Chapter 11 : Sabaody Archipelago

The Moby Dick was sailing peacefully in the Grand Line when a Marine ship suddenly emerged from the ocean.

The ship was about the same size as the two ships under Whitebeard's command, but it was a lot smaller than the main ship. When the ship was finally steady, the Marines came out on deck one by one.

"We came to take Whitebeard's head!" a man standing in the front said. He was wearing a Captain's jacket, signifying that he was the one in charge. "Surrender him now and I'll let the rest of you live!" he yelled.

The Whitebeard pirates snickered at his 'deal' and started drawing their weapons out.

"Like hell!" most of them shouted.

The fourth division jumped onto the enemy's ship and started attacking. The fifteenth division stood near the figurehead and started defending. Thatch and Vista watched their division fight in amusement. Their men were obviously winning without breaking a sweat.

Ace and Luffy were also watching the fight next to Whitebeard, disinterested.

"This fight is so boring," Luffy groaned in annoyance.

Whitebeard bellowed loudly and patted the little one's head.

After a couple of minutes, no one was standing except for the Captain that had jumped to the Moby Dick. The fourth division jumped back onto their ship triumphantly and watched in amusement at the Captain's reaction to his fallen men.

"How dare you do that to my men?!" the Marine Captain shouted.

Haruta snorted rudely. "Your fault."

The man glared at her and gripped his pistol in his right hand so hard that his knuckles were turning white. He cocked his gun and pointed it at Haruta.

She laughed at his desperate attempt and gave a smug smile. She could always slice the bullets before they even hit her. The man noticed her confident smile and he gulped. He knew he stood no chance against the Whitebeard Pirates, but he might as well kill at least one before he meets his own demise.

He quickly changed his target to the next person he saw and pulled the trigger without hesitation. Everyone was caught by surprise at his abrupt advance and looked to where the bullet was heading to. Vista and Haruta quickly rushed to the oblivious little boy, but they were too late.

Luffy had his back against the fight because it was boring him. He was currently playing with beetles until he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. He gave a startled yelp and fell over on his face, unmoving.

Ace's eyes grew wide in horror when he witnessed his little brother get shot right in front of him.

"LUFFY!" Ace ran to his sweet, innocent little brother that was now limp and looking lifeless. 'Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead.' Ace cried loudly in his head.

Luffy slowly got up after hearing his name get called. He had an annoyed expression on his face and started growling in agitation.

"What was that?" he huffed.

"Luffy! You're...okay?" Ace asked disbelievingly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Luffy cocked his head to the side.

"You were shot -yoi." Marco started checking the boy for any injuries. Fortunately, the only injury he sustained was a small circular bruise on his back.

"I was shot?!" Luffy asked wide-eyed.

"Maybe it didn't work because you're rubber?" Marco asked to no one in particular.

When the crew saw that their brat was alright, they brought their attention to the culprit who was slowly backing away under their intense glare. Whitebeard; however, cleared his throat, signaling that he wanted to take care of the person that dared hurt one of his sons. Slowly, the crew backed away and watched the next event knowingly.

The Marine cowered under Whitebeard's full form and tried to jump off the railing, but he ended up getting caught by a huge hand.

Whitebeard sliced the man with his bisento and threw said man in a random direction. The man's screams could be heard slowly fading out.

Both Ace and Luffy watched in awe at their father's strength. They never really saw him fight since his children would usually do that.

Ace walked up to Whitebeard with his arms crossed, defiance shown in his eyes.

"I wanted to be the one that took care of him." Ace said with a slight pout.

Whitebeard gave a loud chuckle and ruffled Ace's hair like he did with all of his kids. "Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

"Hmmph." Ace huffed indignantly.

After the show was over, Luffy was taken to the infirmary by Thatch to double check that he was not injured in any way. As soon as he was done getting prodded by the nurses, he ran to his brother's side and they started their daily spars.


