Sons of Devils AU notes
might as well put my thoughts together in one place on this blog, since one (or more? I think there might be 2?) anon(s) have got me considering it. (this got way longer than I thought it would). I think @xamaxenta @mangyraccooon @igneawritethings and @bottommarcothephoenixenjoyer might enjoy these ideas
Ace, the son of Gol D. Roger (Gold Roger). Spends his entire life enraged and full of self-hate and self-doubt because he's reviled for being the son of the Pirate King. Everyone expects him to be just like his father; both the bad (maybe all the bad) and the good (what good? he's never heard one person praise his father, no marine nor pirate, not until he's practically an adult and shanks makes a mention of him-but even then he refuses to pursue the subject with shanks when Luffy is more important).
Ace ends up with Whitebeard, Roger's long-time rival and friend. The crew is nothing like he expected. Whitebeard is nothing like he expected. He makes friends, he builds something like a family, and he meets Marco.
Marco, "first son" of Whitebeard. First Mate. First Commander. First person who isn't a pirate captain to not give a shit who his biological father is.
Marco, the first person to tell him "so what? you're not the only one" when Ace tells him that he has cursed, demon blood.
Marco, the first son of a devil. Son of Rocks D. Xebec, scourge of the seas and the first rival of Roger. First person Roger was ever challenged by, first person Roger ever felt driven to not only defeat but kill to ensure the safety of others beyond his crew.
Ace isn't sure how to feel. He's never heard of Rocks D. Xebec. Never heard of the God Valley Incident. Never knew that Whitebeard, Pops, was part of a different crew as a young man (nor that he had such notorious crewmates like Big Mom, Shiki, fucking Kaido). Never knew that Pops had been close, for a given value of "close," with someone else like that. But he knows what it's like to want to disown a parent who's long gone. He knows what it's like to hate your heritage...
But somehow Marco doesn't seem to give a shit? He talks about Rocks D. Xebec and his impact on Pops, on the world, on *him* as if he's recalling something he read out of a history book. A kind of detachment that comes from reading about history before your time, a stranger talking about strangers who are long gone.
Marco explains he's the result of [choose your own adventure! a devil fruit mishap, ABO, plain old mpreg, something else?]. Whitebeard refused to let him be abandoned or leave the ship. He was just an infant on the ship of the most infamous villain on the seas at the time. He was born with black hair, and dark eyes, just like Xebec.
Then God Valley, then Roger killed Xebec, and in the rush to leave the collapsing island the toddler that was Marco finds a crate of pineapples after being left in the cargo hold for safety. He's always liked pineapples, just like his father (another unfortunate reminder of his father, like the dark eyes and hair). So he eats one. Then another. Then a terrible tasting third. Then a fourth. He falls asleep halfway through eating the fifth and Whitebeard finds him shortly thereafter.
Whitebeard goes into the cargo hold expecting to find his dark-haired, dark eyed child curled up on a barrel. Maybe he's broken into some of the food stores, maybe he's made a blanket fort. He's always been well behaved when told to be, so he wouldn't leave the cargo hold. But what Whitebeard finds is a blond, blue-eyed child surrounded by pineapple greens. And Whitebeard knows what's happened. He was there when Xebec found his fruit, remembers how closely it resembled a normal pineapple. He had been the only other person there, when the man ate it...
When he brings his son out of the cargo hold, everyone notices the difference. Everyone comments. Whitebeard loudly proclaims that Marco is finally taking after his more attractive parent, tells everyone else they're stupid when they point out "that's not how genetics work!" (and Linlin would know, she's a parent 20 times over by that point) But they all lay off, and all of them forget in the wake of the crew disbanding. A week after that, on some nowhere island, Marco grew his wings for the first time.
Marco, now an adult in his 40s by the time he meets Ace, barely remembers his father. He mostly remembers a dark looming presence that he did his best to avoid being acknowledged by. He has a memory of eating pineapple slices next to a man Pops was glaring at. One, slightly fuzzy, memory of mostly sensation: being under a table, wide-eyed and 'quiet as a mouse', while Pops and others yelled at that dark presence before Pops put him in the cargo hold with the pineapples. He has many, many more-a life time more-memories of his Pops.
He points that out to Ace, and asks Ace about the adults in his life where he came from. Ace talks about Garp (garp the fucking hero?? really???), about Dadan, about Makino. Ace talks about the women and men who raised him, bandits and barmaids all, and by the time Ace is finished he has an expression on his face. Eyes wide, mouth dropped open, an "oh..." of realization.
"Doesn't matter who your father is, kid. Matters who stepped up-yoi. I got lucky, Pops loves all his children. You got lucky, sounds like Dadan loves you and your brothers too."
And Ace....also isn't quite sure how to feel about that, either. But it does make him feel warm, under all the confusion and uncertainty. And maybe that's all he needs to feel.
