Chapter 150: Ace...?

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*Two months later, ten thousand meters below the sea.*

In the vast country of the very famous fishmen, inside a local restaurant, among all fishermen, a strange couple was dining merrily. It was a good-looking man with a monkey tail and a world-toppling woman, a fairy who seemed to have fallen from heaven. They were of course Edam and Hancock.

"Wasn't this kingdom supposed to be under Whitebeard's rule? I didn't see any of Whitebeard's sons…" Hancock raised a question.

"Well… yeah… that's strange indeed… anyway, taste this dish, it's so good…!" Edam didn't think further than that and raised his spoon to feed Hancock.

They had arrived a week ago at the first sun rays after having toured a lot of human islands and cities and villages. 

Although this Aquatic Country was very deep under the sea, Edam was already well versed in the power of space and could easily tear the fabric of space of this world to travel basically wherever he wants.

With Hancock's newfound appetite for food and Edam's wish for her to eat well for both her and the baby, the two made it their goal to appreciate all the delicacies they could find in each city they could find.

He too was accompanying her, eating alongside her. Even though he didn't need food to sustain himself, his current avatar's body was near perfection and had all the senses a normal human's body possessed. He didn't want her to eat alone.

As for her, her complexion toward eating like the Saiyan race people slowly faded away when she saw that her weight didn't increase as much as she would expect after swallowing mountains of food every day.

Well, It did increase, but it was due to the baby, who was growing excellently. The tummy had once again grown bigger and a blissful smile always made up its way to her lips when setting her eyes on it.

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An hour later they finished their meal and came out of it.

The fishmen present on the place were all eyeing them as if they were rare items.

They then began their tour of the city they were in, visiting a lot of spots and doing local activities such as bubble-tour, fishmen museum visit, buying some unique aquatic sea flowers, etc…

They went to a mermaid attraction but it was funny that no mermaid, even though famous for their beauty, could hold a candle against Hancock's beauty.

"What about that Mermaid Princess?" Hancock asked with an interested expression.

"Sigh, why do you want to see her so much…?" Edam sighed desperately.

"Didn't we come to see her?"

"Yeah, at your request, princess…" 

"Ugh, well, you know, people say that she's prettier than me, I just want to confirm that…"

"Is that so… anyway…"

Edam gently held onto her hand at all times as if he was holding the most precious gem in the world. And she reciprocates happily by holding his hand tighter.

"The Newspaper here is the one from a week ago…" Hancock said as she read the newspaper.

"Well, it's already surprising that it can reach here…" Edam shrugged and said.

Because of the geographical location, the newspaper could take a few days to reach this Aquatic country, so they were always a week's late in information.

"Umm… Edam?" As they walked through a small street, Hancock asked with a small smile and both her eyes wide open and blinking at him. 

"Hmm?" Edam glanced at her curiously as they walked and tilted his head. "What is it?"

"Umm, well, I've got something to tell you and I just can't keep it to myself anymore…" Hancock revealed with a guilty but somewhat impatient expression on her face.

"You… don't tell me…" Edam squinted his eyes at her like an eagle and said. "You ate my hundred-year biscuit milk chocolate that I saved from our last visit to Elbaf?"

"What? No, no, not that…" Hancock shook her head in refuting.

"Then you…" Edam tried to guess and sighed with a pained expression. "Don't tell me you lost my Super Dragon's Wish Collector's edition...

"No…" She gently shook her head again.

"...? You broke my Injustice's figurine…?" Edam tried to guess it a few more times in vain.

"Nope, try again if you can…"

"...well, I'm at a loss now, what could you have done to have this guilty expression?" Edam asked, having no idea.

"Ahem, umm, you see, I took a peek…" Hancock said with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

"..." Edam's opened slightly flabbergasted. "You… hey, I know that I can't do much with this body, but you can't just peek at other men like that…"

"What?" Hancock was stunned at his reply and her brain quickly processed his line before figuring out what he meant. 

Her face turned red in anger as she pouted and said. "I meant the baby, you stupid idiot…!"

