Chapter 11: Giants

Ace tipped his hat back as he heard the clashing of weapons. He had come to Little Garden in hopes of talking to the two dueling giants. Both had wide grins on their faces as their weapons clashed against each other. Luffy will love meeting these two. He thought as the ground shook from their steps. Even the beasts of the island seemed to know to keep their distances from these two lest they be crushed.

The crashing of both giants falling shook the entire island. This was the opportunity Ace was waiting for. Quickly making his way through the island to the interior Ace found both giants laughing. The first turned his head towards him. "ACE!"

"Yo, Brogy!" Ace waved at the short bearded blonde. The grainy roared with laughter causing the vicking like armor to shake with his laughter. He turned towards the other giant. "Dory! Looking good since that episode with the volcano!"

Dory laughed. "My beard even grew back!" He yelled joyously.

"Do you need something Ace?" Brogy inquired as he sat upright once again, Dory following suit.

"You haven't visited in months," Dory grinned. "so you must need something."

Ace groaned inwardly. Am I that transparent? "Uh," he rubbed the back of his neck. "sort of."

"Knew it." Brogy stated with a grunt as he stood up.

Ace sat on a branch closer to the giants. "Well, can you blame me?" He pointed to them. "You're always fighting each other because of those damn fish you two caught. I offered to measure them last time I was here but you didn't want me to."

Dory snorted. "They're nothing but bones now."

"So you can't get an accurate measurement." Brogy stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Ace rolled his eyes at this. He'd heard of being stubborn but these two took the cake. "Anyway, I wanted to ask a favor."

"Hmm?" Dory hummed.

Brogy raised a brow at him. "Oh?"

"My little brother will be coming out onto the sea and knowing him, he will come to Little Garden." He began as he looked up at both seeing that they were looking at him, Ace bowed at them. "Please, will you become his friends and allies?"

"That's it!?" Brogy asked incredulously.

Dory burst out laughing. "Why would we do that? Is he a mighty warrior?"

Ace grinned. "The mightiest that I know and perhaps the most stupid irresponsible little shit I've ever known in my life." Ace laughed lightly. "But.." He gained their attention at this. "He's my little brother and I want to help him with his dream."

"His dream?" Brogy inquired.

Ace grinned proudly. "He plans to become King of the Pirates." He chuckled. "I know you both don't really care about what's going on there but I care and I want my brother to succeed." He shrugged his shoulders. He then grinned inwardly. Perhaps he could use his ace in the hole. "If you don't want to help, that fine." He turned to leave. "But even Shanks is his friend."

"Shanks is?" Dory asked.

"Shanks is a good friend to have." Brogy said with a nod.

"What's your kid brother's name again?" Dory asked gaining his rivals attention.

"Lu-" Ace began but was interrupted.

"What!? You're going to befriend him?!" Brogy asked with annoyance.

"What and you were?!" Dory asked with equal annoyance.

The two men grabbed at their weapons. "The kid will want a strong ally not an indecisive one who can't admit defeat over a damn fish!" Brogy swung his weapon. Dory swung his weapon to block the attack.

Ace jumped away from the two, infighting his flame power and flew up and away from the danger. Okay. Did I just inadvertently start another war between those two? He watched from the striker as the two giants began arguing over who was going to befriend Ace's little brother first. Yeah. Maybe coming here wasn't the best idea.

Sabo groaned as the sun bore down upon him. Lindbergh and Koala had both defiantly refused to let him go by himself when he had announced that he was going to Dawn to see his other brother. His two subordinates were currently in the cabin trying to stay cool and rest. Their ship was currently in the Calm Belt heading towards the east blue. Their ship had been speeding through the ocean when they suddenly came to a full stop because of the lack of air movement in the belt.

As much of an annoyance that was, it was nothing compared to the monster sea kings in this area. He was hoping for a miracle really. The damn engine on the skip had conked out. With no leftover cola for fuel they were now dependent on him or Lindbergh either fixing the engine or for a storm to suddenly come to life so they could ride the waves and wind towards the east blue.

Unfortunately luck didn't seem to be on their side. It was at this moment as Sabo kicked the engine to start, out of frustration mostly, when he heard the sound of water splashing. Turning around he saw the largest cat-like sea king he had ever seen in his life coming out of the water being chased by another lizard-like sea king. This one reminded him of the sea king that guarded his home island, the very one responsible for eating Red Haired Shanks' arm. As the two sea kings fought, their bodies began to cause the calm sea to move. Waves gained in height and soon the little ship was moving along like a bath toy in a giant tub. Without an engine they only had steering. Quickly thinking Sabo raised the main sail, trying to capture the air in order to keep their little ship going for as long as possible.

