When he was woken, he was surprised he'd fallen back to sleep in the first place. Haruta was waiting outside the door and Ace came out dressed, nervous and afraid. "Don't worry, Ace," Haruta said and patted his back.

Ace didn't smile but nodded. He and Haruta walked to the intelligence room that housed all of the different den dens connected to other ships, allies, and protected islands. There were even ones to Big Mom and Kaido, though they were never used. Hadn't been used and nobody but Pops knew why or how he had them.

Haruta picked up one of the larger den dens and called. "Hello?"

"Hey, Julian, this is Haruta. I'd like you to gather the Spades to talk to," Haruta said, getting straight to the point. The guy on the other end agreed and left for about ten minutes before he came back and said, "Alright, they're here."

"Thanks." Haruta handed the den den receiver to Ace, whose hands were shaking. The Spades were quite on the other side. The commander left the room for Ace to have some privacy, and he said, "H-Hi, guys."

There was an eruption of "Ace!" in excitement, no anger. Ace bit his lip, tears already down his face. "Where have you been?" one of them demanded, and he heard cries on the other end. "We were so worried! We've been waiting!"

"I- I'm sorry! I couldn't talk to you, any of you!" Ace cried, and there were sounds of shock and concern.

"Ace, what happened? What do you mean?" one asked, and he wished he could see who was speaking. "Are you okay?" Ace didn't say anything. "Ace…?"

The former captain finally steeled himself, and told the truth. "I woke up on the Moby Dick, and I don't remember anything about the last two years. I have no brain injury, but everything is blank! Nothing has come back, and I've read our log books religiously, but I don't remember a thing. It's just all gone," he confessed, tears in his voice clearly.

There was silence on the other end, until one asked, "You… don't remember us? Or any of our adventures?" His voice was broken, and the rest of them were silent.

"No… I don't even remember names and faces. I did remember one of you at first, Deuce. But even now, I can't remember his voice, or how we met. I'm so sorry!" Ace lamented. "I'm sorry I was too scared to talk to you, and left you all hanging for so long. I wish I could remember, but it's just… not there. None of it."

He heard sniffles on the other end. A voice spoke up, that hadn't said anything before. "We don't hate you, Ace. We are so sad, and upset with this, but you didn't ask for this to happen. We know you'd never purposely forget us. This is Deuce," Deuce said kindly. Ace sniffled, but didn't reply. "How are you there? Are they treating you right?"

"They're nice to me, except for one guy. I shouldn't have burnt our ship without your permission. You could have taken it and sailed off on your own. I just wanted to move on, looking at the ship made me feel horrible, that I didn't remember anything about her, about our time on her. Our time together," Ace explained, his voice wobbly but no longer crying.

"Will you let us come see you? Maybe we can start over. It… it won't be the same, but we still care for you, even if you don't remember us. And hey, maybe seeing us again will kickstart everything!" an older sounding voice said. "My name is Mihar."

Voices started introducing themselves, and Deuce stopped them, saying Ace couldn't see them so he wouldn't be able to match the names and faces. "Yes. I'll ask for them to bring you here, as soon as they can," Ace said immediately. "Please… don't get your hopes up if nothing comes back to me. I didn't even remember my fight with Whitebeard or Jinbei."

"We don't take it personally, or anything. And we don't hate you," Deuce assured, voice steady and earnest.

Ace replied, "I might be different now. Not remembering things, I think it changed me. I'm not loud or anything. I feel like I had been once. But not anymore. I don't want to disappoint you, by being someone different now."

"Don't worry about a thing! Even if you're different now, you're still always going to be Ace," one said, Ace still not recognizing their voices.

Ace nodded and then said, "Yeah. Just… don't have high expectations, okay?"

Deuce said, "Alright. Will you talk to someone important? About the ships meeting up? We're kinda bored here."

"I'll do it as soon as possible. And guys, thanks. For not hating me for forgetting everything and leaving you hanging. I should have said something a long time ago. It was selfish, and I'm really sorry."

