Hello guys. Early and short chapter, but it has good material that I hope you all enjoy.
A New Life
The word was given to Shanks that he and Whitebeard could meet up. Although that did mean avoiding another Buster Call like situation, this time, it was in their waters. As much as the Navy can claim that they run the New World, it still belongs to the four Emperors. Coincidentally, Shanks was one of those Emperors. So this would be an easy thing.
The reason why they didn't fight back in East Blue was because it meant risking getting Garp's ship and Dragons ship in the crossfire. Not only that, but the safety of the people of the island as well as Luffy and Ace's life meant that they could not go all out. But now they can.
However, things went surprisingly very smoothly as they were nearing the meeting point with Whitebeard. Shanks didn't think much of it nor did the crew. So they carried on until they got to the rendezvous point.
The night before the meet, Makino and Luffy had stayed up packing. He got many clothes, toys and books from the various islands that they went to. The two weren't talking much because it wasn't a sad goodbye. They would see each other every once a while because Shanks is a high ranking Pirate and an ally to Whitebeard. This was more of just Makino telling Luffy to take care of himself and the other boys.
Although Luffy was much smaller than them and younger by 3 years, it wasn't a long shot to say that he was the strongest of the three. The many things that he lacked against the two like age and height and experience, he made up by learning and refining haki. Now his Haki wasn't that good as it was just at a beginner level and including the fact that he is only 7 years old, he still had a slight advantage. Or so he thought.
When morning came and the two ships were right beside each other Shanks got new information to bring his whole crew to the beach of the island which was quite far from the docks.
Shanks and the crew along with Luffy followed. They could hear loud noises, some music and people who sounded like they were partying. When they got to the beach, the Whitebeard Pirates were actually indeed partying. There was a big sign that said "Welcome back Luffy!" and Shanks loved it. He loved parties so of course he was going to enjoy this.
Marco was obviously the first person to notice that Shanks and his crew walked in so along with the Caretakers as well as Ace and Sabo, they had ran towards Luffy and gave him hugs.
Makino was smiling at this scene and at one point wondered if Luffy could even breathe because he was being hugged so tightly. She said her Hello's to both Ace and Sabo who hugged her tightly and thought that she had died back in East Blue. Both were glad to find out that she was alive and well.
Marco, Thatch, Jones and Mika had given Luffy more than one hug. Mainly Marco and Mika. They both missed him a lot more than they should have. They then took him to Whitebeard and each time Luffy had seen a commander, he would give them hugs.
It was a fantastic reunion. Everyone was so happy and even Whitebeard was enjoying this moment. Never in his life as a father if all his children had he seen them so happy at the return of their youngest. This was a proud moment for him.
The party was stopped for a moment briefly as Thatch had bought a cake out and Marco said "Luffy yoi, since we missed a birthday this party is to make it up." and this time everyone got gifts for the young one. Some were books, toys, clothing, weapons that were child proofed and some that weren't.
At one point everyone was drunk. Well except for Marco because he physically couldn't get drunk and Jones because he stopped drinking. Their two of them were sitting with the boys and talking about things that were going to happen from now in on the Moby and it wasn't much new from what Luffy was accustomed to. Now that he was older and spent time on another ship, he did learn some responsibilities and that he and his two brothers would share them. Which made sense of course.
When that was over, Ace and Sabo pulled out too fruits with patterns and swirls around them and said that this was a birthday gift to him. Jones and Marco both looked at each other but before they could say anything, Luffy looked at them and said those are devil fruits.
"What's a devil fruit?" Ace and Sabo asked simultaneously.
"A devil fruit is a power you get. But you cannot swim after you eat the fruit." Both men went on to talk about the good and bad side effects of the devil fruits and while this was going on, they heard Luffy cough many times and when they looked at him they could not see the fruit.
Both Sabo and Ace yelled at him while Jones and Marco had facepalmed themselves. Of course Luffy wouldn't listen and of course he would eat it.
