Puppy's Post It: Hey! Hi peoples! :D Guess what? I'm aliiiiiiiii~vvvvvv~eeee- *shot* Woah. It's been... what, 4 months? I have no excuse, arf u.u I used to! Definitely used to! But then I got into this anime called Hetalia on a whim (More or less me one day: "Hmm... Don't feel like writing right now. And this anime looks very much loved... hm... :/") and I WAS ABSORBED. No inspiration to write what so ever for this fandom for every episode, it was just... History is probably going to be my favorite subject when school starts up again X,D Arf arf! I've come back to my senses, though, and I've supressed many a head cannon I wanted to write to get this done ;3 Ah, writing about Chibi Thatch twas strangely refreshing... anyway, sorry for the wait, but here's the next chapter! Also OMG OVA FIFTEH REVIEWS I'M SO HAPPY MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER! XD Thanks so much, all y'all readers! It really means a lot just to know what you think :) I hope this chapter is ok! The chapter title is very accurate though, so I'm a bit unsure ^^"
Disclaimer: HEYGUESSWHATIOWNONEPIECEEVERYONE 8D *sued* Yeah... One Piece tis Oda's. Moving on~ ;D
The head navigator yawned, tapping his log pose a bit. He had quite a bit of work to do, making sure they stayed on track all night.
They were heading to a winter island as of now, called Ice Sheet. The place was known for its thick layers of snow; and underneath, solid ice. Every two years, the place was supposed to get another inch of solid ice underneath its powdery blanket. Pretty much everyone there had to wear special snow shoes to get around, both to help move through the snow and to avoid slipping on the ice. Maybe it would've been a good idea to have stocked up on more gear like that...
Clink!
Turning his head from his work at the sound, he paused mid tap as he glanced at a...
A vase? Was that a vase? Looked like it, sitting behind him.
...Where'd it come from?
Roiler lifted his finger and tilted his head. It had been an unsaid rule that no one was allowed to have vases on the ship until further notice. People were sort of on edge about getting turned into a kid like Thatch. So where'd this one come from? Did someone assume vases weren't silently shunned? Because they were. He frowned.
The vase hopped forward.
...
...!
Wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. The vase... hopped forward. Roiler rubbed his eyes.
The vase hopped forward again.
...
Yeah. The vase had hopped forward.
Grabbing behind him for any sort of weapon, he picked up an ink pot he'd been using the ink of previously to jot down their coordinates. His eyes never left the cursed ceramic for obvious reasons. The thing was seriously creepy and was still hopping toward him at a steadying pace, leaving him to wonder what in the hell he was gonna do and how he was to fight off a chunk of clay and it was moving awfully fast right now and was it just him or was it omitting some sort of purple fog poison looking stuff and HOLY CRA-
"GYAA-"
The only person remotely close enough to have heard the minute scream was currently too preoccupied sneaking out onto the deck.
After having recently wriggled free of a child's clingy grasp, he wasn't about to waste more time by stopping for the short, probably insignificant sound that had in all honesty just sounded like a weird sneeze. He'd heard worse from Thatch when he'd been older. While the kid was still deep in sleep, he had to go. He had been meant to be out scouting ahead at the island they were approaching an hour ago.
Though this would've been much easier had he just been able to stay on watch and leave when he needed too... No matter. He stood at the railing of the ship, breathed in deep, and let his fire swallow him into a blazing blue bird of myth. Then Marco spread his wings and flew.
"IMA HUG DA SHIT OUTTA YA!"
Was the first thing Haruta heard that morning on her way to get a cup of coffee. Naturally, she froze in mid step and turned to look at where the phrase had come from, now giving her full attention to the apparent 'fight' going on on deck.
"YOU DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT HUGGING!"
"GR!"
"GRAH!"
"...Whats going on?"
Izou looked down at Haruta who'd walked up next to him by then, tilting her head.
"Ace and Thatch are having a hug battle."
Haruta had to marvel at how Izou managed to say that with a straight face. "Do I even want to know why?" Sighed every fiber of her being even though all she did with her lips was frown.
Izou answered the unsaid question anyway. "Ace said he woke up to Thatch freaking out in his room screaming about Marco disappearing, so he got me and we've been trying to calm him down since. If we try bringing it up, he starts wailing again, so we just wanna put the brat in a good mood before we try anything else."
