Akatsuki-Metal - I'm very happy to hear you found this funny! I'm very sorry it took so long to update and reply to your comment, but we're starting back up with this one! Thank you very much for reading and commenting, i hope you like the update!
I recently got a comment on this story and it made me go like "Yes! I gotte update this one, I want to know what happens next too!" Since I haven't planned a lot out yet haha. So here we are! I hope everyone enjoys. Thank you very much for all the support on this story that started as a full on joke hahahah!
I'm going to try to put out another chapter of this story this weekend or the beginning of next week, covering the name of the baby!
After having made sure that Pops was alright and he too was, just like Marco, in shock, everyone quieted down their worried yells. There we so many questions for the mystery baby, but no one spoke as they watched the fresh parents act as if this was normal day.
Ace bouncing the little one in his lap, happily exchanging clicks, while Marco, after petting the hair and getting his own clicks in return, was gathering the bowl of fruits and a spoon.
Loading up the spoon with some of the mash, he made sure it wouldn't spill, and brought it to the baby's mouth.
…
"Maybe you need to make a train noise?"
"Shut it Thatch-yoi."
"He is right, Marco-dear, or eat it yourself and act of how delicious it is."
"I wo-"
"Mahko."
Looking between the spoon, the closed mouth of their baby, and the very innocent looking eyes of his boyfriend, he sighed and retreated the spoon, making sure the child was watching as he ate the mash himself. He made, a very fake sounding, humming sound and rubbed his belly in delight.
The little merman just cocked his head at the action, seemingly confused, - cute!-, and thus Marco filled up another spoon and tried to give it to him, only to be met with a closed mouth again. He could practically feel the stares of those around him... but, the only one convincing him to do the other thing was Ace's pleading look...
-I can't believe I'm going to do this-yoi...-
Taking the spoon away and holding it up in the air, he put a smile on his face, "Look baby! Here comes the train-yoi! Shoo shoo!" he made a little swinging motions as he brought the spoon closer, ignoring the wheezing sounds coming from around him. When he was however met with a very unimpressed stare of the baby, and a closed mouth, the whole commander's table busted out in laughter.
"F-fearsome first commander hahhaaah" - "Gods, haruta please say you filmed this!" - "The phoenix acting like a train is all recorded dear brothers."
Thatch barked the loudest laugh, wiping tears from his eyes "D-does this kid even know what a train is?! He was born like what, yesterday, today? And is a sea-creature at that!"
"You-" Marco realised that everything the other said was true, turning beet red at the thought that he just embarrassed himself, for nothing.
"Don't laugh at Marco." a quiet voice sounded and silenced the table. Their biggest merman was looking at everyone with a pout. "He's just trying to make our baby eat, what is so funny about that."
Some commanders cleared their throat and looked away, "nothing is funny about that, nothing at all, right everyone?" - "no, no, ehm, it's a great father's skill!" - "It was very impressive, very believable, I'm sure he almost got the kid to eat!" - "yea yea, we're just... we just want Marco to do it for us too you know." - "Yea, we … Rakuyo... wth dude..." - "... no comment."
Ace ignored the table and instead took Marco's hand, making the man melt. No judging in the mer's eyes, there was only love to be seen. It made the blond smile as he picked up the spoon again, ignoring his other brothers as he put it in front of the baby's mouth again.
Thatch is right, the baby wouldn't know the existence of anything yet, maybe he doesn't know it's food? With this thought he put the spoon against the small lips and turned it so a tiny bit of mash would dribble against them.
A small tongue darted out and with success hit the mash, seconds later however, the mash that had gotten in, was also spit back out, dribbling down a chin.
Ace, like of course all humans would do, turned the little mer around in his lap and licked his face clean.
Some others had their hands out to stop the mer, who licked a baby's face?! But the baby clicked happily at it and snuggled to the other. Ah... Yes... not human, probably other raising methods.
After a few moments, Ace took the baby sideways in his lap and pushed a finger of his free hand in the mash before bringing it to the baby's lips. With some clicks he brought it closer, only for the little mer to turn his head away, some tears gathering in his eyes. The small one clicked back and Ace froze.
Eating the mash off his finger he clicked back just as the little one was doing. The rest of the table was confused at the seemingly conversation that was going on.
