The Devil Slaves

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, only my ideas

A/N: I changed the canon timeline a bit just so all their ages would be close together. Otherwise Robin would be 18 by the time Luffy ate his Devil Fruit. Now, Robin is 11, Law is 8, Kid is 6, Ace and Sabo are 5 and Luffy is 4.

Luffy charged straight into the oversized baboon's face, one arm pulled back to land a punch as powerful as a pistol. He grinned when the baboon went flying into the air and away from sight.

A large hand patted him on his shoulder. Luffy looked up to see his grandfather smiling proudly at him. "Good job Luffy, you've gotten a little better."

Luffy beamed. "Thanks Jiji!"

"Oi, I'm not an old man yet you ungrateful brat!" Garp shouted indignantly, slamming a fist on top of his grandson's head. With a snort, Garp watched the boy fall to the ground, rolling and clutching his head in pain.

"Owww! What did you do that for?"

Garp crossed his arms. "Luffy, I want you to listen. I'll be going to the Grand Line tomorrow and I'm going to let you stay with one of my acquaintances. There's another boy there named Ace so make sure to get along with him."

Luffy pouted. "But I wanna stay in Fuusha with Makino!"

Grimacing at the thought (he didn't want another incident with pirates docking there, the Red Hair Pirates had been a horrible influence on his cute little grandkid), Garp picked Luffy up by the collar of his shirt. "I'm taking you there now."

"No! I don't wanna go there! Lemme go ya old man!" Luffy pounded his small fists against his grandfather's large back, hoping that his grip would loosen. Not that it did. Then he saw a tree pass by them as they traveled to their new destination. An idea popping into his head, Luffy wrapped his rubbery arms around the trunk and held onto it for his dear life.

Of course, Garp didn't notice and kept on walking.

With a crack, the roots of the tree were lifted from the earth and with Luffy's newly acquired rubber abilities; it came hurling towards an unsuspecting Garp.

"Ha!" Luffy laughed as his grandpa was sent flying face-first into the ground, "Beat that ya old man!" Before Garp could recover, Luffy dashed off into the forest, searching for a nice place to hide.

{I}

"Luffy, meet Dadan. She'll be your new caretaker until I get back."

"…"

"He's just tired, he'll get over it."

"Shut up! I'm not tired! I'm trying to rebel so I don't have to be here, I wanna go back to Fuusha!"

"Silence will not get you anywhere, brat. If you want to be rude, hold up your middle finger or something." Dadan suggested, staring at the small kid who would be her charge for who-knows-how-long before Garp decided to show his face again.

"Oi Dadan, you better not put any bad ideas into my grandson's head. He's a little slow, but if you tell him to do something, he's going to do it."

Dadan raised an eyebrow. Oh, this actually might be fun. Ace was a whole lot different than this kid. Speaking of which…

"Where's Ace?" Garp asked, turning around to look for his other grandson.

"Around." Dadan shrugged, glaring at the little brat who had begun to poke her. She tried not to do anything… harmful to him because a Marine—a very powerful one—was standing in front of her at the moment and if she did anything careless, well, someone might not be very happy.

"Ok, well I'll be going." Garp said, waving. "If you kill anyone, I'll let you off the hook because you're watching over Luffy. But if you do anything else…" Garp left the threat hanging and disappeared into the shadows of the forest.

Sweating slightly in fear, Dadan finally got the opportunity to kick the annoying brat away from her. "Alright kid, get lost. I don't want to see you until dinner."

Luffy nodded cheerfully and scampered away. Humming to himself, he picked out a direction to go in, trying to remember the way his grandfather had taken him to reach the bandit's hideout. He needed to get back to Fuusha.

After about five minutes, he finally decided on west and ran off. If, of course, the direction he was headed was west. He put a hand to his head to make sure his hat didn't blow off as he jumped over roots and climbed over rocks. Suddenly, his stomach growled as if crying for food.

Luffy sighed, rubbing his stomach. He spotted some tasty-looking mushrooms growing at the base of a tree and reached out to grab them.

"I wouldn't eat those if I were you." A voice called, sounding cold like the air surrounding them. "They're poisonous."

Luffy's arm hung hesitantly in the air as his stomach growled again. Poison didn't always kill a person, did it?

A small figure stepped out from a cluster of bushes and slapped his arm away from the mushrooms. "Hey, don't you know what poisonous means?"

"Of course I do!" Luffy shouted crossly, "But I'm hungry and I wanna eat!"

Two obsidian black eyes considered the boy in front of them for a few seconds. "You're an idiot."

"Hey, that's not nice! You don't call people you just met idiots!"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Look, if you're hungry, go find some berries or fruit, do not touch the purple or red mushrooms." With that, he stalked off, leaping over stones with a skill only obtained after hours of practice.

