A/N: Let it be known that I don't claim to have any idea what I am doing. Also I don't own One Piece

According to the Original Plan

Prologue

Ace had two emotions warring inside him at the moment, anger and confusion. His anger stemmed from the simple fact that Blackbeard, an enemy that he had been chasing for months had declared quite boldly and proudly in front of him that he was going after one Straw hatted pirate named Monkey D. Luffy. His confusion? Well that came from the fact that he, "Fire Fist Ace" a much better prize in terms of both bounty and reputation had been left by the bastard lying in the middle of the destroyed town on Banaro Island.

"Why the hell is that bastard after Luffy?" Ace muttered to himself, pushing Striker, his small Logia-powered boat harder with a concentrated burst of flames. The small boat responded violently skipping across the ocean surface with great leaps and bounds, but Ace's legs held steady keeping perfect balance.

After he had awoken in the town the first thing that Ace had noticed was the feeling one gets when a great weight has been lifted off of them, relief and phantom inklings of a great and crushing pain. The second thing he noticed was the feeling of a newspaper draped carelessly across his face fluttering like a distressed butterfly that couldn't quite get its bearings. Ace sat up quickly, regretting the decision immediately as another wave of pain ran through his body, shuddering he took the newspaper that fell haphazardly in his lap and glanced at the headlining article:

Straw-hat Pirates Responsible for Destruction of Enies Lobby

Ace couldn't help the wide grin that spread across his face as he skimmed the article, "way to go Luffy." Feeling a bit less lightheaded he ventured standing, and found to his great delight that he could without falling over. Ace brushed off the debris from his shorts and readjusted his hat which had become horribly disheveled during his battle with… BLACKBEARD!

Where had that bastard gone?

Instantly Ace became alert, grey eyes shifting with distrust toward every shadowy alleyway and demolished building. However his sharp observational haki couldn't pick up anyone, not a civilian, not a marine and certainly not a no-good, dirty, ROTTEN PIECE Of…

Focus, Ace focus, he thought to himself inhaling deeply. He immediately started easing the tension in his shoulders, the bright orange flames which had shot to life earlier dulled to a low simmer and eventually ceased altogether. He had to stay calm; he tended to do stupid things when he was angry.

At least that's what several of his fellow commanders and nearly his entire division told him when he said he was going after Blackbeard.

"If you go after him in this state you'll get yourself killed."

"Teach surprised all of us, who knows how strong he really is."

"Ace, calm down yoi. You are in no state to go after Teach."

"Son, please do not give into the anger inside you. Going after Teach is a bad idea."

Ace shook his head at the thoughts. He wasn't angry at Teach; he felt righteous indignation and was merely going to act on it. Ace had felt no desire to kill the man (well maybe that wasn't quite true), but he wasn't that selfish. He knew that everyone on the Moby Dick had reason to want Teach dead, especially members of the second and fourth divisions, as well as the commanders, but especially Pops.

When it was revealed to him by a frantic member of the fourth division that Thatch was lying face down dead in a pool of blood in his room and that the Dark Dark fruit was missing, Whitebeard was shook to his core. It always grieved him whenever one of his children were hurt or killed in battle; such was the life of a pirate. Though it was very rare for any of his children to die under his care, there are just things that out of his control, even if he was the strongest man on earth.

Several hours later, after much investigation, it was revealed that Marshall D. Teach was the only man missing from the whole ship. It didn't take long to put two and two together. Whitebeard's face after learning that it wasn't an enemy that had snuck aboard the ship that killed his son but another one of his children that did the deed was filled with great sadness and utter betrayal, it was there briefly, but it was enough for Ace who had to deliver the news to his captain, to his father.

He wanted to bring Teach (or Blackbeard as he was now calling himself) in so that Whitebeard could deal with the bastard. Ace would not take that opportunity from him, but then Teach had threatened Luffy.

When Blackbeard did that, Ace decided that he no longer cared whether his fight with him would end up with the bastard dead or not. No one threatened Luffy.

But even with that resolve, it had not been enough. Ace was still defeated by Blackbeard, which he may have been fine with if Blackbeard had taken him into the marines, but he didn't, he left him in town very much alive and in fairly good fighting condition judging by his lack of broken bones. The calming breeze blowing through the apocalyptic town had a deceptively calming effect on Ace as he started to think, then it hit him.

