Chapter Text
Luffy grinned, practically vibrating with energy. He had just defeated Kaido! He had became one of the Four Emperors, just like Shanks!
“Oh! Pineapple!” Luffy bounced over, takoyaki in one hand and ramen in another. “How’re you doing?” He grinned, bright and wide.
Marco smiled back. “Gods, this is like dealing with another Ace. Luffy, please swallow before you speak.” He had given up trying to tell Luffy his name was ‘Marco’, and not ‘Pineapple’.
Luffy nodded furiously. Quickly, he slurped down the rest of the food, his stomach comically growing bigger as he burped, letting out a satisfied sigh. “Yeah! Sabo used to yell at me and Ace all the time, because we kept fighting with food in our mouths! He said, ‘Oh, don’t do that, you’ll choke!’”
Marco simply raised an eyebrow. “I’m not surprised.”
Letting out a small sigh, Luffy’s bright smile faltered for a bit. “I really wish Ace was here though.”
Sensing the younger pirate’s emotions, Marco led Luffy off to a secluded spot overlooking a valley to distract him. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
“Un!”
Marco exhaled, turning into his avian form, gold beak clicking as his tail feathers fluttered behind him. Azure flames mixed with bits of orange here and there danced mesmerizingly, reflecting in the other’s eyes.
“Wow,” Luffy breathed. “That’s so cool. Roast pineapple chicken.”
The doctor’s eyebrow twitched in irritation. He flicked his tail, annoyed, causing the shifting blues on his feathers to brighten as his flames curled around him, growing hotter instinctively.
Luffy reached out to stroke the bird’s head, but stopped at the last moment when Marco clicked his beak warningly.
“Please?” Luffy gave his best puppy dog eyes.
Marco relented. The kid was too similar to Ace for his own good.
The straw hat wearer whooped in joy, acting more like a seven year old than his age. He patted the feathers, oohing and ahhing. “Wow. It’s so, so, soft.”
Well, at least Marco had distracted Luffy for a bit from his thoughts about Ace. He wasn’t distracted though; he often wondered what if they were a minute earlier , what if Thatch never found that devil fruit, what if, what if, what if…? Luffy may have gotten over Ace’s death, but he hadn’t. Oyaji’s death had hurt too, and he would sacrifice himself without even thinking about it to save the ones he loved.
And now Izou was gone as well.
Luffy pulled him out of his thoughts with a particularly hard pat. Marco pecked him, and Luffy immediately apologized.
Then Marco stopped, sensing something. He hadn’t felt the sensation for a long time.
Rumbling. The world was slanting on its axis. His eyes widened in alarm, because oh-my-fucking-god there were cracks in the fucking ground and he had to protect Luffy because Ace would never, ever, forgive him if he let something happen to his precious baby brother-
Cracks. Cracks like Whitebeard’s fruit.
Cracks like Oyaji’s fruit.
But Teach had stolen it, unless he was here in Wano….
But Marco knew, inside, that Teach wasn’t here and something else was happening.
What was it?
Then the ground opened beneath them, and he and Luffy fell.
Known to most as the World’s Strongest Man, Edward “Whitebeard” Newgate stood at the bow of the Moby Dick, a bold image as his many adopted sons and daughters remained behind him, no doubt itching to fight for their brother.
The Marines had foolishly pissed off the wrong pirate this time. Whitebeard slammed his fists into nothing , yet cracks still appeared in the air. The entirety of Marineford shook, earthquakes taking over as the sound of rushing waves filled the air. The whole of Marineford was cast into a shadow as a giant tsunami, bigger than many islands combined, threatening to decimate everything to the ground.
“ …THAT MAN HOLDS THE POWER TO DESTROY THE VERY WORLD! ”
So great was the noise that almost no one noticed when a certain blonde accompanied by a man in a straw hat fell out of thin air, cursing and sputtering.
Key word; almost.
Both Edward Newgate and his First Division Commander, Marco, prided themselves on the fact that they weren't surprised often. Yet here they were; the former’s eyes widening slightly while the latter’s jaw went slack.
Indeed, that was a less than normal reaction considering that Marco was facing himself, just slightly older, on the ground, cursing as he sat up.
Ace noticed as well. After all, he was focused on his father and siblings, ready to throw their lives away at a moment’s notice just to save him. Save his useless, useless, life, shouldn't have been born, should have been drowned at death, a curse, a sin on the world, bringing misfortune to anyone who got close to him -
Then Luffy fell out of the air, as well as another Marco.
The first thing that happened to Ace was his “overprotective mother hen mode”, as Sabo would have called it. WHERE THE FUCK HAD LUFFY GOTTEN THAT SCAR ON HIS CHEST?!?!?!?!
Then the reality of the situation sunk in, and he began to wonder why there were two Marco’s, both bearing their father's mark, so similar, yet there was something different . The new Marco looked slightly older than the one standing proudly by Whitebeard.
Come to think of it, Luffy did look older than he’d last seen him a couple months ago…. He was no doctor, but he knew that Luffy had no scar on his chest in Alabasta and this Luffy did have one- one completely healed.
Too confusing.
Ugh.
(Marco, Present Marco’s Point Of View-ish)
Marco, present Marco, blinked at the carbon copy of himself, very and understandably confused.
Why was there another Marco? What the hell was going on?
Whitebeard merely laughed. “What an interesting development!”
“Pops, this isn’t funny.” Marco frowned, watching himself sit up, blink, and pinch himself. He repeated this same action multiple times before cursing, “Well, fuck .”
The strawhatted kid next to him, bounded up to present Marco. “Hey! Pineapple head! There’s two of you now!”
“...I can see that, yoi.”
His other self walked up to him, frowning as he put his hand on Luffy’s shoulder. “This is very confusing, but….I think we traveled. Through time.”
“EH?!?!?!?!?!” Luffy blinked owlishly at both Marcos. “What d’you mean?”
“Please, Luffy, take a look at your surroundings.” Other Marco sighed, pushing up his glasses.
Luffy swiveled his neck, bending his head in ways that should not have been possible. “Marco, we’re at Marineford.” His voice was no longer bright, on the contrary it sounded sullen. The boy’s eyes hardened, and it somehow seemed to be shaded by his straw hat.
Other Marco looked at present Marco. “You have to save Ace,” he said firmly, before walking over to Pops.
He watched the two exchange words, before Whitebeard nodded gravely.
A sudden beam of light flashed, and Marco intercepted Kizaru. He vaguely noticed that the tsunami had been stopped by Aokiji; he should have realized earlier, but he had been distracted by the time-travelers….
“You have to save Ace.”
Well, that was concerning. Was his future self implying that they had failed and Ace had died because of them? Unlikely.
Pushing his thoughts out of his mind, Marco merely smirked as his familiar blue flames surrounded him, dancing protectively. “Can’t take out the king this early in the game, Borsalino.”
The Admiral merely smirked.
Luffy…didn’t know what to feel for once. He was back at Marineford, back where Ace had died.
But Pineapple had said that they had traveled through time! And he was usually right!
So he wasn’t going to fail a second time. He would succeed.
Something dangerous flashed in his eyes, a hint of a familiar drumbeat. But it was too soon for it. Later.
When he would face Akainu, when he would face Blackbeard.
The bay froze over, courtesy of Aokiji. Whitebeard grinned dangerously.
“LET’S GO!”
“AYE!”
With a mighty roar, the pirates charged the marines, weapons clashing against each other.