Chapter 6: Formation of the Spade Pirates

Warnings: mentions of slavery

"Where to first, Ace?" Sabo asked his older brother as he steered the stolen ship through the water.

"We first need to stock up on supplies and start recruiting." Ace told his brothers, who nodded. "Then we can start training. We won't go to the Grand Line until we are 17, but it would be a good idea for our crew to be strong enough to unlock at least one type of Haki. Our crewmates also won't take too kindly to being captained by a kid. So, I need to do something about that as well." He said the last part to himself as he walked around on deck.

"Luffy, can you do something for me?" Ace asked his youngest brother. Luffy smiled and nodded to him.

"Course Ace! Whaddya need?"

"I need you to go below deck and count how many rooms the ship has. That's all you need to do, alright? Don't touch anything but the doorknob and count. Can you do that?" Luffy nodded seriously and set to his task.

'I need to find where Deuce is if he's not on Sixis, and get him to become my First Mate again. He has a good head on him and was one of our best strategists. So, if I can find him again that would be a plus. I also want to see if I can convince Isuka to join up this time. If we have a Marine on our side that would be helpful to avoid islands with Marine bases on them as well as outmaneuver marine ships. I would also like to meet some of Luffy's crewmates again.' Ace was broken out of his thoughts by Luffy coming back and poking him on his arm.

"That was fast." Ace told his brother.

"Ace, you've been pacing around the deck for the past half an hour." Sabo told him bluntly.

"Oh. Sorry. So Lu, how many rooms do we have?" Ace asked, he would also need to see if he could find a shipwright who could build the Striker and the Piece of Spadille. He wanted his ships back, and he would get them.

"We have ten bedrooms, two closets, and a big room with a really big window." Luffy reported back.

"A room with a large window?" Sabo furrowed his brow. "I'll go check it out." He said, leaving his brothers on the deck.

"Good job, Luffy. I'm proud of you." Ace ruffled the other D-Bearer's hair which caused Luffy to giggle and wrap his rubber arms around him.

"It's a navigation room." Sabo called out, poking his head from the doorway leading below deck to the rest of the ship.

"That will be useful. Alright, let's get our first crewmate!" Ace yelled, grinning and heading to the wheel and the maps lying on the table being held down by the two Eternal Poses.

"Who would that be, Ace? Also, I've got a few questions for you." Sabo said, his blue eyes narrowing on his brother.

"What is it, 'Bo?" Ace turned back to the wheel, but glanced down towards the maps.

"Why do you have two Eternal Poses? How did you even manage to get the Log Poses? And what the hell is going on?!" Sabo finished his questions with a yell.

Luffy glanced between his brothers and sat down, leaning on the railing of the ship. He knew that this conversation needed to happen, but he wasn't looking forward to it.

Ace was hiding something. Luffy knew that, but what Ace was hiding… that was what he wanted to find out. He also wanted to know who the person who had tried to kill his oldest brother was. Whoever that person was, was going to be in world of hurt. No one hurts his family!

Ace sighed and groaned. He really didn't want to deal with this right now, but he knew that both Sabo and Luffy would be wondering what happened to him and why it was necessary to burn down Dawn Island.

He would also need to figure out how to contact Shanks and ask him about Roger's enemies, he thought that even though the former Pirate King was dead, his enemies would still be gunning for his crew.

"I got the Log Poses from a couple of Nobles I stole from; the Eternal Pose to Sabaody was from your dick of a parent, Sabo." Ace told the blond.

"Wait, what? What do you mean by that?" Sabo yelled.

"I mean I stole it from your sperm donor." Ace said bluntly, Sabo flinched at that. "Anyway, the one to Fish-Man Island is from Garp. He figured that having two Eternal Poses to Sabaody and Fish-Man Island would be a good idea, and I agree with him. Those two islands are prime information spots. It connects Paradise with the New World."

"Why would Sabo's dad have an Eternal Pose to-" Luffy concentrated on how to say the word. "… Sabaody?" He asks slowly, wanting to say it correctly.

