[Read 15+ chapters before release in P.A.T.R.E.O.N]–

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Chapter 129

Title: Humans change over time, but some things remain the same.

....

The 'Spade Pirates' were created a few months ago. Considering that, the connections between the crew members weren't supposed to be so deep.

However, this is the world of 'Nakamaship', more so, the son of the previous Pirate King, Ace, is the captain of this crew. With his charisma, the crew became very close in this short time.

Just like how the Straw Hat Pirates were close, the Spade Pirates were the same.

So losing one of their companions, even more so, their Vice-Captain, everyone was sad.

They were now sitting while hugging their legs or lying on the ground while staring at the sky.

Perry, the woman who was sitting beside the unconscious Ace whispered. "Maybe we shouldn't have come to the New World."

The ones who were still conscious looked at her. But they didn't retort. Maybe... she was right.

Deuce was an important member of the crew, losing him meant a lot.

Perry again moved her lips. "Then what should we do about that man who saved us?"

Another member of the crew, Daniel, released a stiff laugh, "Hah...we are grateful, but we need to wait for Ace to wake up. Even if we are like this, he is still out captain."

Perry again questioned: "And what about the other guy? 'Friend from the underworld'?"

Deuce had told them about that man many times, so they were pretty familiar with who he was, how he looks, how he talks, even what his favorite food was.

Obviously, everything was what Amon wanted him to know. To Amon, Deuce was a valuable man.

When Ace would have joined the Whitebeard Pirates, the Spade Pirates would have done the same. He would have then brainwashed Deuce to be his informant, the person who would have kept him up-to-date about Blackbeard, the biggest unstable variable of this world.

So he spent quite some time teaching him things, but now that he was dead, all that was basically a waste.

Still, it didn't matter. He will just choose another person from the Spade Pirates as the next pawn. The members of the Whitebeard Pirates are too strong to brainwash, and the few weak ones are too familiar with other crew members to not notice the changes even if they are small.

So an outsider would be the best idea.

Tak Tak Tak

It was then, they heard the sounds of footsteps.

They slowly turned their head as their eyes gained a look of surprise.

It was a man with shoulder-length blue hair, so they almost mistook him as Deuce.

"Hello," The man talked in an old and gruff voice. "I am Mr. Fool, you can consider me Deuce's friend."

Yes, it was Amon who was streaming lighting to his hair to make it seem blue. After reaching as far as 700 million volts, Amon can use his lightning to form different colors by heating it to different degrees. He was also hiding his wings by fusing them with his Logia body.

All of them sighed. Of course, this wasn't Deuce. But it was still a relief that it wasn't an enemy either, they weren't in a mood for fighting.

-

—

-

After a while, Ace regained his consciousness.

The first thing he did was look around. Looking at Deuce's body laying down with a handkerchief over his face, he was too shocked to notice the blue-haired man sitting beside the body.

With a dead look in his eyes, Ace fell on his back again. Tears started to swell in his eyes.

"It's my fault..." Ace covered his face with his forearm.

He didn't remember much of the fight with Jack since he went unconscious, but he knew he got some kind of powerup.

"If I was strong from the beginning... Then this wouldn't have happened." Ace recalled how Sabo died. He lost one of his brothers and promised Luffy to become the Pirate King. But—"How will I manage without our ship's doctor, Deuce..."

Ace broke out crying as he covered his face. Perry just stared at him with sad eyes.

Perry's hourglass body was bleeding and her brown hair was messed up. She just sat there silently while hugging her legs.

She sometimes looked at Amon who was silently sitting beside Deuce's body.

After a while, Perry got up and walked towards Amon.

The crew members let him get close to Deuce's body since they were sure of his identity.

Perry stopped beside him and looked. "Mister..."

"Mr. Fool,"

"Yes, Mr. Fool..." Perry sat beside him, her eyes sad. "Thanks for sending that other Dragon fruit user, or we would have all died."

Mr. Fool, Amon, ignored the corpse and looked at Perry.

'Hm...?'

His eyes shined for a moment.

Interest. That's what his eyes were shining with. Perry wasn't able to notice it since she was too busy mourning.

'New pawn discovered...' Amon felt a little bad that Deuce died, he spent quite some time with him after all. But that 'bad' feeling wasn't sadness, it was just a little bitterness in his mouth.

'Sadness huh...' In this world, only a few handful of people's death would make him genuinely sad. He has come far from the kid who didn't care about a single person.

Mr. Fool then opened his mouth under the black and white 'anonymous mask'. "You do not need to thank me. I was merely helping this child's friends after his death."

He went silent. "...If I wasn't late, maybe I could have saved him too."

"Mm..." Perry nodded lightly.

