I do not own One Piece.
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Beta read by the wonderful rose7anne101, who has written some pretty amazing stuff for One Piece.
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Guest Review answers :-D
Guest
Reaction to Wholecake Island is definitely coming up :-)
Thank you for your review and support! :-D
Here is the newest chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! :-D
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Guest
I agree, the trips between islands are probably longer, but honestly very difficult to keep track unless Oda is explicit about it. One of my (few) complaints is that I wish he would spend more time showing what is happening during the time between those voyages.
Thank you for your review and support! :-D
Here is the newest chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! :-D
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Guest
Sanji's poster was ridiculous indeed, but more from the perspective of when you know what Sanji really looks like. There are a lot of strange looking people in this world, and people like the Whitebeards, who have those among their number, would react less.
Thank you for your review and support! :-D
Here is the newest chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! :-D
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peggysteve128
Yes, when I get to the reactions about Luffy becoming the Fifth Emperor, I will definitely include Marco and Co.'s reaction regarding Jinbe.
Thank you for your review and support! :-D
Here is the newest chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! :-D
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The Gokou
Nice to hear you found it so amusing! :-D As for the next one, hear it is! I hope you enjoy it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! :-D
Thank you for your review and support! :-D
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AdditonYa'll
And Zoro was rightfully smug about it ;-)
Thank you for your review and support! :-D
Here is the newest chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! :-D
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Alice (Guest)
Glad to hear you are enjoying it so much :-)
LOL yeah, if only Luffy could be a good little rookie and stay put for a few days! X-D
Thank you for your review and support! :-D
Here is the newest chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! :-D
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Rise from the Ashes
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Chapter 15: Guard or Seek
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Antsy with impatience as he waited for the scouting team to return from Dressrosa, Marco walked into his cabin to look over his personal maps for the 20th time, hoping to find some clue to what Straw Hat Luffy would do next—
—and walked out onto an unfamiliar island.
He blinked, looked around with his all his senses, including his haki. Turning around, he saw that the door that was supposed to lead to his room was now attached to pleasant little cottage. Very welcoming and warm, even if he had never seen it before in his life. Also, he could not detect any of his brothers and sisters within his considerable range. He pinched his nose in frustration and to check if he felt pain.
Alright, not a dream. So what has the New World thrown at me this time?
"Doctor Marco!"
Slowly turning around, he saw a stranger run up to him. There was something about how she dressed in that full skirt which tingled at some memory, yet what was probably the most surprising was the open trust in her eyes. How does she know my name? And wait a second. Doctor? That's a new one.
"Sorry to bother you," she said with a smile, "but could you please heal this?" She held up a hand which had long scratches on the palm, like she had taken a nasty tumble. While it would sting a lot, it was nothing serious. Although it would also make it hard for her to work for a little bit.
He paused for the briefest moment —too short for her to notice— before raising his own hand and letting his cool, blue flames dance upon it. Seeing this as an invitation, she put her cuts into the fire without another word, beaming all the way. "I like your outfit by the way. I haven't seen you wear that before though. Pulling out the old pirate duds for Nekomamushi?"
"Something like that," Marco vaguely answered, hiding any reaction. Nekomamushi? I haven't thought of that old sea cat in ages . . . He reached out with his haki once more, this time searching out for that specific signature, but could not find anything. I'll hold off on asking for details until I know what's going on. A few moments later, she was all better, and he gave her a smile. "You be more careful now, alright-yoi?"
"Yes sir," she cheekily answered, before skipping off.
Rubbing his chin in thought, Marco swept the horizon once more, noting how they seemed to be in some sort of dormant volcano, and turned around to find himself face-to-face with his reflection.
Or almost.
And no, it wasn't a mirror.
Other-Marco was wearing a white shirt and black pants that gave him a landlubber appearance, if not for the familiar tattoo peaking through on his chest, and a pair of wireframe glasses.
They stared at each other, taking in their mutual appearance and haki signatures. Then both quickly sprouted flaming blue and gold wings, which were supposed to be unique to them alone. Then patterns of fire sprouted up randomly over their bodies, yet matching each other. Finally they each took a long look at each other's tattoo of the Whitebeard Jolly Roger, and in perfect synchronization pinched their noses in exasperation.
"I'm Marco the Phoenix," the one with glasses introduced himself. "Doctor Marco. Not that I have any credentials or anything."
"First Division Commander Marco."
Then as one they went to sit down a convenient bench together.
"What next, huh?"
"Tell me about it."
"Anyone else, they'd probably be panicking or something, but by this point . . ."
"Yeah. Heh, and if I, or we, ever were actually shocked, I'd never let it show. I've got a rep after all."
"True, true."
"And it wouldn't do to get all suspicious of someone wearing our Jolly Roger."
"Well of course!"
They sat in silence for a few minutes, until they both loudly said the exact same date at the exact same moment.
They both let out a tiny sight of relief. So this was no time travel nonsense or other.
An easy, companionable silence fell as they enjoyed the sight of the secret nation.
After a few minutes though, Commander Marco had to voice some questions that were starting to bug him. "Some girl came up to me for healing, and said you'd been a pirate once."
"Yep," drawled the other. "Formerly Pop's First Division Commander myself."
". . . He's dead here too then." A statement. For why else would he not be at Pop's side?
". . . Yeah. I wouldn't be here otherwise."
". . . Thatch?"
". . . the traitor Teach got them both. You-yoi?"
A sad sigh, which was then echoed after "Yeah . . ."
"Ace . . ." he began hesitantly.
The look that was in both of their faces was answer enough.
Silence fell again, except this time there was a bit of tension.
"Well," Doctor Marco finally said. "I have to say, I'm disappointed in you-yoi."
