Sorry about the wait, guys. My whole family is on edge because the oldest grandchild is having a baby, and the baby is about a week and a half overdue. So all the chaos set me back some on writing, but I won't abandon this story. I have too much in store to just stop writing it like that. I hope the wait was worth it.
I do not own One Piece.
Bellemere followed the two Whitebeard pirates to the boat they were using. She never thought she'd see the day where she'd owe her life to pirates. Not just any pirates either, pirates of one of the most notorious crews that currently sailed the seas. She chuckled at the irony.
She knew that the pirates were the ones who actually took care of the fishmen, however she owed her life to the boy just as much as she did the pirates. She was surprised, to say the least, when the half-starved child squirmed his way through the crowd to insult Arlong and asked for food. She would have laughed if she wasn't moments away from dying.
She was even more surprised when the bullet bounced off him, and the other kid said something about being made of rubber. She didn't understand how a child could be made of rubber until Arlong said it was a Devil Fruit. Her shock grew when he said that. She thought Devil Fruits were a myth. To actually see a Devil Fruit user in the weakest of the Blues was truly something to behold, even if he was a child.
She almost fainted when she realized that not one, but two Whitebeard commanders showed up. Her head was spinning at that point. The events of the past few minutes she thought would be her last swirled around in her mind as she tried to process it. She fell to her knees, and blocked out the relatively short battle. This was an unusual day to say the least.
She snapped out of her thoughts when Nami and Nojiko ran up to her, and hugged her with tears in their eyes. She blinked at them and realized that she was also crying. She hugged her girls tightly, and just reveled in the fact that they were all alive and together. She looked at her small family, and felt pure joy. The nightmare was over before it even started.
"I thought that boy would never agree to letting us cook them a meal." Thatch said pulling Bellemere out of her musings.
"He's stubborn, I'll give him that." Marco said in agreement.
"He may be stubborn, but he also has a lot of guts. Not many kids his age would stand up to pirates to protect their family." Bellemere pointed out. She truly admired the kid for his bravery.
"I know, but something about him worries me." Marco looked over his shoulder to look Bellemere in the eye.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"No kid should act that paranoid." Thatch answered.
Bellemere frowned and said, "Paranoid? I thought he was just being hard headed about receiving help from others."
"That too, but he's mostly concerned for the safety of his brothers. He kept saying we would poison the food." Marco said and walked onto the ship.
"I thought that was an excuse he was using to turn down our help. You mean he really thought you'd poison it? Didn't he see you help a defenseless village from a tyrannical fishman?!" Bellemere just couldn't believe that a kid could be so suspicious of everything around him. He couldn't be any older than ten, so why would he have any of these emotions to begin with?
"We think they went through something so bad that they had to leave their home island. We aren't sure where their home island is or what they went through, but I have a hunch that their experience is what caused their mistrust of others." Thatch kicked open the door to the kitchen and led the way in.
"Wait, you mean to tell me that three boys went to sea alone?! They must've went through something drastic if they did that." Bellemere washed her hands right after Thatch did.
"That's our thoughts exactly." Marco said and sat in a nearby chair.
"Well, if they can't go home, I'm sure the village won't mind taking them in. They could move in with me if they can't live anywhere else. I know money is kinda tight, but I can't possibly turn down kids in need." Bellemere said and started to chop the vegetables Thatch laid out.
"I don't think they want to stay in the village. The younger one said they were pirates. If these kids really have the hearts of pirates then they won't be happy staying on one island. Especially now that they've set sail." Thatch said and got busy preparing the meat.
"Well, we can't just let them sail the seas by themselves! They'll die out there, especially the one with the Devil Fruit!" Bellemere chopped harder than necessary.
"And we aren't gonna let them. They have a lot of guts for kids their age, and they won't let anything keep them from the sea. I've only known them for a little under an hour, but I can see the love of adventure shining in their eyes. There is no way they'd stay on any island we'd take them to. However…" Marco trailed off.
