Chapter 5

Considering everything that was going on, the work and training and keeping an ear open for any information, it wasn't a surprise that his birthday came and went without notice until halfway to his next one.

It felt like he blinked and a year passed; he put his mountain-climbing on hold and spent most of his time training, fighting the jungle animals (Did you know there was a Deer King? Thing was so strong that its charge made it through his Armament and broke his arm!) and practicing his newly-discovered Moonwalk. He was only able to make it half the length of a football field, but it was progress!

So really, it was understandable that he forgot he'd let slip what day his birthday was to Annie. Which was why he would forever deny that the sound he made was a squeak when he walked through the door of Annie's shop, idly wondering why the lights were off, and several voices yelled, "Surprise!"

The lights clicked on, the sudden illumination causing him to blink to clear the spots from his eyes. Once he could see clearly, he saw Annie, her sister Mary, and Mary's husband Richard standing around a table, on top of which was a huge three-layered cake. It was a chocolate cake covered in bright blue icing and decorated with frosting flowers, and he wasn't ashamed to admit that he teared up a bit as Annie guided him over to the table.

He'd never really celebrated his second life's birthday beyond knowing when it was and Rebecca occasionally stealing a little something extra for him, so he was feeling both shocked and delighted as he looked at the cake.

"It wouldn't all fit up here, so the rest of the food is in the back," she told him, causing him to blush and the other two to laugh, all of them well acquainted with his appetite. He couldn't help it, it was a D thing and he was a growing boy! The only reason he wasn't already sporting a good-sized gut was all the training he did, which he was now rather thankful for.

Blowing out the eleven candles stuck into the cake, he couldn't stop smiling as, for the first time, he really celebrated his birthday.

The cake (and all the other food) was delicious.


He had a week to revel in being twelve before reality reared its ugly head and reminded him that puberty was a thing.

He happened to look in the mirror while brushing his teeth and saw a few thin, barely there hairs on his jaw. He promptly dropped his toothbrush in profound horror. No. Just no. Teach's epithet ran through his head, and in that moment he swore that he would not ever grow a beard, by Davy Jones!

Minutes later, he ran to the barbershop to purchase a razor, barely even noticing that his voice cracked while he told the clerk what he wanted. He could deal with embarrassment, what he could not deal with was having any sort of facial hair. Once he had the razor and shaving cream in hand, he headed straight to Mary's house to ask Richard some important questions.

Shaving turned out to be a headache and a half, and by the time he was done his jaw was raw like he had the sunburn from hell and just as red. Still, those hated hairs were gone and he was content with that. The growing pains and cracking voice? Those he could do without, he sighed.

Marshall proceeded to work out his residual panic over running headlong into puberty on the local bobcat population.

He and Annie's family ate well for the next two months.


His first encounter with the Bobcat Boss came on the heels of his first breakthrough with Moonwalk.

He was still high on success when his Observation trilled a warning, and he leapt forward just in time to dodge the claw swipe that would have taken off his head. He might have used a small Moonwalk to get a bit of extra distance between him and the large cat, but so what? He wasn't showing off, really!

The Bobcat Boss was larger and faster than the others he'd hunted, but he welcomed the challenge. The shiny black of Armament coated his skin as he grinned savagely, an expression matching the bobcat's baring of teeth. "Come on, Fluffy, show me what you can do!" He taunted, voice breaking in the middle but who cared? Certainly not the cat.

The bobcat roared and the battle was on, fast-paced and brutal.

His clothes were shredded by the end of it, but his body was mostly intact thanks to his haki, with the exception of some fairly deep gashes along his left side and leg from where he misjudged the cat's reach and didn't get out of the way fast enough. The pain didn't matter; what mattered is that he won! He cheered, throwing his arms up in victory and, from the depths of his soul, laughing.

"ZEHAHAHAHAHAHA!"


He was in a good mood as he dragged the carcass of the cat boss back to Annie's store, but that changed when he got close enough to hear shouting coming from inside. He dropped the body he was carrying and immediately ran inside, his haki telling him that there were four people inside, one of which was Annie.

He burst in and took in the situation at a glance; Annie backed up against the counter, some pompous asshole looming over her and looking like the definition of sleazy. The two watching the scene looked bored, obviously hired muscle. "What the hell is going on here?!" His voice broke at the end, but it still caused the three men to turn towards him in surprise. He used that to his advantage, lunging towards Sleazy Guy first (the toughs were armed, but only with knives and not the throwing kind so they'd still need to get close in order to attack-).

Sleazy went down hard, a single punch to the jaw knocking out him and some teeth. Annie didn't ask questions, rolling over the counter and taking cover behind it as the muscle snapped out of their surprise and charged at him. Thug One got his arm broken when he overextended on a stab, but Thug Two was smarter, hanging back and evaluating the situation. Marshall used his height to his advantage, flipping and tossing the two thugs around the shop when they tried to tag-team him. He winced whenever glass broke under their weight, but there wasn't a lot he could do with the store so cluttered.

Broken Arm gave in first. Blood pouring from a gash in his forehead, he shouted, "Fuck this!" And bolted. Thug Two, or Knify, since he seemed to actually know how to use it, took one last shot that promptly lost him his namesake and apparently decided that discretion was the better part of valor. He grabbed his unconscious employer by the leg and bolted, Sleazy's head hitting the leg of what seemed like every table in the store before the three were gone.

(He heard the screams and curses when the thugs almost ran into the body he'd left outside and felt rather proud of himself.)

"Thanks, Marshall, if you hadn't shown up someone might of gotten hurt-" Annie started, crawling out from behind the counter, and her words were abruptly cut off when she saw the blood covering his left side.

"Dear sweet Calypso what happened?!" Annie shrieked, running for the First Aid Kit.

He could only smile sheepishly in the face of Annie's panic and offer up, "It's a long story?"

The scowl she sent him would have looked right at home on a Sea King and let him know that that answer was not going to cut it.

Obediently sitting still as Annie tended to his injuries, he sighed. Oh well, it was worth a try.