I was surprised how well the first chapter was received, not a lot of reviews but enough followers to motivate and I wouldn't want yo disappoint you guys. Here's the new chapter before I leave for vacation, hope you like it!

The weather was rather calm and the two eldest brothers were sitting on the main deck.

"You say we're out of food" mumbled Ace, his face pouting at the empty barrel.

"Yeah we are, I wonder who ate all the rations I asked to keep for today." shrugged Sabo in a tired voice even though it was a lie. Ace and Luffy did eat the last barrel last night, but Sabo managed to save the equivalent of three meals the day before, mostly dry meat and other non-perishables. He hid them in a secret cupboard near the helm. They will probably need the emergency rations one day with those two hungry dogs. If his calculations were right they should arrive by the next morning, they'll live until then. He had this responsibility to keep them alive with enough food because neither Luffy nor Ace would be able to keep the food stocks without stealing some for themselves. Greedy pigs.

Life on the ship with his brothers was way different than back at the forest, Sabo had to use up way more restraint and maturity than ever before and it was slowly getting to him. He couldn't wait to arrive to their first island. Ace seemed to have noticed his bad mood and offered him a smile.

"I'll have you know, Luffy ate almost as much as me." This sentence somehow got a laugh out of Sabo despite his initial annoyance.

"You don't need to sound so proud you rascal, now we don't have anything until tomorrow."

Luffy jumped from the head of the ship, having heard their conversation.

"No food?!" He whined and then he was making his best puppy face at the blond but unfortunately for him, Sabo was fully immune to it by now.

"Puppy eyes won't help the situation Lu. " He mumbled pushing Luffy's face away with his palm, he wasn't using the rations until they were truly desperate.

"We will need to buy some food with the money I have left (stolen) from Goa. It's really too bad we don't have the treasure anymore."

"All burnt" nodded Ace. They both sighed sadly while Luffy kept pushing his face against Sabo's to try to get him to give up the food he smelled they had with his puppy eyes.

"We need to fool the people at the harbor into thinking we're adults, any ideas?" added Sabo, trying to distract Luffy from food so he wouldn't be so insistent.

"We could pretend we have a guardian in the cabins and he's sick?" said Ace, it almost sounded reasonable, but a bit too suspicious seeing how small their ship was.

"Hey we could use our old disguise! Y'know, like back in Dawn Island!" exclaimed Luffy.

Ace snorted at that.

"No way! Who would believe that? We didn't use this technique since we were 10, no way. It's stupid."

Sabo thought about it and then looked at Ace with a huge smile.

"Actually…"

~ ASL ~

Sabo sat on Ace's shoulders, quite comfortable. As the three of them would make a too tall adult, they decided only Ace and Sabo needed the disguise. Luffy would be their shy "nephew" who was instructed not to say anything. Or at least he should be when he stopped giggling.

"Why ..." complained Ace, his voice muffled by the fabric.

"Luffy could carry you but he has no sense of balance, and can you imagine him having to talk?" Ace grimaced at Sabo's wise words.

"So why are doing the top half?"

"Oh look we're arrived, keep silent." He could hear Ace's curses and muffled his laugh, it wasn't the moment.

The harbor was fortunately mostly empty this morning and they were actually left mostly alone once they paid the fee for the stay to the old man who kept the harbor this night.

"Welcome to the Humming Isles" He mumbled, barely looking at them. They were on the biggest island from the small Archipelago and they wouldn't need to visit the others.

Once they were in the city, they removed the disguise and set up their plans. Ace agreed with Sabo that the dark haired brother would be the one keeping Luffy's share, this one having no sense of money and would stay with him.

"Don't get out of my sight, Luffy" mumbled Ace, taking his wrist and pulling him along.

They needed supplies before they could leave the island.

~ RZ ~

His ship was drifting around and there was nothing he wanted to do about it. It has been only a couple of weeks since he left the dojo and thinking about it brought a very sour taste to his mouth. Kuina was dead and he could do nothing about, nothing but keep their promise.

"...to become the best swordsman in the world!"

Roronoa Zoro rolled around, staring at the wood of his boat. After her death he… he might have been too quick to lose his temper, he might have uselessly fought every single student and adult in the dojo and won, all the adults except for one.

"I'm not fighting a grieving child." said the emotionless voice of his master, Kuina's father.

