Hey everyone!

If you have been following my other fic "Stuck", then here's the chapter as promised!

But gosh this was one hard chapter to write. The plot didn't move overly much but the next chapter is where we finally, finally see the pirates in action. This chapter is akin to a filler, but it is also quite necessary as it focuses more on Ace and how he's dealing with everything.

To all my reviewers, those who followed and favourite-d this fic, thank you so much. I might never have returned without you guys.

And again, the warnings:

WARNING:
Please read this before you go on to the story. I do not personally know anyone who has ever suffered from depression before. Any information on depression I used is from my own research on the Internet. If I wrote or will write anything that doesn't reflect or represent depression correctly, I'm truly sorry. I do not seek to offend. If you have any issues, please PM me or something and let me know so I can make the necessary changes. Thank you.

SECOND WARNING:
Yes, this fic is about a depressed Ace. I am NOT, by any means, advocating that his actions are correct or advisable. If you are depressed and I can help in any way, I'm here. BUT please do NOT take anything from this fic as a piece of advice. Ace is behaving the way he is because he is depressed. Marco, Thatch, Izo and all the rest because they are clueless on how to handle it. Please be forewarned that I am no expert on the subject.

A shot in the dark
- A Shot in the Dark by Within Temptation

Two weeks had passed since their return to the Moby Dick, but it was a moment that was freshly still imbued in one Portgas D. Ace's mind, one that sent chilling pangs straight through his heart.

To say the three pirates had been in trouble was a huge understatement. The moment the first commander's trademark blue flames could be seen from the Moby Dick, the usual uproarious noise had died like a wisp of a flame under a storm. The silence had been hair-raisingly eerie even as Ace and Thatch climbed aboard. Their brothers and sisters had then proceeded to open a path up for them which led straight to their father, who had cast them a look of such disappointment that Ace felt inclined to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness.

...except he hadn't. His brothers had warned him on their journey back to shut up and let them handle it. Of course they hadn't specifically told him outright to keep his trap shut, but their warning looks had said it all. After all, it took all but a simple nudge from the chef to seal his lips even as Marco took the brunt of the blame.

"I know it was hasty and careless, yoi. But I had already accepted the dare and it would be a dishonour to go back on my word on account of some flimsy rain." Marco gestured to Thatch and Ace. "They insisted on tagging along."

Their adoptive father narrowed his gaze. For a moment, there seemed to be a battle of wills between the first mate and captain as each stared the other down. To no one's surprise, however, Marco broke his gaze first and muttered out an apology.

Whitebeard leaned back in his chair, his eyes flicking between the three pirates. His frown remained stern. "I expected better of you, son," he finally said. It sounded like a kick to the stomach.

The commander of the first division lowered his head to stare at the floor. In other circumstances, the way the infamous pirate resembled a child who had just been handed down punishment for misbehaviour would have appeared comical. This, was just plain depressing.

"I'm sorry, yoi," he repeated, his voice subdued as it carried through the wind.

When the blonde had turned to them, nothing in the four damned seas could have prepared the freckled teen for the moment he caught the shadowed look on his brother's face. It tore a pain right into his chest. It made him want to cry. Somehow, Marco must have seen something on his face for the look vanished, quickly replaced it with an assuring smile.

Even then, neither Thatch nor Ace had been spared reprimand and had been sentenced to staying in their rooms until further notice. Food was brought to them, though no one stayed long enough beyond a knock and the occasional sympathetic look. On the fourth day, however, Izo had all but dumped a tray of sandwiches on the desk before swiftly grabbing the fire-user into a bone-crushing hug that he swore left bruises on his skin. The kimono-clad pirate had given him a warm smile before he too left in a flurry of grace and silk.

Ace gave out a long, drawn-out sigh. He slid down the side of one wall, his legs sprawled limply on the floor.

"Tick tock, tick tock," he muttered under his breath.

It had been fourteen days of plain, pure torture.

