Well. I did post a poll. I received only one answer, and it was yes. So, I'm keeping my promise. This is the one I wanted to be different from the others MaLu I've written. I don't know if I succeeded, but my friend is so crazy about it that I'm actually hoping... Never happened, my God. I still didn't finish it, and I'm stuck at the beginning of the ninth chapter, but... I hope you guys will give me the strength to keep going. Also, I think I'll update whenever I feel like it, not weekly, not monthly, but in-between.
SUMMARY: Luffy wanted to play a game. A game of lives. A game of pirates and marines. A game of deception. A game in which... He had to play the captive. But. Not everything can go the way he wants them to.
So, the warnings. As usual, you can or cannot read them. And sorry for any mistakes.
WARNINGS
- MaLu, MarcoxLuffy, yaoi.
- Hints at SmoAce, SmokerxAce.
- A bit dark, a bit fragmented, a bit... surprising, I think.
- The relationship between our favourite three brothers is different, in many ways.
- Marine!Luffy, smart!Luffy.
- I really don't want to write this one, so, if you want to know, read, if not, skip and hate me later... Major character death.
DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything but the plot twist, right? Right.
Words: 2556.
Enjoy!
EDIT (03/20/2018): Hyphens to quotation marks, done.
01 – Game
"Take this to the Commodore."
"Yes, sir."
The brown-haired marine scrambled outside the office, making some smoke dance in the room. With a sigh, he opened the window and waited, fingers interlaced under his chin. The two still lit cigars were drawing lines of white smoke that curled high in the ceiling and dispersed with the welcomed wind of the humid afternoon.
The Rear Admiral could feel his haki. By then, he could even miles away. Useless denying it. Sure, at first, he had hated dearly the happy-go-lucky boy and his antics. Pranks in the bases he visited, pranks against his own crew members, messes in bars and restaurants because he doesn't pay what he eats. He could go on and on and on. He was more like a pirate than a marine, sometimes. Smoker had really hated him for a long time… Long, unforgettable years. But…
How could he hate someone that made people hate him? Strange, indeed. Smoker had discovered it years after knowing the boy, that, at that time, had been under Garp's wing and training. The then Captain had wondered how on earth could a boy like that endure it, but, with the growing hate, Smoker had let the subject go away from his mind with a hissing 'he deserves it'. Useless, because the boy was a bundle of endless energy, even if he was being trained by a demon.
It had happened on the field. Smoker had been barking orders while fighting off some rookies when Luffy had made his appearance. The cocky grin, the glinting dark eyes, the amused expression. It had been the same he remembered, the same Smoker had always hated, but different at the same time. Feral, hungry and unstoppable. Desire to fight and destroy and win. As if he had discarded the mask of a prankster boy and wore the one of a fierce fighter. Of a merciless marine.
And then, when the pirates were all dealt with, the mask was already back and the cheeky brat was messing with him again, making messes and pranks. Endearing and utterly annoying. But, after that, Smoker had deemed the boy worth a chance.
Smoker had baited Luffy.
It had worked.
Well, not exactly.
Luffy had seen through it. And made Smoker think he had fallen for it.
The scoundrel.
The door barged open and he held high a hand to stop the expected hug. However, he hadn't seen Luffy circle the desk and tackle him from the back. They ended up sprawled on the floor, with Luffy laughing loudly on his back and Smoker huffing and groaning.
"Smokey!"
"Shut. Up."
"Awwww, you're so gloomy!"
"Piss off."
Smoker ignored the continuous chuckles and stood up, making the other slid to the floor and looking around. Documents, previously neatly disposed on his desk, were scattered on the floor. His paperwork… His beloved, already signed and checked reports…
A vein ticked on his forehead. He closed his eyes, massaging his temples, and took a deep, smoky, calming breath. Burnt. What was burning? His cigars, obviously. Two. No, wait, he had only one between his lips…
Shit.
Smoker opened his eyes and looked at the small fire erupted on his documents. Before he could react, a splash of water was on the flames, that died. The empty vase of flowers, courtesy of Tashigi, was held high on the wet cigar and black papers. The hand gripping the white porcelain put it on the near desk and the boy stood, grinning cockily at him. Black messy hair, a bit longer than the usual, were framing equally dark, glinting eyes. His grin stretched, Smoker knew what was coming next…
"Smokey, you just burnt your documents."
Yes. Because. No one, no one just tackled him from behind.
"Loooook, Tashigi will throw a fit."
Obviously. He could almost already hear the scold. He gritted his teeth, almost biting his tongue.
"Didn't picture you as the clumsy one."
He. Was. Clumsy. In another universe.
"No worry, no worry."
… no… worry…
Some veins popped. "You–"
"I'm sorry."
Smoker almost spluttered, blinking. Was that a serious frown? Was he daydreaming? And, noticing it, why was the straw hat hanging down on his back?
