Chapter Text
It took another month for Ace to be given the green light to leave his wheelchair.
By now, the crews were used to the three children running around. The whole crew kept their eyes on the kids, keeping them from causing trouble (or helping them, in Haruta’s case).
The three children were receiving training from both Shirohige’s crew AND Shanks’ crew. It started early in the morning, where they’d join Marco, Izou, and Vista for yoga and a light fighting demonstration – where they’d spar for the kids (not seriously, but enough to keep them entertained).
After breakfast, Marco would take Sabo under his wing, to try and help him with his transformations. After Haruta had gotten his hands on a few books about foxes, the transformations were going well. It didn’t take Sabo long to trip up, exposing his extra tails (he had three). When he realized, Sabo ducked his head and tried to hide his tails with his hands. Marco ruffled his hair, assuring him that it would be okay, and that Marco wouldn’t tell anyone. Sabo smiled at Marco, and they continued their training.
Ann wasn’t able to train with Ace, since he was still in his wheelchair. Advice, yes, but not the help she needed. It was, surprisingly, Namur, who took her under his fin. As a Fishman, he explained about ocean currents and how to navigate them. He didn’t let Ann try walking on water (especially not SEA water) but he DID teach her the basics of Fishman karate, which involves manipulating the water in the air and the body to be effective. Like Ace, she was a natural fighter, rarely having to be shown anything more than once, and she picked up more than the basics. And, during meal prep times, she was in the kitchens, learning from Thatch. She learned a lot.
Luffy… well, Luffy was obviously the craziest of them all. His Devil Fruit was unlike any they had seen, and Luffy’s imagination when thinking up new attacks was limitless. The execution of those ideas, however, left much to be desired. Like when he inhaled a bunch of air, that had his siblings bouncing him around like the balloons that had inspired Luffy’s idea.
“Should we stop them?” Vista asked, concerned for the boy.
Rouge looked over from her spot beside Shirohige. “No, they’ll be fine,” she assured those who were watching. “This is the fifteenth time Luffy has tried this. I’m sure he’ll work out the kinks eventually.”
Vista had been unconvinced, but he had to bow to a mother’s experience.
Marco had seen Luffy trying to throw a punch, and he grimaced. Luffy could, in fact, throw a good punch. As long as it was just a punch, But, the minute he extended his arm past its natural limits, his stance went to crap, his aim faltered, and he didn’t brace himself for the recoil impact.
So, Marco asked Jozu to help the boy.
Jozu was a hand-to-hand fighter, and when he became diamond, he impressed Luffy enough that the boy listened to him. Jozu gave Luffy a target, yelling advice every time the boy missed, and using Haki to protect himself when Luffy DID hit (and, he later told Marco, he hit harder than some of the rookie pirates that sometimes attacked them). It took only two weeks for his aim, stance, and the distance of his attack to improve. Then Jozu started training him in kicks, and they were back to square one.
And, with so many Haki users on board (about 85% of Shirohige’s crew and all of Shanks’ crew, plus Rouge) there was always someone’s brain to pick over about Haki.
Benn and Yassop worked with Sabo on Kenbunshoku, and Curiel helped him when it came to Bushoku. Namur was already working with Ann on her Devil Fruit, and he helped her improve in both Bushoku and Kenbunshoku. As a Fishman, he used both with his Fishman Karate. Luffy, however, trained his Haki exclusively with Shanks. The boy’s grasp on common knowledge was about the same as Shanks, and only red head got through to Luffy.
By the time Ace was released, they had all improved drastically.
Still, none of them showed signed of using Haoshoku.
“Ace didn’t show any signs, either. Not until he was seventeen,” Rouge told Marco and Shirohige one night.
“I remember that,” Shanks said as he took a swig of sake. “He sure surprised me. I never expected his aura to be so heavy or dense – not in one untrained in the technique.”
“You were there, yoi?” Marco wondered.
Prompting Shanks to tell the tale about that day – how Ace had saved Luffy, and how Luffy had gotten the cut under his eye.
