A/N: Beta by Navigator101, updated on 10/18/18.

Chapter 4

By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First, by reflection, which is the noblest;
Second, by imitation, which is the easiest;
and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

- Confucius

Ace and Sabo were staring at a bookstore window in one of Whitebeard's territories. They were contemplating if they wanted to go in or not when the old man they had just bought cotton candy from a few minutes ago came running towards them.

"Hey, you boys," the man came to a stop in front of them. He had a very annoyed look on his face. Ace looked to Sabo, mentally asking each other if either one of them did something that would warrant running right now. "Where's that other kid you were with earlier?"

"Luffy?" they asked together as they looked down at the empty space in between them. "Luffy?!"

"I thought you were holding his hand?" Sabo asked Ace.

"I thought you were."

"His right hand was sticky."

"So was his left ..." Ace then grabbed his hair and crouched down in panic when Sabo shook his head. "Shit! We lost Luffy. What do we do? Where did we lose him? What do we tell Gramps?!"

"That kid came back to my stall not too long ago and ordered two extra large sized cotton candies. I took my eyes off him for a second, and he left without paying," the man's face went from accusing to worry once he realized that little boy could be wandering the island, lost.

"Two extra large cotton candies?" they both asked in confusion.

"That's right. I thought he was bringing them to you boys. Why don't I help you look for him? I wouldn't want him to get lost on the island or anything."

"Two extra large cotton candies," they repeated, but this time with comprehension.

"It's okay, sir," Sabo told the cotton candy man. "We think we know where our brother is. How much do we owe you for those two cotton candies he took off with?"

"Why don't we find your brother first? I'd feel better knowing he's safe."

The boys shrugged and lead the man down a few alleys, and they soon found themselves deep in the forest at the far edge of the island.

"Are you sure he'd be this far away from town?" the man looked around cautiously, hoping they didn't run into any dangerous animals.

The boys just walked on, unaware of the older man's anxiety. "Pretty sure," they both answered.

"You said he took two, right?" Sabo asked and continued when the man nodded. "Then, I think he's bringing one to someone, and everyone he knows, besides us, is in this forest."

"As far as I know, no one lives in this forest. There aren't many, but there are a few dangerous animals here," the older man warned them.

"Don't worry," Ace grinned at the man. "Luffy can take care of himself. He's really fast. If anything, he can just out run it and get help."

"There they are," Sabo said as they neared voices.

The old man fell on his bottom when they pushed back some large leaves to reveal the Whitebeard Pirates, with their captain's back closest to them.

"Luffy!" both the boys yelled in irritation, unafraid of the pirates before them.

And there the man saw him, the boy that ran away without paying for the cotton candy, the same boy he was worried about being lost and alone on the island. That very same boy was sitting on the captain's shoulder with a sugary mess on his face.

The boy turned his head to look back and down at his brothers and waved before jumping down. Once he was in front of them, they both smacked him on the head. "Why did you leave without telling us?!"

"Cotton candy," the boy whined while waving his partially eaten sweet. "Wanted to share." This time he pointed at Whitebeard, who looked oddly ashamed with his half-eaten sweet.

"Next time tell us, so we don't get worried," Sabo scolded, then added as an afterthought, "And you didn't pay for it."

"N-no, it's okay. You don't have to pay for it," the old man crawled backwards on the ground, which he hadn't managed to get up. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were with Whitebeard."

"Huh?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

"Pay, Luffy, pay," Ace said, not listening to the poor old man. "You have to pay for things." To show him, Ace took out his pouch of coins and turned to the cotton candy seller to ask how much they owed.

The man stuttered out that they didn't have to pay. Whitebeard laughed at this and insisted that they pay. "I'm sorry. My youngest is still learning the simplest of things. Seems your cotton candy has caught his attention. Enough of it that he didn't remember to tell his precious brothers where he was going."

Ace and Sabo looked at each other in surprise and gave a small cheer to themselves. "Luffy left us on his own!"

Luffy walked up to the man on the ground, smiling happily and waved his cotton candy in front of him. "Yummy. I like. I want more."

"Luffy," Sabo groaned with his hand on his face, "you don't need anymore. The first one was enough. With as much as you already had, I'll be surprised if you even sleep tonight." He turned to the older man to apologize. "Sorry about him. It's his first time having cotton candy." He then turned to look at Ace with a look of questioning. "Actually, would this be considered his first act of piracy?"

Ace shrugged and grinned. "His first act of piracy is to steal cotton candy. Why not? Sounds like a Luffy-thing to do."

