This is the 29th chapter. I don't own the series of One Piece.
Heroes Reunion! 'Fire Fist' Portugas D. Ace!
In three years, not a drop of rain has fallen in the desert kingdom of Alabasta, the Land of Oasis. Desperate for rain and prodded by outside forces, the kingdoms people have taken up weapons. The land is at the brink of war. With nowhere else to turn, the people are turning on each other. After a long time away, Princess Vivi has returned at last, landing at the port city of Nanohana, accompanied by Luffy, the Straw Hat crew, and former Baroque Works agents. While avoiding the Baroque Works assassins, the gang prepares to travel across the desert in order to stop the rebel army from attacking. However, they are missing their Captain. Luffy rushed ahead of the others in search of food and found himself lost outside the city.
Alabasta, Nanohana
At the city of Nanohana, the Straw Hat pirates, and two former Baroque Works agents are searching for Luffy, who got himself lost in the desert. They have no luck of finding him since there's no loud noises and it got Ventus very angry when he has no luck of finding him. Usually, Luffy always find himself in trouble between either the fight against pirates or Marines, or being chased. But now with Luffy not making any noises at all, he'll be very hard to find.
'When I find that rubber moron, I'll make sure he suffers from the desert heat WITHOUT water!?' Ventus mentally shouts with anger, but he caught a scent that's coming here and he recognize that scent. 'So, Portugas D. Ace, you finally arrived in Alabasta.'
Ventus then turns his head and saw Portugas D. Ace walking around the city with his bag on his shoulder.
Ace was a tall muscular young man with a black curly hair and childish freckles on his face. He has purple tattoo on his back that resembles Whitebeard jolly roger, an 'ASCE' on his upper bicep. He wore black knee-length shorts, black boots, a blue pouch around his left leg, a short second belt with a large red 'A' on the silver buckle over his right hip, but left it unfastened and threaded the free end along the back of his shorts. A dagger in a green sheath hung on his left hip. He wore a Log Pose on his left arm along with the red and white striped bracelet around his wrist, an orange elbow guard, a red beaded necklace, and an orange hat with two smileys, one frowning, and one smiling, and a string of red beads sitting above the rim. Two long orange side straps hung down sides of his hat and met at a large medallion of a bull's skull with orange tassels.
One of the merchants is trying to get the peoples attention while holding the apple, but grunts when he saw Ace and spoke.
"Oh, hello there, young traveler, I've never seen you around before. Is this your first time here?"
He then showed Ace a golden apple on his hand when Ventus sniff the apple from afar.
'No way that apple is real gold, it's just the smell of fresh paint. Ace isn't stupid enough to fell for a scam.' Ventus mentally thought, watching Ace walks around when the merchant stops him.
"Would you care to take a look at this solid gold apple? I don't normally do this, but I can usually tell when there's someone has a discerning eye. This apple is magic, it's from an ancient ruin and with just one bite, you can live for a thousand years."
"Thanks, but no thanks." Ace politely declines. "I'm not really all that interested in living for thousand years, just living today is good enough."
And with that, Ace walk passed the merchant, leaving him disappointed and Ventus smiled. However, he then saw Chopper and Usopp looks at the painted apple with their jaws dropped in shock, causing the young Dragoon to sigh.
"Solid gold! Wow!" Chopper exclaims.
"And live a thousand years!" Usopp adds. "Really?! You found it in some ancient ruins?! No way!"
"Oh yes, I sure did. This is a legendary artifact from an ancient land."
"And after one bite, we can really live that long?!" Chopper asks excitedly.
"Of course, I would never lie to a customer."
"Oh, that's amazing! That's so cool!" Chopper and Usopp exclaims in unison with excitement.
"Old man can certainly spot a treasure. So, I guess...for a one-time price of one 4 thousand berries, this apple is yours."
"Hey!" Ventus called them, earned their attention. "Don't believe what he told you."
"Why not, Ventus?!" Usopp questions.
"For one thing, if such a thing even exists, he shouldn't be selling it." Ventus explains with his arms crossed. "Also, if that apple is from ancient ruins, then it should be rotten to the core and won't be edible. Even if this is the Grand Line, it doesn't mean that everything stays the same. Well, maybe climates and time period stays same, but apples are like us, they have to die out some time."
