Hi guys! Here is the next chapter!
I hope you find this story interesting
This is a bit longer than the last chapter, and I will try and keep the chapters this length
Hope you enjoy
Read and relax
Whitebeard sat out on deck. It had now been a week since that huge man and child had visited them, and Ace hadn't been on deck much, probably since he was worried for his child and his wife, which the captain got. Ace was out now and then to tell Thatch small things he could do to try and improve, probably to do what he was told to not be executed. But as Ace came out this time, he seemed in a bit better mood, which was good.
As Ace was out, Thatch looked at Ace. "How old is Althea?" Ace hummed. "Who knows. She is older than me." They all blinked. "She is?" Asked the captain, and Ace nodded. "Yeah. How she still is a child at mind and heart is a wonder. No one really gets that one." Thatch nodded. "Why… that other guy you mentioned, Hiro I think, when did he die? Since he still looks so young and is so old. You look older, unless he died at like 2." Ace hummed. "Hiro died when he was 6, he is a grumpy old man now. Looks like a child, I know. I look this old since they put me in purgatory to grow up. Hell doesn't want people looking too young." Thatch blinked. "P-purgatory is a thing?" Ace nodded. "Yeah, and it is so boring. Just a vast empty space. Was there for almost 3 years. You age normally there for some weird reason. Got to train a lot in peace though. " This was all so weird.
"So," Started Thatch. "I will now age slowly?" Ace nodded. "Yeah. You will. You age very slowly in Hell, slow in Heaven and here, and normal in purgatory. And I forgot. You age normally in purgatory. If you're there for one year, you age a year. But, 1 year in purgatory is like 1 day in here. Time moves very slowly there, but you age normally there as well. I have no idea why that is. I should probably ask the one in command. He must now. Damn guy is so old he lost all track when he was 5 000." Thatch nodded. "Cool. So, you never really die?" Ace hummed. "Lose your soul and you're pretty much doomed. Unless you can find it quick. You turn into what we call a Hollow. Neither dead or alive, you just… exist. They also attack everything. We kill them for sport now, as the ones we kill are doomed and can never recover." Interesting.
Thatch looked at Ace. "How about that tattoo of yours?" Ace frowned a bit. "What tatt- oh, the number. It is not a tattoo, I have no real clue as to what it is. It is gotten through a ceremony. So, it can change, like when you get promoted or demoted. But it isn't a tattoo, and can never really be removed, unless you do a ceremony." They nodded, Izou speaking. "Why do you still have it then? Isn't heaven like your place now?" Ace nodded. "Yes, but I kept it as a reminder that I will never join Hell again." That made sense. "Why is Hell so bad?" Asked Haruta, and Ace hummed. "Stern place. The leader there, he literally disintegrated a man's whole arm since he spoke out of turn. In heaven, much more laid back. I don't know how many rules I have broken now." That sounded a bit like Ace. But this was a lot to take in.
Ace stayed a bit out, giving small words to Thatch and teaching him a stance, before Ace disappeared into the ship again. The next day, which was calm and they had docked a bit ago on an uninhabited island. He blinked when he heard what sounded like someone stepping off a ledge, and turned to his left to see 5 people there, which was Lori, who held a small baby in her left arm, and on her right she held Nell, next to them was a child that he believed to be Ace's son, and next to them stood a woman he hadn't seen before, all in black clothing, which he felt was something everyone wore in heaven, which was odd as it was black, he would have guessed white.
Ace then walked towards them with a chuckle, before he kissed Lori, and said hi to his son and Nell, before looking at the baby. "And this must be Ylva! She's perfect." Ace then held his hands out to hold her, but Lori hummed. "Don't drop her." Ace chuckled. "I won't." Then he moved to hold his daughter, who didn't look newborn for having been born last week, but time moves slower in heaven. As Ace said hi to his daughter for the first time, Lori spoke. "Who is everyone?" Ace hummed. "Pirates. That's the captain-" Ace said as he motioned to him. "And some commanders here and there. Too many to introduce." Lori nodded, before Ace motioned to Lori. "This is Lori, my wife." Then he motioned to the child in her arms. "This is Nell, you know that." Then he motioned to the boy. "This is Aaron, he's my son." Then Ace moved Ylva a bit up. "And this is Ylva!" Lora moved to grab Ylva. "You're going to drop her!" Ace looked at her. "I won't!" Lori gave a huff, before looking at Ylva. "Don't listen to daddy, he will drop you." Ace just chuckled.
