Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece
Marco swore he heard the familiar ring of laughter in the distance. Was that Aiko? Or was he just imagining it? Then again, he wouldn't be surprised if that sound really was her laugh, the woman was from Shanks' crew, after all, and the Red Hair Pirates were known for being an insufferably boisterous bunch.
"Who was that?! Are you going to leave me too?! For a younger woman?! HUH?!" The Queen yelled out, pointing an accusing finger at the man.
"I wouldn't really call you young… or a woman, yoi." Marco muttered, he'd rather marry Izou then this seventy year old okama Queen.
"What was that?!" She screeched, "How old is she?! Another rotten man fooled by a pretty face!" The okama Queen spat out.
"How did you become Queen anyway, yoi? Don't tell me the islanders actually thought of you as a woman?" The Phoenix said more to himself than to the fuming Queen.
She shot him an indignant look, "I'll have you know all those before me were just like me! We Queens of Rice Kingdom carry ourselves with pride!"
Eh?
Seriously?
"That's a joke right, yoi?"
"Shut up!" She yelled, growing angrier by the second as she advanced towards the listless Marco who apparently had had enough of this nonsense.
This Queen, this castle, this entire island.
There was a reason he was Whitebeard's first division commander.
A reason he was the right hand man of the strongest man alive.
And the reason wasn't because he was known for being overly kind.
With a slight tilt of his blonde head, he gave the Queen a dangerous look that had her stopping in her tracks as the blonde commander moved back into his usual fighting stance. Ready to leave this pink island and its ridiculous inhabitants. His flames lit up around him, a flame lighting up in his hand as he gave the Queen a sadistic grin.
A grin that seemed to have the opposite effect on the Queen because Marco swore he saw hearts in the okama's eyes.
Shifting into his full Phoenix form, he decided he'd need to end this as soon as possible. If he didn't end this soon and Aiko somehow got here, he'd never hear the end of this from her. The woman was always so relentless with her teasing. Marco flew forward, and in a second was hovering just slightly above the Queen.
"W-W-Wait! Husband-kyun, what are you d—"
Shifting his body back, so that he was in his hybrid form, Marco delivered a Haki packed kick straight to the Queen's head. The blow creating a large crater in the throne room's floor.
The effect was immediate, Marco could hear the sound of the heavy rain becoming a light drizzle, before stopping completely. Now that he thought about it, he forgot to ask about the Queen's Devil Fruit power and how it made things shine. He should've probably gotten more information before knocking the okama Queen out. Maybe one of the servants still cowering in the far corner knew? Just as he was about to ask, a voice rang out, echoing throughout the empty castle.
He could hear two sets of footsteps making their way towards where he was now, getting closer and closer. Marco turned towards the large open pink doors, waiting for the owners of those footfalls.
"Phoenix!" He heard a woman call –a voice he knew very well- as she came to a halt right at the entrance with an impressed grin on her face. The room was filled with unconscious bodies, the okama Queen in the middle, with her very own crater. Marco looked over at her, her hair a fluffy mess because she had been running through a forest.
His eyes focused on the little boy at her side, his semi-damp dark brown hair falling over his face as he breathed heavily. The kid looked too skinny to be doing any kind of strenuous physical activity, let alone running through a forest. He was holding onto Aiko's hand so tightly as if he were afraid the woman would suddenly let go and run off somewhere he couldn't follow. He unfortunately knew the feeling.
Just where had she found this kid?
"Everything okay on your end, yoi?" He asked the woman still giving an impressed grin as her eyes surveyed the room.
"Peachy." She gestured to the kid holding her hand, "A boy, I helped him out."
Marco raised an eyebrow. "And you thought it would be a good idea to bring him here, yoi?"
"He didn't want to let go." Aiko shook the hand the boy was holding, the brown haired boys grip tightening as if proving her statement. "Anyway," Aiko waved a hand to and fro as if pushing the topic aside, "From the information I got, there should be a machine that controls the mist."
