It had been almost a week since they had found out that Luffy and his crew were missing. The Moby had started sailing towards the Red Line at that time to pass under it back into Paradice. Erika was getting very antsy with no news coming in from the Whitebeard allies and it was starting to show in her temper. While she was still polite to most that she interacted with, some who asked her questions that she didn't want to answer or gave her any hassle got snapped at quite viciously. When it was brought to Marco's attention that she had even snapped on Ace when he was trying to calm her down he decided to help her vent her frustrations.
Finding Erika on deck near the figurehead he calmly walked up to her. He was surprised to see her smoking a cigarette, not know that she had the same habit as him. Coming to a stop next to her he pulled out a pack of his own and took one out. Lighting it up he took a deep drag and slowly let it out, enjoying the slight buzz the nicotine sent through his system. While he didn't smoke as much as others on board he did have a few a day to help him stay calm.
Turning to Erika Marco said, "I didn't realize you smoked as well, yoi. When did you start?"
Taking a hit herself she answered as she exhaled, "I was about 11 or 12 when I first started up, stealing them from our foster mother. She had to have been about a two-pack a day chain smoker, especially with all us brats running around and causing trouble for her. It took a year or so for me to pick the habit up completely, at that point I was smoking about a pack a week, which was as much as I could reasonably steal at the time." She chuckled, taking another hit. "Now I'm up to about a pack every few days. The boys never understood why I felt the need to smoke and part of me is glad of that. The stress of being the oldest and trying to be the most responsible… I think you know how it can feel." She said looking to his cigarette with a raised eyebrow.
Marco gave a nod as he brought his cigarette to his lips, taking a drag, "Yeah, I might know a thing or two about that kind of feeling, yoi." He said before blowing the smoke out. "While we have our Pops, I'm the "oldest" sibling, as I was the one to first call him Pops, so everyone comes to me with any problems they have. I love my family and will always try to help them but sometimes I feel like I need a vacation, yoi." Erika laughed with him when he said that.
"Little brothers can be such a hassle, can't they? They drive you to insanity with their antics but when you are away from them you miss them with such an intensity that it can steal your breath away." She said with a faraway look, taking her last hit before tossing the butt into the sea. "The mere thought of them being hurt can make your blood boil like nothing else in the world, and you will tear that same world apart just to protect them."
Marco sighed, "That's what makes us older siblings, yoi. This will to do what we must to protect those we call family." Seeing her nod he took one last hit before throwing the rest of his cigarette away. "Follow me?" he asked her. She looked questioningly at him before nodding again. Marco turned and quickly made his way to the stern deck where there was a training area set up for those who wanted to work out in the good weather. It was relatively clear at this time a day, as most were doing chores, but that just made it easier for him to set it up for the two of them.
Turning to Erika once he had cleared about a 50-foot section out for them he raised a brow. "You need to let off some steam and I was promised a spar, yoi." He smirked and mocked a bow, "May I have this dance, my dear Golden Lady?"
Erika gave off a genuine laugh before sending Marco a smirk of her own. "Such a gentleman, how could one refuse?" she asked sarcastically, stepping into the "ring" those now watching made. Rocking her head from side to side, stretching her neck out, she bounced on her toes lightly. "Rules?" she asked, doing some torso twists.
Marco nodded as he watched her, "Yeah, we go until the other can't move for 10 seconds or calls out 'Moby' to give up, yoi. You can use anything you got as long as it doesn't hurt those watching and no killing blows." Erika nodded in compliance and got in a starting position. Marco glanced around and spotted Jozu walking up to the crowd. "Oi, Jozu. Wanna count us in, yoi?" The larger man gave a stern nod and once both opponents seemed ready he counted down from five.
