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“Pops! Commander Marco! The paper is here!”
Ace looked in the direction where one of their many crewmembers came running. He was huffing and panting for a breath, hands on his news, newspaper clenched in his hands. He thrust it out to Marco, who grabbed it. He looked over the front page, reading through it. Ace saw that he smiled, an amused one, and then yelled, “Oi, everyone!”
All of the Whitebeards in their vicinity, including Luffy, looked at Marco. Izou looked up from where he was cleaning his guns. Rakyuo was playing with his weapon, suddenly stopped, and twirled to face Marco. Jozu looked up from where he was by Pops. Pops just looked curious at Marco’s actions.
Marco threw up the newspaper and proclaimed, “Our brothers are in the paper-yoi!”
Ace smiled at the display. Everyone rushed over to hear what it said, amused to some degree. Only Pops and the Commanders truly knew what happened in Impel Down, sans the Revolutionaries. The Marines probably have a good idea of what happened, considering they could have just asked Garp how Luffy infiltrated them so well. Ace smirked. That would have been entertaining.
Marco motioned them to gather around. He stood on the arm of Pops chair they moved from the Moby to the beach. Ace thought that was a bit dramatic, but whatever. Pops just looked amused at Marco’s actions.
It was a day since Ace met up with the Whitebeards. They decided to wait for the Marines to lower their guards and move after. Ace didn’t want anyone to be at risk because of him, so he asked Pops to wait for more time to pass. Some of his fellow commanders looked a little put out from purposefully ignoring a good fight but Ace put his foot down. Pops realized this and practically proclaimed that they were on vacation. Then there was more complaining about how Achene was a shitty vacation spot. Pops ignored them gleefully. He was paying more attention to Luffy, his shiny new son, who was immensely entertaining. Luffy used him as a jungle gym. Pops only laughed gleefully, happy that his newly acquired son was relaxed around him.
Ace just watched their interactions with trepidation. Luffy always had good instincts, he would be fine, but he worried about everyone else.
Speaking of, Luffy was currently sitting on Pops’ shoulders like he was supposed to be there. No one questioned it, seeing how amused Pops was at Luffy’s antics. His straw hat was around his neck, not currently on his head like normal.
Back to makeshift storytime.
Ace focused on Marco, and Marco was being the dramatic pirate they all knew he could be. It was rare when he would cut loose like this. Ace could tell by his movements, all grand and swaggered. Ace was so surprised when he first saw this. Dramatic and not afraid to show it. Ace was a little bit terrified when he thought back to that. He shivered.
“Now, my fellow brothers, I have a story to tell, written by Big News Morgans himself! It is not just an ordinary story, but one filled with peril-yoi.”
He was like a play narrator who had too much to drink before the performance. He was smiling gleefully. He ruffled the newspaper, purposefully showing the front page picture. Luffy’s picture and Ace's were on it. He settled in a comfortable stance and communicated what was on the page. Dramatically, of course.
“Yesterday was a shock to Marine Officials! The execution of Fire Fist Ace was canceled, even though the Marines have been advertising this very execution for months! It would be the first strike against the Emperor of the Sea, Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard. Fire Fist is the Whitebeard Pirates Second Division Commander, one of the Emperor’s most trusted, so why did the Marines cancel the execution-yoi?”
Marco paused at this and gestured for the crowd of Pirates to speak up. Ace quietly scoffed in amusement. He was having fun with this. The crowd of pirates caught along. Ace could pick out Haruta's voice in the crowd, voice filled with glee.
“Why?!”
They were all playing along, Pops just laughed at the scene. They were having a blast. The pirates were all laughing and eagerly told Marco to continue. Ace smiled into his hand. This was fun, Luffy seemed to agree. He was squealing in glee and if he wasn’t on Pops’s shoulder, he would probably be rolling around.
Marco waited for a bit, hand to his ear, nodding his head to whatever he heard. Ace saw the smile he had on his face that showed he was truly enjoying this.
“The Marines canceled the execution because they had no prisoner-yoi!”
Marco gasped dramatically and covered his chest in mock shock but continued speaking as if he didn’t just do that.
“Yesterday, Impel Down had its first-ever mass breakout in history! Fire Fist Ace and Knight of the Sea Jinbe escaped with Emperio Invankov and Inazuma, two members of the Revolutionary Army, with multiple other dangerous prisoners. How did they escape? Impel Down has a spotless reputation that boasts a zero percent escape rate. So how did the execution of the next decade be foiled-yoi?”
Marco paused once again, and the Whitebeards loved this kind of chaos.
“How?!”
Marco paused dramatically and practically shouted in surprise and mock horror, “The infamous Strawhat Luffy was the cause!”
He “calmed” down and continued in an informative voice.
“From trustworthy sources, it has been discovered that Fire Fist and Strawhat are brothers-yoi!”
