I got two main request from the last fic, which are 'where are the others' reaction' and 'i wanna see them with kids/going to have kids'. I myself also have a wish that grew from one of my other finished fics called 'I wanna write about a couple entirely from other people's perspective, maybe even multiple of them'. So i thought, why not all of them? This is either gonna be great and fun… or it's going to crash and burn.

And since one of my fics are going to ah, ahem- end *soon*, i feel like it should be fine for me to post another long chaptered fic. Right?

(BTW, maybe before we will go deeper, this may need to be addressed. You're not required to read a fic. I know from reading the previous fic's comments that there will be thing(s) in this fic that not everybody liked and i respect that. And as thus, i highly encourage you to not read. I write because this is a stress relief and a pleasure, and though i enjoy sharing my writing, i understand that it's not always going to be something good or something everyone will like etc etc etc. In the end, i can only be thankful that you have all been generous with me despite my shortcomings and i hope i can continue to give you some entertainment in different titles and fics.

And with that being said, hope you'd enjoy!)

Something is up with Ace.

Of course, the person himself didn't seem to notice, nor does it seem like everyone else around him did, and it was honestly not surprising considering that Jozu had only picked up on it after he was talking to Ace in a close proximity over a list of chores their division would be doing together, and his face had been a few centimetres away from the young Omega's hair. He caught a single whiff of it in the middle of conversation, stopped mid-sentence, and frowned.

2 weeks has passed since the entire fiasco of his presenting - and subsequently, his bonding with Marco, which has surprised approximately no one - and to this moment and probably his entire life, Jozu would keep it to himself that he could still remembered the unforgettable scent of a new, unbonded Omega. Though his instincts could not help it, his own morals and a part of his Alpha side that acknowledged Marco as family and trusted ally told him to stay away, reminding himself constantly that Ace has been claimed by said family member and that he approved of this bond. Then again, he didn't think anyone in the ship would be crazy enough to ever challenge that.

But he's digressing. The fact remains that he still remembered what Ace's scent now smells like.

And despite the suppressant he knows the younger has to use now, sometimes some pheromones could leak out and he knows that what he smelled wasn't quite right.

Haruta, the one who had spent more time around Ace's room during his heat to deliver food and make rounds to send out chores and paperwork for Marco, had described the smell as melted ice cream and chocolate dipping on top of burnt s'mores, and that would be the description Jozu would use due to his own lack of ability to put it all into words. It was gentle and creamy, decadent with a pinch of something dark to balance the entire underlying teeth-rotting sweetness underneath it all. Thatch had even suggested that it smelled like a famous, scrumptious South Blue dessert, but then he's the cook, not Jozu. Jozu hardly even knew what he meant.

Yet right now, only inches away from Ace, he smelled something different. The underlying 's'mores-like scent' was still there, but there was something else underneath it all, something earthy and dense, unlike his own airy sweetness, like how their ship will smell like after it had rained. It wasn't uninviting, and almost strangely soothing that Jozu had to remind himself that he's in the middle of the open deck and surrounded by a lot of people.

"Jozu?" Ace called out in confusion, bringing him out of his reverie, "Is… everything okay? You seem lost in thought there,"

The diamond paramecia opened his eyes - when had he closed them? - and looked down to find the dark haired youth staring up at him. He cleared his throat, taking a step back and briefly catching sight of the plaster patch that covers the bond mark behind Ace's neck, partially covered by his hair, "Did you use a perfume or something?" he asked, absurd as it feels to. No one in this goddamn ship ever cares about that other than Izou, "You smelled different,"

Ace frowned in confusion, before lifting one of his arm and sniffed his own armpit. Jozu sighed, "That's not what i… never mind,"

"Then i'm not sure what you mean, sorry," The younger cocked his head, humming briefly, "Marco said the same thing this morning actually. Then he was nagging me about forgetting to take suppressants since he could smell me and all, even after i told him i already did,"

He didn't think this was caused by the lack of suppressant either, or else, other people would've mentioned it.

Still, something about that underlying scent was familiar. It felt like an addition of scent instead of a change, because Jozu could've sworn he recognized it.

He left it in the back of his mind, thinking of it merely as an anomaly and continued on working. Once or twice, he saw signs of some of the Alpha crew member picking up on the change as well, not because they chose to comment on it but because some has taken it to themselves to be unnecessarily close to the young commander. They seemed just as confused as he was, with one tactless Alpha even openly sniffing the air around Ace until Jozu silently glared at him to back down, and through it all, the Omega either ignored them or didn't seem to realize it at all.