Rouge sighed. “Maybe I’m not the best mother, as I’ve encouraged them to learn how to fight, practically from diapers. But, I could sense that each one of them is meant for the Sea, and I wanted them all to be prepared.”
“It’s a dangerous world, especially here in the New World,” Shirohige comforted her.
Rouge nodded.
And, as if the world had to prove his point, the alarm clanked from the crow’s nest – an alarm that meant approaching Marines.
None of the captains even looked up, and the three kids climbed up to sit with them (as they had been instructed to do if there was an attack). Only Marco got up to lead the attack.
The three kids sat on the back of Shirohige’s chair to get a good view of the battle. Sabo especially likes seeing Marco soaring to attack the Marines.
Marco soared high into the sky – high enough that the Marines struggled to see him – before diving with the moon at his back. He gained enough momentum that when he slammed his Bushoku-infused claws into the mast, it cracked and toppled over – onto many of the Marines on the ship. It stopped the ship in its tracks.
Just then, several of his brothers, led by Namur, attacked the ship.
Aboard the Moby, Rouge told the kids, “Remember, Marines and Pirates are enemies. If a Marine attacks you, you put them down. But, not all Marines are bad – there are good Marines out there – those that just want to help.”
“Like Jiji,” Luffy said.
“Yes, exactly like Garp,” Rouge agreed.
Shirohige’s eyes widened a little bit, because he had no idea Garp was related to them. How, who knows, but he didn’t ask.
“It’s okay to defend yourself, but don’t kill the good Marines. The world needs the ones that care,” Rouge continued.
The three children nodded.
Marco and his siblings finished off the Marines. The Moby stopped beside the crippled ship, as the pirates started pilfering supplies.
“And, remember,” Shanks spoke up, “when pilfering, it’s best to leave nothing of value behind. It’s a waste, and we don’t waste supplies at sea. Only leave things behind if you run out of room.”
“Yes,” they agreed.
Haruta exclaimed in excitement when he found a white Den-Den, since they were good at getting messages out undetected. Plus, they were strong enough to make calls the world over. Haruta came over, very excited, and whispered in Oyaji’s ear. When Shirohige agreed, Haruta presented the white Den-Den to Rouge. “So we can keep in contact with you and the kids.”
Rouge, who didn’t have a white Den-Den, accepted it. Ace had a white one, which let him call her, but she didn’t have one, so she had always had to wait for him to call her. Now with a white Den-Den of her own, she could call him. She hugged Haruta and told him he was a good son AND brother.
Haruta smiled and went back to look for anything else of value.
Marco carried a huge crate – bigger than himself. “They had a lot of Seastone,” Marco told Shirohige as he set it down.
“Why would you want so much Seastone?” Shanks asked him.
“We train with Seastone in the gym,” Marco told him. “It allows us to train through the exhaustion, and get used to the feeling of the Seastone draining us. That way, if we get caught, we’re not immediately useless, yoi.”
“That’s actually a good idea,” Shanks mused. Useless for him, since he didn’t have any Devil Fruit users on board. But, a good idea, nonetheless.
“It was Ace’s idea, yoi,” Marco explained.
“Really?” Shanks and Rouge arched an eyebrow at him.
“You didn’t know, yoi?” Marco wondered. He thought for sure that Rouge knew, or had given him the idea. “He seemed desperate to be able to fight, even with Seastone shackles, no matter the circumstances. He had a desperate look in his eyes, as if it’s happened before.”
Shanks just sighed and added it to the still growing mental file he had on Ace. Then Rouge said something that had him filled with worry.
“He has,” Rouge replied. “It happened before he came to Roger and me.”
“He was five when he came to you,” Shanks exclaimed.
Marco and Shirohige gaped at her.
“Five”? Marco asked for clarification.
“Yes,” Rouge nodded. “He only spoke of it once, and I promised not to say anything.”
Marco suddenly understood Ace’s insistence on training so hard. To think something that bad happened when he was five.
Shirohige’s heart hurt to think someone hurt Ace so badly when he was so young.
