Thatch suspecting the mother hen's odd behaviour and would finally find out more, but the circumstances suck.
Hi, HollowSea here I just wanted to say that I've written as far as the war ends and it would be great to know what you want to happen next after that.
Enjoy~
Chapter 10 ~ Letters (1st week home)
Thatch, the 16th division commander and head chef was glad that Marco was home safe and alive, all that's missing was just Ace and everything would be perfect. However, his brother was hiding something from him and Izo was in on it if those random knowing smirks and questioning looks were any indication.
Two days after Marco returned and settled back in as the 1st division commander, he was already getting a headache. He loves his family, he really does but not the paperworks. While he was away, not much was done and a whole stack of it was now in his room and he was tempted to just burn them all. But like the good son he is, he did them anyway for hours until around lunch when he went out early to take a break. He was not in a very great mood, that was until he heard a familiar screech and a more familiar bald eagle landed on his outstretched arm. On one of his legs was a tube that contained a piece of paper, rolled to fit. It was Kazuki delivering a letter from Luffy. So he brought the eagle back into his cabin to send a reply, ignoring questioning looks shot at him from the others.
Dear, Marco
Hi, pineapple chicken shishishi, I missed you already. I hope you found them and are with your family now. Nothing much happened on my island of course, I sent you this letter so you could keep in touch with me. You don't have to reply now, Kazuki would sometimes fly by randomly so you can wait till then, also if you could, feed him some food and water whenever he visits please~, Thanks~
Love,
M. D. L.
He replied,
Luffy,
I can't stop you from ever calling me that, can I? I miss you too, you cheeky fox. Anyway, I am with my family and I wanted to thank you. I promise I will make sure to feed Kazuki. I think my brothers are wondering about him already, he is a rare eagle after all. You do realise I can't hide you from them any longer right?
I told oyaji, my captain, about you but left out a lot for now. He wants to kidnap you by the way, I told him no but I don't know how long that will last.
Until next time,
Marco.
Marco came out after a while asking for some water and leftover food from Thatch before sending the eagle away. Thatch kept questioning him about it and all he could say was that he met the eagle back when he landed on the island. He hated not being able to tell his family but a promise is a promise.
Everyone on deck freaked out when a huge large bald eagle just dived towards Marco, of course Whitebeard just watched with an amused look and his son looked happier already (as happy as his face could show) while he casually went back into his cabin with the eagle.
That was the first thing Thatch noticed was odd, he questioned him but his answer was vague making him pout and he noticed Izo watched with narrowed eyes behind his fan like it was a puzzle he wanted to solve. It happened several times, when Marco was not around it would sometimes fly away after a while or just land on the yardarm or railing waiting. He doesn't let anyone come close and would peck anyone else but Marco, plus the hen always looked happier even if slightly when the eagle visits. Oyaji had ordered everyone to leave the eagle alone and even feed it sometimes, since it didn't bother them. Besides that, Thatch sometimes noticed his brother pausing in whatever he does to just stare out into the ocean with a distant look, sometimes a smile. Why?! AAAHHHH he was CURIOUS and he decided to bother Izo about it, he would not give up after all.
Izo knew that sooner or later Thatch would be curious, he might be pretty clueless but the cook knew his brothers like the back of his hand, especially Marco and no matter how hard Marco tried to hide it, the redhead could see him acting differently. So when he heard an enthusiastic knock on his cabin door, he knew who was outside. Izo had attached locks, not only 1 because his brothers have no sense of privacy and would barge in whenever and however they like.
"Izo~ let me in please~" Thatch whined as he knocked.
Rolling his eyes, "What is it, Thatch. I'm busy," Izo replied.
"Come on, I need to talk to you!" the redhead whisper-shouted.
Izo really doesn't want to deal with him right now, focusing on the new set of high quality fabric he was sewing into a kimono. Of course with how stubborn his brothers are and the unnecessary strength they had, those locks didn't stand a chance as the door swung open, locks hanging uselessly. Standing there was Thatch sheepishly rubbing his head.
