Chapter 69

"It really is him!" One of the younger marines started panicking at seeing Ace up close. "Fire Lord Ace!"

"Gol D. Ace!" One of the higher ranking marine officers shouted at Ace who was still standing on top of the Ashen Dragon's figurehead. "For your crimes of piracy, surrender!"

"Or what?" Ace sneered at the marines. It didn't have the effect he expected. The marines were not as intimidated as he thought.

'It seems my reputation is still lacking.'

"Shoot him!"

The marines listened to the order of their officer. They aimed at Ace and started shooting. Ace just let the bullets hit him. He wanted to observe the skill level of the average marine and compare it to the skill level of the average pirate he encountered back in Jackstalk Island.

'These guys are vicious. They all aimed and shot my head and chest, huh? Yeah, marines are definitely more skilled than pirates. Makes sense. These guys had formal training, after all.'

Seeing Ace unaffected by their bullets, the marines stopped firing. It was at that moment as well that Ace shook himself off his thoughts. He watched the marines panic.

"Oi, didn't you know I'm made of fire?" Ace asked the marines. "You have to do better than that if you want to catch me!"

"He… he really is a fire human!"

"A Logia… in the hands of a pirate!"

"He needs to be stopped!"

"You!" one of the marine officers pointed at one of his men. "Take four men with you and return to the base! Get reinforcements as well as seastone arsenals! Go!"

"Yes, sir!"

Of course, Ace heard the command that was given. Although he was confident that he and his crew can take them on, he'd rather not be the passive side in the encounter. If a battle between his crew and marines would erupt, Ace would rather be the one who held all the advantage.

"Oh, no you don't!" Ace used Flicker and appeared behind the marine that was ordered to retreat.

The marine looked back and was horrified to see Ace standing behind him. None of the marines saw him move. Ace raised his hand in a finger gun gesture and pointed it at the back of the marine's head. He shot a bullet made of compressed flames, penetrating the marine's skull and frying his brain. The marine fell face first, dead as can be.

"Anyone else wanna leave the party?" Ace asked the marines.

The marines gritted their teeth as they stared down Ace. By the looks on their faces, they were prepared to die.

"Officers! Let's hold down this pirate here!" one of the higher ranking marines shouted for everyone to hear. "Everyone else, scatter and retreat!"

"You didn't lose your head! I'm impressed," Ace said, being honest in his assessment. "But, I'm sorry to say that you already failed."

Ace used his Conqueror's Haki on the marines. His controlled burst covered the whole area where the marines were. All the marines went unconscious except for one. The marine that Ace left standing was the one that gave out the order to retreat.

"Wh-What happened? All of you, get up!"

"They won't be waking up anytime soon," Ace said as he walked towards the marine officer. "You seem to be a high ranking dude in your base. You should have some knowledge about this island, right?"

The marine officer glared at Ace defiantly. His hateful glare was betrayed by his slowly retreating steps. He unsheathed the sword on his hip and pointed it at Ace.

"If you think I'll tell you anything, you're dead wrong!" The officer charged at Ace with his sword raised. "Die, pirate!"

Ace watched the marine officer swing down his sword, aiming for his head. In response, Ace held his hand up and reached out at the sword that was swinging downwards. With his timing and strong grip, Ace caught the sides of the sword with his bare hands.

"Wh-! Let go!" The officer was first shocked that Ace caught his sword with his bare hands. Then, he paled in horror after realizing that he couldn't pry his sword away from Ace's grasp no matter how much he tried. "Let go!"

"No, you let go," Ace said. Then, his hand caught fire. Ace heated up the sword of the marine officer with his powers. After feeling the heat, the marine officer had no choice but to let go of his weapon.

The officer instantly retreated without looking away from Ace. His eyes glanced downwards to spot anything he could use. Then, his eyes landed on a standard rifle given to every marine infantry. He picked it up and aimed it at Ace.

"Come on, there's no need for that! I only wanted to ask you about this island!"

"Fuck you! You killed all my men!"

"Technically, I only killed two," Ace said as he walked towards the marine officer. "The rest are just sleeping."

"Liar!"

The marine officer started shooting bullet after bullet all aimed between Ace's eyebrows. He was rather impressed that the marine officer was still so accurate with his shots despite looking so unnerved.

