Disclaimer: I do not own one piece

Marco wasn't usually the kind of person who was overwhelmed by the amount of assignments he got especially considering the course that he chose to take but today was an exception. Rubbing the sleep away from his eyes he replaced his reading glasses back on his desk and got up, abandoning the large stack of white papers and laptop. Getting out of his chair he began to make his way to the kitchen determined to get some much needed caffeine into his system.

Woof!

No he was just imagining things after all he had been working well into the night.

Woof!

The mind was a mysterious thing. A niggling sensation told him that he wasn't imagining a barking dog as a matter of fact he felt something like a tongue was licking his leg. Wait that isn't right... Marco bent down to find himself looking at a snow white puppy-a puppy since when did we ever get a puppy.

Crouching down he picked up and held it in front of his face. Making the puppy squirm in discomfort clearly not pleased at being held this way, now usually he wasn't the kind of person to admit anything was cute or adorable (that field of expertise belonged to Molly and Haruta) but he couldn't help but let a small smile tug at his lips as he stared at the dog's appearance. Its hair was short and shaggy. Big black eyes and a small crescent shaped tuft of fur at the tip of its nose.

Placing the puppy back on the ground he went to the kitchen and came back holding a mug of coffee in hand and settled into the nearest couch. The puppy jumped up onto the seat and proceeded to settle himself onto Marco's lap not the slightest worried that the prospects of him being kept on the ground were very high.

Closing his eyes Marco began to savour the peaceful silence and not having to deal with the daily discord that occurred on a regular basis that would drive most people insane-although it was questionable whether he retained some of sanity after having to live with these people.

Draining the final dregs of his coffee he gently removed the puppy from his lap who had by now fallen asleep and placed him back on the couch-a whimper of protest came from the pup before he quickly he settled back down into his peaceful slumber dreaming about whatever dogs dream of.

That morning Marco found himself in the kitchen preparing himself a light breakfast contemplating on whether to continue his work now or leave it for a later date; the latter option being a very tempting option seeing as how he had unsuccessfully managed to sleep and ended waking up early despite being a weekend.

He was brought out of his musings when he felt a weight at his feet momentarily he looked away from the stove and downwards to see none other than the dog at his feet. Tail wagging furiously and tongue hanging outside the mouth. Bending down Marco tousled the dog's hair before resuming to what he was doing on the stove. For some reason unbeknownst to Marco the puppy had become extremely attached to him to the point that he was like his second shadow wherever Marco the puppy was right there behind him-even to the bathroom for crying out loud!

'Marco I'm starving' a familiar voice complained. Resisting the urge to Ace with the spatula he was currently holding in his he turned to see a very sleepy Ace.

'Make your own breakfast, yoi.' Marco said calmly.

'But I am so tired.' Ace whined with a childish pout on his face.

'Not my problem, yoi.' Marco deadpanned turning back to focus on the task at hand

'Stupid flaming pineapple head.' Ace grumbled.

Woof!

Silence filled the kitchen as Ace looked at the floor more specifically the area beneath Marco's feet where a puppy was seated on its hind legs. 'Marco is that a...'

Without even turning to look back he replied 'yes, it is yoi you're not hallucinating'

'But since when did we-'

'I don't know just found it here last night-'

'Oh'

'Anything else you want to know, yoi?'

'Yeah.'

'Well'

'Why is it following a flaming turkey li-'

A wooden projectile flew through the air and nailed Ace on the forehead who fell ungraciously onto the floor and began to groan in pain.

'And that is how you deal with annoying people.' Marco said calmly.

The dog barked in agreement and wagged his tail even faster.

'What happened?' Ace groaned in pain while standing up.

'You fell, yoi.' Marco replied simply while walking towards the counter holding a plate of pancakes and two coffee mugs in the other.

Ace plopped himself in a seat and began to help himself to some pancakes the cup of coffee opposite him lay forgotten. Marco sat himself in the opposite direction sipping his coffee at leisurely pace while going through the morning paper. Eyebrow raised in marginal surprise when he read reports about the latest uprising.

