The Ace of Spades

Prologue

No one could ever imagine the pain one man could cause, Hanako Primrose certainly couldn't. The young woman officer had been raised since birth to be a Marine, training with her older sister they rose the ranks quickly as teenagers, making their Vice Admiral father proud… until her older sister ran off to Water 7 and never returned.

Hana was furious, how could she just drop her life's purpose like that? For some guy? Some dream? It used to make her blood boil… until she met a certain pirate. The young rookie always escaped her grasp, taunting her every corner. His bounty would go up every grande feet and she was left steaming in rage.

Oh how he knew to get under her skin, just out of reach though somehow always the one to help her up when she fell face first in the mud, his whispers in her ear to the warm of his breath… leaving the young Marine flushed in the face and shouting at her men.

His goofy grin as he watched from afar, his men telling him he needed to go all while he watched the flustered Marine girl trying to regain her composure only to scream his name with so much venom.

“Portgus D. Ace!”

He loved hearing his name from her lips, it sounded so sweet to him. Though his crew often laughed at him and shook their heads. “Give it up, lover boy.” was often what they told him, but he was persistent.

Little by little, Hana found herself looking for the Fire Fist with a different intention. Her code of a Marine was thrown out the window when she saw a glimpse of fire, his fire.

While others spent their time chasing pirates, Hana found herself in an alleyway, in the pirate's arms. Such was the case for years, even after he became a pirate under Whitebeard. He often would purposely run into the pink haired Marine, dumb in love to the point they didn't care they were supposed to be enemies.

They knew they could never be together, Ace would never be a Marine and Hanako loved her father too much to become a pirate. No matter how much they begged and fought each other, both were quite the stubborn pair.

Now it was getting rather suspicious, Vice Admiral Primrose watching his daughter stumble home, drunk on love and singing in a way her mother used to around the house. Though no matter how much he would ask, she never gave any hints to who her secret lover was…

He couldn't help but worry about his baby girl as she would disappear for weeks at a time, then show up with bruises on her neck that she soon gave up on hiding.

“You’ll meet him when the time is right.” Her tone was gentle and full of tenderness that she would never show towards anyone else. When she did talk about the mystery man she spoke of his kindness and his ways of making her laugh, the way she felt safe with him, and the way she wished she could throw everything away to stay with him forever.

When she finally said the last bit, he became suspicious of her secret lover being a pirate. Though with how she sounded so happy, he didn't have the heart to say anything… She was happy and he seemed like a good guy… that's all that mattered to him.

Hana loved her secret randevus with her lover, he’d often take her on some grand adventure, once she even met Whitebeard. The memory of standing in front of the giant man, her fingers intertwined with Ace’s as she stared up at the giant of a man…

She still marveled at the thought of how much Ace adored his food, how much he ate in one sitting…she scarcely believed that his younger brother could eat more then him… though with how Ace was, she couldn’t help but wonder….

Sitting on her bed, she thought over the time spent with Ace fondly…only for her thoughts to be interrupted by the sudden urge to hurl. Rushing to the nearest trash can, she grimaced at the sight of her poor breakfast… This had been going on for weeks, it started not long after Ace had dropped by the base that she was temporarily stationed at, when he told her about his hunt for an ex crewmate and wouldn’t be able to visit for a while.

She tried to think of what she could possibly have been eating or if any long term bug had been going around… though a single thought occurred during her rattling her brain that caused her to stand up a little too fast… shaking off the wave of nausea the best she cood, she rummaged through her dresser drawers for a little booklet… flipping through the blank pages until she finally came across what she had been searching for…

Losing her balance as she sat down on her bed, “...oh no.”

She was pregnant… there was no other explanation. Horror washed over her face as she wrapped her arms around her stomach, it was slightly more pronounced…though she thought that she just felt bloated… Immediately going to the family doctor only to have her fears confirmed.

She was pregnant.
Four months along.
And there was only one possible father…

Portgas D. Ace

Back at her apartment, she just stared at the wall.. How could she have been so careless? How could she have done this… she didn’t even have a way to contact him… this was bad, so bad… she needed to tell her dad…

Her mind was already racing… and her heart dropped when she saw the news-

“Fire Fist Ace, captured by Blackbeard, now in Impel Down, awaiting exhaustion.”

Pulling strings to get to Level 6 was not easy, her half baked lie of wanting to see the man she had been trying to put away for the past few years in chains, somehow was enough. She needed to see him, she needed to tell him… though she was powerless to help him.

She kept her composure the best she could, looking at him through the jail cell. Tears in her eyes as she looked up at the war lord then back to his broken body. The shouts of the other prisoners were muffled to her ears as she dug her hands into her pockets, her oversized jacket covering her slightly showing belly well.

“Ace… I don’t know what to do, I’m scared.” Her voice was no more than a whisper, yet he smiled up aat her through his own pain. Oh how she wished she could help him get out… but there was nothing she could do, she was useless.

“Don’t worry about it ,firecracker, this was bound to happen sooner or later.” a silly grin on his face that caused Hana to choke, her hand placed on her stomach.

“Please Ace, please, I need you to live…please promise me you'll escape… you don't understand, I need you, I’m-”

“Hana, it will be fine… Thank you for showing me a love I never knew I would experience.” His words were soft, barely audible, though enough that made Hana want to cry… though the sound of new footsteps told her it was time to go.

Watching the young girl hurry past Garp, bowing her head before her long vibrant pink hair faded out of sight, Ace couldn’t help but watch as she disappeared into the darkness as the old man drew closer.

Though before he got too close, Jinbe spoke up. “Ace… I believe that girl was trying to tell yo-”
“I know.”
Jinbe watched Ace’s jaw clench, “I’m doing the same thing as that damn old man…”

Garp had his suspicions, the girl leaving the cell was the daughter of a Marine Vice Admiral, he saw her often… she had been trying to capture Ace since he gained a bounty, but there was something much more going on.

The day of the trial, Hana watched the screens, to the rest of the world she seemed like a marine eager for the countdown to end… though in reality she was biting her nails, hoping and praying that Whitebeard would be victorious.

And for that brief moment, it seemed like he actually would make it out… then it happened so fast that Hana could barely process it… tears ran down her face as she saw her lover with a fist through his chest… the angle was obscure…but it was clear what happened…

As the world cheered, Hana dropped to her knees, choking out a sob. His name left her lips, over and over again as the people around her danced and cheered… all she could do was sob.