A Punch as Strong as a Pistol
It had been a month since Luffy, Ace and Sabo became the ASL trio that was well known as children thugs in the rich part of the Goa Kingdom. But to the people that knew the three, they were troublemakers yet the best brothers you could ever meet. Each looking after one another, constantly training each day to get stronger and having fun at their young age; they lived a nice life is Foosha Village.
The three along with Garp, Makino and Dadan (plus her group of bandits) were actually great caretakers for them. Letting the boys do whatever they wanted as long as it didn't cause them much harm or danger. Garp was cautious after the whole Porchemy incident.
However, today was an interesting day. Garp was expecting someone but he did not tell anyone who it was. He went to the docks with his right hand man while everyone else was at the party bar.
Ace, Luffy and Sabo were drinking juice while Makino and was serving Dadan and her bandits as well as the few Navy officers that had come with Garp on this vacation. Each little group was enjoying their time in the bar until Garp had eventually walked in with an annoyed face as a group of unexpectedly loud people had came in the bar and sat on the empty tables. There was a man with red hair and was wearing a Straw Hat. He also had 3 scars on his eye and that reminded Luffy of a painful memory.
"So why here of all places?" asked Garp "This is my island, I can literally arrest you here."
"Well you won't Garp-san. We just want some time off from the New World. My men are all tired and we've had no time to rest. This is the perfect place to stop by for a short while." his eyes caught the looks of three aggressive looking kids who were looking directly towards him. But he didn't mind them until he caught a glance at the beautiful green haired lady who was the the bartender. "Oh excuse me miss… Do you have sake for me and my men? We have the money to cover for it." as he takes out a rather large pouch filled with money and Makino kindly blushed because that was the most amount of money she had gotten even though this was a successful bar in the small town.
The young trio didn't like the man being all nice towards Makino. They assumed he would eventually try something so they walked up and confronted him "Hey you shithead!" yelled Ace, grabbing the attention of the whole bar, who had gotten very quiet.
"That's our mother okay. Don't you dare try anything on her!" Sabo said.
"Yeah! My punch is stronger than a pistol. I'll kill you bastard!" said Luffy and the man in the Straw Hat raised an eyebrow.
"Ah sorry… I didn't know she was your mother. In any case, I'll be sure to not do anything wrong." the man looked at the three. He looked at Garp with a questioned look. They were so young yet their aura was ridiculously strong for their age.
"And where did you learn those rude words?" said Makino sternly and almost disappointed at the boys
"From Gramps and Dadan!" said the three in unison, causing Dadan to curse up a storm while her bandits were trying to calm her down and Garp to laugh. Those really were his grandsons.
The man in the straw hat asked Makino if they were really her kids but she said "No. They are Garp's grandsons but I'm not their real mothers." He then turned towards Garp and asked him why they gave off such a strong aura.
Garp looked at the man with complete trust and said " Ace over here is Roger's son, Luffy is Whitebeard's son and Sabo is a son of a noble who hates his family."
"Why'd you tell him that you shit geezer!?" said Ace
"Wait you're the Gol D. Roger's son?" he asked, shocked at what he just heard
"What's it to you?"
He smiled, remembering his fun past "Roger was my Captain at one point when I was young. He was a good man. The world may hate him but those who really knew him, we all knew he was a good guy at heart."
Ace widened his eyes. This was the first time someone said anything good about Roger. Normally people would talk bad about him and say that if he had a son, he shouldn't exist but this was the first time he heard something good.
"And you said Luffy was Whitebeard's son huh? So you're the kid that was rumored to be on the Moby… What are you doing so far away from home?"
"Vacation with Jii-Chan."
"Ah, makes sense."
"And you Sabo, this is honestly the first time I've met a kid who hates the noble life. I'm glad you view the world in a different perspective." and Sabo smiled
The man with the red hair got along with the boys well. He introduced himself as the infamous pirate Red Hair Shanks and Luffy instantly recognized the name.
"Oh so you're the red hair bastard Oyaji talks about?"
Shanks laughed "Yes Luffy, I am." patting the kid on the head. He then went on a few hours of telling the boys his adventures as a pirate and told good stories about his time with the Roger Pirates. They were kids after all and he had gone through a lot of cool adventures so it was upon him to share those adventures with three young minds who clearly were going to become pirates of their own one day.
Basically the whole day was spent with the boys listening to the many stories that Shanks had told and what his crew had told. Everyone was nice to the boys and this was a relaxing day for everyone.
The next week or so went by and it was the same routine. Every morning the boys would wake up from the mountain and make their way to the party bar where Makino would already be serving Shanks and his crew. The boys would sit by and listen to the many cool stories that people had to tell and Shanks was kind of attached to the boys. He sort of felt responsible for them. He actually kept them in check for the week. They weren't allowed to steal or cause trouble, they weren't allowed to run free as they normally would. But there was very good reason for it. The rich part of the Goa Kingdom had big figures on this place and if the boys were to cause purpose or accidental trouble, all hell would break lose.