"We forgive you," a bunch of them said at the same time. Ace was at least glad they still had one another, they weren't totally alone. Ace had been, but not for long and he'd felt a connection to everyone so quickly. Yet he forgot his own crew. He wished he could figure out what happened that day. Why his life had changed so suddenly, and why he knew things he shouldn't.

He left the room after they said their goodbyes, and Ace wiped his eyes on his shirt, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. He opened the door and saw Haruta waiting against the wall. "Can you bring them here? I know it's a lot to ask, but I want to meet them. Try to remember what I've forgotten," Ace said in a pleading voice, brows furrowed in worry about being rejected.

Haruta grinned. "Told you they won't hate you! And hell yeah, we'll reunite you! Don't worry, you're one of us now. We'll help you when we can," he said, and patted Ace's back, who grinned and thanked him.

After breakfast, Ace was told the Moby 2 would be meeting them in a few days since they'd be staying at that island for a week at least. It had been a long time since an extended break on any island, so they were all enjoying being on land for a bit. Plus, it was a big island with lots to explore.

Ace couldn't wait to see them, hopefully remember something. It would be weird having them know all about Ace when he didn't know a thing about them. But, maybe they'd be friends again when they weren't under him. They would be equals now, Ace wasn't their leader. It might be weird for them to not listen to his orders and stuff. But at least they didn't act like he was a terrible captain. He was so relieved of that.

Later that day, Ace was given a pouch of spending money. Ace was excited with it, and went onto the island to buy something, anything. He wandered around for a bit, seeing glimpses of his crew doing different things. He saw Aioba sitting on a bench and moping. Ace passed him, giving him a look of disdain, which the man returned.

Ace was so pissed at him for ruining his map, but he wasn't going to act on his own, no matter how much he wanted to punch him in the face. That prick ruined Ace's precious map, even if it hadn't been finished. Even if he hadn't done it very well, it was still important to him for other reasons.

He hadn't shown anyone else his second map, didn't know if it was any good. Maybe he'd show them later. Who knows? He ended up buying candy at a candy store. He walked into the forest to explore after that, munching on his hard candy.

He came across some shady men around a campfire. Ace walked past them, not caring much as he wandered around. He felt their eyes on him, but they didn't act. Ace was a bit bummed, he hadn't gotten to real fight in awhile, and based on his training as a child and teen and the Whitebeards' words, he was good at fighting. It had to be muscle memory or he'd be furious he'd have to start over.

Though, he didn't remember ever using his fire. He'd eaten his fruit after leaving Dawn Island, but this time, he was confident he had not forgotten. He could feel his fire inside, and he had used it with Thatch multiple times for making s'mores without anyone else knowing. He trusted that he could still fight, even if he'd been out of action for a couple weeks.

When he reached the other side of the island after walking clean through the forest, he found it was a much grungier and dirty town than the other. Well, it would be described better as a slum. Not a place like Gray Terminal, more like edge town, only bigger. He wandered around, out of money but not out of candy.

He looked around, seeing pretty shady people, more than one with teardrop tattoos, which even he knew what they were. But Ace couldn't judge, he'd killed before, even when he was a kid, he was a killer. And no doubt he'd killed as a pirate, too. He wasn't a saint and wouldn't pretend to be one. He also wasn't afraid of any of the people here, New World or not.

"Yo, brother," a gross voice said. "Gross" was a good description of it. Slimy, maybe. Ace looked over, seeing it was a blond guy with a small nose, a scar on his face similar to Thatch's. He was muscular, and a bit taller than Ace, but he wasn't afraid of him. Just interested in what he wanted, and couldn't help but look down on him.

He could sense that the guy was leagues under Ace's strength. "Pretty sure you're not my brother," Ace said simply, throwing another handful of rock candy into his mouth. "What'dya want?"

"I can tell you're strong, why don't you join us? My name is Bellamy. Got a 195,000,000 berrie bounty, pretty strong. What's your bounty?" Bellamy asked. It was a good question. He remembered Haruta touting him as a pirate with a bounty over 300,000,000 berries, but didn't remember specifically.

