Ace woke up in an infirmary not his own. He knew this immediately without bothering to open his eyes due to one simple fact.

Everyone on his crew knew that Ace had a mild case of claustrophobia. The easiest way they found to deal with it was to leave one of the doors or windows open, to provide even an illusion of escape. Ace would spend every moment outdoors if he could.

He couldn't hear the sound of the ocean clearly...it was dampened by the closed windows and the wood. Not to mention the smell of his infirmary was different.

The infirmary of his ship always smelled of lemons. This one smelled sterile and it made his nose itch something fierce.

"ACE! Please wake up!" wailed a familiar voice.

"Come on Lu, you know he's gotta be faking it by this point. Not that I blame him...fighting two high-level opponents almost back to back would wipe anyone out," said Sabo.

Ace couldn't keep pretending to sleep when Luffy started poking him.

"Dammit Luffy, I was trying to sleep!" growled Ace.

"Ace!"

He ignored the glomp entirely, as he was used to it at this point.

"What happened?"

"You challenged Whitebeard in order for us to get away, except we ran through the fire wall you created to get to you. Apparently it impressed Whitebeard so much he let us stay on his ship...Finn finally convinced Coral to chase after the ship a few hours later when she returned, and Namur spotted them following."

Namur was very surprised to find Ace had two shark Fishmen on his ship. Particularly the fact that Ace inspired such loyalty that they would track down the Moby Dick and refuse to leave until they knew their captain was safe.

Ace grimaced.

"Let me guess...he didn't believe my story until after I passed out and Jimbei showed up with the mayor."

"Pretty much. On an unrelated note, our ship took more damage that we thought when we crossed from into the New World. It's going to take months to repair, especially since we don't have an eternal pose to an island that has decent shipwrights."

"How? I know we've been keeping a careful eye on the Romance Dawn since we got it!"

"Some of the pirates we dealt with on that island must have decided to make our lives harder, because they did a lot of damage before we killed them," said Sabo annoyed. "Fortunately the Dawn is still salvageable but it's going to take a while to fix her."

Ace groaned.

"Great...so we'll likely be stuck on an island for several months until we can fix her."

"Maybe not," said an unfamiliar voice. Ace turned to see the guy who looked like a walking pineapple approach. "You did help out one of Pop's islands, and he was pretty impressed at the fact you stuck around to help the villagers rather than leave once they were healed. Not to mention the fact you managed to beat Jimbei and survive him going out at half-power despite having very little rest."

(Ace would find out rather quickly Jimbei forgot to mention his 'alter ego' as Doctor Pyrite. Not that the Whitebeard Pirates wouldn't find out soon enough, but still.)

"How would you like to become my sons?" asked Whitebeard.

Ace bristled.

"Excuse me?" he hissed. His eyes were almost glowing silver.

Sabo winced.

"Ace is both really protective...and majorly possessive...of the people he claims. He doesn't like it when people try to take someone he considers his," said Sabo.

Ace was growling, and there was a shadow of a dragon behind him.

"I'm not about to join a crew I know nothing about...especially since I have no idea if it's one that would accept all of my crew."

Ace wouldn't even consider joining up with anyone that would reject Coral and Finn. He had given them a chance to prove to themselves they were more than just 'freaks' like their old island called them. Especially Finn, who wanted to become a top-notch surgeon.

Something seemed to pass between him and old man Whitebeard. A strange sort of respect at the way Ace adamantly refused to join such an famous crew of pirates or even consider the idea of becoming one of Whitebeard's sons...unless all of his crew could join as well. Considering the treatment the shark siblings tended to get for their appearance, it made his estimation of Ace's character go up.

More to the point, Ace refused to join a crew who's captain was weak. He had no true way to judge Whitebeard's skills considering the older pirate had challenged him before he had a chance to recover his full strength.

And so it began...Ace's attempts to kill Whitebeard.

Two months later...

"This is getting ridiculous...how many times has that idiot tried to kill Pops?" said Thatch exasperated, as Ace was sent flying off into the ocean...again.

Sabo would have gotten up...except Finn found it hilarious to watch his teacher splash into the water so he was usually the first to retrieve him.

"It is getting excessive," said Marco with annoyance. His 'siblings' all found it entertaining to watch, and started having bets after the third day on how quickly Pops could beat Ace and how far he could send him flying. "Why does he even bother anyway? Pops already said he would be glad to take on the rest of your crew, including the siblings."

Sabo snorted.

"You mean you honestly haven't figured out Ace's real motive? If he wanted Whitebeard dead, the old man would be gone by now."

"Ace is strong, but he's not that strong," scoffed Marco.

"I'm not talking about physical strength, devil fruit power or haki," corrected Sabo. "I've seen him kill Akainu with a single attack."

"Wait... he's the one who killed Akainu?!" said Marco.

It was major news among the pirates and marines, that Akainu had been found dead with no real concrete way to explain how. The nearest that the marines could tell, and they investigated the incident thoroughly, was that something had caused his heart to stop completely without any warning. He just keeled over in front of his men.

