The entire ship had fallen silent.
Luffy was still grinning brightly and swinging his legs as if he hadn't said what he had just said.
Ace wanted to jump in the ocean. He settled for scolding his little brother
"Luffy!" His little brother turned towards him, eyes wide, though he made no move to leave his perch on Pops' lap. "You know better than to make jokes like that!"
Luffy just cocked his head, like a dog who didn't understand an owners command. "I wasn't joking."
The absolutely sincerity in his brothers tone sends a flush of red to his own cheeks. "What about your dream of being pirate king?!"
"I can be both!" Still, Luffy sounds deathly serious and utterly honest. "I can be pirate king and Whitebeard's wife!"
Before Ace can say anymore, can attempt to knock some sense into his little brothers head, Pops starts laughing and his nakama follow suit; he feels like the butt of a very bad joke while Luffy goes back to beaming.
He wants to protest, but a lean arm slinks across his shoulders and a drink is pressed to his chest before he can.
"Calm down Ace," He glares at Marco, who only grins lazily in return. "Your brother is just being a kid, let him. And if he's serious, then you should celebrate our ship gaining a 'mother'."
He wanted to strangle the blond.
Looking back at the man he calls father and his little brother, Luffy in Pops' lap and chattering away happily, the all too indulgently fond look on Pops' face, Ace rethinks his earlier notion of jumping in the ocean; it's sounding pretty good right about now.