When the word one left Jozu's mouth Erika made her move, sprinting across the space separating them quickly and launching a high kick aimed for Marco's chest. Marco dodged to the left and kicked out his leg, trying to sweep her left leg out from under her while she had all her weight on it. Seeing what he was doing Erika lept over his attack and spun to aim a punch at his left cheek. Blocking the blow with his forearm Marco made to kick his right leg out to catch her in the gut but she flipped back to dodge it and ran right back in close for another punch.
This is how the fight kept going for the next 20 minutes, each blocking or dodging each other's attacks, never landing a solid hit. Both were showing great speed and agility and seemed evenly matched so far. Erika then surprised everyone, Marco, especially, when she lept up in a spin and hit him in the face with a four-foot tail made of pure muscle. He was knocked a few feet away, landing on his back before quickly rolling to his feet. Looking to her, Marco could see she had a smirk on her face while her tail lazily swung behind her.
"You seemed surprised Marco. Did you not say that anything went?" She asked as she morphed her hands to the sharply clawed ones of the Komodo Dragon to match her tail. She then raised her hand and made a "come here" motion with one of her claws, still smirking all the while. Giving her a smirk of his own, he lit his shoulders on fire before charging at her. Their fight resumed with sparks flying, punches and kicks were exchanged at a furious pace and both were smiling wolfishly, seeming to be enjoying themselves greatly.
Another 15 minutes had passed before Marco had got a good enough hit in that made Erika go flying toward the watching, now grown, crowd. At the last moment, she sprouted her gorgeous green wings from her back and flapped them hard enough to stop her momentum and hover over those she almost landed on. She then shifted in the air and used her wings to dive straight at Marco, spinning at the last moment to land a kick right to his chest. As she landed and retracted her wings she heard the whispering of those around them. Looking she could see awe and confusion and smell the tangy scent of fear. Taking a breath and backing up slightly she looked to Marco with a sad smile before resuming her fighting posture, getting ready for his next attack.
Not understanding what happened to sadden her so soon after having such an energetic smile on her face, Marco took a look around them and saw the gossiping spectators. Annoyed that they had seemed to upset Erika he said, "Oi, don't you louts have anything better to do than stand around all day, yoi? I know a good portion of you got chores to do, so get to 'em!" Hearing Marco yelling at them, a bunch of the men stood straight and then ran off, presumably to do the chores they had been slacking on. Marco then turned back to his sparring partner only to be surprised by the slightly watery yet shining smile that she was now giving him.
"Shall we continue this dance another time, yoi?" he asked. At her choked laugh and nod he led her away from what was left of the crowd. "Are you ok, yoi?" he asked gently, not wanting to upset her further and bring attention to her from those still around them. He heard her sniff slightly before she said, "Yeah, I'm used to that kind of reaction by now and to be honest they aren't the reason I'm like this." She said, waving to her face to indicate she was talking of her tears. That confused him, not seeing any other reason for her to cry.
Erika must have sensed his confusion because she continued, saying quietly, "I've never had anyone other than my boys to defend me when the whispers happen and it's been about 5 years since they had been around to do so. Having someone I only met a week ago jump to my defense was just surprising and reminded me of how much I had missed having someone there for me."
Understanding now Marco said, "Well if you stay with us you be able to be with Ace all the time, yoi. You will also have a bigger support structure then you ever had before. The guys were just shocked, yoi. I promise that by the end of the day that they will either be supportive or as excited about it as Thatch was." He was glad to hear her chuckle at his last comment. "We take care of our own, yoi. That includes protecting them from the gossip of others if need be."
"I know you guys want me to join you and there are quite a few upsides to doing so, I just don't know if I could be a part of something so big as this. Take the upcoming season, for example, I have three of them. Do you think I should be around so many during my seasons or you during May?" Erika asked, stopping and turning to face him. Marco could see that her eyes were still a little red but that she had stopped crying.
Thinking over what she had said he gave a nod to her logic, "While I would say that we need to avoid being on the same ship this May, yoi, if you do end up joining us we can take next year as it comes. As for your other seasons, when are they and how long do they normally last? We can figure out something for them if we need to, yoi. Like I said before, we will take care of you, in all aspects that we need to."
