In all honesty, Marco hadn't the slightest clue when he cracked his heavy eyes open. It took too long to remember that the reason it was dark was because he was in a tree. And why he was in a tree rushed to him too fast. His head felt like it was splitting and his whole body throbbed and ached. Marco was cold, hungry, beyond thirsty which led him to wonder just how long he had been held up in a godforsaken tree. His only, if not minimal, source of relief was the warmth to this right that he had no qualms curling into. Until it groaned when he leaned too much of his weight on said warmth's arm.

"S'rry." He muttered as he leaned back, just barely able to make out the exhausted wave of Ace's right hand. Marco sighed only to have to clear his throat, he was so thirsty.

"I'd give up my hat for some water right now." His companion's voice was rough, almost guttural and borderline gone. Ace had to clear his own throat and then clear it again. "That is, if I still had my hat." Marco had only just realized it was gone. Or just remembered, his head was still too scattered to tell. "Fucking marines." Ace's voice had gone tight before it broke into a harsh cough.

Alarms rang in Marco's head as Ace struggled to cover up the noise. Even as foggy as his mind was, Marco could tell something was wrong. His throat was dry and scratchy which made him want to cough himself but not in this body shuttering way Ace was. He was knocked out of his mind when Ace's shoulder bumped his.

"Just really thirsty, old man." Ace smiled, a pale replica of what it usually is. Marco shook his head, ready to protest when Ace sighed and continued on. "We need to get out of this fucking tree, now that you finally are aware enough." This time his smile was a little brighter, though it did little to quell Marco's nerves. "You picked a hell of a time to go senial." Marco huffed and bumped his shoulder into Ace.

Ace laughed, a pathetic wheezing sort of sound and Marco found that his own didn't sound much better. Yet it felt better. Marco couldn't ignore that Ace was obviously getting, or was already sick. But the fact that he was still more than willing enough to joke around eased his nerves.

"Shut up and let's get the hell out of this tree and find some water." Marco sighed. He'd drool over the thought of some water if his saliva wasn't all dried up.

"Water that doesn't have a thick coat of slime would be prefered." Marco furrowed his brows and looked to Ace. Ace just saw his expression and raised one brow in return. His eyes darted to Marco's head before back to meet his eyes again, face losing some of that mirth. Ace just snorted. "Guess losing consciousness saved you from a nice mouthful of the scummy water that broke our fall." Marco hummed, that would help explain Ace's cough, just barely remember that they had fallen at all.

"Didn't save either of us from smelling like shit though." Marco wished that Ace hadn't brought that to his attention. "And forget trying to clean it off. It just smears from your arms and legs to your hand and back to your arms." He couldn't help but snort at the way Ace glared at his hand.

"All the more reason we need to find some water." Finally Marco began to move and his body protested each movement. Each very slow and stiff movement. His only consolation, and probably only reprieve from jokes about creaky, old joints, was that Ace was moving just as slow. With a deep sigh he carefully removed the thorny brush and crawled outside. And immediately slammed his eyes shut from the light that assaulted his eyes.

It felt like forever of slow movements and adjusting to the light until they were finally out of the tree. Marco and Ace just sat in the damp grass, neither of them making to stand up quite yet. Marco noticed that Ace was right, they were absolutely filthy. His own hands were caked with dried muck, suddenly sitting uncomfortably under his nails. Looking up he could almost laugh at the smears on Ace's face. Evidently clear about the failed attempt that was trying to wipe it off. Marco didn't even want to know how he looked.

"We can't just sit here." Ace suddenly said. Marco wondered just how much time had passed. His inability to focus was going to drive him insane. "I haven't heard any marines lately but that doesn't mean they're not out there."

"You're right and with our luck they're doubling back." Marco sighed as he shifted himself. Getting to his feet was not going to be fun. Despite his numbed legs and wobbly knees, Marco stood up along with Ace. One thing down, a hundred more to go.

"I'd like to find us some water-" Marco sighed, he'd give anything for some water "-but we can't just aimlessly wonder about."

