A/N: Now before you get on my case I did say that it might be out by late August. In all honestly though I have rewritten this chapter 5 times, and I'm not talking about edits here and there I mean completely rewritten, I have a general idea where the story will go and end, it's just difficult getting there, so please be patient with me as I write.

Chapter 5: Speculations

"Are you sure?" Garp asked, his voice filled with a mixture of frustration and hope.

"Yes," the voice on the other end answered. "You know that I try to stay away from the territory of the four emperors ever since what happened 7 years ago."

Garp sighed raking his fingers across his face remembering the event. "Surely someone must've run into Whitebeard or one of his men. Dragon, I didn't want to tell you this but I need this information, Luffy is in danger."

The man on the other end stayed silent for a long moment before sighing. "I should've never picked up this call. Okay listen, several months ago, close to a year ago really, three of my agents sighted the Whitebeard's fourth division commander and several of his crewmates on Crossbones Island."

Garp drew in a breath. Although Crossbones was officially under Whitebeard's protection (his flag displayed proudly on the island) There were natives there that were reportedly so savage that even the most bloodthirsty of men steered clear of them. In fact most of the protection that Whitebeard provided for the citizens in the more civil areas was from war with the natives. The civilians never understood why Whitebeard never outright obliterated the natives and neither did Garp.

"What the Hell were your men doing on Crossbones! You know that island belongs to Whitebeard on one side and is filled with savages on the other!" Garp yelled in exasperation, and his grandkids thought that he was crazy, Garp was certain that if Luffy was raised by Dragon then the boy would have died several years ago. Though Garp and Dragon were very different in many ways one thing that was eerily similar was how invested they were for their cause. It was the reason Dragon gave Luffy to Garp to raise. The man had joked that if he raised Luffy he would surely want to be a marine but if Garp was to raise him surely he would want to be a pirate or maybe even a revolutionary.

Dragon uttered a low growl of frustration. "You know I can't tell you that. Hell I probably already told you too much already. Besides you know that I never know all of the details of a mission, so even if I wanted to I couldn't give you any details. " Another similar aspect of the two men was that even though they worked in areas that required the utmost secrecy and care they would sometimes let things slip that weren't supposed to slip.

Garp in took a sharp breath as he tried to calm himself down. "Look just let me speak to the agents that were on that mission."

Dragon seemed to be contemplating something before speaking again. "Was it the pariah that took Luffy?"

Garp felt something inside of him lurch. It wasn't until Dragon mentioned that special code phrase that it all came crashing in for Garp. Everything that Ace mentioned about Blackbeard or Marshal D. Teach told him that it could very well be the false D. of course Garp didn't want to worry his grandson with an old legend that was thought to be lost to time. "Yeah, I'm certain of it."

"So it begins." Dragon commented. "I'll see what I can do, but know this that Sabo is a very peculiar young man. He may not be willing to talk."

The name sounded so familiar and nagged at the back of Garp's mind, but before he could ask about it the snail had cut off indicating that his son had hung up on him. "No respect for your old man eh Dragon." Garp mused to himself. He then got up and brushed the soot that had settled on from his fight with Ace. "Now let me see what everyone is screaming about a flying ship for."

It had been several hours since the encounter with the Straw Hat pirate crew. Colby sat in a small wooden chair next to Helmeppo's bedside. At present moment they were enjoying each other's company in silence, Helmeppo had only woken up moments ago wide eyed and very frightened; Colby not wanting to be rude waited for his friend to calm down.

Finally Helmeppo spoke. "So how bad is the damage?"

Colby gave a small smile before speaking. "Not bad at all. In fact the doctors say that in a couple of months you will be completely healed if you take it easy."

At this revelation Helmeppo shot Colby a deadpanned look. "Have you forgotten whose ship we're on?" Colby laughed heartily while Helmeppo let out a loud sigh before continuing with a bit more humor in his voice. "Perhaps it is a good thing, for I can tell the others that I have gone toe to toe with the notorious Fire Fist Ace, with nothing but a small scar to show for it." His face then turned melancholy. "Of course no one on this ship likes me, not really. They only see me as the son of Axe Hand Morgan, a tyrant in the East Blue."

