Marukabi

"It will be difficult, Kirby, but you can do it! We are counting on you. Good luck!"

- Marx to Kirby, Kirby Super Star

Marukabi ( マルカビ ) is the non-binary ship between Marx and Kirby from the Kirby fandom. The ship name is derived from Maruku (マルク), Marx’s Japanese name and Kaabii (カービィ), Kirby’s Japanese name.

Canon
Marx and Kirby first met each other in the Milky Way Wishes sub game from Kirby Super Star. Marx approaches Kirby, who is staring up at the sky, and asks him to help stop the fight between the Sun and the Moon. He tells Kirby that he must gather stars from around the galaxy to summon Galactic Nova, a wish granting mechanical comet. Kirby listens to Marx and immediately goes to collect 7 stars from different planets. He succeeds and summons Galactic Nova. Before Kirby can make his wish, Marx kicks him out the way and wishes for control over Planet Popstar, Kirby’s home planet. Nova grants Marx’s wish and he transforms into his winged true form. He reveals his true plan and says He was the one who got the Sun and Moon to fight and was only using Kirby. He leaves Kirby floating in space and flies towards Popstar. Kirby recovers and goes to stop Marx. They fight and Kirby triumphs. Marx is sent flying into Galactic Nova and it explodes.

After the events of Super Star, Marx and Kirby did not interact since it was assumed that Marx had died in the explosion. However in Kirby Star Allies, Marx is shown to have somehow survived the crash and decides to aid Kirby in stopping the Jambastion Cult. This implies that Marx and Kirby are now friends, but this can also be debated because of Marx’s pause descriptions.

Marx and Kirby have also been seen together in other official Kirby media. Notable examples include official artwork and a chapter in a Kirby manga where they are depicted as childhood friends

Fanon
Marx and Kirby are shipped in both a romantic and platonic way. Some users claim that as long as they are hanging out, they'd be happy, while others are dead sure that Marx and Kirby belong together in a romantic way. It is described as a cute ship, and some claim that Kirby can help Marx become a better person. Some users are so in love (ha ha, get it?) with the ship that they name their accounts (On various social media platforms) after it. Some users claim that Marx and Kirby are enemies and would never get together, or that Kirby deserves someone better then Marx, but Marukabi shippers somehow are always able to prove them wrong.

The only Marx ship more popular then Marukabi is Marxolor, which it rivals every now and then.

Fandom

 * Tumblr Tag: #Marukabi
 * Google Images (Romaji): Marukabi
 * Google Images (Katakana): マルカビ