This may be my most stupid fanfiction idea ever, but I love it, please enjoy the stupidity.
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Ace had just finished fighting with Jimbe when a tall old man, proclaiming to be Whitebeard, appeared in front of him. Ace however had his doubts about this....
"Who wants to take my head?"
Looking towards the booming voice, Ace saw an old man, with an impressive moustache, standing a few meters away from him. He was surrounded by about 15 other people, all varying in size. He inwardly snorted imagining them standing from tallest to shortest, all with the same moustache as the old man. ...Give Ace some slack, he fought for too long to be thinking seriously.
"Gurarara, child, you're a thousand years too e-"
"Who are you old man?"
The whole group, including the old man himself, grew quiet and a face of confusion appeared on all of them.
"... I'm Whitebeard." The old man answered, kind of stupefied at the question. The child before him just took a hold of his chin before squinting his eyes at him.
"No."
"No?"
"You're not Whitebeard. Hmmmm, I do see his ship nearby, is he behind you? You're kind of big, lots of space to hide."
"No... I... I'm Whitebeard?" The old man answered, looking to his commanders for some kind of confirmation.
"Yes, Pops, you are, we're pretty sure you're still Whitebeard." One answered in a whisper.
The old man nodded along to whatever the commander said, gaining the confidence he had somehow lost for a moment, "Yes, I'm Whitebeard. Edward Newgate, Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates."
"...Old man, I may be a child in your eyes, but I'm not stupid. You're not Whitebeard. You obviously don't have a beard, don't try to fool me."
"But... I have a moustache... A white one...."
"Huh, what does tha-" Ace suddenly thought back to when he was younger. One time when he was visiting Makino with Luffy at her bar, an old man had come in looking very proud. He was spewing some nonsense about saving the village from their sea-king, obviously not true since said sea-king was still there. But Makino went along with it, even giving the guy a beer on the house as thanks. Ace thought Makino had gone insane.
Afterwards however, she told him and Luffy about how old people sometimes get confused about things and make stuff up. 'As long as it doesn't harm anyone, you should let them have their moment of joy', is what she had said. And as an afterthought added, 'don't be rude to them'. Though, Ace was pretty sure she added it just because she was talking to him. Not that he was a rude child or anything........
The child before the Whitebeards suddenly straightened up and smiled at them. They all let out a relieved sigh, thinking the kid finally realised that he was indeed talking to the strongest man himself. Even Whitebeard stood up straighter, holding his bisento and looking proud at having convinced the kid.
"Aaah, sorry old man, I forgot my manners for a moment. Of course you're Whitebeard. Now, did you come here with someone?"
"Huh... Yea, my family."
"Great. Then where are they, I'll take you to them"
-What the hell is going on?- was the collective thought of all the Commanders.
"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.
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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!