Ink's Notes:
The idea that I had seemed to have worked wonders, and I managed to get another chapter out~! I'm rather eager to get them to Suna, but I also wanted to have some character interaction, so today's update features quite a bit of conversation.
Thank you for all the kind reviews, by the way~! I'm glad you like the story!
Chapter Thirteen
"So, Edward," TenTen began, "What do you do for a living?"
It was the evening of their first day of travel, and the group had set up camp. Sakura was cooking dinner, and she and TenTen sat across from Lee, who was doing pushups with Marco on his back as added weight. He'd originally asked Sakura and TenTen, but Marco had very pointedly stated that the girls would be too light to provide an effective weight for him, and when Lee was about to say otherwise Marco had shot him one of the most intimidating glares that Sakura had ever seen. After that, Lee had caught on to what he was trying to tell him and quickly asked Marco if he would be willing to do it instead.
Marco adjusted his cross-legged position, which he'd taken so that his weight would be evenly distributed upon Lee's back, and answered. "I'm a sailor, Captain of my crew. We cross the seas, carrying important packages to people who need them. Usually we just stop in port towns, though- any deliveries that need to go inland are handled by shinobi like you guys."
TenTen nodded, and Sakura silently wondered if she would find it impressive that Marco was actually a pirate, or if she'd just be intimidated by the fact.
"And you can fight, right?" she asked, and Marco nodded. "What about the rest of your crew? Do they fight as well?"
"Some of them do," Marco smiled as he fondly recalled his crew, likely still waiting for him somewhere on the Grand Line. "Jozu's more the type to use his fists, but he'll grab anything nearby and throw it if his opponent's the ranged sort. Vista, though, he's great with swords." TenTen lit up at the mention of weapons. "Uses two of them at once. Some people say that flower petals appear when he attacks, so our crew's taken to calling him Flower Sword." Marco grinned. "Personally, I think he's just using a minor genjutsu to mess with people."
Sakura had to suppress a smirk. Minor details like that made his story more believable and people less likely to question him.
"What about you?" TenTen asked. "Do you use a weapon, Edward?"
"Mm, not traditionally," he shrugged, scratching behind his head. "But everyone should either know how to use one or be experienced in physical combat in case they can't access their usual techniques, for some reason. Like, say, if your chakra was sealed?" He glanced at Sakura, who nodded to confirm that this was in fact a thing that could happen.
TenTen let out an exasperated sigh. "I know that all too well. Lee can't actually use chakra-based techniques, so he's focused his training entirely on taijutsu." Marco glanced down at the shinobi who was using him as a weight with a newfound respect. "And our teacher, Guy, makes sure we're up to par with taijustu as well, so if we're running low on chakra or our jutsu are ineffective we can still fight." TenTen hung her head. "I'm grateful, but his training is a bit… over the top sometimes."
Marco shuddered as he attempted to repress the memories of the one time he had agreed to help Guy and Lee train. Sakura noticed his discomfort and quickly changed the topic.
"So, Edward," she let the word hang in the air a moment as she let the awkward feeling of using his fake name get out of her system. Marco turned to face Sakura so she knew that his focus was on her. "Do you think Tsunade will give you more delivery based missions in the future, or will she set you up with other ones?"
"Well, that depends on you guys, doesn't it?" he responded. "On one hand, I have experience with stuff like that," he jabbed a thumb to the box that carried their cargo. At the moment, it was sitting on a wooden sled between them, off to the side of their campfire.
(Marco had insisted on buying said wooden sled before they left the village. Sakura had initially questioned it, but when he put the box on top of the sled to make it easier to transport, she'd thanked him. He'd suggested they take turns pulling it, but Lee had insisted that he would pull it the entire way.)
"But on the other hand, if something happens and you guys determine I'm good at combat, I may get assigned to missions where I'll have to fight." Marco paused, then looked down at Lee, who was still doing pushups. "Hey, maybe you should stop now and save your energy," he frowned.
"But I still have 100 pushups to go!" Lee complained, and Sakura had to stifle her laughter at Marco's dumbfounded expression. TenTen just sighed, used to this behavior. It was at that moment that Sakura finished preparing their dinner, making a plate for herself and TenTen, then repeated the process with Marco and Lee. Marco took this moment to remove himself from Lee's back, and Lee reluctantly ceased his workout early so he could eat.
"If you don't mind me asking," TenTen began, turning to face Marco. "What sort of combat do you specialize in?"
"I'm a hand to hand kind of fighter," Marco responded through bites, and TenTen could only stare in horror at his lack of manners. Sakura was used to it, and Lee was busy eating his own food so he could get back to his workout. "Fists, kicks, headbutts... anything goes on the high seas."
Especially when you're a pirate, Sakura mentally added. Marco took note of the look on her face, and smiled gently at her, to which she smiled in response.
"Y… your manners…" TenTen finally managed to squeak out.