Erika tilted her head to the side as she looked up to him and Marco couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. Her eyes were shining like emeralds and her hair glistened gold in the sun. While he agreed that mating with each other this season should be avoided he had a thought in the back of his mind that he wouldn't mind being mated to her.
"Mating season for the Dire Wolf lasts about 2-3 weeks and has already past this year in January. Komodo Dragon's season is in mid-August to mid-September, typically lasting a full month." She answered. "So that would mean me leaving in January, May, and August at least, plus any time I would need to see Sabo or Luffy. Would Whitebeard really allow that if I were to stay with you?" Erika asked in return as she started to move toward the galley for lunch.
"Yes, he would. He already stated that you would join as an allied Captain, not as a crewmate. As an Ally, you would be free to leave the ship whenever you needed and stay with us however long you want. That's why Pops said it the way he did, so you could still have the liberty to be the Alpha of your Pack yet be a part of us at the same time." He answered.
"I see, that would be ideal if I were to join. However, I'm still not convinced I should." She gave a sly smile. "The explanation was a good try to convince me though, and I greatly appreciate you coming to my defense earlier. You have done more to convince me today alone than anyone else has in the week I have been here. Well, save for Thatch's cooking, if that's how he cooks all the time then I'll be visiting often for sure!" she said laughing brightly.
Marco laughed with her, understanding that all Ds had a special place in their heart for food. Her comment about him being the only one to really convince her that staying might be best both warmed his heart yet confused him. Did they leave her alone so much that she doesn't feel like she should come back to them at the end of their season? While Pops had said to give her a little bit of time to settle in he didn't think that everyone would just leave her be for a week. Deciding to talk to the others later he put the thought out of his mind for now.
Reaching the galley finally they both got their food before sitting with the rest of the commanders at the head table. Marco took a seat across from Izo while Erika took the seat between him and Ace, they greeted those around them before starting in on their food. Ace had looked up a moment to acknowledge his sister only to do a double-take when he saw her eyes were slightly red.
"Why are your eyes red? They only get like that when you cry. Why were you crying?" he started asking in both panic and anger. His questions didn't go unnoticed and everyone who heard immediately turned to look at Erika.
A little uncomfortable with the attention she answers him anyway, "There was a bit of an incident when I transformed during my spar with Marco. I'm fine now though, I promise." She laid a hand on his shoulder to try to calm the temper that she could see starting to build.
"What kind of incident? You wouldn't cry for no reason Rika, I know you to well to believe that everything is fine if it made you cry." Ace said back.
"Some of the guys watching were just a little shocked from her having both a tail and wings, yoi. They started to gossip and when I saw I sent them off to finish their chores. That's all, Ace, no need to worry, yoi." Marco broke in giving a look for Ace to drop it, trying to move the subject along. It seemed like he didn't want Erika to have to explain why she really had cried in front of everyone, thinking it was too personal. She appreciated him all the more for that.
Seeing Marco's look and glancing around him Ace gave a slight nod. He leaned in and whispered to Erika "When we are alone you will tell me what happened right?" When she nodded he went back to inhaling his food.
When it was clear that the subject was closed for discussion Izo lent forward and asked, "Erika do you have anything planned for this afternoon?"
Looking up from her food she shook her head, "No, not really. I've helped Ace catch up on basically all of his paperwork and we don't have any plans for his men until tomorrow. Why?"
"Well, I was hoping that we might be able to head down to your ship and take a look at all your wonderful fur pelts. I still want to buy some off of you and make them into some fabulous coats." Izo answered, sitting back with his cup of tea.
"Ah, that's right! Of course, once we are done here we can head down if that's alright with you?" Erika asked. Izo nodded enthusiastically.