"Seaweed" Ace suddenly whispered before handing the baby to Marco. If the freckled one had had legs, he for sure would have jumped up. Now it was more of a wiggle, deploying his bubble to float and waving his tail to move.
"Ace?"
"Did he say... seaweed?
"Yea...?"
They all watched Ace 'run' towards the exit when Pops booming voice came out... When did he wake up?
"Stop him! He's going into the ocean!"
They all turned to pops confused, like... yea... that's What Ace did almost every day... so why would it be a pro-
"We're in Sea-king infested waters right now."
"AW SHIT!" - "ACE STOP"
They all ran after him, benches clattering to the ground as they jumped up. It's not like Ace isn't allowed in the water, but they try to keep his swims to the very early morning and evening when the Sea-kings are least active. They don't normally keep him out, even if there's Sea-kings, but their current area is notorious for vicious ones. And lots at that.
Ace was even the one who had said himself he wouldn't go in the water throughout the day, so that said a lot already.
With his speed, Jiru was able to grab the merman's arm before he could jump.
"Jiru! I need to get it."
"Wait Ace, the water is dangerous." The mer pulled at his arm, but he didn't let go "You can't go in."
Ace clicked madly and hissed through sharp teeth "I need to get food for my baby!"
He almost released the other out of surprise, the last time the other had hissed at them was when he first came onboard, and even then, it was more fear than anything else.
The others all arrived outside just as Ace hissed angrily again, nails lengthening.
Marco quickly jogged up to him, baby still in his arms, he wasn't afraid that Ace would hurt him. He could already imagine it was some sort of motherly instinct activating. "Ace, Love, what's wrong?"
Clicking loudly the mer looked briefly at Marco before turning to the one holding him "Need to get food for our baby! Jiru is stopping me!"
Marco looked at the baby who was reaching for Ace, when the tiny hands touched a freckled shoulder, the hissing stopped and Ace turned to take his child, angry look fading away.
Jiru had carefully let Ace go, knowing he wouldn't jump into the sea when he had their child in his arms.
"Don't we have anything in the kitchen that he can eat, Ace-yoi? I'm sure we have other fruits or fish too."
"No, need Seaweed."
"We have Seaweed Ace, in the storage" Thatch came forward.
"Not good, need fresh."
"How do you know this, son?" the old man had woken up just in time to see the tiny child refusing the food on Ace's finger. Meaning they had been trying to feed him normal food before he woke up but it hadn't worked.
The mer stayed quit for a bit as he hugged his baby close, nuzzling its head "I... I don't know. I just know. He needs to eat, a specific kind of seaweed, and it needs to be fresh. Not dried or anything, but dripping with Seawater."
"I get it."
Everyone turned to Namur as he spoke.
"Well, he is a merman, even if maybe half thanks to Marco. The baby probably can't digest human food yet, or just doesn't recognize it, and is searching for what they would originally eat, the way it's supposed to be, by instinct. Plus, everyone knows you lose a lot of nutrients and things when you preserve something like seaweed that's almost all water."
They all stayed silent, it was barely past morning, they couldn't wait for the dark, when it was safer out, to get food.
"Son," Pops spoke up "you know these waters are dangerous and -"
Before Whitebeard could finish the mer turned to hiss at him too, clutching the baby in his arms, he however continued as if nothing happened.
"I don't want anything to happen to you, but I do know your child needs to eat. You are allowed to go in the ocean, but be very, very careful. If there's too many Sea-kings, return back and try again later."
"I'll join him too Pops, then he's not alone, I'll take care of him."
"Thank you, Namur, that's perfect."
With their two fishman together, Ace handed over the baby to Marco, giving a small kiss to both before jumping overboard, Namur following suit.
After the duo had jumped down, the silence was broken by happy clicks, making Marco smile in return as he hugged his baby, his son. The tail was a bit heavy, but he wasn't the first commander for nothing, he could carry him all day!
"Well..." Vista called out "That was..."
"Interesting" Fossa added slowly, gaining some agreeance from the group.
"Jiru-dear, are you okay?"
The man of speed hummed and showed his arm, 5 tiny puncture marks visible were Ace had taken hold of his arm to push him off "I'm good, I don't think he even noticed that he broke the skin."
"Damn" Their chef called "Didn't think Ace would hurt you."
