I'm really sorry for the delay and here is a super long chapter for you guys! XD I doubt that I could keep this length going though so enjoy this while you still can! -slapped- My life has been becoming busy lately so udpates would be less frequent. Same goes for my other stories! D:

PPGZ Lover099: Thank you! I assure you that I tried my best xD I hope that you'll enjoy the rest of the story too!

Kiyoumi: TROLOLOL! If you had seen a particular small comic strip about baby Marco and baby Phoenix!Marco, I bet that you would feel the same way too. It was just so damn small and round! akdjakjskaj I suppose that I could see Sanji as the mother hen of the group and Marco must be subconsciously relating him to himself. LOL!

anonymous: Oh? It wasn't a flashback, it happened in the day Sanji came over to make hotpot xD I bet it wasn't a surprise for anyone to predict what Ace would do if it had something to do with Luffy.

TheeCritic: I'm definitely loving his problem. -shot-

pumpkintofu: Thank you! I've written MarcoxSanji as a side pairing and a main pairing in the other of my two fics actually xD Honestly, I didn't expect myself to be able to make it work as well but I sort of ship it and I came across a MarcoxSanji fanart too so I got even more hooked onto it. I have to admit that I'm a bit of a sadist inside and enjoyed Marco's problems- -tossed into a firepit- xwx

COUGH! I once thought that the table legs were made of iron foils (no such thing apparently). LOOOOL!

And it's alright! I love to read long reviews! :D

azab: Probably not much since he was more connected to Ace and Luffy than Sanji. But it'll change in later chapters for sure xD

ASLfangirl: Probably more or less than you can imagine. xD I kind of like torturing Marco. ;x

Wildoll: Thank you and you're awesome too! Marco puts a 'yoi' at the back of some of his sentences like his own verbal tic, yeah. owo Sort of like his style of speech.


My life is officially hell.

I always wondered why do the sanest people suffers the most. I don't know about Luffy's friends but my bunch of friends including Ace has to be the craziest, infuriating bunch ever. And who happened to be the most responsible adult who has to take care of these children when no one else wanted to take on the responsibility?

That would be me, Marco-fucking-Newgate.

I considered acting like them to fool them but it was too late and the embarrassment just wasn't worth it. It must be nice being so air-headed that you could do whatever the hell you want and feel as shameful as putting on clothes. I can never understand how they managed it even though Thatch tried to explain but I could catch no balls. My friends has to be the joke and I'm the unfortunate straight-man who delivers his life as the punchline in this sad comedy show.

"Sorry. No can do, momma," the last friend on my contact list said before he hung up.

Who the fuck is he calling momma?!

"Hey, everyone is here!" Luffy cried out joyously and I could hear the rest of his friends entering the house.

I sighed.

"Don't worry about it, at least we'll be here to hold Luffy down," Sanji, one of the responsible guys in his group, reassured but I could see a hint of uncertainty flashing through his eyes. "Ace is all up to you though."

You know, I'd rather take care Luffy any day.

"Oops! I dropped the hotpot," Luffy said sheepishly.

"Luffy, you idiot!" Nami shouted.

Screw it, I'm washing my hands off the both of them!

"You idiot! You've just wasted soup!" I heard Sanji scolded and a few punching noises before he went into curses. "I'm damn lucky that I decided to make a huge pot of soup before I came over here."

"What's wrong, Marco? You looked stress?" Ace asked and I could feel him patting on my shoulder.

I looked stressed? I looked stressed?! I AM stressed!

"It's the upcoming field trip. Make sure that you remember to pack everything the day before so that you don't have to end up borrowing my underwear again, yoi," I said instead. I really don't want to be reminded of Ace's freshman camp. I couldn't believe that idiot attempted to spend the days without wearing underwear. He already has a habit of not wearing a shirt and I'm sure there wasn't a need for him to expose anymore. "And Luffy's too," I added. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy forgot to bring his pants.

