Chapter 22: Familiar Faces
Late the next morning, Ace was roused from sleep by shouts from the street below his second-story window. Blinking, he opened his room's shutters and peered out, trying to see what was causing the commotion while he used one hand to deal with his bedhead. No one sounded panicked, just surprised. He followed a few pointing fingers to a spot off in the distance.
What was that? He squinted. Clouds? Dark gray, like storm clouds. But the whole circular collection couldn't be more than a couple hundred yards across and the rest of the sky was spotless. The heat distortion in the air made it hard to tell, but it sure looked like it could be raining beneath them.
Weird. He'd never heard of that kind of weather phenomena in the desert. Even as he watched, the clouds were already lightening, thinning, and dissipating, until there was no sign anything had happened at all.
He caught a stray comment from someone in the street below: "Someone must've used dance powder."
They were swiftly shushed by multiple people around them. Ace cocked an eyebrow. Dance powder? So not anything natural.
Dismissing the matter from his mind, he figured he might as well start his day. Maybe Luffy had turned up while he was asleep.
Before he could turn to collect his things, his eye caught on someone staring up at him from a dark alley across the street. That man just as quickly looked away, chatting with a couple other men next to him. They were all armed.
"First the marine ship coming into port, now this," another voice said, drawing Ace's attention. "What is happening to this place?"
Marines? Yeah, he'd better find Luffy.
His second search of the town didn't yield any fruit after the first thirty minutes, much to his frustration. Observation haki in a place as crowded as this would only net him a headache; he wasn't good enough at it yet to filter out all the unnecessary noise outside of combat. Ignoring the increasing number of armed men trailing after him and failing to be subtle about it, he went from merchant to merchant in the market, paying particular attention to the food stalls, but kept striking out.
Giving up on that front, he decided to camp out in the restaurant where he'd run into Luffy the first time. Or, where Luffy had run into him. What was it called? He peered at the sign at the end of the road. Spice Bean.
His stomach grumbled. He could use some food, too. Vendor samples alone weren't going to hold him for the whole day. Maybe his shadows would come out, too, and he could get that over with before Luffy showed up.
He set a course right for that restaurant until an arm shot out to block his path and he realized one merchant had been hawking to him in particular. He regarded the short, older guy staring up at him from under a blue hat. Then golden apple in his other hand caught the light and his eye.
"Whaddaya say?" the merchant prodded. "Check out this solid-gold apple!" He held it up for inspection, clapping his free hand on Ace's shoulder—but only briefly. The black fabric there was rather hot. "Don't tell anyone, but this is an incredible treasure I found in some ancient ruins. Just one bite of this magic gold apple will let you live for a thousand years!"
A dizzying sense of déjà vu struck Ace as he stared down at the liar. He'd seen this before, had this conversation before. How many people had fallen for this? Couldn't be too many, if this guy was still peddling these wares, or he would've been chased outta the market. A breeze carried down the street and rustled a green curtain strung up between wooden poles in an alcove near the stall. Ace could just barely make out below its rippling bottom edge someone's sandals.
"Sorry," he deflected. "I'm not interested in living a thousand years. I've already died once, I'm not worried about the next time."
He walked away, leaving the merchant to his next victims. Two people were already staring in gobsmacked disbelief at the apple. One, with curly black hair and a very long nose, and another that looked like a large man covered in brown fur, with a red hat.
Ace paused mid-stride. Something about those two struck him as familiar, and it wasn't just the lingering sense of déjà vu.
He turned around. The merchant was continuing his pitch and those two were buying it hook, line, and sinker. The longer he stared at them, the more familiar they seemed, until he put it together: they were on Luffy's crew.
"Oi," he started, hoping to interrupt before they could hand over the thousand beri the merchant was charging, only to choke on his words when a redhead in dancer's clothes slid up behind them and knocked them both on the head hard enough to send them to the ground. Redhead…the navigator, he was pretty sure.
"Honestly, now, what are you two thinking?" she demanded, straightening up.
"I wouldn't take him seriously if I were you." And there was the swordsman, easily recognizable even with his green hair covered by an orange head wrap by the three swords sheathed at his waist. He pulled back the curtain Ace had noticed earlier to reveal the man slathering gold paint on various pieces of fruit. He froze upon realizing he'd been discovered.
The navigator began dragging the first two away by their collars but stopped when Ace stepped into her path.
"Pardon the interruption," he said, "but you know Straw Hat Luffy, right?"
"Nami," the swordsman said, hand dropping to the topmost of his hilts, "get back."
Tension thickened the already oppressive air and the crowd, picking up on it, began to noticeably thin. Lacking the cover of other people, the men who'd been tailing Ace retreated out of sight.
"Zoro?"
