(Omega AU)
Jinbei stared blankly at the ocean before him. Never in all his life had he ever thought to find himself in such a position. In fact, if anybody else ever saw him, he would be ashamed for the rest of his life.
The Spade Pirates were cruel, and their pup Captain seemed baffled by it.
"But why is he naked?" Portgas D. Ace kept asking.
"Ask Finamore," Masked Deuce sighed.
"I did, but he just yells at me to 'look away'."
"I'm just happy Finamore didn't take the guy's underwear," a woman's voice said.
Not the one who knocked him out. Jinbei doubted he'd ever forget her. Finamore was the worst of the lot in Jinbei's mind though. He had said they should use Jinbei as the 'emergency food supply', and normally he would have been offended, being degraded to being food, but Finamore was a cannibal. So it wasn't just because Jinbei was a fishman.
Ace had asked his crew a few times to untie Jinbei so they could fight properly, and oddly enough, he was relieved when the entire crew refused. He didn't want to fight the pup. Ace just didn't get it. He didn't understand the old rules about pups.
Any good pirate wouldn't attack a pup. That was something a lot of bandits did, and it was disgusting.
Although, the rest of the Spade crew? At the moment Jinbei didn't mind kicking their collective asses into the sea for doing this to him. Even more so when the Moby Dick finally arrived.
He swore he could hear Thatch's laughter from across the ocean.
.::.
The Whitebeards had been ready for multiple scenarios. A feral pup with angry crew mates, ready to fight, but unprepared for the consequences. They had also been ready for them to try to flee in terror at their sheer presence. Some of the crew had even mentioned about being bribed, and that if any of the Spades tried to hand over their Omegas and ask to let them go, then they'd kill the traitors.
It had happened before, and Pops and the Commanders had personally executed those monsters.
They had not expected to find Jinbei tied, almost naked, to the Spade's figure head. Thatch collapsed, crying from laughter instantly. Pops chuckled, while Marco sighed. His siblings were torn between laughter and horror, and he could feel Jinbei getting flustered from even over here. Marco transformed and flew over to Jinbei's side, and he swore he had never seen the fishman so red.
"What happened to you yoi?"
"The Spade Pirates are evil..." Jinbei said, shivering.
"They're using your clothes as a flag," Marco snorted.
"I know. They took them off me after knocking me out," Jinbei groaned.
"Was it the pup?"
"I was too busy avoiding him. He really wanted to fight me," Jinbei complained. "And then their female Omega got me from behind with a frying pan."
Marco choked on his laughter. "You, a veteran of the New World, got taken out by a frying pan yoi?"
"I regret letting you guys talk me into sabotaging the pup's ship."
"I'll go get your clothes yoi," Marco sniggered, flying up.
He heard a yell about a cool bird as he grabbed the clothes, untying them from the mast.
"He's stealing our new flag!" the short guy protested.
"Why are Jinbei's clothes are new flag anyway?" the pup Captain asked, blinking.
"It shows the world that he is our victim."
"These cannibals were really a bad influence on you, weren't they?" The pup grimaced.
Marco blanched. Cannibals?
He decided to ignore it, fly down and cut the restraints with his talons that bound Jinbei in place. Jinbei grabbed his clothes and frantically started pulling them on. Marco flew back up, perching on the Spade's railing.
"The cool bird's back!" Ace beamed.
"I wouldn't focus on the bird right now, Ace," Masked Deuce, the First Mate of the Spade Pirates, said as he approached. "Whitebeards are heading our way, remember?"
Marco almost chuckled.
"He does look pretty cool," Bandanna Banshee agreed, but tilted her head. "Or she? Wait, how do you even tell what bird gender is what?"
"I think male birds are usually more colourful," Ace said. "It's to help attract the females."
"You know about bird mating and yet you hardly have a clue about secondary genders," Masked Deuce sighed. "And honestly, this is not the time to be thinking about people's, or animal's, genders. Whitebeard pirates are heading our way, remember? They'll be here in about ten minutes!"
Marco paused at that, because that sounded concerning. Not the Pops arriving part, but the 'hardly have a clue about secondary genders' part. Sure, Ace was a pup, but he wasn't a tiny pup. He was seventeen.
"There were a lot of birds out in the forest," Ace huffed, but blinked, staring suspiciously at Marco's chest. "Wait, isn't that the Whitebeard mark?"
"The same mark heading towards us?" Masked Deuce said, waving his arms. "Yes! Will you finally focus?"
"I didn't know Whitebeard had a parrot," the tiny guy blinked.
Marco almost choked on his laughter.
"He's not a parrot, Finamore. I honestly don't know what he is," Ace said, scratching his head.
"The bird isn't important right now!" Masked Deuce complained.
Marco couldn't hold it. He cackled.
"THE BIRD'S LAUGHING!"
"HOLY CRAP THAT'S WEIRD!"
"THAT'S BECAUSE HE'S NOT A BIRD! HE MUST BE A DEVIL FRUIT USER!"
