So fucking glad Wano is over so I can finish the fic. Enjoy~
They were asking what the problem was. "I smell Ace here! He's here?! What's he doin' here?! I wanna see him!" and Luffy went running off, much to the anger of the others. He found him relatively easily, in the battlefield with the ruined marine ship that Law messed up. "ACE!" Luffy cheered, running at him and jumping him into a hug.
"I knew I saw your ship! I missed you!" Ace said happily. He didn't look any different than two years ago other than he was a little bit taller. He kept getting taller and Luffy grew less than an inch over the two years. "The hell are you doing on this island?" Ace asked. It was barred to the outside world. And half of the island was on fire.
Ace was only in shorts and boots, with his hat. He had new armbands, but most of the rest of him was the same. He wasn't cold, though, with his fire fruit. Luffy insisted he follow him back to their base. He and Ace worked to get striker up onto the Sunny's deck and tie it to the mast. It was different from his old one just a bit, so it wasn't the same from before.
Ace cleared a warm path for them so their ankles weren't in the snow and cooling him down. Luffy asked what he was doing there. "Heard some marines talk about the Straw Hats being in this area, so I came to see. I'm surprised you met that Law again so soon after the two years." Luffy nodded in agreement.
"Are you going back to your crew?" Luffy wondered.
"After going on my own mission. There's a place called Dressrosa that I heard was having a competition to get Pops' old fruit. Nobody should have that one but him, so I've gotten permission to go and win it!" Luffy grinned, saying that sounded like fun! Maybe he could help, too.
Ace looked at his arm, and saw he was moving it. "I still can't feel it, but it's fine to move around." Ace asked a more sensitive question, but Luffy answered honestly. "The flashbacks are still here, and I have that dream a lot. It seems my flashbacks make me really violent towards the people around me. But Chopper gave me meds to help with that stuff, finally."
The older smiled at his brother proudly. They made it to the base, and Ace was laughing about Luffy's unfortunate experience with boobs. When they got there, the Straw Hats and Law were shocked by the coincidence. Well, it wasn't much of a coincidence, though. "Yo, long time no see," Ace said to the five members he'd met.
Chopper ran to Ace and hugged his legs, surprising the fire user. "What's wrong?" he asked, not offended.
"I'm just glad Luffy was able to save you."
Ace smiled. "You and me both. So, what's up?"
"This is too weird to be a coincidence," Nami said, though she was happy to see Ace as well. They didn't get to talk much last time, but hearing all about him by Luffy made them more fond of him. Ace said he was just lucky to be in the area. "But didn't you have a mission?"
"I did. Then I came back here before hearing a rumor on a ship I took over. I was hungry and they had a lot of food. Pops' devil fruit is being given away in some tournament. My crew thinks nobody should have that fruit but us, so I'm going there to win it," Ace explained in depth.
Law asked where. "An island called Dressrosa," the big brother said. "And thanks for treating Luffy and me. I don't feel like I expressed how thankful I was at the time." Law seemed even more shocked about where Ace was going.
"Hey, wanna form an alliance with us? We're gonna do some stuff to try and defeat Kaido!" Luffy said.
"We have a lot of steps before then, though," Law said hurriedly. "And one of those steps is going to Dressrosa. What a coincidence."
"Hoh? You're going after a yonko already?" Ace asked in interest. "Well, I always wanted to take care of something there. Maybe I'll join. Pops wouldn't let me go to Wano, thinking I was too weak. I've gotten stronger now, though. As I'm sure you all have." He was so bright, and not just his devil fruit. So bright and cheery that it seemed to be rubbing off on the others.
Luffy was ecstatic to have his brother sailing with them even for a little bit. Law asked if he was serious about joining them. "Well, Kaido's a monster. I know that personally. I'll be worried about my brother if I don't come along. And I have some people to visit there again."
"You won't get in trouble for allying with us?" Zoro asked. "Your crew could be dragged into it."
"Well, might as well find out now," Ace said. Usopp let out another puff of the sleeping fog on the kids to keep them asleep for now. Ace took out a den den mushi from his watermelon bag, and called his crew.
"Ace?" Marco's voice asked.
"Yo, Marco!"
"Hey. How's it going? You at Dressrosa yet?"