There were mock gasps in the crowd, Izou fanning himself in “surprise”. Ace shook his head at their reactions but thought a bit. It was not surprising, Gramps must have told them. It was not big a secret anyway.
“This may not be seen as important, but what is, is that Strawhat Luffy managed to somehow enter Impel Down, but even was able to pose as one of the guards. After he gained the trust of Impel Downs's very own, he managed to get on guard duty for his very own brother! After taking care of the guards, he freed Fire Fist and the Knight of the Sea. After that, it is predictable. The Supernova Strawhat Luffy was the reason the execution was called off-yoi.”
Marco took a deep breath and threw up the newspaper into the air while he vocalized his next words.
“Because he was the one who broke Fire Fist out of prison!”
The Whitebeards roared in approval. Ace could see that Luffy was basking in the cheers. The attention sponge. Marco got over his bit of drama, back to his normal self.
The Commanders gathered. Marco spoke up when the Whitebeards dispersed again, seeing that they were meeting.
Marco spoke, not even embarrassed over his performance, “The paper says that there is going to be more information tomorrow. Even Morgans can’t write an article this fast-yoi.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Ace knew that Morgans was good, but he had his limits.
Ace spoke to Luffy directly, “Luffy, your bounty might increase.”
Luffy laughed from Pops shoulder and said his words quite cheerily, “Good! I want a big bounty!”
His eyes were shining in glee, thinking about a higher bounty. Ace scoffed.
“You will never beat my bounty Luffy.”
Luffy pouted and whined, “I will one day! Just watch me!”
Ace smirked up at his brother, “Sure, whatever makes you happy.”
Luffy narrowed his eyes at Ace but got distracted when he looked around. He turned to everyone and asked, “Where’s Iva?”
Marco answered that “He left this morning. Said something about talking to his leader-yoi.”
Luffy pouted once again. Ace felt a chill go down his spine.
“What’s my Dad got anything to do with it?”
There was a shocked silence for a bit, but then everyone started.
“What!!”
Ace just put a hand to his face. He groaned and admonished Luffy. Who was looking at the Commanders in confusion like he has no idea why they were acting like that. Pops just widened his eyes a bit and then laughed.
“Luffy, that is a secret.”
Luffy just laughed and smiled.
“Oops, you're not supposed to know that.”
All of the high-ranking Whitebeards just looked at Luffy disbelievingly and then in differing reactions, just sighed and went back to their meeting, not bringing up the elephant in the room. That conversation can be saved for another day, or never again.
Luffy just sat on Whitebeard's shoulder without a care in the world.
Ace envied him.
The little shit.
“HAHAHA!!”
Garp laughed while reading the paper. He got it when he got his first breakfast for the day. Coby was hiding his happy tears when looking at the newspaper so Garp was curious.
“Morgans went all out with this one!”
Garp continued to laugh at what the newspaper said. Morgans painted Luffy like he was a genius infiltrator, well Garp couldn’t deny it. He did go undercover for days in the worst prison in the world without discovery. He smiled. His crew shivered. It was not a nice one. It was a smile that signaled training drills that got them sore for weeks.
“Those brats deserve a nice ol' Fist of Love!”
He continued to laugh throughout the day, scaring his subordinates half to death at his reaction.
Zoro was still injured. The ghost girl still had him wrapped up in the most ridiculous ways. He was very annoyed and was tempted to just kill the woman. He needs to get back to his crew, his Captain. They made a promise and he cannot break it. No way.
“Hey swordsman, this your captain?”
Zoro looked at the woman, pink hair and clothes styled perfectly. He looked at the newspaper in her hands and he saw his captain's face. It was Luffy.
“Give it here.”
Nami was looking around the sky island she found herself on. It was a nice place. She wouldn’t mind staying for a bit longer. But she can’t, no matter how much the technology and knowledge seduced her. She heard the call of a newscoos and looked in that direction. The newspaper was open just enough to let her see the face on the front.
“Hey, I can pay! Give me a copy!”
Usopp's body was heavy and he couldn’t stop eating. He was warned and he still did it. He munched on fruit while he was talking with the beetle knight. The knight was blabbering about something or else but Usopp wasn’t paying attention. He was reading a newspaper at the moment.
“Hm, A rookie named Strawhat Luffy?”
Usopp’s head snapped up and shouted at the knight, “Oi, old man let me see that!”
This island was great!
That was Sanji’s only thought on this place. He was sitting on a hill with his pink dress bunched up under him. A bird called up above him and the other okamas flocked towards the bird and he heard their chatter, something that snapped him out of this, this, horrid situation.
“Ooooh, that Strawhat did something again.”
Chopper helped the natives of this island become friendly and he was so happy! He smiled cheerfully, skipping in his happiness. He was proud of himself and his friends would be so happy with him! His skips became shorter. Chopper wanted to cry. He misses his friends.
