The Keeper Of Worlds: Will be a long time before we figure that out.
WhiteyWolf26: No romance in this one. Thatch and Ace have bromance, sort of I guess. But they're for sure just brothers.
I finished my first crossover! I've never done one before, but I had a lot of fun with this one. I don't know when it will be out, as 400 pages is a lot to edit and I still have over 100 pages of this one left to edit. I'm not gonna say what it's crossover with, it'll be a surprise. Anyways, enjoy this chapter. We meet an "enemy" in this one.
In the morning, Ace immediately got up and headed to the galley for breakfast. Like he'd been doing it for ages, he severed himself from the buffet counter and sat at the table Marco was sitting at, digging in. The first mate looked at him strangely.
"This is the commanders table, Ace," Marco said simply.
"Okay," Ace replied and got back to eating. Haruta clamped his mouth shut to not laugh at Marco's face.
"That means only commanders sit here." Ace stared at him blankly, knowing he belonged here, though he didn't know why. He didn't remember ever being a commander, and couldn't see why they would make him one. He doubted that that would happen. Maybe he sat there because he assumed he would sit with Thatch to eat. And Haruta, since he was a friend, too. "That means non-commanders shouldn't sit here."
Finally, Ace got the hint. "Oh! Okay, I get it," he said, and picked up his tray full of variant types of breakfast foods, and walked to one that was across from the commanders' table, feeling very embarrassed. Marco probably thought he was stupid.
After he ate, he left and headed to one place, but didn't know why. He found it was near the front of the ship, and had a window in it bigger than the portholes he'd seen so far. It had shudders, like they'd be closed during storms so that the window didn't break.
He looked around, seeing the room was empty of people but full of maps and books. A navigator's room. He looked at the maps curiously, seeing maps of the New World that looked vaguely familiar but he knew based on the log books of his own crew, that he'd never visited. He held his head, something he found himself doing often.
It was frustrating. He left eventually, walking out and down the hall, meeting Marco walking his direction. "Hey, where you going?" he asked, more curious than suspicious.
"Um, exploring," Ace replied. Marco asked where he'd been. "The navigator's room. You have a lot of supplies." Ace felt he would be a good navigator, but hadn't been the main one on his crew. Not according to the log books. He was glad when Marco didn't act suspicious of his motives.
"Well, when we have a crew this big, it's only natural," he said. "You up to talking to Whitebeard?" Marco asked. Ace looked nervous, not knowing if the captain could see right through his facade. He was having trouble holding in observations and realizations. "Don't worry, he won't hurt you or anything like during the fight. You healed up pretty good."
Ace looked down at his chest, as the bandages were gone. He'd removed them last night as they made him feel constricted. He hadn't removed them because he knew he was healed, but they annoyed him. "Okay," he said. He was surprised when Thatch called his name, running down the hall.
"Yo, Ace! I gotta show you something! Oh, Marco," Thatch said, losing his excitement when he acknowledged his brother. He sounded disappointed and Marco frowned at him, and said Ace was going to talk with Pops now. "Oh, okay."
Marco turned around, and Thach gave him a reassuring smile and thumbs up. Ace nodded back. He felt like he wasn't being himself, but the uncertainty and confusion made him act more meek. He couldn't help it, he wasn't himself right now. Might not for a while, after he figured out what was going on and remembered his crew.
They walked to the huge chair the captain was sitting on, and looked at Ace in curiosity, no doubt having noticed his strange behavior, and how much his personality had changed. Ace was nervous, though he didn't feel unsafe. Family. Family wouldn't hurt him. He stood in front of the man, hands in his pockets.
"Hello, Ace. So, we took you here for a reason. I was honestly expecting you to be much more of a hassle," he said with a laugh. Ace didn't know how to respond. "I apologize for injuring you, but it was the only way we could get you to come with us, stubborn brat." But he didn't sound like he was truly insulting Ace, who still said nothing. "Well, I'll ask while we seem to be on friendly terms. Will you join us?"
Ace didn't know how to respond. Agreeing too quickly might look bad, but he didn't want to decline. "Why?" he asked, not wanting to say yes right away even though he knew inside he wouldn't be leaving.
