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The New World was insane.
For a man like him, who’d always sailed on the more peaceful White Sea and had been on land for longer than that, the New World weather was terrifying.
He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he felt the urge to hug the mast everytime strong waves hit the mast and threatened to overthrow the boat.
He’d been warned more than once to avoid falling into the sea and had felt the effects himself when he’d fallen into the white sea much younger.
He had thankfully been saved at the time, but the feeling of helplessness as your limbs grew heavier and as the power you could always reach for simply disappeared had been terrifying.
So, yes, maybe Enel was scared of the sea.
Still, he’d never let anyone know before and he wouldn’t let anyone know now.
And this nightmare of a sea was worth it when he could spend time with Marco.
The whispers in his ears still lingering after two weeks of sailing with no change to their relationship.
Enel wasn’t an idiot. There were things he didn’t know about and things he didn’t know how to do but those were simply because no one had ever shown him and he’d never thought it would be useful for him to learn either.
Why would one need to know how to cook when you could simply ask your chefs? Or why bother learning to sail with ropes and fabric when dials existed?
Still, it was frustrating to see how the other’s took him for a simpleton who only knew how to fight when his mind was sharper than most.
He was a genius when it came to designing and creating his ships! He’d made one that would’ve been able to sail to the moon! Had it not been for that one mistake he STILL hadn’t figured out. And yes, he’d consciously decided to abandon his quest to find that mistake actively but that didn’t mean the thought didn’t haunt him at night!
He’d almost fallen into the sea!
He cleared his head as he heard the now distinct sound of cannons being fired. He looked around the horizon, expanding his mantra and quickly finding the offending ship.
Really, how annoying could people be?
He almost shot it down on the spot, as he’d done with the marine ships a few weeks prior, when Marco approached him and lowered his hand.
“Come on, leave some of the fun to me yoi.” The man said “Besides, they may have treasure on there we could take.”
He let his hand fall besides him and looked back at the blond. “I guess more gold would be nice.” He agreed and Marco laughed slightly.
“Bold of you to think we’ll let you have any.” He said before catching fire.
He felt his eyes widened slightly but quickly schooled his expression as he watched the man transform into a massive blue bird. Still on fire.
He wouldn’t say he understood what was going on, but by the man (now bird?)’s shout of ‘I’ll be back’ as he took off, Enel figured it would be fine.
Perhaps this was another ability like the one Strawhat had used. Or he used for that matter. Were there more of them? He couldn’t help feeling intrigued at this discovery, wondering how many powers there were and if they were all as powerful as his.
He watched as Marco set fire to the mast, transforming back into a man and killing most of the pirates on board. The blue flames dancing around and illuminating his body were a sight to see. He was sad to watch the man disappear into the bowels of the boat but a smile reached his face as he saw the other come back out with a chest overflowing with gems and gold.
The man morphed into a bird and flew back to their ship, directing his men to get closer to the other boat so they could finish raiding it. Doing it all with a proud smile on his face that Enel couldn’t look away from.
Yes, he thought, It was fitting for a man he liked to be as powerful as him.
Perhaps they could rule over Fairy Vearth together.
He’d never even imagined a day when he would consider someone as an equal, but this man was clearly strong, and Enel was smitten.
He also didn’t think Marco would want to simply be a subordinate. And he didn’t want Marco to be another nameless subordinate either. He’d already remembered his name, after all.
The man walked towards him, smile still gracing his lips.
“Here.” He said and held his hand out and Enel put his own underneath it.
Marco dropped what he was holding in them and Enel brought the item closer for a better look.
It was a simple band of gold. Big enough to go around his wrist. He looked down at the gold already there and melted it, reforming it around his neck instead, before slipping the lone bangle on his left wrist.
He looked at it and then back up at Marco, who seemed slightly redder than he’d been before. “You seemed to like gold.” The man scratched at his face. “We can’t give you a lot, since we have to save for rations, but, well…” He trailed off and understanding dawned on him.
“Thank you.” He said, smiling at the man in front of him.
Marco nodded before abruptly turning around and walking away.
Enel looked back down at his left wrist and found his smile growing slightly. He’d have to be careful not to melt this one.
XxXxXxXxX
Marco wasn’t blind. He could see how the idiot who wanted to go to the moon looked at him. At first, he’d wanted to shut it down, but he’d been unable to resist teasing the other man when he’d come to his room, asking to continue on this trip with him and he simply couldn’t stop.
He’d agreed to this, contrary to what his common sense wanted, and now he’d even gifted the man jewelry.
He tried to excuse it as paying the other for when he’d destroyed the navy ships for them, but that had been weeks ago and he’d already considered it Enel’s own payment for staying on the ship for free (and barely contributing anything, really,)
It wasn’t working.
Enel was handsome. That wasn’t hard to see or admit, but how could Marco fall for a man who knew barely anything of, well, anything!
(and no, he still wasn’t over how one could survive on the grand line WITHOUT A LOG POSE)
He figured he’d find out eventually what the other was good at, because there had to be something, right? But aside from fighting, Marco hadn’t seen much of the other’s intellect shine.
He clearly had to have some form of education because his speech was good, if slightly arrogant.
He just couldn’t figure him out! That was all! That was the one and only reason he thought about the man as he fell asleep or when his paperwork got too repetitive!
He’d managed to convince himself of that at first, anyway, but it soon evolved into thinking of how easy it was for red to spread on his face and he wondered just how low exactly the blush could go.