"Nah, I'm on an island called Punk Hazard. I found Luffy and his crew here! They want to form an alliance with someone else, and I want to join in. That okay?" Marco was surprised, but not that surprised. He asked what the alliance was. "To take down the king chess piece. I'd like to visit that place again, since you and Pops never let me before."
Luffy thought that the king chess piece was a code name. Marco sighed. "Well, I doubt I could stop you anyways. I trust you to be safe," he said. "Tell Luffy I'm very grateful with how he helped in the war, and wish him good health."
"Right! I'll keep you updated," Ace promised. Marco said he better do that. And to stay safe. Ace promised again. The den den hung up, and the Straw Hats cheered. Now they had another huge guy helping them. Ace was beaming, and Luffy hugged him tightly. Ace hugged him back.
"I'm happy you're all okay and made it back to Sabaody safely. I also heard you stirred up some trouble in Fishman Island? Though they spoke happily about you all. I was hoping to catch up with you, and it was only luck that I overheard everything."
Law was still in utter disbelief that Ace was there with them, and was now going to be part of their alliance. "But, just so you know, whatever's happening in Dressrosa with you guys will probably come second to my first reason to get there. I won't let anyone else have the quake quake fruit." They were all fine with that.
They returned to the topic at hand, which was helping the kids. But the pirates had to be careful around the Master. Caesar Clown. A gas gas logia fruit. "He wants everyone not welcome here to die on this island or he'd lose his perfect hiding spot from everyone as he makes more chemical weapons," Law explained. "The government would never approve of this place. So, he wants to kill you all and Smoker. Ace-ya, did you see anyone on your way here?"
"Nah, I didn't sense anyone in the area, either. I think I got here without being spotted," he said.
"Now that we have another strong ally, it'll be harder to get to Master. Anyone who doesn't have haki should not encounter him at all. Stay away or he'll kill you with poison gas. Caesar will do anything he has to stay here. He's a criminal, after all. He's got a bounty of 300 million." Luffy wondered if he was immune to that poison gas. As if seeing that on his face, Zoro told him he wasn't allowed to go and see.
Luffy said, "I won't! I'm just curious, shishishi." Ace told him he'd better not do anything reckless. "But I always do reckless things! That's the best!"
Nami said, "Well, the first half of that is true," with a sigh. Ace turned and introduced himself to Robin and Franky, who were glad to meet him. There was one other person, Brook, but he was gone for the moment. Luffy felt so happy. He wasn't upset to share adventures with his brother. He knew he didn't need to save him or be saved by him. They were more equals now, both harboring the two sided worry from two years ago.
Law asked how many people could use haki. "That would be me, Zoro and Sanji. And Ace and you, I suppose," Luffy replied.
"Well, that'll do. I'll go on to the research facility," the other captain said.
Luffy grinned. "So to capture him and get answers, we gotta kidnap the Master, right?" Luffy asked with a smile. Law nodded.
"Who will you ask for a ransom?" Nami asked.
"We're not trying to get money, but "confusion". We haven't achieved anything yet, so there's no point in telling you everything now. Not just focus on capturing Caesar. It won't be easy," Law explained. "When we do, I'll tell you everything. After that, things'll start moving fast. There will be no going back."
Luffy smiled and said they were partners now! "Neehee, partners in crime!"
"Just make sure to convince your friends," Law asked in slight exasperation. "In return, I'll help you with your goal." Luffy nodded. Law walked off with Chopper concealed in a little pouch hanging off of Law's long sword.
"So, we gotta kidnap the Master, huh?" Luffy asked. "Who wants to go with me!"
"We were supposed to wait with the ones without haki. So Zoro is the only one here at the moment that can help," Usopp mumbled. Ace raised his hand. He could help, too. He knew haki. "Yeah, that's true. Can you imagine everyone's faces when you just pop up outta nowhere?"
"Shishishi! That'll be really funny!" Nami told them to take this seriously. The kids would wake up eventually. Luffy nodded. "Sneaking in isn't really my thing. We should just go and get him easily!"
Zoro asked if he had a plan. "Get Master to come out and then kidnap him then! Too bad I don't have any seastone to use as a weapon. I could chain him up and all!" Usopp said he hated seastone.
"You're not a devil fruit user," Nami pointed out. Luffy explained about Usopp getting trapped in seastone while he was in Luffy's body.
