And here is the next chapter! I'm thinking of posting another fic which would be completely different from my other stories. First, it will be sort of angst but will contain some humor as well (I just can't do an all out angst fic no matter how hard I try, it seems). Plus, it'd be AU too. I'll probably post the first chapter of it soon and hopefully, it'll somehow work out. -mindblown-
Neko-VongolaPrimo: Yaaaay! I'm happy that I managed to make another person like the pairing! Crack pairings had always been my favourite and it felt kind of lonely when I'm the only one shipping it. xD I have some headcanons for the both of them but maybe I'd put them in as I update. I can add Skypeia in since it was one of my favourite islands arc. :D
azab: Hmmm, possibly but I just can't imagine Sanji losing for some reason. LOL! Law wouldn't be appearing that soon until the later chapters. Because I have something special in stall for Sabo too!
cielovalkarie: Yes, I am aware of that but I've always thought that Ace would get teased for the misspelling even though he tried to explain that it was on purpose xD
anonymous: Yes, they will mostly be travelling together although of course, they wouldn't explore an island together as a whole. LOL! (Too many people in there).
Maria Rianki: I enjoyed writing that scene since it was kind of humorous. But Marco would probably point a gun at my head if I continue talking about it. -sweatdrops-
Death Phoenix: Yeah. I had always preferred the slow pace when it comes to romance but it'd probably annoy you guys (and possibly myself) if I continue to drag on any longer. OTL In fact, I don't even know what would be considered slow or fast paced but I'd just go along with my own pace anyway xD One thing is for sure that Marco and Sanji might take a little longer than anyone else.
Hmmm, I hadn't thought much of other pairings than the one listed but I'd have to say that I would prefer Mihawk and Shanks more. For some reason, I couldn't find myself pairing Zoro with anyone else and I preferred Mihawk to be more of a fatherly figure to him anyway. -sweats-
It's alright! I PM-ed you anyway and I don't mind waiting xD
sakura240: Aww, it's alright! I'm glad and happy that you reviewed this one! Hmmm, I'm tempted to have Vivi added into the mix but I have my other thoughts about it as well. Even so, I plan to have the alliance crew to play a part in the Alabasta arc since there is no way they would ever forget about Vivi. :D
As the night went on and more booze were handed out, more people were getting crazily drunk.
It was lucky that most of them wouldn't get violent (at least, not towards the restaurant itself but at each other) while some simply passed out at the smallest sip. The more noticeable ones who remained sober and standing were Zoro, Nami (The both of them always had abnormally high alcohol tolerance), Sanji (he was too busy in the kitchen to be drinking), Marco (his devil fruit powers ability helped him recover) and of course, the two geezers on the Moby Dick. Of course, there were also some within the party who refused to drink but they were forced by their friends to do so anyway. Luffy hadn't drank enough to get himself drunk yet as he was also eating at the same time.
When Ace was drunk, he tend to fall prey to his narcolepsy more frequently than before. Thank god Marco had moved the plates of food out of his way whenever his head was about to fall on them. Luffy, on the other hand, was having fun with Usopp and sadly, no one in the crew could stop them or couldn't be bothered too. Zoro and Nami were having a drinking contest for an hour over a bet of a few zeros of beli and none of them showed signs of giving up. Robin had only agreed to drink only a cup and was still sober, obviously. Brook… no one in the world knew how a skeleton could get drunk when they don't have a liver. Meanwhile, Sabo had retreated to the bathroom.
"This is a lively party, isn't it?" Robin commented as a few Whitebeard Pirates sung their lungs away.
"I wish I was drunk, yoi," Marco said honestly. The off-tune singing was starting to kill his ears.
Robin chuckled, acting as though she wasn't affected by it at all. "Perhaps. But it may the cook a little later if there was some who were still sober," she said while looking at Luffy and Usopp who had gotten to playing with their food. "Looks like Sanji is not going to be happy at all."
"I can imagine." Although Marco probably wouldn't be able to imagine how mad Sanji would get.
"Look, Usopp!" Luffy called out as he put the fishballs on his eyes and puckered his lips. "I'm a fish!"
Usopp laughed along and placed his creation forward… technically, he used the leftover food to build some sort of weird construction. "Alright! This is my newest creatioooonnn. It can uuuuuh… do awesome things," he slurred while his eyes were half lidded in a drunken state.
