Title: What are the Odds?
Summary: For denizens of the Territories, life is generally pretty good. Provided of course that one is able and willing to conform to the rules imposed by whomever is in the charge of the area. However when the World Collective, a group of allied territories, declares that they are resuming hunts for people who seem to have the Devils own abilities, life becomes very complicated very quickly.
Pairings: Marco/Ace.
Warnings: AU, Language, canon-typical violence, possible Out of Character moments, too many characters, OC's galore, implied sexual content, slow burn
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners. I simply play with them for my, and your amusement.
Authors Note: The reveiws have been fixed! This is a awesome thing and it makes me happy. So happy Im not sure yall even know. Anyways thank you guys for them. I love them. Some of you all are making these wonderful guesses about things that you think are gonna happen and I love them. Sorry that this one is so late, but its still the weekend in my corner of the world so Im going to say that this one made it on time.
Again, thank you to the magnificent Ktwontwo for betaing this for me. If yall like James Bond & Sherlock go check out their stuff. Its all phenomenal.
Just wanted to remind you all that this story was created for the OP 2016 Big Bang and as such amazing art that I was graciously allowed to use for a cover was created the utterly amazing Idaida on tumblr! You can find a much larger and better version of the picture here! post/143364258999/one-piece-big-bang-2016-what-are-the-odds
Chapter 5: Friendly Jabs
Four days. It had taken a full four long tiring days before Marco finally had enough free time to make a visit to Outskirts. The process of reviewing the Pirate King Protocols, making the changes in the second division to match then briefing the appropriate parties and overseeing the implementation had been tedious and taken much longer than Marco had expected.
It was a rather gloomy day, with clouds billowing overhead threatening to drop rain on him at any moment. He could hear the rumble of thunder far off in the distance and it was drawing closer by the moment. Absently he wondered where the lightning was, but those thoughts were quickly pushed out of his mind when the skies did as they had threatened to all afternoon and unleashed a torrential downpour. Cursing under his breath, Marco dashed for the awning of the building that had been his goal.
Warm light poured through the windows giving the entire building a rather inviting feel. Marco yanked opened the door and entered. He had just stepped inside when something hit his head, limiting his field of vision rather severely. Marco reacted almost instantaneously whipping whatever had covered his head off in surprise. It took a second for him to realize that he'd been "attacked" by a rather soft towel. Marco scowled at the piece of fabric in momentary confusion to the sound of rather distinctive laughter. He looked up and realized the room was empty, save for Ace who had half collapsed on top of the counter.
Ace was looking at him and trying unsuccessfully to rein in his chuckles. "Man." He gasped, "You should have seen your face. Now dry yourself off while I get you your sandwich. You're dripping on my floor."
Marco let out a chuckle himself, as he attempted to dry himself off as best he could. "Well," he said, "I'm glad you're amused. I certainly wasn't expecting to be attacked by a towel the moment I walked through your door." Marco frowned at the now wet towel he was holding. "Speaking of, what do you want me to do with this?"
"Eh, just put it on one of the hooks by the door. If anyone else comes in they'll need it."
Marco nodded then made his way over to the counter. "So, do you normally attack just anyone with towels as they walk through the door wet?"
"Nope!" Ace grinned, "Just you!"
"I feel so special."
"As you should." Ace said handing a plate with a sandwich on it over to Marco who simply set it down on the counter while he waited for Ace to make his own sandwiches. "By yourself today?"
"Yeah." Ace said with a slight frown.
Given the conversation thus far, that expression certainly didn't belong on Ace's face Marco decided. He thought it worth attempting to determine the cause. "Is something wrong with David and Marie? Or any of the people who work the Bar shift?"
"Nope. Nothing's wrong. Well not anything drastic. David's got a horrific cold so Marie is making sure that he actually rests and doesn't try to come in or do anything strenuous. The guys on the night shift are fine. Most of them are just off today."
"Any reason?" Marco asked.
"I don't particularly want anyone trying to get here in this weather. Although I stay open for those who get caught out in it."
"Like myself." Marco commented.
Ace's smile returned, "Like yourself."
