Back again with another chapter. This one is a little chaotic one. Thank you for the reviews and appreciate all the love from you all keeping up with the story.

Tears

Marco, for some unknown reason, was not panicking when Luffy ran away from him. He knew this would have eventually happened, and it was good that this island was one of theirs, so it was very peaceful. He also had his Observation Haki on, and he could flow all of Luffy's movements and even predict where the young child would end up.

Of course, he just had to end up at the most expensive and luxurious restaurant. That did not bother the older pirate as well. It was well known for the food it served, so he was actually quite glad.

He could see Luffy sitting at a table and could see a waiter taking his order, which was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, the thing that caught his guard off was a stranger talking to Luffy. Although this was a decent island, Luffy was just a child, and talking to strangers was a big red flag, so Marco immediately rushed into the restaurant.

Once Marco saw Luffy, he didn't know whether to be happy or to be sad that he was talking to an absolute idiot pirate.

Marco walked up to Luffy and Shanks, who was having a peaceful conversation, and he stood by them.

"Oi, Luffy-yoi."

"Oh, nee-san. You made it! Finally, you slowpoke."

Shanks started laughing while Marco pretended the man did not exist.

"How many times have I said… It's Marco-bro."

"But Myra nee-chan says to call you Marco nee-san."

"Fine, whatever. Anyways, why did you run away from me?"

Shanks at this point burst out with laughter "Holy shit, Marco the Phoenix loses to a kid. This is great."

"Dear God, why have you put Shanks here. He's better off digesting in the stomach of a Sea King."

"Been there, done that," he replied

Marco looked at him, "Good for you, Shanks. Good for you."

"Marco nee-san, do you know Shanks? Is he that big of a pirate?"

Frustrated at both Luffy and Shanks, Marco accepted defeat. "Yes, Luffy-yoi, I know Shanks. He's not a big pirate, though."

"Well, you're not wrong. I've barely started, but I'm still powerful, Luffy. Don't listen to all the mean things he says. Marco nee-san is a bully."

"Stop bullying him, nee-san."

Marco wanted to kill the red-haired pirate but just smiled instead. "Alright, Luffy-yoi, I will. But promise me to never run off like that."

"Okay!" said the young boy.

When Marco had finally sat down, the waiter arrived with the food and was making sure everything was okay. Marco made sure the steak was cooked adequately so that Luffy could eat it without any worries. Although technically speaking, a four-year-old should not be eating a steak, all logic usually goes out the window for Luffy.

"This tastes delicious!" exclaimed Luffy as he enjoyed the meal.

Marco let Luffy enjoy the stake as he sat down peacefully and was looking through a list of supplies that he needed to get. Shortly after, Marco's transponder snail had started ringing, and he had picked it up to receive the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey Marco-ni, apparently Pops wants you back on the ship because he had some business with you."

"Alright…" he hung up the transponder snail and looked to Luffy, "Okay, Luffy-yoi, we have to go back on the ship now."

"NO, I WANNA STAY!" yelled the child.

"Pops is calling us back. We have to go."

"But I want to stay with Shanks. Please, Marco-bro."

Marco was surprised that Luffy had said this. "Fine. You can stay with Shanks for a bit, but you will be back on the ship with us, okay."

Luffy smiled, "Okay!"

The First Division Commander looked at Shanks "If any harm comes to Luffy, I won't be the one to kill you. It'll be Pops."

"At least trust me a little damn it. I'll watch over the kid like he's Yasopps."

"Did someone mention Usopp?" said a very drunk pirate. He looked around and saw Luffy. "Ah, kid, you can be best friends with my son. He's the same age as you. But I left him in East Blue, you can still be friends with him. So go do that." and he continued drinking.

Marco paid for his meal and Luffy's and went back to the ship. He just hoped nothing would happen to Luffy.

Shanks and the crew started telling Luffy their adventure stories, and the young boy was immersed in them. He laughed with them, sang with them, talked to them. It was a nice change of pace for him. But eventually, it was time to head back.

