The Keeper of Worlds: We still have a long way to go until he gets his memories back.

vcelinka123: Thank you!

MR97: Thank you! We're halfway through the story as of this chapter.

Ace stood at the peak of the mountain on the Whitebeard island they were currently on, measuring tools in a bag next to him. He had spent the last five hours surveying the island and making notes. He was tired and hungry, and had finally reached the highest point. No one asked for it, but he was going to try and make a map while he was awake, not half-asleep.

He sighed and put the backpack on, getting ready to trek back down the mountain. It wasn't a huge mountain, but it took awhile to get up. Wouldn't take as long getting back down. He walked along the treaded path, making Ace sure this was a popular walking route, and hummed to himself before someone called his name. "Oi, brat!" the man called, and Ace froze. He recognized that voice, even though he knew he'd not been on this island before. His eyes widened and he turned around to see someone he didn't recognize, but felt he knew.

"Yes?"

"Are you a cartographer?" he asked. Ace nodded, and then furrowed his brows, trying to figure out why he seemed so damn familiar. "Man, you're pretty young! How old are you?" Ace answered honestly, that he was 19. "Where did you learn?" You. Ace was shocked, but of course did not say the answer that popped into his head.

"I don't remember. I have amnesia," he said truthfully. The guy looked shocked before laughing. Ace kept a straight face, and the man apologized, having thought Ace was joking. The man asked what Ace's name was, so he told him.

"My name is Zeke. I teach cartography and sea charting," he said. "You live here? Haven't seen you around before." Suddenly Ace remembered clear memories that weren't his of being with this man, Zeke. Memories of eating overcooked rice with him, being forced to make errands down the mountain for him, cleaning his house. And despite all of these being a bit rude, all of them had a twinge of fondness coming with them.

He remembered getting in a ton of arguments with him about things, but then spending hours and hours of being taught mapmaking and how to construct sea charts. Ace was right, he had used striker to chart.

"Oh, I'm a Whitebeard pirate. We're visiting the island right now and I wanted to try and make a map of it," Ace said, voice surprisingly strong considering how damn confused he was. And slightly scared. All of these memories he saw that he didn't go through.

"Oh, you're a Whitebeard! Bah, they suck at mapping. If I taught one of them, I'm sure they'd be much better!" Zeke declared. He was clearly a bit eccentric and full of himself, but despite that, Ace had a fondness for the guy. Ace didn't agree that his crew were crappy cartographers, but didn't disagree.

If he taught a Whitebeard. Ace was a Whitebeard, and this guy had taught him at some point in his life. That he didn't remember. "Have we met before?" Ace finally asked, staring at him intently, waiting for an answer and hoping it would be a yes.

"Nope. Never seen yer face before," he said, and Ace's expression fell. More that didn't make sense. Neither of them remembered meeting, yet Ace had memoires of himself spending months with him. He didn't remember why he was allowed to be there so long, as he was somehow on the crew at that point. Maybe they took a long break? He didn't remember that part, that part was fuzzy.

"Oh, okay," Ace said, and then looked away, not wanting to seem weird. "Well, it was nice meeting you," he said hurriedly. "I gotta get back before dinner." Zeke frowned, but said he hoped Ace was good at his job, as the yonko crew needed good mapmakers. Ace just smiled and thanked him.

He walked back down the mountain with his hands shaking, mouth in a deep frown. He took a break halfway down to lean against a tree and breathe heavily, trying to calm down. It didn't make sense. And it wasn't like it was deja vu, he knew that man without ever meeting him. He had memories of him that he shouldn't have.

And even if he had imagined all of it, he had never seen him before, so knowing what he looked like wouldn't have been possible. Was any of this possible. He sat down on the grass, hunched over and head between his knees.

He heard crunching in front of him and lit on fire, not knowing who it was or what they wanted. But it was Marco, looking concerned. He put his hands up and Ace sighed, dousing his flames immediately. "Are you okay?" Marco asked in concern. Ace nodded, though he really wasn't. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Ace shook his head. "I'm fine, really. It's nothing," he insisted. He stood, putting his hands in his pockets. "Did you need something?" he asked, trying to put on a fake smile, even though he was still internally freaking out.

