A/N: Hey guys, sorry for not updating in so long. College has started back up for me and it sent me to place with no wifi or signal so I wasn't able to do much and I now have to do uni applications and stuff for being a grown up that I don't want to do! Plus I've been having massive writers block for most of my stories and so have only been able to work on them bit by bit. So sorry if this one isn't up to my usual standard but at least it's got fluff in it right? You know what to expect from me by now XD

Anyway this was requested by the absolutely amazing Olympian-King and I hope I did your idea justice (and if not I'm going to get working on that other one you requested too XD)

Disclaimer: It's probably a very good thing that I don't own One Piece isn't it?

"So...how did this happen again, yoi?"

Marco's tired voice cut across the discordant chatter and let his laughing crew mates take a moment to pity the poor First Division commander for the headache this problem was going to cause him. Seventeen sets of wide, terrified eyes blinked up at him, all imploring him to fix this.

'This' happened to refer to the ship-wide disaster that the Whitebeard pirates had woken up to this morning in the form of fourteen division commanders and three adorable brothers shrunken back into tiny tots. And they had certainly not been happy about it.

Poor little Ace and Sabo had been running around on their tiny, six-year old legs to calm down a three year old Luffy, who had taken one look at his miniscule body and had promptly burst into tears. Thatch and Haruta had wreaked havoc on the sweetie supplies in ways only seven-year olds could. Namur had decided he wanted to live in the bath tub after finding out it fit his now nine-year old body perfectly and had caused a massive hold up for people who wanted to be clean that morning. Fossa had tried seven times unsuccessfully to take a smoke that morning as no-one on the crew would allow a ten year old to smoke.

All through the ship the, now children, commanders were causing mayhem of the most childish degree and while it seemed to be amusing Whitebeard to no end to see how many of his sons it took to reach his knee now, it certainly wasn't amusing for Marco.

"Pops? Seeing as we're kids does that mean we don't have to do paperwork?" Blenheim asked as he blinked up at Whitebeard, tilting his head to the side and trying to copy the eyes Luffy made whenever he wanted something really badly.

"No." Pops chuckled, finding it slightly amusing to see one of his oldest Commanders trying to copy their youngest's puppy dog eyes.

"But I don't want to hear you pawning it all off on Marco either as he's going to be the one taking care of you all."

"What?" Marco yelped, dropping a struggling Haruta to stare at his father in horror. When did he become the nanny of the Whitebeards?

Whitebeard chuckled at the horrified looking on Marco's face. It was rare he got to see an expression that wasn't boredom or anger from his eldest son so he was going to enjoy this while it lasted.

"That's right son. You're one of the most responsible adults on this ship and they'll listen to you."

As if to prove his point little Luffy struggled to his feet and toddled over to Marco, grasping his leg in his tiny fist and staring up at him with trembling eyes.

"I don't like being tiny Mama. Fix this please?"

Marco let out a resigned sigh before scooping Luffy up into his arms and gazing around at all his de-aged siblings. All of them were gazing up at him with expectant eyes but Marco could detect the undercurrent of fear and anxiety they all shared. After all, what could have possibly changed them back into children?

"Alright, yoi. I'll take care of them." Around of cheers went up from the miniature pirates which was quickly silenced by a sharp glare from Marco. "But if I need a break from you then I'm letting your divisions take care of you, understand?"

Dread and despair crashed on their childish, chubby faces. If they were handed over to their divisions they would never hear the end of it once they were returned to normal. Besides, despite loving their siblings a lot, some of the people that lived with them you would not trust to take care of a pet, let alone a child.

"We promise to be good." They chorused quickly, sitting down around Marco and pretending to be little angels in the hopes that it would get the eldest to soften up a little bit and retract his threat. Tough luck for them. Marco was not budging on his threat; it was the only way he could guarantee they'd be as well behaved as they could be.

Honestly why did things like this keep happening to their family? It seemed like all the weird shit that could possibly happen did happen to them. When would the universe give Marco the day off?

