Chapter 18: Forthcoming Fate
Sabo looked at the new wanted poster in his hand. The bold letters of Monkey D. Luffy running across the bottom of the poster. The smile of his little brother, grinning like an idiot. It was all perfect. 30,000,000 beri. In large bold print. This meant that after defeating Arlong, Buggy, and Don Krieg, three of the most feared pirates in East Blue, the Marines and the Wold Government saw his baby brother as a true threat.
Still Sabo thought the bounty was too small, especially since his brother was stronger than most from the East Blue. Unless he's tempering his strength as to not draw attention to himself. Sabo thought for a moment. No. Luffy's smart but not that smart to plan that far ahead. He scratched his head before picking up a denden mushi.
The snail face changed from normal to that of Ace's. "Yeah?"
"Please tell me you got the new bounty poster?" Sabo questioned his brother.
"Actually I just put it on the wall." He stated as he looked at his collection. One was his, then Sabo's and now Luffy's. "Did you see yours went up to 600,000,000 beri ?"
"Did you see yours is the same as last month?" Sabo teased.
"Tch." Came the irritated response. "It'll go up." He said with confidence.
"Where are your people?" Sabo asked. "I thought they were keeping an eye on him?"
"They are." Ace assured him. "Deuce says they just left Little Garden and that some group called Baroque Works tried recruiting his first mate Roronoa Zoro."
Sabo stood up quickly from his position at the table. "Did you say Baroque Works?" He asked suddenly as his hands flew over the paperwork that he had piled on the desk. He swore he'd just read something on that group.
"Yeah." Ace said as he turned towards the denden. "Why?" He inquired slowly as he hoped nothing was too bad about the group.
"I just read about that group and their activities." Sabo explained as he found the report. "I knew it. The group might not cause him too many problems but there might be a possible connection to one of the Warlords; Crocodile."
"Uh." Ace paused in his movements. "I think that guy use to be one of Pop's friends until they had a falling out."
"Do I want to know what happened?" Sabo inquired.
Ace scratched the back of his head trying to remember the story Thatch told him. "Err…Something about the group being stuck in the Calm Belt and pops decided to use Crocodile as a bait hook to catch lunch one time." Ace chuckled. "I guess the guy holds a huge grudge now and swore to kill Pop one day."
Sabo chuckled. "I'm sure there's more to that story."
"Probably." Ace admitted he hadn't really been listening to Thatch's story.
"What else?" Sabo asked, hoping he had something he could help Luffy with.
Ace pushed his pile of papers to the side as he looked over the paperwork that Masked Deuce had given him when they had met up two days ago. "Oh!" He stated as he picked up the picture of the blue haired girl. "Ever heard of someone called Princess Vivi? She's apparently with Luffy."
"Vivi?" Sabo asked getting an affirmation from Ace. "She's the heir of the Alabasta Kingdom!"
Ace's jaw dropped. "So she's a literal Princess!?" Only their brother would find and become friends with a literal Princess.
"You thought she was some sort of a Pirate Princess." Sabo assesed.
"Yeah." Ace chuckled. "Maybe we could meet him in Alabasta and help him."
"Sounds like a plan." Sabo began looking for his pipe and satchel. "Koala and I could be there by the end of the week."
"Same." Ace grasped his gun and dagger, placing them in their spots on his body in case he needed them.
Once the two found their stuff and said their goodbyes, they began their way to join their brother and surprise him. Neither realizing that the wheels of fate were once again spinning and soon the strings of destiny would twist to bring forth the fate of one or both of the brothers.
"GAAARRRP!" The loud yells of Fleet Admiral Sengoku could be heard from one side of the Marine base to the other as he slammed his foot into the door of Vice Admiral Garp's office. The one being yelled at paid no mind to his oldest friend in his life as he ate his favorite crackers nonchalantly; this only infuriated the Fleet Admiral. "Your grandson is up to no good out in the East Blue and all you can do is eat!?" He threw the newspaper at Garp.
Having said paper thrown into his face the words Monkey D. Luffy were printed out in big bold letters. "Huh?" He questioned as he read the supposed ill works of his grandson. The boy having taken out Arlong was something even the marines in the East had, had problems doing. Finding the news boring he threw it to the floor and laughed. "Kyahahaha! That boy hasn't done anything that our Marines shouldn't have been doing and you know that." He gasped when his friend took his crackers from him.
"That's beside the point!" Sengoku growled lightly eating a few of the crackers much to Garps dismay.
"Tch." Garp sounded a bit irritated. "Fine. I'll go after him. After he's actually done something!"
"He's not the only one!" Sengoku slammed two wanted posters down, one of Sabo and the other of Ace. "I know you've tried protecting these two but you can't anymore, not with their bounties pushing past 500,000,000 beri!"
