Index of Chapters:

Chapter 1 - Past - Ace.
Chapter 2 - Confusions - Ace and Luffy.
Chapter 3 - Fair Fight - Ace and Luffy.
Chapter 4 - Out of Place - Ace and Sabo.
Chapter 5 - Compass - Ace, Sabo, Luffy and Zoro.
Chapter 6 - Waiting - Ace and Sabo.
Chapter 7 - The Other Way - Ace, Sabo and Luffy.
Chapter 8 - Rogue IV - Ace, Sabo, Luffy and Zoro.
Chapter 9 - Unafraid - Ace.
Chapter 10 - Cross My Heart and Hope to Die - Ace and Marco.
Chapter 11 - Marco, Polo - Whitebeard Pirates.
Chapter 12 - Loss and Gain - All four.
Chapter 13 - Home - Zolu (coming soon)
Chapter 14 - Shallows - Marcoace (coming soon)
Chapter 15 - Rouge 17 (sequel to Rogue IV) - All four (coming soon)

The Sun and Sea – Chapter 1

'Past'

Main character(s): Ace, Thatch.

The day after Ace finally gives in and joins the crew, Thatch wakes the fire-throwing teen early to escort him down to the ship infirmary. Bring the polar opposite of a morning person (i.e: the polar opposite of Thatch), his new brother stumbles along beside him blearily, squinting every time the glare of the rising sun shines through a passing porthole and onto his face. Only a few other crew members are awake, and they look about as dead-on-their-feet as Ace does, sending only mumbled 'hello's and sloppy waves and salutes in response to Thatch's cheery greetings.

Reaching the infirmary, the pair of pirates are greeted by the Head Nurse, Hannah, looking as pristine and unruffled as always. She's sitting at a desk at the back of the room with a forboding-looking stack of paperwork, and as Thatch and Ace enter, the latter can tell that she's been expecting them. A steaming mug of what looks and smells like black coffee pours a pleasant, strong smell into the sunlit room.

Ushered by Thatch into a seat on the other side of the desk, Ace raises an eyebrow. "What's all this about?" he asks, not unkindly.

"Every time a new member joins, I make sure to take note of their medical record and needs to add them to our files. No, Ace," Hannah raises a firm hand as he opens his mouth to protest, "It's customary procedure with every crew member. You are one of us now, aren't you?"

The teen blanches, before his face settles into something like a pout. 'Puppy-dog eyes to sink a ship', Thatch adds to the mental list of things he's learning about his new brother, as the former captain of the Spades sighs and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his torso. "Fiiine," he grumbles, "Alright. What do you want to know?"

Hannah offers a rare, bright smile and straightens the stack of papers, clearing her throat. "Full name?"

"Portgas D. Ace. Don't you already know this?"

"Don't ask questions." Thatch stifles a laugh, grabbing a chair for himself. "Age?"

"Seventeen and five months."

Amusement turns to shock, and if Thatch has been drinking, he would have tried out that spit take he's been working on. "Wait, seriously?" Even Hannah looks surprised.

The teen raises an eyebrow curiously. "Yeah. What's so surprising?"

"Dude, you look, like, twenty!" Thatch's face is back to amusement. "Aw, diddums, are you still a teeny-weeny- Whoah!" The head chef barely manages to get out of the way of a whip of fire, and Ace has a pronounced tick in his forehead. "Jeez, watch the hair!"

Ace kneads his forehead. "Can we just get this over and done with, please?" he pleads with Hannah.

Offering him a comforting but clinical pat on the shoulder as Thatch settles back down, Hannah says, "In just a minute, first I need to check something…" She ruffles through her papers and, after a second, pulls out a new sheet that looks heavily worn. She scans if for a few seconds before saying, "Yep, I was right."

"About what?" Ace and Thatch ask in unison.

"You're officially the youngest person on this ship, Ace." Hannah looks almost smug. "Jules owes me 500 beli."

"Wait, what?!" Ace stares. "I thought Haruta was the youngest! She's, like, four foot tall!"

As Hannah explains patiently that Haruta is actually twenty-two despite her height deficiency, Thatch bursts into laughter. Slinging an arm around Ace's shoulder, he grins down at him and says, "So, little brother, how are you doing this fine morn- ARGH!"

Three minutes later, Thatch pouts near a Thatch-sized, lightly smoking hole in the wall, sporting a large bruise on his cheek, and Ace sits back down in front of Hannah. "Next?"

Shooting her new brother an amused look before glancing back down at her papers, Hannah read out, "Birth name? Any name changes?"

Abruptly, all of the warmth an amusement that hung in the room vanishes. "I…" Even Thatch looked up in surprise as Ace's voice wavered slightly. "What does this have to do with medical records?" the fire logia almost growls.

"Whoa, whoa, Ace, calm down." Hannah's clinical comfort is back in place, marred only by the worry that Thatch can see from a mile away in her eyes. "It's just a part of the form. Should we miss this part out?"

Ace nods mutely, looking down at his feet. "Sorry, I just usually don't like to go by my birth father's name," he says, looking guilty at his outburst as he regains her composure.

"It's fine, Ace." Hannah smiles warmly. "Let's carry on," she says, professional again, and the look on her face reminds Thatch just why she's the head doctor.

There are a few more questions about nothing much, like allergies and blood type, and they give Thatch enough time to mull over what he's learnt so far. Ace evidently doesn't get along well with his father – by the looks of things, in fact, he might even hate the man. This creates more questions than in answers; for Thatch, anyway. He's known for a long time that Ace has got something dark inside him – has known since he and Marco had a whispered conversation about it a few days after Ace was beaten – and it doesn't surprise him too much to find out that Ace isn't the type of man to be close to his family.

His age, though, is a real shock to the system. Sure, occasionally Thatch has seen his childish, playful side (and now that he's joined, he suspects that he might be seeing it a lot more), but Ace is downright scary when he's in battle, and for a mere seventeen year old to have that much hatred in his eyes… It makes Thatch surpress a shudder, because no kid who isn't even old enough to legally drink should have to carry that.

The fourth division commander is brought back to the conversation by Hannah asking, "Sea of origin?"

Ace actually beams, something like nostalgia flashing through his expression, and it's sort of like seeing the sun come out. "East Blue!" he grins, fiddling subconsciously with the red string of beads around his neck. "That reminds me, I need to write to-"

"East Blue?!" Thatch cuts in. Apparently, there's no end to the surprises today. "Fire Fist Ace is from the East Blue." Ace nods blankly. "Fire-wielding, pirate captain, 'Super-Rookie', Warlord-level Fire Fist Ace? East Blue?" Ace nods again. "Sorry, this isn't connecting."

"What's wrong with East Blue?" Ace bristles slightly. "Almost half of my crew are from the East Blue! My little brother, too!"

Scrap the part about Ace not being somebody close to his family; Thatch could probably see the warmth enter his eyes at the mention of this little brother from a mile away. All thought of defending his home sea now apparently forgotten, Ace grins as he answers the rest of Hannah's questions without complaint, eyes and mind obviously elsewhere. When they leave, Thatch considers telling Marco what he's learnt, but scraps that idea a second later. He's Marco, so there's probably not point telling him what he already knows because Marco simply knows everything.

One thing Thatch has learned is that their new brother certainly is full of surprises.

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Edit* I was reading back through and found a few tense errors. Sorry! They're fixed now :)