Hi! So this is a story idea I've had for a while, it's only going to be five chapters long but in return the chapters are going to be monster long (I hope). Since it's spring break I am putting out chapters like a boss! Either way I will try to update this every other Sunday (or Saturday). Usually I'm pretty good about the weekend updates, I haven't missed one in a while.

Super Duppper thanks to desintas for Beta-ing this story! Seriously I can't even begin to tell you how awesomely thorough she was! She sent me links to grammar websites and everything!

Long Summary: What if Thatch had found the Yami Yami fruit two years earlier? Instead of Blackbeard killing him, he ends up kidnapped, along with a certain flame user's little brother. Still distrustful of his new crewmembers, Ace is reluctant to ask for help. But when it comes to his little brother there's nothing he wouldn't do. Through his efforts to save Luffy, the crew gets a better understanding of just who Ace is and what he's willing to do for family.

Thatch opened his eyes blearily. All he could see was blackness around him. His entire body felt like a giant bruise. He closed his eyes as he exhaled a rasped breath, content to just lie there forever. As long as it meant he didn't have to move he would do it.

Blurry images flashed through his mind.

"A strange island."

"A missing kitchen knife."

"Blood."

"So much blood."

He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to block out the memories. While most of them were blurry, they definitely were ominous signs! He was in serious trouble this time. What good would remembering do if he was still stuck here, dying in this godforsaken cell?

"Forgive me Oyaji," he rasped once again before becoming still.

"One, two, three," a cheerful voice above him said before he felt an immense pain on his back.

His eyes flew open as he screamed, the pain far too great for any obscenities. The person above him was talking, trying to tell him something but his vision and senses were leaving him. He passed out yet again.

How long he stayed asleep was anyone's guess. There were times when he rose to the surface of his pain only to be pulled back under again. During that time he thought he heard a voice over head, but it could just have been a dream. The voice sounded far too happy to be real, unless of course the person was sent here to torture him. Considering the rough treatment from earlier it very well might be.

When he finally was coherent enough to open his eyes he had the sneaking suspicion a few days had passed.

For the first time he was able to take note of his surroundings. He was lying in a cell, constructed of cold gray stone from floor to ceiling. The only light source was from the cell door itself. Light streamed in through the small barred gap near the top of the door. But for the most part it was dark.

He was about to close his eyes and go back to sleep when a chipper voice rang out from across the room.

"You're not dead!"

It was the same voice from before. He looked up in surprise to see a face hovering inches from his. To his vast surprise it was the face of a kid. An actual kid, as in he looked in his early to mid-teens. He had tan skin, black hair and huge dark eyes with a matching huge smile. He was covered in scrapes and bruises, some of them sloppily bandaged.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice sounding hoarse even to him.

The teen shrugged, coming to sit by him. The smile never leaving his face.

"I was looking for some food so I went to go hunt for some, but then I was jumped by this huge animal and it started chasing me. So I tried to fight back but it tried to eat me! Can you believe that?"

Thatch continued to stare at him perplexed. No, he actually couldn't. But that was beside the point. What in the heck was the kid talking about?

"So just when I thought it was going to get me I ran into a tree. It was so surprised it ran into a different tree." The teen began to laugh as he remember it. "You should have seen the look on its face."

"Kid? What are you talking about?" Thatch asked, bringing a hand to his aching head.

The teen stopped for a moment to give him a curious look. "It's Luffy, not kid."

"Alright…Luffy, how did you get here?" He tried to sit up but instantly regretted it.

For a second he thought Luffy wasn't going to answer, but then he jumped right back into his story.

"So I was going to see if I could eat it, you know… now that it was all tired from hitting the tree. But it tried to attack me again."

Thatch sighed and closed his eyes, all this talk noise was making his head pound. To his surprise there was a loud and bone chilling laugh.

He shot up, his injured body protesting as he searched for the source of it.

There, on the other side of the prison door stood Teach. His grisly face appearing in the small barred window. His breath caught in his throat as the memories threatened to break through his mental wall.

"I see you met Luffy," the man said, a cruel grin on his lips.

"Play nice you two. You're going to be spending a lot of time together."

Thatch regarded him with a disgusted look as his arms gave out and he once again flopped to his back.

"Why?" he rasped out. "Why did you betray pops?"

Black Beard let out another strangled laugh in reply. "It's not betrayal if I was never loyal in the first place. I was with you for one reason, and one reason alone. To get power, and search for the fruit. Which you so kindly found for me."

"So why kidnap me? Why take the kid?"

The man nodded, as if pleased he had asked. "Well you see, power isn't enough. I need recognition and fame. I figure kidnaping you will draw White Beard to me. When he comes to save you I will kill him and gain his status."

Thatch saw red from the confession. He was going to kill this man. Rip him apart.

"YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO BEAT OYAJI!," he screamed with ferocity that surprised even himself. "He is the strongest man on the seas! He will never lose to scum such as yourself."

"Only time will tell. But I must say I've always found your unwavering faith in that man sickening." Teach shrugged, clearly not amused by his outburst.

