Title: Sailors are a superstitious lot

Summary: Strange things happen on ships that sail strange seas. The Moby Dick is no exception to this rule.

Pairings: None/Cannon

Warnings: OC who explains things, Possible Out of Character moments due to a lack of appearance of characters in Manga as I don't watch the Anime. Set around the time Ace first joins the Whitebeard Pirates whenever that actually is.

Disclaimer: The only character I lay claim to is David "King", the rest belong to their respective owners from whom I have borrowed them for your and my amusement.

Authors Note: So, this story came to be from a variety ideas and small pieces of headcanon that happen to inhabit my brain, one of which being my denial of Ace's death because that kid needed more happiness in his life. I would like to ask if anyone knows what Haruta's gender is supposed to be because I've had like three different sources that don't agree and I would like to know so I can fix that… Currently, Haruta's gender is female because that is what I was initially lead to believe, but given the nature of this fic I need a better confirmation. Anyways, onto the story. I hope you enjoy it.

Sailors are a superstitious lot

It is a well-known fact that sailors are a superstitious lot. In an enterprise spanning 1600 people and spread over 4 ships it honestly was a bit surprising that there were not more superstitions, lucky charms and ghost stories amongst the ships crewed by the Whitebeard pirates. Of course most were dismissed outright like the one of the animated skeleton in the Florian Triangle, women on ships being bad luck or taking a red skies in the morning as an omen of high seas and storms to come. On the grand line one could get all types of weather leading to any color of sky in the morning; a red one really held no significant value. Gods help anyone who dared mention the old saw that having women on board a ship was unlucky especially within earshot of one of the women on the crew. At best, they would find themselves booted overboard, at worst, well, no man wanted to think about it. There were however, some tales which were believed. Those of the Klabautermann, for instance, were considered true. No one ever wanted to meet the one belonging to their ship and everyone went out of their way to avoid such a fate. Cats, of course, were considered lucky; more due to their efforts at pest control than anything else. Likewise whistling was considered good luck and it had the side benefit of making the day go faster.

This was why the reaction to the various tales of the female ghost which had a striking resemblance to Fire Fist Ace were so shocking. Initially the stories went mostly unnoticed in the uproar created when Whitebeard had announced that he wanted Ace to join the crew and everyone was to leave the brat alone. The crew complied though no one was truly happy. In those early days of Ace's presence on board life settled into a rather strange routine. Ace would attempt to assassinate Whitebeard at least once a day and after several attempts someone, usually one of the higher ranking or more powerful officers, would attempt to go talk the kid out of trying again.

During this period of course the crew tended to keep a close eye on Ace just to make sure he didn't succeed in offing Whitebeard. That lead to the collective realization that someone would occasionally think that they had seen Ace in one area of the Moby Dick only to discover that it was instead a woman who bore a shocking resemblance to him. She was often dressed incredibly similarly, although there were a few distinct differences; the shirt or lack thereof and the fact that if someone got too close the apparition would just vanish. Adding this strange female to the sheer number of tall tales from the times when Ace was the Captain of the Spade Pirates, the speculations on his distant past, rumors about why he was attempting to kill Whitebeard, and a story about how he became strong enough to go toe to toe with Jinbei for five days, it wasn't long before the rumor started that the mysterious lady was Ace's dead twin sister watching over him.

No one had a chance to confirm this theory until after Ace had officially joined the Whitebeard pirates. Even then it took some time before someone got up the guts to ask him about his family. Once someone finally asked, the sister theory was quickly found to be a dud. When pressed, Ace would tell stories of a crazy younger brother and there were no mentions of any other siblings at all, much less a dead twin. After that people mostly just left it alone. The mystery woman still appeared at odd times and in odd places. As time went on it became more common to find her doing any number of things around whatever ship Ace was on in the late night or early morning.

Some of the more superstitious folk quietly came to the conclusion that Ace himself was haunted and resolved to not speak about it lest they draw the attention of the apparition. Others of a more inquisitive nature questioned former members of the Spade Pirates who had been spread throughout the 16 Whitebeard divisions. The former Spade pirates were no help at all in an attempt to discern the truth. The more they were questioned about this apparition "haunting" their former captain the more confused they got. Eventually, even the most inquisitive souls left it alone. Ace for his part as the center for all of the confusion was oblivious; to the ghost woman, to the rumors, and the rampant speculation surrounding his past.

