Bold– action within speaking form
Italics– flashbacks
"…"– talking
'…'– thinking
Bold/Italics– change of scenery
Bold/Underline/Italics– more emphasis when someone says something or something is realized by another person
Underline/Italics– minor Japanese words used within the story (also, lazy to translate XP)
Disclaimers: This is a crossover between Sailor Moon and One Piece. I do not own these two shows. Sailor Moon is written by Naoko Takeuchi in manga form and aired as a series by Toei Animation and TV Asahi in Japan and by Kodansha Comics in North America. One Piece is written by Eiichiro Oda and aired as a series by Toei Animation in Japan and by 4Kids Entertainment in 2004 before Funimation took over in 2007 for North America.
"Where is Mercury," questioned Ace.
As the private meeting between grandparent and grandsons were done, Queen Serenity IV quickly reminded Ace that he had a group therapy session with his Spade Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates before Ace could even get out of the throne room. Ace knew that his mother figure was trying to rile up the Whitebeard Pirates by separating the Spade Pirates and himself from the Whitebeard Pirates through another therapy session, but did she had to do that in front of Marco? Better yet, did she also have to tell Marco to gather his fellow Whitebeard commanders and go to another group therapy session? It, however, wasn't the end of the surprise. Oh, no. The Spade Pirates and Ace got to the meeting room only to pause to see one of the Whitebeard Pirates acting as a medic… a familiar whitish blue haired Whitebeard woman. "Whitey," sighed Marco.
"No hello, Marco," questioned Whitey with a smirk, "Same to you, Ace. I mean, we siblings have to watch each other's backs, especially with people kidnapping you."
"As I said," said Ace who had one eye twitching, "Where is Mercury? What did you do to her?"
"She's alive, if that's what you are asking," said Whitey, "Just indisposed."
"Whitey, I am not playing," said Ace as he motioned for Saber and Deuce to find Mercury.
"I am not either," said Whitey, "Come on, Ace! You should have the courtesy to tell your siblings that you were alive and well. Why did you never come back to us?"
Ace stayed silent as his Spade Pirates began to surround Ace, Kotatsu growling at Whitey. Whitey, on her part, backed up just a bit while looking at the exasperation and anger looks the other Whitebeard commanders were giving her. Sure, the others came to see Luffy marry that princess girl, but they were surprised to hear about an Ace from some people around the island. Whitey wanted to know what they were talking about and started to investigate without communicating with the other commanders. Now, she was enraged that the Ace was the same littlest brother the Whitebeards supposedly lost in that war years ago. It was just luck that she found a blue-haired woman whom was questioning about her being a Whitebeard commander and coming with her for something called a group therapy. Sure, she shouldn't have knocked this Senshi out, but she really wanted to see Ace again. "Whitey," said Ace, "If you harmed Mercury in any way, you don't have just me to deal with. You have the entire kingdom up in arms."
"Truly," questioned Thatch nervously.
"Hai," said Ace, "They do NOT take kindly to someone sneaking into the castle AND harming one of their own."
"Great going Whitey," said an irritated Izo.
"Demo," said Whitey, "Ace should be with us!"
"And that is the reason why he has Stockholm syndrome," said a female voice.
Whitey tensed at the unknown female's voice while the Whitebeard Pirates were sighing in relief. They all turned around to see the blue-haired woman that everyone, besides Whitey, was familiar with… Sailor Mercury. Ace took a quick glance over her to assess if there was any other injury that Whitey probably made on her person. He really did not want his imōto to learn about one of her Senshi being injured due to Whitey and her outrageous plans. He noted mentally that other than a bump to Mercury's head, she had no other injuries. "Mercury," said Ace, "Are you alright?"
"I am fine, Ace-sama," said Mercury, "And I shall let this slide once. If this happens a second time, let it be known that the Whitebeard Pirates and whoever they call siblings would be punished."
"Noted," said Marco who was glaring at Whitey.