He felt a profound emptiness well up inside him. No- it was only deepening. It had started out small, but the days of nothing but silence and the crashing of the waves and creaking of the ship seemed to feed it an aching hollowness that crept beneath his skin and sank into his bones. Like a magnetic field that dragged him down until it was too heavy for him to move. He supposed he should be grateful that he wasn't to leave his quarters. He didn't even want to get out of bed. The only reason he did was to escape the sickening homey comfort of his bedsheets that practically reeked of good things that he did not deserve.

Ace let his hand fall to his chest. He allowed Marco to lie through his teeth for him, made them abandon the ship for him. He may bear the mark of Whitebeard, yet he was only a coward behind that symbol of strength and power.

"Failure."

The pirate's features twisted in surprise. Huh? He just said that…didn't he? "Fail-ure," he repeated, drawing the word out slow. "Fail. Failure." His lips parted as he mouthed the words to himself as if trying to test how it felt on his tongue.

Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure.

Marco's dejected look flashed through his mind again and the resulting guilt shoved him forward to press his hands against his face. "Failure," he told himself. "You made Marco lie to Oyaji. You made Marco upset." How could you do that? How could you how could you how could you- A burden. A troublesome thing they'd be better off without. You-

Ace's eyes snapped open as he vaguely began to realise the downward spiral he was rushing headlong into. "No," he whispered, his voice loud and harsh against his own ears. His voice grew louder. "No! No no no no no. Don't think that way. You can't think that way. Why are you thinking that way?!"

His family- Luffy. He needed him to survive. He'd promised Luffy he would never leave him behind. He wasn't supposed to have any regrets. His nails dug into his scalp. Marco and-and Thatch? They came for him, right? That meant he must mean something to them, right? That meant they wanted him to be okay, right?

But you're not okay, something dark hissed within the recesses of his mind. They want a strong, confident brother. That's not you, you incompetent fool.

Ace let out a moan. No! Thing of good stuff, he wanted to snarl, but it fell flat in his own head. He had to do better. He had to become better so his family would want him. Never again could he allow himself to put such expressions of upset on his family's faces. He must never give them a reason to want him gone. The only thing he had was family.

He had nothing else.

Good times, Ace, he urged himself. Think of the good times, of pranks and food and Luffy and Dadan, Makino-san, Sab-

His breath hitched. No. Something that didn't involve the people he cared for hurting or dying or-

"FUCKING HELL!"

A burst of raw frustration tore through him. Shut. Up!

Shooting to his feet, he began to walk frantically in circles before making a dash for his dresser and ripping its contents out till it was empty. "Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up." He then curled his fingers beneath the wooden sides, heaved and, with a grimace, hurled the wooden article and slammed it against the floor. He kicked the remains of his dresser and crushed them beneath his bare feet. "Fucking head won't shut the fuck up!" he snarled.

Ace felt his flames build beneath his skin. Bright orange flickered on the palm of his hand and he was just about ready to set fire to it when he froze, his grey eyes sweeping over the mess of broken wood and scattered clothes on his floor. He darted a glance at the now empty space where his dresser once stood- dark and ugly in his already bare room. "What am I…?" What was he doing? He stared blankly at the destruction around him, as if surprised at his own brutality.

Told you so.

And just like that, all energy seemed to sap from his body. He let out a mumble: "It just won't shut up."

He sniffed, feeling drained. The teen dropped his hands as he moved sluggishly to his bed and all but fell on it. He buried his head against his mattress.

There was no escape. There was a muted noise somewhere and Ace withdrew into himself. He snorted tiredly to himself. And he wanted to surpass his father. Yeah, right. He was still so weak.

And he had no idea what to do.

Cause your soul is on fire
A shot in the dark
What did they aim for when they missed your heart?

Jozu walked the perimeter of the deck, his perpetual scowl firmly fixed on his hard features. His brothers and sisters kept out of his way, possibly noting the dangerous aura he was sure he was emitting, though a select few bounded up to him now and then to try and "loosen up his gruff exterior". It wouldn't surprise him if his father had noticed too. He was hardly this restless.

