Disclaimer: One Piece is not mine.

Beta'd by Anime Foxx

Marineford.

Blackbeard swore as he watched the Moby Dick sail away, washed out of the bay courtesy of a large body of water. He had no doubt that that was the work of one female assassin.

"Ah~looks like it's up to me." A lazy voice drawled.

The presence of Red-haired Shanks didn't help either.

With him in the way, the marines were unable to go after the Whitebeards or Straw Hat, and there was no way they were going to take on another Yonko crew when they had just clashed with the World's Strongest Man.

In other words, he was the only target remaining.

As of that moment, all the marines had their weapons trained on the newest Shichibukai-turned-traitor's crew while the admirals sans Akainu, Sengoku and Garp were eyeing him warily. The Red-haired Pirates hung back near their ship, but from the amount of tension they were producing, Blackbeard didn't doubt that they would attack in a split second if required.

From the corner of his eyes, he surveyed his crew, calculating the best course of action. His crew, while strong in their own rights, had very low chance of survival if they were to face both the marines and a Yonko crew at the same time.

His only option was to retreat.

…

Naturally, the marines didn't let them go without a fight, but eventually the Blackbeard Pirates managed to reach their ship, which was really just a warship they'd stolen at Impel Down. But screw technicalities, who cares as long as they got out. With the Gates Of Justice still open, the pirates left marine headquarters, reentering free waters. The marines didn't bother chasing after them. No, they already had way too much on their plate.

As they sailed out to open sea, Marshall D. Teach cursed as he remembered his failed objective-to kill his former captain and acquire his fruit.

Damn that Rainha for getting in my way.

He was going to have to make other plans.

The news of the war spread like fire. After the war had ended, the newspaper had released the news of the Whitebeards' victory and the escape of the Pirate King's son. While no one was surprised at the outcome, plenty were at the concluding factor.

The newspaper hadn't bothered to filter the articles. News of the Whitebeards' victory took up most of the front page, while the bottom of it was dedicated to the mysterious assassin and her accomplice that had jumped in at the last minute. Not much detail was provided for the accomplice, but the journalists had dug up every bit of information they could find about the elusive assassin that had managed to injure Akainu, though there wasn't much. With their dramatic words, speculation of her motives became the most talked about topic all over the world.

Many speculated that the assassin did it simply to mess with the marines, though others were convinced that the assassin guild she belonged to was one of Whitebeard's many allies. Passing by a group of pirates who were discussing the topic, a white-haired man pushed up his glasses as he silently listened in to their conversation. A moment later, he left and headed towards the lawless zone of the Sabaody Archipelago.

"Where do you think the Black Queen will head next?" He asked as he stepped into a hilltop bar and dropped down in a seat by the counter. The woman behind smiled as she wiped down the countertop. "Who knows?" She wondered out loud, lifting a bowl to wipe under it. "She might head to Edward's place."

"You know her, right?" The man asked. In reply, the woman shook her head lightly.

"We've had contact before, but I wouldn't say I know her."

"You wouldn't happen to have any way to contact her, would you?"

The woman pulled out a transponder snail from behind the bar and tossed it to the man. "It only connects to her."

"Thanks."

A few rings later, the call was picked up.

"State your name and business." A voice spoke coldly.

"This is Silvers Rayleigh." At the mention of his name, he saw the snail's previously expressionless face crack slightly before quickly smoothing back.

"The Dark King." The voice sounded a little surprised. "What do you want?"

"Nothing much, I just need you to do me a favour…"

On another island on the Grand Line, a woman with long teal-color hair and greyish blue eyes snorted as she scanned a copy of the paper she had acquired earlier on the roof of the local marine base.

A sea breeze blew gently, ruffling the sheets of papers in her hand.

She looked at the paper weirdly for a second, a wry smile on her face, then proceeded to roll it up.

"Show off." She said to no one, but there was undoubtedly a hint of fondness in her voice. A slingbag was opened and the newspaper stuffed into it. Seconds later, the woman vanished, leaving no trace of her presence.

"Thank gods they're okay!" A green haired woman exclaimed. Opposite her, a large woman with curly ginger hair and a short man with round glasses shared the same relief as they read the headlines of the latest newspaper.

