Sairakanzaki: Thank you! The darkness is very helpful for now, yeah.

Wishfull-star: Definitely couldn't give Thatch a shitty fruit lol.

"We're in the paper again!" Jirashi called, holding the newscoo when he came in to breakfast. Pops took the paper and saw what it was, reading it to everyone else. Them leaving flags on two islands now were becoming a big thing. "Multiple islands are wishing for a strong pirate to adopt them. We're getting stronger. I do wonder why the marines would put something true in the paper. Gurarara!" he laughed.

But then he turned the page, and was surprised to see grainy photos of the younger members, the much shorter ones. And one was on fire. So, the youngest had been discovered officially. "Well, sons, you'll have to get stronger with the government now recognizing you!" he said jovially, not too worried.

They swore they would. And so they trained harder, Ace working with Jozu before his first nap, and Oden before his second. The schedule worked just fine. Oden was sort of a good teacher, but also not because he got distracted a lot. So Ace worked on his own often. Jozu was more aggressive with him, which he didn't find bad. He was fighting how he would with a real enemy.

But with Jozu being able to use armament haki infrequently, he often punched Ace where it actually worked. Marco usually worked to heal the bruises with his flames. He wasn't able to heal much, but bruises were pretty easy to take care of for him.

Pops was teaching them all how to use observation haki, like one big class. They all sat out on deck, silently, making the ship abnormally quiet and calm as it sailed. If anybody saw them doing this, Ace wondered what they would think.

Marco was the first to unlock the observation haki when they were nearing the next island, which the two former Wano citizens were so excited about. It was an island with huge animals, only they were all fluffy and cute! Ace was so interested to see new types of animals everywhere they went.

Though he still avoided dark forests. Even knowing that the forest hadn't been actually evil, it didn't change the fact that it was very freaky and scary, still.

The phoenix was annoyed all day, every day for the next two days after awakening observation haki. When he went in his room for much of the morning, Pops explained why their usually go lucky son was acting this way. "When you first learn observation haki, it can be overwhelming. Feeling everyone and everything moving around you. It's no doubt frustrating for him, so we must be understanding and give him space."

It made sense, and Ace wasn't offended when he got snapped at for being too loud in the hallway with Thatch, running from Izo after making him step in a puddle of glue. Marco opened his bedroom door and told them to shut up. Thatch stuck his tongue out at him, but Ace told him they'd be more quiet. "Sorry to bother you," he said sincerely.

Marco's face fell. "No, I'm sorry. I'm not meaning to be an asshole, this haki is just frustrating and annoying." Thatch replied that they understood, and weren't mad. "Everyone on the ship understands. So you don't gotta feel guilty," Thatch said happily.

But then Izo appeared in the hall, and the two youngest barricaded themselves in the treasure room.

-x-

When they landed at the animal island, Marco was in a better mood, and they explored everywhere. The large forests were okay for Ace because the trees were huge and spread apart. It didn't feel suffocating. Oden and Pops were both with the group of teens and Ace as they explored the place.

The huge koala bears were amazing! Stefan would definitely want to befriend them. He'd take him for a walk the next day through the city. They didn't touch them besides Oden until Pops ordered him not to. The creatures had long claws and clearly didn't like being touched. So, they observed. All sorts of large and fluffy animals were all around, climbing in the trees above and beside them.

Even the bugs were fluffy and big! Huge, fluffy caterpillars were there, chewing on the moist tree trunks. "These are kind of like the mangrove trees at Sabaody," Marco commented. Ace asked what that was. "The place above the entrance to the New World. It's underwater, full of fishmen and merfolk."

Thatch pouted and said he wanted to see that. "We will see them one day, sons. We're still early in our journey of being a large force in this sea," Whitebeard said in a happy voice, enjoying the scenery as well. And how excited his children were about it all. Ace asked what Fishman Island was like.

"No! No spoilers," Thatch said quickly. Ace frowned, but didn't ask again. He could understand why Thatch wanted it a surprise. He'd ask later, when his closest brother wasn't around. When they were nearing the entrance to the city, leaving behind the big and cuddly looking creatures, Ace slurred that he was about to fall asleep.

