LW: Chapter 2 of the flashback arc… we may be here a while lads :P

Drop in the Ocean - Running Ragged Ruffians! Riches to Rags!

"You know, if that had been on purpose, it would probably have been rather impressive" Kaos notes as Luffy punches himself in the face while trying to hit Ace with a 'Gum Gum Pistol', using the extension aspect of his Devil fruit to add range, speed, and force to his punches. The problem was, that he couldn't focus the attack long enough for it to complete its punch, instead ricocheting off the ground and coming right back at him

"Dumbass, why do all your moves suck!" Ace shouts as he kicks Luffy into a tree

"Score 1 for Ace, your turn Kaos" Sabo announces as he finishes adjusting the scoreboard✶, both boys nod and begin their brawl, while Luffy pouts in the corner

"You can really tell your age when you fight" Ace notes as he barely has to dodge a punch from the younger boy "You're unsure, jittery, and quite frankly don't seem to know where the end of your arms are" he finishes by slipping past Kaos' minimal guard and kicking him in the sternum, shoving him against the nearby tree "And that's number 2"

"My turn Ace" Sabo smirks as he enters the battlefield, having marked up a 2 for the other boy, their brawl much more evenly matched than Ace's 2 previous fights

'I won't lose to anyone, that includes you Sabo, sorry, not sorry' Ace thinks as he side steps a kick

'I'm still not strong enough, I can't stop till I'm stronger than Ace, till I'm the strongest in the world' Sabo scowls as he rolls away from a punch to the face, then both leap at each other for the final clash. Sabo's punch just barely missed, while Ace's sends him flying

"Damn it, why do their fights always look more evenly matched?" Luffy whines from the ground

"Because they're both older than us, and the same age as each other" Kaos answers "Also, you haven't quite figured out how to use your fruit offensively or defensively, no offence"

"Screw you! You think you're so great because your fruit makes actual armor!"

"Kind of, yeah. But on the other hand, it does make a different game much more interesting…."

"You're doing that weird grin again"

"Ace! Sabo!"

"Yeah?"

"What now?"

Flashbang!

"You bastard! When I can see again I'll wring your scrawny neck!" Ace shouts as he flails around

"You know, you're supposed to ask if we want to play before tricking us into Blind Man's Bluff" Sabo groans, having walked into a tree

"WHY IS EVERYONE YELLING?" Luffy screams

"Luffy, only you're yelling" Sabo retorts

"I think his hearing has just become more sensitive, given his loss of sight" Kaos says with a shrug

"Must be effecting me too, given I can HEAR your smirk from the other side of the clearing" Ace scowls, before turning in Kaos' direction "I can also smell the smugness you lanky fuck, so don't think you can beat me just because I'm seeing stars!" he declares/boasts

"Wouldn't dream of it Ace" Kaos nods, then throws a pebble, hitting the older boy straight in the forehead "But it was worth a try anyway Sesese!"

"WE MISSED SOMETHING COOL DIDN'T WE?" Luffy asks/whines

"Probably, but my vision is clearing up so it doesn't matter. Who's hungry?"

"I AM!"

"You're always hungry dummy" Ace sighs, rolling his eyes

"Meaning the question was pointless from the start, onward I guess" Kaos shrugs, before the foursome make their way to the river, crocodile meat on the menu once again

"That sure looks tasty" Ace grins, pipe resting on his shoulder

"I could eat crocodile meat every day" Luffy chuckles, already starting to drool

"Well, try not get eaten, or else we're going to have to save you, and probably scare all the other crocs away in the process" Kaos sighs, Hebi taking the form of a spiked bat today

"No fair, that was Ace and Sabo's fault!" Luffy argues

"And yours for not deflating fast enough" Sabo counters

"Enough, at this point the crocs will die of old age before we catch one" Ace shouts, before they all leap down and begin to beat their future dinner into submission

A few days later - Grey Terminal

"What's in that sack?" a guard wearing what looked like a hazmat suit asks the hooded man lugging it through the arcway into the city

"Crocodile skin, you can check if you want" the 'man' answers, pulling back some of the tarp to reveal the dead animal, to the guard's shock, who lets him pass through the Gate and into Edgetown, marking the beginning of the city.

