Chapter Text
It was a peaceful morning on the Moby Dick. There hadn’t been many of those since…acquiring their newest crewmember. Ace seemed to have a habit of beginning the day with an assassination attempt. It was amusing to the crew by now. The first few times it had been an alarming, though quite effective, wake up call to see the would-be assassin throwing herself at the captain.
Marco tilted his head back, enjoying the good weather. The Grand Line was notorious for its weather and he wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. Whitebeard chuckled, glad to see his son in a rare moment of peace. Marco ran himself ragged keeping on top of the goings-on of the ship and he’d been playing babysitter for the last few months as Ace seemed to have something of a soft spot for the commander.
Speaking of Ace, it was odd that the fiery brat hadn’t come by for her usual morning attack. It was probably too much to hope that the girl might finally be giving up her crusade and accepting his offer.
As if reading his mind, and he had to wonder if Marco might be keeping a secret as he did seem to have an uncanny way of just knowing things, Marco quipped, “It’s awfully quiet this morning, yoi.”
“It is,” Whitebeard agreed. “I don’t suppose anyone knows where Ace might be hiding this time? The little brat has a talent for finding all sorts of hiding places that I didn’t know existed.”
Haruta chimed in from her spot in front of Whitebeard’s chair. “Ace tried to sneak into the communications room again this morning.” She frowned. “She seemed really irritated when she saw us there. I thought she was starting to come around a little, but I guess she’s still trying to call for backup,” she said sadly, looking at the ground.
Several of the commanders winced, along with Whitebeard. When he’d first decided to accept Ace as his daughter he’d informed the crew that the only way to get past her defenses and help her to actually heal from all of the darkness they could see in her was to isolate her from her former crew. This enforced one-on-one would help her to bond with them and hopefully make it easier for her to open up faster. It had been something of a surprise when Ace started making attempts to sneak into the communications room, for one thing stealth was not Ace’s strong suit at all, but also because they didn’t think she’d abandon her pride so quickly to call for help. They’d, of course, ensured that Ace had no access to a Den Den. They’d even gone so far as to remove the personal Den Den that they had found in Ace’s belongings.
Ace had been understandably irate when she noticed the absence and her attempts to access the communications room were only slightly less frequent than her assassination attempts. They’d all noticed that the assassination attempts were coming less and less frequently, and they’d all hoped that that meant Ace was starting to come around. Marco and Thatch had even had some somewhat congenial conversations. It was disheartening to know she was still trying to leave.
Before anyone had too much time to dwell on their disappointment they were treated to a rare sight. Ace was storming towards them, that itself wasn’t odd, she’d more or less taken over the entire ship, storming and stomping wherever she pleased, refusing to allow the crew to try and restrict her movements, not that they would have, but she was walking up to Whitebeard without any sign of stealth or trickery. Not once had Ace approached the captain except for her assassination attempts and they had to wonder what had changed and whether or not this was a good sign.
Ace stomped up to Whitebeard, ignoring the bewildered commanders and various crew members. “I need to use a Den Den,” she announced, looking grumpy at having to actually ask for permission.
Whitebeard was taken aback at the demand. For all that Ace was very straightforward and upfront of about just about everything else, the communications room infiltration attempts were the only thing she was secretive about. It was a shock to say the least.
Marco leaned again Whitebeard’s chair, staring at Ace, unimpressed. “What for, yoi?”
Ace glared at the commander. “None of your business!” she shouted.
Marco fixed her with a flat look. “Then no.” And with that he turned back to face Haruta and Thatch, pretending to ignore the swiftly building ire from their resident hothead. Thatch, who could see the look of fury on Ace’s face, decided to step in before the girl could explode. “Look,” he said, in a cajoling tone, wincing when the scorching glare was turned on him, “we just want to know why you need to make a call. We have to make sure you aren’t selling us out to the marines or something.”
Ace looked honestly offended. “I would never do that!” she exclaimed.
Marco huffed a laugh. He did believe her. Ace was just too honest to do something so underhanded, but the fact that she was so offended by the notion amused him. “So, if you’re not plotting our demise then why do you need to make a call so badly, yoi?”
