【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"It's time to say goodbye now." Lucci looked up at Whitebeard and smiled.

Whitebeard frowned as he watched the little kid slowly disappear. Is he a devil fruit user?

"Dad, what are you doing?" A tall, thin man with lean muscles among the Whitebeard commanders asked puzzledly. The boy disappeared inexplicably, but the dad didn't seem to intend to chase him.

"Dad, the Fire Fist is gone!" Marco sighed heavily.

"Hahaha, this kid is interesting. Izo, Joz go take care of the villagers and prepare supplies. Thatch and Teach go intercept the Fire Fist's ship." An inexplicable light flashed in Whitebeard's eyes. "Marco..."

"I understand, Dad!" Marco smiled. It seemed that they would have a new brother joining them.

Marco immediately took off and soared into the sky, leaving blue flames behind him, his sharp eyes searching the ground.

……

Lucci covered his wounds and hid behind a rock to avoid the search of the Whitebeard Pirates. He needed to bring Ace back to the ship as soon as possible.

His new ability was unexpectedly useful. After entering the fire wall, he created a shadow substitute to hide in Ace, and he went to attract the attention of the Whitebeard pirates, making them focus their eyes on him. Then, he let the lurking shadow take Ace out quietly while their attention was attracted. It was also thanks to Whitebeard's underestimation that he did not activate his Observation Haki, otherwise they would not have been able to escape so easily.

"Yo-ee!"

A cry attracted Lucci's attention. He looked up at the sky and saw a big blue bird circling in the air. He had never seen such a beautiful bird before. It had blue feathers all over its body and was surrounded by blue flames. A few strands of golden feathers dotted its tail feathers. Even on the island where Rayleigh took him to train, where there were all kinds of strange animals, this type of bird had never appeared.

However, the big blue bird seemed to be targeting them. Looking at the big blue bird flying towards them, Lucci frowned and stared at it warily.

The big blue bird was covered in blue flames, and a tall human figure slowly emerged. The man had messy blonde hair and wore an unbuttoned purple jacket that showed the tattoo on his chest. He had a dagger on his waist and gray-blue knee-length pants. He had a bored expression and his eyes were lazily half-open, but there was a sharp light in the depths of his eyes.

Lucci assumed a fighting stance and stared closely at the thin man opposite him. Lucci swallowed nervously. He knew him. He had seen him next to Whitebeard. This guy was very strong.

"Give me the Fire Fist and come back with me, yoi." Marco said slowly to Lucci with a bored look on his face.

"Impossible, I won't hand Ace over to you!" Lucci attacked him.

"The Spade crew is already on our ship." Marco sighed heavily, responding to the attack while trying to persuade the boy on the other side. What responded to him was an increasingly angry attack. Marco was a little helpless. He didn't really want to fight with the people who were about to become his family, and he was already injured, but there was no other way. Let's end it as soon as possible.

"Ugh!" The sound of a huge explosion reached Ace's ears from afar, pulling him out of the darkness of his coma. He struggled to open his eyelids, his eyes were blurred, trying to understand everything he saw.

Ace saw Lucci lying not far away, his vision blurred for a moment, when he saw clearly again, he saw red, Lucci was lying flat on his back, pale and motionless, a strong and tall figure stood beside him, blocking Ace's sight, he didn't know who he was, but someone had hurt Lucci, which made him more conscious.

Ace pushed himself up, forcing himself to stand, flames erupting from his shoulders, back, and legs as he stood up, panting.

"Get away!!" he roared, stumbling closer to Lucci.

A muscular, tattooed chest appeared in front of Ace's blurry vision. He stood between Ace and Lucci. Ace vaguely realized that the person standing in front of him was the captain of the first team of the Whitebeard Pirates. He knew who the person who had just stood next to Lucci was.

"Get away..." Ace panted, staring at him with half closed eyes "...get away from him!"

Marco's eyes widened in surprise, and he raised his hands in a reassuring gesture, "I won't hurt him. He's seriously injured. I'm going to take him to the ship for treatment."

Suddenly he felt dizzy, everything went dark before his eyes, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. His body fell unconsciously, and a pair of firm hands quickly grabbed his body, stopping him from continuing to hit the ground.

Marco held his twitching brows and looked at the two people who had completely fainted. He felt helpless. They were indeed the ones chosen by his father. He could already imagine the chaotic scene on the ship that would follow.

……

Late at night, the cool sea breeze blew through Ace's hair, and a sharp pain woke Ace from his coma. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at everything around him that was unfamiliar, the unknown world. He knew that his adventure was over. He looked up at the sky filled with dark clouds. He had failed, and he had lost everything again...

"Ugh!" When he woke up again, his consciousness recovered very slowly. His head was occupied by pain, stimulating his desire to wake up more and more strongly.

When Ace finally opened his eyes, he took a few minutes to process his surroundings, he was in the infirmary, much larger than the Spade and with noticeably better facilities, he was lying on a soft, comfortable bed, his hands and arms were wrapped in thick bandages, his chest and legs were wrapped in bandages.

An IV line extended from his right arm, and Ace felt himself shiver uncontrollably, a chill running down his spine.

Ace forced himself to sit up, then ruthlessly pulled off the infusion tube in his arm. He glanced around and saw Lucci lying unconscious on the bed next to him, his face pale. Ace was a little anxious, as he didn't know what Whitebeard's purpose was. He moved slightly and groaned in pain. The movement just now affected almost all the wounds on his body.

He paused for a moment, then walked towards Lucci. Just as he was about to pull out the IV tube from Lucci's body, a voice came over, "I advise you not to touch those. They are for treatment. The nurses will go crazy if you pull them out."

Ace stopped what he was doing, blocked Lucci on the bed, turned to look at Marco, his eyes gloomy "What do you want?"

"Dad wants to see you, come with me." Marco said boredly, then turned and walked out.

Ace looked at Marco's back as he left, a little hesitant, he looked back at the unconscious Lucci, he would not let anyone hurt him. Ace dragged his injured body and followed Marco's footsteps, they came to the deck, Whitebeard sat on a huge chair, he was connected to several intravenous devices and some medical equipment.

Ace stood in front of Whitebeard, looking at him warily, his body tense, ready to be attacked at any time.

Whitebeard looked at the young boy in front of him, took a sip of sake, then smiled and said, "I have a suggestion for you."

"What?" Ace looked closely at the expression on Whitebeard's face, trying to discern his intentions, but the old pirate was hard to read, as there were no flaws on his face.

"I hope you and Lucci can carry my flag and sail on the sea." Whitebeard said seriously.

"No way! I can't join your crew! Lucci won't join you either!" Ace refused, then snapped, "Where are my crew members!?"

"They are on another ship." Whitebeard ignored Ace's refusal tone, then said with a smile, "Don't you want to challenge me? You can stay here. As long as you are on this ship, you can challenge me at any time."

Ace was silent, he didn't say anything, he decided to accept the offer, he would defeat him, he would not go after his crew before defeating him, he couldn't let their anger towards him threaten his crew.

"I accept your proposal, but you have to ensure the safety of my crew." Ace demanded, "Lucci is not my crew member. I hope you can let him leave."

"Kuralala..." Whitebeard laughed and drank the sake in the bowl, then said, "Your crew will be safe, but Lucci is just like you. I also want him on board. You can discuss it with him when he wakes up."

Ace returned to the infirmary, somewhat confused, and laid on his back, covering his face with one arm.

Lucci better wake up soon.