Chapter 37

Surprise – I'm not dead.

/

"So other than general pain for the next week or so, you're fine," Brad clarified hitching Marty slightly higher on his back.

"She always a general pain," Amber muttered.

"Mmm," Marty hummed happily, tipping her head side to side in time with Brads footsteps "Fine as potatoes."

"Well the drugs are working," Beth said raising an eyebrow at her friend.

Halfway through Marty's medical exam Jack had been called away to help carry the cages containing the thugs down to the islands prison house. The Doctor finished the exam with a reprimand for her reckless behaviour, a fair amount of painkillers, and an order for immediate and lengthy bed rest.

"Po –TAY –toes!"

Beth grinned as Marty threw her hands up and leaned backwards, nearly causing her brother to fall over. Beth put a hand on Marty's back pushing her forwards so Brad could regain his balance. With Jack gone and Rory and Polo reluctant to be caught in a position near Marty were they couldn't escape, Brad had offered to piggy back Marty. The girl was too dopey to walk straight on her own.

They had decided to head back to the Moby Dick for the night, with Marty and Ambers lack of home, and Beth and Cakes houses in disarray, it was the only immediate option for bed rest.

"So what are we doing for sleeping arrangements?"Cake asked curiously. As they stepped onto the docks.

"What do you mean?" Rory asked

"Well, the Doc said Marty needs to sleep in a bed right? She can't keep sharing the futon with Beth, and the bed is mine," Cake said brushing her hair back with her fingers, "Amber can share the futon with Beth, but we still need a place for Brad to sleep. There's no room for you two," Cake continued, pointing towards Polo and Rory who glanced at each other

"But I'm suppose to watch you!" Polo objected.

"What the hell do you mean share with Beth!" Amber snapped.

"You can either go where you normally sleep or bed down in the hall," Cake said unsympathetically ignoring Amber.

"I agree with Amber, there's no way I would lower myself to sleep with the Tramp. We can steal the futon from Ace's room and I'll share that one with Brad," Beth said dryly. We could steal another futon from Marco's Room and Cake could sleep in that, Beth thought but knew there was no way cake would agree to sleep anywhere except that bed. Stubborn brat, "That way you can keep your bed and we can stow Marty in Ace's bed."

"Where will he sleep," Brad asked curiously. Beth shrugged.

"He'll be fine, there will spare bed around here somewhere," Beth said as they stepped onto the deck of the Moby Dick.

And any way, Beth thought dryly, Ace wouldn't want her in any of the other commanders' rooms, and this way he has an excuse to keep an eye on her. He should be thanking me.

Well, so long as Marty doesn't blow a hole through the walls.

/

'Well I'm an idiot,'Beth thought sighing inwardly. Cake was snoring so loudly Beth could swear the ship was vibrating slightly. She considered waking her brother and dragging the futon back into Ace's room, then dismissed the idea. She couldn't risk waking Marty, although the girl had passed out like the dead once she had hit the bed, and her brother needed sleep. It had been a long day.

Beth groaned quietly, fruitlessly covering her ears. Well damn. Beth sat up, pushing her brother out of the way with her foot as she crept over sleeping bodies towards the door. Brad muttered something unintelligible about grapes before rolling over.

Beth slipped out of the door shutting it quietly behind her. Ok, Cake's snoring was definitely causing the door to vibrate, no way was that her imagination. Snorting softly she stepped over Rory and Polo who had pilfered futons from the rooms of other commanders in order to "stand guard" outside the girls door. Beth was sure they weren't watching anything past their eyelids at this point.

Beth trailed her fingers along the wall as she navigated her way upwards. It really was such a beautiful ship. Though she had spent little more than a week aboard, Beth felt at ease as if she was in her own house. She was definitely getting attached, Beth frowned wondering if that was a good thing.

As Beth reached the door that lead out to the deck, she grinned as she remembered the last time she exited through this door in order to escape on Marty's Sea Monster. She pushed the door open stepping out onto the deck to take a deep breath of the cool night air. In her mind's eye she recalled the water spouts tidal waves and fires that had only recently been present on and around the ship.

It wasn't as if her life had been boring up until she met Marty. Three brothers and a weapon shop didn't leave her much room in which to be bored in. Beth loved her family, but somewhere along the line she had grown into a replacement for her mother, and had forgotten what it was like to have the freedom to do whatever made her happy. She was so busy looking after her brothers she rarely had the opportunity to think about herself.

