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Pedro stumbles as Luffy climbs on his back, hanging tight despite being very capable of making the trip off Zunesha by himself. She’s the one letting them down after all.
Beside him, Duke Inuarashi and Master Nekomamushi stand, ready and waiting. Luffy, bored with waiting, rubs his face against Pedro's and Pedro returns the gesture in kind, reassuring the boy even though Luffy never needs reassurance when it comes to his steadfast belief in his brothers.
It's surprising, and not only to him, that the ship they end up in front of is decidedly not the Piece of Spadille that Ace anchored next to them last time he came by. It's far larger, although it's dwarfed by Zunesha's giant form.
“Ace!” Luffy calls.
“He can't hear you yet,” Pedro patiently points out.
A huff is Luffy’s response.
“That's the Moby Dick,” Inuarashi states, brow furrowed in confusion. “What is Ace doing there?”
“Let's go find out then, huh?” Nekomamushi cheerfully says, claws sharpened.
“Mom!” Luffy shouts. “Take us to Ace!”
In response, a giant trunk comes up and smoothly takes them down, carrying them to the famous flagship of the Whitebeard Pirates.
It's a fine ship, as Pedro expected, and the people on board are gaping, in complete shock.
A man wearing fine makeup and a kimono steps forward.
“Nekomamushi? Inuarashi? What are you doing here?” He asks. Pedro assumes this is the other retainer of Oden, Izou, who remained with Whitebeard all those years ago.
It's with a slow creak that a large door opens and an even larger man steps through, followed by five others.
Luffy has pulled away from Pedro now and is running, leaping, and crashing into the now-visible Ace.
Pedro goes to him too, hefting up the teenager to check that he's okay.
Nekomamushi and Inuarashi have entered a stare-off with Whitebeard while Luffy is holding tight to Ace’s middle, dangling without care.
It's Nekomamushi who speaks first, lighting his pipe as he does so in a casual fashion.
“So, Whitebeard, what are you doing with our son?”
Marco stares, really stares at Nekomamushi and Inuarashi. He hasn't seen them since they joined Roger with Oden years ago, only youngsters like himself, now bigger and far more mature with hardened faces.
The third and fourth are less familiar. He’s never seen the child still clinging to Ace before, but he’s almost sure that the other man, holding up Ace like it's nothing, is Pedro, the ex-captain of the Nox pirates who disappeared after a confrontation with Big Mom. He must have gone home to Zou.
Which brings up the fact that the giant elephant that holds Zou on its back is currently towering over the Moby Dick like a furious parent.
Wait… What did Nekomamushi say?
Pops straightens as well while Pedro lets go of Ace and tugs the boy off Ace as well, letting Ace crawl over to the larger two minks, and Inuarashi pats him on the head in reassurance while Deuce stands beside him, just as steadfast as before.
“Your son?” Pops asks, tone surprisingly even.
Inuarashi huffs with a low woof. “Ace is our son, yes.”
Ace levels them with an ‘I told you so’ stare that mimics the same one he had a few moments ago when he called for his mom.
And the one that came is…
“What is going on here?” Izo asks, surprisingly calm for this being the first time he's seen his old companions in a while.
Several commanders in the Whitebeard Pirates have never met Inuarashi or Nekomamushi, and two of them, Haruta and Thatch, both stand beside him, completely perplexed.
“You took the words out of my mouth,” Pedro of the Nox Pirates says, cold. Inuarashi has taken Ace and the teenager is now effortlessly balanced on the dog mink’s shoulders.
“I told you I had parents!” Ace points out. “They told me I couldn't kill you.”
Pops still looks completely speechless so Marco speaks up.
“So your parents are Duke Inuarashi and Master Nekomamushi?” Marco asks slowly. “I thought you were fighting?”
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi huff at almost the same time.
“We made up,” Nekomamushi says with a soft growl. “Marco, it’s been a while.”
“It has,” Marco finally says. For all the confusion and hostility, both minks were family, even if they left alongside Oden for Roger.
