Chapter Text
"Ahem, hem,"
"Stars filled the sky like pale corn into freshly turned ground-"
"What does corn have to do with this?" Thatch, oh so rudely interrupted.
"Shut it, I'm the one telling the story." Haruta scowled.
"It was a vastness to bring humbles and an eternal space of gratitude for the coziness of home-"
"Are you sure you know where you're going with this?" Fossa interjected.
"Fine!" Haruta huffed, leaning back into his chair. "If you think you can make up a better story on the spot, I'd like to see you try!" He sneered.
Fossa scoffed. "Bet." Grinning, he reached into his pockets and pulled out a thousand Belli's, flicking it at his fellow commander.
Haruta narrowed his eyes at it, then mischievously grinned back. He pulled out another thousand Belli's and tossed it at Fossa. "Your on."
Thatch snorted, he watched as the both of them got up from their seats, dragging a fair amount of their siblings, who were not so subtly ease dropping on them, to a corner at a round table in the galley.
He didn't get to observe longer as his other siblings heated debate at the other end of the table got louder.
"I bet twenty Belli's he stops at ten!"
"Hell no! Can't you see how fast he's eating! Forty says he makes it to eighteen!"
"Oh?" Thatch exclaimed, amused.
The boy that intruded their ship and nearly pounced at the food right when they entered the galley, was sitting at the end of the table, emptying plates at a rapid speed that could challenge their second division commander.
"Are you blind? He's eating like a starved animal! Seventy says he makes it to forty in only fifteen minutes." Thatch slapped seventy Belli's on the table.
"You sure you wanna bet commander? That's a lot of money."
"I know a blackhole when I see one." Thatch smirked, leaning back in his chair.
The other scoffed, slapping the forty Belli's on top of Thatch's stash.
"Oi brat! Don't make me lose my money!"
Off to the side, Marco debated whether or not he should leave, eating lunch later, or join the chaos he knew he wouldn't be able to stop.
In the end, he decided to bang his head on the table. Twice.
"Oh, come on bud! Live a little! It's not so bad!" Thatch hauled Marco to sit up and wrapped his arms around his shoulder.
Then suddenly, mashed potato was thrown directly at Marco, smearing it all over his face.
The head chef nervously laughed slightly, taking his arms back close to him as much as possible.
The crowd of pirates only paused for a second with what they were doing before bursting out laughing. A few decided to throw their own portion of food, breaking into a large food fight.
The boy ate up any food thrown at his but did not throw anything back at them. He snatched up plates when the pirates weren't looking, none of them noticed as they were too busy defending themselves.
Wiping off the mashed potato, Marco looked on dolefully.
He watched as Nemur threw peas at Cruiel, declaring he was out for revenge for what he did to poor Mr.squiggles the other day.
Watched as Kingdew threw chicken soup at his division, then the members pouring cold tea on him as payback when they got him on the ground.
Looked on as Haruta took a long peace of bread from the basket and point it at Fossa, the older commander also snatching a long peace of bread from someone right when they were about to take a bite out of it, both the commanders then used them as swords and fought.
He felt a tug on his lips and he knew he was smiling. Seeing his siblings and crewmates fighting is so much joy made his insides feel warm. He was so glad they were smiling so much again.
"It's gotten more lively huh? -yoi" Marco sighed in content.
"It has." Usually Thatch would've joined them by now, but Marco thinks he want to enjoy this sentimental view before infusing himself in the chaos.
"Where's Jimbei? I haven't seen him since I came here -yoi." He furrowed his eyebrows in thought.
"Now that you've said it...." Thatch looked around, he saw no other fishman other than Nemur wrestling with Cruiel.
A loud burp halted the commotion in the entire galley. The whole long table the boy sat at was empty of food, he left no crumbs on the plates.
He let out another smaller burp. Rubbing his stomach that was five times bigger than before, "I'm done." He had exclaimed, leaving the pirates agaping
The boy took in a deep breath and exhaled, the ever grown belly deflating like a balloon.
They all stood there, frozen. For what felt like a minute passed, when it was broken by Nemur stuffing a godly amount of peas in Cruiel's mouth, who spat them back at the fishman.
They all slowly went back to throwing food at each other. A few took another step higher by bringing out rotten fruits and veggies from the kitchen to throw at their opponents.
Thatch blinked as the chaos resumed without another thought. "Well...that was something..."
"Indeed -yoi..."
Jimbei strolled down the halls, smiling and giving anyone passing by a small wave as a greeting.
Looking at the nameplates ingraved on the doors, searching for the name he wants.
A ship this big can make it difficult to find which room is anyone's. Whitebeard had come up with the idea of designing nameplates for each room to let everyone know whether it's a bedroom, bathroom, office, storage room, etc.
