Ace couldn't help but grin at his crew's horrified expressions. "Come on guys, it's not that bad." Paddy held his head in his hands and let out a choked sob, causing Dusty to give him a sympathetic pat on the back. "We're all gonna die, I'm only nineteen, I don't want to die yet. Why do you do this to us Captain?!"

Deuce smirked at his wailing crew mate "Dunno what you're on about Paddy, this is gonna be fun." The (supposedly) sane members of the crew shot the sniper a sharp glare "Shut it Deuce, not everyone can be an adrenaline junkie like you are."

Snickering at Alice's outburst Ace gave a quick whistle to regain his crew's attention "I promise to make sure we all leave alive! We're not going to pick a fight with Red Hair and based on our lack of bounties I sincerely doubt we're gonna be attacked outright. Besides,"

The fire logia let out a sly smirk "we're finally in the Grand Line and the island on route to Shank's location is currently under the rule of a tyrannical pirate crew, called the yellow vipers or something like that. I think it's time for the Spades to stop hiding."

No one disagreed, and Ace could spot more than a few bloodthirsty grins, "So, who's up for a quick fight before we go meet an Emperor?" Enthusiastic shouts of agreement and outright laughter filled the small ship, and left a warmth in Ace's heart.

Everything had been going well so far, not one of his crew had a bounty, despite their recent antics against the marines. And both Ace and his crew were also much stronger than they had been the first time round, a few Spades had even started to unlock the basics of haki under their Captain's harsh (evil) training regime.

The only problem so far was Teach. After his betrayal in the original timeline, Haruta had somehow been able to uncover the fact that Teach had secretly been operating in the underworld for years under the name of Blackbeard.

So, in theory it should have been easy enough to find evidence of Blackbeard's misdeeds even this far back in the timeline. Even if Ace had doubted his ability to link it back to Teach himself.

But the bastard was sneaky, and Ace been unable to find more than a whisper of the name Blackbeard both within underworld, or the Marines records. Of course, that might have been due to the fact that until now Ace had been limited to the information found in East blue.

But it still wasn't promising. Letting out a small sigh Ace couldn't help but a feel a large amount of respect for Haruta. He'd never realised how frustrating information gathering could be, and honestly Ace was far better suited to talking with his fists and lighting shit on fire.

Which unfortunately was not at all helpful to his current goal of subtlety.

"Care for a drink Captain?" Snapping out of his thoughts Ace let out a huff of laughter and easily accepted the drink presented by his first mate. "Thanks Dusty." The man in the cowboy hat gave a small nod before settling down next to his Captain, a serious expression on his face.

"I know there's something bigger at play here Captain, bigger than you just avoiding your Grandfather at least." Ace opened his mouth to deny it, but he'd never been a fan of lying to those he cared about. "There is. Do you want to know what."

The older man stared at his Captain in consideration, some part of him knowing that if he asked, Ace would answer truthfully. Instead the cowboy shook his head and gave a small chuckle "I trust you Captain. If you think we need to know, you'll tell us."

Ace grinned and clinked his glass against his first mates in a silent promise. One day he'd tell his crew the truth about his heritage.

Ace wasn't naive, he knew once the spades reached a certain level of notoriety the world government would try to investigate his origins, and though he'd done his level best to erase any clues from the marine bases they'd visited in east blue, he knew eventually the truth would come out.

But this time, Ace would be prepared.

Ace was snapped out of his darker thoughts as he saw Doc attempting to steal his assistant, Quartz's, hat. Letting out a laugh the young Captain felt himself relax, he still needed information on BlackBeard, but Ace had time. For now he'd enjoy celebrating making it to the Grandline.

It would take the Spades a day to make it to the next island and then a further day and a half to find Shanks. He could relax for now. He was with his crew, he was safe.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

Marco could tell he wasn't the only commander shooting concerned looks at Haruta. Honestly the youngest commander's smile was disturbing. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to want to deal with it, meaning as the oldest sibling it was automatically his responsibility.

Giving a heavy sigh, Marco ignored the grateful looks his siblings shot him and instead tapped Haruta on the shoulder snapping the younger out of his (hopefully) temporary bout of insanity "Something you'd like to share with us Haruta?"

