𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ➳ 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 (one piece fanfic)

Chapter 48 ✨✨

"How old are you really?" she asked, her hands moving quickly to paint symbols he had never seen before on papers.

Marco coughed, "That's-" he hesitated, struggling to find an answer, "a little older than you?"

Konan raised a brow, looking up at him, "If I remember correctly, phoenix are immortals, does that mean..." she trailed off, staring him up and down, with a teasing smile.

Marco visibly squirmed under her gaze, "Please don't do that."

"Fine," she smiled, continuing her work. As her hands moved, she jumped blindly on the edge of the boat, walking along the hull to concentrate.

"What are you doing?" he asked, trying to guess from what he could see.

She turned to him with a secretive smile, "creating an old weapon of mine." She brought up the paper where the paint was still drying. The symbols were twirly signs along with intricate writings.

She continued making the same ones by hand, enjoying the way her hand naturally moved on its own to trace the overfamiliar symbols. Marco observed her doings from the side, intrigued by the strangeness of it.

"Konan! You're here," Ace shouted as he waved at her from the mini-boat he was on.

"Want to see their effect?" Konan asked Marco deviously, holding one of the papers in between her fingers.

Marco nodded excitedly, forgetting all pity for Ace when he remembered how the male had eaten all his food that morning.

"Ace, parry!" she shouted at him-he knew to use Haki when she said that-and swiftly threw the paper at him.

A huge explosion followed. Ace found himself propelled in the air before he landed-crashed-on the boat.

He looked up at Konan with a glare, his hair fuzzy and a bit burnt from the explosion. "An earlier warning would have been welcome."

Marco couldn't help but chuckle at the dismaying sight of the usually proud man.

"My apologies," Konan smiled at him, a flower forming in her hand, "do you forgive me?" she asked as she extended the fire-shaped flower.

He harumphed but still took the flower and then left, not before kicking Marco's leg for laughing.

"He has quite the temper," Marco complained while nursing his bruise, "he even used Haki that brat."

"Well, what a pity you're stuck together," Konan reminded, referring to the now prominent tattoo on his back.

Marco grumbled, "why don't you replace him instead?" he hummed, seemingly agreeing with his genius idea, "What do you think, Ms. Paper Angel?"

She purposefully put a hand on her chin to consider the question before laughing it off, "Nah, I like my freedom very much, Mr. Phoenix."

Being a part of a pirate crew meant entangling herself forever with them, she often traveled, disappeared, she couldn't be tied to one crew. She liked her current situation of visiting her friends once in a while then leaving to do her work, as a Marine officer, an informant, and a valuable asset of the Revolutionary Army... she always had something to do. But she found the breaks she took to visit the Red-Hair pirates, and the three brothers always managed to create a safe bubble where she could forget everything for a bit.

"Hey, Marco! I need your help," a crewmember called out.

"One second, I'm coming over," Marco shouted back before turning to Konan, "Thanks for showing me something interesting today." He smiled kindly before walking away.

Konan was left alone, so she continued her folding, once she finished a stack, she let it merge with her body. It never hurt to be prepared for all kinds of situations.

Once she deemed her work of the morning finished, she walked over to the preparations beginning on the main boat, they were having a feast, to celebrate something she hadn't quite caught.

She walked around, avoiding the people running around with ease, and following the smell drifting from the kitchen. Inside, it was a lot calmer, with a few chefs following orders with practiced ease. There was no useless move as they all worked on their parts. Cooking for a thousand people required quite the organization after all.

She didn't speak, observing them silently not daring to bother them, she didn't propose her help knowing she would bother them more than anything.

Suddenly, a black-haired man burst in with a few others, a wide smile on his face, "Do you need help?"

The main chef turned around, smiling at the arrival, "Just on time, Teach, if you could bring these dishes out."

"With pleasure, Thatch," Teach replied with a wide-toothed grin before he turned to the silent Konan, his smile turning wider, to an unnatural degree.

Konan stared at him with displeasure, itching to scrape off the fake smile on his mouth but restraining herself. She could easily discern the greed in his eyes, and she finally remembered why he seemed so familiar, he was the rat scurrying around the treasury on Fish-Man Island.

"Konan, I assume," he greeted, extending his hand politely.

She frowned, a glove forming around her hand as she held it out-if he noticed the blatant move, he didn't comment. His grip was tight and firm, his nails almost digging into her gloved skin while his polite smile contrasted with his actions. Konan similarly erased all disgust from her face with an equally pleasant smile while her hand sharply clenched, she only stopped when she saw the sweat begin to trickle down his face and she heard a satisfying crack.

She swiftly let go, and smiled at the pale man, "fuck off," her honeyed voice gently conveyed her meaning and he abruptly left. She had long lost all patience when it came to dealing with arrogant bugs.

Thatch watched the scene without interrupting, only coming over when it finished-there was an unspoken rule in piracy to not intervene in the fight of another. "I hope he didn't offend you; Teach can be a bit-" he paused to find the right words, "competitive, sometimes."

"Don't worry, he isn't able to harm me," she deflected the concern without much care, looking at the sheepish cook who came to appease the situation.

"He is usually kind but he has his moments," Thatch confessed while defending his comrade, before offering a sweet he saw her eye earlier.

"Sure," she accepted the explanation while not really believing it, she had already pinned the title of two-faced to Teach. It wasn't the first time she had met men of the sorts, pretending to be gentle on the surface while plotting in the shadows-the viciousness in his eyes wasn't something that could be faked.

She tasted the unusual sweet treat carefully, enjoying the way it cracked under her teeth before melting on her tongue. When she finished it, she looked with a hint of disappointment at the chef who laughed before silently handing her a bunch of other sweets.

"I heard from Ace you liked sweets a lot, guess that wasn't an understatement," Thatch commented, while continuing to cook, with Konan now observing him, a lollipop in her mouth.

"Snitch," Konan mumbled under her breath, though she didn't deny it.

"Want to help me?" he offered.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," she immediately refused, remembering her poor experiences with cooking.

"I can teach you some simple recipes if you want to," Thatch proposed, waving his spatula around.

"That's going to end well," she commented sarcastically as she got up and walked up to his counter kitchen.

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(～￣▽￣)～