Slowly shuffling his way backwards towards one of the ship's rowing boats Ace shot his Grandpa a nervous smile.
"Now Gramps why don't we all just calm down for a second and discuss things like rational adults. For example... Sabo is alive and joined the revolutionaries! That scoundrel! How dare he defy the World Government like this?! You should leave me alone and go and set him straight immediately! Maybe you can even put him on the path to becoming a righteous Marine seeing as he doesn't have a proper bounty yet!"
Rather than the angry yelling Ace had anticipated, the old Marine started to chuckle menacingly. (The nearby Spades proceeded to flinch back in terror at the sound they had begun to associate with their Captain beating them into the ground for "training purposes")
"I knew that already brat, who do you think first told me you were engaged? Don't worry though, I have plans for the other Brat after I'm done with you." Ace paused in his escape attempts, to shake his fist at the sky in betrayal "SABO YOU BLOODY TRAITOR! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!"
Not wasting his grandson's momentary distraction, the elderly marine promptly swept the pirate's legs out from under him, swiftly grabbing his ankle with a Haki coated fist. "Ok then brat, let's see how much you've improved."
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
The Spades and Marco stared at the empty space their Captain had occupied mere moments ago in a contemplative silence. Five minutes passed and ever so slowly Paddy turned to face the rest of the crew, "Shouldn't we... I dunno, be trying to help the Captain escape or something?" Deuce let out a small snort of amusement.
"Paddy, Paddy, Paddy. Sweet, naïve, Paddy. I'm going to stop you right there. First of all do you really want to risk getting in the middle of all...that." The Spades all shivered as they followed Deuce's gesture to stare at the terrifying monster who was currently cackling as he beat their Captain across the deck.
Tearing his eyes away from the massacre Paddy reluctantly shook his head in denial "Didn't think so. Which brings me too point number two, which is where I'd like to remind you that what the Captain's going through now? That's the same thing he puts us through Every. Single. Training. Session. Still want to go help?"
The second youngest member of the crew paused, a frown flickering onto his face as he remembered their most recent training session and the echoing sound of their Captain's amused laughter at their suffering.
Mind made up, Paddy shook his head resolutely a dark smirk appearing on his face "You know what? You're absolutely right Deuce! I'm sure the Captain is doing just fine on his own."
The young pirate chose to pointedly ignored the loud shrieks of terror coming from the nearby deck "And really, I see no reason why we should interfere in a such a heart-warming family reunion. I'm sure Ace is happily enjoying the quality time with his beloved Grandpa."
Staring at his crew mates in fond exasperation Dusty couldn't help but let out a small snort at their vindictive smiles as they pointedly ignored their Captain's terrified screaming.
Shaking his head the first mate held open the door to the galley, his tone dryer than a desert "Yes. Such a wonderful family reunion. Now that we've finished discussing that, who's up for lunch?"
There were murmurs of agreement and everyone very deliberately looked away from where Marco was sneaking up into the crow's nest, a vision dial and Sellotape obvious in his hand.
Ace would be fine on his own.
Probably...
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Shanks tried to stop himself from flinching as he noticed Benn's grin. Ever since his call with Ace the red haired man had felt exceedingly paranoid about his second in command.
Had the other first mates already converted the grey haired man against him? Was Benn silently plotting petty revenge against Shanks even now? Was it only a matter of time until Shanks was forced into his own fake engagement like Ace had been?
Narrowing his eyes in suspicion the red haired man pointedly ignored his crew's laughter at his so called 'paranoia'.
Anyone willing to dismiss his first mate's powers of plotting was either an idiot, or had been purposefully misled into thinking as such. Which meant that the poor fool in question was most likely already trapped in the midst of one of Benn's terrifying schemes.
(Shanks may be one of the most powerful men on the grand line, but Benn was the chief strategist of the Red haired pirates for a reason).
Signalling the bartender to pour him another drink, the red haired man continued to squint suspiciously at one of his oldest friends. Whatever Benn was planning, Shanks wasn't going to let him get away with it!
He refused to fall prey to the same trap Ace had willingly walked into, the first mates were not to be trusted!
So intent on being suspicious of the grey haired man, the Emperor failed to notice his crew's sniper silently swapping his drink behind him.
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Seeing Lucky Roo give a big thumbs up to indicate the switch had been made, Benn made sure to rearrange his face in to a particularly obnoxious smirk.
Sure enough Shanks took one look at his expression and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Firmly refusing to move his gaze away from his first mate, absentmindedly taking sips of his now much more potent drink.
Watching his plan unfold perfectly it took everything Benn had not to laugh. Poor naïve Shanks. As first mate of the red haired pirates Benn had been in charge of daily maintenance onboard the red force for over a decade, at least half the crew owed him a favour or two. (not even to mention the astonishing amount of blackmail he had stockpiled)
As long as the grey haired man made sure he didn't cross any serious lines against the Captain, no one on the ship would stand against him in his petty revenge. Resisting the urge to cackle the first mate of the red haired pirates absentmindedly reminded himself to send Buggy the clown a gift basket.
