Remnant's new ACE hunter

Chapter 4: Scars, Timeskips, and Stories

"Talking."

Thinking.

ATTACK!

DISCLAIMER: I have no rights, nor will I ever, to either One Piece or RWBY.

...2 Days later…

"... so he was a pirate?" Ozpin asked the hunter in front of him. That hunter was obviously Qrow.

"Yeah, it's complicated, but in his world being a pirate wasn't a bad thing." Qrow said.

"I should have asked you this yesterday, but with all the excitement, It slipped my mind. How did you get Ace to reveal his origins?" Opin asked with a raised eyebrow. Qrow chuckled darkly in response.

"I put on the old ScareQrow bit I used to do. Kid actually thought I was going to kill him," Qrow said as he tried to hold down his laughter. Ozpin gave the vaguely drunk, as Qrow is always somewhat under the influence, a very annoyed look.

"Qrow, you know what you did could have very well traumatized the boy? Based on what you've told me, I believe that, had you simply asked him, the boy would have told you his story, intimidation or not." Ozpin said as he seriously questioned whether or not it was sad that the slightly intoxicated man-child in front of him was actually one of his greatest assets.

"I don't mind that the kid fears me," Qrow said with a shrug of his shoulders. "In fact, I hope he does. It might make him think twice before he tries anything with a certain niece of mine," Qrow said. "What? There's no way in Hell that Taiyang's going to do it himself." Qrow said when he noticed the blank look Ozpin was giving him.

"Qrow, this isn't a joke. I expect you to exercise more caution in the future. Understand?" Ozpin said as his voice took a commanding tone. That, combined with his posture, really showed that anything less than a "Yes," was the wrong answer. Luckily, Qrow was sober, sober being a relative term, enough to understand this.

"Yeah, yeah. I was just trying to have a little fun." Qrow said as he took out his trusty flask and took a swig. Ozpin knew that was about as good as he was going to get from Qrow.

"Going back to our original topic, you put everything you learned from the boy in your report, right?" Ozpin asked.

"Of course I did. Stuffs actually pretty interesting. You know he had a little brother?" Qrow commented.

"No I did not. I'll be sure to look for that in your report." Ozpin said. The hunters spent the next half hour discussing Ace's situation, and, more importantly, what to do about it. Ozpin had had a couple of days to create some form of a plan, and he was ready to put it into action.

"Ace isn't going to like this," Qrow commented upon hearing Ozpin's plan.

"He doesn't have to like it. We can't risk this getting out to the public." Ozpin said. Qrow sighed as he knew he would have to be the one to tell Ace.

"I better go tell him then. Hopefully he hasn't told anyone else yet." Qrow muttered as he stepped out of Ozpin's office.

...Later That Day, Patch Hospital…

"You want me to lie?" Ace asked the hunter in front of him. Based on the scowl he was giving Qrow, Ace was not happy.

"No… well… it's not technically lying. You just can't tell anyone else about your former life." Qrow said with a sigh. Ace narrowed his eyes at the older hunter.

"I don't like keeping secrets Qrow. You realize I would have to lie to Yang and Ruby right?" Ace said with a raised eyebrow.

"I told you, it's not lying if nobody knows." Qrow paused as he processed the second part of Ace's statement. Qrow knew that Ace would have to lie to his nieces. He wasn't happy about it, but he knew they would be safer in the long run if Ace and his origin was kept a secret.

"Do you know why we want this to be kept a secret?" Qrow finally asked, having decided to answer Ace's question with a question. Ace paused. He hadn't really thought about it before Qrow had brought it to his attention. Despite his best efforts, Ace couldn't think of a good answer.

"No." Ace said with a sigh.

"If word got out about your circumstances, you, and anyone even remotely affiliated with you, would be a target. People would find an excuse to try to kill you Ace." Qrow said with a faint grimace. Ace was very surprised by this.

"I haven't done anything to anyone. Why would they want to kill me?" Ace asked with genuine confusion.

"Because you're different kid. Very different. You realize your name alone sets you apart from almost everyone else right?" Qrow asked the former pirate. Now that Ace thought about it, pretty much every kid his age he's met had some name affiliated with some form of color or artistic expression. His own name was radically different. The fact his last name came before his first name was strange enough. Add in the D, and his name got downright alien.

"There are people in this world who, if they were to find out about the circumstances concerning your… birth for lack of a better word, would stop at nothing to try to erase you from existence." Qrow said. Ace clenched his bed sheets so hard that his knuckles turned white. The red eyed boy was all too familiar with being hunted down just because he existed.

"So what? Let them try. They can't kill me," Ace growled in defiance. "I've barely shown you what I can do. Wait until I get out of here and I'll show you what I'm capable of." Ace stated as his fingers started flickering with fire.

"Calm down kid. You're gonna burn the hospital down." Qrow said as he watched Ace's bed sheets start to burn. Ace noticed this and calmed down enough so he wasn't emitting any fire. "I know you can take care of yourself, but what about Yang? Ruby? Sally?" Qrow asked. "If your story gets out, they'll be targeted too."

