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“Time flies, doesn’t it-yoi?”
It has been a year or so since Luffy broke out Ace from Impel Down, and the Whitebeards are thriving. The marines tried to attack them, but all their efforts were thwarted by Luffy, who they talked to regularly. Having a person who understands Marine codes was such a blessing for the Whitebeards. Ace, especially, was proud of his younger brother and preened whenever someone praised Luffy. It got to a point where people said that he had a brother complex. It wasn’t that extreme, and Ace would punch anyone who claimed otherwise. They stopped after the first three got sent to the infirmary.
Ace was vibrating in excitement at Marco’s words. They were picking up Luffy from Rusukaina for his birthday party that was being held on the Moby Dick. The Whitebeards always loved a good party. Celebrating their youngest brother's birthday certainly qualified. Sabo has already arrived, secretly docking onto the ship and surprising Ace with a punch to the head. It still hurt, but that could be ignored for the time being. He will get Sabo back soon, so just wait Sabo.
While Ace was thinking that, he heard a voice over the water.
“Ace!”
He broke out into a huge grin and waved at the shore, seeing Luffy was already there.
“Luffy!”
Luffy, apparently, couldn’t wait for the boat to dock, and just launched himself onto the Moby Dick. The Whitebeards panicked, thinking Luffy will land in the water. Ace just got ready to catch him while Sabo watched the scene with barely concealed mirth in his eyes.
Ace successfully caught the human projectile, and Luffy laughed. He wrapped his rubbery arms around Ace and yelled, “Ace, it's been too long!”
Ace smiled and hugged his brother, “Yeah, it’s been a while.”
“What am I, chopped broccoli?”
“Sabo!”
Luffy let go of Ace, and Ace pouted. Sabo stuck his tongue out at him, holding Luffy up, and twirling him around. Luffy giggled, and the sound calmed the Whitebeards down. They’d only really known him for a couple of weeks, but the Emperor's crew still loved the boy. He was their little brother, and everyone adored him.
“Gurarararara! Happy birthday, brat.”
Luffy beamed up at Pops, “Thanks, Pops!”
Ace went up to Luffy and ruffled his hair. Luffy leaned into the touch like a touch-starved puppy and Ace swore that some of the nurses cooed at the sight.
Pops pounded his naginata, Murakumogiri, onto the ship's deck. Everyone went silent and looked curiously at their father. He smiled and yelled, “Bring out the alcohol! It’s my son's eighteenth birthday, and it's a joyous occasion! Make sure to make merry on this happy day!”
The Whitebeard pirates cheered and got ready for the party. Luffy smiled, and Ace glowed on the inside. Ace would make sure this day would be remembered fondly for years to come.
The brothers didn’t separate throughout the entire night. They ate, partied, and drank. Ace was on his way to being blackout drunk, and Sabo was holding his glass like it was his most important valuable. Luffy was just drunk on the atmosphere because the brothers didn’t want him getting too intoxicated. He might be an adult now, but Ace and Sabo still want to baby their little brother, so no heavy drinking for him.
Ace was dancing around the Moby’s mast, with Marco watching over him so he wouldn’t fall overboard. Ace was usually a happy drunk but could switch fast into an angry one at the drop of a hat whenever someone says something that would piss off the hothead. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it was quite the sight.
Sabo also watched over the festivities, happy that he got leave to come here. Dragon was understanding at his request and allowed it, just telling Sabo to give Luffy his present from him, to which Sabo happily agreed.
Luffy was surrounded by well-wishers and drunk pirates; he fit right in and laughed along with everyone. Sabo could see that Luffy was happy, but there was a certain void in his eyes. If Sabo had to wager a guess, he’d say he must be thinking about his crew that couldn’t be here. Sabo felt him. He wouldn’t like celebrating his birthday without his important people, either.
