Scholar of Strawhat Pirates

The Drum Kingdom returned to normal as they continued on their days, and Kureha, Douglas, and Chopper started living in the abandoned castle of Wapol as Kureha deemed it too wasteful to be left without a residence. Douglas was also practicing more and more about his new Devil Fruit abilities, he also incorporated it into his routine, as he used it to temper his will, as the pain that he would experience in every punch that he made, was amplified by more than ten times with the Dark-Dark fruit, but Douglas did not stop, and continued on his routine, ten thousand punches in each arm and hands, ten thousand kicks in every leg.

The Dark-Dark fruit, was able to summon a dark smoke that resembled darkness of the void, that would devour light, it could also produce the same effects of a Blackhole, so Douglas brainstormed any applications that he could do to add with the moveset that Blackbeard have in the anime, the first thing that Douglas thought is Vacuum, where he would absorb everything in a place without leaving anything, even air particles, to suffocate the person that he trapped, Douglas also practiced compressing rocks faster and faster that after it was swallowed by the blackhole, Douglas could expel it in a smaller scale but a much denser material.

After more than two months, Douglas was able to master applications of his Dark-Dark fruit, compressing, and expelling things, it became a second nature to Douglas, a testament to his talent on studying, he was also able to create a complete vacuum of space that disabled any powers to be used, and one thing that Douglas noticed is that he can't activate his other Devil Fruit at the same time as the Dark-Dark fruit in one hand, so he has to activate the Dark-Dark Fruit in his one hand and the Buru Buru no Mi into the other.

'Is this why Teach would only use one hand for the other? How inconvenient,' Douglas thought, complaining a little. But he did not fixate on this, as it was already a miracle that he was able to have two Devil Fruits.

He just continued his practice until one day, in the middle of his routine, he felt that another presence just landed in the Drum Kingdom, and the even more bizarre thing is that even though it was in the middle of a blizzard, the snowstorm suddenly stopped when the presence docked and walked on the island. A scene in the anime suddenly played in Douglas's head, as it was the exact scene when Ace landed in the Drum Kingdom. Douglas then stopped his routine and decided to look and confirm it for himself.

'Sure enough, it's Ace,' Douglas thought as he started walking towards Ace, who was speaking with the locals with a curious expression on his face. He was not wearing his mask and his cloak, so no one in the village recognized him, despite having a curious and a handsome look, Douglas haven't realized that his curiosity stare could stun the normal people, it was fine with Kureha and Chopper as they grew up with Douglas as whenever he would invent something, he would look at a distance, something that Kureha would laugh whenever it would happen.

Douglas was completely oblivious to it, but strangers would have a strange reaction to his stare, it happened with the normal villagers, when they noticed a figure walking towards them, they couldn't help but look, but when they saw Douglas, their knees suddenly froze, as despite Douglas not having a bad intention, their instincts told them that they would be killed, Ace on the other hand was different, despite being the direct recipient of Douglas' stare, he was not feeling the same effects, it was due to him being immune to the effects of intimidation, likely due to his simple mind, strength, or his natural Conqueror's genes that do not allow him to be intimidated.

"Who are you?" Ace then asked curiously, as he turned his head towards Douglas,

"Dougan D. Douglas, why are you here?? Portgas D. Ace," Douglas answered, and directly asked him a question, not because he did not know the reason, but just to make it officially known.

"Ohh, so you know me," Ace asked.

"With the color of your hat, and the tattoo on your back, only an idiot would not know your name, so, state your purpose, Portgas D. Ace," Douglas answered,

"Ohhh, not a fan of wasting time, are we? Alright then, I'm looking for this man, I heard that he and his crew attacked this village a long time but was repelled by a strong warrior, from the original 5, only four bodies were found, so I thought that this town would have any idea on where he is, but it seems that he disappeared according to them," Ace said, as he answered what Douglas was saying.

"Is this man special to you? Would you seek any vengeance if there were someone who killed him?" Douglas then said, as he looked curiously at Ace. But Ace did not answer, defeating Teach is something that he needed to do by himself, since Teach killed his great friend Thatch, he hunted Teach against the better judgement of Whitebeard, and made a move against his orders, he already sacrificed a lot just to hunt Teach, and he was determined to make sure that it happened by his hands, of course, he still had a sense than to attack someone that killed him due to them defending their home.

"I won't, but I would be gravely disappointed," Ace said, answering Douglas' question, which made Douglas smile a little.

"Then prepare to be disappointed," Douglas said, as he summoned a black smoke, and expelled the head of Teach, despite the three months passing, the head's condition did not change, it was still as fresh as the day Douglas killed him, the despair in his look, as Teach realized that his dreams were now shattered was still in his face, making Douglas smile once again.

"Ahhhh, his expression is a soothing sight of relief, a destruction of a man's dream at the cost of trampling others is something that would always be the greatest sight," Douglas suddenly said, which snapped Ace out of his stupor.

The moment Douglas summoned the head, Ace's consciousness began to fade, as the sight of his brother Thatch once again ran towards his mind, the last smile that he saw, and the last sight that he saw, Teach's face just reminded him of all of that, and when Douglas said his words, he suddenly snapped out, as tears started flowing out of his face without any indication.