It was approximately a month and a half after Ace had officially joined when Haruta the 12th division commander got tired of all of the stories and decided to investigate herself. He didn't find out much let alone anything that would prove or disprove any of the current scuttlebutt. He had, however, learned that Ace was a prankster too. That simple fact had resulted in meetings at breakfast where the two of them plotted new jokes to play on unsuspecting shipmates. Somehow, word of the breakfast plotting sessions was spread to the ex-spade pirates and quickly enough they were joined in their morning ritual by the former Spade Pirate first-mate, a tall lanky man with curly brown hair. David, or King as he was often called, said he was there to make sure that Ace didn't do anything overtly stupid. According to King, Ace apparently had a history of going overboard with his jokes and therefore needed someone to keep him "out of trouble".

Given Ace's prankster nature, Haruta was only mildly concerned when one morning Ace simply face-planted into his eggs especially since David who was walking toward the two didn't react at all. Haruta simply continued on with what she had been saying. "So like I was saying, Thatch hates it when people mess with his hair, so I think that should be the first thing…" Haruta paused. Was Ace even breathing?

"Ace?" No response. Shit. Had their newest crewmate just dropped dead on them? He sighed and turned to David, who was just now sitting down after collecting his own breakfast.

"Oi, King. That normal?" he said gesturing at the not moving Ace with her thumb.

King, for his part simply looked over at where he was pointing before releasing a sigh "Huh. I wondered when that would happen"

"So this is normal? He's not dead? "

"Why does everyone think that?" King muttered as squatted down to peer at his former captain's face. "As to the former," he said shifting so that he could get Ace onto his back, "It's normal for him."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Haruta demanded.

"He's got Narcolepsy" King stated as he stood.

Haruta stared. King appeared very unconcerned about this, as if it was a fact of life. He suddenly realized that for him it probably was.

"And he didn't sleep a wink last night, meaning he's gonna be out for a while so I'm going to put him back in his bunk." David continued.

"Why didn't we know about this?"

"He's a slow man to trust. He may be part of the crew now but you did kidnap him first. I really didn't expect him to mention it. Besides he has meds for it. They're not 100% effective but they work well enough except when…" King paused as if contemplating something, "…Or he ran out. Either way he's not going to move for several hours at least. I'll dump him in his rack and be back in a minute. Watch my plate?"

"Yeah, sure." Haruta said as he sat there digesting what he had just learned.

It was common knowledge that Ace had insomnia. That was why he took so many late night watches. It was also common knowledge that the man could take a nap almost anytime and anywhere. No one had thought the two were connected. So preoccupied was Haruta in her musing that it took him a moment to realize that there was still someone across the table from him. When he looked up, he pushed back from the table in shock. Sitting exactly where Ace had been before he had fallen asleep was the strange apparition that he had been hearing rumors about. After a moment Haruta relaxed. It wasn't doing anything other than sitting there sporting Ace's shit eating grin. The air rippled around it distorting the image slightly "Who are you?" Haruta asked it but there was no answer and in the next moment the female who looked like Ace had vanished.

After that day the apparition started to be called "The Lady." It was shorthand for "The Lady of Hearts" due to its now clear connection to Ace, who at one point had been known far and wide as "Ace of Spades." Over the next few months she started appearing more and more. No one other than Haruta ever managed to get close enough to attempt to speak to her again.

Just as shipboard life had settled into normalcy, well as much as normal as a ship with a persistent ghost could get, the Lady changed her ways again. She started to sing. She had a pleasant voice; low, husky and strong. In fact, it was not all that different from the voice of the man whom she bore a striking resemblance to. The songs themselves varied. Some were happy and cheerful, others were mournful, and some were just sad. Occasionally they would be unsettling. A happy song would be sung mournfully, or a depressing song was sung with a gleeful lit. Had people not been more concerned with the source the music itself would have been beautiful. As it was, there were too many similarities to the legends of Sirens for anyone to be completely comfortable with their warbling ghost.

The increasing alarm by the crew at the mystery of the singing "Lady" eventually made its way to the division commanders and they had just decided to attempt to figure out what was going on when the mystery was suddenly solved. Like its beginning, the solution was solely attributable to Ace himself.

The revelation occurred early one morning. Ace woke, yawning from a full night's sleep for once. Blinking blearily at the room and knowing from past experience that more sleep would be impossible Ace decided the best course of action would be to dress and face the day. Strolling through the hall of the lower deck Ace glanced out the window to check the time. Judging by the position of the sun, Thatch would be up by now getting a start on breakfast. If Ace was really lucky, there would be food already done.