"Oh?" Commander Marco calmly said.
"Well, we both took up the same Jolly Roger, the promise to be a family and sail the seas together to see all its wonders, right?"
"Uh huh."
"And then Pops died, saying how he could not enter the New Era to come."
"Uh huh."
"Okay, so that's when both of us made our big decision on what to do next. I'm guessing you chose to keep the Whitebeard Pirates together, and you're sailing the seas, doing your best to stay alive, while trying to get revenge on Teach."
"Of course," Commander Marco said in confusion. "Are you saying you left your crew and allies behind?"
"We all went our different ways, but we're talking about you right now. Is what you're doing, the sort of thing Pops taught you?"
The Commander hesitated. "No," he confessed. "Friends and family first, revenge fifth or sixth. He was even willing to let Teach go because he had a bad feeling about it."
Neither mentioned how it ended from letting Ace still chase off in vengeance.
"Exactly. Do you know what this place is?"
"This is Pop's homeland. Where he poured in every single beli he got from his split of the cash and gold." He pointedly did not say 'treasure.' Only the naïve used that to describe financial wealth.
The Doctor smirked at that. "And then went all stingy when he was supposed to pay for stuff with us. But yeah, that's right."
". . . It's beautiful-yoi. A paradise in the New World where it was once nothing except poverty and depravation, where strong survived and did whatever they wanted to everyone else."
"Yep," popped the Doctor.
"You're protecting it."
"From Teach, and Weevil too. You know Weevil? Yeah, him and his mom are sniffing around, trying to find this place. And I can't just go chasing after them," Doctor Marco sighed. "Too many threats will come now while I'm away, even if I found Weevil straight off."
Rubbing his head, Commander Marco nodded reluctantly. "I hear what you're saying, but I can't let the family fall apart. And if we're going to stop Teach, stop him from destroying us and any more families, then we've got to go on the offensive. The time of the Whitebeard Pirates might be past, yet we can still help the next generation pull it off and forge the New Era.
"As for Weevil, he's hunting down all of Pop's allies and sons. Keeping together and watching out for each other's backs is safer. Even without that, there's a bunch of people who want to make their reputation by bragging they took one of us down. This way, if they want to mess with us, they have to deal with all of us.
"This island in our world doesn't have all of us guarding it like here, but we are drawing a lot of threats towards us, and taking on others in the process."
Throughout this speech, the other Phoenix was impassive. "You're right about protecting our family, but they're all fighters. These people here," he made a slow gesture at the village, "are not. Pops didn't want them to be, ever again. And this sea is too dangerous without protection." He took a deep breath. "What's done is done, I can't change it now."
Before the Division Commander could say something, the Doctor held up a finger. "Besides, taming these seas is the job of the next generation. You mentioned Ace's little brother, Straw Hat. He's who you're betting on to forge the New Age, the one Pops promised us." It was not a question. In fact, it was too obvious. "If he's really going to claim the Throne, then he'll have to handle all the threats to this island and our family anyways. I'm just keeping safe the most vulnerable part."
Then his face split into a wide smile. "Besides, I'm done being a babysitter for pirates."
Throwing back his head, the other pirate laughed and laughed at that until he was crying and his sides hurt.
". . . Thanks. Think I needed that."
"I bet. That said . . . you just missed Nekomamushi dropping by to ask about that. Turns out he and the kid, and another rookie named Law, are definitely going after Kaido."
"Of course," groaned Commander Marco. "One thing after another. He keeps sailing away before we can catch up, throwing the status quo into a jumble in his wake-yoi."
"As to be expected," the Doctor snickered with a distinct lack of sympathy. Then he perked up more. "Did he take down your Doflamingo too?"
The smug smile was his only answer, and it was promptly mirrored. They only hoped the now ex-Warlord's defeat was particularly painful after all he had done during the Summit War, and they were confident that Straw Hat had come through in spades for that.
"So anyways," continued the Doctor, "I figured I'd be able to part ways to help with that. Especially for Oden's sake, as I'd just be risking my life, not the rest of our crew. Gave Nekomamushi a note for Straw Hat, saying I'd be late though, since there's some things for me to take care of first. But in your case, he's probably looking for you in your world," they had figured out they were from parallel worlds pretty instinctively, "and looks like he missed giving you your invitation to help Straw Hat, because you're sailing around looking for Straw Hat," the Doctor laughed.
It was almost a pained sound the active pirate made as he processed that. Just my life.
"Although," now he was outright chortling, "apparently his first stop to try and find us was Pineapple Island of all places to find me! Can you believe it!? Ha ha ha!"
They both took a moment to enjoy that ridiculous idea.
Sure they liked pineapples, but not that much!
After calming down, the Doctor gave the Commander a serious look. "Look, you made your decision, so it's not my business anymore. All I've got to say is, whatever you do, make sure you keep Pop's treasure safe."
"I will," he simply vowed, yet the conviction behind those two words was ever-burning and eternal.
"Good, now you'd better get back before you're missed."
"Right," and then the First Division Commander played a hunch and walked back into the cottage, and as he stepped into it and suddenly found himself back out on the Moby Dick II's deck.
He looked around to make sure he was back where he was supposed to be this time, and then turned to look back at the seemingly-innocent doorway behind him.
I'm never going to be able to look at a door the same way again, am I? Hopefully it'll let me get to bed tonight at least.
Marco smiled, at least he knew where they should sail next.
He needed to meet an old friend, Nekomamushi.
Now where did I put his and Inuarashi's vivre cards?
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Author Notes:
The part about Pineapple Island comes from MasterQwertster's DeviantArt translation of "One Piece Party OMC Chapter 820."
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Next chapter: 'The Fifth Emperor'
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