Would Luffy give his brothers a chance? Where are the Whitebeards going to go?

I guess this chapter is more of a filler, to where they are heading after all these drifting.

Enjoy~


Chapter 16 ~ Destination and Plans

Luffy woke up in sweat after another horrible dream, it made him feel grumpy and moody. He was alone in a vaguely familiar room, though Luffy remembered it being in more of a mess before. It's Marco's room, his tired mind supplied.

Based on the light from the porthole he must've slept through lunch, which meant he slept for quite a long time. Luffy sighs harshly in frustration, and laid back down on the bed with a loud thump. How long were the nightmares going to last this time? He wondered.

Luffy didn't really like using his brain to think, but what should he do next? Should he stay with the Whitebeards or leave as soon as he could. Now that the world knows of his existence, it won't be good for anyone to be near him. The World Government would either want him back alive or want him dead, and any of those choices were not great. It would also mean they would send people after him, most probably Cipher Pol agents. He sighs again, suppressing shivers at the thought of facing any more of the CPs, especially zero and one. Yeah, he should probably leave this crew alone before anything bad could happen.

Marco's not going to like that, nor are his new 'older brothers'. The raven didn't know what to think about the new information, he had have brothers, Ace and Sabo. Though, he was quite glad to find out he managed to protect them when they were little, if the story was true. Luffy doesn't, couldn't, remember anything, and he kind of wishes he could.

"Ace and Sabo, huh," Luffy mused aloud to himself, trying to conjure images of when they were smaller. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine it, maybe remember something, only to come up blank.

He groaned and buried his face into the pillow in another bout of frustration, releasing a tired sigh. Luffy took a deep whiff of the pillow, and held it into his face with both hands, a smile growing. It smells like his pineapple lover, he snickered at the thought. Ironically it doesn't smell like a pineapple or any fruity stuff, he laughed, muffled by the pillow.

Luffy decided he should probably get up, he's getting kind of bored. Being the curious person he is, he wanders around the room a little. There was a stack of paper on the table that seemed very much like the reports he used to do after a mission. He scrunched his nose at the thought, as if doing their bidding as an assassin wasn't enough, he was subjected to torturous paperworks too. It seemed like Marco managed to get some work done while he was asleep.

'What kind of pirates have paperworks?!' Luffy thought incredulously.

Moving on, Luffy noticed his weapon's cleaned and stashed on one corner. Thanking Marco for that, if he was the one who did it. There were pictures on the wall of him and his crew, or brothers, like the blond like to say. He looked really happy in all the pictures, though about 80% of it had his typical bored face.

On the table there was a mug used for his stationeries, it says 'favourite mother hen' with an image of a blue chicken on the other side, Luffy smiled, assuming it was probably a gift. There was also a stack of new clothing on the table, they were smaller than Marco's usual outfits. It's probably for him.

He went to bathe, inspecting the wounds that were kind of in it's disgusting phase. They would probably get mad if they found out he bathed but Luffy likes being clean, another thing he got used to. Being a prized slave meant he was paraded around a lot so he needs to look 'clean', besides 'they' liked him clean when he's in bed with them. Yet there were occasions when he didn't get to bathe for days and even months, the smell and stickiness, it was disgusting.

Luffy shook his head, moving away from those disgusting thoughts. Marco had rebandaged him while he was asleep, and he had managed to save the bandages before bathing to be reused now. Dressing up in a red buttoned shirt and black shorts that fits right this time. Not forgetting to reattach his dagger and ninjato this time. The nodachi is just a little too long and can be an inconvenience, but he loves it of course.

'Be good Chigosaku, papa will be back for you,' Luffy said in his mind with a kiss, before glancing around suspiciously. It'll be awkward if he's caught doing that, he thought embarrassed. Luffy needs to stop talking to himself when he's surrounded by people.

Finally leaving the room, he wants to find Aone. His sea king friend has been dragging this huge ship with no proper direction. Luffy wondered where the Whitebeards were planning to go after this?

