This is the last chapter of Following the Clouds (and how strange it is to actually finish a fic~). I'm not saying 'no' to writing someday something more in the verse, whether it's the Skull vs Blackbeard some people suggested or other KHR characters landing their asses in One Piece, so feel free to drop ideas how they could get there or what would they do/whom they'd join/who'd they hit it off with. Who knows? Maybe one day there will be a little fic with completely different Flames there ;)

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Betaread by ReadingAtTheSpeedOfLight o/

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Sometimes he hated his Devil Fruit, yoi.

Don't get him wrong, the powerboost to protect his family was nice.

Flying was something beautiful.

Healing was useful too.

But the price Marco had to pay for it…

It was a terrible, terrible price.

Not only he could no longer swim, which… Fine he could deal with. After all - Flying! But he also started to age a lot slower than normal human.

And that…

With every wrinkle on Pops' face… Every time one of his siblings decided to settle on an island because of their creaky bones… It was hitting him again.

That was something he'll never experience.

He won't get to grow old and settle down to complain about youngsters…

He won't get to share that part of him with another person.

He won't get to follow his family in the Afterlife.

They'll leave him in this world.

To stay… Forever.

Unchanging.

Alone.

…

But that was the fate of a Phoenix Zoan, so Marco… Marco could only use his powers to protect his Family and get used to the fact that everyone leaves.

After all life taught him that particular lesson with its' own brand of mercy. Taking his child before his little boy managed even to grow up…

So over years Marco learned how to get attached to the idea and not a person.

He loved girls in the bars for how they reacted to Whitebeard Commanders not for who they were.

He loved people living on Whitebeard's islands because they lived on his crew' claimed lands.

He loved his brothers and sisters because they were family.

The others?

Why should he care about the others?

They'll leave soon enough anyway.

…

Or at least he thought so before Thatch pushed a bounty poster right into his face.

On the poster?

Young woman pulling a sword from her guts… "Immortal Skull de Mort"

After that first poster came Thatch's campaign… Suddenly whenever he was anywhere near the Fourth Division Commander, he was babbling about that 'immortal' rookie. How she just had to have healing factor just as powerful as the one Marco himself had. How it was rumored that they ensured Marines would christen her captain a 'D' and not herself, by writing down their names on the coats of every Marine Officer they killed. How she was said to be incredibly sweet for her crew. How she was much older than she looked like…

What's worse - Thatch was not the only one trying to rub the poster and the rookie in Marco's face. Though others were luckily taking it more figuratively than Thatch himself. There were still so-not-subtle mentions about what kind of fighter she was rumored to be, how great it was that she liked purple too etc.

The girl wasn't even in New World… And yet she was everywhere Marco tried to turn to.

And the closer The Spades were to The New World, the harder ignoring their existence became. The posters showed pretty good rate of progress for the rookies. The press painted the picture of daring crew with devil may care attitude and a thirst for life. Pops wanted The Fire Fist, his brothers wanted Marco to want The Immortal. And The Phoenix himself… Was interested. Nowhere near interested enough to show it to those vultures he called 'siblings' but interested enough to check on Spades' progress from time to time. And to not completely tune out whoever was trying to sell him the idea of chasing the other immortal being on the Seas. He wasn't also not interested enough to not keep an ear out for the players showing interest in the little rookie… And how much they failed to keep the crew contained.

After getting his ass handed to him on that island when Pops managed to corner the rookies for the first time, Marco stopped even wondering why.

That fight… That fight stripped him from what was commonly considered his strong points.

Five days of constant fighting acted as a reminder that even he couldn't outlast everyone.

Multiple times where the… where Skull slipped through his guard, proved that he depended on his healing factor a bit too much. As did the frankly ridiculous amount of weaponry she has thrown at him then.

His haki was still stronger than her and yet… And yet she was able to keep up with him.

And if all of that weren't clear signals that somehow along the line, between all the 'brooding' as Thatch would say, he bought his own hype…

Well the Seastone gloves and suspiciously not-tired woman straddling him at the end of the fight hammered that point home.

…

And if the sight of the shining purple eyes above his own after the fight was one of the hottest pictures ever… Well it was never a secret that Marco liked a bit of danger.

Just a tiny tiny bit of it…

Who was he kidding yoi? He' always been an adrenaline junkie.

…

So yeah… It looked like Thatch was right. Maybe he should've take a closer look at the others with the potential to live longer than others. And maybe he should've taken an interest in the pretty purple-head earlier…

But no matter… It wasn't like the Spades had a chance to escape now that they showed their hand to Oyaji.

And that meant he could have his rematch… He just needed to train a bit.

…

Or maybe to train a lot since pretty girlie was repeatedly kicking his ass even after Pops dragged The Spades on board of Moby Dick.

…

Not that the entire time The Spades spent on Moby Dick before finally agreeing to become part of their family was anything but flaming disaster (somewhat literally and not just because of fire logia on board) for the ship and the crew… If not for Marco specifically.

Marco found out that he enjoyed his talks with Skull. The way she slowly started to spend with him more time… Sometimes even searching him out on her own. Talk longer, be more open, before deciding that it was enough socialising for her. Slowly he managed to get the girlie to voluntarily talk to him. Sometimes even smile in his general directions.

He enjoyed the way Skull understood freedom. The way Skull didn't laugh at his attachment to the concept of family. The way she just got it.

