Happy Halloween Everyone! I've been really busy these past few days getting my costume ready, but I made sure this story got up on this day! I just need to explain one thing before you read on. I mention an island called Haruna Island later on in this chapter. I did this because apparently the island's Zoro's dojo is on isn't named! Well, it might have a name, but I search and I searched. There is no name mentioned. So I used Haruna. Haru meaning "far off/distant" or "spring" or "clear up". I'm using the "far off/distant" meaning. Na meaning "vegetables, greens". So does the meaning make you think of a certain moss head? Because it did for me. I'll stop rambling now and let you get to the chapter.

I do not own One Piece.

Whitebeard hung up the transponder snail, and smiled fondly. Somehow, Marco had suggested what Whitebeard was thinking. If Marco hadn't said anything, he certainly would've. However, he wanted to make sure that following the brats was what his sons truly wanted. He wouldn't force them to go if they really wanted to come home, but Whitebeard had planned on going to the East Blue the moment he heard the youngest brat ask him to join his crew. It was a good thing he was checking up on his territories in Paradise. It would take longer if they had to sail to the East Blue all the way from the New World.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door.

"Come in." he said and Izo opened the door.

"Was that Marco and Thatch you just hung up on?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was. It's a good thing you're here. I need you to go tell the others to set sail for the East Blue."

"Huh? The East Blue? Why are we going there? Surely Thatch and Marco are enough to stop Arlong. Or is it because Thatch convinced Marco to take a vacation with him?" Izo asked the last part dryly.

"It's nothing like that. Arlong has been dealt with, and Thatch said he wasn't going on vacation this time."

"Then why are we going?"

"They may have found you some new brothers, and we're going to meet them."

"But why go all the way to one of the Blues? Wouldn't it be easier just to meet them here? The World Government will go into conniptions if we suddenly sailed to the weakest sea."

"The spoiled brats in the World Government can throw the biggest fit in history for all I care. And we're going because they may refuse the offer to join. In fact, that's more than likely going to be their answer."

"Okay, but why not just leave them alone if they refuse? Isn't that what you normally do?" Izo was obviously baffled at this point.

"Normally, yes, but this is a special occasion." Whitebeard took a swig of the sake he kept at his bedside.

"What makes this a special occasion?"

Whitebeard looked at his 16th division commander and said, "These potential brothers of yours are no older than ten years old. As a matter of fact, the youngest appears to be seven."

"Wait! What?!" Izo's eyes were wide with surprise.

"Yes, Thatch and Marco came across the three brats on the island Arlong tried to attack. They called themselves pirates, and they appeared to have sailed away from their home island all on their own"

"WHAT?!" Izo now donned an undignified look of shock, which was unusual for him. It just went to show how much the situation surprised him. He regained his composure after a few seconds.

"Wait, you mean three kids just sailed away on their own and called themselves pirates?!" He asked as if trying to piece together a puzzle that made absolutely no sense.

"That's exactly what I mean."

"Are they out of their minds?! Even if they are traveling in the weakest sea, they are still children! There are many out there who will take advantage of that! Were they not thinking?!"

"That's why Thatch and Marco are going to keep an eye on them for us until we get there." Izo sat in a nearby chair and put his face in his hands. Whitebeard patiently waited for all the information to catch up to him.

"What about their parents? They must be worried." Izo said after finally looking up.

"I don't think they have parents, or any worth mentioning. If they did, I don't think they would sail out so early in life."

"Maybe, but kids don't really think about the consequences of their actions. They could've set sail on a whim, and just didn't think about what was out there."

"I thought about that, but Marco said the youngest one mentioned something about setting sail at the age of seventeen. I think they planned on staying at their home until then, but something happened and they had to leave early. If that something was abusive parents turning murderous, I don't feel right sending them back there."

"I hate to admit it, but you have a point." Izo sighed deeply, and things lapsed into silence again. Izo looked to be gathering his thoughts together.

"Alright, I'll go tell the others to head towards the East Blue. We can't just let those kids sail around all alone." Izo stood up, and walked out the door.

