Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, guys! As my (late) gift to you, another submission – with a bit of backstory. The fan that wrote this was inspired by Ace Lives by Black' Victor Cachat. Frankly, I was worried it would seem like infringing on Cachat's output, using what works for him and piggybacking on his popularity.
So, I messaged Black' Victor Cachat, explaining my conundrum, since he's been posting longer than I had. Imagine my shock when he not only reached back but said it was okay to post, so long as I acknowledge this one-shot was inspired by his work.
So, Black' Victor Cachat, thanks for your stamp of approval, and – please, everyone – don't forget to head to his stories and show your love! I especially recommend Justice, an amazing crossover of One Piece, and... well, I'll let you all see for yourselves.
Also, this one-shot involves a theory that a few of my readers on other sites I can't say because reasons have been passing around. Okay, a few theories. See if you can spot them...
Question Corner
King0fP0wers: Glad you liked it! Gem said thanks, but I do want to point out, this is a submission, and thus not canon in this story. My backstory for Bullet is equally as sad, but infinitely more moving parts...
As for Hook with the More-More or Fluff-Fluff abilities, I was thinking of giving Hook the More-More fruit, but I had a more useful character in mind for it. If Hook had the Fluff-Fluff fruit, he'd probably be a more tricky fighter, like fighting Joseph Joestar without Hamon... and maybe more Tommy Gun.
Ace Lives: We'll Meet Again by gemknightquartz
Knowing what was about to happen, Ace moved his body to protect them both. The only reason they were here was because of him, so how fitting it would be his last act would while still alive to defend both Hook and Luffy by using himself as a human shield.
He owed that much to them after all...
But instead of the expected agony of White-Hot Magma coursing through his chest, the sound of a fist being caught by white latex gloves was heard as Ace once more opened his eyes, instead seeing a Giant of a Blonde man catching the fist that would have undeniably killed him. And judging by Akainu's usually stoic face paling rapidly, this person was clearly not meant to be here. "Y-you... " The Red dog growled, partly in horror as his stoic mask slightly crumbled away while the Military dressed man grinned "B-but I killed you! I fried your brain until there was nothing left of you!"
"I'll second that... " The Giant Glowing form of Sengoku in his Buddha Mode said as he stepped into view, the entirety of Marineford, pirate, and Marine, staring in disbelief at the figure of a man long thought to be gone. "How are you still alive... Douglas Bullet?"
"Kahahahaha!" The Demons heir laughed with a menacing grin on his face, tightening the pressure he had on Akainu's hot fist as the Admiral found that he couldn't break free. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about. I'm just here on my Captain's orders!"
Veins filling with Ice, Sengoku took note of one particular word in the 20 years dead Pirate's sentence. "Captains?" Right before Vice Admiral John Giant was thrown his way as a Jolly-looking Gold Roger stepped into view.
"Gyayayayayaya!" The Pirate King laughed as many, many marines fainted at the sight of the Most Dangerous Pirate in the world being here. "Hope you don't mind us crashing the party Sengoku!"
Rayleigh and Gaban quickly followed him, as the former's blonde hair swayed dramatically while the latter grinned as his twin axes got ready for battle. "Captain, forget what I said, taking that dive into the Rainbow Mist was so worth it!"
"Roger... " Monkey D Garp 'miraculously recovered' from the punch his grandson had knocked him out with.
"Garp!" Roger grinned, throwing a Haki-infused swing his way as Gaban and Rayleigh zerg-rushed Sengoku. The Golden Buddha falling under their immense power as the two old friends stared across one another while Roger's grin fell. "Why is he here?" The Pirate King gravely asked "I thought I could trust you of all people too protect him!" Though he didn't know the full details of what was going on here, the Pirate King had heard enough of the earlier announcement, and seen enough through Garp's actions, to piece together what was going on.
"... I-I tried to get him to be a Marine," the Vice Admiral admitted, reluctantly, "I thought that if Sengoku and the other saw that, they could look past something as trivial as blood and just let him b-"
"That's not my point!" King's Haki infused his voice, rage in his eyes as the Hero of the Marines flinched "I'm not asking why the Marines are hunting him down! What I want to know is why you were wasting your time sitting around when he was about to die!"
