ABOUT ACE
Portgas D. Ace
Marco tests his name on his lips, quite liking the sound of it despite the irritated scowl on the kid's face. The brat in front of him was something.
Yet looking at the beaten form of Jinbei, lying face first on the ground. Marco wants nothing to do with the brat, maybe except to throttle the little bug to the ground.
Then the wall of fire appeared, giving orders for his crew to flee. And suddenly, he likes the sound of his name again.
Portgas D. Ace. A cocky brat with an ego as big as the Grand Line and loyalty just as big as that.
The brat was Thatch's pet project and wasn't he useful in the kitchen. Thatch was unbearable, bossy in his territory and unbelievably clingy to his "traveling stove".
If Marco were the one getting dragged to cook and chop and release fire for cooking, he'd have probably tossed Thatch into the ocean. Marco has no doubt that Ace can toss Thatch into the ocean.
Yet he sits there on the counter and listens to the Chef and his impromptu cooking show. Ace gets dibs on taste testing and Marco was sure Ace would never bite the hand that feeds him.
Ace likes to look at the ocean when the sun sets. Marco realizes this when Ace climbs the crow's nest and just smiles at the setting sun and the warm waves it emits.
There's almost a serene smile on his face, but sooner than later, it's bound to turn conflicted, then stormy.
When the sun completely sets, and the ocean is dark and deep and cold, Ace would have looked like it as well. Detached, sad, dejected... and accepting. Like he'd surrendered and accepted that the sun will set and the darkness would remain. Almost engulfing him in a way Marco thinks isn't healthy.
And its not.
There were people who called Ace a firecracker after a week of watching the murder attempts, but that wasn't quite right.
Marco doesn't think it's wrong to snap at people, given that you were sort of kidnapped, sort of forced to stay on board your enemy's ship, while definitely not treating you as a prisoner and actually trying to recruit you.
While most people wouldn't snap at normal people for no reason at all, Ace was the type to flinch as every movement and doubt every good deed.
It was a mental strain being on board the Moby Dick and Marco completely understands... he was once in the same boat after all.
Portgas D. Ace doesn't cry.
Marco looks at the boy after every failed attempt at murder, after every bruise and sore muscle and dislocated bone.
After every broken railing, bone and every drop of bloodshed. Every fall and splash and crack that hits his battered broken body.
Portgas D. Ace doesn't cry.
He stands right back again, licks his wounds and fights.
More than ever, Marco wants to tie him on the infirmary bed with sea stone chains and keep him there until he's completely healed.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Yo Everybody! New Story and once again I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE!
Here is something for Ace. Since I miss him ;_ so much... :=c
This is gonna be something mild and soft and fluffy. Just Marco and his musings about the other ball of fire in the ship.
Enjoy! Reviews are muchly appreciated.