Hello everyone, here is the next chapter! I know it is late, but here it is!
This is things
Hope you enjoy
Read and relax
Whitebeard walked in the front, going to the place Ace said, and they could hear fighting. As they rounded a corner around a hill, they saw a lot of machines and people fighting them, so they joined, but they were greatly outnumbered as the machines were too many. But, they needed to try, and went to fight.
As they were fighting, it looked like they would lose too. They heard a screech and looked up to see a huge flying bird. No, they couldn't handle more. But as it was closer, he frowned. "Is that…" Whitebeard wasn't sure, it couldn't be. Trevor blinked. "It is." On the bird's back was Ace. The bird had something in its talons, and dropped it, which seemed to be a device. When it hit the ground, it gave a light, before all the machines dropped down, giving them the advantage, and they managed to take out most before the rest of the machines got back up, but it was only 4 machines, which they managed to defeat.
The bird then landed and Ace slid off the back. "Said I would come." Ace had, and before they could react, Ace moved his hand towards the back of the bird. "I also bring help." He said as he helped a woman slide off the bird, one that looked to be in her 30s. As she was down, Ace looked at them. "She is the key." Whitebeard frowned. "What do you mean 'the key'?" Ace looked at the woman. "Show them." The woman nodded and headed to the cliff, and when she was there, there was a light, before another light came and scanned the woman, before a voice could be heard. "Authorized entry." Was heard, before the cliff opened up as a doorway, and Ace looked at them. "She has access to everything here." That was amazing.
They then walked into the doorway, and it was very… silent. This place always buzzed, but not here apparently. It was just silent. And it didn't feel like a good one. They then walked on, and soon came to a huge locked door, and the woman looked hesitant, so Ace gave a smile and moved a hand to her shoulder. "Go on, you're going to do great." The woman nodded and went forward, and the door scanned her, before it opened and they were let through. And as the door opened, a loud sound could be heard, before a large machine came towards them, so they got ready, but Ace held his hand out for them to stop, and Ace looked at the woman, who stepped forward and held her hand out, and the machine stopped, before slowly walking forward and towards her hand, before it was close enough to touch, before the machine slowly walked to the side and stood still.
Ace looked at them. "In these places, she is in control. Not outside of here though." Whitebeard nodded, that was good at least. They were safe here. They then walked on, and found what looked like a panel, and the woman walked up to it and started to type, they looked at Ace, Thatch speaking. "Who is this?" Ace hummed. "Her name is Beta. She is a failsafe. A descendant, she controls a lot here." That was interesting. As he was about to speak, another doorway opened, and they walked on, before they came to a huge room with a stand in the middle, and Ace walked over and grabbed it, before he put it on his spear, and looked at Beta with a smile. "Thank you." The woman nodded, she didn't speak a lot it seemed like. She seemed… timid. Most here seemed really forward, but this one wasn't.
They then walked out, and when they came to the machine again, Beta moved her hand again and the machine went and lied down a bit away. That was amazing. Izou looked at Ace. "Why can't we use it?" Ace hummed. "The moment we leave here, it becomes feral." Good to know. They then headed out, and when they were, Ace whistled, and the bird from before came and Ace helped Beta onto it. "Go to safety, they need you." Beta nodded and flew off with the bird.
They then went on, and as they were walking, Trevor gave a small hum. "Maybe we should take a machine with us? I mean, you can tame them, Bunny." Ace shook his head, and he expected Ace to be like 'no, we can't', when Ace spoke. "Know when we start working again? The Den Den's and Devil Fruits?" Trevor nodded and Ace continued. "When they start working again, the machines malfunction." Trevor blinked. "Really?" Ace nodded. "If not, we would so have a machine or two with us." Trevor sighed. "I really don't like this place." Ace hummed. "It is a weird place." It really was.
They then headed on and met Tobias again, who had the machine, and Ace said it was time to head onwards to the end of this. When he asked what the end was, Ace said it was maybe the ones who controlled the machines and made them attack humans. They hadn't always been feral, although it had been years, decades, since they weren't fereal. No one really remembered it apparently. They soon came to a huge base it looked like, machines walking around it, and Ace said they needed to get inside there, and they would get some answers. Before they moved, ace looked at Tobias. "You stay here for now with the machine, you'll know when to come." Tobias nodded. "Okay." And they headed on.
They tried to go the stealth way, but they got noticed by a machine, so they started to fight. They didn't have too many issues, they managed it well, that was until more machines came, and they started to have issues, but then Tobias came with the machine and they quickly got the upper hand again.
When they were done, their machine seemed to be damaged, but able to move a bit, but it wouldn't fit in the building they were headed towards, so Tobias stayed outside with it, while they went inside. And they found a woman to fight, and when she was down, Ace moved a dagger to her throat. "The machines! Who makes them!" The woman laughed. "The island does! You cannot stop it!" Ace gave a frown, before he slit her throat. They then went on, Beta with them, walking in the middle of them, before they got to a huge room, where it was machines making machines. And it didn't seem it was controlled by anyone, maybe the island did make them?
