I love this because I love the idea that you're so much smaller in your Zoan form than he is in his. Maybe you don't even know who Marco is, or anything about the Phoenix devil fruit.
Maybe your first meeting happens while he's surveying the island you're on. You're in your sparrow form, and suddenly it's a predator/prey situation, only you don't know what big ass bird is after you.
Only that it's a big ass bird. You can flit beneath the tree line and have a chance, a real chance - and then there's something that just
You're prostrate in your human form in a wide clearing. No idea why you decided to do something like this, no idea what gripped you thus, and Marco lands in front of you. He changes as he lands, the soft crunch of dirt beneath his sandals.
"Sweet little Sparrow," he muses in that mellow tone. "No mere bird can defy the Phoenix."
That's how you end up on the ship. And maybe Marco even breaks the tension after that first meeting. Apologizing for scaring you, bonding with you over the shared bird zoans you have. Convincing you to come aboard the ship with such ease you almost wonder -
Ah, but Marco's so kind, he wouldn't use the influence of his DF to make you decide the way he wanted. No way. You shake the thought away and sink into a comfortable life aboard the ship.
A comfortable life in his arms.
Maybe it's Teach that snaps you out of it. Something about the dark fruit that shatters the false bond. He probably doesn't even do it out of the kindness of his heart - you were going to sound the alarm and when he grabs your arm it nullifies everything about the devil fruits.
You're so stunned he drags you along as he escapes.
It's a harried and angry conversation with him, but in the end Teach doesn't want your fruit, or the burden of looking after you. Sure you aren't going to rat him out, the two of you split at the next island.
News of the Marineford war makes you relax. The crew is no more, you don't have to fear the Moby docking at the island you're on, you can breathe again. Rebuild a life. Sure some of the skills you use to find your groove are the ones you learned while on the crew, but it's payment you were due, being effectively controlled like that.
You hear about the Payback war through tavern chatter and rumors. It twists your heart in so many ways, and you don't care to untangle it, but trouble for the crew is a blessing for you. The more they're dealing with Teach, the less time they have to wonder about you.
Maybe Teach will have done you a solid and told them he killed you himself or something.
A few weeks later you're flying for your life through the trees. You know exactly what bird it is that's hunting you this time. You change into your human form and slam into a tree when you feel the compulsion pull at your mind this time.
The hard crack is the kind of pain you needed, and when you change back you're flapping against the pain of it. That sharp throbbing pain keeps you from getting tangled up in the nagging voice in your mind, but the pain also slows you down.
It only takes a few minutes for Marco's talon to close around you. Flames lick against you almost automatically healing the damage to you.
Sweet little sparrow, no mere bird can defy the phoenix.
