The Whitebeard Pirates' Playground

Ch.6 - Birthday Cake?

HAPPY Birthday ACEEEEEEE ! ! ! (And for the creator, Oda, a happy birthday too! Because they share their B-day, but sorry Oda, no special story about you, forgive me. Maybe if you undo what you did to Ace I'll make you your own story.)

Now, the story starts off a bit sad, I don't know how it happened, I'm sorry! But I swear, I swear it gets better and even has the best happy ending Ace could ask for!

Humming in the kitchen, Thatch was putting on the last decorations on the cake he had made. It was a huge three-tier cake, each layer having another flavor, all covered in the brightest orange fondant he could find. He had also sculpted little spikes with some hard sugar, all in different hues from yellow to red, positioning them all over the cake in different ways to make them appear as if real flames were sprouting from the cake. A real masterpiece if he dares say so himself.

Smiling at the finished result he put the cake in the fridge, ready to serve to his youngest brother in the morning. He was looking forward to his reaction! Besides this one, there were plenty of other cakes in the fridges, one cake obviously wasn't enough for the size of their crew. But this one was the only one that was this extensively decorated, this one is special and will be Ace his very own cake, and with his stomach, he could probably eat the whole thing without problem too.

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Throughout the night almost everyone would be partying to celebrate the New Year, so even though most would be awake at the change of day, Thatch, together with the other commanders, had decided to not instantly celebrate Ace his birthday at midnight. While the chef had wanted to bring out the cake then, they had a few good reasons for the decision;

1. By midnight everyone would be roaring drunk and their little brother deserved better birthday wishes than those coming from drunk sailors,

2. They didn't want to start a celebration only for Ace to fall asleep a few seconds after, or for him to forcefully stay awake and it screw with his Narcolepsy too much,

3. Ace should simply also have the chance to celebrate New Year too,

4. Lastly, this one actually being the most important one. The Spades had told them some days before in private that that Ace always separated from the group at the change of day, no matter if they were happily playing a game a few minutes before. Once the clock hit midnight, Ace would look solemn and excuse himself, only to be found looking out towards the sea with a sad look later on. They said it would kind of last the whole day, but it seems the worst was at midnight. By the morning Ace would try to act normal again, even if he wasn't 100% okay. The Spades never dared to question it too much, they just knew he needed some alone time and that he would be okay by the next day.

With everything combined, they decided to celebrate Ace his birthday in the morning. And even if they wanted to know what haunted their little brother at the change of day, they won't force him. They'll find out at some point, and then, once he is ready to share, they'll be there for him. But for now, they'll grant Ace the time and space he needs.

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In the end it went exactly as the Spades had said. Ace had been sitting with some of his division, drinking away even if he couldn't get drunk. He had been laughing, literally, about something when the countdown for the New Year had started. And the moment it did you could see the shine in his eyes lessen the lower the numbers became.
Opposite to him, those around him got smiles and started counting down too, looking towards the sky and waiting for the firework, but not Ace. Together with the shine leaving his eyes, Ace had also slowly lowered his tankard to the ground before saying something to the group and getting up, disappearing towards the stern of the ship. The commanders who noticed looked on sadly but didn't follow, as promised they would leave him be.