After realizing that "Straw Hats" is a character tag, I switched Law out for them because they are more important. Sorry, Law, but you won't appear for a loooong time.
"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life." - Richard Bach
There have always been two kinds of warmth in life. One was the one being emitted from fire or other kinds of heat sources. That kind of warmth kept one from freezing. The other kind of warmth could only be gained through another people's love and care. This warmth created a comfortable and safe atmosphere, gave off the feeling of being home and safe. To live, one needed both kinds of warmth, with one missing either your body or your mind gave up after a while.
Luffy had never known what a normal, picture perfect family was. He had never met his father or his mother and his grandfather, Garp, wasn't there often either. While the old man definitely tried to be there for his grandson, his job and the responsibilities coming with it made it hard. Not that Luffy complained much, he was rather glad he didn't have to endure Garp's rants about him becoming a marine so often.
But Luffy knew warmth and he knew family. So if somebody would ask the boy about them, he would name Makino first. To him the bar owner was something of a cross between what he imagined a mother or an older sister would be like. She had raised him for most of his life after all. Her name would be followed by a mumbled 'Shanks' while Luffy would stare at his fingers, studying them to avoid a questioning gazes. The child wasn't exactly sure as where to place Shanks in his picture of a family - a father or an uncle? - but he knew that the pirate belonged into it.
In the two weeks Luffy had stayed with the bandits, the topic of family and home had once again arisen for the young boy. Watching Dadan and her bandits interact with each other, Luffy questioned his idea of family rather often. As Ace didn't want to have anything to do with the younger and Ace's parents were a little more preoccupied with the misdeeds of their own child, Luffy was mostly alone. He had no family on this mountain and the realization nearly drove him to tears. He had wanted to run away, go back to Foosha but neither the bandits nor his own instinct let him. He knew he had to stay here. While he didn't really care about what his grandfather told him, since he hadn't understood all of what the old man had tried to explain, and his scared expression only confused him further, Luffy still was aware that there was a reason he had to stay with these bandits. Moreover, and that Luffy did know, Foosha wasn't safe anymore – even if it was his home.
Furthermore Luffy did manage to pass the time somehow, it wasn't like he was bored out of his mind all the time. He read the books Makino had given him, not with much success though, and drew pictures, explored some of the jungle around the bandits' hideout and collected mushrooms and berries. He had to get his own food since the one bowl of rice and glass of water the bandits provided weren't enough for the devil fruit user. All of it was very boring though, not to mention that the bandits also weren't very kind to Luffy. At least Roger and Rouge, moustache man's wife, were very nice to Luffy when they talked to him.
The pirate sometimes even told Luffy about his adventures, which was by far Luffy's favorite way to pass the time. But that didn't change the fact that the boy was feeling very lonely in the mountains. He really wanted to go back to Foosha, wanted to go back to Makino. What kind of family did he have here, he wondered while watching the bandits laugh together or Ace's parents smile at their scowling son.
At times like those the mix of sadness, pain and loss that followed him everywhere he went was awfully torturing. But Luffy tried to put on a brave smile as he watched Ace walk away again.
"Why don't you go follow him?", Roger spoke up next to the boy on Luffy's eighteenth day with the bandits.
The boy bit on his lip, not yet hard enough to draw blood, before finally answering. "No, he doesn't like me."
Roger smiled before shaking his head slightly. "Ace's socializing skills just aren't the best. Be tenacious and the two of you will be good friends. Both of you need each other."
Luffy stared at Roger for a sole minute before finally requesting the man to explain what 'socializing skills' and 'tenacious' were supposed to be, he had never heard of food like that before. After a few failed explanations, which led the late Pirate King to question the schooling the boy had gotten so far, Roger got Luffy to understand that he should follow Ace and just demand to be friends. But even the encouraging words of the man weren't able to convince the boy of following his instructions. Little did he know of the ghosts that had terrified Luffy because he was too persistent in interacting with them. Those ghosts, barely managing to stay on earth as hateful shadows of their past selves, had tried to hurt the boy. Make the boy cold and wither in pain. The child was convinced that he shouldn't bother the living, not when the dead wanted hurt him for it.
