Title: Life After Joining The Whitebeard Pirates: Appetite for Destruction

Author: Stormy1x2

Series: LaJtWBP

Word Count: 650'ish

Notes: I had a bunch of Ace ad WBP drabbles pop into my head recently, and rather than post a bunch of individual stories, I thought I'd take a page from everyone else's books and post them under one heading instead. These drabbles can be considered one universe, though not necessarily the TYD universe.

LaJtWBP: Appetite for Destruction

When Ace finally gave in after one hundred days of attacking Whitebeard and became a member of the family, Thatch and Marco breathed a sigh of relief and figured that that'd be the end of the daily craziness. What they didn't know was that Ace joining the crew would bring about a whole brand new kind of craziness.

Shortly after Ace joined:

"What are you doing?" Thatch asked, staring in awe at the pile of food Ace had managed to load onto two trays. The mound of mashed potatoes was over a foot high. He had a soup bowl filled with peas and green beans. There were half a dozen two-pound steaks piled up like stacks of lumber. An entire mixing bowl of salad chock full of veggies, apple slices and walnuts took up half of the other tray, along with three huge slabs of Sea King meat and a pitcher of milk. Ten hard-boiled eggs wobbled precariously along the rim of the tray and to top it off, there was an entire chicken carcass dangling from Ace's mouth. "Did one of the divisions turn you into a waiter for their table?"

Marco noted the absence of any beer.

The teenager shook his head. "I didn't want to make like, twenty trips," Ace said, remarkably clearly for one who was actively munching on a full chicken. "This way, I only have to make four or five."

"This is how much you normally eat?" Marco asked suddenly, frowning at the teenager. There was no way the kid had been eating anywhere close to this amount per meal for the last three months. He'd had to fight to get Ace to even accept a single bowl of stew. "In one meal?"

Beside him, Thatch's eyes widened in comprehension as he realized the exact same thing, and then they narrowed fiercely.

Ace nodded self-consciously, suddenly hunching over a little bit. "Um...I'm sorry, I can cut down-"

Marco opened his mouth to speak but the head cook got there first.

"Don't you dare!" Thatch snapped, tone sharp but eyes soft and somewhat sad. "I'm just wondering how you survived the past couple of months, since you avoided the mess hall so much, and I know you didn't take nearly this amount from the storerooms."

The teen shrugged, keeping his eyes on his tray instead of meeting theirs. "I did a lot of fishing at night," he said quietly. "Quick flash-fry and I had all the fish I could eat. No biggie."

Thatch frowned, worry lines creasing his forehead. "But that's not a balanced diet," protested the cook, and he shot Marco a quick look. "After dinner – of which you will eat as much as you want – we are paying a visit to the infirmary so they can check you out and make sure you're not suffering from any vitamin deficiencies. That way we can fix up any dietary issues."

Ace glowered. "I don't have any dietary issues."

"Then you shouldn't have any problems with going along with this," Marco said with a smile.

Ace scowled and slunk off to the side table to eat. Thatch watched him go, and then hung up his apron. "Gonna go give the nurses a heads up," he murmured as he left the galley.

Marco nodded. Thatch would feel guilt over this even though there was no way for him to have known. But then he'd get revenge by stuffing the kid full of food so hopefully, it would all balance out. One could always hope.

Izou sidled up next to him, sharp eyes following the chef. "What's up?"

Marco nodded at Ace and the mountain of food that was very rapidly disappearing. Izou blinked a few times, watching as three Sea King steaks were forked through and swallowed in less time that it took to actually say the words 'three Sea King Steaks'. "Oh my."

"Yeah," Marco said with a sigh. "Oyaji picked another interesting one, that's for sure."

End

I've got a bunch of little one-shots I want to add to this as I clean them up. Hope you enjoyed and if you did, let me know! Alternatively, if you have a prompt, drop it in the slot and I'll see what dust it stirs up. :)