Chapter 4 The Price To Pay

Luffy was shocked and by the look on the Admiral's face I front of her, she wasn't the only one. Marshal D. Teach, Shichibukai, traitor and possessor of the Dark Dark Fruit had announced his presence to the whole battlefield.

Akainu's eyes widened as he took in the scene in behind of him. The newly instated Shichibukai was surrounded by half a dozen or so people that he recognized as famous pirates that had been imprisoned in Level 6 of Impel Down. They were all criminals so villainous that their very existence had been erased from the records. The Giant Battleship, Sanjuan Wolf. The Corrupt King, Avalo Pizarro. The Great Drinker, Vasco Shot. The Cresent Moon Hunter, Catarina Devon, and finally the former Head Jailor of Impel Down, Shiliew of the Rain.

The Admiral ground his teeth together in irritation, 'More scum are coming out of the woodwork' he thought angrily. 'As if things weren't annoying enough'. He quickly glanced at the traitor in front of him, her was muted features showed several variations; surprise, irritation but underlying was a shadow of hatred. The admiral was torn as to which enemy to dispose of first, the weapon turn traitor in front of him or the more obvious enemy pirate behind hum, in front of the destroyed execution platform.

Luffy had known that Blackbeard would turn against the Marines during some point of the war but she was surprised to discover that not only had he broken out highly dangerous criminals out of Impel down but he had come to Marineford in the middle of the battle.

Letting the Whitebeard pirates escape, no longer mattered. Stopping Akainu no longer mattered. Staying alive for her brothers no longer mattered.

'That man has to die!'

So long as Blackbeard sailed the seas the balance that had been kept since Gold Roger's death would crumble and the sea that her brothers loved to sail on would no longer be safe for them. The conclusion had formed in her mind. She knew Ace and Sabo would resent her for what she was about to do but she no longer cared, she had sworn to them that she would give them back their freedom and she had meant it. Even if she had to die.

Luffy released her hold of Akainu and sent her mind into as many Marines as she could, stretching her Devil Fruit abilities to the very limit and beyond that. She ignored the flow of blood spilling out of her nose and eyes as she buried herself into the minds of the Admirals, Vice-Admirals, Rear-Amirals, Commanders, Captains and every Marine she could reach. She searched for their fear and hatred of pirates and directed it all at a Blackbeard. Luffy clutched her head, the pain was excruciating. Feeling all the emotions of the Marines, reading all their thoughts, she knew she had mere seconds, and screamed out a single order, burying it into every mind she held and sinking it into the depths of their consciousness.

"KILL BLACKBEARD!"

Luffy felt a cold darkness envelop her. Her head was in so much pain that she gladly welcomed it, not even knowing that she wore a smile as she fell to the ground.

Akainu looked at the traitor as she lay on the ground in a pool of her own blood. She was dead, killed by over-exerting her own power. He only regretted not killing her himself, he turned away from the body lying on the ground without a backward glance.

"Lie there and rot traitor," he muttered as he went to join his fellow soldiers as they attacked Blackbeard and his crew, "A weapon that is not used for justice doesn't deserve to exist."

He jumped up and punched his magma fist through one of former prisoners that Blackbeard had freed. He didn't care about her order to kill Blackbeard, all pirates were scum and needed to be eliminated. Marshal D. Teach was no exception to the rule of 'Absolute Justice'. Aokiji and Kizaru were attacking Blackbeard while the remaining Marines focused on eliminating his crew, who were trying to protect their captain in vain, due to the overwhelming number of enemies that they were surrounded by.

Akainu, joined the other two Admirals in their assault of Blackbeard. Though they were not directly affected by Luffy's last order, but because they agreed with it for their own reasons. To Akainu all pirates were vermin that need to be wiped out, even though he had trained Luffy when she was younger, he no longer cared. She had defected and thus was an enemy the 'Justiced' he followed and believed in. Kizaru, didn't really care about either the dead girl or Blackbeard. Marshal was a pirate, and even though he was one of the Shichibukai his true nature was shown through his betrayal. As for Aokiji, his thoughts were very different from his fellow Admirals. He had spent the most time with Luffy, in training her abilities in both Haki and her Devil Fruit abilities. As his mentors granddaughter he respected Luffy, for her own defined moral beliefs on what she felt was right and wrong under the banner of 'Justice'. He had liked spending time with her, when she first arrived because she was full of life like Garp but even when she had stopped showing her emotions, she still retained a sense of humour that was buried underneath the cold outer shell she showed to others. He regretted her death and the least he could do was carry out her the order she had given her life to pass on.

