Chapter 10 – To The Last Man Down

It was a rare peaceful day on the Moby Dick. A gentle breeze blew across the deck teasing the shirts and hair of the pirates on deck while the sun shone down warming those who lay around enjoying the rare time when the weather in the new world wasn't chaotic. Things however, were not very peaceful for a certain female pirate. Inside the small cabin room Luffy shared with her brothers, it was absolute chaos. Clothes, books, papers and various other items were thrown on the floor as Luffy frantically rummaged through the many pockets in Marine coat. Once all the pockets had been emptied she held her coat upside down and shook it violently in the vain hope that something would fall out.

"This is bad." Luffy muttered clutching her head in panic, having given up shaking her coat. "I can't find the last packet of my rice crackers anywhere!"

Luffy pelted out of the room and grabbed the first Whitebeard pirate she saw by the collar, "Where are my rice crackers?" she demanded violently shaking the poor pirate to emphasize her question.

The poor man in question had faced many notorious pirates and fearsome Marines but his courage failed him when confronted with the former Rear-Admiral who looked like a demon while demanding he tell her where her rice crackers were. With a desperate "I don't know!" the poor pirate was unceremoniously dumped on the floor as Luffy searched for next pirate to interrogate.

The number of victims increased as Luffy made her way to the deck. Marco hearing the disturbance twisted round from his perch next to Whitebeard's throne to peer at the door leading below deck. He raised his eyebrow as one of the lower ranked pirates from the 10th division ran out, his shirt was ripped and he kept shooting fearful glances behind him.

"Commander Marco!" he cried out spotting the blonde man.

"What's wrong-yoi?" He called back, not moving an inch from his seat. As far as Marco was concerned if nobody was bleeding then the problem couldn't be that serious.

Before the questioned man could answer as second pirate appeared in the doorway in equally bad shape.

"R-run!" He stammered out, his whole body shaking violently, "It's a demon!"

Whitebeard watch the scene with mild amusement, waiting to see what all the fuss was about when his eyebrows shot up when a hand appeared from the gloom and grabbed the newly arrived pirate by the back of his collar. The crew watched with a growing sense of dread as the pirate was dragged back despite him desperately clawing at the doorway.

All the pirates on the deck waited with baited breadth as they watched the pirate disappear into the gloom of the corridor leading below deck. His screams and pleads grew fainter until they stopped and a heavy silence filled the air. Marco couldn't help but swallow nervously as he and the watching crew stared at the door. The pirate who mad managed to escape dashed across the deck until he had put a safe distance between himself and the 'demon' below deck.

Footsteps could be heard as they slowly became louder as they came closer to the door. Unconsciously the pirates on the deck tensed, waiting for the assailant to appear. When the so called 'demon' did appear Marco blinked in surprise. Luffy stood in the doorway, her hat dipped so her eyes were covered in shadow.

"I'll ask this only once. Which one of you little shits took my last packet of rice crackers?" The female pirates tone was so frigid that an unconscious shudder passed over the deck as the whitebeard pirates stared in fear at the former Marine.

Seeing that no-one was going to answer her question anytime soon, Luffy glared at her new brothers and sisters, "Well?" She demanded with icy tones, "Is any one of you going to actually answer me?"

Marco jumped from his perch next to Whitebeard's throne and slowly made his way over to Luffy, holding his hands out in a placating gesture. "Now, now. Calm down and tell me what's wrong-yoi?"

Luffy scowled up at the blonde first division commander who had stopped right in front of her. Seemingly unaffected by Luffy's killer glares Marco raised an eyebrow and simply waited for an answer.

"When I left the Marines two weeks ago I brought with me several packets of rice crackers. Two of those I've already finished, however when I searched for the third and last packet I couldn't find it anywhere." Luffy snarled.

Marco's raised eyebrow went up further, since he found it almost unbelievable that when food was involved Luffy's attitude did a complete 180. 'Note to self. Never mess with Luffy's food if you want to live' Marco mused.

"Have you tried asking your brothers-yoi?" Marco asked in an amused voice. He had a pretty good idea of what had happened to Luffy's last packet of rice crackers but he would be damned if he was going to miss the looks on their faces when Luffy finally asked them.

Luffy's extra venomous glare told Marco that Luffy hadn't asked Ace and Sabo. "Do you think that if I knew where they were I would be asking every pirate in sight?" she snarled at him.

Marco couldn't help himself and let out a small laugh, since he found the brothers joint act of survival through cowardice extremely amusing. Luffy however, did not find the situation at all funny and decided to release her annoyance in the most mature way she knew how.

By giving Marco a hard kick in the shin.

"Shit!" Marco cursed hopping up and down clutching his leg while blue flames flickered round the inflicted injury, healing it in seconds. Whitebeard and the rest of the pirates on the deck burst out laughing as they watched the two, glad that the tension had been dispersed and that they no longer had a homicidal teenager after their throats.