Chopper saw something on the ground and picked it up. It was the newspaper Nami always bought, even though she hates paying for anything. He opened it and saw the front page. It was Luffy!
Robin was working when she heard it. The bridge was not going to be completed in a while, and she couldn’t escape just yet. She always listened to the whispers of the slave workers, the basics of information gathering. There was a reason she hasn’t been caught by the World Government for twenty years. She knew how to listen. So that was how she heard the whispers from the guards.
“That damn Strawhat is going crazy again.”
Robin stood up straight.
Captain!
Franky was siping his tea when the gramps read the newspaper. He spits out all of his tea in shock. Luffy did what!?
Brook was in the cage he was put in. His captors still brought in people to ogle at him. Brook didn’t let it get to him. He had to get back to his crew. Back to the person who saved him.
There was a commotion nearby. Brook heard a sentence that made tears fall out of his none existent eyes.
“Strawhat broke into Impel Down!?”
That’s his Captain alright.
All of the Strawhats had the same thought, looking at the picture of their dear Captain.
Luffy, you’re okay!!
Shanks grabbed the newspaper with his only hand. The face of Anchor is on the first page again. He read the article and laughed merrily. The rest of his crew as well. They just finished fighting Kaido's crew, who wanted to get to Marineford. Shanks would not allow that. Turns out it wasn't even necessary. Anchor is doing what he does best, causing chaos. His red hair moved with the wind when he spoke, "Looks like your doing well, right Luffy?"
Marco yawned. He was awake for most of the night. He had paperwork and responsibilities that he had to take care of, stuff he pushed off the last couple of days. He barely got any sleep and it is making itself known. His lazy eyes threatened to close, but he powered through it. Nothing coffee won’t fix.
It was a hectic past couple of days so it wasn’t unexpected that he had a lot of work to do. Marco massaged his neck, there were a few kinks in his neck that just won’t come out. He grumbled to himself. This is what he gets for leaning over his work for so long. He was getting old. If Pops heard him, he would be laughed off the Moby. Pops would still say Marco was still just a brat.
Marco got coffee, the reason he is still alive at this point, from the mess hall and left the ship with the cup he was drinking from. He observed the beach and sighed. The lookouts were still doing their job, but everyone else was passed out on the beach. There was another party last night, in which Marco did not participate.
His siblings in everything except blood started to wake up. Marco went to his Pops chair and sat on the armrest. Pops was on the Moby. The nurses picked up a fuss last night and “dragged” him to his cabin on the Moby. He was still sick so he shouldn’t take any chances right now. They need him to be in top shape if anything happens. Marco still predicts that Pops will manage to get out of his room today. It was still early in the morning so it won’t be soon.
Marco spotted Ace under multiple pirates, Haruta one of them. Marco smiled sadly. Ace was close with Haruta because of their shared love of pranks, so they were quite a terror, along with their shared partner. Marco stared up at the sky. He missed Thatch. Everyone does, but Haruta took it especially hard, and without Ace there, she went into a depressive state. Marco was happy for her now. She was getting back to what she used to be before everything. Ace probably didn’t notice, but everyone else has. Ace didn’t know what his presence had on Haruta’s stability at the moment. And hopefully, he never does. Marco bets that if he knew, he would feel guilty and beat himself up about it. No one needs that right now.
Marco sipped his coffee and watched, with no small amount of amusement, his brothers wake up with painful hangovers. He chuckled at their groans. They deserve it. They never learn, the dumbasses.
Marco was still sitting on Pops chair when the mentioned man appeared. He settled into the gigantic chair and set his trusted weapon beside him. Marco said good morning and got a tired grumble in response. Marco smiled into his coffee. Pops was not a morning person.
The groans from the hungover pirates were starting to get louder. Izou stumbled over, kimono a mess, filled with sand and dried seawater. His makeup was ruined. Marco winced. He would not be happy about that.
Ace walked up to them, rubbing his tired eyes. He didn’t drink last night but was dragged into anything he was invited into. He had fun last night. He was still covered in bandages but not as heavy as yesterday. They might have gone overboard yesterday. They were all still stressed over Ace’s condition. He was in Impel Down for months. There was no saying what might have happened to him during that time. Marco was so glad that Luffy got him out of there.
Speaking of Luffy, Marco looked around, trying to find his new sibling. Marco found him, eating already. Marco sighed. The pirate crew's chefs were already crying tears of blood from having to feed two black holes. Marco turned away from Luffy and refocused on what was happening near him.
He heard a caw and looked up. It was a newscoo. He waved it over and the bird came down. He flicked a berri at it. It dropped a newspaper in his hand and then flew off. He ruffled the newspaper and started reading it. What he read caused dread to rise in him. It must have shown on his face so it was natural that his Pops noticed.
