The Whitebeard Pirates' Playground

Ch.2 - You're not Whitebeard

"These people" the man gestured to the ones around him "are all my sons."

Ace pushed up his hat before releasing a whistle, "That's a lot of kids you have, you must have had a good life hhahahahahha"

Said sons all looked horrified suddenly, not that Ace knew why, so he just continued on. "But I meant more like a caregiver, unless your kids do that of course.... Do you live on this island jiji?"

"No.... I... I sail the seas."

"Hmmm, sure you do, that's nice isn't it." -He must be lost, poor old man, he's just so confused, I must help him.- Ace thought with confidence and pity. "Deuce, can you throw me my backpack... Please?" -I need to be polite in front of the elderly.-

"...Sure captain, but ehm, you do know that that's really Whitebeard in front of you, right?" The first mate said back before throwing the backpack, the rest of the spades standing stunned behind him while nodding to what Deuce had said.

After Ace caught his backpack, he started rummaging through it, "Thanks Deuce." -His crew is so great, also playing along for the old man's sake, he really found the best crew one could ask for.- "Yea yea, Whitebeard, strongest man in the world, sailing all the seas, great guy."

"..."

"AH found it!" With that, Ace pulled out a ... packet of prune-juice? The pack was almost the size of his backpack, how did that fit in there and how did it take him that long to find????

With some kissy noises, Ace called Kotatsu over and picked him up while walking towards the poor confused old man. "Old man, can you hold your hand open for me please?"

Without a word, Whitebeard opened his hand and held it out, not knowing what was going on right now.

Once open, Ace jumped on top of it, using some of his fire to boost him up to height.
"Ah, made it!" He then placed down the pack of prune-juice and Kotatsu. "Kotatsu, stay. Be nice okay." He got a purr in return, so he could trust the lynx to not harm the old man.
"Jiji, here you go. I got you a packet of some nice prune-juice and you can pet Kotatsu. He's a sweetheart so you don't need worry! Then, I am going to search for someone to take you home, okay?" - "Huh, but I..." - "AH of course, I almost forgot, sorry jiji." Ace had almost jumped off the hand, but had quickly turned around and went to packet of prune juice. He picked it up and stabbed a straw into it. "There, perfect. Then, see you later!"

After jumping off he went towards the spades "Spades, please watch the old man for a bit, okay? He told me everyone around him are his kids, but I don't believe it. There's far too much of a hight difference between them ya know, so I don't know if we can fully trust them. Maybe they're just fooling him for his inheritance and the poor jiji probably doesn't know better. So, take care of him, I'm going to the village to ask around if someone is missing their grandpa. You'll all be fine, right?" He received some nods from his crew, only Deuce really answered his question, "Sure cap, we'll protect the old man, no one will steal his inheritance while you're away." This got a big smile out of Ace before he was running of towards the village, giving one last wave and saying goodbye.

________________

When Ace was out of sight the Spade made their way over to the now fully stunned group who were also watching the disappearing form of their captain.
When they made it over, Whitebeard suddenly plopped down onto the ground and sat crossed legged on the grass.
Some of his commanders immediately ran around him, asking if he was alright. The cause of their concern was just looking down at his prune-juice and the animal in his hand. After a moment of silence and insistence in knowing if Whitebeard was already the man answered them, it was however not an answer too their question.

"Do I look that old? Do I really not terrify the youth anymore? I thought I was still popular?" The captain replied before he took a sip of his prune-juice while petting the kitten he had gotten. "Hm, this is some good stuff."

"Thanks, I made it myself at the last island, they had a huge stock of fresh prunes." a guy wearing a skull mask reacted to the compliment, "I can give you guys the recipe, if you want it?"

"Hm, yes, that would be much appreciated. Thatch, please go listen to the recipe for me. I want this with my breakfast."

"Ah.... Ehm... okay Pops." The chef took a notepad and pen from a pocket and went off to discuss the recipe with the skull-person.

The remaining commanders were looking on in dumbstruck was at the situations. Their captain was sitting on the ground, really drinking prune-juice and petting a Lynx, in no way was that a cat, looking like a real old man. While the Spade pirates were taking out cards from somewhere to start a game, acting as if nothing was wrong.
One of them voiced all of their thoughts, "What's happening right now..."

"I don't know-yoi, I don't know......."

Suddenly laughter erupted, the commanders all turned towards the sound, it was coming from a guy with blue hair.
The guy turned towards them and made a little bow, "Commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, there's only a few words needed to explain this whole situation."

"What is it-yoi?"

The blue haired guy rose up from his bow, a smirk on his face, he simply said one name as an explanation: "Portgas D. Ace." This was followed by some maniacal laughter from not only the blue haired guy, but also from some other members of the Spades crew.

The commanders just looked dumbstruck, this... This is the rookie crew they've actually been wanting to meet for themselves. These are the people Pops wanted to adopt.

In the distance they heard the sound of yelling coming closer, and with a look towards it, they saw that it was the captain of the Spades, smilingly brightly and waving at them "OOOIIIII, I THINK I FOUND HIS HOME!!!!"

Marco just looked up towards the sky and closed his eyes -Oh kami, what have we gotten ourselves into......- 

Part 2 in chapter 5!