Hello Everybody!

Sorry I haven't updated in so long.
I hope you enjoy this next chapter of Dark Days.

Luffy sighed heavily and gripped the bottle of apple juice in his hand tighter. "What am I doing Shanks... where the hell are you?" he muttered staring at the bright moon high out of his reach. It mocked him. Scoffing, Luffy looked down at the bottle in his hand as smiled lightly.

'I'm not weak! My punch is like a pistol! I'm a real man like you!' yelled a much younger Luffy punching the air in front of him. 'A pistol, eh? Is that so...' muttered the man next to him at the bar with a bored look on his face. 'ARE YOU DOUBTING ME!' he yelled before pouting. 'Shanks I'm telling you... I'm not a little kid!' Shanks just grinned 'Don't get upset now. Here; have some juice.'

Luffy smiled brightly as a cup of apple juice was placed before him. 'Oh boy! Thanks!' he cheered before taking the cup in both hands and sculling down the sweet, fruity syrup. Suddenly the man began pounding on the counter laughing to no end. 'Haha! See! A real man would never drink apple juice!' Luffy froze for a moment before realising he had been tricked and slammed his cup onto the counter. 'THAT WAS A DIRTY TRICK! SHITTY SHANKS!'

Luffy chuckled to himself before pulling himself to his feet. "Well... time to face the music." He murmured jumping down from the roof top and landing gracefully on the road six stories below him. Cracking his neck, he took a deep cleansing breath before walking over to a Solar-Sport Motorcycle waiting for him on the other side of the road.

Throwing the engine into gear, he sped off down the streets towards Portland. Ignoring the scenery, he drove in silence while thinking about what Smoker had told him only this Afternoon.

"One Piece?! Are you sure!?" yelled Smoker pulling the two cigars out of his mouth before he choked on them.

Luffy nodded, "Yeah that's what they said. It's supposably a weapon of some sort... It's been bugging me ever since; I know I've heard the name somewhere before but I can't remember where."

Smoker rubbed his chin tentatively, "Straw Hat... What do you remember of your past before the bombings?" he asked slowly. Luffy froze and looked away with haunted eyes. "Straw Hat, I need to know what you remember if you want me to help you..."

After a few minutes Luffy spoke up, "Not much, it all comes and goes in flashes... There's Ace, and Garp. But then it all goes white: white walls, white coats, white everything..." he mumbled seemingly in a daze. "But then there are flashes of some sort of machine. I remember that Garp used to say one day it would purify the world and bring peace. After that, nothing... all I remember is running away and living in LA."

Smoker sighed, "One Piece was a project run by the Alliance; it was supposably a weapon that would bring world peace. Not much is known about it only that the project was put on hold when the public found out that it operated on live human sacrifices. The next thing anyone knew, the sacrifice had run away. That sacrifice... was a young boy. You."

Luffy frowned and tightened his grip on the handlebars. How could he have forgotten, all those years of suffering after Ace ran away. Ace had always been the smarter one... he had figured out what was going on in only a few months and had run away, promising to come back for him. He never did. Everyone thought he had died but Luffy knew differently. Ace was alive... he just had no idea where he was.

Rounding the final corner, Luffy parked his bike in front of the store and killed the engine. Walking towards the door, he entered the shop and quickly made his way up stairs. "Zoro, Sanji! We're leaving in the morning!" he yelled before opening the door to the guest room and shutting it behind him.

"What's with him?" asked Zoro putting down the glass of cheep whisky Nami had found for him and peering around the doorway. Sanji shrugged, "Beats me. I'm just happy he came back, they would have had our hides if he ran." He muttered before standing up and rooting through the cupboards.

Zoro stared sceptically at the bodyguard for a moment before giving up, "... What are you doing?" he panned.

Sanji scoffed, "Something you seem too primitive to do; I'm cooking." He said, yelling triumphantly as he pulled out a few pots and pans before moving on to the fridge.

Zoro raised a sceptical eyebrow. "You know how to cook?" he asked the blonde. "Of course I know how to cook. You aren't raised by a French chef without learning how to cook before you leave home. It's practically a requirement."

Zoro hummed in disinterest and stared back down at his glass. "That kid is much smarter than we give him credit for..." he murmured taking another swing of the whisky and enjoying the feel of it burning down his throat.

Sanji turned around for a moment to face the green-haired man. "Why do you say that?"

"Have you seen the way he looks at us? He knows we're keeping something from him. It's like he can see straight through us." Zoro muttered pouring himself another glass.

Sanji snorted, "You give him way too much credit. He's still a kid."

"Yeah. A kid that's survived a buster call and has been able to avoid the alliance for years! I'm telling you curly brow, that kid knows things."

The sun had only just begun its morning trek over the skies when Luffy had woken both Sanji and Zoro, this time with the traditional shake of the shoulder much to Sanji's relief.

"Common, we're leaving."

The three moved stealthily around the house as not to wake its other occupants before heading downstairs into the weapons shop. "I've already picked up everything we needed from Usopp; he'll give the money I was able to pay to Nami once we've left. The rest I'll pay when we return."

"You say that as if you know you'll be coming back." commented Sanji.

Luffy frowned at him. "I try to remain optimistic. You don't see me giving up on my brother do you?" he said walking out of the shop. "I found this truck in an abandoned lot a few months ago and had Usopp try and fix it up for me. It's not much but I'll get us where we want to go." said Luffy leading them around the back of the store to where an old pick-up truck was parked.

"This hunk of junk can still drive?" asked Sanji opening the door carefully as if it would fall off at any second.

"Hey, don't insult the poor thing. Its taking us where we want to go isn't it so you may as well be nice to it." huffed Luffy strapping a large trunk on to its tray bed.

"It's not a living thing you know."

"Says you."

Zoro rolled his eyes as he stepped into the truck. "I take back what I said. This kid is insane." He mumbled. Spotting the keys in a cup holder, Zoro started up the truck but jumped when it spat out a thick black cloud of fumes. "Whoa! Is it supposed to do that?!"

"Don't worry about it. It just doesn't like you since you insulted me." said Luffy starting up his bike. "Stick close when we get to the borderlands alright? I'll be riding beside you most of the way unless I get tired. Then I'll be sleeping in the tray while you guys keep driving on. If we have to we'll take shifts when driving at night, it's not safe to stay in one place for very long."

Luffy kicked his bike into gear and sped off down the road before either Zoro or Sanji could say a word.

"Why do I have a feeling that something is going to go very, very wrong?" asked Sanji softly.

Here it is!

Sorry it's not as long as the other chapters, but I hope you enjoyed it.
Just a little side note; I've been reading through the previous chapters and have spotted SO many mistakes.
Starting some time soon I will be going back through them and correcting/altering some things. A beta would really help.

Thank you everyone!