Hey everyone! Here's an update! Thanks to everyone who reviewed on the previous chapter! :D

But before I start, I'd like to say a little something about reviewing. Please just read it and then do with it what you want. (I've also put this before another chapter of story of mine, but since that's for a whole different pairing, I wanted to share it here as well. It is also on my profile page.) This is because me and my friends have seen a steady decrease in reviews in the One Piece fandom, which is a very worrisome development. So I'd like to explain this all to you.

[ THE IMPORTANCE OF REVIEWING

To all readers of fanfiction, in whatever fandom you are, I want to give you an advise. After finishing a story or chapter, ALWAYS LEAVE A REVIEW.

"Why?" I hear you ask. Good question. I'll try to give a very short answer; Because there is nothing worse to a writer, than receiving total silence. Imagine publishing a book and once it leaves the press, you never hear anything about it again. Books are sold, but you don't get invited to events, interviews, etc. and no one ever tells you what they think about your book. You see someone reading your book, they finish it, and they just walk past you without saying a word. The only thing you can think of at that moment, is probably that they thought it sucked. That's the only reason why they wouldn't say anything right? To spare your feelings.
Well, that is exactly how fanfiction writers feel when they see in their stats that quite some people read it, but no one left a comment.

"But I don't know what to say." Let me tell you: a review doesn't have to be a ten page essay. Just words like "I liked this chapter!" or "Thank you for writing this story!" can be enough. The author will know that you care about their story and that you liked it. Of course, reviews saying what specific things they liked, what emotions the reader felt, what theories they have, etc. are even better, but if you can't put your thought into words like that, a short review is enough. Also, if the author wants to (and I do) you can give some constructive criticism as well, if you want, by saying things like 'I liked this, but you could maybe improve that by doing such and such'.

"But doesn't it say enough when I favorite and/or follow a story?" It says more than doing nothing, and it's a really great start if you do that, but it still doesn't say much to a writer. Some people just mark them as favorite or following to either order the stories they've read, or because they maybe kinda liked it enough to follow, or hope the story will get better in time. It's like having a book on your bookshelf, but the author never knows if you read everything, or what you really thought about it.

"But I don't have time to review" Please don't use this excuse, if you respect the author of a story even a little bit. An author can spend hours or days or even weeks to work on a story or chapter. They write, edit, let it beta, edit again, hundreds to often thousands of words for you. All so you can read their stories for free.The least you can do to let them know you value their stories, is leave a short review, which again, only needs to be 3 words. 3 words are written and posted in half a minute. If you can read thousands of words, you surely have time to write down a few yourself. If you want to write a longer review that takes more time, you should just come back later, when you do have time.

"But my english is very bad!" Don't worry about that! We really don't expect a review to be in perfect english. If you can't find the right words in english, just use google translate, that's understandable enough most of the time ;)

"Any tips on how to write a review?" If you want to write a little more than 'I liked it', I will give you this tip, it's what I usually do with stories/chapters that are longer than 1K words: keep a note on the side where you write your thoughts down as you read the story (feelings, things you liked, things that stood out to you, etc.). Afterwards, copy and past them all into a review (maybe edit them a little, if you think that's necessary - for example if your thought was 'AAAAHH!' you might want to specify at what moment exactly you thought that :P). This way you won't have to take a lot of time to write a review afterwards too.

If a writer doesn't get any, or just a few, reviews, they might think people don't care, and slow down on the updates, or stop updating altogether.

And one last thing, if you think a story already has quite some reviews, let me tell you: there is no such thing as enough reviews. Every review brightens the day of a fanfiction writer, and motivates them that much more to continue writing.

If you have any more questions about this, just shoot me a message, I won't bite. ]

Beside that, I want to thank Aerle and Thérèse for betaing and I hope you all enjoy this chapter ;)

Oh, and the next chapter is probably going to be the last. (bet you didn't see that coming.)

