped and brought his staff down on the Grimm's neck. At the same time, the Beowolf made a fist and punched Ace in his midsection. A sickening crack was heard throughout the forest, much louder than when Ace had broken the Grimm's knee. Ace was sent flying into the tree his tree house resided on. The Beowolf, on the other hand, collapsed to the ground, his neck bending at an unnatural angle.
Ace groaned when he tried to get up. The punch, coupled with slamming into the tree, had definitely broken a few ribs. He wasn't coughing up any blood, so that meant he hadn't punctured any organs. Considering he just fought a Beowolf, Ace wasn't very upset about his injuries. Heck, he would be dead right now if he didn't have an exceeding amount of strength, speed, and endurance for a child his age.
"You can come down now," Ace said, raising his voice a little so he could be heard up in the treehouse. The girl with blonde pigtails looked out the window and checked if the Grimm was really dead. Considering that half its body had already disintegrated, like all dead Grimm did, it was safe to say that it was dead.
Yang was the first to come down, followed by Ruby. Once they were on the forest floor, they turned to look at Ace, who was sitting up against the tree with his left hand holding his side. No one said a word as they awkwardly stared at one another.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So my names Ace," Ace introduced himself. Now that things had calmed down a little, Ace took a better look at the blonde one, as he had already familiarized himself with the red one. She was wearing a short sleeve shirt with stitching going up both sides. On her legs were form fitting shorts that went to just above her knee. Around her shirt she had a dark orange belt. She also had brown shoes with baggy orange socks. Around her neck was a bandana. Neither of the girls said anything. Yang looked uncomfortable, while Ruby had an amazed expression with what Ace could have sworn were stars in her eyes.
It seemed like they didn't hear him and remained silent. Growing uncomfortable, Ace decided to try again. "My names A-"
"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Ruby practically shrieked. "You were all like Hiyah! And Wa!" Ruby said while making various, comical karate strikes. For the second time that day, Ace was dumbfounded. Not even 3 minutes ago, this girl was terrified for her life. Now she was acting as if the Grimm attack hadn't happened at all.
While Ruby was praising Ace, Yang took another look at him. He was wearing black sandals, black shorts and a red tank top. Looking at his face, Yang was surprised to see that he had freckles. They actually made him look kind of cute and innocent, not that she would ever admit that to him though. Looking at his eyes, Yang gave a small gasp. He had the brightest red eyes she had ever seen. They were practically glowing!
Ace turned away from Ruby for a second and caught Yang staring. Embarrassed, Yang looked away and crossed her arms. Ace raised his eyebrow, but decided not to question it. Looking back at the girl with red hair, Ace saw that she had finished recreating Ace's battle.
"I'm Ruby Rose," the small girl said while holding out her hand. Ace smiled and reached out to take it.
"Portgas D. A-" Ace didn't get to finish as Yang stepped in front of him and Ruby. She slapped away his hand and glared. This was the second time he had been cut off, and frankly, he was getting tired of it.
"Do not touch my sister," Yang commanded, clearly still hung up on the previous incident.
"Why? She wanted to shake hands with me," Ace asked as he looked past Yang at Ruby. The silver eyed girl looked like she wanted to say something to Yang.
"Yang it's no big deal," Ruby meekly said.
"No big deal!? Ruby this guy was threatening us! We could have been hurt!" Yang exclaimed while pointing an accusing finger at Ace.
"Maybe I wouldn't have had to scare your sister if you had stayed out of my treehouse," Ace snapped at Yang. "Besides, the only one who got hurt here is me!" Ace said while pointing at his black eye and bloody nose. Yang had the decency to look sheepish.
"Whatever," Yang muttered as she looked away from Ace, "Come on Ruby, let's go home. It's almost lunchtime anyway." Yang turned around and started walking away. Ruby started to follow her sister after giving Ace one last glance.
"Your welcome," Ace muttered as he tried standing again. He managed to make it to his feet. When he tried to take a step, however, his ribs flared. Ace gasped in pain and fell to one knee. Taking a few deep breaths, Ace tried again, only to fall on his back in pain. He groaned, finding the situation to be very annoying.
"You okay?" Ace turned his head to the source of the voice, and, to his surprise, Ruby had come back. Yang was there too, though judging from the look on her face, she was here unwillingly.
