I'm writing this story as a birthday present for Aerle, for being so wonderful and accepting to be my beta :)

So, first of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :D

This was supposed to be a one-shot, maybe five or six thousand words long, but, well… It didn't want to stay that way. The story started to grow and grow and when it got past 15000 words I realized I couldn't have it completed for today, so I finally decided to divide it into chapters.

I would've liked to do a historical AU, but then again I didn't have time for the investigation (I'm a bit of a perfectionist) so I decided on this story instead :)

I'll post a chapter every two or three days (I wanted to do it daily, but I don't trust myself enough for it)

As, for obvious reasons, Aerle couldn't beta this, The Red Harlequin On The Luna made me the favor to take a look at the story ^-^

Well, here we go :)

Chapter 1

Ace's head hung low, chin touching his chest as he stared unseeingly down at his hanging feet, his body held against the tree by the rope those damn bandits had tied around him and the trunk to keep him there. He wasn't yelling anymore, that had been the first thing he had stopped doing, nor was he trying to break free now and, though his eyes hurt after staying so many hours awake, he refused to sleep, his brain instead drifting over to the words heard earlier that day.

All of this was his fault. He and Sabo were supposed to have been at the Grey Terminal as always, beating anybody who got in their way and collecting more treasure, but now nothing of that could happen ever again because he had been a fucking idiot who had had to go and steal from one of Bluejam's men all those months ago. From that day on, things had gone downhill, even if neither he nor Sabo had realized it at that point.

Beating that Polchemy guy and the men he had under his command had seemed the only possible action back then, as those men had been searching for them, though Ace was reasonably sure that particular action hadn't affected much Bluejam's decision to come after them. Still, now Ace guessed the best option would have been to simply return the money and give them some more treasure as an apology or something. Treasure was just that, treasure, and they could always collect more, but neither of them had thought about that possibility.

Instead, Sabo had come to hide at Dadan's and the two boys had fallen under the illusion that everything was fine. They had become even closer than they had been in the past, and finally decided to become brothers.

And then Sabo's father had appeared.

Ace still wasn't sure if, despite how much of a piece of shit he had been, Bluejam had been right in saying Sabo was better off with his family, despite his brother's opinion on them. After all, Ace couldn't fathom how someone would have been better with someone like him than anyone else, but Sabo must have thought he couldn't stay with his family, just like when he was little.

No, Sabo had tried to leave and now he was dead. And it was all Ace's fault.

Ace,

You weren't hurt in the fire, were you? I'm worried about you, but I know you're fine. I feel bad telling you this, but when you read this I'll already be out at sea. Things happened, and it seems I'll be going before you do. I'm not sure where I'll go yet, but anywhere is better than this country. Then, I'll get stronger and become a real pirate.

When we've both become pirates with more freedom than anyone in the world, let's meet again somewhere. Somewhere out in the wide, open sea, I know I'll see you again.

You know, Ace, I wonder which of us is the oldest? It's strange to be two older brothers, but this bond is my greatest treasure.

Take care, Ace.

Ace sat on the edge of the cliff that overlooked the sea, hands clutching Sabo's letter as he read it again for the umpteenth time.

He didn't sob now when his eyes roved over the words he had already memorized. He couldn't cry, his eyes so dry after weeping for so long Ace wouldn't be surprised if they became unable to produce tears ever again.

It had passed some time since Ace had read the letter for the first time, a little over a day, as now the sun was setting for the second time since he got here.

The raw pain his time tied to the tree had weakened somewhat and Sabo's letter had brought back in full force had now dulled, giving way to the dark thoughts that invaded his mind almost every time he came to this particular spot facing the ocean.

Dark thoughts and the realization, though it should have been there from the start, that he had lost the only person who really mattered to him in this world.

With that realization came another thought. They had promised to leave the island when they turned seventeen, but Sabo had left earlier and hadn't made it. Ace wondered if he would. If he managed to leave, he would make sure to live a life with more freedom than anyone else, as a pirate just like both he and Sabo had always dreamed to be. It would be his tribute to his brother, to sail the world, live adventures and not having to depend on what others tried to impose on him. If he didn't manage it, then that would mean the world had been right from the start and Ace really shouldn't have been born. Right now, he was inclined to believe the world was right, but it would be an insult to Sabo if he just gave up.

His mind made up, Ace decided now was the time to set sail.

When morning came, many inhabitants of the town center of Goa Kingdom woke to discover some of their possessions, in particular money and jewelry, had disappeared. The police station was swarmed by reports on this matter and, in looks of all the displeased citizens who had lost their valuable belongings, no one paid much attention to a fisherman's complaint about his stolen boat, just like the disappearance of almost all the food from those houses was overlooked by the owners.

Portgas D. Ace, the perpetrator of these crimes, was unaware of the ruckus his actions had caused, too busy organizing his provisions and new treasure in the small cabin of his new boat.

