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Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Finding the Brothers

In the quiet, sea-swept village of Foosha , a wild child roamed the hills. He had a scar under his eye, a voice louder than a cannon, and an unshakable dream to become the King of the Pirates . His name was Monkey D. Luffy , and at six years old , he already had the kind of fire in his heart that could set the Grand Line ablaze. However, he wasn’t a pirate yet. Not even close. He lived at Makino’s bar , where he spent his days helping out, mostly breaking more than he fixed, and picking fights with the older kids. Garp, his terrifying grandfather, would drop in once in a while to hurl him into the forest, yelling something about making him a “good, strong Marine.” Luffy would always climb back out muddy, bloodied, grinning, and with some new scratches to show off; but lately, something in Luffy’s heart had been...itchy. He wasn’t sure what it was. Just a feeling like the ocean calling from beyond the horizon. The bar was warm, Makino kind, the villagers mostly tolerant, but he felt alone. Like he was waiting for something. Then, one day, while exploring the Grey Terminal , he found it.

One late morning there was smoke seen coming from the other side of the mountain. Luffy had followed the smoke trail to the edge of the trash town, the Grey Terminal, chasing rumors of bandits who lived amongst the junk. Climbing a mountain pile of junk, scraps and possibly dead corpses, he came to the top. Peering down he didn’t expect to find two kids, both younger than him, fighting off a group of thugs with sticks.

One was blond and messy, face smudged with soot, his forehead blooding from being hit, but his voice sharp with defiance. The other had freckles and dark hair, and eyes that burned with the fury of a hundred suns.

Luffy didn’t wait. He launched himself into the fight, screaming, “YOU GUYS SUCK AT STICK FIGHTING!” and promptly headbutted the biggest thugs unconscious.

Together, the three of them drove the rest away. Panting and bruised, the blond boy pointed at Luffy. “Who the hell are you?!”

“I’m Luffy,” he said proudly, puffing out his chest. “I’m gonna be King of the Pirates!”

The freckled boy rolled his eyes. “What kind of idiot says that out loud?”

“Your face says it too,” Luffy shot back, shocking the boy. “What’s your name, spitfire?”

The boy bristled. “It’s Ace .” An annoyed look was shot his way.

The blond boy crossed his arms. “ Sabo .” Unbeknownst to them that the strings of fate had just tied them together forever.

“How old are you two?” Luffy asked, quickly taking notice of their wounds, how thin they were and the dark circles under their eyes.

“Four.” Sabo’s quiet voice whispered. The other boy, Ace, looked a bit scared of him now but was trying his best not to be.

Luffy felt anger bubbling in him. Who would abandon two, four year olds? His grandfather’s face came to mind. He shook his head at that thought. “I know somewhere you’ll be safe if you come with me.”

The two children had no choice. They had no food, the mountain lady had kicked them out because they’d been too chaotic.  “S-Sure.” Ace reluctantly agreed.

Suddenly the two were scooped up into Luffy’s arms and placed on his back. “Shishishi.” He laughed at their surprised faces. “It’s my old home. I’ll ask ‘Kino if you can come live with us later. For now, you’ll live in the monkey forest.” His little legs raced through the jungle, over ravines and away from the jungle cats that gave chase until they came to a cliff overlooking a small coastal village. “That’s Foosha. My home and soon, yours too.” He looked at the two boys who looked exhausted on his back. “Come on. We’re almost home.”

Home, as it turned out to be, was a small log cabin with a canopy roof that leaked in the loft area. The downstairs had a couch, a wood pot belly stove and an ice box. The second room in the downstairs was a bathroom that had the bare essentials to it; a claw tub and a toilet. The sink was rusty; but worked. “There’s a working well out back.” Luffy told them as the two boys explored their new home.

“The roof needs fixed.” Ace told him as older boy walked towards the corner of the room.

Another shishishi escaped Luffy’s lips. “I know.” He smiled at their surprised two before opening a box in the corner of the room. Inside were tanned hides turned blankets. “These will keep you warm at night.” He pulled one large pelt out and placed it on the couch. The two climb onto it and began to curl up around each other. “I’ll get you some food.” Luffy told them as he walked away from them towards the door. “Sleep. You’re safe here.” He’d barely closed the door when their eyes closed and soft snores began to come from the room.

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Chapter 2: The Wheel Turns

Luffy started sneaking away from Foosha every day, running all the way to cabin to find Ace and Sabo. They were orphans, surviving by stealing from garbage lords and stashing treasure to one day buy their own pirate ship. Luffy was the loudest of the three, the most reckless but he had the biggest heart and the best (or worst) ideas.

Ace didn’t trust him at first. Sabo was amused. So slowly, the three of them learned to fight together, eat together, and plan together. They fixed the cabin together with scraps from the garbage dump town. They swore not to let anyone mess with them and they shared their aspirations and dreams with each other and shouted it was the mountain top.

“I’m gonna be King of the Pirates!”

“I wanna prove I was worth being born.”

“I wanna be free.”

At night, under the stars, they talked about the sea. None of them had ever been, not really. However, they believed, with the bone deep certainty only kids had, that it would be theirs someday. So one day they sealed their bonds even tighter than before.

It was Sabo’s idea really. He’d heard it being read from an old book that pirates made bonds stronger than blood by sharing a drink together. So they found three mismatched sake cups from the trash, filled them with whatever weird juice Makino had packed in Luffy’s lunch, and stood together under the grandfather tree near the top of Mt. Colubo.

Luffy grinned. “We’re gonna be pirates together.”

Sabo nodded. “Brothers too.”

Ace hesitated, but then, with a small smirk, he raised his cup. “Together till death.”

They drank.

And Still... He hadn’t me that person yet. Hadn’t heard the stories yet. Hadn’t made the promise yet.

Yet, was about to happen; but not yet.

Back in Foosha, Makino noticed the change in Luffy. He was still loud, still impulsive, but something about him had settled. There was light in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. She didn’t ask where he ran off to each day. She just smiled when he came back, covered in dirt, bruises, sometimes blood and joy. He was a D after all and D’s were hard to keep down.

The red-haired pirate who would change everything hadn’t come. Yet even without Shanks, without the Devil Fruit, without the straw hat… Luffy had already found the first treasure of his pirate life, brothers who believed in him.

And that was enough; for now.

It had been a year since Luffy , Ace , and Sabo became brothers. They were now seven and five years old, stronger, dirtier, and more chaotic than ever. The forest near Mt. Colubo had become their domain. Every bandit knew better than to mess with the Three Demons of Dawn Island. Luffy always talked about the sea, ships and pirates. About big ones; about real ones.

Ace always scoffed. “You don’t need pirates. You just need strength.”

Sabo smirked. “I’d like a fancy coat like the captains in those picture books.”

Luffy shouted back, “YOU DON’T GET IT!!! REAL PIRATES ARE AWESOME!!”

He didn’t know it yet, but someone who would change all their lives was finally on his way.

It was a calm day in Foosha Village when the Red Force dropped anchor. Makino was wiping glasses when the bell over the bar rang and in strolled a man with bright flaming red hair , three earrings in one ear,  scars over his left eye and a wide grin. His coat flapped behind him like a banner. Behind him came a loud, rowdy crew who were laughing, perhaps already drunk, and clearly not giving a single damn about anyone around them.

Makino blinked. “You must be new in town.”

The man grinned. “We’re just passing through. I’m Shanks .” His grey eyes sparkled with a joy unlike most seamen she’d seen.

He ordered a drink, laughed so hard he knocked over three chairs, and started telling stories about sea monsters, sky islands, and treasure so big it made kings go mad.

Luffy wasn’t there to see him.

The twins were.

"Is He For Real?"

They were in town grabbing supplies when Ace first saw the pirate crew. He stared through the bar window, eyes narrowing. Sabo appeared beside him, dust on his tattered coat and a rolled-up map in hand. “Those are real pirates,” he whispered. “That guy with the red hair is the captain.” Sabo was ever the one to gain information first.

Ace grinned as a mischievous thought came to mind. “Real pirates, huh?” Ace muttered. “Let’s see if they’re worth anything.” They snuck into the bar, behind the counter and into the office without Makino noticing; but Shanks saw them. With a raised brow, he and the crew watched the boys sneak past the barmaid and out again.

That afternoon, the boys dragged Luffy to the edge of Foosha. Luffy blinked at them with wide eyes. “Pirates? Here?! WHERE?!”

They pointed towards the docks, where Shanks was sitting with a bottle in one hand and a piece of meat in the other, laughing with his crew.Luffy’s jaw dropped comically. Then he ran down the mountain trail with barely contained excitement. The twins chased after him, just as excited and couldn’t wait to hear more stories.

So the wheel of fate began to finally turn.

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Chapter 3 : Predestined Meeting

“ARE YOU A PIRATE!?” Luffy shouted, skidding to a stop in front of the red haired man.

Shanks raised an eyebrow at the bundle of sunshine and smiles from the joyful child. “Me? Hah, the best one!”

“I’M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!”

The red-haired man blinked, his men burst into laughter , but he smirked. Sabo winced as Ace crossed his arms while shaking his head. “He always says that.”

Shanks ruffled Luffy’s hair. “Big dreams, huh? I like that. What’s your name, kid?”

“Luffy! These two are my brothers Ace and Sabo!” Luffy grinned proudly at the two younger boys.

Ace looked annoyed. “We’re not his real brothers.”

Sabo added, “We drank cups though. So we’re basically real.”

Shanks tilted his head, amused. “Three brothers, huh? That’s rare.” The strawhats on his head catching Luffy’s gaze, but he ignored the itch to grab at it to examine the contours of it.  Shanks gave him a knowing look.

For the next month, the Red-Hair Pirates became the biggest attraction Foosha Village had ever seen. They told the boys stories of the Grand Line, showed them treasure, let them climb on the ship (once) that ended with Luffy almost falling from the upper deck and sparred with them for fun. Luffy was obsessed, something kept bugging Ace and Sabo wanted to look more at the maps with Limejuice.

Then one night, after Makino’s bar had closed, the three boys stayed behind with Shanks. Ace asked, “What does it mean to be a real pirate?”

Shanks stopped smiling. He took off his straw hat , staring at it quietly. “It means chasing freedom. Fighting for your crew and carrying the weight of your choices.”

Sabo asked, “Have you ever... lost someone?”

Shanks looked at them. He didn’t speak right away. Then: “Yeah. Many; but I don’t regret living this life.”

Luffy reached for the hat. “That hat’s cool. Can I have it?”

Shanks chuckled. “This? Nah. It was given to me by someone important. I’m just holding onto it... until I find someone worthy to pass it on to.”

Luffy puffed up his chest. “Then I’ll be worthy!”

Ace smirked. “Good luck with that, dummy.” Sabo said nothing, but he smiled loving his brother’s banter as Shanks just chuckled.

Beckman shook his head. “I thought we were only staying a week. Two at most.” Shanks grinned at his first man. “We’ve been here for a month.”

The smile never wavered as he watched the two older boys play fight as the blond tried to play referee. “Have you noticed that the boys don’t stay with Makino and their parents never seem to be around?” Beckman raised an eyebrow.

“Took you long enough to notice.” Hongo, the ship doctor stated as he and Limejuice walked past their captain.

“They’re orphans.” Lucky said as he took a bite from his drumstick. “Sabo said so.”

Shanks and Beckman looked shocked at first then heartbroken. “When?” Beckman inquired as Luffy ended up sitting on Ace’s back as the boy squirmed to get away.

“Hmm.” He had hummed in thought. “Yesterday afternoon when Luffy and Ace were chasing Monster.”

“That explains his aversion of the boys today.” Limejuice chuckled.

“Orphans.” Shanks said softly as a memory of Buggy being brought onboard the Oro Jackson after having pickpocket Rayleigh. “They’ve claimed each other as family even though there’s no blood between them.”

“They’re going to take the seas by storm.” Beckman told him as another smirk appeared on Shanks’ face.

“That they will.”

A few days later, Shanks prepared to leave. The boys stood on the dock, watching him go. He crouched down to Luffy’s level. “You’re a good kid, Luffy. You’ve got guts. I’ll bet you’ll make something big of yourself.”Then he looked at Ace and Sabo. “And you two,” He pointed at the two younger boys. “don’t let him die.”

Sabo grinned. “We’re not that irresponsible.” He rolled his eyes at him.

Ace snorted. “If he dies, it’s his own fault.” He shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care in fact did.

Luffy shouted after him as Shanks turned to leave, “I’LL HAVE A CREW, AND A SHIP, AND A FLAG!” The crew grinned at the boy.

“This isn’t good-bye forever, but a farewell until next time.” Shanks told him.

Luffy laughed. “Shishishi.” He grinned broadly, one that was too big to be natural. “Good.

The red haired man froze at the D shaped smile and got a flashback of a man with a red captains jacket, dark hair and the same smile on his lips. Shanks suddenly grinned as they boarded the Red Force and set sail. Behind him, on the docks stood three boys , already destined to set the world on fire.

Six months had passed since the Red-Haired Pirates left Foosha Village . The three of them were stronger, faster, and more dangerous than before at least, according to the villagers who regularly found trees split in half or wild boars mysteriously tied to windmills. Their dream hadn’t changed: become pirates , sail the seas together, and live free; however, the world wasn’t going to let that happen easily.

Deep in the tangle of the Grey Terminal , something was wrong. Luffy felt it in his gut first. The forest birds had gone quiet. The familiar gang of scavengers was gone. Even the usual smoke trails that curled from the trash fires were missing.

Ace noticed it too. “Where’s everyone?”

Sabo tightened his grip on his pipe. “Too quiet. Someone’s pushing people out of the area.” That was when  they saw them.

Bluejam , the brutal pirate captain who ran a smuggling ring through the trash heap, had returned with new orders , new weapons, and new targets. He and his crew were clearing territory and one of the brothers’ hideouts were right in their path. Luffy suddenly heard voices behind him, animals who were screaming in fear. Turning he felt his eyes widen.

“They’re burning the forest!” Luffy shouted as flames flickered in the distance.

“They must be looking for us,” Ace said darkly. His eyes showed a bit of fear. “Lu, what do we do?”

Sabo’s face was pale. “This isn’t random. This is a hunt.” He felt sick even saying that but it’s what it looked like. “What now?”

The seven year old boy felt his long buried anger begin to simmer. Nobody hurt his brothers or endangered their home and this pirate and his crew had done just that. A D grin spread across his face as power crackled to life in his veins. “We hunt them.” He growled, his eyes glowing as he grasped their wrists and took them into the jungle that had been set ablaze.

While chaos sparked around the Grey Terminal, a familiar flag was spotted in the harbor. The Red Force had returned. Shanks stepped off the ship, scratching his head. “Tch... did this place always smell like cheap booze and gunpowder?” He teased the green haired barmaid who spun around at the sound of his voice.

Makino ran up to him with worry. “Shanks! You’re back! Thank goodness!”

Shanks could feel worry pulsing out of her in waves. “Whoa, what’s wrong?” He asked sending he already knew what, or who, had caused her grief.

“Luffy’s in the forest. With those brothers of his. And there’s a pirate crew, Bluejam, who has been setting fires and driving people out of the Grey Terminal and the surrounding area!”

Shanks’ easygoing face changed in an instant. “ Where. ” The haki laced word caused her eyes to widen. She hadn’t realized until now that Shanks shared the same power as her cousin; Garp. Haki was a strength she had never acquired but knew of. She also knew Luffy would one day unlock that power and feared for the boy when that day came.

Luffy, Ace, and Sabo fought tooth and nail. Their secondary hideout was in flames. Sabo had a burn across his face. Ace’s lip was bleeding. Luffy’s knuckles were raw. “ STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHERS !” Luffy shouted, punching a pirate square in the face and knocking out three teeth and sending then man down a hill of greenery on fire.

“Why are they after us!?” Ace growled.

“They want to take the loot we hid. They’re after the treasure we’ve been saving,” Sabo panted. “They’re pirates. The bad kind.”

Bluejam finally stepped into the clearing, towering over them, laughing. “So you’re the brats causing all this noise. Thought you could play pirate? I’ll show you what real pirates do.”He raised a massive cutlass.

Luffy didn’t move. “You’re not a real pirate.”Ace and Sabo stepped in front of him, ready to fight together whena bottle came flying out of nowhere and smashed against Bluejam’s head .

He stumbled back, furious. “WHO—”A shadow stepped through the smoke. Red Haired Shanks and behind him, his crew fanned out like wolves and the ragtag group of Bluejam Pirates, made up of former bandits and murders, couldn’t help but quake at the murderous look the red haired man held in his eyes. They were going to die and in the most painful of ways.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Real Pirates

Bluejam’s men hesitated as they noticed the red haired man and his first mate. “Red Hair Shanks.” Bluejam growled, clearly annoyed.

“Oh, good,” Shanks said casually, cracking his neck. “I was hoping to stretch my legs. Been sailing too long.” He tried to joke, but seeing Luffy and his brothers hurt and bleeding had his blood boiling. These assholes weren’t escaping alive, in boxes or the belly of a seaking; maybe.

Bluejam raised his sword. “This is my turf!” He snarled. “You don’t belong here! This ain’t the fucking Grand Line or New World!”

Shanks didn’t even draw his blade. “Yet those three boys are under my protection.” He said nodding towards the children. “You attacked those whom I protect.”

“Get them!” Bluejam roared. “They’re just scum pirates—”

He never finished. Yasopp fired a bullet through a pirate’s skull. The body fell, blood sizzling in the fire. Benn Beckman moved like a ghost, cracking bones and dropping enemies with precise shots and ruthless efficiency. Some ended with their knees being blown out by a double tap. Lucky Roux charged , smashing skulls like melons, roaring with laughter.

Shanks? He was a storm .

He moved like the wind, a blur of red and silver . His blade sang through the air, cutting through flesh like water. Every strike was fatal. Heads rolled. Arms were severed. Blood sprayed into the flames.

“This isn’t your playground,” Shanks growled. “You prey on children? You burn the weak? You answer to me.”

In the chaos, a pirate broke through, racing toward Sabo and Ace. Luffy saw him moving too fast. Without thinking, he threw himself forward and tackled the man, screaming . A pipe cracked against the pirate’s jaw. The man punched Luffy hard in the gut and Luffy gasped, dropping to one knee.

The pirate raised a blade and Ben Beckman’s rifle cracked , blowing the man’s arm off at the elbow. Luffy gasped as Beckman helped him stand. “T-Thanks…”

As Beck began reloading he stood in front of the boys and yelled over his shoulder at them. “Stay behind me, ‘Lil Captain!”

Luffy’s eyes lit up, despite the pain. “I’m not a captain yet…”

“You’re acting like one,” Ben muttered as six more pirates stood before him. It was going to be a long night.

As the fire burned low, the sun began to move above the horizon. Shanks crouched in front of the boys. Luffy had a bandage over his ribs, Ace had an arm in a sling and Sabo was holding the bandage over his burned face and left eye.

“You three alright?” He asked, clear concern in his voice.

Luffy nodded. “We would’ve beat them.” He stated with a pout that they had needed help.

Shanks smiled. “Sure you would’ve.” He assured the younger boy.

Ace muttered, “We had it under control.”

Sabo laughed quietly. “More or less.” He grinned even if he did possibly lose the sight in his left eye. Then he looked up at Luffy, serious. “That’s what I wanna be.”

“Hm?” Puffy asked with a cock of his head at his younger brother.

“A real pirate.” Sabo stated gaining a nod from Ace.

“I wanna be like Shanks.” Luffy said with a grin. He looked at said man. “Strong enough to protect people. Strong enough to protect my brothers.”

Shanks looked at him for a long moment. Then, quietly, he took off his straw hat and placed it on Luffy’s head. “Then grow up strong, Luffy. Strong enough to protect the people you love. When you’re ready; come find me.”

So it was burned into their souls , the day the Bluejam Pirates attacked and were defeated by Red-Haired Shanks became legend among the three brothers. It was the day they saw the truth. That pirates could be monsters...Or they could be heroes; they would choose to be the latter together.

Several years ago

The sun blazed high over the vast, untouched land of Laugh Tale . Waves crashed against a shoreline few had ever seen. Ancient ruins stood silent, heavy with stories long forgotten by time and at the heart of it all, the Roger Pirates stood, gathered around a massive, shimmering projection stone; the final treasure of the world. A vision played before them, a living memory;

Three boys , standing together in a burning forest. A red-haired pirate shielding them. Fists flying, fire crackling, laughter echoing.

The scene shifted.

The elder boy was battered but beaming, wearing Shanks’ straw hat . The second dark haired boy , scowling but protective. The golden child , bruised and hurt; but smiling. They stood over the smoldering wreck of Bluejam’s defeat and they stood together .

Then the memory faded.

There was a long silence.

And then—

“BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Gol D. Roger bent over, clutching his stomach, laughing so hard tears spilled from his eyes. “Those brats! They remind me of us!”

Rayleigh grinned, arms crossed. “You saw the look in that kid’s eyes? That was the same look you had when you said you’d become King of the Pirates.”

Scopper Gaban whistled. “That red-haired brat from our crew really grew up, huh?”

Roger chuckled, pointing at the space where Luffy had stood. “That boy’s got the Will. You can feel it. That spark, as if the world’s trying to be reborn through him.”

“Think he’ll make it here one day?” Rayleigh asked.

Roger looked out toward the sea. “No…” he said, smiling. “ I know he will. ”

What the Roger Pirates had found wasn’t just history, or gold, or truth. It was a promise . A fire passed down. From generation to generation. The dream of freedom. The dream of the Pirate King. The dream that would one day reach across the world and burn even brighter.

Roger threw back his head and laughed “ You're gonna love this world, kid. Just wait. ”

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: The Blue Chicken

A violent storm had swept across the East Blue. The sky tore open. Wind howled like a sea king. Waves battered even the strongest ships and even tossed birds off coarse. Marco the Phoenix , First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates just happened to be one such bird, though only because he was in his avian form .

“Oi... seriously?” Marco muttered, as lightning forked around him. “Of all places...”A sudden gust. A blinding flash. The storm yanked him around llike a toy and hurled him toward a small, forest-covered island . Marco barely had time to sigh. “Guess I’m going down.” He resigned to his fate.

The early morning storm was nothing to Luffy, Ace, and Sabo as they were hiking through the jungles again. Luffy trying to beat Ace at climbing trees, Sabo charting their pirate map and Ace yelling at Luffy for eating all the meat…again! Then a loud, screeching noise tore through the trees.

Looking up, Luffy saw blue and yellow flames. “LOOK!!” Luffy shouted, pointing to the sky. “A GIANT BIRD!! IT’S ON FIRE!!”

They all stared as a glowing blue blur spiraled downward like a comet, wings flapping, flames trailing behind it. Whatever it was, had crashed into the hills near Mt. Colubo with a big WHAM , kicking up dirt and feathers. They ran toward it. Grinning wildly as they ran through brush, thick jungle trees and jumping across a ravine.

Marco groaned from the crater he had just made. His body hurt, his blond hair messed up, his Phoenix form flickered, but he was mostly fine thanks to his form absorbing most of the hit. Still, his head was pounding. Then he heard it before ever sensing it.

“Hey!! You okay, weird bird guy?!”

He looked up. Three kids were staring down at him, one with a straw hat too big for his head, one with freckles and a stick, and one with goggles and a blue handmade coat.

“Whoa,” Luffy whispered. “He looks like a... a flying chicken !”

Ace burst out laughing. “He does! A glowing, blue flying chicken!”

Marco blinked. “...Are you kidding me?” His face heated up, both embarrassment and anger began to flare.

Sabo stepped forward. “Who are you?”

Marco stood up slowly, brushing dust off his shoulders. “Name’s Marco and  I’m not a chicken, I’m a phoenix . Big difference, yoi.”

Luffy tilted his head. “Is that better or worse than a chicken?” Marco’s face began to turn redder.

Ace elbowed him. “Idiot.”

Sabo narrowed his eyes. “Wait... Marco? As in the Whitebeard Pirates Marco?”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Huh? You know  about us?” He asked with surprise. 

“Read about you in a bounty book,” Sabo said casually. He looked at Luffy. “He’s worth 300,000,000 berri.”

Marco looked them over, confused but intrigued. “What are a bunch of kids doing this deep in the forest anyway?”

“It’s a jungle, not a forest.” Luffy stated before continuing. “We’re gonna be pirates!” Luffy beamed. “I’m gonna be King of the Pirates!”

Marco blinked again this time a bit shock. “...You’ve gotta be kidding.”

Ace rolled his eyes. “He’s not.”

Sabo shrugged. “We’re kind of a big deal on the island.”

Marco couldn’t help but smirk. “Hah. You brats remind me of someone.”

Luffy squinted. “You’re kind of like Shanks, but birdier.”

Marco laughed. “He’s still out there causing trouble, huh?” He wasn’t too surprised to hear that Shanks had made friends with these children. They seemed to be mini gremlins compared to how Shanks had been around their age.

Luffy suddenly jumped down into the pit. “I’m Luffy.” He stated before turning towards the two smaller boys. “That’s Sabo and Ace.” He said pointing at them. “I’m their big brother.” He held his hand out to Marco. “Welcome to Dawn. I’ll take you to Foosha. Makino will help you. She’s good at that.”

When the boys came strutting into the bar, Makino just about dropped her tray when Marco came with them. She smiled at the blond, without knowing he’d just de-transformed  and now his wings were gone, he was fully human and as he sat on the stool the boys told the barmaid how he had just crash landed like a comet.

“I needed shelter while my crew comes looking for me,” he said calmly.

“And... the boys?” Makino asked. “They called you a flying chicken, didn’t they?” She grinned as she saw the man look defeated as the boys laughed.

“Yes. Repeatedly.” Marco admitted, regretfully.

Over the next few days, Marco stayed with the boys at the bar. Watching helmsmen and shipwrights repair ships. In that time, he sparred with the boys, told them stories of the Grand Line, even helped Ace control his wild strength and taught Sabo a bit about haki, though he didn’t tell them that’s what it was called. However, it was Luffy he was most curious about. There was something about that kid. Not just the straw hat. Not just the smile. The aura of it. The way people followed him. The way he never wavered. His Pops would’ve seen it too.

Then on the final day, as Marco’s brothers ship arrived to pick him up, he knelt beside the trio. “You kids keep growing. The sea’s waiting for you.”

Ace grinned. “We’ll be stronger than you next time.”

Sabo smirked. “Try not to crash next time, Chicken Man.”

Luffy shouted, “BYE, CHICKEN!”

Marco groaned with a facepalm as he saw Izou grinning like he just got canon fodder on him for the next decade.  “...I regret everything.” Then he took off, wings blazing once more, disappearing into the sky as the three brothers waved wildly from below.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: The Clown, the Tiger, and the Ruined Cake

The sun rose bright and early over Foosha Village, but the birds wisely stayed silent. Why; you would ask? That’s because today was Monkey D. Luffy’s thirteenth birthday and nothing good ever came from letting those boys run wild on a normal day, let alone this one.

So as Makino was setting up the celebration in her bar, a proper feast no less. Locals brought meat, sweets, firecrackers, and a cake large enough to require two carpenters and a fisherman to carry. Sabo and Ace were helping. Sort of. Sabo was reading the schedule Makino gave them: “3:00 — surprise Luffy. 3:05 — cut the cake. 3:10 — absolutely do not punch the mayor. Ace, are you listening?” The blond frowned at his brother.

Ten year old Ace was staring at the cake. “You think it’d explode if we stuffed it with firecrackers?”

“No.” The non D member of this insane family stated.

“Just one?” Ace asked as a D grin spread across his face.

“No!” Sabo yelled

“Too late.” Ace stated as he pushed one in and covered the hole it made with extra frosting. Sabo facepalmed.

While all of this was happening Luffy was, predictably, not waiting for a surprise party that he already knew about. He was out in the woods looking for something cool and dangerous to bring back as a birthday trophy. Something like a sea king tooth. Or a live bear. His eyes widened when he saw something big and striped. It was bigger than Garp was tall.

“HOLY CRAP THAT TIGER IS HUGE!!!” He yelled when suddenly monkeys and bird fell to the ground. Not dead, but passed out. Oh! What’s happened? Luffy wondered for all but a minute before his attention turned towards the beast again. It towered over him, fangs the size of swords, stripes that shimmered like lava, and breath that smelled like raw death. The locals called it the Tiger King. Luffy called it Fluffy.

“Wanna fight?!” He asked with a huge D grin splitting his face. It roared. Luffy’s grinned got bigger. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Just as Ace managed to light one firecracker under the cake (while denying it), a loud voice rang out from the entry. “Oi! Where’s the birthday kid?! ”

The entire bar turned. Red-Haired Shanks had returned. He stepped into the bar, dripping sea spray, grinning ear to ear. Behind him, the Red-Hair Pirates filed in like a chaotic family reunion. Makino blinked. “You're early.” She sighed as she wiped frosting from her fingers onto her apron.

“Couldn't miss the kid’s birthday,” Shanks said. “He still got the hat I gave him?”

Ace held it up. “Yup. Nearly squished it in a fight.”

Sabo added, “He’s in the forest. Alone. Looking for a ‘cool birthday monster.’”

Shanks froze. “...He didn’t go toward the east ridge, did he?”

Makino's smile died. “Where the tiger lives?” Everyone froze as dread filled them. “Ah, crap.” She groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

The forest shook suddenly. A tree fell. Birds scattered. A massive tiger burst from the woods with Luffy hanging off one fang, laughing, while trying to jam a stick into its nostril.

“HAHAHA!!! THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!” He yelled as the tiger roared and swiped at him. Luffy was flung through the air .”-still worth it!” He grinned before he landed right in the middle of the birthday cake. The cake exploded seconds later from Ace’s firecracker.

Frosting hit Shanks in the face. Sabo ducked. The mayor screamed. Yasopp howled laughing. Benn Beckman lit a cigarette like nothing had happened. Luffy popped up from the ruined frosting like a victorious war god. “BEST! CAKE! EVER!” He instantly began licking it off his hands, face and even his clothes. Makino felt her eye twitch. She really should’ve expected this. It was Luffy after all.

Shanks walked over, wiping frosting off his coat. “You’ve grown,” he said.

Luffy grinned. “I’m gonna set sail soon. I’m almost ready.”

“I know.” Shanks said as he could feel the fluctuations of strength in him. He could sense Luffy’s haki. It was just under what he’d sense as an awakening, but it was almost there. “You’ve still got a long way to go... but you’re closer than anyone realizes.” He reached into his coat and pulled out a box. “Years ago, a man gave this to me; my captain. Inside is something he thought I’d want, but I could never open the lock.”Luffy blinked. Shanks grinned. “Now I’m giving it to you.” He held the small box out for Luffy. Everyone went quiet. Even Ace and Sabo, who usually never took anything seriously, stood still.

Luffy’s hands clutched the brim of his Strawhat that Shanks had given him years ago before taking the box from him. “I’ll make sure to use whatever it is well,” he whispered.

Shanks smirked. “Don’t make me regret it, Anchor.”

“I won’t.” Luffy swore as he began to look at the ancient carvings on the box and the intricate locks and latches. He couldn’t wait to open it!

As the party continued a ridiculously colorful ship with striped sails and a grinning clown face cut through the waves. At its helm stood a man with a red nose, flared pants, and an ego big enough to fill a Grand Line map. Buggy the Clown , self-proclaimed future Pirate King (and dramatic rival and adopted brother of Red-Haired Shanks), was on a very special mission.

“Dawn Island! Ugh, this backwater stinkhole…” he sneered. “Rumors say there’s a treasure stashing brat here. I’ll snag it before anyone else hears about it!”

He cackled. “And definitely no Shanks in sight. HAH!” He missed the obvious ship in the harbor only because he’d never seen his brother’s ship.

So as Luffy was still licking frosting from his fingers, Ace and Sabo were arm wrestling on the bar counter. The villagers were in shock. Makino was cleaning frosting off the walls. The Tiger passed out. Shanks was quietly drinking at a corner table, gift already passed on to the next generation.

It was peaceful, in the loud, disastrous way that only Foosha after a Luffy incident could be. Then it was shattered from an old voice that Shanks hadn’t heard in a decade.

“PREPARE YOURSELVES, YOU LOWLY PEASANTS! THE GREAT BUGGY HAS ARRIVED!!” The door to the bar slammed open with a puff of smoke and confetti. Buggy strutted in like he owned the place. “Now then! Where’s the brat with the treasure, and who dares call themselves King of the Pir—” Freeze. Buggy felt eye twitched. Shanks was sitting ten feet away, staring at him, frosting still on his shoulder. Buggy’s jaw hit the floor. “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?! ”

Shanks grinned, raising a mug. “Buggy! You made it to Luffy’s birthday! Want some cake?”

Luffy’s eyes lit up. “Who’s the clown?!” He asked confused on who the man was.

“Hey, I’m not a clown, I’m a genius pirate captain !” Buggy snarled as he got into Shanks’ face, the red head laughed.

Ace burst out laughing. “You have a big red nose.”

Sabo added, “And confetti. Is it glued to your boots?”

Buggy sputtered. “I—I—Shanks, what are you even doing here?! This was supposed to be MY moment!” He complained, looking defeated.

“I was invited,” Shanks said casually.

Buggy threw his arms up. “BY WHO?!”

Luffy raised a hand. “I invited all pirates in the East Blue with a message in a bottle! Did it not say that?” Everyone looked shocked with wide eyes at the kid. 

Shanks pointed at Mokino. “I was going to say ‘Kino invited me.”

Buggy looked like he was about to faint. “You WHAT?!” He screamed at the brat, who shrugged. That’s when things really got out of hand as Luffy tried to ride Buggy’s while pulling the long blue hair like reins

“It’s like a fuzzy octopus!” He yelled laughingly.

Ace set off another firecracker, which singed Buggy’s cape. Sabo tied his boots together mid rant. Shanks laughed so hard he fell off his chair.