The information about what type of liquor Shanks was particularly weak to was proving to be worth its weight in gold right now. And after the high concentration west blue Vodka that Lucky Roo had just swapped the red haired man's drink for, hopefully it wouldn't take long for the Emperor to fall asleep, after that revenge was only a matter of time.
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Looking down at the article in front of him, Sengoku barely resisted the urge to cackle. Garp was going to absolutely hate this and the Fleet Commander couldn't have felt more gleeful about it, especially after all the trouble his menace of a friend had caused recently.
Hiding the article in his desk to look over in more detail later, a burning question appeared in Sengoku's mind.
Would it be unprofessional to send the pirate who orchestrated this a thank you note?
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Staring at the image on the cover of the morning paper, Buggy the clown felt himself come to an important decision.
While the clown had known that Shanks's first mate would undoubtedly put his information to good use, nothing on the grand line could have prepared him for this.
Reverently picking up the paper the red nosed man lovingly placed it inside a stolen ornamental frame to hang on his wall. Truly, art like this needed to be appreciated in full! Cackling in glee Buggy stepped back to admire the photo once more.
A soft bubble-gum pink spotlight illuminated a tearful looking Shanks who had been positioned on his knees in front of an artistically decorated shrine. The shrine itself was covered in photos of both the man's alter ego the Queen of Hearts, and Garp the hero. Roses surrounded both sets of photos in addition to several romantically lit candles and a few boxes of expensive chocolate.
Beneath the photo teased a tell all exposé, detailing all about how Shanks's true affections had not just been for the Queen of hearts but for Garp as well.
The article was backed up with childhood stories all about how Shank's had supposedly always found Garp incredibly attractive, even when the marine was chasing after his old Captain.
The closing statement then proceeded to detail how heartbroken Shanks was that not only did neither Garp nor the Queen of Hearts love him back, but the poor man believed they were in love with each other!
The cherry on top was that the article noted that these details had in fact "accidentally" been revealed by Benn Beckmann himself. Who had then, in an act of horrified remorse, gone into a few weeks of self imposed exile to beg his Captain's forgiveness. It was worth noting that the island the first mate had exiled himself on was a summer island famous for it's all inclusive resorts.
Grinning at the article once more Buggy decided that he simply had no other option but to immediately set off to chase down Benn Beckmann, with the explicit purpose of getting down on one knee in front of the other man and proposing immediately.
This was not an idea that had ever occurred to the pirate Captain before just this instance, but after seeing the result of the first mate's scheming, Buggy the clown could honestly say he'd never been so in love with another human being in his life (including himself).
Humming bink's sake under his breath the pirate Captain cheerfully yelled for his navigator to set a new course. It'd be a nice chance to see Rouge's brat on route as well, the kid would probably enjoy getting the chance to hear some more stories about his mothers side of the family.
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Ace let out a groan of pain from where he was lying on the deck "Damn you shitty geezer, you couldn't have attacked me after lunch?" Garp chuckled whilst nursing a bruised arm "If you wanted a nicer reunion, then you shouldn't have run off to become a pirate and then gotten engaged without telling me shitty brat!"
The young Captain let out a sharp laugh "Don't kid yourself Gramps, this would have been your reaction regardless of what I ended up doing, or my supposed relationship status." Marine let oud a loud laugh "That's probably true brat. It's good to see you've gotten stronger though, even if you should have used that strength to join the Marines instead!"
The freckled teen paused, flashbacks of an execution platform playing in his mind, "It never would have worked Geezer. Not when my mere existence is a sin to the World Government. At the end of the day it wouldn't have mattered if I was a Marine, a pirate or a baker. My life was forfeit the second I was born with Gol D Roger's blood flowing through my veins."
Garp looked sad but offered no protest to the statement, after all he, more than anyone, knew the depths to which the celestial dragons could sink.
Ace turned to face his Grandpa and grinned, it was a wild and savage thing "I refuse to go quietly Gramps. With how much I've muddied the records, my true name might never be revealed to the world. But if it is, I refuse to go down without a fight, I refuse to die as anything other than free."
The old Marine smiled, small and sad but incredibly proud regardless "I'd expect nothing else."
The two faded into comfortable silence before the Marine raised a Haki coated fist once more "ALSO NEVERMIND YOU BEING A PIRATE, I'M TOO YOUNG TO HAVE GREAT GRANDCHILDREN! HOW DARE YOU GET ENGAGED?!"
Below deck the Spades flinched as terrified screaming started once more.
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Staring at the small boat sailing off into the distance, Ace breathed a loud sigh of relief. It was finally over. He'd survived.
