Ace is sick and clearly doesn't like writing.. double ouch.. Enjoy!

11. Sickly


Listen up. I'm not in the mood to tell you an entire story of the day we went to get Lu back. I'm sick right now and hell, I'm not even good at writing stuff down. That's Sabo's territory. He loves writing stories, not me. So if you're not satisfied with my storytelling or whatever it's called, go blame the author of this story. She made me do this.

Oh yeah, by the way, I'm Ace. I may look grumpy and all right now, but do you have any idea how annoying it is to be sick? I never got sick before! I refuse to go to the doctor though. That Law is just scary, don't tell the others I said this!

Alright, so here's what happened after Nami, Robin and princess Vivi managed to find a day to get Lu back.
It wasn't that easy, I mean, I've seen the guy at the beach. He was working casually and happily like there were no worries in the world as Lu is really good at, but his eyes told me different. He WAS sad alright.
And the worst of all? I didn't manage to talk to him. The others think I did talk to him but he simply refused to come back, but the truth is: He ignored me. Painful? Hell yes. My own little brother refused to talk to me.
I felt like I failed at being an older bro. I was supposed to protect him, but there I stood, shocked the guy didn't even say anything back.

How could I not have realized the news hit him this hard?
The day Cora and Law came to the bar to tell us the news.. anger and sadness flared inside me again just thinking about it.

There were a few customers, but those were mostly Lu's friends, so naturally, Lu said it would be okay if they heard it too.

The moment they told us about Shanks, Makino fell down on her knees in tears, sobbing into Dadan's shirt. Lu ran away screaming and crying. Sabo and I ran after him, but that guy was just really fast and soon we lost him. It took us three months to find him.

Three entire months. We were worried sick, literally. I never expected the guy would be able to handle himself in such a state.
Shanks meant so much for him you see. Shanks being his guardian and all, he gave him a life he could have never wished for.

We were all a family. We finally had a stable and good life. Even after he had his duty as an officer in the army. The first few years he'd been sending messages. He even said once he couldn't wait until Lu would start the training course. Lu, however, wasn't looking forward to that because that would mean receiving training from his grandfather Garp.

Luffy hoped for five long years Shanks was alive. No one dared to tell him otherwise. We asked all the people we knew at the Navy headquarters if we could get some information about Shanks, but they didn't give anything away.
Even Cora didn't understand why they kept everything hidden.

After three months many of Lu's friends joined the trip to the beach. We were all gathered in four cars. Crazy right? Just to get one guy back on track they were all ready to surprise him this way.

If it would only work..

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Luffy has this many friends, loyal friends. He deserved a happy life..

So the entire group was divided into several cars. In our car Law was driving, Sanji was sitting next to him and Koala, Sabo and I shared the backseats. Sabo was teasing Koala about her always peachy colored cheeks, but she was trying really hard not to react.

I took her hat, to help him out a little and of course, Koala didn't like that at all.

'' Ace! Give it back! '' She tried to take her hat while I kept it out of reach. Grinning, I threw it to Sabo who kept on kissing her every time she tried to reach for it.

Naturally, the ladies' man Sanji, didn't like it either so he yelled we 'despicable' brothers had to stop teasing her and give it back.
Sabo put the hat back on her head while trying to make jokes to cheer her up again, but the young woman tried really hard to stay angry and her cheeks became more and more orange/red.

After an hour, the sea came in sight. I knew why Lu liked this place. This was a famous spot for tourists too. It had a calming effect, not only the sea, but the snack bars, shops and small parks on the road which separated the beach from the shops also had a calm but party-like effect.

The guy could do whatever he wanted here. Stare at the waves all day, swim, surf, play with the sand (He still enjoys building castles), eat, fish, skate around and so on. It was perfect for the boy to lose his energy here.

And on top of all that, he even had a job, which surprised me the most of all.

We stopped on a parking lot and gathered.

Yeah, I'm not going to mention who's here and who's not. There are just too many people. I'll just mention them whenever they say something, okay?

Sabo and I knew where Lu was, so we went to check up on him first. We've been watching over him the past few days while the girls tried to find a suitable time to gather. When we arrived at the shop we found Luffy putting a bucket of fish on a table. After that, he went to a small restaurant to probably buy food, I mean what else could he buy?

Sabo ran back to the others and told them to wait on a certain spot at the beach.
We knew Luffy would go there to eat his food and enjoy the sunset. I could see why this was his favorite place to eat his dinner. It had a clear view of the sunset and in the distance you could see a mountain with trees and all kinds of nature on it. It was the one place that didn't have the 'city-atmosphere'.

We all sat down and waited until Lu would approach to sit under the palm tree. He wouldn't directly see us until he'd climbed up the rocky hill.

Another thing I didn't notice until that moment about this place was that it had a calming effect. It made me want to lie down and watch the sun go down while taking a nap.

