Closest Thing to a Brother Ch 2
took me longer than I wanted, but here's the next chapter. enjoy.
As of 9/15/2014, this chapter has been added onto
Ch. 2. Magnus D. Nati
"So, these are the brothers you've been telling me so much about." Nati said.
"Mmm-hmm. Biff if Wafe an' baff Fabo!"
"Don't talk with your mouth full, little buddy."
"So, Luffy's been telling you about us?" Sabo asked after finishing his third piece of crocodile meat.
"Are you kidding? All he ever talks about is the stuff he does with his two older brothers!"
"Which is interesting, because he's never once mentioned you to either of us." Ace growled.
"Well, it's not like I didn't want to tell you." Luffy said sheepishly.
"It's not?" Sabo said. "Then, why didn't you?"
"Well, y'see," Nati said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, "I kind of asked him not to tell anyone about me after a little fiasco we had with Old Man Garp."
"I guess that's understandable." Ace mumbled.
Nati shifted to face the raven haired 10-year-old. "Since Luffy hasn't mentioned me to the two of you…" the maroon haired boy held out his hand to Ace. "Everyone calls me Nati; Magnus D. Nati."
Ace just looked at his hand for a moment before turning back to his meal. "Portgas D. Ace."
Nati hesitantly retracted his hand. "Well, he's friendly."
"You get used to it." Sabo chuckled as he held out his own hand. "I'm Sabo."
Nati smiled and shook the blonds hand as if they were already close friends.
"So, how long have you known Luffy?" Sabo asked
"Since about a year before he got his Devil Fruit powers."
"Nati was my first friend;" Luffy added. "He's my best friend!"
He snatched up another piece of meat but before he could take a bite, Nati snatched it out of his hands.
"You've already eaten half of the crocodile, Luffy; I think you've had enough." Nati said, taking a bite. "Now how 'bout you save some for the rest of us, okay?"
Luffy pouted a little, but didn't touch the crocodile after that, much to the surprise of his brothers.
"So, if you and Luffy are best friends, how come you were off-island;" Ace said once he and Sabo were done. "Why did you even leave in the first place?"
"Well, because I'm not from Goa; I'm an Obsidian Islander." Nati replied.
"If that's the case, then why are you so far away from home?" Sabo asked.
"To resupply." Luffy answered.
"Luffy's right." Nati began. "Don't let the name fool you; Sapphire Village isn't filled with riches and gems, at least, not anymore."
"What?" both brothers exclaimed.
"Back in the day, Sapphire Village was famous for its jewel mines; rubies, emeralds, diamonds, and yes, most often sapphires. Since the land was too unstable to grow crops on, we used the gems to pay for supplies from merchant ships that often stopped there. Unfortunately, that inevitably caused problems for us."
"You were forced to rely too heavily on the mines." Sabo guessed. "And as a result, they all one day dried out."
"More or less. And once the merchant ships stopped coming, some of the islanders had to set sail to find supplies elsewhere, including me."
"Nati comes here once a month and he stays here for an entire week!" Luffy said.
"I'm suppose to stay for a week, but something always happens that postpones my departure;" Nati flipped back Luffy's straw hat and ruffled the 7-year-olds black hair, smiling smugly. "Usually involving this little bundle of energy."
"I'm not surprised." Ace said.
"All the same, I feel kind of sorry that Luffy keeps you here longer than you're supposed to be." Sabo said.
"I don't really mind; this place is just like home, except here you know where to find all the dangers." After tossing his last bone into a pile, Nati grabbed his seabag and stood up, looking down at Luffy, this time smiling playfully. "Now then, I believe a certain rubbery someone promised me a fight after we eat, eh, Luffy?"
Luffy bounced onto his feet, a smug grin on his face as he walked alongside his friend toward the forest.
"This time, I'm gonna win!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah right. That's what you said last time!"
"Well, this time I mean it!"
"You said that last time, too!"
"I'm stronger than I was last month!"
"So am I." Nati looked over at Ace and Sabo, who were both still sitting down, staring at the two of them. "Y'know, if you guys want to come and watch, I don't mind, and I'm pretty sure Luffy won't either."
Ace and Sabo sat down on a nearby tree root and watched while the two friends got ready for their fight.
"How good do you think he is?" Sabo asked.
"Who?" Ace simply replied.
"Nati; I mean, from the way him and Luffy talk, it sounds like he can, at the very least, hold his own in a fight. You think he's as good as they've been letting on?"
"No."
Sabo looked at his brother. "Why not?"
Ace returned the blonds gaze. "Because he's too much like Luffy; he's laid-back, over optimistic, too easy-going, not to mention he talks and acts like everything's a big game to him. And to top it all off, he's even more soft on Luffy than you are."
"So, you think Luffy's actually gonna beat him?"
Ace looked back at the two boys, who were about to begin. "I think we're gonna be here all day, if we're lucky."
"Alright, Luffy," Nati said as he grabbed the back and front of his Robin Hood cap and adjusted it firmly onto his head, "you ready?"
The second he lowered into a fighting stance, Luffy charged him, winding up his arm.
"Here I come, Nati!" he yelled. "Gum-Gum PISTOL!"