Marco made a gesture with his head to a large machine in back of the Queen's throne.
The three made their way up to it, Aiko inspecting the large machine as Marco kept his eye on the little boy still following Aiko around like a lost puppy. Marco watched as Aiko crouched down, trying to read something. He wanted to just destroy the thing, but he didn't know if it would blow up upon destruction, not that that was much of a problem since he could always fly out with Aiko and the kid.
"Find anything, yoi?" Marco asked, watching the lights on the machine beep. There were strange tubes inside the machine that looked like placeholders of some sort.
"Hmm…" Aiko stared at the small name on the corner of the machine. "It says Vegapunk."
Marco's half lidded gaze snapped to Aiko as she said the name.
Vegapunk?
The Marines' number one scientist, responsible for any and every invention worth mentioning? What was the Queen doing with a scientist's machine? Then again, the scientist was known for leaving various research labs behind, maybe it was trash that the Queen found useable or maybe this island was a little experiment of the Marines. Marco wouldn't put it past them, to experiment with an entire island that is.
"Maybe…" Aiko thought aloud, mind racing. She had seem some crazy experiments Vegapunk had done, including weapons that could consume Devil Fruits. "This was an experiment gone wrong?"
Aiko stared a bit more, noticing the many buttons and levers lining the things control panel. They were all different colors and all different sizes. There were hundreds of little lights blinking, had this thing been continuously on for the past sixty years? It was amazing it didn't exhaust itself, Vegapunk was truly a genius. Any pirate or Marine would admit that. Then from the corner of her eye, she noticed a small red button covered by a glass, Aiko read the word 'EJECT' in bold letters directlybelow it.
Maybe because it was red.
Or maybe because it was protected by glass.
Or maybe even because she had been hanging around a childish Captain for too long.
Whatever the case, she had the urge to press it.
"Experiment or not, yoi, let's destroy and report." Marco said, now that he knew it was a machine made by the Marines, he didn't want anything to do with it. He wanted it gone, so that it couldn't be used to oppress anymore people.
Aiko just nodded, not really listening to whatever it was the Phoenix had said as she pressed the red button.
A moment later, the machine began whirring loudly, its lights blinking rapidly. The movement from the machine somehow caused the entire castle to begin shaking, making Aiko almost lose her footing as the large building shook.
What the hell was happening?
"Oi, oi. What did you do, yoi?" Marco said irately, as he steadied himself. He could hear parts of the already ruined castle crumbling. There was a loud crash behind them, he turned to see part of the ceiling coming down and completely blocking the door, caving them in. The Phoenix took a moment to briefly stare at it, before checking the ceiling above him to see if the same thing would happen to them, only to find that as he looked up a chandelier was falling and headed his way.
Shifting into his hybrid form, he kicked the giant metal thing away with his Haki, so that it hit the nearby wall.
"Oi!" The Phoenix yelled out in annoyance. "Don't go pressing random buttons you Red Hair Pira—" Marco cut himself off from reprimanding the woman as he saw what came out of the machine. Its incessant beeping stopping as it let out a great amount of steam. The castle had also stopped its shaking moments after the machine. The tubes that had looked like place holders to Marco slowly opened up, before two Devil Fruits gradually came up the tubes. A bright green and a light gray fruit sitting in front of them for the taking.
"That's—" Aiko cut herself off, there was no need for words. She went up with the small boy, dragging him along as she took both rather large fruits and cradled them in an arm.
"Did that thing use the powers of the Devil Fruits to create the mist, yoi?" Marco thought aloud, "A machine that can use two forbidden fruits." He stared at it, how did Vegapunk create such a machine? A person could only eat one Devil Fruit at a time, the body wouldn't be able to handle the power of two cursed fruits. But for a machine to be using two, were there more of these machines out there?
He'd need to tell Pops'.
"Alright, yoi." He said shifting into his hybrid form, "I'll destroy it, then you make a way out of here, yoi." Marco pointed a thumb towards a nearby wall.
