Chapter 2: Punches and Fries
What the hell did he get himself into this time?
What had he been thinking?
Had he known that by getting into that brief scuffle back in the Grey Terminal he'd be in this mess…? Damn it, he was still kicking himself for his stupidity.
Ace was sitting in the living room, his leg bouncing restlessly as he kept checking his phone every few minutes. He bit his lower lip as he realized that it was getting pretty late but he didn't want to leave until she got here. He had already put Luffy to bed a couple hours ago before he called to beg her to come and stay with him while he took care of… this problem.
*A few days ago*
A couple weeks after the eventful trip to the zoo, Ace dropped Luffy off to hang out with Makino for a few hours so he could head off to Trash Mountain in the Grey Terminal, wondering if he could get lucky and find some more treasure among the junk.
Short answer was, he did. Long answer… he stole it from someone else that he probably shouldn't have.
Trash Mountain, or as it was more commonly known, the Grey Terminal was more than just a mountain of junk—but rather an entire mountain range of junk that stretched on for what felt like miles in all directions. Everything from garbage to broken shards of glass or planks of wood to giant metal pipes were scattered all over until it reached a large wall in the distance where the high-born of the city lived—choosing to be separated from the mere 'commoners'.
Ace arrived to look around, making sure to do so in the afternoon since that was usually the best time to avoid as many people as possible because the high sun tended to make the smell unbearable and the twisted pieces of scrap metal were blazing hot to be around.
Like he hoped, there were hardly any other people in his vicinity, so he was free to explore as much as he wished without interruption. After less than an hour, he had gotten lucky when he came across a few useful things that he could put to good use such as some sturdy wood, a few tools that looked hardly used, and he lit up when he found what looked to be a toy telescope. Despite its slightly dented covering, he was thrilled at his find because he knew that Luffy was going to love it—especially since he had been asking for a telescope for a few days now.
Glad to have had a successful hunt, he tucked everything under his arm and made for the exit—already wondering what he would do with such good wood—when something else caught his eye. He paused when passing by a pile of broken pipes, having seen something sparkling from what looked like an old burlap sack. He bent closer to see what it was before realizing that it looked like someone had purposely scattered various pieces of junk to try and hide something but it seemed that the sack had a small tear in the side where the sparkling object was just barely sticking out.
He moved the twisted pieces of metal out of his way and looked into the sack before his jaw dropped open in shock. Inside were various types of jewelry and even a large pile of beris all tucked safely away; and the sparkling object he first saw turned out to have been part of a bracelet that had large emeralds and sapphires in the golden band. His eyes widened in joy at the sight, feeling like he was a pirate who had just discovered a secret treasure chest as he stared at it, his mind quickly calculating how much he could reasonably sell it for…?
This could keep them going for a good six months, at least! He couldn't believe his luck!
He dropped the wood and tools, planning to come back for them another day, this had to come first.
He shoved the burlap sack into his backpack before making his way to the exit, wanting to get out of there before he was spotted. There was no way that an entire bag that just happened to be filled with such treasure would've been laying around for no reason.
But it seems that he was paying for his stroke of good fortune.
"HEY! PUNK! WHY YOU RUNNING?!" a voice called out and Ace winced, knowing that spent too much time gawking at his find, and looked back to see a group of four or five thugs climbing over the trash, their eyes fixated on him.
"Damn…?" he hissed, turning back to face them. So close… he was this close to getting out of there. Oh well… it had been awhile since he got into a fight with someone anyway and he was worried that he might be getting a bit rusty. Especially if these guys were the owners of this treasure—which judging by the angry looks on their faces—they were.
Sure enough, they realized that their money was gone and glared hatefully at Ace, who made sure to tuck the telescope safely into his back pocket before he went charging straight in.
*A couple hours later*
Ace left the Grey Terminal with a bruised face and traces of dried blood leading from his hair all the way to his chin on one side of his head. It was a rather dirty fight since those thugs were armed with knives, but he was able to let loose and took down all five while receiving only minor flesh wounds for his troubles. Still, he still had the spoils of his victory and left immediately after the fight—mentally telling himself to avoid going to the Grey Terminal for the next few months if he wanted to avoid them again.
He didn't dwell on it for long though as he went off to the exchange office to get his money's worth. He made sure to keep his orange cowboy hat down low on his face to try and avoid as much attention to his beaten state as possible before he went straight back to Makino's bar to treat his injuries and to pick up Luffy.
Makino was already wiping down the counter of the bar before he appeared and she was startled by his injuries.
"Oh, Ace," she sighed as he could only shrug back with a rather sheepish grin.
"Sorry," he answered as another customer came in.
"Be with you in just a moment," Makino called to the young man, who just waved and took a seat at a table, before she turned back to Ace and scolded lightly, "Go clean yourself up, Ace. You can use the bathroom in the back. We don't want Luffy to worry about you."
"Where is he?" he asked as he followed her to the stairs that led to a small living area above the bar where she lived.
"He's watching TV, apparently he's really taken to a new show about a reindeer superhero?" she answered, sounding a bit lost to the concept before Ace let out a snort of laughter. Shows these days were becoming so weird. Chopperman had become surprisingly popular with kids though, even Luffy had begged Ace for a backpack that was shaped like the little chibi-reindeer with a red cape that he took with him everywhere he went.
