Chapter Six : Attempt

The first thing Roger did the next morning was to track down the trio.

He sensed that they were on their treehouse. It was early in the morning so Roger expected that they were still sleeping. He remembered hearing from other people that children tend to sleep late. Hopefully, the same goes for the three brothers.

In the meantime, Roger had hunted food. He hated it whenever people would try to share food with him but the trio would be an exception. The quickest way to a boy's heart is through his stomach. Ace was his son. There was no way the boy would ever turn down food. It was one of the traits of being a D. His son has got it on both sides after all.

With two bears in tow, Roger made his way towards their treehouse. He can hear their voices yelling at each other. Ace was shouting something at Luffy and he soon heard the boy yelping in pain. Sabo was there to try and stop them from being the referee. Roger thought that it was just brotherly banter.

But he did not anticipate to be trip on a rope that made a log came crashing over him.

"That was close..." Roger laughed as he managed to dodge in the last second.

It was a large log and it impacted with another tree that fell over because of the impact. If Roger had been hit by it, he would surely sustain damage.

He started walking again only this time to fall over a pit.

"Something's caught in our traps!"

"Wait, Luffy! Let us see it first!"

Roger heard their voices coming. He groaned, wiping away the excess dirt from his face. He tried climbing up but to no avail. He kept on slipping. If this was one of their traps, it was a damn pretty good one. Roger didn't see it coming. The ground he stepped on earlier looked like just any other.

"How pathetic..." His son, Ace, commented as he peeked down and glared at his father.

"Hello, Ace! Mind helping me here?" Roger grinned, putting his hand up and hoping that Ace will pull him up.

"Is that Roger?" Luffy asked tone laced with excitement. He immediately recognized the older man's voice.

"It isn't, Lu. Go back there and make a fire for the bears." Ace ordered and then looked down again. "Nothing to worry about down here. It's just a stupid animal caught on our trap."

"Oh, okay!" Luffy cheerfully agreed before running back.

Sabo also looked down. "Glad to know that our traps worked."

"Ne, Sabo. Help me bury him." Ace ordered in a cold tone.

"What!?" Roger yelled with mouth ajar. "No! I don't want to die!"

Sabo turned to stare at his brother. A frown was formed in the blond's face. He quickly went against the idea. "We're no murderers, Ace."

Ace started throwing soil with rocks at his father. Roger wiped it all away while coughing.

"Isn't he dead to begin with? We're just bringing him back to his resting place." Ace explained in a monotone.

Sabo sighed heavily while standing up. He grabbed his brother in his shoulders and started dragging away the freckled boy. Dealing with Ace was harder these days.

"Sorry, Roger-san. Stay there for the moment, okay? Ace had a bad morning." Sabo apologized with a small smile.

"I didn't have a bad morning!" Ace retaliated as he struggled to get away from his brother's grasp.

"Yes, you do. Earlier, you kicked Luffy in the face for waking you up. And now, you're here burying your father."

"He's not my father!"

Ace and Sabo get the bears and put it into their shoulder. They walked back to their treehouse to cook the meat bestowed upon them.

Roger groaned. He started wondering what would Rayleigh think of him right now. Rayleigh would probably laugh out loud and find entertainment in this situation. His first mate has a dry humor that way. Always enjoying when his captain got caught in a mess. Especially now that it involved his son.

Creating a relationship with Ace was a real challenge. But Roger never backs down from a challenge. It made him more excited than ever before.

He attempted to climb up several times but in the end, it was difficult. He was tired and what made it worse was the smell of the bear meat Roger had brought. The trio was already cooking it and the smell was enough for Roger's stomach to start growling.

After an hour of waiting for nothing, Ace came back. The boy still had a hard glare in his face.

"Ace!" Roger laughed, glad to see his son coming back for him.

Ace did not reply. The freckled boy just put his pipe down. His father grinned as he held the pipe. Ace pulled him up.

"Glad to see you coming back, son." Roger stated, happily.

"I brought you meat." Ace stated, pointing at the bag beside him.

"Oh? Let's eat it then."

"I already ate. This one's for you." Ace said, taking a piece of meat out of the bag.

"Thanks!" Roger get it and started eating.

"I'm leaving." Ace started walking away leaving the bag.

"Is that so? I'll meet you three later then."

"Sure." Ace turned back with a cryptic smile. "Try not to die."

Roger quickly ate the meat given to him. There was something on it that Roger could not pinpoint what. Meat doesn't taste that way but who cares. Roger was too hungry.

While eating, Roger could not help but grin. Ace had given him food. His son also allowed him to meet them later. This was a new thing and it only meant that he was making progress befriending his son. Any improvement with Ace made Roger happy. Every father would want to be close to their son after all.

After finishing all the food, that was when Roger realized that something was wrong. His breathing became difficult and was short-coming. He became drowsy. He blinked as darkness soon filled his eyesight.

The Pirate King soon became unconscious.

- - -

"Ace, where did you go?" Luffy asked after sighting him. "And why did you brought meat with you? You should have let me eat it."

Ace rolled his eyes. "That meat was my share, Luffy. I can do whatever I want with it."

"Let's go to Gray Terminal. I'm hoping to put more money in our pirate stash today." Sabo said after putting out the fire.

