It just got past midnight here and it's now May 20, which means it's my birthday :D (and I feel old now.) Last year I celebrated it by posting a lot of updates at the same time, and this year I've decided to do the same because I don't usually receive many birthday presents (and even less in person) and reviews make me happy, so I want them :D
Beta-read by Aerle :)
Chapter 7
This time, Ace threw the burned log in his hands at Marco's head when the man burst out laughing at his latest failed attemopt to build his raft. Marco, the bastard, caught it in one hand, not bothering to stop laughing, and threw it back at Ace's head, who ducked out of the way. The now useless piece of wood fell innocently into the lake.
Ace glared down at the place where his raft should have been, but instead there were not even two pieces of wood tied together. The insignificant progress he had managed these past few days had been burned out earlier this morning when, while fighting Marco, one of the attacks the man had dodged had hit his raft head on.
"Shouldn't you help me instead of laughing?" He snapped, crossing his arms.
Marco's laughter subsided, and the man looked at him, obviously confused.
"Why should I? I told you I'm waiting for my crew."
Ace couldn't hold back a snort. Yes, that was what the man had said the first day, but he was being too relaxed even if he had that idea.
"You sure of that? This is, what, the fifth day we've been stuck here? And there's been no signal of your crew."
"And?" The man asked, shrugging. "This area has a lot of islands, you know, and this one isn't too close to where we fought."
"So? Aren't you too sure they'll find you? What if they don't?"
For the first time since they had decided to cooperate, Marco's face hardened, and all traces of his usually relaxed attitude disappeared from his body.
"They will."
Once again, Ace was taken aback by how sure Marco was that his crew was looking for him. It seemed impossible, pirates weren't all that different from marines when it came to their crewmembers, in fact in most cases they cared even less if someone disappeared. Marco was an important member of the crew, sure, but the marines wouldn't have looked even if it was Onigumo who had fallen into the ocean. Ace rather hoped that had happened, by the way. Hell, they probably wouldn't look even if his grandfather was the one to disappear. There might even be a party if that was the case.
But to have the certainty that his crew was looking for him… that was something Ace could only imagine a captain like his brother doing if one of his men went missing. Ace would, too, at least if someone he cared about disappeared.
"The marines aren't looking for you." Marco said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement, as if he had just reached that conclusion.
"No." Ace answered, shaking his head. "They don't really search for missing men. If someone comes back, that's great, but they don't invest resources when most likely the people they're looking for are dead."
"What about your grandfather?"
Ace had to ponder that question. Really, what would the old man do? Aside from beating the crap out of the unfortunate soul who had to tell him he was missing, of course. He finally opted for shrugging.
"I have no idea, to be honest." Deciding that was a topic he really didn't want to think about, because he shivered at what could be Garp's reaction when he saw him again and how many bones the man would crush if he decided to hug Ace, he went for a change of topic before Marco could say anything else. "Can I ask you something?"
Marco nodded and Ace moved to sit on one of the massive roots of the tree the man was leaning against.
"Is it true that you guys are like a family?"
He had heard many stories about the crew. The most common ones were about how overprotective the Whitebeard Pirates were of their own, and of what had happened to those who had attacked either their crew, allies or territories. But also, far less commonly than the other stories, Ace had heard of how the Whitebeard Pirates acted like a family, not just an overprotective crew, with the captain as the father and the whole crew as his sons. Even his allies, some said. Ace had usually heard of these stories from people who mocked the crew for it, but he didn't do it, because he understood what it was to become family with people you had no blood ties to. It was the concept of such a big family, though, what puzzled Ace.
A fond smile appeared on Marco's lips, and any trace of his previous seriousness disappeared.
"Yeah, we are." He said and then, as if it was an afterthought, his eyes hardened again and he gave a pointed look to Ace.
It seemed the mocking Ace had heard from marines and sometimes a pirate was no secret to Marco.
He raised his hands in a pacifying gesture.
"Hey, that's fine. I was just curious. I got brothers that aren't related to me, too."
That made Marco relax again, and the blond looked at him with curiosity.
"You do?"
"Yeah. Luffy and… Sabo." He lowered his eyes at this, something that happened often whenever he thought of his blond brother. It had been ten years already, and he had accepted it long ago, but that didn't mean the fist that clenched around his heart every time he thought about him had disappeared, even if it had lessened the pressure from what it had once been.