"I'm not here to pick a fight," Ace placated. "I'm just looking for Luffy."
"What does someone like you want with him?" The swordsman—Zoro—growled. "We've done nothing to Whitebeard."
"Whitebeard?" Nami squeaked, a sound echoed by the two still sprawled out behind her. She took a hurried step back from Ace. "The emperor? What does he want with us?"
"Nothing," Ace assured them all. "Well, he once said he'd be interested in meeting Luffy. Pops has a bit of a soft spot for cheeky brats. But I'm here on my own."
"Who are you, then?"
"Fire Fist Ace," Zoro answered for him, two swords drawn and ready as Nami retreated behind him. The street had well and truly emptied out at the first mention of Whitebeard. Now, there were only the muffled bangs of more wooden shutters slamming down into place as merchants tried to lock up their stalls before fleeing. "Second division commander of the Whitebeard fleet. As a former bounty hunter, I recognize that hat. Take off that robe and I bet I'd see his mark on your back."
Nami sank to her knees, pale as the white clothes she wore. "You can't be serious."
"Go find Vivi and head for the ship," Zoro ordered. "I'll hold him off."
"Hey, hold on a second, I think there's a misunderstanding. I really have no intention of fighting you. I'm just looking for my brother."
"Wait." One of the guys Nami had been dragging, the long-nosed one, rolled over now that Nami had loosened her grip in shock and stared at Ace. "Brother?"
"Yeah. Luffy's my brother."
"WHAT!"
Ace leaned back a little from the force of their shouts and let out a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, probably should've led with that. Yeah, Luffy's my kid brother. I heard he was coming this way, and I was in the area, so I thought I'd say hi."
"Luffy has a brother and that brother is a commander of the Whitebeard Pirates," Nami whispered, looking fit to faint. "Usopp, catch me."
She did go limp, and the long-nosed one caught her, but Ace was pretty sure the whole thing was an act.
Zoro's swords had dipped down, their tips threatening to scrape the dusty ground. But the second Ace drew breath to speak, they came right back up again.
"So, have you seen him? I've been looking around town for a while now but there's been no sign."
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Zoro again, and Ace had to respect his caution. Between him and Nami, he could really see how Luffy's more reckless side had been kept out of serious trouble—or at least successfully pulled out of it.
"I guess you don't," Ace admitted. "We can ask Luffy when we find him. I was checking all the food stalls, but no one had seen him."
"Chopper," Nami said, glancing at the hairy man, "can you smell anything?"
"Can't, perfume," Chopper groaned.
"Ah. Some of that might be mine."
"It is."
"Teehee. Oops."
When Ace did nothing besides continue to stand relaxed in the road, Zoro sheathed his swords and eyed him warily. "If you're his brother, then you should know something about him his bounty posters wouldn't say."
"I mean, sure, but has Luffy ever told you anything about where he comes from? It sounds like he never mentioned me." Ace tapped his dagger's sheath, thinking, while the breeze blew clouds of dust around the empty street. "Well, he loves food. Eats enough for ten people, and steals any food you leave unguarded at the table."
He could see from their expressions that he was accurate, but that was hardly inarguable proof. He drew breath to try another angle but stopped when he saw the look of shock on Zoro's face.
Zoro wasn't looking at Ace; he was looking behind him. Ace glanced over his shoulder and saw a young woman with black hair and pink glasses staring at them, a sword at her waist and another sword held in her hand. The shopkeeper she'd presumably been talking to had been one of the last to run, and Ace could see his retreating back disappear around a corner.
"Something wrong?" Ace asked Zoro, who'd ducked behind Chopper's bulk.
"That depends, Fire Fist Ace."
Aw, hell, Ace thought, looking past Chopper to the marine walking up from the opposite direction. Two lit cigars dangled from his lips, putting out smoke that matched his short white hair, and the hilt of a jitte jutted out from behind the shoulder of his unzipped white specialist marine coat. Green fur spilled out around the ends of his sleeves and collar, and more cigars wrapped around his upper left arm. He had a number of pirates slung over his shoulders, whom he unceremoniously dropped when he got close. Small-timers; Ace recognized them from his search the previous day, when they'd been trying to throw their weight around thinking people were too scared of Whitebeard to challenge anyone with a black flag. Must've tried the same around the marine…captain? And paid the price.
"Smoker," Usopp said, in a familiar and fearful tone that told Ace this wasn't the Straw Hats' first time encountering the captain. The name kinda rang a bell, a very old bell. Maybe Ace had passed near him while he was making his way with the Spade Pirates.
"Are you serious?" Nami whispered. "He followed us all the way from Logue Town?"
Ah. That was where Ace had heard the name. Deuce had mentioned something about a captain chasing them while they grabbed supplies; Ace had gone onto the island alone, splitting from his crew.