Now that he thinks about it, maybe avoiding human interaction would be best. Luffy just doesn't trust everyone here yet, and acting friendly seems like too much work right now. He still feels like crap, it would take an effort to not snap at anyone. WIth that in mind, he transformed into his fox form, bigger than the one Marco carried during breakfast.

The fox trotted through the ridiculously huge corridor and out to deck through another ridiculously large door.

'Man, this ship was really made for giants, no wonder it was so big,' he thought.

The weather was great. The sky was blue and not a single cloud was in sight, yet the breeze was so strong that it ruffled his fur as they blew past. Allowing him to breathe in that sea breeze. Luffy felt like he would've loved sailing on a ship with no destination, just drifting and exploring islands. Free, not marines, not pirates, nothing but a traveller. Maybe, it was his dream in a long forgotten past?

Luffy wasn't conscious when he was brought to the infirmary, but it seems there were more wounded than he thought. The deck was filled with wounded pirates lying around, did they not have enough room inside? Or do they just prefer this? Luffy head towards the figurehead, ignoring the stares and looks he was getting. There were some that waved or smiled, even said thanks, but he ignored them all in favour of getting to the figurehead.

Luffy vaguely noticed that the captain was sitting on the big chair in the middle of the deck, watching him. Marco was there too, based on the scent he could smell, and maybe some of the other commanders he met previously, at breakfast. But he ignored it anyway and hopped over to the large whale figurehead, transforming into a human in one smooth motion.


Several hours ago,

Marco settled the tiny fox on his bed to let him get more sleep after his nosy brothers finally left him. He headed to the deck where oyaji was sitting, the old man looked really tired but he seemed very happy, and Marco was glad for that.

"So is there anything interesting you want to tell me son?" Oyaji asked with a wide grin, not too loud for anyone else to hear.

Marco raised a brow, "what do you mean oyaji, yoi?" He asked, even though he had an inkling what his oyaji wanted him to say.

The old man chuckled, "don't want to tell your old man about the brat, yet?" He smiled knowingly.

"I don't know what to tell you oyaji, yoi," Marco said but offered his captain a small smile.

"Tell oyaji what?" Ace interjected, having arrived from whenever he was.

"Nothing yoi," Marco responded. Oyaji seemed to understand that he didn't want the two brothers to know yet and kept his mouth shut, sending a small nod at him.

"I have finished gathering everyone in the meeting room," Ace informed, so that's where he was, "should we go?"

Marco nodded and walked towards the room with Ace, followed by oyaji behind. All the commanders were already inside the room, sitting according to their division order. Sabo was included as an additional member beside Ace, where he used to co-lead the second division. before he left.

"So I think we need to discuss where we would be going after this and how is everything going on yoi," Marco summarised simply.

"Can the shipwrights fix the masts and sails so we can move again?" Sabo asked, right to the main problem.

"We would be able to fix it," Fossa started, "if we have the materials, and we don't. The store room was wrecked through, along with its contents," he reported worriedly.

"We can fix one mast," Blamenco added, "we need more Adam Wood."

"So, we need to head to water seven?" Jozu asked.

"That's the best choice in paradise," Haruta said, "though it'll take weeks with only one sail with such a big ship."

"Yeah and I'm not sure the food stocks will last that long," Thatch interjected, "we didn't expect this ship to survive the war."

"Not that I'm complaining about that, of course!" he added quickly with a silly grin.

"Okay, at least we have a destination yoi," Marco said thoughtfully.

"So now the food and water is the problem," Vista concluded, twirling his moustache.

"Well, we can hunt for sea kings," Namur added, "but I'm not sure how our new guest would take that."

"He won't mind, as long as it's not one he knows," Ace said distractedly, frowning thoughtfully at something.

"Are you okay, son?" Whitebeard joined in for the first time, addressing Ace. He had been quiet this whole time, lost in his own thoughts.

Sabo glanced concernedly at Ace, gripping his shoulder to turn his brother at him.

