Hi again! Luffy's Devil Fruit form has been introduced in this chapter, but there will be more to find out later! Err yeah sorry for the bad chapter OAO Err I do hope you enjoy it…Yes he has a Zoan

Chapter 3-Sworn Brothers, the Adventure Starts!

"All right I managed to steal it!" a voice giggled while running. In his hand was a bottle of Sake and his grip was tight as If it were an important treasure. Luffy grinned as he kept running towards a certain area. Today was an important day for him. He finally found the clearing and jumped out of the forest.

"Ace, Sabo I got it!" Luffy cried out in joy, his onyx eyes sparkled with excitement. Ace and Sabo turned around while smiling at the boy. In the middle was a tree stump and was wide enough to be a small table. This was it, the time when he would finally become official brothers with Ace and Sabo.

"Oh Luffy we've been expecting you by now!" Ace said while grinning and placed out three red cups.

"Nice job taking it from Dadan!" Sabo praised and Luffy stuck out his chest in pride. It was the first time he actually stole something and it was also important, so he felt proud of himself. Luffy placed the bottle in the middle of the stump and sat down next to Sabo. The three formed a triangle and Ace grabbed the bottle. Luffy's tail swished side to side on the grass, he was getting impatient.

"Hey, did you know that if you share Sake with others, then they would become brothers?" Luffy remembered that quote very well from Ace who had mentioned it and both older brothers decided it was time to officially become a family. Slowly Ace poured the Sake into each cup and held his in the air. Sabo also held his cup in the air a gentle smile on his face, he remembered doing this a long time ago. Luffy copied what the other two were doing and grinned.

"From today and from now on, we're officially brothers!" Ace said while standing up. Sabo stood up and bumped his cup into Ace's while Luffy jumped up into the air performing in the same matter.

"YEAH!" all three of them agreed while drinking the Sake from the cups at the same time. Luffy reluctantly swallowed it and stuck his tongue out. Sabo and Ace were fine, but it was still a little bitter on their tongue.

"Bitter…" Luffy mumbled sticking his tongue out even more. Ace and Sabo laughed at the gesture, which was their reaction when they first tried it as well. Luffy soon got over the bitterness and smiled while jumping into Sabo and Ace's arms. Sabo held Luffy in his arms and was smiling while Luffy grinned and Ace was ruffling his hair. It was a warm and touching picture, the beginning of a new brotherhood.

-A year later-

Luffy was now nine and His brothers were sixteen, one more year with them and they would both set out to sea. He wondered if they would take him along, he didn't want to be left alone for seven more years. His ears flattened at the thought of being left alone. Right now he was alone in the tree house, Ace and Sabo had to go to a Gray Terminal. Luffy didn't even know what that meant or what it was. He sulked and lay on the soft white blanket. It was boring without them here. They both played with him and took care of him, in short they were really good brothers. Secretly he wished that they were blood related, but he knew that was impossible. At least they were brothers by a special bond. Luffy smiled gently and washed his ears in boredom. His ears then shot up. His devil fruit! He didn't even know what it was or what it could do, and kind of forgot all about it… He decided to try and activate it or try and use it. Luffy jumped outside and walked into an empty space. But then he thought, what should he do, he didn't know what his devil fruit could even do. Maybe he stretched? Luffy tried and pulling his cheek which resulted in a small sore spot on his face which he rubbed. Nope. Maybe he could make earthquakes? He tried to stomp on the earth as hard as he could which only resulted in a small crack. Nope. Luffy rolled around on the floor in frustration. Maybe if he thought about protecting someone dear to him it would activate? Luffy beamed and praised himself. But what should he think of? Luffy snarled and banged his head against a tree. This devil fruit thing was so difficult! Then he remembered the time when Ace and Sabo were almost hurt. Luffy felt useless and hopeless at that time, but then he had a surge of courage and determination to save his brothers… THAT'S IT! Luffy should think of his brothers!

"Okay!" Luffy said determined. He closed his eyes and imagined his brothers almost getting slain by a creature. Sweat rolled down his face, it was scary, and he never wanted that to happen…No! He had to learn how to control the fruit, and then he could protect them! Yeah that was it! He could protect people who he cherished and prevent them from dying! He closed his eyes again thinking of the same image and imagined himself running towards them in determination and desperation. Luffy felt that tingling throughout his body again. This time it didn't feel all that weird, but what was it? Black fur began to grow on his body once more and his body grew bigger. Luffy opened his eyes the second the tingling stopped. So…what happened? He looked around and saw that he grew taller.

