So it's been a while. All I can really say was that 2019 was a busy year for me and I had a lot going on plus I had actually fallen out of the fandom for a while. But I'm back for who knows how long. Hopefully, a couple more chapters should be done before I fade out of existence again.
Chapter 8 Down Time
It has been about a week since everyone had learned about Rose's new devil fruit abilities. They had guessed that she had somehow found the Ghost Ghost fruit when she had gotten separated for Dai on her fourth birthday. She has since recovered her energy and they have learned a bit more about her powers thanks to Teach's book about all known devil fruits and their abilities. She can see, hear, and touch the souls of the recently departed. She is also able to give them physical form but to do so the souls must use her energy. Since she didn't have enough stamina to spare she currently wasn't allowed to use her powers to summon them. Though Rose would talk more about the unseen crew and it was a bit less unnerving when she would talk to them or watch them. It was rather nice to be able to hear about fellow crewmates that they had lost to battles and a few family members and friends they could no longer see. Though even if a few of the crew members didn't know all of the souls Rose would name or they would pretend didn't exist when it came to a certain mustached man in a red coat that would apparently appear frequently to sit and talk to Whitebeard even if Whitebeard couldn't hear him.
Now that things have calmed down a bit the commanders gathered on the deck early in the morning. Most of them looked tired and a few slightly pissed. Dai strolled in on the group a smile displayed happily all over his face.
"Good morning you all," Dai waved overly cheerful.
"Just give us your orders already Dai it's too early in the morning to deal with your bullshit," Izo glared.
"So feisty this morning Izo. But I'll take your guys' orders," Dai told them as he turned around to a pile of seemingly random things.
The other commanders watched Dai warily as he sifted through the pile pulling out things. Dai stood up and faced them all with an armful of what appeared to be clothes.
"Here are your uniforms for today, go get changed and come back," Dai said, handing out their new clothing.
o0o
Marco has never been one to be embarrassed over trivial things. Sure there have been times in his younger age that he has come to realize how embarrassing those phases really were but he was young and full of mistakes so it is forgivable. What wasn't forgivable was his current predicament and Dai would learn his lesson about it tomorrow. Marco and the other commanders were all wearing animal onesies, each one based on different animals.
"Why do we have to wear cute onesies?!" Thatch yelled angry pointing at Dai.
"Because Izo made them and I owed him so now you are forced to wear them. Plus they aren't that bad at least they are comfortable," Dai said as he led them over to an odd planting plot. "Now as a few of you probably have noticed Rose has become interested in gardening. She doesn't understand the difference between plantable things and normal things though,"
"I saw her yesterday 'planting' a knife," Haruta said.
"Exactly my point. That could have been dangerous for her and for whoever found it. So I'm planning on giving her this little plot to do some basic gardening, that way we can teach her all about plants and it would be fun and educational for her," Dai explained.
"So why are you telling us this?" Thatch questioned.
"Simple. It's currently a mess right now. I haven't had the time myself to clear it out. So you servants will be doing that for me,"
They all glanced past him to look at the weed-filled garden. The plot itself was rather small and clearly, one of the older ones since the frame was starting to rot and was badly stained with who knows what. Without too much complaining they all started to get to work fixing up the little section for their little sister, Dai even helped them.
After a good couple of hours, they had finished repairing the garden. They all stood back to admire all their hard work.
"Now then-" Dai started but was interrupted by a small voice.
Dai looked down at his side to see Rose with glasses of cold refreshing lemonade for them. She smiled and held up a glass for Dai, he happily took it. She then went around handing each commander a cup too, they all thanked her.
"Good timing little one. We have something for you," Dai told her, handing his cup to Thatch to hold.
She stared up at him tilting her head curious about what he could have. He chuckled lightly and ruffled up her hair before pointing to the recently cleaned garden. She glanced over at it and then back at Dai confused.
"It's your own little garden. The other commanders and I decided that we want to teach you a few things about gardening. So we fixed up this little plot for you," Dai explained as he pulled a few seed packets out of his pocket.