"What," questioned Whitey who thought she didn't do anything wrong.
The Whitebeard Commanders just sighed at Whitey. They all wanted Ace back with them, but Whitey doing her own thing just made things quite difficult. What Whitey did probably set back their own plan of gaining Ace's trust back… of gaining the Spade Pirates' trusts back. Ace and the Spade Pirates were openly glaring at Whitey as Deuce physically checked over Sailor Mercury for injuries. "I am alright Deuce-san," said Mercury.
"What do you mean Ace has Stockholm syndrome," demanded Whitey, "Did you and this island's people do something to Ace?!"
"Īe," said a sad Thatch, "Ace has this syndrome because of us."
"Bah," mocked Whitey, "What lies have they been telling you all?"
"It's not lies," said a fierce Banshee, "All of us Spade Pirates developed it after what Whitebeard did to our captain!"
"You're a Whitebeard pirate," shot back Whitey.
"And this is why we have group therapy sessions sometimes," muttered Ducky Bree.
Whitey ignored Ducky Bree's mutterings as she had a knowing look. She knew that she was right that these pirates are and will always be Whitebeard pirates. However, she didn't see the disappointment in the Whitebeard Commanders and the resentment and forlorn looks within Ace and his Spade Pirates. They knew that Whitey's tale about joining the Whitebeards was vastly different than the Spade Pirates' tale. Sailor Mercury could see that Whitey was proud about being a Whitebeard pirate, even though she made up a subsidiary part of the Whitebeards. "You seem quite proud to be a Whitebeard pirate," commented Mercury.
"Of course," exclaimed Whitey, "Pops was the best!"
"If he was the best," continued Mercury, "Then, why did you form your own pirate crew?"
"I wanted to see the oceans," said Whitey, "And Pops gave his blessings for me to go on my own."
"I see," said Mercury, "Then, why didn't he just make the Spade Pirates a subsidiary as well? Why didn't he let them explore the oceans together once more after Ace agreed to become his son?"
As Sailor Mercury started to talk with Whitey and questioning on how she became a subdivision for the Whitebeards, the Spade Pirates looked at each other and started to fume. They knew that Whitey and Jinbē were just two out of how many subsidiaries the Whitebeard pirates had. It was the same with Luffy and his so-called fleet, even if Luffy denies having one. They could have been a subsidiary, yet that didn't happen. Did that mean their own freedom was stolen by the Whitebeards incorporating them all into different divisions within the huge ship? Ace felt like a failure when he realized that Whitebeard didn't think about his own freedom. Looking back, it looked like the other Whitebeards were on the fence until Ace PROVED himself to be a reliable son to Whitebeard, having his own freedom disappearing after getting the mark of Whitebeard. "You made your point," grumbled Kingdew.
"What do you mean, Kingdew," asked Whitey who paused in explaining her own experience about her recruitment.
"Sailor Mercury-san just proved that we Whitebeards were in the wrong when we have gotten Ace to become our brother," said a subdued Atmos.
"I have," questioned Mercury who was smiling innocently at the Whitebeards.
"As much as I want to deny it," said Blenheim, "We were in the wrong by separating Ace and his crew."
"We were also wrong to restrict the Spade Pirates," said a solemn Curiel.
"Thus, leading to their stolen freedom, yoi," said Marco.
The rest of the Whitebeard commanders nodded their heads. Thatch had to wince when he thought about how Ace was first hostile before mellowing out. Did that mean they essentially changed Ace's fiery personality? Did that mean they didn't really know the real Ace? The others thought back as well. It seemed like the hostility Ace had just bled away from him after months being on board with them. They, however, knew that when Ace was bragging about his little brother, Luffy, that was genuine at least. "Did that mean that we didn't know Ace," questioned Haruta.
"Uh," coughed Ace, "My personality is just the same. You knew the semi-real me, just a bit subdued because my freedom was essentially taken away?"
