When I heard that voice, I began to panic, the spectre of Corazon disappearing beneath my head, causing me to topple over.

Springing up to my feet, grass sticking to the side of my face, I stared at the person who had made themselves known. It was a man, couldn't have been too much older than me, with a tuft of blond hair atop his head. When I glanced to his chest, there was no mistaking the shape of the jolly roger.

"Y..you're one of Whitebeard's guys...aren't you..?" I already knew the answer, but I wanted to know explicitly who I was dealing with. Acting as though it was any old casual encounter, the man smiled, keeping his distance with a hand on his hip.

"I wouldn't say I'm one of his guys, yoi. One of his sons fits the bill a lot better. The name's Marco, and you're (Y/N), correct?" There was no way I wasn't in trouble if he knew my name and face. Marco the Pheonix was standing right in front of me. A man with a phenomenal bounty, against me, a decent fighter, at best.

"N..no...You've got the wrong person, I'm afraid. That (Y/N) girl rarely leaves the palace, so...if you have business with her, then you're gonna wanna head down the hill, swing a left, and-"
"Your face was in yesterdays paper, (Y/N). I know my head may look like a pineapple, but I've got more than a fruit salad between the eyes."

Biting down on the inside of my cheek, I decided to take a step back, but he didn't make any move to follow or strike.
"Haha...you got me...What do you want?" I spoke up in a sarcastic manner, hoping that maybe he wasn't up to anything sinister.

"Well, my buddy and I made a bet to see who could find you first, and look at me, winner winner chicken dinner!" He laughed, staying still but keeping his eyes on me. I knew I wasn't safe, but I couldn't just surrender to whatever he wanted.
"Congratulations. Do you need me to stamp your hand to prove it, or..?"

I shouldn't have done this...Doffy is going to freak out...

Marco looked almost amused, watching me slowly back away like a cornered cat. I didn't trust the look in his eye one bit.
"Actually, I'm gonna need you to come with me. Those were the rules we agreed on. Whoever finds you first takes you back to the ship, yoi." He explained, acting like it was all just some kind of game.

Was he for real? Did he seriously expect me to just raise my hands in surrender and let him kidnap me? Shaking my head, I continued backwards, browsing my memory for any deceased persons who could buy be some time.
"Listen...I'm kinda not even supposed to be out here right now, so...I really need to get back home...It was super nice meeting you though, Mr. Phoenix..."

Unphased by my obvious terror, Marco began to follow me, but there was little speed in his advance. He seemed far too confident for my liking.
"Come on, don't be shy. I promise I have no ill intentions, if that's what you're thinking. I'm just here to help a buddy out, that's all, and you."

Like I'd buy that..!

Deciding now was as good a time as any to try and make a break for it, I thought as hard as I could, begging the dead for assistance. Before me appeared five broad-shouldered gladiators, whom I had seen lose their lives at the Colosseum. The moment they materialised I turned tail and ran as fast as I could, hoping they would buy me some decent time.

"Ohoho, a chase? You really think you can outrun me, yoi? That's cool, you're welcome to try!" The man shouted after me, not a shred of frustration in his voice. Why wasn't he the least bit worried about Doflamingo or the Donquixote family?

Before I even had the chance to reach the edge of the flower field, a sharp, burning pain shot all throughout my body, causing me to trip and fall to my knees. My skin showed no physical injury, but I instantly knew that my ghostly gladiators had already fallen.

Shit..! Doffy, where are you?!

As I tried to shake off the shock of pain and get to running again, a shadow cast over me from above.
"That's a pretty freaky Devil Fruit you've got there! The cool kind of freaky, though!" Looking over my shoulder, I barely managed to cry out before two large, fierce looking talons wrapped around my upper arms, hoisting me into the air.

If he hadn't been actively kidnapping me, I would have thought Marco looked incredible using his Devil Fruit powers. In his hybrid phoenix form, his wings lit up the the area around us as the sun set. But seeing as he was actively kidnapping me, I was scared for my life.

"Let go of me, you son of a bitch!" I shrieked, legs dangling way too far above the ground for my liking as he began to fly off.
"Quiet down, kiddo! I told you, I'm not gonna hurt ya, yoi!" Did he seriously think I'd shut up? I took a deep breath to scream again, but something made its way into my mouth, essentially gagging me. One of his long, coin-shaped tail things.

Please..! Someone..! Diamante?! Trebol?! Baby 5?! Anyone?!

All I could do was squirm and struggle, digging my nails into the hardened, textured surface of his bird-like feet, to no avail.
"If you keep that up I might end up losing my grip. I think it's safe to say that neither of us want you to fall." Marco warned me, but I wasn't about to listen to a word he had to say.

We were high. Really high, but I needed to escape, even if it meant dropping from such a height. Growling around the piece of him that was in my mouth, I used my ability, summoning five more gladiators as before, but upon his back.

In the short moment he was startled, I managed to pry his talons from my arms, but of course that meant I began to fall. I wasn't even sure if my screams were audible as I tumbled down through the air, narrowly avoiding the edge of Flower Hill on my way to the ground.

This was it. I was about to die, and it was all because I had disobeyed Doflamingo. He'd warned me of the danger, and I hadn't believed him. After everything that had happened after his warnings in the past, why hadn't I trusted him?

My short life seemed to flash before my eyes as I saw the ground ready to greet my face, and right before we met for a passionate, deathly kiss, something grabbed me from behind, and it felt like my arms were torn from their sockets.
"I told you that was a bad idea! Dammit, kid, you're lucky I'm fast, yoi!"