"It was terrifying. I couldn't do anything but break everything around me." Luffy said he was fine with that now. He didn't lose control. "Thank goodness."
"So, didn't Law say we had to be sneaky?" Ace asked, sitting on a slab of concrete. Luffy said a shortcut was better. "Well, technically you're one of the leaders here. I'll go along with you in what you want to do," Ace said brightly. Luffy beamed, but Franky said it would have been better if Ace were to charge. "Nah, Luffy and Law are the captains," he said in an easy going way.
Robin planned on staying with the kids, while Franky was concerned about the Sunny, and promised he'd meet them up as soon as he checked and moved her to a safer space.
Luffy felt Ace was more confident now. It was a good change. Luffy had changed for the worse, but at least Ace seemed okay. "So, what's this shortcut?"
"Neehee, a good one!" He could hear and smell where everyone was, the marines having left their hideout to get into the building out of the front door. That would be the place Master would come to first. Luffy made himself into his balloon form, with Zoro and Ace holding on tightly as Franky used a coup de vent to shoot Luffy in the right direction. Ace held onto his hat as they rocketed towards the front area that the marines and Law had messed up.
Zoro had his other eye closed as they flew fast. "Wham!" Luffy said as he slammed into the marine ship left overs.
"Straw Hat!" Smoky's voice said. He was in the woman's body, this was going to be hilarious.
"You're crazy," Ace said brightly, stepping out into view. "Yo! Smoker, long time no see."
"FIRE FIST ACE?!" the marines shouted. Zoro and Luffy walked out after him.
Zoro said, "That was a terrible shortcut."
"Mater! Come on out so we can kidnap you!" Luffy bellowed.
Ace lightly told his brother that was supposed to be a secret. He was going along with Luffy's decisions and it was very weird, but cool at the same time. Smoker in Tashigi's body was hilarious. But he sure didn't care about revealing her body.
"Smoker-san, please cover up!" Tashigi shouted. "Roronoa!"
"Ugh, not you again," Zoro said dismissively. "You already seemed to have lost with a sword like that." Tashigi blushed, and went after Zoro, who easily dodged and attacked. "You wanted me to kill you last time, right?" Zoro asked, his sword to her throat. "You haven't gotten any stronger." She looked furious, but it wasn't intimidating even with Smoker's face.
The smoke man asked why Ace was there. He hadn't been before. "A coincidence. I actually got the message Luffy was here through you," Ace said. He sat back as Luffy laughed and mocked Smoker for having boobs, even if he'd had them, too. But it was just so funny for Smoker to be in that body. A weak body without his devil fruit.
He was slow when he attacked, not using the tip of his jitte, having learned his lesson before. He attacked with the middle of the jitte. "What are you? What was with the seastone at Marineford!?"
"None of your business!" Luffy chimed. He was too fast for Smoker to keep up with gear second, and overwhelmed him, slamming him into the snow. It was no fun to fight him when he was in a weak body.
There was a massive explosion of purple flames, burning through the front door, melting a hole into the metal of it. "I got us an opening! Let's storm the place, Luffy, Zoro," Ace said casually. Luffy asked what the purple flames were for. "Gotta change for my brother, don't I?"
He somehow managed to change the color of his flames since he knew bright flashes of red and orange were upsetting to him. Ace was such a good big brother. Luffy looked to the side of him and saw some purple blobs jumping over there. They were poison! "Zoro, Ace, don't touch it, it's poison!" Luffy warned.
It landed on the ship and one the snowing ground, releasing a gas when it came near. Luffy ran from it a distance away. It dissolved much of the marine ship there, destroying it and making the people on it jump off. Luffy stopped breathing through his nose, the most sensitive to the poison. He had experience with this, and would be careful with poison like this again. It was this that was his doom in Impel Down.
The marines had gas masks, but not all of them. More blobs fell, and joined with others, moving on their own. They should get inside now. Luffy yelled at his brother and boyfriend to get far from the poison. The blobs kept getting bigger, joining and growing rapidly in size. They sort of bounced around like gelatin.
It was coming up on the marines, so they attempted to burn it. Ace shoved Luffy and Zoro down into the snow as the explosion rocked the area, Ace keeping his hands over Luffy's ears tightly. When the explosion was over, they got up. "How did you know?"
