Author's Note: Those of you seeking action/adventure in this chapter are unlikely to be satisfied. The story's really getting twisted, too—when I started, I only intended this to be a final battle between Luffy and Buggy and their crew, and then have it end when that battle ends. But Buggy died in chapter 5, and it's still going… Well, we'll see where this goes.

Replies to reviews:

imjuzakyd: I'm so sorry; I somehow forgot to reply to your review in the last chapter. I liked your idea, though I sort of twisted it to suit my purposes; Ace's emotional turmoil goes on in this chapter, after the battle. Well, I hope you like what I did with it… Thanks for the complement!

Flagger: Of course, I won't let Luffy die!

babe300: Sorry for twisting it a bit—I tend to do that a lot. I take ideas I like, but then twist them to suit me. I hope I didn't offend you…

B-chan77: Yes, Ace definitely can't kill Luffy, and I refuse to let Luffy die. But come on, do you think that Luffy could even understand the words 'medical assistance'? Besides, that would go completely against his character to back out of a fight, brother or not.

Raifiel: (grins sheepishly) Actually, I'm not too sure myself. But some battles can get pretty wild, so he could get quite far away while he was fighting, I think. I mean, Sanji and Zoro started fighting Mohji and Kabaji at the same time, shortly after that Luffy and Buggy resumed fighting and Alvida and Robin started theirs, and near the end of the last one was the Nami, Usopp and Chopper versus a bunch of Clown Pirates, and none of them on the dock bumped into each other, right? So I guess that Zoro and Luffy ended up going quite far off. So, yeah—it's mostly imagination. Thanks very much for the complements!

Revenge of the Clown

Chapter 7:Doubt

Ace watched, paralyzed with unbelieving eyes as his brother flew through the air towards the ocean, smelling terrible as his rubber skin of his chest burned. That had been a straight column of fire that Luffy could have easily dodged—he had dodged many others of the same attack.

"Luffy!" he cried, breaking out of his trance-like state just before his little brother hit the water. He felt his heart fill with dismay and something else that he had never felt before.

He had never intended to kill Luffy. Defeat him, of course, possibly—and it was very probable—inflicting serious injuries, but never kill him. Rival or not, he was still his little brother. But now that little brother was dying—Luffy had no chance of saving himself because of his Devil's Fruit powers, and Ace could not go to his rescue for the same reason.

For the first time since he had done so, Ace cursed the fact that he had ever eaten a Devil's Fruit. Frantically, he looked around for something or someone that could do something. His eyes fell on his brother's green-haired comrade, lying asleep in the middle of the dock and entirely oblivious to everything around him, and overwhelmed with gratitude at his presence, Ace rushed over to the man and kicked him, being careful that his foot remained solid as he did so.

The green haired man grunted as he woke and glared up at the one who had interrupted his sleep. Upon seeing Ace, he blinked, stared, and then shot up, opening his mouth.

"Luffy fell into the ocean," Ace said as calmly as he could before Zoro could say anything. Zoro's eyes widened and he leapt to his feet, swiftly discarding his swords.

"Where?" Ace pointed, and in a blink of an eye Zoro had dived into the water after his captain.

Ace reprimanded himself for being so nervous as he waited anxiously. His brother's comrades were as loyal to one another as anyone could possibly be, as far as he had seen. The man would not allow his captain to die.

Even so, when Zoro surfaced, supporting Luffy with one arm, Ace still found himself breathing a sigh of relief. It seemed to take much too long for them to reach the dock, where he pulled Luffy up as the other man easily lifted himself up onto the dock.

Luffy's shirt was burnt in the front where Ace's fist had hit. It had opened, revealing a slightly blackened chest as well.

Ace slapped Luffy's cheek in an attempt to wake him. When Luffy did not respond, Ace poked him sharply, being careful to use his nail. The younger boy leapt up with an "ow!" of pain.

Relief swept over Ace's body for a brief moment before the tension returned.

"What was that?" Ace found himself scolding his brother. "You could have died! Why didn't you dodge it? You easily could have dodged! That was a straight hit!"

