Chapter Text
The whole world was shocked that morning.
It was summer when the Pirate King announced that his crew was officially disbanded.. Gol D. Roger was last seen in South Blue before he disappeared without a trace. His crew scattered and while some gave up their life of piracy the others continued to conquer the world. Everyone tried to explain why the world’s most wanted man would come up with such a decision: he was secretly imprisoned in Impel Down, Dark King Rayleigh assassinated him to usurp his position, he took One Piece for himself and abandoned his crew, he died and the crew wanted to keep it a secret,…
A few, very few, dared to say he found a woman, and desired to settle down.
Marco remembered his Pops spent that day looking distantly at the sea with so many emotions in his eyes. Roger and Whitebeard had been the greatest rivals, but somehow they had also become quite close to the definition of friends. Frenemies, Rouge once said.
Ah yes, Rouge. What a fire cracker she was, sometimes chased both the Roger Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates to the very edge of New World, and other times sat with down to chat with both of the captains from dusk till dawn. Because of the shock of Roger’s announcement, no one seemed to notice that Rear Admiral “Hibiscus” Monkey D. Rouge had resigned from her position in the Marine.
Marco was amused, something he hadn´t felt in a long time.
The young man sitting right opposite him suddenly collapsed. He had actually face-planted right into the plate with his unfinished food while still holding a fork in mid-air with his right hand. Furthermore, going by the height of the stack of bowls and plates next to him, he had already consumed an amount of food that would have been able to sate five man.
The other guests started to panic, some even screamed, as they had no idea why such a healthy young man would suddenly drop dead in the middle of eating. Then someone pointed at the tattoo on Marco’s chest and murmured about “a ruthless pirate committing murder in daylight”. Marco liked to show off his tattoo, as it was his pride, but he didn’t like being accused of something he didn’t do. But what could he say, it wasn't every day that a pirate from an Emperors crew appeared.
Marco knew the young man was alive, he could sense it, it was just that his breathing was too light and his body seemed to be paralyzed. Food poisoning, Marco assumed, or maybe he was bitten by a venomous insect. Either way, it was bad for Marco if he just let it be, as the last thing he needed in this town was to attract public attention. He was just about to check-up on the young man, when he suddenly woke up, grabbed the nearby maid’s dress to wipe the food off his face and continued to eat like nothing happened.
“Is there something wrong? Why is everyone looking at me?” The man asked after swallowing his food, as his grey eyes scanned around the room innocently. That was a very polite gesture to Marco, as he was used to people talking and chewing at the same time.
Though calling him “a man” would be an exaggeration. He was only nineteen, and those freckles on his cheeks made him look even much younger.
“You just passed out. They thought you died because I killed you.”
“Oh, that. Sorry everyone, I fell asleep.”
The young man grinned sheepishly at the other guests but no one answered. Marco could tell they hadn´t gotten over their shock yet. He'd encountered this condition while fighting a monstrous marine. The fact that he had narcolepsy made him even more interesting to Marco. Narcolepsy was supposed to be a disadvantage if you wanted to rock the sea, but Garp was ridiculously strong and his opponents were happy that he had that sleeping disorder.
Said young man continued to eat and looked at Marco.
“So Marco, where were we again?”
“Sea King in the South Blue. The giant toad with a chicken comb on his head.”
“Ah yes. That’s the one. That toad also had claws and saber-teeth. It could jump about fifteen meters above sea level and….”
Listening to the man had been interesting. Marco sipped his rum and sometimes made a small comment. This young man was an unexpected surprise since he got to this town.
A little less than an hour ago Marco had been sitting alone in a corner of the restaurant when this young man suddenly came over and asked to sit with him. He introduced himself as Portgas D. Ace, a nineteen years old, delivery man from East Blue that just got to Grand Line a few months ago. At his left hip hang a dagger in a green sheath and he wore a ridiculously catchy orange cowboy hat, as well as an open-front shirt like Marco himself. Although anyone could tell with a quick look that Ace was a decent fighter, he still gave off a wild yet innocent impression, which made it hard to say no to him. There was absolute confidence in his voice. He was charming in Marco’s opinion, the type of young man who could woo any barmaid even with the worst pick-up line.
At first Marco thought Ace was a clueless young man who wanted to sit with him since there was no other free seat, but it turned out Ace knew exactly who he was. He even had the proper knowledge about the New World and the Four Emperors. Marco asked whether he should be scared of a notorious pirate, especially when said pirate was an Emperor’s first mate, and Ace simply shook his head and said that not all pirates were bad people.
