"I am crazy and stubborn."
- Franky -
"You really put your foot in it this time birdbrain." Marco felt his eye tick at the irritating nickname from Thatch.
Looking over from his deck he watched the ginger enter his room and make his way over to Marcos bed, proceeding to sprawl across it like he did every time something was bothering the normally jovial commander and he wanted to talk to Marco about it.
Putting his pen down on the stack of reports on his desk Marco turned in his chair to look at his brother with a sigh. "How bad, yoi?"
"Well, after she stopped cursing your name and suggesting places to shove a certain spiky fruit, Roman managed to get her to at least promise she wasn't going to eviscerate you next time she saw you." Marco actually swallowed audibly at that, glaring at Thatch when the idiot chuckled. "He helped her to the bathroom and then we went to go retrieve some things from her personal footlocker that she asked for. Roman also said that she'd probably calm down soon but for future reference she hates people she doesn't know touching her stuff... which he apparently warned you about last night." Thatch didn't have to sound so smug and authoritative Marco thought. He screwed up this once, he got it.
Groaning in exasperation, Marco flopped his head back against the top of his chair. He hadn't had a female this pissed off at him since the incident with Whitey Bay. He'd copped the blame for something that had been entirely Thatch and Jirus fault. It had taken years for the Ice Witch to get over it and it was still considered a taboo subject among both crews too this day.
"You should be counting your lucky stars that unlike her twin, Ann apparently listens to Roman sometimes." Marco snorted, wondering once again what the relationship between the Spade Pirates brazen First Mate and Quartermaster was.
"Speaking of her sibling yoi, what's Ace up to?"
"Well, when he finally manage to get free of the railing that Pops put him through earlier by burning the damn thing, which has pissed Haruta off to no end, he sequester himself in the room Jozu put him in last night, telling everyone who knocks on the door to fuck off." That didn't surprise Marco one bit considering how hot tempered the young pirate was.
There was a peaceful silence for a period of time, until Thatch quietly uttered "Did you catch how she freaked out over her own fire?"
Marco rolled his head until he could see his brother, noting the pensive expression on the gingers face as he stared at the ceiling. So that's what was currently bothering Thatch and what he'd really come in here to talk about Marco thought. He'd been thinking about the same thing for a while as well but hadn't said anything because he'd originally thought that she'd panicked due to his own blue flames and he didn't want his siblings stirring him over it.
Except the last time she'd definitely flipped out over her own fire, which was the most absurd thing for a Logia whose element was fire to do.
"I tried to ask Roman about it while he was getting some of her things out of storage but he just said she was probably tired or still being affected by the pain medication Doc had given her." The gingers face was set in a serious frown and Marco could see the genuine concern his brother held for Ann.
Marco didn't buy Roman's excuse one bit and he doubted Thatch did either. "Give her time brother, she'll eventually trust you enough to talk to you if she actually has a problem."
Thatch just grunted in reply, probably remembering how long it had taken to get Haruta to warm up to him.
A few minutes later Marco went back to his paperwork as the sound of Thatch's light snoring filled the room, more than content to just let his brother sleep on his bed and catch up on the rest the ginger obviously needed while he finished going through the quarterly reports from each division.
Asshole... expressionless asshole... pineapple headed expressionless asshole...
"You're mumbling."
"Shut it Ro." I grumbled back at the irritating pirate and he chuckled while I finished graffiting on the photos of Ace stuck in the ships railing. Except I was starting to get frustrated with what I was doing, half because of what had happened earlier this morning and half because I was wondering how full the book would be before Ace made a choice on whether to accept Whitebeards offer or leave; because even I knew there was no way he could take down the powerful Yonko, so before my anger got the better of me I put the book down in case I did something I'd regret.
I raised my face to the warmth of midday sun as I lounged on deck with Roman, leaning up against the base of the ships main mast while he supposedly napped beside me, tuning out the other pirates that were mulling around on deck. I'd refused to go back to the infirmary after my shower; I wanted sunshine and sea breeze, not a stuffy room.
