A/N: A wholesome feel-good fic for those days when your feeling down~

Tumblr: fanfiction-by-abalisk

Ace had the mantle for as long as he could remember.

It always appeared in his possession if he traveled too far, materializing out of the air like magic. Falling across his shoulders like he'd never left it behind, even if he nailed it down deep in the chest at the end of his bed. The strange looks he'd received while walking into town with a collar of feathers around his neck were too much, so he tried getting rid of it.

Selling it was pointless because it would always come back.

Burying it did nothing.

Throwing it into the ocean, again, did nothing.

Burning it had no effect either, though it was gone longer than usual and he'd fallen into a deep depression during that entire span so he never tried it again.

Sabo had been fascinated, wondering if it had any other powers and overall had been the reason he came to accept the mysterious coat. Luffy just became all starry-eyed and asked where he could get one too. He'd been disappointed when Ace couldn't give him a direct answer.

It wasn't until after he left Dawn Island and became a pirate that part of the mystery was solved.

"That's a Valkyrie's cloak ," Marco murmured in surprise, when the cape faded into existence around his person. The black and red feathers were all ruffled in an agitated manner, reflecting Ace's mood as he sat glowering on the Moby Dick's deck. "How did you come across something like that?"

It turned out that Marco was much older than he appeared. Much, much older. And knew what the mantle signified.

He'd been chosen, by some divine providence, to be the husband of a Swan Maiden.

A Swan Maiden or otherwise known as a Valkyrie, a mythical female warrior that served as protectors of the King of their choosing.

What the hell?

Ace laughed sardonically in the man's face once he'd gotten over the shock of his explanation, because it was just that ridiculous. Who in their right mind would choose him of all people to marry such a powerful figure? He was the demon child of the late Pirate King. There was no way a woman (or any woman for that matter) would find it beneficial to be burdened with him as a husband. He wanted nothing to do with it.

Or so he thought.

He very much wanted to eat those bitter words the first moment he laid eyes on her.

She was on Luffy's crew, his little brother her chosen King (because of course Luffy was that lucky, why wouldn't he be?). Riskua was her name, hair the color of a crimson dawn and eyes so startlingly yellow they could have very well been plucked right from a beast's skull. She was a warrior, fierce and loyal—vicious as a hurricane in the heat of battle.

And to him, she was as radiant as the sun.

It was no wonder he was tongue tied, the moment she strode up to him and gave a beauteous smile, her yellow eyes melting into warm amber.

"I see my favor has guarded you well. It's good to finally meet you, I've been waiting," she says, and Ace nearly faints.

He returns her mantle, and the red and black wings that burst from her back only add to her feral beauty. The Straw Hat crew give the appropriate applause, 'oohing' and 'aahing' as she flaps the wings experimentally. Ace smiles as she takes to the sky, her wings beating powerfully through the air, her form shifting to that of a black swan, the crown of her avian head as red as her hair.

His heart soars with her and he knows now that he wouldn't have it any other way.

They later sit beneath the stars, huddled among the feathers of the mantle, two hearts beating as one at last.