"I'm sorry, but I have no time."
Luffy. Serious. No time for pranks. Yeah, a beautiful dream.
"Smoker."
He straightened, gazing over the tense muscle of the Rear Admiral in front of him. What the hell… He had never used that tone before. He seriously reminded Smoker of those stuck up Admirals.
Luffy sighed. "Listen…" He started gathering the papers all over the floor, slowly. "I have bad news."
Well. It must be really bad. Smoker sighed and sat, brushing a hand in his hair.
"Let the papers be, what's the problem?"
Luffy stood, positioning the few documents he had gathered on the desk, neatly. He sat on the chair opposite Smoker and sighed soundly, looking at his right. He put his elbows on the armrests and interlaced his fingers under his chin. The smoker was perplexed. He had never seen his colleague like that.
"I'm here because I know…" He started, looking straight into Smoker's eyes "… I can trust you."
Smoker gaped. "Wha…"
"The situation is dire." Luffy interrupted him. "I have no time to play around it. I will, but because I need to." He sighed. "Just hear me out for a bit." Smoker slowly nodded, lips still slightly parted. "What do you know about a pirate by the name of Marshall D Teach?"
Smoker blinked. "Isn't that fella in Whitebeard's crew?"
Luffy nodded, hands falling limp on his knees. The grey-haired man arched a brow.
"You should know that, you're always keeping tracks of the old man…"
That brought forth the question about the reason why, but Smoker had kept his mouth shut every time the subject surfaced. Something about instinct and the silent respect he had grown for the boy.
Again, a nod. "I appreciate the fact that you haven't ever asked me why, I'd have hated to lie. But… Now I need a helpful hand, so I'll tell you." Determination shone in his eyes. "I have a brother."
…
Great.
Shit.
What?!
"Not blood-related, don't panic." Luffy smirked.
"You just had to add that as an after-thought, right?" The smirk widened. "Brat."
"The obvious fear of my gramps' blood running wild in the world is a never-ending amusement's source."
The smart-ass… "That aside?" Breath, take a deep breath.
Luffy's lips stretched into a thin line. "What I'm about to say is known only by me in the Marine Corp., Smoker. And I want it to stay that way as long as possible."
"I… understand." Smoker hesitated a bit.
Luffy nodded. "Teach has betrayed Whitebeard."
In a normal situation, as in with proper behaving marines and in a meeting, Smoker would have assumed a grave expression. But, Luffy, the normally bouncing around brat that always kept pranking everyone, telling him that someone had betrayed a Yonko. He gaped.
"How do you…"
"Doesn't matter at the moment." When had his eyes become so cold? "He has stabbed the 4th Division Commander to take a Devil Fruit and fled. Yesterday night."
Silence fell. Smoker thought he was about to go on, but Luffy was looking at the floor, obviously thinking about something. And the grey-haired man was fed up with the strange behaviour. It was unsettling, unusual and it was ticking him off. Strangely. Because he would have killed someone to see this side of the man some years ago. Now, though… He wanted the brat back. And, hell, wasn't it funny?
So, Smoker tried to think for himself. Luffy said he has a brother and that he had been keeping tracks of the pirates' crew because of him. This brother then was bound to be in said crew.
"What does that entails for your brother?"
Luffy's gaze shot up to Smoker, that held back a flinch of surprise. "Knowing him, he will go after Teach."
The man arched a brow. "Why would he do something like that?" Nope, he didn't think 'stupid'.
"Because he is the Commander of the Division Teach was in."
Smoker's brain shut with a buzz.
Teach's Division. Second Division. Commander. Fire-fist Ace. … Shit.
"I know it's quite a shock, but I do not need to tell you that the notion is strictly guarded."
The smoker swallowed and closed his eyes, brushing left thumb and index on them. Luffy was clearly trusting him here, with strongly dangerous information. Plus… Ace… Why was he telling him all of this? Why asking help from him? Did he know…
The man opened his eyes to be met with a knowing smirk. Luffy tilted his head, eyes glinting.
"Of course. He's my brother, I know everything."
Smoker couldn't hide the shiver this time. He looked at him with wide eyes, processing what Luffy had just hinted at. The man, for a blinking instant, wanted to flee.
"You…"
"I've known for a long time. But it's not my place to divulge such a thing." Luffy smirked. "Anyway… You should know how reckless he is, and I have a hunch of what's going to happen next."
Smoker nodded, appreciating the change of subject. "Go on."
"Teach, I heard he likes to address himself as Blackbeard now, wants power. What can he possibly achieve as a pirate?"
"Becoming a Shichibukai."
Luffy huffed. "Right. Let's summarize. Teach, under the Second Division Commander's supervision, has betrayed Whitebeard, stabbing the Fourth Division Commander. Knowing Ace, he is going after him. Blackbeard knows Ace, too. What do you think the pirate will do?"
