Big Kids

Disclaimer: I do not own anything

Summary: There were not just Ace, Luffy and Sabo, they had a fourth friend, who took a completely different path than his pals. But now it is Jona Crafts task to defeat his former friends.

Chapter 9: Strom's Eye

*Flashback*

Jona, Ralph, Theo and Valerie ended up put into the same unit. The command over them had a very formal captain, named Captain Glass. Their first mission gone very well, they freed a village on the East Blue from pirates. And Valerie ended up winning her bet, because as they heard, half of the Wealthies, who were in combat units, ended up killed, so Jona owed Valerie his first salary.

Soon they went on their second mission, very similar to their first one. They had to free a village on the East Blue. An hour before they arrived, their captain gave them instructions: "Soldiers, this time we have to fight a more dangerous pirate crew than last time, the crew of the 'Bloodthirsty Baldwin', who is already wanted with 30000 Beli. He already robbed out 3 islands on the East Blue, always killing a lot of people. So, the squads: Henderson, Vark, Nadjal, Powers (he counted some more names, including Ralphs and Theos), you will take the front row. You will be guided by Vanding, Ellien, the Hart Brothers and the girl (he referred to Valerie, because she was the only girl in the unit). The rearguard will be built of VanClerk, Craft, Clarington, Hudson and Armstrong. Any Questions?" The whole Unit answered with "No, Captain Glass!"

After this, they prepared for the mission, taking their guns, meeting with the squads and discussing how to do. Five minutes before they reached the island, they began firing cannons onto the pirate ship. Jona was kinda lucky that he was in the rearguard, because they had to leave the ship five minutes after the first squad.

Then, the first squad left followed thirty seconds later by the guards, including Valerie, who gave Jona a last wink. Because the rearguard was standing behind the other squads, they couldn't see what happened outside, but just like on their last mission, they could here screams from down there. But suddenly, Jona could hear the scream of a girl. A girl he knew. Hoping that this wasn't her, Jona waited for the last 10 seconds till he could follow the guards. When they saw the battlefield, a wide shore, they couldn't believe their eyes. The pirates were about to win! The dead bodies of dozens of soldiers were lying there, only a few were still fighting. But Jona didn't care for that. He searched for her. And he found her. Valerie was lying about 50 meters away from him. He didn't care for the mission, he was just running to her. She was shot in the stomach, soon to die.

"Valerie! Valerie what happened?" Jona asked her desperate. She answered with a soft voice: "This g-guy, t-the captain, has devil fruit powers, h-he can transf-f-form into a huge dog. He killed Captain Glass and the commanders of the squad. Then his pirates took the guns of the killed soldiers and began shooting at us. I-It was h-horrible." Her voice was getting weaker every second. "Please don't die Valerie, please, I need you." "Sorry, I think you will have to live without me now." "Valerie, I…" Jona couldn't end this sentence, because Valerie was interrupting him. "I know. And I do, too." After this, she kissed him. Jona couldn't help himself, he started to cry. He broke the kiss when he noticed that she wasn't breathing anymore.

He looked up and saw that most of the soldiers were dead already. He searched for Ralph and Theo and found them lying in face down on the battlefield, both shot multiple times. Jona wished he could do something, but he couldn't. So he just laid down on the grass, crying for his friends, crying for Valerie. But there was a part inside him that could do something. A part that felt his hate against the pirates. In his sorrow, Jona didn't notice that the air around him started moving. At first slow, but it was getting faster every moment. When Jona looked up he found himself standing in a hurricane and heard the screams of the pirates from outside. Suddenly one of the stones flying in the hurricane hit the back of Jona's head and everything turned black.