high_seas | Manly Drinking Times

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Manly Drinking Times

Who: Marco, Thatch, Logan, Namur, Roxas, Vyse, Chandra, Natsuno, and anyone else who wants in on this drinking game
Where: The Sun! And the Moon! And all the ships in between
When: Sunday May 4th, pursuant to this hilarity
What: MANLY DRINKING TIMES
Warnings: Ehhhhh ARRRRR For Rum. And drinking. And war. And fuck who knows what else, remind me to update if needed.
Status: OPEN!!!

Marco quickly set up a couple of kegs at the ready for the drinking party. Because it was just plain necessary, and a lot like old times. The last two weeks were still weighing on Marco's mind. War, Peace, phoenixes. Was it a good idea to really enjoy war so much? Was it a bad one? Maybe it was inevitable, so he might as well enjoy it. Like life, right? Or should he not encourage it just because it was amusing?

It was too much of a headache, that's why he was just going to drink.

He also set up some non-alcoholic drinks for Leanne and everyone else. Green tea, fruit juices, but they were all clearly marked.

Marco gave a quick piercing whistle. "OI SPADES! Roll call and drinking games!"

And maybe drunk board games, he would blame that on Ace though.

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A birdie-like head tilt. "Because they moved you out to the middle of nowhere?"

"Not just that. They were the ones who invited the vampires into our home, unlocked the doors that I locked, took down the religious items that might have kept Tohru away from me...By then I was nearly dead though. My friends were trying to help me but my father lashed out at them instead, rejecting everything that might have saved me. I don't know if it would have but it annoyed me."

"I see," Marco replied quietly. He didn't really though. It was like trying to imagine being a rookie starting over from the start again when he'd almost barely been a rookie even when he started out. The idea of not hero-worshipping his father, or his Pops accidentally doing something that made his situation worse was pretty foreign.

He settled for topping up Natsuno's drink instead and gesturing towards the railing so they could grab a more out of the way place to continue the conversation.

"Well, you're a pirate now. Pirates choose their family, eh? Even if you would have separated from Tohru, he was still nakama." He sighed quietly. Explaining the bond between nakama was another completely bizarre thing for him. By the time anyone, even the most rookie of rookies, reached the New World in the Grand Line, they definitely knew about nakama and how important it was. "Like this crew." He tapped his toes to the deck of the ship for emphasis. "We're all comrades on a journey through life, eh? Take the Straw Hat crew. They're not as familial as me and my brothers, but anytime I go over there, I can sense the holes where they're missing a nakama or two. That's kind of family you choose, eh?"

He took another drink before fixing Natsuno with a serious look. "I know you were upset about how Ace and I wanted revenge, but we do consider you nakama, eh? Chosen family."

"Yes, Tohru was my nakama. I understand that more than anything else. Kaori and Akira too, I think." He was quiet a moment, collecting his thoughts on the matter. "I didn't understand it before I came here, because I never really had a lot of friends. I was always that kid, the one no one liked, which actually never bothered me. I had ambitions instead. For some reason people didn't find me all that charming." He drawled a little bit sarcastically.

"Although I sometimes wonder how I fit in here, I've at least chosen you guys as my nakama, knowing that it may not be mutual is fine. It gives me something."

Natsuno turned his own expression a little more serious. "You misunderstand me. I don't have a problem with revenge, but it doesn't need to cause needless suffering. My entire undead existence at home was for the sole purpose of getting revenge. I understand it very well."

"It's mutual," Marco stuck his tongue out and shrugged. "I'd rather a guy with a lot of ambitions who was open about it than one who hid it all."

As for revenge... Marco hums to himself. "I remember you mentioned that before." The revenge on wiping out jinrou, that is. "But I'm going to have to have you define 'needless suffering' for me. What is it you think we wanted?"

He looked amused at the parallel. "I wasn't afraid to let people know what they were."