Whitebeard closed his eyes, and listened to the sounds of his ship. He had been sailing the seas for a long time. He couldn't imagine staying on an island for very long. The call of adventure was too strong. If these brats had the hearts of true pirates, they would more than likely leave the island after a few days. He wondered just how far they would have to follow the brats. He chuckled at the sound of his sons and daughters' yells of surprise on the deck. He opened his eyes, and decided that they would follow as long as it took.

XxXxXxXxX

Luffy ran around the village with glee. The decorations were bright and colorful. The people looked cheerful. The musicians were tuning up their instruments. The best part, however, was how delicious the food smelled. He had been teased all day by the smells and promises of food, and now nothing was going to hold him back.

"Luffy! Dammit! We said stop!" Luffy was tackled from behind by his brothers.

"Let me go! I'm HUNGRY!" Luffy struggled, but he was held down tightly.

"We know that, you idiot!" Ace hit him on the head.

"They're still getting ready! We can't eat yet!" Sabo yelled.

"But I'm HUUUUUUNGRYYYYY!" Luffy whined.

"YOU ALREADY SAID THAT!" They both yelled.

"But it's true!" Luffy pouted into the ground.

"What are you guys doing?" Nami asked.

Luffy looked up and saw Nami holding a plate with some delicious smelling duck. Luffy stared it longingly. That was the duck he smelled when they first got to the island. He wanted so badly to sink his teeth into the sweet smelling meat. His mouth drooled and his stomach growled. He couldn't remember the last time he ate his fill.

"We're trying to keep Luffy from eating all the food before the celebration even starts" Sabo said and held Luffy down tighter.

"Well, I brought this duck over here for you guys." Nami said. With that sentence, Luffy pushed his brothers off with a sudden burst of strength, and grabbed the duck.

"Luffy!" They both yelled, but it was too late. Luffy had started to eat the duck. It was so good! The duck was nice and tender, and it was covered in an orange flavored sauce. It was gone in a matter of seconds. Luffy looked up and saw a crowd of people looking at him funny. They all had wide eyes and open mouths. Even Nami had that same look.

Luffy held up the empty plate to the crowd with a smile and said, "More!"

"HE'S STILL HUNGRY?!" The crowd yelled all at once, and Luffy felt his brothers bonk him on the head at the same time.

"Luffy! She said it was for us too!" Sabo yelled.

"Oh, sorry." Luffy said not really sorry about it.

"My, my. Couldn't wait for the celebration to officially begin, could you?" Pineapple Head asked as he helped carry a large pot. Thatch and Bellemere had their own pots to carry.

"These kids haven't eaten well in a while. What do you guys sat to letting them eat first?" Thatch asked and set his pot on the food table. Marco and Bellemere followed suit.

"You saw that kid devour a whole duck like it was nothing, right?!" one of the villagers asked.

"If they haven't eaten in a long while, then of course they will eat a lot!" Bellemere said after they set the pot down.

"Well, I guess that's true."

"And, they do look pretty hungry."

"I say we let them eat!" The villagers all agreed.

Luffy didn't need any further convincing. He ran to the food table and started to eat whatever he could get his hands on. Sabo, and eventually Ace, joined him.

"If I were you, I would get what food I could before we eat it all." Sabo called to the villagers who only laughed.

"You kids maybe hungry, but I think your eyes are bigger than your stomachs if you three think you can finish off all of this food by yourself." Thatch said.

Luffy didn't pay much attention to the villagers. He was focused on eating what he could. If had been so long since he had seen this much food, and he was not going to let it go to waste. He could tell that Ace and Sabo felt the same way as they ate just as fervently as he did. It wasn't too long before empty plates started to pile up, and the crowd went from amused to shocked.

"Where does it all go?"

"How can ones so small eat so much?

"Just how long did they go without eating?"

"Hey, who do you think will eat more?"

"My money is on the freckled kid!"

"No way! Did you see how fast the straw hat kid ate that duck? He's totally going to eat more than the other two!"

