Chapter Text
It's after Ace thanks Red Haired Shanks for saving his little brother's life, after his crew invites the Spade Pirates for a party, that a woman comes up to him.
A woman with a long braid of red hair, streaked with white. She wears a heavy cloak, and looks about as old as Shanks' first mate if not older. Experienced.
"Is it alright if I talk to you?" Her voice is low. Quiet.
If she's part of Shanks' crew...he glances over at the man in question, who looks over to see the woman before nodding back. It's alright, then.
"Sure."
He follows her over to a small cave, one of many dotting the cliffside of this mountain he met Shanks on.
Leaning against the cave wall, the woman takes out a pipe to smoke.
He considers offering to light it, like he does for people's cigs all the time. But she doesn't ask for one, only tapping at the pipe's sides.
Then she starts to blow bubbles out of the pipe. Instead of smoke.
Uh.
"One of my son's crew gave it to me, as a prank. I don't think they expected me to use it," the woman says to him, lips quirking slightly.
Son- oh, the red hair! "You're Red Haired Shanks' mom?"
Ace inwardly winces at how credulous he sounds at that. For her part, the woman only nods.
"And you must be Portgas D Rouge's son."
Wait. "You knew my mom?" Don't sound desperate, don't sound desperate.
"And your father."
He freezes.
The woman laughs slightly, after blowing out a stream of small bubbles. "Fire Fist Ace, the New World is the worst place for you to try to hide that, under that name and face."
Her fingers tap against her pipe.
"There are too many with old history wandering these waters, who will see the connection and put the pieces together without needing you to tell them. Your age will throw some off, but not all. Not enough to be safe."
Ace narrows his eyes, hands curling into a fists. "So what? You going to blackmail me over this?"
Suck to get Red Haired Shanks to hate him, after he takes out his mother, but if she tells-
"Of course not! I'm here to say, claim that I am your mother. Rouge, she had a brother, though one long lost. Have his name, and I will be the one that birthed you."
Wait, what. Ace looks her over, but she seems completely serious about the offer. Even puffing away at her joke pipe.
There's one big question to ask about this. "Why? Why offer that to me?"
(A monster. A child of a monster.)
"My son, Rogue, Roger...I care about them. Why not try to help you, for them?"
He scowls. "Don't bring up that man-"
"If you want to take on the evils of your father, you must take on the good as well," she tells him firmly. "Or you will continue to be surprised by those who do not wish you harm."
Her gray eyes burn, looking into Ace's.
"My son is a good man, and that is only possible due to the man you despise as your father. Hate Roger as you wish, but you do not get to put down what he did for my son."
He's never felt smaller than he does now, under the fire of those eyes and words.
"...okay."
The woman sighs, and the pressure lets from the air suddenly. Like stormclouds breaking away.
"I'm sorry. I understand very well the feelings you have about Roger. But it would be a disservice to us both, if I did not say what I offer is not in some way related to paying back him for caring for Shanks."
She taps her bubble pipe against her lips.
"Now. Do you want to do this or not?"
Ace thinks about it, tugging at his hat, his necklace. He doesn't want to give up his mom when all he has is a name, but if it would really so easy for people to tell that he's related to that man through it...
(He promised Luffy he wouldn't die.)
"Fine. We'll do it."
The woman, his new mom, weird shit, nods to him and places a hand on his shoulder. Steers him back to the bonfire, where everyone's singing and drinking and partying.
"You have a little brother," she announces to everyone in the vicinity.
Ace fights the urge to shrink back and only stares back at everyone's curious eyes, cheeks flushed. About ready to set himself on fire.
It is Shanks that laughs, leaning forward. "Then we have to celebrate! Another round!"
Through the cheers that set up at that, Shanks asks, "And what's the last name here? Since Portgas is the father's, right."
Ace bites back his words at that, because it's not but it is, for this story to work.
(He hopes his mom doesn't hate him for this, in the afterlife. If there is one.)
There's something hungry about Shanks, as he looks at his mother, waiting for an answer. It just then occurs to Ace that hey, maybe this man has struggled as much as he has searching for stories on his own mother.
Which is weird to think, when his mom is alive and here in front of him.
She takes a deep breath. Releases.
"O'Mallie, that is the line of our family."
~
Honestly, Ace didn't expect the entire "hey I'm your fake mom now" to come up again, after the Spade Pirates leave the territory of Red Haired Shanks behind them on the horizon.
