He pulled on the chain holding his arms up to the roof, trying to break them with his entire being. He ignored the pain that shot through his body at even the slightest movements as his pulled with his weight as leverage. It wouldn't snap, he knew that, it would take a lot longer for that.

His waterlogged ears picked up a sound that shouldn't be there, but he ignored it, it was probably the building collapsing in on itself again, stupid earthquakes. It sounds like a squelching or a creaking, like a door, he remembered. But that was impossible.

The island may have gone to the surface, but there was no way some idiot would actually explored it. they never managed to get this far the last times the island emerged. The people only got so far as the beach, he could tell because of his superb and stupid Haki. It just wouldn't leave him in peace, always annoying him with what other people were doing in the world, moving around, visiting islands, exploring the seas and moving. The things he couldn't do right now.

Bastards.

His half-opened eyes picked up something, not movement it was too dark for that, it was more like a light or a fluffy cloud.

Wait, no. he can't see fluffy clouds anymore, they're in the sky, he can't see that. Nope, definitely not a fluffy cloud.

Hmmm, then what is it… its… it's a color. Maybe. Is it… blue? That's a color, right?

wait a minute, what the hell is a color doing down here?! It should be dark and black! Like always… damn, he misses the sunlight. What he would give to see that again.

he pulled on the chains again, sending his head spinning yet again. moving really sucked. The light came closer, though the door in front of him. his eyes locked on the light, because now he was certain that it was in fact light. Light blue, probably, light coming from something that was coming closer.

The door directly in front of him moved, maybe, he couldn't see it very well, and them it opened.

He pulled on the chain again, but this time he wasn't trying to break the chain, it was to get closer to this light, this something other than darkness, that entered. He only hoped that it wasn't his mind playing tricks on him. something came through the door, maybe a person? But why would someone come here?

They knew he was here, right? Why would they come after him? they hated him like everyone else in the world, right? Or has he been in here long enough to disappear into history again?

Something else came through the doorway, this one much taller than the first thing, it even had the blue light thingy on top of it. it was so bright; his eyes were drawn to it even as it burnt them.

His mouth opened in awe, he certainly missed light now, and life and green and trees and the sky and, and, and… everything that wasn't darkness and… death.

He missed life.

A tear ran down his tired and boney face, his skin drawn taunt over his entire body from the lack of food and fresh water, added with the abundant supply of salty sea water never made a good mix for skin care.

"hey, Marco, you okay?" something said.

Wait. Did he imagine that? Or did something actually… say something.

The blue light disappeared, and he pulled away. Did he do something wrong? why did the blue light go away? Did.. did it hate him like everything else?

"Marco!" something yelled, "shit! He's breathing's crazy! Marco, hey, what the hell's wrong!?"

Something splashed through the water in the darkness, "Thatch, he can't answer you. shit, Marco's unconscious. Fuck, what the hell do we do?!" A deeper voice spoke.

I wonder what they're doing… he though. Did it have something to do with the blue light?

Wait… couldn't he make a light? Not a blue one, no, definitely not, but a different one…

Hmmm. But he's in seastone, it's impossible.

"what do we do Namur!?" a not as deep voice but still quite deep voice said. "he's the one who deals with this stuff, he doesn't just… I don't even know what this is! He just collapsed!"

Something distant clicked in his mind, something he deemed that might be important. Hmm, I wonder what it was.

"I don't know either, thatch! Don't ask me! we- we need to do something… um, what the hell do we do!?"

…oh.

That.

As the two voices argued in the darkness, he coughed. The noise made the other two turn towards him, not that he could really tell. Though, his Haki was still strongly active.

"you! did you do something!? what's wrong with Marco!?" the not as deep voice accused wrongly. He didn't do anything… maybe. He can't really tell.

He opened his mouth to respond, but it sent him into a coughing fit, a really really painful one.

"fuck, what the hell's going on here?!" the second voice stressed. His Haki told him that he was sitting on the ground with a third body while the not as deep voice stood between them and him.

Swallowing whatever was in him mouth, there wasn't anything but at least he can imagine that his throat wasn't as dry as it felt, "is..is h-he a d-d… *cough* devil… f-froot uzer…?" his broken and sore voice said, almost foreign to his own ears, but not unexpected.

