phoenix: yeah, it is an important event for multiple reason.
hendo2031: Thanks! I honestly didn't think it would be so surprising lol.
Selet: Everybody is their own age according to cannon besides the boys. So Tashigi is an adult while the brothers are the ages I gave them. Tashigi was in the fight against the Whitebeards more in the beginning, so she was older there, too. I should put in the first chapter an AN about their ages, thanks for bringing this up!
A lot of stuff happens in this chapter and the tone is all over the place. You'll see what I mean. And remember the text in bold are minor spoilers for the wano arc. Not much about the plot itself, but the flashback. And I started a new fanfiction, another fix-it but a lot different! Enjoy~
After learning of the attack, a few commanders and their division members left the ship to clean up the evidence by burning the bodies. They were disgusted with the mangled bodies, and even had to pick them up to put in the bonfire. They would not risk anyone finding out about the boys.
The bodies totaled thirty men and one woman. They were a little put off that Vista killed a woman, but there was no other choice. Besides, this one was probably the one who had followed them because she was worried about the children. It didn't take too long, and soon only blood was in the clearing. Once it rained, the blood should wash away.
Marco and Kingdew were the supervising commanders, directing their division members to what to do. "Luffy didn't kill any of his attackers. Do you still think he'll kill one of us?" Marco asked in a flat voice.
"No, I don't," Kingdew answered. Marco smiled.
"Took you long enough."
Luffy did not follow through on what he told Vista, and had eaten all of is candy that day, but miraculously had not puked up all of the sugar. When Thatch watched Ace and Sabo decline sharing their own candies, the chef had chuckled, looking fondly at Luffy's pouting.
The next day, there was a NewsCoo brought to the ship, dropping multiple papers on the deck. Since whitebeard was too big to hold the papers, his sons read him the more important or interesting parts of that day's newspaper.
"Pops, it looks like someone had called in before dying during the fight between G5 and Vista and the boys," Marco said, reading the newspaper article about the missing bodies on the island. "Their ship was still there, so it was suspicious for them to be missing. It looks like Vista was the only one reported. There's only a small part that talked about him being in the company of children, but nothing about them fighting or their abilities."
"It is good you took care of the bodies, then," Whitebeard replied. Marco grinned, and pulled out the Wanted poster.
"Looks like we have another Wanted man on the crew," the phoenix said, holding up the Wanted poster. Despite having many strong commanders on the crew, few actually had bounties. Unless they did something to stand out, they were just part of large crew that was known to have powerful pirates.
"Gurarara! That's some good news! We shall have a party tonight!" It was a huge deal to get a Wanted poster, so of course they'd have a party.
News spread of the Wanted poster like crazy, and Vista was not the first to know. He learned only by the congratulations thrown his way throughout the ship. But, he was happy about it. Before the party was started that night, Luffy asked the pirates why being Wanted was a good thing. "I was always told to not get caught cause bounties were bad."
"Well, most people other than pirates think having a bounty is bad, but it shows that you are formidable to the marines and World Government. Sometimes they give out ridiculous bounties for stupid reasons, but we always celebrate when someone gets a Wanted poster," Marco explained. "Pops, I, Jozu and Teach all had Wanted posters."
"That's not very many for an emperor's crew," Sabo commented.
"It's hard for everyone to have a bounty when there are so many on the crew. Pops has the second highest bounty in history. The first was the Pirate King, Gold Roger. He was a powerful man and highly known man in history, so he had the highest bounty. He was a respected pirate by other crews. We were friends with them, even if history calls us rivals.
"One of our own even left to join his crew on the quest to find the final island, Raftel," Marco explained. "And one of Roger's cabin boys is now an emperor himself."
"Wow!" Luffy exclaimed. "How big is Whitebeard's bounty?" Luffy asked in awe.
"Over five billion. That's ten times as big as my current bounty. He is the strongest man in the world after all," Marco replied proudly. He was practically bragging about his father's strength. Ace took a drink of his juice, as they were all sitting at the commander's table.
"What's the difference between Kaido and Whitebeard? Namur said Kaido is the strongest creature alive, but Whitebeard is the strongest man. Aren't humans considered creatures, too?" Ace questioned. Luffy nodded, wondering that, too.
"It's just the world's way of saying both are immensely strong. Since Kaido has a zoan devi fruit, he's more considered an animal. Pops would probably have a hard time fighting him. Kaido's crew is called the Beast Pirates. He takes pride in being called a monster or creature."
