A/N: This... got really out of control. It should have been waaaay shorter, but oh well. Posted in celebration (sort of) of Ace's birthday. This was inspired partly by Wait For It from the Hamilton OST, and written with the song on perpetual loop, so if you're familiar with the franchise, I suggest reading it with the song as background music. If you aren't, well, you might still enjoy it, you never know. Constructive criticism much appreciated.

Canon will probably shatter the entire premise of this fic once Luffy reunites with Marco and the rest, but well, for now a Happy New Year to all the One Piece fans in the world and I hope you enjoy!

Love doesn't discriminate
Between the sinners and the saints
It takes and it takes and it takes

Two weeks before the third anniversary of Ace and Oyaji's deaths, what remained of the Whitebeard Pirates began to trickle in to a tiny, uninhabited island in the New World.

The first year this had happened, most of the crew had still been together, and they'd ended up on the island entirely by accident. They'd mostly been drifting, mourning, too much lost and too little gained for anyone to think yet on what they ought to be doing, and their arrival coupled with the date hadn't sunk in until it was much too late to turn around, and the crew had howled their pain once more. (It was the last incident, the last push the Whitebeards needed to finally, finally move forward. It was what Oyaji would have wanted, after all.)

The second year was less of a coincidence, more of a tradition in the making; they were significantly fewer, but news of the Strawhats making their way in the world once more had them in significantly higher spirits as well. (This time they arrived to a newspaper clipping of his little brother, a bottle of sake, and three cups placed in front of Ace's grave. Izo had instructed no one to touch them, and all obeyed. They all knew a promise when they saw one.)

Now, the night before the anniversary itself, all that remained of their once proud crew gathered near the center of the island, and Vista's heart ached for his brothers and sisters: both the lost and the left behind.

"What a sorry lot we are, eh?" Namur walked up behind him with a tired laugh, and with a gentle nudge to the swordsman, continued on to where the other commanders had clustered near the graves. A large rock had been moved there since their first arrival here and there Marco perched, their de facto leader now that Oyaji... now that things had changed.

Vista himself held back, along with Blenheim, to stand guard over the backs of their siblings. Because although surrounded only by family, they had learned the hard way to never let their guards down again. And so it was these two who spun first at the sound of an approaching ship, alerted by the sudden jerking to attention of the First Division Commander and zeroing in on the waters near the harbor.

Vista could sense Marco tensing up behind him, as though about to launch himself into flight, but he gave a quick flick of his sword to signify he himself would go to check things out. He knew it was Izo who put a calming hand on their too-tense brother.

As it turned out, there was no need for that at all.

Before Vista could take even a single step forward, a loud ruckus resounded from the ship in the distance, and Vista tensed as a projectile approached at high speeds towards his family.

A strangled shout of "Luffy!" from Marco's throat was the only thing that stayed Vista's hand from drawing his swords. That was about when the rubber rocket crashed into the large boulder and the group of commanders, sending plumes of dust into the air.

"Luffy!" a voice unconsciously echoed Marco from behind Vista, and he watched on in amusement as Jinbe appeared, exasperation warring with fondness in his eyes as he approached his old friends. He must have gone ahead of their crew to chase after the hyperactive captain. Now Vista could identify the Strawhats colorful ship as they neared the Whitebeards' ships docked by the shore.

Uncontrollable giggling drew Vista's eyes back to the scene. As the dust cleared, it revealed Ace's little brother with his arms around a dazed Marco, hat knocked back to dangle on its string, and subject to several glares from a few decidedly un-amused pirates dusting themselves off.

"Luffy, what the hell are you doing?!"

Strawhat turned to look at Marco as though he was an idiot, with all the irony in the world of a pot speaking to a kettle. And with a grin and a quick flip of his hand to replace his hat on his head, he replied, "I'm here for a feast, of course!"

Vista couldn't say it came as a suprise when Marco's glare turned nasty and Jinbe hastily pulled Luffy away from the irritated older pirate. Neither did Luffy's wriggling out of the fishman's grip to bounce around, chattering at any and all members of Vista's family, pestering them about this and that. He was, however, pleasantly surprised when the brat came up to him after Haruta had finally given in and hit him over the head for being a nuisance, thanking him for saving his life at Marineford. But as Vista opened his mouth to respond with a No, no, not at all, a yell from the harbor sent the rubbery captain running for the rest of his arriving crewmates.