Pops easily caught him before he hit the ground and draped him over his shoulder. The sleep attacks were rare with the third medication they'd tried that worked, but he still had sleep attacks from time to time. Not as often as before, but the medications didn't get rid of narcolepsy, it just helped him manage it.

He woke up ten minutes later, and was let down. "Sorry," he said quietly.

"Son, do you think your weight on my shoulder bothered me?" Whitebeard asked, sounding amused. Ace shook his head, and they moved on from it. They weren't taste testing this time, as they'd been here before and had gotten the recipes. Ace was bummed about it, but didn't openly complain. Walking through the city showed most buildings were made of brick.

He'd gotten used to the appearances of things outside of Wano. They were interesting, but not so surprising as he was expecting different things each time. Oden had gotten used ot it, too, but was still so excited over things. Ace bought new boots there, and an interesting belt. He wanted to look memorable since the world government knew about a fire starting kid on the strong crew.

Thatch was looking for a chef's outfit, and found one, and also a yellow foulard. He didn't know what it was, but liked it regardless. Ace also saw an orange hat, which was bright like his fire. He bought that, too, both boys spending most of their money on new clothes.

"We look so cool," Thatch said, looking at their reflections in the window. Ace nodded, saying they did indeed look memorable, though they didn't really look like they were going to be recognized as Whitebeards instantly. Ace commented that, and Thatch said they could have pins or something.

"That's not very memorable or shows our dedication to the crew. What about tattoos?" he asked. "Those are kind of permanent and show loyalty, don't they?" Thatch exclaimed that that was a good idea, and ran ahead to the ship, Ace following after. When they got there, Thatch made a beeline to the captain on his throne.

He looked them over, seeing their new outfits. "Those clothes are quite different than the ones you both left with," he said in interest.

"We wanted to look memorable. So, Ace had a great idea! We were thinking about wanting a way for the world to know who we are and all, and Ace suggested we get tattoos. Maybe of our jolly roger or something like that!" Pops raised his brows and laughed.

He said, "That is a great idea, sons!" Hands were raised all over the deck, volunteering to get a tattoo. They had nobody on the crew would could do it, though. They had to have someone either learn or join who could. Ace knew he was too young to get a tattoo. Thatch and Marco probably, too. Well, he'd be here for his whole life, so he had time to grow and get one then.

They would work on making that a reality, and Thatch and Ace gave high fives. Whitebeard smiled at his youngest sons, and they went inside to work on their next prank.

-x-

Ace stood in line with Marco at a coffee shop, having split with Thatch and Vista when they wanted to go look at swords. Stefan was on his leash, enjoying the calm walk. Thatch still wanted to be a swordsman, even with his devil fruit. It had been his dream weapon. And it was his fifteenth birthday soon, so it was present, even though he would have to grow into them. He wasn't going to get small swords.

Ace and Marco fought with their devil fruits, and weren't too interested in swords.

They turned around to see a boy maybe a year older than Ace standing there with a gun. Stefan didn't react to him, not worried or maybe just not noticing. Ace and Marco weren't alarmed, bullets useless at them. The boy had mousy brown hair, and was short. His hands were shaking. Marco casually looked to Ace, and Ace nodded. He knew what he wanted to know. This kid wasn't bad.

"Can we help you?"

"I have to kill you," he said, voice shaking. Ace pointed out he didn't look like he wanted to. "Don't talk like you know me!" he snapped, now holding the shaking gun with both hands. He was holding it wrong, Ace could easily tell that. Marco and Ace exchanged a look, and asked why. "None of your business!"

It was their turn to order their drinks, as they were outside. Nobody saw the gun yet, so they ordered their drinks, Ace knowing both of them were sure he wouldn't shoot them. They went to a bench and sat down. Ace put his pup in his lap. The boy's face was red, probably in embarrassment that his "targets" were completely unafraid and unimpressed.