"What's his fruit?" Sabo wondered.
"It's a mythical zoan, like mine. The dragon-dragon fruit," Marco replied. The boys looked amazed.
"A dragon?! That's crazy!" Sabo exclaimed. He'd read plenty of stories when he was younger about dragons, never thinking they were anything but fairy tales. Marco nodded. Responding that mythical zoans were rarer than logias.
"I've heard that someone found the kitsune-kitsune fruit not long ago, though I don't know who. When we went to Sky Island, there was a bird that ate the horse-horse fruit, and is now called a pegasus," Marco explained, enjoying the wonder on the childrens' faces. "But, your fruit is only as strong as the user. If I didn't know how to use my fruit correctly, I wouldn't be very strong. Luffy uses his fruit adeptly, but if he didn't, then all he would be was a form of slime."
Luffy beamed at the roundabout compliment. "It took a lot of training and practice, though."
"As do all skills. You don't learn haki by luck, you don't wield a sword well without practice, and you can't use a devil fruit without dedication and perseverance. That's the only good thing you got out of that place, was a way to train your devil fruit, no matter if it was, to some, amoral to kill people."
Ace and Sabo looked worried. "But, we killed people today. I think," Sabo said in a slow voice, finally realizing what a bad example they had set for Luffy, killing people right in front of him when he was still recovering from doing that before.
"Well, though it is party wrong to kill, sometimes you have no choice."
"Luffy made that choice," Ace grumbled. "He didn't kill anyone."
Marco nodded. "And that was impressive. But you have to remember, Luffy is able to do things other than kill. Both of you are new to your skills and don't have total control. It's easy to overdo it by accident. One hit to the head in the wrong place, and they're dead. One burn too much, and they're dead. Luffy is able to target certain body parts, and incapacitate his enemies without killing them. You two will just need a lot of practice to get to Luffy's level," the phoenix explained patiently. Luffy was smiling at the praise he was getting, proud of both his abilities and his self-control that day.
"Would you guys like to be part of the party tonight? There is gonna be a lot of alcohol out on deck. No one would blame you for not coming out," Marco said. Luffy looked apprehensive.
Sabo answered, Marco noticing him sharing a look with Ace after both noticed Luffy's nervousness about the subject. "No, we'll take a bath and then go to bed. Thank you for still letting us stay in your room," Sabo said sincerely.
"No problem. As soon as the vents are repaired and replaced, you three should be able to return to the previous bedroom." The boys were clearly happy about that. Everyone had faith Luffy was well enough to not lose control, plus the bath idea had been paying off wonderfully.
"Alright. Well, dinner will be early for you tonight since we usually eat out on deck during the parties. When it's any of your birthday, we'll throw a non-alcoholic birthday party for you," Marco replied. He grew sad when Luffy announced that he didn't know what his birthday was. "Why don't we make you one? If you don't know, then we can come up with it." Luffy nodded. "What is your favorite season?"
"I like spring, with flowers," Luffy replied immediately. When asked his favorite number, he said 142, and nobody knew where or why he came up with that number. Sabo laughed and informed him it would have to be numbers between 1 and 28. "Hmmm... 5!"
"May 5th it is. You still have many months before then, though. When are your birthdays?" Marco asked Ace and Sabo. When Ace replied his birthday was January 1st, Marco laughed loudly. "A non-alchol party on new years will be a first." They heard Thatch laughing in the kitchen. He was listening in, because of course he was. "Sabo, when is yours?"
"March 20th," Sabo replied. "Ace is older than me by two months, and Luffy by four years."
Suddenly, Ace brought up a completely different topic. "You know what's funny? Luffy has only gained family and friends by kidnapping them." Marco started laughing, and Luffy wasn't sure whether to laugh or not. Wasn't kidnapping bad? "Well, everyone is glad he kidnapped us, right? Though I don't think that the majority would be happy. We're just the weird ones," Ace added, making sure Luffy knew it wasn't a jab at him.
"I don't think you should kidnap anymore people, though. We're probably the only crew that would tolerate it without trying to kill you for it," Marco said with a light smile. Luffy nodded.
"I won't, I promise," he swore seriously.
Thatch came over with the boys' dinners, grilled shish kabobs with tons of meat for Luffy and vegetables and grilled pineapple. It looked delicious and Marco was looking forward to eating it during the party. The boys dug in enthusiastically, Ace and Sabo's candy bags forgotten.
