Chapter 1

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The Power Plant

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"All of these people are alive right now. Because of her."

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The Whitebeard Pirates arrived on an unknown winter island, located somewhere in the New World.

Everything their eyes could perceive was covered in a blanket of white; large, snow filled mountains could be seen in the distance, obscuring what lay beyond. The clouds looming above the island were thick, frowzy gray. Flakes of snow descended shyly from the dark sky, landing at the reddening noses of the pirates and making them conscious of the blistering cold that registered their bodies and pricked their exposed skins. Realizing this, everyone immediately wore their coats, some wrapping scarves around their necks while the others shielded their numbing hands with gloves.

It was their captain that had decided to dock onto the nearest island, which, to the dismay of everyone, was an extremely cold one. Marco, who was acutely aware of the looming problem on the horizon, doubted there was even a civilization in this frozen wasteland. Even from the view on the crow's nest, he couldn't detect any signs of life; no fishermen, not even a designated place for them to berth their ship.

Despite the situation already looking bleak, they had to at least make an effort to look for a village. Their very survival even outside of this place was at stake: supplies still needed to be restocked, fresh water had to replenished, and they also needed to buy more food and crates of booze that would last them at least a week.

Naturally, someone had to go on and do the work.

But for some reason his siblings were reluctant to even step outside the ship, complaining about the cold and frozen lakes that might crack their skulls. Fatuous excuses were thrown here and there, and their father only laughed, amused at their antics.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, word reached him that it was Ace and Thatch who had volunteered to go out.

The second Marco heard about it, his gut instincts told him that those two would surely cause some trouble. Because the two of them together always screamed trouble.

Marco didn't want trouble. Trouble always equated to paperwork. And Marco hated paperwork.

Especially if it involved problems caused by those two idiots.

So as to avoid a possible case of migraine in the future, Marco decided to accompany his brothers just to make sure they behaved properly.

"See ya later, pops!" Ace shouted as he enthusiastically waved his hands. Marco frowned at his brother's winter attire. Or rather, lack of.

"At least wear a coat, yoi."

Ace groaned. "But I'm not cold! The cold never both-"

"Stop!" Marco grimaced, already guessing the next words that would usually come out from that talkative mouth of his. "Just stop."

Ace only stuck his tongue in reply.

"We'll try our best not to cause trouble!" Thatch said as he unceremoniously threw a black coat over his brother's shirtless glory.

Marco rolled his eyes, not believing a single word he said. "We'll let you know if we found a good village, yoi," he sullenly informed his father.

Whitebeard grinned broadly as he watched Ace begrudgingly wear his coat. The trio said their goodbyes, and began their trek towards civilization. Marco, despite willingly choosing to accompany them, was not looking forward to his brothers' future escapades.

"Take care, my sons."

"Don't cause trouble, Ace!" Haruta reminded the raven head.

"And don't scare the civilians," Izou added.

"Don't slip!"

"Don't destroy anything!"

"Make sure not to drown in some frozen lakes!"

Ace shot them all dirty look, pouting. "Jeez, I'm not a kid!"

Travelling from the Moby Dick to the high, snowy mountain was uneventful, except for the constant whining from Thatch who found everything unfair because he was the only one freezing his ass off. Ace was made of fire, so naturally the cold was never a problem. And as for Marco, a mythical zoan user, his body unceasingly regenerated back to its normal body temperature thanks to the phoenix's power.

When the trio made it peacefully to the top, they luckily found a small village not far away from where they stood. They started to trek down the slope with Ace leading the way, melting the ice he stepped on. The fire user was certainly useful in this kind of situation, especially with the comforting warmth he emitted as they trudged their way down the mountain.

As they approached the somber village, Marco pulled out a list from his jacket's pocket, double-checking if he missed anything. They only needed to buy the things they could carry, and return back to the ship to let the others do the rest. Marco included some office supplies on his list, remembering he was almost out of paper and ink. Maybe he should buy more than necessary to prepare himself for the incoming doom called paperwork.

Finally arriving at the entrance, the first thing they noticed was the eerie atmosphere that welcomed them. It was already a late morning and they expected some villagers bustling around to do their chores but what greeted them was closed shops, and wary eyes of the few people who lingered in the shoveled streets as they passed by.

"What's with them?" Ace jammed his hand in his pockets, grumbling under his breath.

"I think we're not welcome," Thatch observed, frowning.

"Looks like it, yoi," Marco said as he surveyed his surroundings. The villagers looked scared. Some even hurriedly returned to their houses while the majority seemed tense, as if he and his brothers were ready to pounce and attack them at any moment. He wanted to ask someone about this strange behavior but they stubbornly kept their distance.

"Good morning, young men. Are you here to visit?"

The three turned around to face the owner of the gruffly voice. A stout grey-haired old man greeted them, wearing a green, cocoon coat and a cane on his hand to support his hunched back. The old man stared at them with his big, wide eyes. Marco guessed he was the mayor of this village based on how he carried himself despite his old age and how comfortable he was in the presence of the people he just met.

"We're only here to buy some supplies for our travels," Marco said as he massaged the back of his neck. "We do not mean to impose, but did something happen recently, yoi?"

The old man rubbed his temples, glancing around, and sighed heavily before answering, "Ah, some cruel pirates attacked our power plant three days ago so please excuse their behavior. What happened was still fresh in our mind. It was awful, you see. The people who worked there were heavily injured and some sadly lost their life."

"How come your village looks fine, gramps?" Ace raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We're just lucky."

"Lucky?" Thatch asked him.

"A beautiful woman came to our rescue. She was only a traveller - a doctor actually, but she did not hesitate to help us," the old man uttered with a hint of admiration. "You see, all of these people are alive right now. Because of her."

'A woman,' Marco thought, intrigued. That woman must be something if she could handle a group of pirates on her own. "So where's the power plant, yoi?"

Marco dismissed the shocked looks his brothers threw at him, probably not expecting him to mind the affairs of other people's business. Well, he was curious. And it would be a waste if they came here for nothing.

Thatch squinted his eyes at him. "Ohhhh you're curious. And you told us not to be curious."

"Unfair!" Ace huffed.

"Fine. We can go and tell pops to go somewhere else," Marco retorted back with a blank look on his face.

Thatch gasped, appalled. "Wait, no! I want to know the beautiful lady gramps was talking about!"

"That's what you want to know, yoi?" Marco glared.

"What? I'm a man! I want to see with my own eyes how beautiful this lady is!" Thatch playfully bumped his shoulder to Ace. "You want to know too, right?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Nope," Ace simply replied. "I just want to know where the delicious smell is coming from."

Marco could not believe the words spouting from his brothers' mouth.

The old man laughed, the corner of his eyes crinkling as he told them, "What an energetic youth. I don't mind showing you the way to the power plant, boys."

"We're very thankful, yoi." Marco bowed and grabbed the back of Ace's coat before he could go somewhere else. "You're coming with us."

"But I'm hungry!"

"You ate an hour ago, yoi!"

I don't know why but Marco has this charm that I cannot ignore. I badly want to write a story for him and this is my contribution! I love Ace but I love Marco too! Lezz do this!

I have a question! Do you prefer if this story started after the Marineford Arc with Ace and Thatch being alive ooor, do you want it before the Marineford Arc? Let me know your thoughts! Ciao!

Thank you for my Beta Reader: ElementofHeart

Edited: 7/6/2020