To Raise a Vampire

The Whitebeard Pirates

The Whitebeards have arrived! I hope everyone enjoys Thatch and Jojo. Thatch is so cute. This chapter is longer than the other ones, so I hope it's good! Enjoy~

"What the hell is that?" Marco wondered, staring at the bright light in the distance. He called to one of the vampires on deck to turn the Moby Dick towards the light. When the ship grew closer, Marco could see that the fire was in the shape of a message. SOS. The ship wasn't moving, but it was also stationary for the night. So, what was wrong with them? Why was this ship needing help?

Marco had the ship stop, and drop anchor. They sailed constantly, since the vampires on the ship had a different sleep schedule, and someone was always on deck. Marco was the only exception because the sun didn't hurt him due to his regenerative devil fruit.

Instead of getting any closer to the ship asking for help, he set the telescope down and formed his wings, flying quickly towards the light. As he got closer, he saw that there was no pirate flag. It was weird to see non-pirate ships, but they were in Paradise. It was uncommon here, but nowhere near how uncommon and rare it was in the New World.

But, even though it wasn't a pirate ship, he felt multiple strong presences. He could tell that one of them was a vampire. That was good, they wouldn't get on their cases about having hundreds of vampires on their own crew.

The first person he saw was a child, very young it seemed. The commander had to wonder why a child was on a ship in the Grand Line. But, moments after he got close to the kid, an older teenager came and grabbed the boy - Luffy - and pushed him behind him. And hid his face for some reason. But then he realized that the vampire presence was the child. He held his anger at this. Marco didn't know these people. Maybe the boy had been dying and so they changed him. He wouldn't be quick to make judgements.

"You guys need help?" Marco asked, glancing at the fleeing little boy, going to go get Sabo, whoever that was. "I saw your SOS."

"Yeah... Our rudder was destroyed," the teen said slowly. "We're running out of food and water. Does your crew have any shipwrights who could help us?" The kid was clearly uncomfortable with the vampire so close, which puzzled Marco, since they had their own vampire.

"We do. But we don't have enough wood with us at the moment. I'm going to go check and see what it looks like," Marco said casually. He didn't want to freak the kid out, and whoever else was on the ship. He would ask to speak with the captain once he got back.

The vampire-phoenix flew to the back of the ship and let out a whistle. The rudder was mangled. There would be no fixing this with a patch up job. It needed to be replaced. That could take awhile. Until then, the Moby could tow this ship to the next island.

When he flew back, a blonde teenager of the same age was standing on deck with the original teen. Marco could sense the little vampire boy peeking around the doorframe. "Your rudder needs to be replaced, I'd say. Can I talk to your captain?" He realized he'd said the wrong thing when the black haired, shirtless teen, scowled.

"We're co-captains of this ship," the blonde said. "My name is Sabo and this is Ace." Sabo was good at hiding his fear, but Marco could sense it.

"Then we can tow your ship for you until the next island. There, our shipwrights can try and fix it up. I insist you come aboard our ship, though. I'm surprised any Sea Kings haven't attacked your ship yet," Marco said. "There's no need to be afraid of me. I won't hurt you. Besides, you have a vampire here yourself." Both teens grew pale, but Marco put his hand up to stop their panic attacks. "I don't know your story, or why you have a vampire child, so I won't judge yet. I will be back soon to hook up your ship."

The little vampire boy had run out and watched the bird-man fly away. "Ace, Sabo, did you see him! He flew!" Marco heard the boy say. It had been a long time since the man had been around a child that young. Poor kid would always be young. Did those kids somehow turn him? There were no other vampires on that ship.