"I need to report this to the Captain." He heard her mumble before she let go of the boys hand and made a dash towards a nearby wall. Adjusting the gauntlet on her free hand with her teeth, before punching a hole right through the pink wall, a hole leading directly outside. Marco stared, brute force really wasn't attractive in a woman, especially when used on him, she was lucky that he had Phoenix healing or else all those times she pounded him with her Haki would have seriously left its mark.
The young boy followed closely behind her, now clinging to the woman's leg as the two peered down the hole.
It was a long way down.
Then, the castle suddenly shook, Aiko almost falling before the small boy pulled her back in with his death grip on her leg. The castle had begun crumbling down again. Its shaking causing a loud boom from the West wing, sounding as if the entire thing had come crashing down. Even the ceiling above them was beginning to slowly collapse.
"Oops." Aiko said with a grin as she looked at the crumbling ceiling above them, had her punch caused the mansion to shake and fall apart again? "Was that my fault?"
Marco rolled his eyes.
"Be more serious, yoi!" He scolded the grinning woman as he heard another part of the castle come falling down. It had sounded closer now too.
"You're the one that told me to make an escape route!" Aiko yelled at the expressionless Phoenix commander.
"Don't blame me for your brute strength, yoi!" He yelled right back.
She was about to argue more before a scream pierced through the air.
Both pirates' eyes scanned the room seeing the servants still cowering in the corner of the room. Aiko grit her teeth, before barking out an order to them. "Get over here!" When they still didn't move she yelled again, "NOW!"
The two immediately stood, running on wobbly legs towards the raven haired pirate.
Didn't they understand that they had a better chance of surviving if they jumped? This place was already breaking down and breaking a few bones was better than being crushed to death. Besides, Ruhi and the other men should be wandering the giant forest mountain looking for mines as she had told them to. So, they'd be rescued sooner or later. Once they got near, Aiko grabbed one by the collar, the servant letting out a surprised gasp and with as much force as she could muster Aiko threw the shocked servant as far into the forest as she could.
"AHHHHHHH!" She heard the servant yell, before being cut off by a loud thud as the servant hit something.
Hopefully, a pile of bushes.
Aiko winced slightly at the noise, she hoped she didn't damage the poor retainer too much.
"SOOORRRRRYYY!" Aiko yelled out with one hand cupped around her mouth, before turning to the other servant who was now slowly backing away from her, "Your turn."
The servant though, unlucky little thing he was, backed up right into Marco, who gave a sadistic smirk. Grabbing by the collar as Aiko had done, before throwing the young retainer in the same direction with as much force as he could muster. The servant going a little farther than Aiko's had.
Aiko glared up at the creepy smirk on the blonde's tanned face.
"That one didn't count." She said.
"Hmm…?" Marco stared off into the distance, his throw was definitely farther. "Why don't you just admit you lost?"
Thatch gaped at the two.
Were they really fighting about who could throw the farthest person? It was a person for crying out loud! He watched with wide eyes as the two threw the unconscious guards into the forest as well, trying to throw farther than the last, and did the bodies go far. He felt bad for the unconscious guards as they were being handled horribly, the two weren't even concerned for their safety anymore. Only about their weird competition.
The grins on both their faces were unbelievably huge even with such a sadistic competition and even with the pink castle falling down all around them. The ceiling was beginning to collapse even more, but they didn't seem to notice.
Aiko threw one more guard, the guard flying all the way down into the village, completely bypassing the forest. "I win!" She yelled triumphantly, giving the Phoenix a smirk.
The blonde looked behind him, only to see no more guards. Only the Okama Queen was left, still unconscious in her position on the ground. He wanted to win, but Marco didn't really want to touch her. Ever.
The boy though, went up to the unconscious Queen.
"What about her?" His small voice asked. Was this a girl? Or maybe the guards had been messing around with a drunk companion, he had seen it many times before. Where they'd put funny things on the faces of other people whenever they passed out from drinking too much.
