Chapter 8: Six months and Planning for the Grand Line

Warnings: PTSD/flashbacks, mentions of solitary confinement.

Ace spent a lot of time with his crew, brothers, and Buggy. He and Buggy talked about both Roger and Rogue, what little he knew of Ace's mother was enough to satisfy the boy for the time being.

"If you want to know more about Rogue, you could try and find any of her old crewmates. I… I know two of them, if you want to seek them out. But, I suggest you be careful when telling them your identity, they will see you as Roger first and Rogue second if you don't clarify you are Rogue's son." Buggy told him a month into the Spade Pirates' stay in Orange Town.

"Thanks Captain Buggy. Really, I don't think we could have continued if not for you." Ace said seriously.

Buggy waved the boy off. "No, you would have been able to go on; you just had to have gotten creative. How're your ships coming so far?"

"Good, Aggie is about halfway done with the base of Striker. It should only take him less than a month or so to finish building Striker and then we can use it our recon and restocking ship." Ace told the blue haired man.

Then Ace thumbed the picture of the Roger Pirates and Rogue. "Who are they?" He asks the former apprentice suddenly.

"One's a Shichibukai, the other is a Revolutionary." Buggy says slowly. "Rogue's crew was called the Storm Pirates." Buggy chuckles at that, seeing as that any time a D is brought up, there is a storm that follows them.

Ace furrows his brows at that simple explanation and leaves Buggy's office without another word; the other pirate lets him leave.

"A Shichibukai and Revolutionary, eh?" He mutters to himself as he paces back and forth in the room he and his brothers share. 'There are very few people who I can think of that were alive back then, so that means that whoever they are they would have been in their teens or early 20's at the latest.'.

"When I was in Paradise the last time I got an invitation to join the Shichibukai… who were the others?" He wonders, trying to remember.

He grabbed the notebook that he had bought for himself. No one knew about it and he really didn't want anyone to find it, it had events that happened in the future, in the other timeline that he was from.

Entry 9

FUTURE TIMELINE SHICHIBUKAI – Who employs them? (five elders?)

Mihawk – Allied with Shanks? (World's Greatest Swordsman)

Boa Hancock – allied with Luffy (How?)

Moria – Thriller Bark

Kuma – revolutionary (spy?) (Meet with Dragon to confirm)

Crocodile – tried to be Alabasta's king (wants to fight Whitebeard)

Jinbe – allied with Whitebeard, protects Fishman Island (ALLY)

...

ALLIES – Crews/Individuals

Straw Hats – Luffy (allied with Shanks)

Red Hair Pirates – (bet on Luffy/Shanks had Roger's straw hat)

Buggy the Clown/ Buggy Pirates – allied with the Red Hairs (bet on Gol D heir)

Sabo – (epithet: Black Dragon), Revolutionary-Spade Pirate, (dream: freedom)

Jinbe – Shichibukai, allied with Whitebeard, Captain of the Sun Pirates

Marco the Pheonix – Zoan (First Commander of the WB Pirates)

Thatch – Forth Commander of the WB Pirates

Izo – Sixteenth Commander of the WB Pirates, retainer of the Kozuki Family/ Kozuki Oden (knows Tama)

Monkey D. Garp – Marine Vice-Admiral, (possible ally), knows both WB/Roger

Roger Pirates – (ally with those alive), Gol D. Roger

Storm Pirates – (ally with those alive/find out about South Blue), Portgas D. Rogue

He couldn't remember who the last Shichibukai was. He didn't know if it was the pink-feathered person that he saw before Whitebeard had shown up to rescue him. Ace looked over his list of allies, for now it would have to do, seeing as most of these people will come into play later on when he gets out to the Grand Line. He went back to his first entry.

Entry 1

FUTURE TIMELINE EVENTS –

Marineford War (Impel Down)

Blackbeard (Thatch murdered) (Yami Yami Fruit)

Become WB Commander (2nd Division)

Join Whitebeards

Fight Jinbe/get kidnapped by WB

Finding Shanks (thank him for saving Luffy)

Recruit the Spades

Set out at 17

Grey Terminal (Sabo's death)

Ace tries not to think about Impel Down or Marineford, but it's so hard. Especially when it's so clearly spelled out in front of him. He shoved the journal away from him and goes to hide it among his things.

He can't think! All he sees is darkness around him. He's back in his cell in Impel Down, with nothing but darkness and silence for company. His fire had been snuffed out of him once Blackbeard defeated him. "No…. NO! NOT AGAIN!"

Ace was screaming.

He couldn't breathe! He was back in chains and in his cell as he screamed again, trying to get out of the seastone. He had too, to get out, to get his brother out of that hell. Ace's vision blurs as he struggles to breath. Why couldn't he breathe?

"Kid. Kid. Ace!" Buggy screamed as he caught the thrashing kid. Ace was hyperventilating and on the verge of unconsciousness.

Ace was still screaming, tears ran down his face like streams. Buggy knew what PTSD looked like, and whatever nightmare the kid was stuck in, it was bad. "Buggy, you gotta get him out of here! Leave me, get Luffy out of here!" Ace screamed at the pirate captain.

