For an anon on tumblr for this prompt: if you ever take prompts, you should totally write something short about the moby dick being overrun with something (absolutely anything - rats, bananas, senior citizens who refuse to acknowledge they are lost) and marco/ace dealing with it. Or not, but I love your fics and i think this would be pretty cool!
The senior citizen one was really tempting, but I hope you like this one too xD
After two years sailing in the Grandline, Ace thought he had seen it all. There had been storms out of nowhere than rained boulders, there had been weird karate seals that followed him around and called him master until Marco had made him send them away, there had been whirlpools, and there had been water shooting straight to the sky, all manner of adventures springing on him from out of nowhere. But they began to lose their entertainment value (boulder storms were becoming so ordinary as to be a chore they fought over who had to protect the ship this time).
"It's so boring," Ace said as he flopped on their bed next to Marco, still brushing bits of gravel from his hair. "Here I thought the Grandline would never run out of adventures, but it's only two years
Marco just shook his head.
"This sea will never fail to surprise you. It would do well not to get cocky," he said, ruffling Ace's hair when he scoffed. Ace tackled him in retaliation, and the resulting wrestling had morphed into something that had kept them far too busy to pursue any conversation.
The next morning, Ace was woken by shouts from deck, and he and Marco were tearing out of their room before Ace was fully conscious. He shook off thoughts about just how he had shorts on at Marco's grim expression, focusing. The silence of the ship was profound, no one in the halls as they dashed toward the stairs, no noises from any of the rooms they passed, no more screams from on deck, and fear froze Ace's chest, a chill creeping up on him.
Before they reached the stairs, they found the first of their crewmates. Vista was prone on the floor in front of the stares, unmoving. They rushed to his side, and Ace's fingers fumbled as he felt for a pulse while Marco stood on high alert.
Finally, a steady thrum beat against Ace's fingers, and he sank to the ground in relief. "He's alive," he said, grinning. "It's almost like he's asleep."
Marco snorted. "In the middle of an attack? He's not you."
"Oi!" Ace stood, reminded that whatever was attacking could appear at any moment. "I've never fallen asleep during a fight! Not a real one at least," he added when Marco opened his mouth to protest.
"Whatever it is, it's not normal for Vista to fall asleep randomly in the hallway. Let's put him in a room and move on to find Pops."
Ace nodded grimly and threw Vista over his shoulder, leaving Marco free in case of attack. He threw him unceremoniously in Izo's room since it was closest, and they moved toward the stairs. They had to repeat the process several times before they got to the main deck.
"Do you think it's some sort of devil's fruit?" Ace asked, and Marco frowned.
"I've never seen anything like it, but maybe. Still you think someone would have sensed someone on board. I don't sense anything odd, do you?"
Ace shook his head, but he was unable to shake the dread weighing on him, and they hurried to Whitebeard's quarters. Before they cleared the stairs, Ace whirled around.
"Did you hear that?" The faint giggle echoed in the stairwell. They stood back to back, and Ace scanned the room for any sign of the intruder . A flash of light caught Ace's eyes, and he burst into flames reflexively as it dove at him. Dust of some sort fell on him sparking as it hit flame with little pops.
Ace spun around, heart in this throat. Marco was listing to one side, looking like he could barely stand on his feet. He swore and wrapped them in a bubble of fire to keep whatever it was out. Marco lit up with blue flames, just as Ace wrapped his arms around him to stabilize him.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." Marco shook his head like he was trying to clear it. His eyes focused, and he clutched at Ace. "None of that hit you right?"
"No, I burned it all." Marco sighed in relief, his grip tightening. Ace let himself be pulled closer, biting his lip to keep from smiling. "What'd it do?"
"I think it makes people fall asleep. Like Vista."
More giggles sounded from outside the fire, and Ace sighed as he tried to count the shadows zooming around. "What are they?"
"No clue. We're probably the only ones awake though."
"Ready?"
"Yeah. Don't get hit."
Ace dropped the flames and chased after the nearest blur. It squeaked and tossed the powder at him, and Ace burst into flames.
"No fair!" it squeaked, and Ace's eyes widened.
"You can talk!" The blur slowed and a tiny person with wings hovered at his eye level, hands on their hips.
"Of course I can talk. Now go to sleep so we can steal all your treasure." Another snuck up behind him, but Ace burned the dust without looking.
"General! This one keeps burning it!" The little person stamped their foot in midair, and was joined by the one that had snuck up on Ace.