"I've tried burning enough things in my life to know burning any chemicals is something you shouldn't do," Ace said firmly. More blobs fell down, and Luffy continued to breathe through his mouth. Tashigi was saying they needed to go someplace with a roof right now until they heard, "Shulololo!" in a higher pitched voice. "Good boy! I'm sorry for locking you up for three long years!"
"Master! What are you doing out here, it's dangerous!" one of the suited guys from before said. In the yellow suits that looked like they would be good as hazmat suits or diving dear.
"So, that's the Master?" Luffy asked.
Smoker wasn't surprised to hear it was Caesar Clown on this island. "Indeed, I am the Master," Caesar said in amusement. Zoro got two swords out. Ace calmly said he wasn't going to fight this guy. If he was actually a poison man, any fire touching him might be a mistake.
"A gas man. Magellan was the poison guy," Luffy said. "But that could blow up, too!"
But Caesar looked down at Luffy, and was surprised to see Ace there, as he hadn't come with either large group. He just showed up on his own, it seemed. Out of nowhere. "Just wait a bit longer. Smiley isn't good with water, so it's throwing itself over the lake," he said, not sounding bothered by any of them below.
Not only was he a logia, but couldn't also kill you just by being near. And he wasn't afraid of Ace's fire power as he heard him just say he wouldn't try it. "From the fire lands to these ice lands! When all the bits of slime have been carried here, I'll give you all a taste of what happened four years ago!" Caesar laughed, and Luffy launched at him, covering his arms in haki to hold onto him.
"Gotcha!" he shouted.
"Let go of me, you damn Straw Hat!" Caser yelled, but Luffy held on tighter. Haki sure was useful. Zoro was calling for him to stop, worried. Luffy was breathing through his mouth to not ruin his sinuses at a bad time. He could easily get blood right now. But poison gas started to form all around him.
It was heading downward, too, from his body. Seeing Zoro, who would not leave his side even if there was poison gas, made Luffy decided to do what he could to protect them. If anyone was immune to poison gas, it would be Luffy. He sucked all of the gas into his mouth so it didn't reach Zoro and Ace who were shouting his name in fear.
Luffy's face turned red once he inhaled it all, and he then spat it back out with a simple cough. "Neehee! I guess poison doesn't work on me, thanks to Megellan! Shishishi!" He stuck his tongue out at the Master as everyone was in shock, with Zoro and Ace furious below, letting off a dangerous aura. After all, Luffy hadn't known for sure inhaling all of the gas would kill him or not.
"Don't compare me to that paramecia!" Luffy didn't hesitate to slam a haki covered fist in gear second into Caesar's cheek, slamming him down into the ground with a loud crash. Luffy heard the guy bring out something, and jumped down behind the rock before the area exploded. Luffy ran around the huge rock, telling Ace and Zoro to clear the area. They were annoying and getting in his way!
They did so, forcing the marines out of the area as Zoro started to fight Smoker in Tashigi's body. Zoro didn't care it wasn't Smoker's body, and got some good wounds in. "Smoker-san, be careful with my body!" the woman shouted, down too. She was so weak, why was she in the New World seas?
The battle was even between the swordsman and marine captain. Luffy dodged another explosion as a piece of the slime landed next to him. Luffy used a blast that appeared and blew apart the slime to land a hit on Caesar again. "That move! That was at the war!" Tashigi shouted. It just wasn't that strong and damaging.
He slammed another attack on Caesar, but then the air around him wavered, and his breath was stolen away. He remembered his time under water at Nami's place, how he was able to go without oxygen for many minutes. Something was wrong with the air, but Luffy continued to slam fists into Caesar's face. "Why isn't it working?!" he shouted. "I took away the oxygen in the air!" Luffy could hold his breath easily!
But Zoro and Ace were starting to be affected by it, and no matter how many times he landed a hit, it wasn't stopping. He finally jumped off of him and ran to his lover and brother, dragging them away from the area. They were really out of it, though, completely unconscious. Then a huge burst of sleeping gas enveloped Luffy. Even a little bit got into his lungs, and that took him down. It was extremely thick and strong. He was out like a light.