Marco clearly wasn't convinced, but didn't press, probably seeing Ace had closed off and wasn't going to say what was bothering him. He couldn't tell anybody. Not even Thatch. What if he was some… some alien? Thing? What if he was manufactured by the government and given fake memories? What if he was planted here to spy on the Whitebeards?

He needed a drink.

"We're moving the ship to the other side, and I wanted to tell you before you walk back to the other dock," Marco said slowly, clearly still looking for what was wrong with Ace. Those silly thoughts about not being a real human had passed, but now he felt crazier.

What if Thatch was right, and he had seen the future? If all of those things he noticed were from him coming from the future? He didn't remember time traveling, and didn't even know if there was a devil fruit that could do that. What if he was sent back in the past? And how far back? When he had come from, if he did somehow come from the future?

Was that why he had skills he never learned? Cause he hadn't learned them yet? Like, he had already learned them before, or in a different life, or - or something!

"Okay," Ace said, and Marco offered to fly him there. "No! No, I'm not flying again." Marco chuckled, saying he'd forgotten about Ace's fear of flying. He asked how Ace's expedition had gone. "I measured as much as I could to try and make a map. Ran into a couple bears but they left me alone after flaming up. Animals are smarter than humans," Ace explained, doing his best to keep his voice steady.

Marco asked if Ace wanted to use the second division commander's office to work on his map. "Yeah, it would be easiest. Thank you, again," Ace replied honestly. His heartbeat was slowing, going back to a steady and normal pace. He and Marco walked all the way back to the ship, down the mountain and through the town Ace had visited secondly.

"Of course, you're my little brother," Marco said in a cheery voice. Ace smiled at him, feeling more calm as they got closer to the ship. When they arrived, there was a party happening. Well, getting started. Booze was set in their places and the shishkabob supplies out while Thatch and Namur wheeled out the grills. Ace looked at the alcohol warily. He needed a drink, but no way would he get drunk around others. Not after what just happened, what he felt he'd learned.

If he let something slip, they'd all think he was crazy, and he didn't need that now. Not with everything else. He wouldn't get drunk tonight, he swore. He put the stuff away in their places, taking the measurements and information to the office he was temporarily using with Marco's permission. When he got there, he found a note on the door.

I give Ace permission to use this room for mapping - Marco

So, no one could get angry with him being there. That was nice. He set things up to go to later, since there was no way he could sleep easy tonight, and then went back out on deck. He put together the food he wanted on his skewers and sat with Deuce, not Thatch. The pompadoured man would pester him about why he wasn't getting drunk and being a "giggle-buddy".

Deuce noticed something was wrong, and gave him a questioning look, saying nothing. "'M fine," Ace said quietly, getting to eat his food. It tasted like ash, even though it smelled delicious. He couldn't even distract himself from his thoughts and possible revelation with food.

Finamore asked him why he wasn't drinking anything, since he was the only one in the group with water and not some sort of alcohol. "I just don't feel like getting drunk tonight," he replied. I want to, I just don't trust myself to not blab or fall apart.

It was a long party without being drunk. He was bored, and had a headache. He just wanted to sleep. After three hours of everyone heavily drinking, Ace excused himself and put his food utensils back where they should be before heading to the infirmary. Whiskey wasn't there, as she was drinking, too, but Tami was there.

"Ace," she said in surprise.

"Hey. Can I have some sleeping medicine?" he asked, getting straight to the point. She didn't ask any questions, and got him one of the many types of sleeping medication they had. These were melatonin tablets. "Thank you."

"Sleep well," Tami said, going back into her office. Ace took the pills dry and then went to his room, locking the door and collapsing on the bed, waiting impatiently to fall asleep, trying his best to not think. Not to think too hard and freak out again. There may not be any bedrooms ear this one, but it did have storage rooms, and some of those held the grills. If he fell apart of had some sort of panic attack like he did earlier, he'd be heard most likely. And then he'd be pestered even more.

