Chapter 148

"But pirates are not free from the sins of their captain no matter how small," I remarked as I began walking towards Ace, deliberately slowly as I looked at him coldly.

There was no such saying, of course..., and I only said that to mess with him by mentioning the sins of the parent, which I would say worked judging by Ace's expression that was a mixture of frowning and scowling.

"Don't talk as if you've already won!" Ace said through gritted teeth as he activated the mera-mera fruit and flew into the air. "Flame Commandment!" Ace exclaimed, swinging an outstretched hand around him, causing flames to coalesce around his body as he floated in the air.

"Fire Pillar!" Ace exclaimed, joining his hands together as the flame surrounding him merged, shooting at me in the form of an immense pillar of raging fire, which would have probably melted all the snow in the area had there been any left.

I didn't show any reaction as I merely activated my devil fruit ability, phasing through the flames as I flew straight in Ace's direction.

I closed the distance and appeared in front of him unscathed, much to his astonishment.

I acted quickly, kneeing Ace in the abdomen, causing his body to bend upward as I joined my fists together, smashing them into his back, making him crash into the ground.

Ace hit the ground, grunting in pain as droplets of blood flew out of his mouth, but he still didn't give up as he shouted, "Cross Fire," while crossing his finger together, trying to attack again.

However, I didn't give him a chance as I landed straight on his stomach, disrupting his focus as I pinned his arms with my knees and began hammering his face with a haki coated fist.

"This is the price... of stupidity..." I slowly remarked in between punches as Ace's face began swelling and bleeding everywhere. "And you won't be the only one paying it..." I added as I stopped punching, wiping Ace's blood off my face, trying to get up.

"I won't let you..." Ace murmured in a weak tone as I tried to get off him, causing me to pause for a second as I turned to look at him. "Touch my friends!" he added in a more forceful tone, suddenly jerking up and punching me in the face.

My eyes went wide, touching my cheek and feeling the sickeningly sweet taste of my own blood as I looked at Ace's fist that was covered in black armament haki.

"Rehahaha, you goddamned bastard!" I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. To think that Ace would awaken his Haki likes this..., not that I was one to talk, considering the circumstances I awoke my own Haki under while fighting old Chinjao.

Still, even if he awakened Haki now, it will do him no good. "Stay down. I'll deal with you once I'm done with your friends," I remarked, shaking my head as I punched Ace in the face one last time, making him faint as the fire wall surrounding us dissipated.

...

Suddenly waking up, ace jerked off the bed, wincing as his entire body ached from the beating he received.

"Whoa there, take it easy, captain," Ace heard someone speak, and he turned to the side to see a man wearing a decorative bandit mask, holding a pen and a notebook.

"Masked Deuce...?" Ace muttered, holding his sore jaw as he spoke. "Are you hurt? What about the others?" Ace asked with a frown as he noticed the battered appearance of his first mate, who did not seem to be near as injured as Ace was.

"We're a little worse for wear, but we're all fine..." Masked Deuce said with a sigh. "Fortunately, that damned monster didn't feel like killing us.." he added with a complicated expression that was a mixture of lingering fear and helplessness.

"What happened after I lost consciousness?" Ace asked, heaving a sigh of relief after hearing his crewmates were unhurt. "And where are we right now..?" he asked again, looking around as he a familiar gentle swaying beneath him.

"We all panicked when your flame wall dissipated, and we saw you laying there like a corpse, so we all attacked the bastard, but..." Masked Deuce hesitantly replied, trailing at the end of his sentence. "He just beat the living crap out of us until we couldn't get up anymore," he added, awkwardly scratching his head.

"He told us you were still alive and left shortly after that, once he made sure that none of us will get up for the next hour," Masked Deuce concluded with a bitter chuckle.

"And to answer your second question, we're currently on the Piece Of Spadile, sailing as far away from Drum as we can," Masked Deuce remarked with a helpless shrug.

"I see," Ace said with a sigh, looking down in shame. "And did that person say anything before he left...?" Ace asked after a second's pause as he raised his head to look at his first mate.

"He just said there won't be a second time before leaving," Masked Deuce replied while gesturing with his hand to the side. "And I think we should just obediently oblige..." he added, heaving a defeated sigh, promoting Ace to do the same.

"Wait, what about Wapol?" Ace suddenly said after a second pause lasting several seconds as he remembered the obese former king.

"We left him behind," Masked Duece flatly replied, his face scrunching in disgust, which earned him a frown from his captain. "The piece of shit was lying just like that person said..." he added, getting a skeptic look from Ace.

"Don't give me that look," Masked Deuce said with a frown, cutting off ace before the latter could say anything. "You weren't conscious when the island's people started throwing rotten food at us when they found out we were there to help Wapol," he added in an angry tone.

"Honestly, I told you we shouldn't involve ourselves in that matter in the first place," Masked Deuce said with a frown. "That fat bastard was obviously lying," he added in a displeased tone.

"He even tried to run away as soon as he saw your unconscious body, but that man's crewmates quickly put a stop to that...," he concluded in a disgusted tone.

"I'm... I'm sorry," Ace said with some difficulty after hearing Deuce's explanation as he slumped back into the bed.

"We're all still alive and kicking, so it doesn't matter," Masked Deuce said with a sigh, relaxing his expression. "We just need to be more careful in the future," he concluded as he got up and left, leaving Ace to his own thoughts.

...

"What was that saying about a parent's sins and a captain's sins?" Elly asked, her head tilted to the side as we flew on Byron's back, heading to Drum castle to Have law taken care of by the doctors there.

"How come I've never heard of it before, captain...?" she asked in a confused tone as she looked at me.

"Well, you didn't hear about it because it doesn't exist," I replied with a chuckle, shaking my head, and getting an even more confused expression from Elly and the rest as they listened to the conversation.

"I came up with it on the spot, and you guys probably won't understand it, but I'm sure guy did," Johnny added, shrugging his shoulders with a careless expression, getting an eye roll for Elly for my effort.

I never intended to kill Ace, nor his crewmates, despite my anger at the time. I needed this idiot to start the war between whitebeard and the marines. Besides, I don't think I have it in me to do it, regardless.

Ace was an asshole, and I always thought his death was deserved in the anime, but I still liked him, nonetheless, and just the idea of killing him feels wrong to me somehow.

Still, he attacked my crewmates, and I won't let that fly, not now, not ever. So, I needed to teach him a lesson to vent my anger and beat the stupidity out of him, but that's just me being optimistic.

At any rate, this should be a painful lesson he won't soon forget. Still, first Sabo, and now Ace, birds of a feather flock together, I guess. I wonder if Luffy will manage to piss me off in the first five minutes of meeting him like his brothers if we meet in the future...?