"So we go back to the beach." Marco looked over to him, skeptically with one brow raised.

"You mean back to the place we ran from in the first place?" Marco couldn't help his tone, couldn't help but sound a little snide at the suggestion. "The place filled with marines that are ready to shoot first and never ask questions?"

"They'd never expect it." Ace smiled deviously, Marco decided not to dignify that with a response. "Think about it, Marco. They have water and probably a snail we can contact Pops with. We can sneak right in."

"You're oversimplifying and under planning." Marco sighed.

"You got something better?" Marco looked to Ace, holding eye contact. No he didn't and worst was he couldn't ever wrack his brain for one. "You said it yourself, we can't just wander around." Ace grew quiet, his joint hand brushing Marco's. "And as much as I hate to say it we're desperate and in no shape to fight." They were really desperate if Ace was stepping down from a fight. Marco sighed and nodded his head, resigning to their only option.

"Okay … let's go." Marco remained close to Ace as he shuffled one foot forward and then the other, keeping his arm loose so as to not tug at his companion's. Ace had taken a deep breath beside him and stepped one foot forward. Marco didn't have the time to register what happened when Ace dropped with a muffled cry, bringing Marco down with him.

Marco steadied his dizzy mind and snapped his attention to Ace. He was leaning heavily on his left side. His jaw was clenched, eyes squeezed shut and brows furrowed low, clearly in pain. Doing a onceover, Marco was quick to notice Ace's free hand just hovering over his right thigh. Marco's brow lowered as she shuffled forward, leaning on his left so he didn't pull Ace's left from under him. Firm but gently he moved Ace's free hand away from his leg.

"What happe-"

"'M fine."

"Don't-" Marco snapped "-pull that with me." As gently as he could he began to inspect Ace's pants. "Now wha-" Marco inhaled sharply, pulling away the fabric that was torn on the side of his leg. There was a deep gash in his leg that ran all the way across the side. The skin around it was a deep red and the cut itself oozed, clearly infected.

A bullet wound, penetrating through the thigh but close enough to the edge that it broke open the skin across the width of the leg. It should have been cleaned and sewn right away, instead it was left to fester for a whole day, maybe even two. Not to mention the contact with bacteria infested water. Marco thought about the warmth he felt from Ace, how comforting and familiar it was. His eyes darted to the cuff covering his wrist. He should have realized that it wasn't the inner fire Ace harbored, he had a fever.

So on top of exhaustion, Ace was fighting a possible lung infection and a deep laceration that was definitely infected that was quickly on its way to sepsis. Marco snapped his eyes to Ace's, who darted his away as soon as they met. He couldn't tell if Ace's cheeks were just red from fever or from the shame he wore. Marco almost felt bad but his fear and anger won out.

"What the fuck?" He probably should have been a little more eloquent. "God dammit Ace, why didn't you fucking say anything?" Fuck being eloquent, this was too serious for civility.

"The fuck could I say?" Ace snapped defensively. "Hey! Got shot in the leg. Remember when we tumbled down the side of a fuckin' mountain? No you fuckin' don't 'cause you're hardly conscious." Ace nearly jabbed Marco's head where he suddenly became keenly aware of the bandage wrapped around it. "Sorry, that was my fault!"

Marco didn't remember the mountain. He remembers falling and being nearly dragged through mud before ending up in a tree. He suddenly felt terribly guilty that Ace had to nearly carry Marco's entire weight on a hurt leg. With a deep inhale he tried to quell his anger. It would do either of them any good.

"Why did you waste the bandages you had left on my head?" Marco asked more evenly and calmly. "You should have treated this Ace. I'll heal, the moment these cuffs are off this doesn't matter." 'You won't' was left unsaid.

"An infection on the head seemed like a higher priority to prevent." Ace sounded a little deflated. Neither of them had it in them to argue it seems, least of all with one another. "Plus, soon as the cuffs are off … I won't heal like you but I can easily burn off the infection." He shrugged his right shoulder.

