Heyoo everyone! Here's the updated chapter 4! This is actually one of the earlier chapters I had the most fun writing the first time, so it was fun to re-edit. Hopefully the shifts in point of view won't be so out of nowhere now.

Anyway, I don't own One Piece or any of it's characters. I only own my OC.

Chapter 4

"So, what's the exercise today?" I asked Marco in the galley that morning.

It took Marco a second to finish his bite of food. "Well," he said. "I was thinking more of our first exercise in the morning, and then I'll take you to see the second division commander in sickbay."

I took a huge bite of waffle, and tilted my head towards him. "So, why's he in sickbay again?"

Marco sighed. "His health isn't the best. It's actually so bad for him that he's bedridden most of the time. He's a really nice guy, though. I think you'll like him. If you don't mind lame jokes."

I paused for a second before swallowing my food. "Lame jokes?"

"Okay, now." Marco said. "Today we're going to take it up a notch."

We were back on deck. I could feel the sun beating down on my bare arms and on my face. There was a gentle breeze as well. For a moment, I wasn't paying attention; it was just too nice a day.

Then something hit my nose, and I jumped, my hands flying to my nose. "Ow!" I yelped.

"Are you listening?" Marco asked.

"Yup!" I said, rubbing my nose.

Marco sighed. "Anyway, today, you won't have to stumble around. I'm going to have you avoid me." he said.

"Avoid you?" I asked. "You mean you're going to fly around and try to hit me? And I have to dodge you?"

"That's about all there is to it."

I nodded. "Okay." How hard could that be?

The answer to that was very. The first attempt was completely embarrassing. I got all turned around with Marco flying around in circles above me. He just swooped down when I got dizzy, and lightly whacked me over the head.

"Oi!" I complained.

"Focus!" Marco said sharply. "Try again."

We tried again. Over and over again. Every time Marco made another pass, and I missed, Marco would bop me on the head, or flick my ear. Nothing that seriously hurt, just enough to let me know I'd failed again. This was probably one of the most frustrating exercises that Marco had thought up so far!

It felt like I had been doing this for hours. And no amount of my turning around was ever going to make a difference. I needed a new game plan.

I bit my lip, thinking. Then it hit me. It didn't seem like such a good idea, but at this point, I would take anything. This time, I shut my eyes, concentrating.

I could hear Marco flying over me, the wind making a shuffling noise as it passed through his feathers. The shuffling noise turned sharper, suddenly. Was he coming towards me? I couldn't tell. But at this point, staying in one place was a risk I was not willing to take.

I acted at the last moment. Though, it wasn't the most dignified way to get out of the way. My knees buckled, and I landed flat on my back on the deck, nearly knocking the wind out of me.

"Ouch!" I gasped.

There was a clicking sound against the deck as Marco landed, and Marco's hand grabbed mine, pulling me up onto my feet. "Good job. You avoided me at the last second. Not the most graceful getaway, though."

As soon as I caught my breath, I laughed. "I did it!"

Marco gently bopped me over the head. "Don't get complacent, kid." I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"So, can we see him now?" I asked. "The second division commander, I mean." It was after noon at this point, and I was really starting to get curious.

"Ah, sure, why not?" Marco said. "Veer left a bit."

We were walking towards sickbay, but Marco wasn't holding my hand this time. I was following the sound of his footsteps, which is harder than you'd think. On a crowded deck, it's very hard to focus on one pair of footsteps.

"Oh." Marco said, stopping me by putting his hand on my shoulder. "We're here."

There was a creak as the door opened.

This must have been a different room in sickbay, because there was a great deal of beeping and shuffling that I couldn't remember in my room. Now and then a clink of glass would sound as well. It sounded like there were at least five people there, shuffling through the room.

I winced as someone passing by us stepped on my foot.

"Sorry." The man said, almost offhandedly, as he continued on his way.

My eyebrows knit together. "That sounded like Izo." I said, more to myself than anyone else.

"It was." Marco said. "Izo helps out in sickbay sometimes. He's a big help."

"Oh." I said.

Then, from somewhere to my left, a shaky voice said, "Hey Marco. What's brought you in here today?"

"Ah, there you are." Marco said. He put his hand on my shoulder and steered me towards the voice. "Sprint, this is Zia."

The man Marco was talking to chuckled a bit, then burst into a coughing fit, making me jump. He gasped in a shaky breath, and spoke again, "Really? The kid you told me about?" There was a shuffling sound, as though he was pushing blankets off himself, and hauling himself into a sitting position. "Nice to meet you, kid. I'm Sprint, second division commander." He coughed again.

