Wishfull-star: Thank you!

Jasmine: Every story of mine is completely finished before I post. This story won't be dropped and will be consistently updated once a week.

Ace was sitting on the mattress of their big infirmary, getting checked out. He hadn't noticed the cuts he had all over. After all, he didn't remember any pain, only the fear and suffocation as the evil was thrust down his throat. He started to shake, but Stefan was there and licked his hand. He was now Ace's therapy dog. He knew Ace's tells and how to comfort them.

Once the check up was over, Ace was deemed safe from any illnesses or infections, but he needed to rebuild muscles in his legs to walk properly and fully again. His legs had atrophied. The cuts he had would get better with time, there was nothing overly alarming about them. But Ace knew there was no extent to telling just what happened to him in there.

When he went with the doctor to see the captain, who was outside while their ship was repaired, Whitebeard said he was glad Ace was okay. Ace looked about to protest, but the man smiled, and told him, "If anything else pops up, we'll deal with it when that time comes." Ace smiled and nodded.

"Are you going somewhere soon?"

"Are we going somewhere?" Thatch asked, and Ace gave a small smile that turned into a grin.

"I've never had a family before, you know?" he said happily. He picked up Stefan and added, "Except Stefan, of course."

Marco was sitting on the railing of the ship, able to hear their conversations easily. "Well, many of us have had the same thing before now," the blonde said with a smile. "And we've never had a pet before."

"Stefan is my family, and if you're my family, then Stefan is yours, too," Ace said with a smile. He hugged his dog, and then released him to run around the camp site. He was excited, enjoying being around so many people. He and Ace had played with their children friends a lot. Ace's demeanor fell. He hoped nobody had gone searching for him in the demon forest. He didn't want anyone to befall what he had because of him.

Jozu, another teenager, told him that this was his new life. He should focus on that. Ace knew he was right, and didn't take his words as heartless, just helpful. There was no way to know what his friends went through, how everyone grew up without him. And he didn't want to upset anybody by appearing alive and all. And especially since he hadn't aged a day since he went missing.

Stefan ditched Rayuko and ran back to Ace when he needed him. Thatch told him he was a good dog, and Ace nodded in agreement. While dinner was being grilled on massive grills on the beach, Ace was looking out at the forest. He couldn't see the forest, but the trees were still black in the moonlight. The sun set fast, and Ace was very uneasy. He was afraid of the dark.

Marco flew down and sat next to him, and turned himself on fire, the beautiful blue flames of his amazing devil fruit. Ace wished he could find a good devil fruit. "It's not bad to be scared of the dark, son," Pops said from behind. Ace hadn't noticed he was watching. Ace hunched his shoulders. It was embarrassing.

He was twelve, being afraid of the dark was shameful. "You were consumed in darkness in that forest. But normal darkness cannot touch or harm you. I would call that forest "evil" not "dark". The dark you befell was by dark creatures, not the absence of light itself. But it is not easy to overcome fears like that. But we will help you."

Thatch said, "Yeah! And once we're back on the sea, there's nothing that can hide in the dark if you're out on the sea! There's nothing to hide behind out there. We'll only be here a few more days. Then we can leave this island and continue on." Ace gave a small smile and nodded. He was served a huge skewer, and his mouth drooled at it. He ate the whole thing, despite having already eaten a ton earlier.

It was so yummy, better than any food Ace remembered having in his life. Well, he wanted to start thinking of that Ace as the "old Ace". Now he was the new Ace, the pirate Ace. He was leaving nothing behind, so he wanted to treat this as a second, new life. Stefan kept sniffing at his food, so Ace shared it with him.

After they ate, the pirates drank a lot before they started to pass out. Thatch fell asleep, his hair a mess on his face. It was kind of long and styled strangely. He'd told Ace he was waiting for it to grow longer so he could actually style it. Ace's own hair was choppy and anything but neat. Not just because it had apparently been 70 years since he last brushed it.

Marco slept, awkwardly draped over Whitebeard's shoulder. It didn't look comfortable. Ace was leaning against a crate, on the outskirts of the crew. There were maybe 30 of them, a handful in their teens, though Ace was the youngest right now. Everyone else fell asleep, but still Ace stayed awake.

"Ace, you can sleep. I won't allow anything to harm you," the captain said kindly. Ace nodded, and laid on his back, Stefan being a pillow. But, Ace didn't feel tired at all. Stefan stayed awake as well. Neither slept the whole night. Ace didn't think it was fear, he just wasn't tired. Even when the captain finally fell asleep, Ace stayed awake and near the camp fire.

