Piracy Of The Last Jinchuriki

by R8handman

Black Zetsu refused that his work all these centuries was for nothing and decided to destroy the shinobi world he influenced, and in doing so Naruto found himself in a Land eerily familiar to his home. Finding this Land is troubled and wanting a place to belong. Naruto decides to use the ruins of his past to help this country. His future is unknown in this pirates infested world.

13. Loss

Disclaimer: Like everybody else on fanfiction, I own nothing. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

"Standard" - Normal Speaking

'Italics' - Thoughts

"Bold" Tailed Beasts speaking and Techniques

---

-20 DAYS BEFORE KAIDO VS NARUTO-

Grand line: New World

A prow in the shape of a white whale splits the waves apart. The massive ship that followed it cruised through the choppy sea in the new world.

"Gurararara…"

In the captain's cabin, the world strongest man who commanded the ship sank back into his chair and chuckled heavily as he read the newspaper.

"Feisty kids in the Grand Line these days. Gurararara… ugh… kaha! Damn my age!" Whitebeard grunted in pain and thumped his chest before looking at the paper and snorting at it. "So that's the brat who turned down an offer to join the Seven Warlords, eh?"

The papers told him that the promising rookie pirate who fought off a Navy vice admiral in Sabaody Archipelago. The newspaper contained an article about his latest impact on the new world. "Portgas D. Ace of the Spade Pirates! The New Rookie who turned down the offer to join the Seven Warlords! Burns down a Marine Base!"

"D…" murmured Whitebeard, rubbing the white hairs growing on his face. "How many years have these guys been around? Why's a young guy like this in such a rush?"

"Hey, Thatch!" a voice yells outside his quarters, "Your cherry pie this morning was the best!"

"I don't know how happy I should be with an appetite like yours, Teach." Thatch's voice said.

"ZEHAHA…" laughed Teach before he asking, "Aren't you too honest, Thatch?"

"I'm coming in, Pops," said Thatch's voice before a man entered his room carrying a tray as he walked through the cabin doorway. Thatch wore a white cook's apron, knee-length pants, and a cook's tie.

"Hey, Thatch. The sea turtle soup was fantastic." Whitebeard compliments his chef.

"Sea turtle?" Thatch asked in confusion before letting out a laugh, "Today's soup was sea viper, old man!"

"Right, that's the one." Whitebeard rumbled before telling his chef, "It's got my stomach on fire."

"That's because it's a stamina-building soup and it's packed with nutrients! This is your after-dinner medicine," said Thatch as he rolled his eyes before leaving the medicine on the table, along with some hot water.

"What!?" Whitebeard protested with a groan.

"You've got another pill to take, starting today." The cook admonished Whitebeard before giving a flat look. "And you'd better take it."

"Who are you, my doctor?" snapped Whitebeard in annoyance.

"If you don't take that, Pops, the ship's doc and nurses will yell at me instead." Sighs Thatch before reminding his father figure, "Your health is everybody's concern!"

Whitebeard grudgingly picked up the pill from the table, stuck it in his mouth, and washed it down with the water. "Tastes like crap."

"Well, you know what they say about good medicine." Thatch reminded his captain, "Drink more water to wash it down your throat."

"Who are you, my mother?" groaned Whitebeard in annoyance as he glared at the cook.

"The Fourth Division of the Whitebeard Pirates is in charge of the kitchen!" Thatch said with a chuckle before he clapped his hands with recollection. "Oh, by the way, I heard that Jinbe will be returning in a month."

"What?" frowns Whitebeard before asking, "He already left?"

"No," Thatch told him with a shaking head, "But he said he didn't need a send-off."

"Nonsense." says Whitebeard as he stood up from his chair and left his captain's quarters to stand on the deck.

Looking around, Whitebeard saw the pitch-black sea was all around, leaving only stars, moon, and Log Pose to point the ship's way.

"Hey, Jinbe!" Whitebeard addresses a large blue whale shark fish-man.

"Whitebeard… Pops!" says Jinbe at the ship railing. He'd been about to jump into the water before being called out by the captain of the ship.

Jinbe had a stocky build, like that of a sumo wrestler, and a face that could be frightening and intense. Jinbe had a long, two-toned black hair, with two long white stripes coming from the roots over his forehead and trailing down the back to a topknot, and a tuft of hair on his chin. His yellow eyebrows and sideburns are distinctly shaped like twirling bulbs. A lightning-shaped scar that can be seen from his left sideburn and reaching over his left eye. He also possesses two tusk-like conical lower fangs, the rest of his teeth from the upper and lower are the same, albeit much smaller. Jinbe's hands and feet were also webbed, typical for a fish-man, and his limbs that are thin in comparison with his enormous girth. He also possesses two tusk-like conical lower fangs. The rest of his teeth from the upper and lower are the same, albeit much smaller. His hands and feet are also webbed, typical for a fish-man, and his limbs that are thin in comparison with his enormous girth.

"You were just gonna slip away?" Whitebeard smirked. He wanted a proper goodbye with his fishman friend.

Jinbe's blue face flushed red and then walked across the deck toward Whitebeard and looked up at him.

"Well, I've been summoned to Marineford." Jinbe tells him with a sigh.

"By Sengoku?" Whitebeard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The Navy's fleet admiral seems to think pretty highly of Boss Jinbe," said Thatch as he approached them with a lantern.

"I suppose so, Thatch." Whitebeard says before grimacing. "But these Warlords are all so mercenary-"

"You're about the only one who shows up at Navy HQ, aren't you?" Thatch interrupted with a chuckle, "Boa Hancock, the Kuja Empress, is one thing, but then you've got Doflamingo-"

"And then there is that slimy Croc-" Whitebeard interrupted with a growl, "All those Warlords are only concerned with their own personal business."

"I took my position in exchange for amnesty for my people." Jinbe answered honestly, "I consider it a responsibility."

"You're so dutiful about such things, Boss Jinbe." Thatch mutters before lamenting, "It's also keeps you away from us!"

"Well, with his troubles filling the hole in the group," Jinbe mutters with a shaking head, "I'm sure Fleet Admiral Sengoku needs all the help he can get, especially after that new rookie stunt."

"Speaking of the rookie," Whitebeard said, handing Thatch a newspaper. The front-page article was illuminated by the lantern.

"Portgas D. Ace of the Spade Pirates! The New Rookie who turned down the offer to join the Seven Warlords! Burns down a Marine Base!"

"A rookie pirate turned down an offer to join the Warlords?" Thatch murmured in wonder as he read the papers. "I got to read the papers more!"

"Do you know that boy?" Whitebeard asked Jinbe with a raised eyebrow.

"I've… heard things. His bounty posters have been making the rounds." Jinbe says as he peered at the paper, "They say he's got Logia powers. Flame, from what I hear!"

"It says he also caused some trouble at Sabaody Archipelago a couple of months back too?" Thatch mutters as he reads the paper, "But why did he burn down the Marine Base… ah I see now I get it."

"Well, I didn't mean to hold you up." Whitebeard told the fishman before giving him a firm nod. "So long, Jinbe. Good travels."

"Same to you, old man." replied Jinbe with a smile.

Whitebeard waved a hand and returned to his cabin before closing the door.

"Thatch… how's old Whitebeard doing?" asked Jinbe in a concerned voice.

"He's doing great." Thatch told him before breathing out a sigh, "At the very least, he hasn't gotten any worse."

"That's good to hear," said Jinbe, the relief apparent on his face.

"Of course, no human being will stay in exactly the same condition as they age." Thatch reminded Jinbe of the true reality that had befallen, "If you lose your fine sense of taste, you've got to be careful not to season too much. Don't want to over-salt the food…"

"Maybe it's not my place to say this, Thatch, but take care of Whitebeard." Jinbe asks before extending a hand. "My people owe him a great debt."

"I know, Boss Jinbe," said Thatch, taking his hand. "Everyone knows about Pops."

"Good. I've got to go now." Jinbe told him as they shook hands before he stands on the railing.

"Be careful out there… Oh, and if you learn anything about this kid from the newspaper, let us know."

"Of course." Jinbe says with a laugh, "You don't disregard a youngster who spurns the Seven Warlords to go into the New World… Portgas D. Ace…"

Thatch watched Jinbe leap over the railing of the ship. His massive form plunged into the water and promptly disappeared into the darkness of the sea.

---

-Piece of Spadille. -

It had been days since they left Wano, and already there was a sense of excitement and wondering filling Deuce's body as they wondered what their next adventure would be in the new world.

"Deuce, look at this." Saber calls out to him as he held out a bounty poster from between the pages of an issue of a World Economy News Paper.

"It went up again…" Saber says ecstatically. "This is totally unprecedented, even among the other rookies."

Deuce just silently raises an eyebrow at the increased bounty of his captain.

"Ace burned down a marine branch recently, but why is this new bounty eclipsing all the frozen bounties of the warlords?" Deuce thought with a frown, "Only a few new world captains reach this high and all of them have at least a decade of experience. Ace has been captain of this ship for two years only."

"This is fantastic," Saber said with a chortle, oblivious to what was the message from the bounty. "It really boosts the morale of the crew."

"Yeah…" said Deuce with a smile as he inwardly felt queasy, "Ace's last bounty was a meager above 200 Million after we left Sabody. But now it's 450 Million Berries! There is something strange going on here. The higher your bounty is, the harder is to raise it, and Ace got 250 Million after burning down a weak marine branch. The numbers and stunts don't add up."

"There is something on Ace…" Deuce thought, "And the marines know it."

"Land ahoy guys!" Mihar yelled as he looked through a telescope. "Tell the Captain we found an island."

"Captain!" yelled Skull before asking to the crew, "Wait, where is the captain?"

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ,"

WHACK!

"I am awake," grumbled Ace as he took a yawn.

"Good," sighed Deuce before smiling as he handed Ace the bounty poster. "Congrats on your new bounty, by the way!"

"Well, I know gramps will come for my head personally if he didn't before," Ace says with a chuckle as he looked at his new bounty before smirking as he saw the island, "So we have an island to explore good, I was about to get sick from being cooped up here!"

---

-18 Days Before Naruto vs Kaido-

"Hey, Ace! Let the crew rest a bit!" Deuce yells over the wind as he panted as they walked up a snowy mountain before grabbing Ace's shoulder, "This non-stop fighting will…"

Their crew had charged up an uphill battle and now Deuce watched Ace flick the blood of his sword and splattering the snow with flecks of blood of their downed enemy.

"Didn't we come this far by you all following my lead!?" Ace asked as he shrugged Deuce's hand and continued to chase the fleeing enemies.

"Don't I at least have the right to voice my opinion!?" Deuce protested with a choked sputter.

"Of course, you do." Ace said with a firm nod as he continued to walk upward down the snowy hill.

"We took down five famous bandits. All of them had a bounty over 100 Million, and the crew is getting tired." Deuce protested before glancing back to the weaker crew members with a worried look. "Not all of us are monsters like you, Ace. Some of us are getting tired."

"I am not stopping until I meet him." Ace says with a longing expression.

"So, are we targeting someone else now?" Deuce asked Ace.

"Our next target is a pirate," replied Ace as he stared at the top of the mountain, "One of the Four Emperors. Red-Hair Shanks."

Deuce just blinked before he registered the name.

"SH-" yelled a flabbergasted Deuce "SHANKS?!"

"You want us to face off against an emperor now!? This is way too reckless, Ace!" protested Deuce animatedly. "We're no match for-"

"Deuce," Ace interrupted with a firm voice before giving his first mate a hard expression and asking, "What do you see? Do you see me as a weakling?"