"It's just a bit of rain," Marco remarked relieved to see his friend smile. "What's so bad about it?"
Ace shot him an undecipherable look. "Out here the weather can turn really nasty at the drop of a hat."
"Ah." Marco said, picking up his sandwich and following his friend towards the register, which Ace bypassed entirely. "Ace?" he questioned.
"Don't worry about it Marco. It's on me." Ace said, nudging Marco with his shoulder before moving towards the front of the store as opposed to their normal seat. Marco blinked at him. Apparently he was being treated to lunch.
"So," Marco said, joining his friend at their window table "Any particular reason for the change in seating arrangements?"
Ace shrugged. "I like watching storms. Any particular reason you haven't been by in the past four days?" he countered teasingly.
"Sorry," Marco apologized, his regret at not being able to come by sooner true even if what he was about to tell Ace wasn't. "The trading company that I work for discovered a former employee had gotten away with doing some rather nasty things which resulted a change in a lot of policies. It also generated a lot of paperwork and confusion that I had to sort through. Does that mean you missed me?"
"Maybe" Ace said.
"Maybe, hmm?" Marco replied.
There was a moment of silence as the two men studied each other. Ace's smirk grew slightly wider as he took a bite of his own sandwich and Marco's eyes glinted joyfully.
"Mmmhmm." Ace said through a mouthful of food. He swallowed before continuing "Maybe indeed."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Marco inquired
"See, that's for me to know and for you to find out." Ace said teasingly.
"And what exactly would I have to do in order for you to tell me?" Marco practically purred repeating the question that Ace had initially asked him when he had first returned a little over a week and a half ago which had made David demand that they stop flirting. To his delight, Ace's eyes grew wide and a slight flush suddenly dusted his cheeks. Well, that was certainly telling if nothing else was. Whatever Ace was thinking of, Marco had no doubt that it would be interesting. Deciding to push his luck a little more Marco stretched back in his chair and said, "I'm waiting…"
He never got to hear Ace's answer for at that very moment there was a clap of thunder and the lights went out.
"Shit!" Ace cursed, and Marco heard him get up from the table.
As his eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness, he watched Ace pick his way through the tables and chairs towards the counter. Marco was treated to a very nice view of Ace's rear end while Ace bent over the bar and fished around for something underneath the counter in the dark. It wasn't very long before a noise of triumph came from the bar. Moments later, the room lightened slightly as Ace returned to the table with a pair of lit candles.
"I take it this happens often then?" Marco inquired dryly, the teasing mood from earlier gone.
"Often enough when it rains" Ace said returning to his sandwich.
Marco hummed softly in acknowledgement but didn't say anything. Marco wasn't willing to jeopardize the first thing that had allowed him to relax in days just quite yet so he turned to study the storm outside the window.
The two of them sat for a bit eating their respective sandwiches in the candlelight. It was nice and comfortable. If you really thought about it the atmosphere was downright romantic.
"Well" Marco finally said speaking softly and watching Ace out of the corner of his eye.
Ace's reaction was interesting. He appeared to become suddenly downcast immediately after Marco had spoken. Suddenly it hit him. Ace's mood from was due to loneliness. He thinks I'm about to say I have to leave, Marco realized.
"I for one, don't particularly fancy walking back in that," He said nodding to the storm that was still going strong. A rather hopeful expression took up residence in Ace's face, as Marco continued, "Mind if I stick around till it blows over?"
"Not at all!" Ace beamed and Marco chuckled.
"That lonely eh?"
Ace sighed and slouched onto the table. "It's not so much loneliness as it is boredom, but you have no idea," he muttered. "When it's like this there's no one to talk to and nothing to do. I can only play so many different variations of solitaire before I start to lose my mind."
"You have a mind left to lose?" A new voice asked wryly, as the candles flared then flickered seemingly reacting to the new presence in the room.
Both men tensed and turned to see where it was coming from, surprised to realize it was coming from the doorway. Neither of them had seen anyone approach the building through the window or heard the door open. The lack of light made it hard to identify what the figure was doing, but by all appearances he was drying himself off. Curious, Marco turned to watch as the figure shrunk six inches or so, by removing what had initially appeared to be his head. He had a hat then, Marco realized, though his confusion grew as the figure approached. He knew this person, though without a good look at the other's face he wouldn't be able to say how.
