Heeeeeeey guy's. Hope everyone's being safe and not taking unnecessary risks for something stupid...

Sorry I haven't been on much, I'm an essential worker and been taking extra shifts until- like- a week ago, so now I'm just busy with moving into my new apartment (because I'm so tired of our old one treating us like garbage).

Hopefully I have more time after I'm done moving and organizing everything.

SO HERE YOU GO!

One Piece: The Dread Phoenix

"Oh, you found a sword-yoi."

"Mh."

The blonde boy, wearing tattered and worn clothes with a dirty cloak and scarf over it, leaned over to get a better look at his friends new weapon.

"...So who did you steal this from-yoi?"

The other boy, with black hair and hawk like eye's, glanced at him.

He smirked.

"Some idiot pirate who didn't deserve to even touch a sword." he then glanced down to the blondes lap, where a rather large book on navigation was resting. "Where did you get that?"

"Believe it or not, I actually found this in the trash-yoi."

"...Huh."

"Weird right? Who throws away a perfectly good book about navigation-yoi?"

"Mihawk look-yoi!" The blonde yelled towards the upcoming swordsman.

Said boy paused in his swinging, looking towards the other and wondering what he wanted. "Yes Marco?" He wasn't very bothered that he was interrupted, mostly because he would just get Marco to practice sword fighting with him. I'll get to see Sō'unga again. He mused as the blonde stopped a few feet away from him. "What has gotten you so excited?"

Marco grinned, held out his arms, and turned them into flaming wings.

Mihawk blinked in surprise. "...Ah, so that was a Devil Fruit you ate." He commented as he leaned in and hovered his hand over the blue and yellow wing. "It's warm."

"I'm a Zone type, probably a mystic one-yoi." Marco commented, turning around and showing the three long flaming feathers coming from his tailbone. "From what I can guess, taking in the flames, wings, and very specific tail feathers, I think I'm a Phoenix-yoi!" he concluded, a small grin working its way onto his usual sleepy look.

"...Phoenix?" Mihawk questioned. The two having decided to sit down and see what Marco could now do.

Marco nodded, "Yeah. Mythical birds that are immortal, and who's tears could heal anything, be it sickness or bring you back from the brink of death-yoi. Their songs could affect the world around them, they can carry objects 100 times their own weight, control flames, incinerate objects/people, Invulnerable, Teleportation, and rapid regeneration-yoi." he said while turning his feet into talons. "And that's just what I've been able to find out about them. It seems that the last person who had this devil fruit didn't really experiment with it, only figured out that they were invulnerable and went with it-yoi."

"That seems...foolish." Mihawk said with a frown, "It's such a waste for a Zone that seems so powerful if what you say is correct."

Marco shrugged, standing up to walk around with his new avian limbs. "The last guy to have it was a Marine. It's not surprising-yoi."

"...And Invulnerable as in...?" Mihawk trailed off.

"Bullets, sharp objects, etc. will go through me with no harm done-yoi." The blonde muttered, starting to flap his wings to get a feel for them. "It actually works like a Logia that way, so the only way to really hurt me is with Haki-yoi!"

At that the raven haired boy's eyes sharpened in interest. "So we can practice as much as we want without fear of getting hurt?"

Marco paused in his movements, he narrowed his eyes in caution at the other boy. "...You won't stop until we learn Haki-yoi." He stated dryly, turning his limbs back to normal.

Mihawk smirked.

It had been a few years since Mihawk had left their island, saying that he was going to travel the world in search of challenging swordsmen. He said that he would be back soon to challenge Marco again, seeing as the other couldn't defeat the blonde.

Marco was bored without his friend.

Thus around the age of fourteen, a Giant of a man name Edward Newgate appeared on his island and asked him a very important question.

"How about joining my crew and being my son?" Edward questioned, grinning brightly as he knelt down and held his hand out to Marco.

Sleepy eye's slowly blinked, "...Your son-yoi?" he questioned softly while running a hand through his hair. "So, it'll be more like a family then a pirate crew-yoi...?"

Edward nodded.

"Why me-yoi?"

"You have the look of someone who longs for a family."

Marco pursed his lips, glancing over to the open sea as he went over the pro's and con's of becoming a pirate. "I ate a devil fruit-yoi."