For Ace and Sabo, he was the first real good pirate they met. They wanted to be as cool and as strong as Shanks was. For them he was like a role model. For Luffy however, the older pirate was a sort of competition. He lived his life on the Moby Dick and was surrounded with good pirates but he saw all of them as family and did not look at them as competition. Sure he wanted to be as strong as them but he knew eventually they would help him become that strong while he would be there. But Shanks was a captain of his own crew, something which Luffy was going to do afterwards in the near future. To be as strong and as successful as Shanks was, Luffy wanted to be just like that and even more. Shanks didn't care for One Piece and the whole Pirate King title but Luffy did. That was his goal ever since he met Zoro and heard that he wanted to be the World's Greatest Swordsman. To be Pirate King meant to be bigger and stronger than any other pirate in the seas. That was what Luffy wanted.
The boys today made it to the bar and everything was normal. Shanks and his crew were all there and were already drinking like always and having a fun time. Shortly after the boys had arrived and sat down for breakfast that Makino had prepared for them they heard the door kicked open and everyone was quiet. The young trio turned around and saw a familiar face. He was a bandit on the other side of the mountain, from the Gray Terminal. The boys were slightly scared and Shanks had noticed and like always he remained calm and collected. Waiting to see what this guy had wanted.
"Hehe… So this is what pirates look like, huh. This is the first time I've seen pirates. They look pretty dumb to me." the man said as he walked in. The ma walked towards the front and looked to a slightly scared Makino and said "We are bandits, We're not here to cause any trouble. We just wanna buy 10 barrels of sake."
She looks at the man "I'm soo sorry. But we ran out of sake."
Ace, Sabo and Luffy looked scared, hoping the bandit wouldn't notice them and Shanks could tell these boys did not want to be found. But they were also ready to fight if anything were to happen to Makino.
"Oh? That's strange… then what are they drinking? Is it water?"
"It's sake" she replies "But that's all we have for now."
Shanks spoke up "I'm sorry. Looks like we've finished all the sake here. Sorry about that. Here… If you don't mind take the last bottle." The bandit broke the glass and the sake had spilled all over Shanks. Makino placed a hand on her mouth and the other Red Hair pirates raised an eyebrow. Ace, Sabo and Luffy were shocked to a point where their jaws were on the ground. The trio didn't expect something like that to happen to Shanks. "Shit the floor is all wet." said Shanks lightly.
"Just who do you think I am? Don't take me so lightly… One bottle is not enough! You see this?" he took out a wanted poster worth 8 million beli. "My head is worth eight million beli. I'm one of the prime fugitives here and I've killed 56 people before you cocky bastard. And now that you know who I am, don't mess with us again. After all, mountain bandits and sea pirates don't mingle very well."
Shanks did not give a single care to what the man was saying. All he was concerned about was the fact that the floor was wet. He wanted to clean it up. "Sorry and that, Makino do you have a mop?"
"Ah it's alright… I'll clean it up."
The bandit took out his sword and cut down the rest of the bottles and broke all the glasses that were remaining. Instinctively Shanks covered the trio from the glass and from the swing of the sword because it was close to them. "Well, it seems like you really enjoy cleaning. Now you can enjoy doing it more. Later you bunch of chickens." and the man and his bandits left. As they exit the door the bandit said "What a pathetic town. It doesn't even have sake. Let's move on to the next." and the door closed.
Makino rushed towards Shanks and said "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"
"No, I'm fine." and exhaled. Once he exhaled, everyone in the bar started to laugh and joked about how pathetic Shanks was and how silly he looked. Everyone except Luffy. Ace and Sabo were laughing while Luffy was the only one angry at this whole situation.
"That was disgraceful!" Luffy yelled and again the group was quiet "Why didn't you fight him?! So what if they have more people?! Who laughs after getting picked on? You're not a man and not a pirate either!" he said
Ace and Sabo tried to calm down Luffy but seemed to notice that he didn't understand the situation.
"Look I know how you feel. But it's just a bottle of sake. There's nothing to get worked up about." Luffy stormed out walking and Shanks grabbed his arm and said "Don't leave" but Luffy got rid of the grip and had left. Ace and Sabo were going to follow but Shanks had stopped them. "Let him be for now."
The next morning, Luffy went to the party bar all by himself. Ace and Sabo were nowhere to be found and he knew Shanks and his crew went out for a supple run. He hoped Makino was at the bar which she was.
She made him breakfast like always and as Luffy ate, he was kind of sad and bored. "I really misjudged those guys! I thought they were brave and tough… Guess I was wrong."
"Are you sure about that?" she said with a smile across her face "Maybe sometimes it takes more courage not to fight." and just like that Luffy remembered Mika. At this situation, she would say something like that and Luffy widened his eyes.