The large woman snorted at the other woman's exclamation. "Those boys wouldn't go down that easily. Not to mention she is with them."

"You're right." The green haired woman wiped a stray tear. "Ace and Luffy are strong. And they have their sister too." The man on the other hand, looked confused. "What does this have anything to do with that girl?" He pointed to the bottom of the front page. "They say it was an assassin who saved them."

Both women sweat dropped. Seeing their expressions, the man grew slightly irritated.

"Oi, Makino, Dadan, if you know anything just say it!"

Makino laughed sheepishly, but refused to tell. Dadan didn't care if the man wanted to know.

It was a secret entrusted to them.

On a ship, somewhere…

"This is definitely him." A petite brunette was saying to the crowd that had gathered around her to read the newspaper.

For once, someone's attention wasn't on the Whitebeards or the Black Queen, but on the blurry picture that featured a cloaked man standing next to Whitebeard.

"No doubt about it. They did say he was with Rainha."A fishman with yellow skin said, rubbing his chin. Next to him, a young man looked clueless about what was going on as he peered at the paper. "Who's that, Koala-san?" He asked. He knew his colleagues were talking about the unknown person in the paper, and from their words he could guess they knew him. Point was, he didn't. The second the words left him, all eyes in the room landed on him.

"Hmm? Oh, him? He's no one." Koala waved her hand in the air dismissively. "Just our good-for-nothing Chief of Staff who dumped all his work on me and went off to play hero."

"Oh, okay…wait, Chief of Staff?" The fishman, Hack cocked a brow at him curiously. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Well…I thought Koala-san was the Chief of Staff…"

"Nah. That idiot's the chief, I'm his babysitter. Speaking of which, I believe I owe him a call." She smiled, and went to get a transponder snail.

As soon as she left the room, everyone let out a breath they didn't know they had been holding.

"Is it just me, or did the temperature drop a little just now?"

"Sir, today's newspaper just came in."

Behind a large desk, a man in his sixties looked up from his work, regarding his assistant curiously. "Should I be worried? You don't usually bring me the paper." He asked, pushing up the pair of reading glasses that had begun to slide.

His assistant, a man who looked around thirty coughed into his hand. "I don't, but I figured you might want to see this for yourself." He explained and handed over the folded paper.

The older man made a sound of surprise as he took in the headlines. "So that's where she disappeared off to." He commented offhandedly. "I was starting to wonder if she ditched us."

"Unlikely case, sir." The assistant replied. "Rainha is the most loyal person I know."

"And you would know, how?" The man retorted, cocking an eyebrow teasingly. As expected, his assistant turned a nice shade of red at his comment. Sputtering, he hurriedly excused himself, but not before his superior got another word in.

"Don't be shy! We know you like her!"

That was the last the poor assistant heard as the door closed shut, well, besides the howling laughter.

Having had his fill, the man calmed down and closed the paper. "I suppose I should give her a call?" He wondered, looking up at the ceiling.

A large man with curled hair burst through the ornate doors that lead to the parlour, frantically waving a roll of paper in his hand.

"Cobra-sama! Vivi-sama!" He called, drawing the attention of the blue-haired girl and her father who were in the middle of the room eating breakfast.

"Igaram! What's got you so hyped up?" Vivi giggled as she watched the captain of the royal guard bend to catch his breath. Holding out the paper, he said in between breaths. "The war…Whitebeard…won…Luffy-san…and his…brother…are both…safe!"

"What? Really?" She cried as she snatched the paper from his hands, frantically scanning the headlines. "Oh, thank goodness!" She exhaled, feeling a weight lift of her heart as she read the news about the D. brothers' escape from Marineford. "Thank goodness, both Luffy-san and Ace-san are safe."

"Vivi, do you know Fire Fist Ace?" A voice over a shoulder spoke, scaring the blue-haired princess that she almost dropped the paper.

"Papa! Don't scare me like that!" She scolded. "And yes, I do know him. We met when I was travelling with Luffy-san and the others through the desert. Haven't I told you about it?"

"You only said you met Luffy's brother…" The king replied, eliciting a giggle from his daughter. "What's so funny?"