Ace pulled out a pouch from his pocket and handed it to him. "Here, these should make you happier. Our brother made them." The boy looked angry and shocked before he sighed and put the gun down. Marco was there in an instant and took the gun, sitting back down.

"There, now we can act civil. Why do you want to kill us?" The boy looked in the bag and pulled out a macaron. There were always some in the fridge for the crew, though Ace was the one that ate the most. The guy took a bite of one, and then shoved them all in his mouth hungrily. Ace saw he was kind of skinny.

He said, "I have to kill a Whitebeard or I'll die." Marco observed he went after two of the youngest. "Yeah…" Ace frowned, and asked who was going to kill him. "I can't tell you."

Ace looked to Marco with his brows raised, and the older teen nodded. "You could always come with us. You seem like a good person. I'm sure we'd be happy to have you!" Ace said enthusiastically. "What's your name?"

"...Haruta…" he said slowly. Ace introduced his and Marco's names. But Haruta said he couldn't come with them. Ace took a heavy gulp of his hot chocolate, Marco taking a sip of his coffee. It smelled terrible to Ace. Coffee and booze both smelled so unappetizing to him. He only wanted to drink so he could be like other pirates. At least try it.

Ace asked why he couldn't come. "Cause… I don't know. I just can't," he sputtered, clearly nervous and uncomfortable. Marco asked if they could help him with anything. "Why would you help me? I pulled a gun on you!"

Marco explained, "Well, Ace has a talent for knowing whether people are good or bad. You've been deemed a good one. Why wouldn't we welcome you if Ace sees you're a good person?" Haruta's lips were pursed and tears came down his face. Then he ran off, leaving his gun. "No what? Should we tell Pops?"

"Well, we don't have much information, though," Ace pointed out. "But I want to help him. He's a good guy, and it would be cool to have somebody else near my age here!" he added happily.

Marco said they should go talk to Pops about it. Maybe send out a search party. Ace nodded and drank his hot chocolate before they both threw them in the trash and walked back to the ship, Stefan tired, but unable to sleep. "C'mon boy, only a bit more to go," Ace encouraged. Stefan flopped on his side. Ace sighed. "So dramatic," he mumbled and picked him up to carry him the rest of the way. Marco still had Haurta's gun. Should be easy to track him down by the scent.

When they got to the ship, Thatch was carrying two long and skinny wooden cases, face bright with excitement. He got his swords, it seemed. He saw his closest brothers and hurried over, opening the cases to showed him his new belongings that he would some day use. "Aren't they pretty?!"

They looked fairly plain, but they were pretty in their own way. The hilts had pretty patterns, and looked comfortable to grip. They didn't match at all. Thatch was inspired by Vista and some of the others for using two swords, which was his dream goal to be able to do. He was so determined that Ace was sure he would be able to fulfill that dream.

He noticed Marco holding an unfamiliar gun, and wondered why they had that. "A kid pulled a gun on us. But he couldn't bring himself to shoot. He was forced to do it, but couldn't. Ace read him as a good person, but he ran off. Pops, we invited him without your permission. We're sorry," the phoenix explained.

Pops said, "As long as Ace approves, I don't mind new members. But it sounds like he won't want to come along. You want to search for him, don't you?" Ace and Marco nodded. He was in a bad situation, and was so upset and scared. "Very well. If he's a future member of our crew, then of course we'll help him out." Ace smiled, and Stefan was a good boy and ran inside, Ace taking the leash off and rolling it up to put in his large pocket.

Thatch said he wanted to come. As did Rayuko and Sammy. He was uncomfortable with the youngest going, even if they could protect themselves. Thatch put his swords away in his room first before coming back out. The search party was formed with some young members and Sammy. They left the ship and followed where Marco was leading them. They came across a warehouse, and Marco put his ear on the wall, listening. Ace wanted to try, and had the black go to his ear. He pressed it to the wall, too. They knew about the random times his senses got better. It didn't always do as he wanted, though.

