WinterRose61 - He's getting very attached to the little birdy haha

A sequel to Intruder (Christmas-fic) which I never even thought would exist... But I'm so happy myself that it does.

I essentially, after all this time, got a comment on the other story which gave me this idea and here we are!

A loud heart-clenching wail was heard from inside the ship, followed by desperate cries. The commanders on deck were instantly alert and running inside, it was coming from the commander's corner!

Focusing his haki, the first commanders quickly realised there was a presence in their fourth commander's room. Fearing the worst, he turned his arms to wings and practically flew through the ship. Why was everything so far away when you needed to get there!

He kicked open the door and was greeted by a horrible sight. The whole room was in absolute chaos. Books and trinkets that were normally neatly... scratch that last word, just stacked, on shelves, were thrown all over the floor, ink pots and pens scattered on and around the desk, the night stand was thrown over and the bed was in disarray. In between the mess was their chef, back facing the door and kneeling while bend over, seeming to be clutching at his heart.

"Thatch-yoi!" Marco called out full of worry and dropped to his best friend's side. Thatch's name was called over and over followed by gasps as more commanders made it to the door. The first commander felt how the area heated up, a clear sign their youngest had arrived and was furious, probably already plotting to kill whoever hurt the chef. Not that he wasn't doing that himself too, but right now getting Thatch help was his main priority.

"Talk to me, what happened!? Are you hurt, Thatch?!" He couldn't see any visible wounds with the way the other was bend over but he was trembling and he swore he saw a tear fall just now so it had to be bad. While mostly in the kitchen, Thatch was a strong commander, to get him like this something serious must have happened.

The one on the floor didn't instantly react and it made Ace step inside, flames flickering off his shoulders. "Who hurt you, Thatch! I'll kill them!"

Choked out murmurs came from the man on the ground, only worrying everyone else more. Marco was two seconds away from calling the nurses and sending the rest away to look for intruders when Thatch finally looked up, face full of tears and snot as he clutched to … a magazine?

Still, the situation was worrisome. "Thatch," Marco placed his hands on his shoulders, holding onto him, "what happened, please, are you okay-yoi?"

A shuttering breath later, Thatch dropped the magazine and hugged onto Marco, "I-I-", his voice broke as he tried to speak and even needing to re-start a few times, making everyone alert to finally know who they'll need to hunt after, after which he was finally able to yell out what happened. "I was- I was-… I was robbed!"

The room was dead silent, "What... What do you mean, Thatch? Are you... are you not hurt?", one of the ones at the door asked a bit stunned.

"I am hurt! My most prised possessions! Gone! All gone except for this one!" He cried as he let go of Marco, picking up the magazine.

Ace eeped when he saw the cover picture, his head exploding into flames as he turned away, while Marco was quickly losing patience now that he knew the man was okay AND said priced possession seemed to be a book about girls with... melons... big melons... and … other things he's not interested in. He's got Ace, and he looks far better down there than any of th- WAIT that's not what this is about!

"Thatch-yoi. Explain." Marco spoke in a voice without emotion. If the chef made them all think he was bleeding to death, stabbed by who knows who, while he was in actuality just whining over some porn-magazines, heads will roll. Specifically, heads with big pompadours.

"Marcoooooooooooooooo! Look at this!", Thatch pushed the magazine cover in Marco's face, uncaring if the other was even trying to block it, "This is a limited edition! Look at these details, you don't see those anywhere else! They're worth millions, millions!"

"Okay, okay, I see, get it away. And so? Yes? You have it, don't you?"

"I had more! I had 13 of these! And now they're all gone!"

"Well, technically, not all, you still ha-"

"SHUT UP, HARUTA! THEY'RE GONEEEEE! GOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNEEEEE!"

Marco sighed and took Thatch's scarf to wiper his own face down from the tears and snot. While he wanted to hurl his friend in the ocean, he did see how important these were to him. "Didn't you just misplace them-yoi? This place is a mess, they could easily be underneath something."

"No! This place is a mess because I tore the place down to look for them!", the chef sat down on his bum, petting the magazine before him, "I wouldn't misplace them, these are my babies..."