Deuce just sat there in silence before saying, "No…"

"My goal has always been the pinnacle of this ocean." Ace tells Deuce softly and with a wide grin on his face, "I don't want to hear anything about not being able to take on an emperor…. What do you think? Can I surpass the Pirate King?"

Deuce felt the words wash over his body and was suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the presence of Ace's passion. And realized that the fiery will within Ace drove his ambition to stand at the pinnacle of this world.

"Of course you can, captain!" Skull says eagerly.

"We're not scared of Red-Hair either!" Banshee cheers.

"We'll follow you to the very top!" Wallace joined in the cheers.

"No need to worry about us Deuce, we can still fight!" Mihar says with a smile.

Suddenly, a loud rumble emanated from Ace's stomach before he blushed and said, "I am starving. Let's get back on the ship. Banshee, can you cook for us?"

Immediately, Deuce and his crewmates paled as they remembered the horrors of Banshee cooking.

"Oh, by the way, I will not seek Red Hair for a fight," Ace informs his crew. "Ever since I fought Yamato in Wano, I know where I stand. But I have got stronger since then, but it's probably not enough to face Red Hair crew yet… But by the time we meet Whitebeard, I will be ready."

---

-Piece of Spadille-

"I wanna eat seaweed brûlée, seaweed tarts, seaweed soufflé…" groaned Saber, with tears in his eyes as the disgusting smell wafted through the room.

"ARE YOU GUY'S MEN OR NOT!?" Ace yelled in frustration as he saw his crew were being nostalgic for the Mermaid cafe they had eaten from three months ago, as a pungent stew of deep-sea fish bubbled before them.

"You don't know, Captain Ace, you weren't there!" protested Saber with tears in his eyes, "The singing voices of the mermaids, the delicate flavors…"

"Take a hint from Kotatsu." Ace growled at him before looking at their resident pet.

"Grrr… meow?" Kotatsu yowled as he looked up from deep-sea fish heads before he continued crunching down on the fish, bones and all.

"Whose flame do you think is cooking this stew, anyway?" Ace reminds his crew with a raised eyebrow.

"It's all thanks to you, of course, Captain." chorused the crew monotonously. "We're sorry, Captain. Thank you, Captain."

"I don't care if it looks like cat food," Ace snarls at his crew. "It's a blessing just to get a hot meal while you're out at sea…"

"That's not a compliment, Ace." Their only female member, Banshee, said with a frown.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Ace apologized with a wary eye.

Banshee then clanged her two ladles together menacingly, and the crew all went back to poking at their stew, murmuring insincerely about how delicious it was.

No matter how hard they hunted down for a chef, they could never find one. The only one who could cook in this crew was Banshee, and her food was barely edible for human consumption.

"About our earlier topic, Ace," Deuce muttered under his breath as he shoved the barely edible food down his throat.

"Hmm? What was that?" Ace asked as he turned his tongue to flames so he doesn't have to taste the food.

Deuce sighed before telling his captain, "I was asking if you were serious about meeting with him-"

But Deuce was interrupted as their lookout burst into the mess hall.

"Captain! Enemy ships!" Mihar yelled.

"Alright!" Ace shot to his feet as if he'd been hoping this would happen. The others blew on their bowls of stew and began shoveling it in, making sure they didn't miss out on a meal.

"Listen up, boys! Forget about the underlings." Ace said with a grin as flames danced at the tip of his fingers, "Look for the real prize… a cook to recruit to our crew!"

"Yeah!" cheered the Spade Pirates.

Ace then drew his Yondai Kitetsu, and flames raced and wrapped the blade.

---

A couple of minutes later, the fight was over.

If Ace had anything to say about his opponents was that they were pathetic.

"Give us a break… we're just trying to get out of here!" sobbed the man wearing a captain's hat, slumped on the ground before Ace.

"And you didn't bother to check our pirate flag first?" Deuce asked in the captain's stead, "Did you realize you were attacking the Spade Pirates?"

"We didn't know!" howled the enemy captain in frustration before slumping to the ground. "We just wanted to take your ship."

"They got nothing, Captain Ace!" said Skull, returning to the deck. "Their hold's empty."

"Not surprised. What's with the pirate ships in the New World?" " Ace grumbled as he realized he wasn't getting his cook. "They're all cheapskates."

"This ship's falling apart. It's a wonder it's still floating." Deuce mutters with a look of dissatisfaction at the state of the ship, "We can't even dismantle it for anything more than scrap wood for repairs."

It was the seventh time the Spade Pirates had been attacked since leaving Wano and reentering the New World, but all their enemies were in tatters before the fight even started or they just annihilated by Ace and his crew

"We were just trying to take your ship to escape!" stuttered the captain before he began to beg towards Ace. "We want to go back to Paradise! C'mon, do us a solid!"

Ace frowned at those words before he sighed, as he barely contained his anger. These pirates wanted to return to Paradise, back to the first half of the Grand Line, where they'd enjoyed reasonable prestige as pirates and terrorize the weak, and it disgusted him.

"Fine, fine. I've heard enough from you gentlemen. I've got no more use for you." Ace snarled, made a gun gesture with his fingers.

"H-hey, pal, what do ya say? We could be your underlings." The captain begged before his face turns paler as he saw Ace's fingers turn to flame, "Let us ride on your ship. And take my advice… turn back now! Trust me, you'll want to—"

FWOOOM

A ball of fire shot from Ace's extended fingertip. It burst through the enemy flag and burned it to a crisp instantly.

"Sorry, I'm not interested in your flag," Ace told them coldly, and glanced at his crew and gave the silent order to withdraw.

"This is normal on the seas of the New World," muttered Deuce as he looked down at the defeated captain with an expression of disdain, "The strongest rule, the ruled survive, and the weak who resist lose everything and have to flee."

"Sounds neat." Skull with a shrug as he began to haul the supplies scrapped from the ship.

"To go back to what we were talking about earlier, are you serious about going to meet the Four Emperors, Ace?" Deuce asked him with a serious expression.

"Have I ever joked about something like that?" Ace chuckled with a wide grin.

"It… it's too soon! I mean, speaking of Red-Haired Shanks. The World Government sources say the following about him." Deuce warned him with a nervous expression, "If you make Red-Hair angry, he becomes frightening."

From what deuce and Skull told him, Ace knew if you broke the laws of proper courtesy, Whitebeard would be frightening. If you fouled Big Mom's mood, she was frightening. Kaido's existence all on its own was frightening and according to Yamato, they were seemingly lucky that he wasn't there in Onigashima when they thrashed that place.

Ace went over Deuce's words before responding with a soft expression, "I've heard rumors that Red-Hair was actually on the Pirate King's crew."

"So what about it? You told you hate anything to do with Gold Roger!" says Deuce as he gives Ace a strange look. "And you told me you wanted nothing with the One Piece!"

"I wish…" Ace thought in annoyance, "I could tell you guys who my father was… but I don't want you to hate me."

"There's a story," said Ace as he lets out a sigh,

"What story?" Deuce asked with a confused expression.

"Years back to just before Red-Hair lost his arm in the East Blue… a younger Shanks spent some time based near a little village in that distant sea." Ace says as he recalls the tale his young brother told him a thousand times and counting, "One day, there was some trouble at the bar with a mountain bandit. The bandit leader mocked him, saying pirates were scum, and dumped his bottle over Red-Hair's head. What do you suppose he did, Deuce?"

"I'd bet that bandit is no longer alive." Deuce replied with a shrug.

"You'd be wrong." Ace told him with a smirk, much to the shock of the Deuce, "Red-Hair just laughed it off, and apologized for the trouble."

"Are you serious?" Skull asked with a flabbergasted voice as he came back for another round of supplies.

"But that wasn't the end of the trouble. A boy from the village whom Shanks had befriended got kidnapped by the bandits." Ace muttered as he continued the tale, "The weak kid wanted to be a pirate more than anything, and seeing pirates look weak made him furious, so he went to pick a fight with the bandits."

"So, what happened?" Deuce asked Ace with a strange look.

"When they heard that the bandits had kidnapped the kid and hurt him, Red-Hair and his crew went and crushed the bandits." Ace said as he remembered the words he heard so many times in his teenage years, "He said to them, you can pour drinks on me, throw food at me, even spit on me, and I'll just laugh that stuff off. But whether there's good reason or not, nobody hurts a friend of mine."

"Where'd you get this story, boss?" Skull asked with a shaking head, "Even I have never heard this one."

"Have you met Red-Hair before, Ace?" Deuce asked his captain.

"Nope, I've never met him, but I want to." said Ace as he shakes his head, "As I told you before, I am not interested in the Pirate King or his treasure. This guy grew up in the Great Age of Piracy with a front-row seat to history and clawed his way up to becoming one of the Four Emperors. I want to know what drove Red-Hair to do this."

"I know you don't just say these things without thinking," Mihar told Ace before sighing, "But we're talking about an Emperor of the Sea. It's almost impossible to meet these people face-to-face."

"Also Ace, we're not flying any of the Four Emperors' flags right now." Deuce warned him as a hint of nervousness crossed his face, "Whatever your intentions are here, once they come after us, there's nothing we can do to survive."

"Did you figure out where Red-Hair is, Skull?" Ace asked Skull with a frown.

"Ace, are you listening to me?" Deuce protested with a distributed

"Oh, I know where Red-Haired Shanks is," piped up the enemy pirate captain

"Eh?" Deuce looks at him with shock.

"Red-Hair's harder to pin down than the other Emperors. Lately, there have been rumors that he's based out on his winter island… You know, the one next to one of Whitebeard islands."

"You'd better not be playing games with us." Deuce growled in anger.

"Hang on, Deuce. That winter island was among the names of my intel," claimed Skull with a shaking head.

"Go on, then. Go there and get yourselves killed! Red-Hair's not the man who cares much about others." Chuckled the defeated captain before snorting at Ace and his crew. "He's kind to his friends and merciless to strangers. He will not give a lick of attention to a snot-nosed punk of a rookie with no manners like you! Aha ha ha ha!"

The defeated captain's words hung in the air like a menacing curse before Ace punched him, knocking him out.

Ace then looks at his crew with a grin before telling them, "Set Sail! We are meeting Red Hair!"

---

-Fishman Island-

Jinbei felt a mixture of feelings flood his body as he heard the words from Aladdin. But most of all he felt was suppressed anger and shock at Portgas D. Ace's actions.

Ever since he returned from Marineford and back into Fishman Island and heard what had happened from Aladdin. Apparently, a couple of months ago, Hammod and a couple of fishman from Hody's group had harassed Portgas D. Ace.

Although the rookie tried to resolve this peacefully and politely, Hammond mentioned how the Great Pirate Era was all human's fault. And how Roger was the most to blame out of all the humans and how the filthy blood runs through their veins. Ace didn't take kindly to those words and knocked the group with his Conqueror Haki, and then left the island.

That was fine and all, but what Portgas D. Ace did before departing the island was so brazen and shocking that it shocked the island. He burned down Whitebeard Jolly Roger that flew over the Fish Man Island harbor and raising the spade pirates Jolly Roger in its stead before leaving the island.

"This kid…" hissed Jinbei before sighing as he stood up from his chair and was about to hunt down the brat so he would stop him before things went too far.

"Wait, captain!" Aladdin says before telling him, "I sent some of our people to keep an eye out on him, they say he vanished for a while around Kaido's territory, we thought he got captured or killed by Kaido, but he recently reappeared with his crew looking perfectly unharmed."

