Here's some short info before the story! (Skip it if you'd like, I just think it feels important to write these.)
This will be a rather long story compared to what I'm used to writing, so I apologize in advance if it's a bit slow.
Furthermore it's rated M because there will be lemon, homosexual and homoerotic parts, adult language and violent content.
The main pairing is Ace x Marco, the story will be about them and of course the Whitebeard Pirates. There will also be a couple of OCs, but none of them have any main roles. In fact, most do not even have names.
If you don't have any problems with any of that, then please enjoy!
On a side note I'm not completely confident about my impression of Marco as a character yet, and I'd really appreciate any comments on the things I can improve. Thank you for reading!
Oh, Yes! The second division of the Whitebeard Pirates cheered victoriously as the captain of the Marine battleship finally fell face first onto the deck, defeated after a fair amount of epic battle which if of any importance in the story would take up at least two chapters of manga-styled pure action, drama and romance - enough to make even the veteran otakus, those with tons of experience in getting their feels crushed, to tears.
But no, it's not important.
The cheering pirates then proceeded to make their way back onto their own ship a couple of hundred meters away, led by their infamous commander - the 'Fire fist' Portgas D Ace.
"Mission accomplished, now let us head back to the Moby Dick and pops!" Ace laughed, his voice hoarse from exhaustion.
After getting back onto their borrowed ship the pirates spent many hours feasting, singing, failing miserably to fight off their thick-skinned doctors and nurses and finally sleeping whilst the navigator set the course for the nearby island where the rest of the Whitebeard pirates had made port.
It took two days to get to the island - a small, rather peaceful place (for being in the New World) which of course had been made Whitebeard territory a long time ago. Once there they cleaned and returned the ship to it's owner, the wealthy mayor, before going aboard the main ship to greet their nakama.
"Welcome back, son. I see the mission went well as always." Edward Newgate said to Ace, as always with a huge cup of sake in his hand and ignoring his dedicated nurses' attempts to make him put it down.
"Hey pops." Ace smiled brightly. It felt nice and safe to be home, it always did.
Ace was taking a walk around the ship as usual before dinner. He's not sure when, but it became a habit of his at some point after finally agreeing to join the Whitebeards crew. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was not only relaxing, but it also meant he'd run into Marco - his best friend.
Apparently, Marco had had the same walking habit for years before they even met.
"Welcome home, mate." Marco smiled and raised his hand at him when they crossed paths at the usual spot.
"Good to be back." Ace grinned. "Missed me much?"
"As always, every fucking minute."
They finished their stroll together and finally went in the large dining room where the chefs served the incredible amounts of delicious food that was their dinner.
Man, he had only been away for less than a week but had Ace missed being with his crew/family.
The next morning, or well, actually it was not until rather late in the afternoon, Ace woke up after a long, satisfying sleep to a nasty hangover.
Wait, a hangover?
He sat up in his bunk and rubbed his face with his hand as he focused on remembering. He was sure he hadn't had much to drink, and even if he had he never got sick from it. Although he recalled that some of the other men from his division had shared a barrel of sake.
'Maybe Marco drugged me to get me to sleep.' He thought ironically to himself, amused over how the phoenix-man always started acting like a mother goose whenever he had a bit of booze in his system. A pretty messy, possibly psychopathic mother goose considering his methods of 'parenting', but none the less.
Someone opened the door to the room.
"Good mornin' commander. The ol' man want'cha to get up. We're leavin' tomorrow so if yah you need to get anythin' done before then yah gunna have get to it, sir." The buff, tanned member of the fourth division said with a big friendly smile.
"Thanks. I don't recognize your accent, where are you from?" Ace asked while climbing down the ladder from his bunk to get to his closet where he stored all his stuff.
"I get that a lot" The man laughed. "South Blue. A tiny lil island called Houshi. It's mostly just farmers and chicken comin' from there so ain't nobody heard of us anywhere."
"I see." Ace smiled, wondering if anyone had ever heard much about his home anywhere. He changed into his usual pants, for once he had actually bothered putting on the pajamas ones he got for his birthday about a year ago.
He stepped out of the room and quickly made his way through the corridors to the upper decks and went outside.
"Holy shit." The sun penetrated his sore, hung over eyes and his head pulsated even worse.
"G'morning, yoi."
Ace turned around to face the pineapple headed bastard.
"Marco you asshole." Ace greeted him.
"Well aren't you in a shitty mood today. Woke up on the floor again?" Marco yawned, but Ace could tell he was amused. He knew Marco better then to fall for his cool-guy attitude.
"No, but for some unknown reason I've got a hangover."
Marco actually looked surprised, which kind of threw Ace off-guard in return.
"What? You hung over? You've gotta be joking, yoi."
"That's exactly what I thought when I woke up. I can't even remember what happened after dinner. We didn't drink anything more than usual did we?" Ace scratched his head, messing up his hair beyond his already full-blown bed-head. Marco raised his eyebrows.
"Ace, yoi, you're starting to worry me here. You really don't remember anything?"
"No..."
"We'll talk about it later, it's one hell of a story. But right now I'm supposed to be helping out with the heavy cargo, the chefs bought some big ass freezer or something and I promised I'd give them a hand. See you later, yoi." Marco said and before Ace could object he had already started walking away.
Ace scratched his head again. His stomach rumbled loudly as the hunger hit him. He figured that since they were leaving tomorrow morning he might as well spend the last night in the village.
"If you lose you nerve, this breath could be your last, but if you just hold on the morning sun will rise. Yohohoho, yohohoho~!" The small inn was packed with both locals and pirates celebrating their last night on the island, and their voices could be heard all the way outside as they sang together.
Ace was sitting at the bar surrounded by empty plates and mugs and sang along loudly. As they got to the quietest part of the song, he heard the soft voice of a woman standing out from the rowdy male ones. He turned his head and saw the beauty in her low-cut dress singing the words of the song with her eyes shut and a smile on her painted lips.
"Going to deliver Bink's sake today and tomorrow, our dreams through the night~." She opened her eyes and looked at him.
"Waving our goodbyes, we'll never meet again." She leaned slightly towards him.
"But don't look so down, for at night the moon will rise~." She leaned closer to him and he followed her movement. His head felt light from the liquor, the sound and the party around them was exiting and she was borderline hypnotizing. Before he knew it a few hours had passed and they ended up in a rented room together.
"Nice to meet you, pirate." She mumbled as her dress dropped to the floor.