There was one person who had witnessed the whole series of events. Marco had been in the air when he saw Akainu attack the three siblings and Thatch. He had seen the Marine girl stop the attack just before it would have killed her and her brother. He saw both his and her brother disappear and reappear on the deck of the Moby Dick while her other sibling helped the remaining pirates to escape. He watched as the ship set off to escape while the Marines uselessly tried to stop them. During which neither the girl nor the Admiral moved a single inch. He heard Teach announce his presence but he didn't even spare his former crewmate a single glance since he didn't dare take his eyes off the two figures below him. His heart twisted painfully when he saw the girl clutch her head and it nearly stopped when as he watched her fall face forward to the ground in a pool of her own blood.

He swooped straight downward, plummeting towards the ground before braking at the last second to land at the side of the fallen Marine. His hands shook as ran his hand over her hair and back checking for injuries before stopping to look at her face for the first time. She was young, probably no older than eighteen since her face still held childish features. The scar under her left eye accented her long eyelashes. But it was the smile that she wore that shocked him the most, it was filled with happiness and relief. An expression like that was unheard of for a dead person and he could help but smile sadly as he gently ran his fingers over her cheek and over curved lips.

As gently as he could, he turned her over so that she was lying on her back, ignoring the sounds of battle that came from the Marines attacking Blackbeard. He didn't know what had killed this young girl but it was obvious she was dead, but out of habit he checked her pulse to confirm she was truly dead so he could give the sad news to her brothers.

Th-Thump

Marco's hand flinched away from the neck when they had been pressed against the jugular, his mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.

'Alive? She's Alive!?'

He quickly pressed his ear to her chest above her heart to confirm that his own mind wasn't playing tricks on him, since he had desperately wanted the girl by some miracle to still be breathing.

Th-Thump. Th-thump

It was extremely faint but there was a heartbeat. The young Marine girl still had enough left in her to fight to keep it. Without a moment's hesitation Marco transformed into his full phoenix form and quickly flew toward his ship with the girl held gently in his talons. She was someone who had helped save not only his brother but a great many of his nakama and he was going to be damned sure that she got all the help she needed in order to live. After a few moments of flying he noticed how light not to, mention thin, she was and shook his head in disgust. 'If - no when she wakes up, I'll get Thatch to make her a full meal at least three times a day. Those bastard Marines mustn't have been feeding her properly. No growing kid should be this light.'

Marco flew faster, missing the cheers of victory coming from the Marines, from the battlefield that he had left behind.

Marco sat next to the bed in the infirmary that held the young marine girl, Luffy (he'd learnt her name only just recently). She was connected to numerous pieces of medical machinery which beeped in the background, he watched her face which was covered in an oxygen mask and counted her breathes as she slept. His eyes settled on the folded Marine coat that sat on the end of the bed with a straw hat that rested on top.

It had been a week since he had landed on the deck with the girl and his mind wondered back, thinking of the reactions of her crew and her brothers when he had seen her bloody and apparent 'dead' body.

Flashback

Marco landed, setting down his package as gently as he could and cast his eye around the deck. Many of his sibling were bandaged but otherwise looked happy that they had managed to get Thatch back and escape from Marineford.

"LUFFY!"

The scream of a name, which he could only assume belonged to the girl he had carried, rang across the deck. Marco transformed back and picked the girl, Luffy, and held her bridal style in his arms. Thatch and Luffy's two brothers were running towards him, their eyes wide and fixed on the person he carried. The dark haired boy opened his mouth to speak but Marco cut him off before he could say anything.

"She's alive, but only barely. She needs immediate medical attention-yoi."

Both of the pirate brothers nodded at him mutely while Thatch watched him with a worried expression. All three followed Marco as he ran to the infirmary so that the nurses could have a look at the girl. He had been so impatient that he kicked in the door, which had earned him dirty looks from all of the nurses who were attending patients in the low beds. This changed when they saw the bloodied girl in his arms and Selma ran over and helped him place her gently in a spare bed. The two were of course followed by three worried pirates who had been behind Marco the whole time.

"What happened?" The Head nurse demanded.

Marco shook his head. "I don't know. All I saw was her going down. I couldn't see any obvious injuries but she has weak heartbeat-yoi"

Selma nodded and started barking out orders to her fellow nurses who assisted her in stripping the girl and fixing her to various pieces of medical equipment. She then turned to the four pirates watching her nervously.

"Alright, you aren't injured so get out. I'll let you know as soon as her condition is stable."

The two brothers started arguing with the nurse, insisting that they wanted to stay with their sister but their arguments dried in their throats when Selma gave them a death glare that even Oyaji obeyed when it was directed at him. She pointed imperviously at the door and the four grown pirates trudged out like children who had just received a scolding.

The two brothers immediately sat in the chairs outside the infirmary obviously intent on waiting until they had news on their sister. In was in the first few awkward moments of silence that Thatch roused himself enough to speak.

"Oh yeah, I didn't get a chance before but I might as introduce you all. Marco this is Fire Fist Ace and his brother the Blue Gentleman Sabo. You two brats meet my brother and fellow commander Marco, the Phoenix. Also known as the Flaming Turkey or just Pineapple Head-OW!"

