The D. Marine

Chapter 5

An Island's Fight

Blake and Rosque departed from their ship for a second time within two hours. This time, Blake wore a patterned button down shirt, tan shorts and sneakers. Blake did not ever understand Luffy's ability to walk in sandals. She was stuck wearing them on Dawn Island. Her brothers would laugh at how much they tripped her up when she ran around the forest.

Rosque was dressed in a plain blue shirt and brown pants. As they walked on the dock, he glanced at her shirt. "Why are your clothes so loud?"

That just made Blake laugh. "Aw, you're just jealous of my style." She hopped off the dock, her sneakers hitting the sand. She frowned at them. "I miss my boots."

Rosque rolled his eyes, standing next to her. "One, I told you we have to blend in. Two, you have Garp's style."

Blake made a face. "I don't dress like Gramps!"

He eyed her outfit up and down. "Really?"

Blake nodded quickly. "Yeah, he's lame…" She looked around nervously, even with knowing he wasn't here.

Rosque snickered at her behavior. "Idiot, come on."


Blake caught up to a few of her Marines. "Hey!" A few sailors turned sharply and gave a crisp salute. She waved her hands. "Hey, stop that." She brushed both hands in front of her shirt. She beamed at them.

John looked at her, squinting. "That's a loud shirt."

Blake narrowed her eyes. "You and Ros are working against me."

"He just has eyes that work." Rosque was walking up with a smile, looking amused.

Blake coughed loudly. "Anyway! Me and Rosque are in in…incogralto-"

Rosque interrupted quickly, already catching on to what she was trying to say. "Incognito."

Blake waved an easy hand. "Whatever. You know what I mean. So, we're going to a meeting to see what's going on in town. Try not to get in too much trouble."

John, who has known her for over a year, frowned. "I feel a little insulted you are telling that to me? With all the trouble that you get into."

Blake laughed. "Don't worry about it, John. Let's go, Ros."

Rosque stopped. "I have my snail, you got yours, John?"

"Yes, sir. Good luck."

They walked around. Blake said. "Ya know, they already saw us in Marine uniform."

Rosque frowned, looking around for strange behavior. "Yeah, but this will help us stand out less. You know that coat puts a target on our backs."

Blake snorted. "I know, that's the point."

They went to the place that the note detailed and looked around at the deserted streets. Blake asked. "Hey, you think pirates come by here often?"

Rosque's face made a twisted expression. It was the usual expression he had while talking about pirates. Blake didn't see it because she was looking ahead, but she did feel his unease through her Observation Haki. "Thankfully, even if they are corrupt, they would stop pirates from bothering these people."

Blake shrugged, turning a corner, grabbing an apple off a stand and dropping a couple of Beli from her pocket. "Yeah, that's true, but you never know. They might." She put the leftover Beli in her pocket. Members of her crew always reminded her to keep Beli on her. She rubbed it on her shirt and took a bite. She ignored the look that Rosque gave her. She didn't even get to eat yet. After a minute or two, the apple was gone to the core and she tossed it in a passing trash can. She beamed at Rosque. "See! No littering."

Rosque looked like he wanted to be annoyed, but just chuckled to himself. As exasperating as Blake was, he never was truly mad at her. He let out a disbelieving chuckle at her words from before. "It's an island full of bounty hunters. What pirate would be dumb enough to come here?"


Portgas D. Ace whistled as he saw the large Marine ship that was docked with men and women in white Marine uniforms walking across the deck and on the dock. He grinned at the thought of his little sister being in charge of that ship. The brat has really grown up over the years.

He used his fire to steer his ship away from that part of the island and moved to the other part. He jumped off, with one hand on the top of his hat and his boots hitting the sand roughly. He's heard about this place, it's full of bounty hunters or something like that. At least that's what his informant told him. He grinned widely to himself.

It sounded like fun.

Before he could make another step, he felt that familiar sleepiness take over and his face planted into the sand, muffled snoring being heard.


It was almost dark when they appeared at the door to the meeting that was supposed to take place. Blake asked, facing the door. "You think they have food?"

Rosque said sharply. "Blake!"

"What? I didn't eat much. I ate one apple. You know I need more than that."

Rosque eyed her. "You can last until we get back, Commander."

Blake made a face. "Commander or not, I still get hungry."

Rosque said. "I know that, you need better self control."

Blake looked at him with 'innocent' wide eyes. "I have self control."

Rosque finally laughed in disbelief, raising his eyebrows. "The list at 'Ford prohibiting you from doing things begs to differ."

Blake made a face. "That list is dumb. It's not even necessary. I'm not that bad."

Rosque opened his mouth to protest, but Blake walked forward, knocking on the door. Rosque shook his head, but followed her. There was no point arguing about this. Due to her behavior over the years, Marines and Warlords have written a list on things Dermont D. Blake wasn't allowed to do. Depending on what was on that list, it had either gotten her protesting or amused at what was written. The funny thing was, it was posted on the wall with all the announcements.

