Chapter 2: Kid's Again
(Hey guyz~! So the hard part is mostly over. You know what that was? 1. Trying to get most the facts right 2. Working late at night & 3. Trying not to cry when seeing Ace die. Easy to say I failed that last one… I'm seriously out of it today… But that won't stop me! Hopefully… I actually woke up this morning thinking about how to start this chapter. So here goes. On to the crap!)
It had been three days since Jinbei had found the two ten year-olds and the now seven year-old Luffy. He had asked Law to look over the boys and see if he could figure out why Luffy was now ten years younger and see if the other two were healthy. He remembered how relieved he was when Law had told him all three were perfectly fine, even Luffy's wounds were no longer there and left no trace of ever being there.
Three days and they still haven't shown any signs of waking. Law had told him the boys should have woken up within the hour. Last Jinbei checked, an hour was a lot less than three days. So why haven't they woken up yet?
While Jinbei was trying to figure things out, Law had walked into the room and was checking up on the boys again. He wouldn't say it while Jinbei was on his ship, but these boys were pissing him off. He was a genius doctor! Everything he had ever said about his patients always turned out to be true! If he said they were to die before morning, it happened! If he said they would be perfectly within a few days, they were! When he says they will wake up within an hour, they will wake up within an hour! Not three days! Three kids were ruining his good name! At this point he was ready to dismember them and maybe put them back together if it meant they woke up.
Law sighed before muttering under his breath, "Damn these kids…"
"Did you say something?" Jinbei asked, finally out of his thoughts.
"You know what. Yes, yes I did. These damn kids are annoying the hell out of me! I haven't slept for a minute in the past three days because I keep trying to figure out how I was wro-" Law stopped himself, he was not about to say that word about himself of all people.
"Afraid to admit it? Face it. Every doctor is wrong at least once in their career." Jinbei informed.
"Not me! I'm better than those doctors! I've cured countless amounts of people while other doctors couldn't even figure out what's wrong with them! I'm a genius!" Law snapped, right eye twitching.
"Okay okay… You really need to get some sleep Law…" Jinbei said calmly.
Law's eye twitched again, "Sleep!?" he yelled.
"Shut up!" high pitched voices said from behind Law before three pillows were thrown at the man.
"You're too loud!" one of the voices shouted before kicking Law in the head causing the grown man to fall to the floor.
"What just happened…?" Law questioned slowly, anger clearly obvious in his voice.
"Your shouting woke us up. Ace isn't a morning person, by the way." The blond said as he sat up.
"Sabo, I'm hungry!" The smallest boy shouted while tugging on the blonds jacket.
"Not now Lu…" the blond, Sabo, told Luffy before looking around with wide eyes "Guys… Where are we…?"
After hearing their brothers question, both Ace and Luffy looked around. Almost immediately they realized they weren't in their tree house or at Dadan's home. It didn't even look like a building anywhere on their island. The boys knew they weren't anywhere near home. As soon as they figured it out, Sabo stepped in front of Luffy and Ace looked for something he could use as a weapon, finding a loose pipe nearby and pointing it at Law and Jinbei.
"Where are we? What do you want with us?!" Ace shouted angrily.
"I want you off my ship!" Law shouted angrily, before thinking.
"Law!" Jinbei shouted as a warning. "Ignore him. I am Jinbei. He is Trafalgar Law, the man who has been taking care of you three."
"What do you mean by 'taking care of'?" Sabo asked almost dangerously.
Law sighed, "The three of you have been unconscious for the past three days. Jinbei found the three of you in the forest, alone and unconscious. He was worried about you so he brought you back to me. Understood?"
"You stole us…?" Luffy asked, hiding behind Sabo more.
"No. I saved you." Jinbei corrected.
"Yeah right! We live out there you dumbasses! We don't need help!" Ace shouted.
"You could have died! You have been unconscious for three days you ungrateful brat! Don't you dare try to tell me to ignore a patient!" Law shouted.
"I suggest you don't fight him. He's been awake for, most likely, over three days while trying to figure out what was wrong with you." Jinbei stated calmly.
"We're awake. We're fine. Let us go back home!" Ace shouted again, a nod of agreement coming from his brothers.
"We can't do that." Jinbei said.
"And why not?" Ace questioned dangerously.
"We don't know where your home is and its more than likely not the island we found you on." Jinbei stated.
Sensing Ace's anger growing further, Sabo pushed him over to Luffy before taking the conversation into his own hands. "What do you mean by that?" he asked calmly.
"Do you know where you are, boy?" Law asked, attempting to calm himself.
"Dawn Island in the East Blue." Sabo stated.
"Wrong. You're on the Grand Line. More precisely, you are on the maiden's island, Amazon Lily." Law said.
"W-what…?" Sabo stuttered, completely shocked.
