Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter!
I know the last one ended on a cliffhanger, but here is the next one!
Hope you enjoy
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The next hour was a bit chaotic as Trevor tried to find out more about what was happening and they were still at the company, and after a bit, Trevor blinked. "He is at… Moby Dick correctional facility… That doesn't make sense." Marco blinked. "Why not?" Trevor frowned. "Because you don't get sent there for serious crimes. You get sent there for small crimes. Like breaking and entering without a weapon and giving yourself up. Ace was charged for murders, why is he there… It is good, very good. But still, this makes no sense. But good. They have visiting hours, and all. This is a low level prison." Marco nodded, that was good. "When are the visiting hours?" Trevor looked at him. "You want to go?" Marco nodded. "I need to see him, yoi." Trevor nodded. "It is on Saturday and Sunday, between 11am and 3pm." Marco nodded. "Do you want to-" Trevor shook his head and cut him off. "No. You go. Okay? I will try and find out why by doing research." Marco nodded. "Thank you, Trevor." Trevor shook his head. "It is nothing. You're his fiancee."
Marco felt thankful for that, and Trevor moved a hand to his head. "God, I need to update his brothers." That was true, and Marco offered to join, but Trevor said he would handle it. Then Trevor left, and Marco didn't know what to feel. Ace was arrested, he had turned himself in… why? What did Lilith do? Did she blackmail Ace? Trevor did call later that evening and said Luffy and Sabo had both gotten a message from Ace, telling that he would be gone for a bit, but things would be fine, so Marco would hope that was true. How, he didn't know, as Ace had turned himself in.
When the weekend came, Marco sat in the visitation room in the prison, waiting for Ace to come. He had said he was here for Ace, and the guard said Ace would be alerted he was here. And he waited and waited, before a man came over. "I am sorry, but I don't think he wants visitors." Marco didn't know what to feel. Why didn't Ace want to see him? Marco needed answers. He looked at the guard. "I will wait, yoi." The guy nodded and let him sit, and Marco waited until visiting hours were over, still no Ace, and he left, heading home, feeling a mix of emotions. Why didn't Ace want to see him? This was so odd.
The next day, he went back again, and sat all the visiting hours, but still, Ace didn't come to see him, Ace obviously didn't want to see him. He didn't like this. When he got home, and Pops asked about it, Marco just shook his head, and Pops got it, Ace hadn't come. And Marco went to his room, needing to think. This didn't add up at all, and Trevor seemed so confused himself. A bit later, Pops did tell him to take a day off, and Marco didn't argue. So when Monday came, he spent it at home, and when the clock was nearing 2pm, Marco blinked as someone rang the doorbell and went to see who it was, as everyone was out now.
When he went to the door and opened it, he blinked as it wasn't someone he knew. It was someone who was in his 30s, maybe 40s. He had red hair and some scars over his left eye. "Hello?" Asked Marco, and the man hummed. "Hi, I am a friend. I come with a message." Marco nodded a bit, he didn't know who this was, but his voice sounded a bit familiar, but he couldn't place it. "From who?" The man hummed. "From Ace." Marco blinked. "What?" The man nodded and moved to hold out an envelope. "I have this for you, just you need to trust Ace right now, that he has control. Open it in 5 hours, at 7pm" Marco nodded and took the envelope. "Who are you, yoi?" The man hummed. " A friend of Ace, and I wouldn't harm you either. Just, have faith in Ace." Marco nodded. "Okay, I will. Is he… okay, yoi?" The man gave a smile. "It's Ace." Marco nodded, and he hoped Ace was okay.
The man then moved and started to walk away. "Just trust Ace, things will be fine." Marco nodded. "Okay. Thank you, yoi." The man held a hand up, before he walked and got to a car that was parked by the gate and sat in it and drove off. Marco wondered who this was.
He looked at the letter, and he wanted to open it now, but he wouldn't. He would listen to the instructions. Maybe he could get some answers now. But he would wait. When Pops came home, Pops asked if anything was wrong, as Marco looked to be in thought, and Marco told someone had come with a letter from Ace most likely. Pops blinked, before he asked how he had looked.