Thatch shouted out as Marco brought his fist down on his brother's head and rubbed it while grinning. "Mind the injuries, the nurses have just finished bandaging me up and Selma will castrate me if I get even more beaten up" Thatch gave a theatrical shudder to portray his feelings, while Marco glared at him for telling the two brats about his nicknames, both of which had been made by Thatch.

The two boys snorted when they had heard these nicknames and looked at him with speculative eyes.

"You know…" Sabo began "He's right. Your head does look just like a pineapple."

Ace held back several snorts and with a grin turned to Sabo, "We've eaten quite a few animals when we were back home in the forest but I wonder what flaming turkey tastes like."

Both of the brothers stated snickering at the thought.

Marco was starting to feel both irritated and embarrassed by their teasing, he had known them barely five minutes and they had already ganged up with Thatch against him. He groaned just thinking that the two would probably join their crew since they had helped rescue Thatch and Oyaji was interested in them. Speaking of their captain Marco realised that he should probably report in soon when he was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard his brother speak.

"I'm sure our resident flaming turkey tastes great." He looked sidelong at Marco before continuing, "I'm head chef on the ship, and I could cook you up some nice flaming turkey steaks if you're hungry."

On cue the two brothers stomachs growled loudly and all three watched Marco with a predatory gleam in their eyes, which caused him to sweat.

"I'm going to report to Oyaji-yoi." Having said that Marco turned on his heel and walked towards the deck. He didn't care if he was being a coward, those three had talked about cooking him a bit too seriously for his liking.

Several hours later, Marco went back to the infirmary to check on how the three siblings were doing. The two brothers plus Thatch weren't outside like he had expected but inside sitting next to the girl's bed, one on each side holding her hands. Thatch stood up from where he had sat on the end of the bed to meet Marco.

"How's she doing-yoi?"

Thatch sighed and shook his. "The nurses have managed to bring back her heart by shocking her with electricity and stabilised her condition." He sighed again. "However, they have no idea what's wrong with her. They can tell it's a problem with her brain since the rest of her body doesn't have any injuries. Ace and Sabo are as confused as well are, the only thing that they can think of is that Luffy pushed her abilities too much and the backlash of it nearly killed her"

Marco was shocked, he'd never heard of something so severe for a devil fruit user over using their abilities. He looked at the girl on the bed before turning back to Thatch. "What are her abilities-yoi?"

Thatch took a step closer to Marco before whispering, "She can read and control the minds of her targets. You remember how odd the Marines acted on the battlefield, how none of them hit us?" Seeing Marco nod in confirmation Thatch continued, "That was all her doing. She's got a seriously scary Devil Fruit and because of that she and her brothers were held hostage by the Marines."

Marco narrowed his eyes, thinking while looking at the three siblings. The attention of the two brothers was locked on their unconscious sister and they probably didn't even know he had arrived.

"Oyaji will have to know about this." He told Thatch in an equally low voice. "We can't afford her going berserk on the ship. She's too dangerous, but knowing Oyaji he'll probably want to recruit, not just her but all three of them-yoi." As he said this Marco's mouth curved in a smile. He didn't know the brats well but he, like their captain, wanted them to stay. He turned to the brothers.

"Alright you two, come on. We'll find somewhere for you to sleep. You need to rest and get something to eat since I bet you refused to. You're no good to anyone if you're too tired to move-yoi."

In the end the two young pirates had to be pinned down and drugged since they had refused to leave their sister's bed. Even though both were mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted it had taken Marco and Thatch as well as several nurses and a couple commanders who had been in the infirmary visiting men from their division to be able to pin the two down so that Selma could sedate them.

End Flashback

Now after a week Luffy remained unconscious and her brothers were wrecks. They barely slept and constantly by her side, they had reluctantly let Marco watch over her after Selma had ordered them out to get some sleep for the eighth time that week. The other commanders had introduced themselves to the two pirate brothers and stopped by the infirmary in order to have a look at the ones who had help their commander/brother/friend escape.

Marco absently ran the back of his fingers over her hand before snatching it away, when he realised what he was doing. He kept shocking himself by how much he touched this complete stranger. Over the past week Thatch had told him a lot about Luffy from the times she and her brothers had snuck into the dungeons to talk to him, and Marco was disturbed by how much he had wanted to hear about her. His unconscious need to touch her, plagued his mind. He wasn't one to readily touch and even in his siblings that were the Whitebeard crew he was hardly a person to give out hugs.

He sighed heavily and gazed at the girls face. Just what was it about her that called out to him. The women that usually appealed to him were busty, and mature. His mind refused to acknowledge that there was something about the eighteen year old that pulled on his heart. He was pulled out of his musings when he heard a faint groan from the bed and was shocked to see the pair of eyes belonging to the young marine flutter open to reveal a pair of dark luminous eyes that gazed at him to then take in her surroundings.

"Where…where am I?"