Hello this is Snowflake back with another chapter to Feelings and Thoughts. I would like to say that I have rewritten the first chapter of this story since I have been given some advice by JarofIdeas. I would like to thank you JarofIdeas for the wonderful advice that you have given me.

This will be the normal letter for the story.

But if a character is thinking about something it will be in this writing.

Previously

"It was quite amusing watching Thatch and Marco fighting playfully because in a sense it game me some relief. To see that even though they were commanders they were still able to mess around. But it also gave me a sense of homesickness considering that this reminded me of Luffy. SPLASH. Well there goes Thatch. Poor bastard he finally got caught by Marco. I do have to admit that it is pretty funny to see Thatch get thrown overboard," thought Ace.

Chapter 2

Marco P.O.V.

Thatch was saved by some of the crew members considering that I couldn't swim because I would just sink like a rock since that was the effects of a devil fruit.

"Oh great here he comes," thought Marco bitterly still a little angry that Thatch had called him pineapple head.

"Maarrccooo," whined a soaked Thatch. "That was unnecessary, now I have to fix my precious hair back into a pompador and that's going to take forever," groaned a frustrated Thatch since it took a long time to fix his hair.

"Whatever Thatch," said Marco not caring that he had just ruined his brother's hair. "But don't you think that Ace's personality changed a lot considering how he first was when he was with us," asked Marco continuing their topic about talking about Ace.

"Aye, I would have to agree with you there because he was a fire cracker with a burning hatred for something and in the end I wasn't able to figure out who that hatred was directed to," said Thatch.

Flashback

"Leave me alone I don't want to join your stupid crew," said Ace in a venomous tone glaring hatefully at the person's feet who was trying to talk to him.

Immediately when Ace had said this he saw the feet of the person disappear but he wasn't fooled since the ship's railing was right next to him. So the person had probably just jumped onto the railing to sit on it. Ace decided to take a chance and see who was going to try to talk to him this time. He looked up and instantly regretted doing so because sitting right next to him was first division commander Marco the Phoenix in all his glory with a smug smirk on his face because he knew that he had caught Ace off guard.

"What do you want?" blurted out Ace before he could stop himself.

Marco says nothing he just continues to stare at Ace until Ace gets uncomfortable and looks away. But the sensation of being stared at doesn't go away in fact it only gets stronger and more intense. Ace was starting to feel intimidated if he was being honest with himself but his pride would never let him admit that out loud. After a while of Marco staring intensely he felt Marco's gaze linger away so he decided that it was okay to calm down a little bit but he still kept his guard up.

"You seem to be feeling a mix of emotions why? And also why do you keep rejecting our offers to join the crew when we are only trying to help you," questioned Marco wanting an honest answer but knowing that he wasn't going to get an answer since Ace was never in the mood to talk with people considering that he usually ignored those who tried.

This was the last straw for Ace because he just snapped and all of his emotions poured out of him letting Marco see what he was feeling instead of the mask of cockiness that he tend to have on. The emotions came rushing out one by one anger, confusion, wariness, exhaustion, fear, frustration.

"Do you think it's easy accepting help from people who practically kidnapped you. You don't understand what I'm going through so don't act like you do," seethed Ace not wanting to have this conversation. "Why do you want me to join your crew anyway it's not like I'm anybody special," asked Ace with a tired tone with a hint of sadness.

Ace looked like he wanted to cry but then seemed to calm down a little bit so he wouldn't actually start to cry. He then seemed to realize what he had said and quickly looked at the ground knowing that his expression would be covered by his hat. He had shown enough weakness to Marco and wasn't going to show anymore by crying. Marco looked so shocked because he wasn't expecting Ace to answer his questions at all but then schooled his expression into something more appropriate. He was going to take this chance that Ace had given him whether he was aware or not he was going to talk to him since Ace had told him a lot of what he was feeling.

Marco decides to choose his next words carefully because this would probably help Ace's internal struggle. "Of course I can't understand what you're going through if you don't let me understand Ace. And don't say that you aren't special because that isn't true. You were choosen by Pops himself to be one of his sons meaning that he saw something that he liked within you. He also thought that you were unique to be part of our family so don't belittle yourself because you are more special than you think. Join our crew and become strong alongside us gaining experience along the way and if I'm honest you seem like you would fit perfectly with us as our little brother," said Marco sincerely trying to show Ace that he truly believed what he was saying.

Ace just sat there shocked that Marco had said all those things to a person like him despite all of the things that he had done they still insisted that he join the crew.

"Maybe I should stay here. I feel like I'm going to regret it if I say no to his offer. Despite pushing them away several times they didn't give up. I also don't want to break my promise with Luffy since we decided to live without regrets. But what if they find out about my heritage? Will they hate me? Abandon me? No, they wouldn't do that would they? I'm going to give them a chance at least for now," thought Ace beginning to tear up by what Marco had said.

Ace kept his hat down not wanting Marco to see him cry his anger burned out by the conversation. The tears began to fall and his shoulders started to shake but he didn't make any sound while crying. He was aware that Marco knew he was crying since his shoulders were shaking being an obvious sign.

Marco having noticed that Ace was crying said, "It's okay to cry Ace. There is no shame in crying tears when you are overwhelmed with emotions."

Marco gets off the railing and sits next to Ace who is still crying and slings an arm over his shoulder then bringing Ace into a kind of side hug. He feels Ace tense but Ace slowly starts to relax and calm down.

"Do you feel better now?" asked Marco nonchalantly acting as if Ace hadn't just broke down right now and for that he was grateful.

It takes Ace a while to respond becaue he is still trying to compose himself not trusting himself to speak without his voice quivering. But he was able to answer Marco's question after a few minutes, "Yes, thank you for helping me."

This is when Marco saw that he had helped Ace make a decision and instantly got the feeling that Ace was going to join their crazy family. He smirked and got up holding his hand out to Ace to help him up. Ace accepted Marco's hand and that's when Marco said, "Welcome to the family little brother," Ace saw that Marco had a soft smile and so he did what no one from the Whitebeard crew had seen him do and that was to smile a genuine and happy smile.

"Maybe I can trust them and become part of their large family after all," thought Ace.

End of Flashback

End of Chapter 2

End Note

Thank you to all the people who favorited or followed or reviewed on my story I appreciate it very much. I have decided that I will be updating this story every Tuesday and Friday but if I don't update on these days then that just means that I will be updating on a different day sorry for the inconveniences. But I will be releasing 2 chapters every week unless something bad happens to me. I do hope that you liked the new chapter and sorry for any grammar mistakes that I might have made.

Snowflake out! XD