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, mentions of non consensual drug use.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners. I simply play with them for my, and your amusement.

Authors Note: Last week, I was early and this week I am a little late. Ah well. That's the way the cookie crumbles. Before I begin, I wish to thank the magnificent Ktwontwo. They have been an absolute gem and beta'ed this chapter for me. Seriously guys you should go check out their stuff. Its phenomenal and you definitely wont regret it. I know I keep saying that, but its the truth.

The fantastically amazing absolutely outstanding awesome Idaida on tumblr is responsible for the lovely cover art. Thank you again for choosing my story in the 2016 OP Big Bang. It was a pleasure to work with you! To all of you readers who are lamenting the fact that you cant make out much detail never fear! Yall can find a much larger and better version of the magnificent stupendously phenomenal picture here! post/143364258999/one-piece-big-bang-2016-what-are-the-odds

So, my weekend was fantastic and I hope y'all had rather amazing ones yourselves. So yeah, last week I mentioned serious stuff started to happen here? Yeah this chapter marks the start of the spot which I am calling lets see how much the author can make the audience hate them. You've been warned. Well, I mean as much as I can without spoiling anything. Anyways, have at it folks!

Chapter 10: Feelings in the Flame

The wind blew across the desert, carrying the acrid tang of smoke, scorched earth and burning rubber. Shimmers in the air caused by a massive blaze in the distance left no doubt to their destination yet Thatch apparently felt the need to ask the question anyways.

"That it?"

Izo who was standing next to him scoffed, "It's the only thing around for miles. Is there any doubt that we're headed into that inferno?"

Marco chuckled as he rolled his shoulders, "According to Blue's messenger the place that appears to be going up in smoke is the spot.

Izo huffed, "I'm still mad that you didn't bother to inform me that there was a messenger. I really would have liked to question him. but no, you didn't say anything until after he had left."

Marco ignored Izo's rant while studying the burning compound in the distance. "That's definitely it; right where he said it would be," He repeated thoughtfully. "Though I'm not entirely sure just why it's on fire." Marco frowned as he took a good look at the blazing complex, "It shouldn't be on fire. Technically no one is supposed to know about a secret base that kind of negates the whole idea. Now what can we deduce from this? Someone discovered it and took exception to its existence. Just who and why did they feel the need to set it on fire is the question."

Izo, who by this time had stopped his grumping, glared at the building as if it offended him on a deep and personal level.

"We need to move; NOW!" He asserted. "If we don't, then anything useful is going to get burned up by that blaze."

With that Izo broke rank and started heading swiftly towards the building, uncaring of the cindicone and scrub brush that he trampled and pushed aside in his haste. Marco and Thatch shared a look as they followed behind their nosy, information obsessed sibling. Neither of them wanted to be the one to point out the fact that judging by the size of the blaze anything useful would have burnt up long before they had arrived.

As the three siblings topped a small rise and looked across to the burning compound it looked like their fears were well founded. Marco frowned. He could hear the beginning of Izo's lament on unsolved mysteries and burnt up documentation as he took in the flame enshrouded building. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Thatch attempting to redirect Izo's attention towards figuring out the best way in. The flames themselves however held most of his attention and he frowned slightly as he studied them. Something wasn't quite right here but he couldn't put his finger on what.

After a moment more of study it suddenly clicked and Marco grinned. It appeared that their quest for information might not be as hopeless as they had originally feared. Despite the smells on the wind earlier and the massive amount of visible flames not much of the complex appeared to be actually consumed. Instead, it looked to Marco as if someone had taken a blanket made of fire and simply draped it over and around the hastily built hodgepodge structure that made up the compound.

Much to his siblings surprise Marco took a couple of steps forward until he was just on the edge of the temperature zone created by the flames, slightly warmer than what was comfortable but not too hot to be horrendously uncomfortable either.

"The fire isn't actually consuming anything," Marco breathed in awe as he gazed at the flames.

