[Shrugs and briefly hesitates. It's getting too complicated to continue explaining his thoughts without using any specifics or actual explanation, so he sighs and eventually explains better in depth.]
Back in my world, my family had my youngest "brother" captured by an enemy. He was turned over to the government because they wished to use him as bait for the rest of us, and a scapegoat for his blood. My crew -- my family, our reputation throughout the world is that of protecting our own. Our enemies knew that holding him hostage meant we'd do anything to get him back, so that's what we did. Before Ace had been turned over, he had another friend -- a captain of a rival crew -- who wanted us to call Ace back. When the news came in that we were too late, Shanks -- our rival, agreed to hold back Kaidou -- another rival. In the war itself you could say there were two sides: my family versus the government. In actuality though, there were about 7 sides. My family, our allies, the government, the shichibukai -- ex-pirates working for the government, and then various others hoping to profit from the chaos by either killing my father or just sweeping up after the war.
Vengeance... [Marco's eyes go dark for a moment.] It's something ingrained in me. And no one will ever convince me that it's wrong, so save your breath. But towards the end, my family failed. We lost the very reasons we went in there for and if we continued to seek vengeance, then the rest of us would have died. My job is to protect them. No matter what. So when Shanks showed up, he made us all stop and pull back. To get out alive.
I don't know that I'd say he did it for the sake of peace or "community" as you put it, but there aren't many people I respect enough to listen to that thoroughly. Especially when I'd already lost two of them in that battle. It was an interference, but one that all sides accepted. My priority is to protect my own, their priority was to kill my father and brother and they succeeded. As for the rest, they weren't strong enough to interfere further or continue it.
[Rolls his shoulders to work out the tension. It's been over a year, so he's actually capable of talking about it now, but it's still a bother.] Does that help?
no subject
Back in my world, my family had my youngest "brother" captured by an enemy. He was turned over to the government because they wished to use him as bait for the rest of us, and a scapegoat for his blood. My crew -- my family, our reputation throughout the world is that of protecting our own. Our enemies knew that holding him hostage meant we'd do anything to get him back, so that's what we did. Before Ace had been turned over, he had another friend -- a captain of a rival crew -- who wanted us to call Ace back. When the news came in that we were too late, Shanks -- our rival, agreed to hold back Kaidou -- another rival. In the war itself you could say there were two sides: my family versus the government. In actuality though, there were about 7 sides. My family, our allies, the government, the shichibukai -- ex-pirates working for the government, and then various others hoping to profit from the chaos by either killing my father or just sweeping up after the war.
Vengeance... [Marco's eyes go dark for a moment.] It's something ingrained in me. And no one will ever convince me that it's wrong, so save your breath. But towards the end, my family failed. We lost the very reasons we went in there for and if we continued to seek vengeance, then the rest of us would have died. My job is to protect them. No matter what. So when Shanks showed up, he made us all stop and pull back. To get out alive.
I don't know that I'd say he did it for the sake of peace or "community" as you put it, but there aren't many people I respect enough to listen to that thoroughly. Especially when I'd already lost two of them in that battle. It was an interference, but one that all sides accepted. My priority is to protect my own, their priority was to kill my father and brother and they succeeded. As for the rest, they weren't strong enough to interfere further or continue it.
[Rolls his shoulders to work out the tension. It's been over a year, so he's actually capable of talking about it now, but it's still a bother.] Does that help?