All of Ace's anger evaporated almost immediately. Ace could take care of himself if anyone ever tried to attack him. He had almost superhuman strength and his fire abilities. Yang and Ruby didn't have either. Once they went to Signal they would have aura and weapons. They would be fine then. Right now though, they were nothing but children.

Then there was Sally. Ace had seen what it was like to be targeted. He had seen the way faunus were treated. Sally was already in enough danger as it was. Ace didn't want to add on to that. As much as Ace loathed to admit it, Qrow had a very good point. It was absurd to think that there would be no negative repercussions if he let everyone know about his past life. It killed him realize that he would have to keep his old life under wraps.

"Will I have to hide my devil fruit powers too?" Ace asked as he hung his head in defeat. Qrow smiled for the first time since he got to the hospital.

"You owe me big time kid. I convinced my boss to let you use your fire attacks whenever you want." Ace sighed in relief. His entire fighting style revolves around his devil fruit. He would have been annoyed if he had to create a new one.

"There's one condition though." Qrow said. "Don't freak out kid. I'm just going to unlock your aura. After that we're gonna play your fire off as your semblance." Qrow said.

"Will I ever be able to tell anyone?" Ace glumly asked his friend. Qrow didn't want to give the boy any false hope, but he didn't like seeing Ace this depressed. The kid always had a smile on his face, and to see him this sad was a little shocking.

"Maybe later in life kid. The decision isn't mine to make." Qrow said. "I have other stuff to do, so let's get this over with." Qrow said as he unlocked Ace's aura. He raised his eyebrow at the amount of aura Ace seemed to have within him. That's more than usual. Qrow gave Ace one last look before walking towards the door. He was about to leave when Ace spoke up.

"Qrow?"

"Yeah kid?"

"Do you think it was a... mistake for me to exist here?" Ace asked as he stared down at his hands. Even in a different world, his right to live was apparently up for debate. Qrow stared at the kid for a few seconds. Though Ace hadn't told him every single detail of his life, Qrow was willing to bet that Ace had questioned his own existence before.

"No kid, I don't think you being here is a mistake at all." Qrow said before exiting the room, leaving Ace to consider what he had just said.

Later That Night, Rose/Xiao Long Residence…

"Ah!" Ruby woke up with a small scream, though it was loud enough to wake Yang up. The blonde haired girl looked at the digital clock on the nightstand and saw that it was close to midnight,

"Another nightmare sis?" Yang asked as climbed up to the top bunk. Ruby nodded in agreement. This was the second night in a row she'd been having nightmares. "What was it about?" Yang asked.

"Same as last night, about the Grimm attack." Ruby said as she tried to crawl further in to her covers. Yang felt a pang of guilt at that moment.

"How about I read you a story?" Yang hopefully asked.

"What's the story about?"

"It's about heroes Ruby." Yang said as she retrieved a book from a small bookshelf. She lit the lamp on the nightstand so she would have enough light to read, and sat down next to her sister.

2 Days Later, Rose/Xiao Long Residence…

"You did what?" Taiyang asked his team mate. Qrow took a swig from his flask before shrugging.

"I unlocked the kid's aura." Qrow nonchalantly stated. Tayang openly gaped at Qrow.

"I don't want to know what train wreck of a thought process you went through to come up with that idea." Taiyang stated as he pinched the bridge of his nose. There was a reason you didn't have your aura unlocked until you've spent at least two years at Signal. Giving a child the enhanced physical attributes that came along with aura was just plain irresponsible.

"The kid seems to attract danger Tai. I just wanted to make sure that he would be safe in the future." Qrow said. Taiyang gave a surprised stare at his partner.

"That's… actually a legitimate excuse. An irresponsible, but legitimate excuse." Taiyang admitted. "You realize that the people over at Signal are going to be pissed."

"So what? I piss everyone off." Qrow said as he smirked at former hunter in front of him.

"Besides, with his aura unlocked, the kid'll heal up at a faster rate than usual." Qrow said.

...3 months later, the coast…

Ace took a deep breath of the salty air. Ever since he had regained his memories, Ace had found himself missing the ocean more and more. He was currently standing on a sandy beach, right at the edge of the water. He had been released from the hospital yesterday, and Taiyang had thrown a party to celebrate.

While he had come here to look at the ocean, Ace had other things he wanted to do. Namely,figure out how having his aura unlocked had affected him. For this he had brought his Bo staff along with him. Right now, his aura was active. They don't teach you a lot about aura until you go to Signal, so Ace didn't really know how to use aura. He knew you needed it for dust and your semblance. He also knew it was primarily for defense, but beyond that, his knowledge was virtually nonexistent.

No point in waiting. Ace stuck his left arm out and, with his right arm, swung the Bo staff down on it. He still felt the pain, but, thanks to his aura, there wasn't any damage on his arm.

"Alright, test number two," Ace said as he concentrated on his arm. Small flames flickered at the edge of his arm. Ace nodded in satisfaction and swung his Bo staff at his arm. This time the Bo staff went straight through his arm and severed it. Ace gave the bisected appendage a bored look before his arm regenerated out of fire.'

"Alright, test three," Ace said as he concentrated on his arm. Ace swung his staff at it, and gripped his arm in pain.

