Chapter 6 - Second Encounter
Making his way back up to the upper deck, Shanks reflected on all that he had seen and heard in that medically repurposed abandoned meeting room.
Could it be?
Was it possible? Truly?
It was hard to get his hopes up.
Hope was one of the most dangerous forces in the universe. It was a slippery thing, hope. Fragile, easily lost and gained.
Once lost it could break the strongest of men, but the tiniest amount could carry nations to victory. He had to be careful here.
Sigh…
Who was he kidding? Hope had already taken hold fiercely in his heart. The possibility of this day not being an entire loss. That Ace could live? To believe that the kid was so unconsciously stubborn that he had held on by the very tips of his fingers to the precipice of the abyss, and that he was being forcefully dragged piece by piece, away from the maws of Death?
Yeah… it was a bit hard to believe…
Yet, he would never be able to face Anchor again in this life, or the Captain and Rouge in the next if he didn't at least try.
There were many mysterious devil fruits out there. He of all people knew that. But what he had seen done today felt like nothing short of a miracle. He had thought the Op-Op fruit to be the pinnacle of medical devil fruits, but whatever fruit the little missy had, would definitely give it a run for its money.
When he had at first looked at Ace's body, all he could see was the massive amount of traumatic damage that Akainu had done to the Captain's kid. The woman had had her hands wrist-deep in his body and all Shanks could see was red.
The "marine" Miss— Doctor Lily—was a brat for sure, but she definitely knew what she was doing. It wasn't every day that a kid—one who looked to only be around the same age as Ace—would be foolhardy enough to stand up to him when he was that pissed. Though, then again, her devil fruit seemed to have rendered her somewhat blind. (And yeah he so wasn't going to think about the fact that he had just nearly roughed up a blind girl.)
The kid was interesting in and of herself. She had a bizarre, ethereal look to her. While her body looked physically fit, a wan pallor somehow covered her entire appearance. A memory of something he had read about long ago was trying to scratch its way to the surface of his mind, but it was elusive and for now, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Her skin was a stark ashen white all over. White, seemed to be her dominant color, not just her skin, but her hair, her nails, her eyes–everything white. Her eyes glowed white but he was pretty sure that was part of her evil fruit powers, similar to how Juice's would glow red when using his.
At this point, he was pretty sure Lily (if that was her real name) was a Rev. All the signs pointed to it, and while he didn't deal much with Dragon's brood, a Revolutionary was far preferable to a Marine or CP Agent.
When she had first told him to look for himself, he had been hesitant. He hadn't seen Ace's death himself, hadn't seen him fall, hadn't seen him bled out, hadn't smelled the distinct stench of roasted human flesh that permeated all around his cooling corpse. Perhaps he was being a bit gutless here, but he was hesitant about having those images now etched into his mind. His imagination and prior knowledge supplied enough information for him to get an idea of what had happened and how much pain and agony Ace must have been through. A small selfish part of him wanted to keep his memories of the kid intact, for the last memory he had had of him to be when he was alive and smiling with life and vigor.
But the thought of how his Anchor had been right there when it had all gone down and how he must have seen, smelled, heard, and felt everything spurred him on. Even Juice had watched the entire tragedy play out from beginning to end.
Move, coward. You owe him this.
He had walked up to the body and finally looked over the damage that had ravaged the boy. The smell had lessened but still was present, his body was pale and cold, still covered in bruises, abrasions, and lacerations throughout. (though he had thought it would be much paler by now?) Dried blood covered his arms and what was left of his torso. The look on his face was a peaceful one, a small smile playing on his lips. He almost looked to be sleeping if the stillness, pallor, and stark claret of the dried blood that had fallen from his mouth hadn't told a different story.
Finally, he had looked at the massive fatal wound itself and that's when he had to raise an eyebrow in question. The damage was indeed extensive. The damage Akainu could do to a human body was quite evident.
And yet, what he saw was not was he expected to see. He could see the damaged organs, muscles, bones—screw it, he could see straight through the kid to the other side to the wood grain of the table itself! And yet, something was going on there. The heart should have been way more damaged than it appeared to be now. And was that part of the spinal cord threaded through from the broken part of his backbone to attach to the rest below the wound? The tissues that surrounded the area looked to be in the midst of…knitting together? Indeed it looked as if the girl had been telling the truth. He was hesitant about what he was supposed to make of this.
Once he had allowed Lily to use her powers it got even weirder.
Suddenly the body began to move bit by bit. He could actually see the heart and lungs slowly regrow, almost particle by particle. And not just them but he could slowly see muscle threads build piece by piece, tangles of nerves reaching across the chasm to reform the spine. Even the white of the bones was very slowly forming again, osteon by osteon. If all that was outlandish enough, probably the freakiest thing was watching pretty thick-looking blood moving its way through the still pretty torn and damaged blood vessels, practically jumping across the rifts and gaps of their own accord as they continued on their course–the lack of heartbeat notwithstanding.
