Ace stared at the big brother of the Whitebeard pirates, one of his best friend's in another timeline, and promptly tried to think of any possible excuse he could use to bullshit his way out of answering Marco's questions.
And came up with nothing.
As the oldest sibling of hundreds of pirates, as well as a master of observation haki, there was very little that got past the first division commander. And even whilst Ace had been at his most guarded in the original timeline, Marco had always been exceptionally good at picking up on his bullshit.
Letting out a loud groan of annoyance, the teen sat down cross legged on the ground, enjoying the look of confusion on his old friend's face before finally giving a small sigh and resigning himself to the fact that he was going to have to tell the truth.
"This was so not how I wanted this conversation to go. Ok, fuck, so I promise I have an explanation, but before I say anything you might want to call up Pops. He's probably going to want to hear this too, and I don't want to have to explain it twice." The phoenix looked slightly suspicious at Ace's slip of the tongue but took out his mini Den Den Mushi all the same.
Watching Marco dial up a familiar number, the two men waited in silence as a sudden click rang out "Marco? Is something wrong son?" The phoenix let out a soft smile "Nothing much Oyaji, but Ace is willing to tell us where he's got all his information about the crew from."
The expression on the Den Den Mushi sharpened with interest "Go on then brat." Ace couldn't help but smile at the clear amusement in his (hopefully) future father's voice.
"What I'm going to say is going to sound crazy, even by grand line standard, so before I start I'd like you both to promise you'll hear me out to the end before judging me about it." There was a momentary pause before Marco nodded and Whitebeard gave an affirming hum.
"Ok then. So I guess I should try and start from beginning. Less than a year ago I died. Or to be more accurate, I was killed by Akainu." Ace paused to give a slightly helpless smile to his audience. Based on their facial expressions whatever explanation they had been expecting, this clearly wasn't it.
(it was also worth mentioning that the shocked expression on Marco's face was slightly hilarious regardless of the seriousness of the conversation.)
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Ace forced himself to continue "Anyway as I was saying I died. So you can probably imagine my surprise when I suddenly woke up four years in the past with a ruined tattoo I shouldn't have gotten yet and logia powers from a fruit I shouldn't have eaten yet."
"It sounds crazy I know but hear me out. So in the original timeline I spent this last year and the next half a year storming through the new world with the rest of the spades until I eventually challenged Jinbei to a fight in an attempt to challenge your crew. To make a long story short despite me attempting to defeat you, you recruited me and the other spades and I eventually became second division commander."
Ace felt a soft smile overtake his face as he got temporarily lost in reminiscing of happy days on the Moby Dick. That smile promptly died as the teen forced himself to tell the next part of the story "And then about three years later, Thatch found the yami yami no mi on a raid, and Teach killed him for it."
A dark silence overtook the group and Ace saw a flash of quiet realisation cross Marco's face. Deciding it was best to get the story over and done with the teen hurried to continue.
"As Teach's division commander I went to bring him in, against your orders. And I... I lost. His devil fruit nullified mine and I wasn't strong enough. So he handed me over to the world government to execute in exchange for a warlord position."
Marco stared at him, lazy eyes narrowed in slight suspicion "Even if you were second division commander they shouldn't have bothered to execute a pirate already in custody. Not when you could still be used for information purposes, not even to mention that a living pirate in chains serves as a far better show of the world governments supposed might."
Ace let out a choked laugh "You're right. But they had additional reasons to want me dead, two in particular. Number one, they knew you'd come for me." The freckled teen felt his lips twist into a ruethfull smile.
Silence reigned throughout the clearing as Marco stared at the teen, protective rage burning bright in his eyes at the thought of someone trying to hurt his family. Ace smiled but his tone remained sorrowful as he continued on.
"And come for me you did, with fire and fury and the full force of the entire family." Ace paused feeling the memories begin to overwhelm him, "Just as Sengoku had planned." Marco let out a string of curses as the Den Den Mushi's eyes narrowed in sorrow.
"What happened then son?" Ace felt a tears streaming down his face at the gentle address " I think you died Oyaji. You died protecting me and then I died anyway protecting my little brother from my own dumbass mistakes. I'm so, so sorry Oyaji, it was all my fault."
Strong arms wrapped around the freckled teen, and Ace let himself sink back into the Phoenix's warm grasp, still letting out choked sobs. "I'm sorry Pop's. I'm so sorry I put the family in danger because I didn't listen to you."
The expression on the Den Den Mushi turned to a sad smile "It's not your fault brat. And if you really were my son in your original timeline then I hope you know I would have been glad to make the sacrifice. I'm not going to last forever, and so I'm glad I went out trying to protect the family. I'm sorry I failed you son."
Ace let out a small smile "You didn't fail me oyaji. You were a great father." Whitebeard's smile widened "Good to hear it brat." Marco gave the teen one last reassuring squeeze before releasing him "You said there were two reasons the marines wanted to execute you, what was the second reason yoi?"
Ace let out a slightly bitter smile "Portgas is actually my mother's maiden name, and the name I chose to carry. The name I was born with is Gol D Ace. I don't need to explain to you two of all people why that ensured my execution."