Ace looked like she dearly wanted to snap at him again, but she could see that no one was going to contradict his earlier order and that if she wanted that Den Den then she was going to have to explain herself. Ace gritted her teeth, glaring at the ground in frustration. It probably shouldn’t amuse him as much as it did to see the girl in a temper. It was like watching a house cat try to growl at a lion.
Ace finally closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “I need to call my brother,” she finally admitted, not making eye contact with anyone.
This threw everyone for a loop. They’d looked into Ace before kidnapping her. There’d been no mention of family of any kind. “I didn’t know you had a brother,” Thatch said, shocked.
Ace bared her teeth at him. “There’s something you don’t know about me? Shocking,” she mocked.
Marco had to silently acknowledge the point. They’d learned a lot through tales of her exploits, but she and her crew had been very tight-lipped about any personal details. The Spade pirates had already agreed to join the crew if they could convince Ace, but they had made it very clear they would not do or say anything that would betray their captain. Marco had to admire their loyalty even if it did make things harder for them.
Slowly, considering his words carefully, Marco spoke, “You can call your brother, yoi,” Ace looked up in surprise, looking quite relieved, before he added, “but you need to do it here where we can hear you.”
The relief had died a quick death and he was treated to the same fiery glare he was quickly becoming accustomed to. Before she could start shouting again, he raised his hand, surprised when she actually paused. “As you just pointed out, yoi, we don’t know you very well. You say you want to call your brother, but I can’t take your word for it. So, if you want to make a call, we are going to listen to make sure you don’t do anything regrettable.”
Everyone could see the indecision in Ace’s face. She clearly wanted the Den Den very badly but even they could see that having the crew listen in on the call was a massive preach of privacy. Gently, Marco asked, “Do you want to take a few days to think it over?”
Ace shook her head, defeated. “I usually call at least once a week and he knew I was heading into a fight. I need to call him.”
Thatch and Curiel frowned. If Ace usually called once a week than she had missed, what, 12-13 calls while on the Moby Dick? If her brother had known she was going to fight someone he must be worried sick. Marco, Haruta and Whitebeard, the main enforcers of the isolation policy wanted to squirm a little with guilt.
Swallowing her guilt, Haruta stepped forward, pulling a Den Den out of the pouch at her waist. She usually carried one with her so that her division could easily contact her if they came across something that needed immediate attention.
Jozu and Blenheim quietly ushered the majority of the crew away from the area. Marco was right about the call needing to be observed for safety reasons, but they could at least allow the meager privacy of limiting the audience to just the commanders.
Ace reached forward and dialed the familiar number, listening with anticipation as it rang. When a feminine voice answered with, “Hello, Party Bar,” she let out a breath of relief. The commanders were a little confused, hadn’t she said she was calling her brother? Was this a trick after all?
“Hi Makino,” Ace said weakly, looking like she was bracing herself. They all watched silently as there was a long pause before that same voice before shouted, “Portgas D. Ace, where have you been?! We were so worried about you! Poor Luffy has been an absolute wreck!”
To their shock, Ace wilted a little at the reprimand. Whoever this was, Ace clearly respected her a great deal. “It’s a long story. I was kind of kidnapped,” there was a shocked gasp on the other end and Ace winced before rushing on, “but I’m fine. I’ve been trying to get to a Den Den to call for weeks and weeks, but it didn’t work out.”
The previously angry voice was now a tone of great concern which made all the Whitebeard’s, who were, however unintentionally, the cause of this woman’s distress. “Oh, Sweetheart, are you alright?”
There was a flush of pink on Ace’s face, who looked both embarrassed and yet distinctly pleased, by the concern. As if remembering her audience, she fixed them with a glare, which was leagues less effective with the blush still on her face, as if daring them to tease her. Ordinarily Thatch and Haruta would have already begun the mocking, but they were too busy feeling guilty.
“I’m fine,” she said, going back to the Den Den. “Is Luffy around?”
The Den Den sighed, the mysterious woman not pressing any further. “He’s upstairs resting. He’s been so upset the last few months; he hasn’t left the bar once waiting for you to call. I’ll go get him.”
Ace looked so guilty and even Marco couldn’t deny that he was feeling bad about keeping her from her brother. He looked at his father and saw that he was feeling the same. He had a distinct feeling Pops was going to offer the hothead an apology after the call. The commanders jumped a little when they heard a scream of “ACE!!!!!!” starting first far away and then getting closer to the Den Den.
