"Luffy!" Ace smacked the eleven-year-old's feet, trying to wake the boy up. Luffy, of course, just rolled over and muttered gibberish about meat and other types of food that made Ace's stomach growl. "Come on, brat. Up! Get up!"

"It's too early," Luffy muttered, burring his face into a pillow. His body let out an involuntary shiver as he pulled the blanket tighter around his body. "'M cold."

"We go over this every time it gets cold, Luffy." Ace placed his hands on his hips with a sigh. "Honestly. If you can get up, you'll get your warm clothes on, yeah? I'm pretty sure that Thatch is making something in the kitchen to warm everyone up. You'll miss breakfast if you just stay in here."

"Mmm," Luffy poked his head out from the pillow. "What kind of breakfast?"

"Warm breakfast." Ace answered with a grin. "Then you can go play out in the snow. Oyaji's going up against the whole crew in a snowball war. He might be the strongest man in the world, but he's not a very good snowball fighter."

"It snowed?" Luffy sat up and stretched his arms over his head. He quickly realized it was colder than he first thought and pulled the blanket over his shoulders, walking to his closet and pulling out the warmest things he could find.

"Huh?" Ace blinked. "Oh, yeah. It snowed last night. Thatch is having a hay-day."

It was a well-known fact that Luffy and Thatch were complete opposites when it came to snow. Though, both of them loved to play in it, Luffy preferred nice, warm days compared to the freezing temperatures. Ace thought it was because rubber became brittle when it was cold, so Luffy was much more susceptible to attacks.

Thatch, on the other hand, loved snow. No one really knew why, but whenever it would snow, Thatch would practically skip across the deck the whole day, taking part in every snow-related activity out there. Ace was indifferent about the whole matter since the snow didn't bother him at all.

"Good for him," Luffy said, putting on his jacket. "When're we going to go back to the summer islands?"

"A few weeks," Ace shrugged. "I don't know; I'm not a navigator. Though, everyone is saying that we should land on the next island in about two or three more hours. You coming to town?"

"Yep," the boy chirped. "Thatch said that this was one of his favorite islands."

"Cause it has the best snow," Ace snorted. "But it's true. The snow there is like fluffy powder. It's fun to jump in. Last time we visited, Thatch brought a few crates on land and made a platform where we could jump in the snow. It was fun."

Luffy hummed an acknowledgment, his stomach suddenly let loose a large rumble. "I'm hungry."

Ace laughed. "Then let's go, yeah? We don't want Blamenco eating all the food."

Luffy rolled his eyes and grinned. "He eats too much."

"I don't want to hear that coming from you."

"So," Thatch clapped his hands together, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "Who's going to the island with me? I have this really fun plan!"

Ace calmly put his fork down and snorted. "I was going to go, but now you're making me hesitate."

"That's rude," Thatch shot his friend a playful glare. "But seriously, who's coming? I don't want to go alone! It's no fun!"

"I'll go," Haruta said with a grin, glancing to the left, where Vista was ignoring everyone in order to focus on his meal. "Vista's coming with, though."

The swordsman raised his head when he heard his name being called, a look of understanding coming across his face when his brain finally registered what was being said.

"Oi—" Vista tried to protest, but was cut off by a smug grin from Haruta and the 'puppy-dog-eyes' of doom from Thatch. Eventually, he relented with a sigh. "Fine, I'll come."

"Of course." Thatch's grin seemed to match Haruta's. Eventually, he turned his attention to the eleven-year-old-boy who was inhaling food at a seemingly impossible rate. "What about you, Luffy? Coming?"

"Yep!" He managed to choke out as he continued eating. "Ace's coming too."

"I said maybe." Ace argued.

"And I said your coming." Thatch laughed, slapping the fire-user on the back. "That's everyone, right?"

"What about Marco?" Luffy asked, letting out a small yawn when he stopped eating for the moment. "Marco might want to come."

"Marco might want to babysit." Thatch corrected. "He's a stick in the mud when it comes to fun. Phoenixes just don't seem to understand the joy of snow."

"Don't make up lies, yoi." Marco said, startling everyone at the table. He approached the group, his own food in hand.

"It's true though," Thatch muttered, yelping when the blonde stuffed his face into his breakfast. He let out a sound of protest, lifting his face back up and whipped all of the grease off. "Marco!"

"I'll be going as well," Marco informed them with a small, smug smile. "The bigger the group, the better, yoi."

"Fine," Thatch said as he stood up, dusting his pants off. "We'll just have to teach you how to have fun, pineapple."

Luffy giggled as he ran around in the snow, the Ace, Marco and Thatch watching from the side as Haruta and Vista had a miniature snow-ball fight with the boy. It felt good to just let loose like this every once in a while.

They had traveled right outside the town, away from any civilians who might recognize them. The commanders had decided just to enjoy the snow a bit before they went shopping in the town.