"I find it interesting how you love pointing out my grandchildren and their problems but hate it when I bring up yours." Standing up Garp snagged his crackers back. "I'll handle my family when you get a handle on yours." Garp began walking out of the room and down the hall towards the recruits. Looking over the recruit barracks he saw the two boys that had been brought to him a few weeks prior. One was Helmeppo and other a pink haired boy named Koby. Watching from his position he saw Bogard was training the boys hard. He had a feeling these two were going to become the best marines he's ever trained.
He knew that Sengoku was right. His grandkids were out of line and needed to be brown a level or two. Taking on Ace; however would mean upsetting old man Whitebeard. Though he wasn't scared of Edward Newgate, he didn't want a war with the old man. Going against Sabo might upset Dragon but he doubted his son would do anything against him. Luffy would be the easiest of the three. He was a rookie who didn't know the rules of the ocean yet and he might still stand a chance at swaying him to become a marine yet. So Luffy it was.
Sabo felt the instant heat coming off the ground and from the sky. The heat was worse than the hottest day on Dawn. It wasn't a sticky miserable heat, instead a dry heat that forced the moisture out of your body. Oh this was going to be fun. He thought sarcastically. Now he understood why Koala said no to coming with him. That was fine. As Chief of Staff he could travel without anyone keeping track of his movements.
The port town of Nanohana in Alabasta was a small dusty town with a limited Marine presence. Approaching the only restaurant in town Sabo saw Ace talking to another person. Stepping inside he pressed himself to the was but grasped his pipe in case Ace needed a back up.
"So what do you want from me now?" Ace asked sounding annoyed by the light haired man smoking two cigars at once in his mouth.
"I would like it if you came with me quietly." The man stated as he grasped a pipe from his back.
Sabo's eyes widened as he caught the glint of the metal from the pipe. Sea stone! He thought panicked a bit. Ace couldn't be near that. It would truly hurt his brother.
"No thanks." Ace stated as he leaned against the restaurant bar. "I think I'll pass."
"Yeah. I figured you'd say that." The man grumbled. "I'm here in Alabasta trying to hunt down another pirate at the moment. To be honest I really have no interest in capturing you right now."
Ace shrugged. "Then look the other way." Aces eyes met Sabo's. This guy wasn't going to let Ace go without a fight and there were just too many civilians around for Ace to actually fight properly.
"I'm afraid I just can't do that." The man sighed a bit annoyed that he'd come across Ace when he was actually after that other guy. "Not as long as I'm a marine and you're apart of a notorious pirate crew."
The man suddenly activated his devil fruit causing smoke to float out of his body. A devil fruit user using a sea stone weapon? Sabo thought both impressed and little worried. How strong was this guy?
"Now that's not much of reason, now is it?" Ace lifted his visage to show how annoyed he was. "How about I give you a real reason?"
The air in the room began to thinker with tension. Sabo grasped his pipe tightly ready to push off the wall and help Ace with this unknown marine pirate hunter. When he heard Luffy's voice. "GIVE ME SOME FOOD!" A moment later Sabo heard. "GUMU GOMU no ROCKET!"
Suddenly chaos was brought onto the restaurant as Luffy's body came rushing into the building. His body crashing into the marine pirate hunter, which was thrown forward into Ace's, who couldn't move quick enough. It was like watching a train crash as both Aces and the hunters bodies were thrown through the bar, through the building wall, the next buildings walls and the third buildings wall as well.
Sabo's jaw dropped at the destruction from one messily attack as Luffy acted like nothing had happened and began eating what Sabo presumed was the rest of Ace's dinner. The other customers all gasped at the audacity of the young man. Sabo covered his mouth with his hand as he began laughing. Ace, their logia power based brother who was so proud of his ability, had been defeated by their little brother with one attack. His laughter came out in snickers and snorts causing the inhabitants to turn to look at him, including Luffy who paused in stuffing his face.
"Hey Sabo, what are you doing here?" Luffy asked in mid bite before grabbing a chicken leg and putting it in his mouth.
Sabo laughed harder. "Do you have any idea who you just attacked?"
Luffy tipped his head to the side. "I attacked someone?"
"YES!" Sabo pointed to the hole in the wall as Ace came out of it looking pissed. "ACE!"
Ace looked towards Sabo before his gaze turned towards Luffy. "Lu-" A fist slammed down onto his head.
"Who the fuck has the damn nerve to-" The hunter began when his eyes landed on Luffy. "STRAWHAT!"
Luffy had once again begun stuffing his mouth totally ignoring the man in front of him for several seconds before spewing the contents of his mouth at the man in front of him. "SMOKEY!" Luffy yelled in surprise. "What are you doing here!" He held some food in his hands, the need to eat still forcing him to want to eat. So deciding that running was a safer bet, just as Smoker was about to say something. "Wait!" Luffy yelled as he grabbed everything off the table and stuffed it all in his mouth. "Tha-ou!" Was all that was heard as the teen turned tail and ran.
