Chapter 6

There were some essential things any marine discovered short after being transferred to headquarters. Most of these things, though not all of them, were related to vice admiral Monkey D. Garp, the hero of the marines who had fought the Pirate King back in the day.

Almost all of the new additions to headquarters had heard of the man, and they regarded him as a model figure, the ideal marine, just as the stories they had heard described him. Garp was indeed very strong and an incredibly decided individual, no one could argue that, but new marines soon discovered the stories they had heard about him had been embellished, probably to use as a way to attract recruits: the story of a boy of humble origins who rose to the top of the marines. It was the dream of many children. Sure, Garp was that, but he was much more, and that was something that had been carefully left out of the stories.

And that takes us back to one of the things the newbies learned: Garp was as strong as he was insane. Complete and absolutely out of his mind. And he liked to demonstrate both things in the way of random training sessions to whoever was unfortunate enough to be close to the man when the mood struck him. He also had a habit of appearing at the new classes and taking over from the instructors. In less than a minute, any awe the students might have felt for him was replaced by utterly visceral terror. Or unconsciousness, in some lucky cases.

Today, however, the experience had been far more horrifying than what was dubbed 'Garp's Welcome Beating'. Contrary to usual, the man hadn't stopped his 'lesson' once his students were passed out or completely unable to move. This time it had taken Sengoku's intervention to get the vice admiral away from the men, and then the three admirals had been forced to intervene as well to ensure the fight that broke out between the two veteran marines didn't last for at least a week and destroy the entirety of Marineford.

The five high ranking officers had ended up in the infirmary, but Garp had stormed off before his wounds could be tended to.

No one, not even Sengoku, knew what had got the man in such a frighteningly bad mood, and no one suspected it had to do with something that had came in the fifth page of that morning's paper.

And for Garp, not even that great work-out had served to improve his mood.

That. Fucking. Brat.

After months of there not being a single article about Ace and absolutely no information on his activities, months that Garp had spent worrying that something had happened to him, now the brat had showed up again.

As a member of the Whitebeard Pirates. The fucking brat.

Garp guessed, for a pirate crew, Ace could have done much worse, but it was a pirate crew all the same. It wasn't enough that the brat had refused a position as a Shichibukai, and Garp might have both laughed his ass off and been extremely pissed at that childish answer of his, but now he was attracting even more attention to himself by joining Whitebeard.

And Garp couldn't just show up on the Moby Dick and scold his grandson as he deserved. He guessed he could pass the visit off as one of his random decisions to go fight Whitebeard, decisions that Sengoku really hated, but he couldn't trust those damned pirates not to spread out the truth about his relationship with Ace. Because there was no way in hell Newgate would let him beat the shit out of one of his precious sons without giving him a good reason for it first.

Maybe, if Ace didn't do anything too outrageous, he would simply be regarded as one more of the Whitebeard Pirates and not attract the government's attention, surrounded by all those other monsters in the crew.

Yeah, sure.

That bastard Newgate better take care of his beloved grandson until Garp found a way to visit without risking to alert Sengoku and the rest of the government to the identity of Ace's father.

Ace fell with a resounding crash on top of some crates that had been lying on deck, effectively destroying them and scattering their contents around. Contents that luckily had been neither food nor booze.

Marco frowned from his sitting position on the steps, from where he had been watching the fight between a now grinning Thatch and a scowling Ace, who accepted the hand of his finally-friend to stand up.

The first division commander rose to his feet and approached the two men before they could start another round.

"Ace," both men turned to look at him, "why didn't you use haki?" Marco asked.

"Haki?"

"What?!" Thatch exclaimed, rubbing a sore spot of his upper left arm where Ace had kicked him. He turned to look at the boy. "You weren't fighting seriously?" Was his visibly offended question.

"I was serious!" Ace answered, and then turned to Marco. "What do you mean?"

"You haven't used haki in any of your attacks."

"What's haki?" Ace asked, confused, and confusing Marco as well. Before he could answer, however, Thatch intervened.

"Oh, come on, Marco, you can't scold the kid for not using haki if he doesn't know how to use it."

"But he does."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he used it against Pops all the time. You didn't notice?"

"Nah, I was too busy laughing my ass off." Thatch answered with a grin.

"Oi!" Ace yelled at Thatch, then directed his attention back to Marco. "Seriously, what are you talking about?"

Seeing Ace's expression, it was obvious he had no idea what haki was. Maybe he had heard it called something else, Marco knew it received different names at certain places in the world. If he wasn't mistake, Kenbunshoku Haki was referred to as 'Mantra' in some sky islands.

