Shambles

Fanfiction Based Off of: One Piece

Original Story: Eichiiro Oda

note: this is an alternate universe/ending/continuation of Ace of Spades. it probably helps to read that one for some clarity, but i'm writing with the intention that this can stand alone. hopefully it's not too confusing. if it is, let me know.

Chapter 1: Ghosting Winds

To ex-Admiral Aokiji, Punk Hazard was an unfortunately familiar place. His infamous battle with Akainu seemed like years ago—perhaps it really was years ago, now—but as he sat on his side of the island, comfortable despite the freezing temperatures, he could understand why Caesar Clown had chosen this place as his hideout. The remnants of the battle were still fresh, with the polarizing extremes of climate making the entire island uninhabitable for practically any sane human. Aokiji was not quite sure if Caesar Clown counted as sane or human, hence he was not surprised to find him here. It was an island frantically avoided by pirates and Marines alike, and even if they wanted to find the island, they'd have difficulty doing so, as Log Poses could not even log the place.

Aokiji had merely been on a gentle stroll on top of the ocean, thinking about life as the water glaciered with his footsteps, when he'd found himself on Punk Hazard's shores. He had heard the rumors about children disappearing near the start of the New World, something about human experiments and a forsaken lab somewhere, but had figured that Marines had been appropriately dispatched to handle the situation.

Apparently not, given that Aokiji had found himself face-to-face with Donquixote Doflamingo right as he was about to murder Vice Admiral Smoker out of pure frustration, and probably other reasons too, but mostly the frustration. Again, unfortunately, because Aokiji's life was just full of misfortunes, the ex-Admiral had been quite good friends with Smoker and respected him enough to not watch an irritating pink flamingo try to kill him because really, what an undignified death that would be for the G5 commanding officer. And thus, Aokiji had kindly intervened, chasing Doflamingo away from his prey but not without the Shichibukai leaving with the biting question of, "Just what are you, Kuzan? The rumors aren't good."

This left the former Marine to contemplate deeply about this question as the remainder of the G5 Marines gave their Vice Admiral emergency medical attention.

"Penny for your thoughts, sir?" a female voice said behind him mockingly.

Aokiji turned to find a heavily cloaked and hooded figure standing right behind him, her presence all but unannounced were it not for the fact that this person was precisely who Aokiji had wandered to Punk Hazard for.

"Sir," chuckled Aokiji. "It's been a long time since you've called me that. Usually it's just Aokiji or fucking Kuzan now."

"Well, I'm surrounded by Marines," the visitor said, somehow completely unseen by the Marines despite the fact that she was clad completely in heavy black cloth, her profile impaling a snowy landscape. "Thought I'd show manners to…you know. Blend in."

"Don't think that would've helped you any," he said.

"Probably not," she agreed. "Lucky for me, people have been preoccupied with other things here."

"Mm, not really what I expected either. How long have you been here?"

"Just long enough to overhear Smoker and his gang regrouping, something about the Strawhats and Trafalgar Law running off with Caesar Clown. I guess this laboratory explains all the missing children in this region, who the Marines once again failed to help because what's the point of them anyway."

Her voice was fairly soft, pleasant, but there was a definite bite to her tone as she made the less-than-underhanded remark. Aokiji decided to ignore the jab at his former employers; it was not like he was feeling all that keen about the institution he had resigned from anyway.

"You didn't bother helping? Smoker was about to die."

"I saw you coming from a distance," she said lightly. "I wasn't about to reveal myself to a Shichibukai for no reason. Shall we find a more deserted area to talk?"

"Let's."

Aokiji stood up, dusting the snow off his cloak, and walked with the newcomer further along the ice beach, turning a corner behind a large old stone and away from the rest of Smoker's men. He had to be thankful that Smoker's condition had been so dire—literally, an ex-Admiral had been joined by an escaped convict to discuss very top-secret matters and the Marines hadn't even noticed. Perhaps that was also why the Marines were so incompetent at many things: lack of direction.

"You can remove your hood now," Aokiji said. "We'll be fine here. They're preoccupied."

"If you say so."

Ava Skye Spade, preferably known as Spade, dropped down her hood, revealing a rather worn expression on her face. Her dark hair was braided loosely, revealing a subtle widow's peak and slightly larger forehead that she had hidden in her earlier years with bangs or cowboy hats. Her dark green eyes were lively but shrewd; Aokiji could tell that though she maintained eye contact with him, she was hyperaware of her surroundings and constantly was looking past his ears to see if any Marine would round the corner to find them. Now almost in her mid-twenties, the rash aggression of her teenage years had mellowed down to a quiet but fierce intensity. Perhaps it wasn't merely her age that had made her more controlled, though. Spade had never been quite the same since the death of Portgas D. Ace.

