New chapter, thanks a lot to the kind reviews they really help a lot!

Review(s):

WhiteyWolf26: You make a very good point, if he got it too soon it would stirr a reeeeaal lot of trouble wouldn't it? And yeah as I absolutely adore Coby but I don't think he'll be a very good pirate to be honest, I won't rob him of this.

Ages reminder:
Luffy: 9
Ace: 12
Sabo: 12
Zoro: 11
Coby: 8

Coby was regretting his life choices. Well not really, he couldn't really regret telling them a piece of his mind but maybe he could have waited a bit or done it more privately.

But he was just so so angry.

The pink haired boy idolized the World Government his whole life, he saw a Marine saving a kid's life when he was six and then freed the Humming Isles from a band of Pirates. Marines were heroes, they were fair, they weren't supposed to take advantage of this strength, Coby knew it wasn't right and yet...

Coby made a step back as the seven Marines turned their full attention to them. The waitress's presence surprised him, he didn't expect anyone to support him, he just wanted to get his mind out here. And he noticed how close Luffy was either, Sabo was here too, they followed him out of the Tavern. He wasn't alone, he shouldn't be so scared but he still felt horribly bad.

The kid was still crying behind his glasses, out of frustration and guilt because the first pirates he met were so nice and awesome and now they were in danger because of him. Not even counting the nice waitress, what was he supposed to do?!

Luffy and Sabo were stuck with him, surrounded and it was his fault, he couldn't even fight to try to help, he was sure he couldn't hurt an adult, he wouldn't even know how to start...

"Hey Coby, it's okay." said Luffy's voice and he looked up at the boy with the straw hat, the kid was barely a year older than him and he wasn't afraid of anything. Coby was envious of this attitude because the pink haired boy could never stop himself from thinking. He couldn't stop being afraid.

"We'll fight them off Coby and then we can kick Mogi's ass."

"Morgan, Luffy, his name is Morgan" mumbled Sabo half-heartedly. The blond wasn't as optimistic as his brother that they would be able to stop the Commander, plus they had no real reason to fight the guy really. They were pirates not heroes, he would try to convince Luffy otherwise but it was not the time, he could do that later, they had people to fight first.

To Sabo's surprise it wasn't their group, nor the Marines who made the first move.

The first rock was thrown by a villager and the Marines couldn't tell who did it at first. A second followed very fast and they found themselves dodging multiples projectiles from all directions, a bit too close to them Sabo thought but welcome all the same. Sabo jumped on the occasion and hit the first one between his legs with his pipe before he could react. The Marines were too busy paying attention to the villagers to notice his actions immediately and Luffy got to punch another Marine in his gut with his Gum Gum Pistol (not the Marine he aimed at but same difference), and when the group of Marines realized they were actually under attack there was only five Marines left standing. Sabo was not really synchronized with his brother, Luffy wasn't all that good at the teamwork thing just yet, Sabo always worked better with Ace, but his young brother was learning.

Coby was really impressed with them, he saw them fight before with each other but never in a team and their teamed take downs had him impressed -three Marines left- until one of them pulled a gun.

"W-wait! Luffy careful he has a gun!" He yelled, he couldn't fight an adult himself but he couldn't picture Luffy getting shot. The sound of the pistol echoed in the almost empty street and Coby saw the gunshot literally bouncing off Luffy and hitting another Marine Luffy was fighting.

The pink haired boy's mouth opened wide and he realized what happened. His rubber powers saved him! Then Luffy screamed.

"AAAAAAH It huuurts!" Sabo kicked the man that shot Luffy to the face until he fell into unconsciousness, bloody but still breathing, leaving only one Marine standing.

"Oh my god." mumbled Ririka, sitting next to the fallen kid, she hadn't seen what happened either.

"Luffy are you okay?!" Asked Sabo, his voice was tense and he didn't look away from the Marine.

This one looked younger than the others, he stayed behind during the fight, when the blond glared at him, he decided to cut his losses and just ran away.

Coby got to Luffy and Ririka, checking the damage to Luffy's belly and indeed he had a small bruise but nothing else. He let a sigh of relief.

"How did you do that?" Asked Ririka, in awe.

"I'm made of rubber but still ow… It hurt almost as much as when Gramps hits me!"

