Once back at the open spot, Ace instantly went up to the old man with a bright smile, he waited until the old man was done drinking his prune juice before speaking up.

"Yo old man, good news! I found your home!"

"My... home?"

"Yes, your house, isn't that great!"

-House?- "Ehm yes boy... but … I live on that boat." Whitebeard reacted confused while pointing to the ship not far behind them.

Ace looked towards the sea, indeed seeing a huge boat with a whale figurehead and the proud jolly roger of the Whitebeard Pirates displayed on the sails.

"... Deuce?"

The blue haired man hummed, showing he was close-by enough to hear him.

"Isn't that Whitebeard's ship, for reals?"

"It is, captain."

At his answer, Ace went silent for a moment, seeming to mull over the situation, looking between the old man and the ship.

Most of the commanders, while still confused, were looking on hopeful at the situation. There was no way the kid wouldn't be able to put two and two together now and realise that the old man was in fact Whitebeard himself.

Catching some movement from behind him, Deuce slightly turned to look at the person coming to stand next to him, looking at the scene in front of them.

"... He's not going to realise it... is he-yoi?" the man said soft enough for Deuce to hear, but not Ace.

"Hmm, what could have possibly given you that idea, first commander?" He replied with glee.

"... You're enjoying this..."

"I do not know what you're talking about."

Sighing Marco wiped a hand over his face. "Can't you... aaah... I don't know-yoi. Can't you convince your captain that he is speaking with the real Whitebeard?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"Why? It's your captain though who decided to name his crew after a non-existent beard."

"...Well, it's your captain who's not recognizing us, so shouldn't you, as a first mate, help him out and tell him?"

"I don't know if I should, Ace can take care of himself. Besides, this seems more like a you problem then a me problem, commander."

-Are you kidding me!- "... Are you really the sane one on this crew-yoi?"

Deuce hummed and took a moment to act as if he was deeply thinking and inspecting the other members. "I don't know about sane or insane or what not. But Yeap-," Deuce made sure to really pop the p, "I am your best shot at a level-headed crewmember in the Spades."

More to himself than anyone else did Marco grumble "Why, why does this keep happening to us."

Deuce cackled hearing it and gave the first mate of the Whitebeards a pat on the shoulder before making his way over to his own captain.

"Captain, what's up?"

Ace turned towards his first mate, looking to be a bit stuck on what to do and spoke to him in a whisper so that the old man hopefully didn't hear him. "Deuce... I don't know what to do. I found his home, but..."

"You sure it's his?"

"Yea, I asked a villager and they said he's always there and the furniture in there was huge! And oh Deuce, these villagers are so nice, they're all playing along with the old man saying he is Whitebeard!" Ace almost yelled with excitement, whisper already forgotten.

"Are they really?" Deuce said with an obvious fake interest, not that Ace noticed this.

"Yea! And even his house, they gave it a sign and everything so he doesn't get lost and can find it easily! They called it 'The crescent moon' and it even had a sign in the shape of his moustache and everything!"

"Huh, that's very nice indeed."

"I know right?! The New World is such a lovely place."

Deuce had to hold in his smile at his captains' antics -Ah captain, you're so innocent.- but he still let a soft fond smile shine trough. Ace will always be his captain, and how he is still able to pour everything he has into something like this... saving an old man... even if unneeded, it keeps proving to him that he chose the right man to follow.

"What was the 'but' captain?"

Ace stopped his rambling of the nice villagers and scratched his head while looking at the ship. "Well, you see, that ship over there... It looks very much like Whitebeard's ship. However, the old man says he lives on there. What if he stole it, or made a replica! What if Whitebeard is going to get mad when he finds out, he's even flying their flag, he can't hurt the old man!"

"Calm down captain, I'm sure no one is going to hurt the old man. Hmmm, but you're right, it does really look like the real deal, doesn't it." Deuce ignored a yell in the background of 'BECAUSE IT IS THE REAL DEAL-YOI!' and continued as if nothing happened "Maybe he lent it to old man?"

"Lent it?"

"Yea, you know, letting the old man use it to travel around. It's probably very hard to find a ship large enough for himself so maybe he had compassion and lent it to him to have fun."

-LENT IT-YOI?!-

"We did hear that Whitebeard was a nice pirate and kind to his protected islanders..."

"We did." Deuce agreed.

"This is a protected island?"

"It is."

"So... that would put everyone who lives here under his protection... and they would be treated kindly, right?"

"They would."

Ace started tearing up.

Startled at the sight of Ace starting to cry, Deuce stopped his internal fun. "Ace, what's wro-"

"Aaaaaaah Why is everyone so nice here!" Ace yelled wiping at his eyes, tears and snot going down his face.

"huh?"

"Here boy." Whitebeard who was still sitting next to the pair and had been ignoring the conversation that he could obviously hear, offered Ace a napkin, which was more like a blanket to Ace but whatever.

"T-T-Thank you, old man!" Grabbing the napkin Ace blew his nose loudly. "Let-Let's get on your boat! We'll sail together old man! I'll help you!"

"Huh, I ehm, Thank you?"

Ace nodded, sniffling hard he turned to his crew, "Everyone, get ready to leave, prep the ship, we can secure it to the old man's boat... right?" He looked up at the old man with puppy eyes.

"Sure..."

'POPS, NO-YOI!'

"Okay, Banshee, go tell the villagers that the old man won't be home for a while, that we'll be taking him on a trip like he always wanted!"

"Ay captain!"

Wiping his face clean with the napkin and snuffing up his snot, ignoring the 'Ew, captain''s in the distance, he somehow put the napkin away before reaching out for the old man's hand. He took a hold of one of his huge fingers and looked the old man in the eye, tears still glistering in his eyes while he smiled brightly, "Let's go on an adventure, old man!"

With the commanders

"What's going on right now?"

"I don't know..."

"We're going on... an adventure?"

"With our own ship."

"And the Spades are joining?"

"Apparently..."

A small distance away from the group of commanders was one fiery looking pineapple hitting his own head on a tree, seeming to be praying for some reason... Well, everyone their own thing.

I didn't think this would be a little chapter on its own. But we've gotten Ace on the ship!

Also! Finally released the merman-story I already mentioned so long ago in 'please purr for me'. It's called Fiery Scales!