Thank you to Kippysaurus, Aconight and Akatsuki-Metal for proofreading this chapter.
"The reason why I decided to contact the Marines for a Warlord position was because my gramps decided to send me some news." Ace grimaced.
Some of the pirates who had met the man unconsciously shuddered. Ace's grandpa was a monster that even their captain couldn't stand up to.
"Apparently, my brother, who died about eight years ago, has somehow risen from the dead and is now running around with the Revolutionaries."
"...How is that even possible?" Wallace shook his head. "Should've known I'd never have a peaceful moment with you lot around." he bemoaned.
"If he's alive, why didn't he try to find you?"
"And didn't you just have one brother?"
"Gramps told me he has amnesia. And I always had two brothers. I met him even before I met Luffy. One of those Celestial Dragon bastards shot down his ship when he set sail." Ace growled.
"I mean, I know being a Warlord comes with certain benefits, but I don't see how it'll lead us to the Revolutionaries. Unless you're planning on luring them out… somehow." Dusty commented dubiously. "Even then, they're quite elusive."
"The answer to this problem is in Impel Down." Ace announced dramatically, with a bright grin on his face.
"..."
"Please don't tell me you're thinking what I'm thinking."
"Don't worry, Mihar, I'm not asking you to storm Impel Down with me." Ace said flatly. "Even I'm not that stupid."
"Cough. I beg to differ. Cough." Skull commented not so subtly.
"If you're sick, you should go and see Doc," Dusty commented.
"Nah, it was just a bit of dust." Skull began sweating.
"I sure hope so, we can't have everyone falling sick."
Phew. Scary… Skull thought. He's only gotten more fearsome and more responsible.
Ace drew everyone's attention again. "This is the plan."
"Wow."
Ace frowned. "What?"
"I am very surprised, Captain," Skull said dramatically. "I didn't think you were capable of thinking at all, and you came up with this complicated, difficult plan."
Ace's eyebrow twitched.
Skull began backing up- now was a great time to start running!
Ace took a threatening step towards Skull, but then he suddenly crumpled. His head hit the deck, creating a thud that crashed into the quietness of the deck.
Jaws dropped. Then the laughing began.
"Oh, I thought I was dead for sure!" Skull howled, pounding the deck with his fist. "And then he just falls asleep!"
Several Spade pirates were rolling around in mirth.
Deuce looked at them, not the least amused. "I suggest you take your leave before he wakes up."
Skull immediately sat up. "Crap! Gotta go!" He sped off belowdecks.
He was halfway to his chosen hiding place, the barracks, when he heard a roared "Get back here!"
"Bwahahahaha! Cheeky brat!" Garp munched on his rice crackers.
"Your family is nothing but trouble, Garp!" Sengoku thundered. "Your adopted grandson has already caused me enough problems! He manages to keep out of my hair for a month! Then he comes up with this!"
Garp continued laughing, undeterred.
"Do you even think your grandson is going to show up?"
"Of course he will! He's my grandson after all!"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"When he shows up I'm going to give him a good ol' Fist of Love!" Garp laughed some more.
"If he wasn't a damn pirate I'd charge you for child abuse," Sengoku grumbled.
"You love me too much to arrest me, Senny! Bwahahahaha!"
"When are you going to retire? Half of the gray hairs on my head are there because of you and your family of lunatics!"
"Maaaa." The goat that had been quietly standing in the corner bleated in fear, as Garp had accidentally punched a hole in Sengoku's desk while laughing.
"Get out of my office! And use the door properly this time!" Sengoku looked at the hole in his desk in annoyance. It was bad enough that he had to replace the doors (for the upteenth time), but he also had to replace the desk, which was very expensive!
He should really petition for a 'antics by D's' fund.
"Don't feel like it." Garp continued breaking into Sengoku's private stash of rice crackers nonchalantly.
"Stop eating my food!" He snatched them back. "And you better fix the hole in my door!"
A marine with pink hair peered into the office through the aforementioned hole.
"You! What are you doing there?"
"Uh-" He jumped to attention. "Someone told us Vice Admiral Garp was here and we're lookingforhimI'mverysorrytodisturbyousir-"
"Shhhhh!" Suddenly the rambling marine was dragged down the hall.
"Are you trying to get us into trouble, Coby? You didn't have to look into the office like that! You could have knocked on the door!"
"But Helmeppo, there's a hole in the door!"
"Then knock on the wall next to the door!"
"But the Ensign just told us to look into the office with the hole in the door!" Coby said, shaking his head frantically.
"Who knows who's in that office! I heard the admirals have their offices on this floor!"
"Eh?! But why would Garp-san be with an Admiral?"
"I don't know, to do stuff Admirals do! What did he look like?" Helmeppo questioned.
"Old. He has a seagull on his hat."
"Maybe he put bird feed on his hat, then glued the seagull that came flying onto his hat to make it look cool."
"That's so cruel!"
