Gol D Ace looked around confused. Last thing he remembered was fighting Jinbei, he'd wanted to fight Whitebeard, but the fishman wouldn't tell him where he was. He remembered that they'd both taken each other out, but he'd risen again at the sound of a booming voice. He frowned, his memory wasn't really working too well, he stepped out of the cabin he'd found himself in, it wasn't his own, and he moved out onto the deck. Sunlight hit his face, making him squeeze his eyes shut in reaction, before he tried to open them again. Slowly as the light dimmed a bit, he looked around. He was on a huge ship.

"Hey kid!" called out a cheery voice. Ace looked up and found a tall man, with huge, poofed up blonde hair, wearing a chef's uniform, sitting on the flat roof of the cabin. Ace frowned at him, he didn't recognize the man, had he been kidnapped? Smoker was going to kill him. "I'm Thatch. I'm a cook here." The man said.

"Where is here?" Ace asked, his gaze sweeping around again. He was too far from the prow to see the figure head, and the cabin was blocking his view of the flag, only white sails could be seen.

"The Moby Dick." Thatch said, then held out his hand, "Want to be friends?" he asked.

Ace's mouth dropped open, "I've been kidnapped?!" He shrieked, but then he glared at Thatch, "How did I get here?" he asked.

Thatch looked at the kid, amused, "Well, we heard that some rookie named "Firefist" Ace was fighting Jinbei. Apparently kept up with him for three days. We heard that he wanted to fight Oyaji. Now, Oyaji was interested, even more so when we got there in time to see both you and Jinbei fall, only for you to immediately stand up when you heard Oyaji's voice. We were intrigued, you put up a flame wall to protect your crew, but the three days had caught up with you, and you passed out. You did however accidently start your ship on fire, and so Oyaji took you and your crew aboard. He'd like to talk to you, unless you'd rather try to take his head first?" Thatch offered.

Ace looked at him, so he hadn't been kidnapped, that was good. He had, however, burned his ship down, that was bad. He decided to focus on Thatch's last question. The old him would have said that he would take Whitebeard's head no matter what, and would have kept attempting as long as he could, but he'd changed. Learning about his father from Kaa-chan, and meeting his brothers, and his other Kaa-chan had changed him. "You guys kept us from being stranded on a deserted island. I would very much like to talk to Whitebeard." He said.

He wondered if his father would be proud of him. Everything he knew about Roger told him that the man would be proud of him for protecting his crew. He followed Thatch silently.

Thatch led him to a huge chair, and then pulled him in front of it. Ace found himself looking up at a giant man with a huge white moustache. He was connected to IVs and wires, and it still didn't diminish how strong the man looked. This was the man his father had fought against as equals.

Whitebeard looked down at the small brat who looked no more than a boy to him. "What is your name brat?" he asked, his golden eyes fixed on the freckled face. He looked familiar to him.

"Ace." Ace said. He looked the stronger man in the eye, "Gol D Ace." He finished.

Whitebeard looked the kid over, and nodded, he could see it; he could see Roger in the boy. The freckles had to be the mother's though. "I have a proposition for you Ace." Whitebeard said, he watched as the boy's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything. "I want you to join my crew, and become one of my sons." He said. He watched Ace, trying to gauge his reactions, he wasn't expecting the boy to burst into peals of laughter.

"I don't think you actually want that." Ace said, wiping a tear from his eye.

Whitebeard raised an eyebrow, "Why not brat?" he asked.

Ace grinned at the old man, he like him, "Because then you'd have to come to family reunions." He said.

Whitebeard heard his oldest son snort, "What's so bad about that yoi?" Marco asked.

Ace looked very amused, and the members of the Moby Dick didn't get the joke, so Ace turned back to Whitebeard, "Alright. I'll become your son, but don't say that I didn't warn you. Oh, and there is a reunion coming up next year." Ace said. "Also, what about my crew?" he asked.

Whitebeard laughed, "Guararara. They will have the choice to join also." He said. Ace nodded.

Someone came up to him, and he turned to be faced with a beautiful crossdresser, "My name is Izou. I will be giving you your mark." He said.

Ace nodded and followed them man. They came to a medical bay set up with tattooing equipment, Izou had him sit down, "Where do you want it?" he asked.

Ace looked at him, "You guys are a family, right?" he asked. Izou nodded, of course they were, they didn't call the captain Oyaji for nothing after all. "My back. I want it large on my back, because family is the most important thing." He said stroking the tattoo on his arm.

Izou grinned, "I like you kid." He said, and went to work.

Ace snorted, "Too bad I'm already married." He joked. Izou was stunned and then he started laughing.

"I think that we'll get along just fine little brother." The crossdresser said as the needle pierced Ace's flesh.

Ace hummed in agreement, yeah, if he could get along with Law's crazy uncle, then this new branch of family would be just fine.