"We've been following your escapades in the paper. I have a good feeling about you. Plus, Thatch seems like you quite a bit," he explained honestly. "I know you were recently a captain, so it will be hard to adjust, but we'd like you to stay."
Not captain. You were a captain, what are you talking about? Ace had been a captain until just days ago, even though he didn't remember it. So he wouldn't miss it, right? But he didn't really want to follow someone else's orders. But, he would. He wasn't a captain. But he wasn't under someone else.
He was confused by his thoughts. "Okay," he said, not wanting to beat around the bush anymore. Marco looked shocked, and Whitebeard laughed.
"That was easy! Welcome to the crew," Whitebeard said cheerily. "Do you have any talents? Maybe other than fighting? We need to pick a division for you to be under." Ace was silent, not remembering what he was good at. His face fell. "What is it?"
Ace looked down. "I don't remember if I'm good at anything." Marco and Whitebeard frowned in confusion, and asked what he meant. "I think I have memory loss. I can't remember anything, really." It would do no good to hide that part if he would be staying here. He would hide the whole knowing stuff he shouldn't thing.
"What can't you remember?" Marco asked, sounding concerned for his new brother. They all called themselves brothers, so Ace was one now. The youngest of them, clearly. He'd always been the big brother, so it would be weird to be the youngest. Though they were all adults, so it should be different from Ace's life as the big brother. Well, he was still a big brother, but also a little one, now.
Ace honestly said, "I can't remember most of my time as a pirate captain. I don't even remember our fight. Everything is blank. I can't even remember the names and faces of my crew." Whitebeard looked shocked and quite worried and concerned. Marco looked so sad for him, like Thatch had.
"I'm so sorry, Ace," Whitebeard said sincerely.
"I already had my head checked for a brain injury, but they said there was none," Ace added. Whitebeard suddenly looked guilty. He probably thought their fight gave Ace severe amnesia. "I don't know if it was from the fight. I don't remember being hit in the head."
Marco replied, "I didn't see you get hit in the head, either. We were watching the fight from the ship. Is that the reason you went back to your ship yesterday?" Ace nodded, explaining he was reading up the logbooks. "We could check your head again more extensively if you want."
Ace truly didn't feel that was the problem, though he didn't know why he felt that. It didn't explain him knowing things he shouldn't. It didn't explain so much. Surely he wouldn't forget years? Something else was wrong, something else had happened to him, but what? According to everyone he'd spoken to, he remembered his crew just a few days ago. Now it was all blank. Empty. Depressing.
"Sure," Ace said. "But, I don't know what I'm good at, so I don't know where I'd fit in," he said, getting back to the original topic, which they had strayed from.
Whitebeard had a pandering look on. "Well, you were a good fighter, but we have a plethora of them already. There are a few empty spaces in the second division, for the navigators. But there's no commander there, so it rotates between the commanders weekly. You'll get to know everyone more easily like that."
Second division commander. Ace resisted putting his hands to his head. "I don't know if I'd be a good navigator, though," he said instead. He was glad he didn't blurt out what he'd thought. He was doing good on that so far, thankfully.
"Well, you had to have navigated on your own at the beginning of your pirate journey. Even if you don't remember it, it could be muscle memory. We can always switch you out if you don't do well," Marco offered. Ace thought that was a reasonable plan. Plus, the navigation room felt right.
Ace didn't know if that was just in his head or was something he sensed, like the names and places. It would be amazing to be a good navigator. Maybe he'd be useful, since he was useless now without any memory of his recent life. "Okay."
Marco smiled. "You can start today. For now, until you adjust better, you can stay in your makeshift bedroom until you move into the last bunk open in the second division chambers," the phoenix said.
An hour later, Ace stood in the back of the navigation room, feeling awkward and unconfident. He'd been introduced to the main ones in the division, and was observing them work. Something felt off though, with how they worked. He was itching to do something when he watched Jirashi making a map of an island they'd apparently been to recently, before picking Ace up.
Something about the way he drew the lines looked wrong. He was frowning at it, and one of them noticed. "Is there a problem?" Kai asked, the one who predicted the weather the most. Ace caught himself.
"No, just wish I could draw maps like that," he said, lying perfectly. Sure, he wished he could draw maps, but that wasn't the problem. Kai smiled.