"You look tired," Aokiji observed.

"I've been flying for three days. Can't believe you told me to meet you here," she said, her voice showing disgust. "Do you know how hard it is to find this place? And all the shit I had to fly through too—the pollution. It fucking burned my skin."

"I hadn't thought about that," admitted Aokiji.

"Not all of us can walk on the ocean," she snapped. "Keep that in mind."

"Well, not all of us can fly," he replied smoothly. "You could've taken a ship."

Spade snorted, a sound that did not quite fit her face. "You would love that, watching me sail in circles because a Log Pose can't find this place."

"Point taken. Apologies," he said. "I'll find a better place next time."

"Did you choose here thinking I'd help you smoke Caesar out of this lab?" she said.

"No, of course not. I was merely wandering across the seas and remembered this would be a nice deserted place for an a disgraced Admiral and a pirate worth half a million beli to rendezvous in secret."

"You don't have to pretend to be lazy around me, you know," she said dryly. "I know you always care more than you like to let on."

"Truthfully, it was just a hunch. Plus, with the pirates showing up, they didn't need my help anyway."

"Smoker did. The fuck is Doflamingo doing here anyway?"

"It seems he is in charge of this laboratory. Apparently he has been sponsoring all of Caesar's experiments."

"Ah. And he sells the developments in the Underworld?"

"Indeed. Kaidou's Joker," Aokiji said in a fake spooky voice. "How quaint."

"So, what are you now, Kuzan?" she said, repeating Doflamingo's final question. "Friend of the Marines? Friend of pirates?"

"What rumors was he talking about?" wondered Aokiji aloud. "How are rumors about me not good? I'm a wonderful person."

"You know exactly what he's talking about. I've heard from multiple sources that you're affiliated with Blackbeard and the Underworld now."

"On your orders," he snipped.

She laughed. "My orders? Aokiji, you were my superior!"

"Yes, well, not anymore."

It had been a long time since Aokiji had seen her as an underling. True, he had practically raised her in the Marines, and her reputation as his personal protégé had not gone unnoticed. She had been the youngest Vice Admiral in the Marines' history, not to mention a woman, and it had all been very well and fine until she'd received the tracking mission that had changed her life forever: finding Nico Robin.

Aokiji was still unclear what exactly had transpired between the Devil Child of Ohara and his student, but it had caused his student to do some (most likely) illegal digging into old Marine records and uncover the truth behind Ohara and its Buster Call. After prying unnecessary information out of people and then committing the murder of a Cipher Pol officer who had been involved in the Ohara Buster Call, Spade had officially left the Marines and never looked back.

"So how'd Luffy and Trafalgar Law get here?"

"I spoke with some of the Marines earlier." Aokiji readjusted his glasses. "It appears Trafalgar Law has been here a while, perhaps intending to break apart this laboratory from the inside. The Strawhats ended up here by pure luck. Since then, Law has allied with the Strawhats to bring down Doflamingo."

"Interesting," Spade mused. "A Shichibukai partnered with Luffy, who has miraculously reappeared with his full crew after two years."

"Have you met him?"

Spade arched an eyebrow. "I was on Luffy's ship for the good part of a year. Don't you remember?"

"No, not Strawhat. Law."

"Oh," she said thoughtfully, "I don't think so. Didn't he become Shichibukai by sending a hundred pirate hearts to Marine Headquarters?"

"Indeed," said Aokiji mildly, remembering the day when the shipment arrived. He'd heard of the Surgeon of Death and knew he had a reputation for being slightly sadistic and cruel, but this was a bit extreme. Many of the hearts were still beating, freakily enough. No one really knew what to do with them, and before anyone could decide, the then-twenty-four-year-old had become promoted to Shichibukai. It was a feat unheard of in Marine history.

"He was one of the Supernovas on Shabondy the day Kuma sent the rest of the Strawhats flying and arrested me, but obviously I was busy with other things."

"Like trying to get arrested," Aokiji said pointedly.

"I wasn't trying to get arrested," she retorted. "It just so happened that getting arrested would get me closer to Ace and that didn't seem like such a bad idea at the time."

