Ace of Spades

by himmelblu

Ace of Spades, the most feared name across the ocean, he was the most feared and notorious assassin and informant there ever was. No one knew who or what he was, some say he is the spawn of the devil. And now, the Whitebeards needed his help. And maybe they even get a new son in the process. (Up to chap 52 'The Plight' is main story, the rest are just loose ends and ideas)

50. Ace of Spades Chapter 49 The Wrangle

Hello everyone, here is the next chapter

I hope everyone enjoyed the last chapter and will enjoy this as things move along. There is a lot of jumping as I try to keep it interesting. I'm not the best at writing action and such

This is also early out as I was finished early

Hope you enjoy

Read and relax

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Whitebeard could only stare at the screen, everyone in the room doing the same. Adam? Who was that, and how did he manage this? How did he manage to get everyone's identity and injure them? ¨I-is Ace dead?¨ The captain looked at Thatch, who could only stare at the screen in horror. Whitebeard had no idea what to answer. He wasn't sure, but he hoped, for everything it was worth, that Ace was alive somehow.

Before he could think about what he should say to the fourth commander, noises from the Den Den had him look at it. It sounded like Shanks was speaking with someone in a serious manner.

¨Newgate!¨ Said the Den Den suddenly, making everyone look at it. ¨What, Shanks?¨ The red-haired pirate must have figured something out, or had an idea on something. ¨The guy, Adam, he's attacking the marines.¨ Whitebeard blinked. ¨How do you know?¨ The Den Den shook its head. ¨Rockstar overheard it from an emergency broadcast just now.¨ The captain nodded. Adam did say he wanted to be king over the world, that would mean getting rid of everyone who stood in his way, even the marines. Just as he was about to ask and see if they could do anything, the Den Den spoke again, looking serious.

¨If he left Ace like that, like he showed on the broadcast, and left to attack the marines, so there is a chance Ace is still alive.¨

The captain blinked, before he remembered Ace had a Legendarie, he might be able to survive that. Whitebeard looked at the Den Den. ¨Do you know where it was broadcasted from?¨ He said it looking at Claus too, who shook his head. The Den Den gave a nod. ¨The attack is happening at Sabaody Archipelago, and the background looked like the forest there. They're not in the city, but outside of it.¨ Whitebeard gave a nod, that sounded plausible. It did look like the island, the forest and ground being green, maybe even seeing a bubble in the distance. ¨We are on our way there, Shanks. We will go search when we arrive.¨ If there was a chance Ace were alive, they needed to find him as fast as possible.

The Den Den shook its head. ¨No. If you get there, wait for me. I'm picking someone up, and right now, she is the only one who can help.¨

Whitebeard frowned. ¨Who is this?¨ The Den Den gave a nod. ¨She's called Karin. We need Ace in this battle, and she's the only one who can help make that possible.¨ Whitebeard gave a nod. He didn't like that he had to wait for Shanks and not search for Ace right away. ¨I don't like it, Shanks. But I will try and wait for you. You get one day.¨ Whitebeard would not wait any longer, wanting to find Ace as fast as possible. The Den Den nodded. ¨That's okay, I should make that. I am not far away and Karin is not far away from Sabaody Archipelago.¨

Whitebeard gave a nod, that was good. He only hoped they would make it. They were still half a day to a day from Sabaody Archipelago. But if Adam was busy dealing with the marines, it might mean Ace was left alone and was alive.

That was their only hope now.

-x-

Whitebeard watched as they docked at Sabaody Archipelago, and knew he needed to assess the issue that he still hadn't told anyone else on the ship, the only ones knowing where his commanders and the ones who had been in the communication room. But he knew that the things that had happened yesterday would be in the newspaper, he couldn't hide it from everyone any more. As they were docked and was soon going to head a bit on the dock, to wait for Shanks, Whitebeard had gathered everyone out on deck and was preparing himself to tell everyone. He had wished it wouldn't have been this way he needed to tell everyone.

As everyone was speaking with each other, trying to figure out what was going on, knowing something was up. All of the commanders were on high alert, hoping for more information. And the fact they had left after Claus had come out on deck yesterday, that never meant good. He had dismissed everyone who had tried to ask, going to tell everyone now. When he saw Izou, Jozu and Blenheim come out of a door and gave a nod, silently saying everyone was out on deck now.

Whitebeard took a breath, before standing up from his chairs, silencing everyone.

¨Everyone, as you know, some things have been happening.¨ Many nodded, waiting for him to continue. Whitebeard took a breath again. ¨One of our family members is in trouble, and we need to help him.¨ Everyone looked at him, before some muttered 'Commander Ace?' The captain gave a nod. ¨It is Ace who is in danger, and we hope we are fast enough to help him, but we need to wait for Red Haired Shanks for help.¨ He could see many of his children looking ready to fight, ready to yell out they should save Ace as they usually did when one of them were in trouble. But before anyone could speak or say they should do anything, the captain continued.

¨But, there is something we have been keeping from you, this also being one of the reasons Ace is in trouble.¨

Everyone lowered their hands and looked at him with a frown, wondering what this was about, what this thing was. It was rare of him to keep important information from them. Whitebeard took a breath,

¨Ace, our family member, is an assassin.¨

Everyone was quiet for a while, before Jonathan, who was in the front, spoke up. ¨What? Which assassin?¨ Whitebeard gave a nod, before looking at everyone.

¨Ace, Commander Ace and our family member, is The Ace of Spades.¨

It was complete silence for a second, before everyone spoke at once, many yelling. Asking how long they knew, if he was evil, if it was true. Whitebeard closed his eyes, before taking a breath, smashed his bisento in the deck, making it tremble and everyone grow quiet. The captain looked at everyone. ¨I know this is a shock for many, and the commanders and I have known since day one. I know this is a lot to take in, and he is not the most liked one, the reason I am saying this.¨ He gave a serious look.

¨If you do not want to help save Ace, you stay on this boat with Blamenco and Speed Jiru. I will not blame you if you decide stay. But know this; if you stay here, you are abandoning Ace, a family member.¨

Whitebeard could see many swallowing, some looking torn, others looking ready to fight, while some looked mad. A few of those being Nathan, Henry and Justin, not that that was surprising.

Before anyone could speak, he continued. ¨If you want to join us in helping Ace, take a step to the left. If you don't want to, walk to the right.¨ Whitebeard hoped there would be very few who chose to not help Ace. But a minute later, he closed his eyes.

Almost a quarter of the crew was at the right side of the ship, not wanting to help. It was way more than the captain had believed it would be. But they had chosen and they would need to stick with it.

He looked at everyone who stood at the right. ¨You have now chosen. You are not allowed to leave the ship, no matter what.¨ The captain looked over to the rest. ¨The rest of you, get ready to fight. We got a family member to save.¨

Everyone on the right lifted their hand or weapon, cheering for that, ready to fight for Ace. The rest on the deck didn't react at all, just giving glares.

The captain would need to handle this later. Right now, they needed to save Ace.

-x-

Whitebeard was on Sabaody Archipelago and waited for Shanks, they had been waiting for half a day and were thankful to see the ship in the distance. Many on Sabaody Archipelago had gone into hiding, them being able to hear a battle going on in the distance, but they were safe for now.

When Shanks docked and came off the ship, a small red-haired girl walked with Shanks off the ship. She had on some basic black clothes, gloves on her hands and was full of bite marks for some reason. As the captain was about to ask about her and who she were, Shanks shook his head. ¨Not now. We have other, more important things to do.¨ Whitebeard nodded, Shanks was right. They would most likely get the chance to speak to her later.

Before Whitebeard could speak, the girl, Karin, turned left and pointed at a small mountain. ¨Ledge. 132 feet up. 8, no, 10 bodies there. 8 barely alive, the other two trapped in their mind.¨

Whitebeard could only stare at the girl in shock. How did she know? Karin turned more right and pointed into the woods. ¨827 feet in. One, no two, strong people. 4 that are strong, but not as strong. 1786 weaker ones.¨ Whitebeard blinked, no idea one could know for sure there were this many people there. One of the strong ones had to be Adam, but the other strong one was a mystery, same with the 4 strong ones, but that weren't as strong. The weaker ones were marines, the captain was sure of it.

