Warnings: AU, Language, canon-typical violence, possible Out of Character moments, too many characters, OC's galore, implied sexual content, slow burn, mentions of non consensual drug use.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners. I simply play with them for my, and your amusement.

Authors Note: This was beta'ed by the magnificent Ktwontwo and the artwork that you see in the cover is by Idaida on tumblr. Yall can find a much larger and better version of the magnificent stupendously phenomenal picture here! post/143364258999/one-piece-big-bang-2016-what-are-the-odds. More of the Author's note can be found at the end.

Chapter 17: Storming the Castle

They had been under siege for several days now and Marco was about ready to bang his siblings' heads together. Whitebeard was a rather large territory but apparently when the option of leaving had been removed even the largest places could become miniscule. More importantly during a siege there was no way to escape the chaos that his siblings brought simply by being themselves. Tensions were high and cabin fever was starting to set in for everyone, citizens and commanders alike. The expansive Whitebeard Territory seemed to be growing smaller by the day.

"How are the citizens holding up under this pressure?" Whitebeard asked and Marco returned his focus to the meeting.

The commanders had increased the frequency of their meetings in a thus far unsuccessful attempt at figuring out how to break the siege. So far none of the ideas offered had been in any way feasible.

"They're doing OK, Pops," Haruta said. "They understand what's going on and most of them are content to be patient. The majority of the remainder are grumbling but not taking any action. Unfortunately there are few people are starting to get restless. No one has done anything really crazy yet but it's only a matter of time. We're not the only ones suffering from Cabin Fever. "

"How are we on food and water stores?"

"At the current level of rationing, we should be good for another click and a half before things start to get dicey," Thatch commented from where he was sitting.

"And ammunition?"

"Our stores are fine at the moment but at the current rate of fire we will be running low before too long."

"We're gonna run out of ammo keeping them from the gates long before we run out of food," Izo added.

Whitebeard frowned, "That is probably something Blackbeard is waiting for. Have only the expert marksmen watching the gates and tell them to choose their targets carefully. We do not want to waste any shots."

Izo grinned and the smile was entirely teeth, "Already done Father."

"Anything else to report?"

"We've had a couple of groups try to tunnel in. One group hit rock a few feet down and Namur, Curiel and I took care of the other one. They haven't tried that since," Jozu smiled nastily.

"Good," Whitebeard rumbled. "Are there any other things we ought to be worried about?"

"Bioterror," Jiru said from his end of the table. "Thatch had a point when he brought up the possibility weeks ago. Frankly I'm surprised that they haven't tried anything like that yet."

"That is strange. We know Ceaser is definitely around and Bioweapons are his specialty," Vista mused.

"I think it's the delivery method that has him stuck." Fossa chimed in. "Right now they're limited to cannons and that is not something he was terribly fond of. The only type of ammunition that would have the intended effect belongs to Buggy and that man is notoriously stingy with his designs. " Fossa concluded.

"True," Marco said. "That doesn't even take into account the fact that any large explosive dispersal of gas or some such might just flow off the mesa and right down into their own forces. Most of the nastiest stuff is heavier than normal air after all."

"Does anyone have any new ideas for how we can break this stalemate?" Whitebeard rumbled.

"The best thing you could do would be to try and catch them between your forces and an outside force," a voice commented.

Marco rolled his eyes. He had no idea why whoever it was that just said that had even bothered to mention it. They already knew that it was the best plan. In fact it had been the first thing that they had tried to set up. That was when they had discovered all of the normal modes of communication were either blocked or intercepted. In fact, all they had been doing for days now was attempt different ways of getting around the communication blackout. Marco opened his mouth to ask Kingdew and Atmos for a report on any progress but Blenheim beat him to it.

"Kingdew, Atmos, have you had any luck in getting past their transfract blockers?"

"No," came Kingdew's tired response. "Not that we haven't tried."

"They're blocking every signal within range," Atmos added.

"And we can't use the birds either," Blamenco said. "They're too slow for what we need."

"And Blackbeard would recognize them for exactly what they were," Rakuyo groused. "Not to mention the Sand Croc's freaking sandstorms."