Ace glanced at Sabo for a moment and closed his eyes. "Sabaody Archipelago has a lot of auction houses. Where people buy slaves." The older D-Bearer said. Luffy's eyes grew wide and then narrowed in anger, while Sabo paled in horror.

"Slaves? My father was going to buy slaves?!" Sabo started panicking and wrapped his arms around himself, his fingers and nails digging into his skin. Luffy stopped him immediately by wrapping him in a tight rubber hug and saying that Sabo wasn't like his father, that he was a good person.

"'Bo you are not your parents. You are better than them. More than that, isn't that what you and Lu have been trying to convince me of? That I'm not like Roger and that I deserve to live?" Ace asked his brother.

Sabo looked up at Ace with teary eyes and nods slowly. "Yeah… You aren't Roger, if anyone thinks that they're just stupid and living in the past."

Luffy and Ace grinned, both D-Bearers were happy with the answer the blonde gave them. "Exactly!" Sabo chuckled and pried Luffy off of him. "Now, that that's done, let's go find our First Mate." Ace already knew who he wanted on his crew, as well as who he wanted as his first ally.

"Who would that be?" Sabo asked his older brother.

"We need to get to Sixis, it's a small island. The guy we're searching for is a doctor and I want to see if he would be willing to be my First Mate." Ace said, looking over the maps trying to remember where Sixis was and how to get there.

"Okay. I'll get us there." Sabo said, heading over to the wheel and tracing out the island that Ace wanted to get to. "There's a small island that we can restock at and possibly get a few more members." Sabo turned to look at Ace.

"Which island?" Ace looked at the map with an odd expression; Sabo couldn't tell what he was feeling at the moment.

"Goat Island." Sabo responded.

Ace raised an eyebrow at that and then he grabbed the map. "What the fuck! That's where he was?" Ace slammed the map back down on the small table next to the wheel and growled. "Lu, for the love of the sea, get some decent Marine contacts. That will help all of us."

"What? Marine contacts?" Luffy asked, his head tilted to the side.

"Never mind, I'll trust you to make the right choices in getting your allies. But regardless, that will be useful, now all we need is a way to contact Shanks. I need to ask him something. Do you have his Den-Den number?" Ace asked the younger D-Bearer.

Luffy shook his head. "No. Sorry, Ace."

"Alright that's fine, I might be able to find it somewhere else." Ace paused, "How long to Goat Island, Sabo?" Ace looked to their temporary Navigator.

"A few days." Sabo replied, looking at the map of East Blue and the compass, making sure he was heading in the right direction.

It was two days later that they made it to Goat Island. Sabo steered the ship into the small harbor and dropped anchor. "We're here. I'll go wake Luffy up." Sabo told his brother who was leaning against the railing on the deck in front of the wheel.

"Make sure that his hat is covered, we don't want anyone questioning who he is." Ace told him without looking back. Sabo just nodded and went to get the other boy.

Ace looked at the town that they had sailed to and smiled. 'So this is where Coby ends up with Alvida. This will be interesting. But does that mean Coby lives on Goat Island?' Ace thought, not knowing how old Coby was when he met the female pirate.

Sabo and Luffy came out from below deck as Ace looked up to see his youngest brother pouting. "Why do I have to cover my hat?" Luffy asked him.

"We don't know if there is anyone here that was in Roger's Generation, Lu. I'd rather not get into a fight that could end up killing us all." Ace told him gently, knowing he wouldn't like this. "You are my chosen King, Luffy. I want to see you crowned, and I will do whatever it takes to that happen."

Luffy's eyes widened as a large grin split his face. "I love you Ace!" Luffy wrapped his arms around his brother and laughed, tears streaming down his brown eyes. "Thank you." The boy whispered.

Ace smiled at the boy who he knew would become Pirate King. "Do you mind if I carry your hat?" Ace asked him.

"You'll keep it safe?" The youngest Monkey D. asked.