“ I CAME FOR TREASURE, NOT CHILDREN WITH DEATH WISHES! ” Buggy shouted, trying to float away via his separated torso.

Makino handed him a plate. “Cake?”

Buggy blinked. “...Is it poisoned?” He asked, half joking.

Makino smiled. “Depends on who you ask.” With a too serious tone.

Later that night, Buggy sat with frosting in his hair, confetti in his ears, and rage in his soul. Next to him, Shanks was still laughing. “Man, this takes me back.”

“Shut up,” Buggy muttered. “This brat reminds me of you. The stupid hat, the reckless ideas, the way the world just follows him around like a lost puppy.”

Shanks tilted his head toward Luffy, now snoring under the bar with his arms wrapped around the hat. “Yeah,” he said softly. “He’s got that same spark. Maybe even stronger.”

Buggy scoffed. “Hmph. Well, when he causes a global war or crashes the world economy, don’t blame me. ”

“No promises.”

The next morning, Buggy stood on his ship, arms crossed, nose even redder with rage. “I’m never coming back here again.”

Luffy waved wildly. “BYE CLOWN GUY!”

“IT’S BUGGY! C-A-P-T-A-I-N BUGGY!!”A firecracker exploded behind him. He fell overboard.

Shanks sighed. “Some things never change.” He felt like he should jump in after his brother, that is until his brother’s first mate did just that.

Ace yawned. “You think he’ll be okay?”

Sabo turned to his brother with a raised brow. “Do we care?” Both shares a look before grinning. No they did not. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Makino vs Garp

It was three days after the most explosive birthday party in East Blue history. Shanks was gone. Buggy was gone ( barely ). The tiger had moved to the west side of the island, but the real storm hadn’t hit yet, because hat morning, as the sun rose over Foosha Village , a Marine warship dropped anchor in the bay and a certain fist-happy Vice Admiral disembarked with one goal and a yell that echoed through the bay.

“WHERE IS THAT DAMN GRANDSON OF MINE?!” Garp stormed into Makino’s bar like a cannonball. “MAKINO!” he bellowed. “I KNOW HE’S HERE! THAT BRAT’S TIME IS UP!”

Makino was behind the counter, calmly stirring tea. Sabo was helping mop the floors. Ace was at a corner table, eating meat like it owed him money. Meanwhile, Luffy was asleep under a table, hat over his face, snoring like a dying walrus.

Makino looked up, dead calm. “Good morning, Vice Admiral. Can I get you some tea?”

“Don’t need tea! I need to drag that menace back to Marineford and beat the piracy out of him!”

Sabo rolled his eyes at the old man. “He tried that last year. Didn’t work.” He mumbled quietly as he looked up at Makino for some support.

Ace yawned as he finished his plate of food. “It made him more piratey.” The freckled boy stated.

Garp cracked his knuckles. “Then I’ll try harder!”

"Over my dead body, Uncle" Makino slowly put down her teacup as Garp’s eyes widened as he felt the haki in her words. “Garp,” she said quietly. “Luffy is thirteen now.”

“Exactly! Time for him to shape up and join the Marines!” He said with a wide grin, daring her to challenge him.

Makino stepped out from behind the bar. “No.”

Garp blinked. “...No?”

Makino’s eyes narrowed. “You weren’t here for the tiger. You weren’t here for the pirate clown. You weren’t here for the cake fire, the roof explosion, or the pie incident. You weren’t here when he cried, or bled, or smiled like the whole world was still worth trusting.”

She stepped closer. Garp, war hero, giant fist, punisher of pirates, actually took a step back. “I raised him. I patched him up. I stayed. You don’t get to barge in here after years and decide where he goes. You’re not taking my child.”The bar went silent .

Ace whispered, “She said my child.” He looked at Luffy who was smiling under his strawhat.

Sabo nodded. “Rest in peace, Garp.” As he turned away from the Vice Admiral.

Garp huffed. “You think you can stop me?”

Makino’s foot was already tapping with righteous fury. “I know I can.”

BAM!

Her roundhouse kick sent Garp flying through the front wall , over the market across the street, through a stack of crates, and into the bay outside. Villagers peeked out. “Oh, good. She kicked him again.”

Garp sat in the ocean, soaked, dazed, and a little proud. Luffy finally woke up and wandered outside, yawning. “Oh hey, Gramps.” He said with a smile as the older man slowly reclimb the hill back up to the bar and collapsed in front of where Luffy was and blinked as his grandson smiled at him. “...Hi, Luffy.”

Makino was cleaning her boots off. “He’s not going anywhere. Not until he’s ready.”

Luffy grinned. “I’ll set sail soon. I’ve got a hat now. A real one.”

Garp sighed. “Damn brat’s just like his father... and just like Roger...”

Makino handed him a towel. “You can try again next year. Bring flowers next time.”

Garp grumbled. “Maybe I’ll just retire and annoy everyone here more so!” He laughed knowing it was an empty threat.

That night, Makino tucked away the last of the dishes while the boys argued over maps and boat names. She looked at Luffy from across the bar. Straw Hat on his head. Brothers by his side. Dream in his eyes and she smiled, because no matter what storm came next , he had already begun to find his way.

The wind blew soft and strong that night, curling through the trees above Foosha Village , rustling leaves like whispers and high above the town, on a cliff overlooking the sea, stood a man in a black cloak. His green tattoo caught the moonlight. His coat billowed behind him. Monkey D. Dragon , leader of the Revolutionary Army and was currently wheezing with laughter.

He had seen it all through a snail projector his agents planted years ago. The birthday cake disaster. The tiger incident. Shanks’ arrival, Buggy’s panic and just now Makino kicking Garp through a wall . Dragon wiped a tear from his eye. “Makino,” he chuckled. “Still the strongest in the East Blue.”Dragon just spoke to nobody but himself. “Yeah. He had it coming.” He grinned as he looked at his son. The freedom in the boys eyes, it was just simmering; needing only a spark to ignite it.

Luffy sat on the bar roof, legs swinging, looking out at the sea. Beside him, Ace was cracking his knuckles. “Bet I can punch a sea king before we leave.”

Sabo was checking his map again. “Bet I can reason with one before you punch it.”

Luffy just smiled, the Straw Hat casting a shadow over his eyes. “We’ll be out there soon. Just a little longer.” He sighed as the tide came in and with it an ancient secret was washed ashore.

The ancient stone projection flickered again. The Roger Pirates watched the whole scene of Garp getting his ass kicked by a young green haired fire spit and then an older Dragon laughing. The brothers shouting on the rooftop along with the same woman wiping flour off her hands like she’d just exorcised a demon.

And then—

Roger exploded with laughter. “BAHAHAHAHA!! She kicked Garp through a wall ! Did you see his face?!”

Rayleigh wiped his eyes. “I haven’t laughed like this since you mistook that Sea King for a log and tried to pee on it.”

Scopper Gaban wheezed, “That bartender’s got more haki than half the Marines I’ve seen!”

Roger pointed at Luffy, smiling wide.

“That boy. He’s gonna blow the world apart.”

Rayleigh nodded. “He’s already started and he hasn’t even left his home island yet!”

They laughed together again, the sound echoing off the ancient stone and for just a moment, on the last island at the end of the world...It felt like the world itself was holding its breath , waiting for the boy in the strawhat to arrive.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: The Fruit

The skies over Dawn Island had just stopped growling. A wild storm had battered the forested cliffs and beaches of Mt. Colubo for the whole night. Trees were torn from their roots, and the waves had surged up like giants, dragging strange things ashore. But to a 13-year-old Monkey D. Luffy, storms were never something to fear instead they were signs that adventure was on its way. Luffy wiped his nose with the back of his hand and looked down at the beach, the golden straw hat on his head slightly tilted from the wind. It had been a few weeks since Shanks had left him the hat; a symbol of trust, of promise. Luffy hadn’t stopped thinking about the ocean since.

“Maybe the storm washed up treasure!” he grinned, leaping down from a rock and sprinting toward the shoreline and when he arrived, he wasn’t disappointed. A wrecked ship or half of it anyway, had been carried to shore. It didn’t look like a Marine vessel or anything fancy. Just an old merchant ship maybe, busted apart by the storm. Seagulls pecked at splintered crates and seaweed. It then Luffy saw hear it before seeing it. A thumping sound, almost like a drum was beating. He then saw a small, blackened chest. The wood was soaked and crusted with salt, but it was intact and it was calling to him.

He yanked it open.

Inside, wrapped in red cloth, was the oddest fruit he’d ever seen. It looked like a large purple melon, with swirling patterns and a stem that curled like a question mark. It smelled... weird. Not bad, just... weird and it was then that Luffy’s stomach growled anyway.

“Huh. Wonder what this is?”He didn’t think twice. It looked like food, smelled like food, but when he bit into it, the fruit tasted like it had gone bad. His face puckered as if it was sour, but Makino had taught him to never waste food. So, begrudgingly, Luffy ate the whole thing.

By the time Ace and Sabo arrived, breathless from climbing down the mountain, they saw Luffy lying on the sand, groaning as his belly wasn’t too happy with him.

“What did you do now?” Ace demanded, poking him with a stick.

“I ate a weird fruit,” Luffy groaned, rubbing his belly.

“You’re such an idiot!” Sabo yelled. “What if it was poison?!”

“I dunno... tasted awful…” Luffy mumbled, rolling over.

Ace narrowed his eyes at the empty chest nearby. “Wait… was that it?” He asked pointing at the chest. “What did it look like?”

Luffy blinked. “Huh?”

Just then, his arm twitched. Then it stretched . His fist flung out three meters, smacking Sabo in the face and launching him backward into the sand.

“Wha—WHAT THE HELL?!” Luffy shrieked, jumping to his feet. His arm snapped back like a rubber band.

Ace stared, eyes wide. “You— You ate a Devil Fruit!”

Sabo, still dazed from the punch, coughed out a clump of sand. “I felt that…”

“Cool…” Luffy muttered, staring at his hand. “I’m made of rubber ! Like... a rubber man ! This is AWESOME!”

Ace shook his head. “You really are the dumbest older brother ever.” Ace slapped a hand to his head.

Sabo stood up and dusted himself off, half-laughing. “I mean, it is kinda cool. Can you do that again?”

Luffy grinned, teeth flashing under his straw hat. “Heck yeah I can!” He shot his fist out at Sabo who easily dodged it whilst laughing. Sighing, Ace joined in. The two younger boys ended up helping Luffy with coordinating his fists and attacks.

The next week was chaos.

Luffy kept punching trees from twenty feet away, launching himself through the air, and bouncing off cliffs. He accidentally knocked over a wild boar with a rubber headbutt, and got stuck in a tree after trying to sling-shot his way to the hideout. Every time he messed up, Ace called him a dumb rubber freak, and Sabo warned him about Devil Fruit users being unable to swim.

Luffy just laughed. “Shishishi…I don’t care if I can’t swim. I’m gonna be a pirate anyway!” he declared as they sat near the riverbank. “Devil Fruit or not, I’m gonna have the best crew ever. I’ll sail the seas, find treasure, and be the Pirate King!”

Ace and Sabo stared at him for a moment, not mocking, not even annoyed. Just... listening. Finally, Ace smirked. “Fine. If you’re gonna be Pirate King, I’m gonna beat some sense into you.”

Sabo chuckled, resting his pipe over his shoulder. “Guess we’ll see who gets to the top first.”

Luffy grinned, stretching his arm up toward the sun as his straw hat fluttered in the wind. Whatever storm had brought that chest... it had changed everything and the seas were only just starting to stir.

The jungle of Mt. Colubo was no playground. The deeper you went, the wilder it got with massive tigers with scars from ancient battles, venomous snakes longer than ships, and birds with talons that could crush trees. Most people in Foosha Village stayed far away from that place; except or Monkey D. Luffy, it became home a training ground and a battlefield.

One Month After Eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi the rubber boy stood shirtless in the rain, bruised, dirty, and grinning like a maniac. “Come on, you overgrown cat!” he shouted, dodging a swipe from a jungle tiger twice his size. It snarled and lunged, but Luffy bounced back quite literally as his feet stretched as he ricocheted between trees.

From a distance, Ace and Sabo sat on a high branch, watching him tumble through the leaves. “He’s using his body like a slingshot again,” Sabo muttered, chewing on a rice ball.

Ace squinted. “No, this time he’s... timing it. Look.” He pointed towards their brothers antics with the tiger king.

Sure enough, Luffy snapped back toward the panther with his fist pulled behind him. “GOMU GOMU NOOO—PISTOL!”

WHACK!

The tiger flew backward into a bush, stunned. Luffy landed face-first in the mud. “…Ow.”

Ace snorted. “He’s still an idiot.”

“He’s going to be a monster in strength.” Sabo stated before looking at Ace. “We need to get serious with our own training, or else we’ll be dependent on him.”

Ace looked away from his brother and nodded. “Y-Yeah.”

Within six months all three boys had fallen into a rhythm. Every morning, they’d split up. Luffy would run through the jungle, challenging any large beast he could find. Not to kill; just to learn. His rubber body gave him freedom. He trained Gomu Gomu no Pistol , Whip , Bazooka , and even invented a crude Balloon to soften long falls. He tied vines to trees and used them like resistance bands to stretch further. Sometimes he’d climb onto a giant lizard’s back just to learn how to balance while bouncing mid-run. He got faster. Stronger. His punches hit harder. He learned how to twist his torso for extra torque. Every scar taught him something new.

Meanwhile, Ace and Sabo trained nearby, but differently. Ace hunted the same predators Luffy fought, but with fire in his fists; figuratively, not literally. He’d sharpen his senses, dodging snakes in the underbrush, wrestling with wild boars, training his reflexes with hand-to-hand combat. He wore weights on his arms and legs. If I can outrun a tiger like this, then no human can catch me. was his thought process.

Sabo focused on speed and precision. His pipe became an extension of his body. He practiced dodging attacks from monkeys in the trees, never touching the ground. He sparred with Ace daily, stick versus fist, and more often than not, they ended in a tie.

However, Luffy’s Devil Fruit came with more problems than he expected. He couldn’t swim anymore. Once, he fell into the river during a fight and nearly drowned. Sabo had to dive in after him. He also learned that his body, while immune to blunt force, was vulnerable to sharp objects. One panther claw tore across his chest, and he bled for hours. Still, he laughed. "Guess I gotta be faster next time!"

His rubber abilities also confused the wildlife. One massive gorilla, easily the size of a house, started treating Luffy like a toy, grabbing and throwing him for hours. It accidentally trained Luffy's body to absorb impacts and rebound. Sabo started calling it gorilla dodgeball.

One year into training and suddenly the jungle was quieter when they walked through it. The animals didn’t challenge them like before. Luffy’s punches could shatter boulders. His arms could stretch the length of a tree. His kicks could launch wild pigs through the canopy.

Ace was sharper, faster, and brutal in close quarters. Sabo’s agility and technique made him nearly untouchable.

And every night, they returned to their treehouse hideout—sore, scraped, starving, but grinning. They weren’t just brothers. They were rivals, warriors, dreamers.

One evening, sitting on the roof of their shack, Luffy stretched his arm lazily toward the stars. “I’m gonna be Pirate King.”

Ace looked over, serious. “You’d better be strong enough to survive the sea, then.”

Sabo smirked. “Let’s keep training ‘til none of us ever fall behind.”So as the wind swept through the trees, rustling the leaves above their heads, the three brothers sat under the stars, muscles aching, hearts burning with fire, wind, and rubber in their souls.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: The Voice of the Sea

The sun shone brightly over Foosha Village as the wind carried the scent of the sea and fresh bread from Makino’s bar. Luffy had just turned fifteen , and the whole village was preparing something special, not because Luffy asked for it, but because it was impossible not to love the kid, even if he was loud, reckless, and often flung himself out of trees shouting “GOMU GOMU NO SOMETHING!”

Inside the bar, Makino hummed softly as she stirred a large pot of stew, the cake was in the oven and she had a stash of Luffy’s favorite drink in a few barrels in the back next to the alcoholic drinks when the door suddenly slammed open.

BAM!

Turning, she quickly reached for the double barrel shotgun but stopped short as a familiar figure strutted in wearing an all familiar bright red and blue captain’s coat with oversized gold buttons, a massive blue-and-white polka-dotted cravat, and a nose that could only belong to one person. “THE GREAT BUGGY THE CLOWN HAS ARRIVED!!”

Makino blinked, ladle lifted mid-air. “...Buggy?”

“None other!” he shouted, throwing sparkles from his sleeves. “Now where is that brat Luffy? I came to grace his birthday with my legendary presence !”

“Luffy’s still in the jungle,” she said with a smile. “But he’ll be back soon. You’re just in time.”

Buggy snorted and adjusted his hat. “Of course I am. I always arrive at the perfect moment.” Then he paused. “Wait. You said he’s in the jungle? Still doing that weird training?”

Makino nodded. “Every day since he turned thirteen and ever since he ate that Devil Fruit…”

Buggy froze mid-pose. “...Wait. What?” His eyes slowly widening as the barmaid told him of the story of how Luffy gained his Devil Fruit.

It was later that afternoon that Luffy, along with two thirteen year old brothers, came bounding out of the jungle covered in leaves, dirt, and a huge smile on his face. “MAKINOOOO! What’s for dinner?!” That’s when he saw him. “BUGGY!!!” Luffy’s face lit up. “Hey! What are you doing here?!”

Buggy’s eye twitched. “It’s Captain Buggy , brat!”Luffy laughed, grabbed his cheeks with both hands and stretched them wide.

Buggy’s jaw dropped. “Wh—?! You—?! You really did eat a Devil Fruit?! You IDIOT!!!” His voice raised two octaves higher than his normal voice.

“Yeah!” Luffy grinned. “It’s called the Gomu Gomu no Mi! I’m a rubber man now!”

Buggy’s face twisted in confusion. “The Gomu Gomu no Mi ...?” Ever since finding the Chop Chop Fruit and eating it on accident; thanks to Shanks, Buggy had memorized every fruit out there, but this one he didn’t know! This worried him. Grabbing a pad of paper from inside his jacket, Buggy wrote it down to look for its name inside the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia later. “I don’t think that one really exists kid. Maybe it’s known by another name.” It’d be years later when looking at Luffy’s wanted poster that Buggy would realize just how right he’d been in this moment.

Luffy blinked. “Huh? But that’s what ‘Kino’s book called it.”

Buggy’s head snapped up at the name. “Who gave you a fruit?!”

“Well… I found it after a storm. So I ate it.” He grinned at the gobsmacked look Buggy had on his face.

Buggy groaned. “Of course you did. You’re just like him! No brains, no caution, and no respect for rare fruits!”

Luffy was already pulling on his cheek again and bouncing around. “Rubber’s awesome! Look!”

Buggy sighed, rubbing his temples. “This kid is going to break the world…”

Despite his complaints, Buggy stayed. He helped Makino hang up streamers, though most ended up tangled in his floating hands or body. His crew helped to decorate the outside of the bar, and got free drinks for their efforts; though Buggy still slipped a bag of money behind the bar top.

He insisted on making balloon animals for the village kids (most of which exploded dramatically). He even juggled flaming bottles outside behind the bar until Makino very calmly asked him to stop. Finally, the lights dimmed, and Luffy was brought out with a blindfold. A massive cake was wheeled in.

“Surprise!” Everyone shouted.

Luffy tore off the blindfold, drooled openly at the mountain of cake, and shouted, “YOU’RE THE BEST, MAKINO!!”

Buggy leaned against the wall, arms crossed, pretending not to smile. Makino’s hips swayed as she walked over and handed him a slice. “You helped more than you think.”

He grunted. “Tch. Don’t mention it. Just paying my dues to a fellow pirate. That brat… he reminds me of someone. Stupid. Relentless. Annoying.” An image of Roger appearing in his mind.

Luffy suddenly appeared behind him and wrapped him in a rubbery hug. “Thanks, Buggy! This was the best birthday ever!”

“GAAAAH! L-Let go, you freaky rubber monkey!” Buggy yelled out even as his arm encircled the young teen who he’d begun to see as his nephew only because he knew how much Shanks cared about the boy. I’m growing soft. He silently thought.

Makino laughed. “Still think you’re not fond of him?” She grinned as his face flushed pink.

Buggy scowled, brushing frosting off his coat. “Let’s just say... if he survives to seventeen, I’ll be shocked.”

He glanced at Luffy bouncing off a tree like a human springboard, cheering, “GOMU GOMU NO—CAKE LAUNCH!”

Buggy smirked despite himself “...Shanks, what kind of monster did you create?”

“The best kind.” Makino said getting an exasperated expression from him. She then leaned over and kissed his cheek. Buggy would forever deny that his face had turned as red as his nose or that, that kiss had caused his heart to flutter oddly in his chest.

The next day the wind had changed. It wasn’t just the breeze off the ocean or the scent of salt and storm in the air but something deeper had shifted. Sabo felt it in his gut. Ace noticed it in the way the birds flew inland more often, but most of all, they saw it in Luffy . He would stand on the edge of the cliff for hours, his straw hat casting a long shadow over his face, eyes staring far beyond the horizon. Not just watching. Listening.

"He's doing it again," Ace said, arms crossed, watching Luffy from behind a tree.

Sabo nodded. "He’s been like that for almost two years. Ever since his thirteenth birthday. Something changed."

“You think he’s hearing voices again?” Ace asked, worried his big brother was going insane.

Sabo frowned. “Not just voices. He said something once... that the sea was whispering. I thought he was being poetic, but…” He looked out at Luffy, whose lips were moving silently. “…I think he really hears it.” The two exchanged worried looks.

That evening, the village lit up with excitement as a familiar silhouette approached from the docks, red hair whipping in the wind, a worn captain’s coat draped over his shoulder, and that same old grin. Shanks had returned. The children ran to meet him as Makino greeted him with a warm hug; Ace and Sabo caught his attention immediately.

“Shanks!” Ace called out as he waved his arms around to get the red head’s attention. “We need to talk.”

Shanks raised a brow. “Huh? No ‘welcome back’?” He feigned heartbreak as he clutched at his chest.

Sabo stepped forward. “It’s Luffy. He’s... different.”

Shanks looked toward the cliff where Luffy still stood, his hat in his hands, the sea roaring below. The look in his eyes was serious now. Focused. “He's been hearing something for years. He never told us exactly what, but..." Ace hesitated, “…it’s like he’s talking to the ocean.”Shanks’ expression dropped from playful to a more serious in a second.

Beckman gave him a raised brow. “The voice?” He asked.

Shanks felt a pit of worry begin to develop in his belly. “Maybe.” He looked at the crew who were looking at him worriedly. The sky reflected on the water below as Shanks climb the hill overlooking the cliffs and approached Luffy quietly. He didn’t say anything at first. Just stood beside him, looking out.

“You’ve grown,” he finally said, breaking the silence.

Luffy smiled faintly. “You came back.”

“I did, didn’t I?” A pregnant pause of silence came between them. “…Your brothers say you’ve been acting strange. Talking to the ocean.”

Luffy looked down. The wind tugged gently at his hat in his hands before he tied it tightly by the string around his neck. “…I didn’t know how to explain it,” he finally said. “At first, it was just… noises. Like the waves were alive and after a while, I started hearing words. Whispers. Now…”He looked Shanks in the eye. “I can talk to it. The sea speaks to me, Shanks.”

Shanks didn’t respond immediately. His eyes widened, but he hid the tremor in his chest. He had heard these words before. From Roger. “Luffy,” he said slowly, “what does it say to you?”

Luffy’s voice dropped to a whisper. “It talks about the past. Lost places. Broken promises. It wants me to go… somewhere. It says it’s waiting for me. It says the world’s not ready, but I might be.”A gust of wind swept through and in that instant, Shanks felt it . A pulse. A raw, wild pressure radiating from Luffy’s very being, like the air around him was starting to bend. It wasn’t fully awakened, but it was there. A stirring conqueror's haki , bubbling under the surface like a volcano waiting to erupt.

“…You have it,” Shanks muttered.

Luffy blinked. “Have what?”

Shanks put a hand on his shoulder. “The Voice of All Things. You can hear what the world can’t. Just like the Pirate King once could.”

Luffy tilted his head. “Roger?”

Shanks nodded, his eyes far away. “Roger heard it. Oden too. You… you're hearing what only the chosen few ever do.”

Luffy looked back out over the ocean.

“I don’t know why I have it,” he said. “But when I listen, I feel like… the sea is lonely. Like it wants someone to keep a promise made long ago.”

Shanks’ hand tightened slightly. Just like him… Just like Roger… Shanks felt his chest tighten . He’s not Roger. Shanks smiled at the boy. He’s better.

Back in the bar, Ace and Sabo watched Shanks and Luffy return. “Did he tell you?” Ace asked.

Shanks nodded solemnly. “He did and you two were right. He’s hearing something the rest of us can’t.”

Sabo raised an eyebrow. “So what does it mean?”

Shanks looked toward Luffy, who had sat down and was laughing again like nothing had changed. “It means the winds are shifting,” Shanks said quietly. “Luffy’s no ordinary pirate-to-be. He’s a storm waiting to break open the world.”

Makino brought them each a drink, smiling softly. “Whatever’s coming… I’m sure Luffy will face it head-on.”

Shanks raised his glass. “That’s what scares me the most.”

Far beyond the East Blue, deep in the Grand Line, the sea stirred restlessly beneath the moonlight. Ancient things awoke in the deep. Forgotten islands shifted. A voice echoed through the currents ; “He is listening. The boy with the hat. The Promise is near."

The sun had long dipped below the horizon, casting Foosha Village in a warm amber glow. Makino’s bar buzzed with laughter and the clinking of mugs. Shanks lounged at his usual corner table, a half-empty tankard in one hand, while Luffy sat across from him, legs kicked up, eyes wide as ever. “So then,” Shanks said with a grin, “we’re surrounded by Marines off the coast of Banaro Island, a fleet of twelve ships, cannons loaded, and Beckman’s smoking like it’s just another Tuesday.”

Luffy leaned in, grinning like a child. “Then what?!”

“We sail right through ! Didn’t lose a drop of sake,” Shanks laughed. “And guess who we bump into right after?”

“Who?!” All three boys yelled excitedly.

Shanks leaned forward. “Whitebeard’s crew.”

That got a noticeable shift from the corner of the room. Sabo, and Ace, paused mid-bite. Shanks noticed their reactions with a curious tilt of his head. “What? You two know about them?”

Ace smirked. “You mentioned Marco earlier, yeah?”

Shanks chuckled. “Yeah, that guy. Phoenix. First Division Commander. Calm, smart, stubborn. Whole crew calls him ‘the wise one.’”

Ace burst out laughing. “ Him?! That flying chicken is important?!”

Sabo snorted into his drink. Shanks blinked in confusion.“Flying... chicken?”

Even Yasopp leaned over, confused. “Wait, you guys know Marco the Phoenix ?”

Luffy nodded enthusiastically. “Shishishi! The blue chicken!” He laughed even harder.

Shanks raised an eyebrow. “ What do you mean blue chicken? ”

Sabo wiped a tear from his eye. “You have to hear this. It was about... what? Three or four years ago?”

“Yeah,” Ace said. “Right after that massive storm. You remember that one?”

“Yeah!,” Sabo added.

The three boys became so animated as they told Shanks of the story of how they met Marco and helped him contact his crew. Luffy was laughing as he told him how Marco bounced when he had landed. Then Ace told the crew how Marco helped Makino with some bandit while here. Sabo chuckled as he finished of how Marco’s brothers had teased him as they’d left with him.

“…And that’s how we met Marco,” Luffy finished, arms behind his head.

Ace grinned. “He was super annoyed we kept calling him a chicken. But he stuck around for awhile.”

“He said he was separated from his crew in the storm,” Sabo added. “He had a busted rib and could barely fly. We helped patch him up.”

“Then he flew off after a few weeks,” Luffy said casually, sipping juice. “Always did wonder how he was.”

Shanks was just staring, slack-jawed. “You… you three nursed Marco the Phoenix back to health … and called him a blue chicken ?!”

Luffy nodded. “Shishishi. He was funny. Tried to act all serious, but he didn’t mind the name by the third day.”

“He hated it,” Sabo said. “But he kept trying to act cool.”

“He said he'd never speak of it again,” Ace added.

Yasopp burst into laughter. “I can’t wait to tell Marco we found the brats who called him a chicken!”

“Please tell me you didn’t steal anything from him,” Shanks said, horrified.

“We asked if he was edible at one point,” Luffy offered.

“ WHAT?! ”

Makino chuckled from behind the bar. “They were just kids. And Marco did send a letter a year later. Said ‘thanks’ and ‘never mention this to Whitebeard.’”

Shanks shook his head in disbelief, laughing. “You three… You’re gonna tear the whole world apart one day, you know that?”

Luffy tilted his head, eyes glinting with innocence and fire. “I just wanna be Pirate King and meet more blue chickens.”

The laughter of Foosha Village had never been louder than in the month Shanks and his crew stayed. They brought stories, rum, music, and the kind of reckless joy only pirates could deliver. For Luffy, it was the best month of his life. Every night was filled with tales of sea monsters, forgotten islands, and narrow escapes from the World Government. Shanks would grin at Luffy’s awestruck face and say, “The sea’s big, kid. Bigger than your dreams — but maybe not bigger than your will.” However, as all things must, the visit ended. The Red Force pulled away from the docks, sails catching the wind as villagers waved goodbye. Luffy stood silently on the cliff’s edge, straw hat clutched tight in his hand.

Shanks gave a two-finger salute from the deck. “Next time we meet… be stronger, Luffy.”

“I will!” Luffy yelled. “Next time, I’ll be on the sea too!” Ace and Sabo grasped their brother’s body as they all waved goodbye to the grand pirates before them. None knew that this would be the last that they’d see of the happy red haired pirates nor did they know of the dark times headed straight for their lives; because had they known, Shabks never would’ve left his dear friends behind. So as the ship vanished into the horizon. Peace settled once more over Foosha Village, but peace has always been the calm before the storm.

A chill wind howled across the white cliffs of Baltigo, inside a stone walled war room deep beneath the surface, Dragon stood before a long table, arms crossed, eyes shadowed beneath his hood. The door creaked open. A young soldier, shaking slightly, handed a scroll to Ivankov , who read it with a furrowed brow, until his face twisted in fury.

“...They wouldn’t dare,” Ivankov muttered.

Dragon spoke calmly. “What is it?”

The Okama King handed over the scroll. “Message from our contact within Cipher Pol. Akainu has issued a Buster Call. ”

Dragon’s eyes sharpened. “Which island?”

Ivankov hesitated. “… Dawn Island. ”

The room went silent. Cold. Still.

“…What?” he whispered, Dragon’s voice was razor-sharp. “Is this confirmed?”

“Yes,” said Koala from the corner, her voice trembling. “They plan to launch in three days. They’re calling it a ‘precautionary purge.’ Publicly, they’ll claim it harbored revolutionary influence.”

Dragon clenched his jaw. Akainu… you bastard.

Meanwhile, On Dawn Island

Luffy woke with a start. He’d been in dead sleep with Sabo and Ace clinging onto him in their own sleep. Ace was drooling again and Sabo was muttering things about navigating a river of…food? Luffy shook his head at them. However, it wasn’t them that had awaken him but rather the sea; it was screaming .

It wasn’t like before, not the gentle as a breeze whispers, not voices of the deep. It was a roar. A chorus of anguish, like the ocean was trying to warn him of something it couldn’t stop. So he untangled himself from his brothers and he ran to the edge of the cliff. The horizon was calm.

His heart was racing as a scene of fire, death and burning was shown to him from the sea. “RUN!” It screamed at him. “Run my sunshine! They’re coming!”

Later that night, before dawn, Makino found him sitting on the roof of her bar, eyes wide and filled with unease. “What’s wrong, Luffy?”

“I don’t know,” he said, fingers curling into his knees as tears began to fall down his cheeks. “The sea’s upset. Scared. It says something is coming. Something terrible.”

Dozens of Marine ships assembled outside Marineford. Steel hulls gleamed under the moonlight. Cannons loaded. Orders crisp. Fleet Admiral Sakazuki Akainu himself stood on the front ship. “No mercy. No survivors. Erase the infection at its root.” His magma fist clenched. “Burn Dawn Island to ash. ”

Chapter Text

Chapter 10: Innocence Taken

It had been two days. Two days since the sea had started screaming. Not whispering, not warning, screaming . Luffy couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t even train. The sound was always there, just beneath the surface of his thoughts, waves crashing, voices crying, the deep rumble of something ancient and furious. The ocean was trying to save him. Trying to scream the truth into his bones. He had to leave. Now!

Luffy’s secret stash, a hidden cache of treasure, trinkets, and scrap gold he'd hoarded from years of scouring the Grey Terminal , was all he had. He dragged it into town in a sack larger than himself, sweating and panting, to the old shipyard merchant who looked at him skeptically.

“...You want a ship with this?” the old man grumbled, rattling the coins in his palm.

“Any ship!” Luffy said, desperate. “Just something I can sail out on. Something strong!” The man looked at the kid skeptically. The boy before him was well known throughout the island. The boy who had fought Bluejam with the red haired pirates supporting him. He looked to his shipwright and gave the other man a nod.

An hour later, Luffy stood on the docks before his prize. A carousel-class boat . Small. Just large enough for a handful of people. Weather worn, creaking, but sturdy. She wouldn’t be able to take on the New World but if he got his little family out to another island, she wouldn’t be able do nicely.

“She won’t outrun the Navy,” the shipwright said with a shake of his head. “But if you sail hard and keep your sails trimmed, she’ll take you far.”That was all Luffy needed to hear.

The sky was choked with clouds as Luffy stood outside Makino’s bar, the candlelight flickering through the windows. He’d already told Ace and Sabo . Neither had questioned him; not really.

“The sea’s screaming?” Ace asked.

“Loud,” Luffy said. “It says we’ll die if we stay.”

Sabo was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “I believe you. We’ve seen too much not to.”