"That power you used against Pops to make your attacks stronger."

"Oh, that's called haki? I didn't know."

"So you have haki." Thatch exclaimed accusingly, leaning so close to his face that he forced the boy to lean back. "Why didn't you use it, then?"

Ace shrugged.

"I didn't want to get mad."

A confused silence followed those words. Marco chanced a glance at Thatch and, seeing his friend had no clue as to what Ace meant with that either, he looked back at Ace.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I need to be in a bad mood for it to work, and I didn't want to get pissed at you guys, so…" Ace said, shrugging.

Another confused silence, this time soon broken by Thatch's incredulous voice.

"Who the fuck told you that?"

Now it was Ace who was confused.

"What?"

"Ace," Marco spoke, sighing, "you don't need to be angry to use haki, it's all a matter of learning to control it."

"Really?" The younger pirate asked, both surprised and slightly hopeful. Marco imagined this was good news for him.

"Yes. Am I wrong in guessing you can also predict others' movements?"

Ace hesitated, bit his bottom lip and rubbed the back of his head. Marco was curious at this clearly embarrassed reaction, but he had an explanation soon enough.

"Kinda. It happens sometimes, but I don't know how to control it, so I don't count on it while fighting. You can learn how to use that, too?" Ace looked so hopeful and excited that Marco had to hold back the impulse of kissing him. The conversation was far too serious to interrupt it with a quick fuck on deck.

"Yeah."

"Any other surprises we need to know?" Thatch asked jokingly and, to both older men's surprise, Ace nodded.

"Sometimes I can make people faint. I don't know how that works, either."

Marco had to admit he was impressed at that admission, but it was Thatch who put his feelings into words.

"Haoshoku Haki? Cool." Whistled the fourth division commander. Passing his arm over Ace's shoulder, he continued. "I'm afraid you'll have to ask Pops help with that one. But, for the other two, Marco here will make a great teacher."

And then, the traitor just left, leaving Marco with the job to teach Ace how to properly use his haki. Marco might have wanted to kick him but, to be honest, he preferred to be the one to teach Ace, so he limited his annoyance to stick Thatch with the worst watch shifts for the next month.

Ace looked up at him.

"I'm going to get my ass kicked, right?" He asked, a soft grin taking over his face. Marco grinned back.

"That's part of the training."

A new duty had joined the Moby Dick's list of feared chores. Haki duty.

Part of it was easy enough, and even fun sometimes, it was the one Marco was in charge of, in which the ones doing it had to do what the commander told them to see if Ace could sense their movements or where they were. It was Marco himself who attacked Ace to practice the part where he had to predict attacks and use haki on his own, as the time they tried it with another crewmember the man had ended up at the infirmary, so the rest of the crew was saved from receiving Ace's blows.

The feared part was the one Pops was in charge of, in which Ace had to try to make someone, or a group of people, to pass out. It wasn't a nice experience, even for the ones who simply got a headache instead of fainting. The ones who didn't faint or feel sick had been alarmed the first few times, as they hadn't been told what would happen. Pops found the reactions amusing, apparently.

Ace himself felt very satisfied at his progress. His sort of practice with the skill up until then meant that, at least with Busoshoku Haki, he wouldn't take nearly as long as it was usual to master the skill, even if he was being teased relentlessly for not having noticed it made him more resistant as well.

He was tired, though, and he had no problem admitting it. He fell asleep more often, there had even been this time he had fallen asleep during a fight with Marco and, had the man had worse reflexes, things could have developed into an accident. After the incident, though, Marco had consented to let him rest on Sundays, and had convinced Pops to do it as well.

Today was Sunday, and Ace was lying on bed well past his usual waking time, hugging the pillow and trying to convince his body to go back to sleep, even though he had slept almost twelve hours already, having got out of bed only to eat breakfast.

He heard the door open and close soon after, and opened his eyes to see Marco walking to the bed. The man sat on it, Ace's back turned to him as that was the position he had been lying on, and a warm hand appeared on his thigh.

"Still trying to sleep?"

"It's my day off. Leave me alone, monster." He complained childishly, remembering the hard training session from yesterday. He could feel muscles aching that he hadn't even know were in his body.

He felt and heard Marco shifting, and then both of the man's hands were on him.

"Lie on your stomach." The blond said, and Ace had no problem releasing the pillow and complying.

He sighed when Marco's hands started to move over his sore back, slowly easing out the tensions of the week. He loved those hands, even if they were the cause of most of that tension.

Ace felt he could fall asleep again when those hands moved over his arms, but now he didn't want to sleep anymore, and instead decided to bring up a subject that had been dancing in his mind for weeks now.

