"Remembrance"

(c) Mei Evelyn

A One Piece Fanfiction

One Piece (c) Eiichiro Oda

Summary: A simple mistake on his accord had turned the Moby Dick into simply pandemonium. Yet he felt peaceful sitting alone. Until Marco came and kept him accompanied. Arrangements of flowers on Ace's hands picked his interest, and so began a story, unraveling the little sister Ace once had.

Portgas D. Ace would never imagine a slip of tongue of something he never considered worth mentioning could lead into such a huge ordeal, one of the biggest event on his life. The closest equivalent term of the party currently took place in the Moby Dick was pandemonium, he decided after a long consideration. Even in narrow time span, the entire party-buster had pulled it off. Which was to say the entire crew under Whitebeard's flag. But if Ace had to choose someone, Thatch would be the number one to top the list of people-who-always-manage-when-words-party-and-pranks-included.

In just a matter of hours, started from early evening in the day before, everyone without exception had came upon the biggest revelation of the century, that was the Second Division Commander's birthday. What Ace didn't expect was the event that happened after that. He was thrown overboard in the butt by none other than the flaming pompadour-head himself. Fortunately, the sea surface was not the one that greeted him in the face so he was saved from sinking. Unfortunately, he had fallen face flat on the harsh and hot sand of a deserted beach. When he got up and turned around to yell out his lungs, his action was put into an abrupt stop when a sling af an arm draped over his neck, absentmindedly choked him since the owner of it decided to pull him by the neck further into the forest.

"Oi Haruta, you'll choke Ace to death if you don't let him go, yoi."

"Oi Ace! I heard the town in this island is popular with their good stuffs! We should check it out! Yeah, Marco? Tehee."

A lazy sigh was heard from Marco. Ace was still struggling for a way to breath.

Since that very moment, Ace couldn't help but repeatedly curse the gene on his blood that brought over stupidity trait called a-slip-of-tongue.

After the clock strike midnight and the party seemed to be impossible to be dying down at the moment, the unexpectedly still sober fire user decided to sneak out of the celebration. It was not like anyone would notice his disappearance, considering the crews' current state. He pulled himself into the far end of the huge pirate ship, the opposite of the boisterous festival. Somehow, it felt peaceful at the other end of the ship, even though the resounding laughter and songs were loud and high in the night. Despite his lone figure sitting above the railing with his feet dangling free, he didn't feel any bit of loneliness. On contrary, he felt warm in the midst of the cool breeze night air, not only physically but rather the feeling that squirm through his heart. For once, he felt extremely grateful for ever boarding the Moby Dick. It was nice to be a part of a family filled with people that openly accepted him as whole, as their precious comrade, as their brother.

He heard Haruta along with Namur the fishman sang very loud and clear, bringing even more laughter and joy. Then he caught the footsteps that echoed above the deck, coming toward him.

"They are loud, ain't they, yoi?"

The footstep stopped right behind the railing, a bit to his left. Ace snickered at the rhetoric sentence.

"I think you're used to it, being the longest crew. Are they always this loud in birthday party?" Ace mused.

"Mostly nearing this loud, but this is the loudest one so far, I admit. Though it seems like the more party they throw, the more loud they become. I'm surprise to see you still sober though, yoi."

Ace could easily imagine the stoic expression on Marco's face despite his tone was one of amused without turning around. "Well, I ate a lot of foods. And everywhere I went they always engaged me in silly dances. And every time I wanted to fetch some booze they got it first before me. Maybe just coincidences, just that it happened every time," Ace explained.

Silence fell between the two. It was comfortable, and somehow the presence of his comrade felt reassuring, though Ace didn't know how he could feel it that way. It was quite and peaceful and nice, only the sound of the resounding party at the other end and the waves slapping the hull beneath their feet.

It was long silence before Marco decided to break it. "What is that in your hands, yoi?" he asked, head tilting a bit to glance toward the object in question. It was a crystallized flower crown, being held by Ace's hand on his lap.

"Aa, this? It's a flower crown and flower necklace," Ace replied lightly, holding them up to show his friend.