"You guys… come here for a second," Sanji's dangerous and chilly voice spoke behind from all of them.
Soon, Luffy and Usopp were beaten down into short sizes with numerous bumps on their faces, swollen lips and broken teeth.
"Get it? I'm going to forgive you guys now so leave the food alone unless you're going to eat it," Sanji instructed while lighting up another stick of cigarette.
"Y-Yes. I'm bewwy sowwie."
No mercy at all, yoi. Marco thought.
"I fell asleep again… damn…" Ace mumbled as he finally lifted his head off the table, catching the attention Marco, Sanji and Robin. "Heeey, Luuuu. It's time to go to bed. Big brother is getting sleepy now. Huuuuh? Where is my Lu? Who the hell took my Lu away?" he demanded.
"I'm hewe," Luffy called out as he raised his hand.
Ace blinked at him before bursting out into laughter. "What's thaaaat. You look hilarious. Oh well, Lu is still my Lu," he murmured and pulled Luffy into his arms. "There, do you feel better now?" he asked while ruffling Luffy's hair.
"All of them are drunk?" Sanji asked.
"Unfortunately," Marco confirmed.
Luffy, somehow having recovered from the bumps, returned Ace's hug while the older of the two continued to pet his head while murmuring nonsense in his half drunken state. Luffy had realized for a long time now that Ace had gotten more affectionate towards him compared to the 'past timeline' altogether but always dismissed it when the thought arises, thinking that as long as there wasn't any trouble, he wouldn't mind getting all these attention. It was funny seeing how he was the one who was seeking for Ace's attention throughout his life during his first life but now, the roles seemed to have switched. Maybe it was because Luffy had somewhat accepted Ace's absence for years before and thus, he had also grown independent from his older brother figures as he travelled through the seas with his crew.
Even though Luffy could also be said that he was the same as when he started off pirating, a more mature part of him grew when he actually took the time to think about everything after Ace had died in Marineford. Yes, he always did have his own thoughts but he had never gotten around to sit around and think properly because he didn't think that it would be important.
Sometimes, he wondered how much did he care for Ace. He always thought that he liked everyone equally but Luffy had never thought that he'd get this devastated when his brother was gone (he had never thought that Ace would die anyway). It was till the extent that he even forgot about his own crew and was ready to give up his dreams of being the Pirate King. To Luffy and everyone else around him, to be even thinking of giving up his dreams for a second was a ridiculously big deal. But Ace seemed to be the only one who had triggered that thought in time while he had saw many people died before, they only gave him strength to continue his dreams. Being a Pirate King was his everything so does giving it up when Ace was gone equals that Ace was worth more than him being a Pirate King? Would he had felt the same way if his friends were to die in front of him too?
"Lu, you're making a funny face," Ace mumbled while holding Luffy's face close to his, efficiently snapping him out of his thoughts. "What are you thinking about?"
Wasn't he drunk? Luffy thought for a moment before grinning at him while grabbing a marker from somewhere and played connect the dot with Ace's freckles. "Ace's face looks even funnier now! Shishishishi!"
"… Luffy!" Ace shouted and grabbed Luffy into a tight headlock. "Don't think that you're going to get away with this, eh."
"Come on! It was fun!" Luffy protested while trying to squirm away.
"Oh, I will show you fun when I beat your ass!"
"No way! I'm way stronger than Ace," Luffy retorted and stuck out his tongue at him.
"You wish!"
Sabo finally returned from the washroom and sighed when he saw the scene. It didn't take him long to find out why the both of them were fighting after looking at Ace's face. "Fighting again? You two should give it a rest for today," he said before grinning. "Nice face, Ace."
"Saaaaboooooo!" Ace roared as flames started to appear around his body.
"Oi, don't burn the restaurant down," Sanji said in a gruffy tone as he used his leg to hit the top of Ace's head, finding it little problem for himself to handle fire. "If you guys want to settle it, do it outside on your ship, okay?"
"I think we should go outside for some fresh air," Robin suggested and stood up. "Sanji, you've been working all night and you hadn't have time to rest yet. You should join us and have a small round of drinks before you go to bed."
Sanji's eyes immediately turned into hearts at Robin. "Aw! Robin-chwan cares about me! Alright, I'll make sure that your care wouldn't go to waste!"
