Three [Eustass Kid × Reader]

Twenty-two

New World

One month before the Raid of Onigashima

"Shit!" shouts Marco, shaking his hand after the pan burns his finger.

The blue flames light up and heal the slight injury. The man huffs, a bit clumsily placing half of the pasta on the plate, then the rest on another.

Cooking was never his strength. But to make up for the mess he did, he puts an extra cherry tomato on top before walking to the table.

"I made your favorite," he smiles at Ace, pushing the food closer to him. The dark-haired man looks down and takes a fork, eating silently. Marco's heart sinks from the sight of the empty eyes, even after this long time.

They glowed so brightly before.

Now, it has been more than two years since he last talked. Portgas D. Ace hid in a place where nobody could find him and where no voice, no sensation of others manages to enter from the reality.

Marco's blue gaze rests on his friend's deep scar for a second before he turns around.

Ace eats without any emotions on his features. Since this state started, he can't fall asleep while eating either.

Even these little things leave behind hollow.

Marco is the only one he accepts to come around. Whenever anyone else comes near the little house, he disappears and only returns after they leave.

He's only an empty shell, a shadow of the man he was once, but somehow he still takes care of himself. He eats enough, sleeps enough, moves enough.

He often spends long hours just watching the sea. Sometimes he starts running by the coast like he wants to leave this world behind.

Marco had to stop him several times when the sand hurt his bare feet until they started bleeding.

Ace doesn't seem to feel pain. He doesn't seem to feel anything.

He's just glaring at something that nobody else can see and stays in the silence.

Marco doesn't know the reasons. He can only guess. But he will stay with the other as long as needed.

The Pirate King's son looks back at him without the faintest sign of recognizing his best friend. He woke up weeks after the battle against the Blackbeard Pirates.

The light of his soul was already gone by the time he first opened his eyes and hasn't come back.

Marco smiles at Ace gently, and the young man turns his gaze back to the nothing.

The blonde starts talking in a collected and mild voice, about how beautiful the sky is today.

But behind all this, there's only one thought in his mind.

That no matter how long it takes, he believes that Portgas D. Ace will wake up again.

.

.

.

Onigashima

"You are a disaster," says King harshly as you fall to your knees in the training hall. "What have you done in these years?"

You hit your forehead against the ground in desperation. His crimson eyes wander to your arm.

"But that's enough for today. Your stitches are coming out," he states. "You can't let the wound open entirely again."

"I want to get stronger," you whisper. "I have to-"

"I said enough," he shouts, and you tremble from his voice. King sighs deeply and looks around, even if he knows nobody else is here. "Can you walk?"