Roger scratched the back of his head, tried to come up with an argument that would get Luffy to interact with Ace. Even if Ace had Sabo, the two wouldn't be fine on their own for much longer, and Garp's grandson certainly needed some contact with living people.
The man then tried to convince Luffy that Ace was playing the 'opposite game' with Luffy. So even if he said that he didn't want to have anything to do with Luffy, he actually wanted to spend time with him. Roger had already understood that Luffy wasn't the brightest child out there, lacking a lot of common sense and basic knowledge, but he hadn't expected such a simple and obviously fake lie to work.
Luffy went from discouraged to demanding within seconds. He ordered Roger to show him where Ace was. He just had to apologize for not noticing that he and Ace were playing a game.
A grin spread over Roger's face as the little brat didn't even bat an eye while being so rude to him. When he had still lived, nobody outside of his crew and friends had dared to be so rude to him, too afraid of what he would have done to them. Luffy's behavior was refreshing, really.
The dead pirate took Luffy's hand and led the boy into the deeper parts of the jungle Luffy had not yet dared to enter. In front of a bridge they came to a halt as they spotted Ace running over it, his big metal pipe in one hand.
"Ace!", Luffy shouted full of glee. "Wait for me! I will play with you!"
Ace's eyes widened. What the hell was the stupid brat doing here? The younger raced at him at a speed unusual for his age. Ace was pretty sure five or something year olds were supposed to be slower. But it didn't matter either way. It wasn't like Ace cared or anything. As soon as Luffy was in hitting range, Ace knocked the boy off the bridge with his pipe and watched how he fell in the crocodile stuffed river below him. He guessed he felt a little sorry, but the brat was annoying and really had it coming. The pre-teen knew nothing of Luffy's new found cheer and happiness after being kicked. After all, they were playing the opposite game and Ace had knocked him off the bridge! The other really wanted to have something to do with him! Not to mention he had also finally acknowledged Luffy's existence! Moustache man had been right! While he fell, Luffy let out a shout of joy.
Roger followed Luffy while the boy fought off the smaller crocodiles of this jungle, searched for food and safe places to sleep. The late Pirate King was surprised at himself that he was somewhat angry at his son for kicking Luffy off the bridge. He had started to care for the boy, the same way he cared for his son or his friend Sabo. It was weird, Roger knew that. Having encountered other ghosts, he knew that his and his wife's degree of awareness was a lot higher than other ghosts'. Most of them were just shadows of their past self, reduced to a few mannerisms and unable to learn past what they had known while they had lived. Their wills to stay on earth had been too weak. But seeing how he cared more and more for the child currently biting into a mushroom, Roger knew he was superior to the other ghosts. His dear Rouge was much the same. When she wasn't with him or Ace, he knew she could be found sitting next to Sabo, worrying for the noble boy who lived all alone for years now.
He led Luffy back to the bandits' hideout, by now they were only a few hours of hiking away. They would be faster if Luffy hadn't insisted on taking a dead crocodile with them.
"And Shanks, you know, is the coolest pirate ever", Luffy talked about his role model. "He has this huge ship and his crew is the best! When I will be Pirate King, his and my crew will throw a big party together! And it will be really funny! I'll have to give Shanks his hat back then though."
His hat was something very important to Luffy, that much had Roger gathered in the past days. And Shanks, his young cabin boy Shanks, had made it really far in the last decade. Roger was proud of him, he had hated to see the tears running over the teen's cheeks when he had died.
"So you won't keep the hat?"
"No! I made a promise with Shanks. When I'm Pirate King, he will get his hat back."
Roger let out a laugh, startling Luffy while he was at it.