"I'm not finished yet," Zoro announced as he gulped down another drink.
"I'm not either. The 500,000 beli is mine," Nami said in determination.
"A determined Nami-swan is really attractive too," Sanji swooned before glaring at Zoro. "Oi, marimo. Don't go too hard on Nami-san or I'll kick your ass out of this ship," he warned and exited the restaurant with the others before Zoro could say anything in retort.
When they got onto the Moby Dick, they saw majority of the crew had already passed out from exhaustion. It was a few more hours till dawn but the ones left standing and awake were surprisingly tolerant and stubborn. Even as Ace and Luffy were starting to sway together from side to side and only managed to get onto the ship with Sabo's help. But even so, they refused to go to bed yet as they wanted to stay awake for this night as long as they could. It was one of the best parties that they had ever attended. Naturally, it was because they had one of the best cooks preparing it for them. Much to Sanji's disappointment, Robin had retreated back to the Thousand Sunny to sleep.
Sanji had to admit that this night had taken out a lot out of him but was still able to stay full awake due to the night training he had taken up on ever since he had gotten his memories back. He didn't want his skills to lag behind the others, especially Zoro so he specially used most of his free time to train by swimming and some running. It was also partly because he didn't want to get kicked back into the 'Hell' to polish himself again. One time was more than enough to give him a nightmare that could perfect his 'Diable Jamble' techniques no matter where he was. He didn't even need those ugly men to appear before him to make him so scared that he'd run for his life. He was constantly imagining that they were behind him and at night was the best time as he would be too tired to think of anything else.
"Oi, you brats going to join us?" Zeff called out.
"Drinking with you wouldn't be fun, shitty geezer," Sanji grumbled.
"Don't get sour on me just because your female friend left the party, you shitty brat," Zeff shot back.
"Gurararara! It was starting to get boring here anyway."
Ace, Luffy, Sabo, Marco and Sanji joined the both of them since most of the ship was occupied by the sleeping figures of the defeated crew members. Sabo had wondered how could Whitebeard and Zeff take it when they had drunk so many barrels of alcohol. Sabo's alcohol tolerance was as good as Ace and Luffy considering that he only drank when the other two did. But compared to the crew members sprawled out in the most embarrassing way for the world to see, Sabo could say that the three of them could take a lot more. He had never remembered what happened when they were drunk but the damages in the houses pretty much explained everything the next morning.
Ace and Luffy had decided not to drink anymore. Ace wanted to hold Luffy longer (and make sure he doesn't re-draw on his freckles) while Luffy thought that it was more interesting watching Sanji getting drunk than drinking himself. And seeing Sanji getting drunk was always quite a sight.
"A-And, they chased me all over the beach and wouldn't stop calling my name with their disgusting voice," Sanji cried out in his drunken state while grabbing the shoulder nearest to him to cry on. Namely, it was Marco's. "Those aren't humans! Even a sea monster is so much cuter than them!"
"But Ivankov is a pretty cool guy," Luffy commented, remembering how he had helped him during the Marineford war.
"He was the worst of all!" Sanji objected while almost choking over his own words.
"Well at least you had gotten stronger," Luffy said with a reassuring grin.
Sanji lifted his head up and glared at him with swollen eyes from crying too much. "Speak for yourself! You were in paradise while i was in hell! You have the most beautiful woman asking for your marriage! I hate you so much, do you know that?"
"You mean Hancock?" Luffy asked.
"The Pirate Empress?" Sabo exclaimed in shock. "How did you manage to get her to ask for your hand in marriage."
"So she was the one," Ace grumbled. "I don't care who she is but Lu isn't going to marry her."
Although Ace had to admit that she was the most beautiful woman that anyone could see, there was no way Ace would lose to her. Heck, she wouldn't be good enough for Luffy! Even though Ace wouldn't speak for himself, Luffy had already said that he'd rather stay with Ace than marry her and he'd very much like to bring that up to rub it in a face if she ever tried to propose to his Luffy again. Being mean had always been a part of Ace but it was just that he wouldn't bring it up to people who didn't have a problem with him anymore. This time, he was the one who had a problem with the Pirate Empress.
"She is a great friend but I wouldn't marry her."