However, there was another one and Luffy could not eat two otherwise he would die. Marco would as well but Jones offered that he would sell it and give all the money to the boys but Ace and Sabo broke the fruit in half and ate it.
The two men had never seen this happen before nor did they know what type of devil fruit it was for the three of them. Ace and Sabo birth stood up and their backs we're towards Luffy while they were asking the two experienced Pirates if they could see anything, but they couldn't. However Luffy did say that both of their backs were on fire and when they turned around, they really were on fire. Jones put it out while Marco said that this was the Mera-Mera no mi and surprisingly both Ace and Sabo had gotten its power. The next thing that they wanted to know what was Luffy's ability but they couldn't notice anything different. The two of them scolded Luffy because they figured it would be a pointless devil fruit like a devil fruit that makes you into a human and as they were lifting and dragging him, Luffy's body stretched way further than it should have.
All four looked very concerned at the sight but then realized that Luffy was perfectly fine. They stretched out his arm and found out that the was a man made of rubber. Now while Jones, Ace and Sabo thought that the devil fruit power was useless, Marco couldn't wait to train Luffy. There was a lot of potential that Luffy could do with the Gomu-Gomu no mi.
"Ace and Sabo, for now we'll leave you as is, but stay close to with myself of Jones. You are Logia types and you don't know how to control your powers so best stay close to us in case anything happens." says Jones.
"Actually" says Marco "Everyone is bat shit drunk and passed out yoi. Maybe we can try to help them by controlling their powers enough to not let random fires start."
"That's not a bad idea. Okay brats, let's move to a place where there's no passed out drunkards." and the group moved a good couple of feet.
Since Marco and Jones both had a mythical Zoan devil fruits it was easy to explain to the children on what to do and how to feel their powers, while Jones told them tricks about controlling that feeling. They had done so for many hours until it was nightfall and still no one was awake.
By the time it was night, Ace and Sabo had controlled their powers enough to only let fires out when they need it. Random fires were now not an issue.
Luffy was impressed at how quickly his two older brothers were able to control their powers in just a few short hours. He couldn't wait to use his powers but he didn't know how to. He tried to listen in on what Marco was telling them but it did not work for him. He was just going to wait for a later time. For now, he was fine with being normal.
By the time it was morning, both ships started to fill up again while Shanks was on the Moby Dick talking to Whitebeard about a few things as he was away from the New World for quite some time.
By the time he was about to leave, he and Luffy spoke, in front of everyone on the main deck area. "So Luffy, I won't see you for a while, do you think you'll become a commander by the time I see you again?" Shanks said almost teasingly because he knew what the answer was going to be
Luffy looked at Whitebeard and then looked at Shanks "I don't know about commander, but I will be the Pirate King."
This was the first time Whitebeard had heard about his ambitions and he raised an eyebrow. "Oh is that so? Well then here, take this." and he places his infamous straw hat on to Luffy's head. "this hat is a treasure of mine, so I'm letting you borrow it. But give it back when you become a great Pirate okay." Luffy was in tears but he did not show it. He knew how important that hat was to Shanks. And when he realized that it was his now, also considering the fact that this was goodbye for some time, Luffy was going to miss the Pirate he looked up to. After taking a deep breath, he calmed his emotions down and waved goodbye as Shanks got off the ship and boarded his own.
Both crews lifted their anchor and headed into two separate directions. Marco stood by Luffy and picked up the 7 year old. "You'll see them again."
"I know" was all Luffy had said as he stood by in silence and he watched the Red Force disappearing from his line of sight.
The trio were out in front of Whitebeard and the Caretakers as well as a few other commanders of the crew and now it was Whitebeard who wanted to catch up with this youngest son.
First he looked at the trio as a whole and asked about the whole devil fruit situation and they told Whitebeard exactly everything that happened and even he was surprised to see two people with the same devil fruit.
The next question he asked was directed towards Luffy. "Luffy, do you know what the Pirate King is?"
Everyone had their eyes on Luffy and we're waiting for a Luffy-like response but instead what they got was something much different than expected. "The Pirate King the most free person in all of the seas. I want to be that free. To sail as I please with my own crew."
