I'm not going to lie, I've had a block on this chapter for some weeks. I woke up early today, went to my favourite cafe and it literally gave me inspiration to write this whole chap. It's been marvellous! I was starting to fear I had fallen out of love for this plot, and here though...

This is the last chapter, I know you will ask for a sequel, because there are several things left unfinished, especially mentioned in this chapter, but I honestly don't know about that, I'm sorry. Currently, I'm working on a lot of new projects, even MaLu; this morning I've completed the general plot idea for a one-shot request for a b-day and started writing it, the story seems interesting!

Also, sorry for any grammar mistakes, because I'm too lazy to check again, and for punctuation mistakes, because I've just now edited all the chapters to change from hyphens to quotation marks as to what concerned the dialogues, but I was too lazy to double-check everything in the substitution went fine, so... You may find something strange, sorry xD

Anyway, let's get on with it, shall we? Thanks for everything until now and I love you guys! I hope you like this ending!

K: We all do! Thanks!

LazyReader: I'm glad to read that! Maybe I should just write an omake about Mihawk's "room of pleasure" (was it called that way?) ahaha! Mihawk one of us! I know that feel, always MarcoxAce and no MaLu, what's wrong with you, world? Yeah, it helps, write on whichever surface you find! (not any, write responsibly xD) Yeah, I guess Garp's usual clumsiness would be more of a shock for Senny, but the scene was needed so... Yeah, next time... Uhm... Law is hilarious, because he is a doctor so he sees things in the professional way, but not the others so Senny is a bit imbarassed xD Luffy's POV, you say? That's right, I should try. Lemon is the thorn in my side, I think I'll stop writing it, someday, because it's embarassing! Thank you, thank you so much! Be well!

Shahana: Thanks, hope the ending is to your liking, too!

Rei: Ahahaha! Thank you! Yes, I laughed writing that chapter xD Here is the last!

Naverox: Hope your word's a good sign xD Thank you!

Words: 3120.

Enjoy!

16 – Mayhem

ADMIRAL AKAINU LEAVES THE MARINE CO.

UNKNOWN THE REASON FOS SUCH A DEVASTATING NEWS

[…] … all the great things the Admiral has done to ensure citizens' safety. So, it comes as a shock that the Fleet Admiral Sengoku has dismissed Akainu Sakazuki two weeks ago. As of now, the reasons behind such a drastic action are unknown. There have been several rumours, but the most believable would be the failure of the exchange between the pirate Portgas D Ace, Second Division Commander of Whitebeard's crew, and the marine Monkey D Luffy, the late Rear Admiral, killed before he could be rescued.

Several people, mourning… […]

Luffy folded the month-old newspaper and scratched his chin. That was sure to come bite his ass, sooner or later. As he knew Akainu, the man was not one to simply retreat, not if 'Absolute Justice' was involved. No, he would retaliate, instead… Problem was, how did he recognize the signs of that? The ex-marine had obviously had a hidden agenda, since the beginning, and it probably centred everything on taking Senny's position. At the moment, the closest to it was Aokiji, given Sakazuki's desire to be seen as childish.

When he'd met the two for the first time, he'd almost envisioned the Armageddon that would ensue, should the two fight over the title. The chessboard had been flipped, though. It was not his complete fault, he just did what he joined the marines to do, nothing more, nothing less.

He massaged his forehead with a silent sigh. With Sabo in the protective hands of Whitebeard, Ace in the possessive clutches of Smoker – he was happy for both, the marine kept stealing his brother whenever he was up for a… 'visit' – and his crew again at his side, on the Sunny, Luffy couldn't have been more relaxed. A certain pirate was also helping in that, under the covers of some bed whenever he came to visit or the raven himself decided he wanted a meeting. It didn't revolve only around sex, he was glad about that, because Marco, at times, simply hugged him, stayed for some hours and left with a kiss.

It was warm, embarrassing at some points, but welcome. He truly felt treasured and Luffy returned the affection with… with something he wasn't sure could be called love, yet. But it was the nearest he had ever been to it and… to his personal happiness.

So, the raven simply leaned back in the sudden embrace and sighed, contented. Two arms circled his waist from behind and Luffy started caressing the hands softly, closing his eyes. A kiss was left on his neck, not to ignite him but as a greeting, and he smiled.

"Hello to you, too."

"No chances I can sneak on you, yoi?"

"None." Luffy turned to meet the other's lips in a chaste kiss and opened his eyes. "Why the visit?"

