Okay guys, this is totally unexpected. Like the first one... Honestly, I don't even know where this comes from. I was at the supermarket, nice, relaxing (as if.) and BAM idea. BAD IDEA. Yeah, because this is sad. Writing it made me mournful. I'm a bad person. Evil. And I hope to make you all cry.

SUMMARY: Things don't always go the way one wants them to. Bad things happen. And you can do nothing about it. It's simply too late...

WARNINGS:

- I wrote this with the purpose to make people cry, so you have been warned. I don't know if my work is any good in this, but I tried my best.

- In the end there's a MaLu scene, shoune-ai guys.

- A lot of time-skips. It's a one-shot.

- There may be mistakes here, sorry.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. No One Piece, no cute little Luffy, no thing.

Words: 2651.

Enjoy!

EDIT (07/21/2018): Hyphens to quotation marks, done.

Ghost

The first time Marco saw him was after he had knocked Ace out. Thatch was dragging away the unconscious body. He was lingering at mid-air, semi-transparent in the light of the fire-wall. He wore a red open jacket, blue shorts, brown sandals and a straw hat with a red band. The boy, maybe 16"17 years old, had a half-moon shaped scar under the left eye.

He had a fond expression, watching fire-fist's face. Marco approached him and waved a hand in front of his face. The ghost blinked twice before looking at him, surprised. The boy opened his mouth, then closed it again and bit his lower lip, looking away. And disappeared. As if he had not been there at all.

Marco dismissed it after some seconds, boarding the Moby Dick. He looked at the new addition to the crew and sighed. A lot of work to do was waiting for him. The boy was strong, if the fight with Jimbe was any hint, and stubborn. But his pops wanted him as one of his sons, so he had to endure and try to understand Ace.

The second time, Marco was on watching duty on the crow's nest. It was around 3 in the night, a week after taking Ace. Two days in the infirmary and then he had been restlessly attacking pops without care. Now, everyone on board appreciated braveness, but not someone destroying the ship every single day.

They had resisted the urge to just stop him only because Whitebeard kept laughing at his attempts. Not counting the fact that the stubborn scoundrel wasn't opening up to anyone. Izo had tried with kindness, but failed. Thatch had tried with food, but failed. The boy did eat everything, and hardly stopped, but that was not enough. Marco was starting to think a heavy burden was well hidden behind a strong façade.

Ace was sprawled on a wooden roof, probably passed out for not sleeping during those days, when the figure appeared. As before, he was looking with fondness at the boy. He put a hand on his shoulder and sat near him.

The pirate was simply too curious to let the occasion slip from his fingers, so he jumped down soundlessly. The boy, however, noticed him immediately. He turned his head towards him, hat hung on his back. His expression was a bit angered and a bit unsure.

"You can see me."

His voice was cracked, filled with unexplainable emotions. Marco nodded, keeping some distance.

"How strange…" The boy looked again at Ace and smiled, sadly. "No one has ever seen me."

"Who are you?" He whispered, hoping Ace wouldn't wake up.

"I…" The boy bit his lower lip and sighed. "My name's Luffy."

"I'm Marco, yoi."

"You seem a good man."

The pirate blinked, not understanding. Had he met this boy before? Why was he judged like that?

"Just a feeling. You all are." The smile this time was happier. "He's still so stubborn."

Marco resisted the urge to scoff. He was about to speak, but the boy disappeared again into nothingness. The pirate sighed, looking with piercing eyes over Ace. He was twitching in his sleep, mumbling incoherent words. Probably a nightmare.

He approached the boy making sounds and wary of a possible attack. With a hand, Marco took a shoulder and shook him. Ace held his breath with wide eyes, looking frantically around. Once he noticed the pirate and the sea, he started panting and the Commander let him go, deciding to take his place on the crow's nest.

No words reached him, Ace just laid there, looking up at the sky as his breath evened.

Luffy appeared for the third time a month later, during lunch. During those days, perhaps a week after his meeting with the transparent teen, Marco had succeeded in being trusted by Ace. He had talked to the boy about the way Whitebeard treated his crew, his sons. Surprisingly enough, or maybe not, the boy had decided to test it out.

The result had been in Ace bonding with more and more crew members, starting with Thatch and Izo. Obviously, the gap was still huge for them to be considered friends or mates, but it was a nice beginning. His pops' smile was priceless, too. Even if it resembled more a smirk, but Marco knew better.

They were in the galley, eating peacefully, or as much as the crew allowed, their lunch when Ace collapsed on his half-empty plate, elbow bent on the table still holding the fork. After a moment of dead silence, Thatch started freaking out, Izo paled impossibly and Marco's eyes widened.

Near Ace, Luffy was holding his stomach and laughing like mad, rolling on the floor. He had teary eyes and was struggling to stop his fit. Marco blinked, gazing over the two teens with disbelief and worry.

"Oh… God… Shishishishishi! Your faces!"