When he woke up, he was in sea stone chains. A mistake on the enemy's part. But he was able to keep himself under control. He just wasn't hindered badly by the seastone. He was in a cage with Ace, Zoro, Law, Tashigi and Smoker. All the strongest on the island but for Sanji. Where was he? Did they find the samurai body yet?
Ace was asleep, snoring obnoxiously. Maybe he had a narcoleptic attack? Luffy was sandwiched between Law and Zoro. Zoro was glaring at Law, who was ignoring him. "Neh, what happened?" Then he noticed people opposite of their cage.
"You sure are a strange one, Straw Hat Luffy," a guy with a hamburger stuck on his face said.
"Hey, I'm kind of hungry, are you gonna eat the rest of that hamburger?" Luffy asked.
"What a fool." Luffy laughed and thanked him. Everyone else in the cage but the sleeping Ace sighed. "But this is quite the line up. I had no idea Firefist Ace would come here. Though there's no reason to turn him in anymore. Nobody really gives a shit about Roger's bloodline by now. Same with you, Straw Hat."
Luffy was feeling the seastone more, and wished they could get let out already, or at least the bad guys could leave the room. Luffy turned to Smoker, and commented that boobs were terrible. "Shishishi, it happened to me, too! I got Robin's big boobs and they were so heavy they sucked."
Ace woke up and burst into laughter. Zoro snickered, and Law asked them if they were even taking this seriously. They just kept laughing. Smoker angrily said that this guy, Vergo, was a marine, but had covered up the kidnappings of the children. He was a traitor to the marines, and nobody saw it.
"It isn't surprising you didn't notice," Law said. "He's always been corrupt. Undercover for Joker all this time. He used to be a pirate, and only joined the marines for Joker's request. He doesn't give a crap about any subordinates," he explained. "He climbed up in ranks by seeming to be the perfect marine. He was originally one of Joker's crew, though."
Smoker angrily complained about not seeing it when he was so close. Couldn't find a traitor even when he was under his damn nose. Joker was the name of an underworld broker. Vergo said he made it as difficult as possible for him to find anything on him that could be damning. "Now I don't need to deal with that difficulty anymore. It makes me happy. Now that you've gotten my real name and secret, I won't let you leave here alive.
"That means that Vice Admiral Smoker, Captain Tashigi and all of the G-5 members will never leave here, and your lips will be sealed forever."
"Hey, Tra-guy, who's Joker anyways?" Luffy asked. Ace was frowning deeply at how uncomfortable this was. He was affected like Tashigi in Smoker's body. Both limp and solid. He complained that it was embarrassing they all got caught. Vergo ignored his complaints.
Law replied, "In the past, I was his subordinate. That's why I know Vergo. Joker is the alias he uses as a broker in the shadows. Though his real name is known throughout the world. A seven warlord of the seas, Donquixote Doflamingo!"
Luffy remembered him as the warlord with the feather boa. He didn't do much to Luffy at the war, but he seemed to enjoy taunting people. "Man, a lot of warlords are corrupt, huh? Crocodile, Blackbeard, Moria, Doflamingo." Tashigi said he was too calm, sounding thoroughly annoyed with him.
Ace scowled deeply at hearing about Blackbeard. But Luffy had taken down three so far. And made allies out of another three, Jinbei, Hancock and Kuma in his own way. The other one he hadn't had much issues with was Hawkeye.
He paid little attention to anything they were saying about the poison but was very attentive when Law screamed as a little box with his heart in it was squeezed. Apparently he did that to himself, he also did it to Smoker. Luffy was hoping they'd leave the room soon since he felt a blast coming. Vergo left the room for some reason. Lucky for him.
"Zoro, Ace, it's coming, what should I do?" he asked quietly as Caesar and a snow woman was facing the screen that showed that poison monster's real form, a huge purple and gooey lizard.
"Can you direct it out of your feet?" Ace asked quietly. Luffy nodded. "Then do that." Luffy wiggled his sandals off, and spread his legs a little bit as the monster ate a huge ball of candy. It was reacting to it on the screen, and Luffy let out the blasts through his feet, which he'd never done before and felt weird. It didn't hurt him, though.
It blew apart the cage and destroyed the room, throwing the others inside of it around. Luffy hopped up, everyone but Zoro and Ace shocked, and undid his chains and everyone else's but Smoker and Tashigi.