Marco looked towards Aiko, silently telling her to handle the Queen.
Aiko gave the man an amused grin, before walking towards the two, she made a move to grab the okama by the collar only for her own wrist to be grabbed. Aiko's eyes trailed to her wrist to see the Queen's hand stopping her, she looked towards the noble's face only to see the okama's eyes practically snarling at her.
"GET AWAY FROM ME, FILTHY WOMAN!" The Queen screeched as she threw Aiko's hand away and stood up. The boy was quick to hide behind Aiko, who had taken a few steps away from the now very conscious Queen. Aiko had to hand it to the okama, she was pretty tough, to be able to stand up, fully conscious after receiving a direct blow from one of the strongest men in the world. Even among Whitebeard's monster crew, Marco was considered an exceptional fighter, a super monster among monsters.
"Oh? She's awake." Aiko stated the obvious, in an amused tone that obviously aggravated the old Queen, if her twitching eyebrow was any indication.
"Then she can find a way out on her own, yoi." Came Marco's merciless words.
The Queen whirled in anger at the sound of the Phoenix Commander's voice, though all that anger seemed to disappear as the blonde entered her visage. Hair and jacket billowing against the wind exposing a perfectly toned muscled body as listless eyes stared straight at her. "Husband-kyuuun! No need to be like that, I'll follow you foreveeer~~!"
There was a moment of silence between the four.
The sound of another part of the castle coming down could be heard.
Birds chirping in the distance and pained yells from the guards they had previously thrown.
Before…
"AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!" Aiko's laughter at the Queen's words came out. Tears in her eyes and one hand gripping the little boy's shoulder as the other desperately tried to hold onto the two Devil Fruits. Aiko tried her hardest to stay standing, using the boy as a sort of pillar. A battle she was losing with every second passing. "SERIOUSLY?! AHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Oi, oi, why not help me out here, yoi?" Marco complained to her, he'd never hear the end of this from her. Damn okama Queen. Damn Aiko's relentless teasing.
"No way!" Aiko said still slightly laughing as she wiped a tear from her eye, moving to stand next to the Whitebeard commander's side. "I'd never stand in the way between," She pointed a finger at Marco then to the Queen trying in vain to suppress her laughter, "A happy couple."
Marco rolled his eyes.
He'd get back at her for this and when he did, he'd make sure she regretted ever laughing at him.
Aiko gave the man a happy grin.
"Don't smile like that, yoi." Marco muttered irately, pinching her cheek harshly and completely wiping the smile off her face. Aiko giving him a pout, as he turned to put his eyes back on the okama Queen who was once again seething in anger. "My heart twinges."
At that Aiko gave the man another smile, not like he could see it.
"AHHH!" The Queen ran towards the two pirates in boiling anger, before the ceiling finally gave in, making the entire floor collapse.
Acting quickly, Marco transformed into his hybrid form, grabbing the boy and Queen in one talon each as Aiko's hand clung to his chest. He immediately flew out into the sky as soon as he felt Aiko get a hold of him. Her one arm close to her body as she cradled the two Devil Fruits and the other high above her head hoping she didn't lose her grip, her nails digging uncomfortably into the skin at his ribs as he tried to fly as best he could with the weight of three extra people. The fact that the Queen and boy were struggling against his hold wasn't helping.
As he flew down towards the village, he could see the mist clearing up exposing the pink village for all to see. He looked towards the docks to find that Tofu, in all her tiny glory, was once again in sight. Waiting for them patiently -exactly where they left her- for the past two days.
"Hurry, Phoenix!" Aiko said excitedly as she also stared at their ship, "Let's go say hi to her!"
The man grinned, swooping lower and lower in eye catching bright blue flames, Aiko was first, the woman dropping to the ground in a crouch at the docks of the pink island. As soon as she got up, Marco threw the little boy towards her, the raven haired woman catching him effortlessly in her arm. He then threw the okama Queen who landed hard over the cobble road, unconscious once again, before he descended himself, changing back into his regular human form.