It was at that moment that he realized what it was that the doctor had been trying to do, what she was trying to accomplish. The very fact that she was attempting to do the impossible, and that somehow she knew that Ace was just barely hanging on to life. It was at that moment that he began to feel that spark of hope reignite…
Closing the door deck, Shanks walked up to the shadow monster—what had Lily called him? Schaden?— that still seemed to be keeping its perimeter guard up. It didn't seem to look at or react to him, but he guessed it (he?) was still listening.
He touched the darkness with his hand and he could swear he felt it flinch.
"Hey, I'm sorry for hurting ya'. 'Schaden' was it?"
There was no response, but he knew that there was a communication issue between the two species, so he continued.
"Your partner is fine and she's continuing her work on Ace. She explained that you have a hard time talking to us and you probably tried to explain everything but none of us could understand you. I'm going to talk to my friends and see what our next steps are, but be sure we won't be hurting you or your doctor friend again. You have my word."
There was a loud sound that was like twigs crackling on the ground and he realized that it must have been Schaden responding to him. Huh, so that wasn't the creaking from before hadn't been the floorboards. Well, the marines continued to have a sparkling record of ship upkeep.
With a rush of movement, the impenetrable darkness began to recede. Folding up on itself, it shrunk further and further until he could once again see the sea and sky as well as the rest of the ship. Eventually, the shadow being became like a low-hanging dense fog that moved to the edge of the ship, away from them, and seemed to absorb into the shadows.
For a second he saw the pair of purple eyes look back at him before disappearing again. He could only guess that the being trusted his word and was taking a moment to rest and continue sleeping off the headache he knew the other must be feeling from such a concentrated pulse of Supreme King haki.
But that was okay. He could take it from here.
The moment he had offered his help to Lily, he had effectively taken the ship and all inhabitants therein under his wing and protection. Whatever was needed to help Lily with her endeavor, he would try his best to provide. If they didn't have what she needed on the Force, he was sure the Whitebeards would probably have it. If not, there was bound to be a place they could get it.
As he mentally began to make plans and go through ideas of what needed to get done, he watched Marco and Juice approach him, having been waiting for his return.
He sighed once again.
However, before he could do any of that, he had a flaming turkey to convince.
Marco was generally a patient person.
He had been the resident "mother hen" for his crew for most of his life.
Always the calm one…the responsible one.
The one who reigned in everyone else. The one who made everyone wait and see before rushing out to do God knows what.
At this point though? His patience had just about run out.
He had been up for nearly 36 hours straight and he was completely emotionally and mentally spent. It was pure willpower that was keeping him on his feet. That and his determination to see this through. After many failed attempts of getting past the shadow barrier, Shanks finally had to step in, and with a precise strike of haki, was able to finally pierce the blockade and enter.
The entrance had closed up the instant he had passed through, which left them to wait for the ginger's return. Deciding to sit and wait, the blond had perched himself on the side of the ship. Lime Juice left him alone with his thoughts and the blond was grateful. As he had waited, he examined his energy stores within him. Lifting his hand he looked at the barely visible trembling in his fingers. Physically his energy should have been way past its limit, but the restorative nature of his phoenix kept him from collapsing. His observation and armament haki were passable. His Supreme King…
A sardonic grin came to his face as he thought of how easily the crimson emperor had wielded the haki of a conqueror. It was the signature ability of all 4 pirate rulers of the sea, and as a non-devil fruit user, thus having to completely rely on physical strength and proficiency in haki to carry him through, Shanks had become the most adept in its use. It pained him to say, even more so than Pops in the end.
A few of his brothers and sisters also carried the haki of a Supreme King, This had included others such as Ace, Bay, and in actuality, he himself. None of them had been extremely skilled in the ability. None of them had really had to be. He knew that though he possessed it, he rarely had had to utilize it in his years as his father's second. He had never felt the need while following Pops' lead and having his brothers, his fellow commanders, at his back. But now he was finding himself separate and apart from the rest. Pops was now….gone, and his brothers were now looking to him as leader. He originally had never had the desire or ambition to be pirate king or an emperor or anything of the like. But he wasn't going to fool himself. He knew he would need power, strength, and prestige to maintain what Pops had built. To be able to handle the responsibility that had been passed down to him. And even more than that, to be able to keep his family together and continue to protect them.
In other words…he was going to have to become an emperor in his own right.
The will of a Supreme King was there, the ambition notwithstanding. He just had to now work on fostering it. His number one desire and dream had always been to make sure his family was healthy, safe, and happy. He was now going to have to push himself further and harder to now play a more active role in making sure that happened.
A shifting in the shadows brought his attention back to the situation at hand, and he was surprised to see them beginning to recede from their complete takeover of the ship. As it diminished, it revealed that Shanks had indeed returned, himself watching the shadow creature's actions.
Eventually, the mist creature reduced itself to the size of about an average human male, before slinking back to the natural shadows of the deck where it continued to lurk. He watched it for a second to see if it was going to do anything else. When it didn't seem like it was going to make any sudden moves, he shrugged and moved over to where the redhead was standing, Lime having already rejoined his captain's side.
He looked at the other man in question, "So? Is he there?"
Shanks seemed relaxed if a little thoughtful. It made a small amount of his own stress at the situation lessen.