Ace scoffed, "Of course I will. Come on, you two get the supplies we need and I'll look around for any relevant information." Ace says and his two younger brothers nod.

"I'll keep Luffy out of trouble and get enough food to feed the two of you." Sabo said with a chuckle.

The 20-year old turned boy nods and waits for his (much) younger brothers to leave the ship. He needed to find a shipwright that could make the Piece of Spadille and Striker. He really wants his ships back. That's when he remembered, Aggie 68 was his shipwright! But Ace didn't know where the man was, and since he was much younger than when he had first got his crew, he would have to do something to get his crew's trust and loyalty back.

His first task was trying to find Coby on this island and then getting Deuce as his First Mate and Doctor. That is, if he's even on Sixis, but that's an issue for later.

Ace walked around the town until he found the base of the Alvida Pirates. There was a burly guard standing watch. "Oi, kid." Ace turned his head toward the man. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to Alvida." Ace said simply.

"What?" The guard said dumbly.

"Your Captain, I need to speak to her." Ace leaned over and shouted into the bar. "Permission to enter, Captain Alvida?"

The bar went quiet for a moment and then, "Permission granted." A female voice spoke up.

Ace stepped away from the guard and entered the bar. There weren't many pirates, but he didn't really expect a large crew for an East Blue crew, the largest that he'd heard about were the Arlong Pirates, their captain was a former Sun Pirate. Ace would also need to ally with Jinbe, which will be very useful in the New World and with convincing Whitebeard and Marco that Blackbeard was an actual threat.

"A child? Why are you here boy?" Alvida asked him. She was a heavy-set woman; leaning next to her was a mace. 'What does this kid want with me?' She asked herself.

"Hello, Captain Alvida." Ace started. "I was wondering if you would allow us to speak privately. There is something I need to tell you."

"Very well, come with me." She waved her hand towards the back-end of the bar and led him upstairs to what he presumed was her office. "So whaddya want? Not many kids would be ballsy enough to approach a pirate, even here in East Blue."

Ace just grinned. "How would feel about making an alliance?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you a pirate kid? Pretty young, how old are you?"

Ace chuckled, "Names' Ace, I'm 11, and yes I am a pirate. I'm the Captain of my crew."

Alvida was stunned, she has never met a Pirate Captain this young before, the only 'pirates' that were this young were cabin boys. "You're a Pirate Captain?" She asked, intrigued and wary of this boy.

This was East Blue, the weakest of the Blues and this boy was already a captain, which meant that he was of the rare breed of stupidly strong. "What's your crew?" She asked finally after the silence stretched out for a few minutes.

"Spade Pirates." Ace said proudly.

"So you want us to ally? I'm an East Blue native; the farthest I'll go willingly is Loguetown." She told him, crossing her arms and waiting for his response.

Ace shook his head, "I don't want you to ally with me, and I want you to ally with the Buggy Pirates. I'm heading over to the Organ Islands soon so I'll give Captain Buggy the same offer."

"Why do you want us to ally together?" the young woman asked, not knowing what the kid was planning.

His face darkened. "Things are going to get a whole lot worse before they ever get better, Alvida. I would rather not want you to get caught up in something you're not ready for. That's why I want you and Buggy to ally. He knows what he's doing, and more than that, he's of the rare breed of pirates." Ace smiled at that.

"What do you mean?"

"He's smart enough to not get his crew and his allies into something they're not ready for. He knows his limits and the limits of his crew and allies." Ace thought back to the Summit War, about Buggy finding out who he was and trying to get him out of there. That was when he figured out that Buggy was on his father's old crew. How no one found out about that, that would remain a mystery for the time being.

"Why are you so concerned for me, we are opposing pirate crews." Alvida didn't know what to think about the kid's explanation but she felt like he knew more than he was letting on.

A lot more.

"Because you don't deserve to die for being a pirate that just wants a simple life." He said sincerely.

