Witch68 - Oooh I didn't think others would remember his powers! But yass you were right, water powers activate haha! Person who suggested that ship bubble smart, we shall find out if it makes it possible for Ace to stay!
Jasmine - Aaaaaaah omg, thank you so much! I was kinda scared nothing big big happens in this story compared to some other existing merman stories, so I am very, very happy and excited to hear you like this one! Thank you very much for reading and commenting it!
And Ahaaa, you voted too! You're so smart too, using the 'extra chapter in the weekend vote' for this same story to get an extra update haha. I was wondering if someone was going to propose that instead of going for an update for 'SHINY' or something. And since no one else took a vote, you win! Enjoy the extra quick update, I hope you like it!
WARNING! This is an extra-fast update. There are two parts to ideas on how to make Ace float, both posted within a 2-day timeframe! If you have missed stuff such as Ace using crutches, you have missed chapter 7!
You can all thank Jasmine for another update, she used the weekend vote for this same story haha. And since no one else voted, it wins! So as promised a weekend update, by vote, of Fiery scales. And I have no idea what happened here, but the chapter got super long for me and not even so many things happen!
I am differentiating between the bubbles seen on fishman island and the bubbles seen on Sabaody Archipelago. I've read the wiki pages of it, and it is unclear if it is the same substance, but I would think that they are at least slightly different. This because those on fishman island are produced out of corals, and those from Sabaody Archipelago are produced from resin made up of those big Yarukiman Mangrove trees.
In the end, King Neptune hadn't been too difficult to get a hold of. They did protect their island so the man was happy to speak with them when they called. What they asked for though... it had taken awhile for them to convince the man to send some over, the stuff also being a luxury for their own kind and not widely available.
With some persuasion, especially from the former inhabitant Namur himself, the king finally relented and sent them two bubbly corrals. And as a bonus, and some kind of apology for not being able to help more even though they protect them, he had given them a location where this special species of coral grew, but where it was in a too dangerous part of the ocean for them to harvest themselves. So if this worked, they could figure out a plan to get more when they were close to fishman-island.
Between the call, the discussions, and the arrival of the items, it had been around 1 month. Thus, they were already a third into their given time-frame and they still hadn't been able to get a hold of Rayleigh. They had been able to contact Shakky and give her the message of what they wanted, but the man himself hadn't been at the bar in some time and even Shakky didn't know when he would return. Hopefully it would be soon because with the distance between them, the time it would take for them to just get the items would already be some weeks...
But well, with the items from Neptune now in front of them, they were all once again gathered on the deck to start some testing.
Bubbly corral
"Alright-yoi, let's try these out shall we."
Marco stepped forward and grabbed one of the two pieces of pink coral laying on a barrel.
"This" he started while showing the coral to Ace, "is a bubbly corral. Some species of fishman from Fishman-island use this to be able to float in their cities."
"Home Nay-nay?"
"Yes, they're from Namur's home, he asked the king for them." The mer still called Namur 'Nay-Nay', Marco didn't know if it was because Ace was still just avoiding all the R's or if he just got close to Namur, the fishman didn't seem to mind it, even seems to like it... Marco was definitely not jealous some of his brother had gotten a nice nickname and he hadn't, absolutely not. And now he didn't think 'Mahko' was a nickname, it was just the mer not able to say his name, even if it was cute... HE WANTS A NICKNAME TOO DAMNIT!
The mer's eyes had suddenly lit up and he yelled "KING!" while making grabby hands at the coral from his sitting place on his cushion.
Ah yes, they had gotten him some fantasy stories to help with reading and the king, or prince, is always an important figure in all of them, plus in all the pictures he's the shiniest, the mer likes shiny things.
While in thought, Marco gave the mer a coral. He was instantly inspecting it with big eyes from all directing, making very impressed sounds as if what he was holding was a big treasure... there wasn't even anything special to see, but well it had come from a king, so it must be special!
Chuckling behind his hand Marco quickly grabbed the other coral and kneeled before Ace.
"Ace-yoi"
Without even being looked at, he got a hum as a reply.
Marco released a sigh, maybe they should say his check-ups in the infirmary is also something a king does if it makes him this interested. Shaking his head, he tapped Ace his cushion "Look at me, please."
A moment later the merman placed the coral down and looked up with a smile "Okay Mahko!"
-Cute!- With a cough Marco focused on his instructions. "Yoi, notice how one side of the coral is hollow with a cavity at one end and fully closed at the other. The cavity side is the bottom, there a bubble will come out when you-"
"BUBBLE COME!"
"..." The merman was looking into the cavity, switching with which eye he was looking before trying to shake something out of it. Ace had also started some kind of chant of 'Bubble, bubbly bubbel, come come, no be af(r)aid!'. Aaah Marco's heart couldn't take this, how can one be this adorable, he could look at this all day, all paperwork and pranks on him forgotten in an instant!
"Oi Marco."
"..."
"Earth to bird."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"PINEAPPLE- PINEAPPLE- PINEAPPLE-HEAD-PINEAPPLE-BIRD-HYBRID-FLAMI-!"
Reluctantly and with a sigh Marco stood up and turned away from the sight before him to answer the annoying voice close to him "What do you want Thatch?"