Now it was Makino’s turn.

They all sat inside, quiet. The bar was empty but for them, the familiar clink of cups and bottles oddly absent. Luffy’s straw hat lay on the table, untouched. “Makino,” Luffy said, his voice trembling just slightly. “I’m leaving. The island… it’s going to be destroyed. I can feel it. I don’t know how. But it’s coming.”

Makino’s eyes widened. “Destroyed? Luffy, what are you talking about?”

“I don’t have proof. Just the sea. It talks to me , remember? But this time it’s not talking. It’s screaming .” His hands shook as the images of death, fire and the burning scent of flesh came back to him.

Sabo spoke next. “Luffy’s never been this shaken. Not once in all these years.”

Ace nodded. “Whatever this is... it’s real.”

Luffy turned to Makino, eyes wide and wet. “I have a ship. It’s small, but it’ll carry us. You have to come. I can’t leave you behind. You’re… your family .”

Makino looked down at her hands. “But… this is my home. My bar. This is where I watched you grow up. Where I waited for Shanks. Where—”

Luffy interrupted, voice rising. “Makino, please. I don’t care about treasure. Or bars. Or homes. I care about you. If you stay, you’ll die. I know it.”

Her lips quivered. “You’re serious.”

Luffy nodded, stepping forward, gripping her hands with his own calloused ones.

“You took care of me when no one else did. You gave me food, a place to sit, someone to believe in me. Please… don’t make me hurt you in order to save you.”

Makino looked at him, this boy who had once fallen asleep on her bar counter with meat in his mouth. This boy who had punched a noble for calling her just a barmaid. This boy who was no longer a boy at all.

She closed her eyes. “…Then we leave before sunrise.”

The small ship bobbed quietly at the edge of the dock, sails half furled. Makino stood aboard, holding a single trunk, her most precious belongings inside. Ace and Sabo brought a few bags of food, water, and old maps. Luffy stood at the wheel, gripping the polished wood tightly. He didn’t look back at the village. He couldn’t, but the sea was no longer screaming. It was waiting with bated breath.

Admiral Akainu stood at the helm of the lead battleship. Around him, dozens more vessels cut through the waves like knives. The skies were overcast. The order had been given.

“Burn it all. No survivors.”

A young marine officer looked nervous. “Sir… civilians live on that island…” Stolill unaware that this island was Vice Admiral Garp’s home island.

Akainu didn’t even blink. “Then they’ll die with the traitors.” The horizon glowed faintly red.

The sun had not yet set, but the sky behind them was already red. From the deck of the small carousel class ship, Luffy , Ace , Sabo , and Makino stood in silent horror. Behind them, far across the sea, Dawn Island burned . Smoke billowed into the clouds, black and suffocating, stretching across the horizon like a scar. Fire licked the edges of the mountains. Even from miles away, the roar of cannons could be heard, deep , rhythmic , merciless . In their minds they could see whole jungles turned to flame. Towns disappeared into rubble. The screams of people, distant, but agonizing, echoed across the waves. Makino collapsed to her knees. “My home…”

Sabo gripped the rail, fists white. Ace was deathly still, jaw clenched, eyes locked on the inferno they had escaped. Luffy said nothing. He didn’t cry loudly, however, the tears ran down his cheeks anyway. The ocean was silent now.

In the clouds above the far cliffs of Dawn, hidden by camouflage and mist, the Revolutionary Army’s airship hovered, powerless as Dragon stood at the edge of the deck, his coat snapping in the high wind, the fire reflected in his dark eyes. He could feel the screams. Not with ears, with his spirit. Beneath them, Marine battleships rained fire. A Buster Call. The words alone had always meant annihilation. Even with all his power, all his strategy, Dragon knew no one could stop it . Not even him. Not without risking the entire army.

Moreover, that wasn’t what broke him. What broke him was the village now crumbling under fire, the one place he had once sworn to never return to Foosha Village. His voice was a whisper. “...Luffy.”

Koala still so small, stepped forward, horrified. “We didn’t make it in time…”

Belo Betty cursed, gripping her flag tightly. “Damn them. DAMN THEM!”

But Dragon didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Inside, his soul was unraveling. Every explosion was a knife in his heart. “I left him there,” he whispered. “I left my son there.” Everyone looked to him. They’d only just found out from him that he’d had a son that he had hidden all this time.

Ivankov’s expression softened. “We don’t know if he was still there…”

But Dragon knew. He could feel it in the fire. His son’s spirit — snuffed out. He closed his eyes. “I was too late.”

Night had fallen, and the flames still hadn’t stopped. Makino finally stood, wiping her eyes with trembling fingers. “We could have… we should have warned them…”

“We couldn’t ,” Sabo said bitterly. “Not in time.”

Ace punched the mast hard enough to splinter it. “I should’ve gone back. I should’ve fought.”

Luffy just stood still, gripping the straw hat on his head. “I heard them,” he said softly.

The others looked at him. “I heard them in the ocean. Screaming. Begging. They knew what was coming. The island knew.” He looked up, eyes shadowed, distant. “I couldn’t save them. I wasn’t strong enough.”

Makino took a slow step forward, putting her hand on his back. “You saved me.”

“You saved us,” Sabo added.

“Damn right he did,” Ace said, biting down the fire in his chest. “We’ll make it matter, Luffy. We’ll make them pay. ”

Luffy nodded slowly. Then he turned to the sea. “….The world’s gonna know what they did.”

Beneath the waves, the ocean stirred once more. The flames above did not reach the deep, but in the silence of the sea, a voice returned to Luffy, soft now, but full of resolve: “You heard us. You listened. You lived Sunshine. You saved the Fire and Flame. You will burn the world and save us all.”

The next day, after the burning of the Kingdom of Goa, after Dawn was gone, the sun hung low on the Grand Line, painting the sea in amber hues. On the deck of his garishly painted ship, Buggy the Clown lounged dramatically on a velvet cushion, sipping wine far too expensive for the chaos he brought to the world. A Den Den Mushi rang.

“Ugh, what now? ” Buggy groaned, flipping it open. “You better not be calling me about some unpaid bounty poster print—”

The voice on the other end was panicked. “Dawn Island is gone.”

Buggy blinked. “What?”

“Buster Call. Akainu ordered it. Foosha Village has burned. No survivors.”

For a moment, the wine glass slipped from his hand. It hit the deck and shattered. “Wait—wait. WHAT? Dawn Island?! Foosha? You mean where Luffy lives?! ”

The snail was silent.

Buggy’s mouth trembled. “L-Luffy… that brat… and his brothers…”He fell to his knees. “Makino…”Tears welled in his eyes, smearing his face paint. His friends were gone. “They were just kids…” he muttered, eyes glassy. “I made fun of them… but they were mine , in a way. Little idiots that belonged to Shanks and his nonsense world…”

He clutched the snail in shaking hands. “YOU DAMNED MARINES!!! YOU DAMNED DOGS!!!”The crew looked on in stunned silence. Their captain, the loud, egotistical, indestructible Blue Buggy was crying .

Elsewhere, in waters far more dangerous, Shanks stood atop the mast of the Red Force , drenched in seawater and blood . A Sea King, jaws wide, launched itself from the sea.

Slash.

One swing of his blade, and its head dropped into the depths.

Another came.

Another died.

Another.

And another.

He didn't stop. Couldn’t stop. His anger was needing an outlet. He wouldn’t hurt his crew, but animals, beasts of the sea, he could hurt in hopes of having some outlet. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Luffy as a boy. Laughing. Chewing meat. Shouting about being Pirate King. That wild, reckless spark in his eye.

That spark… snuffed out.

Beckman watched silently from the deck, arms crossed. “He’s been out there for hours.” Lucky handed him a wooden cup of alcohol. Beckman, the usually calm one, the one that kept Shanks in check, was slowly losing his own battle to stop himself from doing something stupid.

Yasopp said nothing. He was wiping his eyes. “You think he believes it?” Lucky Roo asked quietly.

Beckman shook his head. “He feels it. That’s worse.”

“We need to find an empty island for him,” Limejuice looked at Beckman. “and for you to go loose on.”

Another Sea King rose from the sea. Shanks met it with unbridled fury, Conqueror’s Haki pouring from him like a tidal wave. The beast dropped dead before it even touched him, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough.

“Do it.” Beckman ordered.

When he finally came down and Shanks returned to the deck, his coat was torn, soaked in sea water and monster blood. He didn’t speak. Didn’t look at anyone.

Beckman stepped forward. “Captain—”

Shanks dropped to his knees. His fist slammed into the wood. “ I should’ve stayed. ”

No one spoke.

Not even the wind.

“Luffy… Ace… Sabo… Makino. ”His voice broke. “I left them .”

His crew stood still, warriors of the sea who feared no man and all of them were helpless before their captain’s grief. The strongest men in the world could not stop a Buster Call and now… Shanks would never forgive himself.

Beneath a quiet sky, on a small ship far from any charted route, Luffy opened his eyes slowly. He felt something sharp, like a blade through his chest, but not his own pain. A familiar sorrow. A familiar rage. “Shanks.”He clenched his fists. “Buggy.” He smiled, a grin smile that didn’t belong on his face. “They think we’re dead.”

Ace turned. “Let them. It’ll buy us time.”

Sabo looked toward the sea, maps in his hands as he tried to navigate a new course for them. “And when we return… they’ll wish we stayed that way.”

Makino nodded solemnly, one hand on Luffy’s shoulder. Luffy stood slowly. His voice low. Calm. Certain. “First, we survive. Then we grow. Then we make sure the world never forgets what they did to Dawn.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 11: A New Friend, A New Life

They were at sea for two weeks , luckily the wind had been kind, but hunger was a cruel companion. For two weeks , the little carousel-class ship had drifted along the currents, patched with old canvas, powered by stubborn determination and a single ragged sail. It creaked with every shift in the tide, but it stayed afloat. Luffy had been quieter than usual, eyes always turned toward the horizon. The sea no longer screamed, but it still murmured. It still remembered. Supplies had dwindled fast. Fish had grown scarce, and the last of the rice was gone.

Makino had given her share to Luffy without him knowing. Sabo had begun collecting rainwater just in case. Ace was chewing on raw seaweed like it was meat.

Yet, none of them complained. Then finally, as the fog lifted one warm morning, land appeared on the horizon, a small port town nestled between green hills and gentle cliffs. A battered sign leaned toward the sea, as if beckoning the weary;

Welcome to Syrup Village.

Their ship docked awkwardly on a crooked pier, drawing a few curious glances from the locals. It was a peaceful village. Lazy gulls cawed overhead. White fences lined cobblestone streets. Children played in the shade of orange trees. It looked untouched by war, by fire, by the nightmares they had left behind. As Luffy stepped onto land for the first time in two weeks, he swayed a bit. “Ugh... ground’s too still..." he muttered.

"You're just hungry," Makino said, steadying him. “Let’s find food first.”

That’s when they heard it. A voice that was loud, theatrical, and absurdly dramatic and it reminded them of a certain blue haired, red nosed man. “ Sound the alarms! A sea beast is attacking the town! I, Captain Usopp, will fend it off with my mighty sword of justice and protect the villagers with my life! ”

A boy with a long nose and even longer imagination came charging down the hill, a stick in one hand, a red bandana tied around his head, and two wide-eyed children following behind. Makino blinked. “Well. That’s… something.”

Luffy’s eyes lit up, a grin spreading across his face for the first time in fourteen days. “Who’s the weirdo?”

Sabo tilted his head. “I think we’ve found the town entertainment.”

Ace sighed. “I guess every town has one.” He nodded towards Luffy who seemed to be getting excited, even if he was half starved.

The long-nosed boy skidded to a halt in front of them, pointing dramatically. “ Strangers! Have you come to conquer our peaceful village?! Speak now, or prepare to face the wrath of—”He paused as he took in their ragged clothes. The deep shadows under their eyes. The silence in their stance. “…Wait. You guys okay?”

Makino nodded slowly. “We’re just looking for food and supplies. We… lost our home.”

Usopp blinked. “…Oh. So... no sea beast?”

Ace raised an eyebrow. “Do you see one?”

“No! But I figured... maybe you were the sea beast!”

Luffy suddenly burst out laughing. “Shishishishi! This guy’s nuts! I like him!”

Usopp straightened proudly. “ Usopp the Brave, at your service!”

The people of Syrup Village were kind. When they heard what had happened, even in vague terms, they shared food, water, and even tools to patch up the little ship. Usopp became their unofficial guide, proudly giving a tour of the village while making up increasingly ridiculous stories about himself along the way. Makino smiled for the first time in days. Sabo took notes. Ace stole bread before fainting. Sabo made a note to have him looked at, as this was something that had been happening since Luffy’s last birthday.

Meanwhile, Luffy, he stared up at the sky from the hilltop above the village, the wind in his face. “The sea led us here,” he said quietly.

Usopp looked at him. “You talk like the sea’s a person.”

“It kinda is,” Luffy replied.

“…Cool,” Usopp said, not understanding at all, but somehow trusting him anyway. He sat next to Luffy on the ground, only because the other boy seemed sad and Ussop wanted to know more about these people.

Later that night as they sat around a fire by the beach, bellies finally full, Luffy turned to Usopp. “You ever think about going to sea?”

Usopp blinked. “Me? Pfft—of course I have! I dream about it every night!”

Sabo smirked. “Then maybe we’ll come back for you.”

“Why not take me now?” Ussop asked with a pout

Luffy stood, eyes serious beneath his straw hat. “We’re not strong enough yet, but we will be.” He leaned forward towards Ussop. “Become my sniper. Become the strongest, most cunning one out there!”

Usopp gulped. There was something different about this ragged boy with the wide grin and the heavy eyes. Something real. Excitement coursed through his body. “Okay,” Usopp said. “When you come back, I’ll be ready.” He swore. “I’ll be even better than my old man! So strong in fact, I’ll fight him one day!”

Luffy smiled. “Good, because sea’s gonna need storytellers too.”

As the night deepened, the stars overhead were faint that night. They flickered above Syrup Village like  timid fireflies, barely visible through the sea mist. The air smelled of salt and grass, and gentle waves lapped against the hull of the carousel-class ship docked at the far edge of the pier. There, in the quiet, Luffy sat alone. He had slipped away after Makino and his brothers had gone to sleep in the guest house the villagers had offered. Silent, unnoticed. His legs dangled off the ship’s side, hands gripping the straw hat in his lap. His face was hidden in the shadows, but his shoulders trembled. He wasn’t making a sound. The crying came in silence, the kind only true anguish produces. The kind that doesn't scream anymore, because it knows there’s no one left to hear it. He hadn’t cried like this since the sea first screamed at him.

“...Hey.” A quiet voice.

Luffy stiffened and wiped his face quickly, turning away but the long nosed kid saw. “Usopp…? What are you doing here?”

Usopp stood at the edge of the dock, hands in his pockets, not grinning for once. His usual flair was gone. No wild tale. No joke. “Could ask you the same thing,” Usopp said softly, walking forward. He wasn’t even sure why he was there. He’d heard a voice gently wake him and call him towards the ruined docks. He wasn’t even sure surprised to find Luffy here at this time of night. “Your family is asleep. You’re out here alone, crying.”

“I wasn’t—”

“You were,” Usopp said bluntly, sitting down next to him. “I don’t believe the story you told the villagers.” He kicked the pebble near his toes.

Luffy blinked, a bit surprised. “What?”

“Raiders burning some unnamed village? Too clean. Too safe. You’ve got eyes like a kid who’s seen hell , Luffy.” Ussop frowned. “I-I just feel like there’s more to what you’re saying.” He then looked at Luffy with a puffed out chest. “And if you want me as your crewmate, then I want the truth!”

There was a long silence. Then Luffy’s voice cracked. “It was a Buster Call .”

Usopp froze. Luffy stared at the sea, his hands tightening around the brim of his hat. “The Marines destroyed my home. Foosha Village. Dawn Island. Everyone... everyone died. They burned it all.”He told Usopp everything. The screams from the ocean. The secret warning. The desperate escape. The night the world turned to fire.

When Luffy was done, he didn’t look at Usopp. He didn’t want to see the fear. The judgment, the distance , Usopp didn’t run.

He didn’t speak for a long time.

Ussop broke the silence as he sat down on the ground next to Luffy. “…That’s what they did to O’Hara .”

Luffy turned sharply. “You… know about O’Hara?”

“I do,” Usopp said quietly. “Everyone does. The place the Marines erased, because of knowledge, because of fear . The place that gave birth to the Devil Child, Nico Robin.”His voice trembled. “Now you… You’re another ghost. Another survivor the world wants buried.”

Luffy looked down. “Are you afraid of me?” He asked with too much seriousness.

Usopp shook his head slowly. “I’m afraid for you.”He looked Luffy straight in the eye, for once, his expression serious and brave. “But I’m not gonna leave you, Luffy. I’m not gonna run.”Luffy’s chest tightened. The tears threatened again. Usopp stood and motioned with his head. “Come with me. I wanna show you something.”

They climbed hills under moonlight, weaving through a thin path behind the village. Past wild thickets and ancient stone markers, up toward a small bluff hidden in the trees. Eventually, they reached it. A clearing . Secluded, peaceful, surrounded by tall trees that blocked the wind and muffled sound. A wide field of dirt and grass. Scattered wooden dummies. Stones carved long ago by Usopp’s grandfather. Left untouched for years. “My dad used to train here when he was a kid,” Usopp said, voice hushed. “He left to join the Red-Haired Pirates, the same ones you knew; I think. I used to come up here pretending I was him.”

Luffy turned slowly, eyes scanning the quiet field. The air here felt calm. Undisturbed. Safe.

Usopp took a breath. “No one comes here. It’s yours now, to train and get stronger.” Luffy looked at him, stunned. Usopp shrugged. “The world already tried to kill you once. Next time, make sure it can’t. ”

Luffy’s eyes burned again, but this time… not from grief. “…Thank you.”

Usopp smirked. “You better survive, Luffy. 'Cause when you come back through this village one day… I want in. On your crew.” Luffy smiled, truly, for the first time in days.

“Shishishi… Deal.” Luffy said as he shook the young man’s hand, not realizing that their destiny’s had changed, time had changed and hopefully for the best.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12: Burn the World

Word spreads like wildfire across the New World . In the span of just one week, three Marine fortresses fall. A supply base in G5 territory? Leveled. A covert Cipher Pol outpost in the North Current? Wiped clean. A Vice Admiral’s garrison near the volcanic islands of Burntail? Reduced to rubble.

Witnesses speak of a single figure walking through flames with a bloodstained coat and unreadable eyes, Red-Haired Shanks .He doesn’t speak. He doesn’t issue warnings. He only acts. Not to conquer. Not for revenge, but from rage that demands an outlet and even kings must bleed.

Beckman watches silently, knowing this fury cannot last forever. Knowing Shanks is chasing ghosts across the sea, because he believes Luffy is one of them and nothing hurts worse than surviving when your promise doesn't.

Meanwhile, far  across the sea, Buggy the Clown sits in the dimly lit hold of a stolen courier ship, staring at a secure Den Den Mushi with shaking hands. The line clicks. A familiar voice, smooth, cold, calculating; pours through the receiver like sand through fingers. “..Buggy.”

Crocodile.

“Long time,” Buggy mutters.

“Only the desperate ever call me first.” The snails face turned annoyed. “What do you need?”

“I need information,” Buggy says, his voice firm despite the unease in his gut. “About the Buster Call . About Akainu. About why the Marines destroyed Foosha and more importantly, if they’re looking for anyone who escaped .”

Silence followed the request. The snail blinked lazily. “Information costs more than gold these days.”

“I’ll pay,” Buggy says. “Whatever it takes.”

There’s a pause. A smile can be heard in Crocodile’s voice.

“Your influence. That’s the price. You have a circus of pirates at your back, you give me access to their ports, routes, and movements. You give me reach and I’ll give you answers.”

Buggy hesitates. He’s many things, a coward, a clown, a bragger; but in this moment, he doesn’t flinch. “…Fine. But if you betray me—”

“I don’t need to,” Crocodile says. “You're walking into hell on your own.”

Despite their efforts, no one finds the survivors . Not Buggy’s informants. Not Shanks’ angry sweep of the sea. Not the Revolutionary scouts desperately scanning islands and villages. Syrup Village lies small and quiet beneath the sea breeze. Its people kind, its hills gentle. Its secrets are well hidden. Luffy , Ace , Sabo , and Makino remain ghosts. In the woods above the town, Luffy punches the training dummy again and again, fists bleeding, bones aching, heart on fire .

Sabo and Ace watch, silent. Usopp sharpens sticks into spears, even as he plots and plans how to become the sniper Luffy will need one day. Makino prepares the meals with steady hands. They have no flag. No country. No bounty. However, they are alive and the world does not know it yet.

In Marineford, Admiral Akainu stands at a grand window overlooking the sea. Reports of Red-Haired attacks pile up behind him. Cipher Pol agents whisper of pirate unrest. Buggy’s movements go dark and yet… There’s no sign of the target ., even among the bodies they’re still going through. “No survivors, huh?” he mutters. “Then why do I feel a storm coming?”

A marine enters. “Sir. Intelligence says Crocodile has reactivated old contacts. We believe he’s looking into the Dawn Incident.”

Akainu’s magma fist tightens. “Kill anyone asking questions.”

In the sweltering heat of the Alabastan palace's outer gardens, a faint breeze whispered of betrayal. The Baroque Works informants, long buried under layers of sand and secrets, had been busy. The intel had finally started flowing whispers of a boy who stretched like rubber , his grin too wide , his name kept hidden . The rumors circled faster than vultures around a corpse. One whispered phrase kept appearing in fragmented reports; “The child of Dragon survived.”

In the shadowed corners of Alubarna, Cipher Pol agents were closing in on a key Baroque Works informant. A former mole. A traitor. Someone with names . Crocodile’s own network had caught the leak too late. “Sir," whispered Mr. 1 grimly, "We've been compromised. They're hunting for the connection between you, the boy, and Dragon."

For Crocodile, that single moment of silence felt like ice in his veins. “Prepare the Mirage Falcon. I'm leaving Alabasta."

“Where should I tell the press you’re going?”

Crocodile lit a cigar. His eyes narrowed. "Tell them I’m hunting treasure. They’ll eat that lie."

While Crocodile slipped from the palace under a false identity, Bentham aka Bon Clay , moved with grace and merciless flair. The traitor never saw it coming. Bentham struck hard, fast, and clean.

By the time Cipher Pol broke into the safe house, they found only a rose , a mirror , and blood .No names. No witnesses. Just a message scrawled in eyeliner on the wall.

“The curtain closes on liars who don’t know their part. ~ Mr. Bon”

Aboard a sleek baroque skiff floating in the quiet currents of the Calm Belt, Crocodile read the decrypted intelligence. Photos. Testimonies. A rough sketch. A boy with a straw hat , arms that stretched , and a smile that infuriated gods and then… a single line scrawled in coded ink:

“Possibly the son of Monkey D. Dragon.”

The cigar slipped from Crocodile's lips and hissed into the seawater. “…Lies.”He clenched the paper in a shaking hand, eyes wild with something far rarer than rage; confusion. “He’s dead. I would know…” Because once, long ago, I was the mother. He had carried that child. Alone. Hidden from the world. Hidden from the Revolution. Hidden even from Dragon.

Until his body was taken. Until Ivankov changed everything. Freed him from his former self. Unburdened him. Made him a man, but that child ... had not survived; or so he had believed.

Somewhere in a lawless corner of the world, in a den of secrets and broken identities, Emporio Ivankov sat in silence as news reached him. A message from one of his butterflies.

“The child lives.”

Ivankov poured himself a drink and whispered softly, “…So the past finally rises.”He looked toward the sky. “Croco-boy… what will you do when you face the son you left behind?” A grin spread across his face. “Also, what to tell Dragon?”

The sea was like glass, motionless under a bruised blackened sky. No waves. No wind. Only silence, the kind that echoes when you’re finally forced to face your past. Crocodile stood alone on the deck of his skiff, cloak billowing lightly from heat instead of breeze. The Baroque insignia gleamed faintly on his shoulder, but he felt no pride in it tonight. He stared out at the horizon, the parchment clenched in one gloved hand, the image of a grinning, rubber limbed boy still burned into his vision. His son . The boy he believed had died in the womb , ripped from him by revolutionary shadows and locked away by a secret even Ivankov hadn’t dared explain. “If this is true… he survived not only me, but the world.”

A part of him, the part still haunted by moonlit nights in Revolution hideouts, the part that had once whispered lullabies to a swollen belly, screamed that this was impossible . Crocodile had been a liar too long to believe in comfort now.

Flashback

The room was small. Damp. Hidden in the belly of a mountain fortress near Baltigo. Revolutionaries moved like ghosts, few even knew Crocodile was there. His face had been different then. Softer. Feminine. Worn from months of silence and secrecy.

Dragon had only visited a few times. “No one can know,” he had said, then… he was gone. Like a shadow leaving no trace. Crocodile hadn’t asked for love. Only truth .

Ivankov had delivered neither. The child had been taken. “He died,” they said, then… silence. Crocodile never saw the child, never got to hold the boy that had kicked in his womb. Until now. Holding the image up, Crocodile, saw him holding two boys on his back. One reminded him of Roger and the other, looked haunted with those golden curls in his hair and blue ice eyes.

Mr. 1 returned with updates. Cipher Pol was retracting. The traitor was disposed of. The Marines were still in the dark; for now. None of it mattered to Crocodile. “He has Dragon’s blood,” Crocodile muttered. “That much is clear.” He grinned a smile that was too wide to be normal. “But that smile … that’s mine.”He gritted his teeth. “The world will chase him. Just like they have chased Robin . Just like they tried to erase me .”A long pause. “…They won’t reach him.”

Mr. 1 raised an eyebrow. “You’re going after him?”

Crocodile turned, golden hook gleaming in the moonlight. “No. Not yet. He’s too young. Too green. He needs time.”He exhaled smoke from his cigar, letting it curl into the night like a vow. “But when he comes to the Grand Line... when he finds himself at the crossroads of fate... I’ll be there. My son, may need guidance. Scrap the plans for Alabasta; I’ve got a new one that’ll be of use to all of us. I don’t need a revolution here. I need a fortress with loyal allies, because when he burns the world; it’ll turn into a blaze of glory.”

In the quiet forest clearing, Luffy trained under moonlight, shirt soaked with sweat, fists raw from impact. Makino and Usopp watched from the tree line. He didn’t talk much anymore. Not about the burning. Not about the screams. Not about the dreams that haunted him. Though sometimes, when the wind blew just right, and the ocean whispered again… he would stop, and listen.

“He’s getting stronger,” Ace muttered. “Too fast, really.”

“Grief does that,” Makino said quietly.

“No,” said Sabo, his gaze fixed on his little brother. “Something else is waking up inside him.”

Far off in the distance, the sea murmured again. But this time, the voice was different. Not panicked. Not warning. Just… watching.

Chapter Text

Chapter 13: The Return of the Gremlins

The years went by quickly and soon the world seemed to have forgotten about the destruction of the Goa Kingdom. Of the deaths of innocent men, women and children; except they didn’t, the four silent survivors. After leaving Ussop’s island, they had traversed to a small island under the control of an older pirate group. The Whitebeard Pirates were rarely stopping at the small archipelago of the Coral Islands, which was fine by them. Makino rebuilt her bar, Party’s Bar was up and running within a month of them arriving on the island. Sabo began researching navigation routes and stealing any map he could get his hands on, both scrolls and books. Ace learned how to build, repair and created ships like a shipwright, but also memorized maps, trade routes and pirate territories.

Then there was Luffy. He continued his training. Getting stronger both physically and mentally. He had learned about something the sea called Haki. It had been hard at first to control it once he’d unleashed it by accident. He had an ability called Conquerors Haki. The ocean stated that only a few with the will of the king could use this ability. So he’d unlocked it. Trained with it and became even stronger because of it. He learned better reading, could write his name and knew how to count better than most with his background. He was far from being dumb, but that didn’t stop him from acting like it. He still teased his little brothers if they began to get too serious and he could still hear the ocean talking to him with whispered stories about Shanks, Buggy and those who had tried to murder his family.

Today was a special day though, as the tropical wind rolled gently through the open window of the coastal hut, brushing past fluttering maps and old wanted posters. On a hand-carved calendar, the date had been circled in red. Now 17 years old, Monkey D Luffy barely showed signs of that haunted child from years ago. His face was leaner now, jaw sharper, his chest broader from relentless training and hardship; but he had the same fire, the same untamed, foolish dream that still burned in his dark violet eyes.

At his side stood Sabo , tall, golden hair that was longer now, who was a confident, blade master in his own right. His hands rested on the hilt of a twin saber strapped across his back. Beside him, wild as ever, stood Ace , smirking, a crude tattoo already blooming on his arm with ASL on it.

They had grown into warriors, brothers forged by fire and silence , instead of blood. From the porch behind them, Makino watched quietly. She wore a faint smile, though her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “I knew this day would come,” she said gently, stepping forward with a wrapped bento. “So I made you something.”

Luffy took it with a grin. “Thanks, ‘Kino.”

Her hand lingered on his cheek. “You’ll change the world, Luffy. Just… promise me you’ll live through it too.”

He nodded once. “I will.” Then he turned with his strawhat in place on his head, same scar beneath his eye and walked to the ship moored just offshore. A sleeker vessel than the one they had come in on, still modest, but faster, reinforced , and bearing no flag. Not yet, but one day soon it would.

The trio of brothers had decided that they’d have their starting point where everything had started in their lives. Dawn Island. It was a solemn trip with them each reflecting on the lives lost on their home island. The ship coasted gently toward a stretch of jagged cliffs and blackened trees of Dawn Island.

What had once been green was now charred. The Grey Terminal was nothing more than scorched stone and jagged metal. The ruins of Foosha Village remained buried beneath vines and ash. Nature had begun reclaiming what war had stolen, but it could not bury the memory. The boys disembarked in silence.

They moved past broken homes, past collapsed bridges and old stone wells. To a quiet hill beneath a twisted tree.

There, three hand-carved grave markers stood. One for Mayor Woop Slap . One for the villagers of Foosha and one, unmarked for everyone else .

Luffy dropped to his knees in front of it, placing a small, worn bottle of sake before the stones. Ace crossed his arms, silent, jaw tight. Sabo stood beside Luffy, placing a hand on his shoulder. None of them spoke for a long time.

Then Luffy broke the silence with a a whisper. “We’re leaving now. For real this time. I just wanted to say goodbye…”He paused before he added. “I swear, I’ll make the whole world remember you.”The wind blew softly. The trees didn’t answer, but somehow, the silence felt like approval.

Later that evening, the trio stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking the coast. The same one that Luffy and Shanks use to sit under the old tree and tell each other stories. The tree was long gone, but free grass was beginning to grow. The sun dipped low, painting the sea in gold.

“I’m going on my own,” Ace said, finally.

Luffy nodded slowly. “I figured.”

“I want to see what I’m worth,” Ace continued. “Not as your brother. Just as me. ” He gave a toothy grin. “But don’t go dying before I catch up, Luffy.”

Luffy gave a matching grin back. “Only if you don’t get lost first, idiot.”

Ace turned, tossed his pack over his shoulder, and began walking down the path alone. No ship. No flag. Only the fire behind him. Sabo stepped up beside Luffy, still watching the trail.

“He’ll be fine,” Sabo said as he touched his elder brothers shoulder. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“You sure?” Luffy asked, not wanting to force Sabo to stay with him.

Sabo nodded. “You’re my captain now. I’m your sword. Someone has to make sure you don’t punch a Celestial Dragon on your first day.”Luffy laughed but there was weight behind it. “Besides, who else is going to chronicle your journey? You?” He asked incredulously. Luffy’s laughter echoed off of the rocks and in the distance, Ace heard it and smiled knowing his brothers would be okay without him for awhile because he real journey now began. No more hiding. No more waiting. No more running. The sea’s sons had returned to the world and the Voice of All Things was ready to be heard again.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14: The Burning Will

The East Blue wind was harsh on the open sea, but Ace welcomed the sting on his face. He stood barefoot at the edge of a weathered fishing skiff, just fifteen, sunburned and scowling with a fury only the young and determined could manage.

He had left Luffy and Sabo behind, silently crying because he’d miss his brother’s but he needed to do this, to prove to himself and the world that he was more than Gol D. Roger’s son. Don’t get him wrong, Ace loved his brothers, but he needed proof that his life meant something.

Three weeks later, the world was trying to kill him. Storms, hunger, sunstroke but Ace survived it all through grit alone. His boat finally died on a reef surrounding an uncharted island somewhere in the South Blue. It cracked apart under his feet like an egg. Ace crawled onto the shore half conscious, sand clinging to his arms like chains. He coughed up seawater, blinked at the sky, and laughed bitterly. “This is fine," he rasped. "Perfect."

The island was nothing but thick jungle, steep cliffs, eerie silence. However, in the roots of an ancient, fire scarred tree, Ace found something impossible; a fruit that was the color of fire, its curling patterns flickering like real flames. He didn’t hesitate. His stomach was screaming, and he knew Devil Fruits when he saw them.

He bit into it. The taste was so foul it made his vision blur, but the moment the last chunk slid down his throat, something inside him ignited .

That night, the fire inside him raged. He woke to flames dancing on his arms, wild and unchecked. Trees burned. Birds scattered. Ace’s screams echoed in the jungle, not of pain but of something deeper. Power. Raw, molten power . The fire obeyed him. It was him. He was no longer just Ace. He was Flame and thus began his training with it.

Two nights later, someone tried to kill him. He’d been sleeping lightly, instincts sharpened from years in the wild. A shadow moved in the trees slow, deliberate, armed. Ace rolled aside just in time as a throwing knife embedded itself in the bark where his throat had been.