The platform had been smaller in person than he'd expected. He'd spent a while staring at it, trying to imagine how the scene had looked with Roger up there and the whole square packed to bursting. How deafening the jeers must've been. How loud it must've been, in the silence after his declaration, when the blades came down.
If he'd gone to look, would he have seen a bloodstain?
He'd left, returning to the ship in time to see his crew piling in and yelling for him to hurry up.
"Tashigi!" the marine called. "Care to explain why you didn't notice all these pirates chatting right next to you?"
The young woman jumped at the sound of his voice and then, seeing that the whole street had become a ghost town, stared in shock. Then she saw Zoro peeking out from behind Chopper and her whole demeanor changed into something considerably more hostile while she set aside the sword she'd been examining. "You."
Zoro gulped.
"Take these idiots to the royal guard," Smoker instructed Tashigi. "Bring a squad back with you when you're done, and have the rest comb every inch of this town for the remainder of Straw Hat's crew."
She hurried to do as he ordered, saving a glare for Zoro the entire way. While she dragged the pirates away into custody, Smoker crossed his arms and regarded Ace.
"What's a big shot pirate like you doing in this kingdom?"
"Family business."
"What's Whitebeard want in this kingdom?"
"Different family. I'm looking for my brother."
Smoker narrowed his eyes.
"So," Ace continued, "what do you want from me?"
"For you to come quietly." Smoker glanced at the rest of them. "You, too."
"Rejected," Ace replied instantly. "We've got other things to do here." The Straw Hats exchanged nervous looks when Ace lumped them in with him.
"Meeting this brother of yours."
"Exactly."
Smoker sighed. "I'm busy trying to find another pirate at the moment. To be honest, I have no interest in taking you in right now. Who is this brother?"
"The real question is where he is." Ace doubted Smoker had run into Luffy, or if he had, that Luffy had allowed himself to be caught, but it was worth asking. "I don't suppose you've run into him? Straw Hat Luffy?"
Smoker's eyebrows shot for his hairline even as he continued puffing on his cigars. "Straw Hat Luffy is your brother."
"Sure is."
"Well, that changes things. I can't let either of you have your run of this place. Not as long as I'm a marine and you're pirates."
"What a boring reason. But, I think we could have some fun with it." Flames leapt to life along his shoulders while Smoker's right arm, with the exception of his brown-gloved fist, turned to smoke. It was a good thing the street was already deserted; this was going to get ugly. He glanced at Luffy's crew. "I'll hold him off if you want to head to your shi—"
"—cket!"
A tan, red, and blue blur shot past Ace, collided with Smoker, and kept going, leaving only a stirring of air in its wake. Ace grabbed his hat on reflex to keep it from flying off his head with the wind and blinked at the spot Smoker had just been standing. Now there was nothing but a faint puff of dust.
"Did that," Usopp began.
"That sounded like Luffy," Chopper confirmed.
Zoro slammed a palm over his face. He and Nami spoke in unison: "That idiot!"
"Leave him to me," Ace said. "Where are you docked? That cove to the east? I'll bring him there."
"Hold it," Nami got to her feet, "I'm not sure we trust you."
"You can follow me if you want, but the marines are coming." He nodded at the end of the street, where another rising cloud of dust indicated where Tashigi was returning with reinforcements.
Nami worried at her lip for a second before coming to a decision. "Usopp, Chopper, with me. We need to grab Sanji and Vivi. Zoro, go make sure that idiot doesn't get in too much trouble."
They split up. Zoro met Ace's gaze and didn't respond when Ace lightly tipped his hat in greeting.
Well, politeness wasn't for everyone.
Luffy's trajectory had carried him and Smoker clean into the Spice Bean. Ace and Zoro jogged into the restaurant and were greeted with the sight of Luffy shoveling food into his mouth while the bartender and most of the patrons stared in shock at the hole punched through the bar, back wall, and several houses' worth of walls beyond that. Ace whistled. Luffy had really gotten some speed with that maneuver. He was glad he hadn't been on the receiving end this time.
"Oi, Luffy!" Ace called. No response; the kid must've been starving. There was only one way to get his attention, then. Leaving Zoro at the door to mind the approaching marines, Ace strode up to Luffy and neatly plucked one of the meat skewers from a nearby plate.
Instantly, there was a rubber hand shooting for that skewer. Ace danced out of the way and cleaned off the whole skewer in a single bite.
"Too slow." He took another skewer, and this time, Luffy did more than react unconsciously to the thief stealing his food. When he did, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.
"ASHE!" he spewed, showering Ace with a rain of fried rice that Ace simply let fall through him with near-unnoticeable spurts of flame.
"You got any idea who you hit on your way in here?"
