AmericanNidiot: Ya know the drill! Reviews are answered down bellow! Now on with chapter 5! The Fateful Meeting: Rain Confuses Ace!
Ace glared down at the two newbies from atop of a large buffalo. One was a runt of a boy wearing a straw hat, while the other was a girl much taller than himself, wearing a frilly white and blue dress. "Rain!" the runt whined, tugging on the girl's skirt to get her attention.
She turned, allowing Ace to see her face. It surprised him greatly when he saw the scar going over her left eye, looking a bit more ragged than the runt's smaller scar that had been placed under his left eye. "What is it, Luffy?"
"You look weird in a dress, Sis."
The runt had a good point. Paired with that scar on her face, it really made the expensive looking dress seem vastly out of place on her. The 10 year old's eyes widen as the girl carelessly rose her skirt, only to show off a pair of knee length shorts. Ace's face felt really hot all of a sudden, but he shooked his head quickly to rid himself of the heat blossoming across his freckled cheeks.
"Don't worry, once stupid Gramps is gone, I'm gonna shred the dress and wear my bib overalls I have underneath." The girl explained, patting the boy on the head. "Why don't you look around for a bit? I'm sure there's something interesting around here…"
The runt eyes her suspiciously, his eyes narrowed. "How do you know, Rain?"
"Have I ever been wrong before, Luffy?"
"… No…" he admitted, before wandering around. The girl then dropped her skirt, a faint smile tugging at her lips, as she watched the runt. Ace hated it. No one has ever looked at him with such a soft expression of genuine care. Moreover, he could hear the way Dadan and the others spoke of him, making Ace grind his teeth in irritation as he build up saliva in his mouth. Soon the runt wandered into range, and Ace did not hesitate to let the spitwad fly, hitting the kid right in the face. "Geeh! It's spit! That's disgusting!" the runt cried, whipping the mucus/saliva mixture from his face. "Hey! Who're you!?"
"Oh, Ace!" cried Garp, finally noticing him sitting atop of his kill. Fresh blood ran down the metal pipe he held in his right hand, glowering down at the group. "That's Ace. He's three years older than you, Luffy. Which makes him three years younger than you, Rain!" Garp slapped the back of the runt's head, while reaching out his other hand to try and ruffle the girl's hair, only for her to tilt her head to the side and dodge, and delivered a solid punch into the older Marine's side with her right fist. Garp winced, yet still smiled brightly. "You'll be living together from now on, so you better get along!"
After the introductions, Garp left, leaving the newbies to enter the cabin. Soon, Ace's kill had been cut up and cleaned, then cooked as everyone sat down around the pot in the main room. The runt sat on a pillow between Dadan and one of the other bandits, while his sister took the empty pillow next to Ace. He casted her a sideways glance as he tore into the meat. She merely smiled back at him, amusement dancing in her deep brown eyes. "I hate mountain bandits!" the runt declared, sticking his tongue out at Dadan.
"Luffy…" the girl began, turning to look at the runt. Ace silently watched them, eating another hunk of meat.
"Shut it, you damn brat! Looking after you is a pain in the ass for us too! If you don't wanna be here, that's fine by me! Get out of here and go starve to death!" shouted Dadan, glaring down at the boy.
"Then you'll have to deal the Gramps when he does his checkups. I doubt you'd be able to talk your way out of that if Luffy is gone." The girl pointed out smoothly, yanking her dress over her head and quickly discarding it, showing that she wore simple blue jean bib overall shorts paired with a red short sleeved shirt. Dadan's face turned white at the thought.
"I'm still hungry! I want some meat!" the runt complained, eyeing Ace's pile of meat.
"This meat is all from a buffalo that Ace caught! He puts a portion on the table, and we do too! Times are tough for bandits right now. So starting tomorrow, you'll both be working to death, too! Cleaning, laundry, shoe shining and polishing weapons! Plus, theft, looting, swindling, and killing! And listen! Don't mention a word of this to Garp!"
"Dishes will be broken, shoes destroyed, laundry nothing but threads, and weapons blunted if you make Luffy do any of that. He's hopeless when it comes to housework," the girl said, slowly getting to her feet and giving the runt her portion, while pulling out a lollipop from her chest pocket.