He didn't end up going to make the map that night, just knocking himself out safely. Drinking would not have been safe this time, so meds was the only thing that would easily put him under, and not leave him with his eyes wide open and thoughts racing through his mind until breakfast.

The next day, he was confused with conspiracy theories about himself. He thought about every ridiculous hypothetical situation than he imagined possible. It was ridiculous, and he wished it would just stop. He couldn't even make a map since his hands were shaking almost all day. Luckily, not noticeable enough for anyone to tell.

So, since he couldn't really do anything helpful as he couldn't focus on anything but himself, he went onto the island again, just going to get some coffee. He hated coffee, but maybe the taste would be on his mind and not his suspicions.

Throughout the day, he dodged concerned family and friends. Four in particular looked at him in deep concern. Thatch, Deuce, Marco and Pops. And he got as far from them as he could at every turn. Going the long way through the halls or just walking straight the other direction. He didn't want to be asked questions, as he didn't like lying much.

But finally, he was cornered in his room by Thatch, who looked very upset. "Talk to me, Ace. Please, I'm worried," he said once he closed and locked the bedroom door behind him entering. Ace sat on his bed, looking away. He said there was nothing to talk about. "C'mon, I'm dumb but I'm not an idiot. Something is wrong and you won't tell anyone! Please, you know you can trust me with everything right? Since the beginning?" Thatch said, sounding encouraging while also a bit desperate.

Ace looked at him, not sure what to do. "Please. I promise I won't tell anybody. I never do, right?" Ace finally looked down and nodded. Thatch's face lit up and he turned to face Ace more directly. Ace pulled his legs up on the bed and brought them to his chest.

"I met the guy I've been hearing in my head. The one who I think taught me how to make maps and charts. I had all these memories of my time with him that never happened. He said he'd never met me before, but I knew him well. He even said he would have wanted to teach one of the Whitebeards. I think it was me that he taught. When I was part of this ship, which never happened," Ace explained quietly.

Thatch's mouth was open a little bit in shock. "Do you have a hypothesis?"

Ace chuckled, though it wasn't amusement. "If you mean conspiracy theories, I got dozens," he said in a humorless voice. Thatch put a hand on his friend's shoulder, squeezing it lightly. Ace looked up, and said, "What if… what if you were right, and I am from the future? And that's why I'm remembering things that haven't happened, and knew so much stuff from the start?" His eyes were wide and fearful.

"I think that would make sense, though I have no idea how you would have time traveled. And why you forgot those two years. We know they happened based on your former crew. I won't tell a soul, I promise," Thatch swore, looking straight into Ace's eyes. Ace smiled and shanky smile and nodded. "Do you remember anything further into the future? Or an alternate reality?"

Ace shook his head. "Things only seem to pop up before they happen. Anything serious that will happen or has happened, I don't know until days or hours before. I don't remember anything about my future far away, if that is what's happened. I'm so confused, and scared."

Thatch pat his head softly. "There's nothing to be scared of. We're with you until our ends," he vowed. Ace had some tears down his cheeks, and Thatch pulled him into a hug. "It'll work out. And maybe this will be super useful! You don't know, maybe good things could come from this. And it's nice you have skills you don't need to take the time to learn again!"

Ace sniffled and nodded, wiping under his nose and his eyes. Thatch stayed with him a bit until Ace noticed his hands weren't shaking anymore, and he wanted to try working on his map. Thatch said he'd make Ace's favorite meal for him, which was sea king pasta. They'd need to catch a sea king, but putting out bait and killing them was easy, then cutting out the best chunks from it and bringing them to the ship to cook.

He thanked his best friend/brother and went to his current safe space. Haruta said hello to him, in his own office and looking pissy from doing his own work. Ace said hello back and then went into the vacant commander's office, closing the wooden doors behind him to get to work on his map.

Clearing his mind, he worked almost automatically, making smooth lines, the mapping pens used perfectly. He zoned out as he did it, but it was relaxing, seeing the lines form shapes that matched his memory and measurements. More memories of his time with Master Zeke popped up, giving him suggestions that Ace didn't even notice incorporating.