"And... Hug battling, will make him happy?" Haruta asked incredulously, gesturing at the two who were still screaming intimidating hug-related insults at each other and growling while they circled.
The okama shrugged. "We asked what game he would like to play, and this is what he chose."
At that moment, while Haruta was pondering what exactly was wrong with their 4th commander turned brat, Ace stalked backward toward them, still staring Thatch down who was doing the same while moving toward Stefan.
"Water me, I'm about to hug up this kid." Ace said loud enough for Thatch to hear once he was in front of Izou. The cross dresser held a canteen of water near his mouth emotionlessly, and Ace sucked out the liquid while still giving Thatch a 'death' glare. Said child was glaring right back, while Stefan held up a canteen of water for him in his mouth, to drink from at the same time.
"You ready?" Izou asked with no small hint of a sigh as he pulled the canteen away.
"...Sometimes I wonder when I was demoted from 2nd division commander to day time babysitter."
Izou ignored Ace's sulky comment and pushed him forward, Thatch immediately taking a step up himself and waving Stefan back.
"Round one, go!"
At Izou's call, they charged at each other. They screamed. They cursed each other's names. Then they embraced each other like badasses.
"GAH! YOU CALL DIS A HUG?! MY GRANDMA HUGS BETTA THEN YOU!" Thatch screeched, giving Ace a devastating hug around the waist.
"YOU'RE NOT EVEN HUGGING ME! THIS IS A PAT ON THE BACK!" Ace hollered, crushing Thatch in a chest embrace.
Haruta looked back up at Izou, who was shouting with some convincing pseudo-passion encouragement to his charge. "Hug em, Ace! Show him who his hug-daddy is!" Izou might've died a little inside saying that.
"Hug dad...? I'm not even." The 12th division commander walked away quickly, deciding to go for some liquor instead of the caffeine she'd originally planned to have.
While that was going on, Stefan had long dropped the canteen of water in his mouth to bark what many would assume was encouragement to Thatch. Said brat sure thought so, because he was really getting into the hug, even wrapping his legs around one of Ace's.
"Gr! Hug me like ya mean it!"
Ace hugged tighter, muttering under his breath a bit, before simply setting the tips of his fingers on fire.
"Ah! Owowowowowowow...!" The younger whined, pulling away quickly to pat at his flaming chest area. "That's not fair! Cheater! CHEEEE~ATER! Cheater cheater~-"
"-Pumpkin eater?" Ace supplied with a shrug. "I don't care. We're pirates kid."
"Yeah, but you're a cheatin' pirate, so you have ta walk the plank cuz that's what happens to cheaters." Thatch said suddenly with a grin, and grabbed Ace's hand with no small amount of excitement. "C'mon! Where's the plank?"
The 2nd division commander sweatdropped. "We don't have a 'plank'."
The child pouted. "No plank? What kind of pirates are we? Whateva. ...Then you have to eat pumpkins!"
Ace brightened considerably. "Boiled or raw?"
Thatch blinked, deciding that maybe a game involving food wouldn't be a good punishment for the elder boy. "Actually... Lets just play josting instead!"
"What's 'josting'?" Izou asked, half not wanting to know as he walked up to them.
"It's when we ride a horse at each other wit' big swods and try to push each other off."
Ace and Izou looked at each other. "That's jousting." They said simultaneously, looking back at the child deadpan.
"Whatever, lets play joustin' then! I call riding Wan-chan!"
Thatch bounced over to the dog, trying to scramble up his back while Stefan tried to keep his ears out of reach. Ace cringed a bit and glanced at the cross dresser beside him, who'd just turned to walk away. "I just remembered I need to preserve some of my dignity for today."
" Izou wait!" The child released Stefan's fur and scampered up to the retreating man.
"Ace. IS NOT. Riding me."
Ace snorted. "That's what he sa-"
"I WILL kill you Ace."
"No! You have to be the joust judge person!" The chibi-fied commander wailed, jumping up and down.
...So there were two options: he could either, A, resign himself to this now, or B, risk having this pouty brat follow him all over the ship until he did. Izou weighed them carefully. Maybe he should take his chances. "...I'll pa-"
"DOOOOO IIIIIIIIIIT!"