He had Stefan get sticks from around the beach and tended to the fire, to keep it going no matter what. He didn't want the dark to get near him. He had to stay near the light. All night, he was awake, and it was boring and too quiet. He sat up against the crate the whole night, not moving. He couldn't walk on his own well, he had to use crutches, which were hard to work on the sand and on the first try.

In the morning, he pretended that he'd slept just fine, that he got a good night's sleep. But he hadn't even had a wink of sleep, and he wasn't tired. Maybe he'd done his life's worth of sleeping already. Being unconscious for 70 years, maybe he was incapable of sleep now.

It was another day that the ship was being repaired, and Ace met their "problem" on Wano. There was a man who insisted on sailing with them. Whitebeard was annoyed with him. "We don't need another member, we just got one!" Marco called, laughing about it, sitting on the side of the ship that was nearly done with its repairs.

Ace was excited to leave this place behind. He never wanted to go into another forest ever again. "What?! Someone else joined but you won't take me?!" the man, Kozuki Oden, shouted angrily. Ace still couldn't get up easily on his own, so he sat with Stefan.

"And we even invited him, too," Marco said, mocking him. Whitebeard ended up chucking him into the ocean in irritation. Ace wondered why he was so against the guy joining. He didn't seem like such a bad person. But he would never say anything and risk being rude or thinking too highly of himself.

Thatch walked to Ace and asked if he wanted to go take a bath. Ace nodded, and Thatch helped him up and get the crutches and help him across the beach and up the ship. "I hope I can walk regularly soon," Ace said, embarrassed.

"It won't take too long, Bay gave you the all clear herself!" They walked through the ship, Thatch very nice with going at a slow pace, and to the largest of the bathrooms. Ace said this ship seemed too big for the crew. "Pops wants a big family, so this ship has the capacity to house a lot of people. I think the family will only continue to get bigger," the chef in training said.

Ace got out of his clothes and into the water of the bath. He sat down in it, the water up to his chin. They couldn't stop Stefan before he leapt into the bath happily, then swimming to Ace. Thatch said, "Well, we want clean members, even if he's a dog," in a light tone. Ace smiled, and it was much easier to "walk" along the bath and to the cupboard with the soaps. He was weightless, so walking was much easier than on land.

"How did you sleep last night? No nightmares?" Thatch asked, standing in front of the mirror across from the large bath, messing with his hair and a frown of dissatisfaction on. He really didn't like his hair, and Ace wondered how it would end up looking once it was the length he wished for.

Ace wanted to be honest, and asked him not to tell anybody; they'd worry. "Sure," Thatch promised, but looked worried. Ace explained his sleepless night. "You didn't sleep at all?" The freckled one shook his head. "It's interesting that Stefan didn't either. I wonder if it has anything to do with the thing."

The younger washed his hair more, scrubbing out any dirt or oil. "Maybe we slept too much, and will never sleep again." He didn't notice he was scrubbing compulsively until there was blood in the water. He'd been trying to get rid of any left over residue of the demons that enveloped his body for so long. "Ace!"

The boy turned red in the face. "It was an accident. I was washing too fast," he said. "I didn't mean to."

"Okay. Well, the wound doesn't look too deep. Just a scratch. Should be fine, and you're in the bath, meaning it'll be washed clean. I won't tell anybody, but we have to drain the tub. Having blood in the water is unsanitary and can possibly cause disease. Not that yours will, just in general," Thatch said kindly.

Ace nodded, and apologized. "I really didn't mean to."

Thatch smiled. "I believe you. You don't gotta convince me of anything." Ace smiled at him and nodded. Thatch was a really good guy. Ace liked him a lot. Stefan did, too, licking his face. "Now we have a little brother and a dog. Great additions."

The youngest washed Stefan well, getting out anything in his fur, dirt or flakes of dead skin. Also a lot of fur came out. But by the end, he was a glowing white, cleaner than Ace had ever seen him. He dressed in Thatch's sleep clothes since he was the one closest in size to the newby. New clothes would be made for Ace once they set sail.

They drained the tub of water, and Ace worried about running out. "That's why we have handy-dandy water purifiers! Takes the sea water and makes it able to be turned into freshwater. Though they're really expensive, so we still buy some of the drinking water," Thatch explained helpfully.

