You sat with your legs hanging off of the cliff, listening to the sound of ships being repaired. You had been on this island for a few days. The log pose had set shortly after you had gotten here, but you couldn't leave yet. The Whitebeard pirates were stuck here, and it was entirely your fault.

"Risa?" The familiar voice came from behind you. You knew he had been there; the air changed when he was near. It became warmer and he carried with him an unusual scent. Honestly, could only feel it because you knew what you were looking for. Many thought they were similar… they are all wrong. No, this man was not at all like him.

He was overpowering. You didn't need to see him to know when he near, you could feel him. His presence, his scent, his being. You needed to concentrate to track people, but not him. He was different. You never needed you try to find him. When he walked into a room, he was all you could smell, the only thing you could focus on.

"Risa?" The man repeated.

You continued to ignore him and watch the sun rise over the ocean.

"Risa." You could feel the slight warmth shift, move a little closer.

Ignore him, Ignore him and he'll go away. You tried to listen to yourself, to do what you told yourself to do. But, you know, you had never been good at following orders. "What do you want, Marco?"

"I knew you heard me!" You could hear the smile in his voice and pictured him running his hand thought the tuft of hair on top of his head.

You growled. "What do you want?"

"You know, it's not that bad." He took another step closer to you.

"Not that bad? Half of the ships were destroyed we almost lost a lot of men." You leaned forward and looked over the cliff. You could see the shipwrights repairing Whitebeard's ships a few feet below you. That's why you chose this spot to retreat to when you had gotten to the island. It was a constant reminder of what you had done.

"You should come back down and join the rest of us. Moping doesn't suit you."

You knew he was worried; you just couldn't bring yourself to face them. And even more than the group of them, you didn't want to have to face him after what you had done. Ever. You would do whatever you had to do to keep yourself from seeing how disappointed he must be. "I need time to think."

"You just want to beat yourself up more. Have you even been eating the food I bring you?"

"I don't get any time to myself while I'm on the ship."

"That's because we know you well enough not to trust you with yourself."

"By we, you mean you."

He struggled not to laugh. "Not quite. By we, I mean we. Me, Thatch, Sarah, Ace, and Mico."

You flinched at the mention of that woman. "Do NOT try to tell me that she cares about me!"

"Ho ho! The truth finally comes out." He sat down beside you and wrapped an arm around your shoulders. "You know, Mico isn't that bad. And doesn't hate you. She's just jealous."

"You have that backwards; I'm the one who's jealous." You sighed. You had kept this all in for so long, it felt good to finally get it out. Mico had joined less than 2 weeks ago and she was already so close to him. "I'm a screw up, he's never going to like me… and she's…. she's perfect."

He laughed then, really laughed. It was so loud and unexpected that it made you jump away from the man at your side. You crouched there, staring at the man, wide-eyed. "What was that for?"

"You just… You should relax. You need to open your eyes, sorry, I mean your eye, and look around. You'd be surprised at how much you haven't seen."

You just stared at him. You had no idea what he was talking about, what were you not seeing? You were a hunter… You saw everything! Your life, and paycheck, depended on it! What were you not seeing?

"But, seriously, go down there. Everyone's worried about you. And try to smile a little more, like you did before you crashed a fleet of ships into a cliff!"

You pushed him off of the cliff then. "Bastard!"

"Love you too, dear sister." he laughed as he flew over you and back toward the village the crew was staying in.

When he was gone, you smiled. He always had to come and cheer you up. It was impossible to be upset about anything while you were with these people. "Well, I guess it won't be that bad if I let him win this time…"

And, of course, he had to be the first person you saw. Well, you felt him before you saw him. He was sleeping on a bench. He was starting to turn red from laying in the sun for so long, you couldn't just leave him there… "Ace?" you crouched down and poked his cheek. "Aaaacccceeeeeeeeeeeeee, it's time to wake up."

No response.

"Oi! Baka! I'm giving you fair warning now, if you don't wake up, I'm going to let… ummm" you thought for a moment, trying to remember the creepy guy's name. Teach! That's his name! "I'll totally let Teach lick your feet."

There was still no response.

You watched him for a minute. He looks so cute right now… and he's so vulnerable like this… it could just lean forward and….and… you bit down.

Ace yelped and jumped up, pulling you over. "What the hell was- Risa? Did you just… did you bite me? Again?!"

"I couldn't help it." you smiled at him.

"You're so…"

"Yes?"

"You're so weird. Sometimes I swear you're a vampire."

"I blame it all on my devil fruit. I mean, it did make me a bat. So I'm almost but not at all like a vampire bat, which is as close to a vampire as you're going to find!"

He chuckled and offered you a hand. You took it and he pulled you up, a little too forcefully. You fell into him and he wrapped his arms around you, making you blush. His grip on you tightened slightly. "I missed you."

"I made you worry." It was a statement, not a question. Even so, he grunted a quiet response. "Sorry."

He pulled away from you and nearly collapsed from a sudden burst of laughter. You stood there, looking at him, with your hands on your hips. When he finally got his laughter under control, he looked at you again. "Hey, seriously, is that an eye patch?"

"Yeah, so? I got hurt during the crash and Marco cleaned my- hey! What you mean by "is that seriously an eye patch?""

"Nothing," he waved his hands in front of himself in apology. "It suits you."

"Ass," you playfully punched his arm.

"It makes you look like a "real" pirate."

"Dammit Ace! Shut up!" you tried to grab him, but he was faster than you were.

He started running from you, making sure he was going just fast enough to stay ahead of you. "Maybe I'll get one too! We'll start a trend. Who knows? Maybe it will actually catch on! All of the cool pirates will be wearing eye patches one day!"

"Marco! This is all your fault! I'm going to kill you!" You yelled to no one as you chased after the man you loved. The man who just might love you too. Marco's right…. I just need to relax.