Taking a deep breath to clear my head I looked over to my latest half full personal sketch book and picked the thing up, deciding to draw the object of my current frustration in an attempt to release some of my anger.
I was halfway through colour rendering when I heard an amused snicker from behind me and swung my gaze up and around to see a man - and yes I did do a double take - in not just a kimono but full geisha makeup, holding a fan to his face while amusement danced in his eyes as he looked at the sketch of the irritating first division commander with a pineapple for a head and a big bold 'YOI' in a huge speech bubble above him.
Slamming my work closed I glared at the pirate, who didn't seem at all fazed by my hostility. "No need for that hun, I was just admiring." He laughed at my continued glare.
"It's ok Izo, unlike Ace who gets obsessive over things, Ann here gets possessive. Especially over her personal sketch books, which she doesn't let anyone look in." My gaze shifted to glare at the pirate who was laying flat on his back next to me with his eyes closed. When one of his eyes lazily cracked open and he grinned while looking at me I glared even harder... that was until someone sat down on the other side of me suddenly and I yelped.
"That is really good, some of the best artwork I've ever seen." I swung my irritated gaze back to the cross-dresser, looking at him as his kohl rimmed eyes raked over the sketch at my feet. "They look so adorable. Wait... is that?... oh my god it is!" he held the fan up to his painted lips and snickered as he saw all the details of the painting.
I huffed a sigh, mumble a "Thanks" and relented with my glaring, actually switching to a wide grin. I couldn't really be angry with the pirate when he'd complemented my drawing and saw exactly what I was aiming for with the picture.
"I'm Izo by the way, sixteenth division commander." He looked up at me and smiled warmly. "I didn't get a chance to meet you last night, instead I met your crew mate here who wouldn't divulge a single ounce of information about you." The last part he said with a slight pout that made me chuckle.
"I guess I was a bit busy hey. And good luck ever getting anything out Roman, it took me a solid month of weedeling just to learn which sea he hailed from." I laughed and then winced, grabbing for my stomach. "For fuck sake, when will this stop hurting?"
"Told you you should've gone back to the infirmary." Roman drawled.
"Shut up Ro, between Ace's stupidity and your incessant nagging for me to go back to that bland ass room I am already over today."
"Are you sure you and Ace are twins?"
Before I could answer Izo Roman chimed in "Trust me, they're twins. They have a few hilariously opposite characteristics but they're both stubborn as hell and have that fiery temper when the right buttons are pushed. And if you get the pair side-by-side there's no mistaking that they're related. Especially with those freckled cheeks of theirs." I clenched my teeth and glared at the normally tight lipped Roman. So much for having to pry information out of him. Then he opened both his eyes and turned his curious gaze on me while arching a dark brow "Except Ace is the one who normally gets so easily embarrassed, so what question from before was Marco referring to that got you so frigging red in the face?"
"Nothing!" I bit back, feeling my ears heat. I was thankful that my bandanna and hair were currently covering them.
"Ohhhh, so you're the reason Marco's more broody than usual." Why the hell did Izo sound so... gleeful.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, if that pervert is in a shitty moody it's his own fault." I heard Izo chuckle while Roman looked at me sideways.
"Seriously, I've seen men in bars ask you straight out if they could take you upstairs and fuck your brains out and you didn't bat and eye at that, but Marco holds up your underwear and you were as red as a tomato." I opened my mouth to say something but he kept going "And before you try some bullshit about being embarrassed over him touching your undies I'll remind you of that time Cruz pinched all your knickers and pined them to the ships sail, spelling out the words 'Panty Pirates' and all you did was laugh while Ace was the one to turn bright red. Or how every single member of our crew has washed your clothes at one time or another. So what gives?"
