Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

"Are you sure about this, Marco?" Thatch asked, looking at his brother. The two stood on a skiff not far from a caravel with a sheep figurehead that bore a smiling Jolly Rodger with a straw hat. They had been following the ship for a week now, remaining out of sight while they tried to determine if it bore the crew they were searching for. They'd received confirmation two days ago at a small island, this was definitely Monkey D. Luffy's ship.

"I'm sure. I need to do this." Marco said, fingering the sea-stone band he still wore. "He has a right to know."

"It's one thing to tell him, but what you're proposing is insane." Thatch hissed, clinching his fists. Marco looked up at him for a moment before turning back to his band, brushing his thumb over the inscription of Ace's name.

"I need to do this." He repeated. Thatch sighed, rubbing the back of his head and looking away.

"Alright. I won't stop you, but I'm going with you." He said, turning back to Marco. Marco nodded, finally dropping his hands and turning to the ship.

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Usopp yawned, looking out over the ocean. He never thought he'd actually want something crazy to happen, but after five weeks of peace even he was getting bored. He straightened up slightly when a small skiff came into view with two men on board, one an orange-haired man with a pompadour wearing what looked like a chef's outfit who was messing with the sails and the other a blonde who's head and hairstyle reminded Usopp of a pineapple in a purple shirt and blue pants staring at the ship. Usopp turned back to call the rest of the crew over as the two got close enough for him to spot the twin swords at the 'chef's' waist. "Something we can help you two with?" Nami called down once the two were close enough to talk to.

"Possibly." 'Chef' called back, looking up at them. "The name's Thatch, my friend here is Marco. We're with…"

"We're looking for Monkey D. Luffy." Marco cut in, giving his friend a quick glare. The Strawhat crew tensed, Zoro stepping slightly closer to Luffy and resting his hands on his swords.

"To what end?" Robin asked, arms crossed over her chest. Marco glanced over the crew before his eyes settled on Luffy.

"It's about your brother."

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Luffy glanced back at his crew and Thatch as he followed Marco down the beach of the island the two had led them to. "So how do you know Ace?" He asked, folding his arms behind his back and leaning forward to look over the impressive collection of scars on Marco's torso and face. Marco flinched slightly before taking a deep breath.

"He was part of the same crew as me for about two years." The taller man said, voice heavy. Luffy frowned, tilting his head slightly and straightening up.

"'Was'?" He asked, wondering what had happened. Maybe their crew had split. Luffy knew it happened sometimes, though he didn't know why. If you didn't want to be someone's nakama why sail with them to begin with? Marco stopped walking, apparently deciding they were far enough, and turned to face the younger pirate. Luffy tensed when Marco pulled a gun from the back of his pants and then blinked in confusion when Marco held it out to him handle first.

"Take it. You'll want it in a minute." Marco said. Luffy looked up at his face for a few seconds, taking in the look of grief and guilt with a growing sense of dread, before slowly taking the gun. "About six months ago, Thatch found a Devil Fruit during a raid. He was deciding if he wanted to eat it or not when one of our nakama betrayed us." Luffy couldn't help but gasp at that, eyes wide. Marco nodded. "It shocked us too. His name was Teach and he'd been part of our crew for nearly seven years. Turned out he'd only joined us because he was looking for a specific Devil Fruit and wanted to use our resources to find it. He wasn't exactly thrilled that Thatch found it first."

"What does this have to do with Ace?" Luffy asked when Marco paused. Marco closed his eyes, sighing.

"When Teach attacked Thatch the night after he'd found the fruit, Ace was having trouble sleeping and taking a walk around the ship to get rid of some extra energy. He saw Teach attack Thatch from behind and jumped from two level up to stop him. The sound of the fight woke the rest of us, but by the time we got there Thatch was unconscious. Teach spotted us and yelled that Ace had attack Thatch…."

"Ace would never do that!" Luffy snapped, growling. Marco held his hands up in surrender, nodding.