"Ace" Mako sighed, using his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "You're right, you won't heal like me. The moment these cuffs are off I'll heal completely." He brought his hand back to Ace's leg and peeled the fabric away again. "And this is more serious than a little scratch on the head."

"Was more than just a scratch."

"But it wasn't something that took a while to stop bleeding, did it?" They stared at each other for a moment, Ace's jaw clenched tightly. It felt like minutes before Ace's shoulder sagged and he let out a breath.

"Look-" he sounded as exhausted as he looked "- I didn't even realize at first, okay?" His free hand reached up and aggressively scratched at his hair. "Everything happened so fast. I knew I got hurt and that's why we fell but I didn't realize it tore in my leg that deep." His gray eyes roamed the grass for a moment before taking another deep breath. "It was my fault we fell and you were completely out of it, I couldn't just ignore your hurt like that. I didn't expect it to get so bad so fast." Ace admitted quietly. Marco reached up and slapped the back of his head.

"Ow, the fuck was th-"

"First of all it's not your fault, idiot. You were shot, it's the marine's fault."

"That doesn't mean I cou-"

"And second." Marco's hand brushed Ace's face, stilling him. Ace met his eyes once again. He held it there for a moment before resting it on the freckled, filthy shoulder. "You know what sea stone does to us, right?" Ace huffed, ready to be offended but Marco didn't give him the chance. "It nullifies the effect of the devil fruits. But it's not so simple. We are our devil fruits, we are our powers." Ace tilted his head slightly, one brow raised. People underestimated how curious and willing to learn he was. "It's why we feel so weak when we have it on. It doesn't just nullify our abilities it actually weakens our entire bodies. Including our ability to fight back … anything." Marco watched as Ace's brows furrowed and he slowly looked to the ground, realizing what that meant.

"Fuck marines" Ace suddenly said with a huff. Marco paused for a moment before he snorted. He didn't know why but as the second passed the funnier it became until Marco was in full blown laughter. Ace was quick to follow suit. Both finding themselves laying upon the grass as their laughter ebbed.

"Fuck marines" Marco echoed when they finally fell silent. It was a sentiment that he certainly could live by.

"So … to the beach?" Ace said before sitting up, a low groan following the movement . Marco just looked up at him entirely unamused before sitting up. Not even ashamed that he echoed the same groan while sitting up.

"With that leg?" He shook his head and sighed. "You can hardly stand, we need to come up with a new plan." Glancing towards Ace, he groaned again at Ace's furrowed brows. He was quite familiar with this look. "That's not a challenge." Marco stated the moment Ace began to slowly push himself up.

"What's that, I can't hear you over me standing up just fine." Ace replied through gritted teeth, trying to play off like each movement wasn't borderline agonizing. Part of Marco wanted to blame Ace's fever but he knew Ace better by now. This was just how he was and it's why Marco was pushing himself to his feet as well. Might as well try to prevent Ace from hurting himself further, Ace certainly wasn't going to do it.

"You're so stubborn" Marco muttered under his breath, though not bothering to try and keep it from Ace. As expected Ace didn't dignify it with a response. Without asking and not wanting Ace to move yet, Marco moved across Ace so he could loop Ace's free arm over his shoulder. "We're not infiltrating the base" ignoring Ace's own mutterings about being babied, Marco began to step forward.

"Of course not, we have to scout it first."

"And if it's still littered with marines?"

"Then we wait for an opening."

"If there isn't one?"

"Wouldn't be my first time having to sneak pass a flock of idiots."

"You certainly would know all about flocks of idiots."

"Yeah, I had to shack up with them so they'd stop dunking me in the damn water."

"Ah, if they were the idiots then what does that make you?"

"A damn fool I guess."

They laugh through their bickering, an almost desperate attempt to ignore the humid heat. To ignore the ache that permeated throughout their bodies. Ace heavily limped and Marco could feel his elevated heat seeping through his shirt. Each step was slow and short but neither of them said anything about it as they walked on. It was painful, it was stupid but it was a plan and they were going to stick with it.