It had been two weeks since Marco and Thatch and their resident runaway (that little punk, he inwardly muttered) returned. He knew from the first commander's dark look that he wasn't to give anything away. So he remained silent as Marco cooked up some lame excuse that their excursion had been part of a dare, though part of him rebelled against the very idea of lying to his adoptive father. But the pirate didn't have all the details and he trusted the blonde enough to know the latter would never do anything to hurt his family. And if it meant he had to lie, well, things must be pretty screwed up for things to go that far.

Yet it was with impatience and slight concern that he went below deck, having decided he had enough of blue open skies and happy chatter. Contrary to pupular belief, Jozu was no bulky man with no brains. He knew his strength. Maybe he had hit Ace so hard that the kid took it a little too close to heart? And he hadn't rushed to apologise either. Not that that was enough to drive their youngest away.

…right?

A few weeks back and the answer would be obvious. But the kid had been different the past few weeks.

The third commander shook his head. And now he was thinking silly thoughts now. Both Marco and Thatch must be rubbing off on him. Huh, those two idiots. They must be really wrung dry if they thought no one had noticed their sudden attentiveness over Ace. The way first commander would take on twice his number of shifts, most of which coincided with one particular narcolepsy-prone pirate, and how the dining tables had been laden only with Ace's favourite food, with select healthy dishes at the side.

A series of crashes broke through his thoughts and Jozu looked up in alarm. Surprise, surprise. He was in the hallway Ace's room was on. Another loud thud and what sounded like a muffled shout resounded through the corridor again and the next thing he knew, he was knocking on the door.

"Ace?"

Silence answered him.

"Ace?" he repeated, feeling uneasy. A few moments ticked by in eerie quiet. He knocked again, louder this time, and was just about break down the door, irate little brothers be damned, when the wooden appendage clicked open to reveal a hair-tousled fire-user.

Ace looked surprised. "Jozu?"

"I heard something from your room. Is everything alright?"

The freckled teen was quick (maybe a little too quick, his mind supplied) to answer: "Oh. Oh, it was nothing."

The third commander raised an eyebrow at partially hidden pirate. "Are you going to stay behind the door like that?"

A hint of red crept up Ace's cheeks and he slipped out of his room, the door pulled shut behind him. Jozu barely kept from frowning. Was that a huge wooden splinter he saw on the floor? Before he could dwell on it further, his brother spoke.

"So what brings you here?"

"What's going on?" the commander asked instead.

"Nothing!" Ace choked out. His grey eyes darted up and down the hallway before returning to the older man. "I-I was bored! And thought that I could, uh, you know, experiment! With my attacks. And it got a little messy in there." Another nervous laugh ended his explanation.

Oh. Jozu took one look at his fidgeting little brother and somehow, something didn't seem right. "You do realise you're made of fire?" Huh. No, that wasn't what worried him. Ace was an idiot too, but he wasn't that bad a guy.

Ace, who at first seemed to shrink under his scrutiny, straightened at his question. "I won't blow up my room!" he shouted as a flash of anger swept through his childish features.

Jozu raised his hands in surrender. "I never said you would. But you will be testing out moves you have never tried before, or add intensity to your current ones. That gives a lot of room for mistakes and accidents."

"Oh yeah? Then you think wro- oh."

Jozu placed an arm on the teen's shoulder, not missing the jump as the latter peered up at him in surprise."Are you okay, Ace?"

Ace shuffled his feet, his gaze glancing down the hallway again. "Yeah, I am!" A strained smile pulled at his lips and the fire-user scratched at the back of his head. "I'm just feeling a little cooped up in here and I really want to, you know, get out and feel some fresh air." He punched the other's arm playfully. "Thanks for worrying but I'm just…yeah."

"Two weeks a little too long, huh?" Jozu teased back. "Don't worry too much. I heard Oyaji speaking the other day that he might be releasing you guys soon." He let out a snort. "Ship's a mess without Marco's supervision."

Ace laughed lightly. "I can see how that could happen." He looked down the hallway again.

"What do you keep looking at?"

"Huh?"