"Papa, Ace-san is Luffy's brother!"

A look of realisation dawned on the king. "So that's why you were so upset when news of his execution came out!" He realised, thinking back to his daughter's weird reaction to the news several weeks back. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"W-well…" Vivi blushed, then proceeded to shove the paper into her father's face to switch topics. "Th-that's not important now. Look at the news! They say an assassin saved them!"

Cobra pulled the paper away from his face and looked down at the article. "The Black Queen?"

"Your Majesty, isn't that the assassin we met a few years back?" Pell inquired, looking over the king's shoulder.

"It is."

"Papa, have you met her?" Vivi asked curiously.

Cobra nodded. "Me, Pell, Chaka and Igaram have all met her. It was several years ago…"

"You know, maybe I should have expected to see Little Black there." Shanks mused as he downed yet another bottle of rum within the confines of his cabin.

"Uh huh." The Red Hair's first mate, Benn Beckman hummed from across the room where he was reading the day's paper. "You wanna look at the paper?"

The red-haired captain snorted. "Nah, that article's full of marine bullshit. Who'd want to read it?"

Benn countered easily, pointing out that only those involved knew what had transpired at Marineford. In other words, everyone else would read it.

"True." Shanks replied, dropping the empty bottle into the growing pile next to his bed. "But I was there. So meh, moot point."

In response, Benn simply rolled his eyes, having long known how his captain's mind worked.

"Just so you know, I've told Willis* to set course for the New World. Figured that's what you'd want, unless you have other ideas?"

"Eh…I was thinking of going to one of our islands. You know, those uninhabited ones with lotsa wild animals? Give the guys some vacation time."

"Faune Island then?"

"Yeah, sure…which one was that?"

"One of those uninhabited ones with lots of wild animals."

"…"

"..."

"Hey Benn?"

"Yeah?"

"Wanna prank call Little Black?"

Things were progressing smoothly. After making sure everything was in order, Marco had returned to his room. Glad that there was nothing else to do, he sat down at his desk and checked things off his to-do list. The food and weapons store was checked, every equipment aboard the ship checked, and their course plotted. Marco leaned back in his chair and cracked his neck to release the knots of stress. He stood up and flopped onto his bed. Finally, he could get some much-deserved rest!

…Or not.

He had probably been asleep for about two hours judging by the light that shone through the porthole yet it felt like less. He would've slept longer, but someone up there must've had a grudge against him and so decided to wake him up in the worst way possible.

Marco clutched his midsection, doubled over on his bed after something had crashed through the roof on landed directly on him, hard.

"What the fuck…" He cursed as he waited for the pain to subside.

"Did you have to push me!" A voice yelled out angrily. The voice sounded familiar and the blonde commander had to wonder where he had heard it. "It was just a few pieces of chocolate!"

"It was chocolate from Cacao Island! And I warned you not to touch them!" A distinctly female voice yelled back, though it sounded far away and was accompanied by the beating of wings that no doubt belonged to a large bird. Marco looked up through the new hole in his ceiling, catching a glimpse of a large white bird. That bird…he turned to closer inspect the person who had almost crushed him. He was dressed in clothes similar to those of nobles, but Marco could see the difference between those gaudy attires and the clothes in front of him seem to be designed for practicality. A blue top hat with goggles around the rim sat on his head of messy blonde hair, obscuring most of the man's face from sight. The man didn't seem to notice him and was still yelling profanities towards the unknown woman outside.

"You're the guy from yesterday." Marco stated as the man paused for breath, drawing his attention. The man turned towards him and blinked owlishly.

"Hi." He greeted casually, completely dismissing the fact that he was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be. Marco shot him a deadpanned glare and was about to speak when someone burst into his room.

"Marco!" Fossa yelled, almost knocking the door down. "The Black Queen is…oh. What happened?"

"This guy…" He pointed at the man. "Gave me a very rude wake-up call."

Five minutes later…

On the Moby's Deck, both parties stood facing each other. By the railings, a man and woman stood together while a large white bird stood behind them. Unlike the man, who wore mostly blue, the woman's was completely black. She wore a black dress of sorts that reached her knees with a split down the middle which started at her waist. Underneath that, she wore black pants which were tucked into combat boots of the same colour. A hood covered her face along with her signature black mask. By the cabins were the Whitebeards with Marco at the front.