Marco was somewhat relieved, he didn't know exactly why. "What?" He whispered, crossing his arms,

As Thatch and Izo struggled to understand what to do and called doctors and nurses, Luffy calmed his laughter and pointed at Ace.

"He's only asleep, Mango, don't wake him up. Shishishishi!"

The pirate sighed and held a nurse from the shoulder. "Let him be, he's only asleep."

The cross-dresser looked at Marco sceptically while the cook was held back by Jozu. Luffy made a somersault in the air and disappeared with an amused smile on his face. Suddenly, Ace woke up. His eyes were blurry and his face was dirty with food. He looked around, shrugged his shoulders and began eating as if nothing happened.

Marco suppressed a laugh, but the cook assaulted the boy with unending questions. That way, they knew of their new brother's narcolepsy attitude.

Often, at the most unpredictable times, Luffy popped out of nowhere, laughing, running, doing pranks, sitting next the sleeping Ace. Months passed by and Marco wasn't able to come in contact with him again. Not alone, anyway. Every time the fire teen, that had become the Second Division Commander with pops' tattoo on his back, passed out, Luffy appeared and started laughing and smiling happily. Even Whitebeard had taken to a liking the reactions of the crew to Ace's strange problem.

That way, he soon lost count of his appearances and shrugged off his curiosity. Until one night. One scary night.

Luffy appeared next to his desk, where he was doing his paperwork. In his room. How the hell did he knew?

"Mango!"

If it wasn't for his frantic and scared tone, Marco would have punched the teen.

"Thatch! Go save him!"

He didn't even think before dashing out of his room towards the Fourth Division quarters. Luffy was following him near, never touching ground.

"Teach is a traitor, stop him!"

Marco morphed, taking his Phoenix form, and flew rapidly through the alleys. His mind was blank, empty. Mere seconds later, he turned left at a corner and stopped abruptly. In front of him, Teach held a knife behind his back and was talking amicably with Thatch at the cook's room's door. Luffy flew towards them and pointed at the alley in the opposite side.

"There are more waiting for him to escape, don't let Thatch be wounded."

As if the teen needed to say that. The Phoenix jumped and kicked the huge man, pushing him far away.

"Marco..?"

The pirate morphed, launching blue fire orbs through the corridors into some rooms. "He wanted to stab you, yoi."

Thatch's eyes widened. "What…"

Teach stood up and seethed, angry. "How the hell did you know?"

Marco stayed silent, feeling his brothers waking up with his haki-infused fire orbs.

"Boss, we should go…" A voice came from the corner next to the traitor.

Teach growled, but disappeared after some moments. Chaos erupted, the crew tried to stop him from escaping, but they had underestimated gravely the strength of the traitors.

When the sun rose, they had already vanished. Like Luffy. Moments later, Ace joined Marco and Thatch with worried eyes.

"Ace, stop it. You shouldn't do this, yoi."

"It's my responsibility, Marco. Teach was under my supervision, and he betrayed us all."

"Son, you should stay here."

"I can't do nothing about this, pops. I've taken this position for… what? Two months? And it's already at this point…"

"It's not your fault, Ace."

As Thatch and the boy continued arguing, Marco glanced at Whitebeard, that looked back.

"Marco." He called, gaining the attention of the others, Izo was there, too. "How did you know about the betrayal?"

The pirate dropped his gaze and thought about the situation. He couldn't keep the secret anymore… Well, it wasn't exactly a secret, some of them knew about this strange ability of his, still… Luffy had never appeared when Ace was awake. And it was not a matter of rules, it was his choice. As if the boy feared being seen by fire fist. And this could only mean that he didn't want Ace to know about him.

"Someone warned me, yoi." He said, deciding at least to not lie.

Thatch and Izo started checking warily all directions. Ace, instead, looked at Marco as if he had grown two more heads. That made the pirate sigh.

"I can see the remnants of dead people. Ghosts, to put it simply, yoi."

Ace blinked three times before taking a deep breath. "That's why you kept looking in the void."

"He's believing it so easily…" Thatch scoffed, disappointed.

"Marco is not the type of man to lie." Ace said, crossing his arms. "Nor joke." He added.

The blonde almost broke into a smile. A true one, the kind his crew cherished. But Ace's next words stopped it.

"But who?"

Marco sighed, scratching his neck. "I don't think he wants"…"

Luffy appeared behind Ace. He was sad, uncertain, as if doing something he wasn't sure about. He looked at the teen, then at Whitebeard. The ghost circled Ace and waved a hand in front of his face. A long sigh escaped his lips, and he turned towards Marco with a profound sadness. The pirate felt a weight push on his throat.

"Tell him, Mango. Ace must not chase Teach."

Some moments of deep silence passed. Izo was looking worriedly at Marco. That sighed.

"Ace, yoi." He began. "Who is Luffy?"

The brunette suddenly brightened. "Luffy? He's my little brother!"

Like a punch in the guts, Marco saw Ace's expression, happy at the mention of Luffy, soften, stretch. His eyes became empty. His arms fell, limp. His knees lost strength, touched the wood of the deck.

