Protectors [One Piece Fanfiction]

Old Adventures: Evil Plagues the Pure

Old Adventures: Evil Plagues the Pure

Ace gasped as he shot up from his sleep, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead as he huffed a few breaths. Irin, who was at his bedside and who had touched his face prior to his sudden gasps, stared at him with worry in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked, reaching out to him once more.

Ace moved back and swallowed a lump he didn't know that was growing in his throat, "I-I'm fine!" he stuttered as he stood up and got out of bed. "Can you go out for a bit? I wanna change," he said as he pushed the girl out of his room.

Luckily, the rain had died down and it was only drizzling. Irin stood outside of his room with wide eyes and a slightly raised brow, "But you already changed...?" she muttered to herself, remembering how she had already put on the shirt for him.

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The raven haired male dashed into the bathroom the moment he pushed the girl out of his room, he panted as he splashed water on his face. He didn't know why his memories had suddenly resurfaced in his dreams.

They weren't kind memories but instead memories that left an uncomfortable lingering feeling behind. Memories of his early childhood weren't the fondest. Ace hated his parentage for the longest time and he believed that he was the son of the devil.

Shaking his head, the water he had splashed on himself, flew off. He stared at himself in the mirror as he remembered all the horrendous words he heard in his childhood.

Those words plagued his mind.

He had long gotten over it but sometimes they reappear in his dreams and he can remember the feeling of disappointment and hate all too explicitly.

The echoes of his past; of the belief that he was undeserving of the world.

Ace grunted at the memory that had invaded his brief happiness, he had made Irin happy and he, too, was happy but the monsters of his past that visited him every now and then had paid him a jarring visit.

Irin was happy. He made her happy and he was sure, now, that he was truly in love with her.

But wait.

His eyes widened at his sudden remembrance of his words from not so long ago and he frowned when he remembered what kind of person he was.

He was Portgas D. Ace, son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. He was none other than a man with the blood of a devil in his veins, he was the son of the devil.

'The scum'

'The liar'

'The murderer'

The Pirate King'

'The Bullshit King'

That was who he was, that was who Portgas D. Ace really was.

That was who he believed he was...

The whole belief that Ace had was the sole reason why he promised himself that he would never fall in love and that he'd never get himself a significant other.

He swore to himself he would never fall in love because he didn't want his demonic bloodline to continue. He didn't want to fall in love knowing that he was the son of such a terrible person and that he would hurt the fated woman he was to be in love with because of his parentage.

Irin was different, she knew who he was and she didn't care but that was what made it worse.

The Ace who thought that he was undeserving of this world sought for love from the one person he thought the world was undeserving for.