Hello everyone, here is the next chapter

I'm sorry this is as late as things have been hectic. I was working on Ace of Spades and Borderless Horizon to get them up, same with Black Heart. But here it finally is

Hope you enjoy

Read and relax

Whitebeard was worried and confused when Marco suddenly went back into his human form in mid air, since they needed Marco's air help. There weren't many left, a few strong ones, but it always greatly helped. When the captain heard the first commander yelling out Ace's name, sounding panicked, he looked over to see Ace on the ground, on his knees and face down, body shaking.

His first thought was that Ace had been injured, but quickly remembered they had been in the prison for 7 days. That was a long time for Ace to be without food. Maybe Ace was hungry and was smelling the blood that had been shed. The captain was just about to yell out Ace's name, to hopefully help, when a man, one of the three that was still alive, held a gun out towards Ace. ¨Die, vampire.¨ Whitebeard was about to move his hand and use his powers to move the guy off balance or something, when Ace moved.

Ace did a jump into the air, jumping high, even doing a twist and being upside down, when he stopped mid air, and the captain felt the air leave his lungs at what happened next.

Ace's eyes opened, eyes completely red and glowing, fangs out, same with claws. And, two gigantic red wings appeared from Ace's back, each wing being close to 7 feet long, looking like bat wings.

Whitebeard swallowed. Ace had lost control.

The man who had pointed his gun at Ace, moved it to point at Ace in the air. ¨Showing your true self, vampire.¨ Then, the man shot his gun. ¨Ace!¨ Whitebeard tried, knowing it might not work right now, but still needing to try. Ace evaded the bullet, moving to the side in the air, moving to the other side when another bullet was fired. Ace was actually flying, and seemed to have control. No, his vampire had control. This wasn't Ace.

When the man moved to shot again, Ace moved down and right side up, before flying towards the man, reaching him in less than a second, even though the man was over 90 feet away. Ace was fast. Ace landed on the gun that had been pointing at him, hissing at the man with teeth out.

The man gave a startled sound, moving to grab a blade and trying to slash Ace, most likely a sliver blade, but Ace avoided it by jumping off the gun and flying backwards a small bit, still being in the air and in front of the man that was trying to attack Ace. The man tried to attack Ace again with the blade, but Ace evaded it every time. When the man went to slash downwards, making so he moved forwards and back a bit down with the movement, Ace moved to kick on the man's neck, making him fall to the ground, losing his blade and gun.

Before the man could stand up, Ace flew over him, landing over his back and moving a hand to the man's head, dragging it up, making him give a sound of discomfort and fear, Ace moving his own head towards the stretched neck.

Ace was going to bite and feed off of the man while being out of control.

¨Ace! Son!¨ The captain knew it was bad to bite others in this state of mind for Ace, Aoba had said that. Whitebeard was just about to use his powers to get Ace's attention, to hopefully manage to snap Ace back out of it, even if that meant Ace might attack him. The captain saw Marco on his way to move too.

But, before Whitebeard could move his arm, Ace bit down in the man's neck.

Whitebeard still moved his arm, sending a tremor through the air, making a bit of the ground open up around Ace, creating a cloud of smoke, hoping it would be enough to get Ace's attention for a small bit so they could come up with something. But, Whitebeard saw a bit of movement in the cloud, before the dust was blown away, Ace's wings flapping to keep the dust away. They needed to come up with something to stop Ace. Everyone on the battlefield had stopped and watched the scene in shock and horror, seeing Ace didn't have control, the captain trying to figure out what to do.

One of the other men held a gun towards Ace, hands shaking, obviously scared and terrified. Before the man could pull the trigger, Ace gave a hiss and moved to look at the man, eyes completely red, snarling and giving a loud growl. The man started to shake more, looking more terrified, the man starting to move the gun towards himself, looking way horrified and not able to take his eyes off of Ace.

Ace was controlling him. They couldn't look into Ace's eyes and chance this in the state Ace was in.