"No…" Ace's voice was broken. "This can't be… No…" Luffy started crying, silently, at his side. "How…"

"A buster call." Marco parroted. "They arrived at the island a month after you left, yoi."

"Luckily…" Luffy whispered.

Ace punched the floor, seething. "Those fucking marines..!"

"Why the bother?" Whitebeard asked with a grave but curious tone.

"Because Luffy is…" Ace stopped for some seconds, then sighed, sitting on the wood. "The son of Monkey D Dragon. And I am the son of Gol D Roger. They were probably targeting us both."

Silent droplets started sliding on his cheeks. The teen lifted a hand to cover his eyes. As if he did not drop a heavy bomb on them. Izo and Thatch were about to scream, but a sign from Marco shut them up. Luffy looked at him.

"He doesn't want you to go after Teach, yoi." Marco said, approaching Ace. "He has a bad feeling about it."

"Fine…" Was the muffled answer. "I'll stay."

A few days later, Ace was sitting on Whitebeard's knee, finally out of his room. Luffy was lingering far from him, cross"legged in mid"air. Marco got near him and sighed.

"Why are you still here, yoi?"

Luffy smiled, looking at his living brother. "Because there's one more thing I have to tell him."

Days passed by. Weeks. Months. Luffy kept pulling pranks all over the ship. Somehow, Marco thought Ace knew, because, every time Thatch yelled at angry pirates that he was innocent, the brunette started laughing with a longing expression. And some pirates swore they heard Ace speak alone on the deck.

The Phoenix used this opportunity to better know the boy. He was always smiling, running left and right, jumping on the figurehead and laughing at the antics of the crew. They talked a lot, too. Nights were filled with silence or jokes or stories about adventures. Shanks, Garp, Makino, Dadan. He told Marco everything.

But, at the same time, he never talked about his time with Ace. That period was sill buried within the boy. So, the pirate decided to speak, too. He told him his story. How he was a slave. When he ate his Devil Fruit. How his pops saved him and became his Captain. The way the crew grew with every single member.

Nights flew by, never boring, never totally happy… Luffy was dead. This could not change. And Marco found himself regretting, steadily growing attached to the boy. And his conversations were longer, deeper, strained…

"Mango, I'm sorry."

Marco blinked and turned to Luffy. "About what, yoi?"

He shrugged his shoulders and ignored the question. "My time's running out. I can't go on."

A cloud passing over the moon shadowed them for some seconds. "When?"

"Tomorrow… Maybe in the night."

"Sabo, yoi."

Ace, that was talking amicably with Whitebeard, froze. He turned slowly.

"Luffy says he is alive."

"Sabo… Alive?... It's impossible… I saw…"

"He says a Revolutionary Army's ship was passing by. They treated him, yoi. He's alive."

It was then that Ace started crying. Again. Because of something he said. Again. … Was he really a good big brother? Well, this time it was out of happiness… It was somewhat an improvement… Still.

Marco felt a hand on his shoulder and turned. Luffy was looking at him with a smile.

"First reason I apologized." The boy glanced at Ace. "He'll be okay. He'll make Sabo remember. Tell him about it tomorrow."

"In the end, he was covered in mud, feathers and oil, yoi."

Luffy laughed with closed eyes. "Thatch's funny!"

"He understood only today that you were the mastermind under the pranks all these months." Marco smirked.

"Yeah, shishishishi!"

The pirate looked at him, noticing how the lines of the boy were blurred. "You're fading, yoi."

"I know, it's okay."

"What about Ace?"

"He has talked to me this afternoon, he has already said goodbye."

The Phoenix sighed. "I think I'll miss you."

"That's the second reason." Luffy smiled.

"Is there another one?"

"Uhm…"

The boy pinched his chin in a thoughtful manner. If there was something Marco learned about Luffy, it was that the teen didn't think. Not before, nor after acting. He didn't reflect upon things. At times, he would be wise, but in his strange manner, talking like a nine-years old. But this was not the case. It was as if he didn't find the words.

"What are you trying to say, yoi?" He offered help.

"I'm not good with words."

"Understatement of the century…" Marco almost scoffed.

"So better act, right?" A Cheshire grin adorned his face and the pirate suddenly felt scared.

"I don't kno–"

Soft lips covered his own and Marco lost his breathing ability. Luffy's eyes were closed and Marco soon followed, losing even his will to back away. The moment was gone after few seconds. He felt the lips disappear, not to be touched anymore.

When Marco opened his eyes, finally out of his daze, there was nothing in front of him. No blurs, no dark hair no straw hat, no smile impossibly wide. Only the echo of words he didn't know he heard.

"Thanks for everything, Marco."

It was the last time he heard the joyful voice. The last time he saw those sparkling eyes. The first time he cried so much without restraints.

I'm extra-super-hyper unsure about this so a review might help a lot... Thanks for reading guys, I appreciate that you arrived here ;) See ya!