Never Again!
Since Alabasta is way too long to be covered in one chapter, I'll split it in two, maybe even three, who knows?
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Chapter 13: Brotherly Reunion
The next day, one day before reaching Alabasta, the Straw Hats encountered a pink ship full of strange okamas. One "man" was especially odd.
"Oi oi, hello there!", he called, leaping onto Merry over his ship's railing. "What are you doing on sea on such a day?"
'Bon-chan, how I miss you, old friend!', Luffy thought, remembering the days in Impel Down. "We are going to Alabasta right now, where did you come from."
"Ahh.", the black-haired man wearing makeup and a pink cape spoke. "I came from Little Garden, where I wanted to search for Three-chan, but sadly, he wasn't there. Anyway, do you want to see my devil fruit power?"
"Yes.", the other black-haired responded, knowing what the queer's power was already. The next thing he felt was a hit in his face from Bon Kurei's hand.
His nakama were shocked. A random stranger hit their captain in his face, not knowing how powerful he was. Zoro drew Wado in retaliation, but the swan-man stopped him by waving his hands.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! I told you I'm gonna show you my devil fruit power, this is just for entertainment, so give me a break!"
Most Straw Hats were even more shocked. The "man" in front of them now had Monkey D. Luffy's face and even his voice!
"Surprised? Surprised? Surprised? Hahahahaha!", 'Luffy' laughed, dancing ballet.
"And if I touch my face with my left hand…", he continued, touching his face with his left hand, "I return to normal. See? That's the power of the Mane Mane no mi I ate.". Mr. 2 now had his normal face, body and voice.
"Wow, even the voice.", Usopp remarked, slightly impressed by the Baroque agent's abilities. Some others, Nami, Vivi and Zoro to be exact, were repulsed by that.
"Amazing!", the 17-year-old exclaimed, while his future friend was touching the cheeks of Usopp, Nami, Chopper and Zoro, who were standing on the main part of the deck, to copy their faces too.
"Look at me!", the Imitating Human ordered, getting everyone's attention. "Everything I have to do… Is touching other's faces… With my right hand… So I can copy everything.". The order went from the sniper, over the swordsman and the doctor, to the navigator. As the last imitation, Bon Kurei stepped in front of the youngest three permanent Straw Hat Pirates and opened his coat, showing them the ginger's bare chest. "Bodies too."
Mr. 2 really didn't expect a fist to his head, leading to a bump. The orange-haired claimed he, the Baroque agent, was giving them, the non-adult Straw Hats, the wrong idea, since their faces popped out upon the sight of breasts.
"Stop it!"
"Ouch!"
The childish trio kneeled down to the okama, barring Chopper who was short enough to stand, to check on him. "Are you okay?"
Bon Kurei rubbed his head. "If that is upsetting the lady, I might show you something else."
"You're amazing, do more!", they cheered like fanboys, while Luffy was only faking it, despite liking his future fellow escapee of Impel Down.
The queer began dancing like a ballerina again. "Furthermore, I am equipped with a memory feature. Here we go!", he spoke, changing his face to the ones of men he had seen before. One of his imitations was an imitation of Alabasta's king Cobra Nefeltari.
Vivi, who was standing on a higher stage of the main deck, gasped for air. She realized Mr. 2 from Baroque works was on their ship and impersonated her father.
After his show was finished, Mr. 2 danced with Luffy, Usopp and Chopper, who he had impressed and now befriended, like monkeys. "You know, I like you guys.", he said, serious again. "I'd like to stay more with you, but I gotta go now, work is calling."
His new friends, especially the marksman and the reindeer, were sad about him leaving. "Please don't go!", the darker-skinned begged with watery eyes.
"I know it's sad,", the okama with hairy legs stated, "but journeys are always accompanied by farewells, don't forget this. We're friends, right? Friendship has nothing to do with how long we've known each other."