"So have I."

The preteen smiled, huffing out a laugh, before taking the mans hand. "Alright, My name's Marco, nice to meet ya, pop's-yoi~!"

Years passed and the crew grew larger and larger. Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate became infamous, being labeled one of the four most strongest pirates in the world, a Yonko.

Marco had become the first mate and First Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Which was just the fancier title of 'Big Brother' in the Whitebeard crew.

He had grown to be 203cm (6'8''), tall, lean and muscular. His blonde hair was long and even while up in a pony-tail was still past his shoulders, the sides of his head were shaved and he had messy bangs. He had two small scars on the corner of his right brow, a bit of stubble, and an ever present lazy flirty smirk. Whitebeard's mark was proudly displayed on his bare chest, his purple coat hanging off of his arms, a blue and yellow arm band with a black feather on his right bicep. A blue sash rested over his hips and black knee-length pants. A straw like decoration was on his left leg, black sandals with straps, and finally a purple beaded necklace which had Sō'unga's jewel in the middle of two fangs.

And thanks to his devil fruit, Marco looked far younger then his 40 years of age.

"Whats with that look, Nii-san?"

Marco looked to his left to one of his brothers from where he was leaning on the railing of the Moby Dick, watching a young man with a Fire Logia 'fighting' his pop's.

"What do you mean, Thatch-yoi?" Marco replied, eyes drifting back down below. His eye's glinted at the flexibility the young man was showing.

Thatch snorted. "'What do you mean' indeed. I know that look, Marco-nii, you liiiiiike hiiiim~!" he teased.

Marco smirked, "I'm pretty sure I saw the most adorable freckles-yoi~" he sighed in delight. "Oh." he murmured, "He past out-yoi."

True enough, Whitebeard had defeated the boy and was currently carrying him to his ship.

"Marco!" Whitebeard yelled out.

"Yeah, pops-yoi?"

"Bring the rest of his crew along!" Whitebeard looked behind him as the wall of fire died down, and revealed said crew ready to fight the giant to get their captain back. "I don't think they'll let him out of their sight anytime soon! GURARARARARARA!" he laughed, his voice booming across the ship.

"Looks like we're getting more family!" Thatch cheered, making the rest of the crew on deck who could hear him cheer with him.

"Mhm, it would seem so-yoi~"

The Phoenix then jumped over the railing and glided to meet the newest members of the family.

He was napping, lazing in the sun, when the first assassination attempt was made by Portgaz D. Ace. Blinking awake and giving a yawn, Marco looked over at Ace's rolling form as it hit the deck railing.

"Oya~ If it isn't Freckles-yoi~" He cooed, rolling over to his side to get a good look at him. Oh that's adorable. Marco thought as Ace startled and went on guard once he saw him.

You seem to be very sadistic as of late.

But he's just so cute~ just look at that face of defiance! He thought as his cheeks flushed from Ace's suspicious glare. "Tried to attack pop's while he was asleep, eh? Probably should have told you that he's on guard even when he's asleep, but then I thought, 'whats the fun in that'-yoi?"

Ace huffed and stalked away.

"...I want him-yoi~" He sighed while settling back to lay in the sun.

Thatch, Izo, and Haruta watched as Ace was punched through a wall for the hundredth time since he arrived on the ship.

"He's persistent." Haruta commented.

The other two hummed in agreement, eyes following the stand by nurse's as they were already making their way over to the young adult, quickly patching up Ace as this had become routine. It was nice to see that Ace had stopped trying to resist the nurse's, he seemed to have learned very quickly that he couldn't win against them.

"Speaking of persistent," Izo said with a smirk, gaining their attention, before pointing to the lazy but predator like stroll of their elder brother. "There goes Aniki again."

"He really seems set on Ace, doesn't he?" Haruta noted, tapping his chin as they watched Marco flirt with the other again.

"Yeah." Thatch mumbled smirking before snorting. "Too bad it seems like Ace is really fucking dense when it comes to romantic interest." Izo and Haruta gave him a look of disbelief. Thatch only shrugged with a cackle, "It's true, Ace actually came to me the other day because, and I quote, he wanted to know why the hell Marco had something against him. He seems to have taken Aniki's flirting as mocking for some odd reason..." he trailed off, eyes catching Ace stalking to the ship railing, away from Marco. "There he goes again."