But he heard, and there were two younger voices, though one was much deeper than the other. "You didn't do it! I told you to! Now your friend with die because of you!" an angry adult voice said. They heard Haruta begging him not to do that. The deeper younger voice sadly said he didn't blame Haruta.

They didn't wait to kick down the wall, Marco able to kick and Thatch blowing it out just enough to make it easily fall, not slam into anyone inside and kill them. "What?! Who are you?!" he demanded. Thatch let out a burst of air, slamming the enemy, a bad person, into the wall and knocking him out.

Haruta and a fishman were shocked, and the fishman was also a good person. He was in a cage, shackles on while Haruta was tied up, face wet with tears. "Wh-what are you doing here?" he asked in shock. Marco walked to the cage and destroyed the cheap metal and shackles.

Ace replied, voice chipper, "We're here to get our newest members. C'mon, let's get out of here." Haruta was shocked, and looked angry. "C'mon, don't you want to live happily?" Ace asked, still sounding light even though a pout was formed. Haruta lost the angry look, and looked down. "It'll be fun."

"I won't go on a ship with humans. They'll never accept me."

Thatch laughed, making the fishman angry. "If Pops accepted a demon, then a fishman will be fine." Ace snickered. The two thought he was joking or making fun of them. "This guy," he said, pointing to Ace beside him with his thumb. Haruta looked to him, and Ace nodded. His crew knew, they accepted him. He wasn't exactly hiding anything anymore. Sure, they didn't know about the horrendous episode in the bathroom, but they'd been told the news about the dark forest actually helping their youngest brother.

"Come with us. You won't regret it," Rayuko said simply. Haruta shared a look with his fishman friend, and they nodded, standing up. They had no belongings apparently, so they came with only them and the clothes on their backs. They followed closely, and Thatch introduced himself happily, glad to have more young members.

Namur looked to Ace suspiciously. "Is it true?"

Ace rubbed his head, admitting it was true to an extent. He wasn't actually a demon. Before they thought it was all a lie, Ace explained the whole situation and how he was accepted despite their captain being able to see the black matter clinging to his body. "It's pretty much gone now. Most of the time what's left stays in my left eye. See how there no shine and it's kinda dull?" he asked, making his eye wide.

Haruta said that was weird, and Ace took no offence, agreeing with him openly. Marco asked what kind of fishman Namur was, as he introduced himself in a grumpy voice. "A shark." Thatch said it was obvious, making Marco roll his eyes.

When they got back to the ship, there was already a party going underway for new members. It had been awhile to find new members to be honest. They made another allied crew by beating them and then offering them a place in the Whitebeard family, which was growing quickly due to the allies. Not joining on the main ship.

Namur asked what was going on. "A welcome party, of course!" Thatch exclaimed. Haruta and Namur were shocked. Pops saw the two, and welcomed both of them. The two were surprised and maybe a little scared of how large Pops was, just sitting down, not at full height.

There was already a large grill outside. For now, they didn't need huge kitchen supplies, clocking at about 38 or so now. They would have to buy bigger kitchen things once people really started to fill up.

While the party happened, with Namur and Haruta being welcomed and talked to by Pops, Oden came out of the ship looking shocked. Then came Toki and Bay. "We have an announcement!" Bay said with a smile. Why was she smiling? It was worrying. The deck quieted. "We will soon have a baby on this crew."

Everybody was silent before surprised exclamations were heard. Oden didn't look upset, he was beaming. Ace exclaimed he wouldn't be the youngest on the crew anymore. He wasn't going to be the baby brother now, Toki and Oden's child would. Nobody was very upset about this news. Oden was more than enough on his own to keep his baby safe.

So, the party was now celebrating both Namur and Haruta and an oncoming baby. It was fun, and Haruta was surprisingly grinning by the end of the night, hearing about Ace and Thatch's pranks. Namur talked more with Vista. The fishman was 17 and Haruta was 14. So, a bit older than Ace.