I frowned. "Cassiopeia D. Zia." I said, holding out my hand in Sprint's direction. "Are you alright? You don't sound too good."

"I'm fit to run a marathon! Fit, get it?" Sprint laughed. He shook my hand. His hand was cold, and kinda thin. There were calluses on his palm. Even then, though, he had a surprisingly firm handshake.

I raised an eyebrow. Ah yes. Lame jokes. I almost forgot.

Marco chuckled a bit. "Sprint's always been a bit of a joker. Unfortunately, he's also never really had a sense of what's funny and what's not."

Sprint laughed. "Guilty as charged." Then, he lapsed into another coughing fit.

I leaned back a bit. "Hey, um, if you don't mind my asking, Sprint, umm..."

"What am I sick with?" Sprint sighed. "Dunno. It's nothing that the doctors can identify or cure. Got something to do with my lungs, though. Though you'd never guess by my incredible strength, stamina and-" he didn't finish his sentence. He started coughing explosively again.

"So, anyway. Izo told me you joined the crew, Zia." he said. "Marco hasn't been pushing you too hard, has he?"

"Well, so far I've only fallen overboard once." I said brightly.

Sprint laughed. "Well! Marco, you've got yourself a new challenge too! You ever learn how to do that navigating by ear?"

"Shut up, would you?" Marco sighed. Although it sounded like a cross between a growl and a sigh.

I laughed. "Ah, we've already gone over that." I said.

Sprint shuffled a bit, and then said, "Why don't you take a seat, Zia? Tell me a bit about yourself."

I nodded, and shuffled over and sat on the mattress by his feet.

We sat for a while, and joked and laughed, until Marco stood up and tapped me on the shoulder. "Okay, Zia," he said, "It's been fun, but it's starting to get late. You've got training tomorrow."

I pouted. "Aw, c'mon, Marco..." I said. But, there's really not much of a point in arguing with him, especially now that he's my division commander. I sighed, and held my hand out to Sprint. "Nice to meet you." I said.

Sprint took my hand in that tough grip of his. "Come and visit again, would you?" he said. "You really appreciate comic genius."

"Sure will." I said, smiling. Comic genius? Since when?

I stood up, and waving one last time, followed Marco out of the room and out on deck.

"He's kinda strange." I commented to Marco when we were outside. "But I really like him! He's funny, now and then. And only when he isn't trying."

Marco chuckled. "Well, it's good that you have patience, Zia. I'm sure it did Sprint a lot of good. He doesn't see too many people save the medical staff on a regular basis. So I think it's good that you're patient enough to deal with his lame one-liners. No wonder you can get along with Thatch."

(two days later)

Marco sat in his room, at his desk, staring at the mountain of paperwork in front of him. This was the one thing he absolutely hated about being a division commander. The mind-numbingly boring paperwork. How on earth did people like Sprint get it done so fast? Although, Sprint did have a lot of time on his hands to do it, seeing as he was stuck in sickbay most of the time.

Marco picked up his pen, dipped it in the small bottle of ink and got to work.

About a half-hour later, there was a tentative knock on his door.

Marco looked over his shoulder. "Come in!" he called.

The door opened, and Zia poked her head in. "Marco, can I come in?"

Marco leaned back on his chair. "Sure, why not?" he said. "How can I help you?"

Zia walked through the door, shut it, then made her way to his bed and sat down. "What are you doing?" she asked, cocking her head so her raspberry coloured hair fell in front of her eyes.

"Paperwork." Marco said, simply.

"Why?" Zia asked.

"Well, it's one of the commander's jobs." Marco explained. "Gives us something to dread every month, anyway."

"Can I help?"

Marco chuckled. He figured the only reason Zia offered was because she wanted to make him feel better. "It's fine, Zia. What have you been up to?"

Zia's face lit up. "Oh! Thatch taught me how to do a coin disappearing trick! Not too interesting when you can't see anything, but doing it is fun! I'm going to show Sprint later." She bit her lip. "I went to visit him and show him earlier this afternoon, but Jiru said that he was asleep." She sighed. Then, she frowned at him. "Are you sure you don't want help? I could carry some papers for you or something."

Marco figured he shouldn't mention to her that the five stacks of paper on his desk were higher than Zia was tall.

"Oh, right." he grabbed a piece of paper and placed it on his finished pile. "Can you go and ask Thatch to show you to your room?"

