Dadan tried to get out the situation. Raising Garp's grandson?! Who're you kidding? She thought to herself. Ace was bad enough even though he wasn't his blood grandson. I don't even want to know how much worse this brat could be!
Meanwhile, Luffy decided to venture the interior of the house when suddenly, he was held captive by a bandit.
''Give us your money,'' said the bandit.
''Don't have any,'' Luffy replied. He wasn't scared but he held a frown on his face. His experience of bandits weren't that good.
''Then tell your parents to give us,''
''Gramps is the only one that I have,'' Luffy said.
''Who's your granpa?''
''It's Garp-san.'' Dogra said as he entered the room, his face looked dejected and defeated. ''He'll be joining us here.''
All bandits 'Eeeeehhhh'ed. Protests were said as well as comments about how Dadan was a wuss or something alike.
''Shut it!'' Dadan yelled angrily. Everyone was quiet. She turned to Luffy, ''Now listen to me, brat. We're not some day care. We're mountain bandits.''
Luffy scrunched up his face and said, ''I hate bandits.''
''We hate brats too.'' She continued. ''But since you'll be under the same roof as us, you'll be doing what we say you should do. Either it be cleaning the whole house, polishing shoes, stealing or even murder. First and foremost, you can't tell Garp what we're telling you to do. Understood?'' Luffy nodded though knowing him, he doesn't plan doing any of that. ''Also, one cup of rice and a glass of water a day.'' Luffy seemed to have thought about it.
''Okay.'' he finally said.
''YOU'RE OKAY WITH IT?'' Dadan floor-planted. She had expected for the boy to cry.
''Been to worse,'' he replied, looking so thoughtful. ''Gramps dropped me off at the jungle once and I had to feed on worms, etc.'' It was said casually with 'hm's.
''Okashira! Ace's back,'' a bandit said as he stumbled inside the room.
''Finally!'' Dadan said.
A boy older than Luffy entered the room with a huge prey in tow. The boy had a black hair and freckles that adorned his face.
The newcomer dropped the animal in front of Dadan at the same time noticing Luffy and immediately scrowled and went out.
''I'll be off to cook so stay put, brat.'' Dadan said, referring to Luffy. She dragged the meat with her.
''Who was that?'' Luffy asked curiously.
''That was Ace,'' Dogra answered. ''He's 3 years older than you.''
Chapter Seven
The following days in his stay at Dadan's house was filled with searching-for-Ace-and-become-his-friend that starts at dawn and ends at night or whenever Luffy decides to give up for the day. Though in his first week, it didn't end up good.
When he followed the other boy the day after he arrived, he got crushed by a big tree which fortunately didn't hurt and killed him since he was rubber and got thrown off the bridge a meters high above a valley. He survived the latter by stretching himself to grab something and found a levelled land which was actually near a wolves den. He went missing for a week and got back at Dadan's house one night. His attempts of befriending the boy didn't end there. In fact, he was very persistent and determined to succeed. One day, he would get almost eaten by crocodiles. One day, he would be almost choked to death by a huge snake, etc. Note: Almost. Luffy was fortunate to have the devil's luck with him.
''Uh? Where does this path go?'' Luffy asked to himself as he found himself a hidden road. ''Maybe Ace went this way!'' he grinned. But just as he was about to run and follow the path, he saw Ace at his right, running. ''Ah!'' Luffy cried out and immediately running after him, forgetting the road he had found.
Ace 'tch'ed as Luffy followed him. Why wouldn't he give up? Ace thought as he jumped over a bush. Can't he take a clue? He climbed up a tree and hid in silence.
''Damn.'' Luffy said as he went out of the bush. ''I lost him again.''
Suddenly, there was a loud growl and an overgrown tiger revealed itself from the trees. Luffy's eyes went wide and froze then fell down on his butt. ''I-I can't move,'' he said to himself.
Ace who was watching, gritted his teeth. ''What is he doing? Can't he run?!'' Should I jump in? It's the King of the Forest!
Just when the tiger was about to attack Luffy, an overgrown bear went crashing to it. The straw hat bearer who was in the middle, found his strength again and ran away meanwhile Ace let out a sigh of relief and went on.
It took Luffy three months to get to the place where Ace no doubt is. He stared in wonder at the place in front him. Trash heaps were like mountains and everything was gray, gray and gray! Luffy jumped in, wanting to venture the whole place.
Luffy went and climbed at tall places to get a better look at the place and to find Ace. He went into circles and such.
Finally, he saw a glimpse of Ace's back entering a forest. ''Shishishi. There he is!'' he exclaimed. He jumped down from the heap and followed the other.
Luffy was a bit steps away from Ace. As he entered the forest, he saw Ace climbing up a tree with another boy waiting for him. The other boy had a blond hair and a missing tooth.
''Ace's friend?'' Luffy said to himself. ''Well, doesn't matter! Ace's friend is my friend too.''
He neared to the three where the two were. He caught bits of bits of their conversation and caught sight of a wooden trap door with lots and lots of gold. However he didn't paid the treasure any mind.
''... Pirate ship cost?''
No doubt, it was Ace's voice. Luffy grinned widely.
''You guys going to be pirates too?!'' he shouted causing the two to look at him, startled. ''I'm going to be a pirate too!''
He was unaware of the dark looks the older boys shared to each other...
There! The other version seemed to be rushed so I edited it and resulted to this!
EDIT: October 3, 2015
