Marco let out a long groan. Today has been tiring. He wanted to go to sleep, but he had so much damn paperwork. Two divisions worth, to be exact.

Izo let out a small chuckle looking at him from the couch in his office. "Log day," Izo said in an airy tone. Ugh, that just reminded him he had to do the daily log. "Shut it. With your bad puns Izo, you just reminded me I had to write that as well."

Izo let a sharp smile across his face at that, "Well, maybe you wouldn't have to deal with my puns, dear brother. If you didn't stick me on supply runs and budgeting with HARUTA this month." Fuck, well, he forgot how scary the okama could get. Also, about how he was a miser about money. When compared with Haruta, he could see how he would be annoyed.

There was a big slam, and a grinning Haruta stood in the doorway of his office. "I heard my nameeeee." She singsonged and pranced into the room.

"My office is not a place for hanging out with everyone." He groaned, his head dropping into his arms.

"But Marco…" Whatever Haruta was going to say was cut off from the ringing of his transponder snail. Who would be calling at this time? It was like 12:00 in the morning. He stared at the snail for a moment and then picked up.

"Hello, this is Commander Marco speaking." He said after a moment.

"Oh, thank god you picked up." A young woman seemed to be speaking on the other side. She sounded panicked.

"It is Ella, from Montatigo Island." Everything clicked. This was the mayor's daughter of the village they just stocked up from. It has been under their protection for a while, so they have this number in case of emergency.

"Hi Ella, are you ok? What is the problem?" He said quickly.

"Marines." This simple word sent a spike of panic down his spine. These people had no way to defend themselves.

He heard the soft cling of his office door being opened and closed. He couldn't pay that any mind right now, though.

"How many Ella, I need you to tell me how many." He says quickly.

"I don't know; we only saw one small ship. Possibly a scouting party but one of them had a devil fruit. A fire devil fruit and he had almost as much control as you did. You should have seen him. He was using it to push forward the ship and changed direction all the same in a controlled burst. In the middle of that storm. If they decide to take the village. I don't think we could stop them." She said with one panicked breath of air.

That sounded bad. That much control of a devil fruit was so challenging to get. Even just a scout group can cause serious harm, too, especially what seemed to be a specialized group.

"Stay calm Ella, the ship will be there in an hour and Me and some others can be there in fifteen minutes." He said slowly.

"Ok, please come soon," Ella said almost in a whisper before hanging up the Transponder snail.

He sighed before looking up at the already ready-to-go weapons and all Haruta and Izo. "Namur is already turning the ship around. Thatch is getting a small boat ready. We should be set to leave in ten minutes," Izo informed him.

He let out a small chuckle and said, "Well then, what are we waiting for. We have some government dogs to catch."

. . .

Sabo sighed. It was a tiny little thing. He looked over at where Ace and Luffy were sleeping peacefully. They forgot to put on the burn cream for Luffy's arms. It was going to get infected at this rate.

He wasn't going to wake her up, though. He slowly stood up from where he was crouched and walked over to Ace's bag. He opened it and pulled out the cream. Luffy hated this stuff. Said it stung.

He knew it stung, stung like holy hell, but it worked. It worked well at that. He ground his teeth and put the cream back in Ace's bag. He knew he should have woken Lu up, but she had been through a lot in such a short time.

From a major punishment straight into a dangerous mission. One night, she could go without the cream for one night. They would put it on first thing in the morning when they changed the bandages on her arms and hands.

He rolled his shoulders and sat down. He was keeping watch tonight. "Bo," the groggy call startled him. He turned around and saw that it was Ace. "What is it, Ace?"

"Come sleep." He rolled his eyes. "I told you. You need sleep. I'll keep watch tonight." Ace seemed to groan.

"Bo, we are in the middle of nowhere. The only way in is through the water, and we would hear that. Please just come sleep." He faced palms.

He knew it was unlikely, but it was not impossible to be ambushed here. They should have someone keeping watch. All of their training says they need someone keeping watch. Perhaps that is why he found himself walking towards them and lying down.

"Good" is all Ace says. He chuckled quietly to himself. Only his brother.

Sleep comes to him quicker than one can say marines.