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Ace had mentioned his older brother numerous times. Enough times that Marco felt he knew the man personally.
Marco and the crew met Ace when he was about 16, some dumb young teen who had tried to put together a pirate crew, failed (for obvious reasons) and had ended up on Whitebeard’s ship. The boy was a spitfire, literally. He’d eaten the Mera Mera no Mi, a logia type Devil Fruit that gifted its user the ability of fire. The fruit was perfect for him considering he was such a hot head.
The first thing he’d done upon stepping foot onto the ship was challenge Whitebeard to a duel. Whitebeard accepted, after laughing in his face. He then sent Ace (who was definitely new to using his Devil Fruit, considering he’d lit only his ass on fire multiple times during the fight) flying into the ocean. They dragged Ace out, and Whitebeard asked Ace if he wanted to join his crew - to be his son.
That had been four weeks ago, and Ace has only responded with a sneer and a ‘no, why the hell would I ever join you?’ But he’d had the chance to leave and hadn’t taken it. He still ate meals with the crew, fought with them when needed. His hackles were still raised, of course, Marco knew nothing except the boy’s name was Portgas D. Ace, and he had an older brother named Lu.
It had been a late night when the boy had first mentioned having family at all, only a few days since he’d stumbled into their lives. For all Marco knew Ace had clawed himself into existence from pure stubbornness alone. The stars were out, and the crew was being loud and rambunctious. Ace spoke to no one, sat with his arms crossed and a sour expression on his face as he glowered at everyone having a good time around him. They’d tried inviting him to join, but the boy bared his teeth like some sort of feral animal when they got too close.
Marco was happy to let him sit over there like that. More than happy, actually. But Whitebeard shot him a look, nodding at the boy. And so, with a sigh, Marco wandered over to sit next to him. To his surprise, Ace let him. They sat in silence for a good few moments.
“Why do you call each other ‘brother’? And…him… ‘pops’?” Ace asked quietly. Marco couldn’t help but be surprised, and a little victorious. Maybe he’d be getting a new little brother after all.
“It’s just something we do. Whitebeard- our Pops- sees us all as his sons and daughters. And we’re Nakama anyway, family. So,” He shrugged, watching his partying crewmates. Ace was quiet for a while after that.
“I have a brother,” The boy said suddenly. Marco glanced at him curiously, but said nothing. Ace would have to come to him, if he pushed he feared he’d push the boy away. “An older one. His name’s Lu.” Marco hummed. Lu, huh? He decided to take a little risk.
“What’s he like?” Ace snorted.
“He’s really fucking stupid. Like-really stupid. Half the time I feel like I’m the older one with how he acts. But…he’s a good brother.” It’s the most Ace’s spoken to anyone on board, aside from threats and fuck off’’s. Marco nodded, and that was that.
xxx
From there on, mentioning this ‘Lu’ character seemed to be a good icebreaker. Ace would smile, and tell them about him. Lu was stupid, but he was brave. He did dumb things all the time, and was only three years older than Ace. He started more fights than Ace somehow (truly a feat, in Marco’s opinion), but his older brother was strong enough to finish them. It was easy to see the kid looked up to him. But what was interesting was that Lu was a pirate. According to Ace, he was a strong and powerful one - but that could just be chalked up to a younger brother's awe of his big brother. But Marco kept an eye on wanted posters for someone with the surname of ‘Portgas D.’, or had a similarity to the little hotheaded brat, but found none.
And so, days passed, and waters stirred.
There was word of a potential new emperor rising, someone who defeated Kaido. Monkey D. Luffy. Or, better known as Strawhat. A wildcard, bat-shit crazy bastard who popped into the world a few years ago and messed things up. No one knew what to expect from him because they never knew what exactly he was going to do. It was what made him dangerous. It was what made him interesting. A new big name, only at the ripe age of 19 years old, sporting a straw hat and a broad smile.
Marco didn’t know if the boy was just insane or if he actually had something going.