He just thanked Makino before taking the towel and mini first-aid kid she offered before he disappeared into the bathroom to get the dried blood off his face. After a little while, he managed to make himself look mostly normal, hoping Luffy wouldn't notice anything strange, before he came out. He was surprised to find Luffy already waiting for him, grinning happily at Ace, who felt his own pain going away at that moment. Though he suspected that may have more to do with the painkillers kicking in.
"Ace!" Luffy chirped up as he held up his hands, wanting to be carried, "You came back!"
"Why do you sound surprised?" Ace grinned as he scooped him up in his arms, letting the kid wrap his arms around his neck, "I always do."
"Shishishi! I know! But you were gone for a long time today," Luffy answered him, which was true. Ace hardly left Luffy alone for longer than a few hours at a time, and so he supposed that it had been awhile since he saw him.
"Sorry about that," he answered, "But were you good for Makino, today?"
"Shishishi! Yep!" Luffy confirmed as Ace came out from the back to the mostly empty bar as Makino was serving a drinks to the few remaining customers before she smiled back at the pair of them.
"Thanks for this, Makino," Ace told her, "I feel really bad in asking you to watch him so often…?"
"Oh, don't you worry about it," Makino reassured him as she ran her fingers fondly through Luffy's hair, "He's such a sweetheart and I love having him visit. But you need to take better care of yourself, Ace."
Luffy tilted his head at that, confused to why she would bring that up as Ace cleared his throat.
"Can do. I'll keep that in mind," he promised before tilting his hat to her before heading to the door, Luffy still in his arms. "Come on, Luffy, we'll have to stop by and pick up something for dinner tonight."
Luffy cheered at the thought, asking for meat already, as they stepped outside. The sky was starting to grow dark as twilight settled in, taking Ace by surprise at how much time had passed since this afternoon. But he quickly forgot about it as Luffy was telling him all about his day and asking if they could watch a little more Chopperman when they got home.
Ace did his best to pay attention, but the further he walked, the more he felt uneasy. He kept pausing and looking over his shoulder, having a bad feeling like there was someone watching him. He frowned as he looked up and down the street, but not seeing anything. The street lights weren't even on just yet and there was no one else around save for him and Luffy, yet he was all but certain of it.
He felt eyes watching him.
"What is it, Ace?" Luffy asked.
"Just checking about rain for tonight," he answered instead, thinking of how the sky was looking a bit threatening at this moment and remembered the forecast did predict a lot of rain this week. "I guess we best get stocked up on food and everything on our way home."
Luffy was in full agreement, promising to help as he hung off Ace like a little monkey. Hearing that, Ace felt better with Luffy so close to him as he carried him down the street, his eyes still zeroing in on anything that seemed remotely suspicious before they stopped by a small store for groceries.
…
By the time that Ace got home with Luffy and all their food, that uneasy feeling had faded and the rains were just starting to drizzle. Luffy was excitedly for this, already playing pretend that he was a pirate again, telling Ace to brace himself for a nasty cyclone out on the high seas the entire way into the house. By that point, Ace remembered his present and fished the telescope out of his pocket to present to him once everything was put away in the kitchen.
At the sight of it, Luffy's face lit up and he let out a cry of excitement as he threw his arms around Ace's neck once more in a big hug, thanking him over and over as Ace could only laugh.
"I know that you wanted one for a while," he explained, "It's a bit bent, but I think it should still work…?"
"That's ok!" Luffy reassured him, impatiently waiting for Ace to clean it up before finally passing it to him, who was already looking through it around the small room. Luffy's grin stretched even farther as he proclaimed, "See! It still works! This'll be great on the seas!"
"Really? So what kind of pirate adventure do you have in mind?" Ace asked as Luffy began telling him about giants fighting dinosaurs.
…
It was almost four days later before the rains finally let up enough for them to see the sun again. He was grateful for this since Luffy was growing irritable being stuck inside and nothing scared Ace more than a bored Luffy.
He had to keep refusing to allow Luffy to play in the rain, instead promising to take him to the park to make up for it once the skies cleared. When that day arrived at last, the boy was all but bouncing off the walls as Ace struggled and eventually gave up trying to get Luffy to wear his rain boots—allowing him to just go out with his sandals again.
He made Luffy put on his raincoat at the very least before they stepped outside, with Luffy immediately running over to the nearest puddle and began to jump and splash around while laughing his head off.
Everything around them seemed to be doing a lot better after the incessant rains finally ended. Plants were already perking up, no longer drowning, and the water in the street was slowing from a steady flow to a tiny trickle as Luffy splashed his way through. He all but danced as they walked and it genuinely made Ace smile to see how joyful Luffy looked. It was almost like he was made of rubber with how bouncy his steps were and his laughter was infectious as Ace laughed alongside him as they made their way down the block.
Luffy's Chopperman backpack was swinging from his back as he talked about all the treasures he wanted to find today, his hand still holding onto the toy telescope, and Ace knew exactly what Luffy was going to do as soon as they got to the park. Sure enough, the moment they stepped through the gate, Luffy made a beeline towards a big pirate ship-shaped play set, already climbing up the side and rushing to the wheel as he looked about through the telescope.
"Just make sure you stay where I can see you," Ace called after him as Luffy already caught sight of some beetles under the slide. Ace just chuckled before he took a seat at a nearby bench so that he could watch—even snapping a few pics of Luffy as he played around at the ship's wheel, calling out about a storm coming in and to fight their way through it as if he were ordering a crew of pirates around.