Marco sighed, "So in short there's no change from yesterday. Despite that attempting to get a message out and hoping for reinforcements from our allies is still our best bet. Anyone else have any other ideas?"

There was a low rumble towards the negative from his siblings. The sounds of someone chewing something crunchy that had been in the background on and off for the entire meeting suddenly stopped.

The voice that had asked the obvious question piped up, "Well, you could always ask for help."

That caused everyone except Marco to look towards the source of the obnoxiously obvious comment. Marco on the other hand was thinking hard. He knew that voice. It was very familiar but definitely out of place. Marco looked up and was sure he was hallucinating. There leaning against the door and munching on an apple was a man in a long burgundy coat. A strap over one shoulder implied that he had a bag of sorts on his back. Marco stared at the intruder trying to get a good look at the other man's face. It was impossible. He had positioned himself in such a way that the lighting of the room, combined with the tan cowboy hat hid everything save the lower half of his face. That of course wasn't helpful in the slightest as the man currently wasn't sporting any sort of expression whatsoever. Where the hell had this guy come from? There was no way that he and all of his siblings could have missed him if he'd been standing right next to the door the entire time.

The reaction to the stranger who had clearly been eavesdropping on a private and confidential meeting was immediate. Marco had scarcely blinked before nearly everyone's personal weapon was out and pointed in man's direction. Haruta, who had been the closest, was the first to clear their chair and reach the stranger, their knife was held steady aimed squarely at the stranger's throat.

With a growl they spoke for everyone in the room, "How the hell'd you get in here? Who sent you? Who are you?"

It didn't seem to perturb the stranger at all who offered a mild, "What the hell man, that's not terribly friendly."

"Do I look to be in a welcoming mood?" Haruta threatened moving the knife a little bit closer so that it was just shy of actually touching flesh. "Who are you?"

To the shock of the entire room the man tutted softly before replying, "Nope. Not telling. It's only polite you introduce yourself first if you want to know someone's name."

The room collectively reacted in surprise to that statement. Marco nearly swore as everything came together. But it just couldn't be. The voice, the attitude and the ability to sneak into a private meeting narrowed down Marco's suspect pool significantly. However, there was only one person who would be so casually nonchalant with knives in his face, not know which of the commanders was personally threatening him and have the balls to lecture the room about manners despite not having any himself. No. Marco refused to believe it. That person was safe in his Bar in the Border. Well, relatively safe; as safe as one could be when you chose to live in the Border anyways.

"Fine," Haruta said apparently deciding to go with it, "I'm Haruta. Now for the last fucking time, who the hell are you?"

A rather familiar cocky smirk lit up what Marco could see of the stranger's face. That was it. Marco knew exactly who the infiltrator was. It was a wonder that he hadn't seen it earlier. The Border Traveling coat, the hat, which he could now clearly tell was a vibrant orange must have thrown him off. No the attitude, the casual carelessness in regards to his personal safety and that goddamned smirk that had greeted him for clicks when he walked into the S'andwich Bar was what confirmed their eavesdropper's identity. So much for hoping his lover would stay safely out of the fray, Marco thought to himself.

Entirely unaware of Marco's epiphany his siblings continued to hold the stranger at weapons point. A couple of them had moved to get a better line with their weapons but seemed to be waiting for a sign from either Haurta or Pops.

Ace to his credit simply continued along with his cocky attitude seemly ignoring the arsenal pointed in his direction and the knife poised at his throat, "Haruta you said? Nice't'meetcha. My name's …"

"Ace," Marco said loudly enough for the entire room to hear.

A silence so thick one could cut it with a knife descended on the room. About half the room turned to stare at Marco while the rest kept Ace covered.

As Marco watched the cocky smirk widened into a joyful smile. A hand raised itself slowly, avoiding sudden movements in just case Haruta got jumpy with the knife. Ace carefully pushed back the orange hat to reveal a face full of freckles and wavy black hair.

Marco hadn't realized that he had missed that grin as much as he had.

"Heya Marco!" Came the cheerful greeting.

Marco frowned. He didn't know whether he should feel relieved at Ace's obvious safety or annoyed that he'd crashed the meeting.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Ace rolled his eyes, "Rude. It's nice to see you too."

