A/N: WARNING things get worse before they get better. I'm also sorry that the chapters haven't been coming out at their usual pace. Um I don't know if anyone really cares English attacks over the Japanese ones but I went with the English translations from the anime. I hope no one really minds.

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"Yes very soon Willow. I'm about a day away from the island he hasn't yet left. His ship is in view and I'm hoping to catch him before he leaves."

"Oh that's great!" I shouted excitedly. My heart was racing and I was just about out of breath but not because of the training that me and Cole were taking a break from.

"What?!" Cole asked sitting up and expectantly looking at me. I held up one finger to signify that I'd let her in a minute, when I was done talking to Ace.

"It's better than great. It's fantastic!" Ace shouted. I could all but see the grin on his stupid face.

"Good luck." I smiled. I was so happy for him. He was so close to extracting revenge for having killed Thatch. Thatch was so close to being avenged and Ace was just as close to coming back and I couldn't wait.

"I'll be back as soon as I can alright?" He said.

I nodded but realized that he couldn't hear me nod my head. "Y-Yeah. I'll be waiting." What else could I do? I was stuck on the Moby Dick. And I might not be waiting for Luffy on an island in the middle of a forest anymore, but I sure as hell was waiting for his brother on a ship in the middle of the ocean. And that wasn't going to change any time soon. I was going to keep training with the crew and I was going to keep waiting for him to get his ass back here.

"Not for long you won't be."

"I lov-" I tried for the millionth time only to be interrupted for the millionth time. I really just wanted to say those three words to him. Just once. I mean Cole had been rooting for me to confess and so here I was trying to and I could never get the three words out in one uninterrupted sentence. And it sucked really badly.

"I gotta go. Bye!" And all too suddenly the line went dead before I could protest.

I stared at the receiver and finished my sentence, "you." For the trillionth time I was unable to fully say those three words together to him. It's not that I had a bad feeling about him fighting Teach but what if? Those words haunted my thoughts and dreams. What if? Those words terrified me even though I had confidence in him and his abilities. He was going to be fine and after a fight with Teach he was going to come back, he was going to see how I had grown and we'd have a celebration of not only his success and his return but also of Thatch's death, we would celebrate his life and the fact that he would be able to rest in peace now.

"So what's up with Fire Fist? You have to tell me girlie." Cole demanded pulling me out of my thoughts. I shrugged and told her.

When I was done telling her she nodded and stood and with that we resumed my training.

The sight of a ship pulling up besides the Moby Dick had distracted me and like a vacuum I had been sucked into my thoughts out away from my original reason for having come up here.

"Hey get below deck or something." Marco called to me jerking me out of my thoughts. He was warning everyone about Shanks.

"What why?" I had come out onto the deck for a bit of fresh air and to ask Marco if he would help me with training with my crescent blades. I hadn't been prepared to see a ship pulling up next to ours. I hadn't expected to hear murmurs about what the Red haired Shanks was doing here.

"His haki is quite powerful. Nothing you could safely handle." He explained glancing over towards the other ship then back at me. He had warned plenty of other people so I wasn't really offended by the fact that he didn't think that I wasn't strong enough to handle whatever haki was.

Usually I would have listened instantly. I would have just gone beneath the deck and back to the training room to work on getting stronger, but I wanted to see who Shanks was. He was after all the man who had inspired Luffy to become a pirate, the man who had given him his precious straw hat and had in a roundabout way been the reason behind Ace's manners. He was one of the four Emperors so naturally I was curious. But then again I should probably heed Marco's warning.

"Would the crow's-nest be ok?" I asked him. If not I'd take the chance and stay on the deck. I didn't know what haki was so I didn't really know how it would affect me if I was exposed to it.

He looked up, examined it for a moment and said, "That's questionable. But if I were you I'd get out of range."

"Haki won't kill me will it?" I had heard of haki but that was all.

"He's not here to kill anyone. He had some business with Pops that's all."