Ace stretched out, enjoying the warm sunshine and breeze, glad for a chance to be outside again after all that rain. A short distance from him, however, he became aware that there were a pair of mothers watching him with strange looks.
He rolled his eyes, having a good idea to what they were annoyed about and did his best to ignore them. Still, Ace's hearing was damn good, and he could hear the two mothers whispering to each other about how irresponsible young people were these days.
"To be a father that young…? What was he thinking…?" he heard one of them whisper as he leaned back and enjoyed the warm sun on his face.
Ace was used to such stares; he was used to the hushed whispers when he walked by with Luffy and knew they were judging him. The stares only got more accusatory when Luffy kept running back and forth from the play area to Ace whenever he found something he thought was really cool—usually a bug or strange-looking rock—before he would run off again.
He didn't mind though. He was Luffy's father in pretty much all aspects but name and he wasn't ashamed of it. Let them talk about him. They didn't know him and had no right to judge how he raised his little brother. He had raised him since the day he was born and while he was far from perfect, he liked to think he was doing a damn good job so far.
Though he did make sure to give the two women a hard glower, showing that he could hear them, and they quickly cleared their throats and hurried farther away to the other side of the playground so they didn't have to look at him.
Things were quiet after that for a time as he watched Luffy enjoying himself. It was over an hour of watching Luffy running around before Ace checked his phone, looking for some kind of idea on what to have for lunch, before he glanced back up… and all but choked at what he saw.
There were two men standing at one side of the pirate ship, and they were talking to Luffy, who was hanging off one of the plastic cannons.
Ace had never seen these two men before.
One was a tall, lean, muscular man with a rather sleepy look on his face and short blond hair that stuck out at the top of his head to give him the impression of a pineapple. He was also adorned with an open purple jacket with a tattoo on his chest that looked familiar to Ace though he couldn't think of where he'd seen it before.
As for the second man, he was tall with a light brown pompadour hairstyle, which went to a point at the back of his head and goatee around his chin. With a stitched scar running down his face around his left eye, but seemed to be good-natured as he smiled brightly up at Luffy, who waved happily to them.
Ace felt his eye twitching in annoyance as he watched them like a hawk, not liking how the two were talking to his brother. He was all but growling as Luffy's head perked up at whatever they were saying before he pointed over to Ace. Ace sighed, knowing he would have to have another discussion with Luffy about talking to strangers later tonight, before the kid went back to playing pretend on the ship. Meanwhile, the two men headed straight over to where he was sitting and Ace glared as they approached.
"Hey there," the pineapple-head man spoke up once they were close, "Hope you don't mind a little company. Thought you might need an adult to talk to in a place like this."
Ace tried his best to refrain from showing any hostility, but he grinned in a somewhat threatening way as he said, "So kind of you to think that. But I'm good. You can move on."
"Whoa, hang on, no need for that," the other said, holding up his hands in surrender, "We're not here for any trouble. We just want to talk. The name's Thatch, and this here is my friend Marco."
"Pleasure," the pineapple-headed Marco said as the two waited to see what Ace would do.
"Are those names supposed to mean something to me?" Ace demanded, his eyes trailing on Marco's tattoo as he wracked his brain trying to remember where he'd seen it.
"Listen, we just have a few questions to ask you, that's all," Thatch said, still with a bright smile. "We were told that you happened to steal a bit of treasure the other day from some thugs at the Grey Terminal. Is that true?"
"And before you ask, no, we aren't affiliated with those guys in any way," Marco reassured him. "We just need to know if you're the guy we're looking for. And if it makes you feel better, we're not here to ask for the treasure. You can keep it."
Ace's eyes narrowed dangerously, a little alarmed that they knew about all that when he hadn't told anyone else what happened at the Grey Terminal, nor of how much treasure he got that day.
"What of it?" he asked, his air of politeness fading, "I happened to come across a good find in all that garbage. Finders… keepers and all that. Had expenses to pay for, I hope you understand."
"Ah, of course," Marco laughed before adding, "But that's not what the problem here is."
"Then what is?" Ace asked, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees, his fingers folding together to keep himself from doing something stupid. Though he had learned to deal with most of his anger issues over the last couple years, he still had a tendency to let it get the better of him whenever Luffy wasn't around.
"Is that your kid?" the one called Thatch asked, glancing back to Luffy, who was looking through the beat-up telescope again.
"He's my family. What's it to you?" Ace countered, not bothering to correct him but the grin was now completely gone at this point, really not liking where this talk was going.
Perhaps Marco sensed the danger for he added, "Before you panic, we don't mean you or the kid any harm."
"We're just concerned for your son is all since you did make a pretty big enemy the other day," Thatch informed him and Ace's eyes narrowed at that.
"That better not be a threat," he warned.
"No, but you may not be aware of the fact that may have shot yourself in the foot by stealing that money…?" Thatch began but Ace heard enough.
"Look," Ace snarled, no longer in the mood to try and be nice. "I don't know who you two are nor do I care. But if I catch you talking to my little brother again, I will be all too happy to finish you off myself."
He cracked his knuckles to show he wasn't fooling around… but the only thing that Thatch seemed to be focusing on was the word 'brother' as if he had never heard of such a thing.