Blackbeard was playing a game. A sick, twisted, confusing as hell game, but a game none the less. Ace immediately started running, jumping onto Striker which was thankfully still at the port and started heading toward Water 7.

Which was how he ended up here, skipping on the ocean surface of his skimmer, nearly colliding into a giant ship with a lion-shaped head mast, wait what? Quickly shifting his body weight Ace steered Striker sharply to the right, narrowly avoiding slamming into the bow.

Looking up, his face changed from one of rage from being nearly run over, to one of relief and joy. "Looks like you got yourself a new ship Luffy." Ace spoke to himself, "and it's a damn nice one to boot."

The ship was bright and colorful, with a warm and inviting feel to it. The familiar jolly roger of a straw-hatted skull and crossbones fluttered gently in the breeze displayed prominently and proudly high on the mast of the ship, the massive sail sporting the same design.

Grinning wickedly, he just couldn't help himself, he yelled out, "Gee that was some great navigational work." His voice dripped with sarcastic delight, "If I was any slower you would have succeeded in hitting me."

A familiar flash of orange hair leaned over the side of the boat screaming vehemently in his direction. "Who do you think you are, telling me I can't navigate? I ought to charge you 50 million belis for… for… Ace?"

"The one and only, how's it going Nami?"

The flash of orange hair disappeared and then promptly returned with several familiar faces and a couple of new ones. Ace smiled warmly at seeing Luffy's crew, but dropped to a straight line when he noticed that a certain captain was missing. Where was Luffy? Before he could ask his thoughts were interrupted by a green-haired swordsman with sharp eyes.

"Hey Ace, why don't you come on up?" Zoro offered jerking his thumb toward a blue-haired cyborg. "Franky here can dock your boat in the back."

Nodding slowly, shaking away any dark thoughts, Ace headed toward the stern of the boat where a dock with a large number 6 painted on the side began to slowly lift up; lowering his sail Ace slowly maneuvered Striker into the opening. It was a perfect fit. The dock door closed leaving him in complete darkness, but this only lasted a brief moment as a door swung open revealing what Ace assumed to be his brother's new crew member.

"Portgas D. Ace," he offered his hand and cordial smile. "Nice to meet you."

The assumed crewmember grinned widely "Cyborg Franky," he returned shaking Ace's hand. "Follow me to the deck."

Wanting to learn more about this new crew member, Ace decided to comment on the new ship, "this is a very nice ship."

"You think so?" The man asked turning toward Ace.

Ace nodded. "Yeah, I've been noticing the little nuances of the ship and I can tell that a lot of love and detailed attention went into making her. Like the texture of the wood," he said running his fingers along the grooved walls. "The craftsman ship and design is lovely and… and… are you okay?"

Franky had tears welling up in his eyes. "Ace-bro you are SUPER making me love you." Ace was swept up in a hug by the cyborg. "I built this ship myself (with some help from Iceberg, but Luffy's bro didn't need to know that), I call her the Going Sunny."

"Alright, alright," Ace chuckled, "could you put me down?" Franky nodded and the two headed toward the deck in companionable silence merely enjoying the company of each other and the ship; seems like Luffy got himself a good shipwright, and knowing his little brother's destructive tendencies that was prayer answered for his crew.

As the cool light of glowing lamps turned to the harsh brightness of the afternoon sun on the deck, Ace was immediately assaulted by something small brown and furry. "Oof, hello Chopper," he greeted the little reindeer.

"Ace," the little reindeer was trying to hold back tears. "Luffy was… Luffy is…"

Ace looked up sharply, "what happened to Luffy?" He demanded. The atmosphere on the deck contrasted with the bright and cheerful optimism that radiated from the ship. Everyone looked slightly down and shameful. Ace took a deep asking again, "Where is my little brother?"

It was Sanji who spoke first. Taking a drag of his cigarette he spoke, "We believe Luffy was taken." Ace felt his stomach sink, no.

"We tried looking for him all over Water 7, but…" It was Nami who continued the train of thought, "we couldn't find him anywhere."

"Then we found Usopp…" Zoro started in, "who told us that Luffy was defeated in the middle of the night by this man. Show him Usopp."

Ace felt his hands trembling. It took every ounce of willpower not to burn the paper with the sketch of the very familiar face on it, which the sharpshooter had hesitatingly handed him. The crooked nose, the yellowing teeth, the large body, and the look of a psychotic devil in the eyes were alarmingly familiar.

Blackbeard.