Shanks… Shanks was utterly confused, and pissed at the same time. Who would hurt a child that badly? There was only one person he could think of – Ace’s birth mother. Because, he remembered, Ace had come to Rouge and Roger already a Devil Fruit user AND he had been hurt badly. He had been cautious and untrusting, anger and scowling at everyone – even Roger a few times.
Up until they dropped Rouge off in Fushia, all those years ago. And, when he saw Ace again, a decade had passed, and he was almost like a different person. He smiled and laughed, and he had meant it. He teased, and told jokes, not all of which had been sarcastic or scathing. He had completely relaxed in Rouge’s presence.
In that moment, if Shanks could find Ace’s birth mother, he would happily kill her.
*
Ace, freed from his wheelchair, joined the others in the meeting room.
“We will now discuss Marshal D. Teach, and his punishment,” Shirohige said from the head of the table.
Beside him, to the left, was Shanks and Rouge. To his right was Marco, Ace, and the rest of the Commanders in numerical order.
“Have we figured out WHY he attacked Ace?” Shirohige questioned.
“I have,” Haruta said as he stood up. “I personally went through all of Teach’s belongings, and I found this.” He placed a book on the table. A book Teach often had with him – and one Jozu had taken off of him the night he attacked Ace. “It’s a book on Devil Fruits. The pages on the Commander’s Fruits have been read often, but not as often as this page.” Haruta opened it to a well-worn page, with a familiar Devil Fruit.
“The Yami-Yami no Mi,” Haruta read for those that were too far away. “The Dark Fruit. It seems like he was obsessed with it.”
“Then I found it and made no move to hide it, or the fact that I planned to hide it away at home,” Ace noted.
“A home no one, not even your previous crew, knew the location of,” Izou replied. “And you were scheduled to leave the day after you were attacked.”
“It’s no wonder he attacked you, yoi,” Marco said.
“He spent who knows how long looking for it, and it was about to disappear, likely forever,” Curiel realized.
“Damn Devil Fruits. If he had asked, I would have given it to him,” Ace sighed. No, he wouldn’t, but he didn’t want this happening again. If he found a Devil Fruit, he wanted the others to know he would give it up if asked. “I won’t eat them, and they’re only collecting dust at home. It’s not like I want to hoard them; I just happen to keep finding them.”
The others shook their heads, because it’s ironic that the person who wouldn’t eat them kept finding them. But, they WOULD spread the word that Ace was willing to give away the Devil Fruits he found.
“Have you decided what to do with Teach?” Ace asked Oyaji.
“We’ll kill him, of course,” Shirohige replied coldly.
“Naturally,” Ace nodded. THAT wasn’t up for debate – it was Shirohige’s only ironclad rule: attacking or killing a crewmember resulted in death, unless you were protecting another crewmember.
“We’ll let the Sea have him,” Shirohige replied. “Unless you have a different idea, Ace?”
Ace nodded. “He deserves to sink.”
And, thus, Teach’s fate was sealed. It had been sealed since his capture, but the execution method was set.
The word went out to all their allies, and everyone showed up quickly. They had heard Ace had been attacked, and were waiting nearby for Shirohige to summon them to the execution. They hadn’t even heard who attacked Ace, only that it had been a fellow crew member.
No one said anything about three children running around, since they stayed on Shirohige’s or Akagami’s ship, and they didn’t get underfoot. Especially when they congregated around Rouge – an admission of whose they were. And, many of them recognized her, and warmed those who didn’t, not to mess with her.
“We’re here to punish the traitor who would harm one of our own. Bring out the prisoner, Marshal D. Teach,” Shirohige called out.
Their ally ships had Den-Den’s carrying his words to them. They were all shocked that Teach would do this, since Shirohige had saved him decades ago.
Jozu and Vista marched Teach out onto the deck.
Teach was a lot worse for wear, as he stumbled to keep up. He tripped, and the other two just dragged him to Shirohige. He was skinnier (having been on the lowest possible rations to keep him alive), filthy, tired, and exhausted (having been left waiting for a whole month). Until he saw Ace.