Rose jumped up and down excitedly. The commanders watched in amusement as she grabbed Dai's hand and yanked him into the garden. How a little girl was stronger than a Whitebeard commander the world would never know. Dai sat back on his heels and started to explain to her what each seed was and how to garden. It didn't take too long for Rose to rope in the rest of the commanders to help her and Dai plant the seeds.
"And this one is a flower, it's called a Rose," Dai said as he held up a few rose seeds.
Rose gently took the seeds and stared at them in wonder. She then excitedly looked up Dai and held out the seeds. "Let's plant them then! I want friends!"
"They wouldn't be like you, sweetie," Izo smiled down at her.
"But they are roses, aren't they?" Rose asked as she tilted her head to the side earning a course of coos.
"It's just a flower. People don't grow out of plants," Dai kindly explained.
"Oh," Rose mumbled softly.
"Well, I'm sure the flowers will be nice friends too," Haruta tried to cheer her up.
"Plus you have us and everyone on this ship to play with," Thatch told her as he picked her up and swung her around.
Rose laughed happily as she lifted her arms in the air. Marco glanced at the other commanders knowing that they are going to have to address what just happened later. But for now, they are going to enjoy this moment as a family.
"Come on little one let's go get some brunch I bet we are all hungry," Dai said as he took her hand as soon as Thatch set her down. The rest of the group followed her and Dai to the galley.
o0o
Marco sat at his desk and let out a small stretch as he finished up the last of his paperwork for the day. He had been lucky to have the excuse of being the first division commander with duties to do so he wouldn't have to deal with any more of Dai's annoying requests for the day at least. It wasn't a lie though he did have a lot of things to finish today. He glanced over at Rose who was sitting quietly on his bed reading one of the medical books that he had in his room. He was honestly pretty proud of how smart she was. He assumed that she got that from her mother because after sailing with Oyaji for so many years now he knew that his captain was another but a smart man. Of course, his captain wasn't stupid but that man was a D in all but name. Marco had the displeasure of meeting multiple Ds in his lifetime and he has come to learn that they do not think with their heads but with their hearts. Not that Marco couldn't say that sometimes he let his heart decide his actions rather than the logical part of his brain.
Marco shook his head before looking back at Rose who was too wrapped up in her studies to notice him watching her. He had started with the basics that everyone should know such as reading and writing along with basic math. He was a bit surprised to find out how quickly she picked things up. If he was being truthful with himself he was a little worried about how fast she was learning. He was overjoyed to find out how much she seemed to love learning and there was nothing he would ever do to tell her to stop her pursuit of knowledge he wasn't worried about that at all. But what worried him was how determined she was to learn things that she shouldn't have to worry about.
For example, her recent want...No her need to learn about medicine after one of Whitey Bay's visits. Rose had gotten a thorough check-up from Whitey Bay before the ice witch had turned her eyes on the captain and be scolding him for his reckless drinking and about his health. Rose seemed to have thought that meant Pops was going to kill over within the minute and it took some time from Marco and Pops himself to calm the crying 4-year-old and convince her that Pops wasn't going to die for a long time. But ever since then she has tried to learn everything that she could about the medical world. A few of the nurses had expressed their concerns over a child being subjected to graphic material at a young age. Even if they had valid concerns it wasn't as if she hasn't already been seen the worst from joining the crew. It wasn't uncommon for rival pirates to come looking for fights and they were pirates for crying out loud there was no way things wouldn't end up in death and bloodshed even if they tried to keep Rose away from it, things happened. Marco sighed once more before he stood up and walked over to Rose. She looked up from the medical journal to smile at him.
"Come on chickling it's time for Thatch's cooking lesson, yoi," Marco said as he scooped her up in his arms after she put the book down.
Rose climbed up his side to sit on his shoulders where she finally got settled down Marco grabbed her legs to make sure she didn't fall off. He wasn't too worried about her hitting her head on any door frames since their ship had been built to accommodate their rather captain and taller crew members. He headed back to the deck where he was found Dai still making the other Commanders suffer.