"Your little… brother?" Thatch repeated while blinking in surprise before looking from him to Luffy. He then went on with a grin as if he didn't fully register Ace's threat, "No way… he's your little brother? How old is he and how old are you? Bro, he looks just like you! He's gotta be your kid. No shame in admitting being a teenage dad."
"Look, you both are really starting to piss me off," Ace threatened, doing his damnest to stay calm but he was quickly losing it.
Thankfully, Marco seemed to have predicted this as he held up his hands and said soothingly, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's all take it easy. Please ignore my friend. He's a good person but he tends to let his mouth run off from time to time. For the last time, we're not here for a fight. There's just something that we need to discuss about the money you took from those guys."
"Then spit it out," Ace demanded, standing up and folding his arms.
"To cut to the heart of the matter, our boss sent us to speak with you in private," Marco informed him.
"Boss?" Ace repeated.
"Perhaps you've heard of him?" Thatch asked, "Edward Newgate… is his official name… but you might know him more commonly by his street name. Does the name Whitebeard ring any bells with you?"
Ace blinked at that, feeling a bead of sweat on his forehead appearing as he realized where he had seen that tattoo before. That was the symbol of Whitebeard's gang.
Ah, hell… he really did it now.
"Whitebeard sent you to talk to me?" he repeated, "Look, I don't know what this is about, but I'm not in the mood for jokes. I didn't do anything to you guys. You said so yourself that you weren't with those thugs I beat up before, right? So why the hell would he want anything to do with me?"
Marco opened his mouth, about to explain when…?
"Ace!"
Ace felt his body go cold as Luffy came running over, covered in dirt, and happily holding up the large beetle he just caught.
"Ace! Look! I found an atlas! Isn't it so cool?!" Luffy asked with excitement, holding it up proudly as the bug kicked its legs about wildly.
"Hey, Luffy, that's great, but now may not be the best time, kiddo," Ace said, trying to stay calm but his nerves were getting the better of him as he wanted Luffy far away from a pair of gang members. To his surprise though, both of them seemed to take an interest in this—or at least pretended to for Luffy.
"Hey, let me see," Marco said as he crouched down to Luffy's eye level so he could see the bug as well. "Now, don't you have a prize? They're tricky to catch. Well done."
Luffy beamed proudly before he asked, "Thanks. Who the hell are you?"
Marco seemed momentarily taken aback by the blunt question but he chuckled and said, "Just some new acquaintances of… your big brother?"
He glanced up at Ace, who could only nod so as not to worry Luffy.
"Really? Yeah! Ace is my big brother!" Luffy recited proudly before asking Ace, "Ace are they your friends? Can I be friends with them too?"
"Oh, it's a bit early to call them friends," Ace said with an awkward chuckle, wishing that Luffy could read the room and go back to playing as to avoid getting into any trouble.
"Hey, kid, you hungry?" Thatch asked just as Luffy's stomach give a grumble and Luffy groaned out like he hadn't eaten in a week. He laughed before patting his head and offered, "I guess that answers the question. How about we all go out to lunch? My treat."
Marco was observing Ace closely as Luffy cheered, already drooling at the thought of free food, before he told Ace in a quieter tone, "There's a restaurant with a play area for the kid a few blocks from here? We can talk more there since we don't want the kid to overhear something you don't want him to. We just need to discuss something important. If you don't want anything more to do with us afterwards, then we will leave and you'll never have to see us again. Does that sound reasonable?"
Ace's face was hard, but he also knew better than to dismiss them without hearing them out. The last thing he wanted was to offend some kind of gang, especially one that was as dangerous as Whitebeard. Besides, if they were offering to pay for a free meal…?
"Alright," he agreed as Luffy went ahead to release the bug in the tall grass. "I'll hear you out, but you better not dance around the subject."
The two nodded before Ace added in warning, "Though… you might regret offering to pay. We both eat a lot."
Without another word, or even a glance back, Ace took Luffy's hand, making sure to stay between him and the other two men, before they headed out of the gate of the park.
…
"Damn… you weren't bluffing," Thatch whispered as he could only watch on in awe as Ace swallowed his seventh burger and Luffy inhaled another load of fries. "Like seriously, were does it all go? How do you two manage to feed yourselves?"
"Why do you think I go to the Grey Terminal for some extra cash?" Ace asked as gave a great swallow. "I ended up striking it good the other day."
After arriving at the restaurant, Luffy and Ace wasted no time in ordering everything off the menu before the four of them took to a table at the far corner of the room. Luckily, no one gave them any attention, at least until a mountain of food appeared at the table and the two brothers sucked it up like they had been starving for weeks.
"Meat! I want more meat!" Luffy begged, raising his hands as Ace shoved some chicken towards him, who gobbled it up whole like how a vacuum would suck up a stray sock.
"I'm glad you offered to pay, Thatch," Marco said with an evil smirk as Thatch sighed, checking his wallet to make sure that he had enough or if he should go to the bank. Marco laughed at that before looking back to Luffy and asked, "Seriously, did you have a lot of sugar for breakfast or something? You're so happy and hyped."
"Nope. He's just always like that," Ace explained as Luffy practically stretched out his jaw to get his mouth around an entire burger for himself.
"Always? Damn, how do you keep up?" Marco had to ask.
"Several power naps during the day," Ace answered back, only half joking.