The brothers converged back together after a couple of hours. Ace was almost falling asleep on his feet with random narcolepsy attacks. Sabo had a platter of food, which he shared with his brothers, who were noticeably getting more tired. That was a rare sight. They always had a lot of excess energy and had to have exercise a lot to tire themselves out like this. Luffy was eating his food with the usual gusto, but was slower than normal.
Sabo realizes Whitebeards really do party hard when he saw some still going at one hundred percent. He feels a bit intimidated by their spirit.
Ace was nodding off, waking up before he completely fell asleep. He was fighting to stay awake, and at that point, he should really just go to bed.
What made both brothers, ignoring Luffy because he just passed out in his food, straighten was a sentence muttered by a new member of the Whitebeard pirates, who just joined a month ago.
“Who does that rookie think he is, being on an Emperor's ship with no worries at all?”
Well…This changes things. Ace and Sabo shared a look promising violence, and Marco looked on in horror.
Oh, no. No, no, no, no.
That was all Marco thought when he saw the expression on the duo’s faces. There was one thing that was very clear when the brothers got back together. It was that they protect Luffy with their life, and did not think anything was odd. Sure, Marco would do that for his brothers, but he could heal from basically everything. The brothers would voluntarily shield Luffy from a lethal threat with their bodies if need be. Their protective streak was longer than the Red Line itself. And that odd member of a crew they just adopted activated that protective streak.
Marco was getting ready to stop a murder.
The brothers appeared behind the pirate, both of them had a hand on the shoulders of the pirate. The pirate slowly turned around, sensing the bloodlust the brothers were radiating.
Ace smiled. It wasn’t comforting.
“Did I just hear you say something about my brother?”
Sabo nodded and added on, “I think we did, Ace.”
The pirate was steadily getting paler the longer this went on. Marco guessed that the pirate knew just who they were. Fire Fist Ace, the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeards Pirates. And Sabo, the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army. The pirate was slowly understanding how fucked he was.
Sabo smiled down at the panicking pirate, “If you say anything about our brother again, you will regret it.”
Ace nodded along, surprisingly sober for the actions he did for the past couple of hours.
That was when Marco came. He put his hands on the brother's shoulder and leaned in.
“He learned his lesson. Let go.”
They both pouted at him. Marco was slightly scandalized by how alike they looked doing that.
“But Marcooooo,” Ace whined at him, as if that would work. Sabo gave him puppy eyes. That won’t work on Marco, either.
“Don’t Marco me. Let the poor man go, you scared him enough.”
The pirate was shaking in the brother's grasp. He looked like he was about to be greeting the Grim Reaper. He definitely won’t be talking about Luffy again, that was for sure.
The brothers shared a look, one Marco decidedly did not like, and glared at the pirate one more time.
“We will know.”
They said that ominously at the terrified guy, and that was Marco’s signal to drag them away.
Marco dropped them off by Luffy, now calmed down. Ace was back to his drunken state, and Sabo was nursing his drink again.
Marco looked at the scene and sighed.
Why does he get the feeling that this won’t be the last time this happens?
Ace woke up with the worst hangover he has ever had the misfortune of feeling. His head was pounding as if his brain was trying to escape his skull. He put a hand on his head and groaned. Why did he drink so much last night? Oh yeah, because Hurata dared him to take shots with her, and Ace never backs down from a challenge.
Ace squinted his eyes and saw his brothers passed out by him. Sabo was sitting against the railing, still asleep, and had a cup in his hand. Luffy was sprawled on Sabo’s lap.
Ace smiled at the sight, even though that aggravated his head. Ace got up and sat next to them, lifting up Luffy’s legs and putting them on his lap then closed his eyes and leaned back. He was falling back asleep, but he didn’t resist it. He was with his brothers and couldn’t be more comfortable, ignoring his head.
Marco saw this and smiled secretly. They looked peaceful, and he wouldn’t dare interrupt. They deserve some time together. Marco went back to the infirmaries, gathering hangover remedies from the nurses. A lot of the pirates would certainly need it, judging by the state the deck is in.