"Maybe you'll learn sometime. We could walk you through it at the next island we stop at. We've drawn maps there before, but it would be a good learning experience to teach you," he said nicely. Ace smiled and nodded. This division felt nice. At least, those he'd met so far. He watched the map being drawn, still not knowing what had bothered him, but had pushed the feeling away just to watch in interest.
The mapping pens looked strange, and he looked forward to working with them.
-x-
Ace was sitting in the crowsnest two days later, looking out on the horizon. He had no job that day, and just wanted to relax. He was starting to doze off when he suddenly felt kind of ill. Not sick, just wrong. Like something was really wrong, or about to go wrong. And it didn't feel like his stupid "knowing", but something else.
He looked in the direction he felt was wrong, and saw something in the water, just barely moving in a circle. He frowned before knowing something was wrong, and they were heading right towards it. He bit his lip, not knowing what to do, before he finally decided the feeling was bad enough to do something about.
The youngest felt totally useless, still unable to remember a thing, and wanted to be useful for something. He dropped down from the crowsnest, landing without a pain due to his fire logia and sprinting to the navigation room.
Kai wasn't in there, but the grouchiest one was, standing at the steering wheel. Ace didn't like him, and he didn't seem to like Ace, even though he was perfectly friendly. "Aioba, I think you should turn to the starboard side," Ace suggested. Kai looked at him in almost disgust.
"Why should I do that?" he asked. Ace was thrumming his fingers on his thighs. Aioba seemed to have a pride issue.
"I have a bad feeling," Ace said, knowing it sounded lame. Aioba scoffed.
"You're not even a navigator. They just stuck you here cause it was the only open spot. Don't think you're special," he said cruelly. Ace was angry at that, but more concerned with the pressing feeling. Turn the ship!
Ace acted, shoving him to the side and yanking the wheel to the side, tilting the ship suddenly until it moved to the side just barely. Aioba stood and yelled at Ace, trying to pull him away, but Ace kept the wheel turned. "You little shit, let go!" Ace didn't reply, and suddenly the ship jolted to the side as a cyclone formed that would have decimated half of the ship and left them all stranded.
Aioba looked shocked, and Ace was sweating and breathing heavily, looking at the disaster they'd just missed with wide eyes before sighing and putting his head on the wheel. Once the cyclone dissipated, Ace let go of the wheel, and glared at Aioba before leaving the room.
He ran into Marco right outside of the room. "Holy shit, Aioba, that was close," he said, walking past Ace, looking shaken. Ace stood there, feeling Aioba was going to take credit, and was about to leave when he said, "Ace was the one to notice it, not me." Ace had been sure he was going to lie.
Marco looked at Ace in shock. "How did you know? It came out of nowhere," the first mate said in shock and confusion. After all, Ace wasn't supposed to be any good at navigation. He wasn't even the head of it on his own ship. Did he practice it as a hobby? Ace shrugged.
"I just had a bad feeling about going in that direction. I can't explain it," he answered honestly. Aioba looked ashamed, looking at the wheel before apologizing for his words, how they were out of line. Marco didn't comment on the pirate's apology, and asked for him to leave. He did, and soon it was only Ace and Marco in there.
"You don't remember being a navigator?" Ace shook his head.
I knew I'd teach you well! I bet you can be a higher up now.
Thanks for your help, old man!
Ace was jolted back to the present, not recognizing the voice he'd just heard, but the one reply was his own. He sounded so happy and proud. And it didn't feel like a memory from his past, it felt like that feeling he got when he realized something he shouldn't know. He didn't say anything about it.
"I don't remember it, no," Ace replied honestly.
Marco put a hand on his chin. "I haven't seen a person predict something like that that quickly in a long time. I'm impressed. I bet Aioba said something pretty rude, didn't he? His pride is easily wounded," Marco said, not that Ace hadn't noticed already.
Ace smiled. "It's hard not to notice." Marco chuckled.
"That is true. Well, you saved the ship, so thank you. Perhaps you'd be better at this than you think. Have you ever drawn a map?" Ace shrugged. "Sorry, stupid question," he said in amusement. "How have reading the log books been?" he asked, changing the subject.
"I still don't remember any of it. I still don't remember them," Ace replied honestly, voice full of guilt and grief. Marco looked at him with sympathy. "Hopefully it'll all come back soon. I don't want to leave them hanging like this. I don't remember them, but I was their captain. Hopefully I was a good one," he said, chewing on his thumb.