While Ace and Marco would have argued Marty needed constant looking after, the truth is it was the opposite. If you ignored the tidal waves and stuff she caused (which Marco and Ace would have argued weren't really something you ignored) Marty was really quite an independent person. Beth didn't know a lot about her history, but anyone could see that Marty had been looking out for herself for a long time now.

Beth leant against the railing, gazing back at the town she was born and raised in.

It was nice to have someone her own age as a friend. Even if they did nothing but get into trouble. It was even nicer to have people looking out for her for a change. Marty, Ace, Marco.

Beth blinked as her eyes focused on shapes moving quickly towards the ship through the darkness.

Speak of the Devil.

"They aren't anywhere," Ace said gasping, an edge of desperation in his voice as he ran towards the ship.

"You don't think they went into the forest do you?" Marco said his voice not much calmer than Ace's. Beth propped her chin on the palm of her hand. This was the first time she had heard the men so out of breath, ridiculously fit as they were. They must have been running around for the past four or five hours the girls had been on the ship. Oh boy they were gonna hear about this.

"Kami above I hope not," Ace said leaping from the docks straight over the railing, Marco following close behind, completely ignoring the rope ladder, "What if they set it on fire? Or flooded the place? Or destroy the island with earthquakes?" Ace moved towards the doors in a quick walk. Marco glanced up at the sails before moving his gaze around the deck.

"The place seems to be intact. They might not even be here..." Marco froze in place as he caught sight of Beth. She had turned so her back was against the railing and was watching the pair with amusement. Ace glanced over his shoulder as Marco fell silent, following his gaze to the green haired girl.

"Ah," Ace stopped with his hand on the door knob, then glanced back at Marco as he released a deep breath of relief.

"Thank the heavens we found them," Marco said rubbing his forehead tiredly as he began walking towards Beth. Ace blinked in surprise before a disbelieving look crossed his face.

"Found-? THERE ARE THREE MORE OF THEM. ONE OF WHICH CAN CAUSE NATURAL DISASTERS!" Ace snapped

"Calm down or you'll wake the natural disaster up," Beth said grinning, "We're all on board, it's been a long day there's only so much damage a girl can do."

"They're all asleep?" Marco clarified.

"Are you on watch or what?" Ace said stomping over.

"Nah Cake snores louder than Fee Fee," Beth said shrugging. Ace froze.

"Which means like you, Marty could be awake and wandering around," Marco said dryly. Beth tipped her head to the side.

"Possible but unlikely, first of all Marty was doped up beyond belief and second we put her in Ace's room since Cake wouldn't give up the bed," Beth said.

"... You left her alone to destroy my room," Ace summarised, with what Marco thought was a deceptively calm voice.

"That's one way of looking at it-... Er bye" Beth said as Ace did an about turn and sprinted below decks.

"She probably won't even wake up till morning," Marco said hopefully leaning against the railing beside Beth. If the pair had looked upwards to the upper decks at this point instead of at each other they might have seen a purple head pull back out of sight.

So I have maybe five minutes before he comes screaming back onto deck, Marty reasoned as she army crawled towards the ships railing doing her best to keep out of sight.

"Not that those two are paying attentions to anyone but themselves," Marty muttered dragging herself over the side. She hit the docks with a thump, pausing to see if the pair had heard her. Deciding either they hadn't or they had and didn't care, Marty walked quickly down the dock, towards the ocean, and out of earshot.

"Speaking of morning," Marco said sighing as he crossed his arms, "It might be possible to send Marty and Amber back to their world." Beth gaze snapped to his face.

"How?"

"Same way they got here, apparently the Parish blokes portals are two-way," Marco said raising his eyebrows at Beth tone. Beth was silent for a moment as she turned and looked across past the opposite railing of the ship out onto the water, "Not that we are going to send back any of the weapons that lunatic brought through. We're hoping Marty will know some safe way of disposing them in the morning."

"And Marty?" Beth asked without moving her gaze off the ocean.

"Marty what"

"Are you going to send Marty home?" Marco hmmed quietly.

"Personally I don't think it a good idea for Marty to go back home," Marco said thoughtfully. Beth blinked glancing at him in surprise, "What?"

"Marty? As in the person you've been running around after, unsuccessfully halting her disasters for the past week?" Beth asked with a snort, "I can understand Ace wanting to keep her, but you?" Marco threw back his head and laughed.

"You make it sound like he wants her as a pet," Marco said amused.

"You're saying he doesn't?" Beth asked incredulously raising an eyebrow. Marco shrugged.

