Ace let out a growl of frustration, and resisted the urge to go and punch someone. This should be easy! Ace knew from past experience that his crew wouldn't abandon him when faced with his heritage. They hadn't abandoned him at Marineford after all.
But then again, by that point his crew had know him for about three years, and they'd been backed up by an Emperor. While in this timeline, he'd known them less than a year and they were completely alone.
The teen resisted the urge to snarl once more, Ace trusted his crew. But that trust didn't block out the years worth of memories, of people saying exactly what should be done to a child of Gol D Roger.
Ace bit back a flinch as he felt a hand tap his shoulder "You ok Ace?" The teen turned to look at his first mate, taking note of the real concern in his eyes, and smiled "I'm fine. Tell everyone to be in the plotting room in ten minutes though. I've got something to say."
Dusty paused consideringly before giving a small nod "Got it Captain." Watching his first mate take off, Ace let out a small sigh. This time he would be brave enough to say what he'd never had the chance to in his previous time line.
This time he'd reveal his heritage to his crew on his own terms. Not because of the government, not because of Teach, but because he decided to.
It took twelve minutes for the last of the Spades to make it to the meeting room. Seeing the last person settle down, Ace gave a small smile.
"Ok I'm going to be blunt with all of you. First of all we're currently ten minutes away from the nearest island, and once we get there the logpose will take a further fifteen minutes to settle. Meaning that after I say what I need to, you'll have about twenty minutes to decide if you want to remain as a Spade pirate or not."
Ace made sure to meet the eyes of every single crew member as he spoke letting them know just how utterly serious he was. Seeing that they understood the young Captain gave a small nod and continued.
"First of all, once we cross into the New World our opponents are going to get much stronger, meaning we're also going to need to be stronger. And with that increased strength, the government's interest in us will also grow, which is where my information comes in."
Ace took a deep breath "There's an issue with my heritage, and I won't lie, the second it's discovered, we will have the full force of the world government after us. If you aren't willing to risk that then leave the room now, because the more you know, the more danger you'll be in."
Unsurprisingly not a single person left. For all that they were considered a rookie crew, the Spades were still pirates. Opposing the world government was what they did.
A D shaped grin etched on his face, Ace stared at the family that had stayed with him through thick and thin, and willingly spoke the words which had once damned him in a previous timeline. "I currently go by my mother's name, but my birth name was Gol D Ace."
There was a moment of silence before the Spade's processed what that truly meant. "Holy Shit." Ace almost wanted to laugh, but before he could Kalin spoke up "You're only seventeen, the dates don't match." There was no accusation in his voice, merely curiosity.
Ace gave a small nod "My mother extended the pregnancy at the cost of her life." Suddenly Deuce let out a small gasp of realisation "Garp hid you. That's how you survived, but why the fuck would a Marine hero?"
The freckled teen let out a bitter laugh "Because I was a baby. I'd never even met my father, and despite that, they would have slaughtered me for his blood." The Spades fell silent as Ace shook his head.
Suddenly the teen didn't feel like answering anymore questions "I'll be up on deck if you need me, but you have twenty minutes to figure out your choice."
Walking out onto the deck alone, Ace couldn't help but hope he hadn't made a terrible mistake.
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Ace had been stood on the deck for five minutes when Dusty approached him "You're an idiot, you know that Captain?"
The teen let out a chuckle "Can't argue with that." The two stood in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, before Dusty spoke once more "You've been planning to tell us for a while now."
It wasn't a question, but Ace answered anyway "I have. I was waiting for this island specifically though. There's no Marine base here, and the logpose settles quickly, so it would be easy to make a quick get away just in case someone did manage to contact the World Government."
"If you know the risks, why tell us at all?" there was an innocent curiosity in the cowboy's voice, and Ace couldn't help but let out a rueful chuckle. "Because I trust you," Ace paused momentarily overcome with visions of Marineford "and because there's a storm coming. And if we are forced to go to war with the world, then you all deserve to know the reason why."
