Chapter 25
So the day had started out quite peacefully. Rouge had been sunbathing out on deck with Cornelia , not that it had much effect on Rouge. That was the thing, her clothes didn't change, they remained her regular outfit from her pirating days. Minus her hat, it kept flickering in and out of existence, which was bloody weird. Rouge also didn't tan, nor age. She just remained the same way her ghost first appeared as.
Cornelia however was beginning to sport a nice tan. Ace had been trying to sleep beside them. There were shadows under his eyes, and he was finding it even more difficult to concentrate these days. He had hardly slept since they had been in Sabaody. It was becoming a worry. It was certainly making his narcolepsy worse too. Rouge didn't remember having such a hard time crossing the Red Line, but at the same time, she didn't remember much of it now that she thought more on it.
Now their peace had been ruined sadly. It wasn't due to bad weather, or Ace falling overboard and someone having to jump in after him, or just usual Spade antics, but by the Marines.
One of the worst ones.
Monkey D. Garp.
The psychopath who was determined that Ace was going to be a warlord and like it.
"STOP THROWING CANNONBALLS AT MY SHIP, GRAMPS!" Ace screeched.
"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!" Deuce yelled.
"I DON'T KNOW, BUT I HATE IT!" Finamore wailed.
"It's like he's throwing a ball!" Mihar scowled.
"SOMEONE MAKE IT STOP!" Cornelia pleaded.
"I'm trying!" Rouge snapped, booting away another cannon. "Oi! You're going to drown us, Garp! You son of a bitch!"
"WHAT?" Garp yelled over the megaphone. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU, ROUGE!"
"Someone get me a megaphone!" Rouge ordered.
"So you can just yell at him the entire time?" Deuce complained.
"I want one too!" Ace demanded.
Barry reluctantly handed them both over.
"GRAMPS, STOP TRYING TO MURDER US!" Ace yelled.
"I'M NOT! THIS IS JUST AN INCENTIVE! YOU'RE GOING TO ACCEPT BEING A WARLORD! AND YOU'RE GOING TO LIKE IT!" Garp ordered.
"NO HE'S NOT!" Rouge bellowed.
"YOU'RE LETTING HIM MAKE BAD DECISIONS, ROUGE!"
"I DID NOTHING OF A SORT! HE CHOSE HIS OWN PATH!"
"OH RIGHT, LIKE YOU DIDN'T LURE HIM INTO A LIFE OF CRIME!"
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"YOU LEAD HIM DOWN THIS PATH!"
"Why does it feel like your parents are arguing over your future, Ace?" Banshee raised a brow.
Ace shivered. "Because that's what it feels like..." he whined. "Even if Garp is my gramps..."
Rouge scowled. "Fire the cannons back at him!"
"NO!" Deuce bristled. "Don't make the crazy hero angry!"
"He's pissing me off!" Rouge protested.
"I DON'T CARE! HURRY UP AND SAIL OUT OF RANGE!" Deuce yelled.
"Because he's not just going to chase us." Rouge rolled her eyes. "What a genius idea."
"Well we can't fight that!" Deuce snapped, gesturing to Garp, and the bucket load of cannons more marines were dragging up to his side. Deuce went pale, white as a ghost really, as did the rest of the Spades. "Oh..."
"NO!" Ace screeched, waving his arms. "YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!"
"This is why I hate fighting Garp!" Rouge groaned.
Ace's fire wall managed to stop about twenty cannonballs, but there was no way it was going to stop them all. Garp was preparing his launching arm. These were just testers. Rouge cut down several more, her flying sword attacks slicing them apart, but there was easily over five hundred cannons being piled up next to Garp. The fucker. She hated him so much. He was going to drown them then drag them out the ocean and throw them in the brig until Ace accepted being a warlord.
Rouge choked on her breath when she saw the giant cannon Garp had that he next dragged up, ignoring the last cannonballs he had still sitting perfectly next to him. Fuck. He wasn't playing around. Ace went still next to her, and she swore Finamore collapsed somewhere behind them while Deuce choked on his breath, coughing and wheezing.
