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Chapter Text

"Lose something?"

The voice startled him and he jumped before turning towards an amused looking Marco with the ever present green parrot on his shoulder.

"Uhm... no..." Ace replied, his eyes shifting in a way that so obviously answered Marco's question. "What makes you think that?" he asked and kept glancing around, never stopping his search; even if he didn't lose anything. Marco just watched Ace fidget in place, nervously glancing around and looking generally unable to stay still.

"Well, aside from your suspicious behavior," Marco started, "I found  a monkey bothering one of the female ara parrots," he finished and smirked as relief washed over Ace when the small capuchin monkey popped up on his head, clinging to the longer strands of hair on the top of his head. The little thing seemed to have a knack for dramatics, holding on to the back of Marco's shirt until he was announced. Even the parrot on Marco’s shoulder started cooing loudly at the monkey, growing agitated as Ace leapt forward and snatched the monkey from his post.

"Luffy!" Ace yelled, hugging the monkey before letting it climb onto his head. Marco still observed with amusement, ready to tease Ace for naming the mischievous new addition placed under his care, when the parrot flew from Marco’s shoulder towards the monkey in a flurry of green feathers.

"Bart!" Marco jumped after him, but stopped abruptly as the bird settled on Ace's shoulder and cuddled its head into the monkey.

"Bart?" Ace asked with a snort, looking as if he was about to make fun of Marco because of this bit of information he was graced with.

"Luffy?" Marco said with a tilt of his head, his voice flat as he looked at Ace with boredom written on his face. Two could play that game. Even if it was an unwritten rule that the zookeepers named the animals in their care, it was still funny as hell when the others heard about it.

Ace lifted his hands in surrender, deciding to drop the topic; if Marco ever found out he named the gorilla Franky, he'd never hear the end of it.

"So what's with Bart?" he asked instead, putting an emphasis on the bird's name. It was a funny name for a bird.

"I don't know," Marco replied. "Never mind that, how did you lose the monkey in the first place?"

Ace averted his eyes, not knowing how he should say it without it sounding like he got outsmarted by a monkey. Which, basically, he did.

"He keeps getting out," he said at last. "I don't know how! I thought Rob fed him to his cats this time for sure!" he added and his tone made both animals on him a bit restless.

"Why on earth would Rob feed him to the cats?" Sure, the man in charge of the big cats was anything but cheery and friendly, but he wouldn't feed other animals from the zoo to his cats. Probably.

"He hates Luffy!" Ace protested. "Probably because he keeps disturbing that Siberian tiger, but I think he just wants to be friends," he finished with an affectionate scratch of the monkey’s head.

"You let him go into a tiger cage?" Marco asked, his voice laced with disbelief. "The big scary tiger that no one other than Lucci wants to approach? The one with the scar on his eye that no one knows how he got it?"

"Yeah, that one," Ace replied like it was the most normal thing in the world. With a caretaker like that, the monkey's bound to get mauled by a predator in the zoo, Marco was sure of it.

"You should probably just keep him in the cage," Marco said, hoping no one would get eaten.

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Marco couldn't believe it. It hadn't even been two days since he pretty much laughed at Ace for losing a monkey and what did he do? He lost one of his own animals. It must have been a curse or something since the whole losing animals affair started only a short while before and the cause had yet to be discovered. Still, he had to finish his search before anyone, mainly Ace, noticed he even lost a bird. It was luck that the volunteers weren't there yet to notice anything was off and hopefully he'd find the damn bird before anyone, again mostly Ace, could catch wind of his misfortune.

But no matter where he looked, there was nothing. Really, how does one lose an animal at the Zoo? Well, Ace would know... Speaking of, he was sitting at the staff room table, drinking coffee after feeding his own animals. Marco was so painfully aware he wouldn't be able to reach the security room without catching Ace's attention, leaving him with two options. He'd either give up on his search and hope for the best or he'd ask Ace for help. With the size of the Zoo and the short time they had before opening for visitors, the second option started to seem like a good idea.

"Yo, pineapple," Ace spoke and even with the annoying nickname, Marco decided to ask for help. "What's up?"

"I..." he started, but damn it if his pride would let him just admit off the bat that he lost one of his precious birds. Still, he sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, readying himself for the upcoming teasing. "I lost Sanji."

Ace looked at him with confusion for a moment and Marco could almost feel the laughter coming. He was wrong, for once, though. "The hell is a Sanji?" Ace asked and Marco all but face palmed. He didn't expect he'd have to explain in great detail how he lost Sanji in the first place, no matter that he didn't even know.

"It's a Chinese duck and he's not in his habitat," Marco said and watched as it dawned on Ace, his lips stretching into a grin. The bastard was enjoying it too much.

"You lost... a duck." It wasn't exactly a question, but Ace didn't seem to manage wrapping his mind around the idea. "A duck," he mumbled before bursting into a fit of laughter, tears making their way from his eyes as he clutched his stomach.

Marco would never in his life admit he actually blushed, but he was well aware that he did in fact do so. It was embarrassing to say the least, because let's face it; who the hell loses a duck?! Not just any duck, his favorite bird under his care. He might carry Bart on his shoulder all day, but Sanji was always his favorite. That duck had attitude.

"Yes, I lost a duck," he admitted out loud as Ace's laughter subsided. "And I really need to find him."

He glanced at the security room door and Ace seemed to get his idea.

"Well, let's go find him then," Ace said and rose from his chair. Great, Marco thought, he'd have to listen to random jabs about losing a duck for who knew how long. It was just the two of them and whether that was lucky or not, Marco had no idea. Still, they settled in front of the screens and pulled up the footage from the cameras around the bird enclosure. The Chinese ducks had their own little pond they shared with a few specimens of Koi fish and it was surrounded by a fairly low railing, mostly just to keep visitors away from the animals. The birds were so domesticated, they never even tried to escape; which is why Marco couldn't understand what happened.

The screen came to life and the two watched as the ducks did their usual thing, just swimming around, though Sanji seemed to... kick the fish? Okay, that bird really had an attitude. Aside from that, he just followed the females around and quacked at them. Not exactly smooth, Marco thought and chuckled to himself. It had to be a talent to strike out even if he was the only male duck they had.