He spun, fire already crackling in his palm. “ Who’s there?! ”

The man who stepped out of the trees wore a long coat and a mask an old black respirator with tinted goggles, hiding everything but his voice. “Wasn’t expecting a kid,” the man said flatly. “Didn’t expect a living wildfire either.”

Ace’s flame roared up his arm. “I’ll cook you alive if you try that again.”

The man didn’t flinch. “You the one they’re calling the 'Burning Beast' on the islands nearby? Wild kid who leveled half a cliff?”

Ace blinked. "...Yeah. Probably me."

The man snorted. “You’re lucky. I thought you were an adult pirate named Firetooth. Guy’s worth twelve million. You’re worth... nothing.”

Ace narrowed his eyes. So this guy thought he wasn’t a threat. “Gee, thanks.”

The man shrugged. “Guess the bounty network’s wrong again.”

“So what now?” Ace asked, keeping his hand alight. “You gonna try to take me in anyway?”

The man crossed his arms. “No bounty, no interest. I don’t kill for free.”

Ace raised an eyebrow. “You’re a bounty hunter?”

“Was,” the man replied. “Name’s Deuce. I go after bad people and make enough to drink myself numb between gigs. You’re not worth the bullets but you’re interesting.” He grinned under his mask.

Ace tilted his head. “You gonna follow me or something?”

Deuce didn’t answer right away. Instead, he looked over Ace’s scorched camp and the burned trees, the scorched rock, the marks of someone not just dangerous , but becoming legend . “I’ve seen pirates burn villages. Kill kids. Take slaves. Never saw a kid who burned a mountain just because he was learning .” He adjusted the mask. “You’re going to be something. Might be good, might be hell. But you’re something .”

Ace smirked. “You’re talking like I should be flattered.”

Deuce met his gaze. “I’m saying I want in.”

That made Ace pause. “What? You’re a loner bounty hunter who just tried to stab me in my sleep.”

“Yeah, and now I’m offering you my skillset. Tracking. Navigation. Shipbuilding. You’ve got the fire; I’ve got the map.”

Ace grinned. He was liking this guy more and more. “Why would you want to follow me?”

“Because you’re crazy enough to be interesting. And I’m tired of chasing small time crooks. I want to ride the wave before it hits.”

The fire flickered off Ace’s arm as he considered it. The world had never offered him much, except for his brother’s, only fear and whispers and a legacy he didn’t ask for. But this? A bounty hunter who tried to kill him now offering loyalty? That was something new. Ace reached out his hand. “Then you’re my first mate.”

Deuce blinked behind the goggles. “First what now?”

“You heard me. I’m building a crew and I want people who can survive me.”

Deuce let out a low chuckle and shook Ace’s hand. “Captain.”

They spent three more weeks on the island. With Deuce’s help, Ace refined his fire powers, learning how to heat without burning, explode without destroying himself. Deuce salvaged enough wreckage to build a fast, lean ship no bigger than a sloop, but deadly fast.

They painted a crude emblem on the sail a black skull with flames rising behind it.

When they left, the island still smoldered in their wake. That night, as they sailed into open sea, Deuce leaned on the mast.

“You still haven’t said where we’re going.”

Ace stared at the stars. “Somewhere big. Somewhere loud.”

Deuce exhaled. “You planning to be a hero?”

Ace gave a wild grin. “No. I’m planning to be free and by the end the whole world’s gonna know my name.”

The smell of cannon smoke and salt hung thick in the air. The Striker cut through the waves like a flame riding the wind. A lean, fast ship cobbled together from wreckage and willpower, it bore the mark of its captain proudly, a crude flame and skull banner that left no doubt. The name Portgas D. Ace was still unknown, but not for long.

“Two ships docked at Barmera Port,” Deuce said from the crow’s nest, adjusting his battered spyglass. “One’s a merchant vessel. The other… looks like a small marine patrol cutter. Could be bad luck.”

Ace stood at the helm, grinning. “Could be good luck,” he replied.

Deuce sighed into his mask. “You and I have very different definitions of that word.”

Ace grinned as a plan formed in his mind. “Maybe,” he admitted. “but I’m the only one of us that they’ve tried to kill since birth.” Deuce raised a brow at this, but knew Ace wasn’t ready to tell him his story just yet. The boy seemed to have so much rage in him.

It was a humid, little town built into a cliffside, with wooden piers reaching like fingers into the ocean. The kind of place pirates stopped to lie low and Marines passed through to remind people who was in charge. Ace and Deuce docked under false colors. Deuce insisted. “If you come in under the wrong flag, and every Navy ship in the blue will be on us before we even finish breakfast.” Ace rolled his eyes but agreed; for now.

They strolled through the main street, Ace with his black shorts, bright yellow open vest, and cocky swagger; Deuce in his signature gas mask and patched trench coat, drawing odd stares from children and suspicion from drunks. The plan was simple; scout the port, pick a mark, make a statement. Ace was itching for it. For the world to see fire and remember his name; fate had different plans.

The bar they decided on smelled of spilled rum and pipe smoke. Makino would be disappointed and Sabo, he’d be taking name on who owed who what and how much. A few shady characters hunched over cards, while the barkeep pretended not to notice the pistol tucked into one man’s belt. Ace leaned on the counter. “Something cold and strong.” The barkeep gave him a once over, probably noticing how young he was but not saying anything.

Deuce, behind him, scanned the room like a bloodhound. It wasn’t the men or the atmosphere that froze Ace mid-sip. It was the poster . Pinned lazily to the side of the bar, half-torn, black and white.

Monkey D. Luffy – 30,000,000 Berries

Below it, in smaller text:

Crew confirmed: Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro… and… Sabo, Navigator.

Ace nearly dropped his drink. He stormed up to the poster, yanking it off the wall, eyes scanning it again and again.Luffy. His stupid grinning face. Straw hat. A bit older now. Confident and next to him was Sabo’s name .

Deuce stepped beside him. “That your bounty?”

“No,” Ace said quietly. “That’s my twin and my big brother.”He turned around, fists clenched, fire beginning to rise up his arms. “ They’re still alive and making waves .”

Deuce raised a brow under his mask. “You sure it’s them? Monkey D. and this Sabo guy could just be—”

“It’s them,” Ace said with certainty. “I know my brothers.”

Deuce didn’t argue. He watched the boy with fire in his veins and saw something shift in him, not just ambition anymore. Something older. Deeper.

Family.

Ace didn’t speak for the rest of the afternoon. That night, they struck. The marine cutter docked at the edge of the harbor wasn’t large, but had arrogant flags high, lights on, guards half-asleep. Ace was a phantom of fire. He melted locks. Muffled steps with heated air. Knocked out guards with steam charged punches. When a gun was raised, Ace disarmed the shooter by flash incinerating the barrel in his hand.

Deuce worked quietly beside him, precision and silence where Ace was raw force. Together, they robbed the ship of weapons, maps, and crates of marine rations.

Ace left his own wanted poster, handmade, pinned to the mast, written in burning letters scorched into the wood;

Fire Fist Ace – The Flame Pirate

To the ones chasing my family; catch me instead. They didn’t stay for the fallout.

The wind was calmer. The ocean endless. Deuce read the marine map he'd taken. “According to this, Luffy’s last known course was headed west, toward the Grand Line. Probably already passed through Reverse Mountain by now.”

Ace leaned on the railing, the poster of Luffy folded in his hand, creased and worn from how often he’d looked at it since the tavern. “He made it,” Ace said. “The idiot actually made it.”

Deuce smirked. “Sabo, it says here that he picked up an apprentice named Nami, who working with the Arlong Pirates.”

Ace’s voice softened. “He made it too.” He the snorted. “He probably begged Luffy to go after her if she’d become his friend or maybe they stumbled across Arlong’s fortress and she was a slave? ‘Bo has a soft spot for people in distress.”

There was silence for a moment. Then - “You still want to be infamous?” Deuce asked.

“I want the world to know who I am,” Ace said. “But not just that.” He held up the poster. “I want to catch up to this. I want to stand next to them, not behind them. As their equal. As their rival if I have to.”

Deuce chuckled. “Sounds like we need a bigger ship.”

“And a bigger crew,” Ace added, grinning again. “One that can light the whole world on fire.”

A month later the duo ended up at the Iron Shell Port, Southern Archipelago in the South Sea. When they left the next day the docks were a mess of smoke, screaming sailors, and shattered barrels. A marine brig had been scorched to cinders the night before no survivors, just a charred mast and the faint scent of gunpowder. Locals whispered a name like a curse.

Fire Fist Ace.

They said his ship moved like a comet. They said the air boiled in his wake. They said a boy, no more than fifteen, had turned half a garrison to ash. The World Government was listening now.

“Any word on Luffy’s ship?” Ace asked, hands behind his head as he lounged on the deck of his ship. “I think we should head to Water 7. Heard there’s a shipwrights there that could build us an actual ship.”

He got a glare for that comment from his first mate who was fixing the latest leak in the ships side. “No new sightings since Reverse Mountain,” Deuce replied. “But that means he’s officially entered the Grand Line, maybe. Or, then again he could’ve gone upwards.”

Ace didn’t smile. Not yet. Up? He wondered before recalling Shanks’ tales about the sky islands. “We’re catching up to him,” he muttered. “I want to face him as a rival , not just as my big brother.”

Deuce raised a brow beneath his mask. “Sabo?”

Ace was quiet before grinning. “Maybe kick his ass too. He’s never won a fight against me.”

Deuce nodded. “Let’s just make sure you stay alive to do that.”

Suddenly the wind dropped. The clouds split unnaturally and the sea, that ever changing, ever moving force, went dead still. Ace stood up. Now alert. That was when he appeared. Standing on the air above the water, as if the laws of the world bent to his will.

Bartholomew Kuma.

Warlord of the Sea. Government dog. A walking weapon. The massive man lowered his book and gazed down at The Striker, at the boy with fire in his veins.

“Fire Fist Ace,” Kuma said, voice low but heavy with finality. “You are now a threat to balance. I’ve been ordered to neutralize you.”

Deuce’s hand went to his pistol. “ Warlord. We are not prepared for this!”

Ace was already on the railing, fire licking up his arm. “We run from nothing!

Kuma raised a gloved hand, a massive pawprint pad aimed like a cannon. A single pop of compressed air detonated beside the ship. The explosion didn’t just break the water, it bent space . The Striker was rocked sideways. Deuce yelled. Ace was thrown from the deck mid-jump, caught only by a last-second blast of fire propelling him back aboard.

He coughed. “What the hell was that?!”

“Repulsion force,” Deuce shouted. “He doesn’t fight, he erases !”

Ace grit his teeth. “I’ll burn him to the bones.”He launched himself skyward, fire coiling from his arms, feet propelling him like a rocket, straight at Kuma. Instead Kuma didn’t move. He raised one hand, palm out.

Pop.

Ace vanished midair.

“ACE!” Deuce screamed, scanning the sky but Ace appeared seconds later, crashing into the sea a hundred meters away, barely conscious.

Dragging Ace aboard, Deuce lit every sail and tossed emergency powder barrels behind them, one after another. Fire and explosions raged in their wake, just enough to obscure Kuma’s aim or at least slow him. Kuma hovered in the air, unbothered, watching,  he didn’t pursue.

Instead, he raised his Bible again and read silently, vanishing without a word. The message was clear. Next time, he wouldn’t miss.

On a nearby island, Rustbay Island, Engineer’s Den . Two inventors argued beneath a half-finished torpedo launcher.

“You wired the trigger backward again,” Kotatsu grumbled.

“Because I was testing reverse detonation theory!” Mihar snapped, welding goggles propped on her forehead.

They froze as the doors burst open. Deuce entered, dragging a scorched Ace, half-conscious and steaming. “We need medkits,” Deuce growled. “And somewhere to hide. Fast.”

Mihar raised an eyebrow. “The hell happened to him ?”

“A warlord tried to erase his entire existence.”

Kotatsu squinted. “Didn’t work, huh?”

Ace groaned, sitting up. “No, but I might be missing a lung.”

Deuce turned to the two inventors. “You’re the best mechanics and explosive experts on this half of the sea. Help us patch the ship and the kid and maybe you’ll get front row seats to see a fire burn brighter than anything this world’s ready for.”

Mihar grinned. “I’m listening.” He’d only just met these two but already he liked them. They smelt like trouble, adventure and fire. He loved all three of those things.

Bandaged, sore, but recovering, Ace sat with Deuce, Mihar, and Kotatsu around a makeshift fire. “The World Government sent a warlord after you,” Mihar said, stirring a bowl of stew. “You realize what that means?”

“I’m doing something right,” Ace said, weak but smirking.

“No,” Deuce muttered. “It means they’re scared of what you might become.”

Ace looked down at his palm, fire flickering between his fingers. Or who I am. He thought grimly. “I’m not done,” he said. “I’m going to build a crew that doesn’t run, one that can stand even against gods . But to do that, I need more than fire.” He looked at Mihar and Kotatsu. “I need chaos. I need creation. I need people who know how to make the impossible explode into reality.”

Kotatsu raised a mug, a huge grin crossing his face. “Then you found the right maniacs.”

Meanwhile in the Calm Belt, adrift towards the next island. The sun was warm. The breeze was soft. The Grand Line was behaving for once as an eerie calm that made the crew of the Going Merry uneasy. Except for Luffy , who sat cross legged on the figurehead, flipping through the morning’s News Co. paper like a kid checking on a comic.

“Did the bounties update yet?” Zoro called from below, one eye cracked open.

“Yeah,” Luffy said, licking the edge of a page. “Couple new pirates made the list.”

“Anyone worth stealing from?” Nami asked, peeking out of the cabin with her log pose in hand.

“Maybe,” Luffy muttered, he stopped flipping through when he saw a familiar face and grinned. “Shishishi.”He stared at the middle of the paper. Someone wearing a bright burnt orange colored hat with a bounty poster and a headline.

“Fire Fist Ace: The Flame Pirate

Sets Marine Brig Ablaze
Wanted: 35,000,000 Berries.

Accomplice: 'Masked Deuce'

12,000,000 Berries.

Luffy didn’t move for a second. Then he laughed, and laughed. A little proud. A little sad.He tore out the page with care before tossing the rest of the paper at Sanji. He then ran off to his cabin. The room was messy, maps half-unrolled, meat wrappers on the desk, a wanted poster of Shanks tacked to the wall beside a torn poster of Sabo .

On the desk was scrapbook , leather-bound, with a sun emblem burned into the front. Inside were things none of the crew had seen torn news pages, old bounty posters, little scraps of moments Luffy refused to let go of. Shanks’ first bounty. A photo of Garp in a marine report. A flyer of Sabo, of Zoro, Nami and even Ussop’s first bounty. Now, a new addition. Ace’s News Co. article; the poster was tacked onto the wall.

Luffy pressed the page flat and used a bit of glue Nami had left behind. He wrote underneath in big, messy letters:

Ace!!

He’s doing it. He’s really out there now.

A knock on the door. “Luffy?” Sabo's voice.

Luffy closed the book gently and tucked it into the drawer beside his hammock. “Yeah?”

Sabo stepped in, pipe slung across his back, and held up the paper another copy of the same article. “You saw this?”Luffy nodded. “You okay?”

Luffy sat on the edge of the bed and gave a small grin. “He’s ahead of me.”

Sabo smiled too, a little wistful. “We’ll catch him.”

Luffy glanced at the map pinned to the wall. “He’s in the South Blue. We’re gonna have to get famous enough to pull him toward us.”

Sabo leaned on the wall. “Or cause enough trouble that he wants to chase us.”

Luffy chuckled. “That sounds more fun.”

The crew gathered for lunch. Sanji had made something spicy in honor of whoever set a marine base on fire.

“Still don’t know how he did that,” Usopp muttered. “The Flame-Flame Fruit’s insane.”

“Yeah,” Zoro agreed. “And Ace was already strong without it, right?”

Sabo nodded. “He’s always had something burning inside him. Now it’s just... visible.”

Nami looked over from her charting. “Do we plan to meet up with him?”

Luffy stared at the sky for a long moment. “No,” he said finally. “We don’t plan anything.”Then he grinned. “We just keep going. He’ll find us.”

On an unknown island in the south blue the crew of the Red Haired pirates had rested for a day and a night. As morning had come and gone, beach where Shanks rested was quiet. Gentle waves lapped the black rock shoreline, warm sun cutting through the morning mist. Red Haired Shanks sat alone, shirt half-buttoned, pants rolled to his knees, a bottle in one hand and his face buried in his cloak, the hangover was already starting. He was very hungover — worse than usual.

His chest ached, not from the alcohol, but from the weight of another empty night spent mourning ghosts . Ghosts with familiar faces. “Should’ve burned Marineford again,” he muttered to no one. “Should’ve pulled the sky down on them... should’ve—”

Footsteps approached. Soft, deliberate, and familiar. Benn Beckman , carrying a sealed dispatch tube and a handful of bounty posters. He didn’t say anything right away. Just sat beside his husband, pulling a cigarette from his coat. He lit it without meeting Shanks’ eyes.

Shanks squinted. “If that’s another call from the Underworld, tell ‘em to piss off. I’m retired from pretending I care.”

“You’re not retired,” Beckman said calmly, exhaling smoke. “You’re sulking. Difference.”

“Same damn thing.”

“Nope,” Beckman said. “Sulking means you’re still waiting.”

Shanks didn’t answer. His jaw clenched. The breeze caught his red hair, letting it blow loose in the wind. Beckman reached into his coat and handed Shanks the three bounty posters. “Read.”

Shanks took them with a grunt. He started with the top one lazily.

Monkey D. Luffy – 30,000,000 Berries

He froze. His fingers tightened. He flipped to the next one.

Fire Fist Ace – 35,000,000 Berries

Then the last:

Sabo – 20,000,000 Berries

Shanks didn’t breathe. Beckman watched him, quiet. “They’re alive, Love,” he said gently. “All three of them.”

Shanks stared at the paper like it might catch fire in his hands. His lips moved, but nothing came out. Then finally, shakily. “This is real? Have you confirmed it with Buggy? Crocodile?”

Beckman nodded once. “Straight from the News Co. confirmed by a Cipher Pol leak from Buggy. They survived.”

Shanks blinked several times, eyes glossing. “I thought the Buster Call…”

“So did I.” Beckman pinched the bridge of his nose. “We all did. They’ve been hiding.”

“I thought they burned . I thought—” His voice broke, hoarse. “I thought they died screaming .”

Beckman placed a hand on his shoulder. “They didn’t.”There was silence for a long stretch of waves. “They’re thriving.”

Shanks looked down at Luffy’s poster, brushing his thumb across the boy’s stupid, wide grin. “Look at him…” he whispered. “Wearing that hat like he owns the damn sea.”

Beckman smirked. “He just might. Ace is making headlines in the South. They sent Kuma after him.”

Shanks stared at his husband with wide eyes. “And he survived?”

“Escaped. With a crew. First mate’s a masked former bounty hunter. He’s… growing into something dangerous.”

Shanks laughed once. “That’s Ace, alright.”

Beckman lit another cigarette. “And Sabo’s with Luffy. As his tactician and navigator. Didn’t join anyone else. Must’ve found him the best choice.”

Shanks looked up at the sky, the sunlight catching on the rim of his eyes making them sparkle. “All those years... I thought I lost them. All of them. I kept drinking because I thought it dulled the fire.”He looked back at Beckman. “I was wrong. It fed it.”

Beckman leaned back on his hands. “You burned half the Grand Line trying to punish someone for something that never happened.”

“They still suffered,” Shanks said, more solemn now. “They still grew up thinking they were alone.”

“Not anymore.” Beckman stated as he looked at the bounty poster in his hand before Shanks took it once again. Shanks exhaled slowly, then stood. He held the bounty posters up to the sky. “This…” he said, voice cracking into something soft and amazed. “This isn’t a reason to mourn anymore.”

Beckman looked up at him. “No?”

Shanks smiled. Not a drunken grin. Not a showman's smirk. A real, genuine smile. “It’s a reason to celebrate.”He looked at Luffy’s poster and grinned proudly. “Our son’s are still alive,” he whispered.

Beckman stood beside him. “All three of them.”

Shanks turned, already walking toward the Red Force anchored in the cove. “Wake the crew,” he called over his shoulder. “Open the good rum. Tonight we drink because they lived.”

Beckman smiled and followed. “And tomorrow?” he asked.

Shanks grinned, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Tomorrow, we find a way to see them again.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 15: The Phoenix and the Barmaid

The day was quiet, the wind steady. Calm enough that even Luffy wasn’t screaming about food or adventure. Below deck, the main table was cluttered with rolled parchment , ink pots , and a slowly growing pile of crumpled sea charts. Nami , tongue sticking out in focus, adjusted her compass for the fifth time.

“No, that current definitely loops here,” she muttered, tracing a spiral near an unnamed island.

Across from her, Sabo leaned forward, golden eyes flicking across her map, then down to the one he was unrolling.“You’re off by two knots,” he said. “The whirl current pulls from the south, not the east.”

Nami blinked at him. “How do you know that?”

Sabo smiled faintly and rotated his map so she could see. It was older, ink faded, edges worn, but detailed . The kind of map drawn by someone who had lived on the sea, not just sailed it. “Because this isn’t just a current,” he said, tapping a string of small islands clustered like pearls on the page. “This is the Coral Archipelago. I grew up here. So did Ace and Luffy.”

Nami sat back a little, eyes scanning the map. Her curiosity flared instantly. “These are real?” she whispered. “I thought the Coral Chain was a myth.”

Sabo chuckled. “That’s what made it a good hiding place.” He paused. “That and its smack dab in the center of the Whitebeard Pirates territory and most don’t even realize what’s actually there.” He tapped one of the larger islets; that had a red 'X' drawn in one corner, but the rest of the island was marked with small, personal notes. Cliffside Treehouse. Makino’s garden. Docks built by Ace and him. Luffy’s training cliff. “Makino,” he said with a smile. “She was the only reason we survived the Buster Call. Took us in when we had nothing but children. Then all four of us escaped Goa and hid with us when the world wanted us dead. Raised three wild boys on an island that didn’t even show up on most maps.”

Nami smiled, gently. “She must be strong.”

“Stronger than Garp, honestly,” Sabo smirked. “But quieter about it.”He pulled out a small notebook and passed it to Nami. Inside were hand-drawn sketches of cliffs overlooking bright reefs , fireflies caught in jars , a crooked wooden house by the sea . “I helped built that dock with Ace,” he said. “Badly. It collapsed twice before we got it right. Luffy just sat nearby and laughed.”

Nami turned the page slowly. The next was of Makino , hair longer, holding a steaming cup of tea with Luffy asleep against her side. “You drew all of these?”

Sabo nodded. “It’s how I remember. And how I made maps, back when we didn’t have log poses. It started as survival. Turned into… something else.”

Nami set the notebook down with care. “You’re good,” she said.

“So are you,” Sabo replied. “Your maps are more technical. Mine are emotional. Yours help you move forward.”They looked at each other for a long moment.

“You ever think about going back?” Nami asked.

Sabo’s face flickered with something distant. Not quite sadness. Not quite peace. “All the time,” he said. “However it’s not safe and Luffy hasn’t been made King yet. The world can’t touch that place.”He smiled, gentle. “When we win, you’re welcome to visit. There’s a bay with coral shaped like stars. I think you’d love it.”

Nami grinned. “Only if I get to draw the sea and the archipelago.”

“You can draw the whole chain,” Sabo said. “It deserves to be known… by the right people.”

They sat in silence for a moment longer, the sounds of the ocean filling the space. Then, Nami reached for her map again, and with a small, bold stroke, she added a new chain of islands; nestled just beyond the Grand Line’s safer paths. She didn’t label them, not yet, but she left space for a name.

Meanwhile on Coral Island Makino stood at the edge of the dock, a warm breeze ruffling her hair. She looked out toward the horizon, holding a small envelope in one hand, a letter stamped with a sun emblem.

It had no sender, but she recognized the handwriting immediately.

We’re alive.

She smiled, the sea catching her tears before they could fall. Turning back towards the sleepy town behind her, Makino returned to her bar. Her boys were off adventuring and making names of themselves. They were being irresponsible but that was what it meant to be pirates. She held the letter close, inside of it was a small picture of a crew with Luffy at the center and Sabo next to him. Both brothers smiling brightly, though Sabo had a new scar over his left eye. It worried her, as she’d read the article where the blonde boy of the strawhats had suffered an accident when a powder keg had exploded on the docks of Drum Island. She was glad he’d survived. Was glad that both were thriving.

As she entered the bar, she looked towards the wall of proudly hung framed wanted posters. From Whitebeard’s and Marco the Phoenix’s to Shanks and Buggy’s, there next to the big names were Fire Fist Ace, Luffy’s and Sabo’s. Her children, though rookies now, would one day dwarf all of those big names.

She looked at Shanks’ newest poster and couldn’t help but smile at the image of a so very serious looking man verses the old one of the happy go lucky youth who had visited her bar throughout the years in Foosha. She knew their deaths had impacted him but hadn’t thought it would scar him like it had.

I’m going to need to contact Luffy soon and tell him we need to give up at least this place’s location to him. She thought as the first customers began walking into the cabana area. These were locals who knew her rules. No roughhousing. No hurting other customers. But the most important one; no touching her or they’d get banned. Of course there were those who always went against her rules.

“Speaking of troublemakers.” She said as a bunch of rowdy men began to enter the bar area.

“Yo!” One greeted her, she smiled as he approached where she stood behind the bar top. He had medium length, wavy blond hair, often styled in a loose, messy manner with a small tuft of hair sticking up in the front, giving him a somewhat carefree, windswept look. “‘Kino.”

Marco the Phoenix. She thought. First mate of the Whitebeard pirates and often then not, one of her best customers when he was posted out this way. She placed her hands on her hips and took up an annoyed look at him.

His open, knee-length, blue-purple jacket with a flame-like pattern on the edges swayed as he took a step back from her. “What did I do to get that look?” He sounded almost offended.

She looked pointedly at him. “One of your brothers stopped by last week and left without paying his tab. Said you’d be by to pay it.” She held out her hand. “I won’t serve anyone who is with you until the debt is paid!” She stated loudly gaining groans from everyone.

He looked at her with surprise before it turned to a look of resignation. “Which brother?” He asked as he pinch the bridge of his nose, pausing to remove his round lenses glasses from his face.

Makino touched her chin as she thought about it. “He was a tall, muscular, and sturdy looking man with purple tinted glasses who was wearing a watermelon bucket hat over his head.”

Marco wanted to growl. “Curiel.” He sighed as he took out his wallet. “He’s a commander for sea’s sake! He should’ve-“ He froze as she snatched his wallet from him and took the belli inside, out.

“You’re short.” She muttered annoyed. “I’m owed 10,000 belli. This only covers half.”

“Come on ‘Kino.” He bemoaned.

“Go get the rest,” she said pointing towards the door. “Or, you can work it off.”

“Why me!?” He exclaimed, “I thought I was your favorite.” He whined with exasperation.

She giggled. Oh, so it’s obvious that I’m soft on him. Her eyes twinkled with mischief. “Now you listen here,” she began, he suddenly grinned. “You may be one of my favorite customers, but that only because you’ve never short changed me and you respect my place and me. Now, as the first mate, it falls on you to take care of your brother’s debts when they’ve been left to you specifically to do so.” She grabbed a broom. “Now clean and serve customers until you’ve made enough to cover the whole debt.”

Shit! She’s actually serious! He thought, he was too shocked to realize that he’d just been suckered into working on his one day off! He glared out towards the sea. Curiel! Next time I see you, you better run. Blue flames flickered his shoulders.

Makino gave him a side eyed glance. “Any damage you make will be added upon your tab and you won’t be able leave until it’s been paid off in full.”

His head snapped towards her. “Yes Ma’am.”

Makino chuckled. Perhaps today will be a good one after all. She thought as she went into the kitchen area to begin cooking.

By early evening Marco was exhausted and a bit embarrassed as the crew of the first division was now taking bets on how long he’d last before dropping another drink, cursing out another customer or how many more men would hit on him before they realized who he was. Curiel was so dead next time he saw him.

“Can you smile more, sweetie?” slurred a man with more beard than brain.

Marco’s eye twitched. “No.”

“I think you’d be prettier if you smiled.”

“I think you’d be quieter without teeth.” He countered through gritted teeth.

Thatch cackled from the window. “That's our Marco!”

Makino walked by, patting Marco on the shoulder. “You're improving.”

“I’m losing my will to live.”

“Same thing.”

He turned to the next table. “What d’you want?”

The elderly man blinked. “I—uh—just a beer, please?”

Marco nodded, delivered the drink, and promptly slipped on a puddle, knocking over a tray, three mugs, and himself in the process. Outside, cheers erupted.

Thatch burst out laughing. “New record! Three drinks down in one go!”

Izou calmly updated the chalkboard while laughing.

Cursed Out: 8
Drinks Dropped: 14
Unwanted Advances: 11
Actual Smiles: 0

To Marco’s credit, he hadn’t quit by sundown or had one of his brothers call their pops. He hadn’t threatened to burn the place down, but he had called the patrons "oxygen thieves" and “feral gremlins,” sure. He hadn’t left yet, mostly because Makino threatened to double the debt if he did. He was serving a table when a group of traveling bounty hunters walked in.

“Hey, isn’t that Marco the Phoenix?”

“Impossible. What would he be doing here?”

“Bet it’s a lookalike. Hey, bar guy! Do a trick!”

Marco turned, dead-eyed. Without a word, he let a single wing of golden fire burst from his back, sending heat washing over the bar. Three of the bounty hunters fainted as he added haki to that. The rest left quietly. Thatch was on the floor laughing.

Izou adjusted his coat. “Honestly, he’s handling it together better than I expected.”

“Did you see him smile?” Haruta asked, shocked.

“Not exactly a smile , more of a ‘maniacal grin of vengeance,’” Vista noted. “Still counts.”

By closing time Marco was going to kill all of his brothers because yes he’d noticed them. Yes he saw their board of points and yes they’d stayed out of the bar because they hadn’t wanted to get caught into Makino’s debt collector mode.

“You did it,” Makino said, handing Marco a pouch of coins and a cup of coffee.

Marco looked at it like it was poison. “This better not be a trick.”

“Debt’s cleared. You’re free to go.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “Seriously.”

He sighed, sank onto a stool, and took a sip of tea. “…I never want to see another bar again.” He sighed as he looked at her. “You know, you look a lot happier here than you did back in the East Blue.”

Makino smiled at him. “I am, even if I am technically a wanted woman for surviving what they did.”Marco stayed silent as she placed a cup of coffee in front of him. “The boys and I were lucky to have found this place. I’m glad we still had one friend to count on.”

“Why didn’t you want Shanks to know you all lived?” Marco inquired, quite curious.

“Luffy said Shanks would have become sadder.” She said. “According to the sea, Luffy would have been forced out onto the sea sooner than he should have. He would have made a mistake that could’ve ended things too soon.”

Marco frowned. “What things?” He asked. 

Makino tapped the side of her coffee cup. “His journey. Everything he wanted to do.” She sighed. “The sea warned him that he’d die if he left too soon and Shanks would see it happen; just like with Roger.”

Marco’s eyes widened. “Oh shit.”

“Yeah.” She agreed. “I miss Shanks and Buggy.” She got a dreamy look on her face. “Especially Buggy.” She grinned.

Marco raised a brow. “Were you two-“ he began.

Standing she grinned. “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell.” She giggled when his eyebrows shot up.

“Impressive.” He commented. “Too bad you’re not a lady.”

Makino gave a full on laughing bark that would’ve made Garp very proud. By the time Marco left the bar in the early morning hours his board read as follows.

Cursed Out: 23

Drinks Dropped: 19

Unwanted Advances: 17

Bounties Collected (accidentally): 2

Smiles: 1 2

Respect Gained from Makino: Pending Review

Chapter Text

Chapter 16: Big Brother

The port town of Shirogane Island was unusually quiet that evening. Word had spread like wildfire that Portgas D. Ace, fiery upstart captain of the Flame Pirates, had challenged a Warlord of the Sea. Not just any Warlord. Knight of the Sea Jinbe, but only because the fishman was looking for the kid.

The townsfolk had cleared the outskirts, though a few brave souls peeked from behind shuttered windows. Atop a craggy ridge overlooking the beach, the Flame Pirates were already placing bets when the warlord literally walked out of the sea.

"Five thousand on Captain Ace!" grinned Skull, slapping a wad of beli into Deuce’s hands.

"You idiots are gonna regret that when Jinbe drops him like a wet log," drawled Mihal, chewing a toothpick. "The guy’s a Warlord. I’m taking the odds."

Deuce sighed, pen ready. “We're supposed to be worried for our captain, not organizing a gambling ring.”

"C’mon, Deuce, this is worrying; we’re just turning stress into money," grinned Kotatsu, draped around a rock like a lazy cat.

The ocean breeze was thick with tension as Jinbe stood firm on the shore, arms crossed, chest bare and glistening under the sunlight. Ace approached shirtless, flame tattoos bright against his skin, eyes burning with determination.

"You were looking for me, Warlord," Ace called, voice even. “Well, here I am.”

Jinbe’s voice was calm, deep like the sea floor. “I heard rumors. A fiery brat with Whitebeard’s spirit. So you sought me out. Why?”

Ace grinned, cocky, though there was a flicker of earnestness in his tone. “Because if I beat you, you owe me. I want you on my side.”

Jinbe raised a brow. “You propose an alliance… by way of battle?”

“Damn right. Win or lose, you’ll know what kind of man I am, but if I win, you fight beside me when my enemies come for me.”The air shimmered. A pause between the two warriors.

Jinbe exhaled slowly. “Very well. But prepare yourself. I do not hold back.”

The beach erupted as Ace hurled a column of fire, “HIKEN!”, and Jinbe countered with Fish Man Karate, water surging around his fists. Flame met sea. Steam hissed, exploded and the sky darkened with smoke.