I opened and closed my mouth a few times, which gave the bastard time to keep theorizing on my behaviour. He knew exactly why I'd gotten pissed off, just not why I'd gotten embarrassed. "Unless it's like what happened at Cape May?" I felt my cheeks tingle and saw the bastards grin widen. "Ohhh you've got a cru-" His words were cut off when I leapt at him, smothering his head with my chest to prevent him from saying anything else.
And what a stupid fucking thing that was for me to do.
I didn't even try to bite back my scream of pain, letting the high pitched holler come out as I rolled off my insufferably astute brother so I could curl up in a protective ball on the deck. Hoping that if I babied my stomach maybe it would stop feeling like I was being stabbed in it.
No such luck.
I groaned miserably, hating everything in that moment. Stupid appendix... stupid big mouthed Roman... stupid pineapple headed pervert... stupid fucking Ace.
"I'll take her back to the infirmary, you pack her things up hun and go get Doc." I was in so much pain that I didn't even protest when Izo picked me up and began walking off with me.
I was vaguely aware of being laid down on something and then someone was unbuttoning my black blouse that I'd put on over the top of a purple tank top. The baggy black pants I'd left on because they were a lot looser than my jean short shorts that had been in my bag. "Damn hun, you've bled through the bandage and onto your shirts."
That cleared the pain fog out of my head and I opened to see the Geishas concerned face. "Here, I'll help you sit up and remove the shirts so they can go get washed." My eyes went wide and I managed to push Izo's hands away from me with a strangled groan. "Oh hun, you have nothing I'm interested in." He tsked, completely misinterpreting why I'd pushed him away. "Unless you'd rather wait for your boyfriend to get here to help you?" Oh if I wasn't in so much pain I would have broken down into fits of laughter over Izo thinking that Roman was my boyfriend. I wasn't willing to open my mouth to correct him though, not trusting myself to not laugh at the commander and cause myself more pain, so I just sat there holding the top of my blouse closed and stared Izo down until Doc walked into the infirmary, Roman right on his heels.
"Just when I start to think that maybe you young female pirates aren't as stupid as your male counterparts you go and prove me wrong." It was hard not to grin at Docs grumpy attitude. Harder when I was in so much pain.
I watched him mumble about the stupidity of the young while he went around the room collecting things from draws before coming to stand over at the side of my bed. Thankfully he noticed how I was holding my shirt and turned to Izo, shooing him and Roman out of the room even thought they tried to protest and closed the door on the bickering pair.
"You know, not one of our crew would judge you." I snorted as I began to gingerly pull my blouse off, followed by my tank top until I was sitting there in just my bra and pants.
"It's not the judgment that concerns me, it's the questions." I shrieked when he pulled the blood soaked bandage off my stomach, glaring at him as he smiled at me. He'd fucking done that on purpose and his next words confirmed it.
"Let that be a lesson to you on listening to your doctor's advice. I know Curiel would have told you to take it easy this morning when he came to check on you." His voice was stern but he still smiled at me as he wiped the combined antiseptic and aesthetic wash over my wound. Fucking sadist.
I hissed at the added burning sensation to the already throbbing pain in my abdomen before he began to fix the few stitches that had popped open. "I thought doctors were meant to be kind and caring, not try to inflict more pain on their patients?"
"I may be a doctor love, but I'm a pirate first and foremost. An old pirate," I winced as the needle went in and out of my skin and looked at the top of his greying head with a glare "who's gotten sick and tired of the younger ones thinking they know best."
"Ok, ok, I get it. I'm an idiot." I huffed as I simultaneously winced, at least I couldn't exactly feel the needle anymore. My pain was now more about how I'd aggravated my insides.
That caused him to chuckle and he looked up at me with amusement "There may be hope for you yet girly. At least you're able to admit when you've been stupid." I winced one last time as he put another bandage over the stitches before going about cleaning everything up.
