Ace hurried down the dark corridors as a excited feeling bubbled in his stomach, he had made everything in his power, which was a LOT, to get the night shift in the sixth level in the enormous prison.

There were very few guards that would willingly pick that shift for the simple reason that some of the times most notorious criminals were held there, and even if they were chained up and behind bars, it was hard not to feel uneasy down there.

It was usually used as a threat or a punishment to get placed down there, and the only reason Ace had willingly got himself in trouble was for the fact that there was an inmate that he really wanted to see, he could barely believe it when he heard the news from the excited Marines that brought him in a week ago.

Flashback

"Oi Ace, have you heard the good news?"

I Frowned as I looked over their faces, good things hardly came with this guy being in that mood, Me and him have never liked each other, and probably never would.

"What, are they transferring you somewhere else so that I doesn't have to see you ever again? Because that sounds good to me" I answered coldly.

The marine smirked, pleased with something. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what.

"No, but I guess it would be nice not having to see you either.. although, the news is that I caught THE Marco the phoenix" he answered proudly, I quirked an eyebrow at this, "Marco the phoenix? The whitebeard pirate"? I thought.

"What, was he dead or something? Because that doesn't count" I said, I just couldn't help it, I HAD to tease him.

"No he wasn't! I saw him in a village, I ordered him to surrender, he refused stupid as he was and attacked me, and after a fierce full fight on life and death I successfully injured him and the rest is history." The jerk marine said, still smirking.

Another marine sighed, "Jones, we ALL know you didn't catch him, he was already injured when WE attacked, and the only reason we got a hold on him at all is because he fell into the ocean, probably due to his injury. He had no chance to fight in the first place" he said.

I broke down laughing at the look on The jerk's face. It was too priceless.

After a while I had somewhat calmed down, and stood up from the floor since I had fallen to the ground in uncontrollable laughter, and whipped away the tears forming in my eyes.

"Well well Jones, nice story there". I said still laughing a bit before starting to walk away.

"Make sure to keep to that story, I'd LOVE to see your face when whitebeard cut's your head off later because you took his first division commander" I said with a wink, seeing The jerk pale and looking at me with wide eyes I smirked and walked down the corridor, whistling bink's sake and already starting to plan a prank that definitely would get me to the sixth level, where I was sure a certain commander was.

End of Flashback

I smiled as I thought of Jones reactions to the reminder of exactly whose crew the commander belonged to, and if the words would reach out to whitebeard that Jones had been the one to capture Marco, he'd be dead for sure. No matter what he said, he'd be no match for the Yonko at all, and honestly, It would be less believable if I fell in to the ocean and didn't turn into a hammer, than the fact than JONES of all people would have been able to capture the commander by himself. The man was a monster, well, from what he had heard. At least.

I turned a corner and hummed as I walked up to a door, pressed a few buttons, and pressed the door open.

The block was designed in that way that it could only be opened if you had the code to 3 different doors that led in to the cells, the elevator you took down to the room where you could sit and relax if you got bored with the death threats thrown at you, and the door to that room. All of this to make sure that even if someone miraculously got out of their cell, there was no way they would be able to escape.

It was a bit silly, I honestly couldn't understand why they needed all of this damn security, there where thousands of guards, and shouldn't the elevator and like, oh I don't know… one door maybe, be enough? But noo, 4 freaking doors and the elevator. It took way too much time for nothing to get through all of those damn doors in my opinion anyway.

"Finally here" I thought excitedly as I stepped through last door and was met by the marine who had the first part of the late shift.

"Ah, Ace! Your turn to keep these low lives company again?" The marine, Leo, if I remembered correctly.

I simply rolled my eyes and hummed before waving him off, already searching for the subject of my happy mood that had brought me here in the first place, ignoring the comments the pirates shouted at me.

"Hey, pretty boy come over here"

"Hmmm I'd really like a piece of that"

"Go back to your mother brat" i actually frowned at that one, thinking about throwing a small fireball at the man but decided against it, i had more important stuff to do.

It was at the end of the block, it was a bit darker than the rest of the level, his arms was chained to the wall above him, he was leaning forward, his head hanging hiding his face.