Whitebeard laughed. Just like Roger. "So you want One Piece?"
"Yes."
"I can take you to it now if you'd like."
Sabo and Ace looked shocked. Whitebeard knew where One Piece is. The greatest treasure in the history of pirates, yet he doesn't want it for himself. "It's okay Oyaji. Me and my crew will find it."
"Do you know where to find this crew?"
"Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji are in East Blue. Zoro is a swordsman who fights with three swords. Nami is a navigator. I don't know anything about Usopp except that he's Yasopp's son and Sanji is a cook. I'll find more later. But they are the first." Ace and Sabo knew that these people existed but they didn't know who they were. Only Luffy met them in person.
"No Ace and Sabo?" asked the father like figure
Sabo spoke first "I'm going to be in the Revolutionary Army when I'm older."
"What about you Ace?"
"I'm gonna stay here. I know I haven't been here much long but both Makino and that Shitty Geezer told me it would be best if I stay here. So I'll listen to Makino's advice."
"Shitty Geezer?" Marco asked
"Garp" replied the trio at the same time. By then, the entire deck started laughing and then went on their own ways. Ace, Luffy and Sabo went to their room to play while the caretakers looked on, seeing the three boys go off on their own.
"He's growing up so fast." said Mika.
"Yepp. Only a few more years until he is a teen." replied Thatch "It'll be fun having them around."
It only took barely one hour for the crew to get used to the now trio of children on the Moby Dick. First there was Luffy who of course grew up on the ship and everyone knew him since birth. Sabo was the first new child to come on board. When he had arrived, he was scared at first which made sense because there was no other child on board and he did not know the crew at all. Now he was comfortable with everyone and was always ready to lend out a helping hand. All he wanted to do was learn things from the crew, whether that be in the library reading books about everything or daily everyday skills that need to be taught by experience and actually doing. Sabo wanted to soak it all in. He had finally become a pirate. He was on the ship for almost two months by now and he was enjoying every second of it.
Ace came about a month and a half ago to the crew and he was shocked to see how the Whitebeard Pirates were. They were kind and friendly to him and Sabo and he knew they would be extra kind to Luffy so he wasn't afraid of anyone hurting them. But living with the crew was something that Ace enjoyed. Thatch took him in as his pupil and taught him how to prank everyone on the ship and now Ace was a well known prankster even though it was less than a month. He was shocked with how Whitebeard treated him. Once he got around getting to know the crew, he then realized why everyone called Whitebeard "Oyaji" or "Pops". It was because he was their father figure. It didn't take too long for Ace to start calling the older pirate Oyaji and Pops too. He was now able to understand what Garp meant when they had their little talk that night he was going to leave. And he was happy with his way of life.
Luffy was happy to be back. He had missed his family. He was glad to see Thatch back healthy again, almost like nothing had ever happened. He spent the whole day with Thatch after they started sailing again. He did not leave his side and even slept with him.
After the trio had officially gotten settled and things were back on track, they started their set of chores that they had to do. Whitebeard really didn't want them doing much, but Marco deemed it necessary to have this done for the boys to know responsibility as they grow older.
Since they were kids, Marco did go easy on them with the difficulty of the chores, so he just piled them up. Neither of the trio had complained, well at least Ace and Sabo didn't. Luffy on the other hand hated this, but after Marco convinced him that this was all to being a good captain for his crew, Luffy sucked it up and did his chores without complaining but you could tell he really didn't want to do it. However, as they did grow older, their chores did raise in difficulty but it was nothing that the trio couldn't handle.
Mika had made the boys a schedule. There was their daily chores list which they had to complete by the end of the day, then there was time for food (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks), there was free time where the kids could run around and do whatever they want and training time. The boys had no issues with the list that was made for them and did followed everything, without skipping a single thing. They mostly wanted the free time and training time so they tried to get the chores done as fast as they could but done properly because the little things that they had to do were important to the ship itself and the crew.