The footage was hardly exciting or entertaining for almost ten minutes and Ace was ready to give up.

"There's nothing, are you sure he's not there? Maybe your eyesight is getting bad with old ag..." Ace started, but a hit to the back of his head shut him up before he could finish the sentence. Really, calling him old. Marco was just about to hit him again when he noticed a different kind of movement on the screen.

With fast movements, almost like a trot, a monkey was approaching the railing. It didn't take long for the both of them to recognize the monkey in question. Ace's face betrayed his thoughts, assuming his thoughts were something along the line of "oh my God, he's out again" as Marco watched Luffy jump on the railing and observe the animals in the pond. It was suspicious behavior, if you could call a monkey suspicious and his distrust was proven right as it took only a short moment for the monkey to jump on the ground just beside the water.

The only word to describe Marco's emotions in that moment was dread, but he was frozen in place as they both watched the duck on screen approach the shore and the monkey sitting there. Marco just knew something weird would happen, really, why would things even be normal anymore?

As if on cue, the monkey reached out and grabbed the little duck. Neither of the zookeepers could believe their eyes as they watched a little capuchin monkey tuck a fairly annoyed looking equally small duck under his arm before he started waddling away from the pond. In all his years working at the Zoo, Marco never saw anything like this before. A monkey stole his duck...

"Your monkey stole my duck!" he exclaimed accusingly when his wits returned, but before Ace could snap out of his own daze, Marco checked the time on the recording and urged Ace to find other footage to see where the monkey went with his poor duck. It only happened an hour before and they could probably track them.

Doing as he was told, Ace went through the cameras around the bird enclosure and pulled them all up on the screens. It didn't take long to locate a waddling monkey carrying a duck. It was extremely hilarious, really, or at least it would have been if Marco wasn't as worried. The recordings were already an hour old and Sanji was still missing. Still in the bird part of the Zoo, Luffy carried a struggling Sanji over to the parrot cage and stopped. Marco could see Bart and Nami approach the bars and peer out at their visitors. Now, if Marco hadn't seen the strange recording, he would never believe it, but he felt as if he were watching a strange version of The Lion King; the monkey stopped before the cage, the duck still struggling in his grasp, but Luffy managed to grab Sanji successfully over his wings so the poor duck couldn't struggle before lifting the bird over his head to... show him to the parrots? That was seriously the weirdest monkey Marco had ever seen.

Things only turned weirder as they watched the footage from the previous hour, observing as the monkey, with the duck in his tiny hands, walked around the zoo and showed Sanji to a seemingly random choice of animals. Going to the monkey habitat and showing him to a gorilla might have seemed normal, even if said gorilla struck a strange pose at that, but when they located the two runaways amongst the reindeer, things were just confusing.

The last footage they watched was taken a mere five minutes earlier and the sense of dread made its way to Marco's chest as they watched the monkey walk right into the big cat enclosure. Ace visibly paled and Marco gripped his shoulder before speaking.

"He's gonna feed my duck to the cats," he said before his grip tightened and his eyes narrowed. "Your damn monkey's gonna feed my duck to the cats!" This time he let go and hurried out the door, another set of footsteps following him through the Zoo. The cat enclosure wasn't really close and they ran as fast as they could, even if they knew that approaching the cats was a bad idea if Lucci wasn't there. Speaking of Lucci, he might be a bit mad if he found intruders bothering his cats again. Clearly, he wasn't an option; the man would probably just let one of his predators eat both the monkey and the duck.

Luck didn't seem to be on their side as they reached the big lion sign at the beginning of the so called cat walk and found Rob standing there with his eyes narrow.

"How ever did you know I was just about to call you two?" he asked, his voice cold as ice and Marco had to admit, at least to himself, that he really didn't want to be close to the man in their current situation. "There's something I think you both need to see," he told them before either could reply, making his way through the habitats right away, motioning for them to follow. The animals were both dead most likely and Rob did not look the slightest bit remorseful. He led them straight to the tiger pit, a big habitat reserved for their sole Siberian tiger with a railing separating the visitors from the lowered space where the cat resided.

Marco was adamant to look, fearing that he'd see poor Sanji in the tiger's jaws. Ace looked equally sad, tears already glistening in his eyes.

"I suggest you look at this. I entirely blame the monkey, by the way," Lucci said in the same tone of voice and Ace was about to protest, but couldn't find the strength and he just peered over the railing.

Again, Marco was surprised and that might even be an understatement. He saw Sanji, alright, quacking and pecking at the tiger's ear and the cat was... purring? Fear stung him once again as the beast lifted a big heavy paw over the extremely tiny duck only to poke at it for a moment so the little guy tipped over, the tiger purring once again as he watched Sanji wiggle back to his feet only to quack louder and peck at the paw. It took Marco another moment to notice the monkey as well, perched on the tiger's side, picking through his thick fur only to eat the fleas he found there. Luffy almost fell off the cat when the beast lifted a paw, but the managed to hold on and, if Marco saw right, actually glared at the cat.

"Wha...?" Ace tried to ask, this time tears of joy in his eyes because at least Luffy was alive.

"I have no idea, but it's all the monkey's fault and we can't get them out of there," Lucci said and he was clearly pissed off. "Zoro won't let us get anywhere near the duck," he added, his voice faltering the tiniest bit as he revealed the tiger's name. Marco couldn't help the chuckle, but stopped as soon as Lucci glared at him.

"Luffy!" Ace called and the monkey immediately made his way through the habitat, the cat never even bothering with him. The monkey was soon perched on Ace's head and Lucci glared daggers at the animal, trying hard not to just strangle the little bastard.

Marco tried the same approach, calling Sanji's name, but the duck just quacked quietly as a paw covered him and Marco was really ready to have a heart attack. The paw moved closer to the cat’s body and they were all sure the little bird was squished; Lucci may or may not have looked pleased just a bit.

A louder, almost angry sounding quack reached them as the duck's tiny head peeked out from all that fur and Marco could swear Sanji glared at the tiger before pecking furiously at the paw. Still, he made no attempt to move from the cat and the cat had no intention of letting him go if the extremely loud purring was any indication.

"I guess I have to leave him here," Marco finally said, still as confused as he was an hour before.