A little slot in the door opened up, two eyes covering the little space. "Who's there?"

Rosque stepped forward, but Blake waved the paper close enough to the slot to give the man a paper cut. "We got a paper here for this meeting."

The man hissed. "Keep quiet!"

He opened the door. "Come in... Marines."

Blake grinned. "Thanks."

Rosque blanched. "How did you know we were Marines?"

Blake walked in, pulling him inside and the door shut behind them. The man looked them over, saying dryly. "You were just here before in full uniform."

Blake laughed as Rosque slapped a palm to his face, his face red. "He got us there." She looked at the man, saying honestly. "We just want to help."

The man glanced away from her, his dark eyes turned darker with his emotions. He said gruffly. "Let's hope so."

Blake's tone was confident. "Well handle it. I promise."

Rosque said warningly. "Blake…" He's warned her over and over to stop promising people things but she didn't listen. She never fell through, but that wasn't the point.

As he expected, she ignored him. Shithead.

The man was taken back at her tone. "Come on, then." They followed him deeper into the building, seeing different groups of townspeople crowded together. The room was crowded with concrete floors and a stage up front that was made out of wood. There was a lot of talking, but people were keeping it quiet enough where the volume didn't extend past the limits of the building.

There was a man on the stage. Rosque recognized him as the bartender they saw before. He nudged Blake. "Look, it's the bartender."

Blake looked over. "Oh, right. Should we go talk to him?"

Rosque glanced at her. "No, he looks busy at this time." Blake shrugged, watching the bartender and the others around her. She was wondering where the bad guys were hiding. Rosque always told her this secretive stuff was important to find information. It's why she planned on going to this meeting in the first place. She usually listened to Rosque about stuff like this.

The bartender called out. "Hello! Quiet! Hey-dammit, shut up already!" He was given a couple of disgruntled looks, but it was silent. All eyes were on the bartender on the stage. He stiffened his spine and spoke to everyone. "Alright, we all know why we're here. These bounty hunters gotta go!"

The crowd cheered. The man continued. "Getting rid of pillaging pirates was their purpose, but now they have us paying tribute just to live here. They have become pirates themselves!" The crowd booed in response, several shaking their fists.

Rosque grimaced at the news and then had a sudden alarming thought. He turned his head quickly toward Blake. She was staring straight ahead at the bartender. Her eyebrows were furrowed deeply, a frown pulling at her mouth. Looking down, he could her fists clenched tightly. He could already tell this was going to be a mess.

Someone in the crowd called out. "C'mon, Al! What makes this different from before?!"

"Yeah! We couldn't defeat them in the past!"

Al grinned with confidence. "With the Marines help of course!"

A woman pointed out. "Marines work with bounty hunters. Why would they believe us?" Rosque had a bad feeling bubbling up in his stomach.

Al pointed towards the back of the room. "The marines that came here "

Blake blinked at the attention on her, before waving with a smile. "Hey!"

Rosque slapped a hand to his face with a groan. "Commander!" He usually called her by that name when he was trying to appeal to her Marine leader side.

Blake eyed him, knowing that was a usual expression he wore. "Relax, this just makes it easier."

Rosque gave a glare. "That was not the point in dressing in civvie clothes!"

The crowd started muttering and giving them looks. One person asked. "Why would you help us?"

Blake answered seriously. "We'll handle these guys for you. Your island will be free."

Rosque hissed. "Blake! C'mon!"

Blake glanced at him. "What? I mean it."

The crowd cheered with the bartender grinning smugly. Rosque knew the guy thought he tricked them into helping, but he didn't know Blake would've planned on dealing with this the moment she heard about it and what was going on.


Portgas D. Ace woke up and stretched, shaking his head of any sand. He walked forward and walked around the town, but it was deserted. It gave him a bad feeling. It wasn't that late. He's visited many islands, there should be some people around. Of course his sister would be involved with some type of mess.

He squinted when he saw a bright patterned shirt ahead of him. It reminded him of the shirts that Gramps would wear when he wasn't wearing his full suits. He squinted and felt a wide grin cover his face. There she was. He strode forward. "Yo, Blake!"

She looked up at her name, freezing when she saw Ace. "Ace!" She had a strange feeling earlier, but couldn't tell if her Haki was telling her it was him or just someone familiar.

Rosque looked over at what she was calling to and stiffened in alarm. He grabbed her arm tightly, recognizing the notorious pirate. "Shit, hold on, Blake. We need to get back up. That is Fire Fist Ace! The Whitebeard Pirate, he's a Commander!"

Blake blinked, remembering that she couldn't tell people that Ace was her brother. Ace walked over until he was only a few feet from them. Rosque said sharply, using his commanding tone that he used for official Marine business. "Pirate, please remove herself from this town."