Marco leaned his head on the man's shoulder, not breaking the lock of their gazes. "I've just dropped Ace on an island." His lips curled in something near displeasure.

"You still don't like Smoker?"

He shrugged, as much as he could in that position. "Not really, yoi."

"Mother-hen."

"Like you're any different." He gazed over the newspaper. "You're still worried about him?"

"As if you're not." He shot, but sighed. "He'll come back, I know. He's never been one to step down easily. What he deems just, he pursues."

Marco hummed, closing his eyes and relaxing. "No news?"

"Only strange movements in the New World… Nothing too worrying and probably unrelated to him. Akainu will take some more time to come, but he will."

The pirate caught his chin and turned his head to meet him in another kiss. "No use worrying about it so soon, then."

Luffy closed his eyes in the second, more passionate kiss. Their tongues licked and teased each other before someone cleared their throat. Marco detached while the raven sighed and cuddled in the embrace, looking at the distraction.

"Captain, we've reached Sabaody." Zoro left the kitchen right after saying those words.

Marco huffed. "I was already surprised by what you did to Sengoku, yoi, but this… Are you sure?"

Luffy turned in the embrace and straddled the pirate, kissing him once. "I need Doflamingo's attention if I want to help Law. That's the last thing I will do that's linked to my career as a marine." He kissed his cheek when the other frowned. "He already has his eyes on me, a little push and he'll contact me."

Marco gripped his sides and stared. "You're trying to distract me." He muttered. "Again."

The other shrugged with a badly concealed smirk. "Professional deformation."

"Right…" Marco sighed mockingly. "So, what's the plan?"

Luffy leaned his head on the pirate's shoulder. "Shake the world a bit more. A taste of what's to come." His lips slowly stretched into a malicious smirk.

"I had a suspicion, yoi… But, in details?"

He pouted. "You're no fun!"

Marco suddenly feared for the entire island's sanity.

He knew his lover was crazy, he'd noticed since their first meeting on that pirate ship with painted walls and flag. There was no way such a devoted, planning prankster was right in the head, sometimes. Marco had resigned himself to it, anyway, because he loved that side of Luffy, too… Though he would never ever admit it to the idiot cook and his team of pranksters – that had requested the raven to teach them. Useless to say, the phoenix had done his best to prevent any unsupervised meeting, for his own mental stability. God forbid Luffy successfully taught them the right ways to hide one's tracks, the kitchen would be out of helpers and the ship would start to smell.

So, he shouldn't have been that surprised by what Luffy was doing on Sabaody to attract a Shichibukai's attention – and the whole world's, considering there had been an ongoing event when he struck. But he was. Damn if he was!

Marco sighed, forehead held by one hand while the other took a bottle of something alcoholic the barman had chosen for him. His face might have let on what was going through his mind, because the man was eyeing him worriedly. The video Den Den Mushi on the wall behind the counter of the bar was loud because of the frantic chromist trying to follow with words what was happening in Sabaody's park.

The event, awaited worldwide and followed by almost everyone on the planet, was a concert. The King of Soul. The skeleton on Luffy's crew. Brook was a worldwide known superstar. That alone had been a shock. True, he was always playing some instrument onboard, but he'd thought it was only a hobby, something for the crew alone. He should have listened more carefully to Izo's fangirling. … No, never.

He had to admit the skeleton was good and his songs had that strange pull, varying in emotions caused in the listeners, that explained the worldwide interest. The ones that had a ticket had been overly lucky. There had been no sale, they had been chosen randomly by the singer himself in the last month… And it stank, in Marco's opinion.

Midway through, Brook had finished playing his song, one about loss and sadness that had brought the public to tears – some in the bar were crying, too –, and had bowed deeply.

"I apologize, dear fans." Everyone had quieted down impossibly. "But this concert has to end here and now." No chorus of denial or anger had risen. "I have an announce to make." Marco had felt then eagerness even in the bar. "I fear I have retired earlier this month from my career of singing." At that, gasps of shocks had been heard everywhere. "It's something I'm not doing with a light heart, but it must be done." Brook had then spread his arms wide. "I, too, have an ambition, a desire." The phoenix had noticed a movement on the platform, something raising. "To achieve that, I began following a man, I called him Boss, I helped him. I was a marine."

As people had showed their thunder-struck expressions, the marines that had been checking for crowd-control had started to make their way to the platform. The highest in rank had stopped right in front of it, Brook fallen completely silent and his usual shadow of a smile gone.

