Remnant's new ACE hunter

Chapter 5: A Year In A Day

"Talking."

Thinking.

ATTACK!

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

...Signal Academy, 1 year later,,,

"Good to be back," A twelve year old Ace said as he stared at the building in front of him.

"Yep. One more year and I get aura." Yang said in excitement. Both were once again standing side by side as they gazed at the academy. Over the course of the year, both had grown taller. If you measured carefully, you would see that Yang was actually slightly taller than Ace, something the blonde huntress-to-be mentioned very frequently. Of course, Ace still dominated her in terms of physicality. It wasn't even a contest really. Both walked into the building and made their way to their first class, which happened to be weapon mechanics with Qrow. While they wouldn't be making their weapons until next year, it helped to have a good understanding of mechanics before hand.

"Alright, I'm gonna preface this by saying that you should treat your weapon with respect. It's what you're going to rely on when you're out fighting Grimm. I should also tell you that the more weapon forms a weapon has, the more complicated it is to build. Unless you're a mechanical genius, I suggest sticking to one or two forms." Qrow said. Ace already knew that his would be simple. To him, simple was better. Who needs three or four weapon forms when you have one reliable form that gets the job done? Qrow passed out textbooks to the class.

"Don't lose these. They're the only ones you'll get for the whole year." Qrow said as he brought up pictures of various mechanisms on the board. Ace and Yang payed full attention. Partly because this is the kind of stuff they were interested in, but mostly because they wouldn't dare goof off with Qrow as their teacher, Ace especially.

...Later That Day…

Ace walked into a class he didn't have with Yang. Because of his status as a prodigy, Ace was taking more advanced classes this year, which meant he wasn't spending as much time with Yang. This was a combat class for advanced fifth year students. The administration wouldn't put Ace in a higher class. As he took his seat, Ace could hear some students whispering about him. He had developed quite a reputation the previous year.

"Ah, I see that I have the school's resident prodigy in my class," the Professor good naturedly said. "I should warn you, compared to the fodder you fought last year, these students are just as advanced as you. Expect to be challenged." The Professor said. Ace's response was to smile in amusement.

"We'll see about that." Ace said. The teacher chuckled and turned to address the rest of the class.

"My name is Professor Bowie. This is a combat class. There isn't much more to say." Bowie said, garnering a few laughs from the students. "You are all considered advanced by the academy, as such I expect high performance from all of you. I'm sure you are all familiar with the way we find out who is better than who?" The teacher asked. The whole class nodded. They were aware of the classroom wide tournaments that were held in combat class. Ace had dominated his last year. "Well, at the end of the year we will be holding a school wide tournament with the other advanced classes. Only the top four from this class will be able to participate." Bowie paused as he let his students digest what he had just said. "Don't worry if you don't make the top four this time around. We'll be doing our class tournament every month or so, so you can always become top four then. Those who maintain their top four position the longest get to participate." Bowie finished. Ace confidently smiled. Wonder who I'll be fighting at the end of the year. Ace thought, already sure of his participation.

The first half of the class was spent watching other students fight. Being an advanced class, these students were much better than the ones Ace fought last year. Ace whistled in amusement as a student finished off his opponent. He gazed at the board and smiled when he saw that it was his turn. He made his way to the arena, where he was greeted by his opponent. Right away, Ace could tell that this girl was some sort of cat faunus. He also saw that she was a couple inches taller than him, but Ace was used to that. Her hair was a dark brown in color and she had a tanned skin tone. She was wearing a light brown shirt with loose sleeves that went down past her hands. On her legs she had tight athletic shorts along with loose sandals.

"You a cat faunus?" Ace asked the fifteen year old girl.

"Leopard faunus actually," the girl said as one of her ears turned a little, revealing leopard spots.

"Neat. I've never met one before. Name's Ace." He said as he stuck out his arm. The girl giggled in amusement.

"I know. You're kind of famous. My name's Serena." She said as she shook Ace's hand. Seeing that the combatants were ready to begin, Bowie started the timer. Ace and Serena immediately jumped away from each other. Ace's eyes fell on the clawed gauntlets that fell out of her sleeves and positioned themselves on her hands. Ace chuckled at the irony. Since he still didn't have a weapon, Ace took a boxing stance and hopped from one foot to the other.

Both fighters spent the first few seconds just staring at each other, trying to find an obvious weakness in the others form. Serena rushed at Ace, clawed gauntlet raised. Ace took a step back as the claws slashed at thin air. Ace did a quick jab. Serena raised her left hand and blocked it with her gauntlet. She then brought her knee up and smashed it into Ace's stomach. To her surprise, Ace smiled and grabbed her leg.

"Gonna have to do better than that." Ace said as he swung Serena over his shoulder. She landed on the floor with a small thump. Serena responded by kicking her leg out and tripping Ace. She got on top of him and swung her claws downwards, intent on striking his face. Ace turned his head at the last second, Serena's claws gouging holes in floor where his head was.

Ace quickly made a fist and swung it into Serena's side. The leopard girl gritted her teeth, but stayed on top of Ace. She made a fist of her own and laid a right hook on Ace's face.

"Better," Ace said with a grin. Serena brought her clawed fist down again only to have Ace catch it in his hand. She tried to pull away, but Ace wouldn't let go. He brought his knee up under her stomach and kicked her off of him. Both quickly stood back up and charged at each other. Ace scowled in frustration as Serena dodged and blocked every punch he threw at her. Seeing that Ace had lost focus for a second, Serena slipped inside his defense and delivered a barrage of clawed strikes to his midsection.

Ace caught her last strike and refused to let go. Unable to move, Serena was forced to dodge to the best of her ability as Ace sent a barrage of one handed punches at her. She winced every time one connected. He really can throw a punch. Ace finished his attack by slamming his foot into her shin. Serena did her best to keep from falling. Ace quickly backed off to have a moment to think.

She's faster than I expected. I'll have to up the ante if I want to compete with her. In truth, Ace had become accustomed to holding back his strength and speed as he was almost always massively superior to his opponent in that regard. Now though, he would have to take this fight a little more seriously. He grinned as he realized that this class would be more entertaining than he thought. Seeing that Serena had regained her footing, Ace charged he again.

Serena was not ready for Ace's increased speed and strength. She desperately tried to put up a defense only to have Ace rip through anything she could muster. He somersaulted over her shoulders and drove his knee into the back of Serena's head. The leopard faunus was sent face first into the arena floor. Ace took a couple steps forward, unsure if he had overdone it.

Serena suddenly sprang up and pointed her hands at Ace. The claws detached and were sent speeding at Ace, cables being connected to the back of the claws. The cables wrapped around Ace's arm. Before he could react, Ace found himself being pulled forward. Serena swung her other hand and delivered a big right to Ace's face.

Seeing that he was at a disadvantage, Ace let loose a little more of his strength. He gripped the cables on his arm and flipped them over his head, throwing Serena over in the process. Serena got back up, panting slightly. Ace on the other hand didn't even look winded. That wasn't very surprising. Everyone knew that Ace had an unreal amount of stamina for a twelve year old.

Having had enough, Ace dashed at Serena, intent on ending the fight right then and there. When he tried to punch her, he was surprised to see his fist go straight through her. He looked around only to have Serena's knee slam into the back of his head. Ace stumbled forward. He looked behind himself only to see five Serena's circling him!

"The Hell is this?" Ace asked as he stared at his opponents.

"My semblance. I can create mirages of myself." One of the Serena's said. Ace charged that Serena only to have his attack go through the copy. He sighed in frustration as he felt the real Serena slash at his back. By the time he turned around, the real Serena had hid among her mirages. He tried a couple more times, only to be met with the same result. Suddenly, a thought came to Ace. Wanting to test it out, Ace rushed a random Serena and attacked it. It turned out to be a mirage and Ace felt the real Serena punch the back of his neck. Ace smiled as he stumbled forward. Ace attacked another mirage. He quickly turned around and grabbed the clawed punch the real Serena had tried to hit him with. Ace smiled at her in triumph. Serena gulped when she realized that she was trapped.

"You really should change up your attack pattern," Ace said. He cocked back a punch and delivered a haymaker to her face. Serena was sent flying out of bounds and hit the floor with a small thud.

"Ow," Serena whispered as she laid on the floor. Ace came over and offered her a hand up. Ace pulled her up with little effort.

"Good job. I haven't been challenged like that since I fought a professor," Ace said with a kind smile.

"Oh please, you were holding back the entire time." Serena said as she dryly chuckled. Ace winced a little.

"Was it that obvious?" Ace honestly asked.

"To everyone else? Probably not. To me? Kind of. No matter what I did, you just kept getting stronger and faster to compensate." Serena said with a sigh. "Not to mention you didn't even have to use your semblance. I really wanted to see what it was too," Serena complained.

"You and everyone else." Ace said. Serena laughed a little.

"Anyways, good job Ace. You certainly deserved that victory." Serena said as she patted the shorter boy on the back. Ace didn't bother mentioning that she hadn't retracted her clawed gauntlets. It didn't hurt that much anyway…

...Later…

Ace walked out of his last class of the day. He made his way down to the courtyard and found Yang waiting at her usual spot for him.

