"Something left, is it?" Marco nodded slowly, "My Pops made sure of that." He knew Marco better than Marco knew himself. Knew that if left entirely to his own devices and endless revenge, then Marco would lose himself and probably never find happiness again. "He... ahh... we're famous, my family, back in our world, for revenge. Our perfect score is pretty marred now though, Akainu and Blackbeard and yet... If I just sought that revenge, I'd be risking the rest of my family. Pops... he just wanted us to live. Ace just wanted Luffy to live and reach his dreams. Those things are more important than my selfish revenge. I guess it's strange to say, but it's much harder just to live if you ask me. But because I have my brothers and the islands and all those people looking to me to protect them, I won't let myself let them down. Not again." A head shake to himself, trying to clear the dark and murky thoughts. Where would they go from here? For now, he pushed it aside.
At the evolution of his nickname, Marco arched an eyebrow, but refrained from commenting.
"Ah, of course," was his only quiet reply about Sunako. He had been thinking too much of Whitebeard again. Then again, that was sort of a chronic condition with Marco, even after all this time. Still, Tatsumi was more like Haer'Dalis with regards to chaos and entropy, so it only made sense Sunako would be as well.
"Where to even begin?" the pirate shook his head again. It wasn't that his plans were so big, it was that they weren't even fleshed out yet. He was more looking into the prospect of having plans, rather than developing them already. With Japan, he'd had a crush on him for months before he spoke up. He was so worried about rushing things, he made other mistakes along the way. This time though, he was running on instincts and a vague desire to keep himself from doing something reckless. And the only way Marco could do that was watching after other people. Blame it on his phoenix side, blame it on his father, his brothers, and his whole life, it was who Marco was and he had long since accepted that.
"Remember when you asked how much of me is fake and I said lying is just a game? This is just another game," He held up a finger to signify that was one and took a gulp of his drink. "My goal is to see how long we can both last without doing something that gets us killed because that's really kind of boring." A second finger. It really did strike him as fruitless; death in this place. How many times would Tatsumi die and Marco have to re-explain things or pretend to or -- ahhh, it was too messy and annoying. This place wasn't crowded enough that Marco could just forgo whatever it was he'd had with Tatsumi by now. Or could he? Maybe. But it'd be boring. He thought perhaps he was just telling himself that, but no, he was sure it was true. Grell too had taunted Marco for it. Thinking he was altruistic. But no, he didn't care if Grell died, and emotionally he doubted it would truly brother him if Tatsumi died. It was just that death in this place was so cheap and meaningless. And fucking annoying. With its unpredictable rules. Why hadn't Kaito ever returned anyway? And some of the others... death cheated here, or was cheated, and either way Marco wanted to stick it to that game. He didn't like playing by its rules and he definitely didn't have to. So why not make his own rules for it just to mess with the system?
There was also the challenge of it. Maybe his phoenix side liked life. Wasn't that why he loved spring and passions? Renewals. Somehow everyone being renewed at the drop of a hat irked him. Keeping Tatsumi alive though, keeping him away from the danger that would get him killed yet again; oh yes it was a challenge. And practice. How many times had Marco dealt with reckless kids who were going to get themselves killed? At least with Tatsumi it was just something to do, something that he wouldn't regret even if he "failed." Or arguably when. It was like playing slot machines. You didn't play expecting to come out with more money than you went in with, just played until you ran out or something crazy happened. And Marco liked seeing what kind of crazy shit could happen when he didn't expect it.
"And I'm hoping to steal your heart away from loud fools so you can fuck me instead, eh?" He purely deadpanned. Okay it was probably way too obvious this time, but Marco had had enough troubles figuring out the truths, so disguising a lie to look like them was harder. Besides, he was drawing on the nickname and half-curious if Tatsumi really did think that.
TL;DR's all over this, blame the canon review
At the evolution of his nickname, Marco arched an eyebrow, but refrained from commenting.
"Ah, of course," was his only quiet reply about Sunako. He had been thinking too much of Whitebeard again. Then again, that was sort of a chronic condition with Marco, even after all this time. Still, Tatsumi was more like Haer'Dalis with regards to chaos and entropy, so it only made sense Sunako would be as well.
"Where to even begin?" the pirate shook his head again. It wasn't that his plans were so big, it was that they weren't even fleshed out yet. He was more looking into the prospect of having plans, rather than developing them already. With Japan, he'd had a crush on him for months before he spoke up. He was so worried about rushing things, he made other mistakes along the way. This time though, he was running on instincts and a vague desire to keep himself from doing something reckless. And the only way Marco could do that was watching after other people. Blame it on his phoenix side, blame it on his father, his brothers, and his whole life, it was who Marco was and he had long since accepted that.
"Remember when you asked how much of me is fake and I said lying is just a game? This is just another game," He held up a finger to signify that was one and took a gulp of his drink. "My goal is to see how long we can both last without doing something that gets us killed because that's really kind of boring." A second finger. It really did strike him as fruitless; death in this place. How many times would Tatsumi die and Marco have to re-explain things or pretend to or -- ahhh, it was too messy and annoying. This place wasn't crowded enough that Marco could just forgo whatever it was he'd had with Tatsumi by now. Or could he? Maybe. But it'd be boring. He thought perhaps he was just telling himself that, but no, he was sure it was true. Grell too had taunted Marco for it. Thinking he was altruistic. But no, he didn't care if Grell died, and emotionally he doubted it would truly brother him if Tatsumi died. It was just that death in this place was so cheap and meaningless. And fucking annoying. With its unpredictable rules. Why hadn't Kaito ever returned anyway? And some of the others... death cheated here, or was cheated, and either way Marco wanted to stick it to that game. He didn't like playing by its rules and he definitely didn't have to. So why not make his own rules for it just to mess with the system?
There was also the challenge of it. Maybe his phoenix side liked life. Wasn't that why he loved spring and passions? Renewals. Somehow everyone being renewed at the drop of a hat irked him. Keeping Tatsumi alive though, keeping him away from the danger that would get him killed yet again; oh yes it was a challenge. And practice. How many times had Marco dealt with reckless kids who were going to get themselves killed? At least with Tatsumi it was just something to do, something that he wouldn't regret even if he "failed." Or arguably when. It was like playing slot machines. You didn't play expecting to come out with more money than you went in with, just played until you ran out or something crazy happened. And Marco liked seeing what kind of crazy shit could happen when he didn't expect it.
"And I'm hoping to steal your heart away from loud fools so you can fuck me instead, eh?" He purely deadpanned. Okay it was probably way too obvious this time, but Marco had had enough troubles figuring out the truths, so disguising a lie to look like them was harder. Besides, he was drawing on the nickname and half-curious if Tatsumi really did think that.