Chapter Text
Holly’s arms crossed as she starred down one of the more reckless members of Whitebeard’s crew. The man before her was flagging, exhausted beyond belief, and still running around.
“Do I need to tie you to the ground?” Holly asked.
Marco glanced up from his patient and told her in a complete deadpan: “…I’d just escape.”
His words caused Holly’s lips to press together. Marco, her brand new adopted brother, assumed he could escape a regular imprisonment method. He had no idea Holly could literally stick him to the ground with magic to force him to rest. However, Holly wasn’t sure about their relationship and if he’d accept such actions without violence.
As a result, Holly ended up staring the older man down, both of them trying to win through eye contact alone. Holly wanted Marco to take a break, while Marco was blood-covered, concussed, and rushing from sibling to sibling to deal with every wound they had. He was going to burn out; Holly knew it for a fact. Marco was too much like Hermione.
Marco looked away first, but he was actively working. His bright blue healing flames were pressed against one of the men’s shoulders and he was slowly knitting the skin together. The man being healed avoiding looking at them both, wanting to be healed, but not willing to risk her or Marco’s ire.
It seemed Holly was already becoming a bit of a legend with the Whitebeard and she was seen as equal to Ace in power and clout.
“I’m fine,” Marco repeated, eyes on his work.
There wasn’t anyone else to do this, just him… and if he stopped then his siblings would die. The ship carrying their nurses had… had been brought down, and the men and women of the medical division had been killed… or badly injured. Now, no one but Marco could heal... And no one but Marco could do this.
Holly tsked at him. She was quickly learning that the pirates of Ace’s crew went hard, and getting any of them to rest was an impossible mission.
Glancing to the side of Marco’s form she arched a brow at the empty space and watched the spirit there give her a saddened expression.
“I’m fine,” Marco repeated as a particularly loud shout echoed from the partying pirates, the group morning and celebrating at the same time. They were loud, very drunk, and not at all okay. Really, of all the group, Ace was the most emotionally stable and that was saying something.
“At least let me help,” Holly said giving up the idea of making Marco stop.
She wanted to do something. Within the last twenty-four hours, she’d lost everything she knew and had decided on a life with Ace. She’d abandoned her friends, family, and world, in order to stay with the person she loved. She hadn’t adjusted, but she was also quite busy and wanted to remain so.
Marco, at the same point, had noticed that Holly was no more ‘okay’ then the rest of him. But he was far too exhausted to address it. Another time, later, when his siblings stopped dying and he adjusted to his father being- Another time… another day, he would have done so… but right then… no.
“Do you have medical training?” Marco moved away from his patient and subtly leaned against a tree. The world was twisting… turning… his flames dulled, his energies flagging. Marco wouldn’t last much longer, but he had to.
Holly in response shook her head. “I could get you water?” she peered into his eyes, biting back an offer to help him sleep with magic. “Or…” What magic could help here? Surely there had to be something, anything to take some of the weight dragging Marco down.
Marco heaved a sigh and pushed away from the tree as one of the surviving nurses yelled his name. "You… are very much like Ace. Has anyone told you that?” His next blink lasted a bit too long before he was looking at her again.
“You’d be the first.” Holly stepped forward as Marco started moving to the next patient. “So… water?”
Marco waved her off, “I’m fine, Holly, but if you insist upon helping… try to keep the others from drowning in their drinks.” He gave her a sidelong look, “do you know the recovery position?”
“... Yeah.” Holly mimed the position and Marco nodded in confirmation.
He nodded as if expecting that, “Put anyone unconscious in that position, so they don’t drown in their own vomit. Have Ace help. I-” he cut off when someone yelled his name louder and more urgently than the first, “-need to go.”
“Sure…” Holly agreed as Marco rushed off. She grimaced when he staggered, but this time she didn’t follow him. He wouldn’t appreciate it, and he wouldn’t be stopping until he himself collapsed.
Left alone, Holly turned away. From her position on the beach, she could hear Luffy singing at full volume. Near Luffy, Law was striding toward the infirmary with his sword. While opposite the makeshift infirmary, she could see a dozen other semi-familiar pirates from the Whitebeard crews in the crowd.
