By the way if there's any free beta readers out here for this story out here I'm interested.

Ages reminder:
Luffy: 9
Ace: 12
Sabo: 12
Zoro: 11
Nojiko: 13

Sabo was studying the maps, trying to figure out which island they got lost in when he saw the innocent pill bottle, laying there, at the periphery of his vision. He blinked once, twice, then cursed under his breath.

Ace hadn't taken his medication with him, actually he was pretty sure his brother didn't take his pills since at least the night before. It always been Sabo who prompted him to take them, Ace wasn't used to them yet. They were pretty efficient against his cataplexy, reducing it none while his narcolepsy lowered to only once in the last couple of days. But without his medication… Sabo cursed again, frowning on the map and making his decision. He didn't know which island they landed on, they drifted off south-west but despite his precise calculations, there was no island there, the map didn't show anything for some unfathomable reason. That or his calculations were really disrupted by the storm in which case they might be in Cosko, an island with a Marine presence. Wasn't that unlucky?

Ace might be in danger without knowing it and Sabo took the bottle of pills before leaving the ship. The tidying would have to wait until Ace and Luffy were safe and sound and Sabo got the occasion to punch them both to the face. He had no idea how those two could survive without him, really.

~ RZ ~

"No." answered Zoro without missing a beat, he wasn't one hundred percent sure what the kid wanted but he knew he wanted no part in it.

"Why?!" Whined the kid, his mouth still misshapen, full of apples.

"Listen I don't even know your name…" He was cut mid-sentence.

"Hi I'm Luffy, join my crew!" Zoro groaned.

"I'm Zoro and no thanks." He was hoping Luffy's full mouth would keep him from talking but he was very quickly disappointed, dodging the apple pieces the younger kid was sputtering.

"C'mon, I need a firsht mate otherwig' Ashe gonna find one firsht." He mumbled and Zoro sighed, he wasn't even sure what the other was talking about. Was he some kind of adventurer? He asked.

"Oh no, I'm a pirate! I'm going to be the Pirate King!" Then Luffy promptly choked on a piece of apple and Zoro panicked slightly, not expecting that and helped him with a maneuver he was taught back at the dojo.

"Shishi thanksh." Luffy swallowed and Zoro wondered how he managed to swallow one full apple so easily but didn't ask this time.

"I'm a bounty hunter, I can't be a pirate." Added Zoro, leaning his head on his hand, munching on another piece of meat.

"Don't care, you can still be a pirate !" He could see Luffy drooling when he looked at his food but he didn't try to go for the meat this time, even if he would have allowed him.

"No I don't. Do you even have a pirate ship?" Zoro wasn't all that surprised that kid nodded, he must have arrived on this island from somewhere, he was pretty certain there was no other child in the entire island, except for Zoro.

"Yeah and my brothers and I are all captains!" He smiled widely and Zoro blinked, slightly amused. He wondered where his brothers were, they were in for a bad time if they went to the village.

"And you want me to join you guys without asking them?" Luffy shook his head, morphing his young face into a more serious expression.

"No, don't need 'cause you're joining my crew, not Sabo's or Ace's." Oh his name was Ace, not Ashe thought Zoro then made a face at Luffy's affirmation.

"I'm not joining your crew kid."

"Don't call me kid, I'm like the same age as you!" Zoro raised an eyebrow, starting to get amused in spite of his reluctance. He signed him to continue.

"I'm 9!"

"11" smirked Zoro watching Luffy's face redden with embarrassment until he saw Luffy starting to laugh. It was contagious and he barely realized he was chuckling until he did, how did the kid even-

"What's your dream? You're a cool guy, it must be amazing!" said Luffy suddenly and with such seriousness Zoro was once again caught by surprise, he went from a light-hearted subject to one serious one in a second.

"I will be the greatest swordsman." he said slowly, meaning every word.

"Shishishi that's perfect, the King of the Pirates will need the strongest companions!"

"I didn't say I would join your crew." Said Zoro but it was getting more and more difficult to say those words, who the hell was this kid?

~ ASL ~

At the end of second tunnel, he saw the light of a campfire next to the entrance leading outside. The rain had stopped and his young brother was sitting with a stranger who was cooking his meat. Ace must have taken the other entrance then, Sabo sighed.

Surprisingly enough, Luffy wasn't eating any of the meat.

The other kid didn't look much older than himself and to his dismay, he still looked taller than him, well that was unfair. He had the weirdest green hair he'd ever seen, way lighter than Makino's. He was wearing some white shirt and a kind of dark colored scarf around his stomach. But the main thing he noticed were the three swords strapped to his hip, good quality weapons as far as he could tell.

