Chapter 31: Unsettling Information
Thankfully, it didn't take much longer for the guys to catch back up with Nami and Vivi. When they did, Luffy was still slung over Ace's shoulder, unconscious.
"Oh, you guys caught up! What took you so long?" Nami asked them with a cheery grin. This only ticked the boys- sans Ace and Sanji- off as they glared at her.
"The pervy camel took off and left us behind!" Usopp yelled in annoyance, turning his glare to the camel who was decidedly not looking at them, head held high.
"Don't talk to Lashes like that. You're the best, aren't you Lashes?" Nami asked the camel soothingly as she patted his head. The camel grinned smugly at this as he nodded his head in answer, only further irritating the boys.
"Anyway, what happened to Luffy-san?" Vivi asked, hoping to stop a fight before it happened. This seemed to work as the others calmed down enough to glance towards their captain.
"Ah, well..." Sanji trailed off as he rubbed the back of his head, not quite sure what Ace wanted them to say. Sure, Luffy was not only their Captain, but their friend as well so the ladies had a right to know.
But at the same time, he could clearly remember the sharp, stern tone Ace had used when he told them not to mention what happened to Luffy.
"He drank some cactus juice and started hallucinating." Ace answered easily, not lying but not telling the whole truth of how terrifying the experience had actually been.
"Figures. How can someone manage to get themselves into so much trouble?" Nami asked with a shake of her head. Ace smiled lopsidedly at this, agreeing with her words as he thought back to everything he'd had to put up with when it came to Luffy.
"Well, at least he's unconscious now. I've heard of people hallucinating and running off into the desert and getting lost." Vivi said, relieved that they hadn't let that happen to Luffy.
With everyone regrouped and relatively safe for the time being, they began walking slowly through the sandy nation once more. As was usual, the sun sapped their energy and left them from having any conversation as they walked meaning it was silent. This silence was broken however when Luffy woke up a few minutes later, blinking and confused. Noticing this, Ace put him down and watched as his brother looked around, eyebrows furrowed.
"Luffy, you're awake!" Usopp said, a mixture of cheerful yet worried. This only confused Luffy more as he tried remembering how he'd gotten unconscious in the first place.
"What happened?" Luffy asked, noticing that at some point they'd caught up to Nami and Vivi. His question caused the men of his crew to have some strange emotions, as if they were nervous to answer, but they were saved from it as Ace spoke up.
"You drank some cactus juice and passed out. Seriously, how many times have I told you not to eat things just because they look edible?" Ace asked with a shake of his head, and while Luffy wanted to argue that point, he could also feel that Ace wasn't telling him the whole truth. This only confused Luffy more as he squinted his eyes at his brother, trying to figure out why in the world his brother would try hiding something from him in the first place.
His scrutiny didn't go unnoticed by the crew, and while Vivi and Nami were just as confused as Luffy, the men couldn't help but remember that Ace had known Luffy would detect the strangeness of the situation. It didn't mean they weren't nervous though to have Luffy remember his hallucination. While they didn't know what in the world he'd seen, they knew it hadn't been good, especially so if Ace was hiding it from his brother.
Ace and Luffy didn't say anything more though as they continued to stare each other down. Ace's face was calm and blank, not showing Luffy anything that could give him hints. While it annoyed the youngest that he wasn't getting the full story, he could also see that Ace wasn't going to budge which meant he was forced to drop it. With a frown and one last look to Ace, Luffy drew his attention to where they were headed, wondering if he'd missed much since he'd been unconscious.
He also couldn't help but notice that he felt strangely foggy, a sensation he knew all too well from the facility. He decidedly ignored that thought though.
"Where are we?" Luffy asked, hoping they were closer to where they needed to be after his impromptu nap.
"We're close to a small town actually," Vivi told them, oblivious to the tension that was growing between the men. She turned to point at said town, the crew seeing it off in the distance.
"Oh, are we going to stop there, Vivi-chan?" Sanji asked, thankful to her for the distraction.
