Chapter 14

Luffy, as it turned out, knew the way to Bluejam's hideout. Apparently Ace deciding they should avoid the pirate only went so far as avoiding the person, not his turf, and the boys had stumbled over his hideout sometime ago.

"Ace said if we ever needed lots of money to buy a ship and run away and our adventure found isn't enough, we could always take Bluejam's. But for no other reason, Ace made me promise," Luffy proclaimed as he pointed at the pirate ship.

The three-masted ship was hidden between rocks at the rim of the forest and Gray Terminal. If you didn't know it was there, it was hard to find. It didn't look all that well cared for and Shanks absently, as he watched over Luffy smashing the remaining few crewmembers around (and took out those that didn't stay down, attacked from behind, had sharp and pointy objects and generally those that were too much for him), wondered when the ship set sail last, and he pitied it.

Unfortunately, however, Bluejam's hideout didn't have Bluejam.

"Damn it!" Luffy pouted, kicking at the deck. "If he isn't here how can we ask where Ace is?"

The defeated men winched in unison at the little boy's voice and the older boy's name. Shanks found it hilarious how two tiny children could instil such fear into grown men. Captain Roger would have adored them for the chaos.

"I guess we'll just ask where their captain went. Someone must know." He toed one of the men left behind to guard the ship. "Well?"

This man, big and burly, who Luffy had smashed his pipe into the midriff of, coughed up some blood. "I don't -" Shanks gave him the evil eye. "In the forest! The boss went himself cause there was that other brat with - with the other demon! I don't know where, don't hurt me."

"Really?"

"I swear!"

Luffy was watching with rapt attention. "Wow Shanks! If we try to get them to answer questions for us we always have to beat them up more even after we already beat them." - Again a collective winching - "How are you doing that?!"

Shanks smirked. "That's because I'm a grown man and a super cool pirate. Maybe when you grow up and aren't a weak little kid anymore they'll do that for you too, anchor." The half conscious attentions of the defeated men recoiled in horror.

"I'm not weak!" Luffy protested as they walked off the ship over the gangplank. Oh yes, the little brats were so much fun. "And I'm not small either! I'm almost seven you know!"

"Is that so? When is your birthday?"

Luffy sucked in his lips and looked away. "May fifth."

Shanks promptly roared with laughter. "That's still half a year away! You're almost still five!"

"I'm not! I'm only three years smaller than Ace and Ace's nine so I'm six!" The black haired boy stomped his foot and fumed for a while, but his anger left quickly in favour of sulking. "I wanna see Ace…"

"Cheer up," Shanks encouraged as they were back to standing at the edge of Gray Terminal. In the west, the giant walls of the city loomed over them. "Didn't you hear what they said. They said Ace wasn't alone. Don't you think if we find one of your brothers, we'll find both?"

As hoped, Luffy lit up. Promptly, he began talking about the awesomeness of his big brothers again, this time telling a lot more about Sabo with the real chance of seeing him soon in front of him and not just blind demanding.

It wouldn't last long. And unfortunately Shanks wasn't a tracker who could just find people in a forest and his haki wasn't of any use when surrounded by so many large animals, looking for a) a child who he should notice but hadn't or b) a man he never met before. Not to mention that the forest stretched around the kingdom and the over mountains, both east and west.

"Excuse me," Shanks stopped in front of a rubble built hideout, deciding to stop ignoring the calculating and assessing gaze of one of the many people doubtlessly searching for weakness. "My friend and I are looking for Bluejam. Do you wouldn't happen to know in what direction he went, would you?"

The ratty old man took out a dagger and started to clean it. "I ain't got nothin' t' say t' ya."

"We aren't looking for trouble," Shanks promised, not mentioning that Bluejam might. Hey, if things happened, they happened.

The man snorted, his flinty eyes leaving Shanks and narrowing on Luffy who met the gaze without flinching, without showing any emotion at all, without any sign that he even saw the man. "Try 'at agai' 'hen ya ain't with tha demon brat."

Almost unnoticeable, Luffy did react to being called that. It wasn't the first time, but the first time there wasn't any fight going on in between – the first time it wasn't from an enemy that he was called that.

"What demon do you mean? I don't see one?" Shanks shrugged and if Luffy looked at him with big eyes then that was not something that needed to be acknowledged, because Luffy wasn't a demon child. (Or if he was, then it was a compliment which Shanks certainly wouldn't say to his face.) "But onto the important matter; it's such a shame. Here I had these coins set aside for people helping us out." Shanks casual pulled out some berry, counting them in his hand under the sharp eyes of the local. "But if you don't have anything..." Making a show of putting the money away, ignoring Luffy tugging at his pants that they should just hurry on.