Marco smirked at the waking pirates. He heard a lot of groans and pained grumbles. Serves them right; if they didn’t drink so much, they wouldn’t be facing this problem.
Sabo woke up from someone moving on his lap. He opened his tired eyes and saw Luffy eating, laying on his lap. Sabo turned his head and saw Ace still sleeping, head on Sabo's shoulder. He smiled at the sight. He remembered a time when Ace would run away from any form of affection, not even mentioning intimacy like this. Luffy was a help in that department, hugging Ace so much that he got used to it eventually. Luffy tended to melt the coldest of hearts and not even know that he did it.
Sabo saw Marco eying them, and he saw him smile at the scene. Marco was one of the pirates he spoke to the most. He was responsible but never made his siblings uncomfortable. He was trustworthy and strong, the best qualities you would want in a pirate crew’s first mate. Sabo knew that Marco cared deeply for this crew and would do anything for them. Out of everyone on the Moby Sabo would pick to have his back, besides Ace and Whitebeard, Sabo would choose Marco.
Sabo waved, and Marco waved back, going to the sleeping and grumbling pirates with hangover cures. Sabo stifled a snicker. Ace is so going to need that. He drank a lot last night, and Sabo was almost afraid that he would get alcohol poisoning.
Ace deserved the pain, honestly.
Ace shifted on his shoulder, and he looked over. He was creasing his eyebrows and was putting up a valiant effort to stay asleep, but the noise on the deck kept getting louder, making it hard for Ace to stay asleep. He opened his eyes and squinted at the sky like it was the cause of his suffering. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
Luffy made himself known when he jumped on Ace’s lap. Ace just groaned at the added weight. He grumbled but ruffled Luffy’s hair regardless. Sabo snickered at the sight. That just made Luffy change targets, and Sabo grunted at the rubbery weight now on his frame. Ace looked amused, the jackass.
They kept their silence for minutes, just accepting the tranquil atmosphere. They wanted to keep this peace before it was ruined.
“When will I see you guys again?”
Luffy bit his lip, and Sabo tried to comfort him.
“We will visit soon. You can call us if you want to talk with us.”
Ace nodded in agreement. Luffy took their word for what it was and went back to cuddling up against his brothers. He may now be eighteen, but he would never be too old to cuddle with his brothers. Ace would forever deny it, but he smiled when Luffy wrapped himself around his frame. Ace didn’t want to ruin his reputation, unknowing that it was already ruined. For the Whitebeards that is.
Rayleigh collected Luffy a couple of hours later. They didn’t even know he was there, but he was stealing their drinks and food for the entire party. Pops just laughed at their surprise when they realized Rayleigh was there.
Ace felt empty when Luffy left, and the Whitebeards sailed away from the island. It was a fun night, but he can’t help but feel that he could have spent more time with Luffy. Luffy got all of his birthday gifts, so he was shooed off the boot with at least a hundred gifts. Ace’s and Sabo’s gifts were separated by Luffy, who would look at them specifically at a later time.
Marco stood by Ace, Sabo having already left. He looked at the island and heard a deep breath from next to him. Ace glanced at Marco, and Marco half-smiled at him.
“You’ll see him again soon. If nothing else, we will meet him at Fishman Island in a year.”
Ace nodded, not saying anything.
It was true. Since Fishman Island was one of their territories, it was a prime meet-up spot. They would meet up with Luffy and his crew there, most likely informing the marines that they were in an alliance. Well, it wasn’t really an alliance, more like a family get-together. The Marines will probably call it an alliance though.
Ace let go of the railing and went to the mess hall. He was getting peckish and wanted to eat his sorrows away.
“I want to bet Luffy will cause some sort of chaos before we even meet up with him in Fishman Island.”
“I will take you up on that bet; there is no way he would get in trouble that fast.”
Ace just smirked at Marco’s words. Ah, that sweet summer child, so naïve.