That thought had been worrying him for a while. Was he not a good captain? There had to be plenty of terrible pirates. No, he knew there were. It was a well known fact, not something about him personally or his life. He just hoped he wasn't one of them.
Marco put his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. You put up a firewall to protect your crew and they didn't want to leave you. If you were a terrible captain, I think they wouldn't have reacted like that. Plus, after you were out, they fought to get you back. So I don't think you should worry about that." Ace smiled and thanked him for the kind words. "Now, why don't you take a break? It's your day off, isn't it?" Ace nodded, and they both left the room, Aioba going back in once both of them were out.
He looked at Ace in guilt and almost embarrassment. And there was a twinge of jealousy in his gaze, and Ace hoped that it wouldn't be a problem. He had been an experienced navigator, and hadn't noticed something as big as a massive cyclone. But then again, Ace had been in a good place to notice. Maybe the window just needed to be cleaned.
Later, he'd seen Aioba in the hall, and asked to talk to him. He glared at Ace in the little alcove they were both in now. "I just wanted to say that maybe we should clean the window. It was kinda dirty," he said. Aioba glared at him.
"I don't need your pity or reassurance, Ace. Don't try to be the nice guy. Nobody likes them," he snapped, and left Ace with a bright red face, scowling. Wow, he sure felt welcome. He stormed to his little room, hoping he didn't need to share a room with that asshole. He was just trying to be nice. What a prick.
Everyone else seemed to like that he was nice. Aioba was just jealous and guilty that he almost got the ship destroyed with his lack of talent. Ace was determined to beat him now. Fucking asshole. Ace would prove he was more talented than him. That he was a natural at this, or was just experienced and didn't know it.
-x-
Life was getting easier. At least, his new life. He still hadn't remembered a thing about the last two years. But life with the Whitebeards felt like it was right. He was so confused, and was having trouble not voicing his random realizations or recognitions. He only talked about them with Thatch. He was the closest one to Ace, and was always interested in what he had to say.
Ace hadn't had another savior moment since a week ago, but he was helpful in the division for other reasons. He helped out the others with their work, never taking the lead, though. He helped with supply runs, bolting things down during a storm, bringing messages to people around the ship.
He liked being helpful. He liked the praise and thank yous. He felt like a little kid seeking acceptance. Maybe it was because of the guilt of letting down his stranger crew. Maybe that was why he wanted to be as helpful as possible. Even when he had days off, he spent them helping others out. Helping Thatch out with taste testing, fetching things from the storage rooms.
It gave them time to talk over Ace's strangeness. Sometimes, it felt like he unlocked information. He'd remember something a few days apart. And it was always facts, not memories. Besides that one quote of talking to someone he didn't know. At least, he didn't know yet.
He was with Thatch in the library, helping him get a certain cookbook he couldn't find out of the 104 (seriously, he was a hoarder), when he suddenly got a horrible feeling about the island they'd be landing on. The first island that Ace would land on that he remembered other than Dawn Island. He was excited, until now.
He dropped down from the second floor level in front of Thatch, a horrified face that he couldn't help. "Whoa? What is it? What's wrong?" Thatch asked.
"We can't go on the next island!" he shouted. "We have to skip it!" Thatch's expression hardened, and he nodded once. He dragged Ace out and they ran, looking for Marco or Pops. He asked, while they ran, what Ace was feeling about it.
"I- I don't know, but whatever it is it's bad, and we can't go. No one will believe me, and we can't tell them. They'll think something is wrong with me," Ace insisted. Thatch promised they'd keep his secret.
He offered, "I could tell Marco I had a bad dream about it and pester him to death until he goes and checks it out. It shouldn't be too far, we'll be there by dinner." It was late morning, before lunch. They still had time. Ace was glad with that plan. Thatch was skilled at pissing Marco off like no one else on the crew. It was always entertaining.
They found Marco coming out of the bathroom. "Marco, Marco! You gotta go check out that island! I had a bad dream about it!" Marco looked at him in disbelief. That was the beginning of an hour long pester-fest until Marco finally snapped and agreed to go visit the stupid island. He left with the baby den den, saying that he was going to punish Thatch later if this was a prank. Ace was relieved when Thatch told him after Marco had left.