This was a work of art. For all that the fire looked natural, it was not. He could feel his sibling's bewilderment as they took that statement it and then their own wonder and curiosity as they noticed what he had. Marco took another half step forward toward the fascinating flame construct.

"Card Deck!" Izo said with a snap of his fingers from a couple of feet back. He was apparently unwilling to let the heat ruin his makeup.

"What about them?" Thatch wondered.

"You think this is their work," Marco replied absently still studying the patterns forming in the fire.

"Yes," Izo nodded. "Remember the WC calls 'em Fire Fist and they're the only other group in the area who hate Blackbeard nearly as much as we do. Given their recent successes they also seem to have the resources to find out where Blackbeard's hideouts are. That doesn't even take into account that we know their leader, Spade or whatever his name is, has some sort of ability pertaining to fire. That fire is not actually burning anything therefore he or some other fire type user has to be in there. There's no other reason for the fire to act like this."

Thatch made a noncommittal grunt in agreement.

As if to punctuate the conversation there was a sudden bellow of pain that echoed out of the compound. Sounds of a fight followed, growing louder presumably as the fight moved closer towards them.

"How many extra Coalition forces did the messenger say had been moved here?" Izo asked.

Marco tuned out Thatch's reply. He was too busy studying the flames searching for a way in. He wasn't having much luck finding one. The fire blanket had completely sealed off all potential entrances and exits. In fact the potential entrances and exits were the only places where the fire seemed to be steady. Everywhere else the flames seemed to waver and dance almost as if they had a mind of their own. Marco blinked watching the flames dance to the sounds of the fight inside. They flickered and moved in a hypnotic pattern around the building. It didn't appear to be an angry or malicious type of pattern; it was instead rather soothing.

Despite being what he was, he had never particularly thought of fire as having a life of its own before but this one clearly did. A tongue of flame licked around a corner of a window and Marco followed it with his eyes. It mingled with its fellows before curling around and fusing with another flame that struck out away from the building, crackling and popping away sending sparks towards the sky. Marco watched with something that was halfway between desire and envy. How long had it been? How many years since he had danced in the flames; since he had simply allowed himself to rise from the fire and fly for the joy of it? How long had it been since he had truly let himself go? He wanted…

A sudden whap on the back of his head had him whirling around, ready to strike whatever enemy had gotten past Thatch and Izo. Instead he found his siblings staring at him undisguised concern present on their face.

"Marco?" Izo asked hesitantly

"You with us, bird brain?" Thatch teased though he didn't bother to hide the note of worry in his voice.

"I'm fine." Marco protested. He didn't understand the disbelieving look the pair shared between themselves either. When he could take it no more he finally asked, "What?"

"Are you sure?" Izo questioned stepping closer to peer up at his face.

Marco leaned away slightly. "Yes, I'm sure. Why?"

"Because you went all vacant on us bird boy," Thatch said raising an eyebrow. "Your eyes went a little wild there for a second then you were trilling under your breath and next thing we know, well, look," he said gesturing at Marcos feet.

Marco looked down wondering what Thatch was getting at. His eyes widened when he looked down at his feet. They weren't feet any more. Instead he saw a set of raptor's talons. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, concentrated, and opened them again. They were still there.

"Shit," he muttered half under his breath.

"You didn't even know you had shifted did you?" Thatch asked, sounding all too amused for the gravity of the current situation.

Marco shook his head mutely as he wondered what the hell was going on. With a sigh he took another breath and allowed his bright blue flames to flicker to life. At that point Marco found himself faced with another struggle. The flames wanted to change the rest of him. They wanted to replace easily burnt hair and flesh with inflammable feathers. There was the almost uncontrollable urge to just give in and spread his wings. He wanted to go dance in the flames and to hell with anything else! Marco frowned as he forced the process to go the other direction. When he finished, he looked back at his brothers.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Thatch asked.