Ace wanted to walk around the ship some more, so Thatch showed him around more. They hadn't explored the whole ship the day before, since Ace's legs were so weak. Most of the ship was actually empty. Empty rooms with bunkbeds already bolted to the floor walls. It seemed Pops really was planning on a huge family.

"If the crew does get really big, we'll be originals, won't we?"

"That's right! We get to boss everyone else around," Thatch agreed with a grin. "Let me show you to the treasure room!" Ace nodded, and they walked deep into the hall with Marco and Jozu's rooms, with Pops' bedroom at the end. But one door before that lead into a huge room full of sparkling treasure and paper money.

It was currency not used in Wano, so it was interesting. Thatch walked inside behind him and the door shut, him still heading to the wall. The moment the room turned pitch black, Ace started screaming. Thatch flipped the switch on, and ran to Ace, who was breathing rapidly. "Come on, Ace, you're safe. The lights are on now," the older teen soothed, rubbing Ace's back.

His face was bright red in shame and embarrassment. "How about we put a nightlight in any room? I mean, the only thing like the forest is when there is no light. You were okay by the fire, right? So that means you don't gotta be in full light to not be upset. So I'm sure Pops would gladly buy nightlights. You plug them into the wall and they give off light no matter what time of the day it is."

Ace was calmed down now and nodded, thinking that could help. Stefan was rubbing against Ace. He hadn't freaked out in the dark, but he wasn't as aware as Ace was. He might not even remember his experience in the forest. The boy remembered the very beginning, but not the rest, thankfully.

They both turned to the treasure, wanting to move on for Ace's sake. He walked to the dozens of massive trunks. The room was large with shelves and compartments in the walls, and Ace was glad Thatch didn't linger on his episode long. "How does outside currency work? At Wano, we don't have any of these coins or paper money," Ace said.

So Thatch explained about the currency of berries. It wasn't all that different from Wano's currency, and he had rarely ever held money himself, so it wasn't like he'd be restructuring how he handled money. He'd rarely had any to begin with. According to Thatch, they had two billion berries on the ship, which was a shock to Ace. That was a lot of damn money.

"Of course most of it goes to food and supplies for repairs. But having this much money while such a small crew lets us build a lot."

"But why does he want it so big? What if he loses track of everybody?" Ace wondered, scolding Stefan for starting to eat a wad of cash. The dog whined, but stopped before anything was damaged too badly. "And there's only one father, how can he have so many kids?"

Thatch put his finger to his chin. "Well, you could ask him. He just wants a big family and to give those who don't have any a family. Like you! You're part of our family now. I know that Pops is really strong, so he might also want to grow in size to grow in strength. But I don't think he'd ever recruit people just because they'd add strength," the teen said firmly.

Ace nodded and then smiled. "I'm sure Stefan would like a lot of people to play with," he said simply. "We never had family or very many friends, so I was really all he had. But so far he's happy around more people. Aren't you boy?" Ace asked. Stefan barked happily. "Hey, do you have a devil fruit?"

The older boy shook his head. "Only Marco, Pops and Jozu had devil fruits. Why? Do you?" Ace shook his head. If he had, then maybe he could have escaped the demon forest earlier. If he was strong, as his axe had been nothing to them, not that he could remember even having the chance to attempt to fight back.

"Hey, you're okay, Ace," Thatch said, hand on Ace's shoulder as the child had started to bite his lip hard. "You're not there." The freckled one swallowed, nodding.

"Promise you won't tell anybody but Pops about my episode? When the lights went off?" he asked quietly, eyes wide, worried that Thatch might spread it around, even though he couldn't see him doing something so cruel. Thatch nodded, painting a cross over his chest with a grin. When they left the treasury, Ace got to choose his bedroom. He'd spent all day outside the day before.

But, he would sleep alone? Well, he'd have Stefan, though. But he was unsure. Didn't know if he really wanted to be alone in the dark at night. He wasn't going to ask to share a room with anybody else, though. So he hid his worry and discomfort about attempting to sleep by himself, and asked for a room that was surrounded by others.

"Right this way," Thatch said. They ran into Marco running down the hall. "What's wrong?" the younger teen asked. Stefan jumped on Marco's legs. He knew it was him who'd saved him and Ace. Him and Thatch both, so they were Stefan's favorites so far. And Pops, too. He was nice and played fetch with Stefan, thrown the stick a short distance away.

