This chapter was fun to write. And It is up sooner this time! Yay! I hope you all enjoy it!
I do not own One Piece.
Ace glared ahead. He refused to even acknowledge the presence of the traitor who was trying to feed him pancakes. The pancakes they made.
"Come on, Ace. You have to eat something." The traitor said shoving the offending piece of food in his face. Ace turned away from the food. Well as much as he could while chained to the mast of their small boat. He absolutely would not eat it.
"Why is Ace not eating?" Luffy asked. Poor, innocent Luffy who was being led astray by the traitor.
"Because he's being stupid and overly stubborn like always."
"At least I'm not a-" The traitor shoved a piece of pancake in Ace's mouth before he could finish the sentence. Ace glared at the traitor before spitting out the food in his face.
"Dammit Ace! Would you stop?!" he yelled while wiping his face with a napkin.
"Luffy, would you tell the traitor to take the rest of those pancakes and shove them up his ass." Ace blatantly turned to Luffy, and ignored the traitor's frustrated groan.
"Okay! But, who's the traitor?"
"I'm not a traitor, Ace!" the traitor yelled.
"Did you hear something, Lu?" Ace asked in a mocking tone.
"Yeah, Sabo talked to you. Couldn't you hear him?"
"Who's Sabo? He sounds like a dirty backstabber." Ace said and Luffy looked alarmed.
"OH NO! ACE LOST HIS MEMORY!" Luffy yelled, and Ace could hear them laughing on the other boat. He would get them one he was free from his temporary prison.
"ACE! DO YOU REMEMBER ME?!" Luffy grabbed Ace's face and held it inches away from his own.
"LET GO OF ME LUFFY!" Ace struggled to get his face out of Luffy's grasp.
"Oh, good! Your memory is back!" Luffy smiled. Ace would love nothing more than to punch the little idiot's head for being so stupid.
"He didn't lose his memory, Luffy. He's just angry that I won't let him attack older, and more skilled pirates." The traitor said.
"Huh? There was that sound again. Did you hear it, Luffy?" Ace smirked when the traitor sighed in annoyance.
"I don't have the patience for this. You feed him, Luffy." The traitor handed Luffy the plate of pancakes, and walked to the end of the boat. Luffy looked at the pancakes, then at Ace, then the pancakes again. Ace knew what he was thinking.
"Don't eat them, Luffy. They were made by evil hands."
"No they weren't! Thatch made them, and Thatch isn't evil!"
"Yes, he is. I don't know what their plan is yet, but they must be up to no good."
"Why's that?" Luffy asked and took a bite of pancake.
"Luffy, spit that out! It's poison!" Ace yelled.
"But it's good!" Luffy said around his bite.
"I don't care! Spit it out now!" Ace yelled, and Luffy swallowed. There was a silent pause. Ace couldn't believe Luffy would be so stupid. On second thought, yes he could. Luffy would eat anything in front of him! No, the fault lied on the traitor for leaving it in front of Luffy. Ace glared at the traitor who had his back turned. Luffy took another bite.
"STOP EATING IT, LUFFY!"
"BUT I'M HUNGRY!" Luffy took another bite.
"YOU DUMBASS! THEY COULD BE POISONED!"
"BUT THEY AREN'T! ME AND SABO ATE A BUNCH EARLIER, AND WE'RE STILL ALIVE!" Luffy took several more bites, completely stuffing his cheeks.
"SABO, YOU TRAITOR!" Ace yelled at the traitor who turned at the sound of his name.
"LUFFY, THOSE PANCAKES ARE FOR ACE!" Sabo ran to stop Luffy, but it was too late. He already ate them all. Luffy sighed in satisfaction, and the traitor punched him in the head.
"I should have known better than to leave a full plate of food in front of Luffy." The traitor pinched the bridge of his nose, and Ace kicked him in the shin. Hard!
"WHAT THE HELL, ACE?!" the traitor rubbed his aching shin.
"That's for poisoning our little brother, you jackass!" Ace growled.
"The pancakes aren't poisoned!" the traitor said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, you would say that. Traitor!"