Marco's arm wound its way around Ace's shoulders once more, as the expression Den Den Mushi trembled in anger. "Those bastard's." Ace couldn't help the surge of warmth upon hearing his chosen father's protective anger.
The teen gave a helpless smile "I won't disagree with you there. Anyway to make a long story short, I died. And when I woke up again it four years in the past just after I had set off to sea. So I regathered the Spades, tried to find evidence of Teach and got in contact with you which lead me to here I suppose."
There was a moment of silence as the elder pirates digested Ace's words before eventually Marco spoke up once again "Do the rest of the Spades know?" The freckled teen shook his head.
"No. At the start I didn't want to frighten them off before they felt they could trust me. There was also the matter of making sure that no information accidentally got out to Teach before we had a plan to deal with him. If any of the Spades asked me for the details now I'd happily tell them the truth, but I don't think they need to be burdened with what will never come to pass."
The freckled teen proceeded let out a slightly sheepish smile "Well that and the fact that Dret would murder me for fixing almost every single bet I've participated in over the last year..." Ace grinned at the small burst of shocked laughter from the normally stoic first division commander.
"Can't say I blame you yoi. The real question is what you plan to do now?" The Den Den Mushi let out a sharp smile "Excellent point Son. Ace I would like to formally offer you and the Spades a place with the Whitebeard pirates."
The freckled teen felt a large grin grow on his face "I would love to Oyaji. But I need to discuss with my crew first, last time we sort of got... kidnapped into it after I tried to kill you?" Marco let out a loud sigh as he cradled his head in his hand "Another one Oyaji, really?! You promised not to do that anymore."
Basking in the warmth of his chosen father's amused chuckle Ace grinned "I'll discuss with the Spades tomorrow and then give you a call then Oyaji!" The Den Den Mushi reflected a warm grin "Good idea son I'll be waiting for you call."
The small click indicated that the two men were alone once more, Marco turned to Ace a confused expression clearly visible "Wait a second, if you were a division commander in the future you should've already known the ship's contact number, why did you risk stealing Squardo's Den Den?"
A wicked smirk lit up the Captain's face "Partially because I didn't want to explain to you how I got the number, but mostly because I wanted an excuse to get back at him."
The Phoenix gave him a gently questioning look and Ace let out a small sigh "He betrayed Oyaji in the original timeline, and I mean don't get me wrong he was manipulated into it and Oyaji forgave him. But it doesn't excuse what he did so I figured it wouldn't hurt to be slightly petty."
Marco sighed but nodded in acceptance "Fair enough, yoi." Ace gave his old (new?) friend a small smile "Now that, that's all sorted are we ok to go back to the party? Shanks owes the Spades a prank and if I ask him now he's far less likely to object to my idea than when he's completely sober."
An evil grin highlighted the first division Commander's face "I've got a vision dial in my bag, I'll let you borrow it on the condition that you promise to send any embarrassing videos of Shanks you happen to take."
Ace grinned "Deal. But would you be willing to challenge Shanks to a drinking competition first? The drunker he is the more I can get away with."
Matco gave an easy nod, a smug smirk growing across his face "With pleasure." Somewhere nearby Shanks shivered in apprehension.
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Sengoku hated his life. He hated his life so bloody much.
Logically the marine had known that the spades must have had a specific use in mind for the three mini submarines that they had so recently... acquired... from the Marines.
However that logic did absolutely nothing to soften the blow of the monstrosity currently shown in the report before him.
A giant robot.
The spades had taken three state of the art mini submarines and somehow melded them together into this fully functioning metal monstrosity. They had then proceeded to spray paint the name 'Bartholomew the third, destoyer of worlds' on the side.
Sengoku wanted to cry.
The fact that Lady spade and an unknown conspirator had promptly proceeded to pilot the contraption into a marine supply base, before stealing every last bottle of sake inside, only increased the Marine's urge to go and murder someone.
The only positive thing to come out of the day was the new intelligence report that was supposed to be arriving within the next twenty minutes which apparently vital information about Lady Spade's identity.
Unfortunately, even the promise of information was doing nothing to cut through Sengoku's rage. However before the fleet commander could dwell on it any further a loud ring of laughter echoed from the floor below.
A slow smirk made it's way onto the Marine's face upon hearing the easily identifiable laugh. Garp had been annoying Sengoku recently and the fleet commander really needed to let off some steam.
With an evil smile the Higher ranked Marine left to go and find the laughing vice admiral.
Garp would survive the encounter. Probably.
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Shanks woke up with a pounding headache, a large gap in his memories and an inexplicable feeling of deep deep regret.
After wasting a minute of trying and failing to figure out what the hell he'd done last night and how the hell he'd ended up on the spade's ship (or what he thought was the Spade's ship), the red haired man decided his best bet of figuring out what had happened was probably to try and find Benn.
Grumbling good naturedly the infamous pirate stumbled out onto the deck where he spotted Ace and Benn huddling together. "Hey Kiddo, hey Benn. Wild party last night! Did I do anything I'm going to horribly regret?"