Where was Ace? Holly hadn’t seen him in some time, which was part of the reason she’d followed Marco, who was one of the few Whitebeards she actually knew by name.
Speaking of Ace-
“Alright, Holly?”
“Gah!” she yelped startled by Ace’s sudden appearance.
She shouldn’t have been surprised after how many times it had happened. Holly really should have been used to it by then, but Ace still surprised her… and he seemed annoyingly pleased by that, going by the smile on his face.
“Don’t do that!” she demanded, and Ace chuckled.
“What are you doing over here?” Ace asked as Holly calmed her frantic heart.
Ace lifted his arm and offered her a bright pink coloured drink. Holly assumed it was likely alcoholic which she’d admittedly not had much of. Holly’s only experience with alcohol was her Uncle’s drunken escapades and the twins’ parties in Gryffindor Tower. The latter had been snuck in the form of fire-whiskey and Holly hadn’t at all liked the taste.
Deciding to try the drink from Ace’s World, she found it wasn’t at all like the fire whiskey and definitely didn’t make her belch fire, so that was a plus. However, she wasn’t sure if she liked the fruity taste.
“I was checking on Marco,” Holly explained as she lowered her odd cup, a tankard? Something like that.
Ace hummed. “Thank you for that… how was he?”
Holly made a so-so motion with her hand, “Tired. He’s pushing himself, but there’s nothing I can do to truly help him. Honestly, I regret not learning more healing magic. I’ll have to figure those spells out… once mom shows up again anyway.”
She brushed her hair back and set her drink on a nearby table. “Is he the only doctor on the crew?”
“The only surgeon,” Ace shifted slightly his eyes constantly scanning the area as he guarded his nakam. As they were mostly fine, he reached forward and slipped his arms around Holly gently tugging her into his chest. He held her to his chest and rested his chin on her head, then he breathed in deep and slow.
Holly, feeling her cheeks heat, glanced down slightly to stare at his arms encircling her and found herself… momentarily surprised. She felt, honestly, safe. She felt protected, felt comforted just by Ace’s arms… that was… bizarre. She’d never felt that before, but Holly knew Ace was strong and knew, if it came down to it, he’d protect her.
“We lost… a lot of them during the war, they were on the ship when Akainu…” Ace trailed off and Holly felt him tense in his arms. “The nearby island is helping, but there’s only so much they can do when the injuries are that terrible. Marco’s the only one with a fruit that heals so… he’s left doing most of the work.”
Ace’s inhaled Holly’s scent, his nose close to her neck as he relaxed. As he did, his eyes continued to dark around. He observed his sibling's emotions and how they were acting. As he did, his hands flexed before he admitted what he was noticing in a low voice: “They’re hurting… the whole crew. Their laughter is forced, and they keep breaking into tears… it's making me think there’s something wrong with me.” the latter was confessed in a bare whisper, something only for Holly’s ears.
Holly remained still as Ace confessed that to her. Her eyes went wide, and she immediately moved to protest, but Ace squeezed her. He squeezed her to make her wait and to keep her from seeing his face as he confessed his inner thoughts.
“I don’t feel it… his death,” Ace continued, “and I think I know why.”
“You do?” Holly asked.
“He didn’t leave… did he?” Ace shifted so his hand was beside hers, and he tapped her finger where the Gaunt Ring lay. Then, he leaned back to give her a meaningful look.
Instantly, Holly blushed and nodded, confirming his unspoken realization. Ace had realized his father was present in a ghostly form, just like the others. “And I’m guessing he told you not to say anything… so we could move on?”
“Yup.”
Ace rolled his eyes to the sky. "He’s watching over us, then… that's both creepy and soothing.”
“Is it?” Holly pulled slightly from Ace’s arms so she could look him in the eye, she found he looked amused when she did.
Ace chuckled, “After seeing my mom, your parents… and Sirius, not to mention being a spirit for… months… death doesn’t feel as real anymore.” Ace scratched his nose, “I know I can still talk to pops, so his ‘death’ feels more like a ‘vacation.’” Ace made a face, “The others though… guess all I can do is comfort them. They’ll have to mourn, especially because we don’t know if this thing will work for them.”
