Let's Go One More Time On An Adventure Together!

Talking with Pop's

It was 3 hours, and a surgery later that Luffy was finally stable and sleeping peacefully.

Letting out a sigh of relief and losing some of the worry for his mate, Marco finally took a seat and looked at both his brother Thatch and his father.

"So...wanna tell us about the kid now?"

Thatch asked with a grin while bouncing in place.

"There's not much I can tell you except what he told me."

"And what was it that he told you, my son?"

"He told me something only I should know. As well as something only I would say to my soulmates."

"Marco. Bro. You're killing me here. What did he say??? Please???"

Thatch begs, looking like a kicked puppy.

Marco looks at his brother with a sad and hollow look before repeating Luffy's word to him. Word for word.

"His name is Monkey D. Luffy. And he said he came from the future."

"And do you believe him?"

Whitebeard asked.

Marco looks at his father with a look that is a mix of sadness and pain.

"At first? No. But then he told me a number."

"A number? What's so special about this number."

Thatch asks with confusion and curiosity.

"Everything."

"213. That was the number he told me. As well as the phrase that goes with it."

"A phrase, my son?"

"Yes. And it went like this. 2, 1, 3. Two younger, one older, three together. Two soulmates younger than you, you being the oldest, and together you could flourish."

Thatch looked at Marco in shock before asking in a quiet voice.

"Isn't that the phrase you came up with back when we were on the run? When we found out you had two soulmates?"

"It is. And that's not all. He gave me a second phrase, too."

Thatch just looked worried at that while Newgate was worried for Marco.

"What was the second phrase, my son?"

"3, 2, 1, Three together happy and whole, two lost protecting the youngest, one left, broken and alone."

Newgate looked heartbroken at this while Thatch was crying silent tears.

"He told me something else too, Pop's. Something I think you will find interesting."

Intrigued, Whitebeard said only one thing.

"Oh? Do tell."

Taking a deep breath, Marco repeats Luffy's almost prophecy like words.

"Forced to sail lest the sacrifice of loved ones now gone be in vail. A goal reached but heart empty where life and wonder used to rein."

"A king, now crowned, but with no one to share success with. All the riches in the world, but with no care for them at all. For all the king wants is his friends. His family. His mates."

"A ghostly king offers a chance. A chance to save the ones the new king loved and lost. A chance to go back and stop it all. One chance, one piece, of a great treasure gives him just that chance."

Letting out a breath, Marco looks at his Pop's with tears in his eyes.

"The last thing he said to me was what truly convinced me. Mainly because it's exactly what I planned to tell my soulmates when I met them. Word for word."

Thatch looked at Marco in horror, whispering out a broken.

"No. Oh God, please no."

"If you are ever separated from me and are in trouble, go to Tumble Valley. Get to the top of the mountain there you will find a hidden cave that only I know about. Wait there and I will find you. No matter where or when you are, I will always keep you safe. Because even when I didn't know you, my phoenix always knew when you needed me, and I always let you know I was there even when we were far away and hadn't met yet."

Locking eyes with his captain, he whispers.

"I never told anyone, but Thatch about what I planned to tell my mates. And to this day, that promise has remained true."