Chapter 19
Law tapped his foot off the ground as he stared down Ace and his fellow Spade pirates who all sat on their knees, whining. This was the first time he had seen Ace since Law had set sail on the Polar Tang with Bepo, Penguin and Shachi, and of course Ace would do something stupid the moment they reunite.
The idiots had tried to paint his Polar Tang pink.
Law hated pink. Bloody Doflamingo. That was his fault.
Law had settled the situation by stealing Ace's heart. That had made the Spades panic and clean the Polar Tang, by hand too, because Law was petty like that.
"So have we learned our lesson?" Law asked lazily, tossing Ace's heart into the air. He made sure to catch it each time, and gently. The raw terror in Ace's eyes was satisfying to see.
"Yes, sorry, Law, it was a dumb prank!" Ace cried.
"How did you even find me?" Law frowned. "Last I heard you were already sailing off into the Grandline, which is insane by the way. Why are you in such a rush?"
"Sabo told me." Ace grinned.
Law sighed. "Of course he did. Remind me to thank Sabo for that later."
Ikkaku snorted. "It's still terrifying how you know the Revolutionaries, Law."
Law smirked then grabbed Ace's arm, yanking him to his feet. "C'mon, we're going for a walk. I want to catch up."
"That would be great. I haven't heard much from you lately," Ace admitted as they headed off, ignoring the Spade's and Heart's protests. "I was wondering why you lot were so quiet after that garden you destroyed."
"Bloody Hawkins," Law growled. "He was about to reveal my full name to everyone trying to predict my future without even asking for my permission. The lousy asshole."
Rouge appeared next to them the moment they turned the corner of the street out of their crew's eyes.
"So do your crew know about Rouge-ya?" Law asked.
"They think I'm a ghost that haunts their ship," Rouge chuckled. "Masked Deuce knows about Ace's witch status, and we think Mihar and Skull have figured it out too, but the rest have no clue."
"What about your crew, Law?" Ace asked.
"Only a few knew at first, but after Hawkin's royally fucked up now everyone knows." Law crossed his arms. "I made him shit himself for two weeks with a curse after that." Law eyed Ace, and Ace blinked, tilting his head. "And what do they know about your sperm donor, Ace?"
Ace grimaced. "Only Deuce knows."
"And how did he take it?"
"Badly at first-"
"Then Deuce realised he was being a dumb shit, grew some braincells, and made a remarkable recovery, all without me having to beat some sense into him," Rouge said, grinning. "It was amazing."
"Good. It sounds like you found a decent first mate then." Law nodded. "If any of your crew causes any hassle regarding the matter, if they ever find out, let me or Sabo know. We'll destroy them."
Ace laughed. "Sabo said the same thing y'know."
"Then you know we're both serious on the matter," Law said.
"I'm more worried about you at the moment, Law," Rouge said. "How have you been doing now that everyone knows who you are?"
Law grimaced. "It's annoying, but thankfully I have a rather protective crew watching my back out there. We keep each other safe enough."
"And Doflamingo?" Rouge tilted her head.
"So far hasn't found me." Law frowned. "I won't lie and say he hasn't tried. I've had kidnappers under his guidance try to get to me several times, but we've killed them. So far he hasn't tried to come back here for me himself, and hopefully I'll be lucky enough for it to stay that way."
"Maybe he's worried that he'd end up in a fight against Kuzan and that Rosinante fellow again," Rouge mused. "They are still after you, right?"
Law sighed. "Yep."
"Remind me not to run into Hawkins," Ace mumbled.
"Don't worry, you won't, because the next time I see him he'll be getting gutted for putting me through all of this," Law bristled.
"At least you don't seem to get attacked everywhere you go," Ace said, glancing around the quiet streets.
"I have quite the nasty reputation for a reason, Ace." Law crossed his arms.
"Yeah, speaking of which, can I get my heart back now?" Ace asked hesitantly.
"Nope. I'm keeping it."
"Eh?" Ace cried. "Why?"
"I like freaking you and your crew out, and it also means I can monitor your health," Law said, eyeing him. "If you get in over your head and do something stupid and reckless, I'll know."
Ace groaned. "You're gonna nag me?"
"I'm going to nag you." Law smirked.
"I thought you'd be more fun after setting sail!" Ace complained.
"Pfft, I'm a doctor," Law scoffed. "And out of all of us, who do you think is the responsible one? Luffy?"
Ace winced. "I wouldn't even joke about that."
"Exactly."
Ace smiled. "I missed you, Law." Ace leaned closer to him, his smile widening. "You missed me too, right?"
Law glowered. "I'll dump you in the ocean."
"You missed me," Ace sang teasingly. "My best friend missed me."
Law rolled his eyes.
"I can't wait until you get to the Grandline. We can finally start up our alliance properly. This long distance stuff is kind of a nuisance."