A couple hours later, the map was finished, and looked good to him. He rolled it up once the ink dried, and brought it back to the navigation room to compare it to maps already made and found accurate enough to use.

Sometimes Ace wondered why there weren't windows for the other walls so they had a view of all directions. But he never asked, not wanting to be a bother. He walked to the folder with the most accurate maps and brought out the island they were docked at. He looked at his own and then the other, and smiled. They looked nearly identical.

He sighed and held the map to his chest, so happy he wasn't useless during the day with map making. He walked to the window, and looked at the mountain where he now knew Master Zeke lived. He wished he could thank the man, but it wouldn't work. I'd never met him in this time. Ace had started to think of himself being in some other timeline.

The teen put his map in his cubby, which was getting pretty full. Maybe he could have a second one. Even with some of his maps being in folders or binders, there were still many in the cubby. Many of the other cubbies were empty, not everyone able to make accurate maps.

When dinner came around, Ace sat by Thatch at the commanders' table when he invited him over. He was being very kind and understanding today after hearing about Ace's inner turmoil. He was a good person from the core. Ace couldn't help compare his pure soul to Luffy's. They were both angels, though Luffy was much more of a hassle. At least, to him that is.

The pasta dish was wonderful, and Ace ate so much he felt sick afterwards. Thatch asked him how his map went. "It looks pretty accurate. I'm not just good while I'm asleep," Ace said with a smile.

"That's great, son," Pops said sincerely, and Ace smiled a little shyly. "How was your expedition today? You spent a long time going around the island." Ace liked talking with Pops at dinner, even if he didn't usually sit with the commanders. Second division commander.

"A bit tiring. And a bit boring, though the weather was nice, luckily," Ace replied. He left out Master Zeke completely. He didn't want to talk about him and give away any strange expressions. He knew Marco and Pops were great at reading expressions, and they'd notice him making any weird ones, any stressed or confused ones.

Whitebeard said, "I don't think I could have the patience to spend hours measuring land." Haruta pointed out that he was patient with them. "Yes, but you are my sons, and even if you are annoying, I still love you all."

Thatch looked proud and said, "I'm the most annoying." Ace laughed, working to not spray juice everywhere. Whitebeard laughed as well and the rest of the table agreed with that. Vista asked why on earth he was proud of that. "Cause I'm the best at it. It's nice being the best at something!"

The commanders shook their heads and returned to other conversations. Ace sat quietly, happy to be there with them. It was nice being able to sit with more than one group. Having an array of people to sit by. He was glad the former Spades stuck together, so Ace not sitting with them all the time didn't make them sad and lonely. He didn't know if he'd tell Deuce about his new theory, about time traveling somehow.

He did wonder what caused him to go back, and how far ahead it had been. He didn't like to think he'd died and was sent back, because he didn't remember any pain or suffering, and surely he'd remember at least something if that had happened. How far back had he gone? He wanted to know why this happened.

And had he done it on purpose, or had it just happened without him knowing? He had so many questions, but didn't think he'd be getting any answers anytime soon. It would bother him, making him itchy with wanting to know the truth, but he'd do his best to not get upset over not having the information he wanted more than anything.

He wanted to know why he was here now more than knowing why he'd forgotten the last two years of his life. After dinner, Ace was on watch duty, and was distracted. Even though they were at an island, they still took watch as a precaution. Even if it was a protected island, there are still idiots in places.

It would be suicide to attack the ship, but some people didn't have common sense or a sense of preservation. It was a sad fact that there were some people out there with brains that didn't seem to function right and caused others trouble.

He switched halfway through the night and went back to his room to sleep. If anyone was on watch, they got to sleep in a bit the morning after. Deuce came to get him in the morning, knocking on the door that wasn't locked, but Ace didn't think he sleep walked the night before. He yawned, putting shorts on and opened the door to his friend and former first mate.