Karin turned to them, pointing at him. ¨Strong. Devil Fruit user. Aim bad.¨ Karin turned to Jozu, pointing at him. ¨Strong. Sturdy. Aim bad.¨ Karin turned to Kingdew, ¨Strong. Uses hands to fight. Aim bad.¨ Karin turned to Rakuyo, ¨Strong. Ball chain as weapon. Aim good.¨ Karin turned to the mountain, pointing to were she said the 10 bodies were. ¨Throw me to ledge, 132 feet up.¨ Rakuyo blinked, ¨What?¨ Karin, not seeming to have any emotions pointed at Rakuyo. ¨Strong. Aim good.¨ Before turning to the mountain again. ¨Throw me to ledge, 132 feet up.¨

Shanks looked at Rakuyo. ¨Throw her. She will help Ace and the others, while we go find Adam and see what we can do.¨ Rakuyo looked unsure. ¨But I don't know how hard to throw her. She's a child.¨ Shanks shook his head. ¨She's no child. She can handle it. This is what she does.¨ Before Rakuyo could speak, Karin turned to Rakuyo again. ¨Use 87% strength to get to ledge, 132 feet up.¨ Rakuyo looked unsure. But before he could speak speak, Shanks did. ¨If you want to help Ace, you throw her, now. She will handle it. As she said, use almost full strength, but not quite. If you don't make the target, she can walk or climb.¨

Rakuyo was on his way to speak, before closing his mouth and nodding. Karin went closer to Rakuyo, crouching down in front of him, facing the mountain. Rakuyo looked really unsure, but a nod from both him and Shanks had Rakuyo swallowing, before he carefully reached down and lifted Karin. When he held Karin, he moved her to a hand and pulled backwards, seeming to concentrate, before he moved backwards a step, before moving forward and throwing Karin towards the mountain.

Rakuyo stopped and stared after the girl, who made no sounds as she was thrown towards the mountain, landing somewhere up half of it, Rakuyo having no idea if it was 132 feet up or not. Shanks gave a nod, looking at Rakuyo. ¨You did good. Even if you didn't hit the mark, she is closer.¨ Rakuyo gave a nod, looking a bit relieved by the fact Shanks didn't think he did anything wrong, him knowing this girl.

Shanks looked at them, ¨Karin will handle Ace and help them the best she can, better than we can. We should go and see what all of those people were earlier. Adam is definitely there, we might be able to do something.¨ Whitebeard gave a nod. Shanks was right, they should head and see what they could do. It would take time before Ace was up, and he might not be able to fight. They needed to do something.

He gave some quick words to his children, all ready to fight and cheered to be able to help Ace, take on whoever this guy was.

They soon headed the way Karin had pointed earlier, readying himself for everything they could think off. Karin had mentioned 2 and 4 strong people, and they had no idea who 5 of those were. Whitebeard had an idea, but he wasn't sure. It was a sort of a long walk, taking some time, and as they got closer, they could hear more and more yells, screams, weapons clashing, bangs and other noises of a fight going on. Who were fighting was the big question now. He knew it was Adam and marines, but who the 5 strong ones were still a big question.

When they came to a clearing, they saw a gigantic wall on the other side of a field. They never knew it was a wall here, not this big, and neither knew what was behind it.

But on the wall, on a balcony it looked like, was Adam.

He was standing calmly, not seeming to mind anything. On the field between them and the wall, there were hundreds fighting. There were hundreds of marines, fighting people in black outfits with hoods, some yellow on them. They had to be Adam's men, they were fighting the marines. The captain had no idea the man had managed to get an army.

But when he looked to the left, he saw someone he had half expected to see here, but was still somewhat of a shock.

It was Fleet admiral Sengoku and his admirals, Kizaru, Aokiji and Akainu. They were all here.

Sengoku turned to look at them when he heard some of his children make some noise, and got an angry look at his face. ¨Newgate and Red-Haired Shanks.¨

Sengoku's attention was taken away when screams and clashing could be heard, watching his men fall in battle. Whitebeard looked at the battle himself, seeing many bodies around, many were already dead, blood painting the battlefield, Adam not having any reaction to it. Sengoku at least reacted to his men dying, although he didn't care much about them, they were only pawns for him.

Whitebeard looked back at Sengoku. They had the losing hand, they had done good the last day, but they wouldn't win.

The captain got an idea and hoped it would work.

-x-

Ace tried to keep holding his hand on his abdomen, stopping the bleeding from the wound a bit. But, it didn't help much as the sword had pierced him, having a wound on his back too. He was trying all he could to heal it, but Adam had used that damn black material to make a sword and used that, meaning his powers had issues working correctly, especially his healing. He couldn't do much, he could only lay and watch as the others who were barely alive around him, being in the same state, some worse. Ace needed to heal the wound and get up, help the others and take on Adam.

As he was trying to drag himself over to where Moira and Daisuke were, footsteps had him look to his left, feeling relieved when he saw the familiar childish appearance and red hair. He would make sure to thank who ever brought Karin here.

Karin walked over to him, crouching down next to him and held her arm out in front of him. Ace didn't hesitate in biting down on her arm hard, feeling some blood drip into his mouth.

Karin had eaten, or been forced to eat, a devil fruit that gave strength and stamina. She was strong, really strong and would never tire normally, or look like an adult. She was forced to eat the fruit for this purpose, which was that if someone bit her and got some of her blood, you would get strength and stamina back. It would drain Karin, all depending on how much one took from her. And the bite marks would never leave. Karin had not had an easy life because of this, her own father forcing her to do this and be a helper for the marines and to give them strength, at least until Azuruko had saved her 10 years ago.

After a minute, he let go of Karin's arm, having gotten enough. Karin didn't react much to what he took, which was good. She would need to do it more times to help the others. Karin didn't mind helping them since they had been the ones to rescue her.

Ace looked at Karin, taking deep breaths as he looked at her, feeling his body healing the best it could after her help, at least enough for his powers to come back and overpowering the small dust specks of the black material. It would still take a few minutes before he was healed enough to help the other and go back and fight, but he could control his powers, making Ace able to handle his first priority. Ace looked at Dust who landed on his shoulder, giving him a pet. ¨Go get Rayleigh and take him to Luffy and Sabo, keep them away from here.¨ Dust gave a caw, before disappearing. He would make sure his brother would was safe.

Ace looked back at Karin. As he was about to speak, Karin spoke. ¨You are at ledge, 132 feet up. I got at ledge, 121 feet up.¨ Ace gave a nod. Karin was like this, but she was a great help. Karin turned and pointed to her right. ¨482 feet. 2 strong people, one fighting. 4 strong, but weaker ones. 1762 weaker ones.¨ Karin moved to point a bit to the right. ¨1 strong, 13 strong, but not as strong. 675 weaker ones.¨ Ace gave a nod. The first one was Adam and someone else, but Ace didn't know who the last one was. The other 4 were most likely admirals, the rest marines. The others she mentioned were most likely the pirates. And they were almost at the place Adam was.

Ace needed to get there. They couldn't handle Adam. But Ace couldn't move just yet, he needed a few minutes to mostly heal his body and make sure the rest up here would be fine.

Ace only hoped the pirates wouldn't try fighting Adam. If they did, they would lose. Adam had managed to get himself a devil fruit, and not just any.

Adam had a Legendarie, he had Chiaroscuro.

-x-

Sanji was out on deck, enjoying the good day as it was a sunny day. They were still getting used to the new boat, but it was going well. It wasn't long before he would head in and start lunch. The two captains were off to the side and looking around the ship, looking at where things were and everything, Luffy inside the ship and Sabo outside, going around the back of the ship and such. It was a sizable ship.

As Sanji was about to think to head inside to start lunch, he was shocked when a small cloud of black smoke suddenly appearing a few feet away from him.

Sanji got into a battle stance, ready to fight whoever decided to show up on their boat, not liking the fact it was black smoke. He knew who could appear, the reason he hesitated. But when the smoke faded, he was shocked at who stood there.

It was Dark King Rayleigh, on his shoulder was a raven awfully familiar to Ace of Spades raven.