"I'm sure your experiences at Impel Down made you rethink otherwise."

Spade nodded curtly. "They did."

Aokiji chuckled, which was honestly a bit mean because he knew that the arrest had been his pupil's last-ditch effort to save Portgas D. Ace from his public execution, if only for it to mean that the Marines had tried to execute them together. The duo, Ace of Spades, had been infamous several years back as the strongest rookies on the Grand Line; Ace's Mera Mera no Mi and Spade's Kaze Kaze no Mi seemed like a match made in heaven, especially when Spade's winds made sailing so easy. Those juvenile days seemed long gone—Aokiji had tried to capture Spade on multiple occasions back then and got to see how strong his old student had become. Though he could've beaten both Spade and Ace at their prime, he knew from watching them fight that they were formidable and, frighteningly enough, happy when they fought together.

It had been a long time since Aokiji had seen Spade happy, no matter how much she smiled or smirked now.

"Well, that's all really fascinating news, but I'm sure you just found that out too. What did you bring me out here for?" Spade asked.

"Thought we should touch base, before I go undercover," Aokiji said seriously.

Spade nodded. "You've made contact with Blackbeard then?"

"Yes. I'll be meeting them soon. Your last coordinates still stand?"

She appeared to be thinking for a second. "No…no, I think I have new ones. Here…" Spade dug into a pocket deep inside her robes and took out a sheet of paper. "I think those are the latest ones. But you should go to the previous ones first, pretend like you have old information and see if someone else is there who can lead you to Blackbeard. I don't want him knowing I can keep an eye on him."

"Skye, most people don't even know you're alive," groaned Aokiji, taking the folded paper from her. Her instructions most likely added weeks to his trip.

"He knows," she said grimly. "I saw him when I got Marco out of their battle."

"Oh, that's right," remembered Aokiji.

It had been several months since Aokiji and Spade had last met for their typical exchange of information meetings. The meeting before their last had been shortly after the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates had launched a full-scale battle against the Blackbeard Pirates in what was now known as the Payback War. After the Whitebeard Pirates' thorough defeat, the division commanders had all but disappeared, which was why Aokiji had been rather surprised to meet Marco in Spade's bar on a small island near the edge of the Calm Belt. But perhaps he shouldn't have been startled to find the First Division Commander alive and contentedly downing at beer; Spade's affiliation with the Whitebeard Pirates was an obvious one, and truthfully Aokiji should've been surprised not to have run into him sooner.

"How's Marco doing anyway?" Aokiji said casually.

Spade's gaze hardened. "Deals are still just between you and me, Aokiji. Whitebeard Pirate information is off the table—I've told you that before."

"I know, I know," he sighed. "Always worth a shot. I like to remind myself I have friends in this world. Thanks for crushing those dreams."

"You know I care about you and we'll fight for you when you need us," she said irritably, her tone not matching her uncharacteristically sentimental statement, "but it doesn't change the fact that you're still buddy-buddy with Marines like Smoker and Akainu—"

"I have never been 'buddy-buddy' with Akainu and you know it," the ex-Admiral said coldly.

"Yeah, well, you don't want him dead and that's buddy-buddy enough for me," she said scathingly. "Whatever, Marco's fine. Now what do you have for me?"

"First, this," he said, handing her a very miniature Den-Den Mushi. It was red, angry-looking, and had the letters "SOS" painted across its forehead.

Spade understood and pocketed it safely in her inner robes.

"Please don't lose it, they're very rare and expensive. And one-time use," he reminded her.

"I know, so no false alarms," she answered. "The moment you think you're in deep shit, I'll come with friends."

"Appreciated," he said sincerely.

"Anything else?"

"A rumor, about the Mera Mera no Mi."

He had mentioned the rumor about someone who was claiming to be Hiken no Ace and had caused some small trouble with civilians several months ago. Eyewitness testimony had claimed that he was able to produce fire, just like the old Firefist.

Spade narrowed her eyes. "That was a fake. I eliminated him personally."

"Ah, well that's good. But I'm not talking about the fake. Doflamingo has let known in Underworld channels that he has obtained the newly regrown Mera Mera no Mi."

"And is it true?"

Aokiji paused for a bit. He had confirmed and reconfirmed the rumors, just because he knew that Spade would not sit idly by as the Devil's Fruit of Portgas D. Ace fell into the wrong hands. It was lucky that Doflamingo already had his own Fruit; the power of fire in that monster's hands would have been catastrophic.

