A/N: I got this inspiration from a fanart and wanted to give it a chance. It has been a while since I wrote something the last time but this gave me a good feeling. This is an AU with some of the artist's freedom.
Marco always deserve some more love that poor bby. I can't wait for when he will return in the manga!

TT7TT

The first time Marco saw him was during a storm. He had been on watch over the empty deck while the winds were screaming around him and the darkness threatened to overthrow everything. But then he saw a figure that was standing steady on the middle of the deck despite the rain and thunder.

"Oi!" Marco yelled but the voice quickly disappeared in the noise of the storm. But soon he realized that something wasn't right, he prided himself on that he more or less knew everyone on their ship, but this man... he didn't recognize him. The man's hair wasn't unusual being black and scuffled around his face. But he was standing there, smiling even, without wearing anything on his upper body despite the cold and the single orange cowboy hat whirled in the wind behind him tied to a string around his neck. No one on this ship had that kind of hat. And certainly no one was stupid enough to stand there in the wet and cold with so little clothes.

Marco frowned wondering if someone had been bold enough to sneak onto their ship and stupid enough to do it during an awful storm.

Suddenly a wave interrupted him and he has to grab onto something to not be flushed overboard. Cursing the saltwater that briefly stopped him from using his power he looked up again toward the stranger but he was suddenly gone. Marco looked around but didn't see him at all and he wondered if he had been flushed overboard. Quickly he looked out to the sea but he didn't see anything except the waves and the darkness.

As soon the morning had arrived he asked the other Commanders if they knew such a man prepared to give the sad message. But to his surprise they all had shaken their heads and told him that no one was missing. For sure if that man had been a member on their ship someone should've known who he was?

"Hmm, a man just standing there you say?" Whitebeard had hummed when he told him what had happened and then chuckled. "Well, some things are better unknown."

Marco had just sighed at his father's carefree attitude but soon he forgot about it.

Until the next time he saw him again…

They had just been in a battle, usually they all would've been fine but this time had been during a time when many of their commanders and the strongest under them had been away. They had won in the end but lost some of their good men. Marco had been standing alone on the deck looking over the sea where they had buried their crewmates only a couple of hours before but when he turned around thinking about going to the others who was drinking in the galley he saw a man standing in the prow also looking over the sea.

Marco blinked and realized that he recognized that orange hat even if the man was now wearing an orange shirt too. He then looked around to see if anyone else were there but it was just them. For a second he wondered what he should do but soon he reacted without thinking and used his powers to turn himself into the phoenix that was more than his second nature by now. It only took a couple of wing beats to reach the stranger and he landed on the railing close to him.

To his surprise the man didn't react at all to his sudden appearance. He was used to people reacting with wonder or horror depending on they were enemies or allies but this man didn't even glance at him. Marco was about to speak but stiffened when he saw the glittering tears on the man's freckled cheeks. The tears were pouring down without him making a single move to dry them away and he was biting his lower lip so hard that it turned white. Marco couldn't speak but just stared at the strange beauty in front of him.

"I'm sorry", the stranger suddenly whispered but Marco heard it clearly and the man was suddenly looking at him sending shivers down his back. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect them."

Marco blinked and the man was gone.

"Wha-...!" Marco exclaimed immediately turning into his human self and quickly looked around after a sign of the stranger. After a long time during which he even turned back to his bird shape and flew around the ship to be able to see further away he, furious with himself for letting someone get away, left to the galley to report to Whitebeard what had happened. But even when he told him everything he couldn't let go of the feeling he had gotten when those strange tear-filled eyes had looked straight into his. It had felt so familiar, almost like looking into his father's eyes. That kind of reassuring feeling you got from someone you trusted and knew very well. But that couldn't be, he had only seen him twice.

"Someone escaped from you?!" Thatch yelled loudly in surprise from behind him and he tensed up, he should've known to pick a better time to tell this. The laughter echoed in the galley and Marco fought to not let the blush show.

"He disappeared?" Whitebeard then asked when the laughter finally got lower. He even looked interested so Marco nodded in answer. But he should've known better this time too because Whitebeard also started to laugh making everyone laugh again.

Marco decided then and there to not mention the man again to anyone else. Except maybe Whitebeard … when they were alone.

He couldn't forget him this time but he didn't see him again.
Until … that night.