"Sabo!" yelled Luffy happily, seeing his brother coming from the cavern as well. Sabo smiled at him then met the eyes of the stranger. His gaze was serious but he didn't look like he hurt Luffy in any way.

"Hey hey it's Zoro and he's going to be my first mate!" said Luffy with absolute certainty.

"No I won't" grumbled the other with a higher voice than expected, he was young. And his complaint was only half hearted, had Luffy won him over already? He shouldn't be surprised seeing how fast the shy Coby warmed up to him. Sabo just laughed and shrugged.

"I see, please take care of my young brother." He winked at Zoro who just sighed this time, not even trying to defend his claim anymore.

"Have you seen Ace, he went looking for you." He then said to Luffy who frowned and shook his head.

Sabo sighed slightly worried but not as much as when Zoro intervened.

"He shouldn't wander alone, people here are either bandits or lunatics, just saying."

Sabo's worry absolutely spiked.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't know? It's Roumba, the Forbidden Island."

He blinked, it wasn't on the map for sure. He couldn't wait for Ace to get into some kind of trouble, he had to find him now.

"Eh, does that mean that we're going to fight?!" said Luffy, way more excited that he should be, Sabo sighed not even bothering to contradict him while Zoro gave the younger boy a weird glance then continued his explanation.

"Well, I met the people around, something happened years ago and the villagers think their God is mad at them or something and want to find children and offer them to it."

Sabo thought something really bad must have happened if it was to the point of erasing the island from the maps.

"That's why you're hurt?" Asked Luffy innocently and Sabo looked at the green haired who brought his hand to the dark band around his belly.

"How do you even know that" Zoro mumbled to him. Luffy frowned and explained to him that Zoro looked in pain the whole time so he just knew.

"No it wasn't them, that was from pirates when I arrived, that's why I wasn't able to leave. The only boats that come here are from a group of bandits. They call themselves the Wolves but I wasn't able to… Anyway, this island is where they stack their treasure, it's well guarded" The young man looked defeated in Sabo's eyes but he decided to let him deal with his own demons.

"Okay then, you should both stay here" At Sabo's words, Luffy immediately protested.

"You're not going alone! If we lost Ace you're gonna get lost too." Sabo ruffled Luffy's hair reassuringly.

"I'll have Ace with me, and do I have to remind you, your friend here is hurt…"

Zoro suddenly stood up.

"I'm perfectly fine, we're coming with you. I've been there for two days already. And I have a score to settle with the bandits." He frowned and Sabo sighed, Luffy was smiling widely at Sabo, he won.

"Okay I guess. Guide us to the village."

~ ASL ~

Ace was progressively getting more and more pissed.

"LUFFY!" He screamed again to the apparently empty forest. He wasn't quite sure how he ended up in one when he left the cavern but he was still relatively sure how to get back, whenever he found Luffy of course. The young man was still exhausted and the small nap he took earlier only made him more tired and eager to go back to the ship to sleep but he just couldn't bear idea of leaving Luffy behind.

"LUFFY WHERE ARE YOU?!" He yelled again, unknowingly getting the wrong kind of attention.

His path lead to a weirdly empty village, it looked quite disheveled but most doors still seemed in use and everything was locked. The silence was creeping him out, if Luffy was around...

Suddenly, he could feel the usual drowsiness he felt before a narcolepsy attack. He stumbled and resisted it, he wasn't safe, he was in the middle of a…

He fell to the ground, snoring and his pursuers looked at each other with surprise. That was way easier than expected.

~ C ~

The next couple of days were pretty peaceful in Coby's opinion. He was living his best life, so proud and overjoyed to be able to be so close to his idols, they were nice and actually respected the justice they were supposed to represent. He was really relieved and so so eager to become a Marine.

He was questioned along with Ririka about the ASL's disappearance but he easily lied about not knowing. The rumor that they were actual pirates spread for a while (someone must have seen their departure and flag) but nothing was confirmed and they weren't suspected. Meaning he would be able to join the Marines without suspicions, at least until they were recognized as pirates but even then linking him to them would be hopefully less likely. They were nice people, Coby believed in it, they wouldn't get a bounty any time soon, he hoped so, he really did.

