A/N: Hi! This is an early update to make up for my late/no updates ~(*-*)~ Hope you enjoy!
Short violet hair glimmers under the soft rays of the sun shining through an open window. Tanned hands hold an old tome. Though the leather cover is cracked and peeling, and the spine broken-in and bendy, the pages within remain intact, pristine even, and subtly glowing, as if there were some lights fixed under it.
Dark gold eyes reflect the text, scribbly and with a lack of punctuation marks, while chapped lips murmur in a low voice in a long forgotten language, like whispers of the dead telling ancient secrets and showing the path to life's greatest treasures.
The woman's peace, however, is broken by yelling and giggling coming from outside her open window. It's the village kids, and they're right on time too, singing:
"Isobel~! Isobel~! Wimpy, weepy Isobel~! Does she need magic to go out and play~? Does she start crying from the light of day~? Isobel~! Isobel~! Wimpy… Weepy… I-so-bel!"
Then the kids burst out laughing.
The rambunctious laughter of the kids, as well as the clucking of her chickens and the bleating of her sheep, marks the end of Isobel's peaceful morning.
A tick mark appears on her forehead as she slams her book shut, titled 999 Ways to Achieve Immortality, Definitive Magical Edition. With her eye twitching, she grabs her red cedar staff—polished and waxed to gleaming perfection just yesterday—puts on her weathered leather boots, and storms out the door.
Bam! The metal tip of her staff slams on the ground, causing a vibration to ripple across the earth in, roughly, a ten-meter radius. Isobel glares at the kids, her dark gold eyes aflame much like the sun in the sky.
"Hey, you! You never learn, do you?!" She stomps forward, menacingly brandishes her staff, and points it at the loudest and tallest kid, their ringleader.
The kid's got tanned skin and flaming red hair and eyes, the former spiky like his personality. With a missing tooth, he grins. "Books and learning are boring! They're only for crybabies like you! Bleeeh!" He sticks his tongue out with one finger pulling the skin under his eye downward.
"Kaka, stop it!" a tiny voice whisper-shouts.
Isobel turns to Riette, the local crybaby. She's about half of Kaka, with pastel green hair and eyes, and dark skin. A small red bow clip is on the left side of her hair.
With tears in her eyes, Riette glances at Isobel before turning away quickly. She hides her face in Kaka's back, gripping his already-dirty shirt—even though it's only morning—as she negotiates, "If you want us to stop (hic) you have to listen (hic) to our demands (hic)." Every so often, she hiccups, deathly afraid of Isobel.
Very threatening indeed. Isobel rolls her eyes and uses the top of her staff as a resting place for her chin, which she also flicks in the direction of Riette. "Go on."
"Ahem!" a kid to the right suddenly coughs.
It's Manda, the poster schoolboy. He's got short black hair, darker than Isobel's and cut to an alarming perfection, and pale skin. He pushes his round glasses back into place before standing up straight and reciting, "In exchange for our silence—"
"For today only!" Kaka reassures the other kids with a smile, and to Isobel, with a mischievous smirk and glint in his eyes.
Isobel simply raises an eyebrow.
"In exchange for our silence!" Manda repeats, louder this time, and with an annoyed glare at Kaka, who whistles and looks away, "we demand a potion of the highest quality, with the effect of causing birds to follow a person and—"
"Poop on them!" Kaka and the other kids, about four others of different shapes and colors, shout all at the same time before bursting out laughing.
Even the crybaby Riette smiles and giggles at the thought.
Isobel, however, sighs. "For how long must I endure this suffering?" she wonders. If only she didn't indulge them that one time and handed them that potion.
One that causes a person's hair to grow so they'd be covered in it like a bear.
The memory plays in her mind, of the village's nagging old man—also the village chief—panicking, and embarrassedly attempting to rid himself of said hair.
Only for it to grow back twofold.
Well, she supposes, at least they've solved the problem of his hair loss.
At the thought, she giggles.
And thus, she agrees to their deal; she nods, raises her free hand, one not holding onto her staff, and beckons the kids to come closer.
