Marco the Phoenix (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fierybluebird) wrote2030-02-27 06:05 pm
fierybluebird) wrote2030-02-27 06:05 pm
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Questions, comments, annoyances with me overusing "eh" to the point that you can never get Canadian Bacon, maple syrup loving Marco out of your head and would like me to stop? Leave it here!
Anon is on!
Screening is on!
CHARACTER
» Name: Marco. Epithet and bounty name: Marco the Phoenix.
» Fandom: One Piece
» References you can use: http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Marco
» Canon Point: 590 in all comms (pre-timeskip)
» Gender: Male
» Age: Unknown in canon, at LEAST over 36 since he's been in the Whitebeard pirates looking approximately the same for the last 20 years.
» Sexual Orientation: Mine is bisexual until/unless indicated otherwise in canon. He likes strong of will people, people who remind him of his friends, and people who ARE his friends.
» Appearance: Blonde, flat-spiked hair that resembles pineapple leaves (not helped by the long face and hooded eyes which makes him look like a pineapple head.) Like most One Piece characters, Marco visibly works out and is very muscular with a full six-pack abs that he displays under an open/unbuttoned long-sleeve (often purple) shirt. He wears black pants that only come down 3/4ths of the way, ending loosely half way down his calves, with a light electric blue sash (matching his phoenix colors) and a gold and black buckle chain belt. He has high laced sandals and an ankle bracelet on his left side. Across his chest is a Whitebeard tattoo: A cross with the crescent moon mustache through it. He keeps a relative amount of scruff unshaven on his chin and cheeks and high arched, thinly curved eyebrows.
As a phoenix he looks a little girly, with a long almost swan-like neck, he's a bright fiery blue. He's very big and a little larger than just as he is as a human and his arms turn into wings, feet into long sharp talons.
» Fighting Ability: A devil fruit user of the mythic zoan model: phoenix, Marco is extremely strong. He can use haki, fly, and his feathers appear to be made of blue flames. He attacks both in full phoenix form, his human hybrid half phoenix form, and straight as a human. He's one of the few (possibly only) zoan users to be able to change only specific parts of his body and not others.
Fighting Weakness: Ocean, and seastone. So far these are his only known canon weaknesses, he does get trapped momentarily in seastone where he's unable to heal himself, but due to his ability to stand up to haki and use it in battle, it would seem logia doesn't affect him much. Indeed, he's the only Whitebeard pirate to face all 3 admirals and survive (so far) other than Whitebeard himself. He can be taken unawares by very strong opponents (getting punched by Garp when he thought he could rescue Ace and locked in handcuffs by Onigumo.) And when Whitebeard got hurt by Squado he was the first to rush over and yell at him, likewise when Whitebeard was spitting up blood, Marco turned in the middle of fighting Aikanu to go rush to his Pops' side and this caused him to get injured, turning his back on the Admiral. So his biggest weakness is being distracted, trying to protect everyone he loves and worried the most about at once.
» Personality/Background:
History/Background: It's unknown how long ago he joined Whitebeard, likewise with the circumstances surrounding the event, however, he's been in the crew for at least 20 years. Due to his strength and reliability he's the first division commander and Whitebeard's right hand man. He likely has an extremely high bounty and one of the largest in the world (though obviously less than Whitebeard himself and Dragon, who has the highest.) He's very, very, devoted to Whitebeard, even calling him father and Pops and was the first one to explain to Ace the loving relationship between Whitebeard and his crew and why they call him Pops. The Whitebeard pirates infamously have a rule of revenge for any idiot who dares to lay a hand on one of their crew members. So much so that many pirates won't lay a hand on a Whitebeard pirate even when he's seemingly unarmed. Marco is certainly a big part of where this reputation comes from, both due to his natural protectiveness of his crew and as one of Whitebeard's strongest and most loyal followers.
Up to his canon point, the 4th division commander Thatch was killed by one of their own crew members: Blackbeard (Marshall D. Teach) who wanted the darkness devil fruit Thatch found. Due to the rule about always avenging a nakama, everyone expected the Whitebeard pirates to chase down Blackbeard and kill him, but instead Whitebeard ordered his men down saying he had a bad feeling about it. Because Blackbeard was in Ace's second division, Ace felt it was his responsibility to hunt Blackbeard down and avenge Thatch, especially since it seemed that the rest of crew wouldn't be doing it. He ran off against orders and Marco was amongst the friends and division commanders begging Ace not to go. Marco stayed with his captain, helping take care of the crew and business and Whitebeard himself who has been in ailing health.
Red Hair Shanks sent a message to Whitebeard using a new crew member named Rockstar, but when Rockstar asked if anyone recognized him, Marco flat-out replied no, since the Whitebeard crew had all their own infamy. When Shanks himself came to talk to Whitebeard in person, Marco protectively told the "young ones" of the crew to get back and stay out of the way. Shanks brought a large container of sake from his home island in the West Blue (so large because Whitebeard is a half giant or something similar) to make up for coming with all his haki out. Before he could start drinking, Marco yelled at him for knocking so many of the members into sleep and Shanks responded by asking him to join his crew. Marco angrily refused telling Shanks to shut up. Discussing Blackbeard being dangerous, the pirate emperor Shanks then asked Whitebeard to call back Ace from hunting Blackebeard (not realized, Whitebeard had already ordered him not to go) and negotiations broke down. However, when one of the Whitebeard crew asked what Shanks was doing to Pops, Marco told him to cool down, Shanks wouldn't do anything stupid.
Upon hearing of Ace's loss to Blackbeard and subsequential incarceration and scheduled execution date, the Whitebeard pirates prepared for war, enlisting Shanks' help in holding off one of the other pirate emperor's fleets so that Kaidou wouldn't attack them on their way out (hopefully after rescuing Ace). Despite the breathing apparatus and IV tubes, Whitebeard ripped them out of his body, refusing to look weak in front of the world and determined to get Ace back at any cost. Marco was extremely worried about this as Whitebeard was in failing health to begin with as he was getting older. However, given the cost of such an action, Marco was extremely worried and carried these fears into the Battle of Marineford, even in the thick of battle, Marco worried internally and out loud about Whitebeard's wounds and health because of it, to the point that Marco ran back away from his own fights to try to help his Pops and at one point even got into handcuffs because of it.
Personality: Marco is extremely strong: physically, fighting and also mentally, as he has a lot of willpower and was able to resist falling asleep from Shanks' haki. He's ridiculously protective of his crew and anyone he cares about as an ally or trusted friend. He loves Whitebeard as a father, calling him Pops like the rest of the crew does, and was the first person to explain to Ace why the pirates trust and love Whitebeard as a father. He gets very mad when someone hurts his crewmates, and tends to be the worrier of the crew, sometimes referred to as the "Mother Hen" in fanon. He's intimately well-informed of crew matters being one of Whitebeard's most trusted commander and is seen as very responsible, even duty-bound at times. As the first division commander he's "the big brother" of the family that is the Whitebeard crew and he looks after all his little brothers, calling them "young ones" and treating them like idiots until they get stronger and learn more about how the world works. He has a deadpan sense of humor, claiming in the middle of battle to be severely hurt by Kizaru even when he was completely unharmed, and is shown to be quite sarcastic while maintaining an emotionless face. He doesn't like to show weakness to enemies or outsiders and because a lot of people (such as Crocodile) want to kill Whitebeard to take his place or in an attempt to become the next pirate king, he's usually wary of them. However, he does take a quick liking to Luffy, partly because he knew how important he was to Ace and also because Luffy stopped Crocodile from attacking Whitebeard in the fight.