"Uh oh! They already ate half of the food on the table!"

"Crap! The blond one might be right about eating all the food!"

"We need to cook more food! Like NOW!"

"HOW THE HELL CAN THESE BRATS EAT SO MUCH?!" Thatch yelled.

Soon all the chefs in the village, including Thatch, worked together to cook as much food as possible in such a short amount of time. It was funny seeing them run around trying to keep up with Luffy and his brothers. If Luffy wasn't so busy trying to stuff his face full of food, he would've laughed at their antics. The chefs were just barely able to keep up with them.

The villagers that weren't chefs cheered on the trio. Some of them were even betting on who would eat the most, and they cheered on the ones they bet on. Luffy could hear Nami and Nojiko shout encouragements to him. Luffy didn't understand that at all. Why would he need encouragement to eat? Eating was his third favorite thing, right after his brothers and being a pirate.

After a while, all three of them finished eating. Luffy leaned back and rubbed his rounded belly. He hadn't felt this good in days. His stomach was no longer trying to eat its way out of his body, and he felt more energy than he had the past week.

"Wow! How on earth can you eat so much?!" Luffy looked up and saw Nami and Nojiko looking down at him.

Luffy sat up and said, "I was hungry, so I ate until I wasn't."

"What do you want?" Ace asked with narrowed eyes.

"Why do you care?" Nojiko asked also with narrowed eyes.

Luffy saw the two glare at each other. Luffy didn't know why Ace didn't like his new friends. Maybe it was because they were crying earlier. Ace did say he didn't like crybabies, but they were crying because they almost lost Bellemere. So wouldn't that be different from a crybaby? Maybe Ace just liked being a grump. Luffy then noticed something in Nami's hand.

"Hey, Nami, what's that?" Luffy pointed at the paper she was holding.

"Oh, this?" she asked holding it out.

"Yeah!"

"This is a map of the island. I drew it myself!" Nami showed it to Luffy.

"You drew this?! That's some talent you have!" Sabo said getting a closer look.

"Just looks like a bunch of scribbles to me." Ace frowned and Nojiko hit him.

"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY SISTER'S HARD WORK LIKE THAT!"

"WHAT THE HELL?! DO YOU WANT TO GET YOUR ASS KICKED?!" Ace rubbed his head.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO HIT GIRLS, ACE!" Sabo ran up and restrained Ace before he could attempt to attack Nojiko. All three of them were now yelling at each other.

"Shishishishi! They're funny!" Luffy said to Nami who only face-palmed.

After a few seconds of watching the three argue, Nami turned to Luffy and asked, "Luffy, do you have a dream?"

"Eh?"

"My dream is to map out the entire world. I can't wait until I'm old enough to go out there and start charting it all." Nami's eyes sparkled with passion, and she clutched her map to her chest.

Luffy looked at her and said, "You're so good at maps, you must be a good navigator."

"I'm not sure how good I really am now, but I've never been lost once in my life. Also I plan on learning all I can about navigation. The ship I sail on will never be lost!" Nami said with fierce determination. Luffy looked at her for a few seconds and smiled.

"Right!" Luffy said and Nami turned to him with curiosity.

"Will you join my crew?" Luffy asked with a sincere smile.

"What?" Nami asked taken aback.

"I'm sailing with my brothers right now, but when I turn seventeen I'll sail out on my own. I'll find my crew, and together we will sail to the ends of the earth. And I will become King of the Pirates! So Nami, will you be my ship's navigator, and wait for me here. We can fulfill our dreams together as captain and crew!" Luffy held out his hand to Nami, who looked stunned at the offer. She smiled, and slapped his hand.

"Aye, aye, Captain."

XxXxXxXxX

"Are you sure this will be enough, Sabo?" Ace asked as he looked at the large package of meat that took up half of their small boat. The villagers insisted that they traded their dingy for a slightly bigger boat. It wasn't much, but it had a sail. There was also more room for the three of them to run around on.

"It will be enough to get us to the next island, if we pace ourselves." Sabo stressed the last part.