"Maybe. It would be a good idea seeing as we uh, lost our supplies earlier." She admitted with a sheepish grin. In front of her on the camel, Nami rolled her eyes as she remembered just who had lost their supplies.
With that, the crew had a new goal in mind of resupplying at the town before heading back off on their journey. There was still a bit of unnoticed tension amongst the men that the two women didn't realize, but other than that it was a peaceful walk. While Luffy couldn't get over the nagging feeling of knowing why he was groggy and fuzzy, he also didn't want to focus too much on it. There was something about this whole situation, from his lack of memory to the groggy hazy feeling after waking up, to the weird nerves in his crew, and finally, Ace's evasion that made Luffy start to think that he really didn't want to know about whatever had happened.
Besides, if Ace thought it was serious enough that he even attempted hiding it from Luffy, it must be something he didn't need to know about.
It turned out that the town Vivi had mentioned earlier was closer than the crew had expected as they found themselves walking up to it only minutes later. Of course, as easy as it was to lose their supplies, it wasn't going to be as easy to regain them as, upon arriving at the town, Ace and Luffy were immediately recognized as two of the infamous trio from hell and were told to leave by a man who looked as confident as Usopp did.
Which was to say, he looked anything but.
The three lackeys behind him looked much the same as the first guy did, and after a bit of boasting about how he was definitely, totally strong enough to take down both of the monstrous brothers, he looked as if he was trying to work up the courage to actually attack. Ace smirked at this, amused at the bravado that lacked conviction, and while the man did that he turned his head to Vivi and Nami who were now standing beside Lashes.
"Why don't you two go sneak in around that way and we'll take care of this. If for some reason, we get separated we'll meet back up at the rocks that way." Ace said, pointing towards the horizon where the two women assumed he could see rocks. They nodded at this, eyeing the man that was sweating profusely before heading off toward a side entrance.
To say that Ace and Luffy were more than enough to take down the man was an understatement. However, the two of them were able to see the actions of the man for what they were. Behind him, they could see what looked to be the townspeople peeking around or over the walls fearfully, clearly under the impression that the brothers would come and hurt them all. Because of this, the two brothers glanced at each other, smiling wider.
"Just like Old Town?" Ace asked his brother, confusing the rest of the crew behind them.
"Shishishi, let's go!" Luffy agreed before charging towards the man who squeaked in fear.
"That poor sap..." Usopp said, sympathizing with the guy.
"Are they seriously going to beat them up? It doesn't look like they'll put up much of a fight." Sanji said with a raised eyebrow as he watched the two brothers run.
"Maybe the heats getting to them." Zoro shrugged, indifferent, but interested nonetheless. Chopper was too hot to answer from the sled he lay on.
"Gum Gum Pistol!" Luffys attack rang loud and clear in the quiet desert, and as expected the punch landed squarely in the first man's face, knocking him back. Ace delivered a punch of his own to one of the lackeys, also knocking him back. At this, the brothers straightened, watching the remaining two.
"So? Are you gonna fight us or not?" Luffy asked.
"We could always go pillage the town if not." Ace suggested with a shrug as he eyed the town behind the two. This made the townspeople inside even more scared than before.
"I bet they've got a lot of food too." Luffy agreed with a nod, trying not to drool at the thought.
"Water too. Seeing as this is a dessert, that stuff's pretty hard to come by." Ace added, only making the town all the more fearful of losing necessary supplies.
"I won't let you do that!" The crew that had been watching the brothers were shocked when the man Luffy had punched suddenly got up and decked Luffy in the face, knocking the rubber man to the ground. Ace frowned at this, turning the expression toward the man who had punched Luffy.
"I won't let you hurt anyone in this village! Even if I have to fight you two by myself!" The man shouted, his face set in true determination this time despite his shaking legs.
Neither will I!" Just like the first man had done, the man Ace had punched got up to return the favor, punching Ace and knocking him to the ground as well.
"A-are they... losing?" Usopp asked in shock, not believing what he was seeing as the two insanely strong brothers lay on the ground at the feet of two men who were definitely not as strong as them.