"Hey Ace, ready to go?" Yang asked as she started down the road. Ace nodded and walked beside her. They didn't get far before someone stopped them.

"Hi Ace," a voice from behind them said. Both Ace and Yang turned around and saw a girl their age had been the one to talk. She had black hair that was dyed purple near the end. Her hair was long enough to cover the bottom of her neck. She was wearing a dark blue, long sleeve shirt with a purple vest over it. On her legs were black leggings with blue jean shorts over them. She was wearing high heeled boots on her legs.

"Hey Violet," Ace said. Yang looked at him in confusion.

"You know her?" Yang asked.

"She's in our math and history class Yang." Ace responded. Luffy was the one with problem remembering people and names. Ace on the other hand, because of his respectful nature, makes the effort to learn everyone's name. It was the nice thing to do.

"I sit a couple rows behind you guys," Violet said. "I was actually kinda hoping to talk to you in private." Violet said while sparing a glance at Yang. Ace stared at her in confusion.

"Why?" He asked.

"It's kind of personal," Violet said, a small blush forming on her features. Yang regarded her fellow classmate with a suspicious stare.

"Okay. Go on ahead Yang. I'll catch up." Ace said as he motioned for Yang to go without him. Yang lingered for a couple of seconds, unsure of what to do. Finally, she started walking away.

"Don't take too long." Was all the blonde girl said. She continued walking for a few minutes, unsure of how to take the situation. She heard steps behind her and turned around to find Ace jogging in her direction. Yang slowed down a little, though it was unnecessary. Ace could have caught up no matter what.

"So, what'd she want?" Yang asked.

"I don't really know." Ace replied, confusion written all over his face."First she said that she thought I was really nice, then she said that she thought I was cute. What does she mean by 'cute?" Ace asked. "I know Zwei is cute. Ruby can be cute when she makes that puppy dog face of her's. Is she saying I look like a girl?" Ace asked. Yang meanwhile, had adopted a displeased look on her face. Hearing that Violet had called Ace cute really bugged her for some reason.

"Anyways, then she asked me what my relationship to you was." Ace said. "I told her we were friends and she seemed to relax for some reason. She invited me to come have lunch with her and her group of friends tomorrow." Ace finished. Yang tried to make sense of what she was feeling. Why is this bugging me so much? Am I afraid that he'll make new friends and stop being mine? Yang thought in an attempt to rationalize her thoughts. Yeah, that's probably what it is.

"Are you going to sit with them?" Yang asked.

"Nope." was Ace's simple reply.

"Why?" Yang asked in surprise. She was positive that Ace would have said yes. Ace didn't like rejecting someone's invitation as he considered it rude.

"Because she said you couldn't come too." Ace replied with a shrug of her shoulders. All of Yang's displeasure dissipated almost instantly. As if Ace would ever stop being my friend. Yang thought with a smile. She pushed any thoughts she had on Violet out of her head. The route home Ace and Yang were taking led them past City Hall. They saw a huge gathering of people focused in the center of the City Hall's courtyard.

"Oh yeah, there's a faunus protest going on today," Ace said while sparing a glance at the protestors.

"I didn't hear anything about this," Yang remarked.

"That's because you don't know any faunus." Ace pointed out. Yang gave an irritated noise, though she new that Ace hadn't meant it as an insult. "Looks like it's the White Fang," Ace said as he saw the White Fang insignia on multiple banners. "Wanna check it out?" Ace asked his friend.

"Eh, why not? Come on," Yang said as she made her way to the protesting area. She had never been to a protest before, so all the people shouting and sticking signs in the air was a little overwhelming. Ace, being used to such noise from his time as a pirate, took the lead as they made their way to the center.

"So what do you think?" Ace half screamed so that Yang could hear him.

"It's a little loud," Yang responded. Ace laughed in agreement and went back to observing the protestors. Ace had a soft spot for faunus. He could relate to their struggle. Ace looked up the street and paused. He narrowed his eyes as he saw a group of men make their way down one of the sidewalks. Ace knew the look of men that wanted to cause trouble. Ace also knew just how violent this could potentially get. He had to get Yang out of there.

"Yang, we have to leave now." Ace said as he tugged on Yang's arm.

"But we just got here," Yang complained as she dug her feet into the ground. Ace didn't respond, opting for forcing her to move. He tried speeding up when he heard commotion coming in the opposite direction.

"Faunus piece of shit!" One of the men yelled. His friends followed suite and hurled their own insults at the protestors.

"Don't you have any animals you need to fuck right now!?" Another person yelled. Being a peaceful organization, the White Fang protestors did their best to ignore the racist group of people. The other group did not take too kindly to this.

"Hey! I'm talking to you savages! Don't ignore me!" Another man said as he threw his empty alcohol bottle at the group. The glass bottle shattered on the head of an unsuspecting protesters. The response was immediate.

"The Hell is your problem!?" A fox faunus yelled.

"Someone call the police!" Another yelled as he cradled the bleeding faunus' head in his lap.

"What'd we ever do to you!?" A younger faunus yelled. The other group laughed in response.

"You abominations exist! That's reason enough!" A group member in the back yelled. Ace stopped in his tracks. That insult had hit dangerously close to home for him. He turned and glared at the group. Feeling brave, the speaker copied his friend's actions and threw his bottle of alcohol at the crowd. While they were able to avoid having the bottle hit one of their own, the faunus were still hurt when the shattered glass cut some of them up. Ace grinded his teeth together when he saw the hurt faunus cry out. Yang looked at Ace with concern. There weren't a lot of things that could make Ace this angry.

The second bottle seemed to have caused a chain reaction, as more members of the violent group started hurling whatever they could get their hands on at the protestors. The faunus did their best to avoid the objects that were being thrown at them. Even then, multiple protestors still found themselves victim to the hurled objects.

"Why aren't they fighting back!?" Yang asked in anger. She couldn't understand why they were just letting this happen.

"They're trying to prove a point Yang. If they give in and retaliate, then they're just as bad as the bastards over in the other group." Ace growled out as he saw more faunus being hurt by thrown objects.

"Ace!? Yang!?" A voice to their right asked. Both kids turned and saw Sally running towards them. She had taken her bandanna off to show her squirrel ears. "You kids need to leave! It's getting dange-" Sally didn't get to finish as she was hit in the head with a thrown brick. Yang gasped and ran to Sally's collapsed form. Ace on the other hand turned and scanned the group of racists.

"You see that!? I nailed the squirrel bitch right on her head!" Someone gloated to his friends. Ace focused his glare on the speaker.

"Stay here Yang. I'll be right back." Ace said as he made his way forward, ignoring Yang's calls.

"Ace come back!" Yang yelled, but to no avail. Ace continued his determined pace. Yang took off her hoodie and pressed it over Sally's head wound. She desperately looked for any sign of an ambulance.

"Someone has to have called the hospital by now," Yang said as she tried to stem the bleeding on Sally's head. Ace, meanwhile, had made it to the front of the protest group.

"Kid get back here!" A faunus adult yelled as he saw Ace continue walking.

"Don't do anything rash! Prove that faunus aren't the monsters people make us out to be." An older White Fang representative said.

"I'm not a faunus." Ace pointed out. "Besides, these people hurt someone dear to me, so now they must pay," Ace said, ignoring any further attempts to convince him to stay. By the time he had covered half the distance between both groups, the aggressive group had noticed his arrival.

"The Hell is this kid?" One remarked.

"Listen Junior, leave before you hurt yourself." Another said. Ace glared at the group as he came to a stop a few meters from the group.

"I don't appreciate people who hurt my family," Ace said. This caused an uproar of laughter from the aggressors.

"What're you gonna do? Kill us?" One mocked.

"Doesn't sound like such a bad idea right now," Ace remarked. He knew very well that he could kill every one of them without too much trouble. The question was whether he should.

"Why the Hell are you defending these devil spawn!?" One, presumably the leader, yelled. Ace finally snapped at the mention of devil.

"BECAUSE THEY DON'T DESERVE TO BE JUDGED JUST BECAUSE OF THEIR HERITAGE!" Ace bellowed as loud as he could. The entire area seemed to go quiet at that moment.

"You people are what's wrong with the world." Ace said as miniscule flames appeared around his clenched hand. "I won't allow you to hurt another faunus." Ace said as he began walking forward. Yang, meanwhile, was on the verge of a breakdown. Here she was pressing a blood soaked hoody to the head of her best friend's mother figure while said best friend was about to fight a group of adults.

"Ace don't!" Yang yelled in desperation. The blonde girl looked around for anyway to diffuse the situation.

"That guy behind you is first," Ace said, now only a few feet away from his opponents. "He's the one who hurt Sally." Ace sated. The other guy laughed in arrogance. He was a full grown man, and this was just some twelve year old. He could thrash the kid.

"Fine tough guy. Your funeral." The aggressor said as he made his way to the front of the group. Ace didn't even wait for him to walk the full distance between him and the group. A sickening crack echoed throughout the vicinity. In the blink of an eye, Ace had the other man on the concrete, the man's head bleeding from the side. Yang brought her hand over her mouth in shock and regarded Ace with an all new feeling: fear. She had never seen Ace attack another human being with such brutality. Sure, she had seen him fight a couple of classmates, but she knew that they were just practicing and would be okay in the end. This was different though. Yang honestly couldn't tell if Ace had just killed a human being. The human group stared at Ace in shock. Ace lowered his slightly bloody, the blood not being his, fist and turned to the rest of the group.