The older man barked out a laugh as he sat up with his legs crossed and slapped his thigh. He loved kids. They were the reason he sold cotton candy for a living, and they were the kids of Whitebeard, who had saved their island from terrorizing pirates many years back. How could he forget that? Whitebeard was different from most pirates. Somehow, in the back of his mind, he knew that Whitebeard wouldn't let just any kids on his ship. These three must have their own story of hardship. "How about this? To commemorate the boy's first act of piracy, he can keep his 'loot,' just pay the next time you stop by."

The whole crew roared in a cheer and celebrated. As if they needed a reason to party, every other island stop seemed to be a reason to party.

Luffy wasn't sure what was going on, but when Sabo told him to thank the old man, he gave him a nice, sugary, sticky hug. The cotton candy man left the pirate crew, laughing and with cotton candy stuck in his hair. Marco went with him to ensure the man got out of the forest safely.

-*/-*/-*/

"Marco," the trio sang from the deck one day.

It had already been more than half a year since they'd moved on the ship. The rest of the crew had mostly gotten used to the random noises and laughter that came out of nowhere and the kids' random appearances and disappearances.

"Over here," he waved them over to where he stood with Whitebeard on the upper deck.

They ran over to them with excitement on their faces. "We're done," Sabo said. "Wanna see? Sorry, old man, but you're too big to fit."

"No worry. As long as the ship doesn't sink, it's fine," Whitebeard laughed and waved them off.

The boys dragged Marco to their bedroom. "This is the only one that you can use. The rest, only we can use," Sabo explained as Ace pushed their desk away from the wall. Luffy pressed down on a spot on the floorboard where a large section opened upward, and Luffy jumped down.

As the trio jumped down, Marco looked around the hole and decided to use the ladder that was there and closed the door on his way down.

"Impressive-yoi," he said as he looked around in wonder. He knew their ship was huge, but wow. Without all the cargo laying around, the cargo hold looked enormous. He took notice of the various ladders and was glad they hadn't removed the support beams, though with Blamenco helping them, he shouldn't worry too much about the structure. The head shipwright would have made sure Moby wouldn't sink. There were even additional supports where they thought it was needed. And how did they manage to get those bookshelves down here? He also noticed the rearrangements of the regular lighting fixtures and a few new ones to brighten the place.

"What did you do with all the cargo-yoi?"

"It's all on that side of the wall," Ace pointed to the back of the ship. "You guys can still get to it from the back hatch, but you can't come in here from there. We can though."

Marco then looked up as he noticed he could hear everything that was happening above. "You installed listening devices-yoi?"

"Kind of," Ace beamed. "Those things are expensive. So we did something better."

"We made our own," Sabo said, proud of himself. "That way we know if we're called for."

"We didn't put them under any of your bedrooms, just so you know. Invasion of privacy and all," Ace supplied.

Marco looked up again and saw the small cone-like things scattered around the ceiling, working like a megaphone. "Nice. Put one under mine. It'd be more convenient-yoi," he commented. "And what's behind that wall-yoi?" the blond commander tilted his head towards the wall that had a normal door at the front of the ship.

"Nothing yet," Sabo scratched the back of his head with a look of confusion. "Blamenco said he wanted to do something there. He didn't say what."

"More doors-yoi?" his head gestured to the various latches on the ceiling.

"Yup!" said Luffy, who then started pulling Marco towards one of the many ladders and across a beam to a random hatch-like door. "Watch this." The boy opened the door just enough for his eyes to peek through. Marco did the same and saw they were now below the galley.

Then Luffy raised a pistol through the peep hole and aimed at one of his division member. Marco was now alarmed and was about to stop the boy, but it was too late. He quickly turned his head to look at the person who was shot at, only to see the man had a blue splotch on his face. The target looked around frantically to see what had happened with a hand on his cheek, smearing the paint.

Luffy closed the door and laughed.

"That's dangerous!" Marco smacked the boy on the head, careful to not dislodge the boy from their precarious perch. "What the hell was that-yoi?"

Luffy rubbed his head and pouted, unsure what he did wrong. "Sabo made it. It shoots colors."

Marco confiscated the weapon from the boy and hopped down to inspect it. "You made this-yoi?" he looked to Sabo.

"Yup! Thought it'd be funny," Sabo said proudly, though a little worried that the man would be mad at them. "I even found out how to stop the recoil and make it quiet."

"Impressive," he found himself saying again. "Where did you learn to do this-yoi?"

