He was sitting in one of the many dark storage rooms on the grand ship that easily dwarfed his former. He swallowed the impulse to punch the floorboards. That ship had been with him through most of his journey! As soon as he got the chance, he would kill the old geezer! How dare that Newgate fool... He forced himself to calm down a bit, telling himself that this was no way to celebrate. He crossed his legs and pulled out from his pocket the small package he had stolen earlier from the kitchen. It was a small, brown paper bag. In it contained his 'birthday cake'. Whoopee. He thought of all his previous birthdays with his crew. This would be the first year in a long time he would be celebrating without them. He frowned at the thought, but tore the bag open anyways. He pulled out the spongy bread that had been sitting in the bag, and cupped it in one hand. He took his finger and stabbed the 'cake', as was his tradition. The tip of his finger emerged from the other side of the bread. He lit the tip of his finger and watched as the small flame rose and illuminated the rest of the dark room. He felt a tear run down his cheek. He missed his nakama so, so much. He thought of the adventures they'd had, and he wondered if he'd ever be free again. Ace slowly opened his mouth and whispered 'Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me,' on the second 'Happy', his voice cracked, but he kept going. 'Happy Birthday dear A-Ace,' he stuttered, 'Happy Birthday to me.' He finished, his lower lip trembling as he allowed himself 3 more tears. Then 9. Then he broke into a quiet sob until he finally fell asleep.

A.N.: Sorry for the dreary beginning, but Happy New Year! Welcome to my newest series of fan fiction! In this series, I will be covering all the major One Piece character's birthdays! Each character will be given a drabble or one shot, and it will be posted on their respective birth dates. Just to inform you, the timeline will not be consistent, and I will place characters in various different settings and times. At the beginning of each month, I will post an Author's Note on the birthdays that will appear for that month. If you see that I have missed someone, please do not be afraid to call me out on it. A reminder, characters being covered must have had some, great impact on the arc in some, great way. Here is the list of characters being covered this month:

Jan 1- Ace

Jan 3- Aisa and Iceburg

Jan 8- Emporio Ivankov

Jan 10- Eustass Kid and Otohime

Jan 17- Capone Bege

Jan 27- Lola

Also, Happy Birthday to Oda-Sensei! Here's to a great year!