I apologize for the long delay, amici. Real Life suddenly happened and shit got real and by the time I was done with the day I just wanted to curl up in bed and go to sleep.
Seven of Cups, upright - Searching for purpose, choices, daydreaming
September 1522
For a total of seven people, the Straw Hats knew how to throw a party.
In celebration of escaping the Baroque Works agents, they'd broken out the alcohol. Ace sat back and listened and Luffy recounted the various adventures he'd had, with corrections provided by his crew at various points.
Ace had to hand it to his little brother; Luffy had an interesting crew.
A swordsman with excellent taste in booze, who was both more level-headed and just as hopeless as Luffy in turns. A phenomenal navigator who was handling the weather around the desert island with ease despite admitting that she'd never seen a desert before. A sniper who Ace recognized as Yasopp's kid and a damn good artist based on their jolly roger. One of the best chefs Ace had ever met (Thatch would have loved to trade recipes with him), and a doctor from Drum that also happened to be an actual reindeer. And currently traveling with the princess of Alabasta and her duck-partner.
Only Luffy could find so many odd people.
"Where did you learn Haki, Lu?" Ace asked. That had come as a surprise during the alley fight. Ace didn't learn about Haki until he met Pops, and he still couldn't use it. Not on purpose, at least. According to Pops he'd used it during their first meeting, but Ace didn't know how to call it up. Which was damn frustrating.
From what Ace was hearing though, Luffy had learned Observation and Armament Haki before he left Dawn Island. Something he hadn't known when Ace left.
"Huh?" Luffy blinked from where he was recounting his meeting with Don Krieg to Chopper. "Oh! Auntie Nola taught me!"
Auntie- Since when did Shitty Gramps have another kid?! Fortunately, Ace's glass was empty because he was certain he was having a heart attack. Unless Nola was Luffy's maternal aunt? By the Sea, please let that be the case.
Nami frowned behind her sixth glass of alcohol. "Who is she? I remember you mentioned her to Buggy-" she shot Luffy a skeptical look, "he's not really your uncle, is he?"
Buggy as in Buggy the Clown? How the hell would anyone come to that conclusion? Luffy and Buggy looked nothing alike!
Ace's snort was drowned out by Luffy's enthusiastic explanation, "Bunny's Auntie Nola's brother like Ace is my brother! Which makes him Uncle Bunny because Ace is my brother and Nola is Ace's aunt!" He finished proudly.
There was a pause as everyone tried to follow Luffy's chain of logic, and Ace inhaled his refilled alcohol. If Bunny was Buggy, did that mean Nola was-
"Do you mean Noir?" Ace rasped.
Luffy grinned, happy as a clam. "Shishishishi!"
Ace stared, because what? When the hell did Luffy meet Noir? How did he meet Noir, and how the hell did he agree to get her to train him and let him call her Auntie Nola?
"Who's Noir?" Usopp asked, because Luffy could be scatterbrained at the best of times.
As confused as Ace was, he had to admit the reactions of Luffy's crew as he gushed about Noir continually kicking his ass were hilarious and the revelation of Noir's Rear Admiral rank even better.
"Vice Admiral." Ace corrected, smirking at the expressions of horror on Nami and Usopp's faces. "She got promoted a couple months back." That had been hot gossip in the New World for a few weeks.
For the most part though, Ace let Luffy chatter about the woman who trained him. The same woman who grew up with Buggy and Shanks and the rest of the Roger Pirates. Ace… wasn't sure how to feel about that. Eventually, he left the kitchen. Sneaking out wasn't hard. He had plenty of practice sneaking around under his brothers' noses on the Moby, and Luffy had his audience's attention well and truly captured.
Being outside was a relief. Staring out over the water, Ace tried to wrestle with his feelings on his aunt. Feelings he still hadn't sorted out three years after meeting her.
Shanks knew Noir - well enough to recognize the ace of spades Noir left behind. Ace still had that card, sitting in his pocket that very moment. Why, he didn't know, but every time he went to throw it away, he couldn't. It was stupid! Ace didn't know the woman or why she gave him the card in the first place!
Fuck, this was so much easier when he didn't know he and Noir were related.
As lost in his thoughts as he was, Ace didn't miss the footsteps coming up behind him. Perks of surviving Vista's many pranks. He glanced over his shoulder to see Vivi, and mustered up a charming smile. "What's up?"