"Because the Marines are all I've ever known Roger!" Garp cried out "Because this was the hardest decision in my life and I couldn't bring myself to choose!"
"I see... " The King of the Pirates gave his friend and longtime rival a look of disappointment "Maybe I should have given him to Rayleigh then, at least I know he would go to hell and back for that kid." In return, Garp said nothing, knowing he had no right to say anything, he simply drew his fists and charged into the battle If he was lucky, maybe, just maybe Roger would kill him this time...
"Welp, the Captain's having a field day," Gaban commented as he and Rayleigh finally managed to knock out Sengoku, the Fleet Admiral having hit his head against the wall after The Dark King slashed his chest open one too many times.
"I'll say, he's clearly disappointed in Garp for his failings, but I can tell he's not truly mad at him deep down," the first mate said as the two's battle with the defeated Buddha was destroying everything behind Marineford.
"Anywho," The raven-haired glasses wearer drew his axes, "let's see how many Whiteshirts we can take down, loser buys the winner drinks?"
"As usual," Rayleigh told him, already going after Boggart. Gaban taking on some ugly Spider-looking Marine (Oni-gumshoe was his name, he thought) and a dozen or so Pacifistas. This wouldn't take long...
As all the fighting was going on, both formerly unknown members of the Roger and Whitebeard Crew stared at one another. "Even after all these years of mayhem, I was not expecting a stunt like this," Pan D Aman said as he stared at his younger (chronologically at least, that was what happened when you became immortal through Pure Gold) counterpart.
"Was anyone really?" The Spymaster of the Roger pirates said, giving a firm kick that knocked the brave-faced marine and the 5 dozen after him away from where they had tried to cut them.
"I suppose the two of us being in the same radius as each other has caused the Background-Background fruit to annul one another." The older Panda said as he shot a burst of concentrated Electro into the Giant that had just attempted to clobber him.
"Well, I believe we should milk this cow for all its worthwhile we still can senpai~" The less experienced Hybrid stated as his counterpart grinned as they both headed off into battle. The older one would get Aokiji, Mingo (that's what the fucker got for looking at him funny), Kuma (they needed that rematch now that it could be officially recorded), and Sentomaru all to himself.
Meanwhile, the younger (and subsequently weaker ("HEY! I regularly spar with people like Roger and Bullet on a daily basis!")) pirate, instead was only allowed to have the rest of Giant Squad, Kizaru ("Change your name back to Borsalino, ya idiot!") and Vice Admiral Doberman instead. Moriah had tried to steal both their shadows, now fully remembering how powerful they both were (and somehow forgetting why that was a bad thing), but one firm kick to the gut from the two of them sent him firmly flying out of Marineford and onto the next Island.
"So... " Marco hummed as he finished healing off any of his brothers from the attacks now that they all had finally gotten some breathing space, (not so) Little Oars Jr thankfully having gotten his leg stitched back on "This is what true insanity feels like." Neither of the other Division Commanders replied, too busy staring at the utter trainwreck this war was turning into now that the Time Traveling Roger Pirates had arrived. Well... trainwreck for the Marines at least.
"Ehh, I say we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth" Jozu waved his free hand, a warm towel wrapped around the other to remove any of the frostbite Aokiji had given him. "Honestly, I feel like I could just kick back and reeela-"
"ZEHAHAHAHAHA!" The menacing laugh of that FUCKING TRAITOR! graced the Whitebeard Pirates ears, as Teach's raft sailed into view.
"You know what" Jozu rectified, his body already beginning to coat itself with Armament enhanced Diamond "I would like to retract my previous statement" He informed his brothers as he began to march over to where the Fat Bastard would soon be landing. The snarls of rage and sheer hatred heard as they followed him were all the confirmation he needed.
