Koi No Ignition

Chapter 4: A Mystery Man Named Midori

A Note from ShinythiefXblast:

First of all I really need to say thank you for all your words of support these past few weeks. They say that bad things seem to happen all at once and I firmly believe that to be the truth. The insurance company did total my car but they ended up paying 2000 more than its Kelly blue book value and I bought myself a car with that and I'm using the leftover to replace my poor dying phone lol. I also got a job! I'm so excited!

Second, I need to say that I'm unsure how long I can update as fast as I am. If my job ends up being time consuming, I may not be able to update very frequently. There is also the problem of my horrible propensity for writers block…..sigh. Anyway my personal goal is to get to chapter 7 before the end of October! Yay go me! Lol. I also have plot bunnies for two other stories bouncing in my head, so I'm not entirely sure about the future.

Thank you so much for bearing with me! I welcome advice of any kind! Please review!


In the last chapter, Midori and Ace meet up with Luffy and crew. Luffy's crew is rightfully confused and Midori is wondering about Luffy's lack of brains. Midori and Luffy's crew are now heading towards the Going Merry while Ace stayed to buy them time to escape. In a statement that shocks Luffy's crew and only opens up more questions, Luffy reveals that Ace is his older brother. Let's see what happens next!


Midori looked back to where Ace had been only moments before when he heard a humongous explosion behind him. Ace was no longer standing there, but spiraling up into the sky was a bright whirlwind of smoke and fire. A quiet sense of awe filled him as he saw for the first time the proof of Ace's strength. Midori knew he had to get stronger very fast, because the last thing he wanted to be for Ace was a burden.

"What in the world is going on? A fight between Smoke and Fire?" The long nosed boy asked. The blond man took a puff on his cigarette and exhaled.

"He did say he ate the Flame-Flame Fruit." Midori continued to look back at Ace's fight. Out of the corner of his eye, Midori saw the blond man with the weird eyebrow glaring at him as he ran next to them. Midori glared right back at him, sneering mentally.

"Who the hell are you, shitty kid?" Midori saw red and launched himself at the blond man, grasping him by the collar and hauling his face close.

"Who the fuck you calling a kid, stupid eyebrow! Ehh?" The blond man snarled and grasped his own collar to try to get Midori to release him. The blue haired girl launched herself in between them and tried to physically push them apart. Midori released his collar and sneered angrily.

"Please stop fighting Sanji-san! Don't cause trouble!" The blond man, named Sanji, instantly backed off and gazed at her with throbbing hearts in his eyes.

"Yesss Vivi-chwaaan! Anything for you!" Midori shook his head. It would figure that Luffy's crew would be just as insane as he was. The orange haired girl stopped running and the rest of them stopped too and gazed at Midori. She got up in his face and he backed away, discomfited.

"Sanji-kun didn't go about it the right way but he is right. Who are you?" Midori ran a hand through already disheveled hair and sighed heavily. Every person in the crew was looking at him expectantly. Luffy, Sanji, Vivi, the green haired man, the orange haired girl, a duck, a reindeer, and a long nosed man, were all gazing at him.

"Isn't it only polite to introduce yourselves first? The only one I know of here is Luffy-kun. I don't know the rest of you at all." They all looked at each other and nodded. The orange haired girl spoke quickly.

"Well we are Luffy, Sanji, Vivi, Usopp, Zoro, Chopper, Karoo, and I'm Nami." The girl said, gesturing to each person in turn. Then she continued to look at him expectantly.

"I am called Midori, I'm Ace's friend. Also I'm 17, moron, so don't call me a kid!" Midori finished, glaring at Sanji. Sanji looked as if he wanted to start something, but Nami sent him a heated glare and he started dancing with hearts in his eyes again.

"I like that side of Nami toooo!" Sanji wailed in ecstasy. Zoro growled at him exasperated.

"Shut up! Stupid perverted cook!" Sanji glared daggers at Zoro and pounced on him. They began to fight in a cloud of dust until Nami walked over and beaned the both of them hard. They groaned in pain and clasped their heads. Midori took a couple steps away from her in self preservation.

"But Luffy, is that really your brother?" Nami asked curiously. Luffy grinned and shaded his eyes with his hand in order to see the fight better.