"I don't need to tell you that," Ace answered simply. Bellamy looked surprised. After all, don't most pirates boast about their bounty? Ace's bounty was a lot more than this guy's, but he didn't really feel like fighting him today. Maybe that was different than how he used to be, he didn't know. But he was just exploring.

"Did you not just hear me? My bounty is pretty high, you should answer me," Bellamy said, sounding completely cocky.

"Nah, I have no interest in you. Goodbye," Ace said, but dodged even with his back turned when the guy went shooting at him. "Hey, you almost spilled my food!" Ace grumbled in, before stuffing his pocket with his remaining candy. It was mostly gone, as he'd eaten most of it already. He wished he'd had more money, but he'd spent it all. Oh well.

Bellamy said, "Then don't disrespect me, brat!"

Ace raised an eyebrow. "You really want to take me on? I'm warning you, you won't win," but he was already getting ready to fight. Bellamy shot at him. "Okay, you started it! No complaining!" and Ace shot a huge plume of fire at him, jumping and flipping up and slamming his leg down on the guy who'd sprung at him again, shattering the spring into pieces, before it morphed back into a normal human form leg.

He screamed, and Ace kicked a fiery leg onto his back, snapping a few vertebrates. He screamed again and Ace landed lightly, pulling his candy back out. "I warned you," Ace said simply. The other guy Ace hadn't even noticed still being there was hiding in the alleyway, looking at the scene in horror. He had glasses, looking like they should be in a snowy environment. "You may want to take your captain to the doctors'."

"Wh-who are you?!" the guy asked, looking quite ridiculous. He also seemed weak for the New World, like his captain. Ace was feeling light and happy, feeling like he'd just reclaimed part of his missing personality. That was fun! Fighting was fun!

"Firefist Ace of the Whitebeard pirates. I'm new, so it's not official yet. Anyways, good luck healing him!" Ace said, and wandered away and into town more to explore. He heard Bellamy scream in pain as his friend picked him up, probably to go get medical attention. Ace lit his hands on fire, looking at the flames before smiling widely.

He may not remember eating the fruit, but it was his, he was fire, remembering it or not.

-x-

"I got in a fight~" Ace said to Thatch at dinner. "I won~" he added.

Thatch thumped him on the back. "Who was it? How'd it go?!" Ace told him about it, and the disappointing battle. But that he could still use his fruit perfectly even if he didn't ever remember fighting with it in the last two years. "Nice! Well, you can be useful during fights, too! As long as you don't set the ship on fire." Ace laughed, promising he wouldn't.

"You're in a great mood today, it's nice to see," Thatch told him with a bright smile. "Are you excited to see your friends?" Ace was glad he didn't say crew. He didn't want to think about what he couldn't remember, being a captain.

"Yeah. Nervous, but excited. I just hope they don't expect me to be the same as I was," Ace replied honestly. "Is it only my old crew coming back? Izo told me last week that some of the crew was gone on a mission for a while and I haven't met them, yet."

Thatch nodded, putting the last can in the correct crate, leaving the huge wagon in the corner, situated snugly against the wall so it didn't roll around during a storm. "Yeah, there's a group that's been on a mission for awhile. Poor guys got there and the subject was already dead! They're meeting us at the next island. There are two from your own division you haven't met," Thatch replied, and he and Ace left the room, locking the storage room with the key Thatch carried. People liked to steal from the fresh food, and no one could ever catch who it was, so now that room had a lock.

Teach. "Teach?" Ace asked, remembering someone from his division who he vaguely saw in his head. He knew he was fat, but it was as if it was silhouetted. He couldn't picture his face, just his outline.

"Yeah! He's been here super long, since he was twelve," Thatch said. "Have you met him before? Or has anyone told you about him?" Ace was surprised by how young the yonko was accepting crew members. Surely, a 12 year old wouldn't be safe out on the seas? That was crazy, but it had clearly worked as the guy was still alive.

Ace shook his head. "I think I just know his name, like I did with you and others. Don't know anything about him in specific," the current youngest replied. He and Thatch walked back to the galley.