"I think I broke some of my ribs," Ace said as he sat up. "I doubt I can walk back to Patch without puncturing my lung." Ace said, trying to lighten the mood with a smile. Ruby had a concerned expression as she tried to think of a way to help Ace. Looking at Yang, Ace saw that her expression had softened considerably, and even looked concerned.
"Any way we can help?" Ruby asked. Ace paused for a few moments before smiling.
"You see those bushes over there," Ace asked as he motioned to a cluster of vegetation to their right. Ruby and Yang nodded. "There should be a cart there. Please bring it here." Ace said. Realizing what Ace was planning on doing with the cart, Ruby skipped towards the bush. She came back with a small cart. Said cart still had all the supplies Ace had planned on using. Ruby dumped everything on the floor and gestured towards the cart.
"In," was all she said. Wincing a little, Ace managed to enter the cart. Ruby grabbed the handles and hummed to herself as she pulled the cart. Yang hesitated for a few seconds before picking up Ace's Bo staff and taking it with her. Ruby seemed happy enough to pull the cart, so Yang didn't bother offering help. Yang looked at the staff, and was surprised to see that it was all metal.
"Hey why is this staff solid metal," Yang asked, her gaze still fixed on the staff.
"..."
"..."
"Are you ignoring me?" Yang threateningly asked as she looked at Ace, whose shoulders had slumped, and his head had tilted forward.
"..."
"Hey look at me when I'm talking to you," Yang said while pointing the staff at him. Ace gave no reaction, and stayed in his original position. "I said look at-"
"...zzz…"
"And he's asleep," Yang oh so brilliantly observed.
"Give him a break Yang, he did just fight a Beowolf." Ruby remarked from the front of the cart. This was the first time Yang and Ruby experienced Ace's narcolepsy, though it wouldn't be the last. With Ace asleep and Yang swinging around his Bo staff, no one really payed attention to where Ruby was leading them. Only when they were in front of their destination did Yang pay attention.
"Ruby, why did you bring him to our home?" Yang asked. Ace woke up just moments later.
"We at the hospital yet?" Ace asked while stretching. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about his broken ribs. He winced in pain and rubbed his side. Looking up, he saw what he guessed was the girl's' home. "This is not the hospital," Ace observed.
"Of course it isn't. You think I'm gonna abandon you to those wretched creatures called doctors? With their needles and their bad tasting medicine and weird smelling exam rooms," Ruby paused while she shivered in horror," I could never do that to another human being!" Ruby exclaimed. Ace looked at Yang.
"Is she serious?"
"You have no idea," Yang said. Ruby meanwhile was still ranting about doctors. This time she was talking about how they try to gain your trust with lollipops, but that she was too clever for that.
"Ruby, sorry to interupt, why did you bring me here?" Ace asked while gesturing to Ruby's house.
"My dad's really good with first aid. He should be able to fix you up." Ruby said while gesturing for Ace to get down. He nearly fell to the floor when he tried to walk though.
"Here, give me your arm," Ruby said while placing Ace's arm over her shoulders. Seeing that Ruby was struggling a little to support Ace, Yang walked over and placed Ace's other hand on her shoulders. He looked at Yang in surprise. He hadn't expected her to give him any sort of help.
Wordlessly, they made their way to the front door. When they entered the house, Ace saw some blonde man sitting on a couch, reading a book.
"Hey girls, lunch is on the table if you're hungry," the blonde man said, not even looking up from his book.
"Hey, dad. Listen, this boy has some broken ribs so could you maybe do your first aid stuff?" Ruby asked with a smile. Taiyang looked up from his book and saw some boy with a black eye and bloody nose, though most of the blood had dried up by now, leaning on both of his daughters.
"Ruby, why didn't you take him to the hospital?" Taiyang asked, though, knowing his daughter, he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
"Dad, I could never be so cruel as to leave this boy to those filthy monsters called doctors," Ruby said with a growl. Yep. Taiyang knew it. Sighing, he got up and walked towards them.
"Here sit him at the table," Taiyang said while gesturing to a chair. "So does someone want to explain what happened?" He asked while fixing his gaze on his daughters. He would listen to the boy later. Right now, he wanted to hear it from his daughters. Ruby was more than happy to oblige.