The kids all look at each other… then nod.
Together, they start scooching closer, taking one tiny step at a time, their hands raised like little thieves on their first mission trying not to wake the scary grown-ups.
Which is definitely not something else they do on the daily.
The grass rustles underfoot and the silence nearly envelops the space. No thanks to Isobel resuming her resting witch face.
Unease fills the kids, evident with their shaking hands, restless eyes, and trembling knees. But what were they to do? Mischief won't commit itself! And they were brave warriors on a journey!
However, they face an even bigger, more powerful, and more mischievous opponent than all the grown-ups in the village combined.
And so, Isobel did what Isobel does.
She taps her staff on the ground to her right, swings it to her front, and grins. "Enlorglia et demanon! Gorsu swe tigure!"
The kids are hit with a blast of wind, and they tumble backwards, rolling right into bushes of blueberries—the ripe fruits falling like rain—or crashing against tree trunks on their backs—the leaves falling around their dizzy faces.
And when they open their eyes, they find themselves changed.
Kaka is turned half into a tiger: his skin decorated with black stripes, his head with a pair of fluffy ears, and on his butt, a long orange tail swishing from side to side.
Riette is turned half into a doe. Meaning, she's got four legs, hooves, and a tail. Her fur is brown with white spots. Her eyes are pure black. And when she jumps in surprise, she jumps nearly thrice as high as Kaka, her older brother's height.
Lastly, Manda is turned half into a shark. While floating in a bubble of water, a shark's body, complete with fins and a tail, sways where his legs used to be, and jet black scales cover his upper half. He's also got gills, sharp teeth, and a dorsal fin. Basically, he's been turned into a mer-shark-boy.
The other kids are in similar states, half-animal, half-human. Some are even flying, flapping their wings without meaning to, while some have turned into insects, stuck to tree trunks as insects do.
All the kids look at each other with extra wide eyes. Like really wide eyes. Like how-do-you-kids-even-do-that wide eyes.
Then comes the screaming: "AaAAaaHhhHHHhh!"
Isobel grins, proud of her handiwork. She nods to herself with her arms crossed, her red cedar staff somehow floating in the space next to her, swishing all by itself like a conductor's baton.
And then the kids start laughing.
Happily, the ones who can fly fly around, while the ones stuck to tree barks begin to crawl up and down and all around.
Kaka drops on all fours and begins running. His nails transform to claws, pink paw pads appear on his palms, and his teeth elongate and sharpen, as if getting into character is helping with his transformation.
He even starts to look like a real tiger cub.
Then there's Riette and Manda, the meeker ones.
While Riette squeaks and hiccups, tears slowly start to fall from her pure black eyes. These eyes look around slowly and, watching each of her friends happy with the change, she starts to smile and relax.
Or at least until Kaka rushes toward her.
"Riri! Look at me! I'm a tiger!" he excitedly shows off to his little sister, his words sounding more like a roar than a kid's regular loud voice.
But all Riette sees are his claws and fangs. Seeing as she's currently half-doe, her instinct outweighs her original cry-loud-enough-to-burst-eardrums imperative and she starts to run. Or more like, hop away from Kaka. "Noooo! Stay away!"
Scratch that. Her voice is as loud as her cries. Maybe even louder.
Isobel's jaw drops.
This isn't what I was expecting.
—
High above Isobel and the kids, fluffy white clouds dot the sky. One of said clouds slowly parts to reveal Marco, currently donning his phoenix form.
The larger-than-human-sized phoenix, with blue and yellow flames covering his body, lazily flaps his wings as he soars through the cloudy sky. The gentle blue of which stands in stark contrast to the cyan, almost blinding, blue of his flames.
Then there's the yellow chain-like trails dangling from the base of his tail, as if he were a comet streaking through the night sky and not a creature plucked directly from myths and legends. The yellow trails glow a different shade than his flames, a soft ethereal glow, as if he were divine and not at all human.
But then there's his eyes. With a mask or the imprint of glasses around it, His half-lidded eyes scan the horizon. From left to right, the pair of eyes moves rather slowly, as if he's not in a hurry to find, well… whatever it is he's trying to find.
