Chapter 9

Ace had no idea where he was. This wasn't Dadan's hut, nor their tree house. Not even the forest. Ace swore he could hear waves. He was also in some stranger's bed, actually, somehow he, Luffy and Sabo were?

How the fuck?

Ace roughly poked Sabo, who scowled, but Ace scowled back. Sabo blinked at him for a moment then paused, and smiled.

"You're awake!" Sabo sat up. "How you feeling?"

"Tired, but doesn't matter," Ace grumbled, sitting up too. "Where the hell are we? What's going on? I thought you were with your parents."

Sabo's face crumbled with shame. It made Ace stiffen, confused, what the hell was going on exactly? Sabo told him everything. To his attempts at escaping his parents, being locked in his room and even the basement multiple times, to escaping on the day the Celetial Dragon arrived and sailing off. How he wrote a letter to them. Then how the Celestial Dragon tried to kill him, only for Sabo to be saved by his mum.

Ace softened at the thought. He'd need to thank his mum later for that.

But then Sabo had been caught by CP-0 and interrogated. That they had seen mum's lightning strike his boat when she was saving him. How the agent had used Sabo's heart rate when asking him questions about the Portgas witch. How they had found out about Ace.

Sabo broke out into sobs the moment he said that. "I am so sorry, Ace! I swore to keep your secret and they-"

"Don't get an idiot," Ace huffed. "They interrogated you, especially when it was some weird fancy interrogation too. I wouldn't have thought to use someone's heart beat against them."

"Yeah..." Sabo grimaced.

"I remember mum snarling about something, but I fell asleep soon afterwards," Ace admitted. "I guess she dealt with it and saved you?"

"Kinda."

Sabo explained about Dragon, who Sabo thought was Luffy's dad, which what the fuck? Then about Ace's mum murdering people with well made traps, and then Dragon and her making a deal. That they were going to North Blue.

"Why North Blue?" Ace frowned.

"Not sure." Sabo shrugged. "I guess we can't hide in South considering that is where you're originally from according to Rouge-"

"Eh?" Ace startled.

"Yeah. Heard her chatting about it to Dragon when we went to go pick you and Luffy up. She said North would be the easiest place to hide in, especially with a guy called 'Doflamingo' running around scaring all the Marines in the area."

"Doflamingo?" Ace raised a brow.

"Yeah," Sabo sighed. "A weird name, huh?"

"So we're working with him?"

"Not sure." Sabo shrugged. "She just said a lot of Marines avoid North Blue with him in it. I think there is a Vice Admiral chasing after him. Not sure how Rouge learned all this, but she seems to be keeping herself up to date."

"So we're leaving East Blue forever then?" Ace slumped at the thought. He didn't think he'd leave until he was seventeen with Sabo, but now they were all off, just like that.

He didn't even get to say goodbye to Dadan and her bandits.

"I'm sorry, Ace."

"Don't be." Ace crossed his arms. "It was CP-0's fault, and that damn Celestial Dragon who tried to kill you. Dammit, I don't know what they want with me, but whatever it is, fuck them. They could have killed you."

Sabo grinned. "I honestly think they'd be too offended by your language to ever want you around them."

Ace laughed. "What? Do I not sound posh enough?"

"You are nowhere sophisticated enough to be considered a nobleman," Sabo said, with a high pitched voice that made Ace grin, but the amusement faded.

"I don't know what they want, Sabo, and the thought kind of scares me," Ace admitted reluctantly. "What if because of this they never stop hunting me? I'm putting you and Luffy in so much danger."

"We just have to get stronger," Sabo said firmly.

"A lot stronger to face those kind of problems," Ace said. "Mum only just managed to keep CP-0 off our backs long enough to get out of there, if she hadn't I'd probably already be on a ship to those assholes, like some little present."

"I guess we have a lot of training to do then." Sabo grimaced, then sighed. "Ace, I have some news to tell you. I've got my future planned out for the next few years while you're in North Blue. I mean, your mum kind of planned it for me, but still. I like it mostly."

Ace didn't like the plan, but it kind of suited Sabo in a weird way.