"Ow," Ace muttered as he looked back at his arm. A bruise was already forming.

"Guess I can't use my logia body and aura at the same time." Ace said. "Wouldn't have made sense anyways." Ace said with a sigh. This means I can't use any of my attacks while I have my aura active.

Ace wasn't very disappointed upon realizing that. He was more comfortable with his logia body anyway. Speaking of logia…

"I can finally test out my attacks," Ace told himself, a huge grin plastered on his face. Flames started to flicker from his fist as he looked out towards the ocean.

HIKEN! Ace shouted as he shoved his fist forwards. His fist turned into a pillar of fire which rocketed out towards the ocean.

"Smaller than I remember." Ace observed as he dissipated the fire. "Then again, Monty did say my abilities would be weaker. I could probably get it bigger with a little training." Ace mused to himself. He had the rest of his life to strengthen his fire, so he wasn't too upset. I'm gonna need a gun in this world, Ace smiled as he figured out which move he wanted to try next.

HIGAN! Ace made pistol shapes with his hands and shot dozens of small fire bullets out into the ocean. Whenever a bullet hit the water a small puff of steam and a hiss was heard.

"Glad that one still works fine." Ace told himself. In a world where pretty much everything doubled as a gun, it was reassuring to have one of your own readily on hand(get it?). Ace paused as he considered which move he wanted to try next.

"I obviously can't use Dai Enkai: Entei," Ace said. He looked at the forest a few meters behind him and somehow knew that if he tried to use that move, he would cause a huge forest fire. Sally would not be happy with him if that happened.

While he considered his next move, Ace spared a glance at the ocean again. Can I swim? Ace asked himself. It was a good question. A new body means he might have regained his ability to swim. He raised his sandaled foot and dipped it in the seawater. Ace immediately felt his energy drain and he collapsed to the ground.

"Guess that's a no," Ace joked to himself as he dragged his body away from the water. Once his energy returned to him, Ace got up and dusted sand off of himself. The boy proceeded to try out a couple more moves before calling it quits. He stopped mostly because he had accidentally burned his shirt off when he tried to use Enkai.

"Guess I'll have to work on my control," Ace said as he looked at the ashes on the ground that used to be his shirt. He stared down at his chest and gave a little chuckle. The doctors were correct. Ace did have a scar that spread through most of his chest. What Ace found amusing was that the scar looked like a crudely shaped fist. No one except me and Qrow would know why this is funny.

Ace yawned and stretched a little. His muscles were still a little sluggish from not being used for so long. He gave one more longing look at the ocean before leaving.

It can't be that hard to sail in this world.

1 Month Later, Rose/Xiao Long residence…

"Kids, it's time for you to go to sleep." Taiyang told the trio of children in the living room. They were having a sleepover and had arranged their sleeping bags into a makeshift triangle. The trio whined a little, but eventually got into their sleeping bags and went to sleep.

They couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour before Ruby woke up.

"Ahh!" Ruby quietly screamed as she sat up. Ace and Yang woke up right after.

"Another nightmare?" Yang groggily asked. Ruby nodded her head in agreement. Ace looked at Yang in confusion.

"She's been having nightmares?" Ace asked.

"Yeah. She's been having them for the last couple of months. They're usually about the Grimm attacks. She didn't have any for a while after I started reading stories to her, but that's not working as well anymore." Yang said with a sigh.

"These nightmares are really starting to get to her Ace. Sometimes she's too scared to go to sleep. I'm gonna go get the story book." Yang said as she got up and made her way upstairs. Ace looked back at Ruby, who was quietly whimpering in her sleeping bag.

"You okay Ruby?" Ace asked his little friend.

"They get really scary," Ruby quietly said. Ace looked at the small girl with concern. He wanted to help, but he didn't know how. If this had been Luffy, Ace just would have told him to toughen it out. Something told him that wouldn't work here though.

"Want to hear a story?" Ace asked as an idea popped into his head. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he didn't have anything else.

"Yang already tells me stories about heroes." Ruby told her friend. Ace grinned as he sat up on his sleeping bag.

"This isn't a story about heroes Ruby. It's a story about pirates, fruit, the ocean, and the pirate king. Most of all, it's a story about three brothers." Ace said. Ruby's attention was peaked upon hearing Ace's description of his story. Seeing that he had Ruby's attention, Ace proceeded to tell Ruby about Luffy and Sabo and Ace. He claimed that the fact their name was the same was just a coincidence. He didn't notice Yang come back down stairs, book in hand. Seeing that Ruby had her full attention on Ace, Yang put her book on the couch and got into her sleeping bag. She proceeded to listen to Ace's story.

The sisters were mesmerized with the world Ace was describing. They laughed when Ace told them about how Luffy had stabbed himself in the face to prove he was tough. They quietly raged at the mountain bandits and their disrespectful nature. They were openly amazed at how Captain Shanks disregarded his own safety to protect his friends. Ruby was dozing off near the end, and, having noticed this, Ace finished the first part of his story. Ruby tiredly protested, but went to sleep when Ace had promised to tell her more of the story soon. Yang, having decided that she was also tired, went to sleep without complaint.

