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This was all far from what Thatch had expected. The setting sun cast a soft glow over the golds, reds and yellows of the foliage that surrounded them, and wayward leaves fluttered down with the stirring breeze. It was Marco’s idea to bring them all together on this autumn island to celebrate, but for what exactly he still wasn’t entirely sure. Part of him almost wondered if there was something symbolic in all of this or if it was part of some greater scheme in which they all played a role.
If that was the case, then he was certainly at a loss for what role he played in it all. He was pretty sure it had to be more than simply lighting the rather large bonfire they’d cobbled together while Ace remained settled back at a comfortable distance watching everything unfold around them.
“Are we really planning on staying here for five days?” Izou questioned as he came over to settle himself down on one of the logs. The fire finally flickered to life and Thatch looked over at him, the beginnings of a smirk curling to his face.
“Tired of it already? Aren’t you enjoying the show?”
The look he was given certainly made his comment all the more worth it and Thatch simply chuckled in response.
“I don’t know about you two, but I’m planning on taking some time to enjoy this little extended vacation,” Ace remarked with a half shrug.
Thatch gave a nod, poking a bit at the logs to stoke the flames. “That sure is one way to look at it. It certainly beats some of the other places we’ve had the privilege of visiting.”
“Nothing trying to kill us for once,” Ace supplied helpfully.
“For now,” Izou reminded him, leaving Thatch to nod in quiet agreement. He doubted a place like this would be completely bereft of surprises. No doubt it would only be a matter of time before there would be some catch of some sort.
Satisfied with the fire, Thatch stood, giving a roll of his shoulder. “Well, I’m going to get started. Maybe the smell of good food will draw the others back from wherever they went exploring so we can add in whatever they found.”
“Hopefully they’ve found something worth eating out there and not something weird,” Ace muttered under his breath.
“It wouldn’t be the first or the last time we’ve had to resort to that,” Izou reminded him.
“Alright, since you seem fine with it you can eat all the rats they find. I’ll have the real food.”
“I’m not eating rats,” Izou’s barely kept temper could be heard ebbing into his tone no matter how composed he tried to keep it. He was quiet for a moment before adding. “Not again. I’m not even sure those were rats...”
Ace couldn’t help but laugh outright, enjoying the opportunity to ruffle Izou’s feathers. “Yep. All the rats and all the jelly corn can be on your plate and the rest can be on mine.”
“There will be no rats and no jelly corn on my watch,” Thatch interrupted them, before Ace would strike a real nerve on Izou, “Worst case scenario would mean we have to resort to eating Marco. I bet he tastes like chicken.”
“Hey! I heard that!”
“Speak of the devil. There he is!” Ace snickered and walked over to Marco, who was approaching the others by the fire. He gave Ace a firm pat on the back and shook his head as he let out an audible sigh. The amused grin gave away his true mood though.
“I can’t believe it. I’m gone for thirty minutes and you guys are already planning to eat me!” Marco said with a slightly dramatic voice. “And I thought we were a family.”
“And family sacrifices one of their legs, if it means the others won’t have to eat rats when they bring them to a strange island,” Thatch countered. “Especially if their legs grow back.”
“Touchè”, Marco said, settling down next to Izou who was pretending to be deep in thought.
“Are you sure he would taste like chicken, though? It wouldn’t surprise me if he had a funny aftertaste. He practically lives off coffee and pineapples. That can’t be tasty,” Izou said, giving Marco a doubtful once-over. “Not even Thatch could save that, I think.”
“What? You don’t even have that much faith in me Izou, that you think i couldn’t handle a piece of funny meat like that? I’m wounded. Deeply hurt”, he said, falling down dramatically next to Ace, who was snacking on a handful of nuts he brought with him. Thatch broke character for a short second, just to open his mouth wide in Ace’s direction. Ace just smiled and fed him one.
“Okay, I don’t even know what I should be offended by the most. The fact that you guys are still talking about cannibalizing me, the thing about me tasting funny, or that Ace actually shares his food with you Thatch! I can’t believe it. Last week I asked you for one bite of that sandwich and you looked at me like I was about to steal the whole thing from you.” Marco said, his voice getting gradually more irritated as he spoke.
“That was different, I was super hungry back then,” Ace said, simply shrugging and throwing Thatch another nut—who caught it without even looking—giving Marco a sassy look full of triumph.
Marco just smiled and shook his head once more, “I see how it is. Well, I can’t compete with the guy who puts the actual food on the table when it comes to this, I guess. I will have to live, knowing Ace won’t ever share his food with me. What a cruel, cruel world”, he leaned back into the mossy rock that was supporting him, just watching them throwing nuts at each other, trying to catch them with their mouths.
“There are worse faiths than that, Marco. But this tragedy aside, why did you bring us here anyway?” Izou questioned. “Not that this isn’t a lovely place, but is there an actual reason?”