"Hi!" Luffy added in greeting, as if he just realized that he didn't know who they were and introductions were suddenly in order. "I'm Luffy, nice meeting you."
"Well, it's nice to meet you too, Luffy," Marco chuckled. "I'm Marco and this is my friend Thatch."
"Why does your head look like a pineapple?" Luffy asked brightly and Ace snorted at that.
Marco raised his eyebrows, looking more amused than annoyed at such a rude question.
"Why do you have such a big mouth?" he asked back as Luffy giggled happily, swinging his feet that dangled above the floor.
"Damn kid, didn't your dad here teach you anything about manners?" Thatch asked, clearly still convinced that Ace was actually Luffy's dad instead of his brother.
"What dad?" Luffy asked curiously, tilting his head in confusion.
"Oi, don't confuse him," Ace said at the same time.
"Wait, you mean it's true and that this guy here isn't your dad?" Thatch asked Luffy, pointing over at Ace.
"My mom and dad are dead," Luffy answered back bluntly, "But that's ok! Ace is the best big brother ever!"
At that, Ace beamed proudly as Luffy giggled again, never getting tired of seeing Ace smiling at him.
"But seriously, how old are you two?" Thatch asked curiously, looking to Ace again, "You had to be pretty young when you stepped up for him?"
"I'm four!" Luffy chirped up proudly.
Ace's smile faded a bit and answered, knowing that he could still get into a lot of trouble if that information was ever found out by the authorities, "None of your business, now is it?"
But as he was about to shove more fries into his mouth… Ace felt his eyelids droop and his face fell forward into the food… and he was out like a light. It happened so fast that the other two jumped back, having not expected Ace to collapse in mid conversation like that… his arm still raised with a fry suspended comically.
Seconds passed with Luffy only continuing to munch on whatever he could get his hands on, before Thatch began to panic.
"WHAT THE HELL? DID THE GUY JUST DIE?!" Thatch cried out in panic, getting everyone's attention as they stared at the scene.
"No, Ace does that a lot," Luffy answered with a mouthful of meat, his attitude clearly saying he'd seen this happen before.
"This is normal for him?" Marco asked, feeling a bead of sweat falling from his face.
"Shishishi! Yep!" Luffy chirped happily as he reached over and snatched up some of Ace's fries as his brother was snoring into his food and the other two just watched with a mixture of amazement and shock.
"I guess this is what he meant when he said that he needs power naps to get through the day…?" Marco whispered to Thatch, who could only poke at Ace, as if checking to make sure that Ace really was still alive.
"So… Luffy?" Marco asked, turning back to the boy, as Thatch tried to poke Ace awake, still looking unsure about this situation.
"Mhmp?" was the only noise Luffy could make since there was so much crammed in his mouth.
"You really like your big brother, huh?" Marco asked with a smile.
With a great big swallow, Luffy nodded and answered as if the answer was as obvious as what color the sky was, "Ace is the best! He takes good care of me!"
"Do you… have anyone else? Any other family or friends…?" Marco asked as concern was starting to seep into his words.
"Nope," Luffy confirmed, "Makino's really nice though. She makes yummy food for me and watches me when Ace needs to go out."
"So it's just the two of you then," Marco said as a new understanding reached his face. "That must be hard on you both."
"Ace tries really hard," Luffy said firmly. "He always says that since he's my big brother, it's his job to take care of me. And he does!"
"Oh, I don't doubt that now. I think its clear Ace really dose care," Marco reassured him as Ace suddenly rose up and sucked in a lungful of air, causing Thatch to let out a shocked cry.
"DAMN IT! DON'T DO THAT!" he yelled as Ace looked around sleepily before he grabbed hold of Thatch's jacket and wiped his face, causing the man to let out a splutter of insults.
"Thatch, there's a child present," Marco warned as Ace rubbed his face, even blowing out some food from his nose as he came back to reality.
"Wow, it's been awhile since that happened," he muttered with a yawn. "What were we talking about?"
"We were talking to you about something important till you just dropped into your food!" Thatch retorted, "I thought you died there for a minute."
"Huh? Is that what happened? Nah, I just fell asleep," Ace answered nonchalantly, just echoing Luffy's words from a moment ago. But then his body went rigid. Wait, if he passed out here then he risked Luffy being alone with these guys! He mentally kicked himself before Luffy asked in a teasing tone, "Is Ace sleepy?"
"A little, but its fine now," he said, knowing that he couldn't really scold the boy for stopping his random bouts of narcolepsy.
"Luffy?" Marco added kindly, "How about you go and play in the ball pit or tunnels for a little while so we can talk. You know, about boring adult stuff? If you do that, I promise that Thatch will get you an ice cream before leaving."
"Really?!" Luffy asked brightly as Thatch spluttered at the thought.
"Yeah, you heard him, go off and play kiddo, we'll be done here soon," Ace reassured him, enjoying seeing the devastated look on Thatch's face as Luffy cheered and went running off towards the tunnels without a second thought.
"That's quite a ball of energy you got there, Ace," Marco informed him.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Ace agreed, shoveling whatever was left of his fries into his mouth, "He's a good kid though even if he's a handful. So I got no complaints."
"You trying to bankrupt me?!" Thatch demanded as Marco just smiled back.
"Just needed an excuse to get him to leave," he said, turning his full attention back to Ace, who was watching Luffy trying to climb up the slide. Though he only made it a few feet before he slipped and went sliding down into the balls below with a laugh.