For two straight days, the battle raged without pause. Ace’s flames scorched dunes into glass. Jinbe turned crashing waves into weapons, striking with the weight of a thousand tons. “You don't give up, do you, boy?" Jinbe grunted after dodging a Flame Commandment barrage.

Ace spat sand from his mouth, panting, “What gave it away? Me, not dying?”

Both men bore wounds. Ace’s arms were blistered from misjudged water strikes. Jinbe’s chest had burn marks in the shape of Ace’s fists. Still, neither relented.

“He's still standing?” Skull whispered from the ridge, voice awed.

“They both are,” Deuce muttered, scribbling down the newest odds.

By the fourth day, the beach was scorched and torn. The sky remained heavy, storms forming from the sheer heat and pressure of the clash. Ace stumbled, breath ragged. His logia form flickered. Jinbe, likewise, held a hand to his ribs, bleeding slightly.

“You’re strong,” Jinbe said, voice quieter now. “Stronger than I thought.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Ace said, then promptly collapsed to one knee.

“You don’t need to win this to prove your worth,” Jinbe said seriously, stepping closer. “I’ve seen enough.”

Ace looked up through sweat and ash. “No,” he growled. “I’m not done.”He ignited, his body blazing like the sun. Flame Emperor swirled into his palm. “If I fall, it won’t be before I show you the strength of my crew. My dream. My name.” He hurled it. Jinbe braced. The explosion rocked the cliffside. The Flame Pirates screamed and ducked behind a boulder as sand and fire rained down.

"I change my bet!" Kotatsu yowled. "I bet we die first!"

On the morning of the fifth day, the battlefield was silent. Smoke hung in the air like a veil. Jinbe knelt on one knee, fists dug into the sand. Ace lay face down in a crater, steam rising from his back. Then suddenly Ace laughed. Low, weak, but sincere.

"Still not… strong enough…" he muttered. “But you’re still here, so… I didn’t lose, either.”

Jinbe stood with effort and approached. He extended a hand. “You have the fire of a leader… and the soul of a brother." He chuckled as he was reminded of someone he’d once known long ago. “You are reckless, impulsive; but righteous."

Ace looked up, blinking through grit and blood. “So… you joining or not?”

Jinbe chuckled again, a gravely sound. “ Aye. You have my respect and my fists.”

Ace grinned, half-conscious. “Told ya.” Before suddenly his eyes rolled back and he fell against the warlord.

“Who had Ace passing out from his narcolepsy!?” Kotatsu asked, Deuce raised his hand.

That night, a campfire roared on the beach. Jinbe sat with the Flame Pirates, a mug of sake in his hand. The crew celebrated, half in awe, half in disbelief.

“I can’t believe he did it,” Skull whispered. “He made a Warlord an ally…”

“He also coughed up blood on my boots,” Deuce added. “Heroism has a price.”

Ace, bandaged but grinning, raised his cup. “To victory! Also to not being turned into fish food!”

Jinbe chuckled, lifting his mug. “To flame that does not die and the crew that fans it.”

The tide lapped gently against the shore, a stark contrast to the chaos that had raged here for nearly a week. Trees were uprooted. Boulders shattered. The ground itself bore scorch marks and deep craters, silent witnesses to a clash between two monsters in human form. Now, the battlefield was quiet.

Ace lay on his back, arms sprawled, chest heaving, flames flickering gently around his shoulders like a protective cloak. Sweat dripped from his brow, mixing with ash and blood. Beside him, Jinbe sat upright, legs crossed, his own body battered and bruised. His knuckles were raw, and a dark bruise bloomed over one cheek. Saltwater dripped from his side where he'd rehydrated moments ago.

The silence stretched, not heavy but earned. Jinbe exhaled slowly, a deep rumble in his chest. “You’re strong, Fire Fist. I’ll give you that much."

Ace chuckled, not opening his eyes.
"Heh... and you hit like a Sea King with a hangover." They both laughed though it was short, winded, but genuine.

Jinbe turned his gaze toward the horizon, serious now. “You’re still not ready to challenge him."

Ace cracked one eye open. "...Whitebeard?"

Jinbe gave a small nod. "You’ve got potential, Ace. More than most I’ve ever seen. But Edward Newgate... he's on another level. If you cross him... it won't end in a draw. Not for you."

There was no malice in his voice. Just truth. Ace sat up slowly, brushing soot from his chest. The fire around him flared a little brighter, sparked by stubborn pride. "I don’t plan to run from him either. If that old man wants to find me, he can come himself, but I’ll never join him."

From the treeline, the Flame Pirates emerged with food and more drink. “Captaaaain!" yelled Deuce, his mask half-cracked but his grin intact. "You’re alive! Thought we’d have to start interviewing replacements!"

Ace knew his narcolepsy worried them. It had been hitting him harder than usual lately. “Oi, shut it!" Ace shouted, waving one hand, but smiling. He turned back to Jinbe. "You’re right though. He’s strong. You all are, but don’t worry... if that old bastard tries anything—" He tapped his chest with a thumb, flame sparking under his hand. "—he’ll find out the hard way. My big brother will come after him."

Jinbe raised an eyebrow. "Your big brother?"

"Luffy!" Ace grinned like the sun, wide and fiery. "That idiot’s gonna be King of the Pirates someday, I swear. And my other brother, Sabo? Hah! He’s just as crazy. Those two will kick Whitebeard’s ass if he lays a finger on me."

The crew laughed, gathering around their captain. Skull burst out laughing, almost falling over. “That's right! If that old geezer wants a fight, he’ll have to go through all of us first!"

"Yeah!" cried one of the newer recruits. "Flame Pirates don’t back down from anyone!"

Jinbe stood up slowly, brushing sand from his pants. The wind tugged at his cape as he looked down at the fiery boy and his crew, surrounded by laughter and loyalty.

He couldn’t help but smile just a little.
"You're reckless... but there's heart in you, Ace. That fire... one day, it might light up the world."

Ace looked up at him, face softening.
"Maybe. But for now..." He pushed himself fully to his feet, clapping a hand on Jinbe's shoulder. "...I just want to burn bright enough to protect my crew."

They stood there, two warriors on the shore, the storm of their battle behind them and in the distance, the sea stirred.

The next afternoon the sea breeze was cool, briny, and deceptively calm. After day of rest and patching up the ship, the Flame Pirates had set sail again, spirits high and laughter echoing across the deck. The "Striker II", their newly repaired brig, cut through the waves with ease, its black sails flaring proudly with their flame-shaped insignia. Ace stood at the bow, arms folded, flame licking off his shoulders in slow, lazy tongues of heat. He was staring out toward the horizon, wind teasing through his dark hair, his mind still turning over Jinbe's words.

Whitebeard...

He clenched his fist, flames curling between his knuckles. “I’ll grow stronger," he muttered to himself. "Stronger than all of them."

"Captain!" shouted Deuce from the crow’s nest. "Something off the starboard bow!"

The call shattered the calm. Ace spun around instantly, his senses sharpening. A silhouette was cutting across the horizon a large, grotesque, and gilded in a way that suggested both wealth and obsession.

It was a ship like none they’d seen before.

A massive wooden dragon head carved into the bow, fanged and open-jawed, spewed smoke. Its sails were layered like feathers and adorned with painted animal totems rhinos, eagles, lions, serpents. The hull itself was reinforced with sea stone plating, glinting in the light.

Deuce gasped. "That’s—!"

"The Menagerie." Ace narrowed his eyes.
"That’s Hanafuda’s ship."

Whispers broke out among the crew.

“Didn’t Luffy beat that guy not long ago?”

“Wasn’t he a Warlord?”

“He collects Zoan Devil Fruits, right? Turns his enemies into beasts; literally!” Deuce blanched.

A thunderous BOOM echoed across the sea as a massive cannonball, covered in what looked like iron scales, tore through the air toward them.

"Hard to port!" Deuce shouted, and the helmsman jerked the wheel violently. The cannonball grazed the stern, smashing a chunk of railing into splinters.

Ace growled. "Guess he's not here for a cup of sake."

Hanafuda stood on his quarterdeck, wearing a lavish kimono woven with crimson feathers. His face was long and painted with white and red markings. His body bulged unnaturally fragments of Zoan powers fused into crystals that glowed on his very being. One of his arms was fur-covered and clawed, the other covered in scales. A serpentine tail swayed behind him like a whip.

His grin was sharp, voice oily and theatrical, kind of reminded Ace of Buggy; but less flashy. “Ahhhh... Fire Fist Ace!” he purred. “So this is the boy who fought Jinbe to a draw... The fire child. You will make a fine addition to my collection!”

Ace called back, voice like a war drum.
“You want to collect me? You’re gonna get burned, freak!"

With a wave of Hanafuda’s clawed hand, zoan enhanced pirates part animal monstrosities, leapt from the Menagerie, landing aboard the Flame Pirates' ship with inhuman screeches. “Protect the Captain!” Skull bellowed, cleaving into a man with the horns of a bison.

Flames exploded around Ace as he launched himself skyward, then came crashing down onto the enemy deck.

"HIKEN!!!" A massive column of fire erupted, incinerating the front line of attackers and tearing across The Menagerie, setting the upper sails ablaze.

But then—

"ROOOOOAAAARRR!!"

The air cracked as a giant hybrid creature half tiger, half hawk lunged from Hanafuda’s ship, wings beating, claws extended. It was a failed fusion experiment one of his officers, Tenzan, infused with a Zoan fruit, driven half-mad.

Ace gritted his teeth. “Looks like you need to be put down!”

The monster collided with Ace midair. Their clash sent a shockwave over the ocean, knocking both ships momentarily off balance. When Ace felt a flicker of power with his senses, but ignored it; for now.

Meanwhile, the crew fought like hell. Deuce wielded twin pistols, firing ice-coated rounds to slow down enemies. Skull roared as he traded blows with a horned brute. Sparks flew, smoke billowed, and the sea turned into a maelstrom of fire, blood, and fury.

"Captain!!" shouted one of the Flame Pirates. "They’re trying to flank us with sea beasts!"

From the waves, massive, mutated sea creatures, enchanted by Hanafuda's devil fruit, began to surface, ready to crush the ship from below. Ace’s eyes burned bright orange. “Not on my watch!" He flew above the ship again, arms crossed in an X.

"ENJOU MOUE!!!" (Blazing Ring of Fire)
A spiraling cyclone of flame surrounded the ship, boiling the sea around them and repelling the sea beasts with a scream of steam and smoke. The air shimmered with heat. His own ship rocked from the intensity of it.

From across the gap between ships, Hanafuda leapt, now transformed, his body shifting with a hybrid form, panther legs, eagle wings, bear arms, and serpent fangs. His voice echoed like a hundred beasts in chorus. “You’ll be my masterpiece, Ace!"

Ace's flames surged upward, his body glowing like a miniature sun. “You’re insane. I’m not your prize. I’m your executioner."

The two collided midair, fists crashing with enough force to split clouds as Ace’s untrained haki activated. Fire against claw. Heat against mutated muscle. Roars and screams filled the sky. With one final burst, Ace drew back his arm, flame coiling around it like a dragon.

"Dai Enkai: Entei!!"

A gigantic fireball, pulsing with his will, blazed into existence, then slammed into Hanafuda, consuming him in a sun-sized inferno. A blinding explosion rocked the sea.

When the smoke cleared, the Menagerie was in flames, listing to one side, crew scattering away from the encroaching ocean. The Flame Pirates cheered wildly as the battered but standing form of Ace landed on their deck, panting, smoke rising from his shoulders.

"Hanafuda... is finished," he growled, flames dying down.

Deuce ran up, clapping his captain on the back. “Captain... remind me never to piss you off."

Ace smirked. “Noted." He turned back to the horizon. The sun had returned, and the sea was calm once more. “Let’s keep moving. I’ve got a long way to go…” He then looked down at his fist. What was that power I felt? He wondered silently as his crew continued onward.

Across the Grand Line, Wanted Posters were pinned to tavern walls and marine bases like wildfire.

WANTED
“Fire Fist”Ace
Bounty: 120,000,000 Berries
For the destruction of former Warlord Hanafuda, mass property damage, and threat level S-class.

The increase was staggering. In marine offices, officers whispered about him like a storm on the horizon.

"He’s becoming a real monster."

"That flame bastard just wiped out a Warlord’s whole fleet!"

"First Luffy, now Ace? What the hell is in the waters these day?"

At Impel Down, whispers trickled into the ears of the imprisoned underworld and somewhere within the shadows of the World Government, the Five Elders stared at the report in silence.

“They’re growing too fast.”

Far away, aboard the Moby Dick, a massive whale shaped ship slicing through the New World, the seas were unusually still. Whitebeard, the world’s strongest man, sat on his throne-like chair on the deck, IV tubes feeding into his arms, his body aged but still radiating dominance. His bisento rested beside him, and the crew buzzed about with purpose.

Thatch approached, holding a bounty poster in one hand and a bottle of sake in the other. “Pops. You’ll want to see this.” Thatch held up the news co paper. Whitebeard opened one eye lazily, took the poster, and stared at the face.

Fire Fist Ace.

A slow grin crept onto the emperor’s face. He took a deep swig of sake, chuckled, and crushed the poster in one massive hand. “That brat again, huh? So he’s out here starting fires…”

Thatch chuckled. “I remember this kid from that bar, Party’s Bar.” He grinned. “He’s one of Makino’s kids.”

Whitebeard leaned forward, his voice like thunder wrapped in gravel. “Every day, the fire in that boy burns hotter. He’s not ready to challenge me… not yet.”His gaze turned to the sea eyes piercing, thoughtful. “But he's got guts. Reminds me of a younger foolish version of myself."

Thatch looked up at his Pops before he folded his arms. "You think he’ll come after you?"

Whitebeard laughed, deep and loud.
“Let him try. Or better yet… maybe I’ll go find him.”The Moby Dick creaked as the old man stood, seismic energy humming faintly around him. “Tell the boys. If we run into Fire Fist Ace, don’t kill him.”

Thatch tilted his head. “Recruit?”

Whitebeard smirked. “Maybe. Or maybe I just want to see if the fire in his soul can withstand a quake.” He looked at his son. “When Marco returns, tell him we are leaving.”

The afternoon sun poured golden light over the Thousand Sunny’s map room, where the soft scratching of ink against parchment echoed peacefully. Nami sat at her desk, focused, hand guiding her pen across a sprawling nautical chart. Sabo, perched nearby, supported his chin in one hand, eyes scanning the map with curiosity and admiration.

“You’re really good at this,” he said sincerely. “Every line is precise.”

Nami smiled without looking up. “Thanks. It helps us avoid getting… you know, eaten by sea monsters.”

Sabo chuckled. “Practical.”

In the corner, Zoro lounged against the wall, arms crossed, snoring softly, his swords resting at his side. The rhythmic sway of the ship and the quiet scratch of Nami’s pen had lulled him into a light nap.

The calm was broken, violently, by a sudden bang as the door burst open.

“GUUUUUYYYSSSS!!!”Luffy barreled in, waving a poster above his head like a flag, his sandals slapping against the wood, eyes sparkling with unfiltered joy. “LOOK! LOOK LOOK LOOK!!!”

Sabo jumped slightly, startled. Nami jerked her pen, ruining a perfect line. “Luffy! Careful! I was working!”

Luffy was already in front of Sabo, thrusting the paper into his face. “ACE GOT A NEW BOUNTY!! Look!!”

Sabo blinked and took the poster, brow furrowing as he read the bold black letters.

WANTED
“Fire Fist”Ace
Bounty: 120,000,000 Berries
Alive Only

Sabo's mouth parted slightly. “...He took down a former Warlord?” he muttered, stunned. “And his crew made it out intact…”

Luffy beamed. “He’s so awesome! I knew he’d do something big!”

From the corner, Zoro cracked open one eye, his voice low and gravelly. “Hmph. He’s getting stronger... Your brother’s not messing around.”

Usopp, who had been passing by with a tray of snacks, paused mid-step. “One hundred and twenty million?! He sounds terrifying!” Before adding. “I thought I was the brave one in the crew!” he added with a nervous laugh.

Just then, the door slammed open again, nearly falling off its hinges. Chopper and Brook tumbled in, breathless and wide-eyed. “Starboard side!” Chopper shouted, pointing. “There’s a ship sinking! We saw it just now from the deck!”

“It is quite dramatic!” Brook added. “Half the hull is torn open like a fish’s ribcage! Yohohoho!”

Everyone sprang to action. “Let’s go!” Sabo said, folding the bounty poster and slipping it into his jacket. Luffy was already out the door, followed by Nami, Chopper, and the others.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17: A Wreck on the Waves

From the starboard railing, the crew of the Thousand Sunny looked out to see the remains of a medium sized vessel listing badly, its mast snapped in two, smoke curling upward like a were clinging to floating debris, and some survivors were shouting. Luffy stretched his arms with a fwip and slingshot launched himself to the nearest piece of wreckage, grabbing one of the survivors by the waist and bringing them back to the Sunny's deck in a blur.

Franky and Usopp were already lowering the rescue net, while Zoro sliced through floating planks to clear a path. One by one, the survivors were hauled aboard; theya ragtag group, bruised and battered, but came her. The last one pulled aboard was a young woman with golden-brown hair, wearing a dark red sleeveless top, gloves, and fitted black pants. A long scar ran across her shoulder. She held herself with strength despite the exhaustion in her limbs. She staggered onto the deck and almost fell over when Sabo caught her.

"Thank you," she said, voice calm but commanding. "You saved our lives. My name is—"She stood tall as she pushed away from Sabo. "Koala."A beat of silence passed.

Then—Robin's eyes widened, and she stepped forward, her arms folded tightly.

"…That name…" she said slowly, voice cooler than usual. "You're with the Revolutionaries."The deck fell silent as everyone looked at her.

Koala blinked, surprised. "So… you know the Army?"

Sabo tilted his head. "Revolutionaries? What's that?" His eyes turned towards Robin. She was always a wealth of knowledge and he loved having debates with her, but she'd never talked about this Pirate group.

"…You don't know them?"She inquired as Sabo shrugged, scratching his temple.

"Nope. Sounds important, though." He grinned. "Are you a pirate group?"

Koala's brows knit together. "Wait... if you're not with the Revolutionaries… then who are you?" She became guarded. "And no, we're not pirates." She hissed.

Luffy grinned, cutting the tension like a knife through butter. "He's Sabo! My younger brother and we're the StrawHat Pirates!"

Koala blinked again, stunned, her world momentarily shaken. They were pirates and they had helped them? The wind picked up. Waves slapped against the Sunny's hull, and the sun dipped low on the horizon, casting everyone in gold and shadow.

Robin stepped forward again. "Koala… you'd better start talking." Her fingers tapped against her arm. "We may have helped you but don't test our captain's patience." Luffy grinned at that. He wasn't upset or anything, this girl and her friends looked interesting but he could already feel the nervous energy coming off of the weaker ones in his group, especially Usopp.

"You saved me… but I need you to understand something. I'm not just a survivor. I'm part of a movement. I'm a member of the Revolutionary Army." She stated. "We're against the World Government, the Celestial Dragons and those who would enslave and lie to the world about truth."

The crew's voices dropped to silence again, like a curtain falling. Robin folded her arms, her voice steady. "They're the world's most dangerous insurgent group, working to dismantle the World Government from the inside and she's their newly appointed Chief of Staff."

Usopp's eyes widened. "You're rebels?!"

Koala nodded solemnly. "More than rebels. We expose slavery rings, liberate islands under celestial dragon rule, destroy corrupt marine strongholds. We fight… so the world can breathe."

"You say you want to fix the world," Sanji said slowly. "What does that mean for us?"

Koala looked at Luffy. "I've heard your name before. StrawHat Luffy. Your crew has disrupted the system more than once."

Luffy blinked and grinned. "Cool."

Koala smiled despite herself, then turned serious again. "There's a storm coming. The Celestial Dragons are growing more violent. If you're planning on making waves… you'll need to pick a side eventually."

Zoro leaned against the railing, arms crossed. "We don't take orders. We sail where we want."

"And if your cause aligns with ours?" Koala asked.

"I'll cut through whoever gets in our way," Zoro replied calmly. "Revolutionary or Admiral."

The tension was sharp until the sea answered with a deep, echoing BOOM. An explosion burst from the ocean just a few hundred meters away, sending water surging into the air in a massive plume. The Thousand Sunny rocked violently as the shockwave hit, and every Straw Hat immediately reached for their weapons or took battle positions.

Franky shouted from the crow's nest, his voice tense. "Marine Battleship incoming! Big one! The flag's… crap—it's an Admiral!"

Usopp yelped, diving behind the nearest barrel. "Already?! We just got done fighting a shipwreck!"

Chopper transformed into Guard Point, bristling with fur. "Who is it?! Which Admiral?!"

Then the marine battleship cut through the smoke, massive, gleaming with white sails bearing the navy insignia. Chains clinked, and cannons rotated toward the Sunny with ominous precision. On the forward deck, standing with one foot on the railing and a hand shading his eyes, was a towering figure in a white admiral's coat.

A gruff voice bellowed across the water.

"STRAWHAT PIRATES?!"

Everyone froze at the booming voice as Luffy's grin broadened and Sabo facepalmed as he muttered a quiet, "Not him."

The voice continued, but this time cracked, grizzled with something deeper than fury. "No… it can't be. Y-You… died. You—You died..."The figure leapt from the battleship in one mighty bound—fist clenched, body gleaming in the last light of dusk and landed on the Sunny's deck with the force of a meteor, cracking the planks beneath his boots. He stood tall. Muscles taut with tension. A scar over his left eye.

Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp.

Luffy stared, wide-eyed. "…G-Gramps?"

Sabo groaned. "Gramps."

"GRAMPS!" Everyone else exclaimed with horror.

Robin's expression shifted from guarded to stunned. "That's Garp… the Hero of the Marines."

Nami clutched the railing. "What is he doing here?!" She asked or perhaps demanded as she yelled at the two brothers, her teeth like sharks teeth in her angered fear fueled shout.

Garp was frozen. His fists unclenched slightly, and for the briefest moment, his iron exterior cracked."…You  supposedly to died in the Buster Call on Dawn." he said hoarsely. "The flames covered the whole island… they said there were no survivors."

Luffy smiled, eyes soft. "I got out. Sabo, Ace, 'Kino too. We survived what they did." Robin's eyes widened as she looked at her captain. He'd never told her this. Neither had Sabo. They knew about her surviving Ohara, why hadn't they said something?

Garp looked at Sabo next and for a second, a flicker of familiarity danced across his face. "…Sabo?"

Sabo frowned, unsure. "Are you going to hit us with a Fist of Love, Gramps?"

Garp didn't answer. He was staring at Luffy again, chest heaving. "I let them do that to you, to all of you." he whispered, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Luffy looked at him and realized that he looked two decades older than he was.

"Sorry Gramps" he said quietly. "We knew that the Marines would hunt us if they knew we lived through that. Not even Shanks or Buggy knew we lived."

"That's why those Brats have been lighting up the sea these past few years!" He growled. "You idiots!" Both brothers barely dodged a bonk on the head from the older man.

Koala stepped forward cautiously. "You're the Marine Hero, aren't you?"

Garp didn't take his eyes off Luffy. "You're a pirate now… not just any pirate. The World Government thinks you're dangerous."

"I'm not dangerous," Luffy said, raising his head. "However I will protect my friends. I'll sail to the ends of the world if I have to."

Garp's jaw clenched. "Damn it, boy…You're just like your father."

The deck was silent again, broken only by the waves lapping gently against the hull. Garp's hands trembled slightly at his sides, the weight of the world pressing on his shoulders. Then he exhaled. And… stepped back. "I'm not going to fight you. Not today."

The crew looked at each other, stunned.

Zoro's voice broke the silence. "You're just gonna let us go?"

Garp looked over the crew, then at Luffy.

"…I missed my chance to raise you right. You're walking your own path now."

He turned, beginning to walk toward the edge of the ship, then paused."But make no mistake… If we meet again on the battlefield—" He looked back, and for a moment, he was a Marine again, the Hero of the Marines."-I won't hold back."With that, he leapt back to his ship, and the admiral class vessel slowly began to turn away, vanishing into the falling twilight.

On the Sunny's deck, silence hung like fog. Luffy stood, fists clenched, eyes watching the horizon. Koala finally whispered, "…That was your grandfather?"

Luffy didn't say anything. He just stared at the sea, the wind tugging at his vest and in the silence that followed, the stars came out; one by one, shining over a crew more united than ever… and haunted by ghosts of the past they never expected to meet again.

The late afternoon sun filtered lazily through the thick canopy of mangrove leaves, casting shifting dappled shadows across the streets of Grove 13 in Sabody Archipelago. The air was heavy with salt and humidity, tinged with the oily scent of ship maintenance and the occasional waft of grilled seafood from the market stalls. Laughter and shouts of pirates and traders echoed through the grove, mingling with the sound of waves slapping against the roots of the Red Line trees.

Ace, wandered with hands tucked behind his head, a half-chewed piece of pineapple in his mouth. His freckled face bore a light sheen of sweat, but his eyes were relaxed but sharp, curious, always moving. His black shorts swayed with every easy stride, the green dagger on his belt clinking faintly. The chatter of the streets faded as he passed into a quieter section. He stopped outside a modest bar tucked into the hollowed root of a mangrove tree. A weathered sign swung gently in the breeze. Shakky's Rip-Off Bar.

Ace chuckled. "Heh… Honest name for a bar," he muttered, ducking inside.

The interior was dim and cool, with shelves lined with dusty bottles, wanted posters papering the walls, and a handful of round tables all empty save for one.

Behind the counter stood a sharp eyed woman with black and silver hair swept elegantly behind her ears. She was lighting a cigarette, completely unbothered by the two loud men towering over the barmaid trying to clean the table beside them.

One of the ruffians slapped the table hard, making the barmaid flinch. "I said we ain't payin' full price, old hag!" the taller one barked, swaying slightly with drink. "These drinks taste like mop water!"

The other snorted, grabbing the barmaid's wrist roughly. "Maybe we take a little service fee instead, huh? How 'bout that, sweetheart?"

The silver haired woman, Shakky, exhaled a smooth trail of smoke and leaned on the counter, calm but watching. Ace frowned, his jaw tightening. Something about the girl's nervous eyes, the way she curled her shoulders it stabbed at him. For a flash, he didn't see a stranger. He saw Makino, back home, smiling warmly while cleaning glasses at her bar.

He stepped forward, voice sharp and young but firm. "Hey. Let her go."

The room stilled. The ruffians turned. One scoffed at the sight of a freckled teenager.

"What's this? Little brat got lost on the way to preschool?"

"Tch. Beat it, punk. Grown-ups are talkin'." The other guy growled.

Ace's eyes narrowed, the air around him seeming to shimmer for a split second with heat. "I don't like bullies," he said simply. "I really don't like men who treat women like trash."

One of them grabbed a stool. "You got a death wish, kid?!" The stool swung.

Ace ducked. CRACK. His fist connected with the man's stomach before he even landed. The pirate folded with a wheeze, crashing through a table. The other roared, pulling a knife, but Ace's hand caught flame, his fingers dancing with orange light. Hiken… Nah. Don't need that. He slammed a blazing fist into the man's chest, not enough to burn, but enough to launch him across the room. Both bodies tumbled outside the bar with a crash and a trail of smoke.

Ace stood in the broken silence, the last flickers of flame dying from his knuckles. He exhaled, shaking them off. "Ah, crap… I didn't mean to mess up your bar," he said, scratching the back of his head, looking sheepish.

The barmaid blinked, then offered a hesitant smile and fled to the back. Shakky watched him in silence for a moment, then chuckled. A warm, amused sound. "You've got a good heart, kid. Reckless, but good." She took a long drag on her cigarette and looked him over again.

He stood tall, taller than most boys his age, shirtless and sun-browned, wild black hair under his ostentatious orange hat and those freckles. His eyes burned with fire but held kindness too. Familiar, painfully familiar. So much like him… she thought sadly with nostalgia. But with Rogue's eyes and those freckles. Definitely hers.

Ace blinked. "Huh?"

"Nothing, nothing." Shakky smiled slyly, walking over the counter again. "What's your name, brat?"

"Portgas D. Ace."

There was a flicker in Shakky's eyes, Oh? She quickly covered her mistake of emotion. "Well then, Ace-kun. First drink's on the house. Consider it a thank you for the entertainment."

Ace grinned wide, plopping onto a stool, clearly pleased. "Thanks, Ma'am!"

"Ma'am? Tch. You've got a death wish after all." She asked, a smile played at her lips at the familiarity.

"Sorry." He apologized. "But 'Kino would kick my ass if I called you anything else." So, in a little bar hidden inside a giant mangrove tree, a boy with the blood of legends in his veins shared a drink with a woman who had known them both, the Pirate King and the woman who'd loved him. Unknowingly, Ace had just taken his first step into a world far more connected to him than he realized.

About a half hour latter the doorway creaked open again as a large, broad shouldered man entered the bar with the lazy stride of someone who hadn't been in a rush for over a decade. Silver hair flowed past his shoulders, and his cloak trailed the scent of salt and sun. A half filled sake bottle swung from two fingers.

Silvers Rayleigh.

The Dark King.

His sharp gaze scanned the room, eyes pausing briefly on the broken furniture and scorch marks. "You've been busy," he said dryly.

Shakky arched an eyebrow, pouring her husband his usual. "You just missed the show. A couple of idiots, and a kid with a temper. Clean, though. Hit like a cannon."

Rayleigh let out a quiet grunt and moved toward the bar just as the bathroom door swung open and Ace stepped out, a toothpick now hanging from his mouth, his hat tilted low. They brushed shoulders Rayleigh looked the boy over briefly. Sun dark skin, freckles, a cocky grin.

"Watch where you're going, rookie," Rayleigh muttered, stepping aside.

"Yeah, yeah," Ace replied, too relaxed to take offense. The door to the outside closed behind him with a thud.

Rayleigh didn't give it a second thought until it hit him. A flare. A glimpse of something powerful, unrefined. Like someone striking flint near dry grass. A spark of Haki just for a flicker. Barely there, but deep and old souled. Rayleigh froze mid-step. "...Huh." He turned back toward the door slowly, but the boy was gone already melted into the bustling heat of Sabody outside. Still, the feeling lingered, tingling across the skin of his forearms.

Shakky was watching him from behind the counter, swirling the drink in his glass. "You felt it too," she said.

Rayleigh took the glass, staring into it.

"Yeah. That wasn't normal."

"No," she agreed. "It wasn't. Not for a kid that age. But more than the strength… It felt familiar, didn't it?"

Rayleigh narrowed his eyes. "...Familiar how?"

Shakky lit a fresh cigarette, took a long drag, and exhaled slowly through her nose. "He came in here like trouble. Stood up for the barmaid took on two full-grown pirates without breaking a sweat. He apologized after. Like he'd been raised right." She paused, tapping ash into the tray. "He introduced himself. Portgas D. Ace."

The name hit the bar like a blade through water. Rayleigh didn't flinch he simply stared, but the drink in his hand stopped halfway to his lips.

Shakky studied him for a long moment.

"I looked at that face, Ray. I swear to you… He's got Roger's jaw. But Rogue's eyes. Those freckles? Herfreckles. The way he carries himself, it's like watching Roger as a boy, before the weight of the world found his shoulders."

Rayleigh was silent, grip tightening on the cup. The air shifted. He closed his eyes and reached out with Observation Haki, flaring it silently from his mind like an expanding tide. His awareness swept the nearby streets, rooftops, markets until he found him again. Ace. Walking casually down a side street, flicking an apple into the air with one hand, completely unaware. Rayleigh focused, not just on the presence, but on the feel of his spirit and then he laughed.

It started low in his chest and rumbled out into the bar, startling the barmaid as he slapped the counter and leaned back in his chair, eyes wide with disbelief and something close to joy. "So the little prince survived."

Shakky smiled softly, blowing out smoke. "Looks like he did."

Rayleigh took a long drink then, letting the silence settle. Outside, the noise of Sabody continued like nothing had changed. But for Rayleigh, everything had.

"He's burning bright, Shakky," he murmured. "Just like Roger. Not the same... but just as alive."

"Think you'll talk to him?" she asked.

Rayleigh shook his head.

"Not yet. He's walking his own path. Best not to weigh him down with ghosts."He looked toward the door again. "But I'll be watching. That boy's going to set the world on fire."

The light of the late afternoon sun shimmered over the water, turning the surface gold as the tide lapped gently against the roots of the mangroves. Ace walked back toward his ship, idly tossing a half eaten apple in his hand, his expression distant. His thoughts lingered on the woman, the quiet yet strange familiarity in the bar, and the way that older man's eyes had briefly locked with his as he left. He couldn't place it, but something in that place had stirred…something old. That train of thought derailed immediately as he rounded the last corner.

There, docked beside his modest ship, was a behemoth of a vessel towering, almost cartoonishlycolorful, with bright red and yellow sails, a deck dotted with trees, and an unmistakable lion headed figurehead that looked like it was mid roar.

Ace blinked. "What the hell…?"

He took a slow step forward, more curious than cautious, eyes tracing the ridiculous grinning lion's face at the bow.

"That ship's a circus."

Then—"AAAAAAAACCCCEEEEEEEEEE!"

Ace didn't even have time to react before he was enveloped in a mass of rubbery limbs stretching in from seemingly every direction.

"Huh—Eeep—!"

SLAM!

Ace's spine met the wooden dock with a WHUMP as a laughing, grinning whirlwind of energy tackled him full-force to the ground.

"I knew it was you! I smelled you two groves away!"A shock of black hair, a straw hat now hanging by its strap, and a stupidly wide grin hovered over Ace's face.

"Luffy…?!" Ace wheezed, pinned by multiple arms. "Get—off—gah—how many times do I gotta tell you not to body slam me out of nowhere!"

"I missed you!"

Ace struggled beneath the gleeful mess of limbs until another voice joined them. "You'll crush him, Luffy."

"Sabo?" Ace turned his head in disbelief.