"It's probably his instincts, don't tell him, this will heal within a day and I'm sure he didn't mean to. I'm not mad at him either. We will just have to be careful for a bit and see where the line lies."
Agreeance went throughout the commanders once more and Pops spoke up.
"We'll hold a meeting around this later and how we'll manage everything. And thank you son, for not being mad at Ace."
Jiru just waved the old man off with a smile, making the old man give one in return before continuing, "Even though I know you all probably want to hold Marco's baby, … I do too …. and I don't think Marco would decline if we're careful, like Jiru said, Ace has more and different instincts. We do not know how he'll react if one of us touches his baby without notice. So, everyone, please tread carefully, don't avoid Ace or the child, but just be mindful, and ask Ace if you can hold the child before simply going for it. The boy may not even know himself how he'll react. I'm sure we'll all figure out what we can do and what not quickly as time passes."
Everyone nodded at it and Marco was very grateful for everyone's support already, even when they had only met the child maybe 10 minutes ago. He hadn't expected Ace to lash out, but he could understand, he also had some more... animal like... instincts since he was partially a phoenix, so he was glad the others were understanding of it.
Half an hour later, splashes in the water were heard, being followed by two thudsas the fishman landed back on deck.
Much to the annoying of some others, Ace shook his head like a dog to get rid of the water.
Marco laughed and walked closer, having learned not to mind water as much since being with the water loving mer, he kissed the other's cheek and smiled as he got some ear wiggles in return. "Welcome back-yoi."
Click click!
"And the little one says welcome back too haha"
Ace clicked back happily "I'm home haha" he smiled and nuzzled into his baby, letting Marco hold him.
"Ehm... I thought you guys went for seaweed."
"...We did." Namur said in a monotone voice.
The chef raised a brow and looked around, "... Then... where is it? Did you not find the right kind?"
"We found the right ones, alright, plenty of them."
"So..."
"They're in... Ace's mouth... somewhere"
"...What? I thought... it was for the baby..."
The chef was very confused and turned to Ace to ask him, just to see the mer stick a hand in his mouth... it almost fully disappearing in it, holy hell... pulling out a piece of green seaweed not long later. He saw how he closed his mouth after and was smiling after as if nothing had happened, his cheeks weren't even puffed out or anything, how... where did he store it?! And why?!
Click click click click!
The little mer in Marco's arms started clicking excitedly and held out hands for the gooey substance as soon as he had seen it. Instantly bringing it to his mouth to start munching on it when he could grab it.
Both new parents smiled at the sight of their baby eating, "Is it good baby? Did Daddy gather some nice seaweed for you-yoi." He laughed as the baby squeezed the food harder in his little fist, "you're so adorable." - "Because he's yours" - "Ace-yoi" The pair looked at each other as if they were the only ones on earth, ignoring everything else going on on deck.
"... Parenthood does strange things..."
"Yea..."
The sight for the others was... less... beautiful...
They saw Ace and Marco looking at each other with love alright... but they also heard the obnoxious loud chewing of the seaweed in between. They could practically hear the slimy texture resonating across the deck... and saw green slimy fluids trickle down the baby's face and arms, dripping onto Marco who didn't seem to care at all.
Hell, the man hadn't even seemed put off by that his boyfriend had stuck his hand in his mouth, his whole hand! And then retrieved an item out of it, AND HANDED IT TO THEIR CHILD TO EAT... Hadn't even questioned it! …...
"At least..." Fosse started, "At least Ace didn't vomit in the kid's mouth..."
Thatch made a gagging sound, "Wth, Fossa!"
"Wel... Marco's a bird, you know... and birds vomit into their kid's mouth to feed them."
Thatch had a finger raised, about to make a comeback but ….. "oh god, you're right..." He looked in fear to the first commander, a shiver going through him as he pictured Marco, or the phoenix, he didn't know what was worse, chew the seaweed himself, only to then vomit the green gooey substance into the baby's mouth... the baby being happy with it too while Ace looked on proudly... "I'm glad the baby's more merman than bird..."
For the umpteenth time that morning, many people on deck agreed with the sentiment.
I had said in the first chapter that I would explain more as to why this wasn't linked to fiery scales directly... Originally it was becouse I didn't want to use the bubble I made Ace have in there, but I changed my mind on that since it makes everything a lot easier. But it still isn't 100% linked in the sense that I won't mention this magical baby in other stories of this series.