"However, what? You can't leave them at any island if what you say is true. The only other options is to let them sail with you. But, you can't really expect Whitebeard to take in three children. He sails the most dangerous seas known to man!" Bellemere paused in her chopping and turned to look at Marco.
"They're young, but they appear to be strong for their ages. If any child were to survive the Grand Line, it would be those three." Thatch answered.
"And I was about to call Pops, and figure out his opinion on the brats." Marco said and pulled a transponder snail out of his pocket.
Bellemere watched as Macro dialed a number on the snail. The moment felt surreal to her. She was on a pirate vessel of one of the most dangerous pirate crews, and she was about to hear Whitebeard himself. If someone had told her yesterday that she would be in this situation she would've laughed at them.
"This is Whitebeard." Came a gruff voice.
"Hey, Pops." Marco greeted.
"Ah, Marco. You're calling to give me an update on your mission, I assume."
"Well, yes and no. Arlong came to a peaceful village in the East Blue, and was about to kill one of the inhabitants. We took care of him, and he's currently shackled up in a jail cell in the village. They contacted the marines, and they will pick him up tomorrow." Marco gave the brief summary.
"I see. You both did well, my sons. But, you have something else to talk about, don't you? Is Thatch wanting to go on another vacation?"
"I WASN'T GOING TO GO ON ANOTHER VACATION!" Thatch yelled startling Bellemere.
"No, he doesn't, as far as I can tell." Marco said and Thatch sulked. Bellemere felt like she was missing out on something.
"Well, what is it?" Whitebeard asked.
"We ran into some interesting kids."
"What do you mean by 'interesting'?"
"They aren't from this island. They apparently sailed to here from their home island on their own. The two oldest appear to be at least ten, and the younger can't be any older than seven."
"They're that young? What are they doing sailing by themselves?" Whitebeard asked in disbelief.
"We aren't 100% sure, but we think something happened on their island. Something so big that all three of them no longer felt safe, and fled with little to no food. They look half-starved."
"Have you tried asking them?"
"Yes, but the older two stopped the youngest from answering. They seem to have trust issues."
"Yeah, that freckled kid, especially. All of us had a hard time convincing him to let us feed him and his brothers one meal." Thatch said now standing next to Marco.
"So, the brats have a hard time trusting pirates, eh?"
"Yeah, but they aren't exclusive to mistrusting pirates. They have a hard time trusting everyone. They also claim to be pirates themselves." Marco said.
"What's more, the youngest called Arlong, Long Nose. Not only that, but the brat didn't even flinch when a gun was aimed at him." Thatch said proudly like it was his own son that did it.
"Gurarararara! What cheeky brats!"
"Anyways, we don't feel right just leaving these kids to sail by themselves, and they have the look of adventurers about them. We don't think they'll stay on any island we bring them to. So, we want to know what you want us to do about them." Marco said and the line went silent. Apparently, Whitebeard was thinking something over.
"Where are the brats now?" came his reply after a few seconds of silence.
"They're somewhere in the village." Thatch answered.
"If possible, I would like to speak to them."
"I'll go get them now. They can't be too hard to find." Marco stood up.
Bellemere watched him disappear behind the door as he head for the village to find a certain trio.
"You don't honestly think he'll invite the kids to sail with you?" Bellemere asked.
"I think Pops already likes them, from what little he's heard of them. The only problem we have to worry about is gaining their trust. Which doesn't seem to be an easy task." Thatch sighed in exasperation before he went back to preparing the food.
Bellemere returned to helping the cook. Three kids sailed by themselves, and they wanted them to join their crew. She shook her head in disbelief. She would never understand pirates, and she wasn't really sure she wanted to.
XxXxXxXxX
Marco walked into town while he carried the transponder snail. He spotted the kids easily enough. They seemed to be playing a game of tag, and the freckled kid seemed to be it. He was chasing everyone around like he was trying to murder them, and the others laughed at his expense.
"Hey, brats." He called getting their attention.
The kids stopped their game and looked at him. The two girls and the youngest brother looked at him with curiosity. The blond kid looked at him with skepticism, and the freckled boy looked at him with sheer anger. He vaguely wondered why the kid was in such an angry mood, and shook the question away.
