Ink's Notes:

Hello! Sorry this took so long. There's some stuff going on and I'd rather not talk about it but it seems to be calming down now. At least, I hope. Anyway, this one's a pretty big chapter, so I won't delay you any longer. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Eleven

Tsunade's eyes went from Edward, to Sakura, back to Edward, before she voiced her thoughts on the matter. "Sakura. Marco is a bird. Edward is a human. He can't be-"

She was interrupted when Edward lifted his hand and shook his head.

"Lady Tsunade," Sakura slowly spoke as she regained her composure. "I… Marco told me that he was a human who had been turned into a bird. And I recognize his voice. This… this is definitely Marco." Tears began to form in her eyes. She felt betrayed somehow, like he'd only been using her.

"Sakura…" Edward- no, Marco- frowned. He looked upset with himself. "…I was planning on telling you soon. I would never keep a secret from my nakama – my family." He got up from his chair, then pulled her into a hug. "I kept putting it off because I thought you might react this way, and because I knew you probably wouldn't believe me, yoi. I... I'm sorry." Tsunade cleared her throat, and while Marco turned his attention to her, he didn't let go of Sakura. "I'm afraid I don't trust you enough to tell you the full truth, Hokage-san," he frowned, slightly upset because of the interruption. "But I'll give you the basics. I plan on telling Sakura everything, though, and if she thinks you can handle it, I'll give her permission to tell you."

Sakura wiped her tears, starting to feel a bit better. Finding out Marco was able to become a human again on his own, plus that he was apparently researching jutsu in secret, had made her feel like he was just using her as a cover story. His saying he'd been planning on telling her had made her feel a little bit better. Him calling her his nakama – his family – had helped even more. But when he'd told Tsunade that he didn't trust her, and that he would only tell the full story to Sakura, she knew that it wasn't a lie. He was still Marco. He was just worried about telling her something he thought she wouldn't believe.

Marco loosened his grip on Sakura, and she pulled herself out of his arms, allowing him to properly face Tsunade. Sakura herself took a few steps backwards to give him some space. "Basically, my crew and I were attacked by a powerful enemy. He used a jutsu on me, and I wound up in the area." Marco scratched behind his head. "I decided to scout the area as a phoenix, but then those traders captured me. I was planning on breaking out on my own, but then Sakura came in, and… well… turning back to myself would have just freaked her out, yoi. I wanted to keep a low profile so I could get a better grip on my situation." He sighed. "Like I said, I'm just trying to get home. I figured those ninjutsu would be able to help me do that."

"Um," Shizune spoke up, and Sakura jumped slightly, having forgotten that she was in the room due to her emotional state. "Forgive me for asking, but… you implied you could willingly change between your bird and human forms?"

Marco looked up at the ceiling. "You want me to demonstrate, yoi."

"If it's possible," she confirmed with a nod. Sakura moved closer to Shizune, and Tsunade began watching him intently, as if hoping to better understand the man.

Marco sighed. "Don't worry. It won't burn anything." Before any of them could ask, blue flames wrapped around his body. Sakura jumped backwards in shock, while Shizune slipped into a battle stance. Tsunade just kept her eyes on the flames as they enveloped the man, watching the form fade within the fire. The flames began to shift, outstretching into wings, forming into talons and a head, gathering and compressing into a body…

Only a few seconds had passed, but where a man had once stood, the phoenix that Sakura had grown so accustomed to having around was hovering in midair. He lowered himself onto the chair he'd once been sitting on.

"As I introduced myself to you on day one," he smiled. "Marco the Phoenix."

"Tama!" The former missing-nin in question looked up upon hearing his name called, turning to face Sakura and the phoenix that was once again perched on her shoulder.

"Sakura! I see you found Marco!" he smiled, shaking her hand. He lifted a hand to Marco, who shook it with his wing. "Where was he?"

"In the Hokage's office," Sakura sighed, rubbing her forehead. She would rather not explain the whole thing to him, but she had a feeling that he'd had a rough idea.

Her suspicions were confirmed when, after making sure no one was listening, he leaned forward and asked in a hushed voice, "So Marco was the one they were questioning?"

"Yes," Sakura frowned. "How did you know that he's… well…" She would have continued, but there were people around.