Jinbe came to stand with an amused Vista then, and watched as the fishman's crew made several returns to the ship, and proceed to come off it with increasingly large amounts of food and alcohol (and a piano with a skeleton on it for some reason). Vista raised a brow in question at his old friend, but the other simply shrugged goodnaturedly in response. Then bony hands began to play, and amidst shouts of horror, Strawhat jumped up to stand on the piano's lid and surveyed the people around him. He had just opened his mouth to say something, when a dark blur slammed into him and knocked him to the ground.

The Whitebeard swordsman tensed, hands shooting to his swords before he realized what had happened. Squard stood there, the brat lifted off the ground with a hold on his collar. Strawhat raised a hand out in Vista's general direction, and Vista relaxed. A good thing too, he mused as the Strawhat brats relaxed as one. They had tensed as one earlier as well, each gaze glinting darkly when their captain fell, and Vista knew they would have torn this island apart if Strawhat had been hurt.

"You disrespectful brat," Squard spat, shaking the brat. "What the hell do you think you're doing, bringing food and beer here where there is no place for it? Here, where their graves lie on the day of their passing, how dare you pretend everything is okay and happy when Ace and Oyaji are gone?"

His voice broke on the last word and many looked away from the confrontation, the same guilt and anger at Strawhat gnawing at their insides.

Strawhat's eyes were shadowed by his hat, expression hidden. His voice was low and carrying when he asked, "Do you really think this is what Ace and the old man would have wanted?"

And Vista closed his eyes in pain and understanding as Squard dropped Strawhat in shock because, no, no of course not. Oyaji had lived life as though there would be no tomorrow, laughing and crying and loving and hating with reckless abandon, Ace even more so. To see their precious crew unhappy, and over the path they had chosen for themselves, no less? No, neither Ace nor Oyaji would have ever stood for it.

He heard more than saw Strawhat get up and dust himself off as Squard backed away with tears in his eyes. The sheer intensity of the raw emotion coming off the brat made Vista open his eyes, however, to watch in breathless anticipation what this child would do next. Then he tilted his head up to reveal a grin not quite as open as it was before, and yet just as honest in its privacy, and just like that the tension was gone. He plopped down in front of one of the largest plates and began grabbing at anything within his reach. The Strawhat musician started up then, the music loud and cheerful and forceful in its joy, allowing no sad thoughts to encroach upon any of their minds. Like it had been willed by his captain.

Marco was one of the first to reach for a glass of beer. Blenheim and Fossa simply roared with laughter at Strawhat Luffy's cheeks stuffed full with meat, before settling near the graves to begin a drinking contest. Vista and Izo almost simultaneously took seats beside the little brat, one to keep him from choking on his food, the other to enjoy good company on a night of feast.

And one by one, Vista's brothers and sisters fall prey to the force of nature that was the Strawhat Pirates, the feast impossible to resist.

The night wore on, and they screamed and they laughed and they cried and for once, they were more alive than they'd ever been since the war. And they were all left wondering at this boy who shared their grief and agony by giving them joy and love and life and hope, and for the first time, they don't question Ace's choice to give his life to allow this boy's light to keep shining in their world.

Some of them even wonder if maybe they wouldn't have done the same.

When they died they left no instructions, just a legacy to protect

"Hey, Ace."

"You didn't keep your promise, you know?"

"Oh, but that's okay, because I'm still gonna keep mine."

"And the next time I visit, I'm gonna be King of the Pirates! Shishishishi!"

Death doesn't discriminate
Between the sinners and the saints
It takes and it takes and it takes

For once, Marco felt free. He soared above the skies surrounding the island, dipping and diving and swerving as close to the water as he dared, letting the warmth of his fire wash over him in comfort. Flying was the only time he felt at ease nowadays, the only time he wasn't thinking too much, feeling too much. And as fun as it had been to watch his brothers and sisters lose themselves in the revelry, as relaxing as it had been to see them act like the silly idiots they had always been before grief and loss had taken away their easy smiles and made them hollow, Marco had needed to get away by himself, if only for a little bit.

(It might or might not have been a factor that there was no use in joining them, as his powers immediately negated any effects alcohol might have had on him. Drowning his sorrows had always seemed a stupid convention to Marco, but days like these made him wish sometimes that he could use it to forget, even for a little while. Ah, he supposed he still could if he wore some form of seastone on him, but never. He would never let himself be that kind of helpless again.)