Thatch and Ace had played with the boy in the beginning, but then opted for a quite spot to watch. Marco hadn't even taken part in the activities, only watching his brothers from the sidelines.

"Thatch," Ace said suddenly, watching as Thatch kept looking at the sky with this blissful smile. Several snowflakes landed on his face, but he didn't seem to take notice. "What're you thinking about?"

Thatch hummed, closing his eyes and flopping back into the soft, pillow-like snow. The smile never left his face as he answered, "When I die, I hope it's snowing."

Ace snorted, a softer version of his trademark grin taking its place on his face. "Why snow?"

"It's soft?" Thatch guessed with a laugh, opening his eyes but they didn't leave the sky. "I dunno. I've just always liked snow. It's calming, you know? I grew up on a winter island, y'know? When I was alone, it was the one thing that made me happy. Its comforting to think about; it brings back good memories."

"I guess if I'm ever going to die, I'd be with someone I loved." Ace said with a shrug. "But I don't plan on dying soon, so . . . "

Thatch let out a breathy laugh. "It's the Grand Line, Ace."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not worried about dying, it's just . . ."

"Leaving behind the people you love most." Marco said with a nod. "We all feel the same way. Just don't go dying on us soon, yoi. You too, Thatch. We need our commanders."

"Of course! How could I leave my little brothers all alone?"

"I'm older, yoi…"

"Hey," Luffy said, blinking as small snowflakes fluttered on his eyelashes. "Is the town supposed to be this empty?"

All the commanders frowned at the sentence, watching as a door swung open in the brisk, winter wind and shut again. It was rather creepy, but they decided to ignore it for now. There was almost no one out, and the people that they did see always flinched when they passed, glancing at them and then shutting their windows.

"No . . ." Thatch muttered, mostly to himself but everyone heard it. "Last time we were here, everyone was out and playing in the snow. Everything was decorated in a lights and it was always in a festive mood. It's like something really bad happened . . ."

"Probably did." Ace answered curtly, his eyes scanning the houses as they walked down the snowy road. "It's like a plague swept through the town. But that wouldn't explain why the locals seem to be afraid of us. Last time, they threw a party to welcome us."

"Pirate attack?" Vista ventured, pulling the scarf over his face so he wouldn't get windburn.

Haruta eyed the houses suspiciously, her blue eyes narrowing when a mother spotted them, yelped and ushered her child inside, slamming the door behind her. "I doubt it. There's no damage to the houses or anything. It's like this town is haunted or something."

Thatch let out an annoyed whine, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. "Well, there goes our vacation. How about we hit the next island? I heard that it was a winter one also."

Luffy was about to agree when something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. The boy turned around, his eyes widening to what he saw. He turned back towards the commanders; taking Ace's hand and yanking the limb, trying to desperately get his attention.

"Luffy!" Ace yelped, stumbling when the child pulled harder than he meant to. "What're you . . . " He trailed off when he saw what the child was pointing at. Flames flared to life on his shoulders for a second before they flickered out.

"Fuck." he whispered before he raised his voice a little to notify the others. "Thatch. I think I know why there are many people out."

"Wha—?" Thatch said, looking at the spot where Ace was pointing.

A scream told him otherwise.

The first thing he noticed was the child, no older than Luffy, struggling in a net with a few guys laughing above him. The boy was beaten up, obviously putting up a fight. He was screaming at the men, though the commanders couldn't understand his words.

And everyone's blood ran as cold as the ice on the windows, two words somehow making it out of someone's mouth. "Slave traders."

They found the auction house not too far away from the ship, standing out in all of it's horrible glory. It was lit up like a Christmas house, full of lights and colors. A few people were laughing just outside of it, drinking sake and acting like they were having the best time of their lives.

It made Ace sick.

After they had freed the boy and injured (read: killed) the slave traders (they verified it, of course. They wouldn't want to go around killing random civilians.), Luffy had become clingier than usual. He had clung to Ace like a lifeline and eventually stopped walking entirely, so Ace had to pick the boy up and put him on his shoulders. Thankfully he was still small but man… he was starting to get too heavy to carry anymore.

Luffy hadn't been too happy about going to the auction house either, as Ace quickly found out. Whenever they took a step closer to the giant building, Luffy's grip on Ace's hair tightened until Ace had to slap the boy's hands and tell him to loosen up.

As they reached the door, the drunkards grinned at them, their yellow teeth made Ace want to cringe. Apparently, the drunkards thought that the group was apart of the slave-trading businesses and welcomed them with open arms.

They hated all of it.

But the Whitebeard Pirates had decided to go with it for now, hopeful that they would be able to get some information out of the men. Of course, they didn't plan to stay long as they really couldn't stand these types of people.

"So," one of them said suddenly, throwing a sake cup into the snow. "What're you sellin'? The child?"