"The other one is barely affected." The general wore a little helmet. It was rather cute. "We should have expected something like this. These humans have an impressive reputation from what I've heard."
"Why thank you," Ace said.
"Oi! I'm not complimenting you." The general flushed, and Ace bit his lip. Marco came up behind him and rested his chin on Ace's shoulder. Ace burned the rain of dust showering down on them again, while Marco examined the little general. The tiny people were gathering in front of them now, loudly discussing possible strategies as their general glowered at Ace.
"And who might you be?" Marco asked.
"We're pixies, and we've come to steal your gold!" The general's chest puffed up, and Ace grinned.
"Did you harm any of our comrades?" Ace asked, a flicker of fire trailing up his arms. Marco's hand rested comfortingly on Ace's back, and Ace leaned into it gratefully.
"No, they are just all asleep, the fools. It only lasts a few hours though." l. Ace felt the tensions slide out of Marco, and they both chuckled.
"Every single one of them got caught. Think of the teasing possibilities." Marco's whisper against Ace's ear sent shivers down his spine. A group of the pixies flew in and one rushed to report to the genera
"No gold was found, general!" The general's eyes bugged out, and Ace snickered. The general whirled back to them.
"Where are you hiding the gold?"
"Hmmm, I don't remember." Ace turned to Marco. "Marco, do you remember where we put the gold?"
"Nope, I think it was Haruta's turn to hide it. Or was it Thatch?"
"You have to know! Tell us now!"
"Why should we?" Ace asked, and the general growled.
"You will if you want your comrades to wake up ever again!" Marco snorted, his breath tickling over Ace's skin.
"Didn't you just say they'd wake up in a few hours?" he asked, and Ace cut off the sneak attack party coming up from behind them, forcing them back to the main group with a sheet of fire. He twisted back, pressing up against Marco as much as possible. Marco kissed his cheek absently.
"Well, you'll never catch us all! We'll just keep putting them to sleep until you give in!"
Ace glanced at Marco, who shrugged. "Okay," Ace said. "I better go drop the anchor." He kissed Marco soundly.
"You mean you're just going to let us?"
"Why not? They'll be fine," Marco said, and Ace grinned as he crossed the deck and released the anchor. The pixies muttered, buzzing around in the air as they conferred.
"But-" The general was almost plum colored in fury. "Just tell us where the gold is already!"
"Hmmmm, nope." Marco turned away from the pixies, ignoring the dust they threw at him and tilted his head at Ace. "C'mon let's go make lunch. Looks like it will just be the two of us."
"Are you ignoring us?!"
Ace hummed, fighting to keep the amusement off his face, and snagged Marco neatly around the waist. "After lunch, I can think of some fun activities if it is just the two of us. It will be nice. Almost like a honeymoon." He dragged his teeth down Marco's neck lightly, relishing his shudders.
"Oi, we're not here to provide you with a vacation!"
"Do we need to make lunch first?" The heat in Marco's eyes made it easy to get into the part, and Ace grinned.
"I don't know, I am pretty hungry."
Marco rolled his eyes, a fond smile on his lips. "You're always hungry."
"True."
"Argh, fine, who wants your stupid gold, anyway!" Marco's fingers tightened on Ace's shoulder, but that was the only sign of triumph he gave as he blinked at the pixie general.
"What?" He asked, and Ace held back a snicker at the incensed look on the pixie's face. The others buzzed angrily, muttering to themselves.
"You probably don't have any gold anyway. Big name pirate, right! Like you lovesick fools could be bigshots." The general turned back to his people. "Retreat, everyone. Let's find some real pirates this time!" A cheer rose up among them, and they were gone in flash of light, zooming away into the sky.
They watched until, they were sure they were gone, and then burst out laughing, clinging to each other.
When they'd finally stopped, they went on a round to check that everyone was indeed okay.
"I told you," Marco said as they finished putting Whitebeard to bed properly. "Always something new."
Ace snorted. "That's for sure."He laced his fingers through Marco's. "So it was an epic battle right?"
"Oh definitely. They're all lucky to be alive. We managed to chase them off by the skin of our teeth" Marco grinned at him. "It will make for a great story." Ace's stomach growled, and they both laughed.
"But first lunch," Marco said, smiling wickedly. "And then we still will have some time before we get to tell it."
"I'm sure we'll figure out something to while away the time."