SURPRISE! Bet y'all didn't think you'd see this so early~ XP haha~ and you weren't going to~ I was gonna epically procrastinate~ then I got a lovely review from InspiringLight in the middle of my school hallway and I am crying and like "fuck~ now I wanna write" and I started that class period~ so thank her for this~

Also it's quite a bit longer than my other chapters~ mostly cause for some reason I just wanted to be really nice and give y'all an epic chapter~ I like to read long chapters so I figure y'all would enjoy one as well~ (and cause the next chapter is probably going to get me my own personal mob with pitchforks and torches XD)

Dedicated to Setsuyume as always~ and to InspiringLight for being "Inspiring" XD

Enjoy~

SET SAIL

Ace was breathing heavy, his eyes watering as his fire wrapped around him tightly. The teen never wanted to reveal his thoughts to anyone, but here he was shouting them out to Marco after almost drowning. Ace's greatest shame, his lack of sight. His father was second to his disability.

Marco was in stunned silence, watching Ace, his face actually showing his shock for once. How could this-this kid, think he was broken because of his lack of sight? It was a challenge, one Ace had obviously overcome if one just looked at his bounty.

"Wh-what?" Marco couldn't stop himself, he was simply too flabbergasted to restrain his emotions like normal.

"You-you heard me. I-I'm bro-broken. I'm-I was b-barely able t-to form my o-own crew! I'm a useless pirate!" Ace had dissolved into sobs as he spoke, his hands immediately covering his face as he cried in front of Marco, the first mate of the bloody Whitebeard Pirates.

Marco was sort of at a loss. He has comforted his brothers before but Ace, Ace was special, and different. This was a whole new definition for the word comfort. The teen was just an enigma, so strong but at the same time more fragile than anyone else on the crew. If Marco had any doubts before, now he knew. Ace would only heal with pops, as his son.

Ace took Marco's silence as what it seemed, a confirmation of Ace's worst fears. He was broken, useless, a demon, a plague on society. He never should have been born. His mother should have killed him when she had the chance, and lived out the rest of her life happily.

"I-I knew it. You see it too." Ace lifted his head, swiping his bangs aside as he spoke to the man he respected, a man who obviously saw Ace as the weakling he was. "I should have never been born!"

Ace didn't know how he was still standing. The grief, the pain, of living was pressing down on him, squeezing what little will to live he had left out of his body. The tears poured steadily from his eyes, even as his fire reached out to brush them away. The flame was trying so hard to comfort it's master, crackling and caressing the teen as normal, hoping to cheer him up.

Nothing was helping Ace, he was too far gone in his pain, his depression. With his fire distracted trying to help the teen find comfort, it wasn't able to send him any impressions, so Ace didn't know what Marco was doing.

The man was done seeing this. Ace wasn't this person. After knowing him for well over a month, Marco could not let Ace say that about himself.

Marco didn't let himself think anything through, he just moved forward, closer to Ace. Marco knew only one thing, and that was that he needed to comfort the teen. And the best way he had thought to do that was a hug. Ace was weak to physical affection, and that was likely because he hadn't received much of it in his life.

Marco completely ignored the fire snapping around the boy, he just lifted his arms, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around the teen's lithe waist.

Marco stayed like that for a few seconds while Ace obviously tried to absorb the action. When the fire wielder started to shake, Marco raised his right hand up Ace's back, stroking the muscles he felt underneath the soaking shirt.

When the hand reached the back of the teen's head Marco pulled Ace forward, guiding his head to where it nestled itself into the junction between the man's shoulder and neck. Once there, Marco wrapped his right arm around the teen's shoulder and just squeezed.

It only took a few moments before Ace started to outright bawl, his own arms wrapping around Marco's middle, using the man as his anchor into reality.

They stayed like that for quite a while, Ace clinging to the man for comfort, and Marco wrapping the teen up in a cocoon of warmth and acceptance.

Ace's breathing lightened as Marco started to rub his hands up and down that strong back, soothing away aches and tense muscles. The teen deserved to live, deserved to be loved, and cared for. This person in his arms deserved everything.