Jozu shrugged. "You keep looking down the hallway. What's wrong?" An idea came up in his head and his scowl returned. "Did someone do something? Harass you or anything?"

Ace shook his head, his arms waving wildly. "Oh, no! No, of course not! I'm just not supposed to leave my room yet and…" He gestured to himself, a step outside his quarters.

Oh. The older pirate scratched his chin sheepishly. "Then you'd better get back in, huh."

The fire-user chuckled, the quiet laughter awkward and restrained. "Yeah. I should" – he pointed at his door – "probably head inside."

Jozu forced a smile and was about to turn when he remembered. "Oh, and Ace?"

Ace, who had just placed a hand on the door knob, jerked back. "Y-yeah?" The pirate immediately coloured at the stutter.

The commander looked the younger pirate in the eye, locking onto (anxious?) grey eyes. "I just want to apologise. For the other night. I threw a glass bottle at your head when I was drunk. It was no excuse, Ace, but I truly didn't mean for that to happen and I'm sorry that it did."

For a moment, Ace didn't answer him, gaping instead in what appeared to be surprise before he seemed to wake up to wave him off dismissively. "That was ages ago! I completely forgot." He mock-punched the older man. "It's okay. It really is."

Jozu tilted slowly and offered the other a small smile. "Well, thank you, Ace. You should head back inside."

Ace grinned at him and it wasn't until he turned away that he heard a door click shut. He resisted a look back, knowing Ace was no longer in the hallway.

…

But what the hell was that?

Now I'm fighting this war since the day of the fall
And I'm desperately holding on to it all
But I'm lost
I'm so damn lost

He could do this. He really believed he could.

He'd been told many times how smart he was. Well, his little brother was Luffy, for goodness sake. Someone had to be the smart one lest they get the other – or both – killed. He didn't have a choice.

Ace paced his room, circling around scattered pieces of paper on the floor. What was left of his dresser was pushed against where the furniture once stood and he told himself sternly that he would fix it himself. Or maybe just make the excuse that he put it on fire and get a new one. Oh, no no. Marco wouldn't like that. The blonde had warned him plentiful times to keep his stuff intact and not aflame.

He couldn't help it sometimes though. His fire was part of him. They wanted out as much as he needed fresh air.

The fire-user shook his head and tried to focus on his current project on self-analysis. At one corner of his scribbled mess, he had written all his "symptoms", as he saw it, listing them down and citing the possible reasons behind them. Some of them went:

- INSOMNIA: Too much energy to burn off? Have been lying around in bed / Not doing much of anything.
- FEEL DOWN A LOT: Never felt down around Luffy. Probably miss him a lot after so long apart / Hadn't been on adventures as much as when captain of Spades Pirates, probably a little bored of tame life with experienced pirates
- SMALL APPETITE: Too much energy, more food = more energy!
- TEARS A BIT: Frustrated at how life is going? No Luffy, no adventures, little food?
- GETS UPSET EASILY: See "TEARS A BIT"

Okay, so maybe he didn't have all the answers but it was a start. If he could find out why he was behaving like some little lost child, he could solve it and move on, right? And in the meantime, he could begin to come up with temporary solutions to tone down these "symptoms". His family would be less suspicious and he'd upset less people. A win-win situation, in his opinion. Oh, and he was actually doing something to make things better instead of wallowing in his…in himself.

"It sounds so stupid though," he mumbled. Ace rolled his eyes when he read what he had written. Was he that upset because he missed Luffy? But he couldn't think of anything else. Oh. Or perhaps he was tired of staying at one location. He was, after all, stuck on Dawn Island for 17 years. Maybe some part of his subconscious was associating long periods of time in one place with the potential loss of something he cared about. He did lose Sabo when he was very young. And almost Luffy and Dadan too.

"But that sounds even more ridiculous…"

The teen gave out a sigh. He was all wrong. He was sure of it. But what else could it be?

It had scared him so badly when Jozu had come knocking. The guy had looked concerned, for pirates' sake! Ace was worrying people left and right and that had to stop. He had to do something. For his family. For himself.

