Will of the Sea
Chapter 15: Loguetown (A Father's Execution)
Warnings: previous character death, past execution, Marineford flashbacks, small mental breakdown, mentions of Baterilla/Ohara, God Valley Incident
Ace grasped his mother's sword in both hands, shaking slightly.
The 26-year-old let out a broken laugh. And then he starts full-blown laughing, tears streaming down his face and snot clogging up his nose.
"Mom…Dad…."
Ace screamed, a tortured sound that almost wasn't human.
He burst into fire, his emotions getting the better of him, but as his body burned hotter and hotter, he didn't notice that nothing in the house was burning either.
His flames sparked a bright blue for a moment, bringing him back to the present as he had one name in his thoughts at that moment.
Marco.
No…these weren't Marco's healing flames…it was his fire, but…nothing was burned or charred beyond recognition.
Ace stumbled around the darkened house before he went back to kneeling in front of his mother's gravestone.
Red Hibiscus still gripped in his hands as he continued to cry and stare at his mother's name.
"Thank you, Mom…for everything." He smiled, it was shaky, but he brought out a huge D-grin for his mother to see that he was happy and safe (as safe as he could be as the son of the Pirate King Gol D. Roger).
The wind picked up and made Ace lift his head from the grave, looking out to the sea where he saw Spadile and his crew were. But that wasn't all he saw on the cliff's edge.
There was a woman.
A woman with strawberry-blonde hair and a white dress.
Ace froze, not believing his eyes, but not once blinking for fear of the image of his mother disappearing.
"…Mom…"
The woman turned toward Ace, and his breath caught in his throat.
Warm brown eyes and a large smile, the same one in the picture that Roger had given to him before he went back in time, when he went back to living in this current timeline.
He took a step toward her, arm outstretched trying to touch her. But before he could she shook her head, her smile turned sad and melancholy.
The wind stilled around mother and son before Ace blinked from the lack of moisture in his eyes.
More tears trailed his face as he felt a warm hand on his cheek with a whisper of, "Be the King you were always meant to be…I love you, Gol D. Ace."
Ace gasped, a shuttering breath broke free from his mouth as his eyes fluttered open to see the woman, his mother, disappear.
But that was okay.
He was alright, was alive, and had his brothers with him. He had his dreams and would help Sabo and Luffy accomplish what they wished to do as well.
And him…what did Ace want?
What did he want out of this second chance? Besides righting the wrongs he'd committed.
It clicked instantly once the thought entered his mind.
Tama. His daughter.
He wanted his family.
He wanted a family and to love and be loved.
He wanted his existence to matter and be remembered.
Not as Roger's son…but as his own person.
As…
As what? Or who?
Who was he really?
Grey eyes looked out to the Sea of South Blue, and then he knew.
He was both Portgas D. Ace and Gol D. Ace. He was the son of the Pirate King Gold Roger. But he was also the son of a loving and happy couple, Gol D. Roger and Portgas D. Rouge.
He wouldn't be the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, or a son of Whitebeard. He wouldn't be on a Yonko's Crew. He wouldn't be Fire Fist Ace, nor any other epithet that the Government gave him (or he gave himself, really).
He would be Ace, first and foremost.
Yes, he was the son of Gol D. Roger and Portgas D. Rouge, and the older brother of Sabo and Monkey D. Luffy.
But he was more and less than those titles and claims.
He was Ace, and he deserved to live and love and be free.
The black-haired young man looked at his mother's house and grave one last time before turning into fire once more and appearing back onto his ship with his crew.
I'll be back Mom, just wait for me. Then I'll bring my family here. I know you and Dad will love them.
Ace reformed right in front of his brother and hugged him.
"Ack-! Ace!" the blonde gasped as he tried and failed to pry his older brother off of him.
"I love you, Sabo." Ace told him earnestly.
Sabo stopped trying to escape the sudden hug as he finally was able to take in Ace's state. He was a mess, but in a good way, he thought.
"I love you too, Ace." Sabo smiled, leaning in to press a kiss onto Ace's black hair.
"What do you think if I dyed my hair?" The teenaged Captain asked suddenly.
"Huh? Why would you want to dye your hair?" Deuce asked his Captain.
"Want to change…and have the same color as my Mom." Ace answered.
The crew looked at Ace thoughtfully as Deuce nodded. "Sure, that's fine. I've got no problem with that; it'll just be an odd bit before we get used to you with different colored hair."