Colby felt something in his heart clench. Despite the written rule that if someone joined the marine ranks their heritage remained private from the common marine soldier and that they were judged based on their work ethic and character, not their past. That is as long as their past did not involve a bounty, which explained how low level pirates like those from the East Blue could get in. Sure it had been difficult at first to get along with the other marine soldiers, but they eventually warmed up to him. Helmeppo was not so lucky, one of the higher ups revealed that he was the son of Captain Morgan whom everyone hated. Even being apprenticed by Garp did not stop the sidelong and suspicious glances of the common marine.

That might have changed when they saw how he had reacted to being burned by Fire Fist Ace. Sure he had screamed "bloody murder" while he was engulfed in flames (who wouldn't), but when the flames were removed tears that have been on his face before were promptly wiped away and those that were fresh stayed in the ducts. He had held back those tears for several minutes until in the medical cabin he fell into unconsciousness, but his eyes remained dry. The rumor had spread and so many people from the ship came to see Helmeppo the first hour that the nurses had to enforce basically marshal law to get them to leave.

Colby was smiling at the thought but was unspeaking until brought out of his musings. "Hello… is anyone in there. Don't tell me that you're ignoring me now too."

Colby shook his head. "No, I think that you have earned the respect of everyone on this ship."

Helmeppo blushed slightly before muttering. "I don't deserve it, but enough about me, what happened while I was out? Did we capture any of the Straw Hats? Did you see that Swordsman? You know now that I think about it I might hate him more than that Rubber Hellion."

Colby's face fell and his voice became very small. "Luffy has been captured. Apparently one of Ace's crewmates went rogue that's why Ace is here and grabbed Luffy."

Helmeppo snorted. "No way that's true. No one on Whitebeards ship would be stupid enough to go rogue. Who did this? Who came here to Paradise to capture Straw Hat?"

"Blackbeard was the name that they told me."

Helmeppo waved his hand dismissively. "Never heard of him, besides if what you say is true and someone on Whitebeard's crew did go rogue why capture Straw Hat when you have Fire Fist Ace after you? I'll tell you why because this Blackbeard, what a stupid name is too weak to take him on." Here Helmeppo paused.

"I'm not too sure about that. Based on what I've heard Blackbeard is very strong and scary. He apparently can manipulate darkness itself."

Helmeppo frowned crossing his arms. "So the guy can make it dark huh? Oh pooh, I bet if I had that Devil Fruit I could take out Straw Hat too, he probably made it dark and the idiot punched himself in the face."

Colby despite everything found himself laughing hysterically, for he could picture such a thing happening. "Helmeppo you are amazing." Calming down and beginning to think about the situation again, Colby put on a brave face and smiled. He wasn't sure if Helmeppo was seriously this nonchalant about the situation or if he was putting on an act for his sake. However, there was something about the name Blackbeard and the power that he possessed that made Colby's stomach twist. "Are you sure that Luffy will be okay?"

Helmeppo beamed at the praise, before his voice softened. "I am being serious though; you've seen the same papers as I have. Straw Hat has ways of getting out of impossible situations. He'll be fine."

Colby smiled. "Yeah, you're probably right. He will be okay. After all he is going to be King of the Pirates."

At this the room suddenly became brighter and darker in less than a second of one another as a large figure stood in the doorway. "You better not be talking about my Grandson who is going to be a fine marine one day right?"

Colby gave an involuntary shudder. "H-Hey Garp," he greeted with a weak salute.

Garp gave an amused snort and grinned. "Well since Helmeppo will be out of commission for a few days I'll have to train you hard enough for both of you."

Helmeppo grinned slightly. "Work hard Colby," he waved.

"Colby muttered "Traitor," under his breath shuffling off with Garp for what was sure to be a hard night's training.

"Ah, chin up boy. We'll need to be strong. I'm not going to let some no name pirate be the death of my grandson. That's our job right?"

Colby grinned and garnered a spring in his step. "Right," he cheered.

A deep and reddish orange bled into the ever darkening sky as the sun sank lower into the western horizon. The Straw hat were eating peacefully on the deck, their troubles not forgotten but stored away at the present moment as they enjoyed a good meal prepared by Sanji. The chef had truly outdone himself and not one person complained, not even Zoro.