"Not as sickening as your face!" the boy beside Thatch shouted.

The man looked startled at the poor insult. He bared his teeth in disapproval. "I've got to say kid I'm a little surprised, I honestly thought you would be a little smarter."

"Well I thought you would be smarter," the kid parroted back, crossing his arms angrily. "And your teeth look like a chess board."

Who the hell was the kid? He didn't show an ounce of fear, only anger. But his insults left much to be desired. He didn't seem to hate the man with the same ferocity Thatch did either.

"You're nothing like him," Teach told him, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"You're nothing like him!" Luffy said, apparently not done with his barrage of repeated insults.

Teach ignored his lame come-back as he once again turned to Thatch, "Luffy here will make sure you don't die so hang tight."

"I'll make sure your face doesn't die…. with my fist!" Luffy screamed as the man began to walk away, leaving their limited range of sight.

To his vast surprise Thatch felt laughter bubble up in his chest. The insult was very poor, but the kid's face was so serious. He clutched his aching ribs as he laughed.

When he calmed down a little bit, he once again turned to the kid. "So it was you who was treating my wound. Thank you."

The seriousness quickly left his face as Luffy came once again to sit by Thatch. The dopy grin was back as he hugged his knees to his chest.

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen," he said, his eyes wide with confusion.

Thatch nodded. "Don't worry kid. We are going to get you back to your family, I won't let anything happen to you."

Luffy gave him a weird look but remained silent, something Thatch took as a blessing as he once again let the pain obscure his vision.

.

It had started off as a normal day, or at least as normal as things get on the ship. The one difference of course being Ace's presence. He had stopped his last attack on Oyaji weeks ago. In the absence of fighting they had offered him a position as second division commander just a few days earlier. Although the transition of events might seem odd to some it made perfect sense to the crew. They had seen Ace go from a bloodthirsty monster to the laid back friendly young man he really was. Oyaji liked him, a feeling he shared with all of the crew. Even while Ace was attacking them, it was clear exactly the kind of man he was. Loyal, to a fault, tough, trustworthy and someone who never quite gave up. He was strong in both body and heart, and brave enough to attack Pops without once ever faltering. He was the kind of person that will make a great second division commander, so that's what he became.

Ace was the type of person who drew people towards him. Whether he knew it or not, he made friends easily, and people rooted for him. In the few short months he had been with them he had managed to win over nearly the entire crew, Thatch included, without even trying.

But as easily as people trusted him Thatch had seen a different side. A more fragile and broken side. Ace accepted their trust with open arms and would never do anything to betray it, but at the same time he was hesitant to extend the same trust to them. That of course did not stop him from getting into all sorts of trouble with his new found friends.

And that is exactly how the day started. Ace and Thatch were on deck, fishing around for the latest 'treasure' to put in Marco's bed. Of course, that's not what they found. After a few minutes of fishing around Thatch pulled out a strange shaped fruit from the sea. After asking Pops it turned out to be a devil fruit. Unfortunately, Teach had heard the entire exchange. He had been standing right there on deck when they discovered it. Thatch had been so preoccupied with the new discovery he completely missed the evil gleam in the man's eyes.

The rest of the day had passed without incident. The entire crew was amused by what he found but by nightfall it was more or less forgotten by everyone but one man.

Thatch was just returning to his room. Most of his brothers and sisters were in bed by now. He had spent the majority of the time in the kitchen prepping for tomorrow's meals. By this point even the other chefs had left. He had noticed at that point that a kitchen knife was missing. But of course on a ship like this that wasn't uncommon, things disappeared all the time. It was likely to reappear the next day in some elaborate prank. So Thatch ignored it.

But when he got to his room something felt wrong. The door was open ajar and the light was burning brightly. Frowning, he had gone to investigate and was surprised to find his entire room ransacked. At first he thought it was just a prank but his pillow looked like it had been gutted with a knife. Whoever this was wasn't messing around.

Then he remembered the devil fruit. He had hidden it between two loose floor boards. Not that he didn't trust his siblings but some of them were greedier than what was healthy for them. What he didn't know at the time that it was Tech who had ransacked his room. The man hadn't left. He was hiding in the closet waiting for Thatch's return. He had watched him pull up the floorboards and reveal his treasure. From there it was a simple matter of letting the knife do the work. The very same knife he had stolen from the kitchen earlier that day.

He had stabbed Thatch in the back, thankfully missing his vital organs but doing enough damage to seriously injure the man. So as he lay bleeding out on the carpet Teach stole the devil fruit, and then he had stolen Thatch. Without anyone on the ship ever waking up.

.

Thatch groaned as he once again woke up, resurfacing from his memories.

"Luffy?"

"Yep?" The boy's face came into view, his ever present smile there.

"How did he catch you?"

Luffy opened his mouth to launch back into his not so amusing animal tangent when Thatch weakly put up a hand to stop him.

"Skip to the part where you met him," he insisted firmly.

"Well AFTER I missed out on dinner, I was heading home SUUUUPER hungry and I ran into him on the path. He asked me if I was Monkey D. Luffy. When I told him I was, he started attacking me."

