Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter!

I know it has been a small while, but I had some issues getting my words down for this story, but here is the chapter!

Hope you enjoy

Read and relax

Whitebeard watched the island they were heading towards, going to dock to restock a few things. While they were still sailing, Ace had also helped Trevor get his number off, which was good, so now Trevor could join them and go on the island too, as from what he had gathered, Trevor had never been much out of Hell. So when they had docked and they went on the island, being a bit to the side of the main town as they needed some supplies they had stored here as it were larger supplies like wood. But as they walked, he blinked when a person was suddenly in front of them and was even more surprised to see it was Pepper.

Pepper gave a hum like purr. "Hi there, bird boy." Marco looked uncomfortable and before he could react, Pepper took a step and was gone, before he was next to Marco, moving a hand towards him, who was shocked and didn't seem able to move away as he was stunned. But just as the hand was about to touch Marco, he felt a force that overtook them, it felt a bit like haki, but also not. It felt… stronger. He felt like moving would be hard, as if a large force was pressing him down, but he could see things on the ground, like pebbles and rocks were moving upwards. What kind of power was this? But then Pepper's hand was stopped by Ace, who didn't look happy. "Pepper, I told you to stay away." Pepper moved to look annoyed at Ace and he felt the force become more. He could see things moving upwards as Whitebeard felt the force pressing down on his shoulders, and he realized it came from Ace and Pepper.

It was a staring match for a few seconds, before Pepper spoke. "You're no fun." And then Pepper was gone, but a second later Ace was also gone. Trevor hummed, as he was with them. "Pepper seems like an annoying but cool person I feel." Whitebeard wasn't sure he agreed, but had a question. "What was that force? That felt like… haki." Trevor blinked, before he frowned. "Haki… oh, I've heard about this. Yes. It would feel alike. But it isn't. Haki is more… raw and uncontrolled than what we do. If I am right, haki can make people pass out, while we can do that too, we usually just force people to lay down and be forced down. We can also pinpoint the most of it and that makes a person be forced down, but if you're strong, you can have this larger and force more people down. It is much stronger and more controlled than haki. A sign you will have a strong power when dead, is if you have strong haki. Also, haki doesn't work on us. It is way too weak." That was interesting.

They then walked on and after a bit, Ace came back and Trevor looked at him. "Pepper seems nice." Ace gave a breath. "He can be. But he wants to have fun, he is just sick and tired of everything I think. I know he looks young, but he is like 1300 years old. He should stay away from you for now. But knowing Pepper, it probably won't last. He isn't good with rules." That he could see.

They then went and got some wood so they could check it off the list, before they would look around in town. Ace and Trevor said they wanted to look around somewhere else and did leave for that, and they went on. But as they came to the town, he saw Marco seeming hesitant, and looked at where the first commander looked and saw a cat lying in the middle of the road on a small rock, and it looked like Pepper in his cat form. Whitebeard got why Marco was being hesitant as Pepper had proven that he could hurt Marco with ease. But this was the path they needed to go, as he was about to say they could take the long way around, which would take half an hour more, Marco started to walk carefully, far away from the cat, looking at it and not taking his eyes off of it. It did seem people noticed it and found it odd as they muttered to each other, but they soon were past the cat, who peacefully slept on.

As they were past, Marco seemed relieved, which he got. They then went on and then back to the boat, and when everyone was back, they set sail again. Once they were a bit away, Ace tried to teach Thatch more to walk in the air, but Thatch wasn't able to. They were using a crate and Thatch would try and walk off it and not fall, but he always did. After a while, Ace sent a look at Trevor, who just gave a nod, which Whitebeard found odd, but Ace then tried on, before he said they needed a break.

Trevor then asked Thatch to come to him and look at something by the railing,and Thatch went there. They were now by the part where the plank usually was so there wasn't a railing. But as Thatch asked what he was supposed to look at, Trevor asked him to lean a bit forward, before Trevor moved a hand and pushed Thatch off the boat and Whitebeard blinked. Thatch then looked shocked before he looked at Trevor. "Why did you push me! I don't want to get wet!" Trevor lifted an eyebrow. "Are you wet?" Thatch didn't look too happy. "No! I barely didn't fall off the boat!" Ace hummed. "But you did. You're no longer on the boat." Thatch blinked and looked down and saw he was in the air, no boat under his feet and looked shocked.

