Chapter 16

Sometimes you have just need to
relax and trust that things
will work out. Let go a little
and let life happen.

- unknown

Upon seeing the island where they left the four teens, Marco heaved a sigh and covered his eyes with his hand in exasperation. Meanwhile, behind him, the rest of the crew were laughing and making bets as to how the beautiful lush, green island became a lump of charred sand and dirt with burned down stumps. By the sounds of it, it wasn't much of a bet. Everyone had already assumed Ace and Sabo burned the place down while practicing a new attack or something involving the two.

They had originally planned to call the boys over the Den Den Mushi and have them come back to the ship on their own, but Whitebeard decided to just detour back around pick them up.

Now? Now ... Marco wished they'd just call the brats back so he didn't have to see the destruction.

He could see the kids in the distance standing at the beach, only one seemed excited to see them. He could easily identify each of his kids. Luffy, bouncing up and down, while waving both of his arms around; Ace, looking grumpy with his arms crossed; Sabo, the only blond of the group, crouched on the sandy beach with his hands in his hair; and Law, the tallest of the four, holding onto Luffy's straw hat that the kid probably didn't realize he dropped, smirking. That's right. Marco has already decided in his mind that Law was one of his children, not that he's going to tell anyone, and if Law decides to call him Pops too, he's not going to argue it. He highly doubt the oldest teen would call him Pops, though.

Moby Dick anchored a distance away, coming as close as they could without getting beached. The boys knew they couldn't bring the ship any closer, so Marco wondered why they were taking their time getting on their boat and coming back.

Marco crossed his arms as the boys made their way up to the deck after docking their boat back inside the larger ship. "Well-yoi?" Marco asked the two flame users amidst a chuckling crew.

"It wasn't our fault," they both answered, Ace with a scowl, and Sabo with a pleasant smile.

Marco raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

"You see," Sabo started, "there were these two nobles that got washed ashore on the other side of the island this morning."

"They were on a cruise ship," Ace helped explain.

Law stood by, smirking as he listened to the two take turns, desperately trying to explain how the island burned and how it wasn't their fault. Luffy latched himself onto Marco the minute he saw his Pops.

"Apparently, the cruise ship capsized or something in a storm, and that's how they got on the island."

"They got this stupid idea to start a fire to signal somebody or something."

"It somehow got out of control, and Luffy saved them."

"His dress caught on fire."

"So he had to take it off."

"Law found out Luffy's a boy."

"We saw a lot of smoke coming from the island,"

"So we turned our ship back to the island."

"We were just getting off the ship from fishing,"

"And see Luffy and Trao running out of the forest."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Thatch held up a hand to stop them from continuing. "You two were out fishing while all that was happening?" The two nodded. "Okay. Continue."

"Anyway - stop laughing! You're not helping!" Sabo said to Law.

"I'm not laughing, but please, do continue with your story," Law gave him an amused grin.

Sabo scowled at him, "Anyway, Luffy was carrying the two idiot nobles."

"And told us to get back on the ship."

"We had to take our ship out to sea,"

"to get away from the fire."

"All the fish we caught burned with the island."

"Luffy fired a canon ball right in the ocean."

"A Sea King came out."

"Luffy told it to put out the fire."

"And that's how the island burned," they both concluded. "It's true!" they insisted at Marco's look of disbelief.

"And where are these two nobles-yoi?" Marco asked skeptically.

"Dead," Sabo huffed with his arms crossed and looked away.

"They threatened us," Ace growled.

"The body?" Whitebeard grinned. He and the rest of them didn't believe what sounded like a tall tale.

"I fed it to the Sea King for helping us put out the fire," Luffy said, smiling happily. He then unlatched himself from Marco to go to the side of the ship and looked over the rail and released a small amount of haki.

A large Sea King came up with a lump on it's head, looking completely cowed.

Everyone, including Marco and Whitebeard dropped their jaws in shock, realizing the two boys had most likely told the truth.

Law took Luffy and walked away, laughing at the crew's gobsmacked expression.

"Told you so," Ace and Sabo said with their arms behind their heads before following their two brothers down to their room.

"So Law finally found out Luffy's not a girl?" Vista managed to say.

Marco only managed to heave a loud sigh and look to Whitebeard, "I give up. I don't understand those kids-yoi. How can anyone get into so much trouble without lifting a finger?"

-*/-*/-*/

Almost a year later, the four boys were under the ship doing their own things. Law reclining on a bench lined with soft bear fur, studying a book Izo gave him. Sabo tinkering away on a new project. Ace listening to Luffy reading a children's book.

