Our last sail

47. First experience on the Grand Line

"Luffy": talk

"Sabo": whisper

"ACE": shout

"Gomu Gomu no": the skill's name

'idiot': thinking

<Joyboy>: voice of all things

-Moby Dick-

Finally, that day had come, the day which would lead to a series of tragedies. Thatch had already left for his own mission, along with some members of his division. They would go to one of the islands which was under Whitebeard's protection because of an emergency call.

Marco knew Thatch would find the Yam Yami no mi right after this trip, but he couldn't do anything, this event must happen. At first, Marco intended to tell Thatch to throw the devil fruit once he saw it, but they wouldn't have a way to prove Teach was a traitor by doing that. Perhaps he could find a way to prevent Thatch from his death. This matter should be discussed among their group of time travelers.

As for now, the phoenix was trying his best to hide his anxiety from his siblings. However, Whitebeard, being a good father, always knew something was up with his children with just a single look. Therefore, now he was facing Marco inside his room.

"So what has been bothering you, son?!"

Marco knew he wasn't able to hide from his pops, so he sighed while letting his shoulders relax. Then he slowly walked up to Whitebeard. The captain quickly knew his son's intention, so he held out his hands in order to let Marco get on and have a comfy seat while in his embrace.

"Do you still remember Teach's betrayal that I once told you about? Thatch would likely find what the traitor has been looking for after this trip, and soon start a chain of events", Marco said with a sad tone.

"So the time has finally come...." Whitebeard said with the same tone as Marco.

Ever since Marco had revealed his secret, and what led him to come back. Whitebeard had hoped that with time travel, things would turn out differently. The captain obviously knew this event would happen sooner or later, and they couldn't do anything to stop it from happening. Sometimes the captain wondered if knowing the future would help them to avoid the worst or make them become more desperate. Besides, did he even know what the worst was? Maybe the time travelers were the only ones who knew the answer to his question.

"I've been anxious since I realized the day was near. Even Ace also noticed my sleepless night. However, I couldn't help it. Pops I'm scared.....I'm scared everything will go wrong.....I'm scared I'll lose you guys again.....I'm scared of being alone again...." Marco's body was trembling

It was like Marco was deep inside his own thoughts rather than sharing with his captain. The phoenix was seeing himself locked inside a dark room with no sight of Whitebeard, slowly recalling all the time he had to watch his crewmates and father figure dying in front of his eyes. Once again, he was alone in the dark. Why did he always end up as the survivor? This was obviously a curse to him.

Looking at his miserable son, Whitebeard gave out a tired sigh. Inside his memory, Marco was once a bright child, he always seemed so optimistic all the time. However, the lack of his family presence beside him had made Marco become the complete opposite of what he used to be. Whitebeard then slowly rubbed his finger on Marco's back to calm his son down. Soon the phoenix felt asleep as the tiredness had finally kicked in.

"We won't leave you alone again, Marco," Whitebeard said.

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