Shanks knew that he should not keep Luffy out too late, so he told his crew to make their way back to their own ship while he went and dropped Luffy off.

Luffy was getting tired after a fun day, and Shanks could tell that walking right now was a little difficult for the child.

He picked him up and held him in his arms and walked. The two were talking about how much they enjoyed their day until eventually, Luffy fell asleep on Shanks' shoulder.

The older pirate smiled and crept until eventually, he made it to the Moby Dick, where he got on board.

Marco had met him once he had entered and seen that Luffy was carelessly asleep. He took him from Shanks and thanked him for bringing Luffy back. "Pops is looking for you-yoi. He's on the main deck."

Shanks walked towards where Whitebeard had sat and greeted the Captain.

"Hello, Mr. Newgate. Glad to see you in good health."

"Thanks for taking care of Luffy today." replied the old man

"Oh, no worries. Luffy's a good kid," he smirked and imagined how to would look if Whitebeard held Luffy. "Everything alright? Marco said you wanted to see me."

"I wanted to talk to you about some business," Whitebeard said as he drank his sake

"And what's that?" said Shanks, not knowing what the older pirate would ask of him.

"Have you ever thought about claiming territories and islands?"

"You know I'm not after that. I couldn't care less about being Pirate King or be a Yonko."

"I know that, but let me tell you something… This sea is broken down into 6 parts. 3 of those are held by myself, Kaido and Charlotte. Another portion is held by the World Government. 1 is unclaimed territory, which is ripe for the taking, and the last portion is well..."

"What about that last portion?" Shanks asked

"Let's just say it's related to your Captain." Immediately Shanks had understood.

"So, why do you want me to be an Emperor?"

"Roger's crew all disbanded, and Rayleigh is literally useless except for coating ships. You are the only one that can help me with my task."

"And what's that?"

"To keep everyone in check. Eventually, I will age and become weaker while Kaido and Charlotte will get stronger for now as they haven't even reached their prime years. You're an even bigger brat than them, and Roger saw much potential in you."

"I'll think about it. Right now, I'm in the mood to screw around and build a name for myself. Let's see how big I can get in a few years."

"Fair enough."

"Is that all?"

"For the time being."

"Alright, then. Good evening Whitebeard." and he respectfully left.

Once Shanks had left, Whitebeard laughed. "That boy actually had to audacity to use his Conquerors Haki. Pretty damn strong for a cocky brat."

A few months later, the Whitebeard Pirates had been sailing non-stop for many months as they had ended up in seas that were under Kaido's flag, and since they did not want to provoke the second Emperor, the crew just wandered towards neutral waters.

However, since it had been many months of sailing, the crew were all exhausted. They needed supplies, and many of them would like to walk around in a town for just a few moments.

They were heading towards an island that did not belong to anyone. Whitebeard made the decision to stop there to restock on supplies and for the crew to get some rest.

Once they got closer to the island, it was a small island with only a large town. No other areas of land.

By the time they had reached towards the island, they had laid anchor at the port. Beside them was another pirate ship with a flag that was unknown, so it really did not concern the crew.

The majority of the pirates got off the ship and walked around the port. A group of Marco, Luffy, Myra, and Thatch went out to town to get some supplies and to go on an adventure for Luffy.

When the group made it to the town, they noticed that nearly everything was broken down and there were not many people outside. Although it was midday, it was shocking to see practically no one out.

Marco instantly noticed something as soon as they got off the ship. "Guys, the ground is made out of sea-stone, I won't be able to use my powers."

"Oh, wow, this is a rare island… Probably has a mine too," said Myra

"Nah. This place looks like a mess. Any island or town with a mine is much more advanced." Thatch said as he looked around

Little Luffy, on the other hand, could feel something odd about this place. He didn't know what it was, which made him want to explore more.

The young child was being held by Thatch for the time being, and the cook could feel that Luffy was a little uneasy. He put Luffy on the ground and let the child walk in front of them.

