Crêpe

hhhhgh in 568 it was specifically marco that reacted to whitebeard's heart attack (?) from across the field even before he had any physical reaction that tipped the rest of the crew off. we know marco has pretty sensitive observation haki, he picked up a lot of what was going on with luffy in wano, but he hasn't shown future sight. he didn't know squard would stab whitebeard...

u know most first mates/seconds in command of the crews we've met were their captain's first recruits and they always have a uniquely close relationship. marco's confirmed as his SIC in 909, i don't think it's a stretch to say that pops was the singular most important person in marco's life, and vice versa.

the very last person whitebeard thinks of as he dies is marco, and when he thanks his crew there's some ambiguity in the english version but the literal translation of that panel is closer to 'you've given me everything [that i have]', or 'everything i have, i received from you guys'

and very interestingly how in marineford it wasn't mentioned at ALL that marco was a doctor, much less THE ship's doctor (which was revealed in 909), which the fandom (including me) understandably took and ran with to mean that he was always trying to control whitebeard's drinking-- but we never see him in the series itself ever trying to do so, even though the nurses try (234)

and in fact we have seen him chilling with pops while he's drinking without saying anything about it even after he lost his hair (1023 and 1121, while he's talking about the 'race of gods on top of the red line', which we learn in wano is something he does when he gets drunk)

do u ever think about. marco knowing that if pops decided to take it easy, stay on land, fight less, drink less, and pay more attention to his health, he'd probably have a few more years to live but asking him not to do the things that make him happiest (sailing around, partying and drinking with his family) would be torture for that stubborn old man, so marco doesn't say anything. just quietly watches his dad who he devoted the last 30+ years of his life to die slowly (and quickly) and simply does what he can to make him comfortable

and in his FINAL MOMENTS, the last person whitebeard thinks of and addresses is marco-- the viz translation makes it sound like [his crew] gave him everything [they have], but the raws are more explicit in that he says 'everything [i have], i received from you guys'.

oda's processing a lot of his feelings about parenthood through kuma and bonney and the giants on elbaf but he's definitely also at the age of going through adult child of elderly parent emotions, so i'm excited to see that pan out.

In celebration of marco officially having 2 gay dads 😍😍

Also marco's supposed to be like 7 but no we don't do that here. He's a literally baby here. A LITTLE BIRD IF YOU WILL. WB is so widow it's nor even funny his husband freaking dies and he has to take care of a baby and then he became a serial adopter so his baby can have more siblings to be with and never be lonely forever (Look how that turns out 💔💔)

Despite my warm feelings for the characters of Ace and Whitebeard, Marco is the one who hurts the most after this damn war. He lost his captain and his father, his home, his crew, his comrades, who dispersed around the world and finally lost another close friend.