Not that it stopped the Phoenix from pursuing him.

"Why?"

Marco paused as he reached Ace, a bowl of soup meant for the fire logia in his hand, and observed him for a moment. He quirked a brow questioningly as he set the bowl in front of him, "Why what-yoi?"

Ace lifted his head slightly from his knees, having been sitting there and watching the Whitebeard crew along with his own mingle and laughing in joy. His eye's then drifted towards the ever present lazy smirk on the first mates face, "Why do you call him 'pops'?" he questioned while looking back at the partying pirates.

Marco stared.

Ah, he thought, that's what this is about. "...Because he call's us family-yoi." he answered softly. Marco then proceeded to drop down next to the other, watching his brother's and sister's enjoying themselves as Whitebeard watched with a smile on his face. "Because he come's to us asked us to be his children when no one else wanted us-yoi. We were all outcasts..." Marco then smiled, eyes going distant. "A lot of us were in bad situations before pop's found us. Some were born in war torn country's, others in poverty, slavery, a different race, a horrible family, each different but with hopelessness in our hearts-yoi."

"GURARARARARARARARA!"

The two looked over to a laughing Whitebeard, slapping his leg as tears gathered at the corner of his eye's at whatever one of the children had told him.

Marco's smile was soft, his face the picture of peace, as he leaned against the railing in comfort. "I was abandoned-yoi. The island I grew up on didn't seem to like me very much, from what I heard my parents and the clan they came from were labeled as 'demons' by the marines, thus the world despised and feared them-yoi. They had no problem leaving me in the forest and continuing on their own to survive without a baby holding them down-yoi." he stated, ignoring how Ace seemed to stiffen and look at him, "Or, so I was told anyway. And if that wasn't enough, my parents weren't residents of the island, so I was doubly the outcast-yoi. Thankfully there was another boy in the same predicament as me, his parents were of the same clan as my own, and I guess they were traveling together-yoi." he paused in thought, "We became friends, and he was all I had for a long time, but he left the island before me-yoi." He suddenly grinned widely, his face lighting up and eye's sparkling. "And then there he was. There was pop's holding out his hand to me and asking me to be family, his son-yoi!"

"...He knew you were a child of demons?" Ace asked softly.

"Of course he did-yoi. He recognized my features since he's met my parents before-yoi!"

Suddenly Ace's voice started to tremble, "But he still...?"

Marco laughed, "Pop's doesn't care about that kind of thing-yoi~! He loves us for who we are, not what we can do! He made us so happy that he wanted us- us- the vermin, the outcast, the things, to be his family! And if you let him, then he'll love you just like us-yoi." he glanced over to the young man who was curled up and trembling. Marco threw his arm over him and dragged him into his side, "Ace, I don't think you're body will last very long if you keep this up, you're nowhere near powerful enough to even be a threat to pop's. Yet...I think the main reason for you to stop doing this, is for the people who love and care for you-yoi." he looked over to the rest of the crew, "For your crew who followed you despite the danger they were possibly in, and- from what I could see- maybe a sibling or two who's waiting to see you again-yoi."

Ace jolted.

"So maybe it's time to decide Ace-yoi."

"...Decide on what?"

"Are you going to leave and get stronger so you can get pops head? Or will you join our family, wearing the mark of Whitebeard proudly-yoi?"

"ACE IS BAAAAAAAAAAAC~!"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAH! ACE YOU DID IT! YOU DROVE THEM BACK BY YOURSELF!"

"LET'S PARTY~!"

"YEAH!"

Marco, who was again lazily soaking in the sun, yawned. "Nh~? Freckles is back-yoi?" he murmured while looking over Whitebeard's leg.

"It would seem so." Said Yonko grumbled, glancing at the sun's position briefly, before looking at the fire logia smiling and laughing with the crew. "It didn't take very long. This might be a new record." Whitebeard let out a thoughtful hum, before a grin broke out. "In fact, I think this is calls for a celebration!"

Marco snorted, "You're just using this as an excuse to drink, aren't you-yoi?"

"What? Marco, my son, how could you accuse me of such a thing?" The giant questioned offended, which wasn't very effective as he was still smiling. "I just want to celebrate one of my darling children's accomplishments!"

