Hello Friends! So this chapter hasn't been edited yet so I'll probably be updating it again with revisions in a few days. Anyways here it is! I just posted the longest chapter of the fic so why not post the shortest now right? What even is consistency at this point XD.

Warnings at end of chapter

THE NEW WORLD

I sat in the low light of the galley with Deuce and Skull nearby as we discussed our plans. There was no way I was turning away from my plans to take Whitebeard's head so now the only question left was how exactly I was supposed to do that. Since Ari had refused to help us we had to rely on Skull's intel and Deuce's wit. Fortunately, both of them were more than up to the task.

"Whitebeard's dangerous if you break the code. If you attack one of his crew mates he will never rest until you are dead. You understand that right?" Skull said.

"Obviously. Who wouldn't be pissed if one of his friends got hurt? The same goes for the emperors, and for me of course." I said.

There is no way I would let anyone get away with hurting one of my crew mates.

Never.

Deuce shrugged, "I mean yea. But it's a bit more serious with Whitebeard. I heard that he thinks of his crew mates as family. So he really will come after us if we attack his underlings."

"Family? What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Apparently all of his crew members call him 'Pops'".

Yea there is no way that is possible. No one is that close to their crew, especially one as huge as the old fart's.

I turned to look at the figure across the galley. "Hey Ari I know you are refusing to help us but does this old fart really think of his crew mates as kids?"

Ari looked up from where she was sitting at another table. "He thinks of the majority of his crew as his sons, yes. Pretty much everyone on his crew even goes so far as to call him 'Pops', like Deuce said."

"What so you're one of his kids then?" Deuce asked with a laugh.

Of course she is.

I narrowed my eyes at her from across the room.

Why wouldn't she be considered one of the kids of an-

"I said he thinks of them as sons. He doesn't extend the same care to the women on his ship. But even if he did I was never an official member of his crew. I was just an apprentice." Ari said, breaking off my train of thought.

Oh. Well that's good then.

Skull looked between us before getting back to the matter at hand. "Right. But I have an idea for how we can have even a chance at taking them down."

"Let's hear it." I said.

About damn time someone figured something out. How many months have I been at this now? To many.

I need to kill Whitebeard and I need to do it NOW.

"Ok so there's been a bit of chaos in his territory lately. Apparently, Bohemian Knight Doma, The A.O. Pirates, and a few others are trying to steal islands from the old man. They aren't working together per se, but they are all attacking at the same time, on different islands. They are probably backed by the other Emperors to be honest but who cares." Skull said with a shrug. "The point is Whitebeard is going to be missing a good number of his commanders in the coming weeks. Four of Whitebeard's main ships are out on assignment right now. The Moby Dick is as good as defenseless."

I felt a smile spread across my face as he spoke. "Skull you're a genius!"

It's finally my time to show this damned world what I can do.

It might even be helping me out for once with this golden opportunity...

"That's great and all but we still have to find the damn boat." Deuce said.

Oh yea that is a minor detail we should probably look into…

Skull perked up again. "Yes I've thought of that! There is a major resupply island that belongs to Whitebeard nearby! We can just head there and wait for him to come to us!"

"Doesn't the island itself have defenses?"

"Not really. It's just a bunch of farmers apparently. They always assume that Whitebeard's flag is all they need to keep the island safe so they don't have a military or anything like that."

"Great then get us to that island. I want to end this as soon as possible." I said while standing up.

"Of course Captain!" Skull said as I walked out of the galley.

No…

I am going to end this now.

As I stood near the bow of my ship I watched as we sailed through a dense fog. Apparently the island Whitebeard was heading towards was right in front of us and I wanted to be the first to see it.

I can't believe I made it this far. I'm so close now…

I looked up once more and could just barely make out the shadow of an island coming closer.

There it is…

What I've been waiting for all my life. Finally I'll have my answer…

I raised a hand to my hat to pull it to shadow my eyes as I clenched my other fist tightly.

Let's end this.

"Why do we have to sneak around? No one's here." Wallace, our one and only fishman crew member, asked as we walked through mist covered woods.