"Ah, that hurt," Luffy muttered as he sat up, though he was smiling. Glancing to the side he could see Vivi and Nami sneaking out of the two, supplies being dragged on a large sled behind them.
"Man Ace, I don't think we should mess with this town!" Luffy said to his brother, looking to Ace as he sat up.
"You're right. Let's go terrorize some other town." Ace agreed with a smile of his own. This seemed to surprise the men in front of them as their eyes widened. Without letting them recover, Ace and Luffy shot to their feet, running back toward the crew.
"Retreat! They're too strong!" Luffy shouted to them, smiling brightly the entire time. Though confused, the crew did just that, turning to run after the brothers as they passed by and headed toward the rocks Ace had mentioned earlier.
When they were far enough away, Luffy burst into a fit of laughter, and Ace wasn't able to hold it in much better as he began laughing as well.
"What the heck was that all about?" Nami asked as she and Vivi ran up to the group, not knowing what in the world had happened.
"Apparently, these two were defeated by those guys out front," Zoro said as he pointed to the brothers, though he was beginning to understand now just what had actually happened.
"Defeated?" Vivi asked, noticing the red mark on the side of Luffys face from the punch he'd taken.
"Yup. They beat us." Luffy told her, still smiling.
"I find that hard to believe," Nami said skeptically as she looked the two over.
"Well, maybe it's more like we let them beat us up." Ace amended, deciding to just explain themselves.
"Why would you do that?" Sanji asked in confusion. While he knew that they had to have been pretending, he didn't understand why they would do that.
"To boost coral!" Luffy chirped happily, yet only managed to further the confusion.
"Boost morale, Luffy." Ace corrected without hesitation.
"Yeah, that!" Luffy agreed with a nod.
"Huh?" Usopp asked, still lost. As he said this, Ace turned to start walking towards the rocks he'd seen, still smiling.
"Alright, so this one time when Luffy and Sabo were still with Whitebeard we ended up landing on this island that had a town called Old Town." Ace started, the name familiar to the men who had heard Ace say it before they'd run off.
"It was, as the name suggested, an old town way in the middle of the forest. Whitebeard and the commanders told us that we should avoid Old Town because the people there were fiercely protective of their town and didn't want any pirates or bandits to raid them." Ace continued as Luffy nodded along beside him. The crew listened with rapt attention, not having heard any stories about Luffys time with the Whitebeards before.
"There were other towns and villages on the island of course, so that was where the crew was going to go to restock and stuff. Well, Luffy, Sabo, and I had a tendency to explore the islands we went to just to see everything we could. Because of this, we sort of accidentally stumbled upon Old Town." As he said this, the crew could easily figure out that it hadn't been as accidental as the eldest brother was trying to make it seem if the sheepish smile on his face was any indication.
"Anyway, so we stumble up to this town that wants nothing to do with us and there are these guards out in the front with these guns and stuff. We don't even have a chance to turn around and leave before they were aiming their guns at us and yelling. And, as great as Luffys luck is, he's also prone to attracting trouble as I'm sure you're all becoming familiar with." Ace said with a sigh, everyone nodding in understanding.
'"Well, these guns were pointed at us, and there's yelling which draws a crowd from the town. A few more guards show up, but the three of us could easily handle them if things went south. They ask who we were and where we came from, and this one can't lie to save his life so he just up and tells them we're pirates which didn't help our case in the slightest." At this, he shook his head while Luffy only laughed unabashedly.
"Now they know we're pirates and they're yelling at us to leave, but one of them either had an itchy trigger finger or their finger slipped. Either way, they ended up shooting at us but luckily they shot at Luffy so it bounced right off him. This only put them into a bigger panic though and they started shouting that we were monsters, which was understandable.
"So now there's a small group of about five guys with guns aimed at us who are terrified and Sabo- ah, Luffy, what do they know about Sabo?" Ace asked, suddenly realizing something as he looked to Luffy who blinked owlishly back at him.
"Sabo? Oh, they just know he's our brother," Luffy answered with ease, picking up on the actual meaning behind Ace's question. At this the eldest nodded, returning to the story as if he hadn't stopped it and leaving the crew to wonder what they might not know about Sabo.
