With different eyes

Morning show with Marco & Lucia live and in color

I slowly come to the surface of my consciousness. But I'm not in bed, I'm in the middle of a party. Ace must have gone for a walk again. "Oh man, just when it's getting fun" Ace grumbles. I'm sorry' I think. "Hello Lucia, awake again?" says Marco. "Nah apparently not, at least I can see your face so must be a nightmare" I counter, at least he let me clean up this disgusting room. Ace and the others laugh out loud while Marco's features slip. "I guess he never has counters here, does he?" I ask Ace. "Not really" laughs Ace. I kind of think he's enjoying the spectacle. "After  cleaning the room, are you really in the mood for a punishment?" asks Marco spitefully after he gets himself back under control. "Wait a minute, I thought I already got a punishment, after all I'm already sitting next to you" I say dryly. Ace laughs uproariously, as does everyone else. Marco is speechless. To top it off, I make a shooing hand movement and say "Shoo". Now all the others are over, they roll on the floor laughing. "I think I broke them," I say to Ace. But he can't answer me, because he is laughing himself to death. My goodness, Marco really needs more counterattacks here, they really aren't used to anything.

Marco has meanwhile composed himself and gives me a head butt. Damn, that really hurts. No wonder Ace has such a mud brain. But no reason to shut up. Shaking my head, I say to my new favorite victim, "Violence is no solution!" The latter just looks at me and says dryly, "But a good answer!" "Really?" I think. I've found someone to play with! "If you don't know any other answers, but hey I don't discuss with idiots, they pull you down to their level and beat you there, with experience" I say. Let's see what comes. Marco grins and says: "That explains why Ace can always assert his stubbornness." Meanwhile, everyone has turned to the spectacle that Marco and I give and a loud laugh resounds over the deck, Whitebeard probably likes our little dispute. "Why am I the victim now?" Ace asks indignantly. I ignore him and turn to my new playmate. "That explains the whole family or how do you think Garp got to be Vice Admiral." I give with a grin as a counter. Marco grins and hands me a sake bottle as a peace offering. I can't say no to that, I think he enjoyed the exchange as much as I did. Ace pouts, everyone else laughs. I like it here! Marco asks me if I can tell him something from my world and I explain my world to him. He listens eagerly. All the others have calmed down in the meantime and are drinking and partying again.

Meanwhile, someone had taken out cards and asks if we want to play a round of poker. I only answer: "I can't but if you want to play a round of cheated I'll join in." All in the round, consist of the commanders: Marco, Vista, Haruta and 3 unknown to me look at me with interest. "How does it work?" asks Haruta. "It's really quite simple: all the cards are dealt. The one who starts puts the first card face up. From then on, the number or picture is considered true. From then on, the cards are placed face down. Now one after the other puts down the cards. If someone has the feeling the other one is lying, he says cheated and the other one has to reveal his laid card. If it is a cheat, he must take the whole stack, if the card was not cheated, the one who accuses him of lying must take the stack. The one who gets the pile may then lay the first card again. The winner is the first to run out of cards." I explain. Everyone agreed to try a few rounds. What I realize with horror is that for being pirates, they are terrible liars. Yes, I know, always these clichés. Well, except for Marco, I can't figure him out and for some reason he knows when I'm cheating. And I thought my poker face was good. "I want to play too" nags Ace. "You're the last one to get rid of your cards," I say with a laugh. D's and lies just don't mix. We play a few rounds and Marco always wins, I'm always second, then the order varies. That can't be, why does this soup chicken always win. "He's just the runner-up" says Ace, amused at my annoyance. I snort. Not only is it hard to tell when he's lying, but he almost always guesses that I'm lying. Everyone else is also annoyed that we always win. I bet that Marco always wins at poker. "Yes," admits Ace.

"How about a round just between the two of us" I suggest to Marco. "Why not" says Marco, drinking from his beer bottle. We play for a while and a massive pile of cards has formed in our midst. Everyone else is watching enthusiastically. The pile has always wandered back and forth between Marco and me in between. Now we don't have anyone to accuse of lying for a while. Accordingly, the stack is high. Nevertheless, it looks like Marco will win again, he has less cards in his hand than I do. Time to help fortuna a little on the jumps. I stretch and accidentally knock over the bottle of beer that was still full. Marco curses and jumps up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to, I'll get you another one" I say hypocritically. Marco does what he's supposed to. "Never mind, I'll get one myself" he waves off and puts his cards on the floor. He walks away and as soon as he's out of sight, I reach for his cards, look inside and remember which card is on which position. Then I put them down exactly as they were before. Everyone else looks at me puzzled, but I just shrug and say "I'm a pirate, I'm allowed to do that". Which causes a burst of laughter, even Ace laughs in my head but accuses me of "But admonish me for using that as an excuse to bounce the bill. Besides, you're not a pirate." "At the moment I am a pirate" I explain. And here comes Marco. We continue playing and his expression shows that he is quite irritated. In the end I win for the first time. "Let's stop" I say in order not to let my victory be spoiled. Everyone agrees and stands up. I also stand up and stretch, turning my head from side to side to relieve the strain on my neck. As I do so, I see something out of the corner of my eye.