"The reason I was calling him a monster when we first met," he explained. "When we were fighting, I thought I was imagining it, but his wing turned into an arm, and…"

Sakura turned her head to look at Marco, and he sighed, shaking his head. "I'll explain later, yoi," was the only explanation he gave.

"Admittedly, part of the reason was because I was afraid of him, because what kind of bird is that strong?" Tama pointed out. "But the more I thought about it, the more I kept thinking back to what I thought was a genjutsu of sorts, and how when I was temporarily blinded it felt like I was being attacked by a human and not a bird… I didn't have any proof, so I didn't say anything, but… well…" He looked at Marco. "I don't think they'd keep him around while questioning someone suspicious, nor would they question a bird, especially when that bird is an ally of Konoha."

Sakura smiled. She somehow felt better knowing that she at least had someone besides Tsunade and Shizune to talk to about Marco. Maybe she'd include him on the admittedly short list of people she told his story, provided she didn't think it was too hard to believe.

A growl cut into her thoughts, and her gaze followed Tama's to Marco, who had a wing on his stomach and was looking rather embarrassed. "...Can we get some food? They didn't give me any. I'm starving, yoi."

Tama sighed. "If he's starving, can we split the bill? After seeing him eat when hungry on the way back from that mission, I'd rather not pay for a starving Marco." Sakura sympathized, then wondered if perhaps Marco would begin taking missions for the village now that Tsunade knew he was actually a human. It'd make paying for things a lot easier, especially considering how much he could eat.

Sakura closed the door to her apartment, and Marco left her shoulder, gliding into the living room before he shifted into his human form once again. She had to admit, it would take some getting used to, but he'd told her that he would remain in phoenix form if it made her more comfortable. He just wanted to be a human when he was telling her what happened for some reason.

Once she'd locked the door, Sakura took a seat at the kitchen table across from Marco, who had made himself comfortable but was still fidgeting. She rested her arms on the table, leaned forward, and prepared herself for what she hoped was a story that wasn't too hard to believe. Considering how Marco appeared to be mentally preparing himself, it seemed like her hopes were about to be crushed, but the least she could do was brace herself for his sake.

After a moment, Marco took a deep breath, exhaled, and rested his arms on the table. "All right, Sakura. Before I begin, I just want to say something. You know I consider you my family. I would never lie to my family, because I know that they'll have to learn the truth sooner or later, and sometimes the truth hurts more when you've been lied to for a long time. Everything that I'm about to tell you is the honest truth, no matter how hard it is to believe. I'm going to be talking about things that might make your head spin, might make you question my sanity… but everything I'm telling you is the truth. You understand, right?"

Sakura looked into his eyes, and saw that he was desperately hoping that she did. She responded by nodding and letting him continue.

"All right… I'm just going to get the biggest one out of the way first," he sighed. "I'm not from this world."

The words hung in the air for a moment as Sakura processed them.

"What?" she managed to squeak out. "But- how- you said a jutsu-"

He shook his head. "I lied. It wasn't a jutsu, but it was similar. I'll get to that in a moment, but… do you have a paper and a pen?"

Shaking, Sakura stood up and retrieved the items he'd asked for. She placed them on the table in front of him, and he picked up the pen and began to draw. Once he was finished, he'd drawn two vertical lines in the center of the paper, and four going horizontally across the center of the map, the center two lines further apart from each other than the outer two lines were to the center lines. He labeled the top left section "North Blue", the top right corner "East Blue", the bottom right corner "South Blue", the bottom left corner "West Blue", the vertical divide in the center "Red Line", the two smaller horizontal divides "Calm Belt" and the final horizontal divide "Grand Line".

"This," he tapped the paper with his finger, "Is an approximate map of my world. Everything on this map aside from the Red Line is water. That's how I knew I wasn't in my own world when I arrived."

"But then where do people live?" Sakura asked, already having trouble wrapping her head around the whole thing.