The blond pulled a hand over his face, gods, did he really have to deal with this? When he looked up, he saw most turning away... so well, almost everyone was out... and his boyfriend? Okay, definitely nope, he was still hiding behind his hands.

"Alright-yoi. Thatch, please stop crying and g-"

"HOW CAN I-"

Marco definitely did not slap Thatch across the face and tell him to control himself... nope... he did not... it was only a light brush of his fingers!

"You good now-yoi?"

With only a few sniffled remaining, Thatch nodded.

"Good. Now." Another sigh left him at needing to go through this, but... if there was an actual theft on the Moby, it was serious. They were in the middle of the sea, so that would mean that or one of their own did it, or there was an intruder. "Do you remember when you last had them all."

"Yea... I had them all yesterday evening, I always check in on them before bed."

Okay, weird... "Alright. And you're sure you placed them back in their right spot?"

A hum of approval followed.

"I figure you only just now found out you were missing them..."

"I did. I just wanted to have a few minutes to relax by myself after having made food for over a hundred baboons and Ace, so what better to do then rub one o-"

"Okay-yoi! I get it! You only found out now." Sighs kept leaving him today... "Have you sent anyone into your room for any reason at all? Has anyone else send anyone to the commander's corridor for any reason on that note too?"

Negative answers were heard everywhere and thus he stood up and addressed everyone in the door frame. "I want everyone to gather their divisions, ask around if anyone has seen anyone around here or just anything suspicious in general. Also, tell them all to check their own belongings and inform us if anything is missing."

The commanders hurried out to follow the instruction, Marco barely able to grab Ace's shoulders before he straight up ran into the wall since he was still covering his face, and helped him outside before returning to Thatch and kneeling next to him. He gently patted him on the shoulder, "It... it will be alright. We'll find them..."

Within the hour a commander's meeting had been called, and not in the meeting room, but on the main deck, they needed all eyes out here for there was a high chance of an intruder on board. They had sent everyone inside, since the things spoken off would still be considered unofficial and could consist out of plans to find said intruder. So while privacy was still a must, at the same time it also wasn't a good idea to have all the strongest people of the ship inside and in the middle of said vessel, I would be the perfect time for the intruder to escape. This way they could see and catch anyone trying to get off the ship.

"This is more serious than we thought-yoi."

"You weren't taking me seriously!?"

Marco ignored the yell and kept talking, "Every commander has reported that between 4 to 7, some even over 10, members have been unable to find certain possessions. While a few could have been attributed to people being messy or simply forgetting where they put their things, the amount of people that have lost something, something they knew that they had yesterday, yet not today, is highly concerning and leading me to believe we actually have a thief on the ship."

"Then there's also the type of items having been stolen."

"... Yes-yoi. Thank you, Atmos." The blond cleared his throat, "As you've all probably noticed from the items that were missing. They're all related to... the love for ... nightly activities."

"Porn-magazines, sex-toys, figurines, doll-"

"Please, shut up, Izou." He was really trying to stay level-headed and keep this a serious meeting. And the snickering as commanders discussed what was stolen did not help.

"We're pirates, Marco-dear, why are you shy?"

"I'm not." He instead pointed a thumb to his right, "I however still want to have sails after this meeting is over, and our second is close to burning them up if you keep naming out everything that was stolen."

Izou snorted, "I don't get why you get all shy, Ace. For the noise coming from Marco's room some days ago, you for sure were enjoying in on some nightly act-"

"And we're replacing the foresail with your kiminos." Marco deadpanned as he watched said sail go up in flames above him.

Izou started stuttering as he too watched the fire engulf the last of the sail, luckily not spreading to others. At the same time, Marco gently patted Ace's head, Not to only calm the raven, but also to smother the flames.

While Ace apologised in a small voice, Pops just laughed and patted him on the back, saying it was alright... He'll make sure they use one of his coats too to fix it.

Clearing his throat, he took attention back to him. "So, stolen items, no matter the kind. It's obvious that there's a thief on this ship. A thief, that's currently stealing things and hiding them while we're in the middle of the ocean with no other vessels in sight." Letting eyes slowly roams over everyone, he made sure they all understood the seriousness of this situation.