Marco watched the women of the island run up to their unconscious and battered up Queen. Did they really think their Queen was a woman?
"What did you do to the Queen?!" One yelled with accusation in her eyes.
"LEAVE THIS PLACE!"
"Men shouldn't be here!"
"Take your taint with you!"
"GET OUT!" They began yelling at the two pirates, even the children had begun throwing small rocks.
Marco paid no notice to the angry mob, catching one of the larger rocks about to hit his head, crushing it and dropping the –now- dust to the ground at his feet. He really wanted to get off this island. He gave the women gathered around them a look that had their eyes widening as they all moved a step back. Whispering their disdain instead of outright shouting it to their faces. His listless gaze lingering on the villagers a bit longer before he noticed the little boy -hiding behind Aiko- staring at him with wide eyes.
Aiko patted the boys brown head saying, "He's a blue Phoenix. Cool, huh?" The boy nodded slightly. Marco raised an eyebrow at the sight, what was she, his mother? He then noticed the slight bruises and red marks around the boy's neck and wrists. Had he been a slave? If so, then that explained why he was so fond of Aiko. She had said she helped the kid out, after all. Not something many do for slaves.
"Want to introduce yourself?" Aiko asked the boy.
He nodded slightly, moving to stand in front of her as he said in a small voice to the blonde commander. "My name is Thatch."
Marco's half lidded eyes widened.
Sandaled feet moved towards the boy, the Phoenix slowly crouching down, before placing a hand on his brown head. The boy flinched at first, but soon relaxed when he found that the blonde wasn't going to hit him. Marco opened his mouth to speak in his usual voice, but Aiko could hear a bit of fondness in it, "That's a good name, you have to become strong and let the world know it, yoi."
Thatch's eyes widened, before he smiled widely and nodded.
Marco gave the kid a grin, before standing back to his full height and staring at Aiko with his usual lethargic gaze.
"WAAAIIITTT!" Marco and Aiko turned to see Ruhi running up to them, a bunch of men at his side. The man was still in the ridiculous dress he wore to buy food. "Are you two leaving already?" The man said in between pants as he stood with his hands on his knees in front of the pair.
"Yea, we've got something important to do, yoi." Marco told the man, before advising him about the currently unconscious Queen, "That Queen, needs to be cuffed with Sea Stone."
"Or water from the ocean works just as well." Aiko further explained, before pushing a surprised Thatch into Ruhi's arms. "Take care of the kid."
"Eh?" Ruhi and Thatch both spout out.
"Are you pushing this kid onto me?!" Ruhi yelled out, completely forgetting the fact that she was a famous –supposedly ruthless- pirate as he treated her the way he did when they first met.
"NO! I don't want to be with a cross dressing jerk!" Thatch yelled as he began to move back towards Aiko.
"What did you say, brat?!" Ruhi yelled back, grabbing the kid by the shoulders and glaring daggers at him.
"CROSS DRESSER!" He shouted in the older man's face, before sticking his tongue out at the man who right now looked much like a certain okama Marco very much loathed.
"Who wants a kid like you anyway?! Huh?! You're so not cute!"
"I'm a guy, I don't need to be cute!" Thatch shouted matter of factly, his true behavior showing. Not the timid boy Aiko had first found.
Aiko smiled at the two arguing in front of her, yes, they'd get along well together. This island would change soon, hopefully the women would open their eyes, men weren't all that bad and that taint they hate so much was actually a whole lot of fun. Aiko scanned the crowd, some men were crying, happy to finally be able to return to their original islands. They could even use the pirate ships left behind by the Bluefin Pirates, Aiko had taken out and those pink gems could start up trade for this island, they should probably think about changing its name though. Rice Kingdom, just didn't fit, not unless they planned to reuse their sixty year old untouched rice fields. But, why would they? When they were standing on top of a mountain filled with priceless pink gems.