"He's not dead if that's what you're wondering." Ace said as he took a menacing step forward. The human group, having just witnessed Ace's abilities, faltered. They turned and ran. Ace made no move to follow them, as he could see police cars coming in the same direction that the violent humans were running in. They would be arrested soon enough. Right now, though, Ace had other things to do. He slung the unconscious man over his shoulder and dragged him down to where Sally layd.

"How is she?" Ace asked as he dropped the man on the floor.

"I managed to stop the bleeding. She needs medical attention though." Yang said as she spared a glance at Ace's fist. She cringed a little when she saw the dried blood on it. She looked back up at Ace with thinly veiled fear. Ace noticed the way Yang was hesitating around him and instantly felt guilty about the way he had acted. He had let his emotions get the better of him. Yang was scared of him now.

"Yang.. I'm sorry… I..." Ace said as he took a step forward. Yang flinched slightly which caused Ace to stop in his tracks.

"We'll talk about this later Ace." Was all that Yang said. Ace slowly nodded his head. He picked up the unconscious man and half carried, half dragged him to the nearest police car. Ace absentmindedly noticed that the paramedics had arrived.

"Hey, this is one of the people who attacked the protesters." Ace said to the nearest cop. The cop looked bewildered for a second, not used to seeing a twelve year old drag an adult body around, but quickly hid it behind a mask of professionalism.

"What happened to his head?" The officer asked as he saw the dried blood on the man's head.

"I did that to him. He threw a brick at my...mom." Ace said, pausing as he pondered what to call Sally. Really, Sally had been the closest thing Ace had ever had to a mother. The only other person who he held in the same regard was Makino, so Ace didn't see a problem with calling her mom.

"We'll take him into custody." The officer said as he motioned for two other cops to take the man away. The officer paused as he thought of how to put the next part.

"Listen kid, I'm going to have to take you into custody for questioning. I doubt you'll be charged, but this is protocol." The officer said with an apologetic smile. Ace shrugged in response. Honestly, he was half expecting to be arrested on the spot. This was a better situation.

"Can I tell my friend that I have to go with you?" Ace asked.

"Sure, as long as I can come. Can't let you out of my sight now." The officer replied. Ace nodded and walked down to where the paramedics had established an impromptu first aid camp. He looked around for Sally, as he knew that Yang would be with her. He finally found Yang standing next to a now awake Sally. She had a few bandages wrapped around her head. She turned around nd smiled in relief.

"Ace! I'm so glad that you're okay!" Sally said as she ran and gave Ace a hug. Yang walked up as well, though stopped when she saw the police officer. She had a moment of panic for her friend.

"Ace, why is there a police officer with you?" Sally said.

"I have to go with him Sally. I… hurt the guy who threw that brick at you." Ace stated as he looked down in shame. Sally stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"Are you arresting Ace?" Yang asked as she twiddled her fingers nervously.

"Don't worry little lady. He most likely won't be charged with anything. We just need to bring him in for questioning." The officer respectfully said. Yang calmed down somewhat.

"When can I pick him up?" Sally asked.

"Shouldn't take more than a couple hours. You know, paperwork and all that." The officer said as he chuckled at his own joke.

"You're going to have to explain to your dad what happened without me Yang. Sorry." Ace said with a shaky smile. He turned and walked away without bothering to wait for a response from Yang. The officer tipped his hat and followed Ace to his patrol car. Yang looked on as her friend entered the back of the car. She definitely needed to talk to Ace when all this blew over.

"Sally, I need to go home and talk to my dad." Yang said.

"Go ahead Yang. I'll be fine here." Sally said as she smiled at Yang. The younger girl nodded, left Sally, and started her walk home.

Patch Police HQ…

"... and then the rest of his friends ran away." Ace said to the officer in front of him. The officer nodded while he wrote on a notepad, though it was not necessary. The whole conversation had been recorded.

"Alright kid, wait here for a few minutes." The older man said as he got up and exited the room. Ace sat patiently, not having much else to do.

"So what do you think?" The officer asked his colleague.

"I think we have to arrest him." The police chief said. "Normally, we would let the kid go with nothing but a slap on the wrist, but we just found out the kid has aura." The chief grimly said. Aura gave regular people super human abilities. It would be very easy for an aura user to abuse their powers, so laws were put in place to minimize this. One such law is that people with aura can't attack normal people unless it's self defense. The punishment was much more severe if the hunter was the aggressor. What Ace did was not self defense, that much was clear.

"What would his punishment be?" the interrogator asked.

"He would be taken to a specially made facility to house criminals with aura. I don't like the thought of sending the kid there." The chief said, though he knew that if it got to that point, he would have to send Ace there.

"Hey chief, got a call for you on line two." A cop shouted from across the room. The chief walked to the nearest phone and answered whoever was calling him. What followed what about a minute of conversation.

"Alright, I understand." The chief said as he hung up. "Let the kid go." The chief said as he walked back to his original position.

"What?" The other cop dumbly asked.

"Let the kid go. Someone is coming to pick him up." The chief repeated. Upon seeing the confused face of his colleague, the chief elaborated.

"All potential charges against the kid have been dropped. I don't know how, but this kid must know some very influential people." The chief said with a shrug of his shoulders. He wasn't too bothered that he had to let Ace go. It was either that or potentially going to prison. Once again, it went against the chief's moral compass to send a child to jail over something like this. The other cop nodded as he went back into the room.

"Good news kid, you're free to go. You can wait over there, someone will be here to pick you up in a couple of minutes." The cop said while he gestured to the waiting area. Though he was a little confused, Ace walked out and sat on a chair in the waiting area. Qrow walked in a minute later, and he did not look happy.

"I already called Sally, Ace. You're coming with me." Qrow said as he walked out, Ace in tow. The twelve year old followed the older hunter for a few minutes. They entered a small restaurant and sat down at a table. Ace looked around in confusion. He was expecting to be grilled out by Qrow.

"Qrow, why are we here?" Ace asked.

"Getting something to eat. I'm hungry." Qrow said as he looked through a menu. "You gonna order anything kid?" Qrow asked as he looked at Ace.

"I thought you were gonna…" Ace began

"...Punish you or something like that?" Qrow asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah." Ace said. Qrow smiled in amusement.

"Kid, I don't blame you for what you did. Yeah, because you had aura, it was a stupid and reckless move, but look at who you're talking to." Qrow said as he gestured to himself. "I'm the king of reckless. I did unlock your aura after all. I don't know how Taiyang and Sally will react, but you're okay in my book. Just be a little more careful with who you choose to fight. I won't always be there to pull strings and get you out of jail." Qrow said. "You gonna order anything?" Qrow asked once again. Ace smiled as he picked up his menu.

Halfway through their food, Qrow spoke up again.

"Be honest with me kid. Have you ever killed anyone?" Qrow asked as he stared at the twelve year old in front of him. Ace stared down at his meat, unsure of how to answer that.

"I was a pirate with a bounty of about 550,000,000 Lien, Qrow. Both the World Government and other Pirates were after me. What I'm trying to say is, I've killed more than my fair share of people." Ace said as he thought back to his previous life. He couldn't count the amount of marines he had killed at the Battle of Marineford, let alone his entire life. Qrow nodded, not very surprised.

"Were you going to kill the guy you punched?" Qrow asked.

"I could have done it if I wanted to, but that would have just caused more problems." Ace honestly answered. Sure, he had been somewhat desensitized to death from his time as a pirate, but he still knew when to kill and when not to kill. Qrow grunted in response. Seeing that he was done talking, Ace went back to finishing up his meat.

...1 Hour later, Rose/Xiao Long Residence…

Taiyang sat on the couch, deep in thought. He was still trying to process what Yang had told him concerning Ace and the protest. No, he didn't blame Ace for taking Yang to a protest. It was being led by the White Fang, a peaceful organization. How could Ace have known that it would turn violent?

What Taiyang was thinking about was how to handle the part where Sally had gotten hurt and Ace went berserk. Anyone who didn't know Ace might consider him a menace because of this. The thought almost made Taiyang laugh. If there was one thing Taiyang knew, it was that Ace was not a menace. Yes, what Ace had done was reckless and a little excessive, but he had a good reason to be angry.

Someone chose to knock on the door at that moment. Qrow and Ace walked in a few seconds later. Ace was looking at the floor in apprehension.

"Hey Tai, where are the girls?" Qrow asked.

"They're in the backyard." Taiyang said as he looked down at Ace. Said boy decided that he might as well get this over with.

"Taiyang, I really am sorry…" Ace began, but stopped when he saw Taiyang raise his hand.

"It's fine Ace. I don't have anything against you, though I would appreciate it if you were a little more careful in the future." Taiyang said as he smiled down at Ace. "You really should be apologising to Yang about this." Taiyang said as he stepped to the side and gestured for Ace to go out back. Ace thanked the adult and made his way outside. Qrow looked at his former teammate in amusement.

"I thought you would have been harder on the kid." Qrow remarked. Taiyang shrugged in response.