Ace smiled and Sabo grinned. "Now, what were you worried about Big Brother?"
Ace shrugged, flushing pink and laughing. He lightly fingered the hilt of his mother's sword, not even realizing he was doing it until Saber pointed it out to him (and the rest of the crew).
"Ace, where'd you get that sword?" Saber asked, eyeing Red Hibiscus with a smirk. "Mighty fine blade you got there. I can tell."
Ace grinned and pulled the sword out of her sheath.
"Her name is Red Hibiscus; it was my mother's sword." Then Ace pointed the sword toward his swordsman. "Wanna spar, Saber?"
"Hell yeah, Cap!"
Saber pulled out his dual blades, getting ready to fight with his Captain.
"Ace, you sure?" Sabo asked, "Not that there's anything wrong with sparring with Saber!" Sabo amended quickly as Ace frowned at him.
"Yeah, why not? I want to see how good Saber is. And we can't exactly go into the Grand Line to just get killed, now can we? I don't want my crew to get hurt of die on my watch."
The small crew glanced at each other and then looked back at Ace.
"Ready Saber?" Ace asked, smirking, his sword in his left hand, gripping it lightly.
Saber tried to attack first but Ace shot forward, flames around his body propelling him forward. The brown-haired man jerked back in surprise.
Ace appeared behind him and slashed, fire racing on the blade as Saber ducked and stabbed forward. "What the hell, Ace?!"
"Gotta watch out for that, Saber." Ace said, jumping up in the air and heating the air around him. "No one on the Grand Line is going to fight fair. All of you need to realize that. It isn't called the Pirates' Graveyard for nothing."
Ace's grey eyes were shadowed as he remembered his own experiences on the Grand Line, before meeting the Whitebeards.
"He's not wrong." Aggie muttered and went back to manning the helm.
"'Bo, Deuce! With me." Ace said, sensing that Saber was done with their spar for the time being.
Sabo and Deuce fell into step with him. They reached the infirmary before Ace sat down on one of the beds, taking off his shirt.
Deuce hissed and narrowed his eyes at the large burn scar left by Admiral Akainu. "What the fuck happened to you?!"
Ace, straight-faced told him. "Akainu, a Marine Admiral trying to kill me." Sabo flinched and clenched his fists in fury. He would kill that Admiral, no matter what.
"Why…?" Deuce asked, horrified as he went over to his Captain and began lightly prodding at the burn.
"'Cuz of who my father is." Ace shrugged as Sabo hissed.
"Take this more seriously!" Sabo exclaimed. "Someone tried to kill you! And Luffy!"
"Yeah, I know. And he's going to die." Ace told the two of them. "But that's not why I brought you two in here." Ace sighed, looking at his hands.
"The disease that Buggy told you about…my father had it. And none of us knows if its genetic. You know that already." Ace started. "But you don't know who my father is."
Sabo tensed and was about to say something but one look at his brother shut him up, his voice dying in his throat.
Deuce felt the tense atmosphere in the room and gently prompted, "Who is your father, Ace?"
Ace gave a strained smile. "Gol D. Roger…though most know him as the Pirate King."
Deuce paled and stared at his Captain wide-eyed in shock and horror. "What…how…"
"I don't know where Dad caught his illness, all his crew knew about it after…" Ace paused, thinking of a way to not out Buggy or Shanks. "…after their Doctor got a second opinion and they ended up on Drum Island in Paradise." The Captain sighed. "We'll also need to go to Drum Island to get that second opinion as well, but also…hopefully figure out what it is. All the Roger Pirates were able to call it was, 'The Wasting Disease'."
"Well…fuck." Deuce muttered.
"Indeed." Sabo nodded.
"Wait…did you know this?!" Deuce asked, blue eyes darting between the two brothers.
"About…?"
"The fact that he's the son of the fucking Pirate King!"
"Yes," Sabo shrugged.
"And you didn't think that that was important to tell us?!" He yelled at the two.
"Will you turn me in?" Ace asked seriously.
Sabo and Deuce snapped their heads toward the dark-haired teenager in shock.
"Wh…No! I would never betray you! But…are you going to tell the others?" Deuce asks, worried about his Captain even more now since he's got one hell of a death sentence hanging above him, and that's not including this mysterious illness that the Pirate King had.
"I will, but not until we pick up another member who's in Paradise." Ace told him.
"Who is it?"
Ace smiles, "His name is Kotatsu, he's a Mink."