"Why are you laughing?!", he demanded an answer. "You're better not making fun of me! I will be Pirate King! The strongest and freest man in the world!"
The man shook his head. He was convinced that little Luffy would make it far, that he would achieve in what everyone else so far had failed to. He just knew that there was something about the boy that qualified him, the last days together had only strengthened that belief. It was probably the unshakable security within his declaration that made Roger want the boy to accomplish his goal. He wanted the still so small, breakable and innocent grandson of Garp The Fist with his cheeks all red and pouting to sail the whole world.
"I believe you will make it, Luffy. You will go far. I was laughing because your hat used to belong to me. I gave it to Shanks after he had done something incredibly brave and stupid."
The incredibly brave and stupid incident had been jumping after the drowning Buggy in the middle of a battle on exactly that side of the Oro Jackson where the ship was blasting cannonballs at a navy ship.
"What?!", Luffy shouted and directly pressed his hat harder against his head as if he feared Roger to take it away from him. "But Shanks gave me this hat! So even if it was yours, you're not getting it back!"
"Don't worry, kid. I don't want it back. My days as the king are over. My hat is yours now."
It took Luffy a bit to proceed what the man had just told him. When realization finally hit him, Luffy couldn't help but to stumble and fall flat on his face.
"You're the Pirate King!"
"I used to be before I died, yes."
"You are the Pirate King! You are the Pirate King! You are- wait. Does that make Ace a prince?! Does he even want to be a pirate? What if he has an ad-van-tage through that now?", Luffy rattled off, nearly swallowing all periods and commas while he continued wondering what advantage Ace could possibly now gain through Roger.
The boy's thought process threw Roger off. How come that Luffy believed Ace to have an advantage now? Was he under the impression that becoming Pirate King worked like a kingdom's monarchy?
"No, he doesn't have an advantage", Roger interrupted when Luffy had started talking about how unfair it would be if Ace got to taste all the meat in the world. How had the boy even gotten to that point?
"I'm sure Ace doesn't even want to follow my footsteps as a Pirate King, he doesn't particularly like me", Roger explained.
"Why not? You're super funny and your stories are amazing! And who doesn't want to be the freest and strongest in the world?"
Luffy couldn't understand how Ace could dislike Roger. The man was really cool, Luffy would love to have Roger as his father. He was funny and also had been the Pirate King! Nothing could best that! Except maybe Shanks, who was very free, strong and funny but also alive, the last being kind of a huge bonus.
"Well, a lot of people told Ace really terrible things about me. Some were true, others not. Being Pirate King does not only mean you are the strongest and freest man out there, it also means that most of the world does not like you."
For a moment Luffy looked deeply troubled until he simply shrugged it off. "It doesn't matter as long as my family and my nakama love me, right?"
How could he just shrug off being hunted and hated by most of the world like it was nothing? But seeing Luffy smile, brighter than humanly possible, Roger guessed it wouldn't bother the boy too much in the future. And then Luffy turned away from Roger and ran ahead. The pirate hadn't even realized that they were back at the bandits' hideout already.
"ACE!", Luffy shouted, stretching the name as long as he could. "I'm back! And I brought meat!"
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born" - Anaïs Nin
The next weeks proceeded in a similar manner. Ace would go into the jungle, on his way to meet up with Sabo and train or collect treasure together, and Luffy would try to follow. Usually Ace lost him pretty quickly so Luffy would wander through the mountains for a few hours alone before asking Roger or Rouge, who took turns in supervising Luffy's adventures, to take him home. He would never ask them to lead him to the other boy directly, that would be cheating after all, but had no problems letting them take him home. They would tell him stories, sometimes real adventures of them, at others just fairy tales. Rouge would also often tell him to not stick something in his mouth or teach him how to cook and do his laundry since the bandits wouldn't and Roger, despite having been on his own for years, couldn't do his laundry either. Rouge had shook her head at her husband's antics, couldn't believe that the world's' most feared pirate couldn't do his own damn laundry. Roger had just smiled sheepishly under Rouge's playful glare before walking off to follow Ace, who was now about to leave the bandits' home again.
