Chapter 2

The shadow lady was great. Luffy liked her a lot. She wasn't as cool as Shanks of course (something he and Ace usually ended up arguing about), but she was still awesome in her own way. She always stepped in if things looked too tough for him, Ace and Sabo to deal with. Which was silly, since together they could beat anything. But still, it was nice of her. Luffy however preferred it when she brought food. Because food was always good.

He had met her back when Ace used to try kill him. Luffy didn't miss those times, and was glad his big brother wasn't as angry anymore.

The shadow lady used to lead him back to safety with flower petals scattered on the path. So even if she wasn't around, all he needed to do was follow them. The wild animals in the forest never approached the scattered petals, which always baffled Luffy. Petals weren't dangerous after all.

Ace left flowers out for her often. Sabo had told him not to comment on it, because it would make Ace embarrassed, and then he'd stop doing it. So Luffy did his best to keep quiet. If he did say something though, he'd take Ace's place and try leave flowers out until Ace started to again.

It had happened a couple of times, much to Sabo's disappointment.

Luffy didn't like disappointing Sabo.

However, unlike Sabo, he wasn't scared when the shadow lady became angry. There would be a sudden drop in the air around them. Things would feel heavy, followed by a sharp spike in the sky. Like a thunderstorm was whirling to life.

It was so cool. Luffy liked the storms.

On her happy days it felt like spring. When everything was coming to life, and the sun began to gently warm them back up. The butterflies and bees would always come out on those days, and Luffy loved chasing them.

He was careful not to hurt them though, because the shadow lady would smack his hands when he was about to be too rough.

Angry shadow lady was protective, and happy shadow lady was playful. He liked both of those personalities just fine. It reminded him of Shanks after all.

Only Shanks was cooler.

.::.

"What's a witch?" Luffy asked. "Can you eat it?"

Ace sighed. "Of course he doesn't know."

Ace had finally decided to reveal his other secret to Luffy. He knew about Roger, the bastard, but he didn't know that Ace was a witch. Which of course, Luffy didn't know anything about anyway.

Sabo hushed him. "I'll explain, Luffy. There are two types of witches. One born from nature, and one who has come from a clan. They are known as the Head Witches."

Luffy wrinkled his nose. "Sounds weird. Why aren't they all the same? And what do they even do?"

"We use magic." Ace grinned. "It's really cool."

"Bet it's not as cool as Shanks."

Ace twitched. "Magic is far cooler than Shanks!"

The shadow lady was a witch too, a witch from his family. He still wasn't sure which one, because she couldn't speak, but he hoped it was his mother.

He wanted to say how sorry he was.

Ace startled out of his thoughts when Sabo sighed.

"Guys," Sabo warned. "This is important."

Ace grimaced. "Sorry, Sabo."

"Sorry, Sabo," Luffy apologised sheepishly.

"A witch born from nature has a certain amount of magic. It can never grow, and once that witch dies, their magic returns to the world to be given to a new child," Sabo explained. "But a head witch is different. Their magic is passed down from generation to generation, and thus, has been given time to grow stronger. Each of the clans have their own powerhouse as well. Which is what they are mainly known for."

Ace nodded. "There's supposed to be twelve cleans I think? There's the Clan of Death, Foresight, Elements, which is mine, Shapeshifting, Healing, Love, Joy, Immortality... Knowledge... Empathy?"

Ace scratched his head. He couldn't remember the others.

"Nearly all of them," Sabo said. "You're missing Mind Reading and Illusions."

Ace's chest tightened. He shifted, uncomfortable, but the ache remained.

"Hearing those two hurts..." Ace mumbled.

Sabo startled, but cursed. "Crap, yeah they would."

"Why?" Luffy frowned.

"Because..." Sabo hesitated, throwing him an uncertain look.

"I want to know too," Ace insisted.

Sabo sighed. "Those clans have been documented as being gone. They had no more heirs. I'm sorry, Ace."

Ace flinched. "They just... There was no more heirs?"

His chest continued to ache, but a hand settled on his head, the shadow lady sitting down behind him.

"The Mind Reading Clan disappeared a long time ago," Sabo said softly. "But Illusions was much more recently. I'm sorry-"

"Nothing to be sorry about," Ace whispered, rubbing his forehead which ached. "Continue?"

"Right..." Sabo nodded. "Okay, Luffy, there are a lot of people after the Head Witches-"

"Why?"

"Because they are powerful," Sabo said firmly. "Ace doesn't use a lot of magic yet, but that's because he's too young. Just like you with your Devil Fruit, he needs to learn more about it-"

"At least my magic is useful," Ace muttered, grinning when Luffy hissed at him.

Sabo cut in again. "And if people find out Ace is a Portgas they will come here and try to take him away. We can't let anyone know he's a Head Witch. If they take him away, that's it. We'll never see him again."

"How do you know that?" Luffy frowned.

