"Hey Ace, you okay there? You're looking a bit twitchy." Thatch commented from his spot by the railing. He had been preparing for the New Years party that was taking place tonight and was taking his much needed lunch break before getting back to the grueling work that was party planning.
Thatch watched as Ace suppressed a flinch, "Ahahahaaa yeah," Ace said airily, while scanning the surrounding ocean.
Thatch crooked an eyebrow at the lackluster response, "You sure? You look like something's about to pop outta nowhere and bight ya."
Ace ran a hand through his dark hair while sighing, "Yeah, don't worry about it, just a little stressed is all."
Thatch hummed non-committally and turned to leave but said, "Well I'll be in the kitchen if a big scary monster comes looking for you." Before Thatch could open the door leading down into the ship he swore he heard Ace mutter something about it being worse than a scary monster. He shrugged and carried on his way. Thatch had a party to prepare for after all.
Something was bothering Ace, Marco could tell by the tension the teen carried in his whole body. It had been a good year and a bit since Ace had joined the crew and he had assimilated well. Marco couldn't for the life of him figure out why Ace was looking ready to jump in the sea and swim off into the sunset. Which really would have been rather idiotic given the fact that Ace had a devil fruit, but you never really knew with him. After all, Ace had a special brand of idiocy just for him. Marco decided to wait and see if anything got better in the next few hours before confronting Ace about his obvious discomfort.
Today was the day, and Ace could tell. It was in the way the wind shifted and the smell of the sea. Today was the day he would die.
The day carried on and Ace was still tense as a board, he watched over his shoulder and checked every corner multiple times. No one on the crew knew why, and tensions started running high because of the mystery that was making Ace so cautious. Party preparations continued even with the possible threat hanging over everyone's heads.
The date was December 31st. Tomorrow was January 1st, his birthday. Ace loathed his birthday, this year more than ever, because he knew what was in store for him -and because of association- the rest of Whitebeard's crew. He just hoped he had a few more hours to prepare himself for the suffering that was inevitable.
In the distance she caught sight of the towering ship that was the Moby Dick, "Well hello there…" she murmured to herself a feral grin stretching across her face.
A chill ran up Ace's spine.
The New Years party aboard the Whitebeard's ship was in full swing. Pirates were singing and yelling, and brawling, but not Ace. Portgas D. Ace sat in a dark corner on the deck of the Moby as he watched the celebrations, slowly nursing a watered down beer. That's when he saw it, a flash of bright pink on the edge of the rail. A curse flew from his mouth, and that would make even veteran pirates cover their ears. What he hears next would cause him to have nightmares for years to come, "ACE you son of a bitch! Where the fuck are you hidin you fuckin' coward!" All heads on the Moby dick swiveled to where the piercing yell had come from. On one of the railing stood a tall woman with vibrant purple eyes, and wavy hair, but the most noticeable thing about her was the fact that her hair was an eye-watering shade of hot pink. Ace would forever deny the unholy sound that left his mouth as her purple gaze slid to him and her already feral grin got wider and hungrier. The pink haired woman started towards him only to be interrupted by a stony looking Marco, "And who might you be, yoi?" Marco questioned lazily, though there was a thread of danger laced in his tone.
Ace prayed for Marcos' safety as the pink haired woman turned to look at him. She looked him up and down then stuck her finger in her nose, "The names Ligma," Ace groaned, "Ligma Balls." She finished the sentence by flicking a booger off into the crowd. Several people in the crew of pirates spluttered while some others -most likely the less sober ones- laughed. Before Marco could get a word in she continued, "I happen to be here to celebrate a birthday."
"A birthday." Marco looked wholly unamused.
"Yep," her grin sharpened, "My cute little brother's birthday happens to be tomorrow, so I thought I would give him an awesome gift," she pause for a second and seemed to think then said, "because i'm fuckin' awesome." She finished.
"Guessing by how you were yelling for Ace earlier, I'm assuming you're looking for him." Marco said, choosing to ignore the last statement the woman had said entirely.
"Smart guy pineapple head, smart guy." She nodded. Marco looked like he would rather be anywhere else but where he was standing at that moment. "Now i've gotta go find Ace so I can give him his present." At that she looked around once more before spotting Ace. He had tried to get away while she was distracted, but to no avail. "There you are Ace, get your sorry ass over here before I kick it into next fuckin year." The Whitebeard pirates heads' all shifted to where Ace was looking off into the sunset as if praying for mercy. He took another second to piece what was left of his sanity back together before turning to look at the hot-pink haired menace, then stated, "The fuck you doing here, you ugly bitch?"
Said ugly bitch looked like she was about to explode from excitement, "Well I came to wish my dearest little brother a happy birthday, of course." She said in the sweetest most fake voice Ace had ever heard. Ace grabbed a mug of alcohol ignoring the pirate whose hand it had been snatched out of and downed it in one go. The pink bitch then proceeded to pull out a book from the middle of god-fucking-nowhere and say in the most delighted voice he had ever heard, "To commemorate my little brothers 19th birthday," she paused for dramatic effect causing a hush to fall over the crowd, "I brought pictures of baby Ace!" She screamed laughing maniacally all the while.
Ace had had enough and tried his luck at throwing himself overboard, but unluckily for him Thatch appeared and grabbed him, "Oh no you don't, you cheeky little shit. This is going to be so fucking epic!" Thatch then dragged him towards the center of the group of pirates who were mobbing to get their hands on a picture of baby Ace.
Ace's face burned as one of the crew called out, "Damn Ace you look like you have a larger stick up your ass than Marco does." A sharp cry of pain followed that shortly as Marco punched the guy face first into the deck. Ace was so totally getting his sister back for this, and it was going to be painful, oh so painful. But first he had to go find a cliff to jump off of.