The man smiled and asked if he could talk to him. Ace nodded and let him in, both walking to Ace's bed. "What's up?" Ace asked. He hoped it was nothing serious.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come onto the island with me and the guys? To spend some time together not on the ship surrounded by other people," Deuce said with a smile. Ace held in a sigh in relief that it had nothing to do with Ace's possibly changed behavior after getting more "symptoms" of something being wrong and just plain weird.

"Sure. Where were you thinking?" Ace wondered, voice light and a small smile on. It felt good that they wanted to see him like this when he didn't know them well. Well, this could be a way to spend more time with them and hopefully get to know them better than he did now.

Deuce grinned and said, "Just going shopping around town. None of us have used our allotted money yet." Ace hadn't either, and thought it was a good idea. Well, he had gotten coffee, but that didn't cost anything, really. Ace agreed to that, and both of them left the room, Deuce waiting a few seconds for Ace to put his boots on.

They headed to breakfast, Deuce asking how watch duty had gone last night. Nothing interesting had happened, not that anyone was surprised with that. Ace sat with Deuce and the other Spades for breakfast, all talking about their day on the island. Ace was glad he did the mapmaking the day before or he'd be distracted all day.

Thatch was pouting behind them, and after breakfast asked what Ace was doing that day. "I'm going on the island with my former crew. We're gonna take our money and buy some stuff, don't know what yet," Ace explained. Saber called him over, and Ace said he'd see Thatch later before hurrying to the group he'd be spending the day with.

They stopped at the treasure room and took their small sacks of money that were set out for pirates to grab quickly. Nobody stole any more than they were allotted, which was cool in Ace's opinion. That they were all trustworthy.

Ace said hello to Teach when they passed, and he said hello back. The guy was nice, despite his appearance. When Ace was going down the ramp, he looked to the side to see Aioba glaring at him. Finamore sighed. "That guy is fucking annoying," he said.

"Yeah. I don't know what his problem is with me. You'd think he'd move on by now. I've been here over six weeks!" Ace replied irritably.

Ducky Bree just said that he was jealous. And jealous people weren't always rational. "At least he hasn't messed up any of your maps again." Deuce said it was probably because he knew he'd get caught if he did it again, and get suspended once again. Ace nodded, agreeing with that. He still glared at Ace like he was the worst person in the world.

The youngest had long since given up on ever being on friendly terms with him. He just did his best to ignore or avoid him. Making maps with him in the room would be awful, so having his own space was nice. No one had commented on it, so maybe they didn't know or a commander had told them to say nothing regarding it. Second division commander office. It's mine.

Ace's eyes widened, as he had finally gotten some fucking context about the second division! But… why on earth would he be given that room? Well, for now it was used by him, but it wasn't his to keep. And he just couldn't see himself being chosen for that spot. He was awkward and insecure. He could never be a leader. At least, not this version of him and not yet.

He was a captain, though, one upon a time (not long ago). Perhaps, like mapmaking, that part of him would come back. Or, if he was a leader in the future - if that theory was correct - then he might get that knowledge back. It might return to him. Well, he'd wait and see what would happen. There was no point in thinking about that right now.

And he'd say nothing about it. Being a newby and saying he'd be the second division commander might be inappropriate and irritate others, or make them think he was full of himself. He wouldn't tell Thatch, either. Nobody. It wasn't happening anytime soon, he knew that, so there was no point in telling anybody.

"...Ce? Ace?" Deuce asked, and Ace realized they'd been talking to him.

"Sorry, sorry. I got distracted," Ace said, feeling embarrassed.

"It's fine. I asked if you wanted to spend your money on food?" the blue haired man asked. Ace looked at him as if wondering how he knew. "Well, memory loss or not, some things never change," he said with a grin. Ace smiled back, and said he'd love to get some food. "What should we go for?" he asked the whole group.

"We already have perfect food from Thatch for most things, so why don't we try something he doesn't cook?" Mihar asked.

Ace said, "I don't know what we'd find that he can't cook. Well, maybe some specialties on this island." The others agreed that that was the best course of action. They headed to the nearest restaurant, looking at the menu, but everything there had been cooked by Thatch at some point or another.