For the moment, the heavy feeling inside him had lightened after Jozu had apologised and it was something the freckled pirate was going to take full advantage of. Find a solution before those stupid feelings returned.

And the first temp solution was…write to Luffy.

He muttered, "Sounds like a plan, mister."

I breathe underwater, it's all in my hands
What can I do? Don't let it fall apart

Marco resisted the urge to fidget like a five-year-old under his father's stern look. Whitebeard had called for his attendance at the commanders' meeting despite his official suspension from duty, though Thatch had been exempted. At the conclusion of the meeting, however, he had been requested to remain even as his siblings shot him sympathetic looks as they left.

After about five minutes of silent staring (though he kept his gaze trained solely on the floor), the Yonko finally spoke. "What have you been up these two weeks, Marco?"

The pirate in question shrugged. "Caught up on my paperwork and did some reading, yoi."

Whitebeard raised an eyebrow at the answer. "I ground you to your room and you did work?"

Marco furrowed his eyebrows at the flash of disapproval. "I was being punished. Of course I-" he stopped as realisation set in. Oh. "I did…rest a bit."

"Did you?"

The Phoenix let out a tired chuckle, feeling something warm curl tight in his stomach. "Yeah, I did, yoi." He wasn't lying. He had spent many, many hours lying around in bed doing nothing but stare at the ceiling.

His adoptive father's lips curled into a wide smile as he pulled his tankard of alcohol to chug down his throat. "That's good to hear, son." He set the tankard down, straightening to pat the chair next to him. Marco came forward obediently and laughed when the older pirate flicked at his hair.

Whitebeard turned serious. "And how is Ace faring?"

Marco wasn't even surprised. Of course his father knew. He had suspected it all along but the strain of keeping it secret – and the outright lying – from the man was pulling at his every nerve.

"So I guess you know."

The Yonko looked knowingly at him. "He's my son. What do you think?" He guffawed. "That brat is as excitable as a five-year-old. Whatever's happened, the change is deeply alarming."

The first commander agreed. "It's like his light was snuffed out of him." Something occurred to the first mate then and he inhaled sharply, darting an expression of dismay at his father. "Hold on, yoi. That means you know…"

"Do I know you lied to me two weeks ago? Yes, I do."

Marco coloured in shame. He averted his gaze. "I'm sorry, Oyaji." A warm hand on his shoulder stopped from continuing. He looked up to see his father smiling kindly at him.

"I'm certain you wouldn't have done that if the situation hadn't called for it." He paused and Marco was sure he caught a glint of pride gleam in the other's eyes. "You've worked hard, son."

Oyaji… "I lied to you, yoi." The first commander froze when a finger pushed gently at his forehead.

"That's enough. I trust you."

A grin began to stretch at the corners of his lips, until it morphed into a beam. For the first time in weeks, Marco felt something inside him lighten. "Oyaji… Thank you. That means, a lot."

Whitebeard let out a rumble. "That you felt the need to keep the truth from me can only mean things have gotten serious. Come now, tell me about this problem. I'm already involved, aren't I?" he added at what must have been a look of conflict on the blonde's countenance.

Well, when he put it that way, it wasn't like the Phoenix told on Ace, right?

"I guess you are now, yoi."

All at once, things didn't seem so bleak anymore.

And I'm wondering why I still fight in this life
Cause I've lost all my faith in this damn bitter strife
And it's sad
It's so damn sad

Ace bunched up the piece of stupid paper and threw it across the room. Twelve letters down and none of them seemed right!

You can't even write a letter to your little brother right.

Oh, there it was.

You must be so proud of yourself. Trying to fight this.

The fire-user hissed under his breath. This was so hard. He picked himself back up and slammed another paper on his desk. He hunched over, a pen tightly clenched between trembling fingers, and started again.

Dear Luffy,

Hey, it's me, Ace. Well, of course it's me. Who else would it be? I don't really know how these letters should go but I'm pretty sure it starts with a 'How do you do' or something like that. So, how are you doing, little brother? I hope things are just as crazy and fun and that you're keeping up with your training. Goodness knows you need that if you're going to sail in three- no, two years from now.