"Do you think he will stay?" Ace muttered, not as loud as he usually is.

"Lu?" Sabo asked, before frowning too, "I don't know."

"I'm sorry," Kingdew interrupted, drawing eyes on him, "but isn't he kind of dangerous."

"Luffy's not dangerous," Ace defended, with an offended look.

"I don't know, Ace," Blenheim said, "he seemed about ready to slice up Whiskey."

"He has a temper, so what?!" Sabo joined in, "pretty sure Ace had one too."

"No, Luffy's pretty nice actually," Thatch added, "you just need to get to know him better."

"But have you seen how he took down an entire army on his own," Atmos added, "I mean, he could just snap and-"

"No he won't!" Ace shouted, glaring harshly at them.

Marco groaned at the beginning of a shouting match, sometimes he forgot that these people were pirates. Thankfully before it could get worse, oyaji interjected, slamming his fist on the table causing it to jolt.

"Stop!" The captain ordered, "we will discuss this calmly, like adults!"

"Firstly, I agree that the brat could be dangerous," he started, and lifted a hand to stop Ace's coming protests. His second division commander sat back down and pouted like a child, eliciting an involuntary fond smile from the old man.

"But," the old man sighs, "if he wanted to hurt us, he could've done that right from the beginning."

Ace folded his arm and nodded smugly. This time Kingdew was stopped by the captain from protesting.

"And yes, he has a temper but Marco can handle it fine, right?!" Oyaji said, glancing at the blond.

Marco nodded, "look, he is not dangerous yoi, as long as you don't give him a reason to be. Besides, we can all agree Whiskey can be very 'forceful', and I'm pretty sure he has had enough of that, yoi," the blond man explained.

Izo agreed, "yeah, I'm pretty sure he had enough of being told what to do in the past."

"So, is that settled?!" Oyaji questioned. Once everyone nodded, happily and grudgingly, he moved on. "About the wood and food, maybe we can ask our 'guest' if he's willing to help," he suggested, "that way we can get there faster for wood, and we won't need to hunt any sea kings."

"We would also need to lay low since we still have many injured," the captain continued, "though I doubt the marines would recover that fast, many other crews would love to take this opportunity to attack."

"And that would be their biggest mistake," Jozu added firmly, this time everyone nodded with a smug smirk.

"So, Sabo, would you be staying?" Namur asked, he had always enjoyed the blond's company and was quite disappointed when he left for the revolutionary army.

"I would like to stay a little longer, if that's alright," Sabo said.

"Of course It would be alright son!" the old man grinned, glad to have one of his sons home.

"Besides, I think Iva can handle reporting the new findings to Dragon-san," the blond added.

"Man, he has a crazy bloodline," Vista said, "Dragon's son and Garp's grandson."

"Owh Right, that's where I heard his name yoi," Marco said, "I knew Monkey D. sounded familiar."

"M.D.L!" Haruta exclaimed.

"Did we miss something?" Ace asked, Sabo looking as confused as he was.

"Well, you weren't here, but Marco was-" and the whole story came out, not completely. Only what the Whitebeards knew previously.

"So Luffy only came to war because he knows Marco?" Ace asked. The blond only nodded.

"Well, also because they sent CP9 and marines to attack him on his island," Thatch added, "I think he hates the World Government."

"You think yoi?" Marco raised a brow. Then proceeded to discreetly shake his head to tell the eager looking chef to shut his mouth about the 'other stuff'. The redhead obviously pouted childishly and deflated.

"What?! Is he okay?!" Ace exclaimed.

"Duh, he was in the war, remember?" Thatch added, "I told him he won't heal in time but he said he'll heal in three days."

"It makes sense now why he would ask Marco to keep his name hidden," Whitebeard interjected.

"Still didn't think that The famous assassin was a kid," Vista added, "I mean, two years ago he was just 17 and that was when he disappeared. So he must've started before that."

"We didn't realise it either, the marines must've hid it pretty well if the revolutionary army can't even find out," Sabo said.

