Maldea: Hopefully Izo gets his act together. Asshole.
Wishfull-star: You're not gonna be happy with this chapter if you want him to be happier lol.
angelsXdemons: I made Izo more hated than Kingdew for once! Usually Kingdew is my go-to asshole on the ship. He looks like one, let's be honest lol.
sairakanzaki: Poor Ace indeed. And I won't update any more than once a week.
Storm1x2: Thank you! Even more poor Ace for this chapter. Lol, I feel like all my readers should expect that I make life for the main characters hard.
WhiteyWolf26: I always had a problem with the way they recruited Ace. So for this one I'm making it very hard for them. Well, they're making it hard for themselves.
Meilynn07: Good! I love making you guys cry and laugh.
Shorter chapter this time. Wow, very short. Well, hopefully I can make up for it for the one shot I just posted. Enjoy~
Ace walked down the commanders' hall to go to his room. He hoped his friends weren't too worried. That he didn't push them away, too. Izo was waiting in the hall, and Ace walked right past him. "Wait, I-"
"I'm not staying here. I hope you're happy," Ace said in a flat voice and entered the shared bedroom. Deuce was awake and reading next to the nightlight in the wall so they didn't trip over each other. He closed it when he saw Ace. Deuce stood up and hugged him. Ace hugged him back. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I messed everything up."
"No, you didn't. Everybody else did. You tried your hardest to be welcome, and they were too fucked up to accept it. It's not your fault," Deuce said strongly. The others were waking up now, too. "I actually thought for a minute that this would work. It was wishful thinking. I give up on finding anywhere to fit in. I give up searching for anybody like me."
The Spades looked pained. "I can tell some of you are happy here already. I'm the only one who isn't working here. So, if you want to stay, I understand why." The crew members were shocked, and all at once started to say they weren't leaving him. He looked down at his hands. "But you'd have more friends. A better captain. I couldn't protect any of you. I passed out while you were all vulnerable."
"You are my captain, always," Deuce said firmly. The others nodded. Ace sat on his bed. He finally let tears down his face.
"I want to be normal," he whispered, though loud enough for everybody to hear. Finamore said he was amazing and didn't have to change. "Well, I can't change. I'll be some freak my whole life. can't even be around other people without being a dick to them."
His crew started to comfort him, but he said he just wanted to go to bed. He said goodnight and went on his mattress and put the pillow over his ear.
-x-
Marco and Thatch couldn't sleep. Their father managed to, but the two commanders just couldn't fall asleep, drowning out the guilt with sleeping. They weren't tired, even though it was so late. They chatted a bit, but the voices were low and sad and not really focusing on what they were talking about. While they moped outside, Izo came out.
Thatch didn't want to speak to him. But the other commander that helped fuck everything up came over regardless of Thatch not looking at him. Izo stood next to Marco, who was sitting on the railing. "Ace said he's going to leave." Marco nodded. "Will you tell me why he acts like that? What is the secret? I know there's a secret."
"Izo, you're the last person we'd ever tell Ace's secret," Thatch snapped viciously. Izo quickly apologized. "Kind of too late for that," Thatch said. He still wouldn't forgive his brother. Was still furious and disappointed. "Pops wanted to make him happy. He's lonely and scared and pushes everyone away and can't help it. He said he'd try, and he did. He tried hard to not be a jerk to everyone.
"And yet everybody else fucking ruined it. Didn't notice how hard he was trying to be friendlier. It would have taken time for him to open up to everyone. But he opened up to us quickly, because we were nice to him and treated him like a person and not a hindrance," Thatch said in anger and disappointment. "I still can't believe it."
Marco agreed, but didn't say anything. He knew Ace could have been happy here if things had gone better. If Pops predicted that, then Marco believed it, too. They just hadn't accounted that the rest would push him away like he pushed others away.
Thatch was looking out at the ocean lost in his thoughts before he saw something in the water. "Marco, what's that?" he asked, pointing to below them, something bumping up against the side of the ship. Marco looked down and flew down to pick it up with his talons. It was a little chest. Wanting any distraction, they popped it open, the lock old and rusty.
It was a devil fruit. A purplish blue one. Marco hadn't seen a devil fruit in a long time. Not since Jozu got his. Marco's had been bright blue and yellow. "A devil fruit. Well, you found it. Want to eat it?" Marco asked. "It might be really shitty. We all know how crappy they can be."