"But...But..." Chopper pleads, given him puppy eyes which Ventus won't budge. Nami bonked Chopper and Usopp's heads.
"Idiots! Really, what are you thinking?!" Nami grunts with annoyance. "Weren't even listening what Ventus have told you?"
"She's right. Also, I've already took a whiff at that apple." Ventus told them. "It wasn't really solid gold, it's just an apple that's been painted."
"He's right, you know. So, if I were you, I wouldn't take that merchant's word for it." Zoro warned them while agreeing to Ventus' statement, pulls the curtain nearby, revealing a man painting a red apple with gold paint.
"Hey, let go Nami!" Usopp whined as Nami and Ventus dragged him and Chopper away from the shop. "What are you doing?! Put us down! This is harassment!"
"You two need to quit wasting time and look for Luffy with the rest of us!" Nami told them with annoyance. "We're done shopping here! So, as soon as we find the idiot, we're leaving! You understand?!"
"Okay, where would Luffy be?" Zoro questions. "He's got to be around here somewhere."
'I wouldn't know. But when I find him, I'll strangle him and left him drown at sea!' Ventus mentally thought with a annoyance.
"Shut up you two!" Nami shouts, had enough of them complaining.
Zoro then stops as he turns his head on the right, noticed Ace talking to someone. Ventus and the others noticed Zoro isn't walking, turning their heads to Ace.
"Who is that?" Zoro muttered with a question.
"I just have one question, have you seen this guy?" Ace questions, showing the wanted poster of Luffy to the store manager.
She then looks at the wanted poster of Luffy, pondered and spoke.
"His names Monkey D. Luffy?"
It got Zoro widen his eyes with shock, wondering why is Ace looking for him.
"He might be in town somewhere." Ace told her. "I've been looking for him for a while."
"Well, I've never seen him. If you want to find him, then I would suggest asking around that restaurant over there. The owner seems to know everyone passing through."
"Thank you, ma'am." Ace thanked her, bows. "A restaurant, huh? Well, I was just starting to get hungry anyway."
And with that, Ace then head towards the restaurant to get something to eat.
"Who's that?" Chopper asks. "He sure look like he'd be strong."
"And why do you think he's looking for Luffy?" Usopp questions.
"Maybe he's a bounty hunter." Nami guessed.
"Not quite." Ventus replied. "The mark on his back, it's a pirate mark."
"That's no ordinary pirate mark. I'm sure of it." Zoro told him, watching Ace heading towards the restaurant. "I used to hunt pirates, there's no way I wouldn't recognize it."
When he said that, it got Ventus curious and wonder why is Ace looking for Luffy as he follows him.
"Ventus?" Nami called him.
"You guys look for Luffy without me." Ventus replied, catching up to him.
Ventus is catching up to Ace while quietly avoids Tashigi, who's busy talking to the merchant about the katana. Zoro then froze when he noticed Tashigi.
"Oh no, is that her?" Zoro muttered with a question.
"You've gotta be kidding me! Selling a sword like this for 200 thousand berries is nothing sort of stealing!" Tashigi shouts at the merchant. "Come on! Do you even have a permit to sell these?!"
"Yeah, it's her." Zoro groans, remembered her back in Loguetown. "I can't believe it! What is that woman doing our here?!"
"You better never try to pull another stunt like that again!" Tashigi ordered. "You understand me?"
When Tashigi turns away, Zoro quickly hides from her when Nami, Chopper, and Usopp approaches him.
"Hey Zoro, what are you doing?" Nami asks, wondering why Zoro is hiding.
"Why are hiding over here?" Usopp adds with a question.
'I swear that woman is nothing but trouble. Damn it!' Zoro mentally states.
"Hey, Tashigi." The voice of Smoker called her, earned her attention when she saw him carrying thugs on his shoulders.
"Captain Smoker." Tashigi said.
"Here." Smoker said, tossing them down to the ground. "Idiots, small time pirates! They made the mistake of thinking they can act like hotshots on my watch. So, I was forced to teach them a lesson."
"Your dedication is inspiring." Tashigh states, turns to her Captain. "Not a single pirate rogue will ever escape with you aroud."
"If you're done chattering, have the Alabasta Royal Army take care of these scum." Smoker ordered.
"Yes, sir!" Tashigi replied.