Dadan continued on, ignoring the girl. "Once a day, you'll get one bowl of rice! And one cup of water! That's all we'll give you! If you want anything else, you'll have to get it yourself! And don't grow anything without permission!"
"Got it." Both of the newbies chirped, the oldest looking amused as Dadan fell over.
"What the Hell?! This is where you start crying!"
"Grandpa used to throw us into the jungle. There's a bunch of stuff we can eat in the forest, like earthworms and frogs and mushrooms. We're going to be pirates someday! I've got to be able to do this much!" the runt declared, looking excited as he talked about it.
Ace finished and quickly left, only to be followed by the runt. The girl quickly followed too, making Ace grit his teeth once more in frustration. Both of them seem to get under his skin easily, especially that girl with her soft brown eyes. The way she gazed at her brother made Ace want to cry, in addition to punching her lights out! It just was not fair! Yet Ace refused to admit he is jealous of some damn runt!
"Hey! I'm Luffy! I'm not angry about you spitting on me anymore!" speak of the Devil and he shall appear. "It's not a big deal, so let's be friends! Where are you going?" as he spoke, Ace broke a tree in half and sent it rolling down towards the runt and his older sister. The small boy screamed loudly, while his sister calmly hopped over it, a bark of a laugh escaping from her as it crashed at the base of the hill.
No matter what Ace did, the still followed him, though only the girl seem to fare well as her brother fumbled around. They eventually were separated at the rope bridge; with the girl making it safely back up, while the runt fell down. "Luffy! Remember to stay away from colorful frogs and mushrooms! Also, remember the saying 'red touches yellow, kill a fellow. Red touches black, friend of Jack'!" she shouted down into the darkness. Ace cocked an eyebrow, storing that saying away, as he watched her use the boards as a ladder as she climbed to safety.
†††
It was late when Ace returned to the cabin.
"Ace… Did you come back alone?"
Silence.
"Wasn't Luffy with you?"
"Dunno." He replied gruffly to the bandits, and made his way farther inside.
"It's pretty bad that we lost him on the first day, Boss!"
"I don't care! If he dies, he dies!" Dadan shouted, already drinking heavily. "We've already given up on looking after Ace! If he really died, then we'll just tell Garp it was an accident. This is what they mean when they say bad weeds grow fastest!" the bandit proclaimed loudly, unknowingly upsetting Ace as he eavesdropped on the conversation. "He's the son of a demon, you know?! If the Government ever found out, what do you think would happen to us?!"
Ace jumped, startled as he heard the sound of glass breaking. Peeking through the gap, his nickel gray eyes zeroed in on the girl. She had her head bowed, bangs casting an eerie shadow over her eyes as her fist shook, the knuckles already turning a stark white color compared to her sun kissed skin. "Shut up…"
"What was that, you brat?!" shouted Dadan, getting herself worked up after getting over the shock of having a bowl barely missing her face.
"I said shut up, you old hag! What right do you have to decide Ace is a bad weed?! Of course, he is going to be bad with how you treat him! He is still a kid for crying aloud! He learns from watching you people, and if you treat him like a monster, he'll act like one!" she shouted, glaring heatedly at the bandits. "Fuck the Government! Most of them are corrupt liars anyways! The moment someone does something the Government doesn't like, they are instantly labeled a criminal!" With each exclamation did she take a step closer to the lone female bandit— Dadan was speechless as the teenage girl got in her face; gripping the collar of her blouse tightly. "The next time I hear you talk shit about Ace, I will make you eat your teeth…"
Gripping his shirt over his heart, Ace felt his heart stutter as emotions flood his being, making him feel light headed. Soon his eyes began stinging, forcing him to use his fists to try to elevate the sensation, only to feel moisture instead. 'Am I… Crying?' he wondered, looking down at his wet hands.
"Here." Ace jumped, just as a piece of blindingly white fabric— 'Just like a cloud,' the boy noted— was shoved unceremoniously into his hands. "You got dust in your eyes, right? Use that to get it out." It was the girl, he realized, and the fabric— a perfect square— came from her dress she showed up in, if the silky texture is anything to go by. "Hope you have sweet dreams, Ace."