"Regardless, I don't think it's a good idea to send Marty back to a world that has never experienced devil fruits. Especially one with Marty's potential power," Marco yawned, and cracked his neck, "I mean look at Amber. She walks around as if she's in a fantasy book, like nothing we do is safe or makes sense."

"Marty never acted like that," Beth argued.

"I don't think anything Marty does could be viewed as standard behaviour," Marco said grinning, "Still, I feel like sending Marty back is on par with, or worse than all those weapons." Beth nodded in agreement. "Well either way, Pops will probably let those girls decide what they really want to do, so my opinion really doesn't matter."

"I think this kind of life and home suits her," Beth said grinning Marco snorted.

"No kidding, if she hangs around she's going to be one hell of a pirate one day," Marco said with a laugh. Beth tipped her head to the side ponder his words for a moment. It was so easy for her to forget how famous, and honestly, dangerous a person Marco was in the scheme of the world. For him to acknowledge someone like that was no small compliment, although Beth had no disagreements. Her friend was going to be someone important some day, and Beth wanted to be front and centre to watch it happen.

"What are you grinning about," Marco asked suddenly wary, Beth shook her head.

"Just wondering how much damage Marty and I are gonna do before we get bounties," Beth said with a grin.

Marco sighed pushing himself off the railing. He took a step backwards so he was facing Beth directly and put his hands on his hips.

"I want to point out destroying your own ship won't make you famous, just an idiot," Marco pointed out. "So you leaving? Or staying?" Beth blinked.

"What? On this ship?"

"Say Marty decides to make her own way?"Marco asked crossing his arms, "I'll admit having Marty as a captain would be interesting, but the girl doesn't exactly have a clue about how this world works"

"Who knows? I'm sure she'd figure it out she's not stupid," Beth tilted her head to the side eyes drifting to the front of the ship, "And being the only girl on a crew of guy's sounds a bit boring."

"Boring," Marco said with a grin, "That's the first time I've ever heard someone combat an invitation to join the Whitebeard Pirates with boring."

"Yeah well," Beth said grinning as she returned her gaze to meet Marcos, "Most people haven't met Marty."

"Lucky them," Marco said uncharitably, Beth laughed.

"I'd ask if you wanted to tag along," Beth said causing Marco to start surprised, "But I get the feeling you'll follow Whitebeard with the same stubbornness that I'll follow Marty. I guess we're the same in that aspect."

Marco blinked, then frowned holding Beth's stare.

"Problem?" Beth tipping her head to the side with a smile. Marco shook his head and stepped into Beth personal space.

"Pardon my abruptness," Marco said quietly planting one hand on the ships railing beside Beth. The other hand brushed against Beth's cheek before he threaded his fingers in into her short hair as he pressed his lips against hers.

Marco broke the kiss after a moment, flicking his eyes over Beth face as if checking for disapproval. Marco blinked in surprise as Beth laughed.

"Abruptness my ass," Beth said rolling her eyes. She hooked her fingers into Marco's shirt collar, and dragged the slightly startled man closer, "About freaking time." Marco laughed and leant forwards to kiss her again.

It was at that moment Ace decided to exploded through the door onto the deck causing Beth and Marco to jerk apart in surprise.

"MARCO," Ace yelled sprinting toward them.

"What now you idiot," Marco snapped annoyed as Ace skidded to a stop in front of him.

"Purples gone," Ace said glancing around as if he expected a tidal wave to start springing to life around the ship.

"What? Seriously?," Beth whistled, "That is impressive, those drugs she was on were intense."

"Bloody hell, I'm gonna kill her," Ace said ducking around the pair, vaulted over the railing, "Marco you stay here and make sure none of the others escape," He called as he dropped out of sight.

"Are we going to wait here for Ace to drag Marty back?" Beth asked after several moments of silence. Marco stifled a yawn before shaking his head.

"No freaking way, it could take him all night," Marco said dryly, "Come on, I can camp on the futon if you want to take my bed to escape Cake's snoring," He said as he turned and started walking towards the still open door. Memories of Polo dragging the only futon out of Marco's room flashed through Beth's mind as she smiled slightly.

"I think I'll take you up on that."

/

Sooo... this story is in the top 50 most reviewed one piece stories... so there is that.

(ILY guys you make me feel warm and fuzzy)

The fact people still think this story is worth reviews is the reason I still Update (I'm sorry so rarely) (I mean I love writing, but really, you people)

Please be kind – this is my first time attempting to write romance – I'm aware it is stilted.