"Ace,"

Again, Jozu was pulled out of his reverie, and looked up to find Marco frowning unpleasantly at him, at his mate and at the distance between them. The large man would've rolled his eyes if he could, but he refrained from doing so - openly, anyway - and took a step back. Some Alphas can't help but be protective of their Omegas, and said instinct would be heightened in the first few weeks after they established a bond. It's not rare these days to see Marco skulking about, popping or gliding out of nowhere because an Alpha or some overly affectionate Beta or Omega were too close to Ace.

Jozu understood, even if he feel slightly offended as well. Really, to think that 20 years of friendship and trust can be defeated by a man's basic instincts. But then again, he's never has a mate.

Ace turned away from Jozu and beamed, his grin stretching from ear to ear. Marco immediately relaxed, all of the previous tenseness in his posture melting away to nothing and Jozu began to form an opinion that maybe it has less to do with an Alpha's protective instinct and only because his Zoan friend is a sappy bastard, "Oh, Marco! I'm just finishing things up here with Jozu, can you give me a minute?"

The blonde nodded silently, leaning against the banister as he did, looking to all the world to be relaxed but Jozu can tell otherwise. He seems tense, almost impatient despite accepting the delay, as if he can't wait to quickly get away. Though of what, Jozu can't tell.

He turned to Ace instead, who was back to inspecting their list, and asked in a lowered tone, "You two going somewhere?"

"Not really," Ace shrugged, eyes never leaving the list and with his tongue jutting out between his lips in contemplation, "You know how you said i smelled different? Well, Marco wanted me to get checked out by the doctor. Don't know why, he doesn't tell me anything," he paused, frowning slightly, "It can't be anything serious, can it? I mean, if it has to do with smells, then it has something to do with me being an Omega, right? Ugh, i still don't get the whole secondary gender thing,"

He highly doubt that Ace's ignorance in basic biology was to blame, when Jozu himself felt puzzled.

It was truly curious, because as far as he knew, he had never heard of scents changing. Perhaps veiled, yes, but that would only ever happen during heat and rut, where an Alpha's pheromones would blanket around the Omega's scent and vice versa, the entire reason why only Betas like Haruta can get near them. Sometimes the mingled scent would linger for a couple of days after a bond was established, but it's been 2 weeks so it would've weakened to nothingness by then, and the patch on Ace's neck was designed specially to suppress that.

The only other explanation would be—

A little light bulb flickered on in the old noggin' as Marco strode over to them again, his pace forcibly relaxed but face obviously agitated, "Are you two done yet? You've only been talking to each other,"

"Geez, and you called me the impatient one," the raven haired male groused, "Fine, i'm done with my division's checklist. Here you go, Jozu,"

The man took the offered list without even looking, his eyes zeroed in on the retreating couple before he finally blurted out, "So, uh, it's true then when the guys on shopping duty said they thought they saw you buying post-heat potion back in the island from before?"

Marco was not one to lose his composure easily, so the fact that he immediately snapped his head around to face him was surprising. And mighty telling.

Meanwhile Ace, clueless as he is, only turned to him questioningly, "What's a post— Oh! That weird and yucky potion he had me drink after my heat? Yeah, he practically flew out of my room after my heat doesn't come back for over 2 hours and came back with it," he turned to Marco then, frowning, "What was that for again? Something about fertility prevention stuff—"

"Let's just go," ignoring Ace's protests, Marco pulled him away until the two disappeared to the depths of Moby's hull.

Jozu watched the two of them go, and finally whistled, "Damn,"

He didn't see either of them again the entire day, not even during dinner.

Well, he saw Marco, but the man had only entered the dining room to pick up 2 plates of food. One with some moderate amount and the other a portion that could only be eaten by a gigantic creature. Or Ace.

He left without interacting with anyone, not even to sit down briefly. Jozu watched him leave in a hurry, and noted the nervous expression on his face.

"What was that all about?" Vista muttered next to him over his cup of tea. Jozu shrugged, even though he had an inkling he knows exactly what had happened.

"Who knows, maybe we'll find out tomorrow," he told his fellow commander, before digging into his own food and keeping his thoughts to himself.

He's not really one to gossip, after all.

The next day was the start of a new week, and therefore, the start of another Commander meeting. This would be the time each commander will be given their chores for the week and has their performance reviewed briefly, and where they would discuss any news and situations that has arise in the previous week.