Trevor nodded. "Okay, we shut this down, and things will go back to peace." Ace sighed. "Only issue is, this is the 5th one I am seeing." Trevor sighed. "Yeah, that's bad." It was, but they managed to stop this one, Ace doing some jumps to different places and then found the leading core, which he destroyed, making the machines stop making more machines.
They then went on, before they got to another large room, with a large screen, and Ace went up and plotted things in, before he asked Beta for her hand, and when she placed it a place, writing came up, and it was another language or in code, but Ace seemed to get it, before he nodded, plotting more things into it. "Okay, this will make them not as aggressive. Seems we can't really stop it, still don't know where the main place is, I thought this was it."He had thought the same as well.
Ace then looked at Beta. "Listen, I know this will be hard. But I will leave, you need to take my spot. You can control them, you are a strong person, and can order the others around, especially Tobias." Beta nodded. "I will do my best." Ace smiled. "And you will do great." They then went on and went through the entire building, and found nothing useful. Before they left. And they then went back to the city, where there were a few machines, but not as aggressive as they had been, but they would attack if you got too close. But it was a huge step in the right direction.
Then the city wanted to celebrate this, they wouldn't be hunted as bad now, and as they were celebrating, he noticed Ace was gone. He then went to find him, ultimately finding him a bit in the woods. He walked up and hummed. "We're missing you, yoi." Ace gave a breath. "Not one for parties, especially with strangers." Well, he could get that, but still, Ace had really been a huge help here. "Just come for a bit, yoi? Before everyone comes searching for you?" Marco knew some were already searching for Ace, and he was sure more would join. Ace sighed, before he gave a small nod as he stood up. "Okay, for a bit." That was good.
They then celebrated, and it lasted long, many falling asleep as it moved along, before things calmed down, and when it did, them heading to relax. Ace gave a smile to him. "That was actually not terrible. I enjoyed myself." Marco smiled. "That's good, yoi." Ace gave a hum as they walked into his room. "Usually, I would just have left long ago and gone on with my day, not stay celebrating." Marco smiled. "I get that. Been there, done that, yoi. But the others do get a bit mad when I do."
The next day, after everyone got up, Ace handed his spear to Beta, and told her how to use it. Before they headed towards their boat, it was a small travel to get there. As they were walking back to the docks, they met a group and it had Trevor move forward and hug Daisuke. "Oh my God! I am so glad to see you!" Daisuke chuckled. "Good to know. You done here? We met some machines." Ace hummed. "So done with this place. Don't know where they come from, don't care, they can figure it out themselves." Daisuke nodded. "Good good. Had any fun?" Ace shrugged. "A bit. Fighting is fun." Trevor nodded. "Agreed. Met some cool people too. Oh, and Ace has a talent with these machines. Not enough with actual animals, but machines as well." Daisuke nodded. "I see. Cool. Anything else happening?" Not really much aside from that. They shook their heads.
Ace then looked at Daisuke. "And oh! I can lie!" Daisuke nodded. "I have heard that. How did you learn it? I was sure that ship had sailed." Ace pointed at Thatch. "He taught me." Daisuke nodded. "Meaning I don't like him. Why did you teach Ace to lie?" Asked the older assassin, looking at Thatch, who looked unsure. "I didn't know it would teach him how to lie…" Daisuke frowned. "How did you do it?" Ace hummed and spoke before Thatch. "I said I can pretend a lot, as you know. So he said, 'what if you pretend you can lie and lie?', and it worked!" Daisuke gave a breath. "I liked the fact you couldn't lie." Trevor nodded. "Me too." Ace just rolled his eyes.
Daisuke then looked at them. "But you're all fine?" Ace nodded. "Yeah, some bruises, nothing bad." Trevor hummed and pointed at Ace. "He was unconscious for 2 days, then bed rest for a bit." Daisuke frowned a bit. "Do I want to know?" Ace shook his head. "No." Daisuke nodded. "Okay. Still mad you can lie now." Ace hummed. "I won't lie much, not only since I think lying is wrong, but since I am not very good at it. Got called out 2 times here, I think I either got lucky with you guys, or you just didn't anticipate it and therefore didn't notice." That made sense. Trevor nodded. "Sounds good. I'm still mad though." Ace chuckled. "Too bad." He felt a bit mad himself, that Ace had just left. But he did also get it a bit. He didn't want them to get injured. He would probably have done that himself. To not sacrifice his family. Not that he was okay with Ace doing this, but he got it. He hoped it wouldn't happen again.