Suddenly, Luffy started running away, but this time with three Whitebeard Pirates after him, all using their Observation Haki, they were right behind him the entire time.

Luffy ran through the entire town until he made it to a torn-up building, which looked utterly abandoned.

"What's wrong, Lu?" asked Myra as she looked at the building and wondered why Luffy would run-up to it.

"There's something in there," he replied, but all three of the older pirates looked at one another as they couldn't feel anything from the building. Luffy then walked right in, and everyone was on high alert.

The moment the group entered the building, they immediately could feel a large group of individuals rushing towards them and would end up surrounding them.

While Marco, Thatch, and Myra were preparing for a fight, Luffy looked around to see what attracted him to come here.

Marco knew they were just about to be surrounded within the next few seconds, "Thatch you go left, I'll go right. Myra, you just hold onto Luffy-yoi. There's going to be about a hundred of them."

"It's been a while since we have had to fight." Thatch said as he took out his two swords from their sheaths. "Permission to kill?" he said in a bloodthirsty voice.

"We'll wait and see what's going to happen."

Marco would not be able to use his powers because the entire island was covered with sea-stone. But he didn't need his devil fruit ability to fight. Marco was worried about Myra until she took her pistol out. Although she was an excellent hand-to-hand fighter, he didn't want her or Luffy to get hurt.

On cue, the group of people had swarmed the building and surrounded Marco and the rest of them. "What are you doing here?" shouted a man. He wore black clothing but a green bandanna on his head, covering his hair.

"Sorry for troubling you-yoi. My little brother ran off, and we just followed him."

"Why did you enter the building? Once you caught up to him, you could have just left." Marco was surprised that they asked a very valid question. Why didn't they just take Luffy away from there?

"It's our mistake, sir. We mean no harm."

"You the Whitebeard Pirates?"

"Yes."

"Is it true that if we kill you, that old shit will come to get revenge."

The moment the man called Whitebeard an "old shit," that angered the group. However, it made Luffy very angry.

"You're the old shit. Not Gramps." Thatch wanted to burst into laughter but was trying his very best not to. Myra looked at Luffy with the look of a proud mother while Marco smiled, but he would scold Luffy for the language afterward.

"Old shit?" the man growled as he reached for his pistol. Before he reached for the weapon, Myra already stood in front of Luffy to protect him from the oncoming bullet.

"Thatch! Permission granted!" yelled Marco as he noticed that there was another person who was behind them and was about to shoot at Luffy.

"On it," he said as before the shot was even fired, Thatch made it behind Luffy and eventually cut the bullet in the air.

The fighting now had started as everyone inside the building rushed towards the group. "Myra, take Luffy and get out of here. Thatch and I will deal with this." She grabbed onto Luffy and started making her way towards the exit.

Marco smiled when he was getting rushed at. It had been a while since he last fought, and he could tell these guys are much weaker. The first person that attacked Marco had a dagger, and a pistol and Marco quickly blocked the attack with his arm, took the gun from the man that was hanging on his belt, shot him, and took the dagger. The next few guys that attacked Marco were easily killed by either the blade or by his precise shooting.

He kept this cycle going for quite some time as after a while when the gun would run out of bullets, he'd kill a man and get their pistol and use it until it ran out of ammunition.

Thatch, on the other hand, used speed to kill people. He might have not been the best swordsman, but he was skilled enough to use it very proficiently, and with his speed, it was easy for him.

Bodies dropping like flies, blood being spilled everywhere, Thatch enjoyed this. Usually, he wouldn't fight with the intent to kill, but shooting at Luffy means death. At this point, he didn't care how many there were, as long as Luffy was safe, nothing mattered.

Myra held Luffy in one arm and ran as fast as she could. She told Luffy to close his eyes and cover his ears as she would shoot anyone that got close to them.

She continued to run and shoot people until she was just by the exit. "Shit," he said and turned around to protect Luffy as she got shot from the green bandana-wearing man as he stood right by the doorway.

She looked at Luffy with a smile and said: "Everything's fine, Luffy."