Currently, all three Admirals, the Absolute Superpowers of the Navy, were having very large regrets on coming to this war right now as they all got their asses beat. Hell, Bullet alone could have probably taken them all on at this point, the past Clank-Clank user clobbering the Magma Dog as Armament enhanced fists broke his nose and jaw. (If not for that, he would probably be begging for mercy right now.)
While Kizaru and Aokiji had hoped that by teaming up, along with several of the Shichibukai and subordinates, they could possibly manage to finish off their opponents and assist the rest of the Marines in dealing with the other Pirates. But see, the thing about both your opponents technically being the same person was that they both knew how to work together better than anything they could come up with on such short notice. Combined that with the fact that each of these opponents was strong enough to take both of them on at the same time, and you had a recipe for disaster right on your hands.
Doflamingo was lying in a puddle of his own blood, his body fried and charred as the shock he had received was enough to knock him out along with his injuries (Devil fruit produced strings were electrically conductive, who knew?) while Sentomaru had a piece of his own axe lodged into his chest when he tried to hit one of the two Mink/Human hybrids in the back. The weapon broke on contact and went flying into its former owner.
Kuma was missing a piece of his cranium, robot metal revealed underneath as Aman wondered when he had time to become a cyborg since he was usually too busy with his revolution. (Oh well, he won anyway and everyone saw it, he was officially the Panda King now.) The rest of Giant Squad was also down, either being used as Launchpads or projectiles as their massive bodies flew into the stratosphere as they landed everywhere in Marineford.
"Here's a special trick I've got for you," The Older Roger/Whitebeard pirate said to his Kohai, picking up a pocket mirror he always carried on hand. Waiting for just the right moment as Admiral Kizaru happened to collide with it in his Light form, sending his gleaming body flying across the Red Line.
"OH NOOOO!" 3 Marine Mooks, who didn't honestly deserve names or rankings, yelled "ADMIRAL KIZARU IS BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"
"Papapa!" His 20-year-early self laughed, giving Vice Admiral Doberman another noogie as the Doglike Marine tried helplessly to fight back "Genius! I gotta try that on Borsalino when I get back," he said, tossing away the follower of Absolute Justice into a cannon that soon blew up.
"Oh yeah," His counterpart snapped his fingers before pulling out a piece of paper from his fur "I didn't expect anything like this to ever happen, but I made a small note, just in case." He handed over the 'To do List' as the younger Aman pulled out his fancy reading glasses to take a look.
"Find the Op-Op user and have them cure Roger, easy. Rip one of Kaido's horns off as a souvenir before he controls Wano, simple enough. Go to the Florian Triangle and find- OH FUCK! BROOK!" The immortal being slapped his head, cursing his much weaker youth for losing the memories of his time with Yorki and the rest of the Rumbar Pirates. Oh Goda, Laboon was probably still waiting for him, looks like he'll have to brush up on his Accordion skills before then.
And while they were busy discussing future plans (Well, past plans for one of them) the idea of retirement looked all the more appealing to soon-to-be-former Admiral Kuzan.
"Pops! Are you alright?" Vista worriedly asked as he and Izo check up on their beloved Captain, Whitebeard seeming to almost have had a heart at the sight of Roger.
"I-I'm fine Vista" The World's strongest man chocked out, even as his heart yearned to give up. Honesty, he had seen weirder things, but that didn't matter right now, things were starting to look up for the Whitebeard Pirates now. Not only were the Marines occupied getting their asses kicked by every last member of the Roger Pirates (Yes, even Buggy, past and present) but he could see quite clearly his other son were making sure that infernal bilge rat Teach was dealt with. 'Honestly, I wish I could throw a Quake or two his way.'
Yet the former Rocks Pirate knew it that would likely cause more problems for his sons than it would assist. So, he stayed his hand, no matter how tempting it may be. The sheer madness of everything was almost enough for him to drop his guard, but that brat Hawkeye was still loud enough that he saw him coming. Kurokiri tightened in his grip as he got ready to block the swing of Yoru's blade... But someone else already had that covered.