"That's something mother would say. You're right Makino." and his once sad expression became normal. She just smiled and giggled at the young boy.
They heard the door open and when the two looked at who it was at the door, it was the bandit from yesterday. "Well, looks like the pirates aren't here today. It sure is quiet. We're back again." and he enters in, sitting at a table and his men followed. "Hurry up and bring us some sake woman!" he yelled
Even though Luffy was just a little kid, he couldn't let Makino be yelled at. Hell, he wanted to get revenge on behalf of Shanks.
Makino ran as fast as she sould to go and get help. The Captain wasn't there nor was Garp and his Marines. So she ran to the chief of the village.
"Chief!" she yelled "Luffy got kidnapped by bandits!" and the chief also ran out to talk to the bandits. There was a small crowd of people once Makino and the chief arrived and everyone was afraid to do anything. No one could blame them really.
"Apologize to me right now!" yelled Luffy as they kicked the boy who was on the ground.
"Apologize for what you little shit?" as the bandit picked Luffy up and threw him as hard as he could. Landing right on his face, Luffy's nose broke and blood was flowing out.
"Let him go please." said the chief. He got on his knees and begged the bandits to let Luffy go. "I don't know what he did nor do I want to argue, but I am willing to pay! So please let the child go!"
He placed a foot at the chest of Luffy and said "See now I would listen… But this fucker here insulted me. And you know what I do to bastards who insult me? I kill them." he took his sword out.
"I was wondering why no one welcomed us at the port… So this was why…" said Shanks who had unexpectedly popped up out of nowhere. "Hey, you guys are the bandits from the other day…" he saw Luffy and noticed that there was a lot of blood. The tone in his voice suddenly changed as Sabo and Ace walked up by him and saw Luffy on the ground and bloody. Two of Shanks' men grabbed the boys to make sure they didn't do anything. Benn Beckman, who was Shank's first mate had told the two boys to calm down and wait.
Shanks smiled before he spoke "Luffy! What's wrong? Isn't your punch as strong as a pistol?"
"Shut up Shanks you bastard!" yelled back Luffy
"Ahh it's the pirate… Are you going to clean up the whole town this time? But, if you come any closer, I might have to open fire on you."
Shanks walked closer until he and everyone else heard a click. "Didn't you hear? You were told not to come any closer! Do you want to get shot?" said a bandit who had pointed a gun at the head of Shanks.
Shanks cared not for the man but continued to look right into Luffy's eyes. "Well since you pulled out your gun, I guess we'll have to fight."
"Huh? What did you say?" said the bandit.
Shanks pointed towards the gun "I said, don't use this to scare people…" and a gunshot was heard. But it wasn't the bandit who fired. It was Lucky Roo who had crept up and shot the bandit in the head, while still holding onto his meat and casually taking a bite from it.
The bandit dropped and was obviously dead. Makino and the rest of the village folk were surprised. But for Luffy and the trio, the message that Shanks said wasn't directed towards the bandits. It was to the three kids. This was the first time either of them had seen someone kill anyone. Luffy killed once but he wasn't in full control of that situation and Ace and Sabo had left with Luffy when Garp killed Porchemy. The trio understood that in a fight, pulling out a gun was not a threat but an action. An action that could mean life or death. Ace, Sabo and Luffy had wide eyes. But they didn't say a word. They just looked at what was going to happen next.
"Now you've done it bastard! That was dirty!"
"Dirty?" said Benn Beckman "Don't make us laugh, You aren't fighting saints here."
"The people standing in front of you are pirates." said Shanks. "Listen well bandits…. You can whip food or sake at me or even spit on me. I can laugh it off… But, I don't care what reason you have, I won't forgive anyone who messes with my friends." he says seriously with a killing intent.
Again, the trio knew that what Shanks was talking about wasn't meant just for the bandits. It was also to the boys. When they would become pirates of their own, this advice was now in their brains. To be a big and good pirate, you can let something small that happens to you slide. But if something big were to happen to your friends, then that is when you take action.
"Ace, Sabo… On my mark, run towards Luffy as fast as you can. Take him to a hospital to fix his nose. Then all three of you meet me at the bar alright." The boys nodded "Everyone, clear out. We aren't letting these guys live. We'll clean up our mess afterwards so everyone start walking away now." and the people that were watching around had listened. They started to walk away. Shanks then gave his men a nod and he looked at Ace and Sabo who ran towards Luffy and got him out as fast as they could before the fighting would start.
Once the boys left and no one was in they way of getting hurt, Shanks took of his coat and took his sword out. "Now then… Let's start this already." as some of the bandits had rushed towards him, only to be confronted by Benn Beckman who used the butt of his rifle to beat them up. Eventually it turned into a killing fest once the leader of the bandits had enough and had charged right at Shanks. That's when the rest of the bandits also charged at the pirates and some started sword fighting while others were shooting their pistols and rifles.