"COOL SO I GET TO TURN INTO A GIANT?!" he beamed but then stopped as he felt the wind ruffle his…fur? He looked at his hand and saw pure white claws gleaming in the sunlight. They were sharp and his "hand" looked like a cat's paw, and with white fur. He looked down and saw his hands were covered with white fur while the rest of his arms were covered with black fur. He then walked towards a river and took a good look at himself. What was he? An animal of some sort or a dragon? He really couldn't tell. His mouth kind of looked like a beak since there was a curve at the end of his top jaw. There were white antlers that sprouted backwards on his head and had a slight curve to them. His whole body was covered in black and white fur and his cat ears were still there, just a little bigger. He still had onyx eyes and his lower jaw was covered in a white strip which ran down from his chest to his stomach and then towards the tail. His tail had a patch of pure white fur at the end, kind of like what you would see on a lion's tail or a giraffe's tail. But his tail shape was that of a dragon's or lizard whatever you call them. He had a long body kind of like a Chinese dragon; he actually looked very similar to one, but no scales. Luffy had wavy white marks on his back like what you would see on a tiger. He had a few spots on his hind legs like what you would see on a leopard. What the hell was he? Then Luffy came to a conclusion.

"I'm a mystery animal!" He cried out in joy, well not cried, more like roared. Even though having an immense size he wasn't scary at all. His eyes were big and friendly looking, not intimidating at all, they also had an "I'm innocent" look to them. "This is so cool I should go tell Ace and Sabo about this!" But then he stopped short. "What can I even do? Can I just scratch and bite others?" Luffy didn't like the idea of that, it made him look weak. His big eyes narrowed as he thought of what he may be able to do. After a few minutes of thinking his face turned red.

"Oh no I shouldn't think too much, I'll get a fever…" he mumbled to himself and then came up with an idea. "I look like a dragon so maybe I can breathe fire!" He tried by sucking in air and blowing it out, but the only that came out was a fierce roar which scared many birds away. "That was pretty cool, but it's a shame I can't breathe fire…" Then Luffy came up with a problem. How does he change back? Luffy began to sweat considerably. He was way too big and Sabo and Ace might not recognize him! This was bad…Then Luffy should just think the opposite! That everyone was safe.

'When are you this smart?' Luffy grinned. And then he pictured everyone safe and sound with Luffy in their arms and everyone was smiling. A tingling sense was felt again and he felt him shrink. Luffy looked at himself and saw he was now back to normal, ears and tail and all. He smiled and ran back to the tree house; he couldn't wait to tell this to his brothers! Along the way he picked up some fruit and held them in his arms, they would be good snacks, he then thought of giving one to Ace and Sabo. Luffy picked up some apples and a strange small pumpkin shaped thingy that had swirls. It was round and had a color like that of a setting sun. It was pretty. Luffy would give it to Ace as a present for taking care of him; he would have to think of one for Sabo as well.

-A Few Hours Later-

"WE'RE HOME!" Ace yelled while jumping up into the tree house and Sabo climbed up the ladder that Luffy put down.

"Welcome home! Ace, Sabo you wouldn't believe what happened to me today while you were gone!" Luffy beamed. Both brothers exchanged a worried look, if something happened then that would mean trouble, but thankfully as Luffy explained it was just transforming because of a fruit…yeah transforming because of a…

"WHAT?!" Both yelled while looking at Luffy with disbelieving faces.

"So let me get this straight, you looked like a dragon, a deer, a tiger, a leopard, a cat, a bird, and had a fluffy tail along with black and white fur?" Sabo asked with a surprised look, his description made no sense at all. All three brothers were seated at the table currently conversing about Luffy's experience.

"And you were actually SMART and THOUGHT about what you could do to activate it?" Ace said with an even more disbelieving look. Luffy noticed this and pouted.

"It's all true it really happened, I can even show it to you!" Luffy insisted and crossed his arms over his chest while pouting.

"No Luffy it's not like we don't believe you, I mean we do…since you're pretty much a horrible liar." Sabo said while mumbling the last part. Luffy's cat ear twitched and looked at Sabo.

"Do you really believe me?" He asked with a puppy eyed look. Sabo immediately got flustered. He had hated it when Luffy had used his 'puppy eyed' technique and its beginning to get really effective. Luffy had begun to use this a few months ago without even realizing it.

"No! I mean yes! I do believe your story!" Sabo said quickly and Luffy smiled in relief. Ace just huffed and placed his chin on his hand with a dull look.

"Really, that's so cool Luffy…" Ace said with a sarcastic tone. Luffy's tail bristled as he stood up on his chair.

