this is kind of like a beta one shot to see if I should write and publish the fanfic from the idea... Well... more like publish it, because one way or another I'll be writing it.
so it depends on you readers if it ever reaches the sun's light.
So yes... THIS WILL END IN A CLIFFHANGER... probably.
Ace had just docked at his first island after beginning his pirate adventure, he was pretty excited about it, and it was visibly shown on his wide smile while looking at everything the island had to offer.
He explored the village for a bit, searching for a place where he could eat (dine and dash), before restocking on some suplies and continuing his pirate journey. Hopefully he would also find his first crew member on his stay.
"Did you know that the little demon was spotted again?" - Ace heard one of the villagers say. It took his interest so he reclined himself on a nearby wall, tipped his hat down and feigned to fall asleep while he eavesdroped on them.
"Yeah, can't believe that he's still here after all our attempts of getting rid of it" - said another villager that Ace decided to call 'random2' or 'R2' simplified.
"wonder how he evaded even our most skilled hunters" - R1
"Maybe he didn't, but that weird sand of his protected him" - R2
"By the way, some people that went inside the forest in search of medical herbs, say that they found a giant nest in one of the taller trees. The hunter from their group said that it couldn't belong to any of the local especies, besides from the fact that it was made around six months ago" - R2
"Do you think the demon could live in there?" - R1
"Doubt it, hunter said there weren't any traces of something constantly climbing the tree, and neither a ladder or something to latch on to get up there, when the people asked him" -R2
"So the only way it could be his home, would be if the kid could jump from branch to branch, which is impossible as there is at least 10 meters or more between each one and he looked no older than seven years old when he was first spotted" - R1
"He seemed so innocent at first, can't believe that he was fooling us" - R1
"Me too, he looked so cute with his red hair and turquoise panda or raccoon like eyes, even the weird simbol on his forehead added to his cuteness" - R2
"Unfortunately we couldn't get rid of him when we had the opportunity, could have avoided too many stolen resources" - R1
Ace decided to stop eavesdropping right there, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. They were talking about a child as if he was the worst thing that the world could offer, and they even wanted to murder him.
He couldn't let anymore of this injustice to keep going, he wanted to help the kid, but he needed to find him first, and apparently it was going to be quite hard.
Before he could start his search, he caught sight of a little kid that too was hearing the villagers conversation, but what got his attention was the sad and resigned expression he had. It didn't last long, as the kid felt his gaze on him and turned to look at him in the eyes.
His breath got caught in his throat when their gazes meet. Ace could see so many emotions passing through the kids eyes like sadness, longing, loneliness, anger, but the ones that surprised him the most were understanding, surprise and melancholy, the last two were directed towards him, making him wonder why and wanting to go and ask the child himself.
Before he could go and ask him though, the kid turned away and sprinted into the forest. Ace took a second to register what happened, before he too sprinted after the kid, he followed him through some swamps, a wolf, serpent and gorilla's nests, between some really sharp and slippery rocks, and Ace was surprised at how agile was the kid.
Ace couldn't even do half the athletic tricks that the kid was pulling at the apparent age the child has, which is pretty young, like around 7 to 8 years old, and to add a cherry to the top, the kid was pretty damn noiseless during the whole race. If it wasn't for the fact that Ace was fast enough and that he literally grew up living in the jungle, he would have lost sight of the kid long ago.
Unfortunately, even with his experience with moving around a forest, which was like a second nature to him at this point, he lost sight of the kid after he jumped behind a tree. He turned to look out in the four cardinal directions, but he was nowhere to be found.
Ace then decided to look around for any clue about where he could have went, and maybe to find the nest that the villagers talked about, he had a weird feeling about it that he just couldn't explain.
It didn't took him too long, that weird construct that resembled a nest, was just a hundred meters to the south away from the place where he lost sight of the kid.
He decided to climb the tree and take a better look at it. He balanced from branch to branch to get to the nest, and the villagers were not kidding when they said that each branch was pretty far away from the other, but it wasn't completely impossible to get up.
Now in front of the nest, he could see that it was man made. The main clue being that it had a door, but there were other small clues, like the carefully put mud to keep it glued, the palm leaves hidden under the mud that covered the up half to prevent rain water from leaking inside, and the twigs were braided together, making it rougher and more durable. But most of all, it was obvious that it was only temporary.