Thatch said he wanted a distraction, so he took a large bite out of it. Marco was surprised that he hadn't even looked at what it was before eating it. Predictably, Thatch's face soured at the horrid taste. Marco snickered at the face. There were footsteps from behind, and they turned to see Teach.
"What's up?" Thatch asked.
"Just changing shifts. I'm surprised all three of you are still awake. It's fuckin' late. Zehahaha!" Teach said. Marco commented that they really should all go to bed if they were going to try and convince Ace to stay. Then Teach lost his smile when he saw the devil fruit in Thatch's hand, huge chunk taken out of it. "Where'd you find that?"
Thatch said they saw it floating in a chest. "I don't think I would usually have eaten it without knowing what it was, but, well, there's not really anything I can do about it now," Thatch said. "I'll look it up tomorrow. Well, later today," he said. He yawned, making Marco yawn and then Izo. "Night, Teach."
"G'night," he said, his voice flat and sounding upset. Maybe he'd known about this fruit and wanted it. Well, Thatch ate it, surprisingly. Marco hoped for his sake that it wasn't something terrible. They went to their own respective rooms and fell asleep.
When Marco woke up, he found the Spades in their room packing their minimal belongings. Which were only clothes that had been made for them during their stay. It had been just over a week. Marco knew it would have taken much longer, but he felt deep down that it would have been completely worth it.
"You're really leaving?" Marco asked sadly. Thatch seemed to have already gone to the kitchen. The smaller crew nodded. They were really leaving. The yonko crew had really fucked up that bad. "We'll prepare a boat for you guys. Just leave it at the island and we'll pick it up later. But can you guys say goodbye to Thatch and Pops, first?"
They nodded, and left after everything was packed. Ace walked past Marco, his crew following as they headed to the galley for one last meal here. Marco followed from a distance, also heading to the galley. When they got inside, they noticed Thatch was moping in the corner. His sous chefs were the ones cooking.
Marco walked to Thatch, Ace looking concerned but not going over, and asked what was wrong. "My stuff keeps disappearing! I mean, the power is super cool and all, but this is annoying!" he exclaimed. Apparently everyone already knew about it. Some laughed at it, but they wore looks of pity. "I lost my favorite knife!"
Marco pat Thatch's back. They heard Whitebeard say, "At least you aren't risking destroying the world."
"I guess that's true. Your power would suck in the beginning," the head chef said. "Ace, sit with us?" Thatch asked when Ace was going to lead his crew out of the room. "We won't try to convince you to stay, promise," Thatch swore. Ace frowned, but walked over and sat down. "What was it like when you first got your devil fruit?"
Ace didn't look like he was going to respond, but he finally did, both commanders waiting patiently for a reply, which they got. Marco and Thatch did well to look like things were normal. They didn't want to guilt him or make him want to leave sooner. "I stayed in the water for a long time cause I kept catching on fire."
Deuce said he'd gotten it on an island they were stranded on. "I tied a rope to him and tied the other end to our dingy boat so he didn't burn it down." Marco had a feeling that might not be true. He could have just swam. But then again, he would be unable to speak while being a dragon under the water.
Thatch snorted and Deuce couldn't help the chuckle. "It sucked. What fruit did you eat?" He sounded interested, but it didn't mean he'd stay.
"The dark-dark fruit, oooo~. Spooky," Thatch said. Ace snorted but then frowned, and looked away. He wouldn't talk again, Marco knew that. "Anyways, apparently it's a 'special logia'. Once I get the hang of it, I'll be super cool. Even if it's kind of freaky and stole my kitchen ware," Thatch said grumpily. Deuce said he'd always wanted a devil fruit but was worried he'd get stuck with a shit one. "Oh my god, so I looked in the devil fruit encyclopedia and there are some that are just… terrible. Like the jacket-jacket fruit, where your body turns into a jacket and somebody else wears you.
"Or the munch-munch fruit where you just eat anything you want. And I don't mean food. You can eat people and metal and wood and stone." Ace and the Spades looked horrified. "It's so creepy. But I'm happy I didn't get one of those." Ace nodded. After they were done eating, Marco and Thatch lowered a boat down for them. It was a rowboat, but they'd thoughtfully put a long, long chain at the front of it so Ace could drag it.
The Spades threw their stuff onto the little boat and then climbed a rope ladder down. "Ace, I'm so sorry about what happened. I really hope you move on, we didn't damage your self-esteem forever. I won't defend our brothers. They were fucking shit heads. I hope you have a good life," Thatch said, looking sad but also with a smile.
