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“Say what now”, Ace asked where he was seated in the commander’s meeting room. Looking from one to the other, before landing on Marco sitting next to him.
Marco sighed, “We try to get in with a Marine base now and again -yoi. It brings us a great source of information and makes it possible to stay a step ahead as most Navy bases in the New World are horribly understaffed.”
Wincing he adds, “Sadly this mostly comes down to me, as for some reason I’m rather good at impersonating a Navy officer. If I dye my hair and make sure I don’t let my tick show I pull it off rather well.”
Ace could feel Marco’s gaze on him, no doubt thinking that his exclamation had something to do with the plan that had been made. It didn’t, he knew just what kind of treasure trove a Marine base could be, getting into one without being caught was a nice way to spend the time. No, what he was surprised about was that none of his Spades had let it slip that he was great at impersonating a Navy Officer as well. Garp had never made it a secret that he wanted them to become Marines, letting secrets he probably shouldn’t slip in the hope it would win them over.
It didn’t, but it did give them all an extra tool for when they did set out. Sabo had been the one to start it all, asking Garp for more information and playing into the whole ‘I might change my mind thing’.
Ace and Luffy had believed their brother to go mad, until Sabo told them what it was they were gaining from this. The information they could use and codes or ciphers that they could understand and use to their advantage.
“Ace.”
Humming as he looked at Marco, seeing the worried look his lover was sporting he held up his hands and shook his head.
“I don’t mind at all, I was just surprised none of the Spades spilled.”
Frowning, he could see Marco, Izou and Haruto exchanging looks. Their divisions had the most former Spades in, with only Skull following Ace into the second division. It was endearing to think that none of them had spilled after almost two years on the Moby Dick.
Shaking his head, Ace grinned, “I’m the one who used to go on Marine base runs. It helps when your grandfather wants you to be a marine and is very generous with inside information. I bet I can get even more than you can, Marco.”
Marco narrowed eyes landed on him, making Ace grin all that wider. He liked to challenge his lover, let him know that despite being the senior pirate out of the two of them that didn’t mean that he could do everything better. In fact, Ace was certain he would do a better job than Marco just because of the inside knowledge he had.
He really should have expected the crew to make it into a challenge, even more so once the former Spades got wind of what was happening and started to bed in favor of Ace. Never explaining anything, but grinning wide whenever someone defended Marco’s way of doing this compared to Ace’s.
They had their target chosen, a Marine base at the edge of their territory which was understaffed enough that two higher ups visiting wasn’t that big of a deal. So busy with keeping track of pirate activity they wouldn’t know that captain Trace and rear-admiral Ocram weren’t even real marines to begin with.
Pouting that he was given the lesser rank, Ace went to search through the spare uniform Izou had laying around to put together his captain’s outfit. Grinning as he dressed, slicked his hair back and hit it underneath a hat so it wouldn’t be recognizable in its signature style.
Marco, when he saw the man, was dressed in a suit underneath the cloak of justice, with his hair dyed with temporary dye to be a dark brown instead of blond.
“If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t have recognized you, Love.”
Marco looked up and stared at Ace, making him feel somewhat self conscious about doing this. Not because of his skill, never because of his skill. But more because of the look in Marco’s eyes right now.
“Marco?”
A hum sounded as Marco’s blue eyes darkened, “Don’t you clean up nice -yoi.”
Blushing, and hoping that he wouldn’t give anything away because they were going to do this together, Ace tried to compose himself. Blinking as Marco came to stop right in front of him.
“I hope you know what you’re getting into, Firefly.”
Grinning, Ace took a hold of the lapels of the suit to stand on his tip-toes and pressed their lips together, breaking the kiss to grin impishly, “Do you, birdy?”
“I have been doing this a whole lot longer than you have, Ace.”
Nodding ,Ace tilted his head, “Well, I have insider information, we’ll have to wait and see who's going to be the best at this.”
Getting to the base wasn’t a problem, and once on the base they were each taken away by lower rank members in an effort to show off their base to these new Higher Ups. Keeping their cool and following along, Ace had let it slip that he was quite the navigator in his team, more than willing to show them some tricks if they were up to it.
Once he mentioned that he had been trained by Garp the Fist himself, they gobbled it right up, pulling him along to the navigation rooms on the base and showing him all the routes they had set out.