So he flew. He knew the crew would be fine. The Strawhats certainly seemed like they knew how to throw a party and most likely knew better than to let loose without a lookout of some sort. Besides, Izo and Namur would never let anything happen to their family as they indulged themselves.

It was nearing dawn by the time Marco felt too tired to keep flying without risking falling into the ocean (not that he hadn't thought about it before, god how he'd thought about it) and headed back to the island. Even from afar he could tell that the entire temporary population of the island was either knocked out or as close as they could possibly get. Which he had expected. Marco snorted, thinking of the well deserved hangovers they would have upon waking.

What he hadn't expected was the total absence of the perpetrators of this mess.

The only evidence of their presence was the copious amounts of greasy leftovers and empty bottles scattered everywhere. Not a single Strawhat was in sight, and Marco's concern began rising at the thought of a trap or a setup of some sort... but no. Their ship was still here, and he could see activity on deck. Curious what they were up to—and still more than a little wary, if he was being honest—Marco swooped by the harbor only to find every single member of the tiny crew up and about and preparing for something. As the orange-haired navigator shouted orders, Marco flew a little closer and she immediately looked up as though sensing him. She even managed a cheeky little wave before going back to yelling at the obviously uncooperative swordsman.

Not a single one down for the count, eh? That's impressive. I'm pretty sure both that girl and the first mate drank all of our heavyweights under the table in record time last night.

Reassured nothing was amiss, Marco turned to head back inland. He found another surprise waiting for him there.

Picking its way through the middle of his siblings doing their best approximation of corpses was a lone figure heading straight for the graves in the middle of the clearing. Marco didn't need to see the bright yellow of his hat to know who it was.

He landed near the graves himself, on top of the same huge boulder he'd been on for most of last night's celebrations. Transforming into his human form, Marco lounged carefully against the rock's face, half-lidded eyes focused entirely on Ace's little brother as the boy dragged a huge bottle of cheap sake up the hill and stopped in front of his big brother's grave. Marco had absolutely no delusions that the younger pirate didn't know he was there. The brat had yet to so much as twitch in his direction, but the feeling of awareness creeped along Marco's skin. Strawhat didn't seem to mind him being there, though.

Still, Marco knew a private moment when he saw one. So he shook the fatigue out of his limbs and launched himself into the sky once more, choosing to stay in the air above the island rather than risk being far if something happened.

On his third circuit around the perimeter, Marco noticed the little brat's ship. They looked like they were about to set sail. Does the brat know what they're doing?

Deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, Marco landed a bit closer to where Luffy looked like he was still having a conversation with his brother. Taking a breath to call out to him, Marco paused before backtracking, thinking he ought to let him have his moment after all. Marco looked around and realized he'd never thought he would find such a peaceful place again. The Moby had always bustled with activity, the humming of hundreds of crewmates a constant accompaniment to the louder sounds of conversations and arguments and laughter. Here, the wind simply blew through the grass, making the flowers around Oyaji's grave rustle gently. Marco hopped back onto his rock and settled in to wait.

The silence was shattered by the cannon fire. It was further shattered by the mix of the sudden jumping to panicky, wild-eyed attention of those who weren't hungover as all hell, and the resounding groans and complaints of those who were.

Marco himself tensed even as he watched Ace's little brother—Luffy, he reminds himself—finish whatever he was saying and carefully pour cheap sake from the bottle he was toting around into all three of the sake cups already set on the crate in front of the grave, looking supremely unconcerned of potential enemies even as the explosions continued.

A second later and Marco relaxed as well, realizing the sound was too empty and devoid of anything breaking to be anything but blanks fired into the air. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the colourful ship of the Strawhats making what seemed to be a full revolution around the island as they fired blanks periodically into the air.

A funeral dirge? He turned to look back at the young captain.

"Brat."

"Pineapple-head."

"It's Marco, yoi."

"That's what I said."

Marco sighed and tried to remember what he had meant to ask. Damn brat could derail a train on tracks with just words if he wanted to. "What the hell is your crew doing?"

"You know, I actually have no idea. But I'm sure Robin will explain the mystery to me later!" He replied with a quick grin.

Marco was suddenly very glad for his exhaustion as it stifled the urge to strangle Ace's little brother. Instead, he watched wearily as the little brat carefully took one of the sake cups and lifted it as though in toast.

