[He turned and shot her a serious look, the playfulness gone, a touch of hidden sadness to his eyes instead, though the rest of him was completely composed and as deadpan as he usually was.]
Make no mistake Nico Robin, I have already failed to protect several of my nakama more than once. [He blinked, realizing his tone was starting to get intense once again. Too angry. It was what had caused his first fight with Ace. He'd failed to protect Norma and Robin from the droids and Ace said Marco had to stop promising to do his best to fix it; that fixing it wasn't something Marco was capable of. And that was when Marco lost it. He took another deep breath and got even more deadpan.] As I will continue to do for the rest of my life. I have promised to show you that you can be happy in Luceti, nothing more, nothing less. I will not lose myself if you're kidnapped, if you go home, if you die. I will, however, always fight for your happiness here. And as your death works against that goal, however mild of a setback, I will be quite livid with those who got in my way.
But not you.
Do not say I can't accomplish something I set my mind to though. [He sets his jaw stubbornly.] It doesn't matter how impossible it seems, I will show you I can do miracles. But I can't without the support of the people I'm protecting. So you'll just have to trust me sometimes or I'll fail. Understand?
[Action]
Make no mistake Nico Robin, I have already failed to protect several of my nakama more than once. [He blinked, realizing his tone was starting to get intense once again. Too angry. It was what had caused his first fight with Ace. He'd failed to protect Norma and Robin from the droids and Ace said Marco had to stop promising to do his best to fix it; that fixing it wasn't something Marco was capable of. And that was when Marco lost it. He took another deep breath and got even more deadpan.] As I will continue to do for the rest of my life. I have promised to show you that you can be happy in Luceti, nothing more, nothing less. I will not lose myself if you're kidnapped, if you go home, if you die. I will, however, always fight for your happiness here. And as your death works against that goal, however mild of a setback, I will be quite livid with those who got in my way.
But not you.
Do not say I can't accomplish something I set my mind to though. [He sets his jaw stubbornly.] It doesn't matter how impossible it seems, I will show you I can do miracles. But I can't without the support of the people I'm protecting. So you'll just have to trust me sometimes or I'll fail. Understand?