Jinbei then turned and looked at his crew member and asked him, "Where were they last seen!?"

---

-13 DAYS BEFORE KAIDO VS NARUTO-

-New World; Shanks Winter Island-

Flying over the cave of a winter island was the Jolly Roger of a skull with three slashes, the flag they belonged to the crew of the Red Hair Pirates.

"It's a warm one today." Beckman commented as he felt the cold air being much warmer than usual.

"Sleet outside." Yassop commented with a raised eyebrow, "That's also rare."

If it was warm enough to melt the snow falling on this winter island, the day was warm, indeed. The red-haired captain was the one who made the observation, and it was his first mate, Benn Beckman, who answered about the sleet.

"Days like this are usually when bad stuff happens…" said a round-faced Lucky Roux, who chomped down on a huge hunk of meat on the bone like it was a little snack. "Munch, gulp."

"C'mon, don't start talking like that." said Yassop as he played with his flintlocks. "You're usually right on the money about these hunches."

Suddenly, a young man came bumbling in with a smile on his face. He wore a cape around his shoulders and shorts around his waist, and strangely, there wasn't a single flake of snow on him or his clothes.

"Well, well. Sorry for interrupting your party." The young man said with a chuckle, "I was lured here by a delicious smell."

Shanks and his Red-Haired officers all remained seated, as they had sensed him approaching.

"I know that guy." Shanks thought with a realization as he recalled the face from the newspaper, "He's Fire Fist… the one who spurned the Seven Warlords."

"Sorry, Chief… He just showed up and said he wanted to pay his respects," said their lookout, a new guy, as he rushed into the cave a few moments later.

"Pay respects… to me?" Shanks says as he fed another log into the fire, before muttering, "I see, so you wanted to meet me?"

Shanks then let out a burst of his Conquerors' Haki as a warning. It was a threat and a test. But Fire Fist Ace took it head-on. It seems he wasn't so weak that this would be enough to knock him over.

"No, I don't mean it that way!" said Fire Fist Ace. "It's just an introduction. Pardon me, sir, I just want to introduce myself. It's an honor to make your acquaintance," said Ace as he extended his hand, palm upward, in a sign of respect.

Shanks tilted his head in confusion at this unexpected act. He looked at his other officers. They were frowning, or laughing, or watching with entertained looks on their faces.

"In that case… I return your greeting," said Shanks as he extended an upward palm.

It was part of the old ways, the pirate code derived from the traditions of gamblers and yakuza. But it was very old-fashioned, indeed. Shanks didn't see many observe these formalities anymore. This was a formal exchange in the underworld, a sign that each side would remain humble toward the other, without trickery.

"I am… huh… I am of birth of Baterilla, South Blue. I was raised in the East Blue. My name is Ace." Mumbled Fire Fist Ace as he scratched his head and looked for his next words, "Though I am newly started on this path in life, I am known as Fire Fist by the world at large. My humble bounty is… uh… how much is it, again?"

"The hell should I know?" Shanks asked with a sweat drop.

"This guy can barely get his words out straight," Beckman chuckled with the others around the fire.

"For I am such a simple country boy, I may have committed some errors of the tongue. I am glad for your generous…" Ace then just slumps his shoulders, giving up and then claps his hands, "All right, and boys, time to introduce the man of the hour."

"Are you talking to your crew?" Benn Beckman asked with a deadpan. "Where are they?"

"Oh… right. It's just me." Ace said with a nervous chuckle. "I didn't want to bother you with the entire gang,"

"You got a lot of nerve, you know that?" Beckman snorted with a glint in his eye.

"So what's this little show all about, huh?" asked Shanks as he looks at Ace with a smirk he so often wore. Slowly, his hand rested on the pommel of his sword. Any uninvited guest who caused trouble here was likely to get himself sliced in two.

Ace thought it over, then scratched his head, deciding that it wasn't going to work after all.

"Dang it. I practiced it exactly the way Makino showed me." Ace said as in frustration before muttering to himself, "I'm just not that good at this stuff."

"Makino?" The officers and Shanks wore puzzled looks.

Ace reached for his bag and pulled a bottle he had carried with himself.

"A bottle?" Shanks asked with a raised eyebrow.

"This is a fine libation from the East Blue, where I grew up." Ace told him as he holds out the bottle, "Makino told me that this is how pirates offer a proper greeting."

Shanks reached out and accepted the large jug of alcohol from Ace. He pulled out the cork and took a whiff.

"Ahh, that's a familiar scent!" Shanks said as a smile crept on his face, "Brings back memories of distant grog!"

The pirate officers excitedly began to pass the bottle around the jugs and take swigs from it.

"Did you know that I spent some time in the East Blue years ago?" Shanks asked as he took a swig from his jug.

"Yes, I heard. I lived near Windmill Village." Ace says as he fondly recalls his childhood memories, "Do you know Mt. Corvo? I was raised by some bandits who lived there."

"Windmill Village? Well, that takes me back." Shanks said as he recalled its people with a smile. "How's the mayor doing? So, this booze is from Makino, eh?"

"No, actually." Ace admitted with a sigh, "I bought it from a liquor store in Loguetown before I got into the Grand Line."

"So I just did all that reminiscing about nothing?" Shanks asked with a disappointed look on his face.

"Well, I got some from Makino when I first set sail." Ace told him with a chuckle, "But then I shipwrecked and washed up on a deserted island. You know, stuff happens."

"You mean stuff that's so stereotypical for rookie pirates that it never actually happens?" snapped one crew member around the campfire.

"I'm getting embarrassed for him just listening to this," joked another, recalling his own youth.

"Well, if Makino's doing well, that's all that matters." Shanks says with a nostalgic smile.

"I bet she's grown into a fine woman by now, eh, Captain?" Benn Beckman said with a grin.

"I'd like to see that." Shanks mutters to himself.

The Red-Haired Pirates began to discuss their fond memories of Windmill Village among themselves, so Ace continued, "Anyway… my little brother says you saved his life, and all he does is talk about you, so I wanted to meet you and give my thanks."

"Brother?" asked Benn Beckman with a raised eyebrow.

"His name's Luffy." replied Ace with a smile.

Everyone gave Ace a look that said, "Why didn't you tell us that first?"

"You're Luffy's?!" Shanks asked with a wide grin. "I didn't know he had a brother! I see! I'm glad you came! Come on in and let's talk!"

Shanks clapped Ace on the shoulder and beckoned him to join the circle around the fire and yelled to his crewmates, "We will throw a Banquet! call your crew in!"

---

"C'mon, all of you, don't be shy!" yelled a crew member of his merrily at the skittish Spade pirate's crew, "We're having a party here!"

"Ooh, you've got a cat?" asked another of his newbies.

"Go on, Kotatsu, show them your party trick." The masked officer called Deuce said the lynx as he tried to join the flow. "Jump through this fiery hoop!"

"Grrr… meow." Protested Kotatsu as he glared at his crew before salivating at the giant beef chops being roasted over the flames.

At first, the Spade Pirates were intimidated by one of the Four Emperors, but once the booze started flowing, they loosened up and turned lively.

"So Luffy got left with a bunch of bandits, huh?" said Shanks, taking a swig of his gift of grog and reminiscing about years past.

"The Old Man said it was going to shape him up so he could join the Navy," Ace explained with a laugh. "Luffy had been a snot-nosed little kid dropped on the doorstep of Dadan, the bandit on Mt. Corvo one day. "

"And he still had the straw hat?" asks Shanks with a smile.

"Yes." Ace answers with a nod before telling him, "It was more important to him than his own life."

"How can something be more important than your life?" Shanks asked with a drunk expression.

"He said it was because he made a promise to you about it." Ace reminded the drunk pirate, "He kept that straw hat for you, and would bring it back to you one day. Once he was King of the Pirates."

"So Luffy's the grandson of Garp the Hero?" Benn Beckman asked as he took a drag out of his lighted cigarette.

"We brothers made a pact." Ace told them with a nod, "We each swore to go to sea when we turned seventeen."

"And how old are you, Ace?" Shanks says as he scratches his chin

"Twenty years old," Ace replied with a smirk.

Shanks began to count on his fingers, as he struggled to recall Luffy's age, "That would make Luffy… uh…"

"He's three years younger than me, so he'll be leaving soon." Ace told him proudly, "He'll catch up to me in no time."

"That'd be nice," said Shanks, giving Ace a smile before saying, "You mentioned Loguetown. Did you see it when you were there?"

"See what?" Ace replied with a quizzed look.

"The execution stand." Shanks says with an unreadable expression on his face, "The place the King of the Pirates died… The place where the Age of Piracy began."

"It's yours if you can find it." the words echoed within Shanks' mind as he remembered that painful day, "I left everything in the world there."

"Oh, I saw it, of course. It's a tourist spot." Ace tells with a sad buzzed look before his eyes started to smolder from the intensity, "But, unlike Luffy, I don't have any interest in the King of the Pirates, or I am interested in his leftovers… I just care about being on the top of this world."

"Ahh." Shanks nodded with a confused smile.

"Then why'd you go to sea, Portgas D. Ace?" asked the first mate, Benn Beckman, who was nursing his drink sip by sip.

"I knew I would set sail at seventeen," Ace replied with a forlorn expression, "Beyond that… I dunno. Maybe I was hoping to figure it out while at sea. Oh, but there is one thing I knew I was going to do for sure."

"And that is?" asked Shanks with a frown.

"I'm going to make sure my name is heard around the world." Ace says with a fiery ambition in his eyes.

Shanks did not miss the flicker of dark flame deep in Ace's eyes as he said those words.

"Wealth. Power. And…" thought Shanks before saying, "Fame, huh?"

"To you and the rest of the world, Gold Roger might have been a legendary figure, but to me… he's just a dead man." Ace told Shanks with a stubborn look on his face, "He'd already been executed by the time I was born."

"If not as the King of the Pirates, then how do you plan to make yourself known?" Shanks asked.

"The Emperors…" Ace said with a glint in his eyes, "First I topple the Four Emperors."

Immediately, the occupants of the cave freeze as the tension skyrocket as all look at Ace with stupefied expressions on their faces.

"Oh, err, I didn't mean it in the sense that I took you out." Ace says as he nervously chuckles as he realizes his blunder and defused the tensions in, "You've shown me warm hospitality here, and you saved my brother's life."

"Glad to hear I'm off the hook. But Roger was my captain once. Did you know that?" Shanks asked Ace, who nodded before Shanks continued, "I figured that all the young folks these days wanted to be like the King of the Pirates. I guess that's not necessarily the case. I tell you, it sucks to get old."

"Sorry, I guess I made things awkward for the party." Ace replied with a shrug.

"Well, if you don't mind indulging my curiosity, which of the Emperors are you going after? Kaido? Big Mom? It wouldn't be—"

Suddenly, Ace dropped his mug and slumped face-first into the ground

Shanks just blinked in surprise relief as he saw Ace collapse and began to snore.

"Not again," groaned Deuce, as he understood what had happened. And rushed towards his snoring captain before looking at Shanks and whacks his head, waking Ace up with a fist imbedded with Armament Haki.

WHACK

Ace immediately clutched his head as a swollen bump grew from his head from the place Deuce hit him.

"Sorry, Red Hair, our captain is narcoleptic," Deuce apologized before saying, "Well, to answer your question, we already went in Kaido's territory by accident, stuck around there thanks to a new friend…."

