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What was supposed to be a regular supply run to a neighboring island was quickly taken to another notch when the intel came that there was a lot of marine presence there. Where before they would have just sent Marco and Ace, as the ones quickest and able to travel alone, the both of them were sent on the mission.
On the way to the island, they had been joking that this would be over within a moment. That it might just be overkill to send two commanders. They were each more than capable of taking on some marines.
Getting out of the store, it became clear that the intel hadn’t been lying when it said that there was a lot of marine presence.
The worst thing was that there was a vice-admiral present too. One that really didn’t like them with the way he started chasing them the moment he realized that it was Fire Fist Ace and Marco the Phoenix. These weren’t regular small fries, these were commanders for the strongest man in the world.
“Halt, in the name of justice.”
Instead of stopping, the two of them started sprinting towards the bay where Striker was laying. Hoping to get to the water before it was overrun by marines.
No such luck, sadly enough. It became clear that this was something they had been waiting for. A large group of marines had been waiting for them at the bay, the grin’s on their faces showing that they were certain of their victory.
The larger than usual guns they were carrying made Ace turn around when they were directed towards them. He didn’t want to take the chance that there was seastone in any of those, least of all because the barrels were larger than normal guns - and as such could fire a larger projectile instead of bullets.
“Come on, Marco, let’s go!”
Turning and running in another direction, Ace became aware of Marco not following close behind him. Biting his lip as he turned, he saw the gun fire, a larsh flash going off before he heard Marco yell out in pain.
As soon as he could see after the flash, Ace was sprinting back to him, taking a hold of Marco’s hands where they were slapped over his eyes.
Frowning, he took a hold of one of them, finding himself having to bend down to avoid a kick to his head. This wasn’t good if Marco was lashing out blindly.
“Marco, Marco, it’s me!”
“Ace-yoi?”
Even his voice sounded pained, which just didn’t sit right with Ace. Marco always healed instantly, what had happened for him not being able to do that.
“Don’t tell me there was seastone in that grenade?”
Marco nodded, before hissing as his wounds were aggravated. As he took down his hands, Ace gasped, Marco’s eyes were hit - he could see the shrapnel in them, the flash would have rendered him temporarily blind. Enough that he wouldn’t see the second part of the grenade which had to be seastone shrapnel.
“Those bastards…”
Marco just winced in pain again, making Ace take his hand, “We’ll look at them in a bit. For now we need to get out of here before they manage to reload. The good thing about this is that they temporarily blinded themselves too.”
Marco nodded again, clutching Ace’s hand as he pulled him along. Making sure to be there to catch him as he stumbled, which would be a lot easier on the uneven road they were in now.
Making their way to the striker. He got Marco situated on the front, tying a rope around the mast to give to Marco to hold - to make sure he could keep his balance and know where he needed to lean towards now that he couldn’t see what he needed to do.
Lighting up his own devil fruit, Ace got them to hell out of there. Making his way towards an uninhabited island they had seen on their way to the previous island. It wasn’t perfect, but it would give them some time to see how bad the damage was. Given that they were on Striker and speeding off before the Marines had gathered their bearings, it gave them some time to take it easy.
—-
Helping Marco off of Striker as they arrived on the small island, Ace sat him down on some flat rocks before taking out the first aid kit Deuce insisted he carried around everywhere. Something he used to get annoyed about, that he would thank Deuce for.
Taking out the small flashlight in it, he used it to shine into Marco’s eyes, wincing as he noticed that the pupil didn’t move. It should get smaller with the amount of light now shining into it. That didn’t mean anything good, as it indicated Marco’s nerves were damaged. The ones in his eyes at least.
“I think the shrapnel got deep into the eye, you don’t seem to react to light.”
Marco hummed, “Guessed as much, I saw hazy at first, but it darkened to total black about 10 minutes ago -yoi.”
Ace blinked at that, “And you didn’t tell me!”
