To say Marco was having a bad day was an understatement. First he bumped into Fossa this morning causing scalding hot coffee to spill all over him, then his pens weren't working, then he somehow misplaced his paperwork and now he had to deal with this. He could think of a hundred different things he'd rather be doing than dealing with this. Before today he didn't think there would be anyone stupid enough to steal from them, after all they were known as the strongest crews in the world for a reason. But it seems that the universe has a funny way of proving him wrong.
After a few minutes of flying, Marco was finally able to locate the girl. Not that he wanted to admit it, but the girl was surprisingly fast on her feet. Growing sick of this game of cat and mouse, he swooped in and grabbed the unaware girl by her shoulders with his talons. "What-the. Hey, let me go you stupid bird!" The girl shouted as she twisted and turned, trying to break free from his grip. Marco just ignored her and strengthened his grip on her shoulders as he flew or attempted to fly back to the ship. The girl somehow was able to kick him in the face causing them to crash to the ground. Well correction he crashed to the ground while the girl landed on her feet. Was this girl seriously trying to get them both killed?
Marco turned back to his human form. "Were you trying to get us both killed?!" He shouted while the girl shrugged her shoulders with a smile on her face. "But we didn't die." Marco sighed as he rubbed his temple, already feeling a headache forming. Patience was starting to wear thin. "Why don't you just make this a bit easier for the both of us and just hand over the treasure you stole, yoi?" Marco said, walking toward the girl.
"What if I don't return the treasure then what? You'll kill me?" The girl questioned in a serious tone as she shook her head. "Not a chance. I stole this treasure fair and square. If you want it, you'll have to go through me."
Why did they always have to choose the hard way? Marco thought as he charged forward. He would at least try to make it as less painful as possible in case she didn't possess devil fruit powers or Haki. After all, no one steals from the Whitebeard Pirates and gets away with it, not if he had anything to say about it. He aimed for a kick to the side of her head but she stopped the blow with a Haki-covered fist. Oh, so the brat does know how to use Armament Haki. Marco smirked, this just made things way more interesting.
The fight went on for another thirty minutes. The girl was fact on her feet, blocking or dodging all of Marco's attacks so far. Marco could easily tell the girl was starting to grow tired of fighting. The girl stood there panting, as she struggled to keep her arms covered in Haki. He was actually impressed she managed to last this long against him. She had to have at least some training but what confused Marco was that the area became increasingly cold, even though it was a summer island. Summer islands weren't supposed to be cold. Now that he thought about it the girl's skin was cold too. Devil Fruit maybe? Deciding to end the fight, Marco quietly snuck behind her and pressed a pressure point in her shoulder blade causing her to pass out. Marco threw the passed out girl over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and grabbed the bag with his other hand.
The trip back to the ship took longer than what Marco would've liked but at least it was quiet. He sighed in relief once he spotted the ship. He smirked as other members whom he passed by looked at him with confused faces. But Marco paid them no mind as he continued walking. He entered the medical room and placed the unconscious girl on one of the empty beds. Bridget, the head nurse, looked at him with annoyance as she crossed her arms over chest. While her apprentice Lyla smiled at him. Both of which were brunettes, except Bridget's hair was straight as Lyla's was curly.
"Hi Commander Marco." Lyla greeted him politely as she waved. Marco returned
"Hi Commander Marco." Lyla greeted him politely as she waved. Marco returned the smile as he waved back. "Hi Lyla."
"Commander Marco, what's the meaning of this?" Bridget asked as she tapped her foot against the wooden floors.
Marco chuckled in a cheeky tone. "You have a new patient for the time being, yoi. Can you come get me when she wakes up?" He walked out the door with a wave. "Thanks, Bridget."
Bridget's shoulders slumped as she sighed. Better get to work she thought as she looked at the girl who only laid there on the bed unconscious.
