Chapter 3: The troubling start of future brothers.
A few months had passed, Luffy and Robin are getting along really well. The two would run around the town, playing pirates or tag or any other child's game they found fun at the time. But one-day Monkey D. Garp, Luffy's grandfather showed up to see how the boy was doing. To his dismay, his grandson wanted to become a pirate. Garp had no choice, but to take Luffy and his new friend Robin up to Mt. Corvo. People seldomly step foot in it, only the strong could survive there and the weak who entered were doom to die.
"What I'm saying is, Grandpa…"Luffy tried saying as Garp pulled him by his face, "I'm going to become the King of the Pirates".
"Cut the crap" Garp yelled, starting to drag young Luffy through the jungle, while Robin followed closely behind.
"Let me… Let me go!" Luffy shouted.
"On top of eating the devil fruit, you're talking nonsense."Garp said Luffy started to hit him, "Luffy! Both you and Ace have to become the strongest Navy soldier." Garp looked back at young Robin, "And you as well miss Robin."
"I go, where Luffy goes" Robin grinned sweetly, holding her holds together behind her back.
"What nice young girl" Garp smiled back, and then looked down at his disappointment of a grandson, "Why can't you be more like her?"
"My body is rubber, but yet why is it painful?! Let me go, Grandpa!" Luffy yelled.
"It was a mistake to leave you in Windmill village. Of all things, you like pirates ?! What a fool!" Garp exclaimed. As they were passing by a tree, Luffy quickly wrapped his arms around it, "You can't make friends with 'Red Haired' Shanks!"
"I wanna become…" Luffy started to say as he pulled on the tree and knock his grandfather in the head, "A strong man like Shanks!"
"Damnit Luffy! Stop stalling and let's keep going" Garp yelled.
"No! You can't make me!" Luffy protested.
"Where are we going anyways, Mr. Garp?" Robin questioned.
Garp finally got Luffy off the tree and kept dragging him by the face, "There's someone in these mountains that going to watch over you two while I'm gone." After a long trip of Luffy trying to get out of Garp's grasps, they finally made it to a small hut up in the mountains. Garp started banging on the door.
Luffy looked at Robin, "What is this place?"
"I'm sure not" Robin responded looking around. She then panned back at Luffy with a grin, "Let's go explore."
Luffy smiled back, "Yeah" The two ran off as the door finally burst up, revealing a big, orange hair woman with a cigarette in her mouth.
"Stop it! Whoever you are, do you wanna get killed!?" The woman yelled.
"It's me" Garp simply answered, making the women fall over with a scared look.
"G-Garp-san! You're back already!" Two others popped out from behind the door frame, to see what the commotion is all about. Their expressions quickly changed to fear as well. The woman's name was Curly Dadan. The others were Dorga and Magra. All three were mountain bandits
"You're looking good" Garp stated.
"Give me a break! Please, you gotta have mercy on me! Ace is 10 years old now! And the other brat you brought is already a handful as well and she only just got here." Dadan explained.
"Oh, yeah, already? How are they?" Garp asked, chuckling. Luffy and Robin were running around Garp, playing tag as Dadan watched them.
"It's not funny. We can't handle him and the other girl anymore! You have to take them!" Dorga complained.
"Putting that aside…" Garp said, ignoring the last statement.
"Don't put it aside!" Dorga yelled.
"You two are annoying!" Dadan yelled at Luffy and Robin. Garp grabbed both of the kids, by the back of the shirts and held them up.
"Look after these two as well" Garp smiled. Dadan had a dumbfounded look on her face. "Hey Luffy, Robin, say 'hi' to them."
"Yo!" Luffy greeted, putting up his hand.
"Hello there" Robin greeted sweetly.
"Who are those kids?" Magra questioned.
"This is my grandson" Garp shook Luffy a little, "She is his friend. Look after them."
"What?" Dadan looked even more shocked now. "What?!" She yelled again. "Two more". Garp put the two down and Robin quickly tagged Luffy.
"You're it!" Robin giggled as she ran off. Luffy started to chase her until he felt something on his face. He slowly touched it to see it was someone's spit on his cheek.
"Who did that?" Luffy looked around, trying to see where it came from. As he was looking, he saw a boy, sitting upon an animal. He ran up to the boy, "Hey, you! Say 'sorry'! It's gross!"
Garp heard this and turned to the boys, "Ace!" He slowly walked towards them.
"Hey, say sorry" Luffy shouted. Ace just kept glaring at Luffy.
"Luffy, this is Ace. He's 3 years older than you. You're gonna live here with them from today. Hey Ace, where's Hancock?" Garp asked.
