Fate

03 - Little Talks

Marco sighed. What a headache. Escaping the marines had been easy, for them and for pops. They had sunk the marine ship after reaching the Sunny, on which they had later joined Whitebeard.

Luffy had slept all throughout the journey and was still sleeping in his hammock. Really, how much had he pushed himself... It was worrying him, but his doctor, Chopper, had said to Ace he was okay. So, he had to wait. Again. So utterly annoying.

He was happy, of course. The midget had accomplished a lot, avoiding a war, saving probably more than a life, but Marco had a feeling he wanted only to save Ace in the safest way possible. The others to hell.

Well, not that escaping Impel Down was safe, not a little bit. But he succeeded, who was he to judge? Marco watched from the roof of the Moby Dick the marine flag of the Sunny being brought down, a jolly roger with a straw hat on top replacing it.

That was to take into consideration, too. Luffy was not a marine anymore, but he hadn't seemed sad by the fact. Who knew now what was going on in his head, really. Marco didn't want to increase his pain.

He sighed again and dropped his back onto the roof, arms crossed behind his aching head, and closed his eyes. It was night, so the darkness covered him nicely. Ace was currently going through a loud scolding by Izo in the infirmary, where the nurses had taken care of wounds.

He smiled slightly, remembering the reactions of his brothers seeing Ace safe and sound. Their pops had been tired so he was in his room resting.

A loud crash made him jump on the deck. On the Sunny, that was sailing alongside the Moby Dick, a cloud of dust was dissolving. Marco saw two legs and three swords sticking out of debris and Sanji smoking and fuming on a doorframe.

"GO GET DRUNK SOMEWHERE ELSE! I NEED TO COOK FOR THE CAPTAIN!!"

And with that shout, he disappeared inside, loudly slamming the door. Marco jumped on the ship, approached the swordsman and helped him get up.

"Shitty cook."

"You okay, yoi?"

"Yeah, thanks." In one hand he had a bottle of sake. "Damn, I was only to–"

Another loud crash, from the lower deck this time, stopped Zoro's explanation. Luffy jumped up towards the door where Sanji had disappeared without sparing them a glance.

"Here comes the black hole."

Marco then remembered how the dragon had finished all that food in the galley those months before. It wasn't only a one-time strangeness, then.

"I bet he's still sleeping." The vice went to the window and gazed inside with a smirk. "Yeah, he is." He shook his head and, with a wave, went away to the crow's nest.

The pirate neared the glass and blinked a few times. The boy was indeed still sleeping... but he was eating, too. At an impossibly fast pace. From inside, Sanji was shaking his head with a fond smile. He then looked at him and nodded.

"Come in."

Marco obliged, sitting on a chair far from the eating machine. The sounds of munching and biting and scrunching were loud. A lot of cooked meat was left in a pyramid on the table. It was rapidly vanishing in the black hole, anyway.

"He's always like this, yoi?" He asked arching a brow, nodding towards the monster.

"No. This happens when he's really tired and really hungry at the same time." Sanji took a plate of soup from the pot. "I think the situation stressed him a lot." He placed it in front of Marco. "It's warm, eat before he notices it." And took one for himself. "He'll wake up in half an hour or so. Maybe."