"Oh. Alright." That didn't really ask my question. Maybe I should have worded it better.

"If you're going up there hurry up. He's about to board." Marco said lightly propelling me towards the mast with a firm shove. I scrambled up the ropes and clumsily fell into the nest. I peeked over the edge, only to the point in which I could watch the red haired man walk up to Pops and offer him a large round container of something that was probably sake. Some of the crew members had collapsed and I wondered why no one was doing anything about them. I also wondered if they were dead or not. But my attention was turned back to the red haired man and Pops.

The man sat, was poured a drink from one of Pops glasses, the size of a something that the man could have swam in had he wished to, and they talked but about something that I couldn't quite make out.

Things seemed to be going well Pops was smiling quite a bit as was Shanks. All I know was that judging by their facial expressions and the fact that Ace's name had been the conversation was going downhill and fast.

I certainly hadn't seen it coming so I don't know how the red haired guy had but Pops had thrown the now empty round bottle that had been offered to him as a gift at him and he had dodged without even getting to his feet. He didn't lose his cool, just got to his feet and drew his sword. Unfortunately from my vantage point up here in the crow's-nest I believe that I had missed a big piece of their disagreement.

Wide eyed I wondered if he were challenging Pops. I didn't doubt the guy's abilities against anyone else but this was Pops he was provoking. Compared to the old man he was a shrimp! But Pops rose to his feet after detaching the oxygen and IVs he was hooked up to and picked up his weapon. I'm sure there's a name for it but I didn't know what it was. Below me the crew looked up at the sky as did I. I saw that the grey clouds had been split.

-Ace-

I perched waiting on the roof of a building that lined the street out of town. I was sure to meet him if I waited long enough for him to come. I had been searching for him for a while and I wanted to get back to the crew and most importantly Willow.

I knew that she was trying to say three words, three words that I knew she had probably thought long and hard about, trying to make sure that they were the right words. I didn't want her to say them through the transponder snail, I didn't want to hear those words until I was back on the Moby Dick because if I allowed her to say them now it'd feel like it she were expecting the worse to come when I managed to face Teach. And it wasn't.

I was going to make it out alive; I was going to go back to the crew and the Moby Dick. We were going to have a big dinner and we were going to celebrate my success and mourn Thatch's death. Then I'd see how strong Willow had gotten since I'd left and as I had promised I'd tell her all about my travels. And everything would go back to the way it had been, or something close to it.

This was going to be easy and I wasn't going to kick the bucket, not here, not now.

Finally though Teach, three men and an animal walked past, talking about their plans to leave the island.

"Oi." I called out to the traitor. I was still pissed but it was controllable now. "Wait a minute Teach. I've been looking for you." At that he stopped and turned around to face me.

For a moment he stood there looking up at me, as did the other two men, but then he smiled and had the nerve to call me commander as he took a few steps closer to the building I was sitting on.

"Knock it off! Commander is a word only those respectful of that person are allowed to say. Stop mocking."

Someone noted that I was Fire Fist Ace and I nodded and verified that indeed I was with a polite nice to meet you that I couldn't have stopped even if I had wanted to.

"It seems you've become quite a captain, right? Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, Marshal D. Teach."

He stood there and laughed. "What's wrong Ace? It's been a long time. What's the matter? How did you know I was here?" He asked several different questions. I wondered if this was his way of stalling the inevitable.

Lots of things were the matter. But the thing that was the most wrong was that he was still alive. But that was soon to be taken care of. "Teach stop asking useless questions." Who cared how I knew that he was here. "You took a man's life. You must have a comprehension of the situation." If he didn't yet he would in not a few minutes. "Isn't that right?"

He stood there with a smile with several gaping holes in it, that looked forced on his face. He stood there looking up at me in his captain's coat doing nothing. "Yeah I know. Then let me say just one thing."

