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Deuce sighed as he tracked Ace towards one of the unused supply closets on the lower floors of the Moby Dick, his captain - or former captain, as he had agreed to follow Whitebeard as his captain (even if Ace would stay captain in his head for a long time to be).
He should have known that the knowledge that the Spades had been on board, and more inclined to join than keep this stupid way of delaying the inevidable going, wouldn’t be something Ace was expecting. For all that he was a great captain, and an amazing person, Ace had this pride that kept interfering with quite a lot of his actions.
One of those, and the most recent one, was not allowing any of the Whitebeard Pirates in, even if Deuce was well aware that a great number of the people here on board would have something in common with Ace. In a way that the man needed, but had never found with any of the Spades.
Resting his back against the door, he could hear Ace pacing on the other side. For all that he was light and nimble on his feet, once agitated, it sounded like the Logia was stomping around - imitating an elephant.
“Captain?”
The pacing stopped, before he could hear the other’s voice from the inside of the room, “I don’t think I’m your captain anymore, now am I, Deuce?”
Wincing at the anger he could hear in the other’s voice, Deuce shook his head, “You’ll always be my captain, Ace. You were the one who saved me on Sixis, and who made it so that I would be having a life outside of everything I assumed would be in store for me.
The fact that I, and the others, are choosing to follow another has nothing to do with you. But you have to agree that being here - on the Moby Dick - it feels right, like we’re meant to be here.”
Ace didn’t say anything, and for a moment Deuce feared the man had been taken by a narcolepsy attack, until Ace’s voice came through again, something vulnerable in it.
“So the Spadille didn’t feel right?”
Deuce groaned, “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. The Piece of Spadille felt perfect, until such a time when we were brought on board the Moby Dick. Not that it was the best encounter, but they really seemed to want you to join them, captain, and in turn they offered a place to us as well.
You know as well as I do that no one other than yourself ever expected themselves to become a pirate. Even less so, to make it to the New World and establish a name for themselves. But we did, enough to warrant an invitation to the Shichibukai, and now the attention of an emperor.
We’re meant to be here, Ace, that’s all I wanted to tell you. To let them in, and give this all a chance. Should it not be what I think this is meant to be, I'll be the first one leaving with you when the time comes. Just… Think about it?”
Hearing no answer, Deuce got up and left Ace to his brooding, hoping that what he had told the other man would make sense and he would allow this crew a chance to prove that they were there for the long run and wanted to accept him into their family.
---
No one of them heard anything from Ace, making them all worried that he had jumped ship, or that he had been injured doing something they didn’t know anything about.
The fact that the rumour floated around that Marco had a talk with Ace yesterday, made Deuce hope that the last steps were being taken towards accepting their place on this ship. On the other hand, it could be that this was all for nothing, and that he too would be leaving soon enough.
Footsteps made him look up from where he was standing in the med bay, turning, he was shocked silent when Ace stood there, looking down a bit as if not willing to look Deuce in the eye.
“Ace…”
The fire logia sighed, “Yeah, I… You were right, about everything, and before you say anything. Thanks for talking to me about all this, and making me see that being here wouldn’t be so bad.”
Deuce grinned, “I’m not saying I told you so… but maybe this’ll teach you to start to listen to us more. And to take this as a lesson to listen to our new crew when they want to tell you something.”
Ace huffed, but nodded, “Yeah, yeah, I’m just going to let Oyaji know. You’re the first one who I told.”
As the darker haired man left, Deuce couldn’t help but feel stunned to know that he was the first to know Ace would be staying, even before the logia went and informed Oyaji about his decision. It was all falling into place, and made him look forward to the next chapter in their journey.