"Someone got hit?"
"Yeah." Ace jerked a thumb at the shadow falling over the hole in the wall. "Him."
Smoker, looking considerably more banged-up and pissed off than he had a minute ago, hauled himself through the last gap into the restaurant and stared at Luffy.
"Straw Hat," he snarled, straightening up. Luffy glanced between him, Ace, and his food, and prioritized the last, much to Smoker's annoyance. "Stop eating!"
"Cut him some slack, he was starving." Ace leaned on the bar, snagging a forkful of fried rice for himself and neatly angling his head away from Luffy's automatic grab. "You mind not interrupting? I just want to have a conversation with my brother."
"Not a chance." Both of Smoker's limbs turned to smoke, and the patrons, who'd been blissfully ignorant of the earlier panic around Ace's identity, realized there was a reason no one else had come into the restaurant in the last few minutes. They all rushed for the exit. The bartender took the shorter route, scrambling through the hole in the wall behind Smoker.
"You might be smoke," Ace said, "but I'm fire. A fight between us won't go anywhere."
"Maybe," Smoker acknowledged. "But I can't let you go."
"I figured." Ace pushed off the bar. "Luffy, take the rest of that to go. Your crew's already headed for your ship, and they're waiting for you. I'll handle this."
Nodding, Luffy shoveled the remaining food into his mouth and jumped off his stool. Zoro cast one last look at Ace before following his captain out the door, cutting into an alley just before they hit the pursuing marines. Ace watched them for a moment, vaguely recalling that the marines hadn't been the only threat in this town.
Ah, well, Luffy could handle himself. He faced Smoker and jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
"Shall we take this outside?"
The marine grunted. Ace strolled out the door, figuring Luffy had done enough damage to that restaurant for the both of them. Once outside, he cracked his neck and squared off against Smoker.
"I know what you're trying to do," Smoker said. "He won't escape."
"You might know, but you can't stop me from doing it." His grin turned cocky and a bit manic. "Because you're a marine and I'm a pirate, right?"
Growling, Smoker launched a billowing fist. Ace let it pass clean through him; the only thing he needed to worry about was that jitte. Something about it made him nervous. Most likely, part of it was sea stone; there was no reason for a logia user like Smoker to carry around a weapon otherwise.
When Smoker pressed the attack, Ace broke up into a solid wave of fire to catch him before he could slip past. Then, because Luffy was already well away judging by a quick pulse of observation haki, he coated one reformed boot in armament haki and performed a spinning kick to slam it down on the densest cluster of smoke he could see.
Smoker loosed a pained grunt and crashed to the ground. Ace reformed and dropped down lightly a second later, catching his hat as he fell. Smoke against fire was an even fight, sure, but Smoker apparently didn't know haki and that gave Ace the advantage. "Better luck next time."
He spun on his heel to see that squad of marines—no, another squad, the first had split off to pursue Luffy and Zoro—facing him down. Several were aiming guns, but all of them were shaking. They'd just seen him take down their captain with what was, essentially, a single blow.
How could he pass up this opportunity? Ace focused, finding that core of himself that fueled his every move. He fanned it, growing it like a flame, and then hurled it outside of himself in a great wave. The invisible pulse raced out in a ring with him at its center and crashed into the marines. Struck dumb by the conqueror's haki, they fell, unconscious.
Grinning, Ace jogged after his brother. He was getting the hang of that. armament haki, too, but he'd had a lot of help learning that one. No one else on Whitebeard's crew could teach him conqueror's haki, and Whitebeard himself was—in his own words—a poor teacher.
Most of what Ace knew, he'd gotten from years of practice with the Spade Pirates. Whitebeard's one lesson on it in the wake of Teach's betrayal had been…unhelpful. All Ace had learned during it was that someone else's willpower could overwhelm his own, which in hindsight had been one of the deciding factors in his one-hundredth battle against Whitebeard.
A few more careful uses of observation haki left Ace with both a mild headache and the knowledge that his brother and his brother's first mate were hopelessly lost in the back alleys of Nanohana.
He fished them out—in the process swatting away an annoying mercenary or bounty hunter or thug, he hadn't bothered figuring out exactly why the overly large man with four swords strapped to his back was so interested in his head—then watched Luffy stretch his arm all the way out to where his ship was sailing parallel to shore in a bid to get away before the marines were in a position to give chase. Zoro was, naturally, dragged along, and his fading yell contrasted nicely with Luffy's laughter.
"Well," Ace told the mooks who'd followed him to the shoreline and hadn't figured out they should give it up already, "guess I'd better catch up."
After a brief slowdown while he worked through the idiots in his way, he found Striker still docked where he'd left it, though the breeze had helpfully kicked some sand into the seat. He ignored that for now, shoved the boat into deeper water, then jumped in. A judicious application of twisting force and fire spun him fully around, and then he was jetting off after Luffy.