Alabasta's princess gazed at him, eyes warm. "I thought you might need someone to talk to." She said, coming to stand beside him at the railing. Ace frowned, feigning confusion. "I know you're bothered about your aunt, but you don't want to upset Luffy."
Ace resisted the urge to scowl. He didn't think he was so easy to read. Vivi shrugged. "I don't really know much." She admitted. "I've been undercover for two years, and Noir mostly works in the New World from what I've heard. If you need an unbiased ear, I'm willing."
His first urge was to tell Vivi to fuck off and mind her own business. Ace squashed it down before it could reach his tongue. Yes he was angry at Vivi poking her nose into his troubles, but that was no reason to be rude. Izo would not be pleased with him and the man was damn sneaky when he felt like getting revenge. And the Sixteenth Division Commander would - Izo was big on courtesy.
And to be honest, he could use an outside perspective. If three years wasn't enough time for Ace to work it out on his own, he doubted more time would help. What the hell, it couldn't hurt. He just wasn't sure where to start.
"Where ever is easiest," Vivi suggested, and whoops, Ace must have said that aloud.
But that was simple, at least. "I'm angry." Ace said. "I didn't know Noir existed until about three years ago." She was his aunt, but she didn't so much as mention that fact when they met. No, Shanks was the one to tell him!
Vivi hummed. "Are Noir and Luffy your only relatives?" She asked, curiosity coloring her tone.
He'd had Sabo once. There was the usual pang of grief, thinking about his dead brother, but it was an old grief now. Dulled over the years. "Luffy's grandfather visited once every few years." He told her instead. Garp's record wasn't stellar, but it was a hell of a lot better than Noir's.
"So why does that make you angry?"
"It should be obvious." Ace snapped. Noir never once visited him as a kid, and if he hadn't ran into her by accident he doubted he would have met her at all. The air around him rippled, the temperature abruptly rising. Vivi's expression didn't twitch from it's serene calm, and Ace wrestled his temper back down. "Noir knew who I was on sight and didn't say anything about who she was. Yet she trained Luffy for most of a year and lets him call her 'Aunt.'"
Which… hurt. Go figure, that was pretty much his entire life. Ace shouldn't be surprised anymore.
He thought Noir was different. She knew Ace's heritage. Sure, she hated Roger, but everyone hated the Pirate King except for blockheads like Luffy. And losing a sister in the South Blue Purges because of Roger was a good reason to hate the man. Yet Noir didn't spew the same vitriol like everyone he'd ever asked, and she even told him not to listen to those who did. He'd been so sure Noir hadn't hated him.
Noir was a better liar than Ace realized. Why abandon one nephew only to adopt another?
No, dammit. Ace was not going to feel sorry for himself. And he sure as hell wasn't going to ruin this for Luffy. Noir taught Luffy Haki, and Ace's idiot brother needed all the help he could get. The little green monster in his gut could shut the hell up.
Ace was a Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He had Pops and all his brothers.
He didn't need Noir in his life.
Vivi straightened beside him, gaze fixed across the water and a smile on her face. "Nami!"
The redhead - when the hell did she get out on deck? - replied from where she stood at the helm. "I see it!" Ace followed Vivi's gaze to the river delta up ahead. That must be the entrance to the Sandora River. Soon enough Luffy and the rest of his crew joined them on deck. Vivi handed out robes to protect them from the desert sun, despite Sanji's dismay at Nami and Vivi covering their dancing outfits.
Ace hoisted his bag up on his shoulder.
"Aww, you're leaving already?" Luffy pouted up at him with wide brown eyes.
Ack! Damn it, Sabo, why did you teach Luffy that?! Ace pulled the brim of his hat down to avoid the sea damned puppy eyes. "I've got my own adventure, Lu. Here," Ace fished out the small piece of Vivre Card and held it up in front of his little brother to distract him. "Hang on to this. It'll let me find you again."
No point explaining what it was beyond that. It'd go in one ear and out the other.
With one last grin, he leapt over the side of the ship onto Striker. A burst of fire later and he's speeding off over the waves, checking the Eternal Pose for Foolshout Island.
One of Jenae's contacts had given it to him with his most recent lead on Teach. Ace's sister in the Fourth Division had a surprising number of contacts. Enough that Ace suspected she might be part of an organized network.
Not that he cared, really. Pops probably knew about it already and Jenae's contacts had given him reliable information on Teach's whereabouts. Well, not counting Alabasta, but Jenae's contact on Drum hadn't been the one to give him that particular lead. Even with this set back, Ace was much closer to finding Teach than he was a month ago.