Luffy stretched out his arm, sending his fist barreling shakily towards Nati's head, only to miss him entirely, causing the maroon haired boy to relax a little and sigh in annoyance.
"Luffy, how many times have I told you, don't open with the same attack every fight;" he groaned. "Especially when it's an attack that keeps missing its target."
"I didn't miss;" Luffy smirked. "I wasn't aiming for you!"
Upon hearing this, Nati immediately looked behind him to see that Luffy had grabbed a low tree branch.
"Gum-Gum…" Nati looked back at the 7-year-old and saw him flying straight towards him with his free arm outstretched as if preparing to take off his head. "SCYTHE!"
Ace and Sabo expected Nati to duck to avoid the attack but instead, he held his ground until the last second and pivoted around Luffy's arm as he breezed past him. Luffy kept his grip on the branch and launched himself at the 8-year-old, his fist cocked back, ready to punch. The two 10-year-olds expected Nati to jump out of the way, but instead, he once again stood his ground, readjusting his stance, and at the last second, uppercut Luffy in the jaw, sending him flying upward, spinning and screaming.
"C'mon, Luffy." Nati whispered half to himself. "C'mon, correct yourself; I know I taught you this one."
As if on cue, Luffy stretched out his arm and grabbed the closest tree branch to him to stop him from spinning then used his momentum to swing down to the ground running towards Nati with his fist cocked back for another Gum-Gum Pistol. As they expected this time, when the 7-year-old threw his shaky extended punch at him, Nati waited until the last second and side-stepped the attack. Then to their surprise, as the punch whizzed past him, Nati grabbed Luffy's arm with one hand and then with the other, yanked him off balance and flying towards him. As Luffy tried vainly to regain his footing while he was hurtling towards his friend, Nati drew his arm back and once he was in striking range, drove Luffy into the ground with a well timed punch to the top on his head. Once it was clear that the dazed 7-year-old wasn't going to continue, Nati relaxed out of his stance, folding his arms in front of his chest.
"That's another win for me, little buddy." He smirked.
While Luffy went into one of his usual childish tantrums, Ace and Sabo looked at each other in complete shock, both thinking the exact same thing;
What the hell just happened?!
"RRAAAAAAAAHHH!" their attention was drawn back to the two upon hearing their little brothers whiney roar.
"It's not fair!" Luffy complained. "Why do you always have to beat me whenever we fight?!"
"It's not my fault." Nati replied. "Sometimes you just make it easy for me."
"I DO NOT!"
"Yeah, you do! And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who's noticed." Nati looked over at Ace and Sabo for confirmation, narrowing his eyes in annoyance when he found them gawking at him. "Stop staring, you two; you'll burn holes in my vest!"
When Nati looked back down at Luffy, he found that the 7-year-old had pulled his straw hat down over the top of his head and couldn't help but smile. He placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder, making the raven haired boy look up at him.
"But if it makes you feel better," Nati began, "you lasted a lot longer than you did last time."
Luffy's eyes immediately lit up. "I did?!"
"Yeah!" Nati took his hand off Luffy's shoulder and held it out for him. "In fact, you nearly had me with that new trick of yours! What did you call it? Gum-Gum Scythe?"
"Yup!" Luffy took the maroon haired boys hand and pulled himself onto his feet.
"Well, you would've at the very least sprained my neck with that move if I hadn't seen it coming. You really have gotten stronger since my last visit."
Luffy's grin widened "I told you!"
"I never doubted you."
Nati walked over to grab his seabag, which was next to Ace and Sabo, and didn't notice until after he picked it up that they were still staring at him.
"What?" he said.
"How the hell did you do that?!" Ace yelled.
"I've never seen such perfect timing! That was amazing!" Sabo gawked.
"Thanks." Nati replied. "My father taught me the basics, everything else just came naturally."
"What do you mean?"
"I fight stuff all the time back home."
Nati slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to leave, but Ace grabbed his wrist before he could take a step.
"Can I help you, Ace?"
"Me next."
Nati looked at Ace out of the corner of his eye. "I beg your pardon?"
"Fight me next."
The maroon haired boy turned around to face him. "Why? You've seen what I can do to Luffy."
"And that's why I want to fight you. I want to see just how strong you really are."
"Me too!" Sabo exclaimed. "Don't you dare leave me out of this; if you're that good against Luffy, then I can only imagine how you would be against us!"
"So what do you say, Nati," Ace half-growled, "are you gonna fight us or not?"
Nati's dark green eyes connected first with Ace's grey eyes for a moment, then with Sabo's blue eyes for just as long before he answered.
"Tomorrow."
Ace tightened his grip on the 8-year-olds wrist. "Why not now?"
"Because I said so, and because I have supplies to get back in town." Nati yanked his wrist free from Ace's grip. "Besides, I promised Luffy last month that I would take him out for some target practice on the first free day of my next visit, which is tomorrow, which is the only day I'll put aside for the two of you."
With that, Nati walked over to Luffy, ruffled his hair and after saying his good-byes, ran off into the forest without another word, leaving one brother grinning from ear to ear, and the other two wanting to know more about the strange boy from Obsidian Island.
To be continued
here you go, a little into Nati's background with a few surprises here and there... with plenty more to come. I hope you liked it