Encounter

Characters: Law, Ace. Rating: K. Warnings: none

The Grand Line was full of interesting individuals. They'd heard as such, before crossing Reverse Mountain and entering it for themselves, but the reputation hardly did the people justice.

Listing off all the insane people the Heart Pirates encountered by the time Sabaody Archipelago appeared on the horizon would take days to accurately recount (and that was before they landed and met the remaining Supernova crews, among others), but there was one encounter that stuck in their minds more than most.

The second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Portgas D. Ace himself.

Admittedly, they'd been aware that they'd run into some of the true bigshots at some point in the journey, but to meet such a high ranking member of a Yonkou crew so early on had been outside of even Law's expectations. The Yonkou's admittedly impressive influence was largely contained to the New World, so that was where they had been prepared for the encounter. A small, homely village on an island in the middle of a route that wasn't really a route, due to that one time they'd been blown off course in a storm and the poor ill Bepo had had to find them the nearest land without a log pose, was hardly the place to meet what was effectively a pirate celebrity.

And yet, in a tavern with a plate full of food and face, was a man with the unmistakable tattoo on his back. The patrons had been running around in a flap, screaming something about him being dead, and Law's curiosity got the better of him.

The hand holding the fork was still aloft, after all.

He was once again disappointed by the general lack of medical prowess when he got close enough to the man to determine he was still breathing (he didn't even need his Room, how blind could these people be?) and made sure to keep his distance after determining that the man wasn't even unconscious, merely in the middle of what appeared to be a narcoleptic fit.

How boring, except for the fact that this was a member of Whitebeard's crew. His exact identity wasn't revealed until he woke with a gasp, his head jerking upright and bleary eyes looking around lazily before he ate the morsel of food threatening to drop off his fork as if nothing was wrong.

"Fire Fist-ya," Law drawled, unable to resist testing the man after he associated the man with half his dinner on his face (and didn't that make his skin crawl) with the correct bounty poster.

"Huh?" the man asked, with none of the elegance or presence expected of a man of his theoretical calibre. "Do I know you?" He squinted and Law smirked with all the confidence required when dealing with such a pirate legend (the Heart Pirates cared little for the dead legends, but the living ones were still relevant). "Nope," Fire Fist decided after a moment, turning back to his food. Despite himself, Law's demeanour turned slightly icy, his pride not quite able to accept that his bounty posters hadn't registered at all with the man. "Hey, have you seen Strawhat Luffy? I'm looking for him."

The name was vaguely familiar – some rookie from East Blue with a record bounty, or something. It sounded impressive, but Law's bounty was higher and the fact that some East Blue rookie with a lower bounty was worth more of Fire Fist's attention than his definitely did nothing to sooth his bruised pride.

"Who?" he couldn't help but ask, with a shrug. "I can't say that's a familiar name." Lies, but Fire Fist didn't need to know that. Law didn't really care about bounties all that much, but he needed a reputation and if he was being overshadowed by some kid with a straw hat and a lower bounty then clearly he wasn't doing well enough.

For his part, Fire Fist seemed horrified for a split second before producing a bounty poster from a pocket and unfolding it carefully to show it to Law as if he thought that would prod his memory. All it did was increase Law's derision towards the stupid smiling face of a monkey – what an appropriate name, if familiar (wasn't that the same family name as that Vice Admiral?).

"Aww, drat," Fire Fist sulked as Law's face gave nothing away, carefully folding the paper and placing it back in his pocket. "If you do see him, tell him I'm looking for him, would you?" He flipped Law a coin – a measly ten beri and not even one with an unusual design, how disappointing – before standing and sauntering out of the room, an inhumane pile of empty plates and bowls marking where he'd sat.

"Hey!" the bar tender yelled after a moment. "Oi! You haven't paid for that!" Sensing trouble, and not in the mood for it after the encounter (if trouble started, Law wouldn't be able to stop himself until everyone in the room was in pieces to try and prove that he was worth the higher bounty than the straw hat kid even though Fire Fist had fled like the Admirals themselves were behind him), he surreptitiously signalled for his crew to vacate the tavern as well. They'd find somewhere else to eat.

After a moment of futile shouting, the bar tender turned his attention to the departing Law.

"You! You were talking to him. Pay up!"

Law turned and regarded him with a smirk, mentally calculating the cost of the food implied by the empty crockery and deciding that, no matter how much he wanted to not cause a scene, there was no way he was draining what funds he had on him (and then some – it would take the back-up supply in Penguin's pocket too) in the process. Those funds were for medical books and equipment, if any were to be found on the island, and his own crew's meals, not Fire Fist's single-person feast.

He flipped the ten beri coin Fire Fist had tried to pay him with onto the counter before walking out of the door, his crew hot on his heels.

I was asked for a meeting between the Heart Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates, but keeping with canon timelines, the only Whitebeard Pirate we know is in Paradise is Ace, so Ace it was. This is set before Alabaster and Luffy's bounty increase, so it's still the 30 million, while Law's is likely higher at that point (Luffy's bounty has a habit of leaping up in huge chunks, while I suspect other pirates like Law had more of a steady increase at least to begin with).

Thanks for reading!
Tsari