Marco has an extremely intense loyalty to Whitebeard. So much so that he generally dislikes Red-Hair Shanks for frequently asking Marco to switch sides and join his crew instead. He also got annoyed with Shanks for using haki on his crew, which Marco is very protective of. His love for Whitebeard (and worry thereof) is so great that despite the composure Marco shows through the rest of the battle at Marineford, when Whitebeard got hurt and started to fall, Marco turned his back on his enemy to try to rush to Whitebeard's side and this got him into handcuffs draining him of his phoenix powers. He openly cried at both Ace and Whitebeard's deaths even though it was in the middle of a battlefield, but he still maintained the presence of mind to try to get the rest of his crew to safety -- showing exactly why he was one of Whitebeard's strongest commanders, mentally as well as physically. Likewise, Marco is extremely intelligent, and knowledgeable about aspects of the world, that few, if anyone, knows much about.
He was extremely worried about Ace when Fire-Fist took off to avenge Thatch against Blackbeard and even tried to stop Ace, because while he trusts his fellow commanders to have the strength to take care of themselves, and knew Ace's capabilities, Whitebeard told Ace to stand down, he trusted Whitebeard's judgement intimately and likewise trusted that Thatch was strong enough to survive where he couldn't, which meant Blackbeard far exceeded anyone's expectations of strength (as Shanks tried to inform the Whitebeard crew, though they already knew.) In spite of this however, in order to save face for Ace and his pride, Marco backed up Whitebeard every step of the way in the claim that they ordered Ace to hunt Blackbeard down even to Shanks and the world at Marineford.
Even without being Teach's division commander, Marco kept a close enough eye on Blackbeard to know things about him no one else appears to. This is most likely due to his care for all of his crew, not just his own division, and his attention to fine details that was necessary to help his captain keep the crew running smoothly. However, in spite of the friendship and closeness to his crewmates, Marco still managed to keep a managerial distance, calling the newer crew members "young ones" and making it very clear that they took orders from him. He can be warm and gentle with them (like making sure to bring Ace food), but for all his affection for his supposed little brothers, Marco doesn't hesitate to take lone action himself, like surging ahead in a battle.
The Whitebeard pirates in general have the reputation of swift and terrible vengeance, and Marco is by no means exempt for this. His fury for Blackbeard for killing Thatch was only compounded by turning Ace into the marines to be executed and worse yet for killing their captain. He was also furious with Akainu (who delivered Ace's killing blow), but in spite of that and all the other times the crew made sure to exterminate anyone who hurt their family; Marco knew his first responsibility was to keeping the rest of the crew safe and alive. If he rushed back in the way he surely wanted to, his crew would have tried to back him up and gotten hurt. Thus Marco put the priority of making sure as many got back out alive as possible above their reputed priority of vengeance.
He can come across as very flippant and dismissive, part of his cocky arrogance and also part of his sense of humor. When Rockstar was trying to brag about his fame and asking if anyone had ever heard of him, Marco quickly retorted, "No," steamrolling anymore attempts on the pirate messenger's part to puff up his name and own ego. He can be extremely deadpan and sarcastic even in the middle of a battle, and usually jokes lies with a completely straight face. He lights up and he's at his best and happiest when he's talking about his Pops and how much they love him and why. There's a glimmer of this reflection when he's explaining things to his crew around him, or straight-away agreeing with his Pops (like minds), or when he's proudly determined thinking that even if victory isn't immediately at hand, it'll be fun to try.
Despite easily having one of the highest bounties in the world, being the second-hand-man to the strongest man in the world, and having one of the rarest and strongest devil fruits in the world, Marco doesn't talk much about himself or brag at all. Instead, he seems to share some of Whitebeard's dream of a desire for family in that Marco wants to keep them safe. He's smart and at least a little ambitious to reach the rank he did, but he has no desire to be the next Pirate King, and even having been around during Gold Roger's rise to fame (as well as Golden Leo Shiki's), Marco's loyalty was always to Whitebeard because he respected his captain so much for wanting family and love instead of jewels or power. Following in his captain's footsteps, Marco's strength and power isn't used to make him famous, but instead to protect the beloved crew he has. While Whitebeard was supposedly taking a gamble on Ace's "Will of the D" carrying the new generation of pirates into the future and setting Ace up to become the next Pirate King, Marco supported this stance and never sought it himself.
Marco was able to use the stolen marine technology without any difficulties and used to this to direct someone to listen in on marine lines of communications and to pass messages to the other divisions during the battle. While he followed and carried out Whitebeard's orders through the start of the battle, when his captain told them leave Whitebeard behind, Marco took over, with the crew looking up to him as their current battle leader. Whitebeard had clearly informed Marco in advance of his Pop's intentions to stay and die at Marineford, giving Marco the orders to get the crew out of there the minute they had Ace and could run; but even with that, Marco kept his composure during Whitebeard's proclamation, carrying out his job. Though Marco had never gotten along with Shanks, when Shanks showed up to end the battle of Marineford (after both Ace and Whitebeard died), Marco grudgingly accepted the much needed help, for the sake of the crew, even though this also meant he wouldn't be able to avenge either Ace, Whitebeard, nor Thatch at that time. This shows he can put aside grudges and deep resentments for the better good when necessary.
Whitebeard himself was most famous for not allowing slavery and even taking islands under his protection to stop other pirates from trying to engage in it. He adopted any son of the sea who needed a home as one of his own and didn't hold any discriminations based on race, species, abilities, personality, and was a very firm believer that a son should never be held to pay for the sins of a father. Marco backed up all of these beliefs every step of the way, worked with cross-dressers, fishmen, monsters, giants, and other seeming outcasts without question or pause. The only thing Marco seemed to have troubles with was forgiving someone who hurt his crew; same thing Whitebeard himself said he could never forgive. And when Squado was beating himself up for getting tricked by the marines into attacking Whitebeard, Marco was furious with him, but got straight to the heart of the matter and told Squado that agonizing over the mistake wasn't going to fix it or help them. If Squardo wanted to be sorry, he could prove it by backing Pops up and helping him against the marines to rescue Ace.
In the Japanese version Marco had a verbal tic adding "Yoi" to his sentences. Many of the English translators interpreted this as "Eh" and it's become a common fandom thing to add either. (I use eh because it gives a Canadian aura and various One Piece characters do have specific nationalities they borrow language aspects from.) Another very common fandom thing is to draw Marco wearing a pair of black glasses or smoking even though he's never shown doing either in canon. The glasses are due to his high intelligence and almost studious or stereotypical "megane" of being almost coldly calculating and placing the long term goals above immediate desires. And while it isn't ever stated one way or another in canon, many fans feel that Marco was probably the financial expert behind Whitebeard's operations since Whitebeard doesn't care about money and yet still manages to have as many ships and extra people (cooks and nurses) employed on top of the many expensive alcohols the captain enjoys.
While not especially wordy when speaking, Marco has the honor of having the most Whitebeard crew lines in canon other than Ace and Whitebeard himself. He's not adverse to helping new people work through things and likes to teach things other may not be aware of yet. He also thinks out loud on certain things (such as about Teach) which is unusual even for thoughtful/intellectual characters in One Piece. This is part of his helping to explain things to the crew around him in a teacher/mother hen way.
My Marco has a lot of pirate lore, phoenix mythology, and fanon in him due to the larger availability of those to flesh him out as opposed to pure canon. The glasses, books, and skill with math are thanks to fanart/fanon. Mine does say, "eh" a lot thanks to translator error spawning a fanon tic. This is because the majority of people I personally play with find it fun and so do I. Unfortunately I overdo it and it's something people like or hate so I can only promise not to do around people who specifically request otherwise, however I will still be continuing with people who do like it. My Marco even has Canadian tendencies in general due to the "eh" and as a take off/play off from Sanji's being "French." (Marco is similar with the blonde hair, scruff and in fanon occasionally smoking and wearing Mr. Prince-like glasses.) Likewise, you'll note a lot of ornithology in him from the phoenix; including a preference for fruit or very cooked food, a tendency to nest (especially when raining) and a habit of singing, whistling, tweeting and trilling. He also likes to talk to birds (ability of which I attribute that Chopper is able to speak all other animals, and Jyabura can talk to dogs) and doesn't usually care if someone finds that odd.
