SailorStar9: With Chapter 233 uploaded, I present Chapter 234 of this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.

Pairings: Married!Ace/Sasha, Sibling!Luffy/Sasha, Sibling!Sabo/Sasha, Background Protector!Law/Sasha

Disclaimers: One Piece belongs to Oda Eiichirō-sensei. Me, on the other hand, own absolutely nothing, except my OC, the pairing and the fic idea.

Chapter 234: Arc 14: Sons' Cups! Straw Hat Fleet is Formed!


"Now, we'll exchange cups of sake as parent and son." Orlumbus declared.

"That's right." Bartolomeo brought out the bottle of ceremonial sake and poured the liquid into the sons' cups. "It's all set on this side. Now." he turned and poured the sake into the large parent cup in front of Luffy. "Alright, we'll exchange father-and-son vows to inaugurate Luffy-senpai as our boss and us seven as his followers. Please take the cup, Luffy-senpai." he requested, seeing Luffy staring at the cup.

"I'm not gonna drink this." Luffy replied.

"Figured." Sasha grinned.

"I thought so." Zoro agreed.

"I don't like this sake much." Luffy put down the cup.

"It's about the vow." Bartolomeo protested. "From now on, you'll be targeted by big names of the incident on this island. When that happens, it doesn't matter how strong you are, it's gonna be a tough battle. But since you saved us, we can' help you at those times."

"But if I drink this, I'll become the grand captain of this grand fleet, right?" Luffy pointed out.

"That's right." Bartolomeo nodded. "If you have 5600 subordinates in total, you'll finally be one of the greatest pirates. You'll become the King of Pirates eventually. If you wanna conquer the world,this won't change enough, though."

"You'd better stop." Zoro cautioned. "That line of reasoning won't work on him."

"Why, Straw Hat?" Orlumbus demanded. "Why aren't you happy to amass such a great military force? It doesn't matter how strong your enemy is, he can't compete with the force of numbers. I'm sure you'll need our help someday as we needed you."

"I need my space." Luffy argued. "Listen, I just wanna become the King of Pirates! I don't want to be someone important."

"What is he talking about?" even Law was confused.

"Luffy-senpai, what do you mean by that?" Bartolomeo asked.

"Guys!" Luffy lifted himself up to the quarter deck. "When we think we're in danger, we'll shout for you, so come save us. I don't have to be the boss or a great pirate, right? When you guys are in trouble, call us. We'll come help you, no matter what. I'll never forget that we fought together against Mingo."

"I'm starting to understand what he's saying and what it means to be the King of Pirates to him." Bartolomeo teared. "He'd rather be free than to just important."

"What's going on?" Orlumbus demanded when the ship was hit by a cannon.

"Someone's firing at us!" one of his crew-mates reported.

"Is it the Navy?" Orlumbus asked.

"It can't be." Leo objected. "We've sewn their warships together tightly."

"Let Columbus take command." Orlumbus ordered. "We're still busy here. Whoever it is, get rid of them."

"That's got to hurt." Sasha winced, seeing the halved Pica-shaped stone fall right in top of the enemy ship fleet. "Can we assume that'll be Fujitora's farewell present?"

"Freedom..." Bartolomeo was sobbing. "That's what Luffy-senpai wants... in that case, I admire you even more, Luffy-senpai."

"So do I." Hajrudin burst out laughing. "Bartolomeo, make the oath. He doesn't have to drink from the parent's cup."

"He's right." Cavendish agreed.

"You can do whatever you want, so do we." Ideo concurred.

"You can't take away our freedom either." Sai grinned.

"Luffy-senpai, allow me to make a brief oath." Bartolomeo raised his cup. "We now become Straw Hat Luffy-senpai's followers and we'll become his shield or pike in all weather. To repay him for what he did this time, we seven will drink out of these Sons' cups out of our own volition devoting our lives and souls."

"Well, that escalated quickly." Sasha joked as the six pirates and one dwarf downed the cups. "Leo, we have to leave the port soon." she lifted the dwarf into her hands. "What are you guys going to do?"

"We're gonna attend the banquet." Leo declared. "And we'll get home by the Yellow Cubs afterwards. Don't worry about us."

"You just want to get away from Marsherry, don't you?" Sasha deathpanned.


SailorStar9: Any OOC-nes is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Reviews are much appreciated.