"ATTACK!" The cry rang across the ship, startling several crewmembers below the deck. Luffy, who was about to start drawing on Ace's face while the fire-user was sleeping, was thrown off the body as Ace jerked awake, his eyes wide and slightly dangerous.

Two other crew members came racing below deck yelling, "Marines! Marines are here!" At the top of their lungs, running throughout the corridors.

Izo peeked his head out from his quarter with a nasty frown on his half-makeup covered face. "Now? I haven't finished putting my makeup on!"

Luffy just laughed, jumping up to his feet and clinging to Ace's leg as the fire-user sent the boy a disapproving glare. "I don't think they'll notice over all the marine blood that'll be splattered on your face."

Izo turned his sharp glare to the boy. "Luffy that is the most demented thing that I've ever heard you say."

Luffy beamed up at the man innocently.

"Alright," Ace said, shaking his leg slightly, hitting Luffy with his knee. "Off my leg, brat. You fighting this time?"

"Mmm," Luffy uncurled his arms from the fire-user's leg, dusting himself off and offering a determined grin. "Yup! I haven't been sparing much so I need to train somehow."

Ace rolled his eyes, ruffling the boy's hair as he walked to the entrance, barley flinching when a loud bang echoed throughout the ship causing it to jerk violently to the side. "You know; most kids your age wouldn't even be thinking about fighting. What about school and homework? Maybe we should get you lessons or something . . . "

"Like hell," Luffy said, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting as he raced behind his older brother. "School 'n stuff is really boring. I ain't doing something like that."

"Oh, you poor baby," Ace teased, slamming open he hatch of the door, letting all the sounds of the battle filter through the halls. Ace barley blinked as he dodged a spear that lodged itself into the wooden door frame, only inches from his head. He glanced at the boy that he'd watched grow up since four, now the tender age of twelve, ready for yet another routine battle.

Part of the fire-user felt bad about picking the child up on that island; after all, he was forced into the line of piracy. It wasn't by choice. Though, given who his father was, the marine life wouldn't have been a great option either. He'd most likely died years ago, thanks to Garp's big mouth and terrible parenting skills.

It was amazing how much the boy had grown though, learning Haki at such a young age (his King's Haki was incredible), having a bounty of 100 million (it went up after yet another marine base incident) and just dealing with life. Ace honestly could wait to see how much more the boy would grow, though there would always be that nagging voice in the back of his head that practically screamed, 'what if?'

What if they'd never found him? What if Garp had made him a marine? What if he was the captain of his own pirate crew, sailing the Grand Line in search of the world-renowned treasure, One Piece? Ace didn't want to think about it.

But still, he thought as he watched Luffy join the fray, fists flying in all directions. Those were only that: what ifs. He was here now; a Whitebeard Pirate, and they could all say that he wasn't leaving any time soon.

"Oh?" A rather large marine sneered down at Luffy, obviously underestimating the boy with just a glance. "What do we have here? A brat on a battle field? How unexpected. Better take care of you before my superior's have to dirty their hands with a pirate brat."

"I'll kick your ass first," Luffy growled at him, raising his fists in an aggressive gesture.

He hated marines (or people in general) like this—completely ignoring him because he was young. He was a pirate, damn it! He should be recognized and certainty not underestimated because of his age!

"Che," The marine swung his large sword at him, making a sound of surprise when Luffy dodged it with practiced ease. He tried once again, only for Luffy to catch the flat end of the sword with his hands, snapping the weapon in two. The marine gapped at him, only to be thrown in the water with a well-aimed pistol to the face.

Luffy then took the time to weave between the enemy, scoping out for anyone more powerful or possibly deadly to the crew. So far, it was just a few battle ships that thought that they could take on his family.

Suddenly, something hit his back, throwing him across the deck as he let out a strangled cry. The boy hit the railing with a dull thud, gasping for air and trying to figure out watch exactly just happened and why he didn't sense it before . . .

Haki was obviously involved, judging by the pain that was flaring in his lower back. He closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath when he felt himself going weightless again, being picked up by the back of his shirt.

He cracked open his eyes, flinching when a cannon went off right next to him, causing ringing to echo throughout his ears painfully. Went the ringing stopped, he could focus on his attacker.

Big, even larger than the last man that he fought just a few minutes ago with yellow teeth and red eyes that seemed to glow in the night and he had on this wicked smile—like he was imagining every what to torture Luffy until he cracked.

Too bad the boy wouldn't crack easily.

"Hmmm?" the marine said, his breath wafting over Luffy as the boy tried not to make gagging noises. "What's a little brat like you doin' on a ship like this? Wonder if Whitebeard kidnaped yah, huh? Hmf. Pirates really are scum."

"Let me go!" Luffy growled, kicking the man's face with a Haki-infused foot. The marine howled, dropping the boy immediately and gripping his now broken nose. Luffy simply tensed up, trying to desperately ignore the pain in his back, instead switching in a defense position. "I wasn't kidnapped and Oyaji isn't scum!"

The marine bared his teeth at the boy, much like a wild dog would. "I was tryin' ta save your sorry ass, boy. If ya were kidnapped, ya wouldn't have to face the justice of the navy. After all, we could use some strong fighters like you."

