Not as much delay as planned, I'm leaving my city for a couple of days so I'm not sure when I'll be able to post anything. I'll try to tho, just saying.
You guys are awesome keep the reviews going, it gives me motivation!

Review(s):

WhiteyWolf26: You're absolutely amazing and you make the story go way faster than planned haha.

And yeah they're a lively bunch and I'm going to try to keep it that way.

Garp will do his part no worries, or actually yes worries because it's Garp we're talking about, Coby will not expect what's coming for him.

I'm not telling about Nami but you're in for a couple of surprises ;)

As for the crew, well, they need to stick together because otherwise they will not get anywhere close to grand line. It's gonna be complicated but I'll stick the pieces together with some strong glue and determination, for now anyway.

buterflypuss, Smiley-Nami and Guest: Thank you so much for your kind words, you're giving me of courage to continue writing!

Ages reminder:
Luffy: 9
Ace: 12
Sabo: 12
Zoro: 11

~NN~

She landed on a deserted beach at dawn, exhausted but in one piece. Her boat wouldn't be able to sail anymore but she was safe and she was sure she arrived to the right island. She knew that the Oykot kingdom was big enough to be a called a small continent and she was hoping to find help here.

The rain was still pouring so she didn't dare taking the risk of checking her map. She wouldn't forgive herself if she damaged the precious item, she sighed removing the wet hair from her face.

The young girl didn't take that much supplies to come here, most of the food was already consumed and except for some navigation supplies and spare clothing she didn't take anything. There wasn't much to take anyways after…

She shook herself from her thoughts and went for cover. From where she was she could see a path probably leading to a village, that's where she would start her search.

~ ASL ~

The tavern was pretty animated this evening, Luffy spent the time after the fight getting thanked by villagers and stuff then they got taken care of for free by the doctor. It was interesting cause Luffy couldn't remember even visiting one before. Doc bandaged his arm and it hurt so so much when he poured the antiscep something, fortunately Ace wasn't here to see him cry like a baby. Sabo was but Luffy was way more worried when he saw how hurt he was on his stomach, the bruises were ugly to look at but the doctor was optimistic enough.

"Just don't move too much and you'll be fine, your other brother will need a couple of weeks to be healed thoroughly. The damage to his nose isn't too bad and it set back easily but his head was cracked pretty bad when he hit the floor."

That's why they couldn't leave yet despite the threat of Gramps looming on them as Sabo was reminding him. As he sat and ate after the doc left to take care of some hurt villagers, Luffy thought that endless free meals was a nice way to thank them.

"If your granpa is after us we will leave as soon as possible… If we're at sea he can't really know where we're going and can't find us". Sabo's words reminded him of something Mogi said before the fight.

"Mogi said his "three" grandsons, so you're part of his 'grandsons' too now? Guess he adopted you too shishishi" laughed Luffy and seeing Sabo horrified expression only laughed harder until he choked on his food. The blond was quick to slap it better and Luffy barely paused before getting another handful of meat down his throat.

Coby was animatedly talking to Ririka at the bar, apparently they were good friends now and Luffy was happy for him, he had more friends now here, and the whole city seemed pretty happy about them, even the Marines. Luffy had wondered if they knew they were pirates, he wanted to remind them but Sabo would punch him again if he did, it happened once when he told Ririka, he didn't want to get hit again. Even if later in the evening, Luffy promptly forgot not to tell their plans to leave the island to Ririka and Coby but she laughed. She wouldn't try to stop their thirst for adventure.

Coby told them he was going to stay with Ririka until he was able to join the Marines, Sabo had huffed that he didn't need to wait until he was of age but Coby explained.

"I want to be strong enough so they will have to take me in no matter how old I am! If I'm that good they won't have a choice!" He smiled brightly and he wasn't even stammering much anymore and Luffy was really happy for him, he needed to hug him again.

Leaving his food behind, minus what he already had in his mouth, he latched onto his embarrassed younger friend, he would miss him a lot but he was sure they'll see each other again when he'll come to chase after them. It was going to be great! He was looking forward to it!