He’d slapped himself in the face when the thought first appeared before despairing over the end of his peaceful days now that he’d be stuck with the man forever. (Because Marco wanted him and he knew the other would want him as well. He was easy to read.)
He wondered how long they had left until he reached the Moby. He wanted to introduce the man to his brothers.
It was a shame Thatch couldn’t meet him. He would’ve loved him. Would’ve teased Marco to the end of the Earth and maybe Marco would be tempted to flee to the moon then, but he’d never get to endure the other man’s teasing.
His grief was still raw and ugly and he thought maybe that was why pops had sent him on this errand. To give him some time away from the Moby Dick, some time away from the constant reminder of Thatch’s absence.
Some days were harder than others. He’d thought today was a good day, having barely thought of his brother through it.
He should have expected it. It is when one is left alone with their thoughts that the bad comes out, after all.
He let the tears fall from his eyes, trying to muffle the sound of his sobs as best as he could not to alarm anyone else.
He was startled when the door burst open, Enel standing there, eyes wide looking around the room before they settled on Marco and the blond could see tension seeping out of his shoulders.
He straightened, embarrassed to be caught crying and quickly wiped at the tears that were still falling.
Thatch used to burst in his room in quite a similar way and the reminder was both blessing and curse.
Enel walked closer and softly closed the door behind him. Standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.
Marco took pity on him.
“What do you want?” He asked, voice hoarse from trying to hold back the sobs.
“I felt you were upset and got worried.” Enel admitted, looking away and blushing again.
Marco raised an eyebrow “You… felt?” he asked
The man cleared his throat. “Yes, with my Mantra. I felt you were upset.”
“With your Mantra?” Marco was lost. Mantra? What the hell was Mantra? He’d never heard of that before. Still, he pushed the thought away for now. “Anyway, I’m fine. No need to worry.” he coughed and Enel inched closer.
“You are distressed.” He stated and Marco could see how hard it was for the other man to find the right words, his eyes searching all around for the right words. He’d probably never done this before, thought Marco, this man has probably never been vulnerable with anyone, maybe not even himself, he realized, and he chuckled slightly.
This man, clearly so out of his comfort zone, was trying to reassure him or be there for him. It warmed his heart and he felt he could open up maybe just a little. This wasn’t something he could share with most of his crew. They all felt this pain over losing Thatch, but Marco wanted to stay strong for his brothers and sisters.
Ace had already gone after Teach despite Pops telling him not too. He couldn’t let himself be overwhelmed by his emotions too.
“I lost a brother.” He explained, and it was like the dam broke. He started talking and couldn’t stop. Telling Enel about everything he missed from Thatch. About how he couldn’t help thinking of a future with him in it despite knowing he’ll never see him again. About how he simply refused to think of how the other had passed until something reminded him of it and he was catapulted back into despair.
“I will never forgive myself for letting him die. I will never forgive myself for not seeing Teach for who he truly was. All those years he’d been with us! All this time! How could I not notice!” He was almost screaming the words, desperate for them to finally be out in the open.
Enel’s brow furrowed.
“It’s not your fault.” He said.
“But if I’d noticed! If I’d seen Teach for who he really was! I could have saved Thatch!”
“It’s not your fault.” Enel repeated.
“That night, I was supposed to be on watch, not Thatch! It should have been me instead of him!” Marco knew it wasn’t rational, he even shut down all those thoughts himself late at night when Thatch’s memory haunted him, but he still couldn’t stop the words from coming out.
He’d never admitted that part to anyone, well, most of it, but this part especially he would never have admitted out loud. Yet, here he was, opening himself up to a man he’d met a month ago,
“Marco.” Enel looked at him right in his eyes. “It wasn’t your fault.”
And Marco sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.
XxXxXxXxX
Enel watched as the other man cried like he’d never cried before. He, himself, wasn’t much of a crier. He’d barely allowed himself any vulnerability from a very very young age and cursed his lack of knowledge at how to make it stop.
He didn’t want Marco to be sad and blame himself for things he hadn’t even done! And now he’d made the other man cry!
He stood in the room, not wanting to leave, yet not knowing what to do with himself, as the phoenix’s sobs turned more subdued and he finally looked back up from his place crouched on the floor.
“Thank you.”
Enel felt pride and confusion coursed through him. He was glad he was being thanked but couldn’t understand why. He was the one who’d made the other cry, wasn’t he? He was already crying but it definitely got worse after he’d spoken.
He decided not to question it at the moment.
Marco tried to stand back up but swayed on his feet, Enel reaching out his hands to steady him.
He looked down at the shorter man and bent down, securing an arm under his knees and an arm under his shoulders as he picked him up and walked over to the bed, gently setting him down as the other protested.
“I could’ve walked just fine.” he grumbled
“I know.” Enel answered. And he did. He wouldn’t have done it for anyone else but he wanted to.
He rose back to his full height, ready to leave as the man would probably want to sleep alone when a hand grabbed his wrist.
He turned around and looked at Marco.
“Don’t make me say it.” He said and pulled the taller man in the bed with him. Enel letting himself fall ungraciously across it. “Just sleep here from now on.”
And Enel smiled as he curled around the shorter man. Watching him curl in his arms as well, face burying in his chest as his breathing evened out, finally falling asleep, exhausted after the heavy emotional night he’d had.
He found himself smiling again. “Good night, Marco.” he whispered softly before closing his eyes again, never letting go of the man in his arms.