Chapter 8
Tiara POV.
After I finished showering I left the bathroom. If I had known that Marco had came into the room at the same time I left the bath I would have stayed in. Great why do I always have to go through all these embarrassing situations? It made me nervous, damn nervous the way he looked at me. I was paralyzed, couldn't move and couldn't say anything. Fortunately the towel was big enough to cover everything well. When he looked at my upper arm where he had grabbed me so roughly yesterday and now there was a clear mark on it I wanted to say something but more than a quiet 'Marco' didn't come over my lips. Suddenly the door was opened with a loud bang and Haruta came in, but stopped immediately when she saw us like this. For a moment she looked back and forth between Marco and me before she screamed. "Marco out with you! Now!" she yelled at him and he looked at her slightly irritated. Marco ignored her statement and came up to me. I watched him closely because the closer he came, the more uncomfortable it became. He let his blue flames appear in his hand and put them on my upper arm. It was an unusual but beautiful feeling when his flames touched my skin. They were not hot but slightly cold. When he had finished his "treatment" he simply left his cabin without saying anything.
"What was that now?" Haruta asked and came towards me. "Is everything okay?" she asked. "Yes, everything's okay, I was just a little surprised that he was in the room." I answered and took the things she gave me. "Thanks for the clothes." I thanked her. "No problem. But you shouldn't be so casual about it. Marco can't just come in when you're not wearing clothes. That's going too far." she got a little upset. "It's his room and he can come in whenever he wants. He couldn't know that I had already left the bathroom and was only walking around with a towel. It's my own fault for forgetting to take the things he gave me into the bathroom. And it wasn't that bad. The most important thing was covered." I told her. "You're really too relaxed. I would have slapped him and kicked him out if I were you. Or is it true that Izou and Thatch suspect you're in love with our little bird?" Haruta wanted to know, but I kept quiet. "You're blushing, I think that's the answer." she laughed. "Get dressed and I'll wait for you outside the door so we can go on deck together. Father would like to talk to you." she said and then went outside. After Haruta was out I took a deep breath. What did Whitebeard want to talk to me about?Did it have something to do with my origin and how they did find me? I grabbed a pair of shorts and a simple top from the stuff Haruta had brought me and put on the shirt Marco had given me. Once again I went into the bathroom because I had left my hair tie there and tied my hair together and went out to Haruta.
Marco POV
When I left my cabin I leaned against the wall next to the door. What had I done there yesterday? The bruise on her upper arm had shocked me. Had I really lost control so much that I had even hurt her? She had not hurt either of us and yet I had overreacted so much. Why can't I turn it off? All because of that thing that happened so many years ago. After a short time Haruta came out and looked at me slightly angry. "Are you crazy? You can't just stay in the room when she's got nothing on! Even if it's your room it's going too far!" she hissed at me. I ignored her. I knew that I should have gone out again right away but for some reason the sight of her had captivated me. I could understand Haruta's reaction, but that made it even more mysterious. Shouldn't Tiara have reacted more like Haruta and kicked me out instead of just looking at me? Why did she react like that? But the question which occupied me the most was why she reacted so calmly to my devil fruit powers. To treat her arm I had used my blue flames on her but she didn't ask any questions about what I was doing and didn't back off. It was much more as if she relaxed as soon as the flames touched her skin. So far everyone had only retreated when they saw my flames, as flames are usually considered dangerous. Tiara seemed to sense or know that my flames would not cause her any pain like Ace flames would. Who was she? Why did I worry about her so much?When my door opened again, it tore me away from my thoughts. Tiara came out and looked at Haruta and me questioningly for a moment. "Come on." Haruta said and reached for Tiara's hand. "Stop!" I said. "What are you doing? Tiara is coming with me. You can do something with her afterwards." I said and wanted to take Tiara to the infirmary so I could check if she was fit again. Besides my position as vice and commander of the first division I was also a doctor myself. Yesterday I really didn't like that Enzo threw me out like Ace and Thatch. Enzo, whom we all called just Doc, was our ship's doctor and the one who takes care of any injuries or illnesses so that these tasks don't come up to me as I had enough to do as it was. It wasn't that I didn't trust his judgement but with Tiara I just wanted to see for myself that everything was fine again.
"Rejected! Father's order was to bring Tiara to him after we found her." Haruta informed me.Tiara looked at Haruta slightly confused and I didn't understand immediately what she meant by 'when they found Tiara'. "What do you mean by that? Why found me? I wasn't gone." Tiara asked. Haruta looked at her slightly amused. "Do you know what kind of panic our little Ace caused when he woke up and you weren't in your bed or in the cabin? Father ordered us to look for you and then bring you to him. So we Izou, Thatch, Ace and I looked for you all over the ship but did not find you. Ace has gone crazy! Until Thatch arrived, he said he had found you and that you were lying in Marcos' arms and sleeping." she told us. Now I understood it. "With Marco I could just sleep more relaxed than with Ace in the room." was the only thing that Tiara said and turned slightly red. This statement made me smile slightly and Haruta looked confused. "I'm taking her to Pops." I said and grabbed Tiara's hand and walked her towards the deck. Arriving there everyone looked at me again as strangely as when I came to get Haruta. "Haven't you got anything to do? Get back to work and stop staring around like idiots!" I shouted at everyone and except for the commanders, everyone got back to work. When we got to Pops, he was joined by Ace, Thatch, Izou, Namur and Jozu. Ace and Thatch grinned like crazy when they saw Tiara and me. "I see you're all right, kid." Pops said, looking at Tiara. He too had a slight grin on his face. What was wrong with everybody today? "I'm sorry for the trouble. It was not my intention to panic Ace." Tiara explained, and as I looked at her, I could tell she was trying to suppress a laugh. "Me panicking? Never!" complained Ace. "That's not what we heard." I said. "My kids leave Tiara and me alone for a minute, please, I want to talk to her." said Pops and everybody left. I wanted to leave too when I noticed that Tiara was pressing my hand tighter and I only noticed now that I was still holding her hand. "Can Marco please stay?" Tiara asked anxiously what Pop probably noticed as well. "If that's what you want." he replied and Tiara just nodded. "Where are you from?" Pops asked and I noticed Tiara tense up at the question. "I can't tell you that." she replied. "Can't or doesn't want to?" Pops wanted to know. Tiara seemed to be trying to figure out what to say. "You wouldn't believe me." she said. What wouldn't we believe her?