Ace forced his muscles to relax, as he heard the deafening click of the seastone cuffs being fastened behind his back. Desperately trying to ignore how weak he now felt, the logia carefully shifted his hands and pulled out the small lockpick that was hidden in the seam of his logpose. Several minutes of fidgeting later and Ace was finally free of his bonds.
Letting out a large grin as he felt his fire return, the young Captain turned towards his gathered crewmates, "What was the time Liam?" The former circus man stared down at his wrist, before shooting the freckled teen a large thumbs up "Two minutes thirty seven seconds Captain." Ace grinned, as several members of the crew groaned and handed money over to Dret.
It had been a couple of weeks since Ace's crew had sent his photo to the Marines, pretending it was Lady Spade, and since then Ace had promised the crew training free weekends. Weekends he was now taking shameless advantage of, by forcing his crewmate to teach him how to pick a lock.
The first time Ace had tried to recreate the position he had once sat atop the execution platform, it had taken everything the teen had not to have a panic attack. Overcome by the sudden flashbacks an execution platform, looking down on everyone he loved fighting and dying for him.
Luckily Dusty had been there to snap him out of it, though the older man had been thoroughly confused by Ace's panic and had asked if he wanted to stop. But the fire logia had always been stubborn, and after steady exposure, and a few a few successful attempts at escaping his bonds, Ace could now calmly pick escape his cuffs.
Which is why his crew now had fun betting on his escape attempts.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Ace handed the seastone handcuffs back over to Doc and lifted his newly freed hand to his mouth, to let out a piercing whistle. "Ok, I Know I said no training today but Kalin found some information about the next island that everyone needs to know."
Waiting until all of the crew was present, Ace gestured to the small unassuming man by his side. Kalin was one of the more forgettable looking members of the Spade pirates, and as such was perfect for information gathering.
Which is why whenever they stopped by a populated island, Ace would send Small to a bar to draw as much attention as possible, and spread new rumors. All the while, Kalin would sit quietly, unnoticed in a corner, and listen in on everyone elses conversations.
It was a technique that had worked well up till now, though with the Spades growing fame there was a chance the technique would lose it's effectiveness. But for now it was useful.
Kalin cleared his throat to draw attention "From what I've heard, the next island is under the protection of the Emperor Whitebeard and is currently inhabited by one of their allied crews." Ace couldn't quite help his grin. Last time round the Island, while still under Whitebeard's protection, hadn't been inhabited by any of their allies.
Meaning whichever crew was here, was here on Whitebeards orders. Most likely in order to gather information on the Spades. Ace felt his grin (and nerves) grow.
The important thing now, was to make a decent impression, but I mean at least Ace wasn't actively trying to murder anyone this time round, or at least he wasn't trying to murder anyone who didn't deserve it. So really, what's the worst that could happen?
"Any idea which of their allied crews, might be on the island?" Kalin shook his head, "no such luck Captain." Ace gave a small shrug "Oh well, guess we'll just have to wait and see. But seeing as the situation is somewhat different to our usual stops I'm applying some ground rules for the next island."
Ace met the eyes of his assembled crew letting them know he was serious "First of all this is just a supply stop, so there should be no need for fighting. Essentially try not to pick a fight with the Whitebeards, cause you mess with one of them, and you've just picked a fight with all of them."
His crew gulped, and Ace couldn't help but grin "Other than that be polite to the locals and go enjoy the day! Green, any idea how long it'll take the logpose to settle?" The navigator gave a small smile and a nod "I'd give it twenty hours Captain."
The logia gave a thoughtful nod "Ok, we'll dock overnight and leave whenever the pose settles. Alice and Grey, you two are on watch duty tonight but feel free to enjoy the day. Everyone else you can go bar hopping tonight if you want, just make sure that if you pick someone up you go to their place, no strangers on the ship."
"Other than that, make sure everyone gets back to the ship by one in the afternoon tomorrow." There were a few good natured cheers and groans.