Back in the office, Sengoku raised an eyebrow. "They do realize we can hear everything they say, right?"
Garp did not reply as his head fell to the desk with a thud and started snoring.
The words apparently carried over to the two in the hall, who froze, then both stuck their heads into the hole.
"We're very sorry!" Helmeppo said, waving his hands around.
Coby poked him. "Gar- the vice admiral is here!"
"-very sorry- he is?" Helmeppo almost fell over at the sight of Garp snoring with a snot bubble coming out of his nose. "He was here the whole time!"
"May I ask who you are?" Sengoku had long since put down his pen. This was much more interesting than signing papers.
"Er- you don't need to know?" Helmeppo said.
"Why did you say that!" Coby hissed. "I'm Coby! This is Helmeppo! We're, um, here to collect Vice Admiral Garp!"
"..." Sengoku impassively stared at the two sweating teens.
"..."
"We're screwed." Helmeppo whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
"Okay."
"Oh, oka- Wait, WHAT?!" Coby asked.
"Please, get him out of my office without causing any more property damage."
"Er-"
"Yes, sir!" Helmeppo darted into the office. "How is he this heavy! Help me, Coby!" Helmeppo wheezed.
"Uh- oh, sorry!" Still sweating profusely under the gaze of the Fleet Admiral, he and Helmeppo managed to haul the sleeping Vice Admiral to the training grounds.
"Phew. That was close." Helmeppo let out a breath and dropped the Marine Hero on the concrete.
"Be more careful!" Coby hissed.
"He can crush rocks with his bare hands. I think he'll be able to handle that. More importantly, who was that old guy?"
"Well-"
"Huh?" Garp sat up. "Coby! Wasn't I in Senny's office?"
"Whose office, sir?" Coby asked, genuinely confused and hoping for an answer.
"He asked us to bring you here, sir!" Helmeppo interrupted, lying through his teeth.
"Uh-" Coby shot a look at Helmeppo and began to speak, but he was stopped by an elbow to the ribs.
Garp started picking his nose. "Since we're here anyway, we can start training early today!"
A/N:
I know.
It was supposed to be out by Saturday…
I got sick…
And it's out now, so…
Sorry?
Just saying, though, if this reaches 50 reviews with this chapter, I'll definitely be posting chapter 15 this Friday/Saturday, so that'll be good… right?
In this chapter, we have Coby, Helmeppo and Garp…
Still not very exciting, I guess, but the Spades are sailing towards Marineford.
I really don't have much more to say, so...
Reviews:
-bpv229: Hi! In response to your question, nope! Ace has no idea where Sabo or the Revolutionaries are, so he's decided to visit Impel Down because he knows 2 revolutionary commanders have recently been captured. It might have been a bit unclear previously, but I hope this chapter cleared things up for you! Also, yup! Ace is going to meet Luffy sometime soon, too. I'm pretty excited to write that, and I won't go into details. You'll just have to wait and see!
-Guest: Thanks for the compliment^^. I'm aware that this story is the type with the low word count with lot of chapters, but my writing speed is… not impressive. Add on the stress of daily life (oh, the burdens of being a lazy person!), well, yeah. I'll try my best to keep the updates coming on schedule, though.
-Yuzukikuran476: I'm sorry I don't update often… but I'm pretty sure that with this chapter, ASL Reborn will hit the 50-review mark and I'll post chapter 15 a week early. Without your contributions, though, I'd probably have to wait a lot longer for that!
-WhiteyWolf26: Such a long review! Okay, so where to start… Ace is pretty strong for a rookie who entered the New World a little while ago. But Whitebeard is an Emperor, so his strength is off the charts, despite his failing health. He's also got a lot more experience… so instead of it being like throwing a handful of sand into the sea, it might be throwing a boulder into the sea. There's still a huge gap between the two. I think I'll try to keep Whitebeard around a bit longer (no promises, though).
-Sciara: Yup! Ace isn't as reckless as Luffy now that he's experience being beaten down… and yes, Ace becoming a Warlord is something the marines will definitely regret in the future! As for the matter regarding Haruta… mwahahaha! You'll have to patiently await answers!
-VisitorNo.18: Ace does have conqueror's Haki, and he is capable of controlling it… to a certain extent. And yes, I totally, agree, One Piece is full of some bizarre stuff! I've racked my brains for a long, loooong time to come up with this plot, but it still can't even start to compare with the things Oda comes up with. As for Marineford… haha, sorry to disappoint you, but not yet! Soon, though.
That's a total of… (counting) 6 reviews! That's probably the most reviews I've gotten on a single chapter before ^_^.
I've seen some new people this time, which is great. Welcome, guys!
Also, seeing as the number of reviews is at 48, let me remind you, I haven't forgotten my promise to you all. I've already finished preparations for that, since this chapter should bring it over the edge.
Naturally, it needs to reach 50 reviews first.
(hope to see you all this weekend!)