Chapter Seven: A Moment of Weakness
When Ace woke up, he did not feel well-rested. He was certain he had fallen asleep but it felt like he had not closed his eyes for a single minute. Instead his head pounded, his body ached, his wrist stung for some reason, and the mere thought of getting out from beneath the covers was exhausting. He probably should not press his luck, however. Marco could not be pleased that he was sleeping in the man's bed.
Ace would like to claim that it was a stroke of brilliance that he decided to take a snooze and irritate the Phoenix, but in truth he had wanted to check out of reality before his thoughts and emotions caught up to him.
Ace should have suspected his new arrangements, really. The Whitebeards could not discipline him through menial labor or chores so they had to do something to punish him for his attitude. Ace did not blame them. He should not blame them because they had no way of comprehending just what his old room meant to him. He usually woke up there after each reset. It was the one place that he could reliably be alone if he needed to calm down or freak out. But now his room— the last sanctuary he had— had been taken from him.
The urge to abandon this timeline was stronger than ever.
No. This is what I want. They hate and mistrust me now. I-I'm closer than ever to making them let me go. If I reset, I'll have to start from scratch again. It's not that big of a deal. I would have had to leave it anyway in… He did some mental calculations. …about a week and a half if we're on schedule.
A week and a half to make the Whitebeards want him off their ship.
No problem.
Ace sat up and stretched, planting his feet on the wooden floor. Marco was already gone. Apparently he trusted Ace enough to leave him alone in his room. Or he thought the teen would not dare to torch any of the important-looking paperwork on his desk.
Nah. I'm not that cruel. Though Marco might actually thank me… No he wouldn't. Thatch definitely would— Ace cut off those kinds of thoughts before they could continue. Not my family. Really not my family. A majority of them hate me now. His throat tightened. This is what I want.
He rubbed a hand over his face, exhaling shakily walking over to his actual bed. Marco had been kind enough to make it— Or he had simply done so out of habit. Either way, the sheets were neatly tucked and the pillow he recognized as Marco's was fluffed.
Ace unmade the bed and threw the pillow carelessly on the floor. If he thinks rooming with me is going to be a bonding experience, he's sorely mistaken. He looked at the Phoenix's bed, considering the twisted blankets on top. Is it too childish to throw everything on the floor? I want him to dislike me, not think I'm a petulant child. Though maybe acting like one will lead to the other…?
Something under the bed moved. Ace twitched but recognized the white lump that emerged before he could attack. His breathing and heartbeat had already increased, however, and he had to sit down as the adrenaline flew into and fled his veins in an instant, leaving him feeling dizzy and slightly ill. The thing that had scared him whined lowly and approached. Honestly, Ace should not have been surprised. Why wouldn't Stefan— the Whitebeards' dog— be here?
Except he should not be.
Ace paused and looked from the dog to the closed door suspiciously. He knew from previous loops that Stefan was always kept in Rakuyo's quarters for the first part of his stay on the Moby Dick. If he had to guess, it was likely to keep their explosion-and-fire-prone 'guest' away from him until they were surer about the type of person he was. But the accommodations for lower-ranked pirates were in a completely different part of the ship. Even if Stefan got here without anyone stopping him, he could not open doors by himself…
…Which meant someone had to have intentionally led Stefan here and let him into the room. Ace looked down at the dog, who opened his mouth, tongue lolling dopily.
"Who put you up to this?" he muttered suspiciously.
Stefan's ears twitched and his head tipped curiously. He got up and trotted over to Ace, tail wagging. The teen scowled at him.
"Go away." Ace said flatly.
Stefan ignored him and laid his head on the teen's leg.
Ace twitched. "I know what you're trying to do." He informed the canine. "It isn't going to work."
Stefan stared at him with big eyes.
Ace sighed. "Dumb dog."
He refused to pet the canine but did not have the heart to shove him away. Stefan seemed content with that arrangement and merely kept his head on his thigh, tail wagging. Ace tried to get annoyed enough to be a cruel bastard and shout for someone to get the dog away from him but could not do it. Instead he stayed absolutely still, lips pressed together and fists clenched at his sides. Stefan gave a low whine and climbed onto the bed, pressing himself into Ace's side and nuzzling him. The teen took a deep breath and exhaled shakily.
"Stop that." He whispered. "I'm scary and mean. Go away. Shoo."
Stefan ignored him.
"Stupid mutt." Ace muttered but there was no fire in his tone.
He glanced around the empty room uncomfortably, ready to jump away the moment someone approached. He'd sneer and scoff and call Stefan a stupid mangy mutt and would make whoever saw him add 'animal-hating bastard' to their lists of things they disliked about him.
I don't want to do— I have to. Stop it.
