CHAPTER 1: The Mist, and what followed.
Small footprints painted the brown dirt. Two small figures made their way across the lush forest that surrounded them at all sides. Laughter could be heard from both children who appeared to be...racing?
"AH! ACE!" The smaller boy called, trying his hardest to keep up his pace. The boy who was referred to as Ace, showed his teeth devishly at the smaller child and scowled with hints of annoyance
"It's your fault for being so damn slow, LUFFY!" The younger burnette stuck his tongue out at his 'Older brother' and grabbed onto the freckled boy with his rubber arms that for once, successfully streched out.
"OI! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOI'N!?" Ace demanded, however he recieved no answer as Luffy had tugged his arms back and pulled the older boy to the ground, slamming his already dirty face into the ground. The boy who always wore a straw hat laughed at the older.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!? YOU DAMN BRAT!" It suddenly went quiet. Luffy knew he would regret his laughter later so he quickly bowed his head in an apologetic matter.
"SORRY!" Luckily it was enough to calm the infuriated older boy, who looked to be 12 or so.
"You're lucky I dont pulverise you! Bastard!" Of course Ace never meant anything he ever said to Luffy, especially the harsh words, but he could never admit that as it would make him seem too soft, which was NOT his style.
"Oi Luffy." The freckled boy called, gaining the attention of the younger. "Hm?" The child asked, in which he was answered.
"It's probably going to get late soon. Head back to the base while I go collect something to eat." Hearing these words caused Luffy to pout, he never wanted to do anything without Ace.
"But-" He tried, but was firmly replied to, "No way. Without Sabo its gotten harder to keep an eye on you. You're better of staying warm somewhere safe." The word 'safe' was not something Ace used often, as it wasn't something him and Luffy were. Luffy on the other hand, who was amazed that his brother had cared about his safety, nodded his head in agreement and ran off to where their so called 'base' was.
Ace headed towards the coast, hoping to find some sort of shark or crocodile to kill or something. How he always did it was Unknown. However it was just as he had reached the coast when he noticed that it was head to toe in mist.
"Mist?" The boy asked himself. He continued walking only to see that the mist grew thicker and thicker. He could hardly see a foot infront of himself. Suddenly there was a loud [BANG!] It practically made Ace fall over it was so strong. "What on earth was that?" he said a little too loud, not sure what was going on.
Soon more cannons made impact with the sand and cause more loud bangs. As Ace tried to find some sort of cover, whilst running, he ran right into someone, or into their leg anyway, "Are you ok?" A very feminine voice asked in a rush. Ace couldnt even understand what was happening before he felt a gentle arm lift him up.
"You shouln't be here. Come with me." It wasn't long before Ace was being carried by the unknown women. He swore that he could make out three or so arms holding him but was rather confused by everything happening so squeezed his eye's shut,
hoping that it would all disappear if he tried hard enough. [BANG] Another cannon hit, this one was larger than the rest,
and had much more power. Ace kept his eyes shut, only opening them when the women had stopped moving completely.
"It's safe now." She informed the boy who slowly slid off her and onto, grass? But wait, The freckled boy could feel a suttle rocking, which mean't that he was aboard a ship? How was that possible? "Ugh!" Ace hissed, noticing a small graze he had gotten on his elbow. It was nothing serious but still hurt. Normally something like this would bother the almost teen at all, but he felt as if his senses were all muttled, and he felt so nervous about everything.
"W-Wait, W-Where's Luffy!?" He shouted out, now remembering he had left him at the base. He looked up at the women with bright blue eyes and a slight pointed nose for an answer, she seemed just as shocked as Ace.
"Y-You know Luffy?" She questioned in a less calm matter. Ace was just about ready to ask her the same question, but wasn't able to as he heard a new voice from the, ship?
"OI! GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASSES AND SET SAIL! HURRY!" Not a second past before a man who had a abnormally long nose ran past Ace and the women. Looking around in confusion, Ace spotted someone near the upper deck, who seemed to be the one giving orders. Perhapes he was in charge? From what he could see, the young adult had a full set of blond hair and a cigarette that he was currently smoking, it wasn't long before he shouted again,
"CAPTAIN! We're ready for a coup' de burst!" Wait what? Did Ace hear that right? "C-Captain?" He muttered, that must mean that he was currnetly on a pirate ship!? Of all things! He had to get back to Luffy and off this damn ship! But before he could throw a fit, he spotted only briefly, barely for a moment, a young adult, who looked around 20 or 21. He wore a red cardigan with blue shorts and a yellow sash around his waist. He didn't want to believe it but Ace could have sworn he saw a strawhat tied around his neck.
"I-It couldn't be." He uttered barely above a whisper. That man reminded him so much of Luffy but there was no way that it was possible.
"SHI SHI SHI! LETS GO!" It wasn't long before the whole ship rumbled, and then there was a massive shockwave, Ace could barely open his eyes and thought he would fly off the ship, however he was caught by a women, she wasn't the same one as before, as this one had bright orange hair and to Ace's annoyance, didn't wear much.
"Who is this kid?" Nami questioned as she held onto Ace, not letting him fly to infinity and beyond. The darker haired women from before quickly made her way to the other and noted, "I found him on the island, I couldn't just leave him there." The red haired beauty simply nodded in agreement.