"We found you two in the forest with him." Jinbei said at first pointing to Ace and Sabo then to Luffy.
"But I want to know one thing." Law said after quietly walking over to a distracted Luffy, causing the boy to jump. "How did you get so small, Mugiwara?"
"Get away from him!" Ace shouted before attempting to hit Law with the pipe only for the so-called 'weapon' to be caught by the man.
"Not until I get answers. One minute I see you, an injured 17 year-old, going on a rampage after remembering his brothers death, then the next I see you, a healthy seven year-old, with these two, being carried back by Jinbei. Explain." Law said bluntly.
"Brothers… death…?" Luffy questioned, completely frozen in fear.
"Don't listen to him Lu. He's just trying to mess with us." Ace told Luffy, trying his hardest to comfort his little brother.
"The death of Portgas D. Ace. From what I heard, he died in your arms." Law stated.
"Ace… died…? In my arms…?" Luffy questioned slowly and under his breath before looking at his hands, eyes wide in shock and horror.
"That's a lie! I'm still alive! I'm right here Lu. Don't listen to him Lu. He's just trying to scare you." Ace said before hugging his little brother.
"Why would you say that?! He's just a kid! He doesn't need those kinds of thoughts!" Sabo shouted.
"Ace… I don't want you to die… Please don't…" Luffy muttered into Ace's chest, body still frozen and eyes still wide.
"Come on Lu. You know I'm too strong. I'm not dying anytime soon. You know I can't leave you or Sabo." Ace said quietly to the youngest boy in the room.
Without a word, Luffy had snapped out of his trance and had hugged Ace.
"Get out." Sabo said calmly and quietly to the two grown men while watching his brothers.
"What?" Jinbei asked, having not heard the boy.
"Get out! Leave! I don't want you here if you're just going to terrify our brother!" Sabo shouted while looking at Jinbei and Law, eyes filled with anger.
"Who do you think you're talking to!? This is my ship you brat!" Law shouted.
"GET OUT!" Ace and Sabo shouted in unison, causing Luffy to jump at the sudden volume.
After a few moments of Ace and Sabo glaring at the doctor, Law had reluctantly given up and left the room, followed by Jinbei.
"Luffy… Are you okay?" Sabo asked slowly and calmly.
"He's shaking pretty bad… What they said really got to him…" Ace said quietly.
"Luffy…?" Sabo questioned his little brother as he stepped closer to him.
Sabo put his hand on Luffy's shoulder in an attempt to comfort the boy but was shocked. Shaking was an understatement. Sabo was positive that if Ace let go of the boy, then he would have fallen to the ground. Sabo didn't know what to do, and by the look in Ace's eyes, neither did he.
"Ace… Sabo…" Luffy whispered "Please don't leave me… I don't want to be alone ever again… Please don't die…!"
"Luffy… We won't die. You know we have to protect you. We aren't going to leave you anytime soon. I promise." Sabo said, joining the hug.
"Don't worry Lu. We'll always be here for you." Ace added.
"Promise…?" Luffy asked quietly.
"Promise." Ace said with a soft smile.
Luffy looked up to his brothers, slightly calmer than before and with not as wide of eyes, and slowly nodded before letting go of his brothers and attempting one of his famous smiles causing Ace and Sabo to laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" Luffy asked curiously.
"Did you just try to smile?" Sabo asked.
"Y-yeah…" Luffy said with a light blush of embarrassment.
Ace chuckled. "No matter what's happening, you can always make others smile... I'll never understand you Lu."
"What?" Luffy asked, his head tilted in confusion.
"Nothing." Ace said before ruffling Luffy's hair.
"Sabo?" Luffy asked in hope of an explanation.
"If Ace won't explain it, then I won't." Sabo chuckled.
"No fair…" Luffy pouted. "Is it because you're older? 'Cause I'm not a kid you know."
"You're still seven Luffy. You are a kid." Ace stated.
"I'm only three years younger!" Luffy shouted.
"You're still a kid." Sabo said with a smirk.
"No I'm not!" Luffy shouted.
"Yes you are!" Ace shouted back.
"If I'm a kid then you are too!" Luffy shouted only to get punched in the head. "Ow! Ace!"
"Don't call me a kid! And don't argue with your big brother!" Ace shouted.
"At least you two are back to normal." Sabo muttered under his breath.
"What?" Ace and Luffy asked in unison.
"Nothing." Sabo chuckled.
Ace sighed. "Whatever. Now back to the current issue. I'm pretty sure they were lying about where we are. But we can't be sure. Let's get out of here and check for ourselves."
"Wow Ace. That actually sounded smart. Are you okay?" Sabo teased.
"Shut it." Ace said before walking over to the door.