A few minutes before the meeting was supposed to start, the diamond paramecia noted that Ace has yet to arrive, which was something of a common occurrence - for reasons such as sleeping in, forgetting about the meeting or just plain having a narcoleptic attack on his way over - but it was less common to see that Marco has yet to arrive as well. Marco, who is the one who gave them their assignments and lead these meetings, and would always be the first one to arrive.

He wasn't the only one who noted this, of course, when Curiel piped up in the next to a drowsy Rakuyo, "I bet they both slept in,"

Next to him, Atmos hummed, "Think one of us should go and check?"

"Hey, if the meeting doesn't start in 15 minutes, that means we're free to go, right?"

"You do you, Thatch. I'll just be waiting here when Marco flings you to the sea for daring to escape,"

"Aww, Izou, don't crash my dream like this,"

Izou opened his perfectly painted lips, obviously about to reply when the door was opened and Marco strode in, looking like everything was perfectly fine until he started speaking in a faster tempo than usual, "Ah good, everyone's here. We can get started,"

Haruta looked around, and raised his hand, "Uh, Ace isn't he—"

"Everyone is here," the blonde spoke a little louder, as if to drown out Haruta's observation, "No problem as of last week, which is good, and we won't be arriving in any land for another week so you can continue on with your chores as per usual until further notice. Jozu, good job on planning out to ration our supplies, i just need you to tweak the logistics a little, the details are listed on your papers," he spoke so rapidly it was rather hard to understand, and he even practically throws said paperworks to his direction, "Vista, i saw your report about the preventing mite infestation and i need you to work together with Fossa and Curiel about it—"

As Marco kept making his rounds and giving his explanations and reviews in abnormal speed, he looked down on his papers. There was indeed a new checklist, probably of the tweaks that Marco mentioned, but he couldn't help to also notice that he was to work alone with the assistance of the First Division as per needed. He didn't really mind it, but the last time he worked alone on this task had been during the times when there was no Second Division Commander. Besides, the First Division was solely responsible for navigation and weather, not supplies and crew logistics.

When he looked up and ready to voice this, Marco has already reached Izou and on his way to the front of the room, hands clasped together and face trying so hard to be neutral. He kept glancing to the door as well as he spoke, so fast it was a miracle he didn't twist or bit his tongue, "Right then, everyone knows what they're supposed to do? Good. If there's no more quest—"

The door was suddenly slammed open with a bang, and Marco immediately sighed without even looking.

Stomping inside of their meeting room with the most displeased expression ever known to mankind was Ace, and if the way he glared a Marco as he made a beeline over to the only empty seat next to Jozu was of any indication, they know who pissed him off so much. He sat down, oddly gently so as he does instead of plopping down carelessly, and crossed his arms as he jutted his lower lips and narrowed his glaring eyes.

14 pair of eyes were torn between watching Marco shaking his head despondently and Ace sulking, trying to make sense of this situation until Ace spoke, in a snippy tone, "Where's my assignment?"

Marco sighed again, longer and wearily, "All assignments and task for Second Division will be handled by Second Division members and will be supervised by the First—"

"You can sleep on the floor tonight,"

"I have my own bed, Ace,"

"Yeah, well, guess what i'm going to burn after this,"

The blonde commander ran a hand down his face, with the skin on his face contorting weirdly as a result, "Then the floor it is,"

Ace's glare turned even more potent, his teeth clacking together with how hard he bit down. He kicked on an empty barrel, quite alike to the ones some of the room's inhabitant has been using as chairs and causing it to fall down and broke into splinters. He then stomped away again, not forgetting to slam the door so hard that it fell of the hinges.

All eyes that was watching his exit now turned to Marco, who was looking up to the ceiling with an expression that begs for patience, "Please leave," he finally murmured without looking at them, and after a few moments of hesitation, they all did, with Jozu being the one at the very end. He glanced at Marco as he stood on the doorway - sidestepping the poor, fallen door - noting the rising murmurs in front of him that were basically the start of what he knows will be the beginning of a long and widely travelling gossip chain only disproved once the real truth comes out.

The armor-clad man waited until the nearest voice faded in the distance - It was Thatch's voice saying a sing-song 'Trouble in paaaradiiiseeee' - before he spoke, "The potion didn't work, huh?'

If he didn't know Marco for so long, he would've called the voice that came out of his throat a whimper.