"Everyone deserves to live, yoi." Marco spoke softly, his hand caressing Ace's wet cheek lovingly, his eyes soft as he looked on at the teen.

Ace's head snapped up at that, his fire reaching around to caress at Marco's cheeks, almost in wonder. The teen's eyes were in full view as he faced Marco, his jaw slack and his mouth hanging open. Even his eyebrows raised, the only missing sign of obvious shock was the wide eyes.

"Even blind, you deserve to have a life." Marco moved his hand down to caress at Ace's jaw, watching his beautiful face for any sign of discomfort. The teen was still sort shocked, but snapped out of it a little at that statement.

"Th-there are more reasons I shouldn't exist. It-it's not just my-my disfigurement." Ace was whispering still, his voice faltering a bit as he spoke.

Marco was only a little surprised at Ace's response. He knew there was something else the teen was hiding. Being blind couldn't have made him feel so violently about his own existence.

"There is not a single thing you could possibly tell me that would make me wish you didn't exist, yoi." Marco was firm as he spoke, wanting to make sure that Ace believed the man wasn't lying to him.

"Haha." Ace laughed brokenly, his tears coming back full force and his fire wrapped around his neck, brushing his cheeks and stroking his back. He pushed Marco away with his trembling hands and turned away, showing the man his back. With a deep shuddering intake of breath Ace wrapped himself up in his arms and just stayed like that, his body shaking and a soft sob escaping every now and then.

Marco just watched, standing still with his arms hanging down at his sides, for once at a complete loss of what to do. Ace was a mess right now. And he was like that due to some secret, something about himself that he loathes and believes takes away his right to live. What could that possibly be? What could make a man so young consider he shouldn't exist?

"Why do you all call him pops?" Ace was changing the subject, and Marco was going to let him for now. The man instead looked up to the ceiling and sighed before opening his mouth to speak.

"I am sure I told you this already, but I'll say it again cause it seems it didn't stick the first time, yoi." Marco let out another sigh, crossing his arms and looking back towards Ace. "Because he calls us his sons…we are outcasts, and the world hates us for what we are, so it makes us happy, even if it's just a word."

Ace curled up at that, leaving his feet firm on the ground but huddled down and wrapped his arms around his shins, head buried in his knees. The teen was still crying but it seemed like more of a sob now.

"Ace…no matter what it is, pops is going to accept you. He already thinks of you as his son, nothing you could say to him or anyone else will ever make that change. Even if you leave the ship and never come back, pops will always call you his son, yoi."

Ace didn't know what to say, didn't know what to think. His brothers were the only ones who cared about him before, who disregarded his blindness even as he fought to overcome it. Only his brothers had ever loved him unconditionally, well, them and his mother, but he never knew her. But here is Marco, basically telling him that Whitebeard, the man he has been trying to kill for almost a month, loves him the same way his brothers did.

Marco had never lied to Ace before, never even bent the truth a little bit. He was always straight up and blunt, even if he embellished his words when it came to Ace's disability. So he couldn't be lying to the teen about this, couldn't be saying these words to trick the fire user into a false sense of security. Marco meant them, meant ever single word he spoke.

For the first time since his brothers were told, Ace felt like revealing his parentage.

"My mother's name was Portgas D. Rogue…I took her name…but my birth name was…Gol D. Ace." Ace spoke quietly, his voice barely above a whisper, and Marco hardly heard it, but he did. That was not at all what the man was expecting. Nope, not at all. "My father was Gol D. Roger."

Ace didn't have to even say that last sentence. Marco knew who his father was as soon as the teen said his birth name. Marco never would have thought that the pirate king had a son, least of all that the son would end up on Whitebeard's ship.

"Well that wasn't what I was expecting." Marco spoke matter-of-factly, completely calm, not a single bit of negative emotion in his tone at all. Ace's head snapped up at that, his fire expanding around him, reaching all the walls, but strangely not heating up at all.

"That-" Ace didn't even know how to respond to the man, his brothers had more of a reaction than Marco did. What, how could the man not be angry, or upset about this? Weren't Whitebeard and Gold Roger enemies? Didn't they hate each other? How could Whitebeard's first mate be as nonchalant about such a thing as his enemy's son? Especially when said son was on their ship, and Whitebeard wanted him as a crewmate, as a son? Ace was just so confused.