"Such beauty and elegance that rivals the glamourous mermaids living in the ocean," Sanji swooned while sighing hopelessly in love. "She is truly the one. Boa Hancock is my one and only All Blue-Ack, what was that for, you old geezer?" Sanji complained when Zeff's wooden peg came into contact with his head.
"You have cheap tastes to be comparing the All Blue to a woman, you shitty kid!"
"So mermaids really do exist," Sabo murmured in awe. "I take it that all of you had seen a mermaid before, right?"
"Of course. But the first one we've seen was really gross," Luffy said while making a face. "Her name is Kokoro-baa chan."
Marco raised an eyebrow at him. "Kokoro? Wasn't she one of those mermaids who made it up to the human world to live there? Pops and I met her more than twenty years ago and she seemed like just any mermaids living in Fishermen Island, yoi."
"That wasn't a mermaid!" Sanji shouted with tears in his eyes. "She looked more like a dugong!"
"That was rude, brat," Zeff scolded again and hit him on the back of the leg with his wooden peg again. Obviously he hadn't seen any mermaids looking like a dugong before because his next comment was, "All mermaids look the same."
"I-I don't want to live anymore," Sanji sobbed as he fell into a lifeless heap against Marco's side while the blonde was having some trouble in finding words to say.
"By the way, do any of you guys know if mermaids poop?" Luffy asked.
Suddenly, Sanji's head shot up from Marco's shoulder and grabbed Luffy to shake him while shouting that mermaids do not poop. Ace and Sabo had to wonder why Luffy had became so interested in people pooping. In the past, they'd have to constantly restrain Dadan from killing Luffy when he asked something along the lines of it.
"Youngsters have so much energy nowadays. Gurararara!"
"And ruder," Zeff grumbled.
The party was finally over for the rest of the group and each of them had retreated back to their rooms.
Marco had taken up the job of bringing Sanji back to the Thousand Sunny while Sabo had already retreated back to a room earlier on. Ace and Luffy decided to share a room for the night since the latter was too lazy to go back to the ship and wanted to see how did Ace's room looked like. Apparently from what he had heard from Marco before, every commander had the luxury of having their own rooms to themselves. To Ace's surprise, his room was kept the same as before except for the absence of Luffy's wanted poster hanging on the wall opposite his bed. He really had to thank Marco tomorrow morning.
Ace and Luffy didn't waste anymore time in getting into the bed for a goodnight rest. When Ace laid beside Luffy, the older brother instinctively pulled Luffy into his arms and was glad that he wasn't pushed away (Luffy never did). However like the many other times they had slept this way, Ace couldn't stop the slightly accelerated pounding sensation against his chest.
"Lu…?" Ace called out when he realized that Luffy was still wide awake. "You have been thinking a lot today and it's kind of worrying," he joked while hoping to get Luffy to speak his mind.
It was true that Luffy had been thinking a lot today (which the thinking only started after Ace had died) and even though the scenarios of his thoughts jumped from one to another, all of them seemed to revolve around Ace.
"I'm just thinking that if we are going to be separated again," Luffy admitted truthfully.
"Separated? It isn't like you to think of something like that. Is there something that is bothering you?"
"Well, I just don't want Ace to leave me again. Even though we're traveling together now, I just don't want Ace to go off by yourself again or for our crews to part ways in the middle of the journey," Luffy mumbled. "And what if the second one happens? Will Ace leave me again?"
Ace bit his lips as he pondered about it. It was truly a difficult question for him to answer. While he wanted to stay with Luffy as much as he could, he was still the Second Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and he couldn't imagine himself leaving the crew. He didn't know how the people around him would be affected with either choice.
"I have to stay on this ship," he answered slowly and Luffy remained silent. "Lu?"
"I guess it's more important for you," Luffy mumbled in disappointment, feeling very weird all of a sudden.
"What are you talking about? Both are equally important to me."
"Liar."
Ace immediately narrowed his eyes at the accusation. "How am I being a liar, Lu?"
"I'm not as important to Ace anymore since you would prefer to stay here. We didn't spend a lot of time together when we were travelling in the seas before too." They only met two times, to be specific.
"I was looking for Blackbeard and at that time, I had to find him as soon as I could and couldn't afford to be slowed down," Ace reminded. "You usually never thought of something like this either so I thought that you'd be okay."