Zia raised an eyebrow. "My room?" she asked. "What do you mean? I can make my way there on my own now, thanks to your instruction."

Marco smiled. "Well, I finally managed to get you a real room to yourself. It's nothing huge, and nothing special, but I figured you shouldn't be put in one of the dorms with the other guys in the division. And there aren't any other girls in the crew, so there's no women's dorm. So, converting an unused storage room into your own room is only logical."

Zia nodded. "Oh! And Thatch knows where it is?" she asked.

Marco nodded. Then he remembered Zia couldn't see him do that. "Right. Off you go. Don't let this boring paperwork drag you down."

"Got it!" Zia jumped off the bed, and jogged to the door. "Have fun with the paperwork, Marco!" she said brightly, before shutting the door.

There was a moment of silence after the door slammed.

Marco glanced at the mountain of papers around him again, and sighed. "Back to work..."

I made my way across the deck, just for something to do. It was a fun challenge trying to avoid all the voices and footsteps around me. Of course, I wasn't amazing. More than once, I'd stepped on someone's foot, and once I had to apologise to an extremely irritated group, who I had walked right into, disrupting their poker game.

Now, I was just strolling around, enjoying the sun and the gentle breeze.

"Oi! Zia!"

I stopped and turned towards the person who had spoken. "Yeah?"

The footsteps came closer, and then stopped when they were about a foot away from me. "There you are. Come with me for a moment."

"Izo?" I asked.

"Yup." he said. "You're getting good at this."

"Marco's been drilling me like crazy." I laughed as I followed his footsteps. "Seems to have paid off, too. Now, if only walls and doors made noise that I could avoid them."I joked, sticking my tongue out and scratching the back of my head.

I stopped when Izo put his hand on my shoulder. There was a click as a door opened.

"After you." Izo said.

He guided me to a bench, and said, "Please, sit.", then walked to the other side of the small room. There was a rattling noise as he rummaged around somewhere.

"So, what's up?" I asked, leaning back on my hands and swinging my legs back and forth.

Izo didn't answer, and just wrapped something around my waist.

I giggled and squirmed. "Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Stop squirming." Izo said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "I'm just getting measurements."

"For what?" I asked.

"You need new clothes." Izo said plainly, making more shuffling noises as he moved around, measuring my feet, the length of my legs and arms, and the width of my shoulders. "I can't stand seeing you walking around the ship in those rags."

"My clothes are fine." I said. I didn't care what I looked like. Besides, what's the point of caring what you look like if you're blind?

I heard Izo snort. "You have a rip in your collar, the fabric in the armpit of your shirt is worn, your pants have ripped knees and frayed cuffs, and your shoes are coming apart at the soles. Don't give me that 'my clothes are fine' crap."

I raised my eyebrows. "I thought you helped out in sickbay, Izo." I said.

"I do." Izo said. "But I'm the ship's tailor as well. I've got a knack for making good, durable clothes. Now sit still. I'll be about half an hour."

I sat there, swinging my legs and talking to Izo, who was busily sewing, or cutting, or whatever else you do to make clothes.

Finally, Izo came over and placed a small pile of fabric on my lap. "There's a changing room over there." he said. "Go and put that on and see what you think."

He led me to the changing room and shut the door.

It took me a while, but I managed to get into the clothes Izo made me. It felt like a t-shirt, leggings, and a skirt that reached mid-thigh. I was a bit worried that I might wear my shirt backwards or inside out, but I figured that I would feel pretty uncomfortable if I had put on any of the articles wrong.

I went for the door and nearly tripped over the shoes, well combat boots actually, that Izo had made for me. I slumped down and pulled the boots on over my socks, and after fumbling with the laces for a while, got them tied up. I normally just slid my feet into my shoes, pushing down the backs of the shoes in the process. Tying laces was not something I had done in a while. But finally, I got the boots on properly.

When I stepped out, Izo chuckled. "Well, that worked out well, if I do say so myself."

"What does it look like?" I asked. For all my talk, I was getting curious now. "Does it look any good?"

I zo laughed out loud at that. "Of course it looks good." he said, "it's my work. The shirt is a nice soft shade of leaf green, the skirt is a light, earthy brown, with a nice black belt. The combat boots are black. I don't think light pink is really your colour, despite how many eleven-year-old girls I see on islands with those frilly pink dresses."

I frowned, thinking. "I just don't think a skirt is very practical for fighting."