The man strangely hesitated for a second, which just brought all the stress right back. After a moment, he nodded. "He is."
Marco knew there was a lot more behind that statement, and so he drew from his dwindling pools of patience and waited for the man to elaborate.
Annoyingly, instead of continuing, he turned to his subordinate.
"Juice, I need you to take over the helm and the sails. Radio Beck on the transponder that we'll meet with him at the rendezvous. Remember to use the codes. We're still too close to Marineford and World Government headquarters."
The blond showed a bit of inquisitiveness at the request, but simply nodded at his captain's order. "You got it. Umm…is the mist monster thing going to be an issue?"
Shanks shook his head before glancing to where the being seemed to be holding up. "We've come to an understanding. Also, I've been informed that he is not a 'mist monster' and is named Schaden."
"Schaden?"
He nodded, "That's his name."
Shrugging at the revelation, Lime nodded before moving over away to man the sails. "Well, as long as Schaden is okay with it. Don't want to get teleported into the sea simply because I stepped on a shadow or something."
Marco watched the man walk off before turning back to the redhead and immediately began questioning him. "Alright Scarlet, spill. What's going on? Where is Ace?"
He still had trouble adding "body" to that statement.
Shanks narrowed his eyes in exasperated annoyance at the old nickname from their childhood. "Alright, first? No. We are not going to start that up again. Not unless you want me to dig up your old nickname too—Fledgling."
He shrugged unmoved. He had so many nicknames among his siblings and even his enemies, that he didn't really care about being called his old nearly forgotten nickname from his apprentice days.
"Right now, I don't care. I want to know where my brother is, why you didn't just bring him up here so I can go home, and what it is you're hiding."
Shanks seemed to register the no-nonsense tone to his voice and his face lost all levity, taking on a shadow of seriousness instead. He turned back to the entrance to the areas below deck, gesturing for him to come along.
"Follow me."
He had no problem with that and moved to accompany the other below.
Following him down the stairs the two walked along the hall, the area brimming with darkness.
After only a few more steps, the redhead stopped before straightening his shoulders.
Marco patiently waited for the other man to begin as it was apparent that he was trying to think things through in his mind.
Taking a deep breath though still not facing him, the redhead spoke. "I want to ask you something."
Marco raised an eyebrow. Obviously.
But his next words struck him right through the chest, nearly stealing his breath.
"If you had a chance to save Ace's life, would you?"
The blond gritted his teeth in response to pain that was flaring up from the pit of his stomach. The pressure was beginning to build around his eyes.
His voice was soft, the hurt laced each word as he responded. "What the hell, Shanks? Really? Are you seriously going to ask me that? Right now? Right here?"
The younger man turned around and faced him, but the look on his face was earnest, trying to make him understand. "I don't ask this lightly, there's a reason I'm asking you this. I need to know—"
"No!" he interrupted him sharply before turning slightly away. He'd shown enough weakness today— too much even. "I'm not going to go into hypotheticals with you today. Not today…"
Shanks moved to try and face him again but he sidestepped away from him. "Just drop it, Shanks."
The other man put a hand on his shoulder in an effort to get his attention. "Marco, can you just listen? You know me, I wouldn't bring this up unless it was important. I'm trying to explain something here. Just let me—"
He pushed the hand away, angry blue flames sprouting from his arm. He gritted his teeth and attempted to push his temper under control. His voice held barely constrained rage.
"What? You want me to talk about all the ways I failed my little brother? All the ways that I should have done things differently? Is this your way of somehow saying 'I told you so' when you warned us about what would happen? Because if that's the case, you can get out of my way and shove it ."
Because it wasn't like he hadn't asked that question a million times in his own head.
If he had a chance to save Ace's life?
It was a throbbing pain in the back of his mind that he had managed to push to the proverbial back shelf ever since he had watched the kid fall. He had taken Ace under his wing all those years ago and the teen had grown and blossomed wild, ferocious, and oh-so-alive while with them.
If he had had a chance?
He had gone through every scenario…endless circles of what-ifs constantly spiraling through his brain. What if he had moved faster or what if he hadn't gotten caught?
What if he had grabbed the idiot the minute he had been freed before he had been drawn into Akainu's snare, the immature lovable fool that he was?
What if he had gone after the kid long before he was captured and dragged out to suffer and be humiliated by Teach and the Marines?
What if he had headed off Ace the night he had left the crew in a rage, intent on avenging Thatch?
What if he had been there to save Thatch too?
What if?
What if?
What. goddamned. If.
And intrinsically, he was smart enough to realize that thinking this way was a fruitless endeavor. That he was at some stage of grief and was attempting to cope. That in the end it would do nothing but make the pain hurt all the more once he finally crashed.
It was useless to think in what-ifs, but he couldn't help it.
Watching his father die would be a scar that he would carry for the rest of his life. It was something that weighed heavily on his very soul. But watching Ace fall had been so much worse. It was like watching a heavy frost suddenly kill a young sparrow that had finally been able to fly after some heavy tender loving care.