"Aokiji?"

"It is true," he said finally.

Spade merely blinked. "What does he want to do with it?"

"It is unclear. I just wanted to let you know."

She nodded. "Thank you for telling me."

"Don't do anything stupid, Skye."

"I know. I won't."

Aokiji nodded, knowing that any further cautionary measures were useless. Spade was strong and, in the last two years, had become more levelheaded than before. It was a change Aokiji was glad for, but he knew that watching her partner and lover die right in front of her was a terrible exchange for learning some restraint in battle.

"I guess I'll be heading out. Be careful with Blackbeard, Aokiji," she said as she replaced her hood over her head.

"I certainly will be."

"Get updates to me if you can. I'll keep an eye on him as much as possible, so hopefully that'll mean keeping tabs on you too. You're a lot harder to track if you don't want to be found."

"You're worse."

"Thank you, that's a great compliment."

"Do you keep track of everyone?" asked Aokiji curiously.

"Just people I care about."

"Like all of the Strawhats over the last two years?"

"Most of them," said Spade slowly. "I at least had a general idea where they were. Though honestly, I just needed to know they were alive."

"So you haven't contacted them?"

Spade shook her head.

"Why not? I thought you'd spent the better part of a year with them."

Spade didn't answer immediately. "I just couldn't make myself."

Aokiji understood. "All right. Well, you're bound to run into them eventually."

"Mm, I know. May be a while, though." She readjusted her hood and wrapped her scarf tightly around her neck. "I'm off, Kuzan. Stay safe."

Aokiji was about voice aloud that perhaps she should rest for longer since she'd been flying around for three days straight, but there was no point. With a nice, hot breeze that tickled Aokiji's face, Skye Spade disappeared.

Trafalgar D. Water Law was a deeply pragmatic and incredibly intelligent man. There was no point in him being bashful about it; he was the youngest Shichibukai in history (not that the role of being a government dog was that admirable but still, the point stood) and knew that he was different from the other rookies in his generation by sheer virtue of his ability to mastermind. Truthfully, the thought of someone like Eustass Kid being able to find an extremely well-hidden laboratory, raid it and destroy a deadly biochemical weapon, and escape with the mad scientist while threatening Don-fucking-flamingo was really laughable. Eustass Kid didn't even have the foresight to see how the role of Shichibukai was remotely useful; Law had gotten away with grand-scale near-massacres of entire crew ships and had barely received a slap on the wrist from the World Government.

Law was taking a couple minutes to appreciate his own genius and also say a brief thank you to whatever gods were out there that he was still alive, because fuck had Vergo's sudden appearance at Punk Hazard thrown him for a loop. And to think that Monet had been Doflamingo's! The Strawhats' incidental appearance had truly been a blessing in disguise.

Still, Law could not quite believe that Monkey D. Luffy was really all there. Sure, the kid was really strong and insanely nice but that insane niceness was so naïve that it was a wonder how he'd managed to survive at all. He had a good crew, a good heart, and amazing charisma, but Law would've been dead a million times over if he'd treated people the way Luffy treated people.

It had been Law's idea to make the alliance. It was Luffy's interpretation that made it a very weird friendship.

It was now the morning after their battle at Punk Hazard, and Trafalgar Law was waiting impatiently for the morning paper. He'd given Doflamingo his ultimatum yesterday and was anxious to see what his former captain was going to decide. Giving up his Shichibukai position and stepping down as ruler of Dressrosa would make Doflamingo extremely vulnerable, especially given the atrocities he'd barely kept secret. But Kaidou, the strongest creature alive and the scariest of the Yonkou, was a much more frightening prospect.

Law sighed. His goal in life was to make a man like Doflamingo scared shitless at the mere thought of him. That, and find the One Piece.

He shifted his nodachi into the crook of his left arm as he gazed over the edge of the ship. They were on the Thousand Sunny, a beautiful ship even by Law's standards, and were currently sailing in the direction of Dressrosa. The paper still hadn't arrived, but Law had the gut feeling Doflamingo would acquiesce to his demands, especially given the alternative was so distasteful.

"Good morning, Captain Law," said a voice behind him.

Law turned to see Nico Robin approach him, her smile pleasant as she took a sip of her coffee. Sprouting from her waist was another set of hands, which cradled a second cup that was proffered to him.

