Hello everyone, here is the next chapter!

I hope you're enjoying this story so far!

This has more backstory and such!

Hope you enjoy

Read and relax

Whitebeard was out by a park, going to meet Ace and his brothers here, as they were heading to a cafe close by. With him were Marco, Thatch, Rakuyo, Curiel, Haruta, and Izou. As they looked around, they soon saw the three brothers running around, so they headed over. When they were close, Luffy noticed them and looked over. "We're playing tag! Do you want to join! Ace promised to play on our level!" Whitebeard blinked. "Our level? Is Ace good at tag?" Luffy nodded. "Yes! He was in the championship last year! He will also play this year!" Whitebeard blinked. Was there an actual championship or did Ace have one with his brothers? As he was about to ask, Rakuyo spoke. "It's tag, how can one be a champion in tag? It's all about speed. I am pretty fast, so would it be unfair if I didn't hold back?" Ace looked at Rakuyo. "It is not all about speed, there's more to it. Like knowing the area by looking at it, finding a path to run or jump up, use your whole body. It involves a lot of parkour. Not just speed." Rakuyo looked doubtful. "It's just a simple chase. No parkour. No jumping." Ace looked at Rakuyo with a sly look. "Want to try? Real parkour tag?"

Rakuyo nodded. "Of course. How long will we play? We don't have all day." Ace nodded. "We can do it quickly and easily. You get 5 minutes to catch me. You can decide how large the field we play in is." Rakuyo nodded and looked around. "We can play down the alleys, to the stop signs at the end of the roads, and to the place where the grass ends." That gave a pretty large play area. Ace nodded and took off his jacket and handed it to Sabo, before he looked at Rakuyo. "You want to count down?" Rakuyo nodded and got in a ready stance, but Ace didn't, he just stood normal, and he felt this would be a bit unfair. Ace was facing Rakuyo, and they were at the end of the park, close to the buildings and alleyways, but nowhere else to really run, and Rakuyo was fast. There weren't even a lot of places for Ace to run without Rakuyo cutting him off, unless he ran to the buildings.

Rakuyo started to count down, and when he said 'go', Ace turned around and took off running, Rakuyo hot on his heels. Ace was running towards the buildings, but not towards an alleyway, just towards the buildings, which he felt was a weird choice. Sabo chuckled. "It wasn't smart to give him this large of an area. Even down the alleyways, Rakuyo lost the moment he said that." Whitebeard blinked. "How so?" Sabo hummed. "There is a world championship in parkour, in a large place, you don't get to see the field before they have counted down, it is full of a lot of things, like a park and jungle gym for adults, with some buildings like a park. Ace got 5th place last year since he undershot a jump after he swung on a high bar and fell and broke his arm. Not a bad break, but a break. It's a disqualification. He likes doing a lot of parkour. It helps you learn to see ways and paths that people don't usually see. To lift your gaze from the ground."

Whitebeard blinked, before he got it more and looked at Ace, who was close by the buildings and used his leg to step on a cylinder, before he jumped onto the next one that was slightly taller, then the next one and next one, before he was standing on the tallest cylinder, that also was kind of close to the building wall. He jumped to the building and started to scale it by grabbing what he could to use as a momentum to pull and jump upwards, and at times, Whitebeard couldn't even see what Ace grabbed on or how he managed to find a path so easily. He had watched Hartuta play a game called Assassin's Creed once and that had a person often climbing and scaling buildings and he felt it was very unrealistic, but seeing Ace do what he was doing right now, he realized it was not unrealistic. Haruta also looked a bit starstruck, which he got. She really was fond of the Assassin's Creed games and such.

Rakuyo had stopped by the building and looked at Ace in shock, amazement, and admiration. When Ace was on top of the 4 story building, he looked down at Rakuyo and yelled. "Are you coming up or should I stay here for 5 minutes? Or do you admit it is more than just speed?!" Rakuyo looked amazed, before he nodded. "I give! That was amazing! How will you get down?!" Ace gave a chuckle before he walked to the left to where the alley was and jumped down to the other wall. He slid down the wall for a bit, before he grabbed a ledge, jumped to the other wall and did the same, before he was down in record time. When he was down, Rakuyo still looked amazed.