"Islands," Marco explained. "Scattered throughout the blues and the Grand Line are various islands, each with different kinds of climates. It's… hard to explain, and not really necessary, so I won't bother with all of that." Sakura internally thanked him as he continued. "Anyway, partly because of the fact that the world's covered in so much water, but mostly because of a man named Gol D. Roger, there are two main forces in my world." He lifted two fingers. "Pirates and Marines. I'm one of the former." Before Sakura could say anything, he motioned for her to wait. "There's also subsets of each type. Pirates in particular have two types – Morganeers and Peace Mains. Morganeers are the type you're probably thinking of right now, the sort who attack villages, pillage, plunder, that sort of thing. Peace Mains are the sort who hang a pirate flag for the sake of adventure or being free. They generally won't attack people unless they've hurt someone they care about." Sakura felt herself relaxing, and Marco smiled. "As you may have gathered, I'm a Peace Main. Acting Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates."

"Acting Captain?" Sakura asked, and Marco's face slid into a frown.

"Our former Captain, Edward Newgate – also known as Whitebeard, though we all called him Pops – died in a war. As the first mate and First Division Commander, I was left to take charge of the crew," he explained, staring at the map in front of him.

It was Sakura's turn to frown. Edward Newgate was the name he'd used when he was keeping his identity a secret from Tsunade. Now that she knew the origins of the name… it was taking a combination of her willpower and the fact that he was still telling his story to keep her from leaping over the table and hugging him.

"Now, in my world, people don't use chakra, or jutsu, or anything like that. There are three options instead. The first is to train in martial arts, or learn to use a weapon, or some other form of combat that will help keep you safe or allow you to fight. The second is Haki, which is a technique based on spirit and willpower. Haki itself is divided into three sub-types: Armament, Observation, and Conquerer's. Conquerer's is a one in a million chance, and not many people have it, but anyone can learn Armament and Observation."

"Armament? Observation?" Sakura asked, now genuinely curious. If anyone could learn those things, then maybe he could teach her.

Marco nodded. "Armament Haki is like wearing some sort of armor." He lifted his arm, and it became coated in a black color. Sakura stared, recognizing this from their fight with Ryo. "It ups your physical strength, allowing you to both hit harder and defend yourself better. It also lets you hit people using a technique to change the composition of their bodies." Sakura nodded as the black coating left his arm, and he rest it on the table again. "Observation Haki, on the other hand, lets you sense presences and predict an opponent's movements. It can also give you an idea of how strong somebody is."

Sakura came to a realization. "Oh! That's how you were able to tell when someone was watching us, and how you always seem to know when someone's coming!"

Marco nodded. "That's right, yoi," he smiled. "As far as the third option goes, it's about the closest to jutsu people from my world will get. It's why I'm able to turn into a phoenix, and it's also why I'm here."

Sakura leaned forward.

"They're called Devil Fruits. No one's really sure about their origins, though most people say they're fruit created by the devil himself and born from the sea. Eating one gives you incredible powers in exchange for your ability to swim. If you get about waist-deep in water, you become weak and in some cases unable to use your ability, and if you fall into the water you sink like a hammer and are unable to move on your own," Marco explained.

"And people eat those in a world covered by water?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

Marco smirked. "They're really useful, even if they do taste terrible. A lot of Pirates and Marines have eaten them. There are three types – Paramecia, Logia and Zoan. Paramecia is a sort of catch-all category. They give the eater some sort of weird ability. Pops ate a Paramecia that gave him the power to create vibrations. In his hands, he could create earthquakes, crack the sky, cause tsunamis…" Sakura shuddered at Marco's casual description. "The Marines often claimed he had the power to destroy the world, and called him 'The Strongest Man in the World'." Marco let out a happy sigh. "Pops was a great man and a great Captain…"

He stared at the ceiling for a moment, before Sakura gently coughed to get him to continue.

"Right… next is Logia. They're considered the most rare of the Devil Fruits. They give the eater the ability to control, create and become some sort of element. One of my nakama, Portgas D. Ace, ate a Logia type that gave him the ability to become fire. They called him 'Fire Fist Ace'. He was the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander. Logia are widely regarded as the strongest of the Devil Fruits, but anyone with Armament Haki can deal damage to them even if they become immaterial, and since Armament Haki can be infused into weaponry, it can often be fatal for them…"

Sakura understood what he was getting at and decided to step in. "And Zoan?"