"I thought you'd lost it long ago." The figure continued snagging a chair from another table and carrying it toward theirs. Turning towards Ace in an attempt to figure out if the stranger was a threat, Marco stared as Ace relaxed then smiled at the figure that was now joining them.
"Oh shut up," Ace countered though there was no bite to the statement. In fact to Marco's surprise it sounded rather fond. "Like you're any better."
"Excuse you. I am so much better," The other retorted his voice emulating an upper class snob. "Who's your friend?" he asked setting his chair down at the end of their table and coming completely into view for the first time.
Marco propped his head on one hand and turned his head in a rather birdlike manner only to blink in surprise at the person who had just sat down. That person looked equally shocked to see him sitting there. Interesting. Now the question was, how did he know Ace?
"Oh, right," Ace said grinning at the both of them. "Marco, meet my brother Sabo. Sabo, meet my friend Marco. He's a merchant scout."
There was the sound of choked laughter as the man who Marco knew as Royal Blue attempted to control his emotions. "We've met," He said dryly. "I wasn't aware the two of you were related though. This certainly explains some things."
Giggles apparently under control Sabo grinned. "Hiya Marco. Nice to see you again."
"Wait, wait, wait, you two know each other?" Ace exclaimed in surprise.
"Worse" Marco said with a smile at Ace's confusion.
"Worse?" Ace repeated looking from his friend to his brother as if he were unsure if he truly wanted to hear this.
"We're friends." Sabo said with a smile.
"What?" Ace pouted. "You two suck."
Marco and Sabo exchanged a look. "Why?" Marco finally asked.
"Because I wanted to introduce the two of you and it turns out that you both know each other already."
"You wanted us to meet?" Marco repeated rather confused, while Sabo's eyes grew huge in some sort of understanding.
"No way," He breathed out.
Marco was instantly wary. He had seen that particular mixture of glee, pride and realization in his own brother's faces often enough to know that Sabo had determined something incredibly embarrassing about Ace. From the corresponding horror filled expression Ace had also realized that he had just handed his brother prime sibling blackmail material.
"Don't you dare!" Ace growled at his brother who looked entirely too delighted by whatever he had just discovered.
"Dare what?" Sabo questioned. "Say that you…" he was cut off as Ace lunged across the table at his brother to clap a hand over his mouth.
Sabo was laughing as he leaned the chair back attempting to avoid the hand. Avoiding his brother's lunge tipped the chair back slightly too far and Marco could see the moment that both Ace and Sabo realized the precarious nature of their situation. Both Ace and Sabo attempted to correct their position, Ace pulling back while Sabo tried to stand up but it was too late. The chair wobbled before crashing to the floor taking Sabo with it.
Startled laughter erupted from all both Ace and Marco only to be cut off suddenly when Sabo's, "Shit, owww," wafted up from the floor.
Marco peered over the table to find Sabo clutching at his arm a dark growing stain visible beneath his fingers where there hadn't been one moment before.
"Shit!" Ace exploded. "You're bleeding!"
"Really?" Sabo said dryly not moving, "I hadn't noticed."
"How bad?" Ace asked starting to kneel at his brother's side.
Sabo hummed contemplatively. "Worse than I had thought. I'm probably going to need the stuff we used to use when Gramps came to visit."
"That bad?" Ace asked as he reversed action, standing and headed towards the back of the bar. He went to a door that Marco had never seen open before.
"Not quite, but close," Sabo offered, finally attempting to get up off of the floor.
"Right," Ace said pulling open the door to reveal a staircase.
Marco presumed that it lead up to the living quarters. He'd always known Ace lived above the bar but had never realized that there was an inside access point. There was an outside staircase at the back of the building and Marco had assumed that it was the only entrance to the upper stories.
"Marco make sure he doesn't do anything else stupid while I get the first aid kit," Ace ordered in a tone that brooked no argument. Marco blinked at the tone. Ace was full of surprises. That was not the voice of a concerned sibling or even an ordinary bartender. It was practically a command voice Marco realized.