Ruby had her first restful sleep in weeks. Instead of scary nightmares, Ruby dreamt of goofy pirates and special fruit.

Yang fell asleep confident that Ruby's nightmares problems were over.

Ace went to sleep absolutely certain that Qrow would be pissed with him.

...4 Years Later, Signal Academy…

"So this is Signal," a now eleven year old Ace observed. Besides growing taller, Ace had not really changed all that much. He still had his freckles and red eyes. Right now he was wearing a yellow, islander style button up shirt along with a pair of jean shorts. On his hand he had a wristwatch that also doubled as a compass. It's not a Log Pose, but it'll do, was Ace's thoughts when he had acquired the watch. On his feet were moccasin-like shoes. What was most noticeable was the unique hat that hung off the back of his neck with a strap. Now that he had grown a little, Ace found that, with a little adjustment to the strap, he could now comfortably wear his precious hat.

"It looks nice enough," Ace said as he stared at the giant building before him. The blonde girl next to him nodded in agreement.

"Looks a lot bigger up close," the blonde girl, Yang, stated. Both she and Ace were standing side by side outside the entrance to the academy. Yang had grown as well during the last four years. She was roughly Ace's height and had ditched her pigtails a while ago in favor of a single ponytail. Today she was wearing a light red, long sleeve shirt with the words "Achieve Men," written on the front in dark green letters. She had recently become a big fan of the boy band. Under the writing was the Achieve men symbol. On her legs were regular jeans and on her feet were sneakers.

"It feels weird not having Ruby with us." Ace said while looking to his side, as if he expected his little friend to appear at any moment. Ruby had suffered from a mini-breakdown when she realized that her two best friends wouldn't be close by her anymore.

"I know right? Too bad she won't be eligible for another two years." the girl said. "Guess it's just you and me for now, huh Ace?" Yang said with a smile while throwing her arm around the boy's shoulder. The boy chuckled in amusement.

"So what class do we have first?" Ace asked. He was lucky enough to have most of his classes with Yang. Ace suspected that Qrow may or may not have had something to do with that.

"We got… First year History at 8:15." Yang stated as she looked down at her schedule.

"It's 8:09." Ace observed while looking at his wristwatch. The two sparred each other a glance before bolting inside. Now, six minutes was usually more than enough time for someone to leave their belongings at their lockers and then heading to class. The problem was that Ace and Yang didn't know where their lockers and classes were located. They had skipped orientation in favor of spending the day with Ruby, as she would be all by herself for the next two years.

Ace and Yang frantically looked for their lockers. By the time they found them, they had less than four minutes to leave their stuff and find their classroom. Ace, in his hurried state, didn't put in his combination correctly. When he tried to open his locker, he accidently tore the lid off of it's hinges. Ace stared at the broken locker lid in his hand.

"Being really strong can be super annoying sometimes," Ace said while his left eye twitched in irritation. Since their lockers were right next to each other, once again Qrow had pulled some strings, Yang let Ace put his stuff in her locker. Pressed for time, Ace took the locker lid he had broken and bent it in half, he then shoved it into his empty locker space.

Once the whole locker ordeal had been sorted out, the two kids bolted to their class. Being the faster of the two by a wide margin, Ace ran ahead to check each hallway. Any other student who was still going to class found themselves shoved aside as Ace bolted through the hallway.

"It's over here." Ace told Yang while pointing at classroom at the end of the hall. Yang checked Ace's watch and slowed down upon seeing that they still had time to get there. They entered their first class of the day and sat down at a pair of empty desks. After the bell rang, the teacher walked up to the front of the class. He was a middle aged man with slicked back brown hair.

"Hello and welcome to Signal. You may call me Professor Paul. Let's jump right in. Open your textbooks to page 1."

And so began the first day of Signal Academy.

...Later That Day…

Ace walked into one of the few classes he didn't have with Yang. The reason was that this was an aura manipulation class for fourth year students. That is, these students have already had two years of experience using aura. Since Qrow had unlocked his aura four years ago, Ace was already familiar enough with it to qualify for this class. As he looked around, Ace noticed that every person in this class was noticeably bigger than him. His classmates were about three years older than him, so that made sense. He also noticed that the desks were set up in tiers and around an arena.

"I'm sorry, but I think you might have the wrong class." A girl stated as she gave Ace an apologetic smile.

"Nope. I'm supposed to be here." Ace said as he handed the girl his schedule. The girl had a moment of surprise as she realized that Ace was indeed in the right class.

"Sorry, my bad. You must've been really young when your aura was unlocked." The girl remarked before taking her seat. Ace found an empty desk near the front of the class and sat down. The teacher walked in soon after the bell had rung.

"Good evening everyone. I am Professor Caesar, and welco-what is a child doing in my class?" Professor Caesar asked as he stared at Ace. "You must be in the wrong room."

"Nope, I'm supposed to be here." Ace said.

"What is your name, child?" Ace gave the man his full name. The professor quickly checked the school database and scowled at the name that appeared in his roster.