Ace was about to open it and see what and or if someone was inside, but a cloud of sand passed threatening in front of him and formed a protective wall around the building. He stared at it in amazement for a while, but then he looked around trying to find the source of it. He found it in the form of a small eye floating a few meters behind him, he stared blankly at it, not quite processing what he was seeing before a quiet "Uhh" left him.
When he finally got aware of it, he screamed and jumped high in the air, so startled of the floating eye, barely missing the little red head smirking down at him from a branch above the nest. He feels like he needs to clarify that the only reason he noticed him, was because the kid was standing upside down from it.
He quickly caught himself on another branch, he glared at the red head from there, before noticing that it was a kid, a kid with red hair, panda like eyes and a strange mark on his forehead, and apparently had a sand devil fruit. He just found the child that he was looking for.
His scowl transformed to a grin as soon as he realized it. Looking directly at the red head, he saw the exact moment when his expression turned suspicious and cautious.
"Hey, I've been looking for you-" - Ace started telling the kid, before being interrupted by getting captured and encased in a cocoon of sand, the only thing not covered in sand was everything above his neck.
"Give me a really good reason as to for why I shouldn't kill you right here and now" - The kid asked him, looking utterly terrifying.
No seven years old kid should have the right to appear so scary, but the kid was proving that he could be cute from one moment and in the next one a complete beast if the right buttons were pushed. The sand encasing him was tightening around him, meaning that the kid wanted an answer soon, and that he was definitely not kidding when he mentioned killing him.
Since Ace didn't wanted to break his promise to Luffy, he decided to be as straight forward as he could be.
"Join my crew" - Ace told him, a really bright smile forming on his face as soon as he finished saying his request.
The kid got so surprised by Ace's statement that his hold on Ace slipped a little, unfortunately it wasn't enough for Ace to break free from his binds.
"Why?... besides you had yet to tell me your name, why should I believe you?" - The kid asked him, there was genuine curiosity on his tone, but his eyes were still guarded. Thankfully he didn't tightened the sand again, something that Ace was grateful for.
"Well, I believe that the way that the islanders are treating you isn't right, you're still a kid, and as such you should be treated like one" - Ace told him, to which he had the privilege of seing the surprised face of the kid.
"So you aren't some hunter that the villagers contracted to come and kill me?" - Said the kid, instantly getting an horrified expression from Ace.
"Wouldn't be the first time, but you would be the first to come with such an original aproach. Most of them never found my tree house, and the few that did were killed as soon as they opened the door" - The kid said with a poker expression, almost looking unbothered, but Ace wasn't fooled, he could see the haunted emotions behind his eyes, and the raw loneliness they silently screamed.
Ace's expression softened, even if he was terrified by the kid's statements, he didn't wanted him to get the wrong idea. He let just a tiny bit of vulnerability show this time, he wanted to convince him of his good intentions.
"If my heritage was discovered, I would be hunted by the entire world, so we're not so different" - Ace said, going completely out of character for him, since that is a really sensitive topic for him.
"So you're the son of the so called Pirate king" - The kid said, taking Ace by surprise since he didn't expect the kid to be so intuitive, so now Ace was the one being cautious.
"Why do you think it's that?" - Ace asked him.
"First, your reaction to my statement just gave you away, second, I can see the resemblance from the picture I saw in the newspaper from a few days ago. Third, that was the only option left, because the other pirates that you could be related to are still alive and could very easily go to war with the world goverment to save you." - The kid said so straightforwardly, leaving Ace speechless.
"Now, you don't have to worry about someone else discovering your secret as easily as I did, I'm a Shinobi, so I was kind of trained to look underneath the underneath, besides from the fact that I couldn't care less about whose son you are" - The kid said so casually, breaking Ace out of his trance.
"Join my crew" - Ace repeated again, but now there was even more determination behind his request, besides from gratefulness and an unknown emotion he couldn't quite identify yet.
"You haven't told me your name yet" - The kid told him with a deadpan expression while releasing Ace from the cocoon of sand, which Ace took as confirmation.
Ace rubbed an arm behind his back and a sheepish expression appeared on his face.
"Sorry, sorry. My name is Portgas D Ace, and yours?" - Ace finally introduced himself to the kid.