"I thought you were Roger's enemies…how-how could you be so-so indifferent?!" Ace's fire reached for Marco's hand, caressing it, and holding it, much like Ace wished he could do right now. This was just unbelievable for him, there was no way Marco was this relaxed about something so world altering.

"It doesn't matter what we thought about Roger. You are you, Ace. Not your father, yoi." Marco flared his hand a little, bringing out the tip of his fire, allowing the two flames to mix again. Marco just wanted his newest brother to feel comforted.

Marco's actions had the desired effect as the teen's tears stopped. Keeping his hand wrapped on Ace's flames, Marco made his way over to the still crouched teen. He needed to physically touch him, to comfort him with his skin, instead of his fire. He needed Ace to see that he was wanted.

Marco bent down, matching Ace's position, and wrapped his arms around the teen's shoulders. He brought forth flames that reached from fingertip to fingertip, spreading all along his arms and collar, connecting all the possible fire he could to Ace's body. Marco knew that Ace felt more with his fire, just like he saw more with it.

The man knew he was doing the right thing when Ace let out a soft happy sigh, and leaned into Marco's hug. The teen's fire wrapped around them, covering them both in a soft warm flame and a pleasant heat, and Marco smiled. Ace's fire did feel really nice, his phoenix just wanted to burst from his body and bask. Just wanted to spread out in the flames and feel renewed.

It wasn't the first time Ace ever touched Marco, but it was the first time that they had prolonged contact while the teen was somewhat in control of his actions. He wasn't intoxicated by the feel of the man's fire this time, just pleasantly comfortable.

But being this close to Marco, Ace was starting to get curious. He could feel the man's muscle, and his clothes, and his fire helped give him a rather nice impression. But he never got to let his features sink into his skin. Like he did once with Luffy before he set off.

The fire gave him his mobility, and his impressions, but it wasn't quite the same as mapping out someone's traits with his own hands. It was like a half done drawing. The outlines were there, and the overall idea was clear, but the details were missing. Details Ace very much wanted to see.

So Ace took a risk. He unwrapped his arms and placed his hands on Marco's firm pectorals. Not moving them from there, just waiting to see how the elder would react to that first touch before he proceeded with his exploration.

"Ace?" Marco didn't sound confused, just curious. Ace responded by lifting his head, letting his bangs fall to the side so the elder could see all of his face as the teen answered.

"I can see impressions with my fire. They are just incomplete, more like outlines than a full picture." Ace spoke quietly, moving his hands slightly upward to feel around for Marco's collar bone. "I can fill in the details by, um…"Ace flushed, his face heating up quickly.

"By feeling them with your hands, yoi?"

Ace nodded and tilted his head back down, face still heated from his explanation attempt. Marco surprised him by lifting his own hands and placing them on the back's of Ace's. The teen was a bit confused as to what Marco was going to do, until the man started to guide the fire user's hands.

Marco moved Ace's hands until they were over the tops of his pectorals, a hand on either side. Slowly the elder slide both sets of hands inward until the met at the middle of the firm muscles. Then with great care, Marco slid Ace's right hand up until it hit his clavicle, while moving the left hand down, over the first two sets of a six or eight pack, before Marco stopped; Ace's hand resting right before the start of the next set of abdominal muscles. Carefully the elder lifted both of their joined hands and placed them in the middle of the first pair of abdominal muscles. Once there, Marco traced up in a curve, each hand going in opposite directions, heading out towards the side of the wide chest; ending the movement above the pectoral on either side, right on his collar bone.

Marco stopped all movement then, and just stared at Ace. The teen looked so confused, his black eyebrows furrowed, and his pink lips in a small frown. It was obvious that he had no idea why Marco just guided his hands like that. Well, the man didn't plan to leave him in the dark anyway.

