Chapter 22

The Spade Pirates didn't look afraid at all. They were standing side by side with their captain, Portgas D. Ace, who refused to give into Whitebeard's 'request' of being his son. Beside him on the left stood a blonde man wearing a white full shirt, whose sleeves were half rolled, with two or three buttons unbuttoned, a pair of blue trousers, a pair of black boots, and a black mask hiding his face from them. They can easily guess that the young man was none other than Cyane. On the right of the captain of Spade Pirates, stood a scrawny teen, who shouldn't be anywhere near this battle, wearing a red unbuttoned half shirt in a similar fashion with Cyane, a blue fluffy short, a pair of sandals and a black mask. The kid was none other than Cyra.

If Whitebeard had doubted Ace being Cole, it was clear the moment he saw the orange crystal locket of Ace, the blue crystal locket of Cyane, and the red crystal locket of Cyra. He was confirmed that Ace was no one other than Cole, which means he needs protection if he had left the 3C's. If people can come after him, he won't be able to protect himself. And that is where he will come in.

The Whitebeard pirates upon seeing the Spades felt a bit shocked. Questions about the crew's sanity arose. Who brings a fucking kid to a battle? How the hell did they even think of going against a crew of 1500 people with only 21 people? Are they looking them down or are they so set on making fool of themselves?

"Become my sons and we won't have to fight." Whitebeard's voice loomed above the tension with the pirates facing each other on the beach side, ready to attack at one signal.

"Shut the hell up!" Portgas D. Ace roared at Whitebeard, barely able to keep his twitching hands in control for the upcoming fight. "I already told you I'm not gonna be your slave."

"Ace, yoi! We want you and your brothers as our brothers and family, not a slave, yoi." Marco tried to argue with a real point. Everyone in the crew really liked the spitfires and wanted to make them their brothers since the time The 3C's have come in the newspaper. They wanted them as a family, what's wrong with it?

"We don't care if you call your chains 'shackles' or 'family', or your mark a 'slave brand' or a 'jolly roger'. You are no better than the Celestial Dragons. You tried to force Ace and us into your service and we will never forgive that." Cyane spat with a glare on his face, boring his eyes directly at Marco's and Whitebeard's skulls. Marco would never forget the pure icy fury in those blue eyes.

"Was it really that bad?" Thatch asked with tears shimmering in the corner of his eyes. He only wanted to make Ace his brother. Were their methods so bad?

"Snatching someone's freedom is never good, bread-hair," Cyra spoke with his eyes shadowed. "You all should have listened to our choices as well before deciding on your own."

"Cyra is right, we never wanted to be part of your crew," Ace spoke, placing a hand on Cyra's shoulder as if trying to protect the small kid from the hateful eyes of the crew standing behind the commanders.

Deuce can see the commanders understanding but the large crowd, they were not. They didn't want or even try to understand. Well, that's not their problem. They will be free, even if it means they have to clash with the Whitebeard Pirates.

"Guarara!" Whitebeard shook with his laughter. "Bring all you can, you all are going to lose."

The three brothers took a step forward, eyes gleaming with the seriousness of the battle about to take place. A sudden pressure washed over the crew of the Emperor of The Sea, whose haki to defend his defenseless crew members failed miserably. The fodder of the Whitebeard Pirates dropped one by one on the shore as puppets without strings. The only ones left were the commanders and Whitebeard himself.

Whitebeard slammed his bisento in anger on the shore, once the haki was lifted and a smirk on the faces of the challenger crew appeared. He tried his own Conqueror's haki to remove the weaker members of the Spades, but it seemed like the opposing team knew he will do that. They were already encompassed with protective haki from their captain and his brothers.

"That's cheating, yoi!" Marco retaliated in anger, seeing his brother's fallen bodies. He really wanted to beat the shit out of his new brothers and show them it is not good manners to hurt your future family.

"I don't see it, birdy!" The captain of the Spades Pirates let out a devilish howl of laughter, making Marco's eyes twitch in annoyance at the nickname.

"It's a fair fight now!" Cyane spoke, readying his weapon for the fight to begin. "Also, I should warn you only for humanity's sake." They can feel the blonde giving a mean grin, before pointing his pipe to the fallen brothers of the commanders. "You should get them in. Won't be good for your 'family' if they get snatched by the waves."