"I'm Gaara" - The kid now known as Gaara told him, then he jumped down from the branch and landed perfectly besides Ace.
"You know... you remind me of a friend, and of myself" - Gaara suddenly said, getting Ace to stare at him in surprise.
"What do you mean by that?" - Ace asked.
"Hated by something we couldn't control, for example, you didn't choose your father" - Gaara answered.
Ace just stared at him, a feeling of protectiveness towards the kid rising inside of him. The feeling was similar, but at the same time so different from the one he got with Luffy, so he didn't mind it too much, deciding to deal later with it.
"What do you say about getting out of this Island?" - Ace asked him with a cheeky grin.
Gaara didn't said anything, but his actions spoke for himself. He went inside the treehouse for a minute, before coming back with a small scroll in one of his hands. Then he jumped down from the tree, scaring the living hell out of Ace, before looking up expectantly at Ace, waiting for him to get down himself.
When Ace got out of his shock, he yelled a - "What The Hell?" - before going down after the kid, he would reprimand him for his reckless actions as soon as they were on the safety of his boat.
When they were about to enter the town, he turned to look at Gaara, he was worried because the people will recognize him as soon as walks in. But apparently he didn't had to worry, because he saw the kid make a hand sign, before a cloud of smoke covered him for a few seconds, and then in front of him was the same kid that he chased into the forest.
Gaara now looked like a black spiky haired kid, with cerulean blue eyes, the mark in his forehead was gone, including the marks around his eyes that gave him a panda like look. If Ace didn't just literally see him transform right in front of his eyes, he would have never thought that he was the same kid he invited to his crew.
"What... how?" - Ace asked him in bewilderment.
"I'm a Shinobi" - Gaara said as if that explained everything, which to him it did, but not for Ace who was new to the term.
Ace decided to question him about it later, for now they needed to gather supplies and then go to his boat to finally get out of the fucking island. He didn't wanted to stay more than necesary, not after learning of how they treated an innocent child just because he had especial abilities.
They went in and out really smoothly, apparently Gaara had already been planning to get out of the island by himself, since he had a little boat docked in a secluded port that was just on the outskirts of the village. The boat had a cabin of two small rooms, one was the kitchen, and the other the sleeping quarters.
Ace was surprised by it, since it was halfway packed and only needed a couple of things left before he had everything for sailing away. But it didn't hide the fact that Gaara would have been sailing alone had he not arrived at this Island.
"Well kid, I have to admit that you thought of everything, I suppose that the supplies missing were going to be bought when you finally decided to set sail" - Ace said with a wistful tone while looking around the boat.
"Tomorrow actually" - Gaara muttered quietly. Ace barely was able to hear it, and he tried really damn hard to not react to it.
They packed the rest of the supplies, then they raised the sail and off they went into the sea. All kinds of adventures waiting for them on the horizon.
"It's not done like that, you have to tie it around that post" - Ace was trying to explain to Gaara, but it seemed like he couldn't get it right even if to save his own life.
"Like this?" - Gaara asked while looking expectantly at him, to which Ace found really adorable.
"Close, but now you got the knot wrong, try it like this" - Ace told Gaara, while making a demonstration and then waiting for the kid to repeat it.
"And now?" - Gaara asked again, but unfortunately it was still wrong, getting an amused chuckle from Ace before he went to show him again.
Gaara and Ace were trying to fish their meal, when suddenly Gaara's rod caught something, and Ace barely had enough time to react before Gaara was janked forwards and into the sea. Ace just missed grabbing him by a finger, he turned to look down at the sea, only to find Gaara standing on the water.
Ace just stared dumbfounded, meanwhile, Gaara was holding the fishing rod and struggling to catch the fish. With a final tug, a giant fish flew out of the water and into their little boat just besides where Ace was standing, getting him to finally snap out of his shock.
"What the hell?" - Ace shouted.
Gaara just calmly jumped back into the boat as if nothing had happened.
"So you can walk on water" - Ace stated, but it was almost a question.
"Yes" - Gaara said with his typical poker expression.
"How?" - Ace asked.
"I'm a Shinobi or a ninja, whichever of the two you understand" - Gaara answered.
Ace couldn't say anything about that, since it explained a LOT of things, instead he just shrugged it off and then they went back to fishing.