~ RZ ~

Finding a weapon's shop was way harder than finding the clothing one and it had nothing to do with the way the town kept moving. He ended up asking at the inn (that he found around the corner for the third time) if they had anything of the sort. They, in fact, didn't but the owner knew an old woman who had a vast collection of swords she collected in her youth and Zoro found himself very reluctant in trying to find her.

"Lemme get you a map, she lives right next to the docks…" Despite knowing that it would be useless (people obviously didn't know how to make good maps) he accepted it and went to find her, but he didn't even get to the docks, getting lost in the forest for a couple of hours. That is until a young fisher named Hook found him and after getting a look at his map he accepted to lead him to the house of the woman.

"You're not from here are you? Why are you going to Baba's home? What are you doing in Cosko Island?" Was that the name of the island? Probably. Hook was way too energetic and questioning for the green haired's liking but he was helping him so he could indulge.

"Looking for swords. I'm a bounty hunter." Since yesterday Zoro didn't say but it was all the same to him and Hook laughed.

"Haha, careful Baba's not selling the merchandise unless you have lots of money. Maa, I didn't know bounty hunters started so young. Unfortunately for you there's not a lot of criminals around here, nothing to rob to be honest, they don't tend to stay long. Most bandits tend to gather around Shell Island or Roumba Island, one has an uncaring Marine presence while the other… Let's say it's not visited very often, since they removed it from maps a couple of years ago, there's rumors about a treasure but I wouldn't bet on it, people tend not to come back from Roumba." He must have been lucky with Jimmy then. He was surprised by his next words but not curious enough to ask about it but he needed to get to Shell Island if Hook was telling the truth.

"How do I get to Shell Island?"

Hook scratched the back of his blond head.

"Funny you asked, my uncle, a merchant, is going there in a couple of days, if he's paid he wouldn't mind taking you along, I mean if Baba hasn't robbed you blind."

.

Three hours later, Zoro weighted the metal in his hand, it took him more than an hour to find the right swords and at least twice the time negotiate. Not because he wanted to hold onto his money but because the old woman witch wanted to buy Wado Ichimonji from him, something that wouldn't happen before she took it from his cold dead hands. The whole ordeal had been annoying and embarrassing but Hook seemed to find it absolutely hilarious. Enough for Zoro having to resist his more violent urges, but he stopped himself because the other guy let him stay at his place until he could leave.

He had only a couple of hundred berrys left meaning he would barely be able to get enough to get either enough food or get his ticket for Shell Island with Hook's uncle. Maybe if he didn't eat he would be able to make it. What's a couple of days without food anyway, he'll be fine with water. All he wanted now was to finally get out of this shitty island.

~ ASL ~

Three days after liberating the island, during one of his visits to the clinic and when Coby expected it the least, Ace woke up and the first thing he asked for was food. Then when Coby lead him to the clinic's kitchen, all he did was inhaling it to an abominable rhythm. At least he wasn't choking on it too much.

"I mished fifteen mealsh!" He explained, his mouth full of bread and meat, wasn't that five meals per day?

Coby would never get used to it, even if he lived with Ace and his brothers for a couple of weeks. The younger boy told him what happened after he passed out after the fight without prompting. Despite Ace not stopping his eating speed, he knew his attention was on him when he told him that Morgan got his axe prosthetic confiscated and was imprisoned at the Marine base.

At least, thought Coby, the older teen seemed to be faring better than the deathly pallor Coby remembered when he fell. Ace looked fine now, even if he couldn't ignore the white band around his head, it twisted Coby's stomach something awful, and it had nothing to do with the way he ate his food this time.

"Also I uh… I wanted to a-apologi- I m-mean thank you for…"

"Sch-ave it." Ace cut him for the first time, looking at him with a more serious expression.

"That'sh what friendsh do." The pink haired didn't miss the small smirk the teen offered him and he felt incredibly happy about it.

"Alright." He answered with a wide smile of his own until he remembered something.

"O-oh and I have to warn you, Sabo and Luffy are going to kidnap you as soon as they see you. I think it has something to do with your Granpa-"

With a couple of muffled curse words Coby immediately wanted to forget, Ace ate even faster if it was possible. The younger boy thought about admonishing him for it but immediately gave up. Ace wouldn't listen to him but maybe he would to his brothers. He left Ace to his eating and went to tell the other ASL brothers that he was awake. He briefly wondered about the grandpa thing, he wasn't sure what it was about, the brothers obviously feared this figure and Coby decided he didn't want to know about it.