Coby blinked, okay Luffy might really be fine. Wait Gramps? He wasn't aware they had family.

"I didn't see the gun… Bulletproof uh? That's pretty useful." added Sabo trying to use a light voice but he staggered with a sigh of relief, he must have been as terrified as Coby was.

"Okay, we should get out of here before more Marines come." the blond said and Coby agreed with him but Luffy stubbornly didn't. And he could see that Ririka hesitated as well, Marines were looking for her too and Coby felt ashamed for trying to escape this island's problems.

"What? But we need to go and fight Mogi, you're not hurt are you?" He asked Sabo.

"Morgan, Lu', his name is Morgan and no we can't fight him!"

"Why not?" His inquisitive voice sounded to innocent Coby could believe that he honestly had no idea why they shouldn't. He was actually slowly getting to agree with Luffy, the waitress being the reason. Because of him she was a target, he couldn't just abandon the nice woman.

As they tried to make Sabo change his mind they realized that they were getting surrounded by way more Marines than before and the three boys took a fighting position while Ririka and Coby just stayed behind, struck by fear. This was a really troublesome situation.

~ ASL ~

Ace finished counting the money for their meal to the owner of the Tavern, he thought it was a real shame cause the man wasn't even there. And Ace didn't waste any time to make himself scarce as well, he guessed that Marines where looking for them after his little stunt with the blond jerk. Then he realized he had no idea where to go.

He left the tavern and went around the village, they wouldn't go near the Marine base, right? The streets were surprisingly empty and he was getting a little worried. Coby did look upset when he left, but it was just Coby, how bad could it be?

Pretty freaking bad he guessed once he followed the crowd to the village center, the Marine base a hundred meters or so from them.

Coby, Luffy, Sabo and the waitress lady, Ririka were surrounded by Marines and the big bad Captain Morgan himself was facing them with a smirk.

Ace was itching to join the fight but since no fight was happening (yet) he stayed back to check on the situation.

"Vice-Admiral Garp promised a nice sum and a reputation for the one who would capture his grandsons. Honestly if it wasn't for this one's straw hat I would never have suspected you kids…"

Ace's face went white. Luffy's expression was terrified. Sabo hid his face in his hands.

"Goddamnit Luffy…" Mumbled Sabo, his voice muffled, Ace sighed, if the situation wasn't so dire he would have punched his little brother himself, Sabo's pinch to his cheek would do for this time. Yeah there was no way they were getting caught by this guy to be given to Garp, the old man would kill them if he caught them.

Ace rounded the place to see if he could find a way out until he saw a very familiar smirking teenager.

Huh, that will do. Ace sneaked behind the blond boy and after knocking out the Marine soldier who guarded him (a swift metal pipe to his temple), he stole his gun and pulled Helmeppo to his chest to threaten him with it.

"No one moves!" he yelled, Luffy's happy yell of relief swelled some pride inside him and Cody's terrified and disapproving face was just a precious bonus.

If he was honest, he had no idea how to use this gun thing but it was fine cause he was really good a faking it. Good enough for Helmeppo to start sobbing in his arm too.

Everyone was looking at him now and he felt exceptionally proud, he was the master of the show, hell yeah. Yeah, Ace decided, he liked the attention.

~ RZ ~

One million and a half berrys. It was more money than he ever held in his short life and… yeah nothing. At least he was now sure he wasn't interested in it at all, he'd need the goods (food, swords, clothing) that comes with it but for the money itself he couldn't care less. He only had one objective in mind and would stop at nothing to reach it, money couldn't buy him the best swordsman in the world spot.

He finished his meal quickly enough, he was smart enough to hide a good portion of his money from people, he wouldn't underestimate human desperation after last time.

Zoro walked for a while and the town moved twice before he found the right shop, the night was falling soon but the clothing shop was still opened luckily enough.

The clothing was pretty bland but sold what he needed, he got a white shirt, some dark pants, dark boots (a bit big but he'll hopefully grow into them). He kept the bandanna of Jimmy, a bit bloody but a good memory. He still purchased a long red scarf he turned into a haramaki for his sword. Hopefully he'd have more to add to it soon enough. The owner from the shop was nice enough to lead him to the inn.