However luck was not with Ace that morning as Thatch had clearly not made it to the kitchens and instead was standing in the "T" junction where the side passage to the galley started. He was staring at Ace with a rather confused expression. Ace frowned. It wasn't that unusual for him to be up early, was it? Or was it earlier than Ace had originally assumed? Well, if Thatch hadn't made it down to the kitchens yet the latter was most likely possible. Well there was an easy way to determine which was true.

"Mornin' Thatch" Ace said then covered his mouth with a huge jaw splitting yawn.

"Who the hell are you?" Thatch asked and Ace stared at him in confusion. Apparently realizing that he wasn't going to get an immediate answer the man continued, "How the hell do you know me? Scratch that, how the hell did you get on the ship? We haven't been to port in weeks! And who do you think you are wearing Ace's hat? Did you do something to him?"

Ace blinked at the other man, not comprehending. "What?"

Thatch's expression turned dangerous. "What did you do to Ace?"

Ace was tremendously confused, "Thatch, I am Ace."

Thatch's eyes nearly bugged out of his head in disbelief. "Listen, I don't know who you are or how you got on board but you are not Ace."

"Yes I am"

"No, you're not."

"Am so."

"Are not! Ace, my crewmate, is a man. You Lady, are not. Now tell me, what did you do to Ace?"

Ace just stared at Thatch, attempting to make sense of the situation before comprehension dawned. Before anything could be explained two separate sets of voices calling for Thatch rang out at opposite ends of the Hall just seconds after each other.

The first person to reach them was Marco the Phoenix, who seemed mildly annoyed and was waving a sheaf of papers.

"Thatch please tell me that these reports have something to do with…" He stopped short, when he caught sight of Ace. "All right, what the hell is going on?"

Ace took a breath but was cut off for a second time that morning by Izo who was approaching from the opposite direction.

"That is exactly what I want to know Marco. Thatch, it's 6 in the morning and the rest of the cooks are saying they can't start breakfast, not even the coffee, because you did something to the kitchen and they need you to explain it or undo whatever it is." Izo said with disapproval. His eyes lit up, however, when he saw Ace. Ace at this point was leaning against the wall figuring discretion was the better part of valor when faced with three angry men, two of whom were functioning without any caffeine.

"Morning Ace. Sleep well?"

Ace grinned. It seemed Izo got it. "Eh, as well as anyone with narcolepsy and insomnia can while off their meds I suppose."

"Ace?" Marco questioned, sounding confused. "Did something happen?"

Ace and Izo turned to look at Marco and Thatch who were sporting twin looks of befuddlement. It would have been funny had Ace been more copacetic or even truly awake enough to appreciate it.

"No?" He said. Didn't they know already? "Nothing happened?"

"If nothing happened" Marco said slowly, "Then why are you suddenly a woman?"

Ace blinked. They didn't know. Somehow, they didn't know.

"Is that what this is about?" Ace actually knew the answer to that as something similar had once happened back aboard the Apollo, the flagship of the Spade Pirates. "Look, I keep ending up having to explain this but it's nothing to panic about. It's totally normal. Sometimes I'm a guy, sometimes I'm a girl. Either way, I'm Fire Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates, formerly the captain of the Spade Pirates." Ace paused as if thinking something over. "Honestly I thought y'all knew. I've been running around as I normally would have for the past 3 months or so. Pops knows as does medical and I just thought the rest of y'all didn't care cause no one bothered me about it."

Marco snapped his fingers as pieces of the puzzle suddenly fit into place. "You're the apparition."

Ace blinked at him. "I'm the what now?"

Marco didn't get a chance to explain as Haruta chose that moment to come rushing around the corner yelling. "Marco! Someone told me you were talking to the Lady of Hearts and she didn't disappear! How come cool stuff always happens to you?"

Ace blinked. "The who now?"

Marco sighed. "The apparition, also known as The Lady of Hearts, who is apparently you."

Ace just stared. After a moment she threw her hands into the air and started to make her way down to the Galley saying as she went, "I don't know what you all are talking about but I suspect it's going to take coffee to make me copasetic enough to understand it."

Izo laughed as he watched Ace walk out of sight while the rest of the small group just stared.

"Wait, why is Ace a woman?" Haruta asked bluntly but was ignored as the rest of the group turned to Izo.

"Do you know what's going on?" Thatch finally asked

Izo shrugged the motion causing the fabric of his kimono to ripple. "Maybe. But I suppose if we want to find out anything we had better follow our gender nonconforming companion"

Upon reaching the Galley several of the group groaned softly to see that Ace had fallen asleep again. She was slumped against King who was reading the morning paper and drinking a cup of coffee.