The two boys were getting awfully bored being stuck on the ship for so long because it had been two weeks since they've been on land. Although they trained consistently with the commanders, Ace was itching to get some real killing done. Preferably an animal with lots and lots of meat.

"When are we going to Fishmen Island?" Luffy whined.

Ace, Luffy, Marco, and Thatch were playing a game of poker because Marco knew that if the boys were bored, that meant trouble. More trouble than a bored Thatch could cause. The thought of those three plotting a prank to ease their boredom sent a shiver down Marco's spine.

"Well," Marco folded after seeing Thatch's smug face. That man really could not keep a poker face. "We need to head to Sabaody Archipelago first to get our ships coated. Then we can head to Fishmen Island."

"Coated?" Ace asked, his face remaining monotonous. His poker face was around the same level as the First Division commander as he was used to always doing this to fool people.

"Yeah. Fishmen Island is under the sea level, so the coating will help us not get crushed by the pressure." Thatch answered for his friend.

"We're going under the sea?! Cool!" Luffy chirped as his imagination took over him. Huge sea kings and meat was all he could think about.

His stomach grumbling took him out of his daydream and he headed into the kitchen and came back with meat. Marco and Ace followed with a sulky Thatch treading behind. "I had such a good hand..." he mumbled.

After gathering a lot of food, they resumed to doing nothing but eating. Marco and Thatch had finished all of their paperwork for their division, frankly, the brats were nice company, so they hung out together a lot.

"So how long are we going to be in Sabaody?" Ace asked.

"Hmmm," Marco contemplated. "It usually takes a week for Rayleigh to coat our ships."

"Who's Rain?" Luffy said with his mouth full. He continued inhaling food while looking at Marco curiously.

"It's Rayleigh. And he's kind of like an old rival of Oyaji -yoi." Marco took a mouthful of mashed potatoes while reminiscing the old times.

"He's also Roger's first mate," Thatch added.

Ace visibly tensed and slowed down his pace in eating.

This little gesture did not go unnoticed by the commanders and Luffy.

Marco nudged his friend and gave a stern look. In return, Thatch gave a sheepish grin that he always pulled when he knew he did something wrong.

Luffy knew that Ace did not like his father, though he did not know why. The Pirate King was a cool title; therefore, the man who held that title must of been cool. Right?

"You know..." Thatch started. "Roger wasn't a bad man or anything. Oyaji respects him and it takes a lot to get his respect." He placed his arm over Ace's shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze before retracting his arm.

"Whatever." Ace muttered under his breath.

They continued their meal in silence until one of Marco's men came in to report a Marine ship in sight. Apparently, there were five of them, with the Lieutenant being the highest rank they have.

Luffy ran out the door, excited. He's been desperately craving to fight and to have an adventure. At least he can do one of those.

The news of multiple enemy ships spread like wildfire and soon, most of the Whitebeard Pirates were present, and on deck.

Whitebeard was with the two kids like usual during fights. Since he didn't want a repeat of what happened to his youngest child before, he sat both of them on his lap and began telling a story of when he was in his youth.

"...and the water was all white and they had these machines called wavers..."

Ace and Luffy were engrossed into the story until a loud voice sounded, obviously being projected by a Den Den Mushi.

"We did not come for your head, Whitebeard," the voice of the Marine was loud enough for all of East Blue to hear. "The Marines will offer a prize money if you give the two brats to us."

Curious, Ace turned his head to the man and asked loudly. "How much?"

The Marine was flustered as he did not expect that response coming from one of the brats.

"Uh, 100 million beli." the man stammered.

"But that's less than our bounties put together! What kind of deal is this?" Ace asked exasperatedly.

The crew was watching in astonishment at the little exchange between the Marine Lieutenant and Ace. They would never sell the boys out, of course, but seeing the government's desperate attempts were funny as hell.

Vista, who was deeply annoyed ever since their last encounter with the Marines, got on the figurehead, and with a precise movement, sent a flying blade attack, cutting the five ships in half, neatly. He walked back to his original position with a contempt look on his face.