They then walked back to them and Ace looked at Rakuyo. "There is a world championship in tag for adults. I only got 5th place last year since I couldn't participate anymore. Undershot a swing jump and broke my arm. It disqualified me in a way, but I still got this ribbon for 5th place since if you have to quit due to health issues and not going against the rules you get the place you were last. They had a few issues before this rule with people getting injured and continuing, often making the injuries worse. So now you play in shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. Some more rules are: You don't get to see the play area before they say go, if you are 'it' for more than 1 minute, you lose. There are 6 rounds and each round has 20 people, and the last has the 20 best. So only 100 are in this. You also need to qualify to join, and I have sent that I want to join this year as well, I will get to know next month if I am up for qualifications. It usually takes place in Europe. It is so fun." Rakuyo nodded. "Sounds amazing." Ace smiled. "It is."

They then went to the cafe, and spoke a bit about business, but this was mostly for fun. He did notice Ace and Marco speaking a lot, seeming close, which was nice. But as they were speaking, Ace's phone rang, and as he looked at it, he excused himself and went to answer it a bit away. After a minute, Ace came back and looked at his brothers. "Something came up, we need to go in 5 minutes." Luffy and Sabo nodded, accepting it. Whitebeard had a feeling it was connected to Ace's side business. So after some minutes, Ace and his brothers left. They did stay a bit longer, before they left.

But as they were walking, they heard a commotion and looked to see there were cops and an ambulance by a cross section. They were not proud of it, but curiosity got the better of them and they went to look. It looked like a car accident, a car had driven into a railing and the driver was quickly loaded into the ambulance before it drove away. But as he was about to say they should leave, Rakuyo spoke. "Hey, isn't that Ace?" Whitebeard blinked and looked where Rakuyo was to see Ace speaking to some cops, seeming calm. Curiel looked worried. "Do you think he is fine?" Thatch hummed. "He probably is, he probably cau-" Marco nudged Thatch, as Curiel and Roakyto didn't know about this side business and Thatch seemed to remember it.

Rakuyo blinked. "You think he caused it? Why!" Curiel seemed shocked as well. "Yes, why?" Thatch looked like a deer caught in headlights, and Whitebeard sighed. "We can go to the car and I will explain there." Everyone nodded and they left, and when they were in the car, Whitebeard explained it all. From when Ace first visited, over how he helped with Teach, to the thing with Cillian, and they seemed to get and accept it. Which was good. He knew they would have questions later, and he kind of kept back the fact Ace killed other, just telling that Ace worked as a PI and informant, doing some other things as well. He didn't want to say Ace killed, but he was sure they would realize it soon.

Just as that thought was finished, Harutas spoke. "Wait, but Cillian was… shot…" Curiel looked a thim. "Pops?" Whitebeard sighed. "How would you feel if Ace did kill him?" Rakuyo blinked. "I mean, he was a bad guy, but still. Killing is wrong!" Whitebeard nodded, on his way to speak, when Thatch did, explaining the whole truth, the deal Cillian had with Ace and all, and Curiel and Rakuyo seemed to get it, but also half disagreed. He hoped they wouldn't do anything, and he did send a message to Ace Curiel, Haruta, and Rakuyo knew, and Ace said it was fine, but would keep an eye out, and that was good.

When they got home, Whitebeard asked to speak with Haruta, Curiel, and Rakuyo and explained everything to them in detail. How Teach had hired Ace to kill him, but Ace being a good man, not doing so, just warning him, and then helping them. They took this in and seemed more okay with it, which was good. They also said they wouldn't do anything with this. Which was good. They then left to go on with their days and Whitebeard went to the local online newspaper and found the car accident had an entry, which said the driver had crashed after he had an allergic reaction to nuts, and had unfortunately died on the way to the hospital. They had found some food with peanuts in the car, and he, for some reason, was sure this was Ace's doing. Ace was very good at his job and hiding his steps and fingerprints. Haruta did come a bit later and said she got it. There were many gray zones, and while Ace might be doing criminal things, she felt he was in a gray zone, which was good. Whitebeard was glad Haruta seemed to get it, but she wanted to be a lawyer as well, so she probably understood someone who committed a crime wasn't always a bad person.