Marco gave a skeptical brow raise at him. "Mhm." he then jumped off of his leg, landing lightly on his feet, before making his way towards Ace. "Well, if you want to ignite the wrath of the nurse's be my guest pop's, but a party will be hard to do when we have no alcohol-yoi~!" he stated.

…

…

…

"WHAT?!" the yonko yelled in shock.

"The nurse's found your stash-yoi~!" Marco called back, "They got rid of every single drop of it outside of the alcohol used for cooking-yoi~!"

"MIHAAAAAAAAAAWK~!" Marco yelled in joy.

The Warlord had just jumped onto the ship, having sensed his childhood friends aura and decided to drop by for a visit.

He also just wanted to have a spar with someone. Ever since Shanks had lost his arm Mihawk didn't really have anyone other then Marco to spar with nowadays.

Said Phoenix had flew down from his perch on the main mast and tackled the swordsman onto the deck floor.

Mihawk sighed as Marco had wrapped his arms around his middle, snuggling his face into the others neck with a smile on his face. "Marco, you've not changed." He greeted dryly while sitting up. The blonde only readjusted himself so they were sitting chest to chest, before reaching his hand up and taking Mihawk's hat off.

"'Coures not-yoi~!" Marco chirped.

The First commander of Whitebeard's crew then started preen Mihawk.

"Must you?"

"Mhm~" Marco hummed, "So what brings you by-yoi~?" at the others look, Marco laughed. "Well, I'm not going to lie, I was hoping that you would have stopped by just to spend some time with me-yoi."

And as the two old friends talked, a certain freckled Logia user was frowning at them.

Or, more specifically, at how close and intimate Marco seemed to be with the Warlord. His eyes narrowed as Marco seemed to peck the others cheek, with the ravenette only rolling his eyes and smirking in response. Ace frowned even more.

"Hey, Thatch?"

"Hm?" the cook answered, his eye's never leaving his Aniki as he 'pampered' the grumpy swordsman. "Whats up Ace?"

"Why is Marco acting like that with Hawkeyes?"

Thatch blinked, tore his eyes away from the two men, and looked at Ace in surprise as he heard the bitter tone. His eyebrows rose up as he witnessed Ace glaring at Mihawk's figure, his jaw clenching when the man made Marco laugh. Ohohohoho~? With a grin, Thatch threw his arm over the younger mans shoulder and leaned on him. "Oh? What's the matter Ace~? Why're you so down in the dumps~?"

"W-WHAT? I'm not down in the dumps!" Ace retorted, his face having a small tint of red to it.

"Hooooo~?" Thatch teased, "Then why do ya seem so bothered by this?"

"I just want to know how they know each other is all!"

"Mhm...Well, if you must know, it's because they grew up together!" Thatch said with a shrug. At that Ace's face seemed shocked, before understanding and realization dawned on him. "Ah, I take it Marco told you a bit about himself?"

Ace nodded, "Yeah. So Mihawk is the friend that left his island before him?"

"Yup. Old Hawky stops by from time to time to check up on Marco, oh he denies it and say's he's only here to spar, but we all know he's here just to see Marco. Pop's has known him since before he became infamous as a warlord, even before he was known pirate, because Hawky got suspicious of his intentions with Marco joining his crew." He informed as the two old friends stood up, Marco joyfully leading the other over to where Whitebeard sat.

"What? What could he be suspicions about?" Ace questioned confused.

"Well, I guess he thought pop's only wanted Marco for his devil fruit. A Mythical Zone is powerful, and they can do some crazy shit if you take the time to learn it's abilities. It wouldn't be the first time that someone hunted down a user to try and poach them for their crew, for slavery, or to kill them for the devil fruit instead. It's happened a lot back in the day, in fact it still kind happens from time to time today, but not as much anymore for some odd reason..." he trailed off, eyes squinting in thought as he tried to pin the reason why Devil Fruit hunting wasn't as common anymore.

If anything, it should have been even bigger, what with the message Roger left everyone about One Piece and people trying to claim it and be crowned the King.

Huh...Odd. He mused with a frown. Something funky about that. I'll have to bring it up in the next meeting.

"...Thats fucked up." Ace said after a moment. "So, I guess the misunderstanding was cleared then?"