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Even if he had watched that monkey carry his duck away, Marco had hardly expected the little beast to actually bring Sanji back. He didn't trust the monkey in the slightest, not after seeing what he was capable of, but it was nice of him to bring the duck back. If only Marco could catch the little guy and return him to Ace, things would be better. Still, as small as the monkey was, Marco had a hard time getting close enough to actually catch him. If monkeys could laugh, and at the moment he wasn't completely sure they couldn't, the little bastard would be laughing.

With several more evasive maneuvers, Luffy dodged Marco and disappeared into the bushes. Well, that did not go as expected, but Marco could see how Ace managed to lose the little animal all the time. He was apparently smarter than he looked.

Still, after the duck incident, the number of monkey sightings around the zoo went up a lot in just 24 hours, and Marco was compelled to just sit by the monitors for a day. He was sure nothing would surprise him anymore, but he still feared for his birds. Luffy was inclined to liberate random animals and let them roam the zoo as well. Needless to say, most of the zookeepers were counting their lucky stars that none of the predators were set free yet.

Well, with the trouble making monkey on the loose, Marco knew he needed to let Ace know. Ace would still worry about the little guy every time and Marco couldn't really blame him. Lucci was far from amused ever since the incident and couldn't wait to kick Sanji out of the tiger's habitat. He claimed it was only from the tiger habitat, but Marco still held suspicions about his intentions towards his duck. Damn duck. Marco was paranoid every morning before feeding time; he always expected to have a bird missing.

Working at a zoo was turning out to be more stressful than he had expected. With a sigh, Marco started walking towards Ace's workplace, blaming him because his monkey was a menace.

Of course Ace lost the monkey again. Really, why would he even stay in his cage? No matter what he did, Luffy would not stay with the others for long. Which, in itself, wasn't an issue. The problem was with Luffy's habit of playing with the most dangerous animals in the zoo. Even if the tiger turned out to be harmless, at least to Luffy and the duck, that crocodile wasn't really happy to see the little guy. Even with a ridiculous name like Sir Croc, the crocodile was still huge and dangerous. He, for one, didn't seem to like Luffy much. Except maybe as brunch.

Still pitying himself and the monkey to some extent, Ace was brooding all over the zoo in an attempt to find Luffy. Ace was banned from Lucci's domain, not that he even wanted to go anywhere near the guy since his hatred extended from just Luffy to Ace, Marco and an innocent duck as well. Well, the duck's innocence was something shrouded in mystery, but he certainly didn't do anything to piss the cat keeper off. That was all Luffy's doing.

It wasn't exactly a lucky turn of events when Lucci, very pissed off at that, was making his way toward Ace. With, of course, Luffy dangling from his hand. He would have been afraid of the man had it not been for his confusion.

"Did you put a hat on my monkey?" Ace asked, trying hard to suppress the laughter bubbling in his chest at the image of a grumpy Lucci trying to put a tiny straw hat on the restless monkey's head.

"I did not put a hat on him," Lucci said and Ace stilled immediately; he did not sound amused. "He was trying to dump a chameleon into Zoro's habitat," he added and opened his other hand, revealing a terrified looking lizard. "I think this pest might be a psychopath," Lucci finished as he dumped Luffy into Ace's hands followed by the little suspiciously still lizard before stomping away.

Confusion soon made way for intrigue as Ace got to observe his little trouble maker. Well, not as much him as his new hat. The tiny straw hat with a red ribbon attached to his head looked strangely familiar, yet Ace couldn't quite put his finger on it. It didn't matter, anyway, he figured he'd remove it after taking the catatonic chameleon to the vet office for a checkup. It was funny, he didn't even know they had any chameleons.

He was already walking to the veterinarian station when it hit him; Shanks wore a straw hat all the time! The same, except bigger, as the one currently on Luffy's head. Ace did have to admit, it looked adorable on the little guy. The lizard still wasn't moving, though, so he hurried and hope Shanks could help the petrified animal.

As soon as he entered the office, Ace was met with a bout of laughter.

"Stylish monkey you got there," Shanks said from his chair. Ace couldn't help it, Shanks’ laughter was contagious and Ace laughed as well because frankly, Luffy looked awesome with it.

"You gave him the hat, didn't you?" he asked and sat opposite the redhead.

"He asked for it," Shanks replied with a shrug.

"Really, you're claiming that a monkey asked for a straw hat?"

"Well, he stole mine first," Shanks replied before laughing again. "It was too big for him so I found him a little one."

Ace laughed again before remembering why he was there anyway.

"I'm here because Luffy tried to throw this little guy into the tiger's habitat," he started, placing the lizard on the desk in front of the vet who immediately turned serious. "I didn't see him move since Rob gave him to me. Didn't even know we had chameleons here."

One glance at the lizard was enough for Shanks to sigh and take the still chameleon into his hand. "I see you found the legendary Usopp," Shanks laughed as Luffy lowered himself from Ace's shoulder and settled next to the chameleon, prodding him on occasion. "The mystery of the zoo."

"The what?" Ace asked; the zoo was getting weirder every day he worked there.

"Usopp the Legendary. This little guy right here," Shanks said as he lifted the little lizard in his hand. "No wonder Luffy likes him, they're kindred spirits," he finished with a laugh, causing the chameleon to stir and slightly change color.

"Why is he so legendary?" Ace asked, confused as to why no one mentioned him before. Shanks only laughed and handed the lizard over into the monkey's waiting hands.

"You have to find out yourself, so I'm leaving him in your care," Shanks said and, handing Luffy over, shooed them out.

Well, clearly he would have to find out. With Luffy in his arms, Ace started his quest.

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With Luffy on his shoulder and the still catatonic chameleon in the monkey's tiny hands, Ace ventured into the growing crowd of the Zoo. First, though, he figured he should return the lizard to Drake in the reptile house; if anyone could take good care of the little guy, it would be the Zoo's lizard man. Slowly, he progressed through the Zoo with a monkey on his shoulder, but still checking if the lizard was awake yet. They made it through half the Zoo before the chameleon stirred, though Ace was more than a little surprised at how it happened.

It all happened in a flash. Luffy jumped up on his shoulder, making sounds that could only mean trouble. Ace turned his head, part curious, part afraid of what he'd see. He only managed to get a quick glance at the monkey and what looked like a devious gleam in his eyes before the lizard was launched into the distance. With mortified fascination, Ace observed as the chameleon tore through the air with his little legs flailing about. Well, at least the little guy was finally awake.