"Yeah his name is Ace!" He gushed happily. Midori sweat dropped. Luffy had a serious brother complex. Not that he really blamed Luffy because Ace was just awesome, but still…

"Anyway we have to get to the Merry! We have to get away before the Marines catch up to us. Ace-san can catch up with us later." The group started running again towards the ship and Midori went with them quietly even though his lungs were beginning to burn a bit. Zoro turned towards Luffy, who was running backwards in an effort to watch Ace's fight with Smoker.

"Luffy, you having a brother isn't all that surprising, but what's he doing in the Grand Line?" Luffy laughed uproariously and then grinned.

"Nii-san is a pirate too! He left our island 3 years before me to search for the One Piece!" The crew gasped in shock! Midori wasn't shocked because he already knew that Ace was a pirate, but he was confused about one other thing.

"What's the One Piece?" Luffy grinned.

"It's the greatest treasure in the world! It belonged to the Old pirate King Gold Roger before he got executed! What kinda pirate are you if you don't know that?" Midori shook his head at him.

"I don't think I'm a pirate Luffy-kun." The pirates looked at him but didn't say anything.

"There's a split up ahead! Everyone go left got it?" Nami bellowed out. Sanji once again got hearts in his eyes.

"I'll follow you wherever you go Nami-swan!" Zoro glared at Sanji from the side.

"Enough, you perverted cook!" Zoro growled out as he sped up. The group continued running up to the road split.

"Still, I never thought I'd see Ace at a place like this!" Luffy crowed. At the fork, they all took the left street but Luffy, who was still running backward, went right. They ran until they reached the harbor and boarded a small looking boat with a sheep's head at the bow. Midori didn't really know what to do that would help them get ready to set sail, so he elected to stand beside Nami on the deck, where she was rapidly barking out orders.

"Hurry and load the stuff! We're leaving right away" The intimidating girl yelled. The little reindeer, Chopper and Vivi, the blue haired girl were carrying sacks of supplies down to the lower deck when Chopper looked up at Vivi.

"W-we're leaving just after we reached the island?" Midori started in shock. Did that reindeer just talk?

"Yes, we only stopped by this town to get supplies we'll need for the journey. Now we will head up the river into the interior of Alabasta. Our next destination is Erumalu, the City of Green." Chopper tilted his head at her.

"Erumalu?" He asked. Midori tugged on Nami's sun cape absentmindedly.

"Nami, did that reindeer just talk?" Nami looked at him and grinned.

"Yeah! Our Chopper is a reindeer that ate the Human-Human Fruit so now he has human characteristics." Midori's jaw dropped in awe and his eyes sparkled.

"That's so brilliant!" Midori whispered. Nami just smirked and yelled for the crew to hurry. Zoro was hoisting the anchor, and Sanji was tugging on the sail, as Usopp took his place at the rudder.

"All right set sail!" Nami yelled, but then she paused and looked around the deck.

"Y'know…" Sanji started.

"I get the feeling we're missing someone." Usopp said deadpan.

"So do I." said the little reindeer.

"Yeah, we are missing approximately one person." Nami gritted out.

"That Moron!" Zoro yelled angrily, kicking the mast. Midori snickered softly.

"Does this happen often?" All of the crew swiveled their heads in unison to look at him, resigned looks on their face.

"All the time that shitty captain is getting himself lost." Sanji growled, while lighting up another cigarette and taking a deep draw.

"This is the second time since we first got to Alabasta this morning!" Said Vivi sighing. Karoo gave a token quack before sitting on the deck. Nami sighed and began to climb up to the crow's nest to see if she could catch a glimpse of Luffy with binoculars.

"Set sail anyway. We have to find someplace to hide the ship before we can find Luffy." Nami barked. Chopper piped in as the boat began to move.

"But is it really okay to set sail without Luffy?" He asked and Nami smiled at him.

"The Navy is going to be all over the harbor looking for us so we need to be out of sight."

"There should be a cove ahead that's hidden from view." Vivi said, pointing to a cluster of rocks in the distance.

"We'll wait for things to cool down, and then we'll look for Luffy, okay Chopper?" Sanji said quietly. Usopp groaned in exasperation.

