Title: Of Dreams and Desires
Pairings: Smoker x Ace, Sanji x Zoro, and other side pairings
Ratings: T - NC-17
Chapter: 13 of ?
Summary: Desert Tales…
Disclaimer: I do not make any profit from this story; all props go to Eiichiro Oda.
Author Note: This chapter might be a little slow, but bear with me, the good stuff is coming soon.
Reviews: Thank you to Guest and Yuri for reviewing. I like peanut butter and I like Bananas but I just… don't like them together in a sammich lol.
Beta Reader: descriptionsalive21, thank you so much!

Portgas D. Ace

It had been eight long days since the Straw Hat crew, accompanied by Princess Vivi and Luffy's brother, Ace, had begun walking through the desert. They probably would have made it to Yuba by now if it weren't for the frequent stops that had been made along the way. Ace had gotten separated from the group around day three, and if it weren't for the lizard creature he encountered, he wouldn't have made it to the nearest city without dying of extreme thirst and hunger.

Once Ace had made it to a village, he discovered a man by the name of Camus and his band of misfits. Camus was a liar by trade and he had made the villagers believe that he and his men were members of the Rebel Army. Unfortunately, his charade couldn't last long, and he contemplated packing up his belongings and leaving the village when the mayor asked them to investigate some pirates that were headed towards their location.

After he'd watched Ace take out his men with no problems, Camus pleaded for the Fire Fist to handle their situation in the name of the Rebel Army. Ace bargained for their food and water supplies, then he traveled out to meet the so called pirates, only to find out it was his brother and the rest of the Straw Hats. Putting a ruse together, the Straw Hats and Ace made Camus and his men stand up to their fears and actually protect the village like they had been pretending to do.

All of that happened two days ago, and the travelers of the desert found themselves in a maze of rocks, resting their weary bodies. The day's heat was nearly unbearable to the group, so when Sanji called for a lunch break everyone readily agreed.

Nami and Vivi climbed up one of the many rock formations away from the group to speak about the luxury of a princess's life. Usopp and Chopper lay on their backs looking up to the sky, hoping a cloud would pass by and offer some shade from the burning sun. Zoro took to cleaning his swords and occasionally glancing up at the cook who was chopping and throwing different ingredients into a cooking pot. Luffy was picking his nose and humming some random song while flicking his boogers at Zoro every so once in a while.

Ace sat on a high rock, overlooking his brother's crew in deep thought. He'd recently received a message saying that Whitebeard was calling a meeting with the allies, and that all commanders were to attend. The meeting would be in three weeks; if he traveled now, he would be able to make it, but that plan would throw him off his journey. He would have to skip any leads he would've gotten on Blackbeard in order to make it to the New World.

Ace sighed; he would just have to miss this meeting. He couldn't afford to be diverted any more than he already had been.

Luffy's whine for food made Ace's lips turn in a grin. They both had huge appetites and he could recall Dadan's frustration with them when they were kids. The boys had eaten the bandit out of house and home, forcing her to make them catch their own dinner. Ace shook his head and chuckled. Those were the good days.

"Naaaaaa, Sanji~ how much longer until lunch is ready?" Luffy kicked his legs in the air, pouting a little.

Sanji stirred the food and took a pull from his cigarette. "It'll be done when I say it's done, Luffy."

"But Sanjiiiiii, I'm so hungryyyyy." Luffy's stomach let out a loud rumble and he rubbed it to console the poor organ.

One curly eyebrow twitched in aggravation. "Keep it up, Luffy, and you'll get your serving last. Why can't you be more like your brother? Look at him sitting over there, silently and patiently waiting to be served his meal."

Ace looked over to the arguing pair and shook his head at his brother. "Calm yourself, Luffy, we will eat shortly."

The Straw Hat captain muttered to himself and sat in silence, rubbing his stomach as it let out an occasional grumble. A little over an hour later, Sanji called everyone to lunch. He passed everyone their portion then poured himself a serving in a bowl before settling back to eat with his crew.

The silence didn't last long, as Luffy and Usopp quickly finished their meals and began demanding for seconds. "More, Sanji, more!"