When suddenly, his eyes widen slightly, and he begins to dive, angling his body downward and tucking his wings in.
It seems he's found what he's looking for.
As he's making his descent, the rush of wind shrieks in his ears, but he coolly ignores it. His hair, yellow flames on top of his head and trailing over the back of his long neck, sways with the rushing wind, as cool as its master.
In his eyes is the reflection of the island he's descending upon.
Blankslate Island, it's called, with nothing more than a forest without dangerous creatures, a quiet town with no history, and calm surrounding seas.
Or at least that's what the books say.
After reading through many libraries, Marco investigated for himself why the island is being avoided even by the marines and world nobles alike. In fact, there are a couple of islands like it; this just happened to be the nearest one.
During his investigation, Marco drank with strangers in several pubs and inns in islands near this one. And all of them said the same thing:
"There's a witch there who can raise the dead from their slumber."
Although none of them could point him to any actual news report of the fact, they were all, in their drunken stupor, quite convinced of what they were saying. Even the bartenders and the innkeepers alike nodded in agreement.
So he had to go and check out this island for himself.
But suddenly, a wave of violet-glittered wind rushes toward him. He flaps his wings in surprise, but after nothing happens, he resumes his descent.
And that's when it happened.
Instead of simply passing-by him, the wind clings to Marco, the violet merging with the blue and turning his cyan blue flames to a dusty blue. Then it merges with his yellow flames and hair and turns them into a light brown.
Marco makes a bewildered expression even his former crewmates don't know about, one they'd definitely tease him forever for.
This has never happened before.
As he's still pretty high up, Marco tries to de-transform his body, simply willing it, only to find out he cannot turn back into a human.
Squawk!
Marco tries to talk—or more like, he unconsciously swears under his breath—only to find out he can only talk in, well, birdspeak, for lack of a better word.
Is this the work of that witch? Did they sense my approach?
At least Marco's thoughts remain human.
But then his stomach churns, turning itself inside out, making him grunt in pain.
What the hell? Stomachache?!
He winces, not used to the pain, but decides to ride it out.
The wind whips against his face, reminding him he's still descending. So he scans the ground below, searching for a good spot to land.
Down below is a forest, a pond, a small two-storey cottage, a back garden with some chickens and sheep fenced-in, a handful of beast-kids, a woman, and a grassy clearing. The clearing is occupied, but it will do.
Wait.
Beast-kids? But there should be no—
The wooden staff in the woman's hands suddenly catches his attention. Faintly glowing violet, Marco gets the feeling that the staff and the woman with violet hair and golden eyes are what caused his recent bout of troubles.
She must be the witch then.
He tries to think of ways to get her to release him from her… well, whatever it is she put on him, when a sudden scream pierces his eardrums.
"Noooo! Stay away!"
Marco doesn't know which person the voice belongs to. All he knows is that the person's scream is like Conqueror's Haki, able to make him kneel.
But as he's currently diving from the sky, he drops to the ground like a stone in a pond instead, falling faster and faster until... His consciousness begins to fade. "Damn it. I was outsmarted. This witch is… dangerous…"
—
"Aaaaargh!" Isobel screams as Kaka bites down on her hand. With his fangs and his vicious childishness, he actually draws some of her blood, making her golden eyes widen and tear up. "Ouch! That hurt, damn it!"
Kaka jumps out of her hold like a petulant cat, before running away with the other kids. Some of which dash out of her door, holding onto vials of her potions.
The vials are just some empty glass milk bottles, complete with corks on top of them to prevent any unnecessary spillage. The contents, on the other hand, are of different colors and viscosity: some clear like water, others like sludge, murky and a grayish-brownish-green; while others swirl and move as if there's something inside.
"Not those, you brats! I need those for my immortality experiments!" Isobel shouts out, her hand in a fist raised over her head.
But Kaka just sticks out his tongue as he and the rest of the kids disappear under the shrubs and bushes surrounding her small two-storey cottage. Although the kids are still in their half-animal form, they confidently run off with their spoils.