"Jeez, he's always, always causing problems like this!" He said, while sitting on the deck, looking pissed. Zoro was leaning against the outside railing and he grunted in agreement.

"Yeah that's a real reliable captain…." They sailed further down the harbor for another few minutes before Nami chimed out.

"There he is! I found him. I found Luffy!" Zoro looked up at her.

"You did?" Sanji got out his own pair of binoculars and peered through them.

"Yeah. That stupid face is definitely his." Sanji groused and then his eyes widened.

"Oh shit!" Midori looked in the direction Sanji was and saw a flesh-colored blur flying in their direction. It slammed into Sanji and Chopper, propelling them onto the deck. On top of the moaning dog pile was Luffy.

"Sanji-kun! Tony-kun!" Vivi screamed as she headed towards them.

"I'm home ha-ha!" Luffy laughed. Sanji broke out of his stupor and began strangling Luffy by the neck, shaking him furiously.

"Sorry! Sanji, Chopper!" Luffy crowed while laughing heartily.

"Every time! Do you not know how to learn a lesson? I ought to gut you whole!" Sanji yelled while shaking him stupid. Nami climbed down from the crow's nest and hit Luffy on the head.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused?" Nami groused. "Can you at least try to act like a captain?" Luffy leaned back to look at her face and rolled his eyes.

"Sorry." He apologized insincerely and then perked up. "Oh that's right! Ace!" Luffy jumped up and ran to the side of the ship and peered off the edge.

"Ace?" Zoro said, "He was with you?" Usopp looked in the same direction.

"Is it alright to leave him there?" Luffy turned around and leaned against the railing facing his crew while grinning widely.

"It's alright! Ace's strong!" Their eyes widened comically and Midori sighed. Chopper twitched his nose and looked at Luffy.

"He's strong?" Chopper asked reverently. Midori smiled. The cute little reindeer had a tendency to parrot things. Luffy laughed.

"Yeah he's strong! Back when we were little he hadn't eaten the Flame Flame Fruit but I still never beat him in a single fight! He's super strong, Ace is!" Nami gestured incredulously.

"You mean there's a flesh and blood person you couldn't beat?" Usopp grumbled surprised in the background, attempting to do it under his breath but didn't quite make it.

"I guess the big brother of a monster is an even bigger monster." Luffy laughed again.

"That's right! I lost all the time ha-ha! But I'd win now if we tried hahahahaha!" Zoro rolled his eyes incredulously.

"I'm assuming that's another groundless claim." He groused.

"Who do you think…" Ace leapt up behind Luffy and landed on the railing, knocking Luffy to the ground. "can win what now?" Ace balanced on the railing and looked at Midori, nodding his head briefly before focusing his attention on his grinning little brother.

"Oh Ace! This is the awesome crew I was telling you about!" Ace bowed to them while still perched on the railing.

"Oh, thank you all for taking care of my little brother!" They bowed in return.

"Eh? No, not at all." They said unanimously. Midori looked on enviously. There were times when you could tell how close people were, and Luffy's crew were close enough to speak in unison. He wondered if he would ever be that close with someone. He seemed to recall a pair of red-headed twins….

"He might be a bit much for you to handle but…" Ace started while grinning.

"No, not at all." They said again dispassionately. Ace bowed again while smiling.

"Please take good care of him." Sanji took out another cigarette and rolled up his sleeves.

"Well I'm sure you've got a lot of catching up to do," Sanji started while turning to go to the galley, "Why don't you come in? I'll go make some tea." Ace lifted his finger and lit Sanji's cigarette, making it glow with heat.

"No, that's okay. Don't do that on my account." Everyone gaped including Midori. He had never seen Ace acting this polite before.

"Talk about unexpected." Usopp gaped.

"That's for sure." Zoro said.

"I would have expected him to be as reckless as Luffy." Usopp continued gaping. Nami clasped her hands in front of her heart in wide eyed shock.

"No way! This sensible man can't possibly be Luffy's brother." Zoro started crying. Manly crying of course.

"He's a nice guy that cares about his brother!" Chopper started crying too, but with stars in his eyes.

