Chapter 44: Observation and Experimentation

It takes Marco a few days to realize that Thatch is attempting to learn from him. He is aware of Thatch's presence at the kitchen every time, of course, but the kid never speaks and either around the kitchen while appearing to be doing nothing at all, or grabs something to snack on and finds somewhere to sit. Thatch glares at Marco every time he takes food outside a meal time, as though he expects Marco to scold him or take the food away. Marco would never do that to an enemy, much less someone in their crew, but it's not an issue he intends to address.

All in all, between the silence and the continued low-level hostility, it takes Marco longer than he likes to realize Thatch isn't hanging around the kitchen out of boredom. Thatch's eyes follow Marco's hands as he handles the ingredients, and he often focuses on whatever pots or pans Marco has on the stove. This realization sends an uncomfortably tense feeling down Marco's body, one that doesn't take him long to recognize as self-consciousness. He experienced it often enough at first on this ship, even if there is no paralyzing fear to accompany it this time.

Marco isn't a good cook. He is the one on the ship least likely to cause a fire, and thus often takes over the task of meal preparation even if Pops never so much as suggested he should do it. Because Pops is always careful about telling Marco to do things, Marco finally realized a while ago: he often frames his words as possibilities, things Marco is within his right to do if he so chooses. Occasionally, and rarely so, there have been suggestions. Sometimes Marco wonders what it will take for Pops to exert his authority as Captain and give Marco an actual order.

The point right now, though, is that Marco doesn't know what he is doing when he cooks half the time, unless he is repeating a recipe he has already tried —and, even then, there have been some mishaps. He finally gave in and bought a basic recipe book at the same island where they picked Thatch up, so he has some instructions to follow when he is lost, and can fix the mistakes he'd picked up before then. Progress is slow to come, and Marco is ashamed to admit that the book is full of strange terms he doesn't understand. So he hasn't admitted it to anyone, and attempts to guess on his own what the terms are instructing him to do on.

He has spent the entire morning trying to figure out what the hell poaching has to do with eggs, while keeping himself busy with the marmalade recipe he found last night in the book because having a means to conserve fruit for long periods of time sounds like an excellent idea when they live on a ship.

He was already testy when Thatch drifted into the kitchen half an hour ago, and then the marmalade begins to smell off and Marco realizes too late that he has set the temperature too high and burned it.

"Don't you have something better to do?" he snaps at Thatch, snatching the pot off the fire before the acrid stench of burnt oranges can spread too much.

"Not really," Thatch says, and he sounds amused. "'S not like the old man gave me a job or whatever, and watching you fuck up the food's the best thing around." Thatch still sounds amused, and nonchalant, but there is an undercurrent in his voice that Marco hasn't heard in months, one he doesn't think he will ever forget.

Mockery.

"Get out."

Thatch hums in askance behind him, but Marco doesn't turn. He clings to the pot of ruined marmalade to ensure he won't turn around, because Marco doesn't know what sort of expression Thatch is wearing, and he doesn't want to lash out at a crewmate if it's the wrong face.

"I said: get out. I don't want to have you here."

Thatch snorts and makes no move to leave.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Incredulity, that damn layer of the other thing as though Marco is something strange…

The pot handles bend and shatter under Marco's fingers, instinct pushing haki to the forefront instead of the devil fruit to protect himself from damage.

There is a long moment of utter silence in the kitchen before Marco hears a chair being pushed back, and then Thatch's steps taking him out of the room.

Marco pulls open the door of the closet where the trashcan is with a foot and drops the fragments of metal in his hands into it, then crouches down to gather the ones that have fallen to the floor.