Ace looked up and saw Marco's eyes were on him, a calm though serious expression on the man's face.
"Luffy? I remember reading that name in the newspaper the day we fought." Marco said, and Ace, seeing the change of topic by what it was, smiled gratefully. "But that one was a pirate."
Ace grinned, remembering when he had seen the wanted poster and then read the article about his little brother. He had received many annoyed and curious looks at the ship's mess hall when he had laughed after seeing it, and had barely held back from telling someone Luffy was his brother. He didn't want to attract too much attention to him so soon, after all. Then he had imagined gramps' reaction and had laughed again.
"That's him." He said, and his grin grew when Marco raised an eyebrow. "Just became a pirate and he's already beaten all the strong guys from East Blue. Not a bad start, right?"
"No." Marco agreed, an amused smile playing on his lips. "You're proud of him." He observed.
"Of course!" Ace exclaimed. "He's gonna be the Pirate King one day." Ace himself might not like the previous holder of the title, but that was Luffy's dream and he supported him. Luffy would make a great king of the pirates, after all.
Marco's eyes widened slightly in surprise at that and Ace laughed. That was a very common reaction when people heard Luffy's dream, after all. But, if the man made a mocking comment about it, as was also a very common reaction, Ace would beat him up, ridiculously strong pirate or not. But Marco didn't laugh, he just smiled again, and Ace thought he saw a flicker of interest in his eyes. He just said:
"That's a good dream."
"What the fuck is this?!" Thatch snapped, throwing the newspaper he had been reading across the table before storming out of the room.
Jozu took the newspaper up, and it didn't take long to know what had bothered his brother so much. There, taking up half of the cover page, was the picture from Marco's wanted poster and, below it, written in huge, bold letters, were the words 'Dead or alive?' He wanted to rip the offending piece of paper right there, but held back and forced himself to read the text. Apparently, some of the marines had seen Marco fall into the ocean, and they had also spoken about those damn kairoseki handcuffs. Now the marines were waiting confirmation of Marco's death. If there was no information about him in a month they would assume the first division commander had died that day.
As if Marco would die so easily.
Jozu glared at the newspaper and was about to rip it when his eyes landed on the article below the one about Marco. It spoke about the disappeared marines. Now that was strange. There weren't usually articles about missing marines unless it had been a really big event, but to say it in the first page?
Curiosity taking over, Jozu decided to see what was the reason for the article. Had that damned vice admiral who handcuffed Marco gone missing, too?
He found his answer soon, in the text under a picture that was considerably bigger than the others. It was of a grinning young man, with dark hair and freckles on his face. Commodore Portgas D. Ace, the grandson of vice admiral Monkey D. Garp, who, according to the text, was also a devil fruit user.
Hadn't the guys from the first division mentioned a monster brat with a devil fruit power?
Ace rolled out of the way, avoiding the kick Marco had thrown at him, and aimed one of his own at the leg the man was supporting himself on. Marco jumped out of the way and Ace took the opportunity to right himself up again. Turning his left arm into fire, Ace threw a column of it at the man and, when he avoided it, rushed at him, aiming his haki imbued right fist at Marco's chest.
Marco stopped his fist with his left hand, pulled the captured arm closer and let it go just as he kicked Ace on the stomach, the impact sending him flying. Ace landed on his back on top of the remnants of one of the night's fires and, before he could move, Marco was on top of him, straddling his stomach and smirking down at him, kairoseki handcuff firmly pressed to the boy's chest.
"I think you lose."
"The hell." Growled Ace, throwing another punch at Marco, who rolled to the side so it would only hit his shoulder instead of the chest where it had been aimed at, and Ace followed him, rolling on top of the pirate to punch him again. He, too, had to throw himself to the side to avoid a punch, and Marco rolled on top once more.
Ace pressed himself a mere moment to the ground before launching him up again, faster than before, fists aimed at both of Marco's shoulders. They impacted, and the strength threw Marco backwards. Ace grinned right before he was dragged after Marco by their legs that had tangled after the scuffle on the ground, and he landed on top of the man, his lips pressing over Marco's.
To be continued