Holly made an understanding noise, Ace had a fair point there. She had no idea if the ring would work on anyone else, especially since Holly had it for months before she’d actually been able to see her parents. It had actually taken until her death to see them, and by extension, Ace could likely use the ring because he was her soulmate. So it was entirely possible the ring would work for no one but them.
“Damn,” Ace spoke up suddenly, his head turned to the side sensing something she wasn’t privy to with his haki, thankfully he explained: “I think I can sense Mirio trying to drown again, I’m gonna have to go check on that. Where are you planning on sleeping?”
“Where I can fit?” Holly hedged. She’d dropped after the funeral into a spontaneous nap and had no plans for that night.
Ace grinned, bright and relaxed after the brief break, “I’ll find you.”
Ace definitely wanted to sleep with her in his arms again, and every night he honestly could. So far Ace had managed to do it twice, and he loved it, nothing made him feel better than keeping Holly safe and secure in his grip. To bask in the idea that she was alive and protected with him. Not to mention he was still delighting in the fact that he could touch her for real without the use of haki to make it work. That was something Ace doubted he’d ever get used to.
Reaching over, Ace pecked Holly on the lips and felt her grin across his lips. Then, as he pulled back- he did it once more. And again. And- “I need to goooo.” He whined, “he’s really going to drown.”
Holly laughed, and gave him a shove, “Go then!”
Ace’s following expression was positively boyish as he forced himself away and toward his siblings, though he did sober as he moved away. A quiet moment with Holly or not, his brothers were still in mourning and Ace was treating their sorrow with as much respect as he could. They’d lost their father… and peace would, for them, be a long time coming.
Holly yawned into her hands as the sun rose. She had passed out during the night next to Luffy and had been out cold despite the party continuing well into the morning.
Through the night, Holly had only once stirred and that was when Ace had flopped down beside her and tucked her body into his. It was a sensation Holly was getting used to, having someone hold her when she slept. She’d never had that before, though Holly couldn’t say she disliked it.
Regardless, hours later, Holly was one of the earliest to wake up. A mix of the Dursleys and Luffy kicking her in his sleep. Unable to sleep any longer after that, Holly pulled herself from Ace’s grip and chose to wander the area.
Bypassing the many Whitebeard pirates all sprawled out across the floor, Holly headed to where she smelled food. Walking through the sleeping group, she noted that many of the men and women had blankets tossed onto themselves, while others were in the recovery position from her and Ace’s hands.
Holly also thought she’d spotted Law, but before she headed his way, she stopped at a nearby food line. There, she was passed a drink and a small plate of food by a harried pirated.
Plate in hand, Holly headed to where she’d seen Law. Thankfully, she hadn’t been incorrect in spotting him. The lanky pirate was staring blankly into the coffee cup he was nursing. He looked as exhausted as anyone else, but Holly suspected it was more of an insomnia problem.
“Good morning,” Holly greeted as she dropped beside him.
Law grunted in greeting, eyes on his cup.
Figuring Law was not up to speaking in the morning, similar to Hermione, Holly moved her attention to her other side as one of Ace’s siblings dropped beside her. This one Holly actually recognized on sight, which was saying something considering the Whitebeard pirates numbered in the hundreds.
Letting a smile light her face Holly greeted him warmly: “Izo, good morning.”
This was the first time she had seen Izo since the battle, and Holly was relieved that he was alright and mostly uninjured. From a brief inspection, Izo had a few bandages here and there, and his clothing mended slightly. He also seemed unbothered by the massive bruise on his head. Had he gotten knocked out at some point?
Izo blinked heavily at her, before he inclined his head, “There’s our resident ‘witch flower.’”
Izo reached over and ruffled her hair. He, unlike Law, seemed to be a morning person and had no trouble offering a smile. Holly respected the fact that he could mostly hide the sorrow behind a friendly mask. Izo gave no sign that he’d lost his father and captain so recently.
Holly furrowed her brows to his comment though, and asked, “Why do I feel you’re quoting something?”
“Because he is,” Law muttered before taking a long drag of his drink. Law reached over beside him and grabbed something at his side, which he then tossed at her.