"Hey!" Smoker yelled after him as he ran after Luffy, totally not seeing Sabo who was still laughing inside at the events that had just transpired.
Placing a purse of money on the bar table, Sabo bowed towards the restaurant owner. "I apologize for my brothers they can be quite destructive without meaning to be." He then walked over to the still unconscious Ace, his narcolepsy obviously hitting him hard in the middle of all the excitement. I'll have to remind him later that he needs to change the dosage of the meds Marco is giving him for these attacks. He thought as he poured some water on his brother's head.
Ace lifted his face from the rubble and looked at Sabo. "Uh.." he muttered as his focus returned to who was in front of him. "Hey 'Bo." He greeted his brother.
Sabo held his hand out to him. "Come on, Luffy needs us." Ace groaned as Sabo helped him up. "You chase after them and I'll come up behind."
Ace pick up his ostentatious orange had from the ground. "Yeah. Yeah. The bumbling little brother needs his bigger ones to help him."
"I don't know why he's not fighting the guy." Sabo groaned as he ran after Smoker.
"He's a smoke type logia. I think you're the only one who could without any problems." Sabo explained.
"Well, that makes sense." The two went separate ways after that. When Ace saw Smoker about to attack Luffy, he slid in between the two, lighting up with his flame flame fruit. "I think we were in the middle of something smoke man."
"ACE!" Luffy cried out excitedly.
"Luffy you know this guy?" The green haired man asked as Sabo came up behind them.
"Of course he does." Sabo stated gaining the group's attention.
"Sabo!" Luffy yelled equally excitedly to see his other brother.
"Who are these guys?" The tiny animal asked.
"They're my brothers!" Luffy stated loudly.
"'Bo! Get them out of here!" Ace yelled as he turned his attention to Smoker and his people. "Fire Fist!" Ace yelled out as he thrust his fist at the approaching marines causing Smoker to step in front of the flames, his smoke ability negating the attack. Likewise when he attacked Ace, his ability was negated as well.
Meanwhile Sabo led Luffy's group to the port where their ship was waiting for them. As they took off Sabo noticed something. "Where's Lu?"
The reddish orange haired girl suddenly facepalmed. "That idiot!"
"Well we can't turn around now." The blonde man stated. "So you're his older brother?" He asked looking annoyed at this discovery.
Sabo felt something change about this man, he was becoming defensive. He noted how he was placing himself between Sabo and the young women. Taking his top hat off, Sabo bowed to them. "I apologize. My name is Portgas D. Sabo. Ace is my twin and the eldest out of the three of us." He smiled at the group. "Thank-you for taking care of my little brother. I know he can be a bit of a handful but do continue to take care of him for us!"
"It's no problem." They stated unison.
A few moments later Luffy's rubbery hand grasped the ship's main mast before his body snapped from land to the ship. He landed between the two girls. "Hi Sabo!" Luffy yelled between the two girls.
"Don't do that!" The red/orange haired girl screamed at him. "You could've startled Vivi!" She continued as she grabbed Luffy's face and begun pulling it this way and that as she vented her anger upon him.
"Sowrry Nawmi." He tried apologizing but his face and lips were now swollen from getting beaten up by her.
"Ah!" The small animal yelled out. "Nami stop! He only just healed!"
Nami glared at the animal. "Chopper! Watch out! She'll kill you too!" The dark haired teen yelled.
"Ah!" Chopper screamed as Nami whose glare could send an admiral running turned her attention on the poor animal. "Usopp! She's got me in her sights!" The animal jumped onto the dark haired teens back who backed away from Nami quickly as the rest of the crew took several steps away from him.
The green haired man laughed causing the girl to turn her irritation towards him. "Zoro! You were supposed to keep an eye on him!"
"That's like the blind leading the blind." The blonde stated finally relaxing near Sabo.
"Huh?" Zoro asked as his eye twitched at this statement. "What did you say Shitty Cook?"
The blonde growled. "Who are you calling a shitty cook you damn monkey brain?"
The two looked to be about to fight when the blue haired girl stepped between them. "Sanji, Zoro please don't fight." She begged them.
"Anything for you, Vivi-swan!" Sanji responded with hearts in his eyes. Zoro rolled his eyes at the cooks response.
Laughter caught their attention. "You seem like a fun bunch." Ace sat squating on the edge of the ship. "Luf, your friends seem like fun."
Luffy who was still being choked by Nami grinned and laughed the best he could. "Ain't they neat?!" The two brothers chuckled at the younger brother and his crew as the introductions began once more. The day wore on as they made their way towards the next port and hopefully finding a way to save Alabasta.
M-Angel: I love weekends. Especially when it's an easy weekend and I can write a chapter or two for everyone. Hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day weekend!
Hellibleri - Yes, it does! He's sunshine incarnate. ^_^
Kharaki Taken - I'm not saying but you might be close on one assumption.