Chapter Teen:

Mischievous Cat:

At the age of nine Haruta joined the Whitebeard Pirates, he was the youngest who ever did. Normally Whitebeard wouldn't allow such a youthful kid aboard the Moby Dick however Haruta makes an exception due to his painful childhood, though 'painful' is an underestimating. The majority of the pirates didn't forget when they docked on a certain bloody remote isle in the Grand-line where the boy's parents had tortured and slew before his eyes and the Yonko's pirates had barely made it in time to save him. Back then and as Marco vividly remembers Haruta's blue eyes were like two extinguished candles, hollowly dry.

That day the sky was heavily raining like crying on the boy's instead, droplets smoothed his brownish hair then slid down his bruised cheeks. If the first mate had to say, then approaching Haruta in his broken state was one of the hardest things he ever did. The brown-haired boy warmed up to them quickly than expected but his nightmares hunted him for years and Marco took it upon himself to help the boy thus they shared his quarter for awhile.

However Marco thought that his young brother had overcame those bloody dreams long ago, so why he is still hearing his muffled cry in agony? His mind was misty as he was just dragged out of a dreamless sleep, he couldn't think straight in his drowsy state and no answer seemed to come up.

Then he heard another painful chocked shriek and felt a body squirming beside his, without any forward pointless thinking he threw his arms around the person whom he thought was Haruta and pulled him in a soothing hug, reasons be doomed as long as he help his brothers.

The terrifying people encircling the young May won't leave her be so she closed her eyes and tried to count till five as Shine told her to do whenever she is scared however she could feel their rough touch, hear their loud screams on her ears which hindered her computing. She was cold, frightened and lonely as always so she screamed either to distract herself or to feel accompanied with her voice's endless echoes since no one ever answered but this time and after a couple of screams she felt warm like someone was hugging her, then a hand start patting her back affectionately.

May was confused, in her reality-like dream she hesitantly opened her eyes, raised her head that was buried in her forearms to see that the scary folks had vanished. She sniffle standing from her crouching stance then, upon spotting a woman dressed in blue standing in front of her, she clutched the hem of her soiled white dress making it look shorter than it was and bit her lower lips.

No wonder the warmth that engulfed her seemed so familiar seeing as the woman was none other than her mother tenderly smiling at her, May hiccuped choking on her own sob then she shivery called "Mom…" Little she knew that her brain, using Marco's warmth, was playing a rather dirty trick on her.

Subconsciously, Marco's hand moved tapping the back of the person in his arms which did the trick since he sensed the body relaxed a little and the whimpers ceased. His other hand traveled up to rest on his brother's head which deepened his puzzlement as his fingertips fondled –Much taller than Haruta's- silky hair. He touched the body once more then groaned, Haruta was definitely not that…soft.

He sluggishly retrieved his arms opening his eyes just as slow, but if the struggling was anything to go by then Marco's action was akin to scare the life out of the still blurry person beside him, which was because the sudden lack of warmth interpreted in May's dream to her mother leaving her behind.

"Don't…Go!" Marco's eyes snapped open at the feminine tone, his blue orbs widened when they landed directly on May's perturbed face.

"What…" The shock lasted less than split-second and he didn't even get to continue his sentence when he received a kick to the groin, he literally rolled out of the couch felling to the ground with a thud. He instantly get up and inspectingly swung his head left then right ensuring he was in his room just in case, then rubbed the back of his neck finally finishing his sentence while confusedly ogling the woman in his bed "…The fuck yoi?"

To say he was angry would be an underestimating, after all that paperwork he did alongside his regular duties aboard the ship –Which weren't little- in addition of correcting the others' reports and in some cases, well Thatch's case, entirely rewriting them, was asking for a single damn night to much? Hell, as things now with no second division commander and raising problems with Kaido he didn't know when he would get another chance to actually sleep. The idea of kicking her out of his quarter was tempting and he wouldn't deny he considered it however just one glance at May changed his mind. The female was whimpering and with a weak voice begging for someone to stay, her knuckles were pale from clutching his pillow and sheets for dear life, couple of sweat's droplets slid down her face and fully exposed neck since her head was tossed backward and as if been suffocated her legs lethargically fidgeted.