"He could just be a laughing bird, Deuce!"
"BIRDS DON'T LAUGH!"
"Says you!"
"No, I think Master Deu's right," the skull guy began. "I think he's called Marco the Phoenix. Whitebeard's first mate."
"EH?!"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING SOONER?" Deuce screeched.
"I got distracted by the bird genders Master Ace was talking about. It sounded interesting!"
"Yes!" Ace beamed. "Someone to finally fight!"
Marco transformed, shaking his head. "And now I see exactly what Jinbei meant by an eager pup."
"HE TURNED INTO A HUMAN! HOLY SHIT!" someone screeched.
Ace looked so disappointed in him, and Marco almost fell back into laughter once more.
Ace deflated. "Oh not again... You're going to refuse to fight me too, aren't you?"
"Sorry yoi. Pirate rules."
"I don't get New World!" Ace hissed. "Hardly anyone wants to fight me, dammit. I don't get how that works. The tougher, scarier pirates are lingering around here. You guys should happily be trying to crush the smaller crews!"
Marco snorted.
"That's not a bad thing!" Cornelia tried to reassure him, but the pup only huffed.
"Sorry yoi. It's the old rules. The good pirates don't like to break them," Marco said, grinning.
Ace scowled. "I wanna go back back to Paradise so somebody will fight me!"
"I think that's the first time I've heard someone say that," Marco chuckled. "Usually people want to go back to avoid the fighting yoi."
"What do you want from us anyway?" Masked Deuce asked.
Marco offered a small smile, tilting his head at Ace.
"Pops wants to see the pup yoi."
The entire crew immediately darkened, and put themselves between him and Ace. The Spades looked livid. Bandanna Banshee looked ready to go feral on him.
"What does your Captain want with ours?" she growled, her fangs growing.
"Yeah," Ace said, peaking around his crew. "He obviously doesn't want to fight, since the whole 'pup' thing. So why does he want to see me so badly that Jinbei would sabotage my ship?"
Marco smiled at Ace. "He wants you to join our crew yoi."
Ace blanked, before growling. "Like hell! You expect me to give up my crew just because your Captain is curious about me?"
"And the fact that you think we'd just let you take our Captain is insane!" Masked Deuce snapped.
The ship suddenly rocked, and Marco grimaced, gripping the railing. He had felt Pops jump, and he was now landing on the Spade Pirate's deck, grinning. Some of the Spade Pirates made panicked noises, anxiety growing among the small crew.
"Guarararara, I see you found the pup who wanted to challenge me, Marco!" Pops said, grinning widely. "Hello, brat."
Ace squirmed out from behind his crew, earning multiple protests. Marco did appreciate the sight, because that meant the crew really cared for their Captain. Just like they cared for their own.
"What do you want from me?" Ace scowled.
"I want you to take on my mark and sail the seas as my son."
"Like hell I'd join you!"
"We don't even know what you'd want with our Captain," Masked Deuce said, eyes narrowed suspiciously behind his mask. "Ace, you're a pup, and some pirate crews are cruel and dangerous. Some would do horrible things to pups, no matter what their age is."
Marco frowned. The Spade crew grew more hostile at those words, but it only made Marco annoyed. They were insulting their crew by insinuating that they wanted Ace for unsavoury things. Pops looked just as annoyed.
"Don't dishonour the old man like that!" Jinbei yelled, throwing himself over the railing, tugging on the last of his clothes.
"As if I would disgrace myself in such a way. I keep by the old pirate rules, and that means we don't harm children. The rest of you brats however-"
Pops raised his fist. Ace moved in front of his crew mates automatically, flames bursting free. Marco tackled him, smothering his flames with his own just as Pops hit the air, sending all the Spade pirates crashing into the water with startled yelps.
"You're all a hundred years too early to play cheeky with me!" Pops said, scowling.
"Guys!" Ace yelled, wriggling in his grip. "Seriously? Let me go, you damn bird!"
"Rude," Marco chuckled. "And relax. It's shallow waters yoi."
Pops had only sent the Spade Pirates into the sea for a soaking. Pops was grumbling, but he wandered over, grabbing Ace with one hand. The Moby Dick was pulling in close by that point, so Pops jumped back over, even as Ace hissed and clawed at his hand.
Marco went and investigated the Spade's ship while Jinbei followed Pops back over. The Moby Dick began pulling away, despite all the Spade's yells and Ace's snarls. Marco found Ace's bedroom, and frowned. The bed was a hammock, not a nest. That was odd.
He did find medication under Ace's name, and more of those elbow braces the pup wore. Marco took those and left when he found nothing else of important interest. Any personal affects could be collected properly another time.
So Marco transformed and flew off after the Moby Dick.
By the time he got back, Pops' hand was full of bite and claw marks. Pops dumped Ace in the medical bay, but not without receiving one last bite in response. The little one was certainly a spitfire. That's for sure.