Couldn't find a name for it, so we are calling Sengoku's goat Merriweather (like the Merry).
Dragon - 37 (Birthdate: October 5)
Rosinante - 21 (Birthdate: July 15)
Ace - 4 (Birthdate: January 1)
Sabo - 3 (Birthdate: March 20)
Luffy - 7 months (Birthdate: May 5)
Dadan - 37 (Birthdate: August 30)
Kuzan - 32 (Birthdate: September 21)
Robin - 11 (Birthdate: February 6)
X Drake - 14 (Birthdate: October 24)
Buggy - 20 (Birthdate: August 8)
[Memory]
Imagine the One Piece Narrator when you see this: {Words}
Italics = Thoughts
The Newspaper/Notes
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January 1 - Monkey D Residence - Dawn Island
Despite staying up until midnight, Ace woke up with the sun. Silently bouncing out of bed so he wouldn’t wake Sabo up and getting himself dressed. Even went so far as to brush his teeth and hair. He was a big boy now after all; a whole four years of age!
Daddy and papa are going to be so surprised when they see I made breakfast all by myself! Ace thought, I’ll even get Sabo some because I’m a responsible older brother! Maybe then I can stay home alone like Robby and Uncle Drake do sometimes!
Slowly and quietly, Ace creeped down the hallway to the stairs. Making sure to avoid all the creaky floor boards because responsible people don’t wake everyone else in the house up.
Once he was down the stairs though, Ace didn’t bother with being quiet. Gramps was still snoring away in his bedroom. It sounded like a bear choking on a rock.
Unfortunately for Ace, all his hard work went down the drain once he saw who was in the kitchen.
“Grandpa! I wanted to make breakfast!” Ace whined, putting his hands on his hips as that’s what his daddy did when scolding gramps.
His grandpa jumped and then turned to look at him; his surprised expression quickly turning into a smile.
“Good morning to you too, Ace.” Sengoku chuckled, walking over to kneel in front of him, “Why do you want to make breakfast? It’s your birthday!”
“Yeah! And I’m a big boy now!” Ace stated, “I wanna show everyone that I can take care of myself!”
“Oh Ace, we all know you can take care of yourself.” Sengoku told him, patting him on the head, “But it’s okay to have help from people. You know that, right? You are a very smart and big boy after all.”
“Yeah, but I wanted to do it on my own!” Ace pouted.
“You can still do that. Why don’t you pull up a chair and we can cook together?” Sengoku suggested, “You can do one thing and I’ll do another. How does that sound?”
Ace thought it over for a second before agreeing as he knew that he didn’t know much about cooking anyways.
“Okay!” Ace nodded, “Let’s work together!”
“That’s the spirit!” Sengoku cheered, “Now go get that chair and you can cook the eggs.”
Ace buried to pull a chair up to the counter and got to work. Mixing bowls, putting toast in the toaster, and flipping the eggs. As he did so, Ace quickly became aware of just how much work went into cooking for a small army and decided he would never become a chef.
-
By the time they got done with breakfast, everyone else had woken up. None of them fully recovered from staying up so late. Bleary eyed and stumbling, Dragon was the first to make it into the dining room.
“Hm? Wha- Did you make all this, Ace?” Dragon asked when he noticed all the food on the table; not sure if he was still dreaming or not.
“Uh-huh!” Ace nodded, “I’m a big boy now!”
Behind the toddler, Sengoku silently mouthed “I helped” to calm the other man’s worries.
“Thank you, Ace.” Dragon softly said, crouching down to Ace’s height, “That was very nice of you to do. Especially on your birthday.”
“You’re welcome!” Ace exclaimed before pointing his finger at him, “But don’t think I’m doing this everyday, this was a lot of work! My gift to you!”
“Oh I’m sure it was.” Dragon laughed, thinking about how Rosinante and him do all the cooking normally, “It’s nice to have help though, right? Maybe you can help Papa and me sometimes?”
“Hm… Maybe.” Ace said, pretending to think really hard about it, “But I take cookies as payment.”
“That’s fair.” Dragon nodded before opening his arms, “Now come give me a hug or are you too old for that now too?”
“Never!” Ace yelled, jumping into his arms.
As Dragon held him in his arms, it was hard to think that Ace used to be so small. He had never been as tiny as Luffy, but he did used to fit comfortably in Dragon’s hand. Now he had to use his whole arm to hold him.
“Happy Birthday, Ace.” Dragon mumbled.
“Yeah, Happy Birthday!” Rosinante called from the dining room archway.
“Hello son, got some tired passengers?” Sengoku greeted him, referring to the yawning Sabo and pouting Luffy in his arms.
Seeing the three of them like that, it was easy to imagine that Sabo had always been theirs. Sabo’s blonde curls sticking up in every direction just like Luffy and Rosinante’s hair.