"A Mink? What is that?" Deuce asked, confused.
"They all have animalistic traits, most of them are mammals, kinda like Fish-Men and Merfolk. It's weird Grand Line stuff. You'll get used to it." Ace grins and Sabo sighs.
"Huh?" Deuce was still confused.
Ace didn't bother explaining anymore.
"Kotatsu will be our Navigator, and before we head to Saobody we'll need his support and help with…" Ace frowns thinking back to when he met Rayleigh, his father's First Mate. "There are some others that I want on the crew, but they'll be incredibly hard to convince and I'd rather have his support or at least his power to help with that."
"Who do you plan on bringing on that will cause that much of a fuss?" Deuce asked, and Sabo had the same thoughts. All he knew was that the two others Ace wanted were in the New World…but who could they be?
Memories of meeting Tama and Yamato ran through Ace's mind. He missed them, he missed talking about Roger and the Old Generation with someone who would understand…he missed the little girl that loved him for being himself and he hated himself for never being able to keep his promise to her.
A sad, melancholy smile made its way onto his lips as tears ran down his cheeks. "Two good friends of mine." He finally said, voice broken.
Neither Deuce or Sabo said anything as Ace was lost in his memories, and neither tried to break him out of them.
Sabo and Ace had decided that they would head back to East Blue and head to Loguetown a bit early. Ace wanted to see where his father grew up…and Sabo was worried about his brother's mental state after everything that had happened the past year.
Sabo also finally got control over his Armament Haki, enough that he wouldn't accidently hurt Luffy when they were training together. Sabo's Observation Haki had increased in range so now he could sense the distance of a small island in one of the Blue Seas.
However, Ace was still stronger than him, but Ace wasn't a fair comparison since he was a D-Bearer and almost nothing they did made any sense.
"Sabo! There you are." Ducky Bree called out to him, slapping him on his shoulder and jolting him out of his thoughts.
"Hey, Ducky. What's up?" Sabo asked, putting a smile on his face.
"We're almost to Loguetown. 'Bout a few hours." Ducky said and Sabo nodded.
"Good…that's good."
Loguetown.
The birthplace and deathplace of his father…Gol D. Roger…
Ace didn't know how to feel…but he did bring out the picture of his parents and the other Rogers. Thumbing over his parents as well as Shanks and Buggy brought a small smile to his face, but he was still sad and angry at not being able to get to know either of his parents, but he knew they died to protect him and that they did love him.
"Ace, you okay?" Sabo whispered in his ear, seeing the photo in his brother's hand. Ace nodded slightly and gave his blonde brother a sad smile.
"Yeah…just…its different now." Ace whispered, equally quiet as the crew was still around them.
"What do you want to do?" Sabo asked.
"Want to see where he grew up." Ace muttered. "I know he doesn't have a grave since Sengoku and the Marines probably burned his body beyond recognition…" He frowned as he was lost in memoires of his own execution.
"Ace?" Sabo's gloved hand squeezed his shoulder tightly to bring him back.
"I'm okay, Bo." Ace smiled at the blonde, but Sabo could see the cracks in his façade.
"Sabo and I are going to find where Isuka is and look around at the town, the rest of you get what you need and restock both Spadille and Striker. Mihar, Ducky, you two stay here to guard the ships. If anyone asks, you're just tourists wanting to see the execution platform, not pirates." Ace told his crew.
"Got it, Captain!" They all called out.
Ace and Sabo went into town, Sabo gripped Ace's hand in reassurance while Ace gripped his mother's sword so tightly that his knuckles were starting to turn white.
"You're scared." It was a statement that wasn't wrong.
Ace just kept walking as calmly as possible before stopping suddenly, pulling Sabo to a stop as well. The blonde, blue-eyed brother watched his Captain carefully and raised an eyebrow at the smirk that was playing on Ace's lips.
That smirk turned into a full-on grin. And then Ace disappeared, reappearing right behind the man with a Marine jacket on him. He bear-hugged the white-haired smoking man as the man choked on his cigar.
"Hiya, Smoker!" Ace said, grinning like a madman as he tightened his arm around Smoker's neck. The other Logia couldn't escape since there was a tint of black across the arm that had suddenly grabbed him.
"Who the hell are you?" Smoker growled, brown eyes narrowed and ready for an attack.
Ace grinned, grey eyes searching Smoker's own. Then the brown-eyed man chomped his cigar in half in horror.
"How-" Smoker choked.
