With different eyes

Don't mess with the Whitebeard pirates

Lucia's POV

I stay curled up in the corner with tears running down my face. Never had I been exposed to violence to this extent and I felt ashamed that I was so weak. Rayleigh had been right, I have to train, I don't want to always be dependent on the help of others. Suddenly there is a terrible noise up on deck. I look up at the ceiling hoping it is Ace and the others. "Ace?" I ask, trying to relax as my body has tensed up due to my posture. "Lucia, where are you?" Ace asks me seriously. "In a cell!" I say fearfully. Suddenly I see the door open and the scarred face, fearful, enters the room. He has a pistol in his hand and I tense up again. He looks at me angrily and yells, "This is all your fault!" I don't say anything so as not to provoke him further. He storms towards my cell and frantically unlocks the door. I jump up and try to escape through the door but I can't. He grabs me by the hair and pulls me in front of him. I try to free myself, flailing around, but I just can't. He wraps his arm around me, around my neck and holds me in front of him like a shield. "You're going to help me escape, bitch!" he hisses in my ear. I tense up completely and tears run down my face. He is about to push me away from him when the door flies off its hinges and Marco enters the room. The Phoenix quickly grasps the situation and if you know him you can see the unbridled rage in his face, to outsiders he just has a bored expression. "Let go of the girl!" Marco says calmly, too calm to be harmless. I look at him pleadingly. Scarface sputters, "If you come even a little too close to me, I'll put a bullet through that little girl's head!" I feel the cold metal against my temple and wince, in consequence the guy chokes me even more. I whimper and Marco's aura darkens. "It's all right, Lucia. We'll go home soon!" Marco tries to reassure me. He looks me in the eye and somehow I calm down a little. I swallow hard. The scarred face wants to sneak past Marco and keeps holding me in front of him, this way Marco can't do anything and he keeps looking at the man. Then comes the point where we are closest to Marco. I close my eyes and try to muster all my courage. I quickly bite with all the strength I have into the arm that is holding me in place. The man cries out and reflexively lets go of me. I lurch forward with my eyes closed and can already feel warm arms wrapped around me, I can smell Marco's scent, of sake and sea as well as warm forest floor. "It's all right," I hear him murmur. He lets go of me for a moment and I hear a loud crash, then his arms were wrapped around me again. Sobbing, I claw into his shirt. Tears run incessantly down my face. Marco hugs me tighter and keeps stroking my hair soothingly. I feel the stress now taking its toll and both of them sink away. Marco quickly lifts me up in his arms and presses my face against his chest. "Keep your eyes closed!" he urges me. I nod wearily, trying to suppress the trembling. I just want to get to Ace! I feel Marco walking through the corridors and can smell the scent of burnt flesh, blood and fire. I press my face harder against Marco's chest and want to shut out the world.

Narrator's POV

Marco has found the little girl just in time. She is completely distraught and Marco feels the anger boiling inside him. Lucia presses her face fearfully against his chest. If Ace sees her like this, there won't be much left of the ship, and even if there is, by the time Whitebeard sees her at the latest, the ship will be rubble. Everyone on the Moby has already developed a protective instinct towards Lucia. Marco quickly runs on deck, mentally resolving to force the little girl to train from now on, but first she has to recover from the fright. When Marco steps onto the deck, he sees a picture of destruction before him. None of the slave traders are still standing and the mast has snapped off and is on fire. Ace walks straight across the mast, ignoring the flames. His face is shrouded in shadow and the fires themselves, seem to dodge the fury of the fire fist. Ace himself has only one thing on his mind: Lucia! He steps quickly towards Marco and carefully takes her from his arms. Lucia seems to know who is snatching her from the Phoenix's safe arms. She immediately nestles her cheek against his chest and looks up at Ace with tears veiling her eyes. Marco steps back for safety's sake. And suddenly an interesting spectacle presents itself: Ace can no longer keep his devil fruit under control and his arms burn up without him noticing. But the flames don't hurt Lucia, they flicker up her arms as if to calm the little girl. She herself doesn't seem to notice much of this. Rather, she looks exhaustedly at the fire fist. They seem to be communicating again and Ace nods. He hides his face in her hair and presses the little girl tighter against him. Somehow Marco doubts that Ace will let go of the little one at all in the near future, let alone let her out of his sight. And if he is completely honest with himself, he probably won't do that either until the girl can defend herself. It was close, far too close. The Moby has caught up by now and you see relieved faces when they see Lucia. Ace jumps to the Moby with her in his arms and immediately the Doc is with them to examine Lucia. The poor guy has a hard time with his work, because neither Lucia nor Ace want to let go of each other.