Thatch sat back and watched with an amused grin while Luffy inched his hand closer to Sabo's bag of candy, while Marco grabbed his hand with a no-no look, making Luffy look shy. Sabo hadn't missed this and laughed.
"Such a bad influence, Thatch," Marco muttered after he was leaving to help bring the kegs out of the storage room and out onto deck, since the boys would be staying inside. The last thing Marco heard was "Am not!" from the chef. Marco sighed, but couldn't bring himself to get angry with Thatch. Who actually believed he'd be a wonderful influence anyway? This was the man that routinely dumped buckets of paint on people and it then was surprised when those he pranked got upset.
The kegs were in a line, many of the crew already taking them out while the sou chefs were setting up the massive grills. Thatch came out once the boys were done eating and hauled out the huge amount of meat and container of vegetables. Napkins were in a huge pile weighed down so the didn't blow away.
Already, people were drinking the booze happily. Whitebeard was not using the silly looking bottle since there was no risk of the boys coming out and Luffy possibly being burned if he dropped the bottle.
The party started in full when Thatch began grilling the thousands of shish kabobs along the massive grill from the storage room near the kitchen that they wheeled out. He put some wine on the meat that those requested.
Marco was sitting on Whitebeard's shoulder as they both watched their family laugh and drink and eventually pass out. "I found out when the boys' birthdays are. Luffy didn't know his, so we settled on May 5th, and Ace's birthday is New Years day. I promised their parties would be alcohol free."
"Ha! Good luck with that," Whitebeard laughed, Marco joining in. Marco was drinking from a mug while Pops was just guzzling from one of the sake bottles. "When is Sabo's?"
"March 20th," Marco answered. "The boys were very impressed with your bounty. I think they'll each get one some day if they stay pirates."
"Most likely. Luffy won't look as formidable without his tattoo anymore," the captain replied. "Though I am happy he's brave enough to do so to move on from his past. It's commendable, and he sets a good example to the others to move on from their troubling past." Marco nodded in agreement.
Then he saw someone knock over a mug of beer. "Julian! Make sure you clean that up thoroughly," Marco said loudly, voice cutting over the conversation he was in. When Julian said he'd do it in a little bit, Pops stepped in and told him he had to do it right now. The man from the sixteenth division didn't question the captain's order and went to the broom closet right right inside the hall and mopped it up without a complaint. He then went to the hose and washed the mop clean from the drink. "Thank you, son," the captain said with a smile. Julian went back to drinking after giving is father a smile.
"So, what do you think of about the boys' mention in the paper?" Marco asked quietly.
"I don't think it's a bad thing. Their appearances and ages were not mentioned. And besides, the world knew we had children with us before now. It is a pity Smoker died, as he was a fun opponent for many of us, but he isn't as important as our boys' safety. I was surprised when Vista told me about Luffy's move. For an eight year old, it was quite the strategy to come up with in a short time. I was under the impression he just slaughtered targets with no real effort put in," the captain commented.
"Well, maybe he learned from watching us? Or, we have had the wrong impression. I was not the one who came up with the word 'killing machine'. His captors did. So I just assumed and told you that he must have just offed everyone without rhyme or reason," Marco replied, taking a drink of his sake. When it was out, Whitebeard poured his another serving from one of the main bottles near his large chair.
After dinner was over, Thatch stumbled over to the chair, clearly smashed and having trouble standing upright. He was always amusing when drink, even if he didn't remember. He also got handsy with the men, usually prompting him to be hit and wake up with a bruise he had no idea where he got it.
"What is it, son?" Whitebeard asked, amused with Thatch's stumbling to the side a bit.
"Wh-when yoo gunna ass kids t-to shoin?" he slurred.
"Soon, son. Don't worry about it. Go back to your drinking." Thatch grinned and stumbled back to the nearest drinking circle and downed another large mug that didn't belong to him, resulting in a drunken fight, which ended with both of them hugging.
"How soon, Pops?" Marco asked. He wanted them to ask already. He was sure they'd say yes. "Luffy's injury is healed, and he's doing better with us on the trauma," the first mate pointed out.
"I'm aware. And I know things with Whiskey won't get better for Ace or Sabo for probably quite some time. Luffy may have been the bigger person and forgiven her, but I would be hard to give forgiveness to someone who called any of my sons an incurable psychopath, no matter that one was."
Marco frowned. "Yeah, I don't see them making any improvement on that front unless Whiskey does something significant for Luffy again. But, by her being head nurse, I hope nothing happens." Marco sighed. "I just think it's about time we ask. Thatch keeps bringing it up, even if he doesn't notice it at the time. It's no longer a surprise and they must have an answer by now."
