Ace
The second commander of The Whitebeard Pirates was looking at Smoker with a calculating look; he had hoped to meet Isuka and Luffy here instead since she was sent here to see what was the deal with Crocodile and Alabasta, from what she told him, apparently the Warlord was using the Revolution to acquire something, whatever that was, Ace wasn't interested in any of that, what he was interested were Isuka's words before he closed the call.
"I heard you were looking for Blackbeard?" Her voice reached his ears just as he was about to close the call; his eyes suddenly narrowed; who could have told her? He sure as shit didn't tell her; the only ones who can know are The Whitebeard Pirates themselves, so unless his father was in direct contact with Isuka for whatever reason, how could she? Ace asked himself before putting the Transponder Snail back to his ear.
"How do you know that?" He asked slowly with a low dangerous tone; on the other side, he heard her giggle, something he always enjoyed hearing.
"Don't forget you still have a grandfather who still loves you," she answered with a cute giggle, something she did only when she was with Ace, never in front of anyone else.
Ace rolled his eyes at her playful nature; it annoyed him sometimes, reminding him of his little brother, but that always brought a smile on his face; but he grimaced slightly when she told him that his grandfather loved him; he was the son of Gol D. Roger, how could anyone...
"Ace, you there?" Her voice made him escape his dark thoughts; clearing his throat, he rubbed his nose.
"Fine, Isuka, now. Are you saying that Garp knows about me looking for Blackbeard?" He asked curiously, wondering how Garp could know.
"Vice-Admiral Garp approached me one day, asking about you; at first, I was afraid that he might, you know, but at the end of the discussion, he told me that he was happy that you had taken a liking to me before telling me to keep an eye on you, and your whereabouts, as for your question I got reports from certain places that you were seen there asking about Blackbeard's location," Isuka explained with a respectful tone on her voice, especially when she mentioned Garp's name.
Ace rubbed his forehead with sheer annoyance; he wasn't a child anymore; he knew how to protect himself; he had the Mera Mera No Mi fruit.
"Tell Garp that he doesn't need to watch over my ass," Ace spoke with a hint of annoyance but hated to admit that he liked that Garp still cared for him.
"Hmm, does that mean I can watch over your ass? You know I like to-" "Anyway, do you have any information on Blackbeard's whereabouts," Ace interrupted her before she got into more details.
Ace heard a burst of laughter on the other side of the phone, making him smile. "I can tell you, but not here; I'm going to Alabasta to investigate Warlord Crocodile; I will tell you there," Isuka explained, her voice filled with a hint of anger when she mentioned the word 'Warlord.'
Ace raised an eyebrow, not understanding why. "Wait, why not tell me right now?" Ace asked, sure he was going to the Alabasta anyway to meet with his troublesome little brother.
"I will tell you there," Isabel said playfully, and Ace was sure he heard a giggle before closing the call, just as Ace was about to say something.
Sighing, Ace tipped his head a bit before deciding that perhaps he should find a restaurant to eat something; a few hours later, he found a restaurant.
'This one will do,' he thought before walking inside.
Now, Ace was raising the temperature inside the restaurant by the second the chef had crawled away when he felt the added temperature that made him sweat more than the desert outside. He figured his life was more precious than the restaurant.
Smoker gritted his teeth; his arms were entirely smoke, his weapon in his right hand; he knew his chances of winning this fight were too low, if not impossible, but he was a Marine first, and as such, it was his duty to fight the evil and bring Justice even if it meant Death.
Ace narrowed his eyes slightly, knowing the captain wasn't going to back down from this fight; he had to give credit to him; he had met many Captain and even Vice-Admirals who ran away with their tails between their legs the moment the situation got a bit tough.
"Come on, can't we solve this issue over a glass of whiskey or beer?" Ace asked playfully as his arms turned to fire, the temperature inside now much hotter than outside, so much that the water inside the restaurant was boiling.
Smoker felt himself sweating; despite being a Smoke Fruit user, he was still sweating. Let's do this, he thought, prepared to make his first move, but just as he was about to make a move, a smug grew on the pirate's face.
"It seems he's here," he said, the smug not leaving his face.
"Who the hell are you-" he was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder; Smoker dreaded who could be behind him, turning around slowly to see his worst nightmare, the Strawhat himself smiling like an idiot towards him.
"Hey, Smoky," he greeted the Marine Captain; it took a moment for the captain to actually process that the Strawhat was right here, just as Smoker was about to attack him.
