Hi guys! Here is the next chapter!

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Ace walked back to the hidden place they had, and when he walked in, he found Azuruko and explained what had just happened, how he had met Marco and their exchange. It had Azuruko nod with a sigh. "I'm sorry you met him, but they all believe the lies to this mark, Ace." Ace nodded. "I get that. But we need to stop the ones doing this." Azuruko sighed. "We can't." Ace blinked. "You won't help me?" Azuruko sighed. "It is not that I don't want to. But I can't risk my sister and my niece. They are my everything. Even if they hate me now, they're at least alive." Ace blinked. "But we ca-" Azuruko moved a hand to his shoulder, stopping him as Azuruko spoke. "Ace, I'm sorry. I, we, can't help. We can't risk our family and friends. I have done what I can do for you. I got you here and explained, so you can keep your family safe and alive. You now need to choose; family or reputation."

Ace blinked. "I choose family. But this is unfair!" Azuruko nodded. "We know, I know. But we can't do anything. If we do, they are dead." There had to be something he could do, right? Ace took a breath, before he went and spoke with everyone. He knew they all had one or more as collateral, but where in the world were they? So, he went and got everyone's names and location, age and all. There were 7 people here, not counting Azuruko. Ace did say he didn't ask to know where they were so they could be killed, but so he could maybe see a pattern, a lie yes, but he needed to know. The response he got to that was that even if he wanted to sell them out, the ones responsible for this still had someone watching their collateral, having them prisoner without the collateral knowing. This was just sick.

But as he spoke with Daisuke, another victim, Daisuke said that his collateral were his daughter and son, but it had been his wife as well at one time. But, Daisuke had searched for his wife, found her and explained the truth to her. Not so she could save him or tell the truth to everyone, but so she could tell their children he wasn't evil, but no one else. And his wife hadn't even believed him at all. She had sneered, spit in his face, and left while telling him to rot in Hell. But even though she had not believed him at all, they had killed her as Daisuke had told someone the truth. It didn't matter if he was believed or not, it was the fact he did it. The ones responsible for this weren't joking or messing around. It didn't matter who they told, it didn't matter if they were believed or not, what mattered was if they told anyone the truth.

But as evening fell, Azuruko spoke as they were all gathered. "We are leaving at midnight." Ace blinked. "But why? We haven't been here long." Azuruko sighed. "I know. But you were spotted. We are spotted now and then, but you had a conversation with someone. I don't want a mob coming here for us." Ace felt bad now for interacting when he should have run. And then he realized this was his life now. He would need to run forever. He was labeled as a traitor by those he loved and no one believed him, beside the ones in this room, which was only since they were victims as well.

This was his life now. If he wanted Luffy to be safe and not killed, he needed to live like this for the rest of his life. That, or Ace would need to die. But, dying for Luffy would be worth it. So, when night fell, they left. They had a boat and sailed and did their best to avoid what they could, which made them sail slowly to be sure to avoid dangers. But he had gotten a map and had placed a small mark on where everyone's collateral was, and then he tried to find a solution. But no matter how many he got, how different they were and which path he took, it all ended the same way. The ones responsible for this would find out and more bloodshed of innocent. The different people were far apart, and Ace was sure they all were being watched constantly in case. In the best case scenario, he could maybe get 3 of them before he was noticed, but then the rest would most likely be killed because of him, and Ace didn't want innocent people to die.

So, after not sleeping for 4 days and just trying to find a way to fix this, he found himself sitting in the room he had gotten on the boat, sitting on the bed, looking at an orange pill bottle that was in front of him on the bed. There was nothing Ace could do to save everyone, and he didn't want to potentially cause Luffy to die if he messed up. He had taken the pills from the small infirmary earlier, it was painkillers. Ace wasn't an expert, but he knew an overdose might kill him. He didn't know how many he would need to take to die, so he would just take all of them to be sure. He had a bottle of booze next to him so he could take them. If he didn't come up with a plan soon, he saw no other choice.