"But what about being a pirate?!" Luffy yelled, making them both screech.

Sabo almost went tumbling off the bed, but Ace managed to yank him back up just in time.

"Luffy! When did you wake up?" Sabo hissed.

"Shishishishishi, I've just been listening to Ace trying to be posh." Luffy grinned, as he sat up, but his grin fell and he gripped Ace's arm tightly. "And we won't let those dragons take you! We'll eat them!"

"They aren't the type of dragons you can eat, Luffy," Sabo sighed.

"I don't think you could eat any type of dragon anyway," Ace muttered.

"Sabo! What about being a pirate?" Luffy whined. "You said you wanted to be a pirate! I want you to join my crew-"

"Not happening." Sabo snorted. "And besides, if I want to be a pirate, I'll become one later. Right now though I want to save people from being enslaved. This Kingdom would have turned me into someone I'm not, and I bet it's like that for so many people out there in the world. I was saved by you two, and by Rouge. But some people might not have others like you guys to save them."

"So..." Ace hesitated. "When are you leaving?"

"I guess whenever we reach whatever land Rouge thinks is safe for you and Luffy to grow up on," Sabo said.

It felt too soon in Ace's opinion, even when they didn't know how long it would take to reach land. He didn't want Sabo to go, but being a Revolutionary sounded perfect for Sabo. Too perfect. Ace was content in being with his family and them being safe and happy, while Luffy wanted to make more friends and protect them like Shanks did for him. But Sabo? Sabo wanted to help everyone who needed it.

That was going to be a lot of people.

.::.

"I can't believe that we can't find Law!"

Kuzan sighed sleepily into his palm as he watched Donquixote Rosinante pace fretfully in their hotel room. Just shy of a year ago Rosinante had been discovered almost dead while on an undercover mission, with only some kind of magical energy shimmering over him that kept him alive. It had given Vice Admiral Tsuru time to get her medical team to his side and save his life. The moment Rosinante had been out of the danger zone the magic disappeared, returned to its owner.

The owner they now knew was Trafalgar Law, the last surviving witch of the Trafalgar clan. The others had been murdered in Flevance, which had made the Five Elders almost lose their minds. Kuzan had never seen Sengoku so pale when he reported it all on a den den mushi to the elders. For some reason they were extremely protective over head clan witches and wanted all of them alive.

Kuzan grimaced. No, not all, poor Nico Robin was wanted dead.

The Elders had ordered them to hunt down and capture Law, to bring him in alive and whole. Sengoku was adamant that they needed Rosinante's help to bring Law in, so they waited for him to recover from his near death experience.

It had take almost an entire year for Rosinante to recover, and now that he had they both had been sent out to retrieve Law and bring him to Marineford. Sengoku was hopeful that with Rosinante's help they could get Law to work for the Marines and let him have some freedom (and get to stay by Rosinante's side). If not though Kuzan would have to take him in by force, even if it meant Rosinante would turn against them.

Sengoku had stressed on Kuzan to not harm either of them. So he wouldn't. He'd just subdue the pair if need be, but hopefully Law was a chill kid. Probably not from what he had learned from Rosinante, but Kuzan was allowed to dream.

"He's probably deep in hiding since Doflamingo is also after him," Kuzan muttered.

Rosinante scowled. "I shouldn't have let you guys force me to take a long recovery. I should have just came back here immediately! Doflamingo's scouring North Blue for him because Law is a head witch and now had the Ope Ope ni mi. If he captures Law-"

"We'd know about it already," Kuzan reassured.

"Would we?" Roscinante scowled.

Kuzan grimaced. Not if Doflamingo kept Law locked up, but he didn't really wanna say that in front of Roscinante. Roscinante glared daggers at him though, so yeah, the spy probably had caught on to his line of thinking. Shit...

.::.

Law dozed on the beach while Shachi tried to fish. 'Tried' being the keyword. Penguin was trying too, but neither of them were having much success. Bepo was snuggled in beside Law as they watched the pair struggle with their fishing rods.

Wolf had kicked them out the house because of one of his experiments. Hopefully it turned out well and didn't explode again. Cleaning ash out of the house sucked.