After a brief trip over calm blue waves, he pulled up alongside his brother's caravel, grabbed a rope already fastened to Striker, and leaped up onto the railing in time to interrupt Luffy's boasting.
"Who's winning what now?" he asked, tipping up his hat to get a better look at the crew facing him. Seeing them for the second time, he could confidently put names to faces: Nami, Zoro, Chopper, and Usopp he'd already seen in the street; but there was also the blue-haired Vivi, and…the last one, who could only be Sanji, the cook. He didn't look anything like the bounty posters Ace remembered.
Vivi was another oddity. He'd seen posters for Luffy's crew later on, and he didn't remember Vivi's among them. She must not have stayed. Unsurprising, if she really was the princess of this country.
"Thank you for taking care of my little brother," Ace told them while Luffy stuttered, bowing his head. "I know he can be a handful."
"It's nothing," they chorused, a bit dumbfounded.
"He might even be a bit much for you to handle, but take good care of 'im for me, please."
"Are you sure you're related?" Nami asked, then put a hand to her mouth like she couldn't believe she'd said that out loud. "I mean," she added when she realized she had and might as well keep digging, "you're so…"
"Polite?" Sanji offered.
"Reasonable?" Zoro put in.
"Sensible," Nami finished.
"I really would've expected Luffy's brother to be more reckless," Usopp added, earning a grin from Ace.
"See?" Luffy said, back on his feet after Ace's arrival had knocked him over, "Aren't these guys neat?"
Ace hopped down from the railing and held out a hand. Luffy clasped it, then let out a quick noise of surprise when Ace yanked him into a tight hug with their hands between them. Eyes closed, his other arm around Luffy's shoulders while Luffy's stretched and snaked around both of them, Ace let his observation haki wash over Luffy, taking in every single detail. Gone was the beat-up, end of his rope, barely on his feet brother who'd screamed for the world to hear that Ace was his brother.
Of course, this one would do the same. It was Ace's job to make sure he never had to.
Luffy's heartbeat thudded strong and true in his chest. He smelled like sea and straw. He was whole, he was happy. His presence, spirit, willpower, whatever the hell observation haki actually picked up—it was as indominable as ever. This kid would challenge the whole world for his family and he wouldn't think twice.
He missed him so, so much.
"Ace?" Luffy whispered, picking up on the way Ace was shaking.
With a deep, shuddering breath, Ace pulled away. He put his hands on Luffy's shoulders and gave his brother a far more obvious once-over. Then he patted his shoulders and stepped back, because his pulse of haki had picked up something else. Vivi noticed it too, having been looking in that direction already, and she was the one to point out the ships rounding the next bluff to the rest of the crew.
"The billions fleet," Zoro growled, going for his swords.
"Billions," Ace repeated. "Those guys from the port?"
"Yup," Luffy confirmed. "They're so annoying!"
Perfect. He could burn off all this restless energy the memories of Luffy at Marineford had shot into his veins. "I'll handle them."
"Eh? Really?"
"Sure. They're probably in part after my bounty, after all, so this is partly my fault."
"So responsible," Nami whispered, hands clasped in front of her chest. Sanji scowled.
Zoro released his swords and crossed his arms. "I'll admit, I want to see how the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates handles a fight like this."
Any further comments were lost to the wind when Ace dropped down to Striker, undid the rope, and blasted away. He sized up his opponents. Five full-size ships, each one full to bursting with those "billions" people. A couple of the sails read "Baroque Works"—must have been the name of the organization they belonged to. He swung wide, realized the ships were staggered at a bad angle from this side, and adjusted his plan.
They saw him coming, of course. He wasn't making any attempt to hide, not that there was anything he could do to disguise himself on open water. If he cared about stealth, he probably could've kicked up a cloud of steam, but that was it.
Bullets and cannonballs splashed into the water, the latter causing minor eruptions that showered him in spray. He wove through all of it with quick, controlled bursts of fire into Striker's engine. With all of the ships firing and choppy waves, though, he found one cannonball flying at him he couldn't dodge.
Bracing, he focused and amped up his speed so the cannonball would catch him in the chest rather than Striker at his feet. When the cannonball was close, he twisted onto one foot and launched himself into a sideways flip in the air. He stuck out a hand behind his back based on a glimpse of blurry black, felt the cannonball hit, felt it add to his momentum.
He held on, guided it, finished his spin, and absorbed the shock of his feet slamming back onto Striker while he hurled the cannonball back the way it'd come with half again the speed of the cannon that fired it. The side of the nearest ship erupted with flames and splinters, and the other ships who'd seen the feat paused firing in shock, buying him the second of reprieve he needed.