The man raised his knife. "Giv' me tha'."

"Sure," Shanks shrugged. "If you tell me in what direction you say Bluejam leave – and don't try claiming you don't know, you must have seen them leave their ship from here. I wouldn't be surprised if he paid you to tell him whoever discovered the ship." Shanks made to hand over the money, but didn't surrender it until he added, "If you lie and we won't find him, we're going to get even. I may not know my way around here, but I'm sure there are others." The man had to know his knife was of no danger whatsoever. He may not know Shanks, but he did know Luffy by reputation alone. From that point, it already didn't matter if the man thought Shanks was more dangerous than Luffy or not.

Which, granted, was even to Shanks surreal. He was the one with the bounty on his head. Not some little kid.

Luffy watched between them with wide eyes, confusion written in every line of his face.

The man threw Shanks a nasty glare but was quickly and greedily counting the money, nodding north with his head. "I ain't ever seen ya. Don't wanna see ya again."

They hadn't searched north yet, the boy's playgrounds being to the east, so that may actually be true. Plus, the man didn't seem to Shanks like he was lying and he had been watching for that.

So north they went. Again, Shanks wasn't a tracker, but in his life he had more likely tried something than not, and it wasn't like he was blind. The broken branches, the many footprints, and the more they followed along the trail, the traces of swords having been used to cut through the undergrowth of fight animals off. There were also the occasional drops of blood.

Shanks' felt his eyes narrow at the sight.

This part of the forest didn't seem familiar to Luffy, but he also didn't seem to be bothered by it, taking the trials of cliffs, ravines, rivers with the ease of someone having grown up with little else.

Signs of large animals grew more frequent and it didn't take long before Shanks doubted all men that had entered the forest before them were going to leave it again. If he felt vindictive satisfaction, well, he was sure not to tell Luffy, who's face was screwed in intense focus as he tried (and failed) to use his new abilities to swing over a river.

On the other side, the trail of men who had no idea how to navigate the wilderness continued into thick trees. Luffy eagerly ran ahead, but Shanks saw him stop dead shortly behind the treeline, standing still, head turned to the side. Little Luffy's expression was tellingly blank

"This guy has definitely seen better days. Nice work." Shanks observed amused. Grown up man knocked out cold, imprint of a little fist in his face? Check. He chuckled. "Looks like Ace is just fine. Didn't I say everything would work out?"

Luffy stared intensely at the man for another moment, before shrugging as though a beaten up man was nothing serious, with to him it probably wasn't, even after a day as this. He smiled. "Of course!" His smile was smaller than his usual bright beaming, but very happy. "Ace! Where are you?!" He shouted, running off, waving his arms over his head. "I was back faster than you this time! I brought Shanks too and I ate this nasty fruit and Bluejam's being annoying -"

The excited little form disappeared between trunks at least ten times as wide as he, and Shanks followed fondly. Such a big talker, such a wild spirit-

A gunshot rang out in the distance. Followed by a scream that could not be from a grown man.

Shanks' blood chilled. Luffy's shouts took on a different tone. "ACE! SABO!"

Luffy's little legs could run fast, stumbling he never stayed down for even a second, before he was running again and shouting heartbreakingly desperate for his brothers. "ACE! SABO!"

After what felt like an eternity for Luffy, he finally heard his brother calling back. "Don't come Luffy! Run!" But Luffy didn't listen, he didn't even hear the words over the voice of his big brother because Ace's voice didn't sound right.

He sounded...almost weak.

A moment later Sabo shouted too, but Luffy's head was darkening. It felt like the forest was disappearing except for the ground under his feet and the way forward. He jumped over some guy and then another, maybe there were more, and somewhere through the cold-heat inside and darkness Luffy was fiercely proud of his big brothers -

He smashed his pipe into the face of someone and used the falling body as a jumping board over others – and then there were Ace and Sabo!"Ace! Sabo! I found you!"

"YOU MORON!" They both yelled at him, but Luffy laughed because they were both there and both alive and now they could go and beat the bad guys up! They would have hit him, but Sabo was holding a pipe, Ace was holding up bloody fists, and the rest of the world returned.

