Chapter 2
"I see a ship," Sabo announces as he looks through a binocular from the front of their small ship.
"You think they have food?" Ace asks weakly.
"Fooood," Luffy whines from where he's sprawled on the deck with Ace.
"Probably. It looks like a pretty decent-sized ship." There was a pause as Sabo continues to observe the ship they were nearing. "Oh~ It's a pirate ship."
"Don't care. Need food. Starving," Ace whines as Luffy moans in agreement.
"Suck it up, guys. We just missed breakfast. That's only one meal," Sabo scolds as he finally puts down his binocular and walks towards the helm to steer them towards the other ship. He had a log holding it in place so they didn't just randomly sail in a circle. The other two are currently being useless. He seriously hopes there's enough food for the three of them on that other ship.
Makino had packed them enough food to last them a week. It's been only three days since they left Dawn Island, but their food somehow disappeared over the course of the night. At first, Ace and Sabo thought Luffy ate it all, but their brother vehemently denied it. After some investigation, they found a strange otter-thing taking a nap with a full belly out in the open towards the back of the ship. The thing wasn't even hiding. Once it sensed them closing in, it finally woke up and immediately jumped into the sea without even a glance at them.
There was a loud grumbling from Luffy's stomach before he added, "And snack."
"Right. We only missed breakfast and snack," Sabo amends, hoping his own growling stomach wasn't heard. "That's not even a half a day. It's not that bad."
Ace lazily crawls over to the side of ship to bonelessly lean over the wall to take over watch. "Looks like they're unloading the ship. That island must be theirs," he drawls lethargically.
"Good. Hopefully, we can raid their kitchen without being noticed," Sabo nods to himself. "Wouldn't want the Marines to know we're out here, yet. That'd defeat the purpose of sailing without a flag."
"I don't get it," Luffy said weakly. He thinks their ship looks weird without a flag.
His blond brother heaves a sigh as he once again explains to Luffy the reason. "Because the newspaper in East Blue is different than in Grand Line. They only get reports about big things that happens in Grand Line. So the people here in East Blue doesn't really know us. You're going to use that to your advantage and get good crew members, not ones that follows you just because you have Grandpop's backing. The most recent news they have of us is probably a few years old. They only have our first, maybe second, wanted posters. The only reason Makino and Dadan have our most recent is because of Gramps."
"And don't forget to not use your full power. You might scare people into following you blindly. You want loyal crew members with backbones, not scaredy cats," Ace adds.
-*/
They couldn't help themselves. Rather than packing as much food as they could to take to their ship the moment they located the kitchen, their stomachs won, and they started pigging out as soon as they found anything edible. And now, they were caught red-handed by a short pink-haired teen.
The trio stared as the boy stuttered at them. "Who-who are you?"
"Ah, don't mind us. We're just passing by," Sabo answers with both his brothers nodding with their mouths full. He and Ace has a cloak over them to cover their clothes and Ace's tattoos.
The boy then rushes over to them and whispers urgently at them. "Don't you know what kind of ship you're on? This is a pirate's ship. Alvida Pirates! They're horrible, horrible pirates lead by 'Iron Mace' Alvida," he shivers just saying her name.
"Never heard of them," Ace says with a finger up his nose.
"How can you not know about the Alvida Pirates?!"
"Would you please lower your voice?" Sabo says as he removes his hands from his ears. "We're trying to avoid trouble. Besides, we haven't been in East Blue in a while, so we have a perfectly good reason to not know about the pirates around here."
"Sorry," Coby lowers his voice to an almost whisper to match Sabo's. "Where are you guys from then? I'm Coby, by the way."
"Ah~ I feel so much better," Ace says as he pats his full stomach. "I'm Ace. These are my brothers, Sabo and Luffy. Where we came from...well, that's a secret for now."
"Oh, I see," Coby says dejectedly at not being able to learn more about these people before going back to persuading them to leave. "You seem to be good people. You really should leave before Alvida finds you."
"I'm going to be the Pirate King. I'm not afraid of no Almeeda," Luffy says as he starts shoving as much food as he could into a sack. "You're a good guy too. Why are you on this ship if you're not happy here?"
"PIRATE KING! Tha-that means you're pirates too!" Coby shouts, taking a few steps back.
"Never said we weren't," Sabo shrugs, already giving up on shushing Coby. They're almost done anyway.
"B-but Pirate King? That means you're looking for the World's Greatest Treasure, One Piece! Do you want to die? All the pirates in the world is looking for One Piece!"
