Chapter Text
Garp was on the Moby Dick.
He wasn’t supposed to be here, he wasn’t supposed to be here looking so pathetic, standing in front of him looking as if he’d only just stopped crying- if only for a moment.
Because that wasn’t who Garp was, he never talked about the mushy feelings let alone express them.
Ace honestly had never seen Garp like this before, it was a startling sight and a pool of dread was already starting to fill Ace's gut.
It was only then that Ace also realised that he never told anyone that he knew Garp personally- from anyone else’s perspective it might have looked like he was about to attack the Moby Dick, though the lack of marines hopefully made it clear that’s not what was going to happen.
Ace wished that an attack was what was going to happen and not whatever he was about to hear.
“So Garp, what business brings you to my ship and more importantly to talk to my second division leader, I presume it's not on navy business, I would hope” Whitebeard emphasised the last part as a warning to Garp.
“No, not that sort of business” Garp sounded even worse than he looked; his voice hoarse and ragged.
He turned his head to look at Ace,
“Ace I need to talk to you” the look in his eyes told him it was serious, if you asked him to describe it frankly he wouldn’t be able to.
Ace never wanted to see that look in his eyes again.
Thanks to Garps abrupt entrance on the ship, quite a crowd amassed on the main deck of the Moby,
Whitebeard thought it’d be appropriate for the two men to have some form of privacy.
“Right everyone clear the deck and get back to your duties, they won't get done themselves, there needn't be an audience”.
Quickly the deck disbursed into a wave of murmuring, there was no doubt that the pirates were theorising of what could possibly be of importance.
Soon the only ones on deck were Ace, Garp, Marco and Whitebeard himself.
”Ace i think you ought to sit down for this” Garp said while also sitting down on the deck himself.
It was odd, the old man speaking as softly as he was, it was like he was being careful with his words.
Ace, too stunned at Garps odd behaviour, slowly sat down himself, crossing his feet under one another.
“I’m afraid there’s no easy way to say this” Garps eyes were closed and his head hanging low as if looking at Ace while talking was too painful of an act.
"I don't know how but they found out but they did and a buster call was enacted on Dawn; there were no survivors”
suddenly it was as if the entire world was on an axis; Ace felt like he was going to be sick. That pool of dread now was exploding, his chest tightening and in this very moment it felt like nothing else around him mattered anymore.
“What do you mean you shitty geezer” Ace didn't feel like sitting, not anymore. “What are you trying to tell me?”
He couldn’t breathe, air was refusing to get into his lungs, even though he had just stood up he almost sat down again; the entire deck felt like it was in the middle of a storm- despite it being clear skies.
“luffy is gone, im so sorry ace”
“no, luffy- he cant, this is luffy were talking about- he's not” Ace felt like he was going to vomit he wanted to scream, cry out; but he couldn’t.
He couldn't do anything.
After a tender moment Marco spoke out “Ace” he spoke carefully “whose luffy?”
“he’s my kid brother” it was barely above a whisper as he turned his head around to face the man. The face Ace was making couldn’t have been a pleasant one,as the face Marco reflected back certainly wasn’t.
“You have a brother?” Marco sounded shocked- maybe even a little betrayed.
Ace had been with the Whitebeards for almost a year now and outside his ragtag family he had never trusted anyone, the Whitebeards made damn sure and gave Ace every reason to trust them; and he did.
But Luffy was a whole different level, he tried everything to keep him hidden and protected but in the end it didn't matter what he did.
Maybe Ace should feel guilty maybe he should of told his new family about the bratty crybaby that saved his life, but none of that matters.
He ignored Marco turning his attention back to Garp who was still sitting still, as if a statue.
Ace felt a sudden surge of anger well up inside.
He had so many questions and this shitty bastard is going to tell him everything.
“when?”
“what?” Garp finally looked up, truly looking at him in the eyes for the first time.
“When did it happen, how long did you wait before coming to tell me? How could you sit back and let them kill him? How could you let them kill your grandson? How many more kids have to die under the system you support so much before you see it for what it truly is? when Garp, tell me when!” Tears slowly started to make their way out of Ace his hands shaking like the rest of him as he screamed and berated Garp.
Ace didn't care for how harsh he was being, it was bad enough losing Sabo and now Luffy was gone too.
Any sympathy for Garp had long gone out the window.
The mere thought of Luffy on that burning island dying alone and confused out in that forest somewhere made him feel sick to his core.
Luffy hated being alone.
Ace had left him all on his own.
Ace had promised that he would live for Luffy, now he was gone.
Ace just wishes that he took Luffy off the island as soon as he set sail, take both of them away from that damn island.
