16-Faced Gang!

Prelude

Ace hadn't seen his younger brother, Luffy, in about five years. Sure, they'd mail each other, call each other, but nothing was face to face. They were on separate ends of the state...in his mind.

In reality, Ace had made himself disappear from the grid. He hadn't went on a road trip. He wasn't in a foreign country. He was in the southern tip of shithole Florida--hiding in a bay house he'd loaned.

That's how he'd met "Whitebeard". Actually, Edward Newgate: a man most wanted, unknown location. Probably in a boat hiding in the Caribbean, so not directly. Rather, one of his Faces. He got into a business he probably shouldn't have. It was only minor pill pushing for small change, but it still attracted his attention. And he was given an ultimatum.

'Work for us if you work in our territory, or we'll kill you.'

Working for the biggest kingpin in the country couldn't be that bad, right?

So he signed up--rising to Second Face in five years. He went from pill popping pusher to massive runner. His flaming hot personality was respected among the faces. He'd cut the hardest deals, force people to buy more...you name it. Second only to the First Face.

Marco.

The one man who actually had met Ace, numerous occasions. They'd ran together. Didn't really mesh, but it worked.

When they weren't fighting. Or Marco flirting with him.

Yeah, that had been a thing up until he left. Marco would hit on him--he let it slide, sometimes a few compliments back. What did it matter anyways?

Marco extended him his personal number when he said he was leaving 'tomorrow, for real this time'. Hit him up anytime, he said. If he needed a favor, reach out.

Ace tipped his hat, took the scrap of paper, and tucked it along the inside rim. Agreed. Wished him farewell. Newgate would be pissed, but this wasn't about him.

It was about seeing his brother, who he'd lied to for months, one more time at the very least.

Ace was heading home.