Title: Of Dreams and Desires
Pairings: Smoker x Ace, Sanji x Zoro, and other side pairings
Ratings: T - NC-17
Chapter: 19 of ?
Summary: A Meet or Two…
Disclaimer: I do not make any profit from this story; all props go to Eiichiro Oda.
Author Note: A little short chapter; it's a filler chapter almost but it's important. If I don't update again before Christmas, then I hope everyone has an amazing holiday!
Shout Outs: Thank you BeASlumberingDragon for adding my story to your favorite list! :3
Beta Reader: descriptionsalive21, thank you so much!

Marco

Marco could feel his balls sticking to his thigh, that's how fucking hot it was. He could actually pinpoint the exact location where the sweat was dripping down his balls and making them sticky. Little to say, the first division commander was not pleased. Why Whitebeard would choose to have their annual Allies Meeting in the middle of this hot ass jungle on this hot ass island, Marco would never know. He bumped into Doma, whose ever present monkey had taken to swinging in the trees to keep cool in the heat, and muttered an apology, "Sorry 'bout that man."

Doma laughed at his allied crew's first mate. "Not liking the island too much, Marco?"

Marco chuckled and inspected the raccoon-eyed man. "Your bandana is soaked in sweat."

"That's cuz it's hot as shit!"

The blond laughed. "I was just thinking same thing."

The monkey landed on Doma's shoulder and dropped a piece of fruit before jumping back into the trees. His owner caught the fruit and glared up at the canopy of leaves. "This better be clean fruit, Boogers!"

Marco raised an eyebrow. "You named your pet monkey Boogers?"

Doma inspected the fruit before judging that it was edible and taking a bite out of it. "The little shitter tends to cover things in his snot and shit before giving them to the crew."

Marco's lips curled in disgust and he looked up at the treetops to watch Boogers leap around. It was at that moment that the primate dropped another fruit. Marco caught it but then immediately let it go.

"What's wrong?"

Black eyes cut over to the tan man and the owner of them held up his hand, wiping it on the other's shirt. "Your monkey, your snot."

Doma laughed and shrugged. "Tried to tell ya."

"Marco." Whitebeard's voice cut through their conversation. "Keep up; we're almost there."

Marco nodded and walked faster to catch up to his captain. The group of pirates moved through the jungle with speed and, with a stop by the nearest water source for Marco to clean his hands, continued their journey to the meeting location. An hour's walk later, the Whitebeard Pirates with a portion of their Allies arrived at a massive old tree in the center of the jungle.

Whitebeard traced a vine around the elephantine root until his hand rested on a particular spot. He muttered a few words and pushed on the area, causing a door-like shape to appear before it pushed in as an opening. Whitebeard walked forward, followed by the group of pirates, and sauntered through a long finely polished wooden hallway. A few turns later and the group stepped over the threshold to a commodious room. The rest of Whitebeard's forty-two allied pirates were waiting at the extensive table, all talking amongst themselves, with their crews standing behind them.

Noticing Whitebeard enter, the deafening chatter of the allies ceased and they stood in respect to their leader. Whitebeard nodded to his fellow comrades and when he reached the head of the table, he sat and gestured for everyone else to take their seats.

Edward poured himself some rum before speaking, "I hereby start the 69th annual Alliance Meeting." He raised his glass and took a drink and his forty-two allied captains also raised their mugs, taking sips of their respective drinks.

Marco crossed his arms and scrutinized over the faces at the table. He heard Whitebeard take a deep sigh before he spoke, "First, I would like to thank you all for coming. As you know, my crew and I have been going through some hardships due to our recently lost family member."

The gatherers lowered their heads in thought of Thatch and a moment of silence passed before Whitebeard spoke again, "As always, I would like to give you all a chance to speak on your concerns before voicing my thoughts."

Jinbe stood with no crew to his back. "Sir, I would like to report that all is well on Fishman Island besides some minor issues we had with a few pirates, which are in the process of being handled."

"If problems with the pirates persist bring a list of the crews. If they do not respect my jolly roger then they will be reminded as to why they should."

The kimono donning fishman bowed and took his seat.

Doma stood and his crew stepped closer to his back. "Sir, I would like to report that all situations are faring well in the northern quadrants of your territory. Shipments are being moved smoothly and the food along with the drink supplies should be shipped out to all the allied crews shortly." When Doma took his seat, his crew took a step back.