"And then we invaded Kaido's headquarters to get back the girls his men had kidnapped while he was away…" Ace mutters as he rubs the sore spot on his head. "I don't know if we were lucky or not. But Kaido was away for an expedition during that time. We basically thrashed the place until we were stopped by Yamato and Naruto."

WHACK

"OW!" Ace yelped as he was taken unaware of Deuce's attack. "What the hell was that for!?"

"You get a loose lip when you are drunk, Ace!" Deuce tells him with a shaking head. "You know you are not allowed to say too much about what happened there. If this information somehow reaches Kaido's ears, what do you think would happen?"

"Oh, right…" Ace says as he realized the implications.

Shanks frowned at the information before remembering Oden and his family and then asked Ace, "So how were things in Wano? I heard the Shogun and Kaido are allies and Kaido enforces the Shogun rule…"

"Its hell in there…" Ace mutters with a frown, "Most of the people are there treated as slaves for the factories, the lucky ones are in the Flower Capital and the ones saved-"

"Ace!" Deuce says in warning to not spill more about Naruto.

"Oh, yeah…" Ace remembered with widened eyes, "Sorry, I can't say more."

"Oh, come on…" groaned Shanks with a stubborn expression, "I can keep a secret!"

Ace and Deuce shared a look before glancing at Shanks and told him in a dead serious expression, "If word gets out, I am not sure what would happen there…"

"What do you mean?" Shanks asked with a stunned expression as he saw Benn Backman stare at Ace with a look of surprise.

"Our friend in Wano… He is a kind of mystery, even to the people of Wano…" Deuce says in a hushed voice so none other than Shanks and Beckman could hear what he and Ace said, "There are rumors that say he came from outside and to them he was like the first light of dawn, guiding and helping them to a better life from the hellish land."

"He secretly took charge under the government official's noses…" Ace says as he takes another swig, "If we say the most impressive thing, he did was create a secret country within Wano that will be a lie… We also witness the powers he had."

"Powers?" Shanks asked with a chuckle. "A devil fruit…"

"I don't think so…" Deuce tells him as he shakes his head and slaps Ace back. "Unlike this guy here, he could swim and walk on water without drowning and becoming a hammer."

"What!" Benn Beckman says with a wide mouth as his eyes glint with more interest at the prospect, "Are guys sure!?"

"One hundred percent." Deuce says with a nod.

"This guy… sounds interesting." Shanks says as he sat there in silence, processing the information he was given before asking Ace, "Anyway, you said you are aiming to topple the Emperors. Who's your target, then?"

"Whitebeard." Ace says flatly without fear, "I am aiming for Whitebeard's head!"

Shanks felt all of his crewmates' freeze at the name before they slowly gulped down their booze and gulped in fear.

"A long time ago, there were the Seven Warlords and such who tried to topple Whitebeard… but I thought all those fools were gone now." Shanks says slowly to Ace with a judging expression before a smile crept on his face, "Why Whitebeard?"

"Well, who else was Roger's rival but Whitebeard? Plus, Whitebeard's flag flew over Fish-Man Island." Ace says with a gleam in his eye, "As I came into the New World, he was the first one to stand in my way."

"Wait, you mean…" Shanks said with a raised eyebrow

"I put my flag over Fish-Man Island," Ace finished, a fire now glowing in his palm.

"You burned his flag?" asked Shanks incredulously.

"I suppose so." Ace tells him seriously.

Shanks went silent for a while, but the smile never left his face before saying, "Well, I suppose it's not my business to interfere with that."

"I'm relieved to hear that." Ace says before asking boldly, "So if I take out Whitebeard, you won't consider it an act of aggression against "

"What's your goal in taking down Whitebeard, Ace?" Shanks asked.

Without revealing what was on his mind, Ace told Shanks, "The entire world is my enemy. Warlords, Emperors, even Celestial Dragons… I'll topple them all. I'll bring everything low that now sits high and mighty. And I'll do it with this flame… with my name and my flag."

"So that what Ace's goal was…" Shanks thought, to surpass the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, the starting point for Portgas D. Ace will be to defeat Whitebeard, the man known as Edward Newgate.

Shanks held in his silence as he listened to Ace's words. He had to let the kid get it all out of his system.

Shanks' eyes reflected on Ace, who was filled with vague, undirected dissatisfaction and frustration toward the world. An impatient, youthful tendency toward danger. These things were true of just about any rookie pirate making their name in the world.

"But what was that dark ember glowing beneath his violent, attention-seeking flames?" Shanks thought as he used his Observation Haki to sense Ace's emotions and will.

"But that's enough about me." Suddenly Ace says with a smile, "I want to hear about you now."

"Me?" asked Shanks with a frown.

"Yeah. For instance, about your flag." Ace said as he glanced at Shanks's left eye. "You've got the three scars on the skull. They stand for those, don't they?"

"These?" Shanks says as he covers his three long scars on his left eye with a hand.

"Luffy's got a scar on his left cheek, but apparently he did that himself, like a little idiot, thinking it would earn him a spot on your pirate crew." Ace says with a chuckle before his face turns dead serious, "But yours clearly came from battle. Who did it? Who could put a wound like that on you?"

Shanks traced the scars with three fingers. "These…"

"I can't imagine who'd be terrifying enough to land a blow like that on you," Ace wonders with a morbid and fascinated expression on his face.

"It happened in East Blue, before I lost my arm." Shanks says in a quiet voice, "It was the Whitebeard Pirates who put this scar on me."

"Boss?" piped up one of his men, uncertainly.

"It was Whitebeard?!" Ace asked in a low voice.

"No. It was just a pirate under his employ." Shanks corrected with a strained expression on his face.

"So it was just a man, not even one of his division leaders…" Deuce asks with a stunned expression.

"You're not saying this just to scare me off from going after Whitebeard, are you?" Ace asks with a questioning look at Shank's serious expression.

"I don't care if you think I'm lying," Shanks said with a sigh. "If you want to take out Whitebeard, you'll have to beat not just him, but everyone in his entire family."

"What's he doing now?" Ace asks Shanks, "The man who gave you the scar…"

"Dunno. I haven't felt this wound itch in a while," Shanks mutters before asking the young rookie, "Ace, I just thought of something. You and Luffy became sworn brothers after exchanging sake cups… But if you call the Hero Garp Gramps, then your father is…"

A bitter look crossed over Ace's face as he realized what Shanks was saying. "Ah… that guy. I'm sorry about this, but… I don't even want to talk about that man."

"I see." Shanks said sadly before sighing out, "That's all right then. Thanks for coming all this way, Ace…"

A log in the fire popped and crumbled. The party's warmth had passed, and the evening's drink had run dry as emotions swirled within both captains.

Shanks gave a nod, and his followers began to clear the path to the cave's exit. The night was over and they went to bed.

Shanks then went over to Deuce and muttered some advice, "Masked Officer. Don't trouble yourself."

"What?" asked Deuce, with a confused expression on his face.

"You're aiming for the king without any real reason." Shanks said in a serious voice, "A journey without a purpose. Is only rushed by impatience…."

Shanks then left a confused Deuce, who was pondering over these words.

---

Shanks sat at the mouth of the cave watching the Piece of Spadille depart the winter island and head toward Whitebeard stretch of the sea.

Ace had made his antagonism toward the Whitebeard Pirates clear. Since they'd shared a customary rite of welcome, Shanks wasn't going to harm Ace, but as one of the competing Four Emperors, Shanks couldn't extend any special treatment to the Spade Pirates beyond what he'd already done.

He would send a message to Whitebeard. He would write: The pirate Portgas D. Ace who is on his way to challenge you has no special connection to the Red-Haired Pirates.

That, too, was one of the customary ways. A clash between emperors was an event that would shake the New World to its core. The buds of conflict had to be nipped off before they could grow.

For Ace's part, he'd received the courtesy of a night and a meal in the Red-Haired Pirates' territory, so it was common courtesy to return the favor by leaving without making no trouble. But this meant that venturing next into Whitebeard's stretch of sea could lead to a rain of blood…

---

Benn Beckman watched the Piece of Spadille disappear from the horizon and into the sea.

"From the moment he approached the shore," Shanks mutters to himself, "I could sense his Haki. It was like flame itself."

"No wonder he could melt a winter island's snow." said Beckman, pulling up the collar of his coat. "Would have been a blizzard if not for him."

"What did you see in him?" Shanks asked, seeking the wisdom of his first mate and Vice-Captain.

"Say he beats Whitebeard. What does he do after that?" said Beckman with a frown. "Based on the story he was telling, I can't envision. "

From what Beckman could gather from Ace's words, the entire world was his enemy. He would destroy the world order that kept the Celestial Dragons on top. And that meant destroying the Four Emperors, too. That was all part of Ace's grand vision.

"Didn't seem very pirate-like. He was awful courteous at first, but then he goes on and on about himself. The kid's more naïve than he looks." Beckman mutters as he assesses Portgas D. Ace, "Like he's not really a pirate, but a gladiator. If he wants to destroy the world that bad, why didn't he join the Revolutionaries?"

"You think he should join the Revolutionaries?" Shanks asked with a frown.

"No, what I am saying is Ace is limiting his choices, all by himself." Beckman tells his captain, "If he continues the way he's acting, the best he'll ever be is the captain of a single ship."

Beckman just couldn't do't see any potential beyond that in the young man named Ace. He knew Ace had the logs, he could start a fire. But a fire wouldn't keep burning with just that. If Ace started a fire somewhere, set a mountain ablaze and burned down everything in sight, the fire would eventually burn itself out. What was Ace going to do beyond that?

"He said he was from the South Blue." says Shanks before pondering on the name of that island, "Baterilla … and there was him being raised by Garp. I knew it was him immediately."

"You curious about him?" Beckman asked his captain not getting what his captain was thinking..

"He's a rookie who turned down the Seven Warlords, so I expected a lot, but he seemed like your average kid with an inflated opinion of himself." Benn Beckman says with a sigh, "He ate a Logia fruit, and now he thinks he's invincible."

"But that rookie got recommended for the Seven Warlords." Shanks muttered cryptically towards his first mate, "That meant that the World Government; Sengoku and the Five Elders saw something in Ace. Something the world doesn't know, something a few know."

"That's what bothers me. Does that make him warlord material or not? With a Logia fruit alone, you'd only max out in the hundred-million range." Beckman says with a sigh, "And the bounty currently sitting on Portgas D. Ace's head is way higher than every Warlord frozen Bounty. I mean, your bounty was less at that age! 450 Million is too big for what he had done and it's early in his career!"

Benn was a bit confused on why Ace's bounty had soared in value after he spurned the Five Elders' offer to join that elite cadre of privateers and the recent burning of a marine branch base. It showed that Ace was dangerous, but this was simply too much for a rookie.

"There must be some other circumstance." Beckman thought as he assessed Ace and the World Government, "Why was the World Government trying to lock Ace down into just the Warlord title?"

"He'd already been executed when I was born." Shanks recalled Ace's words and smiled.

"What?" frowned Benn as he hoisted his rifle over his shoulder before asking, "What the hell did that mean?"

"For playing like he didn't care, he sure thought a lot about Captain Roger…" Shanks muttered mysteriously as a faint smile played over his captain's face, "He even called him Gol D. Roger at the end."

Beckman felt it had been ages since he saw his captain smile with actual emotion like this, as his captain always wore a silent grin.

---

10 Days Before Naruto vs Kaido

-Piece of Spadille-

"Was it right for me to have been born?" Ace thought as he felt the ocean wind as they entered.

That was the question Ace asked himself, from the first moment he could think independently.