He hasn't spoken a word since he got here. There was no one to talk to, or at least, no one who would talk back or pay him any mind.

The person in front narrowed his eyes, not that anyone could tell, but his voice made it sound like he was slightly more hostile. Or that was what he was reading from it, it could be something completely different, like the person was suddenly friendly and wanted to free him or something… nah, that would never happen, no one's that nice.

"why do you want to know?" the not as deep voice said.

He took a deep breath in, the air cutting his throat and making it feel like it was burning alive.

"d-devil fr-oot uzer-s die… in h-here. T-too m-mu-ch seas-stone…" he struggled to explain.

"quick, Namur, get him outside." Not so deep voice commanded.

"right." Deeper voice replied. Hmm, maybe his name is Namur… oh well, who cares. Not that it matter's much to him, they will leave him in this darkness, like everyone else.

The two people jumped into action. The one holding the unconscious one out of the water grabbed him and took him outside of the room and back into the hallway. Now that he was paying close attention to his Haki instead of ignoring it to the best of his ability, he could tell that the deeper voice one had taken the unconscious one out to the hallway and found a high place to put him. there must be water in there as well.

The one with the not so deep voice come back into the room, "he isn't getting better." He accused.

He coughed again. "I-it will w-we-wear 'ff I-in a fow d-days." He managed, falling into a coughing fit, which brought even more pain to his abused throat. He really shouldn't talk right now.

There was silence from the other guy, but he knew he was moving around, trying to do something. yet again sick of this darkness, he wanted light, brightness, joy… life.

He closed his eyes, a certain fire burning deep within him. he knew it was impossible for him to be commanding on it right now, the room was insulated with thick walls of highly concentrated sea stone – the guards who used to stay here loved boasting about them. he shouldn't be able to, yet he was.

He opened his eyes, not that he knew it, but they glowed a faint orange, just bright enough to be seen in the darkness. It made the other person take a step back, placing a hand on his sword even if he knew the other guy couldn't harm him in any sort of way. Breathing out, a small spark left him, a tiny ball of light.

He didn't want to be left in the darkness anymore.

The ball of light responded to his wish, glowing brighter the further away it got from him. it drew all the energy out of his body, making him shiver no matter how warm and stifling it was in the room. the ball of light floated up and out of his cage and through the gap in the glass, from there it went up and floated, bobbed more like, near the roof of the room, brightening the entire room until he could see.

The man watched him with a face between awe and shock, awe at the power he possessed to ignore the effects of seastone – though he may not know he was a devil fruit user, but he did just make a ball of light – and shock because of his condition. He thinks, the guy could be shocked by anything.

"I thought you just said there was so much sea stone that it kills devil fruit users." The man narrowed his eyes.

He looked at him, the man was dressed in a white shirt that had turned grubby in this place with white pants that were dirty and wet up to the knees, he had a yellow sash – that was yellow, right? – tied around his neck. He had a curved scar on the side of his head and his hair was arranged in a swirly wavy way that looked weird.

"I-I…I d-diffe..eren-nt…" he said between shaky breaths.

The man nodded, "I can see that. So, my name's thatch. What's yours?"

"…a-ace…" he spoke. He didn't mind telling this man his name, or anything really, it's not like it mattered much to him, but he didn't really see the point if they were just going to leave him here like they were probably planning. He frowned at the thought, hoping they didn't leave no matter how stupid it was. he didn't want to be alone, no matter how much he has wished for it in the past.

The man smiled, "nice to meet you, ace. Do you mind telling me how you ended up here?"

Ace opened his mouth to answer, but he quickly shook his head, "I e-exist." He coughed, but luckily it didn't send him into a fit.

The man nodded but looked rather confused by the answer before looking around for something, what it was, is anyone's guess. Setting his sights on something on the other side of the room behind him, the man – no, thatch, walked around, using the soft glow of the light above to guide him.