Once Marco's leg had finished healing he put it down and flicked Luffy's hat so that it hung from its string around her neck. The action made Luffy pout making the girl much younger and in Marco's opinion. And he secretly felt embarrassed about how cute the former Marine looked, sticking her bottom lip out as she looked up at him.

"Alright, let's go looking for those way-ward brothers of yours-yoi."

Marco and Luffy started searching around the ship, first checking the usual spots that the two would go if they wanted to hide, such as the crow's nest, the kitchen's pantry and the closets of the division's barracks.

Fortunately for Marco word of Luffy's demon like temper had spread across the ship and the majority of the pirates of the Moby Dick were going out of their way to avoid the short teen. Marco glanced down at the girl by his side as they leisurely walked through the corridors below deck. Her expression was calm almost expressionless which he knew came from the habit of hiding her emotions, but the air around her was friendly and relaxed.

Steeling himself Marco quickly glanced up and down the corridor to see if there was anyone around, once he was sure that the two of them were alone Marco slowly wrapped his fingers around Luffy's so that their fingers intertwined as they held hands. The former Marine's reaction was almost too much for Marco to take as she suddenly glanced up at him with a faint blush spread across her cheeks. Luffy glanced up at Marco who simply stared back at her and then to their joined hands before staring at the floor as she can feel her blush deepening.

Seeing Luffy's adorable reaction Marco felt a blush of his own spread across his cheeks, turning away he pressed his free hand across his face in the vain hope to hide his pink cheeks.

"Dammit." Marco muttered, "I feel like a perverted old man now-yoi."

The quiet statement surprised Luffy causing her to let out a small chuckle, "Technically you are." She informed the older pirate with a smile. Marco muttered a few curses under his breadth which were muffled by his hand which was still covering his mouth.

Finally giving up in trying to hide his embarrassment, Marco lowered his hand from his face and looked down at the girl next to him. "Then what does that make you then?" He asked with a disgruntled voice, "Since you agreed to try and fall in love with this perverted old man."

Marco was rewarded with a gloriously wide smile that made his stomach flutter, "Who knows." Luffy answered honestly, "But right now, holding your hand makes me feel emotions that I have never would have imagined feeling." Luffy squeezed Marco's hand gently and pressed her free hand to her chest over her heart, "My heart is beating so wildly that it feels like it's going to explode and my stomach feels like it's filled with hundreds of butterflies. I didn't know that the simple act of holding your hand would make me so…" Luffy paused lost for words as she looked down the corridor searching for the right word.

"So…" Marco prompted, trying not to let the wide grin spread across his face be revealed in his voice.

"Happy." Luffy finished after being silent for a few more seconds, smiling up at Marco.

The two stood in the middle of the corridor grinning at each other like idiots before they both started laughing.

"Alright, let's go find those idiot brothers of yours-yoi." Marco suggested still chuckling, after a good minute of laughing.

"Okay!" Luffy answered him eagerly

In a comfortable silence the two walked hand in hand as they searched the ship for Ace and Sabo. They looked in the different divisions showers, the meeting rooms even in the various storage rooms scattered around the Moby Dick, but they had not seen so much as a glimpse of Luffy's brothers. After spending a good hour of searching a very frustrated Luffy was starting to return to her demon-like state that had terrorized the pirates of the Moby Dick.

"I swear when I finally find those shitty brothers of mine, I'm going to show them hell like they've never seen before." Luffy snarled as she viciously kicked shut the door of the eighth storage room that she and Marco had just checked.

Marco wisely chose to stand back as Luffy stalked over to the next room and yanked open the door to the empty second division barracks.

"Have you tried searching for them with Haki-yoi?" Marco suggested in a calm voice, even though internally he was starting to sweat a little since Luffy was giving him her best demonic glare.

Luffy growled under her breadth, "There are too many pirates with strong auras on board this damn ship for me to be able to find them." Luffy pulled her hair in frustration, "Why am I stuck on a ship where there are so many strong pirates on board? If this was an ordinary pirate ship I could find those two idiots in seconds since they have strong auras but no, we have to be stuck on the Moby bloody Dick which has the strongest crew on the Grand Line!"

Marco couldn't help but smirk at the unwilling admission of the former Marine's thoughts about the strength of the crew. "Why can't you just use your Devil Fruit abilities to look for them-yoi?" He asked, still smirking.

"I can but…" Luffy paused, her mind fully processing Marco's words, she stared at him in horror. "You…how did…?" Luffy couldn't finish her sentence, she knew that many hated and feared her because of her Devil Fruit abilities. She didn't want Marco to hate her for simply having her abilities.