He was born the son of Roger, King of the Pirates. From the time of his birth, his father was considered the worst criminal in recorded history. His mother had died, he was left with bandits, and he lived like a scavenger, picking through heaps of trash. He would tell no one about that in order to win their sympathy. That was why Ace did not reveal that he was Roger's son to his crew. And did not ask the Pirate King's former subordinate Shanks for protection based on that connection.

What reasons did he have to keep living? The only ones Ace ever opened his heart to, to justify his survival, were his foster brothers back on Mt. Corvo before he went out to sea. The boys he shared ritual cups with—Luffy and Sabo.

Sabo went to sea way earlier than Ace did. Unfortunately, he perished, the victim of a cruel and unfair world. His boat was sunk for the so-called crime of passing in front of a Celestial Dragon's ship.

The Celestial Dragons were the world's nobles, the most privileged class of society. They lived in the sacred capital city of Marijoa, where they looked down upon the lower classes and owned many slaves. Even the higher-up heads of the military and government, and some monarchs, essentially lived under the brutal thumb of the Celestial Dragons.

What did Ace think when he lost Sabo? He had many thoughts about this, but he kept them confined to the moment they occurred to him and did not go back to dwell on them. The enemy that killed Sabo is the opposite of freedom. It was the world that killed Sabo. You can't really live or die unless you're executed and change history with your death, like Roger did. That was the genesis of Ace's desire to be a pirate.

"Whether the world accepts me or hates me," Ace thought, "I'll be a great pirate. I'll show them all. And I will be better than my father."

Ace never met his father and felt nothing but disdain toward him. Ace felt as he grew up, he was tormented about being the son of a terrible criminal, and in the end, the only way for the felt for him to move forward and live freely was to go beyond what his father did. Only then he could be at peace with his father.

He wouldn't be "Ace, son of Roger." He would make it so people will say "Roger, father of Ace." That was what he needed to turn the tables. And it wouldn't happen if he just did the same things Roger did. It couldn't just be about the One Piece and being King of the Pirates. It had to be something bigger. Anything to become famous and make Gold Roger a name of the past. Here in the New World, it would all be about Portgas D. Ace. He was going to make sure everyone knew the name given to him by his mother, Rouge, who hid from the government and secretly gave birth to him after twenty months of gestation.

Through talking with Shanks, Ace felt these vague ideas that had been floating in his heart coalescing and turning into a solid conviction. He would take the head of Whitebeard… That's the only man who could stand toe-to-toe with Roger, King of the Pirates. He's a legendary monster that's parents everywhere invoked Whitebeard to scare their children into behaving. His name was synonymous with a natural disaster, like a storm, earthquake, or tsunami.

He's the most powerful man in the world, without a doubt! The man closest to the One Piece!

The bits of information that Skull gathered about Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate came from many sources, but all said the same thing.

Whatever you do, don't mess with Whitebeard.

"The strongest in the world," Ace murmured to himself as he recalled yesterday's meeting below the deck.

---

-12 Hours Ago-

Ace felt a bit overwhelmed by the information. According to Skull, the pirate-obsessed nerd, in terms of sheer battle power in a one-on-one fight, Kaido was likely the strongest. If you were sitting around drinking, telling stories and debating the merits, you might conclude that Kaido was the invincible "strongest creature alive," while Big Mom had the "strongest family in the world," and Edward Newgate's very life was that of the "strongest pirate alive."

"Whitebeard's terrifying if you break the code. In the pirating world, that means the bond of ceremonial cups. Whitebeard would never rest if his progeny, those followers with whom he's shared cups, were killed. Never!" Skull warned Ace emphatically.

"Well, yeah. Who wouldn't be upset if his pals got hurt?" Ace says with a frown, "Same goes for the other Emperors—and for me, of course."

"That's true," admitted Deuce, "But there are levels to this sort of thing. When those in your group are harmed, do you feel anger for their sake, or anger that your own honor was attacked, or do you make a show of anger to strengthen the connections within your family?"

"Which do you think is true in Whitebeard's case, Deuce?" asked Ace

"Based on what Skull's saying, Kaido's the dangerous combative type, and Big Mom's more business-oriented… Red-Hair was difficult to pin down, based on what I saw of him, but I bet Whitebeard's more like your classic pirate type."

"The pirate crews under his operation are expanding big-time. If there's an unaffiliated pirate who wanders into his territory…" Skull trials before clenching an iron fist to show and said warningly, "He sends one of his division leaders to them. If they obey, great. If they don't, there's a simple answer for that,"

Ace knew that the New World was split between the Four Emperors, but there were pirates, including prominent young rookies like him, who weren't happy with that arrangement. Ultimately, he and his crew would have to make a choice: either join one of the Emperors for protection, be destroyed, or carve out their own little slice of territory. That's how things worked on this sea.

"So let's get down to business here." Skull explained as he opened up a map and putting chess pieces on top of it, "There's been a bit of chaos lately in Whitebeard's territory,"

"The white king is Whitebeard, with the other white pieces representing his division leaders arranged around him." Ace realized with a glance as Skull began to explain

"Bohemian Knight Doma, the A.O. Pirates, and a couple more pirate crews are trying to barge in on Whitebeard's territory. They're not aligned with one another, but they've all started fighting back at the same time." Skull informs them methodically, "But if you dig into the backstory, it seems like there's some sabotage afoot from the other emperors. At any rate, Whitebeard's division leaders are marshaling their forces and heading out to neutralize these threats."

Ace watched with fascination as black chess pieces headed into Whitebeard's space. Behind them was the black king. Then the white pieces pushed forward toward the black.

"And that means the white king has few defenses now," summed Deuce with a smile.

"Four ships in Whitebeard's main fleet are out on assignment." Skull says before telling them, "The Moby Dick, his mother ship, might as well be defenseless."

"This sounds like the perfect opportunity to take a shot at the world's strongest man," said Ace, reaching for the white king and melted the piece with his flames.

---

The meeting gave him an aim to a focus on, after that comes his dream.

"Luffy… Sabo…" Ace thought as he remembered his younger siblings yelling their dreams on top of the cliff that day, "Look at me… I become a fire! A fire so large that I will burn a path to the top of the world. And carve myself into history with my name. I promise."

---

-Five Days Before Naruto VS Kaido-

NEW WORLD: AT ONE OF WHITEBEARD'S SUPPLY PORTS.

The island was wreathed in a thin mist.

The Spade Pirates moored their ship on a chilly coast, spotted with conifer trees, and disembarked. Nearby animals bolted for safety, alarmed by the unexpected visitors.

"Nobody's here," said one of the crew.

"Stay on guard… We're in Whitebeard's territory now," warned Deuce.

It appeared to be a completely ordinary island. But this was one of the places Whitebeard used to resupply.

Resupplying is something any seafaring pirate must do to survive; it's a lifeline. Especially when you command a crew of a thousand. Seawater can be purified until its drinkable, and fish and aquatic mammals can be gained for food—but there are many supplies, like firewood that can only be found on land.

The entire island was a working farm, producing supplies for the Whitebeard Pirates. Somewhere on this rock were fields where farmers worked in Whitebeard's employ, producing vegetables, fruit, and meat for the crew.

Ace received word that Whitebeard's main ship might stop by to resupply soon, so he secretly took the crew through the mist to disembark on the island.

"Is Whitebeard really coming here?" Deuce asked with a sigh.

"Don't worry, Deuce. If we tire of waiting, we can just run our flag up on this island instead." Ace says with a grin, "A resupply point is the ideal place to carve away some territory. If Whitebeard gets flustered by that, it would be reward enough."

"What about the Piece of Spadille?" Deuce asked as he looked at the ship.

"Mihar's in charge." Ace says as they split the crew in half and ordered the other half, "Hide the ship in some secluded in here, and set up a campsite. Who knows how many days we'll be waiting here?"

They had to be careful that the farmers on the island didn't spot them. This morning mist would not last forever.

"I'm gonna take a few men and check out the area." Ace says to Deuce as they went down the plank.

"Be careful, Ace." "Whitebeard might have left some soldiers here."

"It's fine." Ace says with a gleam in his eyes, "We're prepping for war, anyway."

"Oh, c'mon."

Deuce felt like he was a knife that was all on edge. Ace was always a loose cannon, the type to act before he thought, but he had been hastier and less careful than ever since they'd reached the New World, Deuce noticed. Why was that?

If there had been a starting point, it was when he'd messed with Whitebeard's flag at Fish-Man Island. There had to be a reason for that. Deuce never knew the answer why, but he knew Ace felt invisibly persecuted by the rest of the world. He was struggling, trying to free himself from someone's shadow.

He had no interest in the One Piece or being King of the Pirates. When Ace told Red Hair Shanks as much, it was probably the unvarnished truth. Ace wanted to be free of something. If he was going to succeed, Ace thinks he needs to overturn the world.

Perhaps, in some vague way, Ace's goal was a kind of conquest. To be a man ruled by no one and nothing. Not the Navy, not the Four Emperors, not the World Government—not even the Celestial Dragons, those living gods who called upon the Navy's admirals like bodyguards. To destroy the very concept of a protected class like the Celestial Dragons. All of existence was his foe.

So Whitebeard, the man praised for being neck-and-neck with the King of the Pirates, was the first step on the stairs he sought to climb.

What Deuce asked of Skull was to investigate, collect information, and wait for the right opportunity to launch a surprise strike on Whitebeard's forces was executing a solid military strategy, but it was not where Ace's interests were.

Ace would challenge them directly, even if it meant facing the entire combined might of Whitebeard's group.

Ace took a few men and began to walk along the coastline. Deuce gave orders to the others and began to search for a discreet place to push farther into the forest.

"Are we just going to wait here until Whitebeard shows up?" Ace grumbled with a frown before telling his crew, "Anyway, don't let your guard down. Looks like it's gonna be another drawn-out battle."

"Captain!" yelled Wallace, "The ocean looks a little strange…"

"A large number of fish…" Ace thought as he sensed the fishes with his Observation Haki "Are all frantically swimming away from the island… What?"

There was a roar like a cannonball blast, and the ocean exploded as a waterspout burst into the air and into the mist before

"A giant water twister!" yelled Skull with "We got a fishman here!"

"What's was that?" Deuce wondered, holding his breath. Up ahead, through the thick mist, was the place where the Piece of Spadille was supposed to have gone…

A huge shadow suddenly landed before the Spade Pirates, hidden behind the early morning mist. The entire group stared, stunned, as they felt the ground shake from the impact.

"Where did he come from?" Deuce thought in a panic as he stared at the enormous shadow.

A sodden cloth was draped over the figure's shoulder and slowly all the crew recognized it as the figure threw onto the ground next to Ace's foot.

"Isn't that our…"

Deuce couldn't even finish his question. The flag of the Spade Pirates, the one that flew from their mainmast. This creature had torn it off, mast and all, and tossed it aside like scrap cloth.

Ace bristled at the insult. Tearing down a pirates' flag was equivalent to stomping on the crew members' faces with your boot. The only appropriate response now was battle. Suddenly, Ace sensed Deuce was worried about the ship and Mihar and the others on the ship.

"Are all of them ok?" Deuce thought as he tried to see through the thick mist, but he couldn't even see the enemy in front of him clearly. Ace then looked back at the imposing figure.

"Do you realize what you've done?" Ace growled as he stared at the enemy through the mist.

"I could ask the same of you! Do you understand what you did when you burned down Whitebeard's flag over Fish-Man Island?" said a deep, threatening voice.

"Uh-oh!" gulped Wallace, the fish-man of the crew.