There were two big options. The first one being the one most likely right now, but also the one they hoped wasn't true... One of their own was stealing things from his or her own brothers and sisters.
The second option, which also wasn't good, but at least then it wasn't someone of their own. An outsider is on their boat and taking things. Somehow managing to stay under the radar and not get recognized and outed by anyone.

They all discussed different topics for a bit, also briefly bringing in the members that had been on night watch together with Ace to discuss if they had seen anything. None had any info that they could use, which was good on their being no intruder, so after a few minutes of questions, they sent them back inside.

It was only about 5 minutes later, when they were discussing on how to search the ship, that Ace suddenly sat up straight with a noise that said he obviously had something to say.

"I forgot! Someone did come onboard last night!" Ace smiled brightly as he mentioned it, making the whole table look stunned at him.

Why did he look proud? Happy? He just... admitted to letting someone on the ship?

"Ace-yoi... Was it someone from our crew or an allied crew?"

"Nope! Didn't know the guy." He gave his toothy grin to Marco.

"... Did you... stop him from getting on board?"

"No? I just said he came on board, didn't I?"

"You did... But... Ace? Why did you let someone on the ship when you didn't know the person?" This was highly unlike their second commander. He always took his work seriously and would rather stop too many people from getting one, even if he vaguely knew who they were, if he wasn't sure he stopped them. Just to check with someone to make sure they were okay to enter. So, what was different this time?

"Because it was Santa Clause!"

"..."

Whispers started up. "Did he just..." - "He did..." - "Santa... Claus?" - "Apparently..." - "Aren't we summer?" - "Right in the middle of it."

Cocking his head, Ace looked confused at everyone, "Why are you all making such stupid looking faces?"

Marco held his voice gently as he spoke, "Love-" He cleared his throat, "Ace. What do mean by, 'it was Santa Clause'?"

Humming happily Ace turned to Marco, "Well, I saw this person, all dressed in red," he pointed at Haruta and Thatch for a moment, "Just like how they described him in all the stories they told me after last year's accident. And well, I went to stop him because I didn't know who it was."

Kingdew interrupted, "Where was the other watchman?"

"Charley? He had to poop. But anyways! So, I stopped him, flaming fist already half in his face like usual, asking who he is and what business he had coming onto our ship in the dead of the night. And then!" Ace smiled brightly and looked so immensely proud at what was going to happen next, it already made Marco dread what he needed to do with the way this story was turning out.

"Then, he announced that he's Santa Claus!" He laughed before continuing, "I was a tiny bit sceptical and all, but he showed me his sleigh and the deers pulling it, even did that laugh! Ehm, what was it again... ah! HO HO HO! Hahahha it was so funny! You guys should have seen him!"

By now the colour had drained from almost everyone's faces. There was an actual intruder on the ship. Ace, their own commander had even let the guy on board out of his own free will.

"ehm, Ace?"

"Hmm, yep, Jozu?"

"You said he had a sleigh... and a deer?"

"Deers. There were like 4 of them."

"Okay... ehm... Was the sleigh a boat? Were they all on the boat?"

At first some were looking strangely at Jozu, wondering where he was taking this, but it quickly became clear.

"No. I'm not stupid." Ace pouted and crossed his arms, "I know the difference between a sleigh and a boat. The deer were not on the SLEIGH, they were pulling it. Don't you know Santa Clause? I thought I was the only one who didn't know him. Oi, Haruta, Thatch, Maybe you should re-tell the stories of him flying everywhere in his sleigh to Jozu, he doesn't know."

"I do..."

"You don't."

"I d- nevermind. So... they... flew... on here?"

"Yea! I barely saw them land before jumping down to them."

"That's insane" Jozu whispered flabbergasted.

It indeed was... Was he still dreaming? Marco didn't know, but he hoped he would wake up soon if he was. "Ace-yoi, is he still on board?"

"Yea, said he would leave this night, his deer didn't like the light or something. Which I get, who likes to pull a sleigh while needing to look directly into the sun, ya know."

Alright, while weird, things were starting to become clear. They had an intruder. Ace had let him onboard. He had somehow flew over... probably a devilfruit. Had deers and a sleigh. And would try and leave tonight again.

"He asked me to help him- oh on that note, I'll take the watch again, or just join in, to help him."