The young woman rubbed her chin and thought about the kid – Ace's – proposition. It was tempting; to ally with another crew, but… she knew most of her crew wouldn't want this. The only thing she could think of would be to disband and join the other Pirate Captain until he and his crew make it to the Organ Islands. "Do you mind if I join you until we get to the Organ Islands?" Alvida asked.

Ace's eyes widened, he didn't think that this would work; getting Alvida and Buggy to ally was the only thing he could think of to protect both crews. Sure, he didn't really know either of the Pirate Captains, but that didn't mean he was a heartless bastard that didn't care if they died. "What about your crew?" He asked her.

"My crew is a small one and we've only been together for less than a year." She shrugged.

"Okay then, you can temporarily join. I'll let you get your affairs in order." She nods gratefully at him. "I have a question." He said slowly, gesturing for the boy to continue Ace asked his question. "Do you know a boy named Coby?"

"Name sounds familiar, why?"

"I know he wants to be a Marine, " 'And he's one of the good ones that actually cares about the people he protects.' He thought. "I want to take him to the Yotsuba Island Region. One of the islands has a Marine base there, figured this would jump-start his career path."

"Why would you want to help that kid become a Marine? That's pretty stupid." She scoffed; helping Marines was suicide for most pirates. What was this kid thinking?

"I'm sure he'll turn out to be one of the good ones. More than that, it mainly has to do with another Captain I'm allied with." He shrugged.

"Which Captain and crew?" the dark haired woman asked.

"The Straw Hat Pirates." Ace wouldn't tell her about Luffy being captain until his brother is 17.

Alvida's eyes widened. 'Straw hat? Could it be?' Alvida didn't know what to make of that but if it was what she was thinking of… then this boy just got a lot more dangerous.

"The boy lives in the village. I'll get him for you when I'm finished with getting my crew out of here. By the way, where is your ship and how will I know it's your crew?" Alvida asked.

"We don't have our flag up yet, but that will be something we fix soon. Also, if you see a blonde boy in blue that's one of my crew members, just ask him." Ace told her.

"Alright, see you soon… Captain Ace."

"Thank you for agreeing to an audience with me, Captain Alvida."

When Ace left the bar, he sighed in relief. The 20 year old didn't know if his plan would work, and even if it did, there was a chance that Buggy might kill him for bringing up Roger. Hell, he knew that if anyone found out about his father, Ace would have killed that person just to make sure that information didn't get out.

He wasn't looking where he was going and accidentally bumped into something. Or someone as that 'something' grunted. "Are you alright? Sorry, I didn't see you." The male voice above him sounded oddly familiar and as Ace looked up his eyes widened and he grinned.

There, standing in front of him was Aggie 68, his shipwright and helmsman. 'Well, at least getting the Piece of Spadille and Striker will be much easier now. Hope you don't mind that you're not my first crewmate again, Deuce.'

"My fault, I didn't look where I was going." He shook his head at his former crewmate.

"I saw you heading out of Alvida's bar. You in some kind of trouble with her?" Aggie asked.

Ace was happy to see that Aggie still held the same concern for him, even when he was in his child-body. "Nope, just needed to talk to her. Hey, I was wondering, are you a shipwright?" Ace asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yep! I'm one of the few Shipwright's in East Blue, why ya askin'?" Aggie asked.

"I'm looking for a Shipwright, want to join my crew?" Ace asked.

Aggie was shocked, this kid… what the hell is he? "Are you a pirate…? Wait?! Your crew?!" He asked, his mouth open in shock.

Ace grinned a D-grin. "Yep! Name's Ace, Captain of the Spade Pirates."

"I… You're a kid, how can you be the Captain?" Aggie asked.

"You'll find out if you join." Ace said simply.

"Why not, been wanting to get out of this town. I'm Aggie 68, nice to meet you… Captain Ace." The older man said to the boy. The two shook hands and Ace led him to the docks.

Aggie stared at the state of the kid's ship. "This is your ship?" Aggie asked, trying not to sound disrespectful to his new captain.