Meanwhile on Dawn, Luffy was grinning widely as Masked Deuce, as he learned the guy's name was, continued to tell him about Ace's adventures and misadventures. The bad stories usually ended with Ace running away from a larger enemy only to come back at them with his fire type devil fruit. That was another thing he had learned. Ace had eaten a devil fruit after vehemently saying he'd never eat one.

Luffy pushed the doors to Party's Bar and waved at Makino. "Makino! Look what I found!? This is Masked Deuce! He's friends with Ace."

Deuce watched the green haired woman turn towards him and the others behind him. Although she looked friendly outwardly, he saw her eyes darken at the mention of them being Ace's friends. She wasn't as trusting to this claim as Luffy seemed to be. "Really?" she said with doubt in her tone. "Where is he?"

"Ace sent us here to check on his little brother." Deuce answered as he rubbed Luffy's head in a friendly gesture. This gained laughter from the younger boy. "Ace learned that an enemy may have learned of his home and possibly Luffy, so as he's out with some crew hunting these people down, he asked us his most trusted friends to keep an eye on this one here." He pointed to Luffy who was picking his nose.

Banshee sat down on a stool in front of the woman. "I'll have to say, out of all of the islands out in the east blue I would've never have thought this island was his home nor that it has beasts on it that are similar to those on islands on the Grandline."

"Eh?!" Luffy exclaimed. "Really?" Excitement suddenly lit up on his face. "That's awesome!"

"More like scary." Mihar groaned as he found a seat in one of the bars booths. The thin man looked exhausted as he laid his head onto the table in front of him.

Makino just smiled as she began filling some glasses with beer. Signaling Luffy to give them out to the group. "Terrifying." Saber said with a shiver. "We got chased by a giant Boar through a ravine. That fucking pig was as big as a damn house!"

"A pig?" Deuce asked incredulously. "Try an Ape the size of the mini Moby and a Tiger that's the size of the old man!" The crew looked at him with dropped jaws. Just where the hell were they!?

"Shishishi…" Luffy laughed as he jumped onto the barstool near Makino. "You guys are funny." His grin got wider; if that was possible. "Do you have anymore stories about Ace and you guys?"

"Masked Deuce was stranded on an island with him for over a month." Banshee stated with her own grin.

Deuce chuckled. "I tried to kill him too." Gripping his stomach Luffy burst out laughing.

"Ace did the same thing with me!" Luffy laughed harder. Makino's own giggle was muffled as she tried to cover her mouth.

"Karma's a bitch." The statement caused Luffy to look down at a small, fair-skinned man with small round eyes, a small nose, and thick lips. He cocked his head at the man. "What!?" The man yelled feeling defensive.

"Er…who are you again?" Luffy asked having inquired of everyone's name but couldn't for the life of himself recall this guy's name.

"FINAMORE!" the small man yelled furiously. "It hasn't even been an hour since I told you my name! How could you forget it so fast!?"

The group burst out laughing as Luffy rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm very sorry." He apologize sincerely.

"Tch!" Irritated Finamore walked up to the kid. "Try to be better kid." He walked away to a secluded spot in the corner of the room.

Deuce chuckled. "FINAMORE has always been a bit sensitive, but he's a good guy." He assured Luffy.

"Ah. I'm sure." Luffy smiled once more. "Ace wouldn't have any bad crewmates with him." He brought his cup of juice to his lips.

"What are you drinking there kiddo?" Banshee inquired noticing the blue tint to the drink.

Luffy grinned up at her. "Juice!"

"Juice!?" The crew asked sounding a bit shocked.

"I don't like the taste of alcohol." he laughed at them.

"Why am I not too surprised?" Banshee asked before she laughed as well. "Ace doesn't like the taste either, not unless he puts something spicy in it."

Luffy grinned. "He's always been like that!"

Makino chuckled. "That's so true." The group could definitely believe that. Their captain's hot tastes seemed to match his personality.

Meanwhile across the sea, said teenager began sneezing profusely before it stopped. Looking around himself he wondered if someone was talking about him and that was why he had a sudden sneeze attack.

M-Angel: I everyone is having a great weekend!

David - I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I am also happy you like the plot of the story.

Anonymous - I'm trying to do more of a brotherly love kind of story. No romance here.