†††
A week passed by quickly, and each day she went out of her way to do random things for him, be it making his bed, making sure he had clean clothes, mending any tears they had, making sure the first aid kit had been fully stocked for any wounds he would get, and even giving him a good portion of her kills. Ace was unsure of what to make of her actions, and decided not to comment and merely went on with his daily business.
"Boss! Boss Dadan!" a bandit shouted late that night, drawing attention to something. "Luffy came back!"
'So the runt managed to survive,' Ace mused to himself, peeking open an eye open.
"He was… still alive?! Where the Hell did you go?!" demanded Dadan. "Where were you, and what were you doing?"
"I was chased by wolves at the bottom of the valley," replied the runt, sounding worn out.
"The valley floor?! Why were you down there?!"
"Just go to sleep already!"
"Will you shut it! People are trying to sleep!" the girl seethed, catching her brother. Dadan gulped audibly as the girl then slammed the door shut.
"I'm sleepy, Rain… Can't we fix out my wounds tomorrow?" the runt questioned, rubbing at his drooping eyes.
She sat him down on her bed, and got out the first aid kit. "Sorry Luffy, but we gotta treat them; otherwise they won't heal right and get infected. If it gets infected, you will get sick, and then you wouldn't be able to keep your word to Shanks," she softly scolded the runt and began disinfecting the cuts and scrapes before putting bandages on them. "I'll patch up your clothes in the morning, so get some sleep, okay?"
"Okay… Night, Sis."
"Night, Luffy, hope you have sweet dreams." Soon, the runt passed out and began snoring. "Sweet dreams to you, too, Ace."
†††
"Where are you going today, Ace?!" the runt questioned the next day as Ace made his exit. "Take me too! Let's be friends!"
The freckled boy stayed silent, yet his eyes betrayed just how curious the brat made him. 'Why do you even bother after what I put you through?' he wondered, dashing away quickly to avoid the runt just as the girl finally appeared. Like she said last night, she had patched up the runt's clothes and cleaned them, along with Ace's own laundry, and started hanging them up to dry in the breeze.
"Wait! I'm not losing you today!" shouted the runt, chasing after Ace.
"Boss! He's going after Ace again!"
"Hey, Luffy! You've got chores to do!" Dadan growled out, looking annoyed at the kid. "That damn kid won't listen to a word I say!"
†††
This trend continued for the next three months. The runt would follow after Ace, only to be left in the dust, while the girl— she only followed every other day— would follow for a couple hundred yards more than the runt before turning around, leaving Ace even more confused. The girl could easily keep up with him, and possibly overtake him, yet she hardly bothered all that much as she simply shouted that his clothes had been fixed and/or cleaned, before leaving him to do as he wished.
"Sabo! Sabo, are you here?!" Ace shouted up one of the trees, a large sack sitting by his feet.
"Oh… Ace." A blond boy peered down from the branch he sat on, a large grin spreading across his face.
"Sorry I'm late."
"You sure are. I already did a job in town," commented Sabo cheekily.
"I see. Well, so did I!" Ace gestured to the sack, grabbing it a climbing up towards the blond boy. A smile worked its way across his freckled face as he tossed the sack towards Sabo, feeling a bit smug as the top hat wearing boy counted the money.
"Uwah! Wow! This is even better than mine! How did you get this much money?!" Sabo questioned loudly, counting all the Berries.
"Got it near the gates," Ace explained happily. "I stole it from some punks! Maybe they were carrying it for some merchant ships."
"Da~amn, you beat me today too." Chuckled Sabo good-naturedly.
Ace merely shrugged in response. "Does it really matter? We're going to use it to buy a pirate ship someday. It's already been five years since we started saving. It's been tough going."
Sabo chuckled, placing the cover back over their stash. "Yeah, I wonder how much it takes to buy a pirate ship…"
"Dunno… Ten million, or a hundred million? We've still got a long way to go." Suddenly Ace's ears perked up, catching the sound of rustling leaves. "Shut it, quick. Someone might see it…," he muttered, turning to look at his friend.
"A pirate ship?! Are you guys gonna be pirates?!" it was that damned runt! "So am I!" Ace's heart began to race as adrenaline coursed through his being. Did she follow today, too?! "Ace, you come out here every day?"
"Shut it." The boy bit out as he and Sabo quickly tied him to a tree's trunk.
