Hi everyone!
What's up? New chapter, finally. Read, and enjoy!
Chapter 9
There was an area cleared for them to fight now, and the commanders walked over to it. Sabo was talking to Ace, Thatch was glaring at them in annoyance and Haruta was accepting bets already. Whitebeard and Luffy were also paying attention, looking on in interest.
Ace held his sword as he would a club that was ten times too heavy for him, his posture slouched but tense. If they had been on land, the tip of his sword would have been buried deep into the earth.
"Does he even know how to use a sword?" Vista muttered, looking scandalized at his stance.
Thatch was similarity confused. Did the brat know how to use a sword at all?
"Do go easy on him, Thatch. Ace hasn't practiced in a long time." Sabo said.
"Sabo, stop worrying so much!" Ace grumbled.
"So are you both ready?" Haruta asked, finishing up the last of the bets.
"I'd bet on Ace if I had any money right now…" Sabo smirked. He walked off the fighting area.
Ace looked at the bets, they were significantly one sided. Only two people had bet on him, one being Sabo and the other Luffy. His pride was wounded. Badly. Very badly. He was going to have to prove a point. His eyebrow twitched slightly as his shoulders began smoking. "Where did you get the money?" He asked Sabo, sounding very annoyed.
"Stole it." Sabo shrugged.
"Took it." Luffy shrugged, mirroring Sabo.
"Wait, what?" Haruta shrieked. "From us?"
"Just joking, chill." Sabo smirked. "I did bring some money with me."
"So can we begin?" Thatch asked, ready for a fight lasting a total of two seconds.
"Sure, why not." Ace shrugged. He switched his grip, and held his sword awkwardly, in his left hand.
"First to get the other unable to continue wins. Be careful about it, Thatch." Haruta warned.
Ace grumbled, "I'm not that bad."
"Ready? Begin!" Haruta ignored him.
Sabo felt his smirk widen drastically, turning slightly evil. They weren't expecting Ace to be any good with his sword at all, were they?
Thatch made the first move, drawing both swords and slashing down quickly, hoping that he'd get it over with.
To his surprise, Ace's grip on his sword changed ever so slightly a moment before he was about to make contact, and now he held it as a natural extension of his arm. His eyes narrowed. Flicking his wrist, he caught both swords in his one and yawned, brushing back the hair that had fallen into his face with his spare hand. He appeared to be simply relaxing, not showing any effort on stopping the swords on his part.
"I guess I didn't forget it after all." He crowed in delight.
Everyone but the two brothers were stunned, though Whitebeard simply laughed and took another drink from his barrel-size cup of sake, and Marco's sleepy expression didn't change. Luffy cheered.
Thatch started again, with another move, but Ace always caught it whatever he did. Thatch got frustrated to the point of using armament Haki, which he knew was kind of cheating since the brat wasn't experienced in Haki. Or so he thought.
To his utter surprise, Ace smirked and replied in kind.
He decided finally that enough was enough, and he disarmed Thatch in a swift move and in a heartbeat, had the sharp end of his blade on his throat as Thatch's swords clattered noisily to the floor. "Done."
"Ha. Wasn't expecting that, right?" Sabo smiled. "It seems you haven't forgotten everything Uncle taught us, though you forgot most."
Ace's shoulders slumped. "Back to basics?"
"Lu can do them with you."
"Okay, okay." Ace pouted cutely. "Can you at least give me the money to make my Vivre card?"
"Reminds me. Only Lu and I bet on you, right?"
The pirates turned horror stricken faces towards their money.
"Don't worry, I'm not taking it." Sabo reassured them. "Since the money I bet was stolen anyway."
"Didn't you say you had some on you?" Izou asked suspiciously.
"Sabo likes challenges, I expect that he expected you to realize." Ace confirmed.
Luffy giggled again.
"It was a good battle." Ace smiled at Thatch. "It's been a long while since I fought, you know. Back to basics, again." He groaned.
"Be grateful we're not asking you do baby basics." Sabo smiled evilly.
Ace's face changed into an expression of absolute horror. "NO!"
The next day, he was seen grumbling as he and his youngest brother did the basic drills together.
"They call that basics?" Jozu asked incredulously. "Armament reinforcement and blindfolds?"
"One would imagine that basics that even more difficult than anything else." Jiru glanced at them.
"That's what our Uncle taught us." Luffy popped next to him, Ace right besides him. Sabo appeared next to them.
"Who is your Uncle?"
"Uncle Hawky!" Luffy cheered.
"A sadist." Ace added.
"The best." Sabo said, mysteriously.
"So who is he?" The pirates were unable to figure out who exactly it could be.
"A warlord." Sabo offered.
"A Shichibukai." Ace agreed.
"He's grumpy most of the time." Luffy added.
"Mihawk?" Thatch asked in amazement, after using the process of elimination to figure out who he could possibly be. No wonder the brat had defeated him so easily, if he was trained by the greatest swordsman in the world!
"Yep. Back to drills, Ace." The three ran off.
"How did they get Mihawk to be their Uncle?" Vista asked.
"They're probably capable of making the sun dance in circles and talking their way out of Impel Down." Someone commented.
Everyone was left pondering the question and silently agreeing to the statement.
That's all for this time, thank you for reading and please review!