Ace watched on fondly for a moment, feeling relieved that he could take a break from constant guard duty with Luffy, before turning back to the other two men with a frown.
"Yes, we did get a bit off topic for a bit there, so let's pick up where we left off before," Marco said, folding his hands together and suddenly serious as he cast his eyes around the room to make sure no one was listening. Apparently, the fuss they caused before was enough to cause the people to give them a wide berth, not really getting close in case something else crazy happened. This was good for them since they didn't need to be as discreet as they normally would.
After turning back to Ace, but still speaking in a quieter tone than usual, "To put it simply, yes. The two of us are part of Whitebeard's gang. I'm his first division commander: Marco. And this is the fourth division commander: Thatch."
"Yo," Thatch added as Ace blinked at that.
Division commanders? If he remembered correctly, Whitebeard had at least a dozen or so commanders, each one in charge of a different part of the city and various activities. Why would two big names like them be here to see him? What did Whitebeard want?
"Alright, so what does your boss want to do with me?" he asked, getting back to the point. "If there's something I did, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"You didn't do anything bad against us," Marco interrupted, "Rather, the opposite almost. See, we're here to offer you an invitation to join us."
Ace's jaw all but hit the table as he stared at them. He was expecting them to be demanding some kind of payment of something stupid, not an invite to a gang!
"You're joking, right?" he asked, sure he heard wrong.
"Look, we can't talk fully about the details about the job here, but you can just think of this as a business opportunity of sorts," Thatch explained as he shoved the final uneaten burger into his own mouth. If he was gonna pay for this meal he may as well enjoy it as well. "Pops was impressed with you for how you handled yourself the other day in the Grey Terminal and thinks you've got a lot of potential and that's why he sent us."
"Yes, see the guys that you robbed from… they were subordinates of a rival gang to Whitebeard," Marco explained. "From what we heard, they had been hoping to impress their boss with that gold they collected but when you stole it from them and beat them up in the process…? You kinda made them mad."
"You mean that Porchemy jerk?" Ace asked before thinking about what the large man yelled at him during the fight, "He did say he worked for a guy named Bluejam…? Dumb name if you ask me."
"Yeah, he really isn't a threat to Pops or anything like that," Marco confirmed. "But he has a reputation of causing some untold harm towards innocent civilians. You took down his men and stole from him. He's not going to be so forgiving for that."
"And how does that circle back to me joining you? Why? Why the hell should I join your gang?" he asked in a whisper, making sure that no one else was listening in. "I don't even know you guys."
"Cause there's a chance you just painted a target on your back," Marco answered back, "See, men like Bluejam tend to take their anger out on others. Sure, you can handle yourself just fine with a few of those losers, but he's got more people on his side than you realize. You might be in some serious trouble."
"But how did you learn about me?" Ace demanded.
"We have eyes and ears all over the city," Thatch explained, "And someone from our gang happened to have witnessed you fighting and said that it was real impressive work there. You didn't even have a weapon! Just took them on with your bare fists. So he followed after you, wanting to make sure that you were alright… and he followed you to a bar where a woman called you 'Ace'."
Ace blinked, realizing that they followed him straight to Makino's bar before demanding, "He followed me?"
"Just to make sure that you were going somewhere to be taken care of," Thatch added, "He said that some of your cuts looked nasty. Anyway, he said he stuck around just to ensure that Bluejam or any of his men didn't tried to ambush you while you were leaving—which we later learned very nearly happened. But our friend, Izo, the guy who followed you, was able to intercept Bluejam's man. If he didn't, he may have attacked you and the kid."
Ace felt as if his insides were turned into knots. He thought he could sense eyes watching him as he left the Party Bar that evening…? And Luffy was there with him! Oh, god… what did he do? If he was attacked when Luffy was with him…? If his brother got hurt because of him…? Or worse… he could've been kidnapped!?
"It's alright, from what we know, Bluejam doesn't know where you live or anything like that," Thatch reassured him when he saw the panicked look on his face.
"Once he made sure that you were taken care of, he contacted Pops and told him what happened. So Pops looked into you and found out about how you were on your own with a kid," Marco explained, "He was worried about your safety. That's why he's made the offer. Of course, while the job does come with its own hazards, it also comes with many perks. We don't all fight and get drunk all day if that's what you're worried about. Nor are we involved in things like weapon or drug selling. If anything, we do our best to protect the innocent people from those type of gangs. Many of us do have good day jobs and make a decent living. Something that I think you could really use."
Ace leaned forward to rest his arms on the table as it fully sank in what Marco was saying.
"So… if I join Whitebeard… he can promise us protection while also steady employment…? What kind of work does he expect out of me?" he asked, feeling that this was all too good to be true.
"Mostly work in keeping the city cleared of the less than chivalrous gangs," Marco answered back. "But basically, yes. Everyone knows better than to mess with one of Whitebeard's men. Word will get around to all the rival gangs about you and any kind of revenge plots from Bluejam, or anyone else for that matter, should also fade. They know better than to mess with us. They wouldn't dare try."
"We're not gonna lie," Thatch added, his tone more serious, "It can be dangerous at times. Getting into various fights with rival gangs does happen from time to time but we try to keep them isolated and as infrequent as possible. Mostly it's stepping in when the gangs start fighting each other in more populated areas. Like if two other gangs start fighting each other, we step in to make sure it doesn't get out of hand and innocent people get hurt."