Bentham, the real name of Bon Kurei, then leaped like a ballerina with open legs over Merry's railing to his own ship. "Don't cry!", the fan of Emporio Ivankov yelled during the process.
"See you again!", the youngest male Straw Hats shouted after him, eager to see their friend again.
Later, after Mr. 2's ship powered by rotating disks disappeared in the far, Vivi told everybody the person they recently saw was one of the highest ranked Baroque agents. She also told them about the fact that he imitated her father.
"Wait a minute.", the green-haired spoke, realizing something. "If a bad person could imitate a king, he could do bad things as him."
"Not only that.", the ginger added, realizing something worse. "We've seen his powers, and if he transformed into one of us, we couldn't trust our own friends."
Learning from the past and being overall smarter, the strawhat acted like the crew's brain again. "Actually, it's good that we saw him."
"What's good about that?", the others questioned him, lifting their eyebrows.
"Easy. We can figure out counter measures.", the boy in red explained.
"He's right. Let's do this!"
Suddenly, Sanji came out of the kitchen, being finished with his meal. "Oi, it's time to- what are you doing?"
Everyone, even Carue, sighed in annoyance. It would need a lot of explanation and even more time to get Sanji up to date.
"At first, this Mr. 2 guy…"
…
One day later, Merry docked at a remote beach in Nanohana, Alabasta's port town. The kingdom was a summer island with a big, hot desert covering the entire area. Its climate was so hot, all Straw Hats were sweating, especially Chopper due to his fur and him being used to the cold climate of Drum.
Nami was acting like the crew's mother again and gave instructions to everyone about not standing out, not getting lost and so on.
Luffy however, wouldn't listen to her. He didn't need that kind of information. Before she, or anyone else could notice, the 17-year-old got off the ship and sped towards the restaurant where he came across Ace and Smoker in his previous life. 'Should I crash into them again or not? Nah, the first option is cooler!', he thought, silently laughing about his future action and the priceless looks on the faces of Ace and Smoker.
…
"… and that's why Sanji and Chopper should go shopping and acquire us a disguise.", the navigator finished her sentence. She looked around, and couldn't find her overly fast captain who would never listen, making her upset again.
"Where did that imbecile run off to again?!", the short-tempered roared with sharp teeth.
Sanji's eyes turned into hearts. "Oh Nami-swan, you're so hot when you're angry!"
Her friend Vivi calmed her down. "Don't be angry Nami-san, Luffy-san can look after himself, he's strong and you know that."
"Meh.", Zoro let out, shrugging. "Yes, Luffy is strong enough, but the problem is, he is a master at drawing attention to oneself. This is the exact reason why he can't be left alone for longer than 5 minutes or even worse, let running off during a secret mission."
"We will find him sooner or later,", the Vinsmoke spoke, becoming serious again, "so don't bother searching him. Let's get off and find a safe spot to hide first."
After agreeing to their cook, the rest of the Straw Hats left their ship for Nanohana.
…
Two minutes later, after finding a place to hide relatively close to the sea, a torn old building where only the brittly grey walls remained, Zoro, Nami, Vivi and Usopp waited for Sanji and Chopper to return from shopping. From those two, only one would return.
"Oi Chopper, wait outside, I don't think they'll accept reindeers inside.", the cook said, standing in front of a clothing store.
"Okay will do.", his nakama replied, trying to wait for him outside in the sun.
Shortly after the fighting cook entered the shop, the heat bothered the brown-furred so much, he started looking for another place. 'AAH, I can't stand this! Let's go check for somewhere cool.'
The reindeer-human hybrid looked around. He discovered a room free from sunlight. Not knowing that 'room' was the back part of a wagon, Chopper climbed inside. The cool air of the wagon was so pleasant for the hybrid, he slowly fell asleep. 'It's so good! No, I can't fall asleep! Maybe a little! No, no, my friends need me, Sanji needs me! Okay, one minute, not more!' were his last thoughts before he started snoring. Directly after that, the wagon pulled by a camel headed to Katorea.