After a bit, Rakuyo came and had his laptop with him, telling he had searched for the tag championship and showed recordings from last year, where Ace was in and showed a specific round he felt like. Ace was extremely good at parkour and jumping and the whole evading things barely. It did also have the moment he broke his arm, which looked painful. Rakuyo then spoke. "No normal man is this good at parkour. He must be so strong as well, this takes a lot. He really killed a man? And no one knows?" Whitebeard nodded. "Ace is a man of many talents. And yes, he did. And you can't tell anyone." Rakuyo nodded. "I spoke with Curiel, we won't, we promise. This isn't our deal." Whitebeard smiled. "That's good." Rakuyo nodded. "And I also have a feeling Ace is watching us. He seems very good at this." Whitebeard nodded. "I have a feeling he is as well." Rakuyo nodded, before he left and seemed okay with this. Which was good. Now more knew about this and seemed to take it well, which was good. Ace was also coming by for a small meeting tomorrow, going to help them with some stuff that had come up.

So when the next day came up, Whitebeard sat and spoke with Ace and Sabo about business as Luffy was busy today. It was just him, Marco, and Curiel. Curiel was mostly in charge of the finances and was needed in this meeting, which was going well so far. Curiel also hadn't asked about Ace's business, which was good. As they were about halfway done, the door opened and Haruta came in. Whitebeard blinked as she had a half day today at school, which was over, and would be here for the rest of the day to still be kept updated on their company.

He was about to speak, when Haruta went over to Ace and took a breath. "I need to make an anonymous phone call. I can't tell you wh-" Haruta didn't get to finish as Ace had moved a hand to his backpack and took out a burner phone. "Go outside the building, down two blocks to the left, into the alley, wear a bland jacket with your hood on, put the battery and sim in, press star then what you need to dial, speak with not your normal voice, best is to darken it, throw it in a trash bin there, walk to the left when you leave the alley, go into the alley a block over and into the door that says staff only, it's a nail salon, say I sent you, they will give you a new jacket, come back here. If you need to make more than one call, don't use the same phone, ask me for a new one and I will give you a new safe place to take it. Never tell anyone about this."

Haruta blinked as she took it. "You don't want to know why?" Ace hummed. "Sometimes, the less I know, the better. And I trust that should you need help, you ask for it before you are in too deep. And I also hope you know you have one amazing family that will always back you up." Haruta blinked again, before she smiled. "Thank you. I will be back in a bit." Haruta then left. As she was gone, Whitebeard looked at Ace. "Do you have that phone bugged?" Ace hummed. "No. It is a real burner, never been on and used, so it is untraceable until you put in a SIM and battery, the reason she needs to throw it away when done." Whitebeard nodded, feeling worried. Ace looked at him. "Trust that if she needs it, she will come to you for help." Whitebeard nodded, he would. It also seemed like this helped Curiel get more okay with it, which was good. Ace was a good guy. They then finished the meeting and Haruta did come by to say thanks, and that she didn't need to make one more, which was good.

When the meeting was over, Ace and Sabo left, and he was sure everything would go fine.

-x-

Ace hummed as he looked at his computer screen. He was currently looking over the files to the FBI, trying to find anything on Whitebeard, on why the FBI had gone to their home for a search in the middle of the night. He still had nothing. Even though he had been looking for a while, the FBI had many files and places to put them, a few of them being places Ace would need some more time to get into. Ace had an easy time getting into most files and databases, this was because of a gift from his mother, Rouge.

Rouge had worked for the NSA her whole life, and she had a side business as an informant as well, but also worked like a spy for the NSA and FBI if it was needed, as she was excellent at gathering information and finding connections. She had a password to backways no one knew about, a few she had made herself, so for him, they were easy access. This access Ace had because of a necklace, which was shaped like a circle with a small orb in the middle. It was the only thing Ace had from his mother, as she had died 5 months after giving birth to him. Rouge had asked Garp for help, who took him and placed him with Dadan. The only thing he had was the necklace, and Ace kept it close at all times, as he knew it was from his mother, and she had done all she could to keep him safe. So Ace would keep the necklace safe.