They’d spotted the infamous Strawhat jolly rodger approaching them on a lazy day. The sun was bearing down on them through a cloud of haze, reflecting golden beams off the water. Thatch reported it the moment he saw it. The crew had frozen, looking uncomfortable. He could be coming to challenge their captain. Whitebeard only stared at the ship, lips pressed together, before letting out a barking ‘Guarauraura’ laugh.
“That boy ain’t gonna touch a hair on my head, not unless we keep our cool. I might not know this boy yet, but he doesn’t seem the type to do things without a boom.” Whatever that had meant, Marco supposed it was a good thing. If his captain said Straw hat wasn’t going to fight them, then he wasn’t. They just had to keep their cool.
His eyes immediately landed on a certain young teen known for his temper coming up from below deck to see what the commotion was about. Marco freaked out, just a little.
“Hey Ace-yoi!” He called, jogging over to him. Ace glanced at him, raising his brows in a sleepy greeting. “I need you to do a favor for me. Go grab all the hammocks, and fold them up.” Ace stared at him, squinted a little.
“The hell? Why?”
“Because we’re gonna wash them soon.” Marco doubted the hammocks had ever been washed, and never planned to be washed, but he needed that boy, who was prone to challenging emperors and people far above his pay-grade, below deck and away from Strawhat. Ace glared, and for a second Marco thought the teenager saw through his ruse, but eventually he just shrugged, muttering something, and went back below. The second he closed the door, Marco locked it. Just in case.
He looked over to see Straw-Hat’s ship approaching, a few infamous faces gleaming in the light. The Pirate Hunter, Cat Burgaler Nami, the Cyborg, Devil Child, God Usopp, Blackleg Sanji, Cottencandy Lover… their crew may be small, but it had shown the world it was not to be underestimated. The Thousand Sunny pulled up next to the Moby Dick.
xxx
Strawhat didn’t look like much. He was slim, much slimmer than Marco was expecting, and sported a smile so big it made his eyes squinty. He sat perched on their figurehead looking like his namesake, a monkey. The stories people told about him - that he was an unpredictable, crazy monster, seemed to be a bit of an overexaggeration in the face of this kid.
But, Marco had been a pirate in the Grand Line and New World long enough to sense Haki. He was keeping it close to himself, Raleigh had taught him well, it seemed, but it was there nonetheless. Like seeing a shark below water, you couldn’t quite tell what it was, but you could tell it was big and dangerous. The rest of the crew were just as off-putting, not looking like much, but a certain sense of danger lurking beneath the surface.
Marco glanced at Whitebeard, seeing if he was going to say something. He didn’t.
“Hi!” The boy called, waving at them enthusiastically. Whitebeard nodded his head in greeting.
“Hello, Strawhat.” Whitebeard responded. The boy sat and stared at him, just smiling, as if he hadn’t really thought about what to say after this. An orange haired woman, who Marco recognized as Cat Burgaler Nami, yanked his ear (which stretched comically, showcasing his Devil Fruit powers) and whispered something in it. Strawhat nodded, and then turned to Whitebeard, still smiling.
“This isn’t an attack, by the way. We just saw you and wanted to see if we could pass through here, since this is your territory, apparently.” Marco blinked in surprise. Strawhat didn’t hit him as someone who would care about territories, much less asking permission to sail through them. He glanced at the sharp looking woman beside him. She was very beautiful, even Marco had to admit, and many would pass her off as just beautiful. But he saw the cogs turning behind her eyes. The way her crewmates gave her space when she walked, and how she held her head high. She was undeniably smart, and was most definitely the reason for this little meeting.
Whitebeard blinked, and Marco knew he came to the same conclusion as himself.
“Well why not, but first why don’t we offer you a drink? Get to know this fellow emperor.” Marco whipped his head around to look at Whitebeard. For starters, Strawhat wasn’t even officially an emperor yet. Sure, he’d managed to earn enough of a name for himself to be considered as in the same league as them, but that didn’t mean he was one. Whitebeard referring to him as one, though, was nothing less than undermining the World Government’s power and claiming him as one.