Important canon relationships
- Whitebeard. Canonically the most important person in the world to Marco, he loves his captain like a father. He's extremely loyal and devoted to Whitebeard, and follows his orders right away, often as though they're of the exact same opinion on things (which they likely often ARE.) He worries a great deal about Whitebeard's health (as he's seen very sick, needing 'round the clock medical attention from nurses and wearing IVs and breathing apparatuses) and is considered to be next in line to take position of captain to look after the crew. Despite this, he obviously would prefer Whitebeard keep on living, but respects his captain's orders and decisions. He openly cried at Whitebeard's death, even though it was on the battlefield.
- Portgas D. Ace. Because Ace is a fire devil fruit user, it's very closely related to Marco's own phoenix devil fruit. He was around to watch and help guide Ace's transition from an angry 17 year old full of rage and hate to telling him about why the crew loves Whitebeard so much and slowly helping Ace reach the decision to start opening up to their captain and join the crew more officially. When Ace took off to fight Blackbeard, Marco begged him not to go, to listen to Pops and not get hurt. However, he stuck by Whitebeard's side and despite begging Ace not to go, he instantly backed Whitebeard up on the claim that they told Ace to go; in order to save Ace's pride and face. Marco was one of the strongest fighters trying to rescue Ace at the Battle of Marineford and even faced all three admirals during the course of it. Aside from Luffy himself, he got the closest to rescuing Ace of anyone there. --Spoiler-- And when Ace died, he openly cried and went into a temporary shock that they could have messed up enough for that to happen. He spent a lot of time with Ace, listening to stories about Ace's little brother, enough that he instantly recognized Luffy as Ace's little brother and sought to protect him, knowing that Ace cared more about Luffy's life than even his own. Like Whitebeard, Marco took a liking to Ace's reckless nature, finding the impulsiveness and loyalty charming on Ace's part.
- Vice Admiral Garp. Through the course of decades on the Grand Line and the Whitebeard rivalry with Gol D. Roger (whom Garp chased) Marco and Garp were certainly aware of each other's reputations and not on friendly terms thanks to the marine vs. pirates. When Marco got a free shot to fly up in phoenix form to try to rescue Ace, Garp got in the way and punched Marco, taking Marco off guard and forcing him to switch back to human form.
- Thatch. 4th division commander in the Whitebeard Crew, exactly how close Thatch and Marco were together isn't canon explained (and unlikely to ever be unless Marco becomes a main character or something), but at minimum they were extremely close best friends, and rarely shown apart. Since Thatch was Ace's first friend in the crew and Marco later took a special interest in Ace, it's common fandom belief that Thatch encouraged Marco to be nicer to Ace who needed it. My Marco has a playful best friend attitude with Thatch, they jokingly ribbed each other and called one another insulting nicknames. Marco was extremely distressed over Thatch's death, but his loyalty and trust of Whitebeard won out over his own rage and desire for vengeance.
- Blackbeard aka Marshall D. Teach. Since Teach was Thatch's murderer, the crew traitor, hurt Whitebeard, and turned Ace over to the marines to be executed, only to then kill Whitebeard and eat Whitebeard's devil fruit; to say Marco "hates, loathes, despises and wants to take his head" doesn't really cover the extent of it. Marco knew Teach very well in the crew, enough to know somethings about Teach that very few people at all knew. He does want to kill Teach and avenge his family, but protecting the rest of the family tempers Marco's rage enough to stay cool and not recklessly rush off like Ace. He handles Blackbeard coolly, despite his immense anger and hate of the man. Marco's rationality comes first.
- Jinbei. Marco considers Jinbei a very close ally of the crew and trusted him to look after Ace's little brother when all hell started breaking loose in Marineford even though Marco outright said that entire Whitebeard crew's pride staked on keeping Luffy alive. He knows and respects that Jinbei admires and protects and helps the crew. So at minimum they have a tight working relationship.
- Shanks. Marco's known Shanks since the days Shanks was on Gol D. Roger's ship as a cabin boy. He's not that impressed by him, but knows that Shanks can exude powerful quantities of haki (a little like Gold Roger himself) and that the "young'uns" in the WB crew wouldn't be able to withstand. He also gets pissed off at Shanks for knocking the members of his crew unconscious with it, and even more irritated that Shanks is constantly asking Marco to join Shanks' crew. He was still generally pissed off at Shanks and not super grateful for the help at Marineford, but Marco knows when to accept things they have to do, and silently accepted Shanks' orders to get the rest of the crew out alive to safety. He is however, extremely grateful for the help on Ace & Whitebeard's graves as neither of those he could have done alone. Shanks was (luckily) dismissive of the gratitude however, letting Marco save his pride.
- Jozu. 3rd division commander in the Whitebeard pirates, Marco and Jozu were shown having some light banter and discussing Shanks' approach and the haki and crew. Jozu is the diamond devil fruit user and almost three times taller than Marco, however Marco doesn't appear fazed by this in any way whatsoever. They're very close friends.
- Squardo. For all of Marco's frustration with Squardo for attacking Whitebeard due to Akainu's lies, he blames the admiral more than Squardo. Because Marco backs up Whitebeard on just about everything, he continues to follow that regarding Squardo, and told the captain instead of despairing to make up for the mistake and get moving. That said, later one when Squardo tried to sacrifice himself to make up for the mistake, Marco was cursing saying, "That's not the way," for the same reason Whitebeard didn't let Squardo stick by that.
- Vista. 5th division commander, Flower Sword Vista is shown a lot with Marco (though not as often as Jozu) and continuing the close nature of the Whitebeard pirates, he and Vista seem pretty close in any case.
- Izou. (Trap-chan) 16th division commander, Izou is nicknamed "Trap-chan" by fans (carried on with my Marco) because he's the okama of the Whitebeard crew and dresses up a lot like a geisha girl, and wears makeup and feminine clothes.
- Luffy. Known to Marco as "Ace's little brother," Marco had been hearing stories about Luffy long before he actually met the Straw-Hat pirate from Ace who liked to babble proudly about his little brother. Like Whitebeard, he instantly took a liking to Luffy's recklessness and attitude, as well as the desire to protect Ace. He further won points with Marco by protecting Whitebeard from Crocodile even though he was the one to bring him along. Throughout the battle, Marco made sure to keep Luffy from too much harm, teaming with the other commanders to try to give Luffy a fighting chance to get to the execution base where Ace was. Spoilers: Even when Ace died, Marco declared that since it was to protect Luffy, under no circumstances could they let Luffy get further hurt since Luffy's safety was more important to Ace than Ace's own life and called it all that remained of Ace's will. He also staked the entire pride of the Whitebeard pirates on keeping Luffy safe and getting him out alive; more so than Ace's own life because (again) it mattered more to Ace than his own.
~Permissions~
- Backtagging: Yes || Note: due to my erratic health my tag speeds are also erratic, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, if there is ever an important thread you need finished, poke me on plurk or pm and I'll prioritize it asap around migraines.
- Threadhopping with this character - yes/no/other?: Yes. Always welcome. But be mindful of other people's journals if they don't like it. I actually prefer threadjumps, as I feel they tend to be more spontaneous and IC! So you can always threadjump in my posts, but Marco might be nosy!
