This chapter is a bit shorter than most. Sorry about that. On the bright side, my cousin's baby was finally born! She's a healthy, happy girl. But you aren't interested in family matters. You're here for fanfiction! Well, I hope you enjoy, and I'm sorry again for it being short.

Oh, and thanks to D. Akisira R.T.M.S for being my 100th follower! (Apologies if I spelled it wrong.)

I do not own One Piece.

Luffy gaped in awe of the pirate ship in front of him. Okay, it was a small ship, but it had a pirate flag and a crow's nest on it, and that's the thing that counted. It was much bigger than the boat they traveled on, and the best part, Luffy could smell food cooking from inside.

Luffy put his hands over his growling stomach. He was so hungry! He couldn't remember the last time he ate! It didn't really help that he kept smelling food, and was told that he could eat later. He didn't want to wait any longer. He wanted to eat now! He made up his mind. He was going to eat what was in there, and that was that.

He steeled his resolve and made his way up the ramp. He looked around, and smiled widely. He was on a real pirate ship! He ran across the deck and laughed! This wasn't the first time he was on a pirate ship. Shanks let him explore his ship while they were docked at his village, but that didn't stop him from feeling excited about being on a new pirate ship. It wasn't everyday he got to be on one.

He looked up to the crow's nest, and his smile grew even bigger. Back on Dawn Island, he and his brothers had a tree house with a crow's nest of its own. He loved playing pirates with his brothers in that tree house, and he loved it when it was his turn to be in the crow's nest. He could see everything from up there. He wondered how far he could see from this crow's nest. He looked around to see if anyone was around.

The coast was clear. He looked back up to the crow's nest and tried to stretch up there. His arm made it about half-way up the mast before it started to fall. He reeled his arm back and tried again with the same result. He stopped, and tilted his head to the side. He couldn't stretch up there yet, but he wanted to get up there. He then got a brilliant idea. He stretched his arm to the half-way point of the mast, and wrapped his arm around it a few times.

"Gum gum…" he pulled himself back as far as he could while staying in the same spot.

"ROCKET!" He flung himself up, and shot past the crow's nest.

"Oops, too much."

He flew until he was a good seven feet above the highest point of the boat. He looked around and saw his brothers gawking at him from the dock. He smiled and waved at them, and felt himself starting to fall. He looked down and realized that he didn't shoot himself straight up. Instead, he shot himself a little to the side, and was now falling toward the ocean.

"AAAAAA! ACE! SABO! HELP!" he managed to scream before he fell into the ocean. Water started to flow into his lungs, and he instantly felt weak. He hoped his brothers saved him soon, he was already starting to lose consciousness.

XxXxXxXxX

"So it's agreed that the brats come with us?" Thatch asked from his place at the stove.

"Only of their own free will." Pops answered.

"But, Pops! If they refuse-"

"Then it will be their choice. I understand how you feel, Thatch. I don't want them to be by themselves either, but we cannot choose what someone else wants to do with their life. If we did that, we'd be no better than the Celestial Dragons." Pops answered.

"So what you're saying is we can try to convince them, but if they refuse then that's that." Marco stated.

"That's crazy talk! They're just kids for crying out loud! And you're telling us to just let them wander off out to the seas alone?!" Bellemere piped up from her vegetable chopping.

"They may be kids, but they're also pirates. That means they have the freedom to choose their own destiny, and the freedom to die fighting for their dreams. I'm not saying it's ideal for ones so young, but as fellow pirates, we must respect their decisions."

"So you're just going to let them die out at sea?!" Bellemere stopped chopping to fully face the transponder snail.

"Look, Bellemere, I-"

"No! You look!" Bellemere interrupted Thatch, and turned to face him.

"I don't care about these unwritten pirate laws or whatever! What I care about is three kids sailing alone, and you're just going to let them!"

"Now, now, Bellemere. They may have the freedom to do what they want, but so do we." Marco place a calming hand on the fiery woman's shoulder.

She turned to him calmer than she had been all conversation and asked, "What are you getting at, Phoenix?"

"Yes, Marco. Tell us what's on your mind." Thatch turned to his friend with curiosity.

"I'm saying, they may have the freedom to do what they want, but we have that same freedom. They may not want to go with us, but we may want to go with them."