Dusty nodded in understanding, and the two fell into silence as they finally arrived on the Island. Giving one last nod to his first mate, Ace docked the ship and went to make some lunch. He'd placed his bets. Let the cards fall where they may.
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From his giant chair on deck Whitebeard chuckled, as he noticed all of his sons and daughters being extra careful not to push Marco too far. It had been one day since Namur's unfortunate...accident (or at least that's what it was according to Marco) And since then the crew had been on their best behaviour.
Everyone knew not to bother the Phoenix when he got like this.
It had only happened a grand total of three times since the crew had first formed. And each time had left the sons and daughters of the Whitebeard pirates begging for an end to the incessant pranks the first division Commander was capable of when mad.
After all, Haruta and Thatch may be the pranksters of the crew, but Marco was stealthy, observant, and above all patient. A somewhat unholy combination when it was used to prank someone.
Thankfully it took a lot for the Phoenix to be pushed that far, so it didn't happen too often. Still grinning in amusement Whitebeard let out a loud, rumbling laugh to draw his children's attention "Commander's meeting in ten minutes."
Hearing several murmurs of agreement, the giant pirate made his way towards the meeting room, eager to hear what Namur might have learnt about the Spades in his most recent meeting.
After all, it must have been a fairly eventful encounter if his Son had somehow been convinced into helping create a giant duck.
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Haruta looked at Namur, barely managing to conceal his amusement when he noticed the other Commander sitting as far away from Marco as humanly possible. Thatch was also trying to hide his laughter, but was clearly failing miserably at it, if Namur's glare was anything to go off.
Though in all fairness, had the Phoenix's wrath been aimed at either of the two pranksters they would also have sat as far away from their eldest brother as physically possible.
And despite the laughter, both men had even silently agreed to lay off Namur for the next few days. After all, Marco's expression said he wasn't done just yet, and adding pranks on top of the Phoenix's revenge would just be cruel.
Eventually, once all the Commanders had settled down (and stopped laughing at Namur), Whitebeard let out a loud cough "So let's hear about your run in with the Spades Namur, what did you manage to learn?" The Fishman stopped glaring at Thatch and focused all his attention on his Captain, amusement obvious in his eyes.
"First of all, they're all absolutely insane Oyaji. I mean, their Captain is definitely mad, but the rest of the Spades seemed to have gained some sort of mild insanity through mere exposure! One of them started crying halfway through our planning session for creating Bob about how he 'used to be sane' I personally, have some doubts on the matter."
A few of the Commanders chuckled at that, no one who set off to sea was wholly sane. As usual it was Whitebeard who asked the important question "Bob?" Namur gave his father a somewhat sheepish smile "We may or may not have named the giant duck." Which managed to set off all the commanders.
Waiting until the laughter had died down Namur continued to talk "In more relevant news, the Spade's Captain, Ace, is also lot stronger and a lot better informed then we'd initially assumed."
Whitebeard let out a small hum, and Namur noticed more than one of the commanders had sat up in interest "Oh, and how's that Son?" The Fishman paused, an unexpectedly serious look crossing his face "You know how we confirmed that all the Spades had unlocked at least the basics of haki?"
There were nods of affirmation "Well while a majority of the Spade crew are well on their way to mastering at least one of the two aspects, their Captain already has both up to a more than acceptable level. Not only that, but the kid's somehow been able to hide the fact he has a devil fruit, and a logia at that."
There was a pause as each commander considered the implications of those words. Having a devil fruit this far into the grandline wasn't unusual. Successfully hiding one, to the point where even the marines didn't know, was an anomaly to say the least. Especially a logia, which were notoriously difficult to control.
"Maybe he got it recently, which is why no one knew he had it?" Namur shook his head "The kid has way too much control for that to be the case. From what his crew said, he seems to have had the power since East Blue."
"And he's not had to use it up till now?" Namur nodded, as all the commanders stared in shock. Getting that far into the grandline without being forced to use every trick in your arsenal was incredibly impressive. Especially at the mere age of seventeen.
"If he has used his devil fruit in a fight, then his opponent hasn't lived to tell the tale." The room fell silent before Whitebeard spoke up once more "How would he compare against one of ours?"