"So?" the three of them gave Coby a look as if he were stupid.
"That's impossible. Absolutely impossible! Definitely impossible!There's no chance of being the Pirate King in this Great Age of Pirates!" Coby frantically rants before crouching and clutching the back of his head in pain. "Ow, why'd you hit me?"
"I felt like it," Ace says with a straight face, and his fist still held up.
"I'm not afraid of dying," Luffy says nonchalantly, filling another bag with more food from the pantry. "It's my dream, so I don't mind dying for it. Besides," the brunette gave the other a grin, "I'm not going down without a fight."
"If Luffy dies, Pops and Grandpops would be up in arms," Ace mutters to Sabo, who shivered at the thought.
Coby looks at Luffy's unwavering grin in awe. "Will I also...be able to accomplish my dream...if I'm willing to die for it?" Coby asks quietly from where he sits, looking to the ground before looking back up at Luffy with determination. "Will I be able to become a Marine?"
""A Marine?!"" Ace and Sabo blanch.
"It's been my dream, to catch bad guys," Coby says with conviction. "I want to be an Admiral. Do you think I can do it?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Luffy answers.
"I have to try. I'd rather die trying to get out of here and join the Marines, than to be a cabin boy here forever! And then...I'll be able to catch bad people like Alvida!"
"Who are you going to catch, Coby?" came a threatening voice before the kitchen door broke to reveal a large sized woman with a spiked mace. "Do you think you can escape from me? Huh?" She took one look around the room before asking, "Who are these people, Coby? I overhear you talking about catching me and thought you were conspiring with the Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro. None of these idiots looks like a Pirate Hunter."
"Alvida!" Coby squeaks as he trembles in fear on the ground.
"Coby! Who is the most beautiful person on the sea?" the large woman demands, looking down at Coby.
"Who's this old, fat hag?" Luffy asks, pointing to Alvida.
There's a ruckus coming from the pirates behind their captain as they couldn't believe anyone would call Alvida fat in front of her.
"Lu-Luffy!" Coby hisses as he tugs the boy's arm. "That's Alvida! The most...the most..." he trails off as he Luffy's earlier words of conviction replays itself in his mind.
"The most what, Coby?" Alvida asks smugly.
"The-th-the most ugliest person in the world!" There. I said it. I have no regrets! Coby thought to himself as he readies himself for death by spiked mace.
"Nicely worded," Sabo says, as he tugs Coby behind himself and Ace.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Ace grins at Coby, before turning to Luffy, who's laughing at Coby's answer. "Remember, Lu, go easy."
"Go easy?!" Coby cries out. "She's the Captain of the Alvida Pirates!"
"Okay~" Luffy turns his head to answer his brother, when a red-faced Alvida raised her mace and smashed it on the young pirate's head.
The surrounding pirates had a look of surprise when the mace came bouncing off the boy's head.
"That's not gonna work," Luffy grins before pulling his arm back further than a normal human being's. "Gomu gomu no pistol!" Luffy calls out and punches the large woman into her stunned crew, knocking her unconscious.
"How did you do that, Luffy?" Coby asks from where Ace has to hold him up right when his legs gave out on him from seeing Luffy knock out his former captain.
"I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi," Luffy pulls the side of his lips far from his face to show him, then let it snap back into place. "I'm a human rubber."
"Now, let's pilfer you a boat and get you on your merry way to becoming a Marine," Sabo says, leading Coby out of the kitchen, as Ace and Luffy grab their bags of food. "First thing first, would you fine gentlemen happen to have more food stored elsewhere?" Sabo asks the trembling pirates, who scurried to side to make way for them to leave.
They all pointed towards the island they were docked at. "I know where all the food is kept," Coby offers.
"See, Luffy, this is why you don't want your crew to be scared of you. No loyalty. They would only follow you just because they're too scared to do otherwise," Ace nods his head sagely.
-*/
"So you ate a Devil's Fruit?" Coby asks as he helps Sabo and Luffy load more bags of food from Alvida's storage shed on the island.
"So did Ace and Sabo," Luffy answers with a mouth full of apples.
"Is the rumor true? That you can't swim after eating one?"
"Very true," Sabo says.
"Then how do you plan on sailing to One Piece? You'd have to go through Grand Line! That place is known as the Pirates' Graveyard! You'll die! Especially if you can't swim! That's impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Luffy then smacks Coby on the back of the head. "It doesn't matter if I can swim or not. I'm going to find good nakamas. They'll help me, just like my family did."