The Red Emporer glanced down to meet the freckled teen's gaze and instantly recoiled at the evil grin situated on the younger captain's face.
"Benn. What did I do and why is Ace grinning like that?" The first mate of the red haired pirates let out an amused snort whilst the teen's shark toothed grin transformed into an innocent smile "Nothings going on Shanks. We were just saying about how we wanted to come and congratulate you on your new wanted poster."
The red haired man froze in unease, once you reached Emporer level there were incredibly few things you could do that would warrant a change in bounty poster.
The only reason a change might occur would be if your previous picture was no longer a valid way of identifying you, or if you had done something so monumentally crazy that the reward money needed increasing.
The large gap in Shanks's memory suddenly became much much more concerning. Especially when paired with the knowledge that he'd owed the Spades a prank (something drunk him would have had absolutely no problem with allowing to be cashed in regardless of consequences).
The twin expressions of mischievous glee on Ace and Benn's face was also doing very little to reassure the Emporer. Ace pulled out a sheet of paper and presented it to the Emporer "Here you go Shanks!"
Ignoring his sense of dread Shanks grasped the piece of paper and looked down only to shake his head in mute denial "Nooooooooooo Benn why did you let me do this?!?!?!?!?"
The first mate of the Red haired pirates let out an amused smirk "Don't know what you're talking about Captain. When I told you it was a bad idea yesterday you specifically said, and I quote 'Benn don't be such a buzzkill. I'm the captain I can do what I want!' so I assumed I shouldn't interfere."
Shanks stared at the bounty poster in horror "You know you should ignore me when I'm drunk!!! How the hell did they convince me to crossdress and help destroy a Marine base with a giant robot?!?!?"
Benn continued to smirk "With almost concerning ease Captain." Ace grinned up at the older Captain "The robots name is Bartholomew the third destroyer of worlds. Seeing as you named it you should refer to it properly!" Shanks stared at Benn in horror once more whilst Ace continued to talk.
"But anyway welcome to the Spade pirates Queen of hearts!" Shanks held his head in his hands "I'm too hungover for this. I blame that stupid turkey Marco."
Ace covered his laugh with a cough, deciding it was probably best not to mention the excess of blackmail material Marco had acquired over the course of the night "It gets better. Turn the page." Apprehension clearly written across his face the older Captain turned the page only to burst out into hysterical laughter.
"Oh god, you've definitely outdone yourself kid. How the hell did anyone believe this?!???" A sheepish smile appeared on the teen's face "That's the thing. The Marines actually came up with this one on their own, It's not even my fault this time."
Shanks stared at the paper in disbelief "You're joking right?" Ace shook his head and Shanks couldn't help but wonder how the hell the Marines had even gotten this far.
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Garp tried to control his laughter between pained winces. Honestly old Senny really needed to relax instead of taking things out on his poor elderly subordinates in the guise of training (No Garp absolutely did not see the karmic justice in this situation no matter how many amused subordinates pointed it out to him).
Staring at the paper Garp was torn between hysterical relief and amusement, and utter horror at the Marine's supposed intelligence service.
That the papers had accused Lady Spade of being Portgas D Rouge was one matter. Ace had enough of his mothers features that it was a reasonable conclusion to draw that they were one and the same. The matter of aging, and even the sudden change of appearance from earlier wanted posters could easily be excused by the use of a devil fruit.
But as Garp stared down at the picture of Lady Spade's supposed younger sister (or Ace's new older sibling) the vice Admiral couldn't help but feel that every insult he'd heard about the Marines intelligence might actually be deserved.
The newest member of the Spade pirates. The Queen of hearts, Portgas D Shanksessa.
The fact that the woman in question was clearly the red haired pirate miscreant in a wig seemed to have escaped the Marine's notice entirely. Shanks hadn't even bothered to change his name that much damn him!!!!!
Not only that but the emporer still had the same scars in his female disguise, he even had an obviously fake arm!!? How the hell had none of the Marines caught onto this obvious deception?!?!? Garp had caught on for heavens sake, and even the old Marine could admit to himself that wasn't the smartest cookie in the jar.
On a brighter note Garp could at least acknowledge that his grandsons various deceptions had gone so far in screwing over his actual family tree that his true heritage was hidden almost without a doubt.
Garp let out a heavy sigh, the real question was what had driven Shanks to meet up with his eldest grandson in the first place. Last intelligence had known, the red haired menace had been at the other end of the grandline.
Pairing that with apparent sightings of the Whitebeard pirates, and Garp was left to wonder what the hell was happening with his grandson?????
Authors note
Hi guys! I would like to start this note by saying THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE!!!!! I've actually spent pretty much my entire summer at a camp America summer camp so its only recently I've had the time and internet access to finish this chapter so I'm really sorry it took so long and thank you all so much for the encouraging messages as well the support and I hope you found the wait worth it. Next, OMG THIS STORY HAS OVER 900 FOLLOWERS, WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN THANK YOU SO MUCH?!?!!????
I really hope you all enjoyed the chapter and there should be a new one out by next week!