That was a strange statement from someone who had to fight pirates on a daily basis to protect his merchandise. As the conversation went on Marco found out Ace’s little brother was once saved by a pirate; therefore to Ace, there were good guys and there were bad guys in piracy just like any other occupations.
The conversation was mostly about their own adventures. They went on and on about the Sea Kings and how different it was between the Blues and Grand Line. Marco was in East Blue a few months ago, but didn’t have much time to catch up on the news. It was fun to know what was going on outside the Grand Line. Despite being so young, Ace had defeated lots of tough pirates. His team, the Spade Delivery Service, had worked as bodyguards for many corporations in East Blue and had to accompany their ships to their destination as well as keep them safe. Since Ace turned the pirates in to the Marine for the rewards, he considered himself a part-time bounty hunter, even though he only beat those that attacked him first.
Their conversation was enjoyable. Marco had to admit that he hadn´t expected to meet someone as interesting as Ace when he set sail to Paradise. He would have been able to say that he had a lovely time, if it wasn´t for the bird that kept annoying him with it´s constant cooing inside his mind.
A very, very, very annoying bird he couldn't shake off.
Not only do devil fruit users gain a special power after consuming the fruit, but they can also communicate with the devil in it. Phoenix wasn’t just his power, the avian was a living being in his mind and he could feel its emotions. They even talked even though it mostly communicated just with chirps and caws. Sometimes the flaming bird would take over his body for a few minutes just to satisfy its own desire, like nesting in the Crow´s Nest on a sunny day. It was annoying at first, although Marco knew Phoenix would never hurt him, mostly because of the constant bird jokes. Phoenix was easy to tame when Marco was young, but as he got stronger and relied more on his physical abilities, the bird started to become a lazy ass, and only came out when he forced it with his will power or when he was in a dangerous situation.
Since the moment Ace came to him and said hi, god only knows why, the slothful avian began cooing excitedly at such a volume that Marco had to resist yelling at it to shut up. For some reason his power was very fond of the black haired man.
Maybe because of those cute freckles.
In his inner world, Phoenix nodded in agreement.
Marco was about to comment on the Blue-Finned Elephant Tuna, a very popular main dish in South Blue, when he sensed some living creature approaching the restaurant really fast. Too fast to be a normal human, more like an animal, some kind of four-legged creature. Ace seemed to sense it too, as he turned around and looked at the door.
A lynx burst in and some guests immediately yelled and jumped off their seats. Its muscular limbs suggested that it was a nasty hunter whereas the dark-colored belt it wore indicated that it might have an owner. The lynx scanned the room attentively, which resulted in a lot of people nearly choking, until it spotted their seats and ran towards them. Or more precisely, towards a grinning Ace.
“Hey there Kotatsu. What are you doing here? Missed me?”
It came to Ace and meowed, as if it wasn’t a carnivorous feline, but just a harmless house cat. Ace rubbed its chin gently and the lynx purred in delight.
A young man came in right after the lynx. He had spiky long light-blue hair and wore a mask over his eyes. At first he looked relieved at the sight of Ace, but his expression soon turned worried, when he noticed Marco and probably recognized the tattoo on his chest. Still, Blue Hair approached them.
“There you are, Ace.”
“What’s wrong Deuce? Something happened?”
Marco saw Blue Hair, Deuce, clench his hand a bit before answering. The young man seemed tense because of Marco’s presence. He must be from Ace’s crew. His physical appearance suggested that he was also a fighter, but it was easy to tell Ace was stronger. The black haired man didn’t state it directly, but Marco guessed that Ace was the leader of Spade Delivery Service.
“Not really, but we’re short-handed. It seems like the spoiled idiot took a few men somewhere and the old man wants us to help with the loading.”
Ace rolled his eyes, “Please don’t tell me that idiot wants to provoke someone again. And loading isn't in our contract.”
“The old man promised to pay us more. And if we don’t finish all the loading this afternoon, we’ll delay tomorrows departure.”
“-tsk,” Ace looked annoyed, but he still stood up and looked apologetically at Marco. “I’m sorry, but I have to leave.”
