Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece
Aiko and Marco walked through the streets of an exceptionally high class town full of gossiping citizens, all of them speaking in hushed tones, but the two pirates trained ears could still clearly pick up on what they were saying. Marco had been skeptical about going down and docking on this no name island because even from the ship the two –well, he, since Aiko was thrown over his shoulder at the time- could see the overly large golden building right smack in the middle of the island burning to the ground. It was quite the sight. The building was undoubtedly the main attraction of the island seeing as how everyone decided to up and talk about it, like a fire had never happened before.
Aiko was looking around distastefully at the people around her, they were all well-dressed and had an overly pompous way of speaking, as if they were so much better than the rest of the world. These guys, no matter how she looked at it, had their superior ego filled complex heads so far up their asses that they didn't seem to notice just how ugly they were. What the hell was up with this place? There was no doubt in her mind that these people were nobles. Were all nobles this god damned ugly? She had never, not once in her life met a good looking noble. Maybe, someday…
The two pirates seemed so out of place, what with Marco's dark sandals, scruffy pants and open jacket completely exposing lean muscle and Aiko's espadrilles, blue knee length pumpkin shorts and dark brown top leaving her midriff bare for the world to see, compared to the nobles who were all wearing form fitting uncomfortable looking dresses and some form of pressed suit. She could feel the eyes of disgustingly fat and greedy men follow her as if she were just another common prostitute that they could pay to do whatever they wanted. Like they could throw a wad of cash at her and make her submit to their will. She scoffed, as if she'd let such vile creatures even lay a finger on her, she had standards, not that these people could see that.
She could hear the whispers around them increase in volume.
"Look at those two! Ugh!"
"What are people like that doing here?"
"That woman walking around like a whore!"
"That man has a tattoo!"
"She should just go and skimp around somewhere else!"
"I've never even seen two people dress so disgustingly!"
"Don't look, son!"
She rubbed the back of her head in an annoyed manner as she watched Marco, who as usual had on his perfectly bored expression. She had to hand it to him, he was good at ignoring people when he wanted to. The pair quickly walked towards a random direction, hoping to find a place where they could restock on some ingredients, mostly spices and seasonings for their meals. They walked into what had to be the market, because there were finally normal people. They were vendors of the small food stalls. She almost let out a breath in relief at seeing the people selling things in such a lively manner, even if some eyes still followed her form.
Marco eyed Aiko carefully as she let out a breath she seemed to be holding for a while now. He could feel the eyes on them, especially the ones that had been lingering on Aiko since they had docked on this damned island. Did these people really have to stare so much? Had they never seen a woman before? He wanted so much to glare at the people sending looks her way, but instead schooled his expression to his bored one. It wouldn't do any good to attract any more unwanted attention and that's all that would happen if he lashed out at some random citizen. Especially if that random citizen just happened to be a noble, it looked like the whole city was crawling with them.
The two walked up to a random vendor, a young man, selling a variety of spices and sacks upon sacks of seasonings. Aiko carefully looked at a few bags of salt and a large barrel filled with soy sauce. Good thing all they were really in need of was basic seasonings, or else they'd have to spend a considerably longer time on this island than Marco wanted to. There was just something off about this place, it reeked of something foul. An unpleasant stench that was more in the islands aura than the smell of the air itself.
"Phoenix, this looks pretty good." She was carefully inspecting it, he didn't really understand what there was to inspect though. It was soy sauce. Plain and simple.
"Ah! Such a beautiful lady buying from lil 'ol me?" The young man had a muscular physique and a full head of brownish red hair with sideburns as he gave Aiko his best sly looking grin. Marco had to hand it to the kid, he had guts. Saying that to her while he was right there.
Marco shrugged, replying to Aiko before she could give a snarky retort at the vendor. "Are we getting that, yoi?"
She grinned up at him, "Yea." Now, directing her eyes at the young man before her, "I'll take an extra-large barrel of soy sauce, another one of vinegar, one sack of salt, two of pepper, some of that nice looking chili there and a large bottle each of paprika, thyme, oregano and basil. Oh! And some olive oil too!"