To desecrate a temple…To trample on a flower…To catch a butterfly and simply tear off its wings. It's worse than all of these things.
And now Scarlet over here was twisting the knife by asking him such a question?
Screw this.
He didn't even bother to listen to the other man's words and instead pushed past him to continue on his way. The sooner he had Ace, the sooner he could leave.
Shanks moved after him, "Marco!"
He didn't stop, "I've had enough Shanks, Thanks for everything, but I…I just can't do this right now."
The redheaded idiot continued after him, exasperated. He had this look in his eyes that said he had finally just decided to cut to the chase…whatever that was.
"Look, Marco, Ace is—"
" AHHHHHH! "
A woman's scream abruptly sounded through the hall cutting off Shanks mid-explanation, causing the two to freeze at the suddenness of it.
The two men tensed, their ingrained instincts automatically taking control of their moments. However, even in the second where Marco was trying to get a grasp of the situation, Shanks was already on the move, seeming to comprehend whatever had happened at a much faster pace.
The blond followed the man's path down the hallway, quickly seeing that it led to the doorway of the one-lit room. He momentarily remembered that the shadow...monster…thing had had a female partner. Had she hurt herself trying to escape from wherever Shanks had had her held?
While he didn't really feel any sympathy for a couple of body snatchers, he intuitively sped up, his doctor's instincts pulling on him.
Skidding to a stop, he moved into what appeared to be some kind of meeting room. He had taken only about two steps before freezing, his eyes widening at the sight that was before him.
He had noticed Shanks on first entering. He was kneeling by the side of a white-haired woman in a soiled–his breath hitched–Navy uniform who was cradling her arm against her chest.
He was asking her what happened, the woman hissing in pain in response, speaking in a low voice, mostly to herself, about having made some mistake.
The Phoenix's hands once again folded themselves into firsts, trembling rang through his muscles, worse than it had been all day.
His patience snapped.
Oh, she had made a mistake alright….her last one.
He had seen the woman and Shanks at first—but only at first.
That was until his vision was completely consumed with the bloody state of the body that was laid out on the table like a discarded doll with its stuffing falling out.
What had that bitch been doing to his brother?
And Shanks had left her alone with him, unrestrained to do who knows what?!
A set of surgical, dissection materials was nearby, his mind absently cataloging and listing every instrument and blade. Even more, trays were lined near his brother, holding bits and pieces of bone, sinew, tissue, and was that half a spleen?!
He wanted to vomit at the sight of all the viscera that had once been part of his little brother, but his cold rage pushed it back.
Before he could even realize what had happened, he was across the room, his limbs and torso engulfed in flames! His foot had halfway transformed into talons as he aimed to tear the woman's head off her shoulders.
His leg moved into a guillotine drop, his aim true and he felt the push of the impact, only to notice the woman had been pushed out of the way, his talons held off by a haki-laced hand.
His teeth gnashed sharply and his inner phoenix screamed in frustration. "Get out of my way, Shanks."
But the familiar look of stalwart calm determination on the other man's face was unchanged. "Tone it down Phoenix. I can't let you hurt the lady."
He hated when the man took that tone of voice, it pissed him off.
A growl rose at the back of his throat and he used the leverage to propel his other leg into the air and launched a scissor kick, using his momentum to throw the other back.
As he had hoped, the younger man was thrown back from the force, letting go of him in order to stabilize himself with his sole arm. He didn't expect to beat the other, he just needed a single shot to—
A leg seemed to come out from nowhere and slammed into his side. Pain shot through his body and before he could respond, a sword hilt was jammed into his gut causing him to rock and double over.
The same arm, now completely covered in haki, let go of the semi-drawn weapon only to push hard across his neck, throwing him back against the wall. Using that and his own body mass to keep him pinned there, unable to move.
He glared fiercely at the other man's calm grey eyes, annoyed that the man wasn't even breathing heavily.
Shanks asked cooly, "Are you ready to listen to me?"
A strong huff and another attempt to push him away was his only response. Shanks only tightened his grip on the other, careful not to hurt him but also not giving him any allowance to maneuver.
He leaned closer, his voice as low as a whisper, what he was saying was for the other man alone. "You know me, Fledgling. You know I'd never hurt you like that. I know what you're feeling, I really do. But, you've trusted me so far. Just give me a chance, huh?"
The serious and heartfelt nature of the redhead's words was able to push against the raging fury that had blinded his mind. The blond breathed heavily in and out, attempting to get himself back under control and actually listen to the man, who despite his annoying idiosyncrasies and the fact that they had been on rival crews all their lives, had always been a good friend. He knew in his head that Shanks was not vindictive nor oblivious, that if he had let that woman live after seeing Ace's body on display like that, he had to have a reason—a darn good reason.
"You've got thirty seconds, Scarlet. And keep her away from my brother until you sufficiently do." he hissed back in response.
Shanks didn't even acknowledge the arbitrary time limit, and while he didn't relax his hold at all, he did call the woman over. The marine—Shanks referred to her as "Lily"—grumbled something under her breath before coming out from the corner where she had held up. It was the first time that Marco had gotten a full look at her without his vision being consumed by rage. She was a kid really, nearly half his age. And interestingly her eyes were currently clouded white. Was she blind? Her ashen white hair and skin also reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite remember what.