Ace didn't really care for what thatch did, just hoped he wouldn't taunt him with his freedom, he was sick of that – the guards did it enough when they were alive. As thatch moved around the room, grabbing something that made a clank and scrapping noise Ace concentrated on his Haki to see how the other two were going, when it appeared that they were alright, he looked up to stare at his impossible light. even if it was really weak and a mere fraction of a tiny portion of his power, he shouldn't have been able to make it.

Sea stone stops devil fruit powers. Except his, apparently, and it was only getting worse.

Something crashed behind him, but he couldn't make himself care much.

"oops." Thatch said, before he walked back into his sight, lugging a large steel bar on his shoulder. "so, I was thinking, since you helped Marco and all that. I might as well help you out of there." He said with a grin that ace couldn't help but feel suspicious about. People aren't nice, well, not all of them anyway.

Ace didn't say a word as Thatch wadded though the water with a metal bar around. He didn't even try to comment when thatch lifted it up and maneuvered it so it crossed the gap between the cage on the room he was in. and he was completely speechless, not that he could talk much right now, when the man with the weird hair-do quickly walked alone the swinging beam – it was swinging in time with the cage since even the smallest movements will make the cage swing slowly with its only three remaining chains. He walked through the open door, being careful not to lose his footing on the slippery surface.

When he was standing in front of him, smiling like a lunatic, Ace found his voice again. "w-why?" he asked, trying to convey all his confusion, shock and surprise in the one word. Thatch just smiled more.

"do I have to have a reason to save a damsel in distress?" he joked.

Ace glared at him. thatch shrugged but drew his sword, ace immediately lost his glare, proffering to stare at the bottom of the cage in resignation. He was like the rest of them.

Thatch stared at Ace. He didn't think he was going to kill him, did he? All he did was draw his sword, nothing special, right? Moving before the guy can say anything, or for his mind to run wild with assumptions and guesses, thatch raised his sword and cut at the cuffs on Ace's wrists. They were made out of seastone, so it did take a few tries, but eventually, the already weaken cuff links snapped, freeing Ace.

Immediately after, Ace fell to the ground limp, crawling in on himself.

"shit. Sorry, I should have expected that." Thatch said as Ace curled up into a ball to stop the pain. Even in the dim light, which suddenly spluttered weakly before restoring itself back to its former weak glory, he could see ace was in a lot of pain, so much that he probably can't even imagine. His wrists must ache and his arms sting from being held up for so long as well as the rest of his body from the strain and torture of hanging from his wrists. It must hurt.

Thatch picked up ace bridal style, being very careful not to drop him or move him around too much. "I'm sorry about this, but it's necessary." Thatch apologized again as he watched the body in his hands flinch at his touch. That was when he noticed how cold ace was, unnaturally so. It was like holding a block of ice, but not that cold, it was closer to the deep ocean temperatures, where it's dark and cold and not much else. Ace was cold and wet.

"shit! Why are you so wet? Do you get sunk when this island submerged?!" Ace weakly nodded, cringing when the action cramped his neck and pain shot through it. "fuck, how are you alive." Thatch didn't expect an answer and Ace didn't give him one, only looking away from his savior's face, avoiding eye contact.

Thatch decided he spent too much time in the cage and carefully carried his load out over the metal beam over a drop he couldn't see the bottom of. He walked slower now, not wanting to drop Ace as he balanced, but just like before he made it to the other side without a hitch. When they were on solid ground, Ace reached his arm up towards the glowing orb of light.

The orange orb bounced a bit before it slowly fell down into his grasp. Ace raised the light to his lips, blowing softly on it to make it fly away in the direction of the entrance. Thatch dutifully followed it out, wanting nothing more to do with this prison, because that's what it was, a prison.

Ace's eyes were glued to the orb of light, as if he was afraid the light would disappear, and they would be stuck in the darkness. He could relate, he didn't practically like empty darkness with no beginning or end either.

As soon as they stepped out of the decontamination chamber, Ace tensed, and his breath hitched.

"oi, Ace. Hey, what's wrong." He asked, slightly worried.

Ace's eyes were wide as he stared out at nothing, his bottom lip quivered in shock at something Thatch couldn't even guess at. He breathed in slow gasping breaths, as if shocked that breathing was possible. Ace's arms moved to clutch his midsection; his grasp stronger than ever.

