An alternative take on how Ace joined the Whitebeard Pirates. Maybe this is how their recruitment should have gone from the start.

This is kind of a third-person POV. It's written mostly from the people on deck their perspective.

(Marco's been on a mission and hasn't been on the ship since Ace's arrival!)

- Timeframe: Ace's assassin phase -

"How long has this been going on?"

A sailor not far away hummed as he watched their probably future brother be smashed into the floorboards, "Almost a month, I think."

"He's got some real will power, alright…"

"Yea, the carpenters are such fans of his wo-"

'THE FIRST COMMANDER IS RETURNING', echoed all over the deck, interrupting everyones daily talks to favor looking over the sea to see from where their stoic faced, but still caring, first commander would return from.

The same member as before hummed again as he saw him, "Hmmm maybe Commander Marco can tame this one, he's not one to put up with it as it disrupts the peace."

"And the costs of repairs."

Hissing the other nodded, "and those, ooooh Firefist is going to be stuck on toilet duty for months when he joins as a form of payback."

"Maybe he shouldn't join then... poor soul isn't going to have a sense of smell any more..."

Not long later the graceful Phoenix returned home from its trek and transformed mid-landing to touch the deck as a human in sandal clat feet, "I'm home!".

Welcomes were said all around, together with Pop's rumbling laughter shaking the ship. Marco's eyebrow already went up because... Pops was too overly happy so he probably found something again he wants or already has and is going to show it off to him soon.

Before questions could be asked, the duo from before spoke up and already answered the unasked questions within seconds.

"Welcome back Commander! And thank goodness you're finally here, maybe you can take care of the firehazart." - "Yea, it's been fun to watch for the past month, but it's getting just a liiiiittle repetitive."

"Fire hazard-yoi? You guys have been letting a fire burn for over a month? On a wooden ship?"

There was the audacity to snort, "Of course not." - "To be fair. The kids burning 24/7 so..." - "... We've not let an inanimate object be on fire for the past month, insteeeaaaadddd! We got this kid with a firefruit who's been trying to murder Pops and is right now buried in the deck over th-"

"Marco?"

The questioning voice from said firehazard grabbed Marco's attention, but instead of looking over unimpressed like always, their first commander turned slowly and looked actually shocked? Questioning? Even his voice sounded questioning! "Firefly?"

"Huh? Commander?" The duo looked at each other before scanning the area, "There are no fireflies around? You see anything?"

"No..."

Seconds a loud laugh echoed on deck as a literal fireball erupted from the previous destroyed spot on the deck and... launched itself towards their commander. Oh boy…. May Firefist rest in pea-eAeAcEeEeEee… Or not!?

Everyone who was near and saw the display let their jaws drop to the floor as their commander didn't even try to defend, but instead smiled, SMILED!? And lifted up his arms as if he was going in for a hug, which is impossible, their stoic commander doesn't do hugs unless they're forced on him or from Pops. Yet... yet... when the fire that had erupted from the impact between the two settled down, they were greeted by the sight of Firefist and their commander LIPLOCKED into a deep kiss. Firefist was hanging around the other's neck, while Marco was embracing him and lifting him up slightly, probably so he could reach seeing Firefist was on his tiptoes.

"Did someone replace the milk for the cereal this morning with alcohol, because I think I'm hallucinating." While unknown who spoke, agreeances were heard and Thatch absent-mindedly scolded them for even thinking his team would do that, even if it would explain the whole thing, especially when the objects of his focus separated with an far to obvious string of saliva breaking in between them.

"Baby-yoi."

Okay what the actual fuck!?

None of the shock that was going around however faced the first commander who was still smiling down at the raven in his arms, "I didn't know you were coming over to visit. I would have cleaned my room."

"I-I-I-"

Was Firefist stuttering!?

"I d-didn't know you would be h-here."

If possible the smile grew even wider, and don't get them wrong, they were all happy and ecstatic to see their commander happy but... they're not... used to it... definitely not like this and … this much.

"Oooh, so fate brought us together." Marco sung and they all saw him look into the other's eyes as he stroked the freckled cheeks, "I knew you were the one-yoi."