"I'm sad Sabo isn't here, Ace, but I know he's already visited you, so that ought to be okay. I promise we'll carry on the vow you and I made to live with no regrets! Oh, and also, Ace?"

Here he murmured something too soft for any normal human to hear, something Marco wasn't quite sure what to make of. Finally, he grinned his signature idiotic grin—the one on all his bounty posters, the one Akainu had broken, the one that had taken two years of agony to fix—and knocked back the sake just as the loudest boom yet resounded around them, shaking the ground and eliciting loud yells from the other pirates still lying on the ground. Marco turned a bit to see that the Strawhat ship had made one full circle around the island as Luffy chortled in glee.

"Luffy."

"Yeah, Pineapple-head?"

"What happens now?"

Luffy turned from staring intently at Whitebeard's grave to look at Marco with a confused expression, head cocked to one side, as though wondering why the hell this man was asking him about this. But one glance at Marco's tired, weary form transformed his look into one of deep contemplation, as though wondering what Marco was asking in the first place.

Was it what are you going to do now? Or perhaps what are we going to do now?

After another minute of examination, Ace's little brother's grin was back in full force. His response gave Marco a glimpse of understanding into why Ace had always said he wouldn't have lived at all if it wasn't for this little brat.

"I'm going to become the Pirate King, of course!"

And surprisingly, that was answer enough for both desperate questions Marco hadn't been sure he'd wanted to ask.

What is it like in his shoes?

"Will he be alright? Maybe we shouldn't have let him go alone..."

"He'll be fine, Chopper."

"But..."

"Yeah, yeah! I mean, I know he can handle himself and everything, but..."

"Right? Because it's, y'know, Luf—"

"NAMI. He'll be fine. It isn't our business anymore."

"I hate to admit it Nami-san, but the shitty Marimo is right."

"Nami. Do not worry. Our captain is strong. He will not be separated from us a second time."

"Yohohohoho and so it should be."

"Yeah, just like how SUPER we became so he wouldn't be taken from us.

Life doesn't discriminate
Between the sinners and the saints
It takes and it takes and it takes

By now, the rest of Ace's crew had formed up into an angry mob, unable to sleep because of the din.

Luffy, of course, thought this was hilarious.

He started laughing as one of the Commanders, a tiny woman with dark auburn hair began shaking him and demanding what the hell his crew thought they were doing, making such loud noises so damn early in the morning. Luffy gave them the same answer he had given Marco.

The girl—Halura? Hakura? Oh well, tiny woman would do for now—didn't seem to like mysteries as she hit Luffy violently over the head. Luffy laughed some more.

If Tiny Woman's touch was a little softer than what Luffy knew it could be, he didn't say a word. Instead, he stretched his arms as far as it could go and grabbed as many of Ace's crew as he could into an embrace and forced them all into an impromptu dog pile. There were sounds of panic, but if no one even so much as moved an inch away from the pending bear hug, Luffy didn't say a word about that either.

Instead, he kept laughing and laughing and soon, most of the other crew was giggling along with him. Luffy could see the knowing glint in Marco's eyes even as he made some snarky comment about the headaches his crew was sure to be suffering.

Finally, Luffy picked himself up from the ground, wiping away the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. He turned and approached Ace's grave again, tilting his head down so his hat would cover his eyes.

The complaints of the Whitebeard Pirates died down as he stood in front of both tombstones, one hand on top of the hat on his head, the other clenched into a fist at his side. There was no need to think about the uncomfortable silence of the people behind him, of the people Ace had called family. No need to think about his crew worrying about him on the Thousand Sunny. All he had to think about were all those days back on Dawn Island, all the promises he had made with his brothers, the ones they hadn't made into reality yet. All he had to think about was Ace.

He was the reason Luffy had come here, after all.

So with a sudden, uncontrollable grin that was still too large for his face, Luffy suddenly lifted his clenched fist, turning so he could offer it to his big brother like a kind of salute.

"Ace! I'm going now. Don't forget to watch me as I become Pirate King!"

He looked up and found the flowers on Ace's tombstone waving in the breeze, as though in acknowledgement or as a good luck prayer. That was good enough for Luffy. With another quick smile, he turned to head back to his ship, the seas calling him back towards it, calling him to adventure. The Whitebeards silently parted, leaving a wide swathe between the crowd for Luffy to pass through.