"Is this that Luffy guy you told me about?" asked Sabo, looking a bit panicked himself at the boy's sudden appearance. "Where do you think his sister is?"
Ace shrugged, casing the area just in case the aforementioned teenager made an appearance. "So you finally followed me all the way out here? I took paths that were hardly used, too…"
"Are you Ace's friend?" the runt asked Sabo, completely disregarding his situation. "Be my friend too!"
"Shut it."
"This is why I told you to stay here too! That mountain training you do really backfired! What do we do?" Sabo scolded his friend.
"He found out about our secret… If we leave him alone, he'll tell someone…" Ace began, thinking of that girl. "Let's kill him."
"Yeah, let's do it." Sabo agreed, causing the runt to start shouting like crazy. "Shut up, you idiot!" the blond boy seethed, slamming his mouth closed in hopes of drowning out the sound.
"Sabo! Kill him already!"
"What're you talking about? You do it!"
"I've never killed anyone before!"
"Neither have I! I don't know how to do it!"
"I heard voices from the forest! Sounds like kids…" the boys stiffen, and then turned around to try to untie the runt. "Those kids, Ace and Sabo, are pretty famous around here. It was definitely Ace that stole your money!"
"Yes… It's pathetic, but I was careless," one of the people Ace beaten up stated to the larger fellow.
"I'm amazed this kid was brave enough to go after our pirate crew's money! If Captain Bluejam hears about this… We're both dead."
'Crap, that guy was with Bluejam? This is bad, we stole from him!' Ace cursed internally at his fuck up. 'He's got a real sword! That's one of the subordinates, Porchemy. He's crazy, you know?!'
"He scalps his defeated opponents while they're still alive!" Sabo whispered harshly, a cold sweat breaking over his skin. "Huh?" he turned, taking notice of the empty spot next to him. "Where is he?"
"Lemme go! You bastard!" the runt screamed as Porchemy grabbed him. "Help me, Ace! Rain!"
Ace swore softly. "That idiot said my name!"
"Did you just say Ace?" asked Porchemy. "You know… Ace?"
"He's my friend! Ah… he was about to kill me, though…" the runt commented, wiggling around in the man's grip.
"He just won't shut up…"
"Lemme ask you something. Today, Ace… Stole some of our money and ran… You know where it is?" the large pirate questioned the runt.
"This is bad… They're gonna take all our treasure!" Sabo commented.
"That idiot better not say anything!"
"I… I dunno."
Porchemy began laughing, walking away with the runt still caught in his grasp. "All right, if you don't know, you don't know… We'll jog your memory. Don't you worry about it!"
"What? Hey! Lemme go! Where are you taking me?! Dammit!"
†††
"Hurry, hurry! If Porchemy and the other come here, it's all over!" Sabo shouted, working alongside Ace to find another place to hide their treasure.
"We've got to move the treasure! It's just a matter of time until Luffy cracks!" Ace agreed.
"If they find us, they won't just take back what we stole. They'll take all the treasure we've collected these past five years!"
Night quickly fell, and Ace stood proudly over the new hiding spot for their treasure. "All right, we're done! We moved all our treasure!"
"Ace!" Sabo shouted from the ground, panting heavily from the run.
"Sabo! What happened? Have they come by our hiding place yet?!"
"Haa… Haa… No, they haven't! They have no idea! Luffy… Haa… Hasn't said anything!" Sabo panted harshly, making Ace freeze.
"Oi, where's Luffy, Ace?" a soft voice asked from a few branches above the freckled boy, causing him to jump and spin around, peering up through the leaves to see who it is.
His heart dropped as he spotted the girl casually sitting on the branch, her feet swinging as she stared down at them both. Her soft brown eyes held a knowing glint, causing Ace to question just how much she could have possibly know when she wasn't even there! "R-Rain!"
"Where's Luffy, Ace?" she questioned again, dropping down to his branch.
"Y-You're Luffy's sister, right?" Sabo asked, swallowing thickly, drawing her gaze away from the freckled boy.
It unsettled Ace. That blank face of hers made his palms sweat and heart tremble, not used to seeing the older girl without a smile. "Sabo, right? Tell me, where's my baby brother?"
"He's being held captive by Porchemy of the Bluejam Pirates!" Sabo confessed, his own palms sweating.
