Title: Ace: King of Pirates
Genre: Hurt/ Comfort, Adventure, Romance, Friendship, Family
Pairing: ? X Ace
Summary: This is the story of Portgas D Ace and how, despite everything and even his own misgivings, he became the King of Pirates.
Or
Where being reborn as a fictional character from a favourite anime is not what fanfictions made it out to be. Mistakes are made… and some cannot be reversible. Instead of saving everyone and having a grand adventure like in those stories, you end up ruining the whole story by killing the most important characters.
Warnings: Slash (Yaoi, Boy X Boy…), Semi-Self Insert, Canon Divergence

Prologue

Gol D Ace or Portgas D Ace.

It did not matter what he decided to call himself. He was the only one who knew that he was never meant to be born. Many others would rather see him dead if they knew of his parentage but if they knew just how much he had ruined the world… then they would want him dead for something else entirely and if he was honest, it would be for the most important reason. Who cared about his father when he had destroyed the future?

You see, before he was born in this world where it was normal for seven years old little boys to have their bodies made of rubber, he had been someone else entirely and lived in a world where everything was different. For one, over There this new world was a story, one about a boy's journey to become the king of Pirates.

Now…

Well, now this boy would never set out to conquer the world. And it was all because of Ace.

Ace ruined everything.

Oh, he remembered those stories he used to read Before about people from There being born in fictional worlds, already knowing how the future was supposed to go. One common factor in those stories had been how those people always managed to reach their happy endings. To change the future to suit their dreams. To meet their favourite characters and become friends with them. Maybe even to find romance along the way.

How wrong they had been.

Knowing the future did not mean you would be able to manipulate it as you wished.

Sometimes knowing the future and trying to change it… can simply ruin the whole story.

At first, when he first realised in what kind of situation he found himself in, he felt terrified at what he knew was to come but also excited. How could he not? Not only was he not dead but he was also one of his favourite fictional characters. He was sure everything would be fine. He knew there would be a lot of challenges coming his way in the future but he did have the advantage.

First, unlike Other Ace, he had no reason to really hate his new biological father whom he had never met. Sure, everyone in the know reminded him every time that he never should have been born and of course they would. The Pirate King was his father after all. Who was to say he was not going to be just like him? However, unlike Other Ace, he also knew that Roger had been sick when he died and he had given himself up. He knew that Roger was never that monstrous man everyone made him out to be; he had often been compared to the protagonist of the story after all. So, Ace never really had to grow up with this knowledge as a handicap.

Why should he be ashamed of having Gol D Roger as a father? He would never scream on rooftops his parentage or even use Gol D as his name (he was not suicidal) but a part of him was proud of having the last Pirate King as his sire.

In fact, every time Dadan told him he was worthless and should never had been born, Ace reminded himself that Other Dadan had cried when Other Ace died, so she did care even when she said otherwise. Every time Garp came for more 'training' to make him into a Marine, he reminded himself that Other Ace had been a great pirate and people had gone to war to save him (even if the end result was not in his favour).

He was determined not to make Other Ace's same mistakes.

When Luffy would come to live with the bandits, he would make sure to be exceptionally nice to him. He could even protect Sabo from his 'death'. When he would meet the Whitebeard pirates, there would be no reason for him to try killing Whitebeard. He could trap Teach and prevent Thatch's death. He would make sure not to end up in Impel Down so he would not die like Other Ace. Heck, maybe he could just join Luffy's crew instead as a Strawhat pirate. There was a world of possibilities opened to him. After all, he already knew the future so what could go wrong?

Apparently everything.

AN: This is from an idea I most recently had. Self-Inserts are so common now, and as my usual readers already know, I've also written a few. However, one thing I'm starting to find boring about those fics is that they're always so cliche. And, yes, even mine. The characters always 'win' at the end of the day. They are born in this completely new world and things just fall into place perfectly for them one way or another. I want something more. And so this fic is born! I want my characters to show real pain and suffer, face hardships. I want their struggles to be genuine.

Ace starts as an optimistic OC ready to face the world, sure that he will be better than the Original Ace, if only because of his knowledge. Except life does not work like that. Instead, the main character, the person the world revolves around, wounds up dead. And suddenly the future is not so certain. Now he has to scramble for the remains.

I'm already telling you, the OC part will not have too much impact on the story except as a supportive role. It serves to amplify his mistakes more than making him different or in any special.

I'm particularly excited for this fic since Ace has always been my favourite character besides Luffy in One Piece. Any other fic I publish in this fandom will most likely feature him. I mean, come on, he's so perfect for angst. Ace dying was the worst thing to ever happen and so I'll be using fics to 'bring him back to life'.

I hope you guys like it. I've already written the next chapter but I'll see how it goes before publishing it, so don't hesitate to tell me what you think.

Leight