"What do I want? Maybe that we try and continue this test?"
"We're working on it-yoi."
"... If the test was 'who can stare the longest at the freckled merman', then we had already gathered enough data for that 10 minutes ago. Right now you're just looking like pervert,... actually you always look like this when Ace is involved, but we're reaching new limits of just staring even for you."
"..." Marco turned away to once more look at Ace, considering Thatch his words. He didn't stare that much... did he? Yes, he knows he got distracted some times, but it wasn't that long that he was distracted... right? And it's not his fault, how can they not see the mer's charm! He's j-
"If you're not going to give the rest of the explanation, I'll help Ace instead." The chef said and stepped forward, ready to take the coral out of the first division commander's hand. Marco barely even noticed it, still entranced by the beautiful sight in front of him. However, the moment he felt the coral leave his hand, he was quick to grab it again and kick whoever tried to steal his quality time with the mer.
"-OOF"
"Hands off-yoi."
"Damnit, that hurt you stupid birdbrain."
"Hmpf, you deserv-"
"Thatchy ok?"
Looking to the voice of question, it was Ace, looking very adorable as always, but extra since with all the shaking of the corral, small bubbles had fallen out and were sprinkled all over Ace's hair and cheeks. All bouncing off the light in different colors and– -ah, he sneezed cause of a lil bubble! Even if this didn't work, they were keeping this bubble thing, 'cause, because... yes... look at Ace! He was so-
"AH!" Marco fell to his knees from a kick to his calves "What the- Thatch?!"
"I'm fine Ace, thank you for asking, I was just playing a game with Marco, and with this" he points towards the fallen commander "I've won."
"Ace play too!"
"... ah, ehm, you don't know the game, so you can't."
"ACE LEARN!"
-Sh*t- Thatch didn't think this through, he said it was a game now, he can't take it back... Even if he says that kicking Marco in the calves isn't a game now, he won't believe it. Plus... even if it was a game... Ace can't really kick someone... right? With no legs... Man, this means Thatch will have to disappoint the mer no matter which route of explanation he takes! -C'mon, look at those pleading eyes Thatch, you can't just say no to that or tell him he can never kick Marco in the calves, he's going to cry! Think, Think, Thi- AH!-
"Don't you want to try that coral you have first, make a bubble and everything."
"Hmm …... YES!"
Alright, he was safe for now, distraction successful!
With another small kick, the chef jostled the first commander into action "C'mon Marco, the sooner we finish this test, the sooner you can actually play with your object of desire." -And the sooner Ace will be distracted and hopefully forget the game.-
"He's not my- …. fine... Ace-yoi, you don't need to say anything to the coral for the bubble to pop come out" -though you can if you wish- "you should be able to press on one of the upper stalks, like a button. Like this." Marco proceeded to press his coral for a moment, making a small bubble float out that he caught on his palm.
Kneeling down properly, never having gotten up from the kick to his calves, he sat before Ace while he showed the bubble.
"'Lil bubble!"
"Yes-yoi, and the longer you press, the bigger it becomes. We want to try to make a bubble big enough so you can fit in it or maybe sit on it."
"hmm, hmm Ace try!"
After different tries it became clear that putting Ace fully in the bubble was not going to work.
While Ace had been fascinated by the bubbles, the fascination quickly left when the bubble kept popping. At least the bubble material wasn't' like soap and didn't burn your eyes.. If it did there would be a lot of crying pirates right now. Everyone fought hard and bloody battles, but stuff like this would have taken them all down...
Not a single time did the bubble reach its full potential of encasing Ace's form. The first tries Ace had held the coral in front of him and it would pop the moment it touched his hands, or more specifically his nails. To get around this, they tried to have him make fists so his nails were hidden, but then there were still the nails on the hand he is pressing the dial with.
They had said that wouldn't help too much, Ace needing to do it on his own, but it would be useless if they stopped not, so they made someone else hold the dial so Ace could hide both hands.
It seemed to work since the bubble went over his hands, successfully avoiding the nails, but the bubble would still pop eventually before fully surrounding Ace. It seemed half his body was the bubbles limit. Or you could encase his tail, or his human part, but not both, it was too much for the bubble to handle.
In another try, they decided to blow a bubble around the upper part of his tail, it looked essentially like a pool floaty. While the bubble did survive this and didn't pop instantly, it did pop the moment Ace put his hands on it, once again touching it with his nails.
The bubble was just too fragile, but they could maybe figure something out for that later, to be able to continue and test if the bubble itself worked, they put some gloves on Ace so his nails were covered. While he could retract his own nails a bit, it couldn't fully hide them either, but luckily the gloves seemed to be enough of a cover and he could touch the bubble without it popping.
After some more trial and error with the size of the bubble, they were finally able to figure out the necessary size to make Ace somewhat float. No matter what they tried, they couldn't made Ace float fully like some fish-folk did, but they were guessing it was because their environment wasn't the ideal one for the bubbles... Either way, they were able to make a size where it was possible for Ace to stay afloat in the air when he lifted his fin a bit, maybe this was good anyway, now he could use his fin to push himself off of the deck and move around. It wasn't perfect, but it worked.
Seeing Ace laughing in delight and pushing himself around however, made everyone forget the bubbles worked better at fishman island. The crews now all had smiles and were cheering the mer on. This was by far their best shot! Maybe even already enough to convince Whitebeard. Hell, look at him go! Ace was going around fully by himself, stairs of steep places wouldn't stop him now, he could go everywhere he wanted. No one would need to help him blow up the bubble, he could do that fully himself too, they could maybe make him a belt or something where he can store the coral and so make him able to always make a new one, no matter where he is. This was perfect! Everything the wheelchair had lacked was made up for somehow with the bubble!
But of course, they must have somehow been cursed because even with the great results, the happy moment was short lived, for the bubble suddenly spat apart without warning, it not even having touched any sharp edges or anything. When it happened, Ace has been nearby the railing and thus had tried to grab it to break his fall, not able to catch himself with no legs. He was slightly too slow and it only resulted in his arm harshly skimming the wood surface before falling face first on deck.
The mer cradled his arm close to his chest and hunched in on himself while staying put, laying down in a curled up bundle on the deck.
A close-by crewmember immediately went up to him to check on him. It looked like he had fell pretty hard.
"Ace, are you alright? Did you hurt your arm?"
The merman simply whimpered and folded his tail to be more around him, using it as a shield before releasing a small sob. With the movement, a trickle of blood became visible, together with the growin amount of sobs, it was clear that the younger one was hurt.
"Sh*t, Commander! Please come, Ace is hurt!"
The commanders who were talking a bit further away about the progress of it all, immediately stopped and ran over. Marco instantly went down on his knees when he reached the merman, he could see a cut on Ace's lips, but it didn't seem to be the merman's main focus of pain.
He wanted to reach for him but was afraid of hurting him, so he kept his arms to himself for now.
"Ace-yoi, what happened? Where are you hurt?"
"Ma-makho" Ace cried, "B-bubble pop! A-arm hu(r)t."
"Can you show me?"
Marco saw that the merman tried to move his arm but instantly cradled it again with a hiss.
"Wait Ace, if it hurts that bad, you could have broken it. Can you move your tail a bit so I can get closer?"
The mer still had his own tail around him, blocking most of the view if he can't extent his arm. Reluctantly Ace moved his tail away just enough for Marco to be able to come closer, still blocking the view of most others. He did try to use his good arm to sit himself a bit up straighter so Marco could inspect his hurt arm.
Carefully Marco shuffled closer "Alright, I'm going to touch it for a bit-yoi, tell me if it hurt okay."
After the mer nodded Marco went to work on inspecting the arm, poking and prodding different places, occasionally getting a hiss in return.
With a breath, Marco released the arm, allowing Ace to cradle it close once more "Luckily nothing seems to be broken-yoi. But it will bruise and there are some small cuts, I will have to disinfect those. Since the cuts aren't deep, they shouldn't scar. I'll go get some disinfectant and banda-"
"Mahko"
Marco looked up towards the mer and the sight broke his hear. Ace was cradling his arm and was trembling, he had tears going down his cheeks and more unfallen ones were waiting their turn in his eyes.
Getting closer he wiped away the tears with his thumb, careful of the split lip. "Hey hey, it's okay. I know it hurts but we'll take care of it okay. And the nurses have some good salves too that will sooth and numb the pain, you won't even feel it anymore in a bit."
"N-n-noooo"
"No?"
"No-nothing work! Ace need leav-leave!" The mer choked out between sobs.
Ah, yes... the merman was probably hurt by his arm, but another failed attempt at being self-sufficient took a heavier toll.
Marco tried to sound hopeful and rubbed the boy's upper arm. "We still need to test the other bubbles-yoi, they're even used around ships, ships as big as the Moby, they're strong!"
"Othe(r) bubble not h-here!" Ace sniffed "Ace, Ace can't t-rrrrr-y bubble! No bubble, Ace leave. No want leave!"
Marco was looking on to the merman with sadness, he didn't know what to do. Ace was growing on everyone so much, his speech and writing, it was all improving so much. Ace himself was even proving to be really useful in different departments such as helping navigation gather info on new sea-areas and such. But if they couldn't find a way for him to 'walk'... then their deal with Whitebeard was off...
"Let's take a break-yoi. Everything will be fine, we still have time... I promise you can stay." Marco knows he shouldn't make promises he doesn't know if he can keep, but he's determined to make true on his word for this one. They have to.
The mer only sobbed harder and with his good arm, took a hold of Marco's arm, his trembling only getting worse with each cry.
Marco looked around to the others around him, but they all didn't know what to do either, none of their ideas had worked so far and time was ticking by.
Either way, for now it was enough, and maybe for tomorrow too, they'll try and have some fun to cheer up not only the merman, but also the rest of the crew. They themselves were sad too that none of the ideas had really worked out so far.
After repositioning his arms to have a good grip on the merman, he lifted him up and carried him to their room. He would take care of the wounds there and then they could wash up and spend the rest of the day relaxing. They may not have found a solution today, but that didn't mean it was fruitless. Their 'science'-division, members from all around who had a knack for it, were already talking about ways to modify the bubble and make it stronger. Because as far a function and usefulness of the bubble itself, it was perfect, its fragile-state was the only thing ruining it right now. And as far as he had heard the division's talks, making it stronger was with material that they could get their hands on, or with the materials they could hopefully get from Rayleigh.
0o0o0o0o0
"Hellooo! Is somebody home?"
"Huh, that's coming from the sea?" - "Sh*t, did someone fall overboard!?"
Some crewmembers quickly ran towards the side of the ship, including Namur who heard talk of someone having fallen overboard wasn't far behind.
The members who reached first however didn't seem eager to jump in making Namur confused, if someone really went overboard the first one who reached the railing, no matter who, always jumped in to already help, no matter if he has on his way too. "Why isn't anyone helpi- RAYLEIGH?!"
"Yo!" The man gave a wave from next to the ship, "Any chance I could get a ladder?"
"Ehm, sure..." Namur didn't need to look far for another member had already gotten one and handed it to him. He secured it to the railing before throwing it down.
A minute later their visitor was on deck and was squeezing out his shirt.
"Rayleigh... ehm, what are you doing here and how did you swim here, we are kilometres away from the nearest island."
"Hmm, didn't Shakky call?"
"...No?"
"Weird. But well, she told me you guys called her some time ago, asking for coating material. So instead of shipping it with the Coo-service, I decided to come bring it myself. It's pretty refreshing to swim, you should know."
"I... yes.. But …... You... you swam here, all the way from Sabaody Archipelago...?"
"Yea."
"How long were u swimming for... did u even eat? How about sleep?"
The man grabbed his chin, seriously thinking about all the questions "I swam about 4 days, 4 days and 6 hours to be precise, and of course I ate, I brought a lunch box that I had the first day, and then I just ate some passing seakings. They also gave me a ride every now and then while I napped on top of them, before eating them too."
"And... You're not tired now? And where's the supplies then?"
"Do I look tired?" Rayleigh replied with a laugh and a raised brow, "and about the supplies, I fastened them to the rope ladder, it's what your members have been struggling with behind you."
True to his word, once Namur turned around, he saw about 10 crewmembers all trying to pull up the ladder, only getting it up a few centimetres before losing grip and it slipping down again.
"I... I'll help them, how about you go to Pops, he should be in his chambers, you know the way right?"
"As long as it didn't switch places, I'm good." Rayleigh laughed before walking off towards the entrance. Namur would never get the man, he was nice and all, but difficult to get a grasp on. He shook his head before going to the struggling members, helping them hoist the materials up.
Whistling he made his way through the ship, with the amounts of time he had coated this ship he knew this place like the back of his hand. The looks he got from passing members made him laugh internally, there were those that still knew him from old times and there were newer members, both with different reactions. The old ones gave him a welcoming nod after having a moment of stunned silence, already knowing his antics and by his wet clothes knew that he swam here and just accepted it. The newer ones seemed to have a more internal dilemma of 'how did this man get onboard when we're in the middle of the ocean' - 'why is he dripping wet' - 'who is this and don't we need to stop him?', but they all let him be seeing that the older members just greeted him, it didn't take away from the way they all looked kinda dumb haha.
But well, enough fooling around, he had reached a big door and knocked on it, entering when the owner of the room gave him permission to do so.
Whitebeard had been going over recent reports with Marco, discussing the situations on their island and how to deal with them when a knock interrupted them. He hadn't even noticed someone approaching and this made him wary. His commanders could hide their presence with haki, but none did so when on the ship. So who was this?
With a grunt he gave his approval for whoever was behind the door to enter, when it opened, he was surprised with who was there. "Rayleigh?"
"Edward, how are you doing?" the man greeted the moment he entered the room. "Oh, and hello Phoenix, you look as tired as always haha"
A tic-mark appeared on Marco's forehead, but he kept himself as composed as ever. "Hello to you too Rayleigh, I didn't know you were close-by."
"I wasn't haha, I swam over from the bar."
"... The one on Sabaody Archipelago-yoi?"
"Of course, what other bar could I possible mean?"
Whitebeard grunted, getting the attention of both in his room "It's a pleasant surprise that you're visiting us Rayleigh, you're always welcome, but why are you here?"
"Really? You guy's call me, I come, and everyone keeps asking me why I have come. Maybe your whole grew is growing a bit old and forgetful Edward hahah."
"Call you? We didn't call you?"
This comment sobered Rayleigh up a bit "Hmm, you didn't? Shakky told me you guys called some time ago, asking for some supplies."
"What supplies are y-"
"That would have been me-yoi."
"Marco-son?"
"Sorry Pops, I had it in my reports today to tell you, but we did indeed reach out to Rayleigh for some supplies. We were hoping to use some of his coating material to help Ace." Marco looked from Pops to Rayleigh with a small smile, "I however didn't think we would get the man himself with said supplies."
Pops stayed silent for a moment, deliberating over the situation before he spoke "I see... I have no problem with you being on my ship Rayleigh, you're always welcome as I mentioned before. Marco, you will be in charge of him since you invited him. Make sure he gets a room and can get situated for however long he stays."
"Of course, Pops."
