Chapter Fifteen : Improve
"Your aim has gotten better, Luffy." Roger praised with a proud smile.
Luffy blinked several times before grinning widely. He turned to his brothers seeking their approval. "Did I!? Ne, Ace! Sabo! I improve!"
"Somehow..." Ace replied dryly.
Sabo chuckled, putting a hand to cover his mouth. "C'mon now, Ace. Weeks ago, he can't even throw a punch straight."
It has been two weeks since their training with Roger has started. They had gotten into the routine of starting early in the morning and only stopping for lunch and when the sun was starting to set. Roger had been sparring with them although they were nowhere close to beating him. The three brothers had tried everything but the Pirate King just seemed to toy with them much to their chagrin.
Roger proved himself to be strong. They had not even landed a punch or a kick in him, not even once even though they were teaming up and giving all their bests. After their sparring match with the old pirate, the trio would move on to spar with each other. Roger would watch sideways commenting on what things they need to improve.
"Well, you all improved in your ways." Roger complimented. "That's why we're moving to our next lesson."
"Please no more of those beat-up sessions..." Ace commented, groaning loudly.
"I still have my wrist sprained," Sabo stated while checking out his hand.
"No, no. I'm gonna teach you about Haki."
"Haki? What's that?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.
"I'll show you." Roger grinned. He got a piece of clothing in his pocket. He tied it into his eyes. The best way for teaching was for the teacher to demonstrate. "Get some stones and try to hit me. If you can anyway."
"Are you stupid or something? Why'd you blindfold yourself like that and let us attack you?" Sabo asked in confusion.
"Here, Bo." Ace offered a set of small stones he had picked from the ground.
"You're really enjoying making your father suffer, do you?" Sabo questioned with a sarcastic tongue. Nonetheless, he still accepted the stones.
"Hey, it's technically not our fault if he got injured. He's an idiot after all."
"Stop talking as if I'm not here..." Roger complained with a frown.
"Here's our bullet." Luffy had picked different kinds of stones and rocks. His shirt had been full of it. "Roger! Try to avoid this!" He yelled as he threw the first set of rocks.
"Hey, Luffy. Don't let him know that you're attacking him!" Ace scowled in annoyance, trying to grab Luffy but he already ran away.
Roger had sensed the three rocks approaching. It was going to hit him in the thigh and shoulder. In a swift move, he dodged it. Roger can almost create a mental picture of the trio being shocked. He smirked tauntingly, wanting to annoy them.
"How?!" Luffy gasped.
Ace gritted his teeth and grabbed the rocks from Luffy's shirt. He ran towards the side of his father. He tried to be discreet in his move but his father seemed to notice where he was. He threw rocks from his blindside and yet Roger sidestepped, avoiding it.
Sabo and Luffy joined him. It went out more for a few minutes, making the brothers irritated since none of the stones hit Roger. At some point, Ace had accidentally hit Luffy but his younger brother was made of rubber that was why he deflected it with ease. But too bad, Sabo was not.
"Owe!" Sabo exclaimed, putting a hand on the bruise. He wiped down the blood oozing from his cheeks.
"Sabo!" Luffy exclaimed with a worried tone, running towards him.
"You alright there?" Ace asked in concern, shifting his attention to the blond.
"Yeah, the stone is pointed. It's just a scratch." Sabo shrugged his shoulders.
At that moment, Roger chose to remove his blindfold. They would never win against him so better end it before they got hurt even more.
"That's Haki," Roger stated with a smile.
"It allows you to dodge attacks? Even without you seeing it?" Sabo bombarded his questions with wide eyes.
"That is a good move to learn." Ace concluded interest piqued.
"And you'll teach us that!?" Luffy beamed, looking up with excitement.
"Yes, but that was the first type. It is called Observation Haki. And just as what Sabo has said, it allows you to know where the attacks came from."
Sabo nodded. "If it's the first type, I'm assuming that there's more."
"Yeah. Luffy, please come here." Roger ushered for the young boy to come.
Luffy grinned as he excitedly went over to Roger.
"This is gonna hurt but endure it," Roger said before hitting the young boy in his head.
"Don't hit Luffy, you shitty bastard!" Ace barked as protectiveness rose upon him. He quickly grabbed his younger brother away.
"Yeah, sorry." Roger grinned sheepishly, scratching his head. "Did it hurt?"
"Of course it does!" Luffy complained in a scream. He rubbed the area slightly and started cooing in a hurt tone.