Ace had been bothered by the bad feeling all day, and it got worse the closer they got. Something bad was there, but he still didn't know what. And it wasn't like the cyclone, it was the recognition/realization. Hopefully, he didn't get Thatch in trouble and piss Marco off. Thatch would take the blame for that, so Ace was worried.
Ace was mopping the deck when a call was made from Marco to Pops at his chair, where he liked to spend his time watching his children and Ace. Well, Ace didn't exactly stick out of the crew besides his hat, size and youthful appearance. Other than that, he didn't bring much attention to himself.
Ace was conveniently close to the throne as he mopped, when the call was made. "Hello, Marco. Was Thatch's dream correct?" he asked in amusement.
"Some sort of disease killed everyone on the island. We have to change course. They're all rotting. And there are a bunch of ships stranded, all of the sailors on there dead, too. We almost were them. Change the ship's course now. I'm heading back, now," Marco's voice said, deeply serious on the other line.
Whitebeard's face went shocked, and Ace grinned behind him, letting out a relieved sigh and putting his hand on his chest like an old person would. He finished up the mopping before trailing behind Pops as he looked for Thatch. He wanted to know what would happen.
He trailed from a distance and entered the galley and sat at a table as Pops approached Thatch, a serious look on. Thatch looked up from his baking, making ridiculously decorative cupcakes for some reason. "Yo, Pops! Wanna try my strawberry cupcakes? What's wrong?" he asked, looking up to see Whitebeard wasn't there for cupcakes.
"The island you talked about is full of sick corpses. How did you-?" but Thatch looked to the side and saw Ace, unable to help himself from grinning. But Pops obviously noticed it and looked to where Thatch was to see Ace grinning back, before he lost his grin and awkwardly left the room.
To his horror, Pops and Thatch followed him. "Ace, can I speak with you, and Thatch, in private?" the captain asked, and Ace felt himself starting to sweat, but he couldn't exactly refuse, so he turned back around and he and Thatch nervously walked to the meeting room, which was impossible to eavesdrop on since the walls and door were made extra thick for just that reason.
Ace and Thatch sat in two seats, side by side, both looking stiff and uncomfortable. Pops stared at them suspiciously. "Will you tell me the truth, now? I doubt Thatch's story." He looked at Ace, who avoided eye contact. Thatch said nothing, not daring to lie. "Whatever the story is, it has saved us. For that, I am grateful."
Ace finally said something. "I had a bad feeling about it," he said simply, and it was the truth.
"Why did you have Thatch say something?" he asked curiously, not sounding mad. Thatch said that they'd think Ace was weird if it was him. Everyone already knew Thatch was weird, so it wasn't a big deal. "Is this the only time that's happened? Do you remember anything like that happening before?"
Thatch looked to Ace uncomfortably. "Sometimes… only recently I think," Ace said, again a simple truth. "I don't know why."
Whitebeard then asked if it was the same with the cyclone, which Ace denied. That it was something different, he'd felt a change in the air and saw something abnormal about the water. "Well, whatever caused you to have the bad feeling, thank you. I won't ask anything more about it for now, but thank you for saying something."
Ace was so glad he didn't pry anymore, though the teen had feeling he'd be watched closer after this. Luckily, he'd not been acting too weird lately. He was getting more used to realizing random things. Most of them were small. "If you ever get that feeling again, come straight to me, okay? I won't let anyone else know about this," he swore, and Ace thanked him with a relieved smile. Then he passed out, and Thatch laughed and took him to the couch in the library nearby, since Ace's sleep attacks didn't last long.
When he woke up, there was hot tea next to the couch. There were a few other people in there, quiet but still audible enough to hear grumbling about the island being canceled. Ace didn't feel bad one bit, and relaxed into the couch, satisfied with himself. Maybe… this whole future-seeing thing would be helpful, not just for him to know things he shouldn't know.
Maybe he could be really helpful. And now that Pops knew, Ace could tell him without worrying about anyone else finding out and thinking there was something wrong with him, whatever was wrong with him, at least his situation had an upside. He may not remember his old crew and the life they had, but he could help his new crew, more than just errands and cleaning.