"Would you stop calling me that?! I am not a traitor!"
"Then why did you take their side?!" Ace nodded to the other ship to gesture who he was talking about.
"I didn't. I only stopped you because attacking stronger, and much more skilled opponents is suicide!"
"I don't care how strong they are! They crossed the line, and they need to be taught a lesson!"
"Okay, I agree that they crossed a line. They absolutely had no business following us, especially the way they did. But, that doesn't mean we should attack them like you did! If they fought us seriously, we would all be dead! Can't you get that through your thick skull?!"
Ace fell silent. Okay, so maybe he had a point, but that didn't make him any less of a traitor! A true friend would back him up in the fight until one side was victorious. A true friend wouldn't chain him to a mast, and feed their brother poisoned food. Unless it really wasn't poisoned…
Shut up! Of course it was! Sabo was wrong and that was that!
"Whatever." Ace turned away to show that he was done with the conversation.
Sabo sighed and said, "You're too stubborn for your own good sometimes."
Sabo walked back to the end of the boat, leaving Luffy with him. Luffy looked at him and smiled. Ace just glared at the horizon.
"Don't worry, Ace. They're good people. They won't hurt us." Luffy smiled and walked over to Sabo before Ace could say anything.
Ace looked at the backs of his two brothers. Luffy was naïve. He could be tricked so easily it wasn't even funny. He was also the weakest of the three. That's why he needed protecting the most. He could be overpowered and outsmarted in a heartbeat. He could understand him being tricked so easily. He just didn't understand Sabo.
Sabo was easily the smartest of the three. He had a proper education from the years he was a noble. If they needed to plan something out, he was the one they went to. He was also the one with the most common sense. So why did he get tricked by these guys so easily? Ace just assumed that he switched sides all of a sudden. But the more he cooled down, the more he realized how unlikely that was.
Ace shook his head. He was falling into their trap. They wanted him to let his guard down, and then they'd strike! Sabo was a traitor, and convinced unsuspecting Luffy to be on the opposing side! He couldn't let himself be fooled! Why should he even trust these guys?
"Because Luffy said they're good people."
Sabo's words from the last island popped into his head. Back when they convinced him to accept a free meal.
"If you paid attention in the past, you would've noticed that Luffy is unusually perceptive of others. He can tell better than anyone else I've met who is good and who is bad. And Luffy seems to like these guys."
Sabo's words rang in his head. Yeah, it was true that Luffy was good at reading people. He was better at it than anyone. Hell! He even tried to talk Ace out of accepting Bluejam's offer, but he ignored him. Luffy may be easy to fool, but he always knew what people were really like just by looking at them.
Ace glared at the two grown pirates who seemed to be discussing something. Ace didn't like these guys. Not in the slightest! If he had it his way, they would've been long gone. But, for some unknown reason, Luffy liked them. Luffy saw something in them Ace couldn't, and Sabo trusted that judgement wholeheartedly.
What was he thinking?! Luffy was an idiot, and Sabo was an even bigger idiot for believing him! These guys want to take advantage of stupid, naïve kids! Ace wasn't going to let them harm his brothers in the slightest!
Ace felt doubt prickle in the back of his mind as he tried to reassure himself that he was right, and the others were wrong. He just wasn't as confident about his conviction as he was an hour ago.
He decided to watch these guys and see what they were really like. If they made even one wrong move, they were dead! He would personally see to it!
XxXxXxXxX
"Come on, Ace! Eat something!" Sabo practically begged Ace to eat, and Ace ignored him.
He had been vigilantly watching the two Whitebeard pirates for several hours. They did nothing more that hang around the deck of their ship. The only exception would be Thatch going to prepare lunch. They decided to eat their meals outside to keep Ace company. Ace only saw this as an opportunity to study them further.
He ignored everyone who tried to talk to him save for the grown pirates. And he was exceptionally cold when talking to them. He refused to eat their food, although it didn't seem to be poisoned. He wouldn't take that chance.