The Second Division had been understandably confused to know that they won't be receiving order from their Commander, but apparently a command is a command, and they get right to work. One of them, Masked Deuce, who Jozu recognized to be Ace's ex-first mate had been the only one who asked, coming up to him during their break, "Where is Ace then? I just saw him stomping about the deck earlier, so he's not sick,"

He will be soon, Jozu thought, but again, he's not one to gossip, "Not really, but Marco has a good reason to keep him away from his duties at the moment,"

The blue-haired man frowned behind his eponymous mask, his lips pulled into a downward curve, "Of course he was the one who caused this," he commented mildly, and Jozu didn't really know what to make of his tone, "Isn't it quite archaic of him to be acting like this? There are plenty of other Omegas in this ship so i know this is not done in general,"

Understanding what got the man quite miffed, Jozu found himself not caring for his tone, even if he kind of understand where he was coming from, "Marco's not like that and he won't do that to Ace, you know he hadn't for the last 2 weeks. He just had his reasons now,"

The frown on Deuce's face smoothed out slightly, although what remains turned into confusion, "And that is?"

Jozu shrugged, hoping that his face was as neutral as usual, "Who knows,"

Ace's ex-first mate looked at him with full suspicion, but he ignored the Alpha and walked away towards his original destination before he was interrupted; the dining area.

As expected of the crew of the strongest man in the seas, the moment he stepped into the large space, not a single word that escaped everyone's mouth defied from the current hottest topic on board of Moby Dick in the middle of nowhere: the newly bonded Alpha and Omega couple were having a bit of a row.

"Like, he burned a hole down the quarterdeck, an actual hole. And Commander Marco just stood there watching him and doing nothing. I was about ready to piss my pants and that guy was just standing there,"

"Oof, he's so mad. What the hell did Commander Marco did to Commander Ace anyway?"

"You didn't know? Second Division wasn't lead by Commander Ace today, and it looks like the roster for the week doesn't include him anywhere, with Commander Marco taking over command,"

"Oh, what?! Why'd he do that?! I'd take reporting to Commander Ace anytime than to Commander 'your-writing-is-bad-in-paragraph-5-section-3-so-you-gotta-redo-the-whole-thing'. It's so stupid, why do we even have to do paperworks anyway, we're supposed to be pirates, not marines and bureaucrats,"

Jozu walked away - also silently agreeing with the last crew member - and made his way over to the counter area to order his food. The queue was unusually disorganized today, with so many people flocking by the lone separator table between the kitchen and the dining area, and as he approached, he understood why. Amongst the raptured crowd was Thatch, arms moving exaggeratedly as he always does whenever he was spinning and weaving an entire gossip full of juicy details, and from personal experiences, Jozu knows that they could either be tales full of truth told in hyperbole or just plain made up speculations told very convincingly.

Usually, he couldn't care less, because as much as he abhorred joining in, he knows that plenty of his nakama enjoyed great gossips and it was one of the way to pass time. However, this time it felt rather personal and more serious than any other time, so he stepped in closer, just in time to hear Thatch say, "—and then Ace was all 'I'll burn your bed!' and Marco was all 'Fine, i'll sleep on the floor'," the crowd gasped, the dramatic lot, and the reaction made Thatch nod rapidly as if he was still trying to convince people that he's telling the truth, "I know, right?! Unbelievable! It's like he's asking to be burned!"

"And i think you lot are just asking to be the way you kept talking about them,"

The crew members surrounding the table looked warily at each other, while Thatch moved his sight from them to him, "Jozu, do you have any idea what could've happened? Like oooh, boy, Ace's glare give me chills! Or, well, burns!"

The larger man rolled his eyes as the cook snickered, ignoring the groans around him, "No, and i don't think it's anyone's business what caused them to fight. It's actually a bit rude the way you all kept talking about them,"

"Oh come on, we're not harming anyone," the auburn haired chef insisted, pouting slightly and making Jozu glare at him drily, unamused, "Besides, it's a little hard to ignore them when they're literally fighting in front of everyone. Bet they're still over near Pops' chair, but no one wanted to check just in case some flames were used,"

Come to think of it, it was rather strange to see that it was already 10 minutes into lunch and there has yet to be a mountain of food to be found somewhere on the tables. And if he is right - and he's pretty sure he is, judging by Marco's reaction this morning - he's pretty sure Ace needs food now more than ever. He ordered his lunch from one of 4th division's staff - since their Commander was still too busy keeping everyone up to date with the latest gossip - and instead of finding a seat and eating there, he brought his plate out, and made his way over to the quarterdeck, where Pops' seat was located.

True to Thatch's word, both Marco and Ace were there, but instead of fighting like he had said, they were actually locked in quite the intimate embrace. Their mingled silhouette, a telltale sign for Jozu not to take a closer step were swaying gently, distorted by the clouded sun. The paramecia was about to leave them to it when he heard Ace spoke, his voice slightly muffled, "Are we going to tell them?"