"I think only Sengoku and the admirals knew about him in the marines, they probably did a lot to hide him," the captain deduced, frowning in displeasure. He hated the idea of a kid used as a weapon or slave, or just the fact that he was caught at ten for his bloodline. It makes his blood boil, if the brat hadn't done what he did, Ace would probably also be caught.

"Though, why would he be an assassin for them if he hates it so much?" Jozu wondered.

"He made a deal with the Gorosei yoi," Marco told them, turning all eyes at him, "I still don't know for what. Mihawk was the one who slipped it out. I still don't know a lot yoi."

Oyaji hummed thoughtfully, "well for now this meeting can end, is Luffy still resting?," he asked.

"The last time I dropped him in my room he was asleep yoi," Marco responded.

"We'll ask him for help when he wakes up, then."


After the meeting, Marco left to clean up his messy room. Though most of the stuff was bolted down to the ground or onto the wall, other stuff on the table was thrown all over the room. He noticed the fox had turned into his human form during his sleep. Wondering how it worked, is the transformation uncontrollable when he's asleep? Or is it a conscious choice? Well, Marco hadn't seen him transform into a fox while sleeping so far. With these random thoughts in mind, he worked to clean up his room back to its original condition.

Once he was done cleaning everything, he glanced over to Luffy to find him still deeply asleep. Which was a good thing with his common nightmares. Marco went to detach his dagger, which wasn't accessible when he was a tiny fox. Now that he noticed, the raven's weapons were still dirty and covered in blood. So he spent some time cleaning all of it and stashed it back into the corner.

Marco went to sit on the bed, beside the raven. Brushing his hair gently, noticing the raven snuggling further into the pillow, mumbling something incoherent. It made his lips tug into a smile unconsciously. He noticed a few hours have passed after he cleaned up, and was quite surprised the two idiots haven't barged in here yet. Then as if to prove him wrong, someone knocked on the door. Speak of the devil.

"Come in yoi," he called out, retracting his hand from the raven's head. Luffy whined a little in protest, eliciting a small smile from him.

Surprisingly his door swung open to reveal Thatch, not Ace or Sabo like he expected.

"I brought you some coffee," Thatch said, offering one of the steaming mugs in his hand.

"Thanks…?" Marco said, suspiciously, "and what do you want in return yoi?"

Thatch gasped, "how dare you, I was just being nice. Can't a brother be nice," he said sulkily.

Marco rolled his eyes in fond exasperation, "okay, so what do you want yoi?"

The chef grumbled a bit but sat down on the floor near Marco, who was on the bed. His hand had continued carding the raven locks, once he knew it was Thatch.

"Why won't you tell them about you and him?" Thatch asked with a hint of whine.

"I don't know yoi," Marco added, "I feel like Ace and Sabo won't be happy about it. I feel bad that Luffy's closer to me than them."

"That's not your fault Marco," the chef said.

"I know, just- give me time to think yoi."

Thatch nodded and just sat there drinking from his own mug. "You're lucky your room's intact! Half of mine is gone," he complained, observing the room.

Marco chuckled, "yeah, it was a mess before."

"Don't you need to cook lunch yoi?" Marco asked.

"Are you trying to get rid of me, Pineapple head?!" the chef gasped dramatically. Marco glared at the redhead, tick marks throbbing, "okay, okay, I finished already, the others just need to finish their parts."

"Oka-" Marco was interrupted by a whimper. He turned to see the raven twitching and crying, again. The blond frowned in displeasure, if only he could punch the jerks that caused this.

"Luffy," Marco called out, brushing a tear away. "You're okay yoi," he said softly to the sleeping raven.

Thatch was honestly surprised, Marco wasn't a bag guy, but he was never that gentle to anyone but oyaji. He was patient and kind, but rarely gentle.

"Is he okay?" Thatch asked worriedly, standing up beside the blond.

The blond sighs, "he's got nightmares, it's a miracle he's slept this long yoi."