Holly snatched it from the air and discovered he’d thrown the paper at her and made a face. She’d only just gotten away from being in the paper all the time, was she going to be in it again ?!
“A newspaper?” Holly opened the paper and immediately made a face. “How is it, I’ve travelled the world over, and still ended up on the front page?” She heaved a sigh and set up to read the article under the photograph.
The photograph plastered across the front page seemed to be a photo taken during the war. The picture, unmoving and muggle, was of Ace. He wore a positively ruthless expression on his face. He looked terrifying and Holly suspected that had been done on purpose. Though she also knew why he was looking so fierce, the photo had been taken when Ace had been staring down Akainu. Holly knew this because she was in the background of the photo, pulling herself to her feet in the background with her mess of a body dragged upward by sheer force of will.
“’Pictured, Gol D. Ace and his woman.’” Holly released an aggravated noise, she didn’t even get a name in this world. “His woman?” she demanded in offence.
Izo made a comforting noise directed her way. “I expect he won’t be pleased by this. The world at large knows who Ace’s birth father is, and… they know about you, too.”
Izo reached over and tapped the paper lower down, he dragged Holly’s attention to the bit about her. Which, basically spoke of her as a glorified baby-maker that could teleport. Reading on, Holly discovered the Marines wanted her killed purely so she could not continue on the Gol bloodline.
“Evidentially they’d made the correct guess that we’re in a relationship,” she muttered. From undesirable number one to… baby maker, how quickly things change.
“On the upside, you have a bounty now,” Izo told her, “you’re a wanted woman, Holly. Congratulations!”
“Technically speaking I already was,” Holly flipped to the loose papers attached to the newspaper and whistled.
Holly found herself staring at her own face. It was a picture taken sometime when Akainu had attacked her and Ace, but she was the focus instead. Holly was standing, body bloodied and limbs burnt, like a furious entity. Ace wasn’t in the picture, so it was likely taken moments before she’d summoned him… but the expression on her face was petrifying. She looked brutal.
Izo nodded his agreement, he was rather impressed by the photo. Izo knew Holly’s expression was protective. It was the face of a woman set up to destroy all who tried to harm her loved ones, and it showed just how fierce the tiny slip of a girl could truly be.
“An impressive bounty as well, for your first. The Marines want you captured badly.” Izo gestured to the number at the bottom, “Eighty-five million beri.”
“Is that good?” Holly didn’t have a comparison.
“Take it this way,” Izo offered, “my first bounty was twenty million and I was already a Whitebeard pirate when it was released. But if you want another comparison, check Ace’s new bounty. Last week it was five-hundred and fifty million.”
Holly flipped the page and found herself staring at Ace’s picture. It was split in the middle. One had Ace as he had in the paper with that brutal expression, and beside him was the man Holly had seen when she’d been dead… Roger. Ace’s father was smiling in the picture, and the comparison had clearly been made with the side-by-side. Ace’s bounty, though, had skyrocketed; he was at two billion.
Holly whistled once more at the number before flicking to the next page, which was of Luffy. Holly was in the background of that one as well; it had been taken with her and Luffy before they’d apparated to Ace to rescue him. She was slightly out of focus but Luffy was smiling a thousand-watt smile; his bounty was at a hundred million.
“And this is supposed to be a good thing?”
“You consort with pirates now,” Law spoke up from the side, “so, yes, it’s a good thing.”
“Trafalgar is correct. To us, it’s respectable to have a bounty. You should keep it; it's a tradition to keep your first, after all.” Izo explained, and when Holly glanced at Law, she found him nodding in confirmation. So Holly tugged the paper back to her chest. As she did, she sort of wished she’d kept a copy of her wanted posture from her home world, but it was too late now.
Now that she was thinking about it, Holly wondered if she could craft a bottomless bag. Hermione had made hers so Holly wasn’t entirely sure how it was done. Still, Holly was also aware that she didn’t really have a home, let alone a tent to actually keep her things.
And, unfortunately, nor did the Whitebeards; their home had been destroyed, and it showed in how many of them couldn’t even change clothes. Many were stuck in blood-strained and burnt clothes. It didn’t paint a pretty picture, especially not with the whispered conversations she kept catching about dwindling supplies. The commanders seemed concerned about what they were going to do, especially moving forward with so many people.