Divisions were sectioned throughout the ship, each division separate. All the members sorted in the order they joined the crew.
Except for the commanders, they had their own hall for their rooms near the division halls.
Making a turn, Jimbei made it to the the commanders hall. With a quick stride, he made it to his destination. A door with the name 'Ace' written in bold letters.
He knocked, no answer. He knocked again, nothing. He decided to call the person residing on the other side of the door.
"Ace, it's me Jimbei. Can we talk?"
. . .
"Ace, I know you can hear me, open the door."
. . .
"Fine. I'm coming in."
Using just a bit of his strength, he opened the locked door. He made a mental note to apologize to the carpenters later on.
Walking inside, he surveyed the room, the whole place was a mess.
Papers scattered around the floor, the table was missing two legs, the closet doors were barely hanging on, shattered pieces of a mirror was laying around the closet, the bed that was supposed to be bolted on the corner walls was now flipped upside down in the middle of the room, a hat on the floor on top of the papers.
In the corner of the room, where the bed is supposed to be, Ace sat sprawled up in a ball, a blanket covering him, pillows tucked close to him like a barrier, walls build to poorly protect his whole figure.
Jimbei avoided the objects on the floor as he approached Ace. The commander neither lifted his head nor moved a simple muscle to acknowledge the fishman standing before him.
Though Jimbei knew he heard him call out to him. He knew Ace long enough to know that if Ace felt threatened, (or in this case, vulnerable) he'd have his guards up, making sure he knew what or who was in his space.
"Ace, would you please listen to what I have to say." The commander only gave a slight twitch of his frame, that was barely noticeable, to let him know that he was at least listening.
"There's someone that wants to meet you."
Another twitch but no other acknowledgement. Jimbei sighed, he needed a way to convince the commander to come with him.
Gazing his eyes down to the floor, newspapers that was dated back to four months ago near the fire user.
The fishman picked them up and started skimming through it, the headline already giving away what the paper was about.
"Mysterious Pirates Breaking Into G 8 Base And Wracking Havoc Amongst The Marines?!?!!"
He raised a brow, he didn't know Ace was interested in them. Infact he didn't think Ace would willingly read the daily newspaper at all, if he did, it must've been important
. . .
Oh.
He realized.
Oh.
It made sense, the dates were back in February....
Of course Ace would've tried to keep taps on the news coo...
Gosh, Why did it take so long for him to realize why Ace is in this state. It made so much sense so easily that Jimbei wanted to slap himself upside the head.
Slowly as he continued lazily reading through the paper an idea came to him, one that would get Ace to come with him.
"Alright, how about this, I'll give you more information about these Mysterious Pirates." He held up the paper over the commander's head.
Ace's head shot up quickly to look at the fishman, pure shock enlightening his dull eyes.
"...what?" His voice came out hoarse, having not spoken a word for hours, maybe even days.
"I'll give you information about these broody pirates that's been causing chaos all over the Grandline."
"Y you know about them?.." the glimmer in his eyes told Jimbei that it was working.
"Yes I do. More than the news or the marines at least." Jimbei rolled the newspaper and tucked it under his arms.
Ace narrowed his eyes. "...Are you trying to offer a trade?"
"Yes, I'll give you information about them, in exchange, you come with me to the galley."
The commander scowled. He looked in to the fishman's eyes and searched for something that even he doesn't know.
Jimbei gave him a blank stare. Ace finally nod his head slowly, seemingly satisfied with whatever he found in his eyes. He didn't care what it was as long as Ace would listen to him.
The fire user abruptly stood up, the pillows scattered about and the blanket flopped on to the floor at his speed.
Making a quick stride to his battered closet, carefully avoiding the broken pieces of glass, he picked out a black shirt, not bothering to button it up. He walked over a few papers to get to his hat.
Putting it over his head, he uncaringly made his way over to the open door.
He stiffly turned around to look at the fishman, frowning. "You coming or not?"
Jimbei smiled as he strolled over to where Ace was standing, tossing the newspaper with the others. Pride swell through him as he realized he made the most stubborn commander to corporate with him.
It was when they were walking through the halls that Jimbei finally got a good look at the commander's complexion.
Dark, heavy looking eye bags. He lost a lot of weight considering the nearly hallow cheeks.
Oh Oda, how did they let him get this bad? He had been literally living right under their eyes, yet they couldn't do anything to make better.
The fishman was more determined to get Ace to Luffy, he was sure that'll brighten up Ace's saddened mood. After all, there wasn't anyone that won against Luffy's charm.
He came out of his thoughts when Ace spoke. "So, who am I meeting?"
Giving a side glance, he replied. "You'll see."
Ace pressed his lips into thin lines. He had so much to ask, but with so many of his brothers and sisters eyes on him made him seal his lips tight.