"Do you want to?" he heard Marco ask, "The doctor said it might be risky these first few months, i want you to take it easy. After we tell everyone, you know there won't be a moment of silence for us, especially not for you,"

Ace hummed, seemingly considering, "Yeah, you have a point. This whole thing is still a bit too much for me to take in, to be honest," he sighed, his voice going even more muffled that Jozu can barely make out what he was saying. He heard Marco chuckle afterwards, and there was a wet and obvious kissing moment that reminded him that he needs to be somewhere else, preferably far away from this location.

"I'm sorry about the way i act," he heard Marco say again, before he can get too far, "I'm just so worried, i can barely sleep. I'm worried about you, about the future, about this— whole thing, and i kinda lost control of myself a little there,"

This time, it was Ace who laughed, a fond melodious tune that drips out affection and once again reminds Jozu that he needs to move away and stand somewhere where he could also stop people from coming over, "When are you not worried? I just know you're going to be even more overbearing after this,"

Marco grumbled, a reluctant agreement.

It sounded to Jozu like he doesn't quite let go of his 'worries' at all, but he found that his blonde friend probably decided to compromise, especially when after lunch, he arrived right next to Ace with a reluctant look on his face and a slumped of a defeated man as he announced in front of his and Ace's division, "There's been a revision in your weekly schedule. Second Division, you are no longer required to report to me, but proceed to do so to your Commander as per usual," he then paused, before continuing, "Of course, if you still want to report to me to lessen your Commander's workload, you are welcomed to— Ow! Oww, ow, ow, ow, Ace! F-fine, fine, no one reports to me, your Commander will receive all report— Ow! Stop it!"

Barely anyone can stop snickering at the sight of their First Division Commander and First Mate wincing at the hand pinching hardly at his side, including Jozu. He masked his amusement in the form of clearing his throat, eyes full of mirth when he saw the proud look on Ace's face as he extracted his hand away from Marco's side.

As everyone began to disperse and return to their respective duties, Jozu found himself being pulled to the side by Marco, even out of Ace's sight. He think the Omega probably saw them, but he didn't seem to react so he probably knows what Marco is doing, "I know you know what's going on," his friend said in low volume, understandably trying to keep others from hearing them considering the direction this conversation is going, "I can't stop him from working, but he promised that at the very least, someone will accompany him aside from me,"

"You are being a little overbearing," he commented, making Marco grumbled 'not you too' under his breath. The commander chuckled at his oldest friend, and placed a hand on purple clad shoulder, "I swear i'd look after him. Not just as my own friend and comrade, but also as my old friend's mate and the bearer of his child,"

Marco gave him a smile, genuine, even rather watery and full of emotion, "I still can't believe it," he said breathily, not even looking at Jozu anymore but turning to where Ace was a few feet away from them, his eyes so gentle and loving that Jozu can feel himself smiling just by seeing it, "Even after Doctor Amox said it's happening, it still feels so unreal. I can't stop thinking the whole day— Shit, i don't think i'm going to stop thinking about it until it was all over,"

"I think as time goes, you'll have to think about it whether you'd want to or not,"

Though it's probably not necessary to say that; they both know Marco would anyway.

When Marco finally left - after making him promise to not tell anyone yet - Jozu made his way over to Ace, who gave him a knowing side smile while still reading the list in his hand, looking extremely proud of himself. He likes to work and fulfil his responsibilities, and Jozu had the feeling that when the time comes for him to really get some rest and not work, the fight between him and Marco will be one no one would miss out on.

In the middle of working through their daily list, when everyone else was away from where they were, Ace suddenly spoke up, "I just thought of something,"

Jozu placed down the crate he had been lifting, plus the crate that Ace should be carrying as well, in between them before prying it open with his bare hands. He had expected to have to fight for it, since even he knows that it is something that undoubtably should not be done by Ace, but the fire logia barely commented on it, his hand subtly stroking his abdomen when he gave his approval. Jozu came to the conclusion that despite how they both looked on the outside, maybe Marco wasn't the only one wary and nervous about this situation, "What?"

A mischievous smile made its way to the young Omega's face as he spoke, "How pissed off and annoying do you think Thatch is going to be when he realized he's not the first person to know that i'm pregnant?"

Jozu dropped the crate's lid and clicked his tongue, "Ah shit,"

Right then, just like how the predecessor and original inspiration of this fic is the first time i wrote something like that, this is also the first time i write something like this! So, tell me what you think and thank you so much for reading! Hope you liked it!