"IT'S TRUE! AND YOU REMIND ME OF THAT JERK SHANKS, WHEN HE DIDN'T BELIEVE ME!" Luffy yelled. Ace and Sabo really needed to thank that man for taking care of his brother, in a way they respected him and he was a great pirate after all. Luffy told many things about Shanks and now both brothers knew who he was, how he looked like, his crew and more things that Luffy could describe, in short Luffy was pretty much really attached to this Shanks and this kind of irked the two brothers. Ace laughed and he picked up Luffy while setting him on his lap.

"I'm just kidding Luffy calm down!" Ace said while chuckling and Luffy composed himself. "I'm sorry for making you mad." Luffy just smiled and then made a look as if he had remembered something.

"Oh yeah Ace I found something for you today!" He chirped while running to get the item. He held the "disgusting mystery fruit" out in front of Ace. "This is a gift for you for taking care of me all this time! And I need to find one for Sabo too!" Luffy said while he threw his arms in the air while Ace took the fruit. He felt really happy that Luffy had given him something and tackled his little brother into a hug. Sabo grinned and also felt happy that Luffy had thought of him as well and decided he would wait patiently for the present. Then he took a good look at the fruit. It had a really beautiful shade of colors and almost represented the color of fire and the sunset. It had many swirls surrounding the fruit itself which each individual swirl looked like a small ball of fire.

"It's a disgusting mystery fruit!" Luffy beamed, "I ate one before that looked like that." Ace and Sabo looked at the fruit in surprise. It was a devil fruit!

"What kind of devil fruit is this?" Ace asked to himself, while inspecting the fruit, turning it around.

"A disgusting mystery fruit!" Luffy repeated. Ace grimaced, was it really disgusting as his brother as said? If his younger brother said its disgusting then its taste must be absolutely horrible, since he eats almost everything and thinks they all taste great. Sabo decided he wouldn't want to eat one, not being able to swim is a bad thing and he preferred to keep his humanity thanks.

"Should I eat it and see what I get?" Ace asked still inspecting the fruit. He wasn't sure whether or not he himself should actually lose his ability to swim in exchange for an ability heck he didn't even know what type of fruit it was.

"Eh, I suggest not to because one, you don't even know what it is and two, you lose your ability to swim which really isn't a good thing for a pirate." Sabo said explaining a few reasons. Ace nodded and decided to just keep it just in case. Ace held the fruit up to eye level and inspected it again, he may be able to guess what it is if he observed what features it had. While Ace was thinking and observing, Luffy squirmed in his lap to try and look at the fruit again and accidently tripped on his tail slamming his face onto the table and at the same time Ace opened his mouth in surprise as Luffy's flailing arm shoved the fruit into his mouth and stuck it in his throat. Ace's eyes popped out as he tried to spit it out gasping for air and Sabo panicked he didn't know who to help and picked up Luffy with one arm while slamming Ace's back with the other to help him out. To Ace's dismay he swallowed the fruit, but at least he could breathe again, he thought he was going to die there!

"Luffy… what the…hell…was that for?!" Ace said while gasping for breath. Luffy looked up guiltily.

"Sorry Ace! I-I just wanted to help you take a look at the fruit to and…and…" Luffy sniffled; he almost killed his own brother by choking him. Sabo sighed and softly stroked Luffy's head, he always like it when he did that. Luffy calmed down and looked at Ace with an apologetic look, the said teen sighed and leaned back into his chair, well there goes his swimming ability.

"Now what the hell does it do?" Ace asked to himself, it was too late now and he couldn't really change the past, so might as well learn how to use it. Both Luffy and Sabo shrugged at the same time with blank looks. "Well you guys are not helping at all…" Ace snorted.

"Hey come on what's done is done maybe you'll learn what it does later." Sabo said while smiling. Ace huffed and then put his chin on the table and sulked, he hoped that it would be an awesome power.

-Later at Night-

Ace awoke and looked at his brothers, they were both sleeping, and Luffy kicked his covers off in his sleep. Ace smiled while covering his little brother again and Luffy curled up in the warmth. Ace decided it would time to discuss what would happen later, it's best to plan it earlier after all. He woke up Sabo by gently shaking his shoulder.

"Wha-?" Sabo asked quickly sitting up and looked around frantically as if expecting enemies and then looked at Ace with a confused look. Ace pointed at Luffy then put his finger to his mouth and then pointed outside. Sabo nodded and followed him outside quietly.

"So what is it that you need to talk about?" Sabo asked while taking a walk in the forest. Ace stopped and sat down on the cool grass.

"We need to talk about Luffy." He explained and Sabo gave an "Oh" look, it was almost time that they would set out anyways. "Anyways we need to decide whether we leave him here or we take him with us." Sabo gaped.