"How did you end up in the ocean anyway?" asked Zoro before Ace could continue. Ace stopped, feeling the unfamiliar emotion consume him once more, and that emotion was too strong and overpowering for him to speak.

Luffy's face creased to a frown, and he slowly sat up. The serious, grave expression on his captain's face made Zoro uneasy. His captain was always lighthearted and entirely sure of himself—Luffy was never grave, even in battle, where he was much more serious than he was at any other time. Luffy had many emotions, and depending on the situation, his personality could vary widely. He was always lighthearted, cheerful and happy on the ship, and serious, determined and sometimes angry—or even furious—in battle. But Zoro, the first of the Straw Hats to join their captain, had never seen Luffy grave, and though he would never admit it, this expression on his captain by itself was capable of frightening Zoro.

"I don't know." The young captain's reply tore Zoro from his thoughts.

"What do you mean you don't know?" asked Zoro, bewildered, annoyed and angry. However, he could not tell whether the annoyance and anger were directed at himself or Luffy. Perhaps it was both.

"He was blasted by one of my attacks," said Ace. Zoro turned to stare at Ace.

"You two were fighting?"

"We hurt Ace's comrades—Ace and I had to fight." The two older men turned around to look at the younger man who was now sitting up. Comprehension dawned in Zoro's eyes.

"Oh yeah—you're one of White Beard's men, aren't you?" The question was directed at Ace, who nodded. "But why did you send him towards the ocean if you didn't want to kill him? And you obviously didn't because you woke me up to save him. You could have just left and none of us would have ever known what had happened to Luffy, and even if we had guessed that he was dead, you would be the last person we'd suspect to be the killer."

Ace looked at the swordsman in annoyance.

"Of course I didn't want to kill him!" Sitting near his brother, Ace shook his head. "That was a blast that Luffy could easily have dodged—he'd dodged a bunch of attacks, ones more difficult than that. But…I don't know, he just…stopped moving and let himself get hit by that one."

Zoro stared at Ace. Then he slowly turned to stare at Luffy.

"Luffy?" His captain looked up at him with serious eyes, but did not respond. There was a moment of silence.

A brief, alarming though crossed Zoro's mind, but he pushed it away. Whatever Luffy's problem was, he was not, never had been and never would be suicidal.

"Why didn't you dodge it, Luffy?" This time Ace asked the question. As Ace asked, Zoro retrieved his swords and settled himself near the other two.

Luffy slowly shook his head.

"I don't know." His tone, too, was grave.

For a while, none of them said anything. Luffy gazed at the last of people who had come to watch the fight—the ones who had apparently waited to see if there would be any more—scattering, as it was obvious that it would not continue. Ace watched the people tending to the wounded inhabitants of the island. Zoro stared out to sea.

The silence was long, but not uncomfortable. Each was lost in his own serious thoughts.

"I've never felt that way before."

Luffy was the one to break the silence. As Ace and Zoro turned to look at him, they saw that he had a faraway look in his eyes—one that looked thoughtful.

"It was like…like I shouldn't fight. I mean," Luffy was obviously struggling to explain properly. "I always know that I should fight when I fight. But suddenly, there was this strange feeling…almost like I shouldn't fight, but I still knew that I should fight. But I hurt Ace's comrades, so it felt like I shouldn't fight, because Ace's comrades shouldn't have gotten hurt."

Ace and Zoro's eyes widened. Doubt. The word ran through both their minds at once, realizing the same thing in the same moment. Luffy, who was never unsure of anything he did, had felt doubt. Neither knew what to make of it—neither could say a word. Luffy's ability to fight battles without a shred of doubt was one thing that made people admire, and sometimes fear, him. That ability was what had won him many victories and resulted in his being able to defeat foes that seem impossible to defeat.