Chapter 15: It's called a tattoo

Izo had invited me for tea again, which mainly was a reason for him to ask questions about Marco and my plans to win his heart. While that could be annoying, I had to admit I didn't mind talking about Marco, most of the time. I was kind of glad Izo wanted to listen to my ramblings, because while Thatch was really nice, he had already interrupted me once when I talked too much about Marco, according to him. Besides, talking about Marco seemed to make the genie a bit uncomfortable, as he always acted a little weird when I did that.

"You should do something romantic next time, like buy him flowers," Izo opted. "Or steal them, whatever, just give him flowers."

"Yeah, no." I shook my head. "What the hell should he do with flowers? People will ask him where he got them, and it could get him in trouble. Besides, what would Vivi think?"

Izo shrugged. "That you like Marco?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. And then she'll try to play matchmaker as well. One of those is enough." I looked daringly at him. "I'm glad enough you're not there to say stupid things when I'm with Marco."

"Okay, okay, maybe flowers aren't the best thing," Izo sucked on his lip while thinking. "What about a ring? He can just slide that on, and the princess doesn't have to see it if you just give it to him when you're alone."

"I'm not gonna ask him to marry me, Izo!" Was he even serious? Probably not.

Izo chuckled. "You should," he said, sticking out his tongue.

Just when Izo refilled our cups, the ground began to shake slightly. Worriedly, I thought about the bad state of the tower we lived in, but then I remembered Thatch said my wish protected it from collapsing as well. I looked Izo in the eyes, who looked back with worry. After about ten seconds, however, the shaking stopped, and I let out a relieved breath.

Izo didn't look relieved, though, and he stood up to walk towards the window. With a concerned face, he cast a look outside.

I frowned. "What are you looking for? It was just an earthquake, and a light one at that. I can't imagine buildings collapsing from that."

"Just an earthquake?" Izo repeated unsure, casting one more worried look out of the window. "But earthquakes aren't really frequent in these parts, are they?"

I shrugged. "I guess not. It does happen sometimes, though. I've lived through bigger ones."

Izo sighed. "I guess you're right." Only then he looked down to his clothes. "Oh no, now there's a tea stain on my dress!" Apparently the earthquake had made him spill the tea he was pouring. "Ace, honey, could you get me something clean from my wardrobe?"

"Ehm, sure." I rose and walked towards the small closet that stood against the wall. Every time again, he surprised me with another piece of furniture that had appeared in his apartment. I was even more surprised when I pulled it open and saw about seven different outfits neatly hanging beside each other. "Eh… you've got a preferred one?" I asked. How could one even choose between these? Though, it was nothing compared to what Vivi had in her closet, but she was the princess, Izo was a thief!

"Oh, no, just pick one you like," Izo answered. "Except the purple kimono, that one's for special occasions."

I snorted and mumbled, "Like what?" I pushed said kimono aside, and gave it a good look over. It wasn't that special, if you compared it to his other clothes. Overall, it was a light shade of purple, almost pink, while the brims were darker. However, the sleeve had some embroidery on it that caught my attention. It was a cross which had something like a crescent moon through it, with the corners pointing up. It looked vaguely familiar to me, but I couldn't think of anywhere I could have seen it before.

I quickly went through the other outfits and chose the one that resembled the one he was wearing the most. When I turned around to give him the dress, I saw he was almost completely undressed. My first instinct was to turn back around, to give him some privacy, but then I remembered Izo probably didn't care about that and would only laugh at my face if I did that. So I resisted the urge and handed the dress to Izo, who was standing there in his underwear. If that wasn't making him uncomfortable, it was making me a little uncomfortable. I had no idea why. Maybe it was because I hadn't seen a person with so little clothes on for years.

"Thanks," Izo said, not seeming to notice my awkwardness, or at least not commenting on it. Which, I had to admit, already made me feel less awkward.

Before Izo could get dressed again, I noticed something on his arm. It was a tattoo. More specifically, it was a tattoo in the same shape as the embroidery on his purple kimono. So apparently it meant something. "What's that?" I asked, pointing at the tattoo.

Izo touched the place on his upper arm with his other hand and smiled longingly. "It's called a tattoo, Ace. Much like the one on your own arm."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, but what does it mean?"