"I told those idiots in administration that I don't tolerate children," he muttered as he looked back at Ace. "Since it seems that you are in the right class, let me get a couple of things straight with you. I don't know who unlocked your aura for you at such a young age, but I will tell you that this is not a daycare. I do not tolerate whining, understood?" Professor Caesar asked as he looked at Ace.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I asked you a question, boy. Answer or face the conseque-"

"..zzz.." Professor Caesar stared at the sleeping boy for a full five seconds, his mind trying to process the fact this boy had fallen asleep in the middle of his lecture. The students around Ace softly laughed and giggled when they realized that the boy was asleep. One particularly loud laugh caused him to wake up.

"What'd I miss?" Ace asked as he stared around the classroom. His eyes finally fell on Professor Caesar, whose face had turned red with rage.

"You dare mock me child?" The professor asked in a low, dark tone.

"I didn't do anything." Ace stated in confusion.

"I saw you fall asleep brat. Do not lie to me." The professor stated as he made his way to his desk. "I think I'm going to personally test your aura capabilities, Ace, so make your way to the arena."

"It's not my fault. I have nar-"

"Now, boy." Professor Caesar said as he stepped into the arena. Ace muttered a few choice words under his breath as he made his way to the arena at the center of the class. Ace had the whole class' undivided attention.

"Seeing as how you haven't created your weapon yet, this will be a hand to hand battle only." Caesar stated as a screen on the wall behind him turned on. On it appeared a picture of the two combatants along with an aura meter for each one.

"This isn't a combat class, so why is it set up like one?" Ace asked as he stared at the screen.

"In order for one to manipulate his or her aura, one must be fighting to do so. While we may spend time going over concepts and theories, most of our time will be focused on improving our aura control through combat." Caesar said as he took off his sports jacket. "I will not go easy on you boy, so you better hope your hand to hand combat is decent." Caesar said as he brought his hands up to his face and made two fists. Ace grinned in preparation. He would show the teacher that he was "decent," in hand to hand combat.

Ace ran at Caesar with surprising speed. The professor was so startled that he couldn't defend against Ace's quick one-two combo followed by a kick to the side. The older hunter was sent skidding to the side a couple of feet. Maybe this boy is better than I thought. The older man quickly composed himself and adjusted to the speed Ace had displayed,

This time Caesar was the aggressor. He ran at Ace and sent a jab at the boy's head. Ace ducked under the attack and sent his foot at Caesar's stomach. He caught Ace's foot and tossed him to the side. Ace did a quick flip mid-air and landed on his feet. Ace once again took charge and sped at his teacher. What followed was another brief, yet intense exchange of attacks. Neither combatant landed a very solid hit though, as their attacks were usually dodged or blocked. Both combatants backed off for a moment to regain their bearings.

The other students, meanwhile, were left utterly shocked that this child was exibitng very suprising amounts of strength and speed.

"Impressive. I didn't expect this kind fight from a child." Caesar commented. Ace rubbed the back of his head and chuckled in response, "However, there is still much for you to learn." Caesar stated before he sprinted at Ace with a much faster speed than he had exhibited before. Ace was caught completely off guard and suffered a knee to the chin as punishment. He recovered quickly and attempted to hit his opponents stomach with his elbow. Caesar caught the elbow and threw Ace straight up into the air. Ace did another mid-air flip so that he was facing Caesar. Ace then cocked his hand back and threw a punch as he fell back to the ground.

What Caesar did next completely surprised Ace. He brought both hands up, palms out and created a wall of aura between his hands. Aura wall met Ace's punch. Caesar's aura wall completely overwhelmed Ace and sent him skidding out of the arena.

"What was that?" Ace asked in awe.

"Aura manipulation." was Caesar's simple reply. The class stared at the board, and then back at Ace. If it was possible, they had even more shocked expressions on their faces. On the screen, neither Aceis nor Caesar's had gone down much at all. No one was surprised to see that Caesar still had almost all of his aura. What was shocking was that Ace still had most of his aura even though he was only eleven and had taken hits from a professor.

"As much as I would like to continue our brawl, I do have a class to teach, so go ahead and take your seat please Ace." Caesar said as he put his sports jacket back on. Ace shrugged and sat back down. Caesar went on to give a brief outline of how the year would go. The bell rang soon after, and everyone filed out of the classroom. Caesar stayed at his desk, organizing papers.

"Did you get that Qrow?" Caesar asked while still focusing on his papers.

"Yep," came Qrows reply as his face appeared on Caesar's computer screen. "Thanks again for helping me out with this. I really appreciate it," Qrow said as a video recording of Ace's and Caesar's fight came on.

"Don't mention it. I still don't understand why you wanted me to fight the boy," Caesar said.

"I told you. It's Ozpin's orders. That should be reason enough," Qrow said before his face vanished from the computer screen.

"I can certainly see why Ozpin is interested in the boy," Caesar muttered to himself. Said boy was currently walking to his final class of the day, which was another class for fourth year students. Because of his advanced physicality, which had only increased as he grew, coupled with his unnaturally large aura reserves for his age, Ace was put into a combat class for more advanced students until further notice.

"Wonder when they'll let me build a weapon?" Ace asked himself as he stared at the weapons of every other student. He noticed a women older than all the students by a few years walk up to him.