"I will ask within the week. I want to find the right time to do so. We don't need a commanders' meeting about this, because regardless of anyone who wishes to not invite them, it is my choice and there would have to be something major for me to change my mind. Besides, I don't think a riot would be prevented if I change my mind, lead by Thatch and Haruta," the captain said, though there was amusement in his voice. His sons could be a handful, but he loved them regardless.
Marco smiled, looking forward to bringing them in permanently. "Pops, I want to thank you for going along with my wish to save them. I know it must have been hard to forgive someone who kidnapped me, and to let them aboard, but thank you very much." Whitebeard waved his other hand.
"There is no reason to thank me. The moment you asked me to do so, I knew they weren't bad kids. You have a good judge of character and I trust that. Even though we have both made mistakes, you were much younger when we accepted Teach, so I don't hold that against you. That was almost thirty years ago," the captain said. "Besides, the brats grew on me quickly, and it makes me feel very proud that my family has helped them so much."
"I can drink to that," Marco said and raised his mug, downing the whole thing in one gulp. Whitebeard laughed and toasted his bottle, downing that just as quickly as Marco had his.
-x-
The next morning, Luffy was incredibly embarrassed. He'd woken up to noticed he'd peed the bed, something he hadn't done for as long as he could remember. Peed on the bed that his brothers were also sleeping on. He tried to hide it from them, but his moving around and bright red face with pink eyes woke them alerted them that something had happened.
They didn't have to ask before they saw the wet spot on the bed. "Did you wet the bed?" Ace asked, though not in a disgusted or teasing way. Luffy buried his head in his hands. "It's probably because you couldn't get up from the bath draining you. I don't remember you ever wetting the bed before, not even during nightmares. It's nothing to be embarrassed about."
"Don't tell anyone else," Luffy said hurriedly.
Sabo ruffled his hair softly. "Why don't we wash off and then change clothes? We can take the sheets to the laundry room and pretend they are just smelly from us sleeping on them."
"They'll smell like pee," Luffy argued back. Ace stood up without a word and left the room, finding Marco sleeping. Usually, he got up before them. Ace found a mug of coffee, old coffee, on the desk and picked it up, walking back into the room and pouring the coffee over the stain.
"Ace!" Sabo scolded in a hush. "Now it's super noticeable!"
"Well, I sleep walked and found a mug of coffee, thought it was hot chocolate, and brought it back to the bed," he said back in a neutral tone. Luffy nodded, glad the pee and the smell was covered up. "Besides, sheets go over the mattress, they'll hide the stain. And this is a spare mattress anyways."
"Thank you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Luffy said, face still bright red.
"C'mon, let's go take a shower before Marco wakes up," Sabo said, and the boys took off their clothes besides their boxers and left them in the room in a pile before hurrying to the bathroom and shutting the door, making sure Marco was still asleep. He was.
"I'm embarrassed," Luffy said as he stood in the shower while Ace and Sabo shared the bathtub.
"There's no need to be embarrassed, it wasn't your fault. And it's never happened before. Did you have a nightmare?" Sabo asked kindly, loud enough that he could be heard over the running water of the shower Luffy was in.
"No."
"Then it was probably because you couldn't move. It's earlier than we usually wake up, so you were still lethargic," Sabo reasoned, Ace nodding though Luffy couldn't see him. Neither were grossed out that they had been sleeping in a puddle of pee. They'd been in much more disgusting situations before Luffy found them.
"O-okay," Luffy amended. After the shower and bath, the boys were no longer covered in pee and hurried back to their little den in towels to change into new underwear and clothes. They didn't want Marco to ask questions, so they gathered up the sheets and clothes. "Hey, maybe they won't even know who did it," Ace muttered.
They snuck past Marco's bed, thinking he must be very drunk to not notice them moving with haki, and the three crept down the halls, looking around corners and making sure no one was there to witness their suspicious behavior.
They made it to the laundry room, which was a huge room with stacks of clothes. Thousands of outfits went through the wash every week, theirs smelling like pee wouldn't be that big of a deal. Though they were now regretting spilling the coffee. It was obvious. They could have buried the sheets and no one would have known. Though, there would probably be a yellow stain, so maybe the coffee stain was good.
