Chapter Text
“They’ve been sitting like that all day.” Ace whispered as he, Thatch, Marco, and Izo stared into your room to see you hunched over your desk.
“That can’t be good for their posture.” Izo commented, brow furrowed as you scribbled away at something.
“Have they at least gotten up to eat something?” Thatch asked, looking at Ace who simply shrugged, unsure if you’d even really moved.
“It’s not healthy for them, yoi.” Marco added, the four men staring at you for a moment. Finally, Marco marched into your room, simply picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder, even against your protests.
“Marco? What the hell? I’ve got school work to do! Put me down!” you shouted, struggling in the phoenix’s muscular arms.
“You need to get out of your room, yoi. We’re making sure you do it.” Marco stated as he carried you out. The 4 young men would make sure you relaxed.
It was a little while later that you sat in Izo’s room, the man placing cucumbers over your eyes as you sat in front of his chair.
“There, a nice spa day to help you relax and recuperate.” Izo said with a grin, walking to his bathroom to wash the spa products off his skin. As soon as the man had his back turned, you lifted one of the cucumbers before pulling a book out from under your shirt, quickly opening it to read it. You needed to finish the book for an essay you were writing, Izo was meticulous in his care so he’d be in there for a while, right?
“What’s that? Why are you reading? You should be relaxing.” a voice said, making you flinch.
Thatch smiled as you stirred whatever mixture he’d handed you, the man having said that cooking was a great way to relax and take a break while still being up and doing things. Glancing over at the man you slowly pulled an unused drawer out, grabbing the pen inside, jotting down some notes before closing it and turning back to Thatch who’d just turned around to smile at you. It was about 30 minutes later when the drawer slammed shut, startling both you and Thatch as you looked up from the work you’d been doing to see Ace standing there.
“I was gonna see if whatever you two were cooking was done and if I could have some, but I’m wondering if it wasn’t just Thatch cooking and you working.” Ace scolded while Thatch gave you a disappointed look.
“It’s important. I’ve got-”
“To go see Marco, he said he was next in line.” Thatch interrupted, making you sigh. Like with the rest of the crew, they were your family, and right now they were taking the role of ‘caring older brother’ a little too seriously for your liking.
Marco knew what it was like to overwork himself, being the first mate, first division commander, the ship’s doctor, highly respected across the entire ship and partially responsible for looking after Pops’ health, the man didn’t take many breaks himself, so he figured that he’d get you to take a break by not taking a break. Instead you were on deck helping Marco remind people that their yearly check-ups were coming up. All you had to do was put a checkmark next to a name and follow him around. It got you out of your room, it was easy, and it got you doing something.
“Y/n, I’m pretty sure we’ve already talked with Vista, yoi.” Marco said as you listed another name.
“Well he hasn’t been checkmarked.” you stated as Marco frowned.
“Let me see.” Marco said, holding his hand out for the clipboard.
“Are you telling me I did something wrong?” you asked, pulling the clipboard closer. Marco’s eyes narrowed.
“No, I just want to see with my own eyes, yoi.” Marco said before quickly snatching the board from you. Unsurprisingly, there behind the check sheet, was more schoolwork, “This is going to take drastic action.”
Ace knocked on Pops’ door, you standing behind him, surrounded by the other four men as you heard Pops call for you all to come in.
“Alright Pops, we all tried, but Y/n won’t take a break from their school work.” Ace said as soon as you were inside the large room. The older man looked at you for a moment before glancing at the others and letting out a sigh.
“Y/n, you’re not allowed to do any more work for the rest of today and all of tomorrow. Captain’s orders.” the man said simply before leaning back in his chair.
“But Pops! My school work-”
“Can wait until you’re no longer burnt out, little one. Now go, enjoy the sunshine.” Whitebeard said with a smile, even as you sighed defeatedly.
“Your work will still be there tomorrow, no one’s going to die because you took a break.” the man said with a chuckle as the 5 of you left the man’s room. You supposed he was right, one little break wouldn’t kill anyone.