"Oh…" Edam said laughingly as he rubbed his head. 

"...wait what?! You did what?!" He shouted back, not believing his ears.

"Ahem, yeah, sorry, I just couldn't help but take a peek at what gender it is…"

"You…" Edam looked at her with a pouting expression. "Didn't we say we would keep it a surprise…?"

"Well, sorry, anyway, do you wanna know?" Hancock raised the crucial question.

"Uh… no… on another thought, yeah why not, it's already ninety percent sure that it is a girl but, a boy wouldn't bother me…"

"Hehe, well, it's b…" Just as Hancock was about to reveal it, a shout interrupted her.

"Madame Shirley's boutique is open! Come come, she will reveal your future!" A young Fishman was yelling at the front door of a building. "Her predictions are one hundred percent accurate, satisfied, or refunded…!"

"...?" Edam's attention was drawn toward the shout but he rapidly turned back toward Hancock. "So…?"

"Umm…" Hancock smiled and then said. "How about you take a look?"

"What? I would rather not, since you don't want to just tell me, you're igniting my curiosity, but I will hold back, I like surprises…" 

Edam smiled and grasped her hand. "Let's go see that fortune-teller, it seems interesting…"

Hancock pouted a bit but then went on with him holding onto his arm.

The boutique was quite small and had a small purple covering serving as an entrance.

Edam then calmly entered it as he led Hancock in it. "Hello… I would like to see uh... my future?"

He saw a female fishman with everything below her stomach made up of shark body parts. "Welcome, please take a sit… My name is Shirley…"

They both took a sit as Edam asked. "Hello, miss Shirley… say you're not a fraud right?"

"No, my predictions are accurate. So set your hand on this crystal ball if you want to continue…"

"Okay then..." Edam took a look at the ball and set his hand on it.

Madame Shirley closes her eyes to do her magic and…

One minute passed…

"It's normal…"

Two minutes passed… 

"It can take some time…"

Three…

"…"

Four…

"..."

Five… 

"This… this a first…" Madame Shirley said with a stunned and disbelieving face. "It's... it's not working…? How? Why?"

A long and annoying five minutes passed straight by pissing Hancock who pouted in annoyance and anger… though the time wasn't the problem for her… 

No, what pissed her off was the fact that, since her trick didn't work, that Shirley directly grabbed Edam's hand on the crystal ball instead of the damn ball.

She was ready to explode in anger and pulverize the shit out of her.

"Are you going to let his hand go or should I help you…?" Hancock spoke in a very cold and pissed-off tone, totally different from her previous mild and gentle expression.

Madame Shirley didn't seem to care about it as she abruptly tried to take a hold of Hancock's hand. "Wait, there's something strange, give me your-…"

Though, before she could reach Hancock, Edam instantly and instinctively grabbed Shirley's hand. 

"..." His expression was extremely quiet and calm but his silence perfectly conveyed his message to her.

"I… I… I won't harm her… I just want to predict her future, that's all, sir…" Her voice stuttered and gulped down at the end. She could see the end of her life in his clear black eyes.

"..." He still didn't say anything and only stare at her silently, staring right into her eyes as if peering into her very soul.

A few seconds after, he let go of her hand and spoke calmly while still staring at her. "Fine…"

"I'm sorry…" She then apologized to Hancock and said carefully. "Can I…?"

Hancock faintly gazed at Edam before handing her hand over. Since Edam had agreed to it, then this woman was certainly speaking the truth and wouldn't hurt her, or else, well, she wouldn't be here to speak anymore.

"Here…" Hancock handed her hand over.

With Hancock's consent, Shirley took her hand and close her eyes to do her magic again.

However, this time, Shirley's hand and arms oddly started to shake as she then abruptly opened her eyes and stared at Hancock.

Her forehead was sweating profusely as if someone had thrown a bucket full of water on her as she spoke and stared blankly at Hancock. "...Your death would be our end, all of us…"

"...?" Hancock's beautiful features and Edam's turned into a curious frown.