Marco asked, "Would you mind if I tagged along? I have to say that I'm quite curious about your ship, she would have to be quite sturdy for you to be able to sail her on your own in any part of the Grand Line."
"Well, I don't mind giving you a tour. I have a lot of faith in the Valkyrie, she has been my companion on many adventures over the past 5 years and hasn't let me down yet!" Erika said with pride.
Thatch joined the group at that point, asking Erika about the places she has been to. She described some of the islands that she has visited and explored over the years. She spun tails of powder-fine white beaches, massive forests with monstrous animals to hunt, towns that seemed to party 24/7, and the battles she has fought along the way.
"Why did you decide to become a pirate? If you don't mind my asking?" Izo questioned.
"Well, it started as a way to find Elbaf and any possible relatives I might have there on my father's side." Erika started. "But as I started to explore the world around me as I traveled it became so much more! Growing up as we did," here she looked to Ace, who by now was snoring face first in his plate of food. "We saw mostly the cruelty the world can offer to those less fortunate. We only found beauty in the bond that we shared and the freedom the sea could give us. I set out at 19 and suddenly I found beauty in almost everything around me. Seeing everything the world has to offer, both good and bad, has become part of my dream now." She finished as she gently moved Ace's head so he could breathe a little better, just as she did when he was younger.
"It sounds like you have been to a lot of amazing places." Thatch commented.
"Oh, that I have, as well as places that I hope to never see again. As I said, the world holds great beauty, but it also has great evil as well." Those listening nodded in understanding. Each has seen and experienced their fair share of the world's evils.
Finishing up her first tray of food, Erika got up to switch it out for another. As she sat back down she said, "Moving on to less depressing subjects, how long until we reach Dura Island?"
"Oh, we do not need to stop there. We have a stock of bubble coating on each of our ships and quite a few of our shipwrights know how to properly coat them. We would just need to stop once more to stock up on supplies and while there they can coat the ships. Once close enough to the Red Line we can just dive from there." Haruta explained.
"Hmm, that's quite useful. The coating enginers on Dura always charge too much anyway. I would expect that just coating the Moby Dick, given her size, would cost thousands, not to mention the four paddle ships you have." She replied.
"Yeah, we were paying out the ass to coat the ship until Blamenco came up with the idea of just learning how to do it himself. He and Blenheim talked to a friend of ours on Fishman Island who coats ships and he was happy to teach them how. They, in turn, taught some of the guys under their command, so now we have about 20 people in the Fleet that can bubble coat the ships whenever we need to." Haruta explained.
Erika nodded, "Ok, then when are we stopping to stock up?"
"We should reach one of our stock islands by this time in two days, yoi. We will stay there for the two days it takes for the guys to get the ships ready for submersion and then head straight to the Red Line from there." Marco said.
"Any opportunities for hunting on this stock island?" Erika asked. "If I can get a couple of decent kills it will help with food and I can get more pelts for Izo." She explained further when given questioning looks.
"Oooh, that's a great idea!" Izo exclaimed, "The forest and animals aren't that big, but you should be able to hunt a bit while we are there."
"Yeah, any animals you get we can easily cure properly and I'm sure I can make some good meals out of them." Thatch chimed in.
"Excellent!" Erika said. She then looked to her still sleeping brother and nudged him awake. "Oi, nap time is over Flame-Brian. Eat the rest of your food before I steal it from you." At the word food Ace suddenly jumped up.
"Huh? Food?" he slurred sleepily. He looked down to his plate and began to start eating again, acting like he hadn't been sleeping on the table for the past 15 minutes.
"When we next dock you and I are going hunting, Ace. I want to get some more pelts and more meat never hurt anyone." Erika told him.
"Me and you running wild in a forest again? Sounds almost perfect to me!" came his muffled reply, mouth full.
Erika shook her head at him with an indulgent smile. She turned to Izo and Marco and said, "I'm good to go if you guys are done?" They both nodded their heads and got up, Erika following them.