"Did the skin where I traced feel any different than the rest, yoi?" Ace was really confused by the question, so he focused himself a little, and rubbed his fingers along the indent between Marco's pectorals. The skin was slightly raised where Marco had guided the teen's fingers. Was that a-

"Tattoo?" Ace spoke out loud, removing his right hand from Marco's firm chest to place it on his own left bicep, the exact place his memorial for his brother was.

"Yes. This is my pride and joy. This is a mark of my loyalty to the old man. This tattoo shows that I am a part of the family, yoi." Marco spoke passionately, his love and pride saturating each word he spoke. Ace was in awe, and showed it by stroking the area of Marco's chest he previously outlined, filling in the mental picture he started of the man, imagining what the mark must look like.

Without meaning too, Ace trailed his hands up to the base of Marco's neck and sort of froze with his fingers touching the man's jaw, afraid he over stepped his boundaries. The elder smirked a little at Ace's frozen expression, and settled his own hands on the teen's waist, waiting for the other to make his move.

After a few moments Ace started moving his hands again. This time he was aiming for the man's face, longing to know what his facial features were. The teen traced the broad jaw first, enjoying the feel of the strong jaw line, and tight skin. From there he traced over the full cheeks, lightly brushing unpronounced cheekbones. Outlining the eyes next, as Marco closed his lids to accommodate the youth. Ace was slightly surprised at how high the man's eye socket went, but enjoying the feel of the smooth forehead above barely there, thin eyebrows. Bringing his hands down on either side of the man's now notably handsome face, Ace lingered his thumbs on Marco's eyelids, longing to see the color of the irises.

"They're blue, yoi."

Ace was shocked by Marco's sudden statement, but smiled slightly at his words. The man could read him well. The teen frowned at that thought. Was it a good thing Marco could read him? Ace didn't really want to think too hard about it.

"Thank you." Ace spoke quietly, trying to convey how much he appreciated the man allowing the intrusive touch. He never tried to fill in the details for his old crew, he just wasn't that curious, but it wasn't the same feeling with Marco. Marco lit aflame every single bit of curiosity Ace ever had present. As a matter of fact, so did Izou and Thatch, just neither quite as intense as Marco.

Briefly Ace wondered if he would ever get the chance to fill in the lines to the other two's appearance. Maybe. But highly unlikely. Izou always had make-up on from what the man told him, and sweaty hands would ruin the okama's hard work. And the most curious thing about Thatch was his hair, and from what he was told by Izou, the chef hated people touching it cause it destroyed a very delicate balance.

Marco startled Ace out of his musings by gripping the teen's face between large warm hands, tilting his face up, most likely so the other could get a better look at his unusual eyes; though the action did jar the teen's own hands from the man's handsome face, forcing them to hang by his sides once more. Ace didn't mind, for once, that someone could see his eyes. Marco just allowed the teen to practically molest him, the least he could do was let the elder look at his blind eyes more closely.

It took a second, but suddenly Ace's fire flared in heat as his own thought caught up with him. Oh god! He did more or less molest Marco! The man may have guided him to half of it, but that's not the point! He was feeling up the elder and the elder didn't ever think twice about it! What did this say about their relationship?! What did this say about Marco's feelings toward Ace?!

The teen's face was so red, and Marco just chuckled lightly at the view. This kid was just too damn cute. It should be against the law for him to entice so many emotions from the first mate of the strongest pirate crew on the ocean. But Marco didn't really care that much, he was just enjoying the view of Ace's handsome face lit up with a blush, highlighting the teen's youthful freckles, and his strangely enticing eyes.

Marco felt bewitched as the younger's fire danced around the room, heating and cooling swiftly, emitting a strange ethereal allure. The man wasn't even aware he was leaning closer to Ace, pulling the other's face closer with his own hands. He was just taken with the teen's looks, his attractiveness, that the only thought running through his head was to kiss those lovely pink lips.

And Marco was okay with that. He was perfectly content to kiss the teen, to claim him as his own, and he damn well was going to do so now. Until of course he was interrupted by the door slamming open by the strength of his best friend. Marco was going to kill Thatch one day. Whether it be in secret or out on deck where everyone could watch, the man was somehow going to be killed by the phoenix's hand. The chef just had the worst timing in the whole damn world.

