A Strange New Little Brother

The Faupta's Blessing

Marco did fall asleep, and when he woke, he showered and then got dressed, leaving the room and finding Pops smiling in amusement as he left his room. Marco asked what was funny. "Somebody came into the vent in my room last night, where he slept for a few hours. I found a pillow inside."

The first mate was shocked. Why would Ace have gone and slept in Pops' room? He asked if he was still there. But apparently he left once the sun rose, but left the pillow there, which the captain hadn't removed. They headed to breakfast, both intrigued. "Did you make a decision? About what to do?"

Whitebeard said he felt Ace would be easier to speak with now that he had human vocabulary a bit. He would speak with him, asking what he wanted to do. Marco raised his brows and then smiled. "You've grown attached, haven't you?" Pops denied it, but Marco knew he was lying. So, the man told the truth, and said he had a feeling that Ace could belong there if he had no home to go back to.

But first they needed to know why he didn't want to go back. Depending on the reason, they might take him back regardless. If it was a small problem, then they would judge it. But if it was something big, that would complicate things.

The two of them went to the room he'd been at the beginning of the night before he went to Pops' room, and found him under the blankets. "Ace? Ace, we have to speak with you," Marco said. There was movement under the blankets, but he didn't come out. So, he was awake. He didn't need to watch them to have a conversation.

Both of the higher ups entered the room and closed the door most of the way. There was a crack open in case he felt cornered. "Can you tell us why you don't wish to go back to the island?" They didn't know its name, so it was just "the island". Ace's head peeked out of the blankets. "Will you please tell us?" Marco asked, voice light and not a trace of any sort of threat in it. No impatience.

"Dey no like Ace," he said, vocabulary much better. But he might have spent much of the day before spying on people, hearing their conversations and picking up words and the ability to carry on a conversation. He wasn't mimicking anymore, but taking what he'd heard and using it.

Pops asked why the didn't like him. "Look diffrent," Ace replied. Marco asked if he looked different from others like him. He nodded, glaring at them, maybe thinking they were judging him. He was asked what others like him looked like. "All fur. Ace not all fur." He'd learned to speak so fast. It was incredible.

"Do they shun you?" Ace cocked his head. "They don't welcome you?"

"Ace wrong to dem," he replied. He could pronounce 't's now. Marco frowned for him, and so did Pops. Marco knew what it was like to be shunned by other people. When he ate his devil fruit as a child, he was rejected because he was a fruit user, which was seen as a curse on his home island.

"Would you like to stay with us? Instead of going back?" Pops offered. Ace narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and asked why. "I can read others well. I can read you, too. You are a good creature, I think you won't hurt us."

"No hurt anybody. Not know. Not stay, not know," Ace replied. Pops said he'd give him some time to think about it. Then he said, "No pet. Ace no pet."

Marco said they wouldn't think of him as a pet. He was too smart. Ace seemed to understand compliments somehow. His lips pursed, but Marco could tell it was some sort of smile. "We'll give you time to think. Would you like us to bring some food?" Ace nodded. So Marco and Pops left to the kitchen to get him some food.

It didn't really seem like he was picky. He had eaten all sorts of foods and nothing bad had happened to him. Maybe he could handle human food easily. They went into the kitchen, and Thatch handed them a plate. It had all sorts of breakfast foods on it. It was prepared for Ace, a bowl of water on the tray.