Ace had to close his eyes and count to ten in order to keep control over the fire that raged within him. Normally, he was good with his control level, but on occasions (much like this one) his control would explode and it was not pretty.

"No," Vista said in a low snarl. "He is not for sale."

The men laughed, apparently taking it as a joke. "If ye change your mind, let us know, kay? We'd find you the right price."

"No," Marco said, voice cold and very much unlike the bored ton that he usually used. "Luffy's not going anywhere."

"Che. Just a suggestion." The man wheezed, leaning over on the side of the action house. "If ya want to buy in the auction, yeh better get inside. They're gonna open soon."

"Sure." Marco got out, his voice low in an attempt to calm himself down. When Ace didn't move, Marco grabbed his shoulder and pulled both him and Luffy into the action house, his frown fading a little as Ace flipped off the men at the entrance.

"They're all morons, ignore them." Marco said as they took the seats in the back row, away from any prying eyes. Haruta had her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at the couple in front of them who were discussing the best type of slave to buy. Vista was in the same position, while Ace had set Luffy on his lap, pulling the boy into a hug.

"I don't like this…" Luffy said quietly.

It probably would've been a good idea to drop the boy back at the ship before they came and then confronted the issue, but it was too late to go back now. For the time being, Luffy just had to deal with it and try not to give them away too early.

Ace had taken it upon himself to comfort the boy as soon as the auctioneer came and blasted random gibberish into the speaker. As soon as he heard noise, Luffy buried his head into Ace's chest.

"Shh." Ace had whispered low enough for no one else to hear. "Luffy, you're okay. No one is going to hurt you, all right? We'll protect you. We always have."

Ace knew of Luffy's fear of slavery. He didn't know how it devolved, but he supposed it had to do with the Celestial Dragons. It was probably one of those times where one of the slaves had escaped in Sabaody and the bastards had to 'deal' with them.

Luffy's fear wasn't exactly over the slavery itself, more of the loss of freedom. Freedom had always been a thing that Luffy needed, as the crew found out rather quickly. If Luffy didn't have the freedom that he needed, he would often get really agitated, twitchy or possibly start to freak out and cause messes.

"Luffy," Ace said, trying to get the boy attention. "Just breathe, alright? Calm down." Ace then proceeded to keep soothing the boy by telling him stories of his earliest adventures. He told the boy about Sabo a lot, even if he really didn't want to talk about it.

Sabo was someone that Luffy looked up too, even if the boy had never met him. Every story that Ace told about his old friend always had Sabo as the main protagonist. Ace would sometimes put himself in the stories, depending on if he was planning a true story or not, but Luffy always like to hear about Sabo the most.

Sometimes Ace wished that Luffy had met him. Sabo would've really liked the brat.

Before either of them knew it, the auction was over and Marco was nudging him, his blue eyes blazing with a fierce determination. "Time to go, yoi. We've got an auction to crash."

About an hour later, all six of them came back covered in scratches and bruises but looking overly happy with themselves. The crew came to welcome them back up on deck, laughing and demanding to know what happened.

"We ran into some slave traders," Vista explained with an eye roll. "Then we blew up the auction house and freed all the salves. The town's people were pretty happy 'bout that."

Cheers came from the crew, some even bringing out some sake and food. Whenever they did something like this, the Whitebeard pirates had devolved a tradition of throwing a party to celebrate the freedom of the slaves. Hell, some of the former slaves even joined the party from time to time and eventually joined Whitebeard.

Luffy was bouncing around the deck, talking to everyone and enjoying himself like he always did. It was like the Action House incident didn't even register in his mind anymore. Most of the crew wasn't surprised by his behavior, as if happened often, but several new crewmembers were quite miffed to see a child on deck, acting like he had been with this family for years.

The commanders just sat back and laughed.

"Some hell of a birthday, huh, Haruta?" Thatch whispered to the swordswoman, grinning when she flushed and shot him an angry look.

"Shut up! That's supposed to be a secret!"

Thatch just clicked his tongue together. "Tsk. You should know better than to try and hide secrets from the wondrous Thatch! I know everything that happens on this ship."

"You mean Luffy knows everything and tells you, right?" Haruta said with a grin. She laughed when Thatch's smile dropped and his expression was changed into mock-horror.

"You wound me, Haruta." He said, making sure that his façade wouldn't break. "You wound me very much."

The woman laughed. "Just saying that your big mouth is going to get you killed, Thatchy."

"Commander Haruta is right, Commander Thatch," A deep voice said, startling both commanders. They spun on their heels and faced Teach, a man that they had both come to respect over the years. "That mouth could get ya killed sooner rather than later."

"Jesus, Teach, don't sneak up on us like that…"

"Oi," Thatch laughed, taking his words jokingly. "Stop killing me off. I'm not going to die so easily."

"Oh, I know Commander Thatch." Teach said with a wicked grin. "Oh, trust me, I know."