"Good morning, and thanks, Miss Nico," he said, taking the steaming mug with secret delight at seeing the Hana Hana no Mi at work in front of him. He really was curious: if he broke the extra limbs, would she feel pain? Were the extra limbs all clones of her own body parts, or did they each have individualized anatomies?

"Robin is fine," she said with a gentle wave of her third hand. "Did you need cream or sugar?"

"No, this is excellent. Thanks."

"Sleep well?"

"Mm. It was a bit hot."

"It doesn't help that you're dressed for winter," she said chidingly. Law had to admit that the historian's light cotton blouse and shorts were more suited for the balmy weather, but he had lived on the tundra side of Punk Hazard for the last month. Hence, the fur collar and snow leopard cap.

"Still," Robin continued, "a breeze would be wonderful right about now.'

"I know," whined Luffy as he joined them. The Strawhat Captain was fanning himself with his hand, tongue hanging out of his mouth like he was a panting dog. "It's so hot…I miss Ava, she could cool us down in a jiffy."

"And get us to our destinations faster," moaned Nami the Navigator as she joined them up on deck with a pastry in hand. "The New World feels even worse than the start of the Grand Line…it's so hard to predict weather patterns here."

"Who's Ava?" asked Law, feeling slightly left out.

"Ava," replied Luffy, as if this answered Law's question clearly.

"Yes," the surgeon said impatiently. "I understand her name is Ava, but that still tells me nothing."

"You might know her as Spade," said Robin casually, "of Ace of Spades."

"Her name is Ava," said Luffy indignantly. "I only heard Ace call her Skye. She seemed to prefer it that way."

Law was reeling with this new information. He remembered the old bounty posters from years ago, before the Battle of Marineford, but hadn't seen anyone beyond Luffy and Roronoa Zoro who had caught his attention. Surely he would've noticed that a previous Vice Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, user of destructive wind power, had been a member of Strawhat's crew. Last he'd heard, she'd been captured and was about to be executed with her partner, Portgas D. Ace, only to have mysteriously somehow destroyed the executioner's platform and freed both of them. Ace had still died after protecting Luffy, right in front of Spade. There was a famous picture captured by a bold journalist of Spade in the aftermath, surrounded in cyclones and hurricanes as she tried to drown everyone at Marineford.

No one had really heard anything of her since.

"She was a crewmember?" Law said in disbelief.

"Sort of," said Robin thoughtfully.

"She was!" argued Luffy. "She helped us out a lot in the beginning, but when everything with Ace happened…"

Luffy's voice trailed off, and the rest of the crewmembers looked at each other anxiously. It was clear Luffy had not really talked about his dead brother very much, and the last thing any of them knew how to do was comfort a dejected version of their otherwise extremely hyper captain. Law almost felt bad for the Strawhat, but was also somewhat relieved to see that the young captain was capable of expressing an emotion beyond the scope of hyper-happy to gonna-beat-you-up-angry.

"She left," finished Roronoa Zoro as he joined them. He was covered in a thin layer of sweat, having just finished his morning workout. "She never really was a crewmember, Luffy."

"Yes, she was!" Luffy said indignantly, jolted out of his temporary reverie by this apparently scandalous statement. "She helped us out a lot!"

The first-mate rolled his eyes. "She helped us out, but it wasn't ever the same. She never was with us like she was with the Whitebeard Pirates. I'm not blaming her or anything, Luffy, but the fact that she didn't come back after two years like the rest of us shows that."

Luffy deflated visibly at this argument. "Maybe she just didn't get the message."

Nami snorted. "If Zoro could get the message, Ava could too. I have to agree with Zoro, Luffy. I think she just had…other things to do."

"Where is she?" said Law. "I haven't really heard anything about her."

"You should be the one telling us," chuckled Robin. "With your status as Shichibukai, I'm sure you hear more from the World Government than the rest of us."

"The unofficial stance is that she's dead," Law said bluntly.

Luffy looked at him determinedly. "Nope. No way."

"You didn't even see her get out of Marineford," said Law. "She could've died at the battle."

"They would've publicized it," said Nami. "Executing the Ace of Spades together had been their goal all along."

Law shrugged. "Then maybe she died at a later battle. Like the Payback War. Or just…I dunno. Died after the Firefist did."

"Like how?" said Luffy sharply.

"I imagine watching Firefist die right in front of her was fairly traumatic," said Law callously. "Maybe she killed herself."

Luffy actually looked angry at this accusation, but Zoro answered before his captain could retort.

