Fanfic / Ace Lives

One Piece: Ace Lives is a collection of One Piece one-shots by Black' Victor Cachat, the author of Justice, Luffy's Mother is WHO?, The Second Age of Heroes, and Sea of Souls, depicting numerous What If? scenarios that would see Ace, well, live.

These one-shots shift between genuine, serious Point of Divergence situations to humorous Crack Fics. For the latest chapter though, the alternation happens less.

Also has a Christmas Special called One Piece: Ace Lives: Christmas Special.

The story is now cross-posted to Archive of Our Own here.

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Tropes:

• All Your Powers Combined: Uranus acquires a portion of the 'essence' of any who wear it that is trusted by its current owner, including the owner themselves, and in turn assimilates that person's abilities, which can then be used by anyone it uses as its host. Upon realizing this, Mihawk immediately picked a fight with its current host, the unfortunate Captain Randal Querrion Narlini, correctly deducing that it had all of Shanks' sword skills, in addition to its host having the left arm that Shanks lost. Uranus' power also keeps the host together until Luffy reclaims the hat which the Marine captain's body messily fell into pieces.
• Alternate Universe: The Mafia Whitebeards are from an alternate universe not unlike the real world. The difference is that instead of being pirates, all the pirates in the One Piece world are now mafia families.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: A summary of Ace's crimes from his POV in chapter 18:
  Ace: Let's see, off the top of his head he had committed . . . hrmmmm, yeah, countless acts of assault and theft, public indecency (it wasn't his fault that shirt can't stay on his body), pretty sure impersonating nobility is a crime in Goa Kingdom, arson, mass manslaughter unfortunately, piracy technically, vandalism and property damage, consorting with bandits, consorting with pirates and assorted other criminals, attempted murder, more assault and theft (soooo much of both), kidnapping, underage drinking, littering, poaching, trespassing, fraud, jaywalking, and, hmmm, oh yeah, tax evasion.
• Ass Shove: Uranus shoves Doflamingo's glasses up his ass after frying him a bit.
• Badass Santa: The Christmas Special sees Santa save Ace and put a beatdown on the Marines, declaring all of them on the naughty list.
• Bait-and-Switch: Chapter 20 is initially set up as one of the more serious chapters. Then Robin digivolves.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: "Bandit Queen" Dadan and Whitebeard apparently had a "thing" back in the day and are implied to still be attracted to each other in the present.
• Berserk Button: Buggy is enraged after overhearing Yamato claiming to be Oden, seeing it as an insult to his friend's name. Until Yamato reveals Oden's death.
• Bile Fascination: In-Universe example. Despite the increasing amount of embarrassment and humiliation everyone is feeling, no one can find it in themselves to stop Whitebeard and Kaido from airing all the dirt they have on each other from when they were on the Rocks Pirates together. It's explicitly compared to a slow-motion ship collision that you can't look away from, no matter how much you want to.
• Blood Knight: Mihawk. Whenever someone who can give him a decent duel shows up, expect him to make a beeline straight for them. At one point even he considers plopping Uranus down on Zoro's head so he can see if he can get an even better duel from him than the one he had with Shanks, and when a future version of Luffy from the Wano arc shows up, he cuts a bloody swathe through everyone towards Luffy's direction with a massive grin on his face.
• Burning Rubber: Literally. "Coffee" Luffy runs fast enough to leave a literal trail of fire from his original position all the way through the plaza and to the execution platform after drinking 5 cups of coffee.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Hilariously, Ace himself, especially in the one-shots that veer towards crack. He's usually saved, but at the expense of himself (or, more specifically, his dignity).
  • Akainu. He's probably the only character that's a bigger Butt-Monkey than Ace. There's not a single one-shot where he doesn't suffer horribly, whether it's being scarred, crippled, or outright dying.
  • Doflamingo also frequently suffers. At one point, he even gets his sunglasses shoved up his ass.
  • Blackbeard is as a big a Butt-Monkey as Akainu. Usually whatever thing that allows Ace to live also screws over Blackbeard in turn.
• Commonality Connection: In the "time traveling Roger" chapter, what causes Squard to give up his grudge against Ace is realizing that Ace also hates Roger. He then declares Ace his "brother" once again and decides to follow him so they can both get revenge on the Pirate King.
• Crack Fic:
  • While all the one-shots are interesting, the cracky ones are easily the most memorable chapters.