Ace and Gaara could be found trapped in a deserted island with no food to be found, almost no potable water, and to add a cherry to the top, a complete stranger that too stranded on the same island as them, who happens to have no boat.
Theirs was quite dammaged, and until they could find supplies to repair it, they had no way out of the island.
They were trapped in there for about a month, the few food that they had, was gone by the first two weeks, and there was barely any fish to catch.
Ace and the stranger, who by this point introduced himself as Deuce, tried to give Gaara most of the food, as he was still a growing kid, but never succeeding. Their tries were always fooled, by Gaara trapping himself in a sand dome every time it was time to eat, leaving them with no option then to eat themselves the food, less they let it go bad and no longer being safe to eat without catching a sickness.
Slowly loosing hope of getting out of the island before starving to death, Ace told Deuce his greatest secret, and surprisingly Deuce didn't minded it, and continued treating him as usual. No one saw little Gaara hidden in the shadows, smiling at the scene of to be best friends in the making.
In the last week, Deuce and Ace found a strange fruit, it was shaped like a flame and had weird swirling patterns all around it. They went back to their camp, where Gaara was already in the sand dome, he somehow always knew what they were about to do.
So they decided to cut the fruit in half, and eat it at the same time. Both recoiled at the taste, but then Ace suddenly burst into flames, and there and then he realized with horror that he had eaten a devil fruit.
Fortunately, the event gave them the perfect idea to finally get off the island.
They modified the boat to have a sort of mechanism that worked with fire, and it propelled the boat without sail, as it had been broken irreparably and thus the reason they couldn't get out of the island.
They recruited more crew members, eventually gaining fame, and reputation. Got a bigger boat, and even got a linx as a crew member.
They now were called *The spades pirates, and they're know for going around the sea with a kid. No one has ever saw the kid while on seas, but on every island they have ever docked so far, there were rumors of a kid hanging out with the pirates. If it wasn't for a gourd filled with sand, they wouldn't know that it was the same kid every single time, since sometimes it was a black haired kid with cerulean eyes or an exact copy, but blond, then there was a kid with black hair styled as a duck's but with onyx eyes, and the list goes on and on.
That was the one of the reasons as to for why Gaara doesn't have a wanted poster, the other is that the crew is overprotective of him, and would kill anyone who knew his real appearance.
"Have any of you noticed that little Gaara doesn't sleep?" - Said one crew member.
"Now that you mention it, he's always awake when it's my turn on the night shift" - Another crew member said.
Almost everyone present made sounds of agreement to the last statement, and when they noticed that the others were agreeing too, their eyes widened to comically proportions.
Ace went inside the room just in time to be a witness to that scene, gaining a questioning look on his face, and turning to the nearest crewmember for answers.
"We discovered that Gaara doesn't sleep" - answered Banshee, since she was the unfortunate one to be the closest to the door.
"What?" -Ace said almost yelling, then he turned to look at the others for confirmation, receiving nods from all of them.
"He's always awake when it's our turn for the night shift" - Said skull.
Ace looked shocked at the revelation, just now noticing it himself. It made even more sense now why he would find Gaara wide awake besides his bed when he suddenly wakes up in the middle of the night.
It was worrying though, Gaara was still a growing child and needed to sleep, so he went to confront him about that. He found him sitting on the figure head, looking at the vast ocean surrounding their ship.
"Gaara, you do sleep, right?" - Ace asked him, hoping against all odds that he did.
"No, I don't, why?" - Gaara answered, tilting his head to the side and curious eyes looking at him.
Ace almost forgot his self imposed mission by the cute gesture Gaara made, but he quickly snapped out as soon as his mind registered Gaara's answer.
He said No
"You don't sleep?" - Ace asked him in an unbelievable tone, eyes frantic searching desperately for it to be a lie.
"No, I can't sleep since I can remember, but I do remember the reason as to for why" - Gaara told him, looking down as if ashamed of it, but he was actually a tinsy little bit scared of Ace's reaction. He blamed his child hormones for it.
Ace seeing that he was scaring the kid, took a deep breath to calm his nerves, softened his expression to a reassuring one and gave Gaara head head pats for extra effect.
"I'm sorry if I scared you, it's just that it isn't normal to not sleep, so I'm worried. You're still a growing kid, and usually kids your age sleep to regain energy. But I suppose that you are a special case" - Ace said while rubbing an arm behind his back.