"ODEN STYLE: HEAVEN AND EARTH SPLIT!" Ame no Habakiri and Enma blocked the immense strike of Yoru, Mihawk was slightly thrown off as he landed back on the ground. "I think your slipping up, brother~" Kozuku Oden grinned, taking in the slight tear that came out of the trio's eyes. His mushroom-like hair bobbed along with the wind and Sakura petals that came out of nowhere.
"Oden, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Newgate grinned in spite of his sniffles as his long-dead brother twirled his blades.
"Lord Oden... " Izo cried as his legs suddenly lost all weight to them.
"Odie!" Vista grinned happily at the sight of his former fellow division commander in action.
"Can't believe you put Roger's brat as my replacement though, oh man! I'm gonna tease him about this for weeks." He smirked "Hell, bet we could have him and Momonsuke fight over who'd be a better fit for that position, maybe Hiyori if I've been teaching her too... " Suddenly, all 3 Whitebeard pirates winced, Oden blissfully unaware as Mihawk drew his blade properly.
"Yeah, about that-"
"ONWARD! " Vista didn't get to finish his sentence as Oden had already charged off into battle. They'll just have to tell him next time...
"Do you think Lord Oden will be alright?" Inuarashi said, as his best friend/brother in all but blood as the Mushroom-headed man engaged blades with the current World's Greatest Swordsman. Everyone stayed a good 50 meters away as they were wrecking their own private spot with the sheer pressure coming off their blades.
"I'm sure he's ok, else he would have called us by now," Nekomamushi shrugged as he smoked on the pipe Rayleigh had gotten him into recently. Oden seemed to be having the time of his life while Mihawk could say the same judging by the grin on his usually stoic expression.
"You think we should get more involved?" The Dog Mink asked, punting over some Smoke type Logia and his subordinate while Nekomamushi stunned some pink haired lady with iron bars coming out of her body.
"Hmm, should we raid the place?" The large yellow fleabag asked before the duo suddenly gained a sinister glint in their eyes before sneaking off to find whatever they could. They were best friends with a ninja after all...
"Right, you weren't that tough," Douglas huffed, wiping the bits of ash on his hands as the unconscious form of Akainu could only cough blood back in reply. "Normally, I'd kill anyone who loses to me, but Captain Roger said something about how if I let some of you guys live, you come back as even greater fights." The Demons heir turned away, facing the trio who were only about a year younger than him at most.
"... Are you happy?" Was the first question that came to James Hook's mind as he stared into the cold, battle-hungry eyes of the Roger Pirates' most dangerous member.
"The hell you talking about, Kid?" The former soldier growled.
"Your eyes," Hook took note of the cold pricks that made up his eyes. "They don't feel as warm as the others did, or when Ace's family came over to help. You don't have Nakama do you?"
"No," was Bullet's simple reply "I don't care about people that will just betray me in the end, I only care about getting stronger."
"But how can you really be strong without friends to protect?"
"And what makes you think having friends makes you stronger?" The Million beri question was asked, Ace and Luffy in spite of all the chaos going on, were both firmly stuck where they were as they couldn't bring themselves to leave until this conversation finished.
"Because life is easier with friends because the insanity that comes with having them makes me all the more stronger. Because they'll go to hell and back to protect you, and you'll do the same for them." was Hook's simple reply, offering a shaky grin to the man who just clobbered the guy who nearly curb-stomped him minutes ago. Normally Douglas would just ignore that kind of crappy advice that came out of their mouth, he never liked the ones that dared spit on his betrayal-born beliefs, but something about this guppy's words clicked in him. Seeing something in his eyes that felt like he was talking to an older version of himself, telling him he needed to change.
"... Ok," he reluctantly said, taking a silent nod as a sign of 'good enough' that he would do better. Now don't get him wrong, he wasn't gonna be some tree-hugging hipster who proclaimed 'friendship is Magic' and junk like that. But he could at least try getting along with the others in the crew. Might be nice to have someone he could rely on again.
'That's good enough for me,' Hook thought, before getting up as he, Luffy, and Ace bolted. "Kuro, we're leaving!" He whistled, the Artificial Dog dislodging itself from one unlucky Rear Admirals throat before nodding and hopping back onto his rightful place on his Master's shoulder as he and his friends departed this crazy place.