Ace looked around Marco's room and felt his eyes burn. He had better control than this. He couldn't break down because of a stupid room and a dog.
And the fact that he hurt Oyaji.
And the fact that his family hated him.
And that fact that he was a stranger in his own home—
Ace bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed. Stefan noticed and gave a worried whine of response. The dog clambered onto his lap and nudged his cheek, which was thankfully still dry. He was not that much of a crybaby, though he would prefer crying to going on a mindless rampage or clawing at his own skin in the hopes that everything would end.
As Stefan gently butted him with his head, Ace looked around self-consciously.
Just a few seconds…
It wasn't like anyone would see.
Ace slowly hugged the dog and buried his head in his soft fur. Stefan happily accepted his embrace, prodding his forehead with his cold nose and making soft little yips. Safe in the knowledge that no one was around to witness it, Ace let his expression crumple, but still refused to let himself cry.
"I want my family back." He told the dog in a whisper.
Almost like he saw his pain, Stefan planted his chin atop the teen's head and nuzzled him, giving just a few seconds of genuine companionship. Then Ace shuddered and pulled away, rubbing his still-dry eyes furiously.
"I can do this." He uttered quietly. "They won't die for me like the others."
OPOPOPOP
Marco slowly backed away from his door, extra careful to keep his footsteps silent. He did not dare to approach the kid and try to comfort him. He knew his presence would be unwelcome. Once he was far enough away, he looked to Namur and Izo, who stood at the end of the hall and awaited the news.
"Well?" the Fishman asked sharply.
"Ace hugged Stefan and talked to him a bit, yoi." Marco admitted. "I can't believe it."
"Some people tend to be more comfortable around animals than other people." Izo commented. He looked to Namur. "Is that what gave you the idea to introduce them?"
"It was Thatch's idea, actually." Namur said. "He's just busy with breakfast and I wanted to get Stefan in there before the kid woke up."
Marco's stomach did a somersault as he recalled the kid's alarming sleeping habits. He shoved his concerns away. Ace had been conscious and coherent long before noticing Stefan and there were not any issues. Fire Fist may be many things, but a hater of canines he was not.
"Now that your little experiment is over—"
"It was Thatch's idea." Namur repeated.
Marco rolled his eyes but corrected himself. "Now that Thatch's little experiment is over, what next?"
"I say leave them." Izo said bluntly. "The child spends far too much time alone. He needs some type of companionship."
"And while he's distracted, we can follow your idea." Namur added.
"It's not like Ace ever comes out of his room anyway, yoi." Marco pointed out.
Namur shrugged. "True, but with our luck he'd stumble upon us while we're on the Den Den."
Izo said nothing, instead smiling. When Marco raised an eyebrow at him, the okama's grin widened. "You've been calling him 'Ace' all morning. Did something happen?"
Marco remembered panicked breaths, terrified eyes, and pleas to be quiet so they would not catch them. "I had a bit of a revelation. I'd like to follow up on it, yoi."
The plan was simple. Talk to a Spade Pirate about their former Captain and try to gather as much information as they could. Marco probably would have thought of such a simple avenue sooner if not for the Spade Pirates being on a completely different ship. Indeed, the Spades were on a smaller ship in Whitebeard's fleet to prevent any misplaced mutinies.
Ace's former crew were happy to become Whitebeard Pirates, but old habits tended to die hard and they seemed to be under the impression that their Captain would soon join them. If they thought that possibility had decreased, Marco honestly did not know what they would do. They were part of the crew but not fully integrated just yet. They were not yet truly loyal brothers and sisters, and were in part still driven by loyalty to their Captain.
A Captain who hardly seemed to remember them.
Or has too much going on to have time to think of them…
They ran into Thatch in the hall leading to the communications room. The chef was panting slightly, having evidently raced from the kitchens to get here, though he straightened soon enough. Marco mentally made a note to make sure Thatch put some extra work on stamina training during their next session.
"Hey. Are you done in the kitchens already?" the Phoenix asked.
"Yup." Thatch said briskly. "So how did my idea go?"
"It appears Ace prefers the company of Stefan to us." Marco revealed dryly.
Thatch smiled. "At least he's happy with somebody. So do you have the number?"
Marco gave him a droll stare. "I have them all memorized, yoi. It's part of my job."
Thatch chuckled awkwardly and scratched at his cheek. "I knew that."
The four Commanders crowded into one of the private booths that held Den Den Mushi for less urgent purposes and Marco made the call. After a few rings, someone on the other end answered.
"Hello?"
"It's Marco. Can I talk to one of the former Spades Pirates please? Whoever is available."
The Den Den nodded. "Gimme a sec."
There were a couple minutes of silence. Then the Den Den's eyes grew sharp.