However, the next words out of Shanks' mouth, completely shattered whatever thoughts he had been having and he could only look back at the man with a look of blank shock.
"Ace is alive."
The Red Hair pirate captain had decided that there was enough beating around the bush. He had wanted to try to find the best way to explain what was going on to his friend before the other had gotten to see Ace in that state. However, when he heard Lily cry out, he panicked and dreaded what could have happened to both her and to her precious patient.
And of course, Marco had followed him and of course, he had gotten the worst possible impression (probably worse than even his own) and the worst possible situation had happened.
So therefore the most direct approach was going to be necessary.
It was unfortunately probably also the hardest.
The image on the blond's face was that of shock melding into disbelief and then further into incredulity.
His voice was incessant, "What the hell are you talking about?"
Shanks knew that he had to push here. "Exactly what I said…Ace is alive…or at least he will be if—"
Marco quickly cut him off. "No! No, I don't know what the heck you're talking about but don't you tell me that! You weren't there. You didn't see that red dog bastard slaughter my little brother. You didn't see him fall and barely able to get out his last words to StrawHat. You didn't see his life's blood soaking into the stone. You. Weren't. There."
He has been expecting that response and he knew that the other pirate was speaking out of rage, grief, and pain; the vehemence in his words still hurt. He could tell the blond was blinking back tears, his heart heavy in even trying to finally admit his next words.
"Ace is….Ace is dead. So please don't….just don't.
The redhead could only feel empathy towards his friend's sorrow, trying to figure out what it would take to break through to him. He had a feeling that showing him what he himself had seen of Dr. Lily's powers wouldn't be advisable. He was sure that the man would just become triggered all over again, not even allowing himself to see the truth of the situation.
Perhaps he could just keep Marco away until Lily could get Ace's heart and lungs started again? Hopefully, that would be enough proof for the fierce Whitebeard captain. He'd have to probably to knock the man out, but it was better than him potentially getting away from him, and inadvertently making a huge mistake that he would regret for the rest of his life.
He was continuing to think through options when he saw Lily approaching from the corner of his eye. He knew the girl was anxious to get back to work, and he hadn't even checked to see what had happened in the first place. Her left arm was still cradled against her chest and she was a bit flustered from the Phoenix's attack, but she seemed to have regained her composure.
He didn't think right now was a good time for her to come closer right now. He was about to advise her to stay where she was, but she ended up speaking first.
"You are Commander Marco the Phoenix, I presume?"
Shanks tensed at what the blond's response would be, but while there was a flash of blue in the man's eyes and his body tensed, he silently waited to hear the woman's words.
Lily seemed to take the silence as confirmation before continuing on, this time holding out her injured hand and forearm for them both to see.
The emperor raised an eyebrow in concern seeing the limb was mottled with burns.
It wasn't the worst he had seen, but the reddened, puckering skin did look rather painful. How did that happen? He glanced around the room. Did one of the lamps or candles go crazy awry?
Marco glanced at the burn wounds before looking away. His voice was cold, a trace of spite lacing each word. "Those look like flash fire burns. You should get those looked at."
Everyone in the room knew of the restorative power of the Phoenix fire, and the callous unspoken indication behind the man's deceptively casual words.
Shanks chose to ignore that. "Flash fire? How did that happen? I barely left you."
Lily answered but her countenance didn't change. "It was caused by an attack out of self-defense."
Marco snorted, "'Self-defense'? Believe me, I wasn't defending anything. I was meaning to kill you."
The redhead frowned. That made no sense, Lily had been injured before they had even entered the room. Besides Marco's flames—
"And even then, my fire doesn't do that kind of damage." The man continued.
The corner of Lily's mouth turned up into the beginning of a light smirk. "I didn't say you were to one who did it, Commander."
Shanks rose his eyebrow, the scars on his eye crinkling up as his brain was trying to figure out what wasn't adding up here. It was obvious that Lily was trying to point out something to Marco, but was being coy about it. Marco couldn't have been the one to burn her. No one else was on the ship other than them, she'd been in the room alone continuing her work on Ace. He was sure about that. No one could have attacked her, except—
Silvery gray orbs widened with a jolt when the answer hit him like a ton of bricks.
He let Marco go out of his grasp, though he was careful to keep the man from moving using haki. He still didn't trust the man not to go after Lily out of misplaced anger and spite. However, if what he suspected was true, he wouldn't have to hold him for long.
Marco for his part, stumbled a little when Scarlet finally decided to release him, only for on overwhelming pressure and force of Supreme King haki to bare down on him, freezing his body in place. He yelled out in outraged annoyance. He hated this move, and even though he tried to push back on it with his own haki presence, it barely made a dent against the other man's.
He would have audibly demanded the other man to let him go, but Shanks strode past the girl to the table where Ace's body lay.
