My Own One Piece.

Count Down

3rd person POV

Aoi and Ace began their sparring match again. Aoi was rather strong now. It had only been a week since Ace's birthday. Aoi and Ace were now evenly matched.

Marco sighed as they both gave up took a step back.

"Another tie." He said. Aoi groaned and plopped down on the deck. Ace sat down by her, keeping the woman of water warm.

"How much longer are we going to be in this stupid winter area?" Aoi sighed.

"Another couple of days, Aoi." Marco said. Aoi huffed.

"In another couple of days, you'll start having to call me Aoisicle." Aoi said, earning a laugh from everyone. Ace had a lot to do today unfortunately, so Aoi spent the day with Marco, not wanting to distract Ace from his work. Of course Ace was a little bit jealous, but he told himself he shouldn't. After all, he and Aoi weren't a couple.

"Hey, Marco?" Aoi asked after Ace was out of range.

"Yes, Aoi?" Marco asked.

"Will you train me?" She asked. Marco looked over at her with a questioning look.

"I thought Ace was training you?" Marco asked. Aoi sighed.

"Well... He was. It's just... I know he's holding back. And I've told him not to, but I know he's still holding back. And I want to be stronger." Aoi said. Marco sighed.

"Why are you so hell-bent on getting stronger, Aoi?" Marco asked. The bluenette stared down at her feet.

"Well... You guys are the closest I've had to an actual family, to real friends. And... I don't want to lose anyone. I want to become stronger so I can protect everyone." Aoi said. Marco put a hand on her shoulder.

"Aoi, you don't have to protect everyone. We all can take care of ourselves." Marco said.

"But, we all have weaknesses, that's why we rely on eachother. To protect one another. I see a lot of partnerships because of it." Aoi said.

"Aoi, is this because you want to protect everyone, or because you want to protect Ace?" Marco said. Aoi sighed.

"It's not just Ace..." Aoi said.

"Thatch?" Marco asked.

"And you. And Pops." Aoi said. Marco burst in to laughter.

"Aoi, Pops is more than capable of..." Marco trailed off when he looked at Aoi's serious face.

"What did you see?" Marco asked. Aoi shook her head.

"I'm... I'm not exactly sure. I just know I keep seeing a grave with Pop's name on it. Sometimes I see another grave with another name next to it. Sometimes it's Ace, sometimes it's you, sometimes it's Thatch, sometimes it's me. I don't know what keeps happening to make me see these things, I just know it scares me." Aoi said. She wasn't lying. Her visions were changing.

"Why do your visions change so often?" Marco asked.

"A wise man once said "always in motion, the future is." ... He talked a little weird." Aoi said. (A/N: first reader to get that reference gets a cookie.)

"What did he mean?" Marco asked. Aoi chuckled at her blonde brother.

"What do you think he meant? Put the words together. Always in motion, the future is. The future is always in motion. Meaning that nothing is set in stone yet. What I see isn't exactly the unavoidable future. What I see is... Possibilities. It's all about the choices we make." Aoi said.

"And you believe that asking me to train you is a choice for good future?" He asked. She shrugged.

"All I did was make the choice to ask. I don't see anything until you decide to agree or not." Aoi said.

"If I say yes?" Marco asked.

"I'll owe you big." She said.

"If I say no?" He asked out of curiosity.

"I'll find away to get Ace to go all out on me." She said. Marco chuckled.

"As entertaining that would be, you got it. I'll train you." He said. She smiled at him.

"Thanks, Marco. But don't tell Ace." She said.

"Yup, he'll get jealous." He said. She laughed.

Meanwhile, Ace was planing something for Aoi. More specifically, for her birthday. And yes, Marco was in on it. Ace didn't know that he had just helped Aoi in another way.