"Hey buddy, want a little help with that package?" a thug asked as he approached the hooded man, who looked like he didn't even react to the gang beginning to circle him "Hey, I'm talking to you!" the man shouts, until there's a blade pressed against his throat

"Buzz off, all of you"

"You're dead you bastard!" the shade wearing thug shouts

"Not today, punk. Pick your marks more carefully buddy…" the 'man' smirks before removing the cloak, revealing Ace on Kaos's shoulders, while Sabo and Luffy clung to his back, the purple hairs teen shaking from the strain, and happy to be free of the disguise as the other 2 quite literally get off his back "You might get more than you bargained for!"

"Shit, it's them!"

"Not these brats again"

"They're multiplying!"

"No mercy for street thugs!" Ace shouts as a war cry, the other 3 taking it as an excuse to kick ass, so did precisely that

"All Right!"

Later

"I told you we'd make easy money with that crocodile skin" Ace croons, this time the head of a 3 man tower, Kaos having just stolen a cloak from one of the goons they beat up and tagging along as another anonymous trader

"Our pirate savings are really adding up" Sabo agrees, smiling under the coat

"That's nice…. but I'm hungry, and tired" Luffy whines, for some reason the bottom of the totem pole this time

"I have to agree with Luffy here, hauling that crocodile and you 3 all the way here was exhausting and worked up quite an appetite" Kaos hums, lightly flicking Ace in the back of the head

"Relax, just up the street is a place that apparently has the best ramen noodles you've ever tasted" Ace assures them

"Not saying much given I get the feeling Luffy and Kaos have never had ramen, so any kind would be the best they've ever tasted" Sabo snarks, getting a soft chuckle from the purplette

"Hello" the restaurant owner greets, then gasps taking in the ragged appearance of their cloaks "I'm terribly sorry but, we don't serve your kind in this establishment"

"The V.I.P. room please" Sabo requests, pulling out some kind of medallion from the cloak to show the man, who pauses and blinks in confusion

"That mark, but your appearance… my mistake, please follow me my good fellows, we'd be happy to allow nobles of your standing to enter our humble establishment" he bowly lowly and allows them in

"Well damn, who'd you steal that from?" Kaos grins as they were left to their own devices with 4 bowls of ramen "Because it's a pretty handy trinket"

"Nobody, I just found it on the street is all" Sabo chuckles awkwardly, luckily a better liar than Luffy was at least

"Less yapping more eating. I brought you here to ea…. Of course, he is" Ace chuckles lowly as Luffy already had his head shoved into his bowl, practically inhaling the food "You are at least able to taste the food right Luffy?"

"It's Good!" the rubber boy cries, which Ace took as a yes

"Seco..sbnfj" Luffy tries to yell only for his head to be slammed into the table to stop him from giving the game away

"Seconds please, 4 more bowls post haste!" Sabo orders through the door, the boys hiding under the jacket and Kaos pulling back up the hood as the waitress returns with their orders

It was actually surprising how long they were able to keep this ruse going, less so that it was Luffy who got them caught, snatching their 8th helping with a rubber arm was apparently the moment they decided something was Sus with their VIPs.

"We've been caught, out the window!" Ace shouts as the manager throws open the door, the 4 kids following him as they leapt into the street once more

"We've got a dine and dash. Catch those criminals!" the manager bellows

"Criminals, but they're just kids" some of the people on the street mutters

"Not again, how do you keep getting past the gate?" the 'police' of the region groans, seeing it was Ace, Sabo, Luffy, and Kaos…. Again "I don't care that they're kids, those little helions belong in a jail cell!"

A man in a top hat was wandering down the street, minding his own business, when 4 kids rushed past him, one of which looked hauntingly familiar to him 'It can't be… can it?' he wonders, and now had to be sure "Sabo, is that you?" he calls out, and as the boy tenses and freezes he smiles, he was right "I'm so glad to see you're alive. Let's go home!"