Oh god, that's cringy Marco… So cringy... It however seemed to work on Firefist because right now he was turning into an absolute blushing mess, fidgeting with the hem of Marcos shirt and stuttering out some incomprehensible words.

"So, sweetheart, are you joining the crew? Then we can always be together and I won't have to miss my sunshine anymore?"

Okay okay, ignoring the pickup line, because why was Marco even saying those!? Now that he's asked to join the crew, Firefist will definitely reject him, even snap at him for daring to ask hi-

"I-I don't know if I'm still welcome here."

Everyone's jaws dropped, again, as the tiniest voice came from Firefist. Flabbergasted they watched the raven release the neck he was holding to instead play with his own fingers, looking down to the floorboards. Oh and did they mention there were still flames burning? Yeap, small flames were flickering on and off from Firefist his shoulders and cheeks. Cute... but dangerous.

They watched on how Marco gently cradled Firefist's chin and brought his face up, lightly kissing his lips, "Of course you're welcome-yoi." He smiled before looking up at Whitebeard, "Right pops? You said my boyfriend could join whenever he got here."

Okay... 1. Pops knew Marco had a boyfriend? And 2. He had promised this boyfriend could join. And 3! He knew it was Firefist all along and didn't t- and never mind... going from their old man's face, the poor captain also had had no idea that this rookie had been said boyfriend.

"Ehm… Yea… Your boyfriend can still join..."

"See my little boo, you're always welcome here. So join me, please?"

The hopefulness in the voice was something no one was used to and they didn't know to react, luckily Firefist didn't seem faced and slowly nodded.

"… Okay ..."

THAT EASY?! HE JOINED!? NO WAY!? HE WAS MURDERING POPS UNTIL LIKE 5 MINUTES AGO!? AND HAS BEEN FOR A MONTH, A MONTH!?

Firefist looked up to Pops with nervous, slightly trembling, eyes instead of the usual burning rage, "I would like to join,", more flames sputtered from the new pink cheeks, "father-in-law."

Aaaaaaand the first people dropped, fainting right were they stood. Pops looked not far off and could do nothing but nod.

Marco in the meanwhile, ignoring everything around him, -which wasnt new, the first Commander was a pro at this one even before this all-, smiled brightly and leaned down to capture Ace's lips once more, kissing sound heard by everyone, "Welcome to the crew, darling-yoi."

On that note though... How many pet names were there, they swear the man hasn't even repeated the same one twice!? Yet in every sentence there's been one, they... haven't even heard Firefist's title or name once come from his mouth!

"Let me show you our room, bea."

Our room!? What?!

"Honey-pooh," Ace started slowly, clutching to the purple fabric, "is it really okay if I sleep with you. Everyone's been calling you a commander, you're in a leading position and I am … nothing."

Oh ooooh they were on drugs for sure, there's no other way … Honey-pooh….. Their first commander was honey-pooh and he wasn't even faced by the pet name, oh dear Pops someone tell them what's going on!

With ignoring skills on fleek, Marco gently caressed Ace's hair as if he was touching the most delicate silk in the world, a voice so soothing and caring coming from him they wouldn't even have recognised it was him if they didn't see his lips moving, "You're worth more then anything in the world, you know I am nothing without you. So it's fine. How could I possibly be able to sleep without your warmth near me, knowing you are this close to me. Even my Phoenix wouldn't be able to heal my heart-break if we were to be separated right now."

A small distance away, the 16th commander was seen to be fanning himself, blinking away small tears. Close by could hear him whisper small things all-in the like of, 'this is how you treat your boyfriend right.' - 'That Phoenix really had it in him all this time.'

The others must admit that while weird, it was indeed an touching moment. They were barely on time to see Ace briefly looking up to Pops for reassurance that sharing a room would be possible. Getting an okay back he smiled. Their father's past month's assassin smiled at him and nodded.

"Thank you, father-in-law."

"Just…. Just Pops is fine... son..."

"Thank you, Pops."

…. Maybe they should all go back to work... Pop's called Ace his son and the smile didn't even twitch, even grew a bit before he turned back to their first Commander for a kiss. Maybe they'll even get an explanation over lunch or something...