There was an odd mention of St. Elmo's Fire being present, but that was honestly the only abnormality spoken of.

"Ace took offense to the fact the mad dog of the marines was about to kill Luffy. It didn't matter Luffy hasn't earned a bounty yet, all Akainu cared about was that he was traveling with us and fighting with the crew," said Sabo. "Ace said afterwords that he hated using the one-hit-kill technique because it makes killing too easy."

"He doesn't like killing?" said Marco in surprise.

"'Things and homes can be replaced, but a life once taken can never be brought back'," quoted Sabo.

"Wise words," said Marco.

"Which is why I'm pretty sure Whitebeard has already figured out the real reason Ace keeps challenging him, or has a pretty good idea."

"And what reason is that?" asked Marco.

"Ace wants to be sure Whitebeard is strong enough to handle the force the Marines will send after the crew once his heritage is known. The Marines made it pretty clear they make killing anyone of that bloodline a top priority," said Sabo.

"And once Pops proves he's capable of handling Ace's worst?" asked Thatch.

"Then the most terrifying force will be unleashed," said Sabo deadpan. "The mother hen from hell."

That got the two older men to blink.

"'The mother hen from hell'?" repeated Marco.

Sabo merely smirked at them. They had no idea of the shock they were going to be in for once Ace took Whitebeard's mark. He had already heard of what Ace planned to do to the older pirate once he got tired of testing the older man.

Those machines Whitebeard was hooked up to now were going to be a passing memory once Ace had everything ready.

The first indicator Ace had accepted Whitebeard's offer to become one of his sons, in Sabo's mind, was the day Whitebeard started coughing as his secret barrel of rum went down wrong.

Within a few hours, Sabo noticed a difference in the older pirate's aura. Ace's mother-hen nature had started to kick in, hard.

The fact Ace walked out during dinner with Whitebeard's mark was enough to start a party, particularly since Sabo and the others swiftly followed suit.

(Luffy hated needles, but Ace was a master of distracting him. All it took was the promise Ace would cook his favorite meal and Luffy was too busy fantasizing about meat to notice the tattoo being put on his left shoulder.)

It took Whitebeard a few days to notice his bones and joints didn't creak nearly as much. The nurses were astonished when he was able to move as well as he had at least ten or twenty years ago.

"Alright Ace, what did you do?" asked Sabo.

"Got rid of his arthritis. That is a one-shot dose and it gives me a chance to gauge his health before I bring out the really nasty remedies to fix the rest. By the time I'm done those dialysis machines will be a memory."

"How does getting rid of his aches and pains help gauge his health?" asked Sabo. Finn looked on curiously.

"Some of those remedies won't react to certain people. The arthritis cure however is one that can be given to a large number of people and it's a one-dose remedy that works within hours to reverse the damage to the body. By seeing how quickly it takes effect, I can gauge how well my other remedies will work as well. From what I can tell there should be no issue with fixing up most of the health issues Whitebeard has with a few months," said Ace.

Unknown to Ace, Marco overheard that comment. Whiskey and the other nurses were all astonished at the fact that Whitebeard was moving as if he was forty again, rather than pushing seventy. And he definitely remembered how old Roger used to whip up some nasty tasting medicine that had extraordinarie effects. His hangover remedy was the most effective remedy Marco had ever encountered and one of the few Roger had been willing to part with to Whitebeard and his crew.

(Shanks practically begged Roger for his super-effective hangover remedy before he died. Roger had put his cabin boy though a lot of headaches before he finally gave it to him after Shanks pranked the hell out of the crew and amused Roger enough to hand it over.)

Marco could only hope Ace didn't inherit his old man's bizarre love of terrible puns. He didn't know why Roger loved his 'serious/Sirius' jokes, but it used to make most of his crew and friends groan in dismay to hear them.

Finn liked the Whitebeard pirates...but he didn't particularly like their infirmary. That wasn't to say it was insufficient or poorly staffed, but more that Whiskey and the others wouldn't let him do anything but errands when they learned he wanted to be a surgeon.

Ace did give him homework, but he also believed that practical experience was often more useful. Finn missed the days when they were still the Spade pirates because Ace would allow him to assist during treatment and would teach him interesting tidbits while allowing him to learn from a more 'hands-on' approach.

And yet here, all he was allowed to do was clean up and reading. It was irritating. They didn't even quiz him as often as Ace did. At least when his Boss was teaching him, he made it fun and easy to remember!

"What's wrong Finn?" asked Luffy.

"It's nothing..."

"Then why are you so unhappy?"

"The nurses here won't let me do anything besides clean-up and reading. At least Ace makes it fun and allows me to help while keeping a firm eye on me, except for the really serious stuff," said Finn depressed.

Ace allowed Finn to help with the basic treatment and even let him do solo treatment for the minor things, but in the really serious cases he went solo while explaining things to Finn whenever he had a chance. During surgery Finn was his assistant and he watched with avid attention the entire time.