"Ace!", Luffy shouted cheerfully. "Where are you going? Take me too! Let's be friends!"
But just like usual Ace scowled and ran off, kicking over a tree in the process to hinder Luffy from following him. Not that the little boy cared. He just jumped over the tree and kept up with Ace to the best of his ability. Luffy ran through the swampland where the huge crocodiles lived, evaded big boulders falling down, poisonous snakes, escaped birds of prey, managed to run across the bridge over a river, in which he had nearly drowned in once and had to be saved by one of the bandits, and finally escaped a fighting bear and tiger before having made it out of the forest.
A foul stench filled the air, so bad Luffy feared he would pass out because of it. Mountains of garbage were in front of him, fires blazing between the trash causing smoke to be everywhere. Luffy coughed but he wouldn't let this stop him from getting to Ace. He had already made it this far, giving up now would only make all his efforts go to waste! He quickly ran across the mountains of garbage, spotting Ace in some distance. Luffy sped up again and followed the other who now walked back into the forest but from another side. He spotted Ace climbing up a tree and taking money out of his bag and handing it to another boy.
Was the blonde that Sabo Rouge had told him about, Luffy wondered. But his musings about the boy's identity came to a quick halt when he heard both of them laugh and talk about buying a pirate ship!
"You wanna be pirates too?", Luffy shouted excitedly.
Ace and the other boy locked shocked when they spot Luffy and then proceeded to jump down from the tree, ropes in hand. They tied Luffy to the tree but that didn't faze the younger at all. He was occupied with being happy that the other two also wanted to become pirates. He asked the blonde if he wanted to be friends with him which the boy quickly denied.
The blonde, who indeed was Sabo, and Ace started to fight about whose fault it was that Luffy was here now, which Ace couldn't throw off himself, and what they should do now that he knew. Ace was convinced that Luffy would tell somebody about their treasure and they couldn't let that happen.
Five years worth of treasure would be gone.
He and Sabo would have to start all over again. They wouldn't be able to leave this place when they were seventeen and Ace would forever be stuck here being nothing more than the devil's son. He couldn't let that happen.
Luffy had to go.
"Let's kill him", Ace suggested, although he had no idea what the act of killing actually was. He was aware of the fact that everybody wanted to kill him and that killing meant to erase people from live, but Ace didn't know it meant taking and permanently ending a life.
"Yeah, let's do it", Sabo agreed, who despite having read so many books and always seeming to understand, wasn't any wiser than Ace in that aspect.
They stared at each other for a while before starting to fight again. None of them had killed somebody so far, what were they supposed to do now? Neither wanted to actually do it themselves!
Meanwhile Luffy nearly fell into a panic attack. He didn't want to die, he couldn't die, he would look exactly like the ghosts did without his Night Vision. He wouldn't be able to stand it, he didn't want to die-!
"It will be fine", Rouge tried to calm the boy down. "Breath. They won't hurt you."
Luffy nodded and did as told. He felt himself calm down again, more rational thoughts running through his head now. Of course Ace and Sabo wouldn't kill him, they were just kids like him and no matter how badass and cool and strong they were, they wouldn't kill him. Besides, Ace actually liked him even if he pretended not to, so he would never hurt Luffy that much on purpose. And Sabo seemed to be nice too, he wore a blue top hat after all and that had to mean Sabo was cool.
"Shit, there are people coming!", Sabo suddenly hissed. "We need to cut off the rope and hide or they will find our treasure!"
He and Ace quickly got to work and ran off to hide. Their whispering about what was to do now barely above a breath. It was then that they noticed that something was wrong.
"Let me go!"
They looked at their enemies again, paled when they recognized them as part of Bluejam's crew and nearly lost all patience when they saw that one of them hold up Luffy. They were done for! Luffy would certainly rat them out for his own survival and then Ace and Sabo would lose more than just their treasure.
