Chapter Text
Deuce smiled where he was seated against a tree on an island they were restocking on. Banshee and Skull were on this supply run, so he was making himself comfortable knowing that the both of them never managed to come back within a few hours.
No doubt it would be taking them all day again, not that he minded if gave them all some downtime. Still being at the start of the Grand Line and not in the slightest bit intimidated by marines that did come after them.
Right now it was only Isuka who kept pace with them, and even then she wasn’t able to keep pace for long. Always being called away to deal with something else that needed her attention more than a rookie crew making their way to the New World.
He was using his downtime to write down their adventures in the journal he had bought on the first island after Sixis. It was nothing more than a leather bound book that he had paid to have decorated with a spade in the right under corner. When he showed his captain, Ace had become strangely subdued.
Touching the spade with a reverence that Deuce wasn’t used to seeing from the firecracker of a man. Ace was usually so vibrant and loud that he had feared overstepping.
At least until Ace lifted his hand off of the book to tell Deuce about his brother, Sabo, and his dream to document his adventures out at sea.
“Of course, at that time we believed we might be setting out at the same time. But that never happened and I… I’m not good with words, or putting them down on paper.”
Ace had touched the tattoo on his shoulder, “It’s why I got this, it was his flag, so he could be a part of my adventures in a way. Seeing as he wouldn’t be having any of his own, after… after he was killed.”
Deuce hadn’t said anything about it. Instead choosing to put down the adventures about the Spades and their captain in his journal. Trying to convey that he was telling the story for someone to read after it was done. Someone who he could pretend would be Sabo, if the man had still been alive. He must have known what a great man his brother was, how amazing Ace still was.
Closing the journal once he was ready with penning down the last few weeks, Deuce stretched before going to put away his book in the lockers they had for each member. Given the communal sleeping rooms none of them had a real room to put their personal belongings. As such this was one of the things Deuce had asked for when they commissioned the Spadille before setting out to the Grand Line.
Even with the infirmary in his hands, he didn’t feel like leaving his personal belongings there.
Seeing Saber in their locker room, Deuce had to keep a groan in as the man grinned at the book in his hands.
“Been writing love letters about the captain again, Deuce?”
Blushing, Deuce scowled at the man, before huffing and putting away the journal. The whole crew, with the exception of Ace, were well aware that he had a crush going on their captain. He contributed it to Ace saving him on Sixis and later accepting Deuce as his first crewmember.
Besides that, one had to be blind not to see Portgas D. Ace is a very attractive man. The fact that he only wore open shirts or no shirts at all didn’t help all that much.
Saber just laughed as Deuce made his way back to the island. He did need to go and get Ace now that he was thinking about it. Banshee and Skull would be making their way back soon enough. Or so he hoped, better to get the rest of the crew rounded up so they didn’t take too long to leave.
Even with them having no Marines on their tail, it might not take that long before this changes.
—
While everyone of the Spades did wander back to the Spadille, Deuce set out to go and get their captain. Chances were Ace had fallen asleep somewhere again. Losing any and all track of time, like he was prone to do even without falling asleep.
He didn’t find him asleep, instead Ace was sitting in a clearing full of red flowers. Flowers he classified as Hibiscus soon enough. His captain twirling a flower in his hand, while another had been tucked behind his ear and into his hair.
“Captain?”
Ace hummed, looking up with a lazy smile, something odd in their gray depts. He looked back at the flowers and picked some more.
“They were my mom’s favorite, Gramps told me. This is the first time that I found them in the wild. They are so pretty.”
Deuce felt his heart contract, knowing that Ace’s mom had been dead for a long time. However, seeing him sitting there with flowers in his hands and one in his hair, he looked cute. A lot younger than he was, at 17, even if his eyes betrayed him and showed his old soul.
“Banshee and Skull are on their way back, we’re planning on getting out to sea again. If… if you want, we can take a plant with us and keep it on the Spadille. I’m sure we get enough sunlight in the infirmary to keep them.”
He didn’t add that it would mean more chances to see Ace, maybe with a flower in his hair like this more often.
The beaming smile he got in return, before Ace took care in digging out a plant instead of picking the flower told him enough.