Ace let out a light squeak, and jerked his head back, trying to dislodge the elder's hands, but Marco was having none of that. The man kept a firm grip on the cheeks as he slowly turned to glower at the two intruders at the door. Ace's face just seemed to keep heating, especially when neither onlooker deemed to make a comment. This whole situation was embarrassing and mortifying.

"Can we help you, yoi?" Marco's voice was harsh, and it caused Ace to flinch back a little. That was not the voice of someone in a good mood. Shit. Did he cause that? And as if reading the teen's thoughts, Marco stroked his thumbs down Ace's cheeks, soothing him in his own hopefully discreet way.

"Don't give me that tone, Marco. You can't just monopolize Ace, we are his friends too." Izou's normally light voice was harder, but Ace could hear the underlying teasing in his voice. The okama thought this was funny. And the teen had no idea what to think about that.

"Besides, birdbrain, I think Ace owes me an explanation, don't you?" Thatch's voice was loud in the small room, and the teen jerked away from the sound. It hurt his ears. The man was so noisy. Wait. Did he just call Marco birdbrain? What the hell?

"Shut the door, you idiot. Ace doesn't want this getting around so some privacy would be appreciated." Izou spoke to Thatch quietly, before making his way to the two still squatting on the ground.

The okama sort of twirled and sat down on the ground next to Ace, pulling the teen down with him, so that he was sitting on his butt instead of slowly putting his legs to sleep. The move surprised Marco, who was still holding on to Ace's face, so rather than the teen's transition being graceful, it consisted of him slamming on the ground, then falling over as the weight of Marco followed him.

Thatch turned around from locking the door at the exact moment that the two fruit users settled from their fall. Ace was lying on his back and Marco was face planted in the teen's nicely muscled chest. It didn't look all too strange to Izou but Thatch just had to make a stupid comment.

"I don't think I came here to watch you two make out…" he didn't sound like he was joking, which was a scary thought considering the man was almost always joking. As he sat down next to Izou, the okama smacked him upside the head, giving the chef a quick glance to let him know that the statement wasn't appreciated.

"Anyway. Get up, you two, and tell this caveman what is going on before he pops." Thatch must have done something stupid for Izou to be acting this cold towards him. Ace didn't think the okama could even be that rude to someone.

Marco removed himself from the Ace's firm body reluctantly. The teen was really comfortable dammit. But he knew Izou's fuse was fairly short at the moment, so he just sat criss cross next to the fire wielder, positioning himself in such a way that his knee and part of his thigh were still touching Ace.

Said teen moved to sit up only moments after Marco's warmth left his own. He sat similarly to Marco, enjoying the contact the man provided, and returned the subtle display of affection by sliding his fire in such away that it touched everyone in the make shift circle, but was particularly warmer around the firm man to his right.

"Ahem." Izou pulled the attention to himself, smiling when Ace's fire fluttered against him, showing the man that he had Ace's attention. Marco and Thatch both looked over at him, waiting for him to start whatever this was supposed to be.

"Ace, Thatch wants your explanation about your eyes." Izou blurted out, not softening the question at all, and Ace stiffened in response. The teen lifted his hand to finger at the bangs that were pulled to either side of his face, framing it quite beautifully, in Izou's opinion.

"I think it would be pretty obvious, yoi. Just looking at the kid's eyes you can tell he's blind." Marco spoke softly, placing his hand on Ace's lower back to get the teen back into reality.

"I know that, feather head. I want to know why he is hiding it from the crew." Thatch's voice was back to the normal jovial tone but there was something darker hidden under the man's voice. It didn't give Ace the creeps like the Teach guy from a few weeks ago, but it was definitely something that rubbed the teen the wrong way.

"Because it's nobody's business." Ace responded, his fire flickering at the chef's legs, daring the man to say anything about it. He didn't expect the man's outburst.

"BECAUSE WE ARE FAMILY DAMMIT!" Thatch shot to his feet, his form looming over Ace almost threateningly. "FAMILY DOESN'T KEEP SECRETS LIKE THAT FROM EACH OTHER! SIBLINGS DON'T KEEP SECRETS LIKE THAT FROM EACH OTHER!"