"Ace isn't a bad kid. Besides, why would I blame him for wanting to protect someone he cares about?" Taiyang said as he watched Ace exit the back door. Said boy found Yang and Ruby climbing a nearby tree. He walked up to the tree and stopped a few feet away. The girls noticed him and stopped where they were, which was near the top of the tree.

"Hi Ace," Ruby said as she promptly jumped out of the tree. Ace's instincts kicked in and he ran under Ruby and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Why'd you jump?" Ace asked the youngest member of team RAY. Ruby giggled in response.

"Cause I knew you'd catch me." Ruby said as Ace put her on the ground. "Hey Yang! Jump down, it's really fun!" Ruby said to her older sister. Ace looked uncomfortably up at Yang, remembering why he had come here in the first place.

"Ruby, it's okay if she doesn't want to…" Ace began, thinking that Yang would rather climb down on account of how she reacted at the protest.

"Heads up!" Yang called from above, cutting Ace off. He looked up in surprise as Yang jumped out of the tree. As with Ruby, Ace caught her before she could hit the ground. Ace looked down at Yang with confusion and unease. Seeing his confused face, Yang quickly cut off anything he was going to say.

"Ruby, could you go get Zwei?" Yang asked as Ace let her go. Ruby nodded and went back into the house.

"I really am sorry about everything." Ace said once Ruby was out of earshot.

"It's fine Ace. Just… promise me that you'll never go berserk like that again?" Yang asked her friend. By berserk she meant when Ace wouldn't listen to reason and focused on seriously hurting someone.

"Yeah,I promise." Ace said as he gave Yang a grin. Before she could realise what she was doing, Yang found herself hugging Ace. Ace seemed just a surprised as her judging by the look on his face. Now, hugging was not the primary way Yang showed affection towards Ace. She had done it before, that much was true, but that had been under much more emotional situations, like when he was hospitalized and nearly died. For day to day interaction, however, Yang usually just wrapped an arm around Ace's neck or gave him a punch in his arm, that kind of stuff. Therefore, it was fairly reasonable for Ace to be surprised by Yang's display of affection. The twelve year old male, having gotten over his initial shock, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and patted her back with the other.

"I found Zwei!" Ruby yelled from across the backyard, corgi in hand. Yang instantly separated from Ace, a small shade of red being visible on her cheeks. Yang didn't know why she was blushing, however.

"Great, lets play team RAYZ." Yang said as she covertly wiped the small blush off her face. Ace grinned as he made his way to where Ruby was waiting, happy that he still had his two best friends at the end of the day.

"Maybe things will finally go back to normal," Ace muttered to himself, even though the whole ordeal had taken place on the same day.

...1 Month Later, Signal Academy…

Ace smirked in victory. He had retained his number one spot for the second month in a row. He helped his opponent up, who had also won the number two spot last month.

"Dammit. I really thought I had you this time," his opponent, a boy named Cobalt, said. Ace had to admit that this teenager really was a good opponent. His fists still hurt from punching the teenager's shield so many times. Ace stared at the leaderboards, and smiled in pride when he saw his name at the number one position. Cobalt had the number two position, while the number three position was held by some girl named Topaz. This month, Serena had made it to the number four position, which Ace found amusing. Compared to the others, she was clearly ahead of most of them. It was just bad luck that she had to fight Ace in the first round last month.

"Well class, the school day is about to end, so you may have the rest of class to yourself." Professor Bowie said from his desk, already sending Qrow Ace's battle clips. Ace stretched a little before making his way to where Serena and a couple more faunus were sitting. They were the group of people he associated with in class the most.

"You're number one again, how surprising." Serena dryly told Ace, garnering a small laugh from the red eyed boy.

"Beat me next time we fight and things might be different." Ace said. "You did great in your fight Esther. You almost had that other guy." Ace told the girl faunus standing to Serena's right, a pair of dog ears visible on her head.

"Oh please, I'll never make top four at this rate." The dog faunus said with a dry chuckle.

"You did better than me at least," the male faunus to Serena's left said. If you were to look behind him, you would see a mouse tail attached to the small of his back.

"You did do better than Kai over here," Serena said while pointing to the mouse faunus. Any further talk was cut short when the final bell of the day rang. Ace quickly bid his friends goodbye and went to the courtyard, where Yang would be waiting for him. As he walked down the hall, a few students gave him a wide berth. The whole protest ordeal had darkened Ace's reputation somewhat. He walked out of the main building and found Yang waiting for him. Wordlessly, the pair of students made their way to Yang's home.

Unfortunately, fate had different plans.

"Hey is that smoke?" Yang asked as she pointed at a trail of black smoke going up into the air.

"Seems like it." Ace said. He stopped in his tracks, however, when he realized where the smoke was coming from.

"Shit," Ace muttered. He took off his hat and gave it to Yang. "Hold on to this will ya?" Ace asked. Yang grabbed the hat.

"Ace what's going on?" Yang asked in confusion.

"Follow me and you'll see." Ace said before bolting down a different street. Within seconds, Yang was left staring at Ace's shrinking form. Yang put the hat on her head and jogged in the direction Ace had gone in.

"This hat's actually really comfortable." Yang said to herself. Ace, meanwhile, was sprinting as fast as he could, worry etched all over his face. He turned the corner and found that his worst fears were confirmed.

The orphanage was on fire.

There was a line of police officers keeping the public away while firefighters battled the flames. Ace tried getting to the building, but was blocked by a police officer.

"Can't go any farther kid, too dangerous." The officer said as he crossed his arms. Ace was about to argue with the officer, but then he heard a scream coming from inside the orphanage. Not caring who it was that was trapped inside the burning building, Ace shoved the officer aside and ran into the orphanage. He quickly activated his logia body to not have to worry about the fire.

"Is anyone in here!?" Ace yelled above the roar of the fire.

"Over here!" He heard someone yell from one of the side rooms. He quickly dashed through the flames, not paying attention as his shirt was burnt off. He was too focused to remember to include his shirt in is logia body. He only remembered to keep his shorts and shoes from burning. He broke through the burning door separating him from the room. He entered and found two kids a few years younger than him cowering in the corner.

"It's alright, I'm gonna get you outta here." Ace said in what he hoped was a caring voice. The kids seemed to buy it as they quickly ran to him. Ace carried one in each arm as he ran out of the room. He quickly made his way to the exit and left the children outside. He absentmindedly noticed that Yang was behind the yellow police tape, hat in hand.

"Do you know if anyone else is in there?" Ace asked the children.

"Sally went upstairs to check if any kids are still there." One of the kids said. Ace immediately went back inside, ignoring the protests of the cop he had shoved a couple minutes beforehand. Once again Ace was inside the burning building. This time he went up the stairs to the second floor. He ran down the hallway, but tripped when the whole building suddenly lurched to one side.

"This whole things gonna fall down soon," Ace said to himself as he got back up. "Sally!?" Ace yelled into the burning hallway.

"Ace!?" Was the reply he heard from one of the bedrooms. The freckled boy shoulder charged the door, splitting it in two. He looked inside and saw Sally holding another child.

"We gotta get out of here!" Ace yelled as he motioned for them to exit. Sally and the child went into the hallway and followed Ace as he led them down the stairs. They were about to exit the building when a sharp crack was heard above them. The trio looked up and froze when they saw that one of the support beams had cracked and was falling on them. Sally clutched the child and closed her eyes, expecting to have been crushed by the wooden beam. When nothing happened, Sally opened her eyes and saw that Ace was carrying the beam on his shoulders. Judging by his bent knees and the strained look on his face, the beam was much heavier than originally thought.

"Get...Out…" Ace growled as the wooden floor beneath him started cracking around him. He was visibly straining to hold up the huge wooden beam. The beam had to have been at least half a ton in weight. Sally wanted to argue, but she had another child to worry about. She picked up the kid and ran out the door. She was about to turn back to go for Ace when the building gave a low groan. The fire had finally succeeded in ruining the building's structural integrity as it came crashing down.

She was about to cry out for Ace when she saw movement in the still burning wreckage. An entire side of the roof was pushed aside as Ace climbed out of the hole he had created. He coughed a couple times, having gotten some ash in his lungs, before walking through the fire to where Sally was. She quickly hugged Ace, relieved that he was okay.

"Did you forget that I have aura?" Ace asked. Of course he was using his logia body, but no one needed to know that yet. He looked back at the burning remains of the wreckage.

"Sally, what's gonna happen now?" Ace asked as he watched the authorities put out the rest of the fire. His home was gone.

"I don't really know Ace." Sally honestly answered. "You and the other kids will probably be moved to some other orphanage."

"What?" Both Ace and Sally heard behind them. They turned around and sa Yang ducking under the police tape and running to their position. "Ace is leaving?" Yang frantically asked. The idea of Ace leaving her and Ruby did not sit well with the young girl.

"I kind of have to Yang." Ace glumly said. Patch Orphanage was the only orphanage in Patch. If Ace went to another, then he would be in a completely different city.

"Can't he just live with me?" Yang asked.

"It's not that simple Yang. Until he's adopted, he's under the government's protection." Sally answered. Just then, Ruby showed up along with her father and uncle.