She appeared to be in so much pain, he didn't like the thought or such a view. Without thinking he hurled his hand toward May, he removed strands of her messy wet hair that were covering most parts of her face to be greeted with her pal figure and dry mouth, she shuddered under the tender contact but relaxed a tad so he rest his hand on her cheek moving his thumb tenderly. Like a cat she leaned on his warm touch then vulnerably muttered "Please!" The little action was like violently pulling a string of Marco's heart that started hammering in his chest, he immediately withdrew his hand then stared at it for a moment wondering 'What I was doing again?' a sigh escaped his lips when he heard another whimper.

He put his middle finger in contact with his thumb creating a circle while his index sticking out, he sighed at what he was about to do then flicked her forehead with as much power as his fingers could pull, May jumped awake with a screeching yelp. Marco felt guilty about it however it was for her sake that he would pretend he saw nothing since she doesn't like to appear weak though he doesn't knew why he even cared, plus she had to be grateful he didn't use Haki.

The blonde composed himself, crossed his arms in front of him and raised his eyebrow at the brunette who didn't acknowledge him just yet. She shifted her orbs to all the direction searching for someone then muttered "Where is she?"

"Can I help you search for whosoever the fuck is in my room?" Marco asked with his usual bored expression he intended for his voice to be harsher but it still broke at same point when she looked up at him with her stormy orbs wide opened.

Her shock turned into a glimmer of disappointment at seeing the blonde, his whole presence meant that she no longer could meet her mother, hell, she no longer share the same world as her. She looked down while her hand rubbed the red spot on her forehead wondering why she feels a piercing twinge there,

"Did I…Did you saw?" She nothing but whispered, which made the question more like a plea. Beside the fact that she thought she deserve no kindness whatsoever, she didn't want any kind of sympathy. To her pity is mind clouding, people who did pitied her treated her with such a faked care despite they felt otherwise, around her they act contrary to who they're which was exhausting to her and them.

"You sneaking inside my room and going under my sheets? No," Marco answered stifling a sigh. May dared to look up once more with a frown on her face deadpanning, as if crying out loud 'You knew what I'm talking about!'

"It's a shame you didn't wake me up so we could have fun together yoi," He kept ignoring the main subject, upon seeing her extremely confused look he added smugly smirking "Checking me up close wasn't that satisfactory now was it?"

Though when he smirked the black mustache May drew on his face and which was similar to Vista's with spiraled ends, moved alongside with his mouth. Her cheeks ballooned when she tried to suppress her laughter, she looked cute like a hamster if it just hadn't been for the fact that Marco knew she was internally laughing her ass -most likely at him- "Well yoi?" He sternly frowned at her demanding an explanation, the quicker they finish this the better.

But it seems May had other plans, she gulped the air of her puffed out cheeks. Her gray orbs torn from his arrogant blue ones, they leisurely scanned the set of Marco's sturdy muscles. He has a firm strong chest but soothingly warm nonetheless, she bite her lower lips when her sinful eyes trailed his blue tattoo and reached his well trained 6-pack abs, then down where his pants hung low showing some of the shaped v.

The female could literally feel the blond smirk, then she frowned envious of his powerful body "Um…Out of your fusty clothes you do look good," Marco didn't respond, aside from insulting his garment's taste there was no hint of sarcasm in her voice and honestly he had a hard time believing those -kind of- praising words, doubtfully he raised an eyebrow at her then she added, with each and every word she spat her voice diminished till it turned to a whisper "You would make a beautiful woman, though not as gorgeous as Izo."

Now she had done it! Why the fuck did he felt guilty when he flicked her damn airhead again? His anger returned with full force "Are you fucking kidding me yoi?" he nothing but shouted.

"I'm here to make sure of something." She said hastily averting her eyes.

Marco took a deep breath to calm himself "Do tell yoi!"

May looked everywhere except for the blond in front of her, beside the mustache, she drew circles around each of his eyes including his arched eyebrows, wrote 'bastard' on his forehead and painted the tip of his nose, she couldn't glance at him without laughing. She sighed then forced her orbs to lock with his then lied without actually lying "I thought you cows at morning."