Curiously, Luffy followed him. "Are you Ace?" He asked, "Gramps told me about you. You're Ace right?"

"Go away."

"He said that you're his grandson. I'm his grandson too! My name's Luffy and I'm going to be the future Pirate King!"

They boy stopped and swiveled on his heels. "You? The Pirate King?"

Luffy nodded seriously. "I made a promise to Shanks!"

The boy opened his mouth to make another comment but snapped it back shut. He held a finger to his mouth to silence the other. A few meters away, a twig cracked.

"Great, is it another animal? I just defeated one a few hours ago!" The boy muttered under his breath. He shifted into a defensive stance when another branch broke under a heavy weight.

"What is it?" Luffy whispered excitedly.

"Dinner."

"Ooohhh!" Luffy's eyes shone with anticipation and a sliver of drool slipped down his chin. "I can't wait to eat it!"

Slowly, a shape emerged from behind a tree and another dropped from the branches. But they weren't animals.

"Hmm, looks like we've got some young ones here. Younger than the last ones I'll say. I heard that one of 'em's got some pretty neat power. Fire, I think?"

"What about the other?"

"Not sure, but people will buy him anyways."

"Hey Ace, are you sure that's dinner?"

Ace glared at the younger boy. "What do you think?"

Luffy shrugged. "I don't want to eat a human."

There was a silence. "What are these kids talking about?" One of the men asked his companion.

"Why should you care? All I care about is the money."

Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Ace looked at the two people standing before him. "And who might you be?"

"No one in particular." The shorter of the two responded loftily. "Just your common kidnapper."

Suddenly, a third person leapt out from behind them and grabbed Luffy, tackling him to the ground.

"Hey, get off me!" Luffy screamed, trying to wriggle free. But the other's grip was tight, leaving no chance for escape. He stretched out one arm and latched onto a tree in an attempt to pull himself out of the other's grasp.

"Oi, this one's a Devil Fruit user too? Where's the Sea stone cuff?"

"We only brought one!"

"Then chain them together!"

Ace acted fast. He spun on his heel and kicked the short guy in his face. Grabbing a thick branch from the forest floor, he whacked another in the head. He turned to the third, but the idiot held Luffy in his arms as a shield, like any typical person would do when confronted with a situation like this.

"B*stard." Ace spat, eying the man dangerously.

"Thanks for the compliment." He responded with a smile then abruptly went flying into a tree.

"Shishishi! Did you see that? He was like, zoom!" Luffy cried in success, giving his arm an experimental stretch. "That was so awesome!"

Ace was a little disturbed by the boy's powers but then again, he was also a Devil Fruit user so he wasn't the one to judge. "What fruit did you eat?"

"Hmm? The Gomu Gomu no Mi, I'm a rubber man!"

Ace grimaced. Rubber? How lame. Fire was a lot cooler.

Suddenly, he felt something cold latch itself to his arm. He cursed at his carelessness. Obviously these guys didn't give up. He jumped backwards and looked down. There was a stone cuff on his right wrist. As he stepped backwards, he tripped and fell into the grass, his head feeling slightly fuzzy.

"Quick you idiot! Get the other kid before he recovers!"

In a slight daze, Ace watched as Luffy was pushed forward and landed on top of him. One of the men swiftly did something then sat back with a satisfied nod. "Done."

Ace lifted his arm. Luffy's arm rose along with his. He moved it to the left, then to the right. They had been chained together. He struggled to sit up, the strange feeling still overpowering him. Luffy, still slumped over him, groaned.

He blinked several times then shook his head to clear away the feeling but it didn't work. A shadow loomed over him accompanied by two others.

"What do ya think we'll get? A billion for each?"

"Nah, it's got to be more than that. These aren't regular kids."

There was a laugh. "You're right. Now hurry up and knock them out, the Sabaody Archipelago is a long ways away and I don't want to listen to two brats complaining."

Ace struggled to his feet and tried to create a flame in his hands. But before he had the chance, something hit the back of his head and darkness consumed him.

{I}

Law was having a good day. It had started with visiting a pretty island with bubbles floating all over the place. Then, Doflamingo had promised to find a bookstore and buy some medical books for him.

He couldn't wait until they reached town. Walking past these groves was getting boring. It was always the same scenery, despite the interesting and colorful bubbles.

Finally, a small village was in sight. Law almost smiled in delight but held back. He wanted to look cool in front of his role model. Doflamingo always looked snazzy in those sunglasses. Maybe he should find some of his own.

Then again, being a calm and collected sort of doctor was a lot different than an extremely stylish pirate.

"Hey kid."

Law looked up to see Doflamingo staring down at him.