"Eh...Yeah- well, I guess he did, but only after Mihawk challenged pop's to a fight, lost, and Marco healed him up then proved that pop's didn't give a shit about the devil fruit."

Ace scratched his cheek, "So...Are they not...?"

"...Not?"

He flushed, "Uh, are they not...Dating...or...something?"

…

…

…

"HA!"

"SHUT UP THATCH!"

Marco, lazy, easy-going, laid back first commander of the Whitebeard pirates-

Was absolutely livid.

The Dread Phoenix of the Whitbeard pirates was currently aflame as he stood near the head of the Moby Dick, glaring out at the sea as he waited for the nurse's to finish using the tears he had given them to heal Thatch's fatal wound. The flames- which were usually calm and warm- were blazing brightly as the heat coming off of it suffocated, scorched, and blistered anyone who came within a few meters of him.

Marshall D. Teach was a dead piece of shit when he was found.

He huffed, flames coming out of his mouth as he tapped his foot impatiently for news on his friend.

"Marco?" a softy voice questioned nervously.

Looking behind him revealed a guilty looking Ace, making the older man calm down and gesture him forwards.

"Any news-yoi?"

"Ah, yeah, Thatch'll be ok. The tears worked, and the nurse's would have told you but..." Ace trailed off, looking at the scorch marks on the deck, "Well, I don't think you could hear them yelling, and we were pretty sure they wouldn't survive getting close even with Haki." he shrugged, gesturing to the heat around them. "I volunteered to tell you since I could survive."

"Ah...Right, fire Logia-yoi." Marco mumbled. He then gave a smile, dimming his flames at the news that Thatch would be alright. "I should apologize, hope I didn't accidentally hurt anyone-yoi."

"Nah, everyone kinda gave up when the heat got too much for them." Ace assured with a small smile, before it faded and he bit his bottom lip. "besides, if anyone need to apologize, it would be me."

Marco looked at Ace in bewilderment. "Ah? Why the hell would you need to apologize for-yoi?!"

The younger pursed his lips as he stared at the deck, "Because Teach was apart of my division! I should have noticed something, should have kept a better eye on him, should have-!" he was stopped by a warm hand covering his mouth. Startled Ace glanced up and saw Marco frowning at him, then shaking his head as he looked back out to sea.

"Then following that, this is all my fault then-yoi." He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and shushing Ace when he went to speak. "No, shut up Ace-yoi. If we go by your own logic, then it's my fault since I was the one who approved Teach's recruitment in the first place-yoi." he grumbled, he had seen the greed in Teach, but didn't think anything of it as...well...he was a fucking pirate.

Humans- especially pirate humans- are greedy by nature. Be it for money, freedom, love, family, power, whatever it may be, humans have always desired something and then wants more. Pirates humans just have even more greed then the average person.

So no, he didn't suspect anything from Teach when he saw greed in him, and he hadn't thought much about the Devil fruit book he carried around and stared at for hours on end. If someone did find a fruit that someone else wanted, then 60% of the time they can work something out.

Except Teach seemed to be the rare fucking 0.5%, because instead of fucking talking to Thatch, he just tried to murder him and fled like the fucking coward he was.

"I assigned him to The Moby Dick instead of another ship, I let him near our brothers and sisters, I put him on Kitchen duty so he could make friends, leading Thatch to let his guard down around him-yoi!" Marco's shoulder's caught aflame as he glared at the sea.

Ace furrowed his brows in worry, he didn't like Marco blaming himself like this, didn't like the trembling he could see as the older man tried to keep his calm so he didn't burn the ship to the ground and hurt anyone. "Marco-!" he flinched back as the phoenix burst into blinding flames that was hot enough to start affecting him. "MARCO-?!"

"I'M SUPPOSE TO BE THE BIG BROTHER! I'M SUPPOSE TO PROTECT YOU GUY'S! PROTECT OUR FAMILY-YOI!" He roared, slamming his fist onto the railing. "AND YET I LET THAT PIECE OF SHIT GO UNNOTICED UNTIL HE ALMSOT KILLED THATCH-YOI?!"

"MARCO!" Whitebeards voice boomed out through the night, catching their attention. He and the division commanders were standing just a few feet away from the edge of the scorching heat Marco was producing. "Calm yourself. You're burning the ship and hurting Ace." he stated gently while pointing around them before gesturing towards the downed boy.

