"Oi."

Izo was pushed rather rudely in the back, which caused him to fall over and drop his hand for all the world (and more importantly his opponents –no, enemies-) to see.

Izo used all his skill and speed honored over the years to cover them from greedy eyes(he had his chores riding on this game, damn it!).

Not that it would matter; his enemies surely hadn't let this golden chance pass and probably already had a too good understanding of his hand.

Yes, they were all grinning like a Marine attack come early or smirking like I-know-something-that-you-didn't-want-me-to.

Utterly frustrated at his soon-sure-to-be loss he put up his most dangerous glare (which didn't say much considering he was a cross-dressing pretty boy) and directed it at the offender over his shoulder.

He was greeted with the brightest smile on all seven seas, which had recently become a regular appearance on the Moby Dick (though through no free choice seeing how his big brother had been abducted by them).

He groaned.

"What do you want, Luffy?" Despite it being hardly a week since he had been on board, the Spade Pirates' youngest's antics (which incidentally were usually accompanied by aforementioned wide smile) had become a great source of entertainment and or frustration for the crew.

Depending on one's mood.

Problem right now was that Izo did not want to be entertained or even smile (he was sure to be stuck with a week's worth of chores that were not his. Fuck it to hell!).

Luffy, however, having surely no idea what he had just done, cupped a hand to his mouth and whispered not-so-quietly, "Are you the lady who makes tattoos?"

All laughing was quickly silenced by his scariest look, while Izo repeated a certain mantra in his head. Can't hurt your future brother. Can't hurt your future brother. Oyaji won't like it. Ace will kill you. Then he won't become your brother either. Can't hurt your future brother.

"I'm a man." Izo put on his sweetest smile as he said it. It wasn't the boy's fault that he was so damn oblivious. Yes, keep telling yourself that. "And yes, -"

"Really you are the strangest man I've even seen. Dadan looked more like one than you." Did the damn brat not see how his vein almost popped? But he had to ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.

"And yes, I do make tattoos."

"Really? That's great! Can you make me one?"

"Why? Have you already decided to join us?" One of his subordinates asked (one of those that were dumping their duties on him), but Izo forcefully evaporated his anger and watched the boy with genuine curiosity. Usually the brat copied his brothers (Ace more so than Sabo) down to the last snore.

"Ace is still trying his best to kill Oyaji, you know." He pointed at a part of the railing that had broken just this morning, when Ace took another unplanned swim.

"Don't want old man Whitebeard's mark. I want that." Izo and the other poker players followed the line of his rubber finger.

Sabo was snoring, leaning against the root of a mast.

"You want Sabo as your tattoo?" This was one Jozu's subordinates, obviously.

Izo took great care to make sure that his Division did not lose all sense for fashion and good looks (and brains, but that was secondary), which meant that his minions (or they had better hope they did, for their own sake) zeroed in on the ink art decorating Sabo's upper left arm instead.

"Your initials?"

"Yeah!"

"How come you don't have them already, anyway?"

Luffy pushed his lower lip out and created a most adorable pout. "Don´t know. The other old men I asked on the way always said I was too young. And when I said I was a Pirate they didn't believe me. Sabo and Ace never came along either to tell those stupid idiots off, they were always busy."

Izo gave him his best pitying look as the others snorted or coughed something that sounded definitely like 'brother complex', so he got up, put his arm around the poor boy' shoulders and steered him under deck. "Then let me help you out with this great problem."

Conveniently him leaving also broke the game up (which meant no bets!), which his comrades only noticed when he was already entering the ship. Judging by the outraged yells. But it wasn't Izo's fault; it was his duty to make sure his soon-to-be brother was not sad.

Later Izo thought, that maybe bets and chores weren't that bad after all.

Or that he at least should have asked the two pathetically overprotective soon-to-be-brothers first, because finding out about it from Izo's pissed, ratting poker player comrades was not the healthiest way for him. Ironically, though, he was saved when Luffy stated with a beaming smile that he now had the same tattoo as his two big brothers.

It was then that Izo realized just how much Luffy had them tied around his little finger.

This is another One Shot of my Moby Dick's Tales series with, as usual, slight AU setting.

Please review and let me know what you think. :)

If someone could make Izo an option at the character selection it'd help, too. I don't understand how that works.

Edited: 26.10.2012