Chapter 8 – Battle Makes The Blood Sing

Luffy sat on the rail of the Moby Dick as she watched the Whitebeard pirates and her brothers sparring against each other. It had been several days since she had woken up and Luffy knew that she had completely recovered from her near-death experience. Her brothers however, disagreed with Luffy and had refused to let her spar with anyone, saying that the nurses had ordered her at least a week of complete rest before she did anything 'strenuous', like sparring.

As much as Luffy loved her brothers she hated being babied by them, even though it was rare when they did. Ace was the type of brother who was an overprotective bully, while Sabo was the nice and understanding brother. What Luffy hadn't told her brothers was that she had cut back on using her Devil Fruit abilities, after she had had her meeting with Whitebeard. Sitting on the railing, Luffy absently watched the sparring pairs while contemplated the abilities of her Devil Fruit.

Personal boundaries were a vague area for Luffy, when she had been a Marine, reading minds had been a matter of survival but outside of that, Luffy considered it rude to simple read minds of those around her. Luffy had already made the decision not to read the minds of the Whitebeard pirates, since she felt that it would be intrusive. Instead Luffy used Observation Haki which let pick up basic intentions of those around her, thus not straying past her self-made moral boundaries. With a rueful smile, Luffy knew that the main reason she had cut back with her abilities was that she wanted to be spared the headaches of reading the minds of over a thousand noisy pirates that were on the Moby dick.

Luffy taking part in sparring was not the only thing that she and her siblings had argued about. Luffy's change in clothes had been a hot topic between them, since both Ace and Sabo had said that she was revealing too much. It had turned into a shouting match when the issue of the black bikini top came up, since Ace insisted she changed it for a proper shirt and Luffy shouted back that her breasts were small enough that she could wear the top and her chest wouldn't get in the way of her fighting. By the end of the argument and Sabo's intervention Luffy still wore the bikini top but kept her red cardigan buttoned shut with only a couple of the top buttons open.

With an irritated sigh Luffy looked down at her chest, her breasts were barely a handful and from what she had gathered from listening from the Marines in Marineford, men liked shapely women with big breasts. Why Ace had over-reacted about her clothes was beyond her comprehension since Luffy couldn't see why anyone would be interested in her. With another irritated sigh she went back to watching the sparring pairs on the deck.

The Whitebeard pirates had wanted to know just how skilled the two pirate brothers were, thus inviting them to join in with their morning workout. Thatch was exchanging blows with his swords while Sabo parried with his staff, both of them were skilled and were trying to disarm the other. Ace and Marco were paired up since both were fire users, Ace kept throwing fireballs at Marco, which the phoenix just absorbed with a flash of blue flames. After about half an hour of sparring with the two brothers, Thatch and Marco could understand that their high bounties weren't for show and that both would be good additions to the family.

When the four pirates decided to take a break they went over to the railing where Luffy was sitting on. Both Ace and Sabo sat down and leaned against the railing with a relieved sigh, sparring with the two commanders had been more of a workout than either of them had thought it would be. Thatch also sat down, he was out of shape after being in the Marineford dungeons for months and his body hadn't fully healed. Marco watched the three with an amused smile and noticed that Luffy was glaring dully at her two brothers. It was obvious that the girl had wanted to take part and burn off the excess energy she had, and Marco took pity on the former Marine.

"Hey Luffy, you up for doing a bit of sparring against me-yoi? You're brother didn't manage to make me work up a sweat-yoi."

Luffy looked up at him with a brilliant smile, and Ace and Sabo glared at him.

"Wait a minute!" Ace argued "The nurses said that Luffy should be doing anything strenuous for a week. She still has several more days where she should be resting."

Marco looked down at Ace and cocked an eyebrow, "It won't be strenuous-yoi. It'll just be enough to burn off some energy and let your sister do something rather than giving you death glares-yoi."

Ace turned his head round and did indeed notice that Luffy was giving him a glare that would have killed him several times over.

Sabo placed a calming hand on Ace's shoulder, "Ace, you know what Luffy's like. We used to spar every day since we were kids and you haven't let her do anything for several days now. Let her exercise a bit, we'll be here to see that she doesn't over do it."