Luffy's breathing fastened, whimpering and crying. Marco kept trying to calm him down, not wanting to wake him up from his sleep. Marco brushed his hand over the teen's fringe and head more firmly. This time he opened his sleepy eyes, though he didn't seem aware. His eyes were glazed and unfocused.

"Luffy?" Marco asked softly, holding his cheek.

"M' srry, Kir," he slurred and fell back asleep.

"I'm guessing you don't know who Kir is?" Thatch asked Marco. He was still looking at the sleeping raven when he shook his head.

"There's still a lot I don't know about him yoi," The blond sighed, "actually I think no one knows much about him, maybe Mihawk."

"Owh right, he knows Hawkeye," the redhead muttered, "still surprising. That man definitely hates humans and is secretly a vampire."

Marco shot his brother an unimpressed look, "seriously yoi?" Thatch responded with an amused shrug. "He was very protective of Luffy, even threatened to kill me if I hurt him yoi."

"Really?" Thatch mouthed, unbelievingly. "That doesn't sound like Hawkeye."

They were interrupted again, by a knock this time. Marco again, recovered his hand from the raven. Thatch groaned and mouthed 'why' dramatically, while the blond only made a shushing sign with his index finger. Izo popped up this time after Marco allowed him entry. The crossdresser was carrying a stack of clothes.

"So this is where you are, Thatch," Izo said, "your chefs are looking for you, they're almost done with lunch prep."

"Owh, thanks," the redhead said, grabbing Marco and his mug, "I guess I'll leave first, see you at lunch."

"Alright yoi."

"These are for Luffy, Marco," the sixteenth division commander said, setting the clothes down on his table.

"How do you even know his size yoi?"

Izo smirked smugly, "who do you think I am? I can estimate pretty well, and he's almost the same size as Jim."

"Right," Marco said, offering a smile, "thanks yoi."

"You like him, don't you?" Izo asked, straightforward. Marco restrained the surprise from showing on his face.

"What do you mean yoi?"

Izo smiled knowingly, "you don't have to hide it, you know."

Marco sighed in defeat, there's no hiding these kinds of stuff from Izo. "Yeah, I kinda like him," he admitted with a soft look aimed at the sleeping teen. Though it looks like the crossdresser doesn't know that, technically, they were together already.

His brother squealed as quietly as he could, "our mother hen is finally interested in someone! Congrats," he said grinning.

"I wonder why my brothers keep annoying me yoi," the blond mumbled aloud to himself.

"Okay, I'll stop bothering you," the man chuckled and waved with his fan, as he left the room.

After that, Marco spent his day doing paperworks until it was lunch, which was uneventful. The two brothers didn't ask him how Luffy was doing anymore, probably only because Sabo stopped Ace. After that he went to the infirmary to face a raging head nurse, he had to convince her the raven was fine and resting in his room. He managed to squeeze a stingy roll of bandage from her for Luffy at the end. She had said, 'since he's so fine! He doesn't need bandages.' Marco really had to groan at that, the old lady can be really petty sometimes.

Then it was back to his paperworks until he got sick of it, and went out to find oyaji, just like he usually does. It was his routine to just sit next to his father and chat. That was when Luffy showed up as a fox and trotted up to the figurehead, ignoring everyone in his way, but Marco's sure he noticed everyone that was present.

He transformed into a human in a very smooth transition, and Marco was glad the raven was wearing proper clothing this time. He was also carrying all his weapons, except the huge nodachi. The blond was glad the raven was finally awake, he slept so long and skipped lunch. Marco had convinced Thatch to let him sleep in when the chef complained about him missing a meal, since Luffy seemed really exhausted.

"Yep, the clothes definitely fit him right," Izo said victoriously with a smile.

Marco had to agree, it looked nice on Luffy. The shorts hugged his hips right, not too loose, not too tight with two pockets at the back and side. The red shirt wasn't too fit but at least it wasn't drowning him. Though the scars littering his legs were out in the open, he had bandaged his neck to make up for the lack of his usual turtleneck.