"It's… something from my past," he answered, after which he pulled the fabric of his dress over it. "What does yours mean?"

I looked at him, a little annoyed I didn't get a more specific answer. "It's something from my past," I answered him in the same way he'd answered me. Then I sighed, deeming myself more of an adult than Izo. So, I explained, "It's a reminder of my best friend when I was younger. He died."

"I'm sorry," Izo said. "It's nice you have something to remember him by, though." After a short moment of silence, he cast a look at the sun. "Hey, don't you have to leave for the palace soon? I'm sure Marco's waiting for you."

"You mean Vivi," I corrected him, while I secretly hoped Marco would be waiting as well. "But you're right, I gotta go."

I managed to sneak up to the palace without any problems. Every time I came here, it became a little easier. And not because of the guards, because I had a feeling they knew something was up. Or at least they seemed more on guard after that time I got caught. I just got better at hiding and sneaking past them.

I jumped up to the balcony of the princess' chamber and landed almost gracefully, tripping over my feet, scared by the unexpected presence of a person on that balcony. Fortunately, it took me only a second to realize it was Marco who was standing there, and I straightened my back.

He smiled at me, probably laughing in his mind at my dumb landing. "Hey," he said. "I was waiting for you, yoi."

My heart skipped a beat. "Y-you were?" He was waiting for me?! I couldn't believe Izo had been right.

"Yeah, you're late," he said playfully.

I still couldn't believe it. He was coming out to see me? Waiting, especially for me? "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting for long," I managed to bring out. There must be some other reason than just me, for him to wait here. "Wait, did something happen to Vivi?"

Marco shook his head, a faint smile still on his lips. "No. She's fine. But," he started – I knew it, there had to be a 'but' – "she had completely forgotten that she had to be at a meeting today."

I blinked. That wasn't too bad. "She's not here?" It was now, however, even more the question why he was here while the princess wasn't. Could it really be he came for me? Or, no, it was probably just to tell me this, so I wouldn't be waiting here for nothing. Because he was kind like that, or maybe because Vivi asked him.

"She's not here," Marco confirmed. "So it's just the two of us today."

I barely heard him over the sound of my pounding heart. Chill, Ace, calm down, I had to tell myself. "You want me to stay?" I said a little insecure. I wasn't sure I understood him correctly.

Marco opened the balcony door. "Well, you're here now anyway, so if you want…"

"Yeah," I said a little too quick. "I mean, I have nothing else to do, and you'll be bored too, probably, so– Wait, don't you have things to do? I mean you work here, and I got you into trouble before." I paused for a moment, while following him inside. "Did you get into trouble? Because you let me escape from that cell, I mean." I was suddenly worried again. What if he had been thoroughly beaten because of me? "I mean, you obviously didn't get fired, but…"

"Oh, I got scolded," Marco answered. "And I got a warning that something unacceptable like that couldn't happen again, if I wanted to keep my job." He shrugged. "It was nothing I couldn't handle or hadn't expected. And right now, no one will come check Vivi's room as long as she's out, so I'm not afraid to be caught with you."

I blushed about the way that last sentence sounded, but couldn't help to feel guilty at the same time. "Still, I'm sorry for bringing you into that position," I said, looking at the floor. I couldn't believe I ever thought there might be a possibility he'd like me. He almost lost his precious job because of me.

"Don't be. It was my own choice to help you and Vivi, yoi," Marco said. "Even though Vivi asked me, I didn't have to do it. I could have said no."

"But without me you wouldn't have had to make that choice," I brought up. Even though the feeling of guilt hadn't eased, I dared to look up again.

"Ace," Marco said, taking my hands in his, surprising me and making my heart speed up again. "I don't blame you, so don't be sorry."

I swallowed. "O-okay."

Marco chuckled, lifting the mood a little. "Besides, you're a thief, aren't you used to getting people into bad situations?" he asked, while letting go of my hand. I immediately missed his touch.

I snorted. "Not on purpose… mostly. Besides, I don't give a shit about those people."

Marco chuckled again. "So, you do give a shit about me?"