This was his problem, not theirs. He didn't want to burden them with this. It was too much for him to process all of this, let alone to open up to them about it.
They were his family. He trusts them with his life. They accepted him with open arms even as he was trying to assassinate their captain.
He loved them. Just like he loved his brothers. His sweet gremlin little brothers. He missed them.
After Sabo died, it was just him and Luffy against this cursed world. But look at him now, joining an Emperor's crew and claiming them as family. Luffy would be so happy to hear that.
They loved him, he knew that. It was why he couldn't bare to look at them in the eye. He felt like he failed them miserably.
Guilt swelled up inside him, choking him slowly, his own thoughts swaying away from reality.
Clouds fogged his eyes, the voices in his head spoke over each other, murmuring nonsense, flashbacks colliding on to each other as his breath picked up.
"..-I don't .."
"Months ago ..."
"...-Left .."
"He didn't .."
"There ...was.."
" I tried ..".
"He already .."
"Didn't ..-listen .." "
"I really ..."
"JANUARY 2ND"
" ce! ACE!" Breathing in a sharp gasp made him cough, nearly doubling over, but was caught by the arm.
Jimbei helped him lean on the wall. Stood by him as Ace picked up pieces of him that broke off in his panic and put them in place.
Once his breathing was in control, he gained his composure. Slowly pealing off the wall, he brushed off the hand still holding on to his arm.
"I'm fine. Let's just go already." The fishman gave him a look that clearly said he didn't believe him, but all he did was sigh when the fire user gave him a cold stare. "Alright."
They went back to strolling through the now empty hall. The lack of other pirates around him helped calm his buzzing nerves.
He slowly went back to his thoughts, making sure he didn't think about anything that would make him spiral again.
Jimbei gave him a look and sighed again. "How about I tell you a little about this Mysterious pirate crew." That made the fire user log out of his muffled mind.
Ace's head sprang his head up to look at him and nodded slowly.
Jimbei smiled as he continued to walk. Ace following closely behind than before.
"I've heard stories and rumours about them but no one gathered any confirmation that they were true at all. Reporters had interviewed the ones that were as close to the wreckage they made as no one had met them. But all of them had different views making it difficult to disclose whether or not they were there at all."
"I know that. I want something New about them, every paper is filled with the same bullshit." Ace huffed.
"Hm, what about them declaring war on the world government?" Jimbei humoured him.
"Of course everyone knows about that, it was when the stupid marines finally gave them a high bounty of 500 million on their head and considered them a threat to the government." The fire user rambled. "I know everything about them on paper."
"I was hoping you knew something more..." He grumbled. Jimbei was quite for a few seconds, Ace thought he wouldn't tell him anything more, until he did.
"You could say, I met them."
"...What?"
"They're a crew filled with only ten members, including the captain."
"Ten? Then your saying they made a mess of the government's image with just ten of them?" Ace couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Not exactly, most of them hadn't been able to join the crew yet." The fishman said, letting a small smile creep on his face.
The commander didn't know what to say. The more he heard about them the more he thinks they're just a crazy bunch of buffoons that were over in their head about common sense.
Every act of felony they do doesn't have a specific goal in it unless it causing absolute chaos in the Grandline.
Most pirates at least have something in mind, whether it was for treasure, recognition, having power, ruling over countries, some like himself, look for freedom of it all.
But these pirates seem to so whatever they want, not even considering the consequences, maybe they did, maybe they already knew, and just didn't care for it.
It made them an unpredictable danger. They're actions were crazy enough that the marines themselves had a hard time pinpointing their locations, only making it there when they had already left.
It had driven them insane.
For the longest time the marines put the blame on the Revolutionary's up until G-8 base was infiltrated and wrecked beyond recognition.
It seems the marines knew that the Revolutionary army aren't as bold enough to destroy a whole marine base as much as almost everyone believes.
That was when they had finally acknowledged just what they were dealing with.
Sighing, Ace brought a hand to ruffle his hair under his hat. This whole 'Mystery pirates' thing is giving him a headache to figure out.
"We're here." Jimbei interrupted his line of thinking with two simple words that made the blood in his veins go cold.
The thought of having to face the ones he tried so hard to make sure didn't see his failures, made his entire figure halt.
He felt nauseous, like a bile of vomit was stuck in his throat, waiting to be coughed out, even though he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday evening.
He tried to calm himself, he knew he had confront them on way or another at some point.
Jimbei stood there with a hand on the door handle facing him, giving Ace time to collect himself. The fire user also caught a glimpse of the worried glint in his eyes.
He clenched his heart, making sure no emotions bled out. Swallowing the bile of nothing down, he gave the fishman a nod.
Nodding back, Jimbei slowly opened the large door. The galley was nearly empty , a few chefs still in the kitchen cleaning dishes based on the sound of plates clattering.