Sabo and Luffy walked over to the door just in time for Ace to open it enough for him to see outside the room and down the hall. Ace took a moment before looking back to his brothers and motioning for them to grab a weapon.
A few seconds later, all three brothers had a pipe in their hands and were standing at the door, ready to jump out and fight the guards. As soon as Ace opened the door all the way, the boys jumped out of the room and made their escape, taking down whoever got in their way.
After a few minutes – and a few dead ends – the boys finally got outside the ship and onto land. The boys stood at the edge of the forest and stared out in wonder, fear, and curiosity. The trees seemed bigger, making the forest thicker. The mountains were weirder looking and the main mountain seemed to have snake heads coming out. From what they could see, there was no wall, no Goa Kingdom, no Gray Terminal, no Foosha Village, and no Mt. Colubo. They weren't anywhere near home.
"Ace… Sabo… Where are we…?" Luffy asked slowly.
"Maybe… Maybe what they said was true… Maybe we are in the Grand Line…" Sabo said slowly, still trying to process what was around.
"Then tell me how we got here, Sabo. We were hunting just yesterday, had alligator meat for dinner last night, and then went to sleep in our tree house. Nobody knew about that place except for us, Dadan, and the bandits. How and why would someone look for us and bring us to the Grand Line? And how would we have gotten to the Grand Line in such little time?" Ace questioned.
"I don't know… Maybe… Something happened and they actually did save us…?" Sabo asked, more to himself than anyone.
"Then why don't we remember it?" Luffy asked.
"I don't know but…" Sabo said.
"I know what you're about to say and no. We aren't asking them. I don't trust them. They lied and said things that I'm sure only a crazy man would say." Ace argued.
"But remember what the blue guy, Jinbei I think, said? Law, or whatever his name was, hadn't slept for days because he wanted to help us. Maybe he said those things because he was sleep deprived." Sabo stated.
"What's sleep deprived mean?" Luffy asked, only to be ignored.
"Did you see Jibby's face? He agreed with Low! He acted like it was all true! They're liars and I won't go back to anyone who says those kinds of things! Especially when those lies are about us." Ace shouted.
Sabo sighed. "You're right… Let's just stay in the forest for now and if anything happens that we can't handle then we'll look for them. Agreed?"
"I already said we aren't-"
"Agreed?" Sabo asked forcefully, cutting off Ace.
"Fine." Ace said reluctantly after a few moments of careful thought.
"So does that mean we're making a new tree house?" Luffy asked.
"If that's what you wanna do then that's what we'll do. Come on. There's bound to be some scrap around here, at the very least a good place to stay until it's done." Sabo said with a smile before heading towards the forest with Luffy following soon after.
Ace watched his brothers head towards the forest in front of them before looking back at the ship and glaring at it. 'I hope we never have to come back to that thing.' Ace thought to himself.
"Ace! Come on! You're gonna be left behind!" Sabo shouted back to his brother, gaining Ace's attention.
"Yeah! Come on slow poke!" Luffy shouted before sticking his tongue out.
"Say that again Lu! See what happens!" Ace shouted before running after his brothers.
When Sabo and Luffy saw Ace running after them, they felt as though their lives were already in danger. The two boys ran as fast as they could, avoiding as many trees as possible. After a while the boys stopped running, due to sheer exhaustion.
When the boys finally caught their breath, they looked around them. They had stopped in the middle of a clearing. There was broken trees, a rock wall, and just enough light that slipped past the still standing trees. With a little improvising and some creativity, it would be the perfect base.
"We found it. We found our new home." The three boys said together, large grins growing on their faces.
This was going to be fun.
(And that's that! Thanks to those of you who faved and followed. I love you all! Also thanks to those of you who reviewed.
aslMeno: I know right! I hope this chapter was to your liking.
bloodytears87: Simple review. I like it. I also like your name lol
Keewy: I continued. You like?
MegDBrew: That fast enough for you?
jam klaoo: Thanks for the love. This chap at least half as good as you hoped?
Guest: Don't read my mind before I put up the second chapter! God! Spoilers! XD But yeah I actually am planning something like that for next chapter. By the way, it's a lot easier than you would think to make an account and it's worth it *wink wink*
Hopefully that was good enough for everyone. Sorry it was shorter but oh well. Technically you're lucky. I only had about half of this planned so instead of the 2,820 words this is, it would have been around 1,000 maybe 1,500. *insert end of the world music here* But just so you guys know, I have a strict policy of 'no chapters under a thousand words'. The only exceptions being updates or if halfway through the chapter an emergency breaks out and I can't continue. But now I'm starting to think about changing that to 'nothing under two thousand'… Hm… Well while I think about that how about you guys fave, follow, and review! Bai~! c(X )
Time started: 5:30 P.M.
End time: 12:07 A.M.