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"Ace!"

Ace opened his eyes with a groan as he looked up at the person who dared to disturb his little nap only to glare into a pair of blue eyes with a scar over the left one.

"Saboo~~ let me sleep..." Ace pulled the name out in a childish manner as he turned away from the blond, pouting with his hands crossed over his chest.

Sabo couldn't help but smile at his little brother's behavior - even though Ace wasn't the youngest brother, he surely behaved like it at times. But on a more serious note, he couldn't let his brother get his way, at least not at a time like this. Even if Sabo wanted to - after all he loved to be the caring mother hen at times, especially when his little brother haven't slept a lot lately.

"I am sorry Ace, but we got a client who asked for one of our best and you know you are the only one available at the moment since Zoro and Luffy are gone for the month."

"Arr don't remind me..." Ace rolled his eyes still pouting a little.

Ace had to do everything by himself this month, that was with a side job as well. As one could guess, it was hard - not just hard, but trying to tell people why you sometimes randomly disappeared, of course the ones who didn't have a clue that you was a 'hired man'. Hired man was a fine-drawn word for it. The job was dirty but it gave good money, and good money was what everyone wanted, right?

Ace looked up at the blond who was still standing, waiting for him to get his napping ass off the soft grey armchair he was sitting in. He moaned as he got up, stretching, getting all the kinks out of his body, his sore muscles protesting loudly. Every time he tried to get some rest he always got called or had to work. It was a pain and his narcolepsy was not happy about it. The only thing keeping it a bay at such time was lots, lots of coffee and the pills Sabo got for him - he didn't want to have one of his ironic sleep attacks while doing his 'dirty work'.

It had happened before and he could say it wasn't funny; of course his friends had different opinion. Like Zoro, who had laughed his ass off, finding Ace on a rooftop in the middle of nowhere. He should be glad there were no people coming by, but then again, who would go onto a rooftop on a rainy day anyway? He could easily imagine someone coming up and seeing him lying face-planted into the ground, with a sniper lying carelessly beside him, snoring softly.

"The papers are on your desk - you know the drill. I will make some coffee for you, don't worry," the blond gave him a warm smile before turning around and walking towards the break room, leaving the raven to look at the documents.

"Lets see what we've got..." Ace slowly walked over to his desk with a sigh.

He really just wanted to sleep his day away, but, of course, he couldn't do that - he was not the only one working after all. Sabo, his 'loving' brother, was the one leading their group. He made sure that they had everything they needed from weapons to documents, you name it! It was like he knew everything there was to know, one of the reasons he was the leader after all.

But he also had his brother/motherly side. He was always telling them to be careful and, if something did not go as planned and they had to retreat, just for safety, he knew the fastest route. He didn't like putting his brothers at risk of anything for that matter, not that he didn't believe in their skills, but they were the only family he had. Ace knew he would do the same - his brothers meant everything to him.

Some would call Ace mean or cold if they didn't know him, but to his brothers and friends who knew him well enough, he was very, how did they put it, ah - transparent. He would always hit Luffy saying he was being an idiot but everyone knew he loved his brother to death even if he could be an idiot sometimes - a lot. His brother was not the sharpest knife in the drawer but he was good at what he did. Everybody believed he was an innocent kid, bright and loving - well he was. 'Till they saw him angry. He could be rather scary if you didn't know him.

Ace picked the documents up and looked over them. He had to go to a fancy party down-town, locate a man who he, of course, had to kill. Oddly, it didn't say why - he didn't like such tasks. He would have to ask his brother for more info - he didn't step into blind missions, though the paper had some info on the guy, apparently he had provoked a big shot from a city over.

"Blackbeard…" Ace tasted the name on his tongue.

He was sure he had heard that name before, some big shot Mafia from West Blue. Ace knew his brother wouldn't normally work for Mafia but if the money was right and a reason good enough for him to consider it. His way of considering it was probably to let Ace get a good look and more info on the man. They were not cold-blooded killers, after all they didn't kill without a reason, even if the money were good, that was their rule.

Ace felt a tap on his shoulder; looking over he saw his brother with coffee in one hand and the other holding his shoulder lightly with a warm smile. He took the offered coffee nodding his thanks and offering a small smile in return.

"Yes, it is not much info on the guy - I know, but he offers good brass for his head. Says he ruined one of his businesses and tried to kill him in the process."

"W-wait, so he is dangerous, in some way or another?" Ace looked at his brother with a slight surprise.

