A Strange New Little Brother

A Return To Normal?

They banged on doors while they went. Marco headed to the hall with Ace, who he heard screaming and wailing scared noises. His door was in the exit hallway, the main one, so he was closest to the fire. Marco ran through it and stuffed his fire through the crack in the door. He grabbed Ace and kicked through the left wall, running out that door. Ace was coughing from the smoke, inhuman sounding. Sounding like intense sneezes.

The door was blocked, but Marco had a plan and blew the bubble out and around the flame, suffocating it inside the bubble as it burned up oxygen. They all got out of the room from the smoke and ran onto the charred deck and masts.

It was still smoking, and the back deck was on fire. Marco blew the bubbles up there, too. The fire was put out, but the ship was badly damaged. Marco knew who did it. He swore, and told everyone he knew who did it. Instead of thinking about how to fix the ship, they all went running behind Marco.

They could hear the pirates laughing inside. They burst through the door and killed all of them brutally. But they left the ship in tact so they could salvage wood from it. Not nearly big enough to fix it all, but it would be helpful. They left the bodies in a storage room, not wanting to throw them into the water.

They left and went back to the Moby, all of them downcast and depressed, near tears at their damaged ship. And it was all Marco's fault for resorting to violence on people who had no idea who the Whitebeards were, what they were capable of.

But when they got back, the ship was perfectly fine, and Thatch was holding a sleeping Ace in his lap, frowning deeply. They were all shocked and demanded to know what the hell had happened in the 20 minutes they'd been gone. Pops was there and said that Ace had fixed it, but was now seemingly sick.

He showed all signs of complete exhaustion, Marco could see. As if he hadn't slept in weeks, he had heavy bags under his eyes, was sweaty and pale. Thatch picked him up, and put his foulard over Ace's mouth from the smoke and then took him to the infirmary. Nobody was burned, but most had their throats burning and itching from inhaling smoke.

Pops asked if the people who'd done this were dead. "Yup. And painfully," Marco added. "Ace fixed the whole ship?" he asked in awe. "Even the interior?" Whitebeard shook his head. Only the worst parts, out on the deck. The inside hallway was still burnt.

"I would like us to do the fixing of that area," the captain said. "Ace has done more than enough." Marco agreed. It was late at night, but everybody got to work fixing the interior, with Ace's room filled with smoke and with the wall burst open. The door was burnt badly as well. If Marco hadn't been there, Ace would be dead. That thought made his hands shake, but after a few deep, calming breaths, he was okay again, and got to work.

After the wall was fixed enough, Marco went to the infirmary and found Ace was still asleep, tucked into bed, with the smoke no longer all over his face. He coughed in his sleep, but did not wake. "How is he?" Marco asked quietly. Thatch wasn't the one to answer, it was Tami.

"He's extremely exhausted and will probably be asleep for over a day. I've never treated anyone with this level of exhaustion. He'll need water and nutrients if he doesn't wake up for meals." She sounded sad. Thatch was quiet and watching him.

He said, "Thank you. For saving him. He was trapped in his room, right?" Marco nodded and said he didn't need to thank him. Marco went straight for Ace's room to get him, make sure he was okay. He was alive, but would he be traumatized by this? The first mate wouldn't be surprised if he was.

The ship was attempting to clear out the smoke as best as they could, keeping the door open to the outside. Fans were turned on to blow smoke down the hallway and towards the door. The ship was repaired by the end of that morning. Then everyone went to sleep but the many who couldn't stayed outside.