"So far, I haven't heard anything about Straw Hat Luffy and the rest of them having a landing on this island." Smoker told her. "But don't let your guard down, they'll show up. I'm sure of it."
Little did they know, Zoro, Usopp, Chopper, and Nami have overheard their conversation, shocked that both Smoker and Tashigi left Loguetown a while ago.
"That's Captain Smoker, he's the Marine who caused us a lot of trouble in Loguetown." Nami explains.
"You mean...You think he and his Marines followed us all the way here from Loguetown?!" Usopp exclaims.
"Seems to be the case." Zoro answered with a groan. "With him and that mystery man, things could start to get pretty ugly here. Come on, Luffy! Show up!"
Somewhere in Alabasta
Meanwhile in the desert, Luffy is still wandering in the desert while his crew are still looking for him, ridiculously lost. When he got off the ship, he rushed past Nanohana. He stopped by the makeshift cabin and was given food by a criminal, who's illegally holding the Dance Powder and a certain things happen. After he ate the food, which it's too fast, he is helplessly wandering around the desert, trying to find a way back at Nanohana.
"That little-that wasn't enough food." Luffy whines when his stomach growls. "Where's the city? Where's the restaurant? Can't a guy get any food in this stupid desert, please?!"
Until, Luffy saw the city of Nanohana up ahead. It got him smiled.
"Food!" Luffy exclaims excited, then sprint was way to Nanohana. "I'M COMING FOOD!?"
Alabasta, Nanohana
When Ventus got to the restaurant, the entrance was packed with people. They are starting to worry about someone as the young Dragoon approaches them.
"Hey. What's going on here?" Ventus asks, earned his attention.
"Well, someone died. Apparently, he suddenly drop-dead right in the middle of the restaurant."
"What was that?!" Ventus exclaims shockingly.
"Yeah, he just up and killed over during the conversation with the owner."
"He isn't from around here. We think he may have actually eaten a Desert Strawberry while traveling, not knowing what it was."
"Desert Strawberry? What's that?" Ventus questions, confusing.
"You're a traveler as well, aren't you?"
Ventus gave him a respond with a nod.
"It's a species of poisonous spiders that would look like red strawberries growing in the desert. Anyone who eats one will surely die a few days later. The infection spreads throughout the corpse and its contagious, so no one could go near it. It's quick, but unpleasant."
"Such a spider exists?! Guess there are some things in the desert I never knew, besides the sandstorms, dangerous predators, cobras, scorpions, and swindling birds." Ventus muttered.
"I happen to have a book on what travelers needs to watch out for in the desert. I can just give it to you."
"That'd be helpful. Thank you." Ventus thanked him, accepting the book.
"No thanks needed. Anything for the safety of others."
"But man. Just look at the way his arm is still stuck up like that, holding on to a bite of meat. He froze just like that. That's proof of just how swift of the Desert Strawberry acts."
'Just...froze?!' Ventus mentally growled with a tick mark on his head. "And just what exactly do you mean by 'just froze'?"
"Exactly as I said. Look at him. His hand is still holding the fork and his arm is still up."
When he said that, it was clear to them, especially will all the plates stacked up near him. Ventus walked into the restaurant with a tick mark on his head, making his way over the corpse. He heard the people are saying how crazy he is. After what Ventus heard from that guy, it's reasonable for them to say that.
"Guess you haven't changed, huh Ace?" Ventus growled with a question, getting close of enough. "BUT YOU'RE SCARING THE CUSTOMERS! GET UP, YA LAZY BUM!?"
He then punched Ace in the back of his head very hard, breaking both the plate and the counter.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
"He's not really dead! He's just sleeping!" Ventus yelled back at the bystanders with white eyes and shark-like teeth.
"Huh? What?" Ace questions, raising his head.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH! HE CAME BACK TO LIFE!"
"Ow." Ace groans, rubbing his sore head.
"Um...Are you alright?"
In response to that, Ace just grabbed her skirt and used it to wipe his face, causing her to scream and left. Ventus couldn't help but sigh, feeling sorry for her.
"Sorry about that." Ace apologizes. "Fell asleep."
"YOU WERE ASLEEP?!"
"That doesn't make sense! You were right in the middle of a conversation!"
"And now you're just eating like nothing happened?!"
"Well, this guy has a messed up sleeping system." Ventus muttered with annoyance which it got Ace's attention.