Namur hesitated "It's hard to say Oyaji, I didn't see him fight with his devil fruit, merely use it to weld the ships together. But with his grip on haki, and fine tuned control of his fruit I'd place him just below us commanders. The only thing he seems to be missing, is experience. But even then, it's hard to tell his actual level without seeing him go all out."
Whitebeard stared at his Sons consideringly, but before he could say anything else Haruta piped up "You said he was better informed then we expected, what did you mean by that?" Namur let out a wry grin.
"When I said I ran into the kid, what I really meant, is that the kid approached me with a bottle of sake the exact same size and brand as the one Oyaji requested, and then proceeded to declare he knew about my sculpting hobby and bribed me into helping."
And ok, the teen had also blackmailed the fishman with some pretty embarrassing stories, that his siblings had no need to hear about. Luckily for the Fishman, Whitebeard spoke before anyone could dig any deeper.
"I think I'd like to meet this Brat."
The commanders all grinned.
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Ace stared at his crew, fists clenched, and a mixture of happiness and disbelief in his eyes. Logically the teen had known that the chance of his crew abandoning him after coming this far was somewhat low.
Emotionally, the freckled teen had been ready to sail off on his own, pursued by a buster call of the highest proportion (probably lead by Akainu knowing his luck).
Which is why the sight of the other twelve Spades standing in front of him, resolve shining in their eyes, was enough to bring the young Captain to tears. "You're sure?" Ace managed to keep his voice steady, but no one could mistake the doubt in it.
The Spades grinned, somewhat enjoying how emotional their usually unflappable (and slightly insane) Captain was being "We are." Alice stepped forwards with a gentle smile on her face "If the government that tried to enslave me is right, I'd be much happier being wrong. We're with you Captain. Until the very end."
Dusty, stepped forward as well, and pulled the freckled teen into a rough hug, which soon became a dog pile when the other members of the crew all joined in. Unable to help it, Ace burst into laughter, tears still streaming down his face.
Grinning widely at his crew, the teen raised a fist in the air "In that case! Let's set sail!" Dusty smiled, a serious look in his eyes "Good call Captain, and after that... I think it's time we increased our training again. Just in case." Ace's smile was as bright as the sun as he nodded in agreement.
And in that moment, each and every one of the Spade pirates found a new resolve. Ace was their Captain. He was brilliant, caring, and more than a little bit insane. But most importantly of all, he was theirs.
And they would do whatever it took to protect him.
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Sabo stared across the auction house and did his upmost best not to react at the sight of one Marshall D Teach. Sitting next to him Koala gave a deceptively sweet smile, before grabbing her partner's arm in a bruising grip.
"Don't react, we don't have the strength or the time to fight him right now Blue. Stick to the plan." The ex-noble wanted to protest, but unfortunately Koala was (as she so often was) right.
The auction house they were currently sat in was primarily famous for it's slave trading, and while there were no actual slaves on sale for the day, Sabo and Koala's were acting as backup while their comrades ransacked the auction house for any information that could be useful.
They hadn't anticipated Blackbeard being here as well.
Moving his lips to his partner's ear, Sabo gave a smile that practically screamed of flirtation to any outside observers "Any idea what he might be here for?" giving a demure giggle Koala brought a hand to her mouth to disguise what she was saying "The only thing I can think of is the devil fruit they were planning on auctioning off tonight."
Sabo raised an eyebrow in curiosity as his partner smirked viciously "The auctioneer hasn't been able to identify it, but it was a paramedia fruit." The former amnesiac immediately picked up on the key word in the sentence "Was?"
Koala's grin turned savage "Jay stole it earlier along with some of the other goods due to be on sale today. That should hopefully be enough of a distraction so that they can sneak into the auctioneers office."
Sabo let out a small snort, before his expression turned serious "Do you think we could get a photo of Teach?" Koala grinned but before she could respond an array of noise errupted from behind the auction stage.