- Fourth Wall Breakage: Sure thing. On that note, canonmates have permission to know of his bounty/reputation/anything obvious. & Whitebeard nakama can make up ridiculous stories about him and I'll roll with it \o/
- Triggers/Squicks/NOPES: My only actual triggers are really obscure and unlikely to come up casually, but certain incest stuff will freak out character & mun. (It depends on characters and talk to me if worried)
- Subject line comments: Yes please, always okay in my posts/with me and preferred if you're going to do more than 1 comment/explain something ooc. If I do it too much to you, slap me as a reminder
- Hugging this character?: Yes. He'll probably just arch a surprised eyebrow unless you're crew/Luffy/adopted (and then you will get all the hugs back ever)
- Giving this character a kiss?: Go ahead! Feel free to punch him if he kisses you first.
- Badtouching: psssh, he's a pirate, he'll probably enjoy it.
- Lovers:redcinemareel -- married in Witchesreign (carries over to Cerealia!) & a messy/complicated past relationship with his brother Thatch (ongoing) but the phoenix thing & loyalty in general makes him completely devoted so he's not easy to pursue, even if he does flirt.
- Adopted kids: Tobias Hayes in Cerealia, Roxas in HighSeas. In both places Marco has tried to adjust to being more like his own father now that he's in a position as a captain himself, but it's a slow process. He likes woobie brats, and likewise practically adopted Eridan from Homestuck in Discedo.
- Punching this character (provided they can fight back): Yes.
- Easiest way to get on his good side: Respect Whitebeard, the Whitebeard name and pirates and what it truly means and help protect his crew/friends/allies/nakama. Being a woobie in general will wake up his protective side, and helping him with that means he'll recognize you as an ally almost instantly.
- Easiest way to get on his bad side: Insult Whitebeard, hurt anyone in the crew, threaten the crew, and/or hurt/threaten Luffy. Ditto, Captains or leaders who do not hold utmost respect for their own crewmembers will not have any of his respect, and the more they try to control with orders rather than respect, the more aggravated Marco will get. He's also biased against "Rookies" or people who try to brag about themselves and their strength while believing they know everything in the universe rather than asking questions about it.
- Can I hack his journal?: Yes.
- Can he hack my journal?: Occasionally at best, but I'll always try to ask permission though unless it's like a less than 15% lock or something obviously easy.
- Can I shapeshift/bodyswap/etc?: Yes. Just let me know what you have in mind/how long/etc. The zanier, the more I'll love it.
- Maim/Murder/Death: IM me, we'll work it out, ocean and/or seastone needs to be involved (possibly) because as a phoenix I'm not even sure how much he'd die.
- Blood: Yeah that's fine, though depending on power caps, he'll "bleed" blue flames.
- Mindreading: He doesn't mindread, but yes you can read his mind. Leave me an ooc note if your character could pick up things beyond the usual deadpan tones emotionally/mentally. For specific scenes, if you're familiar with canon you can use any number of those, or you can im/pm/ooc request links and I'll send them. Or you can use any of the ones from the memory event, see here.
WARNINGS:
First and foremost: Whitebeard Pirates = REVENGE. One of Marco's biggest characterization aspects is the focus on vengeance. The Whitebeard pirates became the most famous pirates in the One Piece world thanks to their vengeance creed, and the crux of Marco's entire concept of morality is centralized on it. If it's clear he loves someone enough to protect them as one of his own, he will always want to avenge them. It can be a fine line, especially since in WR/the Garden he wasn't as close to all of the students as his crew and he became more jaded about their disappearances. On the other hand in High Seas, any one of the Spade crew members he counts as under his protection and subject to this law of the sea. If your character kills someone he loves, insults them, or hurts them, please expect this to come up. It's a pain in the butt because he is very very overprotective and it's not direct, so I will alway always try to work out an IC / acceptable solution if vengeance is completely out of the option etc.
2. Marco is a very violent, sometimes brutally murderous pirate. He can come across as a cute and fluffy birdie, but he thinks nothing of brutally maiming, lying, stealing, cheating, murdering, and breaking every law in his way. If a thread is going to get gorey / racey I always try to mark it in the comment header or move it somewhere else, but it's a general warning too, because if you just skim his threads, the topics can come up.
3. He does not respect authority. His respect in any aspect whatsoever is difficult to earn, but the best way is light touches, and trying to get Marco as an advisor. On the flipside, he can be incredibly bossy and a fucking know-it-all spoiled brat, so you know, hypocritical like whoa.
4. He has a canonical weak spot for kids. He'll practically let entire worlds burn and not care much, but not kids. Killing a kid near him crosses a huge line even Blackbeard didn't cross (yet), and killing one of his kids is an instant "vengeance" trigger. He will almost always try to protect them though, from anything and everything. And in Cerealia this goes even extra since he had an adopted son. He is still a birdie though, and he believes in some fairly tough forms of survival.
5. Unless you're family (actually: ONLY Grell, Espio, Ace, Toby, and Thatch) do not wake him up. Birds sleep on high startle reflex mode, and Marco sleeps as a bird. He will kick before he can fully wake up both sides of the brain to register the "threat." If he goes to sleep with people next to him then it's fine, but otherwise he automatically views new intruders as threats. Also rainy days and weather can make him sleepy, especially since he can't do much outside in such weather.
6. Slavery is a big no-no. While he's got slightly less personal reasons behind it than Namur or other fishmen, Marco is still a freedom fighter who fought to protect Fishman Island from slavers and protect the other islands to prevent slavery from existing there. If there is anything even similar to slavery, he will try break the slaves free no matter what the consequence to him. He is also biased to like monsters/outcasts more.
7. His concept of morality is limited at best, and "alternative lifestyles" such as: cannibalism, polyamory, nudism, transgenders, sadists, etc. don't exactly faze him. Heck he's engaged in more than a few of them. That said, he gets a bigger kick out of freaking other people out, so he'd consider it a challenge/game to try to stay deadpan through something bizarre and freak out the other person instead. If this is ever something that can freak you as a mun out, let me know! I'll keep a list of "DO NOT THREADS" or at minimum, I'll remember to put up header warnings!
Marco Triggers: -- These are the IC things that discussing can set him off in directions you might not expect (not including the aboves)
1) Outliving everyone he loves. It might seem obvious, but subtler things can set it off. Whitebeard and Ace died protecting their loved ones, and indeed were able to choose to die that way. This is not something Marco can choose because if he dies to protect his family, they will still be in danger from other threats, so he has to live to protect them, even though it means watching many of those he loves die first. In WR/CF, Marco knows Grell is a deathgod so he expects her to always stay with him, losing her would be a huge blow. Likewise, the constant reminder that Marco automatically heals himself, but not those he loves, can actually really bother him. This is also why he doesn't like to celebrate his birthday. He doesn't get older, everyone else does.
2) He has tons and tons and tons of Daddy feels. Tons. His Pops meant the world to him, it's his tattoo, it's his world, it's his everything, etc. Most of the time he's overjoyed to discuss his Pops, but there are some contexts he'll get depressed about thanks to canon. Ditto his 1600 (yes, 1600) siblings.
3) Black holes. He's getting this under control with help, but if it takes him off guard, he can have a freak out.
4) Betrayal. There will never be enough time for him to get over Blackbeard's betrayal, ever. The song Derelict (Dead Man's Chest) also freaks him out because of the similarities and painful reminder that of the sixteen Whitebeard commanders, Marco is the only one likely to survive. ESPECIALLY Family betrayal, mutinies, or fighting between siblings.
5) Neptune, Poseidon, Hades, Uranus, Mars, dragon mythology, or the power to destroy an island at once will get you some bizarre looks at minimum, and Marco will be thinking heavily and suddenly serious if he doesn't just try to brush it off. Unfortunately Marco knows more than has been revealed in canon, so expect it to be tricky.
OPT-OUT POST
Silly headcanon and other things:
WR Nightmares Event Part 1 -- canon rehash
WR Nightmares Event Part 2 -- yes it is that dark.
IC Inbox / Appointment Post -- 3.0 Since the other two got filled-ish
TL;DR CR Chart -- Always outdated but comment to be added if you wish
Autograph Book -- Luceti only
Memory Event Links/Write-ups -- some with canon, some like the WR Nightmares and rehashes.