Ace's brow furrowed. Had he been feeling doubt as well? Had that been the unfamiliar emotion that kept overcoming him? But somehow, that didn't sound right… What he had been feeling was not that he shouldn't do something, but that he shouldn't have done something. No, he realized, he had not been feeling doubt—he had been feeling guilt. He had been feeling guilty for fighting his brother when Luffy could not possibly have done anything else. Another person could be expected to consider his surroundings when fighting, even if he had lost something important, but Luffy simply was not like that. Luffy did not consider his surroundings anyway, and the loss of his hat made it worse—and Ace knew that. None of the men were permanently injured or killed; he could see that now, as they were beginning to stir.

Ace had never done anything that he had regretted before. Even when things seemed to go badly because of something that he had done, though he would curse the fact that he had done something that had not turned out well, he had never felt regret or guilt.

It's a day of new experiences, he thought, smiling inwardly. Both Luffy and I have felt new things that we've never experienced before.

But would this change Luffy? Would his little brother become someone else, now that he had experienced doubt? The fact that he never felt doubt before had made Luffy what he was. Now that he had, would things change?

Zoro, meanwhile, did not know what to think. He felt surprisingly calm. The initial realization had been a shock, but as he adjusted to it, the shock faded away into nothing. He did not feel dismayed, nervous, anxious, afraid, concerned, relieved… Nothing.

Suddenly Luffy burst out laughing, and as Ace and Zoro looked at him, snapping out of their own thoughts, nothing felt wrong. Luffy's face was back to its usual carelessly cheerful expression.

"Oh well. It was probably because I was hungry. Oh yeah, I didn't have my snack! Or breakfast, and it's already light! I need food. Wait, where's my hat? Buggy gave it back, right? So where is it? I'm so hungry, where's food and my hat?"

Ace's brow furrowed and Zoro glanced around.

"Buggy gave back your hat?" Zoro asked. "But I don't see it anywhere…"

Ace glanced out toward the ocean. "I think… Yeah, Luffy, you had it when you went flying off into the ocean, but not when you came- Hey, look who's here!"

Luffy and Zoro glanced out toward the ocean as well. Zoro's eyes widened.

"Hey, isn't that…"

Luffy was instantly ten times as restless as before.

"The hat! The hat! I'm hungry, where's that hat?" Ace smiled wryly.

"Yes, you do seem to have chosen the worst possible time to lose it, haven't you?"

Zoro glanced from Luffy to the ship that had appeared near the docks, causing all this confusion, and then shrugged. Luffy did not appear to hear anything that Ace said or notice Zoro's movements as he continued to search for his hat, more frantic than ever.

Sanji stared at the ship in horror as it approached. Chopper stared at it in confusion, Robin looked calmer than ever, and Nami and Usopp's expressions revealed mixed emotions.

"Red Haired Shanks," Robin said calmly. "He's one of the strongest pirates existing, and he uses a sword."

"We should run!" Chopper exclaimed. "If he uses a sword, Luffy can't do much!"

"Much as I agree that we should escape, we can't abandon the other two. Besides, Luffy's surprised us all more than once. For all we know, he could do it again."

"We stay."

The two words were spoken firmly by Usopp and Nami in unison. They then turned to stare at one another.

"Why you?" The question, again, was asked in unison.

"My father might be on that ship," Usopp said.

Chopper, Sanji and Nami stared.

"Really?" asked Chopper, awed. Nami and Sanji exchanged a glance.

"Do you think he's lying?" Nami asked Sanji.

"I would say 'yes', but then again, he doesn't particularly look scared…" Sanji replied thoughtfully.

"Hey!" Usopp said indignantly.

"Oh come on, you can't deny what you are," Nami said dismissively. "We know that your father's a pirate, but if he's a member of such a strong pirate ship, why didn't you mention it before now?"

"I wasn't sure, okay?" Usopp's voice was still indignant. "Luffy told me that he was with Red Haired Shanks, and we all know that Luffy isn't that reliable as an information source."

"But how did Luffy know?" Chopper piped up. Usopp shrugged.

"He said that he looked like me."

"Then it probably isn't," Sanji concluded. "Come on, let's go find those two idiots and get out of here. I don't particularly like the idea of being chased by both White Beard and Red Hair. One we could handle, I'm sure, but I get a little uneasy thinking about both."