Ace smiled, shocking everyone on deck. She was always so angry, always shouting at glaring at people that rumors had started going around about whether or not she could smile. “Hi Luffy,” she said softly, gentle in a way none of them had ever heard before.
“I thought you were dead!” the voice wailed, a sound of pure misery that had several commanders hunching their shoulders, feeling like the most reprehensible criminals in the world. How old was that kid? And they’d made him think his sister was dead all because they were trying to convince her to join their crew.
Ace put her hands on her hips, scoffing, “What have I told you about killing me off like that?” she scolded. “I told you, didn’t I? I am never going to die! I can’t just leave a little crybaby like you on your own.”
Marco looked at the girl with interest. That was certainly a bold claim, stating that she would never die, especially with the way she was throwing herself headlong into danger at seemingly every opportunity. And it seemed a little harsh for her to call the kid a crybaby when he had legitimate concerns she might have been killed.
Ace clearly knew the kid better than Marco did, because that statement stopped the waterworks in their tracks. “I am not a crybaby!” the kid yelled.
Ace stuck out her tongue at the Den Den. “Are too. What do you call what you just did?”
“That’s not fair! I thought Ace was dead! You promised you wouldn’t die and then you were gone just like Sabo!” The tears started again.
Ace looked absolutely stricken. She stared at the Den Den with such guilt, grief, and horror that several of the commanders turned away to allow her what little privacy she could have. Ace crashed down to her knees in front of the Den Den. “No, no no no no. It’s okay Luffy, I’m fine. Calm down, Lulu.”
She spoke quietly to the Den Den, trying to soothe her little brother. They could vaguely here Makino trying to soothe the boy as well. Eventually the crying stopped. “Why did Ace go away?” the boy asked, voice thick from crying. Thatch flinched from the accusation, looking about ready to cry himself.
“I ran into a little trouble,” Ace admitted, eyeing the commanders who were still present, “I’ve been trying to take care of it but it’s complicated.”
“Did you fight that Giant Guy?”
“Yeah,” Ace said. “I did.”
“And you beat him up?” Luffy asked, sounding curious.
“Not exactly,” she winced.
The Den Den’s eyes went wide. “Giant Guy is even stronger than Ace?” Luffy sounded absolutely shocked, making Izou and Vista coo over how adorable he sounded.
Ace made a face at that, clearly not willing to acknowledge the truth of that statement. “Well apparently they want me to join their crew, so they kidnapped me.”
“You can’t join their crew!” Luffy shouted, surprising many of the commanders. Did the kid not like them or something? “You said you were gonna be a captain and that’s why you won’t join my crew. If you’re going to join someone’s crew it should be mine!”
Marco grinned, hearing Whitebeard’s soft chuckle. This kid was a hoot.
“I’m not joining anyone’s crew,” Ace said, annoyed. “Especially not someone who thinks kidnapping someone is a good first impression.”
The commanders winced at that. Ace did have a point there. They might have all the best intentions for their new crewmate, but she definitely had a point.
“Are you trying to kill them?” Luffy asked curiously. Several of the commanders stared at the Den Den in shock. How the heck had the kid come to that conclusion? And why did he sound so unbothered by the idea of his sister trying to kill them.
“Only the Captain,” Ace said, like it was no big deal. “We’re on his ship so I can’t get as creative as I’d like. Options are kind of limited.”
She considered everything she’d done so far to not be creative? What exactly had this girl been planning?
“Shishishi,” Luffy laughed. “It’s just like when you were trying to kill me!”
WHAT!? Everyone stared at the girl in shock. She’d thus far been the perfect image of the loving big sister. Had she really tried to kill her little brother?
Ace grumbled. “I wasn’t trying to kill you; I was trying to make you leave me alone. Killing you probably would have been way easier.”
“Probably,” Luffy agreed cheerfully.
There was a long pause before Ace, clearly reluctant, said, “I need to go now. I don’t know when I’ll be able to call again.”
“Ok,” Luffy said, happy as ever, not worried at all. Before Ace could hang up Luffy shouted, “I almost forgot!”
Ace, too used to Luffy’s antics to jump the way the Whitebeards did, asked, “Forgot what?”
