Chapter 25
After everyone had vacated the infirmary, Ace sits in front of Whitebeard, on Dadan's bed, beside the Captain's. His legs were dangling over the edge, restless under the eyes of his Captain, the man he considers his father, his Pops.
"Dadan doesn't resent you." The Captain's first words.
"She hates me." He states. "She's always hated me, ever since I could remember."
"She cares for you Ace." He says, "Otherwise, she'd have killed ya when you were a baby." Case in point.
"She wouldn't- she's too afraid of Garp." He reasons.
"She could have. She's a bandit. She had multiple chances. Garp wouldn't have turned her in because you weren't expected, and she didn't really know what to do with you when she got you." Whitebeard sighs. "Garp doesn't talk about his life, but he's told us that he wasn't born in the mountains; and he knew to raise a baby- an infant no less, in the dangers of the forest gave it fewer chances of surviving."
"I know. I had to beat-up a lot of animals who almost ate me."
"Before you could defend yourself, Dadan has also saved you from multiple dangers. Trust me Ace, she cares about you more than you think."
Ace crosses his arms, unconvinced. "I still doubt that."
There was no arguing with him. So the captain sighs and searches for another way. "What is she to you Ace?"
"She is just a caretaker." Ace follows after some thought, "She is a foster parent."
"Do you love her? Care for her well being?"
"She can take care of herself." He responds quickly, as if indifferent and still the automatic response. Oh, Whitebeard knows she can handle herself, but faced against the tougher foes, he isn't sure. And Ace wasn't sure either.
"Ace, if she dies now, as she is- in the sea, in a situation she's always said she's afraid of, what would you do?"
Ace grits his teeth, anger in his tone as he says "She isn't going to die!" Because she isn't. She has him, and Ace is strong. Strong enough to survive. And she is strong as well. Strong enough to live and protect Luffy and Makino and her two bandits. Strong enough to lift an ax and fight and survive a fire. She's strong enough to face Garp, to even associate with Garp means you aren't a waste of his time. She's strong enough to survive a Buster Call for god's sake! And… "She has you now too. This crew can keep her safe. She's in the safest place in the world." Ace says with so much certainty, Whitebeard doesn't want to correct him. "This ship is our home, but we must be cautious to protect it." He says instead. "Dadan isn't wrong… in keeping things secret. In hiding facts."
"Oh, like your tumor that you told nobody about?" Ace snaps. The flash of hurt on his captain's eyes almost makes him take it back and apologize. almost.
"Exactly like my tumor," Whitebeard admitted, defeated. "What do you think would have happened, Ace?" He rests on his bed, reclining on the backrest of the inclined hospital bed. "If the World Government found out about it. If the crew, the family knew and mourns about it. Drink themselves in the bar in sorrow and worry. The spies and journalists fish it out and the news spreads all over the world. What do you think would happen?"
Ace thinks, the realization of the aftermath in his head. He swallows the lump on his throat. "Chaos." The only word that could sum it all.
"People would try to claim things that aren't theirs to claim. They would kill, destroy islands, destroy lives if they found out." Whitebeard pauses, places a hand to Ace's shoulder. A warm reassuring comfort, a contrast to his next words. "They would try to fight me to get a title they think they can claim because I've grown old and sick." He breathes, "They would take my family away from me."
"They can't!" Ace snaps, a fire in his eyes. Determined and blazing in a way that made even Whitebeard cautious of the boy, "I won't allow them. Let us handle them Pops. Let us fight for you." He says; unwavering loyalty and something so close to love. "Even if the news like that spreads, you have us to lean on. I won't let anything happen to you and to the crew."
"I know you won't." His captain replies, "-but it would hurt me to see my sons get hurt."
"The pain of seeing you suffering is worse than any pain a tumor could cause, Ace."
"Then what good am I as a son, when I can't even defend my father?" Ace says, almost to tears.
"You are a gift as yourself." He smiles, "You care. You would fight for me, would take my crew though safe passages. You treasure my treasure, my dream— and that's all I would ever ask of you." And the matter of this talk returns, "The same way Dadan cares about you, but in her own special way."
Ace snorts, "What, screaming at me and Lu?" He chuckles. Because screaming at them to be quiet is her way of keeping them hidden. It's her way of protecting her family. Her mde of survival.
"Keeping you and everyone she loves alive." Whitebeard's response. Ace could only keep silent as he thinks about his captain's point of view. "That's how mothers are Ace." A firm squeeze on the boy's shoulder before he lets go, returning to reclining on the bed.
"Dadan will be back here before dinner."
"S-she said after dinner." Ace corrects.
"I think she'll realize she'd have to get dressed with more layers before we land on White Thorn island." He remarks, exactly as the bells sound. "Land Ho!" Someone calls from the watch nest and the stern. And a laugh that could only be described as "Luffy" is heard, shouting the same sentence with glee.
"Shit, I don't think he's dressed for the cold." Ace comes to a realization. Rubber and cold do not mix well.
"AAAHHH! IT"S COLD!" The Captain and Second Commander hears the boy's complaint through the infirmary door. They could only laugh and sigh in exasperation.
"Shit, it's freezing." Dadan curses as she rubs her arms though a thin blanket, the only blanket she took when she stomped out to reach the mess hall for an early lunch.