Anon is on!
Screening is on!
CHARACTER
» Name: Marco. Epithet and bounty name: Marco the Phoenix.
» Fandom: One Piece
» References you can use: http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Marco
» Canon Point: 590 in all comms (pre-timeskip)
» Gender: Male
» Age: Unknown in canon, at LEAST over 36 since he's been in the Whitebeard pirates looking approximately the same for the last 20 years.
» Sexual Orientation: Mine is bisexual until/unless indicated otherwise in canon. He likes strong of will people, people who remind him of his friends, and people who ARE his friends.
» Appearance: Blonde, flat-spiked hair that resembles pineapple leaves (not helped by the long face and hooded eyes which makes him look like a pineapple head.) Like most One Piece characters, Marco visibly works out and is very muscular with a full six-pack abs that he displays under an open/unbuttoned long-sleeve (often purple) shirt. He wears black pants that only come down 3/4ths of the way, ending loosely half way down his calves, with a light electric blue sash (matching his phoenix colors) and a gold and black buckle chain belt. He has high laced sandals and an ankle bracelet on his left side. Across his chest is a Whitebeard tattoo: A cross with the crescent moon mustache through it. He keeps a relative amount of scruff unshaven on his chin and cheeks and high arched, thinly curved eyebrows.
As a phoenix he looks a little girly, with a long almost swan-like neck, he's a bright fiery blue. He's very big and a little larger than just as he is as a human and his arms turn into wings, feet into long sharp talons.
» Fighting Ability: A devil fruit user of the mythic zoan model: phoenix, Marco is extremely strong. He can use haki, fly, and his feathers appear to be made of blue flames. He attacks both in full phoenix form, his human hybrid half phoenix form, and straight as a human. He's one of the few (possibly only) zoan users to be able to change only specific parts of his body and not others.
Fighting Weakness: Ocean, and seastone. So far these are his only known canon weaknesses, he does get trapped momentarily in seastone where he's unable to heal himself, but due to his ability to stand up to haki and use it in battle, it would seem logia doesn't affect him much. Indeed, he's the only Whitebeard pirate to face all 3 admirals and survive (so far) other than Whitebeard himself. He can be taken unawares by very strong opponents (getting punched by Garp when he thought he could rescue Ace and locked in handcuffs by Onigumo.) And when Whitebeard got hurt by Squado he was the first to rush over and yell at him, likewise when Whitebeard was spitting up blood, Marco turned in the middle of fighting Aikanu to go rush to his Pops' side and this caused him to get injured, turning his back on the Admiral. So his biggest weakness is being distracted, trying to protect everyone he loves and worried the most about at once.
» Personality/Background:
History/Background: It's unknown how long ago he joined Whitebeard, likewise with the circumstances surrounding the event, however, he's been in the crew for at least 20 years. Due to his strength and reliability he's the first division commander and Whitebeard's right hand man. He likely has an extremely high bounty and one of the largest in the world (though obviously less than Whitebeard himself and Dragon, who has the highest.) He's very, very, devoted to Whitebeard, even calling him father and Pops and was the first one to explain to Ace the loving relationship between Whitebeard and his crew and why they call him Pops. The Whitebeard pirates infamously have a rule of revenge for any idiot who dares to lay a hand on one of their crew members. So much so that many pirates won't lay a hand on a Whitebeard pirate even when he's seemingly unarmed. Marco is certainly a big part of where this reputation comes from, both due to his natural protectiveness of his crew and as one of Whitebeard's strongest and most loyal followers.
Up to his canon point, the 4th division commander Thatch was killed by one of their own crew members: Blackbeard (Marshall D. Teach) who wanted the darkness devil fruit Thatch found. Due to the rule about always avenging a nakama, everyone expected the Whitebeard pirates to chase down Blackbeard and kill him, but instead Whitebeard ordered his men down saying he had a bad feeling about it. Because Blackbeard was in Ace's second division, Ace felt it was his responsibility to hunt Blackbeard down and avenge Thatch, especially since it seemed that the rest of crew wouldn't be doing it. He ran off against orders and Marco was amongst the friends and division commanders begging Ace not to go. Marco stayed with his captain, helping take care of the crew and business and Whitebeard himself who has been in ailing health.
Red Hair Shanks sent a message to Whitebeard using a new crew member named Rockstar, but when Rockstar asked if anyone recognized him, Marco flat-out replied no, since the Whitebeard crew had all their own infamy. When Shanks himself came to talk to Whitebeard in person, Marco protectively told the "young ones" of the crew to get back and stay out of the way. Shanks brought a large container of sake from his home island in the West Blue (so large because Whitebeard is a half giant or something similar) to make up for coming with all his haki out. Before he could start drinking, Marco yelled at him for knocking so many of the members into sleep and Shanks responded by asking him to join his crew. Marco angrily refused telling Shanks to shut up. Discussing Blackbeard being dangerous, the pirate emperor Shanks then asked Whitebeard to call back Ace from hunting Blackebeard (not realized, Whitebeard had already ordered him not to go) and negotiations broke down. However, when one of the Whitebeard crew asked what Shanks was doing to Pops, Marco told him to cool down, Shanks wouldn't do anything stupid.
Upon hearing of Ace's loss to Blackbeard and subsequential incarceration and scheduled execution date, the Whitebeard pirates prepared for war, enlisting Shanks' help in holding off one of the other pirate emperor's fleets so that Kaidou wouldn't attack them on their way out (hopefully after rescuing Ace). Despite the breathing apparatus and IV tubes, Whitebeard ripped them out of his body, refusing to look weak in front of the world and determined to get Ace back at any cost. Marco was extremely worried about this as Whitebeard was in failing health to begin with as he was getting older. However, given the cost of such an action, Marco was extremely worried and carried these fears into the Battle of Marineford, even in the thick of battle, Marco worried internally and out loud about Whitebeard's wounds and health because of it, to the point that Marco ran back away from his own fights to try to help his Pops and at one point even got into handcuffs because of it.
Personality: Marco is extremely strong: physically, fighting and also mentally, as he has a lot of willpower and was able to resist falling asleep from Shanks' haki. He's ridiculously protective of his crew and anyone he cares about as an ally or trusted friend. He loves Whitebeard as a father, calling him Pops like the rest of the crew does, and was the first person to explain to Ace why the pirates trust and love Whitebeard as a father. He gets very mad when someone hurts his crewmates, and tends to be the worrier of the crew, sometimes referred to as the "Mother Hen" in fanon. He's intimately well-informed of crew matters being one of Whitebeard's most trusted commander and is seen as very responsible, even duty-bound at times. As the first division commander he's "the big brother" of the family that is the Whitebeard crew and he looks after all his little brothers, calling them "young ones" and treating them like idiots until they get stronger and learn more about how the world works. He has a deadpan sense of humor, claiming in the middle of battle to be severely hurt by Kizaru even when he was completely unharmed, and is shown to be quite sarcastic while maintaining an emotionless face. He doesn't like to show weakness to enemies or outsiders and because a lot of people (such as Crocodile) want to kill Whitebeard to take his place or in an attempt to become the next pirate king, he's usually wary of them. However, he does take a quick liking to Luffy, partly because he knew how important he was to Ace and also because Luffy stopped Crocodile from attacking Whitebeard in the fight.