Marco missed the necklace before since the flowers were all the same. The flowers were white and violet, small with a thin layer of crystal that covered the entire flowers. The crown one was fully braided in a fine twist spiralling the loop-shaped crown, each flower was thoroughly placed, and the arrangement of every single flower followed a certain pattern based on colour, size, and even the shades of each colour. Judging from how neat and beautiful the outcome looked, the creator must had a delicate hands and quite a talent to arrange such simple yet astounding result. On the other hand, the flowers attached in the necklace were only one third of the loop, several black strings twisting and remained visible. The arrangement of the flowers was far from the one in the crown, it was much simpler without any twist or pattern, yet Marco could see how much the arranger tried to assemble the flowers without giving them any damage. The crown was full of rich taste, and the necklace screamed sincerity.

"From your brother, yoi?" Marco asked. He had caught the gentle and soft look on his companion's eyes, holding the crown and the necklace with care. That was the first time Marco ever saw it on his fierce friend.

"Yeah, Luffy gave me the necklace," Ace said, suddenly stopping himself from continuing his words. His mood had somehow turned a bit solemn, and Marco didn't miss the indication on his expression.

"And the crown, yoi?" Marco asked gently.

Ace didn't answer, instead he only stared into the flowers above his open palm. Marco didn't push the matter, since Ace would tell him when he was willing.

But the silence didn't stretch long as Ace said very softly, "They gave me these on my 12th birthday. It was raining all day, and I was so pissed off since they left me behind without telling me. I wandered alone that day. When I came home that evening, they were nowhere in sight. You could say I was mad, so I went to sleep early. But you know what, Marco? They came home that night and woke me up. They shoved these things in front of my face and said silly things at me. They didn't apologize or appear guilty at all."

A breeze passed the ship and Ace had a small smile tugging at his lips. Marco let the fire user went with his own pace, even though he was dying to know who was the other person Ace referring to.

"Try guessing what they said to me, Marco," Ace challenged Marco with light voice. He straighten his back and for the first time since their encounter that night, Ace looked at Marco in his eyes.

Marco stared back and then replied, "They wished you happy birthday, yoi?"

Ace snorted and lifted his head to stare at the starry sky, "If only, Marco. They said that I had to wear these crown and necklace right there and then. I never got the chance to yell at them, they lunged at me and forced these things to my neck and head. Even when I was little, this necklace was too small for my liking, I almost choked because of it."

Then Ace was smiling, a gentle one. Marco stayed quiet.

"I almost thrashed around to get away from them, but they suddenly said those silly things again,"Ace's voice went quieter by the second.

Marco didn't know how many minutes had passed since Ace last talked, but when he did, it was only above a whisper."They said..., thanks for being born and for being their brother."

A very genuine smile graced his lips as he ended his story. Marco smiled as well, he could feel the warm feeling that settled into his heart after listening to Ace. Those people must be very precious to him, had been living together with Ace since he was still a kid.

Both of them fell one more time into comfortable stillness. The night breeze sometimes would pass through, bringing over the signature salty scent of the vast sea, the scent they breath every time they sailed, the scent they recognized as home.

The sounding joy of the party behind had tuned down, but the noise indicated that the party was still on. The harmony of the night calmed both men, as the moon descended down from its highest throne.

"I wonder how they managed to get it crystallized, yoi," Marco said. He glanced back to the flowers in Ace's lap.

Ace suddenly laughed out loud, it shocked Marco for a moment. "That was a hard time for her I remember. She was sweating so much from concentrating too hard," Ace explained after his fit of laughter died down.

Marco quirked an eyebrow, thoroughly confused by the revelation. He was clueless of what Ace was talking about. But Ace didn't see the question in Marco's eyes as he was staring at the crown and necklace he held up close to his face.

"I never get to know the flower's name though. They refused to tell me, claiming it was a secret and all. And out of all people I had asked, not even one person knows the flower. Maybe they picked up a very rare species?" Ace said as he inspected the flowers.

"You just asked the wrong people. Have you ask Izo, yoi?" Marco suggested.

That alerted the fire user as he faced the phoenix. "Izo knows about flowers?"

"He knows a lot about them, yoi," Marco confirmed.

