Chapter 19

And with this chapter this story reaches a hundred pages, yay. Enjoy

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

~ S ~

It was like a punch to the face, a very familiar one, he blinked and saw a familiar blue haired girl wearing blue clothing and his face reddened in outrage.

"You!" She seemed to recognize him immediately as well and "I'm sorry!" apologized? That was a new one. Then Sabo noticed Zoro and Luffy and understood the situation quickly. She met Luffy and Zoro and something must have happened. He didn't actually resent her for this, he would have done the same to escape from here but like for Coby there was an opportunity.

"I really wanted to get out of the castle. I'm sorry!" She bowed.

"And you will of course pay us a lot of money."

"Yes I will pay- what" she mumbled and Luffy jumped at Sabo to hug him.

"Sabo!"

"Luffy! What happened to your hair?" He smelled like burned rubber and his hair was burnt up at the ends, he did hear some noise outside he should have guessed it would be him.

"I set fire to the stick and it go kaboom shishishishi" Sabo decided he didn't want to know anymore.

"I don't have money..." She was pale and uneasy.

"Listen, you're the princess right? You must know where the treasure is, you threw all those gems at me last time!"

"Oh, uh yeah I guess I do... You promise to get me home if I take you to it?" She looked at Luffy who was nodding.

"It's up to all captains to decide but you have the majority of us here. Lead the way, princess!"

"Her name is Nojiko!" added Luffy and they all followed the blue haired girl.

The halls were strangely empty, someone was doing their job right outside and that meant they arrived in the right room in record time. Using some tools Sabo couldn't see, Nojiko unlocked the door and he smiled widely. Yep, that was a treasure room.

"Awesome! There's so much gold!" Laughed Luffy, and Zoro walked towards some shelf against the wall, noticed a katana and took it. While the boys were gathering what they could, Nojiko looked at the treasure thoughtfully then went helping, using the fabric that hid her hair to wrap some of the treasure into a bag, a bit too heavy for her to carry and they swapped charges with Sabo who was stronger than he looked. Once they were ready they started running out of the castle fighting everything on their way.

"Shishishi, does that mean you're becoming a pirate too? Hey is she joinin' your crew Sabo?"

"What?" said Sabo and Nojiko simultaneously.

They didn't have time to talk more as a couple guards finally noticed them and they had to go the opposite way.

~ B ~

The young woman looked on as they pushed her father overboard. He was the last of them, the last of their crew, and he lied to them so she could live. Her vision was blurry but she knew that, tied up as her dad was, he wouldn't make it. She couldn't help it, enraged and desperate, she screamed after him, hoping that something, anything could save him. The pirates cheered on, the wind blew and nothing happened. For a while, the whole world was dark and sad, she was hoping for her turn but they didn't push her out, instead throwing her into the engine room, ordering her to control the ship.

"Live, Mathilda, live, please, for me and for your mother." told her dad but now she didn't want to, she was tired and sad, she wanted it to be over. After crying her eyes out a pirate entered the room again, with his parrot on his shoulder he stared her down and suddenly she didn't want to join her dad, she wanted this man dead.

~ D ~

Deuce was mildly worried about Ace. He was starting to know him a little bit and he knew when his new Captain was impatient and he tried his best to keep his attention away while the saving part was going on. They were hiding in a tree while some guards and workers were trying to put out the fire. Somehow it got to a chariot full of hay and their distraction was getting to a little more disastrous consequences.

"Okay, fire equals danger, noted." He whispered to Ace who chuckled a little.

"Only if you don't know what you're doing, when Luffy comes back I-"

"AAAAAACE!" screamed a voice and immediately it got their attention, also everyone else's.

"I saw them! It's those kids who played with fireworks!" said some guard.

Oh Deuce already knew they would have to run again, maybe he should make something to escape. A smoke bomb maybe so they would have an easier escape next time, he'd have to look up how to make those.

They jumped down the tree, with some struggle for Deuce and both ran towards Luffy's voice and they found his face covered with Zoro's hand. And Deuce noticed Sabo, looking a little more disheveled than usual, he was relieved, they could go now.

"Hurry up! We need to-"

"Take this!" He threw a giant bag of something heavy on Deuce who barely managed to catch it. It was blue, huge and very heavy.

"It's the treasure you better not lose it, I have a plan to get us out, we need to feed the crowd one of the bags and they'll never be able to catch us!"