Usopp's flight came to an abrupt end when it made first contact with a head; a female head full of blonde hair. Ace thought he was dreaming for a moment, his mouth slightly agape as a shrill scream sounded through the area. The girl screamed as the little chameleon clung to her hair for dear life and Ace was briefly reminded of Rapunzel and her tiny chameleon friend before he came back to his senses. More accurately, Luffy's flailing and enthusiastic jumping brought him back to the present and, really, he should have seen it coming.

Before he could really react, Luffy pounced from his shoulder and rather skillfully made his way towards the poor girl and the stranded lizard. Ace already saw the disaster before it even happened. Luffy landed on the girl's shoulder, making her scream even louder. Poor girl looked completely confused and terrified, Ace noticed.

It hardly helped when Luffy, to Ace's utmost terror, grabbed Usopp and proceeded to pull in an attempt to free him from the clutches of blond, no longer smooth hair. Ace wasn't the only one observing the spectacle, plenty of bystanders now gathered around the girl, yet no one tried to help. Finally, Ace realized he wasn't exactly helping either.

The girl looked as if she were about to cry from utter misery by the time Ace started moving, but he was a few feet away when, to everyone's surprise, Luffy managed to dislodge the lizard from the strand of hair he was clinging to. Ace's relief lasted for a bare moment as the next thing his monkey did was to jump to the next person and then the next, fleeing the scene by using visitors as a bridge. The animals surrounding them were all excited, seemingly cheering for the runaway monkey.

Still, he had more common sense than he had displayed before.

"Are you alright?" he asked the victim of Usopp's attack. She looked at him, slightly shaken up, but no longer looking like she was about to burst in tears. It only took him a moment to recognize her as one of the volunteers when she didn't have a monkey and a lizard nesting in her hair.

"I'm okay, thanks," she replied while trying to fix the mess those two made of her hair. "What was that?"

"Well, uhm..." Ace started, not quite sure as to how he's supposed to explain what happened. It sounded ridiculous even to him and he did see the whole thing. "Luffy launched a chameleon into the air and he landed on your head."

"Chameleon? But there are no..." she started, but stopped speaking as a look of understanding took over. "Oh, it was Usopp, wasn't it?" she asked, her face graced with a smile with none of the previous panic left behind.

Ace, however, was confused. Everyone seemed to know the lizard and he had no idea what was happening or why the chameleon was so famous. "I think that's his name, yeah. How do you know him?"

She smiled and Ace was surprised for a moment; after all, not even five minutes ago, she was screaming bloody murder in the middle of the Zoo. "I found him by accident when I started volunteering here and after that he always found me when I was here," she started with a fond smile on her face. "I took him to Shanks so he told me about the Legendary Usopp," she giggled at the memory. "If I had known it was him, I wouldn't have screamed like that. He gets scared easily."

"Yeah, I noticed," Ace answered, his mind lost in thought about why everyone said Usopp was legendary.

"Oh, I didn't introduce myself," the girl stated and Ace looked up, noticing a faint blush. "I'm Kaya."

"Ace," he replied, taking her hand in a brief handshake. "Well, I should go track those two down before they get into trouble," he told her with an unintentional cringe before saying his goodbye.

"Usopp likes to hide in the trees next to the koi pond," Kaya called after him and Ace nodded in thanks, hoping the two were anywhere but the pond; after all, that was deep into Marco's territory and he really didn't need him finding out about the new set of trouble Luffy managed to get himself into.

Seeing as the day started bad for him, Ace really should have expected the worst even before it had happened. He hadn't, however, too preoccupied with his quest of finding a really small monkey and an even smaller lizard that wasn't even supposed to be on the grounds. So when he ran smack into an unnecessarily hard chest, Ace was taken by surprise.

"Why are you disturbing the ducks?" Marco asked, looking down at him with a scowl.

"What is your deal with the ducks, dude?" Ace asked, really wondering at this point. Marco really had a weird affinity for his ducks. He actually blushed a bit or so Ace thought he saw, but would never mention out loud for fear for his life.

"I don't have a deal with the ducks and you didn't answer me," he replied, back to his stoic self.

"I was just... on a walk," Ace said, the shifting of his eyes may or may not have been obvious to the other. "I'm leaving now, though, so I'll see you later."

He tried to run away, but of course Marco wasn't buying his excuse, following after him immediately. Figuring Luffy would be okay on his own for a bit longer, seeing as he spent more time out of his habitat than in it, Ace decided to play it cool and return to his post. After all, his constant search for Luffy kept him away from the other animals in his care. Marco trailed silently after him, his eyes still narrow in suspicion during the whole walk to the primate's part of the Zoo.

Ace heard Luffy's distinct enthusiastic voice before he even saw the little bugger, hurrying to the gorilla's cage where the sounds were coming from. He could hear Marco hurry as well, keeping on his heels the whole time.

As soon as the habitat of Franky the gorilla came into sight, Ace stopped dead in his tracks, Marco coming to a stop right beside him. They both observed as Luffy hung on the outside of the cage, doing what would have been laughing if he were human, while watching the mean looking gorilla strike his already signature pose.

"Is that a lizard on the gorilla's head?" Marco asked, his voice laced with disbelief and all Ace could do was nod because, yes, that was a lizard on the gorilla's head.

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Marco was certain he had seen it all, at least everything he thought he could possibly see in a Zoo, yet he found his workdays more interesting than he ever could have imagined. Well, they were livelier, to put it mildly, and it didn't even have anything to do with his animals. Of course not, his birds were well mannered and didn't cause trouble. Unlike a certain monkey that seemed to have it out for him and his precious birds. The troublemaker didn't stop at Sanji or the parrots. No, the damn monkey had to disturb the harpy eagle. How he had escape Smoker's clutches, quite literally, Marco didn't know. But he was interested in it; the eagle was huge, not to mention a dangerous predator, just as the monkey was small and defenseless. Or at least he was supposed to be.