"Just doesn't seem like her," the first-mate said. "You've never met her—she's much more of a…pissed-off-will-kill-you kind of person."

"Fine," the Heart Pirate said irritably. He did not know why he was so adamant about proving that this ghost of a woman was dead. Maybe he just wanted to crush the Strawhats' dreams a little bit. He was getting irked out by everyone's chipper attitudes and overall niceness and wanted them to live in the real world. "But it's just odd that she wouldn't contact any of you over the course of two years if she were still alive."

"Who said she didn't contact us?" said Robin slyly as she drank the rest of her coffee.

Everyone stared at her.

"What?!" exclaimed Nami.

"She contacted you?!" Luffy said excitedly.

"Sort of," backtracked Robin. "I can't be for sure. But about half a year ago…when I was with the Revolutionary Army—" Law had to blink several times to reassure himself that he had heard correctly; what person just casually stated they were with the most-wanted rebellion syndicate in the world? The Strawhats were all batshit crazy. "—I got a message from someone letting me know about some new Marine fleets that were going to be deployed near some of our bases."

"How'd you know it was her?" said Zoro.

"Well, there's a little more talk about her in the Underworld," the historian responded. "Not by name, per se, but there's someone called the Hurricane down in the intel portion of the Underworld. That's who sent me the message. It's just a hunch, but I think it's her."

"That's it?" said Nami dumbly. "A nickname and one message?"

"Yep," said Robin cheerfully.

"I believe it!" said Luffy, grin stretching from ear to ear. "Robin's hunches are never off! Wow, great! She was still helping you out—see!" The Strawhat Captain turned to Law, as if proving a major point. "She still cares about us."

That had never really been Law's point, but he just let it pass. There was no point arguing with Strawhat Luffy. It didn't matter how well thought-out or brilliant your argument was; once he was settled on something, you were bound to lose.

Ava Skye Spade was in a wonderfully furnished and beautiful hotel room in Dressrosa. After several days of nonstop flying and forgoing sleep, she was pleased to find that her bed sheets were made of silk, her bathrobe was as soft as clouds, and her food was delectable. She had always been a fan of the finer things in life, and for once was going to reward herself in one of the most lavish cities in the New World.

Even if the city was ruled by Doflamingo.

Truthfully, she should've been smarter and chosen a smaller island off the coast of Dressrosa, not directly under Doflamingo's thumb but close enough that the city was just a quick hop away. But she had lived on a small island for long enough; she missed the bustle of a big city, the sounds of people and music, for no matter how much Spade appreciated isolation and hated social niceties, sometimes she just needed to remind herself that there were happy people in the world. While the people she chose as friends were people she trusted with her life, like Marco and Aokiji, they could also be rather depressing, and she couldn't blame them given their line of work. All the same, she needed a distraction once in a while.

Sadly, it seemed today that she could not bury her head in the sand as she had originally intended. Spade drank her latte delicately as she perused the morning's newspaper.

Donquixote Doflamingo Withdraws From the Shichibukai and Renounces as King of Dressrosa!

Considering that she had just seen Doflamingo yesterday, this was a surprise. Perhaps that was why Doflamingo was so angry with Smoker? Because Trafalgar Law and Luffy had made off Caesar? The article was not particularly enlightening, giving some bullshit excuse for the sudden resignation, which left Spade to puzzle things together herself. Maybe Caesar was very important to Doflamingo, enough that people could threaten the Shichibukai with him.

Right under the Doflamingo headline was another with the subjects of Spade's musings.

Shichibukai Trafalgar Law is in an Unprecedented Alliance with the Strawhat Crew.

Subtitle: There has been no reaction from the government yet.

This was then subsequently followed with yet another announcement: The Kid Pirates, the On Air Pirates, and the Hawkins Pirates have also made an alliance.

Spade let out a low whistle and drank more of her latte. What a day. It looked like all the Supernovas were on the same page, having decided to upend the world on the same morning.

Her gaze lingered on the picture of Luffy, who was beaming happily at the camera. He looked well. That was good. She did not know what he'd been like after Ace had died, but it was good to see that the Strawhat captain was still pursuing his original goal of becoming the Pirate King and causing a happy sort of chaos all the while.

Aokiji had asked why she hadn't contacted the Strawhats.

Because it's hard, she thought bitterly. It's hard to see Luffy and not think about Ace.

And thinking of Ace always made her hurt.

