Chapter Text
On one of the far islands of Sabaody, was a little cottage hidden behind one of the large stumps of a Yarukiman Mangrove. Now there was nothing unsettling about the cottage in particular, it had the usual white brick walls with a quaint garden in the back, two square windows at the front, an oak door and slanted planked roofs.
However, its location was peculiar… It was Far FAR away from any of the amusement parks or commercial areas that littered the Sabaody archipelago. Instead the dwelling sat isolated, with the only sounds for miles being the lapping of waves against the island’s shores and the whispers of the mangroves in the trees above.
It gave the inhabitants about as much privacy as one could get, but that was very much NEEDED for the conversations that conspired in this cottage. For if anyone found out what was discussed between those four walls, planked floor and slanted roof, the world would never recover.
So that’s how Marco found himself dressed in the darkest clothes he owned, no bright purple jacket or blinding teal sash today, no no no, he was dressed head to toe in a long black trench coat he had found in Izou’s closet, black clad pants from Thatch, a black wide brimmed hat he had snatched off Vista’s head when he wasn’t paying attention and black sunglasses that we’re pop’s so they covered way more than just his eyes (more like his whole face).
So really it wasn’t the darkest clothes “he” owned, more like his family’s clothes he borrowed without their knowledge. But he DEFINITELY needed them more than they did. If anyone saw who he was and where he was going tonight, his life would be over, metaphorically and physically.
And so, Marco trudged towards the cottage on the outskirts of Sabaody, having to walk of course as a turning into a big blue flaming bird and flying there, would’ve been the same as announcing what he was doing on a large-scale speaker and all his efforts to look inconspicuous would’ve been wasted.
So, under the cover of nightfall and his disguise, he slipped between buildings, melting into the shadows like a true master of concealment and made the tedious journey out to grove number ** (Not even you can know).
At last he rounded the last Yarukiman Mangrove, and came face to face with his obsolete destination. The little cottage.
Before he continued, he took one last sweep of the area, confirming no one had followed him and then he stepped up to the door. And he knocked.
Obviously with every secret lair, you needed a secret password. So, Marco knocked rhythmically to the melody of Bink’s Brew:
♫ Gather up all of the crew, it’s time to ship out Bink’s Brew, Sea wind blows, to where? Who knows? The waves will be our guide! ♫
Huh. No response.
‘That’s strange’ He thought. Did they not hear him?
So, he tried again, a little quicker this time. Stressed as all this knocking out here could blow his freaking cover!
♫ Gather Up aLl of thE crew, it’s tiMe to ShIp out biNk’s BreW, SEa wiNd blows, to wHerE? wHo knOws? The waves will be our guide! ♫
Still. nothing.
That oak door stood there, unflinching as whoever was inside, rudely REFUSED to open it.
‘C’mon they had to know it was him- Who else would be here at this ungodly hour!?’ He thought and he was literally knocking the code! Can they just open the goddamn door!
Marco was getting irritated now, so he raised his fist to not really ‘knock’ but BANG on the door this time, because he was tired and cold and going to be FOUND any second if they didn’t LET HIM IN!
♫ GATHER UP ALL OF THE-
His fist fell on empty air, as the door suddenly swung open, the sudden force causing him to step back a bit as he came face to face with who he had come here to meet in the first place.
“We really have to change that fucking code because your sense of rhythm is SHIT” Koala looked at him deadpanned, her eyes containing all the irritation a mother would have at a crying child in the middle of the night.
“What the hell do you mean!? I was clearly knocking Bink’s Brew!” Marco replied in a shouty whisper, “ALSO keep your voice down! Someone could HEAR us…” He made a shushing motion at her, which she promptly rolled her eyes at.
“OK! Well I wouldn’t have to be quiet if you would just get inside already, instead of flapping around out here!” She threw her thumb back over her shoulder gesturing to the hall behind, and started walking in.
‘God he wasn’t flapping around out there! He wasn’t even in bird form- ‘He thought as he followed her into the cottage and into the main room where the other person, he was supposed to see tonight was.
The cottage only had three rooms really, a small bedroom that was at the back of the house with a rickety old bed they were too scared to sit on (in case it might collapse), an even SMALLER bathroom that Marco often had a hard time squeezing in as it was frankly one block wide and the lounge/kitchen area, that was larger than one block wide but still small enough that it could only fit one stove, table and couch.
The couch was the only thing you could really sit on without fearing for your ass ending up on the floor, as the chairs for the table were nearly as bad as the bed AND they had the lovely addition of splinters protruding from all angles. So, your ass wasn’t JUST on the floor, it was on the floor AND full of needles.
So, as Marco entered the living area, he made a beeline for the couch so he could SIT down (he was tired from walking okay, he usually flew everywhere when he walked too much his feet got really sore) but lo and behold, of course he fucking couldn’t -
Because lounging across the whole couch so no one else could sit down like the prick he was, Trafalgar Law laid selfishly taking up the entirety of the one safe place to sit in the entire fucking cottage.
Of course.
The man was reading some medical book that Marco had actually recommended him, ok… , that wasn’t going to DISTRACT him from this couch stunt. His golden eyes flicked up meeting Marco’s as Koala came into the room.