When Ace was 7, he had been roaming the outsides, where he had met a pink haired man with white clothes. Ace was shocked as very few were close to this place and he had to have gotten past the security Dadan had, that was people who kept watch, and a few traps. The man had seemed uninterested in him, even when Ace tried to figure out who he was, asked a lot and followed him. It had ended with the man grabbing him by the arm, lifting him and starting to tell him to leave him alone, when he had blinked, noticing the necklace around his neck, before he had put him down and had asked "Are you related to Rouge?" Ace had tried to stay silent, but then the man had said he knew her, had worked with her, and even showed a picture of her, which had him blink, before Ace nodded and said Rouge was his mother.

This had shocked the man, who didn't seem to even know Rouge had been pregnant. Then the man had asked if he could take Ace with him to show him something, and Ace had wanted to learn about his mother. And then, the man, Azuruko, had introduced him to a life he didn't know. He had shown him his first cell phone, Tv, and so many fancy things. Then Azuruko had told he was an informant and mercenary, he had been out by the place they met to check a rumor. This rumor had been Luffy, who was Dragon's, a large mafia leader's, son. Ace did say Luffy didn't know that, which Azuruko accepted.

Azuruko had then started to teach him to be an informant, how to get into files and databases, and Azuruko had given Ace his first cell phone, which he hid from Dadan, as he knew she hated it. Every time Ace went to be with Azuruko he had told Dadan he would head out with a tent to learn how to survive, which Dadan liked, but in reality, Ace went to Azuruko and trained with him, learned how to use a computer, a cell phone, and everything, and it was so cool. Suddenly the world was so much more exciting. He could call to the other side of the world, see live streams, and it was so awesome. The internet was awesome.

Then, on his 12th birthday, he was already very good at what he did. He could now hack into places, but he of course wasn't as good at Azuruko. Ace could recognize and find out patterns well, and see connections, a trait Azuruko said he had from his mother. But as he was looking at the necklace, he noticed it had a very tiny hole on its side, and something had told Ace to get a small pin and put it into the hole, which Ace did. And when he did, the orb had opened to show a heart with the text 'for my son, born as Gol D Ace, but known as Portgas D Ace, use this chip, find your roots' and it had a small micro chip. Ace had blinked, before he had put it back and next time he was with Azuruko, he grabbed his computer and put the chip in. The computer had opened multiple files, showing a lot of information and how to get into databases easily from backways or other ways Rouge had created.

Ace had then read it all, before he found a file called Gol D Roger, and Ace blinked. Rouge had said his name was Gol D Ace, and that's how Ace found out who his father was. Roger had been a sniper for the army, a great one even, but it also took its toll, killing so many, even children as they had been a danger to others, being coerced into carrying bombs and guns. But the last year to Roger, he had killed someone on his own team, which Rouge had been sure was a lie. She had tried to clear his name, but couldn't. Roger was also accused of many heinous war crimes. There was no way Roger had killed one of his own without reason, and there was no way Roger had committed war crimes, he was a good man, even though he had been a bit disturbed the last years from being out in war, but he would never have done what he was accused of.

Ace then found out how to get access to databases, through hidden passages and backdoors, those being legit as he later found out, they could have been false trails. He had shown this to Azuruko, who said he wasn't surprised that his mother had managed this, as she had truly been an amazing and stunning woman. And now, all of this was Ace's thing. And he knew to never share the fact he had this with anyone. This was Rouge's gift to him, and to use it wisely. And Ace felt like he did.

When Ace was 16, he had been with Azuruko, before he headed back to Dadan. Sadly, he forgot to remove one cell phone, which Dadan had found, and Ace was banished. Ace went without being difficult, as he knew the rules, and he now knew why Dadan was paranoid of the world. So, Ace had moved in with Azuruko, and got even better at what he was doing. When Ace was 17, he was, as far as he knew, the best informant in finding files online, getting into databases, and finding connections. So, Azuruko and the others had started to teach him how to get information from people, with blackmailing or torture, and how to kill. Ace had been good with a gun for a while, but he had never shot at anything living before then. And Ace really was good with a gun. Ace also had a natural talent with a sniper as well, and quickly got the job done, no matter what it was. And then he had found out the truth about his father.