"Hm? Oh, Ven. It's been a while." Ace said with a smile, but earned a bonk on the head.
"Don't just act so casual in this situation!" Ventus yelled with white eyes and shark-like teeth.
"Hey, hey, why are you so worked up?" Ace asks, waving his hands in defense while turning to the bystanders. "As in matter of fact, what's with them anyway?"
"THEY/WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DROP-DEAD! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Ventus and the bystanders yelled at him.
"You hired those comedians or something, Ven?" Ace asks. "And if you did, I didn't think you'd come to the Grand Line for this kind of stuff, even here at the restaurant."
"Again! DON'T just act so casual in this situation!" Ventus snapped with a tick mark on his head.
"Well, no...that isn't our thing, not here. I don't even know the kid you're talking too. We're just glad that you're alright."
Ace was just about to have another bite, but quickly fell asleep.
"DAMMIT! CUT IT OUT!" Ventus and the bystanders yelled at him, with the young Dragoon whacking him in the head hard.
Outside of the restaurant, the people in Alabasta then left since they heard Ace isn't really dead and Smoker is just passing by but turned his attention to the restaurant which it got him curious as he head towards it.
Few minutes later at the restaurant, Ace finished his meal.
"Yeah, I think that'll do it." Ace said, satisfied his hunger as he goes through the bag. "Tell me something, mister."
"What is it?"
"Have you by any chance seeing this guy?" Ace questions, showing the wanted poster of Luffy. "He's a pirate that wears a straw hat."
"You've got some nerve eating in the middle of the public place like this." Smoker said when he saw Ace in the restaurant. "Even the 4th Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates."
'Of course, he would show up whenever pirates are around.' Ventus mentally thought with annoyed scowl.
"Hello, Portugas D. Ace." Smoker greets him.
It got the bystanders shocked when Smoker gave him the name and what pirates he affiliates with.
"No way! Not the Whitebeard Pirates!?"
"I know I've seen that mark on his back before!"
"Did you mean this weirdo was one of the Whitebeard Pirates?!"
"It's the mark of the Whitebeard Pirates! But what is he doing here?!"
Many of the bystanders are talking and whisper to each other when Smoker mentioned about Ace.
"I'm curious, what such a bigshot pirate doing in this country?" Smoker questions.
"Now that he mentioned it, why are you here, Ace?" Ventus adds with a question when Ace placed a mug on the counter with a smirk on his face.
"I'm looking for someone. My little brother." Ace replied, turns to him.
Outside of the restaurant, Luffy finally made it at the city of Nanohana, rushing to find some food.
"GIVE. ME. FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!" Luffy yelled, running. "WHAT'S WITH THIS WEIRDOS SAID TO ME ANYWAY?! THERE'S SOME STRANGE NON-FOOD SMELL ALL OVER THE PLACE! AHHHH! THERE'S ONE! IT'S A RESTAURANT!"
While inside of the restaurant, the atmosphere is becoming intense between Smoker, Ace, and Ventus. Ventus used his dragon hearing, heard something about 'food' and 'restaurant' which he recognizes that voice from anywhere.
"So...what do you want from me now, Captain?" Ace inquires.
"I'd just like you to come with me quietly." Smoker answered with a suggestion.
"No thanks. I think I'll pass." Ace refuses.
"Yeah, figured you say that." Smoker said. "Then tell me this, what's your relationship with Ventus Starwind?"
"Ven is my friend and my rival." Ace told him when Smoker turns to Ventus.
"And I take it you're now a pirate?" Smoker questions.
"Depends if you're going to start a fight here in a public restaurant." Ventus answered. "And hear I thought you're smart enough not causing a scene, but I guess I was wrong since you've caused a lot of trouble for me back at Loguetown. And as far as I know, you're here in Alabasta to find Luffy after having someone else take your place in Loguetown."
Smoker then sighed, figured that Ventus was right since the young Dragoon is smart enough to figure it out.
"You're right, I'm here in Alabasta to trying to hunt down a certain pirate named Luffy at the moment." Smoker states. "To be honest, I have no real interest in capturing you."
"Then just look the other way." Ace suggests with a shrug.
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Smoker told him, clenching his fist and turns it into smoke, readied his fist. "Not as long as I'm a Marine! And you're part of a notorious pirate crew."