"Well this is awkward." The woman muttered. Turning to Marco, she inclined her head slightly. "Sorry for earlier. That was my fault actually."

Then she pushed down on the man's head. "You apologize too."

"It wasn't even my fault!" He protested, but only succeeded in getting a slap over the head. Getting the message, the man, though reluctant, apologized. To their surprise, Marco bowed deeply in reply.

"Thank you." He said. "Without your help, we might have lost both Oyaji and Ace." Following his lead, the rest of the Whitebeards also bowed, leaving the other two groups to stare in shock. After a moment, the woman-Rainha-sighed. "Get up. We didn't do it for you."

"Even so, it doesn't change that fact." Marco replied as he got up, the others following suit. "We can never thank you enough."

Behind her mask, Rainha rolled her eyes. "Do what you want. At any rate, I'm only here to see Fire Fist and Straw Hat."

Beside Luffy's bed, Ace had fallen asleep once again after eating the lunch that one of the crew had brought down for him. He had been imprisoned for the better part of last month, and Level 6 in Impel Down wasn't exactly what one would define as comfy. A few weeks of hanging from chains by his hands had his entire body sore and aching all over, and the little work out he had after Luffy released his cuffs didn't help either. His body craved for a bed and adequate rest yet his mind demanded to remain near his little brother. His went with his mind. One of the doctors had told him earlier that Luffy was expected to wake after a few days, and he thought, hey, he'd endured a few weeks of sleeping with his arms chained, what's a few more days of bad sleep. At least he was sitting down and his arms were free. Thus, circumstances found him dozing off in the dim lighting of the infirmary room, drifting off into dreamland.

His dreams this time weren't half as pleasant as the last.

He had dreamt of his childhood days, yet those days had never happened. In his dream, he was back at Grey Terminal with Luffy and Sabo.

They had been hunting through the trash heaps for anything they could use or sell when heavy footfalls interrupted their everyday banter. He looked up but instead of Sabo's dad as he remembered, a large man with curly black hair stood in front of him. He held Luffy and Sabo up in both hands, their forms limp.

"Zehahaha. Commander Ace, your brothers are pretty cute, aren't they? Especially this one." He laughed, shaking Luffy around like a rag doll. Ace's eyes widened in recognition. "Blackbeard!" He growled. "Let go of them! Don't you dare touch my brothers!" The man laughed again, the sound sending shudders down his spine. "What're you gonna do about it, commander?" He gestured at Ace with his left hand, Sabo swinging wildly with the movement. "In case you haven't noticed, you're a kid too!" Ace looked down in horror. He was right. He was a kid now, he thought, staring at his much smaller hands. He started to panic. What was he going to do? He couldn't beat Blackbeard as an adult, how could he possibly beat him now as a kid?! If he couldn't beat him, he couldn't save Sabo and Luffy and if he couldn't save them they would…Ace didn't want to go there. If he did, he might sink into an endless loop of fear, hate and regret that no one could break. He sunk to his knees, Blackbeard's noisome laugh ringing overhead. C'mon Ace think! He yelled to himself. There has to be some way you can save them! There has to be…

"Ace!" A clear voice cut through the laughter, pulling him out of his despair. Then, Blackbeard disappeared and in his place stood a young girl with jet black hair that just reached past her shoulders. Her hand was outstretched towards him, ushering him forward. Sabo and Luffy stood next to her, grinning as always.

"Don't worry, Ace. You're safe. The bad man's gone now, see? Sabo and Luffy are safe now." The girl said, smiling gently as she ruffled Luffy's hair. Ace unconsciously took a step towards them, his hand reaching out to meet hers.

"I'll protect you, Ace. I promise."

Just a bit closer…

"Ace!" Ace almost jumped out of his skin when someone shook him by the shoulders. Shocked out of slumber, he looked up to see Izo next to him, a hand placed on his shoulder.