"Just be on guard. We're in Whitebeard's territory now." Deuce said. "But Captain, is Whitebeard really coming here? Like now?"

When did he become such a wimp?

I rolled my eyes, "Don't chicken out Deuce. You knew we were going to be doing this and I gave you the option to stay behind."

"Ye-yea I know it's just a little intimidating you know?"

I shrugged. "Not really."

"But how do we even know when he'll get here?"

I gave a huge sigh and turned to look at him. "Don't worry about it! If he doesn't show up soon then we'll just claim this island. That would have to ruffle a few feathers and get him to show his face right?"

"I don't think I want to ruffle the strongest man in the world's feathers…" He said under his breath.

Well then maybe you should have stayed behind like I told you too…

We kept on walking for a ways until we came to a small cape that was mostly free of trees and had a clear view of the ocean. All while still being shrouded from the rest of the island.

"Ok cool this should work. We can set up camp here and wait it out." I said while looking around. "I'm going to take a few men and check out the area. See if I can find some animals or something."

Deuce, still looking a little twitchy, said, "Be careful Ace! Whitebeard might have left some of his crew here to protect it."

"It's fine. We're prepping for war anyways aren't we? If they find us then we'll just attack and draw Whitebeard here. Actually that might be a good idea…"

"No! It isn't!" He screeched.

Skull decided to chime in by saying. "It really isn't Captain. We don't want Whitebeard to come here looking for a fight. The whole point was to catch him when his defences are weak. If they know we're here then they could call for backup."

"Alright, alright, no need to get pissy!' I said before turning to Ari. "Did I say it right Air?"

"Was that you making fun of me?"

"No definitely not. Not at all." I said with a smile. "Come on you can help me look for dinner."

Her face immediately wrinkled in disgust and she said, "I mean I guess I can. But forests aren't really my thing."

I rolled my eyes, "Yes I'm aware of how you feel about being outside but come on I could use your help."

"Ok then." She said softly.

After hunting with Ari and a few hours which was really her following me through the trees while trying not to complain about the bugs and animals, we came back to camp. While we had been gone the rest of the crew had actually managed to set up a half decent camp with fires, tents, and all that. We had cooked up the meat of the few animals I had managed to catch with Ari's help? Maybe despite her help would be a better phrasing. But night had eventually fallen and I found myself sitting as close to the incoming waves as I dared down on the beach. I was just staring out over the sea when Ari came over and sat with me.

"You alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine." I said. "I just want to get this over with."

17 years is more than enough waiting...

She smiled weakly. "Yea me too."

I glanced at her. "Are you excited to see your old friends again?"

She shrugged. "I am hoping to have a chance to see Thatch, he's the main chef, but I wouldn't call the rest of them my friends. So no. Not particularly."

"Good then you won't have a problem fighting them. Right?" I asked. "You refused to give me any information about them. Not that it matters now of course. But you have to help us fight."

"I know." She said softly before taking a deep breath and looking at me. "But Ace just please remember whose side I'm on."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means I'm your first mate and your… girlfriend… before anything else. And I will do whatever I have to to protect you and our crew."

Well duh. I don't know why she had to be so dramatic about something so obvious but whatever.

"Glad to hear it." I said.

We sat in the quiet watching the wave for a little while. I glanced at her for just a moment but immediately my eyes were drawn back to her. Her features were highlighted by the moonlight and her hair softly swayed in the light sea breeze.

She is so gorgeous.

Not just physically either. She is the only person to actually understand what I've been through, what I am, and to not… care. She's been with me for all of this. She never gave up on me. She actually cares about me. But still...

How long has it been since I really looked at her? Since I actually talked to her?

Guess that's just another good thing I fucked up.

She turned to see me staring at her. "What?"

I looked down. "Nothing. It's just- I really do appreciate how much you've helped me."

She stared.

"I mean I still would have made it of course. But it would have been a lot harder without you." I said with a smile that was trying to be cocky.

But would I have made it? Or is all of this just because of her?

"I- of course. I'd do anything for you. I love you." She said softly.

