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They had just been talking when Haruta shared that Marco had shared a secret with him. One Deuce verified, grinning widely as he looked at Ace, almost as if he wanted to see what his reaction was going to be.
“After that whole spy theory, I needed to make sure there wasn’t anything else I was overlooking. You did make us all doubt this, you know; those marine moves, the encrypted den den mushi and the way you somehow know the top brass of the Revolutionary Army. I needed to be prepared, and they were all too happy to share,” there is a smile on his face that has Ace breaking out in cold sweat.
He doesn’t know what to think about this. There is only one secret both Deuce and Marco know about and they both swore they wouldn’t tell another living soul without Ace’s permission. Had they lied? Was whatever it was between them a lie, or just not as serious as Ace had believed it to be.
Deuce had been his first mate and Ace was, sadly enough, lonely and quite depressed when he was stranded on Sixis. He had shared the name of his biological father and didn’t do much with it afterwards. He and Deuce did talk about that after the Spades were founded and Ace had asked his then-first mate to keep it to himself. Never quite comfortable with that connection to just spread it around. Had that been something the blue haired man assumed only counted when they had been Spades? Or was there something else in play?
One night, Deuce had admitted that he had been furious about finding out Gol D. Roger had a child and he didn’t like thinking back about those days on Sixis. But they had gotten along great after that, or had that been a ruse?
Licking his lips, Ace plasters on a somewhat convincing smile before leaving Haruta alone. He needed time to think, to talk to Marco and Deuce. To see if they still cared, or if it would be best if he just packed up and left.
Haruta waves him off with a, “I’ll let the other Commanders know too”, which freezes Ace’s heart even more. Once that happened, once the news got spread who knows who else would find out. Rumours spread fast on the Moby Dick and despite loving it here he knew that with a crew as big as this one there were spies, and others that were looking to gain the upper hand. Not to mention the fact that several of the allied Captains had a bone to pick with Roger and had never been quiet about that. Would they act on that information?
A sob passes his lips as Ace makes his way to his office. Closing the door as he thinks of the best way to approach Deuce about this.
Additionally, he needs to talk to Marco too. They were lovers, had been lovers since before Ace joined even. Something had attracted him to the blond and he honestly never felt safer. He had confined in Marco the same night he told Pops, had told the man he had every right to back out of this now and that Ace would leave if it made him uncomfortable. Asked Marco to keep the secret and the other man had promised.
With trembling lips, Ace realized that not everyone takes promises as serious as he and his brothers did. For all that they were wild children, you could trust all of them to keep their promises. Hell, Sabo had kept his even when suffering from amnesia. Having Dragon bring him back to Dawn as there was something else he needed to do. Seeing Ace and Luffy there had brought his memories back and while he did leave to keep away from his biological parents, he did keep in contact with Ace and Sabo through an encrypted snail. Which was the odd one Haruta had mentioned before. Now that Ace was also in the New World he ran into him or Dragon at times and it helped to feel close to the family he had chosen. It also helped in the feeling of missing Luffy, as their youngest brother was still on Dawn and wouldn’t set out until the following year.
Grabbing his snail, he dials Sabo and leaves a message once it allows him to do so. It isn’t often that he can talk to Sabo directly, the blond often on missions or otherwise occupied. But he always calls back as soon as possible.
Licking his lips once the tone changes, Ace hears the emotions in his voice as he talks, “‘Bo, I think I need you to come and get me. I… I don’t know the details but I’ll let you know when you call me back.”
It hurts, thinking that after the year out at sea and the year he had been on the Moby Dick, he wouldn’t have to feel like this. But he didn’t know what was even going on anymore and that scared him more than anything else.
His first priority was talking to Marco. Nodding to himself once the recording is saved on Sabo’s snail, Ace disconnects the call and leaves his snail in his pants as he goes to look for Marco.
Glancing around his room, he first makes sure he packs the essentials in his satchel. In case he has to make a run for it after all of this, at least he won’t lose time with looking for everything else.
Knocking on Marco’s door, he feels nerves settle in as the man calls him to enter. A gentle smile on his face as he sees Ace standing there. Clocking him as something wrong in the same instant, stepping close and frowning as Ace doesn’t allow the hug.
“Ace, what’s going on”, the blond asked.
Taking a deep breath, Ace looks away as he asks Marco if he told Haruta something he shouldn’t. The flash of emotions in Marco’s eyes is answer enough, he did. It stings, and he can’t even stop the tear running down his cheek.
His voice choked up as he finally utters, “Oh… Even though you promised you wouldn’t tell anyone?”
Marco frowns, “This is different, they all deserve to know -yoi.”
Shaking his head, Ace takes a step back, “That isn’t up to you, Marco. You don’t, you can’t…”
Fists clenched at his sides, Ace whispers, “Haruta told me he’d tell the other commanders, and once they know their divisions will know and it’ll spread to everyone else. I don’t… You can’t… Not everyone is going to like it and I don’t think I can be here for the fall-out of that.”
