New chapter with my friend's computer! I have a solid idea of what's going to happen and I might even have an ending for this story, so hopefully no eternal hiatus wait!

WhiteyWolf26: To be perfectly honest I'm not a huge fan of Alvida, but no worries I preparded a solid villain for Zoro to have fun with, and the other ASL Pirates too.
About Whitebeard you might be right but we'll see how they figure out things with the present stuff. I can't even tell you for sure that Ace will join the Whitebeards (they might remain allies instead). Nothing is for certain so I don't restrain myself with the narrative. Hope you'll like it tho!

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

Their first night to the sea was pretty calm. In fact, the second they left the surroundings of Shell Island Luffy and Ace fell asleep in a heap together.

Sabo had started to think that unlike Ace, Luffy didn't actually suffer from narcolepsy, but he'd been following and copying Ace since they met. He wouldn't be surprised if Luffy's "narcolepsy" was just some kind of mirroring mechanism. He saw Ace falling asleep at random times and decided he could do the same, he wouldn't put it past Luffy not to realize that Ace's predicament was an illness and not just a quirk.

Sabo still decided to let them rest, the sea was pretty calm, and the wind was only getting kind of fresh, bringing the end of the summer. He put his trench coat on.

The blond watched the rising sun, then went to add a new entry to the Captain's journal while sitting on the deck. Since technically the three of them were co-captains (as far as they could agree with that), they could all write in it, yet Sabo tended to be the only one to care. Sabo and Ace made sure that Luffy could kind of read and write but he was just too superactive to be able to stay still with a pencil. Ace tried to write something but at his first attempt he got a narcolepsy attack on the journal, smudging the page and his face with ink. And the second time was just a couple of days ago and he just went on a rant about Coby's presence on the ship. Quite entertaining to read but not very useful.

Sabo wrote down their trip and adventure on Shell Island if it could be called that, it was their first real encounter with dangerous forces and yet… Sabo loved it, not as much the fighting part but defeating an evil guy was exhilarating. They freed the town and it gave him an important feeling of satisfaction.

Plus, the villagers went and contributed beating up marines, because they wanted to be freed from Morgan and they ended up saving themselves, even if they needed a bit of help. The relief on Ririka's face, the town's cheering, just writing about it brought a smile in Sabo's face. He hoped they would find more places like this, they might not always be able help but the blond would do his absolute best because freedom was the most important thing he could think about. That and his brothers of course.

Luffy stirred first and Sabo knew Ace would follow soon because there was no way their younger brother would stay silent. Luffy yawned and tugged at Sabo's coat.

"Hey why is the moon orange?" asked Luffy sleepily, not that loud but in between the silent waves it was loud enough.

"It's the sun Luffy." answered Sabo with a exasperated tone, he did try to teach him some physics and astronomy at some point but he just couldn't stay in place and even when he did (usually after some kind of injury), he always had issues with the understanding part. Sabo gave up but he had no problems answering his questions.

"Then why do we still see the stars?" Luffy asked again confused.

"Because the sun is only rising, its light will reach the other side of the sky soon." Sabo put his pen down, it was enough introspection and writing in one go.

He could hear Ace groaning in his sleep and pulled Luffy with him. Ace was still hurt and needed the rest.

"Let's go check our supplies and sort out the food. Separate the easily spoilt food from the rest."

With the mention of food Luffy was already agreeing, with Ririka and Coby's addition to their supplies, he could let his little brother steal some.

Sabo smiled, all in all it was a pretty great day.

~ RZ ~

He should have known it was a shitty day from the start.

A pirate attack was really nothing to scoff at. So much more different from a duel on land. As soon as the first pirates boarded, the sailors took arms to defend their lives. The fighting started and Zoro felt kind of overwhelmed by everything. People fought all over the place and his first target was the first pirate that approached him, a laughing man with a dark beard. But while he was fighting him, another with a wooden leg tried to slice him from behind.

A swordsman shame.

Zoro committed his first murder but it wasn't enough, it wasn't even remotely close to enough, they were completely outnumbered. By the time Zoro defeated five more pirates, he was shot at his side from behind, through and through. By then, most of the sailors he spent the last two days with were either dead or severely injured, there was nothing he could do about that. He wasn't strong enough.