The moment Ace stopped in front of the marine officer was the same moment he ran out of bullets to shoot at Ace. With a burning hand, Ace reached up at the rifle's barrel and bent it. Perhaps out of sheer hopelessness, the marine officer let go of the rifle and let it fall.

"So, ready to talk to me now?"

"What the hell do you want?" the marine officer asked through gritted teeth.

"Let's start with something simple," Ace said before pointing at the strange burning ship the marines were looting when they arrived on the island. "Tell me about that ship. I've never seen such a design before."

"None of your business." The marine officer sneered at Ace. "Go to hell."

"Woah! Feisty!" Ace said before punching the marine officer on the gut, making him kneel on the ground in pain. "Alright, don't tell me I didn't try to be civil."

Ace walked to one of the unconscious marines. The marine officer watched Ace take the revolver holstered on his hip.

"Wait, what are you-?"

Ace shot the unconscious marine on the head. The marine officer watched in horror as a warm, dark-red blood pooled around the head of the marine Ace shot. Then, he paled even further after realizing that Ace didn't even give a second glance at the man he killed and was instead focused on walking to another unconscious marine.

"Stop!" The marine officer shouted at Ace. "Stop! Please!"

Ace didn't listen. He kept walking and stopped over an unconscious marine. With his revolver, he shot the unconscious marine on the head. He didn't stop and walked to another target.

"No! Please! I'll tell you everything!" The marine officer begged as he knelt there, helpless to stop Ace from taking the lives of his subordinates.

Again, Ace didn't listen. He walked to his third target and shot him in the head as well. Then, he turned his attention to the marine officer that broke down in tears.

"Ready?" Ace asked.

"Yes. Please. Ask me anything, and I'll answer," the marine officer said through painful and grieving sobs. "Just… don't kill any more of my men…"

"That's more like it! HAHAHAHA! See? I knew you were a good guy!" Ace crouched down in front of the crying marine officer and patted his shoulder. "So, let's get back to my first question. Tell me about that ship."

"That ship… is a rebel ship," the marine officer answered.

"A rebel ship?" Ace looked at the burning ship. "Like, the Revolutionary Army?"

"No. It's a rebel ship from one of the colonies of Espa Kingdom."

Of course, Ace was familiar with the Espa Kingdom. Ever since they entered the Grand Line, they frequently encountered traces of them.

"This Espa Kingdom… is it affiliated with the World Government?" Ace asked.

"...yes."

"Where is this Espa Kingdom?"

"In the New World."

"They have territories here in Paradise?" Ace asked.

"They do."

Ace was impressed with Espa Kingdom. Despite being in the New World, their territories spanned all the way to Paradise. Their kingdom must be an expert at warfare. Ace was interested to see it for himself.

"Which colony is that ship from?" Ace asked.

"It's a rebel ship from Felip Archipelago," the marine officer answered. "It's one of the archipelagos near the Red Line."

"Interesting," Ace said. "So, there are other archipelagos there besides Sabaody?"

"There are. Most of the routes in Paradise end in archipelagos," the marine officer said.

"Are there any survivors from that ship?" Ace asked.

"Yes. They're currently detained in our base."

"Why not just kill them?"

"They're scheduled for an execution," the marine officer said. "We're waiting for delegates from the Espa Kingdom to arrive. They want to watch the Soul of Rebellion die."

"Soul of Rebellion?" Ace was intrigued. "I think I wanna see him. Where's your base?"

"That…" For good reasons, the marine officer looked unwilling to answer Ace's question. 

"Quit worrying," Ace said. "Don't you believe in your fellow marines? I won't fight them all, of course…"

"The marine base… is on the west side of this island," the marine officer said after much deliberation. 

"Anything else interesting about this island?" Ace asked, curious to see if the marine would tell him that this place was very special for the World Government because this was where Doctor Vegapunk grew up.

"...this is a winter island," the marine officer said. "Don't expect the weather to change. The Log Pose also takes two weeks to set."

Ace hid a smile after hearing the marine officer be secretive about the Future Country of Baldimore and the importance of the island, no doubt in an effort or a hope that the Royal Aces wouldn't come to know about it. 

"So, unless we want to change routes in Paradise, we shouldn't stay here longer than that?"

"That's correct."

"Thank you," Ace said before blasting the marine officer with his Conqueror's Haki.

…

"You want us to destroy this island's marine base, Captain?" Enel asked Ace as the crew gathered around a huge campfire Ace made on the winter island's beach to warm them up.