He would turn thirteen soon, and finally be a teenager and not a kid. Haruta got along well with the others, and Ace knew he'd fit in. It was nice, knowing who are good people or not. It made getting new members safe and reliable. And the next string of islands were densely populated, so they had to find more people there! He was excited about expanding the crew on the ship, not allies that Ace also deemed whether they were good people or not.

Haruta and Namur shared a room for now as a request, and it was not in the hallway the other youngest ones were. The hallways near Pops' room and the treasure room. Those rooms had been made for important people, but since there were none so far, besides Oden, at the end of the hall, sharing the room with Toki and eventually a baby, so the kids were allowed the big rooms.

Ace would be sad when he had to give it up. Hopefully not, but he would understand if he had to be moved. Though he would definitely want his own room, not to share the bunks that some of the pirates had to. He liked his privacy, really.

Stefan was already resting on Ace's big bed when he came. "Hey, boy," Ace said sadly, going to bed at his usual time, having to leave the party early. He hated that Stefan couldn't sleep, still, while Ace could. He never seemed upset about it, but he was a dog, so he might be completely lonely at night. Ace always made sure to sleep with him very close to him, sometimes under the covers right next to him.

The pup usually stayed there all night with him, even if he was not asleep. Just relaxing as much as he could. Poor baby. The next morning, when Marco knocked on the door, his alarm clock, Ace stood and took a shower. He looked in the mirror, a habit, making sure he didn't look bad anymore.

He touched his face, wondering why the black was covering half of it completely. It looked like he had black paint on. "The hell?" he asked. He lit himself on fire, but the black didn't retreat or freak out. Was it getting used to the fire now? And not hiding from it? He could tell it was nowhere near as much as it had been before he burnt away much of it. This covered his face, but it was stretched very thin. Like one of Izo's face masks.

Turning off the light and letting himself be in the pitch darkness made his face tingle. He hurriedly turned on the lights and saw the black had changed, now it was more like patterns on one side of his face. Two below and parallel to his eye, and a thicker line coming from his bottom waterline to his chin.

He tried peeling it off or rubbing it away, but it stayed. He sighed and got dressed, leaving to go to breakfast. When he walked down the halls, he saw some people staring at him in shock. He wasn't dumb, he knew everyone could see the black on his face. He sighed, and went to get breakfast.

"Ace! Strawberry waff- oh, that's weird! Why can we see it?" Thatch asked, cooking everything while Handi and the other minor chefs observed. Like a test for Thatch, to cook a whole meal for everyone. He was kept busy, working quickly as more pirates poured in. Ace had his hat and accessories on. He rarely went anywhere without them.

Ace said, "I don't know. It's just there today." Thatch looked worried. "Don't worry, nothing happened with the fire or the darkness. Well, before I turned off the light, it was stretched all over my face like a face mask."

Thatch frowned but returned to work, serving Ace his food. "Make sure to say stuff to Pops if anything weird happens," the teen insisted. Ace promised he would. As people filtered in, they saw his face, and looked confused or just interested. They all knew the black matter was always there, able to tell when it was in his eye, but had never seen it directly on his skin.

Haruta and Namur were walking close to one another, looking nervous. This was their first meal in the galley, with a few tables full of people. Only two of them mostly, with a few stragglers in small groups here and there. Like the rest of the ship, the galley was built to seat hundreds of people. Now, it seemed a bit empty.

"So, how do you like it so far?" Vista asked.

"It's huge!" Haruta said. "I'll definitely get lost." When Ace sat down at the table, Pops was surprised. Namur and Vista were, too. "What's on your face?" he asked.

Ace sighed, and said he didn't know why it was doing that or why it was visible to everybody. He picked at his food before he felt a glare at his back from the kitchen, and started to eat. Marco came in not much later, sitting next to him, immediately seeing the marks on his face, but managing to hide his shock.

"Did anything happen this morning?" Ace shook his head. It was just there when he woke up. He couldn't peel it off or anything. "Well, it's good everyone here already knows about it, though." Ace agreed with that. If everyone didn't know, the reaction would be less favorable. He wasn't worried much about them seeing it and reacting badly. Everyone knew it was there the whole time, only now they could see it.