Thatch shook his head in pity. "That must have been awful."

Luffy shrugged. "Actually it was kind of fun, until I lost." He said the last part with a frown, like he still couldn't believe it.

"Is that what happened to your face"

The kid frowned and reached up, feeling the many bandages and scrapes. He shrugged noncommittally. "Some of them…I always look like this."

"You're always covered in bandages?" Thatch asked with disbelief.

He nodded, tugging experimentally on the bandage on the bridge of his nose.

Deciding to burn that bridge when they got there, Thatch continued on. Being the oldest he felt somewhat responsible for the kid. Even though he seemed less concerned about the situation then Thatch was. Still it was his duty as a grown up to assure the kid things would be all right.

"Either way I'm sure everyone's worried sick about you."

Luffy laughed in earnest. "I doubt anyone's noticed I'm gone yet."

"Don't say that," Thatch scolded him. "I know your families worried about you, just like mine is worried about me."

Luffy looked up at him with interest. "What are they like?"

Thatch thought for a second. "Well, they're really loud, and obnoxious. But I guess I love those idiots."

Luffy laughed at that and Thatch couldn't help but start to like the kid. He was one of the happiest teenagers he had ever met. He was completely carefree despite the situation.

The two of them were interrupted by a loud bang as someone kicked the door. Thatch's head shot up despite his body's protest. Teach himself was unlocking the prison door.

Luffy wasted no time in jumping to his feet. He stood between Thatch and Blackbeard creating a human wall. If the man didn't know any better it almost seemed like Luffy was trying to protect him.

The man's lips curled into a cruel smile. "What? You're going to fight me? After what happened last time?"

"Bring it on!" Luffy yelled as he threw himself at the man. To everyone's vast surprise he managed to get a hit in. His enthusiasm had taken the man by surprise and in turn he landed a solid blow to his face. Unfortunately it was the first and last he would manage to get.

Moving with surprising speed he grabbed the kid's wrist, throwing him to the floor. Thatch's hoarse screams for him to stop fell on deaf ears as he began to stomp him into the pavement.

"That won't work," Luffy told the man between pants.

To Thach's horror Teach smiled, "I know." He pulled a thick pair of handcuffs from his belt, snapping it on the teen's wrists.

He watched as Luffy's face twisted into confusion as he fell limp. Thatch did his best to help, trying to crawl to his new friend, but all it did was agitate his injuries. Ignoring him for now Blackbeard pulled the free cuff, effectively dragging Luffy along with it across the dirty cell floor. He snapped the second cuff to Luffy's free wrist, forcing his arms over his head as he attached the cuffs to a rung in the wall.

"Scared now?" he asked the teen.

"No," Luffy answered back instantly and from the look in his eyes it really was true. He didn't fear this man.

Thatch couldn't help but smile a little at his resolve. But that smile quickly faded as Teach tethered Thatch to the wall with a chain on his ankle, ensuring he didn't go anywhere. Undoubtedly if Thatch wasn't so injured he would have received the same rough treatment as Luffy.

"Maybe now you will behave," Blackbeard told them coldly, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Thatch looked at him in disbelief. In all the years he had known this man he had never thought him capable of this level of cruelty. Sure the two of them might not have been as close as he was to some of his other siblings, but he still considered this man a friend.

But as it turns out he hadn't known him at all. No one had. He so easily betrayed his crew, his family for what? A devil fruit. One that he could of had if he just asked for it. But he didn't and look at them now, about to go to war with Whitebeard.

He watched holding his breath as Teach stomped back to Luffy, giving him a long stare.

"Don't, he's just a kid, leave him alone!" he desperately shouted.

Teach glanced over at him before turning back to Luffy. For a second it seemed like he was going to hit the kid again when instead his hand shot out, grabbing the straw hat on top of his head.

The effects were immediate. Luffy acted like he had just been shot. His mouth fell open in a gasp before his surprise quickly turned to anger.

"Give that back you bastard!" he shouted his face full of rage, catching Thatch off guard.

In all the time Thatch had known Luffy, the boy had yet to get riled up. Despite being imprisoned Luffy acted like it was a mild inconvenience. Even as he got beat around like a ragdoll he hardly seemed to care. But the second Blackbeard touched his hat all bets were off.

"Give that back or I'll kill you!" Luffy continued to scream, even after Blackbeard had left, once again leaving the cell dark.

"Luffy, you need to calm down," Thatch said after a few minutes of desperate screaming.

"GIVE ME MY HAT!" Luffy yelled, ignoring Thatch completely.

Thatch sighed and rested his head back on the cold stone floor. He hoped his family would hurry up and come save him already. If not for him then for this kid who may or may not be going crazy. For whatever reason he was starting to remind him of Ace.

YAY! I did it! Sorry it was so short, I was shooting for five hundred but it's not even 3.5K. Hopefully the next ones will be longer. Ace and The Whitebeards will be in the next one as they get a ransom note and Luffy's prized hat! But Ace is going to be the only one who understands what it means, but because of his mistrust of his new friends he's not going to share it with the others. Either way! Chapter two should be out next (next) Saturday.