Ace immediately turned around and bolted toward the party without batting an eye. Marco followed soon after with slower pace, chuckling at his brother's antics.

When he approached the other end of the deck, he realized that the party had switched place somewhere along the party from the front deck to the shore. He transformed into his phoenix form to reach his gathering crew. Once he was on the ground, he walked toward Ace's way and ignored his drunken comrades, not bothering to greet them since no one was sober enough to greet him back.

"Oi, Marco. Did you see Izo? I can't find him everywhere!" Ace exclaimed when he caught sight of the First Division Commander.

"He sits next to Oyaji, yoi," Marco replied. He saw Oyaji when he was flying before and since Oyaji was huge it was fairly easy to spot the cross dresser beside him.

Ace brightened up and said, "Thanks, Marco!" before he leapt toward Oyaji at the far end of the group. Marco took his time to reach Oyaji. By the time he was standing in front of his Captain, Ace was making a fuss around Izo while the cross dresser held both the crown and necklace with one hand in close inspection, his other hand holding out a glass of booze. But when he saw Marco, his attention was replaced by the urge to call out his comrade.

"Yo, Marco! You want some drinks?" he said as he offered up his glass with half of the liquor still remained.

"I'm fine, yoi. One person needs to stay sober in party like this, yoi," Marco lightly declined.

"Aa~ 'yer no fun, Marco~,"a voice slurred, hands thrown on Marco's shoulders. It was none other than Thatch. Marco ignored him entirely, which in turn received a childish pout from the read-head cook.

"Gurararara! You need to have your fun too, my son," Whitebeard said.

"Well, I like having my fun the most when I'm sober to remember it, Oyaji. It's fine, yoi," Marco closed his case.

Ace reopened his unfinished case. "Izo~ Tell me already, will you? You know this flower right?" Ace whined.

Izo replied, "Of course I know! But why're you so eager 'bout flowers, anyway?"

"Just tell me the name, dammit!" Ace yelled.

"Gurara! You are being impatient, Ace. Is it important, my son?" Whitebeard wondered out loud.

Marco answered it before Ace, he said, "Those were presents from his brothers in his 12th birthday. He just curious about the flower's name yoi."

"Aaa~ so 'lil Acey got flowers for his birthday~?" Thatch teased with mischief lacing his smile.

Ace could only glare at Thatch, being embarrassed by the sudden revelation. Marco gave him a lazy smirk. Ace pouted.

"You have your answer, Izo! Now spill," Ace said, getting enough of his comrades' behaviour.

"Yeah, yeah. It's statice, I'm pretty sure," Izo revealed.

"Statice?" Ace furrowed his eyebrow.

"Yep. Do you know what's the meaning behind this flower?" Izo asked him back.

"Huh? Does it have meaning? It's just a flower, isn't it?" Ace voiced his confusion.

Izo gave Ace a sympathetic look. But Thatch answered it in his place, "Yesss, duh. 'Course it has meaning, you dummy~"

Ace turned slightly red from more embarrassing moment thrown his way.

"Well, most of flowers have meaning to each of them. This one means remembrance," Izo quickly explained before Ace could explode.

Ace was awestruck by the information. It was his first time knowing that flowers had meanings referring to them, and hearing his sibling's presents actually meant something, he couldn't help but smile.

The genuine smile spread to the other, understanding the depth of the word coming from the flowers. Even the drunken Thatch had registered the warm feeling that seeped through their little crowd.

Ace's smile turned into a big grin. Then he said, "Thanks, guys, Oyaji."

When Ace walked away to hunt for food, he definitely missed the flabbergasted look on everyone.

-THE END-

HAPPY ACE DAY~! *doing a flip flop and punching a flying pinata and jumping from the roof while screaming*

I will never be able to cross the point where people accept Ace's fate and move on from that one last scene of him *crying in the corner*

Anyway, this oneshot heavily related with my series "The Outcasts" so you might want to check it out *shameless self promotion*

Feel free to drop any comments~

01/01/2016

P.S: This chapter has been revised for some errors fixing, but there's no difference in the story at all.

01/15/2016

-Mei Evelyn