"Big Brother! Cooking time!" Rose shouted before she launched herself off of Marco's shoulders and into Thatch's hands.
"Chickling! You can't just surprise attack us like that!" Thatch scolded her as he set her down.
"Sorry Thatch…." Rose mumbled softly as she looked towards the ground and grabbed fistfuls of the hem of her shirt.
Thatch let out a sigh before ruffling up her hair and smiling down at her, "It's okay Chickling you just have to be more careful. Sometimes we just might not be able to catch you and we want to keep you safe."
Rose looked up at him smiling and nodded in understanding before taking Thatch's hand. Thatch chuckled at her well. Izo cooed over how cute their littlest sister was. Thatch looked at the other commanders before smirking.
"Looks like I'm finally free from Dai for the day," Thatch stated proudly.
"HEY! THAT ISN'T FAIR!" Haruta yelled.
"Haruta you know the schedule. Today is Kingdew's and Thatch's turn to teach Rose for the day. Tomorrow is yours and Vista's turn, yoi." Marco told him annoyed about having to go over this again.
"And your turn was four days ago but you gotta get away from Dai to teach her!" Haruta complained.
Marco rubbed his temples before looking up at Haruta, "No I had to redo the paperwork your lazy ass did wrong all because you wanted to finish it quickly. I still have plenty to do because some people here do not know how to control their divisions, yoi."
"It wasn't my fault that the 4th division tried to prank us!" Dai yelled in defense.
"But it was your fault for lighting Thatch on fire which then spread to the deck and burnt almost all of the mainsail, yoi," Marco said calmly staring down Dai.
Dai quickly looked innocently trying to pretend that was most definitely wasn't him. Thatch took that as his cue to get the hell out of here before the wrath of the phoenix was turned on to him.
"Now if you excuse me I have to go finish that paperwork. Do not do anything stupid well I am busy. I am not in the mood, yoi," Marco said as he stared down Dai before turning on his heel and headed back to his room.
"Hey I have a great idea to help cheer up the local mother hen," Dai said smiling turning to the other commanders.
"Did you not just hear Marco telling you not to do anything stupid? Or are you just that brain dead?" Kingdew pointed out.
"Hey! I'm not brain dead! And I heard him but it's not anything stupid and we won't get in trouble plus it will totally cheer him up!" Dai said.
"If I kindly ask to not be involved would you?" Namur questioned.
"Nope! After all, you all have to still follow every order that I give for the rest of the day! I still have until the end of dinner to abuse these powers and I will be doing exactly that." Dai stated matter of factly.
o0o
Marco entered the gallery and grabbed a plate before sitting at the commander's table. Just as he sat down Dai excused himself and quickly left the gallery.
"He is up for something isn't he, yoi?" Marco asked looking around the table.
"Do you even need to ask?" Izo mumbled.
"It would just be quicker to just always assume that he is up to something all the time," Kingdew said.
"You know you shouldn't always doubt your fellow commander," Thatch said as he sat at the table.
"Between you, Dai, and Haruta I always have to worry that something is going to happen," Marco told him as he finished off his plate. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to go deal with whatever Dai is up to."
"Have fun!" Thatch yelled after Marco waving.
o0o
Marco made his way back to his room to hear Dai's hushed whispers telling someone to stay still and be quiet. He let out a sigh before he opened his door to be greeted with an interesting sight. On the floor, Dai had arranged a bunch of blankets and pillows into a nest on the floor. Then inside the nest, he had put a bunch of eggs that he probably stole from the fridge. Rose was sitting in the middle smiling at Marco dressed up as a giant blue egg with golden swirls.
"Mama!" Rose yelled startling Dai causing him to drop a few eggs he was trying to arrange.
"O-oh hey mama bird. You got back quicker than I thought you would. Damn bastards were supposed to keep you busy." Dai stuttered as he stood up and hid the now empty carton of eggs behind his back.