He tilted his head a little bit. "Ace was talking about breaking people's spirits and I can tell you that it really sucks. To die in the way I died, or something close to it is unnecessary when a bullet is enough to exact your revenge, or in my case, a stake to the heart. Still horrific and bloody, but not unnecessarily cruel."

A side glance. "Still not the same as someone giving you the opportunities to meet that ambition along the way and then pretending you're just not interested." But Blackbeard wasn't someone Marco wanted to think a lot about right now. Especially not while contemplating wars as much as he was.

As for torture or not...

Marco just looks at the waves. "I wanted to send a message. I couldn't even doing that." The mug cracked and then splintered apart completely in his hands before Marco gave up on it with a scowl and tossed the pieces to the waves. "It wasn't to make them feel the pain. Revenge is for the living, eh? I wanted to make sure the rest of the navy saw that we have lines. Didn't matter though. An admiral from our world stepped in to stop Ace, and even trying to hunt down the specific men responsible wasn't enough."

Natsuno contemplated that for a moment. "You know what I think?"

He watched the waves kiss the side of the boat. "We fight fiercely when we encounter them. We damage their ships, we take a bite out of the numbers of their crews. We had a loss on our side, but how many of them did we kill? I think our message is loud and clear. We didn't win the last fight, but they certainly couldn't claim a flawless victory. In the grand scheme of things, I do believe they know not to mess with this crew. That doesn't mean they won't, I believe they will try again. We'll be ready for them, that's all we can do. I think the energy that you want to expend on sending your message might be better suited to get some of the crew members into a better position when such a battle arrives."

Natsuno sighed heavily. "Beacuse of how I died and the seemingly long somewhat torturous process I endured, I know I can't do something like that to another human being. Even some of my powers are beyond frightening. I can't be sure how long I'll remain your nakama with that. I think even the prospect made Thatch very very uncomfortable."

Marco gripped the railing in one hand tightly, as though trying to compress the wood into steel or squeeze all the air out of it, the very thing that let it float. It made a small groan, starting to splinter under his fingers, but the pirate didn't let go, or even seem to notice. He just kept glaring out at the ocean.

His message was made?

His message was never going to be made enough until every single one of them got it. Until they knew what true war was and how much they should fear it. Fear him. Fear their flag. He'd told Ace he didn't want to scare or upset the kids, but he was losing grip on his temper, on his sheer control. It'd been so much easier a year ago. Before Thatch died, before his Pops died. Back when Ace was his kid brother that he was still teaching to control his temper, not the Captain supposed to give him pause.

Marco let go of the wood and lit up a cigarette. He was probably going to go through a whole pack tonight if his temper kept at this pace.

"No one gives a damn about power on this ship," Marco growled furiously, unable to hide it. He wasn't mad about the power thing, but in typical Marco fashion, he always started with the least difficult problem to try to work his way up. Maybe it was a bird thing. Like climbing from branch to branch. "Thatch has other problems I can't tell you about, eh? But it's not power." His eyes glinted sharply, even watching the water as he leaned on the railing. "Our Pops was the strongest man in the world, eh? Not just because he could make earthquakes and tsunamis and rip the world apart if he wanted to, but he was practically invincible. I told you how Ace tried to take his head, to take his title, eh? But he wasn't the strongest for power, anymore than you become a jinrou for the power."

Marco turned and gave Natsuno a sharp look, again, not so much the jinrou's fault as much as just that Marco was losing control of his deadpan composure and overtly calm facade. "My Pops and brothers didn't choose their size. Ace ate his devil fruit to get strong, aye, but he doesn't burn everything he touches. He chose control." Marco took a deep careful breath and closed his eyes to regain some calm, at least over his tone.

"I'm not trying to kill all the navy, eh? I hate them. I hate them for what they did to Selphie, and I hate them for what they did to Kairi, but they're still people, even though I hate them." His stomach rolls, and his blood boils. He wants war. So much war. What they have now isn't enough for him. It's only a few ships, small battles, and--

He shields his eyes with a hand.

