Chapter 9 : Reactions, Pranks, and Devil Fruits
Portgas D. Ace
-60,000,000 belis
Monkey D. Luffy
-50,000,000 belis
The Red Force docked at Kame Island the previous night and now the Red-Haired Pirates were currently 'resting' there from the party they had last night. Everyone was hung-over except for a man named Benn Beckman.
"Captain." Benn kicked Shanks in the head to wake him up.
"Whaaaaaat." Shanks whined while grabbing his head. Benn threw the newspaper onto his Captain's face.
Shanks slowly got up into a sitting position and took the newspaper and started reading. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" His eyes bulged out as he continued reading. He couldn't believe what he was reading. He had so much hope that Luffy was going to be big someday. Then his eyes widen even more at the news of a kid that was supposedly his old Captain's son.
"Look at this though." Benn said. He handed Shanks two pieces of paper.
"Bounties?"
"Yeah. Why would they have bounties that say 'Dead or Alive' if they are 'dead?' I think the Marines gave them the bounties but someone else is bribing the reporters to say they are dead. Unless they really thought they were dead but it turns out they were alive." Benn pondered deeply before lighting up his new cigarette.
"Could be. Well, as long as Anchor is alright then it's all good." Shanks smiled while remembering the year he spent at Fuusha Village. "Hey...do you think the part about their fathers' is true? I never would of guess that Luffy's father was Dragon or that Captain Roger had a son..."
"It has to be true. They have no benefits from revealing their heritage otherwise." This was the only logical reason Benn could come up with.
One by one, the pirates started waking up from their hang-over while Benn showed them the newspaper. Most of them freaked out at first because they had grown attached to the little boy the past year, but later calmed down after listening to the first mate's reasoning. They didn't doubt his theory, after all, he didn't have the highest IQ in East Blue for nothing.
Sabo was wandering around the huge building that he had been spending his past months in. After he was treated from the Celestial Dragon incident by a man with a huge purple afro, he tried to escape to get back into Dawn Island, but a man who's name was apparently Dragon would always stop him. Sabo recognized the man from the night of the Grey Terminal fire. Dragon had said that he was allowed to leave once his wounds healed, which won't be for a long time. As time passed, they got closer to each other and Sabo even started refering to Dragon as 'Dragon-san.'
Sabo stumbled upon a balcony that overlooked a rocky ground. He saw Dragon staring into the distance with the wind blowing strongly and Iva watching his leader carefully.
"Dragon-san. I want to accept your offer to join the Revolutionary Army." Sabo declared while thinking back to when Dragon had asked him earlier.
Sabo was resting in his hospital bed when Dragon came in.
"Can I please go back Dragon-san? I need to make sure my brothers are safe and I'm pretty sure if Ace somehow hears about this, he will attack the World Nobles and that'll be really really bad." Sabo looked at Dragon with pleading eyes.
Dragon chuckled deeply. "If they're anything like you, they will be fine. And you may not leave until you are fully healed."
Sabo grunted and sighed in defeat.
"What is your dream kid?" Dragon looked at him curiously. The boy was a lot different from the Nobles his age.
"To be free." Sabo smiled.
"How would you like to join the Revolutionary Army and make your dream come true?"
Dragon and Iva smiled at his decision and looked back to the sky.
"Vhat are vyour two brothers like?" Iva asked.
Sabo beamed at this question. "They're names are Ace and Luffy. Ace and me are around the same age but we don't know who's older. Luffy is three years younger than us. Ace can be really grouchy and Luffy is always energetic."
Sabo grinned remembering all the fun times they had in the past year. He was sad he wouldn't see them for a while, but they will one day meet, as a great pirate and a revolutionary.
"Luffy?" Dragon stared wide-eyed. "Monkey D. Luffy?"
"Yeah." Sabo said warily.
"Isn't that the vboy from the newspaper?" Iva asked.
"Newspaper?"