"Actually," said Deuce, "When we met back up, you looked more subdued. You also wouldn't just fiercely jump towards an adventure."
"Same observations here," said Banshee, "I mean, Capt'n. When we were together, you would always have a grin on your face. You didn't even ask for our permission. But, that could be because you were our captain. You wanted adventure."
"Then," commented Hublot, "Whitebeard happened, and instead of just going with the flow like you always did, you asked permission to go off to an island. The only time we saw your personality from before was when Teach happened and taking off without permission from Whitebeard himself."
"We… kind of cheered you on about that stunt," said Skull, "Well, until the War."
Ace winced as he continued to think about how his personality was with Whitebeard. Sure, he still had his grin on his face when he pulled a prank on some other pirates with Haruta and Thatch… sure, he grinned when he finally, finally, read that Luffy was out at sea and kept talking about him to the Whitebeards. Yet, he didn't notice that when there was a place he really wanted to go to, he asked Whitebeard or Marco for permission instead of just going. The Whitebeard Commanders winced when they heard the Spade Pirates' observations on their ex-captain. Even Whitey winced when she heard everything that happened with the Spade Pirates, especially Ace. She also knew that she couldn't answer any of Sailor Mercury's questions to the best of her abilities. Heck! Even her answers to Sailor Mercury's inquiries were just half-baked and always, always, leading her to defend Pops' honor. "Gomen," said Ace with his head down.
"Why are you sorry, Ace," questioned Mercury as she wrote what was happening down in her clipboard, "What is there to be sorry about?"
"I'm sorry that I was weak," said Ace, "I'm sorry that the Spade Pirates suffered because of my rash decisions. I'm sorry for never noticing how I was acting throughout the three years I was with the Whitebeards. I'm sorry that I failed as a captain to…"
"You did NOT fail us," said Deuce fiercely.
"Yeah," chorused the Spade Pirates.
"It wasn't like we knew that the Whitebeards would accuse us of harming that island villagers when you took on Jinbē," said Mihal.
"Yeah," said Saber, "Haruta gathered the wrong Intel because Jinbē said we harmed them when we saved them."
"Also, you didn't fail us when we were with the Whitebeard Pirates," said Kotatsu.
"Sure we have mild Stockholm syndrome, yours being the worst Capt'n," said Leonero, "Demo, we still had a blast as part of the Whitebeards."
"And! We would always follow you, Capt'n," said Skull.
"We'll follow you even when you are a Senshi here," said Deuce, "You are our Capt'n, and you will always BE our Capt'n."
Ace turned his head to the side, but everyone could tell he was getting a bit emotional. Sailor Mercury smiled kindly at the Spade Pirates before turning to watch the Whitebeard Pirates. She noted that they looked very guilty about how they acquired Ace into their crew. She also noted that this Whitey woman was biting her lower lip nervously, especially when she was watching Ace getting into a big group hug by the Spade Pirates. She, however, was surprised to see Thatch launch into the group hug as well. "Wah," yelped Ace, "Thatch?!"
"Gomen," cried out Thatch who was hugging Ace for dear life, "Gomen for not accepting your refusal to join the crew and taking away your freedom!"
"We all are," said a guilty Izo.
"Even though this is our nth group therapy for all of us, Sailor Mercury is scarily good in bringing out our raw emotions quickly," said Namur.
"I want to drink to that," said Rakuyo.
"No drinking, yoi," said Marco with a sigh.
"What kind of pirates are we if we don't drink," mocked Vista.
"A sober one," joked Deuce.
"True," said Jozu with a laugh.
Whitey could see that the Commanders were true in their apologies. Just listening to what Ace and his first crew went through gave her some perspective on how wrong Whitebeard was in making Ace his son, willingly or not. Whitey winced when she finally heard that it was actually true that Ace's freedom had got stolen just by being in this group therapy. Though, she wondered if her finding Sailor Mercury was fate playing a hand at pushing the Whitebeards in learning how wrong and guilty they were with her own recruitment into Whitebeard's crew or was it something else. No one would realize that another Senshi was using her powers to make sure Whitey was at this particular group therapy. "Ace," said a serious Thatch, "I am going to gain your trust again."