"Hello? Commander Marco, right?"
"Yes." Marco replied, trying to put a name with the voice. Memory clicked. "Are you Saber?"
"That's me." The cowboy hat-wearing pirate said cheerfully. "Whaddaya need?"
"I have a couple questions about Ace if you don't mind answering them." Marco said carefully.
There was a long pause. Then the Den Den nodded. "I might answer 'em. I might not. Shoot."
Marco had already created a mental list of questions that the man should hopefully be willing to answer. "What is Ace like to you? Personality-wise?"
Izo shot him a confused look but Marco knew what he was doing.
Saber thought about it. "Captain's friendly, strong, stubborn, and determined… but also secretive and distant. He doesn't like letting people in, and even when he does, he still has more walls than a Marine base. I think he was burned in the past. More than once. And I don't mean by his powers or somethin'."
"You think he was betrayed?" Thatch asked sharply.
Marco glared at him but said nothing when he saw the fury burning in the chef's eyes. He was such an overprotective idiot…
"I dunno. He was hurt by somebody. Maybe lots of somebodies. And lost people too. Dunno how many. Like I said, he's a secretive guy." The Den Den's expression grew hesitant. "Is he okay?"
"We… aren't sure." Marco divulged cautiously. "That's why we're calling. To see if you know something that can help."
The snail frowned. "Captain's prideful. Based on what yer sayin', he ain't joined you yet. He's still goin' at it with your Captain."
"He is, yoi." Marco confirmed.
The Den Den's eye stalks swayed slightly. "I'm not surprised. I may have just mentioned pride, but it's more than that that keeps Captain going. Ace has… problems with certain pirates from the older eras. And even some pirates from nowadays. The ones who take innocent lives, ya know? The real monsters. When we talked about 'em, his eyes would always go distant and cold. He had the same reaction to Celestial Dragons too now that I think of it." Saber sneered. "I can guess why he hates those fat bastards but I don't have a clue about the pirates."
Marco exchanged a glance with his brothers. Thatch had adopted a concerned look, Namur was frowning, while Izo's lips were pursed. He had gotten far more insight into Ace than he had expected, yet still felt like he had hardly learned anything at all.
He sighed. "Is there anything else you can tell us about him?"
"Nothing other than what he should be the one to tell you." Saber said bluntly. "You won't get his trust if you learn private stuff behind his back."
Marco had expected to hit that road block eventually and took it with grace. "I know. Thank you, Saber. We might call again if we have more questions."
"No problem." The man said. "Honestly, I hope next time it's the Captain callin' to say he saw sense."
Marco gave a chuckle that was not really amused. "We'll see, yoi."
He hung up and looked to his companions.
"This is a mess." Thatch said.
"Thank you for your input." Marco said tiredly. "So what did we learn?"
"The kid loathes Celestial Dragons— no surprise— and murderous pirates." Namur summarized. "I'd point out hypocrisy but I know how bad some criminals can be."
"Do you think pirates attacked his home?" Izo asked.
"But then why would he become a pirate, yoi?" Marco countered.
"Maybe he didn't have another choice?" Thatch ventured.
"Or he valued freedom that much." Namur offered as an alternative.
Izo looked down, fiddling with his kimono. "He wasn't a slave. If he was, he'd have a brand on his back."
"Not all brands are put there. Sometimes they're on the face or shoulder." Namur pointed out.
Marco saw Thatch's jaw tighten.
"The doctors would have seen it and told us, yoi." he interjected quickly.
"Unless that tattoo of his is covering one up." Thatch mumbled.
Marco honestly did not want to consider the possibility. He could not help but link Ace's babbles of escaping last night to the theory, but pushed it away. "It's possible. But what about his hatred for pirates? He's a pirate, and he must have learned by now that we're not the type to go around demolishing innocent villages."
"Certainly not." Izo agreed with a scoff. "Though it has been rather hard to get him to understand that we aren't trying to kill him."
Namur stared at the ground, prodding at a hole in the wooden table almost absentmindedly. "Could he mistrust us so much because we're a Yonko crew?" he asked slowly.
"What are you saying, yoi?" Marco demanded.
The Fishman looked at him. "He kept saying things about Yonko like he'd seen one before Oyaji. 'He may pretend to be different but Yonko are all the same. They don't accept 'no' as an answer and you either choose to join them or die.' That's what he told me when talking about Oyaji."
"The kid hasn't been in the New World that long. I think he first popped up in East Blue." Izo said. "How could he meet a Yonko?" He frowned. "How could he meet a Yonko and get away?"
"I remember intelligence mentioning he ran into Shanks, but Red Hair is not the type to brutalize rookies like that." Marco said.
"Kaido or Big Mom, then?" Thatch asked faintly.
