Chapter 55: 'The Lengths I'll Go'
The crew was sitting in the galley. They were all at a table and listening to Ace tell stories about Luffy when he was a child. White was sitting on Thirteen's head with his arms crossed.
Thirteen was staring blankly at the air, though he was looking in Ace's direction, he never actually looked at him. Zoro was sitting next to Thirteen, drinking alcohol as he listened to Ace.
He occasionally glanced at Ace and Thirteen with a thoughtful look in his eyes. Ace kept glancing at Thirteen every now and then with an unreadable expression, which made Zoro frown on the inside.
He seemed to be the only one who noticed it as the rest listened to Ace attentively, laughing and smiling.
Thirteen got up and left the galley, the conversation halted abruptly and everyone looked at him before Ace touched his nose embarrassingly, saying "I guess he got bored." Zoro watched Thirteen leave as Nami smiled, replying "It's alright, he's just like that. He didn't mean anything." Ace smiled and looked to the door, Luffy glanced at Thirteen before asking "Ace, what's that tattoo?" Ace started talking again revealing his Whitebeard tattoo, proclaiming that he is the Commander of Whitebeard's 2nd Fleet.
The crew asked a ton of questions and quickly forgot about Thirteen leaving, except for 2 people. White was left behind and sat on the table instead, kinda bored from the conversation.
Thirteen stood on the upper deck, looking out at the sea.
He could feel that he wasn't welcome at the table, Ace was hostile to him for some reason and he couldn't figure out why. It didn't make any sense to him, was it because he was different?
He looked at his hands in silence before thinking about what the Swan-Man said. Could it be that he was wrong? The other him inside his head kept saying that he was and that friendship was fake, but how could that be?
Luffy had risked his life for him multiple times, even when it wasn't necessary.
Is that what friends do?
He put his hands down and looked out to the sea again, the crew got angry on his behalf multiple times. They lashed out when he was discriminated against, when he was attacked they attacked back for him, when he was sick they dropped everything to get him help.
He didn't know what friends were but he hoped that they were it.
As he was lost in his thoughts, his ear twitched and he turned his head to see Ace behind him. Though, this time he wasn't smiling.
Thirteen turned back to the sea and Ace walked next to him before saying "I want you to disappear. Far away from my brother and his friends." Thirteen didn't reply but his eyes slowly tinted red, Ace turned around and leaned against the railing, crossing his arms as he continued "You're bad news. I don't care if you're strong. The World Government wants you, badly."
Thirteen didn't reply and his hand slowly started getting denser and sharper as the red glow of his pupils became brighter. Ace tilted his head at Thirteen and looked at his side profile, adding "You're the talk of the town in the New World, did you know?"
Ace looked at him and clicked his tongue, "Bounty hunters, Slave Traders, hell! Even Pirates are looking for you! 600 mil for a Half-Mink former slave? Sounds like easy pickings to me. Even some of the commanders were tempted…"
Ace got closer to him and said coldly "They're coming for you and at that time you won't be ready. They're a different breed, anyone in my Division can deck the deck with your body." he burst into flames and continued "If I find out there was even a scratch on my brother before you decided to hang out and risk his life…"
The flames flickered black and an invisible pressure gushed from his body as he added "I. Will. Find. You." Thirteen's mouth curled up into an eerie grin as his eyes glowed blood red and he said "You should worry about yourself, candlestick~"
Ace narrowed his eyes and Thirteen turned to him, leaning in as he said "Do you want me to extinguish your flames right here? Right now?" he chuckled and his sharp finger turned pitch black, poking Ace in the chest, drawing blood.
Ace looked down and slapped Thirteen's hand away, saying "You don't want this, Mink. Trust me." Thirteen giggled creepily as he covered his mouth and replied "I'm so scared~! Ehiehiehiehieihehi~"
Ace started burning hotter and Thirteen's grin widened slowly as the black tinge creeped up his arms, slowly turning his razor sharp fangs black. Ace's flames flickered black and red as Thirteen's features started getting sharper and more sinister.
His arms started bulging and his veins popped up on his arms visibly throbbing, moving the denser blood through them. They looked like cracked rocks from the outside, but his veins were actually protruding as his muscles throbbed becoming denser and denser.
Ace clenched his fist which shined black as an invisible wave gushed from his body, only to be blocked by another one from Thirteen as sparks crackled in the air. Ace turned solemn as he was starting to feel threatened, it was as though he was facing a wild animal.
The animal was a behemoth and completely unpredictable, it gave him a subtle feeling of suppression and reminded him of someone else on his own crew. Ace frowned and his arms bulged as he said "Who are you."
Thirteen's eyes shined with excitement, obsession, cruelty, and intense bloodlust. He opened his mouth before his ears twitched and he looked to be in pain. His eyes were washed from the red and returned to blue as the entire phenomena disappeared as if it never happened.
Thirteen returned to his blank face and looked at Ace before turning away, saying roughly "Leave me alone." Ace was confused as this voice was completely different from before and the threat level just vanished, before he could investigate, he heard footsteps and reverted to normal, smiling as he said "Sorry I bored you, aha!"
Luffy walked up and smiled "What's going on?" Ace patted Thirteen's shoulder and said "Just apologizing~!" Luffy chuckled and said "It's okay, Thirteen's had it rough. He doesn't hate you, he never talks! Shishishishi!" Ace smiled and looked at the sky, adding "Looks like I gotta go, Lu."
Luffy pouted and replied "What?! Already? But you just got here!" Ace laughed and winked, saying "We'll meet again soon! I promise!" Luffy smiled and nodded, waving him over as he said "I wanna show you a new move before you go!" Ace grinned and answered "You'll still never beat me!" as he started walking.
Luffy grabbed his arm and grinned "We'll see about that!" Before running to the main deck, Ace lost his smile and stopped behind Thirteen, saying "Leave before I make you leave. You'll bring disaster to these people at that time, even if you run to the end of the sea, I will still find you."
He turned his head and his pupils were small as pins, filled with hostility and pressure, as he added "I will make you live a life worse than death. Much worse than Mariejois, I promise." before he continued walking and smiled again as he saw Luffy.
Thirteen stood still in silence, clenching his fist so hard it started bleeding. He opened his palm and stared at the small pool of blood, looking at his own reflection as he immersed himself in his thoughts.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone