Title: Ten Years Difference, 10/?

Author: Stormy1x2

Word Count: 6030

Notes: Oh boy... look, no spoilers. Just read the end notes before you review me about the obvious, okay? I've worked for so long on this chapter i've started to dream about it (almost a year – I had this part and the next part actually done before the bulk of the rest of the fic) and I'm finally posting it. With big reservations. Read the end notes. I'm babbling now.

Okay, here we go...

Ten Years Difference - Chapter 10

Ace had no idea how long it had taken him to reach the bandit hut. He had stumbled more during the trip than he had in almost his entire life of roaming the mountains, and Dadan had actually shrieked for Mogra and Dogra when he finally set foot inside the door. The cuts and scrapes were nothing new, but the bloodless, dead-eyed expression he must have still had on his face had scared the shit out of the bandits.

As he normally did, Mogra grabbed the disinfectant while Dogra helped Ace out of his t-shirt. Mogra began dabbing the cuts gently. "You don't look nearly as bad as you normally do to come to us for treatment," he said hesitantly.

Ace couldn't speak in reply to that. It was true. Ace is practically in one piece. Such a thing had never really happened before.

Dogra tentatively set down a spare t-shirt of Ace's that had most likely been left behind before their move out to the tree house. "Are Sabo and Luffy okay?" he asked, a rather brave and bold move for someone who had been mildly terrified of Ace ever since the boy – as a toddler – had bitten his arm hard enough to require stitches. He still had a semi-circle scar as a reminder. It ached when it rained.

Ace ignored him, his mind still whirling from shock, but his breath was coming easier, and he was beginning to calm down – well, as much as he could, without Sabo there to talk him down, or Luffy to cheer him up. Ace swallowed back his upset, his rage, his fear – all of it. Then he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Then once more, before speaking. "They're fine. For now." And that was the end of it, at least until Dogra and Mogra finished their doctoring.

Now bandaged and sitting with a cup of tea in his hands (a dirty cup, but the gesture was appreciated and eh, they tried), Ace managed to get his story out. "So now Sabo's stuck with that asshole, and our tree house is still in pieces and Luffy is in Foosha."

He took a deep breath and guzzled down the tea. Mogra took the cup from him and moved to the sink to toss it in with the others. He returned with an apple that he handed to the boy. "Now, now, Ace. You need to relax for a minute. At least all three of you are safe for the moment."

"Sabo's not safe!" Ace snarled, and chomped viciously on the apple. He swallowed it whole and continued. "He left his parents when he was five and happily lived in a trash heap. Does it sound like his parents were fun to live with?"

"No," Dogra said, joining the conversation and holding out his hands in a placating gesture. "But his father came looking for his heir. That means, if nothing else, Sabo's still alive. A dead heir is useless to a noble."

Ace gave a reluctant nod, finishing the apple – core and all.

"You gonna go after him?" Dadan broke into the conversation, staring at him with a strange look on her face. To Ace, it seemed one part proud mixed with two parts frustrated, served in a dish of annoyance. "Do you have any idea what you're up against?"

Ace glared at her, fists clenched by his side. "I don't care what I'm up against," he snapped out hotly. "Sabo doesn't want to be with them, and Luffy and I need him more. So I have to get him out of there!"

Dadan set down her saki cup and got to her feet in a surprisingly quick move for such a large woman. Before Ace knew what was happening, she had grabbed him by the arm and was slamming him into the wall, holding him up with her forearm. On a normal child, that would have been a debilitating, perhaps even paralyzing move. On Ace though, it just confused him enough to freeze into place, staring into Dadan's angry eyes. "Have you learned nothing of this place yet, brat?" she snarled right back at him. "What do you think you can do for Sabo?"

"I can help him escape again!" Ace gripped her forearm with his hands, a subtle threat that he could snap her limb like a twig if he wanted to. He didn't necessarily want to – old hag or not, the woman had nonetheless kept him alive until he had been able to fend for himself. But he wasn't going to allow her a chance to hurt him like so many others did in the past.

Dadan either didn't recognize the threat, or didn't care. She slammed him against the wall one more time. Ace's head thumped against the wooden slats, and a curse escaped him as he felt a lump start to swell. Dadan ignored his swearing and leaned forward, saki-infused cigarette breath wafting over his face, making him gag. "And if you got him away, then his father would just come search the forest with those soldiers again. He'd have you shot. They'd shoot all of us, Luffy too. Is that what you want to happen?"

There was a moment when Ace thought he was actually going to be sick, but from the vision her words described rather than her breath. "They wouldn't dare! They know shitty gramps lives here-"

"First off, he lives in Foosha, brat. And that makes no difference. The military bows their dog-like heads to the power held by the nobility of Goa. If Sabo wasn't found in the forest, their next stop would be Foosha, and one by one, they'd shoot down anyone who stood in the way of him retrieving his property." Dadan shook Ace again, but didn't slam his head against the wall. "Makino, the mayor, the cute guy who sells the fish at the docks – and Luffy too. Nobles don't care who they hurt, brat, and they have far more power then they have any right to. And you would lead them right to us!"

Ace gasped as she finally pulled her considerable weight back, and the pressure from her forearm against his throat eased. She stalked away from him as he dropped to the floor, reaching one hand up to massage his throat gingerly. Mogra scuttled forward to check the back of his head, while Dogra ran to the kitchen, muttering something about tea with honey helping sore throats. "Old hag-"

"Stupid brat-"

"I have to try," Ace coughed out, finally giving up and hunching over. He held up a hand to Dadan who looked like she was about to stomp over again to repeat her previous actions. "I know, Dadan. But maybe we can, I don't know..." His eyes darted from side to side, as though searching for a clear answer to his dilemma. One that could be found behind empty bottles of saki, or piles of broken and dirty dishes.

It didn't look promising.

It was Dogra who surprisingly came up with a suggestion. "If Sabo's father believed Sabo was dead, he wouldn't search for him or us. Right?" He glanced at Mogra. "Nobles love their money. They wouldn't waste it paying soldiers for something that would be worthless in the long run."

Ace blinked and stared at Dogra.

Mogra rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Tracker is still on the far side of the island. He would be the closest to get a message to Swipe."

Dadan was still glaring but something in her eyes had mellowed. She was silent for a long moment, long enough to make Ace start tapping his foot in agitation. Finally, giving a shrug, she wiggled her bottle of rum, testing how much was left. "Swipe has the right connections," she said finally, in a way that signified acknowledgement. There was another long pause. She heaved a huge sigh. "Where's Diego?"

Ace blinked again as a young man dashed into the room from the kitchen where he'd been with the other bandits and saluted Dadan. He didn't recognize him, but then, aside from Mogra and Dogra, Ace didn't know most of the bandits. For as long as he could remember, he was out in the forest all day, while the bandits... did whatever things bandits did. For the longest time, Ace was certain that meant nothing but drinking.

The bandits ranged in age from mid-twenties to Dadan who was ancient as far as Ace was concerned but Sabo had once speculated to be in her mid-fifties, possibly older. This new arrival looked to be on the younger age of the spectrum.

"Boss?"

"We need a name from the guards who took Sabo," Dadan said, scribbling something on a scrap piece of paper she had pulled from a place Ace resolutely did not know. She shot Ace a stern look. "If you have a noble name, finding out where you live is child's play for Tracker."

The man nodded, accepted the paper and disappeared out the door. The entire time, he didn't make a single sound against the wooden planks, and even the door, normally creaky and whiny with age, fell shut with a whisper.

Ace shook his head roughly, not understanding what fucking rabbit hole he'd just dropped into. He stared at the bandits with wide eyes. "What the hell?"

"Shut up, brat," Dadan said roughly, grabbing a new bottle of rum from a crate near the corner she called hers. "It's not a guarantee or nothing. If you wanna save brat number three, you can't do that without information. What were you going to do, run down to the city and start banging on doors until you find the guy?"

Ace's throat worked furiously and his cheeks burned, but he didn't answer. He hadn't even thought that far ahead, but yeah, that did sound like something he'd do.

Dadan bit the stopper off the bottle and guzzled back a huge swallow of rum. "People like that, the nobility, they don't answer their own doors," she said after, wiping her mouth with a pass of her forearm. "Those guards were from the wall, and you only know what his father looks like. You'd never find him."

"...what are... I mean... " Ace stopped and shook his head, blinking rapidly. "You're g-gonna help me?" He stared at her, desperately and a little crazily. "Why?"

Dadan sneered at him. "Good question. I don't know why I should bother," she snapped. "You're worthless as a bandit – can't get you to do a damn thing around here when there's dishes to be done and clothes to be washed-"

"But you are. Why? Why are you doing this?" Ace cut her off, a bit desperately. "You were going to practically kill me a few minutes ago and now you're... what are you doing?"

Dadan grunted with annoyance at the unsure tone of his voice and stood up straight. "I am the head of the Dadan bandits, brat," she hissed at him. Despite the massive intake of alcohol, she was rock steady and her eyes focused on his with laser-like intensity. "I have done things you wouldn't believe. There is a reason that Garp chose my clan to raise you idiots instead of throwing us into jail." She pointed a finger at him. "We may not be as physically strong as you, but bandits have strengths all their own. Or do you think we sit up here, day after day, doing nothing at all?"

The other bandits were gathered around her, watching Ace carefully. Mogra paused in gathering up his medical supplies, giving Ace a blank look. Dogra had his usual grip on his ever-present rifle, mouth firm for once.

Ace's eyes darted from one to another. He had always thought of the bandits as a joke.

They were weak. Not a single one of them could care for Ace as a baby – they'd had to do it in teams once they realized that Ace must have inherited a fair portion of his father's monster-like strength. Dadan herself had been scared of his teeth for the same reason Dogra was. The bandits never followed through on any of their threats that they made, and they never seemed to do very much as it was. Ace had deemed them unworthy of his attention and settled for ignoring them for the most part, terrorizing them when he felt like it, and leaving his sole contribution to the clan in the form of providing meat for dinner. He liked to hunt, and Dadan was a competent if not decent cook. It had worked out well, and that was the extent of what Ace thought their relationship had, and would always consist of.

And now he was seeing something different. The way Dadan was talking, the way they were muttering and scheming behind her... Ace was actually seeing the bandits as... well, bandits. He didn't even know the names she'd mentioned. And he certainly didn't know what they did all day. He knew that some of them disappeared each day, sometimes for days at a time, but he thought it was because they were drunk in the woods somewhere, or hiding from Dadan's screeching.

"But what are you doing? And why?" Ace could scarcely believe what he was seeing or hearing. He gazed up at what society would call his foster mother, comprehension gone.

"If you just wanted to get the brat back, that'd be murder-suicide," Dadan scoffed at him. "I've been around too long to get offed by a pair of brats and a noble."

"But planning a death scene..." Mogra let out a quiet chuckle. "Well, let's just say it's a bandit speciality. How many times have you died, Elmer?"

A bandit with thick black glasses poked out from behind Dadan. "Uh... three times, sir. Once in Goa, once on Apricot Island, and once in Edge Town."

"Which is why he's not allowed on anything except dump runs and backup anymore," said Dogra in an attempt to be helpfully informative.

"I only died once," Dadan said dreamily. The bottle was almost empty. Again. "But it was beautiful!"

"Never saw an explosion quite like it, Boss," praised another bandit, name unknown.

Not knowing how much of this he was supposed to believe or not, Ace chose to skip over the things Dadan might have done in the past in order to focus on what she could do right now. His brain recalled one of the first names. "Who's Tracker?"

Dadan scowled at Ace ignoring her noble death scene, and tipped her bottle back, leaving Mogra to answer the question. "Mah... Tracker is the city expert. He knows every single street, where every business is, hours of operations, delivery days, and patrol schedules."

Dogra nodded. "If he has a name, he can usually find a location within a few hours if necessary. But since this is a quiet job, it might take him a day or two."

"But-"

"Mah, mah, Ace. Sabo isn't in danger. You said he came for his heir. That means he needs Sabo alive." Mogra tentatively placed a hand on Ace's shoulder. "We can find out where he is. You just need to exercise a little patience. And uh..." he cocked his head at Ace. "Where is Luffy, again?"

"In Foosha with Makino," Ace said quietly, mind still whirling. "I gotta go get him."

"Do you?" Dadan asked him warily. Her empty bottle was quickly replaced with a full one by Mr name unknown. She went to bite out the rubber stopper only to hit glass – name unknown had already opened it for her. She spit out a glass chunk and eyed Ace blearily. "You don't need him here for this. He's safer there."

"But-" Ace cut himself off with a curse, choosing to turn his head and scowl at the ground instead of Dadan. She was right. He didn't like it, but she was right. For now, Luffy would be safe with Makino. The only person Party's Bar was connected to was the shitty gramps. Even if the worst, as outlined by Dadan, should happen, there would be no one to connect it to Foosha, no reason for guards to go hunting past bandit territory. "... yeah. You're right."

Dadan froze. "Huh?"

Mogra chuckled again. "Ace just agreed with you, Boss."

"Huh?"

Dogra covered his mouth with his hands, trying to hide his smile. "It won't take Diego long to get word to Tracker," he said. "I'm gonna follow behind to cover his return, just in case." He slipped out the door, rifle in hand.

"Huh?"

Ace was exhausted and could feel sleep pulling at him, but he didn't want to give in. He wanted to wait for Diego, whoever the hell he was, to come back. He wanted to know what this Tracker person knew. He wanted to know how they could get info from the guards. He wanted...

o0o

Mogra blinked in surprise as Ace suddenly keeled over, fast asleep. He waved at a bandit to bring a pillow, and he retrieved a blanket himself, putting it on the boy with a small smile. Ace was obviously exhausted. Stress and worry could wear you out just as much as a full day's worth of training, Mogra knew that from experience, and despite the front he put up to the world, Ace was still a child. One that had to grow up far too soon, but a child nonetheless.

Mogra hated that they had all been told to raise Ace with tough love. Garp had ingrained into their very soul – via a flurry of Fist of Learnings (which were weaker than Fist of Justices but stronger than Fist of Loves) – that that was the only way Ace would survive. The entire world wanted the boy dead, he'd declared, and Mogra had looked at the tiny baby being handed to them, smiling sweetly in his sleep.

How could anyone want such an innocent thing dead? It was beyond Mogra's comprehension, and he and Mogra had sworn with their boss that they would raise Ace to be tough and independent. And while he liked to think they had succeeded in raising a hell-bent, destructive, lethal terror on two legs, a small part of him still remembered three month old Ace beaming up at him toothlessly, waving his small hands for attention. Attention they'd been forced to deny.

That had been a very long time ago.

Then Luffy had come, and they'd had to start over, once again on Garp's orders. Mogra respected the man, and feared him greatly, but at the same time, a part of him truly hated the man.

Mogra shook his head, and tucked the blanket around Ace. The boy had never wanted their help before – indeed, had never even asked what they were capable of. Irregardless of that, until the day he set sail, he was one of theirs, and they would stand by their own.

And if doing so meant feigning the death of a noble-born boy with blonde hair and gap-toothed grin, well, then that was what they would do. Mogra nodded to himself and went to see what was available to make for a late lunch.

In the middle of the floor, Dadan was still staring unseeingly at the wall, shock over Ace agreeing with her for the first time ever sending her into a mental feedback loop.

"Huh?"

o0o

Izou had finally gotten his way.

Ace and Luffy had been on board the Moby Dick for nearly three and a half weeksweeks (not including the week Ace had spent unconscious), and the okama had been begging to redecorate the room Ace and Luffy were staying in. As Ace barely left the room save for meals, the bathroom, and to supervise Luffy when he went wandering, it was hard to pin the teenager down for his permission.

So Izou did what he normally did. He waited until they left for breakfast, and then swept inside with an armful of fabric, followed by his crew loaded down with various other materials and items he had picked out.

After all, he was a pirate. It was always easier to beg for forgiveness than it was to ask for and get permission.

Luffy had stopped short upon their return after their meal and let out a squeal that could be heard on deck. The room, once bare save for a bed with a second cot shoved in for Luffy, and an old desk, had been given a quick coat of bright yellow paint (Izou was counting on Luffy's enthusiasm in convincing Ace to let Izou's men in one more time for a second coat), with dark blue trim. Bright blue shelves lined Luffy's side and the few books and toys they had managed to scrounge up for the kid had been placed on them. The shelves on Ace's side for the moment were empty.

Izou had cornered Rakuyo earlier in the week to touch up and repaint an old treasure chest so Luffy could put his precious things in. Rakuyo had painted it a nice light brown with gold trim. The lock was there for decoration but the inner mechanism had been removed – Izou had his doubts about Luffy being able to keep track of a key at his age. Adorable but feckless.

Izou had found a brightly colored, spiral-shaped rug in one of the storage bins he kept in the bowels of the ship. A mix of blues, purples and pinks, it was big enough to throw in the middle of the room and still reach Ace's bed on the left – and the brand new bed Fossa and Blamenco had made for Luffy on the right.

Brand new sheets, covers and pillow cases of various shades of red for Luffy made up his bed, and Izou had picked orange for Ace. It didn't quite match his hat, but being a darker shade, it still looked good in the room.

Izou wanted to find some better curtains then the plain tan ones that most of the cabins had, and he was definitely going to replace the rickety desk, but the bulk of the work was done and it looked warm and inviting.

Luffy adored it. Ace had gaped at it for a minute, before turning around and yelling something about privacy and Izou's blatant invasion of it. But as Izou airily waved him off and prepared to leave, Ace reluctantly said that he liked it too, and 'thank you for doing this for Luffy'. It obviously pained Ace to say such things, but Izou hadn't been expecting anything at all, and so it was easy for him to smile brightly at the teen in reply.

"This doesn't mean I'm a part of this crew!" Ace hissed, trying not to let Luffy hear him.

"I know, darling. But at least this way you have a nicer place to sulk, hmm?"

Izou swept out of the room with a satisfied smile at the sound of a low growl coming from the teen. He was just so fun to tease.

Izou couldn't wait until Ace gave in.

o0o

They were having yet another party. They threw parties for a lot of things, but commander birthdays always got their own, and Fossa just happened to have his in the same month as Blenheim, Kingdew and Blamenco. That was a lot of parties. And Thatch would still have to prepare for Blamenco's the next week.

Speaking of Thatch, he had given Marco a mission and Marco was determined to fulfill it. However, handing a bowl of soup to an angry fire-brat that ate far less than he should have (and for what reason, Marco couldn't fathom) kinda felt like trying to hand feed a lion at a zoo. The wary way Ace had stared at him before he'd given up and set the bowl on the railing, the way Ace had circled around him to get to it, to sniff the contents and then pull it to himself like he was afraid someone was going to take it.

It was oddly like taming a feral animal. Only this one had a tame cub. Marco made a mental note to tell Thatch that comparison. No doubt the cook would take it and run with it. And speaking of tame cubs... "It's astonishing, the difference in the kid," Marco said idly, watching as Luffy pulled a laughing Haruta over to the buffet tables.

Ace's eyes didn't leave his little brother as he tentatively tested the soup Marco had brought him. "This is how he always acts."

"Maybe when you're awake and healthy, but when you were unconscious?" Marco shook his head, recalling the scared looks, the flinches, and the hesitant obedience when gently asked to do something. "Luffy was downright shy and retiring – even scared."

That got Ace to lift his head, and he shot a slitted, disbelieving look at Marco.

"All true, yoi. The only time his real personality came out was during the visit with your old Spade crew."

Ace sent a silent snarl in Marco's direction. "They're not my old crew."

Marco didn't particularly want to open that can of worms just then. He nodded deferentially, watched Ace's fur settle so to speak, and moved on. "Anyway, Luffy's personality does a one-eighty when you're not around to reassure him." He winked at Ace, watching with amusement as the younger man's face flushed. "You should take that as an incentive to stay in good health."

Ace didn't say anything, but his gaze went a bit distant as he looked in the direction of the party. It took a few minutes of waiting, but Marco had a level of patience that most saints would envy, and so he was rewarded with Ace eventually speaking. "When I got hurt before... he had Dusty."

Marco raised an eyebrow. "Dusty's on the same level as you?"

Ace shrugged. "Not exactly." He chewed his upper lip for a moment before continuing. "I... gave Dusty a job, when he joined."

"So I heard," Marco chuckled. "The babysitter, right?"

"Kinda." Ace shrugged again. "He was my First Mate but I told him his biggest job was protecting Luffy when I couldn't. Doing whatever it took – lying, cheating, stealing, fighting, manipulating – but keeping him safe and happy and as worry-free as possible." Then he frowned at Marco and turned his attention back to the soup in his hands.

Marco mulled that over for a while while shifting his attention to the party.

Haruta had apparently challenged Luffy to a soup-swallowing contest. Marco watched with amusement as she raised the steaming bowl to her lips while Luffy simply swallowed the whole bowl. Vista shouted and was trying to pry the kids mouth open while Rakuyo reached in for the bowl, screaming something about choking. A quick side glance to Ace saw the teen watching his brother with a resigned expression. It was obviously not the first time he had seen his brother eat the serving dishes. The bowl came free with a pop and Luffy cheered that he had won while Haruta gulped down water for her burning throat and Vista and Rakuyo took deep breaths of relief.

"So I have another question for you, yoi," Marco said calmly, still watching the entertainment before them.

Ace flicked an eye to him and then back to the group. "What?"

Marco shrugged. "When do you plan on giving in and taking up Pop's mark?

It was like an electrical charge shot through Ace's spine as the boy abruptly straightened and turned anger-filled eyes on him. "What?"

"You heard me." Marco stared him down. "You've been on this ship with us for just over a month total now. Luffy's practically adopted everyone on board. The only one holding out here is you." Marco pushed off the railing and faced Ace squarely. "You could have left at the last island we stocked up on, but you didn't, yoi. Your crew would follow you if you decided to leave, all you have to do is give them a call on the Den Den Mushi. And you're resourceful enough – you'd find another ship if you really wanted to."

Ace looked pale in the flickering candle light, freckles standing out starkly in contrast to the darkness that covered his eyes. His fists were clenched, and he was trembling faintly.

"You haven't been attacked or harmed, even though you seem to think we're trying to poison you – and yet you trust that the food we give Luffy is okay for him to eat. You growl at everyone but I've seen you help some members of the crew with basic chores and other things. Should I go on?"

Ace bared his teeth. He had oddly sharp-looking canines.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't, and Marco decided to give that one last push. Damned it was.

"You know we want the two of you – and of course, the rest of your crew – to stay with us. Why don't you just make it official, get the mark and join us with Pops?"

o0o

Ace was finding it difficult to draw an even breath. His lungs felt like they were seizing up with every word that came out of Marco's mouth. The final question though, that hit dead on to a part of Ace he had been trying to keep under wraps ever since waking up on the Moby Dick. His anger simmered up, nearly at the boiling point and he finally burst out with a question he had been somewhat dying to ask for weeks now.

"Why the hell do you call him father?" Ace spat before he could stop himself. "What's wrong with using the title of what he is? He's your captain."

Marco looked at him with a strange expression that Ace couldn't identify. For a brief moment, it almost felt like Marco was showing... pity? Or something? Ace couldn't tell, but it pissed him off.

As did Marco's answer.

"We call him father, and he calls us his sons." Marco closed his eyes, and Ace watched with (jealous?) anger as the Phoneix's face smiled softly at the thought. After a pause, Marco looked directly at Ace. "It's just a word... but it makes us happy."

Those words. Always it came down to those. Fucking. Words.

Father. Son. Both of those words ripped a hole in him deep inside every time he heard them and it was no different now than it ever was.

Despite his internal vow to control himself, despite Luffy being a few dozen meters away, unaware of anything happening to his older brother, the lid on his barely-controlled temper finally came off.

"Like fucking hell!"

Marco blinked wide-eyed at him.

Ace growled, unable to repress the anger and sarcasm from his tone as he hissed, "You claim to accept everyone as a brother..." He trailed off for a moment, a broken laugh squeezing past the hurt and bitterness that had dwelled inside him for years. "You can't actually accept everyone. It's not fucking possible. I know."

It was a lie. They couldn't. They wouldn't. Ace knew that what applied to others, never applied to him. It was something he'd known growing up with bandits who frequently said they wouldn't care if he died or didn't come back. It was something he'd been told by countless people in Edge Town when he'd asked the question. It was something he'd been warned about countless times by idiot Marines he'd fought who hadn't realized exactly who they were fighting.

Hell, it was something even his moronic grandfather told him without words when Ace asked and was given the vague answer that he had to find out himself. It was a fact of life, the same way rain fell down, and the sky was blue.

Ace could never truly be accepted. He was a living sin. He should never have been born.

He glared up at Marco, daring him to say otherwise.

o0o

"Try me, yoi."

This was not going exactly the way Marco had planned. He had wanted to drop off the bowl of stew Thatch had given him for Ace – additionally fortified with extra meat, spices and other additives because the brat seemed to be losing weight with his paranoid stubbornness and both Thatch and Marco had been starting to get worried about it – and see if he could strike up another conversation, maybe convince the guy to go back with him to the party that had been thrown for Fossa's birthday. Ace had stayed permanently planted against the railing, the usual spot he took during the gatherings the Whitebeards tended to have at night.

Simple. Yeah, right.

Luffy had spent most of the night safely and happily ensconced between a protective Haruta and a very indulgent Vista who kept acquiescing to the little one's requests for more meat (well, until Luffy started eating the dishes, that is), but Ace continued to stay distanced from them, wary at best, afraid at worst. It was so odd that he seemed to accept that Luffy would be okay with them but he would not.

No, not odd. It was damn strange.

Food seemed to be the best ice-breaker for the fire-user, and Marco hadn't thought twice about accepting the enriched food from Thatch to give to Ace, but he hadn't expected to deal with this as a result. A conversation, yes, but he hadn't expected this question from Ace.

It had caught him off-guard a little – asking about Oyaji? Why they called him father? It was a little odd. But Ace was still pale, still had a desperate look in his eyes, something that told Marco the question wasn't frivolous at all, and that he should answer it before Ace gave into the temper tantrum he was not-so-obviously holding back.

"It's just a word... but it makes us happy!"

He had no idea that by saying that, he'd be opening a particular can of worms – unleashing something from Ace that had obviously been long-festering. It had been simply that dead-yet-still-enraged look on Ace's face, the look in his eye that had made him quirk an eyebrow as if to ask, 'why?'

"And you claim to accept everyone as a brother..."

Marco had taken slight offence at the brat's tone, like he believed wholeheartedly that Marco was lying. He'd growled out the statement/question in a way that sounded like he was about to erupt from his sitting position straight into a confrontation. Still, he'd been prepared to gloss over whatever the kid spat out – he was trying to start a fight, that was patently obvious – until Ace had then growled about betting they wouldn't accept everyone.

Marco had slipped up there. He dared the kid to try him.

Which brought them to this moment. This particular moment, where Ace was glaring at him with wild eyes, his mouth a thin angry line in his otherwise handsome face.

"So who are you, Ace?" Marco rubbed his nose and decided he might as well keep going. It had already come this far. "Who are you, that you think we couldn't possibly accept you, especially since it's been made patently obvious that we've already accepted your brother?"

He watched as the brat sneered at him, lowering his hat until Marco could barely make out the two narrowed slits spitting fire at him. "Luffy's a kid, and I know the Whitebeard pirates don't hurt women or children. Everyone knows that."

"And you, yoi?" Marco asked again, genuinely confused and curious, insult and anger dissipating in their wake. There was something familiar about the brat in the way he was facing him down, the determination and the guts to not back down. Something in the back of his head was poking at him repeatedly. "Who are you?"

There was a vicious snarl more animal than human. With fascination, he watched as Ace gave him a jagged, wolf-like smile that was painful to look at and Marco found himself holding his breath.

"My real name is Gol D Ace. My father is...was... Gol D Roger."

End part 10

End Notes:

Okay, so I'm really nervous about this part. I actually had the 3 /4's of it written MONTHS ago – but I've been paranoid about it. I've read it a thousand times, changed things, rewrote entire chunks – and something still feels off. I know a better writer would be able to figure it out, and I'm sorry I can't write it the way I want to, but I did my absolute best and it has all the elements that I wanted/needed to get in there. It just feels a bit choppy. Ya know? I knew I needed a time skip but it's so hard to write one to refer back to and not actually just write out the time you're skipping... that made sense in my head, I know it did.

Anyway, I have part 11 almost halfway done as well (you guys are truly an inspiration – I'm not joking when I say reviews fire me up – look how quick you got this!). I hope you enjoyed this chapter, mishmash and all, and I really hope you continue to enjoy the fic as a whole.

Dadan's bandits are based on the ones we see in the anime. Like my Spades pirates, if you like them (as they get developed), feel free to use them. We need more bandit action in this fandom. I've seen lots of Dadan-based fics but not bandit-based. :)