His purple shirt was torn and the skin that was showing looked a bit bruised.

I slowly walked closer, wondering if he was a sleep, of if he had passed out for some reason.

I looked him over again and frowned as I noticed a rather big bruise in the lower part of his stomach that was continuing down the edge of his black pants.

Yes, this man was a very infamous pirate with a bounty of 958,000,000 beri, and yes they were marines, but that didn't mean I approved on the little game the marines liked to play with the pirates. Namely, beating them up as much as possible without killing them just for the satisfaction.

To show them that the power now was in their hand's, and the pirate could do nothing about it.

It was so stupid, and I felt an uneasy feeling bubbling in my chest as I realized that this poor guy would have it worse than any other since he was who he was, I knew that feeling way to well, being who I am.

I was brought out of my deep thoughts as footsteps broke the "silence" and i looked to my right, seeing a couple of Marines walk down the corridor.

I frowned at the sight, the time had passed eleven by far, it was almost in the middle of the night, what were they doing here by this hour?

"Ah! Ace, didn't know you had the night shift"? A woman with blue green hair said, smiling.

"Vice Admiral Mojica, what brings you here"? I answered, looking at the Marines with a raised eyebrow.

"It's in the middle of the night after all".

The woman's smile widened as she looked at the pirate in the cell, and I understood, frowning but not saying anything.

What would I say anyway, nothing would make them not torturing this man, I would only get punished, perhaps even get discharged for defending a criminal.

"Fetch him, we don't got all night" the woman said before turning around, walking into a room they used for this kind of things, the idea was to get the other prisoners to fear them, another silly thing.

I would never understand why marines where so dead set on showing off their power, the people in here would never leave this place anyway, and if they did they'd be walking against their own execution. There was no need to play all power full and act like we marines were better as we beat the prisoners up.

They have no way to defend themselves, and only because they are criminals it doesn't mean they arn't human.

Treating any human like some of the marines did, it honestly made them the lowest of the low according to myself.

"It makes them no better than even the worst pirate ever could be, I wonder when they are going to realize that". I thought angrily and pressed my eyes shut as the man in the room let out a piercing scream drenched in pain.

"Man I wish he wouldn't scream" I thought.

It was about an hour later when they finally left the room, chained to commander to the wall once again and left.

As soon as the sounds of their footsteps disappeared I walked up to the cell and my eyes widened at what I saw.

The pirate looked like crap.

Bruises was already starting to show, his lip was bleeding, he had a big wound on his cheek, and over his chest, and he also had a few smaller cuts here and there, but they all bled quite a bit.

I wondered how the hell the man had kept his mouth shut, since i hadn't heard a sound since that first scream.

Suddenly the pirates head jerked up and looked right at me.

I felt a bolt of electricity go through my stomach and frowned as I saw the enormous black eye he had, he was breathing heavily and I could see that I was in a lot of pain and made a decision. I turned around and walked back to the other side of the corridor, put a few things in a bag took a key and walked back.

I opened and walked into the cell, i could feel him looking at me and looked back.

He still looked like he was in pain, of course, but still looked at me with a look as if he was saying, "What are YOU going to do, I'm not scared of pain, so bring it you bastard".

I rolled my eyes at the look and walked over to him after locking the cell behinde me and then sat down beside him, opening the bag.

I took out some of the food I had brought and put it in front of his mouth, he didn't eat it and kept on watching me with a now, bored look, since he probably had gotten to the conclusion that I probably wasn't going to hurt him, or he was a really good actor.

I sighed, a bit annoyed at his stubbornness, I knew he was hungry. They hadn't fed him since he was brought in, and that was like a freaking week ago!

"Come on, just eat will you" I said with an unimpressed voice.

The pirate didn't answer and raised an eyebrow; a slight blush appeared on his cheeks as his stomach rumbled.

"we both know you haven't eaten for days, and I KNOW you are starving, and that you want the food, so stop being stubborn and eat the damn food while it's warm". I said in a tired voice.