~ ASL ~

It was pretty late at night but the moonlight was shining on them clear as day. Ace and Sabo dragged a bag of food twice their size each in the streets. Luffy was holding on the bag of money he and Sabo stole from the Marine base while Ace had been sleeping. Usually Ace would be the one holding it but they swapped when Luffy tried to eat what was inside the bag while they were running. Unlike Ace and his head wound, Luffy and Sabo were practically healed, the blond was still careful about bending forward and the youngest was using his unhurt arm for the money but they were in good shape for sailing already. Ace still had a headache but he wouldn't admit it under torture, the doctor gave him some pills for his head and some narcolepsy pills when found Ace asleep in his food after Coby left. The Doc still cleared him for light exercise, even though the three of them ran away the same evening. Luffy missed it with his lightheadedness but Sabo noticed immediately how the town seemed to have decided they would live with them, that they were too young to sail and would probably have tried to keep them there. The streets were quite empty at this hour but once they got the ship they noticed two figures waiting next to their admittedly small ship.

"Coby?" asked Luffy with a wide smile and the pink haired waved at them. Next to him, Ririka was smiling, she seemed to be holding a bag of goods, Sabo checked, mostly non perishable foods. It didn't seem like they actually needed it but Sabo accepted it with a wide smile.

"It's to thank you again, even if you didn't do it on purpose, you saved our town." She kissed the three boy's foreheads. Both Sabo and Ace brushed brightly while Luffy offered her the brightest smile.

Ririka noticed the money Luffy was carrying but turned a blind eye, she owed them at least that. Coby on the other hand started a small lecture once Luffy told him where he got it.

"We're pirates Coby, you can try to arrest us when you're a Marine, too bad you're not one yet." teased Ace, the pink blinked and scratched the back of his head, he had a point, they were pirates, it wasn't like his lectures had any meaning to them.

"T-then I'll do it! I'll find you when I'm a strong Marine. I will be an Admiral!" Ace and Sabo smiled and embarked the food on the ship, while Luffy faced Coby with a proud smile.

"And I'll wait for you on the top! I'll be King of the Pirates! Shishishi" He laughed and jumped after Ace and Sabo, he almost fell but Sabo caught him by the elbow to prevent his brother from stumbling overboard.

Coby laughed and waved at them, tears pouring on his face, he would miss his first friends a lot.

He kept waving until they were out of sight. He and Ririka stayed a couple more minutes and the sun started rising on the horizon.

"Let's go home." she said and Coby nodded.

~ RZ ~

Hook had immediately caught on Zoro's diet and arranged things so the green haired kid could work on the ship for payment and Zoro accepted the deal. It was just some menial tasks anyway, carrying boxes, cleaning the floor, nothing hard really, and anything could be turned into training if he put his mind into it. (He wasn't asked to clean the floor again after the first time, weirdly enough).

The merchant ship was still quite impressive, he'd never been on one this big, with more than a dozen of sailors leading it.

They've been traveling for two days from Maugre Island when Zoro got a very bad feeling in his gut. He was holding some rope he was told not to let go and he looked around. It didn't look like it had anything to do with the ship itself, or even with the crew.

Zoro watched the ocean, the sea was pretty calm, the wind blowing the ship forward easily so why was he so…

"Thanks Zoro-kun, could you please go help Cook-san with…" His next words were completely silenced with a scream from the crow's nest.

"P-PIRATES! PIRATES ARE FOLLOWING US."

Zoro tensed, his hands reflexively going to his sides but they only caught empty air. The green haired cursed just as the sailors started panicking, while Zoro went to the cabin to get his swords.

When he came back to the main deck he saw the pirate ship, the dark flag with the Jolly Roger was unmistakable, it was a strange variation with a sideways Shark skull instead of a human one. Their ship was also much smaller and faster than the vessel he was in, meaning there was no way to get out of this without a fight. As the first cannonball hit the ship, he slid Wado Ichimonji between his teeth and prepared to fight. What else was there to do anyway?