Thatch looked scared to move. "C-can I move?" Trevor hummed. "Can you?" Thatch swallowed. "I- I don't know." Ace gave a breath. "Focus on what makes you stay in the air now. Seems like it is the fact you don't want to get your hair wet, but whatever floats your boat… or your body." Thatch nodded and took a step, and didn't fall. Thatch then went back to the boat and took a breath, before he seemed excited. "I did it! Pops! I did it!" Whitebeard smiled. "You did, son." Thatch looked ecstatic and tried to do it again from the crate, but not able to. But when he tried once again from the boat and to the sea, Thatch managed it. It had Ace hum. "You need to train more before it comes natural to you. You may need a reason at the start, your reason is to keep your hair dry. Just work on it and it will come easier." Thatch nodded and the captain was sure Thatch would manage it, but this was a good start he felt.

The next week went fine, and they were now close to a large island, but he knew they shouldn't dock because this evening and night was a holiday here and no one was allowed out. It was a night where the moon would be red, and that was something everyone respected and kept to themselves. Very few were out as weird things were told to happen. Thatch and Ace had also trained a lot lately and Thatch was getting better. Ace had tried a lot to make Thatch able to see and move fast, which he wasn't able to do yet. He could see when Ace or Trevor walked fast, but not able to move and counter what they did.

When evening came, the moon grew more red, he told his children that they should respect the island and such and not have a large party, which everyone got. This was something the entire world did, so they should as well. When he asked Thatch if he would train with Ace more, Thatch said Ace had said he and Trevor would be busy for this night. Thatch did mention Trevor had said he could join, but Ace had said no as it could be dangerous. This was the first one in 6 months, so whatever it was seemed to be bad. Whitebeard was courteous on what and would ask when he saw Ace or Trevor next.

When the moon was very red and soon high in the sky, he saw Trevor, who seemed ready to fight as he had a bandana around his forehead and writing on his cheek, which said 'Hell'. Thatch spoke first. Trevor, what are you doing?" Trevor hummed. "This is the red night. And I want to join once. Ace usually goes alone. But this year, I can join him on an island and fight. I want Thatch to join to learn, but Ace said no." Thatch blinked. "Fight? Fight who?" Trevor hummed and lifted his hand and snapped his fingers, but nothing changed. He was about to speak when he saw what was like a red light enveloped everything, before it went away, but that was it. Then he heard Ace speak and saw him on top of a mast, a white outfit on, which looked like a fighting outfit, bandana on his head and the Heaven on his cheek. Ace said "This year will be so great!" Then Ace was gone and was on the island and moved his hand and hit the ground and Whitebeard was shocked to see many hollows get hit out, not just a few, more like 50, all in various shapes.

Ace went and quickly got to it and took them down, Trevor soon joining. There were so many, but Trevor and Ace seemed to have it controlled. But then he saw more and more people join, and they had mostly the word 'Heaven' on their cheek, but a few had 'Hell', and it was a battle to get what he was sure was the harder and more valuable ones. It lasted the whole night, before the red moon was gone and most monster went away as the sun started to rise, and Ace and Trevor got back on the boat with a bunch of hollow stones, and started to go through them and kept the valuable ones, the less valuable ones they put on the island for those who needed them could get them.

Whitebeard did ask what that was, and Ace hummed before he spoke. "A red night. Hollows get forced out by the red moon and the night before they multiply, so there are many. It is a sport now to hunt them on this day, the reason you saw so many." Trevor hummed. "Still could have felt Thatch could have joined, would have been good for him." Ace hummed. "No. too dangerous. I have met a lord once." Trevor hummed. "True." Then they went through the stones before they were done and the day went on, them just docking to get some supplies, before they left soon after.

The next day, Whitebeard moved out on deck to his chair as it was early morning. He was a bit shocked to see that Thatch or Ace wasn't out. They were usually close to the railing or deck, same with Trevor. But that was since they didn't sleep. Being dead made it so they didn't sleep, which made sense in a way. They did need sleep to get energy and keep awake, but they were dead, so they didn't need sleep to get energy, which was a human thing, and in a way, they weren't humans anymore.