The giggles trailed off as Haruta gave his oldest brother a beaming grin, before turning to look at their father "Oyaji we need to recruit Spade right now!"

Marco raised an eyebrow in askance, whilst Whitebeard let out an indulgent chuckle "Oh, and why's that Son?" Haruta held up the bounty poster for the aforementioned Lady Spade "Because anyone who played a prank this masterful is being wasted anywhere else!"

More of the Whitebeard pirates were listening in on the conversation now "What do you mean a prank commander?" Haruta grinned at the questioner.

"Glad you asked! Now as most of you should know, these wanted posters for the so called 'Lady Spade' were circulated last week, however despite all the rumours flying around, my network has confirmed that as of now only four people seem to have actually seen the woman the person."

Here Haruta's grin widened to epic proportions "Now this is where things start to get interesting, after the first stunt Spade pulled, two of these people, a couple, immediately go to inform the marines of what they'd seen before claiming the reward money for the information. On the same night person number three, a supposed crewmate of Lady Spade, goes to a local bar and after a few drinks, spills all the information he has on his Captain. All of which matches up with the couple's earlier information."

"Our final person shows up several days later with a matching story and a detailed description of the woman in question, resulting in the horrifying bounty poster we see before us. But the real kicker is, that the supposed pirate and the couple who went to marines have since been spotted together."

"Meaning not only have they all been fucking with the marines, but the marines have been paying them for it!" Whitebeard wasn't the only one to let out a loud laugh "What cheeky brats, and you think these informants all work for the actual Spade?"

Haruta nodded enthusiastically "I'm positive Oyaji, according to the information I just received, three of the four people matching the appearances the informants described, have just appeared on a winter island near the start of the Grand Line as part of a crew sporting a bright orange spade in their Jolly Roger."

Namur looked thoughtfully at Haruta "That's incredibly strange though. If several of this crew acted as informants for the marines it means that in the very least those three had no bounties. And based on the fact that you haven't given us any other names am I correct in assuming none of the other members have identifiable bounties either."

Haruta nodded in confirmation "So in that case how the hell did a group of no names, from East Blue of all places, make it to the Grand line unhindered whilst managing to pull the stunts they've been getting away with?!" Several members of the assembled pirates paused to give thought to the very valid question.

"It's possible they're not actually a new group but rather an old one that specialises in stealth yoi. If that was the case, they might have just stayed under the radar until now."

Haruta shook his head at his oldest sibling "I considered that, but if that's the case why come out of hiding now? I've not been able to find any information on the crew so far other than the absence of their bounties. Now that they're actively flying a Jolly Roger they should be making a move soon though. Until then it's just a matter of waiting."

Marco couldn't help the snort at the thought of Haruta being patient about anything, looking around, he could see he wasn't the only one hiding his amusement. "Oh screw you jerks, I can totally be patient!"

The smallest commander pouted as his siblings burst into laughter, Whitebeard grinned down at his youngest son "These Spades seem interesting, keep me posted on them." Haruta let out a happy laugh "Sounds good Oyaji, though I think we'll be hearing news sooner rather than later." The Emperor raised an eyebrow "Oh, and why's that?"

Haruta smiled "The island they've just landed on is currently under pirate ruling, and not the nice kind. Chances are the crew in charge will attack the Spades to make a point. Their captain's only worth fourty million beri so it should be pretty obvious if the Spades are a rookie crew or not based on how they deal with it."

Whitebeard grinned and Marco couldn't help but roll his eyes. If the spades ever made it to the new world there was no doubt in the phoenix's mind that they'd be hit with a recruitment pitch, a slight smirk appeared on his face. He was looking forward to it.

Author's note

Ok, so that's chapter 4 done, i hope you're enjoying it so far! Thank you for all the favourites follow and comments so far (I've really loved reading them) also to answer a question asked by Sweetsnakes yes the revolutionaries will be involved though they won't show up for a few chapters *evil grin*. Next chapter I promise more messing with the marines, but feel free to comment or pm me if you have any particularly evil ideas of revenge! :D other than that I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the next one will hopefully be out soon