Ace sets sail.
The last thing he expected to find on this godforsaken island where he had shipwrecked was another poor soul stranded like him. The young pirate with freckles, dark eyes, and tousled hair clung to a ridiculous orange cowboy hat atop his head.
He had no name; he abandoned it when he escaped from his home. So when the second castaway, who called himself Portgas D. Ace, learned he had no name, he simply looked at him, glanced at his mask, grinned, and said, "Masked Deuce." That's how Deuce began calling himself, seemingly out of nowhere.
Despite shipwrecking on this island, Ace showed no concern. The boy, barely a teenager, smiled and was excited about the adventure. Deuce seriously doubted that Ace was aware of how dangerous and precarious their situation was. When Deuce tried to make him see it, it was like trying to make a wall see a problem: impossible. Ace just smiled and said:
"Let's build a raft."
Ace was a bit foolish, Deuce concluded shortly after meeting him, but strangely pure and attractive. Deuce didn't realize it, but shortly after getting to know him, he couldn't imagine being separated from the freckled teenager.
However, Deuce was a survivor, and hunger affected him. Having been stranded a couple of days longer than Ace, when the boy found a fruit, Deuce seriously contemplated the idea of snatching it. However, he felt horribly guilty. Deuce must be the worst pirate in the world because when he looked at Ace with the fruit in hand, he felt like a miserable adult trying to steal candy from a child. As his stomach growled with hunger, Ace looked at him with the most innocent eyes Deuce had ever seen and simply broke the fruit in half with surprising strength, offering him one part.
Deuce wanted to cry. He had the worst thoughts, and this overly pure young man who aspired to be a pirate was offering him half of the only food they had found on the deserted island... that the fruit turned out to be a Devil Fruit that turned the black haired teenager into a human torch, that was a completely different matter.
-o-o-o-
Deuce noticed that no matter where Ace went, the boy seemed to capture everyone's heart. With his absent-minded, somewhat childish, and silly demeanor, he always moved forward without pausing to reason and never retreated. Deuce firmly believed that reasoning with a baby was much more possible than reasoning with Portgas D. Ace, the Captain of the Spade Pirates.
People simply gravitated towards Ace inevitably. It had been the case with all the Spade Pirates and with every person they crossed paths with. He saw it with Rayleigh, the kind old man from Sabaody, who coated his ship so they could cross into the New World. He saw it in the face of Aladine on Fish-Man Island as he entertained Ace with stories of Whitebeard and Jimbe, the individuals protecting the island. He also perceived it in the resignation of another pirate to take action when Ace burned Whitebeard's flag, announcing with a lively smile that he would be the strongest man in the world and defeat the Four Emperors of the Sea... Deuce got them all out of Fish-Man Island, scolding Ace before they could be caught, although no one made a real attempt to catch them, finding more amusement in the antics of the freckled youth.
He saw it in the resignation of the Yonko, Shanks, a fierce pirate despite his status as an Omega Mother, when he met Ace. Apparently, Luffy, the younger brother whom Ace never stopped talking about, was also Shanks' favorite topic of conversation. They clicked perfectly as soon as they started talking about Luffy. It was a bit dizzying to listen to them, and Deuce felt a bit of relief when they finally went on their way, although he could see the resignation in the red-haired man's eyes as they left. Shanks even offered them to join his crew, but Ace rejected, saying that one day he would be the strongest man in the seas. Shanks just laughed and sent them on their way with supplies for the journey.
Maybe one of the toughest moments of their journey was in Wano. Ace truly cried with rage in Deuce's arms when they had to leave little Tama and Yamato behind. Yamato also cried, hating not being strong enough to defeat her father but wishing that her father never met Ace. Oden was fiercely protective of Ace, and she sensed that it wouldn't be good for him to meet his bastard father. Yamato kept a piece of Ace's Vivre Card, promising herself that one day she would be strong enough to go for him and protect him. Meanwhile, Tama cried, clinging to Ace's promise to come back for her.
Yes, leaving Wano was difficult for everyone, but especially for Ace. Deuce knew that Ace wasn't normal, but he only assumed that Ace's brain was a bit peculiar, perhaps some mild form of autism. But he never noticed it as much as when they left Wano; Ace really was like a heartbroken child, looking back all the time and then at Deuce with pleading eyes. Deuce had to be firm with his captain to prevent him from going back to Wano to steal Tama and Yamato.
"Ace?"
Deuce was surprised to find Ace scrubbing his sheets and washing them in a wooden bucket late at night. Ace blushed, trying to hide the sheets. Deuce took a moment to understand what was happening, but he was the ship's doctor after all.
"It's okay, Ace, accidents happen sometimes" he reassured him "just remember to go to the bathroom before sleeping" he said... In reality, it wasn't common for such accidents to happen in adults, but Ace had been going through a tough time since they had to leave Wano when he realized that it was still too early to defeat Kaido.
Deuce sat by his side, without judgment, and proceeded to help his captain wash and hang the sheets to dry. It was just an accident, not a big deal. Ace normally ate like a wild man, so he probably just drank more liquids than usual, and things happened.
-o-o-o-
Ace was stubborn, terribly stubborn. Since they couldn't handle Kaido, the young captain decided to go after the strongest man in the world: Whitebeard. And if Ace was out of his mind, Deuce began to suspect that he and the other Spades were even worse for simply following him and not putting a stop to their captain's childish ideas.
Of course, things never went as Ace planned. To start with, his plan was completely absurd. Instead of encountering Whitebeard, they found a very angry Warlord of the Sea, Jinbe, the knight of the sea. Where Aladine had turned a blind eye, Jinbe took the burning of Whitebeard's flag on Fish-Man Island as a personal offense. He wanted to fight Ace to stop him, and Ace simply loved to fight. Deuce was in a total state of hysteria during the five days Ace was battling. While Ace laughed, enjoying the battle, Deuce was distressed by the sleepless and foodless hours of his young captain.
When the battle ended on the fifth day, with both fighters collapsing exhausted, Deuce barely had time to feel relieved as he ran to get Ace out of there when Shirohige and his crew arrived.
Having the damned strongest man in the world throw himself at you and your crew was a sensation that Deuce could happily live without for the rest of his life. He truly saw his life flash before his eyes, and his brain failed him in trying to find an escape plan. But before they could do anything, Ace staggered to his feet, and a wall of fire separated the crew of the Spade Pirates from Whitebeard's Pirates, leaving only Ace to face Whitebeard. Ace ordered them to run, and Deuce ignored the order. The crew had to force him, and although they were right in saying that they should plan a way to rescue Ace, Deuce would never forgive himself for leaving Ace behind.