A dark shadow curtained his eyes and a vein throbbed on his temple, he hardly suppressed the burning urge to bang his head with the nearest wall. Marco couldn't figure how the hell could this impudent woman manage to get under his skin despite his cold temper but within his fury rage he was relieved Thatch and Haruta weren't here to hear what she just said, the blond won't –certainly- see anymore bright mornings if they did and speaking of which,

"Did someone show you my quarter?" he hissed the words.

"I've found it by chance," She answered quickly without breaking eye contact with the commander and restrained herself from swallowing, well despite the fact that she is a good liar -something she had to master to hide information- she was sure he is an expert at reading peoples.

After a solid minute of glaring at each other passed, Marco let his hand fell to his sides then exhaled a long sigh "Get out yoi," he said calmly almost tiredly.

May pouted, at first their quarrels were nothing but headache and she hated them but it seems that at same point she started enjoying them and now just when things get interesting he wanted to kick her out of his bedroom. Marco was shocked when the brunette sighed from disappointment and before he force her she collected herself and made an attempt to leave the bed, her legs tangled with sheets and she fell face kissing the floor. He chuckled under his breath when he heard her curse while rubbing her reddish nose, though something rolled out of her pockets when she tried to get up and docked next to his foot.

Marco picked up the glassy bottle examining it skeptically, and it turned out to be black ink. At first he was confused at the reason she had a bottle of ink then shocked because of a certain thought popped into his mind, he snapped out of it when his ears detected the creak of wood under someone's foot and when he looked at the source of the voice he spotted May frozen near the door, she was trying to flee which –unfortunately- verify his doubts.

"Shit," May cursed when the damn floor made a squeaking sound most certainly alerting Marco since she could feel his eyes stab her back. She broke out of her sculptured state and dashed toward the exit, she opened the door but she heard the commander spoke right near her ear,

"No freaking fucking way yoi," then he slammed the wooden door shut, he gripped the muscle between her shoulder and neck strongly pressing on it which stopped her squirming. She whined but he forcefully dragged her to the fully illuminated bathroom anyway.

Yeah, speaking of her rotten bad luck! Although she was thankful the bottle that fell of her pocket wasn't the one containing Sea Water, if it was it he would think she wanted to assassinate him.

They stood in front of a huge mirror with May and Marco's reflection both glaring at the commander, well that what she think his reflection was trying to do since due to the draws on his face he looked less intimidating. Then he darted to face the female beside him with his neutral bored expression demanding "The brush yoi!"

Thatch had long lost count of the cups of tea and coffee that him and Haruta consumed, they didn't taste sleep waiting for the female to shows up on his quarter however one hour before the sunrise they headed to the galley as the chef had to supervise cooking breakfast, he checked every once awhile on Haruta who was catnapping on a table. When the chef approached him he woke up and yawned "Did she come?" he asked rubbing sleep off his eyes.

Thatch shook his head, he regretted it though since he felt dizzy "Nope, let's pray Marco didn't kill her." Haruta refrained from saying that Marco already did what he did, it would just make his headache worse since knowing Thatch he will throw an unwanted tantrum.

Both of the commander heard voice of footsteps heading toward the galley, their eyes snapped toward the double mahogany door expecting May. The door opened with aloud creaking sound, and then a certain cross-dresser emerged from behind it cheerfully chirping "Good morning."

Izo was the last person Thatch and Haruta wanted to see, they both greeted with aghast expressions "Morning."

The cross-dresser noticed the dread on their voices but didn't comment, he crossed his arms into his chest then huffed making his way to their table.

"You guys are the worst ever," he said annoyingly when he settled across from both, they gulped thickly wondering if he already figured out what they did "I didn't get to spend much time with May because of you," he glared at them then sighed adding "missed snuggling with her," Haruta sweet dropped and a vein throbbed on Thatch forehead just as Izo foresaw, he stifled a chuckle and persuaded "I have an important thing to discuss with her so return my hen to me." before the chef protest that she is his, Izo turned his head right then left "By the way where is she?"

They swallowed once more but this time it didn't go unnoticed, Haruta averted his eyes slowly while sweating "S-Still sleeping?" Thatch face-palmed wondering why the hell he spoke when his no good at lying now he blew any chance of buying some more time since Izo would've see through their lies anyway.

