Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
A/N: Big thank you to all my readers and those who have followed/favourited my story! It made me so excited and happy :) Hope you enjoy this next chapter!
Chapter 2: Out of the Blue
...
Luffy was scared.
He had never seen Ace ill before.
From the moment Luffy had met Ace he had sensed a fearsome strength in him - his piercing glare through dark calculating eyes reminded him of the beast of Mount Corvo which was a huge tiger that he had had the misfortune of meeting recently.
Ace wasn't large like that tiger, didn't have sharp claws like its rival, the bear, but somehow he was every bit as intimidating as these deadly beasts.
Luffy was starting to believe that there was nothing that Ace couldn't beat.
I mean, he'd even felled a tree with a mere two kicks! If that didn't prove his strength then what would?
Moreover, it wasn't just Luffy who saw Ace's almost inhuman strength, the bandits also seemed to recognise it as they relied on him to bring in the spoils of his daily hunts for their dinner. In fact, Luffy suspected that they more than just recognised but feared what he would become with strength such as his at only ten years of age.
Luffy wanted to be like Ace. To not be afraid of anything and to be strong… strong enough to conquer the sea and become the Pirate King.
Somehow, despite how terribly Ace treated Luffy, he looked up to him as if he was a big brother. He liked the idea of having a brother, a friend who would always be there for him.
And the idea of having a brother as strong as Ace made Luffy feel inexplicably safe, despite the danger that he constantly encountered. When he was with Ace it was as though his dreams for freedom and strength were that bit closer within reach.
…
That's why Luffy was scared.
Because Ace didn't look strong right now. The boy who could fight a beast with nothing but his bare hands and a metal pipe was now fighting for something as simple as a breath to enter his lungs.
For the first time, Luffy saw Ace as a kid just like him. He was weakly shivering, and his face was scrunched up in pain. So, Ace felt pain too?
Luffy's idolised image of Ace as an invincible warrior was changing into an image of a sick curled-up kid; his hero transformed into someone who needed to be saved. Luffy didn't want to be a hero – that meant giving his meat away right? But Luffy did want to save Ace.
He wanted to save Ace's life more than he wanted anything else right now.
So it was for that reason that Luffy listened carefully as the bandits explained about the disease, even though in any other circumstance – with Luffy's short attention span – he would have found it immensely boring and would have run off to play by now. The bandits used long words that he didn't understand, and mentioned some flower name that he had already forgotten, but at the very least he gleaned that the cure to be found was a flower. He made sure to memorise its appearance; it had small blue petals and golden leaves.
The bandits continued to talk but Luffy decided that he had all the information he needed and didn't want to waste anymore time sitting around when Ace could be dying. Luffy spared one last caring glance at Ace before he got up and ran out of the house, determined to find the flower that would save Ace's life.
…
Luffy started by looking down the path that led from the bandits hideout as he had a feeling he had seen some bright coloured flowers adorning the lower trunks of many of the trees when Garp had first brought him to stay with Dadan.
Despite being in Mount Corvo, known for being a rough and dangerous part of the Goa Kingdom, the grounds near Luffy's new home felt relatively safe and the sun was always able to reach the area to illuminate the leaves and grass to make the garden glow in the day.
Luffy was pleased to see that flowers of almost every colour of the rainbow were dotted around the trees just as he had remembered and so he was hopeful that a little blue flower might be hiding among the parade of petals.
His eyes darted between pink, yellow, and orange on the first flower patch he investigated but to Luffy's disappointment there was no blue.
He crouched down to inspect the flowers that encircled a tree stump several metres further down the gravel path but again the blue flower was nowhere to be seen.
This continued to be the case until Luffy caught sight of something blue in the distance adjacent to the path. Immediately he began running towards it with excitement.
'Yes!' he cheered, his dark eyes sparkling with glee and a huge toothy grin stretched across his rubber face.
The nearer he got the more excited he became as the blur of blue took shape and resembled a clump of blue flowers.
...
But when Luffy finally reached the blooms, his heart sank. These blue flowers were nothing like what Magra had described. Unlike the humble Aoilander, these flowers were large with curvaceous petals dappled with purple speckles. Long stamens sprang forth, boastfully showing off bright and gaudy yellow pollen. Its leaves were a deep shade of green and feathery around the edges.
"Small… gold leaves… this is the wrong flower"
Luffy scowled at the blue petaled imposter which was gently bobbing in the breeze as though mocking him.
Sighing at his lack of success so far, Luffy decided that he needed to explore further away in the direction that Ace went every morning. He ran on a narrow path that led West past rocks, streams and roots but found that he was seeing less and less flowers the further he went. The undergrowth was becoming less like an overgrown garden and more like a wild jungle; leafy shrubs and plants bordering the path he took. Luffy was not daunted by this however, and had faith that he would find the blue flower.
"I'm on my way Ace!" Luffy yelled excitedly at the trees that he sped past.
…
Luffy had been running for about twenty minutes when he found that he needed to stop and catch his breath. This surprised him as usually he had much better stamina when running.
In the past couple of months Luffy had become very fit due to his daily morning routine of running after Ace, running away from wolves as well as tackling all terrains no matter how dangerous. Since eating the Gum Gum fruit he had also noticed that he didn't get out of breath nearly as quickly. Maybe because his lungs were made of rubber now? He was also very flexible as you would expect from someone made of rubber. He bounced back quickly if he tripped over a root or took a tumble down a slope. It still hurt of course, but over the course of his many pursuits of Ace, Luffy came to the realisation that these tumbles never really did much damage to his skin.
Sharp things weren't fun though – Luffy had learned that the hard way when he had been bitten and scratched by the valley wolves.
But right now Luffy felt tired and a bit shaky as one feels when they haven't eaten for a long time.
'Food… ... that's it!' Luffy surmised that his unexpected weakness must be due to hunger. His stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, further supporting his theory.
'Meat!' Luffy moaned to himself, 'I should have eaten before I left.'
He decided to sit on the grass as his legs were aching and he actually felt a bit dizzy which was odd. A clump of colourful mushrooms nestled under big fronds of bracken nearby and Luffy peered around them but couldn't find a blue flower there.
He had considered eating the mushrooms that he saw but unfortunately recognised them as the same type that had given him a nasty tummy ache during the first week that he arrived. He decided that quenching his hunger pangs wasn't worth the discomfort he would feel afterwards so he lay back and rested his head on the ground for a few minutes and continued trying to catch his breath which he was struggling to do for some reason.
Just as Luffy was beginning to enjoy resting in the mid-morning sun, the image of Ace's sweat covered face twisted in pain came to his mind.
"I don't have time to sit here and rest!" Luffy shouted at the jungle.
"I need to save Ace!"
With that Luffy got up and ran off deeper into the darkening trees.
...
A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. If you leave a review I will be so excited that I'll do a happy dance! XD
Next chapter will be released soon so do follow this story to get updated when it's out :)
Have a blessed week xx