"Vwait a minute. Vi will get it." Iva left and came back with a newspaper in his hand. He handed it to Sabo.
"EHHHH?! There's no way they died! They're too strong for this to happen..." Sabo was close to crying at the thought of losing his two brothers.
"They're alive." Sabo looked up to Dragon with tears in his eyes. "Look at the bounties in the next page."
Sabo flipped the next page and a bunch of bounties fluttered out. Sabo hastily looked through them until he finally saw his brothers' picture. He laughed happily at finally seeing his brothers again, even though it's through paper.
"Vi don't understand why they say they died but still gave them bounties." Iva shook his head and sighed.
"They're alive and on Whitebeard's ship." Dragon informed.
"Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world?! Wait, they became pirates before me!" Sabo huffed playfully. He looked at the newspaper carefully and reread the headline and his eyes bugged out.
"Wait! Luffy is your son?!" Sabo exclaimed.
"Yeah, I left him with my father to take care of him." Dragon said nonchantly.
"You mean Garp? That old bastard is crazy! He broke my right arm three times through his 'training' just because I said I wanted to become a pirate!" Sabo shuddered at remembering his training sessions with Ace and Luffy's grandfather.
Dragon let out a loud laugh. "I had it worse."
Sabo spent the whole day telling excitedly about the adventures he had with his two brothers to Dragon and Iva.
Garp was cooling off on the deck of his Marine ship while eating rice crackers when a News Coo flew in. He pulled out a gold coin from the front of his pocket and threw it at the bird. In return, the bird dropped off a newspaper and flew off.
Garp wasn't much of a reader, well actually he never reads at all, but he needed all the info he could get on Whitebeard's movement. Most likely, he's heading into the New World to check on his territories. Garp honestly didn't know what to do when he finally confronts Whitebeard. Honestly, he should thank the man for saving his grandsons but he would never stoop so low to thank a pirate but...this was different. He saved his family and family was more important than duty to him.
Garp read the newspaper heading and couldn't help the laughter coming from his throat.
"Dead huh? BWAHAHA!"
As he flipped to the next page, a bunch of papers flew out. He got up to pick the bounty posters that fell when he stumbled upon on two that held faces that were familiar to him.
His eyes twitched in frustration as he felt a sudden urge to kill a certain magma-bastard. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his Den Den Mushi.
It took a while for the other person to answer. "What is it Garp?" the other person said in an exasperated tone.
"Sengoku! Cancel the bounties! How could you put a price on the heads of my adorable grandsons?!"
Sengoku let out a deep sigh. He knew this was going to come sooner or later. "It's not in my control Garp. It's higher up." Sengoku had tried to talked to Kong about it but even he said it was above his power. This was the Gorosei's idea. To eliminate the potential threats that could grow bigger in the future.
Garp hung the Den Den Mushi up out of irritation and continued snacking on his crackers angrily.
The villagers were adjusting to their new life in Odayakana Island when a News Coo flew in. Dadan had informed everyone that the Buster Call was for Ace and Luffy and that was why they weren't with them right now. Obviously, Dadan left out why the government wanted the two boys to protect them.
The Mayor grabbed the newspaper and read it out loud to the villagers that started gathering around in a circle. Some of the villagers were shocked about the news of the boys' father but then they bursted in tears hearing of Luffy's potential death. Dadan and Makino reassured them that they were alive and safe from harm.
Later that day, another News Coo came in, but instead of a newspaper, it was a letter, adressed to Dadan.
Dadan opened it and she yelled in shock.
"HOW DID GARP-SAN FIND OUT WHERE WE WERE HIDING!?"
On the Moby Dick everyone went to sleep early so that they would be well-rested for tomorrow's adventure. One of the navigators said that the next island was a summer one. Ace and Luffy were sleeping in the Second Division Commander's room because it was the only empty room they had. Whitebeard had decided against letting the two boys bunk with the others given their age. The room was small and cramped, but also comfortable. There was a bed that was big enough for one grown person, a wooden table with a lamp, and a small closet that was currently empty. The boys didn't have any clothes besides the ones that were on their backs. Makino was the one that would bring them new clothes when theirs get too raggedy, but she wasn't here now.