Sabo's words caused Luffy to jump onto his back and give her brother a grateful hug. "Thank you Sabo-nii!" Luffy cried happily as she pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Ace sighed and finally conceded Sabo had a point, "Okay, you can spar, but if the nurses catch wind of this, I giving you and the overgrown chicken, to Selma."

Hearing her brother's treat Luffy just laughed and pressed a kiss to his forehead, missing that the blood in Marco's face had completely drained away, leaving him a sickly white. Like all Whitebeard pirates he feared the Head nurse's rage and the threat alone was enough to encourage him to hold back.

Walking off to where his crew mates continued sparring he waited for Luffy to catch up with him. Once Luffy stood directly in front of him they both took fighting stances.

"Soru." Luffy disappeared from in front of Marco to reappear behind him, aiming at his head with a high kick. Marco's eyes widened in surprise but blocked the kick with his arm. With the other he swung round aiming at the girl's stomach, but his stance was thrown off balance when Luffy's other leg managed to kick him in the knee.

The two fighters jumped back a few metres, once again facing off from each other. Marco had a new respect for the former Marine, he had known that she had been a Rear Admiral but he could tell from the weight of the blows she had landed that she was strong. Marco knew that if he held back, that she would take it as an insult.

The fight between the two had caught the attention of the crew on the deck who had halted their own fights in order to watch the commander and their newest member spar against each other. Not to miss out on the fun, Thatch promptly started a betting pool to see who the victor of the fight would be and by how much.

Both Luffy and Marco were unaware of their surroundings since they were solely focused on each other. Marco dashed forward and kicked at Luffy aiming for her shoulder, she narrowly avoided the kicked by punching the incoming leg which sent both of the fighters flying back several metres, due to the shock wave. Before Luffy had time to recover Marco punched the girl in the stomach sending her straight into the air. The blow was enough to slightly wind Luffy, using Geppou* she kicked off the air under the mast and sent herself rocketing back towards the deck. Bringing her leg up above her head she brought it down to connect with Marco's crossed arms, which he had used to guard himself from the blow.

What neitherof the two noticed was that they were both grinning, both enjoying exchanging blows. Luffy was having fun, it had been too long since she had faced an opponent who made her blood sing. With this kind of fighting there wasn't any time to think of unnecessary things, and the sheer joy of fight made her laugh out loud. Marco heard Luffy's laughed and his smile widened in response, the sparring session might have more serious than he had originally intended but it had been a long time since he had enjoyed a simple fight as much as this one.

Both Marco and Luffy dashed forward and punched at the same time, their fists connected and the resulting shockwave sent Luffy flying backwards until she crashed into the deck next to Whitebeard's throne. The captain looked down at his youngest daughter from where he was sitting, enjoying the fight when he heard her clear laugh. Luffy pushed the rubble off her as her face was split into the widest grins he had ever seen. The former Marine was panting slightly as she crouched down on all fours on the deck. Whitebeard noticed the predatory glint in the girl's eyes and he knew that the sparring session/turned full fight was far from over.

Luffy's arms and feet turned black showing that she had activated Armament Haki, she looked at Marco and her grin became even wider, "Level Two. Link Cut."

Marco blinked, the figure of the girl who was crouched on the other end of the deck had disappeared. Before the commander had time to question where his opponent was, an incredible force struck him in the stomach, and he was sent flying into the side of the ship. Dazed and winded in the pile of broken planks and splinters Marco looked at the place he had been standing only a second ago and saw Luffy with her legs braced and her head down. Her fist was stretched out before her pointing at him and Marco could only assume that her single punch had sent him into the railing of the Moby Dick.

The fight abruptly ended with the shouts of Luffy's brothers as they ran to where she stood.

"Luffy stop!" yelled Ace

"That's enough Luffy!" shouted Sabo.

Luffy straightened, and turned to face her irate siblings with a sheepish grin. In unison Ace and Sabo punched the girl on the head causing her to curl up in a ball while griping the steaming lumps on her head.

"What were you thinking Luffy? Using that technique damages your own body!" Sabo yelled down at his sister

Ace's yells were only a beat behind his brother's "You idiot! You nearly died and have been out of bed for a few days! Why the hell were you seriously fighting?!"