"HOW THE FUCK IS THAT POSSIBLE?!" Banshee screamed.
"So someone call Sabo after this and tell him I am not going to willingly be a warlord, but gramps caught me," Ace said, his voice grave. "Then call Law and tell him to GIVE ME MY HEART BACK IN JAIL!"
"I will if any of us survive this..." Cornelia said shakily.
"FUCK YOU, GARP!" Rouge bellowed into the megaphone.
"Just had to get the last 'fuck you' in there, huh?" Deuce groaned.
Rouge was about to retort, but she felt a flicker of energy from Ace and glanced back. He was gathering lightning in his hands, the bolt growing larger and thicker. The charge growing stronger. He was going to try break the metal ball from hell then huh? Probably wouldn't work, that would probably just fire hundreds of little pieces at them, but better than doing nothing, Rouge supposed.
They all screamed as the giant metal ball of death was thrown at them. Cornelia and Banshee grabbed each other, sobbing, while Finamore foamed at the mouth. Rouge cursed, but gasped as Ace threw the lightning bolt like a spear into the air. It went sailing, crashing into the great metal ball of death. It burst into pieces, sending pieces of it flying, scattering in all directions. Rouge sent another flying cut at them to take them down, as Ace sent out a few bursts of fire, but it was weaker than his usual. That lightning bolt had taken a lot out of him. At least it took out most of the chucks of debris though.
That didn't stop Garp from leaping into the sky, his fist raised high. He was aiming for their mast. Rouge raised her sword, but saw it was flickering out. Shit, she was becoming a ghost. Ace had used up a lot of magic on that lightning bolt. It had been impressive for a seventeen year old, yes, but now was not the time for Rouge to disappear!
Ace threw out a gust of wind at Garp, shoving Garp off course. He missed the mast and went flying into the ocean instead. Not too far from the Spadille unfortunately, but it was a start.
The others were trying to get the Spadille away to safety, but Garp was relentless, the damned hound. Garp's ship was catching up to them, the bastards. Bogard was leading them now, and worst of all, Garp was climbing aboard. Rouge tried to kick him off, but he caught her foot, and yanked her down. She landed in the sea with a yelp.
"ASSHOLE!" Rouge screamed.
.::.
"And there goes Rouge," Deuce groaned.
Ace, who had of course decided to copy Rouge, was tossed overboard after her with a yelp.
"And there goes Ace!" Deuce sighed.
"And now I'm getting your mast!" Garp yelled, lunging at the poor Spadille.
She didn't deserve this. She was a good girl. She didn't deserve to be wrecked by a lunatic.
Ace went flying by with a yell, the gush of wind nearly throwing Deuce off his feet, tackling Garp mid air. The pair crashed down on to the deck, Garp on top, pinning Ace down face first, twisting his other arm behind his back.
"You can't win, you little brat," Garp growled. "You're becoming a warlord, Ace, and taking a deal with us like Boa Hancock has."
"I refuse!" Ace hissed, writhing beneath Garp.
"You can't keep this up, Ace. You've not been sleeping, have you?" Garp frowned, staring down Ace who stilled.
"That obvious?" Ace scowled.
"You're getting thinner, you've got bags under your eyes, and they are bloodshot," Garp said gravely. "You'll be fine, but it takes a while to shake the dreams off."
"How do you know about the dreams?" Ace rested his head on the deck, eyeing his grandpa.
"We have our sources," Garp said. "Now stop this useless struggle. You're coming with me-"
"Like hell!" Ace bristled.
The Spades had no idea what to do. All of them threw each other terrified looks. This was Garp the Fist, the hero of the Marines. How could they stop him? They had to do something to save Ace, but what? Where the hell was Rouge?
Mihar scowled as he raised his sniper rifle, right at Garp's back. "Get off him!"
Garp grinned. "You brats feeling ready to take me on?"
"HELL NO!" Finamore wailed.
"But we will if you try to take our Captain," Banshee said shakily, gripping her gun tight, aimed right at Garp too.