He enjoyed the way purple hair looked like in the constant breeze aboard a ship. The way he had to duck his head down just that tiny, little bit to look into her eyes… The way those eyes lit up with inner fire (sometimes literally) whenever they were talking about something she was passionate about. The way she listened and asked question whenever he was passionate about their topic of conversation.

In the months of their stay on Moby Dick, Marco the Phoenix went far beyond the 'smitten' level, Izou accused him of being after that 'little spar' of theirs. Marco started falling in love with the woman behind all those thorns and shells and possessiveness and bloodlust.

Even if the edge of frustration and disappointment that materialised in her at the later stages of their stay wasn't making any sense!

And neither was the way she reacted violently towards him just to amble towards Fire Fist and drape herself over him…

No, he wasn't jealous… Of course not. Why do you ask?

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Fire Fist's announcement of what he shouldn't do when confronted by Skull's temper helped. As did the fact that The Spades accepted Pops' flag as their own.

The second thing was probably more important than the first since the day after the announcement there was already marked improvement in the Crew-Skull relations… Oh, she still avoided groups of people like a plague and showed her displeasure by sending people into the Sea. But then they were always fished out by that Kraken of theirs… Oodako. And there were no more broken by her bones, at least not outside of spars with people (but according to ex-Spades that was simply her forgetting the limits of human body). And even few broken bones were seen as a worthy price for Spades cooperation after that time some ambitious Vice-Admiral attacked Moby Dick by sending shrapnel of incredibly small Seastone shards… The thing took even Pops out of the fight… And Skull made sure that the Marines never learned about success of their weapon.

That was the sexiest thing he's ever seen.

After that there were no more naysayers for all the strange habits The Immortal had.

If she wanted to lounge in the sun on the figurehead then so be it.

If she wanted to 'patrol' the deck in the middle of the night? Go ahead.

If she had tendency to throw around knives that were disappearing in a burst of purple fire? Better learn dodging.

If she couldn't stand being in the crowd for too long? The poop deck was always empty whenever a party was on the deck.

After all… She and her mutation possibly saved Pops.

The fact that even with Seastone shards Marco still was able to get up and at least help with cleaning up others… and not stealing her prey, probably was the thing that caused her to stop simply tolerate his interest and start to… maybe not 'invite' but drag with her on the islands outings (mostly as a shield against all those trying to, what a horror, talk to her on those islands, but still).

Even still any kind of progress Marco made with Skull, still felt superfluous at best and useless at worst, whenever one of ex-Spades called for her, since it didn't matter what she was doing or with whom she was doing it. One of Spades called, Skull dropped everything to check on them.

And they went to great pains to be able to call for her when she was paying attention to him.

…

At least Marco could still work out his growing frustration on occasional Sea Kings and/or idiotic rookies trying to challenge Pops.

And if he got into a habit of bringing back the most interesting of his spoils to Skull?

It was no one's business.

And if in turn Skull also started to share some of her trophies?

That was no one's business, yoi.

And if he abused his position a bit to be put on the same watch as Skull?

Of course he wouldn't do that, yoi… But Skull's smile was just as pretty on their 10th watch together as it was on their 1st.

And if that prickly little hedgehog of a beautiful woman, who hated being touched started to sometimes even lean on him on those long, night watches… Where there were just the two of them with the stars? If, when the wind was cold and they had to use their flames to keep each other warm, when with time on those nights Skull stopped lighting up her own purple flames and simply sat closer to Marco and his wings?

If with time she stopped dragging Marco around the islands by the sleeve but rather started to simply grab his hand? Sometimes even lacing their fingers together? If with time they spend less time in the towns, with him playing her shield against human interaction, but rather started wandering the coast, the forests, the mountains and whatever other natural formation were available?

If both of them reacted with violence whenever Marines decided to interrupt their strolls? If she kissed the life out of him, after Marco brought her head of a Commodore who tried his luck that one time?

No one's business. Shut up Thatch, yoi!

And if she started to let him into those few 'Skull-designated zones' both ships had?

Maybe a bit wrong way around but - they were making progress!

If… sometimes Skull even joined the crew in canteen and rather than sit with the ex-Spades, joined Marco and his division at their table?

The Spades could only stew on that, yoi. No, he was not smug, why would he be?

If he almost had a heart attack when he's seen Skull swimming along Oodako for the first time?

Everyone had that reaction Thatch, shut up yoi.

If the first time Skull disappeared from Moby Dick, Marco spent entire time flexing his Observation to try and pick her up?

The only ones calm were the ex-Spades then. Because apparently kiddies couldn't warn them about Skull's wandering habit, yoi.

If the second time it happened Marco was flying right next to her?

It was a fun trip, yoi.

If on their little trip Oodako didn't stay in the water but rather shrunk and joined them?

At that time he knew very well that the purple flames Skull could call on demand could enlarge things… And apparently living beings as well, yoi.

If they fell asleep surrounded by Oodako's tentacles?

He's just a man, no one could fault him for wondering…

If the damn octopus helped Skull to hold him down when they were making out like a teenagers?

Well, suddenly he was no longer only wondering…

If when they went back to Moby he was even more in love?

She was worth falling in love with, yoi.

If one day after a battle (of course it was after a battle, what did he expect) he woke up to pleasant weight of head on his chest, purple hair in his field of vision and arms wound around his body?

All was well in the world, yoi.