And if this were the case, then inviting a fellow emperor on your ship to drink was considered extremely dangerous. Especially, Marco thought, When you have a hot-headed little brat who wouldn’t mind starting a war for the hell of it.
Strawhat somehow only beamed brighter, stretching his arms to the sky to screech out “Meat!” so jarringly loud Marco thought he felt his eardrums rattle. He then let out a cackling shishishi, followed by a See, I told you we’d be fine, Nami!
Unpredictable, indeed.
xxx
The Strawhats boarded the ship in a flurry, led by their captain. Despite his small stature, he sure seemed to be everywhere at once. Poking his head around the ship, and yabbering on to Whitebeard something about how his name ‘should be white moustache, not white beard!’
The rest of the crew wasn’t much better, though they at least seemed to understand how much weight this meeting held. The Pirate Hunter’s fingers twitched towards his sword’s hilt at every move, Blackleg (who looked nothing like his earlier wanted posters) kept his legs tensed.
Marco, in short, was not having a fun time.
Most of the rest of the crew seemed to have gotten past their old anxiety in favor of Whitebeard breaking out the booze, and were now beginning to cheer as he poured cups.
Then something happened.
Just a little thing, really.
Something so stupid Marco felt his brain leaking out of his ears.
Ace broke down the door.
Well, Marco supposed ‘broke down’ was the wrong choice of words. Rather, he punched the door off its hinges. And sent it flying.
Right into Strawhat.
The ringing silence was only broken by one stupid teenager, one who Marco was considering kicking ass first into the ocean.
“What the fuck, Marco?! Did you just lock me in my room?!” Everyone was now staring, jaw dropped, at Portgas D. Ace, who was still a little smokey and bed-headed, face so scrunched up with rage Marco was thought his actual skull shape might be changing to accommodate.
Everyone was now staring at Portgas D. Ace who had just punched a door and sent it flying into the captain of the Strawhat pirates.
Ace, who was now realizing there were a few more people than just the crew on board, took a step back, jaw tightening.
“Woah, what’s the deal, ossan! I thought we were cool?” Strawhat grumbled out, pushing the slightly singed door off of him. He sat up, a big red mark on his face from where it had smacked him. Marco didn’t even want to see the look on Whitebeard’s face right then. Strawhat looked around upset for the culprit, only to lay eyes on Ace. Marco was confident Ace was about to get his ass kicked, beaten into a little fiery pulp, but Strawhat only stared. Jaw dropped past what a normal human should be able to do.
“Ace?” He asked, and Marco had to pause. Because. What. What? He turned to the boy in question, who had a similar expression to that of Strawhat’s.
“Luffy?” Both boys stared at each other, Strawhat’s crew, who were just about to start drawing weapons and fighting, were now staring in confusion at the two. Then Strawhat drew himself back, back, back and launched himself at Ace, screaming his name. Ace first looked more overjoyed than Marco had ever seen him, shouting Strawhat’s name back at him. Then he looked very not overjoyed when he realized Strawhat used a little bit too much momentum and sent them both flying over the side of the ship and into the ocean.
Marco sighed.
xxx
When they finally managed to drag both sogging wet Devil Fruit users out of the water, Marco was ready to whack them both upside the head.
Strawhat’s crew got there first.
First a punch from Cat Burgaler, and then a kick from Blackleg. Cat Burgaler turned to her captain, hands on her hips and a downturn to her lips that said she’d been in this position one too many times.
“Explain,” She ordered, and Marco had to say he agreed with the lady. Ace, seemingly, did not. He tackled Strawhat (Strawhat! He tackled Strawhat! What was he thinking?!) in a bearhug, laughing more freely than Marco may have ever heard from him before. Marco felt himself rise up almost protectively, unsure what the other would do.
But, Strawhat returned the hug happily, before pulling back to squish Ace’s cheeks. Marco waited for Ace to lash out, to bite at Strawhat’s hand, because that’s what the boy did. He never let anyone get that close, never only looked mildly annoyed. But to his surprise, there was no such motion.