Ace bit his lip as his mind raced with the possibilities of this. Still, he had a bad feeling in his gut and he replied anxiously, "I don't know."
"It's fine," Marco added in understanding, "I know it's a lot to take in. If you like, we can show you a little bit of what this world will be like. You can come with us tonight and we can show you around our main headquarters. Even set up a meeting with Pops. He's been looking forward to meeting you actually. I'm sure if you speak to him in person, you'll understand what he stands for."
Ace thought it over for a big longer, trying to weight the pros and cons. If what they said was true, then he could be in a lot of serious trouble…? And if those guys he robbed from before knew where he lived and about Luffy…?"
He glanced to the play area where Luffy was jumping into the ball pit as fear gripped his heart. Marco followed his gaze once more and his eyes soften when he saw the protective look on Ace's face when he looked at the boy.
"Like I said before, Pops isn't gonna twist your arm in joining us but when he heard about the kid…? Well, let's just say that he's got a soft spot for kids. We all thought that you were a struggling, single father or something. But it seems that the situation is still pretty difficult for you," he informed him.
Ace thought it over for a few more minutes before deciding, "If I do meet up with him… will I be allowed to leave?"
"Of course," Marco reassured him. "It's not like we're gonna kidnap you. Like I said, if you do choose to visit us tonight, we'll take you to see him. But we won't hold you against your will if you want to leave at any point. So, what do you say?"
Ace frowned as he glanced back to Luffy, knowing that he couldn't risk not taking them up on their offer if he was in possible danger…? But still, the idea of getting involved in such activities sounded dangerous as well…?
He glanced at the two, who waited for his answer before he finally decided, "Don't get your hopes up yet. I'm not saying yes. Not right now. But… I want to meet with him in person. I need to see for myself what kind of guy he is. I'll talk to him face to face and see what he has to say. Beyond that, I make no promises."
"Very well," Marco agreed before he pulled out a pen and wrote a number on a napkin before passing it over to him. "Text me when you're ready and we'll pick you up. See you soon."
"Here, take this with you," Thatch added before handing him something small. It looked like some kind of a watch with a small glass bubble where a watch face would normally be. Inside the bubble was an even tinier needle set up that was twitching slightly as Ace stared at it.
"What is it?" Ace asked as he looked it over.
"It's called an eternal pose," Marco explained as he stood up, "You're gonna need it for when you meet Pops tonight. You'll see why when you do. See you soon."
Ace nodded as he watched the two left the table before Ace remembered, "You promised my brother an ice cream…?"
"Oh, yes! Of course," Marco said as Thatch let out an indigent cry as he was dragged off to the counter and Ace grinned. Regardless of his misgivings about these two, they seemed like good people and he did enjoy himself with them today.
As soon as he saw the people behind the counter working on the sweet treat, Ace turned and called to Luffy to come out for his dessert. Luffy leapt out of the balls and went charging straight for Ace, asking for his ice cream before Ace brought him over to the counter. Surprisingly, it was only with a minor pang of worry when Marco patted Luffy fondly on the head as he said his goodbyes.
"You be a good boy for your brother, huh, Luffy?" he asked as Thatch was all but weeping at the counter at his empty wallet.
"Awwww, you going already?" Luffy asked in disappointment.
"For now," Marco said, "We may see you again soon."
"Really?" Luffy asked, brightening up, "Ok! You both seem like nice people! Let's have lunch again soon!"
"Anytime," Marco said.
"Yeah, just so long as I'm not paying for it," Thatch grumbled as Luffy was handed a large chocolate ice cream cone and the boys' eyes sparkled with delight as he happily licked at it so he was getting chocolate all over his face.
"Well, until then, you take good care of Ace for us, Luffy," Marco said, as if it was Luffy who was the one in charge here, before turning back to Ace and adding, "Looking forward to seeing you again as well, Ace."
Ace let out a stiff nod as the two left and he took one of Luffy's hands as he led him out of the restaurant.
"We're going home too, Ace?" he asked happily, "This was a good day! When'll we see those guys again?"
"Not sure, but we'll see," Ace said as his insides squirmed with unease as he did his best to hide it as he forced a smile. "And yes, I think we need to go home early tonight. Now, tell me more about the bug you found? It was a big one!"
…
When Marco and Thatch walked out, Ace was left with his dark thoughts for company, trying to think about what he should do. It was still early though, and he decided to go up and talk to Luffy about this a little before bed. He had no plans to tell him about the world of gangs just yet, but knew that he couldn't hide everything from him forever either.
So when they got home, he set Luffy down in the living room while turning on an episode of Chopperman, hoping it would keep him distracted for a minute, before he went to call up Makino. He made sure to close the door to his bedroom so that Luffy wouldn't hear him since he sorely needed some advice.
"Makino?" he asked when the phone was answered on the second ring. Before she could say anything he asked, "Listen, I have a favor to ask. Can you come over for a couple hours tonight and just stay with Luffy? I promise not to be out for too long."
"Ace?" she asked in surprise. "It's not often you ask me to watch Luffy at night while you go out? Are you finally going to be having a night to yourself?"