She hummed in understanding, stooping down on the branch while keeping eye contact with the blond. "There is something you should know about my brother. He might be a hopeless idiot, and honest to a fault, however when it comes to people he thinks of as either family or a friend, he will do whatever it takes to keep them safe, even refusing to tell where your treasure is to save his own skin." Jumping down, she swiped the pipe from Sabo's sweaty hands, twirling it a few times before resting it against her shoulder. "I'll be off, then."
"You don't even know where Porchemy is even keeping him!" Ace shouted in frustration, his fist trembling by his sides.
Rain stopped and peered over her shoulder at him, a sinister grin spread across her pretty face. "Doesn't matter. I always know where my brother is, no matter where he is on this island," she commented easily and began walking down the path that Sabo came from. "I even knew where you were going all this time, Ace, even without having to follow you all the way." She then ran away, becoming a little black dot as the distance between them grew.
"Dammit!" Ace shouted, punching the tree trunk while screwing his eyes shut. "We can't just leave him, Sabo! Not after refusing to sell us out!" he commented, casting a glance down at his friend. Sabo nodded, and scaled the tree to retrieve his backup pipe. "Let's go!"
It had taken the boys a while; however, they finally caught up to Rain, her keeping the lead, and being the first to bust a large hole in the wall. "Stop it!" both boys shouted, hitting the pirates with their pipes.
"It's them, Porchemy! They're the ones who stole our money! Dammit!"
"A-Ace! Rain!" Luffy cried, dangling like a punching bag from one of the beams. Ace cringe at the sight of the wounds the boy collected by keeping their secret.
Rain quickly made her way over to Luffy, untying him and checking over his body. The runt sobbed loudly in her arms, his blood staining her clothes. "Just hold tight, Luffy…" she softly spoke, setting him down on the ground.
"It'll be quick since you came to us!" Porchemy shouted, catching Ace by the neck. "Your buddy's tight lips were giving us problems!"
"Sabo!"
The blond attacked the pirate from behind with his pipe, making the man release Ace. Falling to his knees, Ace gasped, rubbing at his sore throat as he greedily sucked in air. Sabo quickly picked up Luffy, turning his head to look at his angered friend and the deathly silent girl. "Let's get out of here, Ace!"
"You go on ahead!" Ace ordered, stunning Sabo. "If I face a guy, I won't run away!"
"Don't be stupid," Rain said, still speaking softly as she nudged Ace back towards Sabo. "You have a more important job of making sure Luffy gets out of here safely." Her dark brown eyes clashed with his nickel colored ones as she stared him down. "You owe him that much, don't you?" Her words made Ace stop and glance over at the limp body of the runt. He owed the kid much more than she implied, he realized, and acquiesced the fight to the girl as he moved back to guard their exit.
"And just what is a little girl going to do?" Porchemy sneered.
Rain allowed her grip to slacken enough that the pipe dragged across the ground as she advanced forward, that sinister grin still in place as she looked up at Porchemy through her bangs. "You hurt someone precious to me, and not only that, you threatened another one of my precious people!" she barked out, grip tightening around the pipe as she got within striking distance of the pirate. "This little girl is going to make you wish you were never born, you filthy piece of shit…"
A chill ran down Ace's back as a breeze passed through the room, seeming to surround Rain as her aura seemed to grow even heavier, to the point that most of the weaker pirates passed out as their mouths began foaming. It shocked Ace as he witnessed Porchemy flinched away from the teenage girl, just before the man steeled his nerves. "If I lost to a kid… I'd quit being a pirate!" he declared, only to start choking as the pipe made contact with his large throat.
"That's for strangling Ace, bastard!" Rain shouted, her face twisted into something fierce, slamming the butt of the pipe into his robust stomach, the pipe slipping a bit as she then held it like a bat. Swinging the metal object, it connected with the side of his head, knocking the pirate to the ground. "That's for underestimating me…" Both Ace and Sabo watched, completely in awe at her skill. "Wind Blade…" Ace strained his ears to hear Rain, as the wind seemed to pick up once more, throwing the pirates through the walls as she viciously attacked Porchemy. Squinting his eyes, Ace noticed that cut began appearing on the pirate's person with each of Rain's strikes.