"Are you Ace?" The lady asked. Ace nodded in agreement. "I'm Professor Kim. I'll be teaching this combat class. I have to say, Qrow spoke rather highly of you. He's confident that you'll excel at this cass, even without a weapon. I hope you live up to expectations." Kim said with a good natured smile. Ace didn't bother mentioning that he was far more comfortable fighting without a weapon now that he had his devil fruit.

"Your records also show that you've unlocked your semblance?" Kim asked. Ace did his best not to let his nervousness show. He wasn't sure how the aura meter on the screen would react if he switched over to his logia body,

"Yeah, just a little while after my aura got unlocked." Ace said as he adopted what he hoped was a convincing smile. Kim seemed to buy it. She asked Ace to take his seat as class was about to start. Ace did as he was told. He didn't notice the confused stares he was getting from some of the other students.

"Isn't he a little young to be here?" One boy whispered to his friend. The other boy just so happened to be in Ace's aura manipulation class.

"Dude, trust me when I tell you that age doesn't matter with him." The other boy whispered back. Both boys quieted down as the bell had rung.

"Welcome to combat training class everyone," Kim said as she did a small hand wave. "This class is fairly straightforward, so I won't bother explaining the curriculum. Today I'm going to see where each of you stands compared to the rest of the class. That way I'll know where to help each of you." Kim said as she pressed a button on her computer. Everyone's name immediately appeared in a tournament style bracket.

"We're obviously not going to finish today, so we'll do what's left tomorrow." Kim said. The rest of the class period was spent watching random students fight it out. Ace, being far ahead of most of the other students in terms of ability, dispatched his opponent without too much trouble, even though his opponent had his weapon with him. He spent the rest of the class period watching the other students fight. It's important to remember that these are only fourth year students. They haven't had that much experience using aura. In short, most of them weren't very good fighters yet.

The teacher seemed to know this as she cringed at some of the "fights," that took place. She had her work cut out or her this year.

"Alright, class is about to end. We'll finish up tomorrow." Kim said as she stared at the tournament bracket. Based on what she'd seen, Kim knew that Ace would make it to the finals. Who would be his opponent was a different question altogether. There were one or two students that had stood out among their peers. Maybe they could give Ace a challenge. The bell rang and everyone filed out of her class.

"Standards get lower every year, don't they?" A voice behind Kim asked. She turned around and saw Qrow stroll in through the front door

"You saw the fights?" Kim asked as she gave a dry chuckle.

"I wish I hadn't seen a few of them, like that girl who didn't want to break her nails. Isn't she aware that aura will keep her from breaking anything?" Qrow asked his colleague.

"Not that I don't like talking with you Qrow, but what do you want?" Kim asked as she packed up her bag.

"I want you to record all of Ace's fights." Qrow said. Kim raised her eyebrow at him.

"Ozpin?" She asked.

"Ozpin." Qrow confirmed with a nod of his head. If Ozpin was interested in the boy, then Kim knew something was going on.

"Want to tell me why he wants the boy's fight recordings?"

"You saw the way the kid fought. He's a prodigy if I ever saw one. Ozpin's just scouting out new future students." Qrow smoothly lied. Of course he couldn't tell his fellow professor the truth. Kim nodded.

"That makes sense." Kim said. "You think he's a little too advanced for this class?" Kim asked.

"We can't get him into a more advanced class. Trust me, I tried. Just getting him in here took a lot of persuasion." Qrow said. "You'll get me those recordings?" Qrow asked Kim.

"Yeah, I'll record tomorrow's fight." Kim said.

"Thanks. Well, that's all I came around here for." Qrow said as he walked out of the classroom, not even bothering to say goodbye. He walked by a window and saw Ace meeting up with Yang down in the courtyard.

"So how'd your classes go?" Yang asked her friend.

"I fell asleep in class and got into a fist fight with my teacher." Ace nonchalantly said. Yang chuckled in amusement.

"Classic." The blonde girl muttered with a smile.

"What about your classes?" Ace asked his friend.

"Boring. We didn't even do any actual combat in combat class." Yang complained.

"You guys don't have any aura. Of course they're going to take it easy on you." Ace pointed out.

"Easy for you to say. You didn't have to sit around and listen to a whole bunch of safety rules. You got to go and fight people. I don't know if I could take two years of that. Say, you think you could convince uncle Qrow to unlock my aura?" Yang asked. This wasn't the first time she had asked either. Ever since she found out that Ace had had his aura unlocked, Yang had been dying to have the same done to her.

"If he won't do it when his niece asks him to, what makes you think I would have better luck?" Ace shot back. Yang shrugged in response.

"Why don't you unlock it for me?" Yang asked as a new idea popped into her head.

"Don't know how to. Qrow recited some strange stuff when he unlocked mine, but I can't remember what he said." Ace said in response. Yang's shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"I still don't get why Qrow unlocked yours." Yang complained with a sigh. Ace suppressed a wince. He always felt bad when this was brought up. It reminded him of the secret he was keeping from everyone. Ace didn't respond. The rest of the walk home was filled with silence. They entered Yang's house and were immediately tackled by a nine year old Ruby. The red haired girl hadn't really changed all that much. She was just a slightly taller version of her five year old self. The general consensus was that she would be short for her age, like her mom.

