The adventure continues, writing is kind of hard along with my job. I also have way too many project to manage which makes me want to scream but otherwise doing well.

Thank you coffee for giving me the strength to finish the chapter!

Enjoy and please leave reviews, I need them to continue writing!

Ages reminder
Luffy: 9
Ace: 12
Sabo: 12
Zoro: 11
Nojiko: 13
Coby: 8
Deuce: 14

Chapter 17

~ D ~

Ace and Deuce decided to solve the diamond problem first to be done with it. They took their time exploring around the city before finding the shady area they were looking for. Maybe the coat and the stilts were a little too much but no one bothered the two of them in the dark alley. Maybe it was because it was quite empty, most of the population, even from the shadiest part, decided to enjoy the Festival.

They went through numerous shops to sell their raw stones, not all of them accepted to buy but they got a solid amount of money from each diamond, way more than Deuce expected. Eventually, Ace, on Deuce's shoulders, seemed to have found a final ominous jewelry shop that would be enough for the last four of their filstful of diamonds.

Ace's deepened voice had seemed unreal to Deuce until he realized that it probably wasn't the first time he was pretending to be an adult. The older teen was pretty certain there was no way he would be able to pull that off himself.

The shopkeeper was an old, short-sighted, sick looking man that barely even glanced at them, focusing immediately on their stones. They only had a small handful of the precious rocks left but the shopkeeper seemed to be making some pleased noises the longer he looked at the diamonds.

"Mmh I see, and you would like to sell them to me, right sir?"

"Yes, hurry up old man, I have better things to do!" said deeper-voice-Ace, sounding angry but the man simply scratched his beard and put the last of them down.

"Unfortunately, these are not pure invaluable stones, I see a tint of red erm… I can one give you a million or so berrys for the whole bunch sir. I really can not do more."

Ace, not being the most masterful negotiator, simply agreed, that was already way more than they expected. Either this man didn't know what he was doing or, most likely, they were scammed by the three previous shopkeepers. Well it didn't matter much, they just left with the money. It was time to go to the Academy to introduce the aspiring doctor but it was still early enough, and Deuce easily enticed his captain with food that made their tongues blue. Deuce didn't want to go yet, as much as he wanted to become a Doctor, leaving his captain so soon after meeting him… He felt like he would be forgotten, that if he left now, he'd miss out on so many adventures, the feeling was terrible and he was truly unable to decide.

At least, Ace was enjoying himself a lot, jumping from place to place in between games and different foods, sharing some of his enthusiasm to Deuce. Ace even used some of their money to buy fireworks and Deuce didn't have the heart to convince him otherwise. He was hoping Sabo would be able to reason with him so they didn't burn down the ship.

Later in the morning, they climbed on the roof of a colorful building, able to witness the whole plaza's festivities and sat on the chimney. Deuce wasn't especially scared of heights and climbing all the way up here was easy but… yeah he could imagine falling from those red tiles would hurt.

~ ASL ~

The young woman was laughing softly at the spectacle before her. The smallest child was eating his weight in food with such regal, she couldn't help but be a little flattered that he liked her cooking so much. The older child was sternly watching the youngest one with an expression of disapproval but she could see a small smile creeping its way on his face. All in all, she was quite surprised at their appearance in the fields, not a lot of tourists wandered around there.

"Where are you parents?" She asked, maybe she could call them with her snailphone.

"G'Pa sha' marine sho d'nno" mumbled the small one through his food and before she could process the answer he swallowed the last bite of bread and smiled widely at her. The other just sighed, before he could even open his mouth, he was interrupted by the dark haired one.

"It's delicious! I'm Monkey D. Luffy! What's your name?" He was quite loud, and she wasn't used to this much noise inside her home. It was silent for a long time now, even with her latest visitor…

"My name is Camille, I'm a blue dye farmer." She smiled, she was the only one left with this profession in this country, her family gone in the rebellion. Her business was not doing especially well these days but the new state did not forbid her to continue her traditional practices even though she would probably be the last considering her daughter was… gone as well. Pulling herself away from her thoughts, she opened the door to the workshop to show them her work and they seemed interested enough. The flowers needed to be treated with special products at a very specific temperature to be able to dye fabrics with this vibrant blue.

As she started to sell to the merchants outside of the kingdom she was able to sell a little more fabric than before.

There was a knock at the door and she jumped, she wasn't waiting for any visitors and she feared the country's agents were here again.

"Please hide in the workshop, I'll be right back alright?" Before the kids could answer, she closed the door and took a tranquilizing breath to open the door. At her surprise, it wasn't an agent but a familiar little girl hiding beneath blue clothing.

~ ASL ~

Deuce followed Ace carefully, being way less at ease with the heights than the dark haired boy. The older boy clearly wanted to talk to his captain but Ace was very oblivious to any attempt at conversation, too intrigued by the city before him, staing out loud interesting places.