All three siblings were unaware of the incredulous looks that the crew was giving them. Even Whitebeard was surprised that the young girl had been able to land such a successful punch on one of his sons. 'If the brat had stayed with the Marines then she would have been a powerful enemy. She truly is Garp's granddaughter.' He thought as he watched the two brothers berate their sister.

"I was having fun." Luffy whined

Luffy's words made a vein pop in Ace's temple and he smacked his sister on the head, giving her a third lump, "I don't care if you were having fun! Never use that technique outside a serious fight!"

Sabo was about to add his opinion when all three heard the wheezing from Marco who had been helped up by Thatch.

"What the hell was that-yoi?" Marco wheezed out as he made his way over to the three siblings, he did stop to throw Thatch a dirty look after he had noticed a lot of Beri changing hands among the spectators to their fight and Thatch's smug grin. Marco could guess that his brother had been laying bets on his match.

The three siblings looked sheepish before Luffy decided to speak up, "The humans can only use 30% of the body's potential. It's one of the brain's safety measures so that we don't damage ourselves. Using my Devil Fruit I can cut off the safety switches in my brain, such as feeling pain or temperature. I can even make my body heal itself faster than normal if I get injured." Luffy took a deep breath before carrying on with her explanation, "What I hit you just now was 'Level Two, Link Cut', it allows me to use 60% of my body's potential, the downside is that if I use it for too long or go to 'Level Three' I would end up ripping my muscles and seriously damaging myself."

Marco stared down at the teen in shock, "Why did you use such a dangerous technique-yoi?"

Luffy cocked her head to one side and looked up at the commander with a confused expression, "It's fun fighting someone strong. I wanted to see just how strong I was against one of Whitebeard's commanders. Isn't it normal to want to fight seriously against an opponent who you know is stronger, even if it's just a practice match?"

Marco and the rest of the commanders and crew stared in shock at the young teen, they had gotten an inkling of just how reckless the girl was when Red Haired Shanks had visited but it was only truly dawning on them about just how reckless she was. Even if they could somewhat see her point.

Hearing their sister's reply Ace and Sabo sank down to sit on the deck with exasperated sighs.

"We must have raised her badly." Sabo moaned out, as one of his hands covered his eyes, "We must have done something wrong, that or she could have inherited the old geezer's stupidity."

"Nah…" disagreed Ace, "I say the shitty old man hit her over the head too many times when we were growing up."

Both brothers sighed again in unison. Watching them Luffy chuckled and lay back on the deck, her arms and legs spread out.

"Shishishi… That was fun!" and promptly fell asleep.

When Luffy came to she was aware that she was moving, after opening her eyes she became aware that she was being carried on someone's back. Her eyes roamed the back where head was laid across until they came to the mass of spiky blond hair. With a startled yelp Luffy leant back away from Marco who was carrying her, making him to stumble and loose his balance, causing both of them to fall over in the corridor below deck.

Before Luffy had woken up, Marco had been slowly making his way to the Infirmary so that the two of them could be looked at by the nurses. It was his punishment to face the Head Nurse's wrath after going too far when fighting and Ace had told him; "It's your own damn fault if the witch in the Infirmary castrates you. Now go take Luffy to get a check-up and don't come back until you've been neutered."

As Marco had carried Luffy piggy-back style to the infirmary, he had concluded that his true punishment was the feeling of Luffy's breasts pressed against his back and the tickling sensation across the back of his neck as she breathed. It hadn't helped that Thatch's chuckles had followed as he had made his way across the deck carrying the sleeping girl, since he was sure that his face was one solid blush. Marco had been so caught up in his thoughts that when Luffy had suddenly woken up and leaned back he had been taken completely by surprise. And much to his horror and embarrassment he found himself on all fours directly above Luffy, as both of them stared at each with startled expressions.

Luffy stared up into Marco's eyes and she felt her own face begin to heat up, apart from her brothers she had never really been in close proximity to any men and she wasn't sure what to do in her current situation. Being embarrassed was a new feeling for Luffy since she had never been in any situations where she was embarrassed, either with her brothers of at Marineford.