"Bookstore is over there." He said, pointing to a quaint little shop. "I'll meet your there, I've got stuff to take care of first."

Nodding happily, Law ran into the store, watching as the older pirate disappeared down an alleyway. Must be pirate business. Like finding treasures and pillaging towns. Not that he cared about the right now.

Turning back to the rows of shelves filled with books, Law scanned them for the medical section. If they had one, not all did. Finally, found a small selection of anatomy books. Looking at the titles, he frowned in defeat. He already had all of these and read them more than twice over.

What a bummer. But there could be another bookstore around here. Sabaody—was that what this place was called?—was a popular tourist spot and rest point for pirates because it was the last island in the first half of the Grand Line. There was bound to be another somewhere.

Doflamingo had told him that they were to meet here. But pirate business could take forever, as Law had come to learn the hard way. So it didn't hurt to go off exploring for a little bit.

Giving a quick thanks to the lady behind the counter, Law was off again. In hindsight, he should have asked the lady if there was indeed another bookstore and the directions to it. But he didn't have the patience to go back now.

Running down the street, Law watched all the stores whiz by in a blur of colors. But one thing caught his eye.

To his right was a tourist shop and on the display cases in the window were sunglasses.

Law checked his pocket to see how much allowance he had left. It was enough to buy ten or so ice pops so it had to be enough to buy some sunglasses.

Entering the store, Law wandered over to the rack of glasses. There was a mirror next to it, allowing him to see how he looked in different pairs.

First, he tired on nerdy-looking ones but they didn't look right. Second was the kind of shades Doflamingo always wore—large lenses with thick frames. Unfortunately, they didn't look as good on him as he thought they would. It was a style only Doflamingo could pull off. Third, he found a pair that looked really cool. They were slim and narrowed at each end. They were colored pinkish-purple and framed in silver. And there was even a second pair in blue.

Excitedly, Law picked them up and walked over the manager-person.

"Hey, can I get these?"

"Sure, that'll be 40 beri."

Stuffing his hand into his pocket, Law pulled out the required amount and placed it in the man's upturned palm. Then, he grabbed the two pairs of sunglasses and exited the store cheerfully. Doflamingo would like these; they were even in his favorite color! And they would walk around town in matching pairs; it would be so fun!

Thinking excitedly to himself, Law failed to notice two men approach him from the sides. When he did, it was too late.

Something clipped itself to his wrist and immediately, Law felt all his strength leave.

Darkness surrounded him and a faint scent of sweat came from the bag he had been captured in. It seemed like forever until he was set down. But the men weren't the nicest people on the earth and threw him roughly onto a cold floor.

A feeling of horror lodged itself in Law's gut when he heard a crack resound in the empty space. The bag was taken off his head and immediately he looked down. It was hard to see, but under his hand the blue pair of sunglasses lay broken, the lenses cracked and shattered beyond repair. He tried to call upon his Devil Fruit powers and attempt to put them back together, but he could feel some sort of force block them.

"This the kid?" A gruff voice asked.

He had to have been captured by pirates. Sabaody had them swarming all over the place. But Doflamingo would notice his absence and come looking for him, right?

"Yeah, looks exactly like the picture." Another replied. "Contact the boss."

"Already did, he's on his way over."

Hours seemed to tick past as Law tried to escape his bindings and smash the stone cuffs off his wrists. Nothing worked.

Suddenly, light streamed in through an open door and Law had to shield his eyes from the brightness.

A familiar laugh echoed through the room. "Hey there Law, looks like you got yourself captured."

Law gasped in relief. Doflamingo had found him! He jumped to his feet and peered through the steel bars of his cage.

"Captain! Get me out of here, these guys are pirates and they're gonna do something with me! Their boss is on his way!"

Doflamingo chuckled as he walked to the cage. "Oh? Is that so?"

Law nodded. "But you can defeat him, right? 'Cause you're really strong?"

"Of course I can." He responded, glancing at the two men standing nervously to the side.

Law sighed gratefully. "Look! I got you something!" He pulled out the pink sunglasses and held them up for the other to see. "They're your favorite color and you always wear the same thing so I thought it would be nice to have another. I got myself one but it broke…"

Smiling, Doflamingo accepted them and removed his old pair, replacing them with his new ones. "How'd I look?"

Law beamed. "Really, really cool!"

Doflamingo reached down to ruffle Law's short black hair. Then, he turned to the other men. "Take him to the auction house."

Law froze. What?

"Right away boss."

Boss? Doflamingo was their boss? Then that meant—

"Wait, Captain! What's going on? What are you doing?"

Doflamingo glanced back at the small boy. With a devilish grin, he raised his sunglasses to stare at Law in the eye. "Pirates are not very good people, you should know that by now. They steal, they kill, and they backstab. I'm only doing what comes naturally."