"Fossa don't you even think about touching that cigar, yoi."

"Jozu I don't care if Haruta was using you as a climbing frame; don't drop her off the side!"

"Izo please don't cry, we can find some clothes to fit you soon, yoi."

"ATMOS PUT THAT HAMMER DOWN NOW!"

A chorus of screaming, laughing, giggling and yelling echoed around every corner, snuck through every crack in the wall, followed the footsteps of everyone on board. Did these kids even know what the term 'best behaviour' meant?

All throughout the morning every person on board had been; pranked, screamed at, sung to, ridden around like a pony, subjected to hide-and-go-seek, dressed up, forced into having a tea party, made to read stories, hit, punched, kicked, and then interrogated by Marco after escaping one little hellion after the next.

It was an absolute nightmare.

And did their pops, their captain, their leader, do anything about it?

Nope. He just sat back on his arse and laughed his head off at their suffering.

And while most of them had thought that it would be the ASL brothers that would cause Marco the most strife, they were the most well behaved. Sure Thatch had tried to rope them into pranking the crew, claiming that their smaller bodies would mean even better vantage spots, but they had just blinked at him blankly before resuming their game of 'climb-Pops-mountain' (they were trying to get to Pops' knee, not an easy feat when they were small enough to fit into his palm.)

On the one hand Marco was glad that the three of them were preoccupied and he didn't have to take care of them too much. On the other hand he wished the rest of his siblings would be that complacent.

"How are you three so good when everyone else is going nuts, yoi?" Marco complained as he sank to the ground in front of Whitebeard's chair, helping Luffy into his lap from where the toddler had fallen over.

"We're used to having to entertain ourselves." Ace explained, sitting down next to Marco and patting Luffy's hair as the littlest stifled a large yawn. A bright, innocent smile spread across his freckled cheeks and he beamed up at Marco.

Why Ace was so happy he couldn't tell; if Marco had been de-aged he would have locked himself up in his room and not come out until he was an adult again.

"Besides, you have enough to do without looking after us too." Sabo chimed in, lying down next to his brother on the deck, head propped up in his hands and a smile on his face.

It was strange to see him without all his scars and with short hair but it was also strange to see Ace without his tattoos. Whatever had done this to them had reversed their ages perfectly so they looked like they had at that age. Thatch had teased Ace mercilessly when the six year old had realised that his right canine had gone, leaving a hole in his teeth from when it had dropped out. Two of Sabo's bottom teeth were also missing and Luffy's top incisor was starting to wobble.

"But you're the youngest, yoi. I wouldn't mind looking after you three." Marco confessed, running his fingers soothingly through Ace's wavy hair as the young child leant into his side with a small yawn. It looked like they were getting tired for some reason. Must have been all that climbing they were doing earlier.

"Don't worry Mama." Luffy mumbled, leaning up to pat his cheek clumsily before dropping back into his lap, eyes drifting closed in drowsiness. "We'll be fine...You need to...take care of everyone else..."

"Give them here my son." Whitebeard whispered, leaning down to gather up his youngest three in his hands as they all started dozing off. "I'll watch over them for now. It looks like Haruta and Thatch need a time out."

"Don't they all, yoi?" Marco grumbled before sweeping the hair out of their faces with a tender smile, content in knowing they were with their father. They looked so young and tiny like this, it was heart-warming to see.

Maybe it wasn't all such a bad thing if he got to see that sweet side that hadn't completely left the three brothers.

Soon he would be wondering why he ever thought this was a good idea.

One custard war, two pillow fights, six screaming matches and several attempts on Marco's life later, all fourteen de-aged commanders and three tiny tots were standing in front of Whitebeard. Some had shame (and custard) on their faces, others were pouting (with feathers still in their hair) and others (mainly Luffy) were smiling brightly up at Whitebeard without a care in the world.