Before Sanji could react, shocked it was who it was, Rayleigh looked at him. ¨Where are Luffy and Sabo?¨ Sanji gave a glare back, not going to let this man potentially injure the two captains. Who knew what he wanted? Before he could, a voice behind him made him freeze. ¨Rayli?¨ Sanji turned around to see Luffy there, head tilted, not at all shocked at seeing Dark King Rayleigh, even calling him 'Rayli'. Rayleigh looked at Luffy. ¨Where's Sabo?¨ Luffy gave a small frown, but yelled for his brother, who appeared from a corned a few seconds later, giving a small shocked look at seeing the man here.

¨Rayleigh? What are you doing here?¨ From the way Sabo talked, Sanji was sure he knew Rayleigh. Before Rayleigh could speak again, the other crew members appeared from the ship, hearing Luffy yelling, everyone freezing when they saw who was on deck, Chopper and Usopp hiding, while the rest looked nervous, even Robin had a half-nervous look.

Rayleigh looked at Sabo. ¨Where are you heading?¨ Sabo gave a frown. ¨To Sabaody Archipelago. Why?¨ Rayleigh shook his head. ¨No, you can't go there, not now. You need to turn around and head to a safe island. I know of one not too far away.¨ Sabo looked at Rayleigh with a frown, looking half-scared. ¨Why? What's going on?¨ Rayleigh shook his head, ¨I'm not completely sure, but it is not safe at Sabaody Archipelago now.¨

Luffy was the next to speak up, having a scared look. ¨Why?! Banana Mustache Man is supposed to be there now! Is Ace okay?!¨ Rayleigh didn't react, keeping a straight face. ¨We need to turn around and head north-west.¨ Luffy shook his head, ¨No! Why?! Is Ace okay?!¨ Luffy was looking more and more panicked, even Sabo looking scared as to why Rayleigh weren't telling them why.

Rayleigh gave a sigh, ¨I don't know, okay. But Ace will handle it, he always does. Now, we need to change course. Something or someone is at Sabaody, and we need to stay away.¨

Luffy gave a nod, looking at Nami with a unsure look. ¨Nami, can you change course to what Rayli says?¨ Luffy looked like a kicked puppy, which made Nami bite her lip as she nodded. ¨Of course.¨ Luffy nodded, looking back at Rayleigh. ¨Is Ace going to be fine?¨ Rayleigh gave a sigh, ¨I don't know. But I am sure he will do his best. He's Ace.¨ Luffy gave a nod, and went over to Sabo, who automatically placed his arms around him to comfort him. Sabo gave a half-unsure look at Rayleigh over Luffy's head as he went over to Nami and asked to see the wheel, which she nodded too, leading him to it and changing their course.

When they were gone, Sanji turned to look at Luffy and Sabo, Sabo trying to comfort Luffy, telling Ace were fine, he could handle himself.

Sanji was worried for the brothers now, wondering what this was. Just because someone dangerous was at Sabaody Archipelago wasn't a good enough reason for Rayleigh to be here and tell them to get to safety. He would have done this many times before if that was the case.

Sanji wanted to make a call to Judge to ask. He didn't like this.

-x-

Ace managed to slowly stand up, a hand coming to his abdomen as it still hurt, but it would hopefully pass soon. Karin was helping Raiden, who was one of the more injured ones, him being shot and the bullet being close to his heart, but missing by a miracle. It was thankfully a normal bullet as Ace had found out when he used his powers to dissolve it.

As Ace was up, he walked over to Moira and Daisuke, those two not being dead, but trapped in an illusion from the flame arrows, something Adam had somehow managed to get his hands on. They were rare, Ace even thinking they didn't exist any more. But Adam might have had it for some time. The man who made them was dead.

When Ace was beside Moira, he crouched down and moved a hand to her head, producing smoke and searching for the place that was most active and awake. He would feel what part it was seeing as it would be one that lit up in a way and his powers would feel that. When he found it, Ace carefully concentrated on darkening it out, enough to get Moira out of the transe. It was almost impossible to get out of this transe by oneself, but Ace could help show it was fake, show the way out. After a minute, Ace took his hand away, smoke fading, hoping it was enough.

A few seconds later, Moira woke up.

She woke up sluggish and confused, as one usually does. Ace helped her up, giving a quick recap on what had happened, making her nod as she shook her head, gathering herself. When she was up and more about, Ace looked at her. ¨Go help Karin while I get Daisuke up.¨ Moira was able to help heal with her powers, using particles to bend and help things connect and use water to soothe. Moira gave a nod, going over to Trevor, who had been stabbed like him.

As Moira went to do that, Ace went over to Daisuke, doing the same he had done to Moira. After a minute, Daisuke also woke up, being sluggish for a few seconds to, Ace doing a quick recap. When Daisuke was up, he looked at him. ¨Where is Adam?¨ Ace looked to where Karin had pointed before, seeing… a wall? That had not been there before. Ace knew this place in and out. He could see something resembling buildings behind the wall, but only roofs. Ace hoped the pirates hadn't done anything stupid and gone after the man. They didn't stand much of a chance. ¨Adam is there, by the wall of sorts.¨ Daisuke nodded, frowning at the wall, knowing there wasn't anything there, or supposed to be anything there.

Before Daisuke could mention it, Ace grabbed a sword from the ground, Hanzo's, he believed. Ace's sword wasn't here and Ace would need a sword. Hanzo had more than one. He looked at Daisuke. ¨Help Moira and Karin.¨ Daisuke gave a nod, understanding Ace was going after Adam. ¨Be careful. We will get there as soon as we can.¨ Ace gave a nod.

This would be a hard battle. Ace was still worried about who the other strong person with Adam was, this wasn't good.

Ace only hoped it wasn't anyone that posed a danger to them.

-x-

Whitebeard looked at Sengoku, who looked ready to try to attack him, while sending his own men towards Adam and his men. When many screamed in pain from being killed or hit by swords and other weapons, making Sengoku look split on who he should attack, Whitebeard decided to take a chance. ¨Sengoku.¨ The man looked at him, having a sneer. Before Sengoku could speak, Whitebeard continued.

¨We, all of us, want to and need to get rid of Adam. He is strong. For now, and only for now, let's set aside our differences and take on Adam, then we can fight.¨

Sengoku looked divided on what to do, having the perfect chance to take out the Whitebeards and Red Haired pirates in one go. When more screams were heard, Sengoku closed his eyes, before looking at him.

¨For now, I agree to that. But the moment he is out, you are next.¨

Whitebeard nodded, that was all he asked for. They had a better chance if they fought together. Shanks also gave a nod, agreeing to that.

As they had come to a sort of agreement, at least for now, they started attacking the people who were in between them and Adam, the man not once moving and only looking as they fought and his own men died or were severely injured. It was like he didn't care for them at all, not minding they were losing as it looked like. The marines had been doing a good job, but they had already fought for a day and they could see the battle from the destruction on the ground and dead bodies or injured people trying to get away and being on the side, and all the blood that was on the ground, some even being on the Admirals. They had lost many. This was a real fight to the death and it didn't seem like Adam would give in for anything.

Whitebeard and his men joined in on the fight with Shanks, the commanders trying to stay in front and help everyone to make sure they didn't get injured, the captains trying to look for the best course of action to make it as painless as possible for them. They needed to find out a way to get to Adam and take him out as fast as possible. The way everyone was in the way made it impossible. He could potentially send Marco, seeing as he could fly, but the captain didn't want to place Marco in that risk alone. If this Adam managed to take on Ace, he must be stronger than he looked like.

¨Newgate,¨ Whitebeard looked over at Shanks, who was looking at the battlefield and where Adam stood at the small balcony from the wall. ¨Are you able to break the balcony Adam is on?¨ Whitebeard looked over at Adam and where he stood. The balcony was a normal balcony and it would break if it got the right pressure or trembling. It was a bit away, but he could manage to create a tremor enough to break it and hopefully not make too much damage other places. He gave a nod to Shanks, ¨I believe I can.¨ The red haired captain nodded, before looking over at the Admirals. ¨Kizaru,¨ He started, getting the admiral's attention. ¨If Newgate manages to collapse the balcony, you get a second to get to Adam. Can you do it?¨

The admiral looked at Shanks, before looking towards Adam. ¨Oooo, good plan. I need no more than a second of him being preoccupied.¨ Whitebeard nodded, that might mean he had tried before and Adam had managed to counter it. But this would hopefully be enough of a surprise and actually work. Before Whitebeard could speak again, Shanks looked at Akainu. ¨Akainu,¨ The admiral looked at him, looking his usual stern self. ¨Can you and Aokiji create a diversion?¨ That would be a good idea. The two were opposites, one controlling lava and the other ice, they could make a dense cloud of steam, which would be perfect. Shanks was a way better tactician than Whitebeard believed.