Marco answered, "We're ditching tonight. Can't let Oden know and pulls something on us. How are you, Ace? You look like you're walking easier." Ace nodded, simply saying he felt fine. Marco didn't believe him, that was clear, but he didn't press, and accepted Ace's lie. It wasn't a harmful or malicious lie. It was one to save face.

"So, why is Oden not coming along? You accepted me so easily, and there aren't that many on the crew on this big ship." He really was curious about why he was family material but someone who really wanted to be was shunned. It didn't affect him or upset him, but it did make him wonder what the standards were.

Leaning against the wall, Marco explained, "Oden is a leader here. The daimyo. But Pops is the captain, the leader. So, a man who is a leader over many would have a hard time assimilating under somebody else. But he's stubborn, so we're gonna depart at night to get away." Ace frowned in confusion.

"Why don't you just tell him no? I mean, with force. Like, 'you're not welcome here, if you come along we'll'-um- 'dump you in the ocean'," Ace said. Thatch started laughing, and Ace's face turned red.

"We've told him many times. But I think that Pops doesn't want to actually be cruel to him. He's an entertaining guy, but still, he doesn't think that Oden can adapt," Marco explained. Thatch apologized for laughing to Ace.

"I wasn't making fun of you, I just pictured Pops saying that, adding 'um' before a threat, and it made me laugh! I wasn't laughing at you," he said sincerely. Ace nodded, believing him. He didn't think Thatch would make fun of him in a mean spirited way. Thatch and Ace were going to explore more, setting their sights on the library.

Marco asked if he'd chosen a room yet. "I think Pops would want you in the captain's hall." Thatch looked surprised, as did Ace, not knowing why he'd want this. "Because the rooms in the captain's hall have large portholes. If the dark unsettles Ace, then having a room without a porthole would not be very nice."

"I don't want to cause any trouble-"

"Pops showing care and consideration doesn't mean it's troublesome, Ace. Your his son, he wants you comfortable," Marco said with a grin. Ace smiled and nodded in agreement. "Well, we can pick one out later. We have things to do. See ya!" and he continued down the hall on his way.

When he was brought to the library, he saw the wall was full of empty shelves. He knew he'd be watching this ship and crew grow in real time. He smiled and said, "I'm glad I'll be one of the first ones." Thatch beamed and agreed. "We can get so many books! And maybe couches, too."

"Sounds like a good idea, little bro," Thatch replied. Ace felt cared for, and went back outside, still going slow on the crutches, though he was getting better at them fairy quickly. He was learning and adapting to something simple, it was a relief that he couldn't learn such a thing quickly.

But he did, and by the end of the day he could walk at a normal pace and not have to look at his feet and where they bottoms of the crutches touched the floor. Stefan stuck with him most of the day. Happy though he was to be surrounded by nice people, he was still Ace's dog. Ace was his human, too.

He was looking through the photos on the library wall, seeing that the crew didn't have many crew memories. Or at least recorded memories. He would have thought there'd be more pictures. While he was looking at them, Pops came in, and asked how he was. "Considering you didn't sleep at all, you're functioning remarkably well," he said. Ace looked nervous and embarrassed. "Why did you not say anything?"

The captain didn't sound angry or irritated. More curious and concerned. "I never felt tired. I didn't feel sleepy. Stefan didn't sleep either. What if there is something wrong with me? Normal people have to sleep." Whitebeard suggested he speak to the doctor. Bay was the head doctor. "I feel like she doesn't like me."

"Well, she doesn't know you. Nobody really does, it's only your second day, Ace," Pops said in understanding. Ace nodded, looking at his hands. "With the crew being fairly small, you'll get to know everyone much easier than if you joined later." Ace asked how big he was thinking of making the crew. The ship was very big with lots of room, after all. "I don't know. I honestly don't know how big the crew will be, its reach. I just want to build a family and go on adventures with them."

Ace thought it sounded nice. "I'll tell you if weird stuff happens more. Did Thatch ask you about the nightlights?" When he was told he hadn't herd a thing about night lights, Ace internally cursed. He should have asked Marco about it. "Well, we went into the money room, and all the light was gone and I freaked out. So Thatch said that we could buy night lights and put them around the ship…"

He didn't make eye contact, even though he felt the man wouldn't make fun of him and they had more than enough money for such a thing. "Very well. We can't buy any here at this country, as Wano is behind the rest of the world technology wise. But until then, we'll keep the hallway lights on at night. Then, simply don't close the doors if you enter any room."