Shanks looked over it first, both astounded and relieved to see that even with this interruption, Ace's insides were continuing to reknit themselves together under Lily's power. Holding out his arm, his hand curled into a fist, he aimed slightly lower than the major wound area. Just in case this didn't work, he didn't want to jeopardize anything.
Pulling his fist back, Shanks swung down towards Ace's defenseless body, ignoring Marco's cry for him to stop. However, the moment his fist should have made contact with the kid's abdomen, instead, a whirlwind of orange flames erupted from the skin!
In a moment, the spontaneous fire flared out, resulting in a small inferno that attempted to push him back.
But the flames were uncoordinated and wild. They receded almost immediately and thanks to a bit of quickly applied armament, he was unharmed with only a slight singe to his sleeve and hair.
But even that couldn't hamper the huge grin that appeared on his face.
He looked over at the other two in the room who had reflexively turned away from the fire's presence.
One's smirk had grown wider, happy that both men in the room finally understood and finally had enough proof to believe her, allowing her to finally be able to concentrate fully on the task at hand.
The other had a look of pure dumbfoundment, his eyes wide in stunned shock.
Shanks happily released his hold on his friend but wasn't surprised when the man didn't even make an attempt to move.
Lily still couldn't see either man. But that was quite alright. Even in the midst of this whole kerfuffle, she had been continuing her work on Portgas.
After having gotten over the momentary shock of having unknowingly sassed a pirate emperor, she had been able to make some significant headway in organ system repair. She had finished most of the main vessels and was continuing to work on the heart. At one point she had to remove some dead tissue once again that had been in her way. Yet this time when she had gone in with the scalpal, a sudden burst of flame had flared out, burning her hand and bringing in the RedHair captain and the Phoenix to the scene.
She had pushed the pain down until it was nothing but a dull ache in the back of her mind, even as Phoenix and Redhair argued. She could understand the Whitebeard pirate's ire and wasn't even all that annoyed at his attack on her. She guessed she should have expected that Porgas' crew would notice him missing and somehow someway, trace their way to them.
She didn't care though to have another encounter similar to the one she had just had with Captain Shanks. So she decided the easiest way to convince the 1st Commander, was to show him indisputable proof.
The simple fact that Portgas D. Ace still retained his devil fruit.
It seemed his body had reacted automatically in self-defense in response to her actions. Thankfully FireFist was a logia, and this kind of unconscious response to danger was more common with that type of user than any other.
Everyone knew that a person lost their devil fruit abilities in death, the fruit reforming elsewhere in the world to be eaten once again by another.
The fact that Commander Ace's body was still able to transform into flame, even unconsciously, was proof that he still lived.
In fact, more than that. It proved that she was making progress. No longer was he on the precipice of death and unable to react to anything. It was a good sign all around.
The air was thick with anticipation and emotion and no sound had been made by anyone. In her sight, she could only see the twinkling lights of the cells that made up the two men, She couldn't quite tell which was which, but she reasoned that the Phoenix was the one on the floor closest to her, while the one near FireFist was RedHair.
She had realized that she would probably need one of them to help her now, as while she could use armament haki to avoid Portgas' flames as she worked, it would decrease her energy twice as fast. If she had seastone restraints she could have made it work, but nothing doing.
Since no one else was going to say anything it seemed, Lily moved to walk back over to her operating table, already thinking about her next course of action.
Without warning, a hand grasped onto her arm, slightly above where the burns were still festering!
She flinched but was able to stop herself from unconsciously striking out in response.
The man–Phoenix, now on his feet–didn't say anything, but he lifted her arm lightly in his hand, and she suddenly felt an explosion of warmth crawl over her injuries. It tingled against her skin, but it didn't hurt.
In fact, it felt revitalizing, soothing, and comforting all at the same time. It was a unique feeling that she could quickly get used to.
But all too soon, the sensation was gone, and Lily realized that her hand and arm felt good as new!
Ahhh…so that was the power of the mythical rejuvenating flames of the phoenix. It was always annoying when she couldn't use her own powers to heal herself, so she'd take advantage of the opportunity when it was offered.
She also took the unspoken apology for what it was.
While this had been happening, she felt another presence approaching from behind her. The low timbre of RedHair's voice was the first to break through the comfortable silence that had gathered in the room.
"Marco…this is Dr. Lily. She's not a Marine, just someone caught up in the war. She was the one who found Ace. She's been using her devil fruit abilities to revive him."
The other pirate male still had not let her hand go, but instead was grasping onto it. She pretended she didn't feel the drops of moisture that had accidentally fallen on her skin.
"Miss Lily, this guy as you already know, is Marco the Phoenix of the Whitebeard Pirates. He's a doctor and the medical assistance I promised."
She felt a slight flinch against her hand, but no other response came from the other man. She was surprised that the 1st Commander was a doctor, but then again, she hadn't read up on all the ins and outs of the Whitebeard Pirates. But she'd take all the help she could get.
"First, it's 'doctor' captain. And second, thank you. I'll show you both what I'm doing and what I'm going to need. Dr. Marco how good at you at surgery?"