Ace laughed a bit. Rosque's eyes narrowed. He hated pirates. They were all the same. Ace looked between the both of them and realized the other Marine didn't know Blake was his sister.

It was probably better that way. Rosque thought about the last moment when the pirate seemed familiar with Blake. "Do you know this guy, Blake?" Maybe she fought him when she was a rookie.

Blake blinked before deciding to just tell him. It was just Rosque. Ace knew that expression on her face. "Hey, Blake, maybe-"

Blake interrupted him. "This is my brother, Ace."

Ace rolled his eyes, sighing. "Idiot."

Rosque eyes widened so much that they took up half of his face. He glanced between the both of them for about thirty seconds. He yelled. "WHAT?!"


Dermont D. Blake was 15 years old and has been a Marine for a couple of months so far. Other than dealing with Gramp's hellish training, everything was still new with her. She was in a unit with her grumpy friend, Rosque, though he was still gruff and annoyed most of the time.

They were heading to an island on the East Blue, close to the Grand Line, but not quite there yet. They were supposed to be patrolling the island. Blake marched with a small unit, fiddling with the blue neckerchief around her neck. She felt a sharp nudge on her side. "Stop before you get in trouble."

Blake complained. "I don't like it."

He hissed. "I don't care. Take this seriously!" He looked over only to blanch. "Where the hell did she go?!"

"Rosque! Keep quiet back there!"


Blake was wandering around after being bored of all the marching around. She messed with her neckerchief again, loosening the knot. There was no Rosque to tell her not to do it.

She passed a bar, which held loud patrons. Blake glanced at it curiously, but walked ahead. She promised to stay out of trouble. All of a sudden, a body slammed into her back. She yelped, falling face first. "Hey!"

"Oh shit, my bad!"

Blake squirmed on the ground and bucked him off. He yelled as she threw him off, five feet in the air.

"Mak, what did I tell you about-did you just fall on a Marine?" A man laughed loudly, grinning widely.

Blake froze from where she was on the ground. She recognized that voice. It was not someone she wanted to run into right now. It was Ace. He was going to kill her. Ace told her. "You gonna arrest me, Marine?" He laughed, chuckling to himself.

Blake slowly got up, not facing him. She said gruffly. "No."

Ace frowned, feeling that the voice was familiar. He firmly grasped the Marine's shoulder and spun her around. He froze, starting at the familiar face of his sister. A sister that was supposed to be on Dawn Island with their brother. Not here in a Marine uniform. At least not yet. He gritted out. "Blake."

Blake gave him a sheepish grin. "Hey, Ace. How's being a pirate been?"

His face flushed red, his eyes narrowed. "…Blake…"

Blake's eyes widened. She recognized that tone easily. "Nope." She then turned on her heel and ran off.

Ace's eyes bulged in shock. "What the-get back here, shithead!"

"No!"

"Blake!"

"Go away!"

"Go aw-you wait till I get you!"

"Captain! Where are you going?!"

Ace called, eyes still on his retreating sister. "I'll catch up later, listen to Deuce!" He had years of training that Blake didn't have. He managed to tackle her to the ground without having to use his Devil Fruit. He remembered how fire still made her a little nervous.

Blake grunted as she was tackled onto the gravel ground. "Ow! Get off!"

They rolled a bit, with Ace ended up restraining her. "Have you lost your mind?!"

"You know I wanted to be a Marine!"

"Not at 15, dumbass!"

"Get off!"

"You're still supposed to be on Dawn Island!"

"Look, Ace, I was going to get the training I needed. Gramps is scary as hell, but strong."

Ace sighed through his teeth and got up, giving her a hand back to her feet. "Yeah, but Blake, the Grand Line is dangerous and you barely have the training."

She shoved his broad shoulder, annoyed. "Hey! I'm gettin' plenty strong…but, we don't really go to the Grand Line, except for HQ." She made a face. "I tried to get Gramps to let me go, but he wouldn't! Says I'm not ready, can you believe-ow! Don't hit me!"

She rubbed the top of her head in pain. He glared at her. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but the old man is right-" Blake gave a dramatic gasp. Ace shoved her, a grin on his face. "Shut up, you little shit. Just give yourself more time to train before going to the big leagues." He gave her a look. "You know since you left at fifteen."

She gave him a sheepish look. She already knew he would be pissed when she did it. He was way too overprotective. "Yeah, I got it."

"Good."

Blake winced at the second blow to the back of her head. "Ow, shit. C'mon, Ace!" She complained.

"And that was for not waiting until you were 17."

She paused. "Fair enough." She asked, grinning at a sudden thought after rubbing at the sting on her head. "You do anything fun since you left?"

Ace laughed, beaming at her. "Oh, you will never believe this…"