The pirate pressed his lips together and eyed the food, swallowed, and I could see the longing, the want and the hunger clearly in his electric blue eyes, he clearly wanted the food, so why didn't he eat it?

Pride? Maybe. But I'd be DAMED if this guy was going to starve because of that.

I smiled as I got a plan, it was evil and stupid I knew that, but I was ready to try any stupid idea at all if it could get the guy to eat something.

And I breathed in, and blew at the food I was holding, making its sent blow right in to the commander's face.

The commander shut his eyes as his stomach rumbled again and looked at the side and… was that drool on his chin? "Geeeezzz this guy is SO STUBBORN IT'S DRIVING ME NUTS" I thought and frowned.

"Oh come on. I know it sucks to be stuck here waiting to die, but just... just eat something okay your starving we both know that, and I don't want you to starve. Just because I work here doesn't mean I agree with everything, and starving people just because of what they are is one of them."

The commander turned his head and looked at the food with want in his eyes and swallowed again as his stomach rumbled once again.

" Marco, you have been tortured half the time you have spent here, and I'm not going to be a part of that by watching you starve to death, you know you want to eat it, you are drooling even, just lean forward and eat the food I'm offering, no as a marine, but as a fellow human being wanting to help another". I said in a serious voice looking at him.

Those words seems to be last straw for the commander as he leaned forward and ate the piece of food, making me smile a warm smile as the man almost started crying as he chewed the food and opened his mouth as soon as I brought the next piece up to his mouth.

I fed him around half the food I had brought for him, enough to feed 3 people, I knew he was still hungry, but his injuries really needed to be taken care of.

The commander looked at me as I took out the disincentive, a needle, and some bandage; he looked somewhat shocked as started to clean and tend to his wounds, but didn't say anything.

I realized that I hadn't once heard the man speak; I kind of wondered how the man sounded as I was putting some cream to the black eye.

As soon as I was done I started the feeding process until Marco shook his head to more food.

I smiled a little at the fact that the man for the first time in days wasn't hungry, and sent a mental kick in the butts to the people who had decided to let the guy starve.

That was just cruel.

"What jerks" I thought as I brought up the water bottle to the commanders lips, who drank greedily and I frowned, didn't they even let him freaking drink or what?

I stayed in the cell for the most part of my shift, only leaving to check on the other inmates.

I spent the most of the time talking, or feeding Marco, who happily ate the food since we both knew he wouldn't get any food for a while.

He stayed quiet the whole time, looking down in the floor.

At the end of the shift, as Ace left the cell and locked the cell door behind him and walked down the corridor, the man in the cell smiled, "Thank you" he whispered, too quiet for the guard to hear over the sound of the inmates screaming their threats.

-x-

Marco's POV

"Stupid, stupid STUPID!" I thought to myself, how could I ever be so stupid to get into this position?

The answer was easy, I had gotten injured in a battle with an enemy crew, it was very VERY rare for me to get injured at all because of my powers, but the bastard unfortunately knew haki and I had let my guard down way to fast.

Then those annoying ass marines had showed up during a storm and I fell overboard, resulting in being captured.

I thought I had been here for about a week, and I was tired, soar, and freaking STARVING!

I was so hungry that I barley felt hungry, It was more like my stomach had disappeared and been replaced with a black hole, demanding to be feed with whatever was small enough to fit into my mouth.

The only problem was that i refused to eat anything that they tried to give me.

Like hell i wanted to eat the marines food, that shit could be poisoned, not that it really mattered, since i am going to be executed eventually, but still.

Well, to be honest, the first few days no one had even bothered to even try to give me food, fine with me, i didn't want it anyway, even if my body said otherwise.

But then, my third day here I think, a young guard I hadn't seen before stopped in front of my cell, walking in and putting that amazing smelling food right under my nose.

Of course I refused to eat it, and eventually he left.

Then the procedure repeated itself until one day, I was coming back from being tortured again, and damn i was beat.

i just wanted to go to sleep, i was more starving than ever since i hadn't been eating for like a week, barley getting enough water to survive.