"ACE, HELP ME!", Luffy shouted while he tried to hit the pirate who hold him up. But his punches and kicks missed, reminding the boy of the last time he had been kidnapped.
"Ace? You friends with him?", the man inquired and Ace hoped for his and maybe also the brat's survival that he would keep his mouth shut.
"Yeah!", Luffy answered and Ace wanted to snap his neck. Why couldn't he just shut up?!
"Ace stole some of our money, do you know where he is?"
"… No."
Unfortunately so far nobody had ever taught Luffy how to lie correctly, so it was easy to see that the child wasn't telling the truth.
"Don't lie to us, brat!"
"I'm not lying!"
"Fine, we will make you remember then."
With Luffy in tow the pirates turned around and walked off while Ace and Sabo stared in astonishment at their retreating backs and little Luffy who hadn't told them where the two pre-teens were hiding. The two waited until they couldn't see or hear the pirates and Luffy anymore before getting up to hide their treasure elsewhere.
If Porshemi found the treasure, he would take everything, not just what Ace and Sabo owned them. Finding a new secure place for their treasure was quite easy, they had a lot of possible hiding spots everywhere between Grey Terminal and Mt. Corbo.
They had to run a few times between their old spot and the new one because of the amount of money, coins, jewelry and other objects of value. But in the end they had relocated everything by the time evening came.
Ace was about to put the last bracelet in the tree when Sabo was approaching at a speed he hadn't seen before.
"They don't know anything!", he panted. "Luffy didn't tell them anything!"
"That fucking idiot!", Ace cursed, unsure what else he should say. Luffy was so damn stupid. He was supposed to betray them, be set free again by the pirates and then hate Ace and Sabo forever and never try to bother them again. Why couldn't Luffy just act like everybody else would have behaved? Why did he have to be nice?
"We have to save him!", Sabo said.
"I know that, idiot", Ace answered and grabbed his pipe.
The two of them raced to the pirates' hideout as fast as their short legs could carry them. They seemed to arrive just on time too. They heard as one of Bluejam's man shouted about how it was time for Luffy to die now.
"Stop it!", Ace and Sabo screamed when they crashed through the roof with their pipes.
Ace directly set out to fight the men while Sabo jumped to Luffy to free the boy. He was beaten badly, bleeding out of various cuts too. Damn, and he had endured all of that and still not betrayed Ace and Sabo. The kid was amazing. On his way out, Sabo hit Porshemi, looking back only to see that Ace wasn't retreating.
"Now is not the time to be reckless, Ace!"
"If I face a guy, I'm not gonna run away!", Ace explained and Sabo had never before wanted to punch Ace so bad.
"What are you, stupid?! He has a sword! He's different from the punks in town! Let's run!"
But seeing that Ace didn't show the slightest inclination of following Sabo's words, the blonde set Luffy down in some distance and told him to wait there for them. Then he ran back to help his stupid best friend. If Ace got them killed there, Sabo would kill him for sure.
Luckily they somehow managed to win against Porshemi, Sabo had absolutely no idea how, and run away again. Back at their new hideout he patched Luffy up with some of the bandages they had stored away. They boy was unusually quiet, Sabo thought. He should be crying or something, not mumble to himself.
"Are you okay?", Sabo asked him.
"Don't bother", Ace scoffed.
"Shut up, Ace. You okay, Luffy?"
The other nodded. "Thanks for saving me."
"Shut up, you crybaby!", Ace shouted again. He couldn't understand the younger boy at all. Why would he choose to get hurt over spilling the secret? How could the stupid brat endure this pain? For Ace, somebody who strongly believed his own existence to be sin and had never gotten a lot of kindness in his life, someone like Luffy, who still smiled at him after months of being rejected, was a mystery.