"Help him with what, Ace?"

"With the deers."

"..."

"..."

"Where are the deers-yoi?"

"I put them with our other boats, and don't worry! I used the space I normally use for repairs for Striker. So, if there's deer poop, it's only in my space. And the guy said he'll clean up before he leaves, so it's all good!

After a moment of stunned silence, every single commander rushed down into the bowels of their ship. Only Marco going at a slightly slower pace as he pulled Ace along. The freckled one just laughing about how everyone was so excited about petting the deers, they were soft apparently... Gods... His boyfriend was too adorable for his own good and far, far too oblivious sometimes. He let Ace ramble of how sweet they were and that they liked carrots and the like. Only when he heard the shocked voices did he step the slightest bit faster. A small blue flame sparking off his head, damn headaches.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT, THERE ARE ACTUAL DEERS ON THE SHIP!"

"THEY SHIT ALL OVER THE PLACE"

"They're so soft~"

"MY PORN!"

"The craftmanship of this sleigh is very detailed."

How there were so many different reactions Marco didn't know, but as he entered, he was greeted by the sight that gave them.

Before him, in indeed Ace's work spot, was cramped a pretty decently sized sleigh that Fossa, Blamenco and Jozu were checking over. While not far from it, four deer were gathered by some buckets, probably filled with food and drinks, letting themselves be patted by almost every other commander there was... They, the deer and humans alike, looked very pleased...

The only other commanders not there were of course Ace and himself, Izou who was making a nasty face and covering his nose as he looked over the floors, and Thatch who was holding a bunch of magazines and was crying in the corner near a bag.

As Ace skipped to the deers and started talking to them, addressing each by a name and giving them food he had in his pockets, for Pop's sake he should have asked why his boyfriend had his pockets stuffed with carrots all day instead of ignoring it, and went to check the bag after stepping over their chef.

Alright... they had clearly found the thief. By the list he had been given, he could already mentally check out over half of the items on it, and that was without even searching through the bag. And he wasn't going to do that, no way was he sticking his hand in there, even if he could cut it off and regrow it.

Another good hour later and the bag was empty, all items having been retrieved by their owners. While the others were still... occupied, Marco had put a call out for those that had lost their items to come into Ace's little workshop.

When the novelty of the deers and sleigh had worn off, and Thatch was back to his somewhat decent self, Marco finally took the time to address what he thinks should have been addressed before they even came here. He wasn't even worried about the intruder right now, he literally couldn't leave with all of them surrounding his only escape options.

"Ace. Could you please tell us why you let this person on the ship?"

Stopping his pats on the deer's side, Ace looked up, once again a bit confused. "Because he was Santa Claus."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a deep breath, he needed to stay calm. No use in yelling. It would only result in Ace yelling back and making their ship a huge bonfire.

"Yes... But still, Why did you let him on, just because he was Santa Claus." He guessed he would just play along with this shit for now.

"Because you, Thatch, Haruta, Pops... practically everyone told me Santa Claus had permission to come onboard. That he had a deal with Pops."

"What are y- oh for fuck's sake, you have to be kidding me."

"Hmm?"

Marco turned around and crouched down, arms hanging limply over his knees before using his hands to wipe over his face. He was gaining extra years by the second. This was unbelievable.

Yes, After Ace had promptly captured their Santa Claus last year, they had told Ace that the person that had tried to sneak in on Christmas Eve and had identified himself as Santa Clause last year had permission to come on board thanks to a deal they had with Pops. And that it was a deal they made every single year again and again, so not to worry about it.

But... Had they really not been clear enough last time in when and where? Did they word it as if every single person calling themselves Santa Claus could come on board? Did Ace actually believe all the stories Haruta and Thatch had told him!?

"Ace. I... I hate to break it to you. But this Santa Claus did not have a deal with Pops."

"What? But... you said he did?"

Ace looked to him, confusion still there, but he could see a small trembling in his being at starting to realize he may have let an enemy come onboard, even helped them.

"Son." Pops kneeled down and put a hand on his shoulder, "Yes. We make a deal with a person that acts like Santa Claus every year. But that's only at Christmas time, and when we're docked at an island."

"But... Then I..."