Smoker gaped. "He will try to capture fire-fist?"
"He will not try, he will capture him. Do not underestimate him, Smoker." Luffy's eyes darkened.
"Okay, fine, but… The World Government won't accept just a pirate in exchange of a position among the Shichibukai." He countered.
The air around the boy darkened even more. "Yet again, it's not my place to say why. But, know this: they will, gladly."
Smoker combed a hand through his hair. First this brat comes and brings mess in his office, then becomes all serious and talks about some… planning of an arising pirate, saying that he is after the fire-brat. He felt frustrated and out-of-control. In his own base.
He sighed. "What then?"
Luffy's smirk faded. "I have a plan." He looked at his right. "I don't want to see my brother on a scaffold, ready to be killed. I have a plan, but I need some help, and my crew must stay aside... preferably hidden."
The grey-haired man mentally snorted. "What's this plan?" Because the man clearly didn't want to just go and save his brother.
The sneaky smirk came back to life. "Playing the captive."
Smoker didn't want anything more than having nothing to do with this shit.
Boney T Pentecost was a tough, muscular man with long, one-braided, black hair and long, braided, black moustache with white tips. He wore a long-sleeved, blue blouse with golden buttons and black trousers with golden trims. He always walked bare-footed and had calloused hands. His blue eyes were framed by loose strands and black, thick eyebrows. He was 32 years old, a new fish in the big, overpopulated ponds of pirates.
He had a crew of around twenty men. Not the most trustable ones, but they were good workers, almost all were taken in in Paradise. Some were always drunk, some were too loud, some were womanizers, some really stupid. But, out of them all, one kept driving him crazy.
On the last island they docked at, a raven-haired man wearing a red open shirt and black, tight pants joined them. His name was Colin. Since joining, he had pranked the whole ship with glued clothes, tobacco-ed food and hidden navigation charts. There were no proofs that it had really been him, of all the members, but Pentecost knew it was him. He saw the sin in his glinting eyes and mocking smirks.
Aside from the beginning of the strange things coinciding with the brat joining, there were no clues pointing to him. And the crew was starting to think that the ship was haunted, or cursed. Bunch of idiots. As if.
Anyway, he didn't have much time to investigate properly. And the crew needed some pastime. It was two months after the brat joined, on a day full of bedsheets flying over the ship in strange shapes, that the news coo brought the newspaper. In big, large characters, it was announced how Whitebeard had been betrayed by a crewmember. Pentecost felt a smirk grow on his lips.
Whitebeard. An old man awaiting his downfall. Betrayed, the worst feeling of all for one of such age, of such pride. Few words were flying through the head of the pirate, reading rapidly the article.
This was his chance. A golden opportunity to rise to new heights. What was better for one's reputation than to defeat a Yonko? Nothing, not even getting rid of a Shichibukai. That was the new trend, it seemed, for marines. He had heard of one who was defeating one after the other, but he didn't remember the name.
No, defeating an old Yonko. That was the stepping stone he needed. Moreover, a betrayal signalled something fucked up in their crew. Who knew if there were more, honestly? Not considering there were surely more pirates out there thinking exactly like him.
It was then or never.
He folded the newspaper and looked around on the ship. Chaos. Why the fuck were the bedsheets resembling a woman now?! And… Was that Colin laughing like mad at the yelling, scared shitless crewmembers? Pentecost groaned. Blinked. Then looked up again. And smirked.
He had a proof. He could put the scoundrel in jail. This day couldn't have gone better.
Tracking the Moby Dick had not been an easy feat.
First, Pentecost had jailed Colin, and it had been hellish. The boy was slippery and sneaky, always some steps ahead or up. He had the suspicious feeling that the boy wanted to be captured, when they finally caught him. Yeah, they. He had had to use every single one of his crewmembers. It had been an overly tiring day.
With that taken care of, and stray thoughts on the strange man aside, Pentecost had used every piece of information he could put his hands on, plus some from the daily newspaper. It had taken them almost a month to find Whitebeard. Three weeks in which the pranks went on.
Even if the brat was jailed, Pentecost kept finding his things misplaced. Most of the times, it was his binocular and the charts. Once, he found his room's furniture painted white. He had made a dash to the jail and found the brat sleeping with a happy grin on his face. He was starting to believe the haunted thing, but, maybe, it was the brat that had brought the curse onboard.
Ignoring the skull on his flag painted red – it had been originally yellow, damn it! –, Pentecost looked at the dozen ships surrounding the Moby Dick. He smirked. He'd been right. They were nearing the ship together, as if it was planned. The braided man knew it was going to be hell when the ships collided.
But that never happened.
Well... Let me know what you think about this, ok? See ya!