Marco couldn't help the smile that creeped across his face, "Hey yourself Ace."

Despite his worry, surprise and confusion at how Ace came to be standing in the doorway it really was good to see his lover. A strange choking caused Marco to glance curiously in the direction of the sound. Thatch was trying hard not to laugh. His brother had bitten his own forearm in an attempt to stifle the noise. It wasn't working terribly well. Izo, who was sitting directly to Thatch's right, was also having trouble to containing his mirth but thankfully was doing a much better job at it. He'd have to ask just what the two of them found so amusing later. There were more important things to deal with at the moment like getting those weapons pointed away from Ace for one. The rest of the room still seemed to be in shock, save Haruta who was still holding Ace at knifepoint.

"Pops?" Haruta asked.

Whitebeard glanced around the room evaluating the entire situation. Nothing escaped his notice, not even Izo and Thatch's attempts to calm their mirth. His gaze landed on Ace for a solid moment who returned it with a slight narrowing of his eyes. After a long moment he turned to Marco.

"Well?" he rumbled questioningly to the shock of the others.

No one had seen Whitebeard demand an explanation from Marco in years. Marco for his part simply shrugged and met the man he called his father's gaze evenly. There was no hiding anything so Marco didn't even bother to try. It would be pretty evident due to their long association what exactly Ace meant to him. Instead he tried to read his father's expression so that he had some sort of inclination of how Whitebeard would rule. He had expected the wariness that he found but the approval he saw in his father's face was slightly puzzling.

As Marco attempted to suss out the proper answer the silence stretched on. It seemed to last for an eternity. Whatever Pops would do he'd do and if it was against Ace well then Marco would need to make his own choice. Finally Marco gave up and just shrugged in a slightly embarrassed manner.

Whitebeard laughed, "Stand down," he ordered the group. "Marco's vouched for him."

Haruta huffed but sheathed their knife and the rest of the room followed suit stowing weapons and relaxing a bit.

"You've got guts brat." Whitebeard commented, directly addressing Ace for the first time while gesturing him to one of the extra chairs in the room.

Ace bristled, "That I may but I'd like to set something straight at the outset; don't call me brat. There's only one person in this world that gets to do that and you're not him." Ace plopped into the offered chair and continued, "Anyways, like I said earlier in regards to your problem outside you could always ask for help."

"We would if we could Ace. I have no doubt you heard that part of the conversation," Izo stated. "We are sort of cut off from our normal allies so just who exactly are you suggesting that we ask for help?"

Ace grinned a cocky smile, "Me."

"Why you?" demanded Rakuyo.

Ace raised an eyebrow, "'Cause I'm here and I can give it."

"Speaking of that just how did you get here? I don't know if you've noticed but we are under siege," Izo questioned, his eyes sharp and piercing.

Ace's grin grew wider. "I did. And your security sucks by the way. I dropped in through the roof."

Izo raised an eyebrow. "Oh is that all?"

Ace's grin gained a sheepish overtone, "Um. No. Not really. I may have blown up some of the besieging army's supplies so that I could slip past their line and into the sandstorm to get up here."

His admission had Fossa chuckling. The explosives expert always approved of people blowing things up for any reason.

"An Explosion? I like your style."

"Thanks," Ace said but before he could continue the conversation was waylaid by Jozu.

"You willingly went through the sandstorm," Jozu commented disbelievingly.

Ace nodded and grinned at him.

Marco understood his brother's disbelief. They hadn't been able to breach the sandstorms at all despite trying a variety of different methods. Despite the best precautions the sand managed to get everywhere and had caused some nasty rashes as well as respiratory distress. Everyone that they had sent out ended up turning back before they hit the bottom of the mesa. None of them had either the equipment or the knowledge to deal with the harsh conditions of a Dustblow.

"Sure," Ace said, "it's not all that hard if you are equipped right and know what you are doing. I'm used to traveling in the Border and Wastes and my coat helps. That's literally what it's there for." Ace looked around the room again. "But my impressive sandstorm traversing prowess is not the point of crashing this meaning."

"Then what is the point?" Haruta asked, "We could have killed you before you ever got a word in edgewise."

