Chapter Text
Chapter 14: The Burning Will
The East Blue wind was harsh on the open sea, but Ace welcomed the sting on his face. He stood barefoot at the edge of a weathered fishing skiff, just fifteen, sunburned and scowling with a fury only the young and determined could manage.
He had left Luffy and Sabo behind, silently crying because he’d miss his brother’s but he needed to do this, to prove to himself and the world that he was more than Gol D. Roger’s son. Don’t get him wrong, Ace loved his brothers, but he needed proof that his life meant something.
Three weeks later, the world was trying to kill him. Storms, hunger, sunstroke but Ace survived it all through grit alone. His boat finally died on a reef surrounding an uncharted island somewhere in the South Blue. It cracked apart under his feet like an egg. Ace crawled onto the shore half conscious, sand clinging to his arms like chains. He coughed up seawater, blinked at the sky, and laughed bitterly. “This is fine," he rasped. "Perfect."
The island was nothing but thick jungle, steep cliffs, eerie silence. However, in the roots of an ancient, fire scarred tree, Ace found something impossible; a fruit that was the color of fire, its curling patterns flickering like real flames. He didn’t hesitate. His stomach was screaming, and he knew Devil Fruits when he saw them.
He bit into it. The taste was so foul it made his vision blur, but the moment the last chunk slid down his throat, something inside him ignited .
That night, the fire inside him raged. He woke to flames dancing on his arms, wild and unchecked. Trees burned. Birds scattered. Ace’s screams echoed in the jungle, not of pain but of something deeper. Power. Raw, molten power . The fire obeyed him. It was him. He was no longer just Ace. He was Flame and thus began his training with it.
Two nights later, someone tried to kill him. He’d been sleeping lightly, instincts sharpened from years in the wild. A shadow moved in the trees slow, deliberate, armed. Ace rolled aside just in time as a throwing knife embedded itself in the bark where his throat had been.
He spun, fire already crackling in his palm. “ Who’s there?! ”
The man who stepped out of the trees wore a long coat and a mask an old black respirator with tinted goggles, hiding everything but his voice. “Wasn’t expecting a kid,” the man said flatly. “Didn’t expect a living wildfire either.”
Ace’s flame roared up his arm. “I’ll cook you alive if you try that again.”
The man didn’t flinch. “You the one they’re calling the 'Burning Beast' on the islands nearby? Wild kid who leveled half a cliff?”
Ace blinked. "...Yeah. Probably me."
The man snorted. “You’re lucky. I thought you were an adult pirate named Firetooth. Guy’s worth twelve million. You’re worth... nothing.”
Ace narrowed his eyes. So this guy thought he wasn’t a threat. “Gee, thanks.”
The man shrugged. “Guess the bounty network’s wrong again.”
“So what now?” Ace asked, keeping his hand alight. “You gonna try to take me in anyway?”
The man crossed his arms. “No bounty, no interest. I don’t kill for free.”
Ace raised an eyebrow. “You’re a bounty hunter?”
“Was,” the man replied. “Name’s Deuce. I go after bad people and make enough to drink myself numb between gigs. You’re not worth the bullets but you’re interesting.” He grinned under his mask.
Ace tilted his head. “You gonna follow me or something?”
Deuce didn’t answer right away. Instead, he looked over Ace’s scorched camp and the burned trees, the scorched rock, the marks of someone not just dangerous , but becoming legend . “I’ve seen pirates burn villages. Kill kids. Take slaves. Never saw a kid who burned a mountain just because he was learning .” He adjusted the mask. “You’re going to be something. Might be good, might be hell. But you’re something .”
Ace smirked. “You’re talking like I should be flattered.”
Deuce met his gaze. “I’m saying I want in.”
That made Ace pause. “What? You’re a loner bounty hunter who just tried to stab me in my sleep.”
“Yeah, and now I’m offering you my skillset. Tracking. Navigation. Shipbuilding. You’ve got the fire; I’ve got the map.”
Ace grinned. He was liking this guy more and more. “Why would you want to follow me?”
“Because you’re crazy enough to be interesting. And I’m tired of chasing small time crooks. I want to ride the wave before it hits.”
The fire flickered off Ace’s arm as he considered it. The world had never offered him much, except for his brother’s, only fear and whispers and a legacy he didn’t ask for. But this? A bounty hunter who tried to kill him now offering loyalty? That was something new. Ace reached out his hand. “Then you’re my first mate.”
Deuce blinked behind the goggles. “First what now?”
“You heard me. I’m building a crew and I want people who can survive me.”
Deuce let out a low chuckle and shook Ace’s hand. “Captain.”