Noir sighed and moved from his spot on the desert floor to check the pot and seeing it was empty, he took it from its hanging position and started to clean it. "There isn't any more food you guys. You'll have to survive with what you've had until dinner."

Nami shook her head at the antics of her crewmates. "Shame, they act like such wild animals."

Vivi chuckled a bit. "Yes, but look at his brother. Quite handsome that one is."

"And polite too." The woman looked at the handsome male who was cleaning his spoon and plate.

Both sighed dreamily. "Why couldn't Luffy be like him?"

Vivi looked at Luffy then to Ace. "You might say that, Nami, but admit it, you wouldn't want to change Luffy, you like him just the way he is."

Nami's orange eyes lingered on Luffy for a moment, and she nodded. "Sadly, you're right. I wouldn't trade him for the world."

Luffy was dejected that there wasn't any food left, until he looked over and saw two pieces of meat sitting on Zoro's plate. An evil grin set over his face as he called upon his devil, quickly shooting out his arm and snatching the food before stuffing it in his mouth, hoping the swordsman wouldn't notice.

But, of course, he noticed.

"Dammit Luffy, give it back!" Zoro tackled the boy and they fought for the piece of meat. Sanji shook his head at the sight but didn't intervene. Captain is Zoro's problem now. He thought as he returned to cleaning up the campsite.

Irritated at the sand that was being kicked up from the fight, Nami approached the two and growled before punching both their heads. "Knock it off, the both of you. Clean up and get ready to move out, we still have a lot of land to cover before nightfall."

Zoro, Nami, and Luffy engaged in a shouting match when the remaining piece of meat on Zoro's plate was lifted into the air. Noticing the food hovering, Luffy jumped up yelling, "Oh! Look! The meat is flying!"

"Huh?"

"What?"

Not bothering to answer, Luffy took off after the meat, which was now weaving through the maze of rocks. Ace watched with lazy eyes as Luffy ran off screaming about flying meat and he shook his head again–he'd forgotten how much of a handful his brother could be. The commander was about to help clean the campsite when he noticed two figures dash behind a rock not too far from the group. He tilted his head to the side before jumping off the rock he was sitting on and down onto the ones below, then hopping from stone to stone until he found the area where the figures were hiding in.

Ace leaped off the rock and hid behind it, watching the boys eat their stolen meal. He hoisted himself to the boulder next to them and laid a hand on his hat. "Now, what do we have here?"

The oldest of the pair jumped and dropped the piece of meat, pulling the youngest boy behind him in a protective stance as he reached into his pocket and drew out a gun with shaky hands. He gulped nervously, fully feeling the weight of the weapon in his hands. "I… I don't know who y-you are b-b-but stay away from us! I'll… I'll shoot you, I swear it!"

Ace let out a humorless chuckle. What position were these boys in that their only resort was this?

"Put that down, young boys like you two should be home with your mother taking a nap."

The younger boy jerked the other's shoulder, causing him to fire the gun. Ace picked up a pebble near his foot and threw it in the direction of the bullet, causing it to deflect and fall to the ground. Unable to fully understand what had just happened, the older shook his head. "He stopped the bullet with a rock! Who are you?"

Usopp and Nami followed the sound of a gunshot and came upon Ace, who was still crouching in front of two boys. "Who are they?"

Ace looked back at Nami and shrugged his shoulders before returning his attention to the boys. The older gathered his courage and stood before Ace, holding a crumpled picture. "Have you seen this man?"

Ace took the picture and examined it; not recognizing the person in the photo, he shook his head. The younger boy let out a wail and the older grabbed Ace's shorts. "Please, help me find him! I'll give you 1,000,000 beli if you can help us find him!"

Nami rubbed her chin in thought. "1,000,000 beli, huh?"

The dark brown haired boy shook his head. "Well, I don't have it now, but when I get it I promise I'll give it to you if you can just help us now."

Ace looked at the picture again, storing the face to memory. "Who is this man anyway?"

The light brown haired boy spoke softly, "His name is Scorpion."

"Scorpion, isn't that the man you're looking for, Ace?" Nami questioned.