Akainu gave a frown, that quickly became a sneer, clearly on his way to deny or say something along the lines that he didn't take orders from a pirate. But before Akainu could speak, Sengoku looked at him with a powerful look. ¨Akainu! Do it!¨ Akainu gave a sneer. ¨Fine!¨ Akainu looked at Aokiji, giving a nod for the man to go first. Aokiji gave a nod and laced his hand on the ground, saying something and making the entire ground freeze halfway to Adam, trapping Adam's men by freezing their feet to the ground. When he was finished, he stood up and looked at Akainu, who readied himself, making his fist into lava, before throwing a punch, lava flying through the air and landing on the ice and some people, thankfully only Adam's men, creating some noise before a gigantic and thick fog rose, making it impossible to see. Many of the marines and pirates had moved back towards them, getting out of a potential crossfire.

Whitebeard had managed to do his best in memorizing where Adam was and how far away. He made a fist and concentrated, before punching it in the air, making it look like the air shattered, creating a tremor that headed straight towards where he was sure Adam was, some of the ground breaking apart. It would hit the wall fast, and a couple of seconds after sending the tremor, Kizaru disappeared in a blur of yellow. This was a great chance to hopefully kill the man, or at least injure him. He couldn't see and Kizaru was moving too fast to be stopped. It was only a matter of time before they would get somewhere.

But a second later, Kizaru came flying out of the fog, hitting a stone behind them, breaking it. The fog being blown away by the force.

Whitebeard could only stare as the fog disappeared and they could see Adam on the ground, in the middle of the field, not injured and not looking to have batted an eyes. How did he manage that? Adam slowly lifted a hand and snapped his finger.

Making hundreds of... poles? appear in the sky. Whitebeard didn't like this. If Adam controlled those, which he believed, they needed to do something. But before he could think more of it, Adam snapped his fingers again, and the poles moved.

Hitting all of his own men, impaling all of them, even those who weren't frozen to the ground.

All of the pirates and marines froze, no idea why the man did this. Why would he take out his own men? Whitebeard looked around, thankful to not seeing much damage on his children. But when he looked more left he noticed Jozu, who had been, and still was, in diamond form, a black pole through his hand, the diamond not being a hinder. What was this material? Jozu got the pole out and looked fine, which was good. He stood up from being on his knees, the fact he got injured probably shocking him. He looked to his left when he heard yelling, seeing a marine running towards another marine that was pinned to the ground by a pole, sword ready to cut it away. But as soon as the sword hit the pole, it shattered like nothing, shocking the marine, who he now saw was a captain. He wouldn't have a weak sword or be weak himself. This was really bad.

When Whitebeard looked at Adam again, he had a hard look at them.

They stood no chance against this man unless a miracle happened.

-x-

Sanji had no idea what was going on, but something was going on. he had tried to make a call to Judge earlier, but no one answered. He had never had this happen, there was always someone to pick up the Den Den. Since everything that had happened on the boat now and the fact Judge didn't answer, it made him desperate enough so he even had called Reiju, knowing she was the one that he didn't hate. The others had been to evil and snobby and Sanji wanted nothing to do with them, but he was worried. Stuff had happened yesterday, meaning if it was anything big, it would be in the newspaper, which would come at any moment, this being the first time he was actually waiting for it.

When it came and Sanji paid for it and about to open it, the first page had his brain stop, his body freezing. 'Identity to Assassins revealed. Man declaring war.'

Sanji's mind was in overdrive as he turned the page, wanting to know what all this was about. This had to be the reason Judge didn't answer and Rayleigh was here now. When he read the first sentence, he knew why Rayleigh didn't want them at Sabaody Archipelago. The papers mentioned a man, calling himself Adam, had declared war and was even attacking the marines. There weren't an assassin called Adam, so this was weird.

But the next paragraph and picture had him completely freeze. It was a picture of all the assassins, the top and best ones, including Ace of Spades.

Next to Ace of Spades was a picture of Portgas D Ace.

Sanji swallowed, no idea what to do with this right now, not sure if it was real. When he read on, he felt all blood drain him. This Adam had taken on all the assassins and had won. It was a clear picture of Ezio, Blue Angel, White Dragon and Ace of Spades in peril. One guy had taken on the assassins and had declared war, and was taking on the marines on Sabaody Archipelago.

Sanji looked back up, looking at the picture with all the names and pictures. If this was real, as it looked like. Ace of Spades was Portgas D Ace, Luffy and Sabo's brother.

Sanji couldn't let the others see this, he couldn't let Luffy and Sabo see this.

But Sanji couldn't move. His brain only able to repeat the fact that Ace of Spades was Portgas D Ace, his body white and frozen in place, staring at the picture.

As he was in a trance, he didn't notice Luffy suddenly being out next to him, waving his hand in front of him. When he didn't react, Luffy tilted his head before he took the paper from him.

When the paper was gone from his grasp, it took Sanji a second to react, which was too much. Luffy had already looked at the paper and was staring in shock and horror a what it said and had a picture off.

Sanji was on his way to take the newspaper away, when Luffy's hands started to tremble, Sanji didn't know what to do. When tears started to well up in his eyes, Sanji panicked, no idea what to do. Luffy turned his head towards the rooms, looking broken. ¨SABO! RAYLI!¨ It was ended with a sob and Sanji had no idea what to do.

It didn't even take a second before the two were out, Sabo looking panicked when he saw Luffy looking horrified, broken, and was crying. ¨Lu, wha-.¨ Sabo didn't get to finish before Luffy spoke up, speaking through his tears. ¨T-t-they found out about Ace! T- they- he- it-.¨ It wasn't finished as Luffy broke down crying.

Sabo was the first to move and went over to Luffy, moving to hold around him as he looked in the newspaper himself. When he saw what it said, he looked at Rayleigh, looking lost and panicked, trying to comfort Luffy. Rayleigh walked over and took the paper, looking at what it said, looking shocked himself. When Luffy gave another sob, Rayleigh looked at Luffy.

¨Luffy, Ace sent me here after this. He's not dead. He was injured, but is up now. I am sure he is fighting and he will do his best. Believe in him.¨

Luffy gave a nod through his tears, moving a hand to wipe his tears, Sabo also wiping them away and doing his best to give a smile. ¨Ace will do his best. Let's listen to what he says and get to that island and wait until this is over. Okay?¨ It sounded strained to Sanji's ears, Sabo clearly on the verge, but wanted to be strong for Luffy.

The others had come out of to see what was happening, everyone just staring at the scene as it unfolded, realizing something was wrong with their brother.

Sanji didn't know what to do now. But he needed to do something, he couldn't just sit and watch as Luffy and Sabo suffered. Not only because they were his captains and he actually liked them, but because they were the brothers to Ace of Spades. Sanji couldn't fuck this up.

-x-

¨ENOUGH!¨ Yelled Adam, and held his hands up. ¨If you want to be a nuisance, I will kill you like the bugs you are.¨ With some small movement, he somehow managed to... levitate? Whitebeard felt dread inside him. He had read about his in the book about the Legendaries. A man that could fly for a short moment, using his hands for an almighty push that destroyed everything.

Whitebeard, realizing what this would become, walked to the front of everyone, going to protect as many of his children as possible. He noticed Shanks doing the same to his crew, Marco walking up with him as he also knew what this meant. The others noticed what they were doing and took steps backwards, Sengoku and the other admirals staying their ground, knowing something was up and got ready to fight.

Adam, who was now around 5 feet in the air, and moved his hands down. When they were down, the entire ground shook and the it looked like a shock wave coming towards them, ripping up the ground, trees, stones and sending everything in it's way flying away, destroying everything.

They wouldn't be able to save everyone, maybe not anyone. This power was like a God's power, they had no chance. He heard many yelling and running away, but none would be fast enough. The only one who might be fast enough was Kizaru, but he stood his ground. Even if all of them attack or used their powers to defend, they wouldn't be able to save everyone or themselves, it was too much power and force, it was like a meteorite had just hit the ground. But they would try their best.