Ten minutes later he came back over with a syringe filled with something that I eyed sceptically. "It's just something for the pain. You'll probably be out like a light until tomorrow, which hopefully will give your body a bit more time to heal before you do something stupid again." I glared at the older man who just laughed my reaction off.
"Before you give me that, would you be able to fish one of the long sleeved shirts out of my bag down there please?" I pleaded, not wanting to fall asleep in just a bra and have someone other than Roman, Ace or the two doctors walk in. Back on our former ship was another story, I slept in just my knickers; hating the feel of fabric against my upper torso. But here was a different story.
"I'm not gunna pry," Doc said as he grabbed both green bags, giving me a questioning look before I indicated which to go through. "But if you ever want to talk I'll listen."
I smiled at the doctor as he handed me one of the long sleeved shirts I'd pilfered off Ace ages ago when he'd given up wearing such things. Having an inbuilt heater came in handy. "There's nothing to talk about Doc." I grinned at the man before putting the shirt on. It was baggy around my arms and stomach but it did pull a bit tight across my chest, because unlike Ace I had boobs. Not huge ones but they were decently sized.
Doc just shook his head and sighed "Whatever you say love, now roll to your side a bit and pull the back of your dacks down." He burst out laughing when I gawked at him.
He wanted me to do what?
"The shot goes in your arse cheek, it gets into the system faster because of the higher blood flow in that muscle." He laughed at me some more while I grumbled about what an asshole I thought he was as I followed his instructions, yelping as the needle pricked my skin because he gave me no fucking warning that he was about to do it.
"God you're a mean old bastard." I mumbled.
"Yeah, yeah. Sticks and stones love. See you tomorrow." The last thing I heard was Doc chuckling.
"Just let me throw him into the sea once?!" Marco sighed at Haruta's growled words and looked to Thatch for help. The ginger wasn't really paying attention as something was whispered in his ear by a very amused looking Izo, making the fourth division commanders eyes go wide before his gaze swung to Marco who got a sinking feeling in his gut by the way the ginger and Izo were suddenly grinning at him.
Marco narrowed his eyes at Thatch and then shifted his gaze to Haruta, who was still cursing about how Ace had set fire to the ship, silently telling the ginger to help calm down the hot-tempered twelfth division commander. Vista and Fossa weren't having much luck with the raging brunet and Pops was just sitting at the head of rooms table, drinking his sake and watching the commanders meeting slowly go to hell.
It had all started because Blenheim and Rakuyo had started making bets over what their newest 'guest' would set fire to next while Blamenco and Atmos had laughed over the photo's that Thatch had passed to them showing Ace's latest 'must take Whitebeard's head' carnage.
"Give it a rest squirt!" Thatch finally chimed in drawing the brunets attention away from Blamenco as the rotund pirate hide the photo's that Haruta was trying to get his hands on inside the pockets that where on his neck. "He's a Logia and you haven't even gotten a handle on your Busoshoku Haki yet."
"So," Marco cut it, trying to get the meeting back to its original purpose "beside Fire Fist, how have the rest of the former spade pirates been yoi?"
A round of okay's, fine's, all good's and no problem's came from the other fourteen commanders and Marco relaxed a fraction. At least they had only one thing to worry about currently.
"Ann's back in the infirmary." All eyes turned to Izo at the commander's announcement. Marco looked to Curiel who nodded in confirmation of the Okamas words.
"What happened?" Everyone's attention shifted to the Old Man as he piped up for the first time since the start of the meeting. Marco knew that Pops still felt responsible for the little pirate's current predicament.
It had actually shocked Marco when the Old Man had invited Ann to be a part of the crew seeing as they'd been a predominantly all male crew for the past ten years, taking on no new female crew members until five years ago when Pops had finally caved to the combined fifteen division commanders demands for him to get a form of permanent medical help. Doc now handled the more pressing stuff while the nurse monitored the Old Man so the older doctor wasn't so overworked.