“It’s okay. I didn’t expect to meet such a charming and interesting guy on this island,” Marco chuckled and deliberately ignored the bang in his head. Phoenix cawed furiously, demanding him to do something. The bird was in haste. He found it entertaining since his power had never been interested in someone this much.
Ace grinned cheerfully. His smile was so bright that Marco wouldn't be surprised if the young man received compliments on a daily basis, “It was lovely talking to you, Marco. Have a good day. Hopefully we’ll meet again. Maybe we’ll be able to continue talking about South Blue’s dishes.”
“I hope that too--” Marco replied, then suddenly everything went quiet as a wave of power rushed into his mind. Oh no, he managed to think before his body went numb. He felt his mouth open against his will, but couldn’t do anything to stop it, “--but here’s a small tip. Do not foretell in the Grand Line, because we never know what the sea may deliver us.”
Marco gained back the power to control his body. Phoenix singsonged triumphantly and Marco just wanted to kick its butt. Damn the flaming pigeon. He wouldn’t mind holding their conversation a bit longer, but making a fool out of him shouldn’t be an option. He’d never been a flirtatious man, but he certainly could come up with a better pickup line, than the line that Pops said to him when they first met.
The silence was deafening for two seconds, before it was replaced by Ace’s laughter.
“Oh my god, I didn’t expect that,” Ace held his stomach, tears streaming down his face, “My mother said the same thing when I set sail too.” The young man wiped a joyful tear off his eye. “If that’s the case, lets hope that we´ll be on the same side when we meet again.”
The blue haired man looked at them warily, but didn’t say anything. He followed Ace outside along with the lynx.
“He… didn’t pay,” – murmured the restaurant’s owner.
“One more time and I’m not going to any tropical island in the next three years”.
“…” Phoenix grumbled, but Marco could feel a bit of satisfaction in its tone. Of course the flaming bird wasn’t sorry for taking over his body at all. Its attachment to the young man was interesting at first, but Marco wasn't sure whether he wanted to see his body moving by Phoenix’s will again. That was the first time Phoenix used his body to interact with someone. Even if it only lasted for a few seconds, the feeling of being out of control of his body actually terrified him. Nesting under the sun was comfortable, but talking to a stranger could be dangerous.
“You want me to raise it to six months?”
“…” Phoenix cawed in defeat, knowing all too well not to bargain when Marco was angry.
“Why are you so fond of Ace? Is this a devil-fruit-thing?”
“…”
“Phoenix?”
“…”
Marco mentally sighed. Phoenix’s silence mean that it really was a devil-fruit-thing and he had to accept what the hell happened between the bird and the young man, whether he liked it or not.
“I won’t push, but let me know if you want to do this again. You know I don’t like being on the passive side.”
Phoenix nodded and Marco continued to walk to a pottery shop while holding a giant stuffed otter.
The First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates loved his family more than anything in this world, but with a family with more than one-thousand members, being the second-in-command came with a lot of responsibilities. Sometimes things got overwhelming and Marco would become desperate for a short break. Pops easily saw through him, the old man always did. When it happened this time, he ordered Marco to get him the finest drink in Paradise. It was a stupid excuse to free him from his duties. Even though he appreciated it, he refused to leave his family for so long or let his father near any kind of alcohol. Yet his brothers were too eager to kick him off the ship and to enthusiastically demand what they want from Paradise.
It was worrisome and delightful at the same time.
Since moving from one side of Grand Line Wall to the other took a lot effort and most merchandise could be produced in the New World as well, not many ships were willing to dive deep down to Fishman Island, especially not on a daily basis. There were still companies shipping here and there yet Paradise’s products were quite rare. Marco had come to Paradise with an extremely long shopping list. He had spent two days just to plan the most efficient route to buy all of the items in the shortest time. So far he had finished half of the list. As the current progress, he would get to New World in the next four months.
He was on this island to collect the items that Jozu and some other brothers had requested secretly the night before he left,. There had been a deep red blush wide spread on the paramecia’s face.
It turned out Jozu had a collection of mini pottery animals and he wanted pottery unicorns from a specific shop on a specific island in the Paradise. On the one hand walking with a bag full of pottery unicorns wasn’t the strangest thing Marco had ever done. On the other hand walking with said bag and a giant stuffed otter to a doll shop, a stationery shop and a witchcraft shop was.
In comparison with Jozu’s, the other requests weren’t any more normal. Marco didn’t expect to learn that much about his brothers’ guilty pleasures before he left. He’d thought that after two decades of sailing the New World nothing could surprise him anymore.