Hurricane Garp had left to use the remainder of his holiday time to target a certain blond revolutionary in some sort of misguided attempt to make him see the error of his ways and join the Marines. Which meant Ace was safe once more! And speaking of safety...
The young Captain turned to glare at the door into the Galley "I know you're in there traitors." There was a moment of silence before the Spades slowly made their way onto the deck, Marco trailing slightly behind with an amused expression clear on his face.
For a moment nobody spoke, before Alice stepped in front of the group, a sweet smile evident on her face "Hello there Captain. Did you have a nice time with your Grandpa?" rather than the yelling they'd been expecting, Ace grinned in a way that made all the Spades subconsciously take a step backwards and reminded Marco uncomfortably of Thatch and Haruta.
"I had a lovely time Alice. In fact I'm going to dedicate all my time over the next few days to make sure you all have an equally lovely time before we meet up with Pops. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Feeling a shiver run down his spine Dusty decided that now would be an excellent time to try and distract his Captain. "Before we start on that Captain there was a phone call for you earlier from Boa Sandersonia. She mentioned something about a tragic romantic backstory and a kidnapping scandal."
The air immediately lost it's murderous tension and the Spades let out a sigh of relief at their Captains mischievous grin "Excellent I'll go deal with that now!" Moving towards the Galley the freckled teen paused to send his crew a smug look over his shoulder "Don't think I've forgotten about you abandoning me to Gramps! Be afraid Spades. Be very afraid."
Alice raised a hand "I'd like to use my get out of jail free card from our last bet." Ace paused in consideration before nodding, ignoring the outraged protests from the rest of his crew as Alice smirked.
"Acceptable. Be afraid Spades minus Alice, be very afraid." The Captain paused in consideration before turning to glare at Marco "You too Birdy." Marco chuckled at the threat "I've lived with Thatch and Haruta for years. Give it your best shot fire brat." The freckled teen grinned "I'm going to make you regret saying that."
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Over the course of his life Marco the phoenix, first division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates, son to Edward Newgate and sibling to both Haruta and Thatch had thought up many many evil schemes.
And yet despite all that had come before, the phoenix could safely say that his latest plot may just be the one to end life on earth as he knew it.
Dusty looked at the Phoenix "Are you sure this is a good idea? There's no going back after this." Benn let out a small chuckle from the other side of the Den Den Mushi "Very true, but Newgate is our next target and that's gonna require some creativity on our behalves. Besides if you two want any chance at surviving whatever vengeance Ace is currently cooking up you're going to need the back up."
Dusty let out a small sigh "Can't argue with that. let's do it."
A savage grin appeared on Marco's face as he grabbed his spare Den Den Mushi and rang the number he had long since memorised. Hearing the short click indicating the person on the other side had picked up Marco spoke.
"Hello Rayleigh."
An amused chuckle rang out the other end "Hello Phoenix brat. Now what's this I hear about a new secret society for first mates?"
Author's note
Hi everyone! I'm so sorry this took so long works been really hectic and I've been lacking in motivation a little bit recently but hopefully you all enjoyed the new chapter anyway and that you're all appropriately terrified of the first mat's alliance :)
As always huge thanks to everyone who left a review you have no idea how encouraging and motivational they are to see!
So on that note, big thank you to WILDSPARK-PRIME (you're absolutely correct the first mates are terrifyingly competent and should be treated as such (especially now Rayleigh has joined them)), Butterflypuss, Mr Sunshine744 (thank you for your compliment on the last chapter :)), DragonJinchuriki20 (sorry no Luffy this chapter but I promise he'll show up later), SakuraKoi, Shadowkragg, Breizgragon, Patrice666 (Alice can't see the future but she is terrifyingly perceptive and everyone should be very afraid XD) Caraline Fisher (thank you exams went well :)), ASL lover, Onlyafraidoffear (thanks for the compliment it made me smile!), GoddessOfFanfiction (glad you liked the chapter and I hope you're feeling better!), , Yukino76, VisitorNo.18 (love your reviews as always :) and don't worry there will definitely be more on the supposed engagement next chapter XD), Jun16011, Judgment King, Random Wingithingy (can I just say I love your username and hope you enjoyed Shanks's stress, unfortunately for him the first mates aren't done yet.) Twilightromance4ever, LuckyMagicBelle, resclark, slocklin, Nad19, Tifacat, Yoi Kokoro, Yeeyeemgee, Engineer of Epicness (omg I love your idea of leaving a card on Sengoku's desk if you're ok with me maybe doing something similar I'd love to possibly incorporate it into the story?) NeverTooMuchInspiration, Idoray, amayranni22 (I love the idea of Shanks being a protective papa bear over Luffy omg) Phoenix-Fire-Queen, InfinityMask, Blomquist, animemitress1, eprince200, sousie, TranquilPanda, Star crystals, and ABBadon44.
As well as a big thank you to anyone else I may have missed!
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and stay safe everyone! :)