Hey everyone! Just a quick message to apologize for such a long time without any update... I am now living in South Korea and let's just say that things are a bit crazy and I have a hard time taking the time to sit down for a few hours and write. God have I missed writing! Anyway, here is the chapter. Sorry it's short. I hope I'll be able to longer ones next time.

One week after it was decided that they would go on vacation, the trio actually departed to sail onto a small boat that Ace had bought from the previous island, making some changes on it so that there was a motor that he could turn on with his devil fruit powers. Like that, they could go anywhere they wanted in much less time than if they had been on a regular boat that could only work with the sails or the oars.

When it was time to decide where they would go, Marco actually offered to go to Chouju Island, which was actually his hometown, as they were not far from North Blue. As such they headed to Chouju Island, arriving there in two days time.

They docked their boat at the port of a small fishing town and stepped out of it. The weather was really nice as the sun was there and a nice breeze kept them from feeling hot.

"So this is where you lived as a child." Harry commented as he looked around at the village made of small white houses and fishing nets, curious about the place where his mate spent his childhood.

"Pretty much." Marco said absentmindedly as he also looked at the nostalgic of his hometown, "It's a really nice place to relax. It is a volcanic island so there are some really nice hot spring spots not far to go have a dip in."

"How long has it been since you've last come here?" the young man asked him.

"This is actually the first time I am coming here ever since I left to become a pirate and work for the old man." The phoenix man replied, scratching the back of his head a bit embarrassedly.

"Really?! So that's the first time that you will see your family since you became a pirate?" the phoenix hybrid exclaimed bewildered, turning to look at his mate with surprise, "You need to go see your parents then. They must wonder how you are doing."

"Well my parents are now deceased so it's not possible anymore…" the man replied uncomfortably, a sad glint in his eyes, "As for other family members, I don't even know if there are still some left on this island."

"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked confused, "You are still young how can there be no more family members on this island?"

"You didn't tell him?" Ace suddenly intervened, speaking out for the first time as he looked at his blond friend with a surprised expression on his face.

"Didn't tell me what?" the petite male asked now beginning to feel frustrated.

"He's immortal." The freckled pirate told him in a very blunt manner.

"Don't put it that simply!" the concerned one protested with a slight glare.

"Okay, okay." The wavy dark haired man conceded with a roll of his eyes, "But you were already at the old man's side more than twenty years ago and you haven't changed much from that day apparently. So you can call it anything you want, but for me it really looks like you are immortal."

"I age more slowly than other people." Marco began to try explaining after he breathed in deeply to calm himself down, looking at both Harry and Ace as he explained, "For me, 15 years is like aging of only 5. Therefore, I am going to live longer. But I am not immortal."

"So… how old are you exactly now?" the young hybrid asked after a moment of silence, after he had slowly digested the information of one his mate having a rather long life expectancy.

"I'd rather not say." The phoenix man replied with a slight cringe, pouting a bit as he added, "I don't want to feel like an old man."

This reply actually made the other two burst out in laughter and the matter of Marco's age was not brought up again, as they began to search for a hotel to stay at.

They ended up settling on an inn outside of the village, but not too far from it so that they could go to eat there if they wanted to.

They played and relaxed, having fun just the three of them for the first time since they had gotten together. Harry could not have been happier as he had his two mates for himself. Sometimes they would go to some nice hidden creek to take a dip in the seawater. Well actually it was more Ace and Marco watching their petite mate having fun in the water while sitting safely on the dry sand.

Right now, they were enjoying a leisure time into the inn's hot spring. Harry was sitting in between his two mates and was completely relaxed as he enjoyed the hot water that was almost burning his skin as his usually pale complexion was beginning to turn into a bright pink.

"Ah it feels so nice." The young hybrid said in a satisfied sigh that sounded almost like moan, closing his eyes in bliss.

"It is." Ace said in a hum of contentment, a smile on his face, "It's been long time since I remember having had a vacation."

"It's because you never took any." Marco replied with a light chuckle, as he looked at his best friend with an amused expression at seeing him so relaxed and happy right now.

"Well it's not like I had any reason to take some." The freckled pirate replied with smirk before, looking back at his blond friend.

"But that has changed now." The latter commented with roguish smile and a teasing wink, "Hasn't it Ha…"

He stopped in mid-sentence as he looked down at the young man to find him asleep, his head nodding from side to side as it didn't have any support to rest on.