"Are you okay? We saw the smoke and came straight here." Taiyang said as he stared at Ace and Sally.

"Yeah. Ace rushed into the building and got us out of there." Sally said.

"Why am I not surprised?" Qrow muttered to himself.

"Are you okay Ace?" Ruby asked as she checked the shirtless boy for any injuries.

"My shirt got burnt off and the building fell on me, but other than that I can't complain." Ace said as he grinned at Ruby. He stared back at the smoldering remains of his home. "Oh, wait yes I can complain. My home is gone, and I'll probably have to move to another city or something." Ace said. Ruby froze for a few seconds, contemplating what Ace had just told her. What followed was Ruby having another small break down.

"So Ace and the other kids will be moved to some other city?" Taiyang asked Sally. In the background Ruby could be seen clinging on to Ace's arm, refusing to let go. Yang took the liberty of giving Ace his hat back, something he was very grateful for.

"Probably. There isn't any other orphanage here in Patch. That's kinda why this one was called 'Patch Orphanage.'" Sally said. Taiyang looked somewhat saddened while Qrow was looking down in heavy thinking.

"What if I adopt the kid?" Qrow suddenly asked, garnering a stupefied silence from the other two adults.

"...Are you serious?" Taiyang asked his former team mate.

"Yeah." Qrow answered. The blonde haired man's shoulders started trembling, followed by the rest of his body. The former hunter couldn't hold it in anymore. He broke out into intense laughter. He laughed so hard that his sides hurt and he was literally rolling on the floor. The trio of children stopped what they were doing, which was prying Ruby off of Ace's arm as she was starting to cut off blood flow, to stare at Taiyang.

"Someone must have told a very good joke." Ace said.

"Either that or Uncle Qrow said something ridiculous, like that he's gonna quit drinking or something like that." Yang said as she stared at the rolling form of her father. Qrow himself did not look very amused by Taiyang's reaction.

"What the Hell is so funny?" Qrow asked, his left eye twitching in annoyance. Taiyang stopped laughing so he could answer Qrow's question.

"You… being… a parent." Taiyang said between gasps. He hadn't laughed so hard in a long time, so he was somewhat out of breath. "No offense Qrow, but you're not exactly the father type." Taiyang said once he had stopped gasping.

"Oh please. The kid isn't a baby anymore. He can take care of himself just fine." Qrow pointed out. "So anyways, what if I adopt him?" Qrow asked Sally.

"Then Ace will go live with you." Sally answered. "Are you seriously planning on adopting Ace?" Sally asked.

"Why is this so hard for you people to believe?" Qrow asked as he took a long swig from his flask out of sheer annoyance. Sally waited as Qrow drank his flask dry. Oh the irony, Sally silently thought. "Yes, I want to adopt him. Where's the paperwork?" Qrow asked once he had drained the flask's contents.

"It was in there," Sally gestured to the charred remains of the building, "but I could probably get the paperwork over at city hall." Sally answered.

"Here, I'll drive you." Taiyang said as he motioned for Sally to follow him to his car. Qrow watched them get into his bright yellow automobile.

"I still don't get why he wanted the car painted yellow." Qrow muttered to himself. He looked back at the trio of children. Ruby had finally let go of Ace and they were now exploring the wreckage of the orphanage. Having decided to tell the children, Qrow walked over to where they were digging through the rubble.

"What are you kids doing?" Qrow asked.

"Checking if my Bo staff survived the fire." Ace answered while still focused on moving wreckage aside. Ruby and Yang nodded as they worked alongside Ace.

"Found it." Yang said as she cleared a couple planks aside. She picked up the black staff and looked it over for any damages. "It's a little dirty, but other than that it's in good shape." Yang said as she handed the Bo staff to Ace. He stood up and twirled it a few times to make sure it was in good condition. He nodded in satisfaction as he turned to face Qrow.

"Where'd Taiyang and Sally go?" Ace asked.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you kids about. You don't have to worry about Ace moving somewhere else." Qrow said. He could see that he now had their full attention. "We managed to find Ace a new guardian."

"Who?" Ace asked.

"Me." Qrow said. The trio gave him a blank look.

"... What?" All three said at the same time.

"I'm adopting you Ace." Qrow said while growing a little impatient. Ruby and Yang started shaking like their father before breaking down in laughter. Ace, on the other hand, had a confused look on his face.

"Why?" The boy asked.

"'Why' what?" Qrow asked.

"Why are you doing this for me? You don't owe me anything." Ace said. Sure, he and Qrow got along just fine, but not to the point where Ace would believe Qrow would adopt him just like that.

"That's where you're wrong kid." Qrow paused as he gave the laughing pair of girls an annoyed look. "Can we discuss this away from them?" Qrow asked while he gestured to the laughing forms of Yang and Ruby. Ace nodded and they made their way to a spot a few meters away.

"Where was I?" Qrow said to himself as he tried to find his train of thought. "Oh yeah. Kid, I owe you a lot more than you think." He gave Yang and Ruby, who were still in the final stages of their laughter, a fond look. "I may not act like it, but those two girls are the best thing I have in life. I don't know what I'd do if something ever happened to them. You saved their lives twice Ace. Each time you got hurt in the process, but you didn't care. Yang and Ruby are lucky to know a guy like you, kid." Qrow paused when he saw Yang and Ruby start to play around with Ace's staff.

"There's one reason to adopt you. There isn't any other way to put this, but the girls think the world of you Ace, especially Ruby. You know she's actually starting to think of you as an older brother?" Qrow said with a smile. Ace spared a glance at the silver eyed girl.

"Actually sounds kind of nice." Ace admitted as he smiled at the idea. He really did enjoy being an older brother.

"Thanks to you, Ruby's been breaking out of that shell of hers. She's making friends in school and is more outgoing. With you around as her anchor, Yang has cut back on that thrill seeker attitude of hers. The point is, they've gotten to the point where they imagine life with you in it by default. No matter what they think the future holds, you're in it in some way, shape, or form. There aren't a lot of people they think of that way." Qrow paused as he considered what he was going to say next. Meanwhile, Ace was staring at Qrow in amazement. He was used to a Qrow that loved screwing with people, being drunk, and giving affection a wide berth. To hear him sound so sincere and caring was a major deviation from the norm.

"That's another reason to adopt you. I guess that my final reason is that you've grown on me kid. I want you to stick around for a few more years." Qrow said while rubbing the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable. Ace looked anywhere except at Qrow. He didn't really know what to say to that.

"Well… when you put it like that, I guess you adopting me isn't such a bad idea." Ace said. "Just don't expect me to take your last name or call you dad or anything like that." Ace said with a grin. Qrow chuckled, glad that the sentimental moment was over.

"I'd prefer it if you stuck to Qrow anyways. Calling me dad makes me feel weird and old." Qrow said with a light chuckle. The two males made their way back over to where Ruby and Yang where playing with the Bo staff. Ruby was chopping at the air with it while Yang was nursing a bruise on her forearm.

"How'd you get the bruise?" Ace asked the moment he saw it.

"I tried twirling the staff." Was Yang's sheepish reply. To pass the time, Qrow showed the girls the proper way you should twirl a staff. Ruby was surprisingly good at it, only taking a couple tries before she did it successfully. Qrow noticed this and made a mental note to remember it. Taiyang's car pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later.

"I've got the papers Qrow." Sally said as she got out of the car. Taiyang followed soon after. Qrow and company walked up to the car where Sally was laying out the papers that needed to be signed on the hood.

"Where do I sign?" Qrow asked as Sally gave him a pen.

"Sign here… here... initials here… phone number here… full name here… and initials here." Sally said as she pointed out where Qrow had to sign. "Alright, now i just need Ace to sign here and you'll be his official guardian." Sally said as she took the pen away from Qrow and gave it to Ace. The red eyed boy regarded the document for a few seconds before signing his full name on it.

"Congratulations, you're now father and son." Sally said as she got a little teary eyed. Seeing Ace get adopted had been something she had been waiting for for a long time. Ace looked up at Qrow with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Daddy?" Ace asked as innocently as he could. Behind him he could hear Taiyang and his daughters doing their best to hold down their laughter.

"Stop it." Qrow said as he gave Ace a small glare. "Anyways, you gonna need any help moving your luggage?" Qrow asked.

Ace gave him the blankest stare ever. Of all time.

"What?" Qrow asked upon seeing Ace's expression. Ace responded by pointing to the wreckage of the orphanage.

"Oh yeah, my bad." Qrow said as he cleared his throat. Of course all of Ace's stuff had been burnt to a crisp.

"Real smooth Qrow, real smooth." Taiyang said from behind Ace.

"I'll have to take you shopping then," Qrow said as he tried to salvage the situation. "Wanna go now?" Qrow asked.

"What about Sally?" Ace asked as he stared at his surrogate mother.

"What are you going to do?" Taiyang asked in curiosity. "We have a few spare rooms if you want to stay." Taiyang offered.

"Thanks, but I have to go stay with the other orphans. Wherever they go, I go." Sally said.

"Does this mean…?" Ace asked in realization.

"Yes Ace. I'll be leaving Patch soon." Sally said with a sad smile. "I'll come by to see you before I leave." Sally said as she gave Ace a hug.