Whitebeard nodded his head. "Good. Are all crews satisfied with the portions that they are to receive?"

A mutter of affirmative answers floated across the room, putting a smile on Whitebeard's face and he nodded to Whitey as she stood.

"Sir, I believe I speak for your western, eastern, and southern quadrants when I say all is well. We would like to hear what it is that you have called this meeting for." Whitey took her seat as all eyes turned to Whitebeard for his response.

He chuckled and drank from his cup before he spoke, "It is true, I have called this meeting for a specific purpose."

Marco tapped his shoulder to request a brief absence to which his captain agreed as he laced his fingers together under his chin. "I have called you all here because there are two matters I would like to address. To my first order of business; as you all know I'm an old man, and I'm not saying I plan on leaving this world anytime soon, but in the event something were to happen to me, I would like to make it clear that Marco will be promoted to replace me."

The gathered pirates turned their attention to Marco who was just hanging up his mushi and returning to his father's side and he bowed his head. "In the event anything were to happen to Whitebeard, I accept taking this promotion in position to command the Whitebeard Pirates."

The forty-two leaders raised their drinks in salute to Marco and sipped their rum. Whitebeard extended his leg, popping his knee before he spoke again, "The second order of business, Portgas D. Ace."

"I notice he's not here. Has he turned on the crew?" Squard questioned.

Outbursts of laughter from the Whitebeard Pirates caused the man's face to heat up and the captain raised a hand to silence his crew. "No, Squard, he has not betrayed the crew. If anything, as some of you already know, he's currently on a mission to bring justice to the man who murdered my beloved son, but that is not what I wish to speak about," he paused and looked at the faces of all the members gathered in the room. "Since the death of Gol D. Roger, the fight for pirate king has been fierce and everyone is running in the race to reach the end of the Grand Line to accomplish such a title and become his successor. I come before you all today to say that I am giving up my place in this race."

Collective whispers started around the table and Marco cleared his throat, silence coated the room as Whitebeard spoke again, "I would like to give my position to Ace. He's strong, as well as loyal, and he has the respect of every individual he's ever come across. He is the perfect person and I wish for you all to support me in supporting him on this journey."

Elmy, a heavy-set woman with caked on makeup, stood from her seat. "This is an outrage!" Spit escaped her mouth from her many missing teeth when she spoke. "You're basically asking us to quit our dreams to make sure Ace gains the title! What will we receive from such a thing?"

Marco stepped beside Whitebeard and looked lazily at Elmy. "You will continue to receive protection and support from the Whitebeard Pirates. We are not asking you to give up your dreams; by all means, follow them until your heart is content. What we are saying is that the Whitebeard Pirates are putting our full support behind Ace, and as our allies, we want you to be aware of our plans. If anything happens and we have to choose between you all or Ace to be the next pirate king, we will choose Ace."

Whitebeard raised his hand before Elmy could reply, silencing her. "Elmy, let's look at this realistically. In a fight against Ace, could you win?"

Elmy glared at Whitebeard, sitting down with a huff and the Yonko looked around the table. "If there is anyone at this table who can defeat Ace, then please stand; and I will fully support you in being the next pirate king."

When no one stood, McGuy questioned, "Why not Marco?"

Said man waved his hand. "I would prefer not to have such a luxurious title attached to my name."

Whitebeard laughed at his first mate. "Now, I ask again, do we all stand in agreement with Ace?"

A collective round of "Aye" flowed through the room. Whitebeard gulped down the rest of his drink before slamming his cup on the table. "Meeting adjourned then."

M

After a few days of socializing, the members of the Moby Dick boarded their ship and set out on the sea. It was a quiet day for the crew, not much excitement on deck unless you considered Haruta chasing after Stefan entertainment.

Marco had thoughts to retire to his room when Fossa announced the presence of an unknown boat. "Sir! There's a man on a boat heading in our direction."

Whitebeard hummed, stroking his mustache. "Allow them to board the ship."

Marco sat on the side deck next to Vista, waiting for the unknown man. "Who do you think it is?"

Vista shrugged his shoulders. "Has to be some brave motherfucker for him to approach our ship."

The pair didn't have to wait long before a tall and burly man stepped onto the deck of the ship. They watched him walk to their captain with his head held high, ignoring all other pirates. "Cocky son of a bitch that one is, isn't he?"