Not even a choice, apparently. Option A it was then. "Alright, alright, fine, calm the hell down. "
"Yay! Now we just need to get Ace a steed! I'll be right back~!" Thatch chirped, skipping off toward the hatch that led to the lower deck.
As he left, Ace sighed and pulled off his hat to run his fingers through his hair. Little Thatch was a handful. Even more so than normal Thatch, which was saying a lot.
He couldn't say he was unused to dealing with annoying brats; He himself was one, according to everyone on the ship at least (even though it's totally untrue screw them all), and he himself had grown up with someone who fitted that description nicely. It was just odd though, having the 4th division commander running around a sixth his size and having tantrums everywhere... Sure, before he was annoying... But he wasn't a brat about it. Not that it really got to him that much; Chibi Thatch was a chibi, after all. A loud, obnoxious chibi. The pyro would be sure to tell him that as soon as they got the idiot back to normal.
Well at least if they got him back to normal.
...
Where had that come from?!
"You ok?" Ace blinked a bit, looking back at Izou. The man was staring at him with folded arms and a tilted head. He'd gotten uncomfortably close, and the younger commander had to take a step back.
"...Course, why wouldn't I be?"
The cross dresser narrowed his eyes. "You looked pretty spacey for a moment there. What's wrong." It wasn't a question, and Ace doubted that even if he'd said it like one answering or not would be up for debate.
"It's nothing. Just thinking."
"About...?"
Ace wrinkled his nose, finding great discomfort in answering but knew there was no way around it; lest he invoke Izou's curiosity, and when you invoke Izou's curiosity, it normally doesn't end well for you.
"Just that it's weird. Being 'big brother' to, essentially, big brother."
Ace didn't elaborate further, and Izou thankfully didn't press. The raven haired commander could tell Izou sensed the underlying distress, however. The way he'd raised his eyebrow and given a (almost) nonchalant "Hm." In response made it seem as if he'd heard Ace's thoughts following his words.
What if it stayed that way?
"COOOON TEEEEE~ PATIRÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓ~!" Loud, off key singing could be heard as the miniaturized 4th division commander skipped down the hall, twirling as he went.
"CON TE CON TE TE CON TEEEE~~! CONTEPATIRÓÓ! CON TE PA-TI-RÓ-RÓ PATIRÓÓÓ! CON TE PA-TI-RI-Ó-!"
"You don't know any other words in that song, do you."
"I don't!" Thatch said far too cheerfully as he paused in his walking to look up at the partially open door nearby. The one who had spoken was peeking out of it nonchalantly, like he'd been there a while. It was... That one guy! What was his name again? Tech... Teo- wait, hold up, he remembered now.
"Hi Teach~! What a coin... Coinin... Uh..."
Teach grinned, like a stereotypical british orangutang. "Coincidence."
"Yeah that! Coinci'ence! I was lookin for you! Or someone like you, at least. But I mean you came first so." Thatch shrugged and grinned at him.
The brat had been looking for him, eh? Well, he'd been looking for him too. Purely to keep an eye on him, though, like that piece of pottery needed. The closer in reach he was, the easier it'd be for tomorrow...
"Can Ace ride you?"
...?
"What? What'dya mean?" Teach blinked, raising an eyebrow.
"Can Ace ride you?" Thatch repeated innocently. "Like, ya know, like a horse?"
"Eh? I don't think-"
"Why nooooo~t?"
Why not? The hell he means 'why not?' Why yes?! "Because...! Where did that even come from?!"
"My mouth." The brat deadpanned obliviously. "C'mon, it's a game! It'll be fun!"
Teach hesitated a moment, before huffing a bit. "Alright then, I guess there's no real reason not to." The more time he spent with Thatch, the better their 'relationship', he supposed, in any case... He grinned broadly, and willingly followed as Thatch tugged at his arm toward the upper deck hatch.
"You ready?" Ace asked from Teach's back, smirking and tapping his side lightly with the wooden sword he was holding.
Teach snorted a laugh, eyes narrowing. This wasn't too bad; for all he ate, Ace wasn't terribly heavy, at least for him. "Of course!"