"What's going on, do you know that moneybags?" Ace asks, noticing Sabo's deep scowl

"I think he knows you" Luffy hums

"He's clearly got me mixed up with someone else, let's go!" Sabo growls and takes off at full speed, the other 3 following close behind

"No! Sabo come back!" the man shouts and begins to give chase

"Shit we gotta lose him. Kaos flash him!" Sabo orders

"Fine fine, no need to be snippy" Kaos mutters, but goes through with it, flashbanging not only the man following them but most of the street as he used a reflect armoured 'Ta Da!' motion with his hands, cackling madly, before reuniting with the boys in the chaos.

The forest hideout

"So, going to explain what just happened now, or the far side of never?" Kaos asks, watching Sabo squirm as he tries to come up with a denial

"I'm not hiding anything from you guys, nothing's going on" Sabo argues

"Ok" Luffy nods with a smile, till both Ace and Kaos punch him in the back of the head

"You're full of it Sabo and you're lying to us, right to our faces!" Ace shouts angrily "We can't keep secrets from each other"

"So talk!" all 3 of them shout, ganging up on the blond kid

"Ah…. fine" Sabo sighs, the pressure too much for him "I'm…. the son of a noble. That noble we ran into in particular" he confesses

"So?" all the ask, Luffy and Ace picking their nose, while Kaos just looks bored with his eyes half closed

"IF YOU DIDN'T CARE WHY DID YOU PRESSURE ME INTO ANSWERING?!" Sabo screams then sighs and drops down to lean against the tree "The truth is, both my parents are still alive, I'm not really an orphan like you 3" he groans "I didn't grow up in Grey Terminal, and that guy who was calling to me, he was my dad" Sabo confesses "i'm sorry I lied about everything"

"He said he's sorry, so it's all good right?" Luffy asks with an innocent smile

"I'm not forgiving him until we get the whole story" Ace huffs

"I'd also like to know how you went from being a nobles son to sifting through trash alongside Ace" Kaos wonders, now sitting against another tree to Sabo's left

"Exactly, if you're the son of some noble, why'd you want to live in a junk heap like Grey Terminal or the woods like us?" Ace asks

"Because I ran away from home, ok?" Sabo growls, surprising the 3 boys

And with that, the cracks turned into a deluge as Sabo unloaded everything on them, the weight of expectations, needing to be perfect at everything, this annoying little shit who thought he could push him around for having 'royal blood' and it somehow being his fault for defending himself when the fucker tried to shank him. How the only thing his parents cared about was their image, and how his existence continued to ruin it.

"I realised, they love their money, property, and status, but not their son. If I couldn't marry a noble woman I was useless to them. I studied culture, literature, and everything they gave me, but I guess, I wasn't learning fast enough because they were always getting mad. That family, had no place for me, so I decided to leave, as there was no point staying where I wasn't wanted" Sabo finishes, his entire body tense like a coiled spring, then sighs deeply "At least the people in Grey Terminal know what it means to be free, if the nobles in Hightown would get their heads out of their butts and stop licking the kings' boots, maybe they'd see there's more to the world than their money and status"

"Well, damn. You've really had it rough Sabo, not the same as us, but enough it doesn't really matter the differences" Ace nods

"Ace, Luffy, Kaos. We're going to get off this God-forsaken island one day, see the world and be pirates!" Sabo declares "And when we've done it all, I'm gonna write a book about it, for kids like me!"

"Great! You can read and write though, right Sabo?" Luffy asks, getting 3 punches to the face for the question

"Dumbass" Sabo groans, but the smile returns as his dream is finally out there for his friends to hear

"You don't gotta tell me twice, I'm gonna be the strongest pirate that ever lived, and one day, pirates, marines, everyone will bow at my feet in marvel of my power!" Ace declares, tapping his pipe against the ground like a staff "Everyone in the world will know my name, that's the legacy I'll leave behind as I die" states the Future 'Fire Fist' "I don't care if people hate me, I don't care if they wish I'd never been born, but they won't ignore me, that is what it means to be Strong in this world. I won't ever lose, I won't ever back down, I swear it here and now!"

