Marco was concerned, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't. The time was slowly ticking over, the phoenix was starting to wonder if the stupid kid was actually serious, he really meant to sit there all night. It was coming up to midnight, the little idiot was still perched on his rock and he didn't seem to be moving anytime soon.
At first it had been rather funny, Marco had a good chuckle over the angry rude boy, even though said boy tried very hard to act tough. And even when the kid had tried to be as rude as possible, the most he could muster was childish insults, the man couldn't help but wonder how old the kid actually was.
Marco estimated he was probably around 11 or 12, he was short and stocky, though he was pretty sure the stockiness came from his muscular physic, not because the boy was well fed. Even from the ship he could see his ribcage, he was pale and had heavy bags under his eyes or eye? He wouldn't be surprised if he was missing one, people didn't go out of there way to hide one eye just for the heck of it. Well unless they were weird, Marco had met a lot of strange people on the sea, but the point was that this boy and the unhealthy way he looked made him think otherwise...
Despite all of that, the blonde boy was still being a stubborn little idiot. Wasn't he hungry? Wasn't he tired? Wasn't he thirsty? The answer to all of the questions was yes, it was quite obvious, the way the kid was sat hunched over, holding his stomach or the fact that he could see him trying to swallow any kind of saliva, to miserably quench his thirst even a little. All in all Marco was pretty worried.
He had tried reasoning with him without any success, some of the other members of the crew had too, yet the kid was just dead set on doing his own thing. Though Marco got the feeling that despite his clear angry and rude responses, this was just a very scared child, who was terrified of the situation he was in.
The phoenix made his way over to the railing once again, one last attempt at convincing the boy to come onto the ship voluntarily, if he refused again, then he didn't care what pops said, Marco was flying over there and dragging the kid off that rock.
"Hey! Kid, yoi!" The young blonde man yelled, he didn't beat around the bush, this seemed to be the only way to get the boy to answer.
He turned slightly, his sharp distrustful gaze coming to rest on Marco. However the boy didn't say anything in response, only continuing to watch him carefully, any kind of movement on Marco's part and the kid would tense up.
The older zoan user decided to start the conversation with something simple, if he could maybe gain his trust just a little it would be a big help. "I'm Marco by the way. What's your name, yoi?"
"That ain't any of your business!" The boy snapped, his shoulders went up sharply, bristling almost like a cat. Or lion.
Marco sighed, so much for it being simple...
"Is he still being a little shit?" Thatch asked quietly, he wandered over, coming to stand at his shoulder.
"Yeah, yoi... you'd think he would have given up by now"
Thatch had undid his pompadour for the night, long brown strands were blowing around his face, making it hard to make out the cooks expression. Marco couldn't even stand having even a bit of fringe let a lone a whole bloody mop of thick hair like his brother had.
Despite how different Marco and Thatch were, they both got on extremely well, they spent a lot of time hanging out. It helped that they were both 20, Marco being a few months older, something he enjoyed holding over his brother's head. While Thatch loved to be a nuisance and pranked him constantly as way of pay back. But right now, both of them were being serious.
"What do think we should do? I don't like how skinny he is... isn't he like dehydrated being out in the sun all day?" Thatch murmured, Marco nodded, even though the phoenix was still a doctor in training, it was one of the first things he was taught, drinking was very, very important and even though that was obvious, learning all the science behind that stuff, had only drilled that home more.
"Pops said to give him until midnight, if he didn't give in then, we're allowed to forcefully remove him. To be honest, I think I might just go get him anyway, yoi"
"I say we just leave him there..." Came Izo's grouchy voice, his face was drawn up into a tight scowl. He marched over; arms crossed tightly over his chest.
"Seriously? You're still mad about the old lady thing, yoi?" Marco wasn't really surprised, Izo did tend to hold a grudge. In fact he had held quite the grudge towards pops after what happened to Oden. But that was more understandable, then say a childish insult from a literal child. Maybe Izo was just feeling particularly petty.