"I'm not joining the warlords, nor am I getting captured by you!" Ace yelled.
"We'll see about that, you squirt!"
Ace disappeared in a zap of lightning, reappearing behind Garp, but Garp swung round and his fist caught Ace, sending him flying. He crashed through the ship's rails and fell overboard. Wallace threw himself overboard, because this time Ace hadn't caught himself with a gush of wind. His magic was probably far too drained now. Shit, that was why Rouge hadn't came back. She was probably a ghost.
"Oi, bastard!"
Wait, that was Rouge. Deuce looked up, right at the same time as everyone else. Right up on top of the mast Rouge stood there with her hands up in the sky. Water was rising around them, the water forming into spears that slowly became frozen over as ice. Garp grinned and took a stance.
"It's been a while since you've fought with magic like this, Rouge!" Garp grinned wolfishly. "You remember what you're doing?"
"I hope so, otherwise this is gonna suck!" Rouge laughed, and with a throwing motion of her arm, the twelve spears went flying down.
Okay, if Ace hadn't been drained of magic before, he certainly was now. The Spades all yelled and lunged for cover, but Garp didn't. He lunged at them, throwing a punch. The spears collided with his fist and smashed to pieces. Rouge however was right behind them, and her fist and Garp's met. A wave of black and red energy crackled from the force of the hit. Deuce could see some of his crew collapsing, foaming at the mouth, much to his horror.
Shit, Rouge and Garp were using Conqueror's Haki.
.::.
Rouge's haki roared to life. She felt a very familiar presence flying right at them. Garp must have too, because his eyes went wide. They pulled back just in time, and the Spades all screeched as a very familiar man landed on the Spadille, surprisingly gentle on the deck. Damn, Eddy hadn't broke a single plank either. That was kind of him. Rouge breathed out heavily, and her vision was growing blurry. That wasn't right. She should just be fazing out as a ghost. Why was she so tired?
"Guarararara, imagine my surprise when I felt two familiar people colliding in the direction I was heading for," Edward Newgate said, meeting her gaze. "Hello, Rouge. It's been a long time."
Rouge felt overwhelmingly exhausted and every limb was growing heavy, but she managed a weak smile nevertheless. "Hey..."
Eddy's brow furrowed. "We have a lot to talk about."
Rouge couldn't help but stiffen at the words.
"You can have that chat after I take my grandson into custody," Garp said, crackling his knuckles.
Suddenly she saw a flash of a large throne room that made her flinch and stumbled back. She saw both Whitebeard and Garp glance at her, worry in their eyes, and blood. Rouge could see blood dripping on to a grimoire. The Portgas grimoire. Why was there blood on it? And she didn't have the grimoire anymore. It was Ace's now. Rouge shook her head. She could see Eddy and Garp again, she was on the Spadille, then once again in that large main hall, with the throne seated high above them all.
Another flash of an image made her drop to her knees. Sunlight. Sea. Freedom. A man grinning in the sun. Happy and free.
Rouge bit her lip and barely managed to hold back a sob. "What the hell?" she hissed.
Why did she suddenly feel so sad?
"Rouge?" Eddy called to her, his voice soft, worried, then it grew hard and deadly. "What the hell did you do, Garp?"
"Nothing," Garp sighed. "Unfortunately this is what happens to a witch heir who passes by Mariejois for the first time. It's obviously affected Rouge too."
Rouge didn't remember that happening to her. No... Wait, she had been feverish the first time she passed by Mariejois. Shakky had been with her. Shakky had helped her get to Fishman Island the first time. Rouge barely remembered the journey there.
"Fuck..." Rouge hissed. "Ace...?"
"Whitebeard, stay out of this, I'm taking Ace and he'll become a warlord," Garp said, and he sounded like he was miles away.
"You know the World Government won't let him go," Eddy growled lowly, and he to sounded miles away. "You know they'll keep the boy locked up in Marineford at best, if they don't just decide to ship him straight to Mariejois."
"I can make a deal."
"And if you can't?"
"I will."
Rouge's vision darkened and she hit the deck with a painful thud.