Everyone laughed while watching the Marines trying to stay afloat. When the show was over and none of the Marines were in sight, they carried on with their duties as if nothing happened.

Luffy was still in awe after seeing Vista cut up the ships without breaking a sweat. He ran up to said man and tugged at his pants to get his attention.

When the man looked down, Luffy started rambling about how cool it was. "Can you teach me how to do that?!"

"Eh. Thought you didn't like swords." Vista said teasingly.

"Not anymore! They're cool now!" Luffy looked up at the man with big pleading eyes.

Vista laughed. "Okay okay. We'll increase your swordsmanship training, alright?"

"Mmm!" Luffy bounced away as soon as Vista gave his approval.


They finally docked at the next island, Sabaody Archipelago. Some of the crew members immediately jumped off the railings and kissed the ground. Being land deprived can be, well hard.

Ace and Luffy were about to do the same thing when the back of their shirts were grabbed and they were hoisted up by two men.

"You can't go by yourselves -yoi." Marco looked into Ace's defiant eyes in amusement. Oh, how that reminded him of when he was a kid.

"Why not~" Luffy whined.

"There's slave traders here and you're just kids. Who knows what could happen." Thatch said while shaking his head to get rid of possible scenarios.

Ace snarled at Thatch for calling him a kid.

"You can still have adventures..." Thatch said to Luffy with a smirk. "Oh, but with us of course."

"There's an amusement park. Let's head there -yoi."


"WOW! Let's do it again!" Luffy cheered.

"Luffy," Ace warned. "We went on the same ride eleven times already."

"Please~" Luffy whined. He looked at his brother and the commanders with big sad eyes.

"This is the last time -yoi," Marco got up from the bench reluctantly along with Thatch and Ace.

A happy Luffy and a nauseated Thatch later, the four of them were resting on a nearby bench.

"Can we go again?" Luffy looked at the three with his best puppy dog face, which the three responded by looking away. They weren't going to get tricked again.

"Let's just head to Oyaji for now. We still have the rest of the week to come back here." Thatch smiled at the boy. He was getting real light-headed from the amusement park. They weren't as fun anymore after going on the same ride for God knows how long.

Ace and Luffy were leading the way to Shakky's Rip-off Bar because it was located on the same grove they docked.

The two boys were about three meters in front of the commanders. Marco and Thatch couldn't help but noticed the strange glances the two boys were getting from some of the adults walking by. Luffy didn't seem to notice this as he was too busy bouncing all over the place, but Ace certainly did. He pulled his little brother closer to him, and they were walking at a quicker pace.

The Whitebeard commanders followed suit. Whenever someone tried to 'snatch' one of the brats or was looking at them funny, the commanders would clear their throats and glared daggers at the culprit. Most of them ran away after recognizing they were Whitebeard commanders. After a while, the two were getting tired of doing this so Marco grabbed Luffy while Thatch grabbed Ace, much to the latter's protest.

"Hey!" Ace struggled under Thatch's grip. "What are you doing?!"

"Dunno. Felt like hugging you I guess." Thatch answered.

Ace gave up struggling after five minutes and was calming observing the people they passed. Luffy, on the other hand, was greeting some of the people happily while enjoying the high view on Marco's shoulder.

Marco and Thatch suddenly tensed up and ducked behind an abandoned building, taking Ace and Luffy off their shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Ace whispered.

"Celestial Dragons." Thatch said.

Ace and Luffy stuck their tongues out in disgust and peeked over the broken wall.

The civilians were on their knees with their heads down while three people in weird white puffy suits were sitting on someone's back while that person crawled. All three of them were wearing a similar outfit that resembled a space suit with a bubble covering their heads.

"What's that thing on their head? Is it the same bubbles as the ones here?" Ace pointed at a bubble that just sprouted from the ground.

"Yeah. They don't want to breathe the same air as us 'commoners' so they do that," Marco rolled his eyes dramatically.