"We found you brats! How dare you set fireworks so close to the castle!" The guards were closing in, the fire finally extinguished.

"Let's go!" said Sabo, they didn't have much time.

Before anyone could object they were already running towards their escape plan, the entrance of the castle, two guards were ready to face them but they didn't have time to do anything as Zoro and Ace punched both of them. Soon enough the six children were out of the area of the castle and disappearing into the still festive crowd.

As promised, Sabo released some of the treasure into the crowd with glee and people didn't need much time to realize that gold was raining down on them and throw themselves on the ground blocking the path to the guards who stumbled in the sea of citizens looking for coins.

A couple minutes later, Deuce was laying down on the ship exhausted by his run, he was hoping it wouldn't happen too often but some dreading part of him knew he was already doomed to experience many other runs in the future.

~ NN ~

Nojiko finished counting her gems. Hopefully with all that she'll be able to buy Nami's and the village's freedom. She had never thought of that before, she really wanted to just call for help and maybe warn the marines when she left the village but now… Now she had a real chance to free her sister. Outside she could hear some fighting noises from Luffy and Deuce. She heard something about him never fighting before and decided to quickly get out of the situation by hiding inside of the ship.

"Why do you need so much money?" asked Sabo, who was inside as well, making sure they were going the right direction according to the maps. She blinked, remembering his presence she forgot he was even there.

"Well…" she hesitated telling him but at the end decided to trust them, they were kinda nice and never actually hurt her for any reason. But they were pirates though and a sour taste spread into her mouth at the idea despite everything.

"To free my home village, some pirates took over a couple years ago and… They have my sister." She smiled sadly, remembering the mean boy's expression when he realized his brother was missing, wasn't his name Ace? They could understand her feelings at least.

"I don't think that paying them is gonna solve the problem, they'll just move to another island and do the same thing." Nojiko frowned, knowing he was right.

"What else am I supposed to do? She's been missing for months and I'm not strong enough to-"

"You could pay mercenaries for all this money, or even the Revolutionary Army."

She hadn't thought of that, but in the end it didn't change anything.

Nami sacrificed so much already, she could remember her pained haunted face after the tattoo set in, making her forever as a part of their crew.

"I can't, my sister… My sister joined them to save the village, if she buys back the village she will succeed but… She put so much effort into it, she sacrificed so much to get money even working for the ones who killed our mother it's… If I buy it back I hope she can forgive me for doing that for her."

They remained silent for a while and Nojiko went back counting, after a couple seconds Sabo spoke again.

"What if they don't keep their promise, have you thought of a backup plan?"

Nojiko blinked, then frowned, embarrassed.

"Not really, is there anything we can do?" Sabo got out a newspaper from a pile of things on the table and smiled a little evilly.

"Well, I have some ideas, let's figure out something."

~ ASL ~

It was awesome and Luffy was having a great time again. Deuce, who was part of Ace's crew, reminded him a bit of Coby 'cause he couldn't fight but he was nothing like Coby. He wasn't as afraid even if he didn't know how to fight; he dodged well and Luffy had to try much better to hit him. It was like a strange game of Luffy throwing pistol punches and the older boy dodging. After a while Ace seemed to be frustrated.

"I wanna join too! It's boring, you can't even hit him Luffy, you lose. It's my turn!" Luffy pouted a little bit but seeing Ace's evil smile, the younger brother laughed and let him fight Deuce.

Watching the match, Luffy suddenly understood why Ace wanted to take his place. Luffy's powers were obviously scaring his second mate and as Ace fought Deuce it was very different and Deuce actually tried to fight back! It was so fun and Luffy cheered them on so hard he almost fell over the railing but thankfully Zoro caught him without even turning towards him.

"Shishishi sorry Zoro" This one smiled a little, he actually smiled!

"Careful Captain you could-" His smile vanished and he looked ahead of him. He stood up quickly and climbed the net so fast Luffy could barely see him do it.

"We're getting followed!" He said and everyone stopped fighting and Luffy squinted in the horizon. Oops indeed there was a ship!

Sabo walked out with a spyglass and frowned a lot.

"They are pirates."

And Luffy instead of being afraid was suddenly very excited.

