I DO NOT own One Piece, though that would be epic.
Here is another update to begin the 'actual plot' of the story. Hope you enjoy!
Laughter rang throughout the forest as Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, their clothing stained with ashes, ran towards the tree house.
They had wrecked the city so completely that it was now more similar to Grey Terminal than an actual town. Fire had swarmed the rubble thanks to Ace and scalding steam had spread over the ruins via Sabo. They had found that, while not being able to breathe fire, Sabo's dragon form had the ability to control the air. Wind was easy to control and he was also able to decrease the temperature to freezing or increase it to sweltering. Luffy, meanwhile, had bounded from place to place, a demon with a menacing smile on his face who left destruction in his wake.
After a while, they had even made a game of who could destroy more or who could destroy better. Of course, Ace won most competitions with Sabo coming in second and Luffy securing last, but they weren't keeping score. They were having too much fun, enjoying the absolute destruction of the kingdom to care about a petty competition.
They had left when the city had been smashed and crumbled to dirt, nothing interesting to do anymore. They had sprinted away with the wind, there one moment and gone the next. No doubt people were curious and, while perfectly happy with destroying their homes, the ASL brothers would not kill.
Running through the woods, they giggled and guffawed at the little snippets of stories they told.
"So you-ha you stood on his-haha stomach?" Sabo laughed, tears threatening to stream from his face. His brothers were no better.
"Yea! Shishishishi! He looked like an idiot!" Luffy giggled from beside him.
"Of course he was an idiot! He was the king of Goa! All the nobles are bakas!" Ace was smiling while he talked, jumping over tree roots and ducking under branches.
"It must have been-ha been his crown! Something that heavy no doubt stunted his brain growth!" Sabo chuckled, running beside him.
"Well, he won't have to worry about that anymore," Ace's smile slid into a smirk. At Sabo's confused look, he pulled the many gems and jewels out of his pocket, the same priceless trinkets that once adorned the king's crown.
"We're rich! We're rich!" Sabo shouted to the world, his hands in the air as the tree house grew nearer.
"Shishishishi! Ace and Sabo are funny!" Luffy's hands covered his mouth before he stretched his arm to climb the ladder up to the tree house.
They did not stop to rest once they were within the tree house. They scrambled around to gather their pre-packed bags and any last minute items they had forgotten. Sabo grabbed the two notes he'd written while Ace went after the stash of gold they had hidden. Luffy, meanwhile, gathered the pirate flag he and his brothers had made and any other miscellaneous items strewn about.
They were leaving.
They had promised that they would be pirates when they were seventeen and since two of them were fifteen and one was twelve they couldn't be pirates just yet. That being said, the main hot spot for pirates was the Grand Line, not the Blues. If the three of them just sailed around the four Blues being not-quite-pirates, then they wouldn't be breaking their promise. Besides, no doubt the people of what was once Goa would be out for their blood. It wouldn't be safe for them on Dawn Island anymore.
Once everything was packed up, the three grabbed their respective bags and took off towards Dadan's country. The bandit nest wasn't too far from the tree house and they were quiet as they snuck into the decrepit house to leave the note. They were just thankful that Luffy had been able to stay silent that long. Then, once back outside, they hurried to Fuusha village, walking the dusty streets as they made their way to Makino's Party Bar to leave their second note.
Then they hopped into a little boat they had cough cough bought cough cough. It wasn't small, but it wasn't anything compared to a caravel. It had one room and they planned to use that for sleeping and storage. They threw aboard their bags before climbing on themselves, checking to make sure their supplies they had packed prior to destroying Goa was still there, and pushing off from the docks, from Fuusha village, from Dawn Island, from the only home they had ever known.
Their adventure was just beginning and their smiles couldn't get any brighter.
-o-
"Aaaaacccccceeeeee! I'm huuuuuuuuuuuungryyyyyy!" Luffy whined, sprawled out where he lay.
"What do you want me to do about it?" Ace grumbled, feeling famished himself. They hadn't thought about how much food they would need and they certainly hadn't brought enough. All that stretched around them was the mystic blue of the ocean, an eternal desert of water with no oasis of land in sight.
"Hhhhhuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnggggggggrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy!" Luffy moaned pitifully and Ace gathered enough strength to whack him on the head.
"Baka! Just because you say it louder doesn't mean we'll be able to do anything about it!" he scowled, hating himself just a little that his youngest was hungry and he wasn't able to do anything about it.