Ace said one word that made Smoker's blood boil.
"Baterilla."
"What do you want from me?" Smoker asked slowly as Ace finally let go of Smoker's neck.
"There are only a few decent Marines still left, work with them to topple the World Government." Ace grinned ferally, his eyes became cold. "You know what happened there, as well as with Golden Lion Shiki. No matter how much they may want to hide it…those Five will fall at the hands of the family they fear so much."
Smoker stared at Ace, not knowing what to make of the teenager. "Why me?"
"You're one of the good ones, as well as the girl with you." Smoker jerked in shock.
"You know about Tashigi?!" Ace smirked.
"Don't worry, I told you, you're one of the good ones. You won't abuse your power. And you hate what's going on." Ace shrugged.
"What are you?" Smoker asked, eyeing him with concern.
"You already know." The black-haired teen said simply.
"How-How is this possible? You should…"
"-be at least 20, yeah, I should be. Ask Monkey D. Garp about that, he'll have the story. No matter what he says…he's been trying to fix everything from the inside, its slow, as you've no doubt seen, but he's at least trying." Ace grimaced, he hadn't spoken to his adopted grandfather in years, he's just heard snatches of conversations that he and Sabo have once every few months.
"I'm sorry." Smoker suddenly said, shame etched on his face. "You-you're a kid…you never deserved this kind of life."
"Maybe not, but it's the life I have."
"Ace?" Smoker and Ace turned to see Isuka coming over with Sabo.
"Captain Smoker?" Isuka asked suddenly wary of Ace.
"He's good, don't worry." Ace waved off her concern. "You ready?" Ace asked and then Smoker looked at Isuka.
"Where are you going?" Smoker asked his friend.
"I'm joining Captain Ace for a little while." Isuka said.
Smoker rolled his cigar around before blowing out white smoke. "Just be careful, will ya?"
"You got it, Smoker!" Isuka grinned.
"Sabo, catch Isuka up on our plan…Smoker, remember what we talked about." Ace waved to the three of them and then disappeared into the crowd.
Loguetown was a tourist attraction because of what it symbolized, for both Pirates and Marines.
Ace scowled as he walked, the crowd giving him a wide berth since he was also punching the air with his King's Haki, but he didn't care.
He walked and walked until he stopped, looking up at where he was.
The execution platform.
The execution platform…. where his father died.
"If I could have saved him…I would have. He was my brother." A, usually loud, voice said from beside Ace.
He glanced at the old man who was in black beside him. "Gramps…" Ace croaked, tears pooling in his eyes.
Garp's eyes widened, "Ace…" the old Marine grabbed his adopted grandson in his arms and hugged him while they both sobbed for their lost chance.
"It's not your fault…you chose your family over your duty. And that's all he could ask for." Ace told him, the old man cried seeing Ace so broken, but still trying to smile at him and tell him that it was alright.
"I trained Isuka…and Coby and the girl, Rika. They're good, Ace. They'll be good." Garp smiled thinking about his Apprentices fondly.
"Could you continue training them, then? There's another who will also be joining Coby and Rika in a few years, his name's Helmeppo."
"Morgan's son, spoiled brat." Garp grunted.
"He's also one of the good ones, just got to get that pompous stick out of his ass." Ace grinned.
Monkey D. Garp bellowed out a laugh. "That's true."
His grin turned sadder as he gazed at his brother's son. "He would have been proud of you; they both would have." Ace startled.
In the other timeline, Garp never told him about his mother, or his father, not really. All he told him was that he was the son of the Pirate King, nothing really substantial about him, so he had to ask others, and that landed him in hot water on more than one occasion.
"Hope so." Ace muttered, gazing up at the older D-Bearer. The black haired teen (26 year old) then grinned. "How would you feel about having another grandkid?"
Garp blinked, "Ace…do you have a secret kid out there?"
Ace grinned. "A little girl I want to adopt."
Garp grinned, "And who would this little girl be, I wonder?"
Ace would have been a good father, he knew that Roger would have also been an amazing dad, far better than he ever was to his own son.
"You know of Wano, don't you?" Ace asked and Garp froze.
The Vice-Admiral just nods, not sure where Ace was going with this. "She's from Wano…I want to give her a proper family. And help her and another save it. But to do that…" Ace trailed off as Garp paled in horror.
"You would have to go toe-to-toe with Kiado. Ace, that's suicide! He's not called The Strongest Creature for nothing! You may be a D-Bearer, but you aren't that powerful yet!" Garp hissed at his idiotic grandson.