"In a matter of speaking," he said with forced cheer in his tone. "I'm going out to meet with some… new acquaintances of mine. They had some very interesting things to say and I'm going to go and meet their Pops tonight. But I need someone to watch Luffy. Just for a few hours? It should be easy since I'll be putting him to bed before you get here."
"Well, lucky for you in that I was just thinking on closing the bar early tonight," he heard her chuckle. "Sure, I don't see why not. I'll even bring over some leftovers I have, if that's ok. But good for you. You need a night off for once."
Ace forced a laugh as he thanked her and hung up before returning to the kitchen—only to find that it was open and Luffy was already looking through it in interest.
Really? He shouldn't be surprised though. Even after such a big meal, the kid was always hungry. It seemed he used Ace's momentary absence to help himself and see if he could sneak away any snacks for later.
Ace smirked while leaning up against the wall, just wondering how long it would take for Luffy to realize he was there. Luffy began looking through the containers, even shoveling bits of food into his little mouth before stopping.
Ace raised a brow when the kid's head slowly turned around, as if he sensed Ace behind him. Luffy stiffened when he saw Ace, peering down at him and then, he gave Ace a not-so apologetic beam. Ace could tell that he knew that was in trouble but didn't regret it.
*That evening*
It was already dark by the time that he was able to get a wriggling Luffy into his pajamas, who was eagerly asking him about the cool thing he had to show him.
"What is it? That something cool you're talking about? I wanna see it already!" Luffy said excited and pouted impatiently.
"Here, sit here first," Ace offered as he plopped him onto the bed where he pulled the blanket around him, his hair still damp from the bath.
"I wanna see it already! Is it really cool?" Luffy asked impatiently, still pouting as Ace rolled his eyes.
"What's with the pout? You're impatient you know," he informed him, highly amused at how his brother was as impatient as he was. "Here," he said as he showed Luffy the eternal pose he got today, whatever it was.
Luffy looked at the ball with wide eyes and an amazed expression as he watched the spinning needle on the inside.
"It's amazing! How did you get the needle inside the ball? Is this a…" Luffy stopped talking, still staring at the bracelet.
Ace raised his eyebrow, the way Luffy talked about it was like he already knew what it was for. At least…?
"…Mystery bracelet?" Luffy had said it so bluntly that Ace nearly fell off the edge of the bed as he burst out laughing.
"No, I think it's supposed to be some kind of a compass," Ace corrected, though he was just guessing as well at this point. "Marco and Thatch gave it to me before we left, so they asked me to hold onto it for them for tonight. You get it?"
Luffy sat up with a proud look on his face as he said, "I get it! It's a Mystery bracelet that your friends gave you to a Mystery place!"
Ace sighed before asking, "You didn't understand anything I just said, did you?"
Luffy shook his head as Ace put the eternal pose away before helping Luffy to ready for bed.
"You're going out tonight, Ace?" Luffy asked, hugging his Chopperman pack, after Ace already emptied it out of all the stones, feathers, pinecones, and anything else that Luffy picked up today that he thought was cool. He left the objects on a small desk in a corner of the room, and after cleaning out the backpack, gave it back to Luffy, who hugged it like it was a teddy bear. In Luffy's other hand he still held the telescope while also wearing his straw hat, which he never took off these days, that was already looking a bit beat up around the rim.
Ace didn't answer right away as he looked through the shelf of books for Luffy's bedtime story.
"Just for a little bit," he answered back as he pulled out Luffy's favorite about pirates and the city of gold. "Marco and Thatch? They invited me out to meet their Pops and I think it's only polite that I go meet him."
"Ohhh! Can I come too?!" Luffy asked as Ace sat at the edge of the bed with a chuckle and ruffled Luffy's hair.
"Not tonight, kid," he answered, "You'll be asleep when I leave, but Makino will be here in case anything happens. I promise to be home before you wake up though. I'll tell you how well it went in the morning."
Ace sat up with Luffy crawling into his lap, still hugging Chopperman, as he listened with awe to the story even though he heard it a million times by now. But it never failed to entertain him to the point that exhaustion would kick in and Luffy would be yawning before they reached the end.
"And I think that's a sign for us to go to sleep," Ace said as he closed the book just as they finished reaching the part where the pirates found the city of gold.
"No…" Luffy pouted sleepily even as Ace gently moved him from his lap and tucked him in, "Just… one more page…?"
"Tomorrow," Ace promised with a soft expression. "You sleep for now and I'll see you in the morning."
With Luffy pacified at that, the boy quickly began to doze off as Ace made sure to place his telescope and straw hat on the bedside table before tucking Chopperman next to him.
Ace leaned down and pressed a kiss to Luffy's forehead before he stood up and headed to the door. Before leaving, he made sure to plug in the little nightlight shaped like a pirate ship into the wall, which cast the room in a soft glow before he turned off the light properly. He glanced back to the bed where Luffy was already fast asleep, snoring and drooling over Chopperman's fur as he hugged the plush toy to him, giggling slightly in his sleep as if he were having pleasant dreams.
Ace could only smile before he quietly closed the door, praying with all his heart that he was making the right decision.
(It's so cute! We really need more stories with Ace as the loving big brother and a wild child Luffy who adores him. I guess that's where this idea came from. Anyway, yes, Ace will be meeting up with Whitebeard in the next chapter and has a big choice to make. There will be more sweet moments like this come coming your way so please prepare for the cuteness overload!)