"Yeah." So. There I said it. Okay, it might not actually be a love confession, but it was close. "Yeah, of course." I shrugged, trying to make it look casual.

Marco smiled. "I'm glad." He sat down on Vivi's bed and was silent for a moment.

I wondered if he expected me to sit next to him, so I hesitantly took a step towards the bed.

"Because… there's something I wanted to ask you," he continued after all. He suddenly sounded a little insecure.

I looked curiously at him. "Sure, what is it?"

Marco leaned to the side of the bed to pick up something that was lying on the floor, just out of my view. "I was wondering…" he placed a rolled up carpet on his lap, "if you wanted to take me flying again."

Surprised, I lifted my eyebrows. "Yeah, but… last time, you said it wouldn't happen again." Still, I was more than happy he asked me.

Marco sighed. "I know, but I missed it too much." Marco locked eyes with me. "I missed flying. So bad."

I didn't understand. "It's been only three days… I didn't know you liked it that much."

Marco shook his head. "You don't understand." He smiled at me nonetheless. "If you take me flying, I'll tell you about my devil fruit."

My eyes widened as I connected the dots, and I immediately pulled the carpet from his lap. I spread it out on the floor and sat down on it, gesturing him to sit next to me, while grinning. "I knew you were a dragon!" Dragons could fly after all. At least some dragons.

Marco laughed as he stood up to join me on the carpet. "Still not a dragon," he said while sitting down.

I let the air under us warm up again, just like I had done a few days before, and it only took us a few seconds to get up in the air. I quickly steered the carpet over the royal gardens, towards the city. "So…" I started when I was sure no one from the palace could see us anymore. "Are you sure you're not a dragon?"

"I'm not a dragon." Marco smiled. "But you were right with your guess about the Mythical Zoan fruit."

I looked at him as he paused, eager to learn more about his devil fruit. Eager to learn anything new about Marco. When I almost couldn't hold my curiosity any longer, he spoke again.

"I was a phoenix," he said, and he sounded almost relieved that he said it out loud.

"You are a phoenix," I corrected him. "Your powers are suppressed, not gone. The fact that you missed flying tells me that bird is still in there," I said, taking the opportunity to press the tip of my index finger against his chest. "A phoenix though… that's so awesome! Tell me more about it!"

Marco chuckled. "Well, I turned into a bird of blue fire from time to time and flew around. Honestly, what do you want me to tell about it?"

"Blue flames?" I repeated. I would have loved to see that. Turning my own hand into fire, I tried to imagine Marco covered by blue flames. "That must have been beautiful."

"I've been told it was," Marco answered, and I only then realized I had said my thoughts out loud.

"So, that's why you didn't immediately pull back that first time, when I turned my hand into fire," I realized.

Marco smiled. "Your fire is beautiful too."

The surprise of his comment made the fire on my hand go out. No one had ever said anything positive about my powers before. I felt my face heat up, as I lit the fire on my hand again. "It's probably nothing compared to–"

"It's hot." Marco said, looking into my eyes.

I made the fire disappear. "I'm sorry." Did I burn him? I thought worriedly. Still, I couldn't move away from his intense gaze. Didn't want to either. His eyes were so captivating, so beautiful.

Marco started laughing. "No, that's not…" He shook his head and cast his look down, still chuckling. "Never mind."

The next few minutes I watched him enjoy the view, enjoy the sensation of flying again. If I could only give him his powers back… but seastone necklaces didn't come off, and even if they would, he'd lose his job.

After a while, he turned towards me and caught me staring. He smiled and looked at peace, which made me smile too.

He took my hand in his again. "Thanks, Ace."

"What? No, I mean, it's my pleasure," I managed to bring out, my face so hot I wasn't sure it wasn't actually on fire. "I'm happy to do anything for you. I mean, to do this for you. And I'm enjoying your company too."

Marco's smile grew. "I'm enjoying the company as well."

My heart was beating so loud, I was afraid Marco would hear it. Did he mean he liked me too? No, probably not. Or at least not in the way I liked him. But at least he liked being with me. That was a very good start! Maybe… maybe he did like me like that?