"How can he fall asleep in here like this…" Ace wondered dumbfounded, looking at his mate with an astonished expression on his face before letting out a laugh that he stifled with his hand in order to not wake him up.

"Let's put him to bed." Marco said with an amused expression before getting out of the hot spring and getting towels while Ace took Harry in his arms and carried him out of there.

Once they had dried him carefully without waking him up and put into a sleeping robe, they tucked him into bed.

"Want to drink a few beers before going to bed?" Ace proposed to his friend with a smile, fishing into his bag for some money.

"Sure." The phoenix replied with a smile as he quickly finished to put on clothes to go with him to the town's bar.

And so they went to the only bar of the town and sat at a table in a corner before ordering something to drink.

"To our vacation." Marco said raising his glass with a happy smile on his face.

"Cheers!" Ace replied with a smile as glass, clinking his glass with the other's one and then taking a nice swig out of it.

They spent a few hours there, just talking and laughing while drinking a few beers. But their fun was suddenly cut short when they noticed a group glowering at them from a corner. At first they decided to pretend they weren't there. However, they soon became annoyed with the constant staring. Ace, not being able to restrain himself anymore, turned sharply toward who were looking at them and looked straight back at them.

"Is there a problem gentlemen?" he asked in a polite voice but a clear threat that they should be careful.

"You are Portgas D. Ace and Marco the Phoenix right? That are working for Whitebeard." one of them asked in a rough voice.

"It's exact ones." Ace answered cautiously while Marco actually kept quiet and lowered his head so that the dark would cover his face.

"Why are you here?!" another asked in an aggressive tone, looking like he was angry but also a bit scared as if he knew what they were capable of.

"Yeah!" one man added loudly, "Like it's not enough that this town is associated with the infamous first commander of the Whitebeard pirates, but you have also to come here when you absolutely have no business being here!"

"Yeah that's right! Get lost!" someone added.

By now Ace was seeing red and the fact that his best friend wasn't saying anything, and was just taking it in stride made him even madder. What the hell was wrong with them?! They hadn't done anything wrong if he remembered. They hadn't stirred any trouble while being here and kept to themselves. So why were they treated like trash huh?

Not feeling able to take any more of it, he stood up and glared at the men who had made the comments. Marco tried to stop him and grabbed his wrist to try and stop him but he shook him off and walked up to the men. Once he was right in front of them, he slammed his hands down on the table and looked at each and everyone of them with a threatening glower.

"If I were you I would shut up before getting beaten to a pulp." H growled at them, "We are here on vacation and we didn't stir any trouble while being here so you better leave us alone."

His words seemed to shock the men into silence as they registered the threat he had just made to them. The freckled pirate decided to give one more threat for good measure.

"If I ever hear you curse or say anything offensive to us I will make sure to pound respect into your idiot's skull." He told them before walking away and going back to the table where Marco still was, "Let's go. I think we've spent enough time in here."

"Sorry for the disturbance sir." The fire user said to the barman as he paid for the drinks and left with the blond man.

They never spoke again of the incident and during the next few days they thoroughly enjoyed their vacation without any worries and forgot all about what awaited them when they returned to "reality". They forgot for a moment that they would eventually have to go back on Whitebeard's ship to enjoy the fact that there were just the two of them.

Their days were spent in the hot springs or at the beach, playing, eating, resting and just enjoying being with each other. They all felt serene and happy.

However this state of serenity didn't last long as one day, as Ace was walking to the grocery shop of the town, he took notice of the newspaper being put on display. The front cover of the newspaper showed a pirate flag where he suddenly had a very uneasy feeling inside him. With hands lightly shaking from anxiety as he prayed internally that it was not what he was fearing, the freckled pirate quickly bought it and went to read it in a quiet place.

As soon as he was sure nobody would be bothering him, he quickly began to read the article that was interesting him. As he read, his eyes widened more and more and he felt like a stone had suddenly dropped into his stomach. There in front of his eyes was the following statement.

'The Marine Fleet Admiral Sengoku confirmed today the capture of notorious rookie pirate Monkey D. Luffy. Former member of the Whitebeard pirates, and actual captain of the Blackbeard pirates did his capture, Marshall D. Teach aka Blackbeard. He is sentenced to be executed in exactly two weeks from now at Marineford. As a result of this capture, Marshal D. Teach was given the title of Shichibukai and is now working with the Marine.'