"Just bring along some more underwear just incase."

"That wasn't supposed to sound assuring, Ace! You're supposed to bring your own damn underwear, yoi! You sound as though you were hundred-percent certain that you will be borrowing my underwear. Go and pack now," I ordered.

"No way. Luffy is going to eat all the meat if I leave for a second," Ace retorted stubbornly and patted my head-did I ever mention that I hate it when someone does that?

"Ace. Can you take spicy food, yoi?"

Ace raised at eyebrow at me and looked as though he was disappointed. "Of course I do. You know damn well that I love spicy stuff."

"What about Luffy?"

"Nah, he couldn't stand it. Why?"

"His friend is putting tabasco on the meat, yoi."

I saw Ace smirking afterwards.

-x-

I really have to hand it to Luffy. Even when tabasco was literally dripping from the meat, he was still able to suck everything in like a vacuüm cleaner. Of course, he started to breathe fire afterwards and Ace wouldn't stop laughing about it. Speaking of him, there was a few times whereby his head almost dropped into the pot but I had to be a friend and pull him back before he started making out with hot soup. And he'll be in one if Sanji finds his head floating on his soup.

Luckily, I had eaten before I came over because all I am getting was vegetables.

"It's like a damn meat-eating contest," Sanji grumbled. I suppose he didn't think of eating beforehand.

"We have some meat hidden, right?" I asked.

"Yeah but it's not like we could take it out now."

"Just bear with it for now, yoi." I couldn't help but chuckle. It feels reassuring to know that there was someone else sane here.

Unlike the group in front of us who looked ready to kill each other for the meat.

"Luffy! That meat is mine," Zoro growled and slapped him across the head.

"No way! All the meat is mine!" Luffy argued back.

"Just let us have some of the meat! Or else there wouldn't be any point for us to be here, idiot," Nami shouted.

"Oi, Luffy! Let Nami-swan have the damn meat or else I'll start making vegetable soup every time I come over here," Sanji threatened and Luffy immediately compiled. "And all of you, eat your damn food properly! Stop spilling soup all over the table! We don't need your damn dirty katanas, marimo! Oi Usopp, don't even think of putting tabasco into the soup or I'll kick you out of this country! Ace! Stop trying to fall asleep on the raw food!"

Burp. Poot.

"Don't fart around the dining table, you crazy teacher!" Sanji bellowed.

"Yohohoho!"

Whenever Sanji was around, I feel like I can relax better.

But I guess every men in the group was strange and it just takes special circumstances for Sanji to show his. On the other day, I found him beaten into a pulp by one of our female teachers for flirting around with her. I don't even know how he could flirt with two female teachers at the same time and not expect a heavier beating. Even when I brought him to the infirmary, he was still going on about how beautiful they looked. The women in this group were surprisingly normal though.

That was until I caught Nami trying to steal my wallet.

"Ugh, I don't feel good…" Luffy mumbled.

"That's because you ate too much spicy food," Ace scolded, sighed and shook his head. "Come on, Lu. I'll bring you to the bathroom."

"B-But the meat…"

"I can stand one night without meat," Ace reassured.

"I meant my meat…"

"You're still going to eat?!" Ace exclaimed.

Persistence runs well in the family.

Ace is currently throwing Luffy over his shoulder while his brother tries to struggle out of his grip. Their persistence is so damn high that I don't even know who will win or lose before one of them ended up losing a house. They aren't staying at my house if they happened to lose theirs by the way. When Ace and Luffy were finally out of sight, the others immediately became Luffies and dove for the meat. Just how long hadn't they been eating meat?! How much they were being deprived?!

And even Sanji is joining in!

Why do I have a feeling that I wouldn't survive the night…


The next day, I drove to school with heavy eyebags beneath my eyes. As if my usual sleepy face wasn't enough to express how sleep-deprived I was, I just had to earn myself these bags. I guess it wasn't as easy as I thought to keep everyone from wrecking the house, especially after Zoro had gotten drunk. I tried to stop him from committing underaged drinking but he had his ways to keep everyone away.