"Brothers are so wonderful!" He sobbed heavily. Sanji took a draw on his cigarette and exhaled.

"The sea is just full of surprises." He said incredulously. Vivi smiled and went between them all making calming gestures.

"Come on now, don't say those things!" Luffy laughed hard and leaned in front of Ace.

"See! Aren't they neat ha ha ha!" Luffy laughed harder and Midori walked forward to greet Ace.

"Yo, Midori. Havin' fun?" Midori rolled his eyes at Ace and sat beside him on the railing.

"I don't know. I kind of feel bad for them. Their captain is a supreme idiot." Ace chuckled softly at him and shifted slightly, still balanced on the railing.

"Yeah but my little bro's always been that way. Can't tell ya how many times I had to knock 'im in the head for doing something dumb." Suddenly a great splash sounded behind them and they turned in unison to look at the cause. Behind them, coming up fast were five ships with sails emblazoned with 'Baroque Works'. Vivi gasped.

"Oh no it's Baroque Works! Those are the Billions' ships!" Luffy leaned far out on the edge of the ship in the ships' direction.

"Tsch. Those guys again?" Ace shifted again and interrupted him.

"Luffy, I'll clean them up." Luffy's crew shifted to look at him.

"Eh?" They questioned as Ace jumped off the side of the boat onto the little one person craft that had been attached to Ace's little boat.

"What's he going to do?" Nami questioned, and Usopp nodded in agreement.

"Especially in that little boat…" He trailed off, staring as Ace detached the mooring line and sped out to the Billions. Zoro piped in with his arms crossed.

"Well let's see just how strong this Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates really is." He said thoughtfully, gazing out at the impending confrontation. Ace smirked and jumped, propelling the little craft underwater while Ace propelled himself up and over all five of the ships, while the Billions attempted to shoot him out of the sky. Ace's little boat resurfaced on the other side of the boats and Ace landed on it smirking. Midori could tell that whatever was about to happen wasn't going to be pretty. Ace pulled pack and sent an enormous fiery whirlwind punch, smashing through the opposition instantly and leaving only very small bits of burning wreckage behind. Midori gazed out at the carnage, heart beating rapidly, the reflections of flames dancing in his eyes. Luffy and crew were shocked speechless at the mighty display, while Midori had only one (rather cliché) thought running through his mind. That was absolutely hot! A blush came over his face as he gazed dreamily at Ace, who was tilting his hat with a still smoldering finger. Nami was looking at him and got a calculating look on her face. A little grin danced across her mouth as she looked at Midori, but it faded before anyone noticed. Ace was starting to return to the Merry when Midori sighed, and turned away from the fiery blaze. He caught Nami staring at him and gave her a sidelong look and he shuddered and averted his eyes. Surely he hadn't really seen money signs in her eyes. He walked past her and approached the little reindeer, who was still looking at the fire with starry eyed wonder. He knealt in front of him and waited for a moment until Chopper finally noticed his presence. Chopper's fur instantly rose and he jumped a few feet in the air.

"I like you, Chopper! Can I talk with you for a bit?" Chopper scampered to the mast and hid his right eye behind it with the rest of his body visible. Midori sweatdropped and raised a finger at him.

"If you're trying to hide I think you've got it backwards, Chopper…" Chopper flinched, then slowly moved so that the only visible body part was his left eye. Midori had trouble hiding a smile at that. He got up from where he was crouched and walked over to the mast.

"D-don't come any closer!" Chopper squeaked. "You just want to hurt me cause I'm a monster!" Chopper's eyes teared up, and Midori sighed before shaking his head.

"Honestly, I've seen stranger things than a talking reindeer. I just want to talk to you for a bit." Chopper peeked his head out a little more and then blushed. He wore a huge grin on his face and began to dance.

"Ha ha ha you stupid idiot, I'm not happy at all ehehe~! Dummy stay the hell away from me hehe~! I don't want to talk to you at all!" Midori shook his head and turned to Nami, who was smiling fondly.

"Uh, he's completely happy isn't he?" She smirked and shoved him in Chopper's direction as Ace finally got back on board.

AN: Thanks so much for your patience! I will try to have the next installment as soon as possible!