"I'll give you a minute to clean up and take the eggs back to the kitchen before we have over-easy Dai for breakfast tomorrow, yoi," Marco said lazily as he glanced over at the now nervous Dai.
"What you don't like your nest?" Dai smirked.
Marco held up three fingers and stared down Dai. Dai didn't seem fazed so Marco put down one of his fingers and looked Dai dead in the eye.
"I'm not a kid Marco, I'm not going to be threatened just because you're counting down," Dai told him.
"You better hurry up and clean up you bastard!" Rose yelled at Dai as she looked at Marco's hand and panicked.
Dai blinked at Rose in surprise at what she had just said. Suddenly he could feel a killing intent directed at him. Dai slowly turned his head to meet Marco's death glare head-on. Before he realized that he had cursed in front of her meaning this was his fault.
"Oh…...now I'm scared," Dai said before he took off running just barely avoiding the flames from Marco.
Marco extinguished his flames before he glanced over at Rose who still sat there smiling at him unaware of what she had said. Marco sighed for like the umpteenth time today before he picked her up and put her in his lap as he sat in the 'nest'.
"Chickling you can't say that word again. It's a no-no word. Okay, yoi?" Marco explained looking into her eyes.
Rose tilted her head to the side confused. "A no-no world?"
"Bastard is not a world you should be saying because it's an adult-only world, yoi," Marco explained to her.
Rose nodded in understanding. "Then I promise not to say that world again until I'm an adult."
Marco smiled and petted the top of her head. "Good. Come on, let's get some sleep, little one it's late and we have a busy day tomorrow."
Rose yawned before she snuggled into Marco's chest. "Mama, can you sing me a lullaby?"
"Of course my chickling," Marco said before he started to sing.
"Hush now my little chickling don't you say a word,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a bluebird,
And if that bluebird won't sing,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a big brother,
And if that big brother doesn't pull a prank,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a diamond,
And if that diamond is too shiny,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a pompadour,
And if that pompadour doesn't cook,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a flower,
And if that flower has a mustache,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a pocket,
And if that pocket won't build,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a lion,
And if that lion has earrings,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a fish,
And if that fish has sharp teeth,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a sword
And if that sword has a beard,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a watermelon,
And if that watermelon has gunpowder,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a weapon expert,
And if that weapon expert is too tall,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a navigator,
And if that navigator is too short,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a helmet,
And if that helmet has horns,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a lance
And if that lance is too fast,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a cigar,
And if that cigar smokes too much,
Whitebeard's gonna get you a geisha,
And if that geisha takes too long,
You'll still be the best pirate around."
Marco glanced down to the now sleeping Rose in his arms. He smiled at her as he gently moved her to be sitting more comfortably in his lap.
"You know you are an awful songwriter," Thatch said as he was leaning on the door frame watching them.
"Well, it was the best I could come up with on the spot," Marco said softly.
"I mean I guess it made sense that you didn't want to sing one of our drinking songs to her," Thatch said as he picked up the eggs spread around the room.
"Well, it's not like she hasn't heard them before. I just thought it would be best to sing an actual lullaby to her, yoi." Marco said as he smiled down at Rose.
"You know if you never became a pirate I think you would have been a great father if you didn't become a pirate." Thatch said as he smiled watching them both.
"I probably still would have run off to become a pirate even if I had a kid of my own. None of us could avoid the call of the sea, yoi," Marco said as he looked up at his friend.
Thatch laughed softly, "Yea you're right there. Everyone on this ship would always make the choice to become a pirate no matter what happens. And I'm sure in the future our little chickling would make the same choice."
"Do you think she would become a pirate, yoi?" Marco questioned as he tried to think of Rose in the future.
"Well, she is being raised on a pirate ship with a bunch of pirates. Plus she has pirate blood running through her there is no way she won't become one. And if I know anything about Ds then I know she is going to cause chaos everywhere she goes. I bet the moment she let loose on the world she is going to cause a storm."
"Our little chickling will be a force to be reckoned with, yoi," Marco said as he tucked her into bed and kissed her forehead.