"Nope, this is temporary. Already got two ships in mind, our main ship, the Piece of Spadille, and a smaller one called Striker." Ace told his Shipwright/Helmsman.

Aggie nodded absently, stunned by the fact that this kid already knew what he wanted. "Well, okay then. I'll get started when we've got the materials necessary."

"Don't worry, take your time." Ace told him as he felt his brother's Haki.

"Ace!" A red and black blur slammed into him. Ace laughed as he saw Aggie's expression.

"Hi, Luffy. Did you and Sabo get enough food and supplies?" Ace asked his little brother.

"Yeah, we did. Who's this, Ace?" Sabo asked, the blonde coming to a stop near Ace and Aggie.

"This is our new Shipwright and Helmsman; we also are going to have two guests on board as well." Ace told his brothers, Sabo looked between Aggie and Ace.

"Two guests?" Sabo asked.

"The former Captain of the Alvida Pirates, Alvida, and a boy named Coby. He's about Lu's age so they should get along easily." Ace turned to take the bags and supplies from his bother as he choked in shock. Ace handed some to Aggie as the two went up the gangplank and onto the ship.

Luffy followed behind but turned his head to look at Sabo. "Come on Sabo! We get more friends!" The little D-Bearer said cheerfully.

Sabo walked up the plank and watched the newest member of the crew and his brother talking to the large man. Sabo went over to get the food from Luffy's hands so he wouldn't eat everything all at once. "Come on, let's put this stuff away." Sabo told his little brother.

"Okay, Sabo!"

Ace smiled gently at the interaction between Sabo and Luffy. He would protect both of them, but he would not interfere in their dreams. He loves his brothers, but he knew better than most what happened when you messed with a D-Bearer and their dream.

"Since Striker is the smaller ship you want I could have that built in about a month. How many people were you looking for the ship to hold?" Aggie asked Ace.

"At most, five people. It's a smaller ship for a reason; it'll be used mainly for restocking." Aggie nodded. As the two continued to discuss the specifics of the Piece of Spadille Ace looked up to the mast. They would need their flag. "Can you make our flag for us?" Ace suddenly asked Aggie.

"Sure what did you have in mind?" the man asks his captain.

Ace described what his crew's flag would be and Aggie laughed. "That's a good one. I can draw it up easily." He said.

Ace nodded and grinned, bouncing in anticipation.

The Spade Pirates' Jolly Roger still had the normal smiling skull and crossbones, but inside a red spade with Ace's signature hat on the skull's head. Ace had decided to make his hat black this time around, not eye-bleeding orange.

"Is that the Spades' Jolly Roger?!" Luffy shouted in glee.

"Yeah, Luffy. It is." Ace said, ruffling Luffy's hair. "The Spade Pirates are finally formed again." He whispers to himself. Ace is really happy with getting his crew back.

"Cool! Now I really want to get my crew!" Luffy bounced, but he couldn't keep still so he went swinging through the ropes and on the mast above their heads.

"Who- What the hell is that kid?!" Aggie shouted in horror.

'Oh, right. East Blue natives don't believe that Devil Fruits are real.'

"That's Luffy. He's a Devil Fruit user." Ace was interrupted by Luffy landing in front of Aggie and making the bigger man stumbled back in shock, his mouth hanging open.

"I ate the Gomu Gomu Fruit; I'm a rubber-man now! I'm Luffy, nice to meet you!" Luffy said, smiling brightly at the Shipwright.

"Nice to meet you too, Luffy." Aggie said hesitantly, glancing between his captain and the boy.

Before anything else could happen a voice called out, "Permission to board, Captain Ace?"

"Permission granted, Alvida!" Ace shouted back.

"Sabo, can you get Aggie situated while I get our guests up to speed." Ace told his brother as he and Aggie left the deck while Luffy and Ace went to greet the newcomers.

Alvida and Coby made their way onto the ship. Coby was terrified, having been picked up by a Pirate Captain and then marched to the docks to meet another Pirate Captain. But what he was looking at wasn't what the boy was expecting. The Pirate Captain in question was a boy a few years older than himself, with another boy next to him.