Sabo stood with arms crossed, a smirk pulling at his lips. He had that same old air of calm confidence, dressed in a deep blue coat, pipe slung across his back. His blond hair ruffled gently in the sea breeze.

"What are you two doing here?!"

"We could ask you the same thing," Sabo said, approaching and offering a hand to pull Ace up — after Luffy finally rolled off with a "Whoops!"

"We were in the area," Luffy said, scratching his head, "and Franky wanted cola—"

"Robin wanted to check in on some clfriends of hers." Sabo added. "We didn't expect to run into you."

Ace dusted himself off, still stunned. "You guys didn't exactly send a letter first and seriouslythat ship?It's like a floating festival."

Luffy puffed up with pride. "It's the Thousand Sunny! Our ship's amazing!"

Ace glanced at the lion-headed ship again. "Looks like a weird sea king with a bad haircut."

"HEY!" Both of his brothers yelled with slight offense. They were already bickering again, the way only brothers could overlapping voices, half-serious insults, and broad grins that couldn't hide how happy they were to see each other.

Then, after the noise died down just a little, Sabo looked at Ace more seriously.

"You're really making a name for yourself out here."

Ace shrugged, smirking. "Trying to. Pirates don't get far without some fire, y'know?"

"That's one way to put it," Sabo said.

Luffy leaned forward suddenly, eyes wide.

"Did you fight anyone today?!"

"Yeah," Ace replied, voice softening slightly. "Some guys were messing with a lady at a bar. Couldn't let that slide."

Luffy's eyes sparkled. "You're just like a hero!"

Ace rolled his eyes. "No, you're the hero, dumbass. I just hate cowards." He grinned. "I read about Enies Loby, Water 7, Alabasta!"

Luffy laughed. "We met Crocy, he's a friend of Buggy's!"

"Was being set up by the rebels too!" Sabo groaned. "That was hell to prove." Sabo, caught the change in Ace's expression. That quiet flicker of thoughtfulness. He stepped beside him. "Something happened?"

Ace hesitated. "Met some weird folks at the bar. Old lady named Shakky and a guy with glasses, long hair, scar across one eye... Kinda looked like he didn't care if the world exploded around him."

Sabo's brow twitched. "...Wait. Did you meet Rayleigh?"

"Huh? Is that his name?" Ace asked. "Why?"

Sabo exhaled sharply, muttering under his breath. "We just missed it. That's Rayleigh, Ace. The Dark King. The Pirate King's right hand."

Ace froze. "...You're kidding."

Luffy was laughing now, rolling on his back again like this was the best day ever. "He's awesome from what Shanks use to tell us!

"Terrifying, from Buggy's recounting." Sabo grumbled. Ace's eyes widened as everything clicked. The strange feeling. The weight of the man's gaze. The way Shakky looked at him. The name that made his drink freeze midair. Rayleigh knew. Ace looked out over the water, wind brushing through his hair. A part of him felt like something big had just passed him by… but maybe it wasn't the last time.

Behind him, his brothers were arguing over who had the cooler ship.

Somewhere, far back in the bar, Silvers Rayleigh smiled. "Still got that fire in your blood, Roger."

Chapter Text

Chapter 18: Pops vs Big Brother

The lush inner beach of Sabody Archipelago, the twilight colored the sky in warm streaks of orange and purple as the wind shifted, carrying the faint sound of distant waves... and sails. The laughter was echoing across the beach when Luffy suddenly stopped chewing. Meat hung between his teeth, forgotten. The wooden plate in front of him clattered to the sand, untouched, though Sanji had just placed a fat, sizzling cut of Sea King meat onto it.

Zoro's eyes, sharp as his blades, narrowed across the table. He didn't stop eating, but his hand rested lightly on Wado Ichimonji. Sanji's cigarette burned lower, forgotten between his fingers. Sabo, sitting with a long drink in his hand, blinked. "Luffy?" he asked, shifting in the sand. Over the last year he had learned to keep an eye on Luffy's sudden changes; from movement to the laughter that didn't stretch his face very wide. He knew something was brewing. "What is it?" Ever since his brother's little training with that Gaban guy six months ago, Luffy's senses had become sensitive to others; even more than before.

Ace leaned back, still mid-laugh. "You finally full for once, irmão mais velho?"

Luffy didn't answer. His eyes stared blankly into the horizon. His whole body was still, but the air around him began to hum. Zoro muttered, "He's using Observation." The swordsman told the Flame pirate's captain.

It wasn't just a presence he felt. It was a storm. Powerful, colossal, old and it was eading straight for them. Luffy slowly stood, the campfire's light flickering against the scar under his eye. His strawhat cast a deep shadow over his gaze. "They're here," he said quietly.

Ace's brow furrowed. "Who?"

Luffy looked over his shoulder. "Whitebeard's fleet."That name silenced everything. Even the waves seemed to hush for a second. "At least six ships."

"Whitebeard?" Sabo repeated, stunned. "That Emperor? Why?!"

Ace stood quickly, his brow creasing. "What the hell are they doing here?"

"I don't know." Luffy's voice was calm, but there was an edge beneath it. "But they're not here by accident. They've been following us for weeks."

The ground rumbled faintly, not from an earthquake, but from something far more tangible. Cannons thudded in the far distance, not in aggression but as a warning. Lights flared over the sea. The Flame Pirates leapt up from their food, drawing weapons and scrambling into formation around Ace.

Sanji flicked his cigarette to the sand. "Well, I guess we're not doing dessert."

Zoro stood, cracking his neck. "How big a welcome do we give them?"

Luffy didn't respond immediately. His eyes scanned the sea. He could feel it. The sheer weight of the haki pressing in. It was like standing under a waterfall of power.

Then he smiled. A lopsided, sharp grin. "They brought a party. Let's go say hi."

"It's probably best we came to a mostly deserted grove to party." Robin stated as she righted her shirt as she and the others followed Luffy.

"Less likely that civilians will get involved." Deuce said with a nod towards the archeologist.

"That and our captain tends to be destructive when excited over a fight." She said, only to smile at the groan from Ace's crew followed by a unanimous thought. Not another one.

By the time the Strawhats and Flame Pirates reached the cliffside clearing overlooking the beach, the first of the massive ships had pulled into the bay. Towering masts, white sails painted with the old crest of the Whitebeard Pirates.

The air shimmered with the weight of an Emperor's Haki. The ground shook. Then, like an ancient sea god rising from legend, Edward Newgate a.k.a. Whitebeard stepped off the prow of his enormous Moby Dick, bisento slung across his back. His white mustache curved with calm authority, and his towering frame made his children look like ants. "ACE!" Newgate's voice cracked like thunder, echoing across the island. "I've come ta take ya home, boy."

Flame licked up Ace's shoulders. "You're not my old man," Ace snapped, stepping forward. "I told you already. I'm captain of my own crew. I'm not joining!"

Newgate didn't flinch, but chuckled at the gull of this boy. "You've got fire. But you're still young. You're my son whether you accept it or not."

Ace growled, fists clenched. "You can't just declare that."

Behind him, Luffy stood, before gently pushing his younger brothers to the side. "You heard him," Luffy said, voice calm but cutting. "He said no."

Newgate glanced at Luffy for the first time, eyes narrowing. "So you're the one they call Strawhat."

Luffy's strawhat shadowed his gaze, but the tension in his jaw made it clear; this wasn't going to be a polite conversation. "You don't get to take my brother just because you're strong," Luffy said, as he pushed Ace behind him as Sabo sat a hand on Ace's shoulder to keep him calm. "We choose our own family."

Newgate's bisento thudded into the sand beside him, his haki heavy in the air as he tried to press it down upon the young rookies to get them to submit. "I ain't here to ask. I'm here to claim that boy. I won't leave without 'im."

Ace opened his mouth to speak, but Luffy raised a hand. "You're not listening," he said, low and furious.

Then—

BOOM.

A burst of steam erupted from Luffy's body as his skin took on a glossy sheen. Gear Second ignited in an instant. "JET PISTOL!"

Newgate caught it barehanded.The impact shook the ground, but the Yonko didn't budge. His mustache twitched. "Is that all you got, boy?"

Luffy grinned. "Shishishi." The laughtale wasn't the happy, go lucky laugh everyone was use to but a menacing gremlin sound that was more like a chitter than a laugh.. "You don't get to push us."

Newgate's laughter was sudden and thunderous, rattling the trees. "Gurararara! You got his fire. You're like lookin' into the past."

Luffy vanished with Soru speed and reappeared above, arm inflated. "GEAR THIRD! GOMU GOMU NO GIGANT PISTOL!" It came down like a cannonball of destruction, but again, Newgate blocked it, though the ground cratered beneath him.

"You're strong," Newgate admitted. "Too strong for yer age. Just who are you boy?" Was he wrong in assuming that Roger only had one son? Could there have been another?

Luffy dropped back, laughing slightly. "Shishishi. I'm Im Monkey D. Luffy." He stated as his grin spread across his face. "I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

Both of his brothers suddenly facepalmed. You do NOT say that to the strongest man in the world. The Strawhat crew, however, all grinned, believing in their captain’s claim.

"Oh?" Newgate asked, raising his bisento. "How do you plan to tame us and the sea boy?"

Suddenly, the air went still and then compressed.

BOOM.

Luffy's form changed completely. His muscles ballooned. His haki hardened around him like molten steel. Flames curled along the edges of blackened skin.

Gear Fourth had been activated. "Who says I'm going to tame anything?" He countered. "A king ain't taming or ruling. The King of the Pirates is the freest man alive and that's what I'll be." Newgate's eyes widened at this as he recalled that Roger had stated the very same thing.

Sanji, watching from the treeline, whistled. "He's serious now."

Zoro crossed his arms. "This is gonna get ugly."

Luffy launched himself forward like a cannonball. "GOMU GOMU NO KONG GUN!"

This time, the impact forced Newgate back several meters his feet digging trenches into the sand. Edward Newgate grinned as finally felt it, a challenger. This boy could and would be a challenge to fight. He brought his bisento around with terrifying speed.

CRACK!

The weapon struck Luffy mid-air, sending him flying through several trees before he smashed into a cliffside.

Ace shouted, "LUFFY!"

A moment later, Luffy exploded out of the rubble, steam bursting from his body. "I told you," Luffy said, voice deeper now in his Boundman form, "he's not going with you."

Newgate's expression sobered. "I wanted the boy as a son. I can teach him the skills he needs to survive!"

Luffy's Haki flared, black lightning cracking the sky. "Then you should've listened when he said no."

The two men, a titan and a rookie, collided as Luffy's King's Haki clashed with Newgate's Conqueror'slike colliding storms. The skies above them split. Thunder boomed from the force alone. Around them, trees flattened, rocks shattered, and weaker pirates collapsed from the sheer pressure.

Sabo dragged Ace back from the blast radius. "Luffy's going all out," he said. "We need to trust him."

Ace stared, and found himself conflicted, his brother fighting one of the most powerful men alive for his sake. "Dammit…irmão mais velho…"

The air is heavy with Haki. Whitebeard still standing tall, muscles rippling with raw power, his bisentoresting his hand. The sea quakes behind him as his right fist tightens, and the very air begins to crack like glass.

"You've got guts, StrawHat. No one's made this old body burn like this in years." He grinned broadly as his sons all watched. "Maybe I should take you as well as my son."

Luffy growls as he grits his teeth. "I don't belong to anyone." His grin became impossibly larger. "I'll just have to beat that into you."

Whitebeard lunges forward with a speed unnatural for his size, bisento sweeping like a titan's blade.

WHOOOOM!

Luffy ducks, bouncing back with explosive speed, his fists compressed."KONG GUN!" He yelled out as a massive, Haki laced fist slams into Whitebeard's midsection, sending a shockwave out. The older pirate grunts, sliding back several feet, his boots gouging trenches into the stone.

"Marco." Izou warns the blonde.

"I saw." Marco was shocked, nobody had caused his pops to stumble back before; not since Roger.

Whitebeard grinned. He hadn't had this much fun with a rookie since…since before Roger. "Good punch…"He slammed his quake infused fist into the air causing a violent shockwave distorts the sky, then it rippled toward Luffy like a mountain falling. Luffy crossed his arms to block as the force sent him crashing into a cliffside, debris erupting everywhere.

Luffy slowly rose up, coughing. "He's… insane…" he stated before he grinned. "This is getting to be fun."Luffy rocketed forward him again, fists flying like cannons as he "Rhino Schneider!", "Culverin!", "Leo Bazooka!" With each strike clashing with Whitebeard's bisento or quake powered blows. Each collision shaking the entire island.

Inland Rayleigh groaned at the bar as cracks began to split the ground. Waves crash over the shores. What the hell is that old man doing now!? He thought furiously.

Shakky chuckled. "Seems like Whitebeard's found someone to fight."

Her husband looked at her with an exasperated expression. "They could have just left for an island without people on it."

"Where's the fun in that?" She pouted. "Besides, with that haki, I'd bet it's Strawhat Luffy he's fighting."

Rayleigh grinned as the shot he hand in hand paused midway towards his lips. "Scooper did say he was sending that boy out this way."

Meanwhile Whitebeard gritted his teeth in pain as sweat drips from his brow. His swings are slowing just slightly, but he refused to stop the fight. He needed to see if this generation was up to snuff. Whitebeard laughed. "Hahh… Are you still coming…?"

The boy growled at him like a wild beast. Luffy snarled back as he readied himself for another round. "I'll never stop!"Luffy skyrocketed into the air, spinning mid flight. "KONG ORGAN!"A barrage of Haki enhanced fists rain down, too fast to follow. Whitebeard blocks, parries, absorbs but the pressure mounts. One punch breaks through, slamming into his shoulder, another into his ribs.

He stumbled for the second time, clearly being overwhelmed. He chuckled breathlessly. "Gurarara… You've earned it, boy."

With a roar, Whitebeard slams his bisento into the earth and sends a massive quake vertically, splitting the ground beneath Luffy who is grinning through gritted teeth. "Nice try... but I'm not done yet." He pulls his fist back. "KING KONG GUN! The air compresses. The clouds above part. A single colossal punch larger than anything before comes down.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The quake energy and Luffy's fist collide. For a moment, everything is silent and then a ring of air blasts out for miles, flattening trees and ocean waves.

Luffy lands, panting, Gear 4 sputtering as steam releases from his body. Across the battlefield, Whitebeard drops to one knee, chest heaving, bisento planted into the cracked earth like a voice is low as he smiles faintly. "That punch… carried the weight of a whole era…"He coughs, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth not from injury, but pure exhaustion. He's done.

Luffy who is barely standing. "You're… the strongest guy I've ever fought…"

Whitebeard looks at the young teen. "And you might be the one… to surpass us all…"

He looks to the sky, eyes narrowing.

"Roger would've liked you." With a final exhale, Whitebeard slumps down into a seated position, laughing lightly. Not defeated in pride but finally at peace with what he's seen. Luffy walks away, limping, but smiling. Whitebeard, still conscious, watches him go with a satisfied grin. "The seas… they belong to the new generation now." He looked at his body, blood trickling from one arm, and let out a rumbling breath. "You've got guts," he said. "And the strength to back it."

With the night having finally come and the fight finally ended, the three crews were now joined in a bit of a feast on the ruined beach, the flames of the campfire glowing low, embers drifting into the sea breeze. Luffy is bandaged and bruised, lying flat on his back and laughing like a man who hadn't just fought the most legendary pirate alive. Around him, his crew and the Flame Pirates rest and regroup. The ground is still cracked from the earlier battle. Luffy exhaled, arms behind his head, grinning at the stars like they were meat shaped clouds. "Hey," he said suddenly, loud enough for everyone to hear, causing the old man to look at him. "Since I beat you, doesn't that mean… I get treasure or something?"

Sanji choked on his beer. Zoro's eye twitched. Robin raised an amused brow, but it was Nami who reacted fastest. Her head snapped toward Luffy, and her eyes exploded into spinning gold bells. "TREASURE?!" she shrieked, shooting upright from her spot beside the map she'd been casually sketching. "Wait—yes! YES! Technically, if you defeat a Yonko, you're entitled to their territory… their wealth… their vaults!"She began scribbling calculations mid-air. "Gold… weapons… information routes…maps..Luffy! Quick! Ask for their strongest ship! Or a Devil Fruit!"

The Whiteboard pirates all felt nervous around the woman suddenly. True they had some of that, but their Pops was an overspender and owed debts to his sons even. Most of his treasure went towards his home island.

Luffy blinked at her, confused at first but smiled. "Nah," he said, stretching lazily. "We don't need all that."

Nami froze mid-dream, jaw slack. "W-What!?"

Luffy sat up, cracked his back, and grinned ear-to-ear with that same childish brightness that somehow made the sea seem smaller. "Isn't the best treasure the crew?" he said with a laugh. "I've already got the best loot a pirate could ever ask for."

Nami let out a shriek of despair and collapsed face first into the sand. "WHAT KIND OF BROKE, SENTIMENTAL GARBAGE—!"

Across the beach, Whitebeard, let out a thunderous laugh. "Gurararara! That's the first time someone's said something that corny to my face and I couldn't punch 'em for it."

Even Marco, standing beside his captain, let out a breath of disbelief. "Sentimental idiot," he muttered, arms crossed.

Luffy suddenly stood, ignoring the creaking in his joints, and pointed straight at Marco. "Then I pick you!"Everyone froze.

"…what?" Marco said slowly, lowering his drink.

"You're the treasure I want," Luffy said, absolutely serious. "You're shiny. You've got wings. You heal people. So you're coming with me."There was a beat of stunned silence. Then—

"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF LOGIC IS THAT?!" Marco shouted, feathers puffing out in outrage. "You can't just claim a person like that!"

"You're a phoenix, right?" Luffy replied, already imagining Marco standing beside Chopper and Zoro. "So you're, like, legendary loot."

"I'm not a damn pet!" Marco shot back. "You can't just take me because I'm rare!" His face was getting redder by the second. Oh he couldn't wait to tell Makino about what her shithead of a son had done or said. This would take the cake.

Luffy tilted his head. "Why not?"

"Because I'm not an item! I'm a commander of—!" Marco yelled.

"Former commander," Zoro muttered with a smirk.

His head whipped around towards the green haired menace. "I'M STILL IN THE CREW—!"

"Are you?" Luffy said, tilting his head like a curious child.

Marco turned to his captain for backup.

"Old man—say something! Tell this crazy bastard he can't just—!"

But Whitebeard was grinning. He placed one massive hand on Marco's shoulder and let out a deep, rumbling chuckle. "He won the duel, son and in the old ways, the winner gets a prize."

Marco's mouth dropped. "You're not serious." He felt his heart drop to his stomach, silently breaking.

"I've got no treasure worth givin' a man like that," Whitebeard said, voice like a tired storm. "My gold is spent. My maps are outdated. My weapons are rusted. All that's left… is the heart of the crew."He gave Marco a look that was both proud and solemn. "You've always been the best of it."

Marco looked between the Emperor of the Sea who raised him like a son… and the idiot in the straw hat who had just "claimed" him like a shiny coin. His feathers were ruffled. "This is humiliating," he whined.

Whitebeard grinned. "You won't be his forever. I'll fight the brat again soon and win you back."

Luffy pumped a fist in the air. "I'll be stronger next time! Then I'll take two of your commanders!" He eyed the samurai and the weird bread haired guy. His grin spreading wide at them. The two audibly gulped.

Marco slapped his palm over his face.

"This cannot be my life."

Sabo slung an arm over his shoulder with a big grin. "Hey, welcome to the crew."

Ace just stood nearby, laughing so hard he had to lean on a tree. "You got kidnapped by logic, Marco."

"I miss logical fights," Marco groaned.

Whitebeard turned, already climbing the boarding ramp. "Take care of 'im, Straw Hat. That boy's got a soft heart even if it's covered in feathery flames."

"I will," Luffy promised, throwing his arms behind his head as he walked back to the fire. "He's shiny, but not sharp. We'll fix that."

Marco's eye twitched. "I am literally a doctor."

"This is the dumbest plunder we've ever gotten." Nami growled as she watched the older pirate sulk off to go gather his things.

Robin smiled. "I don't know. Mythical zoan users are extremely rare."

Chopper nodded. "Plus he's really good at treating burns! I can't wait to begin talking to him about his medical knowledge!" The little reindeer squealed with joy.

"I'm not staying," Marco grumbled as he turned towards them.

"You will," Luffy said confidently, munching on meat. "You're mine now."

Marco buried his face in his hands. "This is a hostage situation."

Several days later somewhere on the Grand Line the breeze is calm and the sun is bright overhead. The crew of the Red Haired Pirates lounged across the deck, scattered in the lazy manner only a confident crew can afford. Laughter, mugs clinking, and the smell of grilled fish fills the air. A distant flap of wings and the cheerful caw of a seagull break the easy rhythm.

THWAP.

The News Coo drops the rolled up Daily Global Report onto the deck with a smug squawk, then sails off into the blue. A crewmate grabs it, skims the front page and immediately chokes on his drink.

"Uh—CAPTAIN. You're gonna wanna see this."

Shanks, leaning back against the mainmast, one boot propped up, opens his eyes just enough to see. He catches the paper with a casual flick of his hand.

His eye skims the headline and then it widens.

"Straw Hat Luffy Clashes With Whitebeard — Claims Phoenix Marco as His Treasure!" He sputters. "Red-haired Yonko's Son Declares he's the best treasure on my crew!'"Shanks blinks once. Twice. Then slowly lowers the paper into his lap. "…he what?"

Benn Beckman, lounging on a nearby crate with his rifle leaning beside him, lights a fresh cigar and chuckles low in his throat. "I told you. You should've asked Marco when you had the chance."

Shanks looks over the edge of the paper, brows furrowed. "I did ask him. Multiple times. He always said no."

Beckman smirks, smoke curling from the corner of his mouth. "Guess you were asking with the wrong tone."

Shanks rubs his temple, reading the article again. His lips twitch. "'Shiny wings, mythical-class loot'… He called him treasure?!"

"Direct quote," Beckman deadpans. "Page five has a sketch. Marco's face looks like he's about to die of embarrassment."

Shanks flips to page five. Sure enough, there's a somewhat crude but vivid illustration of Luffy grinning like a lunatic, one hand on Marco's shoulder while the phoenix doctor looks utterly mortified. Behind them, Nami is collapsed in despair, and Whitebeard is laughing as he boards his ship, shaking his head.

"Treasure Claimed: The Phoenix's Flight Ends in StrawHat Waters." Shanks groans and runs a hand down his face. "I've been trying to recruit Marco since before Luffy had teeth."

Beckman raises an eyebrow. "Well, it took your son to do it."

Shanks slowly turns his head toward him. "He's not my son." But is smiling as he denies this.

"Sure he's not," Beckman says dryly.

Shanks waves the paper. "This is absurd. You don't claim people as treasure!"

"Try telling that to Roger," Beckman says, taking a long drag. "Didn't he do the same thing with Rayleigh?"

"That's different."

Beckman grins. "Is it, though?"

Shanks scowls at the newspaper again.

"And Whitebeard let it happen?!"

"Apparently," Beckman says, gesturing at the article. "He said something about fighting Luffy again to win Marco back."

Shanks throws his head back and sighs deeply. "Of course. Now they're trading crew members like they're a card game."

Beckman's grin widens. "Should we send Luffy a gift? Congratulate him on his acquisition?"

Shanks groans louder. "I wanted that birdbrain."

Beckman raises his mug. "To the next generation."

Shanks grumbles under his breath, crossing his arms. "Damn kid is collecting legends like berries off a bush. First Jinbe, now Marco."

"One, Jinbe is still technically working with big Mom; he's just Luffy's ally and Ace's too." Beckman stated gaining an annoyed look from Shanks. "And secondly, I think you'd be the first person he collected, a long time ago."

"I will throw you overboard." Shanks threatened eyes narrowing at his first mate.

Meanwhile in the east blue, inside a lavishly garish meeting room decorated in mismatched pirate flags, stolen Navy coats, and an absolutely unnecessary amount of gold plated furniture, sits Buggy the Clown legs kicked up on the table, arms behind his head, laughing loud enough to shake the walls."BAHAHAHAHAHA! Of course! Another successful day of ruling the seas!"

Suddenly—

THWAP.

A News Coo smacks against the window and slides dramatically down the glass.

A nervous underling peeks outside and retrieves the paper. "Uh… Captain Buggy? It's the latest headline…"

Buggy yawns theatrically. "What is it this time? The Marines begging me for mercy again?" He snatches the paper and flicks it open. Then his eyes lock on the front page.

"STRONGEST ROOKIE CLAIMS LEGENDARY PHOENIX — STRAW HAT LUFFY DEFEATS WHITEBEARD IN DUEL, TAKES MARCO AS 'TREASURE'!"

Buggy goes dead silent. His eyes bulge. His pupils shrink. His nose quivers. "…he what?!"

The paper trembles in his hands. His lip twitches. "MARCO? THE MARCO?! The sparkly bird doctor? The mythical phoenix powerhouse?!"His shout rattles the rafters. "That pretty boy who never even looked at me when we were on the same battlefield?! THAT Marco?!"

He flings the paper across the room. It explodes against the far wall. "AND LUFFY JUST— TOOK HIM?!LIKE A DAMN SOUVENIR?!**"Buggy stands on the table, boots crashing into goblets and maps, waving his arms like a madman.

"That brat was in diapers when I was dodging death from Garp's fists!"

Nearby, Crocodile looks up from a document, unimpressed. "Do you mind? Some of us are trying to run a criminal empire."

"CRIMINAL EMPIRE?!" Buggy spins on him. "OUR ENTIRE EMPIRE IS GOING TO BE A JOKE IF THAT RUBBER KID BRAINED KID OF YOURS KEEPS STEALING EMPERORS LIKE THEY'RE GAME CARDS!"

Buggy paces in erratic, jerky circles. "I can't even afford a Mythical Zoan and this idiot—this meat-glutton lunatic—just yoinks Marco like he's a claw machine prize!"He stops. Then slowly turns to the rest of the room, arms stretched wide.

"WE NEED TO STEAL A LEGEND!"

Everyone stares.

"…what?" Crocodile asks, seriously contemplating killing his friend.

"I'm serious!" Buggy slams his hands on the table. "If Luffy gets Marco, we need someone BIGGER! Stronger! Shinier! I want a dragon! No—an ancient weapon! Get me Pluton!"

Crocodile glares. "We are not stealing Pluton." He rolled his eyes. "We don't even know what THAT is."

"Then what about Kaido's kid?! Yamato! She's flashy!"

"He'd break your spine in two seconds." Buggy throws himself dramatically into his throne.

"This is a disaster. I used to babysit that kid! I gave him soup once! Now he's out here stealing mythical crewmates and fighting Whitebeard like it's just Tuesday?!"He groans. "What happened to the world?!"

Crocodile sighs before patting the clowns detached head that had landed dramatically near him. "My son is flipping the world on its ass."

Buggy groaned as if physically stabbed. "You need to stop, you're only making it worse." He whined. "Also, he's calling Shanks his father."

Crocodile chuckled. "I may have forgotten to tell the boy of our relation back in Alabasta." Buggy groaned even more so.

Chapter Text

Chapter 19: Dark Rumors

The morning sun was shining bright over the waves. Birds chirp. Sanji was in the kitchen whistling. Nami was doing the books. Luffy was asleep upside down in the crow's nest still bandaged from the fight with Whitebeard, though healing quickly thanks to his fruit. As Marco sat at the table with a cup of tea in one hand and a large newspaper in the other

He stared at the front page with utter disbelief.

"MARCO: STRAW HAT'S NEWEST TREASURE!"

"…I am going to die of secondhand shame." He stated as he facepalmed.

Robin, sipping coffee across from him, glances up with a knowing smile. "You're very photogenic in that sketch, though."

Marco groans. "My wings are flared in panic. I wasn't posing."

Franky leans in, holding a wrench. "Still, pretty rad. I mean, not every day someone calls you loot!"

Marco shoots him a flat look. "I'm a living person, not a Devil Fruit trading card."

"Coulda fooled me," Zoro grumbles nearby, stretching on the deck. "You glow and everything."

Brook strums a spooky chord on his violin. "Yohohoho! What a treasure you are, Marco-san! Can I write a song about you? 'The Shiny Bird That Got Stolen'?"

"I will fly into the sun," Marco threatened.

Usopp holds up a snail. "Say 'treasure acquired' into the Den Den Mushi! We'll sell a million copies of your voice!"

"I hate it here." He groaned though a smile did threaten to appear as he did realize what they were doing. They were trying to make him feel better by teasing him.

Nami walks in from the other side of the deck, clutching a second paper. "Oh, by the way," she says sweetly. "You made two front pages. The Genius Clown Coo one is even worse."

Marco raises a brow. "Worse how?"

Nami dramatically holds up a bounty-focused on the paper. "BUGGY DEMANDS LEGENDARY LOOT OF HIS OWN — DECLARES 'BIRD-THEFT WAR' AGAINST STRAW HAT"

"If Straw Hat Luffy gets Marco, I want at least an Admiral!"

There's a sketch of Buggy the Clown, screaming, with veins popping out of his face, holding a "WANTED: COOL MYTHICAL GUY" poster.

Marco closes his eyes, breathes in deeply, and calmly sets the paper down.

"…Buggy is going to get himself killed."

"Again?" Robin murmurs.

"Probably," Marco says.

Luffy suddenly drops from the crow's nest, landing right next to Marco in a heap of limbs and hat. "MARCOOOO!" he grins. "Did you see the news?! You're famous!"

"I was already famous," Marco deadpans. "I've been a First Division Commander for more than two decades!"

"Yeah, but now you're Straw Hat treasure famous!" Luffy beams.

"That's not a thing."

"It is now!"Luffy slaps him on the back so hard Marco nearly spills his tea. "I'm gonna keep you forever." Luffy adds.

Marco sighs as he sits his cup down. "Please never say that to another human being again." He then walks away to be by himself.

That afternoon as Marco sits perched on the Sunny's figurehead, watching the horizon. Sabo joins him quietly, handing over a drink. "You doing okay?"

Marco sips. "…You ever get the feeling your entire life has become a comedy written by a drunk god?"

Sabo laughs. "Constantly."A beat of silence passes.

Then Marco adds, "…Still. They're not the worst bunch to be stuck with."

Sabo smirks. "They're not stuck with you. You're stuck with them."

Marco groans. "Don't remind me." He then eyed the young man and took note on how grown up the teen seemed. Sabo always did seem to have a better head on than the other two brothers.

From inside the ship Luffy yelled out. "MARCOOOOO! Come help Sanji cook bird stuff!"

"I'M A DOCTOR, NOT A CHICKEN!"

That seemed to trigger a memory in the young captain. "Did I ever tell you guys the story of the blue flaming chicken 'Bo and Ace and I saved one time?!"

Marco gasped horror. "LUFFY!" He swore he was going to kill that boy and then he'd have to apologize to Makino. She'd forgive me, right?

The winds were colder in the North Sea. The waters carried a chill that stung even the most seasoned pirates, and the skies above were often gray, laced with streaks of cloud that foretold storms. Aboard the Spade, the flagship of the Flame Pirates, a quiet tension brewed, not from fear of the cold, but from the paper flapping in the hands of their captain.

Ace stood at the bow, the sea spray brushing against his freckled face, his gaze locked on the crumpled News Coo paper in his hands. The print was freshly delivered just moments ago by the squawking bird that now circled above, already seeking its next ship. His eyes narrowed as he reread the headline.

"New Terror in the North Blue – Blackbeard Plunders Big Mom's Holdings"Villages Annihilated. Survivors Sold. Big Mom Stays Silent.

Ace's grip tightened. Behind him, Deuce approached with slow, measured steps, his ever present mask hiding his expression but not the concern in his voice. "That look in your eyes… You're planning something, aren't you?" Deuce asked quietly.

Ace didn't turn immediately. His voice was low but firm. "This guy… Blackbeard. He's not just attacking islands, he's erasing them. No survivors and the ones who do make it out…" His voice trailed off, disgust rolling through the syllables.

Deuce glanced at the paper. "There's barely anything to go off. No picture. No ship name. Just whispers and bodies. You think he's real?"

Ace turned then, the fire in his eyes igniting. "Oh, he's real and I've got a bad feeling about this one." He held the paper out, pointing to a description from a survivor. "Dark as the void… laughed like the sea was his to own…That's not your average pirate."

The rest of the crew had started to gather. Skull, the musician with a love for gossip, leaned over the railing. "If he's messing with Big Mom's turf and she hasn't reacted yet, maybe she doesn't care? Or maybe…" His voice lowered, "…he's scarier than her."

"Impossible," muttered Kotatsu, the ship's helmsman, shaking his head. "Big Mom's an Emperor. You don't just stroll into her territory and walk out alive. Unless…"

"Unless you're aiming to take her place," Ace finished grimly.

There was silence at that. Then, a deep breath from Ace. He looked over his crew, his brothers, his family. These were not men who chased ghosts for thrills. They followed Ace because he chased justice where the Navy failed. "Listen up!" Ace called out, stepping onto a barrel to address the whole crew. The waves rocked beneath them, but his voice carried with the command of a true leader. "I know we've been sailing toward Wano. But this—this changes things." He held up the paper again. "A man who destroys islands and sells people like property—he's no pirate. He's a monster hiding behind a name and if Big Mom's too busy gorging herself to stop him, then we will."

Skull raised an eyebrow. "So what's the plan, Captain? You want us to chase a shadow through the North Blue?"

Ace nodded, his eyes burning. "Yes. I want to find out who this Blackbeard really is. I want to look him in the eye and make sure he never hurts another soul again. We're not waiting for the Navy. We're not waiting for Big Mom. The people in those villages, they didn't have time to wait either."

A beat passed before Deuce stepped forward and stood beside him. "Then we head north," he said simply.

Skull let out a dramatic sigh, then grinned.

"North it is. Hope this Blackbeard guy likes surprises."