Now that she thought about it, she should've taken a few.
"Hurry up." Came Marco's voice, he was on the ship's deck already, ordering some men who were busily loading bottles upon bottles of sake and crates of food into the ship. He looked over at Ruhi, showing a rather large sack filled with pink gems of all different sizes, before saying, "We'll take this and the food as payment, yoi."
Aiko smiled, that Phoenix thought of everything. The two of them just kept getting richer and richer, it was amazing how much spending money they were able to accumulate without actually stealing anything. She couldn't wait to get to Water 7 to buy things for the ship and crazy expensive for her crew.
"Yea!" Ruhi yelled back in a deep voice, before going into a deep bow. "Thank you for everything, pirates!"
Marco and Aiko grinned.
Aiko patting Thatch's brown head once more, the boy giving her a pout, "Now, now. Don't look at me like that, where I'm going isn't for little boys like you." She said, before sticking out her tongue at the kid.
"When I'm bigger can I go with you?" He asked in a small voice, no longer yelling like he had done with Ruhi just moments ago.
"Hmm…" Aiko hummed as she thought over a response, "If you become strong."
"Then, if I become strong and find you, then Onee-san has to marry me!" He said with only seriousness in his eyes, everyone else seemed to go quiet at the young boy's bold declaration. "Promise me!"
Aiko looked at the young boy with slight surprise, opening her mouth to say something, before she was cut off.
"Aiko." Marco called from the deck of their ship, front body bent and arms crossed over the rail. Staring at her with his usual neutral expression, lethargic gaze boring into her as she turned her head to meet it. "Time to go, yoi."
She gave the Phoenix commander a grin, before turning her head back to the still pouting Thatch. Ruffling his hair one more time with her free hand, "Sorry." She muttered the last part, so only he could hear, "I'm afraid I'm a bit taken with someone right now."
Thatch's eyes widened, before his pout turned into a determined look, "Then I'll steal you!"
Her eyes widened again, grinning at the kid before walking back up to the ship. Her eyes only on the Phoenix who was staring at her intently, even when she was on the ship he kept his gaze on the woman.
"Something the matter, Phoenix?" She asked as she waved goodbye to the citizens of the island, those villagers were about to go through a major change. She hoped the women of the island would accept it.
"I'm just sulking a bit due to jealousy, yoi." Marco said, his eyes moving towards the villagers who were getting farther and farther away. He noticed the glare the boy was sending his way.
"A Phoenix jealous of a boy?" Aiko said, mock surprise in her voice, before her tone turned to one of pure amusement, "But why, I wonder? Your wife looked quite in love with you."
"Oi." Marco's voice was a warning.
"Hmm…?" She hummed, giving him the best innocent look she could muster.
"We're finally off that god forsaken island, yoi." He gave her a glare that would have had lesser women flinching back in fear. "Do you want me to punish you that bad?"
She raised an eyebrow in challenge.
He was just about to make a move to throw her overboard, blue flames and Haki coming to life beneath his fingertips, but then he saw the two Devil Fruits she cradled in her arm.
"Those…" Marco let the sentence hang as he pointed to the two fruits.
"Ah!" Aiko realized she was still holding them, before taking hurried steps inside the ship. "Let's check the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia."
The two pirates made their way inside their small ship to their shared room after they made sure they adjusted the ship's course. Once again, on the move, finally getting to continue their journey to find Fire Fist.
As they entered their room, Aiko said a happy, "We're baaack Tofu!"
Marco grinned at the woman, watching as she placed the two fruits in a large empty chest, before bringing out a thick encyclopedia from one of their many shelves. They were lucky to actually be given one of these from the Red Force, Devil Fruit Encyclopedias were rare. Even on the Moby Dick, there were only about two copies, one in the study and the other safely tucked away somewhere in Pops' room.