Isobel shrugs. "Oh well, the villagers will know what to do."
Then she turns to the matter that briefly shocked everybody earlier. That is, the weird giant blue-brown bird that fell out of the sky.
With her red cedar staff, hand carved by a master artisan and their apprentice, she pokes and prods at the bird, uncaringly nudging its dusty blue and light brown feathers to see whether it will move or not.
Maybe it's simply pretending to be dead. Who knows?
But try as she may, even going so far as to knock on its head a few times, it still won't move a muscle or squawk at her in protest.
She blinks, then tilts her head to the side. "Is it dead?"
A bit more confident now, she decides to inspect it. Taking a few steps closer, the grass rustling under her boot-laden feet, she kneels next to the bird…
…only for it to burst into flames.
She leans back abruptly, her hands covering her face. Still, the flames lick her hands, making her scream, "Ahhhh!"
But then she realizes.
There's no pain.
The flames glow blue, a lot less dusty looking and a lot more vibrant looking now as it licks the wound Kaka gave her earlier, and heals it, the wound growing smaller and smaller until it disappears completely as if it never existed.
"Huh." She blinks.
Then her eyes widen. "This guy's a phoenix!" she shouts as she stands up while pointing at the bird, a habit she got from Kaka.
A grin stretches wide across her face, ripping the skin of her lips and drawing a bit of blood. "Finally! My immortality studies shall come to a close! And this guy… No. This immortal phoenix! Shall help me!" With her hands thrown in the air, she cackles and laughs. "Muwahahahaha!"
Though her laughter echoes in the clearing she lives in, the trees and the shrubs around her continue to rustle from the breeze, uncaring.
Then, after a moment of silence, she puts down her hands and scratches her head.
"How do you cook a phoenix though?"
—
Marco wakes up and finds he's inside the witch's cottage, tied up unceremoniously next to crates of potatoes and carrots. He tries to wriggle free, but the ropes, though thin, are tied tightly around his chest and feet, binding him like a chicken.
This is humiliating.
With the plan of 'wriggle free and escape' canceled, he scans the interior of the cottage instead, hoping for another way out.
Luckily, across from him is the door, an arched magenta-colored one. For a handle, it's got a golden dragon with a knocker in its open mouth. The door's archway, on the other hand, is made of stone, with an inscription carved on it.
The inscription, however, is in a language foreign even to the incredibly well-read Marco, making him click his tongue.
"You're awake?" a voice from above shocks Marco.
He looks up and finds the witch looming over him, her dark golden eyes the brightest thing in the darkness, her pupils catlike and sharp.
Then, she kneels next to him and pokes his chest, her lips in a pout. "And here I thought you were dead for sure." She sighs, disappointed, and stands up. "Cooking you will be much harder to do now, but no matter, I'll find a way."
Hearing the word 'cook' sends Marco's heart into a frenzy, so he tries to speak. But all that comes out of his beak are squawks.
Don't eat me yoi! I'm a man! Not a bird!
But the witch just laughs as she walks away and approaches a bubbling cauldron in the fireplace. As she picks up its ladle and begins to stir, she chatters away, not knowing Marco's a Devil Fruit user stuck in his Zoan form.
She gestures with her free hand as she talks, "You see, I've always wanted to be immortal. At least, ever since I've read about it in a book. I have a lot of things I want to study, you see? Being immortal would free up so much of my time. I won't have to cook, or clean, or sleep, or rest in bed to recover from illness!"
Marco sweat drops as he listens unwillingly. Can't she use magic for all of that? He glances at the rest of the inside of the cottage, wondering.
There's the kitchen. Besides the fireplace and the cauldron, there's a small island with a thick wooden cutting board, a really sharp-looking knife, some potato and carrot peels, and a couple of spice bottles on top. Below it, meanwhile, is a simple stool with a colorful pillow and an empty crate for a trash can.
That area's next to Marco, while across from him is the entryway. There, beside the door, is a coat stand with a black dress and a brown leather satchel hanging from it. Her staff, meanwhile, leans on the wall behind the coat stand.