"what's going on Ace?" he said a lot more worried than before; something was wrong and just like Marco he couldn't do a thing.

The little orb of orange light spluttered out of existence.

"damn it! why can I never do anything!?" thatch cursed as he stopped moving, knee deep in sea water. He knew the collapsed hallway had holes in the floor, he knew it was unwise to move without light or a guide. So, he stopped.

After what felt like forever, Thatch felt Ace relax in his grip, even leaning his head on his chest. His weak voice was just audible in the silence.

"I-it's back…"

"what's back?" he couldn't help himself.

Ace didn't respond verbally, but he could feel him moving slightly. Then the world lit up.

Little orange orbs of light blinkered into life throughout the entire hallway. They went as far as he could see – though, that wasn't very hard in the collapsed hallway, there wasn't a lot of distance to see.

"what the heck is that!" Namur's voice came from down the hallway. Thatch spun his head and he could see his brother, at the other end of the hallway.

"nothing harmful!" thatch called back, "I just rescued our captive friend and he can make these orange lights. At least we won't be blind now."

"…right, does our 'friend' have a name?"

"yep, it's Ace." Thatch replied.

He could hear Namur walking around, or swimming, he really couldn't tell. His voice got closer and closer as they talked, "well, I'm going to go over there and guide you through this mess, also, have you found out the reason Marco is like that, and why didn't whatever it is leave when he left the room?"

"thanks, well, Marco is like that because of a lot of seastone?"

"is that an answer or a question?"

Thatch bit his bottom lip in confusion, "I'm not entirely sure, he's not exactly in the best condition to be talking. But what I got from it is that there is a lot of seastone in there and it robbed Marco of his devil fruit power and was trying to kill him… or something. apparently too much seastone can kill people now."

Namur nodded, and they could see that now as it wasn't pitch black anymore with the orange glowing orbs. "well then, why haven't the effects of whatever left yet?"

Thatch shrugged as well as he could as he started following Namur back the way they came. "from what I gathered; the effects will stay for a few days before disappearing. But I'm as clueless as you right now so stop asking me questions."

Namur rolled his eyes but compiled. When they got back to the blockage, Namur climbed out of the water, closely followed by thatch. Ace's eyes where half lidded and fuzzed over, as if he wasn't seeing everything clearly.

"so, what are we going to do now?" Namur asked.

Thatch got an idea, "you go through, and I'll pass these two over and then I'll go through and we go back to the ship and get these two to people who know what the hell they're doing." He stated, allowing no room for arguments.

Namur nodded back, a serious and slightly scared expression on his face, he was scared for his brother. He didn't know what happened or how to help, just that he isn't okay. He climbed up to the gap in the dirt and wiggled his was through. The other side was dark, only lit up by the orbs on the other side of the gap, until an innocent orange orb flew through the gap. It bobbed there in the air for a moment before it split into hundreds. It was impossible to tell which one would be the original one in the explosion of light. Namur had to cover his eyes at it before the balls of light dispersed down the corridors ahead, leaving the entire place in a soft orange glow.

"okay, I'm ready."

"pull him thought." thatch called through. Namur reached into the gap and grasped Ace's under the armpits, causing Ace to hiss in pain, he pulled Ace through in one fluid motion and carefully placed him on the ground next to him, trying not to cause him any more pain than what he's already in.

"got him." Namur called back, "okay, send Marco through."

"way ahead of you." was the reply. Namur reached into the gap a second time, grabbing Marco by the armpits as well before pulling him through with a slight bit more resistance the Ace. It didn't take a lot of maneuvering before Marco was through as well and thatch himself was climbing through the gap. Namur moved Marco so he was sitting on his back, arms over his shoulders, while Thatch picked Ace up the same way.

He looked to see if the phoenix was doing better, or at least conscious, he didn't even seem to notice the change in place. Damn, they needed to get back to the doctors on the ship. Marco's eyes where shut and his breathing was horse and shaky.

"let's go." Thatch said, taking the lead, he could remember the way out without the map since Marco sort of ruined it when he fell into the water. The went down corridor after corridor, hoping to find the exit soon. The two quickly passed the garden room without so much as a second glance.