"Oh, that's a less expensive idea," Ace observed. "And easier."

"That doesn't mean I won't buy the nightlights, son. I'm always open to talk about anything. You get along well with Thatch and Marco, though they did rescue you. I think you'll fit in well with your new brothers," Whitebeard said with a grin. Ace smiled and nodded, hoping that was what would happen.

Stefan ran in and bit at Ace's shirt, barking. He looked down and asked what was wrong. The small dog zoomed out of the room and down the halls, Ace running to keep up. When they got to his destination, it looked like he'd managed to open the refrigerator, but the slab of meat was caught in the door. Why on earth did he want Ace's help for doing something wrong?

"Stefan, you can't steal food from the refrigerator," Ace scolded, taking the meat and seeing it had bite marks on it. He sighed, and didn't know what to do. On one hand, wasting the food would be wrong, but on the other, he would be rewarded for bad behavior. So, he'd make this his food, but wouldn't give it to him now.

He looked through the kitchen, and found a drawer with a plastic wrap he saw over some other things. So he wrapped the meat up and stuck it back into the fridge. It wasn't with the other meat, which there wasn't much of. Stefan had taken a precious resource! He was worried the dog would be punished.

A voice was behind him in the doorway, the voice of the larger teenager, Jozu. "He won't get in trouble for that. Neither will you. Wasting food is a no-no, but it's not a punishable offense. Well, until Thatch becomes a real chef, that is." Ace didn't know how to reply. So he asked a question instead.

"What happens if you run out of food?" he wondered, picking up Stefan in his arms. Jozu sat at the bar counter, with stools bolted into the flooring. Ace sat there, too, putting the dog back down. Being on the counter was not acceptable and Ace would never make it even seem like it was. His pet sat at his feet, whining about not getting his meat.

Jozu said, "We're never really out of food unless we run out of things to fish with. Even if its not a balanced diet, we can survive on sea king meat until we have the resources for more food. If we run out of bait than that's not good. But we stock good enough to not need to worry about things like that. Even when the ship crashed here, most of the food was sealed and able to be eaten after we fixed up the power." It made Ace feel better, knowing they wouldn't all starve easily. He and Jozu talked a little more, but it was mostly Jozu explaining about the ship.

There were chores everybody had, there were people who needed to stay up at night on a schedule for keeping watch, so no marine or other pirates could endanger them. Everyone got a small allowance on the islands they dock at. Ace was surprised they all got money. But then again, considering just how much money was on this ship, should it be surprising?

Jozu seemed pretty nice, but also kind of boring. He was the same age as Marco, so he and Ace weren't too far apart age wise. So far he liked everyone besides Bay. She didn't approve of him being there since he came from somewhere sketchy and unknown.

He could honestly see her point of view, but it didn't mean it didn't make him feel bad. When he left the kitchen, he ran into Vista. He was two years older than Marco, at 17. "Oh, Ace. I'm glad I ran into you. What kind of thing do you fight with?"

"Fight?" Ace asked dumbly. Vista motioned towards his two swords, looking patient at Ace's stupdin response. "I've never really fought before. I had an axe, but I bought it before I went to the forest with it."

"You were going to fight the demons?"

"I was going to try. It didn't work out," Ace said bluntly. He had lived in a place with kind neighbors and no real thieves. He'd never had to protect himself, even living alone. So when he bought the axe, he'd never tried to harm somebody in his entire life. Already, because of that, he was at a huge disadvantage against anyone or anything trying to hurt him.

But he wondered what he'd fight with. He wasn't really interesting in swords and he'd feel limited with something that could run out, like a gun. Marco fought with his devil fruit, as did Jozu. "I want a devil fruit. But until then, I don't really know. I've never even held a sword or gun." He was a very inexperienced pirate, that much was obvious.

"Then you can train with Jozu in that way. He does use his devil fruit, but alongside his fists," Vista said politely. Ace nodded silently before wondering what Thatch used. "Since he doesn't fight much, he just has a set of daggers with him. He wanted to know how to fight with swords, but is not there yet, in his own words," Vista gladly explained. "Anyways, it's good to have you here and I look forward to growing up with you. Might be the youngest Pops adopts, who knows?"

Ace said, "You, too. I kinda look forward to seeing the crew get bigger. Thatch and Marco said, since we'll all be originals, we can boss everybody around." Vista chuckled, and admitted that was most likely how things would work out. Even unofficially, there would most likely be ranks. Ace decided he liked Vista.