Feeling his insides freeze for a moment, the fire user had to breathe deeply in and out for a few minutes to calm himself down. When he finally managed to calm down, he began to head back onto the main street, rolling the newspaper into a ball and throwing it into the garbage. Without saying anything or letting any emotion seep on his face, he then walked calmly toward the inn.

Although he was doing a fairly good job at concealing his emotions, his mates noticed quickly his mood change. They asked him numerous times what was going on but he stayed silent on the matter. They soon dropped the subject, hoping that it was just a passing brooding.

Everything went back to normal for the next two days and Marco and Harry completely forgot about that day where they had seen Ace come back with a very glum expression. However their happiness and carefreeness didn't last long as one day, Ace disappeared. No note or words of any sort were left behind and the two men first thought of a kidnapping. But they quickly put it aside, as it would have required a Herculean strength to be able to kidnap the freckled pirate without receiving a few kicks along way and causing a ruckus. They searched high and low in the village for any sign or information about him but they did not find anything.

But then, as Harry was desperately still trying to find a clue on where his mate could be, the headline of an old newspaper lying on the ground caught his eyes. He picked it up and as he read it, his eyes widened more and more before he gasped and put a hand on his mouth in shock. At this moment Marco, who was passing by as he was also still searching, noticed his mate and saw the expression he had on his face. Worry instantly going through him, he immediately went to his petite mate's side and put a comforting hand on his shoulders.

"What's wrong?" he asked, already checking him for injuries.

"Read this." The phoenix hybrid told him simply as he lifelessly gave him the newspaper.

Confused, the blond took the newspaper and began to read it. The confusion that he felt began to be replaced first by surprise then realization followed by shock.

"He has gone to rescue him." Harry said as he looked with a distressed expression in front of him, saying the older man's thoughts out loud before looking up at the latter with scared eyes, "He can't do it. W can't let him go there alone! We need to go after him!.."

But before Harry could say anything else, the young man suddenly bent over and wrapped his arms around his stomach as he moaned in pain. Alarmed, the blond phoenix man quickly knelt down beside him, looking frantically for what could be wrong.

"Harry! Harry! What's wrong?! Tell me what's wrong!" he exclaimed as he began to panic.

However, the pain was so intense that Harry could not answer and could only moan out in pain as he kept on holding his stomach as if it was going to burst open. Without any longer, Marco grabbed hold of him and carried in his arms before going as fast as he could to the clinic of the village. When he arrived there, nurses took immediately care of the moaning hybrid and took him to do some tests. Meanwhile, Marco had to stay in the waiting, pacing nervously as he waited for someone to come and tell him what exactly was wrong with his mate.

A few hours later, a doctor finally came into the waiting room and walked up to the blond man. It was a woman in her mid fifties with kind eyes and a gentle demeanor, her hair was speckled with some grey here and there tied into a bun.

"Mr. Marco I presume." The woman said softly with a friendly smile on her face, "I came to give some news about Harry Potter, whom I have heard is your mate."

"I am." Marco said quickly as he focused completely on her at the mention of Harry, "How is he? Is he all right? What's wrong with him doctor?"

"Well, this is a case that I had never been confronted during my thirty years of career." The woman began pensively, "I never even knew this could be possible."

"What is possible?" he pressed impatiently, feeling he might die from anxiety.

"Your partner is actually pregnant." She finally told him, dropping the bomb.

At hearing this, Marco stayed petrified for a while, not knowing what to do or to say.

"He almost had a miscarriage." She then added a bit more gloomily, "the symptoms he was experiencing were the symptoms when you get a miscarriage. But thankfully you brought him fast so that we could prevent it. If you had come even five minutes later we would have lost the baby."

"The baby…" Marco repeated softly under his breath, still having a hard time understanding how it was possible.

"What he needs now is a lot of rest and to not be put under any stressful event." the doctor told him sternly, "If you want your baby to arrive to term, I suggest that your partner stays in bed for the remaining 5 months actually."

"F-five months?! You mean he is 4 months along?..." the blond man exclaimed in a surprised stutter.

Their mate was four months pregnant… What were they going to do now? Ace didn't even know about this. If he had known he would have certainly not gone thoughtlessly like this. What if it was his? This is when Marco took a decision. They needed to go back to Whitebeard's ship as soon as possible and establish a plan. And most of all, they needed to find a way to confine Harry to his bed for the rest of his pregnancy and stop him from helping them at all.

'Why did you choose this moment of all time to be a knucklehead Ace?' Marco wondered internally with a sigh.

TBC