Marco eyes the last object, but finds no violet aura emanating from it. So he continues his recon, hoping to find some other magical objects.
Other than the entry and the kitchen, there's the stairs leading to the second floor, decorated heavily with pots and pots of different plants, strange even to Marco, but not a single one of them glowing violet.
Then there's the armchair by the largest window in the room. Adorned with pale red curtains, the window lets in a gentle breeze, the sounds of the forest as well as of her chickens and sheep in the back garden, turning the atmosphere quite quaint and homey, humble and cozy. But no magic.
Still, the plush magenta armchair looks comfy, as if he'll sink right in if ever he decides to sit on it—never mind if he gets the chance to—and, judging by the thick book on the side table next to it, it's well-worn and often in-use.
There's also a lamp on the table, but it's not lit at the moment—though the short candle looks to be in dire need of replacing.
There's also random shelves placed here and there, aside from the few tall bookcases she managed to squeeze in such a tight space. All of which are filled with books, mostly of the very old kind, the ones that scream, 'Let me retire please!'
He chuckles at the thought.
As he couldn't read the titles on the books, he can safely assume her books are all about magic. She is, after all, a witch.
But can she raise the dead?
He ponders on the question before turning his attention back to the witch.
Only, he hears her say, "And so I thought, if I can't cut you up, maybe I can try boiling you. If not that, I can always try using my mithril needle to bleed you out. Hopefully, I'll be done cooking before I pass out from hunger."
Marco can only stare at her. Did she already try— He glances at the knife he saw earlier. Upon closer inspection, he sees a melted part on the tip.
Fuck. This witch is crazy.
He blanches and turns to look at the ropes binding him. Surely, they're not magical, right? With that in mind, he tries to burn through them. Concentrating with all his might, slowly, his feathers turn to flames again and the ropes start to ignite.
Hoping the witch won't notice, he blows on the embers, which slowly but surely turns into a real fire. Then, he tries to fan it with his feathers to make it grow. Then, when it does, the ropes snaps apart and Marco wriggles free. But as the ropes fall off his flaming feathers, the witch sniffs the air and turns to him.
With a surprised squeak, she jumps up and exclaims, "No! What are you doing?!" She drops the ladle she was holding, and runs toward him with her hands outstretched, as if she were trying to catch a simple runaway chicken.
But this runaway chicken is much larger than she.
And so, with a simple flap of his gigantic wings, Marco blows the witch away and squeezes out the door. Freed at last, Marco breathes in the fresh air and immediately tries to escape as he takes to the skies.
A flap. Or two. Or three. No wait. Make that four. Marco flaps his wings four times in succession but his bird-like feet are still barely above the ground.
Confused and slightly in a panic, Marco decides to fly away horizontally instead, seeing as, well, whatever hit him is still in effect. His black eyes look around, briefly acknowledging the witch running out the door, her staff in hand.
Shit. I gotta get out of here yoi. Who knows what'll happen if she hits me with her magic one more time? With that in mind, Marco flies around her front yard.
He tries to dodge every one of her "attacks", which mainly consisted of her whacking him with her staff like an angry old lady. And, for some reason, he couldn't quite read and predict her movements like he usually does with his Observation Haki.
"Is she a Devil Fruit user?" he wonders, but when he tries to sense her another time, he finds her presence…
Well, actually, he doesn't find her presence. Not even a sniff or a glimpse of it.
As if she's the wind or the sky.
He simply pockets this realization for analysis later though, as he's growing tired and annoyed of being bonked on the head. So he jumps onto her rooftop.
But, because their distance is bigger, she starts using her magic.
With a thud, she slams the butt of her staff on the ground, eliciting a shockwave that reaches even Marco, and starts murmuring in that strange language.
Her eyes frenzied, her hair wild and thunderstruck, and herself and her staff glowing violet—she really looks the part of a witch now, especially when she starts to levitate, her wide pants and baggy shirt flowing with air, as if she's creating from nothing a current of wind to ride upwards and onto the rooftop.
