The Whitebeard Pirates' Playground

Ch. 16 - Commence mission: Save their freckled baby from drowning!

They were all huddling around the corner, whispering of their plan when Haruta suddenly silenced them all, "he's here, get in positions." 

There were nods all around and Marco was the first to leave the area, casually waltzing over the deck as if he owned the place and had no ill intention at all as he approached their target, looking as alluring as possible. 

"Well, hello there, beautiful. Haven't seen you around lately-yoi" 

The other gaped at him like a fish out of the water before he started laughing, almost doubling over, "M-Mar-hah-Marco! What-hahaha What the hell! Hahah I saw you, I saw you like 10 minutes haha before this!" he wiped tears from his eyes, "We sleep in the same bed even! What are you doing!" 

Growing the tiniest bit red in the cheeks he continued with the plan, he would kill the others later since he could see them laughing in the background, this was definitely not needed and they had fooled him. He cleared his throat as he took a step forward, closing the distance and grabbing Ace's chin with his hand. "I just missed you, my fire. Is that so bad of me?" 

"A-ah, n-no." Ace's cocky attitude quickly disappeared as they were pressed chest to chest, he could feel Marco's breath on him. He tried to look away, but Marco held a strong grip on his chin, "don't look away from me, love, you'll hurt my feelings." 

Blinking, he kept still and held eye contact with the other, even if he wanted to look away from the intensity. He felt red started going to his neck and started leaning forward, he wanted a kiss n- 

"NOW!" 

"Huh? AH!" Before the freckled one could turn around, he was jumped from behind and manhandled into who knows what. He knew they were his brothers so he wouldn't turn to fire, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try to fight them off, so he hit them and going by the reaction he got a few good ones in. 

After a while they separated and they all panted, Haruta now sporting a red eye, Izou's hair was dishevelled and ... "Who are you?" 

"What???? It's me! Thatch! Your favourite brother!" 

"... Thatch has funny hair... you're not him." 

"My hair's not funny! Izou, give me your hairspray!" The stranger went for the geisha and opened his kimono, oh he would get hell for this later, not like he had anything to hide under, but still, and pulled out a small can of hairspray, using it to shape his hair into his beautiful pompadour again before turning around. 

"Thatch!" 

"Thanks Ace, you're such a nice brother to recognise me." 

"... Sorry ... but, what the hell is this." he motioned down with his hands to his chest. 

"A PFD" 

"A what?" 

"A personal flotation device Ace." He sighed when the other still looked at him as if stupid "A Mae West, a flotation suit, a buoyancy a-" 

"It's a life jacket-yoi." 

"Thank Marco! Why were you using such difficult words, Thatch, geez." He gave himself one more look before he spontaneously burst into flames, including the item on him. 

The others gaped at him with wide eyes while Marco just sighed and mumbled a 'I told you it would go like this.'. 

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!" the three other commanders yelled in shock. 

The second commander simply quirked up an eyebrow, "I told you guys last week that I don't wear shirts when you tried to put me in one, why do you think this one would have another fate?"