"Wind Force," Luffy murmured under his breath, shoving his open palm forward, causing Smoker to be sent flying right at Ace, who simply moved out of the way, the marine's body crushing to several walls, before finally stopping; Evil Pirates, he thought, with a big headache.
"Luffy!"
"Ace?" They shouted before hugging each other, pulling away; Luffy was the first to talk.
"What are you doing so far from Paradise?" Luffy asked; he had thought that he would eventually meet Ace when he finally reached Paradise, but to meet him on this side of the sea was something he didn't expect.
"Personal business Luffy, what about you?" Ace asked, rubbing his ear; just as Luffy was about to ask what sort of business, they both felt Smoker running towards them.
"Come here, Strawhat," Smoker demanded loudly just as Luffy and Ace started running away from the restaurant, soon followed by a whole group of marines.
"Find your crew, Luffy. I will deal with them," Ace said to Luffy; the storm user nodded before running away.
The others, including Smoker, were about to chase him when a ring of Red fire was spread around them, trapping them in; the figure of Ace slowly formed in front of them, fire coming out from several of his areas with a smirk.
"Hate to stop you guys, but can't allow you to go forward," Ace said with a serious tone that made many marines step back in fear, except Smoker, who stood in front of his soldiers, Tashigi standing beside him with a sword on her hand, not backing away.
Any other time he would have praised her for her braveness, but this was too dangerous. "Everyone stand behind me," Smoker ordered his man, his eyes focused on the pirate in front of him, who, despite being a pirate, didn't have the malice-looking eyes he had seen so many times before that he had lost count.
"Why are you trying to protect Straw Hat Luffy?" Smoker asked, pointing his weapon at the pirate.
"Well, every big brother must protect their little siblings whenever they are in trouble," Ace spoke, taking everyone by surprise.
"Wait, little sibling, Strawhat Luffy is your brother!!" Smoker asked, but more like a statement, the fire fruit user simply smirked, not saying anything.
Luffy
The crew was waiting for their captain and suddenly saw their captain landing on the ship in a bolt of lightning. "Everyone, we are leaving right now," he ordered with a serious tone; everyone jerked up at his tone, instantly doing their job to sail away.
"Luffy, what happened to your brother? Where is he?" Nami asked, checking the waves and the direction.
"He's close; he just stopped to say hi to Smoker; he will be here soon," Luffy said, not worried for his brother.
"Luffy, we didn't know you have a brother?" Usopp asked, genuinely surprised; he wondered what this big brother was like.
"I actually have two big brothers," he said with a smirk raising two fingers from his hand.
"TWO?!!" The crew shouted, except Zoro and Sanji, whose only reaction to the new information was a raised eyebrow.
"So, who are these brothers of yours?" Vivi asked, with a cup of cold tea in her hand.
"Well, there's Sabo; he works in the Revolutionary Army; he's a Logia user just like me; last I heard, he's the second commander," Luffy answered casually.
"Revolutionary Army?!" Vivi almost shouted; she had, of course, heard of them, the group that was formed to free the world from the Tyranny of the World's Nobles; she briefly wondered if they targeted her kingdom, mainly her father.
She didn't know much about the Celestial Dragons, but she once heard from his father that they were rotten to their core. Vivi noticed that her captain said that Sabo worked as the second commander; wait, does that mean? Vivi thought of perhaps asking, but before she could.
Luffy nodded without a care, as if what he said wasn't a big deal. "Luffy, what about your other brother?" Nojiko asked, handing a cup of cold tea to everyone that Sanji had prepared.
"He's the second commander of the Whitebeard pirates," Luffy said with a little shrug of his shoulder, while almost everyone gasped in shock.
"Jeez, how is it possible that you know so many powerful people?" Usopp asked what probably everyone was thinking right now before raising his hand and counting the number of powerful people that Luffy knew. The Strawhat captain simply shrugged his shoulders; it wasn't really a big deal.
"How strong are your brothers Luffy?" Nami asked, handing a cup of cold tea; despite not being bothered by the heat, he still appreciated the tea, his arm moving around her waist, bringing her closer to him, before kissing her cheek, making her giggle.
"Me, Ace, and Sabo trained since childhood, but because I got the devil fruit much earlier, I was always stronger than them," he stated, just as a flame appeared behind him.
"How about we test that now?" Ace asked behind Luffy, who turned around with a broad smile.
"Ace," he shouted, shaking his hand with his brother; the others eyed him up and down; despite his casual appearance, they could tell he was powerful.