It irritated the server when she came to ask if they were ready for drinks and Ace said, "Nah, we don't want to eat here." She glared at him, and they laughed about it once going outside. Ace was shirtless, showing off his Whitebeard mark, and noticed after a while that his brothers had been right. He was attracting attention from women.

His former crew were laughing about it, Ace's face a bit red. He could hear giggles from women, calling him so attractive. He put his hat in front of his face and his friends were laughing harder. "Shut it," he grumbled.

"You're not captain anymore, you can't give orders to us," Aggie said in amusement. Ace scoffed and shoved his arm. Ace liked showing off the tattoo, but this was a bit embarrassing. Maybe if he made an angry look, they'd stop. So, he let off a dark glare. "You don't need to get so angry, I was joking."

"I'm trying to get them to stop talking about me by looking like an asshole," Ace said, and a new round of laughter was made. He couldn't help but laugh with them. They did find a restaurant that served island specialties, and they ordered everything that they'd never tried, spending all of their money together.

The food was amazing, and by the end, they were all stuffed. Saber asked the waitress if she could give them the recipe for their food. She looked hesitant, and Ace said, "We'd really appreciate it," with a bright smile. She blushed and nodded, hurrying away. Ace chuckled.

"Manipulative much?"

"Hey, if women are gonna ogle at me, might as well take advantage of it," Ace replied, and they got a list of recipes for everything they'd ordered. The waitress thanked them for their service and hurried away, face still red. Man, Thatch would laugh so hard about this.

It was a nice outing, and they didn't seem like they were comparing this Ace to the previous. Maybe… he wasn't so different than before. He didn't know and didn't ask, but it was a comforting thought, and it made him even happier. They spent most of the day off of the ship before returning for dinner.

When they got back on deck, Stefan came running over, barking and jumping at Ace's leg. He picked up the dog and rubbed its tummy, making it squirm before sprinting off and to Pops' chair. Stefan napped a lot of the day, so Ace didn't get to see him much. He was old, apparently, and usually stayed in Whitebeard's room or the training room where he ran around, tiring himself out before heading back to Pops' room, which was open a crack for the dog to enter and exit.

Ace gave Thatch the little notepad with pages of recipes. "We went to a restaurant with island specialties. They were pretty good," he explained. He was in a great mood after his outing with his friends, who accepted him even if he forgot them. He was getting to know them all over again. And while it wasn't the first time for them, they had no problem talking more about themselves. It made him relieved, which was nice after the day before.

"Oooh! Thank you!" Thatch said excitedly, reading over some of them. "Wow, these sound great! Aw, you're the best, Ace." Ace chuckled and nodded, getting his food and going back to the former Spades to eat with them. Spending the day with them was wonderful, why not sit with them tonight?

After dinner, Ace went to the office he was able to use, and just stood in it for a while. Mine.

"Not yours," Ace mumbled. "Just using it for now." There was no reply in his head, which he was glad of. He didn't want to be talking to some voice in his head. It was bad enough that it was there in the first place.

He heard someone behind him and looked back to not see anybody. He walked into the doorway and looked down the hall to see a map of red hair turn the corner. Ace huffed, and put his supplies in the corner instead of laying all over the bare desk that he'd dusted off. They hadn't used this room for anything in a long time, so they obviously were waiting for a new commander to come some day. The voice in his head said nothing this time.

Ace left the room and headed to the library to just relax on the couch, looking at the huge wall of books. Sabo would love this room. He'd never leave it. Ace smiled at the thought of sailing with him. It didn't hurt anymore, to think of Sabo. He missed his first best friend and brother, but could smile at his memories. It wasn't painful anymore, and he was glad of that.

Sabo could have probably helped him through this, but there was no use dwelling on that thought, so he moved on. But, he passed out from a sleep attack. It was so lucky they didn't happen in important moments.

When he woke up, someone had brought him to his room, as it was pretty late now. He'd slept awhile, his shoes were off and he was under the covers. He smiled, thinking of someone being nice and taking him to bed. He got up and locked the door before falling asleep.