"Ace! You know how dangerous it could be for a ten year old out at sea!" Sabo hissed in a low voice and Ace nodded. He already knew what could happen if they decided to take him anyways.

"I know, but Luffy is going to be alone for a long time, and he's pretty much oblivious to anything." Ace said closing his eyes, they would have to make a hard decision, take the chance and bring their little brother or leave him to be alone, or stay at the island and wait. The third decision was a no go, he and Sabo had been waiting for this moment all these years! But he didn't want to leave his brother behind. He shut his eyes tight in frustration, Sabo was in deep thought.

"Well what should we do?" Ace asked again. Sabo sighed and sat down as well this may take a while after all.

"I don't know Ace, I really don't know…" Sabo said while having a pained expression, Ace opened his eyes and lay on the grass. It was a long night for the two brothers as they thought about what would happen when the time came. During the middle of thinking both fell asleep side by side. When morning came Ace woke up with a start and Sabo also jolted awake. Ace felt a sneeze coming and tried to hold it in, but couldn't and sneezed, but it really wasn't he expected it to be. Fire came out of his mouth and turned into a fireball as it slammed into a wandering rabbit and it burned to death. Ace had a look of surprise and then sweat dropped. Sabo prayed that it had a swift death, although he was surprised as well.

"So…let's pretend that never happened…" Ace said and Sabo nodded in agreement feeling sorry for the poor creature. "And…that means my power has something to do with fire?" Sabo nodded again. Ace looked thoughtful for a moment and shrugged. "Hey that's a pretty useful ability I have there."

"Yeah…" Sabo said, and then remembered something. "Hey but what about Luffy's ability?" He asked and Ace scrunched up his face.

"Good question, probably a mixture of many animals, it kinda suits him you know, but what can he do?" Ace asked the last part to himself. "Maybe he can transform into other things?" Ace suggested. Now it was Sabo's turn to look thoughtful and he tried to remember the time when he first transformed.

"Er probably judging by the fact that he has many parts of other animals that could call him a hybrid…" Sabo concluded. "Maybe your hypothesis is right…"

"Hypothe- what?" Ace asked and Sabo face palmed.

"Okay let me rephrase that, maybe your guess is right." He said while putting his fingers into quotes at the word "guess". Ace chuckled and stood up.

"Well we should go back; Luffy should be waking up soon." He said while walking off towards the tree house. "Oh and get some breakfast while we're at it!" He laughed and Sabo laughed
along. All three of them were pretty much gluttons, but for some reason never got fat, then again that's one thing in common!

Over the days Ace told Luffy about his devil fruit powers and Luffy was awed and also was disappointed since he couldn't even breathe fire. Luffy gave Sabo his present that he promised to give which was a sky blue sea stone staff with a light golden handle, Sabo will never know where the heck he had obtained that, but happily accepted it. Later on Luffy finally showed his brothers his ability proudly and both looked closely at the details figuring out what he ate and what it could do, but unfortunately found nothing. So in the end they just named it the creature creature fruit. Both Ace and Sabo trained harder than ever to prepare for their long journey ahead of them and Luffy watched, sometimes even joining in to become stronger himself, during training Ace had self taught himself to use his devil fruit efficiently and so did Luffy. Unfortunately Luffy never formed a strong build unlike Ace and Sabo to his dismay. Ace decided to take some lessons to being polite to thank Shanks later on in the future for taking care of Luffy, both Makino and Sabo helped with these lessons and took quite a long time… Since Luffy was growing bigger he could finally wear the straw hat Shanks had given him and wore it proudly. It would also work as a cover for his ears, but the two older brothers didn't know what to do with the tail so they decided to just hide it under Luffy's shirt. Then Luffy discovered a new ability he had because of his devil fruit.

"Ace guess what?" Luffy asked with a toothy grin. Ace was still tired and god it was still dark outside! When Ace didn't reply Luffy transformed into a different form. He unsheathed his claws while poking Ace in the cheek.

Poke. Ace's eyes shut tightly. Poke. A tick mark grew on his forehead; it was kind of getting annoying…Poke. "Luffy…" Ace said in a warning voice. Poke. "Luffy really stop it…" STAB. "OUCH WHEN DID YOUR NAILS GET SO…" Ace shot up and looked at Luffy but stopped mid sentence. Big black cat ears twitched as the sun rose up and a small black animal nose also twitched cutely. His eyes were a perfect circle and black beady pupils looked up back at Ace and tiny white antlers shot up from his head. His tail was fluffy and big like a foxes while his paws were also small and chibi like. He was standing up on two legs and was small. (To people who have watched/read One Piece right now Luffy is the size of Chopper…) Luffy's muzzle, chest, stomach, and the bottom of his tail had white fur and the rest was black. It kind of resembled the huge hybrid, just way cuter. One his back were tiny small white feathery wings. Overall his head was almost as big as his body.