There had been bigger boats, even some that had beds inside their cabins, but in this one he had found the most valuable of all his newly acquired possessions, something he hadn't been able to find in any of the houses, and would have required him to rob a store: navigation tools.

Now, he was no expert like Sabo had been, but he had paid attention when Sabo explained something, and had even read a book or two once it was clear they wouldn't be in the same crew. Ace hoped that would be enough to sail the East Blue. He guessed he would become better at it as time passed.

Ace came out of the cabin once he was sure nothing would get out of place due to the sway of the boat and looked up.

The sky was clear, only small white clouds drifting through it, and Ace allowed himself to close his eyes and feel the ocean breeze drift past him.

It was so strange to be out at sea.

He had known he would leave in a boat on his own some day, but he had expected that day to be his seventeenth birthday, and had hoped by then to be tall and muscular, not a scrawny brat who couldn't protect anyone.

Shaking his head furiously to get rid of that thought, Ace looked at the empty area of the small deck opposite to where the fishing tools were kept and decided some workout was in order.

The man fell down with a thud and landed sprawled on the ground, unconscious and with a bleeding wound open on his head where it had hit the pavement.

Ace looked at his hands, clenched around the wooden stick, and gave them a displeased look.

He still was too weak. That man, a pirate who didn't even have a bounty, had almost defeated him when Ace tried to take him on with his bare hands, the boy being forced to grab the first object he found that resembled a pipe to fight.

Ace hadn't brought his pipe with him, he hadn't felt capable of using it again without being invaded by memories of his deceased brother, and now was starting to regret his decision. But he wouldn't get a replacement one to suit his needs, no. Ace didn't want to depend on a weapon to fight, he wanted to be able to use his hands and legs for that, and it was for this same reason that he vowed to train even more than he already was doing. To become stronger.

With that thought in mind, Ace decided to go in search of the local thugs. Every city had its own weak thugs who thought themselves to be something great, and they were very useful to test one's abilities for now.

Monkey D. Garp sat behind his desk at Marine Headquarters after returning from another unsuccessful search at East Blue.

Sure, he had visited Luffy at Foosha and spent two weeks training him, but he had found no trace of his other grandson.

As always.

Ace had disappeared over a year ago, right after Sabo had died, leaving behind nothing but a short letter scrawled on a small piece of paper where he told Dadan that now she wouldn't have to worry about spending money on him. He had also written a few lines for Garp, telling him this way he wouldn't be putting himself in danger for protecting Ace, and that, despite being a shitty old geezer, he wasn't all that bad as a grandfather.

That was the best compliment Garp had ever received from Ace.

The boy had been gone for a month when Garp had gone to Dadan's that time, and the only reason the marine hadn't really done anything to the bandits was that he could see how genuinely worried they were about the boy. Garp was worried, too, so worried that he had started crying right there, clutching the letter he still kept to this day in one hand.

He had left the island right away, barely stopping to say goodbye to Luffy, and had searched for as long as he had managed to stay away from headquarters before Sengoku threatened to go out to East Blue and drag his ass back to Marineford.

Garp had only managed to hear some rumors about a monster brat beating people up at different islands, but he had already been gone when the marine arrived at those islands. Through the descriptions provided by some of the victims, that all coincided it was an angry dark haired kid with freckles on his face, Garp knew it was Ace. He had heard them every time he went to East Blue at one island at least, but hadn't been able to find Ace all the same.

The marine had conflicting emotions regarding those rumors. In one hand, they were proof that Ace was at least alive, and becoming stronger as every time his victims were stronger as well, but at the same time they meant the boy was putting himself in constant danger, and that worried Garp.

In his last trip, the vice admiral had even heard mention to these incidents at a marine base he had stopped at for supplies, and couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before they managed to discover who the one behind the attacks was. At least the men talking about it had seemed incredulous at the idea of a child beating adults like that.

Ace staggered backwards, barely managing to stay on his feet when he was punched right on the face.

There was laughter around him and the same man who punched him grabbed him by the front of his t-shirt and lifted him up, pulling the boy closer to his face. Ace turned his head, not wanting to get the disgusting man's rotten breath right on his face.

"So you're that monster brat who's been attacking people all over East Blue, huh?"

Ace glared at the man and tried to pull the hand holding him off, earning a punch to the stomach.

There was more laughter around him from the other men.

"You gonna kill him, boss?" Someone asked, and Ace held back the urge to turn around and glare at the one who spoke, keeping his eyes on the most immediate threat.

"Nah. This brat's strong, we could use him."

In that moment, hearing those words, Ace was reminded of Bluejam. Bluejam, who had used him to prepare the fire that burned Grey Terminal. Bluejam, who had come with Sabo's father to take Sabo away from him.

Ace saw red.

"I'm not working for you!" He yelled and, before anybody could react, had kicked the man in the face with enough strength to make him release Ace and fall backwards holding his now broken nose.