Izo tapped me on the bridge of the nose with the tip of his finger. "Oi. That skirt is lightweight and strong. The leggings are just as durable as a pair of pants. And I fight in a kimono. A skirt should not restrict you in combat. Now. Go on."

I walked over to the door. "Thanks, Izo!" I said. "These are really comfortable!"

"No problem." he said, laughing lightly. "Good luck with your training! And try and stay out of trouble."

(six months later)

"Enemy ship off the starboard bow!" Someone called from the crow's nest.

I turned my head from my plate of food and cocked my ear to listen.

Marco, Teech, and Thatch stood up.

Marco put his hand on my shoulder. "C'mon. Stay close for this one, okay?"

I grinned. "You mean that I can fight too?"

"Yes. So long as you stay close to me. Understand?"

I nodded. I could feel a sense of excitement rise in my chest. I hadn't been in too many fights over the past six months. I had sparred with Marco, Thatch, Vista, Haruta, and even Jozu, but I had never been in a battle against a rival band of pirates. "Alright! This'll be awesome!"

Marco sighed. "Don't go running out there without thinking, Zia." he said. "Haste is often what gets you killed on the battlefield."

We ran out of the galley onto the deck, then to the stern where Pops spends most of his time.

"Well, everyone." Pops said. "Why don't we show these people what it means to mess with the Whitebeard pirates!"

Everyone around me shouted a battle cry. I grinned, and joined in with the others.

Marco squeezed my shoulder. "Okay. Remember, if you can't tell where your opponent is-"

"Start making as much noise as I can. It might bounce off them and give me a hint."

Marco clicked his tongue in satisfaction. "Good." he said. "Stay close."

"Who are they?" I asked, cracking my knuckles. At first, I had been a little sceptical of fighting with hand-to-hand combat, but after a while, it had become one of my favourite ways of fighting. It was certainly easier than a sword, and definitely easier than a gun.

Marco's response didn't reassure me. "We're not sure."

"Well," I said. "Better fight them and find out."

The deck shook as the pirates swarmed aboard. It made such a racket that I nearly got turned around and ran into Jozu.

"How many do you think there are?" Marco asked.

I frowned. "I'd say about thirty." I said.

"You're right." Marco said. "Good job. Remember, stay close to me."

I nodded. "You can count on me, Commander."

The only thing about being charged by a group of bloodthirsty pirates when you're blind is, well, the fact that your ears are your only early warning system, and they get very confused when there's a lot of people around making a noise like a rampaging herd of elephants.

It's an interesting fact that even if you can't see anything, it actually helps your hearing to close your eyes.

I must have looked like a little idiot, standing in a fighting stance next to Marco, with my eyes closed in the middle of a battlefield.

There was a whistling sound as something flew through the air towards me.

Immediately, I ducked and stumbled to the side, away from Marco. I heard wood splinter behind me. "Great." I muttered. "Rifle. Just the perfect opponent for a blind person." I took a deep breath, trying to settle my racing heart.

Suddenly, something hard hit me from behind. Pain flared in the back of my skull. There was another smack as I hit the deck. I hit my shoulder pretty hard as I went down. It bent back with a painful crack. If I could see, stars would have seen red, or stars, or something.

I took a painful breath, then rolled to the left.

Something split the deck right where I'd been before. Without thinking, I kicked out with all the force I could muster. My feet made contact with something kinda squishy.

There was a pained grunt from above me. "You damn brat!" someone growled. "Die!"

I'm not entirely sure what happened next. I heard a whistling sound, Marco shouted my name, and then a small *snap*! Then all my senses went black.

"Zia!" Marco shouted. She had been knocked away from him from the moment a fighter got to them!

She had been pinned down, and was in serious danger of having her head split open by a large , hairy man with an axe.

He turned on his heel, kicking his opponent in the chest as he went. Damn! I won't make it in time!

Suddenly, a chill swept over the deck. Marco stopped dead in his tracks, and shuddered.

The man who had Zia pinned stopped, gazing at her face in horror. His eyes unfocused, and he fell to the deck, a large stab wound in his abdomen.

Zia stood up slowly. Marco could see a kind of reddish haze surrounding her body. Then, it vanished.

Zia darted towards one of the largest of their attackers, and charged him head on.

The man gave a feral growl, and swung his sword at her.

She ducked to the right, so the sword just grazed her bicep. Large droplets of blood hit the deck.