Laughing, Marco shook his head, “It didn’t matter, as soon as the shrapnel is out, I’ll heal -yoi.”
Hating the way Marco was so used to pain, or to being cripled, all because he knew he could heal didn’t sit well with Ace. It hurt to know that the man he loved was hurt so many times that he had gotten used to it. His moniker might be ‘the Phoenix’ but that didn’t mean that Ace, or the crew, liked to see him in pain.
“That doesn’t mean anything, Marco! I can’t get the shrapnel out, it’s way too deep into your eyes. And don’t you dare suggest I scoop your eyes out, I’m willing to do a whole lot. But I’m not doing that, least of all on an island with sand blowing up all around us. If you heal with some sand in the empty eye socket I don’t want to think about what could happen.”
Shivering from the mental image, he added, “In fact, I don’t even want to think about you with empty eye sockets. I like your blue eyes way too much.”
Marco just grinned, that easy and relaxed grin he always sported whenever Ace said something that he liked. In this case most likely liking his eyes. He hoped so, as he didn’t want to think about Marco thinking that Ace scooping out his eyes was something to like.
“We need to get you to Deuce and the nurses.”
Marco just hummed, letting Ace manhandle him back on Striker. Seeing the way he flinches as he was put down, Ae made sure to lengthen the robe they had used before, making it into a makeshift harness to secure Marco to the mast. Just to make sure that if he passed out from the pain, he wouldn’t fall into the ocean. Ace had no way of getting to him then.
“You ready?”
Marco just hummed, even if the tightening of his hands on the harness told Ace enough. Marco might be ready, but that didn’t take away that for once he couldn’t count on his flames to heal him - something that must be scary for someone who had been able to heal from everything.
He had told Ace once that he had used glasses as a child, his eyesight not being all that well. His phoenix fruit had solved that, much to his pleasure, made it possible for him to never need glasses again. Even if he used reading glasses now and again, when he had to read a lot and his eyes tired - but that too would be healed as soon as he was ready with that.
Ace started up the Striker, making their way into the direction their eternal log pose pointed them. Fishing out his baby den den mushi to call Deuce and tell the man to be on stand-by.
As soon as someone picked up, Ace told them to wake up Deuce and to make sure he and the nurses were ready.
Haruta, the one who had picked up, sounded panicked, “Are you hurt!?”
Ace sighed, “I’m not, but Marco is. Those marines had flash grenades filled with seastone, he’s temporarily blind right now.”
He could hear Haruta curse, before the other commander promised to have everyone at the ready. The line went after that, but Ace didn’t worry. Their crew loved Marco too much to let anything happen to him.
Glancing at the man in question, he winced at seeing Marco hanging there, looking passed out. Blood was making its way down his cheeks now. So the shrapnel was still getting deeper and deeper into his eyes despite the bandages over them and the way Ace had taped his eyes shut to keep them from blinking. Something he’s done after Marco told him to do so, explaining that his blink reflex still worked.
Steadily speeding up, Ace made Striker go at almost top speed to get to the Moby Dick as fast as possible. Hoping that it wouldn’t be too late, he would never forgive himself if Marco would lose his sight because of his inaction.
—
Sighting the Moby Dick, he knew that they were spotted when several people lowered themselves to help them out.
Several of the fishman brothers they had were in the water, helping to keep Striker steady as Thatch came on board to untie Marco and pick him up over his shoulder. Making his way to the rope ladder and to the deck in moments. All the while Ace could just sit there and wait until the ropes to pull Striker up were lowered.
As he stored away the Stiker, all he could think about was being too late. About what this could mean for Marco and his future. Biting his lip, he shook his head, pulling the tarp over Striker before making his way to the deck to at least give Oyaji the medicines they had gone to the island for.
Before he reached him however, he was caught around the waist by Izou, who looked at him for a few moments before pulling him into a hug. One that made Ace break down, hiding his face in Izou’s shoulder as sobs wracked his frame.