They spent three more weeks on the island. With Deuce’s help, Ace refined his fire powers, learning how to heat without burning, explode without destroying himself. Deuce salvaged enough wreckage to build a fast, lean ship no bigger than a sloop, but deadly fast.
They painted a crude emblem on the sail a black skull with flames rising behind it.
When they left, the island still smoldered in their wake. That night, as they sailed into open sea, Deuce leaned on the mast.
“You still haven’t said where we’re going.”
Ace stared at the stars. “Somewhere big. Somewhere loud.”
Deuce exhaled. “You planning to be a hero?”
Ace gave a wild grin. “No. I’m planning to be free and by the end the whole world’s gonna know my name.”
The smell of cannon smoke and salt hung thick in the air. The Striker cut through the waves like a flame riding the wind. A lean, fast ship cobbled together from wreckage and willpower, it bore the mark of its captain proudly, a crude flame and skull banner that left no doubt. The name Portgas D. Ace was still unknown, but not for long.
“Two ships docked at Barmera Port,” Deuce said from the crow’s nest, adjusting his battered spyglass. “One’s a merchant vessel. The other… looks like a small marine patrol cutter. Could be bad luck.”
Ace stood at the helm, grinning. “Could be good luck,” he replied.
Deuce sighed into his mask. “You and I have very different definitions of that word.”
Ace grinned as a plan formed in his mind. “Maybe,” he admitted. “but I’m the only one of us that they’ve tried to kill since birth.” Deuce raised a brow at this, but knew Ace wasn’t ready to tell him his story just yet. The boy seemed to have so much rage in him.
It was a humid, little town built into a cliffside, with wooden piers reaching like fingers into the ocean. The kind of place pirates stopped to lie low and Marines passed through to remind people who was in charge. Ace and Deuce docked under false colors. Deuce insisted. “If you come in under the wrong flag, and every Navy ship in the blue will be on us before we even finish breakfast.” Ace rolled his eyes but agreed; for now.
They strolled through the main street, Ace with his black shorts, bright yellow open vest, and cocky swagger; Deuce in his signature gas mask and patched trench coat, drawing odd stares from children and suspicion from drunks. The plan was simple; scout the port, pick a mark, make a statement. Ace was itching for it. For the world to see fire and remember his name; fate had different plans.
The bar they decided on smelled of spilled rum and pipe smoke. Makino would be disappointed and Sabo, he’d be taking name on who owed who what and how much. A few shady characters hunched over cards, while the barkeep pretended not to notice the pistol tucked into one man’s belt. Ace leaned on the counter. “Something cold and strong.” The barkeep gave him a once over, probably noticing how young he was but not saying anything.
Deuce, behind him, scanned the room like a bloodhound. It wasn’t the men or the atmosphere that froze Ace mid-sip. It was the poster . Pinned lazily to the side of the bar, half-torn, black and white.
Monkey D. Luffy – 30,000,000 Berries
Below it, in smaller text:
Crew confirmed: Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro… and… Sabo, Navigator.
Ace nearly dropped his drink. He stormed up to the poster, yanking it off the wall, eyes scanning it again and again.Luffy. His stupid grinning face. Straw hat. A bit older now. Confident and next to him was Sabo’s name .
Deuce stepped beside him. “That your bounty?”
“No,” Ace said quietly. “That’s my twin and my big brother.”He turned around, fists clenched, fire beginning to rise up his arms. “ They’re still alive and making waves .”
Deuce raised a brow under his mask. “You sure it’s them? Monkey D. and this Sabo guy could just be—”
“It’s them,” Ace said with certainty. “I know my brothers.”
Deuce didn’t argue. He watched the boy with fire in his veins and saw something shift in him, not just ambition anymore. Something older. Deeper.
Family.
Ace didn’t speak for the rest of the afternoon. That night, they struck. The marine cutter docked at the edge of the harbor wasn’t large, but had arrogant flags high, lights on, guards half-asleep. Ace was a phantom of fire. He melted locks. Muffled steps with heated air. Knocked out guards with steam charged punches. When a gun was raised, Ace disarmed the shooter by flash incinerating the barrel in his hand.
Deuce worked quietly beside him, precision and silence where Ace was raw force. Together, they robbed the ship of weapons, maps, and crates of marine rations.
Ace left his own wanted poster, handmade, pinned to the mast, written in burning letters scorched into the wood;
Fire Fist Ace – The Flame Pirate
To the ones chasing my family; catch me instead.
They didn’t stay for the fallout.