  • The third chapter of the Christmas Special is this even compared to the usual standards of insanity. In short, the World Government outlawed Christmas a few decades ago and assassinated Kris Kringle for good measure, the Marines decide to execute Ace because they think he's Santa Claus, believing "Santa" somehow managed to survive said attempt via reincarnation, and Luffy is killed during the war only to be inexplicably revived and switched with a future version of himself from the Wano arc by his hat, which apparently either belongs or is Frosty the Snowman. He then sends Whitebeard flying towards the direction of Jewelry Bonney, who de-ages him to his prime. The two then team up to rescue Ace, running roughshod over the terrified Marines, aided by their respective allies, including a turncoat Smoker and Tashigi, who fight in the name of Christmas. Finally, all of this causes Ace's heart to grow three sizes — which promptly allows Santa, who sealed himself within his soul, to finally be released and save him. Ace is saved, the war ends, and Luffy and Ace reunite with the Straw Hats and Sabo at Baltigo thanks to Santa's magic. Yeah.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dracule Mihawk, who acts as an amusing observer of the particularly cracky one-shots.
  Mihawk: I wonder if they'll be changing his nickname? 'Coffee' Luffy just doesn't have the same ring to it however.
• Determinator: No matter the one-shot, Luffy doesn't let anything distract him from trying to save Ace. Not when alternate versions of the Whitebeard Pirates show up at Marineford and join the battle, not when his hat reveals itself to be a Lost Superweapon who proceeds to run roughshod over the Marines, and not even when Whitebeard and Kaido start airing out the massive amounts of blackmail they have one another. Even when that something is distracting everyone else, Luffy uses it as an opportunity to further his way towards Ace with minimal resistance.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment:
  • Defied by Luffy, who refuses to acknowledge Mafia Ace as the same person as Pirate Ace.
  • Played straight by the Marines, who decide they need to kill Mafia Ace as well since he also bears the blood of Roger.
• The Dreaded:
  • "Coffee" Luffy. When he's apologizing to his loved ones for activating his "secret technique", Ace pales horribly, Garp grabs Coby and Helmeppo and ditches Marineford entirely, the Dadan Family huddles into their bandit base in terror as all of the surrounding forest's animals howl ominously, and every single cup in Makino's bar cracks, including the metal ones, as she winces in fear. In fact, the sheer horror of Luffy on caffeine is enough to reawaken Sabo's memories.
  • Gold Roger and the Roger Pirates, when their journey to Raftel temporarily causes them to detour to the future. The sight of him causes one manly commodore to begin crying for his mommy.
  • "Bandit Queen" Dadan. To the point that Aokiji immediately stops being a lazy ass the moment she shows up.
  • Ancient Weapon Uranus, Luffy's straw hat. After it mutilates Doflamingo, the Marines basically ignore Ace and Whitebeard in favor of destroying it. And because Luffy mentioned how Nami had worn Uranus, too, for all the Marines to hear, they assume she is some sort of nightmare herself to be able to withstand the Ancient Weapon. So to her horror, they massively raise her bounty to 315 million and give her a new epithet: "Witch Queen" with the photo changed from Nami posing in a swimsuit to her angry face with burning red eyes and oversized fangs on her mouth.
  • Luffy's own bounty jumps to over one billion (something he didn't manage in canon until after the Whole Cake Island arc) over the Time Skip, due to publicly using his Conqueror's Haki to quell Uranus after reacquiring it at the end of the battle.
  • Future Luffy from the Onigashima War in the third Christmas Special chapter. After watching him wreck Akainu and Kizaru in quick succession, Aokiji quickly finds every excuse he can not to fight him.
• The Dog Bites Back: The rank and file Marines are disgruntled at how their higher ups are sitting cozily at their high seats in Marineford while having no problem sending countless soldiers to their deaths. So when Robin initiates the Buster Call upon Marineford, they are more than happy to carry it out and turn their guns at their superiors, much to Sengoku's distress and helplessness.
• Enemy Mine: In Chapter 19, the Marines and Whitebeard Pirates band together in an attempt to destroy Oden's journal (which is in Yamato's ownership) for their respective reasons: the Marines at Sengoku's command - to erase another piece of Roger's legacy, and the Whitebeards under Marco and his fellow commanders - to preserve their crew's dignity no matter the cost. Both parties do not succeed.
• Gender Bender:
  • Ivankov decides to use her powers to turn Kaido's daughter Yamato into a man without any consent whatsoever, after hearing Yamato claim to be Kozuki Oden, who was a man. Yamato is very cool with it, though, and immediately pledges his loyalty to Luffy then.
  • One of the earlier one-shots pays homage to the famous "Crocomom" theory, where it's revealed that Crocodile is Luffy's mother. In a twist, Dragon is not Luffy's father but rather his uncle and Crocodile's brother, and that his actual father is a time-traveling Gold Roger.
• Godzilla Threshold:
  • Luffy drinking coffee despite having sworn to his family never to do so again.
  • Nico Robin, the sole survivor of Ohara, unleashing a Buster Call upon Marineford.
• Go Out with a Smile: One one-shot has Garp betraying the marines for his grandsons and he goes One-Man Army on his now former allies. In his last scene, it's stated he has only one hand left, but still leapt to his final fate with a smile.
• G-Rated Drug: In one of the one-shots, Luffy is banned from drinking caffeinated drinks (specifically, coffee) because it turns him into a hyperactive ball of mass destruction on par with Whitebeard. When the Whitebeard Pirates themselves realize this, Whitebeard orders Marco to dump all the coffee the fleet had, much to his sons' frustration.
• I Regret Nothing: Shanks, after letting Kaido join the Battle of Marineford to try and force Ace into marrying Yamato.
• I Want Grandkids: Basically why "Bandit Queen" Dadan decides to marry Hancock to Luffy. She's not getting any younger, after all.
• Jaw Drop:
  • Garp has an epic one to the future Straw Hat Fleet.
  • Subverted in one instance. Marco almost has an epic one after "Coffee" Luffy obliterates Marineford. He doesn't, however, due to years of practice as The Stoic.
  • After hearing Kaido claiming Ace got his son pregnant, it’s mentioned Whitebeard took a few moments to close his hanging jaw.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Oh woe, poor Demalo Black when he encounters Ace and boldly tries to use Luffy's name in front of him.
• Lost Superweapon:
  • Luffy's straw hat which, in one one-shot, is the Ancient Weapon Uranus. It lands on the head of an unfortunate Marine Captain who isn't on good terms with Luffy, promptly takes over his mind and body and lays waste to the battlefield (at one point fighting Mihawk, Akainu, Kizaru, Aokiji, Garp, and Sengoku at the same time), distracting the Marines and allowing Luffy to save Ace almost entirely unopposed.
  • In the third Christmas Special, Luffy's Straw Hat either belongs to or is Frosty the Snowman. Yes, that Frosty the Snowman.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: The aforementioned "Crocomom" one-shot mentioned above in Gender Bender.
• Mama Bear: "Bandit Queen" Dadan, who leaves retirement and gathers all her bandit allies to save Ace at Marineford.
• Making a Splash: In Chapter 16, Dadan wields the Water-Water Fruit that allows her to manipulate the water around her. She uses this to create 3 massive waves of the sea on Marineford, and her power got Teach's interest to want to take it.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • The Marines in the third Christmas Special chapter, first when Future Luffy from the Onigashima War shows up, and again when Prime Whitebeard shows up.
  • The Whitebeards when they overhear Yamato is in possession of Oden's journal. Said journal may contain embarrassing content about their various hijinks with Oden, so they subsequently Freak Out and go after Yamato to destroy it.
• Mistaken for Pregnant: Kaido interferes in Ace's execution in Chapter 19 so he can force him to marry his son Yamato after mistakenly assuming Yamato was pregnant and that Ace was the father. In reality, a drunk Kaido saw that Yamato had gained a lot of weight from eating a lot of pastries made by their new cook, heard that Yamato was vomiting into a toilet after a mishap with one of Queen's bio-weapons, assumed he was pregnant, and flew off before anyone could convince him otherwise.
• The Mole: In chapter 19, due to the chaos of the upcoming wedding, Orochi tries to gain favor with Kaidou by coming to Onigashima to help out. Technically he is not supposed to, but the Beast Pirates left behind left it slide since two of his entourage, Kyoshiro and Komurasaki, are so useful. In reality they are giving Denjiro and Hiyori a free and detailed tour of Kaidou's castle/fortress, and spilling info about their crewmates, all of which can be used in the raid they are planning in a few years.
• Parental Favoritism: Roger very blatantly prefers Luffy to Ace and is quite disappointed when Rayleigh points out that Luffy is too young to be his biological son. It doesn't help that he didn't really get to interact with Ace, who spent most of his time on the execution platform insulting Roger and then trying to kill him when he was released from his bonds.