"Good to see you, Luffy," Ace said, now they could actually greet each other.
Luffy stepped away before introducing his crew to Ace. "Everyone, this is my brother Ace; Ace, this is my crew. Zoro is the swordsman, Nami is the Navigator, Usopp is the gunman, Sanji is the chef, Nojiko is a medic and a fighter, And Chopper is the ship's doctor," Luffy said with everyone else greeting Ace.
"Quite a crew you got here," Ace said before turning to the crew. "I hope my brother isn't giving you all troubles; he can be quite a handful," Ace said in a joking manner, much to Luffy's embarrassment; the others shook their heads; while Luffy could actually sometimes bring trouble, he was the captain they choose to follow with their life.
"Ace, what is this Tattoo on your arm?" Luffy asked, only now noticing the Tattoo across his arm.
Ace gave him a devil smirk that the Strawhat boy really didn't like. He suddenly felt a chill on his spine, causing him to wince.
"I made a tattoo of the first letter of our names, A for Ace, S for Sabo," he explained, pointing at each letter on his arm.
"Where's mine?" Luffy asked; he figured the letter E must be for Edward Newgate; he knew from Ace's letters that Whitebeard was like a father to him.
"C is you, Luffy," Ace added, his smirk growing with each passing second.
"C! Why C?" Nami asked with a pointed look.
"C is for his old nickname, Crybaby," he said with a burst of loud laughter, much to Luffy's annoyance and the crew's amusement. "Crybaby," Zoro murmured in amusement; he could hardly see his captain as someone who cried a lot.
Seeing Ace acting like this with his captain, Sanji suddenly got a flash of a young blonde boy getting kicked by three older boys, calling him a failure.
Is this what a brother is like? He asked himself with a melancholy look on his face that he quickly changed to a smiling one, that was a long time ago, and he would never see them again.
"I didn't cry that much?" Luffy protested with a pout.
"Only every time we trained with Garp, which happened almost every day," He added, still laughing, before looking at Luffy again.
"So, want to join the Whitebeard pirates? Your friends can come as well?" Ace asked, despite knowing the answer.
"No, Thank you," Luffy quickly declined his invitation.
"Figures as much; tell me, Luffy, what are you all doing here?" Ace asked, sure he knew his little brother could be here just to explore a new place, but the timing was a bit suspicious, especially with the growing revolt.
Luffy gave him a quick recap of what happened after he passed the Grandline; when he told him that they had a Princess on board, he quickly turned to get a look at the Princess in question.
She was beautiful, blue-haired, but still not like Isuka, bowing his head respectfully. "Princess, I hope my brother is not giving you trouble," he said, kissing her hand, much to her embarrassment.
"No, not at all; your brother is a good man and captain," she said sincerely with a flush on her cheeks, something Ace noticed, making him smirk; it seemed his brother was more than just a good man and a good captain.
"Ace, how about you stay with us for a little? We can prepare a feast for you," Luffy suggested with a broad smile, hoping to spend some time with him, Ace was about to refuse the offer, but knowing Isuka, she was probably at the next destination.
"Very well, Luffy," Ace reluctantly agreed, much to Luffy's delight.
"Sanji, prepare double the food, and don't forget the beer," Luffy ordered, turning to his chef, who nodded before walking inside. Secretly hoping that Ace wasn't a black hole when it came to eating food, but knowing they were brothers, that was just wishful thinking.
Zoro raised an eyebrow when he heard Luffy ordering Beer for Ace, wondering if he would be able to beat him in a drinking match.
Night
"For Ace," Luffy shouted, with a glass full of beer in his hand, raising it up.
"For Ace," the rest of the crew shouted; usually, Luffy wasn't someone who drank, but on special occasions, he drank a bit.
"So Ace, tell me, how did you end up becoming the second commander of the Whitebeard pirates?" Luffy asked; many leaned a bit closer, eager to know how Ace could get in contact with the most powerful men in the world and survive to tell the Tale.
"Believe it or not, at first, I was there to take his head," Ace said, making everyone look at him as if he was crazy, except Luffy, who face palmed; he should have seen it coming.
"How the hell are you still alive?" Usopp shouted; facing someone like Whitebeard was a death sentence.
Rubbing his neck in embarrassment, having so many eyes on him. "Well, I wanted to leave my mark on the world and figured killing one of the emperors would be a good start; at first, I targeted Kaido, but in the end, I didn't even face him," Ace stated, many in Luffy's group now fully convinced that Ace had a death wish. Still, Luffy knew there was something Ace didn't tell them when it came to facing Kaido.
