This is my first fic for this fandom so I hope it won't be too strange. It's a oneshot at the moment but if I get inspired and/or get reviews (*wink, wink*) I might write another chapter.
This is a Marco/Luffy fic but it's very mild. Luffy is sixteen in this fic: so after Ace left but before he leaves Dawn island. I'm assuming Marco is relatively old since he is a phoenix and he never seems to age. If you're bothered by the age gap: don't read and please spare me the pedophilia comments. Believe me I've heard it all before.
Disclaimer is the usual: if I owned One Piece, Ace wouldn't have died and Marco would be on screen all the time.
Having said that I hope you enjoy the read and leave a review on your way out ;)
He woke up to the sound of a steady heartbeat and the warmth of the body he was pressed against. His eyes fluttered open and he attempted to wriggle free from the tender arms holding him. The movement alerted the young boy who was carrying him and he looked down, smiling down at the bird.
"You woke up! That's great! Don't move too much though. You looked pretty exhausted back there."
Marco ceased struggling, gawking curiously at the juvenile face smiling down at him, lips stretched impossibly wide and a familiar straw hat placed on top of silky black locks.
He briefly where 'back there' was, as he had no idea how he had gotten in his current situation. His memories from the past days were muddled at best although he reckoned he would remember more after a while.
"I'm taking you to my home. I think you should rest a bit before you leave again." the boy told him as he continued on his way.
Marco leant back into the arms of his benefactor, glancing around him curiously and wondering if he would recognize the island he had landed in – or crashed on depending how you saw it. His examination left him bewildered. The forest they were walking into looked just like any other. The trees were common enough and there were no sign of prehistoric creatures as could be found in Little Garden.
Marco would have liked to enquire about his whereabouts but the exhaustion of his body left him unable to transform back into a human. He would have to rest a few days in order to get back to normal.
It was a frustrating state to be in. Despite his father's mark still being clearly visible on his torso, he felt much more vulnerable in this form. After all, his flames were temporarily extinguished and a phoenix made for a wonderful trophy for men with ill intentions. As far as he could tell the boy looked sincere enough. At least for now, he would let this boy have his way. If it turned out the boy could not be trusted after all there would be time enough to escape later. He didn't think he would be able to fly right away anyway. Flying into that storm had exhausted him. His phoenix fire might heal his injuries in an instant, it did nothing for the weariness of his limbs.
He wondered how far that storm had pushed him. He had been flying over Jaya when the violent winds and storm clouds had caught up to him. To think his mission in Paradise was supposed to be an easy one…It sure had turned for the worse in a matter of seconds.
Well, nothing he could do about it now, he supposed.
Eventually, they stopped at the bottom of a tall tree in which a tree house had been clumsily built. In fact, it looked more like an observation post than a house, with its single window that took up almost the entire width of the wall.
"Here we are!" the boy announced, pausing for a moment to let the bird take in the sight of the house before he started climbing up. "This is the tree house me and my brothers built!" he informed his 'guest' as he emerged from the hole in the floor of the cabin that served as an entrance.
The tree house was not very spacious and seemed to be furnished with the bare minimum, which essentially consisted of sheets and pillows thrown on the floor and a first aid kit near the entrance. There was also a map fixed on the wall which Marco found himself immediately interested in. It looked both out of place and strangely at home and Marco briefly wondered if it had been pinned to the wall by one of the boy's brothers. He stretched his neck to take a better look at it, hoping it would give him a clue as to where he was.
"Hmm? Oh this is a map of East Blue." the boy told him catching the object of his interest and walking closer to it. "We're here see?" he said pointing at a small island labelled Dawn Island, another label indicated that part of the island made up Goa Kingdom.
Marco could feel his eyes widening. East Blue? Had he flown over Calm Belt without realizing? He must have, how else would he have gotten from Paradise to East Blue overnight?
He was brought of his surprise as the youth turned around thus hiding the map from Marco's view. The boy went to pick up a blanket and fashioned a makeshift nest in which he delicately placed his charge.
"There you go. I hope you're comfortable enough in this."
Marco looked up at the boy's sincere expression and nodded. He really felt grateful for the boy's kindness, but he still felt a bit wary. Call him paranoid, but he had trouble trusting that the boy did not have an ulterior motive. Although he couldn't see this boy being affiliated with slave traders who would find a phoenix to be a valuable rarity, he still couldn't help being on his guard.
"I'm Luffy, by the way." the boy said as he put some water in a bowl.
The recipient was placed in front of Marco and the bird happily dipped his beak into the water. He drank his fill under the boy's watchful gaze. Being stared at so intently unnerved Marco greatly and when he was done drinking he lifted his head, staring into the boy's eye fixedly.
The boy grinned.
"You're really beautiful you know."
Marco was glad he was in his phoenix form because otherwise he would have been blushing at the sudden praise. He knew that his phoenix made for quite the impressive sight but no one had ever told him he was beautiful to his face. It was especially flustering when it was said with such openness and innocence.
"You're so pretty and blue! And you look smart. You can understand what I'm saying can't you? that's so COOL! Like a mystery bird!"
The boy seemed to be on a roll as he babbled and gushed over the so-called mystery bird.
Marco squirmed a little as the boy beamed at him, finally running out words. He didn't know how he was supposed to react to the deluge of praise he had just received but figured a 'thank you' was in order. Not really expecting Luffy to understand its meaning, Marco gave a soft trill.
Thank you.
"You're welcome!" Luffy exclaimed with a giant grin, much to Marco's surprise.