“Eh, Sabo was already up.” Rosinante shrugged, giving the blonde toddler to Dragon so he could set Luffy down in his high chair, “Luffy however woke up a bit grumpy.”
“Bah!” Luffy cried, reaching for the food on the table already.
“Okay, I’ll get you some banna yogurt.” Rosinante laughed as he buckled him in and sat down to feed him, the baby trying to grab the spoon each time he brought it close.
As he did that, Dragon sat down across from him with Sabo and Ace in his lap, the two of them eating from the same plate.
-
Sabo quietly ate and observed everyone as they came into the dining room to eat. Watching as each of them told Ace “Happy Birthday” before getting their plates.
Is this how birthdays are supposed to be? Sabo thought, Just a quiet day with family?
Sabo never had a birthday party, or at least he didn’t remember he did, but Stelly did. There had been a band, lots of rich people, fancy food, and a huge pile of presents. Sabo had hid on the upstairs balcony overlooking the ballroom for a bit, finding it odd how everyone was fawning over Stelly for simply existing, before he was locked in his room.
Seeing all that had made a weird feeling well up inside him and made him feel ugly. He was pretty sure it was jealousy, but he didn’t know what he was jealous about. Sabo didn’t want those rich weirdos poking and proding him. Sabo didn’t want all those presents as he knew overconsumption was a waste. Especially on him. But looking around the dining room in this cozy house, Sabo realised what he was jealous about.
Love.
Sure his parents probably didn’t love Stelly unconditionally, but it was the closest they were ever going to get.
But these people… They loved Sabo.
He knew this because when he made a mistake, daddy and papa didn’t yell at him. Just gently explained things to him and helped him clean his mess up. They got him things he liked and let him talk about stuff he was interested in.
Ace shared his things and played with him. Robby read books with him. Uncle Drake taught him how to navigate using the stars. Luffy always wanted to cuddle.
Uncle Kuzan made the best ice fortresses. Uncle Buggy taught him how to throw knives. Aunt Dadan showed him how to track animals. Gramps and Grandpa were always doing silly things.
Sabo loved these people.
“Happy Birthday, Ace.” Sabo whispered.
“Thank you.” Ace told him with a bright grin, “Here have some more bacon.”
Sabo happily took the bacon and continued to enjoy the love surrounding them.
-
Once everyone was done with breakfast, they split up into groups. Dadan, Kuzan, Buggy, Drake, and Robin went out into the woods to explore. With Dragon and Rosinante taking the boys to the park.
Which left Garp and Sengoku to clean up the mess left behind. Not that they mind. It was nice to deal with normal chaos rather than the chaos caused by their children.
Plus someone had to bake the cake and Rosinante had been put on an oven ban after the gingerbread house disaster.
“Hey, has the paper come yet?” Garp asked, “Tsuru said the birds are always on time, but I’m starting to think the birds hate us.”
“That’s because you keep trying to eat them and call them rats with wings.” Sengoku huffed, “But yes, the paper did come. I just hid it so Buggy wouldn’t see it and be upset.”
Garp stopped washing the dishes and gave him a confused look.
“Why would Buggy be upset about the newspaper?” Garp questioned.
“Ah- Well- Um… Okay, I’ll show you, but you can’t say anything until the kids are in bed.” Sengoku told him, “Seriously, promise me!”
“Relax, it can’t be that bad.” Garp laughed, waving him off.
Sengoku didn’t say anything, just gave him a stern look that made him cave.
“Alright, alright.” Garp huffed, rolling his eyes, “I won’t say anything!”
“You better not.” Sengoku warned before he reached into the back of a cupboard and pulled the newspaper out, handing it over to Garp.
Garp flashed him a cocky smirk and then flipped the newspaper open. That smirk was quickly replaced with a shocked expression and utter stillness.
“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” Gapr yelled, “Is this true?! Because the future is FUCKED if it is!”
“The future is not fucked and I don’t know.” Sengoku scoffed, “You know how Morgans is! He writes whatever seems like a good story! You should know after what happened with God Valley!”
“Ugh, don’t remind me!” Garp growled, “I hate that stupid title he gave me and you know it!”
“Then take this ‘news’ with a grain of salt and don’t tell anyone until later!” Sengoku ordered, “Especially Buggy!”
“Yeah, the kid is going to blow a gasket.” Garp said, folding the paper back up and hiding it again, “Good things he’s here and not out there. We’d have to bail him out of prison for murder.”
“No, I’m pretty sure the government would want to recruit him.” Sengoku sighed, “Don’t get me wrong, I love the kid, but if he ever becomes a warlord; I’m retiring!”
“Oh really?” Garp asked, that cocky smirk back on his face, “How much are we betting?”
Sengoku shot him a dirty look and punched him in the side.
“Shut up and get back to washing!” Sengoku hissed.