When they walked back, heading the library to wait until breakfast, Ace slammed his arm into Luffy's chest suddenly. Luffy stumbled back in surprise, not pain. "Ace, what the heck?" Sabo demanded, but then they all noticed the puddle on the floor. Ace crouched down and stick his finger in it, sniffing it. He sighed. It was water, no scent.
"Sorry, Lu. I was afraid it was alcohol, and we're all barefoot. Maybe we should go put on our shoes," Ace explained. Luffy forgave him instantly, smiling that Ace thought about his safety like that. Sabo was ashamed that he hadn't noticed, and could have possibly let Luffy burn his foot.
When they walked back into Marco's bedroom, he was awake, sitting up in bed and looking exhausted. "Where'd you three go?" he asked curiously, no accusation in his voice. Luffy hid his discomfort as Ace said the lie. He sleepwalked in the middle of the night and found the coffee, thinking it was hot chocolate, and spilling it on the sheets.
They thought Marco knew they were lying, but if he did, he passed it off and didn't mention it again. "Did you bring everything to the laundry room?" The boys nodded. Marco looked at the clock. "It sure is early for you three to be awake. Did Luffy have a nightmare?" the man asked in concern.
"No, we woke up from the spilled coffee," Sabo replied smoothly. Marco nodded. "Beware everyone will not be feeling so good today. They drunk themselves under the table of the party last night." Ace and Sabo nodded, still wondering why the pirates would put themselves at risk by all getting drunk together.
That day, there were no games to play and most of the crew were feeling ill. The bathrooms were packed with retching pirates. Ace and Sabo chuckled at it while Luffy was just grossed out. He'd never been around drunk people before, not this drunk, but Ace and Sabo had. They'd been around their fair share of bars when they were younger, though they weren't the drinkers. Mostly saw the people throwing up outside in the flower gardens or bushes.
Ace clapped Luffy on the back. "If we stay here, I have a feeling we'll be around drunken pirates or ones with hangovers. As long as they don't bring the alcohol around you, then it's fine. Right?" Luffy nodded. "You aren't used to it, we are. It'll be fine." The youngest nodded again.
They went out on deck after breakfast, which was not cooked by Thatch, who had a bad headache and had stayed in his room. It was a nice day out, and Namur was at the helm, steering the ship to the side where the boys saw a storm.
Whitebeard was in his chair, watching his children stumble around in amusement, though he did feel pity for those who were stopping to vomit over the side of the ship. Whenever the bathrooms were packed, the second choice was over the side of the ship. Well, the only other choice.
"Boys!" Whitebeard called, and the children came over. "I hope our partying didn't disturb your sleep last night," he said, clearly not hungover in the least.
"No, we fell asleep easily," Sabo replied, adjusting the jitte on his back. It was in a scabbard wrapped around his chest. He was too small to have it at his belt like some of the pirates did. Whitebeard had his bisento propped up against his chair, and the boys had never seen him use it. Sabo looked at it curiously.
"What is it?" Whitebeard asked, wondering why the blonde was so fixated on his weathered weapon.
Sabo was startled out of is thoughts, noticing his brothers and the captain watching him curiously. "I was just wondering why you need a weapon like that? You have a devil fruit, and none of the other devil fruit users on the ship use weapons," Sabo replied. Whitebeard glanced at his weapon, which he'd had since he first became a pirate over fifty years ago.
"Marco and Jozu's powers are mostly physical and they are trained in hand to hand combat. My fruit is so destructive that I can't always use it without causing harm to my sons of protected islands, so I use my bisento if I ever need to fight and cannot risk anything by using my fruit," the captain explained, not minding the question at all. "Luffy and Ace will probably not use weapons, since both of their fruits don't involve weapons.
"I know of eight other logia devil fruit users, minus Smoker as he is now gone. And only one of those logias used weapons. There are surely more out there that I don't know of. But you can see why it's very rare to have two brothers who both have logia fruits.
"So, in short, I use my bisento mostly when I don't use my devil fruit," he finished with a grin.
"Hey, hey, what do you think the strongest devil fruit is?" Luffy wondered. Ace and Sabo looked interested as well, and the three sat down in front of the man in his throne to listen.
"Well, power wise, most likely my fruit. Not to be conceited, but if I wished, I could destroy the world with my fruit. Of course, that would kill myself and my family, so I would never do that. If Luffy honed his fruit and the fruit's usual abilities, he could probably have his fruit up there with the strongest. But remember, your fruit is only as powerful as you use it."