Thatch's chest was heaving and his breath was coming out in pants. Marco and Izou both had their heads facing towards their brother, wondering what the hell brought that out, and Ace took advantage of their inattention to leap to his feet as well. Getting closer to Thatch as he moved, Ace only stopped when the man was facing his, no doubt, ugly eyes, speaking low and gravelly.

"I already have brothers. I didn't ask for any more." It was everyone else's turn to be surprised; they didn't expect Ace to say something like that. Hell they didn't expect Ace to have any family. Marco more so considering the teen told him who his father was only a few minutes ago.

"They aren't my blood brothers, but they are all I have ever had." Ace spoke quietly, his anger releasing from him with every soft word. Thatch also deflated at the teen's tone, his anger seeming a little silly now that he thought about it.

"We don't want to replace your brothers, Ace." Izou spoke, reaching his hand up to slip it in Ace's. Squeezing the appendage lightly, trying to give the teen as much comfort through that simple touch as he could. Ace's fire responded by circling the okama's lower half, flicking up every now and then to caress the man's shoulders.

"We just want you in our family, too."

Ace was so conflicted right now. Images of the last time he saw Luffy and Sabo together flicked through his mind, lighting up the darkness with warmth and comfort. But those images faded slightly and were soon over shadowed by Izou's outline laughing at one thing or another, Marco's tattoo and face lighting up with almost the same detail as his brothers, the imagined bright blue eyes shining. An outline of Thatch joining in, the man smiling, and chuckling along with a joke one of the other crew members shared, the only color being the bright white of the chef's smile.

The flashes were cut off suddenly by a warm hand touching his shoulder, and suddenly his fire was fluttering around Marco, the man a steady presence against the ever changing flames. And in that same instant Ace knew.

He knew these people would accept him. They would care for him, help him, love him. And he knew this because of the man standing right there, the man comforting him with his touch. If Marco hadn't been so calm about Ace's parentage, he wouldn't have even considered what he was about to say. But the man convinced him, and the fire user wasn't even sorry for that fact. Ace was ready for this, ready to be accepted. Ready to be a son.

"Take me to Pops."

TBC

So…..See you next time~ as always feel free to ask any questions~ or even point out any mistakes~

Cut scene

Izou walked swiftly from the deck, trying to get as much space between him and the very wet, very sexy, chef that saved him. It didn't work too well as the damn man was following him. But the man didn't give up, he just sped up his pace, glad he didn't put the geta back on after he was on the deck.

"Izou!"

Nope not going to slow down. Going to keep walking and ignore the deep sensual voice yelling behind him. Just going to keep going. Going to change into a fresh kimono, chase down Marco and Ace, and get to dinner on time, all without seeing the frustrating asshole currently chasing him.

"Stop walking away from me dammit!" Oh hell no.

Izou whipped around in an instant, standing firm and glaring at Thatch as he stopped right in front of the okama.

"You don't get to tell me to stop walking away, you ass monkey!" Izou yelled, his creative cursing coming out full force as he poked Thatch in his broad nicely muscled chest. The smaller man glared up at the figure who had been tormenting his days and nights, focusing as much anger as possible at the man.

"You always walk away from me! You ignore me, you pretend I am not there, you act like you don't know! I'm tired of it Thatch. I am tired of this whole thing. You want to know about Ace? Fine. But don't ever tell me to stop walking away from you. Because now? Now I am never going to stop." Izou was huffing, out of breath from yelling, and felt quite satisfied by the man's "what-the-fuck" expression.

Izou turned around once more, aiming for his room, sending one last sentence over his shoulder as he went.

"Meet me outside of your room in 30 minutes. We'll track those two down and you can get your stupid questions answered."

End~

"Wait Izou, my love!"

"Oh Thatch, do you mean that?"

"Yes, my dear. I have always yearned for you with the passion and strength of a thousand flaming okamas!"

"Oh~ Take me now, you broad muscled man! Make me yours in the most animalistic way!"

"Yes, anything for you, my flaming lover!"

Don't ask.