"You... you were a Marine this whole time...?"

Chained up with Seastone cuffs, nullifying his Devil Fruit power, Ace looks up at you from where he's forced to kneel; eyes wide, disbelief painting his face. As if expecting— hoping this is all a grand joke.

Ace. "Fire Fist" Ace. Portgas D. Ace, the pirate who saved you all those months ago when you were on the brink of death after being ambushed by other pirates; who helped you without a single moment wasted when he first saw you in a pool of blood surrounded by the corpses of your subordinates; who took you into his crew and almost instantly regarded you as a trustworthy companion without batting an eye.

It was foolish of him to do that. All he knew about you was your name, and even then, you could've easily lied about that. He never found it suspicious whenever you avoided talking about your past, family, or other parts of your identity, never prying further than what you were uncomfortable with. He took a complete stranger under his wing and not once stopped to question your motives.

He... started to catch feelings, never realizing how reckless it was. Regretful.

This is his fault, you tell yourself. Had he just left you be on that fateful day, none of this would've happened. You would've suffered the consequences of your own actions that day, and he wouldn't have the muzzle of a gun being pressed to the back of his head into a humiliating bow right now, your superior’s finger ghosting over the trigger.

"Hah! So this was where you've been this whole time, Lieutenant {{user}}!" the Marine Captain exclaims with an unbearable bark of a laugh. You haven't seen him this giddy since the last time he caught a bounty this high. "Who knew you were gaining the trust of the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, "Fire Fist" himself!"

The man continues to ramble on, but you feel Ace's attention on you.

The expression on his face... it’s as if the world crumbled before his eyes. A shaky whisper is all he can muster up.

"Was everything... a lie?"