Zia either ignored or couldn't feel the large gash on her arm. She bent down, and then sprang up. She raised her bare hand, and made a slashing motion across the pirate's chest.

Marco stepped back in disgust and alarm as a huge slash appeared on the pirate's chest and started gushing blood. The pirate, who was easily twice Zia's height, gurgled as blood dribbled out of his mouth, and crumpled to the deck.

Some of it hit Zia in the face. She didn't do a thing to wipe it off. And that's when she turned around.

"Marco..." Thatch said, his voice barely a whisper from fear. "What's up with her eyes?"

Instead of the usual calm sea green, Zia's eyes were a vivid shade of blood red.

Marco looked over at Whitebeard, who stood up from his chair. "Pops!" he shouted. "What the hell's going on?!"

"We need to stop her, Marco." he said. There was an edge to his voice that Marco hadn't heard before. "Now!"

Marco looked back to where Zia had been. He couldn't believe he'd been deaf to the screams of the enemy pirates. There weren't any left alive. Zia was standing in the middle of a ring of them, her head slightly tilted to the side, and her loose hair falling over her eyes. Then her head turned towards them in an alarmingly unnatural manner, and she lunged towards Thatch.

"Thatch!" Marco shouted. "Hit the deck! Now!"

Thatch obeyed just in time. Zia slashed at him, just barely missing his head. Strands of Thatch's honey-blond hair falling to the deck.

Thatch jumped back, and skidded to a stop, steadying himself with his hand. "Yikes! That was close!"

"Zia! Stop!" Marco shouted. Why was she attacking them? That's when it hit him. She couldn't hear a word he was saying. She couldn't tell who she was attacking.

He ducked under one of her slashes, then grabbed her arm, pinning it to the deck. "Jozu! Thatch! Namur! Help me out here!"

The four of them tried to restrain her. Marco gasped.

She was pushing them back! Even though he was putting all of his weight behind keeping her arm pinned down! An eleven-year-old shouldn't be able to lift four adults at once. There's just no way.

A wave of red energy hit them so hard, Marco was almost blown off. He winced as a cut appeared on his cheek. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on!

Suddenly, the red light faded from Zia's eyes. They returned to their normal, sea green colour, and she went limp.

Marco felt his heart leap into his throat. "Zia!" he shouted. He pressed two of his fingers against her neck, checking for a pulse. For one horrible second, he couldn't feel anything. Then, he felt a faint flutter against his fingertips.

"She's alive."He sighed with relief. "Thank goodness..." He stood up. Everyone else was staring at Zia in dumb disbelief.

"Wh-what on earth was that?" Haruta said, his voice quivering slightly.

"I have no idea..." Marco said.

"She fought like a demon..." Vista said, gazing in horror at the dead around him.

"Who'd've thunk." Thatch muttered.

Marco bent down and picked Zia up. "I'll take her to sickbay." he said.

"You sure that's such a good idea?" Vista piped up. "What if she goes on another rampage?"

"Well," Marco said. "We have to take our chances, don't we?" He looked up at Whitebeard, looking for approval.

Whitebeard nodded. "Of course. Marco, I want to talk to you afterwards, once you're certain of her condition."

"Of course Pops." Marco nodded, and started towards sickbay.

He looked down at Zia.

Her features were relaxed now, like she was sleeping. Then, she frowned, and groaned something he couldn't understand, and buried her face in the crook of his arm.

How on earth did that happen just now? Or had it just been a trick of his mind?

No. It had happened. And it scared him.

He kicked open the door to sickbay and put Zia down on the bed. I wonder... he thought. Does she remember any of that?

Very soon after, Jiru stepped into the room. "If it isn't my favourite patient." he said, pulling a stool out and sitting down. "What kind of accident has she gotten herself into?"

"It's not quite what you'd think." Marco said hollowly. He wasn't sure if he could explain it to Jiru. He didn't fully understand what happened himself.

Jiru examined Zia's head, and frowned. "Hmm. Looks like some blunt force trauma to the head, but other than that, all I can say is... honestly, Marco, my best guess so far is exhaustion."

Marco nodded. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

Jiru nodded. "Yes, with a lot of rest. Though I think she might be out for a long time, given her track record."

Marco chewed his lower lip. "Okay. Let me know if she starts to wake up while I'm out." he said.

"Of course."

Marco stepped to the door, and quietly shut it behind him.

Behind the door to the galley, Marshall D. Teech stared at the aftermath of Zia's rampage.

Well, he thought, a smile creeping across his large face, Isn't this interesting...