Luffy stood there, clench and unclenching his hand. Then yellow fire tendrils burst out and swirled around a little, before it was extinguished. Oyaji was observing the raven with unrestrained interest, and wasn't concerned in the slightest, whereas some were slightly cautious and tense. They had seen how that fire worked, and it could be dangerous.

"What's he doing?" Vista asked.

"Probably testing his-" Marco was cut off by a short, loud whistle from the raven, who had his index and thumb in his mouth.

They were confused and curious. Marco decided to fly ahead to the figurehead, followed by Thatch from the back. Soon enough, their curiosity was sated when an extremely huge sea king rose up, towering over the raven and everyone else. It was the same one the raven had rode, and pulled their ship from below the waters. They haven't got a chance to observe it, until now.

It had an eel shaped body with protruding head and was ocean blue in colour, almost like it's for camouflage. It also had random huge black and white patches around its body. On the back of its spine was dark blue webbed spikes that had holes in some places. Burn scars were also visible on several parts of its body. The creature's face had a black patch around its nose, making it look like a snout. Along with huge black eyes and barely visible whites. A row of sharp front teeth, especially its canines.

Everyone visibly tensed, except for Marco and Whitebeard. Whitebeard was rarely worried, especially not by a sea king, or things that interested him. Whereas Marco had seen the same huge sea king trying to tie a rope, definitely not scaring him anymore. The blond can't blame his family though, the sea king was almost the same size as the Moby Dick, probably bigger by a bit, and could crush the ship whenever it wanted.

"Aone," Luffy's voice cut through the tense silence.

The huge black eyes that were focused on nothing turned down towards the raven, along with its head. Eliciting some surprised yelps from the spectators on the deck, it's not like the wounded could even run away right now.

To their relief, the sea king lowers itself until it's snout aligns with the tiny raven. Almost as if it's laying its head on the figurehead. It huffed through its nose, blowing a huge puff of warm air.

"Ugh," Luffy groaned, holding his arms in front of him in a blocking manner, "don't do that, it's like a strong wind when you huff," he said with amusement.

The sea king, Aone, let out a low and guttural hum, almost like a low pitch whine. Then it started nudging the raven until he fell on his butt, and cuddled the teen with its huge head. Jolting the ship at the same time, as its huge body hit against the figurehead.

"What is going on?!" Ace asked frantically, coming up from below deck with Sabo. Alerted by the strong jolt. It looked like they both just woke up from a nap.

"Shishishi, thanks for pulling the ship ," Luffy smiled, wider and more genuine than they've seen so far, and petted the sea king's snout. Whitebeard felt relief bloom in his heart when he saw that smile, it seemed the boy could still smile brightly despite his past.

"Actually we were wondering if he'll help pull us to Water 7 yoi," Marco interrupted from beside Luffy. Smiling a little at the raven. Luffy looked at him then at his fishy friend.

"Well, he said okay," the raven grinned at Marco, "though he's kind of hungry."

Luffy suddenly turned his head towards the sea king in shock. "No, I'm not feeding you these people," he said with amusement.

Everyone who heard that blinked dumbly, did the sea king just ask to eat them? Though, the captain just grinned in amusement and drank from his tankard.

"No, they're not dying!" Luffy said, chuckling. Everyone sweatdropped at the insinuation.

"Why don't you go hunt for fish or something?"

"The fishes aren't small, you're too big, girl," the raven chuckled, still gently petting its snout.

"I can't go with you," Luffy continued his monologue, tilting his head sideways, "you want humans?"

His monologues were responded with the occasional hum or huff, even growl, from Aone, 'the sea king'.

Luffy groaned, "fine, we'll go find some nasty pirates for you," he conceded. "No! Not these!"

"Ouch! He wants to eat us?!" Thatch exclaimed, standing a little behind Luffy.

"Mm-hmm, I spoil her," the raven said as he walked forwards to ride the sea king.

Marco grabbed his arm to stop him. Luffy turned around in surprise. The man was frowning a little.