Without thinking, Ace lunged at him, viciously punching and hitting the adult, not realizing that the blows that hadn't caused too much damage earlier were now easily breaking through skin, muscle and bone.

It wasn't until later, when he was the only one standing in that alley, that Ace stared down at his hands and realized he had caused much more damage than his strength should have allowed him. Confused, he wondered why none of the other men had attacked him and raised his head to look around, finding all of them there, sprawled on the ground with their weapons scattered around them, having fallen from their hands. None of them were awake.

He wondered about it, but couldn't find any explanation for what had just happened.

Ace grinned, looking around to make sure none of his enemies were conscious before he walked up to the last man he had defeated, unconscious as the rest of his crew.

He remembered seeing this man's face before, he was a relatively famous pirate here in East Blue, with a bounty of ten million beli on his head, far above the average for pirates in this sea. That was a nice sum, and would have done nicely to replace his already too worn out boat, but unfortunately Ace couldn't claim it.

He might not be the smartest person around, but he was no idiot either. Ace had heard the rumors going around about him, and knew as soon as a twelve year old boy appeared at a marine base dragging a thoroughly defeated and dangerous pirate captain, the marines would make the connection and identify him. He may not have an official bounty on his head, but Ace wasn't too sure that would mean they would allow him to simply walk away with the money.

It wasn't something he was eager to test.

But, even without obtaining the money, there had been some perks to this fight. He had won, to begin with, and had managed to use the strange skill that appeared some months ago to do so. Granted, it hadn't been perfect as he couldn't exactly use it at will, but anger had been perfect to make it appear. He hadn't been doing bad before that, although he had been greatly outnumbered, but once that skill appeared again it had been a matter of a few minutes to take all the small fry out, and the captain had gone down easily in a one to one fight.

Ace didn't know what that skill that enhanced his strength so much was, he hadn't been able to find any information on it, but it didn't really matter as long as it was useful. And it wasn't the only unexplained power, either. No, Ace could also feel things. He instinctively knew where people was, was able to predict others' attacks and sometimes could even get an idea of how strong someone was.

At one point Ace had considered the possibility of having accidentally eaten a Devil Fruit, but he could still swim, so that option was discarded.

After various failed attempts at discovering what was happening to him, Ace had decided to ignore the why and instead concentrate on learning how to control these new abilities. Looking around, he didn't seem to be doing too bad.

The bad thing was that this crew was among the strongest of East Blue, and that meant soon this sea wouldn't be enough for him to train.

Maybe it was time to search information about how to enter the Grand Line.

Ace walked through the busy streets of late afternoon, careful to avoid any collisions that could damage his precious purchases. Aside from ridiculously expensive, Log Poses looked to be frail items, and Ace really didn't to risk his luck and break one. He would have to raid a pirate ship or two just to gather the necessary money to buy another if this one broke.

At least the navigation using this strange compass seemed easy enough, or would have been if it weren't for the strange things he had read about the Grand Line's weather. He would have brushed most of it off as lies or exaggerations if it weren't for the stories he remembered his gramps telling him years ago, when Ace was little and still didn't know much about the world.

He shook his head, trying to erase all memories of the man he still cared about despite his less than stellar nurturing skills, and froze when he saw where his steps had brought him.

He was at a wide plaza, people walking around him just like everywhere else in the busy town, and there, standing at the other end of the square open space, was a tall wooden structure.

The scaffold.

The place where everything began. The place where the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger's, execution had taken place fifteen years ago, where Ace's place in the world had been erased even before he was born.

Ace stalked off through one of the many streets leaving the plaza and decided he could use a drink. He had long since learned how to threaten bartenders into selling him booze, and many people didn't even care about selling alcohol to a boy who wasn't even fourteen as long as he could pay for it.

Ace looked around, fascinated at the water ascending at high speed through the path that would lead him to the Grand Line.

He was finally here. It had taken him almost a year to gather all the necessary information to enter the greatest ocean in the world, as well as finding a boat strong enough to resist the rough entrance but that he could manage by himself, but now he was finally here.

He had managed to enter the channel by a hair's breath, for a long moment sure he wouldn't make it and instead crash against the rock wall, and now, with the water carrying him up, he laughed.

He laughed for the first time in many months, and when the boat jumped in the air and fell onto the rapidly descending current he allowed himself to grin widely and stare ahead with fascination, for the eternal moments it took for him to descend to the calmer waters below going back to be the child that had ran through Grey Terminal and Goa Kingdom with his brother and best friend, laughing and fighting and dreaming of becoming a great pirate someday.

Up on the mast, the pirate flag he had finally decided to hoist flapped furiously, moved by the strong wind.

To be continued

I know there is no Marco here, but I had to set things up first, and that took longer than expected. Still, I hope you liked it and find it at least interesting ^^

And, just to repeat myself, Happy Birthday again, Aerle :D Hope you have a great day ^-^