It's pretty dark it wouldn't do for a young man your age to get lost. Zoro shrugged it out and got another plentiful meal before going to sleep. Heh maybe having money wasn't all that bad. He'd need to find more bounties before the money ran out.

~ ASL ~

He should have guessed with Morgan's awful attitude but really he was hoping for a bit more. The man didn't give any crap about his child and something in Ace's stomach churned awfully.

"You can kill him for all I care, if he got caught he deserves to die." How cruel.

With disappointment and displaced anger, it could have been an easy getaway, he pushed him to the ground to let the blond go, it wasn't like he was a menace anyway. The sobbing blond ran towards his father but got immediately slapped to the face, passing out on the dirt and the situation wasn't getting any better.

That is until, the waitress, Ririka somehow got brave enough to face the man.

"Why? Why do you feel the need to oppress this city and its inhabitants? How can you call yourself a Marine when you're hurting us as much as pirates do!?"

Ace could see she was tearing up, probably picturing her own death after such demonstration but the freckled boy was in awe. She was absolutely badass.

That wasn't Morgan's opinion apparently because he immediately raised his Axe fist to slash at her. Sabo immediately went to shield her with his pipe but someone else reacted first to stop the Commander.

Ace didn't recognize him but the man looked like some kind of swordsmith with his leather apron. He was holding a crowbar and if his bulging muscles were any indication, his ability to stop the hit was genuine, he was pretty strong.

"Yamano-san!" said Ririka, surprised but Coby soon enough pulled her by her wrist so they could get out of here, they were both out of their league and as more villagers joined in the fight, it was turning into a full on battle. Ace joined Sabo and Luffy, the three of them breaking havoc and protecting Coby and Ririka.

The dozen Marines weren't numerous enough, or even willing enough to fight against the army of villagers and most of them surrendered or got knocked out.

"How dare you? Miserable insects! Soldiers, if you refuse to fight them you must kill yourselves! Right now, it's an order!" Morgan yelled, slashing at the swordsmith who started bleeding profusely from his shoulder. No villagers actually dared facing the man but the Commander already had a target in mind, the woman who dared facing him in the first place. Seeing the man approaching, Coby couldn't do much but dodge the first swipe by falling to the floor and hiding his head. He thought he was so dead but Sabo countered Morgan's swipe while Luffy clumsily punched his Iron jaw, which didn't do much but he managed to aim right this time. Seeing Luffy was now vulnerable, Morgan attempted to swiftly catch the boy but got a pipe to the side of his head, he hadn't seen the third kid jumping behind him. Ace got a solid punch to the face for his bravery but Sabo hit the adult between his legs for his distraction.

Morgan had a pretty good pain resistance ratio in general but even he folded in half when he got hit there. Ace was swaying and bleeding from his nose now (it was probably broken) but he wouldn't lose the opening that Sabo offered him and hit Morgan's head a second time. In the meantime Sabo was able to pull Luffy away and Ace retreated as well. The freckled boy hurt pretty bad but he wouldn't give up the fight now, not with his brothers facing the man.

The Captain Morgan looked absolutely furious now, his bloodshot eyes would give the young Coby nightmares for a while, in fact he was bleeding from his temple pretty badly but didn't look like he was giving up any time soon.

Nodding to each other, the three brothers went to attack him again, even if they didn't look like much, they knew that they could wear him out eventually and they were right. Sabo might have fractured a couple ribs when the man got him with the blunt side of his axe, Luffy wasn't able to completely dodge a swipe to his arm and Ace's head was spinning badly from another punch to his head but the man was down and everyone was cheering.

Ace let himself fall to the ground, his head hurt way worse now the adrenaline wasn't pumping anymore. He closed his eyes and slept.

~ NN ~

She'd been sailing for four days now from the last island now and she looked at the future with dread in her stomach. The past two hours the storm had been raging and she was getting desperate, she didn't know how long her small boat could handle it and once the water swallowed her...

Blinking her tears away (from the wind, the salty wind, nothing else) she thought about her sister, her village. She would do this for them, she couldn't die here. With renewed energy, she pulled at the rope to hold her boat steadier, she would handle this storm and get to her destination safely, yes she would, there was no other alternative.

Shell Town arc is ending, we'll come around finding crew members no worries. I still have to think about Ace's (and Sabo's) fictional crewmates. There might be a delay next time.

Thanks for reading, see ya!