"So Yang found a treehouse and took me to that tree house and we played in the treehouse and then he showed up," Ruby pointed at Ace, who was cleaning his face with a wet rag Taiyang had given him. "Turns out it is rude to enter someone's' treehouse without asking first and he pointed that stick at me," Ruby pointed at the Bo staff Yang was holding, "and i screamed and Yang came and punched him in the face and then we left and then a scary Grimm showed up and then he saved us and then he broke it's neck and then the Grimm punched him into the tree!" Ruby finally finished and started gasping, clearly out of breath.
Taiyang was able to understand most of what Ruby had said, and looked at Ace.
"You killed a Grimm?" Taiyang asked, clearly impressed that the kid could do that.
"Yeah, but not before it punched me." Taiyang lifted Ace's shirt up and saw that his chest was heavily bruised.
"Here's what I'll do, I'm gonna treat your injury, and then you're going to explain yourself." Taiyang said while pulling a first aid kit out of one of the kitchen cabinets. He then dressed the wound and wrapped it in bandages. He also cleaned and wrapped a few cuts and abrasions Ace had gotten on his arms and legs when he had been slammed into the tree. When Taiyang applied the disinfecting alcohol, Ace didn't cry out or even flinch, something Ruby considered, "Totally hardcore."
Now that Ace was thoroughly bandaged and treated, Taiyang led them into the living room and sat them down on the couch.
"First question: Did you hurt my girls?" Taiyang gave Ace a hard glare.
"No." Ace said, meeting the older man's glare with a blank face. Taiyang looked at the girls.
"Is he telling the truth?"
"Yeah, he didn't lay a hand on us, he just looked menacing and dangerous," Ruby said. "That didn't stop Yang from punching him a lot." Ruby said with a smile, not seeing Yang fix her with a glare.
"Alright. Next question: Why did you threaten them?"
"They entered my tree house without my permission. I thought they were intruders!" Ace exclaimed. Taiyang looked at the girls, asking them if it were true.
"Yang told me that if he didn't want us playing in his treehouse, then he should have done a better job at hiding it." Ruby said, unaware of the fact that she was unintentionally throwing her sister under the proverbial bus. Taiyang fixed a small glare on his blonde daughter. She had the decency to look sheepish.
"Alright, last question: Why did you save my daughters?"
"Seeing two kids being eaten by a Grimm would have ruined my appetite," Ace said with a smile, clearly joking. His smile faded away when he saw that Taiyang had not found the joke amusing. "Oh, you were serious. I don't know, I guess I saved them because I didn't like the idea of seeing them die."
"You realize you could have died as well?" Taiyang asked with a raised eyebrow. Secretly though, he wa amazed this child would risk his life to save a couple of girls he had barely met that day.
"Better me than them," Ace said. Taiyang had to hide a small smile.
"Seeing as how you saved my girls, I, as the father of these two little angels, hereby pardon you of any offenses you may have committed against them," Taiyang said while adopting a dramatic voice and gesturing eccentrically. Ace couldn't help but smile. Partly because he was off the hook, partly because the guy in front of him looked ridiculous.
"You, on the other hand," Taiyang said while pointing at Yang, "are grounded."
"What!? Why!?" Yang exclaimed in anger.
"You manipulated your sister into a dangerous situation." Taiyang said while adopting the over dramatic voice again. "Therefore, I hereby revoke your motorcycle magazine privileges for the next month." Tiyang said while crossing his arms. Yang looked positively devastated.
"But, But"
"No buts young lady. Now take your sister to your room. I want to," Taiyang paused, realizing he didn't even know the kid's name. Ace Seemed to guess what the blonde hunter's pause meant and decided to fill in the blank.
"Portgas D. Ace."
"I want to talk with Ace in private." Yang grumbled and took Ruby to their room. "So, do you have any parents?" Normally Taiyang wasn't this blunt with kids, but considering this kid killed a Grimm, he was sure that Ace could handle a little straightforwardness.
"Nope. Orphan."Ace answered in a calm voice.
"I see, so you live at Patch Orphanage then?"
"Yep."
"How old are you?"
"6. I'll be 7 in a few months." Ace said immediately.