Spade sighed and redirected her attention to the smirking face of Trafalgar Law instead. This was not a collaboration Spade would have seen coming. She did not know much about the Surgeon of Death besides the well-known rumors: that he was cruel and calculated, and a terrifying Devil's Fruit Power that he knew how to use to full ability. She knew that he had saved Luffy from the Battle of Marineford for no apparent reason, according to what Jimbei had told Marco.

A weird guy. Clearly everything that had happened at Punk Hazard was a careful plan set up by Law, who seemed to understand the political ramifications of every move he made. Pressuring Doflamingo to step down was clearly also a move by the surgeon too, for Spade knew that Luffy simply did not have the mind for these kinds of games.

She pursed her lips and set the newspaper aside. It was one thing for three pirate crews to ally and actively take down one of the Yonkou just because they wanted to fight. But all of the events from Punk Hazard to this morning's news just seemed more calculated than that. It was a clear targeting of Doflamingo, with a subtext declaration to Kaidou, if the Yonkou was truly backing up the Joker.

Law seemed a bit dangerous.

Spade rubbed her forehead, trying to ease out the wrinkle that was forming between her eyebrows. She missed the days when she had to think less about politics and moving chess pieces. She had enough on her plate, with Aokiji going to Blackbeard and the constant monitoring of Marine movement to boot. She had no interest in Doflamingo or Kaidou; as disgusting as she found Doflamingo, she held less of a grudge against him for Ace's death than either Blackbeard or the Marines. He was simply not a priority.

Until now.

The news of the Mera Mera no Mi changed things. She knew she was not supposed to care too much, that if Aokiji had said it was real, then it really was, but Spade just had to see for herself.

She pushed aside her room service breakfast and reached over the edge of her bed for her bag. From it, she withdrew a small Den-Den Mushi with heavily lidded eyes, making it look chronically sleepy. She picked it up and rang.

The recipient picked it up on the third ring.

"Hello?" came Marco's voice, guarded and careful.

"Hi," said Spade brightly, "this is Rhea Porter calling from—"

"Hey, Rhea," Marco said, relieved. "This is, uh…shit, what's my alias again?"

"Charles Something?" she said, trying to remember. "I forget."

"I'll come up with something better next time. But it's me—one time when you were drunk, you tried to roast a raw chicken leg in my flames."

Spade laughed. "You're really not supposed to tell people that."

"It's funny. Anyway, you've been a lil longer than I thought. Was worried."

"Took me a little longer to find him than I'd thought," she admitted. "Now a good time to talk?"

"Yeah, I'm alone."

"Safe?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Mm. I don't have an White Den-Den Mushi to block interceptions, though, so don't talk about locations or anything specific."

"Oh, okay. How'd everything go?"

"Was good. Gave him updates. He'll keep us posted."

"Good. Anything else he said?"

Spade bit her lower lip. "He mentioned that Doflamingo had the new Mera Mera no Mi. He says it's real this time."

"Fuck. What a shitty person to get it. What's he gonna do with it?"

"Dunno yet. I…I can look into it."

Marco paused. She had told him the general area her meeting with Aokiji was in, and she could tell he was piecing together her location based on the very vague hints.

"Don't," he said finally. "It's not worth it."

"But—"

"You can't even eat the damn thing," Marco said. "What're you gonna do with it?"

"I don't know," she said, frustrated. "I'll give it to you, you decide. I just…I don't think I can handle seeing someone use Ace's powers yet. It still feels too soon."

Marco sighed, causing the Den-Den Mushi to also look exasperated.

"It's been two years, it was going to happen soon," he said, voice low. "I know it's tough but things are moving quickly. You saw the paper today, right?"

"Yeah."

"And did you get to see the broadcast of what happened at Punk Hazard yesterday?"

"What broadcast?" she said, bewildered.

"That Vegapunk knock-off, Caesar Clown or whatever, developed this huge-ass poison gas called SAD and released it on a bunch of Marines yesterday at Punk Hazard. That's what Luffy and Trafalgar Law got caught up in and I guess they beat Caesar and ran off with him."

"Oh, I didn't realize he was getting into biochemical warfare."

"Yeah, that's my point. Clearly someone ordered him to make it, and I'm betting everything with Doflamingo's connected. Caesar's got a big sponsor, and if it's a Yonkou, then we're moving to some pretty big battles and soon. I'd rather you look into that than chase after that Fruit."