• Parody Sue: One of the earlier one-shots has Luffy and Ace saved by "Sue Mary" and "Sue Gary", who creep both brothers and everyone on Marineford out. Ironically, the author does recommend to OC sibling fics in the author's note below.
• Pass the Popcorn: In Chapter 19, Mihawk orders a Marine to get him popcorn so he can eat it while watching Whitebeard and Kaido reveal each other's dirty laundry.
• Reincarnation: In the third Christmas Special, the Marines think Ace is Santa's, which is why they want to execute him. As it turns out, they are half-correct: Santa did reincarnate himself into Ace, but as a separate soul from Ace's own, sealed within Ace's body. The only reason he wasn't released from Ace sooner is because Ace lacked a sufficient amount of Christmas Spirit to release him.
• Rule of Symbolism: Oda once stated that a marine's coat will never fall from their shoulders as long as they stay true to Justice. So when Garp decides to screw that for his family, his coat does fall off.
• Running Gag: Every time "Bandit Queen" Dadan tried to tell Ace about her real status, his narcolepsy kicked in and caused him to fall in sleep before she could finish. As a result of this, Ace never found out about the "Bandit Queen" until his execution, and is furious that Luffy never told him.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Garp grabs Coby and Helmeppo and flees Marineford after he sees Luffy starting to consume coffee. The only reason he didn't take Ace with him is because Ace was still chained to the execution platform.
  • After Luffy suggests Smoker as a Marine who could give him The Talk, Smoker grabs Tashigi and scrams. Nobody blames him and about a third of his comrades quickly follow the suit.
• Selective Obliviousness:
  • Garp never pays attention to the bandit wanted posters, which is why he never realized he dumped Ace with a bandit whose strength and infamy rivaled Roger's.
  • Luffy is the only one at the Marineford not to realize that the guy with the cool mustache who's declared himself his new rival is actually "Pirate King" Gold Roger. He doesn't even find out until his crew informs him two years later.
• Serious Business: Christmas, in the Christmas Special chapters. Especially the third one.
• Shotgun Wedding: Kaido tries to claim Ace in Chapter 19 to force him into one of these with Yamato. Orochi's forces are left scrambling to prepare the actual wedding itself at Onigashima, and are half-relieved, half-put out when it's canceled.
• Sweet Tooth: In Chapter 19, it turns out that Yamato likes his sweets quite a lot, to the point that when a new cook is hired who specializes in particularly delicious ones, he can't help but overeat and neglect his training until he gets chubby enough for Kaido to think that he has a bun in the oven.
• The Talk:
  • In the "Bandit Queen" Dadan chapter, it's revealed that neither Luffy nor Hancock were given the Talk. Dadan decides to enlist a Marine Luffy respects to deliver it to them instead, which promptly leads to the desertion of one-third of the Marines' forces.
  • In Chapter 19, it's revealed that unlike Luffy, Ace did get the Talk from Makino which is why he knows he didn't get Yamato pregnant. However, he didn't pay much attention to it, as he doesn't know the normal duration for childbirth.
• Time Travel:
  • One of the one-shots has the post-canon Straw Hats and all of their allies go back in time to save Ace, causing the complete and utter annihilation of Marineford.
  • In another one, the Roger Pirates end up traveling to Marineford just as they were about to reach Raftel. Needless to say, Roger is pissed when he learns they're executing his son.
• Undying Loyalty: In one story, the Sun Pirates led by Vice-Captain Aladine are grateful to Whitebeard who placed their homeland Fishman Island under his protection which gave its people their rights, security, prosperity and hope they never had with the World Government. In turn, they repay Whitebeard by intercepting the submarine containing Pacifistas and Sentomaru, and flooded the entirety of Marineford by sabotaging their underwater systems, weakening the Admirals and incapacitating Marine Devil Fruit users, turning the tide in favor of the Whitebeard Pirates.
• Why Are You Not My Son?: Roger is very put out when Railegh points out that Luffy is to young to be his biological son. He gets to connect with Luffy who he has a lot of things in common too. Luffy also inspires him to become Pirate King, or as Luffy puts it the man that is the most free.
• Year Outside, Hour Inside: The Mafia Whitebeards only spend a couple of hours in the canon One Piece world to save Pirate Ace, but when they return home, they find out that six months have passed. This caused a massive shift in the Balance of Power in their world that eventually culminated in the Mafia Straw Hats taking over America. And it's implied that they stopped Russia from taking advantage of America's weakened state by helping Trafalgar Law take it over.

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