Every one of them was almost as bad as Luffy.

And I have to be one of the teachers in-charge for their camp.

Pops save me. I thought dreadfully as I parked my car in the school's carpark.

"What's wrong, Marco? You look more like a pineapple panda today." Thatch suddenly appeared beside me and slapped me on the back.

"What is pineapple panda, yoi? Don't put these two together when it doesn't exist. And I'm still angry at you, by the way."

"About yesterday? So sorry about that. My wife caught me-" Lies, he wasn't even married! "And you know how angry women could get. I don't see what's wrong anyway since you've taken care of Luffy before."

I sighed at the memory. "It wasn't my choice. He was dumped into my arms, yoi. Not only that, it's Ace, Luffy and Luffy's friends this time. I won't be able to survive this."

"Don't give up so easily, buddy! Make us proud, make our pops proud! Show them that you can tame the herd of sheeps and make them your minions!"

"I'm not going to make my students minions! And why sheeps? You hadn't seen them yesterday! They were like rabid Chihuahuas, yoi!"

"Why Chihuahuas? Wouldn't bulldogs be a more accurate description if you want to point out how bad they were?"

"Do I look like a damn dog trainer to you?!"

Thatch only laughed at my suffering as usual and patted me on the back again. The gesture was assumed to be reassuring but it didn't bring me any comfort at all! Instead, it only made me feel even more stressful at how the freshman camp would turn out. I wasn't promised this when pops told me to become one of the teachers to look out for Ace! I should've just went ahead and worked as one of the bird keepers in the bird park!

"Don't look so stressed. Maybe Ace could take care of Luffy instead," Thatch reassured.

"He is twice as bad as Luffy, Thatch. You know that, yoi."

"I'm just saying since Ace would want to protect Luffy and keep him out of trouble. You know? Like those big brothers does for their little brothers then ended up finding out that the protectiveness came from the forbidden love?"

"You're reading too much mangas, yoi. If that's the case, why don't you take over me?" I demanded.

"I don't have the time to do it," Thatch said simply.

"Your lies are as horrible as your hairdo."

"Hey! My hair is fine! Yours however, makes you look like a pineapple!"

"And whose fault would that be that I ended up with this?!"

"…Me?"

"You're damn right it is! Get out of my car before I rip off the wheel and throw it at your head!" I threatened and got out of the car. I just felt like I had wasted twenty minutes of my life. For some reason, I feel extremely pissy this morning.

Keep my cool. I have to keep my cool…

"This isn't like you, Marco. I guess this must really be stressing you out since you hardly threw a temper." Thatch stepped out of the car and walked over to me. "Good luck at the camp, buddy. Don't forget to keep your ass safe from Mr. Kizaru," he teased and slapped my ass.

My. Fucking. Ass.

WHAM!

"It feels good to have a punching bag early in the morning, yoi," I muttered to myself as I walked towards the school building.

It wasn't that I have anything against the brothers. In fact, they make very good company when they weren't destroying anything near them.

I didn't have any other friends aside from pops's other adopted children before Ace and Luffy barged into my life. They were the brothers of oddity but I guess I couldn't complain much about them. Their parents weren't around with them when they were born and Ace was constantly targeted by society. Even so, he remained stubborn and still kept his promise of taking care of Luffy. I know that he is having a hard time with juggling work and school at the same time which was why I remained as a teacher so that I could at least take one off his shoulder. As frivolous as he may seemed, Ace could actually be dead serious when it comes to Luffy.

And I'm not only talking about the moments after he changed. But I remembered that even before he went through a huge change of heart, he was a lot more rebellious and difficult to handle. I can't blame him since his gramps wasn't the best after all.