Once the pink haired gathered the courage to ask a Marine to teach him how to fight (which admittedly took two whole days until Ririka literally pulled him in front of one) he found himself extremely busy. He might have underestimated how grateful the Marines and the city was in general and the kind Marines accepted his requests. His first lessons were about when to fight, as a civilian kid, he wasn't supposed to pick fights with anyone unless he was absolutely certain there was no authority who could help around. Despite their apparent uselessness, Coby took them very seriously and engraved them to memory. He was then showed how to strengthen himself, the exercices he should do, the sames Marine apprentices were taught. Coby spent entire days working on them, going as far as he could before he fell exhausted.

Once or twice he saw Helmeppo watching him but didn't know what to tell him. The other boy wasn't charged for anything of his father's crimes and was even pitied by some inhabitants having seen what happened at the plaza.

Then one morning, Helmeppo followed him silently and copied his exercices and Coby couldn't help his smile. He knew the kid wasn't completely rotten, he sincerely wanted to be a Marine too and it made the pink haired really glad to have someone who shared that with him.

One morning, an actual Vice Admiral arrived to the island with the loudness and the strength of a thousand elephants. There was no way Coby was able to miss the huge bulky old man.

Vice Admiral Garp was a renown Hero, he was famous for capturing hundreds of pirates including the king of the pirates himself and bringing him to the Marines to get arrested. And yet, he was absolutely nothing like Coby would have imagined. Twenty seconds after being brought to Morgan's old office to be questioned, the door closing behind them, Garp the Hero fell asleep on the office table.

Coby stared, he stared for a whole minute, questioning his short life, why was he even there? He didn't have to wait that long in the end.

Pop.

"Uh, what was I saying?" The man mumbled, wiping the spit from his chin.

"Oh right! Where did my grandsons go?!" He looked straight at Coby with a much more serious expression, his earlier absentmindness vanishing completely. The young boy blanched but the question barely registered in his mind. Who was he even talking about?

"Hu-uh? S-sorry S-sir, I-I m-mean C-captain… Wh-who?"

"My grandsons!" The Vice Admiral said louder, making Coby's limbs shake uncontrollably. "Luffy, Ace, Sabo! Where are they?"

Then it clicked in Coby's mind.

Vice-Admiral Garp promised a nice sum and a reputation for the one who would capture his grandsons...

Oh oh, it was him. He could barely remember what happened back then during the fights and he couldn't remember much with the sheer terror that Morgan's presence brought him until now. That explained why Ace, Sabo and Luffy were such in a hurry to leave the island, their grandpa was after them. Their grandpa, the Vice admiral Garp, grandpa.

Coby's head span and he stared at the man again, now understanding the question but being unable to open his mouth and answer. They were his friends, if he told the man… He would go after them. He was one of the strongest marines he would definitely catch… Luffy, Ace Sabo, could he really betray them?

"I-I c-cannot say, S-sir" He said lowly, almost whimpering, closing his eyes to keep himself from regretting it. The silence filled the room.

"You can't say?" Asked a colder voice and Coby gulped and shook his head. Another silence filled the room, the Vice Admiral's intent so thick Coby could feel it and he didn't dare breathing anymore. Then it stopped and the Vice Admiral's next words surprised him.

"I heard you wanna be a Marine." Coby nodded with his head. "If you tell me where they are I'll pull some strings and make sure you get into a nice position in a couple of years. What d'ya think?"

Coby bit his lip, it was… it was what he always dreamed of. He wiped some snot from his nose.

I will be the King of the Pirates! - That's for insulting Coby's dream! - What about this, me and my brothers take you to the next island?

Coby's eyes filled with tears and lowered his head. Luffy, Ace, Sabo...

"I-I a-apologize, I-I c-can't." They're my friends he thought but didn't say, they were his first friends and he couldn't bear the idea of betraying them so easily. Suddenly Coby heard voices outside the room, a kids voice, it was Helmeppo, he was calling for him.

"I guess I don't have a choice then. You win kid. Bwahahahaha…"

Coby turned his attention back to the laughing man, Garp was way closer to him than he expected.

"Hahaha, alright, you're coming with me."

"Huh?"

He caught Coby by the back of the shirt, like a lost kitten and walked out of the room. Helmeppo was there and he paled seeing the situation his friend was in. As Garp walked out and the guards attention was away from him, the blond followed them.

I never planned such a long section on Coby's life, I don't know how it happened but I might have just missed him a lot hah.

Serious question here. Are you guys actually interested in Coby and Garp's povs? I mean they have a purpose but they are pretty isolated from the main plot. I could just as well make a summary when they actually become relevant to the ASL Pirates or do I continue to tell their shenanigans as they search for the kids? What do you think?

Review are the fuel that make this story happen.

See ya!