"Oops, I didn't mean to, I swear," he grinned apologetically.
He loves his family, really, but right now maybe not so much. The cross-dresser sighed, "I swear to Oda, I will kick you Thatch," he glared at the sheepishly looking away Thatch. But eventually got the nerves to settle near his surprisingly scary brother.
"Neeeh~, what is up with Marco, you know something right," he asked, Izo gave him a questioning look, "come on I know you know something about that random smiling and sea staring he does," he pestered.
Izo sighed again, "It's nothing important and I don't exactly have a right to tell you Thatch," to which the chef pouted and whined like a kid, "I mean, even I wasn't supposed to know, I don't know why he's hiding it but there must be a good reason."
"Awww please~ I'd do anything."
The 16th division commander gave him an unimpressed look, "there's nothing you can offer me right now," Izo smirked.
"Ouch!" Thatch exclaimed, dramatically, "Fine…" said the cook at the end. Eventually, he stopped asking Marco and Izo about it but he still spies on the blond as much as he could.
The days went by uneventfully, Thatch was back to his scheming, pranking self with Haruta but they left Marco alone for now which was good. There were several missions they had to go to, mostly short ones but he didn't go to any since his family didn't want him away yet. So he settled on handling the paperworks, including Ace's. Talking about Ace, he was beginning to worry them. Their narcoleptic brother had stopped calling and updating them on his mission but everyone was convinced he would be fine or maybe they were convincing themselves. Teach was mostly forgotten, it was a sour topic and everyone avoided it, they were all obviously mad at him for what he did. Throwing away family for the sake of a single devil fruit, betrayal was the worst crime any pirate could do. Pirates are big on loyalty, especially their crew.
Marco had 'talked' with the raven a few more times, nothing important. He had told him the tiger 'Stripey' was having a baby and the teen was excited to see it. Marco had told him mostly about Thatch's pranks and his family but nothing too important. He didn't tell the teen about Shank's visit 3 days ago about Ace, he had asked oyaji to order him back and warned them about Teach. That the traitor wasn't as weak as he pretended to be, the 3 scratches over his eyes were apparently from Teach. Marco couldn't help but agree inwardly, he didn't really fight the fat bastard but his grip was strong, he was sure his neck was bruised. Anyway, Kazuki should be delivering another letter soon, it had been 2 days since he last sent a letter.
It was at the end of the 1st week since he came back when something happened. After dinner, the bird came with a letter. However, what was inside made his heart drop and he didn't manage to send a reply to Luffy that day. Marco ran to the galley instantly, Oyaji and most of the commanders were done eating, chatting casually when he quickly marched over to pass their father the letter.
Whitebeard was surprised, they all were, Marco doesn't run and he looked worried. So it must be serious, not to mention he was handing him a letter that he knew his son had been sending to the mystery person. So Whitebeard read it, eyebrows pinching into a deep frown before calling for a commander meeting, the contents were quite sensitive and could get this person in trouble should it get out.
The commanders were surprised, what was on that letter that made their father look so grim and angry. Some of the crew members noticed but didn't question it and instead scattered to inform the rest of the commanders of the meeting. Soon enough, they were all sitting in the big meeting room with Marco sitting on the right side of oyaji as usual. Whitebeard wasted no time to read the letter out loud after getting Marco's permission,
Dear Marco,
Hawky visited me today and told me something that I think your crew would like to know. He said I could do whatever with the information so I decided to tell you. A Whitebeard pirate, 'Fire Fist' Ace was surrendered to the marines and he is planned to be executed publicly. Mihawk was summoned to be there during the execution at Marineford. It will be in the news soon but I hope this reaches you before then.
Are you guys going to war? If you need help, you can always find me. It would be a pleasure to wreck the World Government anyway.
Stay safe, Marco.
M. D. L.
There was gaping, paling, and some were in denial. So they started asking questions Marco knew he would have to answer one day.
"Is this true? I mean why would Hawkeye even tell this person, Akagami I would understand," Kingdew asked.