Law dropped to the floor, dread slowly numbing his body. "You're leaving me here? To become a slave?"

"Of course. " He replied. "Kids who have eaten Devil Fruits are selling for a high price nowadays. It's the Great Age of pirates—everyone wants power." He started to walk away, his feathered pink coat trailing after him. "Never trust a pirate, Law."

The door shut, sealing the only source of light away. Law felt a small tear trail down his cheek as two hands picked him up and slung him like a sack over their shoulder. He took back his earlier comment. He was not having a good day.

Never trust a pirate.

{I}

Robin was helping her pirate crew load their ship when it happened. Originally, she was going to betray them once they reached the next island but now it looked like they had already betrayed her.

People whom she didn't recognize (she had made to memorize all the pirates in her temporary crew) had crowded around her. They didn't show any sign of hostility or seem to pose any threat. But, Robin had come to know better after a few years on the run since the Oharan incident.

Crossing her arms in preparation to attack if needed, she glared at the person who looked to be the leader. "Another move and I'll break your neck."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Don't worry kiddo, we aren't going to hand you over to the Marines. I'm here to give you a place to stay, temporary or not. I've heard from the folks around here that you like to wander, board our ship and we'll take you to our next destination. If you don't like it there, we'll try another."

Robin gulped. The man was friendly, not how she expected him to be. And he knew exactly what she wanted, which was suspicious by itself. He could be lying, almost everyone did. Especially to tempt little children like her.

"I refuse." She said. "I'm fine on my own for now."

The man shrugged his shoulders. "If you say so. But I didn't say you had a choice." Quickly, he signaled to the men behind her who stepped forward and quickly attached a cuff to her ankle.

Instantly recognizing it as Sea Stone, Robin's eyes widened in alarm. "What do you think you're doing?" She cried, terror slowly freezing her muscles. She didn't want to see a Marine ship; she didn't want to be on one.

"Don't worry, you'll be safe with us." The man stepped forward to pat her on the shoulder. "Like I said, no Marines. Our boss has something else all planned out, you see."

He picked her up bridal style, something that she immediately objected to but the Sea Stone made her too sleepy and tired to move or punch the man in the face. She was carried onto a large ship and brought to the storage room. It was surprisingly spacious but dark and filled with…children.

Robin held in a horrified gasp. Chains bound arms and legs to the cold metal floor, and the strong scent of fear permeated the room. "Where am I?" She demanded.

The man smiled. "Don't concern yourself with petty details like that. All that matters is our destination, and we'll let you off, correct?" He set her down, swiftly locking a chain to the cuff around her ankle. Then, he left without another word.

Robin's legs gave way, despair overcoming her. What destination? How could she trust his words? She could only trust herself, no one else. That was how it had always been. Always.

Silently, she buried her head in her arms, feeling two stray tears make their way down to her chin. When she felt a curious stare on her neck, she looked up to see two wide eyes peering down at her.

"Are you okay?" A small voice asked, moving closer to her.

She turned her head away.

"Aaaaccceeee." The same voice whined. "Why isn't she talking to me? I talked to her, but she's not talking to me!"

"Shut up idiot. You're probably annoying her. She just got captured like the rest of us."

"But I'm booorreed and I'm hungry!"

"Deal with it."

Robin raised her head to see two kids, a few years younger than her sitting against the wall. When the younger of the two noticed her, he brightened.

"Hi! I'm Luffy!" He said holding out a hand. "I'm going to be the next Pirate King!"

A fist planted itself on top of Luffy's messy black hair. "Idiot, don't say that here."

Luffy pouted, crossing his arms in defiance.

"Ignore them." A new voice said, coming from a boy with spiky red hair. He was making imaginary patterns across the steel floor. "They've been like that since they were brought aboard. Always fighting."

Beside him sat another boy, staring intently at Luffy and Ace, looking conflicted as if he wanted to join their playful banter or remain silent. In his hands, he clutched a broken pair of sunglasses. Robin wondered if they had belonged to someone important before he had been captured.

"I'm Kid." The previous boy spoke again. "And this unsociable brat is Law. Those two as you already know are Ace and Luffy. We're all Devil Fruit users."

Law twitched at the comment but made no move to defend himself.

"I'm Nico Robin." Robin said, clearing her throat so they didn't her the waver in her voice. "A Devil Fruit user like you guys."

"Any clue what they're doing with us?" Ace asked, a calm and serious Luffy sitting quietly beside him for once. "I heard something about money."

Law leaned back and closed his eyes. No one spoke for a few minutes before he opened them again. "They're turning us into slaves."

A/N: Forget about Corazon, I wrote this before that chapter

Don't forget to review!