"So they're pointing guns at us and Sabo over hears one of them talking, rather loudly, about how they can't handle another attack and how the towns already having trouble getting new people to join the small group that guards the town. Apparently, the five guys we were looking at were the only guards in the entire town. It was a rather big town, so just those five guys wouldn't be able to properly protect it if they did get another attack like they were fearing." Ace told them. While the crew was listening with undivided attention, they also couldn't help but wonder where this story was going.
"We were just going to leave the town alone, but after hearing what the guy had said and Luffy telling us that they were just scared, terrified really, we ended up coming up with this plan. We pretended to be the bad guys they thought we were." Ace said, confusing them.
"But what good would that do?" Chopper asked weakly from the sled where he lay listening.
"Plenty. We ran at them and they started shooting at us again, this time not by accident. We punch a few of them, start yelling about how we're gonna take everything from the town and how we might even just destroy the town itself while we're at it." This made the crew's eyes widen, wondering if they had been trying to traumatize the poor town that seemed to already be struggling.
"Of course, they're even more scared now, but the five we were up against weren't going to back down after all we'd done." Luffy hummed in agreement with this, smiling.
"They were tough guys, even though they were weak," Luffy said, laughing at the end of his sentence.
"One of them gets up and shoots at me, but instead of letting it go through my body I let it hit me." Ace told them, shocking them.
"You let them shoot you?!" Vivi asked in disbelief, wondering- not for the first time- if Luffy and his brothers were insane.
"Don't worry, I told you guys I have fast healing, remember?" Ace asked them.
"You did?" Luffy asked, looking at his brother in surprise. He hadn't expected Ace to tell them anything about his abilities, especially since he'd only just met them, so he was surprised to hear that that apparently wasn't the case.
"Yeah, when you were chasing those birds. They wanted to know how I saw the rocks." Ace paraphrased for his brother. Luffy blinked at that, still surprised, but let the matter drop as Ace continued on with the story.
"Anyway, we're getting off track. The bullet hit my shoulder, and while it hurt seeing as it was a gunshot, I knew it would heal quickly so it didn't really matter. After I got 'shot' we pretended that we were the ones who were scared now. Instead of yelling about how tough we were and how we were gonna destroy everything, we started yelling about how there was no way we would be able to take down such a strong group of people like those guys. After that, we turned and ran back into the forest and left the town alone." Ace explained.
"So you let them think they won," Nami said, slowly beginning to understand now what the brothers had done.
"That's right. We went and hid in the trees and after that, the town was happy that they'd won. The guards were congratulated and the whole atmosphere changed." Ace said with a nod.
"They were all super happy and the guys we fought were proud of themselves too," Luffy added with a smile at the memory.
"And we even overheard a few of the townspeople volunteer to help protect the town from, and I quote, 'Good for nothing thugs like those'." Ace said, finishing the story.
"I get it! So you let them think they won so they would all believe in themselves!" Usopp realized with a smile of his own.
"Exactly. Just like with that town back there. They knew they were in trouble, and if we were the bad guys everyone thought we were, we could have easily wrecked that town like they feared. Those guys wanted to stop us, but they were also cowards at the same time who didn't truly want to fight. When we started taunting them it gave them that boost to actually fight for what they believed in." Ace explained, noting that the rocks were closer now, probably visible to the others at this point.
"Good thinking," Zoro said with a nod of his head and a smile.
From the camel where the two girls were riding once more, Vivi looked back to the town in the distance and smiled as well, happy once more to be traveling with someone like Luffy.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
After the group had reached the rocks Ace had mentioned earlier, they'd set up camp, had dinner, and went to sleep. When morning came it had started off peaceful enough. Sanji made breakfast while everyone else began taking down their camp, but when breakfast was ready and they were eating was when things went from normal and peaceful to, well, Luffys brand of normal.
They had been finishing their food when Luffy started bugging Zoro for the meat that he had left, yet the swordsman refused to give it to the rubber man, telling him he'd already had enough. As the two were distracted with their bickering over who the food should go to, Luffy was quick to notice the food in question was now floating.