Still, despite all his efforts at finding out how Ace's monkey managed to live through all his encounters with dangerous predators, Marco still didn't come close to an answer even a week after the lizard incident. Said lizard disappeared somehow and Luffy seemed to have decided to lay low. Either that or Ace finally managed to keep him under control, though Marco was leaning more to the former. The monkey was, after all, not a normal monkey. All the employees came to terms with that fact already, some better that others seeing as Lucci looked more and more like he'd suffer from an aneurism if he found the little beast with his precious cats once again. The monkey had, after all, formed a bond with the Siberian tiger and no force, especially not Rob Lucci, could keep them apart. Marco somehow made peace with the fact that Sanji disappeared from the pond more often and returned with slightly ruffled feathers, but luckily he was never harmed.

Marco also decided against checking up on the security camera feeds after witnessing Luffy breaking into Robin's cage only to have the owl grab him by the tail, fly out and return the little beast to his own habitat. All in all, he was getting used to the animals acting almost like people.

Which all amounted to nothing as he, along with the other zookeepers, evacuated the screaming, panicked visitors out of the park. In hindsight, he should have known something bad was about to happen as soon as they went a day without any monkey incidents; let alone a whole week of peace. Hell, even Rob stopped glaring at Ace and Ace wasn't constantly panicked and twitchy since people stopped hunting him down to complain about damages done by a certain monkey. So of course, the first scream shouldn't have been a surprise. The sight of a straw hat wearing capuchin monkey riding on a tiger's back with a colorful duck securely nestled at the nape of the cat's neck, however, was a first.

Luffy held onto the hairs on the tiger's back, riding like a proud cowboy, with the tiny hat on his head, while the duck offered a rhythm for the tiger's movements with quacks set at an even pace. Marco was immediately reminded of a professional rowing team where the captain shouted whenever the others were supposed to row. It was quite the sight, really.

He was sure, though, that at least two people didn't share his fascination. Ace looked, to put it mildly, mortified. Marco suspected there was an undertone of amusement in his features or at least there had been until Rob found him. The man was absolutely livid with his pride, undoubtedly, hurt because a filthy monkey used his precious tiger as a common pack mule.

With the visitors out of harm's way and all the exits secured, most of the zookeepers found themselves somewhere in the vicinity of the escaped cat. No one except Rob was qualified to handle a really freaking huge cat; they were, however, qualified to watch how a monkey held a rodeo around the park with said freaking huge cat.

A collective sigh sounded through the small crowd of a dozen or so zookeepers as the duck started flailing and seemingly screaming when the tiger stopped at a dead end, glancing around with obvious confusion. Of course, now they had the tiger surrounded, but that meant nothing as the duck continued his tirade, pecking violently at the large furry head of a, by now, pretty annoyed tiger. It was, by far, not the first time Marco felt like crying over Sanji's less than pretty fate and he was sure by this point that it certainly wouldn't be the last. The monkey, however, remained completely passive while the duck continued his violent outburst and it was all an extremely ridiculous sight.

Ace was deathly pale, however, and Lucci looked as if he were trying to make the monkey explode with the power of his mind. Unfortunately for him, it didn't seem to work for much other than making Ace look like he was about to cry. Marco did feel bad for his young colleague; he had worked at the Zoo for years already and he had never had issues like the ones Ace had encountered in his short stay there. Honestly, it was a surprise that he didn't quit already.

The situation was developing, though, as the duck jumped off its perch on the tiger's back and decided to face the predator. The quacking persisted as the fearless duck -Marco was convinced the little fucker had balls of steel- pressed his head against that of the tiger with a look that might have been a glare if it had been a human. It was equal parts hilarious and horrifying. No one wanted to watch the duck being mauled. Marco was fairly sure the tiger wouldn't do it, but if he thought a bit harder about it, the tiger might have been getting to the end of his fuse.

The monkey wasn't interested in the quarrel, though, as he jumped off the tiger as well and wandered to the closest habitat. For some reason, Marco could already see things going badly with Luffy discovering the giraffe peeking out at the commotion outside his residence. The monkey looked too curious for anyone's good, the fight behind him long forgotten as he jumped onto the railing before diving into the enclosure. The duck and the tiger, as well as all the zookeepers, turned their attention to the monkey's free fall with equal measures of panic evident on their faces.

Chapter Text

It was highly unprofessional of the zookeepers to just stand around the park and stare as there was a tiger on the loose, no one deeming the duck and monkey a top priority threat even if said monkey had proven time and time again that he was the biggest danger in that park. Still, they were all probably too curious for their own good, but there was no harm considering the park was evacuated of all visitors and they could all handle one tiger. Right? Honestly, the monkey was probably more of a problem in the current situation.

The current situation being a freaked out giraffe and a monkey that looked to be having too much fun with all the havoc he wreaked. The giraffe didn't look too thrilled with having a monkey climbing up and down his neck, but seemed too panicked to do anything about it. Not that Ace could think of anything the giraffe could do to rid himself of Luffy. That sight was far too entertaining, however, considering every single zookeeper present was staring at the two with such utter disbelief that no one noticed the tiger approaching the enclosure. Such a big cat should have been easier to spot, but Luffy was in the middle of using the giraffe's neck as a slide.

Zoro leapt over the fence in what was a graceful arch before silently landing in the enclosure. It was only when the duck started quacking furiously before attempting to follow his two friends that anyone noticed. He was too small to cross the railing and that seemed to piss him off to no end, a scene Marco would find hilarious had it not been for the rest of the situation.

Finally snapping back to attention, the zookeepers started to move. Marco caught Sanji, scooping him up and trying his hardest not to hurt the duck while the little guy flailed in his arms. Ace was by the railing, gazing with trepidation at the cause of all that trouble now riding at the base of the giraffe's neck. Lucci was close by, consulting Kalifa on how to enter her domain and the giraffe under her care to collect his cat. As far as Ace could hear, the plan was to use a tranquilizer to calm the tiger then return it to its habitat. Lucci declined help from the other zookeepers, claiming he was the only one that could handle the tiger's temperament and no one really tried arguing, really, considering how menacing the animal looked.

Slowly, the tiger approached the giraffe as if he were hunting. Luffy didn't seem bothered by anything and, much to Ace's dismay, didn't seem to plan on moving anytime soon. While Zoro was in stealth mode, Kaku started panicking more. Barely controlling himself, Ace didn't laugh at the giraffe's name when Kalifa mentioned it, he simply continued watching as Marco calmed his duck and stood next to Ace.