"Are you leaving yoi?" Marco asked. Ace and Sabo also ran up to the figurehead, causing the sea king to growl threateningly.

"It's okay," Luffy said, rubbing its head, a small reachable part.

Calming the creature down, which laid its head on the figurehead, tilting the ship forward. Jerking everyone, Luffy tumbled onto Aone while Marco managed to stay afloat with his wings. Ace and Sabo, however, toppled into the ocean. Thankfully, Sabo wasn't a devil fruit user and could save his brother, dragging the dead weight up the ladder.

"I'm sorry," Luffy smiled, between amused and actually apologetic. But the two brothers took the smile directed at them as a win anyway.

"Wait, I'll go with you yoi," Marco said, turning to his captain for permission. The captain nodded with a smile.

"You don't need to," Luffy sighs, "I'll come back, I left Chigosaku here."

"You're still wounded Luffy!" Ace exclaimed with worry.

"Cocky paradise pirates," he responded with a raised brow, "doubt they'll be a problem. Besides… I can always just make Aone do the work. It's her food after all, right girl?" he said, patting his friend. The sea king responded with a huff and hum.

"Besides, how are you going to come back yoi?" Marco asked with a raised brow.

"Owh, right," Luffy groaned

"You can be so dense sometimes," Sabo chuckled. Luffy glared at him with a slight pout, making him raise his arms placatingly. At least the glare didn't look very heated.

"I told you, I hate using my brains," the raven groaned and shrugged, "fine, why not."

"Only Marco," Luffy added when the two brothers looked excited.

They whined at that, "why?"

"I don't need annoying brothers tagging along with me like nannies," The raven deadpanned. Thatch snickered at that, and ended up laughing, joined by the others.

"We don't want to hear that from you!" The freckled brother yelled.

"I feel like it insulted me more because it came from you," the blond one said. "Wait! You said brothers! You believe us!"

Ace looked excited too. Luffy seemed uncomfortable though, and looked away, "whatever, that doesn't mean you can TOUCH Me!" He shouted and jerked away when the two almost slammed onto him.

Ace chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his neck, "okay, that's better than nothing!" He grinned, happier than they have ever seen. Sabo smiled, happy that Luffy accepted them so readily, and also because Ace was beginning to gain back his usual 'old' self.

"But! Isn't Marco even more of a nanny, what with his mother hen tendencies," Ace said, pointing at the blond who was petting Aone without getting growled at, "and why does he get to touch her!"

Marco's eye twitched at the 'mother hen' statement but quickly turned into a smug smirk directed at Ace. "It's because she knows me, and I didn't go to watch over him. He can do that on his own yoi," the first mate said. Ace pouted.

Thatch grinned in a cryptic manner at Marco, "owh, then why are you going?"

Marco suppressed the urge to look away, "well, we can't just give him our vivre card right? yoi," he said smoothly. Technically he wasn't lying, it was partly true.

Luffy hummed an agreement, noncommittally. These pirates barely know him after all, and he was an assassin. Though Luffy wouldn't mind just getting Kazuki to search for them, his eagle had honed on Marco and his crew anyway. But, honestly, he doesn't mind the blond as company.

"Rii~ght," the chef said, lips twitching from a growing smile.

Marco sent him a pointed look to shut up, which thankfully the two crazy brothers didn't understand. But Thatch totally got it and dragged the other two away, convincing them to give Luffy space.

"Okay, if you're coming with me, we might need to travel underwater," Luffy said, following Marco and Thatch. Leaving the whining sea king, still lying on their figurehead. Most of the commanders were now gathered around Whitebeard because of the earlier jerk. "It'll be safer, you're too famous."

Izo scoffed, "pretty sure you're famous too by now."

"Not until the newspaper comes out."

Marco scoffed, "you use your brain when it's stuff like this yoi," he said, ruffling Luffy's head, eliciting an eye roll but no one missed the small pleased smile, "What do you need?"