At Marco's nod Izo huffed, "You'd better be. The last time I saw you lose control we were picking feathers and fur out of everything for months. I do not wish to go through that again."

Marco chuckled remembering the incident. He had been rather young then, barely out of his teenage years. "I'm fine," he reassured them.

"Sure you are," Izo said rolling his eyes. "When we get back, you need to figure out and deal with whatever that was."

Thatch interrupted, "We don't have time for that. If the building's not actually on fire, then the information we're after is still undoubtedly safe. How are we going to get in?"

"I've got a way," Marco offered, "but I doubt you're going to like it, especially in light of what just happened."

"You have to manipulate the flames don't you?" Izo's voice was flat, turning the question into a statement.

Marco chose to answer it anyways. "Yes."

"You're right," Izo said, "I don't like it but do it anyway."

He practically had to yell the last bit as the cacophony created by the fight that seemed to be occurring within the compound once again increased in volume.

Izo winced at a particularly loud bellow, "I hate wading into that blind but we really need information. Fight those who attack us and ignore those who don't unless you think you can get some answers from them. Remember what we're really after is the documents that Royal Blue claimed would be here. They take priority over almost everything else"

Marco and Thatch nodded in agreement.

Looking at the fire Marco took a deep breath and added, "Right."

He strode forward into the wall of heat produced by the flames. Palms outstretched he ignored the heat until he got close enough to actually touch. At that point he allowed the fire to kiss his fingertips and run little tongues over his arms and palms before releasing his own vibrant blue fire. The blue spread from his palms out the tips of his fingers. It pushed back the orange flames creating an archway around the closest door.

"Go!" he urged his siblings. "I'll join you in a moment. While I've got control I want to see what I can learn from the fire itself first. Maybe I can figure out how the Card Deck has managed to get fire to behave like this."

"Uh huh," Izo acknowledged then he and Thatch charged through the cleared door. The noises of battle increased once again but Marco ignored it focused once again on the flames he was playing with. He stood there in the blanket of fire watching his blue flames push and pull at the orange in a rather bizarre mockery of a tango. It was sensual, beautiful and unnatural all at once.

"What can you tell me?" He asked the fire just as the flames decided to give up their struggles to remain separate and merged, creating an odd violet flame.

The color wasn't even the strangest part of the entire situation. The moment the flames had joined, the volume of the fire nearly quadrupled. An increase in the amount of fire was expected, he had just added more of it after all, but it shouldn't have increased it by that much. Another oddity was the control that he had. As the purple spread, the phoenix part of Marco trilled in contentment. He found that with very little effort he could manipulate the purple flames as easily as he did his own blue ones.

It was the emotions, however, that that he found the strangest of all. This fire had life, intelligence and emotion. It was full of it. There was the ever-present hunger found in any fire but overshadowing that was a delighted contentment and childish joy. There were other emotions mixed in. Many were too faint to really distinguish one from another. The more he played with the purple fire the more relaxed, lazy and content he felt. Slowly overtaking over the whole thing was a sense of wonder, which Marco realized with shock, was coming from him.

Deciding to experiment, Marco focused on the wonder he was currently experiencing and released more of his own blue flames. They didn't stay blue for long, as the violet and orange flames swallowed them. The hue of the purple deepened to a much darker color and Marco could suddenly feel the glee of whoever was also manipulating the fire as the other fire wilder realized that he now had a playmate, someone to share the fire with. Dizzy with elation Marco grinned wildly as he pushed at the purple flames teasing and taunting the other fire user to do something, anything really. They played like that for a minute or so and then the game shifted when Marco caught a tongue of flame approaching him, one he hadn't controlled, trying to pin down his location.

He took control of that stray bit and melded it into his blue, turning it purple. It quickly shifted the dance into a game of fiery keep away. Some of the flames would flick out, in an attempt to find him. Marco did his best to turn them away in random patterns. It wasn't like the fire could hurt him, but it wouldn't do to let the other fire wielder know exactly where he was. He in turn, would send waves of the purple flame rippling over the orange flames blanketing the complex in an attempt to find its source. It was quite an exhilarating feeling to finally find someone else who would and could play with fire this way. Marco could imagine that his counterpart felt the same.