One by one, the crew raised their voices in agreement. "Let's hunt a ghost."

"Ain't no shadow that can hide from fire."

"Flame burns brighter in the dark."Ace smiled then, not the carefree, boyish grin he often wore, but something sharper. Something determined. He turned to the helm. "Kotatsu, set our heading. Full speed to the North Blue."

The helmsman saluted, spinning the wheel. "Aye aye, Captain."

As the Spade creaked and turned into the winds of fate, the sea ahead loomed gray and uncertain. The North Blue wasn't their home. It wasn't familiar. But the fire in Ace's chest burned hotter with each league sailed. Somewhere out there, a monster was carving a path through innocent lives and Ace was going to stop him.

The Spade cut through the gray blue waters of the Grand Line like a flaming arrow loosed from a bow, its black sails billowing with wind. The flag snapped above, unmistakable to any who saw it. Days passed. Then a week. The sea grew colder the farther north they sailed. The sky took on an eerie, permanent dusk, neither day nor night. The sun rarely broke through the thick veil of clouds, and a salty fog clung to the deck like a warning.

Ace stood at the front of the ship, one foot up on the railing, arms crossed. His usual easy grin was absent. Instead, a steady burn simmered in his chest.

Behind him, Deuce emerged from below deck, flipping through the most recent intel they'd bought off a smuggler at a quiet trading port two days earlier. "The merchant was right. Three more villages are gone," Deuce muttered grimly, folding the papers. "All in the same pattern. Attacked at night. Fires. Ships left burning in the harbor. Survivors say the attackers wore black coats and didn't fly any flag. Just… shadow and flame."

Ace narrowed his eyes. "Shadow and flame…" he repeated, jaw clenched. "He's branding himself. Even if the world doesn't know him yet, he's building fear. That's how it starts."

"Still no name beyond Blackbeard." Deuce said. "That's all the survivors can remember."

Ace turned. There was a seriousness in his voice now; deep, almost low enough to shiver bones. "It's not just any name," he said. "Blackbeard… that's a deliberate choice. He wants people to remember it."

"You think it's some sort opposition against Whitebeard?" Deuce asked, watching him carefully.

Ace paused, lips parting slightly, like a ghost passed over his tongue. "Marshall D. Teach… I've only heard stories about him from Shanks, but those two seem to hate each other for more than one reason." he said slowly. "Shanks says he always smiles too much. Stayed in the background. But there was something about him… something rotten under the surface. He hides it well."

"If this is Teach," Ace continued, fists tightening, "then he's not just some mad dog. He's planning something and I'll be damned if I let him get any further."

A gust of wind caught the sails, and in the distance, a faint, jagged outline began to rise from the mist. "Land ahead!" called Kotatsu from the helm. The crew assembled quickly.

As the Spade crept closer, the form of an island came into view, one of Big Mom's lesser holdings, a once prosperous trade outpost known as Hekton. What greeted them was ash. Charred docks jutted out of blackened water like skeleton fingers. Smoke still curled from smoldering buildings, and the smell salt, blood, and soot burned their nostrils.

"Mother of hell…" Skull murmured, covering his nose with a scarf. "It's like a graveyard."

They dropped anchor, and Ace leapt from the railing, landing with a hiss of steam where his boots hit the scorched earth.

Deuce landed beside him. The crew fanned out silently, scanning the ruins.

"No cannon blasts," said Jin, one of the gunners, crouching beside a blackened wall. "The village wasn't defended. They didn't even try. This wasn't a battle, it was a purge."

Ace stepped over broken crates and shattered porcelain. His eyes caught the symbol, Big Mom's Jolly Roger, burned and defaced on a half collapsed wall. Over it, a black X had been smeared in blood or ash. "He's making a statement," Ace growled. "He's saying Emperors mean nothing."

Suddenly, from the ruins of a bakery, a small voice rang out. "Don't hurt me!"

The crew turned in an instant. Ace raised his hand, signaling calm. From behind a fallen beam crawled a small boy, no older than ten. His clothes were singed, and his face smudged with ash and tears. Ace knelt down slowly, lowering his voice.

"Hey… hey, it's alright. We're not here to hurt you."

The boy flinched, but didn't run. "You're not with the black ship?" he asked, eyes wide.

"No," Ace said, offering him a canteen. "We're the Flame Pirates. My name's Ace. What's your name?"

The boy hesitated, then took a sip. "...My name's Kitto," he whispered.

"Kitto," Ace repeated gently. "Can you tell us what happened here?"

Kitto looked up at him, and his small frame began to shake. "They came at night. No sound at first. Just... torches. Then screaming. They wore black. One of them laughed all the time. A loud, ugly laugh, like… like he was enjoying it." His voice cracked. "They burned everything. Mama told me to hide in the oven…"

Ace's jaw clenched. "Did you see the man in charge? What did he look like?"

Kitto nodded. "He was big. Real big. Hair like a lion's mane… but all messy. And his teeth—he smiled too much. Said something like… 'The world's mine for the takin'. You can keep your crumbs, Linlin.' Then he laughed."

Ace stood slowly, his face ashen. That laugh. That phrase. The teeth. He'd seen Teach's poster, it had to be him. "Teach," he muttered. "You bastard."

Deuce stepped beside him again, the wind stirring his coat. "So it's confirmed?"

"Yeah," Ace said, and a low flame began to flicker at his feet. "If he's selling survivors into slavery, he's not just trying to rise to being a legend, he's funding an army."

Skull approached, eyes dark. "Captain. There's more smoke on the horizon. Another island. Looks like it's burning."

Ace's flame surged up his arm. "Then we're not stopping."He turned to Kitto and knelt again.

"You're coming with us, alright? We'll find you someplace safe."Kitto nodded shakily.

Ace rose and turned to the crew.

"Everyone, back on the ship. Double time! That fire's still fresh, we might catch the bastards this time!"

Cheers rang out, low but fierce. The chase was no longer about rumor or suspicion.

Blackbeard was real. He was here and the Flame would answer shadow with fury.

The storm came like a curse and came out of nowhere. Winds screamed. Waves towered. Thunder cracked across the sky like the roar of angry gods, and the sea itself twisted into a black maw. The Spade pitched violently through the waves, her sails half reefed and barely holding. Rain battered the deck. Lightning flickered constantly across the heavens like an eye trying to open and through it all, Ace stood at the prow, his eyes locked forward as a silhouette emerged from the fog, backlit by lightning. A monstrous black ship. Sloped, jagged hull. No flag. No lights and yet it moved against the wind, like it wanted to be seen.

Deuce joined him, his voice barely audible over the wind. "That's it. That's got to be his ship.

Ace didn't answer. The cold in his stomach wasn't from the storm. The crew gathered behind them, weapons drawn. "That ship's huge..." Jin muttered. "Looks like it was built to eat towns whole."

"No name," Skull said. "No colors. Just pitch black. That's Blackbeard alright."

Then a booming laughter rolled across the sea distorted, slow, and mocking.

"Zehahahahaha!"A man stood on the bow of the enemy ship, massive and looming, rain slicking his tangled black hair. His coat was open, his gut exposed, and his eyes burned like coals. He held no weapon, but the air around him twisted with menace.

"Portgas D. Ace!" Teach bellowed, thunder rumbling behind his voice. "You chased me!? Why?"

Ace stepped forward, flames beginning to dance across his shoulders, glowing even under the storm. "You've burned villages, slaughtered innocents, and sold the rest into chains. I'm not here to talk, Teach. I'm here to end you."

Teach laughed harder, then spread his arms wide. "You still don't get it! The sea is changing, Ace! The old powers, they're dying. It's mine now! You think your fire can stop what's coming?"He turned to his crew dozens of shadowy pirates, hardened killers with rusted blades and crazed eyes. "Kill 'em all! Burn the ship! Take Ace alive!"

Ace's eyes blazed. "Get ready! They're coming—!"

However before the ships could collide, a massive wave surged between them, then froze, unnaturally suspended mid crash. The temperature dropped and the sea… screamed.

Deuce turned pale beneath his mask.

"What the hell is that…?"

From beneath the surface, something rose. A third ship. Barnacle-crusted. Ancient. Silent. A galleon with torn, ghost-white sails, and a figurehead shaped like a weeping woman. The very wood of the hull glowed with a sickly green hue.

The Flying Dutchman. The sea fell silent. Even the storm hesitated. Blackbeard's crew froze, mouths agape. Ace stared, frozen in place as memory rushed in. A campfire with Shanks on Dawn, years before the burning. A bottle of sake in hand. Shanks told a story whispered low to scare him, Luffy and Sabo.

"If you ever see that ship… you run. Don't try to be brave. Even Roger didn't face the demon on that deck. That's the ship that sails between worlds."

"What's on it?" he'd asked.

"Not what, Ace. Who."

Ace raised his arm to yell as panic filled him. "RETREAT! FULL SAIL, GET US OUT OF HERE—!"But it was too late. A howl erupted from the Dutchman's decks, like the shriek of every soul lost to sea, and then it moved. It didn't sail. It lunged. Like a beast unchained.

Cannons that hadn't fired in centuries suddenly glowed with spectral flame—and fired. Not cannonballs, but blasts of cursed light, ripping through Blackbeard's ship like parchment. One shot struck mid hull, an explosion of green fire and screams. Dozens of Teach's pirates vanished with no bodies, just ash.

"WHAT IS THIS—?!" Teach roared, stumbling backward. "Zehahaha—NO!"

More blasts followed. The mast cracked. The ship splintered. Then a figure appeared on the deck of the Dutchman.

Tall. Cloaked in shadow. A scythe in one hand, chains in the other. His face was bone-white. No eyes, only dark pits. A crown of rusted metal rested on his brow.

The Reaper.

Ace stared up at the figure. For a moment, the sea, the sky, the chaos, all fell away.

"He's looking at us," Deuce whispered. "He's… choosing."

Then the figure raised its hand, and the Dutchman's cannons turned toward the Spade. "BRACE!" Ace roared. "KOTATSU, TURN US AROUND! DEUCE, COVER THE CREW!"

The first volley struck, one shot clipped the stern, sending wood and flame into the air, but Ace moved faster. With a roar, his entire body ignited, and he launched himself to the rear of the ship, flame erupting from his hands and feet. He slammed both palms into the deck and yelled. "FLAME COMMANDMENT—DAI ENKAI!"

A massive wave of fire burst beneath the Spade, propelling it forward like a rocket. The ship surged through the storm, away from the Dutchman, however in the final flash before they vanished into the mist, Ace looked back and saw the Reaper still watching. Still silent and it smiled.

Hours later in calm seas, the crew groaned as they slowly came to their senses. The storm had faded. The sea was calm once more. Their ship was damaged, but afloat.

Ace stood at the railing, soaking wet, smoke curling from his shoulders. He hadn't spoken in nearly an hour.

Skull limped over. "Blackbeard's ship is gone," he said quietly. "All of them… gone in an instant."

Deuce approached as well, bandaging his arm. "You saw it too, didn't you?" he said. "The man. On the Dutchman."

Ace nodded. "That wasn't a man," he muttered. "That was a demon. A reaper." He looked up, jaw set. "He-It saw me. He chose not to kill us. Not yet."

Deuce frowned. "Why?"

Ace's voice dropped to a whisper. "Because he's not finished."He turned toward the north, where the fog still lingered, and flames still echoed in his mind. "This isn't over. Not by a long shot."

Chapter Text

Chapter 20: Death Comes

The storm had long passed, but the weight of it lingered on Ace's shoulders like iron chains. The Flying Dutchman haunted his every thought, from the way it moved, the fire it rained down, the figure standing silent in the dark. He needed answers and he needed someone he could trust.

He stepped into the communications room, where a single denden sat dormant, its eyes half-closed. Ace reached for it, knelt, and gently tapped the dial. "Come on, come on…"

The denden blinked, then stretched as if waking from a nap. A moment later, its face morphed into wide eyes, goofy grin.

"Ace?" came the voice. "Ace! It's really you!"

"Hey, Luffy." Ace's voice was tired, rougher than usual. "I need to see you."

"You okay? You sound like you haven't slept in days," Luffy said, clearly concerned. "Don't tell me your narcolepsy is acting up again?"

Ace hesitated for a moment because yes, it had and how the hell did he know that!? Shaking his head, Ace began to speak. "I saw something, something impossible. Blackbeard's ship. We tracked it. Fought them in a storm." His breath caught. "Then… it showed up. The Flying Dutchman. It destroyed them and it almost got us too." The last part he said in an almost whisper, as if afraid it may actually happen.

The Den Den Mushi's face blinked slowly. Even the snail seemed confused. "Wait… like the ghost ship? That old story with the skeleton captain and cursed fireballs that Shanks use to tell us stories about when we were kids?"

"Yes," Ace snapped. "Exactly that."

There was a long pregnant pause before Luffy's voice came again, slower this time. "...Ace, are you sure you weren't hit on the head or something?"

"I'm serious, Luffy!" Ace barked. "I'm telling you, I saw it! A Reaper was on the fucking deck. The crew was gone in seconds. Blackbeard's dead.!" His eyes widened suddenly. "You don't believe me?"

"I didn't say that!" Luffy said quickly. "I just—... I mean, it sounds crazy, y'know?"He paused before continuing. "However, you're not the type to lie. So... let's meet."

Ace exhaled slowly. Relief washed over him. "There's an island in neutral territory. One of Shanks' holdings. No Navy, no Emperor control. We'll meet there."

"You got it," Luffy said. "I'll bring some help. See you soon, Ace."The line clicked off.

Eltros was a small, crescent shaped island with pristine beaches, pine covered hills, and ancient ruins dotting the coast. The only rule here was there was absolutely no fighting. A law whispered through the surrounding area as part of Shanks' unspoken protection.

On a wide cliff overlooking the sea, a makeshift medical tent had been set up. Inside, Marco and Chopper circled Ace like prey. "No neurological damage, other than the usual." Chopper said, adjusting his stethoscope. "No trauma. Elevated cortisol levels, but that's expected."

"He's not lying," Marco added, his blue flames flickering across Ace's chest as he used them to scan deeper. "His heart rate spiked when he mentioned the Dutchman. Body's reacting to something real."

Ace lay back on the medical cot, arms behind his head. "Told you, I'm not crazy." He groaned as he closed his eyes while they continued.

Luffy, seated nearby with a massive turkey leg in one hand, frowned as he chewed.

"I didn't say you were crazy," he grumbled. "Just that it sounds like something Usopp would make up."

"I heard that!" Usopp shouted from outside the tent.

Chopper tilted his head. "Wait, so you're saying the Dutchman fired ghost cannons and cursed fire, and you saw Blackbeard's crew get erased?"

"Not just saw," Ace said, sitting up now. "I felt. Like something was watching us. It wasn't like any haki I've ever encountered."

Marco folded his arms, his expression unusually grim. "I've heard stories. Pops used to mention a cursed current in the North Blue, said there were places where ships vanish, and sometimes something old comes back."

Luffy leaned back, now looking genuinely unsettled. "If it destroyed Teach's ship… maybe it's something worse than him."

"Exactly," Ace muttered. "It let us go. I don't know why."

Then, suddenly a voice from outside the tent. "Maybe I can help with that."

Zoro lifted the tent flap. Outside it stood Shanks who suddenly stepped in, rain still clinging to his red cloak, the wind at his back like a loyal dog. Benn Beckman and Yasopp followed, hands on hips, eyes scanning the room like they expected a war to break out.

Luffy gasped. "Shanks!" He took several steps away from his old friend, and mentor. "I'm not ready to fight you yet!"

Shanks grinned. "Oh? You mean you actually meant that?" He asked suddenly sounding very confused. "I thought you were kidding, after all friends don't fight friends; we help each other!" Luffy looked dumbfounded. "Hey, Luffy. Still got that hat?" He asked as he noticed the worn look of his captains old hat on top of the messy him black head.

"Always," Luffy said proudly, tapping the brim.

Ace sat up on the cot. "Shanks, you knew, didn't you? You warned us about it or rather, him. You told us to run if we saw that ship."

Shanks' face hardened. "Aye and you didn't run."

"Would you have?" Ace asked.

Shanks didn't answer right away. He stepped forward, poured himself a glass of sake from the tent table, and took a long sip. "No, but I'm not proud of that."

Everyone leaned in closer. "Gol D. Roger…" Shanks said slowly, "…once saw the Dutchman. Long before he became the Pirate King. He never spoke about it, but I heard him once, talking to Rayleigh in hushed tones. Said there's something in the sea that predates the World Government, predates the Ancient Kingdom, even predates us."He placed his empty cup onto the table. "A ship that doesn't sail, instead it hunts and the thing on its deck?" He glanced at Ace. "It's not human." Silence fell across the tent.

"We thought it was a myth," Marco said. "But if you saw it, Ace…"

"Then we're in deeper waters than we've ever known," Shanks finished.

Ace nodded. His fists clenched. "This isn't about Blackbeard anymore. He was just in the way. That thing…It was like it was waiting for us."

Luffy stood slowly, the air around him changing. "Then we find out what it wants and then we stop it."

Ace glanced at him, worry etching his face. "This isn't like anything we've fought before, Luffy."

"Doesn't matter," Luffy said, fire in his eyes. "If it's hurting people, if it's out there taking lives…then it's our problem."

Shanks gave a low, grim chuckle. "You two really are brothers."He poured another round of sake and raised his cup.

"To brothers and to the fires that don't go out, even in the darkest sea."

Ace grasp a cup and raised it. "To the ones who still burn."

The once quiet island, veiled under a sky heavy with stars, now felt strange. The air was thick, not with humidity, but with expectation. The waves were calm, lapping gently against the cliffside, but they whispered in ways they hadn't before and like always, Luffy heard it all.

He sat alone by the edge of the cliffs, legs swinging lazily, strawhat tilted over his brow. Everyone else was asleep or tending to the ship. Unlike them though, he couldn't sleep. Not with the possibility of his brother being hunted by something beyond any pirate, marine, or Emperor.

"Oi…" Luffy said softly, his voice barely more than breath. "You know I can hear you, right?"

There was a long silence. Just the breeze.

When suddenly there was a shift in the air before waves below paused, as though the ocean was taking a breath. "What's following Ace?" Luffy asked, eyes narrowing under the rim of his hat. "What does it want?"

That's when images entered his mind. Like years ago with Goa. These feelings and visions were just as intense. Echoes of a time before time. The groaning of wooden hulls. The screams of drowning kings. A flagless ship rising from the depths of the soul, not just the sea. A voice, like all of the oceans speaking at once, entered his mind:

Not hunted… but led.

Luffy's fists clenched. "Led… to me?"

It seeks what you have not yet awakened.

Luffy stood now, back straight, eyes shadowed by the moon. "Then I'll fight it. Like always."

The sea was silent for a heartbeat. You are not ready. You are still caged… little joy. Only through death… can the truth be born.

"Death?" Luffy echoed. "Whose death? Mine?"He staggered back as the ocean surged upward, glowing with light not born from moon or flame.

A shape emerged of a tall, fluid, and divine woman. Sanji would have swooned over her as her skin shimmered like obsidian waves under starlight. Her hair flowed endlessly, braided with shells and coral. Her eyes were depthless, like the deepest trench itself. She wore a crown of broken pearls and seaweed, and around her waist, a belt of golden bones.

She was Calypso herself. The Sea's Will. The forgotten Queen of Tides. She did not speak, but her presence commanded silence. The sea became still as the wind stopped. Even the stars seemed to dim in reverence. Luffy could barely move. His mouth hung open.

"You're…the sea?"

She tilted her head, and when she spoke, her voice was like honey, sweet and smooth. I am what comes before sails and kings. I am what sings to the Voice and you, Monkey D. Luffy… are not yet what you are meant to be.

"Why me? Why Ace? Why any of this?" Luffy asked, breathing harder. "I just want to protect my friends! I don't care about… being some chosen thing!"

Her gaze didn't falter. Because the world is breaking and the key to its rebirth is not found in strength…but found in you Little Joy. She looked saddened suddenly. Only through death can your true self be released.

Luffy took a shaky step back. "I don't understand. What 'death'? Am I supposed to die?"

Calypso stepped closer, and as she did, water formed a swirling whirlpool beneath her, causing glimpses of memories, battles, and futures flashing inside. Ace falling to a fist through his chest. Sabo burning and being taken away. Luffy screaming into the sky.

So much has already changed but the sun must set… before it can rise again. You are bound by joy, but not truth. Joy is your anchor. But truth… She raised a single hand, palm open. Truth demands loss. Before Luffy could ask anything more, she froze as if startled. Her eyes snapped toward the jungle, her gaze sharp as blades. The former Prince approaches.

"Who?" Luffy asked, but she was already turning, her form breaking apart into seafoam and mist. "WAIT—!"

But it was too late. The water fell back into the sea with a gentle shhhhhh, like she was wanting to keep this a secret.

Luffy turned and saw Shanks standing there, a bottle of sake in one hand, staring at the retreating foam like he'd seen a ghost. "Luffy…" he said slowly. "What the hell was that?" Concern lacing his voice.

Luffy didn't answer. He looked down at his shaking hands. "She said… I have to die to become who I'm meant to be." His voice was low, broken. "She said I'm not ready."

Shanks took a step forward. His face was pale. Older than Luffy had ever seen him. "You… saw her. The Sea. Roger… he said she only shows herself when the balance is about to break."

"She's real," Luffy muttered.

"Very real," Shanks said, his voice grim.

The two stood in silence, only the wind returning now, brushing past them like the final breath of a dying god. Luffy looked back toward the sea. "Then I guess I have to get ready." He said sounding sad. "If I'm going to die, I'm going to do it while having fun." He grinned at Shanks who looked amazed by his words.

He held out his cup to Luffy "what's more fun than fighting a ghost that shouldn't exist?"

"Shishishi." Luffy laughed. "Exactly!" Wirh those words Luffy wondered off towards the Thousand Sunny, never looking back towards Shanks who suddenly felt very melancholily.

Later, as he slept, Luffy felt as if his soul was being pulled, drawn past the veil of the living, beyond sea and sky, into a place untouched by time. A place made of ashes, sunlight, and drums.

At first, it was black. Not night, but devoured of all things. A vast, endless nothing. Then there came the sound. One that made his heart jump and beat wildly. His body wanted to move this way or that.

Dum... dum... dum-dum.

Low, ancient drums. Like a heartbeat echoing across eternity. Then came a blinding light before he was suddenly on a battlefield.

Luffy found himself standing in the middle of broken ground, surrounded by pillars of fire and shattered stone. The air smelled of blood, rusted iron, and smoke. Black clouds roared overhead, but no rain came, only silence, broken by thunder that had forgotten how to fall. He looked down.

There, in the center of his chest, an X-shaped wound. It bled slow, dark, and deep. The pain was distant… like it didn't belong to him. Like it belonged to the world.

He staggered back a step, dizzy.

"What... is this?" His hand moved to the wound. Blood, thick and sticky coated his fingers from it.

Then the drums returned, louder now.

DUM. DUM. DUM-DUM.

His heart began to beat with them. Harder. Faster. His body shimmered. His hands trembled. His hair turned white, as if bleached by moonlight. His skin began to glow, soft and golden, as if touched by the dawn. Clouds of white mist curled around his ankles, wrists, and neck, he felt weightless and alive, like the clouds were laughing. He could feel laughter in his chest, not his own, but familiar.

"You're waking up."A voice spoke, mirth lacing its tone. It wasn't ahead of him, but rather behind turned around, spinning as he did so. A man, slightly older than himself, stood there, barefoot and radiant. His frame was tall and lean, his muscles long and wiry like a dancer or a trickster god. His white hair floated as though he was underwater. His eyes were gold, not glowing, but burning. Alive with joy and pain. He looked just like Luffy… but older. Wiser. Brighter and full of burdens.

Around him, the same white clouds coiled, and the drums never stopped.

"You're… me?" Luffy asked.

The man tilted his head. "No. You're you."he grinned. "I'm what you're becoming or need to become."He smiled, full of mischief and mourning. "Call me Nika."

The name rang like a bell through the dream.

Luffy blinked. "You're the Sun God. The Warrior of Liberation…the myth from Skypiea!"

"Some called me that," Nika said, his voice smooth like wind on open sea. "But before I was a god… I was just a man. Like you."

"Then why do I feel like I'm dying?"Nika stepped closer, placing a hand over Luffy's wounded chest.

"Because you are. Not your body—yet. But your old self."

"The you that laughed without knowing why. The one who fought just to fight." He looked sad but relieved. "That Luffy… is fading. And the world needs more."

The battlefield around them shimmered. For a moment, Luffy saw visions dancing in the air. Ace, standing with flames behind him of blue and red. Shanks, eyes narrowed at something unseen in the distance of a figure that looked so much like Shanks. The Flying Dutchman, its sails glowing like ghost fire. Then there was a golden throne. Empty, except for a pair of red glowing eyes. Luffy's jaw tightened.

"The ship… the one chasing Ace. The Dutchman." Nika began. "It's not just a ship," Nika said. "It's a chain." The void returned as the visions vanished. "A cursed relic, made to find the spark of the sun; me. It's been sleeping, waiting, and now it's come looking for the one who carries my will. The monster controlling it was once an ally who turned enemy that stole my life once before."

Luffy's fists clenched. "So it's looking for me?"

Nika nodded slowly. "Yes. But it's not alone. The monster guiding it… is far worse."

Luffy looked at him. "Who?" He demanded. "Who's pulling the strings? Is it the World Government?"

Nika's smile faded and for the first time… he looked old. "Someone I once trusted more than anyone." He looked mournful "…They were my friend."

Luffy's breath caught. "Your… friend?" He asked unsure if he heard correctly.

Nika's voice softened. "We dreamed of freedom together. We lit fires on mountaintops and laughed with kings."He grinned for a moment but it was strained as tears formed in his eyes. "But when the time came to choose… they chose power."

The ground began to tremble, the wind howling like a scream beneath the earth. "They betrayed me," Nika said. "They sold me to the World Nobles. I was the price of their immortality."He growled as he fisted his hand at his side. "They used the Ope Ope no Mi... the Eternal Youth Surgery."

Luffy's eyes widened, he had heard of that fruit. Was it Law? His new friend who had it? "They used it... on themselves?"

"No. They used it on me."Nika looked at him, golden eyes burning. "They sacrificed me. Carved out my name from the world. Took my immortality and used it to become deathless."

"They gave up their humanity to become a god that no one could see. A shadow that rules the world."His eyes narrowed towards Luffy. "Their name now… is Imu." The name echoed across the void.

Luffy felt cold. "Why… why me? Why did you choose me?"

Nika stepped close. "Because you never fought for power. You fought for your friends. For joy. For meat and dreams and open skies. You never asked to lead. That's why you must." The battlefield reappeared burning even brighter. The drums grew louder.

DUM. DUM. DUM-DUM.

Nika leaned in, forehead nearly touching Luffy' fear you, Luffy, because when you laugh, the world shakes and because you carry my joy."

Luffy swallowed hard. "If I fight them… what happens to my crew? To Ace?"

Nika didn't answer right away. "You may lose everything. That's the cost of freedom. Not all who smile are spared; but if you don't fight…"He looked up, into the black sun over the battlefield. "Then the world dies in silence."

Luffy looked at his hands, glowing now. His wound still bled, but slower. "Then I'll fight. I don't care if they're a god or a ghost."he grinned widely, too widely to pass for normal. A true D grin. "I'll make them pay."

Nika smiled again as the voided battlefield around them began to break apart, sunlight pouring through the cracks.

"Good." Behind him appeared a golden city with a palace that held a throne. "When the time comes, and you stand before the throne make them remember who we are."

Luffy gasped awake before sitting up quickly. The star were no longer shining out the picture window of his captain's cabin; instead, sky outside was starting to turn pink with sunrise. As he sat there, trembling, drenched in sweat, in his chest, he felt it. The drums, they weren't as thunderous, but the sound. Dum. Dum. Dum-dum. Was there and so was the heavy feeling he held in his heart.

Chapter Text

Chapter 21: Brothers Before the Storm

The morning after the dream, the skies over Eltros were calm. The sea looked like glass and was unmoving. The air was still, but Luffy's chest beat with the rhythm of something ancient. He felt heavier, like the dream hadn't ended, just shifted into the waking world. He sat on the edge of a stone dock, arms around his knees, watching the horizon.

Nothing was speaking to him. Even the sea was silent. Only thing he could hear were those drums with each beat of his heart.

Dum. Dum. Dum-dum.

When Luffy finally turned back toward the sea cliffs , he noticed something missing. No laughter, arguments and no trace of Shanks. The red haired Yonko had vanished before dawn. Only a note remained, left near the dying firepit under a stone.

You're not alone in this fight, Luffy, but this path is something only you can walk it. I'll hold off the storm as long as I can.

When you find the sun, let it shine.

—Shanks.

Luffy stared at it for a long while and didn't say a word, but something shifted in his eyes, as a slow, unshakable resolve began to develop. Ace walked into the clearing they'd made outside Eltros. His coat fluttered behind him, and his hat cast a shadow over his eyes.

"Luffy," he said, crossing his arms, "You've been quiet." He pressed his shoulder against his older brother's shoulder. "Did you have another dream?" Luffy raised a brow at him, wondering how he knew. "Last time the sea talked to you it was followed by intense dreams. Zoro stated you seemed to be distant last night, which means she was talking to you."

Luffy nodded, standing up. "Worse." he croaked out, his voice rough from not talking all morning. "I don't thinks it's a dream anymore." He tapped a finger on his leg. "The Dutchman's coming, but it's not after you, Ace. It's using you to get to me."

Sabo, joined them with a cup of tea in hand and a newsco in the other. "Then we stop it before it reaches you." He stated as he handed Ace the cup of tea. "It'll help calm your nerves." He explained as Ace made a face at the first sip.

Ace exhaled, a small flicker of flame curling off his fingers. "I've felt it since we saw that ship… I'm not strong enough yet." He extinguished the flame in his hand. "I can fight and burn the world if I chose, but that thing… it's so much stronger. I could feel it."

Luffy turned to him, serious. "Then we train. All three of us." He looked at Sabo who gave him a nod in agreement. "Also," he turned towards Ace. "We need to train your haki. I can tell it's lacking right now, but you inner voice is telling me you could be on par with a Yonko's haki if we trained you."He gave both of his brothers a stare down. "You, me, and Sabo. Together until you fully awaken your haki, then we get you a trainer to help."

Ace blinked. "Are you sure about that? You're talking about mastering something that can take years…" Ace stated as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Luffy grinned, but there was weight behind it now. "We've been through worse. Together we survived the burning of Goa, and together we will survive this…Dutchman."

They found a high cliff outside of town, where the wind was strong and the sky wide. The perfect place for training.

Ace, for all his strength, struggled. Sabo had already awakened both observation and armament haki, but it was less refined that it should have been; Something Luffy was going to fix. Luffy was far ahead, his haki honed through blood and battle after battle. From his first battle to the latest one with Shiki.

Ace, he had fire, will, and heart; so his haki was slacking like a fat muscle that didn't want to work right. Luffy and Sabo tried everything, blind sparring, mental focus, even triggering his rage.

"You've always fought from instinct," Sabo said. "but haki comes from clarity. You need to feel the world around you, not just burning through it."

Ace snarled after another failed attempt, steam rising from his back. "It's like reaching for something I know is there, but my hands won't grab it!" He shook his head in frustration. "I feel it… something, but I can't bring it out!"

Luffy stepped in front of him, placing a hand on his brother's chest. Ace looked at his older brother, eyes narrowing. "It's there." Luffy stated with a reassuring smile.

"He's close, but the wick's not lit yet."The brothers turned and saw walking up the path from the jungle, cloaked in sea salt, was Silvers Rayleigh. His coat was flung over his shoulder, and he wore that familiar half smile, like he'd seen this all before. "You boys are trying to wake a volcano," he said. "But you're using kindling."

"You're-" Luffy began only for Ace to speak.

"Dark King Rayleigh." Ace spat the name like it was poison. "He was my old man's first mate." He explained to Luffy.

Luffy tipped his head to the side. "I've met Gaban but not Rayleigh." He stated. "I was supposed to find him in Sabaody but he had left but the time I made it to Shakky's bar."

The silver haired man chuckled. "I'm sorry about that, but I got word from a friend that they were in trouble and I didn't have time to wait for Gaban's prodigy." He sighed. "But then Shanks sent word and said the tides were turning and that the old ghost stories were walking again." He looked the brothers over. "When that kid says the world's ending… you listen."He turned to Ace, eyes sharp now. "You're Portgas D. Ace, Gol D. Roger's son, but that doesn't mean anything unless you can hear the world."

"I don't have the Voice of All," Ace explained as he looked at his older brother. "That's my irmão mais velho who can do that."

"So… let's teach you how to listen." Rayleigh stated with a glint in his eye. Ace's eyes widened. Sabo smirked. Luffy grinned like the little gremlin he was.

Rayleigh walked to the center of the field and turned to Ace. "Try to hit me."

Ace blinked in shock before he tipped his head to the side in confusion. "What?"

"No fire. No flair. Just your fist." Rayleigh explained as he stood there patiently. "If you can land one clean blow on me in three days… I'll call you ready."

Ace smirked. "Tch. Old man, don't tempt me." He ran at him to hit the old man, when Rayleigh smiled and then vanished in a blink. Ace's punch met nothing but air.

"You've got power, kid," Rayleigh's voice echoed from behind him. "but not precision." Before long Ace was panting from exhaustion as the supposed old man showed just how fast he could be, all the while Luffy was laughing ass of?", especially when Ace tripped and landed face first into mud.

"You're just like your old man." Rayleigh commented with a shake of his head. "Going head first into a fight without knowing your enemy." His gaze turned towards Luffy who wasn't laughing any longer. "Tell your little brother here what he's doing wrong."

Luffy stepped forward, hands in his pockets, that now familiar weight behind his grin. "He's fighting with fire, not focus."Ace, still spitting out mud, glared up at him.