'At this rate if this continues' Marco thought to himself but before he could further contemplate a loud commotion brought him out of his musings. Looking up from his paper he found face to have a mirrored expression and the two went to the living room

Crouched on the floor were Thatch, Haruta and Molly in a semi-circle with the puppy in the centre who seemed to be barking rather furtively in excitement at having so much company while Izou, Jozu and Ami were seated on the couch chatting casually.

'Invite yourselves why don't you.' he heard Ace grumble underneath his breath before making his way back to the kitchen (probably to finish the rest of the pancakes).

Probably forgot that they were coming over today. Marco thought before making his way towards the living room to relax with everybody else. Hoping to avoid the question involving the puppy that was in the room.

'Marco since when did you get a puppy?' Haruta asked

Well it was good while it lasted.

'Don't know yoi. I found it in the living room last night.' Marco answered.

'Any idea whose it is?' Am asked while eyeing the puppy a smile appearing on her lips when the puppy tried to pull at Thatch's prized yellow foulard that he claims cost him a fortune.

'Not the slightest I just found him in the sitting room when I went to get a cup of coffee in the middle of the night, yoi.' Marco replied

'So what are you going to do with him?' Jozu questioned

For a brief moment Marco seemed as if he were contemplating on what to do 'I guess for now I'll take care of him until we either find its owner or adopt it if the owner is nowhere to be found.'

'Speaking of which where did the puppy disappear to?' Izou suddenly asked out of the blue.

A loud commotion emanating from the bedroom area followed by creative profanities and yapping of a dog in the background made the people in the living room.

'You don't think...' Thatch started

'Well there isn't any other dog in the house.' Jozu commented

'What I want to know is how the dog managed to escape the living the room without anyone noticing.' Izou wondered

'Stefan yoi.' Marco stated calmly.

'Stefan who is Stefan Marco?' Haruta asked

'The dog's name is Stefan.' Marco repeated

'Who knew he had a defensive side. Although teasing him would probably be the death of me.' Thatch thought to himself.

'Shouldn't someone go check what happened in the bedroom?' Haruta pointed out 'I mean Ace is the only one who went to the bedroom right?'

Everyone made their way to the bedroom and opened the door. Now usually Ace despite his less than questionable behaviour was actually a surprisingly neat person-okay not by your terms definition of neat but at least there weren't a various sort of miscellaneous items scattered everywhere with no form of order whatsoever. On this particular morning to say his room looked like a tornado went to town in here would be the biggest understatement of the century.

Bent in an awkward position on the floor that could make the most flexible person envious was none other than freckled pyromaniac himself with a sour expression on his face with a nasty purple bruise on his left cheek. The desk on his left had been tipped over and papers lay scattered everywhere. Crouching innocently on the bed with a torn pillow underneath him was none other than Stefan who seemed to be pretty please.

A pregnant pause filled the atmosphere which was immediately broken when Molly, Haruta and Thatch howled like wolves in laughter at seeing Ace in that position. Izou tried to cover his laughter by covering his mouth while Jozu tried to remain stoic although that seemed to waver seeing as how he wanted to laugh as well. Excited to see his master leaped off the bed and used Ace as a springboard and bounded towards Marco excited to see his master.

'Wish I'd brought a camera.' Thatch said in between bouts of mirth.

'The three of you can go to hell.' Ace growled. Thankfully Marco entered the room and helped Ace get up from his awkward position on the floor with Stefan not so far behind.

'I hate that dog of yours, Marco.' Ace hissed 'look at what it did to my bedroom.'

'In his defence your room was already pretty messy before Stefan came inside.' Izou retorted with a smirk on his face.

'Stefan. Who is Stefan?' Ace asked

'The dog.' Ami replied simply.

'Seems like Ace has new playmate.' Izou teased.

Ace groaned in frustration when he had a sinking feeling that the dog was here to stay and seeing as how it he managed to win favour with everybody else there was no chance that the dog was ever going to leave-could this get any worse.

An awful smell suddenly filled his room turning to face the dog Stefan he inwardly groaned at the 'present' Stefan had left him in the middle of his bedroom.

That was meant to be rhetorical question by the way.

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