He talked about many fruits that he knew of, and when they boys were still interested, he recommended checking out the devil fruit encyclopedia. When he told them where it was, all three went running off to get it.
"Did you guys hear that? He said my fruit was really powerful!" Luffy bragged while they searched the library for the encyclopedia. Sabo was the only one who would read fluently, so he read the other two about the fruits. Some were silly, some were scary, and some sounded quite useless.
"I'm glad my fruit wasn't shitty like some in that book," Ace said as he sat on the carpeted floor of the are of the library they were hanging out in. Luffy was drawing while they talked and Sabo read to them. He hadn't drawn in a coloring book in awhile, since they were all shredded when he lost control in his sleep, and he hadn't asked for more.
"Can you imagine how disappointed you would be to turn into a jacket?" Sabo commented. Then Ace grinned.
"You know, I always thought Marco's fruit was really cool. He can fly, heal wounds, is really powerful, but I gotta laugh at the lame name. 'Tweet-tweet' fruit. Like some baby bird, not a powerful pirate," Ace laughed, Luffy chuckling, too.
There was rambunctious laughter coming from a few bookshelves over. Thatch peeked out form the corner, grinning at the boys. "You know, we're going to get along fabulously once you join," Thatch said with a massive grin. He looked a little sweaty, but the worst of the hangover had clearly passed.
"Hey, no listening in on our conversations!" Ace shouted.
"Maybe don't be so loud. This is a library, you know," they heard Izo say in a know-it-all voice. The boys flushed, having thought they were the only ones in the library at the time. Thatch hurried over and plopped down in front of Luffy, who put his hands over his drawing.
"No looking!" Luffy said, and Thatch made to look away and back at Sabo. "You know what fruit I think is the coolest? The press-press. He can control gravity! Too bad it's in the hands of a marine. The stupidest fruit, in my humble opinion, has to be the jacket-jacket fruit. Why would you want to become a jacket that someone else wears? How lame. Though the name isn't as lame as tweet-tweet fruit! Ahahaha!" Thatch erupted into laughter.
"Don't tell him I said that! I wasn't meaning to be mean," Ace said, worried Marco would be upset with him. "Besides, we were talking in private!"
Izo walked over, carrying a book in his arm. "Don't worry, Ace. Marco wouldn't get mad at you, he'd be mad at Thatch, since he can't tell Marco what he heard without admitting he was invading someone else's privacy. And you see, we take privacy very seriously here, don't we Thatch?" Izo said in a sickly sweet voice. The boys watched as the blood drained out of Thatch's face. He then looked like a kicked puppy.
"I'm sorry, I won't say anything about you saying it," Thatch swore.
"But, Luffy, guess what?" Izo asked, turning to the youngest, who had stacked books up as a wall so no one looked at his drawing. Luffy looked up with a questioning face. "You didn't have a panic attack from a loud noise. Which Thatch could have caused. It's great improvement."
Thatch looked horrified, knowing he could have caused Luffy a panic attack or episode. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't even think," Thatch said with a truly sincere face on.
"You'll find Thatch does a lot of things without thinking," Izo commented, swatting Thatch's head with the book. The boys secretly wondered why he was made a commander if he was so childish, but they wouldn't voice it because it would hurt his feelings, and they didn't want to do that. Thatch was annoying sometimes, but he was also one of their favorites on the crew.
After the two commanders left, leaving the library completely, Luffy went back to his drawing, no longer worried someone would look. Ace and Sabo knew by then that Luffy hated people looking at his drawings unless he finished and thought they were okay to show anyone.
Ace was in less than a good mood, still angry they'd been eavesdropped on. "Ace, calm down. Don't stay angry," Sabo said. Ace huffed, crossing his arms. The cheery mood had been ruined. Thatch didn't mean to, but he had.
-x-
Marco was asked to go find the boys from the captain after lunch, which no one had seen them go to. Pops thought they were in a great mood after the talk, but when he entered the library, the boys were all quiet, doing their own things. Luffy drawing, Sabo reading, and Ace trying to copy words out of a book and write them down.
Whitebeard had said they were in a great mood, but they seemed less than cheery now. Marco wanted to know what had happened. He stood in front of the boys, and only Sabo looked up. "Hey, Marco," he said, though his voice was a little tight. Marco could tell Ace was visibly angry. Luffy looked at Ace in worry.
"Hey. What happened? Pops said you were in a great mood and then you didn't show up for lunch," Marco said in a concerned voice. He was surprised when Ace said, "Mind your own business."