Marco nodded a silent thanks before he continued. "I myself ate a Zoan type. Zoan types allow the user to shapeshift, so to speak. They can become an animal, or…" He lifted his arm, and flames wrapped around it until it was a phoenix wing. "An animal-human hybrid. Zoan types get all the benefits of whatever species they turn into. I myself ate a Mystical Zoan type that allows me to turn into a phoenix." He let the flames die down, and his arm returned to normal. "Hence my nickname, 'Marco the Phoenix'."

"I'm… guessing that it's because of a Devil's Fruit user that you're here?" Sakura asked.

Marco nodded in response. "Before he died, Pops was the Captain of one of four Pirate crews known as the Yonko – the Four Emperors. Four powerful Pirate Crews who ruled over the latter half of the Grand Line, often protecting islands they either like or their friends and allies live on." He tapped the part of the map that Sakura assumed he was talking about. "There's a few options when it comes to dealing with the Yonko. The first is to just leave them alone. If you don't do anything to get them upset, then they won't usually bother with you. The second is to fall under their command and become their allies. The third…" Marco sighed. "Is to go against them."

"But if they're so powerful, why would anyone go against them?" Sakura asked.

"Some Pirates are just like that," Marco responded. "Sometimes they want to show the world how strong they are. Some of the Yonko aren't nice people and have angered a crew of Peace Mains in some way. It just depends on the situation. The Whitebeard Pirates, being a former Yonko crew, are a kind of gray area. After Pops' death, we were no longer considered a Yonko crew, since that bastard Teach-" Marco clenched his fists, and blue flames wrapped around them, before he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "-Took over most of Pops' old territories."

Sakura wondered who this 'Teach' was, but judging by Marco's reaction to him, he wasn't someone she wanted to know about just yet.

"Since we were a former Yonko crew, we could still be attacked as a display of power, but without the consequences of dealing with allies of that Yonko crew. As a result, more Pirate crews would attack us, and we'd have to deal with fighting them off. The latest of those was a group led by a Pirate who ate a Devil's Fruit that gave him the ability to teleport."

Sakura was smart enough to understand where this was going.

"Crews in the New World are strong, so it's not like it was an easy battle. His teleporting made him hard to hit, but I could feel him out with my Haki and managed to wear him down. As a last-ditch effort, he tried teleporting me, and the next thing I knew, I was here." Marco rubbed his forehead. "I decided to scout in my phoenix form and see where I was, since if I'd landed on an island in the area I could reasonably call my crew and meet up with them somewhere, but I had no idea what jutsu were or how anything in this world worked, so I wound up captured by traders. That was when I met you." He sighed. "When you brought me here, I figured I'd be able to check around the library and find something that could help me get back home to my family. But the more time I spent doing it, the more I felt bad because it felt like I was using you to do that, so I decided to tell you… then I got caught by your friends, and, well, you know the rest."

Marco had to stumble in order to keep his balance when the table was thrown to the side by Sakura, who closed the distance between them and embraced him in a hug.

"It's okay," she smiled. "I understand. I'm your nakama – your family. Of course I understand." Marco found himself smiling as he hugged her back. "If it means that much to you, I'll help you find a way back. Even if- even if it'll be sad to see you go." She released him, pulling away as she forced herself to smile, despite the tears she felt forming in her eyes. "Because it's important to you, and family helps each other, and-"

"Sakura," Marco's smile didn't leave his face. "How would you like to join the Whitebeard Pirates?"

And so ends this chapter. It got kind of long, and for that I apologize. But we finally know how Marco wound up in the wonderful world of Naruto! Maybe when I have more spare time, I should write a fanfic about the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates forcing the teleport-y guy to bring them to where he sent Marco, but because it was a last-ditch effort, he's not sure where he sent Marco so they wind up somewhere completely different, and end up going from world to world looking for Marco with this teleporting guy being how they get from Point A to Point B to Point Q. Alternatively, I could have them show up at a later date... well, we'll see how things go, aye?

In other, totally unrelated news, I had a dumb thought about a potential line from either Tobi or Madara when they're interacting for whatever reason. "If you're Madara, and I'm Madara, then who's driving the plane?" ...Yes, dumb, I know, but these sorts of things happen when I'm trying to sleep. Sometimes I worry about myself.

I think I should just close things up before I start rambling, as I'm prone to doing sometimes... see you next chapter, whenever I get that done!

-Ink