"Listen Ace, I really appreciate what you did for my daughters. Not a lot of people would have put their life at risk for complete strangers." Ace looked uncomfortable at receiving praise. "How long have you been working on your treehouse?" Taiyang asked, wanting to learn a little more about the boy.
"Almost 2 years. I started when I was 5." Taiyang's eyes widened when he heard this. At that age kids should be playing with supervision, not wandering into the middle of the woods and using tools to build stuff!
"And the people at the orphanage are okay with this?"
"After the first few times they tried to keep me inside, they kind of learned to let me do my own thing. I've never mixed well with authority."
"How much time do you spend at your treehouse?" Taiyang asked.
"Most of my free time. I try to avoid being at the orphanage during the day." Seeing Taiyang's curious expression Ace decided to elaborate. "I like it at the orphanage, so I try to reduce the chances of me getting adopted. This usually means not being present during visits, and when I am present, picking fights with them."
"Uh, okay. I don't really know how to respond to that. Alright, I don't want to keep you waiting. You can leave now if you want." Ace nodded and got up. He looked around, searching for something.
"Uh sir, I think the girl with blonde pigtails may have taken my staff into her room with her."
"Go get it then. I think I'll wait here," Taiyang said as he picked his book up from the coffee table.
"Uh, where is their room?"
"Downthe hall and then upstairs. First door on your left." Taiyang said. Ace nodded and followed the man's directions.
...Meanwhile, in Ruby and Yang's room…
"This is all his fault! Because of him, I'm gonna lose out on valuable motorcyle info!" Yang exclaimed while pacing her room. Ruby was sitting on the bottom bunk of their bunk bed. She had been trying to calm Yang down.
"Yang?"
"What?"
"Why did you take Ace's staff with you?" Ruby asked while pointing to the staff which lay propped up against the wall.
"I… actually don't know. Guess I did it without thinking."
*Knock Knock Knock*
"Hey, I think you have my Bo staff in there," came the muffled voice of Ace through the door. Ruby got up and went to open the door.
"Hi Ace, so what did my dad tell you?"
"He just asked me stuff about my life. Also he wanted to thank me for saving you girls," Ace said while looking at Ruby. He looked at Yang.
"So can I have my staff?" Yang grabbed the staff and shoved it in his arms.
"Here, now leave," Yang said, not looking him in the eyes.
"Thanks,,, uh,,, you know you never told me your name." Ace said.
"Yang Xaio Long,now leave," Yang threatened. Taking the obvious hint, Ace backed out of the girl's room and went back into the living room.
"I think Yang hates me," Ace told Taiyang, who merely chuckled.
"Trust me, she doesn't hate. She's just embarrassed that you had to save her. Give her some time and I'm sure she'll come around. Speaking of which, you want to come over for dinner tomorrow?" Taiyang asked, looking up from his book.
"Why?"
"Because we're going to properly thank you. Trust me, you'll like the way Ruby shows gratitude. Don't worry, I guarantee you that Yang will have cooled off by then." Taiyang said with a smile.
"Okay, what time should I show up?"
"Around 6 is fine."
"Alright. We'll sir, I should get going. See you tomorrow," Ace said while picking up his staff and leaving out the front door. Taiyang smiled as he got up and walked to the stairs. He Still had to talk with his daughters. Summer would have done a much better job at this. Taiyang stopped and sighed. As much as he missed her,Taiyang couldn't afford to get depressed. His daughters needed him more than ever.
"Hi girls," Taiyang said as he walked into their room. Yang was lying on the bottom bunk, while Ruby was reading a weapons magazine. "So Ace is going to be coming to dinner tomorrow," Taiyang causally said. Ruby's eyes widened.
"Does this mean-"
"Yes it does Ruby. We'll go get the ingredients tomorrow." Ruby fist pumped with excitement.
"I'm gonna go check if we have any red velvet icing left," Ruby said before running out of the room. Now it was just Yang and her father in the room. Taiyang stared at his daughter, wondering what to say.
"Dont worry dad, I don't hate him," Yang said, reading her father's mind. "I'm just… a little embarrassed that I beat Ace up, and that he had to save us." Yang mumbled to her father. "He probably hates me," Yang said.