"Ah, you have a fish-man, too? Do you know who I am, young man?" growled the figure, glaring down from a height of ten feet.

"Boss!" gasped Wallace, who was so terrified he could say nothing more.

"Are you the brat who turned down the Seven Warlords, then?" The figure said as his eyes stared menacingly at Ace.

"I don't know nothing about the Warlords, you big lug," lied Ace, as fire began enveloping his body.

Quickly, the mist in the area burned away, revealing torn earth, and Ace immediately recognized the man who had torn their flag off. It was one of the Seven Warlords, Jinbe.

"Captain, that's Jinbe," Skull told him in a warning voice, "Don't underestimate him!"

"I know." Ace replied with a grin as he clasped his hat and gave a passive stare

"Barging into this island without permission…" growled Jinbe in anger as he stared at Ace with displeasure, "Even a rookie like you. Must know what that means…!"

"Heh!" Ace chuckles as he places his hands on his hips. "So you came because I tore that flag down and I raised mine over Fishman Island. Did Whitebeard send you?"

"King Neptune of the Ryugu Kingdom and Whitebeard are good friends." Jinbe said with a livid expression on his face, "That flag protected Fish-Man Island from pirates and slavers, boy. Your actions are too serious to laugh off as a childish prank. It meant making an enemy of all fish-men and doing great insult to the reputation of Whitebeard, the Emperor of the Sea."

"Listen, big guy…" Ace said challengingly, ignoring Jinbe's surprised expression, "I wanna see this Whitebeard dude!"

"And then what?" Jinbe challenged back with a heavy frown as he crossed his arms.

"You already know." says Ace as he indicated the threat with a fiery palm.

"Go! Beat him, Captain!" came a cheer. Before, it was followed by the others.

"Woah!"

"Captain Ace!"

"A brat like you barging in like a sword without a sheath… Well, I can't allow you to meet with to meet the old man when you are sharp and willing to harm as a knife!" Jinbe says with narrowed eyes as he ignored the pirates cheering on their captain, "I am not part of the Whitebeard Pirates… but I have an obligation to oppose you. I owe him a great debt… I will be your opponent."

"I couldn't care less! If you dare to stand in the way…" Ace says with a glare before yelling threateningly, "Then I'll be going through you after you're burned to ash!"

"Firefly: Flame Vortex!" Ace yells as his fiery palms formed many small, glowing greenish-yellow fireballs that floated in the middle of the air before shooting towards Jinbe at deadly speed, scattering around him and then converging to Jinbe.

Jinbe swatted away the green balls with eases and they dispersed away from the fishman, but that is what Ace expected and wanted as he jumped into the sky and turned his fist into flames.

"FIRE…" yells Ace as he swung down his flaming fist, "FIST!"

A tremendous blast of heat and flames exploded from Ace's fist and teared towards Jinbe.

"Fishman Karate: …" Jinbe muttered as he took a deep breath then took a stance, "Gentle Current!"

Jinbe waves his arms at great speed and uses his strength to control the surrounding humidity and disperses the incoming fist of flame away from him. Jinbe ignored the flash of heat that surrounded him as the torrent of flames split and dispersed and crashed into the surrounding trees that.

"The Hell!?" yelled in Ace with shocked surprise in midair as he gathered a swelling mass of flames surrounding his palm. "He is countering my flames!"

"Flames are extinguished by water!" Jinbe says as he raises his leg, "Even ten-year-olds know this!"

Ace thrust his fiery open palm towards Jinbe, which the fishman parried away with an axe heel kick. The resulting clash sent a flash of heat and a moist air around them.

"Where is the water coming from!" yelled Ace in frustration as he sees and feels the damp air smothering his flames.

"From all around us!" growled out seriously before adding, "From the air, from beneath the ground… There is even water in your body!"

Ace suddenly the damp air condenses into droplets that swarm around Jinbe's blue fist that turns black and hardens.

"Oh, shit…" Ace swore

Ace felt a flurry of blows hammer into his body from Jinbe's blackened fist imbued with Armament Haki, each blow sending watery vibrations into his innards before he was sent flying away into the air by the hammering effects.

Ace ignored the pain as he crashed into the forest's trees behind him as he brought his fingers together in a cross.

"Hm?!" gasped a startled Jinbe as he sees the flaming fingers form a flaming cross before it emanates a cross-shaped ray of light can be seen from the fingers towards him. The light then was followed by a small but powerful column of flames. Jinbe thrusts an open palm to intercept the tiny jet of flames.

It was a mistake. The small column of flames exploded into a flaming explosion shaped like a cross that singed and burned Jinbe's open palm. Jinbe felt the flames wash over him as he ignored the heat, but his open palm throbbed like crazy from the pain of the burns and impact of the flames.

"My Armament Haki…" whispered a stunned Jinbe, "It didn't even faze him."

"As you were saying… Even ten-year-olds know that!" chuckled Ace as he pulls himself upwards and adjusts his hat before he clasps the hilt of his sword, and hissed at Jinbe, "If you touch an open flame, you're going to get burned."

Ace unshed his swords and wreathed it in his flames and that began swallowing him completely and hid his body from Jinbe.

Jinbe was about to throw a Jet Spear to extinguish the flames before they snapped out of existence, revealing and the wielder and the sword were gone.

Immediately Jinbe's instincts and Observation Haki screamed at him to run to the sea and to use the water for protection. But it was too late in his mind he felt an intention of Ace swinging his sword before the rookie unleashed his attack.

Jinbe turned saw a thin line of compressed flames cleaving the sea in half before it was followed by a rush of heat, as hot scorching air slammed on to the sea where Jinbe had come out. The heat was so immense that immediately Jinbe saw the surrounding sea around the island vaporize into steam. Jinbe then jumped roughly on the ocean's cracked crust, stunned to see no signs of the surrounding sea. Only signs of water left were the steam around going into the air, and the high waves of the ocean trickling back to fill the empty sea.

"Now I leveled the field… Warlord!" Ace says with a bloodthirsty grin, "I know you can still use the steam and the water below us, but the ocean was going to be a problem! So I got rid of it."

Jinbe then pulled at the steam, condensing it back to droplets of water before telling him with a strained voice, "Do you know the ocean will always come back?!"

At those words, waves of water crashed back into the empty oceanic crust next to the shores of the beach, Which Jinbe dove into and began to pull the currents of the ocean crashing and filling the oceanic crust again.

"I know! And that's why I will keep doing it!" Ace said as he wreathed himself in flames and sends the flames flowing to the tip of his sword.

"SPEAR WAVE!"

"RUPTURING SCORCH!"

Ocean and Inferno clashed into each other.

---

-Five days later-

Ace began to feel his breath and flames were both becoming feeble enough that they were close to being snuffed out. His opponent wasn't looking so good either after having his clothes and skin covered in burns, but he had also suffered a grievous wound when Ace drove his Yondai Kitetsu imbued with his Armament Haki against Jinbe flesh that was protected by his own Armament Haki.

At first Jinbe's Haki was superior, but Ace overcame it with brute force, as he used his Devil Fruit for more thrust and acceleration by shrouding his feet in flames, which allowed him to push himself off the ground with immense force. His superior force helped his sword to pierce Jinbe's hardened skin. Once he broke through the armament Haki defense, Ace sent flames flowing into the blade, burning Jinbe from the inside. Only for Jinbe to retaliate with a punch that sent him crashing to the other side of the island.

Slowly, he walked over to Jinbe, who was struggling to remain on his feet. It seems both of them were on their last legs. Ace had never felt so exhausted and tired, even during his training sessions with the grandpa, never exhausted him this much. They just left him battered and bruised. But this battle did all of that and on top made him dizzy with exhaustion.

"Huff, huff…" Ace panted as he readied himself to throw another attack, before Jinbe's knees buckled and the warlord fell flat on his face, keeling over from his injuries and exhaustion.

"I win…" Ace whispered out before he collapsed too, and looked at Jinbe's prone body, where blood was pooling around him.

It's been a five-day struggle, and he won, barely by an inch. He beat a warlord, and not any warlord. Jinbe was said to be in the upper echelon of warlords and was said to be one of the strongest Fishman in the world.

Ace then looked at the Spade Pirates with a tired grin. His crew had no option but to keep their distance and observe a battle that was far beyond their capacities. It was a valuable glimpse at just how powerful their captain was.

They'd seen the accurate measure of his fighting ability in vivid detail. But the counterpoint to their amazement at the skills he had showed was their dread at the sheer strength, stamina, and willpower of the First Son of the Sea, who could battle so dauntlessly against Ace without the aid of a Devil Fruit power.

"Are there more like this in the New World?" Ace thought to himself, "Those with even greater power than this… No matter, I am going to win against them too!"

But when he lifted his head, he and the rest of the Spade Pirates saw the last thing they were expecting. Jinbe raising his head with a bloodied smile, "I may have lost this battle, but you are going to lose the war against them!"

Beyond the pale mist of the morning was a vast shadow, as big and round as an Island Whale. But this whale did not bellow a whale call. This whale had a mast sticking out of its back and it sidled up to the coast like a ship. An enormous ship.

"Where is the brat who wants to take my head?" A booming voice echoed from the prow of this ship, "Then have at it! I'll be your opponent!"

"That's the Whitebeard Pirate Crew and their Captain," Jinbe chuckled at Ace's stunned expression before he spat out a glob of blood. "Still think you can handle them?"

THUD!

Suddenly a figure jumped directly next to Jinbe, and he even towered Jinbe in stature and he was draped in a captain coat, and underneath the captain coat was pure muscle and myriad of scars proving the experience, and his yellow eyes peered at Jinbe and then glanced at Ace, before his long curvy mustache twitched and he frowned before he struck the ground with the blunt end of his weapon, a long naginata that had to be twenty feet long, and it looked like a ship's mast in his hand. And the stature of the man called Edward Newgate, Whitebeard himself, was nearly as towering. He had the look of a ruler of the seas.

"If-" Deuce says before he thinks "If this goes on… Ace is gonna get himself killed!"

"I don't mind taking all of you on alone," Whitebeard's voice rumbled across the battlefield. "Marco, take Jinbe to the infirmity… He really did a number on you, Jinbe."

"I'm sorry, old man, but he was being an idiot and needed to be stopped," moaned Jinbe as he lied on the groaned face first.

A blue flaming bird rushed in and grabbed Jinbe with its talons and picked him up and carried him up to the ship's prow.

"Well, no need to worry, Jinbe," grunted Whitebeard with a frown. "I will take care of him and his crew…"

A heavy pressure filled the air before Whitebeard emitted a wave of his Conqueror's Haki, and immediately the Spade Pirates were overwhelmed. They were paralyzed with fear as some felt their spirit broken and fell to their knees.

"Such powerful Haki," Saber grunted as he fell to his knee.

"Argh!" gasped Skull as he pushed himself to stand up.

Only Deuce remained unaffected but still his hands twitched nervously as he held his sword while yelling, "PROTECT OUR CAPTAIN! WE NEED TO SAVE ACE!"

Whitebeard just glanced at them and kicked his Haki up another notch and a powerful wave of Conqueror's Haki exploded outwards that cracked the ground and sent a powerful shockwave against the Spade Pirates, making them stumble.

Screams and yells echoed from the crew members.

"You guys! That's it…" Ace yelled worriedly before he glared at Whitebeard and raised a palm facing his crew, "Flame Fence!"

FWOOM!

A wall of flames, many feet tall, rose just behind Ace, separating him and his crew apart.

"Captain!"