"You know, kid, starving yourself isn't going to make things better for you. If anything, you'd be more miserable because of your empty stomach." Thatch said from the table they moved outside.
"Why do you care?!" Ace snapped at the guy.
"Because I don't like to see someone hungry, especially a kid."
"Yeah right! Admit it, you're just trying to fatten us up so you can cook and eat us!" Ace had been accusing them of various things every time they tried to talk to him. He wanted to figure out their plan, and this was the best he could do while tied up.
"Would you stop it with these dumb accusations, Ace? They don't want to eat us!" Sabo yelled, and Ace ignored him. He only glared at Thatch who looked disgusted at the thought of eating another human being. So they don't want to eat them. Or it could be an act to throw him off guard! Well, Ace wasn't going to fall for it!
"Would you cut it out?!" Sabo yelled and punched Ace on the side of his head. Ace tore his gaze from his targets to glare at Sabo.
"What was that for?!"
"Because you're being a moron! They don't want to eat us! They don't want to sell us! And they aren't aliens trying to kidnap us, and take us to their mothership! Now, would you stop this dumb charade and eat already?!" Sabo held a fork full of mashed potatoes to his face.
"I'm not hungry." Ace said, and shifted his glare back toward the Whitebeard pirates.
"And I'm the King of Alabasta. Just eat!" Sabo said with an eye roll.
Ace said nothing. He just glared at the pirates. They did nothing more than look back at him while eating. The food did smell good, and he was absolutely starving. But he would rather starve to death than accept a crumb of food from these guys. His stomach growled in protest.
"See! You are hungry! Just swallow your damn pride and eat already!"
"But Ace would choke if he swallowed his pride!" Luffy yelled from the table on the other boat. This cause Sabo to chuckle, and Ace to glare at his youngest brother.
"Fair enough, Luffy." Sabo smiled.
"Luffy, you're dead once I get out of this thing!"
"Look, Ace, even Luffy can see that you're being stubborn over nothing. Just eat the food." Sabo held the plate underneath Ace's nose so he could get a good whiff of the tasty smelling food. His mouth watered, and his stomach growled again. He hated how his body betrayed him so easily.
"No!" Ace turned his head away, but Sabo shifted the plate under his nose again. He turned his head the other way, but Sabo moved the plate again. Ace kept moving his face, and Sabo kept moving the plate.
Luffy suddenly stood from the table, catching everyone's attention. They all watched as he jumped off the railing, and landed on the boat. He plopped himself down next to Ace, and looked at him in the eye.
"Are you okay, Luffy? You didn't finish eating." Marco asked.
"I'm not gonna eat until Ace eats." He said while looking Ace dead in the eye. Everyone was silent.
Ace couldn't believe what he was hearing. Luffy didn't want to eat. Bottomless pit, always hungry Luffy didn't want to eat! Ace didn't know how to respond. He just couldn't comprehend the words that came out of his mouth.
"No, Luffy. You need to eat. Go back to the table and finish you meal." Sabo said, and Ace never thought he'd hear anyone say that.
"No. Ace needs to eat too, and until he does, I'm not eating another bite." Luffy looked dead serious about his decision.
Ace was just too stunned to react at all. All he could do was sit there with his mouth open. For crying out loud, Luffy ate Ace's breakfast this morning! Surely, he doesn't have the will power to keep from eating food! Right?
"See, Ace! Now you got Luffy to stop eating! Just eat your meal!" Sabo said more forcefully.
"N-no. He's just bluffing. There's no way Luffy can resist food for too long!" Ace said snapping out of his stupor.
"I'm not taking that chance. You eat your food, now!" Sabo tried to pry open Ace's mouth, but Ace held it shut tight.
Ace wouldn't let them win! He wouldn't eat the food no matter what! He wasn't worried about Luffy. He was Luffy for God's sake! He would cave before sundown!
XxXxXxXxX
It's been two days, and Luffy kept his promise. Everyone was flabbergasted to say the least, but none more so than Ace. Each time he thought Luffy would cave, and eat something, he would surprise him and hold fast. They tried everything to get him to eat. They even went as far as to leave a plate of food right in front of him. But all he did was sit next to Ace, and say nothing. Luffy was determined to keep his word.