"Pops wants to speak to you." Marco addressed the three boys.
"Wait! Pops?! You don't mean Whitebeard?!" The blond asked in shock, and the freckled kid was instantly between him and his brothers.
"The strongest man in the world?!" the straw hatted kid aske with stars in his eyes, and Marco nodded.
Straw hat boy ran past his older brothers and used his stretching ability to grab the snail out of Marco's hand.
"Luffy! What are you doing?!" The blond asked.
"Luffy! Put that down!" The freckled kid demanded.
"Hey, old man! Join my crew!" Luffy all but yelled into the transponder snail.
"LUFFY!" his brothers bonked him on the head.
"Gurararara! And why should I join your crew, brat?"
"Because the Pirate King needs strong crew members!" Luffy said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Luffy, we've told you a thousand times, you can't invite other pirates to join your crew!" the blond boy yelled.
"Gurarararara! You're a cheeky brat!" Pops laughed. Marco could tell that he liked the kid. He could hear it in his voice.
"Why are you even talking to him, Lu?! He's a pirate that doesn't sail under our flag! That makes him our enemy!" the freckled brat yelled.
"But Shanks is a pirate from a different crew, and he's my friend!" Luffy pouted. Marco was surprised at this. Did he mean the Emperor, Red Haired Shanks?
"Do you know the Red Haired brat?" Pops asked.
"Yeah! He gave me his straw hat, and I promised to return it to him after I became King of the Pirates." Luffy said and touched the straw hat fondly. No wonder that hat was familiar.
"Just because Shanks is your friend doesn't mean these guys are!" blond pointed out.
"But, Sabo, they know Shanks! They must be good guys!"
"Just because they know him, doesn't mean they're his friends." Sabo sighed.
"When did you have the chance of meeting him?" Marco asked.
"He visited my island for a year." Luffy answered.
"Stop answering their questions! They don't need to know everything about you!" the freckled kid bonked Luffy's head.
"I assume you're the brat that had a hard time accepting help." Pops said addressing the freckled kid.
"So what if I am?! Do you have a problem with that, old man?!" he grabbed the snail from Luffy and yelled into the snail.
"Don't talk to my crew member like that, Ace!" Luffy yelled and pulled the snail out of Ace's hand.
"HE'S NOT A MEMBER OF YOUR CREW!" Ace grabbed the snail again.
"HE MIGHT BE! YOU DIDN'T GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO ANSWER!" Luffy reached for the snail again, but Ace pulled it out of his reach. It didn't bother Luffy any since he just stretched his arm until he could grab it. All the while, Pops was laughing at their argument.
"Break it up, you two!" Sabo bonked Ace and Luffy, and grabbed the snail.
"I'm sorry about my brothers' behavior, Mr. Whitebeard. Luffy is a bit enthusiastic, and Ace is bit rude." Sabo apologized while the other two sulked. The two girls only watched on with curiosity.
"Gurararara! Don't worry about it brat."
"So, why did you want to talk to us anyways?"
"You wanted to join my crew, right?!" Luffy asked sitting next to Sabo.
"He's not going to join your crew." Sabo face palmed.
"My sons spoke of you, and I wanted to see for myself what you're like." Whitebeard answered.
"You talked about us?! See, Luffy! This is why you shouldn't answer their questions!" Ace snapped out of his sulking, and glared at Luffy.
"What? They only talked about us. What's the big deal?" Luffy asked.
"Will you two shut up already?!" Sabo yelled.
When they stopped, Sabo turned back to the snail and asked, "Why are you taking an interest in us?"
"It's not every day you hear about brats as young as you sailing off alone. Doing what you three did takes a lot of courage." Pops answered.
"How did you know we sailed off alone?!" Ace demanded and Sabo boked his head.
"Will you stop interrupting?! They know because Luffy blabbed, remember?!" Sabo yelled while Ace rubbed his sore head.
"Oh, yeah." Ace narrowed his eyes at Luffy who only smiled obliviously.
