WinterRose61: Story everyone wants: 'Blackbeard pirates swept away by first storm that crossed them' 😂
It's so sad and hard for everyone, seeing Ace struggling and being scared, while before he was the sunshine of the ship, but Marco is a good mate, he will take care of Ace forever, no matter what happens. ❤️
Glad you liked the addition! And thank you, thank you so much for all you comments, every single chapter I've released! It really made me extremely happy and excited every time I saw your name pop up in my mailbox! ❤️❤️❤️

Ace will now finaly get his more happy ending, I'm glad I started taking pity on him too haha (poor bean Ace), 'cause I like this ending way more than ending it with the previous chapter. I hope you will enjoy this last chapter too!

May, or may not, have forgotten to add specific Marco Alpha thoughts/actions... And it felt forced to add afterwards... Oops-yoi.

Either way, enjoy the last chapter!

Timeframe: +/- 2 years have gone by since the last chapter = 3 years since Ace his rescue.

Marco

A big party was going on on the deck of the Moby, celebrating their captain getting a year older. The birthday boy himself was denying getting older, saying he was still young and blaming his own sons on his hair loss, it has nothing to do with age, absolutely nothing.
For once Marco was not on 'Stop Pops from drinking alcohol like it's water'-duty, today he could drink what he wanted. Tomorrow... Tomorrow was something else, but for today he would let the old man enjoy his birthday.
Despite Marco always stopping him from drinking too much, the old man, surprisingly, knew when enough was enough. So even with him not sitting next to Pops, he could, with a peace of mind, leave the old man alone for one night.

Knowing Pops would be okay, Marco decided to sit with Ace a little bit away from the main deck, still able to see and enjoy the party. But not close enough to get roped into it.
For the longest time after Ace's rescue, regardless of when he started getting a bit used to people, Ace had been scared of the noise and sudden movements that a party brought. It of course being a lot more boisterous than normal day life. But finally, after 3 years, it started getting better. Though, Marco doesn't push it and always chooses a quieter place to sit with Ace, just to be safe.

Although getting more used to it, Ace normally doesn't stay too long. The noise and movement still getting to him, but this time he had told Marco that he was going to try and stay until at least midnight.
So for now, Ace was leaning against Marco's side, just resting and trying to remain calm. Ace really wanted to stay outside and be there at the change of day for Pop's birthday, even if he wasn't literally in between the party goers himself.

Marco had spoken with Pops before the party and he was also very happy that Ace himself, even after all this time, didn't give up on himself and was still trying to get over his fears. Slowly but surely conquering them, small steps at a time. Every time Whitebeard saw Ace looking over, he would smile and raise his tankard, showing Ace that he was proud of him. He did hold a gentle look in his eyes, showing Ace that even if he left, he would understand.

Watching the silent interaction between Ace and Whitebeard, Marco took a sip of his drink while having his other arms loosely around Ace and holding onto his waist, thinking back of the past years. Before his thoughts could start to wander, Thatch came over with a plate of cake.
Ace his favourite cake to be precise. With every excuse Thatch could come up with, a party being an excellent one, he would make the cake and act as if it wasn't especially made for Ace. Taking the plate, he thanked the chef who just waved him off and went to join the party himself, his important (self-given-) task of the evening finished.

The piece Marco had gotten was slightly bigger than the other already cut ones, about 3 times bigger if he dared to make a guess. But they would be able to finish it, with Ace still having a black hole for a stomach, it wouldn't be an issue.
And if this piece was the only one that had a big fresh strawberry on top of it, no one mentioned it. How Thatch was able to get a fresh strawberry in the middle of the ocean, when they haven't even docked in a while, was a mystery to Marco, but he is thankful for it. Both of them knowing that Ace loves strawberries immensely.

After putting down his tankard, he cut the strawberry in half and stabbed it on the fork before holding it out for Ace, "Hey love, got a piece of Strawberry if you want-yoi". Sitting up Ace takes a hold of Marco's hand holding the fork before pulling the piece off with his teeth. Slowly chewing while settling back down against Marco.
Smiling softly at Ace he went to take a piece of cake next, saving the rest of the strawberry for later. Before he could grab it tough, he felt a slight vibration in his side. He stopped all movement, -Was it really?- Carefully Marco looked at Ace, searching for any sign of …..., but Ace looked the same as always, still chewing his strawberry while watching the partying crew.