The night after Teach finally showed his real allegiance and killed one of his shipmates. Thatch … was dead. Marco was still not able to think about it too carefully but he couldn't sleep so he decided to go to the crow's nest. He grabbed some sake to drink and made the person who was on guard that night to go to sleep. He had to assure the person a bit more than usual as they all still were tense but finally he was left alone and could look up to the stars in the night sky.

"Thatch…" Marco murmured and lifted the flask to the sky before he drank some.

"… Why won't you go after him?" a voice suddenly spoke up from behind him.

Marco nearly choked on his drink and coughed harshly before he finally turned around. Prepared to yell at whoever was there he nearly choked again when he saw who it was. The orange hat was now sitting upon those black windswept curls and the eyes were staring at him with a glimmering fury that reminded Marco of wild fire out of control. For a second, he nearly prepared himself for battle but then the words sank into him and he saw the shaking fists that were begging to hit something.

"… Teach you mean?" Marco suddenly asked though he was still tensed up. But there was something in those eyes that told him that all that fire wasn't directed at him.

"YES!" The stranger yelled as if he couldn't even keep in all that fury that was building up inside of him. "He… He killed Thatch!"

"… Yes he did", Marco frowned and for some strange reason he didn't immediately ask who he was now when they were finally speaking to each other. Instead he had a feeling that reminded of all the moments he had comforted his grieving crewmates that day.

"WHY!?" The freckled man yelled again with his voice sounding like waves in a furious storm but tears were flowing up in his eyes. "He was a member of my crew! Thatch won't be able to rest in peace!"

Marco noticed the slightly strange wording but decided to not point it out right then. Instead he frowned and tried to calm the younger (he looked young, barely an adult) man.

"The captain said so", Marco said calmly and at the same time he pointed out who was in charge of this ship. "He said he'd make an exception, just this once."

"He killed a crewmate and escaped!" The man's words cut deeply into Marco but he decided to not show it. "After living under captain's protection for so many years … he just spat right in his face! Above all else, he tarnished his father's name. I can't just ignore that!"

Marco winced quietly as the man put everything he felt into words. He now knew for sure that those were the man's honest feelings and that he wasn't a stranger. Marco didn't know why but his instinct told him that he could trust him. It was strange as he usually preferred to trust the facts and what he saw but just this time, he decided to forego that.

"… What's your name?" Marco suddenly asked and the man stared at him in surprise.

"You … you can call me A-ace", the man, Ace, mumbled almost looking embarrassed all of a sudden.

"… Okay, Ace", Marco spoke slowly and softly. "Listen, you trust Whitebeard, right?"

"Of course!" Ace sobered up quickly with a stubborn spark in his eyes. Marco couldn't help but smile at it.

"He told us that he has a weird feeling about this", Marco said and quickly continued as Ace seemed to want to speak up again. "We won't forget! We won't forget Thatch and what Teach did to him. Never! Eventually we will get our revenge. We will, just not right now. I promise."

Ace stared at him without blinking and with a strange look in his face that nearly made Marco shiver. For not the first or the last time he wondered who this man really was.

"You promise?" Ace finally spoke up with a serious look in his face.

Marco frowned as people usually didn't take light on his words but then he smiled a bit, for the first time since the awful news.

"I promise … Ace."

Suddenly a little blush spread over Ace's cheeks and then it was like everything around them changed. The sky turned into gold behind Ace, the sun had started to rise. The night was over. Marco blinked for a second before he realized that Ace was smiling. Full out grinning actually. It's just a smile, Marco told himself but yet he couldn't look away from the big smile. Ace then turned around as he looked over his shoulder at Marco still grinning wide with all his teeth showing. Marco blinked as he saw the tattoo on his back, it was a tattoo of their jolly roger. But, it must have been the darkness around them as the sun was glowing from in front of Ace, it looked like it was moving like a real flag. It was captivating on that wide freckled back that somehow felt reassuring to look at.

"Good", Ace said still grinning. "I will keep you to that."

Marco blinked and suddenly Ace wasn't in front of him anymore.

"Hey, wait!" Marco yelped in surprise. "Come back, Ace!"

He looked down onto the ship to see if he somehow had missed him jumping down. But it was still early in the morning and the ship was all quiet. No one was on the deck.