Just as the shockwave and the destruction was 10 feet away from them, a shape moved past them, pushing aside Shanks and Marco, heading straight towards the shockwave and destruction.

It took all but half a second to recognize it was Ace, shocking everyone. Had Karin already managed to fix him?

¨ACE, YOI!¨ He heard Marco yell, the first commander looking panicked. And the captain felt panicked too, how would Ace handle this? He heard a lot of sounds behind him, recognizing it was Ace who headed for the shockwave and Adam, or hearing Marco's yell.

As Ace was a mere few feet away from the shockwave, black smoke started coming from his arms. When he was a feet away, he moved his hand in front of him in a fast motion, creating a black wall of smoke between them and the shockwave. A total black wall of smoke, Ace heading inside the smoke wall, making it bigger.

The captain heard a lot of confusing sounds from around him, no one knowing what this was. He was the only one to know Ace had a Legendarie. This was what that power could do, but would it be enough? Adam's power was like a God's, destroying everything.

A minute later, the smoke wall slowly started to disappear, when it was gone, they saw Ace standing 15 feet in front of them, Adam where he had stood before, a complete wasteland between them. The only thing surviving were the poles in the ground from earlier. Those things were indestructible.

¨...Holy Shit... ¨ Muttered Thatch, and that described it perfectly. That was just amazing and terrifying at the same time.

Adam 'tsk-ed'. ¨I thought I had dealt with you already.¨ Adam lifted his hand, ¨Very well.¨ Adam snapped his finger, creating hundreds of black poles in the sky. ¨I won't be as carefree this time and will make sure you are dead.¨ Whitebeard swallowed. Ace couldn't get through this, no swords was able to block the black things.

When Adam snapped his fingers again, sending some poles flying at Ace, Ace grabbed a couple of poles from the ground, one in each hand, smashing at the poles that came towards him, breaking them. Ace moved forward, running towards Adam, who sent more poles, Ace blocking them with the ones he held. When the ones he held broke, he grabbed a couple more from the ground. He had unlimited ones. Adam's power was going to be his own demise.

They were speechless. Ace was actually fighting against Adam and was looking to have a winning a hand. He was getting closer to Adam. He could do this, Ace was the one who had a chance against Adam.

When Ace was halfway there, Adam got a angry look and snapped both his fingers, making hundreds of poles appear in a half circle around Ace. How would Ace dodge that? Adam snapped his fingers with a big grin, sending everyone of the poles straight at Ace at the same time. They all hit, creating a cloud of smoke, everyone just able to stare in horror at the place Ace was.

When Adam suddenly looked up at the sky, giving a swear, everyone did the same, seeing Ace had managed to avoid the poles, heading straight for Adam. Adam snapped his fingers and created a black sword, ready attack Ace with it.

But, as soon as Adam had the sword in his hand, Ace was gone and was suddenly in front of Adam, Adam's right hand already separated from his body, a shocked look on his face. Adam managed to move backwards a step as Ace moved to slash at Adam, going to cut him in half. Adam managed to take a step backwards, making the sword only graze him, creating a flesh wound, but he was still standing.

Adam panted, looking at Ace, who was somewhat out of breath himself. Adam gave a sneer, ¨Eve!¨ Ace tried to slash at Adam again, but when Ace were a mere few inches away from Adam with his sword, a black hole appeared next to Adam, a hand coming out and dragging the man into the hole, before it closed.

Ace didn't react much to it, sheathing his sword calmly. Before the pirates or marines could react, Trevor, Moira, Daisuke, Raiden and a person they remembered to be Hanzo, came into the field and headed up to Ace. When they were close to him, Ace went up to Hanzo and Hanzo lifted Ace in one hand, before taking a small running step and throwing Ace up and over the wall to the mansion or building, or whatever was behind it. After a few seconds, Dust came and landed on Daisuke's shoulder, who held onto the others, and they were all gone in black smoke.

They were going to fight Adam straight on, not letting him run away.

Whitebeard looked at the others, before they headed towards the wall themselves. They needed to help if it was possible. The marines were more hesitant, but they soon moved as the admirals did.

-x-

Ace looked at Adam, who stood on the other side of a small field. They needed to somehow manage to kill him, or cripple him enough to kill him. But, his powers were in the way too much, and normal swords wouldn't do anything to him, seastone would barely do anything. The best and most easiest way to kill him fast was to use his powers against him, meaning the poles. But the poles would drain them, all of them. They could handle it, but they couldn't use their devil fruit when they held the poles, meaning it would be hard to get close to Adam. And every time they got somewhat close to him, he would just use his powers to push them away. It wasn't like before, when he had destroyed everything, but smaller ones, enough to keep them from getting close to him.

He looked back at the others behind him, seeing Daisuke looking around to make up a plan himself, but he didn't seem to get anywhere, the others looking at Adam and standing ready.

They needed a plan, and they needed it now.

-x-

The pirates and marines had just gotten behind the wall, using a few minutes to make it past it. They had destroyed a part of it and made a hole, something they had hoped they didn't need to, but they couldn't find another way inside, thinking the door was under the rubble and mess from what was once a balcony. When they had gotten past the wall, it had started to rain heavily, which was a small shock as it had been sunny earlier. But the weather could be weird. The pirates and marines had moved further apart from where they walked. They might have agreed to a small truce for now, but they were nowhere near friendly.

There were a few small buildings behind the wall, but there was one large one and what looked to be open space behind it, and the captain thought the assassins were fighting Adam outside as there were poles here and there, as well as some sounds coming from the not-far distance. They should at least check the outside first either way.

As they were walking further, a small crashing sound was heard as something, or someone, landed in front of the marines, a bit of a distance away.

It looked to be a normal guy, who had a normal sword at his waist and was looking angrily at the marines, who got in battle positions. Whitebeard had a frown as he was sure he had seen this person before. There was something about him that looked familiar. He looked to be strong, a lot of muscle showing from his sleeveless shirt. But, before any of them could make a movement, another person landed on the ground, between the marines and the man. And not just any person, it was Mika, or more like Lilith. Her clothes were badly torn too, some pieces like the mask and gauntlets just missing entirely. She had a sword ready, looking at the man that stood in front of her.

Just as Whitebeard could see Sengoku on his way to speak, Mika threw her sword in the ground, making it stand on its blade.

Whitebeard swallowed. If this was what he thought it to be, which was that Mika was saying that she wouldn't fight the person, letting him on the marines, they would lose their help. He knew the assassins didn't like the marines, and the dislike was even worse the other way. Sengoku seemed to think the same and had an angry frown, on his way to speak.

But before he could, Mika grabbed the edge of what could barely be called a cape anymore, since it was so badly torn, and held it out a bit and leaned down in a half bow, before… barking? at the man. That was just weird. But just as Mika was finished, the man got a sneer and did a small running step and jumped a small bit, before transforming into a flaming dog of a kind, a big one.

That's was when Whitebeard remembered where he had seen this man before. He was Richard, who had a Zoan, or maybe a Mythical Zoan, no one really knew, but he was a flaming dog, believed to be a hellhound. He was way strong and nothing hurt him, nothing seeming to hurt him. Even if he was hit with seastone, he would still manage to rid of the bullet fast and heal, the reason he was believed to be a Mythical Zoan. And he was headed straight for Mika. That was why she had barked, it was to taunt him. Did she have a plan? And what kind of plan was this?

Just as Richard was a few feet away from Mika, she grabbed her sword and a pole from the ground, throwing the pole at Richard at the same time she slashed at him, cutting him in half.

Everyone could only stare as Mika killed Richard as easily as that, not even seeming to have batted an eye. Even the marines looked shocked. Mika didn't even look back at them or the two pieces of Richard, before she started to run towards the main building, climbing up it in a rapid and amazing pace, before going over the roof and out of view.

WHitebeard looked at the poles in the ground. He knew from what he saw that Mika's sword wasn't a seastone sword, which made him believe the poles were something that really crippled devil fruit users greatly. It had managed to get through Jozu's diamond coating, but it hadn't stopped his devil fruit, just made a hole in the coating and hand. He had looked pained and weak-like, but he was still in diamond coating. Thatch had seemed to think the same, and went to grab one of the poles form the ground.

But, as soon as he touched it, he fell to his knees, looking shocked as he let go of it and stood back up.