Ace's face turned serious, "I told you already; I'm here to offer help. You've got the entirety of Blackbeard's crew out there. That doesn't even mention the lowest of the low from the Brass's forces." Ace looked around, "You know who they are; those guys that the brass cannot and will not get rid of because they're such effective soldiers even though they are a pain in the ass. The ones who abuse their positions and who if and when they die make the world a better place."

"Yeah, we know those guys," Rumbled Blamenco.

"Well what you don't know is that Blackbeard himself is now out there. He arrived yesterday with fresh reinforcements. I and some of the other people that I'm representing all have a bone to pick with that man so I'm here to offer our assistance in getting rid of that piece of scum."

"Not that we don't appreciate the offer but why do you care?" Thatch asked. "I mean you don't even live here. You own a sandwich shop in Outskirts for pete's sake."

Marco rolled his eyes at Thatch's tactless words. While he was curious himself as to what Ace's beef was with Blackbeard it really didn't matter. Given the current situation they really couldn't afford to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"I've got reasons aplenty," Ace said. "I'm Marco's friend and I do not leave my friends out to hang if there is something that I can do about it. That alone would be a good enough reason for me to get involved. Business is another one. Do you even know how much of a ghost town Outskirts is right now?"

"I thought Outskirts was already ghost town." Vista murmured.

Ace let out a rather undignified snort. "Yeah, it'd probably appear that way to the majority of you," Ace said smugly.

The pride in his voice confused Marco. While it was true that Outskirts, like most border towns, always appeared to be more buildings than inhabitants there had always been people around. It wasn't a large town by any means but it definitely wasn't deserted. Marco himself had never seen it empty. What the hell was Ace getting at?

Apparently Vista was also confused by Ace's answer, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ace rolled his eyes, "Please. It's no secret that a good majority of the businesses in Outskirts just skirt or outright break a variety of laws. Do you really think that we don't notice when strangers wander through? You see what we want you to see."

Except him apparently Marco realized and smirked at Ace.

Ace caught the look and snorted in amusement, though his cheeks pinked slightly in embarrassment. "all right fine. Stop looking so smug Marco. We normally notice strangers traipsing around the place."

Most of the people in the room were by this time looking back and forth between Ace and Marco in outright confusion.

"No, no, don't mind me," Marco deadpanned as most of the room looked at him. "I'm just amused by the fact that the primary information broker for Outskirts took a whole two clicks to recognize me."

Ace groaned in embarrassment and put his hand over his face.

Marco lost the battle to keeling his laughter in. His snickers echoed through the room and Ace's flush grew.

"Shut up Marco," he grumbled.

"Primary information broker for Outskirts?" Izo questioned.

"Yeah," Ace said slowly from behind his hand, "that would be me. Rather easy job when you run a bar and all." He sighed and added, "That's why missing Marco is really freaking embarrassing."

"Are you Royal Blue?" Izo demanded to know.

Ace dropped his hand to his lap and burst out laughing.

Marco stopped chuckling and sighed. He really should have known that his brother would put two and two together and attempt to make five.

"No Izo, Ace is not Royal Blue," Marco stated flatly to head off that supposition before it gained any traction.

"Ah man," Ace wheezed when he managed to get himself under control. "He's going to get a kick out of that. No, no I'm not Royal Blue. I've met the man though and I appreciate the compliment."

Marco snickered at that statement. Ace had met Royal Blue indeed.

"Can we get back to business?" Atmos asked.

The rest of the room appeared to agree with him though a majority of them were smiling. This was the most interesting non-potentially dangerous thing to happen in over a week after all.

"And speaking of business," Atmos added, "I don't buy that line about how much you care that it is hurting your business. Being Marco's friend gives you the right to be concerned but you're holding something back. I don't like accepting help from people who I don't know if I can trust."

Ace glared. "I already said I had a bone to pick with Blackbeard. That not enough? Enemy of my enemy and all that?"

Atmos glared right back, "And I heard you. What I want to know is what exactly makes your bone to pick with Blackbeard allied with ours?"

Ace's face lost all trace of expression and Marco read his lips as Ace muttered. "So this is how it's going to be."