They were surrounded. Ace and Sabo stood back to back. Luffy quickly joined and his brothers shifted to make space for him, so that they all stood together. Luffy knew they'd never lose so long as they were together!

"If it isn't all three of ya damn troublemaker brats now. How lucky for us. Turn over the noble brat and we might spare the lives of the other two." Bluejam was big. Lots bigger than Luffy and very though – that's what Ace said and Luffy believed it, but not enough that he thought they couldn't beat him.

Then Bluejam pointed a pistol at them.

"Right, okay. That's enough, I think," a voice interrupted.

"Shanks!" Luffy beamed. "I forgot! Ace! Shanks came with me cause Gramps' stupid training dropped me on his ship and we were searching everywhere for you! Sabo, that's Shanks! The pirate I told you about."

Ace muttered something under his breath, but Luffy knew his brother well and knew he didn't mean it.

Bluejam looked at Shanks with a really surprised face and Shanks was so cool how he just stood there ignoring him, smiling at Luffy and Ace and Sabo. "Really, you can take on the monsters in this forest but not this guy? You still gotta lot to learn."

"Shut up!" Ace bristled. "We don't need your help!"

Bluejam didn't point the pistol away from Luffy and his brothers, which was sad, because then they couldn't attack him even with most of his attention on Shanks.

"I don't care who ya are," Bluejam said to Shanks sounding as if he thought he was better than Shanks. "Leave now before I kill ya. Don't care if ya think ya are a pirate or somethin', I'll kill ya."

Guys of Bluejam's pointed weapons at Shanks too, Shanks was still smiling but it wasn't nice anymore and it wasn't directed at the brothers. "You know if I get this situation right, the only reason you're not getting beaten by a trio of kids - who aren't half your age if you put them together - is because you've got a gun pointed at them."

"More than one," Sabo quipped up into the resulting silence.

"More than one then," Shanks nodded. "I bet it's going to be fun if you haven't got your guns." He grinned and put a hand to his sword.

Lots of things happened very fast. Bluejam's arm jerked as if he wanted to point his gun at Shanks, but remembered half way why that was a bad idea, and shot. But by then Luffy, Ace and Sabo had already separated. Sabo jumped at him, Luffy came from the left and Ace from the right. The gun in Bluejam's hand broke into lots of slices. Bluejam blocked Sabo's pipe with an arm, and he kicked at Luffy, but he couldn't get Ace too, and Ace kicked him between the legs.

Bluejam shouted and dropped Sabo, Luffy was bringing his pipe up to smash his face in and it hit at the same time as Sabo's downwards hit. Luffy's pipe dented again, Sabo's even more and as Bluejam's knees gave away, Ace put all his body in a punch into his stomach.

Then they jumped back and teamed up on the next man to knock out one more enemy in the time it took to become clear if Bluejam would stay down or get up again.

He got back up.

"Shoot them! Forget about the money! Just shoot them!"

But there were no guns left for them to use, all in pieces like Bluejam's.

Shanks slid his sword back into its sheath, grinning like the madman many accused him of being. What would you know – it was fun.

Three little kids – their teamwork was faultless – beat men up, got beaten in turn, got back up, and fought back. Shanks had taken the liberty to take both swords and guns out of the fight, so it was fists only. It must be so humiliating.

Shanks just thought it was hilarious and he hoped to remember this till the end of his life. Just the whole situation – three kids, all counting less than a decade – beat grown men of a real pirate crew when they were outnumbered four to one, and did so with violence and power alone. How crazy was that?

Shanks sat down against a tree, wished for some sake, and continued watching. Granted, it took time. Granted, the kids took hits, real hard hits too (Ace was still bleeding badly from a shoulder, that Sabo kid had at the very least a concussion and Luffy had a collection of scratches and scrapes from all the fighting he had done already today). But they were just more persistent and that had to be the best of it all – it made Shanks giddy to think of the time when they would set sail. Pirates, Marines, Revolutionaries, who cared? It was going to be so very exciting either way. So much potential.

Author's Note:

And here we go with the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I certainly had fun writing it.

Lo and behold, Luffy finally found his big brothers and he did so with typical chaos surrounding them. Shanks on the other hand obviously has the time of his life, and in his typical style doesn't really care for consequences until they come staring him in the face.

I'm still kind of stuck on the next chapter (half already written, the other not cooperating), but I'm determined to get it out within the schedule. So that means the next chapter will be coming in a week or so.

Please drop a review on the way out and I'll see you soon.
~freefan1412

TBC.