-x-
Marco looked at Ace, them just having gone to their room. "Why did you have to run off?" Ace moved his hand a bit. "Will this become a fight? Because I am not in the mood for one. And I kinda want a decent night's sleep." Marco nodded, he got that. "Okay we can take it tomorrow." Ace nodded as he went to bed. "Thank you." Marco nodded himself as he sighed, before he also went to bed with Ace. And when he woke the next morning, he wasn't surprised to not see Ace in bed. Guess they would take it later then.
He then headed out, and it was a bit cold outside, so most were inside the galley, and when he walked in, he could see a few playing some games, and it looked like Ace was playing with the other assassins. As he walked in, Izou looked at Ace. "Can I join?" Ace hummed. "How not to be mean. Can we have a round first? I want to just have a round without teaching anyone as this is a hard game to follow at the start. Try and follow what we do. Okay?" Izou nodded. "Sure, I get that." Ace nodded. "Good." Ace then dealt out cards, before the game started, and Izou seemed to be his best to follow, but it moved very fast and Izou did seem confused at times, as different people took in the card one put down. Before Mika put down 3 sets of three cards. And it had Izou frown. "Wait wait, how? I see two 5's of hearts?" Ace nodded as the game continued. "Two decks." Izou nodded. "Oh. Continue." They did.
More put down cards, some even putting down cards on the others cards. Everyone but Trevor, who seemed annoyed. Then, Ace had no more cards and it seemed the game ended. And they then counted their cards the rest had, Mika speaking first. "15." Then Raiden. "5." Then Trevor, who threw his cards down. "One hundred and fucking five. You took my damn card Ace!" Ace chuckled and shuffled the deck. "It's not my fault I am before you." Trevor gave a huff. Izou blinked. "I have no idea what you just did. I get you need to have 3 of the same to put down." Ace chuckled. "I will explain." Ace then handed the deck to Mika, who then shuffled it as Ace spoke.
"It is called short and long. One short, is 3 of the same card card, one long is a street flush of 4 cards. First round, which we just had, but will replay, you need 3 short. Second round, you need 2 short and one long, then one short and two long, before you need 3 long. Got that?" Izou nodded, and a few more joined as this sounded interesting. Then Mika dealt, and Ace spoke. "You have 11 cards, the rest is here and when it is your turn, you either pick up a card there or you can choose to take the card the one before you puts down." The ones who joined nodded. And they each had 11 cards, and Ace hummed. "Trevor starts." Trevor nodded and took a crd, before he put it down, and after him, was Izou. "So, I can choose to take this?" Ace nodded. "Yes, either take it, or take an unknown card from the deck. You choose." Izou gave a small hum, seeming to think. "I don't think I want it…"
Ace looked at Raiden. "Help him out." Raiden nodded. "Let me see." Izou showed his cards, and Raiden nodded. "You don't want it. But let me rearrange this for an easier way." Raiden then did, before he gave it back. "You have these here, same here, and street here, for when that comes." Izou nodded. "Oh okay. What now? I put down a card?" Raiden shook his head. "No, since you said no, I now have the chance to 'buy' it. It means, if you don't want it, I can have it for one extra card from the deck. If I say no, Rakuyo has a chance, then so on. Until it is back to you, and yes, you can buy your own card." Izou blinked. "Wait, why?" Ace shrugged. "In case you still want it and want a random card as well. When we get some time in, you might have cards you don't want to give up, but need to." Izou blinked. "Oh, I see. Does anyone want it?" All the assassins shook their heads, while the others looked more unsure. And the assassin next to the ones playing helped out those, and none wanted it. The game continued on.
It went on for a couple of rounds, some putting down cards of 3s, before Izou put down a card, and Ace reached for it, before Raiden did. "No, Rakuyo wants this." The man frowned. "I do?" Raiden nodded and pointed at his cards. "Here, here, and you need that here, before you place this one here." Rakuyo blinked. "Oh, yeah, I want this." Raiden nodded. "Yeah, here, and also you take one here." He said as he took a card from the deck, not showing it as he handed it to the seventh commander. Then Rakuyo took the cards and looked at Raiden. "Can I put down now?" Raiden shook his head. "No, wait until your turn. You need to wait for that." Rakuyo nodded. "Okay." Then the game went on, and when it was Rakuyo, he put down three sets of 3 of the same card. When he had, Raiden pointed at the one Ace put down, the 3's "And here," Then at Izou's 6's. "And here." Rakuyo put down one card each place. Raiden nodded. "Good good. You're getting it." Rakuyo gave a small sound. "I am not sure I am getting it all. This is a lot." Ace chuckled. "It is a hard game, but fun once you get it." It did sound fun, but hard. He would need to try it himself one time.