Luffy didn't understand much but judging from what he was feeling, Ace's reason wasn't well accepted. He had never thought of the feeling of being selfish or greedy no matter how much food he'd snatch from the others but at this very moment, he suddenly felt that he shouldn't be feeling what he is now. Common sense was telling him to accept Ace's reasons and just let it be but his desires wouldn't allow it. And it was obvious which Luffy usually went by.
This whole thing felt like a child throwing a tantrum because his older brother had a new one and played with him more.
"But I wasn't. I just suddenly felt that Ace wasn't a brother anymore and didn't care for me much. I always thought of Ace as my only brother and didn't want to share it with anyone else," he rambled on as he started to hit his fists against Ace's chest. "Since Ace already had a family, I thought that you wouldn't need to see me anymore and at that time, I still didn't fully understand it so I didn't think about it until you d-died."
"Don't be stupid. I wouldn't stop-"
"You would," Luffy insisted stubbornly.
"Don't interrupt me," Ace snapped before letting out a sigh. He was also taken aback by Luffy's new behavior. "I told you that I care for both equally and it wouldn't be any lesser for you."
"I don't want that!"
"What do you want then?" Ace asked impatiently.
Luffy bit his bottom lip to stop himself from crying and to refrain himself from speaking the truth. It was weird. It was too weird and it was even weirder that Luffy had acknowledged it. Before the both of them knew it, their small talk had escalated to this. "I don't want anything. Stupid Ace. I'm going to find Sabo instead," he announced and wrestled himself free from Ace's grip.
"Lu!" Ace called out when Luffy got off the bed. When he received nothing in return as Luffy continued for the door, he let out a groan of frustration and looked away instead, not bothering to stop Luffy from leaving this time.
What the hell had just happened?
One Piece SPECIAL!
At the Moby Dick...
"Ace! How many times do I have to tell you to stop falling asleep when you're leaning against the edge of the ship, yoi," Marco scolded for the nth time.
"I couldn't help it. It's not like I can predict when I am going to fall asleep," Ace defended while raising his hands in the air.
"Then don't lean against the edge at all, yoi! You're a devil fruit user and you should know better that you shouldn't risk yourself falling into the sea," Marco continued on in annoyance. "If no one was around, you could've drown and died before anyone noticed it. It's a good thing that I always walk around the deck or else it would really happen, yoi."
Meanwhile at the Thousand Sunny...
"Luffy! How many times do I have to tell you to eat your vegetables," Sanji reprimanded.
"But I don't like eating them," Luffy whined.
"Even though you don't like those healthy greens, you still have to eat them or else you'll get sick eventually and that's the last thing we need to deal with," Sanji nagged on. "And you should know very well that I won't allow anyone on this ship to waste any food. I prepared every meal for everyone so that they could get the best nutrients to stay fit!"
Mother hens... Both side of the crews thought as they watched the scene.
Okay, maybe the last part was kind of uncalled for but I'm usually the type who writes in what I imagined. And I did pretty much imagined that up. I'm not sure if it is considered IC but I'm sure that anyone (including Luffy) would start to have insecurities once their fears are being triggered. After Ace's death, I doubt Luffy would be able to shrug it off as easily as he make himself seem to be and would start to have small thoughts. When time passed by, I could see the thoughts slowly growing and started getting wilder as everything constantly revolved around Ace.
I think that since Luffy had started to mature after the two years timeskip, he would continue to mature as he became the Pirate King and go ahead with the next life. Love is only a matter of time and Luffy hadn't brood around it much was because the people around him weren't even considerable candidates other than Ace (who had dropped out of his life abruptly before he could have a chance to think).
As much as Luffy was straightforward, I could see him as the type of being able to stop himself from speaking especially when it involved around Ace as he didn't want to risk their friendship. It was either to prevent Ace from disliking him or vice versa.
Luffy aside, I plan to have something big and unexpected for Sabo (I don't want him to remain as a 'minor character') which might end up you guys chasing me with a knife for complicating things.
Speaking of that, I realized that there aren't a lot of dialogues as I liked in earlier chapters because I was too into explaining things (which I am afraid I might have to do that if I continue complicating things -shoots self-). I'll try and make a good balance from now on. u _ u I've been a little down recently since I've been quite insecure with my own writing...