"Are you brats threatening me and my crew?" Whitebeard glared at the brats. The brats are more powerful than he had thought. But he will make them his sons and they will join, once they lose the 'war'.

"Ding dong!" Cyra chirped, in his sing song voice, making the commanders rethink if they should fight the little kid. "Today's weather reports say lots of storms and high waves!"

"Guararararrarara!!!" Whitebeard laughed and looked at the kid standing beside his brother. He has a feeling that the kid will be the wild card of the battle. Maybe Marco was right, that the boy didn't seem that dangerous by his looks. "You brats can't still defeat me!"

"We will see about it!" Ace roared and lunged at Whitebeard and the fight started.

The Whitebeard Pirate lunged forward to attack the Spade Pirates, without any solid plan, as their plan was shattered the moment the brothers decided to make their brothers unconscious.

Unaware of where they were taking the attack, the Whitebeard commanders fell into the trap of plans the Spades and The 3C's had made. The Whitebeard commanders only knew one thing they need to take down the leaders. 'Fire Fist' Ace will be dealt by Whitebeard and the other two brats, 'Red Maniac' Cyra and 'Blue Sly' Cyane will be defeated by the commanders. They wouldn't need to spend much resources and power to defeat the kid but they might keep their guards on the blonde.

Marco charged the battle as Whitebeard became busy with messing up with Fire Fist. He had allowed him to look over the battle and he will see through it. He ordered Namur and Rakuya to stay by his side and help him to load his unconscious brothers into the Moby. Most of the commanders followed the brats and the Spades while Thatch and Belheim stayed on the beach to deal with Deuce and Skull. The clashing of swords and the battle cry were ringing in Marco's ear. But the battle didn't matter to any of them. All that mattered, right now, to Marco was the warning of the brothers.

The battle inside the forest was interesting, to say the least. On one hand, the moment the Whitebeard commanders entered the forest, the aura of Cyra and Cyane disappeared as if they never existed. The only ones in front of them were the Spade Pirates who were trying to keep up with them. They were light on them, after all, they didn't want Ace to lose his crew and make him feel angry and not willing to join their crew far more than he feels right now.

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Diamond Jozu headed straight for the blonde who was whistling on top of the tree. He was looking smug and Jozu wanted to remove that from the blonde's face. The blonde had made him run all over the forest only to disappear in seconds. He was fast and smart, which Jozu can attest to. He was getting tired of the cat-and-mouse chase, which the blonde was giving him. But he can guarantee the blonde will be a good addition to the crew. If some headstrong brothers need a little beating to join the crew, he will gladly give them that.

With that he dashed to the blonde, not wanting to let him vanish on him again. But the blonde seemed to be bored from the little game he had playing. He saw the blonde jump down from his seat on the trunk of the tree which he had claimed, and run towards him. Jozu smirked. He would at last get the fight that he was yearning for. Their bodies took in their combat positions and his fists clashed with the blonde's pipe and his energy fell leaving him.

He regretted not being much careful. The blonde was using damn sea stone!

"Sea stone.." He gritted his teeth.

"Oh, you are smarter than you look," The blonde mocked him. "I thought you would have diamonds for your brains."

Jozu wanted to smash the pipe into pieces and make the blonde take back his word. But his energy was leaving him drastically the longer he stayed in contact with the pipe. He took a good distance away from him and uprooted a tree.

"Now who had diamonds for brains?" Jozu smirked throwing the tree on the blonde. He hoped that the blonde doesn't die from it. It would piss Pops off.

But to his relief or not, the blonde dodged the tree effortlessly.

"You have strength but you can't hope to defeat me with it," The blonde said smugly and attacked him. Jozu dodged it easily. The blonde seemed to be amused by that if his crescent eyes were a sign. And then Jozu realized the mistake he had made.

He had given the blonde an opening. But before he could really prevent and cover the opening, the blonde's hands were shaped like a claw and his fingers were clad with armament haki. The attack seemed familiar to him but he couldn't place it exactly why. He could already be assured that it would hurt like hell to a normal person. But the blonde seemed to have forgotten that he is a diamond man.