They then went on to another game, Trevor on his way to talk, when Ace moved away. "I need to talk to Daisuke." Then he was gone, and Marco sighed. It had Trevor chuckle. "Avoiding you?" Marco nodded. "I think so, yoi." Trevor nodded. "Cool. Avoiding us too." Raiden nodded. "Was strictly told to not speak about it." Made sense, but they needed to talk about it eventually. It wouldn't be a good conversation, but it would need to be had.
-x-
Whitebeard sighed as he was in his room, a Den Den in front of him, evening having come. He hadn't been on the boat for a while now, so he knew this hadn't been done and he felt he needed to call and inform it would be late this month. He then called the number, being answered after a bit. "Hello?" Whitebeard gave a breath. "It's me. I just wanted to call and say it will be a month late this month." The Den den frowned. "What are you talking about?" Whitebeard frowned a bit himself. "The money, I've been away." The Den den shook its head. "But… what? No, we got it this month, it came 3 days ago. You must be doing very well, based on the amount we're getting." That had him blink. He hadn't added anything. "How much have you gotten?" The Den Den hummed. "Must have added up to some billions. You started giving a lot more almost a year and half ago." No, he had not. He hadn't been sending anything more than the usual amount, to not make the others suspicious. They did need their funds, he couldn't keep sending everything to his home island.
Then it hit him. He might know where it was coming from now. He nodded and smiled. "Good. Call if you need more." The Den Den nodded. "We will, but honestly. we're good for years, maybe decades." How much had they actually gotten? He would try and figure it out. He then hung up and went to his door and found someone on watch. "Can you get me Ace? If he's up." Nick nodded and did, heading on to get the second commander. And Whitebeard sat down in his chair and waited, until there was a knock and Ace entered. "You wanted to see me?" The captain nodded. "Yes. I just… how long have you been doing this? Sending money to Sphinx?" Ace frowned a bit. "No clue what you're talking about."
Whitebeard sighed, and Ace hummed. "No idea which island that even is." That was an obvious lie, his entire body showed it. And before he could talk, Ace did, nodding. "Okay, I felt that one. That sucked. What sucked? Is it the way I talk? My expression? I still don't really get this lying thing." Whitebeard gave a small chuckle. "Your entire body." Ace gave a swear. "This is hard! How do people lie so easily!" Whitebeard shrugged, he didn't know. "But back to the matter-" Ace shook his head. "I am not sending money! See, not a lie." No, not one he could see. But still, he didn't believe this. He tried a bit more, but Ace said no, before Ace went to bed, saying he wanted to sleep a bit, which he couldn't deny.
As Ace was gone, he got an idea, and asked for Trevor, and took the matter up, and it had Trevor humming. "Because Ace isn't." Whitebeard frowned. "What?" Trevor nodded. "I can say he is not sending any money away from here, with a hundred percent certainly." Then how did his island get so much money? He was about to speak when Trevor did, having a small smile as he moved to leave with a wink. "But Daisuke might." Then he left, and then he got it. Ace couldn't lie before, so he didn't do anything. He had most likely told Daisuke to do it and then sent him the money so he could send that on again. That was smart. It made it so Ace could say he didn't send any money, since he wasn't. But how had he found out? He would take it later, for now, he was glad his island was well off. That made him really happy.
The night then went on, and when the next day came, and they were eating, having casual conversation,Rakuyo hummed. "Worst thing you've done? To someone." Ace moved his hand. "Pick me!" Rakuyo blinked. "Okay?" Ace nodded. "So, this girl I loathed, we were both 11. I was in her room, and she had these needles as she needed them since was sick. She left the room, and I grabbed one, placed it needle up in the doorway, and waited. And she came back, stepped right on it. It was a long one too, and went completely through! She yelled and cried, I laughed, she now hates me. She now also has a permanent limp as it got a bad infection. May have used a dirty needle." Izou blinked. "You're a monster!" And Izou freezed like all of them, all looking at Ace, waiting for the reaction as that was a no no word. Ace just gave a shrug and said. "Maybe I am." They all blinked, seeing Ace taking it so calmly. Trevor frowned. "Isn't that a no no?" Ace blinked, before he hummed. "Oh, I'm better at that one." Trevor frowned a bit. "I feel like I need an updated list. Like now." Ace gave a sound. "You can get it tomorrow, not in the mood to make one right now." Trevor nodded. "Deal." He hoped to get to hear this list himself, and sent a look at the silver haired man, who gave a nod to him. Which was good. He would get it tomorrow, and would be sure to update everyone.
Izou looked at Ace. "But still, that was pretty mean." Ace shrugged. "Not my fault she never cleaned her wound. It is not my fault her lack of cleanliness made the wound infected." Izou blinked. "Well… yeah. But still, pretty mean." Ace shrugged. "I can be mean." That he knew, Ace could be really mean. But he could also be really kind, the one they saw the most.
And that's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed
We're now back to the normal things, and I somehow still have a lot to say for some reason for this story, and I hope you'll be here to enjoy it
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