"Leave him alone, Ace. He's just thanking us for saving him", Sabo reminded his best and only friend. It was clear to everybody listening that the blonde was annoyed by Ace's behavior.
"I know and it's pissing me off! Why the hell are you doing that? You should hate us- hate me! Why aren't you?!"
"Because I don't have anybody alive here besides you! I don't have parents, gramps left me here, I can't go back to Foosha and I hate mountain bandits! I don't know who else to turn too! Being alone like this hurts! It's the worst thing I could imagine!", Luffy ranted, his whole body shaking as he started to cry.
He could make out Rouge hugging him while Roger put a hand on his shoulder and while he loved that they cared, their touch was cold and not warm. He felt like he didn't even know anymore what this warmth he was seeking was. He was just aware of the fact that he was hurt and cold and wanted friends.
"So- so it would be bad if I were gone?", Ace asked surprisingly timidly.
"Yes!"
The boy was startled for a moment and for the split of a second Sabo imagined seeing a heartbroken expression on his face. Of course he knew of Ace's issues about his parentage but he had never imagined that Luffy admitting to need Ace so that he wouldn't be lonely anymore would bring forth such a reaction. Luffy's confession sounded rather selfish but there was much more behind it than appeared at first glance. Luffy needed Ace to have a bond with him. Somebody who cared for him and he could rely on. At the same time though he was asking for somebody he could be a strut for, somebody Luffy could care for.
Remembering his own family's attitude, Sabo figured that he also wouldn't mind to have such a bond. Sure, he and Ace were best friends but their relationship with each other had always had the touch of a business arrangement. Probably because neither of them has made friends before.
"Do you want me to live?", Ace finally asked.
"Of course!"
"Too bad I hate crybabies like you!"
"I'm not a crybaby! I'm strong!", Luffy argued.
"Strong people don't get hurt like that!"
"Have you been caught and hurt by pirates before?! And I'm only seven! When I'm ten I will be ten times as strong as you! I promised Shanks I would be the strongest pirate ever!"
"You a pirate? Don't make me laugh!"
While Luffy and Ace kept arguing, Sabo was somewhere completely else with his thoughts. He had been living in the dumps so far and with Bluejam and his crew now after them it certainly wouldn't be safe there anymore.
"Guys… I have a huge problem", Sabo started to speak, interrupting Ace and Luffy's fight through that.
"What?"
"I can't keep living in this dump with all the pirates here."
Luffy and Ace shared a look, Sabo would be lying if he said it wasn't frightening to see the same expression on their faces. But somehow it was very comforting too.
The trio hiked up the mountain to the bandits' hideout. Without much care Ace kicked the door open for them to enter. Luffy, limping from the beating he had received, headed straight for the kitchen. With some food in his stomach he would already feel better.
Meanwhile Sabo saw it fit to introduce himself to Dadan, who looked bewildered at the injured children.
"Yo, I'm Sabo."
"Eh? Aren't you Ace's no-good shit friend?", she retorted.
"Yeah!", he answered smiling. "And you're Dadan! Ace's no-good shit foster mother!"
The leader of the mountain bandits directly hit the brat on the head, Ace and Luffy following suit for their rude behavior. Nobody dared to mention that her hits weren't as hard as usual. Nobody voiced that it might be because of all the injuries the boys obviously had.
"Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act" - Paulo Coelho
Within a month Ace wondered how he had ever survived without being so close to Sabo and Luffy. He was so warm and he felt loved in a way he hadn't before. But all the immediate proximity to the other two had let to noticing that there wasn't something quite right with Luffy and Sabo. Ace of course wasn't a good judge of how people were supposed to behave, but he knew there was something off in the way Sabo seemed to have to force himself to talk less formal and the way Luffy often seemed to space out and talk to thin air.
He didn't want to ask them, he wanted to wait for them to come to him. The freckled child was too afraid of the possibility of his newfound bonds breaking, not that he would ever voice that out loud though. Ace considered himself the oldest out of the three, he couldn't show any weakness like that.