Ace heard Luffy's stomach give a loud growl, and he felt the guilt in his stomach get heavier. Here Luffy was starving, because Ace refused to free him. If he ate something, the Luffy would go back to the hungry little brother he came to know and love. But the thought of caving only made him angry. It was a matter of seeing whether his anger or his guilt would win in the end. Right now it was a tie, but guilt was quickly winning over. Ace absolutely hated it. Luffy's stomach growled again, and that was the final straw.
"Alright." Ace growled.
"Did you say something, Ace?" Luffy asked. The poor kid sounded miserable.
"Alright, I'll eat something. Just please stop starving yourself, Luffy." Ace said a bit louder.
"Nu-uh!" Luffy shook his head.
"What do you mean 'nu-uh'?! You said you would eat if I ate something!"
"Yup! I won't eat my meal until you eat yours first!" Luffy said sounding happier at the thought of eating again.
"Is Ace finally going to eat something?" Sabo asked from across the boat.
"Yup! Get Thatchy! We're going to eat lunch!" Luffy jumped up and down.
Sabo quickly climbed up to the ship and ran into the kitchen to let Thatch know, and Ace instantly regretted his decision. He was about to tell Luffy he changed his mind, when he saw that bright smile. That same smile that was missing for two whole days. Ace never thought he'd miss that smile, but he did. Ace swallowed his pride, and kept telling himself he was doing this for Luffy.
It wasn't long before Sabo came back with a large plate full of food. The Whitebeard pirates came out to watch. Ace glared at them.
"All I'm doing is eating a plate of food! Do I really need an audience for that?!" Ace yelled.
"Yes." Everyone deadpanned, and Ace growled profanities under his breath which caused Luffy to laugh.
"You need to eat the whole plate." Sabo said before spearing a piece of beef and bringing it to Ace's face.
"No! I said I would eat! I didn't said I'd eat the whole plate!" Ace argued.
"Ace eats the whole plate, or I won't eat anything!" Luffy said giving Ace a serious look. Ace hated it when Luffy got serious. It was so un-Luffy. Ace growled more profanities, and accepted the bite of food.
His mouth instantly exploded with flavor. The meat was tender, and well-seasoned. It practically melted in his mouth. Thatch apparently knew what he was doing when it came to food. He didn't show any of his delight, though. If anything his glare deepened.
"Well, what do you think? Amazing, right?" Thatch asked from the ship. Ace refused to let the guy know how much he actually like his cooking.
"It's crap." He deadpanned.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, BRAT?!" Thatch yelled and Marco grabbed him.
"I KNEW IT! YOU WERE JUST LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO ATTCK US!" Ace yelled, and Sabo hit him on the side of the head.
"HE REACTED THAT WAY BECAUSE YOU INSULTED HIS COOKING!" Sabo speared another piece of meat, and shoved it in Ace's face.
Ace glared at Sabo for half a minute before eating the next bite. The second bite was just as tasty as the first. And like the first time, he didn't let any positive emotions show. The rest of the meal was silent, with both Ace and Thatch fuming. Ace because they managed to get him to eat a whole plate of food, and Thatch because his cooking was insulted.
"Yay! Ace ate everything!" Luffy cheered, and then rocketed himself over to the other ship and knocked Thatch over.
"I'M HUNGRY!" Luffy all but shouted in his ear.
"Glad to see you're still as hungry as ever." Thatch patted Luffy's head, and Luffy smiled. Thatch and Luffy went into the kitchen, and Ace glared ahead.
"See, was that so hard?" Sabo asked, and set the empty plate down.
Ace didn't answer, but Sabo didn't seem to mind. He was just so angry with himself. How could he let Luffy manipulate him like that?! Well, he ate a meal. That should satisfy Luffy. He wouldn't eat any more of their food. He still needed to figure out their plan, and the whole Luffy not eating thing threw him off focus. He stared at the ship. He would find out their motive, he staked his life on it.