Hello and welcome to chapter 3.
Again, I want to thank all people who enjoy reading this fanfiction.
Hope you´ll have fun.
I´d also like to thank azab for commenting the whole thing.
It makes me very happy :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Marco realized that his idea of escaping differed pretty much from Aces way of doing things.
After he had tried to unlock the door multiple times and always failed so far, the freckled pirate took matters in his own hands, namely going berserk against the door, kicking and hitting and shouting at the damn thing to open up already.
Both methods had worked just as well so far, in fact not at all.
The blonde man had watched the little outburst with caring eyes, paying attention that the other Crewmember won´t hurt himself in his aggressive riot, until Ace started to cool down and was now panting heavily against the Kairoseki bars, supporting his weight with one arm.
Marco pushed himself off the wall and stepped towards his backpack, peering thoughtful at the contents and finally sitting down next to it.
As he started to unpack the insides, he noticed the confused look from his Nakama.
"They´re quite dumb for locking us up with so much equipment, yoi."
The pirate winked at his younger companion and continued to spread all items in front of him, thinking about how to put them to best use.

Ace walked over, sitting down next to Marco, who had propped his head with his elbow, obviously trying to form a plan and he knew that the sleepy look belied his thoughts.
The freckled boy peered at the objects, finding nothing helpful.
"Let´s just break the damn door."
"You already tried that, Ace."
"Any other ideas?"
"Just let me think for a second."
"You´re always thinking, Marco!"
"That´s not a bad habit, yoi."
Ace crossed his arms and sulked.
"Well, I don´t see anything suitable for our escape, unless you want to threat these marines with cayenne pepper..."
A quiet sigh escaped Marcos lips.
The raven haired sure had a point there.
He just was about to admit defeat, when both heard a door open up.
Turning around, the two pirates were greeted with a familiar appearance.
The girl from earlier eyed them from the distance, distrust written all over her.
A patch stuck to her forehead, where Ace had previously smashed her.
"What´s wrong little marine? Want some cayenne pepper?"
Ace couldn´t hold back his laughter as he saw her wrinkle up her nose in disgust.
"This could actually work, Marco."
"Be quiet, pirate. I just wanted to be sure everything is alright."
Marco sat up, listening attentively.
"Why bother with us, yoi?"
"Be quiet! My mission is to deliver you at the court unharmed. It´s annoying enough that you apparently got rid of the rope, so stay put now!"
With these words, she slammed the door shut again.

"Is it just me or do these marines get weirder and weirder every time we meet them?"
Ace shook his head incomprehensible, revolving to the older male, who had already started to repack the bag.
"What´s wrong?"
"I know how to get out of here."
"That´s great, mind to explain?"
"I´ll show you, give me a second."
Nodding, the younger pirate waited patiently for Marco to finish his doing.
This included not just the packing, but also the tossing of the bag, until it looked like someone had spilled its contents unintended throughout the entire cell.
Ace gave his friend a worried look.
"Are you alright, Marco?"
The blonde turned to face him and the freckled boy felt a shiver run down his spine when he saw the knife was the only item which remained in Marcos hand.
"Perfectly fine, now stab me."
"What!?"
Aces jaw dropped at the sudden request from his Nakama.
A few seconds passed before he started eying him suspiciously, searching for a clue of a joke in the others face, but unable to find any.
"You´re kidding me, right?"
"I mean it, yoi."
Handing him over the knife they´d just bought, Marco looked into Aces eyes, completely without doubt.
The raven haired couldn´t quite understand what his comrade wanted to achieve with that, his gaze locked onto the shining object.
"Why should I?"
The question sounded kind of weak and the younger pirate could hear his voice trembling.
The thought alone of stabbing Marco was horrible to him.
Why should he want to purposely hurt the blonde?

"I´ll be fine. Don´t worry."
"How can I not worry? I won´t stab you!"
"Just do it."
"No!"
"Give me back the knife, I´ll do it myself."
"Marco!"
Pressing the cold steel firmly to his chest, Ace held the thing out of his friends reach.
"You´ve gone nuts!"
"No, I need you to go nuts, yoi."
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Just mess me up a little bit."
"DAFUQ?!"
"Ace, listen to me."
The older pirate paused as soon as he had managed to catch Aces attention, although his friend was still looking at him as if he was some kind of a madman.
A sigh escaped the blonde man.
Maybe he really was.