The man's eyes widened at the sudden large order, but at least they'd have no problem with money for the next month.
"Coming right up, Miss… uhmm…" Marco internally rolled his eyes at the kid, he really didn't give up, did he?
"Aiko." She replied still with a friendly grin, didn't she realize the kid was obviously head over heels in love with her?
"Ah! I'm Regis." He said as if she had asked. He slowly got to work on putting together the large order.
"Mmm… Say Regis-kun." The kid's head snapped up at the sound of his name from her mouth. So she could call him by his first name, while he had to deal with Phoenix, hot stuff and flaming turkey all the time? "What's the name of this island?"
His dark eyes widened. "You're not from around here? No wonder I hadn't recognized your face." He picked up a few bottles and properly arranged them in a large plastic. "This place is Velveteen Island and like the name, its main product is of course Velvet. Many nobles on this island get their riches from it."
"Hmm…" Aiko hummed as her honey eyes met with Marco's disinterested ones.
"But a few days ago, the large company that's in charge of manufacturing and shipping out the many products caught fire. They're still trying to find the culprits, though it may have just been an accident, but the nobles won't let it go. So, someone has to be punished." He clenched his fists for a second before grinning and rubbing the back of his head. "Well, that's to say, I don't really know much about it. Me and my father came here a few weeks ago you see. I'm just here as a vendor to help put food on the table. But Dad was asked to come here to build a few wax copies of some snotty nobles."
"Wax?" Aiko asked, why wax?
"It's dad's specialty, he's a wax artisan. I'm learning…" He embarrassedly rubbed his cheek with a finger, "But I'm not all that good yet. I'm getting better though!"
"That's pretty amazing, huh?" She grabbed the plastic full of bottles of what she had ordered from him. "Don't you think so, hot stuff?"
Marco shrugged slightly. "Reminds me of someone from the New World, on one of the islands under Pops' protection." He met Aiko's eyes. "Do you remember Hand Island?"
She gave him a happy smirk. Hand Island was one of the few islands where they had found a short time in each other's company. They were of course spotted by one of his mates, Thatch, if she recalled correctly. The blonde commander was probably teased and interrogated endlessly, of that she had no doubt. But, then again so was she and by Yassopp no less! The man had asked what she had been doing with Whitebeard's still wet behind the ears First Division Commander right in the middle of the bustling deck, where of course, Shanks had heard it and flipped out. Marco who had just been a newbie commander then, fresh and newly appointed brought her out to eat a proper meal with him.
"Of course." She replied.
"There's a wax craftsman there named Diego. He had a hobby of making lifelike wax sculptures of great pirates." He smirked at her. "Even I had one."
She scoffed at his cocky attitude.
She had one too, in fact many from her crew had one. But unlike him who had his very own, her wax model was with him, he had no idea when the old wax sculptor had seen them out and about, but his attention was too much on Aiko that day to even notice that kind of useless thing. The sculpture of the two of them was something to behold. It was of a younger Aiko grinning at his own forever younger self. It captured the moment of when they were on that island together perfectly. Well, he wouldn't tell her she had one, he'd rather she see it with her own eyes.
"Anyway," He continued, looking at the part time vendor with lazy eyes. "If I remember correctly, he had a son."
The boy's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he finally turned to properly look at the blonde man before him, instead of the raven haired woman that seemed to captivate all his attention. "You know my old man?!"
Marco nodded slightly and pointed a thumb at the large dark blue tattoo on his chest. "I'm Marco the Phoenix, yoi."
His eyes widened even more, because apparently that was possible. Then his eyes darted to Aiko, then back to the tall Phoenix commander. Were these the two he had actually read about on the paper? These were the two that had two sculptures carefully and meticulously crafted and put away deep inside his father's basement? The real things?
"A-U-uhh…" He seemed to be at a loss for words.
"I think you broke him, Phoenix." Aiko said with an amused glint in her tone.
