Sorry for the short chapters, but I have a lot of hw and whatnot all the time... sigh.
Thanks to anyone who reviewed.
As promised before, Sabo and Luffy are appearing in this chapter.
Chapter 4
Marco was hunting for Ace again. He could barely just sense him, the brat had gotten good very fast. How he managed to unlock observation Haki and figure out how to conceal his aura by himself so quickly was beyond him, he was definitely full of surprises. He had asked all those who knew Haki on board, not a single one had been approached by the brat for help.
Pops had definitely picked another interesting one.
He was crossing a relatively empty part of the deck when suddenly he was knocked backwards, and when he got up, he saw smoke all over where he had been before. Pirates were crowded around immediately, chattering about what had happened. Marco got up in annoyance, what was it now? When the smoke had cleared, the pirates saw what had arrived, two brats laughing together.
"The floor!" Fossa cried in dismay. There were two huge paw prints embedded in the deck of the ship.
"Oh. My apologies, I didn't expect him to do that… again." The brat with the Top Hat exclaimed immediately. "It's Adam wood, right? Well at least it wasn't as deep or pronounced as last time."
What the hell? Marco thought.
"What are two random brats doing on our ship?" A pirates muttered causing a bunch of whispering to start up again.
The Top Hat brat started looking around for something, his eyes fell on their flag. "Well, Luffy, it seems that we've reached the Whitebeard pirates!"
His companion, the one with a straw hat, grinned.
"You are the Whitebeard Pirates, right?" He asked anxiously.
"Yes." Thatch said.
"I'm really sorry about the floor," Top Hat looked sheepish. "But we had to get here quick and Kuma offered…"
"I'm Luffy!" Straw hat exclaimed excitedly.
"Rules mean I can't tell you my name…" Top Hat shrugged. "I'm fine with anything that's not brat…"
"So why exactly are you on our ship?" Marco asked.
"Oh, yes. Is Portgas D. Ace on your ship?"
"Why do you care?" Haruta chimed in.
"We're looking for him. Do tell me he is on this ship, or we'll be very late." Top hat looked anxious.
"He is." Thatch nodded.
"Good." Top Hat looked relieved. "Hey, Lu, why don't you try and find him?"
Luffy scrunched up his brow. "Ummm… There?" He pointed. All eyes followed the direction he pointed to.
Ace had slipped back in deck for another drink, he had found himself suddenly liking the stuff. Lots of pirates were crowded on deck, drawing his curiosity, so he abandoned his glass and crept forward for a better view.
What he did not expect was for every face to turn towards him suddenly, or for a warm, rubbery body go suddenly rocket into him.
Uh… What? Was he hallucinating? What was Luffy doing on a place like this?
He reacted instinctively. "Seriously, Luffy, don't just rocket into random places!" He scolded as they both nearly missed falling into the ocean. "We both could've drowned, you know?"
Thatch's eyeballs were falling out. The straw hat imp, self proclaimed as Luffy, had rocketed himself into the moody brat, who he expected to lash out with his fire. He felt sorry for the brat, Ace did not hold back on his devil fruit. However, Ace didn't do any such thing, instead, after manipulating himself in midair to make sure he crashed into the railings instead of the imp, had got up and started scolding the brat while Top Hat looked on amusedly.
"Ace, do stop fawning over Luffy, I'm sure he's fine." Sabo interrupted.
"Hi, Sabo." Ace smiled. He stood and pulled Luffy up with him. "It's been a long time. Wait, what are you two doing here?"
Sabo walked over to him. "Don't you remember what I told you? I can't tell anyone my name and you just went and blurted it out to anyone with ears!"
Ace shot him a baleful look. "Like Luffy wouldn't eventually."
"Well, fine." He smiled. "Happy birthday, Ace."
There was a moment of stunned silence, which Luffy broke by hugging Ace again and saying, "Happy birthday, Ace!"
And... Done again. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review.