Chapter 7 : The Truth is Revealed
Sengoku was relaxing on Fishmen Island after finally settling the dispute with Kaido. They both fought briefly before Kaido had agreed to leave the premises if the Marines did not chase after him on his way back to the New World.
"Sir!" Sengoku's second in command rushed up to his superior.
Sengoku had put down his drink on the table next to him and was waiting for his subordinate's report.
"Admiral Akainu ordered a Buster Call on Dawn Island to wipe out Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy!" he blurted out.
"WHAT!?" Sengoku shouted out as he stood up. Sengoku was beyond furious. He had given full authority to the Admirals but they had abuse their power, or at least Akainu did. That man had an insane idea of justice. Sengoku was going to wait til the two boys became pirates, then he would apprehend them. They're only kids right now! They haven't done anything wrong to be killed. His eyes widen when he realize how his 'dear friend' would react to this news. He didn't feel like finding another Admiral at the moment, so he decided on heading back as fast as he can.
"We're heading back to Marine HQ right now." Sengoku instructed to his subordinates.
"WHATTTTT!?" Garp spat out the food he was munching on.
The Marine that had reported to the Vice Admiral was silently cursing Bogart for making him do this. Everyone on Garp's ship knew very well that the Portgas D. Ace and the Monkey. D. Luffy that were supposed to be killed, were Garp's grandsons. This sent all the Marines in a panic. They did not want to deal with an angry Garp. An angry Garp is never a good thing. The only Marines that knew Garp had grandchildren were Sengoku, the Admirals, his own subordinates, and some of the other Vice Admirals after he accidently let the info 'slip' out.
Apparently, Akainu had made the Buster Call order after Garp had left Marine HQ on his trip back to his hometown. Garp was torn between going back to HQ to kill Akainu or to check on his grandson's well being. He then decided he could kick his ass anytime so he settled on his orignal plan to return to East Blue.
'They better be alright.' Garp thought. He was so furious and scared at the same time. He knew it was a bad idea to ever get drunk in front of Akainu. That was how he had found out about the boys' fathers. Garp kept telling himself that the boys were strong and were probably able to escape like a mantra. But then he thought about the other people. Akainu would no doubt destroy the whole island, along with the people just like he did ten years ago on Ohara. His heart clenched when he thought about everyone.
Ace and Luffy were training their swordsmanship skills with Vista except instead of using swords, they practiced with their pipes. Everyone had saw the duo take down a huge tiger all by themselves. Everyone had a comical expression except Marco, Thatch, and Whitebeard. Marco and Thatch had already witness this while Whitebeard could already see the potential that was radiating off the brats. The commanders were determined to teach the brats all the skills they knew so that they could protect themselves in the future.
"You're getting better Ace," Vista complimented as he barely blocked a blow aiming at him.
"Heh." Ace smirked.
Luffy was watching the fight in astonishment. Ace had told Luffy to not stretch in front of the Whitebeard Pirates after their Grandpa had told them in explicit details of all the possibilities if someone discovered that Luffy had a devil fruit ability.
After the brawl between Ace and Vista ended, it was Luffy's turn.
"I don't want to fight with my pipe." Luffy dropped his pipe at his feet and took an attack stance.
Vista twirled his moustache in contemplation.
"I'll spar with you," Kingdew smiled at Luffy. "I'm the only commander that does hand-to-hand combat so I shall be your opponent."
"YOSH!" Luffy shouted. "Get ready," Luffy started rotating his arm around and threw his punch.
Kingdew dodged the punch that aimed straight at him and watched in bewilderment as Luffy's arm stretched and continued to stretch until it hit the railing and hit Luffy back in the face.
Everyone took a while to comprehend what had happened until Ace broke the silence with his laughter.
"What kind of fight is this!" Ace roared loudly.
"Ouch that hurt." Luffy stood up slowly while rubbing his now red face. He noticed everyone gawking at him.
"What?" he tilted his head.
"Brat. Did you eat a devil fruit?" Whitebeard asked curiously.
"Mmm. The Gomu Gomu No Mi! I'm a rubber man now!" Luffy chirped while stretching his cheeks.
"Hm. It's rare to find a Devil Fruit user in East Blue," Whitebeard looked pensive.
"I got it from Shanks," Luffy informed happily.
Whitebeard raised an eyebrow at this.
"You know Red-Haired Shanks?" Kingdew kept getting surprises after surprises ever since he met these kids.
"Yeah."
"Oh yeah, you said something about meeting Shanks in your village right?" Thatch remembered.
"Yeah, but he was mean at first," Luffy pouted. "I tried to touch his hat and he got all angry, but we became friends later." Luffy smiled a smile that was too big for his face.
Whitebeard and the others smiled back and went back to what they were doing.
The next few days, Ace and Luffy got even closer to the Whitebeard Pirates. Ace would talk openly to all the pirates including Whitebeard. Ace and Luffy had started calling Whitebeard 'Oyaji' which left the crew to throw a party in celebration for their new additions to the family. They weren't used to having kids aboard but these kids were different. They were a lot more amusing and fun to hang out with. Whitebeard would occasionally tell Luffy and Ace stories of his adventures on the Grand Line.