I thought something intelligent was about to come from his mouth, or that he'd decide to attack first. But he didn't, Teach just opened his arms wide and asked, "Ace, will you become my nakama?"

As if.

I just sat there staring at him. And the crew harassed me for saying and doing some rather stupid things. And I'll admit that I've done quite a number of stupid things that I probably shouldn't have done. But never have I asked a man after my life to become my nakama, nor would I ever do so.

"Rule the world with me!" Teach shouted up at me as though the idea might sound the least bit appealing. "I've already planned every single thing!" He boasted proudly.

The only person I was ever going to rule with was Pops and the crew. And it wasn't as though Pops even really wanted to rule anything. He didn't want to be the Pirate King; he just wanted to extend a hand for those who needed a family.

I bit back any bit of a smile, any sound of laughter or a chuckle. The so called plans that he had made were going to be ruined. But I sat there and decided to hear him out.

Why?

Well because the shit coming from his mouth at the moment was rather amusing. I'm sure he knew what was coming and was probably just buying time. But the more he spoke the more ridiculous things came from his mouth.

"Whitebeards time is over already! It is I who will become Pirate King." If I had to put my money on anyone I'd put it on Luffy before I put it on him. But I sat there quietly. "First I'll go to Water Seven from here to kill Strawhat Luffy and hand him over to the government."

And how Luffy was in his plans? He wasn't going to lay a finger on Luffy. His plan was going to stop and end here. "Luffy? What did you say?" I asked even though I had heard him perfectly fine. I mean I was hoping that he hadn't said what he did but I know that he had said something about killing Luffy and handing him over to the government, which was only going to happen over my dead body. Teach was simply digging himself deeper and deeper into the ass load of shit he was already over his head in.

Teach lowered his arms. "You know him?" he was obviously surprised and maybe he was regretting having said that or maybe he was hoping that Luffy and I were enemies so that would atone for what he had just said.

"I won't let you lay a finger on him. He's my little brother!" I threw out there. To say the least the surprise on his face was priceless. To my satisfaction he was even sweating just a bit. "And of course I'm not gonna be your. . ." before I could finish my sentence two shots were fired. They flew straight through my body like the one Willow had accidentally shot me with. One flew through my head, right between my eyes. And the other was in the middle of my chest. "Nakama." I finished my sentence.

Teach tore his attention off of me and looked at the subordinate who decided that they'd shoot me. I hadn't even made a move.

But I laughed it off. That ball had started rolling and for them it was a downward spiral from here. "It seems like we have a guy without manners here." With that I pushed myself to my feet and the moment I did he took off running. I fired balls of fire at the guy from the tips of my fingers as though I had a gun. I was having great fun now, how that the action had started. All that talking had been getting tiring.

While my back was turned someone had thought it a good idea to throw a fully intact hotel at me. It was a good thing this town was like a ghost town. If it wasn't I might have felt bad for the people inside. I really hoped there was no one hiding inside because my fire tore right through the wooden building, rendering it useless as flaming boards fell to the ground. I stood there unharmed and smiling.

Teach turned to his men and told them to stay out of our fight, that they were no match for me. But while he was yelling at them I sent a fire fist straight at them. It sent them through several buildings before they landed; only Teach was on fire, rolling around on his back like an insect that couldn't get to its feet. His men rushed towards him. And as they did so I jumped off the roof of the building I had been perching on and began heading their way, through the building that my fire had sliced in half.

He finally made it to his feet but was laughing. "I understand Ace. You want to kill me, right?"

I stopped atop a pile of wood from the building I was standing between. "That's right. The murder of a nakama is a big crime." I told him as though he didn't already know this.

"It's true I killed the 4th Division Commander Thatch! I had no choice!"

Was he serious?

And here I thought we were done with talking and had moved on to fighting. Sigh, looks as though I had been wrong.

