Chapter 34
Thatch went straight to Ace's room. He bit his lip when he saw Ace's hat sitting on the bed post by the foot of his bed and took it, slipped it over his head so that it sat on his back.
He'd give it back to Ace when he found him, and he would find him.
He swore by Davy Jones he would find his brother and bring him home. He'd murder Teach and set Ace free, no matter the cost.
Kotatsu whined mournfully at him from his place on Ace's bed, staring up at him. Thatch brushed his hand through his fur soothingly.
"I'm gonna go get Ace back. Don't you fret, Kotatsu, and then we'll get Rouge back, and return to you to get you lots of goodies."
Kotatsu purred at the idea and laid his head back down contently. Thatch grinned, then wandered over to open up the witch cupboard. That was what Ace called it. It was where he kept dials of his elemental magic, potions and charms. There was only three dials, bought by Haruta, one for each birthday he had spent on the Moby Dick. They were expensive to get, ones that could hold Ace's magic at any rate, and Ace treated each one carefully.
The charms were full of Ace's magic too, and Rouge's spells. They were more full of Rouge's magic, and the potions, most of them were created by Rouge, or bought off of Trafalgar Law. Ace hated making potions.
There were a decent amount too. Rouge and Law tended to keep Ace well prepared. He quickly filled up a bag, packing the potions in carefully, making sure they were well padded out. Thatch then left. He grabbed his swords from his room, supplied another bag with food and water, and packed Ace's Striker.
"Okay girl, I need you to help me get Ace back," Thatch said. "I know you only like Ace, but I need your full cooperation, okay?"
She said nothing, but Thatch swore that he had heard her talk to Ace before. He had just never seen her. None of the Whitebeards had, nor the former Spades. Rouge insisted that she hadn't either.
"Alright, I'm gonna put you aside out the docking bay, and go raid Rouge's room. Hopefully she didn't put in any traps," Thatch sighed, and hurried off.
He needed to be ready to go the moment he had a chance.
.::.
Law froze. "Teach did what?"
"They're gone, Law. Teach took Rouge and Ace. Dragon just got the call in from the Whitebeards." Sabo sounded horrified and furious. "He spilled his blood on Ace's grimoire and it took control of him-"
Law didn't hear anything else after that. His head went fuzzy and the room span. He dropped the speaker and stumbled into a wall. He could see something. A dark figure. Blood dripping on top of a book. Law's grimoire. The Trafalgar Clan grimoire.
"Law? Law, what happened? Are you okay?'
"No, Captain just started having some kind of panic attack!"
"Law, calm down, you have to breathe!" That was Penguin.
Law tried to. He really tried too, but he couldn't. The room kept spinning. He could see the blood. His grimoire. He fell, landed against something soft, familiar paws holding him up, just before everything went dark.
.::.
"How is he?" Dragon asked as Sabo hung up on the den den mushi.
Sabo had been panicked about five minutes ago, yelling Law's name, only for Law's second in command, Penguin, to take over the call, his voice a forced calm. It seemed things must have calmed down now, if the call had ended.
"Law's burning up with a nasty fever," Sabo said. "Like the one Ace had after he left Sabaody. Penguin's put him to bed and they are going to keep monitoring him."
"He's not even anywhere near there." Dragon frowned. "Yet he collapsed after he heard that Teach's blood was spilled on Ace's grimoire?"
Sabo grimaced. "I wish we actually had a witch we could talk to about all this who knew the answers."
"That would be too easy sadly," Dragon sighed. "My main concern right now is what happened to Ace and Rouge, and if they can be rescued. We will need to keep an eye out for them."
"I'll let our network know," Sabo said, his face slowly growing murderous. "And when we find Teach, I'll gut him."
.::.
"You can't leave, Thatch." Jozu frowned. "Not like this."
"This is stupid and reckless, even for you!" Izo yelled.
"I can't let them keep Ace a prisoner!" Thatch snarled, marching up towards the Striker.
He'd taken Rouge's supplies too from her own room, although one of her charms had caused a small explosion of smoke to blow up. That had sadly notified everyone about what he was up to. Now here Thatch was, avoiding everyone trying to block him in to lecture him. Thankfully none of them knew he had the Striker parked below, hidden by the Moby Dick at the side of the ship. He'd never get away otherwise.
"You don't know what half that stuff Ace and Rouge made does yoi," Marco protested. "You have to calm down. You're being too reckless, Thatch."
"Marco is right, Thatch," Haruta said. "We'll get Ace back, but we have to do so together."
"I'm not letting Teach keep him. That traitorous bastard stabbed me in the back and used me as a hostage to get to Ace. If I hadn't been so weak-"
"You were stabbed in the back, Thatch," Pops said, his brow furrowed. "None of this is your fault, but you have to let this go for now. I have a bad feeling. We will get Ace back, but we need to plan his rescue out carefully."
"No offence, Pops, but screw that!" Thatch snapped. "Ace would never let any of us be that bastard's prisoner, and I'm not about to abandon him to that traitorous piece of shit."
"We're not abandoning him yoi!" Marco snarled. "But we can't afford the be reckless here."
"Thatch, what are you doing?" Pops frowned, just as Thatch stepped up on to the Moby's railing.
"None of us are going to take you anywhere." Haruta crossed her arms. "And we'll have Namur pick you out of the water if you try be a dumbass and swim."