"Wait— blunt attacks don't work on Luffy. How can you hurt him?" Sabo asked with his brows furrowed.
"It's the same as Jiichan!" Luffy exclaimed in realization.
"That's Armament Haki. Let's say that you fight someone who ate a Devil Fruit that can turn himself into fire, would you be able to hit him?"
"Of course not. He's made of fire." Ace retorted, crossing his arms.
Roger chuckled. "Exactly. That's why we have Armament Haki. Devil Fruits aren't common on the Four Blues but in the Grand Line, sure does."
"Wait... So you're meaning to say Jiji has been using that technique on us?" Ace asked, eyes twitching in horror.
"No wonder why I feel like I'm dying every time..." Sabo grimaced, feeling the chills all over his body.
"Are there more?" Luffy piqued.
"Well, there is." Roger heaved a sigh. "It's Conqueror's Haki but I already told you about it. Not everyone has the chance to use it. You need to have the qualities."
"That's the thing you use on the bear back then," Sabo concluded with a snap of his fingers.
"Yeah. It kinda dominates others with your will, you know? But anyway, we're not focusing on that one." Roger cleared his throat before grinning. "But before I teach you three that, you need to do one more thing."
"I don't like that tone." Sabo gulped as he started backing away.
Roger chuckled. "It's easy. Just defeat the tiger and we'll start your Haki training soon."
"The one that stole our food?"
"But I hate that tiger!"
"You do know that that's the strongest creature in the forest..."
"You'll start tomorrow," Roger answered ending all of their complaints.
The three brothers groaned.
"It's much better now!" Luffy exclaimed, eying the ship with sheer interest.
"It is finished after all." Sabo nodded, agreeing.
After their training every morning, they would go and help to rebuild Naguri's ship. It was not an easy task. Most of the time, only Sabo and Ace did the job. Luffy kept on being distracted by things causing even more problems. He played pranks and fell overboard among the other things. It made his older brothers angry every time.
Roger had helped them sometimes. But Ace and Sabo could not decide whether he was much worse than Luffy. He did not know how most things were done. He cannot even nail a wood in its place. Despite being a strong pirate, Ace could not understand why he kept hammering his thumb. Hence, the man has a bandage on it every time.
In the end, most of the job was really done by Ace and Sabo. Naguri seemed to not mind if the other two were just fooling around. The old man was just happy for the help he had received.
"It's all thanks to you, noshi." Naguri grinned, standing next to them.
"Are you gonna set sail now?" Ace asked.
Naguri shook his head. "Roger told me that you need to defeat a tiger. After you've done that, that's when I'm gonna set sail."
"That'll probably take days." Sabo exhaled heavily.
"Now Sabo, don't be like that. I trained you three! You have improved because of me!" Roger complained.
"We improved because of ourselves." Ace sneakily replied.
Before Roger would cry in the corner because of his son's words, Luffy was quick to intervene.
"You're really great, Roger! Ace's just a meanie sometimes. Shihihi." Luffy reassured with a smile.
Sabo laughed. "Thanks for teaching us, Roger-san."
Roger smirked at the praise. "It's almost lunchtime. Shall we eat?"
"Okay! And after that tell me stories about Shanks!" Luffy asked excitedly.
"Shanks again?" Ace sighed while closing his eyes.
"'Cause Shanks is so cool!"
Roger finally understood why Ace liked this place.
After dinner time, he bid his goodbye and went to the cliff where he confronted Ace weeks ago.
And what made his night better was the booze in his hands. Sometimes, all you need was a good drink. It has a way to soothe him these days whenever thoughts kept running in his mind. He felt like he was back in the past when times were simple. Like he was aboard on his ship, just enjoying the presence of his crew and the excitement whenever they sail. But those were long gone now. Not that Roger did not want to be here. He just missed those days.
On his third bottle, he felt the presence of his son hiding in the shadows. The boy was unsure if he wanted to continue his approach. Roger waited for him patiently, allowing him to make a decision.
Finally, Ace sat beside him. The boy crossed his legs and silently stared at the night sky.
"Glad that you finally join me, Ace." Roger laughed. "I'm starting to wonder if you'll just hide there all night."
"S-Shut up, shitty geezer." His son's face turned red making his freckles stood up. His pride was clearly wounded. "Wait, how did you... It's the Haki thing, isn't it?"
"Pretty neat trick, isn't it?" Roger's grin widened.