~ ASL ~

Their ship was very small but with its big sails was quite fast. The other ship was surprisingly fast as well but they couldn't really tell why as it was in a poor state. Sabo wondered if it was some kind of special mechanical ship but the problem was the same. It was catching up and quick despite the calm winds.

"Well you're going to have to learn to fight quickly and now" told Ace to Deuce who paled a little behind his mask, he saw Ace take a pipe out from against the wall. And wondered if there was anything he could use as a weapon too.

Sabo checked the hull, they were prepared this time, inside the ship in a cupboard there was an assortment of more or less useful things. He saw Nojiko take a broom and remove its end to use like a weapon. He pulled out a metal rod, a little heavier than a pipe, it'll still have to do.

"I'm taking care of canonfire" Deuce told Ace who nodded and prepared to fight.

"Luffy! If they shoot cannons you know what to do!" The smallest brother, very excited, agreed immediately, not even remembering the last time he got shot. All he had to do was to get big and bounce them back.

Soon the ASL Pirates could see the enemy flag, a black jolly roger showing a parrot with bones in its mouth. There were surprisingly very few people on the bridge and their ship had its sail half torn despite the strange water wheels on each side of the ship.

When they were close enough they could see a tall big nosed man with a gray beard yelling at them and some engine roaring closer and closer.

"It's a bunch of children!" said one short man

"Easy prey! Easy prey" said the Captain's Parrot

"Get them"" yelled a third one with glasses and a fancy hat.

Ace was looking more impatient by the second, in the end he called for his brothers.

"Luffy, Sabo let's board their ship and destroy them! Luffy, are you in range?"

Deuce was a little panicked, and looked at Nojiko who was just as unsure. Zoro seemed to be the only one not to care too much.

"Uh not yet…" answered Luffy

"Deuce, shoot only if they use their cannons, and once we've boarded don't." Sabo told Deuce who nodded, a drop of sweat falling from his forehead.

"I can get there!" said Luffy and immediately Ace and Sabo grabbed his chest while his hands expanded towards their ship's railing and caught it.

Too surprised by the action the Parrot pirates didn't even do anything and the three brothers flew on their ship.

What the kids didn't know was that the pirates fought another crew a couple hours earlier and were just celebrating their victory. Their luck made it so half of them were drunk and barely able to fight. Sabo, Ace and Luffy fought together much better than before and most of the pirates didn't stand a chance despite outnumbering the kids at 1 to 5.

Meanwhile the Parrot's ship caught up to the Freedom, some of the crewmembers boarding the smaller ship. Deuce, Zoro and Nojiko defended the ship, to the best of their abilities but the blue haired girl had trouble against a swordsman until Zoro interfered. He was tall with glasses, wearing a fancy suit with colored feathers on his hat but also obviously drunk, swaying from side to side. Yet Zoro couldn't land a single blow on him and while the taller swordsman was unable to touch the kid due to his drunkenness, they were on a stalemate until Zoro managed to slash the man's shoulder in a move where he risked his own side.

The man screamed, loudly and his eyes reddened in rage, his stance shifted, seemingly the pain woke him up from his drunken stupor.

"How dare you brat?! I'm the Great Lord Grandioso, I'll slaughter you in a second! Rapier technique: Hedgehog pierce!" Zoro backed out quickly enough but struggled in stopping most of his attacks, getting some wounds on his arms and legs but it mostly damaged the mast behind him. Then as the technique ended, it was Zoro's turn.

"Two swords technique: Rhino's Resolve" The adult was obviously very surprised at the barely 11 year old being able to use an actual technique. He managed to block it but at the cost of his Rapier that broke in half.

"I'll kill you!"

In rage the adult tried to slash at Zoro with his leftover metal stick but without the added range, the green haired could dodge it easily and it was easy for him to slash his neck and push the pirate overboard with a kick. Then a thought struck him, no one seemed to have noticed his victory but was he supposed to kill his enemies on this crew? Somehow imagining Luffy's face he doubted the kid would agree but just like with the bandits Zoro wasn't sure he could let the pirates live after they threatened his life. He'll have to ask, later.