"Brook, King of Soul, you've just been declared an outlaw and shall be instantly detained."

"Ah, I expected that." The crowd had started fighting against the marines, begging for them to let the singer be. "But, you see, I'm not finished." The thing lifting from the platform rose completely. "I wanted you to know that I'm a pirate now, under the Captain Monkey D Luffy."

Everything went deadly still. Marco drank one third of the bottle and cursed his inability to get drunk. The marines stood frozen to their spots, jaws dropping. The bystanders were a bit less shocked, but someone seemed relieved.

"He's alive!" A man shouted in the bar. "What the fuck is the Government feeding us?!"

Luffy was wearing his black, tight leather pants and a red undershirt half-buttoned. The straw-hat was nowhere in sight, a sign he was still not following his true ambition. Marco sighed again at that.

The raven walked to Brook and took the offered mic. "Yes, I'm alive." He said with a smirk and gleaming eyes. "If you still believe what I do always has a good purpose, then, please, follow me. It is not thanks to luck that each of you is here." He regarded the marine that had announced Brook as an outlaw. "Even you." He knew it.

The two on the platform jumped to the entrance of the amusement park and motioned to come. As one entity, the crowd did so. The marines forgot they were supposed to arrest the skeleton, probably confused because Luffy had been higher in rank. The reporters followed, too.

Along the way, the crew was neatly leading other little groups of men and women that instantly mixed with the bigger one. Marco noticed they were about to pass by his bar and suddenly understood why Luffy had asked him to choose that one. He had given him a choice, sneaky planner. His answer was obvious, the raven could have just asked.

Marco payed for the bottle, took it and stood to go outside. A voice stopped his tracks, though.

"Wait, isn't that Whitebeard's crewmate?!"

Everyone turned to him and Marco eyed them with an arched brow. "And?"

The man that had talked flinched. "I… He's alive, what happened?"

"Definitely not what others reported, yoi." He had no interest in defending himself or the crew.

So, he left. Luffy was right in front of him, pleased smirk in place. It was the one he wore when something went as he'd planned.

"You could have asked me directly."

"And what's the fun in that?"

"Damn entertainment of yours, yoi."

The raven chuckled and started walking again, lifting his hand to the road in a way to welcome him to the moving snake of people. Said crowd started talking about his presence, doubting what the newspaper had reported. The speaker he'd heard in the bar was shocked and immediately began formulating hypothesis' about what had really happened the day of the exchange. Had it all been staged? Had Garp the Hero's grandson always been allied with Whitebeard? This one, she instantly thought impossible. What was, then, the relationship between Marco the Phoenix and Monkey D Luffy? If only she knew…

Slowly, to allow everyone to follow, they reached Groove 1. The Auction House. Marco sighed and drank another third of the rum. Luffy snickered before kicking down the main door. The big theatre-like room was filled to the brim. Rich men, pirates, some marines, Tenryuubito… Everyone turned to them with varying grades of shock and arrogant anger. Before anyone could do anything – the marines were shell-shocked and frozen by seeing Luffy – men and women of different races, led by Zoro and Sanji, started to pour out of the side-doors on the stage, where the auctioneer panicked.

Some people from the following crowd took few, confused steps forward, hands covering their agape mouths. They then ran to the stage, met midway by someone hugging them back.

Ah, that was the reason. "I don't even want to know how you managed to gather such intel, yoi." He finished the bottle, throwing it in a bin as people stormed inside. "But I'm impressed." The marines, too.

"Should I feel proud, then?" Zoro and Sanji apprehended the Tenryuubito, that had tried gunning down the released prisoners.

Marco reached for his hand and intertwined their fingers. "You should be ready for tonight, you're paying me dearly for this mess."

Luffy had the guts to chuckle. "That's not a 'punishment', you know?"

He groaned. "Stop it, yoi. More importantly…" He ignored the flash of a camera behind them. "Now what?"

Luffy smiled while turning to the cameramen. "We declare war against the World Government." He winked at him, that took another picture.

Marco wanted another bottle to drown his misery.

The day after, the newspaper was almost entirely dedicated to what Luffy had caused in Sabaody. It seemed as if the director had been torn on which photo to show first. Like, he had: the King of Soul's concert; Monkey D Luffy alive; his punch to a Tenryuubito; families reuniting with their lost ones. He had done a collage occupying the entirety of the first page with little explanation.