Ace was not scared, no far from it, he was just a bit shocked, looking at the picture provided - it showed the side of a man's face. The man looked bored like he had seen it all, not a hint of a smile, with blond hair on his head, similar to the leaves of a pineapple. He probably didn't even know the picture was taken.

"He couldn't get a better picture than that?" his free hand pointed to the small photo as he looked at his brother with a lifted eyebrow.

"He only send me that, sadly, but, since when do you want more photos of the targets Ace?" The blond purred with a smirk.

Ace frowned at his brother and rolled his eyes at the obvious hint. Just because Ace was bisexual, it didn't mean he would want to get in everybody's pants. His brother loved to tease Ace, even though, he knew for a matter of fact that his brothers mostly was as well.

Ace's sex life wasn't something fancy, no far from it. Since his life was in such chaos most of the time, he didn't stay with anyone for long. They always got mad when he suddenly disappeared without a word or at his 'white lies' he told to escape. As you could guess, after a while, his partner's got tired of hearing excuse after excuse, about his disappearances or his busy 'work schedule' that they left. So he hadn't been in a relationship for more than a month at most, but he didn't dwell on the fact.

"So you want me to check the guy out?" Ace asked looking at his brother seriously, as soon as the words left his mouth he knew how wrong that sounded.

His oh-so-loving-brother grinned.

"Not like that!" Ace yelled slight pink dusting his cheeks.

"On a serious note - yes. I don't like getting some half-assed information. You go there, find out more about the guy."

Ace's eyes lingered on the half empty cup he had in his hand.

"So I have to dress 'fancy' huh?"

Ace didn't like to dress fancy - that meant a suit and he really didn't like tight clothes at all. Like right now, - he was shirtless with a pair of knee long shorts. Even when it was chilly outside, he never felt cold for some odd reason. His brothers called him a walking heater, though the girls didn't seem to complain. He smirked at that thought.

His brother chuckled knowing all too well that the raven didn't like fancy clothes but work was work, even if he didn't like it.

"I made it all ready - since I love you so much~~." The blond said teasingly with a huge grin.

Even if it was teasing Ace knew his brother cared about him very much so, they just liked to tease each other a lot.

"Thanks," Ace pouted as he drank the rest of the now luke-warm beverage, taking his medication before heading to his changing room.

His eyes landed on the familiar black wide shoulder bag, where all his important gear was from knives to guns, radio, ear-piece and so on. His sniper rifle with the name Fire Fist engraved on the side, laid in a special designed black carry case beside the bag. It always brought a smile to his face to know that his brothers had given that sniper to him as a reminder that they were always there, on his 22 birthday.

"Ready?" His brother's voice rang throughout the room.

Ace turned around, pulling on the collar, clearly irritated. It felt tight too tight for his liking, but he had to bear with it. Sabo walked over, chuckling lightly, looking at his scowling little brother who was pulling at the collar dramatically, looking like he was about to suffocate. The blond dusted the suit and made his frustrated brother look appropriate or, rather, as appropriated as Ace could look.

"Cheer up, I promise you're gonna have a break after this mission, okay?"

"Okay, deal," Ace grumbled but smiled nonetheless.

The ride was rather short, only about 20 minutes from the base. Their base was nothing fancy - it just looked like an office building with a high security, cameras sitting everywhere around the building, with thick metal walls and heavy security doors to make sure no outsiders could get in; at least without a pass code; that was resetting every 7 hours. The windows was made of tinted bullet-proof glass that you couldn't look through from the outside. It hadn't always been like that but after about 5 years, everything had been upgraded for their own safety. Sabo was very serious about their security and he didn't take it lightly, - he knew what could happen if he did.

Ace flipped the sun blocker in the car down to look at his reflection. He had his raven locks pulled back with a pair of black hot sun-glasses, making him look very attractive. His grey eyes standing out with the smug look he had on his face. Ace was very good at pulling people in, especially with his looks. Not many could say no to the raven if he pushed the right buttons- he was very persuasive, if he had to. It was fun to see women and men alike fall for him, but he had yet to find a reason to return their feelings, yes- he had been with partners but he never really felt any sadness when they left. Others thought it was odd, namely his brothers and close friends. Others pushed him aside as cold.

"Here we are, monsieur," his brother turned towards him holding his hand out in a slight bow looking into his eyes with a grin.

Ace grinned back, tapping his chin.

"I guess it is show time."