"After that, I went to Fishmen island, since it is one of the islands under Whitebeard's territory, and faced Jinbei," Ace said, almost instantly noticing the frown and angry looks from many of Luffy's crew, especially the one with orange hair, her eyes turned cold like ice, making Ace wonder what kind of dispute did Luffy's crew have with Jinbei, giving his brother a brief glance, his face was neutral unlike the others, but Ace could tell Luffy was angry, he decided to ask his little brother later.
"We fought for seven days and seven nights, at the last day; Whitebeard arrived; back then, I thought that would be it, either I would win or die, I used everything I had, but Whitebeard still beat me when I thought he would kill me; instead he invited me to his crew as one of his sons," Ace explained with a smile, not bothering telling them how many times he tried to kill his father while in the ship, each time ending up with a broken nose.
"Wow, you're quite brave," Usopp commented, many nodding in agreement except Zoro and Luffy, the latter thinking his brother was too reckless, especially doing something as stupid as trying to kill Kaido and Whitebeard.
The rest of the night went smoothly, Ace telling stories as a pirate of Whitebeard, then Luffy started telling his own stories about how he found his crew; during the story, Ace noticed the little looks of the Navigator, Nojiko, and the Princess were giving Luffy.
Well, well, look who's been busy when I wasn't around; I can't wait to tease him, Ace thought with a smirk on his face.
"How about a beer challenge?" Zoro suddenly suggested looking at his captain's brother, who arched an eyebrow in confusion.
"Beer challenge?" He asked, amused, wondering what kind of challenge this was.
"Each of us is brought a barrel full of beer; the first to finish or the one that lasts the longest wins," Nami explained the rules, excited to start.
Understanding the simple rules, he decided to agree. "Ohh, well, let's do this," Ace agreed, with Luffy and Sanji bringing three barrels and filling up their glasses.
"Three,"
"Two,"
"One," Zoro ended the countdown; soon, the three were drinking, Luffy cheering for Nami, much to Ace's amusement.
"You can win, Nami," Luffy cheered, followed by the rest, especially Sanji, who was the loudest out of all of them, Chopper and Usopp cheering for Zoro.
"Stupid Witch," Zoro murmured in annoyance when he saw Nami already filling up her third glass while he was still in his second.
"Damn, she's hardcore," Ace commented, actually surprised to see Luffy's girl drinking so fast.
After thirty minutes of drinking and stopping a fight between Zoro and Sanji, Nami slammed her hand down on top of her barrel. "I Win," she exclaimed, happy to get 10,000 berries from Zoro, who was already done drinking, not finishing the whole barrel.
Now that the challenge had ended, Luffy decided to ask Ace something he had been wondering about since the beginning.
"Ace, earlier you said you were hunting someone; who is he?" Luffy suddenly asked.
Ace's smile suddenly disappeared like a candle flame, his face darkened, and everyone felt the temperature rising slowly until Luffy put his hand on Ace's shoulder, stopping him from making his crew uncomfortable.
"His name is Marshal D. Teach, he goes by Blackbeard now, he did the ultimate sin of every pirate crew, he killed a fellow crewmate," Ace said darkly; for a moment, his fingertips turned to Blue flames but soon turned to normal, knowing it would be uncomfortable to do this amongst his brother's crew.
Luffy understood that, and so did everyone; Zoro frowned at the coward; Sanji's only reaction was to lighten a cigarette slowly.
"Why?" Luffy asked his brother, who explained that he did it for a devil fruit, Ace didn't know why that fruit was so important to Teach, but that didn't matter; he would make him pay one way or another.
Soon the party ended, and the only ones left awake were Luffy and Ace, standing on the main deck.
"Quite a crew you got here," Ace commented, turning his hand aflame to brighten the night.
Luffy nodded his head, on his hands a bone with meat, his eyes looking forward; knowing they were alone, Ace decided to ask what was going through his head.
"By the way, I saw the way that Navigator and the two blue-haired girls were looking at you," he teased him with a smirk, nudging his brother slightly; Luffy chuckled, his mouth full of meat.
"Nami and Nojiko are my lovers, as for Vivi. I'm not sure," Luffy explained, smiling, sure he liked Vivi, but he knew her mind was already full with saving her country.
"Well, Look who became a Man when I wasn't around," Ace cheered, putting his arm around his neck, pulling him closer.