They came to a cross section with seven exits, they didn't remember this. Only two of them were labeled and neither of them lead to where they wanted to go. Little orb floating through every one of them.

"shit, we took a wrong turn." Thatch cursed, looking behind him, "I don't know where we went wrong and I don't know where to go from here."

Namur bit his lip; he didn't really like the looks of things. "what do we do now?" his voice was shaky.

Thatch closed his eyes as he thought, they couldn't go back, that would only get them more lost, they couldn't check the map as it was wet, destroy and back in the room Ace was in, they can't just pick a random corridor or they could end up back where they started.

His thoughts were cut off by some movement coming from his charge, Ace lifted his arm up and closed it into a fist.

And the world was darkness.

Every single little orange light blinkered out of existence, leaving them in complete darkness.

"what the hell!" Namur cursed. "why did he do that?" he demanded of Thatch.

"I don't know!"

Now they were worse off, in the darkness, lost and in a deserted building that's on an island that sinks. Shit, what was the time? How long did they have until this place was underwater? And now it just got worse.

"l-loo-k f-for l-ligh-ht." came a broken voice. It was Ace's.

"oh." Thatch said, suddenly knowing exactly what to do. "Namur look for sunlight. We might be close enough for it to guide us out."

"damn, why didn't I think of that." The fishman said, looking around each corridor.

When thatch's eye adjusted to the poor light, because there was some light coming in from somewhere, he helped, walking in the other direction from Namur in the cylindrical room.

"this one!" Namur called. Thatch quickly joined him and they both fast walked down the corridor. The light got brighter and brighter as they followed it to the source.

They stopped.

Right in front of them stood the giant broken doors from the entrance. It was the way out. The walked out, relieved to be out of there.

"thanks, Ace. We would've been lost without you." Thatch smiled.

Namur nodded, "yeah, thanks."

But Ace wasn't listening to them, he was staring at the sky, the wonderful bright sky and all its colors. The blue and purple and orange and red and yellow but mostly blue sky. For the first time in a very long time, Ace smiled with tears running down his face. His heart filled with joy at the moment of peace and the sheer amazement of a normal sky.

It didn't last long though.

"dammit, the sun's going down." Thatch made the same observation as Ace but without the joy, more like fear, they had about half an hour before this island sunk to the bottom of the ocean with them on it. "let's go." thatch said, Namur nodded without any arguments.

The two adjusted their charges before breaking into a run back to the shore. Passing everything without a second glance eyes dead set on the ship with a whale figurehead in the distance.

They ran even as the ground shook beneath them slightly. They tried not to think about it, even as Ace tensed up in his grip. They were nearing the shore, not that far away, and the pair could see one of the longboats left out for them, it was the one they come here on. The other 17 people were already on it, oars out ready to leave, with two people on the shore waiting for them.

When they came into sight, the two people on the shore started waving happily, until they saw their condition, then they started waving worriedly and afraid. As soon as they got into hearing range, they could hear the two yelling at them.

Reaching the beach, thatch and Namur sprinted across the loose sand, trying to keep their footing.

"hurry up! The island's going down, commanders!" one of the people yelled, moving to push the ship out.

"there's a flood behind you!" the other yelled.

Neither wanted to look back to check if they were telling the truth, but the roaring noise growing nearer told them everything they needed to know. "fuck." Thatch swore for the both of them.

They reached the boat, Thatch jumping in his Ace while Namur just threw Marco in, the two people not on the boat yet pushed the ship out the last little bit with Namur before jumping in themselves. The ship only held 20 people, and with the addition of Ace, they had twenty-one. So, Namur stayed off the long boat and swam next to them in the water.

"what happened to commander Marco?"

"who's the new guy?"

"gah! The floods coming!" some else yelled.

Thatch looked behind them, and sure enough, there was a flood. A big, devastation and dangerous one that could probably kill everyone who wasn't used to New World weather. He looked as Ace started moving again, nothing normal happened whenever he did something.

Ace raised his hand, creating a hundred small orange lights.

Or maybe he just wanted his lights back… thatch thought.

"what's with the lights?" someone asked.

"I don't know." Another answered.