The claws were on his chest and Jozu's fists hit hard on the blonde's jaw, making blood trail from his mouth. But the blonde didn't move. He stuck to him like a leech. With a mocking laugh, the blonde unleashed his attack and that was the moment Jozu realized he fucked up. He wasn't able to give the blonde a proper fight, all cause he was tired from running and being in contact with the sea stone pipe which had been pinned on his feet.

"Dragon Claw attack," The blonde muttered, and true to the attack, it hit like a bitch. He threw blood from his mouth. He could feel his ribs shattering already.

"Checkmate!" The blonde said with his pipe up in the air. Jozu tried to dodge the attack but the attack was way too fast for him to dodge. With one attack on his head, his body fell to the ground, and a black void encompassed him. He would never repeat this mistake of not judging his opponent well.

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Sabo vanished into the woods all again, leaving an unconscious Jozu tied with sea stone. He needed to take down two more commanders before going to help Ace. The Spades were doing their best but they are not that strong still. He would suggest Ace get them some proper training before going ahead in his career of being a pirate.

Sabo took turns and turns until he found Luffy who had already beat Haruta and was messing around with Izo. The Whitebeard Commander was not taking Luffy seriously at all! That's why Luffy was winning mostly. The commanders were trying their best to not go for Cyra, it seems.

By the sounds of the metal clanging with metal, it was clear the Spades were holding against their opponents. But they won't be able to do it forever. He truly worries about what will happen if Ace lost. Will they run until the Whitebeard stop chasing them? Will they go into hiding and then come out later to defeat Whitebeard? There were endless possibilities in store for the future, depending on the choices of one. But the most important thing is the present, that we live in.

With that, Sabo clanged his metal pipe with that of the large iron gauntlets of the 11th division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Kingdew.

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On the other side with Whitebeard and Ace...

"Why are you adamant, brat?" Whitebeard asked countering Ace's fire attacks with his bisento easily.

"Why should I become your son even in the first place?" Ace glared at the man, who was trying to hold him. He coated his arms with Armament Haki and with a smirk on his lips, the other hand formed the shape of claws. He used his fire to propel him away from Whitebeard, having found the core of the rocky part of the beach, where they were fighting.

"Dragon Breath!" Ace shouted.

"You can be safe and the marines won't hunt you down for," Whitebeard jumped out of reach of the cracks of the ground. He has to say this attack was impressive, as it broke the whole rocky plain where they were fighting in pieces. If he wouldn't have jumped maybe he could have tripped. Well, he is not that old.

The distance between him and the teen shortened as the teen lunged forward to attack him, only for him to stop after hearing Whitebeard. "being Roger's son and Cole."

Ace stiffened for a moment before lunging towards Whitebeard and using his small stature to get between his legs before attacking him. "I don't give a shit about those. Being in the sea means," Ace lunged forward pretending to attack Whitebeard from back but only to slide between his legs and jump in front of him to use his Fire Fist on Whitebeard's face. "Risk!"

Whitebeard blows off the flame as if he was blowing a candle placed on a cake. But Whitebeard found Ace coming behind from the flames with his hands covered with Armament Haki to crush him.

"I have been born with a target on my head and I don't fucking care about the WG. I am strong enough to defend myself and my crew. I don't need your help to keep myself safe!"

"Brat, be my son and you can run wild and free!" Whitebeard replied catching Ace's hand in the right moment and throwing him to a stone. Ace's body changed to fire on instinct. Ace and Whitebeard both take a moment to catch their breath.

"Never!" Ace says between his pants and gets up dusting his trousers and looking straight into Whitebeard's eyes. "I already have two great fathers. I don't want to add a senile old man like you to the list."

A/n:

First of all, I am very very sorry for the long break which I took. I dunno if anyone looked forward for the story to be updated or not. But I am still sorry. I didn't give any news about taking a break and just vanished. To say the truth, I was having difficulties in writing the fighting scene. And the result which you are gonna read is... still not satisfying.

I suck at writing fighting scenes so I am sorry, if the chapter doesn't turn out how you would have thought to.

But who do you think will win?

Or who should win, taking account of everything? Like the proficiency of Haki in the brothers, the Dragon style of fighting, the Revolutionary skills like assassinations which at least Ace and Sabo have. How much should they be stronger?

I personally feel the brothers are at least capable of giving one on one to the commanders. And Sabo with his brains can do much more, like Ace with his brute and skilled fighting.