Wow, it's been almost a year since I left. Can you imagine that? I have so many things to tell you. You've probably heard how I formed my own crew, the Spades Pirates, but now I'm part of the Whitebeard pirates. Long story cut short, I finally saw sense and Whitebeard… I call him Oyaji, Luffy. And he calls me his son. A part of me still can't believe it.

Anyway, recently I've spent

He stopped. Ace re-read what he wrote and let out a muffled groan. He didn't want to tell his brother he had been doing nothing but stay in his room or about that little runaway escapade a few weeks back. While joining the Whitebeards was something he would never regret, he didn't want to regale Luffy of all people how that happened. Borderline was that he did lose his crew and he did lose a hundred times to one man who barely fought back.

"Hey, Ace?"

Ace straightened and looked towards the door. Marco? There was another knock. Before he could get up, the pirate's voice came through again.

"I'm coming in, yoi."

The door opened and the freckled teen blinked at the sudden appearance of the first commander in his room. Half-lidded blue eyes swept across his room, lingering at the wooden pieces that used to be his dresser, before he raised an eyebrow questioningly at Ace.

Ace came up blank. "I was trying to come up with new attacks..?"

A shadow of a smile tugged at the older man's lips. "That would be more believable if you had told me instead of asking me, yoi."

"But why are you here? Did you need something?" A thought occurred to the fire-user. "Wait. Aren't you grounded?"

The smile changed into a smirk. "I was. Oyaji gave the green light."

Grey eyes widened. That meant…

"You're free to leave your room."

Ace's mind quickly raced through his recent work. Okay, so according to temporary solution number 11, he should react with, in this case, excitement. "I'm free to go?"

Marco nodded. "I believe that's what I said, yoi."

"I can leave my room?"

"Yes."

"And step outside?"

"Yes."

Oh. "Oh."

Just to make sure he was hearing right, Ace added, "Are you sure?"

The blonde looked amused. "Considering I just met with Oyaji, yes, I'm sure, yoi."

Ace inhaled sharply. One, two, three. "That's great! Finally!" he exclaimed, letting out a laugh before he paused, seeming startled at himself. He grinned and there was nothing for it as he threw caution to the wind and threw himself at the shocked commander.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" he said into the Phoenix's neck.

A breathy chuckle answered him as two strong arms encircled around him. The palm of a hand rubbed circles on his tattoo and he gave a sigh.

"If I had known you'd be this happy, I would have come here first, yoi." At Ace's questioning look, he explained, "Thatch was released too. Apparently the kitchens need him and they couldn't wait any longer."

"Oh." Ace perked up. "Oh! It's going to be dinner soon, right?" He pulled back and began to bounce on the soles of his feet. "Let's go let's go." His hand found its way to Marco's hand and he tugged the blonde along with him, mind solely focused on getting straight to the mess hall.

A jerk on his hand stopped him and he whirled around to see Marco staring at him, a strange look on his face.

"What is it? Are you not hungry?"

"You are very energetic today, yoi."

Damn it. Was he pulling it on too thick? He can't even do this right, could he? Ace laughed nervously at the expectant look. "I've been in my room for two weeks, Marco. A guy's got to burn off all that extra energy."

Marco didn't say anything for a moment, but then his expression cleared and he smiled. He tightened his grip on Ace's hand and pushed them forward. "Dinner will start soon, yoi. If you're lucky, maybe there'd be some dessert before that."

Ace sputtered, just realising that he had grabbed the blonde's hand earlier. "Dessert before dinner?" he weakly asked.

"Why not?"

In the blink of an eye, I can see through your eyes
As I'm lying awake I can still hear their cries

[Two weeks later]

Marco gave the report one last check before handing it to Vista. "Check with your division if they need anything more so we can confirm the list before we hit the next island, yoi. You have about two hours."

Vista tugged at his moustache unhappily. "Two hours. That's not enough time to even track down all of them."