Except for Izou’s. Izou pointed straight to his face demanding a brother-in-law.
Marco got back to his ship in the afternoon with five bags of cute decorative items in his hands, when what he saw made anger flood his veins.
His ship was attacked. The ship body was covered in paint and the mainsail was torn apart by sword.
Marco gritted his teeth. He hopped on board and looked around. He couldn’t sense anyone with Haki, which meant that the attacker had already left. The engine was fine, but the steering wheel was ripped off and tossed away and the door of the storage room was smashed. Some of the items were gone as well. His bedroom was tampered with and his maps were scattered on the floor.
Yet that wasn’t the worst of it.
Marco looked up and had the urge to dip his talons into someone’s chest and rip their heart out.
The flag was burned.
Some god damn fucker just burned his ship’s flag. His family’s insignia. His pride.
Marco regretted being over-confident that no one would dare to attack a Whitebeard Pirates´ ship. The world at large knew that attacking a member of the Whitebeard Pirates meant becoming the enemy the whole crew. Since he brought nothing important on the journey - only the items his brothers requested could be considered valuable, but most of them weren’t expensive at all - he didn’t hesitate to leave them all behind. Marines certainly don’t want to provoke an Emperor and Emperors’ crews don’t attack each other for no reason. Ignorant rookies who wanted to make their name known would leave a distinguishing mark, but Marco found nothing,. No drawing, no writing, no jolly roger and no symbol.
This was not a war-trigger, it was simply sabotaging and nothing more. Marco wasn’t sure whether the attacker was aiming at him and the Whitebeard pirates or just was playing around.
Either way, it was a pure act of stupidity.
It didn’t take Marco long to find out the identity of the attackers, in fact, he knew their names after just fifteen minutes of asking around. He only said his ship was attacked and a local woman guessed that he was a pirate immediately. An old fisherman looked him up and down and stated that he shouldn’t go after the attackers otherwise it would end in as massive a failure as for other pirate crews.
The Gonzalez was a local trading company specialized in construction equipment and their young master had a habit of provoking pirate crews stopping at this port. He broke pirate ships, waited for the pirates to show up at his door and then beat the shit out of them. Since only pirate ships were attacked, the locals just let it be, as long as it didn’t affect their lives. Gonzalez had some pretty strong fighters up his sleeve and no pirates managed to get their vengeance yet.
“All came back covered in blood and bruises”, said a fisherman.
Finding out about his whereabouts was even easier. Just before Marco reached the Gonzalez mansion, he eavesdropped on some guys, he guessed that they were servants based on their clothes, who were walking from the opposite direction saying that the young master had left the island and would come back to the company’s warehouse at night. Marco preferred going on a rampage with the culprits present, so he spent the afternoon cleaning his room and redrawing a few maps.
When the First Division Commander finished with that, he noticed that the sun was already diving into the sea. A sun-ray speared through the window and created a circular shape of light on his map. For an instant his mind wandered to the day his father introduced him to the Moby Dick. The day was still fresh in his mind,: the moustache man had spread his arms wide and had laughed triumphantly under the glorious twilight. He had sat on Pops’ shoulder, dreaming about the place he would call home.
Marco wondered what his family was doing, it must be dinner time by now, with Thatch running around and organizing the dining room. Although the chief was a happy-go-lucky guy, he took pride in his job of making sure everyone was healthy. Everyone would be cheering and laughing joyfully. There was always a story to tell on Moby Dick, maybe about a loved one, a long gone memory, a sin, a regret, or maybe just some prank Haruta had pulled earlier. Pops would sit at his corner laughing all the time. Marco hoped the nurses would be able to keep him away from alcohol.
He sat on the railing, puffed out cigar smoke and watched it fading slowly through his half-lidded eyes. He’d been sailing for decades, but he still admired the hue sky when the last sun-ray kissed the ocean goodbye.
When the light drained away and left nothing but the gloomy darkness behind, his Phoenix started cooing eagerly because of the incoming hunt.
He stood in front of the Gonzalez’s warehouse. Not to his surprise, the guards stopped him. There were three of them. A muscular man with a white cowboy hat, a short man wearing a grey turban and a large man with his arm replaced by a triple-barrelled shotgun. They drew their weapons when they saw Marco approach. Cowboy Hat tensed a bit when he recognized Marco’s tattoo, but he continued to stand firm alongside his comrades.