Ace and Sabo invited Law to move in with them after they came back from the island. Knowing that the older teen didn't hate them and weren't afraid of them after telling him everything, they decided that he's now one of them. Actually, they didn't give him a choice and moved his things for him.

Luffy trailed off in his reading and sat still for a moment, as if listening for something. The others followed suit, straining their ears to hear what their brother heard. All they can hear is the usual commotion from the upper level.

"Shanks," Luffy whispered before he cheered louder. "Shanks is coming. Shanks is almost here!"

They followed him in his rush to get upstairs and to the figurehead. Law's been with them for a year already, and this is the first time he'd be meeting another Yonko besides Whitebeard. He could tell Lu was excited as he fidgeted where he sat on the figurehead and stared straight ahead, waiting to see Red Force.

The boy's excitement was contagious as the rest of the ship readied themselves for the Red Hair Pirates. All that chanting from him was all the warning they needed of the approaching ship.

Once the pirate ship was close enough, the three older boys panicked when Luffy stretched his arms to reach the rails of the other ship. The three of them grabbed hold of him to stop him, only to be flung across the sea and land in a lump of tangled limbs on the other deck.

Once Law was able to stop the spinning in his head and his vision cleared, he tensed up when he noticed a group of unknown me surround them. He glared at them as one took a step closer. Then something under him moved, causing him to grunt and the other two to moan in pain.

Luffy's head finally made it out from under the three of them. He looked up at the crowd and smiled at them. "Hi," he giggled, "I'm stuck."

"We all are, no thanks to you," Ace groaned, his head sticking out in a corner under Law.

"Trao, move," came Sabo's muffled protest. His head was nowhere in sight, with only his feet peeking out from under Luffy's stretched out head. "Your sword is somewhere unpleasant, and Ace, you're heavy." Sabo squawked when Law rolled himself off the pile and to the side, pulling his sword along with him.

Once they were free, Luffy ran over to one of men and gave him a hug. "Ben! Ben! Where's Shanks?"

The man pointed towards the cabin, "Nursing another hangover. Why don't you go wake him up, kid?"

Luffy cheered and ran towards where he knew the captain's room was.

"A who's this?" the tall man with long grey hair, Ben, asked the boys.

"Our new brother," Sabo said.

"Trafalgar Law," Law greeted them, before they heard the unmistakable crying of Luffy. He placed his hand over the hilt of his sword and glared at the cabin door. "Your captain better not have done anything to Lu," he growled as the two other brothers looked like they wanted run to check on their youngest brother.

"He must have seen the captain's new scar," Benn laughed, unworried.

They all turned their head to the cabin door when they heard laughing. Law watched as the red haired captain emerged with Luffy in his arm. Shanks laughing at the boy. "I'm fine. Really. Look, it's already healed."

Luffy only sniffed as he nodded, having been calmed down.

"It's good to see you two again," Shanks greeted the boys as he set Luffy down. "You three sure have grown. Sixteen now?" The boys grinned in answer. "Who's this?"

"Trao," Luffy hugged Law, trapping both his arms.

"Trafalgar Law," he corrected the boy.

Shanks hummed as he looked at Law. "Can't believe the old man took on another kid."

"I'm not a kid," Law protested. "I'm eighteen."

Shanks laughed at patted him on the head. "Still a kid to me."

"What happened?" Ace said, looking at the scar that went across the man's left eye.

"I'll tell you later," Shanks winked at them.

Once they all boarded Moby, Marco grabbed Luffy by the scuff of Ace's old T-shirt. "Don't you ever dare do that again-yoi. You scared the shit out of us. What if you fell in the sea? Not one of you can swim. Or did you forget that-yoi," yelled at the boy.

"Aww, but Pops," Luffy whined.

"No, buts. You would have seen Akagami without having to pull that stunt-yoi."

"I don't think reprimanding him is going to work," Sabo sighed in defeat, knowing that Luffy will just do what he wants.

Law grunted when Marco carelessly tossed Luffy to him. "My sister is a heart attack waiting to happen," he repeated what Haruta first told him.

"They told me Luffy was a boy," Shanks said as he studied the boy in Law's arm.

"He is. But my first impression was him in a dress, and they got the whole ship to prank me into thinking Lu-ya was a girl for a good two weeks," Law explained. "Therefore, Lu-ya is my sister. He doesn't seem to mind."

"A walking heart attack, huh? I think it fits him perfectly," Shanks laughed.