When the man had the gun towards himself, he pulled the trigger, falling to the ground, many letting out shocked sounds, a few giving a small scream in fear. Whitebeard could see a few of his commanders getting the ones who were there from the family away, which was good. Less things that could happen this way. As Whitebeard was on his way to stand up and see if there was anything he could do and come up with a plan, Marco spoke up. ¨Pops, I can't change into my phoenix; the phoenix is terrified, yoi.¨ The captain gave a nod. It was bad, they needed a plan of something.

When he looked back at Ace, he had went back to feeding off the man again, biting down in his neck. As Whitebeard was up and about to try and yell out for Ace again, a gunshot was heard, Ace giving a flinch as a bullet went through his shoulder, Ace looking up at the man who shot him, making the man lose the gun and scramble away in fear, trying to run into the forest and get away. Ace gave a growl, the hand letting go of the man's head, making it fall to the ground, the man dead or close to dead.

As Ace had let go, the wings soon moved backwards and Ace flew a bit up and headed for the man that was trying to run away, a furious look at his face. ¨Ace!¨ Tried the captain, but Ace soon was gone behind the tree line, following the man that was running away, not even seeming to hear him. A second later, they heard a scream of fear, before it was cut off, Ace most likely catching his prey.

They needed to stop Ace. But Whitebeard had no idea how.

As the captain looked around himself; he made sure everyone got back to the ship and those injured had help, before he turned to the woods, Marco close by. They needed to try and do something. When they walked into the woods, they soon saw Ace, wings still out, crouched over a body that was unmoving and lying on its back, eyes open and dead. When they got a bit closer, they saw Ace had used his claws to tear the man's chest open and was feasting on his insides. When they took a small step closer, making a bit of sound, Ace turned to them, giving a hiss, and both of them froze.

Ace's eyes were still completely red, almost glowing, his fangs out and snarling at them, face red from blood, some even dripping down from his fangs and chin.

As they didn't make more movement, Ace went back to the man and continued to eat him, dragging organs out and eating them. Whitebeard didn't know what he should do, if he should go closer or not. He was sure if he did, Ace would attack him, and he was sure he didn't have much of a chance against the vampire in this state, same with Marco. Before he could come up with an idea, Marco held his hand out at him, telling him to stand by, while the first commander took a few steps towards Ace, crouching down, walking in a crouched manner, slowly.

He got what Marco was doing. He was approaching like one would with a predator, walking in the most unthreatening manner he could.

When Marco was about 7 feet away from the vampire, Ace moved and looked at the approaching person, giving a snarl. The captain wasn't sure if he was about to attack, or if he was protecting his meal- he was hoping for the latter, as it meant they could hopefully approach and somehow calm Ace down. As the snarl was made, Marco moved a hand out, trying to show he meant no threat. "It's okay, yoi. It's me, Ace, Marco. I know you're in there, Ace, you can win this." Ace's snarl went a bit down, making him hope it worked, that Ace would calm down; it did look like it. Marco seemed to think the same and continued to walk crouched towards Ace slowly.

But when Marco was a few feet away from Ace, the vampire's snarl came back at full force, moving to jump at Marco, Marco not able to do more than hold his hands up. Ace was going to attack Marco.

But as Ace was halfway to Marco, Marco trying his best to use his hands to shield himself, a person was suddenly between the first commander and Ace, moving and punching Ace in the stomach, making the vampire lose his breath and wings, before the man moved to stand behind Ace, holding him up with a hand, seeming to really have done a hard punch, before jumping away. How did one even manage to jump that high? And who was it?

As the man and Ace were gone, Marco looked at him shocked, before he managed to stand up, most likely a bit shaken up. He knew his phoenix didn't like the vampire, and it was probably mad at being so close. He looked at Marco. "Do you know who that was?" The first commander shook his head. "No, yoi. I have a feeling you don't either." He shook his head. "Do you still feel Ace?" Marco nodded, looking around. "Yeah. But I can't pinpoint it. It is somewhere, the predatory vampire, who is not happy." That wasn't a surprise. They had interfered with his meal, and the other person had attacked him back and taken him away. He wondered who it was and how he managed to do it.

Hopefully, he wasn't a threat to them or Ace. They needed to find Ace still. WIth a look to Marco, who gave a nod, they headed back to the ship, needing to both check up on everyone, and to make a plan on how to find Ace or the person who took Ace. This could be bad.

