A/N: Hello Fanfic world! I'm fairly new to writing fanfics, but I felt compelled to do a story for my fav One Piece characters. I know Ace x Robin isn't a popular ship, but I totally see them together just cause their stories seemed to similar. So here it is. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of the characters.

Chapter 1

A reunion with his brother was just the thing Ace needed after failing his mission to locate Marshall D. Teach. He had tracked Teach all the way to Alabasta, and after helping Luffy's gang with the princess and the rebellion business, Ace was unable to find another lead as to where the traitor was. A few weeks ago, Ace received a letter from his Captain, Whitebeard. He advised Ace to leave the matter alone for the time being. Apparently, Red Hair Shanks had said something about the matter. As to what he had said, Ace did not know. And not having found any more leads as to Teach's location, Ace decided that it was better to listening to his Captain's orders, and go back to the Moby Dick.

He had also received word that his loud, goofy, and impulsive captain of a brother, Monkey D. Luffy had declared war on the government to get a nakama back. He made it out alive, acquired a new ship with a new crewmate, and is now headed towards Ace for another brotherly get-together. And since Ace had met Luffy's nakama back in Alabasta, its only fair that Ace introduces his Luffy to his own loyal band of nakama that made up the Whitebeard pirates. Ace had spoken excitedly about Luffy to Whitebeard in the past, and Pops now wants to host a big party with sake and meat for the Whitebeards and Strawhats.

"Hey, Ace! Isn't that your brother's ship?" a voice rang out on the deck. Ace squinted his eyes in the direction his crewmate had indicated and not a second later, a hand stretched out and grabbed onto the railing in front of Ace.

BANG! Ace was knocked backwards onto the floor by a lanky body. The boy had propelled himself with that hand on the rail and knocked the wind out of his big brother. Grabbing his head and sitting up, Ace regretted not having ducked, knowing Luffy would have done that.

"Ace!" Luffy bear hugged his brother.

"Hai, Luffy! Where's the rest of your crew"

"Oh, I told them to park the ship over there"

He pointed towards an island ahead. Ace nodded towards his buddies to bring their own ship that way and proceeded to introduce Luffy to all his nakama and his great Captain, Edward Newgate. After introductions were made, the Captain returned to giving orders to some of crew regarding the food preparations for this evening. It was only Ace and Marco, the first division commander, left to entertain the young Strawhat.

"So, I heard you infiltrated Enies Lobby and shot down the government's flag. Is it true?" Marco asked

"Yep." responded Luffy.

"That's pretty gutsy of you, Strawhat. Maybe even more gutsy than Ace!"

Marco elbowed jokingly at the 2nd division commander. Ace just crossed his arms and pouted while Luffy snickered at the comment.

"Well, I had to save my nakama from sacrificing herself for us."

"Which nakama was this?"

"Robin"

That name gained a surprised look from Marco.

"Robin? As in Nico Robin? The Demon Child of Ohara with the 80,000,000 beri bounty since she was 8 years old, betraying every organization she's ever been apart of – that Nico Robin? She was sacrificing herself?" inquired Marco.

"Yep!" It was a simple response accompanied by a big grin.

"Wow. That woman really is quite a mystery."

"Robin's not a mystery. The government hated her because of her mom, and burned down her hometown. So she had to run and fight her whole life. But now she's happy and safe with us!"

Marco just raised an eyebrow, stunned at hearing such a sensible explanation from the dimwitted and rowdy Captain. The entire time, Ace had been leaning against the railing in between them listening. His hat rested further down in front of his face, hiding his eyes as his head swirled with new thoughts and emotions. Luffy moved on and was now talking excitedly with Marco about all of his battles with CP9 and back in Skypiea. Ace tried to paid attention, but his mind was spinning.

"Excuse me guys, I have to go get something from my quarters." Ace interjected in the middle of Luffy's account of his battle with Lucci.

"Okay, see you later Ace"

Ace hadn't really gone to his room. Instead, he wandered about the ship in a dazed state. Luffy's explanation had struck Ace's chest with a pang. It was a soreness that had been there since the day he was born and lasted until he joined the Whitebeards. At which point, it got buried away and hidden for so long that he had forgotten it had ever existed. Now it was back and Ace recalled all the memories of loneliness and resentment comprising his pitiful childhood. The only companion Ace had before Luffy was his contempt for a father who made a boy the government wanted dead and the world hated. He was also thinking about what Luffy had said about Nico Robin. He wondered how there was another person in the world that can understand what it's like to be detested by an entire world having done nothing except be born. Aimlessly, he strolled about, eyes fixed on creaky, wooden floors as these thoughts continued to swirl and churn and plague his throbbing head.

Ace was finally brought back to the present when he heard the loud noise emitting from the deck. From the thumping and laughter, Ace can tell that Luffy's crew had made it onto the ship and the party had begun. Figuring he should head out there, Ace moved toward the door, mind still swirling. The air hit him with a chill when the door swung open. The volume raised to a peak, and Ace had to navigate through the crowd of pirates, each of them already holding a beer filled glass, some of them two.

"Ace! Over here!" Luffy yelled. He was standing next to a broad and tall man in a speedo with a metal nose.