Marco could understand the chef's discomfort and alarm. None of the Commanders feared the other Yonko, of course, but while Whitebeard and Shanks could almost be considered benevolent, the other two Yonko were monsters to say the least. Islands were destroyed at their whim, their own crew members were rumored to fear for their lives around them, and they would not hesitate to put pressure on an upstart rookie that interested them until he either died or was forced to join their ranks.
Thatch's head snapped up, eyes wide with alarm. "You don't think a Yonko hurt him personally, do you?"
"I… don't know." Marco said helplessly.
When he closed his eyes, all he could see was Ace's terrified face as he crouched over Marco, the bruises on his skin still visible even in the near-darkness of night. Had the Whitebeards' attack reminded him of something from his past? Had the crew's actions overall reminded him of another Yonko crew he had encountered, one that had sought to force him into servitude?
The thought made Marco's skin crawl and he had to remind himself that this was all merely speculation and that the kid was still dangerous regardless of his past. Still… If it turned out they were way off-base, he would not mind the million questions that would remain unanswered.
"I hope this is all a misunderstanding." Thatch said eventually. "I'd sleep well tonight if it is."
"Well unless you think asking Ace will give us answers, you'll have to deal with it." Izo said, not completely unsympathetically.
"Maybe we can try to broach the subject carefully?" Namur asked. He glanced sidelong at Thatch. "And tactfully?"
"I'm not that bad." The chef mumbled.
"I think I'll try." Izo said abruptly. "He has had more interactions with you then me."
His words reminded Marco of Bay's. "Maybe Bay could help—"
"I don't think that's a good idea." Thatch interrupted. "Most of their encounters have ended with him running out of the med bay as fast as he can." His skin blanched to a sickly shade of green. "He mentioned being suspicious that we'd drug him. I… I thought he was just being snappish…"
Marco silently cursed his increasing headache, stupid mysteries, and one troublesome teen named Ace. "I'll go check on him and Stefan and try to get the kid out of the room. He can't stay cooped up in there forever."
"I agree. He needs to eat. Unless he's been secretly fishing, it's been days." Thatch said passionately.
Marco cleared his throat. "He… stole some food from the storage and has been eating that."
The chef paused. "What does he have?"
"Meat, some cheese, bread…" Marco frowned. "Maybe a couple preserves? He's probably hidden the bag by now so I don't take it."
Thatch clicked his tongue. "Find it for me when he's out and I'll add some vegetables. Meat and carbs is not a healthy diet!"
Marco felt a smile tug at his lips. Of course the chef was not the least bit upset about the theft. He only cared about the kid's health. It was a pity Ace could not see that…
"Should we tell Oyaji about this?" Namur brought up, gesturing vaguely at the Den Den.
Marco shook his head. "Not until we find definitive proof of… anything. Or the situation gets out of hand. Oyaji will need more than speculation."
The others agreed and they split up, with Marco and Thatch heading towards the Phoenix's room.
"Soooo what are the chances that we'll randomly find a Zoan Devil Fruit that would turn me into an adorable dog?" Thatch asked.
"Slim to none, yoi." Marco informed him. "Why? Are you trying to trick our resident fire brat?"
"I would if I could." The chef admitted shamelessly. "I'd turn into a fluffy pink poodle if that made him feel comfortable enough to talk to me."
He wasn't joking. He was being genuinely earnest and compassionate. Marco had to shake his head at it, even as he secretly admired his brother's kind nature. "That big heart of yours is going to get you killed someday, yoi."
Thatch pouted. "Well, if it does, I'll haunt you."
Marco's eyebrow crept upward. "Why would you haunt me, yoi?"
"Because if I don't you'll get boring and grumpy." Thatch said innocently. "Now then…" He opened the door to Marco's room dramatically. "Rise and shine—"
The chef froze. Marco shoved past him and stared blankly at the feathers drifting lazily to the floor, joining the already large pile of them on the ground. Ace stood in the center of the room, the Phoenix's ripped pillow in his grasp. He was standing on what appeared to be Marco's blankets, which were torn to shreds. Stefan sat on the feathers, oblivious to the tension in the room, and rolled onto his back, tongue lolling as he wiggled happily.
Ace pointed at the dog. "He did it."
Thatch made a strangled sound between a gasp and a giggle.
Marco allowed himself a moment of exasperation and put his head in his hands.
OPOPOPOPOP
A/N: This feels short. But it's in my word-count range… What gives? :/
I'm so happy the Ace novels finally revealed some stuff about the Spade Pirates. The only thing I'll be using is their names, but it's better than the total lack of information we had before. I hope the novels are adapted into an anime special someday. That would be cool.
Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed!
The next chapter should be uploaded on October 24th or 25th.