Wrenching his hips to bring Striker partway around, he put himself at the perfect angle while he brought his fist back.
These idiots were going after his brother, and they were stupid enough to do it while he was here.
He let out a wordless roar and unleashed a swirling torrent of flames. It ripped through the billions' ships like they were so much paper. In moments, the fleet was little more than smoking pieces of wreckage drifting on the waves while the wind fought to disperse the massive cloud of steam his attack had produced.
Rather than smiling at his handiwork, though, he was frowning. That fire fist—it was hard to tell, he'd been focused on directing the flames, but…there had been some blue, in all that red and orange and yellow. Maybe.
Or maybe he'd just been seeing flickers of the water, or one of the ships' sails, or any number of things. He dismissed it from his mind and cut through the waves after his brother. Once again, he came up next to the craft, jumped up, and resecured Striker.
The moment he stepped onto the deck, he was presented with a mug of booze. What ensued was a round of at least eight toasts, each one a little more ridiculous than the last. Ace took a seat on a nearby barrel and decided to leave the celebrants be; Luffy was having fun, and that was what mattered.
Even if he really had to quit saying that Ace was joining his crew.
"Why are you here, then?" Zoro asked. "No offense, but this doesn't seem like something you'd care about. I thought Whitebeard was much more focused in the New World."
"Whitebeard's got an interest in shoring up his territory," Ace explained, pausing to whet his throat with another sip of booze. He was already running out. "Which is mostly in the New World, you're right, but we've got interests elsewhere too. I'm cleaning up some places that have gotten a little too comfortable badmouthing the old man. That took me close to here, and since Luffy was in the area, I figured I'd say hi. Reminds me—Lu, wanna join Whitebeard's crew?"
"No way." Luffy's face screwed up in distaste at the idea, and Ace laughed. An offer like that, one that so many pirates would've dreamed to hear, and Luffy frowned at it like it had just knocked his favorite beetle onto its back.
"Yeah, figured. Had to try, though."
"Are you staying?" Nami asked.
"I'll go as far as Yuba, I think." That was as far as he'd gone before, staying right up until he'd confirmed the rumor that Blackbeard had been sighted there was based on precisely nothing. He had no reason to stay that long now, but at the same time, he had no pressing reason to leave, either.
Really, he just didn't want to leave Luffy right away. He couldn't. Every time his brother was in his periphery, Ace caught a glimpse of the kid who was one strong breeze away from collapsing and still screaming a challenge at the entire navy anyway. He had to look twice to make sure Luffy was doing just fine.
But, though he was happy to spend more time with Luffy, he didn't want to crowd his brother. There was no way having a Whitebeard Pirate tagging along wouldn't mess with Luffy's journey and bring way too much attention to him. So he'd leave when they reached Yuba and catch up with his own crew before they started to get worried.
"Do you have business there?" asked Vivi.
"Nah, I just want to spend a little time with my bumbling kid brother. I don't see him often, but I know this one finds all the trouble."
"And then some," Usopp agreed with a fervent nod. Luffy just looked thrilled.
"You're really staying? You're joining my crew?"
"Ah-ah, nope. The only captain for me is Whitebeard. You could still join my crew, you know."
"No way. I'm gonna be king of the pirates."
Ace laughed at the familiar refrain, not because he found it funny, but because it was just so Luffy. So normal. So…
Something he'd thought he'd never hear again.
"You'll have to fight Whitebeard for that title," he warned.
"Then we'll fight."
Ace grinned when the rest of the crew made various noises of aggravation. Nami even rolled her eyes to heaven, probably asking for patience. Sabo had made a face like that many times when Ace and Luffy were brainstorming schemes. It was borderline comforting.
The grin didn't last long, though. "Hey, Luffy."
"Eh?"
"Can we talk?" He glanced at the crew. "Alone."
Confused, Luffy nodded and followed Ace to the stern of the ship, where the loudest sound was the ocean frothing in the ship's wake. Ace had learned from a boastful Usopp that her name was Going Merry. Usopp, in turn, had asked questions about Striker, but Ace had deflected them all. Striker was Deuce's brainchild; her secrets were his alone to share.
Well separated from Luffy's crew, Ace leaned against the Going Merry's rear railing, resting his elbows on the sea-worn wood. His now-empty mug sat a few inches from his left arm. Luffy stood in front of him, one eyebrow raised and his head tilted slightly to one side.
"What'd you wanna talk about? Is this about you joining my crew?"
Ace laughed again. How long had it been since the laughter came so easily and so often? "Still not happening, little brother."
"Then why you were acting weird earlier."
"Yeah. I, listen. I realized there were some things I've left unsaid. Things I would've regretted you never hearing. Things I want to say."