Thatch looked at his hand, before he looked at him, shaking his head. ¨It weakens me!¨ Whitebeard blinked and moved a hand towards a pole himself, carefully just touching it. And he could instantly feel weakened, which made him take his hand away. It felt weird, he was sure it would take his powers away. But how had Ace and Mika used them? They had to be affected to, this material seemed to affect everyone. Whitebeard realized they managed to push through it. He knew Ace was strong, really strong; he must be able to fight under the strain. And it looked like Mika could do the same.

It showed how strong the assassins were, how they could adapt to situations. And this made him feel like they had a less chance of winning over Adam. They might not be able to do it, but he was sure that the assassins could.

And they would help make that happen. This power was way too dangerous to be around. At least in the hand of this madman.

-x-

Ace tried to calm his breathing, being out of breath by trying a lot and not being able to get close enough to Adam to do an attack. They still didn't manage to get close enough to take him out with his own poles. Ace would have used his powers to put him in a trance or just rot him away, but he kept a small push on at all times; even the rain Moira made didn't hit him. His powers didn't do anything at this moment, they needed to get a moment to attack with something so they could land a finishing hit.

Ace moved and spit out some blood, his lungs having somewhat of issues from earlier when he hit a wall hard. But he was doing fine, he could handle this. Based on the fact he needed to attack Adam with his own poles for now, his body had real bad issues with healing, not able to do it, but he could push through. He could relax after this.

When Adam turned to look at Jace, who was on the other side of Ace, focusing on Jace, Ace grabbed a pole and did his best at aiming fast and throwing the pole at Adam's legs. He had seen a water drop hit there before, Moira motioning for her legs, telling to aim there.

But when the pole was a foot away from its goal, Adam moved a hand and the pole disappeared.

Ace gave a small swear. Nothing seemed to work. If it continued like this, they would be bad out, it didn't look good. Adam had somehow a great control over his powers. He must have had it for a long while, managing to train and everything without anyone finding out. All of them were starting to feel everything settling and feeling the exhaust coming on. What Moira and Karin had done helped a lot, but it only lasted for so long. They needed to end this soon. Ace could already see Hanzo, Jace, Raiden, Corvo and Soul being really close to reaching their end and not being able to fight, the rest of them not far away from it. This had been going on for way too long. They had been fighting Adam for hours, even longer before and used over a day to keep on going and not die. They were starting to feel that.

As Ace tried to catch his breath and come up with another plan of attack, he looked to his left when he heard some noise, seeing the pirates there. Ace kept a swear inside. They didn't need them here right now; it would only cause more distraction to them. But, before he could think of how to get them away, he looked more to the left and saw the marines and admirals there, especially Sengoku, which gave him an idea.

Ace looked at Daisuke, giving a motion to distract Adam, which he did, understanding Ace had a plan. When he was sure Adam wasn't looking at him, Ace moved to Raiden, who wasn't far away from him, getting his attention, speaking in a small whisper to make completely sure Adam didn't hear. ¨Go to the marines, get Sengoku over Adam and have him go into his Buddha form.¨ Raiden gave a frown at him, clearly on his way to ask what good that would do, but Ace shook his head, giving a look, making Raiden move. He couldn't afford Adam somewhat overhearing or understanding they were doing something. This was their last shot right now, if this failed, Ace was unsure what they would do. If it failed, they needed to come up with another solution.

Daisuke who saw Raiden doing something, kept Adam's attention, doing wonders of avoiding his attacks and not taunting or angering Adam too much. If they did, Adam would launch a big attack again and they couldn't handle that. They needed to keep at a small distance; keep it as calm as possible until they managed this. Adam was strong, but he wasn't smart. He had just crippled them before, not thinking of actually killing them, which was good. He had taken out his own people before, saving only a few, which were here and there, but didn't do much now. He knew some of the marines and pirates were fighting them, but that was it. And Adam didn't understand they were planning something now, thinking they were too weak to do much and didn't use the opportunity to kill all of them. Had he been smarter, they would have been dead.

When Ace looked behind him and saw Sengoku getting ready to jump, thankfully listening to Raiden, not that he had much other chaice than that if they wanted to have a chance. When he was sure Sengoku would do what he had said, Ace took a deep breath, trying his best to calm himself, before holding his left hand out in front of him, bending his fingers towards his palm, as if holding something. When he felt Sengoku jump, Ace took another breath as he moved his right hand to his left one, pulling backwards.

As he pulled his hand backwards, a dense black arrow shaped shadow, moving as a black flame in an invisible bow, appeared.

Ace kept Adam in his view, never taking his eyes off of him. This took a lot and not only from his power, but from his sight, he needed to see exactly where to shoot the arrow. He could only have it this dense close to him, using a lot to send it away. The further away, the harder. He could handle this distance okay, but it would still take a lot, especially since he was still on the verge of being exhausted. He saw Moira give a concerned look from his right, her knowing this took a lot.

When Ace saw something falling from the sky, clearly being Sengoku in his Buddha shape as it was golden and big, falling at a rapid pace. Ace moved his eyes to concentrate on Adam's shape, seeing each drop of water stopping an inch over him, nothing hitting him. When Adam raised his hand, the rain still didn't hit his hands as they moved, each drop being an inch away. When Adam's hand was over his head, Ace moved a leg to have a good grip at the ground, being sure he would stand what to come.

Ace saw Adam saying something and a great force was released from his hand, making Sengoku lose his buddha shape and being thrown away, a force hitting him and moving him a half foot backwards. Ace tried to not think or mind any of that as he closely watched each drop as it stopped an inch over Adam.

But, as soon as the force stopped, a drop of water hit Adam's right hand. And Ace released the arrow.

Ace kept his eyes on Adam's legs, where his powers would take the longest to protect with his hands over his head. Ace watched as the arrow got closer as a drop of water hit Adam's foot. Ace felt something falling down his cheek from his eye, trying to not think of it. He watched as the arrow was almost at its target as a water droplet stopped an inch over Adam's hand, but hit his foot.

A few milliseconds later, the arrow hit.

Ace concentrated on the arrow as it hit, making it explode in a mass of black burning shadows, taking away Adam's leg. Adam, not expecting to be hit, fell down to his one leg, using his hand to take his fall as he fell. As Adam fell, Ace, Moira, Daisuke, Trevor and Mika grabbed a black pole, jumping towards Adam's shape as it fell to the ground, preparing to kill him.

When Adam hit the ground, he moved his hand to do a last attack to push them away. As he uttered the first syllable, Ace reached his target and smashed the pole down through Adam's shoulder, making his arm fall useless against the ground, Ace barely making it.

Half a second later, Moira, Daisuke, Trevor and Mika hit, placing the poles in another shoulder and down his back, pinning him down and making sure he would die in a couple of seconds, one pole going through his heart. As Adam was taking his last breath, Daisuke moved and took a fruit out, placing it next to Adam. They needed to take this power and have control over the devil fruit, it could be devastating in the wrong hands.

As Adam was dying, his powers being transferred to the fruit, Ace fell down to a knee, using more of his energy than he thought. Ace managed to stand back up with some small effort, wiping at his cheek and wiping the blood that came from earlier away. He saw some of the others give him some concerned looks, but Ace just waved them off. He was fine.

Ace looked at Adam as his eyes closed, taking his last breath, feeling nothing as the man died. The fruit changed from the apple it was to a grey tear drop and had black circles. They would do their best at keeping this fruit away from everyone. If it came to it, one of them would eat it and take the power, being sure it didn't fall in the wrong hands.

As that was finally over, Ace was about to make sure things got handled out here, when a sound of doors being opened was hear.

Ace looked behind him to the mansion like house and saw a balcony, and on the balcony was a woman with long white hair, calm look and white clothes. Based on the look she gave them, as well as the blood on her arm, it proved that this was Eve.

She gave a last look, before calmly turning around and heading back inside the mansion, not closing the door.

She didn't seem to want to fight, but maybe out after some other things, which Ace needed to find out. Ace turned and saw some of Adam's men heading at them now, seeing he was dead. Ace used his power to destroy his body, before looking at Daisuke. ¨I'll go and handle Eve, handle things here.¨ Before the man could respond, Ace was already gone in a cloud of black smoke, appearing on the balcony and heading inside.

