I do not own One Piece, Nasuverse or any other show/book/movie or a game that might be mentioned in this story. I only own these couple of words that i wrote.
Warning: Some swearing there and there.
Chapter 4: How to survive with three siblings.
Scathach grabbed the long pipe in her hand even tighter and delivered an another hit to the street thugs. Then she spun it around again and knocked off an another man off his feet. He fell down like a bag of potatoes. Rotten potatoes. He smelled.
Ace called everyone to retreat, the police was coming. She grabbed Luffy and started running.
The four siblings laughed loudly when they reached the first trees. Who would have known? A group of short brats like them was more famous than most troublemakers around. And the two oldest members were only ten. Haha!
Scathach and the rest arrived home, tossed a deer into Dadan's face and sat down began to talk. Nothing special. The regular things.
They have been siblings for nearly two months now.
Once the deer got eaten, they got a bath and after an another round of fist exchange, they went to bed.
The next day was a big, big surprise. Why? Makino came! Along with Woop Slap... Well, nothing is perfect.
When Scathach saw them from the second floor, a large smile instantly appeared on her face and she jumped out. Along with Luffy, she gave the woman a big hug. "Luffy! Scathach! So nice to see you."
Woop Slap just glared at the two and walked away. Soon he began to argue with the large orange haired woman. Scathach saw a centrain image in her head... and had to erase it from existence rigth away. Just nope.
"How have you been doing? Heard that you have been naughty... care to explain that?"
"Ehehehee... weeeell."
Makino laughed and gently touched her head while Luffy was already going around her bags.
"I never would have imagined that Garp-san would actualy leave you here. How long has it been? Six months? Look at you two, your clothes would tell us quite some stories. Makes me almost wish that they could talk."
She looked down onto her white T-shirt and blue shorts. Yeah, they were rugged, but she sewed them together again some while ago. What was wrong about them? Makino reached into her bag and pulled out a green fabric. "Garp probably didn't think about things like this... tada!"
"Whoa, new clothes?"
"New clothes, new clothes!"
"Do you have a problem with how i put yours together again and again, Luffy?" The air around Scathach darkened and Luffy screamed.
"Oh, so you have been sewing? That is nice to hear. Though i will be doing the adjusting if you wouldn't mind... hope that you will forgive me."
"Ah, it's fine... i don't really know how to do that."
"You two! Come over here too!"
Ace and Sabo looked at each other. Though Sabo was now the brave one and with a smile that nearly matched Makino's he stepped forwards. Scathach, Sabo and Luffy got their clothes just fine. The funny part came when it was Ace's turn. Scathach would have never though that she would see Ace blushing. His face held an actual shade of red as Makino came close and tried to get his size right.
"Look at him, he is blushing."
"So embarrassed."
"You three!"
"Don't move Ace! I don't want to hurt you."
"I'll get you for this later..."
Scathach started rolling into the green grass, laughing. Perfect.
Ace did hold onto his promise, until Makino came into sight and he stopped, blushing red. Again.
"Oh my God! Ace has got a crush! The world will end soon! Take cover!" She was sure that he would make her feel how unhappy he was with her behavior, but the opportunity was just too good to let it go. Now, before he could do anything, Mint came by and carried the grinning girl into the sky.
Scathach helped Makino to make dinner. In return, she learned a few things about cooking. And was sure that she would learn more, seeing Luffy's happy expression as he tasted some of the food. "It's delicious!"
"You certainly can't get food like this around here often."
Scathach blinked when she felt a bit of unease settle in her stomach. That was something... she did not expect. What she and the boys had learned, was that she had something like a sixth sense. She could tell if something not normal was to happen. And right now it was acting up. And she got a feeling that it wasn't something good. She sit down opposite of the boys and kept eating, while also ignoring Ace's glares.
The feeling kept bugging her for a long time, and when she had heard something from outside, her fingers twitched. She was getting really uneasy.
And when a figure stood there, behind the boys, in the dark, she paled. Garp.
"I am going to become a pirate first, so that will be impossible!"
She paled even further.
And then Luffy opened his mouth. "That is not fair! I am going to become pir..." Scathach grabbed his head and covered his mouth. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would be funny. Garps eyes gained a deadly gleam the moment the word 'pirate' was uttered. The way he standed there. It was like those jokes where someone talked about something, and the one standing behind him did not like it.