Just then, Marco's earlier stomach ache pains begin to settle, and a tingling sensation builds up in his body starting from his feet. Hmm? What's this yoi? Marco looks down and notices…
He's finally turning back to a human again!
He starts to grin. I'm ba—
But before he can finish his thought, the witch tackles him, herself covered in a bubble of water, in particular, sea water.
"I caught you!" She grins and wraps her arms and legs around Marco.
With limbs wrapped around his neck and body—though he's still a bird right now—and seawater touching this poor Devil Fruit user, Marco falls backward and the pair rolls off the roof, the witch cackling all the while.
What did I get myself into? Marco wonders, then he notices his legs starting to show. Oh, finally! And so, he tries to use them to kick off the witch…
Just that, there's one teeny tiny problem.
Where's my sandals?
No…
…way.
Where's the rest of my clothes?!
For some unholy reason, Marco is transforming back into a human with the exception of his clothes, which manifests in a haphazard pile on top of the witch's cottage. Upon spotting it, his black eyes widen. What the fuck?
And then, as if to add insult to injury, Marco's Observation Haki picks up on movement and noise closing in on them from a short distance away.
"I'm telling you! It was the witch! She made us this way—"
"—and then you went behind her back and stole from her? Tsk, tsk. I thought I raised you better than this, Aka, Riri."
"I'm sorry, Mommy! Please don't be mad at me!"
"Yes, it's as Riri said. It was Aka's plan—"
"Hah?! But we came up with this plan together, Manda!"
"Tsk. Who started it isn't the point, Aka. Now, you better apologize to Ms. Isobel and make it up to her for the wonderful healing potions you used up."
"But but—"
"No buts! And don't go using your large doe eyes on me now, Riri." A pause. "Gosh darn! You kids are so cute!"
"Mommy, stop squishing my cheeks!"
"I hope Miss Isobel has a den den mushi so I can take a picture! I'm sure the other parents would want one too!"
"Mooom!"
"...For a second there, I really thought Mrs. Nora was mad at Isobel."
Marco falls down on the ground as the realization sinks in that he'll end up stark naked in front of this witch and, apparently, in front of some villagers too.
With the grass tickling his back and the witch cackling on top of him, straddling him for no good reason and still not noticing he's mostly-human now, he desperately wishes to turn back into a phoenix and fly far, far away.
As if he's free of the witch's curse, the flames burst around him, covering him and startling said witch, who finally notices the situation.
But then, the flames immediately dissipate.
Ahh, right. Seawater.
Marco curses his fate.
So instead of fighting it, he relaxes, letting loose the tension in his muscles, and really lies down on the grass, his Whitebeard tattoo bared for all to see…
…and his thighs and his… you know.
He sighs.
And the witch screams.
—
Isobel falls to the ground with a thud, but thanks to the phoenix she captured, her fall is broken and she lands unharmed.
Finally, I caught this stupid bird! For a mythical creature, it sure is human-shaped. Wait, human-shaped? Can phoenixes even shapeshift? I don't know. I—
Holy shit! What the fuck?! Who is this guy?!
Those were Isobel's thoughts upon laying eyes on the man underneath her.
Said man had a tuft of yellow hair on top of his head—which made his face resemble a pineapple—a bit of stubble on his strong jaw, a sleepy look as his dark eyes look up to the sky carefreely, a huge tattoo on his muscular chest, that of a cross and a—
Grin? No wait. That has to be a crescent moon! And—Oh!
Just then, she feels something touching her inner thigh. Her cheeks flush red-hot and her world spins as she screams bloody murder.
The man tilts his head away from her.
And that's how the villagers find her… well, them.
It's Manda, Mrs. Nora, and her two kids, Aka and Riette.
Mrs. Nora stops dead in her tracks.
"Mom? What's wro—"
Immediately, she grabs her son's tail and spins him around, then she pulls Riette and Manda closer to her, hugging them while also shielding their precious eyes as she glares daggers at Isobel and the stranger, alternately.
"What are you two doing?! What if the kids saw you?!" Then she fixes her glare on Isobel. "Isobel Valiente, you better have a good explanation for this!"
