Twelfth Chapter:
Burgess throws a punch in Ace and Sabo's direction but they dodge around and get behind him only to find Lafitte blocking their exit. Lafitte jumps over the bar and blocks them by standing at the entrance. Ace takes out the pepper spray and sprays it in his face. Lafitte starts screaming and falls on his knees. They go outside and start sprinting. As long as they reach the Main Street up ahead, Teach's gang won't be able to come out. They pass many people but they're just standing there and staring at Ace and Sabo. It creeps Sabo out. Why aren't they doing anything? They knew that Teach is hiding here. Are they working for him? Then why aren't they trying to stop us?
''Ace! Don't fall behind! We have to get to the safety of the main streets! We need to reach the main street now! I have a bad feeling about this!'' Sabo holds his pocket knife in his hand. They almost reach the end of the street and they can see people up ahead. They're almost there. The Main Street is only a few steps away. But a man shows up in front of them and smashes both Ace and Sabo backwards on the floor. ''Argh, shit!'' Sabo tries to block his fall with his hand, but he falls on his arm, which causes the arm to break.
''Let us go damnit!'' Ace is struggling and they both kick Teach, but Teach is tough so the attacks don't affect him at all. He lifts them up by holding their necks.
''I can't have you escape now, can I? You already know where we've been hiding. To think you're smarter than the police. That Redhair and Newgate raised you pretty well, didn't they? Zehahahaha!'' He walks towards a building on his right side and kicks the door open. It's a small building with a broken door and the windows don't have any glass in them. The people up ahead on the Main Street didn't notice anything. Ace is still struggling against Teach's grasp but Sabo can't do much to break free because of his broken arm. Sabo clicks on his pocket knife that he's still holding in his other hand. He stabs Teach's hand that's holding Ace. Teach loosens his grip on him and Ace takes advantage out of this. He breaks free from Teach and sprints outside. Teach throws Sabo on the floor but Sabo stands up and hops towards Teach. He throws himself on the man and tries to distract him. Sabo is in a huge disadvantage because he can't use his left arm at all. He did give Ace enough time to run to the main street by holding of Teach.
Ace finally reaches the main street and runs to the opposite side. He wants to call the police but changes his mind. He calls Ben instead: ''Ben! We found Teach! We need your help now!''
''What happened?''
''I don't have the time to explain!'' Ace is hiding in a small passage behind a garbage bin. ''He is holding Sabo hostage! You need to come now Ben!''
''Ok, stay right where you are. I can track you down and come to you immediately! I'll also call the police. Don't go back in there Ace!''
''Are you mad? Sabo is in danger!'' Ace hangs up and runs to the back street. A crashing sound is heard coming from the small building and Sabo falls on the ground before Ace. His head is bleeding and his eyes are closed. Sabo is unconscious.
Ben called the police and they're on their way to the city. He is currently at the hospital. He was as always handling the supermarket in Shanks' place until the red haired man is recovered. They are discussing some matters when Ace suddenly calls. Shanks is calling Yasopp and Lucky Roo right now and tells them where to go to find Ace and Sabo. Ben leaves too. He finds their location with his tablet. He is using their phone numbers to be able to follow them when needed. ''Those fools.'' Is what Ben says to himself. ''This is why they shouldn't have interfered. I should've paid more attention.'' He starts the car and races to the place. He passes Luffy's school and is happy that he doesn't know yet. He asked Marco to make sure Luffy doesn't rush to the city.
School is finished and Luffy rushes home. Sabo didn't pick him up today and no one answers their phone. Usopp is with him going through his newsfeed on his mobile. They first visit Shanks in the hospital. ''Shanks! Did you hear anything from Ace and Sabo?'' Luffy sits on Shanks' bed. ''Aren't they at school?''
Shanks doesn't look up from his laptop. His phone is ringing and he picks up. ''I need you here now…Yeah, you need to pick me up Roo, before it's too late!'' He says it fast while doing all sorts of things on his laptop.