"You gonna be joining us Ace?" The Captain grinned at his first mate "Not this time Dusty. I have something I want to do here." The mischievous grin on Ace's face was enough to send shivers down the cowboy's back.
"Ace, please don't start a war with the strongest crew in the world." Ace scoffed an offended look on his face "Like I'd be that stupid!" (that was a lie, he'd totally be that stupid) From the disbelieving look his first mate shot him, the logia could tell Dusty believed that statement as much as Ace himself did.
Holding up both his hands in a conciliatory manner Ace tried (and failed) to look innocent "I won't start anything too bad." Dusty sighed in resignation "That's the best I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?"
Apparently, Ace's grin was answer enough, because the cowboy threw his hands up in exasperation before stalking off to go join the rest of the crew.
Laughing at his friend's reaction, Ace couldn't quite help but smile softly, and wonder which of his future (past?) brothers or sisters might be waiting on the Island.
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Oars Jr, was intrigued. It wasn't too often that his crew got sent to gather intel, they were too conspicuous to really be of any use in terms of subtlety. But they were currently the only Whitebeard crew in paradise, which is why they had been tasked with observing the Spade pirates.
So far the infamous pirates had proved to be something of an enigma. After docking on the summer island, the crew had proceeded to buy supplies without causing any real trouble before going out to enjoy the island's nightlife.
What was more interesting was the fact that neither the Captain (It was easier to refer to Lady Spade as such, rather than as 'the woman who possibly doesn't exist') nor the first mate, the so-called Ace of Spades, had been sighted yet.
Which is why instead of getting drunk like he'd wanted to, Oars Jr was currently sat on a cliff overlooking the Harbour, watching the Spade's ship. The giant had been sat watching the Card Deck for approximately an hour when he heard measured footsteps approaching him from behind.
"What're you doing up here?" Based on the young voice, absence of fear and lack of stumbling on the rocky path it was probably one of the village teens. Keeping his eyes fixed on the Spades ship Oars replied, seeing no problem with indulging the young man's curiosity.
"I'm watching the Spade's ship. Commander Marco wanted some information on them." Oars Jr heard the young man come closer "How come? What's so interesting about the Spades?"
Oars grinned, noticing one of the Spade's returning to the ship "It's nothing bad, but they have some advanced techniques and the commander was curious as to where they might have learned it."
"Oh. You mean Haki right?" The giant turned in shock only to come face to face with the very man he was meant to be spying on. Raising a hand in greeting, the so called Ace of Spades grinned "Yo!" Instead of waiting for a response from the bewildered pirate, the teen settled down next to him.
Pulling a large bottle of sake out of his bag the Spade pirate offered it to the perplexed giant "What?" The teen chuckled "Well it must be boring sitting out here all alone and watching my ship. Want a drink?" Oars jr nodded a slight smile finding it's way onto his face.
"Your ship? I am I to take this as confirmation that you're the Spade's true Captain then?" humor sparkled in the younger man's eyes "Hm, who knows. Though I must say, I'm very flattered to have made it onto the Whitebeard's watchlist."
The green skinned man let out full bellied laughter "Well you've certainly got balls kid." The younger Captain tipped his hat "Thank you for saying so." Snorting the giant looked at the infamous Spade pirate and realised just how young he looked.
Far too young to have done half the crazy shit he'd been accused of.
Not that age had ever stopped people from doing crazy shit. Giving a quiet chuckle, the giant decided to cut to the chase "Look, I'm incredibly bad at all this subtlety shit, I'm only here because there was literally no one else. So how about I ask you my questions and you can answer what you like."
Ace's expression turned from amused to completely disbelieving and then straight back to amused again. Tipping his head back the teen burst into laughter "That is honestly the most straightforward attempt at getting information I've ever heard. Sure why not?"
The giant grinned "What's your full name?" The teen raised an eyebrow as if amused by the question "Trying to figure out more information so Commander Haruta can track me down?" Oars blanched, and Ace let out a cheerful smile.