The wind was calmer. The ocean endless. Deuce read the marine map he'd taken. “According to this, Luffy’s last known course was headed west, toward the Grand Line. Probably already passed through Reverse Mountain by now.”
Ace leaned on the railing, the poster of Luffy folded in his hand, creased and worn from how often he’d looked at it since the tavern. “He made it,” Ace said. “The idiot actually made it.”
Deuce smirked. “Sabo, it says here that he picked up an apprentice named Nami, who working with the Arlong Pirates.”
Ace’s voice softened. “He made it too.” He the snorted. “He probably begged Luffy to go after her if she’d become his friend or maybe they stumbled across Arlong’s fortress and she was a slave? ‘Bo has a soft spot for people in distress.”
There was silence for a moment. Then - “You still want to be infamous?” Deuce asked.
“I want the world to know who I am,” Ace said. “But not just that.” He held up the poster. “I want to catch up to this. I want to stand next to them, not behind them. As their equal. As their rival if I have to.”
Deuce chuckled. “Sounds like we need a bigger ship.”
“And a bigger crew,” Ace added, grinning again. “One that can light the whole world on fire.”
A month later the duo ended up at the Iron Shell Port, Southern Archipelago in the South Sea. When they left the next day the docks were a mess of smoke, screaming sailors, and shattered barrels. A marine brig had been scorched to cinders the night before no survivors, just a charred mast and the faint scent of gunpowder. Locals whispered a name like a curse.
Fire Fist Ace.
They said his ship moved like a comet. They said the air boiled in his wake. They said a boy, no more than fifteen, had turned half a garrison to ash. The World Government was listening now.
“Any word on Luffy’s ship?” Ace asked, hands behind his head as he lounged on the deck of his ship. “I think we should head to Water 7. Heard there’s a shipwrights there that could build us an actual ship.”
He got a glare for that comment from his first mate who was fixing the latest leak in the ships side. “No new sightings since Reverse Mountain,” Deuce replied. “But that means he’s officially entered the Grand Line, maybe. Or, then again he could’ve gone upwards.”
Ace didn’t smile. Not yet. Up? He wondered before recalling Shanks’ tales about the sky islands. “We’re catching up to him,” he muttered. “I want to face him as a rival , not just as my big brother.”
Deuce raised a brow beneath his mask. “Sabo?”
Ace was quiet before grinning. “Maybe kick his ass too. He’s never won a fight against me.”
Deuce nodded. “Let’s just make sure you stay alive to do that.”
Suddenly the wind dropped. The clouds split unnaturally and the sea, that ever changing, ever moving force, went dead still. Ace stood up. Now alert. That was when he appeared. Standing on the air above the water, as if the laws of the world bent to his will.
Bartholomew Kuma.
Warlord of the Sea. Government dog. A walking weapon. The massive man lowered his book and gazed down at The Striker, at the boy with fire in his veins.
“Fire Fist Ace,” Kuma said, voice low but heavy with finality. “You are now a threat to balance. I’ve been ordered to neutralize you.”
Deuce’s hand went to his pistol. “ Warlord. We are not prepared for this!”
Ace was already on the railing, fire licking up his arm. “We run from nothing!
Kuma raised a gloved hand, a massive pawprint pad aimed like a cannon. A single pop of compressed air detonated beside the ship. The explosion didn’t just break the water, it bent space . The Striker was rocked sideways. Deuce yelled. Ace was thrown from the deck mid-jump, caught only by a last-second blast of fire propelling him back aboard.
He coughed. “What the hell was that?!”
“Repulsion force,” Deuce shouted. “He doesn’t fight, he erases !”
Ace grit his teeth. “I’ll burn him to the bones.”He launched himself skyward, fire coiling from his arms, feet propelling him like a rocket, straight at Kuma. Instead Kuma didn’t move. He raised one hand, palm out.
Pop.
Ace vanished midair.
“ACE!” Deuce screamed, scanning the sky but Ace appeared seconds later, crashing into the sea a hundred meters away, barely conscious.
Dragging Ace aboard, Deuce lit every sail and tossed emergency powder barrels behind them, one after another. Fire and explosions raged in their wake, just enough to obscure Kuma’s aim or at least slow him. Kuma hovered in the air, unbothered, watching, he didn’t pursue.
Instead, he raised his Bible again and read silently, vanishing without a word. The message was clear. Next time, he wouldn’t miss.
On a nearby island, Rustbay Island, Engineer’s Den . Two inventors argued beneath a half-finished torpedo launcher.
“You wired the trigger backward again,” Kotatsu grumbled.
“Because I was testing reverse detonation theory!” Mihar snapped, welding goggles propped on her forehead.
