There are two people I can say definitively are more beloved than anyone else of all time. It is not an exaggeration to say literally millions knew them and loved them more than we can ever tell them. Or show them.
[Even now, in his semi-drunk flower-intoxicated phoenix haze, he can clearly remember every single one of the thousands who all recognized the call to save Ace and came running. Willing to risk their dreams, their future, their friends and family, just to save Ace.]
[But of course the other side were those who put him in the position where he needed saving.]
Ace is one of the most loved people you will ever be lucky enough to meet. And rightfully so. Oh, he's stubborn, he's reckless, and he's a pain in the ass of a baby brother, but I would lay everything on the line, all of my other siblings, all of my friends, everyone I could, just for him, if he needed it. And anyone who's met him? I wouldn't even have to ask them twice. They'd come running. They'd be mad at me for not calling and asking their help sooner.
Our Pops is the strongest man in the world. A pirate emperor in his own right with the strongest crew, and the most islands under his protection.
Another pirate emperor only met Ace once, and he adored that kid so much he came and yelled at Pops for how we were treating him. He risked a war that could have literally destroyed the world, just for Ace. [And then they made him go up against another pirate emperor because fucking Shanks man.]
If I could show you how many people love him, absolutely adore him, would do anything for him... I would. There's literally millions. It's crazy. He can meet people just once and they love him. And I love him for that. I always will.
The only other person that beloved is my Pops, of course. And Pops is seventytwo, not just barely twenty. He's had a lot longer to meet those millions and earn their affection, eh?
I wouldn't let myself be first mate to anyone else. I barely did with Ace, but I really do love him that much. Enough to do anything, no matter how much I resist it.
People who knew Pops and Ace, people who matter to me, they all love 'em. They're the ones who would line around the world, and we'd break the world if it would help either of them.
But you have to realize, the world is a big place. Even if every person Ace ever met loved him, there's only so many out of billions he could run around trying to shake hands with.
My Pops had the largest funeral in the world. Millions came, and the rest who couldn't make it because the island wouldn't even fit them all, still sent letters and flowers and notes, and the rest.
[He trembles and gulps hard.] But all around the world, while I was burying him with the help of friends and the rest of his huge family, people celebrated the death of a man they called a monster. They rejoiced and threw parties. They said "Finally Whitebeard's reign of terror is over." They said "Finally we're free." "Finally we don't need to worry anymore." Millions of us mourned, but billions of them celebrated.
No one who met my Pops celebrated. Even his enemies, even those who defeated him, still mourned his loss. Because they knew what it meant. Whitebeard, Pops, was a lot of things, but even his enemies respected him.
The thing is, Ace and Pops aren't people to those who never met them. You will never meet someone more loved, and they've always earned every ounce of loyalty they've gotten and then some. But to those idiots who celebrated, to those idiots who hate Ace or Pops, they didn't hate a kid with fiery freckles and a smile brighter than the sun. They hated some phantom idea they made in their head of a scary criminal they could pin their troubles on. They didn't hate the most loving and strongest man in the world, they hated a man so gentle and careful he wouldn't use his earthquakes without making precise measurements, but they blamed any earthquakes on him because it was easier than blaming themselves for digging their mines too deep.
Aye, Natsuno. Portgas D. Ace is a name no one in our world has not heard by now. And a lot of people might spit on it.
But do me a favor, always remember that he couldn't be in better company. I wish he could remember better that those of us who love him matter a billion times more than they ever will, but at least I can say whether he's hated or not, it just puts him right up there with Edward Newgate, the only other best man as equally feared and beloved, eh?
And no matter what Ace tells you, tell him right back he's got sixteen hundred brothers who'd do anything for him, that's a lot better than any of those other assholes have, right?
Everyone in my family is pretty well hated. Thatch can be a fucking prick even on a good day, Namur's a god damn shark, half of us are monsters of some caliber or another, and the rest of us are freaks of another kind. Sometimes we're hated for some pretty good reasons. You haven't seen me get vengeance, but believe me, it's not pretty. And sometimes we're hated just because we're born. But the one thing I know most, Pops adopted us all because he loved us. And we all love each other. I'd rather have all the love of my family than ever worry what the rest of the world thinks. Hell, I don't really like the rest of the world, so maybe that's the difference. Ace wants to like them and I want to hate them. And I do hate them. I'm not as nice as Ace. But all the same, even if I only ever had just my Pops' love, I know I've always been a lot better for it.
Ace too. When he stopped trying to kill the old man, he became Pops' number two defender, right after me. And that's when we got to see him smile.
So what do you think? If you could make that kind of choice; the hatred of billions for the love of millions, would you? Ace didn't choose it, it chose him. And like I said, I wish he'd let us outweigh the others.