Ace closed his eyes briefly then took a deep breath before speaking up. "Oh I dunno, mainly because I've been trying to figure out who exactly the bastard was for a lot longer than you knew he even existed."

"Why?" Curiel asked.

"The fucker did kill my mother when I was six and has been trying to kill me on and off for the past 16 years or so. I was originally attempting to find him to get revenge but now it's a little different."

Whitebeard frowned at that statement. While it had been made abundantly clear a while ago that Blackbeard was not the man they had known years ago, there was no doubt that he was one of their own 20 some odd years ago when this was supposed to have occurred.

"Who, what, when? More importantly why has he been trying to kill you?" Whitebeard rumbled.

"Rouge," Ace said succinctly then added, "The Border of Baterilla."

"Rouge Portgas?" Whitebeard asked

Ace nodded though an unreadable expression came over his face as he did. The Room had fallen silent at this exchange having apparently caught onto the tense mood. Teach hadn't been one of them for a while but it was still hard to hear about his misdeeds with the betrayal so fresh.

Marco recognized the name as that of belonging to Ace's mother. Ace had mentioned her in passing. What Ace hadn't said but Marco knew was that she was the lover of one Roger D. Gol. Marco knew his father would make the connection but Marco was having problems with the more important part of what Ace had said. Why exactly would Blackbeard want to kill Ace?

"Yes, Rouge D. Portgas. As to why I've never been quite sure. He may have realized I was the kid who escaped when my mom died but I don't know if he thinks I shouldn't exist or he thinks I have information that he wants," Ace confirmed with a resigned expression on his face.

"You have my apologies. Had we noticed sooner…" Whitebeard rumbled to the shock of everyone present, Ace included.

Marco watched as Ace floundered for something to say. It was clear that he was unaccustomed to anyone expressing that sentiment.

"Nothing to be sorry for," He finally muttered. "Her death had nothing to do with you and I mostly stopped caring about people trying to kill me for things I couldn't control years ago. Besides it's not like he's the only one. He's just certainly been the most persistent."

Marco mentally did some math. "He's been trying to kill you since you were a kid?" He blurted out.

"Yes," Ace said as if that was a normal fact of life for him.

Given what he had just shared it probably was Marco thought. He placed his head in his hands so that his siblings couldn't see his reaction.

"Chill Marco. He was really bad at it," Ace said in what he thought was a reassuring tone but actually came out sort of smug. "On the other hand he just could have been really bad at assessing the competency of the people he hired. I haven't actually run into the asshole himself since the time I was," Ace paused to think, "18? He didn't even know who I was at first."

"That's not exactly comforting Ace." Marco replied.

Before Ace could say anything in response Blenheim interrupted with a question. "You said you stopped caring, but you are still pursing Blackbeard anyway?"

Ace shrugged, "The not caring is more recent. When I started out, well I was a mess back then, but that doesn't really change what I'm going to do now. The bastard has started going after what little family I have left though I doubt the fucker knows that they are my family at all. They're just an annoyance to him. I'm not losing anyone to him again if I can do something about it. This time I have the ability to do something. The only question remaining is whether you're going to accept my help or if I am going to have to go at it alone."

Again the group turned towards Whitebeard. Regardless of their individual opinions on the he would have the final say. For his part, their father looked pensive.

"This is not a decision to be made lightly," Whitebeard rumbled. "It is not something I am willing to commit to without discussion. There is, however, one thing that I need to know."

"And what's that?" Ace asked the challenge clear in his voice.

"Does your desire for revenge require you to be the one to land the final blow? If, and I stress this if, we decide to accept your help will you abandon whatever plan is created if you come across Blackbeard on the battlefield?"

Ace froze. Marco could tell that his father had shocked Ace for the second time since he'd walked in the door. He watched silently as a war of emotions played out across Ace's face.

Finally Ace spoke, "Had you asked me that a few months ago the answer would have been yes."

"And now?" Whitebeard asked.

Marco knew that whatever Ace answered this would be the major factor in determining if they were going to accept Ace's help or not.

"I don't know," He said with some surprise as if he himself hadn't expected that answer.