As he had been out for about two hours, he heard running and turned to his left to see Trevor coming around a corner and was actually just running. And what made him blink was how he saw Trevor had a bad head wound, which didn't seem to bleed now, but it had bled a lot before it dried. The blood had dried down his left side of his face and a bit of his hair was dark red from it as well. As Trevor was close to him and he was on his way to ask what had happened, Trevor spoke as he breathed hard. "Ace and Thatch are in Hell!" Whitebeard blinked. "What do you mean?" Has Ace taken Thatch to Hell? Why would he do that? Ace worked for Heaven now, didn't he?

Trevor looked worried, mad, and upset, breathing hard, as he lifted his hand, which had a parchment, before Trevor spoke. "Hell heard about Thatch. A new… soul, uncorrupted. He doesn't even know his powers. If Hell can get their hands on him, they can shape him as they like, make him into a perfect puppet. So, they came and took him, to use him." Whitebeard blinked, seeing everyone doing the same, and before they could speak, Trevor spoke again, looking more upset. "But… They told Ace after taking him, that if Ace… comes and takes his place, they will give Thatch back." Trevor then lifted the parchment he held, before he read it out loud. "I can't let Thatch be there. He will be waiting on level 2 for you. Hurry and get him." Trevor closed his eyes. "Ace told me what happened, and I was about to tell you, when Ace knocked me out. Ace left to save Thatch, because he knew you would follow him. He doesn't want you there."

Whitebeard closed his eyes. He couldn't lose Thatch now. He opened his eyes and looked at Trevor. "What should we do now?" Trevor shook his head a bit. "We can't just… waltz into Hell, get them and leave again. It's heavily guarded. And getting in is… the easiest, getting out however, is harder." Still, they needed to try. Izou then spoke. "Can't we… ask Heaven? I mean, Ace is with them. Can we call them somehow?" Trevor blinked. "Yeah, maybe we can. We need to try. You have Den Dens, right?" Whitebeard nodded and showed him to the Den Dens, and Trevor sat down, before Whitebeard spoke. "Do you know what to call?" Trevor nodded. "Yeah. Ace called to give a report last week." That was good.

Trevor then did a few things to the Den Den, before he made it ring. And he had to blink as it gave another sound than usual, sounding more like a hum, before it was answered by a woman. "Yes?" Trevor took a breath. "Ace, Portgas D Ace, has been taken to Hell. We need a rescue group to help get him back." The Den Den hummed. "Portgas D Ace? The twelfth commander? Why is he in Hell?" Trevor gave a glare. "As I said! He was taken! You have to help get him back." The Den Den hummed, looking neutral. "I see. Thank you for notifying us. If he is not back within the time limit of his banishment, we will find a replacement for his position." Whitebeard felt himself shocked. Didn't they care?

Trevor looked shocked as well. "Don't you care about him! We need to save him! And Thatch!" The Den Den hummed again. "Does that mean the guy who Portgas was tasked to train is also no longer available or an issue? Good to know." Trevor looked horrified by the lack of response, and Whitebeard moved his hand and banged it on the desk. "You need to help them!" The Den Den hummed. "We will not risk breaking out a war with Hell just to get someone who we can easily replace, and someone who was an accident. Please do not call us again about this matter." Then the Den Den went to sleep, and they all just stood shocked and horrified. They didn't care about Ace, not one bit.

Trevor looked horrified as he spoke. "But… it's Heaven… Why don't they care about him…" Whitebeard didn't know, but it was obvious they didn't. Whitebeard looked at Trevor. "Can you get into Hell? With us?" Trevor looked at him. "You want to… come?" Whitebeard nodded. "I will do anything for my family, even go to Hell." Trevor blinked at him, looking shocked, before he nodded. "Okay. I will take you there." Whitebeard nodded. That was good.

Trevor then gave a breath. "But… your bodies can't go there, since you're alive. Whitebeard blinked. "Does that mean you will kill us?" Trevor shook his head. "No. I can take your soul out of your bodies, make your body… unconscious and you can come with me to Hell. But, if you die, your bodies will become a Hollow and devour the entire crew." Whitebeard nodded. "That is just a chance we have to take." Trevor blinked, seeming shocked, before he nodded. "Yes. I need to grab something, then I can separate your body and soul. You need to figure out who to take with you. You can't take everyone. We need to be as few as possible to sneak." Made sense. He nodded, before he headed out on deck as Trevor got ready.

