Hi Guys! Here is the next chapter
This will be a bit more interesting than the last one as things are picking a bit up as we got to what I have planned for this story
Hope you enjoy
Read and relax
Whitebeard sat out on deck, they had sailed for a bit now, and nothing big had happened. Whitebeard hadn't been able to really have a chat with Ace, an honest chat. Ace didn't really answer his questions, which he kind of got as well. Ace probably didn't want to give anything away. Not much was known about those said to be dead, and they probably wanted to keep it that way. When he had asked why Ace had saved Thatch from Heaven, Ace just said so he wouldn't be forgotten there, as many were. And many died and went to Hell, which Ace felt Thatch didn't deserve. And Whitebeard agreed on that, but still. Ace had sacrificed a lot for them.
Ace had tried to teach Thatch to walk in the air, but Thatch wasn't able to yet. Same when Ace moved fast. Thatch couldn't see Ace yet when he moved. Ace had tried to walk a bit slow, but still fast. So fast that Whitebeard was sure he teleported, but Thatch had managed to half follow that. He wasn't able to do anything before Ace touched Thatch. They had done so that Ace would move fast and try to poke Thatch, with a finger and not his sword so Thatch didn't get hurt. And Thatch managed to follow Ace when he moved slowly with his eyes, but he wasn't able to move to avoid being poked or move his hand to stop Ace's hand with his hand. But Ace said that that was a start. That Thatch managed to follow him with his eyes, was something. Better than not able to see him at all. Which made Thatch feel proud of himself. Ace had said this would take some time, and Ace would do his best to teach Thatch the most he could while he was here.
Ace did say Thatch was making good progress, even though Thatch might not feel that himself. This wasn't something you learned in a day or week, it took time. Which did make sense. This process of learning it all couldn't be rushed. Thatch had also tried connecting with his sword's spirit a lot, and now said he could hear a voice. He couldn't see anything, it was totally foggy, but he heard the voice of the spirit, which sounded to be male, but every time the voice said its name, it was really distorted. But Thatch could hear a voice, that was a start.
Now they were sailing around and trying to avoid major islands as he had heard rumors that the fact Ace had a number on his back was known to many, someone had seen and told people. That wasn't good, and while yes, they were pirates, they usually only had to fear marines and such. With a number, you had to fear everyone. You had to fear pirates, marines, hunters, mercenaries, locals, and everything. It wouldn't be too long, as Ace wouldn't stay with them forever, just until he could return to Heaven.
But as they were close to a set of islands, they docked at the smaller one, and sent a boat to the larger one to restock. Just to be sure. But as they were docked and the sun high on the sky, someone approached them, having come in a small boat. It seemed to be a middle aged man, and had a sword by his side, looking very confident. He went onto his boat and loudly said "I am here for a fight." Whitebeard blinked. He had never seen this person before. "Why would I fight you?" The man hummed. "No. Not you. Him." He said as he pointed at Ace, who hummed. "Why would I fight you?" The man hummed. "I heard you have a number. I want to fight a number. You're said to be very good swordsmen with amazing powers." Ace shook his head. "I am not fighting you."
The man huffed. "I knew it. You're weak. Just a rumor then. I'm sad to hear that." Ace rolled his eyes. "If you want to die, he can kill you." Said Ace, pointing at the captain. The guy huffed. "No. He doesn't have a number. You don't want to prove me wrong?" Ace sighed. "Fine, I can fight you." The two then headed off the boat and onto the island, where the man charged first, and Ace just blocked without issue. It was very anticlimax to be honest, but also a bit interesting as the more Ace blocked, the angrier the man got, before he growled. "Fight me! Where are your powers! You're said to have special powers?" Ace hummed. "Oh, you do want to die? Fine." Ace then moved his hand that held his sword, and threw it into the air.
The sword went high, but not twisting a lot, before it started to fall down again towards the man with the sword downwards. But the man just took a step backwards, before he gave a sneer. "That's it? I can do that as well." He said as he looked at the falling sword. But then Ace hummed, before he spoke. "Azruel, slaughterswarm." Then as Ace's sword fell, now being almost in front of the guy, it suddenly disappeared, like falling into water as it slowly disappeared. But then, it was as if things got darker and around Ace and the guy, before hundreds of katanas materialized around them in a large circle, 6 rows of katanas going up, all pointing downwards. The guy looked shocked. "W-what is this?" Ace hummed. "Your death."
Ace then lifted his hand, and as it was up, the swords around them, which had been circling around them, stopped, before one row of the katanas moved to point at the guy, who seemed to get they would stab him as soon as Ace gave the command. The guy swallowed. "P-please don't kill me." Ace gave a small hum, before he moved his hand down and the katanas disappeared and things got bright again. Ace then moved his hand out and his sword materialized in front of him and Ace took it, before he turned around and started to walk away, making the guy realize he had been spared. The man looked shocked. "You're…a demon!" Ace stopped and sent a look at the guy, before he walked again, but this time, he held his sword up and said "Azruel, scatter."