Marco hummed as he still remembered him. "It was someone with red hair and had 3 scars over his left eye, yoi." Whitebeard blinked. "I don't know who that is ei-" "What!" Said Jozu suddenly, and they turned to see him looking shocked. "He looked like what!" Marco blinked and told how he looked, and Jozu got on his phone and found a picture of the man. "Was this him?!" Marco nodded. "Yes, yoi. How did you know that?" Jozu looked shocked. "That is Shanks Akagami! He is a leader of a mafia gang! The Red Haired Ones! He was here?!" Marco blinked, before he got where he had heard his voice before, when Ace had called him about Levi. Jozu looked worried. "Why was he here!" Marco shook his head a bit. "He just told me to have faith in Ace, yoi. That things will be okay. Somehow." Jozu blinked, before he nodded. "Okay… Just, he is dangerous." Marco nodded. "I am sure he won't drop by again. And I will be careful." Jozu nodded and left
When he was gone, Pops spoke. "Did he just say that?" Marco sighed. "No. He had a letter, telling me to open it after 5 hours, it's 2 hours left." Whitebeard nodded. "I see. Is it from Ace?" Marco sighed. "I don't know. I haven't opened it yet, I want to do this right." Pops nodded. "I get that. If you can, tell me what it says, okay?" Marco nodded. "I will, yoi."
The time then went slow, before the clock was 7pm, and Marco moved and opened the letter, and he saw Ace's handwriting. And the letter read 'I know you must be so confused right now, why I would turn myself in. I need you to trust that I am okay and know what I am doing. In a month, maybe before, you will be connected, I need you to come pick me up at the prison, before then, I can't meet you, it is too dangerous. This will go fine, and it is all part of the plan. I love you, Marco. And we will meet again. Love, Ace. Ps. Take care of Luffy and Sabo until I am out.'
Marco blinked. Ace would get out in a month? But he would be in jail for years for what he had done, for life. He would maybe even get the death sentence. But he would trust Ace.
-x-
Ace hummed as he walked to the room you could speak with your lawyer and such, and Lilith was there. "How is it going?" Asked Lilith, and Ace hummed. "I am getting closer." Lilith nodded. "You need to hurry up. You know the deal." Ace nodded. "I do. And I will manage it. You just need to trust me. And heed our deal." Lilith nodded. "If you get him to confess or for us to get what we need, I will leave you and Whitebeard alone and you walk free, but only if you get what you need out of Cesare Borgia. He can't get released in 2 months." Ace nodded. "And he won't, as I said, I am getting there."
Lilith looked at him. "If you mess this up, the deal is off and you rot here." Ace nodded. "Yes, I know." Lilith nodded. "I will come back in a week. Go to work." Ace nodded. "I will." Then Ace went out again and went to his cell, where Cesare was, and he looked at Ace. "What did your lawyer want?" Ace gave an upset breath. "Seems like I will stay a bit longer, circumstantial evidence, I might get convicted." Cesare nodded. "I see. That… sucks. I am sorry, Alex." Ace gave a tsk. "You tell me. Leave me alone for a bit. I can't even talk to my loved ones." Ace would play a moody young man for a bit, and hope Cesare took the bait. He used his pseudonym here, Alexander Beaverhausen, and he hoped this would work.
Cesare did leave the cell for a bit, before he came back, and Ace was lying on his bed, facing the wall and had his back to Cesare. He knew why Lilith wanted Cesare to rot in jail or get on death row, and this was a risk, but he was on the alert in case Cesare tried anything. After a minute, Cesare sighed. "I may have an idea on how you can speak to your loved ones." Ace wanted to smile, but sat up with a frown. "What? How? The phones here are recorded and it costs money, and we don't have that." Cesare nodded and took out a phone he had. "I have this, you can get a call." Ace blinked. "You… have a phone? That is contraband. Is it not?" Cesare hummed. "I run this prison, I have power over the guards. Make your call. I'll give you some privacy."
Then Cesare handed him the phone as he left the room, and Ace used a few seconds to make sure it didn't have a recorder on or running, before he called the one he was told to call when he got his hands on this phone, and made sure to speak in code, but also pretend he called a loved one, and he hoped this would help. The FBI would put a trace on it and do what they could to listen over it. Ace hoped this would work. If not, he knew Cesare ran this prison a lot, and Ace would be killed.
Then the play went on for a couple of days, Ace playing a moody young man who had done bad things but hasn't been caught for it just yet, but might, same as Cesare. From what Lilith had said, he ran often with some bad mafias, he was a killer, and generally an awful person, and Ace had found this out himself as well with some research. Cesare needed to be put away.
But a week later, he was in the common area when everyone cleared out, which was odd and Ace moved to clear out as well, when Cesare and 3 of his goons came. "So, I just had a chat with my lawyer, and for some reason, the FBI is on my trail now. Know anything about that?" Ace pretended to be confused. "How can they be on your train suddenly?" Cesare hummed. "Why don't you tell me, Alex. Or should I say Ace?" Ace took a breath. "How did you find out?" Cesare hummed. "You see, I contacted my outdoor buddy with a pic of you, and what comes up? You're a PI, and not only that, I got someone in the FBI, and you are on their radar as well, and who came in a bit ago to speak with you? Oh yes, it was Lilith. But no worries, she won't catch me." Then the three goons walked and grabbed him and Ace tried to fight, when Cesare brought out a knife. "Because you will die."