He had started to leak killer intent along with his conquerors haki, startling most of the crew along with knocking quite a few out. Ace, being the nearest, took the brunt of it and was struggling to stay conscious.

Marco quickly put his emotions in check, kneeling to check on the freckle boy and making sure he didn't do any lasting damage. "Ace! Are you alright-yoi?!" he questioned desperately, putting his hands on the others cheeks to move his head so they were face to face. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you-yoi!"

Ace waved him off, taking a deep breath and blinking as he tried to regain his bearing. "I-I'm good! I'm fine Marco, you didn't hurt me!" once he was sure that he could stand, Ace smiled giving the phoenix an impressed look. "Huh, so that's what it's like when you're mad. I guess that's why you have 'Dread' in your name."

"..."

"..."

"I'm coming with you-yoi."

"What- but Marco-!"

"I come with you, or I lock you up so you don't do anything stupid, your choice-yoi."

"Oya, oya, oya?" a voice called out, making the strawhat crew startle as Marco jumped up from Ace's small boat and onto the going merry's railing, landing next to the younger male. "So this is the brother you won't stop bragging about-yoi." he remarked casually. He smirked at the startled expressions on everyone's faces, well except for Luffy it seemed, as the teen was just giving him a confused look.

Ace grinned at him, "Yup! Luffy, this is Marco, the first commander and First mate of pop's ship." He introduced while gesturing to the blonde.

Said bird waved lazily at them as they screamed about him being on their boat.

"Cute ship you've got here -yoi." he commented while patting the railing, "Perfect for a crew this size, but you might need to either upgrade it or get a new one in the future once you get more nakama -yoi." he paused, before gesturing out to the sea behind him. "Actually yoi should probably upgrade before you hit the redline, this cute ship won't last on the second half-yoi." he shrugged.

Ace took one look at what Marco was going to wear in the desert, then promptly flushed a deep red at the male dancer outfit. His eye's roamed from the delicate gold jewelry draped over his shoulder and the top of his exposed chest, being connected to the gold choker, which matched the earrings, bangles around his biceps, wrists, and ankles. Sheer fabric made his pants, headdress, and shawl. Ace's eye's trailed down the others body, and past the blonde trail of hair and to the decorative fabric that was hanging off his hips dangerously.

Said phoenix noticed the look he was receiving and gave a sultry smirk. "Like what you see-yoi?"

The 2nd division commander gave out a strangled squeak. "W-WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT?!" he demanded.

Marco chuckled, cocking his hip to the side and giving a smug look. "Because I can't overheat or get sunburned, so why not-yoi?" he shrugged before jumping off of the ship and landing in the sand. "Hurry up Freckles-yoi!"

Ace took a deep breath, calming down both his heart and the dirty thoughts running rampant in his mind. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! He thought, crouching down and covering his face. WHY?! WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE SO DAMN ATTRACTIVE?!

"Ace?" Luffy questioned, head tilted to the side as he watched his brother act weird. He crossed his arms and wondered if he was just hungry, maybe he should get Sanji to cook him some more food? He walked over, crouched down so he could see Ace's face, then furrowed his brows as he saw how red his face was. "Ace? Are you sick? Do you need some meat?"

"...No Lu..." Ace grumbled.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"...I mean...Yeah, but not hungry for food..." He mumbled out without thought, then immediately froze as he realized what he had just said.

Now Luffy was confused, giving Ace a bewildered look, "Huh? What else can you be hungry for?!" he demanded.

Zorro, who had been passing by so he could get off the ship, snorted loudly as he realized what Ace was talking about. "Yeah, I bet you're hungry alright." he commented.

Ace made a dying noise as he curled into a ball.

"What? What do you mean Zorro?" Luffy questioned.

"Don't worry about it Luffy, you should probably get down there and make sure everythings good to go. We gotta help Vivi afterall." The swordsman commented, then watched his captain make an agreeing noise and leaving.

It was silent between the the remaining two, before Zorro gave the other a shit-eating grin when Ace finally looked up at him.

"I don't blame you, he's really attractive." he commented as he made his way to the railing and looked at the 1st division commander talking with his captain. "...He's single, right? Not seeing anyone?"