"Luffy, this is Coby, he'll be staying with us for a little while. Show him around, alright?" Ace told his brother. Luffy nodded and smiled at the pink haired boy, grabbing his hand and starting talking about the ship and his brothers and their new crewmate.

"He's sure excitable. Is he your cabin boy?" Alvida asked slowly, getting a good look at the young boy's hat. 'Well shit, the kid was right. This is going to get worse.' She thought.

"Nope, that's Luffy." He told her.

"So, what are you planning to do with us?" Alvida asked, her mace slung over her shoulder.

"'Do with you? You and Coby aren't prisoners. I told you before, Coby is going to Shells Town and I'm taking you to Buggy. I have some business to talk to him about. You can head below deck, Sabo, the blonde I told you about, is giving a tour to our Shipwright. You can join them if you want." Ace told her and she leaves the boy alone on deck.

Sabo isn't sure what to think of their new crewmate and two guests, but he goes along with it for Luffy's sake since he's gotten attached to the pink haired boy. The blonde didn't know why Ace would allow another Pirate Captain onto their ship, but he would trust his older brother for the time being.

Sabo wasn't First Mate, nor was Luffy.

So neither of them had the authority to take command of the ship should something happen to Ace. But something was odd with how Ace just invited three people onto their crew. Or one person and two guests. Sabo didn't know what the hell his brother was thinking.

"Ace?" Sabo asked, walking up to the black haired boy that was at the wheel.

"Hey, Sabo. Are Aggie, Alvida, and Coby set up?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, Luffy is talking Coby's ear off but they seem to be enjoying themselves. Can I ask you something?" Sabo steps forward, taking the wheel from Ace's hands and makes sure they were on the right track to Sixis, the island that Ace had wanted to go to before they landed on Goat Island.

"What is it?" Ace looks ahead, leaning on the railing in front of the wheel.

"Why'd we pick up another kid and a Pirate Captain?" Sabo asks, straight to the point.

"I'm taking Coby to Shells Town, there's a Marine base over there. He's going to be one of the good ones, I can tell. His dream is to become a Marine. Alvida is here for another reason. Things will be bad when we go out to sea, Sabo. When Luffy sets out at 17, it will get even worse, hell is coming. And the only way to stop it, or at least prevent some of it, is to get allies and a crew that can handle all of the shit that the world is going to throw at us." Ace didn't turn to look at his blonde brother.

He knew that the other wouldn't believe him and demand answers, but that wasn't something he could give. Not now, not when he hasn't even told them about Akainu and Blackbeard being the reason he's here again and dead in the future timeline he came from.

All Ace wanted was for his family to be happy. But to do that, he needed to get rid of a lot of people that were gunning for their heads because of who he and Luffy are. Hell, Ace was sure that once Garp gets off his ass, he'll be hunted down by the Five Elders personally because not only is he a D-Bearer, he is also a high ranking Marine that knows a shit-ton of the government's secrets.

"What do you mean?" Sabo asked, fearful of the answer Ace would give him.

Ace laughs bitterly. "I'm the son of the Pirate King, Luffy's the son of the Commander of the Revolutionary Army, and you're the son of a dead Noble of Goa Kingdom. People are going to be after us, not only because we are pirates, but because of whom our families are. That is, if they find out. I don't plan on telling anyone who I am, but it might come out, same with Luffy, Sabo. Are you prepared to take on the World Government and the entirely of the Marines should our heritage be revealed to the world?"

Ace finally turned around to gaze at the blonde. Sabo was pale and shaking slightly at the implications of what Ace was saying. It was slowly starting to sink in for him. Even though Dawn was burnt to the ground, even though the only ones that know their true identity were Garp, Dadan, and Makino would never betray them (hopefully) that still left the option of someone finding out who and what they were.