"You need me drive you?" Taiyang asked.

"No, it's okay. We'll be staying right down the street for the time being." Sally said. "I have to go. I'll be sure to say goodbye before I leave." With a final wave goodbye, Sally turned and walked to the building currently housing all the orphans. The small family was left alone to think of what to do next.

"So we gonna go shopping?" Qrow asked.

"I'm not wearing a shirt Qrow. Pretty sure most places won't let me in." Ace pointed out. Yang grew slightly uncomfortable when Ace mentioned he was still shirtless. It wasn't that she found a shirtless Ace attractive, though she had to admit that he had a surprising amount of muscle definition for a twelve year old, but that she could see the fist shaped scar that covered most of his chest. Looking at it reminded her of the mistake she made.

"I have a jacket he can wear." Yang offered. She went into the back seat of her father's car and pulled out an Achieve Men jacket. Ace put it on without complaint. He couldn't care less about what he was wearing right now.

"Everyone get in. We'll make this our first official family outing." Taiyang said with a smile. They got into Taiyang's car, the adults in front and children in back and drove to the nearest mall. They got out and went to the clothing store where Yang and Ruby got their clothes. What followed was a shopping montage where Ace was pretty much forced to try on different clothes. I use the term forced because Ace was perfectly happy with his shorts and Islander shirts, while everyone else had other ideas. Ruby made him try on cloaks and hoods, Yang had him wear slightly tighter clothing than he was used to, Taiyang had him put on a variety of dress shirts, and even Qrow had him put on a couple of trench coats and vests. When they finally exited the clothing store, Ace had clothes ranging from a black trench coat to a bright orange hood.

"Anything else you want?" Qrow asked. "There's a video game store over there." Qrow said as he pointed to a nearby store. Ace gave the store a bored look. He wasn't all that into video games. He liked playing them with Yang and Ruby, but he didn't actively try to get new games. He looked around and grinned when he saw when he saw a sailing themed store.

"Follow me," Ace said as he made his way inside the store. He immediately went for the world maps of Remnant and the star charts. Like a seasoned veteran, which he kinda was, Ace looked through each map and chart and found those he deemed useful. By the time he finished, he had a detailed map of Remnant, an extensive star chart, a map of ocean currents, and a new compass in case the one on his wristwatch broke.

"Why do you want all this boring stuff?" Yang asked as she looked at Ace's star chart.

"It's useful stuff Yang." Ace said as he gathered his items into his arms. Qrow grinned when he realized that this was the kind of stuff Ace deemed interesting and important. He had been a pirate captain after all. It was his job to make sure his crew was safe when they were out sailing. Part of keeping a crew safe was knowing where you are in the world.

"Got everything you need, kid?" Qrow asked. Ace nodded as he made his way to the cashier. Qrow quickly paid for it all and the family made their way outside to where Taiyang's car was parked. They quickly made their way home as it was almost time for the kids to go to sleep. Ace was shown to his new room. Because it was getting late, Ace just left his stuff on the floor and went to sleep. He would organize everything tomorrow

...Later That Night…

"I've really gone above and beyond the call of duty here, Ozpin." Qrow said into his scroll.

"Qrow, I-," Ozpin began.

"I'm not done talking yet. I think we can both agree that I've done a good job working for you Ozpin. We may have our differences and minor disagreements, but I've always gotten the job done. For you to force me to adopt the kid like that, after everything I've done for you, is a huge dick move. I don't appreciate this Ozpin." Qrow growled into his scroll.

"...Are you done?" Came Ozpin's bored reply.

"Yes."

"Okay, first of all, I never forced you to do anything Qrow. I wasn't even aware that you had adopted the boy until about five minutes ago. Second of all, 'minor disagreements?" Qrow, it takes all of Glynda's self control not to slap you everytime she sees you. My conversations with you leave me so drained that I go through a gallon of coffee right after. Finally, we both know that you wanted to adopt the boy, but you don't want to admit that, so you're using me as a scapegoat to justify your actions." Ozpin said in a collected, yet obviously annoyed, voice. Qrow was quiet for a few seconds, not knowing how to respond.

"... Well anyways I adopted the kid. I'll send you this week's fight clips tomorrow." Qrow said as he hung up on Ozpin. He sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

"I hate it when he's right…" Qrow grumbled before laying down and going to sleep.

...1 Week Later…

"You're going to Vale?" Taiyang asked. Sally nodded her head.

"I came to say goodbye." Sally said as she said her goodbyes to Qrow, Taiyang, and the two sisters. She gave a sad smile when she finally got to Ace.

"I'll see you soon Ace, okay?" Sally said as she gave Ace a hug. Tears formed at the corner of her eyes when she felt Ace quietly sobbing into her shoulders. In that moment, she forgot about the twelve year old boy with amazing abilities. All she saw was a small, freckled baby abandoned on her doorstep.

"Come visit me when you go to Beacon, deal?" Sally said as she let go of Ace. Ace wiped his eyes with his arm and gave Sally a small, shaky smile.

"Deal." Ace said. With one final goodbye, Sally exited the house and left Patch soon after.

...1 Month Later, The Coast…

"... Sorry it took me so long, but in my defense it can be pretty hard to figure out dates when you're in another dimension." Ace said. He was currently sitting at the edge of the water, and was the only person around for miles.

"Well, I'm here now, and that's all that matters." Ace said with a sad smile. He picked a cup off the small, wooden table he had put in front of him. The table was filled with food, meat specifically, and two cups of liquid, one of which was in Ace's hand. He took a small drink from the cup and scowled.

"What did Qrow call this? Whiskey?" Ace asked himself. "Well either way, it's nowhere near as good as sake. I'll get you some sake next year." Ace said as he downed the rest of the alcohol in his cup. Qrow hadn't given Ace any alcohol. The older hunter wasn't that irresponsible. Ace had gone into his room and stolen a bottle.

"I bet you're probably wondering what I've been up to these last few years. Well, there was this god named Monty and he did some magic and put me in a world called Remnant…" Ace said as he continued his one sided conversation with the ocean.

"Yang and Ruby are nice. They kind of remind me of you actually. This world is a lot smaller than ours, so there isn't much to do. The funnest thing would be to become a huntsmen, so that's what I'm doing." Ace said with a chuckle. Not everyone becomes a huntsmen because of some deep, emotional reason. Some people just want to have some fun.

"Well, that's enough about me, what've you been up to? Who am I kidding, you're probably the pirate king by now. You probably have all the freedom you could get." Ace said. He knew he was talking to the ocean, but he didn't care. Ruby talked like this to her mother's grave, so Ace couldn't care less if he was talking to water. He spent the next hour having his one sided conversation with the large body of water. Eventually, he ran out of things to say.

"I'll see you next year, and I'll have even better stories to tell you. It was great talking to you again." Ace said as he gathered up his cups and the table. He had already eaten the meat on the table. He gazed at the ocean one more time.

"Happy birthday Luffy." Ace said with a sad, nostalgic smile. He turned around and walked back up the path towards his house. All Ace had of his previous life was his hat, nothing else. Considering that he had nothing else, talking to the ocean was how Ace felt closest to Luffy.

"I miss you," Ace said as he left.

...7 Months Later, The Coast…

"Wait, so you can't swim?" Yang asked as she stared a Ace. They were having a family outing to the beach and everyone had dressed appropriately. Yang was wearing a yellow two piece bikini while Ruby was wearing a dark red one piece bathing suit. Taiyang and Qrow were both wearing tank tops and swimming trunks as they worked on grilling various food items for their barbeque. Ace was shirtless and wearing a pair of swimming trunks, though he had no plans of going into the saltwater.

"Nope. Not even a little." Ace said as he stared at the ocean a few feet below him. He and Yang were currently standing on a small cliff, only about two meters high, overlooking the ocean. Ace didn't see the mischievous grin that spread across Yang's face. He just continued to stare down at the deep blue water, a nostalgic smile on his face. He didn't notice Yang slowly creeping up behind him.

"You really should learn how to swim Ace." Yang commented in an attempt to keep Ace busy.

"Trust me, nothing is going to work." Ace said without looking up. Had he tilted his head even a few degrees up, he would have seen Yang raise her arms in preparation.

"I can teach you." Yang offered as she tried to keep the excitement in her voice to a minimum.

"It's a waste of-YANG!" Ace screamed in alarm as Yang shoved him over the edge of the cliff and into the seawater below. He entered the water and dropped like a rock, quickly reaching the bottom. Ace was fairly good at holding his breath, so he wasn't in any immediate danger. In a few minutes, however, he would drown. Goddammit Yang, Ace thought in exasperation. Not being able to do much else, Ace counted the air bubbles that came out of his mouth and nose. They'll rescue me eventually.

"He's not coming up." Ruby observed from the top of the cliff.

"Give him a minute. Sometimes the only way for someone to learn how to swim is by pushing them into the water." Yang said as she waited patiently. Seconds turned into minutes, and Ace still hadn't surfaced. The blonde haired girl grew a little anxious.