"Izo?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes, still a little sleepy. Izo chuckled at the sight. "Rise and shine, sleeping beauty." He joked, calling Ace by the nickname the crew had given him. "You have a guest."

Curious, Ace got up and followed Izo up to the deck, but not before he gave his unconscious little brother a quick once over. Izo merely smiled at his overprotectiveness. It was one of Ace's most endearing traits, and made the youngest Whitebeard so much more lovable in the eyes of his seniors. He led the fire user up topside, his kimono swishing in time with every step. When they finally exited the dim hallways, only a few were left on deck.

The others had long dispersed, either to prepare for dinner, to man the ship or simply to do personal business. Those who stayed were all commanders, to be specific, the first, third, fifth, twelfth and with the addition of Ace and Izo, the second and sixteenth. Haruta was talking to the assassin, trying to get as much information as possible but Rainha was just as much of an expert in avoiding questions as Haruta was at prying secrets. Without giving away anything, she answered every question with vague answers, frustrating the brunette commander to no end. He was just about to storm off when he saw Ace come up behind Izo. In seconds, he was dragging his fellow commander in the direction of the group, all the while complaining about how the assassin was picking on him.

The commotion drew the attention of the other three commanders who were speaking off to the side and their two guests who had leaning against the railings.

"Marco." Ace walked, detaching Haruta from his arm. "Izo said I had guests?" Marco gestured in the assassin's direction. "Yep. You do remember her, don't you?" Turning to them, Ace's first reaction was to freeze in shock.

"…Sabo?"

Ace felt like he was in a dream. That couldn't be Sabo! There was simply no way! Sabo was dead…had been for 10 years. He thought bitterly. Yet the name flowed from him naturally in reaction to the man in a blue coat, with the familiar top hat and goggle combination perched on top of a nest of blonde curls. He was exactly what Ace imagined Sabo to look like when he grew up, except that his journey had ended that day 10 years ago and he never had a chance to. The familiar heaviness that weighed in his heart reminded him every day about how weak he was back then, and the tattoo on his arm pushed him to train harder every day, determined to get stronger so he could protect those he cared about.

"Who are you?" He asked coldly. The man looked at him hesitantly, as if he was thinking of what to tell Ace. But Ace wasn't exactly known for his patience, and nearly threw a hiken at him when he took too long.

"Wait! Wait! Don't torch me so quickly! It's me! Sabo!" The man yelled frantically, earning a glare from Ace for his troubles. "You're lying. Sabo died ten years ago, there's no way you're him." He stated coldly. The man sighed. "I thought you'd react like that." Loosening his cravat, he hooked a finger underneath his shirt and pulled out a necklace. It was a simple design, just a long chain with a blue 'S' shaped pendant dangling from it. "I'm not lying. See?" Ace's eyes narrowed. "Where'd you get that?" He asked, a little more convinced now. "Those pendants were custom made."

"It was a gift. There were four of these, 'A', 'S', 'L' and 'AL'."

As the words left his mouth, Ace started to tremble. Then, without warning, his punched the guy, sending him sprawling onto the deck. The man-Sabo-propped himself onto his elbow, caressing his cheek where the fire user's fist had made contact. "I know I deserved that, but did you really have to punch that hard?" He grumbled as he looked into silver eyes.

"You idiot!" Ace yelled, grabbing him by the collar. "Where the hell have you been? How are you not dead? Why didn't you come back? Or even send a letter? Do you know how wrong it felt without you? Luffy cried when he heard about your ship being blown up! He. Cried! I cried! Nee-chan and Makino and Dadan and the bandits cried!"

Sabo averted his eyes guiltily. "I couldn't help it." He said quietly. "I was rescued after my ship sunk, but I hit my head and as a result lost my memories. I didn't remember until 5 years ago."

"Five years?!" Ace roared in shock. "Then why didn't you come back if you'd remembered five years ago?!"

"I had my reasons." He replied, but said no more. Ace recognised that look in his eyes and sighed. It was that look he got whenever there was something he didn't want to tell them. But for once, Ace didn't care. He had just gotten his brother back and for now, that was all that mattered. Pulling him close, Ace wrapped Sabo in a bone crushing hug, his head buried in the crook of his shoulders. Sabo recognised the tell-tale signs of crying from the way his shoulders shook, but didn't say anything. A moment later, Ace pulled away and grinned. "Luffy will be so happy when he wakes up. And Nee-chan too! And everyone else back at Dawn! We have to tell them-"

"Actually, Nee-chan already knows."