As she looked, Marco stared at the two unique looking fruits, remembering when he had eaten his, the fruit was the nastiest thing in existence. It was absolutely horrible, he'd never eat another if given the chance to have two fruit powers. Maybe that was how those that tried to intake two Devil Fruits died, from the horrid taste.
"Why didn't you eat a fruit, yoi?" Marco asked, a question that he had always wondered, but never got around to actually asking. "Now that I think about it, yoi. A lot of the bosses in your crew don't have fruit abilities, why is that?"
Devil Fruits were rare, but Yonko crews had the best chance of finding them, that's why crews of the Yonko were usually dominated by powerful Devil Fruit users. Whitebeard's Commanders were the best example of this. Plus, the Red Hair Pirates didn't have a rule on their ship where the one who finds the fruit has to eat it, at least not that he knew of, so that would have given Aiko many chances to have eaten a fruit. Maybe she was looking for a specific one?
"Because…" Aiko said in a 'do you really need to ask that' tone as she stopped looking through the thick book to give him an incredulous look, "What kind of pirate can't swim?"
"Hah?!" The Phoenix gave her a look as if the woman had a few screws loose. No, she was in Red-Haired Shanks' crew, so,there was something definitely wrong with her head. Was she actually being serious with him though? Was that the reason why the higher members of the Red Hair Pirates tended to stay away from Devil Fruits? Because they wouldn't be able to swim?
"I'm serious!" Aiko defended, "Do you know how much teasing the Captain and the rest would put me through if I couldn't swim?!"
"What kind of logic is that, yoi? Do you know how much more powerful Devil Fruits can make you?"
"Well…" Aiko just gave the man a small smile as she put her attention back to flipping through the pages of the book, "Not being able to swim in the ocean is just… well… Don't you miss it?"
Ahhh.
That was the reason.
Then he could understand.
Such great power came at a price, a high one for pirates. Being a human anchor and not being able to swim in the ocean they loved was really cruel. That was something he missed, swimming in the ocean. Now, he could only watch in envy as other non-fruit eaters did. He could only watch the ocean from a distance, when he would go in he couldn't go very far. Maybe just a dip of his feet, but that was it. Anymore and he would be killed by the one thing every pirate loved.
But, it opened one's eyes, to be able to love other things that is.
Walking up to Aiko, he grabbed a few strands of her long dark hair between his tanned fingers, "About the next island, yoi." He watched her visibly stiffen for a moment, "Care to tell me the story?"
She ordered her body to relax, clearing the painfully obvious tension in her limbs, before she spoke, "Ah! Here!" She pointed at a picture on the book, "I found one of them!"
Marco cornered her body with his own against the table, he let it slide last time. But he wouldn't now, that Devil Fruits could wait, they weren't going anywhere. He was tired of being avoided. "Don't ignore me, yoi."
"Why do I even have to tell you?" She muttered, looking at him with hard eyes, it's not like the Phoenix commander had a right to know.
"We're heading towards that island, it must've been erased for a reason, yoi." Marco explained, ignoring the woman's glare, "I want to know if it's dangerous."
"It's not." She answered immediately.
"I'll be the judge of that." He shot right back, not missing a beat.
She hated this man's logic and how it was completely right.
How he could mask his obvious curiosity with an actual problem to get what he wanted from her.
Aiko looked to her sides, the man's arms trapping her in. Sighing slightly at his stubbornness and ridiculous interest, she placed a hand on his chest over his blue tattoo he always showed off with pride.
"Where should I start?" She muttered, giving in.
"The beginning, yoi."
A/N: Whaaaats uppp peeeople? I just finished reading a story from one of my favorite authors and I am downright GIDDY!
Oh, and I've just been told by a friend that many steal stories from this site and post it on different sites! Please tell me if any of you guys find this on a different site and if any of you happen to find this or any of my other stories in a different language I wanted you all to know that I have never given anyone permission to translate my stories and that my stories are only posted under this account.
Well, I've said a lot in this A/N and I'm rambling, so lemme end it how I usually do:
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!