"He had the Devil fruit I wanted. The ship's rule that the guy who finds it has to eat it." He didn't have to eat it if he didn't want to. He could have handed it off to someone else. I thought to myself but Teach wasn't done talking. He went on and one about how he had memorized every Devil fruit shape so that's how he knew that Thatch had found the one he had wanted. But he didn't shut up there, he continued going on about why he stayed on Pops ship. It wasn't because he needed a family or had hit rock bottom. It wasn't because they had no place else to go or any reason other than the chances of him running into a certain devil fruit were higher with Pops. Not only did he keep rambling about things but he then had the nerve to still call Thatch his friend.

"And after killing Thatch you stole it." I concluded for him. I wasn't in the mood to stand here and listen to him talk. I came here to kill him and be on my way. Could we not get the show on the road?

"Well it was just the spur of the moment. This ability has chosen me Ace!" He loudly exclaimed.

Devil fruits didn't choose who their consumers were. If he had not killed Thatch and he had eaten it Teaches 'chosen ability' would have been his.

He began laughing and talking some more. "With this, I have become the strongest man, Ace!" He then held out his hand with rings on each finger and said, "Look." So I did. "Even among logia it's unique!" Wisps of darkness covered his hand and were spearing around him before the darkness was shot as a column into the sky. "Ace, your body is fire right?" This was a fact he knew well so maybe the question was rhetorical or something. The darkness was climbing up into the sky, surrounding him. I guess this was his power. "I am darkness!" He shouted.

"Darkness?" I asked.

"That's right Commander Ace. I can't get killed by you." He continued to say something about his fruit being the most evil of all recorded Devil fruits. The logia type, Yami Yami fruit. He said that I was going to get a taste of its power. And I just smirked. There was nothing I wanted more than to get a taste of his power and to kill him.

"Do as you like."

And with that the darkness began crawling along the ground, like black water. I just stood there and watched.

Unfortunately he began going on and on about his devil fruit and what it was, that it was gravity, the ability to suck things in.

"Even so it seems it's not reaching me." Seriously when were things going to pick up? When was the pace going to go a bit faster? I was almost starting to get bored.

"I'm not going after you yet. Just stand there and look at the town." So instead of fighting he was going to show off his Devil fruit ability? With those words he slammed his hand into the ground and shouted the words 'black hole'.

The ground began trembling and the town began to slowly sink into the ground, it began caging in on itself. Buildings toppled, roofs caved in, windows shattered and wood splintered as it all came falling down and the darkness was swallowing it all up. When it receded like the tide all that was left were the foundations of the buildings. The darkness rushed back to him and the only thing that marred the now flat and barren landscape was the pile of wood that I had decided to stop advancing on.

The darkness manifested into a column once again and from this column bits and chunks of the town were being spewed from it.

The landscape hadn't even been cleared for a minute and when the dust settled the town was in shambles around us, it was nothing but rubble and flammable wood.

Teach began laughing and asked if I got it now. Did he think that that demonstration had scared me? Did he think that it would? Well before he could ramble on any more I put my hands out in front of me and sent small orbs of light towards him. Their appearance cut him off mid-sentence and seemed to confuse him for a second there.

"Firefly Fire." I said the name of the attack. Then added, "Blazing Doll." And with the last word the orbs of firefly like fire exploded, leaving the damn traitor rolling around on his back like an insect for a second time today. "I understand pretty well the greatness of the power of darkness." I briefly wondered if he could hear me over the cackling of the fire that was burning him and his own screams or not. But either way I continued on with a smirk. "If you're a logia type you should be able to dodge an attack such as this."

Just as I finished saying that the darkness wrapped around the blazing fire on his body and put it out. I frowned as he rolled over to his stomach then proceeded to get to his knees. "I already told you, darkness drags in everything. Bullets, blades, strikes, fire and even lightening. I can't dodge attacks like the rest of you do. My body absorbs much more pain than a normal human."