"He doesn't hate you. He actually doesn't really know what to think about you." Taiyang said with a smile. "Why don't you apologize?"
"You know I'm not good with that kind stuff dad," Yang said with a sigh. Whenever she had to apologize to someone, it just came off as forced and awkward. Taiyang was quiet for a moment before thinking of something.
"Why don't you help Ruby with what she's doing? Make a special one and give it to him."
"Dad, that sounds really stupid." Yang deadpanned at her father.
"Got a better idea?"
"... if I'm gonna do this I want to use strawberry and orange icing." Yang said as she got up and went to the smiled to himself.
"Who says being a parent is hard?"
...Patch Orphanage…
Ace sighed. He wouldn't be able to work on his treehouse for a few days until his ribs healed. Having nowhere else to go, Ace had gone back to the orphanage. He cringed as he realized it was still going to be visiting hours for a while. People always wanted to adopt him. His freckles made him look adorable to them. Coupled with his bright red eyes, he was grade A adoption material.
"Maybe I'll just hide on the roof again," Ace said to himself. He noticed a woman walking towards him. He smiled, recognizing her. Her name was Sally, and she was the lady who had picked him up all those nights ago. She was in her early 30's and had blonde hair. Her usual outfit consisted of a dark green skirt going to her knees, and a brown long sleeve shirt. On her feet were black shoes. She usually wore a black bandana around her head. It was done more for her own safety, as if you were to look under, you would see a pair of squirrel ears. She's a squirrel faunus.
"Oh my god! Ace what happened to you!?" Sally exclaimed, looking over Ace's bandaged state. Ace liked her a lot. She understood his quirks and that he didn't like being ordered around. She didn't try to stop him, she just made sure he was as safe as possible. She was actually the one who had given him the Bo staff. When asked why, all she said was that Ace was too young for a knife.
"I saved two girls from a Grimm. Then they took me to their home and their father treated my broken ribs. I'm going over there for dinner tomorrow." Ace said with a smile. Sally sighed, but didn't freak out too much. Ace got hurt more often than you would think.
"I swear, you're the reason I'm getting gray hairs." Sally complained a she took Ace to his room.
"So tell me about these girls." Sally said as she sat on his bed.
"One has reddish black and is a couple years younger than me. Her name is Ruby. She seems really nice and sweet. The other is blonde and named Yang. She's… alright. Sure she punched me a lot, but I guess I kind of deserved it." Ace said. Sally looked at him curiously, so Ace explained what had happened before the Grimm had attacked.
"My guess is that she just feels embarrassed by the whole ordeal." Sally said.
"Huh, that's exactly what their dad said."
"Wanna make her feel better?"
"I guess."
"Invite her and Ruby to your treehouse. Become her friend. You don't have any friends, so making a couple would be good for you," Sally explained.
"Okay, I can do that. Can I ask them to help me build the second crows nest?" Axe asked with hopeful eyes. Though he would never admit it, Ace got lonely from time to time. Most other kids his age didn't like socializing with him. Maybe it was because he was much stronger than them.
"Sure, just make sure they don't get hurt." Sally said. "So what are you gonna do for the rest of the day? It's still visiting hours you know?" Sally understood that Ace had no desire to be adopted, otherwise she may have done it a while ago.
"First, I'm gonna run to the kitchen and grab something to eat. Then I'll just hang out on the roof until visiting hours end." Ace went towards the kitchen, leaving Sally alone in his room. She smiled when she saw the hat lying on his desk.
...The next day, around 2 PM,,,
"Dad, Ruby's trying to eat the sugar again," Yang complained as she held Ruby away from the bag of sugar for the third time since they started.
"Ruby I told you. No sugar! We need that for Ace's surprise." Taiyang gently scolded. Ruby calmed down, apologized, and went back to mixing the flour and eggs. Taiyang was wearing an apron and preparing the oven. Yang had her hair in a high ponytail to keep it out of the batter she was kneading.
"So how many of these are we making?" Yang asked while looking at her father.
"Only a few dozen or so, we don't want to be waste- Damn it Ruby! I told you to stay out of the sugar!" Taiyang yelled while looking at his daughter, who currently had handful of sugar raised halfway to her mouth.