Pops paused, then his eyes narrowed. "Thatch. Do not get on the Striker."
"The Striker?" Izo startled. "But nobody can use her apart from Ace."
Thatch's blood boiled. Ace had saved his life. His little brother had saved his life and had given up his freedom to protect Thatch, and he couldn't do anything about it? He wasn't allowed to rescue Ace? No, there was no way he could wait. It would take Pops months to get their islands sorted out and protected, and Teach could have gone anywhere in the world by that point with Ace. Who even knew what that sick bastard wanted from Ace? No, Thatch was going to save his little brother or die trying.
"Sorry, Pops, but I'm gonna have to reject that order," Thatch said. "You can punish me later."
"Thatch-" Marco yelled, but Thatch ignored him and jumped off.
He landed smoothly in the Striker and pressed the flame dial down against the propeller and quickly shot off across the ocean. He ignored the yells and screams from behind him, even if it ached. Thatch wanted to turn back and reassure his siblings, but one of them was missing. Ace had been kidnapped, and it was Thatch's job to rescue him and bring him home.
He would not fail.
He was Ace's big brother. He could not fail him. Not on this. He could not leave him with a monster.
Thatch would not.
.::.
"How the hell did he use the Striker?" Izo gasped.
"He must have used Ace's flame dial or a charm yoi," Marco groaned. "Dammit, I didn't think about that. Ace rarely uses them!"
"He doesn't even know where to go," Haruta said weakly. "None of us do..."
"Not unless he took a piece of Ace's vivre card," Marco cursed.
"Call our family and have them detain Thatch if they see him," Pops ordered. "But if anyone outside of them asks, then Thatch has been sent on a mission with my full permission to hunt down the traitorous Teach."
Marco winced. "You know what will happen if that spreads, Pops."
"I know. I will not abandon Thatch on his mission though. If he can be brought home, then good, but I will have his back if he is in trouble."
"That reckless idiot," Marco hissed, then turned to the others. "Oi, everyone get back to work! We have no time to waste!"
They needed to hurry up and sort out their islands and get them protected. The quicker they did that, the faster they could back Thatch up and rescue Ace and Rouge.
They couldn't afford to waste any time.
.::.
Law marched behind a group of shadowy figures, following on the heels of a tall woman with long flowing blue hair. He could see her back, her hair bouncing behind her in neat waves, while her dress flowed around her. He felt a connection to her, something bright, warm and powerful. His nerves alight with magic.
The guards at the door in front of them swiftly open the doors, letting her past without uttering a word. The woman didn't spare them a glance. Her head was raised up, staring up at the throne towering above them all.
She lowered herself into a curtsey, and Law matched it with a bow. He didn't know why he was bowing, or who he was bowing too. The figure up above seated on the throne was a shadowy figure. Law couldn't make out who it was.
But they felt so important to him, more important than anybody in the world.
Law startled awake with a gasp.
He was lying in bed, a damp cloth on his head, while Bepo slept against his bed, laying mostly on the floor. Penguin was staring right at him from his deck, sipping at some tea.
"Are you with us?" Penguin asked.
"Yeah," Law said, but his throat was thick and dry, so he reached with a shaky hand for the water beside his bed. Penguin walked over and helped him sit up to sip at it, before forcing Law to lie back down again. "How long was I asleep for?" he asked.
"You've been fighting off that fever for eight days now," Penguin said.
Law sighed and flipped his pillow over, groaning in relief at the coolness against his cheek. "I dreamt like Ace-ya did."
Penguin's brow furrowed. "Of that throne room?"
Law nodded sleepily. "Yeah." He yawned. "We're not near Sabaody yet..."
"Obviously something to do with Ace's..." Penguin hesitated. "Kidnapping affected you somehow."
"The blood on the grimoire," Law muttered, grimacing when his head throbbed. "Just thinking about it gives me a headache, but at least I'm not passing out this time."
"Well stop." Penguin scowled.
"Not an easy thing to do," Law said, closing his eyes, because they were feeling heavy and he needed to rest them. "We need to..." He yawned again. "We need to find out more information..."
"The Revolutionary Army is looking into it." Penguin sounded tense. "But right now my main priority is your health, Law."
"I'll be fine..." Law mumbled.
He missed Penguin's look of concern as he dozed back off again.
.::.
"Shit," Penguin cursed.
He stepped out of Law's room and marched off towards navigation. Shachi was there with Uni, the both of them deep in their work.
"Are we still being followed?" Penguin asked sharply.
"Yeah, he's tailing us still." Shachi grimaced.
They had ran into a blonde haired man and his crew two days after Law had passed out from his fever. They were gathering more supplies when Ikkaku had been harassed by some springy bastard who wanted to take her out on a date, at least until he noticed her boil suit with their jolly roger on it. The dots had quickly been connected. That moment he tried to take Ikkaku hostage, but she had escaped, slicing his hands with her seastone dagger.
She retreated immediately with Uni back to the Polar Tang, and they narrowly escaped the springy guy and his crew's wrath.
It didn't take long for them to find out that it was Bellamy, who was under Doflamingo's flag. Now the bastard had been chasing them relentlessly for the past few days. Every time they came up for fresh air the assholes would be there.
It was getting bad. It wouldn't be long before Bellamy led Doflamingo to them, if he hadn't contacted the psychopath already. Law was in such a vulnerable position too right now. They needed help.
They couldn't keep pushing the Polar Tang like this.