"Thank you, Edward, and even if you son is the one who called me, I did bring you a souvenir too."
"Oh, you did?" Whitebeard smiled at seeing the small smirk on Rayleigh's face.
"I did, and since your son needs to make sure I'm comfortable. It would make my stay a lot nicer if he allowed you to taste this gift tonight."
"... How strong is it-yoi?"
"Does it matter, Phoenix?"
"Yea, does it matter, son?"
-… Pops has a partner in crime for only a second and he's using him to gang up on me...-
Marco sighed, knowing he couldn't do a lot to stop this, he being the one who invited the man over without informing Pops. "Fine, you can drink tonight, but don't overdo it-yoi, or I will come to stop you."
"Tch, party-pooper" Whitebeard grumbled.
"POPS!"
"Fine fine, go on with you visitor now. I'll see you tonight, Rayleigh."
With a wave from said man, both other occupants left the captain's chamber.
While Marco was taking Rayleigh to his new room, he decided to ask why he was called over.
"So, you said you needed supplies for a person named Ace? Who is this and why would you want to coat a person? It's a lot of work for one dip in the sea before it pops, and you already have Namur if you need to check something under sea-level."
"We don't want to use the bubble for under the sea-yoi, we want to use it to make Ace float."
"Float? I do think you would be better off with the bubbles from Fishman-island, the coating is already very unstable when it's not close to the mangroves, having it outside the ocean even more. And you didn't answer my question Phoenix."
Marco bit his lips, he knew the coating relied a lot on the good environment created by the mangroves, an environment they didn't have on board, but they had to try. Besides that, he hadn't wanted to tell Rayleigh about Ace. Even if the man was against slave-traders and the inhuman acts against non-humans, the less knew about Ace's presence here, the better and safer he would be in Marco's mind. He however didn't have much of a choice, especially with the man coming all the way over here. Maybe he could help them if this didn't work, he had been doing coatings for years so if anyone could make a sturdy bubble it would be Rayleigh.
"Ace... Ace isn't human-yoi."
Seeing as his companion didn't react, he continued. "He's a young merman that came aboard some time ago already. He got caught in our nets during a storm and hurt his tail. We couldn't let him go back to the ocean like that, he wouldn't have made it."
"That's true, he would have been too slow to compete with other predators, I am assuming he doesn't want to leave anymore?"
"... yea... and I... we, don't want him to leave either. In his relatively short stay, Ace has brightened up the whole atmosphere off the ship-yoi." Marco smiled while thinking about it all, but his smile fell when he continued. "But when he was almost recovered, ready to go back in the ocean, the talk with Pops came for him to stay with us. But Pops... he..."
"He rejected?"
Marco nodded, absentmindedly taking a change of sheets out for a bed out of a storage unit they passed, handing a pillow and blanket to Rayleigh before continuing their walk.
"Yes, with Ace being a merman, he can't really be self-sufficient when not in the water-yoi. He has no mobility on land... or ship... So... I get Pops his reasoning, I really do, besides his staying turning someone into a constant carrier for Ace. It would be a danger to us, having to be constantly by Ace's side and protect him for he is immobile, even dodging stuff while staying in the same place would be difficult, being on land is also a danger for Ace himself, for he can't get away from anything. But even so, we wanted Ace to stay, we were willing to do everything, make a rotation of carrying Ace and stuff..."
"But it would become a strain, no matter how much you like the boy. Even for the boy himself he would always depend on you."
"...Yes... It's what Pops said too-yoi. But well, with our insistence, he made us a deal. In a little over a months' time now, we will reach dangerous territory, one where we can't afford time on always being with Ace. If by that time, we've found a way for Ace to be able to walk around himself, to be self-sufficient without the constant need of … well... a bodyguard, Pops will allow for him to stay."
"So, you want to use the coating material as a way to make him float, and make him move around by himself then?"
"Yes-yoi. Just like how the material is used on Sabaody Archipelago, as bubbles you can pull along and place your groceries in, we want it to carry Ace. We already tried the bubbly coral from fishman-island, but the bubble is too fragile and pops at the slighted resistance."
They had by now reached a free room and were working on getting it ready, changing the sheets, opening the window, dusting a bit.
Rayleigh hummed, "My coating material is a lot stronger than those bubbles produced by the corals, so it popping from hitting something sharp shouldn't be a problem and it can also handle a lot of weight, it surviving the ocean's pressure with ease, so a mer's weight is nothing. I am absolutely sure this would work perfectly if you were on Sabaody Archipelago, but Marco, you know it needs the climate of the mangroves to really make use of its best abilities."
Marco stayed silent, of course he knew this, he even knew from first-hand experience. Who hasn't tried to take some bubbles with them when visiting Saboady, only for them to pop the moment they left the place. But still... He couldn't not give this a try, they had to, for Ace...
Seeing the Phoenix looking dejected, Rayleigh placed a hand on the man's shoulder "Well, someone needs to be the first to create a new kind of bubble material for it to exist right? How about I finish setting up this room for now, and you can look for a place to put all the material I brought, it's on the deck. Once I've finished settling in here, I'll come search for you and you can show me the results from the fish-man bubble and I can start some test hmm. And if your mer-friend is close-by, I would love to meet him too, for someone to have conquered your heart, he must be special."