"Ace!" both Sabo and Luffy scolded. Ace looked surprised at both of them reprimanding him. "Marco is being nice, he's not intruding on our privacy," Sabo stressed, frowning at his brother, whose face grew red in embarrassment.
"Sorry, Marco," Ace apologized. "I'm just mad cause someone was eavesdropping on us. And we've always been under surveillance at the old place. We just got used to having privacy and then some people were listening in." Marco frowned deeply, wondering who it was. Whitebeard was very strict about privacy, since it was hard to come by on a ship with over 1500 people.
The first mate sat down on the carpet next to Luffy, noticing he hid his picture and did not look again. "Who was it?" The boys were reluctant to answer.
Luffy asked, "Will they get in trouble?" Marco didn't know anyone else but Thatch who would eavesdrop and who the kids would be worried would be in trouble. Marco replied honestly.
"Well, probably. He'll have cleaning duty or lose drinking privileges if necessary," he said. The boys shared another look.
"Thatch and maybe Izo. We were talking about stuff and he just came over and was listening and just butted into our conversation," Sabo said truthfully. Marco frowned deeply, irritated with his brothers. Whitebeard was going to possibly ask the boys to join that day, and now they were in a crabby mood. Great.
"I will talk to them and make sure they don't do that again. I'll be honest, it will be hard to find true privacy unless you are in an isolated area. I'll make it clear to everyone that privacy is extremely important to you three. We didn't realize you were filmed at the old place, but we should have assumed. I'll make sure everyone knows," Marco said emphatically, and the three believed him.
Marco knew he couldn't bring them to Pops to ask after one of their own commanders made a breech of trust. Marco cursed in his head. He would go tell the captain today wasn't a great day to ask.
When the boys nodded, but Ace was still in a sour mood, Marco asked them to follow him. Luffy rolled up his paper and stuffed it in his pocket, Sabo closing the devil fruit book and leaving it on the end table by the couch he was sitting on. Ace just crumpled up his paper and tossed it in the wastepaper basket by the door.
The three didn't know where Marco was leading them until they entered his office. He lead them to the corner of the room and they saw a closet door. Marco used to hide in there to be alone when he still had the trauma when they first bought this ship, and Whitebeard had this room specifically designed for his comfort.
"When the ship was built, Pops had this room included. It was for me after I had panic attacks. There's a couch and a fluffy carpet. It's not the best place, is a little cramped, but if you guys ever want true privacy, you're welcome to come in here whenever you want." The boys walked into the room, which was a little dusty, and sat on the couch. It was very plush and comfortable. "That's probably the softed couch in the Moby. No one comes in here anymore, but you're allowed. And I'm very sorry about the breach of trust."
"Don't get super mad at them," Luffy said. The other two didn't say anything, but Ace was clearly not angry anymore, and Sabo was smiling softly.
"They will be punished just like anyone else on the ship. No one is above our law, including the commanders. If they do something wrong, then they will face the consequences. I hope this room atones for their mistake," Marco replied honestly.
Luffy nodded, and Ace and Sabo laid back on the comfy couch, smiling softly. "Honestly you're my favorite," Ace said with a grin. "Even if the name of your devil fruit is pretty lame." Marco looked surprised and then chuckled.
"I agree. 'Tweet-tweet' doesn't sound very formidable. If you guys are hungry, there are left overs from lunch in the fridge. Make sure you come for dinner, though. We don't want you hungry in the middle of the night." Marco closed the door partly and then shut the office door completely, giving them total privacy.
He grumbled at Thatch, stupid Thatch, for possibly ruining the day that Pops was gonna ask them to join! He stormed through the ship, and to Pops' chair to tell him that he wouldn't be seeing the brothers today.
"I couldn't bring the kids to talk to you, I'm sorry," Marco began. Whitebeard noticed his anger, and his expression grew serious. "A certain nosy someone has upset the boys, particularly, Ace. Apparently, they were in the library talking and Thatch and possibly Izo were listening and then butt into their conversation. And if that's true, and Thatch spoke suddenly, Luffy could have had a panic attack."
Whitebeard grew angry as well, angry that one of the commanders had broken a rule, and especially to their guests, who weren't crew members yet. "Luffy doesn't want them to get punished too hard," Marco added. "I've salvaged the situation, but I don't think you should ask them to join today. I've given them permission to use my Special Room."