And so Ace waited.
He and Sabo showed Luffy how to fight with a pipe. The youngest picked the new fighting style up rather fast, adjusting his battle stance to suit the length and weight of the pipe within a week. Sure, it would take ages for the boy to be able to actually fight with it, Ace couldn't remember ever having been so bad at it, but considering how clumsy and sometimes stupid he was, Luffy was learning surprisingly fast.
To Ace and Sabo's confusion Luffy also showed an interest in knives one day. He demanded Dogra to give him one of his throwing knifes and when the man didn't obliged, Luffy went ahead and stole one along with some of the cutlery. It ended in a mad chase through the forest and a beating. Luffy never returned those knifes and Ace had to admit that they kind of fit Luffy, even if his aim extremely sucked.
And Ace waited.
They fought the beasts in the forest, the punks out of town, the pirates, basically everyone who thought that the three boys would make a good target because they were children. Obviously they were children, Sabo still didn't have all his teeth, Luffy insisted on being told a bedtime story every night and Ace still looked every other day if his emergency stuffed animal cat, of which he insisted didn't exist, was still in its hiding place. But they were strong and very independent children. They didn't really have a need for adults. Everything they could learn about living alone they did learn. From laundry to cooking to fixing clothes, they learnt how to do it. Luffy sucked at cooking and laundry though, claiming that he would have crewmates to do that and so didn't need to know how to do it whenever it was his turn to take care said jobs. Ace couldn't season a meal or not burn it to save his life, which earned him laundry while Sabo covered cooking. Peeling fruits and vegetables would never be his fort though.
And he waited.
Garp randomly dropped by for a visit like he usually and then proceeded to beat the hell out of them. He had accepted Sabo as his third grandson without any questions asked whatsoever besides "What's your name, brat?" and "Do you want to become a strong marine?". Sabo had learnt to fear the Fist of Love within the first few seconds of being exposed to it.
Sometimes, Makino visited. Ace was surprised how easily she accepted him and Sabo as Luffy's friends. She brought them new clothes, listened to their complains about the harsh treatment they received from Garp and after a less begging than expected, cooked something for them because nothing could best Makino's meals.
And he waited.
They had run up to the Central District to eat in one of the fancy restaurants. Luffy was still stuffing meat into the bottomless pit that was his stomach, when they decided to get away. The owner of the restaurant was getting too suspicious about the three kids eating lots of expensive dishes. They escaped through the window, the flight plan already having been established before they had even entered the house. Laughing they ran through the streets, Luffy still stuffing meat into himself. It was a miracle how the boy managed to hide so much meat on himself.
"Sabo? Boy, is that you?"
Ace looked back to see a man in fancy clothes, worth at least a week's ratio of food by Luffy standards, shouting after them. Sabo, who was running right next to him, tensed up.
"Sabo, I know it's you! Come back right now!", the man, a damn noble, demanded.
But the trio didn't stop, Sabo actually sped up some more and soon they had left Central District behind them. The walk back to their usual hang out spot was silent, even Luffy had shut up for once. There was something off and Ace wanted to know. No more secrets. Not from Sabo and whatever the fuck was behind the incident just now, and not from Luffy who had mumbled conversations with thin air.
Ace had waited enough.
He couldn't just keep dismissing that Luffy obviously was sleeping worse and worse the more time passed and how Sabo grew nearly unbearable nervous. Ace had grown up between wild animals and mountain bandits, his instincts were good. Even Sabo's nearly perfect acting couldn't hide the fact that he was worried about something.
"Spill. Both of you. I wanna know what the hell just happened there, Sabo, and Luffy, why are you always spacing out and talking to thin air? We said no secrets and I feel like I'm the only one who actually told you everything about me."
Ace knew it was a low blow but he didn't care. He wanted answers. Sabo took his top hat off, trailing over the seams with his fingers and looking as uncomfortable as possible while Ace waited with anticipation for his answers.