"Ace!" Sabo and Luffy were scared, this was just like what happened when they had traded sake.

"Ok, kid. I'll get him out." Buggy said.

"Captain Buggy, what's-" Sabo tried to say but was stopped by Ace's desperate expression.

"Marco, Buggy, get Luffy out of here!" Ace yelled, his hands behind his back.

"Marco?" Sabo asked, and then he remembered that Ace said that he was family.

"He's having a flashback, PTSD." Buggy informed the two brothers.

"PTSD? Of what? How?!" Sabo asked, the 12 year old didn't know what was happening with his brother, but he figured that this was one of his secrets.

"An Admiral tried to kill him." Luffy said, darkness in his tone.

Buggy jolted and narrowed his eyes. "How do you know that? Which Admiral?" Buggy demeaned to know.

"Don't know. But someone hurt my brother." Luffy shrugged, but his eyes were narrowed in on his brother. Buggy ripped off the boy's shirt and hissed.

"Akainu!" Buggy snarled.

"GO! NOW!" Ace yelled.

Luffy walked up to his brother, who was still struggling, and reached up toward his head. "Come back." Luffy whispered, closing his eyes and taking off his hat. The younger D-Bearer went up to the older D-Bearer and put his treasured straw hat on Ace's head.

The effect was instant.

Ace's glazed over eyes came back as he blinked back in tears. The grey eyed 20 year old stared at his younger brother. "You're okay, Ace." Luffy said with a small smile.

"Akainu, he's the Admiral that tried to kill you." Sabo said flatly, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

Ace's enraged expression said it all.

"How the fuck did that even happen? And why did it seem like you were locked up with seastone?" Buggy asked, his eyes narrowed and worried.

"Get them out of here." Ace told the other captain. Sabo looked ready to protest but Luffy grabbed his arm and shook his head.

"We have secrets, Sabo. Some things can't be said with us here. Let Captain Buggy help Ace." Luffy told his older brother sternly, and gently led the blonde out of the room. Before the younger boy left, Ace shot him a grateful smile. Luffy just nodded back, his eyes shadowed by his hair.

"What happened?" Buggy asked, nothing judgmental in his tone. He just sat back on the wooden floor and looked at Ace, waiting for him to say something.

"I was in the darkness again." Ace started saying, Buggy eyes sharpened when he heard the hitch in the boy's voice when he said 'darkness'. "I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe. They had me in seastone chains; they took my fire away from me. I've never really been afraid of the dark but…"

The son of Gol D. Roger shook his head to get him out of his memories. "Do you know about a Devil Fruit called the Yami Yami Fruit?" Ace finally asked the other Fruit-user.

"I have heard of it. Why?" The blue haired captain asks.

"It's an evil Devil Fruit, no matter who wields it, they always go bad." Ace started saying. "Its main ability is that it can snuff out any and almost every other Devil Fruit out there. It cancels it out, leaving the user feeling like being chained by seastone." Ace said hollowly.

Buggy paled at the implications of such a Devil Fruit. "You've fought against someone with the Fruit before haven't you?" Buggy asked it like a question but both knew the answer.

"It is held by Blackbeard." Ace scowled, his expression darkening considerably, as did Buggy's when he heard the true name of the man. "Marshall D. Teach."

Buggy roared in furious anger, finding out that the one responsible for hurting his best friend, his brother in all but blood was still breathing and had a Devil Fruit that had hurt the boy that he considered a little brother, his Captain's son.

"Why the fuck is that bastard still alive then?" Buggy hissed, his hands clenching in fury.

"Blackbeard is smart; he can play almost anyone if he really wanted to. But I have a plan. How would you feel about getting some payback, you and Shanks deserve to be there once he dies."

"Are you going to kill him?"

"I intend to make him suffer a worse fate that he brought onto me." Ace said in a low voice. There it was, the fiery temper of Gol D. Roger, the icy cold fury of Portgas D. Rogue. He truly was their son, had both good and bad from them.

Buggy knew that whatever Teach did to Ace, he would pay for it. He and Shanks would make sure to of, no one would be able to harm Ace or Luffy while they still breathed.

"How did you get that scar on your back and stomach?" Buggy asked, worried about the boy's answer.

"Akainu. It was war, he had aimed for Luffy but I got in front of him, taking the hit." Ace looked up at him, eyes meeting as he said the words that would forever haunt him. "I died and came back at age 10."

Ace knew that he needed to tell someone about the fact that he had gone back in time, he thought that the perfect one to help him was Buggy. No one really paid any attention to him so he could go under the radar from both Marines and other pirate crews. He was also friends with the youngest Yonko which seeing as both of them were on the Pirate King's crew, could help him immensely.

So Ace told him everything. How he grew up with Dadan and the bandits, how he met Sabo and then Luffy. About Sabo's death in the future timeline. Setting sail at age 17 and challenging Whitebeard because of Roger, joining the Whitebeard Pirates, Marco and Thatch, Teach and his hunt for the man after he murdered Thatch, and then Impel Down and Marineford.