Whenever the boys did their training, the caretakers usually were the ones that were working with them, however Namur was still teaching Sabo Fishman Karate which he was getting quite good at. Ace liked his raw strength and his devil fruit ability so Jozu would help out with Ace. Then there was Luffy. Marco was the one mainly with Luffy as well as Kingdew and Izo. They knew that although boxing wouldn't be his style of fighting, they still wanted his punches to be sharp and precise as well as damaging. Izo was their for Luffy's aim with his extended arms and legs with his devil fruit ability. Since he was now made out of rubber, he could stretch pretty far so they worked on his aim to make those long range attacks actually hit their opponent.
Training went well for the trio. Weekly progress was being kept by the three young ones as they would always spar with one another at the end of the week to see who progressed in what. And The race was very close. Although it was clear that in the long run, Luffy is stronger than the other two however stronger meant something completely different to each of the three. Each of the three were good at one thing that the others weren't. Ace had raw strength and was pound for pound the strongest in the group. Sabo had the best stamina out of the three. He could beat Ace a bit easier than Luffy because of how he fights Ace. But Luffy is also hyper and has an endless supply of energy to keep up with Sabo but that eventually runs out sometimes. Luffy on the other hand was different. Although pound for pound he was weaker than Ace and his stamina could run out, the one advantage he had over the two was his use of Haki. His Haki was stronger than the two so whenever it came to a clash in Haki, Luffy would always win.
This life for them was great. Not only were the trio going to be safe, they were with each other and were going to progress with each other up until Luffy leaves to become a Captain of his own. They got to train and learn from their elders, they were allowed free time and were allowed to pull pranks on one another and the crew. There were many things that they did. And also the were safe, which allowed the people who raised the boys feel more at ease especially after the Buster Call incident.
On Friday nights, the trio would spend their nights with the caretakers out on deck or some place where they could just sit down and talk about things. All of them looked forward for this because there were days when the caretakers would get busy and not help out for training or there would be missions that they would go on. However, Friday nights were their nights. They used to play cards, mainly poker, monopoly, talk, go out on islands or beaches if they were on an island. They did whatever they wanted to do. Of course Tiger Lord the cat and Stefan the dog would join in on this as well. It was a nice family. Ace had found what he was looking for and was given many reasons to live. Luffy was of course raised here since birth so he loved his family. Sabo enjoyed every moment. He didn't have this growing up when he was a Nobel but this was much better than all the wealth in the world.
Whitebeard was of course the father figure, Mika was like the mother to the trio, Marco, Jones and Thatch were the older brothers who each had different personalities that they were known for. Thatch was the prankster, Jones was the carefree brother who did whatever he wanted and let the boys do what they want when he looked after them while Marco was the serious one.
This was the family that all of them had wanted. Surprisingly, by now, Jones and Mika were now in a relationship. Although they didn't act much like it, it suited them. Only a handful of the crew knew. Besides Pops, the young trio and Whitebeard, no one else knew. It wasn't so much discrete, it was more people just thinking that the two were very close.
A few years had now passed since Luffy came back on board. And thankfully, there hadn't been many pirates that were dumb enough to fight them nor did the Marines trouble Whitebeard. Everything was peaceful, at least, on the outside.
Inside the ship was chaotic. While a 13 year old Luffy and 16 year old Ace and Sabo, those three boys were getting stronger everyday. Their devil fruit usage, Haki strength, and fighting abilities were so impressive that Whitebeard offered Ace to become the commander for the second division. Luffy and Sabo were excited for Ace. However when Ace got that offered to him, the other two brothers of his decided that this duty only belongs to Ace. They did not mind helping him out obviously but being commander was Ace's job. The three were starting to show their independence around each other on some occasions, but normally the trio did everything together. This was just one thing that Ace had to do alone because Luffy and Sabo were eventually going to leave.