"I know you too." Marco said shrugging then lifted a hand, palm down to just below his hip, his golden belt shining in the morning sun. "You were this tall then."
The man's cheeks flushed red. It was kinda embarrassing to have such a renowned pirate still remember you as a young boy, especially since he had been a crybaby, snot faced little kid growing up.
"Mmm… Must've been cute." Regis' cheeks exploded once again at the woman's absent minded words. "I wonder how you looked as a boy, Phoenix. I bet you were cute too."
"I always drew maps and got into fights." He said plainly, the image of a child Marco fighting with that cocky smirk entered her mind. The thought had her grinning widely at the blonde man.
"Definitely cute." She muttered.
"Umm…" The two pirates looked at Regis who seemed to have found his voice once again as he said resolutely to the two big shots. "I'm sure father would like to see you two! Could you come visit our place? We're staying at the inn just down the street! He doesn't stop working for maybe another hour or two though."
She looked over at Marco. "Your call, Phoenix."
"Alright, yoi." The man agreed, seems they would have to stay a little longer on this noble infested island even though he really didn't want to have to stay in this town a moment longer than necessary. He ignored it, but it didn't mean he liked the looks he and Aiko got around here. "But, just drop by the ship, yoi. It's docked on the small beach to the west of here."
Regis nodded firmly.
"Do you need help with this load?" The teen asked as he glanced around, seeing that the two had no cart for their things. "I can help carry it back to your ship."
"No thanks." Aiko answered for the blonde as she gathered the three heavyweight sacks full of salt and pepper in her arms, the plastic full of other seasonings dangling from her elbow. She motioned to the lean man before her, "That's why I drag this tough guy along."
"Not because she's secretly lost without me." Marco muttered, grinning slightly as he threw one overly large barrel over each shoulder with fluid ease. The effortless action surprising Regis, New World pirates really were like an entire different class of human. Those extra-large barrels must have been forty kilos each, seeing as how they were filled to the very brim.
Aiko raised an eyebrow at the Phoenix Commanders words, clearly beginning to question the man's sanity.
As they waited patiently on the ship wanting to actually leave and get a move on to find the hot headed Second Division Commander. Marco almost wished he had said that he'd have no time to see Regis' father, but that would be wrong. Diego was a friend of the Whitebeard Pirates after all and friends of Pops' had to be treated with utmost care.
"I've heard a lot of things about Ace, y'know." Aiko suddenly said, interrupting Marco's thoughts. "He came to visit Shanks' and the crew once back when he was still a rookie. Something about wanting to thank us for taking care of his little brother, Luffy." She beamed, remembering the energetic little rubber boy. Shanks' had entrusted something special to that kid and she couldn't wait to see him again. "I wasn't there at the time though, I was out collecting a Devils Fruit per Captains orders. Shame, I missed my chance to meet the man." She shot Marco a sly grin. "I heard he was smoking hot."
Marco sighed at the woman.
"He's a bit too young for you don't you think, yoi?"
"Do I sense jealousy?" There was none. The man's voice was as plain as white rice. "I've heard the kid's better looking than you. Better body too."
Just what kind of things did this woman hear? Now that he thought about it, did women actually gossip about who was hotter than who? What the hell, wasn't that a guy thing? Did they talk about who was better in bed too? Probably, they were women after all. And, boy, did some women know how to talk. It amazed him, how they could chat the day away, in fact he remembered Thatch telling him once that a woman doesn't want to talk with you. She wants you to ask the right question that will allow her to talk. The statement proved true when he would be out and about scouting for women, how when they'd excuse themselves to take a call, they could go on and on over the DenDen Mushi at breakneck speeds. His calls usually lasted about 45 seconds, mostly consisting of a report or a time and place.
He thanked the Gods for women that knew when to shut up. Most pirate women did and he had to thank the Gods mentally one more time for that.
"Ace, huh?" Marco imagined the pyromaniac, "He wouldn't be your type, yoi."