"That's not much of a reason, now is it?" Ace asks, getting cocky. "How about I give you one?"
It was silent for a while and it's getting more intense. The silence was broken by a certain Captain of Straw Hat pirates and Ventus had a bad feeling about it.
"GIVE ME FOOD!?"
'Oh, don't tell me...'
"Gum-Gum: Rocket"
His question has answered when a certain idiot Captain launched himself in the restaurant and knocked Smoker while he's at it. Before Ventus knew it, both he and Ace were hit by Smoker and they went through both the counter and the wall, but it's more than walls. The bystanders dropped their jaws with shock and Luffy lands on the floor with a chuckle.
"Whoo! Food! Now I can eat! Finally, I've starving! I thought I was gonna die!" Luffy shouts happily, quickly sits on the standing stool with fork and knife. "Old guy, give me food! Hurry come on!"
Though, the manager was shocked that Luffy just knocked Smoker, Ace, and Ventus through the walls, but the rubber Captain is too clueless since he wanted food.
"Food! Food! Food! Food, food! Now! Now! Now!" Luffy sings happily, tapping the counter repeatedly.
With that, the manager gives Luffy some food, who happily scarfs it down.
"Amazing! This is seriously the best food I've ever tasted!" Luffy states, compliments the manager.
"Uh, yes, thanks a lot...but you see, sir..."
Luffy is listening nor paying attention to the manager, too busy scarfing himself with food.
"It's just, well...You might wanna start running now."
"Why is that?" Luffy asks with his mouthful.
"The guy you sent flying through the wall just now, do you have any idea who he is?"
"Who sent someone?" Luffy asks again, being clueless as usual. "Why?"
"You did."
"Really? Who was he?" Luffy asks when the manager thrust his thumb at the hole in a wall. He then turns to the hole in a wall, which there's more than one hole from the buildings. "So, what's with all these holes? Kind of a weird decoration, you know? So, why'd you do it?"
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID IT?!"
"I did? Really?" Luffy repeats, being clueless while eating.
While outside of the restaurant, Ventus groans while pulls himself up from the rubble with anger, dusting himself.
"Dammit!" Ace cursed with a groan, pulled himself up from the rubble. "So, what the hell was that?!"
"That happens to be that certain idiot Captain, whom I was looking for before I saw you." Ventus answered.
"Captain? Then you did join the pirate crew." Ace said, glad that his friend/rival became a pirate.
"What just happened?" Smoker asks with a groan, sat up.
Ace and Ventus then walk their way towards the restaurant.
"This is ridiculous! Just look at this place!" Ace exclaims with annoyance. They then stopped when they noticed that they interrupted a family's meal.
"Oh, hi there. Many apologies for disturbing your meal." Ace and Ventus apologize in unison, bowing them while continued to walk back at the restaurant. "But just who the hell is your Captain, exactly? And what kind of world-class idiot would do something like this?"
"To answer both your questions, the one you're looking for is Luffy, who's from the wanted poster." Ventus told him. "And he's the world-class idiot who sent us through walls in the first place!"
"Huh?" Ace asks in confusion.
But that confusion disappeared and was replaced with a smile on his face when he saw Luffy, which it got Ventus confused.
"Hey, Lu-"
"STRAW HAT!" Smoker shouts, slams Ace head down to the rubble and quickly head towards Luffy, who's busy eating the food. "I've been looking for you, Straw Hat. I thought you'd be here, seems I was correct."
However, Luffy isn't paying attention to the situation he's in, too busy eating which it really annoys Smoker.
"WOULD YOU QUIT EATING?!" Smoker shouts with annoyance.
Luffy however, kept eating the food, but he did remember Smoker back in Loguetown and having trouble beating him because of the Plume-Plume fruit that can turn his body into smoke. It got Luffy sweating bullets when he saw Smoker, causing him to spit food from his mouth.
"You're that smoky guy! What are you doing in Alabasta?!" Luffy exclaims with a question, Smoker didn't answer as he growled. "Wait a sec!"
Just then, Luffy then grabs hold of the food and eat with only one bite as he thanked him for the meal and then flees.
"Stop! You!" Smoker shouts, chasing after him.
"You okay, Ace?" Ventus asks, helping him up.