"Since when were we in a alliance?" Law raised his brow.
"Since always." Ace grinned.
Law sighed. "I'm scared of the day Luffy sets sail."
Ace cackled. "You'll never escape us!"
"Bepo should have let Luffy drown. It would have saved me a lot of headaches..." Law grumbled.
"Then Doflamingo would have captured you years ago." Rouge grinned wolfishly. "I wouldn't have been there to fight him off."
"No, but Ice-ya would have been," Law pointed out. "I would have just needed him to distract Doflamingo and make my escape."
"I suppose it would have depended on how long Doflamingo decided to stick around at your house for," Rouge mused. "Kuzan might have just caught up in time to make him back off."
"You got stuck with us either way." Ace smiled. "Eh, brother?"
Law rolled his eyes. "I hope the rest of our witch 'siblings' will be sane."
"Nico already broke my back back in Flevance, so maybe not..." Rouge muttered.
Law raised a brow. "I don't recall you saying that before."
"It was kinda my fault?" Rouge grimaced. "I was threatening her?"
"Why did that sound like a question? Either you did threaten her, or not." Law scowled.
"Okay I threatened her," Rouge admitted.
Law shook his head. "Of course you did. It's not exactly the best practise to threaten our fellow witch heirs, Rouge-ya."
"Well she isn't an heir, she is the Nico witch head-" Rouge corrected. "I think? She's in her thirties now right?"
Ace shrugged. That was apparently when he and Law would become the heads of their clans, despite being the last ones left, they still apparently weren't heads? It was all so confusing to be honest, but apparently a witch needed to be in their prime before they could claim the head position, and a witch reached their prime in their thirties.
"Either way we shouldn't be threatening our siblings without causing clan wars," Law scolded. "And that is the last thing we need when we're trying to hide from the world, or at least you lot are now. Nico Robin and I are known witches."
"Uh..." Rouge paused mid step, eyes going wide. "About that..."
Law and Ace followed her gaze to the newspapers that fell from the skies. Law caught a glimpse of Ace's face on the papers and snatched one out of the sky. Ace did the same, and the pair scanned the newspaper, Law's heart hammering. No, not again, this had happened when Law had been found out. Now Ace had too? What was going on? Ace's first bounty had him listed as just 'Ace', and no more, but he had been wanted alive only. That was probably something to do with Monkey D Garp, he had probably told Sengoku, but why announce his full name now?
PORTGAS D. ACE – LAST HEIR TO THE PORTGAS WITCH CLAN
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Ace wailed.
"What did you do?!" Law hissed.
"NOTHING TO WARRANT THIS!"
Rouge squirmed out of the corner of his eye. Law turned to her and scowled.
"Okay, what did you do?" Law asked instead.
"This is gonna be awkward..."
Ace tapped his foot. "Answer the question."
"Sooooooo... A few islands ago you fell asleep, and Deuce said he'd keep an eye on you while you slept, well the others and I had a few drinks..." Rouge didn't look either of them in the eyes. "And they decided to dress up as you, with various results, and we caused a bit of havoc?"
Law stared blankly at her. "The Spades dressed up as Ace and caused havoc?"
"Yes, lots of havoc and mayhem," Rouge said. "A lot of things and people got broken. Mentally, mostly, there was that one unfortunate soul who pissed off Banshee, and since she was dressed as you..." Rouge shook her head. "Yeah it was weird in hindsight."
"And all of you failed to mention this to me?" Ace scowled.
"All of us failed to mention this to you..." Rouge nodded.
"So as punishment Gramps and Sengoku released my full name to the newspapers?" Ace sighed.
"It seems like it..."
"What exactly did you lot do?" Law frowned.
"Robbed the clothing store, the hairdressers, got a lot of wigs, fake tattoos, harassed a bunch of people, blew up the Mayor's house-"
"That was probably what did it," Law sighed.
"Yeah, that was probably what got Ace's full name released..." Rouge trailed off. "Forced people to dance on the streets... Made a cult cry..."
"A cult?" Ace blinked.
"And since they were all dressed up as you... And spread out throughout the entire city... Nobody knows what actual crimes you committed..."
Law had never seen Rouge so awkward before, and yes, normally he'd find it amusing, but right now it was a pain in the ass considering what it led to.
"So this is my punishment for all of them?" Ace shook his new wanted poster, with the big giant 'PORTGAS D. ACE – ALIVE ONLY' printed on it. "EVERYONE KNOWS MY FULL NAME, MUM!"
"I'M SORRY!"
"SORRY DOESN'T REALLY CUT IT!"
"WELL IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME, ACE. THEY KNEW MY NAME LIKE A WEEK INTO WHEN I FIRST SET SAIL!"
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU TOLD PEOPLE!"
Law had never seen them argue before like this, and he had to admit, it was weird. Way too weird.