"Then I know what I'm going to be too" Luffy grins as he runs to the edge of the cliff and sucks in his breath "THE KING OF THE PIRATES!"

"Damn it Luffy, you were supposed to let me go next" Kaos sighs as Ace and Sabo stared at him in shock "Wanting to unravel the secrets of the Devil fruits is much less impressive after a declaration like that" he mopes, Sabo and hebi trying to comfort the lanky kid

'I'm surrounded by idiots… and Sabo' Ace thinks, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance

"Hey, we all wanna be pirates, but we're only saving up for the one ship,so what if all 4 of us want to be captain?" Sabo asks, his brain going off on an odd tangent

"Huh, hadn't considered that" Ace muses "Honestly, I'd assumed you'd be MY navigator, sorry about that" he shrugs

"You're both welcome to join my crew" Luffy pipes in

"NO THANKS!"

"Does it help if I point out I'm fine with NOT being captain?" Kaos asks

"A little, but that just means there's 3 of us instead of 4 gunning for the position" Ace admits "Anyway, not like it matters today, maybe we'll leave on 1 ship, maybe we'll leave on 3, maybe we'll sail out into the world and split up on the way to the Grand Line" he says as he slips into the hideout and returns with 4 sake cups and a bottle

"Oh, Dadan's not going to like that you stole from her secret stash" Luffy whispers

"Let me tell you boys a secret" Ace smirks as he uncorks the bottle "All it takes to become brothers is to share sake"

"This seems more complicated than the last time we adopted someone" Kaos chuckles as Ace passes him a filled cup

"Yeah but there was no way Shanks or Makino would have let us anywhere near the sake" Luffy argues "Plus maybe it's just brothers, sisters simply need to be declared as family and you're done" he shrugs

"In that case you and I need a double shot, to make up for lost time" Kaos winks "Need to make our brotherhood official and all that"

"You're both idiots" Sabo chuckles as he takes his own cup

"We may sail on different ships, on different crews and different seas, but one thing remains true, we'll always be brothers and nothing can take it away" Ace announces, all 4 raise their cups and down it like shots, in hindsight only the 2nd dumbest thing Kaos and Luffy did after eating a Devil fruit, but probably the dumbest thing Sabo or Ace had done…. In the last few years.

A few weeks later

"What a lovely morning, things are sure looking up for a change" Dadan hums as she stretches, stepping out of the bandit base…. And into a pitfall trap "Huh? WHAT MORON DUG A HOLE OUTSIDE MY DOORWAY?"

"The kids did it, they said it was to catch wild boars" Mogra answers from outside the hole

"You idiots! Get me out of here!" Dadan bellows, the men sigh before helping heave the woman out of the hole "Also, next time warn a lady Geez" she groans, meanwhile another bandit falls in a different hole, it seems the boys had been busy that morning.

Edge Town

"Sabo!" some thug yells "This is our turf, you know we don't take kindly to you punks hanging around here"

"Your turf? Man you punks are delusional, but how about we skip the chin wags and get straight to the ass kicking" Sabo taunts, lifting his pipe to his shoulder

"You cocky little twerp"

'Flying Ace special'

Crack

"Shit it's Ace!" the gang leader grimaces as Ace swings in like Tarzan and knocks one of his goons to the ground, meanwhile Luffy's leg snaps back to him and sending him flying into the air

"Drama Queen" Kaos sighs as he jumps over the wall, landing on a guy's back and bringing him to the ground "Now take your beating like a man" he smirks as he slams his armoured fist into the back of the guys head

"Great, another one" a thug groans, just before Luffy enters the battlefield, taking too long to wind up his swing and getting punched in the face for his trouble.