"You do realise you're both devil fruit users right," Jozu deadpanned.

Luffy smirked a little, "I have my ways. I just need a really thick rope, if you have any."

"You're so secretive," Haruta whined.

The raven shrugged, "habits, die hard. Also, surprises are more fun," he said with a blank face. They felt like there should be a mischievous grin when he said that, and the whole sentence feels kind of lacking now.

"Maybe we can get some food stock yoi," Marco said.

"I would offer you a ship but we have none of our smaller Mobys," Fossa added, shrugging.

"It's fine, Aone is really big anyway," Luffy said, taking a long thick rope from a crewmember. "Well, I'm gonna go and tie this up on him," the raven said and headed to the sea king, ordering her to open her mouth. Tying something like a harness around its mouth, it looked like this wasn't the first time he did this.

Luffy hopped up onto the sea king, and Marco flew up to stand next to him, while the sea king let himself off the ship causing it to jerk backwards at the loss of weight. Aone looked like he couldn't wait to leave as it got ready to dive.

"Well, stay safe my sons and come back soon," Whitebeard said.

"Son? Wha-" Luffy exclaimed at the sentence, before panicking because his sea king's friend wasn't eager to wait. "Aone! W-wai- AHHh!" He shouted, and held onto Marco's waist quickly, as the sea king dove into the water.

"Owh SHIT!" Namur yelled, and was about to dive when the sea king rose back up several metres away.

"Aone! I said WAIT! You almost drowned a pineapple!" Luffy's voice was heard from the ship, causing some to laugh.

Marco clicked his tongue, "really yoi?" he groaned, "you're gonna be the death of me yoi."

"Hey! It's not my fault," Luffy laughed a little, "she is too," -the raven smacked the sea king's head with his free hand- "excited!"

The sea king released a low pitiful whimper at the scolding. They were both soaked wet, but Luffy doesn't seem weak or affected by the sea water dripping off the both of them. Marco, on the other hand, was leaning heavily on the raven, panting. Luffy was holding onto the blond's purple shirt tightly, since his arms seemed unable to completely circle the man's broad waist.

Everyone was honestly amused at this point, even if they were worried like a while ago. They observed as Luffy dug around in a tiny pouch attached to his belt and took out something small, and red? Then the raven let his fox ears and tail out, and gave his friend the okay. This time the sea king dove and didn't reappear, leaving a water trail from its swimming. Namur dove in anyway to make sure, and saw the creature swimming away at high speed with two passengers on her back.

"Are they okay?" Vista asked Namur as he climbed back up.

"Well, I saw hi- her, swim away with them."

"They'll be fine, I trust the brat," Whitebeard said, with a grin.

"But , what if-" Kingdew started.

"Nah, Luffy won't hurt Marco," Thatch cut in with certainty, waving his hand in a dismissing manner.

"How are you even so sure?" Jozu asked, while Izo smiled knowingly.

Thatch blinked, trying to look innocent, but sucked at it. "I…" he looked away, "just know! Don't you trust this brother?! Ha-haha," He grinned and swung an arm on the crossdresser and Ace, who were the closest people to him. Izo rolled his eyes at the chef's idiocracy.

The commanders looked at him weirdly and suspiciously, while the captain laughed heartily. Whitebeard was even more sure there's some relationship there, which Thatch seemed to know and was keeping as a secret. Looks like he'll have to interrogate his fourth division commander, being a dad gives him some privileges right?


Honestly, I kind of have no idea where this should be going and might be dragging it a little. Ehehe, I have some plans but its kind of unclear. Anyway, hopefully it wasn't too bad 3

Jim is a random name that probably would never even appear again lol. The only thing you know is he's Luffy's size.

I thought there were too many males in play and decided to make Aone, our sea king friend a girl. Though if I mentioned him being a male in earlier chapters, oops cause I can't rmb or find that. Do tell me though, thanks :P

Ik eagles probably don't work that way, but *shrugs* at some point I give up trying to make everything makes sense.

(6118 words)