Summary: Rayleigh hasn't seen his son in months, but when the Spade Pirates anchor next to the Oro Jackson, the reunion isn't exactly what he expected.
Rayleigh felt the tension bleed from his shoulders when he finally spotted the Piece of Spadille emerge on the horizon. The caravel seemed unassuming from afar, being so small, but the dark adam wood made the ship a reliable companion and its speed was nothing to scoff at. The last time Rayleigh had seen the ship had been when it had been lowered into the sea at Water 7, Captain and First Mate on board. It had taken Ace and Deuce a while to learn how to man the ship on their own, but by the time they had set sail properly, Rayleigh hadn’t had feared for their safety.
Instead, he’d worried for a thousand different reasons.
The world had always kept close eyes on the Pirate Prince, watched as he was moved from one ship to another, training under his parents’ protection or playing on his brothers’ decks, and news that Gol D. Ace had set out on his own, started a crew in East Blue of all seas, had, predictably, attracted bounty hunters by the hundreds.
But after a year at sea, making it to the New World with Deuce by his side, Rayleigh dared to breathe a little easier, not insist Ace check in with them regularly.
Even if he still preferred having his son, all his children if he was honest, within reach. He’d missed Ace, his endless chattering and laughter. The Oro Jackson hadn’t been without the stomping of children’s feet in more than three decades. It was strange to be without, no longer needing to make sure little fingers didn’t get squished between heavy barrels or stumble down the wet staircase. Rouge had teased him for being like a masukeredomo goayu bird, experiencing empty nest syndrome the moment the young had left the nest.
Quickly, the Piece of Spadille turned from small spot to a defined ship, it’s two-man crew on deck, steering it safely into the harbor. Roger would be sad to have missed their arrival. He’d opted to go into the city to stock up, leaving Rayleigh and a skeleton crew on board to keep watch over ship. The few on deck with Rayleigh joined him at the railing as soon as they spotted Ace. Cheering on their youngest, they watched the Spade Pirates anchor next to the Oro Jackson and secure their sails.
Kotatsu, the large lynx Ace had acquired about a month after finding his first mate, relaxed in the sun, entirely unbothered by the busy teenagers, even when, in his hurry, Deuce nearly stumbled over him.
Once the two were done, Ace gave his ship one last look over before turning to the Oro Jackson, beaming. He’d gotten that from Rouge definitely. Rayleigh and Roger were much too easily distracted before finishing a task.
“Papa!” Ace shouted. He moved without trouble, and Rayleigh couldn’t spot any bandages or new scars.
His son was whole and safe, and Rayleigh could stop worrying now.
His intuition, however, screeched in protest, asking Rayleigh to take a closer look.
And true enough, despite how large and bright Ace’s smile was, there was something off about it. Rayleigh’s eyes narrowed. A liar, their son was not, despite Buggy’s best efforts.
“Welcome home,” Rayleigh said anyway, deciding to deal with whatever was troubling his son later, preferably when Rouge was awake and Roger back from the supply run. “It’s good to see you. Did you have a safe journey?”
Ace’s smile tightened a little more and next to him Deuce’s face just fell and he winced.
Busted.
Rayleigh was immediately on edge, something not missed by the crew as they tossed him a concerned look and hurried to get the ropes down to the other ship.
“Ace—”
“Don’t freak out!” Ace interrupted quickly. Deuce had apparently given up all pretense as he dropped on the ground, muttering something under his breath that Rayleigh couldn’t make out. “So, uh, know how Big Mom is kinda pissed at Buggy?”
Kinda pissed was putting it nicely. The only reason why she vaguely tolerated Buggy caring for Pudding was that her daughter had run off on her own and still wrote back home regularly enough to not count as a traitor, apparently. Dealing with Emperors was a chore and a half, Shanks excluded. But the worst Shanks had ever done was lose his arm saving Garp’s kid, not nearly start a war with an Emperor.
One year his own Captain and Ace had managed to annoy an Emperor.
Bounty hunters, Rayleigh could deal with, but they couldn’t afford an all-out war now.
“Yes,” Rayleigh finally replied. This really was not the conversation Rayleigh wanted to have first thing in the morning. “Don’t tell me you disturbed Big Mom too?”
“No! Not Big Mom! But, uh, we might have pissed of Kaido. A bit.”
This was the point where Deuce snorted, leaving Ace to glare at him. Unlike in the beginning, Deuce didn’t even falter slightly, he only stuck his tongue out at his friend and grinned. Well, if the East Blue Rookie could still laugh when Kaido might have it out for them, it hopefully wasn’t unsalvageable.
“Anyway, as I was saying—”
“Ace, can we come out now?” a third voice interrupted.
Momentary panic flashed over Ace’s face, but it was already too late as another person emerged from within Ace’s ship. They were tall, probably around Roger’s height and young, though most Rookies looked young to Rayleigh. They all still had this unimaginable drive to ink their name into the maps of the world.
And they looked just a little familiar.
“Hi, Mr. Silvers!” They greeted, blatantly ignoring Deuce and Ace hissing no, wait. “I’m Yamato! Kaido’s my father, but he was gonna blow me up, so he’s not my father anymore. Ace and Deuce freed me and I joined their crew!”
Then his shirt moved suspiciously and Yamato reached behind his back and pulled what looked like a small child out from behind it. The child couldn’t be older than three at most if Rayleigh were to guess and they wore what looked like a sized down shirt hemmed to a dress.
“And this is Tama,” Yamato said smiling, canines showing. “She also wanted to come along!”
“Hello!” Tama greeted with a small wave.
Rayleigh hadn’t been rendered speechless too often since he’d begun travelling with Roger, so used to his Captain’s crazy antics that the world could never quite measure up. Children, however, seemed to do the impossible casually without much trouble.
Perhaps thankfully, Ace’s stomach complained long enough to give Rayleigh a topic to address that was not kidnapping Kaido’s son sighed and a Wano toddler.
“Uhm, permission to come aboard?” Ace asked sheepishly, tugging at the tows they’d tossed down earlier.
Rayleigh sighed and waved them up. “Come here. I assume you haven’t had breakfast yet?”
The three teenagers quickly climbed up to the other deck, little Tama securely holding on to Yamato’s back. As soon as they stood in front of the crew, Rayleigh pulled his son into a hug. Ace deflated in the embrace, squeezing Rayleigh tightly as if to reassure himself.
“Nope,” Ace replied, the worry slowly fading away as he let go. “Mom and Capa here?”
It was a testament to Ace’s mental state that he hadn’t simply used Haki to check where the rest of their family was.
“Roger’s on a supply run and Rouge is—” No, Rouge was making her way through the ship to the galley “—was sleeping. Going for second breakfast, probably.”
Rouge had been up for the last shift. She’d be glad to see Ace so soon after waking.
“Awesome! What’s for breakfast?”
“Sea King leftovers from yesterday if you’re quick enough.”
Ace cheered and dragged his crew along, Yamato by the hand as the young man apparently kept wanting to stop, looking around in awe and – wait, did he say something about Oden? Rayleigh contemplated stopping them to ask about him. The crew hadn’t had the time or resources to look more closely into Wano since they’d dropped off Oden and gotten news of Kaido’s takeover and as far as Rayleigh was aware, Whitebeard didn’t know anything either.
Not that he’d share the knowledge with them if he was. They weren’t exactly on speaking terms.
“Papa, are you coming?”
But perhaps that could wait.
89 notes
·
View notes