"This sucks!" Shachi groaned, throwing his head back.

"At least it's warm today," Penguin said. "All the ice has finally melted so we can practise our fishing again."

"It's so boring," Shachi complained.

"Yeah, well-" Penguin paused, and Law opened his eyes to see what had silenced him. "Hey... Is that somebody in the water?"

"I dunno, it looks kinda small. Can't be a kid though, right?" Shachi said, peering out into the distance.

Law sat up and stared out as well. Huh, there was something small floating on the water. It looked like an inflatable ring that kids used to swim. It looked like a flamingo, and damn did the thought make Law grimace.

He knew Doflamingo's minions were out searching for him. Doflamingo was obsessed with head witches, and now that Law also had the ope ope no mi he was screwed. Law would forever have a stalker. The only relief he felt was that Cora-san was alive. It was tempting to go and reunite with him, but Cora-san was a Marine, and Law was quite content to avoid the Marines.

Cora-san would hopefully just move on with his life now and be a good Marine. One of the only ones sure, but maybe he could rub off on some of the others if possible.

"Don't you have binoculars, Shachi?" Penguin asked.

"Oh yeah!" Shachi grinned and dug them out of his bag. "Okay... Oh... Uh oh! That is a kid on it!"

Penguin choked. "What the hell is a kid doing on a float out here?!"

"I dunno, but he's been tied to it too," Shachi said.

"I can't stretch out my Room that far without passing out," Law admitted.

"I can go in?" Bepo offered, then bowed his head when they all looked at him. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologise for being helpful!" Penguin and Shachi yelled.

Law smiled. "That would be good, thank you, Bepo."

Bepo beamed. "No problem, Captain!"

He dove immediately into the water with a happy yell. Shachi and Penguin rolled their eyes and huffed.

"Show off," Shachi muttered.

"Bet we could swim that fast too if we were a bear," Penguin complained.

"Stop fussing the both of you." Law rolled his eyes.

Bepo didn't take too long to bring the kid out of the water, the kid was limp, groaning and wheezing, his straw hat dangling from his neck.

"What were you doing out there?" Shachi frowned as Bepo laid the kid down.

"T-Training..."

"Training?" Penguin startled. "For what? You obviously can't swim here! Go find a swimming pool!"

"Shadow lady's..." The kid groaned again. "So mean..."

"Shadow lady?" Shachi tilted his head.

Law shrugged. Shachi untied the kid from the float letting the kid stumble to his feet on wobbly legs.

"Y-Yeah." The kid nodded. "Shadow Lady is really strong and I want to be even stronger than her so I can become the Pirate King! Shishishishi!"

Law startled. This kid wanted to become the pirate king?

"Oi, that's ain't happening!" Shachi said, sticking his tongue out.

"Yeah, our future Captain is gonna be the pirate king."

Law blinked. "I'm what now?"

"You're gonna be pirates too?" The kid beamed.

"You bet we are." Shachi grinned. "We've got our ship all ready too, just gotta train up and get stronger to sail off first! And avoid a pink flying flamingo of death. That too."

Law sighed. "You're telling the kid a lot, Shachi."

"I'm not 'the kid'!"

"We don't know your name," Penguin pointed out. "I'm Penguin, chatterbox over here is Shachi, the bear who saved you is Bepo, and the guy who never sleeps is Law."

"Oi-" Law scowled.

"Shishishishi, I'm Monkey D. Luffy!"


Hello everyone, I have made a return! It might be a brief one, but hopefully not. So I'm trying my best to get more of my fanfics done, but right now my main priority is my own fantasy series that I am publishing. The first book The Wardens of Strar is already out (and has sold over 200 copies :D), and I'm planning to release its companion book (book 2) The Thieves of Brait, this year, so sadly it is leaving me less time to work on my fanfics. Thankfully one of them is now complete 'Calling For Home' (or well about to be) so now I'm just gonna try nudge out some more chapters of other stories while I can.

Hope you all enjoy, especially now that Luffy has found a Law and his growing Heart pirates in the wild!