"Sorry, it's just so sweet!" Ruby said, trying to defend her actions. Taiyang grabbed the bag of sugar out of Ruby's hand and placed it near him. Ruby discreetly ate the handful of sugar she had. It was only a handful of sugar. What could go wrong?
...15 minutes later…
"...and don't come back until you come off your sugar high!" Taiyang yelled as he slammed the door shut on Ruby's bedroom. He sighed as he made his way to the kitchen. It was covered in flour from when Ruby had thrown it at the ceiling fan because she, "Wanted it to snow." On the left wall was a mess of egg yolk from when Ruby had tried to spell her name by throwing eggs at the wall. It had taken all of Taiyang's strength to keep Yang from beating her sister when Ruby had squirted strawberry icing on Yang's hair, yelling, "Strawberry sunrise, hold the ice!" while doing it. Taiyang had to admit that was was actually pretty funny..Yang was currently trying to shower the icing away. Taiyang sighed as he started to clean up Ruby's rampage. He really needed to do something about Ruby's sugar problem
...Rose/Xiao Long residence, 6:03PM…
Ace knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. He heard footsteps. Yang opened the door. Was it just Ace, or did her hair have the slightest tint of red?
"Oh hey Ace, foods almost ready. Come on in," Yang said while walking away. Ace entered and closed the door. He made his way to the living room where Ruby and Yang were playing some video game.
"Hi Ace!" Ruby said while pausing the game. She looked at Ace,and he could have sworn he saw bits of flour in her hair.
"Hey Ruby. What are you girls playing?" Ace asked. From the looks of it, it was some form of fighting game. Ruby gasped.
"You've never heard of Kung Fu Ultimate Ninja Death Battle!?" Ruby asked in disbelief.
"No, should I have?" Ace said, a little confused. Ruby got up and forced Ace to sit next toYang. She placed a controller in his hand, and unpaused the game.
"Play," was all she said. Ace looked down at the controller in confusion. He considered telling Ruby he'd rather not, but the stern expression she had shut him up. Ace began playing against Yang. Considering he had never played the game, suffice to say Ace got wrecked, horribly. Yang was more than willing to rub it in his face.
"Wow, 16 losses and 0 wins. I thought Ruby was bad, but you're horrible." Yang said as she beat Ace again. Her character did a small victory animation where he took out a wooden log and snapped it with his knee.
"I can do that," Ace said with a bored expression. Yang and Ruby looked at him in surprise.
"No way, I call bull." Yang said, disbelief written all over her face. Ruby, however, was more than willing to believe him.
"Really?" Ruby asked. "Can you show me!?" Ruby asked, clearly excited. Ace smiled at her reaction.
"You have a log for me to break?" Ace asked. He was immediately hauled to his feet by Ruby and was dragged across the room.
"We have firewood in the back!" was all Ruby said before dragging Ace out the back door. Yang got up and quickly followed them.
"I gotta see this." When she got outside, she saw Ruby holding out a log to Ace, jumping up and down in excitement and impatience. Ace smiled and took the log. He tensed as he got ready to break the log. He brought the log down on his knee, and the log snapped in two! Yang's eyes were big as saucers. Ruby immediately produced another log.
"Again!" Ace complied and broke that one too. Ruby brought him another one. Ace was about to break it when Yang interrupted him.
"Ace, have you had your aura unlocked?" Yang asked as she tried to find a reason as to why this six year old was so strong.
"You know they don't do that until you're thirteen." Ace said. By "they," he referred to the professors at Signal Academy.
"Then how are you so strong!?" Yang asked in disbelief.
"I dunno. I just always have been." Ace said, doing his best to explain his strength. Unknown to the group of children, two people were watching them from the second story window of the house.
"You know, when you told me that some six year old kid had killed a Beowolf, albeit a young and small one, I thought for sure you were pulling pulling my leg," the first stranger paused while taking a swig of presumably alcohol from his flask. "Kind of would have preferred if this was a joke. Now I have to to interrogate him and see if he could be a threat."
"Do you really have to do that?" The second stranger asked.
"You know Ozpin would want to hear about this Taiyang," the stranger said, taking another swig from his flask.
"Since when do you care about what Ozpin would want Qrow?" Taiyang asked his now named teammate.