"You don't need to act so surprised, the commander's information network is somewhat legendary." The green man couldn't bring himself to disagree, despite the fact the statement was usually only true in the new world.
Ignoring the giants conflict the teen gave an easy smile "Portgas D Ace. It's a pleasure to meet you." The Older man felt his eyes widen unwillingly, a D huh? That explained a lot. "Oars Jr, nice to meet you to."
After a moment of peaceful silence Oars asked his next question "So who taught you Haki?" The teen's returning grin was positively animalistic "That one's a secret I'm afraid. But I will say that we're currently unaffiliated with any major crews if that's why you were asking."
The teen frowned momentarily and held up a hand "Actually wait, no, scratch that, we kind of are. But it's in an unofficial capacity, and it's pretty much a friendly and equal exchange of information gathering."
Oars gave a slow nod, this was far more information than he'd actually expected to obtain. "How old are you anyway? The freckles make it hard to tell." Ace laughed "Seventeen." Oars gave a low whistle, causing the teen to laugh harder "Anymore questions then?"
The giant paused for a moment considering, while he was pretty sure the teen had been answering his questions honestly, he was incredibly uncertain as to why. It wasn't out of fear for the Whitebeards, that much was for sure, but there was no clear benefit for the youth. "Why are you answering my questions?"
The older pirate had expected a carefree statement about finding his honesty refreshing, or because the young Captain had felt like it. Instead he received a sad smile, and eyes that looked far too old for such a young man's face.
"A whitebeard helped me out once. If I can, I want to repay the favour." Oars stared at the honesty in the young man's eyes and gave a nod. Ace smiled "You get one more question."
Oars paused, there were many different questions he could ask, but there was really only one that needed answering "Why did you set sail?"
"Originally it was because I wanted an answer to a question I had asked for years. Now I sail because I want get strong enough to protect everyone I care about. And after that I want to live a life with no regrets." Standing up the teen stretched his back out, a nostalgic smile on his face "But I think that's enough questions for now."
The teen held out his hand "Now that you've gotten some information off me, want to join me in getting horrendously drunk?" The giant laughed and accepted the teen's hand, more than a little surprised when the younger man had enough strength to pull him to his feet.
"I'd love to."
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Whitebeard smiled as the last of his son's settled down into the conference room. The weekly commanders meeting was usually a dull, but necessary affair. Where the division commanders reported the weekly expenses as well as reporting on the states of their various territories.
This time, the meeting was slightly different than usual. Whitebeard cast a fond smile at the Den Den Mushi currently sat in the middle of the table. According to Haruta's network the Spades should have arrived on Kilan Island yesterday and the commanders were eagerly awaiting the report of their long-time allies.
Or more specifically, Haruta and Thatch were practically vibrating in their seats, whilst the rest of the commanders looked on in mild interest, and slight apprehension. Giving a loud cough, Whitebeard drew the attention of his crew "Ok, let's call up Oars."
Ringing their allies' number, Whitebeard heard more than a few snickers as the snail assumed a very much hungover face. "Oyaji why are you calling this early?!" The snickers turned to full blown laughter "It's already two pm son." The giant groaned, prompting yet more laughter amongst the commanders.
Taking slight pity on his friend, the Phoenix interrupted the laughter "I thought you were watching the Card Deck, how come you're so hung over yoi?" The snail lost its miserable expression and smiled brightly "I was! But I ended up getting the information we needed pretty early on." Whitebeard let out a rumbling chuckle "So what did you find out son?"
Oars grinned "The actual Captain of the Spade pirates, is Portgas D Ace, also known as the Ace of Spades. He's seventeen and though he refused to tell me where he learnt Haki, he admitted to having some sort of loose affiliation with a new world pirate crew. But said it was a mutual relationship of friendship rather than a subordinate one."
Most of the commander's stared at the Den Den Mushi in shock. While they had asked Oars to report back any information he stumbled upon, they hadn't expected nearly this much. Haruta paused as he processed exactly what Oars had just said "Wait, Ace told you?!"