She raised an eyebrow in question. "Oh, and what makes you say that?"
"Too much of a hothead for you, Aiko."
She was about to retort, but her mind seemed to stop. Deciding in that moment to go on holiday as she just stared blankly at the Phoenix commander's usual lethargic self. Had he actually, for once in his life not in the bedroom, called her by her God given name? He had, right? She wasn't imagining that? Her name rolled off his tongue in a pleasant sort of way.
"Phoe-"
"It's really you!" A man yelled as he advanced closer and closer towards their modest ship, he had white hair hidden under a red bonnet. Tan skin, a brown cloak, blue overalls and a white tool belt tied tightly around his waist. Like his son, he had a muscular physique but skinnier legs, making him disproportioned. Regis was lagging somewhat behind the wax artisan, looking every bit the younger version of his father.
"Diego-san, yoi." Marco called loudly.
Aiko noticed the man holding a large jug of sake, it looked pretty expensive from what she could see of it. This man really did know just the way to welcome a Yonko's crew.
"GEHEHEHE!" The bulky man laughed, stopping in front of the ship with his son behind him as he threw the bottle over to Marco. "Didn't think I'd actually see you away from the New World."
"Thanks, yoi." He said, lifting the bottle he had thrown at him. "I've got an errand out here." He motioned to Aiko with a tilt of his head, "With one of Shanks' crew."
"Hmm?" The craftsman looked at the woman with a questioning gaze, before recognition flashed in his old passionate eyes. "You're Killer Punch, aren't you?"
Aiko grinned happily at the recognition. Not many recognized them out here in Paradise. Why they didn't, was beyond her. I mean, pirates with high bounties were notorious worldwide after all. Did the people really pay that little attention to the faces in the media?
"I made a sculpture of Red-haired once."
"Really?" She asked, grinning excitedly, the thought of her Red-headed Captain entering her mind. What face had he made? She always felt that his grinning face was the best, though if it was a sculpture it would most likely be a more serious one. "Did you meet my Captain?"
"Yea, way back when your crew docked on Hand Island." He gestured to Regis who was silent behind him. "He was still a boy then."
Said boy's eyes widened. If he was still a boy when his father had seen her with the Phoenix commander, then just how old was this woman? Did he really try to hit on a woman more than twice his age? His entire face flushed in embarrassment.
"How nostalgic…" Aiko murmured, thinking about the island back in the New World, they had only stayed there for a few days, but it was memorable. She had seen the Phoenix commander there after all. Hand Island was a prosperous island filled with artisans of all kinds, they could work peacefully there at their passions, at their calling. Not a soul dared to cause trouble there, since it was an island under Whitebeard's protection.
Diego pointed a finger between her and Marco. "I also have one of the two of you, walking around that night." The man grinned. "I just knew there was something going on between the two of you."
"It's nothing, yoi!" Marco defended immediately. "This whole thing was just coincidence!"
"Co-in-ci-dence!" Aiko confirmed, for once not using the opportunity to sarcastically respond and instead agreeing with the Phoenix.
"GEHEHEHE!" He laughed, even though they were honestly telling the truth. She didn't get geezers this age. Even though she was pretty old herself, but she had a long way before becoming a wrinkly old hag. All old bags seemed to have a screw loose somewhere.
"For a second, I didn't think Marco would do something so rash, it's just not something a Whitebeard Pirate would do." Diego said, the two still thinking he was talking about their nonexistent relationship. "I didn't actually believe the rumors when they had said that the two of you blew up the Velvet Factory, stole riches and took a crew of subordinates under your wing."
The smiles on the two pirate's faces instantly disappeared.
What did he just say?
A/N: Sorry, this is a day late. It slipped my mind last night. :D And slow progression of the story, I'll be posting random omake chappies when I feel like it, haha.. So, Stay tuned!
Alice: Here is your update! And I wuv you too, you avid reviewer you~~.
Hitsugaya Hibari Nico Robin: Gotta love Marco and his tsundere ways :D
PLEASE REVIEW~~!