The cross-dresser stood a dark shade shielding his eyes "Where is she?"

Thatch raised his hands in a peace offering manner while stuttering "Calm down bro, she is fine," Haruta supported while not helping at all "Yeah, we think so." The chef glared at him, the small devil knew that Izo won't hurt him if he gave him his puppy eyes -no one could when he do- however Izo would beat the crap out of Thatch without batting an eye.

"You think so, huh?" Izo said with an eerie calm tone whistle creaking his fingers, Thatch gulped fully aware that he is doomed.

The morning started with ears deafening screams and shouts that filled the Moby Dick creating a cacophony however to Whitebeard it was reassuring, a sign that his sons were as lively as ever. Taking the golden chance of Marco's absence he took a hearty gulp from his sake then laughed rowdily.

The galley was engulfed with the loud cheers of the pirates, some had even went to the length of placing bets on the commanders not bothering to knew the reason of the fight, but seeing as the cross-dresser went all the way with his brother they assumed that Thatch had ruined one of his favorite kimonos however they all were oblivious of the ruckus outside the galley which made its way toward them until the door flew open.

"You should be grateful you fucking blonde!" May shouted while sending a punch to Marco's face but he dodged easily.

"What's for yoi? Sharing my bed?" The female hissed and with a bright red face she attacked once more using a roundhouse kick That Marco avoided it by ducking "Oh yeah! For making me looks like a clown yoi," he added sarcastically.

May crossed her arms to her chest, closed her eyes then raised her head arrogantly like she had done something she should be praised for "A clown is much better than an eyesore."

"Well, I'm not interested to hear about your achievement yoi!" He smirked when the female's eyes snapped open and her mouth gaped.

"Say that again Rooster!" She literally jumped on him. With his hand Marco was shoving the female's head away. May's outstretched her arms childishly toward him in a failed attempt to claw him.

Unpredictably, Izo gripped Thatch's collar then asked with a hushed voice "She was with Marco?" The chef hesitantly nodded.

"The whole night?" the cross-dresser quizzed while glaring and shaking his brother. The chef nodded rapidly.

Izo stared to and fro between the two quarreling in front of them and his brown-haired brother, the deep frown he had turned gradually to a satisfied smile then to one of his chilling smirks "I see what you did," the chef thought he was going to be skinned alive by Izo, if it wasn't by Marco that is "Good job my dear brother," Izo calmly told Thatch then released him.

"Huh?" Thatch fell to the ground not believing his ears.

The pirates occupying the galley were watching with owe, they forget all about Thatch and Izo and turned toward the door to watch May and Marco's babyish fight. They never expected the mature Marco to act so childish, he usually ignores this kind of fights. Then there were the two hilariously painted faces, May has a cat whiskers on both cheeks, a 'stupid' wrote on her forehead and the tip of her nose was painted.

For the second time, Marco and May completely ignored the presence of spectators until they felt the heavy weight of attention stilled on them. They froze and darted slowly toward the pirates, and after verifying that they certainly exist the two of them pulled away from each other. Marco rubbed the back of his head with a troubled expression while May smoothed her messy hair with her hands.

All that could be heard was a nerve-racking silence, Marco and May stared at the pirates whom stared on their turn at them.

Then a blinding flash bolted at the two "You guys look hilarious!" Haruta chirped, eyes shining with amusement while holding a camera similar to a snail, he run off almost immediately to hide the picture from Marco who would burn it to aches if he found it.

The other pirates also snapped out of their maze and burst out laughing. Some clutched their stomachs while tears accumulated on the corner of their eyes, other leaned on their friends or on tables seeking support, the galley submerged into a set of differently toned laughs and chuckles. May freed her hair from the ponytail, shielding her forehead with her bangs however the 'stupid' didn't go unnoticed since until the fuss start to die someone shouted,

"Who would've put up with a 'bastard' other than a 'stupid' girl?

Whenever May thought the pirates will stop another wave of laughter started down to someone throwing a sick joke or a comment, but when she decided she had enough, May glared at whoever her eyes fell on but it didn't have much effect.

