Chapter 1 – A Devil Reborn

It was three a.m. on a school night and Marco found himself suddenly awake staring blankly at his bedroom ceiling. He had no idea what had woken him out of sound sleep and a dream about his extra hot and freckled neighbor living next door. Then another rock smacked against his window on the second floor. Resisting the urge to let blast a string of foul obscenities, Marco pushed himself up off his bed and went to the window and lifted it up.

Below in the front yard he saw a familiar reindeer shaped shadow running around.

"Oi, Chopper, what's the big idea, yoi!" He called down a little miffed.

"Marcoooooooo…." Chopper cried with tears streaming from his eyes. He held up a tattered straw hat with a familiar red sash. Marco felt the pit of his stomach drop. This time he really did curse.

"Hold on, I'll be right there!" He yelled down at the small animal before taking off down his stairs two at a time and flinging the front door open. He jogged toward Chopper and took the straw hat from his hooves. He turned it over in his hands taking note of the singes on its edges with wide eyes.

"M-Mihawk s-said you w-wound know what to d-do," Chopper stuttered out through sobs.

"Oyaji…" Marco knew that if Shanks's hat was here then that meant something terrible had happened to the Devil Scouts. The old man was probably… "Damn it, who did this!?" He growled. Chopper shook his head sadly.

"I-It happened so f-fast that all I can r-remember is it was a man with b-boss-ass shades and a pink coat made of f-feathers," Chopper told him. Marco was at a loss from such a description. He hadn't seen anyone to match it and had no idea where to start looking. He tried to put on a brave face for Chopper.

"Don't worry, we'll get revenge for pops and the others…I just have to find someone to carry on the Devil Scout legacy…starting with this straw hat," Marco said.


A few hours later, in a different house and in a bed with meat patterned bedsheets, one Monkey D. Luffy was pulled up out of bed by his ear. He made a loud snoring noise but otherwise stayed asleep.

"Luffy, we're going to be late!" Ace pinched his brother's cheeks and stretched them in random directions. "Grandpa Garp has breakfast ready and if you think I'm going to wait on you to share the bacon-"

"Bacon?" Luffy's eyes flew open. Ace grinned dropping him.

"That's my little brother," Ace laughed tapping him on the cheek and then running off towards the kitchen. Luffy scrambled up and took off after him yelling. He wasn't about to let Ace hog all the meat. They both ended up crashing into the kitchen at the same time and dive bombed the unsuspecting plate of crispy bacon.

"Settle down you two!" Garp yelled from where he hovered over the stove in a pink frilly apron. He put his hands on his hips. "We have company you two animals!" Luffy ignored his grandpa for the most part until he and Ace had demolished the plate of bacon and he was sucking the last drops of greasy goodness from his fingers. He glanced over to see his childhood friend, Nami looking at him in a mix of disgust and awe.

"Oh Nami!" Luffy grinned in greeting. Nami just shook her head.

"Hey Luffy, I came over so we could walk to school together today," she said smiling at him. Luffy thought that was great, it was an extra special day when he got to hang out with Nami. "Because we have that geography exam today and I'm going to quiz you on the way."

Luffy's grin instantly fell from his face. "Boooring…"

Ace ruffled his little brother's hair. "Have fun, squirt," he said grabbing up his books and taking off out the door leaving Luffy to Nami. Luffy sighed and resigned himself to his fate.


The walk to the school was a short one, about ten minutes, but Buggy was already feeling his patience wearing thin. He hated kids. Especially the pompous teenage kind. The Devil Compass was leading him in this direction though and he had to deal with it. It was a special compass that would lead him to anyone with the ability to become the next Devil Scouts. Right now it was having him follow some dark haired boy and girl with bright orange hair. The boy looked like he was about to melt into the ground out of boredom and the girl looked really agitated and kept asking if he had paid attention at all in class. The Devil compass seemed to be following them so he snuck ahead of them both and ducked into a nearby alley. He was going to grab them both as they passed and find out for sure which one it was that had the Devil Power.

He grinned to himself. If he were able to "take care" of a possible Devil Scout in the making then Lord Doflamingo would probably give him a high position in the company. Maybe even Doflamingo's new leg hair brusher. No more grunt work for the great Buggy! He cackled silently to himself just as the orange haired came in to view. He reached forward and grabbed her by the arm, tugging her toward him with brute force. The girl screamed, but he quickly wrapped an arm around her neck to choke off her air and covered her mouth with his other hand.

"Nami!" The other snot nosed brat yelled as he came after them. He paused in shock when he saw Buggy holding his little girlfriend in a vice grip.

"Who the heck are you!?" The boy demanded. Buggy smirked. He could tell the Devil Compass was pointing directly to this kid and that he was the one with the potential Devil Scout powers. "Let go of Nami!" The boy continued to wail. Buggy just laughed, it was all too easy.

He tightened his choke hold on the girl and she went limp in his arms. He threw her to the ground.

"That's fine because really I'm here for you, idiot!" Buggy reached into his pocket and threw something into Luffy's dumbstruck face. "Mini Buggy Smoke Balls!" He yelled. When Buggy's balls hit Luffy in the face, the young teen instantly fell over unconscious. Buggy took a moment to cackle and appreciate just how well his plan was going before he scooped the boy up and threw him over his shoulder to carry him off.