“You! How are you still alive?” Teach demanded as he tried to lunge at Ace. But, he was held in place by Jozu and Vista. His eyes burned hotly with hate. “I laced that dagger with elder black Naga poison. No one, not even Marco, should have survived! I’ll kill – Hm-mm-Hmmhm!”
Blamenco came over to gag him.
“Well, that explains why the Naga anti-venom took so long to take effect, yoi,” Marco noted. “If not for my flames, you would have died, yoi.”
Ace nodded. “It was still a close call. It took me over a month to recover. It WAS rather nasty,” Ace shrugged, as if it wasn’t that big a deal. For him, Teach had publicly confessed, so no one could later cry foul.
Teach tried even harder to escape, knowing the reason he was left to starve was because Ace was healing. They wanted Ace here for this.
“Ace, my son, aa the one wronged, would you like to do the honors?” Shirohige asked.
“Oh, it would be my pleasure,” Ace agreed. He smirked as he strode forward to rip his sleeve. “You don’t deserve to wear this, even in death,” he said as he burned Shirohige’s mark off of his shoulder.”
Teach screamed, the scent of burning flesh filling the air. No one flinched, or felt sorry for him.
Then Ace unsheathed his dagger and gutted him, before throwing him overboard.
Namur and his crew were in the sea to make sure Teach really died. Once he was dead, they returned to the ship. The body was left behind.
“Now that THAT is taken care of, let’s party,” Shirohige called out.
Ace smirked as he cleaned his dagger. He told Shamrock he would treasure it, and he would. It ended the life of a traitor who would have taken pleasure in causing so much pain to Shirohige.
The party didn’t get long to get started. Thatch and Tria served a feast of food and booze.
Ace was served a giant platter of food, and he eagerly dug in.
Beside him, his family ate, just as eager.
With Rouge on one side, and Ann on the other side, everyone made the connection. The word that Portgas D Ace was the son of the Red Reaper would become common knowledge in pirate circles, yet stay off of the Marine’s radar for several years.
The kids weren’t bothered by having witnessed a man being killed. They’re growing up around The Grey Terminal (fully restored to its former infamy) and the bandits of Mt. Corvo. It wasn’t the first murder they’d witnessed, and it wouldn’t be the last.
Ace enjoyed their company, knowing they would part soon. When they ran around, laughing and dancing, it made Ace laugh.
“Join us, Ace,” Sabo demanded.
“Okay,” Ace agreed, getting up.
With Sabo holding one hand, and Ann holding the other, and Luffy holding Ann’s and Sabo’s other hand, they danced around in a large circle.
Marco smiled as he watched them, glad Ace had recovered enough to dance about.
Ace locked eyes with Marco, and he saw the naked WANT in his eyes.
Marco was on his feet before he realized it, striding over towards Ace.
Ace paused, causing the kids to stop and look to see what caused Ace to stop.
Others noticed Marco striding across the deck with a serious expression on his face, and they pause to watch, wondering what was up with him.
By the time Marco got to Ace, the deck was silent.
“M-Marco?” Ace looked up when Marco stopped right in front of him.
“Ace,” Marco said his name seriously, reaching out both of his hands.
Ace saw, let go of his siblings’ hands, and accepted Marco’s hands. He was NOT expecting Marco to kneel.
Neither of them noticed the complete silence on deck.
“Ace,” Marco looked up into his eyes, “I love you. I’ve never loved anyone so deeply. Ace, will you marry me, yoi?” Marco asked with a smile.
Ace knelt in front of him, their faces inches apart. “I love you, too, Marco. Yes, I’ll marry you. Whenever you want.”
Marco laughed until Ace leaned over to kiss him. He kissed him back. “How about now, yoi?”
“Well, since my family is here, it’s the perfect time,” Ace agreed.
Marco stood up, pulling Ace up with him.
Together, they looked over at Oyaji.
“I’ll give Ace away,” Rouge said. She saw that look in Ace’s eyes – so much like the look Roger used to give her – and she couldn’t deny him. Ace truly loves Marco, and Marco loves Ace the same way.
