Ace had finally gotten something to eat. Mind you it wasn't as good as Thatch's or Luffy's cook Sanji's, but it was still pretty damn good. Still playing poker now Bay was playing with them. Ace had played so many games of poker with the crew he wasn't even surprised he was beating everyone. The thing was that Ace had gotten so good at poker because of Marco. The man was a fucking god when it came to any type of gambling game, so much so he was banned from any friday night family games. And of course being in a relationship for about two years with him, Ace had learned how to read people really well and win. While he was good though he had never beaten Marco before, never.

Which brings us to what is currently happening. Bay and Marco are both trying their very hardest to stop Izou from sucker punching Ace right in the face after winning another hand. Pops was still drunk and probably wouldn't remember this happening. While Bay was yelling at Izou to calm down Marco looked about to pass out again.

Now despite all this Ace was bored, this was a pretty light day. Normally he'd been thrown off the ship at least sixteen times already for pissing Marco off with another prank with the help of Haruta and Thatch. So now that Ace had Pops and everyone else in the room 50,000 berries in debt in total, Sabo would be proud, he was done.

So he decided to have fun. "FIRE!" Not even two seconds later five men Ace recognized from the 5th division came bursting through the door. The door was flung open so fast that it broke a hole in the wall.

"WHERE'S THE FIRE!?"

Ace immediately stood up, and pointed to Izou, "It's Izou!" Then in the next second Izou was drenched in water.

Marco had run away from the water before he could get hit and Bay was trying even harder to make sure Izou wouldn't kill Ace.

That was the first time Ace was thrown overboard.

Not from Izou though. Pops, being as drunk as he is, wacked Izou and Ace through the walls and into the water. Fun times.

—

The next day was interesting for one. Everyone was crowded around Pops sitting in his usual chair. Questions upon questions were thrown out asking about the newest member of the crew. While Ace was sitting on the arm piece of the chair fanning himself with the money he had won cackling away. So, of course, Oden was interested.

After Ace was introduced to the crew for the second time in his life, it hit a lot harder than he thought it would, he noticed some of his brothers had yet to join the crew much to his dismay. Everyone was much younger than before and there were loads of people Ace hadn't seen or met before. It was like Ace was a part of a whole new crew all together and it hurt.

The only people Ace felt comfortable with were Marco, Izou, and Pops. They were strong pillars in his life before and they might be weaker in emotional aspects of their life but Ace could feel the strong confident people they would come to be.

And sometimes when he thought that no one was looking he would stare at them and remember the strong, fired passion they had when they jumped down onto the battlefield to save him. Pops was always watching though, he still didn't know what those hard looks meant though.

"Hey! Hey!" Oden was very stubborn, dare he say as stubborn as his younger brother. For the last hour he had been bugging Ace about the next island they were going to go to, and as much fun as that was Ace was getting irritated. It also didn't help that Pops was smirking his way each time they locked eyes.

For a brief moment Ace wondered if this is what Marco thought when Ace and Haruta bugged him for hours on end.

But that sneaking suspicion that that was what Marco thought vanished in an instint. Ace was bored and what did Ace do when he was bored, one he ate, but he's banned from the kitchen after almost eating the pantry dry, second Ace wreaks havoc on the poor souls that live on the block of wood they call home.

Ace reached up and put his hand on Oden's shoulder, "my dear friend, brother, you seem so innocent and close minded, are you ready for the best thing that has ever happened to you?" A dangerous glint in his eye caught Oden's attention.

"The best?"

"Hell yeah," pulling Oden down and swerving away from Pops so all he saw was their backs Ace spoke of his plan. The ship had been too quiet for his tastes, it was time to have some fun.

After hearing Ace's plan Oden felt enlightened, rejuvenated, younger even. He was absolutely ecstatic for this and no one could stop him or Ace now.

Marco was talking to Runner and Deven who were a part of one of the other divisions when he saw them pale. Turning he saw a beaming Ace and even more bright Oden coming straight towards him. Ace might not have been on the ship for very long but everyone knew from the multiple times Ace participated in games that when Ace had a beaming, happy look on his face you run.

Unfortunately Marco was too frozen to run so when Ace picked him up bridal style and booked it across the ship he couldn't do anything.

In Ace's simple opinion Marco was also too innocent for the seas and he wanted to bring the little pigeon into Oden and his little brigade. He also just wanted to spend time with him because the memories of Marco laughing and having fun were always replaced with the last agonizing scream of his name. Marco, whether he realized it or not, would always be protected and loved by Ace.