Ace sighed, "How should I know, she doesn't give me a time of day. Which is good because I wouldn't wanna know a snobby princess like her anyways"
"I was hoping you two could get along. Well, hopefully, you and Luffy could can." Garp said, but not realizing the glares both Luffy and Ace were giving each other. "That's all from me. I'll stop by when I have time"
"Is it decided?" All three bandits yelled.
Garp side-eyed them, "Any problem with that?"
The bandit quickly changed their tone, "We'll take them"
"Already then, I'm off" Garp waved behind him and walked.
"Um… what about some child support?!" Dorga asked.
"Put on my bill" Garp responded.
Ace finally jumped down from the animal and walked towards Luffy, as he did walk towards Ace. Unfortunately Ace walked past him, "Say 'sorry'" Luffy yelled again, but Ace kept walking and then going into the house. Luffy remembered the words Shanks left him with. He then followed suit after Ace into the house to see a terrifying scene. Three bandits surrounded Robin and one had a knife up to her neck.
"Give me your money or I'll kill" The bandit demanded.
Luffy balled up his fist shoot it at the bandit's face, and shouted, "Leave her alone!" The bandit was knocked out cold. The other was going to get beat up Luffy, but Dorga stopped them.
"I wouldn't do that, He's Garp's grandson!" Dorga stated causing the bandits to freak out.
"Why did you accept? This is not a daycare!" Some of the bandits were complaining.
Dadan placed down a plate of meat, "Shut up you all!" She yelled, "It's time to eat!" All the bandits jumped at the meat. As they fought over pieces of meat, Luffy carefully snuck his arm past all of them and grabbed a piece for himself. Of course, he slit it in half and one gave it to Robin. He was going to eat his half, but something caught the corner of his eye. Panning over to see a young girl with long black hair, and black eyes to match. She was tall, skinny, and very beautiful. She was hiding behind the door, staring at all the meat in front of her. Luffy grinned before getting up to introduce himself.
"Hi, I'm Luffy. What's your name?" Luffy greeted with a smile. The girl was startled but then glared at him.
"A peasant, like you shall never know my name!" The girl exclaimed.
Luffy looked confused, "Okay?" Luffy then noticed the girl was staring at the meat in his hand. He held out the piece with a smile, "Here you can have".
"What?" she asked.
"I said, you can have it. I saw you staring at it, so you can have it" Luffy offered. She looked at the meat then back him.
"Really!?" She cheerful exclaimed, but then returned to normal, "Well if you're offering it to you're princess, I guess" She took the meat and took a bite, "Also my name is Hancock. Boa Hancock"
"Shishishi, Hancock, what awesome name" Luffy laughed. For some reason, this made Hancock's heart race and her face to blush.
'Why do I feel this way when I see this boy' Hancock thought to herself.
"Hey Hancock, why didn't you get a piece of meat for yourself?" Luffy asked.
"Just take a look out there, those bandits are tearing each pair and a princess like me shouldn't get into fights over food," Hancock explained.
"Well, why didn't you asked pops over there to get you some?" Luffy questioned, looking at Dadan.
Hancock started to giggle, "First she's a woman, and second, do you even know where you are now?" Luffy shook his head. "Then I'll tell you. This is a den of the Dadan family, mountain bandits who that rule Mt. Corvo."
"Mountain bandits? I had to deal with them back at my village. I hate them" Luffy chuckled. Just then a knife came flying towards Luffy's face. Luckily the knife just glazed his nose.
"Shut up, you little shit! We're annoyed by having a kid like you! If you don't wanna stay here, that's fine! Go away and die like a dog somewhere!" Dadan yelled across the room.
"Easy, easy, boss" Magra tried calming down Dadan.
Luffy's stomach started to growl, "I wanna eat some meat" He looked at Ace with meat in each of his hands. Luffy started to rub his stomach. A piece of meat started dangling in front of Luffy's face. He tried biting into it, but the meat disappear. Luffy looked up to see Dadan biting into the meat.
"These are all from a bison that Ace brought. He gave us a cut of the take so everybody can eat. The mountain bandits' world is rough sailing. You're gonna have to work pretty hard from tomorrow. Cleaning, laundry, polishing shoes, and weapons. Burglary, robbery, fraud, and murder! Remember, you can't tell Garp what we make you do! You can have one bowl of rice and a glass of water for a day! That's all I can guarantee you. You gotta get everything else by yourself and grow up on your own." Dadan exclaimed with an evil smirked.
"Okay," Luffy simply responded.
Dadan almost fell over and so did Hancock, "'Okay'?! Why don't you cry or something?" Dadan asked.