“Gramps came by a couple days ago.”
To their shock, Ace went absolutely rigid, sounding actually fearful when she responded, “You didn’t tell him I was missing, did you?”
There was no response and Ace looked even more terrified. “You didn’t tell him where I was, did you?”
More silence. Ace buried her head in her hands. “I’m going to die. I always knew it’d be Gramps, but I thought I’d have more time.”
Marco frowned, concerned. Who was this ‘Gramps’ that Ace was talking about? He exchanged a look with Pops, who was equally as concerned by Ace’s uncharacteristic fear.
“How come I don’t here Deuce?” Luffy asked, only now noticing the lack of anyone else’s voice.
“They took my crew away,” Ace said, shooting a glare in Whitebeard’s direction. “They’re on a different ship right now.”
“But if Deuce isn’t there then who hugs your bad thoughts away?” Luffy sounded upset at this revelation.
There was a brief pause before Thatch, Fossa and Haruta burst out laughing and Marco tried to hide his chuckle behind a cough at the frankly adorable question.
Ace looked incredibly embarrassed. “Please stop talking,” she begged. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
The call ended after that. Ace turned to face the commanders, valiantly ignoring her red-tinged cheeks. To their shock Ace bowed and said, “Thank you for the Den Den. It was much appreciated.”
“How old was that kid?” Thatch asked, overcoming his giggles.
Ace glared at him suspiciously. “He’s fifteen.”
Rakuyo laughed. “He certainly sounds like a handful. I’m surprised you never mentioned him.”
Ace glared at him. “Am I supposed to mention family to my kidnappers?”
Jozu crossed his arms, irritated. “Look, brat, we’ve offered you a place in our crew, a place in our family. We’ve been quite patient with you considering the way you spit in our faces every day by ignoring our attempts to reach out and trying to kill Pops. You want to be ungrateful, fine, but the least you can do is be polite about it.”
The tension in the air was thick as the two glared at each other, neither willing to back down.
“You know, for people who claim to want me to be family you certainly have no regard for my wishes, my opinions, my feelings or my autonomy. I told you I don’t want to join your crew and rather than let me go you’ve separated me from the crew I built, taken away my ship which has been my home for months and you expect me to just be fine with all of it. I didn’t ask for any of this and rather than accept that you’ve all just continued shoving your desires in my face and down my throat. I don’t owe you anything. If I’m such an annoyance to have around then let me go.”
With that Ace spun around and stormed off, ignoring all the gawking bystanders.
Marco sighed. Things couldn’t keep going like this. He could tell that Ace was on the edge about them, they just needed something to finally help her decide to accept their offer.
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“Mind if I sit?”
Ace looked up to see Marco standing not far from where she was dangling her legs overboard, watching the sunset. “It’s your ship,” she said dismissively, returning her gaze to the ocean she loved so much.
Marco sat down, surprisingly graceless, with a grunt. “I have a feeling that we owe you a bit of an apology, yoi,” the blonde man said, capturing her attention. She turned to face him, raising an eyebrow.
“You are not the first person we’ve recruited this way,” Marco said, leaning his back against the rails. “This is actually how Pops recruited me,” he said with a laugh.
“Really,” Ace said, shocked.
“Oh yeah,” Marco grinned, before it dropped. “You see, before all of this I was a slave.” He didn’t acknowledge her shock and continued on. “I had already eaten my fruit by that point, but I didn’t know what it was or how to use it. All anyone knew was that I could heal anything which meant my ‘owners’ never had to worry about accidentally killing me during a punishment. Pops found me on that island, and he rescued me. But I’d been a slave so long I’d been conditioned to fear everything and not to trust any shred of kindness. And I’d seen what he’d done to the nobles and I was afraid of him. He took me with him onto his ship and for a while I thought maybe he was my new owner, but he always denied it. I didn’t trust him and the longer it went without him hurting me the more scared I became. I’d learned that it was always so much worse if they had time to plan and get creative. So, I was becoming more and more tense and nervous and after a while I started getting angry. I had always known where I stood and where the rules were while a slave, I didn’t know what these people wanted from me and I started to get angry and eventually I snapped. I lashed out at Pops without thinking. Afterwards I was so horrified, knowing that such rebellion was grounds for extreme punishment. But Pops just laughed, he was relieved to see I still had so much spirit left after all I had been through.”