"M—Mrs. Nora!" Isobel jumps up, an awkward grin on her face, her cheeks beet red, and steam coming out of her ears. "It—It's not what it looks like! I was chasing this phoenix, you see? And I caught it but then!"
"But then what? It turned into a man the way you turned the kids into all sorts of animals?!"
"...Maybe?"
"Ha!" Mrs. Nora's maroon red eyes widen in anger, sending shivers across Isobel's skin, the tiny hairs there rising with fright.
But fortunately for the two of them, Aka jumps up suddenly to perch on top of his mom's shoulders as he, with wide tiger-like vibrant red eyes, goes, "Mom! Mom! Spin me again! Again! Pleeeaaase?!"
"M—Mommy, what's going on?" stammers Riette from inside her mommy's protective embrace. "Did we do something wrong again?"
"No, no, Riri, my dear. And Aka, get back down right this instant!"
"But I wanna see!" Riette tugs on her mom's hand. Thanks to Aka running off in the direction of Isobel and the stranger, she successfully pries away one finger, squeals, "Eeeek!" then promptly puts it back and lets it cover her eyes.
"Oh no, you don't!" Mrs. Nora lunges forward to grab her son, but fails to reach him in time, thanks to Riette and Manda holding onto her for dear life—the latter pale as a ghost, eyes wide while staring at the stranger, and mumbling incoherently and quickly too. "Aka!" Mrs. Nora screams, her face red with frustration.
But Aka just runs up the hill faster. Once he's at the top of the hill, however, he skids to a halt. Upon seeing a naked stranger, he tilts his head back like a gangster, his lips curled in displeasure. "Who are you?" he asks.
Finally given the chance to introduce himself, the stranger flips an imaginary hat, uses it to cover his manhood, and bows like a gentleman from some pompous island before saying plainly, "Excuse me for my appearance. I'm Marco the Phoenix, former First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates."
"Pirates?!" Aka suddenly jumps up, his tail raises itself high while his tiger-like eyes shine with hunger and anticipation for this new thing to have come along this backwater's backwater island. "Like the ones who sail the seas?!"
Marco nods slowly. "Yes… Like the ones who sail the seas."
"Awesome!" Aka jumps up again, higher this time, and turns to his mom before waving excitedly. "Mooom! The weirdo's a pirate!"
"Aka!" Mrs. Nora stomps up the small hill while the two behind her skitter along. "We don't call strangers weirdos!"
Marco, meanwhile, turns to the witch. To her, he clarifies with a smirk, "For the record, yes, I was a human all along."
And that seems to break the witch.
She begins cackling, like she's plotting something evil except her eyes look lost and unfocused. Then, suddenly, she stops. In human-speak this time, she screams, "My immortality potion! Gone! How will I beat that annoying Cera now?!"
Marco sweat drops. "I thought this was about your studies…"
Aka turns to his mom—the two kids clutching her dress curiously peeking at the commotion—then asks, "Mom, what's immortality?"
Thud!
And Isobel's knocked out.
Author's Corner
Thanks for reading my story. If you enjoyed it, please don't forget to like, comment, subscribe/follow, share with your friends, and/or tip me on kofi! It shows me that people like my work and gives me the motivation needed to keep writing and posting my writing for your enjoyment!
Now, onto the story itself, this is actually a gift for my sister, an overdue gift 0-0.
"An overdue gift? What's that?"
Well, supposedly, this gift was like, maybe, for a year or two ago? *gets shot by the deadline police*
...
*coughs and drags my body back to the mic* She wanted a witch OC and Marco interacting in the fic. The context of their interaction, however, was pretty much left for me to decide. And thus, I ran with it!
"Will they have a romance in the future?"
*looks to the side*
Anyway! I hope Marco's not to OOC here T-T. It's been a while since I interacted with the fandom.
"The romance!"
Umm! o-O May~be in the future, they'll have their romance? :D
So there! If you wanna read more, don't forget to hit follow, okay, okay?! *runs away quickly before the angry mob grabs their pitchforks*
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