"I've heard enough. We will resume our discussion in the kitchen, Marco." Marco took the hint and grabbed the transponder snail out of the young blond's hand.
"Bye, old guy! Let me know if you change your mind about joining my crew!" Luffy's remark earned him two bumps on his head.
"Will you just forget it?! He's not joining!" Sabo yelled.
Marco turned around, and headed back to the boat. He didn't need to hear what Pops had to say next to know that he liked the brats, and wanted them as his new sons. That didn't bother him at all, since he liked the brats too. What bothered him, though, was how to get them to join. Right now, the only one that might would be Luffy, but he wouldn't join if Ace and Sabo refused. His original plan was only to get them to trust him short term, but he would now have to convince him to join his family. He hoped Pops had an idea of what to do.
XxXxXxXxX
Ace glared at the retreating figure of that Marco guy. They had talked about his brothers behind his back, and now they were going to talk more. They were planning something, he just knew it. If they didn't need to eat so badly, he would grab Sabo and Luffy and sail to the next island as fast as possible. The thinness of his brothers kept him from acting on his first instinct, though. So he decided to go with plan B.
While Sabo was busy lecturing Luffy on why he shouldn't give away information, he followed Pineapple Head back to the dock. He knew Sabo would be angry with him later, but he had to know what those pirates were talking about exactly.
"Where are you going?" asked a voice behind him. Ace whirled around to face the two girls from earlier.
"Go away! It isn't any of your business!" Ace frowned at them.
"No way! You're following that pirate, and we want to know why!" Nojiko said and Nami nodded her head.
"I told you, it's none of your business! Go back and play games with Sabo and Luffy!" Ace made a shooing motion.
They looked at him with narrowed eyes before Nami smirked and said, "Fine, we will. And we'll tell them that you're sneaking off to spy on the pirates."
"You wouldn't dare!" Ace glared at the two girls.
"Oh, we would. We will tell the whole town too!" Nojiko crossed her arms with a smirk of her own.
Ace could just send them away, but he didn't know if they were bluffing or not. He wanted to do this by himself, and if his brothers knew they would come too. He didn't know if the townspeople would try to stop him or not. He could always beat them up, but Sabo would be mad at him for hitting girls, and Luffy would be mad at him for hitting his friends.
Wait a minute! They all ganged up on him earlier, so why should he have to do what they wanted? He wanted to hit these annoying girls since they first said "hi". It was payback time alright! Ace was cracking his knuckles in anticipation.
"What are you doing Ace?" Luffy asked when he rounded the corner with Sabo.
"You weren't going to hit these girls, were you?" Sabo asked suspiciously.
"So what if I was?! They have been a pain in my neck since we met!" Ace yelled and Sabo instantly stood between him and the girls.
"How many times do I have to tell you to not hit girls?!" Sabo yelled at him.
"You were going to hurt my friends, Ace?!" Luffy yelled and stood beside Sabo. Great, they were ganging up on him again.
"He was just mad because he didn't want us to tell you that he was spying on the pirates." Nami said with a larger than necessary smile.
"You were going to spy on those pirates alone?! Do you even know how dangerous that is?!" Sabo asked.
"Yeah, and that's why I wanted to go alone!" Ace's comment was met with a new bump on his head. He was getting a migraine.
"There's power in numbers, you idiot! Did you honestly think you could fight them alone if they discovered you?!" Sabo yelled.
"I can take them." Ace didn't think he could, really. But if worse came to worse, he wanted his brothers to be safe.
"You're kidding, right? You saw how easily they took down Arlong! They would swat you away like a fly!" Sabo crossed his arms.
"Hey, I hate to interrupt, but you do realize that Luffy ran off, right?" Nami asked stopping the two from arguing further. Ace looked around, and sure enough, Luffy was gone.
"Dammit! You don't think he went to the pirate ship, do you?" Ace asked.
"It's Luffy. Of course he went to the pirate ship!" Sabo answered.
Ace ran off to the docks with Sabo next to him. If those pirates hurt even one straw on his straw hat, he wouldn't control what he did next. And he had a felling Sabo wouldn't stop him this time.