It was only then that Ace noticed all the shouting and laughing that was going on around him. Other than the few people he spotted earlier, He saw a green haired man sleeping in the corner, how he wasn't fearing for his life was beyond Ace. The young boy continued looking around him from the womens grasp to see, a skeleton? and a, raccon dog? Just who were these poeple? And how on earth would he get back to Luffy!?
It took a few minutes for the flying grass ship, as Ace called it, to finally land on the ocean surface and it took it another minute or so to finally stop shaking. Ace just about thought his life was over before it had even begun.
He was dropped by the orange haired women almost instantly, she walked away complaining of how she needed a shower. While the dark haired women stood near Ace with, as Ace noted a book in hand, The young freckled boy looked about the ship once more to see that several of its crew members were off about to do their own thing.
The blond one mentioned something of cooking while a light blue haired man who Ace had'nt spotted earlier, said something about refilling the cola? The skeleton left to practice instruments or something, while the raccon and odd nosed fellow did'nt stray too far and instead looked for fishing rods to begin fishing while the mossy mess man continued sleeping to Ace's surprise. Still confused by the fact that litterally no one had even noticed him, he looked up at the women who smile back at him.
"So," she started, "What's your name?" Ace was hesitant to answer and kept quiet, which earned the women another giggle, At least she seemed nice.
Suddenly a loud shout was heard through out the ship which snapped Ace out of his daze. He quickly turned to see the same man from earlier had made his way to the main deck, if it could even be called that as it was grassy. The young adult was laughing about something unknown. Ace was able to get a good look at him, noting the scare under his left eye and the big 'X' mark on his chest.
"Where did he get that scar?" The feckled boy muttered, rivaling that of a whisper. Ace continued looking at the young man, until he noticed the small boy and looked directly at him. Now nervous, Ace hid behind the nice womans skirt or whatever it was, not wanting to be seen, this behavior was totally NOT how Ace would normally act, but so much had happened in so little time and Ace was just so overwhelmed by it all. The man on the other hand, just about looked as if he had seen a ghost, his eye's widened, some how reminding him so much of Luffy's, but they were so, Empty, heart broken, as if something was missing and would never return. They were to mature to be his sweet little Luffy's eyes.
"A-Ace?" The man uttered, barely loud enough for the child to hear. Ace build up the courage to confront the man who stood several feet in front of him. Shakily, he shouted,
"H-How the hell do you know my name!?" The young man flinched at the boy's voice. Trying to comprehend what he was seeing.
"A-ACE!" He shouted, practically in tears at this point. He raced over to the boy who had come out from behind The women, who was now standly idly by. And took him with both hands, embracing him in a long hug. Tears flowed out the younger adults eyes while Ace stood confused.
"What are you-" He started, but was cut off by the older.
"ACE! I CAN'T BELIEVE ITS YOU! IS IT REALLY YOU!? PORTGAS !?" You would think that it was impossible for Ace to be any more confused at this point, but it was possible.
"How, do you know that?" He asked simply out of curiosity. Wondering how this 'PIRATE' even knew his name, and his last name for that matter.
"IT'S ME!" The older teen shouted in tear's, almost making Ace want to cover his ears.
"Ace, It's me, Luffy!" He said softer, more into the Ace's ear, as if not wanting other's to hear. The freckled boy's eyes widened, it's not possible, no way!
"LUFFY!? B-BUT. I WAS JUST! WE WERE JUST! IN THE FOREST! NOT EVEN AN HOUR AGO!" He shouted, slightly pushing 'Luffy'
away. Like hell he would believe that this 20 year old man was supposed to be his younger brother! "A-Ace?" Luffy questioned, not knowing why he reacted so harshly.
"PROVE IT!" The boy shouted, confusing the other.
"There is no way that you could be my Luffy! You act nothing like him! I want you to prove it!" Shocked by the sudden outburst, Luffy was just about ready to fall apart, but held it together and replied,
"Ace, how could I not be Luffy!? I know that you and I, and Sabo lived with dadan in the forest at Goa, and that you had been alone for a long time. Please Ace, I promise that I'm Luffy, please believe me. And look-" The man then took the straw hat from his head and placed it on Ace's. "It's my straw hat that Shank's gave me when I was little, how could I forget that?" He gave the younger a big smile, hoping to have conviced him. Not a second later, Ace had wrapped his arms around Luffy's waist, hugging him even more than Luffy had hugged him earlier.
"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU! IDIOT! I WAS ALONE AGAIN! WITH PEOPLE I DIDN'T KNOW! AND YOU LEFT ME!" Luffy just about choked on Ace's words, they were so familiar and Luffy knew exactly how Ace felt. He put his hand on the boy head as he hugged him and looked up at the women. "Robin, could you uh.." However the women who was referred to as 'Robin' simply nodded and then stated with a smug look,
"Of course, anything for the 'KING OF PIRATES'." Ace suddenly went silent. There was no way he heard that right. Did he? Luffy on the other hand cursed the women inwardly for her politeness and respect for his newly found title. Dammit, He had a whole lot of explaining to do...
TBC.
[AUTHORS NOTES]
How was that? A whole lot happened treally fast but I really just wanted to try get as much done and fast as possible so then I could focus on the main story in coming chapters. Hope you enjoyed and see you all in the next chapter!