Naturally, Luffy was amazed by this, and when the food started moving towards the rocks they were next to, Luffy immediately chased after it. His crew was surprised by the suddenness, but as they were starting to get used to Luffy and his quirks, they were quick to start chasing after him as well. Luffy was fast however, and before he knew it he was separated from them in his haste for chasing the mystery meat.
When said meat took one too many sharp turns, Luffy found that he lost not only his crew but the meat as well.
"Aw, man! Meat! Where'd you go meat?!" Luffy called, cupping his hands to his mouth as he shouted out. When he didn't get an answer he resorted to smelling the air, and while he could faintly smell the scent of the meat a little ways away, the much closer, much stronger smell of a person with something explosive piqued his interest even more.
Looking towards the scent, Luffy found a rather tall rock next to him, and on top of it stood a man with some type of weapon and an ostrich-looking bird. Forgetting about the mystery meat completely, Luffy found himself enamored in this newest mystery. Besides, maybe the mysteries were related.
"Hey! Hey old guy!" Luffy called as he stretched his arms to the top of the rock and gripped onto the edge. Once he had a good grip, he flung himself upward, barely noticing the shocked expressions on both the man and the bird's faces as he zoomed by them and into the air. When he landed safely behind the two he took the time to examine their colors and emotions, wondering what these two were doing in the desert like this.
The man's color wasn't that bad, a relatively light blue, and the two of them- and yes, Luffy felt the need to check the bird's emotions too despite never meeting an animal with the darkness before- had no darkness in them.
With that out of the way, Luffy asked the man what they were doing out there, and after hearing about the man's goal to take down 11062- AKA, his brother Ace- Luffy told him that he knew where he could find him.
"Yes, I suppose his brother, the infamous 11097 would know where 11062 was." The man mused once he'd gotten over his shock that Luffy knew where Ace was.
"We have names you know," Luffy said, confused if the man knew that.
"Ah, right, how rude of me. My name's Scorpion! Nice to meet you 11097." Scorpion said, seemingly not understanding that Luffy meant he himself had a name other than his numbers. Ignoring this for now, Luffy sniffed the air to see if he could determine where his brother and crew were and found that they were still relatively nearby.
"Anyway, I can take you to Ace now if you want. He's over there with my crew." Luffy said, pointing in the direction he knew them to be in. Scorpion gave the teen a skeptical look at that, hesitantly glancing in the direction Luffy was pointing in.
"You're going to take me to 11062?" He questioned cautiously.
"Mm." Luffy hummed, nodding an affirmative as he did. This only made Scorpion even more skeptical and confused.
"Why would you do that? He's your brother, right?" The man asked, just to reassure that that was the case. After all, why would he rat out his brother like this?
"Yup. Ace is strong though, and besides, you really want to fight him, so why not?" Luffy asked, feeling the man's determination to do this was strong. From what he could tell, nothing was going to deter him from his goal, and Luffy had no intention to try and stop him in the first place.
"I-... Well, alright! Let's go!" And with that, Luffy and Scorpion rode on the man's ostrich while Luffy guided them on where to go. In no time at all they were spotting both Ace and Luffy's crew up ahead, the group of them heading in their direction as well.
"See, there they are!" Luffy called, pointing them out on the off chance that Scorpion himself couldn't see the group right in front of them.
"Ah, Luffy! There you are!" Usopp called over as Luffy waved cheerily.
"Hey, guys!" He called, but before he could think to say anything more Scorpion was jumping off of the ostrich with a wide grin, staring Ace down.
"Right. Ace, this guy wants to fight you so I brought him here," Luffy told his brother with a smile as he also got off of the ostrich. Ace grinned at the challenge, looking over Scorpion as he did.
"You're Scorpion then? Luffy, you've got some strange luck sometimes." Ace said. At this point, Luffy knew something was up seeing as Ace seemed to recognize this man, and not only that, but his brother's emotions had suddenly turned more fierce and determined. Not having expected this outcome, Luffy sat down on the surrounding rocks to watch.