Marco moved his hands in a comforting manner, distracting Aces thoughts from the knife.
"Just listen.", he repeated.
"I am listening..."
"We need to get out of here and it has to be soon."
"You´re right."
"The girl just said it´s her duty to deliver us unharmed."
"I heard her. What´s the point?"
"If you hurt me, she is forced to take action, yoi."
"Go on."
"They don´t know about my devil fruit, so we can assume, me getting locked up with you was nothing but a coincidence."
"And?"
"They won´t regard me as dangerous as you since I don´t possess an ability and will hopefully fall in our trap. As soon as they get me out of this cell, we win."
Ace knitted his eyebrows in deep thought.
The idea wasn´t totally bad, but there was one thing he didn´t really like about it and that was the part of hurting Marco.
"You know, I won´t sacrifice you for my freedom..."
"Don´t worry, I won´t die on you, yoi."
Marco paused again as he saw the questioning look from his Nakama, thinking about how to go on.
He wasn´t sure how he should explain things from here on to the freckled boy, since he didn´t understood fully either.
So he resorted to the last option.
"Just trust me."

"Trust you?"
"Yep..."
A lazy smile tugged at the others lips, what oddly enough comforted the younger pirate to no end.
He could feel the tension from earlier leave his body and his shoulders sagged a bit.
"I´ve always trusted you, Marco..."
The raven haired fixed his eyes on the knife, examining it carefully.
He could hurt the older pirate pretty bad with that thing.
Still, he wanted him to do it.
It sure showed the trust Marco put in him.
His head felt almost empty as the young pirate looked up to his friend again.
"Okay, just tell me what I have to do..."
He still didn´t like the idea though.
'I must be totally insane for doing this...'

Marcos reassuring smile widened at the statement from his comrade, eyes closing even more.
Calmly, he walked over to the door, leaning his backside against the Kairoseki bars, all while being watched carefully by his Nakama.
He waved Ace to come closer, which was obeyed instantly.
The blonde male pointed at the knife.
"It needs to look as life-threatening as possible, yoi."
He could see Ace swallow dryly, but continued his explanation.
"Stab me here, here and here."
The older pirate pointed out different parts of his body, mostly the stomach region.
"And cut me here and here."
Ace shook his head as Marcos finger showed him throat and forehead.
"I won´t do that."
"It´s just a cut. We need as much blood as possible, remember? And this will bleed like fuck."
He could see the uncertainty in the others look and waited for a sign of approval.

It took Ace some time to clear up his mind, if he could take the responsibility of hurting Marco so nasty.
He came to the conclusion that his companion seemed collected and as if he knew what he was doing.
"Okay, go on..."
The freckled pirate felt a little bit shaky to his knees and hoped the other didn´t notice so far.
He didn´t know the tone of his voice already gave him away to Marco.
As a warm hand was placed above his own, the young boy looked up in surprise, only then realizing that he had dropped his gaze.
He was met with the lazily opened eyes of Marco, who looked as calm as always.
Ace bit his lower lip and nodded, earning a nod in return.

Marco continued, still resting his hand on the others.
"When I tell you to go sit in the corner, I need you to pretend that you´re totally lethargic. It´s a little show we´ll put up for the marines, yoi."
"So you want me to do nothing?"
"Exactly."
He knew very well that this was harder for Ace than everything else he had asked so far, but it was necessary for their plan to succeed, that the freckled boy would play along.
"The marines won´t open the door if you´re on the move and unharmed.", the older pirate explained.
It seemed like his Nakama didn´t get the importance of the last part, so Marco pointed it out, just to be on the safe side.
"How about we hurt me too?"
This time it was the blondes turn to look at his friend surprised, blinking with disbelief.
The statement sure left him dumbfounded for a few seconds until he reclaimed his speech.
"Why should we?
"Because it will look more realistic like this, won´t it?"
"But you won´t heal..."
"Neither will you."
"I will, yoi."
"Yeah, I will too, eventually."
The younger pirate gave a little shrug.
Marco shook his head.
"You don´t understand me. I will heal instantly."
"You will WHAT!?"
"Hush!"

Ace shut his mouth as he saw the nervous look Marco threw at the door.
They didn´t want to startle the marine girl to soon.
The blonde turned around again, as he heard the freckled boy speak up, now in a more quiet tone.
"What do you mean, you will heal instantly? Just like that?"
"Just like that."
Marco could see admiration and disbelief in the others gaze, although the latter dominated.
He smiled as Ace nodded slowly.
"Okay, it´s all about trust, right? So I go sit in the corner and then?"
"I´ll handle the rest. Now start with the cuts."
"With the cuts, got it..."

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