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V downed another drink in the filthy bar she had found in this tiny little kingdom. As she took another chug of her drink, she felt the pitifully small amount of liquid slide down her throat, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance. Already empty. Sighing, she pulled a few coins out of her pocket and threw them on the counter. And as she waited for her drink, she listened. Bar gossip was entertaining, even if modestly useful information.
“Do you think the pirate king had a child?” Her brain didn’t register the words at first, but as they pierced through her alcohol-addled brain, V felt a stabbing pain of grief.
It was old now, but even now it never failed to hurt.
Chugging her drink down in one go, V turned towards the source of that question and was surprised to find a small choice.
But as she observed the brat, her heart froze in her chest. She knew that face and even that hair. The captain had shown the crew a picture of him as a baby after losing a bet to the rest of them, and while the child was certainly not a carbon copy, V noticed the resemblance.
Her eyes blinked lazily as she watched the child battle with a pipe, of all things. But as the boy got overwhelmed, V stood up and made her way over to the fight.
As the brat was finally overwhelmed, V stepped forward and blocked the attack with her hand, leaving the attackers scurrying with a glance.
V found herself being glared at by the brat.
She gave him a small grin before pulling out a small package from her coat.
“Your father let me borrow this a few years back. You can keep it.” V noticed the brat glaring, but she still had something for him to deliver.
From another pocket she pulled out a knife, which she had bought over a decade ago.
“And that’s a gift for your mother. She‘ll know why.”
Satisfied, V dropped a bit of money on the counter and grabbed a bottle from the shelf before trudging out of the bar and making her way back to the docks.
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Ace knew he shouldn’t be doing this, but he had to know.
“Do you think the pirate king had a child?” He asked and watched as the men laughed. He watched them curse the pirate king and curse him until Ace had enough and attacked, his pipe carving the first guy’s face in.
But slowly he was getting overwhelmed. For each drunk he beat up, another would attack, and as his pipe failed to block a punch, he closed his eyes to prepare for the pain, only to blink them open in confusion seconds later when no pain arrived.
What he found was one tall and scary-looking woman standing in front of him, glaring at the surrounding drunks. Fuck, why did she defend him?!
Ace felt the hair on his arms stand straight as the woman grinned, and he almost took a step back. “Your father let me borrow this a few years back. You can keep it.”
Ace‘s heart froze in fear. Had he been discovered?! But how! Ace worried so much that he almost forgot catching the package the woman had thrown at him.
“And that’s a gift for your mother. She‘ll know why.”
Ace felt his heart beat slowly. Clearly she had mistaken him for someone, hadn’t she? Just like before, Ace caught the thing thrown at him and watched as the woman left the bar, swaying as she tried to go in a straight line.
Clearly, she had mistaken him. She could barely walk! Ace gave a look around him before seeing a few of the previously knocked-out drunks slowly waking up and booked it.
Finally, after a while, he arrived home, and his curiosity couldn’t be contained anymore and he pulled out the two items the woman had given him.
The knife was... beautiful. It had a wooden handle with a tiny iron end. The sheath was crested with small golden beads embedded in the green leather. But the thing that surprised Ace the most was the tiny name engraved on the hilt. Portgas D Rouge. He forgot completely what that meant as he held the dagger that had once belonged to his mother in his hand. After a while, he reluctantly turned to the second pack and opened it. Inside was a strange compass, but instead of being flat, it was in a sphere and looked like an hourglass. On the bottom something was written, and Ace narrowed his eyes, but it was in a language he didn’t know.
It told him absolutely nothing, and he instead turned his attention to the second item in the pack. It was a piece of paper, and Ace quickly unfolded it and looked in shock as he realised what this was.
A treasure map. On top of it was the same writing as on the strange compass, and Ace couldn’t help but wonder if the compass was supposed to help him find the place.
Since he couldn’t do anything with it, he put the compass and map into his treasure chest and forgot about it.
Seven years later, as Ace enters the Grand Line and finds out about eternal poses, he realises how he would get that treasure. And after making it to the New World, he finds the island the eternal pose is pointing to.
On it, he finds a mountain of treasure and a sword with his name engraved on it.