Halfway down the hill, Luffy made a strange noise of realization before running back up to the graves. This time, though, he stood in front of the larger grave, and with a bow reminiscent of the one Ace had practiced with Makino over and over again as a child (and a bow he had, admittedly, also practiced over and over again with some help from Nami and Robin), Luffy solemnly told it,

"Old man! Thanks for taking care of my older brother! I know he was very happy to have finally found a father like you!"

Of course, he'd accidentally ruined it by laughing at the end, but ah well. He was just glad Nami wasn't here to see it. She'd have been mad and that was never good.

Luffy straightened up, turned around once more to go back to the harbor, and found a bunch of tear streaked faces.

"The hell are you guys crying for?" Luffy asked with a laugh. He had only been thanking the old man, after all.

"Shut up, damn brat." A man in a kimono and with a very white face smacked Luffy with a folded up fan. Luffy beamed up at him too.

"Alright, but I'm going now, okay?"

The kimono-man nodded and moved out of Luffy's path. Soon after, Luffy was launching himself onto his ship and Sunny seemed to sing as his feet touched the grass of the deck he called home. Or maybe that was the yohohoho-ing of his musician, but no matter.

Luffy grinned at his navigator as Nami started issuing orders to ready them for sailing. Approaching her, Luffy didn't need to look back to know the Whitebeards had followed him to the harbor.

"Nami."

"What do you need, Luffy?"

Luffy touched the rim of his hat and thought back carefully to the promises he had made his brother. "Tell Franky to prepare a Coup de Burst. I have just one last thing to do, then we're off to the next adventure, okay?"

Nami smiled as she reached out to pull him close and place a soft kiss on top of his hatted head. "Aye aye, captain. Take all the time you need."

Releasing him, she headed off to find Usopp and relay her captain's orders. Luffy looked around and found that Zoro and Sanji were already there, one sitting in the grass by his side and the other casually leaning against the wall of the kitchen, cigarette smoke rising from his fingers. Reassured, he gave them a smile and both hopped up and released the sails, starting them out on their next journey. For the other part, Luffy wasn't too worried; he knew Nami would know exactly when to use the Coup de Burst.

He faced the island again and clung to the railings. He spotted Pineapple Head and Tiny Woman and Kimono Man standing next to each other and gave a delighted wave at them. The rest of the Whitebeards were also waving and laughing and crying and Luffy laughed, thinking they were really weird.

When they were far enough away that the Coup de Burst had already charged and wouldn't affect those standing on the harbor, Luffy jumped onto the railing and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"OI WHITEBEARD PIRATES. ACE ASKED ME TO TELL YOU—"

He paused first, inhaled and inhaled and took in as much air as he could, because they needed to hear this. Everyone on that island needed to. And so, bloated as he was like a balloon meant for giant children, Luffy bellowed out the last five words his brother had meant them to hear, this odd motley mix of a family he had found. The last five words that had constituted the final promise Luffy owed to his big brother.

And if, on the island, Marco closed his eyes in grief and pain and love even as the Strawhats' ship seemingly flew through the air away from them and towards its crew's dreams as soon as its captain had made his pronouncement, if the renewed sounds of wailing from his siblings deafened him enough to no longer be aware to any possible danger, if Luffy's words to his brother at his grave finally made sense to Marco, then he didn't say a word about it either.

Shishishi Ace! Thank you for loving me, too.

And if there's a reason I'm still alive
When so many have died
I'm willing to wait for it

"Haha, Marco are you crying?"

"Shut up, yoi."

"Haruta, you're not one to talk. You're crying too."

"Yes, but it's funnier when Marco does it."

"Oi."

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we should stick around for a little bit, after all."

"Hahaha you really took a liking to the Straw Hat brat didn't you, Marco?"

"No way in hell, yoi. But..."

"But?"

"It wouldn't be right to say look after him, I think, even if that's what Ace would have said. Kid doesn't need protecting, not anymore at least. Even I can see that."

"And yet?"

"... Izo?"

"Hmm?"

"That brat'll be King, won't he?"

"Ha! Well. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

"Of course, yoi."

"Alright then. Now that that's settled... Johnny!"

"Sir!"

"Tell everyone to meet up at the southern coast."

"Sir?"

"Tell them the Whitebeard Pirates aren't done just yet. We've got one more thing left to do."

"Aye aye, Commander!"

"Thanks, Izo."

"Anytime, brother. Anytime."