"Sure," Marco acknowledged looking over at Sabo who had by this time levered himself into Ace's vacant seat.
The moment Ace was out of sight and earshot Marco turned to face Sabo fully.
"Blue." he said keeping his normal placid expression.
"Phoenix," Sabo returned the acknowledgement just as seriously. Sabo managed to hold the serious expression for several seconds before a sudden spurt of laughter ruined it. "Merchant scout? Seriously?"
"It works." Marco retorted with a small shrug.
"It works?" Sabo gaped. "Elsewhere, sure. But you're telling me that this close to your own territory such a flimsy cover works?"
"Well enough," Marco said leaning back in his chair the very picture of nonchalance and disinterest. "No one here appears to know who I am and I would like to thank you for keeping it that way."
Sabo shrugged. "I didn't know until just now and I wasn't planning on spilling the beans. Ace really has no idea who you are?"
"As far as I know. It's rather nice actually. "
"I can only imagine."
"So how have you been? What trouble have you gotten yourself into since Nefertari? Thank you for that information by the way."
"Eh, no problem. I was in the area and a debt is a debt."
"I truly appreciate it."
"As I said, not a problem."
Marco nodded in acquiescence all the while he was debating with himself. He hadn't wanted to reveal that Blue was his informant to his family. It would have been all too easy for them to pressure him to abuse what had developed over the years into a friendly relationship. Nonetheless he was seriously contemplating asking for some sensitive information just after learning his true identity. The real name of Royal Blue was something that would be worth millions in certain quarters and he was sure Sabo knew it. Asking for what he needed might be construed as a request to buy his silence on the matter. He could only hope that Sabo would realize that Marco wasn't trying to take advantage of their friendship or his newfound information of Sabo's identity.
"Ey, Marco," Sabo's voice interrupted his thoughts. Marco looked up. "You look like you've got something serious bouncing around in that head of yours. Mind sharing?"
The similarities to Ace's normal manner of questioning were rather amusing and Marco chuckled much to Sabo's apparent confusion. "You two are definitely related," He said softly.
"Ok, I take it I'm missing something here."
Marco chuckled again. "You are. Don't worry about it."
"I hadn't planned on it," Sabo returned. "And stop trying to change the subject. What's got you tying yourself up in knots?"
Marco sighed, "Seriously, you and your brother are very alike. It's not important. I was going to ask you to look into something for me but you've obviously just got back and you're injured."
Sabo blinked in confusion "And what do either of those things have to do with anything?"
Marco shrugged. "Well, I know that you gather most of your information yourself and like I said, you are injured so I figured that you probably don't want to leave for a while. I also don't want to impose or make you feel obligated to do anything …"
Sabo chuckled. "I've got more than one way to find out whatever it is that you need Marco. You happen to be a friend first and a business connection second so don't worry about making me feel obligated. If I don't want to do it, I won't. Simple as that. So what are you looking for?"
"Information of course. Two different subjects. First, there's a guy who goes by Blackbeard. I basically want to know what he's been up to these past three months. Second, there's a group running around that calls themselves The Card Deck. I suspect they are the same group that the WC has labeled the Fire Fist Gang. I want to know what their main goal is and if you can find their primary information source."
Sabo tapped his fingers against his chin as he contemplated the request. "Sure," He said after a pause. "It might take a few days though."
"The fact that you're agreeing to look into it at all takes a weight off of my mind." Marco said leaning back in his chair. "Seriously though what drastic world catastrophes have you gotten yourself into since I saw you last? It must have been something large to cause you that level of injury."
Sabo just grinned, "It's a bit of a story and if you don't mind I'm going to wait to tell it." He grinned, "You're not going to have to wait long though. Once Ace gets back with the medicine I'll fill you in. It will make all of this easier if I tell you both at once."
"Ace knows what you do?"
"Yeah and he's going to want an explanation for these injuries anyways. You know the drill with overprotective older brothers."
"Who's an overprotective older brother?" Ace spoke up as he crossed the floor with a decent sized medicine chest in hand.