Luffy took the seastone chain from Ace and his own. Zoro stood up and stretched. Luffy put his hat back on. "What do we do now?" Luffy wondered.
"How are you immune to seastone?!" Tashigi asked.
"That's a secret!"
"Should we let them out, too?" Ace wondered, popping his neck. Luffy thought for a moment before he went to undo the chains until Law stopped him.
"A condition for letting you out and swapping you back," the now former warlord said to Smoker. "You won't tell a soul about me and my relation to Joker. If Vergo dies, and you're there that's better. Understand?"
He grudgingly agreed, and soon the bodies were swapped again, and the chains undone. Luffy said they should let their crew into the building now. "I can hear them all freaking out outside!" Luffy insisted.
"What do we do with these guys, anyways?" Ace wondered. "Luffy, don't eat that, that's disgusting," he added when Luffy went and checked what kind of condition that hamburger patty was in after it fell off of that guy's face.
Law said they should make them unable to continue. Law made them go to the entrance of the building, where they quickly raised the shutters to let everyone fleeing from the outside in. But Luffy could hear Usopp, Nami, Sanji and Brook, and the samurai screaming, along with Brownbeard. Robin was silent as she ran.
Franky was probably on the ship, so he had to hope he was okay.
"Hurry!" he called. The door was now closing! But the now full body samurai sliced the door apart so they all got in. Only now the door couldn't shut, and the thick gas was getting closer and closer to the building. Screaming, they all worked to shut it back, putting the cut out piece back in place and securing it there.
"Everyone! We made it!" Luffy cheered. Luffy had Caesar in one arm, who couldn't move at all, while Ace went and looked for seastone cuffs to use. He came back with some wrapped in a blanket so he could hold them, and they unchained Caesar and cuffed him.
The G-5 people were cornering the crew, but Luffy wasn't worried. They were stronger now, and all of these marines seemed untalented and emotionally weak. He could just tell. "So, we have Caesar, but Vergo is not taken care of, our crew is safe but we still have to find the kids and do something about them."
Ace said, "Well, there are plenty of us to get everything done."
"Neh, Ace! Guess what I did?! I made friends with the kraken!" Luffy said out of nowhere.
"Awesome, but not really relevant to anything right now," Ace said, with a hint of amusement in his voice. Law said this wasn't how he thought his plan would go along at all.
"Well, we're surrounded by gas, and the only exit that is probably safe is the back exit. Poison is now all around the lab." He turned to all the annoying marines and fellow Straw Hats down below. He told them he was giving them two hours to escape, and informed them of the room they needed to be in to get out.
"What will happen if they don't get there in two hours?"
"I'll do something that will make this place not safe." Luffy didn't question again.
While they were looking for Chopper to get everyone together to help the kids out, who were fine from the poison and helped to the lab, Luffy had a sudden panic attack. He slowed, and Zoro immediately knew something was wrong and stopped. Ace did, too. "Lu, you okay?"
Luffy was sweating and his heartbeat was rapid. Zoro picked him up to carry him while he worked through the sudden panic attack. Luffy had let go of Caesar, and now Ace was dealing with him. Once Luffy was okay, though embarrassed, he ran, too. The samurai approached Luffy, and Luffy was happy that he had his body back.
"Please, Luffy-dono, help me find my son! The other children did not know where he went! I was told you have supherb senses!" Luffy looked to the others, who all had their own duties. The others were either looking for the kids or trying to get to the place that was safest.
Smoker was going after Vergo, Law off on his own, and Ace was going to go with the crew going for the kids as added protection.
"Okay!" Luffy said. "Do you have anything that smells like him?" Luffy asked. "What's your name, anyways?"
"Kin'emon! I am indebted to your crew." He pulled out a small bracelet. He smelled it, but didn't find any scent of him. "No!"
"Don't worry, it's just a kid, right? We'll look for a kid that isn't with the others. The G-5 guys smell like trash and the kids all smell like that chemical. I'll listen for anything out of place." Kin'emon thanked him as they ran through the facility, Luffy smelling and listening closely to anything helpful.
There was quiet breathing echoing through the vents, and a whimpering sound. Luffy climbed up the vents, and heard the sniffling. But then he heard something louder in the room beside there. He found a dumpster of some sort, and smelled inside. It just reeked of trash and discarded food.