"Does there need to be one?" Marco asked curiously. "We've been running into more Marines recently. Someone is trying to cause problems. We could use a moment to ourselves."
"I would have preferred a bar," Thatch told him, grinning when Marco rolled his eyes. "At least at a bar, I wouldn't be expected to cook for us. Do you know how much work goes into feeding him?"
Ace gasped, pressing his hand to his chest, "I can't believe how rude you have been to me. I thought you loved me and yet here we are."
"Have mercy," Izou muttered tiredly, stealing the last of the nuts from Ace's hands and stuffing them into his mouth.
"My heart has been broken . After all the meals we've shared."
Thatch snorted, "Ace, you could be used as a garbage disposal if I was any less of a snob about what I fed you all."
"Marco, Thatch is being mean."
Marco sighed, throwing his arm over his face. Ace could pull off dejected almost as well as one of the ship's cats, it was easier to avoid seeing it.
"Marco!"
"I don't want to get involved, Ace. The last time I did, one of you, I don't know which one, decided to replace my ink well with invisible ink. I have not forgiven either of you for that."
Izou whistled, "so that's why you both had the worst watch shifts."
"It was Thatch," Ace laughed, dodging Thatch’s attempt to tackle him. "He thought he could blame me, but I just hid catnip in your pillows."
"That would explain the increase in cats," Marco muttered darkly, lifting his arm enough to watch Thatch’s increasingly angry attempts to bring Ace down. "You know you have to go in after him if Thatch throws Ace in, right?"
"Every day, I get closer and closer to eating a Devil's Fruit so that I won't have to go save you," Izou grumbled, pushing himself up with a groan. "I assume you're going to stay here and not assist me?"
"You're a big boy."
"One day, I will get my revenge, you know."
Marco yawned, letting his arm drop down from his face just in time to watch Izou trip Thatch into the slowly rising tide. He also got to see the moment that Thatch changed targets, grabbing one of Izou's feet and rolling to pull him down too.
"You gonna take your turn," Ace asked, not even winded as he jogged back over, brushing sand off his shorts. "I'm sure Izou would wanna real challenge."
"I'm taking a break, remember? Izou can fight me tomorrow. His handwriting is worse than yours and I have no idea what his reports are saying. I'm getting headaches thinking about it."
Ace patted his shoulder, "at least they heal up as fast as they appear."
“I’d still rather not have them in the first place,” Marco told him, letting the pain fade away as he spoke. “You couldn’t help him with the fire?” he added, gaze firmly fixed on the sorry excuse for a fire Thatch had left behind in favor of swift justice against his brothers.
Ace looked over at the pile of wood as well, his laugh echoing around them.
“I could have,” he said, “but I didn’t.”
“Can you just?” Marco asked with a vague shake of his hand in the fire’s general direction. “I’d like to eat sometime today.”
“Thatch, I’m fixing your fire!” Ace shouted just loud enough to be heard over the sound of splashing water before he walked over and let his own flames start a blaze.
“The hell you are!”
A louder splash and a string of obscenity that would put their entire crew to shame later, Thatch stomped his way back to join them with Izou in two. Looking like two drowned cats with their hair plastered to their equally flushed faces, Izou and Thatch only needed to share a glance before shaking the water off. In convenient proximity to Marco and Ace, of course.
“You know, if I’d just accepted the invitation to join the Shichibukai, I wouldn’t have to deal with this crap,” Ace said to no one in particular, protecting his new and improved bonfire, but doing a poor job at hiding his amusement.
It wasn’t often that Izou let go like this.
“Someone needs to feed me,” Izou said before anyone could get a word in. “This is a vacation and I need food before I starve.”
He’d settled in before the fire with his hands in front of him, drying rapidly from the heat.
“That’s your cue, Thatch,” Marco said, leaning back and radiating a clear lack of intent to help out.
“You’re lucky you can’t be trusted to boil water or you’d be put to work right now,” Thatch threatened, as if they hadn’t all met him and his habit to keep food out of everyone’s hands until it was ready to be eaten.
“I can be trusted with water,” Ace told him, raising a hand to volunteer and looking polite enough to warrant a suspicious frown from Thatch.
“You can unpack the meat and then stay outside of touching distance while it cooks,” he said, the apparent suspicion never going away despite all of them knowing Ace could actually cook.
Not as well as Thatch, of course, but very few could.
“What kind of vacation did you say this way again?” Izou asked distractedly, stepping away from the fire as it grew too hot and instead joining Marco at a safe distance from any honest work. His attention lay securely on the treeline that hid whatever had howled in the distance.
Thatch hadn’t bothered looking away from the food he’d taken out of Ace’s hands.
“I never said it was a vacation,” Marco told them, shoulders shaking with laughter. “We can call it quality bonding time.”
The howl sounded again, closer this time and only drowned out by the depth of Thatch’s groan.