As promised, Sabo had split from his boss while on their way to their secret headquarters, promising to return in two days at most. Tracking down Whitebeard's fleet with their kind of information network was a piece of cake, so it only took him one more day of travel before reaching them. And, thankfully, it didn't take much to convince the pirates on guard duty to allow him to board once he announced himself as Ace's brother – if he was lying, their Commander would simply kill him, after all.

"Sabo!?"

"Yo, Ace."

Smiling broadly, Sabo punched him in the face. With his fist coated in Haki, he managed to bypass Ace's Devil-Fruit ability and easily landed the blow.

"Ow! You jerk!"

"I'm the jerk? You're the one who never once contacted us in three years!"

Ace at least had the decency to look somewhat ashamed. "Sorry. Got caught up."

"Yeah, I noticed," Sabo huffed, glancing at the flabbergasted pirates staring at them. "I mean, going from a super rookie to one of Whitebeard's top officers surely wasn't easy – but you could have at least called. Makino was worried sick, you know?"

Now Ace looked properly chastised, and he averted his eyes. "I… I'll call her later."

"You better, or I'll come back to kidnap you and drag your sorry ass right back to Foosha so you can apologize in person."

"Ugh, if I'd known you were going to nag from the get go, I'd have let my men throw you overboard. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Well, checking up on you, for one. Can't a brother worry, too? Also, I wanted to bring you something special."

"Something special?"

With a knowing smile, Sabo handed over a folded piece of paper. Curious, Ace took it, and his eyes almost bulged out of his skull as his younger brother's grinning face suddenly appeared before him – his wanted poster.

"What—38 million!? How the hell did he manage that one!?"

"Ah, ah, that's at least twelve million over your first one, isn't it?" laughed Sabo, definitely satisfied. "Our little Lu isn't as weak as he used to be. In fact, he's grown pretty strong."

"Yeah, I can see that…" After a moment, Ace lifted his head, grinning from ear to ear as he spun to face the rest of his crew. "Men! Tonight's a party! To celebrate my little brother's first bounty!"

"AYE!"

Ace turned to face Sabo again, still grinning. "You won't say no to joining us, right?"

"I can afford to stay for a few more hours. But before that, there's something else you need to see." This time, Sabo pulled an envelope out of his coat. "This is from Brynlee."

"Brynlee…?"

It took a moment for Ace to associate the familiar name with a face – it had been over three years since he'd last seen the girl, and it's not like they'd been close, either.

He remembered being angry. And maybe a little scared, too. But as far as he was aware, she'd never revealed his secret to anyone – though he still couldn't understand how she'd come to know. But he also remembered what she'd told him before he left.

"Ace… Once you get to the Grand Line, learn what you can about Lunarians. You'll find out that we're not so different, you and I."

It had taken him a while to remember that part, to be quite frank. His journey hadn't started off easy, and then it had been one thing after the other, and Ace completely forgot about her strange request. Until one night, when everything was uncharacteristically calm and peaceful, and her words abruptly returned to him, and he'd found himself asking his First Mate, Masked Deuce, for an answer.

::

"Hey, Deuce?"

"What is it, Ace?"

"I was just wondering… What's a Lunarian?"

"A what?"

::

The mere fact that Deuce hadn't had a single clue as to what Ace was referring to had been enough to spark his curiosity, because his First Mate was smart and knowledgeable, and he always had an answer. So, as they progressed through the Grand Line, Ace sometimes found himself trying to find a bit more information. Unfortunately, he'd never discovered anything of import, so he'd eventually pushed it to the back of his mind and completely forgot about it again.

Until today.

"Please, Ace. She said it was extremely important – and she wouldn't have asked me to bring this to you if it wasn't. Just read it?"

He'd had a long time to get over his anger and fear. Quite frankly, now he felt more ashamed of how he'd just left – practically ran away – that night than anything else. So, if only to assuage his guilt a little, Ace begrudgingly accepted the envelope and promptly tore it open, pulling out the hand-written letter inside.

Ace,

There isn't much time to explain, so I'll get straight to the point: one of your crewmates is in grave danger. I don't know when or how but, soon enough, the one named Thatch will discover a mysterious Devil Fruit. However, there is a traitor lying in wait in your Division – Teach will kill Thatch the night following his discovery, steal the Fruit and flee, and you and your crew will be none the wiser 'til come morning.

If this letter has not reached you in time, then I'm truly sorry for your loss. But if it has… then please, take my warning seriously. If you don't, the life of your crewmate as well as many others will be lost.

I pray time is on our side,

Lucky D. Brynlee

PS. Our crew will be entering the Grand Line soon. We should arrive in Alabasta in a few weeks, at most, if you wish to meet us there so we can talk face to face.

"Ace? Are you alright? You look pale… What did she say?"

"Sabo… Can Brynlee see the future?"

Sabo paused, his concern still evident, but now shadowed with wariness. "Ace—"

"Can she!?"

"… yes. She has… visions, and she knows things. But—"

"Read it."

Confused, Sabo did as told, blanching a bit as he finished. "Ah… That's bad."

"Bad!? She's telling me one of our own will kill my best friend!" Ace felt angry again. And fear again. And worry, too. "Could she be lying?"

"No," instantly refuted Sabo. "She'd never do that."

"Sabo… Thatch found a Devil Fruit this morning."

A heavy silence settled upon them as Ace's words slowly sunk in. Sabo glanced around – beyond the men prepping the deck for a party, the sun was setting in the horizon and setting the sea aflame.

"We need to go," Sabo breathed out. "Ace, where is Thatch?"

"On- on the Moby Dick—"

"Ace, we need to go now!"

Pale, Ace immediately took off, Sabo following closely behind.

The Moby Dick was but a few ships away.

Hopefully, they'd make it in time.

So here's a rare treat - a chapter without our favorite Lunarian xD Also, since a good chunk of Whitebeard's fleet is traveling together, I figured not all of his Commanders would be on the Moby Dick at all times, having their own ship and Division to take care of.

Anyway, almost to the 50 chapter mark already! I can hardly believe we've made it this far honestly. I know they're short chapters, but I genuinely didn't expect people to enjoy it so much. So thank you! Your support really means a lot to me!

Finally, to those who have been wondering about the little incident I mentioned last chapter: yes, the shower door exploded by itself (no I did not slip, no I did not hit it, no there was no shockwave or earthquake, etc.). The injuries I sustained were superficial, but I still had to get twelve stitches in my right arm, hence why I had a bit of a hard time writing for the first few days. And yes, as one of my readers pointed out, it's pretty ironic that I write about a character with canonically insane luck and got insanely lucky, considering the circumstances (AKA no glass in my eyes or face, and no lasting injuries).

But I am OKAY, made a full recovery and everything, and I'm super pumped to keep on working on this story! So lots of love to everyone who sent me their get-well wishes and their support, I really appreciate it.

That's it for today! Later~