Coincidentally, the leg fighter who finished his purchase left the shop and walked past the leaving wagon. He wondered where his friend and drudge was. "Chopper?", the blond loudly asked. "Chopper, where are you?"
After unsuccessfully searching for the devil fruit user, Sanji returned to his nakamas' hiding, feeling regret.
"Where's Chopper?", was the first thing his nakama asked when the cook returned.
"I don't know.", the pervert admitted, looking down. "I told him to wait outside, but he disappeared. My search for him was unsuccessful."
The swordsman shook his head. "Damn it!", he cursed. "Another crewmember split up. We must keep together."
Nami stood up. "I agree with you. We must stay together, but first, let's dress up."
…
One minute later, the Straw Hat Pirates looked like citizens of Alabasta – with the exception of the females, who looked like dancers.
"Did you really have to buy us these outfits?", the bluenette asked, somewhat disappointed in the ero-cook.
"Yes I had to!", the lady lover claimed, smoke coming out of his nose like a bull.
"Typical.", the ginger slightly complained. "At least I didn't have to spend a single Berry."
The group of six, including Carue, wanted to leave their safe spot, but when the green-haired stuck out his head, he sighted Captain Smoker and Master Chief Petty Officer Tashigi of the Marines.
'Fuck!', the first mate thought. 'Why are they here? Did they really come all the way from the East Blue to arrest us? Those are the people we need the LEAST here, especially HER.'
Zoro was still not over Tashigi's resemblance to that of his childhood friend. The longer he stared at her, the worse the feeling got.
"Tashigi!", Smoker barked at her, making his blue-haired subordinate flinch, then turn around.
"Y-yes Smoker-san?"
"I am sure Strawhat's here in Alabasta along with his crew. You know why we came here, right?"
"Uhm,", the female swordsman slowly repeated, "to arrest Strawhat Luffy and his crew then send them to Impel Down."
"That's right!", the cigar-smoker energetically retorted. "You take my men and search for his crew while I go defeat him by myself, understand?"
She gave him a salute. "Yes Sir! I won't disappoint you!"
"That's good.", the White Hunter spoke. "I value you very much, so you better get the job done."
With that, the Marine Captain walked away in hope to catch his enemy.
…
"Fire Fist" Ace was eating rice and meat in a restaurant called Spice Bean. Suddenly, the Yonko Commander fell asleep. Everyone in the restaurant shivered in fear, thinking he was dead. The next moment, the 20-year-old suffering from narcolepsy woke up, making the Alabastans exclaim in disbelief. "HE WAS JUST SLEEPING!"
While the black-haired was eating the next plate, potatoes with chili, a white-haired Marine stepped in. He was wearing a white jacket and carried a jitte with him. That man wasn't very happy to see a pirate, a Whitebeard Pirate to the least. "If that isn't Fire Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates, what are you doing here?", Smoker asked, clenching his fists.
Luffy's brother turned around. "Oh, a Mawine (Marine).", he mumbled, chewing on potato. "*gulp* Nothing, I'm just here to eat."
The people of Alabasta have all heard of the feared and mighty Whitebeard Pirates, but never seen one in person. Some people in the Spice Bean restaurant now have, although they didn't believe that a 'dimwit' how Ace is called by them is under a Yonko. "Whaaaat? How is a dimwit like him a Whitebeard Pirate?"
Smoker stepped a forward a bit. "I know someone important as you isn't here just to eat.", he spoke, making himself ready for an arrest stance. "Why are you really here, Portgas D. Ace?"
Roger's son pushed his hat up a little, his eyes were visible now. "Alright, if you're so persistent, I might tell you.". The fire human was giving the Marine his trademark smirk now. "I am looking for my little brother.". He grabbed Luffy's wanted poster and held it in the face of the smoke human.
"I see.", the Captain muttered, clenching his teeth. "Piracy is in the family, huh? Guess what, I came here to arrest your brother."