He remembers when he was getting ready to set sail, Luffy was nowhere to be found. Ace had looked everywhere but to no avail. I mean sure Ace was bummed that Luffy wasn't going to say goodbye but if that's what his little brother wanted to do then that was that. It was almost impossible to get him to do anything he didn't want to do.
That was until he looked into one of the barrels on the boat he was about to sail out on. Luffy had managed to sneak himself into one of them. When he did that Ace had no clue; he made Luffy get out so that he could start his own journey on his own.
Who knew that would end up being his greatest mistake.
“I didnt know until the order had already been issued” Garp finally spoke “They kept it from me on purpose, ..Ace im so sorry” Garps voice was breaking at this point clearly at his limit as well, it was too fresh to talk about for the both of them.
Suddenly being out on the open deck felt wrong and too exposed. It was all just too much despite being in the open it felt like walls were closing in around him
He knew people were going to ask questions and Ace didn't think he could take that right now, so he did the only thing he ever knew how to do.
So he closed his eyes and ran, just like he ran from his past, his home and now he was running from the truth.
He ran off the main deck and into the lower decks and through the halls and gallies it didn't matter who was calling after him or what they were shouting as long as he kept running; and he soon found himself standing in his room.
He didn’t really remember how he managed to get there but he’s glad that he did
And in that moment it was as the world came crashing down onto him the weight of what he had just been told finally hitting him for the first time.
Silent sobs wrecked his body, his entire frame shaking.
He could feel bile traveling up his throat burning him.
Luffy
All he could think of was his baby brother
Luffy
He was going to be pirate king
Luffy
He never even got to step off the island
Luffy
Luffy wanted to live so badly and Ace was the one that wanted to die, so why was he the one that was able to live, while Luffy couldn’t
Why
Luffy
Luffy hated being alone
His hands traveled to his chest clawing it red desperately trying to get any form of oxygen into his lungs.
Dizziness took over and Ace collapsed leaving him crumpling to the floor on his knees, his body bending over itself and his arms wrapping around his body in some form of pathetic comfort.
Oh god nothing was ever going to be ok again, was it?
Someone was in his cabin- maybe, Ace didn’t know nor care.
They were saying something, maybe trying to calm him down, it didn’t matter what they had to say because Luffy was dead and it was all his fault.
Time was passing, it could of been minutes or hours but Ace didn’t care, he hoped the person would just leave, leave like everyone else did in his life.
It was better for everyone that way
He was cursed to destroy everything he loved
His arms no longer clawing at his chest now fell beside him leaving him face first into the wooden floor, unable to hold himself up.
No longer choking but gasping for air all he could do was lay there and let it pass, if it ever did.
He was tired so tired, even though he could finally breathe Ace couldn’t even bring himself to raise his head.
So he lead there on the floor until everything went dark and the spots in his vision overtook everything.
Luffy
———————————————————————
Marco quite frankly had no earthly idea of what was going on, for one the Navy Vice Admiral Garp was currently on the Moby and he wanted to talk to Ace?
He knew Ace held a lot of secrets, despite being so laid back there was a lot more to him than he let on, and this must of been one of those closely guarded secrets.
Ace didn't look nervous, more so concerned. Marco’s confusion only increased when they both sat down together and started to talk.
Pops quickly ushering away everyone from the deck.
Marco had a feeling that he should stay for this.
He didn't have a lot of information to go off from, honestly no one on the ship did, but as soon as a buster call was mentioned by Garp, Marco grasped the situation at hand immediately.
Ace and Garp were talking about a boy, Marco could only assume the worst; a family member.
Despite Ace never stating that he had any family; he wouldn’t put it past the teen.
His curiosity got the better of him and he asked who the boy was.
The face Ace made as he turned around was a face he had never seen on the man before. His face was a ghostly white, and his eyes wide. His jaw was fearsly clenched together as if it was the thing holding him together. When he spoke it came out strained.
Apparently it was his brother and on top of that it was his younger brother, suddenly Aces protective tendencies started to make a bit more sense.
The argument between the two carried on as himself and Whitebeard stood off to the side; mostly to make sure nothing escalated.
Ace it seemed decided he had enough and ran to the lower decks. Pops tried to call after but to no avail.
Garp sighed in defeat, moving to stand up. “Look after him for me, will you?”
“Of course I will he’s my son, do you think you are able to explain the situation to us?
I think I understand the situation at hand, though an explanation will greatly help” Whitebeard enquired, Garp now sat in front of Pops.
“yes of course, well to put it bluntly; the island that Ace grew up on had a buster call issued onto it.
