Early morning. The deck of the Black Eclipse.
Sunlight spilled across the polished wood, glinting off the sea.
"Wipe left, wipe right... damn it! Why does the Great Buggy-sama have to be out here scrubbing windows like a common cabin boy!" Buggy muttered, leaning his weight into a rag until the floor-to-ceiling glass of the lounge shone like a diamond.
On the other end of the deck, Sabo sat under a parasol, casually flipping through the morning newspaper. Meanwhile, Ace sat cross-legged on the deck, a bottle of top-shelf sake he'd liberated from the wine cellar resting between his knees.
A Pirate should drink in great gulps, Ace thought. It was a philosophy he intended to live by.
Ace poured two wooden cups of sake. He downed the first in a single, smooth motion, then turned toward the frantic clown.
"Hey, Buggy. Come have a drink." Ace raised the second cup, his tone casual and inviting.
Buggy paused, wiping sweat from his brow. After a night of "patrolling" and a morning of cleaning, he was parched. He approached cautiously, eyeing the cup with suspicion. "What is it now, Captain? Another prank? A trap?"
"Sit," Ace said, patting the deck beside him.
Buggy sat, his legs trembling slightly. Just as he brought the cup to his lips, Ace asked a question that felt like a lightning strike.
"Back on the Oro Jackson... who got beat up more? You or Shanks?"
PFFT—!
The sake sprayed from Buggy's mouth like a fountain. He scrambled backward, pointing a shaking finger at Ace, his voice cracking. "You... how do you know about that?! My time on the Captain's ship is top-secret intel! No one in the East Blue knows that!"
Even Sabo dropped his newspaper, looking over in genuine surprise. He knew Buggy was a veteran, but he hadn't expected the "Red-Nosed Clown" to have served on the ship of the Pirate King himself.
Ace looked at Buggy's battle-ready stance and let a soft, knowing curve touch his lips. He didn't play games. He raised his cup to the sunlight and spoke in a voice that was terrifyingly natural.
"It's easy to know things like that. After all... that man with the straw hat and the heartless grin? He was my father."
The sea breeze seemed to stop. The world went silent.
Clang.
The wooden cup fell from Buggy's hand, spilling the expensive sake across the deck. He was frozen, a statue of pure shock. His eyes were pinned on the black-haired youth, his brain struggling to process a reality that should have been impossible.
"Your... father?" Buggy's voice was a ghost of a whisper. "You're talking about... Gol D. Roger?"
"Yeah. My mother was Portgas D. Rouge. I took her name, but by blood? I'm that bastard's seed," Ace nodded.
There was no disgust in his tone, no distorted hatred like the Ace of the original timeline. He spoke with the openness of a man who had looked at his origin and mastered it.
"That's... but the Captain... he died..."
Buggy shook his head in denial, but then he truly looked at Ace. He looked at the contour of the jaw, the fearless depth in the eyes, and that terrifyingly carefree smile from the night before. All the fragments of his memory—of a towering back standing at the bow of the Oro Jackson, laughing in the face of a typhoon—snapped into place.
"No wonder... no wonder you felt so familiar."
Buggy's eyes suddenly turned bloodshot. Great, fat tears welled up and spilled over, mixing with his snot and clown makeup until his face was a smeared, colorful mess of grief and joy.
"WAAAAAHHH! CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN, YOU ACTUALLY HAD A SON!!"
Buggy threw himself onto the deck, wailing without a shred of dignity. As an apprentice of the Roger Pirates, his greed and cowardice were real, but his love for Roger was the only thing purer. Seeing his old Captain's bloodline alive—and grown into such a monstrous powerhouse—shattered every defense the clown had left.
Ace watched him cry, his gaze softening. This was why he wanted Buggy. On this vast, cruel sea, once the old legends like Rayleigh retired, the only people who would treat Ace like family simply because of his father were Shanks and this ridiculous clown.
After ten minutes of sobbing, Buggy looked up, wiping his face with his sleeve.
"Young Master... no, Captain Ace!" The fear in Buggy's eyes was gone, replaced by a fanatical, shining loyalty. "Since you're the Captain's son, does this mean we're going for the One Piece? Are we taking back the title of Pirate King?!"
"Pirate King?" Ace chuckled and shook his head. "Buggy, I have no interest in that old man's leftovers. If we pass by Laugh Tale, sure, we'll take a look. But I didn't set sail to follow in his footsteps."
Ace stood up, his tall frame silhouetted against the rising sun. He reached out with a broad, calloused hand, as if grasping the horizon itself.
"I'm going to be the King of the World. I'm going to tear down the World Government and establish a new order. The title of 'Pirate King' is too small for what I have planned."
Buggy gasped, his jaw nearly hitting the deck. Overthrow the World Government? King of the World? If anyone else had said it, Buggy would have laughed. But looking at the seventeen-year-old monster before him, he realized this wasn't a boast.
This boy was more ambitious—and more dangerous—than Roger ever was.
"Well then! The Great Buggy-sama will reluctantly assist you!" Buggy huffed, crossing his arms and sniffing arrogantly. "After all, I owe the old Captain a favor or two!"
"Very good." Ace turned to him, his smile bright, yet somehow making the hair on the back of Buggy's neck stand up. "Since you were on Roger's ship, and now you're on mine, I can't have you embarrassing the Eclipse Pirates."
Ace stepped forward, pinning Buggy's shoulder with a heavy hand. He pointed to Sabo, who was already standing up and cracking his knuckles.
"Starting today: Physical conditioning every morning. Fruit development every afternoon. I will personally oversee your training until you awaken both colors of Haki."
"HUH?!" The smugness vanished from Buggy's face. He shook his head frantically. "No! No need! I'm a Support Specialist! I fight with my 'Flashy' brain and my Buggy Balls! My Bara Bara no Mi is a passive defense, it's already perfect!"
"Protest denied," Sabo said with a sharp grin, tapping his alloy staff against his palm. "Buggy, your fruit protects you from blades, but without Observation Haki to see the hits coming or Armament Haki to boost your flying limbs, you won't last three days in the New World."
"I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THE NEW WORLD! I WANT TO BE A BIG FISH IN THE EAST BLUE—AAAAAAGH!"
Before he could finish, Ace lifted him by the collar like a kitten and tossed him into the center of the deck.
"Five hundred laps around the deck to warm up! Sabo, watch him. No breakfast until he's done!" Ace laughed.
"HELP! ABUSE! CAPTAIN, HAVE MERCY!"
The shrill, vibrant screams of the Red-Nosed clown echoed across the quiet sea. Ace raised his cup, leaning against the railing as he watched Sabo chase Buggy around the ship.
The breeze was cool, the sun was high, and for the first time, the Black Eclipse felt like a real crew. The journey had truly begun.