Seeing Luffy terrified face Marco sighed and walked up to the girl and gently started patting her head. "I've know about your Devil Fruit abilities since you arrived on the ship." He told her. "Thatch told me when you were unconscious and in the infirmary and he knew that it was important that we were told. Don't worry the only ones who know are me, Thatch, Oyaji, your brothers and that demon nurse Selma."

Luffy couldn't help but give a weak smile at Marco's description of the head nurse, "You're not scared?" She asked hating how her voice wavered.

Marco smiled and pulled Luffy into a tight hug, pressing her small frame against his own, "Your Devil Fruit doesn't determine who you are," He told in a serious voice, "it's just a fruit that gives you some extra abilities. You're the one that can choose whether your Devil Fruit is good or bad by how you use it."

Luffy remained stiff and silent within Marco's arms but after several moments she hesitantly returned the hug, "Thank you." She murmured pressing her face against Marco's bare chest.

"You're very welcome." Marco murmured back, gently breathing in the smell of Luffy's hair as the two held each other closely.

After holding each other for several minutes Luffy stepped back and jammed her straw hat back on her hear in the vain hope of hiding her blush, making Marco grin at the action.

Luffy slapped her cheeks twice, "Okay, let's do this!"

Closing her eyes Luffy took a deep breath and released it slowly, letting both her body and her mind to become calm. Almost like a sonar wave, Luffy spread out her Devil Fruit abilities searching for two easily recognisable auras of her brothers. After spending so many years together Luffy knew the feel her brother's minds as well as her own. Like his Devil Fuit Ace's aura was warm and comforting while Sabo's was calm like the sea but hid deep undercurrents. Luffy scanned each level of the Moby Dick until she finally located the very two pirates she had just spent the last hour searching for on the deck of the ship.

Marco, who had been watching Luffy as she stood in the corridor with her eyes closed, couldn't help but shudder as he watched a maniacal grin spread across the former Marine's face. To hide his nervousness, he raised an eyebrow and waited for Luffy open her eyes.

When she did the female pirate looked positively homicidal.

"They're on deck." She told him with a teeth baring smile and spun on her heel as she leisurely made her way toward the stairs leading to the deck.

Marco followed behind her in silence, taking in her relaxed stance as she walked and Luffy's calm expression. The aura around the young teen however, was everything but relaxed. It was clear to anyone who did and didn't poses Haki that Luffy was out for blood and that any unfortunate fool who got in her way would not be spared from her fury.

When the pair did make it onto the deck the pirates there practically ran for cover as soon as they saw Luffy. Slowly Luffy walked to the centre mast, expression unchanging until she stopped behind the very two brothers she had been searching for and were very much oblivious to her presence.

"Hello Ace-nii, Sabo-nii. How are you on this fine day?" Luffy asked in saccharine sweet voice.

The two brothers flinched and slowly turned around, sweating bullets while crumbs were spread around their mouths for the whole deck to see.

They both gulped in unison as they looked up at their youngest sibling.

"I see you enjoyed my last packet of rice crackers." Luffy continued in chilling sweet tones and the rest of the crew were starting to sweat and murmur prayers for a quick and painless death for the two brothers. "It's understandable that you were unable to resist eating them, I suppose, since that was the last packet, that I stole from Sengoku's secret stash. Finely cooked over fist class charcoal, and then delicately coated in the finest soy sauce, finished by adding the most award winning nori on the Grand Line, not to mention they were limited edition. I can perfectly understand how you were unable to restrain yourselves."

Sabo and Ace nodded frantically at Luffy, neither daring to say a word.

Killing intent stated pouring off Luffy in waves as she smiled down at her brothers, "Then I guess it's perfectly understandable for me to give the both of you a deep sea water bath, isn't it?"

Before either could respond Luffy grabbed Sabo by his coat collar and Ace by his bead necklace and threw them both overboard. Turning Luffy face the rest of the crew with a glare.

"Let this be a lesson to you about what happens to those who eat my food." She snarled. Stomping towards them she yelled "Thatch! Food!"

The poor Fourth Division Commander was so terrified that he gave an involuntary salute with a yelled "Yes Sir!" before dashing into the kitchen, soon followed by an irate female pirate who was hoping to burn off her loss of her rice crackers by trying to empty the food supplies in the kitchen.

A whole minute passed before a universal sigh of relief was let out by all the pirates present with the one exception of Whitebeard who had watch the whole ordeal with a smirk hidden behind his tankard.

Whitebeard looked down at the Eighth Division Commander, Namur. "Go fish those two brats out." He commanded the fishman, "They've learnt their lesson."

Namur nodded and promptly dived into the sea to resurface several seconds later with two very waterlogged brothers in his arms.

Taking in the sight Whitebeard laughed deep and loud, "Gurarara! That little brat has more spunk than I thought!"

The rest of the pirates could only sweat drop as they slowly returned to what they had been doing on what they thought would be a peaceful day on the Grand Line.