Marco has an extremely intense loyalty to Whitebeard. So much so that he generally dislikes Red-Hair Shanks for frequently asking Marco to switch sides and join his crew instead. He also got annoyed with Shanks for using haki on his crew, which Marco is very protective of. His love for Whitebeard (and worry thereof) is so great that despite the composure Marco shows through the rest of the battle at Marineford, when Whitebeard got hurt and started to fall, Marco turned his back on his enemy to try to rush to Whitebeard's side and this got him into handcuffs draining him of his phoenix powers. He openly cried at both Ace and Whitebeard's deaths even though it was in the middle of a battlefield, but he still maintained the presence of mind to try to get the rest of his crew to safety -- showing exactly why he was one of Whitebeard's strongest commanders, mentally as well as physically. Likewise, Marco is extremely intelligent, and knowledgeable about aspects of the world, that few, if anyone, knows much about.
He was extremely worried about Ace when Fire-Fist took off to avenge Thatch against Blackbeard and even tried to stop Ace, because while he trusts his fellow commanders to have the strength to take care of themselves, and knew Ace's capabilities, Whitebeard told Ace to stand down, he trusted Whitebeard's judgement intimately and likewise trusted that Thatch was strong enough to survive where he couldn't, which meant Blackbeard far exceeded anyone's expectations of strength (as Shanks tried to inform the Whitebeard crew, though they already knew.) In spite of this however, in order to save face for Ace and his pride, Marco backed up Whitebeard every step of the way in the claim that they ordered Ace to hunt Blackbeard down even to Shanks and the world at Marineford.
Even without being Teach's division commander, Marco kept a close enough eye on Blackbeard to know things about him no one else appears to. This is most likely due to his care for all of his crew, not just his own division, and his attention to fine details that was necessary to help his captain keep the crew running smoothly. However, in spite of the friendship and closeness to his crewmates, Marco still managed to keep a managerial distance, calling the newer crew members "young ones" and making it very clear that they took orders from him. He can be warm and gentle with them (like making sure to bring Ace food), but for all his affection for his supposed little brothers, Marco doesn't hesitate to take lone action himself, like surging ahead in a battle.
The Whitebeard pirates in general have the reputation of swift and terrible vengeance, and Marco is by no means exempt for this. His fury for Blackbeard for killing Thatch was only compounded by turning Ace into the marines to be executed and worse yet for killing their captain. He was also furious with Akainu (who delivered Ace's killing blow), but in spite of that and all the other times the crew made sure to exterminate anyone who hurt their family; Marco knew his first responsibility was to keeping the rest of the crew safe and alive. If he rushed back in the way he surely wanted to, his crew would have tried to back him up and gotten hurt. Thus Marco put the priority of making sure as many got back out alive as possible above their reputed priority of vengeance.
He can come across as very flippant and dismissive, part of his cocky arrogance and also part of his sense of humor. When Rockstar was trying to brag about his fame and asking if anyone had ever heard of him, Marco quickly retorted, "No," steamrolling anymore attempts on the pirate messenger's part to puff up his name and own ego. He can be extremely deadpan and sarcastic even in the middle of a battle, and usually jokes lies with a completely straight face. He lights up and he's at his best and happiest when he's talking about his Pops and how much they love him and why. There's a glimmer of this reflection when he's explaining things to his crew around him, or straight-away agreeing with his Pops (like minds), or when he's proudly determined thinking that even if victory isn't immediately at hand, it'll be fun to try.
Despite easily having one of the highest bounties in the world, being the second-hand-man to the strongest man in the world, and having one of the rarest and strongest devil fruits in the world, Marco doesn't talk much about himself or brag at all. Instead, he seems to share some of Whitebeard's dream of a desire for family in that Marco wants to keep them safe. He's smart and at least a little ambitious to reach the rank he did, but he has no desire to be the next Pirate King, and even having been around during Gold Roger's rise to fame (as well as Golden Leo Shiki's), Marco's loyalty was always to Whitebeard because he respected his captain so much for wanting family and love instead of jewels or power. Following in his captain's footsteps, Marco's strength and power isn't used to make him famous, but instead to protect the beloved crew he has. While Whitebeard was supposedly taking a gamble on Ace's "Will of the D" carrying the new generation of pirates into the future and setting Ace up to become the next Pirate King, Marco supported this stance and never sought it himself.
Marco was able to use the stolen marine technology without any difficulties and used to this to direct someone to listen in on marine lines of communications and to pass messages to the other divisions during the battle. While he followed and carried out Whitebeard's orders through the start of the battle, when his captain told them leave Whitebeard behind, Marco took over, with the crew looking up to him as their current battle leader. Whitebeard had clearly informed Marco in advance of his Pop's intentions to stay and die at Marineford, giving Marco the orders to get the crew out of there the minute they had Ace and could run; but even with that, Marco kept his composure during Whitebeard's proclamation, carrying out his job. Though Marco had never gotten along with Shanks, when Shanks showed up to end the battle of Marineford (after both Ace and Whitebeard died), Marco grudgingly accepted the much needed help, for the sake of the crew, even though this also meant he wouldn't be able to avenge either Ace, Whitebeard, nor Thatch at that time. This shows he can put aside grudges and deep resentments for the better good when necessary.
Whitebeard himself was most famous for not allowing slavery and even taking islands under his protection to stop other pirates from trying to engage in it. He adopted any son of the sea who needed a home as one of his own and didn't hold any discriminations based on race, species, abilities, personality, and was a very firm believer that a son should never be held to pay for the sins of a father. Marco backed up all of these beliefs every step of the way, worked with cross-dressers, fishmen, monsters, giants, and other seeming outcasts without question or pause. The only thing Marco seemed to have troubles with was forgiving someone who hurt his crew; same thing Whitebeard himself said he could never forgive. And when Squado was beating himself up for getting tricked by the marines into attacking Whitebeard, Marco was furious with him, but got straight to the heart of the matter and told Squado that agonizing over the mistake wasn't going to fix it or help them. If Squardo wanted to be sorry, he could prove it by backing Pops up and helping him against the marines to rescue Ace.
In the Japanese version Marco had a verbal tic adding "Yoi" to his sentences. Many of the English translators interpreted this as "Eh" and it's become a common fandom thing to add either. (I use eh because it gives a Canadian aura and various One Piece characters do have specific nationalities they borrow language aspects from.) Another very common fandom thing is to draw Marco wearing a pair of black glasses or smoking even though he's never shown doing either in canon. The glasses are due to his high intelligence and almost studious or stereotypical "megane" of being almost coldly calculating and placing the long term goals above immediate desires. And while it isn't ever stated one way or another in canon, many fans feel that Marco was probably the financial expert behind Whitebeard's operations since Whitebeard doesn't care about money and yet still manages to have as many ships and extra people (cooks and nurses) employed on top of the many expensive alcohols the captain enjoys.
While not especially wordy when speaking, Marco has the honor of having the most Whitebeard crew lines in canon other than Ace and Whitebeard himself. He's not adverse to helping new people work through things and likes to teach things other may not be aware of yet. He also thinks out loud on certain things (such as about Teach) which is unusual even for thoughtful/intellectual characters in One Piece. This is part of his helping to explain things to the crew around him in a teacher/mother hen way.
My Marco has a lot of pirate lore, phoenix mythology, and fanon in him due to the larger availability of those to flesh him out as opposed to pure canon. The glasses, books, and skill with math are thanks to fanart/fanon. Mine does say, "eh" a lot thanks to translator error spawning a fanon tic. This is because the majority of people I personally play with find it fun and so do I. Unfortunately I overdo it and it's something people like or hate so I can only promise not to do around people who specifically request otherwise, however I will still be continuing with people who do like it. My Marco even has Canadian tendencies in general due to the "eh" and as a take off/play off from Sanji's being "French." (Marco is similar with the blonde hair, scruff and in fanon occasionally smoking and wearing Mr. Prince-like glasses.) Likewise, you'll note a lot of ornithology in him from the phoenix; including a preference for fruit or very cooked food, a tendency to nest (especially when raining) and a habit of singing, whistling, tweeting and trilling. He also likes to talk to birds (ability of which I attribute that Chopper is able to speak all other animals, and Jyabura can talk to dogs) and doesn't usually care if someone finds that odd.
