Just saying, my final projects for this semester will come very soon so I can't update as often as I want. I think my mood goes down the drain with migraine, painkiller, caffeine, sweets, worries, and anxiety~
Thank you for those who reviewed.
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Chapter 6: Marco and Whitebeard
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"How…" Thatch gasped, flabbergasted. "… in the Hell you can feed him?"
In front of him was Ace, sitting on the deck under the main mast. On his lap was the little Marco, crumbs dirtied his cheek around his tiny pouty lips, napping peacefully. Fishbones were scattered around them.
"I'm not. We're fishing together, then I grilled the fish he caught and he ate it", Ace shrugged, smiling and absentmindedly twirling his finger on Marco's blond strands of hair. "Simple."
Thatch's mouth hung open. Now this was something unpredicted. Who guessed that the stupid young rascal with fiery behavior (lame pun intended), raised by mountain bandits for seventeen years of his life, could actually taking care the little boy way better than the rests of the crew? It wouldn't be a bullshit now that there was an exact proof, that Ace was a good big brother indeed.
"No shit", the Fourth Division Commander still gaped in his utter state of shock.
"Thank you."
•
When the sun slipped to the west, Moby Dick anchored on the northern beach of the dry land, Kyoukajima, far from the town.
Usually, if they landed after the sun set, the pirates would rush to the nearest town for self-pleasuring. But considering the situation, it was kinda out of priority at the moment, especially because there was a Marine base stationed on the island. Even if that he was labelled as one of the Yonkou, Whitebeard didn't want to attract any attention and more focused to bring Marco back to his normal state.
This night surely would be dull, just as dull as the top of Squardo's head.
•
Marco woke up from his nap when the sky outside was already dark. He rubbed his eyes and recognized the room was the same room when he woke up this morning.
He hadn't remember when he moved to the room. Wasn't he slept on the deck?
He looked around. The room was empty and dark. The only light source was from the outside, the lantern on the corridor at commander's deck. He didn't notice it before, but the room he slept in was quite… astonishing. It was nothing like a room he imagined a pirate would have.
Two wooden shelves, stuffed full of books, towered almost touching the ceiling. Marco slipped from his bed, walking slowly towards the shelves. He couldn't read the texts and the books were mostly thick —and he bet, also heavy. Aside from the shelves, there was also a work desk. He walked to there and found some instruments he didn't know whats for. There was a ball, held by an arch made of brass. Looking closely, there was also some words on the ball with strange shape of reds and lines. There was also some ticking instruments, cylindrical instruments, and pointy instruments. With interest blowing up like a bubble, the little boy examined the instruments one by one.
Satisfied, he walked out to the empty corridor. The end of the way was pitch-dark, making him gulp some amount of air. It was like some kind of ghosts or monsters would pop in.
Odd. Wasn't it too quite? Just how long he slept, anyway?
Bracing himself, he tiptoed on the corridor, very careful to his surroundings. Sometimes he made yelps when cold night wind blew, caressing his nape like some kind of demonic touch. The little boy whined. He was scared, really scared. But he was also curious. Where the others go?
He found a staircase to the upper floor. The steps were high, just abnormally way too high even for normal human. Then he remembered about that weird-moustached old guy Whitebeard's size.
Maybe this'll lead to that old man's room… he thought
•
When the little boy reached the next floor, he was almost out of breath. Not only that, he was also hurt. There were several times his knees hit the wooden steps in order to keep him from falling free like a boulder. But his little feet kept standing straight as he swatted dusts from his pants and shirt.
Marco began to explore the dark, gloomy deck. There were only several rooms on this floor, even lesser than at the previous floor —the commanders' deck, he heard from that weird-haired ossan.
He remembered the weird-haired ossan told him that Whitebeard Pirates had sixteen division, commanded by one of each sixteen division commanders. He knew about Thatch, the weird-haired ossan which was the commander for Fourth Division. He knew about Ace, the teen with freckles and also the commander for Second Division, which whom he went fishing on the rear deck. There was also Jozu, the large man with scary face. Lastly he knew about Izou, Rakuyo, and Namur.