Luffy would jump up and down in glee whenever he got to the peak of the story and Ace would just stare in awe.
Whenever Ace was close to Whitebeard, like when he's storytelling, he would always become anxious. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere but what would happen if they found out about his and Luffy's heritage? Would they hate them and kicked them off their ship? Ace was especially worried because he knew Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard had been rivals for a long time. How would he react if the son of his enemy was on his ship?
Ace was surprised that no one questioned why the Buster Call was targeting them. They acted like that event never happened which only made his respect for them deepened.
In reality, while the boys were sleeping before, Whitebeard had secretly ordered his sons and daughters to not ask the boys about the Buster Call to respect their privacy.
The whole ship was peaceful until one of the people on watch came running to his father.
"OYAJI! BAD NEWS, AKAINU IS HEADING HERE RIGHT NOW!" the person screamed. "We have about ten minutes til he comes here." he then started to freak out along with the rest of the crew.
"Prepare for battle." Whitebeard was the only one that remained calm including Marco, Ace, and Luffy.
"Who's Aknu?" Luffy looked at everyone with his big curious eyes.
"It's Akainu. And he's bad bad news!" Thatch gestured with his arms how dangerous the man is.
"Thatch. Take the brats into your room and stay with them in case something funny happens." Whitebeard ordered.
Thatch did what he was told and brought them towards the fourth division commander's room.
Luffy was pouting the whole time, and Thatch could see that Ace was about to do that as well before he realized what he was about to do. Thatch would of laughed if it weren't for what was happening right now.
"Don't worry brats. I have a window in my room. We can hear and see the fight clearly and no one from the outside can see us. It's a perfect spying place." Thatch smirked.
Ace and Luffy grinned in return and all three looked out the window, waiting for something to happen. When they realized that it wouldn't happen for a while, they striked up a conversation.
"So who's this Akainu guy that got people scared?" Ace asked. Ace thought he must of been really strong judging by people's reactions.
"He's a Marine Admiral, but he's terrible. He's a bad person that says he's 'upholding justice,' but that's just an excuse," Thatch explained. "Have you ever heard about the Ohara incident?"
With two shakes of the head, Thatch started telling the story about a young girl borned into an island filled with archaeologists and how a Buster Call destroyed the whole island along with the archaeologists. All of the non-archaeologists were on an escape ship provided by the Marines, but were killed anyway by Akainu 'just in case.' Thatch then pointed out that the 'Demon of Ohara' was around the same age as Luffy and was the sole survivor of the Buster Call and that she was being hunted by the government because of who she came from.
Ace listened to the story with his eyes shadowed. He never realized that other people might be going through what he went through. He knew that Luffy was in the same situation as he was, but the difference was that Luffy didn't know who his father was so he was never really affected.
"I'm making her my nakama. I won't let anyone else hurt her again." Luffy declared. He realized that this girl went through what Ace went through or is currently going through and wouldn't have any of that.
Thatch and Ace stared at Luffy a little surprised, but a sense of pride welled up in their chest. Luffy beamed and smiled at Ace knowingly.
"I can't wait til you guys meet my future nakama!" Luffy cheered.
Ace smiled his brightest smile ever since Sabo's death that caused Luffy smiled harder, if that was any possible.
"Can't wait too brat." Thatch ruffled his hair before returning his gaze at the window. "He's here."
The Moby Dick and the Marine ship that Akainu was riding on were side by side now.
"Hand over the brats before I take them away by force." Akainu growled.
"Not a chance. Why do you want them so bad? Has the government stoop so slow that they want kids with the 'Will of D' to be killed?" This was the best conclusion that Whitebeard could come up with after the boys had told them their full names. Why else would they want them?
Akainu growled yet again. "You know very well why they need to be eliminated. They're demons that need to be killed so they're bloodline will cease to exist."
The Whitebeard Pirates' eyes hardened at this. One of the crew member let his anger take over him and he recklessly charged at him.
Marco was fast enough to block the magma punch that was heading in his crew mate's way. After confirming that the person and the ship were undamaged, he reprimanded the person for not thinking but he gave a gentle smile at his intentions. Marco then focused his glare at the new intruder, waiting for his Captain's orders.
"Since it seems you guys don't understand what you're protecting..." Akainu took a deep sigh before he smirked in Ace's direction, causing the latter to freeze up. Everyone resisted the urge to smack him when they saw where his gaze was leading to.
"Portgas D. Ace. Or should I say Gol. D Ace? The son of the Pirate King." Akainu smirked at everyone's reaction. 'I guess they really didn't know.' he thought.
"Monkey D. Luffy. Son of the Revolutionary Dragon. The most wanted criminal in the world." Akainu continued. "They need to be eliminated." Akainu turned his whole right arm into magma. "Whether you like it or not."
"ATTACK!"
WARNING ABOUT NEXT CHAPTER : I REALLY REALLY SUCK AT WRITING FIGHTING SCENES