"I presume that this is your new nakama?" inquired Ace

"Yep! This is Franky! He's a cyborg and he built the Thousand Sunny!" stated Luffy proudly.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Portgas D. Ace, Luffy's big brother"

Ace, politely bowed, like he always did when meeting someone new. He held out a hand to shake, but was surprised when the cyborg didn't take his hand. Instead, the half metal man put his arms together over his head yelled, "SUUUUPER!" and began a silly dance, sliding to the left and the right. It was quite a disturbing and entertaining sight for Ace. The pirates laughed and soon Chopper and Usopp joined the dance. Luffy burst out chuckling with one hand on his brother's shoulder.

"My nakama are so funny! Huh, Ace?!"

"Ai. They are. But I can hardly imagine Nico Robin as someone who would act like these guys." Ace wasn't sure why he voiced the last part.

"Oh yeah. Robin's not really like these guys. She's usually just watching everything off to the side"

"So she's supervises you? Like a babysitter?" Ace joked

"Nah. That's Nami's job. And she's scary." Luffy shuddered just thinking about all the times he's been beat up by the navigator.

"Hmm." Ace left it at that not wanting Luffy to think he was dwelling on thoughts of Robin too much.

"Ace! Cleared your head now have you?" Marco walked up and handed a beer to Ace and Luffy.

"Oi! Arigato Marco!" the brothers said

"Luffy, they're preparing to lay out the meat over there if you want first dibs" Macro pointed behind him

"MEEEAT!" screamed the Strawhat, and he was off like a bullet.

"Haha, your brother is really something else" chuckled Marco. Then he went on to update Ace on some of the things he had missed earlier. Ace was listening and scanning the crowd watching everyone having a good time.

Then he spotted her. The tall, blue eyed beauty with the raven locks sat in the middle, sipping a wine glass as she spoke to her orange haired friend, whom Ace remembered as Nami. On her other side was the crew's swordsman, Zoro, holding a rather large bottle filled with Sake. He downed it with a smug expression. The blond cook, Sanji, was spinning and twirling around them with hearts in his eyes, trying to get the two girls' attention. Unfortunately, he only achieved at gaining an irritated glare from Zoro. The two looked like they were going to get into a brawl and the girls simply giggled at their hopeless crewmates.

Ace wanted to go over there and greet the rest of the Strawhats, but he couldn't stop looking at Nico Robin. So instead he studied her. There she stood, an emblem of quiet elegance too graceful and perfect for the chaotic and flawed world they stood in, let alone the rowdy group of misfits that were her nakama. The perplexing allure of Nico Robin seemed to affect nobody else but him, and for a moment, the thoughts in Ace's brained stopped swirling and everything was at a standstill. Nothing moved, not even sound. All of it, motionless like death. The laughter, the clinging of glass, the parade of music, even Marco's voice – drowned out and dissipated into air. The only thing that lasted was the thumping in Ace's chest. It pulsated through his body and into the world in a resounding echo that kept on going like it was trying to fill the entire void of the universe. It was the only thing he was conscious of. That, and the image of her face. A beautiful complexion masked by an enigmatic expression enticing you to wonder and leave you stumped.

His eyes followed her as she placed her glass down, excused herself from her now tipsy crewmates, and walked towards side of the ship. She turned to look at the ocean and Ace can no longer see her face. He watched her bring her hands around her elbows as she moved to rest on the railing, a motion that might have told other people that it was chilly outside. But to Ace, it was a sad motion that made it look as if she was trying to hold herself together. And though he hadn't actually met her yet, he felt like he could read her in ways his brother couldn't, and he had barely begun the first chapter.

He couldn't figure out why, but he wanted nothing more than to fill the space that was in between them. He wanted to fill the void of sadness, of grief, of his pain and hers. And more than anything, he wanted to fill the 20 feet of nothing standing in between them, that space from the railing where she stood to his spot next to Marco - that space that is keeping them separate in this moment like a boulder he doesn't feel strong enough to push out of the way.

He began wondered how long he'd been starring. Apparently, it was long enough for Marco to notice.

"Somebody sees something he likes." Marco's commented, pulling Ace from of his gaze. When Ace turn to look at his friend, he was met with a rather irritating smirk.

"What?" Ace said with a tone of annoyance as he looked away from Marco trying to seem interested in the drinking competition that begun in front of him.

"I've never known the fearsome Fire Fist Ace to go ga-ga over a pretty girl."

"I'm not going ga-ga. I was just looking over there to survey that Luffy made the right choice in choosing his nakama."

"Soooo, you were checking her out"

"No! I just haven't met her yet, and I was just thinking of going there to introduce myself. You know, to be polite."

"So, instead of just going there and saying 'Hi, I'm Ace' you had to think about it while goggling at her backside for 5 minutes."

"I was not goggling! I'm not interested in Nico Robin. I don't even know her and it's not like she's that great."

"Well, she was good enough for your brother to risk challenging the world government to get back."

"Luffy does crazy things. He cares about everybody."

"Well, if you're not going to offer her a drink, then I will." Marco winked at his friend before walking towards the dark haired beauty.

Whatever. If Marco wants her, then he can have her, thought Ace. But he wanted to talk to her. He couldn't shake those old feelings of anger and sadness off of him since that afternoon, and somehow he had concluded that she would be the one person that may be able to set his mind at ease, having gone through a similar ordeal. He wanted to know more about her story. All he wanted was a conversation with the quiet beauty, but he couldn't bring himself to walk over there, and now Marco was ruining his chances of getting her attention. Ace watched from afar at Marco and Robin, noting that she had accepted Marco's drink and was giggling at something he said. Dang it Marco…