The Keeper of Worlds: thank you!
"We're here!" Haruta screeched as they arrived at an island they could dock at. The moment Marco had come back from his trip to the graveyard island, he'd burned his clothes and taken a chemical shower in the backroom of the infirmary. Nobody had gotten sick, and the word of Thatch's miraculous dream had not spread. Marco hadn't told anyone as he didn't want them to worry needlessly.
It was only Ace, Marco, Thatch and Whitebeard who knew, and Marco didn't know the full story. Ace was excited to be on this island, not just because he didn't remember ever being on an island beside his home one, but because he got to try mapping it. He liked to hope that he had a hidden talent at mapping as well, so he could one-up Aioba again, the asshole.
Once word had spread in his division about Ace being the one to save the ship, the man had been ordering him out of the room whenever he could to go run errands. But, when it was Thatch's turn to take over that division and give them instructions, Ace was prominent as Thatch asked him to do many things. Aioba didn't like that, to say the least.
Ace pretended to act friendly with him, when he purposely said things that hinted at Ace getting even better some day. And the navigators were teaching him more about weather patterns in the New World, giving him vital information and education to be even better.
There had been no sudden storm like the cyclone afterwards, mostly more predictable things that many of the navigators could do, including Ace, but they still were thankful for his help, and not toxically jealous like Aioba. Some helped him learn how to work the mapping pens, which was easy after only a few tries.
"Ace, go shopping with me," Thatch said as they worked on furling the sails to dock at the island. It had mountains, which would be a challenge for Ace, but he looked forward to it.
Ace replied, "I'm going to work on mapping the island, I can't." Thatch had grown very attached to Ace, trying to include him in most things he could. And most of the time, Ace gladly took part since Thatch was easy and fun to be around. He pouted when Ace declined. "I'm super excited to do it, though," the youngest said eagerly.
"Wanting to piss off Aioba more? Hah, it's easy to see your rivalry. He glares at you all the time," Thatch said with a laugh and amused voice. "Probably because you're both young and new, and he's been here a long time."
Ace grinned, glad Thatch wasn't mad about their bad relationship. "The others like me well enough, want me to succeed. He's the only one with a bad attitude," Ace replied. Before Thatch could reply, Dex, one of Ace's mapping friends, came out with a large bag of supplies with what Ace assumed was the mapping gear.
"Yo, Ace! Ready to go? We should get started as soon as possible," he said, and handed Ace his own pack. "I'll help you out as much as I can."
"Thanks, Dex. I look forward to it," Ace replied with a bright smile. "I'll see you later, Thatch." The commander pouted, but said goodbye as well. Ace and his fellow navigator left and took most of the day measuring the island's terrain. It took a lot of patience and focus, but Ace enjoyed it.
He and Dex stayed mostly quiet except when sometimes commenting on strange areas and places they should avoid due to the animals on the island. Apparently, they'd mapped this place before, but the map was getting old and yellow. It took most of the day, and they ate small meals from a backpack Ace carried.
By the time they got back, it was sunset, and Ace was famished. But dinner wasn't for another half hour, so Ace started on his map. Dex shooed the others out since they needed focus and quiet, and they were on an island and didn't need to look out for dangerous occurrences.
Ace had to use two sheets of paper after spilling ink on the first. It was embarrassing, but Dex said nothing of it as they worked on their separate maps. He let Ace know that if Ace somehow was better at it than he was, he wouldn't be upset. He said he wasn't Aioba with a bad attitude. Ace liked Dex a lot. He wished everyone in his division was like him.
This crew was full of kind pirates, with a sprinkle of jerks in it. There was one commander Ace disliked greatly: Kingdew. He didn't like Ace. Well, he didn't seem to like anybody, really. The newby was grateful he wasn't in his division, and hated when he took over the control of the second division when it was his turn.
Ace wondered when they'd fill the seat. Second division commander. He shook his head, but got back to his map. Dinner time came before he finished, so he put the supplies away and headed to dinner. He was happy after the long day, and ate what seemed like too much for someone his size. He sat with his own division mostly, since he wasn't welcome at the commander's table even after being good friends with Thatch.
After dinner, after helping Thatch clean up a bit, he went back to his map to work on for the next two hours before retiring to bed. When he got up in the morning, he went to check on his map and found someone had spilled ink all over it. He looked at it with a devastated expression on, holding the ruined map.