“Son, what is wrong?”
That gained the attention of the awake pirates. Ace focused on him, along with all the other awake Commanders. Vista, Blenheim, Jozu, and Atmos were the only ones awake other than Ace and Haruta, and himself.
Marco sighed, and with no excitement like he had yesterday, read out the article.
“Blackbeard attacks Impel Down. Removed from the Seven Warlords of the Sea-yoi.”
The name Blackbeard immediately caused the tensing of everyone in earshot. The hate on Ace’s face was enough to understand the Whitebeard Pirates' feelings toward the man. He glanced at Ace. He knew that Teach was the one who turned Ace in. He hasn’t asked about his encounter yet, but he is regretting that now.
“After the mass breakout of Impel Down, caused by Strawhat Luffy, Blackbeard, also known as Marshall D. Teach, broke into the prison, freeing multiple dangerous criminals to join his crew. This information comes from a trusted source in Impel Down. Blackbeard escaped with no known damage, and the Marines lost track of the former Warlord in Paradise-yoi.”
Marco finished speaking and there was a silence in the camp. The faces of the Whitebeards weren’t good. They hate the man, the traitor. He killed one of their own, and he will not get away with it.
Pops looked at Ace and Ace met his gaze and rumbled out, “Son, you know his fighting abilities. What can you say about them?”
Ace sighed and ruffled his black hair. He grimaced and unknowingly reached up to his chest and rubbed that spot. Marco's fury was heightened by the reaction.
“He hits hard. His Devil Fruit is a pain in the ass. If it wasn’t for that Devil Fruit…”
Marco tilted his head in confusion. Ace doesn’t normally talk like that.
Ace put his head down and continued, “He ate the Dark-Dark Fruit. He’s a Darkness man. It’s a logia but doesn’t act like it. He can control gravity and control darkness.”
Haruta nodded slowly, looking confused, “If that is all you should have won.”
Ace grimaced, “That is not the most dangerous aspect of the fruit.”
They were silent, and Ace said, “If he touches you, and you have a devil fruit, he can nullify it. He touched me and I couldn’t use my fire. From what he said, it works on all Devil Fruit users. It's dangerous.”
Marco processed that and nodded with Ace’s words. That was a very dangerous ability. Now it made sense why Teach went after that fruit for decades.
“You talking about the guy you were chasing Ace?”
Marco was startled and almost fell off the chair. He turned and spotted Luffy on the other armrest. He was eating his breakfast and was holding a filled plate. That was embarrassing. Marco was not currently using his haki, even though it should have still notified him of the presence nearing him. Marco shook it off when he heard Ace answer his little brother’s question.
“Yeah, Marshall D. Teach.”
Luffy nodded and seemed to think about something. He turned to Marco and thankfully finished eating his bite of food and asked, “Can I see?”
Marco nodded and handed over the newspaper. Luffy sat down and placed his food on the armrest. He opened up the newspaper and then froze. That sent off alarms in Marco's head. Luffy was never still, Marco knew that much from the days they knew each other. Ace knew that as well and immediately asked Luffy what was wrong.
“This guy is Blackbeard?”
Luffy held up the newspaper and pointed at Teach’s picture. Ace nodded, and Luffy went back to staring at the paper and spoke after a while.
“This guy… I know this guy.”
Ace visibly stiffened, and the other commanders as well. Luffy grew on all of them, and he knew Teach was bad news.
Luffy started speaking, “I met him on Jaya. Never knew his name, but we almost got into a fight.”
Ace rushed over to Luffy and grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. He looked pissed, not that Marco could blame him. His brother almost got into a fight with someone Ace couldn’t beat. It must be worrying.
“Did he do anything to you?!”
Luffy shook his head and spoke through the shaking, “We argued for a bit and then left.”
Ace relaxed, shoulder slumping.
“Luffy, stop making me worry.”
Luffy laughed and then thought of something.
“He felt weird though. He felt like nothing I felt before. Zoro agreed with me.”
Ace looked at Luffy questionably. Seeing all of the Commander's questioning looks, Ace explained, “Luffy has very good instincts. If he says that something is wrong or different, you listen. He has never been wrong before.”
Marco went to open his mouth, and Ace immediately said, “It isn’t haki either.”
Marco closed his mouth.
Ace sighed and then darkly said, “He was going after you, Luffy.”
The Whitebeards did not hear about this. Ace swept back his hair, “He wanted to turn you in to get the Warlords' position. I disagreed with his plan.”
Luffy realized it when the Whitebeards did. The reason Ace didn’t retreat was because Teach was going after his brother. No wonder. Marco angrily clenched his hand. Teach, when will you stop this.
Luffy bit his lip, “So you protected me?”
Ace smiled softly, and then shoulder hugged his brother.
“Of course I did. That is what older brothers do, protect their siblings?”