“Ace! What are you doing on Ossan’s ship?” Strawhat asked, completely ignoring the crowd around them. (Marco had to bite his tongue at the blatant disrespect to Whitebeard’s name.)
“What am I doing, what are you doing?!” Ace asked back incredulously, shoving at the older boy to get him to stop grabbing at his cheeks so he could speak.
“I’m just sayin’ hi. Are they your crew?” That put a pause in Ace, eyebrows scrunching up as his eyes darted to the side. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to find an answer. Marco was getting a bit fed up with this.
“Hey! We’re still waiting for an explanation-yoi.” He interrupted, crossing his arms. Ace opened his mouth to say something, but Strawhat beat him to it.
“Ace is my little brother!”
There was a pause.
From both crews as they took in this new slab of information.
Strawhat had a younger brother.
That younger brother was Ace.
Ace who accidentally sets his hair on fire when he gets embarrassed about something, Ace who has a tendency to pass out face first into his food, Ace who’s literally insane.
Ace, apparently the younger brother to Strawhat. The boy-emperor who had the power to get the world’s attention, who treated piracy like his own personal playground, who was damned strong enough to insult Whitebeard and get away with it.
Marco then looks at Strawhat, who’s got his pinky up his nose. He should’ve realized it sooner.
“Little brother?” Someone from the Strawhat crew asks petulantly, but Marco doesn’t register who. He’s too busy staring at the boys. Strawhat is now looking at Ace with pride, but no surprise.
“So you decided to become a pirate, huh?” Strawhat asked, not noticing the world breaking information he just bestowed to everyone around him. Ace nodded, smiling.
“Yeah! I was even captain of the Spade Pirates for a bit, but…” Ace cut himself off with a shrug, glancing at Whitebeard and the rest of the crew. Whitebeard is staring back at them with an eyebrow raised, not looking quite as surprised as he should. Damn bastard always knew more than he let on.
Strawhat turned to Whitebeard, meeting his eyes. His face changes a little, something small but makes Marco feel on edge. The boy- no the man’s jaw tightened, staring unflinchingly at Whitebeard. His gaze was heavy as it made it around the crew, onto Marco. A shiver ran up his spine, and in that moment he felt that if he had any ill intention to Ace - at any point in time, Strawhat would know. It was as if the man were peering into his life to see everything he’d ever done.
Strawhat didn’t need to make any verbal threats, his presence was threat enough.
Marco suddenly understood with freezing clarity how such a young man could be so dangerous.
Then, quite suddenly (things happening suddenly seemed to be normal with Strawhat) his face broke into a giant grin, scruffling Ace’s hair. Ace let out an offended squawk, cheeks reddening with embarrassment. Whitebeard let out a booming ‘GUARARARA’, and raised a fist to the air.
“Whoever is a brother to my boy, is a friend of mine! We should throw a party to commemorate this!” Whitebeard cheered, the crew perking up at the word ‘party’.
xXx
The rest of the Strawhat crew piled onboard, and took to Whitebeard’s crew quite quickly. They shared drinks, gambled, shared recipes. This was turning out a whole lot better than Marco ever thought it was going to.
For the majority of this time Strawhat was in the center of it all. Honestly, he reminded Marco a lot of Shanks. Partying amongst his own crew, making a fool of himself, instead of hanging back and taking the best booze like a normal pirate captain would. Marco was more than a little surprised (but at the same time, not surprised at all) to find Strawhat was a complete, and utter moron.
For being one of the Emperor’s, defeating Kaido and moving with frightening speed through the New World, the boy really was a boy (because in this moment he seemed to let his frightening aura of a scary man fall away from him like an old skin). He preferred juice over booze, let his crew smack him around, told horribly embarrassing stories of Ace when he was a kid (stories Marco filed away in his mind for future blackmail), and was currently parading around with two sticks shoved up his nose. Not exactly the spitting image of ‘terrifying emperor’.