The woman next to them crossed her arms. "And me? Who am I?" Ace hummed. "Oh yeah, this is Moira. She's cool." Moira sighed. "You asked for me." Ace nodded. "I did. Since I have been tasked to teach someone who has no training on how to learn his powers. I am not a teacher, you know this." Moira hummed. "True. You do suck." Ace nodded. "Yes, I do. And I can't train him my way, because I don't want to kill him." Moira chuckled. "You are known to be brutal." That he didn't know, and couldn't really see either. Ace brutal? Ace seemed to be kind and caring. But no one mentioned it, not sure how to bring it up.
They then went to the island as Lori wanted to see the human world, same with Nell and Aaron, and Moira, but she seemed to have been out a few times. After a bit, they got to a cliffside, them being on top of it, and Thatch went to it and looked down, Thatch seeming shocked. "What… is that?" Whitebeard looked down, and saw nothing, just a long fall, before a lot of vegetation. He looked at Thatch. "There is nothing there, son." Thatch looked at him shocked. "There are monsters!" Whitebeard blinked and looked down, but saw nothing. Ace hummed. "Oh right, you're not dead. Let me just-" Said Ace as he moved his hands a bit up, before he seemed to concentrate, before he clapped his hands hard, which sent a sort of shockwave from his hands, but it didn't hurt, just felt like a gust of wind. But then he heard a sound, like moaning in pain, and looked down the cliff and felt shocked.
It was full of huge black monsters of all sizes, all having a sort fo white mask on and a hole in their bodies. Many were larger than the trees there. Ace hummed. "Those are Hollows. I mentioned those. They have lost their souls and wander the Earth and eat others' souls in hope to recover theirs, but they can never recover. They just create other Hollows. The reason we all kill them for sport. You even get a Hollow stone from killing one, and we trade them in for money.." That was horrible and interesting. Izou swallowed. "Are we safe here?" Ace nodded. "Yes, they can't climb. A few do have wings, but I can't see any with wings there. They probably all fell down there and can't get up again." Whitebeard blinked, before he looked around and saw it was a large hole, not just a cliff.
Aaron came to look down as well. "Wow, there are many, so many. I've never seen so many in one place." Ace hummed. "Yeah, they usually fall down holes and get stuck. This is what we call 'a pit'. We should probably clear them out." That sounded smart, so they couldn't hurt others. Lori gave a look at Ace. "Ace, my dear husband, don't you dare push Aaron." Ace chuckled. "I won't push him down with my hands, I promise." Whitebeard blinked and looked at Ace in shock, before looking at Lori. Why would she think Ace would push his son down into this hole? Lori breathed out. "Good, because I don't want a repeat of when you pushed Nelliel down a pit with Hollows." They all blinked. Ace had done that? Didn't he care for his child? Ace chuckled. "That's how you learn, honey. By fighting. That's how I learned. But I promise, I will not push him down with my hands as I did with Nelliel." Lori nodded. "Good."
Whitebeard felt shocked. Ace had pushed his daughter down a pit with monsters? To teach her how to fight? Ace had been pushed down a pit to fight? That was horrible. Aaron hummed. "I think I maybe could have taken most out, mom." Lori hummed. "No, there are too many for you. You've barely fought against 10, much less a pit. And that was controlled in heaven." Aaron shrugged. "I think I might have managed with dad's help. But I don't know how to get down safely without making a sound and alerting them." Whitebeard shook his head. "No, those are huge and large, it would be insane of you to try that, even with Ace. Just pure insanity to try and take on that many." All of his children nodded as they agreed, the Hollows were huge and looked very dangerous, and probably any more which were beneath the trees and such.
Ace gave a hum and took a step back. "This is not insanity. This is education!" As Ace yelled the last part, he disappeared, before he appeared behind Aaron, moved his leg up, and kicked him forward and into the pit, making them all shocked, before Ace moved to the edge, and he expected Ace to jump after, when Ace yelled. "Don't fall on your head, son!" Before Aaron yelled back. "I hate you, dad!" And then he fell beneath the trees, and he could see the Hollows hearing him landing, and headed that way. Ace just doomed his son. Ace then hummed and did some movement with his hand. "So you don't interfere." He said, before a huge black wall appeared by the edge, going really high up and they couldn't see anything.
Lori sighed. "Honey-" Ace chuckled. "I kept my promise. My hands never touched him." Lori sighed, before she shook her head. "Next time, I will say you can not push with your hands or feet." Ace chuckled. "You should, yes." Nell then moved her hands to her mouth as she yelled. "You can do it, Aaron!" Ace turned and moved a hand to pet Nell on her head. "I am sure he can, Nell. Now, let's head back to the boat and wait for him." Then Ace turned around and started to leave towards the boat, Lori and Moira heading after, leaving them shocked, the first to find his voice was Marco. "You're going to leave him, yoi?!" Moira hummed. "This is Ace's way to train others. I am surprised that Thatch is still alive. I did say he was brutal." They all stood in shock. Moira had said Ace was brutal, and he was. He just pushed his own son into a pit with monsters to fight alone.