Marco turned to look Ace dead in the eye. “A lot of people make jokes about Pops and our crew. They think our family is a joke or a lie and they mock it. But Pops always knew, right from the start, that what he wanted when he set sail wasn’t fame or wealth, he wanted a family. You know Gol D. Roger?”
Ace was thrown by the abrupt subject change and also quite tense about the topic in general. “Yes, everyone does.”
Marco smirked. “Before his execution he came to visit us. He offered to tell Pops how to find Raftel.”
Ace was shocked. That man had offered One Piece to Whitebeard?
“Pops said no, yoi. He had the treasure he wanted, and he had no desire to search for riches that mattered little to him.”
Marco leaned back again, no longer staring. Ace leaned her face against the rails. Where was Marco going with all of this?
“Pops seems to have this way of just knowing when someone needs a family. He knew it with me and with several of the rest of the crew. Sometimes someone is just lonely and could really use a family in their lives. Sometimes they’re hurt or scarred by their past and need love and support to heal.”
He didn’t move in any way, but Ace knew she was once again the center of his attention. “You are hardly the first pirate to try and come after Pops’ head. Depending on what kind of person they are determines how we respond. Some of them are genuinely terrible people and we wipe them out. Sometimes they’re just arrogant and think they are ready to take on the big names. Those ones we just kick their asses and send them on their way. You were different. You were absolutely exhausted after fighting Jinbei but the first thing you did was protect your crew from a perceived threat. And that wall never wavered for a second. That was enough to get Pops’ attention and approval, but that alone would not have earned you an offer to join our crew.”
Confused, Ace turned to face Marco. “But he offered me a place,” she said, confused.
Marco smiled warmly, “Yes, he did, yoi. What you have to understand is our crew is huge. And we’ve had people leave to start families or felt they were too old to keep sailing. The world is full of people who used to be part of our crew or know someone who is. Those people are still loyal to us and they pass us any news they get. This leads to a huge information network. We were aware of you almost immediately after you set out. Your strength was impressive, but we also heard about your kindness and good nature. Did you know Izou is from Wano?”
Ace blushed, knowing what he was referencing. Marco huffed a laugh. “Izou was practically gushing when he heard about how you were with Tama. We knew before you got to us what kind of person you were. We were expecting to slap you down and send you on your way. But then we saw you. And its plain for anyone to see that you’re hurting.”
Marco cut through her automatic protests with a glare. “You glare and growl at us like a bear with it’s leg caught in a trap. We can see that you want a family, but for some reason you think you can’t have one. We’d hoped that we could show you that we wanted to be there for you. That’s why we took your crew away. If they were around you would stay with them, there would be no incentive for you to communicate with the rest of us, to learn to trust us. We’ve recruited a lot of people this way, but that made us complacent. We know how this usually goes and we’ve all just been waiting for you to fall in line. But you are, by far, the most stubborn person I have ever met. You’ve been fighting us the entire way and we’ve been ignoring that because we knew that we had your best interest at heart. But somewhere along the line we forgot to explain any of that to you, so you were left with a bunch of people just expecting things from you. And we do owe you an apology for that. We should have told you why we wanted you to join our crew and what that would mean. Instead we just assumed you would fall into it the way we all did. And that’s not fair. I remember what it was like to be left floundering, not sure what it was that people wanted from me and just wanting to understand what was going on.”
She was not going to cry, dammit! Ace always tried not to lie to herself. After the initial annoyance of everyone just expecting her to be okay with everything, she’d begun to observe the crew and she knew that that camaraderie, that easy affection and trust, was something she wanted, badly. But she could never accept it. Whitebeard and Roger had been enemies, how would this crew to finding out she was his daughter? Of course, they wouldn’t be able to accept her! She’d be a sitting duck when they turned on her, and she wasn’t about to open her heart to them when she knew how it would end. But if Roger had really offered to tell Whitebeard about Raftel, were they really enemies? That sounded more like friendship than anything. She was so confused.
Ace turned away from Marco, thoughts whirling in her head, a mile a minute. “I need to think,” she said quietly. She felt a light, warm pressure on her head, was he ruffling her hair? before Marco stood up. He gave her a warm look before softly bidding her a good night.