"But why are we hiding?" Luffy questioned.

"We'd rather die than get on our knees for them," Thatch answered simply.

Luffy nodded his head in agreement and watched them get farther and farther away. When the coast was clear, they all got up from their hiding spot and continued their way to their father.

After ten minutes of walking, they were in front of the bar. When they entered in, they were greeted by the rest of the commanders and their father. Besides them, there was an old man with round glasses and a middle-aged woman with short jet-black hair.

Rayleigh observed the new guests that just came in carefully.

"This is Rayleigh," Marco pointed at the white-haired man with a peculiar goatee. "And this is Shakky." he gestured to the only other woman besides Haruta.

Ace glared at the man that was apparently Rayleigh, with a hateful eye. Rayleigh raised an eyebrow at this, but brushed it aside.

Rayleigh observed the boy with the straw hat with a smile. "Monkey D. Luffy, is it?"

"Yeah!" Luffy cheered. "How do you know me Ossan?"

Ace glared warily at the first mate, waiting for his answer.

"Shanks told me about you," Rayleigh took a chug from his sake.

"You know Shanks?" Luffy raided the fridge and was currently stuffing his face with meat.

"Yeah. He was a cabin boy on our ship."

"Ehhh?!" Luffy spat out his food. "SHANKS WAS ON THE PIRATE KING'S SHIP?!"

"What, he didn't tell you?" Rayleigh asked, genuinely surprised. "It was about almost a year ago when he came here without his hat and his left arm."

Luffy gulped in surprise and waited for the old man to continue.

"When I asked him what happened, he excitedly started telling me about you. Ever since then, I've always wanted to meet you one day. I guess that came earlier than expected," Rayleigh laughed heartily.

Luffy giggled and grabbed the rim of his hat and pulled it down over his head. "Shanks…"

Everyone in the bar smiled at their exchange, even Ace. Even though Ace never met this Shanks person, he came to respect the man that saved his little brother. He would one day meet this person and thank him properly after all the lessons he received from Makino.

"And who might you be?" Shakky smiled to Ace.

"Ace. Portgas D. Ace." he said curtly.

"Portgas huh…" Rayleigh said thoughtfully.

"Yeah. You got a problem with that?" Ace held up a fist while glaring.

Rayleigh ignored the threat and smiled. "No problem," He observed the boy some more, which unnerved Ace. "By the way," he continued. "Roger wasn't a bad man."

Ace huffed but he was still uncomfortable on how the old man was able to read him so easily.

"I'm gonna get some fresh air," Ace stretched his arms from his seat. "C'mon Luffy."

"Okay."

Marco got up from his seat too. "Wait-"

"Don't worry," Ace interrupted Marco. "We'll be behind the bar."

"Okay…" Marco sat back down. "If you see any people looking at you weirdly, yell, alright?"

"Okay. Mom." Ace snorted.

Everyone laughed at Marco's new nickname and Thatch put his arm over Marco's shoulder. "You really are a mother hen, ain't ya?" Thatch laughed off the glare he got from his friend and resumed his drinking game with Izo.


Ace was watching his little brother play with a runaway dog. Ace was still pensive about what Rayleigh said. 'Everyone keeps saying that the Pirate King was a merciless killer while his first mate said the opposite,' Ace sighed internally. 'Not to mention, Oyaji also said the same exact thing...' He snapped out of thoughts when he saw Luffy's retreating figure.

"Luffy!" he called out.

Ace finally caught up to Luffy after a few minutes of running and grabbed him.

"Don't run off like that again!" Ace reprimanded his brother. He bonked his head for good measures and walked back to the bar. They were stopped by ten burly men that surrounded them, cutting off any escape routes.

Ace pushed Luffy behind him like usual and glared at them. The leader of the group spoke up with a chilling tone that unnerved Ace.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"


I felt like I made a lot of grammar mistakes on this ch after rereading it so sorry X_X. I will re-edit this later.