"You have Haruta-ya to thank for that," Law put Luffy down. The boy had grown, but he still was light. "That was the first thing they told me about him. Pretty accurate, I'd say."

"Why are you here?" Marco crossed his arms as he asked tiredly, even though he eyed the man's scared eye. "It's not the boys' birthday, and you've already missed a few-yoi."

"To see your captain, of course," Shanks answered cheerfully, before his arm was tugged by Luffy.

"Shanks, look!" Luffy placed his hat over his head and tugged the back of his shirt down so the man could look at his back. In between his shoulder blades was their ASL symbol, the size of an average person's palm. "Ace drew it! I'm going to get a tattoo like that."

Shanks looked at the drawing before laughing. "That strange wanted poster was you three? Of course, why didn't I realize it before? You have to tell me the story behind that raid on the Marine base. First, let me talk to your Grandpops, okay?"

As soon as he greeted the ship's captain, Shanks took a seat on the deck in front of the large man and started talking. He told them of his encounter with Blackbeard Teach. How the man used his Shichibukai title to enter Impel Down and freed some of the Level 6 prisoners to be in his crew. That information was never released to the public. It was something he learned from Garp through an encrypted message, since Garp is no longer free to sail about as he pleased since he's now put in charge of training new recruits. The government had taken away the traitor's title after that stint. Now his bounty is set at 300 million beli.

Since then, Blackbeard has been going around terrorizing islands and rookie pirates. It was on one of those islands that Shanks crossed his path, and that was how he got the scars over his eye. Shanks wanted to warn Whitebeard and his crew of how dangerous Teach has gotten.

"I don't know how strong he was when he sailed under you, but with his new ability from the Devil Fruit he stole, he's a dangerous man," Shanks told them. "Yami Yami no Mi is truly fearsome, even more so against a Devil Fruit user. He can nullify the person's ability when he touches them, rendering their ability useless. He can even absorb an attack. I've seen him suck in a small town into a black hole and spit it back out completely destroyed."

"Luffy," Marco looked at the boy sitting on the red-hair's lap, "what did you think of Teach's strength when he was here-yoi?"

"Strong," Luffy answer as he tilted his head, "very strong. Like Thatch and Jozu."

Marco nodded in understanding. "So as strong as a commander, and he somehow hid his strength from us. And this was before the Devil Fruit-yoi."

"Dangerous indeed," Whitebeard said to himself before talking to everyone there. "We will fight if we have to, but we will avoid him if we can for the time being. After we get more information, we can make plans, but for now, we will leave him."

Shanks nodded gratefully. While he may be confident that Whitebeard can take on Teach, but with his slowly deteriorating health, he didn't want to risk losing Whitebeard. Losing one Yonko could just throw the seas into chaos. Especially with how much power Whitebeard hold. If they lose the man, so many islands would be in danger. That's just something the world cannot afford, no matter what the government thinks. He just hopes the one IV the older man is set up on won't turn to two or three anytime soon.

"Oh, yeah. I was wondering if I could spend some time with the boys. You know, with how many birthdays I missed, I kind of want to make it up," the red-haired Yonko said.

Whitebeard laughed as the tension in the air disappeared. "Only if they agree. What did you have in mind?"

"Actually, I was hoping to have them on my ship for a few weeks and maybe stop by an island, just to take them out and stuff."

"That sounds interesting," Sabo said, looking to their captain. "We've only met bad pirates before you, Grandpops. I'd like to spend some time with another peaceful pirate."

Luffy cheered, while both Ace and Law looked skeptical. It was one thing with this crew, who knows more about their youngest brother, it's another thing with another who's never actually seen their brother in action. They worried what the other Yonko would think if anything should happen.

Sabo was also worried about the same thing, but he thought it'd be a good thing for Luffy to learn more about life outside of Whitebeard. He was only thinking about broadening Luffy's experience, especially if his brother wants to be a Pirate King. That means leaving them one day, and he wants to make sure Luffy would be prepared for anything and everything. The first thing he's going to have to learn is to be around people that aren't part of their ridiculously huge family.

Sure, Luffy likes Shanks, but he rarely interacted with the rest of the Red Hair crew, other than Ben. Sabo will talk to the other two about it when they get a chance. They were lucky he was attached to Law before he became part of the family, but that could be because Luffy could tell that Law was like them, wanting to be free from his tormentor.

"If those three are going, then so am I," Law said with determination. He turned to look at his captain. "I'll make sure they don't cause too much trouble. I've already learned what I can from Kobato-ya, so I can also double as their temporary doctor."

"I'm going too-yoi," Marco crossed his arms. "The last time we left the four of you alone, you burned down an entire island."

