Ink's Notes:

It would appear that I've written another chapter. Whoops. Or is it not-whoops? Anyway. This one's a bit shorter than the others, but I suppose some of the chapters have to be. In other news, I've decided which characters will be showing up from the One Piece world. Not counting Marco, Vivi and Carue, there are six other characters who will be making appearances. I'm planning on having a chapter to introduce them without actually introducing them (...if that makes sense), so when that comes around you guys can feel free to try and guess who's who based on the clues given in those chapters. So... I think that might be it...

Actually, I'd really like to get to know all you guys better! If there's anything you want to know about me, feel free to ask, and if you want to introduce yourselves to me go right ahead! I'm all for making new friends!

Anyway, on to the chapter!

Chapter Nineteen

Sakura had been about to open the window for Marco when she heard the knocking on her door. She told Vivi to make herself comfortable and checked to see who it was, then promptly found herself unable to form coherent words as she opened it fully to let Shikamaru in. He entered the room, and Marco left his shoulder in favor of Sakura's, settling down and nuzzling his head against hers.

"I missed this," he smiled, then when Sakura closed the door, he sighed. "Add Shikamaru to the list of people who know."

Sakura sputtered a moment before looking over at Shikamaru, who was petting Carue. "He- how-"

"Figured it out through a few clues," Shikamaru explained. "When I called him out on it, Marco filled me in on his situation."

"So… that means that you know…" Vivi cautiously spoke.

"That you're here trying to regain your memories, and all three of you got hit by a strange jutsu that sent you to this part of the world." Vivi internally sighed in relief, and Sakura figured that Marco had given him his cover story. "So was anyone else hit by that jutsu?"

The group exchanged glances, but it was Marco who spoke up. "We're not sure, yoi. I was probably the last victim, but Vivi doesn't remember if he was bragging about having sent anyone else here or not."

Shikamaru nodded. "All right. Don't worry about me telling people, it'd be too troublesome to have to explain this whole thing." He scratched behind his head and closed his eyes. "But be careful, Marco. There are shinobi who might be interested in your abilities."

The group bid Shikamaru a farewell, and once he was out the door and they'd closed it behind him, Marco sighed and shifted back into his human form. When Sakura looked at him in confusion, he explained. "You said we would try a basic jutsu when we got back to Konoha."

"Oh- That's right!" Sakura nodded, then thought for a moment. "How about a basic clone technique? If you could successfully pull that off, we could have Edward and Marco in the same place at the same time," she reasoned.

Marco nodded, and Sakura began talking him through the basics of channeling chakra and how jutsu worked. Vivi and Carue listened intently, but when Sakura produced some leaves for the group to try spinning, neither was able to get theirs to move at all. Marco's leaf, on the other hand, wound up bursting into blue flames. When the fires had died down, though, the leaf was not a pile of ash like the group had expected, but rather had been restored to perfect health, as if it were still on the tree that it had come from.

The group didn't understand it at first, but when they brainstormed why that had happened, it was Vivi who came up with an explanation. "Perhaps it has to do with the fact that you're a phoenix, Marco-San?" she offered. "Phoenixes are known to have restorative flames."

"I can heal myself and regenerate when I'm in phoenix form, or by having my fire cover areas where I've been injured," Marco nodded contemplatively.

"So, perhaps by channeling your… well, it's not chakra, but by channeling whatever it is you have that's similar enough to chakra into the leaf, it registered that leaf as part of you and healed it to perfect condition," Vivi reasoned.

Sakura and Marco nodded. It certainly made enough sense when she phrased it that way. Sakura looked over at Marco. "Maybe when you get good enough at this, you can learn some healing jutsus," she offered. "I'm sure that would be helpful for your crew when you're sailing."

Marco nodded, patting her on the head and ruffling her hair. "Let's start with simple things first," he stated. Sakura nodded and began guiding him through the steps to create a basic clone. He followed along, slowly at first, then progressively faster until he was able to do it without her guidance. "All right. Here we go…" Marco inhaled, exhaled, and then went through the steps again, this time channeling the required energy for the technique.

A spiral of blue fire formed next to him, and Sakura, Vivi and Carue all jumped backwards in shock. Marco himself looked over at the column of flames that had formed, regarding it with curiosity as it died down. Their eyes followed the flames down to the ground where the spiral had started up, and everyone was left dumbfounded at the sight before them.

There, right in the center of the area the flames had just been, was a miniature version of Marco's phoenix form, no bigger than a bluebird, sitting on the floor. It looked up, around, and then over at Marco, making a few chirping noises.

"…Yeah, I'm in agreement here," Marco frowned. "What."

MINI BIRD MARCO

...yeah that's all I have to say. See you next time!

-Ink