Chapter 16

I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY, I know I haven't put up a chapter in over two weeks and I apologise, I had little access to Wifi. On top of that I've been extremely busy lately…

To all those people who have stuck with this story so far, and are still with me now, thank you so much for patience…. You're probably going to need it again. ;) There are a few swearwords, but I feel they are needed. If they genuinely insult you let me know.

I do not own One Piece, it's Oda-sensei's, but I do own the OC's such as Marty, Beth and Charlene (and Rory and Martha and Rose and Silver Jack and POLO)

Re-cap : Marty lost to Ace at strip poker, but ended up with a heap of his clothes and managed to get him to give back her Straw Hat.

. . .

Charlene was snoring. Like she was snoring ridiculously loud, Beth couldn't figure out how Marty was sleeping through it. Beth groaned and rolled on her side, pushing Marty's arm out of the way. The girl was splayed across their shared futon like a star-fish. Beth closed her eyes.

"Mmm… who would put a substitute on a senior class anyway," Beth cracked open an eyelid, closing it when Marty grumbled and fell silent. Minutes passed as Beth tried her best to shut out Cake's trumpeting.

"NOT THE WINDOW," Marty cried out, Beth frowned and began opening her eyes when a fist slammed into the side of her face.

"MOTHERF-," Beth slapped her hands across her mouth as she jolted upright. She rubbed her cheek glaring at the now peaceful looking girl, before glancing irritably in Cake's direction. For Kami's sake, it shouldn't even be possible for a human being to make those noises, and you, Beth thought kicking Marty's leg, are you a woman or sea creature. Giving sleep up as a lost cause Beth lurched to her feet, stepping over Marty to make a beeline for the door. The corridor beyond it was silent as Beth padded in the direction of the deck.

Beth stepped out onto the deserted deck, breathing the salty air. It was hard to appreciate where she was while caught up in the drama that seemed to follow Marty like a bad smell. Stretching, Beth wandered over to the ships railing, leaning against the side to stare at the dark water. This sea looked so different from the one at home, which was strange since they were the same sea.

Ah the quiet, Beth rested her head against her arms, closing her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

And it's gone. Beth sighed inwardly and opened her eyes, turning her head to see the identity of her visitor.

Marco raised an eyebrow at Beth's disgruntled expression.

"It's the middle of the night, what are you doing here?" Marco repeated.

"I have a foghorn and dream ninja for roommates, what about you."

"I pulled night watch. Dream ninja?" Marco asked walking over to lean with his back against the railing next to Beth.

"Marty new way of causing trouble even in her sleep," Beth said, a peculiar expression passed over Marco's face.

"Does she set out to cause trouble," Beth laughed.

"Not usually, she does it without tying, it's a gift. We reach Billion's tomorrow, but who knows what else she'll manage to do by then" Marco was silent for a few seconds as he turned slightly to study the slim, green-haired girl.

"Speaking of Billion's," Beth glanced across to meet his gaze as Marco crossed his arms across his chest, "Have you considered Pop's offer?" Beth blinked.

"…I want to stay" Marco raised an eyebrow.

"But?" He pushed, Beth's shoulders hunched slightly.

"My father already has three sons. I don't know how he will feel about me becoming a pirate but it's my choice so…"

"But?" Marco repeated, Beth looked down at her hands.

"Marty won't say what she wants to do once reaching the island," Marco frowned confused, "she avoids the subject whenever Cake or I bring it up. It feels like she's withholding something important. Like there is something she needs to do."

"Important?" Beth shrugged, Marco watched her for a few seconds before shaking his head, "Why does it matter?" Beth looked up at Marco, a slight frown crossing her face.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, if she needs or asks for my help… I mean, she's the reason my time here has been so much fun. It wouldn't really be the same if she chose to leave," Beth said, shifting uncomfortably. Marco raised an eyebrow.

"It would definitely be more peaceful," Marco said dryly, Beth shrugged again.

"I dunno," Beth said frowning, "She just… I want to join this crew. I don't want to give up this freedom" Beth's frown deepened, "but if Marty wants me with her... Whatever she needs to do, I'll be following her."

"Why?" Beth smiled.

"Dunno, just feels like I should." There was silence for a few seconds as Marco mulled over Beth's words.

"This all depends on whether Whitebeard still wants us on board though," Beth said gloomily, Marco glanced at her in surprise.

"Why wouldn't he?" Beth snorted.

"Marty causes more trouble than anyone I've ever met, do you really think he will still want us?" Marco grinned.

"Don't worry about it, I've met worst." Beth rolled her eyes.

"Name one," Marco smiled at her knowingly.

"Ace," Beth frowned.

"…What?" Marco grinned at Beth's disbelieving tone.

"I'm serious, that kid has been banned from the navigation room, the carpentry rooms, the kitchen, the nurse station, and most of the store rooms. He's also not allowed anywhere near the Den Den Mushi's," Beth laughed,

"At least most of disasters you girls cause are accidents. Ace doesn't do accidents, he can be a downright vindictive sod," Marco said, "at this one island we docked at, he decided to burn the clothes off people whose fashion sense he disliked. He created a nudist colony in one part of town."

"Aced runs around half naked wearing a bright orange cowboy hat, he doesn't have fashion sense," Marco shrugged grinning.

"Then there was the time he decided to add gunpowder to the spice containers, they blew up three ovens before figuring out what was going on, the Head Chef listed in detail what he was going to Ace's parts if he ever did it again, he hasn't gone near the kitchens since."

"I haven't met the Head Chef yet," Beth said, sounding as if she wanted to.

"And then there was the day he spent the morning jumping out of the crow's nest onto random people screaming 'Death from above,' then stole a nurse uniform and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to convince people he was his twin sister Alice," Beth burst out laughing.