When Marco woke up again it was the middle of the night. He blinked groggily several times still hearing the song that had been playing in his dreams. He soon realized the sweet melody was very much real and he looked up to see Luffy sitting on the window sill and singing softly as he looked out to the sea.
"You'll fly away one day,
No matter what you say,
I know you love the sea,
Much more than you do me."
The song was soft as a caress and Marco felt his eyelids grow heavy again. He hadn't known Luffy could sing. He had a good voice too. True to his nature as a phoenix, Marco liked songs although his own voice was nothing special. Luffy's voice however carried pleasantly into the night, surprisingly soft compared to the loud voice Marco had associated with the boy in the first few minutes of their acquaintance.
"I will remain alone,
Long after you have gone,
I will sing my sorrow,
To winds that always blow."
If he wasn't feeling so groggy Marco would have liked to fly over to the boy to listen better. It was such a pretty song. Sad though. Something that baffled him considering how happy Luffy had seemed during the day.
As he drifted back to sleep his heart went to the young boy who looked out to the sea and sang songs of lost love.
Luffy was an odd boy, Marco was quick to discover, but also a very endearing one. After the initial day of rest, Marco had started following the boy when he went out and had thus been exposed to the shocking experience of hunting with the wild monkey of a boy. He hadn't even known there were such big animals in East Blue. Or in any of the Blues for that matter. Even more shocking was the ease with which Luffy could kill a bear and eat it whole, leaving barely enough for Marco to feast on. When he had first witnessed such a hunt he had been stunned to discover the boy was a Devil fruit user. A rubber man who had eaten the Gomu gomu no Mi, as the boy cheerfully informed him upon seeing blink owlishly at his elongated arm.
The boy always looked wildly happy during those times and Marco had grown fond of the too-wide grin that seemed permanently etched onto the boy's face. It appeared to only last until nightfall however. The dark hours tended to make the boy more thoughtful, morose even.
"Hey, do you have a family?" the boy asked one such evening.
Marco looked up at the boy sitting on the windowsill from where he lay in his makeshift nest. The boy's gaze was faraway and Marco supposed he was thinking about the brothers he had previously mentioned. Images of his own brothers flashed into his mind and he nodded soberly. They were all annoying and noisy but he was starting to miss his idiot brothers and sisters.
"That's nice." Luffy commented wistfully. "I hope you can see them again soon."
Hearing the slight quiver in the boy's voice, Marco raised himself in concern. With a flap of his large wings, he flew to the boy and dropped into his lap, gazing up at him with eyes full of concern. Immediately arms wrapped around and squeezed him to the boy's chest.
"I'm going to miss you when you leave." Luffy said quietly, eyes glassy as he looked out the window.
The boy said it as if there was no doubt he would end up leaving him. And of course there wasn't, Marco though with a pang of guilt. Just like the man in the song that Luffy hummed on certain nights, he would fly away and never come back. Because he loved the sea.
He heard the boy's sharp intake of breath before the teen spoke again, tone much brighter and easy-going.
"Next year I'm going to leave this place." Luffy told him. "I'm going to sail as a pirate and one day I'll become the King of Pirates!"
If he had been in his human form, Marco would have been smiling at the boy's candour. But as he was not and because he was pressed against the boy's chest, he could feel the slight trembling of the boy's arms and he could tell the enthusiastic announcement was just a way to distract himself from the sadness.
"Should I sing you a song?" Luffy asked quietly after a while, a ghost of a smile floating on his lips as he looked down fondly at the bird in his lap.
Marco tilted his head forward, making himself comfortable as Luffy began singing. He would miss this, he thought, closing his eyes as he basked in the peace of the moment.
That night, Marco waited until Luffy's breathing evened out before extracting himself from the boy's embrace. For the first time in a while, he let go of his bird form in order to stand on two feet. He caressed the boy's cheek with the tip of his fingers before carefully lifting him up in his arms. He laid him down on the pile of sheets that served as a makeshift bed and threw a blanket over the boy's sleeping form.
He should leave he knew. Luffy had probably known too. There was no reason not to. He was completely better and he knew he would be able to make the trip across Calm Belt and back to Paradise. The only thing holding him back was Luffy.
In the countless decades he had lived since attaining near immortality, Marco could not remember anyone who had made such a strong impression on him. It baffled him how quickly Luffy had become someone he found himself reluctant to leave. He had never been big on physical contact but he never found it uncomfortable to be held by the boy. He loved Luffy's smile and knew instinctively that he had already reached a level of protectiveness on par with what he felt for his countless siblings. He enjoyed listening to the boy's singing. He could see himself spending centuries in the boy's warmth, watching the sun go down while listening to his songs.
But he couldn't do that. His family was most likely worried by now and he must be getting back to them. Besides, Luffy was too young. That was possibly the biggest mystery yet. Why was it that after decades of remaining single the first person he fell in love with – it seemed foolish to deny it now – was a boy years younger than he was, who probably didn't know the first thing about romantic love?
Marco sighed as he gazed at the sleeping figure. He really had to go. The more he waited the more difficult it would get to leave.
Before he regained enough sense and morality to stop himself he bent down to press a light kiss on the boy's brow and pushed himself to his feet, resolutely guiding his steps to the window. With one swift leap he was soaring above the forest as a phoenix wrapped in light blue flames.
In the treehouse he had left behind, a boy's eyes opened and his hand reached to his brow where the tingle of a feather-light kiss remained. His lips stretched into a small smile as a tear rolled down his cheeks.
"Goodbye." he whispered into the night.
Luffy dried his stray tear and smiled bitterly. He knew his mystery bird hadn't heard him, couldn't as he was most likely flying above faraway oceans. Where he belonged.