"I'm a noble", Sabo finally spoke up. "I ran away from home because I couldn't stand it there anymore. The man who saw me was my father."
"A noble, huh? That's what made you so freakin' nervous?!"
"Yeah!"
"I already knew that!", Luffy cheerfully interrupted their shouting but it went down with Sabo and Ace arguing about how idiotic – or not – Sabo had been over his heritage. It wasn't like Ace was bothered by his, the boy declared, which started a whole new fight.
"But yeah, I ran away because I was nothing but a tool for them. I'm sorry I lied to you", Sabo apologized, bringing an end to his and Ace's discussion. The blonde had enough of their fighting and just wanted to enjoy that neither of them resented him for being born a noble.
"Well, it's their loss anyway! You're ours now!"
Sabo doubted that Ace was aware of how possessive he sounded. He rarely was aware of how territorial he was of his two friends or his food really. Even Luffy knew when he was possessive of his food, especially meat, and the boy wasn't extremely self aware.
Sabo watched how Luffy spaced out again, before recalling what the other had shouted when the blonde and Ace had been fighting.
"Luffy, what did you mean with you already knew I was a noble?"
Luffy smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"I'm not supposed to tell others. Gramps and Shanks said it's dangerous."
"Gramps considers growing up with bandits to be good", Ace shot back to prove that the old marine was indeed not exactly sane. Luffy made his usual thinking face, taking a few seconds to consider if he really should tell them.
"Me and Sabo-"
"Sabo and I", the blonde interrupted.
"Go to hell. Me and that idiot also told you everything, Luffy. It would only be fair if you-"
"Icanseeghosts!", Luffy blurted out.
"What?"
"I can see ghosts! My devil fruit makes me see them!"
Sabo and Ace directly paled and looked around as if they could spot a ghost themselves. They had told each other enough horror stories at night to be mildly freaked out by the statement, even if both of them had assured the other they could totally stomach it.
"More to your right", Luffy commented. "And it's not like they can do anything to you. And it aren't that many because not all stay. Some pass on."
"Oh. Did your ghosts tell you about my parents then?"
"Yes. And they aren't really mine…"
"Whose then?"
"Ace's."
The named dark haired boy froze. He knew exactly what and who Luffy meant by it.
Writer's ramblings:
Updates: As stated in the first chapter, I will update whenever I have the chapter after the next finished or at least halfway through. Chapter 3 will therefore be posted when chapter 4 is at least somewhat half written. I do this to keep myself motivated and hopefully avoid huge breaks between the chapters. Updates will be irregular, I'm sorry, but I suck at staying with deadlines and English is not my first language too so writing chapters as long as these takes me a little longer than others.
Luffy's Devil Fruit: The Yūrei Yūrei no mi is a devil fruit I made up, though there are others with the same name on some fan wikis. It is a Paramecia type that allows the user to interact with ghosts. They can distinguish between the living and the dead though.
Different devil fruit, different fighting style and attacks too but I won't deny Luffy any canon abilities he has that don't come from his devil fruit *cough* hint hint for LaysinessIncarnate who asked *cough*.
The moment Luffy seems overpowered, please, feel free to hit me. I want to avoid that at all costs. At the moment I think I'm pretty safe though, my biggest problem is actually how to keep Luffy alive since every enemy is so damn strong.
OCs: won't appear if not necessary. I personally don't like it if there are too many OCs and One Piece is such a huge world with so many characters, I don't think I will need more. So I doubt there will appear many if at all in the future, besides a random ghost they ask for directions.
Finally, I am searching for a beta reader! I really need somebody who would proofread this and help me out a little planning out future chapters (like if the speed of the story is alright, etc.). So if anybody has interest, PM me?
Thanks to all of you who have reviewed like woah. I didn't expect so many comments and all of you are so nice and I'm hella motivated to write this story! Thank you so much! Have a good day/night!