When he was inside the mansion, he calmly walked inside and through the doors that was open, clearly left open for him. When he got to something that looked like a living room, he saw many people being tied up in chains, looking terrified. This had to be the ones who lived in this mansion, looking to be rich people, not nobles or blue blooded patricians, but looking more along the lines of fighters. Ace ignored them for now and headed through the open door there.

When he got inside the room, it was a sealed off room with no windows or anything, a storage like room, maybe a small prison. It had only a table and two chairs in it, Eve sitting at one chair at the other side of him at the table. Ace took a careful step into the room, closing the door. It didn't matter if it was open or not. Based on what he had seen from before, Eve had the last Legendarie, Porous. She could just teleport away if she wanted to. She didn't even need to have anything the place she was going to, just half-know where it was. But that was what she could do, not much more in form of attack. But it was a great ability to have.

As Ace sat down in the chair, looking at Eve. She looked at him calmly. ¨Portgas D Ace, Ace of Spades. A person who wants to change the world for what he believes to be for the better.¨ Ace gave a nod, he understood where this was going. ¨Eve, working with Adam to change the world into what they believe is right. Two evils out for the same thing, but different ways.¨ Eve gave a nod, moving her hand and taking a gun out and placing it on the table.

¨The question now is which evil gets to leave.¨

-x-

Whitebeard could only stare at what happened. They had somehow managed to get Sengoku in on their plan. When he got ready to something, he saw Ace moving his hands like if he held a bow, and when he moved back as if pulling it, a black arrow was shaped. It looked like black flames. Whitebeard looked away from Ace for a second as Sengoku plunged towards Adam in his buddha form. Adam managed to use his powers and send a wave of force, making Sengoku revert out of his form and be thrown somewhere, the force pushing them backwards, some more than others.

But, as the force hit them, Ace released the arrow and looked concentrated at Adam. As the arrow went towards Adam, Ace still looking concentrating on Adam, the captain felt worry when blood started to drip out of his eye and down his cheek. The captain had no idea why that happened and was worried Ace pushed himself too much. But before he could think more of it, the arrow hit and Ace grabbed a pole and jumped at Adam, some of the others doing it too. The captain held his breath and he hoped they would hit.

A second later he felt a breath leave him as Ace hit, the others also managing it. Adam couldn't get away now. The pirates couldn't see what was happening, but something was as some of them were moving. A few seconds later, he saw everyone looked towards the house and the captain turned too, seeing a woman there, who calmly walked back into the house. Before the captain could think more about it, Ace was suddenly at the balcony and walked inside after the woman, closing the door.

Whitebeard was worried that Ace would take on this person alone. Karin had said there were 2 strong people here, meaning the woman might be the other one.

As the captain was thinking of telling that they should head after Ace, noises had him look back towards the assassins, where more men from Adam were suddenly charging at them. Whitebeard knew Ace was strong and he had said something before he left, meaning he had this under control. The woman didn't look ready to fight, and none of the other assassins seemed to be more concerned about Adam's men.

As the captain was about to help the assassins fight the last men off, he looked to his side when he heard Sengoku speaking, appearing from behind a bush. ¨Newgate. Adam is dead, which means the truce is over.¨ The captain looked at the fleet admiral. Would he really turn against them now? It wasn't over yet. He understood it as Adam himself was dead, but Adam's men were still around, even the other strong person who Ace most likely was with. But before he could say anything, Sengoku continued. ¨This is what you and them get from my gratitude. We'll leave now, and you'll handle the rest here.¨

Whitebeard gave a nod. That was better than nothing. They at least wouldn't attack them. Akainu gave a sneer at Sengoku. ¨What? We have the perfect chance to kill th-,¨ Akainu stopped as Sengoku looked at him. ¨We will leave now. Our job here is over.¨ Akainu looked displeased about it and sent an angry and hateful look at him. Had everyone else been not here, like Shanks and the other assassins, Akainu would have attacked, Whitebeard was sure of it. If he did, it would be everyone against him.

The marines gave a look to Sengoku and the other admirals, and when they retreated, the rest followed. Now they didn't need to worry about them for now, which was good.

Whitebeard turned to the ones that the assassins were fighting, Adam's men. He was sure the assassins could manage, even though some of them looked a bit worse for wear. But they were here to help, and they could help now. They could handle people like this, which were weaklings compared to Adam.

He only hoped Ace was fine.

-x-

Ace looked at Eve, who looked just as calm as him. One of them would leave, the other would die here. It was as easy as that. The question now was to figure out which were the lesser evil of the two. ¨What do you fight for?¨ Asked Ace.

Eve looked calmly at him. ¨I fight for a fair world, where no one is above the other.¨ Ace gave a nod. That sounded like a thing he could go for too, but he was out for something else. ¨I fight for a world where everyone can live their lives, even if that means having unfairness.¨ Eve gave a nod. ¨I will only hunt the ones I deem to be a danger to me as a leader, killing those in my way to make it easier for the next one.¨ Ace gave a nod. ¨I will kill those who wrong the wrong people and no longer are human, setting free those in need.¨ Eve looked at him. ¨And I will make sure no one will suffer at all.¨ Ace gave a look back. ¨And I will show what the right way is and kill those who are wrong.¨

Eve looked at Ace. ¨I will fight to make a place where I can rule and keep a calm world for everyone. No one have to live in fear.¨ Ace gave a nod. ¨And I will fight to make it a safer place for everyone where they will learn right and wrong so I can watch, from a distance, the world shaping itself.¨

Eve gave a nod. ¨Then I guess it's decided.¨ Ace gave a nod, ¨I guess it is.¨

Ace moved for the gun. Two evils walked in, and one will leave.

-x-

Whitebeard looked at the ones who were left of Adam's men, fighting their last and losing battle. There weren't many left, only around 40 or so men left. They would be taken cared of easily. They were many, and even the assassins were here, although they deserved a break, but it would happen when they were finished here. The pirates quickly dealt with the rest of Adam's men, letting the assassins do other things. When they were sure everyone was gone, Whitebeard turned to the assassins, which were behind them for now. When he turned around, he could only see 6 there, which made him wonder where the rest were. He looked at Trevor, who was looking up at the building with a shake of his head and a small smile, which made him look too.

When the captain looked there, he was glad to see Ace there on the balcony, speaking to Daisuke.

Ace was fine, and that was a huge relief. He still looked tired, and the captain hoped they would be finished here soon. Ace also looked a bit injured, but he was some distance away, so Whitebeard might be wrong. But he would take that later. Ace was up at least.

After a minute, Daisuke gave a nod and said something to Ace, which he nodded too, before heading inside the mansion again. Daisuke jumped down from the balcony and looked at the other assassins, ¨We should clean up here, at least the worst of everything.¨ When they nodded, Daisuke turned to him. ¨Ace needs to fix things inside the mansion, there are some high up people there from everywhere and in everything. Ace is trying to handle them and see if they should stay or not, and if they should live or not. They have done some things themselves, them being the ones to broadcast the video from 2 days ago.¨

Whitebeard nodded. He understood that was something they needed to handle. ¨How long will that take?¨ Daisuke shook his head, ¨I don't know. It can take an hour, meaning they will not stay and die, but if he needs more information, it can take hours. You should head back, we'll fix things here for now. There is a way for you to take your boat closer to here, you should do that.¨ Both Whitebeard and Shanks nodded, that sounded like a good idea. It wasn't as far away as it had seemed before, since they now knew where to go and much of the forest was destroyed. On their walk they met up with Karin, who looked fine, which made them glad. They gave their thanks to Karin for helping Ace, and the others. Karin responded in a monotone voice, ¨It was nothing.¨ Before looking at Shanks. ¨I have been waiting here for 195 minutes.¨ Shanks gave a small laugh as he looked at her. ¨I'll bring you back home soon.¨ Karin gave a nod to that and they headed on.

The pirates got back to the small shore where they met Shanks, saying goodbye to Shanks for now, as he needed to get Karin back home and get going on his own things, but not to be afraid to call if they for some reason needed it, in case someone still was out there. In the case of a war or battle like this, he would stand with them. It was good to know that in case it happened. Shanks also told to tell Ace to stop by when he was finished with everything and had the time. Whitebeard said he would do that.