The man didn't respond. Instead, he let her hand slip from his grasp, instead moving away from her towards the operating table. She and the captain followed, Shanks moving to the man's side, while she went across from them. Now that she wasn't being interrupted, she allowed her powers to flow fully and the glow of her eyes intensified.
She explained the nature of the Cyto-Cyto fruit and how it allowed her to see and manipulate cells. How she was simultaneously keeping FireFist alive and repairing his body systematically. She showed them how she was trying to repair his most vital organs in order first and foremost, in order to get the body to be able to sustain itself without her. She didn't want to even think about the possibility of failure, but the doctor in her found it necessary to explain the risks and dangers involved, knowing that she was already getting their hopes up and that if anything dashed them, it would be devastating.
The two stayed silent the entire time, though she could feel them observing closely, hanging onto her every word.
She let them process everything when she was done while silently continuing her work.
For a bit, neither of them moved or spoke, before the one she remembered as Phoenix, quietly walked over to one of Firefist's legs. She felt her observation haki flare at a sense of danger as the commander did something that she was unable to see. Portgas also seemed to sense it, and once again, she felt the heat of his body combusting into flames.
She automatically turned away, but she felt RedHair stepping up next to her, covering her from the impact of the fire. Once the blaze had retreated, there was a moment of silence once again, before she felt the man rapidly move away from her to physically support his friend, who had all but collapsed.
A heartrending sob tore through the room, and Lily tried to not tear up herself at the sound, knowing that the Whitebeard commander was breaking down out of both grief as well as elation.
Self-conscious, she tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible while she heard RedHair murmur what she could only guess were words of encouragement to the other man. She tried her best to ignore the sobs that quickly quieted down into gasping heavy breaths. It made her a bit uncomfortable, and yet at the same time, it made her heart light knowing that she had made the right decision. She was even more determined to bring Portgas back to the family and friends that so obviously loved him. She would not allow the hopes of these men, StrawHat who knew nothing of the situation yet, or even her herself, to be crushed.
She would see this through.
While she had been in her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed that Marco the Phoenix had collected himself, pulling himself to his feet before resolutely walking over to the opposite of her. It wasn't until she unexpectedly felt the presence of that strange tingling, soothing feeling once again, that came with the Phoenix's flames.
She couldn't quite tell how he was using them (fire wasn't made of cells after all) but she could easily observe the results.
The tissue of the thoracic cavity seemed to repair itself even faster, the cells growing even faster and healthier than before as they were bathed in the unconsuming fire. After a few moments, the flames receded and she then heard some movements, watching Marco's form shift around the table. The clang of the trays and instruments being transferred to different positions as the Phoenix sought to reorganize.
When he spoke for the first time since the status of FireFist's devil fruit had been revealed, his voice was full, heavy emotion still existing on the edges. It was that of a professional, similar to her and the many other doctors she had worked with, but there was also a life there that hadn't been there before; an enkindling of purpose and will.
"I can handle the removal of the cauterized and necrotic tissue, while you continue simply rebuilding the tissue. I can use my flames in bursts to help you. Usually, we use a bit of seastone injected subcutaneously to stop the flare-ups, but since we don't have any of that yet and we don't know how it will affect his recovery, I'll have to just hold him at bay manually as we work."
Shanks, who had been simply observing, spoke up. "I can handle that Marco. You're going to need all your energy as it is."
The other man answered in the negative, "Maybe later on. Right now, I need you to contact either your ship or mine and have them send over food, water, and supplies. And while this will work, for now, I'd like to get Ace moved to an actual OR. I can send for one of the ships in our fleet to meet us. Do we know if transferring him is at all possible?"
Lily shook her head while chiming in. "Not right now. I want to get him completely resuscitated and close the entry point before jostling him at all. However, I wouldn't be against moving some of the machines and tech I need in here in the meantime."
Shanks spoke up again, his tone concerned. "I'd rather not bring any undo attention to this if at all possible. We don't want the government or any of Ace's enemies, both old and new to find out about this. I'd hate to ask this of you Marco, but is it possible to keep this from your crew for the time being?"
There was a pregnant pause for a moment or two before the other answered with a resigned sigh. "I can see where you're coming from. We are still too close to Marine HQ, and we are vulnerable right now. Having one of our ships turn around and rendezvous with this one will cause someone to take notice and we don't need that attention. On…once we have stabilized him, I can use secure a line to let the other commanders know."
He then spoke to her, "Are you and Schaden meeting anyone in this part of the sea?"
She shook her head, "We are to the New World, though we will stay as long as it takes to get this done."
She would have to probably contact HQ once she got a chance to tell them of her status, but that would have to wait until Portgas was stable.
The RedHair captain, probably used to taking command of a situation, slid easily into the position here. "I'm going to have this ship fly my colors. I have Juice already moving the ship to rendezvous with the Red Force near Sabaody using a separate heading. I can have one of my smaller allied ships meet us with supplies before that while you two continue the operation."
He laid a supporting hand on her shoulder before moving towards the door. "Let me get all this in motion, and I'll be back in case you need any help."
Marco's attention was already on the task at hand, his concentration now fully on the patient before him. His voice took on a distracted tone, "Get going Scarlet, we'll call you if we need you. Just defend the ship while we work."