"Marco, you're not suggesting that we follow the brats if they refuse, are you? They may hate that more than coming with us." Thatch said.

"Then they can deal with it. In the end, it wouldn't be right to let them sail alone. At least this way we aren't taking away their freedom to choose." Marco said.

"Thank you! Finally, a pirate with some sense!" Bellemere gestured to Marco.

"Are you sure about this, Marco? If you do this, it could be a long time before you return home." Pops asked.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep with myself knowing I let three brats with such promise die at sea because they were alone." Marco answered.

"Me neither. I'm kinda fond of the little brats. It'd break my heart to hear something happened to them." Thatch agreed and Bellemere smiled.

"Glad to see you changed your minds." Bellemere went back to chopping the vegetables.

"And you both feel this way?" Pops asked.

"Yes." Thatch and Marco answered without hesitation.

Pops chuckled slightly and said, "Very well. Looks like the Moby Dick will be vacationing in the East Blue for a little while."

"Pops, you aren't serious, are you?" Thatch asked.

"Just as serious as you two are. And besides, I want to see these brats face to face."

"Alright! Looks like Thatch gets his vacation after all." Marco said.

"I TOLD YOU I- you know what? Forget it." Thatch sulkily went back to cooking. He was dead serious about not vacationing this time, and nobody believed him.

"Okay, I'll tell the rest of the crew, and let you to get back to what you were doing. You said you were preparing a feast, right?" Pops asked.

"Yup! Bellemere and I have been cooking throughout the whole conversation." Thatch said.

"Right. I'll report back later, Pops." Marco said.

"Be safe, my sons."

"You too."

Gacha

"Looks like you pirates have good heads on your shoulders after all." Bellemere said.

"What made you think we didn't?" Thatch asked.

"Well, when you were going to let the kids sail alone-"

"Like we'd just let them die. They have bright futures ahead of them." Marco said.

Things lapsed into a comfortable silence. Thatch focused on his cooking until a movement on the deck caught his eye. He looked out the porthole and saw the straw hatted kid running around.

"Hey, one of the brats is on our ship." Thatch said not taking his eyes off the kid.

"I thought one of them was following me. Which one is it?" Marco asked.

"The straw hat kid."

"That must be Luffy."

"How do you know his name?" Thatch turned to Marco.

"The brats used their names in front of me. The one with the straw hat is Luffy. The blond one is Sabo, and the angry, freckled kid is Ace."

"I'm glad we can finally put names to their faces, but they usually stick together, don't they?" Bellemere asked also looking out of the porthole.

"Not necessarily. Luffy ran off from his brothers when we first saw him. I get the feeling that he runs off a lot." Marco answered looking out the other porthole facing the deck.

"Not to mention he's easily distracted." Thatch watched as the kid stared up at the crow's nest.

The three of them said nothing, but they watched Luffy try to stretch up to the crow's nest a few times before he stopped. Thatch briefly wondered what he was going to do next when he stretched again. This time his arm wrapped around the half-way point of the mast.

"ROCKET!" they heard him yell as he flew up into the air past the crow's nest. Instead of going straight up, like they expected, he went diagonal.

"Crap! He's gonna fall in the ocean!" Thatch ran to the door as fast as he could.

"AAAAAA! ACE! SABO! HELP!" Luffy yelled before he splashed into the water.

Thatch threw the door open and ran across the deck where Luffy fell. He took off his shoes as fast as lightning and dived in after the kid. He spotted the brat not too far down. His mouth was wide open, and he appeared to be losing consciousness fast. He swam as quickly as he could and grabbed Luffy. He dragged the kid back to the surface and swam for the beach. Luffy coughed up mouthfuls of water, and took several deep breaths.

"My hat." he said drowsily when he could finally speak. The sea was still affecting him

"What about it?" Thatch asked.

"It's gone. Please, go get my hat back for me. It's very important." Luffy pleaded as much as he could while being under the influence of the ocean. Thatch was about to refuse, and offer to buy him a hat later, but he made the mistake of looking at Luffy's kicked puppy face. He felt his resolve dwindle greatly.

"Fine. Just wait here, and I'll be right back with it." Thatch reached the beach, and deposited Luffy. Luffy had apparently recovered, because he instantly jumped up, and tightly hugged Thatch around his middle.