"I'm blushing, aren't I?" Luffy asked in the calmest voice she could managed

Marco could only nod mutely as he watched the girl underneath him press her palms to her cheeks in order to cool her face down. The commander felt that he had been hit by some sort of freeze beam that prevented him from moving away from where he was above the girl, it was as if his mind had stopped functioning and Marco felt himself slowly lower his head until his lips gently pressed against Luffy's.

Both parties were completely red in the face as Marco brought his head back, while Marco stared at Luffy in surprise at his own actions and Luffy looked anywhere but at Marco's face.

"I-I-I need to get up." Luffy stammered

Marco once again nodded and crawled back until he was in a sitting position. Luffy lifted herself up until she sat across from Marco, her mind a complete mess about what had just happened.

Luffy repeatedly glanced at Marco before she had the courage to talk, "Um…well…what am I meant to do in this sort of situation?" she stammered out.

Marco blinked at Luffy owlishly "W-what do you mean-yoi?" 'Why am I also stammering?'

Luffy look at Marco, her eyes pleading, "I don't know what to do. I've never been around anyone who acted towards me in such a way."

"No-one-yoi?" he asked

Luffy nodded in confirmation her eyes never leaving Marco's face.

Marco's eyes widened in shock, to say he was surprised was an understatement. Luffy was to him, undeniably cute, even when she had been cold when he had first met her there had been an air around the former Marine that drew you towards her. To hear that no-one had made a move on her was surprising, though Marco reasoned that her brothers were very protective of their sister. Which might be the cause in Luffy' lack of suitors.

Luffy could sense Marco's confusion and shock with her Observation Haki, "Ace-nii and Sabo-nii were the only kids my own age in the village I grew up in. when I was in Marineford I was always surrounded by old men and because of my cold attitude none of the Marines would talk to me more than they had to. I'm aware of people having romantic feelings, but I've never had any directed at me." Luffy turned from Marco and he barely caught the last line of what she said. "I don't know how to love someone who isn't my family."

Marco smiled softly at the girl who was staring at the floor, "You know, I think I'm in love with you-yoi." The commander's statement made Luffy look at him in shock and the blush on her cheeks to spread to the tips of her ears. Looking at Luffy Marco smiled ruefully and rubbed the back of his head, "This is probably the first time I've felt this way about someone. You're a kid who's years younger than me and I don't want to hurt you, by selfishly push my feeling onto you-yoi."

Luffy cocked her head to the side, "You do know that I'll be setting off to start my own crew in a year's time?" she asked

Marco smiled at the girl, "I guess that mean's I've got a year to show you how to love someone in a romantic way, and I fully intend to make you fall for me-yoi."

Luffy smiled shyly in return and held out her closed fist with her little finger sticking out, "Then it's a promise. You have one year in order to make me fall in love with you."

Marco raised an eyebrow at the former Marines actions and wording but linked his own little finger with Luffy's with a wide smile.

"Promise-yoi." He answered

The moment was entirely ruined however, when the two heard whispers coming from one of the closed doors from where they were sat in the corridor. Without saying anything Marco got up and quietly made his way over to the door and quickly pulled it open. From behind it Thatch, Izo, Haruta, Vista, Ace and Sabo spilled out.

It appeared that the six of them had been eavesdropping from behind the door, though two of the six had been gagged and restrained. Luffy raised her eyebrows, when she saw that Thatch had his hand over Ace's mouth while Vista covered Sabo's. Both of her brothers looked murderous while Thatch looked like a cat that had just been at a jar of the finest cream. What all the new arrival had in common was that they all were looking at the First division commander with a lot of interest, which caused the man in question who sweat heavily.

As soon as Thatch loosened his grip of Ace the young pirate flew at Marco with murder in his eyes. Sabo had also managed to wriggle free of Vista's grip and joined his brother in chasing Marco who had escaped onto the deck.

Grinning madly, Thatch ran after the three singing at the top of his lungs, "Marco's got a girlfriend! Marco's got a girlfriend!"

The remaining pirates watched as the retreating backs of their brothers, all wearing amused smirks.

"How many times do you want to bet that Ace keeps trying to kill Marco by the end of the week?" Izo asked his companions with a raised eyebrow.

Behind them they heard a groan, "It's going to be a long week…" Luffy muttered.

*Moon Walk used by CP9