Sabo just grinned unrepentantly, "You are but it's ok. Luffy and I love you anyways."
"Shut up, Sabo," Ace growled as he flushed red. He shot Marco an apologetic look before returning his attention to the chest. "Shirt off now"
"Bossy, bossy," Sabo teased wincing as he moved to comply.
"Need a hand?" Marco offered.
Ace gave an aborted headshake that appeared to Marco as a conflict between an initial instinct to refuse and a serious consideration the offer.
"Sure," He finally said handing Marco the box he was carrying. "Mind handing me crap?"
"If I did I wouldn't have offered." Marco replied.
A snickering noise that ended in a soft ow drew the pair's attention to Sabo who had finally succeeded in getting his shirt off. Marco let out a low whistle in surprise at the extent of the damage that he could see. Sabo's back was to them, giving Marco a relatively unhampered look at the extent of some of his injuries. Large mottled bruises covered nearly every inch on his back save for the left shoulder, which was already covered by a rather nasty burn scar. Marco guessed the scar was rather old due to the lack of reaction it garnered. In the flickering candlelight, he also thought he could make out a darker than normal blot that might have been a tattoo of some sort on his other shoulder blade. It appeared to be some sort of a plant, a clover if he wasn't mistaken, framed by a familiar and intricate decorative border but Sabo turned around before Marco could make out any of the fine details or figure out where he had seen it before. The injuries on Sabo's torso were worse than those on his back and had a rather distinct pattern to them as if Sabo had been beaten or tortured. Tape on his side implied at least cracked, if not outright broken, ribs and his arms were littered with numerous and badly bandaged cuts. Marco glanced over at Ace who had also apparently recognized the bruising pattern and was slowly starting to anger as the extent of the damage sunk in.
"Breath Ace," Sabo said in a somewhat plaintive tone, "I'm fine, it's fine, everything is OK. The people who did this they're all dead."
Ace took a breath and let his head hang for a moment clearly attempting to regain control of his temper. Finally he smiled wryly although the anger was still present and lurking under the surface along with a hefty dose of worry. "If you keep coming back like this, I'm going to have to have a talk with your friends about stopping you from doing reckless shit or come with you myself. Disinfectant please," was addressed to Marco
"You're worse!" Sabo retorted. Marco stayed silent handing Ace the little spray bottle he needed. "You forget that I also see the injuries that you manage to receive often enough. Speaking of, are you OK? David told me about what happened last weeeEEK…" Sabo said with sudden yelp, and glared at his brother. "That stings. A little warning next time?"
Marco could hear Ace's grin. "Nah. Seriously, with the amount of times this happens one would think that you would be used to this by now."
"So what happened last week?" Marco asked, passing over a bandage without being asked. Ace took it but was silent for a moment.
"Couple of idiots came in for some drinks then proceeded to start a fight. They thought they'd be able to slip out without paying." Ace said finally. "It turned into an all-out brawl and I took a couple of hits that looked worse than they really were. I'm fine. Overprotective mother hens." He grumbled, as he sprayed disinfectant on the next cut while Sabo squirmed.
"You really aren't good with disinfectant, are you?" Marco said chuckling, passing over another bandage while his instincts were screaming that something wasn't right here. The Border was harsh and bars did often have their fair share of troublemakers so a bar fight was not out of the question but there was something strange about Ace's story. Marco suspected he probably wasn't being told the truth and most likely would not be told even if he asked directly so he pushed it aside. Instead he opted for changing the topic to something safer. It appeared Ace was thinking along similar lines, a fact which Marco wasn't sure if he should be thankful for or not for it simply confirmed that Ace's story was suspicious and his friend had something to hide.
"You went to see David?" Ace asked Sabo holding his hand out for yet another bandage, "How's his cold?"
"He's doing alright," Sabo said. "Should be completely over it and ready to come back and help within the next couple of days."
"Good," Ace said, stepping back to give his brother a once over. "I suppose you're right. This really isn't that much worse than normal. Bruise cream please."
"What kind of trouble do the two of you get yourselves into that you consider this normal?" Marco wondered aloud, handing Ace a jar of cream simply labeled Bruise Balm.