That...I almost...I...

An intense dizziness overcame me in a rush, and my guts twisted into knots as the blurred vision of the ground, which had almost became my final resting place, got further away again. Despite the pain, my body began to grow limp, and the world grew a lot darker.
"Oh jeez...you're passing out, aren't you? Dammit...he's gonna try and burn me alive for this..."

"Wh..who...the hell...put you up...to...to th..i..s..?"

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The first thing I noticed when I came too was a dull ache in my right right shoulder.

Sitting up before I even opened my eyes, I gave it a light rub, feeling the coarse material of bandages. Then, in a startling flash, I realised what had just happened. My eyes shot open, and I instantly knew I wasn't in Dressrosa anymore. In fact, I was certain I was on a ship, taking a quick note of the wooden planks making up the room.

Almost instinctively I jumped into a defensive, likely awkward all-fours crouch on the bed, ignoring the pain as I looked around. I could hear chatter outside, male voices, too close for comfort.

We can't be too far from Dressrosa. Doffy will come for me. I just need to hold my own until then.

Oh, how I wished I hadn't lost the ability to swim. Then I could have easily jumped overboard and taken my chances in the ocean. It was still an option, if the situation called for it. Despite still being groggy, I summoned a few ghosts. Some gladiators, some random old people, and some civilians. Enough to keep a few people busy as I tried to find a way off the ship.

The moment the door began to creak, I jumped down from the bed, getting ready to sprint.
"She's a bit of a handful, so it makes sense that she's his-" I caught a brief glimpse of Marco when he opened the door, but I didn't stay to chat, aggressively shoving past him and making a break for it. "-friend. See what I mean, yoi?"

Without knowing the layout of the ship, it was going to be a difficult task, but I had to keep a level head. Rushing down the corridor, I passed several men, but they made no effort to pursue me. Up the wooden ladder, I burst out on the deck, where a further thirty or so men turned to look at me.

Okay, this isn't gonna work. Grab something that can float, and jump for it!

Even though I hadn't felt the first people I had conjured get merced, I called upon half a dozen more to protect me, just in case someone moved to attack. Rushing further along the deck of the ship, I spotted a barrel, which would have to do, but before I could reach it, a booming voice shot straight through me.

"Hold it."

As though I had no choice but to obey, I ceased all movement, not daring to look towards the source.
"Good. Now, get rid of those...friends of yours." It continued, and I momentarily hesitated before I complied. I knew who that voice belonged to, even without ever having met the owner. Marco was a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, so it had to be the man himself.

Slowly, with the utmost caution, I turned around, my mouth growing dry as I saw him in the flesh. He was big. Seriously big. The only thing that took away from his intimidating presence was the oxygen apparatus he wore, tubing hanging from his nose and over his shoulder to connect to a hanging tank.

The men on board were whispering amongst themselves now, and it only made me more skittish when Marco suddenly appeared beside me, along with a taller, more muscular man donning a large pompadour.
"Y..you stay the hell away from me, Phoenix..!" I did my best to puff myself up, but I knew I looked patheticly small compared to basically everyone in the vicinity.

Marco held his hands up defensively, but a little less jestingly than he had done back on Flower Hill.
"Easy, kiddo. I told you, I'm not gonna hurt you, yoi." The man beside him gave him a nudge before motioning to me.
"You kind of did already, whether it was intentional or not."

So that's what happened to my shoulder...

Whitebeard cleared his throat, gaining my attention instantly, and he looked me dead in the eye. That alone shook me to the core, but I wanted answers.
"L..look..! I don't know if you want berries, o..or what...but you've made a big mistake ki..kidnapping me..!"

Resting his chin in his hand, the Emporer studied me for what seemed like an eternity and a half before he decided to speak.
"I had nothing to do with you ending up here. That's a matter for you to take up with Ace and Marco." My adrenaline honed into my fight instead of flight, and I began to snap back.
"Whatever the reason, you need to take me back ri-"

Wait a minute...

My joints felt like they were badly rusted when I raised my finger and pointed towards the hulking man, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Did you just say Ace..?" I must have heard him wrong. I knew Ace had a name for himself, there was no way I could have missed that, but had he been a member of the Whitebeard crew? No, there was no way.

"He most certainly did say Ace."

Rigid and in a state of shock, I turned to look at the owner of the new voice, unable to do much else than stare. A man was slowly approaching, a lazy smile below a dapple of very familiar freckles. Sure, he'd grown - a lot - and had some ink, a new look, but there was no mistaking it.

"I know that giant-ass forehead..." It was really the only thing I could make myself say as he got a bit closer, and he snorted in amusement.
"Is that really all you have to say, (Y/N)? After I went to all that trouble to keep our promise?"

Right...the promise...

Blinking like a dazed child for a while, I slowly started towards him, but that quickly turned into a run. I couldn't believe it. After so many years, there he was, and he had remembered the promise we had made, back on Dawn Island?

Rushing towards him, I wasn't sure how I felt, especially when I watched him hold his arms open, giving me that goofy, lopsided smile he used to don when we were kids. Tears began to well in the corners of my eyes, threatening to spill as I reached him, reeled my fist back...

...and punched him square in the face...

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***That's a lotta damage.

Marco doesn't get enough attention in the show (so far anyway) so I'm giving him a nice big role in this story, at least some of it. We love a pineapple boi.

Next Time: Not Kids Anymore***