Flashback

I was sixteen and Ace was twelve. I was living alone upon my request since pops keep adopting more and more kids into his family. The last straw kind of broke when we had to share the same bathtub. I love pops nonetheless and would visit him when I could. But after I left, more of the older children in the family began to have their own apartments etc. Pops wasn't very happy about it but at least they also stayed in contact.

Some of them lived together while some on their own. I preferably liked to live alone because of the peace and quiet. I wasn't very social to begin with and I find it hard for me to trust people easily. Thatch once said that I seemed too cold and serious for anyone to have fun along with. But I suspect the reason Thatch had fun was because he was making fun of me all the time. Anyway, my life was pretty much dull and I liked it that way.

It was then I met someone by the name of Monkey D. Garp.

"My grandchildren will be living with you as your neighbors from now on. I hope that you would get along," Garp said politely and bowed his head. "I shall now leave them in your care. Throw them into a cage of lions if you must and I recommend not to give them food if they asks. Let them search the rubbish dump for their own survival."

How is that supposed to be caring?!

After Garp left, I went back into my home and was about to tend to my bird before the doorbell rang again. I opened to find Ace holding his brother.

"Here. You can have him," Ace said and threw him into my arms. What am I supposed to do with this? "I don't need such a noisy idiot living with me. By the way, he isn't my brother so don't even try to assume. Give him food and water twice a day or throw him into the rubbish dump so that he can look for himself. Kill him if he gets too noisy. I don't care. Bye."

What is wrong with this family?

"Ace!" Luffy cried when Ace had already left our sights.

"I hate to say it but your brother didn't seem to like you, yoi."

"Ace doesn't like a lot of people…" Luffy said solemnly before looking up at me happily. "Will you be my big brother?"

"Uh… I already have a lot."

"I see… so you can't be my big brother…"

Why does this kid have to look so sad?!

"Fine, fine. I'll be your big brother!" I can't exactly throw this kid out! But neither would it be possible for me to keep him too. It'd be weird considering that we're total strangers. I guess I have to find a way to convince Ace to take his brother back. "So, what is your name?"

"My name is Luffy! What is yours, nii-chan?"

You know… I think I'd rather have this kid as a brother than Thatch.

"Marco. Make yourself comfortable for the time being. I'll see if I can try to convince your brother to take you back."

"There's no need for that. Ace is too stubborn."

Why is he giving up already?! And why is he raiding my fridge after I told him to make himself comfortable?!

"Do you hate your brother, yoi?" I asked.

"Not at all! I love Ace a lot but he didn't seem to like me. That's okay, I guess. It still feels good to have someone with me and not being alone. Even though we only just met yesterday I'd prefer Ace to anyone else."

Wait… they just met yesterday?!

Then how did they ended up living with each other already?

And aren't you too soon to like him so much?! And wasn't it too soon for Ace to hate someone that much?!

"I see…" I said instead. I'd probably lose ten years of my life if I try to get him to answer every single questions I have in my head.

"By the way, Marco. Your head looks kind of like a pineapple," Luffy said bluntly.

I feel tempted to throw this kid into Thatch's house.

-x-

A few weeks later, Luffy had officially grew accustomed to my house and fridge. However, he still mostly talked about Ace and wondered how he was doing. Ace wasn't home most of the time so it was difficult to get ahold of him. Even if I did, he would just tell me to get the hell away from him. I would like to see what does Thatch have to say about me after he meets this kid. If my patience weren't that of a saint, I would've threw Luffy into his room and lock every single of their doors so that they could never get out.

I was taking care of my bird named Phoenix. I kind of took a liking to it ever since pops bought it for me. It was so fluffy that I felt tempted to pinch it in the middle of my-no, I would never think of doing that. That's just cruel and silly.

While I was changing his food, I suddenly heard a series of loud banging on my door. I swear if it was those damn couple who has sex on other people's door again, I'll throw them into a pit of fire. However, it turned out to be only Ace and Luffy.

"Hurry… Luffy…" Ace panted while carrying Luffy on his back.