Marco laughed and waved a hand to silence his friend.

The spiky red-haired man reached into the inner folds of his jacket and pulled out a letter. "I'm here to give this letter to you."

He stepped forward towards Whitebeard but Stefan jumped in front of him, growling and snatching the letter from him before prancing over to Whitebeard, jumping in his lap to deliver the message. Whitebeard chuckled at his dog's actions and patted his head. He still did not acknowledge the dark skinned man in front of him as he read the front of the letter.

There was a moment of silence before he huffed. "Shanks… I haven't heard that name in a while," he flipped the letter over before looking at the man before him, "so… this is a letter from Shanks…"

The man nodded his head and puffed out his chest. "Yeah, it's a letter of importance. That's why it was sent by me for it to be delivered."

Whitebeard raised an eyebrow. "Congratulations, it must have been hard to make it here," he stated sarcastically.

The purple-lipped man waved his hand in dismissal. "Nah, it's my job as a new member of the Red Hair Pirates. My name's Rockstar."

Whitebeard grunted and returned to reading the message. Seeing he was occupied, Rockstar turned to Marco and Vista. "Have you guys ever heard of a man named Rockstar? I was a well-known pirate before I was invited into Shanks's crew."

Marco gave a flat look to Rockstar. "Nope, never heard of you."

Vista laughed and shook his head. "Nah, doesn't ring a bell. So, anyway, the guy tells him that it was the best sea king meat he'd ever tasted…"

Rockstar tsked at their dismissal of him and it was the sound of ripping paper that pulled the attention of all the men on deck. The overly confidant man's jaw dropped as he watched the so called "important letter" fall to pieces to the deck.

Whitebeard huffed in annoyance. "He sends me a damn letter! Since when did that boy get so important he couldn't come see me?"

"Hey! Hold the hell up! Okashira said that was a very important letter!" Rockstar bent over to start collecting the torn pieces at his feet. "This is Red Hair we're talking about, do you know what you're doing?!"

The monstrous man snorted and drank heavily from his cup. "Boy! I. Am. Whitebeard! The question is do you know who it is you are talking to?" He slammed his fist down on the armrest.

One of his nurses tapped his arm with a frown. "Sir, you've had enough alcohol for today."

Edward shrugged her hand away. "Idiot, drinking what I want won't hurt my body."

Feeling bold and thoroughly annoyed, Rockstar took a step towards the seated Whitebeard. "I said that letter was important."

Marco stood and eyed the audacious newbie. "Watch your next move."

The two engaged in a stare down before Whitebeard raised his hand. "It's ok, Marco, the young ones will be stupid. I can only guess what that letter said; it was about Ace and Blackbeard. You tell that red-headed little brat if he wants to talk to me, he'd better bring a good drink and come himself! If you got that… leave, I don't feel like talking to a little snot like you. Fucking meathead."

The phoenix stepped chest to chest to the worm. "Leave now if you want to make it back to Shanks in one piece."

Rockstar scoffed at Marco before he stepped away from him and walked back in the direction of his boat muttering curses under his breath.

Whitebeard watched him leave before he summoned Marco to his side. "Tell me, have you spoken to Ace?"

"Yeah, I called Vista while we were in the meeting and he was with him. He was on Crestshire Island very close to Blackbeard."

Whitebeard swirled his drink in his cup. "Vista, my son, come here."

Vista approached the pair and gave a chuckle. "What can I do for ya, Pops?"

"Did Ace meet with Blackbeard already?"

"We thought it was him. Ace ran out of the restaurant before we could confirm it. I found out through some civilians that a young man had gotten in trouble for attacking the town's doctor, whose name also so happened to be Blackbeard. My guess: Ace is still on his hunt."

Marco stoked his chin stubble. "Sounds about right, he would have called in by now."

Whitebeard sighed and looked at the open sea in thought. "When he reports in keep me updated."

Both commanders nodded and began to walk back to their previous seats on the deck when Marco turned back to his father. "By the way Pops, Ace says he'll see you soon with the best sake you've ever had."

Their father let out a Gurarara. "I'll be looking forward to it!"

Hope you all enjoyed! Review if you wish!

*Okashira is another word for boss.

Once again, I hope everyone has a good holidays. More than likely I won't be updating again until after New Years, so with that in mind; everyone be safe and have fun! Stay tune for next chapter: Smoker Tensa - Huredhiel