Just a warning, this chapter is a little brutal. In the sense Ace gets the shit beat out of him. Sorry, it's crucial to his lifestyle. :O Also, I didn't save chapter one on my computer and erased it from the Doc Manager but this story is no longer needing a chapter title. I'm sticking with the one Alucade from anirp suggested as I gave him a confusing AF bio about this story an he still managed to suggest a fitting title. :P


From then on, Smoker had began to show up more and more since that day. Whenever he was in town, he made it a custom to visit Ace at least twice. Ace had grown use to the man, and actually began to look forward to seeing him. Smoker was something refreshing, at least from Ace's usual client. Hell, he had even began to brag to Marco about the man, though he made sure to keep his name – even though it was more than likely an alias – out of his mouth. He just couldn't bring it in him to spread someone's name in the way his one client had done his. The looks, the whispers, it all bothered Ace, even if he didn't show it and he didn't want someone else to feel the same as he did.

"Ace… Ace!" Suddenly, Marco called out, glaring at the man who was preoccupied in his daydreaming, finger swirling around the top of his glass of whiskey. Ace shook his head and turned to Marco. "Oops, sorry." He grinned. "I was just…"

"You were thinking of him again." Marco stated and smirked. Ace looked down and stuttered with a response. Yet, Marco couldn't have been more on point so he chuckled and looked back up to his blonde friend. "Is it really that obvious now?" He questioned.

Marco rolled his eyes. "Please! Haven't seen ya look like that over someone in a long time… Is my little brother falling in love?" He teased. Ace blushed a bright red and shoved Marco, almost knocking him off of his bar stool. "No… You know the business, you can't fall in love... That's asking for trouble on both ends. I couldn't do that to someone anyway… If I ever get to where I can be with someone, truly be with them, I don't want them to share me. I wanna be only theirs and I'm nowhere near that point yet…" He heaved a sigh. "Fucking Teach… Taking every dime I earn… It's hard to save anything."

Marco put a hand on Ace's shoulder. "Hey… It's gonna get better. I've been hearing rumors of this upscale night club run by some old geezer… They're recruiting bartenders and waiters. Supposedly they pay extremely well, I was thinking maybe, me and you could check into it?" Marco suggested.

Ace thought about it, hard. However he ended up lowering his head. "You know what'll happen when we do leave… They'll try to find us and kill us… We HAVE to know our plan A will work out because I don't see room for a plan B. I mean we can check it out but, it has to be excluselively between us. No one else. "

"Fuck everyone else. If we can move on, that's all that matters… Also, maybe you could check in with Luffy's friend… Sanji is it? And see if the restaurant he works for is hiring." Marco retorted.

"I don't know… I mean, I guess I could check… I haven't seen Luffy in over a week though. I hope he's paying attention in school…" Ace spoke and downed the rest of his whiskey. As he did so, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Marco gave a little smile again. "Your traveling soldier?" He asked. Ace's eyes narrowed. "Marco, geezz. He doesn't text me… Often." A small grin crossed his features as he reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone. However, rather than a text, it was an incoming call and not one that was wanted. Ace gave a huff and slid to ignore. "It's just Teach…" He laid the phone on the bar infront of them. "But fuck him too. Tonight's my night off."

Marco frowned then, a little worried. "Should you really ignore him? I mean, I never have problems out of him but, I don't exactly bring in the figures he wants like you do."

Ace shrugged it off. "It'll be okay and that's because you're straight… It's not often you hear of women hiring escorts."

"If you say so…" Marco replied, though he was still worried of what would happen to Ace. Though he had never witnessed it, he had seen the after math of Teach's anger over Ace not responding.


Later that night, Ace had parted ways with Marco. After talking it over with the blonde, he had decided he would go visit Luffy and stay the night at his place. That would give him an escape from his life for a bit, and from his, oh it cringed him to the bone to refer to Teach as pimp, daddy or anything of the sort. The very thing made Ace want to puke.

As he continued down the street, he started to become more nervous. Perhaps it was just his paranoia but he could swear he felt eyes watching his every move, even if he couldn't see the culprit when he looked around.

However, he finally stopped and looked around once again. "Who the hell is there?!" He exclaimed. His question was followed by a loud "Wiiihahaha" echoing in the streets. "Fuck!" Ace clinched his teeth. He knew that laugh, and knew it all too well. Wasting no time, Ace took off running.

He ran through alley ways, in zigzags, anything to gain leverage and to conceal his location. Yet that booming laugh loomed around him every direction he went.

And then... suddenly, before he could've predicted it or escape, Ace was slammed into a brick wall. He groaned in pain, instinctively reaching up to feel the back of his head. Eyes opened wide when he felt liquid seeping through his fingers.

"You should no better than to run by now." A calm and collected voice resonated. Ace's attention snapped to the man that held him in his grasp and again he clinched his jaw. "Shiliwe!" He hissed. "Let me go." He demanded, glaring at the other.

"I'm afraid we can't do that Ace, wiiihahaha!"

Ace looked to the side of him, only to be met with the large silhouette of Jesus Burgess, another one of Teach's hounds.

"Let me go Burgess!" He growled, only to be slammed further into the wall by Shiliwe. A loud cry of pain escaped Ace.

"You should know by now, that you NEVER ignore master Teach's calls... you are a very important part of his business." Burgess approached even further, until he was mere inches from Ace's face.

Ace scowled and retorted by spitting in his face. "Tonight was my night off, assholes!"

Shiliwe narrowed his gaze and grabbed ahold of Ace's neck in a tight squeeze. "I could just kill you right now and be done with all this trouble you cause... I honestly don't know what master Teach sees in a worthless rat such as yourself."

"Easy Shiliwe... Teach would have our heads if we killed him... now... Wiiihahaha!"

Shiliwe reluctantly loosened his grip just enough to allow Ace to breathe. "But, we do have to remind him what happens when he blows off the master." Burgess continued and Shiliwe smirked and tossed him off to the side.

Burgess's laugh echoed again as he approached Ace and gave a swift kick to the man's stomach, hard enough for Ace to cough up blood.

"You should know when you work for master Teach, there are NO breaks!" Burgess exclaimed as he pressed a foot to Ace's side, pressing down on his ribs.

Ace gripped the man's ankle attempting to push his foot away, to no avail. "Stop..."

Shiliwe smirked, stepping closer. "I want you to beg first like the dog you are." He nodded to Burgess, who again, gave a kick this time to Ace's ribs, earning a shout of pain from him.

Ace hated this, hated to be demoralized... hated to beg to anyone, especially these of all people. "Okay! Stop! Please!" He managed to sit up, gripping at the cape Burgess wore. "Let me go, I promise, I'll make it up to him."

"Oh, we know you will." Shiliwe spoke, yet pressed his boot to the side of Ace's face, before giving a hard kick, knocking him a ways from them.

The assault continued for some time, until both men were satisfied with the blooded state they left Ace in. Ace barely had the energy to pull himself back up and find his way back home. He certainly wasn't going to let Luffy see him in such a state.


Will things get better for our beloved Ace? Perhaps worse... We won't know until upcoming chapters. :P

So, please review! And let me know you want me to keep the story going. I really want this one to work out and see the end but, if I feel it's not receiving the fans I want it too, then I don't know what will happen. :O

or better put... I'm desperate for reviews like Shane Dawson is for views! BAM! No, really, I love the fuck out of him and no hate. Just trying to be funny with my dark humor, heh.

but do review and I'll give you cookies. :3