Written for Akage987, who I promised a Marco hit. I hope you enjoy!
"You want to what?"
"To transfer... Sir?"
"Don't 'Sir' me yoi. It's 'Commander' if you have to."
"Yes Sir, ah, Commander Marco."
"You don't have to– never mind." Marco sighed running a hand down his face.
Newbie's were always so difficult to deal with. Either they were nervous to the point of ridiculousness (they were part of the family now, he wasn't going to do anything to them and despite what Thatch said he wasn't that scary), or they had a weird habit of worshiping the ground he or the other commanders walked on. Whilst both behaviours were annoying, they tended to fade with time, and Marco hoped this time it would be sooner, rather than later.
"It should be fine. What division did you want?"
"Second division, Si– Commander."
Marco didn't make a habit of learning all of the newbie's names. In the past he had, but when the crew had exceeded a couple of hundred people it simply became impossible to do. Whilst he couldn't name the brother standing in his room, he was fairly certain he did remember which group of pirate's he'd arrived aboard the Moby Dick with.
"You were one of Ace's Spade Pirate's weren't you?"
"Ah yes Commander. A couple of the boys and I were hoping, now that the Capt – that Ace, had accepted Pop's mark that we could, well..."
The man shuffled on his feet awkwardly as his sentence trailed off, desperately trying not to ramble in front of MARCO THE PHOENIX.
"I get it."
Marco did, honestly. The small crew had been separated out amongst the divisions when they'd first been brought on board. Mostly for their own safety. It wouldn't have done to have them placed together where they could have spent time plotting and attempting to back their stubborn, brat-of-a-Captain up, in attempting to take Pops' life. They would have got hurt trying. Ace was just lucky he had a damn thick skull.
Marco shifted through the draws in his desk, looking for the paper that he knew would be hidden in the depths somewhere. Smiling in victory, Marco retrieved the sheet logging the number of crew mates housed in each division.
"How many of you want to move?"
"Um, all of us if we can."
Marco gave his patented blank stare at the ex-spade pirate who had clearly not expected to make it this far.
"And 'all of you' is how many yoi?"
"Oh! Um, fifteen. Plus Cap– Ace, Commander."
Marco blinked once. Huh. He didn't remember there being that many of them. Turning back to his record Marco skimmed over the document.
First Division – 102
Second Division – (75) 76
Third Division – (107) 109
Fourth Division – 99
Fifth Div. – (103) 104
Sixth Div. – (97) 99
Seventh D. – 105
Eight D. – (98) 100
Ninth D. – (104) 105
Tenth D. – 100
Eleventh – (101) 103
Twelfth – (93) 95
Thirteenth – (100) 101
Fourteenth – (99) 100
Fifteenth – (104) 105
Sixteenth – 98
He really needed to rewrite the document, Marco mentally noted as he took in his scratched out figures. With only 76 members including Ace, the second division was by far the smallest division. It was definitely much smaller than it used to be... Ever since...
Shaking his head, Marco focused back on his task. Whilst managing his own division and the second division took a fair amount of his time, increasing the number of men by 15 wouldn't be too much extra work. Not if it made his newest brothers happy.
"Okay yoi."
"Okay?"
Marco nodded decisively as he switched his attention from the document back to his brother.
"You and the others can move in with the rest of the second division tomorrow. I'll let Pops and the other Commanders know. Just make sure all of your stuff is shifted across, and you clean out your old bunks properly."
"Yes Commander!"
With a bounce in his step the ex-Spade pirate headed out of the Commander's quarters to find his old crew mates, closing the door behind him.
A gentle smile graced Marco's face at the simple joy shifting a few of the men around had caused them. Looking back at his list, Marco pulled out a fresh piece of parchment, a groan escaping his lips.
He really hated paperwork.
Thank you for reading!