"Boss,-" Magra appears beside her, handing over a large warm looking coat that was colored pink. It was a long padded coat that would reach all the way to her ankles. And she was very thankful. Having put it on, she felt instantly warmer. However, she was still wearing shoes which were still too cold for her, so she goes back to her room.
Along the way, she sees Luffy getting bundled in layers, upon layers of clothes by both Makino and a sparsely dresses Ace.
"DAMN BRAT! Wear a coat! I'm feeling cold just by looking at ya'!" She orders.
"Damn old hag! I'll get to it later!" He shouts back, not looking back and lacking the usual bite he directs to her specifically. She wasn't surprised at all anymore, honestly. There are just days when she and Ace don't fight, and there are days where the argument escalates to threats and punches. She thinks she deserves it, sometimes. She wasn't the best example of a parent to begin with, not with how she treats her charges. The hideout was always noisy when the younger boys were there, so she doesn't think anything would change, not on this ship. Still, she looks at Ace, fussing over tying Luffy's boots and scolding him for even trying to just wear sandals on the coldest weather in the Grand Line. -Only for a commander, Vista, to drop a black fire-retardant coat over Ace's head. Telling him to get dressed too.
With one last look of her charges on deck, she returns to the infirmary where she would have to get dressed warmly.
"Magra, where's Dogra?" She asked before she enters, but the man had made his way to the little group with Luffy. Magra already handing Ace an extra olive green trench coat which he was frowning at. Deciding to put on the black coat instead of the green one. Magra doesn't look offended at all. He just tucks the green coat in his arms.
However, Ace noticed something he'd been wonderign about. "Why are you guys wearing white?" Ace asks instead,
"So we can blend in." Dogra says. So we don't get into trouble can't run away from- he means to say. Ace just looks at the two incredulously. Noticing they've made very little for themselves these past few days. Their stealth having been mentioned multiple times by the commanders which he just shrugs of- because, well, it's how they always are in his mind. Sticking to bushes, traveling under the shadows of the trees. Wearing the colors of their environment. There was nothing odd about bandits wearing the colors of their forest... but there was something odd with them wearing all white.
Dadan has taught them well. She gives herself an imaginary pat in the back and smiles at her two bandits. With that, she enters the warmth of the infirmary, only to be met with nurses screaming.
"Pops! You must wear your coat properly!" Dadan hears nurse Hannah. She was using a tone close to exasperation and pleading. Dadan was surprised she wasn't all out screaming and demanding.
"But I've always worn my coat this way." Whitebeard's statement as he settles it over his shoulders. Now he was wearing a button up, buttoned only until his chest, as his coat hangs over his shoulders.
"Ha, you honestly think you ain't gettin' a cold with that much to cover up?" Dadan remarks, off handedly, "Last time I was with ya' out there, I remembered a certain Pirate Captain that almost got a cold after a bad sneeze."
"Oh, you're exaggerating…." He waves her off, "It wasn't a cold at all. In fact, it was just the dust in the air." Excuses.
"Yeah, the dust in the cold air that turned yer' nose red and runny."
"It wasn't runny bandit hag."
"Keep tellin' herself that Newgate." She sits on her bed, found some socks and her boots to wear.
"Hey, wear something' warm would ya'. I'll borrow it later when I get cold." She says as she tosses over one of his scarves she got from one of the nurses. "And button-up yer shirt. If you pick me up later and yer' chest is cold, I'll get cold too." She reasons as she stands.
"Hurry up Newgate! The island is close." She says with excitement. "It's my first island in the Grand Line… And I can't wait to taste the sake you told me about."
The thought of sake was enough to get him to stand up, shirt buttoned-up, scarf hanging across his neck and an extra coat over his sleeves, just-in-case.
The nurses hide their amused smiles behind their clipboards and hands. Well, that was one way to get their stubborn captain to dress warm.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
There, a Chapter! XD -Still not sure if there'll be a next one so soon. I've been dreamt about cockroaches on my stew, and I know for a fact that either means: someone is plotting against me, there will be complications in business or I'll get sick with something serious. :/ Not the first time I've dreamt of roaches. :)
To Guest: Thank you for Reviewing! XD I'm so happy someone is still reading this :)
Yup. I'm not saying that Ace treats Dadan badly all the time. Just saying that sometimes, kids treat their parents harshly without knowing it. And Dadan hurts too, sure, but she's saying she's used to it. Because she thinks she deserves it or something.
Dadan is actually pretty lenient, she lets her kids explore themselves and doesn't hold them down to owing her anything. There are parents who hold their chicks too tightly, like Outlook- and believe the child owes them his life. There are parents to hold their chicks too loosely- like Dragon, who isn't even there to guide his own child, thereby making a loose cannon of a boy like Luffy (and even Sabo is a sporadic game changing brat). Then there are those who hold their chicks tight then loose then tight then loose, like Whitebeard- who actually disciplines his kids when they do something wrong, but forgive them too like Squard. Whitebeard goes leaps and bounds for his charges and exercises both permissive and authoritative techniques. And while Whitebeard hasn't read any books in parenting, he sure does know how to keep his kids in line.
Well, Enjoy!