He couldn't help dig through the kitchen and eat anything before continuing. He searched every room on the bottom floor, not finding anything helpful. They ran into many goat men and beat them up out of their way. Kin'emon was a swordsman and wasn't a bad one at that. As Luffy was running, he saw a very out of place hallucination. It had nothing to do with the war, but it was Sabo.
Frowning, he looked away from the phantom twelve year old. He rubbed his face. Maybe the panic attack brought that on. At least it was nothing disturbing or triggering. Once they finished scouting that floor, Luffy closed his eyes and opened up his ears to anything, and came across the closest and loudest source of the unknown breathing.
It could be an animal, but he wouldn't know if he didn't check. He looked in one of the food chutes, and called for anyone inside. Then they both heard a loud siren sound going on. Luffy could hear machinery clanking. He could break through if it was something restricting them.
"Luffy! The gates are closing, hurry!" he heard Ace's voice throughout the building, attuned to his voice more than anyone else. Luffy said they had to leave, but thrust his hands inside the trash and grabbed something scaly. It screeched, and Luffy pulled his arms back, but the snap recoiled and he fell into the compactor.
"Crap! Kin'emon, go on ahead! This chute leads into the second story, too! Hurry and get through the gates! They're closing!" Kin'emon left, unhappy with the turn of events. Luffy couldn't see anybody down there, but there was an animal. Then he walked through a small duct and towards the sound, coming across a massive room with garbage and scrap metal everywhere.
Luffy looked at the small pink dragon and blinked a few times. "Huh? Another one?" Luffy asked, crossing his arms. "Are you edible?"
"No! I'm not going to eat! My name is Momonosuke! I-I won't be eaten by the likes of you!"
"Heh, I don't eat things that can talk to me. Wait… Momonosuke? But you're supposed to be a little kid!" Luffy exclaimed, pointing his finger accusingly. "Did you eat him?!" Luffy grabbed his horns and yanked.
"Stop it! How dare you attack me!"
"Spit him out! He's talking from somewhere, spit him up!" Luffy shouted.
"I am Momonosuke!" the dragon finally said. Luffy said he was a dragon, and a liar at that. "I truly am Momonosuke." Luffy listened as he heard the dragon/boy's stomach roar like a lion. He was really hungry, but denied it. Luffy wondered how he'd ended up there, and got the full story. He was just one of those kids, but he refused to eat anything from anybody, and ended up being so hungry he ate a strange apple that did this to him.
"That's a devil fruit. You can just turn back into a human."
"What? How?!"
"Dunno. I'm not a zoan." He closed his eyes, and could hear a ton of people far above them. A ton of thundering footsteps. They had to get up there. "Momo, do you know a guy named Kin'emon?"
"Kin'emon?! He's here?!" Luffy nodded. He was looking for him, and Momonosuke was ashamed of getting caught. "When I get out I will go to him! And I want to find the other children and tell them what I know!
"That man, Caesar. I thought he was a doctor, but I know I wasn't sick! And it was an accident I got on that boat. But those other kids will die! Caesar said so himself. All of the kids will die off in five years, and he'd keep stealing more and more! I have to tell them all as soon as I can!" Momonosuke said frantically.
Luffy was furious. All of those kids that wanted to go home… How long had some of them been here? What if there was no cure despite Chopper's efforts? Would they all die in a few years? He wanted to beat Caesar up even more now! He wished they hadn't caught him so easily, now. Well, once he got back there, he could beat him up, even if it was one sided.
He was sure Nami and Chopper would be the ones who desired vengeance on him the most. Luffy felt pressure building in his body. "I'm getting you out. Along with all the other kids and my crew and brother. We're all getting out of here!"
"How? The ceiling is too tall!" But the human turned dragon had cautious hope in his voice. Luffy told him to wrap around his body.
"I'm getting us out, now! The building is already in danger of poison gas. We can't wait any longer. And I'm not leaving this place without you and all those children!" Luffy said angrily. Momonosuke wrapped around Luffy's body, and Luffy for the second time burst out growing energy from his feet, shooting them up and to the ceiling of the place, Luffy stabbing haki covered hands through it.
Yup. Ace is along for the ride! My regular readers know that Ace is my favorite character, so to some of you this might not be a surprise! Love him, he must stay.