When he looked up to see how the other Pirate Captain was reacting he stopped suddenly. Buggy was pale as a ghost, his body looked drained of blood as he stared at Ace in horror. "You were in Level 6? They put you in Level 6?!" He hissed, angry and horrified.

"They took me through each level just to torment and torture me. I was already half dead because of the fight and beating I got from Blackbeard, but that made it worse." Ace chuckled bitterly. "I don't know how I didn't lose my mind. But at one point the solitude grew too much, I thought I saw Roger and mom at one point. I screamed and yelled myself hoarse and broke down"

"I think I'm insane, Buggy." Ace whispered, tears streaming down his face.

Buggy snarled and grabbed Ace, pulling him into his body, and tightening his grip around him. Hugging tightly and not letting go, Buggy breathed in sharply through his nose to try and calm himself down. "You are not crazy, Ace. You are not insane. What they did to you was inhumane and horrible."

Ace let out a high-pitched laugh. "Because I'm not human to them. I'm not even supposed to be alive. I'm nothing more than an abomination that should have died in his mother's womb!" Ace yelled, sobs being choked out of his mouth as he tried to reign in his emotions and fire.

The slap was unexpected but appreciated. Buggy looked at him with hard eyes. "You are not an abomination! Don't ever call yourself that! If I hear that coming out of your mouth ever again, I'll beat you into a pulp so you'll know not say that about yourself. Got that?" Buggy glared at the 20-year-old boy. (22 years old, since he was 12 in this timeline.)

Ace nods, and then Buggy smirks.

"So… what now?" Buggy asked the D-Bearer.

Ace frowns and thought about how he would answer. "I'm getting my crew back, but there are some people that I won't endanger again so I'll leave them be. There are a couple of people that I will need to get as either my allies or my crew for the future should my identity get revealed by the Marines or by pirates."

"Well you've got us as your allies should you ever need it." Buggy says.

"You usually stay in East Blue, I don't want to have your get killed 'cuz of me." Ace said, gripping onto Buggy's shirt.

"I know we do, but for you, for Strawhat, and for Shanks, I would take my crew out of East Blue and into the Grand Line. If you call me, I will come Ace. I will never abandon you."

Ace smiled a D-smile. "Thank you Buggy."

…

So the two captains planned and scrapped their plans and planned again. Buggy asked Ace questions about the other timeline he came from for some of the things he told him, wanting clarification and to help him out as fast as possible should anything go wrong.

Four months later, Ace and Buggy had come up with multiple plans should shit hit the fan and Ace gets revealed by the marines or pirates. Ace even had contingences in place if any Admiral, Vice-Admiral, or Old Generation pirate wants to fight him or kill him.

"ACE!" Luffy yelled as he burst into Buggy's office, taking the door off its hinges.

"What the hell kid?!" Buggy yelled at the strawhat-wearing boy.

"It's finished!" Luffy said with a giant grin on his face and then ran out again.

"What's finished?' Buggy asked in confusion.

Ace grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Striker and the Piece of Spadille! They're both finished!" Ace called out the blue haired man as he ran to the docks to get a look at his ships. He really missed Spadille, this time he wouldn't burn her since he wasn't joining the Whitebeards. However, he would warn them about Blackbeard, as would Buggy with Shanks.

Turning into fire he reformed at the docks, standing next to his brothers and his crew.

Looking at the ships, his ships, he was happy. Finally he had a part of himself back, sure he had Sabo back, but Spadille and Striker were with him since the beginning, especially Striker since he and Deuce built him together when they were stranded on Sixis.

"Listen up, Spades!" Ace whistled to get his other crewmates' attention. They all paid attention to him. "We've got our ships, the Piece of Spadille and Striker, that means that our stay here is almost done. So, let's throw a party to thank the Buggy Pirates for their hospitality shall we?"

His crew cheered at the thought of partying with the Buggy Pirates, all of them, even Coby, had really liked it here. He couldn't fault them really; the town was nice, even with the pirate presence. But that just made it better in his opinion.

The two crews partied that day and night, Aggie being the only one that could drink, but Ace took a couple of sake shots since he was the captain and his Devil Fruit made it basically impossible for him to get drunk. The only way that could happen is if he drank copious amounts of liquor or was put in seastone and got drunk.

A few weeks later, the Spade Pirates stocked up on their missing supplies and left the Buggy Pirates.

"Thank you for everything Captain Buggy." Ace said, Sabo and Luffy also thanking the other captain.

"No problem kid." Buggy grinned and leaned forward. "You're mine and Shanks' little brother, of course we'll take care of you."

They sailed off to find their next crewmate. Ace and Sabo looking over the maps and Aggie at the wheel, guiding the ship to where his captain and the blonde had said to go. Ace had talked to Coby and decided that the next stop they would go to an island with a marine base on it to drop off Coby at.

Sorry for the delay, life happened and with everything going on I had a lot of things to do! I hope you all understand and thank you for your patience with me!