"If you had a demon sealed inside you since even before you were born, and said demon happens to be a bloodthirsty sadistic one that can only get free when you fall asleep, would you sleep or stay awake your whole life?" - Gaara suddenly blurted out, looking at the floor and playing with a small ball of sand, getting Ace to widen his eyes to comical proportions.
Ace noticed that Gaara was nervous, if not a little fearful of his reaction to his statement, but he couldn't care less about it, it was like he was the jar containing the salt, so nothing would change between them.
"Well, I'm sure that I would be grumpy as hell, being insomniac doesn't sound like it's fun" - Ace replied with a playful tone, getting Gaara to look up at him in surprise, admiration shining through his eyes plus an emotion he couldn't identify.
There was a staring contest going between two individuals. Then by pure coincidence, both of them blinked at the same time, unleashing a series of attacks of laughter from their audience. The older of the two looked at the laughing people in indignation while releasing a whine, while the younger just stared at them with a poker unamused face.
"You sure he isn't your son, captain?" - Asked the first mate of the akagami pirates.
"No" - once again both reacted at the same time, electing another fit of laughter and chuckles from Akagami's crew.
"Gaara can't be, he would have been conceived around the time we spent with Luffy on the east blue, if he was" - Shanks said while looking indignant.
"He was found in the east blue, wasn't he?" - said Yasoop from affar.
"My sperm donor's name was Rasa, he tried to kill me multiple times indirectly by ordering high ranking shinobis to assassinate me" - Gaara said with a poker face.
Everything turned silent by Gaara's answer, he said it so casually as if that was an everyday occurrence, and that was worrying. Besides he didn't called the man like father or dad, but as sperm donor, which means that its probably more deep that they think.
Just then Ace barged in looking annoyed, he walked to stand right behind Gaara, he layed his hands on Gaara's shoulders before turning to the Yonko's crew and looking scornfully at them.
"Who's bothering my child" - Ace asked while looking disappointed at them.
"Not only him, they think he's my son, thats impossible, but they just doesn't seem to believe me" - Shanks chipped in, with an overly whining tone.
Gaara decided to intervene right there.
"I told them about my sperm donor" - He said it so casually like it wasn't important what he said just a few moments ago.
Ace gained a dark look, he turned to the nearest person asides from Gaara, who just so happened to be poor Yasoop, before asking.
"And what exactly did he say about him?" - He asked with a smile that seemed far too innocent to be true.
Yasoop gulped, suddenly fearing for his life, but he had to answer, he didn't wanted to know what Ace would do if he didn't.
"He said that he tried to kill him multiple times" - was what Yasoop answered, taking multiple steps back till he was behind his captain.
"Oh, did he really did so?" - Ace asked, this time his question directed to Gaara.
"He did, but failed every single time thanks to my armor" - Gaara answered, trying to lower Ace's overprotectiveness.
"Where the hell is that fucking asshole so that I can burn him alive" - Ace yelled, his temper flaring and his devil fruit reacting to it. Flames flaring to life on his shouders and head, getting his hair to rise in the air in a really menancing way.
Before it could escalate any further, Gaara dropped a huge amount of sand on him, extinguishing the flames, and leaving Ace full of sand from head to toes.
"He's dead, a pedophile snake killed him, and before you overreact again, the snake was aiming for Sasuke, not me. You don't have to know who Sasuke is though" - Gaara quickly explained, finally getting Ace to calm down.
"Damnit, I wanted to kill him myself" - Ace said under his breath, Gaara was the only one able to hear it, before his mood did an 180 turn and he turned his attention to the pirates smiling and speaking with a enthusiastic tone - "Well who wanna share a drink to forget what just happened, and to celebrate that the asshole is dead"
Multiple cheers were heard after that, glad to finally change the topic, and not wanting to anger him further. Besides, which real pirate would refuse free booze.
"I have wondered since some time ago why does the tattoo on your arm with your name has an S crossed out" - Gaara asked Ace when he made sure that they were alone.
"Well, let's make a deal, I tell you about my tattoo, if you tell me about yours" - Ace said while signaling to his forehead, making known about which one he was referring to.
"Ok, but you go first" - Gaara accepted.
"It's a memento to my deceased brother, his name was Sabo" - Ace said, before signaling to Gaara to tell him about his.