And Ace was beside him for all of it, cheering his brother on like he was the coolest damned thing in the world, a large and careless grin on his face. Marco couldn’t help but wonder, with a sad pit in his stomach, if they were going to lose Ace after this.
At some point during the party, the sun having gone down awhile ago, everyone drunk and asleep with warm bellies, scattered around the deck, Marco leaned back, probably the only one still awake. The only noise around them for miles was the loud snoring of his brothers and sisters, the Strawhats, and the splashing of the ocean.
Marco stretched, bones cracking, and climbed to his feet, deciding to honor the call of Mother Nature. As he walked to the bathroom he heard chatter, just small whispers. He followed the noise, mind still fuzzy from alcohol, to the steps that lead to the top portion of the ship.
Peaking around a corner, not really intending to hide, it more so just happened, he saw Strawhat and Ace, curled into the corner of the steps.
Ace was resting against Strawhat’s side, fiddling with a ragged string that came from the end of Strawhat’s jeans. Strawhat had his head lazily resting on top of Ace’s, eyes tired but still awake.
For a moment, Marco could easily see these two as kids. He could see how Strawhat would be the idiot brother, unserious until a firm hand was needed. How Ace would spit in the other boy’s face, probably try to fight him more than once, but still rely on his older brother with unyielding trust that could only stem from a younger sibling’s belief their older counterpart could do anything. (Somewhere in Marco’s mind, no matter how silly he told himself he was being, he swore they looked like they were missing a piece. Like there was a spot they were keeping open between them, just in case).
“-And then he threw me overboard, again!” Ace complained, throwing a hand into the air. Strawhat laughed a shishishi. “I just don’t get them.” And then the boy scowled and folded his arms, turning away from the older one. Strawhat paused, staring at Ace.
“They’re Nakama.” He said simply.
“Yeah! But- but, I just… I don’t get it.” Ace grumbled quietly, a sad expression on his face, arms crossed over his belly, shoulders caving in on themselves. He looked lonely, Marco thought.
“And now they want me to be part of their stupid crew and I…” The boy trailed off, face scrunching, some of that infamous anger rising up.
“Do you want to stay with them?” Strawhat asked, leaning forward and trying to catch his little brother’s eye. Ace grumbled something Marco didn’t catch. “If you don’t want to stay then you can join my crew. I can bring you on awesome adventures!”
Ace scoffed, “As if I’d join your crew.” But it seemed half-hearted. He looked down, staring hard at his shoes. There was a pregnant pause of silence, one that went on long enough that Marco was about to turn and leave.
But then, “I just- I just don’t want to mess anything up. I don’t know how- I just, I just-” And to Marco’s utter surprise (a feeling he was growing familiar with) Ace had tears in his eyes, a frustrated expression on his face as he waved his hands around trying to decipher whatever feelings were swimming around in his head.
“I just don’t know if I deserve it.” The boy eventually bit out, tears dripping down a wrinkled chin, refusing to meet his brother’s stare. Marco almost marched out there himself at how damned broken the boy sounded.
But before he could Strawhat smacked him hard on the back of the head. Marco paused.
“Ow, Luffy, what was that for you ass-?!”
“Stupid Ace! I didn’t ask you what you do or don’t deserve, I asked you what you want.” Strawhat turned fully to his brother, hands on Ace’s shoulders as he looked at him with probably the most serious expression Marco had seen from him yet.
“Do you want to stay and be Nakama with them?”
Ace bit his lip, chin wobbling. He didn’t answer. But somehow it seemed like a response to Strawhat. The boy took a breath.
“Ace deserves to be happy. If they make Ace happy, then stay.” Ace nodded, but Strawhat didn’t seem filled by that answer. “I want to hear Ace say it.”
“I - I want to stay. I want to stay with Whitebeard and his crew.”
Strawhat smiled.
xXx
The next day, Ace waved goodbye to Strawhat, and turned to Whitebeard’s crew.