Ace grinned. He was catching up!
Crash. "Fuck!"
"You need to move faster, brat."
Laid out on deck, Sile groaned. A series of bruises bloomed on his skin, including a spectacularly colorful one on his cheekbone from the blow that sent him crashing into the deck.
Kita helped the Devil Fruit user sit up. He prodded Sile a few times, eliciting another groan. "Anything broken?"
"I don't think so." Sile replied as pale fingers felt around his many sore spots. "Vice Admiral held back." He pouted.
His unruffled opponent gave the ropemaker a dry look. "I'll stop holding back when you get good enough to take it."
Not that Sile's combat skills were lacking, but skill was relative and Noir was very, very good. Of course, she had about two decades worth of experience on Sile, and another decade of combat training before that. Sile had less than a decade of experience and was adjusting to an unexpected late growth spurt that shot the eighteen-year-old to a whopping six foot eleven inches.
The brat was three inches taller than her now, Noir thought fondly.
Sin still grumbled about it. Sile's growth spurt never should have happened. With Sile's childhood malnourishment stunting his growth, growing six inches in as many months was not normal. Sin called it impossible.
Noir called it 'getting Garp-ed.' She'd gone through the same thing once. Poor Coby and Helmeppo were going through it now.
Sile just wanted to adjust to his new height already and stop tripping over everything and slamming his head on the door jambs. Noir suspected a bit of 'help' was involved with the latter. Probably from Chopsticks, Noir's mischievous carpenter. If Chopsticks was willing to risk whatever Sile came up with in revenge, that was their choice. Sile could be creative with he felt like it. Garp's month of training had done more than jumpstart Sile's growth - it gave Sile a backbone.
"Noir!" Rafi sang, waltzing out on deck. Noir eyed her Second Mate. More specifically, she eyed the grin on Rafi's face Noir knew to mean Rafi was having far too much fun riling someone up.
Since Rafi was supposed to be manning communications, Noir expected to get an angry note about Rafi's behaviour faxed over the den den in a day or two.
"Smokey's on the line." Rafi chirped. "He's asking for you, Vice Admiral."
Oh, that explained Rafi's glee. The Ink Logia loved riling up Smoker whenever she got the chance. "Cade, if you would?"
Cade grunted. The Armament Haki protecting the deck from Noir and Sile's free for all spar faded. The large man nudged Sile into a set of katas as Rafi and Noir headed towards the communications room.
"Smoker."
"Noir." The snail swiveled to pin her with a narrow eyed glare. "Are you aware Fire Fist is in Alabasta?"
Ace? Noir blinked. "No. I didn't know he wasn't with the other Whitebeards. Intelligence places them nowhere near Alabasta." Unless Intelligence was wrong, in which case more than a few heads would roll. Losing track of a Yonko was a massive fuck up.
"Well, he was here." Smoker grumped. "He showed up while I was chasing down Straw Hat. Speaking of - you could have mentioned you taught your nephew Haki."
Noir frowned, opening her mouth to retort that she didn't teach Ace Haki, then closed it with a scowl. "Garp pissed me off. And Luffy is not my nephew dammit!"
The snail paused to stare at Noir. Rafi broke the silence with a disbelieving, "Are you whining?"
"No." Noir said, ignoring the burning sensation in her ears.
Rafi snorted. Smoker sighed, and the snail closed it's eyes indicating Smoker was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Next time you pick a method of revenge," he said, "don't teach a pirate Haki. Straw Hat is a Sea-damned menace."
She shouldn't grin at that. But it was nice to know that someone else was sharing in the misery she suffered for a year.
Noir paused, a stray detail finally catching her attention. Smoker was stationed in Loguetown when he first clashed with Luffy. If Smoker was in Alabasta now, chasing Luffy… "Did you pick up Luffy as a rival?"
Grudging silence.
Noir laughed. "I didn't realize you admired Garp and I so much to emulate that particular trait, Smoker."
Rafi clapped a hand over her mouth to smother her snickers and the den den turned red. A moment later, the den den clicked and returned to normal as Smoker hung up on the other end, and Rafi lost it.
Noir snorted. If Smoker hung up with only that little bit of teasing, he wasn't calling about anything important.
But what the hell was Ace doing in Alabasta?
Chapter 14 is in the works, so barring any other unforeseen circumstances, it should be out next week.
As always, please review!