"Mine is the kanji for love in the country from where I come from, but the moment I got it, it was the beginning of the darkest phase of my life" - Gaara said, eyes darkening by the memories of that time.
Ace didn't asked for Gaara to relate, hating the dark expression that took over him, instead he changed the topic.
"Wanna know about my brother?" - Ace asked him, trying to lift the mood.
Even better, want to describe him to me so that I can try to henge into him?" - Gaara proposed.
That was something that Ace couldn't decline, it was going to be a fun game, and he could see how his brother looked like in person rather than just by his memories if the guessing game succeeded.
As soon as Ace mentioned that Sabo was blond with blue eyes, Gaara transformed in a blond with spiky hair, cerulean blue eyes and wiskered cheeks, wearing something that was colored in neon orange. Smiling mischievously at him, the smile resembling one of a fox, Ace just raised one of his eyebrows before Gaara introduced himself as *Naruto* and their game began.
Ace noticed almost immediately the mood shift Gaara had as soon as they went inside wano. He isn't sure what caused it, but maybe the vast desert surrounding them all may be a good indicator.
Gaara looked more at ease, almost like he was at home in there, which for some reason he doesn't doubt it, but at the same time his eyes are longingly searching for something that he already knows isn't here, which has Ace a little (way too much) worried for him.
He knows that Gaara will tell him about his past when he's ready, but he can't help but be curious about it. Since the moment he meet him, Gaara's eyes held wisdom beyond what a child his age should have, and the way he carried himself was as if he was an adult that had seen the worst the world could offer.
He didn't act like a child, but there were some small moments when he did, and they were pretty far from each other. The meeting with Shanks is a perfect example of that, since Shanks acted more like a child than Gaara who was the actual kid.
"I wonder how are Kankuro and Temari doing" - Ace barely heard the mutter from besides him, breaking him out of his thoughts. He discreetly turned an eye at Gaara, trying to see his expression.
"Is the village doing well without me?" - Gaara continued saying, not aware that someone was eavesdropping on him, and if he was, he just didn't care.
"Has Naruto already accomplished his dream?" - Gaara said with a contemplating look.
"Who is the kazekage now that I'm no longer there?" - Ace stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he heard it, it looks like its a serious matter, judging by the change on expression from contemplative to worried.
He decided to ask him about it at a later date, preferably when they got out of Wano and were in the confinements of their room inside their ship.
"Ace, I told you it was a bad idea, but you dragged us into this anyway" - Said Deuce while backing away from the group of pirates in front of them, who just so happens to be a yonko's crew, the one considered the strongest man alive.
"Captain's orders, go back to the ship and sail as far away from here. This is something that I have to do alone" - Ace seriously said while looking ahead to the enemy crew with a murderous expression.
There were protest from the crew, but Gaara was the only one able to hear the unspoken words "to prove my existence" and he didn't like the implications of that.
So he stood besides his da-captain, not moving an inch and even going as far as to grab him from his shorts and not letting go. He wouldn't let someone else fall into the same dark place as he once did.
"Go away Gaara, I don't want you to get hurt" - Ace tried to order him, but he wouldn't budge.
Gaara didn't pay any attention to the surprised expressions from the enemy crew, since he was disguised as Sasuke right now, his ninja paranoia wouldn't let him show his true appearance while in enemy sight or territory. Intead he was entirely focused on Ace, trying to tell him without words that he knows what he is trying to do, trying to prove.
"Gaara plea-" - Ace tried to plead before he got interrupted by the harsh look Gaara sent him.
"If this is about you know who, then I don't care and you can't make me go away, so we'll do this together" - Gaara said, and right after he sent a murderous look at the enemy, making some of them to flinch.
Then Gaara released his killing intent, getting the weaker ones to froth at the mouth and pass out, while others froze in fear.
Ace let out a resigned sigh - "Well, then don't get in my way, Whitebeard is mine" - he said before making a wall of fire that kept their other crew members from interfering, and then charging ahead.
"Wouldn't dream of it... Dad" - Gaara said, he thought really hard about saying the last word, but then decided to go for it as his new life style said, no regrets.
Ace almost tripped when he heard what Gaara called him, but that only gave him more determination and energy to win, he had an adopted son that he needed to raise and don't disappoint.