"Ace look what I discovered!" Luffy cried out in delight sticking out his tiny paws in the air. Ace stood there agape until he tackled Luffy into a tight hug, he looked so adorable! Who wouldn't hug him when he's like this! "Ace can't breathe!" Luffy managed to gasp out. His voice got a little higher too! Ace quickly let go and apologized. Luffy put his small paws onto his mouth as he giggled.

"So what is that form?" Ace asked resisting the urge to hug him again. Luffy thought and thought until he replied.

"I don't know." He said with a confused look. Ace fell to the ground and asked a question again.

"How did you discover that?" Luffy washed his ears while thinking and then replied.

"Well I wanted to fly cause all dragons fly so I kinda jumped off a tree and I discovered this form, but that's not important Ace I can fly!" Luffy cried out in glee. Ace lightly hit Luffy on the head for his recklessness and then gave a scolding which Luffy tried to listen to.

"Can you change back?" Ace asked after the scolding and Luffy nodded swiftly changing back to his normal form, black cat tail swishing back and forth across the wooden floor. "Hm, maybe you may have more transformations…"

"Really?!" Luffy beamed, his eyes sparkling. Ace thought and nodded slowly.

"It's a possibility." Luffy cheered and decided to show it to Sabo. (Reasons as to why will be explained later on in the story as well as his devil fruit and he has somewhat a similar ability like Chopper when he eats the rumble ball, why? Well I thought it would be pretty cool to have Luffy transform into different forms like Chopper!)

-One More Year Later-

It was finally time for Ace and Sabo to leave, the villagers and bandits crowded around the shore patiently awaiting the goodbye and also some smiled sadly, they were going to miss the two. Dadan began to sob as she watched the two she had raised for a while finally leave from the nest.

"Are you really going?" Luffy asked hugging Ace. Ace smiled sadly and patted his head.

"Yeah, we are, but don't worry because guess what?" Ace said to Luffy grinning. Luffy looked up and tilted his head as he held his fuzzy tail. "There's a good catch to this and that is…" The villagers and bandits were about to leave the brothers alone to their goodbye until…

"YOU'RE COMING WITH US LUFFY!" Ace yelled while laughing, he piggy backed Luffy and sped away towards the boat. The group stopped abruptly and ran back yelling in outrage at the thought of the two bringing a small boy with them. Luffy giggled in delight as Ace ran as fast as he could and then jumped on the boat ignoring the protests from the people. Dadan cried even more as she saw that they were growing up so fast and Makino just smiled accepting the decision, she trusted and knew that they would protect and take care of Luffy well.

"SABO HURRY UP AND LETS GO!" Ace yelled while throwing his hands up in the air. He grinned and unfurled the sails as they headed off onto a new journey.

"BYE EVERYONE THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!" Luffy cheered while waving, he was really excited and happy that his brothers had decided to take him out to sea with them! The yelling died down and then came yelling of encouragements as well as advice.

"GOOD LUCK YOU THREE!"

"YOU BETTER MAKE SURE YOU TAKE GOOD CARE OF LUFFY, ACE AND SABO!"

"MAKE US PROUD!"

"YEAH WE WILL WATCH US BECOME FAMOUS PIRATES!" Sabo yelled while waving a hand. Then Ace came up with an idea.

"Hey since this is the beginning of our adventure why don't we state our dreams right now?" Ace suggested and Luffy nodded jumping up and down in excitement, Sabo also agreed, but he did so more calmly.

"I want to write a book about the whole world and my adventures!" Sabo smiled while tipping his hat.

"I want the world to acknowledge my own existence and become one of the greatest pirates ever!" Ace declared smiling confidently. Luffy looked in confusion he never asked about Ace's past because Sabo asked him not to, and Luffy didn't want to ruin the moment so he went on.

"And I want to become THE KING OF THE PIRATES!" He yelled while jumping up in the air. Sabo and Ace smiled at his enthusiasm while secretly making a vow.

'And we will risk our own lives to protect out younger little brother.'

Banzai…it's done…My arms feel like mush for some reason…Anyways Luffy's appearance in his devil fruit form has appeared, but there's more to it than it looks! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I am crying tears of sadness because this was pretty bad and I'm sorry…T^T Err wait for the next one, if you wanna…Oh and one more thing, Luffy's cat appearance does have some slight importance to the story :D

OTL

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry x50