"Why not ask Ace?" said Luffy.

Finn looked thoughtful.

"Good point. I am his apprentice after all. I guess I hoped for too much action once we switched to an established crew. It's only natural that they wouldn't allow someone of limited experience to do anything remotely useful."

Ace was a firm believer that practical experience was more important than book learning. It was how people originally learned their trade before books became widely available, and from what Finn had seen the Moby Dick didn't have nearly enough on the subject to make him a proper surgeon.

Finn found Ace after he was sneaking out of the kitchens again.

Ace took one look at his expression and smirked.

"I was wondering when you'd finally snap."

"You knew?"

"People without training are rarely taken seriously by established crews who already have their set routines. Unless you can prove you already know what you're doing the best you could have hoped for was that we hit an island where they would be willing to train you. Which is why I've been keeping an ear out for any interesting cases and repairing the Dawn on the sly."

"You've been repairing the Romance Dawn?" said Finn. He had almost forgotten about it.

"Well yeah, she's as much a part of the Spade Pirates as you are," said Ace, before a mischievous expression crossed his face. "Go get your tools and follow me. We're going out on a little trip."

Finn caught on to what Ace meant by 'tools' and started packing. He had the feeling the famous "Doctor Pyrite" was about to make another appearance.

It was only a matter of time before the Whitebeards found out, but for now he knew Ace wanted to keep it a secret.

"How are we going to explain this to Marco and the others?"

"Already got that covered. It's well known by the fishmen by this point that Doctor Pyrite uses our ship to get around, so I told Namur we got a request for a pick-up and we'll be gone for a few days. Naturally since I can't steer the ship solo I took you with me since you've assisted with the Doctor before. I overheard from the DDM Network that there's been a strange outbreak on one of Oyaji's protected islands. From the sound of things it might be a case of advanced food poisoning."

"What if Namur forgets to tell Marco?"

"Then we were checking to see if the repairs on the Dawn would hold up for short trips while picking up the doctor, and we had trouble getting back because I forgot to grab an eternal pose for the Moby Dick. I can find Sabo and Luffy, and they won't leave the ship once they figure out where we've gone so we'll be able to find them again within a week anyway."

Finn was already excited. It had been so long since he had any experience with Ace so he was quite eager to set off.

Then he noticed an issue.

"How are we going to get the Dawn out?"

Since there was no way for smaller ships like Romance Dawn to keep up with the pace of something like the Moby Dick, there was a small dock inside the bigger ship for the smaller ones to be placed in.

One of the older ships had been moved to a different Moby when Whitebeard took out Ace, as a show of good faith. Any real captain would have been quite irate to leave their ship and Jolly Roger behind, and it gave them a chance to repair the Dawn on their free time if they decided against joining the Whitebeard Pirates.

Of course the supplies would have to be paid out of their own money if they did decide against joining, but that was to be expected. Finn had no idea Ace had been secretly repairing their ship in between his mock attempts to murder Whitebeard.

That being said, it was going to be quite difficult to get out of the ship covertly in the middle of the night when the door was firmly shut and opening it would attract a lot of attention from the crow's nest.

Ace grinned.

"Oh ye of little faith. I have a plan," said Ace.

"Why does that not fill me with confidence?"

The last time Ace had a plan, they left three marine ships filled to the brim with whip cream and chocolate sauce, and all of the marines had lost their left shoes because of the super glue attached to them.

And no one was entirely certain how he had pulled it off in such a short time without anyone seeing him do it.

Ace merely walked to the wall...and put a hand on it, before leaning his forehead against it.

For a few moments, nothing happened...but to Finn's disbelief the outer door opened and he didn't hear a single shout from the deck about it. It wasn't exactly silent after all.

His curiosity lasted as long as it took for the Dawn to leave the Moby's direct line of sight.

"How?"

"All ships that have a long enough history of service, especially those with such a lively crew, tend to develop a 'spirit' to them. A good captain will often consider their ship as much a part of the crew as a living member, because without the ship there wouldn't be a proper crew in the first place. The more adventures and experiences they go through, the more developed the spirit becomes. The Dawn has one, and I notice that all three Moby's have a distinct soul to them. I just asked politely if it would mind letting us leave for a bit to help one of Pop's islands with a medical problem and keep the watchers from noticing."

"You asked the ship."

"Find someplace quiet on the Dawn and just let your mind wander. Once she knows you're trying to connect with her, you'll hear her voice. It's like listening to the sea underwater really...you know it has a voice of it's own, but the trick is to actually listen for it."

Finn...could only nod. Any Fishman worth their name could hear the voice of the sea and understood that she had her moods and tempers. Some heard her clearer than most.

It had never occurred to him that ships would have such a voice as well.

(He found Ace was right...Romance Dawn did have a voice and she absolutely adored Ace because he listened to her properly and treated her like one of the crew. He wondered what the Moby sounded like.)