As he said it, his sword's blade broke into pieces, but only the blade and not the handle, which Ace still held, the blade breaking off into what looked like rose petals but were black, before they multiplied in the thousands and surrounded the guy behind Ace and going around him in a circle, who looked shocked again, before he tried to run, but Ace spoke. "Azruel, eradicate." And the petals moved and shaped a sphere around the guy, before it got smaller and smaller, until it was the size of a football, the petals being so close it looked like a dense ball and not many petals. Then the petals moved away from the dense ball, and Ace spoke one more time. "Azruel, sleep." The petals moved back to Ace's handle and formed a sword again, and Ace put it away in its sheath as he moved back on the boat.
Whitebeard stared at where the guy had been, the only thing left was blood spots and his weapon, not even clothes or bones left. He was completely gone. This was Ace's powers? He could do this? Ace then walked on and headed towards his room, looking indifferent. As Ace was gone, they all just stared at where the guy had been in shock and horror, before Haruta spoke. "T-that's his powers?!" Thatch shook his head. "Yes. But… that wasn't his full powers." Whitebeard looked at Thatch. "How do you know that, son?" Thatch swallowed. "Because Moira said, and Ace confirmed, when he is fully connected to his sword's spirit, he changes. He didn't change." Whitebeard realized Thatch was right and felt horrified. That wasn't Ace's full powers. This was just the middle level. That was terrifying.
The day then went on, and they didn't see much of Ace, which was a bit good in a way as he had just shown a sliver of his powers, and just that was utterly terrifying. No wonder Ace had the number 3 on him, his powers were amazingly terrifying. He couldn't even imagine what his full powers were. What he had shown was just a small bit off it. Thatch had said he had tried to find Ace a bit before, but couldn't. And that might be because he wasn't even on the boat. Ace could walk in the air and walk so fast it was like teleporting.
But then, when evening came, a man suddenly stood on deck, back to them. And Whitebeard hadn't seen anyone board, and was on his way to speak when the man spoke. "Cool. So, this is a pirate boat." Whitebeard blinked. Has this man never seen a pirate boat before? He had on some white clothes and a white jacket over his shoulders but not his arms in the sleeves. At first, he thought it might be a marine, but there was nothing on the jacket's back. And he didn't look familiar, not that he could see his face, but he had silver hair and hair style that stood out, and a sword by his side in a sheath, or it looked more like a katana.
Whitebeard looked at him. "Who are you?" The man hummed, before he turned around, and he blinked, before he felt dread. On his cheek, there was a number 9. He was with Hell. He was about to ask why he was here, when Ace spoke, having come outside or back to the boat. "Trev? What are you doing here?" The man shook his head. "I am sick of Hell, please let me join the human world! Or something! I heard you were a pirate now?" Ace hummed. "An assignment. I work for Heaven now." The man blinked. "Heaven? How the fuck did you end up there?" Ace hummed. "I just did. I got accepted after I was found by someone from there and they took me in. Even though I was from Hell originally." The man blinked. "You… moved on?" Ace nodded. "I needed to, Trevor. I couldn't wait forever. I now have a wife and 3 kids. I am happy."
Trevor blinked, seeming shocked. "I see… I hoped we cou-" Ace shook his head and cut him off. "No. I am past that. Feel free to go wherever you want to go. I don't care." Trevor blinked. "I don't know where to go." Ace sighed. "Fine. If you're really serious about leaving Hell, you can stay here a bit, until you know where to go." Trevor nodded. "Thank you, Ace." Whitebeard looked at Ace. "Who is this?" Ace hummed. "This is Trevor." Ace then looked at Trevor. "I see you got to level 9 now." Trevor nodded. "Yes. After the accident, I got down to 23. I was working my way back to 6, but I now see it was dumb of me not to follow you right away when you left. I should have followed when you asked me to." Whitebeard blinked. Accident? Ace gave a breath and nodded. "Are you getting better with your left arm?" Trevor nodded and moved his left arm a bit, and that made the jacket move and he saw Trevor only had one arm, the other was gone by his shoulder. Whitebeard blinked. This must be the guy Ace mentioned one time, that lost his arm for speaking out of turn.