"Yeah." Ace groans, then chased after them. "Wait up, Luffy! It's me! Hold on a second!"
Ventus then sighed as he was about to go after them.
"Wait...You have to pay first."
"Hm? Oh, how much?" Ventus questions.
"Adding the damage, that'll be 865,900 berries."
'Are you serious?! When I get my hands on that moron, I'm gonna kill him!?' Ventus mentally shouts with a tick mark on his head as he begrudgingly pays him and left the restaurant.
'This is bad! My Gum-Gum moves don't work against this guy at all! I just have to make a run for it now!' Luffy mentally shouts, running.
"Tashigi!" Smoker called her.
"Yes, sir? Would you like a cool towel? It's quite refreshing." Tashigi offers, placing a towel next to her face. "This kingdom really is hot."
"Catch that guy! It's Straw Hat!" Smoker shouts with an order.
"Yes sir!" Tashigi complies with an order, charges after Luffy.
When Tashigi was about to slash him, Luffy leaps in midair and lands on the top of the building. Smoker then uses the Devil fruit power, turns himself into smoke as he flew up at the top of the building to pursue him.
"Tashigi! Gather the Marines at once! Search every inch of this place for the rest of his crew!" Smoker ordered while chasing after him.
"Right! Come on!" Tashigi replies as she and the Marines ran to go and gather the rest of the Marines.
The people of Alabasta notice Smoker is chasing after Luffy while Tashigi and the Marines are gathering reinforcements to search for the rest of the Straw Hat crew.
'The Straw Hat crew is here. That must mean...Roronoa Zoro is in this city somewhere. And that also mean...Ventus Starwind is in this city. I hope they haven't done anything to the boy.' Tashigi mentally thought.
As soon as Luffy continues running, Smoker readied his fist.
"White Snake" Smoker then launches a long 'snake' of dense smoke from his hand and makes it follow after Luffy. "Why did you come to this island, Straw Hat?! What are you after?!"
"What am I after? I just came here to beat up some guy named Crocodile!" Luffy shouts with an answer.
'Crocodile?' Smoker mentally repeats surprisingly when Luffy mention the Warlord of the Seas. "Tell me! How are you and Crocodile connected?!"
Suddenly, Luffy just then vanish, causing Smoker to stop in his tracks and his smoke snake disappeared.
"He's gone." Smoker states. "Bastard thinks he can escape!"
Though, Luffy obviously fell down at the alley while forgets his footing. He quickly bounces up and starts running, but Smoker noticed the footsteps as he turns into smoke and chases after him.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew are waiting for Nami, Chopper, Zoro, and Ventus return with Luffy which it's been for quite some time.
"Where could Luffy have gone?" Vivi questions. "He doesn't know the island at all."
"Seriously, a crew shouldn't have to work this hard to keep track of the Captain." Sanji states.
"That's just it, there's no sound of trouble from Luffy." Anna told him. "It would explain why they're taking a long time to find him."
"And let's not forget, Ventus would sniff out Luffy, but like you said, there's no sound of trouble." Ivan adds. "Though, Luffy just run ahead without thinking things through."
"Guys, Nami and the others are here." Shanise informed them when Usopp, Nami, Zoro, and Chopper arrived.
"This doesn't look good; we can be in some serious trouble if we don't get out of here soon." Usopp warns them.
"Trouble? Why is that?" Sanji inquires.
"Cuz' the Marines are here." Nami informs them.
"Marines?!" Vivi exclaims.
"And also a mystery man." Chopper adds.
"Let's just find Luffy as fast as possible and get out of this town as soon as we can." Nami suggests.
"Guys! We got trouble!" Ventus shouts, rushed after his crew at the hideout.
"Ventus?" The Straw Hat crew and two former Baroque Works agents said in unison.
"What's wrong?" Nami asks when Ventus stopped running, catching his breath.
"Luffy...is being chased...by a Marine...named Smoker..." Ventus told them, panting.
"WHAT?!" They shout in unison.
"Have to find him...before we all end up...in the Marines clutches..." Ventus said, pants.
"Hey, hide." Zoro warned them, pulling Ventus and pushing the others in the hideout.
Nami was about to ask, but they heard the noise from afar.
"W-What was that?" Chopper asks.
"Only one guess." Ventus said seriously. "It's the Marines."