Shortly said, she would be laughing her ass off if the situation did not include him. The Marine Hero Garp.
The bandits spit their drinks out, mentioning him.
Garp made a short 'ehm' and the two boys who recognized the voice drastically changed the color of their faces. Not into a healthy looking color.
"You two are still going about that? You two are going to be marines! Is that so hard to understand?!"
Scathach just grabbed the two boys and ran. Of course, not like she could outrun Garp.
The jumped through the window, and promptly fell onto her face, unable to carry the weight of both boys. "Run, damn, RUN!"
"Where are you two brats going! SCATHACH! Dadan! Why haven't you been looking after them?!"
"Well.." A short bang was heard. Scathach got a suspicion that she got punched instead. There was not time to find out as Sabo came rushing out, and that made Luffy and Ace realize that they need to run.
Unfortunately, once Garp was done with Dadan, he rushed after them.
The evening ended horribly.
Scathach wondered if her body would even spot more bruises than what she has got now.
The worst thing about it was that Garp promised to do that again if they won't change their minds. Honestly, Scathach wasn't that interested in being a Marine. Perhaps she would be sometime earlier but not anymore.
Scathach looked at Ace in surprise. He just pretty much suggested that they should run away. While she did not mind leaving this place, it would be a big decision. The things with Bluejam have calmed down, but they have made a very well known name as well. Ace and Sabo on their own were well known. The four of them together were becoming a small legend.
They would need to also defend themselves from the wild animals at all times and on their own, yeah, they did that all the time but what if something attacks while they are asleep? They would have to at least build a place they would sleep in. A place with loads of traps.
"That is a good idea."
"Yeah, let's do it!"
"But let's leave early tomorrow, so we will be able to find a safe place to sleep at."
"Oh! How about a tree house?"
"Tree house? What is that?"
"A house on a tree, Luffy."
"Like we find some really, really tall tree!"
"Must be sturdy too to hold a house."
"Alright, alright!" Ace stopped them with his hand. "Garp always drinks if he comes around. We will be able to pack some stuff." The kids nodded and put themselves to work. Food, covers, their trusty pipes, some water. And clothes. The new ones that Makino gave them.
Scathach wrote a good bye note and signed it with their initials. ASSL. And she grinned. She wondered about the faces they would make tomorrow morning. Well, Garp. The old hag hardly cared about them.
And so before the sun rose up, they kids were on their feet and running.
The next day, it was Sabo who found the perfect place. Probably the largest and tallest tree in the entire forest. Most importantly, it looked sturdy enough for their new home.
"So, where do we get the materials?"
"Luffy, there is a large scrapyard nearby, where do you think?"
"Ah."
And together they started building the thing. It was going to be beautiful... Sabo was the one to design it. More or less. The next two weeks, they were springing to the scrapyard and back, gathering wood, nail and whatever else that looked useful. The did not spar sadly... but building the thing was a lot of fun so it wasn't really bad.
Luffy, to their surprise, had an idea to build a small place up on the highest branches. And the idea was just pure perfection.
When Scathach and the rest looked around, they saw all there was to see. The Goa Kingdom, Gray Terminal... even Foosha! The entire island was before them. Just as well the wide wide sea. Scathach rose her nose to smell the salty air. Perhaps that was the first time she really felt herself twitching at the thought what she would see there.
Just as well as the opponents she would battle.
Scathach was now sure of it. She had a soul of a warrior. And she would become a fighter in future no matter what. She won't lower her head before some male like some lowly house wife no matter what.
When the place was finished, they celebrated... by playing pirates. For now, they would have to satisfy themselves with that.
"I have decided! I am going to be a spearwoman!"
"Spearwoman?"
"I am going to have these two long red spears when i grow up and defeat anyone that stands in my way!"
"Hahaha! You are really into it!" Sabo laughed at her enthusiasm. "But why red spears?"
"Because it sounds cool."
The time passed with incredible speed. Before she knew it, the leaves became all sorts of colors: orange, red, yellow... and started to fall down. The days became colder and colder. Then one day it became to snow.
Note to self: Do not attempt to build snowmen with Luffy. Ever. Again.
Mt Corvus was one of the only places where it was so cold that the landscape became covered by a thick layer of the cold snow. It's been so ridiculously long since she last saw it. Scathach had almost forgotten how it looked like.