I wondered why he was telling me this but fortunately I didn't have to wait long for him to tell me. Just long enough for him to stand to his feet and start moving his mouth once again. "But in exchange for that risk there's one more thing I'm capable of absorbing! Dark Whirlpool!" He shouted lifting his hand. It was covered in darkness and after he shouted the word that darkness began reaching for me. As it did teach began talking again.

"The gravity of darkness can accurately absorb the 'entity' of the Devil fruit users!" When he finished the last word something began trying to pull me forwards. Yikes! I dug my heels in and pulled back to stop from being pulled forwards. And even though I managed to resist it my hat ended up flying off and landing at the base of the pile of wood I was standing on. "Also my body can . . ." As he said that I was pulled towards him only to be stopped by his large hand grabbing ahold of my shoulder.

I wasn't worried not until nothing was happening. Where was my fire?

"How is it?" He asked. Teach was smiling so broadly, as though he thought he had won already. But I came here to kill him and that's what I was going to do. I'd just have to figure out a way to do that without coming in contact with him or his darkness. I wondered if he actually wanted an answer or not. "Have you figured it out yet Ace?"

I managed to get in two words as I watched him pull back his fist. I saw it coming and there wasn't a thing I could do. My fire wasn't 'working'! His fist slammed into my solar plexus. When it did he let go of my shoulder. His punch sent me flying, right into the rubble the town had become. I slid off the wood and onto the ground. Damn that hurt!

"It's been a while since someone has actually hit you right?"

I sure as hell hope that was rhetorical. Of course I hadn't been physically hit since I had eaten my devil fruit. And he knew this.

"You understood the moment I grabbed you."

As he continued talking my now ringing ears off, I reached up to my mouth a felt the liquid that was on either side of my mouth. I wasn't surprised to see blood when I examined my fingers. Yet at the same time I was.

"The other thing my darkness can absorb is the Devil fruit powers!"

No shit. I had figured that one out the hard way. I thought as I got to my feet. When I did I almost fell back but managed to regain my footing. "In other words, by being touched, those with abilities of Devil fruits are unable to use their ability for that time!" I voiced what I had gotten from all of his talking and that one punch.

"Logia, Zoan, Paramecia, all those overconfident Devil fruit users in the world, I've obtained the ability to expose their weakness!" He said this all with a large smile. He was obviously enjoying this.

Using my thumb I wiped the blood off one of the corners of my mouth and said, "So it's fine if I don't get caught." That's all I had to do, try not to get caught by him again.

"I just proved to you that you can't get away from the gravity of darkness. Dark Whirlpool!"

He shouted the same attack, the attack that had pulled me into him. Unlike last time I was prepared for the suction. I was prepared and ready to counter. I wouldn't get caught in his grasp like I had last time. When I was close enough I shouted my attack and flung two javelin like rods of fire at him. They lodged themselves in his body. But despite having been prepared I still couldn't get out of the way fast enough and as a result his fist and wrist slammed into my neck. Like before Teach sent me slamming into the remnants of some building.

I watched him curse and wreathe. He almost broke my neck! I mean I get this is a to the death fight. But still. I rubbed at my neck with a frown.

As his darkness swirled around him to put out my fire I put my two index fingers together to form a cross and shouted, "Crossfire!" Instead of moving he stood there smiling as the cross of fire headed right for him.

Teach was breathing heavily but was still standing. I on the other hand was on my hands and knees. I knew I needed to get up before he attacked first. But I had to find the energy to do so. Then I had to summon it up. This was getting tiring, almost as tiring as all of his talking.

But despite my annoyance he continued ranting and raving about how great his darkness was. According to him that also included my strength. And even though I was for the most part ignoring his speeches I heard what came next loud and clear. "However, it would be a shame to waste that power. Ace!" he exclaimed. As I began struggling to get to my feet. It was dangerous to be on your hands and knees before an enemy you were aiming to kill. But now killing him wasn't my only goal. "Be my nakama!"