"Hmm?" Marco stopped eating for a moment, wiping some food off of his mouth with his hand. "Oh, yeah. Back on my ship, it was basically a free for all when the food came out. You had to grab what you wanted and eat it as fast as you could; otherwise someone was going to steal it from you. If you had table manners, you lost them. I'll… try and relearn them, though," he let out a small laugh. "No promises."
TenTen managed to force herself to smile, though it was an awkward one that showed just how uncomfortable she was with this situation. Lee, on the other hand, seemed to take this as a challenge, and before long he and Marco were snatching each other's food. Marco was having far more luck than Lee, likely due to his experience in the matter. Sakura facepalmed, while TenTen quietly ate and hoped the two wouldn't start trying to steal from her and Sakura. Five minutes and half of Lee's plate later, the two stopped, Lee grinning that this had "Improved his hand-eye coordination so he would be more efficient with his taijutsu skills", while Marco finished his food and stared up at the sky.
"Edward, what's wrong?" Sakura asked, and Marco adjusted his gaze so he was looking at Sakura.
"Ah, just thinking about my crew," he sighed. "They can handle themselves, so I'm not worried about them, but I miss them. I hope they're not too worried about me."
"Hey, don't worry!" TenTen smiled. "Maybe doing missions will bring you some fame, and they'll hear about it and come looking for you!"
Marco sighed wistfully. "Wouldn't that be great?" he asked, laying back on the ground below him. "It'd be nice to introduce them to all the friends I've made here."
"I'd like to meet them, too. Especially that Vista guy," TenTen mischievously grinned. "I wonder if he'd be willing to have a spar with me?"
Sakura decided to push the topic in another direction for Marco's sake, but it took her a moment to decide where to take it, so she had to wait a little bit before speaking up. "Say, why do you suppose Lady Tsunade didn't have us seal the box into a scroll?"
"A few reasons, I reckon," Marco offered, still looking up at the sky but lifting a finger to count off. "One could be that it's easier to steal in a small form, and if we're ambushed we might not notice someone pickpocket the scroll, but we'd definitely notice them trying to lug away a box." He lifted a second finger. "Another could be that whatever's in there might be something that's either dangerous to keep sealed or needs to have access to at least a little bit of air, and being sealed might not allow that." Finally, he lifted a third finger. "Or, it could be that it's too valuable to risk the scroll being damaged and the contents of the delivery being lost forever."
Sakura momentarily wondered how Marco knew so much about sealing, before realizing that if he were researching Space-Time Ninjutsu, it probably would have come up a few times. She then realized that he had a point, and noted that she shouldn't doubt Tsunade's decisions, since she was the older and wiser shinobi.
Marco stretched. "We all ready to go to bed? Who's got first watch?" he asked.
"Yosh! I will make certain that no nefarious villains attempt to attack us while we sleep!" Lee immediately volunteered, but Marco just gave him a small glare.
"You've been working out nonstop, plus you're on sled duty," Marco pointed out. "If anyone here needs rest, it's going to be you. Working out is good and all, but if you don't give your body a chance to relax, you're only limiting your potential."
Lee nodded at Marco's sagely advice. "I understand, Edward-San! I shall rest so that my youthly energy will be fully restored for the morning!" With that, he immediately began setting up his sleeping bag.
"Right, so Lee's out," TenTen noted, bringing a sweatdropping Sakura and Marco back to attention. "So, what order should we do watches in, and how long should they be?"
"TenTen, do you mind going first?" Marco asked, and she responded by shaking her head. "All right, and… ah, Sakura, are you a morning person?" Sakura thought for a moment, before shaking her head. "In that case, here's what we'll do. TenTen, you take first watch. After about three hours, wake up Sakura, and she'll take the next watch. Sakura, once three hours have passed, wake me up, and I'll keep watch until I think it's a good time for us to continue heading to Suna. Sound good?"
Sakura and TenTen considered it, before voicing their agreement. "All right, don't worry. I'll wake you guys up if something happens!" TenTen exclaimed, bringing her fist up and gripping her elbow with her other hand.
"Thanks, TenTen. We're counting on you," Sakura smiled, before joining Marco in getting their sleeping bags set up.
"Good night, Sakura," he smiled, gently ruffling her hair.
"Good night, Edward," she responded.
As she drifted off to sleep, she could have sworn she heard him mutter something about still not being used to that, but didn't have time to dwell on it as her mind slipped out of consciousness.
And so ends Chapter Thirteen! Nothing bad's happened just yet, but they still have three days of travel, so we'll see how things go.
...Admittedly I'm having quite a bit of fun writing for Lee. I like writing for dorks. And reading about dorks. Maybe that's why I like One Piece so much. That series might as well be called "Everyone Is Secretly A Dork: The Series". Adorable dorks, all of them. And if they're visibly dorks they're just that much more of a dork.
...*cough* Yes. See you next time!
-Ink