They froze as the doors burst open. Deuce entered, dragging a scorched Ace, half-conscious and steaming. “We need medkits,” Deuce growled. “And somewhere to hide. Fast.”
Mihar raised an eyebrow. “The hell happened to him ?”
“A warlord tried to erase his entire existence.”
Kotatsu squinted. “Didn’t work, huh?”
Ace groaned, sitting up. “No, but I might be missing a lung.”
Deuce turned to the two inventors. “You’re the best mechanics and explosive experts on this half of the sea. Help us patch the ship and the kid and maybe you’ll get front row seats to see a fire burn brighter than anything this world’s ready for.”
Mihar grinned. “I’m listening.” He’d only just met these two but already he liked them. They smelt like trouble, adventure and fire. He loved all three of those things.
Bandaged, sore, but recovering, Ace sat with Deuce, Mihar, and Kotatsu around a makeshift fire. “The World Government sent a warlord after you,” Mihar said, stirring a bowl of stew. “You realize what that means?”
“I’m doing something right,” Ace said, weak but smirking.
“No,” Deuce muttered. “It means they’re scared of what you might become.”
Ace looked down at his palm, fire flickering between his fingers. Or who I am. He thought grimly. “I’m not done,” he said. “I’m going to build a crew that doesn’t run, one that can stand even against gods . But to do that, I need more than fire.” He looked at Mihar and Kotatsu. “I need chaos. I need creation. I need people who know how to make the impossible explode into reality.”
Kotatsu raised a mug, a huge grin crossing his face. “Then you found the right maniacs.”
Meanwhile in the Calm Belt, adrift towards the next island. The sun was warm. The breeze was soft. The Grand Line was behaving for once as an eerie calm that made the crew of the Going Merry uneasy. Except for Luffy , who sat cross legged on the figurehead, flipping through the morning’s News Co. paper like a kid checking on a comic.
“Did the bounties update yet?” Zoro called from below, one eye cracked open.
“Yeah,” Luffy said, licking the edge of a page. “Couple new pirates made the list.”
“Anyone worth stealing from?” Nami asked, peeking out of the cabin with her log pose in hand.
“Maybe,” Luffy muttered, he stopped flipping through when he saw a familiar face and grinned. “Shishishi.”He stared at the middle of the paper. Someone wearing a bright burnt orange colored hat with a bounty poster and a headline.
“Fire Fist Ace: The Flame Pirate
Sets Marine Brig Ablaze
Wanted: 35,000,000 Berries.
Accomplice: 'Masked Deuce'
12,000,000 Berries.
Luffy didn’t move for a second. Then he laughed, and laughed. A little proud. A little sad.He tore out the page with care before tossing the rest of the paper at Sanji. He then ran off to his cabin. The room was messy, maps half-unrolled, meat wrappers on the desk, a wanted poster of Shanks tacked to the wall beside a torn poster of Sabo .
On the desk was scrapbook , leather-bound, with a sun emblem burned into the front. Inside were things none of the crew had seen torn news pages, old bounty posters, little scraps of moments Luffy refused to let go of. Shanks’ first bounty. A photo of Garp in a marine report. A flyer of Sabo, of Zoro, Nami and even Ussop’s first bounty. Now, a new addition. Ace’s News Co. article; the poster was tacked onto the wall.
Luffy pressed the page flat and used a bit of glue Nami had left behind. He wrote underneath in big, messy letters:
Ace!!
He’s doing it. He’s really out there now.
A knock on the door. “Luffy?” Sabo's voice.
Luffy closed the book gently and tucked it into the drawer beside his hammock. “Yeah?”
Sabo stepped in, pipe slung across his back, and held up the paper another copy of the same article. “You saw this?”Luffy nodded. “You okay?”
Luffy sat on the edge of the bed and gave a small grin. “He’s ahead of me.”
Sabo smiled too, a little wistful. “We’ll catch him.”
Luffy glanced at the map pinned to the wall. “He’s in the South Blue. We’re gonna have to get famous enough to pull him toward us.”
Sabo leaned on the wall. “Or cause enough trouble that he wants to chase us.”
Luffy chuckled. “That sounds more fun.”
The crew gathered for lunch. Sanji had made something spicy in honor of whoever set a marine base on fire.
“Still don’t know how he did that,” Usopp muttered. “The Flame-Flame Fruit’s insane.”
“Yeah,” Zoro agreed. “And Ace was already strong without it, right?”
Sabo nodded. “He’s always had something burning inside him. Now it’s just... visible.”
Nami looked over from her charting. “Do we plan to meet up with him?”