"I'm so happy; my little brother has become a man," he cheered, wiping away fake tears from his eyes, much to Luffy's embarrassment.
"Hey, stop picking on me; what about you? You're the only one out of three of us still single?" Luffy asked teasingly, knowing Sabo was dating someone named Koala. He didn't know who she was, but apparently, she was his comrade.
Ace looked offended for a moment, his hand over his heart in a dramatic fashion, before smirking. "Actually, I'm not single anymore. I know a girl I like. She's a marine captain," Ace stated, knowing how his brother would react, how everyone would react.
Luffy started coughing roughly, swallowing the meat before looking at Ace as if he was crazy. "A marine Captain!! How the hell did that happen?!!?" Luffy asked, but more like shouting at him.
To Luffy, this was like straight out of a boring romance novel that Makino used to read to them when they were a little younger.
Ace laughed at his reaction; he couldn't wait to see Sabo's reaction. "Well, she was actually chasing me, trying to capture me, at first it was nothing, but from the beginning, I quite liked her fierce personality, we went back and forth, fighting, and talking during the fighting. At the third fight, I started using my amazing flirting techniques, slowly working. That was until one day, an enemy pirate crew went after me," Ace said with a grimace.
"Why?"
"I killed their captain a while back, the fool attacked me for my bounty, and his crew was hunting me down, trying to kill me, me and Isuka were fighting again, I got careless, I usually stay in the same place only for a short time, but because I enjoyed our fight, I ended up staying there for a whole month," he explained, his body getting hotter, flames spreading out from his arm.
"What happened next?"
"Well, three soldiers of Isuka were killed by the pirate crew due to them trying to arrest them. Isuka was devastated and launched an attack on them. I was there and fought alongside her, even saving several of her soldiers; by the end, the strongest of the other crew tried to attack me from behind, but Isuka simply used her sword and her Devil Fruit to kill him; after that day, we decided to talk again, I called her every now and then, after two years since we first meet, she congratulated me for becoming the second commander of Whitebeard pirates, we secretly meet after a month, that day we..." Ace trailed off, already making it clear what happened next; with a little blush on his face, remembering the night, suddenly Luffy slapped his shoulder.
"Congratulations, I honestly thought you would be single your whole life," he teased, making Ace groan, grabbing his head with his arm, and rubbing his hair.
"Look, whose talking, someone who cried when the doctor explained how-" "That's Not Talk about It," Luffy silenced him, muffling his laughter with his hand soon; the laughter ended.
"Luffy, when I mentioned that I fought against Jinbei, your crew got angry; why is that?" Ace asked slowly, knowing this could be a sour subject, wondering if, for some reason, his brother was after him, he knew Jinbei, and he was a good fishman.
Luffy sighed before explaining the whole deal with Arlong, how he had tortured Nami and enslaved her village.
Ace's face changed, his eyes narrowing; he hadn't expected Jinbei to be so careless. "I can talk to him if you want," he offered, but Luffy shook his head.
"No, this is Nami's business; she will be the one to decide it," he explained with a neutral tone; Ace nodded in understanding, hoping his navigator wouldn't try to kill Jinbei. Silence took over them; only the sound of waves rocking against the ship was heard.
Ace looked on the horizon, knowing it was his time to leave. Turning to Luffy, he grabbed something from his pocket, handing it to Luffy.
"Huh! A paper?" Luffy questioned Ace after he handed what looked like a blank sheet of paper.
"Not just any letter; this is a Vivre Card," Ace explained. "It will direct you to my location, no matter where you are, ensuring that we will meet again,"
Luffy placed it on his palm, and much to his surprise, it started slowly inching towards Ace despite the gentle wind, which was going in the opposite direction.
"Take care of yourself, little brother," Ace said before jumping from the deck on his little boat; it had a weird engine.
"You're leaving?" Luffy asked, his mood dropping. "Stay at least one more night,"
"Sorry, Luffy, but I have to find Blackbeard; once I deal with him, all three of us can meet together and spend time like when we were young," Ace suggested, making Luffy smile.
"You're right, that would be amazing," Luffy shouted as Ace used his devil fruit to make his boat sail forward.
"Good Luck, Luffy," Ace shouted, waving at Luffy.
"Good Luck, Ace," Luffy shouted back, waving and holding his Vivre Card in his right hand.
Can't wait for the three of us to meet again, Luffy thought, smiling like a boy full of Joy.