"He hasn't conquered m-…... Okay... Then I'll go for now-yoi."
Waving the first commander goodbye, Rayleigh went to settle in –This is going to be interesting.-
Yarukiman Mangrove Resin – a.k.a. Coating material
After a small meeting between the commanders and Rayleigh, they had decided to start some tests with the coating material without Ace his presence, not wanting him to cry again if it failed. Ever since his last breakdown, the mer hasn't been his usual bright self, his happy smiles that could cheer anyone up were far and few in between. And with Rayleigh predicting that using the resin-material as it is used on Sabaody would most likely fail, they didn't want to put that on Ace again.
It was a good thing they did the test alone, because 'bubbles' made with this material were even worse than the coral ones. They couldn't even create a shape. Rayleigh would try and coat an object like how he normally does it when coating a ship, but the resin would instantly start to separate when it left its container.
The commanders were all very disappointed in the results, they knew climate did a lot, but to not even be able to try and inflate it was a hard hit.
Rayleigh broke the silence in the meeting room after the failed tests. "Do you guys have some members to spare? Some who know some things of science, but also know the basics of construction?"
"With our size we have some descent carpenters on board at all times, I do not know how good they are at science-yoi, but while we don't have a real science division, we have some that are good at it."
"That's okay, I'll need men from both of those teams them for a while. I'll also need all the materials you got from fishman-island, access to any other supplies you may have, and a room we can use for an unknown amount of time."
"What are you going to do? The corals didn't work and the resin isn't even usable outside of its container." Kingdew said with a frown.
"I don't know yet, but I have some things I would like to try."
"You better not break those corals, we only have two."
Raileigh simply raised an eyebrow at the statement.
"Kingdew, don't start a fight-yoi. Even if he breaks them, if nothing new can be made, we won't even need them anymore..."
All the commanders grew quiet, if it really came out to nothing... they really didn't need the corals anymore, this knowledge him them harder than expected...
"...I'll show you to a room, Rayleigh. I'll search out some men and send them over together with all the materials-yoi. "
Thus, with only a little over a month left on the clock, Rayleigh and about 6 others disappeared into the bowels of the ship, carrying the weight of almost everyone's hope on their shoulders.
+/- 2 weeks later
With each passing day the mer's infrequent smiles disappeared even more, he was now practically glued to Marco troughought the whole day, everyone knew he was preparing to say goodbye, trying to have as much contact as possible before they reached enemy territory.
It wasn't looking good, it really wasn't. There were only just over two weeks left, and they didn't know what to do. Rayleigh and the science team still hadn't left their chamber, the chefs bringing food to them in there so they could keep working. And they had used up all of their idea's, they even tried the most stupid ideas of 'teaching ace how to jump on his tail', something that could physically never have worked with the way a mer's tail was build, but they didn't have anything else to try.
It would have helped if they knew if anything was working with the Rayleigh's team, but they didn't want to say anything, didn't let them know if it was going well or not...
It was another week before something changed. It was lunchtime and most of the crew were eating in the mess hall when suddenly the door to the deck opened, revealing the very tired looking team that had been working on the bubbles. They parted to let a very smug looking Rayleigh trough, the man didn't look tired at all. He entered the mess hall and walked until he stood in front of the commander's table.
"So," Rayleigh started with a smile, looking over everyone seated at the table, before ending at Ace who was in Marco's lap, "Who's ready to float?"
"Huh?" was the very smart reaction he got out of the mer.
The grey-haired man rose an eyebrow "Hmm? You don't want to?"
"Rayleigh-yoi, were you able to make something?" Marco asked unsure, squeezing the merman in his lap a bit. He didn't want to have hope if there was nothing, by now only a week was left after all, they were on their last days.
"Phoenix, would I be here if I didn't have anything?"
"..."
"So, Ace, I haven't had much of a chance to really meet you yet, but I heard that you wanted to be able to stay here." The mer was instantly nodding.
"Ace stay with Mahko." He answered hugging said man closer.
"Then I'll ask again. Ace. Are you ready to float?"
The merman yelled for the whole mess-hall to hear "YEA!"
He started squirming in Marco's grasps, raising his hands towards Rayleigh for him to pick him up. The commanders were very surprised by this, like Rayleigh mentioned, they hadn't had the time to interact a lot, so he was still a stranger to Ace. But apparently the chance to be able to stay conquered over the fear of being in the hands of an unknown men.
"(R)AY-(L)AY LETSSSS FLOAT!" The mer called when he wasn't immediately picked up.
Rayleigh looked confused at his butchered name but easily picked the merman up.
"Don't worry about it-yoi, if he can't say your name, he kinda makes up something else."
"Hahah alright. Then, let's go Ace."
"YYEAAAAA!" The mer cheered, wiggling in Rayleigh's grasp and smiling like he hadn't done in weeks, chanting –float float, Ace float- all the way until they were on the deck.
Lots of people that had been eating before had stopped and followed the duo outside in a heartbeat. Neglecting whatever they had been doing before.
Just like a few weeks prior, the commanders and Ace were standing on the deck, a bubbly corral laying on a barrel before them.