It was almost endearing, if he didn’t notice that they had their crew right on track. That could spell trouble if the marines knew where they were headed, if actual higher ups came here they would notice and take action.
He got them to start talking, listening as they explained their reasoning and the way they had been able to keep track of the Whitebeard Pirates for so long.
“It’s quite easy, or it used to be. They kept to the same route just about, since they have a new navigator that is leading them so that they start going all over the place.”
Fighting to keep a grin off of his face, Ace hummed, he knew what he was doing after all and was glad that his actions had made it less easy for the marines to keep track of them. He still didn’t like it, but it wouldn’t have any dramatic consequences.
That evening, when they were sharing a common room in between their bedrooms Ace shared what he had learned with Marco.
“You weren’t kidding when you said you were good at this -yoi.”
Tilting an eyebrow at hearing Marco’s speech tick come through, Ace tilted his head until Marco sighed and explained he usually didn’t say anything. He would let the marines do the talking and tried to get as much information out of those talks as he could.
“I come off as intimidating if I want to be, so I usually use that -yoi. Your way is so much easier, making me want to admit defeat already.”
Grinning like the cat that got the canary, Ace chuckled, “I did warn you.”
Marco sighed again, “That you did -yoi.”
Laughing at the almost defeated look Marco now sported, Ace shared what he planned on doing the following days. He had amassed quite a following among these marines, all of them wanting to talk to him and not shying away from several secrets that they would put to good use. Throwing Garp’s name around did get a lot of things done in the end, his name and fame more than enough to get them to trust him.
Leaning forward to press their lips together, Ace moaned, “Did I ever tell you how hot you look in white.”
A dark look came over Marco’s eyes at Ace admitting that, “No… but I could see you liking it by the way your eyes kept trailing all over me -yoi. I’m sure we can make use of this at one point.”
Snorting, Ace said, “We could always get caught making out. That’s something not done with an officer higher in rank as you. However, with the way they all like me it might just make them look the other way giving us time to get away from here.”
Marco, it would seem, was totally on board with that idea. Pulling Ace against him to press their lips together again, citing practice as a reason.
They had been on the base for 3 days now, and it was time for them to leave. The vibrating snail Marco carried around had sent them a message from Haruta that there were other ships coming with on board a vice-admiral, even if they didn’t know which one. The mist had covered the figure head, but none of them waited to find out. Just as none of them wanted their first and second division commander caught.
Setting the stage, Ace had pulled Marco towards him and pressed their lips together when the door to the office they were hiding in was pulled open, revealing none other than Garp the Fist standing there.
“Jiji!”
The old man’s eyes widened comically, taking in Ace’s state of dress (his eyes lingering on the navy white and blue he was sporting.).
“Now that’s a sight for sore eyes.”
Swallowing thickly, Ace didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t ask Garp to play along. Never mind that the man most likely wouldn’t do that, the only bonus was that he hadn’t seen Marco’s face and didn’t know who Ace was kissing.
“I knew you would be seeing the light at one point, you brat!”
Grinning, rather strained, Ace hummed at that, “It was nice seeing you, Jiji, but we were just about to get going.”
Garp eyes narrowed at that, reaching out and putting a hand on Marco’s shoulder before Ace could shuffle them out of the office. His eyes widen as he takes in Marco’s face, before starting to connect the dots.
Ace didn’t wait until he got there, taking a hold of Marco’s hand and starting to run towards the beach. Praying that Garp didn’t snap out of it before they got away.
“Portgas D. Ace, you get back here!”
Ace shook his head, “Nope! Not doing that, Jiji!”
Marco chuckled, “And here I thought you didn’t run from anything.”
Giving his lover an unimpressed stare, Ace deadpanned, “Jiji is the only exception, unless you want to get him by his fist of love?”
Seeing him shake his head, Ace huffed, “That’s what I thought, now transform and get us out of here before he catches up to us.”
Garp almost caught up to them even before Marco jumped and transformed, catching Ace’s hand in one of his talons and lifting him off of the beach and into the air. Making their way above the clouds to get away without making it clear which direction they were headed.
They had screwed up, in that marine bases were more careful in who they accepted as a visiting officer. But the knowledge Ace brought back was more than enough to make up for that, making him and the Spades win the challenge as to who was better at the undercover job.
None of them had expected Garp of all people to show up and blow their cover.