With different eyes

Into the lion's den

I sigh contentedly as the sun slowly wakes me. I lazily caress the warm chest on which I lie. "Morning!" I mumble tiredly. I feel the chest vibrate as Ace hums. I think of yesterday and start to grin, my cheeks turning red. I stand up, which Ace scowls at. "We need to go get breakfast!" I remark. Ace turns onto his stomach and rests his chin on his hand. "Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather go to bed?" he asks me, grinning lasciviously. I walk up to Ace and kiss him. Maybe I should go back to bed with Ace after all? I break off the kiss before I weaken and turn my back to him. "You sure this is what you want? Marco said your joke has consequences!" Ace tries to convince me. He puts his hand on my hip and strokes it slowly. "Ace I have to train!" I say wavering. Ace slides to the edge of the bed and sits up. Jerkily he pulls me to his chest and kisses my neck. "That's a form of training too!" I hear him say darkly and his hand slowly moves down my stomach. I have to swallow hard and am about to turn to join Ace in bed when the door slams against the wall.

In walks a wide grinning Marco. "Am I interrupting?" he asks, grinning cynically and tugging me away from Ace. "You and I have a rendezvous on deck!" he says to me, ignoring Ace's clamour. He didn't like the interruption at all. "Hello Marco!" I say smiling, hoping he has simply forgotten about the day. "You're training with me today, not with Vista!" Marco tells me with a grin. No way, as if he would forget something like that. "Can't you just kill me and be done with it!" I say sighing. "I'm not thinking about it!" he tells me. "What about Law, anyway?" I ask, trying to distract him a little. And to my surprise, Marco allows himself to be distracted. "We should meet him today or at the latest in the next few days," he says. "How do you know that again?" I ask. "I know everything!" says Marco arrogantly. I look at him doubtfully, but that doesn't seem to bother him. He just pulls me out and continues to ignore Ace as well. "But I have to have breakfast!" I say and hope Marco will let me.

"I'll go with you!" he tells me. I suspect something terrible, but Marco doesn't seem to be doing anything so far. "I'm going to suffer, aren't I?" I ask. Marco just grins at me as we enter the mess hall. He puts his arm around my shoulder and then says loudly, "Tell me Lucia, did you bump yourself?" I look at him irritated, what the hell does he want from me? He taps me on the neck and then says with a dirty grin, "You've got a nice mark on your neck there." I widen my eyes and place my hand on said spot. Did Ace really give me a hickey. "What were you guys up to yesterday?" Marco asks me with a dirty grin. Ace walks in just then and freezes at the sentence. His head turns red and he scratches his head. I push Marco's arm off my shoulder and ask, "Jealous?" Marco looks at me and says sceptically, "Of who? Ace? He's the one to pity for getting you." I smile innocently, "More like at me and Ace because you can't have your redheaded darling!" Marco's eyebrow twitches suspiciously again and Ace behind us tries to disguise his laughter as a cough. "You're about to suffer so much!" he says to me, hugging me tighter to his side. I just grin at him. "Shall I tell about your secret love?" I ask, but Marco just says calmly, "Shall I throw you overboard?" Ace now puts his arm around my shoulder.

Marco is called by a man I don't know yet. He stops by the man and looks serious, but Ace just pulls me over to the table. We sit down at the table. Vista looks at me and tells me, "Today Marco wants to train you!" I snort and say, "He wants to do a lot of things with me, but I doubt you can call it training!" Ace just grins as everyone laughs. I look at Whitebeard, maybe he wants to save me. Suddenly Marco pushes me aside and sits between me and Ace. He makes a huge pout. "What kind of face are you making? Has Shanks decided to give up his crew and join ours?" I ask. Marco looks like this is his worst nightmare. He shakes his head to get rid of the image. "No, your rookie is around. We will meet him soon. That means your training is cancelled today!" says Marco. I have to grin, I must have escaped the torture once again! "Postponed is not canceled!" he encourages me, but I am just happy for a postponement. Even if I have to deal with Law in return.