The game shifted again. It had first been pushing and shoving like little kids attempting to assert their superiority over each other. Then it had been more playing a back and forth friendly give and take. Now it seemed to be more like dancing. Flames entwining about one another, changing form and color but keeping their own identity. Sometimes they would mirror each other while others they would merge into a purple that grew deeper every time they merged and split then merged again.

Abruptly as the whole thing had begun it stopped. Marco experienced a torrent of emotions; realization, confusion, suspicion, worry, panic and what he thought was the slightest hint of regret. The next thing that he knew the fire flared white-hot and suddenly he was alone in the flames with only the ever-present hunger of a true fire to keep him company.

A sharp crackling noise coupled with some rather impressive swearing from somewhere inside the compound drew him out of his head and Marco nearly swore himself before busting through the door that Thatch and Izo had entered earlier. He needed to find them and he needed to do it fast. The flames were quickly reverting to their natural state once his playmate had removed his control. As fire manipulation was only a side effect of his powers Marco knew his abilities would only be able to delay things for a while. Eventually the fire would slip through his metaphorical fingers and burn through the building consuming everything and everyone inside. If he were to be completely honest with himself, Marco wasn't confident that the fortuitous quirk of his powers would delay the flames much at all. The last impression that he had gotten from the flames before removing himself from them had been that of starvation. Held from fuel as they had been, the flames would gorge themselves on anything and everything available, as was their nature.

Marco made a quick decision, instead of wasting time trying useless things, it would be better to find and assist his siblings. He tore through the lower levels of the compound, nearly slipping several times in various pools of blood. The dead bodies and overturned furniture that were present in nearly every room did not help in the slightest and Marco had only his reflexes to thank when he managed to save himself from falling flat on his face again and again.

He had just finished checking the first floor and was making his way towards the hall that contained the stairwell. He'd almost made it to the bottom of the stairs when movement caught his attention and he looked up. He froze in shock and the person on the upper landing did the same. Marco almost couldn't believe his eyes. Standing there, just across from him was a short plump black haired woman with a face that he knew rather well; Marie Black gazed steadily back at him.

It was clearly the same Marie that worked at the S'andwich Bar but instead of her usual outfit she was dressed like someone who meant business. A sleeveless leather vest, gorget and bracers had been combined in an ingenious way to give her a decent amount of flexibility and protection. Sturdy looking boots and tan shorts with a multitude of pockets completed the outfit. She looked good as she always did but Marco found that his eyes were drawn to her tattoo. An intricate Q with a stylized heart in the center adorned her right leg, just above the knee. There was also a glint of a weapon in her hand; a punching dagger. Both the dagger and the tattoo struck a chord in Marco but he didn't have either the time or the energy right now to chase down the memory. He needed to find his brothers.

As he prepared to move onward Marco suddenly knew with absolute clarity why the description was ringing a bell. The woman that Jinbie had fought just over two weeks ago used punching daggers and had that same tattoo. Izo had been correct; the Card Deck was here and Marie was part of the deck. If he were to continue with the Card analogies, Marco supposed that made her part of a hand or something. The question now was which hand had been dealt? Which hand was it that the Deck had believed to be the winning one in this case?

"Marie?" Marco sputtered over the sound of the fire, "You? What?"

Marie said nothing as she studied him impassively, a marked change from her usually expressive face. There was a slight widening of her eyes as she saw his own tattoo, the one that marked him as a member of Whitebeard's family but it was nowhere near the level of shock that he had expected if she hadn't known about it at all. Evidently, she had known or at least suspected who he was the entire time. Finally she visibly huffed as she met his eyes, a rather cocky grin spreading across her face.