"I can't believe all three of you can't swim and are willing to sail all the way to Grand Line just to find One Piece," Coby moans.
"That's just Luffy. Ace and I are going back home after Luffy finds his first crew member," Sabo says.
"You're leaving your kid brother to sail alone with unknown people?!" Coby nearly screamed, dropping his sack.
Sabo gave the pink-haired boy an offended look. "For your information, my little brother may look young, but he's 15 years old. He's just a little on the short side. He knows all about stranger danger."
"Fifteen is way too young!" Coby insists. The thought that the fifteen-year-old is shorter than him didn't even register.
"Yes, it is. Luffy's going to be the youngest pirate captain ever," Sabo says proudly as Luffy gives him a thumbs up and a grin.
Coby opens his mouth to say something, only to the close it back. He's going to stop now. He can already tell it's a loosing argument, and he doesn't want another lump on his head.
The three of them came out of the storage to see Ace, who they'd left outside as their lookout, crouched down in front of the pirate ship, with the pirates at the rail looking down fearfully at what he was doing. Sabo and Luffy walks up behind Ace to see their brother trying to light a match.
"Ace, what are you doing?" Sabo asks.
"I'm trying to burn this stupid ship down so they can't follow us. Only to remember that I haven't lit a match in years." Ace shoves the match and box to Sabo.
After striking the match to the box, the lit flame immediately absorbs to Sabo's fingers. "Oh," Sabo says with a look of surprise. "I guess we wouldn't have known, seeing as we hadn't need to use matches in a while," he mutters.
"You...don't know how to light a match?" Coby asks in surprise, not having seen the flame retreat into Sabo. "If you'd like -"
"Nah, I got this," Sabo waves Coby off and crouched down, motion Ace to following. "See, Ace, this is how it's done." Out of prying eyes, Sabo lit a finger and touch the ship and moved away, only for the flimsy flame to go out with the gentle wind. Frowning, the blond went back down to try again with a little larger flame and again and again, until Ace had enough.
"You know what? Screw this." Ace grabs the pipe Sabo has hidden under his cloak, smashing it into the lower front of the ship so that it wouldn't be able to float without taking in large amounts of water.
-*/
"Hey, hey," Luffy fidgets from where he's seated. "Tell me about that Zolo person."
"You mean Zoro? He's a Pirate Hunter. He's a scary person. Rumor has it that he's a bloodthirsty monster in human form. He's currently being held at a Marine Base in Shells Town on Yotsuba Island," Coby says.
"Luffy, please tell me you're not going to try and recruit this Zoro person," Sabo says, hoping he read his brother's face wrong.
"Maybe," Luffy says with a smile. "If he's a good person, then yes."
"But, Lu, he's a Pirate Hunter," Sabo tries to reason. "He hunts pirates like us and turn us in for our bounty. All they care about is money."
"But he could be a good guy, and he's a monster too." Coby flinched at the thought of wanting a bloodthirsty monster on a crew.
"Give it up, Sabo," Ace sighs as he steers the ship. "What Luffy wants, Luffy gets. You should know that by now."
"Let's go there." Luffy laughs at Sabo's resigned face and Coby's look of horror. "We can drop Coby off at the Marine Base too."
"In that case, if we're going in the same direction, shouldn't we just leave the row boat?" Coby points to the boat they stole from Alvida, that's being towed behind them.
"Nah. We'll keep it," Ace says. "Luffy will need it later."
"But wouldn't it slow us down?"
"We're the captains of this ship. If Ace says to keep it, then we're keeping it." The smile that Sabo gives Coby sent chills down his back.
"R-right," Coby nods his head quickly, not wanting to get on the blond's bad side. He knows firsthand how bad it is to cross a pirate captain.
A/N: Ugh! This new laptop is shitty! I've had to rewrite this a few times because the stupid laptop kept restarting without warning before I could save. I've learned, now. Save every five minutes, just in case...and sorry for taking so long to get this out. I've been busy with things and of course, laptop problems.
FYI: I'm going to try to follow Luffy. So anything that isn't mentioned, just pretend that it's the same as the manga/anime. If I decide that something's going to happen differently with anyone else, I'll write it. ^_^v
Anyway, I followed the manga on this chapter. Instead of being on a cruise ship, Alvida was at her island base, and that's where Luffy beat her with a single punch. Truthfully, I'm not to happy with this chapter. I seems boring, but I don't know what else to do with it. Oh well. I hope you guys like it.
What do you think? Updates will be random as I'm busy with work and school. Thanks for reading! (^-^)ゝ