It was late when Thatch bursted into the boy's room wearing a big grin.
"Ughhhh." the two boys groaned at the noise that woke them up.
"Rise and shine boys!" Thatch leaned against the door patiently, waiting for the boys to get up. He got tired of waiting so he walked to the bed only to notice that they had fallen back to sleep.
"Fine. If you don't get up soon, all the food will be gone."
In a flash, the two boys got up and ran to the galley. "Huh. I should use this again next time." Thatch walked to the galley and saw two very angry children in there.
"Liar!" Luffy pointed his finger accusingly at Thatch. "There's no food here."
"What time is it even?" Ace asked.
"Mmm. 4AM?" Thatch guessed. He was tackled to the ground by two small boys.
"You woke us up at 4AM?!" Ace yelled.
Thatch laughed and pulled the two boys off of him. "How would you guys like to prank Marco?"
"Prank?" Luffy questioned.
"Yup. He seems really stressed off lately from all the paperwork so I thought I'd give him more stress." Thatch smirked evilly while outstretching his hand.
"Hmmmm. Okay we're in." Ace shook his hand. "So what's the plan?"
"THATCH, BRATS, GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE!" Marco yelled while running onto the deck. His hair was dyed green and his entire body was dyed a nice orange.
The pirates on deck quickly backed away from the First Division Commander. Some of them learned the hard way that you do not want to talk to a pissed off Marco.
Thatch, Ace, and Luffy were hiding behind some barrels while listening to a very angry Phoenix. Thatch knew Marco could sense where they were hiding, but it was still fun pretending he couldn't.
Marco walked across the deck to the barrels that were neatly stacked...until now. Marco kicked the barrels, causing all of them to break, revealing the pranksters. Before he could even give them a good ass-kicking, Thatch and Ace pointed to a clueless Luffy.
"He did it."
"Ehhh?!" Luffy was wide-eyed at their sudden betrayal.
Earlier when Luffy wasn't listening, Ace and Thatch agreed to put all the blame on Luffy if Marco found out.
Marco shifted his glare from Thatch to Luffy.
"It was Thatch's idea!" Luffy exclaimed.
Marco payed no attention and started cracking his knuckles, grinning creepily at them.
"Run?" Ace asked.
"Run." Thatch and Luffy confirmed.
The trio were running around the ship yelling loudly with a pineapple hot on their tails.
Whitebeard watched in amusement at the little display his sons had put out.
After five minutes, the three came back with many bumps on their heads followed by a very satisfied Marco.
"It's washable..." Thatch mumbled.
"It h-hurtssss." Luffy whined.
"Hmmmph." Ace huffed. He would never show he was in pain in front of people, especially in front of his little brother.
"Never do this again! Understand -yoi?!"
The three nodded, even though they didn't really mean it. For Thatch, it was always fun to mess with his friend like this. Marco really needed to loosen up sometimes.
The next island was finally in view and Luffy was jumping everywhere in anticipation.
"What's the island called?" Curiel asked.
"Midoriiro. The whole island is basically a jungle, but it's really hot in there." Izo informed. He wasn't planning on leaving the ship any time soon. The heat would mess up his makeup that he spent over an hour applying.
Ace was really excited to finally get on land and hunt. The past islands they were in weren't suitable for hunting.
Before the ship even touched the land, Luffy slingshot Ace and himself deep into the forest.
Whitebeard wasn't really concerned for the brats. They grew up in a place like this after all. They could take care of themselves.
Ace and Luffy were walking while dragging the third bear they had killed. The bears weren't as big as the ones back home, but it still had a lot of meat.
Luffy noticed something on the top of a huge tree and dropped his bear and started climbing.
"Oi what are you doing?" Ace yelled.
"I see something shiny."