Scorpion was quick to boast about how strong he was and how he was determined to take Ace down. Neither Luffy nor his crew interfered as the fight between Ace and Scorpion began, but it was clear within seconds who was the stronger of the two.
While Scorpion had gadgets and wit, Ace had brute strength and fire on his side to outsmart everything Scorpion threw- literally in the case of the net that came out of one of Scorpion's cannons- at him.
"So, you say you saw Haru? You knew it would lure me out." Ace said after a pause in the fight. Scorpion was trying to catch his breath after being knocked back by the fire user, but he smiled regardless. At the turn in the conversation, Luffy blinked, finally realizing just who this man was.
"That's right! It was a good plan, huh?" He asked as he staggered to his feet, still grinning.
"Yeah, but what I'd like to know," Ace started as his fist lit up once more.
"Is how you knew I was hunting down Haru in the first place." He finished, tone lowering and features darkening. Luffy felt the same distrust and caution around Scorpion now that Ace was experiencing as he realized that this man must know something about facilities to use Haru's name. No one outside of the facility besides the Whitebeards and marines- presumably that is- knew about the doctor and his connections to the brothers, so how was it that Scorpion- a complete outsider- knew?
"If you want that information, you'll just have to beat me to find out." Scorpion said confidently. Ace's dark look turned into a malicious smile as his fist tightened.
"Gladly." He all but snarled, and while Luffy could still see that Scorpion wasn't a bad guy, he couldn't help but still feel on edge around him.
From where the rest of the crew was watching in confusion and interest, two small children jumped out of the rocks and ran over to Ace and Scorpion, surprising everyone at their arrival.
Turns out, they were Scorpions kids.
They started to beg their father to stop the fighting, tears in their eyes as they struggled to try pushing him away from Ace. While the marines seemed to believe that Luffy and his brothers were horrible monsters that rose from the pits of hell itself, that just wasn't the case, and while both Luffy and Ace wanted answers from Scorpion on where he'd gotten his information on Haru, they also weren't going to harm his children in that process. Because of this, they sat back and watched as Scorpion tried to get them to move away so that he could finish the fight without interference, but when Chip grabbed at the bazooka-like weapon that Scorpion was holding, it was fired and launched into the sky rather than Ace as the man had originally been aiming for.
Everyone watched as a spiked ball flew into the sky and latched onto a stone overhang above Scorpion and his children. When the ball exploded the stone began to fall right towards the three, and as previously mentioned, Luffy and his brothers weren't monsters despite popular belief. When they saw that the falling stone would most definitely crush the small family of three, Luffy immediately started to run over to protect the three, only to be stopped by Ace.
"I've got it." He said, shooting a pillar of fire out towards the falling stone and knocking it back toward the pillar it had come from. When the rubble and smoke settled, Ace and Luffy headed over to see if Scorpion and the kids were alright.
"D-dad protected us!" Dip told them, he and his brother crying as they tried shaking their father awake. Scorpion was laying flat on his stomach with his helmet covering his face, effectively hiding whether he was conscious or not.
"Dad, don't die!" Chip cried, shaking Scorpion again in fear.
"He's fine, right old guy?" Luffy asked, feeling that the man was alright if a little banged up from his previous fighting with Ace.
"That's right. I wouldn't die and leave my two adorable children behind." Scorpion muttered as he sat up and fixed his helmet. The fear and sadness left the children immediately at this and they were quick to jump into their father's arms. They were smiling now and the tears that fell were happy this time rather than sad.
Ace and Luffy watched as the three talked amongst themselves, letting them settle themselves after the fright they'd just had. When they were calmed down, they all moved back to go sit on the fallen rubble surrounding them as Luffy's crew came over to see if everyone was alright.
"It was lucky Ace-san pushed the rubble away or else the damage would have been much worse," Vivi noted worriedly as she sat beside Nami on the stones.
"Yeah, that would have been bad." Usopp agreed, sweating at the thought. While Scorpion had been trying to fight Ace earlier, they didn't want the man dead. Especially not in front of his children who'd worked so hard to find him.
