Last time, the Sunny struggles to escape Big Mom territory as Marco faces off with Perosperos, triggered by Luffy's decision to take and fight Katakuri alone.
Brook has conversed with Mister Marco plenty of times. Some about very pleasant things and other times about very somber ones. Overall, he thinks Marco is a man in pain, from many things really, but mostly, he pains himself. Brook knows a little about that, and so he doesn't mention it. Telling someone that they are their own demon doesn't really accomplish much; treating them like a human, though... that can have the right effect. He's heard about the last time Marco fought the Big Mom Pirates. Nami had told all of them enough, much to Chopper's concern.
We do not keep secrets in this crew, Chopper.
Her analysis had been truthful. Marco was, as his bounty poster assured, incredibly strong, scarily so. His fear of conflict, though, his inconsistent approach to fighting, was concerning. It means that, according to Nami, Marco would most definitely fight in Whole Cake Island.
He'll definitely pull you out of a pinch.
Brook watches it and despite hearing about it beforehand, seeing the gentle, shy man explode in a flurry of blue fire and violence is still baffling. He's crossed blades with the Candyman briefly before, teaming up with Chopper even, and they'd been decidedly outclassed. Marco toys with him, eyes carrying with them blue incandescent shadows that trail blazes across the Sunny. Brook realizes Marco's heating temper before noticing that his captain is gone.
It's not the last time of the trip where Brook is incredibly thankful for the pirate, but watching the Charlotte eldest turn tail and fleeing Sunny in a candy island is definitely a thrilling endeavor. (Brook is much too old to envy youth but decidedly aware enough that his training needs to be heightened. The New World continues to surprise them at every turn. Brook shivers as to their fates had they not being separated back in Sabaondy for all the pain it caused.)
Mister Marco may be his own demon, but there are edges to him, new ones and rough ones, but they are developing in the right direction. Through the decades, this truth has remained unchanged: healing is never pretty.
Sanji knows, everyone around him does probably, that the giant, bloodthirsty phoenix is the one who should rescue Luffy. He knows it; it's the right thing to do, the smart thing. But Sanji's heart is more on display than ever these days, and it will not let the odd feeling in his chest alone. It itches and itches and itches, and Sanji's always been a stubborn guy.
"I'll get him and fly off, meet you at sea," Marco states. Perosperos had finally abandoned the Sunny after holding on through the Coup de Burst, only after Marco's talons had left him without an arm. The crew is hardly out of peril, and Luffy... The sharp glint that appeared in Marco, a dangerous thing threatening to crack the surface, hasn't wavered since the mirror broke. Sanji knows his suggestion is the ideal solution; his mouth opens up anyways.
I cannot believe you can't see it too.
"Let me go," Sanji cuts in; he's catching Marco's eye meaningfully. The phoenix's first reaction is taking it as a warning, ruffling all of Marco's feathers at once as they manifest at his neck and down his shirt. Sanji adds quickly: "I… I owe it to him."
Marco's tense but allows it. Sanji's not sure why he asks for permission; it's odd.
He waits in an alley, heart in his throat, and watches Pekoms emerge with Luffy. Before anything more can occur, Sanji's moving. They cut it so close Sanji doesn't even blink when blue fire opens the way for them. He's seen it before, but Marco, in his bird form, is truly immense. His confidence in the air is unparalleled with Sanji's or any of their persecutors. It's no perfect or easy, but they make it.
Compared to the raging storm of Big Mom's rage as Sunny cuts through wave after wave of impossibilities, the bright day that greets Luffy's naming as an honorary Emperor can be seen as either mocking or rewarding. Marco would bet on both. Luffy and Chopper are fishing, fulfilling Sanji's wishes of having a banquet to celebrate their captain's accomplishment.
Marco's congratulated Luffy already, but the words taste like ash in his mouth, and he's not sure why. It's not that Luffy doesn't deserve being closer to his dream; it is that Marco can still see the bandages wrapped all around him and can still hear the sound of Cracker smacking Luffy into the ground, the cracking of the mirror. Luffy took Charlotte Katakuri down, which is absolutely insane to anyone who doesn't know him, but at what cost?
To Marco, at least, a fancy title doesn't make up for any of those things.