He wanted to say I'm so glad you're okay.
He wanted to say I've missed you.
He wanted to say I'm sorry.
He wanted to say I'll never let it happen again.
He wanted to say Thank you.
And he wanted to say it all again, and again, and again, until the message got across: Thank you for loving me.
But he couldn't say any of that; his mouth refused to open. All of what he wanted to say crowded his throat and stopped anything from getting out.
Luffy, this Luffy, this younger and happier and healthier Luffy who'd never seen the inside of Impel Down or thrown himself face-first into hell for Ace but would, he'd do all of that over and over, he'd do it as certain as the sun would rise every morning, frowned. "Ace?"
Luffy took a step forward, and then another, his expression shifting to one of concern instead of puzzlement. "You're—"
And that was when Ace tasted the salt on his lips.
Ah, so that explained it. It wasn't words blocking his throat. Even with all the time he'd had to prepare himself for this moment, he felt oddly vulnerable, strangely exposed. He didn't like it.
"Luffy, I—" he tipped his head back and stared at the sky as though that would clear the hoarseness in his voice. The breeze pulled his hat off his head, but the string kept it from blowing away. He dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly, ignoring how his chest shook. "I've never been good at this kind of thing. Listen. There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna say it. I nearly died, Luffy, a little while ago. I refused help and I got in over my head."
"You—you nearly died?"
"Yeah." Ace unbuttoned his shirt and pulled both it and the cloak aside so Luffy could see the scar splashed across his chest. Luffy's eyes widened and he reached out to touch on reflex. Ace shivered as his brother traced the edges of the hole Akainu had punched through Ace trying to get to him.
"But you got better," Luffy said, looking up at him, and it wasn't a question.
"I did. It took a long time, but I did." He managed a lazy smile that maybe, probably, hopefully wasn't as watery as he felt inside. "Nothing makes you realize what's important like nearly dying, right?"
"You shouldn't joke about that, Ace."
That smile faltered under Luffy's unwavering stare. "You're probably right." He licked his lips. "Coming here, I realized I've thanked just about everyone else except you. I should fix that."
Luffy cocked his head. "Thanked me? For what? You don't need to thank me. Zoro's the one who gave his booze for the drinking earlier."
Based on the way Zoro had swatted at Usopp when he went to ask if Zoro would share the barrel he was drinking out of, Ace had serious doubts about the gave part of that statement.
"It's not for the booze, though I do appreciate that. This is for when we were kids. Luffy," he straightened a little, "thank you for being my brother. I don't know what I did to deserve you—all the times I threw you off bridges, or tossed you to the wolves, or hit you—but not a day goes by I'm not proud to call you family. You're my brother, I"—his voice caught, but he pressed on, saying what his child self hadn't known enough to know—"I love you. No matter where we are in the world, no matter how much time passes, that'll never change."
Luffy blinked several times and then wiped at his eyes. "What's this all about, all of a sudden?"
"Just something I had to say, that's all." Ace pushed off the railing and clapped Luffy on the shoulder. "Now, let's see if Zoro has more of that booze to give, why don't we?"
They had about an hour of sailing up the Sandora River before they reached the point where they should dock and head inland toward Erumalu. After speaking with Luffy, Ace spent that time much as he had before, getting to know Luffy's crew, refreshing his memory of Luffy's antics, and generally just relaxing. The first time, this trip with his brother had been a welcome break from the relentless tension of hunting Blackbeard. Now, it was simply time spent with family.
As they got close, though, he saw Vivi looking at him more and more. Not long after the fourth time their eyes met, Vivi gestured him aside, using the scant privacy offered by the tangerine plants that belonged to Nami much as Ace had earlier.
"I don't mean to assume anything, but the way you look at me," Vivi chewed her lip, then went for broke, "I get the impression you have distaste for royalty." Ace tried to muffle his surprise. He thought he'd been doing a pretty good job of hiding that, especially because Vivi herself seemed like as good of a person as anyone could possibly be in these circumstances.
"I understand why," Vivi continued, "but…I want to save my country. That's why I'm here. I didn't mean to drag your brother this deep into this mess. I'm truly sorry."
Ace blinked at her forthrightness and felt his respect for her tick up another few notches. "Nobles."
"Eh?"
"Not just royalty. I'm not a fan of nobles, in general. But there are some I like, specifically. You have Luffy's stamp of approval; I don't need any more proof of your character than that. My hangups are my own. I apologize for insulting you. I'll do better."
"O-oh. Please, don't bow your head, that's not necessary. I'm sorry for confronting you about this."
"Don't worry about it. What Luffy does is his choice. If he's decided to help you, who am I to question that? He's here because he wants to be, and that's the end of it." He grinned. "You sure found one hell of an ally, princess."