Gunshots, the smell of gunpowder and the sound of clashing metal was heard throughout the entire village. There weren't many screams being heard because there weren't any. The Red Hair Pirates made quick work of the bandits while Shanks was just casually not caring about the bandit that was fighting him. It was obviously clear the he was no match for Shanks, who wasn't even close to remotely trying but once Shanks got bored enough, he quickly killed the man and sheathed his sword.
He looked at his crew and no one was injured, which was quite obvious. He then looked at the dead bodies and all blood on the floor. He ordered his men to help cleanup the mess they made once they looted the bandits because afterall they were pirates and they did just defeat an enemy.
Once the looting was over, the cleanup begun and it didn't take long to clean up the whole thing. The Red Hair Pirates had been in fights countless times on the Grand Line and in the New World to the point that the cleanup was so well organized and done quickly it almost seemed like there wasn't any fighting that took place here just moments ago.
Once cleanup was done, Shanks and his crew were on their way back to the Party Bar, but however they did meet a Garp on the way who was unhappy with something. He seemed very mad about something. Shanks wanted to approach to the man, but Garp had stormed towards a direction sign that said "Cemetery". He raised an eyebrow and continued walking until he made it to the party bar where the trio of Ace, Sabo and Luffy were already sitting at the front with Makino but there were two others already there, talking to the boys.
Once the doctors fixed Luffy's nose and told Makino (who was with the boys) how this injury should be treated, they made it to the party bar where Garp was sitting with two others and Makino had instantly recognized them. She smiled "Dragon-san! Jasmine-Sama!" and hugged the two old friends of hers that she hadn't seen since Luffy's birth.
Once the boys sat down, they had a confused look on their face. They didn't know who anyone was. But Luffy recognized them from a painting he had in his room. "Mom?" he asked the woman who had smiled and hugged Luffy. Placing a kiss in his cheek
"My goodness you've grown so much Luffy! Yes, I am your mother. I'm surprised you know."
"Painting." he said and she remembered for his first birthday she gave him a painting of her wedding with Dragon.
Dragon shook Luffy's hand and said "Hello Luffy, I'm your dad." and Luffy totally ignored that remark make by him.
"I have two new brothers now." He pointed to Ace and Sabo proudly "That one is Ace and the other one is Sabo. They are now your sons too."
Jasmine smiled and introduced herself while Dragon stood there and nodded, but then was talking to Garp about something.
All was going well until Dragon said something Garp did not like to hear and caused an uproar "WHAT?! Dragon if what you say is true then why the fuck are you here?". Everyone stopped talking and looked towards Garp and Dragon.
"I came to save this island… Or at least the people. You're here, I'm here and so is that Red Head. Three ships for all the villagers."
Garp looked like he was about to kill someone. But then his den-den mushi rang. "What? WHo is it? Don't bother me…" said the man in annoyance
"Garp, it's me." and he recognized that it was Sengoku. "I regret to inform you this but your island will be under attack tomorrow. There was a buster call towards it."
"Yes I heard." he said now even more furious
"Look the situation is messy enough already. Take as many civilians as you can and get out of there."
"Tell me this, because I do have the right to know… Why was it called now?"
"Because an anonymous informant on your island confirmed the existence of Gold Roger's son and Dragon's son. The Gorosei have called for it. They want those boys dead. Garp I don't know who to tell you this but when you leave this island, do not take the boys with you. You will endanger yourself and your boys and the civilians."
Garp had enough of the phone call. He shut the phone and stormed off. Giving Dragon an aggressive look before he left.
When Shanks had entered, he noticed the tense mood that was already set. Walking towards the front, he quickly said "Luffy… Thanks for sticking up for us." and placed a hand on the kid head and ruffled his hair. He got no reply which was odd but then he recognized the infamous Monkey D. Dragon and said "Oh Dragon… What are you doing here."
"No time to explain but tomorrow there will be a buster call over here. So we need to get everyone out and make sure the people and the boys are safe."
"Well fucking call Whitebeard at least and tell him this too. He has a right to now."
"And we shall. But first you and I are going to talk to my father." and the two left the Party Bar. The boys did not know what was going on but this thing seemed very serious. They just asked Jasmine to explain the whole situation to them to see if they could be of any help.
And done. I hope you enjoyed today's chapter. I know this story is being a bit too fast, but I like the pace I'm working on and this story is still far from over. I don't want to have less than 4000 words per chapter and not every chapter will have over 7000 words as you guys can tell. I used kissmanga for the translations for parts that were canon.
Thank you guys for the reviews, favorites and likes. Basically school starts on Thursday and my schedule is pretty balanced out so I'll try uploading once a week from now on. I'll let you know of any changes that will occur.