Chapter XIII: We Cherish You for You

A/N: Sorry that the chapter is fairly short, but it's an important part of Ace's character development. Oh, thanks to everyone that reviewed, voted, and followed! I do love reading everyone's comments.

"Speech"

Thoughts or emphasis or scenery changes or significant time gaps

ANGRY VOICE

*noises* (except laughter)

*actions*

'Telepathy' (Only for the telepath's voice)

Moby Dick

Ace had just settled down for a warm breakfast, coat held tightly shut. He still wished it was warmer, but really didn't mind the snow part. He had just shoved half of a plate's worth of food into his mouth when Thatch strode over to the table with an oddly wide smile. Before the boy could swallow, Thatch's next words had him nearly choking.

"So, Ace, why didn't you mention to anyone that your birthday was just in a couple of days?"

Sabo sitting next to him halted his conversation with Namur to forcefully pat his the older raven's back until Ace was out of danger from dying by surprise. Gulping in huge gasps of air, Ace finally turned to Thatch, his expression dark and closed.

"Who told you that?!" the raven demanded hoarsely.

Thatch raised his hand in a placating gesture. "Hey, you don't have to bite off my head, Ace! I was asking around for your birth dates, so that I can put them into the crew's general logs. Plus, Ana needed them your medical records, too. Anyhow, Sabo was busy, Kit set up foxfire around his napping spot, so I couldn't even get near him, so that left Luffy. He told me. But something he said stuck with me, though. Said something about how you don't like your birthday, but what kid doesn't like their birthday?"

Ace shot said brother an infuriated glare (not very effective since Luffy was at a different table, and the dining area was huge) before eying the fourth commander with a level of wariness the man haven't seen since those early days. It hurt.

"I don't. Haven't bothered celebrating it."

Bewildered, the chef tried again. "As a part of this family, we have an obligation to celebrate it. I already came up with a few pl-"

"NO! I don't want to have a party or anything! I much rather everyone not even mention my birthday!" screamed the pre-teen.

"But Ace-" The raven-haired boy stood up and ran out the galley in fury, leaving the commander and the crew flabbergasted.

Kit and Sabo exchanged a meaningful look before excusing themselves and running after him.

"Ace. Ace? Ace, open the damn door, you idiot!" Kitsune and Sabo stood outside their cabin. Sabo currently had his fist pounding on the door. "I thought we've already discussed this back on Dawn Island. Hurry up and come out. I know you didn't eat much at breakfast, you can't stay in there all day!"

"Sabo, he's not going to come out anytime soon."

"Aargh!" Sabo knocked his head against the door, turned around, and slid down to sit on the cold planks.

"Screaming and yelling at him never worked before and will hardly work now. I thought he got over this after we made our vows as brothers, but I guess something like this won't be so easy to resolve," sighed the older D. They have been pleading, demanding, and threatening their brother for half an hour.

Breakfast had evidently finished as Luffy finally bounced over to see what his brothers were doing.

"Hey Kit, hey Sabo! Where's Ace?"

"Luffy, did you have to mention Ace's birthday to Thatch?"

"Oops. I forgot. Is Ace mad at me?"

Luffy stuck out his lip, quivering.

Sabo shook his head. "No, honestly I think he's well of aware of how honest you are, Luffy. He's just upset that Thatch tried to make a big deal about his upcoming birthday."

"Ace's existential issues come up all too often. I thought he really did get over it, especially after our talk a year ago. Luffy, by your blank look, I guess you still don't understand what I'm talking about? You know how Ace hates his dad? He also believes that because of that man's blood, he isn't worthy of living. I figured after he stopped asking those question to every damn stranger he had finally realized that his parentage doesn't determine our love for him," explained Kitsune. If he had ears, they would be drooping, tail(s) trailing on the ground.

He really didn't like dealing with psychological dilemmas, but his family was chock full of them, including his own.

"We should probably just give him time," conceded Sabo. "Luffy, why don't we go play a game? Kit?"

"Hmm. No thanks. I think I will just take a nap." Thatch did interrupt his earlier one for all he acted like he kept on sleeping earlier this morning.

Hours later

Ace hadn't heard a word outside the cabin for a while. His stomach grumbled, but the raven felt a sour twist about eating anything right now. But he couldn't stay in here any longer. It felt like the cabin walls were closing in on him when he was like this.

Sneaking a glance outside and seeing no one at the moment, he tiptoed out for some fresh air.

'Finally decided to come out, hmm?' "said" a voice above and behind him.

Ace twisted around abruptly. Lying on the cabin roof laid a Kit in his ninko fox form. The three-tail shook off some errant snow before leaping off his perch, black smoke hazing around his body. A semi-transformed Kit landed in front of Ace. "Come on." The kitsune walked off without another word.

Confused, Ace followed, more out of surprise than conscious choice. Kit swiftly walked through the ship and deep into its twisting underbelly. Ace had some trouble maneuvering around a few of the wooden and iron shafts that made up the Moby Dick's internal skeleton, but Kit made several stops to let the younger but bulkier boy catch up.

They finally came to a particularly large space somewhere in the ship.

"You do know how to get back to the deck, right?" mumbled Ace.