Ace hummed in recognition. "Yes, I have business with a man named Scorpion. Before meeting up with you guys, I heard a rumor saying Scorpion not only know about Blackbeard's whereabouts but that he also fought and won against him."

Ace noticed both young boys tensed considerably and he asked, "Are you two ok?"

"Are you…"

The younger one started but then trailed off, leaving his brother to continue. "Are you Fire Fist Ace?"

Said man raised an eyebrow but didn't comment as he saw three figures in the distance.

"Ace, is something wrong?"

He looked at Usopp then back to the figures in the distance. "There's a bird and two men approaching us."

Chopper confirmed the statement and the group waited in silence for the people to get closer. Ace pushed the two boys behind a rock to shield them from danger if there was any, but it wasn't long before Luffy and a man they recognized as Scorpion riding an ostrich began to close in on them.

Surprised to see his crew so soon, Luffy smiled and waved to them. "Ace! Guys!"

Scorpion froze in his seat on his pet, Popo. He immediately knew he was dealing with the real thing when he saw that the man in front of him matched the bounty poster.

Oh well, can't back out now. I have to do this for my boys!

Scorpion cleared his throat and screamed, "Fire Fist Ace! I have traveled far and wide to battle you, this will be a battle of the greats indeed!"

Luffy bellowed laughter at the bounty hunter's words. "Oi, Ace! Don't you back out!"

Ace rolled his eyes and responded, "I'm not backing out, Luffy. Although, I would like to ask you something."

Before Ace could fully get out his question, Scorpion charged at him, losing Luffy sometime on his downhill journey to the pirate. He pulled a gun from his side and shot a metal net at Ace, hoping to catch him in the heavy material.

His plan didn't go quite as he thought it would, because just as the net fell on top of Ace, he released his devil and his flames pushed the net up and away from him, causing it to fall on Scorpion, throwing him off his ride. Scorpion began to struggle to lift the net off him when he felt the heat from the hot iron and Popo kicked cool sand on him to lessen the burn all the while.

Ace sat still for a moment, looking to see if the man had given up. However, the bounty hunter was resilient as ever and rose with a determine face. The Whitebeard Pirate sighed but smiled, "Ah, so I see you still have some fight left in you."

Scorpion chuckled out, "Of course I'm still going to fight you. I won't be going easy anymore, so prepare yourself! Popo! Give me my pressurized corrosive acid rifle!"

The ostrich ran past his owner, dropping the weapon at his feet before getting out of harm's way.

Scorpion struggled a bit when picking up the rifle, but when he finally got a good grip on it he laughed and aimed it at Ace. "Try dodging this!"

Ace quickly dashed to the side as two shots were fired in his direction. Acid hit the rock behind him, leaving two melted holes in its wake and Ace tsked as he ran to the man head-first, flipping over him when Scorpion fired a few more rounds. The bounty hunter followed Ace's movements through the scope of his gun and was facing him when he landed from his flip, but couldn't pull the trigger quick enough as Ace rushed forward and punched him in the gut, knocking the air from his lungs.

Ace watched Scorpion roll down a sand hill, saying, "The outcome of this fight was to be expected. I'm guessing the story about Blackbeard was a lie as well, correct?" He didn't wait for a response as he continued, "Basically, you'd knew if you started a rumor saying you knew the location or had previously defeated Blackbeard, then you knew I'd come looking for you."

Scorpion coughed and pulled himself to his knees. "Sounds about right, but I can't let you walk out of here alive; I have to keep fighting for my boys."

Unable to watch their father get hurt anymore, said boys jumped from behind their hiding place, pleading for the fight to end. "Father, please, no more!"

Confusion crossed Scorpion's face as he looked at the faces of his children. "Chip? Dip?"

Chip and Dip slid down the sand hill and tackled their father, tears streaming down their faces, hiccupping every so often. "Please come home, Dad! We won't complain about food or being hungry anymore! Just please come home!"

Scorpion looked down at his boys, his chest tightening at their pain-ridden faces. "My sons, I'm so sorry. I…" he choked back a sob, "I left to start back bounty hunting because I couldn't bear the sight of both of you going hungry. Starving day in and day out, what kind of father would I be if I didn't put forth my best effort to make sure you have what you need?"

