Ink's Notes:

Okay so I had a super awesome class today and that put me in a good mood which got me writing which got this to appear. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen

Night had passed without any issue, and so the three shinobi plus one pirate had packed up their things and begun the next leg of their journey. They managed to cover quite a bit of ground by picking up their pace, so the group expected to arrive at Suna at around midday the next day.

Or, at least, they had been expecting to arrive at Suna at around midday the next day. When they set out on the third day, they managed to travel half of the remaining distance before they were ambushed by bandits. Sakura, Lee and TenTen all slid into battle stances, but Marco lifted a hand to motion for them to wait before stepping forward.

"Parley!" he called, and couldn't help but smirk as all parties present stared at him like he'd just said a foreign word.

"Parley?" the bandit leader – a woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail and a mask over her mouth and nose – repeated, confused by the term.

"Ah! You agreed to it!" Marco smiled, outstretching his arms. "That means neither party can attack the other until we come to an agreement!"

TenTen stared at Marco like he was crazy. "…You expect them to agree to that?" she asked, already reaching for a scroll that held one of her weapons.

"Maybe it's something that only applies to the seas?" he shrugged. "It's a term that pirates use to indicate that they'd rather settle things peacefully. Sailors have picked it up in hopes of avoiding unnecessary conflict."

The bandits seemed to shake off their shock and got ready to attack, but their leader lifted a hand to stop them. "Parley, huh? That's interesting. So you want to strike a bargain?" she asked.

Marco seemed briefly surprised, but quickly regained his composure. "If it means we don't have to unnecessarily hurt you," he responded.

The bandit leader stared, then chucked, before she laughed for a solid minute. "You think that you can beat us?" she managed to gasp out once she'd calmed down enough.

"Well, yeah," Marco answered, completely deadpan. "Your crew's stances are sloppy, you yourself are far too boastful and prone to pause when you come across something you don't understand, and the fact that you don't see us as a threat means you're likely to be caught off guard if we actually start fighting."

Silence draped over everyone assembled. Sakura swore she saw a tumbleweed blow past in the distance. She glanced to her side and saw TenTen suppressing a laugh, before returning her gaze to the bandits around them, who looked rather embarrassed. The leader in particular seemed particularly offended, and so Sakura wasn't really shocked when she pulled out a sword and charged Marco. She was, however, shocked when Marco simply swayed to the side, gingerly dodging the erratic swipe.

"Wha-?" the bandit leader yelped, before regaining her composure and continuing to attack Marco. However, he simply continued swaying from side to side, stepping back, moving about in what could be considered a dance as he deftly avoided all of her attacks. When she realized that she wasn't hitting him at all, she turned to look at her fellow bandits. "D-Don't just stand there! Come help me!" she barked, and the group began pulling weapons to move in.

They didn't get much further than a foot before the combined efforts of Sakura, TenTen and Lee rendered them an unconscious heap of bandit. The leader could only stare, dumbfounded, before turning to Marco and laughing nervously.

"So… um… about that 'parley' thing…"

Her response was a punch to the gut that swiftly knocked her unconscious. Marco gently hefted her up and laid her against her fellow bandits.

"Well, that takes care of that," he said, resting his hands behind his head. "Shall we continue on our trip?"

"Shouldn't we tie them up or take them to the authorities?" TenTen asked, motioning to the unconscious bandits.

Marco thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah, too much trouble. They're not exactly a threat, and it's not like they'll do much harm the way they are now. Plus, we don't even know if they're actually outlaws or anything. Just leave them here, they'll probably wake up in about half an hour and head home," he shrugged, before turning and pointing towards Suna. "It's this way, right?"

Lee nodded and took charge of pulling the sled, Sakura and TenTen following close behind. "Edward-San!" Lee exclaimed as he pulled up next to Marco. "How did you avoid those attacks so well?"

"Ah… that?" Marco scratched his cheek as he thought of how to phrase it. "Observation, I guess. Watch or engage in enough fights and you learn to predict what sort of moves your opponent will make based on body language."

Sakura determined that he had actually been using Observation Haki, and vowed to make him teach her how to use it when they had some time alone.

The group walked in relative silence, before picking their pace up to a run to make up for lost time. Lee became determined that it was a race between the group, and Marco had to talk him down by pointing out that if he went too fast he might damage their parcel, and that would be – (Marco sighed before saying) – "Very un-youthful of him." Lee looked as if he'd been hit by an arrow before rambling about how foolish he had been to immediately jump to the conclusion that he had, and that he would think things through better in the future.

It was at this point that Sakura wondered how Marco knew exactly what to say to motivate Lee, and TenTen started taking mental notes on how to get Lee to do what she wanted him to do.

As Suna became gradually more visible, Sakura turned to Marco. "Say, Edward," she began as the group slowed down slightly, "That 'parley' term… when did pirates begin using it?"

"Ah… they don't, really," Marco admitted.

Sakura took a minute to process what he was saying. "You… mean you made it up?" she asked, largely from sheer disbelief.

"Well, yeah. Gotta use your head, you know?" he tapped the side of his head with a grin. "Better to get them mad and disorganized in their attack patterns than to let them use practiced precision." Sakura frowned, then lightly punched him in the arm. "Hey, what was that for?" Marco asked.

"That was for lying your way out of a confrontation," she pouted, crossing her arms.

Marco smirked and ruffled her hair. "You're just mad because you didn't think of it."

"I am not!" Sakura protested as the group approached Suna's gates.

And so ends the chapter! ...Lee is way too much fun to manipulate, I don't know why. And yes, the parley thing came from Pirates of the Caribbean. I thought it would be funny to use it, but then I realized that it's never made any appearances in One Piece, so I just had Marco make it up.

Thanks for reading~!

-Ink