Marco decided that he'd had enough. It was high time he got some answers. He took a step forward and Marie's bravado flickered for a second allowing Marco to get a look at the grim determination residing behind it. He took another step forward onto the staircase and Marco could see the confliction on her face. It was clear that she did not want to be here at this moment, though Marco couldn't tell if it was due to his reputation or the fact that they had become friends over the course of the past few clicks. It didn't matter as an incomprehensible yell sounded in the distance. Marco didn't recognize the voice but Marie apparently did and her face hardened as Marco advanced slowly up the stairs. Good, Marco thought with a detached satisfaction. That meant that she was taking this seriously. He took another step forward and Marie took a step back fully onto the upper landing this time, as if to provide her with a more stable stance.

An ominous creaking from overhead caused them both to look for its source. It was a good thing too since a ceiling beam nearly eaten through by flames gave way. Marco jumped back off the staircase just as the entire thing came crashing down sending up a cloud of dust, splinters and sparks as it took out the stairwell. Marco grimaced and when he looked up at the landing Marie had vanished.

Marco swore. There went his best chance of figuring out what was going on. He could go after her he realized. It wouldn't take that long move around the burning beam and access the second floor. She couldn't have gone too far. He started to move towards the remains of the staircase when a low inhuman groaning filled the area.

Crap, Marco thought, and did an abrupt heel face turn. He knew that sound all too well. The fire had eaten through the supports faster than he would have thought possible. The building would be coming down any minute and he still needed to find his brothers. Answers would have to wait. Hopefully Thatch and Izo had managed to find something and this entire thing hadn't been a waste of time.

Marco practically flew through the building as he searched for the wayward pair, artfully dodging bits of burning building, newfound holes in the floors. The place was a mess, though it was impossible to say how much of a disaster it had been before the fighting had started. A flash of fire caught his attention and Marco glared at it all the while increasing his speed and relentlessly shoving away the part of him that desperately wanted to stop running and allow the flames to consume him.

Loud hacking coughs caught his attention and Marco's glare turned into a grimace. That sounded distinctly like Izo. Attempting to use the noise to pinpoint his brother's location was difficult but after a few seconds he finally found his wayward siblings standing over a dead man and rifling through a filing cabinet.

"Get what you wanted?" He asked, watching in concern as another violent set of coughs sent spasms through his brother.

"Dunno. I think got something decent," Izo gasped once his coughing had stopped.

"There's no time to look for anything more," Thatch growled while stuffing some papers into his pockets, his voice raspy from the smoke.

Izo glared, "I refuse to let this be a wasted trip."

"And I refuse to let you die," Marco stated bluntly. "Thatch is right. There's no more time the building is about to come down around our ears. We need to go."

"Fine," Izo snapped, "then let's get out of here."

"This way," Marco said turning.

He was surprised to see the hallway completely engulfed in flames. The bird part of his brain clamored for his attention once again but Marco shoved it away. He needed to focus on finding another way out. His brothers wouldn't make it through the hall. He turned back to the room, searching for something, anything that could be used as a way out. There wasn't one.

An all to familiar creaking groan seemed to come from everywhere at once and Marco's eyes widened in horror. The ceiling sagged dangerously. The building was going to collapse any minute now and Izo and Thatch were still on the other side of the room. Marco started running; he knew he wasn't going to make it in time but that didn't stop him from trying anyway.

The timbers began to succumb to the inevitable, sending a fiery rain of wood splinters, burning beams and a miscellaneous body or two down into the room. With a panicked cry he lunged forward, hands outstretched and reaching for his brothers as the first bits of the ceiling hit the floor.

Just as Marco reached his brothers the entire building seemed to collapse in on itself all at once with a thunderous roar swallowing everything and everyone in a blazing eruption of incandescent flame.

AN: Eheheheheheh. Yeah, thats the end of the chapter! I did warn you that serious things were happening. There you go, serious things have happened. Please let me know what you think about this turn of events? I will really appreciate it!