Before she could get too deeply into the thought Izo made a soft noise when someone yelled in the distance.
“Ah.”
Holly turned to look and spotted Marco’s purple shirt as the man went flying toward the nearby tents.
Izo grimaced, “That’s Haruta again, he keeps coding. Dolfamingo shot string right through his heart before the battle ended… it’s only Marco’s flames keeping him alive right now.” Izo didn’t disguise his concern as he looked back at Holly, “Marco won’t rest until they’re alright, but at this pace, he’s going to crash.”
After a short moment, Izo stood and forced himself to his feet. “I’m going to check the others. I’ll see you, Holly.”
“Good luck,” she said in return as Izo moved away with only a mild limp to show injury.
This was the aftermath of the battle and the commanders had to figure out what to do. Marco, the first commander, couldn’t rest with the sheer amount of wounded present. But how many other commanders were there? Holly didn’t know. She’d picked up some information about the crew from Ace and Jimbe, but it wasn’t much. Not enough to figure out what the Whitebeards needed or how she could help.
Did they have enough food? What were they going to do about a ship? What about supplies? A home? She knew nothing, and it grated. This was like returning to the wizarding world clueless once more. However, now, at the very least, she wasn’t a hundred percent helpless. She had allies now, and she had access to those allies.
Holly twisted her body to look at the Whitebeard’s semi-visible form standing watch over his children. Could she ask the deceased captain for advice?
“That ‘portkey.’” Law spoke up, snapping Holly’s attention back to him, “When will it bring us back?”
“Whenever you want,” Holly answered easily, “you, Luffy, and Jimbe just need to be holding onto it and say the code word. It’ll take you back to… uh, that island.”
“Where is the rope?”
“I have it.” She stood up and stretched. “When you want to go back, just come find me with Luffy and Jimbe. I’ll send you back.”
“Hn.”
“Talk to you soon Law.”
Holly expected him to come to her with Luffy and Jimbe by the end of the afternoon. Law would no doubt want to touch base with his crew and move on. Holly figured Luffy would be returning to Rayleigh to start his training now that the party and funeral were over. Jimbe also had expressed a desire to return to his own crew now that he was a free man.
So, all three of them had some sort of plan for the future, which left Holly and Ace to make up their own minds. This allowed Holly and Ace to shift out of disaster mode, which they and all the Whitebeards were currently stuck in.
But how?
Holly needed more information, so she headed toward Whitebeard. The large ghost spotted her and waved her over, already aware that she could see and communicate with him. Edward Newgate was relieved his newest daughter was coming to speak to him, because he had quite a few things he needed to talk about.
As such, he immediately escorted her to the side where they could talk out of earshot of the other pirates.
“Holly, it's a pleasure to meet you at last.” Newgate started and offered his hand to shake hers.
Holly reached out slowly and allowed him to engulf her hand, though she didn’t feel it in the slightest, a side-effect of being, you know, dead.
“Your father explained that I should be able to use my haki to make contact with the living world, but it's not something I have under my control yet.” Newgate laughed and pulled his hand away from hers. “I look forward to learning something new.”
“You met my dad? I haven’t seen him… is he… alright?”
Newgate lowered himself to the ground and sat in front of Holly, which made them closer in height. However, due to his extensive height, Holly was still forced to look up at him instead of down.
“He explained my options after my death, he told me it was possible to watch over my children from beyond the grave… an easy choice to make. As for your other question, the last I saw him he was working with some of my children to move… your mother, I believe? From the battlefield. I suspect they are still close to Marineford.”
That explained why Holly hadn’t seen them; they were likely still close to the battlefield. “Thank you.”
“It’s no trouble. Now.” He linked his hands together, “you have questions?”