“Then, I’ll give Marco away,” Shirohige said. He was glad that Marco finally found someone who made him happy. And, Ace loves him just as much.
“Then, as someone who’s known them both for so long, I’d be happy to officiate,” Shanks smiled.
Marco and Ace shared a look, and a nod.
“Wait here, I want to grab something out of my cabin, yoi,” Marco said.
“Okay,” Ace agreed.
Marco ran (literally) to his room to grab a bag he had kept hidden in the back of his wardrobe. He checked it, then nodded, before making his way back to Ace.
“Wearing rings can be dangerous, especially in the infirmary, yoi,” Marco explained as he came back. “So, I got us these, yoi.”
Ace gasped when he saw the two arm cuffs. They were the exact same, save for the stones. Golden, torc style bracelets – one with an orange tourmaline and one with a blue one, looking just like their flames. The patten inlayed in the gold was the Eternity Knot.
“They’re beautiful, Marco,” Ace said.
“I had these made just for us,” Marco said. “Will you accept these in lieu of wedding rings, yoi?”
“I’d love that,” Ace agreed.
“Okay, you two love bird, come on over,” Shanks waved them over.
Word had gotten around to their ally’s ship, and everyone was listening with the Den-Dens. Several men sniffed and prepared handkerchiefs.
Shanks had Shirohige to his left, and Rouge to his right. The two walked over to stand in front of their parents.
Ace saw Luffy on Ben’s shoulders, Ann on Namur’s shoulders, and Sabo stood in front of Izou – all at the front of their onlookers. All three were beaming.
Shanks cleared his throat. “We’re gathered here to marry Newgate Marco and Portgas D. Ace. Does Anyone object?”
Absolute silence (which was a good thing, because if anyone objected, the grooms would have punched them into silence).
“Good. Marco, do you take Ace as your husband?” Shanks asked.
“I do,” Marco agreed.
“Ace, do you take Marco as your husband?” Shanks asked.
“I do,” Ace agreed.
“The rings – I mean, the bracelets?” Shanks instructed.
Marco held out his left arm, letting Ace slide the orange Tourmaline bracelet onto his upper arm. He placed the blue one on Ace’s upper arm.
“I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss your groom,” Shanks announced, stepping back.
Marco leaned down and Ace leaned up. Their lips connected, and everyone applauded.
Marco leaned back (if he didn’t, he’d devour Ace) and licked his lips.
Ace smirked up at him. “You’re mine now, birdie.”
“And you’re mine, Firecracker, yoi,” Marco smirked back.
They were interrupted as three kids slammed into their legs.
In the background, Rouge sniffed and blotted her tears with a hankie.
“Marco’s our big brother now,” Sabo celebrated.
“That’s right, yoi,” Marco agreed.
“Does that mean Oyajiji is really our Oyajiji now?” Luffy wondered.
“Yeah, you’re my precious grandchildren now,” Shirohige agreed.
“Yay,” Luffy cheered and he climbed into Shirohige’s lap. He laughed as Shirohige rubbed the top of his hear with a large finger.
“You can call me Oyajiji, or Ed-Jiji,” Shirohige said.
“No way. Oyajiji is Oyajiji,” Luffy stated.
Shirohige’s smile was pleased, and he indulged. He’s been waiting for years to become a grandfather, and now he’s got three adorable grandchildren that will one day cause all sorts of problems for the Marines.
The party continued, and intensified, tenfold.
Ace waiting patiently as everyone drank. Then he had to wait longer, because Thatch rolled out a cake (somehow?) for him and Marco. And, well, Ace would never say no to more food.
After the cake, everyone drank more (it wasn’t every day two Division Commanders got married).
Ace made sure the kids were safe in bed (On Shanks’ ship, since Benn had given them his room). Then he grabbed Marco’s hand and dragged him to their room.
He smirked when Marco laughed.
As he closed the door, he was glad that he’d come back, all those years ago.
♥♥♥♥♥