Whitebeard looked at them. "Did you work together?" Trevor looked to be on his way to answer when Ace did. "Yes, we did. We were friends." Trevor blinked at it, before he gave a breath, before he nodded. "Yeah, we used to be friends." Whitebeard blinked, before he nodded. Ace had left Hell behind, and his friends behind most likely. Trevor seemed to be one of those friends. And based on what Trevor said, Ace had asked him to join him in leaving, but Trevor hadn't. But Ace had a new life now in Heaven, which seemed to shock Trevor, but he seemed to get it too. They must have been good friends if Trevor chose to follow after Ace, even though it was very long ago he left he felt like. Maybe the two could reconnect now. Trevor did seem glad to see Ace, but Ace didn't seem as happy.
Trevor then looked at Ace. "Are you here on a mission now?" Ace shook his head. "No. I was originally here on a mission, just to watch and report. But then I ended up saving someone who died and giving them some of my powers so they wouldn't be miserable in Heaven and forgotten. And that's like rule one, I am not allowed to do that. So I got tasked to teach him his powers for 6 months in Earth time." Trevor blinked. "Wait, isn't that like 4 years?" Ace hummed. "More like 6." Trevor blinked. "Wow, he must be really special." Ace shrugged. "You know Heaven is overcrowded really bad. I didn't want him to be forgotten in the crowd or end up being killed and sent to Hell. He doesn't deserve that." Trevor blinked. "I see. Who is this guy?" Ace hummed and moved his hand a bit and motioned to Thatch, who waved a bit as Trevor looked at him.
"Wait, woah. No. Him? Jon knows about him." Ace blinked. "What do you mean?" Trevor looked a bit shocked. "I don't know. But Jon mentioned a new soul was made that had potential. What was it again… Thatch, right?" Thatch blinked. "Yes." Ace blinked. "Why does Jon want him? He can't even talk to his spirit much or hear its name." Trevor shrugged. "You know how Jon is. He wants to have an army." Ace blinked. "He has an army." Trevor shrugged. "I know. I don't get half of what he says. I think he's lost it." Ace seemed to think. "I don't like that he knows about him. And you're not here to take him?" Trevor shook his head. "I am not. I promise you, I am not. I've been thinking about leaving for a long while, then I heard you were here and took that as a sign and left." Ace nodded. "Okay. I guess you can stay here until you know where you want to go." Trevor smiled. "Thank you." Ace shook his head a bit. "No, it's fine. Just act nice." Trevor nodded. "I will."
Ace then hummed. "Also, if you really want to leave Hell, get rid of the tattoo." Trevor looked at Ace. "Did you remove yours?" Ace shook his head. "No. But mine is on my back, not my face. Easier to hide." Trevor nodded. "Well, yeah. I should remove it. Could you help me do it? I don't remember how to be honest." Ace gave a small chuckle. "Sounds like you. I'm not totally sure either, it's been a while since I left you know. But I have a faint idea. We can try it, I just need to remember the details." Trevor nodded. "Okay."
Thatch then moved his hand. "Who is Jon? Is it bad that he wants me?" Ace sighed. "Jon is the… boss of the Hell people. He is really not a good guy." Trevor nodded. "Yeah. I legit just said a small word during a meeting, not even to him. And he cut off my arm for it, and to be sure I wouldn't just take it and reattach it, he disintegrated it with a small pulse. And he took my right one since I am right handed. He is… awful. And so stern and violent. Or, he didn't hold the sword that did it, but gave the order to do it, to teach me a lesson." Ace nodded. "He is. That's why I left." Did not sound good at all. Thatch blinked. "He took your arm just because you spoke?" Trevor sighed. "More like a whisper. But yeah. He did." Thatch blinked. "He sounds… mean." Ace nodded. "He is. That's why I left when I did." Ace looked at Trevor. "And it took you almost 100 years after I left to see that?" Trevor nodded, looking to feel bad. "Yeah…"
Ace gave a small breath, and moved a hand to Trevor's shoulder. "But, you finally found your mind and left. It's a start." Trevor nodded and smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Thank you, for letting me stay a bit." Ace shook his head. "It is nothing. It is what friends are for. And hey, you can help me train Thatch." Trevor nodded. "I can, yes. I know more things than you." Ace gave a small look. "Oh, you want to fight?" Trevor chuckled. "Maybe I do?" Ace shook his head and had a small smile. "We can take it later." Trevor nodded and smiled as well. "Yeah, we can." The two then started to chat a bit, and Whitebeard felt this would be interesting. To have one more from Hell here. But it was also worrisome that Hell for some reason wanted Thatch. He felt Ace knew more than what he said, but he didn't know. But he would keep an eye on this Trevor, just in case.
And that's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed
Things are going to pick up, I promise
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 a PM!
If you also want to, I have a Twitter, my name is Azuruko, and I have a discord, my tag/username is just azuruko, as well as a server (Instant invite: discord . gg / 6hzMhbR) where everyone is welcomed! Updates is also posted there, both on discord and on twitter