Thatch decided not to say anything as Ace waved his hand slightly, making all the lights head towards the flood.

"um, Ace, your lights aren't going to stop a flood." He said with a confused tone.

The guy doesn't even try to respond, he just waves his hand, making the orbs spread out in a line. When the flood nears them, he closes his hand into a fist.

Every orb explodes in a massive show of light and power. The flames reaching high into the sky in massive amounts of oranges, reds and yellows. Shockwaves flew forth throwing dirt and sand every which way. It made waves form, rocking the boat as everyone ducked down to avoid being thrown off by the shockwave. When it passed, the air stirred, whipping in every direction at once, the waves sent the boat forward, toward the open sea and the Moby Dick.

"holy shit!" Thatch yelled as he tried to keep his seat on the long boat. no one was rowing but they were moving faster than before. The head chef of the Whitebeard pirates looked out at where the explosion first went off to see what sort of damage it had done.

The flood water had been completely diverted to the sides, flowing away from the epicenter of the explosions rushing backwards against itself and off to the sides. The flames stood in front of the water, burning everything that came near into steam with its intensive heat that could rival magma.

It was protecting them.

Thatch looked down at Ace, he was shivering and clutching his chest in pain, trying his best to curl into a ball on his seat. It was clear that the ability took a lot out of him. he looked over to Marco, he just looked in pain, which is weird for a healing phoenix who doesn't stay hurt for long. Thatch looked over to the Moby Dick, it was floating safely over the waves, it was too big for the shockwave to do much more then rock it, bobbing up and down as it waited for them to climb aboard.

When the longboat came alongside the much larger ship, two ropes hung down with attaching clips.

The two people from the start stood up, trying not to fall overboard with the crazy wind, and attached the ropes to either end of the ship, clipping and tying the rope in skilled and practiced knots. Someone above threw a rope ladder down for Namur while the men got ready for the boat to be lifted.

"ready!" one of the rope pullers called to the people above. In slow but steady movements, the longboat was raised out of the water and to the side deck balcony which housed all their smaller ships. It would later be stored in a room which had their spare boats in the center of the Moby Dick. The men there hooked the ship up and slowly pulled it in.

As soon as it was over the deck, everyone jumped off, getting out of the way and quickly moving away. someone grabbed Marco while he picked up Ace, both jumping off and moving away. The other crew mate passed the first division commander over to Namur and the two commanders ran off in a sprint towards the infirmary. Not even staying to watch as the explosion ended and as the flames died out, they had no need now. Everyone was safely on the Moby Dick well above the waves and this boat was in no trouble of toppling over and killing everyone on board. Not like the long ship would've.

They didn't pass many people in the hallways, most were on deck watching the show, but the ones they did quickly got out of the way after seeing who they were carrying and their steeled expressions.

The opened the double doors of the infirmary and moved the two to free beds, placing them down carefully.

"doctor! We need a doctor over here!" Thatch yelled.

"oh, shut up thatch, we're co- what the fuck is wrong with Marco?" the head nurse demanding, quickly running to the first division commander's side, checking his pulse and blood pressure.

"we found a room and when we walked in, Marco just collapsed. Ace was in the room and sort of explained that there was a lot of seastone, and it does that to devil fruit users, but he passed out a few moments ago." Thatch rushed to explain.

Whitely Bay attached an IV cord to Marco's arm before checking his temperature and other thing Thatch didn't have a hope in hell to even try to understand. As she was doing this, a few other nurses moved over to Ace and started checking him over.

"um, ma'am, somethings wrong with him." One of the nurses working on Ace said, moving to hand a folder over to Whitely.

"what do you mean?" the head nurse said as she opened the folder and too a cursory glance.

"well, um, you see-"

"the hell!?" whitely yelled, scanning the folder again before moving over to Ace. "go get a mask, Jamie." She spoke to the nurse who gave her the folder, she nodded and ran off, "turn him onto his side and apply pressure to the back." she commanded her team.

"what's wrong with him?" thatch asked, afraid for the person he had found.

Bay looked at him for a second before returning to Ace, "you'll find out in the commanders meeting in a few hours. Now leave! Only nurses, doctors and the injured are allowed in here!" she yelled, throwing the closest thing to her at thatch. It happened to be a needle.