Marco stood outside Whitebeard's door. He wondered why he was meeting him there, and not out in the open. He knocked a few times. "It's me!" he called.

"Come in."

Marco opened the door and stepped inside. When he closed the door, he looked Whitebeard right in the eyes. "So," he said, deciding to get right to the point. "What happened today?"

Whitebeard ran his hands over his forehead. "This is going to take a long time to explain. Sit down."

Marco obeyed, sitting at his father's feet. "Well?"

Whitebeard sighed. "I need to begin at the beginning. Do you know of a man called Cassiopeia D. Lore?"

Marco frowned. "No. The name doesn't ring a bell."

Whitebeard chuckled darkly. "I'm not surprised. He was ancient when I was still in diapers." He looked quite uncomfortable. "Cassiopeia D. Lore was a scientist. He worked for the marines, like that brat Vegapunk. The only thing is, his focus in research was haki, not devil fruits."

Marco frowned. "Wait... Cassiopeia? Do you think he's related to Zia?"

Whitebeard nodded. "I thought so at first, though I had my doubts. Now I'm positive. Cassiopeia spent years cooped up in his laboratory, experimenting with haki abilities. His goal was to create an artificial haki; one that anyone could use. You know there are three kinds of haki. Two of which are latent in everyone; but one of which, the king's disposition, is extremely rare. Cassiopeia wanted to create an artificial haki that anyone could use, that would counter the King's Disposition's effects as well as give seemingly endless power. He made many experiments but met with failure for many years. But, the marines continued funding his research, and he finally succeeded in planting the haki... inside the body of his own son."

"What?!" Marco gasped, leaning forward slightly. "He tested this on his own flesh and blood?!"

Whitebeard nodded grimly. "And... it worked. There was just one problem. That much power overloaded his son, Cassiopeia D. Troy's brain. He lost control. He didn't just become extremely powerful. He lost all sense of his own mortality. The more wounded he was, the stronger he got. He also lost any ability to discriminate friend... from foe."

Marco felt like a cold hand had taken a firm hold of his throat. "You mean, he went crazy and attacked everyone."

"Yes." Whitebeard said. "The odd thing was, when not under the influence of this artificial haki, Troy was completely normal. A very kind, polite, soft-spoken young man. But whenever placed in an incident that could cause extreme trauma, he lost control completely. With this Haki, Troy reduced a powerful, prosperous town to ruin. People began to call it 'the colour of madness' or just 'berserker haki'."

"So," Marco said, a rising sense of horror starting to take control of him. "What happened to them?"

"Cassiopeia D. Lore was put to death at the age of ninety-four." Whitebeard said. "After the countless civilian casualties, the government disowned the man's research, and declared his experiments a crime against humanity. His son Troy was kept under constant observation. So were his children, and his grand-children. As far as I know, they none of them showed any sign of this artificially created haki. The marines must have relaxed their guard a bit over the past generation, though. Otherwise, the marines would have made a fuss. That, or they believed that the line was wiped out in that explosion a few months ago."

"So that's why you asked Zia to join the crew!" Marco said. "You wanted to keep an eye on her, just in case."

Whitebeard nodded again. "And now, my worst fears have been confirmed. Zia is a danger not just to herself, but to anyone around her."

"So what do we do?" Marco asked. "I'm not going to just k-"

"Marco." Whitebeard cut him off. "I wasn't suggesting we do anything of the sort. No matter how dangerous she is, Zia is a member of my crew, and more importantly, my family. We'll find some other way. For now, we need to avoid anything that might be traumatizing."

Marco nodded. "I think that spurt of haki was just a test, Pops." he said. "It died away too fast. I think the next time this happens, it will be a lot worse."

Whitebeard nodded.

Marco stood up. "Well, this'll be a shock for the others. Thatch especially."

"Marco." Whitebeard called after him. "If Zia doesn't remember anything that happened during that fight, it's vital that you keep this a secret from her."

"What?" Marco said. "But-"

"If she knows about this, it might increase her chances of losing control again. Do not tell her any of this."

Marco nodded. "Alright."

Back in his room, Marco flopped down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He had had quite the job of convincing everyone not to tell Zia when she woke up about all this. It was downright exhausting.

He sighed. Why did he have the feeling that this was going to be the hardest job of his life?

And that's chapter 4! Please review if you liked it, and look forward to more chapter updates and new chapters in the near future!

frostmoon13 (AKA Frosty)