Ace stiffened, then slowly stood up and looked over at the green haired man. Zorro didn't bother to take his eye's away from Marco, which had Ace's jaw tightening. "...No. He's not. Why?" he ground out. His fist's clenched at the smoldering look the swordsmen made, eye's trailing up and down the phoenix's form.

"Because I'm 'hungry' too." was all Zorro said before jumping off and making his way to the blonde.

"It's such a nice day-yoi." Marco commented with a lazy smirk.

The Mugiwara crew all glared at him as the sun was high in the sky, meaning it was the hottest point in the day.

Ace snorted, before looking behind them all and checking on his brother. "You doing ok, Luffy?"

Said pirate was panting as he dragged everyone's- sans the Whitebeard prates- luggage. "I'm so thuuuuuuuuuuuursty~! Ace give me some water~!" he complained.

"No way." Ace immediately denied, "I know you Lu, you'll just drink it all."

"oh look, there are some rock's ahead that seems like it would be a good place to rest-yoi~!" Marco commented, and next they all knew Luffy had a spike of energy as he ran ahead of everyone else to get some rest. Lazy eyes blinked slowly at the sand cloud, before looking at Ace in amusement. "Well, someone's excited-yoi."

The fire man sighed heavily, before scowling as Zoro decided that this was the perfect time to walk beside the blonde and talk. He could hear the undertones of flirting very clearly, which made him twitch, and Ace was about to go over and drag Marco away when Luffy came running back- without his crews packs- and yelling about dying birds.

Except it turned out that they were con-artists.

Thus the Strawhat crew had been swindled out of their belongings.

Marco was amused to no end, with Ace apologizing to the crew for his air-headed brother.

"...Actually, I think we should stay with your brothers crew for a while-yoi." Marco commented after it was found out that the lead they had for Teach was a bust.

"Huh?" Ace questioned, bewildered at what Marco just said.

"YES! STAY!" Luffy agreed eagerly as he wound his arms around Ace.

Marco nodded, "Hn. I have a gut feeling that we'll run into that bastard if we stick with your brother for a while-yoi." he explained with a shrug.

Ace paused in his efforts to get Luffy off, and regarded the first commander seriously. Marco's instincts were famous among the family for never being wrong, it was one of the reasons why he was so feared in battle, why they could navigate the sea's so effortless.

If Marco's gut was telling them that they would run into Teach if they stuck with his brother, then they would stay.

Plus he didn't mind spending more time with Luffy.

"Well...Alright I guess."

"THIS IS GONNA BE SO AWESOME!" Luffy cheered.

"Wow, talk about loyalty-yoi." Marco commented as he and Ace admired how adamant the old man- Toto if they heard correctly- defend the king, insisting that if he dug deep enough then he could find water and save his home.

"Not gonna lie, I'm real impressed that he hasn't died yet." The flame logia stated. He had taken a seat next to Marco, having seen Zoro starting to inch his way towards the phoenix with obvious intent. He would not let the swordsman seduce Marco.

He wasn't jealous.

Stop looking at him like that.

Don't be Thatch.

Ace is only...looking out for his brother. Because they would part ways at some point, and if Marco caught feelings, then he would be sad at having to leave his lover.

…

…

...Yeah...That's all he's doing.

He wasn't doing this because he wanted to torch the swordsman to ash for even looking at the Zoan. (And oh, how easy it would be. Luffy's crew didn't even know about Haki, they wouldn't be able to defend against him.)

And now Luffy's crew were inside one of the only furnished homes, while Luffy himself sat and watched the old man for a moment, before deciding that he would help.

"...Does he realize that he's just undoing Toto's work-yoi?"

Ace deadpanned.

"huh. So that's what a bananagator looks like-yoi."

"Where did Crocodile even get so much sea stone to make a cage?"

"Well, he is a warlord, so I guess he requested the Marine's for it-yoi."

"...That makes sense."

"CAN YOU TWO FUCKING HELP US INSTEAD OF TALKING?!" Nami screamed as the water rose.

"Ah, right we should probably help-yoi." Marco chuckled, he was having quite a bit of fun. Paradise was so very peaceful, and even the fighting here was a walk in the park with such weak opponents.

It was a nice little vacation before they brutally murdered Teach.