However, as the sky grew darker and the food began to settle, an ominous feeling began to take hold of everyone. Ever since escaping from Garp they had been listening to the den den mushi nonstop for any indication that Luffy had been turned over to the Marines, but none came. As far as Ace was concerned it made absolutely no sense. There wasn't any way for Blackbeard to get back to the New World without going through Fishman Island, and Ace was certain that Jimbei wouldn't let a traitor to Whitebeard as heinous as Blackbeard pass through his home land.

Another horrible thought crossed into his mind. What if Blackbeard was giving his brother as a gift to a Celestial Dragon in Sabaody? His brother would never survive as a slave, for it would mean that he was no longer free. However, wasn't Blackbeard a D.? Were D.s not the natural enemies of the Celestial Dragons? Once his true name was revealed wouldn't he be killed immediately? His head was hurting and the stress was getting to him so he promptly fell asleep.

Chopper immediately became worried and checked Ace's condition. Pulling out several pieces of medical equipment he checked his heartrate and blood pressure which seemed to be quite high. "He's stressed out," Chopper noted.

"Of course he's stressed," Nami sighed. "Did you see his face? He must've been thinking about something truly dreadful. Do you think the stress caused him to have a narcolepsy attack?"

"It could be that, or it could be the sleeping pills I slipped in his food." Sanji shrugged casually taking a drag of his cigarette.

Chopper of course was horrified. "Sanji, how could you? The sleeping pills could have adverse consequences on him. You should have asked my permission first."

"Sorry Chopper and though you are right in saying that I should have asked you, I do not regret what I did." Sanji stood his ground. "You've seen how he has been acting. Ace may be Luffy's brother, but he has been acting as a trapped wild animal ever since he heard about what happened to Luffy and the lack of information is making him crazy."

Chopper sighed. "Well I am still angry at you for not informing me about your plan, but it does seem to be helping, his blood pressure is starting to go down, just… please ask next time. I'm the doctor on this ship."

Sanji smiled and nodded his head in understanding. It was then that Franky spoke up. "Well what are we going to do? We've been very lucky not to run into any other marines but if we don't move away from this area soon our luck will run out."

Robin nodded grimly. "And with Ace on board they might very well send an admiral after us."

At this, Nami and Usopp turned white as sheets remembering how the last run-in with Admiral Aokiji turned out. "We're all going to die." Usopp managed to whisper and scream at the same time for he did not want to wake Ace up.

"We need to leave now, but…" Nami paused chewing the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. "If we press forward we won't be able to come back here. Ace might if he has an eternal pose to a previous island, but I'm not sure if even he can take on all the power of the marines by himself."

Surprisingly it was Usopp who spoke up next. "Then we should stay here until Ace wakes up, lest we risk his wrath." He finished with an exaggerated voice indicating doom.

Franky frowned. "I kind of agree with Usopp, but for a different reason. Based on how Brother Usopp described the boat they were in it wouldn't be able to travel as fast as we can so perhaps they have not run into the marines."

Sanji frowned. "But didn't Colby say that the marines were patrolling the waters more fervently. Surely they would have run into marines by now." His frown deepened as he rubbed his chin in thought, as one does when they are on the brink of revelation. "In fact am I the only one who finds it odd that we haven't run into any marines despite the fact that it's been hours since our fight with Garp's fleet."

Everyone garnered a thoughtful expression. It was a strange thing that they had not run into any marines since their fight with Garp. Sure they had experience in avoiding marines in open waters, but this was marine territory.

Zoro tapped the crook of his elbow in frustration. As much as he hated to admit it the cook was right. Something was very wrong, but in what way he could not quite describe. Perhaps it was the darkening sky combined with being in enemy waters but Zoro began feeling a bit on edge. He liked things being simple, but this entire situation was complex and Luffy, bless that idiot, wasn't there to simplify everything. It was then that he noticed that everyone was staring at him. "What?"

"Well what do you think we should do Zoro?" Robin asked her voice tight as the smile on her face.

Zoro blinked. "The hell are you asking me for?"

Sanji sighed. "Because idiot, you're Luffy's first mate and as much as I hate to admit it, that means you're technically in charge." Everyone else nodded in agreement to what Sanji was saying.

"Why do you think I'm here now?" Usopp asked quietly. "I've been hearing bits and pieces of your conversations about me in Water 7. Am I wrong in saying that if you didn't agree to it I wouldn't be on this ship right now?"