"What? How?"

"Well…she was the one who helped me regain my memories…"

"So she knows?"

"I just said that, didn't I?"

"I have to call her."

"Why?"

"To ask her why she never told us."

"That's 'because I asked her not to. Anyhow, you don't have to call her. She's right behind you."

"What?"

Marco was lost. Utterly lost.

This guy, the masked guy who helped them yesterday, was Ace's brother? And not just any brother, but one that had supposedly died ten years ago? He had a feeling that his brothers were just as lost. And then there was that conversation about a sister. Ace's brother said she was behind Ace, so that would be…he traced the invisible line, and landed on the assassin who had been momentarily forgotten. Ace had also turned around and had apparently came to the same conclusion.

"Nee-chan?"

Rainha, who had been silently waiting for the rock to drop suspired audibly at the shocked expressions on their faces. Reaching under her hood, she pulled out a necklace similar to the one Sabo had shown earlier, though the pendant was a different one.

"About time." She said exasperatedly, pulling down her hood to reveal long black hair that was bound in a low ponytail. She subsequently removed her mask and stuffed it into a waist bag at her side, revealing side-swept bangs that fringed her face, and eyes that were apparently heterochronic, seeing as it was violet on the left and gold on the right. Thin brows arched above her eyes, and a button nose along with slightly thin lips gave her an air of youth.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't notice me at all."

Ace laughed sheepishly, automatically falling into the familiar atmosphere. He didn't dare say that if Sabo hadn't told him, he might actually not notice her. Though to be fair, he didn't know that she was the Black Queen. Speaking of which…

"How come you never told me you were the Black Queen?" He protested. Luffy, he could understand, since their little brother could be really loose-lipped at times. He had heard the name plenty of times since he set sail, and even more since he joined the Whitebeards thanks to Haruta, but he had never thought that the assassin would be someone he knew.

Rainha shrugged in response. "You never asked."

Haruta cut in before Ace had a chance to retort. The twelfth commander cried in mock hurt, whining about how Ace had betrayed him by not telling him that he knew the assassin, causing everyone to roll their eyes at his antics.

"Stop badgering him, Haruta. Can't you see the poor kid didn't know either?" Vista laughed, clapping a hand on his shoulder in goodwill. The look of betrayal one the youngest commander's face was a rare sight since it was one of the times he looked his age. Marco chuckled, then turned to the assassin. "So who are you really?" Ace, hearing the question, deemed it an appropriate opportunity to escape the clutches of his ship brothers and sought refuge next to Rainha. Half hidden behind the assassin, which in fact wasn't effective at all since Rainha was about half a head shorter than him, he grinned at his crewmates. "Guys, lemme introduce you. This is Sabo, my younger brother and uh…our elder sister!"

The pin dropped.

They had figured out the relation between Ace and Sabo earlier, but...

"Elder sister?!" Their jaws fell open.

"Yup!" Ace replied, throwing his arms over his now revealed sister. "We're not related by blood though."

"Obviously." Marco rolled his eyes. "Since Roger never had a child before you. Speaking of which, why have we never heard you mention them before? Or rather, how did you not recognise them in Marineford."

"Ah well…reasons. And I didn't recognise them before 'cause one, I didn't know Nee-chan's an assassin, and two, I thought Sabo was dead."

"We don't want to know, do we?"

Rainha cut in, the smile on her face sending chills up their spines. "Nope."

"I thought so."

"Now that that's all cleared up…" Quicker than they could react, Rainha reached out and grabbed Ace by the shoulders, and in one swift movement, threw him into the main mast.

Bewildered by the sudden attack, his silver eyes looked up to meet his sister's and almost shuddered at the iciness in her eyes.

"Don't you have something to tell me, dear little brother?"

Ace paled.

Shit.

He was so dead.

*Willis : One of the RH pirates, blonde guy with shades. Nameless in canon.