"Thou shalt meeth thy maker... eth!" Thatch wailed from the other side of the deck, seated on Stefan's back with a wooden sword of his own. Izou rolled his eyes.
"You don't have to add 'eth' to tha-"
"I WANTETH TO THOUGH!"
Izou raised his hands placatingly and sighed.
"Thou mayest suckle upon my rod, heathen!" Ace retorted, waving his sword at him tauntingly.
Thatch gasped suddenly, and his face nearly split with the smile on his face. "Oi! You sound just like one of mommy's clients when you sa-"
"MOVING on, begin!" Izou said quickly, not willing to hear the rest of what Chibi Thatch had to say. Before the child could protest Teach had already taken off, and Ace was holding out his sword in front of him. He had no time to waste. Shoving the heel of his foot into Stefan's side did more than let him take off too however. The large dog keened and practically flew across the deck, slamming head first into Teach's gut before the child could so much as lift his sword. Said child, in turn, flew farther across the deck, over a stunned Ace's head and over the railing. It was over in a matter of seconds.
...SPLASH!
Ace, Teach, and Izou sweatdropped before turning on their heels simultaneously, hurrying over to the rails.
"Thatch?!" Izou called, already scrambling onto the railing, when gargled and unwelcomed (for Ace at least) laughter reached their ears. A second later, Thatch popped out of the water, looking dazed and pale as copy paper. Soon after, an old woman came up beside him and laughed again, though much clearer.
"EHEHEHEHE! HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DUMPLINGS!"
"The hell?" Teach muttered. How long had that lady been over there without them knowing...?
Ace cringed at the voice, his suspicions confirmed, and he sighed. "Damn it crazy old lady! Didn't you swim off into the sunset or something playing tag with your fairies 2 days ago?!"
"Yeeeee~eeeees~!"
Ignoring the incredulously questioning looks Izou and Teach gave him, he pressed on. "Then what're you doing here in the middle of the ocean next to our ship!?"
"I WAS TRYING TO CATCH THE BLUUUUUE! AND IT WAS FOLLOWING THE DUMPLING WOOD~! EHEHE!"
"Wha-, you-, that doesn't even...!" Ace sighed. "Just... Wait there. We're going to get Thatch."
"NO NEED HAT DUMPLING!" A second later, Thatch came rocketing up the side of the ship, hitting Izou in the face with his own and they fell on the deck in a mess of running make up and nose blood.
Super strengthed old lady? Ace didn't want to know. "Uh... Thanks... You can go somewhere else now."
The women just let out another weird laugh and flailed wildly. "BUTBUTBUT! LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY TO YOUR ANUS, DUMPLING!"
Woah, ok, seven steps back. "What? To my an-?"
"I~~~ SAW THE PINE~~~APPLE~!"
...Marco?
Apparently Thatch had made that connection too, because he was off the floor and wailing in a matter if seconds, flailing his pudgy arms like his life depended on it.
"MAAARCOOO! WHERE'D HE GOOOOOO-!"
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!" Izou stood up abruptly, snorting out blood from his possibly broken nose and make up that had run over his nostrils from the water. Then, he turned, stomped off to the kitchen, and slammed the door.
Teach didn't know what to do.
Thatch was still screaming.
The old lady was swallowing unhealthy amounts of sea water while babbling about spider monkey milk.
...
Ace rubbed his temples. This must be how Marco felt daily.
"Teach."
"Yeah...?" The larger male glanced at his superior uncertainly.
"Get the creepy old hag from the water."
"Sure." Teach was anything but enthusiastic, but didn't feel like complaining either. After a short, deep breath, he climbed onto the railing and hopped into the water. While that was going on, Ace turned to Thatch.
"Thatch! OI, Thatch! You need to rea-!"
The kitchen door slamming open revealed Izou, Haruta blinking behind him as he stomped over to Thatch with a pineapple in hand.
"Here!" He barked, shoving the aforementioned pineapple into his hands. "This is Mini Marco. Now you have a Marco around, so shut up, okay!?"
Thatch sniffled, staring at the pineapple with wide eyes. "M-Marco..."
Izou grit his teeth. "That's right. Marco."
After another second or two, Thatch hugged the pineapple close. "Marco... Marco... Marco... Marco..."