"Huh," questioned Ace, "You've never lost my trust?"
"Demo, I did," said Thatch.
"We all did," said Haruta, "Because the fact remains that we had wronged you all these years and now realize that we DID hurt you… emotionally."
"So," said Jozu, "We are going to gain your trust back by helping you out."
"Helping how," questioned Saber.
"Helping by being your allies instead," said Blenheim.
"We all agreed," said Marco, "That if something bad happens, you have the Whitebeards as your allies to fight alongside you."
'And the subsidiaries," chimed in Whitey.
"You guys," said Ace.
Sailor Mercury narrowed her eyes at the conviction. She didn't know if something was going to happen to the kingdom… to the island… but! She knew that she didn't have to worry TOO much. After all, the Senshi were always ready to defend the kingdom. Luffy having his fleet and being a powerful pirate that was almost close to being the new King of the Pirates was just an added bonus in keeping the kingdom safe, especially keeping her hime safe. Yet, now… "Well, this progressed well," piped up Mercury as she stood up from where she sat after being checked for injuries by Ace and Deuce, "Now, Ace-san?"
"Hai," questioned Ace.
"We shall be going towards more one-on-one therapy sessions about these revelations," said Mercury, "Especially your self-worth as the Spade Pirates' captain. Saying you failed… Silly purinsu."
"D-Don't call me that," said an embarrassed Ace.
"Also," said Mercury who ignored what Ace said, "We will be having our final group therapy session to see how the progressed relationship between the Spade Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates is going. It will probably be after the trials that Luffy-sama and Mamoru-sama are undergoing."
"That guy," muttered Ace darkly.
Without pause, Sailor Mercury bowed to the group of pirates before going to the Senshi meeting about keeping the peace within the kingdom. All of the pirates watched her go before looking at one another awkwardly. Even though Sailor Mercury was good at bringing out their raw emotions, it just left them now with awkward tension. Ace didn't know what he wanted, but he DID want his siblings with him. These emotions were so not helping his reputation as a former Spade's captain and a former Whitebeard commander. Just why did his mother-figure send him to therapy? With a mental pout in remembering that it was his PTSD's fault, Ace tuned back to what was happening. "So, what did Garp tell you about the reincarnated ōji," questioned Izo.
"Ōji," questioned Whitey.
"Nothing for you to know about just yet, yoi," said Marco, "Anyways, go back to your quarters. You aren't even supposed to BE here, Whitey."
"Fine," mocked Whitey, "I know when I am not wanted."
With a huff, Whitey left, arms crossed as if she was upset. She knew that Marco was the new Whitebeard captain. So, in default, she HAD to listen to him, especially when she was still a part of the Whitebeard pirates. The Whitebeard Commanders watched as Whitey left before their eyes turned serious. As one, the Whitebeards and the Spades looked at Ace. They were going to get answers out of him about the dark tone Ace used. He never used it after accepting to being a Whitebeard pirate. The last time, however, was when he took off to fight Teach. "Start talking, Ace," said Deuce.
"Yeah," agreed everyone there.
"Well, gramps said…"
AN: I am still stuck on what kind of tests Luffy and Mamoru should do. ┐(゚~゚)┌ So… this is like a filler before Queen Serenity IV's actual test. ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭ You all know that Mamoru, Luffy, and Serenity are actually friends. So! These kinds of tests will probably reflect on how well Luffy makes Serenity happy. But, you know Luffy, guys! He'll do something… chaotic. I just know it. (;¬_ლ) Though, this writer's block is getting to me too. (。•́︿•̀。) Anyways! Happy reading and see ya whenever this writer's block leaves me. |・ω・`)