Luffy nodded before dashing away. The rubber boy was always excited when it comes to going to Gray Terminal. They always ended up beating thugs there and it served them as physical training.

"Don't run too far!" Ace yelled as he started chasing after their younger brother. He stopped on his tracks as he realized something. "Sabo? Aren't you coming?"

"What did you do to Roger?" Sabo asked, stamping his feet.

Ace scowled. "Nothing. I just gave him meat."

"And what's in that meat?" Sabo raised a brow while crossing his arms over his chest.

"It has poison. Don't worry it's not enough to kill him."

Sabo's mouth dropped open before he sighed. He started rubbing his temples. "What do I even expect?"

"He'll probably stop bothering us for a few days." Ace laughed.

And the two older brothers started chasing after their younger one.

- - -

Roger had food poisoning before.

Every island in the Grand Line has different flora and fauna that made them unique than the others. It made Roger excited to taste out every different food on each island.

He remembered the time when his crew had docked into a pre-historic island. He was exploring it together with Shanks and Buggy. The red-haired boy then saw a tree with fruits with it. Roger then encouraged the two chore boys to climb up and get it. Buggy threw a piece at him and Roger quickly took a bite. In a mere second, Roger soon spitted it out. The fruit was too horrible to be edible.

When they came back into the ship, that was when he realized something was really wrong. He had a fever and was sent to the infirmary. Crocus then told him that the fruit he ate was poisonous. Roger learned his lesson to never ate something weird-looking again.

Yesterday was literal hell. He felt so sick. His stomach kept churning and he vomited everywhere. He did not saw the trio and just laid in the cave he was staying in.

Rouge would have done a better job than him. She will know the words to comfort Ace. She will know a way for them to reconcile. Because Rouge has always been great into comforting someone. She would have been a great mother towards Ace.

Roger shook his head. Sighing, he makes his way in a small hanging bridge where the trio was currently walking in. Ace automatically glared at him.

"Hi, Roger!" Luffy was the first one to greet him, happily.

"Hello, Roger-san." Sabo also said.

"Hello." Roger grinned.

"You again?" Ace scowled, crossing his arms.

"Can we talk?"

"No."

"C'mon, Ace. Roger wants to be friends with you!" Luffy encouraged, laughing.

Ace sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Turn around."

Roger blinked before doing it. He did not ask any more questions.

And before he knew it, he started falling down the river. His son had tripped him over.

"Roger!" Luffy exclaimed with eyes wide open.

And he saw Luffy jumping.

- - -

Ace knew that his younger brother, Luffy, was stupid but he did not anticipated him to be this stupid.

"Luffy!" Sabo yelled as they watched their younger brother falling down.

Ace cursed himself in his mind. Without any second thoughts, Ace also jumped and dragged Sabo in his collar. There was no way they would leave Luffy in water. The boy will never learn how to swim because of eating that damn fruit.

They made a huge splash in the water. Ace closed his eyes for a moment. This was not the first time he had jump into the river that high. But right now, he made a big mistake as his body hurt. He did not dive in. His body just hit the water. But that was the least of his problems. His younger brother needed him.

Sabo was already swimming towards a drowning Luffy. The current was too strong. Luffy was being washed away from them making his rescue harder. Ace resurfaced as his body was screaming for oxygen. His head started pounding.

Roger was the one who did it. He was closer to Luffy than them. The man dived and put Luffy in his shoulders. He then spotted a riverbank and went over there.

Ace and Sabo swim towards them. Ace immediately went over his younger brother. He knelt towards his brother and quivered at the sight of him. Luffy was coughing violently with water in his mouth for a good minute. He was still glad to know that Luffy was conscious.

"That was fun!" Luffy exclaimed after his coughs had died down.

Relief washed over Ace and Sabo. Having a younger brother who was an anchor was hard especially if it was an idiot one.

"Idiot! Why'd you also jump?!" Ace complained, angrily.

"Why did you kick Roger! What if he can't swim!?" Luffy replied, eyebrows furrowed.

"I can swim." Roger frowned.

"He can, idiot! You should have been worrying about yourself! You're an anchor!"

"Oh yeah?" Luffy laughed, standing up.

"Oh why you—"

Sabo was quick to hold Ace back. "Now, now. Lu's fine. There's no reason to be angry at nothing."

Luffy was then carried by Sabo in his back. It was not normal for them to do such a thing but today would be an exception since the rubbery boy was weakened.

"Thanks again, Roger-san. That's the third time this week." Sabo said with a small chuckle.

"Is this something I need to be used to?" Roger asked, laughing.

"Tch." Ace looked away, rolling his eyes.

"See ya tomorrow, Roger!" Luffy waved his hand.

Sabo stared at Ace. It was the stare he always gave his brother when he was ushering him to do the right thing.

Ace scoffed, hating how his brother was so well-mannered. Sabo needed to stop implementing that to him and Luffy. Him being kind to others was almost impossible.

"Thanks for not dying, I guess." Ace deadpanned.

- - -

A/N: This chapter is basically Murdering Your Father 101 ft. Ace.

Anyways, the next installments for this story has SPOILERS for manga chapters 966-967. Not everyone is a manga reader so yeah. You have been warned.

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