"Now brats, you have not been very well behaved today, have you?" he rumbled, sparing a sympathetic glance towards his eldest son and current babysitter. The tick in Marco's eyebrow was going which was never a good sign. It usually preluded his eldest lecturing him about his health or threatening to take his booze away. Hopefully the little demons hadn't pushed Marco that far yet and he could still save his precious alcohol.

"We ain't done nothing wrong." Rakuyo muttered, hugging his flail to his chest as it's 'tail' patted his head in comfort.

Moving away from how odd his son looked without a moustache and being comforted by a weapon, Whitebeard continued on.

"You've deliberately ignored Marco's orders and you've gone out of your way to make life hard for him. He's had to look after all fourteen of you today and that's not an easy feat."

"But Pops we're pirates!" Haruta protested, stomping her foot as she pouted up at him. "We don't need a baby sitter!"

"So the reason your divisions have been fussing over you all day is because you're fearsome pirates?" He countered with an easy grin, pointing out the flaw in her argument. They weren't just pirates today; they were little kids.

Guilty and uncomfortable silence spread through the commanders as they fidgeted under the combined stares of Whitebeard and Marco. Finally Thatch let out a massive sigh, stalked up to Marco and threw his arms around what little of him he could, burying his face into the phoenix's hip.

"Sorry Marco." He muttered, looking up at his elder brother with apologetic eyes.

Marco glowered at him for a few seconds longer before allowing himself to melt into a smile. He bent down on his knees and pulled Thatch into a proper hug, ruffling the surprising short hair of one of his dearest friends.

"I don't know what I was expecting, asking a troublemaker to behave, yoi."

"Yeah, that was pretty dumb of you." Thatch agreed with a teasing chuckle, letting out a yelp of surprise when Marco scooped him up and settled him on his shoulders.

"Well I'm not the one who has to take a bath to get all the feathers out of my hair." Marco pointed out with a smirk, not even needing to see Thatch's face to know he would be looking like a betrayed puppy.

"Marcooo! Not cool bro!" Thatch whined but nevertheless he didn't try and escape Marco's hold and he let the elder man lead him and several other dirty children towards the bathrooms, leaving the clean kids with Pops to listen to cool stories. Even though they had heard them all about a million times, there was something thrilling about listening to them as kids that they just didn't get as adults.

Namur helped him get everyone into the water and soon he was helping wash his siblings hair and breaking up water fights that were breaking out amongst the rowdier children.

"Look Marco; I'm Pops!" Haruta exclaimed as she smashed bubbles into her face to form a sloppy looking bubble moustache.

"If you want to be Pops does that mean I have to shave your hair off, yoi?" Marco teased her, watching in hidden amusement as she blanched and ducked her head back under the water to rinse the bubbles off her face.

"That wasn't very nice you know." Izo pointed out as Marco went back to lathering the shampoo into his hair. Even as a seven year old Izo had long hair. It made him wonder when he had started growing it and what he had looked like with short hair.

"You were teasing Thatch earlier about his hair, yoi." Marco replied fairly, tipping Izo head back so that he could rinse out the soap bubbles without them getting in Izo's eyes. Shampoo in your eyes stung and kids had a tendency to complain more about it than any other being Marco had met.

"Yeah but that's Thatch." Izo argued back, sticking out his tongue before spluttering as he got a taste of bath water.

"I heard that." The aforementioned redhead yelled across the room, chasing Curiel around the shower area and slipping on the wet floor. This ultimately lead to Thatch declaring war on the bar of soap that he slid on and chucking it across at Kingdew which ultimately led to another soap war.

'Well at least they're getting clean.' Marco thought to himself, trying to find the positive side in things as he ducked a flying washcloth. It was hard to find though as he watched several of his brothers be sent flying in all their soapy glory. After a few minutes it became less frustrating to him though and he allowed himself to find a little bit of amusement in seeing Atmos and Thatch gang up in an attempt to get Namur to ingest a handful of suds. And he supposed he couldn't be blamed for letting out a few chuckles when Haruta started to dump buckets of cold water over her brothers heads (he wasn't sure if he wanted to know how she was getting them), sending them diving back into the warmer water.