“I’m here for the young master of the Gonzalez. I believe he’s here and I’d like to talk to him,” Marco said in a flat tone. He didn’t mind the guards, but it would be more convenient if he didn’t have to deal with them.
“Young master has ordered us to not let anyone bother him tonight. So mister, you may come again tomorrow,” Cowboy Hat said politely.
“I believe he has some things that belong to me and I want to take them back. You see, I found out that my ship was attacked this afternoon and some items on board went missing.”
The three guards looked like they just tasted something disgusting. Marco took it as them understanding what happened to him. Cowboy Hat nodded hesitantly and the other two followed like they finally reached an agreement. Looking at their eyes, Marco knew the answer before Cowboy Hat rose his voice.
“We’re sorry for your… loss. But we cannot let you pass this gate no matter what.”
“No matter what?” Marco repeated sarcastically. His lips twisted up and he put some strength to his legs. “In that case, I’m sorry too.”
Within the next second, he kicked Grey Turban and the guy slammed into the concrete wall.
“Pinnacle!” Cowboy Hat hollered.
Barrel Gun lifted his arm and aimed at Marco, but before he could fire, Marco approached from below and kicked his barrel up. The big guy lost his balance and stumbled backward. Another kick right to his chest sent him straight to the ground. Cowboy Hat charged at Marco with his sabers upheld. The Zoan dodged easily and literally stepped on the guy’s face. Cowboy yelped in pain before Marco kicked him hard to his chest.
Marco liked to fight with his physical ability, it stretched his muscles and made him feel energetic. New World had taught him not to rely on his power too much. He wouldn’t use Phoenix if it wasn’t necessary (god damn, this habit of him had turned Phoenix into a sloth), although it was fun seeing the hopelessness in his opponents’ eyes when they realized they couldn’t hurt him.
As he was about to strike Barrel Gun again, when he suddenly heard a gunshot. Firework bloomed brightly in the night sky. Grey Turban was back on his feet holding a small gun. He turned at the sound of running feet on the rooftop.
“Cavalry?”
Marco smirked as he saw a bullet coming and shifted his head to avoid it, then he avoided two more. The sniper kept him busy so that his comrades could attack him in close-range. Barrel Gun was back in the field. His steps weren´t solid, but there was fire in his eyes as he held his barrel firmly. Cowboy Hat and Grey Turban tried to tackle him from both sides. They all aimed for important parts that wouldn’t kill him but would surely knock him down.
Well trained together and very good durability, Marco applauded. They would give some Paradise pirates a hard time, but they were nowhere near the level of New World.
He dodged the rifle shots, taking advantages of the open space and kicked Barrel Gun much harder than the last time. The big guy smashed to the ground again with a disturbing noise. Grey Turban charged at him from below and he jumped and then kicked the guy in the back. When he was about to kick the Cowboy Hat right to his face again, he felt a very strong presence approaching. A column of fire came straight at him from his right side. He immediately leaped back and barely avoided the destructive attack. The ground where he had stood earlier was now ashen black.
Phoenix suddenly cooed in excitement and Marco immediately understood why.
He turned around to see his attacker, Portgas D. Ace, with both arms covered in fire, and looking straight at Marco with a sullen expression. He looked like a royal prince coming up to the battle ground all geared up for war. Fire crawled on his skin, illuminating the young man in a majestic and glorious aura.
Marco felt his power singsong in response. Realization dawned upon him as to why the avian was so attached to the young man. Phoenix had always been fond of fire, legend said the bird was born from fire after all.
“Marco the Phoenix,” Ace grimaced.
“See what I meant earlier Ace?" Marco chuckled, as he couldn’t help finding the situation hilarious, "We don’t foretell in the Grand Line.”
The blue haired young man, Deuce if he was correct, was right behind Ace. He was shocked when he noticed Marco, but immediately drew his weapon.
Ace didn’t answer, instead he looked around with his eyebrow arched. His eyes went dark when he saw Barrel Gun lying unconscious. He took one step forward and raised his arms.
“Deuce, go check on Aggie, and none of you are allowed to interfere. I’ll take it from here.”
“Ace, what the fuck?!” Deuce protested, “What do you mean we’re not allowed to---”
Before the blue haired man could finish his sentence, Ace clapped his hands. A circle of fire rose and trapped him and Marco inside.