She slowly started to fall while Marco and Thatch stopped fighting for a moment. That moment was all that was needed for the enemies to take advantage of. Both were shot and stabbed multiple times until they fell onto their knees.

Luffy managed to release himself from her tight grip and stood by. He felt pain in his chest and saw that he, too, was bleeding, but he didn't know why.

Luffy did not know what to do at that time, and he called out for his Gramps. After one loud shout, he eventually realized that no one would answer. He called out to his family. "Thatch-bro, help!" but once he saw Thatch, Luffy's heart was shattered. Luffy saw Thatch completely wounded and bloody. That call made tears of blood flow out of the older pirate.

"Marco-bro… Please…" He found Marco being surrounded, and with tears in Luffy's eyes, he looked to Myra.

"Myra nee-chan. Please wake up!" but there was no reply from her.

Luffy, at this point, had started to cry as the group of pirates started celebrating. When the green bandanna-wearing man came up to Luffy and said, "Your family is weak," Luffy stopped his tears and in anger, yelled out, "THEY ARE NOT WEAK!" and passed out.

Whitebeard felt that something was off once they had arrived. He didn't know what it was, but he had a gut feeling that something terrible might happen here, but he hoped that nothing would happen.

He was pacing himself back and forth the entire time while Luffy was away with Marco and was hoping that all would be well.

Because of this uneasiness that he was feeling, he decided to use his Observation Haki to find where Luffy and the rest were.

His fears were confirmed once he saw that Marco, Luffy, Thatch, and Myra were surrounded by about a hundred people. Although the fighting did not start, he wanted to make sure that he was there as fast as he could.

The moment he got off the ship, the other division commanders decided to follow him as it wasn't normal that Whitebeard would get off the Moby.

"What're wrong Pops?" asked Jozu

"Marco and the rest are in trouble. Luffy's with them." The rest of the pirates got angry.

When Whitebeard entered the town, he too felt that the island was covered in sea-stone and told his crew. Of course, even though whoever had a devil fruit ability was not at their full potential, they did not need to use their powers to fight.

The closer Whitebeard had gotten to the destination, the angrier he got. Eventually, it got to a point where he had coated the blade of his naginata with Armament Haki and was about to strike at the building but then stopped as he felt a powerful wave of Conquerors Haki.

He thanked God under his breath and walked in. Not one person was standing on their feet. He immediately saw his children, and grandchild, and told a few of the commanders to rush them back onto the Moby to get them treated.

Once the injured children of his were all rushed back into safety, Whitebeard, and the remaining pirates all waited for the unconscious bad guys to regain their consciousness so that they would severely pay for their crime.

After a couple of minutes, all the unconscious pirates started waking up, and in front of them was Whitebeard and the other division commanders.

"So you're the ones that hurt my children," he said in an angered voice. "Tell me who the leader is."

All were silent until the man with the green bandanna walked to the front, in arrogance. "I killed your crew, and I can kill you too," he said in complete arrogance

"Oh, really? I'd love for you to try."

The man with the bandanna took out a sword and coated it in Armament Haki and swung his blade, which met Whitebeard's naginata. Upon impact, the sword broke, and the man was cut in half. His lower body on one side of the building and his upper body on the other side.

"None of you are leaving this place alive," Whitebeard said in a dark tone, and that's when the Division Commanders sprung into action.

The Whitebeard Pirates made quick work of the group and then made their way back to the Moby. On their way back, he noticed something even more odd about this island, which made him even more furious.

All the residents in this small island were apart of this unknown pirate group, and he decided that they would just steal the supplies necessary, and once they would get back on the ship, he promised to destroy this island.

When they arrived on the ship, the doctors were all frantic.

Many hours later, the doctors came out and gave Whitebeard and the rest of the crew the reports. "Marco and Thatch will be alright. Their surgeries went well. Myra and Luffy, on the other hand… They might not make it…"

Whitebeard took that news terribly and took out his anger by using his powers and destroyed the island.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Once again, thanks for all the love and please leave feedback.