It was strange how they would kick up a fuss about it being bath time and then kick up another fuss when he tried to get them to leave the bath and get some clothes on. He would never understand children.

He carefully towel dried Izo's hair, pushing all the water out of the strands as gently as he could while making sure Thatch did actually get his pyjamas on correctly and not back to front like he had for the past three attempts. Soon blankets were handed out, socks were found and pulled up to their knees, and they were all stumbling back out onto the deck in a tired line. Thatch was clutching tightly to Marco's hand, trying valiantly to stave off a yawn whilst Haruta had already given up on being conscious and was now nestled in the crook of Marco's arm, supported against his chest. Blenheim was giving an equally tired Izo a piggyback and Fossa and Vista had wrapped their blankets around each other and were huddling together for support.

"Looks like some people are tired." Whitebeard chuckled gently as he watched the blanketed band draw closer.

"Something like that, yoi." Marco agreed with a soft smile, placing Haruta down in the nest of pillows and blankets that the other group of children that didn't need a bath had made. All fourteen commanders sleepily went about settling down into the nest, cocooning themselves in duvets to keep warm but leaving a suspiciously big patch unoccupied, right in the middle of them.

"Mama Marco...sleep here...okay?" Luffy yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes before patting the spot next to him.

Marco knew he couldn't say no to Luffy, especially not while he looked like that and so he carefully started to pick his way through his numerous siblings before settling down in the middle of them. As soon as he was down Luffy was curling up on his chest, Sabo was snuggled into his side, Ace and Thatch were both using one of his shins as pillows, Haruta had wiggled her way over to rest on his stomach and Izo was camped down on his other side. The rest of his siblings were forced to make room for themselves elsewhere, twisting around each other and budging over to make as least room as possible; all crowding around each other for the love and warmth they knew would be there for them.

"Ace...sing that song...please..." Thatch muttered, reaching over to hold onto his little brother's hand as Ace peered blearily up at him. A quiet murmur of approval went up from the sleepy group and Ace smiled slowly before humming out the melody to Shanks' lullaby.

Halfway through the song Marco took over, singing his siblings softly to sleep, letting dreams drift over them like the stardust drifting by in the sky. One by one they dropped to sleep, content and warm, with family surrounding them and their big brother watching over them all.

And who wouldn't be content just to stay that way?

Of course when morning comes it will all be reversed and they'll wake up, adults again. They'll have to clean up their messes, apologise to their divisions, get started on chores, catch up on the paperwork most of them didn't ever do, and go on like this had never happened.

But for tonight they were children again and they had what most of them had wished for as children: a warm, loving, beautiful family that was brighter than every sun and had more love than there were stars in the sky.

A/N: Well wasn't that a sappy ending? Sorry again for the late update and I hope you all enjoyed this! R&R~

Thewibblywobblywolf- All the children suffer when they learn about sex. PROTECT THE INNOCENT BBYS! Hope you like this chapter and I hope you're feeling better (or I might have to sail over with paracetamol. Don't ask how I'll do it, I just will!)

Lady of the Shards- I'm glad it made you giggle~

DMCP- That's still coming up as incorrect on my spell checker...WHY DOES ENGLISH HAVE TO BE SO STUPID?! Sorry! That's going to be a very awkward and stressful day. I'm trying to think of how Zoro would explain sex now and all I'm getting is 'punch the hole with your dick' and I don't know why? OTL

UkeObessed- I'd feel sorry for Ace; he has that as a memory (Sabo and Luffy were spared that trauma and Dadan blocked that memory out with alcohol). Well, he went crazier XD. I'm still really happy to hear you liked it and I'm glad you liked last chapter too! (don't worry I hate mobile everything too~)

YaoiChick1- Oh gosh, I'm not sure if I should glad it made you laugh so much or concerned that it made you laugh so much XD I'm glad you liked it though~ Hope you like Mama Marco!

MissJenca- Nobody did escape it did they? And they wonder why Ace was traumatised from that... I'm glad it made you laugh~