"Captain Ace, what are you doing?!" Ace heard as he ignores his crew yelling from beyond the wall of flames. With the Flame Fence blocking their way, they couldn't rush forward to help Ace, but it will protect them from Whitebeard.

"Run away! All of you!" Ace ordered with a frustrated expression.

Whitebeard watched in silence before mocking Ace with a disappointed expression, "What, chickening out now?"

"Let my men go!" said Ace, staring Whitebeard down. "In exchange… I'll stay here until the end!"

"Captain Ace!"

"No way, Captain!" protested Skull, "Let us fight alongside you!"

"This gigantic idiot..!" hissed Deuce before he gnashes his teeth in frustration. "Time and time again-"

"WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS CARRYING THE BURDEN ALONE!?" Deuce voice exploded out as he yelled his heart out towards Ace, "YOU ALWAYS RUSH HEADFIRST INTO DANGER ON YOUR OWN! YOU COULDN'T EVEN EXACTLY BEAT JINBEI! HOW EXACTLY ARE YOU GOING TO WIN AGAINST THAT MONSTER!?"

Ace knew Deuce was right, but he still wanted to continue and prove himself.

"This is not the time for your childish stubbornness! Don't go where we cannot follow!" Ace heard Deuce beg in protest. "Who cares about the top! What kind of treasure would you even find when you get there!?"

"Everything," Ace thought to himself, "I get to find something I have been searching for my entire life…"

"You cannot surpass the Pirate King now!" Deuce screamed out as tears began to stream down his face, making Ace flinch inwardly, "You don't need to surpass him, so please… Run away now!"

"Do I…" Ace trailed with an exhausted smile and look on his face, "Do I look like a weakling to you?"

Deuce's wet eyes widen as he stared at his captain that lied on the side of the wall of flames.

"N-…! Not at all!" Skull shouted with "There's no way we would think that!"

"Our captain is strong!" Ace heard one of his crew members say before another one cheers out, "Yeah, that's right!"

"You're gonna win for sure!"

"Do you hear that, Deuce?" Ace said with a sly grin as he looks glances at the flames behind him, "I will not lose."

"Deuce, 's okay… If I can get what I want, then…" Ace says seriously, "I'm willing to put my life on the line for it…"

"Is it okay for me to live? If I can't find an answer to that…" Ace says softly as he turns his head and faces Deuce with a sad smile that looked like the bitter one he gave Shanks, "Then I won't regret dying."

Deuce fought back the tears as he gritted his teeth and ordered, "Everyone, we're withdrawing!"

"What?!" Skull gasped.

"But… Captain Ace is still…" Wallace protested.

"WERE YOU ALL JUST PLANNING TO STAND HERE AND WATCH!?" Deuce yelled at them, "THE ENEMY MUST HAVE MANY DEVIL FRUIT USERS! YOU SAW THAT BLUE BIRD!"

"But what will do against them?" Saber asked.

"We'll be able to do more at sea!" Deuce explains to his crew before he devised a plan in his head and ordered the spade pirates as he ran to ship holding a dial in his hands, "Let's go back to the Spadille. We can maneuver around the back of that big ship and get the jump on them from behind. While attacking with all our fire power! Take the small boat, striker, grab Ace and retreat! Then, we'll use this flame dial which had absorbed Ace's huge blaze to create an opening…"

"Gurararara, you have a good team there!" Whitebeard admitted with a chuckle and a hint of respect towards Ace. "They admire you quite a lot."

Ace then burst his body into flames and sheathed his sword as he faced Whitebeard with a grim expression.

"If you can still speak… State your name! Boy!" Whitebeard says with a grin.

"PORTGAS D. ACE!" Ace shouts as he lights his body on fire and brings his hands back and shouts as his body exploded into a blazing inferno, "GREAT FLAME COMMANDMENT!"

Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he saw Whitebeard raise a fist that turned black before the air cracked and a trembling force stuck Ace knocking him out in an instant.

---

"Woah!" Skull yelled in surprise as he tripped over the deck feeling the sea and earth shaking.

"Don't get thrown overboard!" Mihar warms the others before glancing at the island where a fireball was getting smothered by a rippling crack that jagged and spreading across the island, before the air shattered and all felt another earthquake rock the ocean.

"Captain is inside that…" said in Skull with a look of fear and dread.

"He won't die!" Deuce grunts as he spins the helm's wheels. "If you want to save him, get moving!"

"Zehahahaha!" a laugh echoed across the ship.

Deuce looks up and pales when he saw a big burly guy who was nearly as big and barrel-chested as Jinbei, but hairy and seemed to be in his thirties, sitting at their ship figurehead and had other people scaling over the side with him. The man gave them a grin which had a few missing teeth.

"You look like a clever one heh…" the man said as his comrades swarmed the ship, "But unfortunately you chose us as your opponents! This world only has value for the living, doesn't it?"

---

They got their ass handed to them in that fight. The Whitebeard pirates defeated them with ease and rounded up the crew before tying them up and dump them onto their ships, separating the crew apart between the three main ships and Whitebeard flagship.

Deuce was lucky that his group was dumped into the Moby Dick next to a knocked out Ace.

"Ah… So that's how it is…" Deuce thought as he recalled Ace words and actions throughout their voyage and looked at Ace with a look of shame as snot and tears began to flow down his face, "You are that man's son… That's why you were always so desperate to surpass him. Without even knowing that… I said some pretty terrible things to you."

"Ace… I'm sorry," whispers Deuce before he succumbed to his exhaustion and fell asleep.

---

The only sound Ace heard was waves crashing against the ship.

Ace's mouth was bone-dry. It felt like there were cracks on the inside of his throat. He coughed and spat something that tasted like all his fluids were mixed together, blood, saliva, and stomach acid, and bounded to his feet.

"Agh! Koff!" Ace hacked, again and again. Until clarity returned to his mind. His body felt sluggish, reminding him of being bedridden with a fever when he was a child. Everything hurt: muscles, joints, limbs…

"Here." a voice said next to him.

"Huh?!" Ace said in confusion as a cup was held before his face.

Ace then smelled fresh water, and it brought his attention to his unbearable thirst. The salt breeze had ruined the lining of his nostrils. He then snatched the cup before his face and downed the water in one go.

Ace then glanced again at the person who had handed him the cup. The man was sitting on the gunwale of the ship, peering down at Ace as though looking at a stray kitten. Ace sat on the deck, leaning back against the side wall.

"Where was he? It wasn't the Piece of Spadille." Ace thought as he scanned his surroundings, "This ship was much, much bigger."

"Who are you?" Ace hurled the cup aside.

"Don't throw the dishes." Groaned the voice at Ace.

"Shut up… ugh!" snarled Ace as he tried to get up, but his body wouldn't obey and his confusion wasn't making things better.

What happened? Why am I on this unfamiliar ship?

The man sitting on the edge of the ship smiled at him. He was wearing a white apron.

"You are still asleep?" the cook said with a smile.

"Where am I?" Ace asked.

"You're on our ship. The Moby Dick."

Ace recognized the name that was the flagship of Whitebeard.

"I'm Thatch, leader of the fourth division." The cook introduced himself with a chuckle. "If you're going to be sailing with us, let's try to get along."

"Shut up!" Ace shouted at him.

"Ha ha ha! I see you're not a morning person," Thatch laughed before asking Ace, "Say… would you like to know what happened after you passed out?"

Suddenly Ace remembered Whitebeard's words before he knocked him out and holding out a hand towards him.

"It'd be a waste to kill you, boy. If you still want to terrorize the seas, do it in my name! Become my son!" Ace recalled Whitebeard saying he held out a hand towards him in his defeated state.

But at any rate, Ace finally understood the obvious. He had lost. And he hated that Whitebeard didn't take him seriously and looked down on him. He'd been taken prisoner, hauled aboard Whitebeard's ship, and laid out on the deck. For at least a night, if not longer. That island he and Jinbe fought on was nowhere in sight now.

"Your men came back for you afterward," said Thatch, the fourth division leader, "So we clobbered 'em."

Ace just gave Thatch a shocked look before anger flooded his veins.

"But don't worry, they're alive. And they're all aboard our fleet," said Thatch soothingly, when he saw the look of fury on Ace's features.

"They're alive?" Ace thought with disbelief. "Is that… even possible?"

The Spade Pirates were destroyed. They'd met the Whitebeard Pirates head-on and were crushed. That's what happens. When pirates battle pirates with pistols and swords, there's no rules or honor, just war. All the loser leaves behind was a dead body.

Ace felt further deflated with each moment that passed. To Whitebeard, this didn't even qualify as war. He didn't engage in war with rookies. There was no comparison between their crews.

Ace looked down at his arms. His hands weren't even bound by iron cuffs, much less the Sea Prism Stone that could contain Devil Fruit powers. If he wanted, he could certainly use his power to burn down the entire ship. Hell, they didn't even take the Yondai Kitetsu from him.

"You sure you want to let me walk around without chains on?" Ace told Thach with a glare as his hands hand drifted to the Yondai Kitetsu.

"Huh?" said Thatch with a frown, before giving him a grin. "Pops didn't order us to lock you in a cell. Why did you want to be?"

Ace was about to retort before he looked around the ship and then suddenly realized everyone was nervously glancing at the sky repeatedly as they expected something to come swooping down.

Thatch catches his glances and told him, "You weren't the only one going crazy last night… I never thought the day would come, but somebody finally did it. Hell, the marines are in shambles, and it seems the rest of the Yonko crew and us are tightening up security."

"What happened?" asked Ace in confusion, his anger fading momentarily.

"Can somebody fetch me the morning papers?" Thatch says as he beckons a crewmate for it before telling Ace, "Jinbe has been keeping a close on you and he knows you have been somewhere around Wano…"

"Speaking of Jinbe, it's impressive that you beat Jinbe…" Thatch said as he latched an arm around Ace's shoulder, which Ace shrugged off, "Even more than a young rookie…"

"What about Wano?" Ace asked with a dreaded tone as he reached for the Vivre card Naruto gave him.

"Anything strange happened there?" Thatch asks Ace with a serious expression, "We asked your crew members, but they insisted on keeping their lips shut."

"It's smaller than before…" Ace thought as he feels nothing before whipping it out and blanches at it as he sees the burned ashes of the vivre card, "What!?"

Suddenly Ace sees the newspaper front page and knows it was big news, as dread and fear for Naruto's safety filled his guts when he saw the front page and then he felt he was struck into the heart as he saw the title.

"No…"

---

Grandline: Paradise

"So, how'd it go?" the mountainous man in white asked into the transponder snail's receiver as he calmly plucked a rice cracker from the bag on the desk next to him.

"Estimated casualties are numbering in the tens of thousands at minimum," the equally sized man on the other end replied grimly. "Apparently Kaido can move quickly when he feels like it. We'll have to organize efforts to intercept him much quicker in case this ever happens again. That coward Doflamingo turned tail and ran within five minutes of engaging, but at least now we know what caused Kaido to go on a rampage like that."

"Eh? You mean he wasn't just drunk? Something actually set him off that bad?" Garp asked in surprise. "I mean, him going on a rampage is nothing new, but this one was understandable and much messier."

"I'm afraid so," the man on the other end sighed, "And while I hate to be grimly satisfied by the death of a child, I take some small solace that Kaido's bloodline ended itself. Heaven knows whether the world could withstand two Kaido's. We already have enough of Big Mom popping up new children every nine months or Whitebeard adopting an entire crew of pirates calling them son."