Ace's confident smirk changed into a threatening smirk. "Don't do that if you know what's good for you."
"You're threatening me?". Smoker also felt the desire to arrest the ex-super rookie. His fists turned into smoke. "As long as I'm a Marine and you're a pirate, I can't allow that."
"Gomu Gomu no…"
Luffy, who was standing about 50 meters away from the restaurant, stretched his arms out to the door and grasped for the edges. 'I can't believe I needed that long to reach the restaurant, my orientation is as bad as Zoro's!', the 17-year-old thought before sending himself flying like a rocket.
"… Rocket!"
Everything went in a flash. Smoker's sentence was cut off, Ace's eyes widened, and both of them were slammed through over TEN walls. The people in the restaurant gaped at the strawhat in disbelief, as if the boy punched an Admiral. Said boy sat down on his brother's rotating chair and asked the almost paralyzed owner of the restaurant for 20 different kinds of dishes and 5 kinds of drinks.
"A- almost there.", the bald chef said, shocked as never in his life before.
20 plates with one dish each were lying on the counter, which the glutton greedily consumed, nearly inhaling. A few buildings away, both men were slowly standing up. Neither one of them could be described as content. "Why you—Who the hell did this?", Ace snarled, emerging from the rubble. "What the hell?", Smoker grunted, knocking dust off his jacket.
The 2nd Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates was the first to stand up. "What's the big idea?", he ranted. "What idiot would do something this crazy?". He walked into Spice Bean through the hole Luffy's entrance created and his facial expression changed. "Hey Lu-"
He was cut off by the man from Loguetown who slammed his skull into the ground upon sighting the strawhat. "Strawhat!", the Marine roared at Luffy, who found this amusing. "I have been looking for you to arrest you."
'Smokey's so funny when he's angry.', the pirate thought, continuing to eat.
A certain white-haired became furious at this. "QUIT EATING!"
Holding up his hand, the teenager asked the White Hunter to wait. The thin boy swallowed the rest of his meal in whole. "Thank you for the meal.", he said to the restaurant's chef, then running away from the cigar smoker.
Ace stood up again, running after his brother, without paying, just like Luffy. "Wait up Luffy, it's me! Hey! Wait up! Hey! Luffy!"
The owner of the shop stared at the three running men in disbelief. "T-they ran off without paying!"
On the run, both captains ran across Tashigi. She noted her superior. "Captain Smoker, do you want a towel, this kingdom certainly is hot."
"Tashigi!", the muscular man called. "Catch that guy, it's Strawhat!"
"Strawhat?!", the blue-haired snapped. "I'll catch him!"
She swung her blade at the 80 Million Berry man, thinking she could catch him, but the future pirate king dodged by jumping on a building, then continuing to run. The future Vice-Admiral followed him.
"Tashigi! Gather the Marines at once! Search every square inch of this town for his crew!"
"Yes Sir!", the glasses-wearing responeded, thinking of an evil Zoro.
Meanwhile, the other Straw Hats except Chopper were still sitting in their hideout. Zoro, the only one who had haki, noticed Marines chasing a familiar aura, Luffy. He then opened his eyes and told the others. "Luffy's being chased by Marines, we gotta do something."
Coincidentally, their captain ran in their direction, being followed by tens of Marines and Captain Smoker. "Oh, there you are guys!"
Usopp facepalmed at Luffy's stupidity. "Luffy, why are you leading them in our direction you idiot?"
"It doesn't matter.", Nami exclaimed. "Run!"
They collected their stuff and started running. Smoker was trying to catch his enemy with 'White Blow', but was stopped by a fire attack.
"Kagero!"
The White Hunter's attack was stopped by a protecting wall of fire. Everybody glanced at the person shooting that stream of fire in disbelief, except Luffy, who smiled at him. "Big brother, it's you!"
"Big brother?!"