He headed outside, and looked on the opposite side fo the island, out to the sea. He'd never seen or heard of anything outside of Wano, but there was, seeing as pirates existed. He never imagined himself being a pirate, not at all. He hadn't especially wanted to go out to sea enough to risk it, but now it sounded amazing, going traveling and seeing new things.

When he turned back around and went to the other side, somebody with black hair in a top knot was standing and arguing with Pops. well, he was talking and Pops didn't really seem all that interested. Ace could hear them, the beach echoed and Pops' deep voice wasn't exactly hard to miss. "He should be dead, we don't count him as a Wano citizen anymore," the captain said, sounding irritated, with a bottle of sake in his large hand.

They were talking about Ace. He knew it wasn't allowed for anyone to leave Wano, but he kind of felt how Pops described it. In his heart, he didn't feel he belonged in Wano anymore. He didn't have any family or friends to tie him to the land. Now he had family and friends to take him away from Wano.

"We're not taking Oden,but Ace is coming with us. Nobody knows who he is anyways," Pops said, still sounding slightly invested in the talk, but also knowing nothing would come of it. Ace watched curiously from the deck.

"Even orphans are not permitted to leave Wano, Whitebeard," the man said.

The captain made an unimpressed noise and took another swig of his sake. "I understand where you're coming from, but he's my son now and he's not being taken back. You can keep Oden, we're glad to let you have him, but we're setting sail with Ace whether you approve of it or not."

"Yeah, yeah! Go away, Ace is our brother now!" Thatch jeered. Marco agreed, too. Ace smiled and laughed quietly. The man still looked disapproving, but left. "Nobody's gonna take away Ace."

"Another reason we're leaving without a word soon," Rayuko commented casually. "I wonder what they'd think of his story, though. If it was the government, they'd either want to kill him or experiment on him."

Pops shushed him. "Don't say such things so casually. Nobody but us will know about Ace's past, and I doubt he'd like to share it with anybody," Pops said. Ace made his way down the ramp slowly, his tongue out of his mouth in concentration not to slip. When he got to the sand, he asked if he was okay there. "You heard, I'm not gonna let anyone have one of my sons."

It was reassuring that Ace wasn't in trouble for overhearing or paying attention to a conversation not involving him. He smiled softly, feeling safe. He didn't know them all much yet, but he felt that he was truly accepted, no matter his weird current origin. They continued to fix up the ship that day, which Ace was watching with interest and feeling content to just watch and think about future things.

Marco flew down right in front of him, startling him. "Oh! Sorry!" he laughed. Ace kept in a frown. "So, wanna go see Wano? I got Pops' permission to fly you around the coast!" Ace brightened and nodded. "Alrighty, climb onto my back and hold on tight, okay?"

"Yeah," Ace replied and climbed onto Marco's back, wrapping his arms around his neck as he changed into a soft and warm giant bird. The phoenix form that was what got Ace out of the demon woods alive. The fruit user flew up slowly and flew Ace along the coast and the outer shores.

Ace wished he could fly on his own. "Most of them get sick of flying after awhile, but I'll be happy to fly you around islands before docking," Marco offered, voice easily heard over the wind in their ears. The youngest was fascinated with the geography. He took Marco up on that offer enthusiastically.

Ace watched the waves and ocean far out react in different ways. Around one space there were whirlpools, others the water was calm, and others the water was just a complete disaster. "Why does the water act different there, but not where we were?" Ace wondered.

"That's just the ocean. It's complex. You can learn to be a navigator if you want," Marco said simply, turning around and flying them back to the ship. Ace got off his back, and fell on his butt. He hadn't noticed he was shaking, and started laughing. "It was fun! Even if my legs are shaking."

Marco grinned, too. "Everyone is like that. I'm a good brother and won't tell you how Thatch reacted the first flight." Ace smiled, and Marco helped him with the crutches. "I'm sure you'll be back on your feet soon, you've already improved with the crutches." Ace nodded, and thanked him for the flight.

He definitely was going to be interested in navigation and the strange weather, only because it seemed fascinating. Maybe not learn to be one, but being interested was enough. Now that he knew there was a wide world beyond Wano, there must be tons of different stuff! Like different weather and water… stuff. He didn't know what to call anything. Water stuff didn't exactly sound the smartest, but he wasn't sure what to call it. He wanted to know all about the world!