“Yes.” Holly placed her hands on her hips and felt the newspaper under her arm crinkle. “I don’t know anything about the crew or how to help them. I thought, well, can you point me in the right direction here? Do you know how to get Marco to rest? Or what's needed or…”
Edward Newgate watched his newest daughter list off her questions and allowed a smile to slide across his face. Holly Potter, he’d only met her briefly during the battle so he had not gotten a true measure of her beyond thinking her a generally quiet soul as she stood behind Monkey D. Luffy sheer… volume was a nice way of putting it. But then, seeing Ace react to her, changed his first assumption. It was blatantly obvious Ace was absolutely smitten with this little slip of a creature.
Though Edward Newgate was willing to take Holly in because of Ace’s opinion, he still wished to get her measure. Now, he was getting it, and he was quietly pleased.
The girl had come from nowhere, spawned from thin air with Ace head over heels. She’d popped in and rescued his son at the risk of her own life. Now, instead of vanishing once more or dragging Ace’s attention from his siblings, she was asking how to help them herself. It was relieving.
“Calm yourself, Holly, I will explain all I can.”
Holly snapped her mouth closed and then Whitebeard slowly started to explain.
“My crew,” his former crew? “Is made of sixteen divisions. Each of them has a different commander, or captain, in charge of them while I was in charge of each commander.” He gestured out at the sea of pirates and allies to point out each commander respectfully. “Marco you know, he is the commander of the first division; Ace is the second division commander, and Jozu the third,” he paused feeling a measure of pain, “Thatch was the fourth division commander before he was murdered… then it is Vista.”
Following along Holly noted that she’d not interacted with Vista, and Whitebeard pointed the man out to her. Vista had a rather extravagant mustache and a top hat making him resemble a Muggle magician; Arthur would probably like him for that alone. Following Vista was Blamenco, Rakuyo, Namur - who was part fish, - Blenheim, Curiel, Kingdew, Haruta - the one who kept coding, - Atmos, Speed Jiru, Fossa, and then Izo with was the last commander at division sixteen. The names Edward gave Holly made her quite dizzy, but they also made her feel slightly better. From what she could see, not all of the commanders were out of commission and they were working together as best as they could despite the situation.
Edward explained what each was doing. Holly already knew that Ace was soothing distraught emotions and Marco was caring for the wounded. She learned that Vista had placed himself in charge of food, which was usually the task for the fourth division, and Namur’s division was patrolling the area to ensure they weren’t attacked while their guard was down.
“Ace has already arranged quite a bit during the night,” Edward explained to her next, “however, many of my children have a choice to make, one choice out of three. They will continue on without me, retire, or strike out on their own.”
Of the sixteen commanders, none of them had made a choice yet, some like Haruta and Jozu weren’t even conscious to do so. Others, like Fossa and Curiel were still in mourning. While the rest, such as Izo, Marco, and even Ace, were in crisis mode still.
On the upside, Holly was fairly well certain that Ace would want to continue on as a pirate. He was still young and it wasn’t like the Marines were going to leave him live a regular life at any point, not unless she managed to figure out some spell that made the world at large forget Ace even existed. Or he and she both found a way to return to her home world which she also doubted would ever occur. So, with Ace wanting to continue as a pirate that meant figuring out who would join him and if he’d end up captain like she expected he would.
Holly pressed her fingers to her lips as she reflected on this. She glanced around, looking from pirate to pirate. People were waking up now and moving slowly around the area. She could see contemplation on their faces and knew they were thinking about it. Which meant… Holly would have to touch base with Ace. She’d figure out what he intended and go from there.
“Thank you… pops?” she hedged slightly and blushed when the man beamed a thousand-watt smile at her for the use of his title.
“Off you go, daughter.” He said miming petting her head again and then they broke their impromptu meeting.
Holly, sheepish, moved away to return to where she’d last seen Ace while reflecting on the fact that somehow she’d managed to collect more parental figures when a week ago she’d not even had one. Funny how that worked.
On the upside, Holly was more than willing to accept Whitebeard as one more parent, she’d figured it would happen especially after Roger got involved with her afterlife. That said, Holly was beginning to wonder if Sirius and Rouge would ever catch up to them. Being dead, could use her portkey to the two had elected to fly the way to the island. There was no sign yet.
Moving quickly, Holly reached the place where she’d fallen asleep and found it empty. Ace and Luffy had already moved on, so Holly followed the sound of yelling back toward the breakfast area. Unsurprisingly Holly found Ace there talking to the man Newgate had pointed out as Rakuyo who had a head full of dreads and a chained weapon that barked at her.