"Never," Luffy hissed, raising his fist as it covered itself in the shiny black armor. "I'm not going to be a marine. Marines are the assholes; not pirates, idiot."

"Brainwashed." The marine snorted, coating his own fist in Haki. "To late ta save a mind like that one. Corrupted, that's what you are."

Luffy let out a dry scoff, charging at the marine. They exchanged a few blows, neither really doing any damage to the other until Luffy got a nice shot right in the stomach. Not a second later, the marine twisted his body and managed to land a nasty hit right on Luffy's shoulder.

Luffy winced, knowing full well that that would be a rather large bruise later, but for right now he focused on his fight; watching warily as the huge marine pushed himself out of the rubble.

This was a big fight; it was taking longer than most fights were and theses guys were pretty tough. Briefly, Luffy wondered how pissed the shipwrights would be when they saw the after-effects, but quickly pushed the thought out of his mind when the marine lunged at him yet again, only to be intercepted by sword in the neck, causing the man to fall to the ground, obviously dead.

Thatch stood over the body, rolling his eyes as it fell. Luffy smiled at him, clutching his shoulder that seemed to burn more than his back at the moment. Thatch seemed to notice his pain as well and slowly walked over. "Hey, Lu. You okay?"

"Fine," Luffy replied, trying to catch his breath once again. "Just my shoulder. I'm good."

Thatch gave him a disbelieving grunt. "Yeah, sure. We're almost done, most marines are fleeing." He noticed Luffy wince as he rubbed his injured shoulder. "You sure you're okay?"

"Hungry," Luffy groaned, though he was smiling. Like Thatch said, most of the marines were fleeing back to their ships and the sound of cannons was slowly fading away as the last men left.

Bodies lingered around the deck, along with blood. He saw a few of his brothers among the body count and his gut twist painfully. Those were his family…

Why are you doing this? Luffy wanted to scream at the marines, but he didn't. Only watching as their ship sailed away, leaving their dead comrades behind. Why are you risking people's lives for sure a pointless cause? How many families had lost someone because of this stupid war?

How many more have to die before you're satisfied?

"Kingdew!" Luffy cried out, laughing as he chased around a beetle that he'd found on the latest island. "Kingdew! Help me catch that bug! It's Heracules!"

"Do it yourself, Lu." came the amused reply as Kingdew trailed a bit behind the boy who seemed to be everywhere at once. Honestly, Kingdew didn't know how the boy got his energy. How did he always seem to be this big ball of sunshine that everyone adored? It was amazing how one child changed a whole crew.

Kingdew wasn't a child-friendly person by any means, but Luffy was different. He was one of the few there when they picked him up seven years ago and watched him grow into a fine pirate. It was satisfying, knowing he had a hand in raising the boy.

"Stingy!" Luffy said. "I'm gonna catch it by myself."

"Don't get eaten."

"It's just a bug!" His little brother whined, jumping around the air as the bug flew just out of his reach. "It's not going to eat me.

Kingdew just raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure that's what you said with the crocodile."

"But that's a crocodile," Luffy stressed out, grinning at his older brother and much, much larger brother. "Besides, I was just a little kid back then."

"That was two weeks ago, Luffy."

"See?" The boy grinned his typical grin. "I was just a kid."

"Just don't get eaten," Kingdew repeated.

"Hungry," Luffy moaned, flopping out in the sand of the latest island and looking up at Thatch with big, wide eyes. "Thatch! Feed me!"

The man just rolled his eyes with a small grin, picking at his fingernails carelessly. "Get some fish, you're near an ocean."

Luffy pouted, sticking his bottom lip out. "Please? I don't know how to cook!"

"So?" Thatch seemed unaffected by the dubbed 'puppy dog eyes of doom'. "Get Ace to help."

"Ace is an asshole."

Thatch just laughed with this exasperated smile on his lips. "Fine, I'll get you something. Just try not to eat anything on the beach, yeah? No matter how good it looks, it's not going to taste great. Or be that healthy for you."

Thatch watched as Luffy stuffed something in his mouth before promptly spitting it back out. "Bleh!"

Thatch simply sighed. "You know what? Never mind…"

Poke. "Luffy." Poke. "Luffy, stop." Poke. "MONKEY D. LUFFY!"

Luffy let out a burst of laughter that he had been desperately trying to hold in. Jozu rubbed his cheek and muttering things about immature little kids and how much they annoy him at times.

Luffy placed his head on his lap, offering a cheeky grin as a tick mark formed over his left eyebrow. "What'cha doing, Jozu?"

"Thinking about adult stuff," he said. "That is, until you came along. Honestly, don't you have anyone else to bother?"

Luffy hummed for a second, biting the inside of his cheek before he burst out in a wide grin. "Nope! They're all doin' stuff so I'd bother them."

"Annd," Jozu raised an eyebrow, unable to understand what he was hearing. "What about me? Don't you think you're bothering me a bit?"

"No." He puffed out his cute little cheeks. "Cause you're not doing anything."

"Come here, you brat," even if Jozu tried to deny it, it was true. He'd already finished all his paperwork. "You're lucky that you're my little brother."