Ace nodded slightly.
A comfortable silence befell upon the father and son. Roger enjoyed it though. Weeks ago, Ace cannot even talk to him without being violent. His son's behavior now has been better. It was a true victory for him.
"Remind me to thank Dadan for the booze. It's pretty good!" Roger chuckled as he wiped his mustache.
"She gave that to you?" Ace asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yeah."
"You probably scared her to death. That's why she gave it." Ace deadpanned. "Can I try it?"
Roger stopped momentarily and frowned. "No."
"But I've already tasted one, mind you." Ace said, scowling.
"Sabo said something about that. Exchanging cups of sake and becoming brothers."
"Pretty much." Ace shrugged his shoulders before laying down in the grass.
Roger gazed at Ace who had his eyes close. He looked so peaceful, something Roger had not seen much from him. Ace seemed to have so much anger in his heart that Roger feared that his son's innocence was gone. But no matter what, Ace was still a boy. A boy who was yet to see the whole world. He was still naive by means and Roger has a job to teach him as he was his father.
And for a moment, Roger wondered what a newborn Ace looked like. It was hard to imagine him looking more innocent than he did right now. Roger quickly brushed away the thought. He will not have any more regrets.
"Don't you miss it...?" Ace murmured after a while.
"Hmm?" Roger hummed, putting the bottle away.
"The sea... Your crew... Freedom..."
Roger smiled fondly as he glanced back at the sea. "Of course, I do."
"Then why don't you set sail again?"
Roger stared at him, unable to answer. He cannot let Ace suffer from the idea that his father was going to die soon. Life was really cruel sometimes. Just when he was spending some time with his son, he will soon be gone again.
Roger grinned, remembering the answer from long ago. "That's for me to know and you to wonder."
"Be that way then." Ace sarcastically rolled his eyes.
Roger laughed. "I want to ask you something."
"What?"
"Do you have any intentions of becoming the next Pirate King?"
Ace turned to face him in an instant with eyes wide open. The freckled boy remained silent and before he answered, he let out a heavy sigh.
"It did cross my mind, you know..." Ace mumbled. "The only reason why I want to be one is that..."
"Because?"
"I want to be recognized for my own strength. To be a pirate of my own right. It probably sounds stupid but I want to be known as me... And not as the Pirate King's son."
Roger cast a shadow and in that shadow, Ace was in there wanting to getaway. And the only way for Ace to escape it was to be a pirate like his father before him and made a name for himself.
"It's not stupid, Ace. I understand." Roger said, smiling softly. "But I'll be honest with you, I intended that you will find the One Piece."
"Really?"
"I'm asking you again, do you want to be the Pirate King?"
Ace thought for a moment. "I just want to be free and explore the seas. I can't steal Luffy's dream. I guess me and Sabo will do anything to support him. So no, I don't have any intentions now."
"I see... Luffy is a nice kid. Someone worthy of the title."
"Glad you approve of him then." Ace laughed a little. "I believe that someday, he'll achieve his dream because he is my little brother."
"You really do love your brothers, don't you?"
"I don't usually tell it to them." Ace smiled brightly. "But because of Sabo and Luffy, I'm not so lonely anymore."
Roger was glad because even though he will leave his son soon, Ace will never be alone. He still has his brothers. And for that, Roger would forever be grateful for Sabo and Luffy.
"You should stop caring about other's opinions of you," Roger stated softly.
"What?"
"It's up for you to decide who you are, Ace," Roger said, maintaining an eye contact. "So who are you?"
"What kind of a question is that?" Ace scoffed, moving his gaze away. "I guess I am... me. I'm Ace. Sabo and Luffy's brother."
"Then there's your answer." Roger laughed. "You can be yourself while being brothers with Luffy and Sabo. You don't have to worry about being my son. Whatever path you'll take, I will always be proud of you. Don't worry."
Ace blinked a few times before his cheeks started glowing red. With a groan, he said. "Geez, seriously?"
"So is there any more thing that's bothering you, son? It's getting late. You still need to go tiger hunting tomorrow." Roger smirked, enjoying his son's embarrassment.
Ace fidgeted his fingers, unsure if he wanted to continue. "There's one more thing I want to ask..."
"What's it?"
"What is Mom like?" Ace questioned, staring at his father with desperation.
A/N: Ace and Roger bonding time. That turned out better than I expected haha.
Thank you for the follows, favorites, and reviews.