"Have you unlocked anything else lately?" Thatch wondered. "There hasn't been anything bad like that plague island for awhile." Ace shook his head. Nothing new had popped up recently. And no emergency thing had shown up, which he was glad of. Knowing something bad was going to happen wasn't exactly a nice feeling. And that had brought attention to his strange situation. Where he knew more of what seemed to be the present than the past two years.

"I really wish we knew why you know this stuff. It's the biggest mystery ever. Pisses me off," Thatch said bitterly. Ace laughed.

"I would have thought you'd like the mystery, though," Ace commented. Thatch was about to say something else when Ace was called over by Namur, who was in charge of the second division that week. He and Thatch walked over. Ace asked if there was a problem.

Namur nodded, and walked Ace to the navigators' room. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong or that he was in trouble, so he wasn't worried, just curious. There was a crowd in the room around a table. There was a large pile of paper on the surface, and Ace saw that there were a half dozen maps there.

Everyone looked up at him, and he was confused. "What's up?"

"When did you have the time to do this?" Dex asked, holding up one of the maps, which was perfect. Ace was confused, and asked what they meant. "Your name is signed on each one, here." Ace's eyes widened and he looked at the corners of the map, and they each had his signature. But he didn't remember making these. They had no dates on them, but that was his signature. And the cross hatching was also how he did it.

But he'd only made one map, that one of that island. And that had been only a couple days ago! When the hell did he have the time to make these? And he didn't recognize the islands they were. "I- I don't remember making these," Ace said honestly.

"But it looks like your other map, only… kinda too perfect. And they aren't any islands we've visited. This one is one from the East Blue, too. These were made recently, but not of any island we've visited since you joined," Kai commented. "Do you sleep walk?"

Aioba was there, and Ace could feel him glaring at him, but he didn't pay much attention to him, holding up one of the maps that was too simple to be anything but out of the East Blue. "Sometimes. But how would I make a map while I'm asleep? And there are too many for me to have made in two days!" He was so confused.

Thatch said, "Maybe you're subconsciously remembering the islands you've visited on your own pirate journey." Ace's eyes widened, and he felt hope in his chest. But why was he so good at it?

"But that's not the point. These look perfect, and you don't have the measurements on hand, and it's been at least months since you've been to one of these islands. Even the most skilled cartographers can't remember things in detail like this," Jeremy said. He turned to Aioba. "And before you can suggest he made this all up, or it's inaccurate, we compared them to old maps of Paradise and they're identical."

Everyone had soured on him. Nobody really talked to him anymore. Well, it had only been a few days, so it might cool down as time passed. He scowled deeper.

"I… I don't know what to say. I don't remember making these," Ace stuttered.

"Maybe you didn't. Maybe someone else did and you just wrote your name on them," Aioba said, and Ace closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose. Dex glared at the guy.

He argued, "Based on the map Ace made, this matches his style to a T. Plus, they were in Ace's cubby. You're just upset that he's a prodigy," Ace's friend accused. "Deal with it, some people will always be more talented than you are." Ace blushed at the compliments. "Anyways, your obvious skill could be super helpful for us."

"Do you mind if we save these in the official cartography books to replace those in the East Blue and Paradise?" Reed questioned, one of the lead cartographers. Ace felt honored and nodded, biting his lip, hiding a smile. Thatch thumped his back.

He grinned and said, "Maybe your memory will come back. Slowly, but this is a good sign, isn't it?"

Ace nodded, but then frowned. "How long does it usually take someone to make a map like this?" he asked, holding one of the more detailed maps with peaks and dips.

"Many hours. But, if you have the measurements that are committed to memory, then I don't know how long it would take. You're a real mystery, Ace," Reed said with a bright grin. "We should tell Pops. He'll be super impressed!" Ace was blushing madly, and bit his lip in embarrassment.

He put the maps that weren't being reserved back in is cubby. The mystery maps had been under his original (since being on the Moby Dick), so he hadn't even noticed them. "Wait, why did anyone go digging in my cubby?" he asked in confusion.