Ace had met Shanks, who was a mafia leader, and he had known Roger. And with some carefully placed words, and telling he was Roger's son, showing some proof with Rouge and Roger together and such, Shanks had told him that Roger had had a feeling his commanding officer had gone bad, and was working with the enemy, but they had no proof. That was what Ace had needed and he went to work. A week later, Ace had it all. Roger's commanding officer had been working for the enemy and had committed a lot of war crimes, but managed to pin it all to Roger when Roger was forced to kill one of his own men, who worked with this commanding officer. Then the commanding officer had killed Roger, and played it as he had found Roger killing the other army man. Then the officer had killed Roger and dragged his name through the mud, a scapegoat for him. Ace had also to find this asshole, who had dropped from the face of Earth it looked like, but Ace would find him. He would not stop before he did.

Then, when Ace was 17, Azuruko had died. He had gotten cancer, and it had taken his life. Azuruko, and everyone else, had also known this for a long while, but no one told Ace, who found out just before Azuruko's death. Ace had felt so betrayed and sad. Azuruko had been everything for him. Half a year after Azuruko had died, Ace had bought his first home, before he had Luffy and Sabo moved in with him, so they could learn about the world as well. The real world, not the world Dadan lived in, and they took it well. Then they founded the company 'Straw Hats International', and quickly got recognized for being great at what they were doing, and their name got up. The first thing they made were generators, before they started widening their fields of production, like communication devices, apps, and other things to help businesses or people, even people who had places they needed to power with a generator or have communication devices put in.

And now they still mainly worked with generators and communication devices. Ace also kept his job as a mercenary and informant and was good at hiding his tracks. The fact he could very easily hack into the databases of basically everyone helped a lot. He had also deleted information from different files, mostly from those he worked with, which included Shanks and Dragon, but not everything as that would be suspicious. But he had deleted the worst of it and made it harder to find them or hold them responsible for their most recent actions, planting false information. Ace liked to send people in circles, it was fun.

Ace gave a breath, before he moved his computer off his lap for now, stretching, before he got up. He needed a break. He then went and found Luffy and Sabo in the living room, sitting down to watch a show with them, just going to relax. After a bit, Luffy went to get something, Sabo looked at him. "Also, how did the date go?" Ace hummed. "It went very well. We're having one more, and then maybe more." Sabo smiled. "That's good. Marco does seem like a good guy." Ace nodded. "He is. We're meeting again in 2 days, for dinner, and I am thinking of getting my cessna out, I think he would like a ride." Sabo hummed. "I think he would love a ride, just not just with the cessna." Ace moved and swatted Sabo. "Hey!" Sabo chuckled. "But honestly, Marco seems so nice, and you should. Which cessna do you think? I like the twin engine one." Ace nodded. "That is a nice one, and large, but not too large." Sabo nodded. "Yeah, and you can have it by the runway tomorrow morning and maybe we'll go take a quick ride?" Ace hummed. "We can."

Luffy then came back and Ace hummed. "Hey, Lu, would you like to take a trip with the cessna?" Luffy gasped "Yes! Can we go to the kebab place?! I know it is like so far away, but the plane goes so fast!" Ace chuckled. "We can do that. I will have it delivered so we can have fun." Luffy seemed so excited, which was good. Ace was looking forward to this now, and the day after tomorrow, he would go out with Marco again, which he hoped would be nice.

And that's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed!

I am having so much fun with this story and I hope you're enjoying it too

If you have any ideas, don't be afraid to share them!

I hope you enjoyed, and if you want to, I do love feedback, so don't be afraid to leave a review!

If you also want to, I have a Twitter, my name is Azuruko, and I have a discord, my tag/username is just azuruko, as well as a server (Instant invite: discord . gg / 6hzMhbR) where everyone is welcomed! Updates is also posted there, both on discord and on twitter