"Take me with you tomorrow!" Ruby said as she refused to let go of her only friends. Yang and Ace looked at each other before turning back to the youngest member of their trio. Frankly, they knew that Ruby would do something like this once they went to Signal.

"Rubes, you know we can't do that." Yang said as she tried to pry her sister's arm off of her.

"What happened? You were completely fine yesterday." Ace asked, though he suspected that he knew the answer.

"I don't have any friends." Ruby said as Yang had her sit down on the couch.

"It's only been one day Ruby." Yang pointed out. "Besides, have you actually tried to make any friends?" Yang asked her sister. Ruby rubbed her arm.

"Well.. not really, but you know how anti-social I am." Ruby pointed out.

"You're going to have to meet new people eventually Ruby." Ace said. Ruby fixed him with a small glare.

"Easy for you to say. I bet you just spent all day with Yang." Ruby said as she crossed her arms. Ace was about to deny that, but, when he thought about it, he and Yang hadn't really bothered meeting anyone during their first day. They really did just hang out with each other. Yang seemed to realize this as well. She exchanged another glance with Ace.

"Fine, you got us there." Yang said.

"See? It's not fair. I don't have anyone that I'm comfortable with." Ruby said as she kicked her legs in frustration. Ace knew that this disagreement could potentially go on for at least half an hour. He wasn't in the mood to go through that, so he quickly thought of a solution that would cut this short.

"How bout we settle this with a bet?" Ace asked.

"What kind of bet?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"If I can make one hundred friends by the end of the week, you can't complain anymore." Ace said. Ruby seemed to consider his offer.

"And if you don't?" Ruby asked.

"I'll get Qrow to let you into Signal." Ace calmly said. Ruby fist pumped in excitement while Yang looked at Ace with worry.

"What are you trying to prove Ace?" Yang asked.

"I'm trying to show Ruby that it isn't hard to make friends." Ace said.

"Those are pretty high stakes for proving a point." Yang warily said as Ruby pranced around the room, already certain of her victory. How could Ace make one hundred people like him in four days? Victory was pretty much hers. Now all she had to do was wait until the end of the week.

.Friday afternoon…

"Wha…? But…how…?" Ruby stuttered as she watched the huge group of people behind Ace wave at her. Ace had a smug look on his face.

"Guess I win Ruby." Ace stated as Ruby looked at him in disbelief. It had actually been very easy to make one hundred kids his age like him. Ace used to be a pirate captain, after all. There was something in him that just made people want to follow him. Add to that the fame he had already accumulated with his combat prowess, and you had a very charismatic and popular eleven year old. Ruby knew when she was beat.

"Fine. I won't complain anymore." Ruby said as she kicked the ground in disappointment.

"Thanks guys. You can leave now." Ace told the mob behind him. They left with smiles on their faces, happy to have been able to help Ace. Yang stood to the side, grinning at her sister. They didn't notice Taiyang walk up the road Ace's group had left through.

"Hey kids. Does anyone want to tell me why there was a mob of kids walking away from my house?" The blonde haired man asked the trio in front of him.

"Just proving a point." Ace said with a smile. Yang snickered in amusement while Ruby sighed again. She glumly walked back inside, Ace and Yang following her.

"Wanna hear more of the story?" Ace asked in an attempt to cheer up Ruby. After a lot of arguing with Qrow, Ace had been allowed to continue telling Ruby his pirate stories as long as the girls thought that it was just fiction. Upon hearing Ace's offer, Ruby's mood did a complete 180.

"Yes please!" Ruby ecstatically said as she grabbed Ace's arm and dragged him to the couch. Yang followed behind, just as eager to hear more of the story.

"This part is about how Ace befriended a giant named Oars Jr." Ace said as he began his tale.

... Beacon Academy…

"Thank you Qrow," Ozpin said as he reviewed Ace's combat recordings. Qrow's face was in the upper left hand corner of Ozpin's computer screen.

"Yeah, you gonna want me to send these to you weekly?" Qrow asked.

"Yes, just send me the week's videos every friday." Ozpin said as he clicked on another one of Ace's fights. Qrow nodded and his face disappeared off the computer screen.

"None of these students seem to be a challenge for you Ace," Ozpin muttered as he cycled through a couple more of Ace's fights. The closest Ace had come to being challenged was in the finals of his class tournament. He ended up fighting a dog faunus. While she did a better job than the other students, it was obvious that Ace was in control during the whole fight, weapon or not.

"I'm going to need to get you a better opponent if I want to see your fire powers." Ozpin said to himself. As of now, he had never actually seen Ace's fire in action. He had hoped that a class of older students would challenge him enough to cause him to use his devil fruit. Obviously, this was not the case. I've heard that the Mistral tournament has some prodigies of their own. Ozpin took a sip of his coffee as he got up and left his office.

...Atlas…

"You've finished the schematics?" Ironwood asked.

"Yes, we believe that we've ironed out the imperfections. We are ready to begin the construction process." A thin, scientist said.

