Insatiable Desire

01 - A night of passion

The rum burned his throat as Marco swallowed the shot in one gulp. He felt the usual healing wave of his power and the burn faded away, as did the sensation of the alcohol in his system. Not being able to get drunk was something he'd always hated, but that allowed him to check on his drunken brothers and sisters. At the moment, though, he could have used the occasion to get a bit over the edge. Ace was somewhere at the docks, searching for a ship, and Marco knew his brother would have been there for at least two days. Something about a yearly meeting...

The first-mate wanted to know more about it, but Ace had not been in the crew for long, only about three months, and he wasn't one to open up easily. He had accepted being part of the family, being pops' son, however Marco could see dark shadows behind him. And one of them regarded this meeting, he was sure. He was not one to pry into personal business, but he'd started to care, as he always did, about his new brother and he was worried. Thus, he was there, waiting in an unknown tavern and unsuccessfully trying to get drunk. Marco would wait for his brother to get done with it and cautiously ask later, once boarded and going back to Moby. Maybe after tying Ace up.

He took the bottle of rum, left there by the bartender because he was fed up with refilling the glass, and took a sip directly from it, tired himself. He looked around, noticing that the room was half-empty. It was midnight and only drunkards were there, sleeping on tables or still drinking. Marco was bored.

Two days more like that? He had to find something to do... Maybe exploring. Water 7 was magnificent, after all. The first time he'd visited, he hadn't had the material time to because of marines. There were water-ways and canals used for transportation almost like roads, often surrounded by sidewalks. The citizens used Bulls, Sea Horse like creatures attached to boats, to move around. He had yet to see the major points of the city.

He had heard about the Blue Station, the stop of the Sea Train, the Docks, of which Dock One was the most famous, and Liguria Plaza. Marco checked the walls but found no map and silently sighed, getting another sip from the bottle. Dark rum was definitely the best. Its flavour was his favourite, with that hint of spices, hot, burning, strong and good. He loved it.

The bell of the door ringed and the pirate lifted his gaze, being directly in front of it, to the other side of the room. A young man wearing the black, tight pants of a suit, a dark red undershirt and a black fedora with a red band was fingering his tie to loosen it. He had black hair and eyes, that were roaming around the tavern, seemingly checking it. His other hand was tucked in a pocket and the black jacket of the suit was dangling on the arm, probably getting wrinkled. He had a half-moon shaped scar under his left eye. His expression was carefully blank.

The man's sight landed on him and lingered there for a bit more than the others. Marco arched a brow, trying to understand if the situation required fleeing. Water 7 was quite negligent in letting pirates in, with the condition that they behaved. If skirmishes happened, Galley-La Company, the union of the strongest and best shipwrights of the island, would have taken care of the problem.

If the man, that was still looking at him, was a marine, then he preferred fleeing rather than engaging battle and risk being thrown out. Who would have covered Ace's back, in that case? The suit sure didn't hint at the usual marine uniform, but he preferred being cautious than regret it later. Better safe than sorry.

Thankfully, the raven just nodded, Marco respectfully nodded back, and took a seat at the counter, nearer the pirate than the door. Marco relaxed a fraction and took a nice swallow of the rum, that was nearly finished. The barman silently put a new bottle near the opened one and went to the new client.

"What do I bring you?"

The raven smirked, putting his jacket on a free stool and taking off the fedora. "Do you have gold rum?" His voice was light but had a dark undertone.