"I may act like I couldn't give two shits about what I do, but I actually take my job very seriously. You said he broke his ribs yesterday?" Qrow asked, looking down at Ace, who was doing push ups with Ruby sitting on top of him.
"Yep."
"Then how the Hell is he doing this without collapsing in pain?" Qrow asked.
"Either he has a huge healing factor, or he has really high pain tolerance, or maybe both. I'm not sure."
"And you say he lives at Patch Orphanage?"
"That is what I said."
"I'll have to question the people there too." Qrow said with a sigh. "More work, just what I wanted. Shouldn't you be calling them inside for dinner?" Qrow asked. Not bothering to wait for an answer, Qrow walked out of the room. "Never mind, I'll do it myself."
...Back Outside…
"I don't mean to spoil the fun," Ace said, fatigue clear in his voice, "but my ribs are really starting to hurt. Could we end this now?"
"Five more and then you can stop," said Yang with a grin. Ace was currently being forced to do one handed push ups with both Yang and Ruby on him. Ace groaned. Normally, he could have gone for much longer, but his still healing ribs severely limited what he could do. No one noticed Qrow walking up to them.
"Is this how you treat boys you like?" Qrow asked with a mischievous smirk. Yang blushed and got off Ace. Ruby didn't understand what Qrow was implying, so she didn't get off Ace.
"Oh hey uncle Qrow! Of course I like Ace. He's really nice and cool." Ruby said with an innocent smile. Knowing Ruby was a dead end as far as reactions go, Qrow turned his attention to the boy under her.
"What kid, no reaction?" Qrow asked.
"Sorry, but right now I'm focusing on not falling with Ruby on top of me." Ace said, sweat starting to form on his head. "Can you get off me now Ruby? I did five more push ups like Yang asked."
"Oh right, sorry Ace," Ruby said as she got off of him. Ace got up and rolled his shoulders, sighing in relief.
"What do you want Uncle Qrow?" Yang asked, her blush having mostly receded at this point.
"Your dad says that dinner is ready." They all walked inside and had dinner. Taiyang was actually a really good cook, as evidenced by the Fettucini Alfredo pasta he made. Ace ate a surprising amount of pasta for a six year old. Qrow reasoned that it probably had something to do with his strength and metabolism.
After dinner, Taiyang told Ace to wait in the living room while he, Yang, and Ruby went to get something. Qrow decided to wait with him. He wanted to use those few free minutes to start asking him stuff.
"So Ace, Taiyang tells me you're an orphan. Do you have the slightest idea who your parents are?"
"No sir," Ace replied honestly.
"Call me Qrow. I saw what you did outside. Pretty impressive for a kid. You always had that kind of strength?"
"As long as I can remember." Ace said, a little uncomfortable at the questions Qrow was asking. Before the conversation could continue, Taiyang walked out with Ruby and Yang. Ruby was obviously excited, while Yang seemed uncomfortable.
"Thank you Ace!" Taiyang and Ruby shouted while presenting him with a platter full of… sugar cookies?
"Thanks," Ace was all Ace said as he didn't really know how to respond to being given cookies as a gift.
"Try one!" Ruby said while shoving a cookie in his face. Ace took it and took a closer look at it. It had red velvet frosting and black sprinkles. Shrugging, Ace took a bite of the cookie. He chewed and swallowed. He froze in wonder.
"It's… amazing," Ace said as he bolted down the rest of the cookie and reached for another one. "Why cookies?" Ace couldn't help but ask.
"Cookies are good for any occasion. Each cookie has a specific meaning and usage, kind of like roses." Ruby said with a smile. Ace looked at Qrow.
"Is she serious?" Ace asked the hunter.
"You have no idea. Remind me to tell you about the time when Taiyang and Ruby ranted for fifteen minutes straight on why bringing snickerdoodles to a barbecue was 'Aesthetically insensitive.'" Qrow said. Ace shrugged and grabbed another cookie. By now, everyone except Yang had grabbed a cookie.
"What do sugar cookies represent?" Ace asked the cookie aficionados.
"Two things actually," Taiyang said as he stopped eating his cookie. "The first is gratitude. The second is apology." Taiyang said while sparing a quick glance at Yang. She was nervously tapping her foot and hiding something behind her.