The four kids returned from the hunt, carrying a two small bear like creatures. They are going to have loads of meat for a while. Or not. They ate even more than before, energy burned faster in the winter colds. And before they already ate so much...
After the delicious dinner, they all lied down
"Ace, Sabo, become a part of my crew!"
"Luffy, are you starting with this again?"
"Why not?" He pouted. "It's so great to have brothers to help each other! With me being a captain, I will help you!"
The three other kids exchanged looks. "Sabo, don't we usually end up saving his ass?"
"That is not true!" Luffy called.
"Yeah, just like today."
"First with the boar."
"Then the tree."
"Then the mountain tiger."
"Poor Scatty. You are going to have it very hard in the near future."
A dark cloud of depression settled around her and she buried her head in the pillow.
"Then let's settle things!" Scathach rose her head and looked at the youngest of her brothers, wondering what sort of nonsense he is going to spout again. "The one who defeats the mountain tiger get's to be the Captain!"
"Mountain Tiger?" Mountain Tiger... the strongest beast of Mt Corvus. None of the kids could even hope to defeat it. It was large, it's pelt combined it's muscles was like some iron armor. Ace once attacked it with a pipe. The thing that smashed thorough thugs only a day before snapped like a dry twig. It was a miracle that Ace did not get seriously injured. Attacking that thing alone is a madness.
The rest of her siblings agreed. "I know that none of us can defeat it, but as we grow, we will be able to!"
That... was surprisingly intelligent from Luffy. Maybe it could work. "But we still have advantage of being older than you. Even Scatty is nearly a year older."
"Luffy has got a devil fruit, he might come with some crazy technique... and beat it with a single punch."
Sabo and Ace looked at each other and gave her blank looks. "Not happening."
"True."
"Then how about we test things out! Huh!?"
Scathach shrugged her shoulders. She just hoped that none of them would die.
The next day, the charged at th beast... and failed spectacularly. The next day too and that day after as well.
They met this old man too. Some guy that lived in the Terminal. All four were surprised that he used to be captain. This Naguri gave them a few clues on how to be a captain. Shathach was surprised when they found him building a ship in secret. And as time passed, he finished the ship and sailed away.
In the end, they defeated a tiger... but as a team. And that didn't solve anything!
But Ace told then that he is Gold Roger's kid.
Gold Roger: The only man in known history that made it through the entire Grand Line and reached Raftel. In a way, he was absolute boss, King of Pirates and a man that got everything that he wanted. Though the marines and most of the world population still did not like him... propaganda stuff. Despite having the option to kill, he let loads of men live when they wanted to take his head, and that is something a bad person wouldn't do.
It was an interesting moment back then. Scathach had to play demon. Again. If it was possible, at that time, she wielded that long pipe like a pro. Who knows... perhaps she will make a good spear-woman.
The night before was an utter chaos. The wind was so strong that it tore out a large number rotten planks from theit secret base. Scathach wouldn't have believed that it could happen if she did not see how the house looked the next morning. It could be compared to a that cheese with numerous holes in it.
Swiss cheese was it? Even the color was was very much alike.
That is why a decision was made. They would go and search for new planks, and where else to get them other than in Gray Terminal? Somewhere along the road, Luffy decided to get a telescope. That was actually a good idea! Who knew that Luffy could have one of those?
Oh, how they should have tried to get it some other time. Perhaps things wouldn't have turned out so bad.
It started innocently. Searching for wood in decent state, maybe even finding that telescope. It will be a miracle if one would be found but she could hope. Then the next moment, Sabo was surrounded by less than nice looking people. It was not uncommon that thugs did that, but there weren't just thugs, they were with Bluejam. Over the time since the incident with Luffy being kidnapped, the four siblings did their best to avoid them.
But simply because they were in a less than a good situation, that did not mean that they would abandon one of their own.
Holding her pipe like it was the best weapon in world, she, Luffy and Ace attacked.
"You little shits!"
The answer came in a form of a furious battle cry. One after an another, the goons fell, not being able to defend. Everything turned around when the one in charge of them pulled out a gun. The four kids paled, jumped to sides and hid behind what was available, in other words, piles of trash.
Though Luffy really had no reason to hide. He was damn immune to bullets!