As if. I thought as I pushed myself to my knees. Eventually I'd get to my feet. What the hell was Teach thinking? What a stupid offer it was to make to the man who was trying to kill you. I get that I wasn't doing too hot but I'd survive and kill him. But either way having a bit of a harder time than I imagined or not, I wasn't going to become his nakama.

Ever.

I couldn't stop from chuckling a bit as I looked at him. "If I surrender my power to you, then there was no point in me being a man. I definitely won't live with regrets. Got that idiot?"

"It's a shame Ace. Die by my darkness!" Teach shouted as I made it to my feet.

I smiled. I was going to die, eventually but not today. Not here not now and certainly not on this island. I wasn't going to die by a traitors hand and I sure as hell wasn't kicking the bucket until I had kept all of my promises. I still had to make Whitebeard King and tell Willow my stories. I had examples to set for Luffy and I had a division to lead. I'd regret dying if I died here.

"Great Blaze Commandment!" I shouted fire swirling around the ground around me to form a large ball of eager to burn fire.

He shouted something but I didn't bother to listen until he said, "There can be only one winner."

No shit there could only be one winner and it was going to be me. "I'll make Whitebeard the king." I said. And I couldn't do that if I wasn't the winner.

We both lunged at each other shouting until his darkness met my fire.

-Marco-

"Hey phoenix." A voice called before my shoulder was grabbed. "Look at the paper." Before I could look at it it was shoved in my face.

Jerking away I grumbled the words I know.

"Oh? You don't look as though you're worried or anything." Cole said putting her hands on her hips. "You don't look concerned for Mr. Ace at all."

I shook my head. "I'm not. I trust Pops will do what he believes is right. I'm more concerned about Willow seeing this article."

"Cute. But I agree. Got any ideas as how to keep it from her?"

"Do you really need help scheming?" I asked the woman. Seriously there were plenty of ways to keep a single member of the crew from seeing a simple newspaper. The more difficult aspect of keeping Willow oblivious to the news pertaining to Ace was to keep the word from reaching her ears.

"Nope. Not at all commander. However I'll need help spreading the word and keeping papers out of her hands."

"You know we're going to get Ace back right?"

"Of course numbskull. Pops isn't going to sit by as one of his sons gets executed. He'd do it for any of us. But Willow doesn't need to know until we get there. She'll freak out or go into depression or into training overload or something you know."

I nodded. Yeah I knew. I knew of the words she had been trying to tell him, I knew that she was in too deep when it came to her feelings for Ace. I knew that he secretly returned her feelings and I knew that she was eagerly awaiting his return. But instead of him coming back to us we were going to go to him. It was only a matter of time, of getting there and gathering out allies. Pops wasn't a stupid man and therefore he wouldn't rush into things without battle plans of sorts.

We were going to rescue Ace no matter what it takes. The Marines were going to get the fight they were looking for.

"Ok well I'll start spreading the word. I'll go this way and you got that way." Cole turned me around and pushed me the opposite direction in which she was going. She made quick work as did I.

As silly as it was to do all of this work for one member we needed everyone perfectly healthy, without emotions clouding their decisions and we needed level headed people. This was the girl's first battle, her first real fight, the first one that mattered. This was the first battle and to top it off it was for a person she was attached to. There was no way to know how exactly she'd react to the news, there was no way to know exactly how she'd react on the battle field but if she were like her mother it wouldn't be good. I had a feeling that we'd see a side of Willow we had never seen when we got there.

With the help of the crew everything was quiet, Willow carried on like normal. Even though we were preparing for war, preparing to face however many marines we'd have to get through to get to Ace, to save his stupid ass.

I was on my way to my room, to turn in for the night, I was almost there when Willow's door opened and she walked out as if she had been waiting for me. There was an unreadable look on her face and so many crystal clear emotions swirled in her green eyes. A piece of paper was gripped tightly in her hand and she seemed to have trouble lifting her eyes to look me in the eyes.

But when she managed the feat she asked, "What-what i-is this?"

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