"Do you ever have second thoughts about joining Luffy?" The question grabs Marco by surprise. Though by Jinbei's faraway look, maybe it shouldn't. The Fishman has been slightly taciturn, still in wait for an update on his crew. Marco, feeling the decided negativity accumulated through the past few days beat within him, wisely chooses to keep his opinions and predictions to himself.
"I haven't joined him," Marco denies. Jinbei raises an eyebrow conveying how unimpressed he is but budges to Marco's stubbornness.
"I'm sure you can tell what I mean."
"...Sometimes," it feels like treason, but it doesn't make it any less real. "I've met so many men like him, Jinbei. Men who were special and fated, beacons of this era, foundations of families and revolutions. People I considered family and friends. None of them met a nice end."
"You think Luffy might end like that?"
"I try to think he won't, but Ace, Roger, Whitebeard, Oden… I thought them all impossible to be brought down once too; it'd be foolish to ignore overwhelming evidence like that." He leans back on the railing, zeroing on Luffy's back as it shakes with laughter where he's perched on the other side of the Sunny. "Luffy will definitely change the world irrevocably; he is doing so already." Had been, ever since the instant Marco knew of him. "I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes Pirate King, but at what cost, Jinbei? At what cost?" Marco's voice implores, but his companion has no solace to offer. The Fishman looks at him, maybe agreeing, maybe contemplating the entire idea for the first time. "I also think… that Luffy deserves someone who believes in him fully, and I… don't know if I can do that."
Marco doubts it's the answer Jinbei was looking for, but it's the only one Marco can give.
After dinner, after the sun has set, Luffy's hungry. Marco recognizes it in the depth of his eyes, perhaps the first emotion he really learns to pick out of Luffy, for convenience if nothing else.
He might've been pleasantly surprised, but Luffy is no idiot; he knows what the newspaper article means and caught in the absolute rush of victory. He is a conqueror out for riches and undiscovered lands. Marco is the target, an undiscovered country to lay claim to again and again. This might be what Marco loves, really. He always feels selfish with Luffy. Marco wants every intake of sharp breath as he runs hands from the hollow of his feet to the back of his ears. He delights in stretching the supple, well-built muscle—a biological engineering, magical wonder that carries Luffy from battlefield to battlefield.
However, tonight, Marco is selfish in a different way because it's Luffy who wishes to take. He's playful but direct, pushing Marco up against the hallway as the other goes to bed. He'll carry him and take him right there if Marco lets him, concepts like propriety and shame well beyond his grasp on a regular occasion, much less when his eyes look like this, merciless in their desire. Marco will direct him to the bedroom... in a minute. First, he enjoys how Luffy presses him against the wall, so hard and encompassing Marco half expects the wood to creak. His hips trap Marco's own, a delicious warmth wrapping around his spine.
He latches on to Marco's bare throat, straight for the spot that makes him sigh, coaxing a moan from the back of his throat as he nips where Marco's neck meets his jaw. It's tantalizing how good Luffy had gotten at this when he came to be in Marco's hands untouched. The movement is seamless, a choreography of limbs groped and grasped to the beat of two stuttering heartbeats. Running a hand through raven lucks, he pulls Luffy's head back, away from him, to meet his eager mouth. Marco doesn't feel like it's been long enough for the way heat pulls at his bellybutton.
Luffy's lips are rough on him, slightly chapped and tasting like salt from a day out being caressed by the sea breeze. His coarse locks are entwined from where Marco pulls at his skull with abandon. His body reacts in all the right moments, in all the right ways, but Marco's wandering hands snatch on a bandage, and whatever mirror image of victory Luffy is trying to brand into his skin shatters. Marco freezes, and Luffy, hyperaware of every single raised hair of Marco's arm, stills as well.
"Marco," he whines needily, stepping back to look up at him through hazy eyes, his frowning lightly, gaze roaming the phoenix as if he could determine what has put a stop to their activities. "What's up?"
I'm not in the mood, is a reasonable thing to say.
It's just been a long day, is also passable.
Nothing, kiss me, is unadvisable but also highly non-conflictive.
Instead, this is what comes out of Marco's mouth:
"I'm angry."
So I thought we'd be wrapping up by chapter 19 but it doesn't look like that. I'm not sure how many more chapters we have left, hopefully only a couple.
Active stories with regular updates:
- J&F (MaLu, Marine Luffy, 30chapters so far)
- TWAQ (BakuDeku, Villain Deku, 5/8 chapters, part of a series.)
- WoSA (WWW Universe, 12chapters.)