Whitebeard looked at his son with soft eyes, losing the anger. He knew that place was sacred to him, and to share it with the boys showed a lot of trust and kindness. He was proud of this son, while he was irate with another. "Find them and bring them here," Whitebeard said, though Marco knew what he felt over the Special Room based on the look he'd given him.
The phoenix found Thatch and Izo arguing in the laundry room. Marco opened the door and gave them both a cold stare. "Pops wants to talk to you both." Thatch looked frightened while Izo smacked him in the head.
"Now look what you've done! I'm roped into your mess, too!" the sixteenth division commander shouted. Thatch looked like a kicked puppy. Marco followed them both as they headed out on deck to their disappointed father. It was the worst feeling, to be disappointed in. Thatch's head was down and Izo was glaring daggers at him.
"I've heard that you both broke one of our biggest rules," Whitebeard said immediately, sugarcoating nothing. "Privacy is important and you both know it. And I'll have you know, I was about to ask them to join our family because they were in such a good mood. And now I can't today because you've upset them.
"Marco has only salvaged the situation by letting them use his Special Room. You will both be assigned laundry duty along with your ccommander's duties for the next week. As well as not being allowed any alcohol. Thatch, for two weeks and Izo, for one," the man finished. "You need to be more thoughtful with them. Do you think they ever got any privacy where they were living before here?"
Thatch looked close to tears while Izo just looked ashamed. "No…" Thatch said. It was clear Whitebeard's words about being unable to ask them to join today were harsher than anything else he'd said or the punishments he'd given them.
"You're dismissed." The two commanders left Whitebeard and Marco, heads down and heading back to the laundry room. Whitebeard sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I do not think this will seriously affect their answer to join or not, but I don't want them to be asked while angry." Marco nodded in agreement. "I will make it clear to the commanders and they will make it clear to their divisions that privacy is still one of our most important rules."
"I will let my division know."
"I love all my sons, but they can be idiots, adults or otherwise," Whitebeard said, looking up at the sky. Marco felt he needed to raise the mood a bit for his father, since he'd been looking forward to asking the boys and now he couldn't that day.
"Ace told me I was his favorite, and then insulted me," Marco said. Whitebeard burst into laughter. Marco chuckled, too. "He said the name of my devil fruit is lame. I had to agree." He paused and then looked up at the clear sky. Marco left the captain to look for Namur, needing to ask his something.
He found him in the navigation room, which he was head of. His division were all schooled in meteorology and everything about the New World's abnormal weather compared the rest of the planet.
"What do you need, Marco?" Namur asked.
"Do you have any spare sheets of paper, or any pens you don't need?" he asked. When Namur gave him a questioning look, he added, "Luffy likes to draw and all of his coloring books were destroyed in their old room."
Namur hurried to the cabinets that held parchment and found some cheap paper and a few colored pens that they stopped using due to the colors clashing. He also brought back some old cartography maps that Luffy might use as substitute coloring books. It was doing that which Marco really remembered that Luffy was eight years old. He was a child, the youngest they'd ever had on the ship besides the baby that wasn't there long.
Luffy was a child, and kids like toys, things to play with, draw with. Even if Luffy could read, it wouldn't be fluently at his age. Marco suddenly felt bad, like they'd been ignoring Luffy's age. They bought him candy and played outside most days, but they weren't taking his age seriously. Marco also felt guilty about not replacing the toys once they stopped at an island with toy shops. Shame pooled in the pit of his stomach.
The next island they were stopping at, the boys would get to buy some toys or stuffed animals. Anything they wanted. He gave them some privacy before going back to their new private place and found them all sleeping on the couch. They had woken up early after all.
Marco knew they had lied about what happened with the sheets, and assumed one of them had accidentally wet the bed and was hiding it. So far, Ace had never sleepwalked. He understood why they would want to hide it, it was embarrassing to most, but Marco wished they would have told him. He respected that they hadn't and understood why. The first mate just wished they didn't feel ashamed about it. Whichever one did it, which Marco assumed was Luffy.
Marco left the pile of paper and maps, pens and new pencil resting on top. When they woke up, they'd see the presents and hopefully Luffy would be happy about it. He wanted them to feel like they were home. A good home, not the one Luffy had called home for his whole life. That damn facility that made Luffy think that he was home.
Seeing Luffy sleeping with his brothers brought back that man's sour words when he was locked up. "Luffy doesn't know how to love". Then what had Luffy been doing doing since he got there? He overflowed with love and adoration for his brothers. Marco didn't understand how anyone could see Luffy and his brothers and not know they loved one another.