A soft hand ran through his hair as he tried to pull himself together again, pulling back to rub at the tears still in his eyes.
Izou smiled softly, “You looked like you needed a hug. Did it help?”
Ace shrugged, his lip still trembling, looking at Izou before sighing, “Is Marco alright?”
Izou pursed his lips, “I don’t know, Ace. Thatch hurried past all of us with Marco in his arms after coming up from the Striker. He made a dash towards the infirmary where Deuce and the nurses were waiting. I guess we won’t hear anything for a little while.”
Looking down, Ace shook his head, “He wanted me to scoop his eyes out. To get his flames to heal him like that.”
The look on Izou’s face tells enough about what he thought about that idea.
“Yeah, I had the same reaction. I told him I wasn’t going to do that on a sandy little island without the proper tools. I didn’t want to be the reason he’d go blind like that.”
Izou patted him on the back, “And you did good by not doing that, Ace. Marco forgets sometimes that even if he heals there is still a possibility that he doesn’t. If we miss part of the seastone or if something is hurt too badly.”
Ace sighed at that, letting Izou lead him onto the deck, “You did right by wanting to take him to the infirmary. You even called ahead so we were ready for you both. Deuce is an amazing doctor, even if I don’t have to tell you that. He’ll have Marco all fixed up within moments.”
Nodding, Ace noticed that Izou stopped walking, looking up, he noticed Oyaji looking down at him. A soft smile on his old face as he patted the armrest of his chair, making Ace scramble up the stairs that had been etched into the side for his smaller children. Handing the medicine to Oyaji, he took a pill as he pulled Ace closer to his side.
“What happened, son?”
Ace repeated what he had told Izou, telling the whole story about what had happened. What the marines had done to them, or tried to do, and how Marco had gotten injured.
Oyaji told him the same thing as Izou told him. Reminding him that Marco often thought as a doctor. As someone who had done some of these procedures a hundred times, instead of thinking about the other person who at most had stabilized a broken bone. Between Marco and Deuce, Ace wasn’t totally out of his depth, but he wasn’t comfortable with actually scooping out someone’s eyes.
Leaning back at the chair, Ace tried to act inconspicuously as he kept an eye on the entrance to the deck below. Startling each and every time someone appeared, but as they weren’t one of the nurses, Deuce, Thatch or Marco himself, he settled back down.
The events had made an even bigger impact than he imagined, as he slipped into a narcolepsy induced nap soon after. Waking up by familiar hands running through his hair.
“Marco?”
A deep hum from behind him had him opening his eyes to see Marco indeed sitting there, bandage free and blue eyes staring back just as Ace was used to seeing them.
Laughing, he got up and turned to hug Marco close. If his shoulders shook, and tears fell onto Marco’s chest, he didn’t say anything about it. Instead just wrapping his arms around Marco’s waist as Marco’s arms found their way over his shoulders.
“Thank you for what you did -yoi. Deuce had me fixed up in a moment or two, or maybe an hour or two. Thatch carried me inside of the infirmary, I still remember that, even if the seastone was making me weak by that time -yoi. I was able to heal myself the moment my eyes were out, they were just too damaged, but I was fine after that.”
Ace flinched at the knowledge that Marco’s eyes had to be taken out for him to heal. Already thinking about scenarios where something had gone wrong.
“Hey, Ace, no bad throught, alright -yoi. I’m fine and all healed up.”
Nodding, Ace pulled back a bit to look into blue eyes once more. A small smile came to his face, before he pressed his lips to Marco’s. Happy that his lover was indeed alright, that everything had gone alright despite how it had gone before.
“Please don’t do that, again.”
Marco laughed, “I’ll try, but you know as well as I do that I don’t have a hold over what the Marines do -yoi.”
Ace grumbled, leaning on Marco’s chest some more, until his stomach grumbled and they made their way to the mess hall to join dinner.