Of course, the 17-year-old faked his expression to act like a weak little brother. He didn't want Ace to know his true strength after all.
"Give it up.", the shirtless male spoke to the white-haired. "You are smoke and I am fire, a battle between elements that wouldn't end that soon.". He then turned to his younger brother. "I see you haven't changed at all, Luffy."
"Haha, it's good to see you, Ace.", the teen said, smiling widely.
Whitebeard's second commander became slightly more serious and lowered his hat. "You and your crew, run away, I'll catch up. We can't chat like this."
Luffy nodded in agreement. "Yosh, let's go!", he ordered his nakama, running off.
…
When the Straw Hats were on the beach where their ship was, they encountered Chopper riding a camel. "Tony-kun!", Vivi called. "Where have you been? And who's that camel?"
"Uhm", Chopper began, frowning and getting red. "It's a long story."
30 minutes earlier:
Chopper woke up in the same wagon he fell asleep. "Woah!", he rapidly exclaimed. "How long did I sleep?"
The reindeer got out of the wagon and approached the camel who used to pull it. Because the Straw Hat doctor originally was an animal, he was able to communicate with animals.
"Excuse me!", the blue-nosed spoke up. "Can you tell me where I am, this place looks different to where I've been before."
"You're in Katorea, kid.", the camel answered in his language.
"Katorea?! Oh no, can you tell me how to get to Nanohana?"
"Just cross the desert in that direction.", the saddled animal said. "But wait a second, how about a deal?"
"A deal?", the hybrid repeated, confused.
"Set me free and I'll bring you there."
Chopper then smirked and transformed to Heavy Point. "You've got yourself a deal!"
After freeing his fellow animal who introduced himself as Eyelashes, the two went back to Nanohana.
Present timeline:
"You were in Katorea?", the princess asked another time, noticeably upset.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"Because", the royal explained, "Katorea is the Rebel Army's head quarters."
"So?", the swordsman asked, raising his right brow.
The bluenette sighed. "The Rebel Army is the force against the king. Each day they gain more and more followers. Crocodile wants a war between the royal guards of Alabasta and the Rebel Army. Once both factions are heavily weakend, he will make his move to become king of his 'perfect country'.", she explained.
Luffy slammed his right fist against his left palm. "What a swine! Don't worry Vivi, we will prevent the war and kick Crocodile's Shichibukai ass.", he promised his temporary nakama.
"Thanks Luffy-san and all you others, you mean a lot to me."
"No need to thank us, we'd do everything for our friends, and you are our friend.", the black-haired told her. "Now let's get on our ship and wait for Ace."
…
After some time, the captain's brother stepped foot on Merry while overhearing the conversation between his brother and his crew.
"… I never beat Ace as a kid, but I'd kick his ass now.", the 17-year-old claimed, telling his nakama about his older brother and a little of his childhood.
"Whose ass are you going to kick Luffy?", the fire man jokingly asked, jumping on the railing from his Striker raft.
"Shishishi!", the strawhat laughed. "Ace, meet my nakama."
Ace beheld the Straw Hats and made a friendly face. "Thank you all for taking care of my little brother.", he said. "He might be a little hard for you to handle, but…"
"No, not at all.", the crew responded.
"… take good care of him.", the Whitebeard Pirate finished his sentence. He then leaped over to the teen wearing a captain's coat. "Looks good on you, Lu. Seems like you're taking being a captain seriously."
"Of course.", Garp's biological grandson spoke, smiling. "I want to protect my nakama and be a good captain."
Roger's son noticed a barrel on deck. "Hey Lu, how 'bout some arm wrestling to see how strong you've become?"
"Sounds good.", the younger black-haired answered. Seconds later, those two were pushing each other's right arms to their left to see whose arm slams on top of the barrel first. Both of them were getting red. Luffy was holding back of course, but observed that Whitebeard's 2nd Division Commander has gotten stronger too.
"Ace, do you use haki?"