"Yea… I know." I said looking back out over the ocean.

No you don't.

Our conversation died out after that. As we sat there in silence after a minute a shape appeared in the waves and it looked like it was heading towards us.

"Do you see that thing?" I asked.

"What thi-" She was interrupted by a fishman leaping out of the surf and landing a few feet in front of us.

We both jumped to our feet as he stalked towards us before throwing a piece of fabric at our feet.

Wait that's our jolly roger!

This bastard!

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" I sneered.

"Do you have any idea what you did on Fishman Island?" The fisherman roared.

Just who does this asshole think he is?

"Oh shit." I heard a voice behind me squeak.

The fishman turned his attention to whoever had said that and said. "Oh so you have a fishman as well. Do you know who I am little fry?"

"Boss!" Wallace said.

I stepped in front of the stranger and crossed my arms. "I'm the one who burned that flag so you need to leave my crew alone. You're Jinbei right? The one who is supposed to be protecting Fishman Island? Well maybe if you had been doing your job I wouldn't have had the chance to burn that pathetic little flag."

"What did you just say?" He asked, turning his attention back to me.

"Oh I'm sorry you must be hard of hearing." I said with a smirk. "You. Not. On. Fishman Island. I. Burn. Flag. Got it? Now get out of here you're not the one I want to fight."

"You brat! Do you have any idea how serious your actions were? Not only did you endanger the entirety of my people but you disrespected one of the greatest men alive! And now you have the audacity to mock me to my face!"

I crossed my arms and stood my ground. "I know exactly what I did. Now I suggest you go run back to Whitebeard and tell him to come fight me himself if he is so insulted."

He shook his head and fell into a fighting stance. "No. I refuse to let someone as volatile as you near Pops. I'll deal with you myself."

"Come and try it." I said with a smirk.

You'll make a nice warm up.

I struggled to blink blood out of my eyes as I could just barely make out Jinbe's huge form falling to the ground. I raised a shaky hand to wipe my eyes clear but as soon as I touched my face I felt myself start to pitch forward. I couldn't do anything to stop myself as I collapsed.

Well at least I beat him right?

Bastard was tougher than he looked but he's down now…

I won.

As I lay there I felt someone patting me on my back while talking to me.

Who is that?

I struggled to open my eyes and saw Deuce kneeling on the ground in front of me.

"Come one man we have to get out of here!" He said before looking to his right. "I'm going to pick you up alright? We really have to go."

Go where?

I brushed him away as I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees. I shook my head and felt a bit of clarity come back to me.

What is he freaking out about?

As I lifted my head I saw the head of a massive whale bobbing in the waves in front of me. On top of the whale was the form of a massive man staring down at me. I felt as his deep laugh rumbled out over the island followed by an overpowering wave of haki.

Oh so he actually showed up.

"Who is it that's come to take my head? Well go ahead and try! I'll take you all on." He said before jumping onto the island and landing with enough force to shake the entire island.

I should probably deal with this…

I lept to my feet and pushed Deuce away before throwing up as big of a Flame Fence as I could behind me. I may have taken a few hits from Jinbe but nothing was going to keep me down with my target finally, finally, in front of me.

Let's end this old man.

"Get out of here you guys!" I called to my crew behind me.

This is my fight. I won't let them die because of me.

"What? Are you running away now?" Whitebeard asked.

I sneered before shouting. "I'm the only one here who wants to kill you. Leave my crew alone you asshole."

I brought my fists up, ready to fight. But just as I was about to lunge at the man I was stopped by a booted foot crashing into my stomach. I collapsed to the ground and heaved as I watched Ariadne step in front of me.

What the hell is she doing?

"Been a while Old Man." She said casually.

Whitebeard laughed. "Indeed it has."

I coughed and my breath came in heaves. "Ari- what… what are you-"

She said nothing as she turned to look at me with dead eyes. She tilted her head before raising a foot and coating it in haki. Her face was completely blank as she brought it crashing down onto my back.

Warnings:

Standard Ace angst and self loathing through out.