Marco folded his hands on his pockets, watching the female's futile effort to stop his brothers he sighed then faced the pirates "Don't you guys have better things to do yoi?" they didn't pay him any attention until he summoned his blue fire.

The pirates stilled on tables, they chuckled and snorted at May and Marco under their breaths -the first mate wouldn't be able to stop that- but at least now they could finish their breakfast and then head to accomplish their tasks.

"Don't mind them hen, they mean no harm," once took their seats Izo assured with a concerned expression, May felt a shiver run down her spine at her friend's words, when did he notice she was troubled was beyond her.

Her mouth curved into a small smile that fell instantly "I didn't." She was accustomed to been laughed at by many people, her classmates, her neighborhoods' children. The difference was that this people didn't insult her, they didn't threw rotten fruits at her and definitely didn't told her that she was an unwanted child but despite that she felt dread build up on the back of her mind and she found herself waiting for a false forecast down to the numerous times May was putted in such a position "They mean no harm," she softly echoed addressing herself.

"So," The cross-dresser took a bite from his food then flashed May with a closed eyes smile "You spent the night on Marco's quarter."

May felt her cheeks heat up and before she explain what happened Marco beat her to it making the case look weirder than it is,

"She sneaked there yoi," He said while seeping from his cup of tea and ignoring May who turned to face him with her mouth agape. It was the first time that they seat next to each other and Marco preferred that she sit down across from him so he could fully saw her awestruck expression.

"He didn't let you sleep on the chilly floor did he?" Izo asked searchingly while raising an eyebrow.

May wasn't going to answer that sly question, hell not in front of all those pirates but once again Marco responded for her "She also sneaked under my sheets yoi."

"It was your fucking fault, damn it!" May angrily retorted stabbing Marco's hand which he was putting on the table with her fork, not even a single blood drop seeped and there was a small blue fire burning around the area of the utensil.

The blond commander didn't retrieve his hand or show any sign of pain, he simply snorted and creepily tapped his index on the wooden surface "How so?"

She could feel couple of veins throb on her head, she silently dared him to stay still, reached for the bottle on her pocket and swiftly rolled its cork open then emptied the bottle by pouring the sea water on him, May smirked triumphantly when Marco hissed since the trice the liquid touch him his blue fire extinguished and blood oozed from his hand, then she run for her dare life.

The commander pulled out the fork from his hand and arrowed it at her, if she didn't trip on someone's foot by pure chance the metallic object would've land on the back of her head. She stared at the place the fork parked at, then turned around sticking her tongue out at Marco before persuading her run thinking that even if he didn't made fun of her for having nightmares and being scared he was still an arrogant bastard.

Hey Guys! How're you doing? Wish you have everything under control out there :)) and hope you enjoyed this chapter though I was planning that they reach the new Isle but it get longer and there is no rush right? -I hope so-

Scarlett Key: And here it is! I hope you like Marco's reaction :p , I'm sure he would've been secretly embarrassed for snuggling with her -_-'. Well, the majority of the pirates didn't believe her -I wouldn't believe her if it's me :p - but the commander (our cutey Haruta and Thatch...) and Whitebeard did -I'll point out this in some chapter- so why disappointed? Thank you for reviewing and your constant support, wish you enjoyed this chapter as well.

Sousie: Hhh! Why? I mean she's with the Whitebeard Pirates, she's the luckiest girl ever :p Thank you for reviewing and your constant support, enjoyed this chapter? Hope so :).

LittlemissLazy: Thank you so much for your nice review and I'm really happy I didn't disappointed you. Here is your update and wish you enjoyed, though I'm sorry for the late -You knew (Real life) took my time :3- So what your opinion about Marco's reaction? -Hope you like it-, Thank you so much again for reviewing and ciao next Chapter.

Stranger: Thank you so much, Count me a creepy too for reading and re-reading your review many times and still smile each time x)) I'm grateful to you, even though you're a stranger, I'm a stranger too and you technically wasn't obligated to say those words but you still did and that's means a lot to me, a special support -from across the continents- I would be proud of so Thank you so much for everything you said it really helped *huge* :))

Thank you lovely people for your support, reviewing and following/favoring. Thank you all for still reading this story.

Ciao Next Chapter, Wish You All a Lovely Week.