Was that his father's way, or his own? His father had always protected the islands to show them peace. Peace which was only a breather between death. What then was the point of life? To share with the others. And if he couldn't protect them --

It was circular thinking again, and Marco focused on the cigarette instead.

"Better position?" his tone isn't growling anymore, but it's worse. It sounds calm, but it's like when a forest goes completely still, not a single bird chirp or even the rustle of leaves. "I am not as strong as my father, Natsuno." He takes the cigarette out and flings it to the waves. It's not enough. He still can't breathe. "I'm not as strong, I'm not as powerful, and the only way I know how to protect anyone is the way I do. Do you really think I can ensure any of you will be safe again, just, by what? Getting you to fight better? Do you know what marines and navy do? They're soldiers. They do nothing but train to fight, train to kill. Maybe their numbers are worse, but I'm a lot more brutal."

His arms start to cover with blue flames, ready to fly up somewhere just to get space, just so he can briefly make sure the crew is okay... for now.

But he waits long enough to give Natsuno time to retort, if there is any.

Natsuno listened for a moment, it was the best tactic he had when engaging in a discussion. He could see how angry Marco was, and he shouldn't open his mouth most likely. That, however, had never stopped him.

"You weren't there for that discussion." He answered with a shake of his head. "I don't know what to make of it or what to do with that but he didn't like what he heard, at all. What I'm saying requires a lot of trust from the people around me. The moment I chose to set foot on this path I was ready to accept that."

His lips pressed together. Part of him wanted to respond to the anger with his hackles raised and his eyes might have flashed for a brief moment. "If you want to kill every person who has laid a hand on this crew, then do that. If you want torment them and that's the direction this crew is headed, I can't partake in that. I also don't believe in going after people who aren't involved or innocent. There are a lot of people in this world that it is worth being angry at, but the others are still people and not every person feels the same, thinks the same. That is what I have an objection to. Just because someone wants to serve in the Navy doesn't make them evil. There is true evil out there to be found."

He gave a few moments pause again and turned his eyes on Marco, dead serious. "I don't know your father. I don't think anyone is asking you to protect them. Every member of this crew seems perfectly willing to pull their own weight and if that means learning something they didn't know before then so be it! Nobody wants to be the one who needs to be rescued, nobody wants to be the one that falls in a skirmish. You might actually find that the people who need that kind of help the most want that help. Protecting people is only good in the short term. What do you think is going to happen to this crew if the strong people fall? There's no hope for the rest of us. You can't protect everyone. None of us expect to be safe all the time. We're pirates, aren't we?"

Natsuno looked back out at the sea. He wasn't feeling the drink nearly as much anymore. "There are no guarantees in this life Marco. None at all. Anything could happen. The best you can hope for is that you get these second chances we seem to be running into."

"I'm not talking about torture or cutting down every navy soldier there ever was, and I'm sure as hell not talking about going after their families," Marco scowled. Other pirates did, but Marco and his family didn't consider themselves other pirates. They were exceptional pirates.

"I don't know about good or evil, I've been called evil and monster for as long as I can remember, and so far as I'm concerned, that puts me in good company. Aye, you're right that I can't protect you all, but if I have to outlive everyone, I'll do with that what I want." A scowl and Marco's arms lit up in blue flames. "And don't say it doesn't count here. It counts damn plenty."

"As long as you have that line, that line you won't cross I don't think you can be considered evil...but it's relative. Everyone thinks of evil differently." He murmured.

"I wouldn't say it doesn't. It matters. No one wants to experience death even if they're going to come back. It's admirable you want to protect everyone, but everyone might be better off if they could protect themselves and stand with you. You wouldn't have to carry the burden alone." Isn't that what he was talking about when he talked of nakama?

"I'm never alone," Marco hopped up onto the railing, already switching into phoenix form. "And I'm painfully aware of who and what I can't protect. Doesn't mean I can teach them either, eh?"

He knows it's running away, but he switches into a phoenix and takes off into the air flying away. He can no sooner teach pirates self-defense than he can be everywhere at once.

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Manly Drinking Times

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