Not even the seventh weirdest thing she’d seen that morning. Holly patted the chain chomp… thing, on the head and approached as the conversation ended. She took position beside Ace to snatch a piece of bacon from his plate. Ace made a face at her for that but didn’t protest, thankfully. Admittedly, he could have easily stopped her; he just chose not to.
“Morning.” Holly greeted and extended a hand to Rakuyo. "You’re Rankuyo, right? Nice to meet you.”
“Ah, the witch flower.” His inflection was hard to place. He seemed generally amused, but Holly was fairly certain it was at Ace’s expense and not her own.
“Witch Flower?” Ace asked as Holly sighed.
“Has everyone seen that poster?”
“Most everyone,” Rankuyo told her with an amused expression weakened by the clear exhaustion on his face. Rankuyo’s eyes were red-rimmed and his posture sluggish even as he teased. However, he seemed to perk when he realized Ace had no idea what they were talking about. “Ara, Ace doesn’t know? What a terrible boyfriend.”
“Don’t know what? Holly, what don’t I know?”
“Such a shame!” Rankuyo said louder to interrupt Holly before she even began to explain. “I don’t think he deserves you ‘witch-flower. ' No! Perhaps you should stick to a real man.” Each word seemed to perk his mood more and more until he was full on extending his arms her way. "Come to me. I’ll show you how a true man treats his woman.”
Ace gaped, he shot a frantic look at Holly who, after only a short pause because this reminded her entirely too much of the twins messing with Ron, pretended to swoon. “Oh! A real man is it.”
“Yes! Come to me, my love!”
“I’m coming!” Holly dramatically stepped forward as if Rankuyo were Fred and George. The twins would definitely act this way with her, and the familiarity of it calmed her down ridiculously over her first meeting with another of Ace’s siblings. Of course, Holly didn’t really get anywhere, not as Ace rushed to abandon his plate and grab her around the middle to pull her to him.
“Holly!” he yelped askance, causing both her and Rankuyo to burst out laughing and another man nearby to heave a sigh.
“Ace they’re just messing with you.”
“I know that!” he said, holding Holly close. "Doesn’t mean I want you running into this pervert's arms for a joke!”
“Oh, I’m hurt, Ace. Hurt, I say!” Rankuyo put his hand to his forehead and leaned back, while the other man whom Holly quickly realized was Speed Jiru, the fourteenth division commander, rolled his eyes to the sky. Holly laughed herself as Ace tucked her in her arms and stuck his tongue out at his siblings.
The moment didn’t last too long, though, as Jiru sobered, painfully remembering that his father was dead. His eyes cut to the side, away from them, and he explained, "Witch-flower is your girlfriend's epithet; she has a bounty now.”
“You do?!” Ace spun Holly around with a brilliant smile, one that was perfectly at ease due to his knowledge about his father, one that also made Jiru feel secretly quite bitter. Jiru was barely functioning with his father's death, yet Rankuyo was laughing, and Ace seemed at ease. It made something… dark, within his chest come to life. But Jiru didn’t mention it, he just looked away and at his food. “Where is it, lemme see!” Ace continued unaware.
Helpfully, Holly pulled the paper out from under her arm and passed it to Ace who eagerly ripped it open to see her wanted posture. As it was, he didn’t pay much attention to his own photo in favour of checking on hers and he gave a low whistle.
“That’s impressive for a first bounty. We’ll have to frame this!” he flipped it, hands stilling on the collection as he took in his own photograph. He paused at the comparison picture, the new bounty, and the name change and let a darker expression cross his face. The Marines had taken Portgas from him; they’d named him Gol D. Ace on the wanted paper.
Seeing Ace catch sight of it, Jiru and Rankuyo quickly made their exits from the area, while Holly observed Ace’s reaction. “Are you alright?” she asked.