I felt someone looking at me and jerked my head up to see the young guard looking at me with wide eyes, anger shining in his eyes before he turned around walking away.

I looked after him, my heart beating rapidly in my chest, I kind of liked the young guard, he's the only one who seemed to look at me like I was actually human, and also the only one who actively seemed to try to actually keep me alive.

What I didn't understand was why.

I sighed and bowed my head.

"Alone again". I thought disappointed.

A few minutes later I heard a pair of footsteps, and I hoped it was the guard and NOT another jerk ass marine who liked to cause pain to pirates, I honestly didn't feel like getting another beating tonight.

I looked up as the person got closer "YES" I thought as I saw who it was.

But as soon as he opened the door to the cell I felt my heart drop, "Crap, not the food again" I thought as he sat down and opened the bag, took a piece of food and offered it to me.

"Come on, just eat will you" He said with an unimpressed voice.

I didn't answer and raised an eyebrow, I felt my cheeks warm up as my stomach rumbled.

"We both know you haven't eaten for days, and I KNOW you are starving,

And that you want the food, so stop being stubborn and eat the damn food while it's warm".

The guard, Ace said in a tired voice.

I pressed my lips together and eyed the food, swallowed; i really really, REALLY wanted to eat the food,

but being fed wasn't high on my to do list,

and i still didn't feel like eating anything the marines brought me,

even if it did smell good, and was being brought by the only marine who's presence i actually could accept.

Suddenly, the guard blew at the food, making the smell blow me right in the face. "That was just playing dirty" i though and i closed my eyes as my stomach rumbled again. I turned my head to the side and i could feel saliva drizzling down my chin, crap... was i fucking drooling? What the damn hell!?

"Oh come on. I know it sucks to be stuck here waiting to die, but just..

just eat something okay your starving we both know that, and I don't want you to starve.

Just because I work here doesn't mean I agree with everything,

and starving people just because of what they are is one of them."

I turned my head and saw the frown on the guards face, understanding that he was being serious. I swallowed again as my stomach rumbled and i looked at the food, it looked really really good, and smelled even better than good...

"Marco, you have been tortured half the time you have spent here,

and I'm not going to be a part of that by watching you starve to death,

you know you want to eat it, you are drooling even, just lean forward and eat the food I'm offering,

I'm not doing this as a marine, but as a fellow human being wanting to help another".

He said in a serious voice.

Those words were the final push i needed and i leaned forward and ate the piece of food.

"Holy shit this is good" i thought and i could literally feel my eyes tearing up as i chewed the

Food and the next time the guard brought a piece of food to my mouth i didn't even hesitate to open my mouth, having lost to the hunger.

The guard kept on feeding me enough to food for 3 people,

I was still hungry when he suddenly stopped and i was a bit disappointed even if i knew i should be grateful. i looked at the guard as he took a needle, disinfectant, and bandages out of the bag and was kind of shocked as he started to tend to my wounds. "Why does he care"? i wondered.

When he was done, he took out more food out of the bag, and to say i was happy as i realized that it was for me would be a big understatement.

He kept on feeding me until i shook my head to more food, and i was touched by the gesture, that he actually had been coming here every night trying to feed me, not giving up and finally i had given in, and he had fed me until i couldn't eat anymore, and not only that, he had taken care of the wounds i had, making sure they wouldn't get infected and he had even looked at my old injurie, the one that made me get captured to make sure it was healing nicely.

I was brought out of my thoughts as a water bottle was touching my lips and i drank eagerly. What could i say, i was thirsty as hell.

The guard stayed in my cell for the most part of the night, talking about everything and nothing, while feeding me now and then to make sure i ate all the food.

i didn't complain, after all, i didn't know when i would eat the next time so why not.

It was nice, to have some company, even though i stayed quiet while he talked, it took away the loneliness from being locked up like this.

Being alone this much wasn't really my thing, having 1600 siblings did that to you.

I wondered if the guard had the slightest idea how nice it felt having him there keeping me company i thought as the guard left the cell, it was the ending of his shift, and i closed my eyes and smiled.

"Thank you" I whispered as he walked through the corridor with the inmates yelling after him.

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