Sabo pointed to one of the bookcases that had a few books on it. "Ace mentioned something about wanting to prank some people and thought paint would be funny. I was reading about the workings of pistols at the time. So I thought I'd give it a try. There were a few failures, but I finally made one that works. Ace tells me his ideas, and I make them. That's how we used to do things, well, before the whole kidnapping thing."

"I'm not too good at putting things together," Ace scratched the side of his head, looking away from the man, "and Luffy just isn't good at thinking. All he did was help a bit and run around like the idiot he is."

Marco gave them a proud look. "You three have amazing teamwork-yoi. But still," he looked around again, "why a secret hideout?"

"To have somewhere to hide when someone gets too pissed at us for some reason. Trust me, there will be angry pirates in the future," Ace grinned. "And not to mention Joker is still out there," he growled in a low voice, his fist shaking in anger and fear. He was angry at himself for not being strong enough to protect his brothers. He knew he wasn't strong enough to take that man down as he was right now. He also feared what the Warlord would do to them if they were ever found.

"It's a precaution. At least we can hide ourselves if we have to," Sabo said sadly, looking to Luffy, who was running around the place, attempting to show Marco everything.

"And this Marco's room," Luffy pointed to one of the doors overhead.

Marco raised an eyebrow. "You have a door to my room-yoi? Why?" And how did he not know when they did that?

"Just because?" Ace shrugged. "If it makes you feel better, there are doors to every room in the ship."

"And what happened to invasion of privacy-yoi?"

"It's not like we'll be listening in on private conversations or anything," Ace said. "And we'll know if someone is in there, and we won't go in."

The commander could only sigh at that. Then Marco walked over to a bag full of unused things and frowned in confusion at what he saw. "What are these for-yoi?" he asked warily.

Ace and Sabo gave him an evil grin. "You'll see."

"You have way too much free time. Maybe I should add more chores to your schedules-yoi," Marco shook his head in exasperation.

-*/-*/-*/

Early the next morning, the crew members who were still asleep, woke up to a shrill scream. Everyone ran to where the commotion was, weapons drawn, all expecting be to under attack. But what they found instead was a man covered in blue paint and glitter in the doorway to the galley, where a few of the already awake men were eating breakfast.

The man covered in glitter started cursing up a storm and demanded to know who did it, as everyone else laughed at his expense. The man looked around, and his eyes landed on the only three who weren't laughing but shoving their faces full of food.

Feeling eyes on them, the three boys looked up and laughed the hardest, spraying pieces of food all over the table. The man took a step, and the boys hurried to get up and run out of the room, prompting the man to run after them to the open deck. They were gone, nowhere in sight, but he could still hear them laughing from somewhere.

Marco smiled to himself as he walked back to his room to finish up some work. Now he knew what those things were for. "I wouldn't try that on any of the commanders-yoi," he said to his empty room, knowing the boys could hear him.

The trap door in his room opened up, and the heads of the three boys popped up. They were all grinning. "Okay," they sang.

"Just trying to liven things up," Ace added before they dropped back down.

By the afternoon, there were a few more casualties from various parts of the ship. Whitebeard hadn't ever seen his family laugh or yell so much in one day before. It was a nice sight, even if some of his sons looked ready to kill their own siblings. Everyone was more lively, even the targeted ones. A few even laughed at themselves.

Whitebeard looked to the deck when he heard the two older boys yell for Luffy. That's right. Today was bath day. He was pleasantly surprised that the boys enjoyed being clean and took regular baths without being told. Twice a week at that. He watched in amusement as the youngest ran out laughing, once again without his clothes and still dripping wet. At least it looked like all the soap had been washed off this time.

The first bath took everyone by surprise. There were squeals, screams, and yells coming from the bath area. It was concerning enough that Marco had to check up on them. As soon as the door was opened, Luffy had shot out of the room, screaming as if his life was in danger. It was too bad that he still had soap bubbles all over him and slipped on deck. Luckily, someone was there to stop the boy from running again and marched him back to Marco, who had been too shocked at the state of the bathroom to do anything.

Marco had told him about how the bathroom looked like a hurricane had gone through it.

The captain smiled at the memory and looked back down to where Sabo was yelling for Luffy to stop, while half carrying and half dragging a large towel, and Ace had some clothes in hand. They were both chasing their wet, naked brother. Whitebeard chuckled when Sabo tripped over the towel, and Ace ran past him.

The crew members out on deck laughed at the usual routine. One even called out to the boy, "Hey, kid. You forgot your clothes."

Luffy skidded to a stop and looked down at himself, and his eyes widened in realization. "Ace, you forgot my clothes," he turned to declare to his brother just as Ace tackled him to the floor.