Still, even with the added addition of the ten nurses they only had a combined total of twenty women currently on the crew. Pop's claimed it was because not many women wanted to sail with such a high profile and constantly hunted crew but Marco thought it had more to do with how the Old Man just couldn't stand seeing the fairer sex harmed. The time that Kaido's forces had ambushed the former second division commander Heather and a good majority of his sisters ten years ago was a good example. The horrible death of eighty three daughters had almost broken the Old Man. That incident had also made all the male members of crew a tad overprotective of their few remaining sisters, to the point where Sibble had actually threatened to leave if they didn't ease up.
"She popped a few of her stitches open. Doc fixed her up and gave her some strong pain killers so she's currently out like a light in the infirmary." Curiel stated as he read through what Marco assumed was Ann's medical folder. When Thatch tried to look over the medics shoulder at the file the tenth division commander closed it and hit the snooping ginger with the manila folder. Unless the Doctors or nurses felt that Pops and the commanders need to know something that was written in those reports they were for the medical staff's eyes only. "Izo brought her in so he knows the why's of it."
"Her crew mate Roman; you know the one who looks like a darker version of Rakuyo here." Izo motioned to the seventh division commander and the rest began to snicker as they to saw the striking resemblance between the pair that Marco had noticed the other day. Izo studiously ignored the way that Rakuyo was glaring at him and continued "Well, he was stirring her about something Marco did to put the little blonde in a bad mood and she tried to smother him with her boobs." As the rest of the commanders laughed at Ann's antics, Thatch even mumbling 'what a way to be silenced' in a dreamy tone, Marco could feel the corner of his eye twitch as he looked at Izo.
Going by the way the sixteenth division commanders painted lips were pulled back in a smirk as he locked eyes with Marco's he could easily guess that Izo was up to his usual meddling ways, he just wasn't sure yet what exactly the Okamas angle was but it probably had something to do with the 'something Marco did' line that Izo had said while giving him a knowing look. In other words Marco was going to pay for his brothers silence.
A chorus of 'What did you do?' rang out and Marco momentarily let his normal impassive demeanour slip to roll his eyes at his brothers.
But before he could say that he'd done nothing Thatch butted in with "I don't know exactly everything that feather head did to piss Ann off but he did touch her panties like a real pervert and she got super angry over it." making Marco feel like putting the gingers head through the table as everyone except Izo laughed at him, the Geisha was too bust smacking a cowering Thatch over losing valuable leverage.
"Anybody have anything else to add yoi?" Marco groaned, ready to just have this meeting over and done with.
"I do." Marco glared at Thatch as the ginger piped up.
"Anything important yoi?" Marco looked to the rest of the commanders, pointedly ignoring Thatch.
"Oh common you grumpy blue chicken this is important." Marco sighed loudly and motioned for the ginger to continue, choosing to ignore the irritating nickname because the sooner this meeting was over the sooner he could lock himself in his room and finish those damn reports. "Well you've all probably seen me taking photos of Ace when he tries to attack Pops and the Old Man knocks the shit out of him." The rest of the commanders said 'yeah' in unison, except for Haruta who continued to piss and moan over how much of an asshole he thought fire fist was. "Simmer down squirt, help me with this and I guarantee you'll get your revenge against him."
That seemed to get Haruta's attention Marco thought as he watched the brunette stop cursing out Fire Fist to eye Thatch curiously. "What are you planning?"
"Alas it's not my idea, I'm just a mere accomplice to Ann's masterful plan." Marco rolled his eyes at the gingers theatrics. This meeting had really blown his normal emotional self restraint to hell. "I need people to take pictures of Ace when he goes on one of his 'must take Whitebeard's head' stints because I can't hang around Pop's all the time."
"So that's where she got these pictures from." Izo's statement drew everyone's attention back to the Okama as he pulled a book out of the folds of his Kimono and sat it open to a specific page on the table.