"I know that's the official position, Sengoku, but you're still an ass for saying so," Vice Admiral Garp informed his best friend, "I mean after what you felt when Rosinante… you know."

Fleet Admiral Sengoku then winced at the memory. "Okay… Okay… I admit that was an ass thing to say, but I have to wonder if the consequences might not have been worse than the little monster living. Damage reports are still streaming in from across the New World. Seems like Kaido ran into Red Haired Shanks before he could find Whitebeard. Apparently, Kaido blames himself for his daughter's death, your grandson Ace, and the daughter's friend that stalled him in battle. "

Garp froze, a cracker halfway to his mouth and then turned his suddenly stunned expression on the snail that had just relayed his best friend's words, "Excuse me?"

Sengoku grimaced. "According to what Cipher Pol has dug up, Kaido apparently had his daughter restrained with exploding manacles designed to incapacitate her if she ever tried to run away from home. What Cipher Pol is telling us is that the cuffs should have gone off when she left the island. But somehow, she took them off and made it to the sea while someone was facing Kaido in a battle to distract him and his crew from, and the person nearly succeeded."

"What!" Garp said with a raised eyebrow, "Are you telling me there is an unknown monster capable of fighting that drunken bastard?"

"Any chance they could've escaped somehow?" Garp asked with a serious look.

"Well Kaido mistook a fleeing ship belonging to his enemy unaware that his daughter was on it, and obliterated it, after he found out Kaido seemed certain his daughter is dead," Sengoku replied, "And frankly, it doesn't really matter to me. Unless the girl pops up alive somewhere, then it might be a problem."

Sengoku shrugged, "Who knows? Whatever the case, that grandson of yours has even more of a giant target on his back now."

"WHAT!" yelled Garp.

"Apparently, your son fought Jinbe until both of them collapsed from exhaustion…" Sengoku tonelessly informed Garp, "Then Ace got captured by the Whitebeard Pirates. Pretty soon I think they are going to make him Whitebeard's heir due to his lineage."

Garp's expression twitched and went through a very interesting set of emotions before settling on resignation, "You've got a point. Any other bad news you want to give me while we're sharing?"

"You know Vegapunk Lab up in Egghead?" Sengoku asked with a narrowly repressed groan.

"What happened?" Garp asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did the Pacifista project get out of control?"

"No, apparently a radioactive meteorite, landed there and knocked the entire electric grid off," Sengoku summed up with a sigh. "CP-0 is requesting an escort of marine battleships to the island since it's close to Wano. And you know how volatile that part of the sea is now! I hate the timing!"

"Well, if I were you I will wait until Kong says it ok…" Garp said as he tipped the bag of rice crackers into his mouth and gulped them down in on go.

---

On the other side of the New World, Big Mom just raised an eyebrow before looking at Big News Morgan, which she had invited for a tea party, along with the emperors of the underworld.

"Are you sure the source of this is true… Morgan?" asked the only female emperor of the Four Yonko, "I mean you just told the world that Kaido has accidentally killed his child that was previously unknown and unheard to the world."

"Well…" said Big News' Morgans before sipping the tea cup he saw served, ", I got it from Dofalmingo who turned around once he saw Kaido burning down an island near Dressrosa, besides there are other survivors mentioning Kaido being drunk and waling out that he didn't mean to kill his daughter."

"Anything else you left out of the papers, Morgan?" asked Big Mom with a dangerous look.

"Just a rumor, Linlin," Morgan said with a sigh, "And you know I don't publish rumors without substantial evidence."

"So what was the rumor?" Big Mom asked Morgan.

"Apparently there was a man stalling Kaido…" Morgan said and suddenly everyone in the room snapped their heads in his direction.

"The World Government would be interested in this information." Thought a certain blonde lady as her icy blue eyes reached for her purse. "Morgan needs to be more sharing with his info."

---

Land of Wano: Flower Capital

Hiyori ducked indoors as the storm outside raged even harder. It had been raining nonstop since last night and it had been kicked up into thunderstorms all over Wano.

"Naruto… Why did you piss him off so much!" Hiyori sighed before she headed to Denjiro's office.

Once she entered, his office, she noticed that she wasn't the only visitor, a pink clad Kuniochi who was seemingly chubby and attempting to slim down sat in the corner. Once the Kuniochi saw her, she kneeled to her knees and bowed her head, and whispered, "I am so glad to see you, Hiyori-sama. I wish it was under better terms…"

Hiyori blinked and waved her hands and denied it, "I am sorry… But I think you have mistaken me for someone else."

"It's okay, Hiyori-sama…" Denjiro's voice came from behind her.

Hiyori whirled around and saw a shrine with a sketch of Naruto's placed next to it where an old man sat next to "Let's pray for him… Hiyori-chan, all these years he stood over you… I never thought it was you."

Hiyori felt a sunken feeling in the pit of her stomach, as she asks, "Did something happen?"

"Hiyori-sama, meet your grandfather, Sukiyaki-sama meet your granddaughter," Denjiro introduced to them.

"What…" W chocked out a stunned Hiyori as tears began to fill her eyes, before she felt a webbed hand on her shoulder, she looked around to see a kappa she knew well

"Kawamatsu is that you?" asked Hiyori.

"Yes, it's me…" Kawamatsu said with a chuckle as she hugged him tightly before she looked at the others and asked, "How did you find us?"

"Narutomaki-sama, told us your location, and identity and we should only track you down under only one instance." Shinobu said as she held back her tears, "Oh, I can't believe it happened…"

"What happened?" asked an uneasy Hiyori,

"The circumstances that allowed us to track you down was terrible..." An ashy looking Sukiyaki said with a pained face, "It was his Vivre card."

"I don't understand…" Hiyori asked with confusion before she realized, "No… Tell me it's not real."

"I am afraid it is," Shinobu said as she held an ashy clump of Naruto's vivre card.

"Kaido's men told me Kaido overpowered him and killed him but now without a cost Kaido's facial scars are something to see though, and he is still reeling from the loss of his daughter." Denjiro told the others, "He died for all of our sake and the future of Wano."

"But he promised us he will back…" Hiyori as trembles began to wrack through her body as she held back her sobs. "He promised!"

---

Tama felt extremely cold which was surprising since she expected a fiery blast to be hot before a voice yelled in her mind, "WAKE UP BRAT!"

Tama eye's snapped open and she let a terrified scream once sees Nue dragging a dead deer from it snapped neck before turning back into black smoke and returned to the seal on her neck.

"What!" came a stunned and stirring Yamato's voice, "It's colder than Dad's freezer in here!"

"Is hell frozen over?" Ulti body exploded from the snow before she began wailing and shiver, "I can't be dead! This is your fault Yamato!"

"We are not dead," Page One grunts as he empties the snow out of his hat, "I don't think there are dead animals in hell!"

"Oh I see," Yamato head pops out from, "Then where are and where is Naruto… I can't sense him!"

"I think I know where we are…" Page One says with a wide eyes as he stared at the starry sky, "This northern hemisphere at this time of year is only see able at… How? HOW DID WE TRAVEL TO NORTH BLUE IN UNDER A DAY!"

Page One stunned yell makes everyone freeze except Tama as she says with a confused voice, "What's is the North Blue? I didn't know colors have cardinal points."

Immediately Tama gets baffled stares from Page One, Yamato and Ulti, before they all say in unison, "Oh yeah… Wano is an isolationist country."

Tama then heard Nue's voice telling her, "Ask them where is the ship…"

"Where is the ship then?" Tama asked obliging with Nue's request.

"That's strange where is it?"

"Oh, guys you better see this," Yamato says as she stands over the rock and peers into the east.

Tama then followed her before craning her neck out and saw a ghost village, a burned out mansion and a frozen river…

"Oh come on…" swore Ulti before banging her head on the ice.

"That's not fair," Yamato said with a

The ship they stole was smacked in the middle of a frozen river that was kilometers away from the beach, and the sails were signed and burned but the ship surface glowed with the array Naruto used.

"Hey guys…" Yamato said in a panicking voice as she pulled out her own vivre card, "I don't think Naruto came with us… Where is his vivre card…. No no no no no… It can't be…"

Yamato pulled her piece of the vivre card and saw the last traces of it burn away into sparks of flames. Yamato then lets a chocked sob as she realized what had happened, before she lets out an enraged yell and lets out a wail.

"We escaped at the cost of his life…" Yamato thought, "Naruto I am so sorry."

"What's wrong Yamato?" asked Tama.

"Your brother…" Yamato said with closed eyes, "He made us go here without him and when I see him. I am going to beat him up."

Page One and Ulti blinked at the obvious lie, but Tama just smiled, "I see so let's go find him!"

"Uhhh…" Page One said before he stopped from the glare of Yamato, "Tama why don't you go find kindle and sticks. "

"You are lying to her…" Page One asked with an incensed "About her brother's death."

"Pa- Pay… She can't know now…" Ulti said as she blinked away the tears in her eyes "Not while we process what happened. Our captain will understand."

"Okay…" sighed Page One with a heavy heart before he punched the rock and it smashed into pieces and hiccupped, "But he is still our captain even is he is dead… He is still our captain, isn't he?"

"Yes…" Ulti said as her face trembles, "He will always be our captain. We would never have started this without him."

"I agree," Yamato said as she wipes the snot and tears away from her face, "We will grieve later… But now we need shelter and food, and we need to keep a brave face for Tama."

"Well, we have food here." Ulti said as she picked the dead deep up before saying, "Let's meet on the ship."

"I am going to find Tama…" Yamato says as she wipes her tears and walks to the direction where Tama walked to and started to follow her footprints.

---

A/N: I AM BACK AND NARUTO IS DEAD AND GONE! So my exams are over and the next chapter would come out sooner than you think. So once I post the first chapter of my renewed MHA X Naruto Crossover and the DC (comics) X Naruto crossover. The fourteenth chapter is amazing. For those who are wondering why Naruto is currently dead you will find out in the next chapter. And for those who are wondering why I focused on Ace on this chapter, Ace is the second most important character in this story after Naruto. So Kaido Arc has started, and we already seen him rampage all over the New World. So give me reviews and follows and favs.

Now onto the questions and review responding.

gread dxd2 (Chapter 12): So you are disappointed, or you just did not read the story. I nerfed Naruto by not allowing him to use chakra of the tailed beasts and Six paths sage mode. And I think you are underestimating Kaido for the monster he is.

Yeah Kaguya tanked Rasenshirukens each one imbued with different Tailed Beasts chakra, hell Madara tanked a lava Rasenshiruken. But Naruto here used normal sage mode Rasenshiruken.

And besides what gave the idea that sage mode should literally be a counter against devil fruit users due to is absorbing Nature Energy and saying it has the energy of the sea. The anime and the manga say Natural energy is a form og energy that exists in the atmosphere and the earth. It didn't mention the sea… Have you got mixed up with fanon and canon by an idea that fanfic writers repeatedly use? Look I do my research and I know what will work against each power system.

And when did Naruto TSO against Kaido? He doesn't have access to Six Paths right now.

Zenchi to zen'n no kami (Chapter 12 ): Encontrarías sobre el próximo capitulo del shinigami.

Stonepotrice (Chapter 12 ): Yeah we got a grim reaper who is free and crazy and I will explain next chapter about. He is going to be a huge factor in this story for one of the enemies of Naruto.

The Village Security is operated and powered by a small Tensingan orbs, that powered the puppets in Naruto: The Last Naruto. Naruto got from Toneri when he passed away and left everything for Naruto. I will be exploring their relationship next chapter and what happened.

And that's it.

So leave reviews for me.