"Doflamingo's still involved in both topics," muttered Spade.

"Yeah, but one seems like a distraction and the other seems more world-ending, dontcha think?"

"Fine," she groaned. "I'll look into it."

"Thanks, S—I mean, Rhea. I know it's tempting but we gotta—fucking fuck—"

"Are you okay?" Spade demanded, sitting up immediately.

All she got were labored breaths on the other line.

"Hey," she said angrily. "Answer me."

"I'm okay," Marco answered through audibly gritted teeth. "Just…moved funny, and now my back hurts like shit."

During the end of the Payback War, Marco had gotten hit head-on with an earthquake blast by Blackbeard. Spade had arrived just in time to catch him as he was falling, clearly close to dead, and had whisked him away without even having time to land a single blow on Teach, but keeping Marco alive had been more important than killing Teach. Marco was only alive thanks to his Devil's Fruit—they didn't call him The Phoenix for nothing—but ever since that battle, he'd suffered from sudden spasms of pain that would seize his entire body at the slightest trigger. Aftershocks of an earthquake, was what Spade had called them. They hurt like a bitch. Marco was fully incapacitated whenever they happened.

"Breathe," she ordered. "Breathe, just in and out. I'm here."

"Sort of," laughed Marco through some evident pain.

"Stop talking," she said. "Just breathe."

"Then you talk," he said. "Keep me distracted."

"I'm…um…" She glanced around the room and landed on the newspaper. "So Trafalgar Law seems a bit sketchy, right? He and Luffy are the weirdest duo I've seen yet. I never met him but the stories are kinda crazy—he sent a hundred hearts to Marine Headquarters for the Shichibukai title, which he's the youngest to ever get. And he's notorious for being a mastermind of all these huge events happening and apparently is very skilled at torture, which seems a bit ironic given that he's a doctor. I haven't really looked into him that much beyond what's obvious, but it just seems like the last person to pair with the ball of sunshine that is Luffy. Just looking at his picture makes me think of death and destruction."

"Really nice of you," said Marco, his breathing now even. "Fastest judgment of someone yet."

"Better now?" she said lightly.

"Yeah, that was a shorter one. Thanks for the distraction, even though I didn't really need the profile on Doctor Doom."

"He is really weird," said Spade feverishly.

"You've never met him—you should be careful of rumors."

"His Devil's Fruit lets him do some fucked up shit. I'm really okay never meeting this guy."

"He wouldn't even be able to use his abilities on you," Marco said, amused. "I think Logias are his weakness."

"Maybe," she said.

"All right, I gotta go. But get back whenever you can. We should talk about next steps."

"Yeah, I'll look into the whole Punk Hazard incident for a bit and get back to you."

"Don't dwell on it too much. It's just for intel; we don't need to get involved.
"Aye-aye, captain."

"Don't…"

"It's a joke."

Marco laughed weakly. He still felt uncomfortable being called captain by the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates, though he had essentially been acting as one for the last two years. Whitebeard left big shoes to fill, but Spade thought Marco was doing splendidly, despite the whole Payback War debacle. They were still a force to be reckoned with.

"Stay safe, Miss Rhea."

"Mm-hm, you too."

Marco hung up with a clack, and the Den-Den Mushi looked at her, bored. She shoved it back in her bag and got out of bed. She would take today easy, just snoop around Dressrosa, see if she could get any info on why Doflamingo had resigned suddenly, and if on the off-chance she heard about the Mera-Mera no Mi, well, she wasn't going to turn away free information.

She straightened her robe out and looked back on the bed, where Trafalgar Law smirked up at her. She suppressed a shudder. She knew that she was going to have to meet Luffy again, sooner than later. Spade only hoped it was after his alliance with the Heart Pirates ceased.

There were just some people who just radiated a certain kind of intensity: Luffy, a shining ball of brightness, Ace, a flaming heat.

Law looked cold, frightening even as he smiled.

Spade was not one to scare easily, but she was quite certain she would be fine going her entire life without ever figuring out what exactly the epithet "Surgeon of Death" meant.

free talk:

i've been in a one piece mood, after finally catching up on 200 chapters. wanted to do lawxoc, liked spade enough to just continue her in a post-ace's-death world. basically this picks up from the epilogue of ace of spades, but of course without the happy ending.

i'm still in a fuck-it-i'm-doing-what-i-want mood so hence here we are with this fic. we'll see where it goes. hope you enjoy!

xoxo,
m.n