During Zoro's fight, Deuce and Nojiko were very busy, Nojiko obviously knew some efficient Bo techniques and landed some solid blows on the drunken sailors but Deuce mostly tried to dodge. He did manage to push at least two of them overboard before they could fight him but without a weapon, what was he supposed to do?! But as he saw a pirate trying to aim at him with his pistol, he knew he couldn't just let himself get shot. He jumped at the sailor, kicking him between his legs and hitting his hand so he would let the pistol go. Fortunately he did but not without striking the masked boy on the face. The younger man caught the gun and shot the man in the stomach, barely realizing what he'd done as another man caught him from behind, his arms around his neck.

Suddenly Deuce couldn't breathe and he panicked, not even realizing he let the gun go and scratched desperately on the man's arm. He heard a solid hit and he could breathe again, Nojiko helped him up, her weapon was broken in half and the man didn't move anymore.

"T-thank you" He wheezed and she nodded, looking at the Parrot's ship. Luffy and Sabo were tying the big nosed guy up and Ace was pulling a treasure chest out of their ship's hold.

"Defeat! Defeat Defeat!" screamed the parrot flying around the mast.

The fight was over and they won.

~ B ~

Everything was silent and she peeked outside of the engine room through the keyhole, seeing only a pile of unconscious pirates. Did they get… beaten? She thought it was the Marines but there was no Marine ship outside, not any she could see anyways. In fact everything was way too quiet, then, as she thought that she heard some noise.

"...food here?"

"I dunno, let's open the door and find out!

"It's locked, who has the k-"

"Gomu gomu no…"

The way the childish voice said that made her back up, should she hide? Should she fight?

"...Pistol!" The door broke into pieces and she hit her face from the bits ofr wood flying all over the room.

What the heck was that?

~ ASL ~

The youngest captain immediately complained.

"Ow that hurt more than their face!" and Sabo chuckled at his brother's childishness, then he saw movement at the periphery of his vision and he pulled out Ace's pipe that he borrowed while Ace was busy with the other treasure chest. Then he saw an older girl, or at least he thought so. She had red hair and was a little chubby. She was wearing some brown overalls with a white shirt, she also had a big bruise on her face. She seemed ready to fight but obviously deflated her stance in seeing them.

"Er… Hello I'm… I'm a prisoner" She said, and Sabo wasn't sure what to do, then he looked around, seeing the engine that led the ship so fast towards them. He lowered his weapon with a smile.

"Is this your ship? You seem to know how to-" Then suddenly they heard a big whooshing noise, like an explosion but not quite. Sabo rushed outside and saw their ship, the Freedom, going up to flames. Luffy joined him and the two of them stared in surprise and horror.

~ MC ~

Camille was in a dire situation, she knew it. Agents came up to her little farm and brought her to an interrogation room in the castle and she had no idea who she was going to face.

Just like everyone in the country, she knew that something had happened the day before. A Coup d'Etat has been attempted, whispers told her the old Minister who was part of the old kingdom gathered guards and attacked Mayor Sandra but the result was unknown to her. She personally had no opinion on the winner of this fight, either way she helped the princess escape and they somehow must know it. And both parties had interests in the princess for their own reasons. At best she was going to have to pay a fine she couldn't afford and at worst… She didn't want to think about it.

The door opened and Camille jumped a little, fearing what she would find behind it. It was the Mayor herself who made her way in calmly.

"Hello Ms Camille, I hope the Agents weren't too rough with you, if they were I apologize."

Camille let out a sigh of relief, somehow the idea of this specific ruler wasn't as terrifying as the old Minister. Her rank as the seamstress of the old kingdom was well known, but not her affair with the king, wasn't her choice of course but it made her able to obtain the information to help the princess so there was that. She wished she could have done more, that the little girl could know the truth but no one would open their mouths, not in this rulership.

"It's alright, I hope I'm not in trouble." She whispered quietly, her hands fidgeting with her apron, staring at the table and the Mayor sat down comfortably opposite of her. Camille noticed her clothing was very different from the usual colorful dresses. Sandra was wearing pants with a long dark skirt and a shirt decorated with golden gears and a high tophat on her head.

"You won't be in trouble, if you can confirm something for me. I am aware that you helped the princess escape, with the disguise you provided and the Agents found her old clothing at your home."

Camille's breath hitched, not expecting such a thorough investigation on a simple dye farmer.

"But what matters to me is not the princess's escape anymore, as long as she doesn't put foot in the country again it should be fine no…"

The young woman raised her gaze briefly and looked at the serious face of the Mayor.

"I need to know if you're responsible for the Vice Admiral boarded at our port."

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