hotaru keiko: Sorry, no Sabo or Luffy in this.

poofi: Thank you!

More Marco involved after this chapter. Hopefully Thatch won't be too upset about it lol.

The next morning, he walked in on somebody sounding quite angry, and heard his own name said through the cracked doorway. "It's not fair that he gets to use the office and nobody else can. It's playing favorites, commander Marco. And he's too familiar with you like no one else is allowed to be but the originals and the commanders," Aioba argued.

Ace stood outside the door, frowning. Marco made a sigh. "I let him use the office because making maps in front of others can be stressful for him. And he's close with Thatch and Haruta, calling them by their titles might be strange for all three of them," he explained, sounding irritated but also patient.

"Why can't he just make maps when no one else is in the room?"

"I'm not going to speak about how Ace feels. That is his business and no one else's. If you harass him about this, you'll be suspended longer than you were before. You should respect those in your division, even though I know you won't. Your attitude is bad, Aioba. And I know it's weird to have a newby come and be great at things you seemed to work longer on. Some people just click with things," Marco replied, sounding like he was really growing impatient.

Aioba started to storm out of the room and Ace slipped into the nearest room, quietly opening and closing the door before he was seen. He stood in there for a bit, looking at the floor. Did the commanders play favorites? He had seen them be familiar with many people who weren't commanders.

Maybe those were the ones that had been there longest, but Ace didn't see anyone below them actively trying to hang out with them. He never saw Aioba even approach any commander that was not in charge of his division at the moment, so why was he so pissy about it? Did he just want to make Ace's life harder?

He huffed at it and left the room, heading to the bathhouse to shower after getting a change of clothes from his room. He was irritated while he showered, and wanted to say something without them knowing he was eavesdropping. He was sick of trying to ignore it and letting him be as ass to him.

After he dried himself off by heating his body enough to evaporate the water into steam, he left the bathhouse and went to find the man who hated him for stupid reasons. Ace didn't know what being super jealous felt like, so he didn't understand the motive from the jerk. He found him in the navigation room, and stood in the doorway, glaring at him before he walked up to him.

He glared back at Ace, though his expression had a tiny bit of disgust in it. "I am tired of your bullshit. You may be jealous, but it's not my fault that I'm better than you. I don't actively try to be better than you. I don't even actively try to get you to stop giving me nasty glares for no reason. I am in your division whether you like it or not. I am good at navigation whether you like it or not. Knock of being a fucking asshole and deal with the fact I'm not going anywhere," Ace snapped and turned and left before he could reply.

He ran into Thatch right outside the door, who was looking at him with an open mouth. "I'm not supposed to side in any argument, but high five," he whispered at the end. Ace smiled and gave him a high five. "Good for standing up for yourself, Ace. Don't let anyone walk all over you like that. Speak your mind and say something if somebody is bothering you," Thatch said with a proud smile.

"Did you need something?" Ace asked, though not in an impatient way, smiling at the praise and empowering high he had at the moment.

"Yeah, I wanted you to try out some of my new recipes! I edited them a bit, but I think they're still pretty good. I want to see if they taste right to you," Thatch explained, and he and Ace went to the kitchen where there were many dishes Ace recognized laying across the bar counter. Ace took a bite of all of them, and they were more flavorful than those at the restaurant.

He looked up at Thatch. "Why are you such a good cook? Do you have future skills as well?" Ace asked, a slightly joking tone in his voice. Thatch laughed.

"I was a cook on my home island for a long time. I worked in a castle, so I had to be good or I'd get in trouble. Then I joined the crew and was assigned being the head chef when there weren't many good cooks, even on a large crew. Though it wasn't this big fifteen years ago," he explained.

Ace said, "It's weird, thinking people had lives before being here." Thatch nodded, saying he understood that sentiment. The chef asked how the day before was. "It was awesome! I had so much fun. They're so understanding about my memory loss." He saw Thatch's pout and laughed. "No need to get jealous. I still only mostly share my stuff with you."

"Aww! Such a good little bro!" Thatch said, and Ace just shook his head. "Now, I'm gonna make all of this for dinner. Thanks a lot for the recipe."

Ace grinned. "The waitress couldn't resist my looks." Thatch broke into laughter, and Ace told him about the reactions he'd gotten. Thatch said that was what he got for being muscular and going shirtless. Ace just laughed, saying it was too late now to start wearing shirts again.

-x-

"Hey, Ace? Did you ever meet Shanks? The other yonko?" Haruta asked while playing cards with Ace and some of their brothers. Ace shrugged, saying not that he could remember. But he told them about Luffy meeting him and saving him. "Whoa, that's how he lost his arm?!" Ace nodded. "Damn, I never knew that!"

Marco was there, too, and looked up. "Shanks clearly thinks highly of Luffy. When Pops asked him how he lost his arm, he said he was betting it on the next generation. Not that it seemed to make him any weaker." Ace grinned, proud of his little brother. "Since you can't remember, why don't you ask your crew?" he suggested.

Ace nodded, and found Finamore napping on the whale figurehead. "Hey, Finamore!" he shouted, waking the guy, who walked over, grumbling a bit. "I got a question. Did we ever meet Red Haired Shanks?"

"Yeah. You told him about your ambition, and he liked you," the man said, sitting beside Ace and incorporated into the game since it had just started. Ace coked his head and asked what ambition. His former crewmember and current friend smiled in amusement. "Your ambition was to kill Whitebeard and become the Pirate King."

"Whaaat?!" Haruta shouted. Ace scratched his head, and said he didn't remember that. He must have developed that dream of killing Pops during his two blank years.

Ace said, "Well, I obviously don't want to kill him now, right? No need to worry. Why were you asking?" he asked, wanting to change the subject from his old ambition. He did feel bad for wanting to steal away Luffy's dream. Oh well, even if he still wanted to, he couldn't become the pirate king while on this crew, which he wasn't going to leave anytime soon.

Marco spoke when Haruta exclaimed that he couldn't change the subject. "He's visiting soon. He's drinking buddies with Pops. They're acquaintances and sometimes catch up over sake. He's annoying."

Izo laughed and said it was just because he tried to get Marco to join every time. "You'd think he'd accept you won't be joining him by now. Jeez." The others nodded, and Ace looked forward to meeting him for his first time. He wondered how the yonko would react to his memory loss. He hoped Shanks didn't see Luffy for a while and wouldn't tell him about Ace's situation. He would definitely worry.

"I wonder what he'll think of my memory loss," Ace said as he shuffled the cards again.

Marco replied, "He'll probably be over dramatic and pretend to be hurt, as if it's personal that you forgot about meeting him."

Finamore said, "He was a nice guy. Seemed a bit… odd, but pretty polite." Haruta laughed, said "odd" was a good way to put it.

"He doesn't even act like a yonko! He can't take most things seriously," the smallest commander commented. Vista didn't agree with that completely, but admitted he could be quite immature, but did take much of his position seriously.

"He's the only decent yonko out of the other three. Man, they're scary assholes," Haruta said, and the other Whitebeard's agreed. He asked about the others, and when he heard about Wano, he remembered reading about going there in the log books of the Spades' adventures.

"I went to Wano in the last two years. I don't remember it, but read about it in the log books," Ace said, surprising the others that he'd made it that far into the New World, and was able to get in and out after Kaido had fully taken over the country. "It was sad. Apparently, everyone was starving. There was a girl name Tama, but I don't know much about her other than we were friends." He was sad he couldn't remember, but didn't think about that much.

Izo said, "I was born in Wano. Then I joined the crew after they left. I hated them at first, but things have changed much since then. Marco was so silly back then. Now he's boring," the geisha said in amusement, with Marco glaring at him, saying he wasn't boring, just took life more seriously now. And he pointed out that he'd been 15 back then. So of course he was sillier.

Ace had a nice time talking with them. He didn't have any remembrances or realizations that day, which was a nice break. Aioba didn't bother him, and word about their argument had gotten out. Hmm, Ace wondered who could have spilled that. Thatch denied it.

They were leaving the island soon and would meet up with Shanks in two days. Ace looked forward to meeting the man who Luffy admired, and who had made him wish for his pirate dream. He should be leaving sometime later. Winter in the rest of the world was approaching. It was late fall. Ace still hadn't said anything about his birthday. It hadn't come up and he forgot to mention it.

It was as if Thatch could read his mind when he was baking cakes in the massive oven later that day, Ace sitting at the bar counter and talking to his brother. "When is your birthday, Ace? I don't know why no one has asked that yet! I mean, we have a birthday every day, really. We just celebrate them all every four months. Fall's party will come next week."

"I was born on New Years," Ace replied. He knew it was weird to be born on that day.

Thatch said, "Then your party will be mixed with our New Years party! Huffy Aioba will probably think we're playing favorites again, but it will be easy to celebrate along with our New Years party." Ace said he wished the guy was in a different division. "He'll get over it. He's been jealous before. This time he just doesn't like that you aren't even 20 yet and still so talented, even if your circumstances are a lot different."

"You can say that again," Ace replied.

"Don't get mopey, here's some leftover batter," the cook said and handed Ace the spoon he used to stir the batter. Ace took it and licked all of the chocolate off. It was delicious. He didn't remember ever having cake, but he must have had it on the PoS. He never had cake with Luffy because they didn't exactly have an oven to bake it with. They had dozens of cakes by the end of Thatch's baking session, with Ace sleeping slumped over the counter.

Sadly, the cakes were ruined with a food fight. Thatch was distraught.

-x-

A marine vessel had the courage to attack the Whitebeards before he met with Shanks. Ace never understood how the marines followed them so well without being seen. Were they just barely over the horizon so they couldn't see them? It was strange. But Ace wished they'd take a photo of him and he'd end up in the paper.

After all, to the world, the Spades had suddenly gone missing. Their ship was burned down and they were nowhere to be found. The world probably thought they were dead, and Ace wished to fix that. Firefist Ace was not dead!

So, when the marines boarded the ship, Ace went all out, using his flames enough to burn them but not letting them hurt the ship or the crew, as he could control what his fire burned. There was one large enemy that Ace attacked before anyone else. He swung an axe at Ace, covered in haki so Ace dodged, rocketing himself from the ground with fire, flipping over and bashing the arm of the man down with one foot while the other landed on his head.

He shot back off of the deck and kicked him in the neck, throwing him into the water. Ace was laughing happily, and didn't notice that the Whitebeards had completely stopped. The marines were retreating, but Ace was confused when the deck went silent. "What?" he asked, brows furrowed.

Everyone looked to Marco, who looked completely confused. Nobody answered, and then got back to work fixing up the small amount of damage to the ship. Ace turned back and blew a burst of fire at the marine ship, burning the sails into nothing while they attempted to get dead and live bodies from the water as the Moby Dick sailed away.

After that, Marco walked up to Ace and asked to talk to him in private. Thatch was watching nervously, and Ace was worried. What had he done wrong? Was he in trouble? Was Marco suspicious about something he'd done? All he'd done was fight off a strong marine and look awesome while doing it!

Marco brought him to the meeting room, which worried Ace. They sat down, and Marco got straight to the point. "Where did you learn to fight, Ace?" he asked, face confused. Ace didn't understand.

"With my brother. We trained a lot on our island. I mean, I probably got better in the two years, I don't know. Why?" Ace asked, worry in his voice.

Marco looked at him as if searching for a lie. Ace was frowning deeply. "Am I in trouble?" he asked quietly, freaking out internally.

"No, I'm just confused. The moves you used were exactly the ones I use on larger opponents. And I know I haven't taught you them since you joined. How did you know them?" Marco asked, not sounding angry or looking angry. Ace was frozen, not knowing how to answer. But he settled with the truth at the moment.

He looked down, and said, honestly, "I… don't remember. It felt natural fighting like that, but I don't remember learning it. I just knew how to do it." Marco looked at him in worry before he let out a small sigh.

"Ace, does this have anything to do with the secrets you and Thatch keep?" he asked slowly but firmly. Ace jerked up and then looked back down. There was no use lying, but he wouldn't give the full truth.

"Maybe," he replied. "Probably," he corrected. Marco nodded, looking sad.

"You know you can trust me with anything, right? And I wouldn't tell a soul, not even Pops if you didn't want me to," the first mate said sincerely. Ace nodded, saying he knew that and did trust him. "Then will you tell me?"

Ace frowned deeper. "It's just conspiracy theories. It's nothing concrete or provable. Thatch has known from the beginning. I wouldn't have told him if I hadn't been confused and lost my memory," he explained. Marco looked surprised when Ace said they were conspiracy theories.

"I'll still always listen. Maybe I could help you figure out whatever you and Thatch can't," he offered. Ace wasn't sure. He knew he could trust Marco, but he didn't want him to think he was a freak. Thatch was very open minded, he just thought everything Ace told him was interesting, and wanted to solve the puzzle with him.

Ace clasped his hands together on the table, looking so lost and confused, not knowing what to answer. To tell the truth or decline. "I don't want your opinion of me to change. Thatch's didn't, since he knew from the beginning that there was something wrong with me." Marco looked sad when Ace said that there was something wrong with him.

"My opinion of you won't change, Ace. You're my family no matter what. But, I understand if you don't want to tell me, and I won't push. I just hope someday you're comfortable enough to tell me," Marco said sincerely. Ace looked at him with wide eyes and thanked him for his consideration. It would probably be found out eventually, but he didn't want that to happen now.

Thatch really had been a lucky accident. Marco may not be that way. Ace liked to think nothing would change if people found out, but he knew deep inside that things would change, no doubt about it. Deuce, he knew, could keep another secret. He knew that, but he didn't know how Marco would react. He didn't know if he could know something like what was going on with Ace without telling Pops.

"You're my brother, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or upset. Just, know that I'd keep whatever secret or secrets you have, and would gladly help you in any way I can," Marco said with a reassuring smile. Ace thanked him again, and the two stood up and left the room.

It didn't take long to find that some of the crew was not happy with Ace. Especially Marco's division. They glared at him, arms crossed in a disapproving way. Ace headed straight for Thatch. "Did you tell him?" he asked as they were both on the back deck. Ace shook his head. "Is it another thing? The fighting like Marco?"

"Probably. He asked me to tell him, but I didn't and he didn't push. I'm not ready to tell anyone else. Deuce had been an exception, but even now I don't share everything. It was easiest with you. You didn't know me, so you knew something was up from the start and accepted me despite the weird shit," Ace explained, and Thatch put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'll always support you, bro." Ace smiled and thanked him. "I think things this time will be a bit more troubling, though. You couldn't hide this one. I have a feeling it will fade, but there will be suspicion for now. Try not to let it get to you."

Ace sighed. "Do you think they'll think I'm a spy?" he asked quietly.

"Hopefully not, but we'll just have to see," Thatch replied honestly. "If anyone asks, say you must have learned from your two years and don't remember." Ace nodded, and said that was the best course of action, and hopefully they'd believe him.

Ace said, "I think I'll go on a ride with striker. To be by myself for a bit." Thatch nodded, and offered to help him get it into the water. Ace had ridden striker expertly after finally braving an expedition. Marco was there to catch him if he fell, but had left once Ace showed he was good enough at it to be safe.

The two carried sitrker through the ship and out onto deck before lowering it down with rope. Ace dropped down on it, and immediately blasted off. Thatch gave him a eternal pose to the ship in case he ended up getting lost somehow, so he had it in his pocket.

When he was out of sight, he sat down, leaning back and looking at the blue sky. "Nice going, Ace. You just couldn't be normal," he sighed. He closed his eyes and then heard a recognizable voice in his head.

You're useless fighting like that against bigger enemies.

Shut it, not all of us can fly.

That's true, but it doesn't mean you can't fight like I can. Just not as good, but your power might be able to help out. Wanna try?

Sure, why not. Don't waste my time, though, birdbrain.

Watch it or I won't show you.

So, he had been taught by Marco. Just not in any of his past. He had thought that was the case since Marco said Ace had used his moves, but now he had "proof". Marco had taught him everything he knew. Or at least, the cool moves he'd done. He didn't even need to ask his crew if that was how he fought, since he'd seen Saber's shocked expression in his peripheral when he was going inside with Marco.

He rubbed his hands down his face and slapped his cheeks before standing up and flying forward again through the waves, feeling absolutely free and the stress melting away for now as he enjoyed the wind in his face and the sound of his fire behind him. It was nice and a welcome reprieve.

-x-

Ace was miserable when he got back. What felt like all of Marco's division hated him, as if he'd hurt their commander. Maybe it was because Marco's skills were now shared with Ace, but he felt that wasn't accurate. Marco was an amazing fighter, Ace had seen it during the fight before he got into it. He'd never be as good as Marco.

Maybe he'd stop using those moves. Or at least try to. He didn't know just how much of his fighting had been influenced by Marco sometime. None of the commanders seemed to hate him, some just asked where he learned his moves, which Ace said he didn't remember. That he just used them without even noticing.

He didn't like this. He'd done so well at hiding the bizarre things he knew and did, and now it was out in the open. At least, one thing was. At least everything else wasn't. The rest of his freakiness was still private. After dinner, he couldn't help but ask Deuce if he fought like that before. The answer was a predictable "no".

The teen had a terrible time sleeping, so he eventually gave up and headed to the library to read. He chose a fairy tale book, which was Thatch's collection. While the other commanders had books relating to their jobs, Thatch had cookbooks and fiction books. Ace was glad they were there.

He wished he could write a book. Then he thought of something. Maybe he should write down everything weird that was happening to him. Maybe he could turn it into a book someday, or when he learned what was wrong with him, where these memories actually came from, he could look back at them and see them in a different way.

He went to the room that held paper and got a long sheet before taking it to his temporary office and sat at the desk, taking one of the mapping pens out and starting to write everything:

-KNOWING THINGS-

-Thatch, Haruta, Marco, "Pops" names, friends, people and places on Moby Dick

-map making, sea charts

-Master Zeke memories

-plague island

-navigation skills

-Marco fighting moves

-Whiskey scary

-Stefan

-recognize food

-small things, words, people, events, social things

-Moby Dick home, Whitebeard "Pops"

-NOT KNOWING-

-2 years memories

-*map making, sea charts, navigation skills

-old fighting moves

-forgetting crew

-why anything happens

-small things about myself

-learning anything strange

-why knowing names?

-second division commander/commander office?

He couldn't think of anything else, and folded the paper up before finding a small crack in the wall and slipping the small paper inside. Nobody would know to look there. After that, he turned off the lamp on the desk and left the room, heading back to his own to sleep.