I decided to ignore my almost exploding heart and leaned slightly towards him. I kept my eyes open, looking for any sign that he'd not want to kiss me. If I would see only the slightest discomfort or movement away from me, I'd stop. But I didn't see any of that. In fact, I saw him leaning in a bit too.

Oh God, oh God, oh God, I could only think as we leaned closer. At a certain moment I must have closed my eyes. It felt like the natural thing to do. I could feel the warmth coming from him as his face came closer to mine. I could feel his breath on my lips. Oh God!

Then I heard – and felt – him sigh. "We should probably return to the palace… before someone notices I'm gone." His warmth moved away from me again.

I kept my eyes closed, while breathing in sharply. Was he kidding me?! I opened my eyes and looked at him, but Marco averted his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said, though I wasn't sure why. "It's just, my life's in the palace. We should really go back, yoi."

I sighed. I wanted to tell him I didn't care that he lived and worked in the palace, that he could still kiss me, but then again I hadn't been 100% sure he was about to kiss me, however much I liked to believe he was. So I kept quiet and turned the carpet around to go back to the palace.

We were nearing the palace when I heard shouting from below us. I looked down and saw some guards pointing up. "It's Fire Fist!" they shouted.

"Fuck," I said, looking up to see Marco staring down as well. Maybe I should have flown higher, but I was afraid of flying too close to the sun. Who knew what might happen. I tried to go faster, but the guards followed us, and near the palace walls were guards shouting as well.

"Who's up there with him?" I could make out.

Unfortunately, it didn't take them long to figure out the answer. "It's Marco!" one of the palace guards shouted. "Marco is with Fire Fist!"

I watched Marco, to see what I should do. He seemed shocked that he'd been found out, but he also seemed to be thinking of what to do next.

We flew over the wall surrounding the royal gardens, where a tall man with dark hair was standing. They must have used Den Den Mushis to communicate. "Marco!" he yelled at us. "Don't think you have to come back here!"

"Who's that?" I asked.

"One of the chiefs of staff," Marco said, his face pale. "My boss."

That was it. I didn't hesitate another moment and turned the carpet around, away from the palace. It wouldn't do much good to go there now, for neither of us.

"What are you doing?" Marco said. "Go back! I have to fix this!"

"Didn't you hear the man?!" I asked as I tried to get away as fast as possible. "You're fired!"

"No, I can talk to him! I have to!" Marco yelled at me. He seemed desperate.

I concentrated on getting away as quick as possible. It was surprising how fast we reached the edge of the city. The guards had no way of following.

When we'd reached the edge, I placed my hand on Marco's shoulder, as I let the carpet decent to a level where we were hidden from the city by the walls surrounding it. "You can't fix this. If you go back now, they will lock you up, or worse." I sighed, because I had gotten an idea of how much this job meant to him by now. "Just… let it go. You can find another job in time."

Marco sighed too. "That's not the point. But I guess you're right. It would be foolish to go back now."

I wanted to apologize for getting him in this situation, but I had a feeling he might hit me if I did that. He'd probably say he'd been the one who wanted this, so he'd be the one to blame.

Marco looked at me, and smiled slightly. "Thanks for getting me out of there."

"Of course! I'm not just gonna drop you off at the palace and leave you to your fate."

Marco smile grew, warming my heart. I was glad to see him smiling.

Out of nowhere, his lips were on mine. I was stunned for a moment, completely in shock. When it got through to me that he was kissing me, I closed my eyes, and slowly started kissing him back. I couldn't believe it. He was actually kissing me! And I was kissing him! We were kissing! And God, it felt so good. My heart was pounding loudly, but I barely noticed it. All I could feel was the touch of his lips, a little dry, but somehow still soft. When he slightly parted his lips, I followed his example and our tongues met.

I must have been in heaven. I'd never dreamt kissing him would feel so good. So good, I felt a stirring between my legs. I wanted more of Marco's touch, and let my hands wander over his head and back. When we finally parted for air, I felt my lips were slightly swollen.

I chuckled. I couldn't help it, I just felt so happy. "I can take you to my home…" I said as a sort of invitation. He had nowhere else to go, after all.