"You know what, he's not gonna swim. Go get dad," Yang said as she jumped into the water. Ruby jogged off to go get the adults while Yang searched the sea floor for Ace. She finally found him lying near the base of the cliff. She quickly resurfaced, took a deep breath of air, and swam down to pick Ace up. Speaking of Ace…

567...568...569...570 air bubbles. Ace thought to himself. He was starting to get a little lightheaded, and it was getting harder for him to not breathe in water. He felt the water above him ripple as a pair of hands grabbed his arm and pulled him up to the surface. He took several deep breaths of air when his head finally broke the surface of the water.

"You okay?" Yang asked as she used one hand to swim them to the shore.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Now do you believe that it's a waste of time to try to teach me to swim?" Ace asked as he felt the the sandy beach hit his toes. He let Yang drag him further away from the water while his energy was still coming back to him.

"I didn't know you'd get all weak." Yang said defensively. At this point Ace had regained enough of his strength to stand on his own. He looked over his shoulder and saw Ruby and the adults jog up to them.

"You okay Ace?" Taiyang asked.

"Yeah I'm good." Ace said with a smile. "Just don't ever make me swim in saltwater again."

"Why do you get weak when you go into saltwater?" Ruby asked out of curiosity. "Seems like an awfully specific weakness." The silver eyed girl asked. Ace froze, not knowing what to say.

"Uhh…" Ace began as he tried to find a way to explain his weakness without giving away his devil fruit powers. He looked at Qrow and silently asked for help.

"Ace must have sensitive eyes, and some salt from the water must have gotten in it…" Qrow lamely said. He mentally face palmed when he realized how stupid that sounded.

"Oh, okay." Ruby said. She turned around and walked towards the table where the food was, leaving a shocked Ace and Qrow. Yang eyed them suspiciously before running after her sister.

"You believe what Qrow said?" Yang asked her sister.

"Not for a second. What he said was stupid." Ruby said.

"Then why did you let them think you did?"

"You saw how Ace froze up. He doesn't feel comfortable telling us, so I won't press him." Ruby said. "Besides, he'll probably tell us eventually." Ruby said with a shrug of her shoulders. Yang nodded, slightly surprised that her socially awkward sister had been able to read the mood like that. The family had a quick snack of watermelon, as the meat wasn't done grilling.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Ace asked as he finished off his twentieth slice of watermelon. Even though they've known about Ace's appetite for a long time, Ruby and Yang still weren't used to the amount of food Ace could consume.

"Want to play volleyball?" Yang offered. Taiyang had brought a net and ball if someone had gotten the urge to play.

"Sounds like fun. Want to join in Ruby?" Ace asked. Ruby nodded in agreement before all three children made their way to the set up volleyball net. It was quickly decided that Yang and Ruby would be on the same team. Ace wouldn't be at a disadvantage anyway. To make the game fair, Ace was holding back almost all his strength and speed, otherwise he would destroy the two girls.

"Heh, my kid is beating your kids." A drunker than normal Qrow said. Taiyang gave a careless shrug.

"Your kid has strength on par with most hunters Qrow." Taiyang said. "I bet he could beat you Qrow." Taiyang said, a small smirk appearing on his face. If he knew his former partner, which he did, Qrow would not take too kindly to this.

"Bullshit." Qrow said as he put down his beer. "Hey! It's my turn." Qrow said as he walked out onto the court. He wobbled slightly as he was still very much under the influence. He quickly took the ball from the sisters and shooed them away from the court. Ruby and Yang joined their father in watching the game. Even when drunk, Qrow was surprisingly coordinated with his movements. Coupled with the advanced physicality both players possessed, it made for a very entertaining game. Qrow eventually won when Ace slipped on the sand and missed the ball.

"Hah! And you said he could beat me!" Qrow said as he pointed a finger at his former teammate.

"Fine, you got me. Anyways, food's done if you guys wanna eat." Taiyang said as he put the finished food on the table.

Ace was nearly done with his second rack of ribs before Qrow and the girls had even made it to the table.

...2 Months Later, Signal Academy…

"Hello to all the families out there. My name is Professor Bowie, and joining me today is Professor Caesar." Bowie said into a microphone. He and Caesar were currently in an announcer's booth built into the ceiling. Below them was the arena Signal used for such events. It was packed with people who wanted to see the school-wide tournament.

"Thank you for that introduction Bowie. Now, to give you a quick recap, we are in the final round of our tournament, and let me tell you, what a tournament it has been!" Caesar said as a giant screen replayed the highlights of the evening. "Our students have made us proud with their performance, especially our young fifth year student Cobalt. Though he lost, he put up one heck of a show against the seventh year student Linen." Caesar said.

"With Cobalt's elimination, the final positions are being held by all seventh year students, or should I say almost all." Bowie said with a chuckle.

"That's right Bowie. Of all fighters tonight, none has garnered a greater reputation than Portgas D. Ace himself! This young boy has stunned the audience with unmatched strength and speed. He is displaying a level of cunning that matches any hunter ten years his senior." Caesar said as a highlight reel showed all of Ace's victories.

"It also helps that he had his own dedicated cheering section." Bowie said with a chuckle as a video of Taiyang, Ruby, and Yang waving various flags with Ace's name on it was shown.

"Enough about that. We know go to our final match. Speak of the devil, it's Ace versus Linen!" Caesar said as Ace and Linen made their way onto the arena. Ace was wearing his characteristic hat along with a form fitting tank top. On his legs were black shorts and on his feet were his moccasin-like shoes. The red eyed boy looked over his opponent.

He could immediately tell that it was a girl. She had pale, almost white, yellow hair in a pixie cut. She had a light skin tone along with blue eyes. She was wearing a white long sleeve shirt with one of the sleeves cut off. Over her shirt she had a small short sleeve bolero jacket. She was wearing a white combat skirt with light gray stockings going down her legs. On her feet were white high heeled shoes.

Ace had seen her fight before, so he knew that her weapon was a giant throwing star. She had tied a line of linen from the star to her arm, so she could control the star's trajectory somewhat. The linen also served other purposes as well, but now was not the time to say.

"You beat my buddy Cobalt." Ace conversationally said.

"He did an okay job." inen said as she unstrapped the throwing star from her back. Ace still didn't have a weapon so he raised his fists in preparation. The timer was started as both fighters prepared themselves.

3…

2…

1…

The green light was given and both combatants instantly met on the middle of the arena. Ace dodged a barrage of slices sent at him and retaliated by sending a kick at Linen's mid-section. She blocked the first kick but couldn't react fast enough when Ace quickly kicked out with his other leg. She ducked under a third kick and jumped back a couple of meters. She then threw her weapon at Ace. The throwing star created sparks wherever the edge hit the arena floor as it made its way towards Ace. The younger fighter jumped over the weapon and made a grab for the linen connecting it to its huntress. Before he could grab it, Linen pulled her arm back, jerking the star in Ace's direction.

Ace grit his teeth in pain as the giant throwing star slammed into his lower back. He rolled forwards and lashed out with a kick at Linen's knee. The girl jumped and readied to throw her star again. Ace quickly jumped and grabbed her before she could throw her star. He twisted his body in midair and slammed Linen into the ground. He lashed out with his foot, intent on crushing Linen with his heel. The girl rolled out of the way right as Ace's heel created a small crater on the ground. Linen threw her star again.

Ace did a quick estimate before jumping and drop kicking the star to the floor. He then grabbed the linen line and yanked his opponent towards him. The girl found herself victim to a brutal combo of punches from Ace. The male combatant kicked upwards and nailed Linen right in her chin. As her weapon was still trapped under Ace's foot, Linen didn't go flying upwards. Instead her head snapped upwards as her body was forced to take the brunt of the attack.

Linen surprised Ace by recovering quickly and kicking him in his midsection. Ace was sent stumbling off the throwing star. Linen picked it up and charged, intent on engaging in CQC. She sent slashes in very quick succession at Ace. The young boy dodged each strike and sent his own barrage of punches at Linen. What followed was an intense three minutes of dodging and attacking. Linen finally ended the stalemate by jumping backwards and throwing her weapon at Ace.

Ace narrowly dodged the star strike, but wasn't prepared when Linen suddenly appeared in front of him and wrapped some of her linen around Ace's neck. Before he could counter attack, Linen retrieved her star and threw it up where it wrapped several times around a ceiling beam. In less than two seconds, Ace found himself hanging off the ground and being strangled.

"Yield." Linen said as Ace struggled to find any kind of leverage. He kicked his feet out, trying to get to the linen line his opponent was holding. He could feel himself slowly suffocating. He desperately grabbed at the linen line that went up to the ceiling and tried pulling it down. Had he been on the ground and properly tensed, Ace could have brought down the star with minimum difficulty. However, Ace was oxygen deprived and had no leverage whatsoever.

"I said yield." Linen commanded as she tightened the linen wrapped around Ace's neck. The red eyed boy gagged as his dwindling oxygen supply was cut off even more. At this point he was in the beginning stages of losing consciousness. Desperate to find a way out, Ace surprised Linen by grabbing the line that led up to the ceiling and biting it. Ace pulled and bit with all his might until the linen line snapped! The female combatant gasped in shock. For Ace to have been able to tear it with strength alone…

Ace took deep breaths as he fell to the floor. He looked at his opponent and smirked.