After having said this line, Shirley's head turned toward Edam and she spoke blankly.

"...Supreme Ruler… If you stay here any longer, your loved ones won't make it to see tomorrow's daylight…"

"What…?" This put a frown on his face, thinking that she was threatening him but...

"Your brother's life is slowly seeping away…"

Edam frowned as his hand pierced the fabric of space to retrieve a small piece of paper.

It was Ace's Vivre Card that Ace gave him the last time they met.

"...?!" However, when he saw the paper in question, Edam's eyes abruptly constricted as he stood up suddenly.

Hancock's eyes also widened in alarm. 

The Vivre Card that should be full had more than two-thirds of the paper gone!

'...!?' Edam exclaimed in his mind and closed his eyes to focus.

In the span of an instant, his immense spiritual senses covered the entire planet to find his target. The whole world was scanned in a matter of a few seconds.

'Marineford? A war?' He didn't waste time on unnecessary thoughts on what was happening and why it was happening.

His facial features frowned as his hand made a slashing motion in the void. "Sorry, Princess, we've got to go, we'll come back…"

"Ah? Wher-?" She didn't manage to finish her line as she was pulled into Edam's chest and then both went into the spatial gate disappearing from the small boutique, leaving Madame Shirley who slowly regained her senses.

Oh, God…" She was sweating greatly, her power had shown for the first time in her life so much possibility both good, bad, and extremely terrifying for the mortal world.

"Have I made it in time…?" She saw a very bleak future for this world when she took a peek at Hancock's destiny. It was Hancock's future but the world itself was very dark and cold.

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*Meanwhile, at Marineford*

The war opposing the Marine and the Seven Warlords of the Seas against the Whitebeard's pirates for the liberation of Portgas D. Ace was raging on and reaching its end.

Luffy even managed to make his way there after a long amount of time and effort with the help of the Amazon lily, under the lead of Sandersonia who decided to help him after learning of his brotherhood with Edam.

Luffy went through hell and finally made his way to Marineford and fought his way to Ace before successfully releasing him.

However, the near-end took a tragic turn of events for the two brothers… 

Just as they were about to escape, Admiral Akainu provoked Ace by insulting Whitebeard, which was a huge taboo for Ace who truly considered Whitebeard as his father.

And this led to that, and in a moment of carelessness by protecting Luffy, Ace's chest was violently impaled by Akainu's magma's punch.

"Ace....!" Luffy screamed desperately as Ace fell right into his arms.

With a hole in his chest, Ace spouts blood from his mouth. His tired eyes were still alive but he was obviously on his last few breaths as he stared weakly at Luffy.

 "I'm… sorry…" Ace uttered weakly as his eyes grew weaker and weaker by the seconds but still grit his teeth to hold on to life.

And this scene right there was witnessed by everyone present, all the powerhouses, all the pirates and marines were gazing at it in shock or interest.

Sengoku…

Garp…

Whitebeard…

The three Admirals… 

All Seven warlords of the seas...

Even the special forces composed of minks that Edam was once the captain of were present. Zaz, now captain of this team, felt a freezing and cold chill running down his spine as he stared at it. He already knew Ace and had made sure to not cross his sword with or interrupt Ace's liberation on purpose…

He and all his friends were secretly wishing for Ace's escape too but alas… things didn't go as he prayed for…

And Luffy who had just lost his brother, under the shock and pain of it, his mind had completely and utterly been shattered. 

In the back, some marine people were rejoicing about it, having finally accomplished their duty, and were mocking the now half-dead Ace who was speaking his seemingly last few words to Luffy.

But… just as the Marine was inwardly cheering for their victory, and the Whitebeard's pirates were grieving over their losses...

Not so far away from Luffy and Ace… The empty space started to distort as two pale yellow eyes full of disbelief stared at the scene in front of him. 

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(A/N: Cough… Well, I don't want to write it too fast or else I'm gonna make a lot of mistakes or forget things… and sorry for the cliff...)