"This tower's huge! What if we climbed up there?, Nah actually, it's too far…"

Ace hummed, watching the colorful rooftops and the white castle, he didn't really have words for it, the pale colors looked vivid when compared to the castle and he loved being so high up. It made him forget the feeling of betrayal Sabo made him feel last night. Ace was a little tired and despite his medicine he was a little drowsy. Deuce cleared his throat loudly, finally getting Ace's attention off the beautiful view from the building and waking him from his tired state.

"Ace I… I need to tell you something." Ace was curious and mildly concerned about Deuce's tone but the older boy continued, scratching his cheek.

"I don't want to be a doctor anymore." The pain, the fresh pain brought by Sabo's words last night was back and Ace's face turned into a betrayed expression he couldn't stop.

"You-" started Ace, feeling like cold lava was creeping down his veins. Deuce's reaction though was unexpected.

"I-I-I-I mean!" Deuce cut him off, talking very quickly.

"The-job-is-very-difficult-and-I-dont-want-toleave-you-guys! I- What-if-I-fail-or-something-happens-to-you-guys-and"

"Wait" Ace cut him, his expression calming down, his thoughts racing. The feeling in his throat was still there but it was slowly calming down.

"You don't want to leave the crew?" Deuce blinked, seeming taken aback by the question.

"Of c-course not! I want to stay, that's why I- I can't be a doctor now, I'll be a doctor later, I'll-study-on-the-ship!Whoneedsteacherswhen-" Ace put his hand on Deuce's mouth, smiling, with relief. His other hand scratched his head, calming down finally. The cyan haired boy finally stopped talking and Ace continued.

"It's okay, we'll buy you all the medicine books so you can learn and maybe someday when we're bigger you'll be ready to go, it would just be a- see you later" Ace's voice dropped at the end he remained silent for a little bit, thinking about Sabo's situation. It wasn't a good bye forever, Sabo wanted Freedom, if Ace was against it… How could Ace put himself in front of Sabo's dreams?

Deuce put his hand on Ace's shoulder, getting him out of his thoughts, the cyan haired teen's eyes a little shiny from tears under his mask.

"Yeah! And until then nothing will make me leave the crew, I swear! I'll be forever your first mate"

"Yeah." The captain smiled, staying silent for a little bit, enjoying the feeling of having a new person to protect.

Deuce was about to say something but they heard a commotion down the street but it was too far to see. They looked at each other, and nodded, their situation was resolved and with their luck it could be Luffy, Zoro or even Sabo getting in trouble again. They climbed down the building and listened to the guards talking to people in the plaza. The guards said they were looking for a blond thief kid. They looked at each other again and Ace sighed as the guard left.

"It is really hard to be a big brother around here."

"You think he's okay?" asked Deuce as they left on the plaza.

"Of course, it's not a couple guards that are going to stop him, he's probably back on the ship, we got what we need, it's maybe time to bail out of here." Ace smiled and they started walking back to the ship, their bags of money on their shoulders.

~ NM ~

Thirty-seven done, only sixty three left.

A beautiful day, a stolen book, a wanted possession, a big mistake.

Her hand was shaking and she lifted it from the paper. She had to remind herself that she liked this, she loved drawing maps. She checked over the details twice, she was certain it was right then set it on the growing pile.

Her eyes hurt a lot, salty and gross "You need to see the map I draw of the world!"

It was slowly becoming the most excruciating task in her life but she chose this over letting the village fall. It was okay, it was going to be okay. She chose this, and worked for him willingly.

"Make sure you fulfill your dreams" the smell of tangerines.

Her hand trembled once more and she let the pen fall and took her right hand into her left, holding it tight against her chest. She couldn't stop now, she was good at this, the best at drawing maps he told her.

A gentile hand on her face, a motherly smile.

She shook her head and took another paper, the thin pristine side of the sheet cutting into her skin. She barely winced, she couldn't feel her fingers much anymore, he lowered her tired eyes, staring at the blood accumulating on her palm then sliding down to fall on the table.

"I love you" dark blood on the ground, screaming.

Tears were swelling up again and she went to find a bandage, she wouldn't want to taint his maps with her blood again.

~ S ~

This mayor clearly saw him as nothing but some thief who'd want to be rewarded and he would try to take advantage of that. Because really? Sabo was angry at the dumb princess, using him as a scape goat to go have a party at the city? There was a reason he hated nobles and their disregard for regular people's wellbeing was one of those.

So really, telling his woman what he knew about the princess wouldn't be much if… Well if he actually knew anything about her, all he had was her blue disguise, it didn't seem like much and in fact not enough to get him out of here in his opinion.

"What kind of prize?" He asked, pretending to be interested in the prize, but as long as it would get him out of here it would be enough.

And her smug smile didn't matter, it reminded him of some old noble ladies that smelled bad and looked at him scornfully when he was a kid. The mental image felt unpleasant and he stopped thinking about it, he needed to find Luffy and Ace again.