"Not yet, that's why I've started gathering allies, primarily Marines. In the Grand Line, I hope I'll meet some of my parents' crews and recruit them as well. But the reason as to why I've been gathering Marine allies is because they're going to help you destroy the World Government, as well as the Marines following Absolute Justice." Ace grinned darkly.
"Well, that makes sense, but…this is a giant risk." Garp told him.
"Isn't this what you've been trying to do since…whatever happened with that other D-Bearer?" Ace asks, to which Garp freezes, a look of terror takes over his face.
Ace then asks quietly, "Who was he?"
Monkey D. Garp closes his eyes, the memories of God Valley play in his head. "His name was…. Rocks D. Xebec…and he was the Captain of the Rocks Pirates, the worst crew in the past century." Garp told Ace gravely.
Ace frowned at the name; he knew that name from somewhere.
And then his eyes snapped open in horror.
"Blackbeard…his ship was called the Saber of Xebec…" Garp jerked and stared at Ace.
"Blackbeard?" Garp asked, hissing in fear and anger, but not at Ace. Whoever was sick enough to take on Rocks' name was…. going to be extremely dangerous.
Ace licked his lips, wetting them, before speaking the name that usually haunts his nightmares, along with Akainu.
"Marshall D. Teach."
Garp's hold on Ace tightens even more to make it seem like he was trying to squeeze the life out of them.
"Newgate's in danger…" Garp whispered in horror.
"He's also the fucker that hurt Shanks." Dark brown eyes snapped to Ace's as Garp could barely think anymore.
"…what?"
"It was a few months before Dad's execution, Black- Teach ambushed Shanks and Buggy on their way to Loguetown to see Roger one last time. Teach tried to kill him, but wasn't able to, just scar him. He's the only one who has ever hurt Shanks and gotten away with it since Shanks was a Roger Pirate." Ace told his grandfather, though, with all of the brawls between the two D-Bearer's Garp probably knew about Shanks and Buggy being on his father's crew as children.
"Ace…what the fuck?!"
"He's a false D-Bearer. He's afraid of death and cowered." Ace scowled, thinking back on that traitor.
Garp frowned, "What are you going to do about him then?"
Ace grinned ferally. Garp shuddered, Ace really was Roger and Rouge's son. "We're going to kill him."
"We?" The older D-Bearer asked.
"Shanks and I, Buggy and Luffy will be witnesses." Ace said casually.
"I…okay…. that could work but-"
"He's looking for a Devil Fruit that cancels out other Devil Fruit's powers."
"The Yami Yami Fruit." Ace and Garp said together.
"Well, shit. This just got more complicated and dangerous." Garp muttered.
"Got a plan." Ace told him, smiling a dark smile that was reminiscent of Rouge when anyone threatened her unborn child. And that child was growing into a good young man, with no help from him.
At least none that would be acknowledged lightly.
"Did you know that I can turn sand to glass?" Ace asked suddenly switching topics, which confused Garp, before he realized where he was going.
"That…could work." Garp nods, "It'll be risky, but all of what we're trying to do is a big risk if its revealed too early."
"So…what are you going to do?" Ace asked his grandfather.
"What I've been doing, breaking the foundation of the Marines and the World Government." Garp shrugged. "There's also something that you should know…" Garp started, wondering how to tell his grandson this. "…there could be another Old Generation D-Bearer out there, but I'm not sure how relible the source is."
"Who is it?" Ace demanded, his King's Haki in his voice.
"Jaguar D. Saul."
Ohara… Ace thought in shock. Well, this could be a good thing. If Luffy could find him…we would have another strong ally to help them. But that could also backfire.
"Okay, do what you need to do, just don't get caught." Ace said.
Garp snorted. "I should be telling you that, brat." He ruffled Ace's hair fondly.
"When you see me next, I'll look different."
"Oh? Different how?"
"I'll have Mom's hair as well!" Ace said cheerfully.
Garp choked again, "Why?!"
"I'm not just Gol D. Ace, I'm also Portgas D. Ace." He explained simply. Garp shook his head in exasperation but smiled lightly at the teen.
"The Family of D will bring about a Strom." Garp said firmly.
"The truth will be revealed." Ace said ominously before he turned into fire.
The Old Generation won't know what hit them until its too late.
Monkey D. Garp grinned as he thought about the storm that his grandsons and son would bring to the world.