Kaku was flailing his neck, his eyes wide as he tried to throw Luffy off while evading the tiger's attack before it even happened. Ace could pinpoint the exact moment the situation went completely to shit. Luffy grew bored of his spot and the uncontrollable moving the giraffe was subjecting him to, so in a flash he was climbing up Kaku's neck before flinging himself towards the railing. Ace was quick to react, though not really that quick to think as he jumped over the railing to catch Luffy in flight before the little guy could wreak more havoc. Unfortunately, due to not thinking his course of action through, Ace caught Luffy before they both fell into the enclosure. Ace could already feel the bruises forming as Marco gaped at him from his spot by the railing.

Contrary to the belief of all zookeepers, the giraffe didn't calm down once Luffy was gone. Instead, Kaku went into full blown panic and started trampling his way around the enclosure. Ace picked himself and Luffy up, ducking towards the exit where Lucci stood with the tranquilizers just as Zoro pounced. Kaku's panic spread through the crowd, succeeding in freezing everyone save for the giraffe and tiger into place.

Zoro leapt towards the frantic giraffe and a collective gasp sounded through the crowd for a moment that seemed to go on forever. Ace and Luffy made it to safety just in time to see Zoro land in front of Kaku, prompting even more panic from the giraffe. The zookeepers were already prepared for the worst, Lucci taking aim at one of his favorite cats with clear reluctance as Kaku's head swung from one side to the other in panic. His head connected with Zoro's in what was the most spectacular headbutt everyone present had ever seen.

Zoro fell to the ground with a thud as Kaku stumbled over him, the panic leaving his body as he seemed to be on the verge of fainting as well. Silence fell over the park as everyone stared into the enclosure. Lucci was first to snap out of it as he lowered the stun gun and called for several other zookeepers.

Ace took this opportunity to disappear with Luffy, knowing full well who's fault all of this was. As if he'd known, Luffy stilled in Ace's arms and burrowed his head into the crook of Ace's elbow, hiding from everyone's gaze while Ace fled the scene followed by Shanks' laughter.

Chapter Text

Ace was somewhat concerned by how much hiding he had been doing since the incident known as The Great Escape. He was of the opinion that someone should feel bad about the whole thing, considering Luffy simply carried on with his usual troublemaking ways. There was no remorse to be found and Ace was left to deal with the brunt of Rob’s rage. Again. Things wouldn’t be so bad, really, but it’d been a week already and all the other zookeepers thought it was great fun to watch Ace sneak around, trying to avoid Rob.

Avoiding Rob, as it turns out, was both really hard and extremely easy all at the same time; hard because Luffy was still wreaking havoc and Ace was always the one to take the blame, but it was mostly easier considering the tiger was in quarantine and Rob was spending all his time there.

Ace, however, seemed to be the only one to rejoice at the general lack of a scary cat loving zookeeper. Not that he really had time to do much rejoicing what with constantly running around the Zoo in an attempt to catch Luffy. It was all a very vicious circle, complete with most other zookeepers banning him, or rather Luffy, from entering their parts of the Zoo. Apparently, the effect he had on other animals was absolutely chaotic even without the tiger incident.

So after a hectic week of trying to keep his ass out of trouble, trouble seemed to find him. Well, it found Luffy and he just so happened to be around when it all went down. Of course Luffy knew exactly where Zoro was being held, it was like the monkey had a special sense for that which was impressive, of course, but also very troubling. Though, it could be said that Ace had a knack for locating Luffy just as well, given that he’d often stumbled onto the scene of the crime just to catch Luffy in the act of doing something bad.

Just like how Ace was looking for Marco, his only ally at the moment, and noticed Luffy was desperately trying to hold onto the now already familiar looking duck that kept struggling in Luffy’s meager grip. That in itself wasn’t really a strange sight, considering both Ace and Marco came to terms with this arrangement and stopped trying to keep Luffy away from his duck friend. No, the alarming part was the fact they seemed to be working on breaking into the part of the Zoo where Rob was currently keeping his tiger for treatment.

Ace found himself torn between helping Luffy break in and see his friend or grab the damn monkey and run away before Rob found them there. This time they would probably both be fed to starving cats. Knowing Rob, no one would ever find out. Not that he starved his cats, though.

Even knowing the cats were far from starved, Ace decided that getting the hell out of dodge would be the best idea. Seeing Marco a short distance away, staring at the two animals with obvious disdain only served to convince him that he had, in fact, made the right choice. Now all he had to do was jump onto the metal railing and then on the tree where he could reach Luffy.

Taking a few steps back, Ace got far away for a good running start before he hurried towards the railing, jumping onto it in one smooth motion that was probably impressive to watch. Following the same motion, he lifted his other leg and reached out towards the closest tree branch, ready to jump onto the tree before the ground, or rather railing, disappeared from underneath him. Hazily, he could hear Marco shout his name as he fell, landing on his back before his head smacked against the stone ground and his vision swam.

He could hear voices, but his vision remained blurry with black spots in his vision. It was alarming and oh so familiar, for some reason, even if he didn’t make it a habit to hit his head on hard surfaces. There was no way to be sure what was being said, but before he could move or even open his mouth, a shock of cold water his his face and he screamed. The reaction surprised him, really, but at the same time he felt dread about opening his eyes. Nevertheless, he did, and was met with a flash of people in surgical masks surrounded by malice that weighed him down, filling his mouth and choking him of breath.

The pure terror coursing through him was eerily familiar, not pleasantly so, but he could do nothing to help it. The sight of those malicious people was familiar and not at the same time and he could feel the tremors wracking through his body. He was stuck until a frantic shout of his name woke him, bringing him into focus until he could see a familiar, albeit worried face.

“Phoenix? The hell happened?” Ace groaned, trying to sit up, but couldn’t help but freeze at the shocked look on Marco’s face. Before he could comment, Marco was back to normal, pulling Ace up gently, but with an undeniable sense of urgency.

“I’m taking him to Shanks,” Marco stated as he began dragging Ace away without even bothering to look back at the few people still standing there.