Ace tilted his hat as Scorpion continued, the ache in his chest returning at the sight of the distraught family.

"I would give anything for you boys and if coming home is what you want then it's what I will do. I'm sorry to have left you alone," Scorpion said as he threw his bazooka he had previously grabbed to attack Ace with to the ground and flung his arms around his children, the family sobbing at finally being reunited. However, their reunion was short lived as the bazooka slid down the sand and hit a rock, causing it to deploy the bomb. It attached to the rocky ledge above and exploded, sending the rocks to fall on the unsuspected family.

Luffy yelled at them to move as he began to call upon his devil to destroy the falling objects, but his brother's voice stopped him, and he watched as Ace used his devil to summon his fist like flame and shoot all debris away from the family. Once the smoked cleared Ace and Luffy ran down the slope, hoping no one was harmed.

The brothers stopped as they saw Chip and Dip rise from the rubble. "Are you boys ok?" they asked.

Dip looked at Ace and nodded with smiles. "Dad protected us."

Chip shook his father, trying to rouse him from his unconscious state. "Dad? Dad are you ok?"

Luffy cocked his head to the side and peered down at the older man. "Old man, you aren't dead are you?"

The prone body coughed twice before a hand lifted his helmet out of his eyes. "Simpleton. I could never die and leave my sons behind."

Luffy laughed and used his devil to extend his arms and wrap them around the three, pulling them to safety. Once everyone was back out of harm, Ace turned his attention to Scorpion. "If you don't mind, sir, I have some questions that I would like to ask you."

Scorpion looked up in surprise at Ace's politeness. "Sure, you said you had questions before. What are they, boy?"

"I understand you made up the rumor to draw me out here, but do you know anything of the man named Blackbeard?"

Scorpion scratched his chin, thinking for a long time before he answered, "There's a man that's known west of here and his name is Blackbeard. He resides on a small island next to the Jaya Islands. I'm not sure if that's the exact Blackbeard you're looking for, but it wouldn't hurt to aim your search in that direction. To my knowledge there've been no sightings of a man named Blackbeard on this island."

Ace sighed and took his hat off his head to run his fingers through his hair. "Thanks, you saved me a trip through the desert." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of coins he'd lifted off some stranger earlier. "Here, take this; it's enough to get your family a good meal and then have some left over. Invest it well."

Scorpion looked ready to decline, but he took one glance at his thin children and accepted the money. "Thank you."

Ace walked over to his brother and his crew as they were prepping to start their journey again. "Well guys, it was fun traveling with you all, but this is where I take my leave."

Luffy poked his lips out in a pout, whining, "Aww, Ace, you can't stay any longer?"

Portgas smiled at his younger brother's actions. "Sorry Lu, but Blackbeard isn't on this island, there's no point in me staying here. I need to continue my hunt." Ace reached into his pocket and pulled out a fleshly paper before tossing it over to Luffy. "Keep this with you always, it'll make sure that we meet up again."

Luffy rubbed his fingers over the paper, confused. "Huh? What is this? It's just funny feeling paper."

Ace sucked his teeth and questioned, "Do you not want it?" When he reached to take the paper away from Luffy the boy licked his hand, causing Ace to pull his hand back in disgust, wiping the saliva on his pants.

Luffy grinned spread from ear to ear. "Yeah, of course I want it."

Ace rolled his eyes before addressing his brother's crew. "Thank you all, again, for taking care of my brother. Please continue to do so and I thank you for your company through the desert." He bowed and smiled at Luffy saying, "The next we meet it'll be at the Pirate's Summit. Be ready and meet me at the top."

Luffy laughed at his brother but couldn't respond due to Chip and Dip shouting their goodbyes to them. The Straw Hats turned to bid the bounty hunter's family farewell and when they turned back, Ace was nowhere to be seen.

Nami and Vivi sighed, "He's already gone."

Luffy looked around and shrugged, pocketing the paper before turning to his crew. "We'll see him again. Now, off to Yuba!"

Everyone agreed and they continued on their journey.

Hope this wasn't too slow for you guys. Let me know what you think. :D Stay in touch for next chapter: Smoker Tensa - Huredhiel