It was his first try, and someone ruined it. Didn't even leave a note about it being an accident. He looked over and saw Dex's map was perfectly fine. Ace scowled, and put the map down before getting out the supplies again and starting over, though it wouldn't be the same. He'd been nearly finished with his first map, and now it was ruined. He didn't even care that his second map looked better than the first. He wasn't happy with it, and just filed it away, folding up his original map and putting it in his pocket.
He sniffled, hiding the embarrassing tears and left the room. He ran into Haruta on his way to the galley as well from the bathhouse. Ace was clearly upset and the small commander asked if he was okay. "Someone spilled ink on my first map. Didn't even leave a note or apology or anything," Ace said quietly.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Haruta said empathetically. Ace had a hunch it was Aioba but wouldn't make unfound accusations.
"Thanks. I made another one and finished it, but it's not the same, it's not my first try," Ace explained. He pulled out the ruined map and unfolded it. Haruta glared at it, looking angry before taking it from him. He growled, and Ace asked what was wrong.
Haruta said, "It's clear this was not an accident by the way the ink is spilled. If it had been dropped, it would have splattered. If it had been spilled, it would look different. I think someone ruined this on purpose, and that is not acceptable. We'll figure out who did it and punish them."
Ace was happy with his reaction. That he didn't brush it under the rug and just move on. Ace got his food with Haruta, and Thatch asked what was wrong when he saw Ace's subdued expression. He was usually happy in the morning. He only got depressed sometimes about forgetting his old life.
He'd gotten word that his crew were adjusting alright, but Ace was still afraid to talk to any of them. Even Deuce, the only one he remembered. He didn't want to speak to him, though. He was fading as well. As he "remembered" more things he shouldn't, the foggy memories of Deuce grew more blurry and indistinct. He didn't want to get close to Deuce only to forget him like the rest.
It was long overdue to heal if it had been a head injury that caused this. "Someone sabotaged Ace's first map," Haruta answered.
"WHAT?!" Thatch erupted. Haruta showed him the map, and Thatch realized that the ink was wrong as well. "That was clearly dribbled on purpose. You'd think they'd do it neater. Everyone knows the consequences of purposely ruining other peoples' work! In any circumstance, that is a severe punishment!"
Ace asked what else had gotten ruined. "When someone messes up an invention from the shipwrights on purpose, or something made by the dude-seamstresses. Things like that, depending on the motive and severity, have varied punishments from cleaning every bathroom alone to suspension to not setting foot on an island. What a fool, who did this. Don't worry Ace, we'll get to the bottom of it," Thatch swore.
Ace gave a small smile and a thank you. It meant a lot to him that they'd get that upset, even if the reaction was the same for everyone. Besides Kingdew and Aioba, he felt welcome on the Moby Dick. Thatch's immediate approval he felt had made him more approachable by others. He could be wrong, but that's what he felt. At least, the people he'd met so far liked him. It was hard to know all 1600 of them.
"Why don't you sit with us, this time?" Haruta offered. Ace looked confused, and asked why. "Just thought you might not want to sit with knowing someone from your division ruined your map," he replied.
Ace said, "But I'm not allowed at the commanders' table."
Haruta smiled. "Well I'm a commander and I'm giving you permission." Ace nodded and followed Haruta to the table. They talked about the island, but no one was upset with Ace being there. For some reason it felt right. Second division commander. Ace hid the scowl, hating that thought since he didn't know what it was for. It wasn't saying anything other than the title, no hint at the context of it.
"What's wrong, Ace?" Jozu asked, noticing Ace looking sad over his map again.
Thatch was there by now and said what had happened. The commanders were angry, since they knew how important Ace's first map must have been. Whitebeard was very angry, and made an announcement that everyone in the second division would be staying after dinner. And when they happened, all of the commanders were there since that division's responsibilities were shared by all of them on the rotating basis.
"Someone in your division has sabotaged Ace's first map. It would be best for whoever did it to come forward now," Whitebeard said. The table erupted into outrage about why someone would do that to Ace's map, since he never was mean and had been so excited about it. And crushing a teen's dreams made them angry and protective over him.
Ace may be 19, but he really didn't look like it with his freckles. Even though he was tall and well built, he still didn't really look his age. It didn't bother him as much as people knew he wasn't useless like a kid.