"When will she be combat ready?" Ironwood asked the scientist in front of him.

"Combining construction and education, it could take anywhere from three to four years." The scientist said. Ironwood nodded, not at all bothered by the long period of time he would have to wait. He knew what he was asking of his scientists. He knew that they were doing things never done before. Ironwood dismissed the scientist.

"Things are going to get interesting once she's finished." Ironwood said to himself

A/N: Another update for all you loyal followers. Please excuse the extra wait time. Since I'm doing all AP classes, school has been taking up the majority of my time. I've said this before, but the amount of support this story has gotten in such a short amount of time is absolutely amazing. To know that you all find my writing good enough to give the time of day makes me feel special. Thank you all for your continued support.

On a separate note, bet you all weren't expecting that big of a timeskip. I could have written more about those four years, but, besides character building, which a lot of people find boring, there wouldn't have been much to write about. It would have just felt like filler, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I just really need the story to advance right now, and filler would just stall it. The next three or so chapters are going to be going at a slightly faster pace. Most likely each chapter will encompass an entire year. Some relatively major stuff is going to happen in those three years, so be prepared for that. I should warn you ahead of time, it might take a slightly darker turn. Not everyone's life can be sunshine and lollipops.

Now, regarding Ace, aura, and his logia body, I've decided to make them two separate power sources. That is, whenever he's using aura, he can't use his logia body and visa versa. When you think about it, how would having a logia body and aura at the same time even work? Aura takes blows for you while logia just lets those blows pass through you. They're complete opposites in terms of defense. This also means that Ace can't use his fire attacks while he has his aura active. Since most of his attacks are based around turning his body into fire, I thought that this would make more sense. I understand that some like Dai Enkai: Entei are exceptions to the rule, but it's just easier to say that he can't use any fire attacks while his aura is active. So far, Ace hasn't had to use his logia body. This means that Ruby and Yang aren't aware of Ace's fire powers yet. They think he just has aura. Don't worry, they will find out eventually, and it will be epic.

On a similar note, the reason for Qrow unlocking Ace's aura was so that Ace could pass his fire off as his semblance. As to what Ace's semblance will actually be, I don't know. I was hoping that you people would have an idea of what to make make Ace's semblance. Or do you think that he's just fine without his semblance? Tell me your idea/opinion in the review section if you want to.

Now to address another major issue: Ace and his past. If there's one thing I don't like about crossover fics, it's characters who go around and blab their whole story to everyone, and expect no negative repercussions. It just seems absurd to me that someone can tell people who they are, and not expect something bad to come of it. Not everyone is going to be okay with you being from another dimension or something like that. You would become a target to them. I like fanfics where the character realizes this and is more cautious with what he tells people. Now, this problem can also be avoided if the people the character tells can keep a secret. Keep in mind that Yang and Ruby are children. Even if they promise not to tell anyone, they're bound to mess up and tell someone at one point just because they're children. This won't be a problem once they're older, but for now, they are being kept in the dark. They don't know that the story Ace's is telling them is his actual life story. They just think that it's a figment of his imagination.

I may have changed the canon plot just a little here. In canon, Ruby mentions that Yang used to read her books about heroes. She never specified why. Here, I decided that Ruby would have gotten nightmares from the Grimm attack. Yang reads her the book to help stave off the nightmares, and, when that doesn't work, Ace tells her his story. Ruby may or may not develop an urge to be a pirate.

There was another fight scene here that didn't have any fire. Forgive me, I know that you all must be getting restless. Be a little more patient and I promise you that you will be rewarded soon enough. Ace isn't going to stay in Patch forever. He's a wandering soul.

Something that I'm trying to convey is that Ace's life is being monitored closely by Ozpin. Whether it be Qrow giving him weekly reports, or reviewing Ace's combat clips, Ozpin is always watching. Ace isn't aware that he's being monitored so closely. I wonder what his reaction would be if he ever found out...

On another separate note, am I the only one who thinks that Ace would be the most popular kid if he ever went to school? I am also a firm believer that he would wear a lot of islander style shirts.

Now, let me address this story's possible pairings. I've decided that story will officially be AcexYang. That seemed to be the general consensus in the review section. I'm sorry to all you people who wanted Ace to be with someone else. Have no fear, though. I have another project in the works that should hopefully satisfy everybody. As far as this story is concerned though, it's AcexYang. Why so soon, you may ask? If I'm going to do this romance, then I need to set the groundwork of their relationship early on. It's not going to be a big part of the story as of yet. I just need to establish that feelings are developing between the two. In other words, that Yang is starting to like Ace, because we all know Ace isn't going to realize this until far down the line.

With the ship decided, now comes the matter of the ship name. I've already seen a couple ship names thrown around. Burning Dragons and Fire Heart being the two I'm talking about. You guys like these names? I was going to call the ship Ace Of Hearts, but if you prefer one of the other names, then please tell me so. Or if you have your own ship name, feel free to share it. I don't have a preference as of yet.

While I still don't have an official writing schedule, my deepest apologies, I hope to have the next chapter out in a couple of weeks or so. It might come earlier than that, who knows?

Until then.