fierybluebird | POV: Onigumo // Category: ANGST AND WAR. No really.

One good thing they never told you about devil fruits; depending on the type you could have the endurance of a god. Or at least in Marco's case he certainly did. How long had he been fighting now? Fighting, running, absorbing damage meant for his nakama, still, he didn't tire. Couldn't tire. Wouldn't tire. He refused to slow down. Slowing down would cost him lives of his family, and that wasn't acceptable.

That's when it happened.

The beginning of the end for Marco. Oh, it had started long before that, back when they let Blackbeard join, back when they all thought he was nakama, friend, ally, brother and son. Or maybe it started when Thatch found the accursed devil fruit that Teach wanted so badly. But here in Marineford, Marco thought they'd make it out. That there was a chance that they'd all get out alive, that even Pops would see them to a New Era and Ace could still be the Pirate King.

Then Whitebeard stumbled and clutched his gaping wound. It wasn't a big thing. To anyone else. To Marco, it was like watching the world slip away from his fingers. Everything was wrong. It was exactly what he feared. Whitebeard had already been in bad health. The Strongest Man in the World had spent the better part of the last year near needing round the clock nursing attention, which he disobeyed at every turn, and continued to drink and push his body the way he'd always done. Going to war, Edward Newgate tore out his IVs and breathing apparatus... the old man probably wasn't even intending to come back.

Whitebeard meant everything to Marco. He was home, family, his father. If Marco had a purpose in life, it was only thanks to Whitebeard. He loved the old man, and Whitebeard falling... That was the most unacceptable thing of all. "That is what I was most afraid of!" Marco hadn't even realized he'd yelled it out loud. He was too caught up in the moment.

Marco's fears got the better of him. He was facing Kizaru, an admiral, a logia user of pure light and radiation. A tricky marine who knew how to use haki and one of the strongest people in the world. And Marco didn't care, he turned his back on him and started running to check on his Pops. Because right then and there, Pops was foremost in his mind and he had to help. If Pops fell, they'd all fall. And if Pops fell, Marco's world might as well be over then and there because they wouldn't have a prayer.

It was stupid.

And Marco paid for it instantly.

Another marine snuck up on him while he was running. Marco didn't even have time to react, thanks to their quick moving rokushiki; marine martial arts. It might as well have been Kizaru, because Vice Admiral Onigumo seemed to have moved at the speed of light. A demon spider, just like the name implied. Too many appendages to even avoid. What could Marco do? He didn't have time to react, suddenly he seemed to be dunked in ice water, all that energy and endurance, his healing flames, his near immortality being sucked away by the seastone on his wrists.

"Seastone?" Marco gasped. He barely even had time to recognize the material before laser beams made of pure light tore through his body. And now, with these things on, he couldn't regenerate.

"MARCO!" he heard Joz yell, but Joz had his own fight, and if he didn't focus on Aokiji he was going to lose an arm... or worse.

Everything was pain, burning and cold and too many sensations that the phoenix just shouldn't be able to feel, but now he was human, no, less than human. It was times like this the word cursed, actually applied to devil fruit users.

And one thing Marco knew for damn certain; he was never going to let a spider anywhere near his back ever again. If he even survived. First things first, he couldn't save or help Pops until he got a damn key.

"Joz!" Haruta was yelling. Not Haruta... he had to protect them all.

"Pops got beaten?! MARCO! Joz!" Vista was calling him.

Marco had to save them all. Save Ace, protect his family.

Fucking marines, he really hated them.