Garp and his granddaughter both sat in the room- office- happily eating rice crackers while the Fleet Admiral ranted and raged. The sheep baa-ed and joined in the rice cracker meal. Sengoku always did have a lot of rice crackers in his office.

"OI! YOU TWO!"

"What/Baa~?" The three gave him innocent looks, though it looked funny on an old man like Garp.

He growled, "STOP EATING MY RICE CRACKERS!"

They grinned, "Yadda~"

Kuzan sweatdropped from where he was sitting, "Shouldn't you be telling them to listen?"

Sengoku coughed, "Right. LISTEN YOU TWO!"

"Hai~" "Baa~"

"Whitebeards first commander is gone and he's tearing apart the seas to look for the damn man!"

"So?" Came four voices.

Sakazuki growled, "What do you mean 'So?' This is a major violation and we marines should punish the scum for disturbing the order."

The girl smiled, pointing out, "It's not like Whitebeard's hurting anyone though."

Tsuru nodded, politely taking a rice cracker offered by the girl. (Making Sengoku twitch that his stash of rice crackers is disappearing) "She's right. The man is only looking for his commander. As long as he continues to not harm the islands and their people, then I see no harm as well."

And she's the main strategizer.

"Bwahahahaha- That old coon will never harm innocents~"

Sengoku grunted as more agreements came up from his subordinates, muttering, "All this is that damn Blackbeard's and Shiki's fault."

True. There was somewhat major pirate world between the two forces, Whitebeard VS Shiki. Blackbeard turned traitor and helped Shiki, seriously injuring three of the commanders along the way- one actually falling in the ocean and disappearing. And then, the traitor disappeared himself, though word has it that he was in Paradise collapsing kingdoms.

Borsalino sighed, "Thoooouuuugggghhh IIIIII reeeeaaallllyyy thhhiiiink thaaat Mmmmaarrccoo's deeeaaaad alllllreaaaaadddyyy."

Kuzan scoffed, "Well, Whitebeard obviously doesn't think so. You, Sakazuki?"

"Pirates are like cockaroaches- you have to behead them yourself with your own hands to make sure that they're dead."

"Which means Marco's not dead~ Though how does a devil fruit user servive falling into the sea?"

Tsuru shrugged, "Even if you study the ocean for many years, it will still have it's mysteries."

Sengoku growled, "So why are you all still sitting in my office?! Go out there and find Marco or do something about Whitebeard!"

"Hai." Though all save Sakazuki left halfheartedly.

"AND STOP EATING MY RICE CRACKERS!"

The girl and the old man stuck their tongues out before laughing while leaving.

"Luffy! Glad you became a marine unlik3 your damn brother!"

The girl smiled softly, "Mm." In truth, she would have become a pirate as well... but she, too, knew loneliness and how lonely Jii-chan was feeling- how lonely he would feel if she left him lime her dad and brother.

Luffy skipped back to her room, where she saw the blue bird watch her enter. She cleaned his bandages with a hum; him allowing her to.

She grinned, "Just came back from a meeting birdie-san~ Sengoku's reeeaaally mad at the Whitebeard Pirates for tearing up the ocean these past months~"

His head perked up and she noticed his curiosity with a slightly bigger grin, "Ah, you like pirates or something? Well, naturally, huh? Piratesand birds are both embodiements of freedom, afterall~"

He found his head tilted at that. The girl liked talking about freedom. Or so he learned this past week as the girl talked to him about random stuff, never letting him get bored.

"So the Whitebeard Pirates lost their commander or something and are trying to find him- good thing they didn't harm any innocents yet~ Then, Sengoku and Sakazuki would be suuuuuper mad and destroy the pirates like that-" She clenched her fist in front of him and let the ball of bandages fall to the floor as an example.

He mentally sighed in relief. So jo marine trouble? It was bad enough to have a fleet of Shiki Pirates after them.

Luffy patted him on the head, "Hey, little fella- seems like you got one more day~ Funny, huh~ I got one more day before I'm assigned to G8- the New World's getting a bit rowdy, ya know-" her voice quieted into a whisper as she looked out the window, "Not to mention, I've go a bad feeling about Blackbeard. I wonder if birds can feel it as well... the world stilling and waiting for his move. The world's about to change. For good or bad? I don't know, but that Blackbeard fella is definitely going to be in the middle of it."

Marco respectfully silenced for the girl as she contemplated their traitors actions. The girl was quite like his Oyaji in that aspect; though he wondered what the two of them felt.

The next night, Luffy giggled as she got the bandages off the energetic bird. He was all ready to leave and rejoin with his family.

"Shishishishishi~ Stay still for awhile, birdie-san~"

He did, unable to wait for his trip home, and the bandages were finally off... with excited flickers of a blue flame, making them both freeze.

Both understanding what that meant... Both remembering their sides.

They stilled in silence, waiting for the other to move. Attack or not, just a movement.

Finally Luffy made a move to sigh and pat him on the head, "Ah, whatever. Hope you get back to your home safely, Pheonix-san. Whitebeard's at Noir Island, three thousand and seventy-two kilometers north north-east from here. Next time we meet, we're enemies though." She smiled warmly, bringing him out of his frozen state.

He nodded, bowing his head slightly in gratitude. He hadn't expected the marine girl to still let him go after he slightly lost control from excitement.

Though marine girl, he'll one day repay this debt.

With that, he took off, out of the room, through the window she opened, and into the night sky. The wind seemed to welcome him, exhilarating him to the bone as he set off to the island she mentioned.

After a long hour of flying at full speed, he saw them. Blue flames coursed his body as he spanned his wings before diving down into a certain pyromaniac and pompadour's hands.

"Marco!" Many shouted happily as if a dark spell had been broken.

He grinned, taking in all their appearences... especially his Oyaji.

"Welcome home, Marco."

He nodded; eyes fully saying, "I'm home."

AN:

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

XD