Ace squinted at the top of the tree. He didn't see anything but then again, he wasn't going to complain. Luffy once found a gold bracelet on the top of a tree once. Hopefully, this time it's a diamond.
After a few minutes, Luffy jumped down the tree easily with a fruit in his hand.
Ace smacked him on the head. "That's not treasure, you idiot!"
"It's a devil fruit."
This caught Ace's attention immediately. "Really? How do you know?"
"It's all swirly and cool-looking." Luffy looked at Ace like he was stupid.
"Stop looking at me like that! How am I suppose to know what a devil fruit looks like?!" Ace was about to punched him but stopped at Luffy's question.
"Are you going to eat it? You should eat it. That way I can call your power stupid." Luffy stuck out his tongue at Ace.
Ace resisted his urge to punch his brother. "You eat it. You found it anyway." Ace looked away with a glare.
"I can't. Shanks told me something bad would happen if I did. I forgot what though." Luffy turned red from trying to recall what his friend had said to him. He gave up later and concluded it as 'something bad would happen.'
Ace really wanted to eat one but then who would save his idiot little brother from drowning? As if reading his thoughts, Luffy said that there were plenty of others on the ship who didn't eat a mystery fruit yet.
With one more glance at his brother, Ace ate the whole thing in one bite and was really close to spitting it out. He finally managed to swallow the whole thing without throwing it back up up.
"Blegh. That was horrible!" Ace exclaimed.
"Oh yeah! They taste really bad. You should have water with you when you eat it." Luffy realized.
"You say that now?!"
"So Ace, what power did you get?" Luffy looked at his older brother with stars in his eyes.
"I don't know, but my body feels all tingly and weird." Ace patted down his body, trying to figure out what fruit he ate when all of the sudden, his hair turned into fire.
"AHHH MY HAIR! IT'S BURNING, IT'S BURNING-wait huh? Why doesn't it hurt?" Ace's hair slowly burned out and disappeared. Ace ran his fingers through his hair and noticed it wasn't burned or hot anymore.
"WOW! You're fire Ace!" Luffy crept closer to Ace when suddenly, his whole right arm bursted into flames, causing Luffy to jump back.
"Sorry Luffy! Man, this is hard to control." Ace breathed. He was so excited about his new power. Fire, I mean, how cool is that?! He could burn anything and something like the fire in the Grey Terminal will never scare Luffy again now that Ace could control fire.
Ace and Luffy headed back to the ship where he was greeted by a smiling Marco and Thatch.
"What have you brats been up to?"
"Oh nothing. I ate a Devil Fruit and I can control fire now. The usual." Ace walked past a pair of shocked commanders nonchalantly.
"Wait, you ate a Devil Fruit?!" Thatch exclaimed catching everybody's attention.
"Yeah." Ace started digging his nose and flung his booger at his closest victim-Luffy.
"Eww! That's disgusting Ace!" Luffy started rubbing his face with a grossed-out expression.
"You say you're fire now?" Whitebeard asked. Ace nodded in his direction. "It must be the Mera Mera No Mi then. That's the only fire fruit I'm aware of." Whitebeard continued. "Since you're not in control of your Devil Fruit Power, Marco will teach you how to control and turn into fire willingly."
"Okay Oyaji. Training starts tomorrow brat." Marco walked away, into the direction of his room.
"Also, since both of you are Devil Fruit Users, don't play near the ocean without a non-devil fruit user with you."
"Okay." the two boys said to their father before going to the galley to demand food.
Ace and Luffy were sitting on the railing, trying to catch some fish when Marco shouted that a Marine ship was approaching.
The first division sat up and got ready for battle since it was their turn to fight.
Marco flew down and said to his division that they didn't need to fight.
"It's okay -yoi. It's just Garp."
Ace and Luffy snapped their neck to the left so hard they could of broke their neck. The same thought rang into their heads loud and clear.
'GRANDPA!?'
Dun Dun Dun Garp is here!