"What happened, yoi?" I asked and allowed them in.

"Just hurry up and help Luffy!" Ace snapped.

This… guy.

"Be a little more polite," I snapped back and shut the door. "Lay him on the couch. I'll get the first aid kit, yoi."

Surprisingly, Ace remained quiet and did as he was told. Even when I was treating the wounds on Luffy's back, he still remained eerily quiet. The wounds were quite bad and I could easily tell that he was burnt badly. However it wasn't bad enough to be life threatening.

"So are you going to tell me what happened? I don't think even he would be stupid enough to burn himself," I said.

"It was… my fault. I was the one who did it…" Ace muttered as he kept his gaze down. "Luffy… he… didn't care. He just let me… did it to him. I couldn't control myself and… this happened. I really didn't mean to do it. He really is a nice person…" By now, he was already crying.

"Do you really hate him that much, yoi?"

"I guess I kind of used to… but not now…"

I sighed and shook my head. I have a feeling that there is more to it but I decided not to push him now. "He will be fine, yoi. It'll definitely leave scars but it's not going to take his life away. I have to admit that even I was mad when you said that you were the one who did it. But this kid really do like you a lot. He told me the day you threw him onto me, yoi."

"That long…? Even when I was being such an asshole…?"

"Even when you were being an asshole," I agreed. "But if you don't hate him now, take him back and take care of him. He prefers you to anyone else, yoi. He was waiting for you to bring him home too. if you really regret hurting him then stop disappointing him."

"I can't. I can't take care of anyone. I can only end up hurting him! You don't understand a damn thing!"

"You will only end up hurting him more if you were to keep him waiting for nothing, yoi. I don't know what's your story but I can tell that it's too damn complicated for me to stick around hearing about it. How can you hurt him when he would be the happiest to stick around with you? Don't be selfish, yoi. You're the one who doesn't understand a damn thing. You keep on assuming on your own and hurting him even more. At least take the responsibility and look after him after all this, yoi," I said and let out another sigh. "He needs you around so just give him that at least, dammit. If you need anything, just look for me."

"He needs me…? He'll be happy with me?"

"Even if you beat him into a bloody pulp, yes." Luffy was definitely one oddball. "Stay here for the night if you want. I'll move Luffy to his room and you can stay there with him, yoi."

After that, I brought Luffy to his room and proceeded back to mine. I'll leave it to Ace with his own decision. It was funny. How did I managed to get attached to them? The only people I had allowed in my life was pops and some of my adopted siblings. Even so, neither I have told anyone to rely on me nor having being relied on. It was strange but those two idiots had somehow wormed their way in my life. I couldn't help but feel that I should protect them. The society wasn't good to everyone and I have a feeling that they were dumped on the side that I was in. Those brothers really do have it hard.

The next morning, I went down stairs and found Luffy hugging Ace happily.

"So you've made your decision, yoi?"

"Yeah, I'll take him back with me," he muttered and stared at me. "Thanks for keeping him for me, I guess. You don't have to worry about food and water since I'll feed it to him daily. I'll clean up his room for him as soon as I get back. So… I guess I'll be keeping him from now on."

"Oi, he's not a pet, yoi."

Luffy snickered. "Meow!"

Did Ace just blush?

"I-it's not like that! Sure, he seemed like the kind of cat who would poop anywhere and it's definitely not adorable! See? He doesn't even try to defend that he's a human being! Just how pathetic that is? I'm going to have a damn lot of trouble taking care of this stupid kitty and I bet that I'm going to regret it!"

"…Then why are you still blushing?"

"I'm not blushing, dammit! Stop that or I'll pluck your feathers!"

"Just get the hell out already, yoi."

End of Flashback

"Oi Luffy! Your classroom is here! Get off my back already. You're starting to drool on my shirt," Ace complained.

"Meat… meat…"

I chuckled and shook my head at them.

Strange brothers indeed.


Thanks for reading and review, yeah? :D