Marco chuckled too. "I'd very much like that."

I let the carpet fly up again and send it into the direction of my tower. Slower this time, however, as we weren't followed by guards anymore.

"Phew," Marco said, as he started to unbutton his shirt. "Did it suddenly become so hot here, or is that you?"

"I… uh…" I stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"And I don't mean your fire," Marco clarified.

I still didn't know what to say, but my eyes were glued to his fingers that slowly opened button for button of his uniform, revealing the skin underneath. Then I smirked. "Like I said, it's nothing compared to you."

Marco stopped when about a third of the buttons were open, and kissed me again. Again, my heart sped up, but I wasn't as nervous anymore as the first time. It just felt so right to kiss him.

When we broke apart again, I let my hand slide down over the exposed bit of his chest. I raised my eyebrows when I noticed a bit of dark blue at the bottom of where I could see. "What's that?"

"It's a tattoo," Marco said, and it immediately reminded me of the conversation I'd had with Izo, earlier that day, though somehow when Marco said those words, they sounded less dry.

I looked from Marco's chest to his eyes. "Can I see it? The whole thing, I mean."

Marco hesitated for a moment, gave me a look over, as if my looks would determine whether I was worthy of seeing the whole tattoo. Then he nodded. "Yeah, why not."

Marco unbuttoned the rest of his shirt for me, which I didn't mind watching at all. But when his shirt was open and I was able to see the complete tattoo, covering his whole chest, I frowned. What the hell did this mean? "It's the same as Izo's." Only bigger and blue.

"Izo?" Marco repeated, and when I looked up to Marco's face again, it had darkened. He closed his eyes, seeming almost angry. "Did Izo put you up to this?" He sounded angry too.

I was confused. "Up to what? You… know Izo?"

"If you're talking about a black-haired guy who dresses like a woman and has the same tattoo as me on his arm, then yes, I know Izo," Marco said annoyed. "So did he set you up to kidnap me or something?"

"What? No!" I was still so confused. Why was Marco accusing me of kidnapping him all of a sudden? How did he know Izo? And why had Izo never mentioned he knew Marco?

"Okay, but he's behind all this, isn't he? He made you… what… seduce me?" Marco's anger slowly seemed to fade, but only a little.

"He didn't make me do anything!" I exclaimed, but then I tried to calm down. "Until a few seconds ago I didn't even know you two knew each other. I still don't even know how you know each other, and I'm not here because of him, I'm here because I want to be with you, because I like you." So, there I said it. This time for real.

Marco studied my face, probably to see if I was speaking the truth. Then he sighed, and took my hands in his. "But then how do you know Izo?"

"I met him in the streets, just after I met Vivi. He needed me to get into the palace…" That was when realization hit me. Why had he wanted to get into the palace so badly? There were enough rich houses that were easier to get into, to steal from. Besides, did he ever actually steal anything from the palace? "If what you say is true, about him wanting to kidnap you… he used me." I shook my head. "But why would he want to kidnap you? How do you even know each other?"

Marco chuckled, and I let out a relieved breath. If he could chuckle again, he couldn't be very angry anymore. "Well, kidnap might be a bit of an exaggeration. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd go to such extremes. He–"

We were interrupted by shouting from below. The city guards had found us, and they had weapons, ready to shoot.

"Let's continue our talk at my place," I said, as I made the carpet go faster again.

A few streets further, however, a line of guards was already waiting for us, rifles pointed at us, and when we flew over them, I heard them shoot. A bullet or two went straight through my chest, creating small rings of fire around them, and I laughed. "What a losers! Don't they know bullets don't work on a logia user?" Seriously, how bad could they be prepared?

"Ace…" Marco said, sounding in pain.

I turned towards him, and my eyes widened. He had his hand pressed against his stomach, but blood started to pour through it. It also seeped out of his shoulder. Marco had a hard time staying in a seated position.

"Bullets can…" he started with a lot of effort, "…hurt me."

TBC~

*distant evil laughter from the author*

(Don't forget to leave a review! ^^)