Marco suppressed a sigh, "it should be true, I mean we could wait for the newspaper for confirmation but he does know Hawkeye yoi," he hoped Luffy would forgive him and understand, "he was the reason Hawkeye agreed to send that message for me."
"So this guy… is he the one that helped you?" Vista asked this time and he only nodded.
"What does MDL stand for?" asked Haruta.
"His name is Luffy yoi, the MD is his last name," Marco replied hesitantly.
Oyaji noticed and Marco appreciated his father's help with the sensitive subject, "That's enough, if the person wants to remain unknown we shall comply," he told everyone, "what's important is planning what to do right now."
"I trust this letter, however we would still need to wait for the news for confirmation," their captain continued.
"We would need to gather our allies if we're going to war," Jiru said, "they should know we would be coming, Whitebeards leave no one behind," he stated matter-of-factly.
"If he's been captured, then he must be in Impel Down!" Thatch exclaimed, horrified at the thought of their younger brother in the supposed hell.
"Can't we just break him out instead of going to war, oyaji?" Izo suggested.
"No, it would be hard to infiltrate that prison and if the marines want war, then war we shall deliver!" Oyaji boomed, "I'm not letting any son of mine get executed!" He glared at nothing in particular, knowing the real reason why Ace was getting executed publicly. The reason was stupid and unreasonable, the blood flowing in his veins wasn't something his son could choose.
"Alright oyaji we will start contacting the allies about-" Curiel started.
"Don't tell them how we found out, and tell them to wait for the news for confirmation," oyaji interrupted.
"-Alright oyaji."
"What's that about asking for his help though?" Namur asked Marco, "is he strong?"
Marco thought for a moment, he didn't want to drag the raven into war if he could help it. But he was worried about his father, he was getting too old and sick and Marco was selfish, he didn't want to lose his father. So any allies would be great and he's pretty sure Luffy was strong. He sighed though because he really didn't want his family to meet the raven in a war.
"I sparred with him once, he's good," he said remembering that fight, which led to their 1st kiss but he couldn't smile right now, " and he didn't even use his devil fruit. He could be a big help," he admitted.
They were quite surprised, Marco was strong, he was the first mate for a reason and he said this guy was good. They would be excited to meet the mystery guy if it wasn't for the circumstances.
"Hmmm… we'll wait for the news and if it is confirmed I'm sending Marco and Thatch to find him," oyaji said, he would do anything to save Ace and if this person could help, then he'd swallow his pride plus he'll get to finally meet him. Thatch would be excited too if it wasn't for the damn circumstances. They started making plans and dismissed the meeting soon after.
The next morning, the news coo came and confirmed what Luffy had told them. There was a picture of Ace in chains, beaten, bloody and it made their blood boil. It read, 'Whitebeard pirate 'Fire Fist' Ace captured' below were the details, it was going to be a public execution in Marineford just like the letter said. They would have 5 days to prepare for war it seems, it was announced to the crew and everyone was fired up to save their resident hot head. They were getting their brother back!
Marco and Thatch were getting ready to leave to find their additional ally. Despite the grim situation Marco couldn't help feeling eager to meet the raven again, he had missed him dearly. Luffy shouldn't be too far, at most a day long. However, when he brought out the vivre card it was burning, he sucked in a breath and was really worried now. Was he attacked on some island or was his island attacked? Is he safe alone? Who attacked him? Oyaji noticed the burning card and Marco's worry, he ordered them to try and help if they could but to make sure they come back alive.
Stripey was such a lazy name, but Luffy in cannon sucks in naming anyway so yep. I wanted to write youngest brother but since Luffy is about 20 Ace should be older and by now there might be new younger crew member (or maybe I shouldn't think too much lol).
I really enjoyed writing the letters, hopefully I can do more of those in future chaps.
Of course Luffy's good, he was an assassin you know~ The war will reveal his OP ass devil fruit.
Some more fighting action coming soon in the next chapter and some rape so oops. I just want Marco and Luffy to go a little slower but it'll get there.
(2427 words)