Rayleigh had instructed for them to blow up a big enough bubble for Ace to lay on, as a cushion, the man couldn't do it himself with arms full of said merman.
Since no one stepped forward, Marco took it on himself to do the job. He picked up the coral and inspected it. It looked exactly the same as before... From the corner of his eyes, he carefully looked towards Ace, who was still smiling and wiggling in Rayleigh's arm. -If this fails again...-
He looked up towards Rayleigh for some sort of confirmation, his eyes were those of compassion, knowing what was probably going through Marco's mind, but they were also showing a very clear message: 'Trust me'.
-This is it...- He released a breath and pressed the button on the coral. As normal, a bubble formed out of the cavity. It grew, and grew, and grew and... it wasn't popping!
"BUBBLE hihihi" Ace clapped his hands at the growing form before him.
Marco tried to hide his smile, they weren't sure if the bubble could carry Ace yet, but he was sure that even he wasn't able to fully mask his happiness at this already small victory compared to last time. When the bubble was about three times as big as Ace, he released the button, making the growth stop. The bubble popped off the coral and stayed afloat in the air before him.
"Hold still for a moment alright." Rayleigh spoke to the mer in his hands before he was carefully placing him on the bubble. The mer tried to hold his giggles and stay as still as possible while he was released onto the bubble, sliding towards the middle of it.
After a moment of dreadful anticipation, nothing happened.
"Hhahaha, bubble no pop, no pop!"
The mer started bouncing on his new big cushion, it slightly dipping at his movement, but the bubble never seemed to become unstable.
From the corner of his eyes, Marco saw Rayleigh give a nod of approval at the bubble before he was looking towards him.
"Marco, please give the coral to Ace. And for you Ace, try and hold the coral close to your waist before pushing the bubble for about 10 seconds."
"OK!" the mer smiled, making grabby hands for the coral in Marco's hand.
Marco walked towards Ace, but held the coral out of reach."
"Maaaaahkooooo~" The mer whined "Ace make bubbleeeeee~"
"Yes-yoi, I will give it to you in a second, but Ace, you don't know what 10 seconds is, do you?"
"Tick-tock tick-tock!"
"Haha yes, but how many tick-tock's?"
"..."
"I thought so. I'll give you this" He waved the coral "and I'll count for you okay, the moment I say 10, you need to release the button alright?"
"Yes!"
They did exactly as said, Ace pressing the button and holding it down until Marco called the last number.
"Hahahhaha Ace swim, swim swim!"
And 'swimming" he did indeed. After the time was up, a bubble had formed covering the transition of his tail to human torso, it looked like a safety floaty they had for when someone fell overboard.
While with the fishman-bubble, a bubble of this size wasn't strong enough to carry Ace's weight, it seems this version didn't have any trouble, for Ace was 'swimming' as he pleased around deck after having gotten off the cushion. And he had gotten off of the cushion completely by himself, using the bubble now around his waist, no one had needed to help him.
Unlike before, Ace's tail wasn't touching the deck at all, it was always floating a few centimetres above it. The mer was easily moving around, shooting from person to person to show off the bubble.
When he reached Marco again, Rayleigh suddenly came to stand next to them and harshly poked the bubble. Instantly receiving gasps and yells in protest from the surrounding pirates. Ace had taken a hold of Marco's arm and had squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the fall... "Huh?" Ace carefully opened his eyes, the bubble was still around his waist, nothing happened.
He looked to the strange man in question, but the man just hummed and walked away. After a few seconds, Ace started poking the bubble himself, and after a while even took off the gloves they had once again put on him to poke it with his nails. No matter how much he poked it, the bubble didn't break.
Click click. CLICK CLICK CLICK!
The sound coming from Ace got louder and faster each time he poked the bubble and nothing happened, a huge smile was seen on the mer's face.
The clicking sound had gotten the attention of everyone on deck very quickly, it had become a rarity to hear it these last weeks and the others quickly realised what this meant, seeing as to why the sound was being made and why it was becoming louder and quicker at a fast rate. They had found a solution, a way for Ace to be mobile on his own no matter where he is, he would be able to stay with them!
When after another few minutes nothing happened and the bubble still didn't break, everyone finally started cheering at the success. And they wouldn't be the Whitebeard pirates if they didn't turn this event into a full-fledged party within seconds.
After a while of looking at the happy mer, Marco went over to Rayleigh who was sipping some sake by the railing, he doesn't know where he got it and he honestly doesn't care. By the tabled getting carried outside together with food and games, it looks like a party will be in full swing within a minute anyway.
"Rayleigh-yoi."
"Hmm."
"I... Thank you. Thank you for making it possible for Ace to stay. We … we would have surely needed to say goodbye if not for you coming. If there's anything I can do for-"
"Don't mention it Marco" Rayleigh interrupted him "I didn't do this to gain favour with you all."
"Still-yoi, this means a lot to m-... to all of us. You know where to find us if you ever need anything."
"You're not letting this go, are you?" The glint in the first mates' eyes already answered his question, with a sigh Rayleigh picked up his mug and shook it. "Well, I could always use a refill on this?"
"Haha sure, give me a moment."