Sabo finally gave his answer. "You and Luffy are my brothers. The Spades is the crew I will stand by and ally with always, the same goes for the Straw Hats when Luffy comes out to sea when he's 17. I stand with you, Ace. Always." Sabo said, a determined expression on his face.

Ace released the breath he had been holding and grinned a giant D-grin. "Okay then, that means we gotta train! We have 6 years before we head out to Paradise, that means we need to get better at our Haki and train up our new members." Ace said.

Sabo nods and smiles as well, happy for his brother but still worried about the future. Whatever was going to happen, Ace knew about it, or at least some of it.

"Captain?" The only female on the ship asked, as she came up to the brothers.

"Yes, Alvida?" Ace tilted his head towards her, showing her that he was listening to her.

"Where are we going now?" She asked the child-Captain.

"Sixis, it's a small island. We're going to try and get our next member there." Ace replied.

"Alright, do you know how long that will be?" She directed her question to Sabo, who was the Spades Navigator for the time being, seeing as he only knew how to navigate in the Blues.

"About a week, if there are no storms or anything." Sabo told the woman.

…

"Alright, you guys. Stay on the ship. I'll go and see if I can find him." Ace told his crew.

"You still haven't told us who you're hoping to find. This is a deserted island, Captain. There's nobody here." Aggie said.

"Give me a few hours, I'll be back later. Keep Luffy and Coby out of trouble while I'm gone!" Ace called back as he jumped off of the ship and landed on the beach of the island.

'Now, all I need to do is find Deuce. I hope he's here, if not, I wouldn't even know where to start looking for him. I don't even know if he's originally from East Blue.'

Ace started searching the island for a Haki signature. He really hoped Deuce was here. The Logia user just turned into fire to speed up the process of exploring the island and finding his First Mate and Doctor.

Ace's face was blank as he let the wind carry him to the other end of the island. He saw a wrecked ship bobbing in the water and something blue and white on the sand.

It was Deuce!

Ace reformed back into his human form and ran towards his friend and First Mate. "Hey, are you okay?!" Ace shouted at the man, now a teenager.

"Who-?" The masked teen looked up and saw a young boy running towards him, wearing black shorts, a red tank top, and a black and orange hat on his head.

"Fine, I got shipwrecked on this island. Did you crash here too?" Deuce asked.

"No, my crew and I were coming here to see if we could find some usable supplies." Ace lied.

"Crew? You're a pirate?" the masked teen asked Ace.

"Yeah, I'm Ace, the Captain of the Spade Pirates. Want to join?" He asks the teen.

"I… you don't even know who I am." Deuce counters.

"Then who are you?" Ace asks.

The blue haired teen doesn't answer; he just keeps staring at Ace like he's crazy. Which, to be fair, most, if not all D-Bearers were crazy.

"You don't have a name, do you?" Ace asks him gently.

"Not one I like." The blue haired boy mutters.

"Well, do you mind if I give you a name?" Ace looks up at the other, hopeful.

Ace thinks and puts his hand on his chin. "How about…. Deuce? Do you like that name?"

The blue haired teen smiled and nods. "Deuce, I like it!"

"So, what do you say? Want to get off of this island?" Ace holds out his hand out to the older boy.

Deuce stars at his hand and hesitantly grasps it. "Can I really join you?"

"What's your dream?" Ace asks, looking into the masked teen's eyes.

"I want to adventure and see the world." He tells Ace.

The D-Bearer grins, "That sounds like a good dream."

"Welcome to the Spade Pirates, Masked Deuce!" Ace says with a broad smile on his face as he changes into fire and takes his new crewmate to the waiting crew.

Characters:

Gol D. Ace, Sabo, Monkey D. Luffy, Masked Deuce, Alvida, Coby, Aggie 68

Mentioned Characters:

Isuka, Shanks, Gol D. Roger, Monkey D. Garp, Outlook 3, Jinbe, Edward Newgate/Whitebeard, Marco the Phoenix, Marshall D. Teach/Blackbeard, Sakazuki/Akainu, Buggy the Clown