Luffy stared at the sky for a long moment. “No,” he said finally. “We don’t plan anything.”Then he grinned. “We just keep going. He’ll find us.”
On an unknown island in the south blue the crew of the Red Haired pirates had rested for a day and a night. As morning had come and gone, beach where Shanks rested was quiet. Gentle waves lapped the black rock shoreline, warm sun cutting through the morning mist. Red Haired Shanks sat alone, shirt half-buttoned, pants rolled to his knees, a bottle in one hand and his face buried in his cloak, the hangover was already starting. He was very hungover — worse than usual.
His chest ached, not from the alcohol, but from the weight of another empty night spent mourning ghosts . Ghosts with familiar faces. “Should’ve burned Marineford again,” he muttered to no one. “Should’ve pulled the sky down on them... should’ve—”
Footsteps approached. Soft, deliberate, and familiar. Benn Beckman , carrying a sealed dispatch tube and a handful of bounty posters. He didn’t say anything right away. Just sat beside his husband, pulling a cigarette from his coat. He lit it without meeting Shanks’ eyes.
Shanks squinted. “If that’s another call from the Underworld, tell ‘em to piss off. I’m retired from pretending I care.”
“You’re not retired,” Beckman said calmly, exhaling smoke. “You’re sulking. Difference.”
“Same damn thing.”
“Nope,” Beckman said. “Sulking means you’re still waiting.”
Shanks didn’t answer. His jaw clenched. The breeze caught his red hair, letting it blow loose in the wind. Beckman reached into his coat and handed Shanks the three bounty posters. “Read.”
Shanks took them with a grunt. He started with the top one lazily.
Monkey D. Luffy – 30,000,000 Berries
He froze. His fingers tightened. He flipped to the next one.
Fire Fist Ace – 35,000,000 Berries
Then the last:
Sabo – 20,000,000 Berries
Shanks didn’t breathe. Beckman watched him, quiet. “They’re alive, Love,” he said gently. “All three of them.”
Shanks stared at the paper like it might catch fire in his hands. His lips moved, but nothing came out. Then finally, shakily. “This is real? Have you confirmed it with Buggy? Crocodile?”
Beckman nodded once. “Straight from the News Co. confirmed by a Cipher Pol leak from Buggy. They survived.”
Shanks blinked several times, eyes glossing. “I thought the Buster Call…”
“So did I.” Beckman pinched the bridge of his nose. “We all did. They’ve been hiding.”
“I thought they burned . I thought—” His voice broke, hoarse. “I thought they died screaming .”
Beckman placed a hand on his shoulder. “They didn’t.”There was silence for a long stretch of waves. “They’re thriving.”
Shanks looked down at Luffy’s poster, brushing his thumb across the boy’s stupid, wide grin. “Look at him…” he whispered. “Wearing that hat like he owns the damn sea.”
Beckman smirked. “He just might. Ace is making headlines in the South. They sent Kuma after him.”
Shanks stared at his husband with wide eyes. “And he survived?”
“Escaped. With a crew. First mate’s a masked former bounty hunter. He’s… growing into something dangerous.”
Shanks laughed once. “That’s Ace, alright.”
Beckman lit another cigarette. “And Sabo’s with Luffy. As his tactician and navigator. Didn’t join anyone else. Must’ve found him the best choice.”
Shanks looked up at the sky, the sunlight catching on the rim of his eyes making them sparkle. “All those years... I thought I lost them. All of them. I kept drinking because I thought it dulled the fire.”He looked back at Beckman. “I was wrong. It fed it.”
Beckman leaned back on his hands. “You burned half the Grand Line trying to punish someone for something that never happened.”
“They still suffered,” Shanks said, more solemn now. “They still grew up thinking they were alone.”
“Not anymore.” Beckman stated as he looked at the bounty poster in his hand before Shanks took it once again. Shanks exhaled slowly, then stood. He held the bounty posters up to the sky. “This…” he said, voice cracking into something soft and amazed. “This isn’t a reason to mourn anymore.”
Beckman looked up at him. “No?”
Shanks smiled. Not a drunken grin. Not a showman's smirk. A real, genuine smile. “It’s a reason to celebrate.”He looked at Luffy’s poster and grinned proudly. “Our son’s are still alive,” he whispered.
Beckman stood beside him. “All three of them.”
Shanks turned, already walking toward the Red Force anchored in the cove. “Wake the crew,” he called over his shoulder. “Open the good rum. Tonight we drink because they lived.”
Beckman smiled and followed. “And tomorrow?” he asked.
Shanks grinned, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Tomorrow, we find a way to see them again.”