Mate of the Phoenix

Chapter Five

Life on the Moby was wonderful. I spent my time between ports helping Marco in the infirmary, teaching Hadrian as he grew, and getting to know my new family and crew much better than before. After the first run in with the Navy, I got more proficient with my rapier thanks to both Marco and Vista, Thatch joining in on some of the training sessions as well. In the three years since joining Oyaji's crew, I had become a deadly force with a sword and could hold my own with the best of them. While not as skilled as Vista or Marco, I was a good match for Thatch most days. I had also received a bounty of 20 million berries with the name 'Midnight Liz' attached. I had laughed at the name, but it wasn't a bad one. The Navy didn't know my full name and gave me the moniker for my midnight black hair. It was fitting.

Now, standing with Marco as the ship we had taken docked at the island we would be meeting another Yanko at, I thought about the reason for said meeting. Red-Haired Shanks, while a rival pirate captain, was a friend to Marco and secretly to Oyaji. I had yet to meet the man, but he didn't sound like a bad person from what I had been told. He already reminded me of Sirius just from the little I knew. A man who loved life with child-like glee but fiercely protected those he cared for.

We had taken one of the smaller ships to the island, only myself, Marco, and a few men from his division needing to go. This was to be a friendly meeting to invite Shanks and his crew to our wedding.

After two and a half years together, the man had taken me back to the island we had met on, shared a picnic on the beach with me, and proposed with a simple yet elegant gold ring with a single sapphire just as the sun sunk below the horizon. It had been perfect. Six months later, we were now only a week away from our wedding, and Marco had finally decided to at least let the Yanko know since the man often hounded him about meeting me. What better way then to invite the man to our wedding that was to be held on the Moby?

Once we were docked, I followed Marco off of the ship to where a tall man with shoulder length, grey hair and a cross-shaped scar by his left eye stood smoking a cigarette. He seemed almost bored as he watched us walk up to him, but I could tell that he was curious about our visit by the look in his eyes.

"Benn, yoi. I'm surprised Red-Hair didn't meet us at the dock himself," Marco said, walking up and shaking the man's hand.

"I thought it might be best if the captain stayed at camp. Didn't want to overwhelm your girl with his idiocy."

I chuckled at the man's words and looked up at him with a slight smirk on my lips.

"Elizabeth D. Potter, Marco's soulmate," I said, holding out my hand.

He looked at me and I could tell that he could feel my magic, which I now almost constantly had pulsing around me. Not enough to cause an issue, but enough to make others think twice about messing with me. With that, I had also mastered all three kinds on Haki since it was very similar to my magic.

The only indication he gave to sensing it, however, was a simple raise of his eyebrow before he shook my hand.

"Benn Beckman, first mate of the Red Hair Pirates," he replied before giving Marco a smirk. "Strong woman you got there, Marco. Captain's gonna be mighty jealous that date picked you as her soulmate."

"Red-Hair can get over it, yoi. Let's go before I decide to head back and not see him at all."

I rolled my eyes at Marco's annoyance and smacked his arm, causing the crew members behind us to laugh at a very common occurrence.

"Be nice, Marco. We came here for a reason, and I would like to not have this end up being a waste of time." I then looked back at the other who had come with. "Stay with the ship. Marco will come and get you if we stay longer than an hour."