'There's no way a pipe could create those! They look like they were made from a blade!' Ace noted, hearing the sound of metal against metal ring out. Some of the still conscious pirates took the chance and attacked Sabo, Ace and Luffy, drawing the two older boys' attention away from the main fight to defend themselves. This resulted in them acquiring their own battle wounds.
"Stand down," came Rain's soft command, as Ace smack one of the pirates across the face with his pipe. The pirates stilled, their gaze fixed on the young teenager who sat atop of a bloody Porchemy. "Drop everything and scram…" Rain ordered, her eyes wild as she glared at the much older men. They dropped their weapons and ran away as fast possible as she slowly got up to her feet, showing fewer signs of battle than the boys did. Walking over, Rain lifted a hand towards Ace, making the boy flinch at the possibility of being hit, only for her to rest her hand on top of his wavy black hair and mussed it up even more so than it originally was. "You did great, Ace." At the compliment, he gazed up at her through his bangs, catching sight of her normal smile and soft brown eyes. "Thank you for letting me take care of Porchemy by myself." She ruffled his hair once more before moving over and doing the same to Sabo. The poor boy blushed hotly under her praise, his chin tucked against his chest while the brim of his hat shaded his reddening face.
"Rain!" cried Luffy as the girl stooped down to his height.
She patted the top of his head, looking amused as he continued to blubber loudly. "There, there… You did well, too, Luffy. I'm sure Shanks would be proud of you, because I know I sure am." That got the boy to quiet down enough to climb on her back, letting Rain use the pipe to support his butt and thighs as he circled his shaking arms around her neck.
The motion caught Ace's eye, drawing his gaze towards the thing she wore around her neck. An old looking pocket watch acted as a makeshift necklace, the dimming light making it twinkle as it rested against her chest. "C'mon, before they come back with reinforcements," Sabo nudged Ace, making the boy stumble a few steps forward.
"Hey, watch it!" the boy glowered, yet proceeded to follow the siblings. Once a safe enough distance from the Gray Terminal, Rain sat Luffy down and began looking around, plucking a few plants up, and ground them into paste using a small rock on a flat boulder. Ran smeared the paste onto Luffy's cuts and bruises as Sabo and Ace watched in awe, and then began bandaging them with the rolls she pulled out of her pockets.
"There, all done!" she cheered happily, patting a sniffing Luffy on the head. "Your turn, Ace," she said, gesturing to the spot next to the smaller boy. The freckled boy stiffly sat down, and watched her from the corner of his nickel gray eyes as she gently applied the paste to his wounds before bandaging him all up, and then repeated the process with Sabo.
After being patched up, Ace found a place to sit and started looking over the pipe Rain used, trying to figure out how she did what she did as Luffy began bawling. "That's a bad habit, Ace! You've got to run when you're facing a real pirate! Why do you have such a death wish?!" Sabo scolded him harshly as the girl watched them both. "Haa… After that, Bluejam's crew won't leave us alone now. They'll come after us!"
"I was so scared… I thought I was gonna die…" sobbed Luffy quite loudly.
"Shut up! How long are you gonna cry?! I hate weaklings and crybabies! You piss me off!" Ace shouted hotly, only to see the boy's face pinch as if he swallowed a lemon.
"Thanks…" shortly after the water works began again. "Thanks… For saving… Me… Uuhh…"
"Why you…?!"
"Hey! He's just saying thanks!" Sabo stated, trying to calm down the raging boy.
"Why didn't you say anything?! Those guys don't care about killing women and children!"
"If I talked, you wouldn't be my friend…!"
"Even if I don't, it's better than dying, wouldn't it?! Why do you want to be my friend so badly?! After what I did to you, why are you still following me around?!"
That struck a nerve in Luffy as he began hollering, hoping to get his feelings across to the freckled face boy. "Because I don't have anyone else! I can't go back to Foosha Village… And I hate bandits! If I didn't follow you, I would be alone… It's worse to be alone than to be hurt!"
Ace pointed at the calm girl. "What about your sister?! You have her, don't you?!"
"I won't always be around. Moreover, with such a big age gap between Luffy and I, I will be the first to leave this island in just four years. Luffy will be eleven and all alone except for you, so that's why he wants to be your friend," she explained, a sad smile gracing her features.
Ace flinched. "Your parents…"
"Other than Gramps, they're gone." Luffy stated simply while his sister rubbed the back of her neck.