As they headed away, Ace hummed as he moved his hand up and made a motion. "And so you won't know the outcome." He said, before Whitebeard blinked as the sound of moaning went away. Ace just made it so they couldn't see or hear them anymore, before Ace chuckled. "So, no reason to hang here. Aaron will come when he's finished." Whitebeard felt so shocked about this nonchalant behavior to Ace. His son might die. Ace chuckled. "You can stay here, but why not wait on the boat?" said Ace as he walked away.
They looked at the wall, and it still was there as Ace left, then they swallowed, and they wanted to stay, but after an hour, before they slowly went back to the boat. Ace spoke as they boarded. "If he's not back in 4 hours, I will check on him." Lori huffed. "You better." Ace chuckled. "He'll be fine. He is stronger than you think. You keep coddling him, Lori. He will never learn from that." Lori sighed. "Maybe." Everyone was still shocked Ace just did this to his son.
But then, as almost another hour had passed, a person came and walked onto the boat, and he felt a breath leave him as it was Aaron, who looked at his father. "I hate you, dad." Ace chuckled. "Knew you would win. How many did you get?" Aaron hummed and brought up a small bag. "57 Hollow stones." Whitebeard blinked. Aaron, who was 10 or 11, had just fought against 57 Hollows alone. Ace nodded. "That's a pretty good score. Did you get any special stones?" Aaron nodded and moved a hand to the bag and took out a white stone with blue markings, making Ace chuckle. "That will be worth a small slump. Wanna go turn it in now?" Aaron nodded. "Yes, is there any on this island that accepts it?" Ace nodded. "Yes. Let us go." Then the two walked off the boat, Lori joining them with her two daughters in her arms, giving a praise to her son.
As they were gone, Deuce, who was out, hummed. "Ace really is mean and brutal, but he won't kill anyone… most times." Moira nodeded. "Yeah, I know. But still, many have died in his training." Deuce nodded. "I know. But those were also morons and weaklings." Moira hummed. "You seem annoyed." Deuce nodded. "And I am. At them." He said as he pointed at them, making them all blink.
Moira looked at Deuce. "Why are you annoyed at them?" Deuce rolled his eyes. "Because they still keep asking the wrong questions!" Moira frowned a bit. "What do you mean the wrong questions?" Deuce rolled his eyes again. "They ask about Heaven and Hell and such, but God forbid they ask about why Ace actually risked his life saving Thatch." Moira blinked. "They haven't?" Deuce shook his head. "No, they haven't!" Moira blinked. "My God, they suck." Deuce nodded. "Yes! Thank you!" Whitebeard blinked. Why hadn't they asked about that? That was true. Ace had sacrificed a great deal for them.
He looked at Deuce. "Why did he save Thatch? And come for us?" Deuce hummed. "Ace really never had a place where he really felt like he belonged. Hell was a bust, Heaven is a bit better, but he still feels like he should be a different place. Guess you felt nice." That made him blink. That was amazing. Izou then blinked. "Wait, I remember something! You were sent here to watch us?" What? No, when was that said? Deuce however, nodded. "Yes, we were. Heaven wants to keep all big shots in sight. You made the cut. So, we played pirates, which was actually cool. I like to have assignments outside Heaven. It is such a sad place." Izou blinked. "I still can't believe Heaven is a sad place. It is supposed to be Heaven!" Deuce nodded. "I know. But there are so many there, it is crowded. It is really sad."
Izou moved his hand a bit. "How did it get so sad? Has it always been?" Deuce hummed. "No, not the first quarter. It was nice. Now, it has gotten overpopulated and crowded. It is a bit easy to get into Heaven in my opinion. I've never been to Hell, but I feel like it isn't that crowded." This was interesting. Heaven was crowded and bad. Thatch made a sound. "But when we had that trial, it didn't look… that bad." Deuce nodded. "I know. But only allowed people are allowed there, and that's not that many. You need a certain level of power to be there, inside the walls. Many want to get inside. Not that crowded, clean, and you don't starve to death." Thatch blinked. "I can… starve to death?" Deuce nodded. "Yes, you can. If you die in heaven, you end up in Hell. It's… sad." It sounded sad.
But still… Ace had gone out of his way to save Thatch, he had given Thatch some of his powers to save him, even though he knew it might cost him his life to do it, that he might be executed for it. Whitebeard needed to speak with Ace about this.
And that's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!
Things will pick up more soon, I just needed to introduce some characters and show a bit on how Ace is to set up things for later
If you have any ideas, don't be afraid to share them!
I hope you enjoyed, and if you want to, I do love feedback, so don't be afraid to leave a review, or send PM!
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