"What's the next island?!" Luffy asked while jumping up and down.

"Haruna Island. It should take a little over a week to get there." Sabo rolled up his map, and turned to the small crowd of people who gathered to see them off.

"Well, this looks like goodbye. It's was nice meeting you all, and thanks again for the food." Sabo said politely.

"You know, kid. You don't have to travel alone." Thatch said.

"We aren't alone. We have each other." Ace sail coolly. Sabo was surprised at how much Ace calmed down about the Whitebeard pirates. He hated them at first, but now he seemed to only tolerate them. At least Sabo wouldn't have to worry about him attacking the older, more experienced pirates.

"That's not what we meant. If you would like, you could sail with us. Pops seemed to really like you three, and I'm sure the rest of our crew wouldn't mind." Marco said.

"Thanks but no thanks. We can handle ourselves well enough, and now we have enough food to last us to the next island." Ace said tensing up. Sabo tensed up as well. He thought Ace wouldn't attack, but if these guys insisted that they come with them, then there would be no holding Ace back.

Marco shrugged and said, "Alright. If you really want to sail in that tiny boat, we won't stop you."

Ace relaxed, which caused Sabo to relax. He had to keep a sharp eye on his brothers' body language. They could be unpredictable, but if you knew them well enough, you can spot what they're about to do before they do it. It didn't work all of the time, but Sabo was able to stop some, what would otherwise be, fatal accidents due to his observations.

"Awww! I wanted to see their pirate ship!" Luffy whined.

"No way! Remember when you went on their ship!" Ace pointed to said ship.

"Yeah! That was fun!"

"YOU ALMOST DIED!" Ace hit Luffy on the head.

"But I didn't!" Luffy pouted and rubbed his head.

"Only because you were be saved!" Ace yelled.

"Enough!" Sabo wedged himself between his bickering brothers before their fighting could continue.

"Thanks again for the rations of food. I'll personally see to it that it will last us until the next island." Sabo said to the townspeople.

"Think nothing of it, kid. Just stay safe out there." Bellemere said.

"Alright! Let's set sail for the next adventure!" Luffy yelled and ran onto the boat.

"Before we do, I got us something." Sabo said holding up his brothers. He had spent most of the day yesterday painting it, and he hoped they liked it.

"As you know, we were in a hurry when we left our island, and we left some things behind in our haste to escape." Sabo started.

"Yeah, we couldn't even grab some of our treasure that we saved up." Ace frowned.

"And we didn't get enough meat." Luffy pointed out.

"Right! Well one of the things we left behind was our pirate flag. So, with the help of some of the villagers, I found some paint and a black cloth, and I remade our original Jolly Roger." Sabo pulled the flag out from under his coat. It was the same as the one they left back on Dawn Island. Ace and Luffy's expressions couldn't look any happier.

"All right, Sabo!" Ace said and took the flag to get a better look.

"Sabo's the best!" Luffy cheered.

"I'll hang it up!" Ace said and climbed up the small mast to tie the flag. It looked to be half the size of the sail they were using, but they were sailing under their own flag at last.

"Now, we can head out!" Sabo said and untied the small boat from the dock.

"Bye everyone! See you in ten years!" Luffy called out.

"Ten years? Are you planning on coming back here?" Ace asked.

"You don't know? Luffy asked Nami to join his crew in ten years." Sabo said. Luffy had told them almost immediately after she agreed, but he guessed that Ace was too invested in his argument with Nojiko.

WHAT?! Luffy! Is this true?!" Ace turned to their younger brother who was still waving to the crowd.

"Yup!" He chirped.

"Why would you ask that witch to join you?!"

"She's my friend, Ace! And she's going to be my navigator!" Luffy turned around to fully face his angry, older brother.

"BULLSHIT! If she's joining your crew, then I'm not letting you sail out alone!"

"But Ace! I need to if I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

Sabo sighed in frustration. Couldn't they get along for more than a few minutes at a time? Sometimes it was hard being the reasonable one. But, when he looked back on all of their adventures thus far, he really wouldn't have it any other way.