"Shame you're not very strong, kid, else you would have been a great fight!" Bullet grinned, making a path for them as he went to town on the place. Unaware of the acidic glare Hook fed him at that comment.
'Dammit, just wait a few years, ya bastard, then I'll kick your ass!' He thought as he, Ace, and Luffy finally got out of there. All while Marineford went to shambles before the Roger Pirates finally decided to leave. Ivankov took the battered metallic form of Kuma before he did so while Jinbei and the Sun Pirates turned in their 'official resignation' by flooding the lower down areas of Marineford. Crocodile and Daz Bones had already decided this war was too insane to properly enjoy and left with a Warship of their own not 5 minutes after Blackbeard was killed by every last one of his former crew that wasn't busy.
Hancock swooning over Hook and Luffy as they both 'gracefully' escape ("CLANK-CLANK: NIGERUNDAYO!") Every other Vice-Admiral besides the strongest ones were either knocked out, still in shock or was trying their hardest to swim as far away from this Island as they could (Yes, even the Devil Fruit eating ones.) And when Shanks arrived, expecting the fight of his life and seeing instead a dumpster fire, all the cowering Marines had finally realized they had forgotten to cut the feeds, the entire world had seen the scared little bitches they were...
And that was WITHOUT factoring in what the two Minks had stolen before they left! (The total equivalent of all they took would be too vast to name, so we will just say the all-around price of everything to be about 1 billion beris, give or take a few 100 million.)
"Good times" Douglas recalled with a chuckle as he and the rest of the Roger Pirates (Minus the Captain) celebrated their reunion party on Sakura Island. 20 years and they still ruled the seas in their various Domains, Shanks and Buggy now ruling their own sections as Emperors after taking down Kaido and Big Mom respectively. It was easy after Newgate and Oden sent the one Horned Bastard fleeing from Wano along with the rest of his weakened Armada.
Orochi, according to Aman's future notes, had gotten the fate he deserved by being boiled to death in a Pot of Oden. His fruit was given to Momonosuke as a birthday present from his dear old dad. Buggy, with a little help from the Impel Down Prisoners he let out, took Totland by storm along with the rest of the Mad Circus Pirates, killing Linlin after giving her a Cake stuffed with Dyna Stones that she never saw coming.
And along with Newgate, they made sure to keep the Marines in check while Shiki, the 4th Emperor, kept searching the Grand Line in vain for Roger, unaware he and his wife had settled down in a quiet little place called Foosha Village to raise their son, now that he didn't have to worry about his illness anymore. Apparently, his son had made friends with that Strawhat guy from before, and another kid named Sabo. No sight of that Hook kid yet, but he was still searching for him.
Aman and Thatch (the new Dark-Dark fruit user) both sat at the bar as they got absolutely shitfaced, making good use of the Fruit's ability to null others to make sure the Mink stopped fading into the background of the world. All the while, Douglas looked at the men who, after 20 long years, he could faithfully call his friends as they just laughed around the fire. Shame he never got too spar with that guppy, but maybe one day they would meet agai-
Zip
His musings were suddenly cut off as a portal behind him opened up, a familiar blonde youth he saw 20 years ago stepping out. "ALRIGHT, BULLET! I'M READY TO FIGHT YOU!" James Hook declared a scar or two across his face as he wore an outfit not too dissimilar from his own as a crew of around 25 or so people stepped up behind him.
"Sorry, but Hook insisted there was no better use for time travel than to fight you," Nami apologetically shrugged as Bullet happily threw away his half-full bottle of whiskey as he and Hook charged at the other. The rest of the Roger pirates quickly departed as they knew this Island wouldn't survive their battle.
"CLANK-CLANK ARMORY!"
"GRAND CHARIOT!"
Now, this was a Roger party!
A/N: Let me what you think, I'll pass the feedback to the original author. As this will most likely be my last post of 2021, see you in the new year, I'm sure!