"Hey, Marco, where should I get my tattoo?"

"Where do you want it?" The hands were now on Ace's sides, and a shiver ran down his body. The drowsiness was being chased away by a completely different feeling.

"I'm not sure. I want it somewhere people will see it, but not a place where it'll be too easy for it to be cut. I know I can get a scar anytime, but I'd like for it to be as less likely as possible."

Marco hummed behind him and the hands moved to his back again.

"What about here? You never turn your back on an enemy, and are too much of an idiot to flee."

Ace was in too much of a good mood to be offended, so he just turned his head to the side and grinned up at Marco. The man leaned closer, lips brushing Ace's earlobe as he continued.

"That way you would walk shirtless when the weather allowed."

Ace's grin widened.

"And you won't be jealous of others looking at me?"

One of Marco's hands trailed down to one of his bare buttocks, and grabbed it possessively.

"No, this way everybody will know what I have and they can't." Ace shivered at that. Marco smiled. "Want to learn something? You'll like this, and there's no fighting."

Ace nodded, writhing to a position in which the mattress didn't get in the way of his hardened length. Marco kissed him below the ear and moved away. Ace heard the drawer open, indicating the man was getting the lube, and the telltale sound of Marco opening his pants. He didn't take them off, though.

Ace gasped in anticipation when he felt a finger pressing his opening, and gladly accepted it in. He grew annoyed, however, when the second and third fingers came in and Marco didn't seem to be in any hurry to pull them out.

"Marco," he practically growled, "I'm not a virgin and I haven't been months without sex, so hurry the fuck up."

The man chuckled behind him.

"Don't be so impatient." Ace turned his head to glare at him, and Marco pulled the fingers out, raising both hands in a gesture of surrender. The younger pirate groaned in frustration when the man stopped to coat his cock with a generous amount of lube, and buried his face in the mattress.

He moved to kneel, however, when Marco placed his hands on both sides of his hips and signaled for him to do so.

At least the man stopped teasing there and seated himself inside of Ace in a single, swift trust. Both men groaned. Then Marco was leaning over Ace once more, lips on his ear.

"Pay attention now."

And Ace's eyes widened when he felt Marco's hard cock harden even more inside of him. He turned his head to look at a smugly grinning Marco.

"You're-?"

The man thrust into him and, gasping, Ace decided to forget his questions and just enjoy himself.

"Second division commander?" Ace asked, placing the fork back on the plate. "Me?"

Excited nods answered him.

"Yeah. You know, the position's been empty a long time. We all think you'd make a good commander."

Ace tilted his head, looking at the men who had approached him with the idea.

"'We all'? Who's that?"

The men started talking all at the same time.

"The second division guys-"

"-said he'd heard Blenheim and-"

"-told Pops and he-"

"-so they voted-"

"-think you've got what's needed-"

Ace blinked, unable to understand everything they were saying.

"Oi, not all at once!" The others fell silent immediately. "You say Pops knows?" Rapid nods. "I'll think about it, okay?"

To be honest, Ace wasn't sure how he felt about the proposal. Pops hadn't told him anything yet, and that meant he had some time to think it over.

"You still haven't decided?"

Ace jumped in place, almost losing his balance on the railing. He had been so distracted he hadn't even felt Marco approaching him.

"Decided? What?"

Marco scoffed, and moved to lean on the railing as well.

"Ace, everybody knows you know about the commander position."

"Oh." Ace blinked. "Pops hasn't told me anything yet."

"I know. He's waiting for you to get over your emotional conflict to do it."

Ace turned his head to look at Marco, confused by his words.

"I'm not conflicted. I just don't think I should become a commander."

"Why not?"

"You really have to ask?" Ace knew, he really did, that Marco was a smart guy, but sometimes he suspected the man could be extremely dense. It was clear why it wouldn't be a good idea for him to become a commander, it didn't matter that he has strong enough for it.

"Is it because you think people will be angry and think you were mocking them by taking the position when they discover your big, dark secret?" Marco asked, sarcasm evident in his voice. Sometimes, too, Ace wanted to strangle him. Or push him overboard.

"So what if I am?" He snapped. "Not everybody's bound to be as understanding as you and the old man."

Marco sighed in obvious exasperation. Ace looked down at the ocean.

"Ace, they like you. And if someone changed their mind after they discover that little detail, I'll personally kick them out of the ship before Pops has even time to attempt to reason with them."

The younger man didn't look at him, though he might have blushed slightly at Marco's obvious protectiveness over him. He did lean into the man when Marco moved closer and placed an arm around his shoulders.