"gah! I'm going, I'm going!" and with that, thatch ran out of the room.

In the hallway, he saw Namur get thrown out too. They shared a glance before looking at the double doors, closed and sound proofed, worried for the friend and the stranger. They were silent for a while.

"do you think they'll be okay?" Namur asked as he leaned against the wall, breaking the silence. Thatch bit his bottom lip.

"they better be."

The fishman nodded. He sighed, "come on, thatch, we better go give our report to Pops. We'll find out what's wrong with them soon enough."

Three hours passed, all the commander except Marco where waiting in the meeting room for the head nurse to join them. They had given Pops their report and told him exactly what went on in the marine base, they had also given a copy of the report over to the nurses, in case it helped.

The nurses had accepted it before kicking them out just like before.

Now, the commanders had all been informed on what happened on the island, while they waited. Some of them started smaller conversations but most couldn't find it within themselves to chat while their first division commander, the phoenix, the crewmember who couldn't be harmed, was stuck in the infirmary with an unconfirmed condition.

Thatch sat at the table fiddling with his fingers while Namur traced his over a crack in the table.

A hand came to rest on each of their backs, "sons, it wasn't your fault, don't blame yourselves." Whitebeard spoke with a calm and understanding voice.

Thatch sighed, "we know… but it just feels like we could've done something, anything to help."

Whitebeard smiled at his commanders, "and you did. You brought both back here safely. Marco is fine and in the care of the Doctors and the person you found, Ace, was his name, he's fine too. You did everything you could to help and you got them here. I'm proud of you."

Thatch smiled up at his father, no matter the situation, he always knew what to say to lighten the mood. This didn't take away the guilt or the fear, but it did help alleviate it.

The two nodded, smiles on their faces. It did help. Whitebeard retook his seat at the head of the table watching over his sons as they started to chat a bit more now that they knew it wasn't the end of the world.

It was about ten minute later when the head nurse, whitely Bay, walked in with two folders, one much larger than the other.

She took a seat and looked up at whitebeard.

"so, what is wrong with my son and their friend?" whitebeard asked.

Whitely sighed, placing a hand on her forehead and massaged it in irritation. "well, first things first, Marco is fine. According to Ace, who woke up earlier but is asleep now, the room, or cell I should say, he was in is surrounded and entirely made from highly concentrated seastone. Enough that it would be able to kill devil fruit users in roughly ten minutes. Normally I wouldn't believe it, seastone just doesn't do that, but looking over Marco and finding no other explanation to his sudden inability to use his devil fruit as well as his extreme exhaustion and fever, I'm forced to believe it. The affects are leaving though, so he should be up and about, good as new, in about two days."

The commanders sighed in relief; he would get better. Bay looked up, "Namur and Thatch, it's very good that you got Marco out of there, much longer and we could be looking at irreversible damage. Good job." She said.

The two mention took a deep breath, they had both freaked out, having no idea what to do at the time. If it wasn't for Ace telling them to get Marco out of there…Marco could've died. They were certainly going to thank the guy when he woke up again.

"and what about theier friend? Ace? He was the one to make that explosion from before, that had to be a devil fruit power. So, how is he alive?" Whitebeard asked, happy that his son was okay but still worried slightly.

Whitely sighed again, opening the larger folder and flicking through a few loose sheets of paper. "and that's what stumps me. On any medical perspective, he should be dead." She said it with such solidarity that the commanders had no choice but to believe it.

"his lungs, both of them, were completely filled with water, he wasn't breathing, but somehow he could talk. his heart is hardly beating, he doesn't really have a pulse or a blood pressure, and yet he still woke up. It was mentioned in the report that his arms were held above his head when he was in there, right?" thatch nodded, "he can still move them, even though both were dislocated and broken in several places, his nerves severed. Most of the bones in his body are either shattered or broken. All his internal organs have pretty much shut down and his body stopped worked ages ago. He shouldn't be alive."

The head nurse took a breath as the commanders processed the impossibility of the situation. "and you said he could make one of his light orange orb things in that seastone room, right?" thatch nodded again. "well, that is a devil fruit. How the hell can he use it in there?!" she all but yelled.