Soon enough, Lu arrived and looked shocked around. Some people grinned, others looked sympathetic and then there were the people who didn't know how to react like Usopp for example.

'' W-What are you…? '' Luffy stumbled over his words.

'' Listen up buddy. '' I replied. '' You're not going to ignore me this time. Everyone came here to show you something important. ''

As expected, he wanted to run away instantly. He was a stubborn little fellow after all. Though, I didn't get why he avoided his normal life.

Zoro and Sanji, two of his best buddies grabbed his arms and made him stand in front of all of us.

Sure, I admit it, this was crazy and pretty intimidating for someone who still wasn't over his guardian's death, but we all had the feeling this was needed right now.

'' Listen Luffy, as bro Ace said, we wanted to show you we're here for you man. '' Usopp started.

I have to tell you though, we planned this trip up until this very moment. Now everything was left to inspiration and luck, because you never know with Luffy. So, as Zoro likes to say: Let's leave it to fate.

Jinbei, Koala's uncle, stepped forward with his arms and hands covered in the sleeves of his kimono. He stopped in front of the boy looking all serious and patient.

Luffy, however, was confused, angry, sad and probably more stuff a person could possibly feel. He probably wanted to shout a thousand things at Sabo and me for doing this to him. And yeah, we deserved it. But sometimes you've got do this the hard way right?

If he'd listen to us now, we could hear him out about his part of the story. By only asking questions now, Lu would never ever listen to us. He had too much going on in his mind to talk normally about this matter.

At least, that's how our favorite doctor Law explained it. Sabo agreed immediately, but all I wanted was my little brother back as soon as possible. I didn't care about mental doctor stuff. I didn't have the patience to stand still and listen to a word-battle with 20 of us against 1 boy.

'' Luffy. '' Jinbei said. '' Do you see everyone here? Your important comrades? I'm sure you haven't forgotten them, have you now? ''

Ouch.

Sabo made a painful face and whispered: '' Lu isn't going to like that one. ''

And sure enough, it was as if a bomb exploded. If Sanji and Zoro weren't holding him , the boy would definitely have attacked Jinbei. And really, you don't want Lu to fight you out of anger. That guy can be a beast.

'' Of course I haven't forgotten them Jinbei! What do you know about this?! Just leave me alone already! '' Lu screamed at the elder.

'' Then what are you doing here shutting yourself off from everyone? ''

The boys eyes turned sad and shocked for a moment, but he recovered himself almost right away. He was about to answer, but Jinbei continued. '' Luffy. '' He stated once more. '' Instead of thinking what you've lost, isn't it time to start thinking what you have left? ''

I could see Lu was trying to stay angry, but this question made him start thinking. That was the one thing we needed. Then his eyes started tearing up and Sabo almost wanted to rush forward to him.

I nodded at Sanji and Zoro however and they let Luffy's arms go. The blond haired Sanji lay a hand on the boy's shoulder. '' We know, you shithead. There's no need to be alone in this. We're your friends after all. '' He said with a soft voice.

'' You've got us mate. '' The green haired Zoro continued.

Luffy rubbed his eyes with his hands and quietly sobbed as tears were running down his face. He really looked like a child here and it made me want to run towards him so badly just like Sabo wanted. And hell.. This was painful alright? Seeing your little brother breaking apart is no fun.

Nami, Usopp, Brook, Franky and Chopper were also crying because reasons.. I have no idea why they always teared up so easily.. But it was kind of sweet.. somehow..

So instead of me and Sabo running towards Lu someone unexpected did it for us.

Nico Robin walked towards him in all her grace or however Sanji calls the ladies and hugged Luffy. She rested her head on his hair and closed her eyes.

People liked calling her: Mama Bear. Because she really was the 'mother' of Luffy and his friends. This time too, it looked like she was taking over his pain and allowed him to break apart in her arms so the others wouldn't have to directly see it.

I'LL ADMIT IT. I teared up too. Happy now?

I hated seeing him like that and I did miss Shanks too. I knew Lu's pain just like almost everyone here did. I wanted his cheerful smile back. I wanted him to wake me up every morning, way too early, again because he was hungry.

Nevermind the last part, I still don't like that. Sleeping is important.

All in all, this lasted a few minutes, and after that we all sat down and Sanji brought out the food that was still in the cars. Luffy sat in-between Sabo and me and was quiet. Sabo squeezed his shoulder for a moment to let him we were there for him.

He tugged at our shirts and whispered: '' I need to tell you something.. ''

'' For now, rest and enjoy. We'll talk after this okay buddy? '' Sabo replied with a smile.

Did you expect more feely stuff? This was mostly what happened that day. We enjoyed the meals and the sunset. We laughed, sang and enjoyed the bonfire until late in the night.

That definitely made Lu wanting to come back home.


Enjoyed writing the chapter after all Ace?

Next theme: 12. Sandstorm