Okay, so this has definitely not been my week. The weather is still horrible and we didn't have internet for half of Saturday and the whole Sunday, so I'm posting late again. I also happen to have a fever since Saturday, so this was written while sick and probably will suck. I'm sorry about that.

Anyway, here's the last chapter of the story, filling day 7: Free Day (and isn't that a useful prompt to complete any story?)

On a side note, ffnet is being an ass for some reason and it seems to have deleted a couple of the reviews. Sorry I couldn't answer them, but just know I loved all of them (and they're in my inbox, so I KNOW they were there).

Chapter 6

Ace woke up in a strange position, wrapped around something warm and firm and with only part of his body resting on a mattress. He forced his eyes to open, just a little bit, and saw that his head was on top of a very characteristic tattoo that he had grown familiar with over the past few days.

Oh.

Now, Ace knew that, according to social rules, he should probably jump back, be embarrassed, and stammer a lot when Marco woke up before pretending that this never happened.

Ace didn't want to do any of that.

This was… nice. Marco was still asleep, with an arm wrapped around Ace's back, and Ace could hear Marco's steady heartbeat beneath his ear. Ace was curled up, a leg wrapped over Marco's own and the foot of the other one dangling off the edge of the bed. He must have fallen asleep at some point while they talked last night, and for some reason Marco chose not to move him. Ace didn't mind.

Last night had been… interesting. Ace had heard a good number of ridiculous stories that he wouldn't have expected from the strongest pirate crew in the world. Some of those stories had featured Roger, though, and while Ace's first impulse had been to ask Marco not to speak about him, Ace had decided to just listen. He had originally agreed to accompany Marco in hopes of proving that he wasn't like Roger, and learning about him from a trustworthy source had seemed like a good way to do it.

Now Ace didn't know what to think.

Roger had been… not what Ace had heard for so many years. A crazy idiot, clearly, fond of adventure, food, booze, and with absolutely no idea of what danger was. And he had been dying by the time of his execution. That had been an offhand comment on Marco's part, but it had shocked Ace into speechlessness. Gramps had never mentioned that (did he even know?) and it had thrown all of Ace's beliefs off balance.

Ace had always thought that Roger simply hadn't cared. He had never asked about the details of Roger's capture —he hadn't cared about such details back then— but this… Ace knew the marines had suspected that Roger might have a son, that they had spent months at his mother's home island, forcing her to somehow extend her pregnancy to save Ace. And Roger had been caught and executed early enough in her pregnancy to allow her to hide it.

Ace buried his face in Marco's chest. This was too much, and he didn't know what to think.

"Are you okay?"

"…Did I wake you up?" Ace asked, glancing up at Marco.

"No. What's wrong?"

Ace hesitated. It was ridiculous, really, and there was no way to know for sure, but…

"Do you think he cared? Roger I mean."

"Yes," Marco replied without hesitation.

Ace jerked up, and he moved to sit and stare down at Marco. Marco lowered his arm to let him move.

"You sound very sure," Acre said.

Marco sat up as well to face him.

"Roger cared about people. He loved his crew, loved the friends he made, and even some of his rivals. I'm sure he loved you, and he would have been there for you if he'd had the time."

Well, fuck, Ace thought, his throat closing up. Marco cupped Ace's face with a warm hand when Ace moved to look down and held his gaze.

"You can't change what happened, how you've grown, or what the world thinks about you right now. All you can do is choose your own actions and thoughts."

When Marco returned to the hotel, Ace was still eating breakfast, much to the horror of the staff. Chuckling to himself, Marco sat in front of Ace, at the same place where he had eaten breakfast.

"What are your thoughts on food that tastes horrible?"

Ace said something unintelligible through his current mouthful, swallowed, and tried again.

"Why would I want that when I have all this good stuff?"

Marco grinned.

"Because I have an offer for you," he said, and placed on the table the devil fruit that he had found in one of the many pantries in the pirates' base.

Ace stared.

"Aren't those things super expensive?"

Marco shrugged.

"Yes."

"Why are you offering it to me?"

"In our crew, whoever finds a devil fruit can decide what to do with it. That's a very nice power, and I'm sure you'd give it a much better use than its previous wielder. So, what do you say? Are you up to losing the ability to swim?"

Ace grinned and reached for the fruit.

"If you're sure…" he said, and stuffed the fruit whole into his mouth.

Marco laughed so hard at Ace's disgusted grimace that Ace kicked him under the table as soon as he was done gulping down juice.

The town's inhabitants had started to rebuild what the pirates had destroyed during their stay. As soon as Ace had gotten rid of the fruit's taste, Marco took him to an area out of town and far from any buildings so that Ace could start practicing with his new power in a relatively safe environment. Marco would start introducing Ace to haki once Ace had enough of a hang on his powers to avoid accidentally turning any part of his body into fire. That had happened, though fortunately away from prying eyes.