“Marco? What’s wrong?” Ace asked, slightly alarmed by the odd behavior, but still soothed by Marco’s presence nonetheless.

“Nothing,” Marco told him with an obviously forced smile, unmistakable pain almost radiating off of him. “Nothing at all, don’t worry.”

Chapter Text

“Marco?” Ace asked, more than a little confused and worried about Marco who was leading him towards Shanks’ office with a brusque pace. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Marco seemed to force out, but didn’t turn and Ace still couldn’t see his face. The grip on his hand tightened, though, and Marco seemed to speed up until he was knocking on Shanks’ door, letting himself in immediately without even waiting for Shanks to invite them in. That in itself wasn’t odd, everyone did that.

“Marco! Ace! What did the monkey do now?” Shanks asked with obvious fondness and Ace couldn’t help but smile.

“Ace fell and hit his head,” Marco said, letting go of Ace’s hand. “Can you please check and see if he’s okay?”

Shanks was grinning, his eyes quirked up as he looked up at Marco from his seat behind the desk. “He’s not an animal which makes him fall into a category outside of my expertise,” Shanks stated before turning his gaze to Ace to look him over as if to make sure.

Ace would usually laugh, maybe pretend he was an animal of sorts, but he found himself too worried about Marco at the moment to joke as he normally might have.

“I’m fine,” Ace said to Marco instead. His head did hurt a little, honestly, but he was more worried with the fact that he hallucinated for a moment. That was something worrisome and he had no clue how to mention it without sounding completely insane, yet at the same time he was reluctant to even speak of it because he’d felt so scared. Ace couldn’t remember a time he’d felt fear like that he was sure was going to rip him to pieces when he saw those people above him.

“Ace, you were screaming before I got to you, you’re not fine!” Marco shouted, finally turning towards Ace. The look on his face wasn’t one he usually wore and Ace couldn’t find anything to say, completely shocked into silence.

Marco closed his eyes then, taking a deep breath before he looked at Ace again. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “It scared me when you fell.”

Somehow, Ace had a feeling Marco wasn’t telling him everything, but he didn’t really want to press at the moment. The door burst open then, making all three of them jump, as Thatch looked around the room until his eyes fell on Ace.

“You need to come with me right now,” he said, sounding extremely out of breath. “Your monkey’s at it again and I think Rob might actually murder him this time.”

Ace was moving towards the door immediately, leaving Marco and Shanks behind in an attempt to get to whatever mess Luffy made this time before someone ended up dead. They were several meters from Shanks’ office, when Ace finally considered easing some of Marco’s worry.

“Wait, give me a moment to get some ice from Shanks for my head,” Ace told Thatch before hurrying back to the office. The door was still slightly open from when he’d run out without closing it all the way, allowing him to hear the conversation inside. It made him stop in his tracks, hearing Marco sound as broken as he did in that moment.

“He called me Phoenix, Shanks!” he said. “I thought he finally remembered,” he added, sounding defeated. It was completely unlike Marco and Ace had no idea what to do with that.

“He will, though,” Shanks replied soothingly, sounding completely unlike himself as well, in a slightly different way than Marco. “We remembered, didn’t we? The others will too.”

Ace stood there, just outside the door, confused about what he’d overheard, unable to open the door and go back in. Instead, he turned around and hurried towards Thatch again, determined to handle one problem at a time and whatever mess Luffy made this time was higher on his list of priorities.

Chapter Text

It was like a dam had burst after that first incident. Ace walked through the Zoo, suspiciously not coming across Marco more often than could be considered normal, and everything somehow felt off. He couldn’t explain why and it bothered him, enough so that Luffy somehow felt it enough to cling to Ace instead of causing trouble for other zookeepers.

Others noticed as well, but no one mentioned it. Other than Shanks, of course, but Ace did everything in his power to avoid him too after overhearing that conversation between Shanks and Marco. He wasn’t ready to admit it aloud, but at one point it started hurting to look at Marco. It was an ache deep in his chest, making him so overwhelmingly sad yet he had no idea why.

Avoiding Marco seemed like the easier way out than trying to figure out what was going on, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that everything was out of place. Ace caught himself thinking of Luffy and seeing a skinny kid with a scar under his eye instead of a monkey. For some reason, he had dreams of Marco and several other zookeepers dressed in black tactical gear like soldiers had in movies.

Going home turned problematic as well, because of the nagging feeling that he wasn’t meant to be there. He couldn’t remember moving into the apartment; well, he could, but it felt more like a story told to him than an actual memory he lived through. The more he thought about it, the more memories Ace found that didn’t feel like his own.

As opposed to the ones he started remembering through what looked like fog, dreamlike and nonsensical. Marco’s face or voice made an appearance in a great number of them and that, if not the conversation he’d overheard, made him come to terms with the fact he really needed to talk to Marco. There were so many questions he needed answered and so many more surfacing with every passing day.

Ace snapped out of his thoughts when Luffy whined on his shoulder, rubbing his small face against Ace’s. At least he was behaving finally so Ace counted that as a small win.

“My duck is sad and I’d like to know what happened,” Marco said from somewhere behind Ace, making him startle just a little while Luffy let go of Ace’s hair to look at Marco. Taking a deep breath, Ace turned towards Marco as well, the feeling of such overwhelming yearning almost choking him. “Luffy hasn’t been around to see him in a while,” Marco added, oblivious to what Ace was feeling. Or maybe he saw more than Ace gave him credit for as he noticed for the first time just how sad Marco’s gaze seemed to be.

“He’s been behaving lately,” Ace said in way of an explanation. “Didn’t want to run from me in days.”

“That’s worrisome,” Marco said with a small smile and it eased some of the pressure in Ace’s chest. “I haven’t seen you in a while either,” he added, the smile melting away.

Ace didn’t know what to say to that, but in a moment of madness, honesty seemed like the best idea.

“I’ve been avoiding you,” he said and the sense of deja vu came over him as he spoke, “because I have no idea what to say or what all of this means.” Ace had the feeling he’d said those exact words to Marco before, though the context eluded him.

Marco, though, was looking at him with something odd in his eyes. “Last time you said that, things had a happier ending,” Marco said on a sigh, low enough for it to be obvious that the words were meant for his own ears more than Ace’s. But it was too late and Ace heard, his mind already trying to remember.