It's just words, just a cover, just as much as Gramps only wanted to raise Ace up into a Marine to make up for his dad being the worst pirate. Honestly, he'd be fine with never seeing her again. He said his thanks to Shanks, there's no reason to see her again.
But here it is, coming up again.
Here, of all places, on the Moby Dick.
Standing in the center of the deck, decked in a wide woven hat with shimmering beads hanging in strings from its brim. The woman's armed this time, with a spear that looks a like Whitebeard's, though much smaller of course.
"Ace, what have you been doing?"
What does she think he's been doing. He growls, "Trying to kill Whitebeard."
She tilts her head to the side, glass beads clicking together.
"Do you want me to take care of him?" She asks.
Ace squeaks, nearly dropping the knife he has in hand. "What?"
"Handle Whitebeard," the woman offers, outright this time. She taps the butt of her spear against the ground.
"You don't think I handle this myself?" Ace does drop the knife this time, choosing to glare at her instead of picking it back up. "That I'm weak?"
The woman studies him from underneath her hat's brim. "No. I would never think that of you."
Good. He huffs. Having a fake mom is almost annoying as having one of the bandits looking over his shoulder. Is it always like this?
Wait, the ship's been awfully quiet. Ace looks around and everyone's just. Staring. More than a few are armed too, eyes intent on the woman standing before them.
None of the laughing or mocking they've been doing over Ace's past attacks. Everyone is very serious. Including Whitebeard's first mate, who's just touched down from who knows where, from wherever he's been watching everything from.
Marco the Phoenix's face is serious, arms folded over his chest, as he stares her down. "You know we can't have you making threat against our Captain, Rainmaker. No matter who you're connected to. Leave before we make good on that."
"Tell your Captain to take good care of my son, so I won't have to step in," she shoots back. She turns towards Ace once more, one last time, to nod at him. "Have fun, Ace."
Then, robes swirling about her, she races towards the railing and throws herself over it. And just like that, she's gone.
Leaving Ace alone on the Moby Dick once again.
The cook guy talks first, the closest to Ace right now. Thatch, that's his name right, with the head that looks like his hat. Kind of.
"You didn't say you were related to the Rainmaker!" Thatch hisses at him.
Ace blinks. "I didn't...think it mattered?"
The chef stares at him, before shaking his head. "That's the most believable thing about this yet. Why didn't you stay with your brother, then?"
Stay with Luffy? Why is that coming up? "I wouldn't be able to get my name out if I stayed there."
"...yeah, you wouldn't. So that's why you're going after Pops? To get your name as high as your family's?"
Oh, Thatch is talking about Shanks and the woman. That makes more sense. Either way... "The sea will know my name for me."
Thatch sighs, staring at him still. "Good luck with that, that's a hard shadow to overcome."
Ace has fought every day of his life to overcome the Pirate King's shadow, he knows. "I know that!" He tightens his hands into fists. "But I'll do it, I can."
"And you know what, Ace, you might actually be able to."
Thatch bends over, to pick up the dropped knife.
"Just, uh, without the killing Pops part. I'll take this back to the kitchen."
Huh, okay. Ace watches him go, before considering: hey his stomach's growling. Maybe he should follow the guy for more food. And so he does.
~
It's about debt, when it comes to the boy. To Ace.
More about his parents, than anything else, but frankly he should be used to that by now. 'Should be' being the key words here, Magnolia knows. Because it's quite clear that Ace struggles with that still, refuses to believe that he can't make his way out of the shadow of Gold Roger.
"Impossible, in this world."
Because if that were possible, escape such ties of blood, then...
Magnolia closes her eyes, breathing out from her nose.
Her children wouldn't have been taken from her, for being related to that man. Her son wouldn't have been hunted for years and years upon the seas, if not for that blood in his veins.
This world is cruel, when it comes to blood ties, perceived or otherwise.
No, Portgas D. Ace will always been known for his father, no matter how much he desires to follow after his mother.
A shame, to lie to him about that. About his father and mother being dangerous to him. No, it is only his father that those of the New World will see, despite Rogue's own prowess. Because everyone knows: mothers don't matter for blood.
Her lips twist crookedly.
Roger raised her son to be a good man.
It is a debt she owes him still, and never managed to pay before the end came for him.
The only action heavy enough for those scales, is to raise his son up similarly. Or at least-
"I can make sure he lives, the way you did not," she muses. "Whether he finds your legacy or not, that's up to him. But..."
Her hands clench into fists.
"But I will make sure he has the chance to make that choice."
Besides.
"Shanks wants a little brother. You told him you would, didn't you, Roger?"