Multiple of them were staring pointedly at Aioba, who was sweating and it would be predictable for him to be the culprit with his clear dislike of Ace's presence. So, he finally stood up and came forward. Whitebeard and the commanders fondest of Ace glared at him, arms crossed.
"Why did you do this, Aioba?" Whitebeard asked angrily, with everyone glaring at him for breaking a big unspoken rule. It was a policy. Ace had been told long ago that it was so important because there were so many of them, and it was hard to stand out and sometimes stressful. Creations were important to individuality. It wasn't the only reason, since it was just generally disliked to ruin others' things, but it was the main one.
Aioba's face was red. "I'm sick of everyone praising him when he does nothing that anyone else can't do," he finally said. It made everyone look at him in disbelief. He was in his late thirties, and was whining and jealous about a 19 year old being successful at what he was doing.
"So, you did it out of jealousy?" Marco asked in disbelief. Ace was glaring at him, sitting at the table between Kai and Dex. Dex had patted his back when he found out about Ace's precious map being ruined.
Aioba didn't reply and that was answer enough. "You are suspended from your position for a month. Not only did you ruin something important to a brother, but you want to hinder his positive growth, and that is unacceptable. Family pushes one another up, trying to help each other be successful. I'm very disappointed," Whitebeard said in disapproval.
Aioba glared and sent a nasty look at Ace, who bristled at the look. It was his own fault he got in trouble, Ace didn't tattle on him. "If you harass Ace anymore, you will be removed from your post far longer or perhaps permanently," Whitebeard said in a strict voice. "You are all dismissed." They stood up, all glaring at Aioba, who stood, shoulders slumped and glaring at the floor beneath him.
Ace took out his map again and sighed, but was unable to crumple it up. His fellow division members pat his back encouragingly. "We still like you, don't worry about him. He's just jealous. The rest of us are happy for you," one said, someone he didn't even talk to much. Ace smiled and thanked him before he branched off to go to his room.
He didn't know when he'd be moving in with other second division members, but liked having his own quiet space. He knew he'd had a captain's quarters on his old ship after they'd moved everything out and onto the Moby Dick, when the sister ship had come to get the Spade's things to give to them.
Ace put his ruined map into the trunk he was given that held everything personal to him. Much of the stuff on the ship had been burned along with it as a final goodbye to the life he didn't remember and knew he wouldn't go back to.
When he went to bed that night, he had a bad dream. It wasn't a nightmare, but woke him in tears. His crew, their faces blank, stood in front of their burning ship that Ace had no emotional connection to, and told him that it wasn't fair, that he'd made all the decisions without speaking to them about it.
When he woke up, he wiped his tears away, and sat up. He put clothes on, since he was in his underwear, and left the room quietly, walking through the halls silently. He was barefoot so his boots made no noise in the empty halls.
He knew who was on watch that night, and went out onto deck to find Haruta in the crowsnest. "Haruta!" he called. The commander peeked over the edge, surprised to see Ace there.
"Yo, what's up?" he asked, motioning for Ace to come up. Ace climbed the ratlines and walked along the yardarm to sit in the large crowsnest with his friend. Thatch was still closest, but ever since Ace was roped into pranks, he and Haruta spent a lot of time together. It was the only thing annoying about Ace's presence. Though the commanders took most of the blame.
Ace looked down, and said, "You know about the situation with my crew?"
Haruta nodded. "That you don't remember them?" he asked softly.
"I want to finally call them. I know they must hate me now, it's been weeks, but I just… I'm ready to talk to them, explain what's happened. I know you're the one who manages the den den mushis, and I wasn't going to go to them without permission. Will you let me call them?" he asked.
Haruta frowned. "Yeah, I give you permission to talk to them. It's pretty late, so how about tomorrow morning when everyone will be awake?" Ace thanked him and nodded. "Hey, it's not your fault you don't remember them. You don't know what happened, you didn't do it on purpose," the commander said.
Ace replied, "It still doesn't make me feel any less guilty."
"I know, but I hope you don't hate yourself for what you can't control," he said sincerely. Ace smiled at him and thanked him before leaving to go back to bed. "I'll get you when I wake up in the morning so we can do it ASAP."
Ace nodded with a genuine simple before climbing down and walking back to his room.