Until We Meet Again

Day 5

The day after, at night they officially entered Raftel kingdom, but still hours away from the capital Loguetown; they decided to stay at an inn.

The driver stopped at the first inn they found. Marco, who had taken a liking of being sit outside and in front of the carriage, glanced at the establishment they had stopped in front of.

"Keep going, there's another one thirty minutes away" Marco said.

The young driver was about to protest, when he remembered that Marco was still from the royal family and it wouldn't be good for his career if he angered him.

Marco glanced behind when they went back on their road; The Queen Anne's Revenge looked like a fine establishment but Marco knew the owner, Marshall Teach, and he was one of the most despicable men who had been permitted to live on the planet Earth.

The Shakky's Rip-off Inn's look was the inverse of the Revenge's one. It looked more like a place you could have your throat cut rather than an actual inn.

Marco jumped off the carriage and went to the door that he knocked on.

"Your highness" Intervened the driver when there wasn't an answer "Maybe we can turn back to the other inn."

Marco didn't listen to him and began to knock again "Come on old man, it's freezing out there."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming" A voice inside the inn said, the door opened "You think it's a time to wake up honest people?"

"It's been a while Rayleigh" Marco responded.

Rayleigh opened the door entirely when he recognized the man in front of him. "Marco, you are finally back to Raftel!" He said taking Marco briefly in his arms. Rayleigh glanced at the carriage "Take it in the courtyard, I will join you."

After Rayleigh had taken care of the horses and showed the others their rooms, He joined Marco who was still waiting, in the room downstairs.

"You don't need to sleep, kid?" Rayleigh remarked.

Marco smiled at him "I slept on the road. I'm more in the mood for booze actually."

Rayleigh took a bottle that Roger offered him a long time ago, and two glasses, he filled them then placed one in front of Marco and sipped at the other. Marco took the glass and drank a mouthful.

"Geez, I still can't believe it that you are here, kid. It's been what? Thirty years."

Marco nodded "Yeah, the last time we saw each other was when I left Raftel and went back to Moby"

"And what takes you back here?"

"I'm here to finish an agreement between Moby and Raftel" Rayleigh raised one eyebrow at what Marco said. "Everything had been already decided, we just had to make it official. We lend our military power to Raftel if needed, and they will send us some emissaries to teach us how to augment our productivity in agriculture."

"With the aim of concluding other partnerships in the future, I suppose" Rayleigh remarked, "It's good, Ace had to focus most of his reign on resolve military problems; Roger really let him a mess to deal with, after he died"

"But Ace made it."

"But Ace made it, you know who stubborn he is"

"He didn't change?"

"Not a bit. At first, he was kind of down, but when his kids were born he began to recover his personality."

"Kids, hum. I always know he would have been a good father. I'm happy that he got along with his wife." Marco added the last sentence in a whisper. He tightened his hand around his glass.