"Alright brats, don't move!"
And the men that were knocked over were on their feet again, surrounding the siblings. Scathach did not have time to react when a large hand grabbed hers and then an another hand smashed her head against the ground.
"Let go of us, you bastards!"
"Let me go!"
"When I get out of here, I will...!"
Scathach struggled against the man who held her down. It wasn't the first time something like this happened, but it was the first time that all of the kids were restrained. It was not and never will be a pleasant feeling. Scathach was sure that when she gets from the man's gasp, she will tie the man up, attach him to a pole that she is using for practicing her spear (at this moment replaced by a long pipe) and go nuts.
"I barely made it in time."
Scathach stopped her thoughts and attempted to look up. All she could see were boots, but a boots of a far better quality than what could be found in the terminal. Shit. That was the local 'police'. Though one pair looked too good even for one of those guys.
"Dad."
Oh no. The realization kicked her like one of those large local deers. That is Sabo's father, Scathach mnaged to get a glance of the man before her face was pressed into the dirt again. Yes, that was him in all his 'glory'. She wants to claw his eyes out.
"We didn't harm a hair of him mister."
"Hey."
"Damn you!"
Scathach could hear steps, the boys were struggling, and she couldn't do anything!
"So they are the ones who tempted Sabo into evil?"
"Give him back!"
Oh, no, he is not taking him away, she began to struggle, but all she archived was that the man held her tighter.
"What do you mean 'give him back'? Sabo is my son!"
"Your son or not, you are a horrible parent! Damn inbred idiot!"
"What did you say?! You! You little filth!"
"At least I don't have that filth on my brain!"
"That is enough! How dare you tempt Sabo?! How dare you make him run away! You little girl! Bet your parents were no good drunks! Shut your mouth!"
"Better have those than you!"
And after than she got her head slammed into ground, with such a force that it made her unable to understand what is going on around her.
Ouch.
"...I'll leave the rest up to you."
"Of course mister. You have already paid us for this. I will take care of these three so they won't bother your son again." Something close by moved.
"Wait! Wait! Father, I understand!"
"What do you understand?"
"Don't do it Sabo!"
"Sabo..."
Scathach could practically feel all of Sabo's emotions from his voice, even though he tried to hide them. He did not want to go. "I'll do as you say. I'll live as you want. But please... don't hurt these three. I am begging you. They are my... very important siblings."
The man's grip on her neck suddenly felt too tight.
For a very long, long time Scathach wondered what it is like to desire someone's death, now she knew exactly what it felt like. Sure, she and the rest kicked a number of criminals, they killed a number of animals for meat. But right now Scathach desired a person's death.
The death of Sabo's father. It was as if someone poured liquid fire into her veins.
"...stop playing pirate, it's just a waste of time."
Kill. An image of two, blood red spears appeared in her mind. At this point she can use only one, her body is too small to use both. Scathach did not stop to think why those spears felt so familiar, instead she threw the man off her, one of those spears was now in hear hand, promising death to it's target.
But then everything became black.
The girl groaned, and then some more. The headache was almost as bad as the day after the Fire whiskey incident. Though this time it felt as if something run over her, tore her apart, burned a couple new nerves into her system, whacked her a few times with a pan on her head and than put her together in a total dark.
Scathach's hair fell to her face as she rolled around and tried to get up using her hands. Though it was seemingly dark already so it didn't matter that much. That and she was clearly alone in a middle of a forest. Well, almost alone. "What is up?"
"Hey Mint..."
"What is up?"
"Are you the reason why I am here?"
"What is up?"
"I'll take it as a yes. Oh, for the love of Root, my head hurts." It would be cool if she could remember what had happened.
"What is up?"
"Mint, please be quiet for a short while." The green bunny thing moved it's ears around a bit, pupped it's cheeks and then disappeared god knows where again.
Sabo.
"No, no, no, no, nononono! That pile of trash! Ace, Sabo, Luffy! Can you hear me!"
The only thing that answered here were the regular forest sounds. Please, let then be alright. Let the entire thing be nothing more but a bad dream. Yes, she will show up in their base, the boys will scold her about where she was, they will fight a bit, they will eat and then go to bed. Like usually. Though something told her that it really wasn't a dream.
Scathach got to her feet, climbed a tree to find out where she is and soon was on her way home.