"D4mn, if only I could figure out where we are!" Sabo ran his fingers through his blond hair, his face portraying his frustration as he looked at the map. They had been out at sea for only a few days, but Sabo had forgotten to pay attention to where they were headed, underestimating how much dodging the whirlpool had thrown them off. Now, he had no idea where they had strayed and wouldn't until they found land. Stars were great, but they couldn't tell him how close he was to an island.
"Not Sabo's fault," Luffy pitifully mumbled, his fingers absently picking the stray hairs and pieces of dirt off of his straw hat. They lapsed into silence, too weak from hunger to really do much but lay around and hope that an island made an appearance soon.
The sun crossed the sky on its ever so slow course until it dipped towards the horizon. The sky started to dye itself orange and pink, reds high-lighting the sky while purples streaked through the clouds. The ocean reflected the scene, crimsons and burnt oranges splashing on the waves while the sun fell towards the horizon. It was pretty, no it was breath taking.
"Wait… I think… I think I see something… Is that… Is that a boat?!" Ace piped up from where he had been sitting on the roof of the single room. He'd been staring at sun set and all its glory when he'd spotted a speck in the distance had had steadily revealed itself to be a boat. He couldn't tell much from how far away they were, but it was white.
"A boat?" Sabo grabbed the telescope he'd found for Luffy and looked through it in the direction Ace was eagerly pointing.
"Yay! A boat! A boat!" Luffy himself didn't understand why they were so happy to find a boat, but any reason to be happy was cause to celebrate.
"It looks like… a fish?" Sabo sounded unsure of himself even as he said the words.
"Yay! Meat!" Luffy laughed loudly, stretching up to where Ace was to see the distant speck better.
"No, I'm sure that's a boat! It isn't moving like any fish I've ever seen!" Ace defended. He was certain that it was a boat. A fish would have dived back down by then.
"It is a boat," Luffy deflated, "It just looks like a fish!" Sabo shouted, obvious glee in his voice. If there was a boat, then that meant they could finally figure out where they were and get food, even if they had to beat them up to do so!
"So it's a mystery ship?" Luffy's head tilted confusedly to the side, his eyes wide and looking to his brother for a response.
"Yeah, Lu, it's a mystery ship," Ace fondly ruffled his hair, receiving a squawk in return and Luffy half-heartedly tried to stop him.
With the promise of food on the horizon, they all felt giddy. Soon, Ace tackled Luffy off the roof and to the deck of the ship. Then suddenly Sabo joined in and before long, they were a tangle of flailing limbs and snickering bodies. They rolled and tumbled, the ship rocking at the shifting weight. The water splashed and within a few moments, they were panting with wet hair and the remnants of laughter on their lips, still sprawled on the deck together and watching the stars start to light the night.
"I never wanna leave you two," it was Ace who spoke up, but none of them looked away from the sky. This was a discussion that did not require eye contact to retain the seriousness it carried.
"Then don't," Sabo's calm voice drifted over them, "Let's stay together. We all promised to be pirates, so why not together?"
"Un! I'll be captain!" Luffy cheered, a giggle escaping him.
"You baka! You can't be-" Ace suddenly paused, his eyes wide as he a revelation washed over him. Why couldn't Luffy be captain? "You know what? Maybe you can be captain."
"Ace?" Sabo's tone was questioning yet his eyes remained on the twinkling lights above as Luffy cheered.
"Think about it, Sabo. Neither one of us really wants to be captain. I want my name to be known, to have proof that I existed and was great. You wanna write about your adventures and stop the stupid nobles. Luffy is the only one who really wants to be captain, so why not?" Neither of his brothers commented on how odd it was for Ace to have a reasonable idea for once. Luffy wouldn't have understood and Sabo was too busy pondering his words.
"Maybe you're right…" Sabo mumbled, just loud enough for the two ravens to hear.
"Shishishshi! I'll be captain and Sabo and Ace will be vice captains!" Luffy stuck his splayed hand out towards the stars, almost as if he was reaching for them.
"Yeah, we'll always be there, Lu!" Ace wore a smirk as he stretched out his own hand, reaching for the twinkling stars alongside Luffy.
"We'll still have all the older brother privileges, too!" Sabo chuckled, his own hand joining them. With their hands all out stretched, grasping at the edges of the heavens, three stars flew across the sky, their descent swift yet they shone brighter than all the other glistening lights above.
That's a wrap.
Hopefully, everyone liked it! If you want, reviews are awesome and if you find any errors or anything, tell me an I'll fix them.
Goodbye for now! :D