"Eh, nothing too exciting just your usual run of the mill stuff for a couple of Boarder squatters," Sabo said grin wide even as he shivered slightly from the combination of the air and cool cream that his brother had started to apply.
Marco raised a disbelieving eyebrow. Somehow he doubted that very much, seeing as Sabo was Royal Blue there was no way anything he was involved in was normal. On the other hand, he really didn't want to think about that because that would involve figuring out what exactly about Ace's story bothered him and prying into whatever Ace was involved in.
"Right. So what "run of the mill stuff" were you doing?"
If anything Sabo's grin grew wider as it did when he had quite the tale to tell. "Well, I was in Hitofumei because I…"
"Oh, for the love of…" Ace exclaimed cutting Sabo off, "You didn't!"
"I did!" Sabo replied with a chuckle that was just shy of a giggle.
"Why?" Ace complained though to Marco it appeared more amused than anything else and he wondered just what exactly Sabo had done. "I'm never going to be able to stop you from doing that am I?" Ace asked Sabo as he recapped the Balm and placed it back into the medicine box on the table. A quick smile of thanks was shot Marco's way as Ace picked up the fallen chair and spun it around so that he was sitting on it backwards but still facing the table.
"Nope!" Sabo said overly delighted for no apparent reason, causing Ace to glare at his brother suspiciously and Marco chuckled under his breath at the pair's antics, which for some reason only served to increase Sabo's random delight. Ace turned his head to send him a questioning look to see if he knew why Sabo was being so weird but Marco just shrugged. He had no clue as to what Sabo apparently found so funny and Ace shook his head in fond exasperation before pointing at the half of sandwich that he hadn't gotten to finish.
"Either eat that or hand it over." Ace said
Sabo looked shocked "Are you giving me part of your lunch?"
Ace's expression remained the same. "Do you want it or not?"
"Imma eat the sandwich," Sabo said, peering at his brother "But seriously are you ok? Marco, is he sick? He never gives anyone but Luffy his food. And even that doesn't happen often." Sabo said
Marco raised an eyebrow as Ace reddened but decided not comment on the fact that Ace had apparently decided to treat him to lunch today. He wasn't going to mention it until he knew exactly what that meant. "I don't think so." Marco said finally and Ace huffed.
"I'm not sick." He said crossing his arms and settling them on the back of the chair. The movement caused his shirtsleeves to slip up a little, giving Marco an unhindered look at the bottom half of Ace's tattoo. Studying it for a moment, Marco suddenly knew why he had recognized part of Sabo's. The border for Ace's tattoo, whatever it was, was exactly the same as the one that had surrounded Sabo's tattoo. Ah, Marco realized. The tattoos were a family thing, much like the ones he and his own siblings all sported.
"Right" Ace said once he was apparently comfortable. "Other than doing the thing which I always request that you don't do whenever you're in that area, what exactly happened on this trip of yours? Because I distinctly remember you saying that this would be an easy trip."
"But it was easy" Sabo protested and Marco glanced out the window, checking the weather. The rain was still falling though Marco wasn't really sure one could even call it rain at this point as it was more like mist than anything else. He knew that he would have to leave soon but a glance back at his companions, at Ace in particular, made him reconsider. Ace had noticed him checking the weather and while he clearly wasn't lonely anymore there was something in his expression that was requesting that Marco stay.
Marco considered his options for a moment but his mind had apparently already made itself up without him being any the wiser. Marco gave Ace a small smile that was returned as he settled himself more comfortably in his chair. He would definitely have to leave once Sabo had finished his story but he wanted to hear this and he wasn't quite ready to deal with the insanity of his family yet again. "Well?" Marco asked. "Ace isn't the only one who wants to hear this story you know."
Sabo chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Right, so I was in Hitofumei and I had just learned about a Toilet factory"
Marco blinked in confusion "A toilet factory? Why would that be anything worth investigating?"
"World Collective base." Ace offered by way of explanation "Usually swarming with Brass and often assist in training."
"Ah."
"Anyway" Sabo said with a mock glare, "I heard about it and was in the area so I decided to check it out and then…"