"It was our fault. Again-yoi. I'm sorry Ace. I didn't think about the fact that our explanation may have come off the wrong way."

"I let an enemy on board. I helped him!"

Marco sighed, "You did."

"He could have hurt someone!"

"He could."

"It would all have been my fault! I'm so stupid, I shouldn't be a commander!"

"Hey hey hey" Marco stepped closer, taking over the place Pop's hand had held, only him taking hold of his other shoulder too. "We, I, know that you didn't do this with bad intentions. You wanted everyone to have a great time, like we had with Christmas with Santa Claus, right?"

With moist eyes Ace nodded.

"Then it's fine-yoi."

"But-"

"No buts, son. It happened. Like Marco said, there had apparently been a miscommunication. You just followed what we had said. In the end nothing happened and no one was hurt. You're a good commander. You followed instructions, you checked who intruded and by your knowledge of what we gave you, cleared the person to enter. Now you know that from now on you only allow a person like this in on Christmas eve. And me or Marco will be sure to let you know beforehand when that time comes near again if we've made a deal or not. That way nothing can go wrong anymore."

Ace slowly nodded, "But... what do we do now?"

"We'll simply let this play out. You said he would come back around midnight, right? And you would help him with the sleigh?"

"Yea... I would meet up with him here around 1 o'clock."

"Then do that."

"huh? Help him escape?"

Pops grinned, "Yep. Help him to the best of your abilities to get out, and we deal with the rest."

A bit nervous Ace waited in the bowels of the ship for 'Santa' to come. When he did, he helped him gather his newly filled bag, probably with more stolen things, and a bag he and the others had filled to around the same size and weight with different objects, and put them in the sleigh.

Even as promised, the guy cleaned the whole area before leaving. As soon as he left, there would be no more trace of any deers ever having been there.

He cheerily thanked Ace for all the help when he left through the latch the younger had one opened, had even given him a candy cane before flying off in the night sky.

Only, not even 5 meters from the ship, was the intruder suddenly greeted by a bright blue Phoenix swooping down to be in front of them and lazily flapping wings as he hoovered in front of him.

Transforming to his hybrid form, Marco gave an unimpressed gaze as he flicked his chin up to the deck of the ship, "Deck. Now."

The intruder swallowed and frantically nodded, steering his deers in the other direction and landing not far from the captain's feet. He was trembling in place when the Phoenix landed on the back of his sleigh, crouching as he held the wood with his talons.

As soon as Ace was back up, they made him lit all the torches on deck, making all the commanders look even more intimidating thanks to the hue the fire cast on them, before starting an interrogating.

In the end, no more problems arose. Contrary. They learned why the man had stolen from them. And why specifically these types of items. Well, they simply sell for a lot if you knew the right places, and seeing the rarity and type of the items, everyone who bought them often kept them to themselves and didn't brag about having it or spreading who they got it from, it kept the items they had and the man himself safer. Plus, even if some spend loads of money on items, they were still shy and would hide it in public, even more so protecting his identity.

After selling the items, he would then use the profits to help children all around the New World. He would donate it to orphanages, gift it to families who needed it, and at Christmas time even used it to buy toys and distribute them around. He was essentially kind of like Robin hood, bringing even Thatch, who had been stolen from, to tears. He even offered some of his other magazines for the other to sell!

Of course, Pops had also been moved and ordered Marco to grab a map, making the man point out all the islands that were having it the hardest. It seems they were taking on some more islands under their protection soon.

They somehow even made some kind of profit out of this whole ordeal. They had gotten the guy's den den number. Thanks to his devil-fruit that made flying the way he did possible, simply trained deers, a sleigh, his general appearance... and well, everything about him, he did a lot of gigs as acting like he was the real Santa at a lot of places, bringing joy to a lot of children and adults alike.

At the more richer places, he even made some money out of it, able to cover his own living expenses for a bigger part of the year.

Now, where did their profit come in? The guy promised to visit them every year around Christmas, for free. That they just had to call in their location and he would make sure to be there. Somehow... somehow after causing their last Santa to leave, Ace had managed to get them the most realistic Santa Claus out there for years to come... This was something that could only happen to them, the Whitebeards, and no one will ever be able to convince Marco otherwise.