Really the only other sailor from the merchant ship still standing was another light-haired young man, he was fighting only with a bat but while he had some cuts on his arms it looked like he fared good enough. He didn't look older than thirteen.

The pirate captain of the ship, a grey haired man with a long shark-like nose ordered his men to stop and smiled cruelly at them.

"You're both pretty strong kids, one of you can join my crew, the other will die." He could hear the unsaid rhetorical question underneath because the other pirates immediately started yelling for them to kill one another and while Zoro usually appreciated a good fight, there was nothing to enjoy about this situation. The only other survivor was looking at him with terror and determination while the pirates booed at them. Zoro grit his teeth and made his decision. He sheathed his three swords slowly, staring straight at the captain.

"Why would I want to join your shitty crew?"

"Haha kid, funny, if you don't, you die." The green haired kid's eyes flashed with anger, screw that noise. He could almost see some of the men recoiling slightly at his expression.

"Then, it's gonna be on my terms."

Zoro climbed on the fence of the ship and let himself fall overboard, letting the waters claim him.

~ ASL ~

It was the worst day ever, decided Ace pulling on the rope to fold the sails up, following Sabo's indications.

The freckled teen was on watch for the first half of last night, Luffy was supposed to stay for the other half but Ace hadn't been able to find him. The youngest brother was found this morning sleeping in one of the empty barrels because, Ace assumed, he didn't want to do his part of the job. Ace had been pretty pissed, mostly because Luffy had pulled that thing off before. Ace had thought that being threatened not to be given any meat for three days was enough for Luffy to be more responsible, it wasn't.

Then Luffy had been of course insufferable during the day too, asking for meat until Sabo explained him calmly why he was punished. In the end, Ace hadn't been able to sleep either way because an awful storm broke out. Now he was absolutely ready to pass out at any minute, this situation was really the worst.

They never encountered a storm that bad and Sabo looked like he was at the verge of panic. The blond was looking frantically at the sky, trying unsuccessfully to get them out of the storm, Ace knew that without a good navigator they would have lost this battle long ago but he really wished they were better prepared to those situations. If they survived they would learn from the experience and find more cremated, or a better ship.

Not far from the blond, Luffy was holding the wheel desperately, listening to Sabo with an unusual air of seriousness, he had a rope around his hips tied to the main mast, they wouldn't take risks, down here he should be safe enough…

Ace was still quite angry about Luffy's actions the night before, but he also way more worried about his brother's survival. He should have been the one to explain why Luffy's actions were wrong, he shouldn't have hid behind Sabo. Yeah, Ace decided, he would tell him, assuming they managed to get out of this storm.

Ace wiped his forehead where his hair had stuck to his skin, he was also quite cold, open to the elements, the rain soaking him to the bone and the wind just making him colder, he didn't get colds very often but he hoped it wouldn't come to this.

It's been an hour they were fighting it and the storm didn't seem to be stopping at all but from where he was, Ace saw something that lifted his spirits.

"LAND! Sabo! There is an island!" screamed Ace at the top of his lungs, pointing to the direction he saw the island shaped dark spot, relief flooding his voice.

Holding the wheel now, Sabo's face brightened and he said something to Luffy he couldn't hear but the ship started to tilt toward the island, they would be safe, finally.

The island wasn't as small as he thought, it was actually pretty big but they had no time to try and figure out its actual size, they moved on the side, trying not to get swiped against the cliffs. Sabo managed to direct the ship towards a small water cavern, big enough to hide their ship and find cover. The light from outside was soon not enough and Ace brought an oil lamp to check out the place while Sabo got an old still somehow functioning flashlight.

The cavern was actually beautiful, natural light shining on the white stone and crystals from which some water dripped into white stalactites as tall as an adult man.

Luffy, the only one who wasn't completely soaked, removed his hat to dry it up and gawked at the place with awe. The water was slightly calmer here and the ceiling was high, if the water rose too much it wouldn't be too troublesome to leave the cavern. Sabo staggered on land to tie the ship to a particularly large spike, thus stabilising the ship.