"Not our fault," both fire users yelled.

"And that makes it worse-yoi," Marco deadpanned.

"Then maybe I should go too," Haruta said. "Law complained about not having anyone that could swim with them that time."

"Me too," Thatch offered. "Someone has to feed these brats right."

More of the commanders joined in with excuses of wanting to go with the boys which, then in turn, cause the rest of the crew to make up excuses for wanting to go.

"And the next thing we know, we'll have all of Whitebeard Pirates on our ship," Benn huffed.

Whitebeard laughed. "Only Marco goes. They have plenty of nonusers on their ship. They'll be fine. Thatch, give their cook a run down on what the boys need. That should suffice." The large man turned to Shanks with a twinkle in his eyes. "As you can see, if you let anything happen to the boys, you'll have the whole crew on you."

Shanks laughed it off. "What could possibly happen? I'll be with them the whole time. They'll be fine."

"That's what you think," Izo muttered under his breath. Everyone near him that heard shook their head in exasperation. They know of all the troubles the boys have gotten into. It wasn't just the Marine base that gave the boys their first bounty. The trio and Law had a few other run ins with the marines and a few other pirates that caused the ASL bounty to go up since then.

They were all packed and ready to board Red Force by evening. It was already late by the time the ships separated.

The boys and Marco were shown to their rooms so they could turn in for the night. Ace and Sabo shared a room across from Law and Luffy, while Marco had the room next to theirs. Benn had to explain to a complaining Sabo that Red Force doesn't have a bed big enough for them to sleep together on, nor a room big enough for that kind of bed.

An hour later Luffy walked over to Law's bed with his pillow hugged tightly against his chest. "Trao."

"What?" Law turned to look at his sister.

"My bed is cold," Luffy whined.

"Yeah, mine too." Law got up and gathered his pillow and blanket before taking Luffy by the hand and led him to the room across from theirs. He opened the door slowly as to not wake the two inside, and they both slipped in.

As soon as Luffy found his other two brothers huddled together on the floor, he quietly lifted their shared blanket and snuggled in between them. The two sleeping forms unconsciously made room for him, while Law took his place next to Ace.

After being invited to the trio's safe haven below Moby Dick, he felt more comfortable sleeping with them than being alone. After being alone for so long, it was a nice feeling to be with others, even though he had no memories of ever sleeping in the same room as someone else, not even with his sister when he lived with his parents. It was something he regretted after spending time with Luffy and his brothers.

Marco smiled softly at the image upon opening the door the next morning. Luffy had ended up sprawled out with his head on Sabo's stomach and his legs over Ace and Law. He could tell from their expression that the older three weren't comfortable.

Shanks scratched his head in confusion next to Marco. "Well, I guess we could move three beds together, or something."

"Ace, Sabo, and Luffy share a hammock," Marco said. "They've slept together for as long as Luffy can remember-yoi. Law has one set up right next to them. They maybe teenagers, but I don't think the trio will ever outgrow this-yoi."

Law stirred and blearily opened his eyes, looking towards the adults. He shoved Luffy's leg off him and sat up to stretch. "It's more comfortable this way," he said sleepily as he scratched his head.

"I don't see how the floor is comfortable," Shanks said amused.

"Not the floor, but I've slept on worse," Law went to shake Ace.

"So has the other three," Marco muttered, remembering the cell where they first met.

"Five more minutes, Sabo," Ace waved Law's hands away.

"I'm not Sabo-ya, and it's time to wake up," Law said as he worked to pick a limp Luffy up and nudged his foot at Sabo. "Sabo-ya, wake up, and wake Ace-ya up too. I'm taking Lu-ya." He carried his sister passed the two adults and towards the bathroom to get the kid started on their morning ritual.

Sabo rolled over on his stomach and poked Ace's face. "Aaaace, wake up," he said tiredly. His brother just groaned and rolled in the other direction. "If you don't hurry, Lu's gonna eat all our breakfast."

That got the dark haired brother to get up and run out the door and pass Marco and Shanks. "Save me some food too!" Sabo called out tiredly, before falling back into his pillow.

"Is this normal?" Shanks asked Marco.

Marco shrugged. "Never seen them wake up before. They sleep in their hideout under the ship." He walked over to Sabo get him to wake up properly.

It took the four of them only ten minutes to join the rest of the Red Force in the galley, not one of them looking as tired as they did when they woke up.

"We should make you brats sleep in your room more often-yoi," Marco gave them a sleepy grin.