Whitebeard laughed loudly. Marco accepted the bottle of wine offered by Thatch and sat on the floor. Izo put away the newspaper, already read thrice, and took the Black Journal, avidly reading it. Ace and Sabo grabbed the first one and re-checked everything with twin smirks.

He was starting to feel too old for this shit.

… Well, the reward was delicious, so he would struggle.

"What's the brat planning now?"

Marco looked at his Captain, that seemed genuinely entertained. "More mayhem, yoi. To help the Law guy."

"Bartolomeo is not happy you're his lover, by the way." Izo absently reported.

"And I'm concerned about his happiness." He answered sarcastically. "Send him a message, Luffy wants to act in the shadows for a month or so, yoi. No info on his whereabouts… He's a damn stalker."

"What has he done this time?" Sabo massaged his forehead.

Marco drank. "We flew to a deserted island to relax, he tracked us down with the vivre card – I burned it, but I know he has spares – and irked both of us with fawning and fanboying, yoi. I'll kill him someday."

"Not gonna deny you that right." Luffy landed on deck with grace and a wide smirk, though it was hiding some irritation. "He can wipe out every inch of my patience."

Marco looked over the railing to see the big dragon-face of the Sea King. He still couldn't believe that enormous creature let the raven use him as a mean of transport.

Luffy hugged back Ace and Sabo, that demanded the usual – yes, it had become so – attention. Children. He stood, offering the bottle to his lover, free again. The other accepted it, drinking some. Izo was observing him with his gleaming eyes, but they were also softer. The raven's presence was dulling his urge to fangirl, it seemed. Whitebeard welcomed him as he would to a son, which Luffy never ceased to frown at.

"Why the visit?" Marco asked.

"I wanted to tell you the peacock has taken the bait. If you really want to come to me, then you'll have to pass through the main entrance of a King's Palace."

The phoenix snorted. "Dressrosa?"

Luffy smirked. "Prepare to see it completely renovated."

"… Make it short, yoi."

The raven thought about it. "Fine, I'll try to finish it in a day."

Marco face-palmed. "Not that short. Just what are you planning this time…"

"Well, I've heard a lot of rumours…" He hummed, making Whitebeard laugh. "I'm going to verify them and pay my debt to Law, then overthrow the peacock and finally depart for my adventure." He surmised as if he was talking about a recipe. "Starting with a Yonko." Marco lifted his gaze to see Luffy gaze-fighting his Captain. "Pity I have to choose a nymphomaniac."

Pops smirked. "She may even be interested in you." He glanced at his first son.

The pirate scowled. "Do I have to worry?"

Luffy answered by kissing him on the lips, arms circling his neck. Ace diverged his gaze with a blush. Sabo closed his eyes with a sigh. Izo glanced at Thatch with a pout, the cook was distracted by looking down at a sheet of paper. Marco narrowed his gaze when his lover detached and his own arms caught the other's waist.

"You're trying to distract me again, yoi."

"And why are you letting me?"

"Because you're finding more creative ways to do that, I won't stop you from experimenting."

Sabo scoffed, arms flying in the air over his head. Ace became a tomato, like Izo. Whitebeard laughed in a softer way… had he embarrassed his father? There was black dust on the page in the cook's hands. Marco instantly sent a burst of flames in it direction, disintegrating it. Thatch gasped and wailed.

"Damn you! That was gold!"

"Pranksters must help each other." Luffy snickered.

"He can't evoke a clone made of dust, so he's not at your level." Fortunately for me.

"I've not always had this power, I know a few tricks he could use. Like–"

When Marco blocked the flux of advices with his mouth, he felt the smirk underneath and cursed Luffy's ability to make him do exactly what the raven wanted. Thankfully, it was something Marco wanted, too… Most of the times. At the whistles at their making-out in the middle of the day and on the deck, the pirate decided to move it – discretely was not an option anymore – to his room. See? An outcome he definitely liked.

… If Big Mom only tried to lay a hand on his lover, Marco would have been the one to cut her head off.

Thinking about it… Doflamingo was straight… right?

He groaned as he closed the door to his room and let the other fall on his bed. "You're going to be my end, Luffy." His voice was husky and low.

A foot touched his waist as the raven smirked playfully. "And you mine."

More than foreboding of hardships, it seemed a promise of always being there for one another.

Marco couldn't have felt happier. Luffy neither.

YaMi: Thanks for reading until the very end. *bows*

And thank you so, so much for everything! It's been a fun ride! See ya around!