"So, ignoring your ancestry issues, do you want to become a commander? It has some benefits aside from all the added responsibilities, though I would make sure you don't get your own room."

Ace had to laugh at that.

"Don't worry, I like my current room."

Garp punched his desk, rendering it to a pile of splinters and small chunks of wood. At least this time he refrained from going in search of a training group, limiting himself to glare at the still visible paper in between the remains of his desk.

That. Fucking. Brat.

Was it really too much to ask that he keep a low profile? Instead of limiting himself to appear in the background of some pictures in an article about the Whitebeard Pirates, or maybe having his name mentioned now and then in one of said articles, the damn brat had made it into the cover of that morning's edition.

Second division commander.

The brat had become the fucking second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. And his formal introduction to the position had consisted on singlehandedly destroying a pirate crew that had attacked one of the crew's protected territories. Where cameras could record it. A crew whose captain had a bounty of four hundred and fifty million beli. Adding to it the rest of the crew and Ace's position, now his grandson had earned the very notorious sum of five hundred and fifty million beli offered for his head.

And had Garp mentioned the kid's new tattoo? Not the one that was an obvious tribute to Sabo, Garp understood and respected that one, but the very visible, huge jolly roger on Ace's back. Exposed for the world to see, as the brat hadn't worn a shirt in those pictures.

He was going to kill the brat as soon as he could find a way to get to him.

Oh, wait…

Now Ace was the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He had a bounty of five hundred and fifty million beli on his head, he had entered the government's list of the most wanted men in the world. Now it wouldn't make much of a difference if the world learned who Ace, Portgas D. Ace, Gol D. Ace, really was.

As he burst out laughing, Garp knew with certainty that Sengoku would kill him when he came back from his impromptu trip.

He was really eager to see how strong his beloved grandson had become.

Marco felt Ace shiver under the arm he had over the boy's waist, and the younger pirate turned around, snuggling closer to him, burying his head under Marco's chin and wrapping an arm around the man's torso, the other pressed to his chest.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I just got this horrible feeling out of nowhere, like something terrible is about to happen."

Marco hummed and kissed the top of Ace's head.

"Need a distraction?"

He could feel the smile against his skin before Ace answered.

"That's a good idea." He said, and shivered again.

Marco moved, pushing Ace on his back and placing his arms on each side of his head, leaning on his elbows and hovering over him. He smiled at Ace's pale face, noticeable even with the decreasing evening light.

"It can't be that bad." He said, and earned a not-so-soft punch to the chest for his amused voice.

"My gut says it is." Ace scowled at him, and punched him again when Marco chuckled.

Marco leaned down and kissed Ace on the left temple, trailing down until he reached the corner of Ace's lips.

"Then let's get you gut's attention on something else." He mumbled against his lips right before kissing him.

Ace hugged him, bringing their chests flush together, just like his legs wound around Marco's waist and, when their already half erect cocks touched, Marco knew they weren't going to take it slow.

As his hands went down to Ace's ass, he decided that was fine by him.

The end

And this is it, the story is complete :)

I'm going to leave it up to your imagination how Garp's visit went xD

I hope you liked it, Aerle, as this is your present, after all :D

A huge thank-you to The Red Harlequin On The Luna for putting up with me throughout this story's development. I know I've been really annoying with this xD

Now, a final note:

Aerle, you did comment on the lack of Devil Fruit and what could happen, and this is what I have in mind, though I won't write anything more of this story. As we know, even the smaller of events can change everything, so maybe, by having Ace join the crew earlier, it changed everything else in a way that resulted in the crew never fighting the one that had the Yami Yami no Mi, or perhaps they would fight them, but at a time where these people didn't posses the fruit. And then there's the possibility that said fruit found its way onto the Moby Dick all the same. In this case, no, Ace wouldn't eat it, and the events that resulted in Thatch's death and Ace pursuing Blackbeard would happen. The difference here would be Ace himself. I personally think the reason Ace lost at Banaro was because his fighting style had become too dependent on his Devil Fruit, as he insisted on using it even when it was clear it wouldn't work.

But here Ace not only isn't a Devil Fruit user, he knows how to control his haki and, due to his earlier departure from Dawn Island and the life he's led, as well as having been two more years on board the Moby Dick, means he's physically much stronger. If the fight between Blackbeard and Ace happened, then Ace would be the one to win. Let's not forget Whitebeard said Blackbeard's weak point was his weak physical defense.

You guys can choose whichever scenario you like the most for the future here, these are the possibilities :)

And now I'll be off. Thank you so much to everybody who has commented, followed and added this story to their favorites :)