Oh, now he was definitely sure. There was something strange with that young man, Ace.
But still Marco didn't feel very threatened somehow. Something about him was so familiar.

Marco didn't see him again for a long while after that even though he took some night shifts in case Ace somehow only could show up during the nights. But then Marco saw him again, and this time … he wasn't the only one who saw him. And this was definitively the last time he saw him.

It was during the great battle, with their whole alliance and a huge part of the navy, even the admirals were there. It was a very hard battle and Akainu had stepped forward to attack with his magma. He threw huge fists of magma from the sky toward the ice that all the pirates were standing on and melted a lot of it into hot water. They were all surrounded by walls that not even Whitebeard could destroy when Akainu suddenly said

"Now, it's time to end this."

And attacked the Moby Dick.

Marco was too far away to do anything but stare in horror as he heard the crew aboard trying to put out the fire.

"The Moby Dick took a direct hit from the magma!"

Marco blinked and suddenly saw a figure showing up in the fire on the head of the whale in the front. At first he thought that it was an ill-fated crewmate who had been caught on fire but the figure didn't move. It just stood there with the fire scorching all around it.

"Put out the fire!" someone aboard yelled. "Hurry!"

Then Marco saw the orange hat.
The orange hat was whirling in the fire but not even burning up despite the heat. The black curls were flying around that now familiar face which looked sad. Marco heard to his surprise that others around him had also discovered that strange man who was standing in the middle of the fire fully visible without even moving. So, it wasn't not an illusion? Marco felt somewhat relieved, at least he wasn't going mad.

"You have to hold on!" Someone yelled from the deck. "Don't let the ship sink!"

Ace looked over his shoulder to the deck, probably at the crew who were running around yelling and desperately trying to put out the fire.

"We're going to travel the seas with our friends once more!"

Marco's eyes widened as a horrible feeling was seething into his very bones.

Ace looked forward again at Whitebeard who was standing on the ice in front of the ship with his back toward it. And suddenly Ace smiled. It wasn't that big wide grin with all of his teeth showing but rather a soft close-mouthed smile.

"Whitebeard", Akainu spoke up from in front of Whitebeard. "Your era is at an end!"

And a big final meteor of magma shaped like a fist landed right where Ace was standing. The Moby Dick exploded and were collapsing into itself breaking into thousands of pieces.

"ACE!" Marco yelled to the surprise of the others around him. But he didn't notice it as he stared at the ship, quietly hoping and waiting. His logical side told him that he didn't make any sense, it had hit right where Ace had been standing. But his gut screamed at him to look, to look again.

"The Moby Dick … Damn it! Damn the Navy!" someone yelled. "That was our pride and joy!"

And there he was. Ace were still there. Despite all logic, he was still standing there with his orange hat fluttering in the fire. Marco was now sure that everyone in the crew saw him, there were murmurs all around him about that strange figure standing on the head of the whale without looking bothered by the fire. Marco was staring in horror as that feeling he had threatened to overflow him, finally, finally he realized who he was. Who Ace really was.

"Damn!" Someone yelled again. "They destroyed our ship! The ship that carried the Whitebeard Pirates for decades!"

Suddenly Marco heard a voice. A soothing voice that reminded of the soft waves during a warm summer day at a beach. It whispered into his ears.

"I … I can't speak loud enough for everyone to hear it. Please… Pass on what I'm about to say."

Marco stared in front of him as if everything slowed down.

"Pops… Everyone… And you Marco", the voice continued. "Even though… I'm just a ship…"

In front of Marco Whitebeard seemed to hear something. Did he also hear the voice...? Whitebeard turned slowly around and stared at the ship as it was slowly being overtaken by fire.

"Thank you…!" Ace suddenly yelled from the burning head of the once mighty and large ship of Moby Dick. His voice was full of tears and yet Marco could see from where he was that he was smiling. "For loving me!"

Everyone around Marco was staring in horror was the ship was overtaken by the fire. The Moby Dick, no … Ace disappeared into the fire as the ship sank into the water. The once proud jolly roger burned where it was tied to the mast and it flew away with the wind.

"Forgive me", Whitebeard suddenly said with tears in his eyes.

Marco finally recalled a name from old myths and legends that he had forgotten – the klabautermann.