Probably not, Marco thought. From what he knew of Ace the man was not particularly introspective unless he was forced to be so.

Ace, unaware of Marco's thoughts continued on, "I just want the bastard dead and incapable of harming my family ever again. At this point I don't think I care how it gets that way as long as it happens."

"Hmm," Whitebeard said. "That's an interesting thing to admit. Not something you would normally tell someone whom you're trying to convince to let you help them."

Ace scoffed, "You're Marco's father. As if you'd accept anything other than the unvarnished truth."

Whitebeard laughed, "Indeed. I thank you for your candid responses. Now if you do not mind, we need to talk about this."

Ace nodded as if he'd expected such a response, "I'm going to suppose you don't want me around while you do."

The chuckle that filled the room was apparently answer enough and Ace pushed back his chair.

"That's fine. I was actually expecting it. Do you have somewhere in particular that you want me to wait?"

Whitebeard nodded, "Marco will figure something out."

Ace grinned and grabbed his bag as Marco got up and made his way towards his friend.

"C'mon Ace. You can chill in my office if you want. I don't know how long this will take and I've got a couple of things to read stashed away in there if you're so inclined."

"Cool," Ace said but the way he said it sounded strange, as if some of the letters had slurred together.

"Ace?" he questioned stepping closer.

"Srry" Ace managed to slur out before suddenly pitching forward.

Reacting, Marco caught Ace before he hit the floor. The room erupted in pandemonium. Marco ignored the cacophony of questions. It wasn't as if the questions weren't important, no it was solely because of the fact that as Ace went down Marco got a good look at the back of Ace's coat. What had been mostly covered by the green striped bag Ace had been carrying over his shoulder was a stylized spade. Despite being somewhat stunned by the realization Marco mentally cursed at the inconvenient timing. Shifting his hold on Ace's limp form he lowered him to the floor. Using the cover of checking Ace's breathing he shifted the coat so the mark was mostly hidden. Marco gave Ace a quick once over and satisfied himself that his friend had simply succumbed to one of his sleep attacks. He then removed Ace's arms from his coat sleeves. His next step was to put two fingers in his mouth and blew, produced a piercing whistle that cut sharply through the hubbub.

"He's fine," Marco said, "he's got narcolepsy. This happens."

"Situation normal then?" Whitebeard asked.

"For Ace, yeah," Marco said as he carefully worked to pick Ace up grabbing the coat at the same time turning it inside out. "I'm going to…"

"It's fine Marco. We won't make a final decision before you get back," Whitebeard said .

Marco nodded slipping out the door ignoring the various degrees of confused expressions on his sibling's faces. He would deal with that or ignore it when he got back.

AN: Hello Hello Fans, friends and first time readers. I think I owe you all an apology, yaknow seeing as the last update was in October. Im super sorry about that. Seriously. Life did get complicated and I ended up needing to put the editing process on hold to deal with it, though Im not entirely sure how much that helped. Im hoping it did, but with how that issue has been earlier in the year I really am not going to be able to say. Anyways yeah. Im super sorry about that. Regardless of the results, its over and done with for the moment so I can get back to writing. Oh speaking of writing I have like, 3 interesting pieces of news for yall.

1: This chapter was the second one to come to me, almost immediately after the one in the bar. Everything that I wrote was to explain those two scenes before it took over my life.

2: My beta reader who is magnificent says that the story is going to be approximaitely 21 chapters long and I have up to chapter 19 in the editing process. This story will be complete before the year is done.

3: I have entered the current big bang so feel free to keep an eye out for that. It should be up sometime next april if I'm remembering the deadlines correctly. And thats all I'm allowed to say about that.

Again my apologies for leaving you in the dark as to what happens for so long. I'm no longer making promises about when the next chapter will be up, but it should be soon. Anyways I hope you liked Ace's plan and that you can be patient with me. The story is about to get very crazy and very serious very quickly. Let me know what yall think! It would be super interesting to hear what you think because you've had so long to imagine what Ace was gonna do and I bet I turned it all on its head. I also imagine that many people find Ace a bit out of character in this, and I'd love to talk about it. So yeah, if youve got questions, please ask em and I'll talk to you all later!