"Dammit, Luffy. Every single time! How do you even forget to dry yourself and put on clothes?"

Sabo finally caught up with them and towel dried Luffy so Ace could dress him. "Geez, Luffy," Sabo said with a crooked smile, "you get excited when you pick out your clothes and then forget to put them on. If you catch a cold, Kobato's going to yell at us again." They were always getting a lecture from their doctor every time they come back from an island all scratched up and bruised.

The two older boys found it funny that Luffy liked to randomly pick between boys' clothes and girls' dresses. Today he went with boys clothing, a simple t-shirt and jeans.

"There you are!" the first man to be pranked yelled as he charged at them. He was finally cleaned up, but the glitter seemed to want to stay in his hair.

The three boys looked up in surprise before Ace and Sabo grabbed Luffy and ran in a seemingly random direction on the ship. Sabo stomped on a spot on the deck, and a door opened up, allowing the boys to jump down. All the men on deck stared at the spot in shock, then looked up to Whitebeard, who laughed loudly.

"Those boys sure do know how to liven up a place," he declared as he walked away.

"I just want to know how to get all this shiny stuff off me," the man practically whined.

Really, after a few days, almost everyone on board had given up chasing the boys and just laughed it all off and generally enjoyed themselves.

-*/-*/-*/

"Hey, Sabo," Marco called in his room one morning.

"Morning, Marco," Luffy greeted as he climbed through the floor with his brothers right behind him. The three were always together. If you called one, you get three. The whole cotton candy incident was the first and only time they weren't seen together.

"You need something, Marco?" Sabo asked as the three of them took a seat on Marco's bed.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could make a few more of those paint pistols-yoi," Marco said as he took a seat at his desk.

"Sure. But what for?"

"I was thinking we should add some time for training. We're getting close to New World, and I want to make sure you'll be able to take care of yourselves-yoi. New World is a whole different level than here in Paradise. I would have started the training earlier-yoi, but I didn't want to overwhelm you since you were getting used to living here."

"But why the paint pistols?" Ace questioned.

"A test to see how good you are with different types of weapons. Oh, yeah-yoi. No more study lessons. We're pirates. There's only so much we can teach Luffy-yoi. The important thing is that Luffy can read now. Kind of. Whatever." Marco scowled inwardly. Teaching Luffy had to be the most strenuous thing he's ever done. The kid had the attention span of a rock. He'd rather train a monkey to do tricks, than to teach Luffy anything. He'll just leave that to the two older brats.

"Me and Ace used to use pipes when we hunted with Dadan, so we're pretty good with something like that. But we can use just about anything, kind of. Luffy …," Sabo trailed off as he tilted his head in thought. "Well, Luffy, is good with anything you give him."

"Nice way of putting it," Ace grinned.

"What's that supposed to mean-yoi?"

"What else could it mean?" Ace crossed his arms with a serious face. "Luffy is good with anything you give him. He's just no good with hand-to-hand. He can imitate moves, but there's no real impact. He's got no muscles."

"I know. I've watched you guys spar-yoi," Marco knew what it meant, but the way the boys said it, he was sure there was more to it than what was said. He'll just have to wait and find out eventually.

"If you really want to gauge how good we are, you could always dump us off on an enemy pirate ship," Sabo suggested with a sly grin. "We're better when we fight together."

"We've taken down a ship of twenty men before. I don't know if we've been in New World yet or not though. We never knew where we were," Ace said.

"Not going to happen-yoi. We may be pirates, but most of us here don't like seeing brats like you in a fight. Pops just wants to make sure you boys can at least defend yourselves is all-yoi. Pops was actually thinking about staying in this half of Grand Line a little longer, but Garp said the Marines are getting antsy with us being here for too long."

-*/-*/-*/

"Marco," Luffy popped his head up through the trap door in Thatch's room a week later.

Thatch jumped and fell off his chair as he grabbed his heart in fright. And that girlish shriek didn't happen.

Marco didn't bother looking at the boy as he continued to write something down on Thatch's desk. "Luffy," he greeted, having gotten used the boys' random entrance.

"Sabo's done," Luffy announced.

"Okay," Marco replied back distractedly.

"Does he always do that?" Thatch asked after the kid left. He got off the floor and set his chair back where it should be and sat back down.

"They all do-yoi," came the distracted answer. "Now, about this…." Marco brought Thatch back to what they were working on.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

A/N: I hope I was able to answer all your questions. Sorry if I forgot to reply to a review. I do try to reply to all the questions. How was this chapter?

Out of curiosity, has any of you guys read my Detective Conan fics? Just wondering how many of you there were. :P