The two quickly headed back again, and were really relieved to see everyone there was fine, no Ace or the other man in sight.. As they were about to plan and do a search, Marco suddenly stopped and got a frown. ¨Marco?¨ Asked Whitebeard, worried he felt something. Marco gave a small frown as he looked at the island.

¨I don't feel it anymore, yoi. The predatory vampire is gone.¨ Whitebeard blinked, before looking at the island himself. ¨Can you feel Ace at all?¨ Marco shook his head, before getting a small frown. ¨No. But, I can feel something. I don't know what it is; it's not Ace.¨

Whitebeard gave a nod. He wasn't sure if that was good or not. That meant there was something on the island and the phoenix felt it, and it might be something that was the reason Marco could no longer sense Ace. Had Ace maybe gotten his control back? Or, had he found something or someone and that was what Marco now felt?

That could be bad. Whitebeard quickly got his commanders ready and they headed to search the island, hoping to find Ace safe and with himself.

They split into groups of two, everyone having a blood pack in case. Whitebeard went with Marco, Marco having somewhat of an idea since he felt something at the island and a bit into the woods, and they would head there, while the others searched the beach and that, but not heading into the woods. After they had walked for a few minutes, they saw a small clearing up front, Marco giving a frown as he sent him a look and a nod, silently telling that whatever he was feeling was there. They carefully prepared themselves for a fight, before going closer to the clearing. When they could see the entire clearing, Whitebeard felt worry at what he first saw.

He saw the man from before, sitting on the ground and seeming to read something, Ace next to him, lying unmoving on the ground.

His first thought was that Ace was dead, not even seeing anything signalising otherwise, not a rise of the chest as he breathed or anything, just lying there unmoving. He could see Marco having a deep frown too, looking to be on his way to get ready to get into a stance, him on his way to ready his bisento, when the man spoke. "I see you found us." The voice was calm, way too calm for his liking. As the captain was on his way to say something back, to ask what he had done to Ace. Ace suddenly moved to sit up, looking at them shocked, before smiling. "Pops! Marco!" He sounded happy, and before any of them could speak or move, the man spoke.

"Lay down." That was said with a type of force, and had Ace moving to lay down instantly, giving a groan.

Ace turned to look towards the man. "But Vincent!" Whined Ace, "I feel fine!" The man, Vincent, shook his head. "No, you do not. Do not think I can't feel your hunger." He could see Ace puffing his cheeks up, not happy with that. The man, Vincent, looked at them, holding his hand out. "Blood bag, now." As he was about to ask why, Ace did seem fine now and he would rather have him back on their boat, Marco moved and threw the blood bag to the man, looking shocked himself. Before he could ask why Marco did it, Vincent gave the bag to Ace. "Eat." As the word was said, Ace instantly bit down in the bag, drinking the blood.

Was this the same as Ace had done before? Was Vincent controlling Ace? Just what was this man? A vampire too?

As the bag was empty, Ace looked at the man. "Now?" Vincent gave a nod. "Yes, you may go now. And please, don't let this happen again." Ace gave a nod, standing up. "I won't. At least I will try. I didn't mean for this. Thanks for the help!" The man gave a nod, and Ace headed over to them, looking to be in a really good mood. As he was beside them, he looked at Vincent. "Who are you, and how did you manage to stop Ace?" The man gave a hum, closing his book and standing up.

"I am Valentine Vincent. For now, that is what I will tell. And I use a special kind of force to stop young Ace."

The man looked at them. "If you concentrate your haki to one arm and manage to land a punch on his upper stomach, it should immobilize him for a minute, but not longer. And, even that will take practice." He gave a nod, that was good to know; now, they at least had something to try if it happened again, which he hoped not. It was better than nothing. "Thank you, Mister Valentine." The man gave a nod, standing up and calmly walking away. He seemed like a really calm person.