"I get gratitude, but why apology?" Ace asked. Someone tapped his shoulder. Ace turned and saw Yang holding out a sugar cookie. This one was different from the others. This one had orange and red frosting along with yellow sprinkles. Confused, Ace took the cookie.
"Sorry," Yang mumbled while looking away.
"For what?"
"You know, for punching you in the face a lot and being mean to you." Yang said. Ace looked surprised for a moment before smiling.
"You're still hung up on that?" Ace said with a chuckle. Yang paused for a moment, not expecting that answer.
"You're not mad at me?" Ace shook his head. "Does this mean we can be friends?" Ace laughed this time.
"I thought we were already friends." Ace said as he took a bite out of Yang's apology cookie. "Strawberry and orange huh? I like it." Yang sighed in relief that Ace wasn't mad at her. She enjoyed the rest of the evening with her family and newfound friend.
A/N: There you go, a second chapter. We met Ruby and Yang, saw them invade Ace's tree house, and even had our first fight scene… kind of. There wasn't any fire and stuff as Ace hasn't discovered his powers or memories yet. Don't worry, that will happen next chapter. What else will happen next chapter? Yang and her first search for her mother. I wonder how those two events will correlate. I should probably clear some things up:
Ace has red eyes here. Deal with it.
It's gonna be awhile before we actually get to Beacon Academy and the main storyline. I have a few plans for Ace before that gets there.
There will be time skips from time to time.
Ace doesn't have as big an appetite yet because he hasn't accessed his devil fruit powers yet.
There will be no other One Piece characters here. I am adamant on this.
My academy system: You don't start at Signal Academy until you're 11. You stay for 6 years, then graduate at 17, at which point you head to places to Beacon. Before that, you just go to a regular school. Then, if you want to be a hunter, you go to Signal. Otherwise, you continue in regular school.
'Aces regular school days will rarely be mentioned, if not ever. Nothing interesting would happen there, so i won't write about it.
I will write about Signal a little.
I realize that in canon Yang and Ruby have separate rooms. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything.
There will be no Yaoi or Yuri. There are far too many fics dedicated to white rose and bumblebee and freezer burn etc.
As for actual pairings, I'm undecided. Maybe you people have ideas? Who do you want Ace shipped with? Maybe Yang? Maybe Ruby? Maybe harem. I don't really have any preferences at the moment.
To those of you worried about Ace's power, chill out. He is not going to be some weakling. Once we get to Beacon, I plan on having Ace being able to single handedly take out entire team. Only the top of what we've seen so far would be able to match and beat him. Namely Qrow, Ozpin, Cinder, any maiden, and Salem. We barely know anything about the last one, but come one, she looks pretty badass and powerful. Keep in mind that Ace will not be invincible. If a group of people try hard enough and out strategize him, they could very well be victorious. In summary, Ace will still be powerful. He just won't be able to do the whole fight for 5 days straight thing.
As for Ace and his logia body, I won't give away too much, but I will tell you he can be hurt.
There were some reviews, which I found amazing because, at the time of writing this, it has bearly been 2 days since the story was uploaded.
Hdzulfikar: Sorry that my story doens't interst you. In my defense, a story where Ace kills everyone because of his massive power would not be very enjoyable. At least you took the effort to read this story and leave a review. For that, I thank you.
H2O(I'm just gonna call you that if you don't mind): Thank you for the kind words my friend.
doa570047: I can respect that. A prologue isn't much to go off of. Hopefully you'll grow to really like this story. You liked the name tag thing? To be honest, I was kinda stuck on how to let Ace keep his name for a good reason. Like you said, I didn't want to just have someone name him Ace because reasons. The nametag was the simplest answer I could come up with.
SlurpthisStuff: You are very kind, thank you.
Wolfj: No, sorry.
Silversean24: If by himself you mean his memories and devil fruit powers, don't worry. If you mean you wished that I didn't nerf him, sorry man. I just couldn't make a story where Ace beats everyone interesting. He's still going to be very strong though.
Once again, thank you very much for all the support the story has gotten in just 2 days! You guys are just awesome. Also, kudos to anyone who gets the reference Ruby made when she yelled "Strawberry sunrise, no ice." Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you all next update.
Until then.