Zoro was beginning to feel surprisingly anxious, his breathing became shallow. Having so much responsibility on his shoulders was more than he could bear. He didn't show weakness of course, for it wasn't in his nature, but still. "Calm down." The voice shocked him and he spun around, Ace had woken up.

"How the hell are you awake? The sleeping pills I gave you should have knocked you out for at least six hours" Sanji asked surprised.

Ace shrugged his shoulders. "I take some pretty strong sleeping pills to help with my narcolepsy. The ones that you mixed in my food probably weren't powerful enough to knock me out for long." He then grinned. "But I have to thank you, I feel much better than before."

Zoro sighed in relief, glad that Ace was awake. "Do you think we should press forward or hang back?"

Ace smiled softly leaning against the rail. "What are you asking me for? I'm not the one in charge, you are." A frown then came across his face. "Take it from someone who went from leading a small crew of about 12 to a commander in charge of close to 250 men it can be overwhelming, but someone has to lead."

Zoro frowned crossing his arms. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

Ace laughed. "Of course not, but there is an old saying that says 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.' Think about this as an opportunity to prove your greatness."

Zoro pondered Ace's words carefully. He then stole a glance at his other crewmates who were watching him expectantly. It was then that everything became clear to him. He wasn't simply in charge because he was Luffy's first mate (okay that may have been the technical reason), but it was more than that. He was the one that could best protect the crew not necessarily from enemies but from themselves. He was the most decisive of the entire group and he therefore could make the difficult decisions necessary when it came to the safety of the crew.

"Alright, here's what we are going to do." He finally spoke up with confidence to the others. "We are going to press forward, for two reasons." He held up his hand extending his fingers. "One, if Blackbeard has decided to move forward then we need to stop wasting time and press on and two, I hate to admit it but we are not prepared to take on an admiral, much less the entire Marine Force. Even with Ace here we won't make it out alive. We'll need allies."

To say that everyone was shocked would be an understatement. Zoro never admitted to needing help from others even if it was hypothetical. After the initial shock, Robin spoke up. "Well then Ms. Navigator will you set a course for us."

Nami nodded slowly. "Y-yes, the log pose is set for Fishman Island, according to Kokoro we'll have to go through the Florian Triangle."

At this revelation Ace perked up. "Did you say the Florian Triangle?" Nami nodded. "Interesting, while looking into the Devil Fruit that Blackbeard stole I came across a legend claiming that many years ago someone with a power that was similar to the power granted by the Dark Dark Fruit created the Florian Triangle. We might find Blackbeard there or at least a clue to defeating him."

Thus the course was set for Fishman Island. As that was where their Log pose was pointing and as anyone who sailed the Grand Line would tell you. Never stray from your log pose lest you be lost to wandering the sea forever.

Luffy leaned against the stern of the boat they were on, wishing that his crew would hurry up and get him. The longer he stayed with Blackbeard and his crew the less he liked them; especially Blackbeard.

There wasn't anything wrong with the way he was being treated. The man with the monocle made sure that he was well fed (though the food was not nearly as good as Sanji's), the man with the wresting mask told jokes that mostly flew over Luffy's head (though to be fair no one laughed at his jokes), and the one with the top hat would tell stories about the people he murdered through hypnotism (Which Luffy found either boring or distasteful).

Blackbeard however only watched him and that made Luffy uncomfortable beyond measure. It wasn't just his Devil Fruit that made Luffy nervous, but the man himself. There was something inherently wrong with him in a way that Luffy couldn't explain to anyone. When he spoke about the dreams of pirates there was something underlying that Luffy could not describe, like a bit of deadly poison that you couldn't taste in your food.

Luffy was brought out of his musings by Blackbeard speaking. "We're here," he laughed.

Immediately the stars that shined brightly in the sky were covered by a deep impenetrable fog that swallowed and choked everything that entered into it. Yet Luffy was not as afraid as he felt he should be. After all wasn't Blackbeard in his element here in the darkness? Blackbeard frowned; he must've noticed it too. "There is a hope here, one that has been here for years." He then grinned. "But it is weakening, we should snuff it out."

Luffy watched as the other crewmates looked to each other in confusion. "But, where do we go?"

"Follow the song," Blackbeard laughed. That was when they heard it a voice that was hauntingly beautiful as it sang. It was also familiar as it was an old sea shanty passed down through the generations of people who have sailed the seas: Bink's Sake.