“Oh hey Marco, didn’t see you there?” Ha. Ha. Very funny, Marco was going to bite back, tell Law to get off the fucking couch but… he was tired, his feet were tired, his mind was tired and his fist was tired from knocking on the damn door. So … just this once, he would let Law get away with taking over the couch, instead Marco leant against the wall, at least he could take some pressure off his aching feet.
“It’s good to see you to Law” He smiled and it was genuine; it’d been a while since he’d met up with the Heart’s captain. Law smiled back the previous animosity vanishing.
However, not for long… because Koala certainly wasn’t letting it go.
“Law if you don’t stop being a dick and taking over the entire couch, I will GRAB that den den mushi, DIAL Straw hat’s number, and tell him you LOST his fucking hat”
“OH SHIT! You lost his hat-yoi” Marco’s eyes went wide with shock, woah, he was not expecting that.
Law sat straight up, a sour expression taking over his features “NO I DIDN’T FUCKING LOSE IT! I know where it is, I just NEED your HELP getting it!”
“You lost ‘Straw hat’ Luffy’s, straw hat! That is so bad!” Marco laughed shaking against the wall, he couldn’t help it knowing Law was in deep shit but simultaneously he sympathised with how stressed the man probably was.
“You’re not fucking helping Marco.” Law gritted through his teeth, “AND YOU!” He pointed an accusatory finger towards Koala “I thought we agreed we were going to bring that up at the end!”
“Oh for goodness sake, don’t worry it’s just Marco” She plopped down beside Law on the now vacant couch seat, sighing.
“He would’ve found out eventually, besides- it’s your OWN fault for being a dick and taking up the couch knowing we are ALL tired because it’s midnight and we’ve been slinking around Sabaody all day trying to get here. So, you might want to turn that finger back to yourself” She flicked his wrist, so Law was now pointing at himself.
“Yeah but now it’s just going to be the focus of tonight, when we REALLY should be discussing other things!” He exclaimed.
“Traffy trust me, you losing Luffy’s hat is pretty interesting, but we are discussing a lot more interesting things tonight” Marco said grinning.
“See! Marco’s right. Also you know this is a judgement free zone!” Koala patted Law’s still stiff shoulders in an attempt to comfort the man, however he only looked even more tense.
“Fine! Whatever you guys say- see if I care.” He grumbled casting his gaze off to the side, Marco shook his head smiling, this was going to be a loooong night.
“Ok!” Koala clasped her hands together, “now that everyone has calmed down, let’s get comfortable and then lets … get down to business” She grinned, obviously excited for what was to come and honestly Marco couldn’t blame her, he also always looked forward for these meetings.
They were hard to schedule as majority of the time all three of them were swamped with duties and work, not to mention they were often MILES away on opposite ends of the grand line, so they often had to set a time months in advance to get all their schedules to line up. They also had to come up with an achievable meeting spot, that was secluded but still easy to reach- Sabaody archipelago worked in that regard as it was in the centre of the grand line, easy to reach from both sides.
So, when the night finally came, of course everyone was excited. And honestly, Marco NEEDED this, he had bottled up a lot for way too long, and honestly Koala and Law probably needed it JUST as badly too.
So, Marco slipped out of his incognito fit and revealed the comfortable phoenix themed tracksuit jumper and pants pair underneath. Courtesy of Law’s tailor (the one that made all his crew’s custom clothes) all three of them had matching tracksuits, Marco’s had little phoenixes on them, Koala’s had little suns and Law’s had the heart pirate’s symbol.
(Law SAID his was custom made to match with the rest of them... but Marco had the sneaking suspicion that the heart pirates captain already owned several tracksuits plastered with his own jolly roger…)
Once everyone was comfortable, Koala spoke up “Ok before we start- Everyone say the oath” She placed one of her hands in the air and the other across her heart. Law rolled his eyes but did the same reluctantly, while Marco smiled as he raised his hand too.
“I swear by the seas whatever is SAID in the cottage, STAYS in the cottage.” They all said in unison proudly. So now it begins…
“OK SO-“ “I REALLY NEED TO TELL YOU GU-“ “GUESS WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDA-“
They all stared at each other for a moment, before bursting out laughing.
“Oh this will be a LONG night-“ Marco said still giggling, geez they all had a LOT to say.
“Ok Ok guys one at a time” Koala said sounding out of breath from her laughter fit.
“Koala, ladies first, you go” Law gestured to her, giving her the floor.
“Aw thanks guys- Phew, Ok! So, the first thing I need to put out there is Sabo has REALLY bad morning breath, like REALLY REALLY bad. So basically, one morning I woke up and….” She gestured animatedly as she dove into the story of how she was basically fighting for her life every morning because Sabo was genuinely breathing out toxic fumes.
“Honestly I’d rather breathe in Caesar’s gas-“
“No you wouldn’t-“
“I WOULD! LAW- you don’t know how BAD it is!” She exclaimed putting her head in her hands, while the rest of them laughed.
Ahh Marco missed this and he cast his mind back to the night this all began …