"No kidding." Zoro agrees.
"Yeah, and they're excited about something." Usopp adds.
"How did that idiot get them all to chase after him?!" Shanise growled with annoyance.
"I'm sure it's nothing." Sanji shrugs. "They're probably chasing some idiot pirate who's running crazy around town."
"SOME IDIOT PIRATE?!" The crew shouts in unison, but heard a certain idiot pirate who's none other than Luffy being chased by the Marines. "IT'S LUFFY!?"
Luffy then turns around and saw his crew. He stops and spoke with a smile.
"Oh hey, Zoro. What's up?" Luffy shouts, causing their faces paled. "Oh, so that's where you guys have been!"
And before they know it, he ran towards them and the blew their cover when the Marines are still pursuing them.
"NO! YOU MORON! GET RID OF THEM FIRST!?" Zoro, Ventus, and Anna shouts.
"Well, they're coming! What should we do now?" Usopp asking the obvious.
"Isn't it obvious?! We're leaving!" Ivan shouts with obvious.
"We've gotta get going!" Nami told them, agreeing to Ivan's statement.
"To the ship!" Vivi suggests, getting the supplies ready.
"Don't just stand there! We gotta go!" Luffy ordered which Ventus is gonna kill him in the future.
"WAIT UP!" The crew shouts.
"Stop right there, pirates!"
Ventus then turned to the Marines, spews fire at the ground while turning it into a fire wall, causing the Marines to stop while the young Dragoon catches up with his crew.
"Nice work, Ventus." Zoro praises him with a smirk.
"Thanks." Ventus thanked him.
"You can fall back now, men!" Smoker ordered when he turns into smoke and leaps, earned their attention. "That Straw hat is fine to finish!"
"Not good!" Luffy exclaims with panic.
"White Blow" Smoker then shoots a cloud of dense smoke from his arm to blast his hand.
"Heat Haze" Ace shoots the stream of fire from the palm of his hand, blocks the smoke and cancels it out.
The pirate crew stops and look to see Ace saved them.
"You again." Smoker muttered when he saw Ace in front of him, who's smirked.
"Just give it up." Ace suggests. "While you may have the power of smoke, mine is fire. A fight between the two of us would be pointless. It would probably go on forever."
"Alright, looks like the mystery man has Devil fruit powers." Zoro states seriously.
"Who is this guy anyway?" Usopp asks. "And why is he helping us?"
"Nice timing, Ace, as usual." Ventus said with a smirk.
"That you, Ace?" Luffy asks with shock.
"You haven't changed a bit, Luffy." Ace said, turns to him.
"It is you...Really?" Luffy asks again. "Wow, did you eat a Devil fruit or something?"
"Yeah, the Flame-Flame fruit." Ace told him when the Marines surrounds them. "Anyway, now is not probably the time for chatting! You guys get of here, I'll catch up! Don't worry about these guys, I've got them. And Ven, you're welcome to join if you want."
"My crew is my priority first." Ventus reasoned with him.
"Then go on!" Ace suggests.
"Let's go!" Luffy and Ventus ordered as they ran back to the ship.
"Yeah, coming." Usopp said, catching up with his crew.
"But Luffy, Ventus..."
"Who is that guy back there?" Sanji questions.
As soon as they manage to get away from the Marines, Ace was left alone with Smoker and the Marines.
"There's one thing I don't get, why are you helping the Straw Hat?" Smoker demands with his arms crossed.
"Can't a guy help out his bumbling kid brother?" Ace scoffs with a question. "Even you should get that, Smoker."
"He's your kid brother? Interesting." Smoker said surprisingly as Ace starts using his flames. "Oh please, how loving. Now, move it!"
"I'm afraid I can't." Ace refuses. "You understand."
With that, Ace then increase the flames, leaving the Marines back away which Smoker isn't intimidated that easily.
"Hold up, Luffy! Ventus! Tell us who that guys is?" Nami demands. "Do you know him from somewhere?"
"Is there something you're not telling us about that man?" Anna asks.
"I'll explain when we get back to the Going Merry." Ventus told them. "But Luffy, I don't know about him."
"Yeah!" Luffy answered with a smile. "He's my big brother!"
It got the entire crew shocked of Luffy's answer, including Ventus.
"BROTHER?!"
That's it for the 29th chapter.