"Why?" Sabo asked as he took a seat next to the man.

"Watching you four waking up is entertaining," Shanks said from in front of him.

"Oh yeah," Ace turned to Law, "What were you guys doing in our room?"

"What were you two doing sleeping on the floor?" was Law's nonchalant answer. "Lu-ya said his bed was cold. I agreed with him. So we went where it's warmer."

"Oh? What are you wearing today, kid?" Benn asked as he took a seat next to his captain.

Luffy stood up on his bench to show off his new dress. "Trao gave it to me. It's pretty, and look," he pointed to his new hair accessory, a small clip with a simple flower.

"Another one?" Sabo peered at it. This is the third one Law has bought for the boy. The other two were carefully clipped to the red ribbon on his straw hat.

"Bought it a while ago but forgot about it. Found it in my bag this morning."

"You three spoil him too much-yoi," Marco said.

"Not as much as the Moronic Duo," Law pointed his fork at Ace and Sabo.

"Hey!" They both yelled.

"Oh? So you like Jozu-ya's name better? Bro-con combi?" The two growled at Law, while Luffy giggled at them.

"I think it's cute," Shanks said with his head on his hand. "Luffy's a lucky kid to have you three as dotting brothers."

"It's not just those three," Marco moaned. "The whole ship-yoi. It's the whole damn ship. You should see bath day. Everyone has clothes ready for when the kid runs out of the bath. Most of the crew bought clothes for him-yoi."

-*/-*/-*/

Bath day caught the entire Red Hair pirates by surprise. They really weren't sure what to expect when they first heard about how bath day went on Moby Dick. Really, they thought the five Whitebeard Pirates were just joking with them.

They found out how wrong they were when Luffy streaked across the deck of Red Force wearing nothing but his straw hat on his head. Marco was ready though. He held open a large towel, ready for the boy to run into his arms for a hug. The First Division Commander went onto dry the giggling boy off once he was in his arms.

Shanks shook his head. "You guys weren't joking, were you? He really does come running out with nothing on."

The other three boys ran over to Luffy a few moments later with various clothes in their arms.

"Luffy," Sabo whined tiredly, "you forgot you clothes again. We're not home. You really shouldn't do that."

"Just imagine him doing that in town," Law grinned as he handed Marco Luffy's underwear.

Ace paled at that thought. "No bath in town. We're never going to do that. Who knows what kind of people are out there."

Yasopp laughed at them. "You boys seriously suck at this whole bathing kids thing. Though, he's not a kid anymore," he mused as he eyed Luffy. "You should teach him to bath himself. What is he going to do once he goes off on his own?"

The trio glared at him, all with tired expression.

"Why don't you try it?" Ace and Sabo challenged.

"Oh, that's a great idea," Law said. "Let's make a bet out of it. I bet you can't get Lu-ya dried before she leaves the bathroom."

"To make it easier, you can have as many people as you want to help," Sabo said.

"Deal," Yasopp grinned. How hard could it be to get the kid dried and dressed? His wife does it all the time, and he's never heard her complain about it.

They found out two days later. Yasopp roped Lucky and Benn to help. The end result was the same as usual; Luffy running across the deck, sopping wet with nothing but his hat.

The trio and Marco laughed at the three Red Hair pirates when the walked out of the bathroom soaking wet and panting as if they had ran a marathon.

"How the hell do you do it? He doesn't even stay still in there. Bathing the kid is like a workout on it's own," Yasopp complained.

"Practice," Law, Ace, and Sabo said.

"It's a lot easier now with Trao helping us," Sabo said.

"Yeah. Before, we couldn't even finish his bath, and he'd run out with shampoo still in his hair," Ace said.

"So, how did he manage to leave with nothing on?" Shanks said as he tried to hold back a laugh.

"The first thing the damn brat did was put on his hat and declared he was dressed and ran off before we could stop him," Benn sat his soggy self down and leaned his back on the rail.

"Why are you in a hurry to leave the bathroom anyway?" Yasopp asked.

"To play," Luffy stated as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

"You guys win. What do you want?" Yasopp sighed in defeat.

"A new dress for Lu-ya," Law said.

"New shoes for Luffy," Ace said.

"Lu needs new books," Sabo said. "What? I'm not letting my brother grow up stupid." He added at the looks the others gave him.

"I think you guys should be called the Moronic Trio, rather than a Duo. All you guys think about is the shrimp," Rock Star laughed as he walked passed the group.

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

A/N: Halfway done~ Just another 12-14 more chapters, depending on how I split them up. I hope I finish putting them all up soon.