"Surprised? Let's see you fight without your weapon." Ace said before charging at Linen. She gulped when she realized that Ace was right. She had almost no experience fighting without her weapon while Ace had been fighting with his bare hands for two years. Not one to give up, Linen timidly sank into a combat stance she had learned when she was a first year student.

Ace rushed Linen and delivered a right jab to her shoulder, followed by a kick to her inner knee. Linen suddenly found herself off balance and in no position to attack. Before she could right herself, Ace elbowed her in her stomach before pulling her head down and driving his knee into hr face. Linen stumbled back as she growled in frustration. Without her weapon, Linen just couldn't compete with Ace. She charged and delivered a few kicks of her own, though Ace easily dodged each of them. They both knew that Linen was now fighting a losing battle. It wasn't a matter of if Ace would win, but of when he would win.

Ace slapped aside one of Linen's kicks and closed the distance between them. He then mercilessly slammed his knee into her stomach. A dull thud was heard throughout the arena as Linen gave a small groan. She stood still for a few seconds before slumping down on Ace's shoulder. Ace caught her without too much difficulty. He placed her arm around his shoulder and helped her off of the arena. The announcers stared down at Ace on confusion.

"Where's he going? He's supposed to stay so that we could announce him as victor." Bowie said.

"Let him help his fellow student. He'll come back." Caesar said. While most of the crowd was confused as to why Ace had left the arena to help Linen, the Rose/Xiao Long family just chuckled in amusement.

"That's Ace for ya." Yang said to no one in particular.

"You sure were hard to beat. I honestly thought I was going to lose when you were choking me out." Ace said.

"Yeah… you really can… hit hard." Linen said as she clutched her stomach.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Ace said with a nervous chuckle. "You know, I could get your weapon down for you if you want." The red eyed boy said as he helped Linen sit down on a bench.

"Don't worry about it. I'll get it once the huge urge to vomit has gone down." Linen said, still clutching her stomach. "You should probably go back out there. You left before they could announce you as winner you know." Linen said. She was honestly surprised that Ace would ignore the fact he had just won the tournament so that he could help her first.

"I guess I should. Thanks for the amazing match." Ace said as he turned around and walked back to the arena.

"I can see why they called you a prodigy." Linen said to herself once Ace had gone. The red eyed boy re-entered the arena only to be met with huge applause.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the winner of the tournament, Portgas D. Ace!" Bowie enthusiastically said into the microphone. Ace laughed as he waved to the crowd. Being the protector for the tournament, Qrow walked onto the stage to give Ace his prize, which was trophy shaped like Vale's symbol and a medal with the same symbol engraved into it.

"Good job kid. Didn't doubt ya for a second." Qrow said as he gave Ace a fist bump. The red eyed boy scanned the crowd and quickly found Yang, Ruby, and Taiyang cheering for him. He waved at them with one hand while holding up the trophy with the other.

...After Everyone Had Left…

"That was amazing! She was all like chop! Slash! And you were all like Punch! Kick! Knee to the gut!" Ruby said as she reenacted the battle. The small family was currently walking back to their house. Ruby was wearing Ace's medal while Yang was inspecting his trophy.

"When she was choking you I almost thought you were going to lose! But then you were all like Bite! Chomp!" Ruby said as she exaggeratedly bit at the air.

"It kind of hurt my jaw." Ace said as he inspected his hat for any damages.

"Let tis be a lesson to you girls, it's always okay to bite your opponent's weapon." Qrow jokingly said from the back of the group. Taiyang elbowed his former teammate in the side before adding his own comment.

"Don't actually do that. Chances are other people's weapons will be pointier and made of harder stuff." Taiyang said.

"Speaking of weapons, have you two decided what yours will be?" Qrow asked.

"Oh yeah, I got mine all figured out." Yang said as grinned. "Shotgun gauntlets are definitely the way to go." The blonde haired girl said as she carried the trophy in one hand and punched the air with the other. Qrow chuckled in amusement.

"What about you Ace?" Taiyang asked. Ace adopted a pensive look on his face.

"I don't really know." Ace finally said. "I'm not used to fighting with a weapon." Ace said. Taiyang, Ruby, and Yang thought he was just talking about his time at Signal. Qrow, however, knew he was talking about the way he had fought in his past life.

"Gonna have to choose soon kid. You can't be a hunter and go in fists a-blazing." Qrow said while chuckling at the joke he had made. Ace gave Qrow a small scowl. Sometimes I regret telling him that I was Fire Fist Ace.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." Ace said. "Right now I want to go home and get something to eat." Ace said.

"No surprise there." Yang said as she gave Ace's arm a playful punch.

...Beacon Academy, Two Hours Later…

"... That is a very unorthodox way of disarming your opponent." Ozpin muttered to himself as he reviewed Ace's tournament fights.

"Glynda?" Ozpin called out. His blonde haired companion entered a few seconds later.

"Yes, Ozpin?" Glynda asked.

"It seems that our young Ace will not be able to find the challenge we need on his own. We're going to have step in if we want to observe his unique abilities." Ozpin said as he folded his hands on the desk.

"What do you want me to do?" Glynda asked.

"I want you to start looking through the other kingdoms and find an opponent close to his age and skill." Ozpin said.

"I've heard that Mistral has a few up and coming prodigies of their own." Glynda added. "I don't see why we need to go to all this trouble though. Couldn't we just send one of our professors to attack him?" Glynda asked.

"It is a safety precaution Glynda. Based off the reports Qrow gave me, this boy has a tremendous amount of destructive potential. I don't want him to feel threatened to the point where he releases that potential on his attacker. I want to see his fire abilities without endangering anyone." Ozpin said.

"And if we can't find anyone to match him?" Glynda asked. She had seen Ace's fight clips, and knew that finding someone who could equal him would be a challenge all on its own.

"Then I suppose I will test his abilities personally." Ozpin said as he gave his colleague a small smile. It was meant as a joke, but, when Ozpin thought about it, it would make more sense for him to fight Ace than one of his professors. After all, he would stand a far better chance at controlling the boy if the fight got out of hand.

"I'll get started on the search." Glynda said as she exited Ozpin's office. Ozpin sat in silence for a few minutes, mulling over the latest batch of Ace's fight clips.

"Would it be more beneficial if I tested him personally?" Ozpin asked himself. He got up and gave his cane a few test swings. It's been awhile since I've had a good workout, Ozpin thought to himself.

A/N: Hello to all. Here is the latest chapter, as promised, though it was a few days late of the two week deadline I set. Please excuse my tardiness, College applications have taken up a big majority of my time.

In case you all haven't noticed, this chapter is longer than all my other chapters by a good bit. Consider it a gift. Why a gift, you may ask? The answer is simple.

We are over 100 favorites and follows. That is just incredible. You people have been so supportive of this fic that it blows my mind. I really do appreciate it. Being a longer chapter, more stuffed was crammed into it. There are obviously issues that I should address.

Qrow adopting Ace for one. I could have had Taiyang adopt him, but that would technically make Ace and Yang siblings. Considering the pairing is AcexYang, I'd rather not deal with that issue once it comes up. I also like to think that Qrow has grown attached to Ace. I understand if some of you think that Qrow was a little OOC in his speech about why he wanted to adopt Ace. To be honest, I had some difficulty writing that part. I really wanted Ace and Qrow to have a little moment of their own, which led to Qrow's OOCness. Bottom line, Ace is Qrow's son now. Don't expect Ace to call Qrow dad, don't expect Qrow to call Ace son, and don't expect Ace to be Branwen D. Ace from now on. If they do do it, it's because they're joking about it.

I honestly did not like how the whole Sally leaving part turned out. It just felt rushed to me. Sally was never going to be a major character, but I felt as if I could have done her a little more justice in that scene. She won't be featuring very much in the story from now on, nor will any other OC I create. As much as you may want to see Barry the pyrotechnics guy and Richard the police officer again, it's not happening.

Now, you probably could have guessed from the story, but my Ace has killed people, a lot of people. Killing kind of comes with the job of being a pirate. This will lead to a few moral dilemmas for Ace. Killing in the One Piece world is not a very big thing. People get away with it all the time. In Remnant, however, killing is not so desensitized. Had those protestors been in the One piece universe, Ace would have killed them without a second thought.

Ace wished Luffy a happy birthday, yeah that was neat.

Did you all see the very vague romance in this chapter? Don't worry people, the groundwork is being laid! Yang is developing feelings that she can't explain right now, she's being more sentimental around him, and Ace is drawing attention from other girls, which Yang doesn't like. The next chapter should have some more, though it will still be minor.

You know what else is coming next chapter? Weapons! I have thought long and hard about what to give Ace. He is getting a weapon, there's no doubt about that, but what it should be remains to be seen. You know what else is coming next chapter? Ruby's first day at Signal! That is going to be a hoot and a half to write about.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review if you have the time. It really helps morale to know what the audience is thinking. I will see you all next chapter.

Until then.

Next Chapter Sneak Peak:

"Why is Yang so agitated?" Taiyang asked. Qrow smirked in response.

"Something happened at school that really bugged her." Qrow said as he thought back to what he had seen in class.

"What happened?" The blonde haired man asked.

"Don't worry about it Tai. All you need to know is that Ace has been attracting a lot of attention at school." Qrow said as he chuckled.