A/N: Thank you all for the support!

Y'know, I feel like I'm not making Ace psychotic enough.

I've decided that updates will be every Friday.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3

The two prisoners ran through the hallway, stepping over and around the bodies of unconscious guards.

"Hey! You two!"

"Get us out of here!"

Buggy seemed to hesitate as he ran – or flew – past the other prisoners banging on the cell doors.

"Don't," Ace warned.

"Where do you two think you're going?" A voice growled without preamble.

"Out of here," the ex-Logia user snickered, "Duh," quickly settling into a fighting stance as his opponent did the same.

A fist of smoke was fired at his face, but Ace easily dodged it as he darted forward, a Haki-covered fist connecting with Smoker's jaw.

The Marine staggered away, fighting to get his air back. Managing to straighten up, incredulity flickered across his face as he wiped the blood dripping from his mouth.

"You...," he whispered, disappearing in smoke.

Reappearing behind Ace, Smoker launched a barrage of jabs with his jutte.

They were all met with air.

Too slow.

A right hook to the head. He thinks I won't expect it.

Taking the opportunity, a fast Haki-covered punch connected with the smoke-user's gut, sending him flying into the wall.

Ace walked away indifferently. Smoker was actually one of the few Marines he was grateful towards, since he had – according to Luffy – helped the Straw Hats out many times.

Hopefully I didn't break anything.

"I-… y-you-" Buggy stuttered. While the two had been fighting, he had been sneaking away. Now, Buggy looked nervously back on the unconscious Marine Captain, gulping.

"Let's go," Ace muttered.

"I-… I'm coming with you," Buggy declared, his voice wavering.

The two escapees stood in front of a small boat belonging to who-the-hell-cares-who.

"No," was the answer he was met with.

If this were any other boy, the clown never would've imagined doing this. After all, he was a monster, just like Captain.

Fucking D's.

Buggy had already watched as Roger, the closest thing he had ever had to a father, was beheaded in front of his eyes.

But he had spent so long hiding in the shadows.

It was time to show the world what Buggy D. Clown could really do.

"Where are you going anyways?"

"Who knows. I'm going to try and figure out how to die in the Grand Line."

"What does that even mean?" the Roger Pirate murmured, "What, are you immortal or something?"

The boy opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Instead, he just shut his mouth again, turning away as he shook his head.

"You can come."

"Wha-"

"But not my problem if you end up dying in a pit with 205 broken bones."

"WHA-" Buggy cleared his throat, "As if the great pirate Buggy D. Clown could ever die!"

"Get in and kindly try not to fall overboard and drown whilst getting eaten by a Sea King."

Ace closed his eyes as he opened his mouth to take a bite of the fruit he and Buggy had brought along.

Just then, the ex-Logia's Observation Haki caught on to something... strange. It was as if something had changed.

As his teeth sunk into the fruit, "aALKJLKAFJKhikD-" his eyes snapped open to the horrible taste.

Buggy shot him a confused and alarmed look.

"What the hell is this?" Ace yelled, disgusted, "It tastes like a Devil Fruit!"

Wait, shit... a Devil Fruit?

The 17-year-old stared down at the fruit he had just bitten into. The Mera Mera no mi.

"Woah woah, a Devil Fruit?" Buggy yelped in alarm. "How the hell did it get here? And... the amount of money we could get if we sold it... hehe..."

Suddenly, Ace's eyes grew wide as his Observation Haki sensed something, and he stared aghast out at the endless ocean. Deuce?

He turned his head back to meet the clown's confused gaze. "We need to go," he snapped sharply.

The DF-eater jumped over the cabin to land in front of the back railing. He waved his hands across the back of the boat, and a wave of flames immediately appeared to propel the boat forwards.

"HUH?!" The red-nosed man screeched as the small vessel shot forward.

"W-wait, where are we going?! And that was a Logia?!"

"We're going South."

"HUUUUH?! That's heading straight into the Calm Belt!"

"Well, we can't exactly make it up Reverse Mountain in this pathetic boat."

Ace didn't want to see Deuce. His first-mate had sacrificed himself enough for a good-for-nothing captain.

He gritted his teeth. No way no way no way no way no way no way in hell he would let-

Suddenly, a huge Sea King erupted out of the calm waves. And it wasn't alone.

"Why did I decide to come along?!" Buggy wailed ruefully.

A harsh glare from Ace and a suppressed burst of Conqueror's Haki sent them all scurrying away, whimpering.

The small boat skimmed over the calm, still waves. Soon enough, these waves began to roll again, and the wind began to whistle and sing again.

Ace slowly lowered his hand, sitting down against the railing, his hands behind his head.