When he was out, he informed everyone that Ace and Thatch had been taken to Hell, and they needed to get them. Everyone agreed. And it was then decided that those who would join were Vista, Jozu, Namur, Izou, Haruta, and Marco. As that was decided, Trevor came out and looked at them. "Ready?" Whitebeard nodded. "Yes. Those who will go are me, Jozu, Vista, Namur, Izou, Haruta, and Marco." Trevor nodded. "Okay. Also, just so I've said it. Your Devil Fruits are a human thing. Once I separate your soul, you have no powers." That was interesting and good to know. But it had Jozu speak up. "Maybe I should stay here then." Whitebeard looked at his son, when he elaborated. "I am not the best without my diamond form. I am still learning how to use a sword. I think I will only be in the way." Trevor nodded. "Good you see it yourself. Keep watch on things here. This might take some time."

Whitebeard looked at Trevor. "How long?" Trevor sighed. "In Hell, as in Heaven, time is different. It's… slower. A day there, can be up to a month here. I am not entirely sure exactly how it works." Whitebeard nodded. "Then we need to hurry." Trevor nodded. "We do. Get ready. Who wants to go first?" Whitebeard was about to speak when Marco did. "I can, yoi." Trevor nodded, before he blinked. "Oh, before I start." Trevor then closed his eyes, seemed to concentrate, and snapped his fingers, which he found a bit weird, before Trevor opened his eyes again and reached for something in his pocket. "So you can see their souls when I separate them, and don't think I killed anyone." Made sense, this might be the same thing as when Ace clapped his hands.

Trevor then pulled a glove out of his pocket, before he took it on, using his mouth, as Trevor had one arm. He seemed to be good at handling having one arm. Trevor then nodded and looked at Marco. "This will feel weird." Marco nodded. "I'm ready, yoi." Trevor nodded, before he moved towards Marco, moving his hand out and punched him with an open palm in his chest, and Marco fell backwards, down to the deck, just falling down and not getting up. But, as Trevor punched, he grabbed the air, and as Marco's body fell, it was as a separate Marco stood as the body fell, just now having on a black robe.

As the body hit the deck, Marco looked at it, before he looked at his arms. "I feel… light, yoi." Trevor nodded. "Yeah. Your soul isn't really heavy you know. You feeling okay?" Marco nodded. "Yes, yoi. I'm fine." Trevor nodded. "Good. Next?" Whitebeard took his turn now, and Trevor nodded and asked him to sit in his chair, seeing his size, before Trevor moved a hand to his chest, before he grabbed nothing and pulled, and Whitebeard felt his body being pulled and stood up, but looked back to see his body still there, now looking unconscious. It felt weird. It felt… cold and hollow. He looked down at himself and saw he was in a black robe as well. Trevor quickly made sure he was fine, before he separated the others souls as well, before they got ready.

When they were all ready, Trevor nodded. "Okay. Who's steering the ship while we are gone?" Blenheim took a step forward, makingTrevor nod. "Okay, head this to this place-" He said as he took out some piece of paper with coordinates. "We will exit there. But don't go too close to the island, it's dangerous." Blenheim nodded. "We will." Trevor nodded, before he looked at them. "Okay. Now, I will call on the Gates of Hell. You've seen it once. It is a one way gate. It will look terrifying, but just walk in." They blinked, Haruta speaking. "Wait… that huge monster is in it, isn't it?" Trevor nodded. "Yes. But you're not an escapist. It won't harm you. But yes, he will come and look around for why I called him, before he leaves. We have, at max 15 seconds. Are you ready?" They all nodded, and Trevor took his glove off, before he grabbed his sword, holding it out, closing his eyes, before he slashed it down through the air as he said something and seemingly cut the air with it. And then the huge gates appeared, before they opened and the huge monster's upper body came out, looking around. They then followed Trevor and ran into the gate before it closed.

When they were inside, he had to blink at the vast empty space they were in. But it was not like a desert, everything was gray and had dead trees instead. Around laid a lot of bodies, moaning. Haruta moved to help one up, but Trevor stopped her. "No. They are damned souls. Touch it, it will try and kill you to get further to the end." Haruta blinked. "End?" Trevor nodded and pointed back and they saw a huge open gate a bit away. "The exit to Hell." Marco blinked. "Why don't they jus-" Trevor moved his hand to Marco's mouth, silencing him, before the ground rumbled, and a huge white monster came walking on all fours, but had what looked like arms. It stopped and looked around, before it moved a hand to grab a body from the ground, before it ate the person, who didn't even scream, before it went on.