Then came shrill whistles as the local law enforcement become aware of the scuffle

"Now you show up. Come on we better bail" Ace orders, Sabo and Ace leaping over the wall, while Kaos tosses a still-face-mashed Luffy over before following the others

"That was fun, oh, maybe we should catch a deer for dinner" Sabo suggests once they were back in the forest

"All Right! I can taste it already!" Luffy cheers and runs off, his brothers facepalm, but follow to stop him doing something too stupid by himself

As night fell the boys returned with their catch, throwing it to Dadan and once food was done the true battle began. It would probably have been fun to watch from an outside perspective as everyone fought for every last scrap of deer meat, but alas everyone in the house was also fighting for the food and therefore, it was just a hellscape of men and boys being tossed around left right and centre, no pattern or sense could be determined.

The next day, Dadan at the end of her tether

"THOSE BRATS HAVE GOT TO GO!"

"Excuse me"

'Shit we've been caught!'

"Please ignore that last statement I'm going insane from stress and lack of sleep" Dadan bows and apologises, then realises she hadn't summoned Garp, but instead there was a grumpy-looking man in a bucket hat and a young green haired woman standing in front of her

"Um sorry to bother you, we're looking for Luffy and Kaos, we were told they live here now, I think?" Makino asks

As if summoned "Makino!" Luffy shouts as he rushes out of the house and hugs the woman, Kaos walking out and waving with a smile

"Oh Luffy you've gotten so big since you left" Makino giggles as she ruffles his hair

"You boys seem to have taken to the outdoors pretty well, can't believe it's been 6 months already" Woodslap chuckles

"Good morning Mr Mayor, Makino"

"I missed my 2 favourite visitors, and the piano misses you dearly Kaos"

"You could play it every once in a while" the purplette mutters

"I would, if the bar wasn't so busy"

"So, Garp was telling the truth, he really has you shacked up here with some mountain bandits" Woodslap grunts

"You got a problem with that?" Dadan growls

"OF COURSE I DO!" the mayor shouts "ESPECIALLY THE MOUNTAIN BANDIT PART YOU RUFFIAN!"

"Ruffian! Is everyone from Fushia Village this annoying?"

"I brought presents," Makino says with a clap, partially to draw attention away from Woodslap and Dadan's fight "Knowing Garp you boys probably just about have the shirts on your backs, so I brought you both some I thought you'd like" she smiles, passing a star shirt to Luffy and Diamond shirt with 'Boros' on the back to Kaos

"Awesome!" Luffy cheers

"Thanks Makino" Kaos smiles "It will be nice to wear something besides a plain black t-shirt for a change"

"I also brought some for your friends, but they'll need to come out in order for me to fit them correctly. Come here boys!" Makino calls, Ace and Sabo realising they weren't being as subtle as they could be, at that precise moment "Please" she adds with a sweet smile which convinces Sabo to come over to Ace's annoyance, before finally joining them for a fitting

"I heard this Ace boy is pretty naughty and a ruffian, but you seem like a rather nice kid, little rough around the edge but who isn't at that age" Makino giggles as she sizes the grumpy boy

"Where'd you hear that?" Ace asks defensively

"What a dork" Sabo chuckles

"Ace is blushing, he wants Makino to be his girlfriend!" Luffy laughs

Ace's blush deepens as his face twists into a scowl "Shut up you little brat!"

"Hold still" Makino scolds the flailing boy

"Those 2, I'm gonna kick their asses later, thinking they can make fun of me" Ace mutters darkly, which Makino ignores, fairly sure these kids can handle fights amongst each other, given they live with mountain bandits

"You 2 know you're several shades of fucked, right?" Kaos asks, rather liking the feel of his new shirt, same as the other 2

"Worth it!" Luffy and Sabo say with matching wide grins

To commemorate the visit, Makino also helped to make food for the boys as well as the entire Dadan family, as a token of her gratitude for taking in Luffy and Kaos when they clearly had 2 boys of their own to look after (nobody wanted to tell her A) none of these boys were their decision, and B) Sabo showed up AFTER Luffy and Kaos).

It was this happy air, which was ruined by the arrival of a certain man….