When he was gone, Marco turned to Ace. "Are you fine, yoi?" Ace gave a nod. "Yeah, I am. Are everyone else okay? I didn't… hurt anyone…?" Marco gave a breath, shaking his head. "No, yoi. You didn't. Everyone's fine, just a few injuries from the battle. Do you remember anything?" Ace gave a small sound. "I- sorta? It's a bit foggy after we got out of the place, then nothing, just smelling blood, then nothing, and then seeing Vincent." Both he and Marco gave a nod, the latter speaking. "I will go and gather the others, meet you back at the ship, yoi." He gave a nod, and the first commander changed into his phoenix from, flying to notify the others everything was fine.

As Marco was gone, he felt Ace look at him. "Did I really not injure anyone?" He gave a small sigh. "You didn't injure anyone from the family, but you did kill and feed on the enemy." Ace gave a small nod. "I… I didn't mean for that to happen…" He shook his head. "I know, son. All of us do. We're just glad you're fine, and you didn't hurt any of us." Ace gave a nod, giving him a smile. "I'm feeling fine, and I'm glad I didn't hurt anyone from the family." He gave a nod, glad by that himself, even more that Ace was fine now. "Let's head back to the boat, son. I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you're fine." Ace gave a nod, and they started to head back.

As they was out of the clearing and in the woods, he looked at Ace. "Marco said you felt, or sensed, the ship coming. Why didn't you tell anyone?" Ace gave a small sound. "Um. I didn't see anything… I didn't have anything to show…" He shook his head. "Next time, if you feel anything at all, even if it turns out to be something or not, I want you to tell. Okay? I would rather be on the alert for nothing, than not be when we should." Ace gave a small nod. "I'll try, okay?" He gave a nod. "That's good, son. Even if you might be wrong, no one would be mad." For now, that would do. It was better than nothing. It was still a long way to go for Ace to be comfortable with all of this and them knowing, but they were getting there.

As they walked a bit more, he decided to ask about something he wondered about. "That man, Valentine Vincent, who was he?" He had a feeling and was almost sure it was a vampire, but he felt there was something else too. Ace gave a small laugh. "Vincent is Vincent!" The captain blinked, waiting for Ace to continue, but it didn't seem like he would. "He's just Vincent?" Ace nodded. "Mhm. He cares, in his own calm way." He gave a nod, understanding he wouldn't get anything else out of him. He guessed it was something and he didn't feel like telling it, and it was no worry. Ace was fine, and that was the most important thing.

When they got back to the ship, many were already back, just a few commanders missing, him seeing them on their way back a bit away, Marco with them. Everyone did seem glad to see Ace again, Ace not seeming to expect it. The captain did get that- he had lost control and they had seen it. He was sure many would be a bit wary at times, but they knew Ace wouldn't hurt them. It was intimidating and terrifying to see, but he knew no one would hold it against Ace. Ace wasn't in control at that moment, and that happened only when he hadn't eaten in a long time and they would do their best to not make that happen again.

When everyone was back and they set sail, after looting what they found in the enemy base, they headed a way that seemed to be in the open. He knew a lot of marines would be here soon, as it was them and the enemy had called and said he had them. He was sure this would be in the news tomorrow.

As they were out of view of the island, everyone calming down and those who were injured getting the treatment they needed, many already back out on deck, but a few needing to stay overnight in the infirmary, a part started. Everyone was glad no one was critically injured, and everyone was fine, especially as Ace was fine too. He had apparently worried many, everyone worried for Ace's well-being, not that he could hurt them, which seemed to come as a shock for Ace, but he was glad to hear it it looked like.

They were a big and caring family, and nothing would change that. The few ones they didn't care about were traitors, like Teach, who they would get their hands on one day.

And that's the chapter, hope you enjoyed

This wasn't too long, but I didn't want to start something new as I didn't want to make a too long chapter or have a cliffhanger, I want to avoid those

If you have the time, I greatly appreciate feedback

Also, if you're interested and have it and maybe want to share something or anything with me, come join my Discord server. It's called Azuruko's Fiction. It has a small channel for all my stories, and one main channel that's general. If I'm late with a chapter, I will tell there, and updates will be posted there. You can come with requests, questions, or just join for fun. Everyone is welcomed. (Instant invite: discord . gg / 6hzMhbR)