She self-consciously brushed a stray bit of hair away from her eyes. "I don't want to imagine how poorly things could've gone if Luffy wasn't there."
"He's got a habit of being exactly where he needs to be for people who don't even realize they could use his help."
"He does." She worried at her lip a little more. "You could stay, you know. I would never turn down more help."
"Luffy's made that good of an impression that you're willing to trust another pirate right away?"
"Well, you are his brother, and you've already helped so much."
Ace waved that off. "Cleaning up my own mess, mostly. You don't need my help. This is your fight, and you've already got Luffy with you. He's more than enough. Besides, a Whitebeard Pirate getting involved in this would put a lot of attention on this kingdom that you don't want."
"Are you really that infamous?"
Ace shrugged. After his latest escapades around the Grand Line, his bounty had risen a cool fifty million beri, putting him at a solid six hundred million. During their last phone call, Thatch had bet that Ace would hit a billion before the end of the year. Never mind the target on the back of every Whitebeard Pirate because of the chaos they'd been causing lately.
There was also the small issue of his heritage, which the World Government had certainly cracked by now. No, best not to make it known that Vivi was associated with him in any capacity.
"My name and reputation might help in the short term, same with Whitebeard's with the way we're all over right now, but it'll only hurt in the long term. Just like that dance powder stuff, right? You want to save this kingdom, and I doubt you want to see it crushed under the World Government's heel in a couple years. I'll help you cross the desert—I know exactly what kind of trouble Luffy can find there—and reach Yuba, then I'll say my goodbyes."
He offered a warm grin, remembering the moment he saw Luffy's bounty had jumped from thirty million to a hundred million. "I've got a feeling things will go better than you expect, princess."
Ace spent the next few days getting to know the quirks of Luffy's crew all over again as they crossed the scorching desert. Though the tragedy of Erumalu was a sobering start, Luffy's antics quickly lightened the mood. Ace stayed in the background as much as he could; he was really just here to soak it all in. With the lives they led, he and Luffy crossing paths anytime soon after this was unlikely unless Ace actively sought him out again.
Every time they thought they'd found a safe haven, some new denizen of the desert decided to attack. Ace wasn't worried about getting hurt—no creature this early into the Grand Line had any concept of haki—and Luffy's crew was more than strong enough to handle wild animals. He even got to try some kinds of meat he'd rarely had before, which was a bonus. He could pass along a few more suggestions to Thatch.
The thought, as it always would, brought a smile to his face.
By the time he'd dealt with the old man who'd claimed to be a great bounty hunter, Ace was feeling assured once again that Luffy was in good hands, if that hadn't already been proven to him by the fact that, originally, Luffy had survived this island just fine and even made it to Marineford. His crew was reliable, loyal to a fault, and had all the skillsets a resilient group needed to survive the Grand Line.
Ace was honestly reminded a bit of his own crew, the Spade Pirates, back before Whitebeard disrupted everything. Could they have been like this, as close as this, if he had just let his guard down a little more?
But, the time to leave crept up on him, and it felt all too soon. Still, he didn't fight it; he didn't want to risk Luffy's future getting screwed up just because he wanted to be a selfish older brother.
"Are you really leaving, Ace?" asked Chopper. Behind him, the sun was setting, painting the sky and the sands in brilliant hues of gold, orange, and crimson.
"Yeah," Ace affirmed. "I did everything I wanted to do in this country. You all have your own mission here, but I don't, and I'll only get in your way if I stay. It's time to move on."
"Oh," Luffy said simply, his expression impossible to read. Sanji took up the slack.
"Where are you planning to go next?"
"Depends where I'm needed." He reached into his pocket, where a piece of paper had stayed for the past several days. He fished it out and then tossed it to Luffy. "Here."
Luffy caught it, confused.
"Keep it with you always," Ace advised.
"What? It's just a scrap of paper," Luffy said, puzzled. Even his crew looked confused, but Ace was confident that they would figure it out sooner or later. He wasn't going to spoil the surprise; discovering the truth behind the Grand Line's mysteries was half the fun.
"That scrap of paper will let us meet again," Ace said. Luffy made a noise of incomprehension as he unfolded the Vivre Card. "What, don't want it?"
"No, I do."
Ace grinned, then addressed Luffy's crew. "Having a younger brother who's a bit on the reckless side makes an older brother worry. He's probably going to keep causing a hassle, too." He offered a short bow. "Take care of him for me." He then straightened. "Luffy, I'll be waiting for you at the top."
"Okay!" Luffy agreed, grinning with anticipation.
Ace tipped up his hat, looking his little brother in the eyes. He knew the warmth in his chest was way too obvious in his face, but he couldn't help it. "I'll see you there."