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHA-"

"I can't get your hat if you're attached to me!" Thatch tried to pry the rubber boy off. Luffy let go and smiled up at him. Thatch set him down, and made a "stay" motion.

Thatch turned around, and dove back into the water and looked for the hat. Thankfully they were near an island so the bottom wasn't too far down. He spotted the hat close to the floor. It was lazily drifting downward. Thatch swam down and grabbed it before it hit the bottom. He turned around and swam back up. He surfaced and took several gulps of air. He couldn't believe he just dove back into the ocean for a stupid hat. He swam back to the beach and saw the other two brats next to Luffy.

"JUST WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TRYING TO DO?!" Ace yelled.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Sabo asked.

"MY HAT!" Luffy yelled and ran up to Thatch when he made it to the beach. Thatch smiled down at Luffy and handed him his hat. Luffy's grin was impossibly wide as he plopped the soggy hat on his head.

"Thanks, Thatchy!"

"No problem, squirt." Thatch patted Luffy on the head gently.

Thatch then noticed something. This was the first time he was around Luffy without being yelled at by Ace or Sabo. He looked at the two others and saw the uncomfortable looks they had. Sabo kept opening his mouth like he was trying to say something, but didn't quite know how, and Ace looked like he was in the middle of an intense, internal struggle. Finally Sabo walked forward with a determined look. He studied Thatch's expression, and then he bowed.

"Thank you, Mr. Thatch, for saving our brother and his hat. I know it may have been annoying to go back in after it, but Luffy would've never shut up about it had you not done that." Sabo said straightening back up.

"Think nothing of it. I can't let the brat kill himself, now can I?" Thatch said wringing out his hair. Putting it back up was going to be a pain.

"Why?" Ace growled, and Thatch turned to him.

"Why, what?" Thatch asked.

"Why did you save him when we could've done it?!" Ace yelled.

"Ace, calm down!" Sabo went to console his brother.

"No! Not until I get an answer! What's your motive?! Why did you bother to save a kid you don't even know?! Why are you taking such an interest in us?! Tell me!" Ace had slowly made his way to Thatch throughout his rant, and he was now standing in front of him looking pissed off.

"Motive? What are you talking about? All I saw was a devil fruit user fall into the ocean. Do you really think I'm bad enough to let a kid drown like that?"

"We could've saved him ourselves! We didn't need your help!"

"Ace, we were on the other side of the boat. He could've drowned by the time we got to him!" Sabo stepped in.

"He even went back in the water to get my hat! I told you they were good guys!" Luffy said with his ever-present smile.

Ace stopped and stared at his youngest brother. An angry, but thoughtful, look spread across his face. He turned from Luffy to Thatch, and studied his face. His expression slowly became less angry, and more thoughtful. Thatch had never seen a kid this young look so intense about someone saving their loved one.

"So, you only wanted to save Luffy from drowning? You didn't want anything in return?" Ace asked quietly, looking at Thatch in the eye.

"Exactly." Thatch answered, and Ace only stared at him questioningly.

"If that's true, then why did you talk about us behind our backs?!" Ace asked louder, and his eyes hardened.

"Why wouldn't we talk about three kids sailing alone in the weakest of the Blues?" Marco asked as he walked up to the group.

"Huh. When you put it like that, it makes sense why you would take an interest." Said Sabo.

"Whatever!" Ace growled and looked away. Thatch noticed that Ace still placed himself between him and his brothers. At least now he wasn't glaring at them like they murdered his mom in front of him. It wasn't much, but progress was progress.

"The food is almost ready, and, from the looks of the town, the celebration is about to start." Marco pointed his thumb to the now decorated town.

"FOOD!" Luffy yelled and ran off to the town.

"Luffy! Wait!" Sabo ran after him.

"Dammit! Didn't you learn from last time?!" Ace yelled and followed his two brothers.

"I think Ace is staring to trust us more." Thatch said after they got out of earshot.

"More like he's suspecting us less. Either way, it's progress." Marco said.

Thatch chuckled and watch the three brats run into the busy village. He was slightly surprised at how quickly the mood of the atmosphere changed based on just one of their emotions. Those kids were truly something else.