They watched the kiss, a normal one this time, break and watch how Marco grabbed onto Ace's waist as he talked, "let's g- oh what happened!?". Marco gasped as his hands started moving along Ace's front. "My little apple pie, baby doll, sugar, snookums,..."

The blond kept rambling the absolute cringiest names ever, or maybe every single name in existence as he felt Ace up.

"You're so thin-yoi!"

… He wasn't? …. Ace still had a full on six pack…. Maybe it was just a tad smaller then when he first came onboard, but it wasn't even really noticeable even when pointed out...

"You're all skin and bones", Their first commander however was still horror-struck, "oooohh my sweet sweet baby freckles."

Farley done with this, they let the shock of 'How was Firefist letting all of this be done to him, even blushing more as they went!?' pass over them.

"I-I'm fine."

"No, no, no no no, My poor angel." Marco kissed Ace's head a few times as he pulled back his arms from under the shirt, only to put them under Ace's bum and lift him up. As if it had been a routine, Ace seemed to move by reflex and not only held on to the neck in front of him again, but also lifted his legs to put them around the blond's waist, perfectly slotting into the hold.

"We have to fix this right now before you get sick! My precious muffin isn't going hungry anywhere, not when I can do something about it... THATCH!"

Remember the oh so sweet caring voice and smiles from before, they returned to neutral as the blond faced away from the raven and instead called for their chef. A chef whose attention they had been having since the moment they had had their tongues tied together and since Marco had spoken in a baby voice, spewing millions of pet names he didn't even know existed.

"Yea?"

"I need you to prep 8 portions of …", instantly, INSTANTLY, the voice went oh so gentle again when he turned to Ace, "What would you like to eat, sweetie?"

The raven glanced at the cheff before hiding a bit behind the blond, "I dont need anything special... I'll just wait for lunch to eat something small."

"Shhhhhh, it's fine-yoi. What would you like?" Humming he did some suggestions, "You like pasta, how about some spaghetti? Or Dino nuggets? Dino nuggets and spaghetti. Or maybe stew? And you also need dessert. We got ice cream? Chocol-"

"Marco..." Thatch's voice interrupted him, "we have a set menu that we follo-… I'll shut up."

"Maybe… Spaghetti? And ehm… Do you... Do you guys really have chocolate?"

"We do!" Smiling Marco kissed Ace's nose, chuckling as said nose crunched up a little as it tickled, "You're adorable."

"Am not..."

Not vocally reacting, the blond just gave another kiss before turning, "Thatch, 8 portions of spaghetti please, lots of meat in the sauce and 3 chocolate mouse servings."

"That's not in the planning, Marco. You know that."

"It's okay, Mar." Ace whispered, "I'll just eat what's there like everyone else."

"No baby boo, you're starving-yoi. You'll get what you want, one time changing the menu isn't going to harm anyone. On that note. Make it 9 servings of spaghetti."

In all honestly, Thatch could easily make the request of their first mate. Spaghetti was the simplest dish out there and even chocolate mouse didn't phase him. It was just the amounts. Small in comparison what he normally made but... for one person... "He's never going to eat all of that, Marco! Even if he's really hungry, at most he'll eat one more extra serving than normal."

"… You're right..."

"See!"

"10 servings and 6 chocolate mouses then."

"WHA-"

It seemed their first commander was done with the situation, "I'll come with Ace to eat it in about an hour-yoi", he said before going back to Ace and smothering his face in kisses. Hefting him up to get a good hold, he started walking towards the entrance of the ship. "Let's go take a warm shower together, then you'll get some fresh clothes and we can go to eat. I know it wont be enough right now, but I dont want you to get sick. Lunch will also be soon where you can eat more when this has settled a bit." With plenty of promises, the two disappeared inside, leaving the stunned crew on deck to watch a closed door, all questions remained unanswered.

Side note for my other story - YOUR OTHER FEET MARCO! (previous chapter)
I am absolute loving that just like me, many others didn't notice... a certain thing about Marco's feet, yet we all pictured it the same. Wrong... but the same XD
Please, please let me know in the other story if you too thought the wrong thing because I'm living for it