Meanwhile Marco cursed under his breath as he rushed over and went to pick Nami up. Chopper followed a few steps behind him looking nervous.

"Is she okay?" Chopper asked fidgeting with his hooves. Marco glanced over at him and then Nami.

"I'm not sure, use your healing powers to take a look," Marco replied. Chopper nodded and it was like a whole different attitude took over the little reindeer. He came over close to Nami and started looking her over. In truth Chopper was a Devil Beast, a creature only visible to those with Devil Scout power or had been touched by that power in some way. He had the ability to heal and sense the presence of those with strong Devil Power. Unfortunately whoever had attacked Oyaji and the others had been someone even Chopper could not heal them from. Marco grit his teeth as the desire for revenge filled him one more time.

"She's just unconscious! No trace of Devil Power," Chopper exclaimed with a relieved smile. Marco felt himself relax. He lifted Nami up in a princess carry.

"Good, we need to get her somewhere safe so we can take off after that kid—" Just as Marco turned around the words died on his tongue. Standing right behind him was his extra hot neighbor with the freckles.

Marco bit his lip.

"Hey, what happened to Nami?" Extra hot and spicy asked giving Marco a suspicious look.

"Uh, some guy tried to abduct her, but I ran him off, he took the boy she was with instead," Marco answered.

"Luffy!? He's my little brother, I have to go after him!" Extra hot and spicy was about to take off running but Marco stopped him.

"No wait, I'll help you, just let me get her to somewhere safe first," Marco told him. He hesitated but must have decided two people would be better than one. He nodded.

"Ok, sure there's a laundry mat around the corner we'll leave her there until we get back," he replied.

"Cool, by the way I just moved here a few weeks ago, I'm Marco," Marco said.

"I'm Ace, and I've seen you around school, nice to meet ya finally," Ace replied with a toothy grin that made Marco swoon just a little. Stupid cute freckles. He coughed and tried to focus on carrying Nami and not dropping her on the cement before they reached the laundry place.

It only took them a few moments to reach the laundry place, Marco followed Ace's lead as the other boy burst through the entrance.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" A tall, muscular youth with green hair yelled as they barged in and laid Nami down on a nearby bench. He was using three sticks to beat dust out a rug. Ace didn't seem fazed at all by his coarse tone.

"Zoro, take care of Nami until we get back, Luffy's in trouble again!" Ace called over his shoulder as he made ready to run out the door.

"That idiot, what's he into now?" Zoro groused and Marco could tell he wanted to go after Ace's little brother too, but he was obviously busy.

"Dunno, but I'll tell him off for you when I find him!" Then Ace was out the door and Marco chasing after him. With Nami in a safe place they could move faster and focus finding where that kidnapper went. "So do you know where this guy went?" Ace turned to ask Marco. Marco glanced at Chopper who had been silently following beside them both the whole time and raised his eyebrows. Ace couldn't see Chopper so Marco didn't want to look like weirdo by talking to thin air. Chopper nodded and pointed to the right down an alleyway.

"Yeah, he's down this way so just follow me." Marco led the way.


"Huh?" Luffy blinked as he came to hanging upside down in a tree. There was a weird clown looking guy standing in front of him and yelling something. Luffy turned his blurry eyes to the three figures yelling back at the weirdo clown. Ace…? Pineapple head…and a little fuzzy deer? Luffy reached up and rubbed his eyes. Nope, he wasn't seeing things. His brother was really here.

"Let Luffy go, you freak!" Ace thundered. Luffy was sure that if looks could kill that this clown would be a pile of ashes by now.

"Yeah right, in the honor of the Big Boss I'm gonna cut his throat! Glad you came to watch though, it's always nice to have an audience!" With those words the clown drew a very mean looking sword his side. Next thing he knew it was against his neck. Ace's eyes went wide.

"Hey!"

The cold steel bit into Luffy's neck just the tiniest bit. "Not a step closer, I can make it painful you little turd."

"Tch.." Ace ground his teeth together in frustration, but his feet didn't move a centimeter from where he stood. This whole thing had just gotten ten times more dangerous than he had thought it ever would. Pineapple head put a hand on Ace's arm and he relaxed. Luffy felt himself bristle just a little. Just a little.

"Who do you work for?" Pineapple head demanded. The clown laughed.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Let's just say that it's someone who doesn't like the Devil Scouts very much," he said.

"Marco, that boy has great Devil Power inside him!" The little deer yelled out. Pineapple head looked in surprise in Luffy's direction.

"Wow, your dog can talk?" Luffy asked. They ignored him.

"Chopper, he's the one Mihawk wanted you to find—give me the hat!"

Luffy watched in amazement as the little animal rooted around and his fur and pulled out a worn straw hat with a red sash around it. The clown's eyes went wide when he saw it.

"Where did you get that!?" he demanded. "Don't even bring that thing over here." Seeming to know it was useless to demand such a thing, the clown turned his attention full on Luffy. He raised his sword to lob off Luffy's head.

"NO LUFFY!" Came Ace's distant yell. Damn, he was about to die here.

There was a loud clang.