After they left, the assassins worked on getting all the poles away, being mostly Moira, Hanzo and Raiden, the others doing stuff inside the house, settling some affairs had Moira said when he asked. The poles was quickly taken away, everything being weakened by the fact Adam was dead. When they were finished with that, they readied their boats. The other assassins, aside from Ace, soon appeared from the wall and headed out to them. They had even somehow managed to move all the rubble away from the door, making it usable again.

Daisuke stopped by him and said Ace was finishing the last bit up, which would take a few hours since he did it by himself, Ace having told he could do it and the fact Daisuke and the others needed to get back to Amegakure and do some real damage control from this. Whitebeard understood it and gave a thank you from helping them and everyone, hoping they would meet again later, but in better circumstances. Daisuke said he hoped so himself. Before they left, Raiden said he and at least Mika would show back up in a few days, when things calmed, to see how they and Ace were. The captain said it was fine and hope everything they would do would go fine, before they left. The boats they had being amazingly fast, but looked to be boats made for speed.

When they were gone and things had really calmed down where they were, the pirates headed back to the boat, where some had headed earlier. The commanders and captain stayed behind in case, but things had gone fine.

When they got to the boat, he asked Blamenco and Speed Jiru on how things had gone on the boat, them saying it had gone by fine, nothing bad happening, but they had been worried as they could hear and see a lot of destruction and smoke. The only concerning things were that some of the crew had gone missing for a time, everyone aside from Nathan showing up after half an hour, Nathan an hour later. The captain guessed they only looked around or something, he would handle it later. Right now they needed to wait for Ace.

As everyone was on the boat, they sailed to be closer to the place Ace was, to make it easier from him to get to them. From where they now was docked, they could even see the wall that hid the mansion-like building behind. They were behind where they had been before. There was a door there too, and he was sure Ace knew they were here. Ace knew things like this, he kept his surroundings in mind at all times.

Now, they only needed to wait for Ace to return so they could celebrate.

-x-

Whitebeard couldn't help but smile, seeing everything was over and things would hopefully go back to normal. Ace was finishing up some things and they were waiting for him. The captain had a feeling Ace would be busy a lot now, needing to fix everything that had happened and figure out what he and the other assassins would do. The captain would make sure to ask him about it later, he was sure Ace wanted to relax. He had had some real tough and awful days.

There had been more speaking of how they could have Ace, who was an assassin, even worse the Ace of Spades, on their crew. Whitebeard had made them all quiet, saying they would speak about it later, when things calmed down. He could see many not liking that they would take it later, when Ace was back, trying to argue. Whitebeard had given a stern glare and said they would do it later, and they had let go of it for now, but based on the looks and whispers, it would be a long conversation later. They might even lose some family members, but they needed to see what would happen.

What had the captain frown at a point was on how Nathan, Justin, and Henry had been quiet during everything. He could see Justin trying to speak once, but Nathan had silenced him. Those three weren't quiet about their hatred to the assassins, especially Nathan who knew who Ace was from before. But he would take it later. He would also be sure to speak with Nathan later, since he had disappeared suddenly earlier for hours, and had just showed back up like nothing. He knew he didn't like Ace; he had thought he would fight alongside them, his family, but he would take all of this later, when everyone got a chance to calm down.

The sun had thankfully come back out earlier, showing things were finally getting better, making everyone calmer. They were trying their best to relax now. After a few more hours, the captain noticed Ace coming out of a door in the wall. Ace looked bad; he was bloody and had wounds here and there. When Ace was out and closed the door, he spit out some blood and wiped his cheek. The captain would make sure Ace took a trip to the infirmary. When the others noticed Ace, they cheered for him. Whitebeard was sure everyone would thank Ace and tell how amazing he was, meaning he wouldn't be able to go to the infirmary or relax. The captain would make sure to try to make it as short as possible. He could see Ace give a small exhausted smile at them, before he started to walk towards the boat. It would be good to have things back to normal.

As Ace was halfway to the boat, a gunshot was heard and Ace fell down to a knee, a shocked look at his face.

Everyone on the ship froze. Wasn't everyone who was with Adam gone? And the marines had left.

As Ace was down to a knee, they saw Nathan behind Ace, holding a gun that was pointed at Ace, smoke coming from the barrel.

Nathan just shot Ace.

Before any of them could react, Nathan moved his hand that didn't hold the gun and made a… flaming fist? Nathan didn't have a devil fruit. Before any could react or think about it, Ace managed to stand up, grab his sword and turn around, bringing his sword up and ran at Nathan, who lifted his flaming hand at Ace.

Just as Ace were a foot away from Nathan, Nathan said something, and it looked like an explosion happened. A flash fire happening and smoke spreading, the ground trembling even. It took half a second until everyone reacted.

Almost all the commanders jumped off the ship and went for the smoking area; mostly the devil fruit users went as they wouldn't be injured, Rakuyo and Kingdew joining them. Whitebeard hoped Ace was okay, how Nathan could do something like this. But he had been quiet before and had disappeared for hours earlier. Had he managed to get himself a devil fruit then? Had this been a plan? If it was, the punishment would be death.

After a minute, he gave a breath when he saw Jozu appearing from the smoke, carrying Ace. Ace thankfully didn't look more injured, but he was unconscious, or the captain hoped he was only unconscious. Jozu took off running to the ship, giving a mention that Ace was alive, but unconscious, before heading to the infirmary with Ace. When the third commander was around a corner, the captain saw Kingdew and Rakuyo coming out of them flames with Nathan chained in chains, seastone chains, the other commanders not far away. Whitebeard gave a stern command of placing Nathan in the prison on their boat, making sure to put him in the one furthest from the door and hardest to escape from, Nathan yelling the entire way, on how he was helping to cleanse the world.

When they were gone, everyone started speaking at the same time, many yelling.

Whitebeard took a deep breath. ¨Quiet!¨ When everyone quieted down, he looked at everyone. ¨I will hear nothing about this now. Not until we know more. A lot has happened and we will handle everything when things calm down. When Ace is back out from the infirmary.¨ When he saw someone on their way to speak with a frown, Whitebeard gave a glare. ¨This is an order. We will have no more speaking about the assassins, Adam, or anyone. We will handle it when we know what has happened.¨ Everyone nodded at that, many not liking it, but right now, there were other things to prioritize.

When things calmed down for now, he gave a note for all of the commanders to be on alert, just in case, even on alert from their own family members. Everyone agreed to this, seeing how some were willing to try and kill Ace, some might try again or even try to attack someone else. When Jozu came back from the infirmary, he said Bay started working on Ace and would update them later.

Now they needed to wait.

-x-

They had been waiting for almost 4 hours and hadn't heard anything yet. Everyone was starting to getting anxious from waiting. The captain noticed more and more looking at him or to the way to the infirmary. He hoped they would get some news soon, to know how long Ace would be in the infirmary.

After another hour, they heard a door open and close, a minute later, Bay walked out on deck.

¨Pops. I need to speak with you and the commanders.¨ Whitebeard was on his way to say they would head to the meeting room, when Justin spoke up. ¨NO! We want to know how he is! He needs to face what he has done in this world!¨ Many nodded, while some stared in shock at Justin, hearing the hatred in his voice. Whitebeard was on his way to say they would head to the meeting room, when Bay gave a glare to Justin. ¨You want me to do it here? Fine.¨

She looked back at him. ¨Portgas D Ace, Commander Ace.¨ The last part was said with a small snarl to Justin, before looking back at the captain, her demeanor softening,

¨Did not make it. I'm sorry.¨

Everyone froze, looking at the doctor stunned. ¨W-what?¨ Said Thatch, looking horror stricken. ¨A-are you sure? May-maybe you're wrong!¨ The captain hoped so himself, even though he knew Bay wasn't wrong, she was amazing, but he hoped.

Bay shook her head. ¨We tried for half an hour to no avail.¨ Bay gave an apologetic look, ¨Time of death was 11:47. There was nothing we could do.¨

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And that's the chapter, hope you enjoyed

If you have the time, I greatly appreciate feedback

I know this might have been moving a lot way fast, and I decided to do this rather than drag it out for chapters and chapters, hope everyone liked it

And I have something amazing to say. Someone on Archive Of Our Own (Ao3), called ScandinavianTrash, has started making this story into a Podcast. Please go check it out if this sounds interesting and give your support. It sounds amazing in my opinion

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And if you like this story, please go check out Ace of Spades One Shots, which contains missing scenes and different events from this story