It was when Ace also noticed Mr. Fool. But unlike the others, he couldn't recognize him, he was simply too emotional.

He made a grim face as he walked towards him and touched his shoulder. "Who are you?"

Amon turned his head. Ace was surprised for a brief moment looking at the similarities between him and Deuce, but it was short-lived.

Amon then stood up and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Portgas D. Ace.... I am a friend of Deuce,"

Ace made a serious face. "Which friend?"

Ace's question was answered by Perry.

"Ace, he is Mr. Fool. The guy Deuce always used to talk about."

Ace finally understood what was going on here. His eyes grew as he made a sorry face and averted his hand from his shoulder. He only spent around 6 months with Deuce, meanwhile, this man knew him for years, so it was obvious that he must be feeling much greater sadness than him.

Ace bit his lips. He felt Amon's gaze on him, he was assuming, Amon must be blaming him.

However, "I thank you for looking after him. He must have been happy to give his life for you, Ace." That's what Amon said.

Ace's eyes grew. His face soon crumbled as tears again started to fall.

"I am so sorry..."

....

Just like that, a few hours passed. Amon treated the injured and cooked some food from the ship.

Finally, the crew members calmed down.

It was time for Amon to start his main wordplay.

He looked at Ace while beside him, Deuce's body was wrapped up in a large white cloth. "Alright, now I need to leave. I need to bury Deuce."

Ace was shocked hearing this. "Huh, where will you bury him? We will go too."

"In my place, he once said he wanted to be buried there if he ever died." Amon continued. "And, no. I can't take you there, I need to finish this fast... because-"

Amon made serious eyes. "After this, I will invade Wano. I won't let go of Jack this easily. He needs to die." A blue lighting aura appeared around Amon, making the others flinch. ""How dare a mere All-Star do this to him, I will destroy the Beasts Pirates.""

It was true that Amon plans to kill Jack, he will then grant the fruit to a Motor Gang member... they have a unique transformation that can make them around Emperor level.

Ace was shocked and intimidated, he suddenly looked at Amom with admiration. He heard Fool was strong, but he didn't know he was this strong to refer to an All-Star as 'mere'.

However...

"Mister, calm down. Although your skin looks quite young, from your voice, you seem like an old man. You shouldn't pick a fight with the rumored 'Strongest Creature'."

After a while, the aura around Amon slowly dissipated. "Young man, I am strong."

"But you are right," Amon was showing the image of a wise man. "Still, I have to kill Jack, I have enough power to stay away from Kaido and finish the job."

Ace tried to say something but Perry stopped him.

Amon turned around, looking down at the corpse. "I will now leave. I am sorry that you can't witness Deuce's grave, but I promise I will return after this and show you."

He picked up Deuce's corpse from the ground. Nobody stopped him, they simply didn't have the face to. After all, it was them who was responsible to kill him, in a sense.

In truth, Amon was taking Deuce to make him a Shadow soldier. Maybe, Deuce can turn into a Dragon even after death?

It is true the devil fruit leaves the body after use dies.

But just because the devil fruit the body, doesn't mean their previous power also fully left the body. Zoan fruits cause a genetic change, it can't just revert back to a completely normal body, at least not to Amon's medical and biological knowledge.

As Amon was able to fly off with Deuce, Ace stopped him by grabbing him by the hands.

"Wait, I want to go to Wano as well. I can't let my crewmate's killer go away so easily. Not in this life." He said with a determined voice.

Amon stared at him for a second before grinning under his mask.

'Perfect. Oh, Ace, you have no idea how bad I will fuck you up.'

«...★...»

Meanwhile, in Gran Tesoro, Robin and Raki were present.

Robin was here to observe things and obtain the report of what was happening, this was her first time here.

However, Raki was different, she was here on a vacation.

She was in a massive room, dripping inside a pool made of gold.

"Hahaha! Finally! Finally!!"

She had her arms spread while two beautiful women were resting on them. One was a blonde woman, one was green-haired, they would have easily been called models in Amon's world, but now they were Raki's pets.

They were both naked just like Raki. She had her hands on their bosoms while laughing like a madman.

She looked at the blonde-haired and raised her chin. "Men are unattractive, except for Big Bro. So, I have to be satisfied with you girls until I manage to get under Brother's skin. Hehehe..."

While Amon was seriously plotting, Raki was fucking around. Literally.

She has suffered enough on the moon, not anymore. She will train while living like a boss in her break time.

«...★...»

Days later, in the borders of Wano Kuni, a ship was spotted.

It was flying a Spade Jolly Roger.

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This chapter was proofread by Discord members and edited by @Retuculum and @Shortmotor!

Discord: https://www.discord.gg/sek3gZV2jg