The green haired kid looked at the dark cloudy sky, it was still the middle of the day but too dark for the sun to poke through. He closed his eyes. It's been already four days and he was getting hungrier and hungrier, the rain from the day before calmed his thirst but he still wanted food. He started to regret leaving the dojo so early, how was he supposed to find money at eleven years old?

Suddenly his boat stumbled against something, the boy stood up to look at what was going on. White sails, it looked like a merchant's ship, taking his small bag of belongings he decided to climb on it with the idea of food in mind. Luckily no one seemed to notice the discreet small swordsman and he was able to find some barrels of fruits and fish. He feasted gladly, things were looking up.

~ ASL ~

Sabo poked at the kid's cheek, it seemed to be efficient enough at waking him up from the shock. It was really weird, he thought, he was too used to Luffy's resilience, now he met a normal kid and accidentally pushed him to the ground.

"Are you okay?" He asked as the pink head rose up from the floor. Yup, he was totally crying, Sabo sighed and helped gathering the kid's belongings that fell on the floor, a fishing rod, some clothing and… a pouch full of coins. Sabo thought about it then gave everything back to the pink head. He felt like he was above robbing a child… unless he was a brat but the kid stayed silent, still sniffing, not a uppity noble then, he was done.

"Okay you look okay enough, see ya." said Sabo, his kindness quota was empty and he had stuff to do.

"W-wait!" said the kid, quickly wiping his face with a tissue and followed him.

"S-sorry I-I er…" Sabo stared and waited.

"I… Can I….Y-you're not from around here, are you? I-I want to leave for the sea!" He said, his voice sounding determined enough but his expression showed that he wasn't quite believing his own words. Sabo smiled, amused, the kid wanted a friend, he could do friend, he started walking again pulling him along, he could be a nice distraction.

"Really? That's pretty cool! What's your name, I'm Sabo."

His answer gave the pink kid enough confidence to answer him without stuttering.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Coby".

~ ASL ~

"Fooooood~"

"Lemme go Lu'! We're almost there." They just finished buying most supplies they needed and Luffy just remembered he was really hungry. And Ace was too he decided, he kind of guessed Sabo hid some food on the ship but decided to let him deal with the stocks, he would trust him to keep them alive. Ace knew he himself couldn't really to resist the temptation.

"We're gonna get food but we're not paying got it? Dine 'n dash, remember?" He said cheekily, bodily pulling Luffy's body away from his, the rubber boy still stuck to him nodded happily until the sight of a restaurant caught his attention. Ace obviously hadn't bothered telling those plans to Sabo but he was certain his blond brother would appreciate his considerations for their finances and hopefully be done with his groceries by the time they were done eating. Otherwise… Well they'd have to run fast.

~ ASL ~

"Y-yes! I want t-to be a marine!"

Sabo raised an eyebrow, that was unexpected. For a kid that young he was pretty ambitious. He wasn't that sure they took in children that young, so he wondered.

The blond also found the irony absolutely hilarious, he wondered if he should tell him he was a pirate.

"Why?" Sabo asked Coby.

"B-because I want to be a hero, I don't want to be just a fisher like my dad…"

"A hero uh? Good luck buddy you need to be a lot stronger. But there's no Marine bases on this Archipelago if I recall." He chose these islands for a reason.

Coby nodded negatively.

"I have a bit of m-money and I want to buy a fishing boat to get to another island."

"Do you even know how to navigate?" Sabo asked.

Cobys cheeks brightened, getting a laugh out of Sabo again.

"I uh… I'll f-figure it out" he looked like the thought of it would make him pass out.

"What about this, me and my brothers take you to the next island and you give us your money."

"Uh? You have a ship? But you're so young!"

Sabo laughed again at his expression, what a fun kid. He was about to answer when he saw something flying straight at him.

Sabo wasn't fast enough to dodge and got hit. Fortunately the bushes behind him softened his fall, he realized what the thing was, it was a Luffy cannonball.

"Luffy?! What the f-"

"Hey Sabo hey, Ace said we need to run! Hi pink dude!" The young boy said to them, still sprawled on his brother.

"Uh… Hello uh-" Coby started but was cut by the blond.

"Ace said what?! What did you do?"

"Uh we got some food but we didn't pay and they got unhappy. Ace is losing them let's run to the ship!" Luffy laughed standing up already and Sabo sighed heavily then looked at Coby.