Marco was close enough that he could see the highly embellished pages that held a detailed drawing of a pine forest with little raccoons running around, but even his curiosity got the better of him and he stood up like the rest of his siblings who were currently crowding around Izo to get a closer look.
Both pages featured a singular pine tree as the central focus and the two photos that Marco had seen earlier this morning of Ace stuck in the ships railing had been cut and glued onto the two identically drawn trees. The top of the first page read 'Trying to blend in...' in big bold letters and featured the picture of Ace's arse with a drawn on raccoon tail. The second page held the picture of Ace's puffed out face which had been given the same mammalian features as the little creatures that dominated the page. The bottom of that page read '...and failing miserably!' in the same style as the first part.
On closer inspection Marco could see that some of the raccoons actually resembled members of the crew. There was one with a little tuft of blonde hair, another with a pompadour... ever one with a very distinct curved white moustache who happened to be a bit bigger than the rest.
His eyes moved to the small bit of writing in the second pages top right corner, a grin tugging at his lips as he read the words. 'Ace may have just learnt that even though he looks like a raccoon he is not yet ready to 'play' with the big raccoons!'
"Who does that belong to?" Marco looked to Blenheim as the large pirate asked the question, hearing the fascination in his voice.
Looking around at the rest of his brothers Marco noticed how all their gazes were currently glued to the life like drawing, he'd completely forgotten that only Thatch and him knew of Ann's artistic skills.
"It's Ann's!" Thatch stated as he grabbed the book and closed it, trying to keep it out of everyone's curious reach. "And I bet you she has no idea that you have it, does she you sticky fingered Okama?" Marco raised his eyebrows as he read what was printed in large block letters on the books front cover that was visible through Thatch's arms.
ACE'S GUIDE TO STUPIDITY ABOARD THE MOBYDICK
"Give it back you big idiot. I just borrowed it when Doc shoved Roman and I out of the infirmary earlier." Marco watched Izo claw at the Thatch's arms to get the book back that the ginger was trying desperately to cling to, going so far as to hit the cook with the fan that the sharp shooter kept in the red and black spotted sash that he always had tied around the waist of his kimono.
"And by borrowed you really mean stole." Thatch shifted to keep Izo from smacking him in the head.
"I didn't steal it, Roman said she only gets upset over her personal sketch books and she'd have no problem with me looking through this one. I just wanted to show Oyaji how talented Ann is. I've certainly never seen artwork of this quality before." That little bit of information put a stop to Thatch trying keep the book from Izo.
The ginger eyed the Okama for a few minutes before he sighed heavily and handed the book back to Izo.
Marco watched Izo as the commander got up and walked over to where Pops was sitting and handed the Old Man the book. The rest of the commanders began to laugh as they to saw what was written on the front cover as Oyaji held the book up and flipped it open.
"Talented lass she is indeed. I see you've found a kindred spirit Thatch." Pops laughed before he handed the book back to a grinning Izo.
"A woman after my own heart Pops." Thatch held his hands to his chest in a dramatic fashion and Marco's head began to hurt as he thought about how much trouble the pair were going to end up causing. "I'm going to ask her if I can copy the pages so I can hang them in the mess hall for the rest of the crew to see. Which brings me back to me original question; I still need help getting the pictures so she can continue making these hilarious little skits, so who's in?"
Marco heard Haruta state "Ok, I'm in!" and looked over at the grinning brunette.
When the rest of the commanders chimed in with their willingness to actually participate in the gingers antics Marco knew that the shit was going to hit the proverbial fan when fire fist found out about the book... and the Whitebeard Pirates involvement in helping to create it.
What do you think Izo was whispering to Thatch?
Guest: Trust me there will be more Ace and Ann moments, some funny some very very serious.
trippyhowl: I know right 😠I looked
Guest: I'm glad it could make you laugh, means I'm doing something right.
sousie: Only a tad hey 😂
Lonely Puppy: Thankx, I do try 😆
As Always Enjoy
Xhex xoxo