As he was sitting and thinking, there was a knock on his door, which had him hide the pill bottle as Azuruko came inside, making him blink. "Azuruko, do you need anything?" It was late, almost 1am now, why was he here? Azuruko didn't speak and walked over to him and held his hand out, and after a few seconds, Ace sighed, before he took out the pill bottle and handed it to the pink-haired man, who took it and put it in his pocket, before Azuruko spoke. "You can't take all our pain medicine, and there is a high chance you will just throw them up. It would be a waste." Ace nodded, Azuruko was right.

He then expected Azuruko to say how he should push on, Ace was young and had his entire life ahead of himself. But Azuruko didn't speak as he moved a hand to his other pocket and took out a small blue bottle and handed it to him. Ace blinked and took it, before he opened and saw it had 4 pills in it. "Take those." Started Azuruko. "A mix of sleeping, pain, and anti nausea medicine. You will be dead within 30 minutes, and you will not be nauseous. You will simply fall asleep and stop breathing after your heart stops beating. You will feel nothing."

Ace blinked and looked at Azuruko. "Why…" Azuruko gave a breath. "Why am I giving it to you?" Ace nodded which made Azuruko continue. "Because this is your choice. You just lost a group of your family, killed in front of you, marked by those who did it, framed for killing them, the rest of them believe this and hate you. And if you tell anyone, Luffy will die. But if you're dead, he will get to live for sure. You're young, but this is no life. Only reason I am here still is to help others like you. If you choose to die for your brother, that is your choice." Ace blinked, he didn't expect him to be so understanding.

Ace didn't know how to respond, when Azuruko spoke again as he held out a bottle of water which Ace took. "Take them with water, not booze, as that might make you throw up. My room is two doors down on the left and is unlocked. If you want someone to be with while you take your last breath, just come to my room. If not, I will come at noon and I will tell everyone to not check on you. Is there anything you want me to tell your brother? Do you want me to give him anything?" Ace thought before he nodded. "My hat. And tell him… I'm sorry." Azuruko nodded. "I will give it to him and deliver the message. Good night, Ace." Ace nodded and Azuruko left and closed the door after him carefully.

As the door was closed, Ace looked down at the bottle in his hand, trying to figure out what to do. He couldn't figure out what to do and how to save everyone. How to get the truth out without anyone innocent being killed. He couldn't risk anyone's collateral. Maybe this was the only way. Ace closed his eyes and did his best to find peace in his mind.

-x-

Sabo walked on the island and headed to the bar, where he found a barmaid and asked to speak with her. She looked at him and went. "Why is the Revolutionary army here? Do you have any business here with us?" Sabo shook his head. "No, but I am searching for… traitors." Sabo did feel bile in his throat as he just felt sick at himself for calling his brother a traitor. The barmaid looked at him, before she spoke. "You mean the rats?" Sabo nodded, making the woman hum. "Finally someone is going to make them pay. Yes, they were here, or they were spotted here and there, we don't know where they stayed. But they have not been spotted for a couple days, might have moved on I think. Wish I could tell you which way so you could make them pay, but I don't know which way."

Sabo nodded and gave a thanks, before he headed and searched the island. Sabo was good at finding clues. And after following very faint footsteps and marks, he soon moved away some bushes that were close to a cliff and saw a pathway, which he followed inside. Then he found a hideaway which no one probably knew about on this island. This had to be where they had hidden. He searched every inch of it for any clues, and didn't find too much stuff and no clue on where to head next. But as he was searching the floor, he found a hole that was covered to look like floor and covered by a piece of wood. He lifted it up and found some papers, a few with some directions and other hidden places like this one. He took and wrote them down, before placing it back down as it had been, before he left.

As he walked back to the boat, he went over the parchment and looked at places that were nearby, and made a choice on where to head next. Then he set sail as he needed to hurry and find his lost brother and help him, because no way in hell did Ace ever betray anyone he looked at like a family. As the ship started sailing, Sabo sat down in a chair and closed his eyes. I'm coming for you, Ace. Just hold on.

And that's the chapter!

I know the chapters aren't too long, and this isn't going to be a too long of a story either

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If you also want to, I have a Twitter, my name is Azuruko, and I have a discord, my tag/username is just azuruko, as well as a server (Instant invite: discord . gg / 6hzMhbR) where everyone is welcomed! Updates is also posted there, both on discord and on twitter