"That's right!" Ace said, seemingly proud of his plan.

"But, why?" Tanya couldn't help but be curious. "What're you planning?"

"There are three objectives we can meet if we make noise by wreaking havoc on this island's marine base," Ace said to start his explanation. "First, misdirection. As you all may have heard, we caught the eye of an Admiral."

"Truly a bad omen," Augur said.

"It is. I don't think we're ready yet to face an Admiral Fleet," Ace said. He knew being overconfident is asking for death. "That's why, we'll throw them a bone. Let the marines know that we changed routes."

"Will we?" Hepha asked with a slight shiver from the cold.

"No. Not yet," Ace said. "Unless we find another Eternal Pose, we won't be changing routes anytime soon. It takes two weeks for the Log Pose to set on this island."

"Which means, we'll be long gone before that happens," Vash said as he warmed himself up on the big fire at their center.

"And so the marines will be looking for us in a route we aren't even sailing on," Terzo mumbled as he wrote down notes in his journal.

"Second objective, curiosity," Ace said. "The marine base currently has a prisoner that I want to meet for myself. I'll be going with the attack team."

"Who is it?" Doppol asked.

"We'll know soon enough."

"The third?" Tanya asked,

"Third objective, distraction," Ace said, continuing the explanation of the plan he cooked up. "As you all know, this island is where Vegapunk was born and raised."

"At least, those guys from Espa think so," Vash said. "Should we really believe them, Ace?"

"Espa Kingdom is apparently an affiliate of the World Government," Ace said. "That alone should be enough reason to believe they weren't mistaken."

"Great, we offended a kingdom under the World Government already." Doppol looked worried after remembering Ace and Vash's stunt on the military outpost of Espa Kingdom at Bounty Plains.

"ZEHAHAHAHA! Ace should be planning much more than just offending the World Government," Teach said. "You shouldn't be surprised, Doppol!"

"Well, seeing it for ourselves is different," Soma said, having the same sentiment as Doppol. "It hasn't really dawned on me yet… we're actually with a crazy Captain."

"And yet, you're still here! HAHAHAHA!" Ace put a hand on Soma's head and ruffled his hair. "Anyway, we got off topic. While some of us are in the marine base causing chaos, some of us will be checking out what this island offers. That'll be Mihar, Tanya, Hepha, Vash, and Doppol. Everyone else will be attacking the marine base."

"I'll come too, Captain?" Eri asked, excited that she was about to fight too.

"Ahh. Sorry, Eri," Ace said. "Didn't I tell you that you'll stick with Mihar whenever we aren't on the ship?"

"Ahh… aye, Captain," Eri said as she deflated from disappointment.

"Mreow," Kotatsu nuzzled up to Eri to try and comfort her. It worked, seeing how Eri smiled and gave the big cat a hug.

"Enel, where do you sense the most people?" Ace asked.

"A moment please, Captain," Enel said before closing his eyes to feel the island with his Mantra combined with his Devil Fruit. A moment later, he opened his eyes. "A lot of people are gathered right around the center of the island, Captain."

"Good. That must be where the country is," Ace said. "Vegapunk's traces should be there. Hepha, you said this was a future island, right?"

"That's right," Hepha said. "More precisely, the Future County Baldimore is on this island."

"Good. You're in charge of looking for what we talked about. This is a future island," Ace said. "You sure it's all here?"

"Positive," Hepha said with a nod and a smirk after realizing what Ace wanted her to do.

Ace and Hepha had a discussion in the past about her ability to make objects 'eat' Devil Fruits. Ace was very intrigued by Hepha's Clear Sky Hammer and wanted the crew to have more access to Devil Fruit powers by giving them similar weapons. Hepha said that she lacked the technology to create such weapons.

Now that they're in a future island, such a problem shouldn't exist.

"Doppol," Ace said, turning to Doppol. "You're in charge of looking for anything that will improve our ship."

Doppol answered with a nod. Next, Ace turned to Vash.

"Vash, you're in charge of looking for anything that would improve your ability to look out for our crew's health. Futuristic countries should be more capable when it comes to medicine."

"I planned to do exactly that," Vash said with a smirk.

"Tanya and Mihar, you two are in charge of looking for anything that would improve our overall offensive capabilities. Weapons, weapon blueprints, bombs, anything."

"Roger that," Tanya and Mihar said.

"All right, everyone!" Ace said, rallying his crew. "Let's go!"