"Yeah.", the freckled responded. "Sabo and I learned how to awaken it. Took us long enough, but we mastered it."
Suddenly, the barrel broke. Looking at each other for a moment, the brothers fell on the floor, laughing like crazy.
"I don't get it.", the long-nosed commented. "What's so funny?"
Unexpectedly, five ships were approaching Merry from the far. Vivi's eyes opened wide up. "It's Baroque works!", she exclaimed, wildly waving her arms.
"Fire Fist Ace and Strawhat Luffy!", a man yelled through a megaphone. "We've come for your bounties. Surrender now or we'll open fire!"
Ace pushed his hat a little deeper. "Let me clean them up.". He jumped on his raft powered by his Mera Mera powers and rode on it towards the enemy ships.
"Try to get past 5 of our ships if you can!", a Baroque agent shouted, challenging the Yonko Commander.
But the 550 Million Berry man didn't fool around. "Hiken!", he cried out, shooting a massive blow of fire from his fist, annihilating the fleet, much to the Straw Hats' amazement.
"Wow!", almost all of them let out with their jaws dropped.
"Amazing, Ace!", the future pirate king exclaimed, the only one smiling.
"Hmpf!", Ace grinned, returning to the ship. "That wasn't much, you know."
Luffy laughed out. "Hahahahaha! You're funny Ace! Say, do you want to join my crew?", he joked.
His brother held his hand up, which meant no. "Nah, I'll pass. But do you want to join Whitebeard with your crew? You'd have lots of fun."
Everybody except 2 on the ship shuddered. "W-w-w-whitebeard?!", the orange-haired fearfully stammered. "One of the freaking Yonko?"
"Don't tell me you're serious!", the sniper yelled, a certain reindeer hiding behind him.
The captain of the Straw Hat Pirates didn't think for long. "No. I want to be Pirate King, not some underling."
Ace laughed out too. "Now I see it, you haven't changed one bit.". He sat down and became a bit more serious. "So Luffy, where are you going?"
Looking around a few times, the 17-year-old spotted his navigator, who surely knew where he and his crew were going. "Nami, where are we going?"
Nami sighed to her captain's cluelessness. "I asked Vivi.", she said. "We're going to Yuba."
"So tell me Ace.", the strawhat spoke in a calm and serious tone, turning around. "Where are you going?"
The young pirate took his hat off and started explaining. "I'm on a mission. An ex-subordinate of mine who calls himself Blackbeard stabbed a crewmember, almost killing him, just for a devil fruit. He basically commited one of the worst sins a pirate could commit on a ship. Following that, he jumped ship and created his own crew. I've received information that Blackbeard has been sighted in Yuba, and that's where I'm going."
"Oh, if we have the same destination, then why don't you hang with us a little, Ace?", Luffy suggested.
Whitebeard's second commander liked that idea. "You know what,", the 20-year-old said, clapping once, "I'm in."
After beaming in excitement, Luffy ordered his cook to make some party dinner and his swordsman to open up some booze who objected. "Hell no Luffy, that's my booze!". Knowing how his captain wouldn't give up, the green-haired decided to give in and share some bottles with his nakama and Ace.
'Ace,', the rubber man thought, 'I won't let you die this time!'
So, that was it for today. Sorry if it has some quality errors, especially in the end part, but I'm running out of originality, so it might seem bland. Also, so far, nobody wanted me to include a question & answer part where you ask me questions related to the story and I answer them. Constructive criticism allowed. Rate and review if you like.
Some bonus information: In my fic, Luffy's height is 184 cm/6'½", which is 10 cm/almost 4" more than in the real story. Reason? Intense and excessive training in his childhood. That means, our favourite strawhat is taller than Zoro after TS and almost as tall as Ace, who stands at 185 cm/6'1". Not only that, he'll grow in the future since he's physically not an adult. A rubber man can stretch, so the user should be fairly tall. What do you think of that? Write it in the comments.