God he hated the sound of Garp’s laughter sometimes.
-
A couple hours later, everyone was back at home and sitting in the dining room again. With Ace at the head of the table and the lights dimmed. Everyone sang the “Happy Birthday” song out of tune as Garp and Sengoku brought the cake in.
It was a chocolate cake with chocolate sticks and hard candy in the shape of a campfire. Ace bounced excited in his seat as they sat it down in front of him.
“Okay Ace, make a wish!” Dragon urged.
Ace thought very carefully for a second before blowing out all five candles. Everyone cheered as he did so. Drake and Rosinante captured the moment on both of their cameras.
“What did you wish for?” Sabo asked.
“I can’t say.” Ace shrugged.
“Why not?” Sabo pouted.
“Becasue it won’t come true if I tell someone.” Ace told him, “It’s a rule!”
“Really? That’s a lot of power.” Sabo said, “Can you wish for anything?”
“Yeah, but it might take a while.” Ace replied, taking the plate Dragon handed him with a slice of cake on it.
“Huh… I guess I should start thinking about my birthday wish then!” Sabo stated, taking his own plate of cake.
As the two of them dug in, Dragon started counting the plates and noticed they were short on a few.
“Hey, Buggy.” Dragon called, “Can you grab a couple more plates, please?”
“Sure!” Buggy replied, heading into the kitchen.
Unnoticed by everyone else, Sengoku and Garp froze.
Then a crash came from the kitchen.
“Here, Rosinante.” Dragon sighed, passing the knife off to him, “I’ll go see what happened.”
“Well at least we can’t say I’m the only clumsy one.” Rosinnate joked.
Dragon gave him a fond, but suffering look and went to the kitchen. In there he found a shocked Buggy holding the newspaper and surrounded by shattered porcelain.
“Buggy? Are you okay?” Dragon softly questioned.
Buggy looked up at him and then shoved the newspaper into his hands.
“Birth is a curse, existence is a prison, and love doesn’t exist!” Buggy cried as he pushed past him and ran upstairs.
Dragon stood there, absolutely bewildered, before looking down at the paper.
“Oh.” Dragon simply said.
It was all he really could say to such a shocking headline. One he hoped really wasn't true. For Buggy’s sake.
-
Across the sea, on an island called Kuraigana, Shanks was sitting in an armchair by a cozy fire and being lectured by his sister-in-law.
“What the fuck is this, Shanks?!” Marie yelled.
The “this” being a newspaper with the headline reading:
Pirate Captain Red Haired Shanks: A Father?!
The notorious playboy Shanks was caught spending time with two red haired children at a Christmas market. Are these children his? If so, which of the many women he’s rumoured to have been with are the mother? Did the red haired flirt finally settle down or do they have different mothers? More on page three!
Below that was a picture of Shanks holding his niece, Uta, as his nephew, Kid, was climbing his leg.
“Aw, come on Maire.” Shanks said, “The only true thing in that blurb is that Uta and Kid have different mothers! I never slept with anybody let alone kiss someone other than Buggy! And that was on the cheek!”
“What if Garling sees the newspaper?!” Marie snarled, rolling up said newspaper and whacking him over the head with it, “What if he comes for them?!”
“Ow! Stop hitting me!” Shanks whined before scooping up Uta who was toddling past, “Hey! You can’t hit me when I’m holding a kid!”
“That’s cheating!” Marie hissed but she did stop smacking him, “Now what are going to do about this?!”
“Marie, Garling thinks you’re dead and he didn’t know you were pregnant when you left.” Shanks pointed out, “Therefore, he doesn't even know Kid exists.”
“Yeah, neither does Shamrock.” Maire muttered before asking, “But what about Uta? Garling knows she exists and that she went missing!”
“Relax, Garling probably doesn’t give a shit since she’s a girl.” Shanks told her, “If anything, Shamrock should be the one worried. And besides, they’re not going to know it’s her! You can only see the red part of her hair! They won’t know it’s her!”
Maire glared at him, but let out a deep sigh and flopped into the armchair next to him.
“I hope you’re right.” Marie huffed, “Because I’m going to kill you otherwise.”
Shanks flashed her a smile and lifted Uta up in front of his face.
“No! Don’t kill Uncle Shanks!” Shanks pleaded in a high pitched voice, “Kill Grandpa Garling! He’s a little bitch!”
“Yay! Bitch!” Uta giggled, clapping her hands.
“Stop teaching my kids how to swear!” Marie groaned, taking the toddler from him, “Kid already swears like a seasoned marine!”
“Gee, wonder who he got that from Miss Shells ‘Jackass’ Maire.” Shanks laughed.
Marie didn’t dignify that with a response, pushing his chair over instead and making Uta burst into another fit of giggles.
-
Ace's Birthday Cake:
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Sorry for missing last weekend, I forgot it was Easter.
