Chapter Text
[“Newgate Out-Of-Towners” Group Chat]
HARUTA - omg guys look at him [img]
THATCH - nonono you do not need another cat
THATCH - Marco tell her she doesnt need another cat
HARUTA - Thatch
HARUTA - this is ALREADY MY CAT
HARUTA - FOR A YEAR NOW YOU IDIOT
THATCH - noooooo why so much cat
HARUTA - YOU CANNOT STOP MEEEEEE
MARCO - What did you need yoi?
THATCH - YOI
HARUTA - YOI
MARCO - You are impossible. What did you need (distinct lack of yoi)?
THATCH - nothing anymore yoi
HARUTA - RIP yoi
MARCO - why are you like this
THATCH - why does Haru have so many dang cats tho
MARCO - How is that my problem?
HARUTA - ur just mad they mess up ur hair mr pompadour
THATCH - I AM ALLERGIC
HARUTA - skill issue
HARUTA - anyway cant you wait til you visit Mar to complain about me and my kitties
THATCH - I can still complain now
MARCO - about that
THATCH - oh no wheres ur punctuation
MARCH - Maybe don’t come, Thatch
THATCH - WHAT
THATCH - ITS BEEN MONTHS I WANNA SEE YOU WDYM DONT COME
HARUTA - woah is everything ok Mar?
MARCO - You guys have heard about that sickness going around, right? Everyone’s coming to the hospital, it’s a hotspot for spreading. We’re out of room and people keep getting sick. You should probably avoid the city altogether.
ACE - Wait whats going on
ACE - ok ok ok. Haruta, cute cat. Marco, wtf r u ok.
ACE - also hi Thatch :)
THATCH - dude of course we’ve heard of it. is it really that bad? news says not to panic and stuff
THATCH - hi Ace :)
HARUTA - We’re getting more animals at the shelter than ever, people keep getting sick and surrendering them. Poor little guys :(
IZOU - I heard the director talking about cancelling the show to avoid the risk of contagion
ACE - yeah Franky said he might close the shop if it gets worse
ACE - also hi Izou :)
IZOU - hi Ace :)
THATCH - welcome to the shitshow izou, haruta doesnt care about my allergies and marco doesnt want to see me T-T
THATCH - business has been slow tho, ig no one wants to go out to eat when there might be a pandemic or smth. I really didnt think it was as bad as all that yet tho…
HARUTA - Mar u there?
MARCO - sorry gtg, be careful
MARCO - Thatch, please don’t come.
……
Ace left the ringer on as he pocketed his phone. The “Newgate Out-Of-Towners” group chat had gone quiet a little while after Marco left. Maybe a pandemic was coming, but for now, they still had bills to pay and jobs to do.
No one had much to add to the chat, either. They were all just worried and pretending they weren’t. Under other circumstances, Ace might’ve been more amused than anything that for once Marco was the one they were worrying about, not him; under other circumstances, though, they wouldn’t need to worry at all, or Marco would be the voice of reason keeping them from worrying too much.
Ace left the break room and walked directly into a haz-mat suit.
Usopp shrieked and jumped back, the sound barely muffled by the suit. “Stay back, creepy flu!”
“Just me, Usopp.” Ace snickered at his younger coworker. He knew Usopp was on the jumpy side, but sheesh.
Usopp slouched, face sinking lower into the suit.
“Where did you get that, anyway? And why?”
“You’ve seen the news, haven’t you? People have started dying of the creepy flu. Dying, Ace! I’m not taking any chances!” Usopp attempted to cross his arms, but the suit made it difficult and mostly resulted in wrinkling yellow canvas.
That stopped Ace in his tracks. “I thought it was only deadly in rare cases.”
“Well the reports are saying the death toll skyrocketed today, and it’ll only get worse!” Usopp waved his suited arms
“Are you sure? Where did you hear all this?”
Usopp just grabbed Ace by the arm and pulled him into the reception room of the shop, where an ancient television set Franky had repaired sat on a counter blaring the latest breaking news: Forty-One Dead Today from Mysterious Plague Sweeping the Nation
Forty-one.
It wasn’t just the two of them; three customers and Franky himself stood watching the news as a reporter with a tremor in her voice advised viewers to “exercise caution, avoid crowds, and wash your—”
The feed glitched as the headline updated and reporters switched out of sync: Over One Hundred Dead Today from Mystery Illness
Ace noticed Usopp was still clutching his arm. He didn’t pull away. How could he, when the reporter was talking about hospital morgues in danger of overflowing? He put a hand on his phone. It was silent.
A new breaking story interrupted the previous reports. Ace felt Usopp shudder beside him, or maybe that was him. One of the customers ran out of the shop.
Mysterious Plague Victim Revitalized After Cannibalizing Dead Victim
Ace ran to the monitor to find a location tag, squinting at the unsteady visuals and glitchy old screen, praying to no one—
Sphinx General Hospital
Shit. Shit shit shit, that was where Marco worked, his brother was there right now—
“Doctors have been struggling to restrain the cannibalistic patient. Police have been called to the site but are unable to reach the hospital due to traffic from incoming patients—one moment—I’m getting reports now that a similar situation has occurred in Thriller Bark—”
The TV switched off.
Ace could barely feel Franky’s hand on his shoulder. “Let’s close early today, yeah?”
Ace shrugged him off and forced himself to take a step back and breathe.
“Let me give you a ride. You’re not looking so super right now.”
“Thanks, Franky,” Ace mumbled.
The ride back to his apartment was full of sirens that Ace couldn’t hear. The world felt removed, like a layer of skin had grown over his eyes and ears, blocking him off. All that felt real was his phone screen, his most recent message: Marco, please tell me you’re okay.
There was no reply.
Ace felt like a child hugging his knees to his chest and staring out the window, jostled to and fro in Franky’s well-loved pickup. Franky left the radio on low and switched it when the news came on. Ace caught only snatches: mounting death toll—shelter in place—increasingly violent—unable to restrain—do not engage—
Franky gave him another long, serious look with a hand on his shoulder once he parked outside the apartment complex. “Stay safe, yeah?”
Ace mumbled a “you too” and went directly inside.
Deuce let Ace into their apartment, where he was greeted with the sight of stacks of nonperishable food. “Just in case.”
Ace nodded. Passed him. Sat down. Turned on the news.
“The initial violent plague victim was subdued by a head trauma patient in Sphinx General, but incidents of plague cannibalism have been occurring nationwide, with some reports even claiming that the violent infected were in fact deceased patients who broke out of the morgue.”
Deuce waved a hand in the corner of Ace’s vision. “You have to eat something.” He side-eyed the TV with a frown.
Ace kept watching the news with one hand on his phone.
He was frozen like that until a reporter said that the infected had started attacking non-infected as well.
He opened his phone, he had to check on his family again, but he’d been flooded with messages since the last time he’d checked. Franky was cancelling work indefinitely, and Usopp had already left to care for his infected girlfriend. His old friend Yamato wanted to make sure he was safe. Namur let him know the farm was still safe and asked if he was okay. Thatch was scrambling to keep his ingredients from spoiling. His pops told him to come home to the farm if he could, and to stay safe and be careful.
Marco was silent.