Everything was calm.

He smiled softly.

The ocean looked at peace in its jade-green gown, dancing gracefully under the sky.

The sky. A fearless, ever-changing blue. As the sun began to dip below the horizon, quivering shadows of tangerine and red were cast across the water.

Red. Red blood. Blood.

The sun. It was a fire in the bloody sky.

Fire. Blood. Fire and blood.

A shadow was cast over the crimson water.

Dark. Everything's so dark.

The last vestiges of light disappeared, leaving behind a world of black and red.

Weak. I'm so weak.

Fire. Blood. Dark. Weak. Fire. Blood. Dark. Weak. Fire. Blood. Dark. Weak-

The words kept repeating in his head.

"H-hey! Snap out of it!"

Ace blinked, realizing that he had been thinking out loud, and lifted his head.

"What's going on?"

"Don't just go 'What's going on?!" Buggy shrieked angrily, "You creeped me out!"

"Oh."

"Don't 'Oh' me!"

Ace stared up at the pine wood ceiling, his hands drifting to his chest which had only ever had 1 scar given to it.

He closed his eyes and began to sing a familiar tune under his breath.

"Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo

Umikaze kimakase namimakase

Shio no mukou de, yuuhi mo sawagu

Sora nya wa wo kaku, tori no uta

Sayonara minato, Tsumugi no sato yo

DON to icchou utao, funade no uta

Kinpa-ginpa mo shibuki ni kaete

Oretachya yuku zo, umi no kagiri

Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo

Warera kaizoku, umi watteku

Nami wo makura ni, negura wa fune yo

H-ho ni hata ni ketateru wa dokuro-…"

Ace's voice began to break.

Luffy. Sabo. Oyaji. Marco. Thatch. Deuce. Everyone.

"Hey," Buggy asked worriedly, "Are you even sure we're still going in the right direction? Nobody was keeping a watch last night, so what if we're off track?"

"I don't know where we're going."

"EHH?!"

The clown groaned. His captain's son was weird. He didn't give a damn about the fact that they were two Devil Fruit eaters alone on a boat - that looked like it would fall apart any second - drifting in the middle of the Grand Line without any means of navigation.

Not only that, but Ace was creepy as hell during the night.

Last night, Buggy could've sworn he heard the boy humming the quiet tune of Bink's Sake, and then, just silent, barely audible sobbing.

The Roger Pirate had carefully sat up and looked at Ace's bed. Glazed eyes were wide open, staring blankly at a ceiling.

"Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it..."

The red-nosed clown hadn't known what to do, and he hadn't been brave enough to wake him up, so he simply drew his blankets over his ears and tried to sleep. Soon enough, everything was eerily quiet.

"Buggy," a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hm?"

"Island."

Buggy sighed in relief, as he detached his head to go take a closer look.

"It looks very... pink."

"Pink?"

As they docked, the two ex-Pirates could see that this island was indeed very pink.

Cherry blossom trees and petals decorated practically every inch of the streets.

Stalls and shops were made of Sakura wood, and people trudging through the streets were dressed from head to toe in pink, even their hair. Hell, even their eyebrows.

"Hey! You two!"

The source of the voice was a salesman, once again dressed entirely in pink.

"You guys new here?"

Ace nodded, looking sickened already from all the color.

"Heh. I'm quite sharp, so newcomers are easy to spot for me."

Well, no shit, sir. Considering everybody else is just bathing in pink at this point.

"Anyways, I just wanted to tell you two that you should probably go get some pink clothes. And don't forget to dye your hair pink. Oh, and eyebrows too."

"EHHH?! WHY?!" Buggy yelled, looking horrified.

"Man, you sure are ignorant. This is the island of Pinkaika. Not wearing pink is such an outrageous crime that the punishment for not doing so is execution!"

I feel like I've come here before. If I have, I'm glad I don't remember.

Ace sighed. "Let's go. No way I'm sticking around here any longer."

"For once you have common sense," the clown nodded enthusiastically.

Suddenly, the fire-user felt a presence he thought he had gotten away from. Deuce.

Ace had been so distracted with all the pink, he hadn't sensed Deuce arrive at the same island.

Actually, now that he thought about it - how did the Mera Mera no mi get onto their boat?

He had been avoiding this question ever since it first happened, but the Devil Fruit should have been on Sixis and eaten by Deuce. His Haki didn't lie, and Deuce had to be here, so...

What the hell happened on Sixis?

A/N: I'm not sure where Sixis is, so let's pretend it's east of Loguetown and south-west of Dawn Island.

Pinkaika: Kaika in Japanese means blooming, flowering, or something like that. Pink + Kaika = Pinkaika. I know. I'm creative.