"I have another offer for you," Marco said after Ace had managed to throw a relatively small fireball at the rock Marco had designated as target, "but keep in mind that you don't owe me anything when you reply."

"Ominous," Ace said, still visibly satisfied by his success. "What is it?"

"Would you like to join the Whitebeard Pirates?"

Ace faltered, his mouth going slightly slack.

"Can you even offer that?"

"Of course, everyone in the crew can. Besides," here Marco grinned, "you're the kind of guy Pops likes."

Ace raised his eyebrows in skepticism.

"Really?"

Marco nodded.

"Really. You're strong, stubborn, and reckless."

"I'm taking that as a compliment."

"You should. So, what do you say?"

Ace looked around with a pensive frown.

"Can I think about it?"

Marco nodded. He guessed Ace had a lot in his mind right now.

Ace spent most of the night awake. In a few days, everything he believed, and everything that defined him, had changed. He was a devil fruit user, a haki user with access to the least common form of haki, had a chance to join the Whitebeard Pirates, and Roger might not have been an absolute monster. Maybe.

Once upon a time, before he left Dawn Island and survival became his main goal, Ace had entertained the thought of becoming a pirate one day, and earning himself such a reputation that Roger's shadow would stop following him around.

Now, though… Marco was right; Ace couldn't change the past, nor the fact that he was Roger's son. He couldn't get rid of the World Government's paranoia over the possibility of his existence, and no matter what kind of reputation Ace created, he would only add new reasons for them to want him dead, but he wouldn't erase the old one.

"Hey, Marco," Ace started when they had passed the edge of town on their third day here, "I've been thinking."

"About what?" Marco asked, glancing sideways at Ace. Ace looked serious, but also determined, as if he had reached some sort of decision.

"What would your crew think of me?" Ace asked, and while the question was innocent enough, Marco was certain that Ace wasn't talking about his personality.

Marco couldn't avoid raising his eyebrows. That was not something he had been expecting.

"Do you want to tell them?"

Ace grimaced.

"Not really, but it's likely to come out at some point. The marines suspected enough to show up at my mother's island and monitor all pregnancies. She had to draw it out for twenty months to protect me."

She did what? Marco thought, impressed. He guessed that explained why Ace hadn't mentioned his mother so far; she was unlikely to have survived something like that.

"You're planning to reveal it before the government can?" Marco asked.

"Sort of, yes. If I join your crew, I don't think I'll stay anonymous for long, not with this." Ace snapped his fingers and sent a thin streak of fire up into the sky. "Gramps is bound to recognize me. I don't think he'll tell anyone, but he sucks at lying, and if someone asks…" Ace shrugged.

"Who's your grandfather?" asked Marco, curious.

"He's a marine, and Roger asked him to take care of me. His name's Garp."

Marco found it difficult not to laugh at the absurdity that also made so much sense. He could see Garp agreeing, and he could also see him insisting so much on keeping Ace hidden that Ace would develop his insecurities. That last thought was enough to suppress Marco's mirth.

He reached out and put a hand on Ace's shoulder.

"Nobody who was in the crew back then will have any issues with you, and most people will follow their example, maybe ask some questions about Roger. Others won't care at all about who your father is, they know everybody is welcome in our crew. If someone does have an issue," here Marco's mind flashed to certain allies, "just leave it to me. You're not Roger, any grudge anyone might hold against him has nothing to do with you."

Ace stared at him, wide-eyed, for a long moment. Then he grinned.

"Okay. I'll join your crew."

Marco grinned back. He moved the hand he had on Ace's shoulder over his back, stepping closer to wrap his arm over Ace's shoulders.

"Welcome to the crew."

The end

So in the end this was more of a pre-relationship story than a relationship one, but I hope I managed to convey where these two are going. Having the relationship properly start here seemed forced, because this Ace has a lot more personal boundaries and walls than canon Ace (or any Ace I've written before) does.

Many people have commented about wanting to see Ace meet the Whitebeard Pirates (or even Garp), but as this was a MarcoAce focused event, that didn't happen in this story. Sorry about that. Most of the Whitebeard Pirates are perfectly okay with Ace from the beginning, Whitebeard is all for immediate adoption (Marco liking Ace, Ace being Roger's son, and Ace giving a pretty good impression for Whitebeard's standards is a good combination), Ace will be overwhelmed by the amount of people at first, there will be some tension with certain people like Squard, and Garp will be torn between utter relief because Ace is alive and "what the fuck is he doing with Whitebeard?" There were also some mentions of Sabo and Luffy. Their story goes different, but I won't give it here because it's something I'd like to use for another story (if I ever get that far, because I really don't update that one often).

I hope you liked the story despite the rushed plotting and writing involved :) I'm off to bed now, and hopefully I'll have some updates of my regular stories for the holidays.