Briar awoke with a groan. She opened her eyes only to wince at the brightness of the room. Why did her body feel so heavy? "Oh, good. You're awake. Lyla, can you get Commander Marco and tell him the girl's awake?" An unknown voice spoke, causing Briar to immediately sit up and look toward her side to see a woman who looked to be at least in her mid-thirties. There was only one word to describe the nurse's outfit and that was pink. Briar avoided the woman's gaze and looked down to find at least five layers of thick blankets on top of her.
"You were asleep for three hours. I tried to regulate your body temperature, seeing your skin was freezing cold to the touch. Are you sick?" The woman asked as she put her hand on Briar's shoulder. "My name's Bridget. I'm a nurse, I can help you." Briar snickered, like telling me you're a nurse is going to make me trust you. Yeah no, that wasn't going to happen lady.
Briar shrugged the woman's hand off her shoulder with a snarl. "I don't have to tell you anything and no I'm not sick." The nurse retracted her hand, pulling it to her chest.
"Look, we're just trying to help you." Bridget said as she sported what Briar considered to be one of the meanest scowl's she had ever seen. Wait no, Akainu's had to be the meanest.
Briar could feel her patience wearing thin. She faced the nurse with a scowl of her own. "You're right. I guess I should be grateful to the people who practically kidnapped me. You see what's wrong with that picture." She said sarcastically.
Before Bridget could reply. "What's going on here, yoi?" Briar looked at the door to see Marco come inside with another girl following right behind him. That must've been that Lyla person Bridget was talking too when she first woke up. She was wearing the exact same outfit as this lady, so she must be a nurse as well. Except this one looked much nicer than Bridget.
"Oh Marco thank god you're here. You have some explaining to do." Bridget said sternly as waved her hand up and down as she gestured to Briar. "How dare you. Didn't anyone ever teach you not to fight a sick person? You could've killed her."
That's it. Briar threw the blankets off her and got out of the bed. She walked up to Bridget until she was about a foot away from her, pointing at her. "Look lady, I didn't ask to be here and I sure as hell didn't ask for your help. And didn't anyone ever teach you to mind your own business. I am not sick." She then walked to the door and looked Marco right in the eyes, who only raised an eyebrow at the girl's actions. "Just give me back my bag and I'll be on my way."
Marco grinned as he shook his head side to side. "No can do, yoi. Oyaji and the rest of the commanders want to meet you to discuss your punishment, yoi."
Punishment? Meeting the captain and commanders? Oh hell no, she was not dealing with that. "Well too bad. I don't want to meet them. So just give me my bag, you stupid turkey." Briar glared up at the Commander with her fists clenched at her sides. Marco didn't say anything, he just stood there as his grin slowly turned into a frown. So the bastard doesn't like to be called a turkey then. Briar decided to just look for her bag herself. She walked out of the room, passed Marco and continued down a random hallway.
But Marco apparently had different plans as she felt bird talons grabbed her shoulders. Like last time, Briar thrashed and screamed in his grip. Marco was sure he was close to dropping her approximately four to five times, and questioned to himself once again, 'Why did this have to happen to me?'. As soon as he got outside the ship without another second more, he tossed the girl onto the deck as she landed on her side. He transformed into his human form and gracefully landed right beside his fellow commanders, who looked at him in confusion.
It was at this moment that Briar really wanted to use her Devil Fruit powers to get out of the situation she was in as she glared at the pirates, especially at the man now known as Marco. But decided against it, because one, she didn't know how many on this ship possessed Devil Fruit abilities and two, she didn't have the greatest control over her own Fruit abilities yet. She would fight every time Akainu or Sengoku tried to get her to use her abilities. The only person she ever willingly showed her abilities to was Vice Admiral Garp. She would only ever use her abilities if the situation led to life or death. Besides, it wasn't like she could go anywhere since they had her completely surrounded and she was pretty sure the ship left the island. So in other words she had no way of getting out of this situation.