"My proposition still stands."

The pink haired hesitated but Luffy didn't give him more time to answer and took his wrist.

"Lets go!" He started to run, Sabo following them closely. It looked like Luffy took a liking to the new kid too.

~ ASL ~

Ace was still running in the streets, these people were surprisingly resilient more than the ones in Goa anyways. Since they didn't have a marine base, they still had their own trained militia meaning he had a dozen of men in uniform after him.

He could only hope Luffy was able to warn Sabo in time so they would be able to leave immediately.

Ace turned around another building and jumped on some boxes over a wall and then brought the boxes down with his foot. This should slow them down enough. Unfortunately a member of the militia apparently knew the streets better than him and appeared in front of the street he was heading to but he was able to bring the man down by hitting him right between the legs. He winced internally but he didn't show any mercy, better not be caught by those guys so early in his trip.

He got to the harbour in time to see their ship departing and jumped on board, letting his bag full of food and supplies fall to the floor. Sabo was undocking the ship and Luffy was talking to a pink haired kid, a stray he wondered. He'd have to ask his brothers later but now they needed to go asap.

Ace climbed on the mast, they were smart enough to tie the sails and the flag this morning so no one knew they were pirates, now though, Ace unfurled them happily, showing their ASL flag on a black background, Ace drew it himself and was proud of it.

"Lets go!" Screamed Luffy full of joy, the other kid though was white with fear looking at their flag.

"You're PIRATES?!"

~ ASL ~

"You didn't say y-you were pirates!" He stammered accusingly at Sabo. The blond barely paid attention and smiled.

"You didn't ask."

Coby suddenly realized something important.

"I-I was kidnapped by pirates…" pint sized pirates, he thought to himself, barely able to breathe.

Luffy, as he told him earlier, was laughing heartily at him but honestly didn't look all that threatening for a kidnapper but Coby was eight years old, he was still a child and was terrified. Mostly of the dark haired teen who was walking towards him and glaring.

"Aiiiii d-don't kill me p-please!"

He passed by him and pulled Luffy by his cheek.

"What kind of stray kid did you bring Luffy?"

"Aaafe s'no my faul- Fabo'v faul" the mean teen looked at Sabo.

"It was a business proposal for money. What about what you did? How did you get the whole militia after you?"

Suddenly the dark hair kid let Luffy go and looked pretty sheepish with a small smile on his face.

"Er… we wanted to go to a restaurant but they didn't let us so we went in anyways and stole some food." He pointed the huge round bag laying on the floor. Sabo sighed and before he knew it, Coby was witnessing the two teens arguing on the deck.

"Hey hey pink head." Luffy poked his cheek and he turned to look at him.

"I'm Coby…" he whispered still worried about the teens behind him.

"Yeah whatever pink head, why are you here?"

Coby blushed at the absurd question.

"You're t-the one who…"

"No no, why'd want to come with us?" Coby's anger cooled immediately and he stammered to give an answer and the more he waited the closer the other kid got.

"I-I want to b-be a marine! The best one!" He added vehemently, his face was bright red but he was happy he was able to get it out even if he risked the mean teen's wrath. Luckily he seemed to still fighting Sabo.

"That's so cool!" Said Luffy and Coby stared at him, not expecting that answer.

"I'm going to be the King of the Pirates! We have a matching dream, pink head!" the kid said, setting his straw hat back on his head.

"M-matching? That's not… And I'm still Coby" he mumbled still taken aback from Luffy's words. Luffy didn't seem to hear him, distracted by the bag of food next to the other teens. He stretched on hand to catch a cooked chicken leg and munched on it.

"Aiiiii! How did you do that?!"

"That? I'm a rubber man, I ate the rubber fruit!"

"You WHAT?"

I changed Coby's motivations kind of, him wanting to be a marine and his dad not appoving. Sorry no Alvida, I'm not sure she's even a pirate just yet. Also his dad is alive but he's not going to be relevant, his son planned to run away anyway so yeah.

Some Zoro action happening, you can guess who will be the first crewmate. I'm not sure about adding all the strawhats just yet (Usopp seems pretty fine by himself) so I'm thinking about it and accepting any ideas you might have about other characters (I might even add Law for the heck of it).

Please do leave some reviews and I might just get the next chapter faster.

See ya !