Oddly enough, there were a few pirates cleaning food off the insanely long tables, walls, ceiling, and the floor with bumps on their heads, a few had black eyes.
Jimbei went over to where the other commanders were and sat down with them at the table.
Ace not wanting to just stand there, followed behind Jimbei and sat next to him with his head down.
Conversations quieted down as one by one they realized who arrived with Jimbei.
Silence continued, Ace sank down in his seat at the amount of eyes that were on him.
Jimbei sensing the tension, spoke to take the prying eyes off of him. Something Ace was thankful for. "Marco-san, where is he?"
"Ah ...uh- The nurses found out about the kid -yoi, they took him to the infirmary for a check up of sorts." The fishman nodded at that.
Marco peered his eyes at the lone commander next to Jimbei. He hadn't even glanced at them when he sat down.
Did he hate them? No, not likely. Is it though? Marco didn't know at this point. He just wanted his menace of a little brother back.
Had Ace eaten anything at all today? Thatch or one of the chef's always leave a decent amount of food for him on a tray in front of his door every meal time.
Even so, the food was usually untouched, only a few times a piece of chicken leg or a carton of milk was taken.
Luckily they were evidence of breaking in's in the kitchen to assume Ace was eating something more than what he takes from the tray. Unluckily, it seemed that even than he looked malnutritioned.
Clearing his throat, Marco spoke. "Ace, have you eaten yet -yoi?" Ace tensed up, he sent the older commander a fierce glare from under his hat.
Marco's lips twitched in slight amusement. He always found it endearingly funny whenever Ace acted feral. "I'll take that as a no."
He glaced over at Thatch who was seated next him, agaping like that of a fish. He elbowed him in the ribs, making the chef wince.
"What?" He hissed, rubbing his torso. Marco huffed. "Go reheat the chicken soup and pour a bowl for Ace."
Thatch huffed back. He sat up and stalked over the kitchen.
"Could you get me some tea too, Thatch-kun?" Jimbei called out. The chef waved his hand without looking back. "Right on it."
The table was quiet once more the few minutes that he was gone.
Thatch came back, bringing a large bowl of chicken soup and placing it near the fire user, making sure to put some distance between them as to ensure he wouldn't be engulfed into flames again.
Also placed Jimbei's cup of Matcha tea in front of the fishman. His favourite.
He then strode over to take his place next to Marco. The seat was also right in front of Ace's. Unfortunately for him.
Marco faced Jimbei from the other side of the table. The phoenix quirked Angela at the fishman, silently asking a question.
Jimbei sipped his tea, saying nothing until he sat the cup down. "You'll see, Marco-san."
"See what -yoi?"
"Just wait, I don't want to spoil it for him."
"What are you talking about?"
"You'll see." The fishman nodded to himself.
The phoenix groaned, definitely not liking the semi-answers he got. He had no choice but to wait and 'see' what his friend was talking about.
The other commanders filled the silence as they went back to talking about different topics with each other. Glancing at the youngest every once in a while.
Marco watched Ace with no abashment. The fire user still not touching his soup. Presumably lost in thought. It bothered him that his not tempered younger brother was so quiet.
"Are you not going to eat -yoi?" Ace blinked, coming back to reality. He sent another cold glare at Marco, already looking well offended.
The older commander was unfazed by the display. "I mean it's alright if you can't -yoi, I'm not going to push you if your so scared of soup."
He smirked as the fire user practically growled at him. In full on spite, Ace picked picked up the spoon and started eating.
It would take a while for him to finish. He was what Thatch likes to call, a blackhole.
The chefs always gets him food on a plate that was meant for their captain.
The phoenix nodded to himself proudly, happy at what he accomplished. He then went on a conversion Thatch.
Slowing down his eating pace now that Marco wasn't looking at him. He tentatively listened in on the conversations that were happening near him.
"Where should he stay?" Jozu asked.
"The guest room duh!" Haruta said as if it was the most obvious thing ever, and it was, Ace thought.
"He doesn't like sleeping by himself." Jimbei inquired. Well that made things complicated for whoever this person was.
"Plus most of the guest rooms are in repair right now since someone decided that it was a good idea to use a cannon as a fucking glitter bomb for a fun fucking prank." Rakuyo spurted out.
"Hey! It was Haruta's idea!" Thatch practically wailed.
"No it was not! Stop putting the blame on me bastard!" Haruta yelled back.
The two went on screaming profanities at each other that no one cared to listen knowing damn well that both were at fault. They were already used to their pin-the-blame-on-the-other arguments.
"Oh brat your back!" Rakuyo called out.
He's here
Before his thoughts went on, he blacked out.
His head smashed into his half eaten chicken soup, with the spoon in the air hanging loosely in his hand.