Marco had seen enough of Ace's attacks, had once helped train a bunch of Ace's attacks, that he could have dodged him instinctively. He ducked to one side with an almost fluid grace since haki hadn't fazed Marco when Gol D. Roger did it and it didn't faze him when his son did it either. Still, Ace was smart, albeit the most reckless person Marco have ever known, so the phoenix kept a lazy eye open for seastone, one hand shoving Ace's head to push the marine brat's momentum further in the direction Ace was already lunging.

On the bright side, he was pretty sure he'd made Ace forget about missing Luffy's birthday. For now. How much worse the kid might feel later would have to wait and see.