Ace had a brother on the island— well his foster brother. His brother was my grandson and his father, I shouldn’t be telling you this part but I guess it doesn’t matter now; is the leader of the revolutionary army. That is why the buster call was issued, the navy thought it best to get rid of him before he starts causing any problems for them” Garp spoke with no emotion almost disconnected from what he was saying “That boy meant everything to Ace, you better take damn good care of him, even if he is a no good pirate now.” The insult falling flat “I'm going to Dawn island and so is Luffy's Father. If Ace wants to come then he knows where to go.” Garp moved towards the railings
“so look after him for me, do what i couldn’t do”
And like that he jumped onto his own vessel and made haste into the open seas ahead.
“im going to go check on Ace, Pops” Marco spoke, breaking the silence left by Garp and the information now loaded onto them.
God this was going to be a shit show.
Marco knew where Ace would be but just to make sure he would still ask around.
Walking into the dining room he found Thatch, he and other kitchen staff members were starting to make preparations for dinner.
“hey Thatch, you haven’t happened to see Ace have you” he enquired
“oh hey Marco” Thatch replied back, he was currently sitting on one of the large benches that they have in the dining hall “actually i did see him run through here I think he was going to his cabin, he looked rather distressed is he alright, I heard there was stuff going on with vice admiral Garp on the top deck?”
“I'm sure pops will inform you and the other commanders later, but thanks I'm going to check in on him now” Marco didn't really want to share anything that Ace wouldn’t want to say.
However considering the size of the ship it would only be a matter of time before rumours started to emerge.
And rumours could get out of hand fast.
“I'm guessing what Garp had to say to him was nothing good” Thatch replied looking down grimly “ah well whatever it is we can deal with it as a family” looking back up to Marco with a smile.
Marco wished he could be as optimistic as Thatch but considering what he just saw up on deck and how quickly Ace dissolved and collapsed into himself he couldn’t be so sure.
They both waved each other off as Marco made his way further into the Moby Dick soon coming towards the commander's cabins. Ace had only recently a few months ago been promoted to second commander, everyone on board was thrilled. Even though it was entertaining watching him try to take pops out, seeing Ace finally start to get comfortable with the crew really did make everyone happy.
It wasn't hard to see that Ace had major trust issues and so being able to earn that trust was worth more than any treasure.
As Marco neared Ace’s room he started feeling worried, he had no clue what he was about to walk into, man he should have just asked Thatch to do this, Marco sure was a nurse but the level of emotional help Ace needed right now was just not in his arsenal.
He knocked on the door and waited only to get no response. He could hear heavy breathing inside and Marco decided to open the door just to make sure Ace hadn’t done anything stupid.
Ace was hunched over himself, kneeling on the floor.
He made his way to where he was kneeling and knelt down towards him. Ace didnt make any indication that he knew Marco was there. He just kept shaking and breathing heavily almost as if he was trying to keep it together. It was honestly horrible to watch.
Ace kept muttering his brother's name, Luffy, over and over again like the chant had a chance of suddenly bringing him back.
Marco wasn't one for emotions, however being the ships doctor had taught him a lot, he’d seen people have panic attacks before, he’d been on this ship and a doctor long enough to know how to handle them- in theory. Sure Marco was a doctor but that didn’t mean he dealt with the mushy feelings all that well, he was still a pirate after all. It was normally other crewmates like Thatch who would help- the man surprisingly dealt with emotions well.
In other words Marco had no clue what to do.
But he knew he had to comfort Ace or at least get him to calm down, the teen was hyperventilating and it looked like it wasn’t going to end anytime soon.
Carefully without making any sudden movements he walked over to Ace, shutting the door behind him quickly. He made his way in front of Ace and knelt down in front of him.
Marco had never seen Ace in this state before, Ace was a hot head- he rushed head first into danger without thinking and he definitely didn’t want people to get close enough with him to see this side of him. At least that’s what Marco has learnt about Ace within these months of knowing him.
Slowly Marco put his hand on Aces shoulder to test the waters, but Ace quickly withdrew and curled tighter into himself; breath hitching.
It was clear to Marco that physical comfort wasn’t going to work.
He’d seen other men react differently some would shout and others would cling onto the person giving comfort but it was clear Ace was in a world of his own right now and nothing was going to get through.
So Marco did the only thing he could.
He talked.
“Hey- Ace I don’t know what you’re going through but I promise we can get through it together” what the hell are you saying, the “magic of friendship” isn’t going to fix that fact that his brother is dead you twat”
“I mean- just that, no matter what happens I promise you aren’t alone. You won’t face anything alone”
God Marco had no idea what he was doing- he didn’t even know if Ace was even registering what he was saying right now.
“I know it probably feels like your entire world is ending right now, but- I need you to know that you can lean on us”
God listening to Aces wheezing and gasping was horrible, he had to get Ace to start breathing and regulating himself or he was going to pass out.
“Ace I need you to try to breathe for me”
Seeing his youngest brother like this was something Marco decided he never wanted to see again.
