Our last sail

51. The fateful night (1)

"Luffy": talk

"Sabo": whisper

"ACE": shout

"Gomu Gomu no": the skill's name

'idiot': thinking

<Joyboy>: voice of all things

-Into the story-

The day for Thatch and his team to come back home had finally come. Ever since Marco was informed about it, the phoenix had always been more stressful than he was ever before. Marco was sure that it wasn't supposed to be this soon, he hadn't even mentally prepared for that event yet.

When Thatch's team was seen coming on board, Whitebeard and the Commanders all took a relief sigh as they saw Thatch was still doing alright, especially Marco. However, the Commanders all tensed up once Thatch showed them what he had found from his trip.

"M-Marco....i-is that...." Izo asked

"It's definitely what the traitor wants," Marco said quietly enough for the surrounding commanders to hear.

Although Whitebeard was also shocked to see the fruit in Thatch's hands, the old captain was still able to keep his composure. He then smiled at the team while saying

"It's good that all of you return safe and sound, my children. You should all go and take a break, and Thatch we will discuss your new-found prize later."

Marco was deep inside his own thoughts, trying to figure out what made the sudden change. Suddenly he had the feeling of being watched, so he quickly looked up, turned out the Commanders, and Whitebeard all stared at him worriedly, but none of them said any words.

"I believe that Marco has a call to make, right?" Whitebeard asked.

"Yes, of course.....I will contact them immediately, yoi" Marco quickly nodded his head.

"Very well, there will be a meeting at midnight. Therefore, I expect all the Commanders will be present," Whitebeard said.

Then everyone was dismissed, turning back to their daily job. However, this time all the Commanders were even more tense, since now that Thatch was on board, they needed to make sure that man would be safe until they could prove Teach was a traitor. The Commanders, minus Marco, Izo and Thatch, were all hoping that the anonymous informant was wrong.

Marco slowly walked back to his room, while still lost in his thinking, not even noticing someone was following him from behind. The first Commander had tried to contact Luffy recently, but not a single call reached the young captain. Plus, the newspaper didn't mention anything about the kid's crew, it was like they had vanished in thin air.

Once he reached his room, Marco quickly rushed toward where he placed his den den mushi and immediately dialed for the young captain first. Thinking if he got lucky then Luffy would be there to pick up the call. Sadly, it was just like any other time before, Marco ended up receiving nothing but silence.

"Damn it, Luffy!" Marco angrily said.

The First Commander then rubbed his temper, trying his best to calm down. Right after he let out a tired sigh, Marco suddenly sensed the other presence that was inside the room; however, he didn't make any move as they were a threat to him. Marco then turned to the corner of the room where there was a big shadow. The phoenix could feel that the other presence had just flinched.

"When will you come out, Sabo?" Marco asked lazily.

Then, inside the shadow of the corner walked out a normal-sized black hound with blue fire eyes. The same fire also surrounded his neck like a collar, at the tip of his tail and behind all of his legs. The hound lowered his head and ears, showing that he felt shameful towards his action just now. However, Marco didn't seem to be angry at him, since Marco knew Sabo was smart, so figuring it out was just a matter of time.