-You know it's impossible Marco, stop getting your hopes up... but maybe ….- Sighing internally he proceeded to take a bit of cake and fed it to Ace.
A moment passed and ….. nothing happened. -Of course nothing happened, what did I expect...- Quickly shaking his head he threw the thoughts out of his mind before sadness could take a hold of him. He didn't want Ace to sense the change.
Ace was trying his hardest getting back to normal, Marco knew that the best, and him being sad for something he should be used to by now isn't going to help anyone. -...Let's just enjoy Pops his party, not every day the world's strongest man turns 75.-

With this Marco went back to watching the partygoers and having a chat with whatever commander came up to them. Ace every now and then also picking in on the conversations. Since about half a year ago, he had started talking a lot more to the commanders. It was the first real improvement in a long time and to this day it still makes Marco happy when Ace is able to speak with others, really speak with them, not just one-word-answers.

The cake was also steadily shrinking in size, both of them alternating between taking bites throughout the evening. When it was finished Marco picked up the remaining half of the strawberry, having saved it for last, and held it out for Ace.

A second after Ace took it, he once again felt a trembling in his side and stopped his movements. -No Marco... Stop doing this to yours—- His thoughts were interrupted by a very soft rumbling sound. Marco almost dropped the plate he was holding, -That, that, no... it couldn't be...-
He was frozen in place, stupefied, second guessing his own hearing, tears were already coming to his eyes, unable to hold them off.
Just like he had done some hours prior to this, he carefully turned and looked Ace over. …His throat, Ace's throat, was vibrating. It was moving, trembling, Marco wasn't dreaming!
He barely choked out Ace's name before he enveloped him into a hug and started laughing and crying all at the same time.
Ace had slightly jumped and tensed up with Marco's sudden movement, but had also quickly settled down again and rested his head in the crook of Marco's neck, gently returning the hug.

After some time, Marco released his hold a little to be able to look at his mate. When Ace saw Marco looking at him, he smiled softly at him and while looking into Marco's eyes, he once again let the softest purr escape him. At this Marco laughs brightly and kisses Ace on the forehead before enveloping Ace into another hug. Ace snuggling into him and holding onto Marco just a tad more tightly than before.

The duo hadn't noticed that the party had gone silent the moment Marco had started laughing. The crowd now watching them carefully. They didn't exactly know what happened, but even in their drunken state, they knew it must have been good. It's been so long since Marco has genuinely been able to laugh like this, even if there are some tears too.

And then, when they saw the duo pulling apart, those close by heard it, a purr. It took a second for it to sink into their minds that it was not a drunken thought, it was real. Marco, the most sober person on the ship, had acted like he heard it too. Within seconds the message had been spread throughout the ship, never have drunk pirates been able to communicate this well, but somehow that one sound was able to sober up everyone enough for it and made it possible.

The latest news of their baby brother's achievement quickly taking over every conversation on deck, and once it reached Whitebeard, he started laughing, making the whole ship rumble. He rose his tankard into the air, and all others followed; no words needed to be said, for they all already knew what this entailed.
Ace had just given Whitebeard the best gift he could have asked for, even if the boy didn't know it himself. With renewed vigour, and some tears mixed in, the party started once more, and even for the whitebeard pirates, it turned into one of their biggest celebrations of the year.

Off to the side, in their own little world, were Marco and Ace snuggled up together. Both just enjoying the others presence for the rest of the evening. Marco's smile never dropping, even seeming to get brighter by the second, laughing out loud from time to time before tightening the hug around Ace and whispering sweet words about how much he loves him. Ace accepting it all, never letting go, showing his own affection in return in his own way.

Their journey is still not finished, and the road to a full recovery will be a long one, but after so long, the future started looking bright once more. And Marco is willing to stand by Ace's side no matter how long it will take, no matter what else they may need to conquer, they will do it together.

DONE! With in the end, a happy ending!
Thank you all for reading my first real story, please let me know what your thoughts were, I for one hope you've enjoyed it!

PS: I do not know if anyone is interested in this, but I am sharing it anyway, no one can stop me anyway!
In my mind, Ace is still a commander even with the state he is in. He is still able to do his paperwork and do things like inventory checks. He just isn't that active in the combat/mission part of the commanders-work, and for their meetings, Marco's the one who does the briefing to the others.
(+ The second division will beat anyone up who even mentions of Ace needing to be replaced.)

PSS: Yes, I have even more to say, bear with me!
I am also working on a merman Ace story right now, and it's over 10.000 words already, (for me it feels like a lot haha) so I am pretty excited! Only need to finish 2 more chapters before it's done and I can post it. ^-^