"Did you really have to throw me so hard, you bastard?" She directed at Marco who just rolled his eyes. Briar was really starting to hate birds and people who resembled pineapples. "What did you think was going to happen after you steal from the Whitebeard Pirates? Yoi." Briar paled as her eyes bulged. Out of all the pirate ships she could have stolen from, it just had to be the Whitebeard Pirates. She had just attempted to steal from a freakin Yonko's ship. Okay, stay calm, panicking would only lead to nowhere. Besides, maybe their nice pirates? Oh, who was she kidding, there was no such thing as nice pirates. Pirates were known to be brutal and murderous, at least that's what the Marines at the base told her anyways. It was basically drilled into their minds by this point. So one wrong move or say the wrong thing and you could wind up dead. Though maybe dying wasn't so bad, if she were too die she hoped he would at least make her death as quick and painless as possible. The girl tried her hardest to appear brave in front of the commanders and captain himself, but she couldn't stop all the negative scenarios that were dancing around in her head.
"Awwww, the girl's so scared she's shaking." Briar directed her attention to a feminine looking man in makeup with long black hair and wearing a pink kimono. He was hiding a smirk as covered his face with a fan. "What. Cat got your tongue?" He chuckled.
"Fuck you, you stupid okama." Briar spat. She was not scared damnit! Besides, it was a perfectly normal reaction to just finding out that you tried to steal from a powerful Yonko's crew. Though she had to admit that his kimono did look pretty, not that she would ever say that to his face or to anyone for that matter.
"Why you little-" The man snarled as he lunged toward her but before he could do any damage to the girl as he was stopped by a shark fishman and a guy with a pompadour. Apparently the feminine man didn't like her reply. She should seriously learn to keep her mouth shut at times like these.
"What's all this about Marco?" The captain asked Marco as he gestured to the girl sitting in front of them. Marco held up the girl's backpack as he exclaimed. "I caught her stealing from the treasure vault, yoi." He then turned to Briar, with a smirk on his face. So that's where her bag was. "But it seems she didn't know who she was stealing from, yoi."
Whitebeard then looked down as he leaned forward to get a better look at the girl. "Is that so?" Briar went to pull her hat down but she couldn't find her hat. She looked to Marco to see him with that stupid smirk on his face as he twirled her hat around his finger. Oh, Briar was really not liking the look of this. So much for trying to keep her identity a secret. She was totally and utterly screwed. "Tell me, child. Were you the one who set fire to a Marine base two months ago?" Whitebeard asked in curiosity.
"So what if I did." Of course he would know about that incident. Everyone else did. Who wouldn't know about an ex-Marine who showed up with a bounty of $1000,000,000 out of nowhere.
"Gurarara, so you're the Marine brat who earned herself a $1000,000,000 bounty." Whitebeard laughed loudly. As soon as he said the word 'Marine', everyone glared at the girl. So this crew does not like the Marines, Briar noted to herself. Actually, most pirate crews didn't. You don't hear about Marines going rogue and ending up with bounties as a result that often.
"What's your name brat?" Why did he want to know her name, wasn't he going to turn her into the Marines anyway? So why did her name matter? No normal person would pass up on earning an easy $1000,000,000. Oh well, it wasn't like she had anything else to lose.
"Hunters, Briar Hunters."
"I'll make you a deal Ms. Hunters. Stay on this ship for two months and you won't have to worry about being turned in to the Marines. I'll even drop you off on one of our protected Islands." Was this guy actually being serious?
"Promise." Briar said as crossed her arms across her chest as she looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "You're not one of those pirates who says one thing and then goes back on their word are you?"
Whitebeard raised one of his hands up as he leaned back into his chair. "I swear on my honor as a pirate."
Briar snorted as she shook her head with a small smile. "You've got a deal then, old man."
"Gurarara! Then welcome to the Whitebeard Pirates Briar Hunters."
These next two months were going to be interesting, Briar thought to herself as she looked at the glares thrown at her by the commanders except for Marco who was still smirking at her.