''Where are you going? You're still too ill to go home!'' Luffy doesn't get this at all.
''I'm allowed to leave for a few hours.. to get some fresh air you know.. Luffy, aren't you supposed to study right now for your exams?''
''Stop about those stupid exams! You're all hiding something from me again, aren't you?''
Usopp is still on his phone and secretly trying to look at Shanks' laptop. Shanks notices him and closes the laptop.
''U-Uhm... I wasn't trying to look mister..'' Usopp is getting scared and Shanks raises an eyebrow. ''I have the 'my head is turning in weird positions' disease..''
''You still have that habit Usopp? I know you're lying..'' Shanks meant it in a gentle way but he's being too serious and can't even laugh. He has to get to Ace and Sabo before something serious happens.
''hhmm…'' Luffy looks angry. ''What are you hiding Shanks?''
Luffy turns on the tv. He's ignoring Shanks and randomly chooses a program. ''News? News makes me fall asleep.'' He wants to change it, but Usopp stops him.
''No, leave it. It could be interesting. An accident just happened in a city nearby. I want to know what it's about.'' Usopp takes the remote control and turns on the volume. Camera's show from a helicopter what's happening on the ground. There are so many people and many police cars block witnesses on a scale of 20 meters. Several policemen hide behind their cars with guns. They're prepared to fire. The camera makes a close-up so you can see who's involved in the accident. One man is lying on the ground and two are still fighting. One of them holds a gun and the other has something like a stick in his hand. More people show up and come out of a small building. A huge guy holds the man with the stick in his hand.
''Usopp, turn this off.'' Shanks wants to take the remote control, but Usopp won't let him.
Both Usopp and Luffy are looking with their mouth wide open. ''Those people..'' Usopp can barely speak.
Luffy recognized the people too and jumps off the bed.
''Stop Luffy! I know you want to go, but listen to me first.'' Shanks is trying to stay calm but can't grab Luffy because Luffy is too fast. Luffy shakes his head as a response and runs outside.
''Luffy, wait!'' Usopp follows him. He goes outside and sees Luffy looking around. ''What is it Luffy?'' Usopp is out if breath.
''A car.. I need to get there.'' Luffy runs to the street and looks if there are any taxi's to give him a ride.
''If you want a taxi, then wait for a bit.''
''Hurry, We don't have any time.''
''Follow me.'' They run to a bus station one block away. Many taxi's are standing there and they go to the first one they see. They take a seat and tell the driver where to go. ''And as fast as possible please! It's urgent!'' The driver races towards the city and reaches the backstreet in about ten minutes. Luffy jumps out of the car. He avoids all the people and arrives at the scene. ''SABO, ACE!''
A policeman next to him tries to hold him off and blocks Luffy's way. Ben is slowly walking towards Teach. Burgess is holding Ace while Teach is pointing a gun at him. Ben has a gun too and points it at Teach. ''He doesn't have anything to do with this Teach. Let the boys go.''
Teach kicks Sabo in his stomach. Sabo shows no reaction since he's unconscious. ''You can have this guy. Zehaha.''
''DON'T YOU DARE!'' Ace does everything in his league to break free from Burgess' grasp, but Burgess is just too strong.
Teach takes a look around and sees Luffy. ''Luffy! I didn't know you were here too zehah!''
''Luffy! You dumbass! Get the hell out of here!'' Ace is still trying to break free but it no matter how much he struggles, Teach won't let him go.
''I won't let you hurt anyone this time!'' Luffy wants to go but the policeman is still holding him.
Ben is thinking what he should do now. He can't shoot because of the police. One wrong move and Teach will shoot. Ace and Luffy aren't the kind that will stay still. So making a plan is quite useless. Not to mention Sabo. Ben wants to know his condition. He has some serious injuries. Ben knows he has to wait for Shanks but how long will it take? 15, 30 minutes? We can't just stand here and do nothing. Teach will make a move now. Ben is out of ideas. He has no clue what he should do.