Scarlet?
Lily could only raise a curious eyebrow at the nickname, before practically hearing Shanks' eyes roll, his voice taking on a drawl quality to it. "Don't even start, Fledgling."
Fledgling?
She decided it must be some kind of inside joke that was totally going over her head.
Shanks left the room leaving only herself and the Phoenix to work in silence, and it wasn't long before that silence became a bit awkward. Lily was used to working by herself or with Scha hovering not far away. But it was quite a different thing when working with another, especially someone who had tried to kill her less than 20 minutes ago.
She endured this uncomfortable atmosphere for a few more moments before she heard the Whitebeard pirate clear his throat. His voice was low and aloof, but she could hear the sincerity there. "First off…I want to apologize. I've been having the worst day and I jumped to conclusions. It's no excuse, but I want to ask your forgiveness anyway."
She smiled, "It's okay, commander. I understand."
"Captain." he corrected, the word heavy on his tongue.
Hmm? Oh. Ohhh….
"But you can just call me Marco, Missy."
She glanced up at that, "Okay, what is up with this 'miss' business? First Captain Shanks and now you? If "doctor" is too hard to remember, then you can at least just call me Lily."
He gave a laugh and she decided it sounded a lot better coming from him than a raging roar. "Sorry Doctor, we'll try to do better. It's just a force of habit. You're half our age, which basically makes you a kid to us. If you were a guy, we'd probably be calling you a "brat" by now, but with girls, we tend to go towards "miss" or "missy". We don't mean any disrespect. Though I'll tell you now, if you keep on correcting that redheaded idiot, he's just going to do it on purpose to tease you."
Lily just sighed in response. This is what she gets for getting involved with pirates. The whole backwards lot of 'em.
The air had cleared quite a bit and she went back to her task, no longer as discomfited as before.
"Fine, how about we get rid of titles altogether? I'll call you Marco, and you call me Lily?"
She could hear the approval in his voice, "I can do that."
After that, the two gained a concordant rhythm to how they operated. She would indicate the next region that needed attention, and he would painstakingly remove and cut away at the damaged parts while she came up from behind and regenerated new tissue in their place.
She had been working on some of the serous membranes when Marco spoke up again.
"Lily?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm not sure what you were doing at Marineford, and though I have a pretty good idea, I'm not going to press."
She paused at that but nodded for him to continue.
"I realize that you didn't have to do what you did. That you don't have to do any of this. But….the fact that you did…"
She could feel his eyes on her now, and he had removed a glove to once again clasped her hand. Lily knew that if she could actually see him, he would once again have tears in his eyes.
"That because of you…I just might get back something precious I thought was lost to me forever. That even after everything else that I've lost in this war, I'm able to gain one thing back? For that ?"
He clenched her hand in a solid grip, not strong enough to hurt, but enough for her to realize how serious he was.
"For that, you have my eternal gratitude. Know that you will always be welcome among the Whitebeard pirates and that if you ever need anything that is in my power to grant or aid in, it will be yours. We will forever be in your debt."
Lily had heard nearly the exact same heartfelt words from Shanks not long ago, and then she had decided to just nod and go along with it, Yet somehow Captain Marco's impassioned vow seemed to drive home the depth of how much this all meant to them all.
She still didn't need it, but this time she felt that to dismiss this man's declarations would be like spitting on his honor and that of all those he represented.
So instead of simply nodding, she clutched his hand in return and gave him a gracious smile, showing her acknowledgment of his solemn word.
"You're welcome, Marco."
.
.
.
A new sensation spread across his body, and this one he wasn't quite as sure of.
It felt like heat…
Not like the gentle warmth that he had felt before, but a more intense smolder.
It was a bit uncomfortable, and yet at the same time almost inherent to him.
And interestingly enough it seemed to come from within him, rather than without…
He was curious, but after a time the feeling subsided and he decided that he could ignore it, in favor of more enjoyable things.
The woman had not stopped her kind caresses and he relaxed back into her embrace.
She was humming a tune that he almost thought he recognized. Something he had heard a long, long time ago...
He tried to search out the words, but they kept slipping away. And yet, even as he tried to remember, he heard the woman begin to sing the melody in full and his heart was almost full to bursting at the sound.
'Look to the stars,
My darling baby boy,
Life is strange and vast,
Filled with wonder and joy.
Face each new sun with eyes clear and true,
Unafraid of the unknown,
Because I'll face it all with you.'
The lullaby created a sense of euphoria about him, and he could only snuggle his head even further into the woman's lap. He was so content in this position that he almost missed the feel of another presence appearing on the other side of him.
A different hand grasped his shoulder gently. Like the first, he felt no danger from their touch. Instead, there was a sense of security and constant strength, both similar and different from that of the woman. It overflowed from that hand and it felt like nothing could touch him or the woman as long as the other was there.
While the woman continued to sing softly, he heard another voice, this one distinctly male.
'Rest up, my son. They'll be bringing you back soon enough. I'm proud of ya, kiddo. But it's not your time yet.'