After getting some more sake for Rayleigh and a mug for himself too, he leaned on the railing. "How did you do it-yoi? Both materials were unstable."
"They indeed were, separate that is."
"You mixed them?"
"Well, it's not as simple as that but yes, mixtures were made. And, look carefully at the bubble, do you see anything different from the bubbles you had before."
"Something different-yoi?" Marco looked over to Ace, a smile instantly coming to his lips at the display. Ace was floating upside down, with a bunch of people around him who were trying to flip him back over. The bubble looked to have slipped down until his tailfins, the mer looked to be having fun though, and the bubble was not popping even with all the different pairs of hands touching it, so all is well, great even. -Later Marco, find a difference now. Difference, difference...-
"Is it... more murky or … cloudy? It doesn't look as clear as before... I think-yoi."
Rayleigh himself seemed to inspect the bubble for a bit too, "Yes, you're right, it isn't as see-trough as before, any idea why?"
"...Thicker walls?"
"Hmmm, not necessarily thicker per se." Rayleigh gave a laugh after seeing the first commander squinting at the bubble to try and find answers. "There's 3 layers."
"Layers? As in, there are 3 bubbles, separate bubbles?"
"Correct. Your own science team was already playing with the idea of 'double-skinned-bubbles' and adding something into the mixture to make it stronger, but they didn't know exactly what to do since even with more layers, the bubble material you had would still be fragile. Together however, we were able to figure out different mixtures between the fishman bubble and the resin from Sabaody. And with the help of your carpenters, we were able to modify the coral to blow up a combination of these 3 bubbles, all in one go, or even separate if wanted."
Rayleigh went into more detail about each bubble, explaining their different characteristics. One was strong enough to carry Ace his weight, one was to create a good climate, one was to increase its resistance to damage, … Or that is the most of what Marco was able to follow. Suddenly Rayleigh laughed and was looking at him with an amused grin.
"hahah, you're looking a bit lost, Phoenix?"
"I ehm... yoi?"
"Don't worry. You have your own crewmembers who were with me since the beginning you know, I didn't do all of this on my own, they know what to do. Plus, I've put together a small booklet with detailed instructions of the different mixtures and how you can use the corals as a base. So really, don't worry, if this one breaks, you can easily re-make it. Just be sure to stock up on some materials when you visit Fisman-island and Sabaody Archipelago. It's not that much, but I'll leave behind what I have left so that you can use it. And once I'm back at the bar, I'll send enough resin over to last you all until you reach Sabaody yourself."
"Thank you, Rayleigh, truly. I'll get you some money later to cover it all."
Said man hit him on the back, almost making him spill his drink, "Enough with the thanks and don't even think of trying to pay me. For the shipment, well, let's say I can get a good deal now ever since they tried to rip me off once. And for the material, I'll take payment in the form of your visits to Shakky's bar and continued support to get coated by me. And now! Go have fun with your new member while I am going to accompany your old man."
"Tha-…." he almost thanked Rayleigh again... normally he wouldn't mind, but he was sure he would get hit again some way or another. And the man infused his hands with Haki! Who did that!?
"Alright, enjoy the party, take whatever you want from the tables, don't give Pops too much sake."
"A little never hurt anyone hahahaha"
He was on his way to retaliate when the calling of his name turned his attention away from the man.
"MAAAAAHHHKKKOOOOO!"
Behind him was an overly happy merman, waving at him and bouncing on a far bigger bubble than he had before, and... was that Thatch, inside of the bubble?
"MAHHKOOOOO, LOOK!"
The mer brought the coral up to his hair, blew a bubble and …. made a pineapple shape?
"AM MAHKO! - YOIIII!" Laughed the mer, making many crewmembers around fall to the floor laughing, some even bowing down before their new first commander.
A soft pat on his back distracted his attention from the spectacle in front of him, when he turned, he was just in time to see Rayleigh give a wave and walk off towards Pops.
With this, Marco made his way over to the increasing amount of people in bubbles. He doesn't know who, but before he knew it someone scooped him up and deposited him on the bubble with the mer. Ace instantly latching on to him, babbling his ears off about staying. Smiling Marco returned the hug, laughing with the mer's antics and the other party-goers before he finally said what he had wanted to say for the past 3 months, "Welcome to the crew Ace!". In response Ace laughed the brightest he had ever done before, and happy-clicks resounded around the whole deck. The sound spurring the party on even more, it may only be noon, but this party wasn't going to end any time soon.
Before, when Marco said he didn't know who scooped him up, he lied. He may not have seen who picked him up, but there's only one person big enough on the ship who can easily grab another human being in their hands and still have room over. Pops had silently given his approval, Ace could stay. Marco was sure they would talk more about this later in a meeting, but for him to do this, and to not stop the party in itself, more than proved to him that from now on, Ace was really officially welcome and a part of their crew.
I can't grasp Rayleigh's personality haha, plus it's also been a while since I saw him in the series so I'm sorry if he feels too OOC.
Making Ace not able to really say the 'r' always makes me laugh a bit and gives me flashbacks haha. I couldn't pronounce the stupid letter myself as a kid. Had to take special lessons to learn how to say it and use it in words 😂