Mah, maybe he'll come around if we start tackling him with hugs everyday.
Voice 3/3
[Even now, in his semi-drunk flower-intoxicated phoenix haze, he can clearly remember every single one of the thousands who all recognized the call to save Ace and came running. Willing to risk their dreams, their future, their friends and family, just to save Ace.]
[But of course the other side were those who put him in the position where he needed saving.]
Ace is one of the most loved people you will ever be lucky enough to meet. And rightfully so. Oh, he's stubborn, he's reckless, and he's a pain in the ass of a baby brother, but I would lay everything on the line, all of my other siblings, all of my friends, everyone I could, just for him, if he needed it. And anyone who's met him? I wouldn't even have to ask them twice. They'd come running. They'd be mad at me for not calling and asking their help sooner.
Our Pops is the strongest man in the world. A pirate emperor in his own right with the strongest crew, and the most islands under his protection.
Another pirate emperor only met Ace once, and he adored that kid so much he came and yelled at Pops for how we were treating him. He risked a war that could have literally destroyed the world, just for Ace. [And then they made him go up against another pirate emperor because fucking Shanks man.]
If I could show you how many people love him, absolutely adore him, would do anything for him... I would. There's literally millions. It's crazy. He can meet people just once and they love him. And I love him for that. I always will.
The only other person that beloved is my Pops, of course. And Pops is seventytwo, not just barely twenty. He's had a lot longer to meet those millions and earn their affection, eh?
I wouldn't let myself be first mate to anyone else. I barely did with Ace, but I really do love him that much. Enough to do anything, no matter how much I resist it.
People who knew Pops and Ace, people who matter to me, they all love 'em. They're the ones who would line around the world, and we'd break the world if it would help either of them.
But you have to realize, the world is a big place. Even if every person Ace ever met loved him, there's only so many out of billions he could run around trying to shake hands with.
My Pops had the largest funeral in the world. Millions came, and the rest who couldn't make it because the island wouldn't even fit them all, still sent letters and flowers and notes, and the rest.
[He trembles and gulps hard.] But all around the world, while I was burying him with the help of friends and the rest of his huge family, people celebrated the death of a man they called a monster. They rejoiced and threw parties. They said "Finally Whitebeard's reign of terror is over." They said "Finally we're free." "Finally we don't need to worry anymore." Millions of us mourned, but billions of them celebrated.
No one who met my Pops celebrated. Even his enemies, even those who defeated him, still mourned his loss. Because they knew what it meant. Whitebeard, Pops, was a lot of things, but even his enemies respected him.
The thing is, Ace and Pops aren't people to those who never met them. You will never meet someone more loved, and they've always earned every ounce of loyalty they've gotten and then some. But to those idiots who celebrated, to those idiots who hate Ace or Pops, they didn't hate a kid with fiery freckles and a smile brighter than the sun. They hated some phantom idea they made in their head of a scary criminal they could pin their troubles on. They didn't hate the most loving and strongest man in the world, they hated a man so gentle and careful he wouldn't use his earthquakes without making precise measurements, but they blamed any earthquakes on him because it was easier than blaming themselves for digging their mines too deep.
Aye, Natsuno. Portgas D. Ace is a name no one in our world has not heard by now. And a lot of people might spit on it.
But do me a favor, always remember that he couldn't be in better company. I wish he could remember better that those of us who love him matter a billion times more than they ever will, but at least I can say whether he's hated or not, it just puts him right up there with Edward Newgate, the only other best man as equally feared and beloved, eh?
And no matter what Ace tells you, tell him right back he's got sixteen hundred brothers who'd do anything for him, that's a lot better than any of those other assholes have, right?
Everyone in my family is pretty well hated. Thatch can be a fucking prick even on a good day, Namur's a god damn shark, half of us are monsters of some caliber or another, and the rest of us are freaks of another kind. Sometimes we're hated for some pretty good reasons. You haven't seen me get vengeance, but believe me, it's not pretty. And sometimes we're hated just because we're born. But the one thing I know most, Pops adopted us all because he loved us. And we all love each other. I'd rather have all the love of my family than ever worry what the rest of the world thinks. Hell, I don't really like the rest of the world, so maybe that's the difference. Ace wants to like them and I want to hate them. And I do hate them. I'm not as nice as Ace. But all the same, even if I only ever had just my Pops' love, I know I've always been a lot better for it.
Ace too. When he stopped trying to kill the old man, he became Pops' number two defender, right after me. And that's when we got to see him smile.
So what do you think? If you could make that kind of choice; the hatred of billions for the love of millions, would you? Ace didn't choose it, it chose him. And like I said, I wish he'd let us outweigh the others.
Mah, maybe he'll come around if we start tackling him with hugs everyday.