Pops has finally puzzled out the situation because he lowers his head and looks at the mink pair before looking at Ace.
“Then I owe you an apology, Ace,” he says, voice quiet.
Ace startles, almost tumbling from his perch on Inuarashi. “You… really?”
Deuce whacks Ace on the arm and the teenager shuts his mouth.
“Wait… what the fuck is going on?” Thatch whispers to Haruta who just shrugs.
“I will repeat,” Nekomamushi says, clearing his throat. “What are you doing with our son?”
It’s Izo who answers, the person most receptive to their visitors other than Ace and Deuce themselves. “We want to recruit him to become a Whitebeard Pirate.”
The four pause.
And then Nekomamushi starts laughing, the rumble almost rocking the ship. Inuarashi’s laughter is softer, but no less cheerful.
Pedro snorts and the child he’s carefully holding by the back of his shirt is giggling while he dangles from the leopard mink’s grip.
“Ace is a captain,” Pedro says firmly.
Deuce crosses his arms. “And he’ll stay a captain,” the blue-haired teenager snaps. “My captain.”
Pops closes his eyes, thinking. Marco wonders if he’s going to challenge this. If he’s going to push this. There’s no doubt in Marco’s mind that Pops could take Inuarashi and Nekomamushi if he tried, and with Marco and another commander’s assistance, he could probably fight off Ace and Pedro as well.
But if they did that, Ace would loathe them for life. He would never join them. He’d probably plot his revenge against the entire crew. Marco didn’t really want that kind of anger pointed at him. Ever.
“Very well,” Pops finally says, resigned.
Deuce lets out a visible sigh of relief. Ace rests his head on Inuarashi's head and grins.
Despite this, beside Marco, Thatch huffs, disapproving of the conclusion Pops reached. Thatch shakes Haruta and whines but Pops is resolute, even if he is unhappy.
Nekomamushi laughs with his stomach and calls out.
“Party!” He shouts. “For the long-time reunion of us and the Whitebeards!”
Despite himself, Marco smiles.
Ace cheers, Deuce groans as he leans against Inuarashi as well, and the child still being held up by Pedro shouts for food.
Thatch whines yet again.
Deuce swings and sways at Ace’s side, sitting with a cup of sake in hand as Ace laughs and chatters with his guardians, his brother, and the rest of the Spade Pirates. Some of the Whitebeards have joined them, including Izou who is apparently a long-time friend to Ace’s dads.
It's Saber that saddles up to him, humming.
“So, you told him to, didn't you?” He pointedly states.
Deuce doesn't need to ask to know exactly what he's talking about.
“He's an idiot, of course I did,” Deuce responds and Saber laughs.
“Thank Nika you did, or I'm pretty sure Banshee would have murdered someone,” Saber says, pointing at their resident mermaid. She's sharing a drink with Pedro and Haruta, far more relaxed knowing that the Spade Pirates are staying independent and she doesn't have to bend to the rules the women on Whitebeard's crew seem to conform to.
He checks and sees Cornelia and Skull juggling a bouncy and excited Luffy between each other. Luffy, as Deuce knows, had been even younger than Ace when introduced to the mink tribe and therefore took on more traits and mannerisms of theirs. That didn't really make a difference when Ace would hang from the riggings only to tumble down with a loud yell of “Garachu” and a subsequent cuddle or him rubbing his face against a shoulder or cheek.
So they were all kinda used to it, which means that when Ace throws himself at Deuce, he doesn't even find it in himself to flinch.
“Yes, hello Ace,” Deuce says blandly. Saber laughs at his plight. In response, Ace just shakes his hair out and grins like a puppy.
“Have to ask, Ace,” Thatch finally speaks up. “I get that your dads are two minks, however that works-”
“I'm adopted.”
“-but what's with the elephant?”
“That is Zunesha,” Marco explains instead. “It is what you'd hear of as Zou, home of the minks.”
“Hey!” Ace yells, probably a little drunk. “Don't call my mom an ‘it’!”
“What the fuck do you mean Mom?!”