Given the title of commander at the young age of 14, Whitebeard was proud of his son. He knew Ace was going to be a good match. He was a great leader and the perfect fit for commander. Charismatic, hot headed, strong, reliable and trustworthy. He would always fight instead of running away. The whole second division was known to be the "weakest" because they had no commander for a while but when Ace was given the title, the entire division was known to be the strongest. His men had found a reason to start training again as they didn't do much training because they never went on missions since the death of the old commander.
Luffy was in a different spot. He was closer to Marco than even Ace and Sabo. Although he liked being in the missions with the 2nd division, he always spent most of his days with Marco, Jones and Whitebeard. Although Jones was supposed to be Captain of the new 17th division, he gave that up for the newcomer Reyna, who was apart of this crew since that day Thatch got stabbed by Blackbeard. She was quite strong and was a capable swordswoman and also a fantastic archer. Instead, what Jones became was the second in command after Marco. Jones had the same position when he was apart of the Roger Pirates so Whitebeard saw it fitting that he holds the same position. Luffy was mixed in between the 2nd division and spending time with Marco, Oyaji and Jones. He was learning quite a lot from them.
The crew was peacefully sailing and like any ordinary day, the trio were out training with the caretakers. Each three had their own fighting style. Luffy had his rubber devil fruit abilities and his creative mind made him strong and hard to beat along with a broken boxing style due to his devil fruit. Ace relied on his devil fruit power a lot but still had his raw strength. Sabo was a fighter that likes to use a bo staff and would mix in with his devil fruit attacks. There wasn't a clear winner in terms of who was stronger between the three but everyone knew that Luffy had a slight edge over the duo because of his Haki abilities and use of it. Although Ace and Sabo had Observation and Armament, neither had Conquerors, and Luffy was able to use that quite well in fights bit by not just overpowering someone with his will, but using at as a means of a defense and offense. It was a style that worked properly only because of his creativity with his devil fruit.
Today, they were given a mission. However all of the caretakers were coming. Usually it would be one of either Jones, Marco or Thatch but today it was all three of the plus Mika. Also, the 17th division commander was going as well. The 2nd division wasn't coming as it was just for them, but the island they were going to, Whitebeard would not let his three youngest sons go alone.
It was an island that was known as Hell's Gate. It was an island filled with ruthless and strong pirates from the New World and corrupt Marines who were also not too weak themselves. Why the trio were sent on a mission was because they had a few members of their 17th division that had went earlier but they did not return. And although the trio could handle the situation on their own, Whitebeard thought that it would be better if he sent the caretakers as well as the 17th division commander. The purpose of this mission was to bring the members of the crew back.
So a group of eight had set out to this "Hells Gate" island. Once they had arrived on the island, the group made their way into the town. Marco and Sabo had pulled out the map of the town and it showed that there was a possible of four locations where they could look. The best idea was to split into groups of two and Marco already knew he was going to look after Luffy and they headed west. Thatch and Ace headed out East. Reyna and Sabo went south while Jones and Mika went north. The meeting point was back at the ship by nightfall and each group took a flare with them in case any group got lost.
Currently it was midday and the island and already it was difficult for all four groups. This island belonged to the yonko Kaido. What they were doing was something risky and can have major consequences if anything goes wrong. Which is why Whitebeard sent his older members as well as the young ones. Kaido was not someone to be messed with, however, some of the Whitebeard Pirates were captured on this island. And trying to avoid a full on war with another Emperor was a good idea. But now that the eight of them were there, they all knew that they had to be extra careful. This was going to be a very dangerous mission. And four of them were licking their lips because as dangerous as this was, this was going to be a fun mission. Ace, Sabo, Luffy and Jones were all excited. If things get bad, they are allowed to run free even if that means going to war with the so called "Strongest Creature Alive."
Okay so yes I know this seemed way too short. I'm sorry about that but I could not think of ways to make this longer. I need to progress with this story as I lead you all in to the final chapters (don't worry we aren't there yet). However, I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next few chapters will be on this mission from the perspectives of the four groups. It won't strictly focus on one group. But with that said, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and have a Happy New Year!