"I'm fine because grandpa threw me into a jungle once and there was water to drink and frogs, snakes, and mushrooms to eat in the forest!" Luffy grinned, "Plus, I'll become a pirate someday so…" Ace looked at Luffy, "I must be strong! And protect my crewmates, right Robin?" Robin nodded. Dadan had fainted, and Ace was leaving the hut. "Wondering where's he going?" Luffy was going to follow suit, but Hancock stopped him.
"Stop Luffy, don't follow. He goes to dangerous places all the time." Hancock protested, but Luffy just grinned.
"Sounds like fun. Come on Robin, let's go on an adventure." Luffy said, before rushing to the exit.
"Aye aye captain!" Robin shouted, rushing alongside him.
Luffy turned back to Hancock, "You wanna come too?" Luffy smile from ear to ear.
"I'm not sure" Hancock looked down, shifting her foot and rubbing her left arm. Luffy quickly went back to her and grabbed her hand.
"Come on, it's going to be fun," Luffy said, as he took her out the door. Hancock's heart started to race again, but she didn't understand why. She had never felt this way about a person before. Once outside, the trio chased down Ace. "Hey! My name is Luffy! I'm not mad about you spitting on me anymore." Luffy waved his arms at Ace, who was on top of the hill, looking down on him.
"Ew, he spat on you," The girls said unison.
"It's nothing worth getting mad over. Let's become friends!" Luffy added, but Ace didn't say anything back. "Are you going somewhere? We want to go on an adventure too!" Suddenly Ace kicked down at the tree and let roll down the hill towards the three. The girls quickly got scared and hid behind Luffy, who stand there waiting for the tree. When the tree was close enough, Luffy punched it half, letting each half land behind them. Luffy looked up the hill again, to Ace was gone. He then sensed him not too far.
"He was trying to kill us!" Hancock yelled.
"But I don't know why Luffy just want to be his friend" Robin added
"Well he's a stupid boy and we just leave him alone, Luffy."Hancock huffed. However, Luffy didn't respond. "Luffy, are you listening to me?" Hancock looked where to Luffy last was and he wasn't there. The two looked around to see where he went, but couldn't find him. "He's a stupid boy too!"
Luffy found Ace walking across a wooden bridge. As Luffy took a step onto the bridge, Ace felt it. He turned around to see Luffy standing on the bridge with a smile. Ace rushed towards and knock him off the bridge, sending Luffy flying down to the bottom of the valley. But thankful Luffy shoots his arm towards the side of the valley wall and pulled himself up.
"What's his problem?" Luffy asked himself as he put his hat on his head. Luffy couldn't sense Ace anymore, so he just headed back to the hut. A few hours later, Ace showed back with a butt load of fish.
"Ace is back!" The bandits yelled, cheerful. However, not everyone was happy to see him back. Luffy stood near the entrance of the hut. Ace saw him and winced.
"Hey! Why did you throw me off that bridge?" Luffy asked Ace as he passes by. Ace stopped and side-eyed.
"Because your annoying and should have stayed at the bottom of the valley" Ace stated before walking in the hut.
"See Luffy, there's no reason with him," Hancock said, shaking her head.
"Yeah Luffy, please just leave him alone before he throws into another valley and you can't get out" Robin agreed.
Luffy crossed his arms and shook his head, "I must make him my friend. I can sense the aloneness in him." The girl looked at each other with confusion and then back at Luffy. From then now, when Ace would go out, Luffy would follow him. Through the days, to weeks then months, Luffy kept trying to become friends with Ace. He would follow after Ace and losing him. No matter if it rained or if it was windy. Luffy kept going after Ace desperately. Until one rainy day, Luffy was still chasing Ace through the jungle. However, he lost him again.
"I can't believe he's coming this far. He's so persistent" Ace said to himself, looking down at Luffy from a cliff. Just then Ace saw a dark shadow coming out from a cave. Ace backed away and hid behind a bush. "Oh crap!"
"Damn! I lost him again! Ace runs fast!" Luffy exclaimed. Luffy sensed something stepping towards him, "It is Ace?!" Lightning flashed, revealing the shadow to by a giant lion. Luffy fell over in fear.
"That's the beast of Mt. Corvo! No one can beat it!" Ace stated, watching the scene unfold. "Why is he not running?! It's gonna eat him!" Luffy's knees were weak, he can't stand up and run. "That fool!" Ace was going to save Luffy, however, a giant bear stepped behind Luffy and started to clash with the lion. During the fight, Luffy snuck away. That still didn't stop him from chasing Ace, no matter what the others tried to do to stop him. Luffy had been chasing Ace for three months with cuts and bruises all over, he finally made it to the end of the forest.