The blonde shrugged. "Just get those you can. We'll probably dock some miles away and we won't head in until Oyaji gives the OK." He gestured at the documents. "Get it back to me by then, yoi."

Vista's shoulders slumped. "I'll do what I can."

"Later." Marco gave him a dismissive wave as he headed to the deck. His mind went through all the things he had to do as he mentally ticked another task done. Had his division in order? Check. Gave his final report to Oyaji? Check. Throw Thatch into the ocean before he made another mess? Check. Break up arguments? Check.

They had received reports a few days back of some idiots making a mess on one of their protected islands, Kaiketsu Island. They normally wouldn't send the entire crew but his family had been growing restless and that they had been a few days away was a definite plus. And Oyaji…well, it made his children happy.

"Hey, watch it!"

Marco looked up at the shout to see one fire-user duck as something (a pan?) barely missed his head.

"Sorry about that!" Ace shouted at the passer-by he hit as his feet skidded to run across the deck to escape a still drenched Thatch.

"Get back here, you little punk!"

"Can't catch me, old man?" the teenager shot back.

The fourth commander spluttered, "You- Watch me!"

Thatch pumped more energy into his legs and jumped over unsuspecting brothers in his mad dash to get to the kid. To Ace's credit, he dodged between the pirates with practiced ease, even managing to rope in some help from older brothers who never passed up a chance to make Thatch's life harder. Haruta at that moment stuck out her leg and gave a cackle when Thatch fell flat on his face.

"GUHHH," he groaned. He glared at the laughing pirate. "Not fair! He set my hair on fire! My hair!"

Marco snorted. Now that he looked closely, the edges of the brown hair was a little singed.

From his side, Ace gaped and threw a fireball that narrowly missed the chef's head, ignoring the latter's yelp. "He tried to trick me into falling overboard!"

"But you didn't!"

"Doesn't change the fact you tried! What if I fell in?"

"I would have saved your stupid ass, that's what, you little punk!"

"Or maybe you could avoid throwing me in altogether!"

"But what about my hair?!"

Ace scoffed. "Don't be such a baby. It's only a little burnt."

"B-burnt?!" Thatch took a double take, looking absolutely ridiculous as he looked up to try see his hair. "No!" he moaned.

Ace gave Haruta a high-five before taking off again when Thatch shot up and chased his two younger brothers down. Marco smiled dimly. It did come as a surprise, but Ace had been back to his usual antics after his punishment had concluded. Although his narcolepsy attacks had alarmingly increased, he was back to eating like a black hole, playing pranks on unsuspecting brothers and making a total nuisance of himself. The Phoenix would have felt content had he not known the freckled kid was only pretending.

It was all too obvious, and Marco spent almost his entire life observing people to not notice that. The way he seemed to pause before he reacted, or the random periods of time he spent in his room; but what stood out the most were the emptiness in his once twinkling grey eyes.

"We can see the island!" someone shouted. Uproarious cheers went up.

But Ace was trying hard.

A weight came crashing into him, sending him back a step. Marco glanced down to see a flushed Ace smiling at him sheepishly. "Oops?"

Marco laughed and pulled the kid behind him to easily intercept a raging Thatch.

"Thanks," Ace whispered behind him.

And Marco sure as hell was going to try his hardest along with him.

"No problem, yoi."

I'm not done
It's not over

A shot in the dark

That's it. It's shorter than usual but I couldn't cough up more for now.

So Ace is finally fighting back against that which ails him, Whitebeard lets on that he knows, the crew suspects something is up and Marco is more determined than ever to help Ace. Here's a sneak peek at the next instalment:

"No!" Ace shouted. He dug his heels into the ground, his flames flickering across his shoulders and arms. "I'll do anything, please, just stop it!"

Shocked brown eyes met his and Thatch shook his head, his lips mouthing what appeared to be 'calm down', but the freckled pirate would have none of it. He wouldn't go through it again. He wouldn't survive it, he knew he wouldn't. This had to stop.

"I'll do anything," he repeated. "Whatever it takes."

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