"Come on bro, he's just an annoying little kid. He called me a baguette head, I'm not even mad about it. Nothing wrong with a good old baguette, it makes meals much more interestin-" Before Thatch could finish speaking, Izo retorted with "He called me an old lady! That's hardly the same thing!"
"He called pops a banana tree, if anything that's worse, good thing he has a sense of humour, can you imagine if the kid said that to someone like, say Kaido, yoi. The brat would be dead..." Marco grumbled, Izo opened his mouth but nothing came out, clearly mulling that over. After a moment he sighed "Point taken. The brat is completely stupid... do you think he has a death wish?"
The three of them exchanged some worried glances, or at least Marco and Thatch did, Izo was still being a bit huffy. Though the blonde knew his brother well enough to know that he was probably a little concerned, even if it was deep down. Izo was overly dramatic not cruel.
"Is that brat still sat there?" Marco's gaze drifted up to see pops had come over, normal lazy half smirk in place. He came to rest his elbows on the railing, he grinned over at the kid. To Marco, his expression was teasing and friendly, though the way the boy had tensed up at the sight of pops, told him that's not how he saw it. Admittedly the blonde often forgot how intimidating his father actually was, he had been with the Yonko since he was 7 and so Marco was pretty much desensitised to the scary imposing figure of pops.
"Hello punk! Is that rock comfortable?"
The boy stiffened, before angrily yelling in response "SHUT UP AND GO AWAY ALREADY! Don't you have anything better to do!?"
Pops sniggered, he definitely wasn't helping the situation, only riling up the kid even more. Though that was what pops enjoyed doing, he especially loved teasing kids. He went into annoying dad mode, he was just the same with the apprentices, he was the same with him when he was only an apprentice too.
"Still got that sharp tongue I see" The boy had gotten up; his wet clothes were stuck to his skin and his blonde hair clung to his face. Marco wondered if he was cold, he had been soaking wet since early morning, he couldn't have been comfortable like that.
"So, what's your name brat?" Pops continued his voice had softened ever so slightly; it was almost unnoticeable. Marco could tell under the mocking tone and snarky grin his father was pretty worried about the boy.
No surprise the kid growled out a "None of your business!"
"Haven't got one, huh? Well, I guess I'll have to give you one..." Pops paused for a moment, thinking, Marco got the feeling it was only to annoy the kid more, he already knew exactly what he wanted to call him.
"I'm gonna call you Grumpy"
Marco sighed aspirated; he shook his head. Just as the kid went into rage mode once more, his face went bright red, either from embarrassment or anger, the phoenix was betting on the former.
"THAT'S NOT MY NAME!"
"Gurararara! Well, it is now."
"My name is Alexandra!!"
Thatch shouted what everyone was thinking "YOU'RE A GIRL!!"
"What! Never seen a girl with bigger muscles then you!"
Marco would have laughed if he wasn't so shocked, this kid was a girl... She definitely wasn't very girly and he didn't mean in the common sense, what he meant was that she wasn't built in a girlish way. She had broad shoulders and was sturdy in the same way a lot of teenager boys were. However, looking at her face, he could definitely see a girl staring back.
Pops on the other hand didn't seem to care, he had burst out laughing and was slapping Thatch on the back as he stood there slightly stunned. Izo didn't even react other then to join in laughing at their chef brother, the old lady thing forgotten.
"I like this kid!" Pops boomed, still wheezing from all the laughter, he had his huge arm draped over Thatch's shoulder.
"OF COURSE, YOU WOULD! SHE'S A RUDE LITTLE SHIT!" The brunet snapped, trying to shove pops off, which really did absolutely nothing. He just continued to hang on to his son, Izo had put his arm around his neck, jeering at him with a mocking tone "Don't worry Thatch... now you know my pain."
Finally, the Yonko released him, giving him one more pat on the back. He looked over at the wary girl, he had gotten that glint in his eyes and then asked his normal question, that wasn't really a question, more like a fact disguised as one. Marco sighed he suddenly felt very tired; he had been waiting for it... "Here it comes, yoi"
"Grumpy! Become my daughter!"