"I hope to read about your future escapades," Marco said, shaking Ace's hand. Whitebeard was there, but said nothing other than promising his secret was safe with them, and that they would tell nobody else.
"Thank you," Ace said, his voice strained. He no doubt wished he'd never been on this ship. And with good reason. They watched them row away before it suddenly got extremely fast and disappeared from view as Ace dragged the row boat. Thatch was frowning deeply.
He said, "I'm gonna miss him. He was adorable and had - has - so much potential. I thought it would work out, but I guess we were wrong, huh?" Marco nodded. When they left that area of the deck, they saw everyone on deck looked guilty. Nobody was smiling in satisfaction. It was too late to feel regret with how they treated him.
"If I take in anyone else, you will never try to sabotage their welcome. Am I understood?" Whitebeard asked in a booming voice, anger heard in it clearly. Those on deck nodded or said they understood. Pops sat in his chair with a sigh. Marco sat on his shoulder and Thatch went to the figurehead and attempted to use his new ability. But Marco noticed something. He'd been distracted by Ace, but it had been in the back of his mind. Teach looked furious. At Thatch. Marco assumed he'd wanted that fruit but hadn't gotten it. Marco kept an eye on him, and saw Pops doing the same.
It was only an hour later that a den den connected to the island rang. Haruta and Marco went to get it, Haruta in charge of the intelligence division, working on decoding things, keeping an eye on marines and other pirates. He'd been the one mostly monitoring Ace at first until Pops took interest when the teen rejected becoming a warlord.
Marco was there because he wanted to see if the Spades had made it there safely. The village was to tell them once the ship left, just to make sure they'd made it there okay.
"Hello?"
"DID YOU FUCKING DO IT?!" Ace's voice boomed, making Haruta wince at how loud it was. The den den looked furious, but there were also tears in its eyes. Something had happened. Something upsetting.
"Ace? What happened?" Marco asked in worry.
"Somebody burned down our ship!" Ace raged. Marco gasped and Haruta put his hand over his mouth. They couldn't believe how horrible it would be if their home, the Moby Dick burnt down. "Someone chucked everything in it on the sand and now it's just a bunch of burnt wood!" There was so much pain and anguish in his voice.
"I swear, we didn't do this. Did you talk to the villagers? Did they see anybody? They should have seen a fire that big, your ship isn't small," Marco said hurriedly. None of them had done it.
"These fuckers won't say anything about it. They won't even lie! They just won't say anything! Nobody is answering us!" Ace shouted in anger and annoyance, frustration and grief. All negative feelings. Marco clenched his teeth. If they hadn't taken him, their ship wouldn't have been burned down. Their home was gone because the Whitebeards took them away from it.
But at least their belongings were still there. Whoever had done it had strange motives. Why? Why would anybody do this? And the village had not called that pirates or marines had docked there. Meaning it was one of those on the island.
"I'll be over soon. We'll find out who did this," Marco said in a hard voice, full of anger at anybody who would do such a thing. Such a horrid, callous thing. That ship was their home, safe haven. And for Ace to go from the situation on the Moby Dick to finding his ship burnt to ash was not fair. The universe seemed against Ace.
Ace didn't say anything for a second before telling him to hurry the fuck up. Marco did not take that anger at him. He was upset and furious, there would be no "please"s. Haruta looked angry and sad, too. Marco left the room and stormed out onto the deck. Pops was there and Thatch was still practicing with little improvement, which irritated him.
The captain saw Marco's fury. Even the red eyes that threatened to spill tears. Ace must be hurting so badly. He couldn't imagine his pain. "What happened, son?" Whitebeard asked in bafflement of the intense emotions Marco was showing.
"Somebody burned down their ship. It's gone," Marco said. Whitebeard was shocked and his eyes widened. Thatch heard and started demanding to know who it was, who did that. "Someone who lives on the island. They didn't report any pirates or marines arriving. All of their belongings were thrown out before it was burnt.
"They've asked who did it, but apparently the citizens just won't answer. They won't say a thing, won't lie or defend themselves. I'm going over there to figure it out. It's a problem, Pops. This island isn't a ship building island, and neither are those around it. They'll be stranded there," Marco said sadly, brows furrowed. He knew there was the option of the Whitebeards taking them back, but Ace would no doubt not want to return.
Though, maybe they could have a second chance, start over. Even if it meant starting from scratch with him. Marco flew off when his father nodded, saying they would sail back to the island, too.