"This food is so good, I hope when I go out to sea I can find the best cook in the world for my pirate crew, so I can eat like this every day" Sabo moans as he stuffs his face

"Well too bad, I'm going to recruit the best cook in the world for MY pirate crew, and I'll eat meals this good every night" Ace boasts

"Nu-uh, my crew will have the best cook in the world, the best everything!" Luffy declares

"I pray whichever of you idiots decides to let me stay, the cook is at least decent" Kaos sighs, then feels a cold shiver run down his spine causing him to look up and all the colour drain from his face

"You brats still spouting that pirate crap?" Garp bellows from the doorway

'FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKK!' Luffy and Ace think mid spit-take

"You boys are all gonna become marines one day even if I have to beat the dignity into you!" he declares, then punches both boys into the ground with single punch

'Then why are they staying with us?' the Dadan family wondered, living with mountain bandits would make becoming a criminal easier, not becoming a marine.

"Dadan"

"Yes Garp" the woman nods, then groans as she joins the boys on the ground "Why'd you hit me too?"

"Because you're doing a shitty job of raising my boys correctly"

"Jeez, your grandpa's a scary guy" Sabo whispers, getting a nod from Kaos, and Garp's attention

"Who are you squirt? I hear you spouting that pirate crap too"

"He's not a squirt he's Sabo, we all shared sake cups and became brothers with the promise to become pirates one day, and nothing you do or say will stop us!" Luffy shouts, voice filled with determination

'Does this dumbass ever shut up?' Ace groans from the floor

"Oh really? Well, I'm a marine Vice Admiral, and if you're going to act like criminals then I'll have to tan your hide like criminals" Garp scowls, cracking his knuckles

"And that's different to what you were going to do anyway because?" Kaos mutters, earning his face planted punch to the floor for the evening

"Better start running!"

"I pray those boys live long enough to escape this island" Woodslap sighs as he and Makino head home, concerned about Garp's 'parenting skills' but unable to actually do anything about it

Some time after midnight

"Luffy, your grandpa is fucking nuts" Sabo groans painfully, all 4 boys beaten to fuck in their room, Garp's snoring echoing through the house

"That's why we need to do something, the Old coot's gonna kill us otherwise" Ace scowls

"Because for once he decided to not immediately fuck off after beating us up, like almost every other time" Kaos sighs, ignoring Hebi's suggestions to to shank him while he's passed out from drinking all of Dadan's booze "Meaning he's probably going to be just as stubborn as Luffy about making us not be pirates" he adds, causing Ace to shiver, remembering how nothing he did could stop Luffy from following him around, translating that to Garp…. Yeah they were all going to die weren't they?

"But I don't wanna die!" Luffy whines "And I don't wanna give up my dream!"

"Then we have only 1 option" Ace reveals "it's time to grow up, who's with me?"

"Please explain" Kaos says, getting a nod from Sabo while Luffy had already agreed to whatever stupid idea Ace had just come up with

"Ok fine. It goes a little like this…."

The next morning

'We will stand on our feet KLAS' was what the note pinned to the support beam of the Dadan house said, and promptly sent the bandits into a frenzy. Garp meanwhile showed his 'excellent' parenting skills, by not giving a shit

"Are you kidding, I may not like looking after the brats, but they've managed to piss off basically every gang on the island if they get caught off guard…"

"That's nice, well off to work. Be sure to turn those 4 ragamuffins into hard-working honest marines by the time I get back ok?" Garp orders as he walks off, proving Kaos wrong as without the kids around to beat up, he got bored and went home, hopefully Sengoku had some pirates for him to Fist the ever-loving shit out of

Deeper into the woods

"Ok, we got away from Grandpa, now what?" Luffy asks

"I'm a little surprised they didn't send someone after us already" Sabo hums

Ace shrugs "It's fine, Dadan's wanted me gone for years now, she's probably too busy throwing a party to care"

"Back to Luffy's point, for a change, what do we do now?" Kaos asks with a tired sigh, just as the sky begins to rumble

"Shelter?"