Ace felt this was very bad, and no one was here, and just as Cesare moved to stab him, a voice yelled. "Hey! What's going on!" And a guard stood by the door, which had Cesare put the knife down. "Nothing." Then the goons let go of him and as Cesare walked away, he made sure to bump into his shoulder. Ace took a breath, this was bad. The cat was out of the bag. He needed to be careful now.
He looked towards where the guard was when a man came, another inmate, Jimbei, stood there, obviously having gotten the guard, and Ace blinked at him. "Why did you do that?" Jimbei hummed. "Shanks. I don't work a lot with him, but I do. Promised to look out for you." Ace nodded. "Thank you. But now he will be after you as well." Jimbei hummed. "It is okay, he doesn't like me anyhow." Jimbei then smiled. "Also, got you a cell change, you're in mine now. Got some powers here as well." That was good, he couldn't be with Cesare anymore.
Jimbei looked a thim. "You want to tell them what he tried to do?" Ace shook his head. "No. He runs this place. If I do, I will die quickly and painfully." Jimebi nodded. "I see. I knew he had power here, but not that much." Ace shook his head. "Few do. But still, thank you." Jimbei smiled. "No issue. Now, let us get your stuff." Ace nodded and got his stuff out of the cell he had with Cesare and into his new one with Jimbei.
Then he had a meeting with Lilith again and Ace looked at her when he got to the room. "He found out. How?" Lilith blinked. "I don't know how. We have tried to be on the low about this." Ace rolled his eyes. "Obviously not. I will do my best, might rush it, just, you need to trust me, and I need to trust you." Lilith hummed. "And we will for now. We have opened a file on him. But that means he has someone he knows in the FBI. That's bad." Ace thought for a second. "I might have an idea. Trust me, trace his phone better and more secretly, and I will try something." Lilith nodded. "Okay. You have 3 weeks left before our deal is out the window." Ace nodded. "I know." Lilith nodded. "Good. Now, get to work." Ace nodded, he would. He did explain a bit what he needed from Lilith, and she agreed. She did say it was dangerous and might not work, but Ace had a feeling it would.
-x-
Marco blinked as he got a message on his phone and saw it was the ring that was done with its alterations. So Marco went and grabbed it. When Ace came out, he would have the ring with him and do it properly. He had told Pops and Trevor what the letter said, and Trevor seemed confused as Ace was convicted to be in jail for 5 years Trevor had said after doing a deep dive with some help. But he also trusted Ace. He hoped this would go fine.
When he went and got the ring, the worker smiled at him. "We got it done fast as we hired another worker to help adjust rings. I hope your loved one will be happy." Marco smiled. "I hope so as well, yoi. Thank you." When Marco got it, he looked at it and it was newly cleaned as well, and it would look so perfect on Ace's hand. He then went home for dinner, as Luffy and Sabo would join as well, inviting them over, and when they were, Marco said Ace was okay and had control. When Sabo asked how he knew, he decided to show the letter to Sabo, which seemed to calm Sabo down as he took a breath. "Okay, I will do my best to be calm." Marco nodded. "Yes, hopefully, we will see him soon." Sabo smiled. "Yeah, I hope so."
-x-
Ace gave a breath and hoped this would work. He just needed a day. When dinner was the next day, he started to feel awful. He started to feel warm and dizzy, and a few noticed. When Jimbei asked if he was okay, Ace shook his head a bit as he moved a hand to it. "I don't know. I feel odd. I need water." And Ace stood up to grab some, but when he was up, the room started to spin, before everything went black as he passed out.
-x-
Jimbei felt worried as Ace fell, and he was sweating now, and the first thing that crossed his mind was poisoning, as Ace had been fine a minute ago, and who worked the food line? He looked over to see Cesare there. Who was staring at Ace on the floor. Was this Cesare? Was he this bold? This was bad. He had heard Cesare used poison now and then to kill when he was out, before he was caught for leaving a hit and run, the reason he was here. Ace was quickly gotten by the guards and taken to the infirmary, and Jimbei hoped Ace would be okay. He did send a look at Cesare, who had a small frown and looked to be in thought. Maybe he had hoped the guards wouldn't take Ace so fast? Was this deadly fast? This was bad, he felt. Very bad.
And that's the chapter, hope you enjoyed
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