Pink Carnations (Whitebeard Pirates x F!Child!Reader)

History

"You know, (Name)-chan, I know you like watching sunrises with people."

 "Yes!"

"Then why did you bring pineapple guy there? I can barely get him out of bed in the morning for missions." Marco rolled his eyes and kept his eyes on the dark, distant horizon. (Name) hugged his unfeeling arm.

"Because Marco-san promised! right Marco-san?" she exclaimed. He looked into her wide, dazed eyes for a few seconds before dismissively turning his head to the side.

"Tch" Oden and (Name) shared a smile. The sky was still a steady shade of dark blue, the sun had yet to shine the first of its yellow rays. A comfortable silence enveloped the three as they patiently waited for dawn to arrive. 

Oden sharpened his sword between his hands and Marco was writing a report on sheets of paper beside him, but (Name)... She looked outside. The stars...the stars... Would she really become one of them?

"Oden-san, Marco-san?" They looked at her.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever loved someone you no longer love?" she questioned. Oden looked at her curiously.

"That's kind of a weird question. Out of nowhere too," he said as he scratched his cheek.

"Where did you get that from?"

"Fossa-san read me a story about this many days ago," she replied while holding up four fingers.

"This boy loved this girl and got her a beautiful ring! But she got sick before the wedding, ...when...when... She went to heaven! The boy kept crying and saying that he shouldn't have loved because of the lots and that's wrong, right? Fossa-san doesn't know anything because it could happen to him now. Do you know?" Oden thought to himself, trying to think of any kind of experience that he could answer her question with. 

But none came to mind, so he shrugged and sighed. - "Sorry, (Name)-chan. I don't know about that either. What about you, Marco?" The blonde was silent, his head tilted to the worlds above. He made no sign of having heard them.

"...Marco?" The sun began to stretch into the distance, a thin arm in the blanket of night that still covered the immense spheres. Marco let out a long sigh and met (Name)'s patient gaze. He ignored Oden's gaze.

"The man in the story was a fool. If he had really loved her, he would never have said those things." 

"But he loved her so much in the book," she said.

"People say bad things when they are sad." 

"He may have been sad, but that's no excuse. He should never have said that about her, he should have been happy, grateful even, for all the time he spent with her, despite watching her die of her illness." . said steel hammered into the edges of each word. (Name) didn't know any better and listened obediently, but Oden was a different story. 

"Pathetically useless he might have been, but that didn't give him the right to say such things." Oden's emotions didn't even know that his partner had swum to the surface. There was a glassy look in those eyes, but she didn't question it. But if he weren't this carcass, this shell, this empty tool, he would look like he was about to cry. But we know better that he wouldn't cry. Not here.

"...He never regretted loving her. Not even for a second, even though he said all those things. Even though she never got to wear the wedding dress with the swirl of cherry blossoms in the background. Even May she never wear the ring he made for her." The sun was now on the horizon, shining brightly with its hazy orange light. (Name) she reached out and held Marco's hand. 

"It wasn't in the story. The ball gown," she mentioned, her head cocked to the side. 

"That's a different story, huh, Marco-san?" He looked at her. 

"...Yes. A different story, My mistake." A little later, as the sun shone above them, (Name) lay curled against Oden's chest with her face buried at the base of his neck as she breathed calmly in her sleep. Both he and Marco were still sitting on the roof, although the former couldn't help but interpret the latter's words over and over in his head. Oden looked to his side and Marco's strangely peaceful profile. 

"What was her name, Marco?" 

''...Ninna'' He nodded, satisfied for the moment, and changed the subject.

"So the book the asshole read to (Name)-chan...should we tell him to stop reading books like that to her? I mean, some of them seem kind of out of her age range."

"She'll learn about all this eventually, so what's the point in putting it off? Maybe this idiot intended to teach the girl something useful," Marco replied softly. 

"One day when she's older, she'll look back on this day and be glad she learned that." 

"Can you imagine an older (Name)-chan? Damn, it makes me feel old just saying that." 

"You already sound like an old man, old man, talking about her as if she were your older brother." 

"Psh! I'm close enough for one!" (Name), who pretended to be asleep, bit her lip to keep from crying.