"...Why have you been so obsessed with Marco the whole day?" Ace pouted. What happened that made Marco more special than him all of a sudden?
"LEAVE ME AND MINI MARCO TO OURSELVES!" The chibi wailed in response, before going back to nuzzling his fruit.
Haruta looked at the empty sake bottle in her hand, then at the scene before her; Izou, fuming with make up and blood messing up his face. Teach struggling up the side of the ship with an old woman babbling about... Was she talking about spider monkey milk? Ace looking almost... Jealous, while staring at Thatch, who was snuggling a tropical fruit.
Haruta looked at the bottle in her hand once more. She either had too much or not enough.
"Don't mind me everyone, I'm just going to go back in and reevaluate my life."
It was late into the night before he returned.
He hadn't had the time to check the whole of the island - the place had been pretty big - but he'd seen enough from his aerial view to safely say the place didn't have any marine bases or such. It had looked rather nice, actually; large expanses of white, dotted here and there with cozy looking houses. He looked forward to when they all really got there and could enjoy the winter wonderland more up close and personal.
He'd need to ask the head navigator about all the whirlpools he saw circling the place though. Seriously, there had to be at least half a dozen of them moving slowly but surely around the island, in a line. They would have to enter the island's range at a specific time to get in without the natural nuisances hindering anything, and he had to figure out when.
...How was Thatch doing?
The whole time he'd been gone, that question had been gnawing at the back of his brain. The night before the kid had been in near hysterics... Had leaving him without a warning like that really been the best idea?
He'd probably freak out and run to Ace or something... But then that would mean Ace was probably pissed at him and putting glitter glue in his shampoo by now.
Well, he was back now. Or at least almost. He could check his hair products soon enough. Squinting at the enormous ship in front of him, Marco beat his wings fervently, accelerating till the ship was nearly in hearing distance.
The phoenixes sharp eyes caught something in the water around that time. A familiar (and unwelcome) hunched back and wrinkled appearance... What was the senile old woman doing there? From this point, it looked an awful lot like... Ace, he could tell from the hat, was wondering the same thing, seeing as how he was yelling at her from the deck. She was just flailing there on one of their life boats creepily. Namur, thankfully, jumped into the water after a moment, and shoved her boat away.
Marco blinked, deciding he'd ask about that when he landed, and glanced back to fully take in the deck. Several other people were littering the upper deck floor, mainly drinking booze and playing cards. This he was more accustomed to. Sometimes his brothers and sisters in his division liked to wait up on deck for him to return, along with some commanders.
By now, some people had noticed him. He was very much in earshot now, but the most he got were some grins and lazy waves. It wasn't as enthusiastic as it normally was, but Marco reasoned that he was getting back pretty late.
Then he noticed a familiar tuft of reddish brownish hair, sitting cross-legged on the figure head. Even from this distance Marco could see how wide open Thatch's mouth was, nearly dropping the pineapple in his hand.
Little Thatch had never seen his phoenix form, now that he thought about it. Marco closed his eyes and took a deep breath, preparing himself for the headache he knew the kid would give him about it. ...Wait why was he holding a pineapple?
The 1st division commander snapped his eyes open as the thought crossed him. He REALLY hoped the brat hadn't planned on annoying him with it by comparing the stupid fruit to his head or something. He REALLY didn't need that, on top of explaining his devil fruit.
And would he stop staring at him like that?! Geez, at the very least someone could've explained to the kid themselves that he-
"L-LOOK, MINI MARCO! IT'S A GIANT FLAMING BLUE PARROT!"
Nobody blamed Marco when he flew into the mast.
Puppy's Post It: You still love me, right Marco? Right? :,D ...Yeah. Arf! Lol sorry once again for the wait, and if this chapter was dissappointing, but I really tried my best! Things that must be explained will be explained in due time, arf arf, and I apologize for any OOCness... Mer. I really tried, honest! QAQ I'll try to work faster next time, kay peeps? It's Summer Break for me now, so maybe it'll only take TWO months for the next chapter~ *shot again* O-or maybe sooner! ^^" Biscuits for readers and reviewers! Ifyoureviewyougetanextraone ;3 C'mon. You know you want that extra biscuit. O^O