"F-finally" mumbled Sabo, mirroring Ace's thoughts and letting himself sit and lean against the rock, enjoying the break. Ace let himself lie on the deck, the waves slowly lulling him to rest. Now they were safe, he had no reason not to surrender to slumber so he did.

~ ASL ~

"What do you mean you don't know where Luffy is?" asked Ace, a panicked edge to his voice.

"I was checking the damage on the Freedom, I thought he was with me the whole time." groaned Sabo, pinching the bridge of his nose. He really didn't see Luffy leave and was regretting it pretty badly. Even more after what happened last night, his younger brother wasn't always aware of the consequences of his actions but when he was he could be very serious. Luffy hadn't eaten any meat all day, as per Ace's orders, but Sabo wondered how long he would resist this decision if he found some meat in the stock room. They hadn't tied up the supplies good enough and some of the food was all over the place, one of the barrels having broken during the storm, they would have to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

"I'm going to go looking for him." Said Ace angrily and Sabo didn't protest, once he was finished he would probably do the same.

"I think the other side of the cavern leads to the island, there's some wind coming from this tunnel." Ace nodded, pipe in hand. Sabo winced internally, praying for Luffy's safety, not from any outside force but from Ace's temper. Oh he'll be fine, he was made of rubber after all, he'd survive Ace, probably.

~ RZ ~

The sight of a kid staring at his meat longingly without making any move to steal it, was pretty interesting. He was so obviously drooling but everytime his hand rose, he slapped it down by his own will.

"You're sure you don't want it?" Asked Zoro, unimpressed. He caught this boar earlier in the day, before the storm broke out and he wasn't sure he would be able to eat all of it. The dark haired kid turned his attention to him, pinching his lips in quite a funny way and nodding.

"Promised I won't eat meat cause I did somethin' bad."

Zoro blinked, so he just refused to eat meat uh? The kid's stomach growls were still echoing in the cavern and the green haired kid sighed, getting some apples from the makeshift bag he made with a piece of fabric and throwing them at the kid. He found them in the forest.

"Eat those then, you said you couldn't eat meat, right?" The other's eyes sparkled at the sight of the red apples and he almost threw himself at them.

Zoro would have laughed if it didn't bring him some awful pain to his injury, instead he smiled, satisfied with himself.

He wasn't all that sure how he survived his swim, all he knew was that two days ago he washed up on the beach of this island, still wounded. Wado Ichimonji was safe and he was just too glad that he didn't lose his treasure.

He needed to leave this dangerous island as soon as possible, and this kid might just be his ticket.

"Hey you're a nice guy, wanna join my crew?" said the kid.

~ NN ~

"Never heard of this name, sorry." She thanked the older woman and let herself fall on a wooden bench. There was really too little that could be told about the Oykot kingdom nowadays. The kingdom wasn't even one anymore, having been toppled down by a group of rebels couple of years ago if she understood correctly. It was currently under the jurisdiction of a mayor of all things, a woman called Sandra but the country was still recovering from war and really vulnerable to pirates.

Basically nothing changed, the young woman thought dryly.

The village she was visiting had been raided twice the past four months and the townspeople were complaining that the militia was utterly useless against them.

At least they were pretty willing to help her, they didn't have much but they were really generous to offer everything they had. She'd been invited to eat with families more than once, leaving her food and money supplies fuller than she expected. They couldn't really resist of the act of the poor girl looking for her family in the ruins.

Is it still an act though? She wondered, her desperation was painfully real, she wanted her family, she wanted her village, she wanted to save her.

Swallowing her tears, she opened her backpack to check the map her sister copied from a book for her, holding it carefully and lovingly. The last item she got from her younger sister before she was taken from her. Her sister vanished for more than a month before she went looking for help.

"Nami… I will find a way to help you." She whispered to the paper, reminding herself why she was doing this and folded the map back in her bag.

Nojiko stood and walked towards the next village, she believed she could do this, she had to.

Psyche! It was the sister all along! Gotcha! Or not, haha.Remember when it was a cute simple story? Yeah, me neither, I lost this thread long ago, ah well too bad, can't help it if the universe is so tragic.Also I have no knowledge whatsoever about how to direct a ship or what is done during a storm so try not to cringe too much when I make weird navigation stuff happen. It was hard enough to google the right terms in french AND english, haha.See you next time!