"Oh, is poor Sanji scared?" Usopp mocked, obviously annoyed at his crewmate. Sanji glared.

"Would you like to keep your bones whole?" he asked, lifting his leg threateningly.

Usopp gave a squeak and cowered behind Nami.

"Wait, all of you," the navigator spoke up. "Has anyone here besides myself ever asked Luffy about that hat of his, and why he treasures it so much?" Her question was met with blank stares. She gave a sigh. "Okay, I guess not. Well, there seems to be some connection between Luffy and Red Haired Shanks. The first time that Buggy and Luffy fought, Buggy insulted Luffy's hat and cut it, to which Luffy basically responded that that hat was Shanks, after which Buggy insulted Shanks, which infuriated Luffy."

Usopp and Sanji exchanged a glance, then looked out to the approaching ship. Chopper stared at the ship, apparently fascinated. Robin narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

"Okay then, Nami-san, if you're sure." The cook leaned against the ship's railing, watching the approaching ship.

"Wait a second…" Usopp spoke up and everyone turned to look at him. "Shouldn't we find Luffy, then? I mean"-he gulped-"apart from Luffy, I'm the only one that has any connection with that ship, but I've never known my father, so anything could happen—even if Luffy knows them, chances are that they'll kill us, having no idea that we're his crewmembers."

"We can talk, Usopp," Sanji said, giving the marksman an annoyed glance.

"Besides," Nami added, "Luffy's got quite a bounty on his head now, so chances are that they've seen that and will know us by our mark." Usopp and Sanji frowned thoughtfully.

"Still, navigator-san, we might be better off going to find the captain anyway. If captain-san does know them, he'll want to talk with them, don't you think?"

Everyone looked to Robin in surprise, and then nodded in agreement.

"You cannot swim Luffy! Do not jump into the water!"

"I need the hat!"

"I already searched in the water, Luffy! It isn't there!"

"But Ace said that it couldn't be anywhere else!"

The first thing that alerted the five Straw Hats to the location of their captain and swordsman was the arguing voices coming from around a corner. Rounding the corner, they were met with the sight of the green haired swordsman trying to restrain their struggling captain and a third man standing off to the side, watching the ship and paying no attention to the struggling pair beside him.

"Luffy! Zoro!" Chopper called, but his calls apparently met deaf ears as the two continued to argue.

"Ace!" Usopp exclaimed in surprise. "Of course, this is where some of White Beard's people live—I hadn't thought…"

"We don't live here," said Ace, looking away from the ship with a grin. "We just stop here for some time if we need or want to rest. If pirates lived on land, it would be much easier for the marines to catch us."

"Do you know why Red Haired Shanks is here?" Sanji asked curiously.

Ace shrugged, turning his eyes back to the ship, now docking.

"I've been chasing Black Beard for quite a while now, so I'm not as well informed on this sort of stuff, but I've heard rumors that Shanks has been trying to talk with my captain for quite a while now. Of course, captain isn't here…"

The pirates watched as a number of people began to leave the ship.

"Well, I suppose I should go talk to him…" Ace walked off towards the ship.

"Should we go, too?" Usopp asked no one in particular as Ace reached the men and appeared to be talking to them. The people nodded, and one of them turned around and gave a shout towards his ship. Though the Straw Hats were too far away to hear exactly what the man had shouted, he must have called someone, because a second later a man came off from the ship and Ace walked over to him.

Nami, Chopper, Usopp and Sanji stared, glanced at Luffy, and then back to the man that had just come from the ship. Robin raised an eyebrow in surprise. Zoro's grip loosened on his captain, but Luffy did not appear to notice—he had ceased struggling the moment the man had appeared.

"How did that happen?" Nami finally said. No one replied.

The man who had just come out of Red Hair's ship had red hair, but that hair was half hidden by a hat. An old straw hat encircled by a strip of red cloth just above the brim. A hat that looked strangely like the hat that Luffy always wore.

Author's Notes:

So, comments, criticism, complements or ideas, anyone? I'll update when I get five more reviews!