"I thank you again for saving us," Scorpion said to Ace gratefully, any of his determination to fight Ace gone now. At the show of gratitude, Ace waved it off, sitting down in front of the man with Luffy at his side.
"It was no problem. Would you mind answering a few of my questions now?" Ace asked, though it was more of a courtesy that he was asking. Even if Scorpion refused, he wasn't going to just let the man get away after he admitted to knowing at least some information on Haru.
"Of course. It's the least I could do." Scorpion said, looking to his children who were still clinging to him. The crew watched silently from where they sat, not wanting to interfere seeing as this looked important. They didn't have a clue who this Haru person Ace was looking for was, but whoever it was must be important. Not to mention, in the short time they'd traveled with the eldest of the brothers he'd been rather cheerful. Luffy too. So to see the two of them looking so serious all of a sudden piqued their curiosity.
"How do you know about Haru?" Ace asked, getting straight to the point of this whole thing. Scorpion sighed at that, taking his helmet off and running his fingers through his hair.
"That's a bit of a long story." He said, settling into a more comfortable position on the rock. Ace crossed his arms over his chest, preparing himself for whatever they were about to hear while Luffy did the same from beside him, shifting almost nervously.
"To start, I'm a bounty hunter because my family needed money. That meant I was willing to take any bounty that came my way. One day, I was sitting in a bar listening to the gossip and looking for a bounty that I could take when this guy comes in and sits next to me." Scorpion begins, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together.
"I'd never seen him before in my life, but I was also new to that area anyway so I'd never seen anyone there before except the bartender. We're old friends." He says, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Anyway, I'm minding my own business and looking through the newest bounties, and the new guy orders a drink. We didn't talk for a while, and I was just about to leave when he suddenly turned to me and started talking. He asked whether I was a bounty hunter or not, and when I told him I was he asked if I was willing to take any bounty or if I had a limit to who I went after." Scorpion said, his eyebrows furrowing as he remembered.
"I told him I was willing to take any bounty I could and he slid your wanted poster over to me. Of course, I'd heard of you and your brothers before, but last I'd heard you were all in the New World and while I was desperate, I wasn't desperate enough to try traversing into the New World alone. I told him this and he said that I wouldn't need to go there, that all I would have to do was start spreading rumors around that I'd met him and one of the trio from hell would come running." Scorpion continued, and the more he said, the more Ace and Luffy felt their stomachs turning nervously.
"I asked him what his name was and he told me it was Haru and that if I did manage to take you down I was to bring you back to him and he'd pay me double your bounty." At this, both Luffy and Ace stiffened and looked at each other.
"What did he look like?" Ace asked, his voice tight as he tried to stay calm, especially when Luffy was bound to be having bad emotions of his own from this. He didn't need Ace's on top of that.
"Uh, let me think... Brown hair... Blue eyes? No, green. Brown hair and green eyes, about 5'9? Not very bulky, more on the thin side." Scorpion told them, a finger to his chin as he thought back.
"Luffy?" Ace asked, turning to look at his brother. The crew looked as well, wondering why Ace was addressing Luffy now after the teen had been silent throughout the story.
"He hasn't lied," Luffy said quietly, trying to process what all of this could mean. Ace's frown deepened at the answer as he turned back to look at Scorpion.
"Where was it that you met him? A different ocean? A different island?" Ace asked, hoping that was the case despite the fact that he was trying to hunt him down.
"No no, I met him here in Alabasta." Even though Luffy and Ace had a feeling this would be the case, they still felt their blood freeze at the dreaded answer.
"And do you know where he was heading?" Ace asked.
"No. That's all I know." Scorpion answered.
"Ok... Ok, thank you for all the information." Ace said, wiping his hands on his shorts and standing. Everyone else but Luffy stood as well- the teen still staring at a point on the sandy ground almost despondently.
"Luffy?" Snapping out of his thoughts, Luffy hadn't even realized that Scorpion and his kids had left. Looking up from the ground, Luffy saw that his crew and Ace were watching him, and probably had been for at least a few good seconds.