With a concerned noise, Marco steps close, “You’re making too big of a deal out of this, Ace -yoi. Everything is going to be just fine, and the people that don’t like it can fuck off. Even Pops agreed it needed to be told, so you don’t have any grounds of resistance here.”
The fear already in his chest solidifies into ice, “P- Pops did?”
“Pops was the one to start all of this, actually -yoi. He just didn’t have all the info so he asked Deuce and me to inform Haruta. The commanders will be told tonight, you’ll just have to trust us”, there is something in his eyes. As if he thinks this is all being blown out of proportion and in that moment Ace realized that Marco didn’t hold onto promises like he and his brothers did. At that moment he realized they didn’t go into this with the same beliefs and he can’t stay here. He can’t trust someone who would break a promise.
The blond didn’t even see anything wrong with what he did and maybe that’s the part that hurts the most. How they had seemed so compatible and suddenly, it’s very clear that they’re not. Nodding to himself, Ace turns on his heels and walks out of the room. There is nothing left to say, and he just… he knows he needs to get out of here before things are said or done that can’t be taken back.
He can hear Marco muttering behind him that he’s blowing this out of proportion and for him to grow up. It all stings all that more, leading him to make his way to their shared room to pack his things. Passing by his office to gather his satchel and make sure everything he owns is out of the room he shared with his lover. Although, there is nothing there anymore, Marco isn’t his lover anymore. He made that part really clear when he broke a promise to Ace like that.
In the privacy of his former room, Sabo calls back and Ace starts sobbing as soon as he shares that the whole of the ship will know his secret and he can’t be here when that happens.
Sabo hushes him, promising to be there as soon as possible. That he’ll get Ace out of there, even if he has to burn down the ship to do so. He’s angry, it’s obvious in his tone, and for some reason that helps Ace in settling down. His brothers will always be on his side, and he knows that Sabo (as well as Luffy) will be furious in his stead.
“I’ll be there in the morning, Ace, just… Keep your snail with you and I’ll call as soon as I’m close to the Moby and you can cross the stretch of ocean in Striker so at least they can’t keep any of your things”, Sabo offers and Ace agrees.
Making his way to the cargo hold where Striker is tucked away. He can stay here for the time being, he doesn’t have a need to see anyone else.
Of course, before he can make it there, Deuce is standing in front of him, looking worried. He doesn’t get to look worried now, not when he fucked up.
“Captain,” the title has him flinching.
Looking away, Ace shakes his head, “I’m not your Captain anymore, Deuce. I…. Haruta told me what you told him and Marco confirmed it. I… I knew you didn’t like me on Sixis but I didn’t think you’d do something like this.” His voice is small when he adds, “I didn’t think you’d break a promise to me.”
He leaves Deuce standing there as he makes his way further into the ship, entering the cargo hold and finding Striker where he left her. Uncovering her from the tarp she had been wrapped in, settling against her hull as Ace just let go of everything he had been holding in. Crying himself into a narcoleptic fit, curling in on himself as he did so.
—
Marco looks up shocked when Deuce enters the infirmary with tears on his face. He pulls his second in command into his office and finds anger welling up at the fact that Ace is the reason Deuce was crying.
“This is getting out of hand,” he mutters, “We told them his birthday, why is he making such a big deal about it.”
Deuce’s breath catches, “He doesn’t know that… Marco, he doesn’t know that’s the secret! He… Oh seas, he thinks… he thinks we share the one thing he made us promise we’d never share. Ace holds onto promises, his brothers do too. Sabo beat amnesia with a promise, because that held through even when his memories didn’t. Ace thinks we told Haruta who his father is…”
The silence stretches, before Marco curses, running his hands through his hair as he realizes. It gets even worse once he thinks back on what he told Ace. The way normally fiery grey eyes went dead when he told him it hadn’t been a big deal. Told Ace that they were telling the other commanders that Pops had started this, and that he shouldn’t make such a big deal about this. All the while they had been talking about different things.
His eyes widen as he runs out of his office to his room, to Ace’s office, to confirm what he already suspected. There is nothing of Ace’s is there, everything is like it had been before Ace joined. He was planning on leaving, thinking that they’d share such a secret at the drop of a hat and his heart hurts for his lover.
Fast strides bring him to Pops’ room, entering without knocking and sending Whiskey and Tate out of there. His eyes are serious as he does so, every bit the Commander and First Mate he is, instead of the Older Brother he usually acts as.
Pops looked at him, worried in his eyes, “Son?”
Taking a deep breath, Marco just shares what is going on. What happened and how it was perceived. What he said, what Ace replied and how now they can’t find the man who is hurting so much thinking they would break that kind of promise to him.
“A D’s promise is something else, indeed”, Pops shares, he had sailed with Rocks, and had been friends (or whatever they called themselves) with Roger and Garp for long enough to know how D’s operated. He had listened and looked just as worried as Marco felt, licking his lips before using the snail intercom to ask Haruta to come to him. They needed to know what the other Commander had told Ace, before anything happened they couldn’t take back.
Neither of them were in any delusions that Ace had called Sabo. That, in case they weren’t careful, they could have a furious Chief-Of-Staff on their tail for what they presumably had done to his big brother.