"We know that now, but try to see it from our viewpoint. One of our nakama was down, two more were trying to kill each other right next to him. We didn't want to believe either of them would betray us, but it was clear one of them had." Marco said softly, tears starting to well up in his eyes. "I don't know if you knew it, but Ace had eaten a Devil Fruit that gave him control over fire. Thatch had clear burn marks on him. We know now that Teach had thrown Ace into Thatch while he was using his power, but at the time it looked like a sure sign Ace had attacked him." Luffy nodded, though he didn't completely understand. He grasped at least that Marco had been forced to choose between two trusted friends and the evidence was against Ace.

"What happened next?" He asked, afraid of what answer he would get.

"While Teach was distracted, Ace managed to stab his knife through Teach's throat and up into his brain. He was dead before he hit the deck, but Ace wasn't in the best shape either and ended up collapsing. A few crewmembers wanted to kill him then and there, but our captain stopped us. He wanted to hear Ace and Thatch's sides of the story before he did anything. With the possibility of Ace being a…a traitor, we locked him in the brig until Thatch woke up. Thatch was in a light coma for three weeks." Marco said, closing his eyes. "During that time…I went down to the brig every day to interrogate Ace. Thatch was my best friend, I was…enraged by his injury. Ace was supposed to be my best friend too." Here Marco's voice cracked, a few soft sobs escaping before he got a hold of himself. "He told me over and over that he didn't do it, but I refused to believe him. These scars… are exactly replicas of the injuries I gave Ace during my interrogations." Luffy's eyes widened, looking over the scars again as Marco traced them with his fingers. Luffy's hands were shaking, the gun Marco had given him starting to make sense. He prayed what he was starting to suspect was wrong. "Ace held on just long enough to hear that Thatch was okay." Marco looked up, spreading his arms out to his sides. "I murdered your brother, and now I'm here to accept whatever retribution you give."

Luffy searched Marco's eyes, silently begging for it to be a lie. All he found was guilt and pain. Slowly, he looked down at the gun, before narrowing his eyes and throwing it as hard as he could into the ocean. Marco's eyes widened, his head turning to follow the path of the gun until it sank below the waves with a splash. Turning back to Luffy, he was unprepared to meet Luffy's fist against his jaw and ended up being thrown back just shy of the tide. Luffy was quick to follow, just about pouncing on Marco and grabbing the collar of his shirt in one hand, the other pulled back to punch him again. Marco closed his eyes, ready to accept his punishment, but the pain never came. Instead a soft cry escaped Luffy as he let Marco's shirt slip from his hand before falling on the older pirate, hiding his face in his chest and clinging to him as he cried. Marco looked down, stunned, before carefully wrapping his arms around Ace's brother.

"Why?" He asked, noting briefly that his jaw wasn't broken after all. Luffy pulled away slightly but didn't look away from Marco's chest.

"Because you're sorry." He whispered. "You've been punished enough." Marco sat up carefully, one arm around Luffy while the other supported his weight. He could see Luffy's crew coming closer, concerned, with Thatch not far behind. Nodding to his brother, he lowered his head to rest on Luffy's and held the boy close while he cried. He'd been forgiven.

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Ace smiled at the scene far below as Marco finally removed the sea-stone band he'd worn for the past six months and tossed it into the ocean, leaning back into the arms that held him. "Our baby brother's all grown up." He said. Sabo chuckled, resting his head on Ace's shoulder.

"He'll be just fine." The blonde agreed, tilting his head slightly. "He's still a crybaby, though." The two spirits laughed as they faded away, content that everyone they cared for would be safe without them.

END

Got a request for Luffy's reaction. Ended up making it into an explanation of the whole incident. The reason Marco didn't want Thatch telling them they were Whitebeard Pirates was because he didn't want Luffy to be afraid to kill him if it came to that, though it was kind of pointless since I'm pretty sure Luffy wouldn't even know who the Whitebeard Pirates are at this stage. Takes place sometime after Robin joins but before either Franky or Brook join.

My primary inspiration was actually Gundam Wing when Heero goes to the families of the pacifists seeking redemption. Luffy, however, is no pacifist.

Oddly enough I haven't even gotten far enough in One Piece to meet Ace, yet all my One Piece stories so far center on him. Haven't seen Heero with the pacifists' families either.