"Huh?" The rubber captain asked, trying to shake himself from his thoughts and worries about Haru. It didn't help that he could feel Ace's same worry and fear feeding right back into him.
"I have to be heading off now." Ace said gently. The fear and worry over Haru was pushed aside in Ace and was instead replaced by worry for Luffy now as the eldest looked him over.
"Oh, right." Standing up finally, Luffy tried one more time to push his thoughts away, to focus on now instead of then, instead of what all of this could mean. He couldn't help it though as he looked back at Ace, the two of them practically having the same thoughts and memories.
"I don't like this," Luffy admitted to his brother quietly, as if speaking louder about this subject would cause Haru himself to appear right now.
"Neither do I, but I'm gonna find him." Ace vowed with a frown. Luffy took a deep breath and nodded, knowing that there was no way Ace was going to back down from this, even with the danger screaming right in their faces.
"He's sending bounty hunters after us now," Luffy said, glancing towards where Scorpions scent went.
"He wants to be found. Either that or he's bad at hiding, but I think we both know that's the least likely option of the two." Ace added, wondering why the doctor would want to be found. He had to know that once Ace caught up to him the doctor would stand no chance. Ace wasn't a pushover, and Haru was a doctor, not a fighter. If the brothers had had any chance to fight the doctor, he had no doubt that even in their weakened state, Ace would have been able to take the wretched man down himself all that time ago, much less now.
"Be careful," Luffy said, looking back at his brother now as he said this. Ace smiled at him and nodded, pulling something out of his pocket.
"Of course. Here, I brought my vivre card for you." He told him, handing the folded piece of paper over and watching as Luffy tucked it into the brim of his hat where he kept all of his other vivre cards.
"I'm gonna call Sabo and tell him everything Scorpion told us and after that, I'm heading after that bastard. You stay safe too, you here?" Ace told Luffy sternly, eliciting a small smile in response.
"Mm." Luffy hummed, nodding to his brother.
"He might be a bit much for you to handle, but take good care of 'im." Ace said, addressing Luffys crew now who had listened silently to everything, yet didn't understand much of what they'd heard.
"Huh?" Luffy asked, blinking in confusion. He didn't get an answer though as Ace smiled at him one more time and flared his fire, blinding them all momentarily and scaring some of Luffys crew at the suddenness of it. When the flames were gone they were left with an empty space where Ace had been standing, Luffy sensing that he was no longer nearby.
"Wha-?! Where'd he go?!" Usopp asked, eyes wide as he spun around in search of the fire user.
"He's gone. But we'll definitely see him again." Luffy told them, not looking at any of them as he said this, and began walking off into the desert once more. They all watched him for another second before nodding and following after, deciding it was easier to let some mysteries stay mysteries.
I don't think I've ever described Haru before- at least, not from what I could find rereading TDWW. I've always had a vague idea as to what Haru looked like, and for the most part, I'm pretty sure he's stayed the same way the entire time in my mind. If I have described him before and the past description doesn't match the one in this chapter, forgive me. It's hard sometimes to keep track of everything after over 100 chapters in this series. I don't know how Oda does it with over 9 times that.
More of the Facility Plot is being shown now! Haru isn't only nearby, he was also in Alabasta as well. Whatever his plans are are still a mystery at the moment though. Either way, things are really starting to heat up!
Also, real life news, I'm going to be going on a camping trip with some friends in July. The bad news about that is that its a month long camping trip. I've checked the dates and I'll be able to get up the next chapter as usual, but the next two after that will be missed. I'll be back by August 3rd though, which means I will be able to get the chapter for August 5th up.
That sounds a bit confusing, but know that next weeks chapter will be up as normal and the next one after that will be August 5th.
I'm sorry that I'll be leaving you all hanging for a month, but know that if I manage to find some type of internet source at our site I'll do my best to get some chapters up during my trip! If I can't, just know that I will be thinking about you guys and this story nonstop while I'm there anyway.
As always, thank you all for the amazing support and love! You guys make this story fun for me and not just something I feel like I have to do. Seeing all of your encouragement and comments truly means the world to me.
I'll see you all next time with chapter 32!