The snail echoed Oars's slight smile "Yup. I was sat on a cliff observing their ship when the brat pops up, cool as a cucumber, hands me a drink and asks why the Whitebeards were interested in his crew."
The commanders sniggered, whilst their father merely burst into laughter "Cheeky brat. What did you reply Son?" The Den Den Mushi gave a somewhat sheepish look "You know I can't lie for shit Pops. I told him the truth and asked if he'd be willing to answer some questions."
"How did he react?" Asked the Phoenix, genuinely curious to the answer, Oars chuckled "Well obviously he agreed to answer, seemed more amused by it than anything else. The interesting thing was that after the first question, he asked if I was trying to feed Commander Haruta's network."
There was a pause before the smallest Commander spoke "Did he mention me by name?" Something serious flashed across the Den Den Mushi's face "He did. Said I shouldn't be surprised he knew about your network, because it was something of a legend."
Whitebeard paused thoughtfully "He seems very well informed, it's more than likely that the Spade's knowledge of Haki came from Ace himself or from their contact in the new world."
"That's what I thought too Oyaji. But there's one more thing..." Whitebeard gave a small hum to gesture his Son to go on "I asked why he was answering my questions in the first place, and he said a Whitebeard saved him in past and he was just returning the favour."
"Did he mention who it was?" More than one commander was now staring at the Den Den Mushi in interest. The Whitebeard crew was a large one and lots of people had retired over the years, so theoretically it was possible that one of their own had started teaching Ace Haki. "He didn't." Whitebeard paused "If you have the chance I want you to look into it Haruta."
The smallest commander nodded, and the elderly Captain turned his attention back to the Den Den Mushi "And what do you think of Ace as a person?" The commanders stared at the snail intently, whilst Oars wasn't great at anything involving stealth, he usually had very good instincts when it came to people.
The smile on the Den Den Mushi turned softer "He seems like a good guy, and his crew clearly cares about him. Even if they do constantly complain about his supposed 'devil training'." The Whitebeard's burst into laughter, more than a few of them shooting pointed glances at Marco.
Oars's smile turned sad, "He's also definitely lost someone in past. When I asked his goal for sailing the sea, he said he wanted to get strong enough to protect those he cared about, and then live a life with no regrets."
The commanders went silent in acknowledgement, none of them was a stranger to loss.
Finally Whitebeard broke the silence "Do you think he'd make a good ally Son?" The horned giant's sad smile turned into a full-on grin "Definitely. The kid's batshit crazy, he'd fit right in!" More than a few of the commanders chuckled at that.
"Also I'd recommend keeping an eye on the papers for the next few days. I dunno what the kid's got planned, but his maniacal giggling tells me it's gonna be something big." Whitebeard let out a rumbling laugh "Thank you for the intel Son."
There was a light chuckle on the other end of the line "No problem Oyaji, I'm gonna go now. We've got some serious clean up to do here, one thing I can say for the Spades is that they definitely know how to enjoy a good party."
Hanging up, Whitebeard looked around at his children "Anyone have any objections to going to meet the Spades when they finally pop up in the new world?" None of the commanders voiced an objection, though it escaped no one's notice that their father had said when the Spades made it to the New World. Not if.
Either way, the Whitebeard pirates were very interested in meeting the young Captain who had captured their father's attention.
Author's note
So I managed to finish the chapter a little ahead of time, thank you so much for all the follows and reviews I can't believe there's over 150 followers! To answer some reviews, first to ParrllelPenSW thank you for the lovely review, no Whitey in this chapter but I can promise Squardo will show up soon *evil laughter* Also special mention to SakuraKoi who suggested Shanks in drag, because that honestly made me burst into laughter when I heard it! Another special mention to AzureWarrior because the idea of Lady Spade turning down Rodger because "wasn't man enough" has honestly been one of my favourite comments so far! Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and I should be back in a week, next time Sabo! :)