Her head hit the table, "he should be dead, and I don't know how he's alive. He woke up and explained what was wrong with Marco but neglected to mention anything about himself. Urg, I don't know what the hell is wrong with him but it's pissing me off!" a pissed off head nurse is never a good thing, especially if she likes needles.

Once she calmed down, whitebeard asked, "so what have you done?"

She sighed, "I attached an IV drip to him because his body is completely, and I mean completely, missing nutrients. It's like he hasn't eaten anything in years, but that's impossible. Then again, with everything else wrong with him, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case… anyways, I hooked him up to a breathing mask, because it seems his body forgot how to breath, and given him a strong painkiller. God, I don't even know how long it would take to heal that. At least a year or two with a huge pile of long-term issues." She sighed, calming down again, "sorry you had to put up with my ranting, it's just- just so irritating. I should know about this stuff, yet I can't do anything more than basic first aid."

"when do you think he'll wake up?" thatch asked, biting the bottom of his lip. He wanted to thank Ace for warming them about Marco and saving them all in the corridor.

The head nurse looked at him with a dead serious face, "I don't know. He woke up an hour ago but passed out before I left. As far as any of us can tell, he could wake up in a few hours or in ten years."

"okay." Thatch said with a dejected look.

"well, that's about everything I can tell you. Marco's fine, the other guy's an impossibility, and I'm confused." The head nurse said, "other than that, there isn't much else. Oh, and thatch, I'll need to talk to you later about this guy's dietary requirements."

The head chef nodded in understand, he'll go there straight after. Whitely Bay left the meeting room, leaving most of the commanders speechless.

After a moments silence, "well, we might as well get the rest of this meeting over with." Whitebeard took out another folder Marco usually handles in meetings. "so, how are we doing for storage?"

Vista looked at some of his notes, "well, we have enough spare wood on board for repairs. It should last us a few months more, as for food, thatch?"

The head chef took over.

It was two day later, as expected, when Marco woke up. The nurses checked him over before releasing him and announcing the good news to the crew. Everyone raises a glass or two and a party started soon after. It wasn't long before thatch came over to explain in detail what happened and what they found to the first division commander.

"so, you found someone in the marine base." Marco stated. It wasn't a question.

Thatch nodded as he lent against the railing next to his brother. Marco gave them all a scare and it was nice to see him up and about again. "yep. His name's Ace."

Marco nodded, smirking to himself as he took out a piece of paper from his pocket and scribbled something on it. "well then, I just finished your treasure hunt. I had everything other them 'local' and you said you found one, so I guess that means I'm done."

"what! Why are you still taking that seriously!?" thatch retorted, utterly surprised that his brother kept that. He made it as a joke and as such found it hilarious that both his brothers brought them along, and even funnier when they actually did it.

Marco showed him the bottom of his paper, "well, Pops wrote me a message, 'if you finish this, you can make Thatch do whatever you want for an entire day.'"

"what!? I didn't agree to this!" his brother yelled, checking the message Pops wrote. Yep, it did say that, and it was signed.

"what's the point of a treasure hunt if we don't win anything?" Marco asked rhetorically.

"to make you come to the island with me." Thatch moaned; this wasn't going according to his plan.

"sorry, but I'm not sorry. Namur also had the same agreement on his, he finished his as well, just in case you were wondering." Marco said with a small smirk on his face.

Thatch sighed, accepting his fate, "fine… what do you want me to do." He said with a depressive look.

"oh, no." Marco started, making Thatch light up hopefully, only for it to be snuffed out moments later, "I'm not going to use it now, I've already got a plan for when I'm going to use it. Namur's taking the day after me. Just so you know. We have the entire two days planned out, just for you." His evil smirk wasn't setting any of Thatch's worries.

"I'm doomed, aren't I?"

Marco only smiled.

Tada! Second chapter and introductions to the most important characters done. I think, I might be missing some. Oh well.

Please give me ideas on how to torment thatch on his days where he has to listen to Marco and Namur, ideas for others always make them more interesting.

Reviews help, please review. Favorite and follow if you want, it's up to you.

See ya next chapter!