"Busy day."

"We couldn't get the darn thing off him."

"What about the Glitter War?" Marco glanced at Beth's eager face surprised.

"The Glitter War? Ace somehow managed to smuggled four barrels full of glitter on board the ship. I don't know where the heck he got them from or where he hid them, but he waited till the day after we set sail to start an interdivision war. It was chaos; it wasn't safe to walk through the halls. The ship looked like a unicorn had thrown up onto it. Where did you hear about it?"

"Um," an image of shower heads exploding in the men's toilets flashed through Beth's mind, "Dinner I think," the answer seemed to satisfy Marco.

"Anyway, the point is you girls have a long way to go before you catch up to the amount of damage Ace has inflicted. Ace was the reason we found you on the smugglers' boat," Beth glanced at Marco surprised, "The idiot left a hatch to the main store room open and we lost half of our food supplies, to top it off, half of what was left got water damaged. If we weren't in such desperate need for food supplies we probably wouldn't have bothered boarding that boat."

"It's thanks to Ace we aren't slaves right now, Marty would love that," Beth said amused, Marco snorted in agreement and shook his head.

"They hate each other because they are alike. You should really go back to sleep, you have another lesson on getting pounded in the morning."

"I'm having a little trouble sleeping," Beth pointed out, Marco chuckled at that.

"Alright, take my room," Marco offered suddenly, Beth raised an eyebrow.

"Does your watch last the whole night?"

"No, I can crash on Ace's floor," Marco could see Beth considering his offer.

"Are you sure?" Beth asked finally

"It will be easier to get Ace up in the morning," Marco said cheerfully, Beth studied him carefully for a few seconds.

"Ok," Beth said, finally smiling, "Thank you."

. . .

Marco blinked his eyes open, glaring blearily at the sunshine streaming in through the porthole on wall. He didn't have a porthole in his room; he definitely did not want one. Marco's gaze moved to Ace who was snoring softly on his bed, not bothered by the sunshine in the least. Lazy git, Marco thought indignantly as he stretched out his arm to pick up one of Ace's spare boots that was lying on the floor beside him. Swinging his arm in a wide ark he hurled the boot at his friend's head, where it hit with a disturbingly loud smack. Ace shot upright, both hands over his nose as he began swearing loudly.

"Go wake up the girls and Vista," Marco ordered, pulling his pillow over his head to block out the sunlight.

"Marco! What the fuck!?... Are you doing on my floor?" Ace said catching sight of the first commander who was busy getting comfortable on a futon that used to be in Ace's closet, "have you been down there all night?"

"Beth's in my bed," Marco said grumpily without removing his head from under his pillow. Ace raised an eyebrow as he swung his legs off his bed.

"All the more reason for you to be there instead of on my floor," Ace said, glancing around groggily for his hat. Marco lifted his pillow up slightly to glare at Ace from beneath it as he found his hat and began pulling on his boots, "Why's she in your bed anyway?"

"You have to ask?" Marco said as a particularly loud snore vibrated through the wall. Ace frowned at the wall he shared with the girls.

"Did they smuggle a trombone on board that I don't know about?"

"Not unless they shoved it down Charlene's throat."

"Now that's an appealing idea," Ace said thoughtfully as he staggered to his feet and headed towards the door, "I'll wake up Princess Trumpet and the Disaster Queen, but you can wake up your bed buddy."

"Hang on-," Marco said indignantly sitting up, Ace grinned, opening his door.

"You can thank me later," Ace said, stepping through the doorframe to shut the door quickly as Marco's pillow slammed against it. Chuckling Ace walked over to the girls' door. He opened it quietly, stepping through to shoot an incredulous glance at Charlene who was attempting to create a wall of sound. He looked around the room curiously, it was pretty sparse except for basis furniture. Ace frowned confused, why was there a plank of wood leaning against the wall?

"I'm not buying you lunch Amber" Ace glanced down at Marty surprised as she turned over, "It's your own fault for wasting your money on clothes."

No wonder Beth couldn't sleep in the same room as these two, Ace thought amused as he crouched down. He grabbed Marty's shoulder and shook it roughly.

"Oi, Purple, get up," Marty groaned and swung out her fist to slam into Ace's jaw.

"I'm so sorry!" Marty said, jolting awake she pushed herself up into a sitting position, "I didn't mean…. Oh it's you. Never mind then." Ace glared at the girl as she stretched and yawned, making a mental note to repay her during training.

"What's that noise," Marty asked sleepily looking around, Ace snorted, getting to his feet to shake Charlene awake as well.

"Rise and shine Princess Foghorn," Ace said happily, cheered by the indignant expression on Charlene's face, "I like your hair." Charlene's hand snapped to her hair as she screamed and shot towards the bathroom, pushing Ace roughly out of the way. The bathroom door slammed as Marty laughed and jammed her hat onto her head.

"So where's Beth?" Marty asked cheerfully. She wasn't usually a morning person, but Cake's distress would put anyone in a good mood.

"She slept in Marco's bed."

"Oh," said Marty surprised, "That was quick," Ace's snorted again.

"Marco slept on my floor."

"Why on Earth would he do that?"

"Beats me," Ace glanced at the bathroom door from where bangs and clatters were now issuing, "how long is she gonna be in there?" Marty glanced at her wrist to check a watch that hadn't taken refuge there before she stuffed her feet into the boots she won off Ace.

"You might as well get comfortable."

. . .

So… I probably stepped over a few lines romantically but I'll be reining it back from now on :) … well I intend to, expect more drama in both training and lunch, as well as a massive one when they finally reach billion.

I prefer disaster over romance anyway :)