"How?" questioned Izo referring to both Ace and the coffee. Yet he seemed more surprised by the coffee since the cooks had told him that they couldn't access anything.

King, for his part offered nothing but a smirk and waited for the group to figure out what they were going to do. Thatch, satisfied by the presence of Izo and Marco that no harm would come to their newest sibling, headed off for the kitchen to figure out whatever it was that was causing the problem. He gave Izo a look indicating that he'd would be by to get the story later. Izo, Marco, and Haruta all took seats across from David, while Izo and Marco looked enviously at his coffee.

"Why's Ace a girl?" Haruta asked after a moment and King raised an eyebrow.

"She wants to be?" King offered in response as if he didn't particularly care. "I don't know. Always has been that way, as long as I knew her. Something to do with gender being confusing and growing up in a forest?"

"So, why hasn't this come up before?" Marco inquired.

King shrugged. "Thought you knew. It's not like it was a secret. Not like the narcolepsy. Ace has been acting exactly as she would have back on the Apollo. It's not my fault none of you noticed."

Marco sighed. "It's not that no one noticed. It's no one knew what was going on with Ace disappearing every time someone got close."

"Disappearing?" King asked.

"Yeah. Disappearing. It was mildly disconcerting and has led to a series of silly ghost stories."

King snickered. "You're the Whitebeard pirates. Sailed all over the Grand Line and you're telling me that not one of you can recognize a micro-atmospheric disturbance?" At their blank looks he expounded "Ace doesn't disappear, she was never there in the first place!"

Marco, Izo and Haurta exchanged glances and then turned back to King as if he was crazy.

"It's a mirage."

That earned King another set of blank looks.

"You all know that Ace has a higher body temperature due to her fruit right? Well, normally she regulates it so that people can be around her but when she gets to tired she stops thinking about it and superheats the air around her for a few moments. Then she'll remember to regulate it again and move on to whatever she's doing next. It leaves behind a mirage that fades after a few moments. If you get close enough you notice that there's no one really there."

"Clever. Does it help in battle?" Marco asked.

King looked puzzled for a moment. "I suppose it could but as far as I know she doesn't do it consciously. She knows about it but I don't think its under her control."

"So what's with the singing?" Haruta asked. "Why'd the Lady, I mean Ace start singing?"

"Singing?"

"No. No singin'" came the sleepy murmur from King's side as a hand reached up to cover his mouth "Y'suck at it."

King just rolled his eyes and removed the hand. "Yes, we know. Yet you boss, have somehow managed to freak out the ship with your singing"

"My singin'?" Ace inquired from where she was still slouched against her crewmate. "Thought y'all liked my singing."

"We do, just remember how shocked we were first time we heard it? They've got that on top of the mirages."

"Oh. Yeah." The small group watched as Ace shifted herself upright, and stole King's coffee from him. After taking a sip she offered "I could stop." She seemed slightly upset about something but neither she nor the former first mate of the Spade Pirates offered to elaborate. She looked at the three men across the table, "The singing, I mean. If it's freaking people out."

"Nah." Marco said. Clearly the singing was important from the strange look that had flashed across Ace's face. "It's actually rather nice. We just need to make sure it wasn't some harbinger of Doom. Plus" he grinned wickedly "I just had an idea."

After Marco explained King looked a bit skeptical. Ace just blinked while Izou and Haruta snickered. They all agreed however that if properly implemented it would be excellent.

It is a well-known fact that sailors are a superstitious lot. In a family of pirates spanning 1600 people, spread over 4 ships it honestly was a bit surprising that there were not more superstitions, lucky charms and ghost stories amongst the crew. Some tales were dismissed outright while others were generally considered true even if not everyone believed in them wholeheartedly. As for the rumors of the Singing Ghost who bore a striking resemblance to the second division commander, the Whitebeard Pirates simply smiled and offered to let others investigate themselves.

AN: So, there it was. What did you all think? Like I mentioned earlier, I've only ever read the anime so if there are characterization issues, please let me know.

Thanks to the wonderful Ktwontwo for beta reading this and everything else that I send her even if she's not part of whatever fandom I happen to be writing for. Go check out her stuff, its fantastic.

Also I mentioned I was in denial about Ace's death? Yeah, the stupid ASL trio keeps giving me plot bunnies and I may have another story soon. Anyways, seriously people please let me know what you think!