Important canon relationships
- Whitebeard. Canonically the most important person in the world to Marco, he loves his captain like a father. He's extremely loyal and devoted to Whitebeard, and follows his orders right away, often as though they're of the exact same opinion on things (which they likely often ARE.) He worries a great deal about Whitebeard's health (as he's seen very sick, needing 'round the clock medical attention from nurses and wearing IVs and breathing apparatuses) and is considered to be next in line to take position of captain to look after the crew. Despite this, he obviously would prefer Whitebeard keep on living, but respects his captain's orders and decisions. He openly cried at Whitebeard's death, even though it was on the battlefield.
- Portgas D. Ace. Because Ace is a fire devil fruit user, it's very closely related to Marco's own phoenix devil fruit. He was around to watch and help guide Ace's transition from an angry 17 year old full of rage and hate to telling him about why the crew loves Whitebeard so much and slowly helping Ace reach the decision to start opening up to their captain and join the crew more officially. When Ace took off to fight Blackbeard, Marco begged him not to go, to listen to Pops and not get hurt. However, he stuck by Whitebeard's side and despite begging Ace not to go, he instantly backed Whitebeard up on the claim that they told Ace to go; in order to save Ace's pride and face. Marco was one of the strongest fighters trying to rescue Ace at the Battle of Marineford and even faced all three admirals during the course of it. Aside from Luffy himself, he got the closest to rescuing Ace of anyone there. --Spoiler-- And when Ace died, he openly cried and went into a temporary shock that they could have messed up enough for that to happen. He spent a lot of time with Ace, listening to stories about Ace's little brother, enough that he instantly recognized Luffy as Ace's little brother and sought to protect him, knowing that Ace cared more about Luffy's life than even his own. Like Whitebeard, Marco took a liking to Ace's reckless nature, finding the impulsiveness and loyalty charming on Ace's part.
- Vice Admiral Garp. Through the course of decades on the Grand Line and the Whitebeard rivalry with Gol D. Roger (whom Garp chased) Marco and Garp were certainly aware of each other's reputations and not on friendly terms thanks to the marine vs. pirates. When Marco got a free shot to fly up in phoenix form to try to rescue Ace, Garp got in the way and punched Marco, taking Marco off guard and forcing him to switch back to human form.
- Thatch. 4th division commander in the Whitebeard Crew, exactly how close Thatch and Marco were together isn't canon explained (and unlikely to ever be unless Marco becomes a main character or something), but at minimum they were extremely close best friends, and rarely shown apart. Since Thatch was Ace's first friend in the crew and Marco later took a special interest in Ace, it's common fandom belief that Thatch encouraged Marco to be nicer to Ace who needed it. My Marco has a playful best friend attitude with Thatch, they jokingly ribbed each other and called one another insulting nicknames. Marco was extremely distressed over Thatch's death, but his loyalty and trust of Whitebeard won out over his own rage and desire for vengeance.
- Blackbeard aka Marshall D. Teach. Since Teach was Thatch's murderer, the crew traitor, hurt Whitebeard, and turned Ace over to the marines to be executed, only to then kill Whitebeard and eat Whitebeard's devil fruit; to say Marco "hates, loathes, despises and wants to take his head" doesn't really cover the extent of it. Marco knew Teach very well in the crew, enough to know somethings about Teach that very few people at all knew. He does want to kill Teach and avenge his family, but protecting the rest of the family tempers Marco's rage enough to stay cool and not recklessly rush off like Ace. He handles Blackbeard coolly, despite his immense anger and hate of the man. Marco's rationality comes first.
- Jinbei. Marco considers Jinbei a very close ally of the crew and trusted him to look after Ace's little brother when all hell started breaking loose in Marineford even though Marco outright said that entire Whitebeard crew's pride staked on keeping Luffy alive. He knows and respects that Jinbei admires and protects and helps the crew. So at minimum they have a tight working relationship.
- Shanks. Marco's known Shanks since the days Shanks was on Gol D. Roger's ship as a cabin boy. He's not that impressed by him, but knows that Shanks can exude powerful quantities of haki (a little like Gold Roger himself) and that the "young'uns" in the WB crew wouldn't be able to withstand. He also gets pissed off at Shanks for knocking the members of his crew unconscious with it, and even more irritated that Shanks is constantly asking Marco to join Shanks' crew. He was still generally pissed off at Shanks and not super grateful for the help at Marineford, but Marco knows when to accept things they have to do, and silently accepted Shanks' orders to get the rest of the crew out alive to safety. He is however, extremely grateful for the help on Ace & Whitebeard's graves as neither of those he could have done alone. Shanks was (luckily) dismissive of the gratitude however, letting Marco save his pride.
- Jozu. 3rd division commander in the Whitebeard pirates, Marco and Jozu were shown having some light banter and discussing Shanks' approach and the haki and crew. Jozu is the diamond devil fruit user and almost three times taller than Marco, however Marco doesn't appear fazed by this in any way whatsoever. They're very close friends.
- Squardo. For all of Marco's frustration with Squardo for attacking Whitebeard due to Akainu's lies, he blames the admiral more than Squardo. Because Marco backs up Whitebeard on just about everything, he continues to follow that regarding Squardo, and told the captain instead of despairing to make up for the mistake and get moving. That said, later one when Squardo tried to sacrifice himself to make up for the mistake, Marco was cursing saying, "That's not the way," for the same reason Whitebeard didn't let Squardo stick by that.
- Vista. 5th division commander, Flower Sword Vista is shown a lot with Marco (though not as often as Jozu) and continuing the close nature of the Whitebeard pirates, he and Vista seem pretty close in any case.
- Izou. (Trap-chan) 16th division commander, Izou is nicknamed "Trap-chan" by fans (carried on with my Marco) because he's the okama of the Whitebeard crew and dresses up a lot like a geisha girl, and wears makeup and feminine clothes.
- Luffy. Known to Marco as "Ace's little brother," Marco had been hearing stories about Luffy long before he actually met the Straw-Hat pirate from Ace who liked to babble proudly about his little brother. Like Whitebeard, he instantly took a liking to Luffy's recklessness and attitude, as well as the desire to protect Ace. He further won points with Marco by protecting Whitebeard from Crocodile even though he was the one to bring him along. Throughout the battle, Marco made sure to keep Luffy from too much harm, teaming with the other commanders to try to give Luffy a fighting chance to get to the execution base where Ace was. Spoilers: Even when Ace died, Marco declared that since it was to protect Luffy, under no circumstances could they let Luffy get further hurt since Luffy's safety was more important to Ace than Ace's own life and called it all that remained of Ace's will. He also staked the entire pride of the Whitebeard pirates on keeping Luffy safe and getting him out alive; more so than Ace's own life because (again) it mattered more to Ace than his own.
~Permissions~
- Backtagging: Yes || Note: due to my erratic health my tag speeds are also erratic, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, if there is ever an important thread you need finished, poke me on plurk or pm and I'll prioritize it asap around migraines.
- Threadhopping with this character - yes/no/other?: Yes. Always welcome. But be mindful of other people's journals if they don't like it. I actually prefer threadjumps, as I feel they tend to be more spontaneous and IC! So you can always threadjump in my posts, but Marco might be nosy!
- Fourth Wall Breakage: Sure thing. On that note, canonmates have permission to know of his bounty/reputation/anything obvious. & Whitebeard nakama can make up ridiculous stories about him and I'll roll with it \o/
- Triggers/Squicks/NOPES: My only actual triggers are really obscure and unlikely to come up casually, but certain incest stuff will freak out character & mun. (It depends on characters and talk to me if worried)
- Subject line comments: Yes please, always okay in my posts/with me and preferred if you're going to do more than 1 comment/explain something ooc. If I do it too much to you, slap me as a reminder
- Hugging this character?: Yes. He'll probably just arch a surprised eyebrow unless you're crew/Luffy/adopted (and then you will get all the hugs back ever)
- Giving this character a kiss?: Go ahead! Feel free to punch him if he kisses you first.
