Hello, everyone! I have good news and bad news for you...

The bed news is that my fanfic, ASL Adventures, is still on hiatus and will no longer be updated. However, I have taken the advice of one of my readers to make a rewrite! (Thank you to Sweetsnakes)

So here it is!

There will be some major changes but the overall plot should remain relatively intact.

I am sorry for wait but I have been extremely busy. Also, this fanfic will have slow updates!

Thank you of you took the time to read what I wrote here, and enjoy!

(I do not own One Piece)

How am I still this far from the top?

Ace was staring at the ceiling of a random storage room on the Moby, flagship of the Whitebeard pirates.

Whitebeard.

One of the four Emperors of the sea and the strongest man in the world. Rumored to have strength equal to him.

And the person he had (stupidly, now that he thought about it), challenged six days ago, only to get swatted aside like a fly.

Kidnapped.

And…

Become my son.

Ace glared vehemently at the walls of his dim enclosure.

He was going to take Whitebeard's head. No matter what they say, no matter how much they laugh, he would do it. Accomplish his lifelong dream.

See how much they would laugh at him then.

Ace let out a quiet sigh, his ire fading as nostalgia replaced the empty space left behind.

"If you were here, you'd lecture me, wouldn't you, Sabo?" He said aloud.

But he wasn't here.

He wasn't here because he was dead, his small ship shot down by some bastard World Noble before he would ever get more than a taste often freedom he had always longed for.

Because you left him. A voice whispered in his head. You abandoned him with the parents you knew he hated. You're the reason why he's dead, gone, instead of sailing the seas.

And it was true. Even Luffy, the moron, had thought to try and get Sabo back, but he, he said that Sabo was better off being a caged bird forever.

It is all your fault. Everything is your fault.

Ace bit his lip, hard.

The world would be better off if you had died.

After Sabo had died, he had tried his best to take care of Luffy, to teach him and to get him out of trouble, because he owed Sabo that much, because that was Sabo's last wish.

flashback-

"You're supposed to hit the tree, not yourself! I told you, your stupid rubber fruit is useless!"

"No it isn't!" A childish stomp of a sandaled foot. "I am improving, right, Sabo?"

"…"

A sniffle.

"Crybaby!"

"Sabo was the nicer brother." Another sniffle.

"What do you mean, baka?!"

flashback end

If Ace had been the one to die, Sabo would have done a much better job raising Luffy. He would have been kinder to him, and wouldn't let Luffy get eaten by crocodiles or maimed by bears, and he would have taught Luffy patiently instead of getting annoyed and leaving Luffy alone.

If Ace had died, everything would have been so much better.

"Do you see the fire brat?" Fossa asked, arms crossed and looking very annoyed as he approached the Commander's table in the mess hall.

"Nope! Haven't seen him all day." Haruta said cheerfully, carefully separating the carrots from the rest of her food.

"Well, someone better tell him to stop destroying all the walls and railings on the ship!" He huffed angrily.

"It's pops that been throwing him into the walls, yoi, and Haruta, if you don't eat the carrots Thatch might ignore you for the rest of the week." Marco warned lazily, sitting down.

"Have you seen the fire brat, Mar-"

"I'm allergic to the damn things!" Haruta interrupted indignantly.

"Well, what symptoms do you have?"

"I want to throw up every time I see them." Haruta stated flatly.

"Sorry, Haruta, but that's categorized as 'severe dislike,' not allergy." Marco said patronizingly. "And I think I saw Portgas on deck a few minutes ago." He offered.

"You are not going to believe it when you see the expenses for fixing all the damage he's caused." Fossa grunted irritably.

"We've had some more stubborn brothers in the past. They all came through. Portgas may be one of the more stubborn ones but he can't be any worse than Jozu!" Thatch popped up. He took one look at Haruta's plate. "Haruta…"

"Okay, okay, I'm eating them!" She said, in a much worse mood. "I don't see why pops still keeps him around."

"A lot of our brothers weren't exactly the friendliest people when we first met them." Thatch pointed out.

"He's just insufferable." Haruta huffed. "You'd think if he had any brains he'd have realized that pops isn't even fighting him seriously, but he's still insists that he could beat pops!"

"Hey-" Izou interjected, placing his plate down.

"There is nothing likeable like him!" Haruta continued rambling.

"I wouldn't go that far, Haruta." Izou said sharply. Then, more moderately, he continued, "Oyaji does intend for Portgas to become one of our brothers. Not everything can, or should be determined at first glance."

"Yeah, yeah." Haruta rolled her eyes childishly.

"Have you finished your paperwork yet?" Izou raised an eyebrow delicately.

Dark clouds formed over many commander's heads.

"I'll take that as a no, then." He laughed. "I suggest you begin soon. I do not desire to hear your insistent complaining about losing sleep again."

"The deadline is still a week away," Haruta protested feebly, poking at her food.

"Yes, it is." Izou said agreeably. "And tomorrow, you'll tell me it's still six days away, then five, and you'll start everything when there's only two days left."

He watched with slight amusement as Haruta rolled her eyes again, shoved the last of the hated carrots in her mouth and departed from the table, presumably to start the paperwork for the twelfth division.

Then the feminine commander's thoughts turned back to the 'guest' on the ship, who made it very clear that he had no wish to be anywhere near the ship.

If Portgas was a bit more open and friendly, most of the Whitebeards would probably feel respect for his perseverance and his obvious loyalty to his crew.

Currently, his short temper, extreme paranoia and refusal to cooperate the tiniest bit combined with continual assassination attempts of their father figure led the crew to have an overall negative attitude towards the boy (yes, boy, Bay had estimated that he was barely out of his teens, if that).

Even the commanders, who strived to maintain a neutral attitude of new recruits until when they formally join (and when the Whitebeards set their sights on someone, it's only a matter of time before they cave) were having trouble this time, particularly poor Fossa, who had to repair the damage their 'guest' had caused on the ship. And Haruta, with the mood swings and recklessness that often came with youth.

Izou himself had had a few encounters with the captain of the Spade pirates, and he had to admit that Portgas was capable for his age. He had led his crew through the Grand Line and into the New World without much problem and had even been invited to join the Shichibukai. (A lot of his crewmates had been impressed when he refused).

He would make an interesting brother when he joined.

Till next time!