His head was throbbing, though, the more he tried and he had a hard time hearing Marco call his name with so much worry in his voice or feel the way Luffy pulled at his hair to distract him. Ace was lost in the haze of a memory, hearing himself speak those same words once before and seeing hurt on Marco’s face as a reply. They looked like soldiers then, in matching uniforms, their faces caked with blood and dirt, but they were safe and they were together.

The Marco in his head reached out then, determined, grasping Ace’s hand before he spoke, his voice echoing in Ace’s memory, sounding as if he was hearing it through water.

“It can mean whatever you want it to,” he said, “or it can mean nothing at all. We’ll still be family, no matter what.”

Ace was shaken to the core, both in the memory and in real life, feeling overwhelmed knowing that he belonged and had a family that wanted him there. Knowing he had a family other than Sabo and Luffy was almost too much to bear and in the next moment, Ace shook his head, trying to make out why Luffy looked like that boy in his mind’s eye again before he tried to remember who Sabo was. The name held so much familiarity and at the same time, he was sure he knew no one with that name.

Marco’s hands were on his shoulders, grounding him and bringing him back to the middle of the Zoo where they stood, Luffy panicking on his shoulder.

“Marco?” Ace questioned, uncertain. “Who are we? What is going on?”

Marco pulled him closer then, enveloping him into a tight hug. “We’re family,” he whispered into Ace’s ear, “and I promise I’ll explain everything, just not here.”

“Why not?” Ace asked just as quietly, winding his arms around Marco carefully, hugging him back. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“We’re being watched here,” Marco said, loosening his hold and stepping back far enough for Ace to look at him. His voice, though, remained just as quiet as it had been. “You wouldn’t have believed me without remembering it yourself,” he added with sorrow on his face.

“Marco,” Ace started reluctantly, but there was a question he couldn’t just leave unspoken. “Is Luffy my brother?” It sounded ridiculous, talking about a monkey like that, even if said monkey just wound his tiny arms around Ace’s neck as he voiced the question.

“Yes,” Marco said, “he is. We came here for him.”

Chapter Text

Marco led the way to his part of the Zoo while Luffy still clung to Ace’s shoulder. He wasn’t really sure what to expect, but more hazy memories were popping up the longer they were together and the need to just know was becoming almost insufferable.

“The parrots are too loud for the microphones to pick up what we talk about,” Marco had said in way of explanation before they started walking. And it seemed like the longest walk Ace has ever been on, but Luffy’s presence did offer some comfort and Ace barely noticed when they walked into one of the bigger enclosures. Ace only noticed because the birds got louder as soon as Marco was in sight.

He pulled Ace into a corner, where no one would see them from the outside. Luffy looked interested in the birds, leaving his perch on Ace’s shoulder to join one of the parrots on a branch and Ace let him, seeing as Marco didn’t seem to mind. They stood in silence for a moment, or as much silence as possible with a bunch of loud parrots, but Ace said nothing, opting for waiting until Marco spoke.

“We came here when you got word that your brother and his gang attacked a government lab then went missing,” Marco started. “We didn’t know about the experiments they were doing here so the old man didn’t send us sooner, but when Sabo contacted you about it, we all agreed to go.”

Ace didn’t like the sound of any of it. “Are we soldiers or something?” he asked, even though it didn’t sound quite right. More things were coming back to him now that he became aware that something was wrong.

“Mercenaries, I suppose,” Marco said with a shrug. “We go where Pops sends us, mostly jobs that include the government. This one didn’t go too well, obviously.”

“What do you mean?” Ace asked, furrowing his brow until Marco looked at him with a look that practically screamed ‘are you kidding me’.

“Half of us had our memories altered so we wouldn’t know who we are and why we’re here,” Marco started, “and your brother is a monkey right now.”

“Will I remember all of it completely?” Ace asked, knowing he sounded unsure and tiny.

“Yeah, you will,” Marco reassured him. “I was really confused about it at first until it all came back.”

“So who else remembers?” Ace asked, glancing up at Luffy cuddling up to an orange parrot.

“Thatch remembers, Jozu and Izo too,” Marco listed. “Shanks knows too, but he’s not one of ours and I have no idea why he’s even here in the first place.”

“Why the hell is Luffy a monkey, though?” Ace asked, increasingly frustrated. Nothing was making sense and yet what Marco told him did clear some of the fog in his mind.

“We’re still trying to find out what exactly they were experimenting with,” Marco said, “but the goal seems to be the ability to turn into an animal at will. Yeah, I don’t know either,” he added when Ace shot him a skeptical look. “I’m more worried about what they’re doing with everyone’s memories, but one thing at a time, I guess.”

“Does that mean Lucci is one of us too?” He wasn’t really sure what answer he was hoping for there.

“No,” Marco scoffed. “He’s with the government. Half of this Zoo are government agents. I’m pretty sure some of the animals are too, but I haven’t figure out which ones.”

Ace leaned back against the wall, running a hand through his hair. “What the hell?” he mumbled, more to himself than for Marco to hear. “Well, I mean, that explains why Luffy’s so smart, I suppose.”

“Reckless, more like it,” Marco said with a fond smile.

Ace sighed, though, before glancing at Marco. “So what do we do now?” he asked, half dreading the answer. The other half of him, though, was feeling at ease while waiting for Marco’s orders, the feeling more familiar than anything else he’d felt in the past days. “You’re our commander, aren’t you?” Ace asked before Marco managed to answer his other question.

“Yeah,” he said, “I am.” There was a small smile on his face, just barely visible unless you were looking for it. “And we’ll do what we’ve been doing so far, trying to find what we can about reversing the animal thing. We can’t get out of here with a whole Zoo of animals.”

“I don’t know, a tiger would be useful,” Ace said. “The tiger is a person, right?”

Marco nodded as if that was a completely normal question. “We’re stuck here for now,” Marco told him. “We can’t leave anyone behind.”

“We won’t leave anyone,” Ace said, determined now to see this through. If Marco was right, he’d be remembering everything soon enough and that determination could only intensify as the memories came back. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah, we will,” Marco said before pulling Ace into a hug. “I’m really glad you started remembering, Ace.”

“Me too,” Ace said honestly, even if it felt like he was still missing something important.