"If I'm around, would it be better…?" he questioned, not noticing the way the older girl's gaze focused solely on him. "And if I were gone, would it be worse…?"
The strawhat boy nodded his head. "Yeah."
"Do you want me to live?"
That piqued Rain's interest, while Luffy looked a bit gobbed smacked at the question. "?! Of course!"
"I see… But I hate softies like you."
"I'm not soft! I'm strong!"
"He's stretchy!" chimed in his sister unhelpfully.
"Strong? How are you strong? You're a man, but you're still crying!" Ace pointed out with a huff.
"Have you been punched by spikes before?! I'm only seven! When I'm ten like you, I'll be stronger and I won't cry!"
Both dark haired boys got into each other's faces as they began shouting back and forth, and literally started bumping heads together. "I wouldn't have cried when I was seven! Idiot! Don't compare us!"
"I'm gonna be stronger than anybody! I promised Shanks that I'm gonna be a great pirate!"
"You?" scuffed Ace as he crossed his arms and glowered at the younger boy. "A pirate?!"
Sabo finally pipped up. "Hey, I've actually got a problem. I've been living in this dump… But after today, those pirates will definitely come after us."
†††
"What the Hell is this?! Ace! Luffy! Rain! Who's that?! Why is there another brat here?!" shouted Dadan the moment they entered the bandit's cabin. Rain picked at her ears while the two boys picked their noses.
"Yo! Dadan, right? I'm Sabo." The blond shook the large woman's hand joyfully.
"Sabo?! I know that name… I've heard you're a no-good kid, too!"
"Is that so… I heard that you were a no-god old hag, too!" Sabo replied cheerfully.
"That was uncalled for!" Dadan screamed, chasing the boys and the lone girl out of the cabin. "You kids! We're housing you, so you better work!" she shouted as she stood at the front entrance.
"Luffy! We're gonna leave you behind if you can't keep up!" taunted Ace, running neck-and-neck with a giggling Rain.
"I'm coming!"
AmericanNidiot: Probably my favorite chapter to write, mainly because in my mind, Ace is horribly jealous of Luffy in the beginning, even in canon. Cause here's Ace, who knew he is Roger's son, and having to deal with people hating his very existence without knowing him personally, and basically living in a isolated world full of hatred and violence, and reacted in the manner of how people thought he should be. Then you have Luffy, who does not know that he is the son of the most wanted man in the world, nor that his grandpa was the man who "captured" Gol D. Roger and is a Vice Admiral (which shows how much Luffy did not care about his grandpa's work), and grew up well taken care for by everyone in Foosha Village (mainly Makino), and actually meeting someone insanely strong that showed Luffy what it really means to be a pirate. Luffy had a much more positive upbringing and environment than Ace, which shows how badly Garp plans things. Ace probably would have turned out much better if he had been raised in Foosha along side Luffy, just completely detached from the negativity stemmed from people talking shit about something they know nothing about. Honestly, Ace probably would not have developed that same nasty habit of Roger's whole "If I face someone, I will fight them even if I die" and "You insult someone I care about, so I'm gonna fight you to the death" (which is probably why Shanks is all like "Words are meaningless if there is nothing to back it up. After all, actions speak louder than words"). But I'm rambling! So let me answer reviews!
SoulXHunter: I'm all about that fluff. Tell me, did I hit any fluffy moments in this chapter or nah? And yes, child Ace is simply adorbs. Ahh, I'm glad you like the Galaxy Archipelago! I'm honestly thinking of making it a canon thing for all my One Piece fanfictions. Galaxy Way is basically like Los Vegas, Detroit, San Francisco, Tokyo, Paris, and London all rolled into one basically. The reason Rain did not go after Luffy is because she would have ended up telling him the truth, because her little brothers are her one true weakness.
Guest (Chapter 4): WELL, HERE IT IS! ACE MEETS LUFFY AND RAIN, AHH!
MuffinMan9223: Glad I didn't, cause honestly all of these chapters are so much shorter than 3, so I was a bit unsure. OMFG! If you write that for Bepo I will give you a shout out and probably (most definitely) read the shit out of it.
That's all for now! Ciao! See you in the next chapter of "A Sister Like No Other"!