Marco kept rambling and reminding Ace that he in fact didn’t have to do everything alone and that he had the entire crew and pops with him, it got to the point where he was just waffling about anything and everything- god he wished Thatch or even Izo was here right now.
Slowly but surely it seemed as if Ace's body was finally starting to breathe right, Marco doubted that it was anything to do with his ramblings and more so to do with the fact that his body was exhausted and giving out on him.
Just like Marco thought with what little tension was left in Aces body, he collapsed onto the wooden floor.
It was honestly a little disturbing to see his body go from jerking and shaking to relatively still.
Deciding that it couldn’t be comfortable on the floor Marco picked Ace up, rolling him onto his side looping his arms under his neck and legs.
“Jesus kid what the hell do you eat you’re heavy as hell” he thought to himself.
Marco, as carefully as he could laid Ace on his bed and quickly gave him a check up after the attack just to make sure nothing serious had happened, it was unlikely but he still wanted to make sure anyways.
His eyes were still open but barely, it was clear Ace wasn’t really in the room with him at the moment. Maybe it was better that way. Putting his fingers to Ace's neck and then wrist he found his heart rate slowing down.
It was clear that Ace was fine and now calming down on his own, some help he was.
By the time he had finished making sure that Ace was physically fine he found an hour had already passed, dinner was most likely long gone by now.
Turning around, Marco exited Ace’s room, closing the door quickly behind him.
Walking through the gallies it was clear some of the men were curious, I mean Ace did just run through the entire ship so people were bound to have questions.
But those were going to have to wait, before anyone gets to know what happened he needed to talk to Pops before any rumours started.
Having memorised this ship a long time ago he easily made his way to the captain’s quarters.
For the first time in a while Marco hesitated, the idea of relaying the prior moments to pops made his stomach churn in a way it hadn’t before.
If he talked about what had gone down then it would mean everything would change; not that it hadn’t already. Talking about it would just solidify everything.
It would also solidify the fact that Ace hadn’t trusted the crew enough to tell them that he had family, and now he would never get the chance to do it on his own merit.
But this wasn’t about how he felt, this was about Ace, and what happens next.
Marco had seen others go through loss and he knew that this would either make or break Ace.
He wasn’t about to lose a sibling, not on his watch.
Stealing himself he knocked on the impossibly large door.
Moments later he heard a gruff sound akin to the words “come in”
“Ah Marco my son I thought it was you”
Pops had that smile that eased his woes and brought comfort.
Marco shut the door and crossed the room to where Whitebeard was sitting in his bed.
He quickly sat down at the foot letting himself sink into the mattress.
For a moment they sat there in silence; the only noise to be heard was the beeping of a heart monitor.
Marco silently thanked Pops for the moment of silence.
“How’s Ace?” Whitebeard decided to be the first to break the silence.
“He’s-“ Marco couldn’t really find the words “Pops I had no idea he had a little brother” Marco knew it was selfish to make this about him but he didn’t know how to approach the situation.
“No one did, I hope you aren’t taking it to heart. Ace holds a lot of secrets just like anyone, perhaps with time he would of told us however that moment of possibility had past and we must deal with the present”
“No, I’m not. I’m just surprised that’s all”
Slowly he looked to face Pops for the first time since entering the room.
“Pops it was so- disturbing to see Ace like that” Marco turned away placing his head into his hands, Marco should be less affected by this than he is, he’s seen the terrors of war and bloodshed in his years of piracy, but everything just felt so different when it came to their youngest brother.
Despite Ace thinking that he was grown and mature in reality the crew still saw him as a kid- despite what Ace would tell you.
“When I walked into his room, he was hunched into himself on the floor; panicking. At first I tried to comfort him but I guess that was the wrong move, so instead I tried to talk to him- to see if I could get through to him, I don’t even think he registered I was in the room with him to be honest. By the end he ended up collapsing, so I picked him up from the floor and put him onto his bed” The entire time Marco was relaying the prior events Whitebeard gave no indication of wanting to interrupt instead letting Marco vent out his frustrations and worries.
“The entire time he was panicking he kept repeating his brother’s name ‘Luffy’ over and over again. I’m just scared that now even though he never talked about him- now we’ve lost Luffy we might lose Ace”
Now looking back up at Whitebeard he could see his face still in that same smile, that only few were privy to. Despite the distressing situation Marcos scrunched up face started to lessen and relax.
The face slowly morphed into a slight frown as he began to talk.
“Only time will tell my son, I will talk to Ace when he is awake and feeling up to it. Then we can have a meeting with the division leaders to discuss our next course of actions, if that eases you”
Just like always Pops knew the exact words to say “Thank you” Marco finally let out a small smile.
“Right you best be off now it’s starting to get late, I’ll see you in the morning”
“See you Pops”
And with that Marco exited the room still filled with uncertainty but now it was no longer filled with dread.