As it was away, Trevor spoke. "Those are Soul Devourers. When your soul has been damned here, when you reach this level, level 1, each small step will feel like going up the largest mountain. Your powers leave you, your strength dies. The closer to the door, the more your strength dies. On a normal basis, it takes about 450 years to reach the door if you have a strong will. Most just lay here and waste away. A few get out, many get eaten and back to the lowest level." That sounded horrible. Marco then spoke. "Why doesn't everyone have on black robes like us, yoi?" Trevor hummed. "Because they are souls of Hell. They have sinned and been damned. It is to see if they are damned or not. But, you can still be eaten by the Soul Devourers, you will go to the deepest level of Hell and lose your powers. No one can control them." So, they needed to be careful and try to not get caught by them.

They then moved, following Trevor, before they got to a huge bridge with total darkness around it, as if it was an endless drop, before they saw red ground on the other side. As they got closer, they could see more souls, who looked more and more upright, but they still all walked or crawled slowly, heading for the door at the end of the vast gray space. As they got to the bridge, Trevor spoke. "Don't fall. It is an endless drop. You will fall forever." Not good, so they walked on carefully over the bridge, before they got to the other side safely.

Then they walked on in a red place with many hills, all red, even more souls being here, but they all seemed to evade them. When Namur asked about it, Trevor had said it was since they weren't lost souls or damned souls. They were above them and could kill them and send them back to the lowest level. They were scared of them. Which made sense.

They then walked on, and after a bit, Trevor stopped and moved a hand up, both stopping them and silencing them. And then he heard a voice. "Shut up." Said a woman's voice, before he heard a familiar voice speak up. "I need to get to Ace!" That was Thatch. The woman said 'shut up' again, and they moved towards the voices. After walking a small bit around a mountain, they saw a woman sitting on something, she stood out compared to the other people here, since she had white clothes on. As they approached her, he heard Thatch speak again. "Let me go!" The woman shook her head, before she moved her hand, which held a sword, and hit what she was sitting on with the handle, and only then he saw that she was sitting on top of Thatch's back, keeping him down.

Trevor blinked. "Lucinda?" The woman looked up at them and hummed. "Trevor. As promised. You brought friends?" That made Thatch move his head to look at them. "Pops!" He yelled as he saw them, before the woman, Lucinda, stood up so Thatch could stand up as well. He was about to move and hug his son, when Thatch spoke. "We need to save Ace! He is keeping them away!" Lucinda sighed. "There's no need. Ace has no chance. He's up against Oliver and Jack, and Jon is watching them from afar too, to be sure he doesn't make it." Trevor blinked. "Why are they after Ace?" Lucinda sighed. "Because they want to know how to get into Heaven and take over. They knew he would follow this one. Who they had no plans to give back, even if Ace came. Ace knew it, so I was tasked to watch him while Ace acts as a decoy."

Trevor closed his eyes as he explained things for the others. "Jack and Oliver are number 1 and 2, they are strong. They both wanted revenge on Ace for leaving, they trained a lot to be sure when they had the chance, they could win. Jon is… the leader here. No one has beaten him in over thousands of years, maybe never." Whitebeard blinked, before he nodded. "Then, it is time for him to lose. We're not leaving Ace behind." Trevor blinked and looked at him. "You're… going to get him? You might die." Whitebeard nodded. "Then I die. I can't leave Ace behind. Not after everything he has done for us." Trevor looked shocked, and he saw something else in his eyes he didn't get to decipher before it went away and Trevor nodded. "Then let us get him." Lucinda looked shocked. "You can't win against them." Whitebeard shook his head. "No, we will win. Because we fight for those we care about. If it means death, it is a good death." Everyone with him nodded and Trevor looked shocked, before he nodded. "Okay, we will go. Get yourself ready." Whitebeard nodded, he would.

Whitebeard needed to repay all that Ace had done for them, and he liked Ace.

And that's the chapter, hope you enjoyed!

Things are getting interesting! The next will have a lot as well

If you have any ideas, don't be afraid to share them!

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