He shook his head hard. The last four commanders were a bunch of weirdos… and scary. He kept a mental note to stay away from them. As far as he could.
Anyway, if the commanders' deck was right below this deck, then he knew which way he was going at.
The captain's cabin.
He heard from Thatch, not everyone can just simply walk to the captain's cabin. Even not very much people visiting the deck, only the commanders. And at night, the only one who was allowed to visit was the first mate —which he heard was also the commander for First Division. The captain must be a very special position, the little boy guessed, so that only few people could pay a visit to his room.
But weren't that will make the captain lonely?
He walked straight to a large door, thinking that this might be the captain's room. The door was really huge. Of course, because he remembered how big the captain was. Carefully and slowly, trying to as silent as he could, the little boy pushed the door open. It creaked faintly, but he had no trouble to make it open wide enough for him to enter.
Much to his surprise, the captain was still awake. He sat on his seat, with his back facing the door. Scare swell in his chest, causing him to inch backwards. Maybe it wasn't really a good idea to go barge someone's room. Moreover if that certain someone overpowered his height about ten times.
"What is it, brat?" the huge man turned, now facing the little boy on the doorway.
Marco made a yelp. He was almost, almost, turning back and run as fast as he could —but somehow his feet nailed securely on the floor, making him unable to move from the place he stood.
"C'mere", the captain waved his huge hand. The little boy noticed that his voice was so casual, so… comforting? Why? He just caught someone barging his room in the night. Wasn't he at least mad?
But Marco had no choice. With shaky feet, he walked closer to the huge man. The equally huge hands lifted his tiny body and put him on the bunk.
Odd, Marco didn't feel scared.
"You have no bad intention. I don't see reason to knock you outta this room. Gurarararara!"
Wait. Did the old man just… laughed?
"Umm…" Marco shifted awkwardly. "…sorry for entering your room without permission."
"Don't mind it", Whitebeard laughed again, raising his hand that Marco noticed was holding a bottle. The little boy watched intensely as the old man glugged down the content of the bottle.
Once Whitebeard lowered his hand, Marco opened his mouth.
"Why'd you drink it? It smells like piss."
"It tastes like piss too", Whitebeard replied. The boy made unpleasant face. He didn't want to imagine how the piss taste.
"Why it so quiet? Where are the others go?" Marco asked again, trying to change the subject.
"Out", Whitebeard simply stated, before devouring more of the bottle's content, much to Marco's displease. The reek from the bottle was too overwhelming, though he knew he'd experienced the worst.
"Where?"
"To the town, of course. We're docked on the port now."
"Why don't you go too?"
Silent stroke between them. Whitebeard locked his gaze to his first mate for the first time, noticing that the man who used to be his second man in command was now a child. A fragile, clueless child, filled with innocent curiosity, just like what any child around his age do.
For the first time that night, Whitebeard noticed that both of the child's knees were scraped.
This made the giant man's feature softened.
"I don't feel like to", the old man resumed to empty his bottle's content.
There was another silent moment. While Whitebeard's eyes were still locked to the little kid on his bunk, Marco's eyes wandered around the room, noticing the objects that filled the captain's cabin. A map hung on the wall, a shelf stuffed full with books, a large desk that matched the giant captain's size, a treasure chest under the desk.
It didn't last long though. The boy's half-lidded eyes drooped even more as he rubbed them in sleepy manner, just about to crash at any moment. Whitebeard saw this, grunted, put his bottle to his desk, and scooped the boy gently before his tiny body dropped to the bed. In his palm, he could feel the boy's body tensed, but seemed too tired to give any struggle.
"Stupid brat. I'll take you back to your room now", the captain grumbled and stood on his feet. What he got as reply was a weak yawn from the boy.
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