Hearing a distinctive whistle Sabo shot a serious look at his partner, before casually dropping a smoke bomb into the middle of the auction house. Ignoring the cries of distress the former amnesiac watched Teach sneak down a corridor "Go find Jay's group, I'm going to try and get some proof on Blackbeard."
Koala scowled, but didn't waste time arguing "Be careful Sabo. I mean it." The teen nodded before running in the direction he had last seen the Whitebeard pirate.
It wasn't long before the revolutionary came upon Teach having a hushed conversation with the owner of the auction house, discretely snapping a picture of the two men Sabo turned to leave only to be confronted by the face of the very man he'd been attempting to follow.
"So, why is a noble trying to follow me?" Realising the man hadn't caught him taking photos, Sabo forced himself to relax in the man's hold and put on a (somewhat) innocent smile as his eyes widened.
"Oh my god you really are Marshall D Teach! Listen man I'm so sorry about that, I'm with the revolutionary army and I didn't realise who you were before. We were unaware the Whitebeards were involved in an operation here."
The revolutionary watched as the older man's eyes narrowed imperceptibly, and prayed he had the skills to pull this next deception off. "My partner noticed you leaving and asked me to check if it was really you, and if Whitebeard had sent you to look for information as well?"
Sabo could practically see the wheels turning in the pirate's head, on one hand if he killed Sabo it eliminated a witness tying him to the auction house (because whatever the reason the man was here, Sabo seriously doubted it was a Whitebeard sanctioned mission).
However Teach didn't know who Sabo's partner was. And if they managed to report back to the revolutionaries about Teach's appearance at the auction house before the pirate found them, then the revolutionaries would realise something was wrong. Especially if one of their operatives turned up dead after going to find him.
Seeing the man arrive at a conclusion, Sabo continued to smile sweetly, pretending he hadn't seen the darkness in the pirate's eyes "Don't worry about it Kid, Oyaji ordered me to look into the devil fruit they had here but it looks like it went missing in the chaos."
The revolutionary let his eyes widen "That's terrible, if we hear anything about it we'll let you know. It's the least we can do after causing the chaos that let the theif escape."
Teach smirked, but before he could say anything else a loud shout echoed throughout the corridor "Blue, we've got what we came for, we need to leave now." Grateful for the excuse to leave, Sabo tipped his hat to the pirate, and ran out of the corridor before he could react.
Running towards their boat, Sabo voluntarily accepted the punch in the face Koala gave him the second he stepped on board "Sabo you fucking moron." The revolutionary gave a small snort "I know, but the photo might help Ace when he eventually goes to the Whitebeards."
Koala was about to respond when Jay appeared out of nowhere with the rest of the revolutionaries, and joined the two teens "Bet it's not nearly as much help as the documents I just found."
Taking the two sheets of paper the older man offered him, Sabo read through the documents only to let out a wordless snarl of rage.
Looking at his two Comrades, Sabo wordlessly handed the documents over to Koala, not bothering to watch the fury which would inevitably appear on her face. "Jay I need at least three copies of these documents as soon as possible. Koala go tell the navigator's to set a course for the card deck. Ace is going to want to see this."
Author's note
Hi guys, so first of all I'm really sorry this is later than I had planned, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I even included some plot instead of just random shenanigans! XD Anyway moving on to reviewers!
First of all to B00khound the reason Marco "flipped his birdy shit" was because he was tired and frustrated after searching for Squardo's attacker and Namur being away to create Bob increased his paperwork. He recognised the sculpture as Namur's work because his brother has a very distinct artistic sense which is very easy to recognise, hope this helps :)
Next to V-Marie-Ashes i'm glad you're enjoying the story and I promise more of Ace's insane shit soon *evil laughter* To Katske I hope this helped fufill your craving XD and thank you so much for the nice review (I'm very happy to hear my story see ms addictive XD)! Finally to ParrllelPenSW Luffy is definitely going to suffer more because of Ace's actions but more on that next chapter, I also promise a little more on Sengoku next time!
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and please leave a review, they feed me and Bob! Next chapter will hopefully be up next week!!!