"What about some money? I could let you keep the jewelry you stole." He crossed his arms, a little disappointed. If he was right, Ace and Deuce have turned all their diamonds into hundreds of thousands of berrys, he couldn't care less about a couple stones. There was something else that was interesting to him, one simple thing that could get the ASL Pirates sailing into better adventures.

"I want a map, a map to get to Reverse Mountain and Grand Line, you have that right?"

The woman hummed, seeming to think about then smiled a little darkly.

"That, child, is worth way more than you think, how about you tell me how the princess escaped?" answered the lady but she seemed intrigued, that was a good sign, negotiations were open.

"Okay ma'am, I can tell you some very valuable information, but first I want to get out of here. It's not like you won't be able to catch me again if you wanted to." He crossed his arms.

Well that might not be true, Sabo trusted he wouldn't get caught if he wasn't surprised like last time. He didn't feel that overconfident in his abilities usually but what could this old lady do? Yeah maybe she had some muscle but there was no way she'd catch him if he ran, he could outrun most adults easily after all.

The lady seemed to be amused and about to answer when there was a loud ringing sound echoing in the dungeons. Sabo put his hands over his ears wincing, the lady the two guards left hurriedly and the blond teenager sighed, there went his ticket out. He was hoping she'd come back before tomorrow.

~ NN ~

Nojiko finally relaxed, removing the fabric from her face and changing into the clothing Ms. Camille provided her. She owed this woman so much. It was a simple blue shirt, some cyan shorts and a red bandanna to hide her hair. Better than the long obvious white dress she was wearing at the castle. The Mayor was most likely looking for her and she had no clue how to even escape the island, she was hoping to beg a merchant at the harbor if she found it.

Once she was done, she walked down the stairs and heard some voices, realizing that Camille wasn't alone. Fear gripped at her stomach but the voice seemed young. She got closer, peeking behind the corner, watching the scene.

There were two kids, one sitting on a chair and the other talking with Ms. Camille, the younger one standing and seemed very energetic.

"Yeah! We even have a ship but it's very tiny and er we kind of need to get a bigger once cause there's not enough space and-"

She entered the room, a bit more confident now she knew they were only children. Ms. Camille smiled at her and left to the kitchen to make her some tea. Only a little wary, she walked towards the older one, asking if the young one was telling the truth.

"You have a ship?"

The green haired boy didn't change his stern expression, she found it didn't look right on a kid but then he smirked, an expression she didn't like one bit.

"You'll have to ask him, after all he's the pirate Captain." He pointed to the young boy with the strawhat who was eating Camille's biscuits like it was his last meal. She blinked and frowned, stumbling backwards against the corner of a chair.

"You're pirates?! Why are there pirates here?!" Her voice was shaky and panicked, she thought about the Arlong pirates, she hated them as much as she feared them.

The young one swallowed his last biscuit whole, he looked at her with a wide smile and no hesitation at all.

" 'Cause we can go where we want, pirates are free!" Then he bounced from his chair entering her space,

"Hey what's your name, I'm Luffy!" Nojiko just stared, he was smaller than her but it didn't matter much, he was a pirate. Like those who hurt Nami, who hurt Bellemere…

"Don't touch me, pirate!" she was hiding her fear with anger and slapped the boy's hand away, breathing hard. Luffy stared at his hand for a second, he suddenly seemed very small then turned to the other, green haired boy who sent her a withering glare and stood.

"Let's not overstay our welcome Captain, we still have food to buy" He briefly put his hand on the straw hat of the smaller boy and started to walk to the door and opened it, followed by the smaller one who threw her a last, indefinable glance then walked out after the green haired boy.

She was frozen for a moment, surprised by her own anger and the guilt she now felt about her stupid actions, she didn't even think for a second before talking, she was so dumb! What would Bellemere… then she finally remembered why she even talked to them in the first place. Pirates or not, Nami was waiting for her, the Mayor would find her, why was she so stupid!

As Camille opened the door bringing a tray of tea, Nojiko stumbled out of the door outside and called after them.

"Wait! I'm sorry! It was rude of me, I'm very sorry! Please stay!" She was breathing hard and looked at the two boys walking away on the little path of Camille's blue garden. The taller boy glared just as coldly as earlier and she looked away, her hand on the arm that slapped Luffy's hand. She couldn't see the younger's expression well under his straw hat and she swallowed her pride, she needed help to get home.

"M-my name is Nojikio, nice to meet you" He held her hand up, looking down and saw the stray hat boy walking to her, his expression unreadable. Then he caught her hand in a solid grip, his tiny hand stronger than it looked, a small, more careful smile on his face, but still so wide and free.

"Nice to meet ya! I'm Luffy and that's Zoro, my second mate!"

Zoro looked at her disapprovingly and groaned.

"I don't trust you. Don't be a bitch again."

A little bit of anger swept through Nojiko but she quickly calmed down, gritting her teeth.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm sure we'll get along amazingly."