Ace heaved a sigh, “I was expecting this, especially after Sengoku’s announcement… but I never realized how much we look like each other.” Ace tapped the photo of Roger, “There aren’t many pictures of Roger. Mum said… she told me they tried to erase him after his death, to destroy his reputation and make him seem like a far crueller man than he’d really been”
Ace traced his bounty with an absent hand, “Not sure how I feel, to be honest,” and he didn’t exactly have time to dwell on it anyway, “though I’m surprised no one made the connection before this, even with Garp keeping it secret.”
“Garp?”
“My grandfather, a marine… long story, I’ll tell you about him later.” Ace flipped to the next page and grinned at Luffy’s new photo and bounty, “Hey, you’re in this one too!”
“Yeah… Ace, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” He closed the paper and handed it back to Holly, “my poster doesn’t change much, the whole world already knows who my father was.”
He said that, but Holly couldn’t ignore the tension in his eyes. He was bothered, but he didn’t want to talk about it with so many of his siblings in close range, or perhaps not at all. It caused Holly to bite her lip and pull out her wand, with a flick she silenced the area around her and Ace. Immediately the conversations around them became muffled, and she looked up and arched a single brow, causing Ace to smile.
“Holly.”
“Ace, " she answered, “Do you need to scream? Because no one but I’ll hear you now.”
Ace glanced around them, watched the muffled conversations and made a ‘huh’ sound. “That's convenient, the revolutionaries would kill for an ability like that… but no, I am alright, Holly. Don’t get me wrong, I’m bothered, but… I was expecting this. So, I’ll adjust. Besides, like I said, we have bigger problems.” He waved a hand at the nearby crew, “I’ve been talking to them all night.”
Holly moved forward, and together she and Ace sat down to converse. Ace brushed their shoulders together and explained.
“Many of them want to retire, and I’m not surprised. Some want to break out and become their own crews, to remain allied together seems to be their general plan.” He jerked a head toward a nearby Jiru implying the man was one of those, though they hadn’t spoken about it yet, “most of the others don’t know what they want, some want to protect Pops’ islands from attacks because without Pops we’re going to lose a lot of territory.”
“What about you?” Holly asked, leaning forward so her head rested in her hand. “What do you want to do?”
Ace, moving opposite Holly, leaned back on his palms and looked at the sky. “I’m still a pirate, and I still want to show you this world.” He gave her a fond look. “I had been planning to rebuild my old crew and continue on…”
“But?” she pressed when he fell silent.
Ace grinned, “But.” He gestured loosely to Izo nearby, “Some of the commanders want to continue on as the Whitebeards, to keep up Pops’ legacy with a new captain. Izo expressed that he’d follow me.” Ace pressed his lips together, “Not sure what I think about that.”
So it was as Holly had been expecting then.
“I understand their desire, and I’m willing… but Marco is first-mate. I expected him to do it.”
“I don’t think he will,” Holly refuted from what she knew about the man. Marco seems like the type to need someone to follow." She made an odd motion with her hand, trying to explain. He’s leading the crew, but he’s suffering for it. I think… he’ll probably try just to keep his family together and regret it.”
Holly was pretty convinced Marco would crack under the pressure, but that was just the feeling she got from him. It also helped that Edward had told her that Marco wasn’t coping well, and Ace personally agreed now that Holly had pointed it out. From the moment their father had separated himself from the rest of them Marco had had failed to cope. It had been Ace to force his siblings away from his father to follow his last order. Ace had to drag Marco bodily away from his father’s corpse. It was also Ace who had taken control the moment he’d arrived, while Marco rushed from emergency to emergency and ran himself into the ground.
“So, the question becomes… is that what you want, Ace?” Holly asked next, “I have no problem with either of those options, so whatever you prefer, I’ll support you. But… what do you want?”
“Isn’t that the question of the age,” Ace leaned forward once more, “…I’ll talk to Marco about it and go from there. Even though I’ve pretty much already decided. I want to make sure he’s alright with it… if he’s not, I’m not sure I could do it for the long term.”
“Okay.” Holly agreed; that was plan enough for her even, if it wasn’t official. It gave Holly a pretty good idea of their next step and brought her to her next theory and point. “Hey, Ace… how hard do you think it is to raise a ship from the bottom of the sea?”
Ace blinked, shot her a look, and then smirked. “probably easier than making one fly.”