"Shelter, come on there's a tree with a big enough hollow for us to stay in until the rain stops" Ace orders, leading the group to their current safe zone, where they even ended up curling up in a massive pile and sleeping through the storm (Kaos complaining about Sabo's elbow in his ribs and Ace complaining about Luffy foot in his face being the only issues the next day)

"What's that?" Luffy asks the next morning, coming over to a drawing Sabo was showing Ace and Kaos

"I designed us a hideout for us to live in, until we have our pirate ship it should be more than adequate, plus we can store our treasure here and keep it safe ourselves, rather than hide it in a crevice and just hope it doesn't get found and stolen" the blond boy explains "And this tree would be the perfect place to build it, it's big and sturdy enough to make a decent structure on it"

"Our own hideout?" Luffy repeats, then grins widely "Awesome!"

"What should we build it with?" Ace asks

"We live next to a mountain of trash, remember, we'll find what we need there. Now, onward!" Sabo declares, getting a sharp "Ay ay" from the other 3 boys

And so the 4 future pirates began their operation, showing a surprising level of construction skills for a bunch of kids, that they not only built a treehouse, but a multi-leveled basecamp/proto pirate ship

"Our own hideout, so cool!" Luffy cheers once the building had been completed

"I have to say, this went a lot better than expected" Kaos admits with a low whistle, grinning widely as he watches the flag flutter

"We did a good job guys… hey Ace, is something wrong?" Sabo asks, seeing Ace was the only one of them not smiling

"This is a secret base right? Then it's missing something important…. Boobytraps" he states before flashing a wicked grin, causing the other 3 boys to laugh

"Wow! We can see so much from up here!" Luffy cheers "You can see Grey Terminal, Fushia village, and even the East Blue!"

"Yeah, but we can see those any day of the week, what's your point?" Sabo asks in confusion

"Yeah…. But it's different seeing them from up here, it just doesn't feel the same"

The 3 shrug and climb up to join their idiot brother… and were blown away by the sights

"Wow, it's all laid out like a map up here"

"You're right Luffy, this is nice, up here it all seems so small, but peaceful"

"This was a good idea, building the hideout up here, ay guys?"

"It was your idea dummy" Kaos deadpans, lightly flicking Sabo's nose

"I know, but you can't deny it" he laughs

"Fair enough, now… who wants to play pirates?"

"Oh I do, me, me, me!" Luffy shouts, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet

Dadan family hideout

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T FOUND THEM YET!" Dadan bellows

"Sorry Boss, we asked around, and people have seen them in Grey Terminal, and in the woods, but nothing specific or useful when it comes to locating them now" the bandit admits

"But, it's been 2 weeks, how can we have found nothing? Oh no, you don't think that tiger ate the poor boys up and there's nothing left of them?" Dadan begins to panic/spiral

"BOSS! We found them!" Dogra shouts as he a Mogra rush back to base

"You did? Where are they? Are they still alive?"

"Yeah, they're fine, even built a hideout of their own deep in the woods in that massive tree" Dogra explains

"It's true, we can even take you there to see it if you want" Mogra offers, knowing it would do the Boss' nerves some good to see the boys were alright

Instead of letting him do so, Dadan instead snuck out that evening to check on them, an unconscious smile crossing her face as she sees her boys so relaxed, content and peaceful sleeping in their treehouse base. 'They're little monsters when they're awake, but they're surprisingly nice when they're asleep' she muses, especially seeing Luffy practically crawl on top of Kaos and Ace while somehow still being asleep himself. With a sigh of relief, Dadan shuffles back down the tree, heading back to her base to sleep, knowing those brats would be fine, for the moment at least.

TBC

LW: And with that moment of peace, we bid them adieu for another 2 weeks.

✶ The final scorecard that day after 99 fights each (as it was easier that way, due to not being able to split 100 3 ways)

Luffy: Vs Kaos - 33 losses, Vs Sabo - 33 losses, Vs Ace - 33 losses

Kaos: Vs Luffy - 33 wins, Vs Sabo - 5 wins/ 28 losses, Vs Ace - 3 wins/30 losses

Sabo: Vs Luffy - 33 wins, Vs Kaos - 28 wins/ 5 losses, Vs Ace - 15 wins/ 18 losses

Ace: Vs Luffy - 33 wins, Vs Kaos - 30 wins/ 3 losses, Vs Sabo - 18 wins/15 losses