"It's taught in school," Sabo sighed. "Except neither of you ever went and got a proper education."

"The shadow lady taught me how to read and write!" Ace protested, offended on her behalf.

He swore he heard the shadow lady snort.

"Yes, but she never taught you history," Sabo huffed. "The Head Witches have been around for hundreds of years, document as far back as the Void Century, which I won't delve into because you will both find that boring. The only reason I have Luffy's attention right now is because I said you'd be in danger." Luffy nodded sharply. "Look, every Head Witch who has been discovered has been taken to Mariejois and never been seen again. There have been pirates who were Head Witches, and they had their bounties printed as 'Alive Only' so they would be delivered to the Marines safely. So Luffy, it's extremely important that we don't let Ace being a Portgas slip out. If need be, we have to regard him as a nature witch, instead of a head one."

"But can't we and the shadow lady just beat them up?" Luffy asked.

"It'll be people like Gramps who will come," Ace said softly. "That's what he said at least."

Luffy paled. "And the shadow lady can't protect us? She scares Gramps."

She shook her head.

"That settles that then," Sabo said. "This sticks with us. Garp, the Dadan bandits, and us four know where the Portgas Heir is, and we won't tell anybody."

"Right!" Luffy grinned. "We'll protect your secret, Ace."

"Both of them, just like you can't tell people I'm a nobleman's son," Sabo reminded. "Got it?"

"Shishishishishi, got it!"

.::.

Garp had visited to try train the brats again. He was surprised the noble brat was still about, but thankful that his relationship with Ace remained strong. Especially because he knew about Ace being a Portgas.

If that information was passed around Ace's freedom would be snatched away. Garp wanted to get his grandson securely placed within the Marines before anyone discovered what type of witch he was. That way Sengoku could tell Kong that everything was fine.

Ace could have a secure future outside of Mariejous.

He just had to get this pirate nonsense out of the kids' heads first.

The only problem was Garp had to avoid being smacked by rocks and trees when he tried to train the kids. Or pelted by rain or sometimes even lightning. He would have thought it was Ace trying to use his magic against him, but Ace hadn't learned any of those kind of spells yet.

The book was still mostly blank, despite Ace being ten years old.

Okay, witches did start their magical training at twelve years, but still.

He had handed the book off to Ace at five. It should have been fine.

Garp winced when a rock bounced off his head.

Definitely not Ace. Ace could only make a cup of water float about.

The magic felt familiar, and the old scar on his chest ached. It left Garp dreading the shadow lady he had heard Luffy yammer on about. Who apparently was not as cool as Shanks but still pretty cool.

Dadan insisted that the shadow lady was a Portgas ghost.

And there was one Portgas ghost Garp did not want to encounter.

Hibiscus, Portgas D. Rouge, the lone pirate.

She was the one to give him the bloody scar on his chest. Garp had made the mistake of getting between her and Roger's kids during a fight, and she went feral the moment she heard them scream when a stray bullet nearly got Shanks.

The rookie had misfired, and Garp hadn't been able to stop Rouge from cutting him down. Garp had been cut down trying to protect him. Roger had only watched, hands twitching on his sword, while the other held Shanks protectively.

The problem now was, Garp had never seen this shadow lady before. It was as if she was messing with him by not appearing before him. Which is something Rouge would do.

She would do so happily.

.::.

"Grandpa has been hit by a lot of stuff lately," Luffy said, astonished. "What did he do to upset the shadow lady so much?"

Sabo shuddered. "I have no idea, but I'd hate to be in his shoes right now."

He was being washed away by a sudden appearance of a river. Right in the middle of the forest, where the river didn't flow through. Ace was dozing against a tree, curled up on his side. Sabo knelt down to lift him on to his back.

Ace had been dozing off more and more lately, and Sabo didn't think it was just from the shadow lady using his magic. Something seemed off with how tired he was lately. But Sabo would bring that up with Makino. Dadan would fluster and Garp would try using his 'Fist of Love' to fix the problem.

Little did he know, that was what had caused this latest drowning.

.::.

Garp twitched. The shadow lady dumped him at the bottom of the mountain with a message on the ground. Written in blood of course.

The ghost had to be Rouge. She was the only one sadistic enough to like freaking people out with bloody messages.

'Have Ace see a proper medical professional.'

Garp had no idea what was wrong with just smacking the problem out of Ace, but apparently the ghost disagreed.

"Fine," Garp sighed. "Just stop throwing me down the mountain."

'No promises.'

Garp shuddered. One thing to have the message waiting for him, but for it to be carved out in blood right before his eyes was just nasty.

"And why do you never show yourself to me, dammit?" Garp complained, readying himself for the trek back down the mountains.

He swore he heard a cackle.

It had to be Hibiscus Rouge. If it wasn't, then Garp would be even more terrified, because that personality had to be a Portgas trait.

He didn't want Ace to be an insanely violent thief. He wanted him to be a Marine.