She was in luck, there was light coming from the base up high in the trees. "Hey! Anyone in there!"
In no time at all, she could see Luffy's and Ace's faces looking down onto her. Both had shock and relief in their faces, though that shock morphed into tears in Luffy's case. Ace was too cool for that. Now where is Sabo?
They really took him away, hadn't they?
"Scatty!"
"Scathach!"
"You are alright! Oh we thought that you are dead for a while!"
"I am fine!" She yelled back. "Not entirely sure what happened, but I guess that Mint saved me! How about you?"
Instead of answering, the boys looked at each other nervously, then they signaled her to come up. Scathach was there within seconds, looking over both boys with a critical eye. They were a bit more dirty than usual but other than that, they looked fine. Luffy attached to his big sis and cried silently with relief and continued to do so as she and Ace sat down.
"Where is Sabo?"
Ace kept staring down. "Ace?"
"Where do you think he is? He went with them!" The older boy barked out but then placed one of his hands over his face, regretting his outburst.
"So what is the plan?"
"Huh?"
"I am asking you what is the plan."
"I know what you asked, what I don't get why are you asking about a plan. He went with them!"
"And he clearly went so that we would be safe, there is no way that I am keeping him there with those animals in human skin!"
"And what do you want to do?"
That is a good question. What to do? What is the best thing to do? When Scathach closed her eyes, she saw fire raging all around her. She honestly had no idea what that meant, but the image only brought back the headaches so she opened her eyes and looked down onto Luffy who stopped crying and now slept.
"Hey, Scatty."
"Yes?"
"The Bluejam gave us a job."
"The Bluejam gave you a job?! Ace, I know that all of us are a tad bit insane, but even you wouldn't take a job from them without a good reason. Especially after what happened today."
"Listen Scathach, we really don't know what is going to happen next. But we must keep gathering money for our ship, for Sabo as well in case he returns."
"Ah..." That gave sense. But there was one part of that sentence that made her frown. "In case he returns? I doubt that he would remain there, at least not willingly. Got any idea where he lives?"
"Where he... wait, wait! Do you plan to go there?!"
"Of course I do, he is my brother. Could you help me remove Luffy from me?"
"You plan on going now?!"
"I need to at very least talk to him. Are you coming too?"
Scathach put Luffy into bed and then stood up, but the world spun around with her and she found herself on the floor.
"Alright, you are in no shape to go anywhere."
"Shut up. I am going."
"Right! I'll put you here in bed and you can go tomorrow."
About half an hour later, Scathach sat on her bad with tied hands on feet. "Ace, I hate you."
"Hate you too, now tell me one thing, what the heck was with that red spear?"
"Red spear?"
"You know, the one that suddenly appeared in your hands and nearly killed the bastard. You would have if the pirates wouldn't have knocked you out."
"Oh..."
"Let me guess, you don't know."
Scathach sighed and fell onto the covers.
"You really don't know."
"Seen it before, it appeared like that before but really don't ask me where it came from."
"Seen it when?"
"Someone thought it would be funny to point a real weapon at me when I was younger."
"..."
"This is such a horrible day."
Done!
Oh boy. For a while I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish this chapter. Got stuck on one part for more than a month, sorry for being so late.
I have decided to skip the part that dealt with Ace's problem as there was enough of something like this in the last chapter, besides he had already shown his attitude towards this issue in the previous chapters. I want to start writing the chapters when she will be an official member of the Straw Hats but there are still a few more chapters to write. Right now she is barely ten, she will join at the age of almost 18, since she is nearly one year older than Luffy.
In other words, there will be one or two chapters between arcs that will show her growth.
... I have so many ideas for later chapters but when it came to this one I got so few. Not even plot bunnies for other stories let me be. (Insert a frustrated yell here)
Though I hope that some ideas I got during that time would be usable in this story.
I also want to thank all those who favorited and reviewed this story. This thing started as an insane plot bunny that I put togetehr within two or three hours without really thinking about it.
Over fifty favs. Yay!
Now Omakes!
Omake 1
The Fire whiskey incident.
Four kids looked warily at the small nicely wrapped bundle of what looked to be sweets and two bottles of some alcohol.
"Woooow! So colorful!" Luffy quickly let his opinion known. His eyes turned into two twinkling stars.