A knock on the door had them both calling for whoever was there to come in. Haruta was smiling, but that changed when they saw the look on Pops and Marco’s faces.
“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it,” he started.
Marco shook his head, “I need you to tell me, word for word, what it is that you told Ace before he walked off -yoi. It’s important or we’ll have one annoyed Revolutionary on board soon enough.”
Haruta swallowed thickly, before doing just that. Going over everything they had told Ace as well as his strange reaction to that, followed by
When Haruta finishes, Marco runs a hand through his hair, “That’s all you said? You’re sure there is nothing else you’re leaving out or that you forgot you said -yoi.” It’s clear that the other Commander doesn’t know what is going on, he looks worried and Marco knows he is only adding to that.
Nodding, Haruta swears that’s all, “I swear, what is… What’s going on?”
Sighing, Marco shakes his head, “Ace… Ace is leaving the Moby Dick because of this -yoi. Because he… He made me promise not to tell something to the others and he perceived what you told him as me and Deuce telling on him. Sabo has been called, so keep an eye out on the horizon for a Revolutionary ship.”
There is a glint in Haruta’s eyes, and Marco is firm as he stops it before anything can be said, “No, Haruta. This is one thing I’ll take with me to my grave and if you bug anyone about it I’ll make sure you have the worst day of your life -yoi. I’m already losing him, I don’t want to make sure there is nothing left to make right.”
He doesn’t often do this, use his position as First Mate to lord it over people. But Marco is hurting for what he unintentionally did to Ace. If he screws this up, if Ace leaves here and things that Marco did actually tell the world he has no chance of making this right and he’ll hate himself for the rest of his days. That is without counting what Sabo will do to him, to them, for hurting his big brother. For all that the Bloody Gentleman is a ghost in the minds of most, Marco is very aware of who he is and what he’s capable off and he does not look forward to that conversation once the younger blonds arrive here.
Glancing at the window, he can see that it’s dark outside. They’ve been at this for a long time, the Commanders’ meeting delayed and right now Marco has other things on his mind than the meeting to start planning Ace’s Birthday Party. He should have known things would go haywire because of everything the youngest Commander dealt with. Marco knew Ace had a large number of issues he was working through and he was the main cause of the set back he was about to experience and he hated it.
Pops got him moving eventually, making their way to the Commanders’ meeting room and for a second he had hoped to see Ace there. But he wasn’t, and everyone seemed to notice. Marco didn’t mention it, looking at Pops before starting the meeting.
When it was over, the others assumed that Ace wasn’t here because of the topic of said meeting. Haruta knew better, worried in his eyes even if he didn’t say anything.
Running a hand through his hair, Marco sighed before making his way back to their, to his, room and figuring he’d make the best of it. Trying to find Ace and finding that while he could sense the other man on the ship, he couldn’t pinpoint where he was right now.
—
Ace wakes up to the sound of the snail ringing, picking up and hearing Sabo on the other side has him sighing in relief.
Uncurling himself where he had been laying down, he shakes his head at the mere thought of what this ship had come to mean to him. How little it had meant in the eyes of others he had presumed himself to be close with.
It hurt, it would keep hurting, but he needed to get out of here before anyone realized and acted on that.
He’ll miss the Moby Dick, and a part of him hates that he’ll miss it. Shaking his head, he checks to make sure he has everything at the ready before opening the hatch on the outer wall and setting up Striker to glide into the water. He can hear someone shouting from the upper deck, no doubt to give the signal that a Revolutionary ship is approaching.
Ignoring that, he gets into Striker and uses his weight to guide her into the water. Flaring his flames as he makes his way to Sabo’s ship. Approaching slowly once he’s close enough and finding that Sabo is waiting in the cargo hold. They don’t have the kind of latches the Moby has, but they make due. Closing the panels, he flinches at the sight of bright blue flames in the corner of his eye. Marco is approaching and he doesn’t quite know how to deal with that.
“You don’t have to do anything, Ace,” Sabo assures him, his face closed off and cold as he makes his way to the deck. “You know where my room is, go and rest while I go and deal with that bastard.”
Hugging his brother close, Ace nods, before he’s off towards the sleeping quarters. Finding Sabo’s with ease and just falling into the bed as the previous day settles in his head. As everything that had been going on catches up and he realizes that he lost so much in so little time.
A knock on the door has him looking up to see Sabo standing there. But what really surprises him is Marco behind the other blond. A shiner on his cheek, but eyes soft and loving. Glancing at his brother, he sees Sabo smile slightly before whispering, “It was never about him, Ace, it was about your birthday.”
Hearing that has a whole new reason for his breakdown. He had been so stupid and believed it had been that secret.
Marco is the one who comforts him. Who adds that Haruta never should have said anything the way he did and that all of this was a big misunderstanding that he’s so very sorry for. They talk it over, but Ace needs time. He needs to center himself and he can’t do that on the Moby Dick.
So, he does leave, he lets Sabo cart him away with Pops and Marco’s permission. Promising to be back in time for his birthday. But right now he needs a moment to himself and to think back on how easily he believed his lover and his best friend would break a promise.