- Badtouching: psssh, he's a pirate, he'll probably enjoy it.
- Lovers:
redcinemareel -- married in Witchesreign (carries over to Cerealia!) & a messy/complicated past relationship with his brother Thatch (ongoing) but the phoenix thing & loyalty in general makes him completely devoted so he's not easy to pursue, even if he does flirt.- Adopted kids: Tobias Hayes in Cerealia, Roxas in HighSeas. In both places Marco has tried to adjust to being more like his own father now that he's in a position as a captain himself, but it's a slow process. He likes woobie brats, and likewise practically adopted Eridan from Homestuck in Discedo.
- Punching this character (provided they can fight back): Yes.
- Easiest way to get on his good side: Respect Whitebeard, the Whitebeard name and pirates and what it truly means and help protect his crew/friends/allies/nakama. Being a woobie in general will wake up his protective side, and helping him with that means he'll recognize you as an ally almost instantly.
- Easiest way to get on his bad side: Insult Whitebeard, hurt anyone in the crew, threaten the crew, and/or hurt/threaten Luffy. Ditto, Captains or leaders who do not hold utmost respect for their own crewmembers will not have any of his respect, and the more they try to control with orders rather than respect, the more aggravated Marco will get. He's also biased against "Rookies" or people who try to brag about themselves and their strength while believing they know everything in the universe rather than asking questions about it.
- Can I hack his journal?: Yes.
- Can he hack my journal?: Occasionally at best, but I'll always try to ask permission though unless it's like a less than 15% lock or something obviously easy.
- Can I shapeshift/bodyswap/etc?: Yes. Just let me know what you have in mind/how long/etc. The zanier, the more I'll love it.
- Maim/Murder/Death: IM me, we'll work it out, ocean and/or seastone needs to be involved (possibly) because as a phoenix I'm not even sure how much he'd die.
- Blood: Yeah that's fine, though depending on power caps, he'll "bleed" blue flames.
- Mindreading: He doesn't mindread, but yes you can read his mind. Leave me an ooc note if your character could pick up things beyond the usual deadpan tones emotionally/mentally. For specific scenes, if you're familiar with canon you can use any number of those, or you can im/pm/ooc request links and I'll send them. Or you can use any of the ones from the memory event, see here.
WARNINGS:
First and foremost: Whitebeard Pirates = REVENGE. One of Marco's biggest characterization aspects is the focus on vengeance. The Whitebeard pirates became the most famous pirates in the One Piece world thanks to their vengeance creed, and the crux of Marco's entire concept of morality is centralized on it. If it's clear he loves someone enough to protect them as one of his own, he will always want to avenge them. It can be a fine line, especially since in WR/the Garden he wasn't as close to all of the students as his crew and he became more jaded about their disappearances. On the other hand in High Seas, any one of the Spade crew members he counts as under his protection and subject to this law of the sea. If your character kills someone he loves, insults them, or hurts them, please expect this to come up. It's a pain in the butt because he is very very overprotective and it's not direct, so I will alway always try to work out an IC / acceptable solution if vengeance is completely out of the option etc.
2. Marco is a very violent, sometimes brutally murderous pirate. He can come across as a cute and fluffy birdie, but he thinks nothing of brutally maiming, lying, stealing, cheating, murdering, and breaking every law in his way. If a thread is going to get gorey / racey I always try to mark it in the comment header or move it somewhere else, but it's a general warning too, because if you just skim his threads, the topics can come up.
3. He does not respect authority. His respect in any aspect whatsoever is difficult to earn, but the best way is light touches, and trying to get Marco as an advisor. On the flipside, he can be incredibly bossy and a fucking know-it-all spoiled brat, so you know, hypocritical like whoa.
4. He has a canonical weak spot for kids. He'll practically let entire worlds burn and not care much, but not kids. Killing a kid near him crosses a huge line even Blackbeard didn't cross (yet), and killing one of his kids is an instant "vengeance" trigger. He will almost always try to protect them though, from anything and everything. And in Cerealia this goes even extra since he had an adopted son. He is still a birdie though, and he believes in some fairly tough forms of survival.
5. Unless you're family (actually: ONLY Grell, Espio, Ace, Toby, and Thatch) do not wake him up. Birds sleep on high startle reflex mode, and Marco sleeps as a bird. He will kick before he can fully wake up both sides of the brain to register the "threat." If he goes to sleep with people next to him then it's fine, but otherwise he automatically views new intruders as threats. Also rainy days and weather can make him sleepy, especially since he can't do much outside in such weather.
6. Slavery is a big no-no. While he's got slightly less personal reasons behind it than Namur or other fishmen, Marco is still a freedom fighter who fought to protect Fishman Island from slavers and protect the other islands to prevent slavery from existing there. If there is anything even similar to slavery, he will try break the slaves free no matter what the consequence to him. He is also biased to like monsters/outcasts more.
7. His concept of morality is limited at best, and "alternative lifestyles" such as: cannibalism, polyamory, nudism, transgenders, sadists, etc. don't exactly faze him. Heck he's engaged in more than a few of them. That said, he gets a bigger kick out of freaking other people out, so he'd consider it a challenge/game to try to stay deadpan through something bizarre and freak out the other person instead. If this is ever something that can freak you as a mun out, let me know! I'll keep a list of "DO NOT THREADS" or at minimum, I'll remember to put up header warnings!
Marco Triggers: -- These are the IC things that discussing can set him off in directions you might not expect (not including the aboves)
1) Outliving everyone he loves. It might seem obvious, but subtler things can set it off. Whitebeard and Ace died protecting their loved ones, and indeed were able to choose to die that way. This is not something Marco can choose because if he dies to protect his family, they will still be in danger from other threats, so he has to live to protect them, even though it means watching many of those he loves die first. In WR/CF, Marco knows Grell is a deathgod so he expects her to always stay with him, losing her would be a huge blow. Likewise, the constant reminder that Marco automatically heals himself, but not those he loves, can actually really bother him. This is also why he doesn't like to celebrate his birthday. He doesn't get older, everyone else does.
2) He has tons and tons and tons of Daddy feels. Tons. His Pops meant the world to him, it's his tattoo, it's his world, it's his everything, etc. Most of the time he's overjoyed to discuss his Pops, but there are some contexts he'll get depressed about thanks to canon. Ditto his 1600 (yes, 1600) siblings.
3) Black holes. He's getting this under control with help, but if it takes him off guard, he can have a freak out.
4) Betrayal. There will never be enough time for him to get over Blackbeard's betrayal, ever. The song Derelict (Dead Man's Chest) also freaks him out because of the similarities and painful reminder that of the sixteen Whitebeard commanders, Marco is the only one likely to survive. ESPECIALLY Family betrayal, mutinies, or fighting between siblings.
5) Neptune, Poseidon, Hades, Uranus, Mars, dragon mythology, or the power to destroy an island at once will get you some bizarre looks at minimum, and Marco will be thinking heavily and suddenly serious if he doesn't just try to brush it off. Unfortunately Marco knows more than has been revealed in canon, so expect it to be tricky.
OPT-OUT POST
Silly headcanon and other things:
WR Nightmares Event Part 1 -- canon rehash
WR Nightmares Event Part 2 -- yes it is that dark.
IC Inbox / Appointment Post -- 3.0 Since the other two got filled-ish
TL;DR CR Chart -- Always outdated but comment to be added if you wish
Autograph Book -- Luceti only
Memory Event Links/Write-ups -- some with canon, some like the WR Nightmares and rehashes.
very good
(Anonymous) 2011-07-06 07:24 pm (UTC)(link):)
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