Sabo walked closer. Slowly. Scathach and Ace followed after him.
"Hm... anyone knows this guy?"
"Who?"
Sabo showed them a small note attached to the bundle.
To my favorite group of kids
Grandpa Zel.
"So, who is Grandpa Zel?" All shrugged their shoulders.
"Better question is, how he got in here and out, without triggering the traps."
"Who cares! We have sweets!"
"Luffy! Put that thing down!" But it was too late. Within seconds, paper flew everywhere. They are sure to be finding those small colorful papers everywhere. Next month. Or two. But if they get lucky, they will find some candy too!
"Fire whiskey?"
Scathach nearly tripped. "I have heard of that stuff! Careful with it!"
"So how strong it is?" Ace casually opened one of the bottles.
"Are you listening to me?!"
"Let's just give it a try."
"Arg!"
They laughed. They poured the whiskey into their cups and just put it in, Scathach included.
First second was silent, the next second their faces turned red. When the fifth second turned around, they started yelling.
The next morning, they woke up with the mother of all hangovers. And that was after a single cup. And yes, the walls were scorched. Scathach was right, the thing made person to breathe fire!
"I don't know who this Zel is, but let's be careful about things from him."
"Agreed."
"Yeah."
"Good idea."
"Hey, how about we give this to Dadan!"
All of them looked at Luffy as if he grew an another head, but then they all started cracking.
If Dadan wasn't yelling at the other bandits at that time, perhaps she wouldn't have dismissed the shiver that went down her spine so easily.
Next evening, the four kids observed the bandit hut with glee while munching onto some tasty local fruit.
"What do you think would happen if Garp got some?"
Omake 2
How Mint learned to talk, somewhat.
"Are you crazy!?"
All of them, including Ace jumped when they heard the unknown voice. "Ace, that was you, right?"
"It wasn't me who said it!"
Scathach shook her head, Sabo as well.
"It wasn't me!" Said Luffy.
"Are you crazy?!"
The kids jumped again and put their backs against each other, wanting for the unknown threat.
"By any chance, is there some animal in the forest that talks?"
"Don't be stupid! No animal can talk."
Then Mint appeared right infront of Ace. "Are you crazy?!"
Ace blinked, then he jumped away, making everyone fall down creating a small pile.
"What the hell Ace?"
"Ow my hand! Oh wait, I am from rubber..."
"Wait, is that Mint?"
The bunny thing looked down while flapping with those fluffy wings. "Are you crazy?!"
The brothers looked at each other, then back at the green wonder. It repeated it's sentence.
"Anyone has got any idea how Mint learned to talk?"
"Maybe it listened to us a lot?"
"But we weren't using that sentence that much... were we?"
"We may have used it a couple times." Sabo mused. "Like when Luffy tried to feed that crocodile."
"Or when Ace rushed into that snake pit."
"Hey! You thought that it would be a good idea to befriend that giant chicken thing! That was crazy!"
"Are you crazy?!" Mint was ignored this time.
"Hey Scatty was crazy too! She used those balloons to paint Gray Terminal!"
"That wasn't crazy, that was fun!"
"Just as it was fun when the thieves chased after us..." Sabo sighed. "Right. So Mint knows how to talk. What now?"
"Maybe we could teach it new phases?"
"Are you crazy?!"
The kids got from the pile and circled the small pet. Unfortunately, it learned only one more phase. So far.
"What is up?"
"At least it's not calling everyone crazy anymore... "
Dadan was drinking sake. Not the insane thing that she found on her doorstep some while ago, but a normal healthy sake. The bandits argued, but it was relatively peaceful. No more cleaning after every meal because of those devils.
It was then that she heard it.
"Are you crazy?!"
"Hieeee!"
By the end of third day, all bandits were stuck in a single room, shaking with fear.
"What is up?"
"Go away evil spirit!"
"We are begging you!"
Outside the wooden hut, Sabo gave the rest a look. "Let's... let's drop it already."
"Come oooon! Just a while longer!"
Fun fact: The second omake was inspired by a senegal parrot that got dumped onto me. A female parrot called Lola, it belongs to my sister but it can get... naughty. That is when someone asks it: "Are you crazy?"
In other words, it learned the phase and now it flies around the house and keeps yelling: "Are you crazy?!"
Ah.
Karma.