"You didn't latch it all the way. The ship swayed slightly and I think they slipped out," Namur said, and Ace blushed again, not clipping his cubby back correctly. "To be fair, from what we've gathered, you were sleepwalking. It's lucky you put everything away while half dead." Thatch laughed and Ace nodded, glad people didn't disrespect his privacy and go through the cubby.

They dispersed, many still talking about Ace's skill, with someone still glaring at him. Ace wished he could be on friendly terms with Aioba, but he just didn't see that happening anytime soon. Plus, the guy was still not welcome to do anything regarding their division at the moment. It had only been a day or so, so he had a long time to go. And who knows when anyone will trust him or respect him in their division like they had before he was exposed for ruining Ace's first map.

But, considering how good the maps were, that could not have been Ace's first map. There was no way. When did he learn? Man, Sabo would be so proud, and the thought made Ace smile softly. Sabo would be amazed, probably teasing him about it somehow, though. Luffy would be in shock and awe. Even though Ace didn't remember the past two years, he knew he hadn't seen Luffy just days ago. He knew those years were there, but they were just blank.

It was so weird.

At dinner, Ace's secret escapades were of great interest to most, and it made Ace uncomfortable, even if everyone were saying nice things. He was sitting with Thatch that night, not thinking he'd be the talk of the commanders' table as well. But he was.

"So, wait, you made a bunch of maps in the middle of the night with no measurements and don't remember it? That's so weird!" Haruta said excitedly. Whitebeard was looking at him in interest. It was a bit overwhelming, and Marco noticed this, and changed the subject, earning and thankful smile from Ace.

Whitebeard was smiling at Ace as well, but jumped on the train of thought Marco had brought up. "So, Teach's unit is arriving in three days, right?" Marco asked, successfully directing the conversation in another direction that was engaging enough to not have anyone still talk about Ace's surprise skills.

"Yeah, they should be here in three days, give or take a few hours. They're almost always on time." Ace couldn't help but ask what kind of guy Teach was. "He's one of the earliest crew members. Been here a couple decades. He's a bit overwhelming sometimes, since he's so damn noisy. But he's a good guy, I think you'll get along well."

Ace asked if he was a navigator, too. "He was part of the second division when we just lumped people together for organization, before we had specific purposes for each one. So, he's not a navigator, he's just still in that division. It's been too long to change now," Vista explained, striking his mustache.

The newby raised his brows. "The divisions weren't always organized like this?"

Whitebeard shook his head. "No, I just couldn't handle hundreds of crew members on my own, so my most responsible and dedicated sons became leaders as well, to help manage the mass of our crew that just kept expanding. The crew has evolved quite a bit since the beginning, when it was just myself and Marco," the captain explained, a smile on like he was reminiscing.

Ace looked interested more, and Whitebeard told him all about the early days of his crew. It was weird to think that a crew this massive all started with two people. A man and a fourteen year old kid. "Have you grown out of taking children?" Ace wondered, since he saw no little kids at the moment. No one who looked to have been a child recently, that is.

"I have enough idiots on this crew, I don't think mentally immature children would help much," Whitebeard said with a laugh.

"No! I want kids here!" Thatch shouted, slamming his fist on the table angrily. "Ah, it's not fair! Why do we have no kids?! I want kids!" he lamented, putting his head on the table, his pompadour flattening.

"Well you have a dog," Ace said simply, and those at the table stared at him. "What?"

Marco frowned. "Who told you about Stefan? He was supposed to be a surprise," he grumbled. Ace blinked twice. Stefan? That's right, he just realized they had a dog. No one had told him about it, he had spoken before he could even process the fact he'd realized something else.

Ace sputtered, "I guess someone mentioned it and I heard it in passing." Thatch excused himself from the table, thankfully, so he didn't give off any suspicious expressions. He said he was going to start cleaning up. The only one who looked at him strangely anymore was Pops.

Izo crossed his arms. "Well, it's too bad someone told you about him. He's with Teach's group at the moment. So, he'll be returning with them in a few days," he said conversationally. Ace was so glad he made it past that without anyone seeing him too suspiciously.