"Of course. I thought you looked like you needed somewhere quiet and secluded to think for a bit. Want to talk about it?" Kitsune worried that Ace might explode in his face, but Ace's reaction surprised him. Ace just huffed and flopped to the ground.

"Maybe it's better if I had decided to stay on Clockwork instead of letting you and Sabo to convince me otherwise."

"Ace, you're only ten, no, almost eleven. And what makes you think we would have left you behind? We're like the Three Musketeers."

"There's four of us," Ace just had to point out to be a pain in the tail.

"Yes, the three older and wiser protagonists plus their troublemaking younger follower, D'Artagnan."

Kitsune shook his head. "We're getting off topic. Back then, though, and now, I didn't really have high hopes for our survival if we did choose to go our own way. We would have never survived the Grand Line without any sort of knowledge, provisions, or weapons. I doubted we would have gotten to the next island, especially since Clockwork Island was under occupation by that low-down pirate crew. The old man's offer really saved us." Kitsune had a feeling where the conversation was turning to.

"I don't belong here. If any of the crew knew my heritage, the name of the bastard whose blood runs in my veins-" Kitsune cut Ace off.

"Shut up about that, already! They seem fine knowing Uncle Ray and I share a blood relation. I highly doubt the old man or anyone else on the crew would mind if they knew the truth. They've accepted my heritage and Sabo's, I bet they wouldn't even care about Luffy's! So why not yours?"

Ace glared at his older brother. Then he stood up and knocked Kitsune onto the planks.

"We don't know that! They don't even know your entire heritage. Heck, even you don't know it yourself. Your dad's just someone your mom called dangerous. I don't think they call your father a monster! Don't even try to compare us again!" Ace heaved sobbing breaths of air.

Kitsune could have dodged his punch; he was plenty quick and agile, especially in the guise of the ninko. Instead, the older boy just sat quietly.

"What is going on?"

Ace and Kitsune's heads twisted around to see Marco walking into their hiding place.

"Ace, you okay? I heard what happened in the galley - yoi." The first commander quietly walked over to Ace's side. He looked as bored as ever, but Ace could detect the tell-tale hint of worry on the commander's face.

(Kitsune knew Ace knew the phoenix was worried about him. Shouldn't that have let Ace know how close he was to their new family members?)

Nevertheless, Ace scowled at the commander. After a moment's thought, Ace asked the man a question.

"What would you do if Gold Roger had a son?"

The commander's half-lidded eyes widened slightly, eyebrows rising high. He didn't at all expect the question. He didn't know why Ace made this sudden topic change, but he didn't need Observation haki to tell his next answer needed to be carefully thought out.

"If Gold Roger had a son? I suppose that would depend on the son in question - yoi. Gold Roger may have been Pops' rival, but our crews got along fairly well outside of the occasional fight. As Pops would say, we are all children of the sea. In the end, it depends on what kind of person the kid turned out to be – yoi." Ace chewed on this for a moment, his brow crinkled in deep thought.

"Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why does everyone call Whitebeard father? I can understand Luffy and Kit's motives, even I do it without thinking, but why?" Tears began to stream silently down.

Kitsune silently stood up and put a comforting arm around the younger (and grudgingly taller) boy. The first commander waited a moment before kneeling down to look the ten-year-old in the eye.

"We call him father because he calls us his sons. To the world, we are outcasts, monsters. It may be only a word, but it makes us happy." Marco treated the two gaping boys with a rare, genuine smile. "It makes us happy."

Ace blinked away the new tears threatening to form. "And if I was…"

"Don't worry about it - yoi." The first commander stood up. "Who your father is, it doesn't matter. You can tell us when you're ready. Remember, if you have any problems, the old man's door is always open and so it mine - yoi. I'll talk Thatch out of having anything big. I think I saw Sabo and Luffy talking to him anyways."

"Hey Ace," softly interjected Kitsune. "Why don't we let Thatch throw you a party, a small one at least? It can be whenever you want rather than on your birthday." Ace nodded slowly.

"Okay."

The fourth commander felt a bit confused about why Ace didn't like his birthday but seeing how happy the kid was for the new arrangements made the chef smile.

They have decided to host a small party with the boys, Pops, and several of the commanders. The boy looked absolutely surprised when the chef presented his chocolate birthday cake. The boys had never had chocolate, aside from hot chocolate, before. Ace failed to suppress the awed look at his first bite.

The large, oversize cake quickly vanished.

No chance of leftovers with three D's and Sabo.

Luckily, Thatch set aside the commanders and Pops' portions, adding a bit of alcohol mixed into them.

Luffy tried to make a grab for them at one point, but Kit pushed him into his serving of cake.

Nothing escaped the fox's keen sense of smell, alcohol included.

Luffy pouted but then licked up the cake smeared onto his face. Alarmed, the Zoan then shoved Luffy away from the rest of his cake not smushed into a rubbery face.

Thatch laughed at the antics of his youngest brothers. Apparently, Luffy's tongue could stretch as well as his body. Kit just looked horrified at his brother's level of disgustingness.

Out of the four, Kit probably had the best manners – in physically eating at least. He didn't shove food into his mouth, just ate large quantities at a steady pace.

All in all, the party was fun, and Ace looked happy.