"I am fire, dumbass." He grouched.

Luffy crouched down beside him, tone serious despite the smirk. "Exactly. That's your problem."He stood up and looked to Rayleigh, who gave a small nod for him to continue. "You fight like a flame in a storm, lashing out, trying to survive. That worked against pirates, against marines, even against warlords. But haki? Haki's not about surviving. It's about intention. You gotta want to do more than hurt something; you have to will it. "Luffy looked out at the horizon, arms folded across his chest, the wind tugging at his vest. "Every time I throw a punch now, I think about what I want it to do, not what it can do. There's a difference."

Sabo stepped up beside them, adding calmly, "You keep pushing more power into your attacks like you're trying to burn your way through a wall. But haki… it's more like threading a needle. You need focus, clarity. Power's nothing without control." He remembered how Gaban kept beating that into his own brain for the month and a half that the older former pirate had been training their group.

Ace grunted, still winded. "So what, I'm supposed to meditate now?"

"No," Luffy said. "You're supposed to listen." He tapped Ace's chest again, this time firmer. "Your fire's loud. Too loud, and it's drowning out your haki. Quiet your fire, by just a little and listen." He said tapping Ace's forehead.

Rayleigh nodded in approval. "Haki is born from presence. Armament comes from resolve. Observation from awareness. Conqueror's… from who you are. The problem is, you don't even know yourself yet, do you, Ace?"

Ace flinched, not physically, but the truth hit deeper than a blow. "You're carrying too much weight from someone else's name," Rayleigh continued. "That's why you're burning up, like you're trying to prove something that doesn't need proving. You've got your own will, Ace. You just haven't learned how to listen to it yet." The words hung heavy in the air, but didn't linger long. Luffy clapped a hand on Ace's shoulder.

"You don't need to be Roger. You're our brother," he said simply. "That's enough."

Ace swallowed hard, but nodded. For once, there was no quip, no fire, no heat.

Just quiet resolve and then Rayleigh gestured back to the center of the field. "Let's continue."Ace stood with a nod. The next strike didn't come in a blaze. It came calm, centered. The fire was still there but behind his eyes, not in his fists.

However, Ace still hit the ground hard…again. Dust kicked up as he landed on his back, sweat soaking through his shirt, the breath knocked out of him. A low groan escaped him, followed by a curse muffled into the dirt. Rayleigh stood over him, still calm, still composed, like this was barely worth effort. He hadn't even drawn his saber once. Just haki, footwork, and experience.

"Better," Rayleigh commented, wiping a bit of dirt from his hands, "but still thinking with your fists, not your senses."

Ace slammed a fist into the ground. "You want me to feel the world, but how the hell am I supposed to do that when it feels like the world's trying to crush me?"

"That," Rayleigh said, "is exactly the point." Ace laid on the ground panting. He wasn't beat, just exhausted.

So Rayleigh turned toward Sabo, who had been watching from the sidelines, steam rising off his tea untouched. "You've been sitting there like a monk. You ready to show me if all that discipline means anything?"

Sabo stood slowly, folding the newsco and setting it aside with care. "I don't yell like these two," he said with a slight grin, "but I've been fighting beside Luffy for years. I'm not just here to sip tea."

Rayleigh raised an eyebrow, then motioned him forward. "Observation's in your eyes. I see the sparks of it. Armament's already humming under your skin. You're ahead of your brother in some ways—"

"Oi!" Ace barked from the ground.

"—but you're still not using it right. You've got a strong right arm," Rayleigh continued, "but you don't let your haki flow through your whole body. That's what's holding you back."

Sabo rolled his dark green sleeves up, stepping into the center. His posture was clean, grounded. He didn't crackle with power the way Ace did, nor buzz with rhythm like Luffy. He moved like a quiet storm, subtle but full of potential. Rayleigh's expression shifted to something more serious now. "Alright, boy. Let's see how deep that iron skin of yours really goes."

Sabo didn't answer. He simply stepped forward and threw a sharp, clean punch. Rayleigh blocked it with a haki coated forearm, the impact ringing like steel on steel. A pulse of force rippled through the training field, sending birds scattering from nearby trees. The two stood locked, neither budging.

Rayleigh gave a slight grin. "Not bad. That's more than kindling."

Sabo's eyes narrowed. "I want to master it. Not just use it. I've seen what the world's capable of. If I'm going to protect my brothers, I can't be second rate."

Rayleigh chuckled and pushed him back gently with a palm strike to the chest. "Then stop treating your haki like a tool. It's not a weapon, it's part of you."

He circled Sabo now, his tone more instructive than mocking. "Armament haki is willpower given form. But you're isolating it to your arms, your legs, like it's armor. That works for fighting the average marine. But if you want to face something like the Dutchman—"His voice lowered, weight settling into his words like an anchor. "—you'll need your whole spirit to fight. Not just your fists."

Sabo exhaled, slower now. He lowered his stance, then focused, truly focused. Luffy could see it in his brother's posture and the tension in his limbs releasing, the breath evening out, the haki sinking deeper. Then Sabo moved again; faster, cleaner.

Rayleigh blocked another strike, but his smile deepened. "There it is," he said, amused. "It's starting to flow."

Behind them, Luffy gave a low whistle as Ace, finally sitting up, nodded. "Little bro's serious when he's not busy lecturing people."

Sabo's fists began to glow with a deeper, denser black not just a coating, but a concentration. His strikes weren't brute force instead, they were precision impacts, as if he were aiming not just at Rayleigh's body, but his spirit.

Rayleigh's speed shifted again as now he was pushing back harder, faster, sharper.

They blurred across the clearing. Strike, block, parry. Haki against haki.

Luffy stepped forward, arms crossed. "You feel that?"Ace looked at him, brow raised. "That pressure," Luffy said. "It's not killing intent. It's resolve. His haki's starting to carry weight."

Rayleigh and Sabo clashed once more, this time, the collision split the ground between them. When they broke apart, Rayleigh was grinning wide, breathing a little heavier now. "Not bad at all," the old man said. "Not many get this far in one try. You've got the control. Just need to stop holding back."

Sabo wiped a bit of sweat from his brow, then gave Rayleigh a proper nod. "I wasn't holding back," he said. "I was being careful."

Rayleigh laughed. "That's the same thing."

He turned to Luffy now. "So. Gaban's kid, huh? Let's see how far you've come."

Luffy stepped forward without a word, straw hat casting a shadow over his eyes.

The wind picked up and the drums, those deep, ancient drums, echoed faintly again in his chest.

Dum. Dum. Dum-dum.

Rayleigh's eyes widened as a memory of this sound appeared in his mind.

The sun blazed high over the vast, untouched land of Laughtale as the waves crashed against a shoreline few had ever seen. Ancient ruins stood silent, heavy with stories long forgotten by time and at the heart of it all, the Roger Pirates stood, gathered around the massive, shimmering projection stone.

As Roger steps forward, the device activated. A low hum, like the deep breath of the world itself, echoes through the cave. Then…

BOOM. Boom. BOOM. Boom.

Drums. Faint at first. Then rising. Rhythmic, wild and free. As images of the future are shown revolving around three boys and Shanks with Buggy. The destruction of Goa. Violent and never detected by its inhabitants until it was too late. The rise of three powerful Emperors of the Sea who were trained by two blurred figures. Then suddenly the noise of the drums of liberation got louder and louder as a phantom of darkness rose from the sea itself.

Dum. Dum. Dum-dum.

The crew freezes. Buggy's eyes go wide. Shanks grips his hat. Scopper's jaw drops. Oden's expression flickers between awe and disbelief. Rayleigh's heart pounds in time with the rhythm. And Roger… Roger just laughs.

Roger laughing with tears in his eyes."He's real...! The one who'll come to break it all open! Joy Boy!" He laughed as they watched a battle of fire from two powerful men and a power so ridiculous that it just didn't seem real! The prism glows again, and images begin to appear in the air of a dark ship shooting lightning and fire against the three Emperors as Shanks and Buggy's ships exploded and a dark hand reached for them both.

Rayleigh suddenly cursed as he realized that they were in that future now. That these were the three boys from the visions that would become Emperors. He frowned as he looked at Sabo. But where is that one's fire ability? He wondered, now noticing that he held no devil fruit ability. I specifically recall blue flames from that one. He eyed Luffy and wondered if something had change their futures and if that everything would still end the same.

Chapter Text

Chapter 22: The Training Continues

The sixth sunrise broke across the cliffs of Eltros in golden streaks, washing over the brothers' makeshift training field like firelight. Dew clung to the tall grass. The wind blew salt from the sea, but no one noticed anymore. The cliffside was scorched in rings from Ace's earlier training attempts. With wild, unfocused flares of flame during his sparring with Rayleigh. Trees had been turned to ash. Craters pocked the ground like the aftermath of a battle, but the destruction had lessened over the days, because Ace was finally beginning to listen.

From day one, his problem had been overpowering everything. Ace fought like a wildfire that was consuming, unrelenting and raw, but Rayleigh's lessons weren't about fire. They were about presence, silence, and intent and that had been torture for someone like him. The first few days had everyone of the strawhats had seen him lose every single spar.

"Your fire screams louder than your spirit," Rayleigh told him. "It's drowning out your haki."

So the training changed. Rayleigh banned Ace from using the Mera Mera no Mi entirely. No flames, no explosions, just fists and will to which Ace had hated. He couldn't hide behind heat anymore. Couldn't blow his way through failure, but that was the point.

"Take away the fruit," Rayleigh had said, "and what's left is the real you."

The first breakthrough came on the evening of the third day. Rayleigh had stationed Ace alone at the edge of the cliff, perched on a boulder, cross-legged, eyes shut. No talking. No moving. Just listening.

"You're trying to punch your way into haki," Rayleigh had said earlier. "That’s not a door. It's a voice and you've been yelling too loud to hear it."

Ace had gritted his teeth through it all. The silence was maddening. He felt useless. Powerless, but as the sun set and his breath slowed, something finally shifted.

He heard… waves. Not with his ears, they were crashing far below; but inside his chest, a rhythm started to rise. The same one Luffy had mentioned; like a drum.

Dum. Dum. Dum-dum.

It was faint, but steady, not just the beat of his heart, but something deeper, older. A sound that vibrated through his bones. He didn't tell anyone, but that night, Ace didn't dream of fire; instead he dreamt of wind and drums.

The next day was sparring again. Sabo had been growing sharper by the hour with his Armament haki now coating full limbs, focused and honed. He moved like water over steel, efficient and balanced. Luffy had spent the morning helping refine his flow, how to shift haki across the body mid-strike, how to anticipate, redirect, and feel where the impact would need to land.

Ace, though, still couldn't manifest any Armament. His punches passed right through Rayleigh's deflections. No weight or pressure; just fists. Until late that evening, when Luffy pulled him aside.

"You're still holding back," Luffy told him. "You think haki's a weapon, something you call on when you need it."

Ace frowned, brushing sweat from his brow. "Isn't it?"

"No," Luffy said, serious now. "It's not something you use. It's something you are."Luffy reached out, tapped his knuckles against Ace's chest. "You're one of the strongest people I know… when you're fighting to protect us; but when it's just about you, you fight messy. Loud."

Ace didn't respond. Luffy turned to walk away, but called back over his shoulder.
"Tomorrow, don't fight for yourself. Fight for something that matters."

It happened mid-morning as Rayleigh stood, hands behind his back, watching Ace approach for their usual sparring match. His expression was neutral. Waiting. Ace didn't say anything. He didn't flare with heat. Didn't burn the ground with every step he took. Instead, he seemed to be focusing inward. The flames beneath his skin were still there but today they were calm, simmering like hot water, not wildfire. When Rayleigh moved fast, faster than the eye, Ace didn't try to overwhelm him. He didn't swing wildly.

He felt the wind shift. He felt where Rayleigh would be, not by sight or sound, but something else; awareness. When he struck, his fist was coated in dense black faint metallic sheen wrapped around his knuckles. It wasn't full body armor yet, not even halfway but it was something. Rayleigh raised a brow, mid-movement, as Ace's punch grazed his shoulder.

The silence that followed was loud with meaning. Sabo nearly dropped his tea. Luffy whooped and clapped his hands behind his head. "That's it!"

Rayleigh, meanwhile, stood still, then turned, smiling. "There it is," he said softly. "You finally stopped trying to be fire…" He looked Ace in the eyes, "…and started being will."

Ace was breathing heavy, knuckles trembling from the strain. But his grin was wild and proud. "Haki… is exhausting."

"It will be," Rayleigh said, stepping closer, "until you stop treating it like a dead muscle… and start treating it like a current."

By the end of the day, Ace hadn't mastered haki, not yet. However, he could manifest Armament on his fists and forearms with focus. His Observation was flickering into life, brief flashes of sensing intent or danger. His flame powers began to become calmer, more refined, no longer lashing out unconsciously. Then most importantly, he'd begun to listen to himself , not his father's legacy, not his anger; just Ace.

When the brothers sat around the fire that night, the mood was lighter. Sabo toasted bread over the flame while Ace lay flat on his back, staring at the stars. Luffy sat nearby, arms folded behind his head.

"You almost hit the Dark King," he said with a grin. "Not bad."

Ace snorted. "Yeah, well, tomorrow I'm gonna do more than scratch him."

Luffy looked at him, smile fading into something steadier, more respectful.

"Yeah," he said, "I think you will."

Meanwhile, somewhere out on the Grand Line, the sea was calm, but the sky had turned an unnatural shade of gray. Shanks stood alone on the bow, wind rustling his cloak. His usual smile was absent, replaced by something heavier. It was the kind of look only an Emperor wears when he sees a storm no one else believes in. He reached into his coat and pulled out a custom Den Den Mushi. It had a ridiculous little blue clown red nose on it. He pressed the receiver.

Brrrrrrr... brrrrrrr...

It clicked before a voice came over and the snail's face morphed into the owner of the voice. "WHAT?!" came the unmistakable screech of Buggy, who was already flustered, as if he'd been interrupted during something important or stupid, and knowing him; it was both.

Shanks chuckled, just slightly. "Hello to you too, Buggy."

There was a pause before panic was heard. "...Oh no. No no no. You only call me when the world's ending. I'm not interested in whatever insane Yonko level nonsense you're dragging behind your cape this time, Shanks! Some of us are trying to run a business empire!"

"You mean your circus mafia?" Shanks countered.

"It's a powerful economic syndicate!" Buggy growled at him.

"Sure it is."Shanks let the teasing fade. The humor dropped from his voice. "Listen, Buggy. I didn't call to insult you. I called because the Dutchman is real."

Dead silence on the other end. Even the Den Den Mushi mimicked Buggy's wide, frozen eyes. "...That's not funny, Shanks."

"I'm not joking." Shanks stated in a deadpanned voice.

There was a long, tense pause. Then Buggy's voice lowered, all pretense gone.

"I thought it was just a story. Some ancient ship from before the Void Century. A cursed weapon. I mean, it's a ghost ship, for crying out loud. You're saying it's actually—?"

"It's not a ghost. It's something worse,"Shanks said. "It's moving through the North Blue."

Buggy groaned. "Of course it is. Always starts in the places no one pays attention to."

"It attacked a World Government research convoy two nights ago. No survivors. The ship didn't sink. It just… disappeared and then something else took its place. I've seen the pictures from my allies."

"They went near it?! Are they crazy?!"

"No, they saw the aftermath. There's nothing left. No bodies. No wood. Just salt and the air smells wrong afterward, like rust and ozone. Like lightning struck something rotten."

Buggy swallowed. "...You know who it's after, don't you?"

"I think it's after Luffy."

Buggy let out a strangled whine. "Why is it always that kid? First the Marines, then Akainu, then the Revolutionaries when Dragon tried to steal Sabo, then Blackbeard! He's like a damn magnet for bad things or people!"

Shanks' voice turned grim. "Because he's not just a pirate anymore. He's the one carrying the will forward."

Buggy muttered, "He's still a moron…"

"He's our moron," Shanks said quietly.

Buggy didn't respond to that.

Buggy finally spoke again, but his voice had changed. Calculating now. Less panic, more survival instinct. "I've got someone who owes me a favor in the North Blue. Not a clown, not a fanboy. Someone dangerous."

"Who?" Shanks inquired.

"His Baba." Shanks looked at the grin on the den den with a raised eyebrow. "Though the kid doesn't know."

"Okay. I'll bite." Shanks said letting his curiosity slip. "Who is that?"

In a rain slicked city, sitting in a cigar lit room filled with maps, intel reports, and photographs pinned to cork boards. Red string connected pieces that spanned across centuries of sunken ships, vanished fleets, old marines whose names had been erased from records. A glass of whiskey clinks down on a desk. A golden hook gleams in the lamplight.

"I've seen the ripples," Crocodile says coolly, a Den Den on the desk in front of him as he suddenly joins in the conversation. He and Buggy had been discussing this before Shanks had called. "Ships that vanish without a trace. Weather patterns that shouldn't exist and there are whispers in the underworld."

Buggy's voice crackled through the speaker. "Can you pinpoint it?"

"Not exactly, but I've narrowed it to three sectors. The Dutchman doesn't sail in straight lines, it follows ley currents, ancient ones. Forgotten by most."

Shanks' voice cut in. "We need to intercept it. We're buying time for the brothers to finish training."

Crocodile scoffed. "So the rumors are true. Someone is training with strong haki."

Buggy added, "Sabo's with them too. All three of them."

"Then the world's got a small chance," Crocodile said. "I'll send my best scouts to the sector. If I'm right, the Dutchman will make its next appearance during the next new moon."

"That gives us five days," Shanks said.

Buggy groaned again. "You're dragging me into a ghost story war, aren't you?"

Shanks smiled but it was all steel. "You survived Impel Down two months ago. You once stood next to the Pirate King who was crazier than Luffy. So stop whining and be the legend the world already knowsyou are."

Buggy muttered something rude, but didn't hang up. Shanks looked toward the horizon, voice softer now. "We don't need to beat it. Just slow it down."

Crocodile blew a cloud of smoke. "Then we'd better move fast."

Somewhere far north, fog blanketed a dead sea. A massive, blackened ship glided silently across water that didn’t ripple. Lanterns flicker with ghostly green light. The ship's figurehead is a twisted, half human skeleton with gold eyes. The Flying Dutchman sails, not bound by wind, nor tide. Below deck, something ancient awakened as a voice, deep and filled with dark intentions spoke in a hum that made the wood groan and the air tremble as it headed toward where the brothers were trying desperately to become stronger in order to stop it.

Chapter Text

Chapter 23: The Dutchman Strikes

Fog rolled low across the jagged reefs of North Blue seas. A hand moved across a map with ley currents and other ancient trails marked on it, a finger trailed across the map near Flevance, one of the three zones Crocodile had narrowed down. The night was cold, the type that bit into bone even in summer. In the rain slicked city, Crocodile snapped the Den Den Mushi shut and exhaled, smoke curling upward in lazy spirals. "Daz." His voice cut through the dim room like a blade.

From the shadows, Daz Bones stepped forward; silent, lethal, and already dressed for travel. "Targets?"

"The Flying Dutchman," Crocodile replied, sliding three folders across the desk. "We don't engage. We observe, track ley current disruption patterns, and report back. No heroics."

Daz nodded. "Understood." He turned to leave but was stoped as Crocodile continued.

Crocodile tilted his head. "Take Sala, the girl from Loguetown. She can sense electromagnetic shifts. Get close enough to taste the air. If it smells like metal"—he paused, eyes narrowing. "you leave."

Daz accepted the orders with a curt nod and vanished into the night.

Crocodile watched the door close behind him, muttering, "If even half the stories are true… we're already late."

Daz and Sala stood on the deck of a sleek black scout ship, the Sandglass, cutting through the dark waters. Sala shivered, clutching a lacquered sensor rod glowing faintly blue. "The compass keeps spinning," she said. "No magnetic north and the temperature keeps dropping. Too fast." She frowned as she continued to look at the instruments.

Daz scanned the horizon. "Crocodile was right. Ley currents."

The crew grew silent when they saw it; a patch of ocean ahead where the moonlight simply… stopped. A perfect circle of darkness, matte and light eating, like the sea itself had been erased.

Sala whispered, "That's not natural." She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

Daz raised the lens scope to his eye. "Mark it on the map. We're sending everything back to the Boss."

Just as he lowered the scope, a single bell rang from somewhere inside the void followed by a faint, metallic scent. Sala grabbed his arm, breath shaking. "Daz… the water's gone still."The ocean around them had become flat as polished obsidian. No waves. No wind. No sound.

"Send the report," Daz said, voice grim. "Now." He knew what was coming. He felt it in the pit of his belly. As Sala tapped out the coded message, the faintest outline of a colossal prow began to emerge from the darkness. The Dutchman was moving without ripples or sound. It held no mercy. Daz hissed, "Hard turn! Engines full—get us out!"

The Sandglass spun away, not daring to look back as the shadow grew over it. There were screams as they were overtaken. Their ship groaned as it disappeared beneath the blackened depths. No crew survived.

Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp sat surrounded by stacks of paperwork, most of which he had no intention of ever reading. He was halfway through a rice cracker when a Marine Ensign burst into the room.

"V-Vice Admiral! Urgent reports from the North Blue!"

Garp sighed, brushing crumbs from his beard. "This better not be another report about kids calling themselves future Pirate Kings. I'm not in the mood."

"N-No sir. It's… disappearance reports. Entire fleets. Weather anomalies. And…" The ensign swallowed. "Something else."

Garp froze. Not many things made the Hero of the Marines frown. "Speak."

The ensign handed him a red stamped folder. "Intelligence confirms that Marshall D. Teach, Warlord Blackbeard, and all members of his crew have been declared MIA after a confrontation near Banraku Atoll."

Garp blinked. Once. "Missing?" He inquired. That's odd. He thought as he took the file.

"Yes, sir. The same night Fire Fist Ace was sighted fighting him." The man continued.

Garp's jaw tightened. "Ace?" He inquired. He may not act like it, but he did care about his grandsons and now that he knew they were alive, he liked to keep them that way.

"No body. No wreckage. No clues. Just… scorch marks on dead water."

Garp stood slowly, the old wooden chair creaking under his massive weight.

"That brat Teach finally picked a fight above his pay grade…" he muttered. But there was no pride or humor in his voice, only dread. He opened the second file. Photos paper-clipped inside showed the same thing Crocodile's scouts had seen; smooth, unnaturally calm patches of ocean. Dead zones in the sea. Circular shadows and one image that was blurred, but unmistakable of a massive, blackened hull emerging from fog.

Garp's hand trembled. "Get Sengoku," he growled. "Get the whole damn council."

The ensign hesitated. "Sir… you think it's connected?"

Garp turned to the window, looking out toward the distant, storm-choked horizon.

"I think," he said slowly, heavily, "that an old ghost has come back to finish what it started centuries ago."He clenched his fist. "And my grandsons are standing right in its path."

Below deck, where the lanterns burned with sickly green fire, the ancient presence stirred. Its gold eyes opened, glowing from within the skull of the twisted figurehead.

A voice resonated through the ship like grinding stone. "THE WILL… STIRS AGAIN." Chains rattled as the wood groaned. The sea itself recoiled. "NIKA CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO AWAKEN." The Dutchman sailed ever faster, chasing the storm that would soon engulf the world.

Wind howled across the deck of the Red Force as Shanks stood before Crocodile's Den Den projection, its snail face scowling with matching disdain. Buggy's snail sat between them like an angry clown referee.

Shanks drummed his fingers on the railing. "We don't have long. Daz's report confirms it, the Dutchman's awakened. We need a plan that buys the boys time."

Crocodile, arms crossed, scoffed. "I don't intend to die protecting three brats. But that ship threatens my operations too. I'll cooperate… to a point."

Buggy leaned forward eagerly. "Okay, okay, hear me out. We call the Elbaf giants. They owe me a favor."

Shanks' face darkened immediately. "Absolutely not."

"Wh—WHY?!" Buggy screeched.

"Because if the Dutchman gets near Elbaf, their island becomes the biggest spiritual anchor in the whole New World. Giants amplify ley currents, don't you ever read anything?"

Buggy threw his hands up. "I'm sorry I don't casually read cursed ley current theory in my spare time like some nerdy Emperor!"

Crocodile cut in, voice dry. "He's right. If Elbaf gets involved, the Dutchman absorbs their spiritual weight. The ship becomes unstoppable."

Buggy deflated. "Fine. No giants. No fun."

Shanks exhaled. "We stick to containment. We track, delay, and misdirect. Crocodile will handle the North Blue sectors. I'll move my fleet to the ley junction at Straits. Buggy—"

"I'm not bait," Buggy said immediately.

Shanks smirked. "No. You're our distraction."

Buggy blinked. "THAT'S WORSE!" He screeched.

Crocodile let out a low chuckle. "Relax. You're good at causing chaos. Use your 'powerful economic syndicate' to spread misinformation. Shift the Dutchman's attention. You'll live. Probably."

Buggy grumbled but didn't refuse. Shanks' tone turned hard. "This alliance isn't friendship. It's survival. The boys need time, and we're the ones who have to buy it."

Crocodile lit a cigar. "Then let's get to work."The unlikeliest alliance in the world began with three men who would normally never share a table.

Far from the world's chaos, atop a massive stone mesa on Eltros, carved by centuries of silent storms, Luffy, Ace, and Sabo trained under Rayleigh's watchful eye. The air shimmered with heat and haki as Ace and Sabo clashed at full force. Sparks flying, flames bursting, the ground cracking beneath them.

Luffy watched, still bandaged from earlier bruises, but grinning wide. "You guys are so cool!"

Rayleigh laughed. "They'll catch up to you soon enough, Luffy."

Sabo swung his staff, coated in Armament, but his grip slipped on a patch of slick stone. The weapon's arc redirected..straight toward Luffy. "LUFFY—!" Sabo shouted, too late.

Rayleigh moved, but he wouldn't reach in time. Ace's heart stopped. Something inside him snapped. A roar tore out of his chest and a shockwave exploded from his body of raw, blazing Conqueror's Hakierupting like a wildfire. Lightning cracked across the sky. The ground cratered. Even Sabo staggered back, eyes wide. Luffy froze, hair whipping in the wind of Ace's unleashed power.

Sabo gasped. "Ace—!"

Rayleigh stepped in immediately, pushing his own massive haki out to contain Ace's. "Breathe! Pull it back, Ace! CONTROL IT!"

Ace clutched his head, teeth gritted in pain as the haki spiraled out of control. His flames turned white blue as they spun like a tornado around him. His fruit was beginning to fully awaken. "I—I can't—! I thought Luffy—!"

Luffy, unfazed by the pressure, walked straight into the storm and grabbed Ace's arm. "I'm okay," he said with that simple, unshakeable smile. "Ace. You didn't lose me."

Ace's haki flickered, before it suddenly dropped. Ace collapsed to his knees, trembling. "Luffy… I thought I was gonna watch you die."

Sabo knelt beside him, guilt heavy in his voice. "I'm sorry. It was my fault."

Luffy pulled both into a hug. "It was an accident. That's why we're training, right?"

Rayleigh looked at the brothers—terrifying potential, raw emotion, old wounds and smiled softly. "They're growing faster than even Roger did," he murmured.

A shadow moved at the edge of the plateau. Rayleigh stood up, smiling knowingly. "About time." Having sensed his old friend.

Footsteps echoed. A tall, tan man with long black and silvery hair braided down his back approached, axes strapped to his hips. Behind him came several rugged figures; weathered faces, old scars, remnants of the greatest pirate crew ever assembled. Silvers Rayleigh called out warmly, "Gaban! Took you long enough."

Luffy's eyes widened. "Wait—you're—"

"Yes," Gaban said, voice deep and steady. "I've gathered the the last living officers of the former Pirate King."

Ace stiffened immediately, flames licking his arms. "Why are you here?"

Gaban didn't flinch. "Because Red asked. Shanks said you needed training that only we can provide."

Ace's jaw clenched. Distrust flickered in his eyes as memories of Roger, of the legacy he'd tried to reject for so long. Sabo stepped between them cautiously.

Luffy?

Luffy just grinned. "You came to help us get stronger? Awesome! I'm Luffy! I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

Gaban's stern face cracked into a smile. "Didn't I tell you boys about this one?" I asked gaining laughs for his old brothers in arms.

Ace frowned. "Don't compare him to—"

Gaban cut him off calmly. "Ace, you're not your father and you're not bound to his sins. I'm not here to drag you into his shadow."He placed both axes down in front of him in a gesture of peace. "I'm here to help you surpass him."Ace froze.

Rayleigh smirked. "Still think you don't need more training?"

Ace looked at Luffy who was bright-eyed and eager and Sabo steady and ready.

His brothers. He shook his head as he exhaled. "Fine. Train us. But I'm watching you."

JB grinned. "Good. You'll need that fire."

Rayleigh clapped his hands. "Alright boys, time to take your training from dangerous… to deadly."

The Big Top, Buggy's flagship, sailed in nervous formation alongside the Red Force and Crocodile's armored sandrunner cruiser, the Jakaline. A storm brewed overhead, but the winds were unnatural, spiraling inward toward a single point. The sea beneath them was beginning to lose its ripple.

Shanks stood at the bow, cloak snapping behind him as lightning flashed violet across the horizon. His sword Griffon hummed at his hip. Crocodile watched the sea deaden from the Jakaline's deck, cigar clenched between teeth. "It's here."

Buggy stood on the Big Top, captains jacket whipping dramatically, only slightly dampened by how violently he was shaking. "O-Of course it's here! I knew that! I'm a Yonko! I eat ghost ships for breakfast!"

A crewman whispered, "Captain, you skipped breakfast. You said your stomach hurt."

"SHUT UP, CABAJI!" He yelled over his shoulder gaining a grin from Shabks. That's when it happened. The ocean split with a low groan like the world crying out.
Fog surged upward in an instant, black and thick as ink when a colossal black hull emerged, covered in barnacles, rusted chains, and glowing runes older than most islands on the map. Green lanterns flickered along its edge. A skeletal figurehead snarled with gold lit eyes.

Shanks' jaw set. "Positions!"

Crocodile snapped. "Fire!"

Cannons from three ships roared, shattering the night, but when the cannonballs hit the Dutchman with muted thuds and sank into the wood, absorbed like droplets into sand.

Buggy shrieked, "THAT'S NOT FAIR! THAT'S CHEATING!"

The Dutchman's lanterns abruptly flared. A shockwave of green lightning erupted outward, slamming into the fleet. The Jakaline rocked violently; Crocodile steadied himself with a sand-arm. The Red Force held steady from sheer size and Shanks' iron will. However, the Big Top was lighter, weaker and was thrown back like a toy, half its sails torn instantly. Buggy's crew screamed.

"Captain, what do we do!?"

Buggy swallowed, trembling… until he saw their terrified faces. He forced himself to stand tall. "We fight it!" he yelled, voice cracking but bold. "I won't let ANY of my crew die today!"

His men froze, then cheered. Shanks, hearing the echo across the mist, couldn't help but smile. "Good job, Buggy."

A second shockwave hit, vertical this time. Shanks leapt, slashing lightning itself to split the blast apart. Crocodile unleashed a towering sandstorm to block another wave, but the sand turned black and dissolved as the energy passed through it.

The Dutchman fired no cannons. Instead, shadowy hull shards tore free from its sides, swirling like metal shrapnel guided by will alone. They shot toward the Big Top.

"CAPTAIN!" Buggy's men screamed.

Buggy's eyes widened—as the first shard sliced clean through the mast. Wood exploded as canvas flew like shredded wings. Another shard pierced the hull, detonating with green fire. Buggy stood amid the chaos, shaking but defiant. "GET TO THE LIFE BOATS! ALL OF YOU!"

"But Captain—!"

"That's an order!" He screamed at them and they obeyed.

Shanks saw him through the fog. "Buggy! Move! It's targeting you!"

The Dutchman seemed to focus as its lanterns narrowing like eyes. Buggy looked up at the looming cursed ship. He took a long, shaking breath and whispered mostly to himself. "…Roger would call me a coward if I ran."

He kicked off his boots, planted his feet, and spread his arms. When the final blast came, a beam of green lightning lanced straight through the Big Top. The ship erupted. Fire. Smoke. Shrapnel. A roar that shook the sea. Shanks' stomach dropped. Crocodile's eyes widened. Buggy's crew shrieked in horror.

"CAPTAIN BUGGYYYYYYYYY!"

The Big Top broke in half and sank in less than a minute. All that remained was burning driftwood, floating crates, and a few trembling pieces of Buggy's severed hair. Shanks bowed his head. "Damn."

Crocodile muttered, "That fool…"The Dutchman turned its attention away from the remaining fleet.

Below decks of the Dutchman, deep in the shadowed labyrinth of cursed planks and runes that pulsed like veins, a small red nosed head poked out of a mop bucket. Buggy's torso reassembled only partially wriggled next, trembling violently.

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD—" he whispered, hands clamped over his mouth so he didn't scream.

He had split himself the moment before the blast and sent his men to escape while he had drifted toward the Dutchman and reassembled itself inside. A stupid, insane plan; but it worked.

Buggy looked around at the rotting, pulsing wood. The corridors glowed green, filled with whispers and quiet moans of things not quite alive. "…I hate my life," he whispered. "I hate this ship. I hate ghosts. I hate cursed antiques. I hate Shanks."He patted his cheeks, trying to psych himself up. "Okay. Okay. Be the captain they think you are. You can do this, Buggy. You're a Yonko. A legend!"A shadow passed overhead. Buggy froze instantly, turning blue. "But I'm also about to DIE."

He darted deeper into the depths of the Dutchman, heart hammering, doing his absolute best to act like the fearless captain his crew believed in. Even if he wanted to cry.

Garp stormed into Sengoku's office, slamming the door so hard the Buddha-headed Den Den Mushi yelped.

"Sengoku! The ghost of the sea is back!"

Sengoku didn't look surprised. He didn't even look up. "I know, Garp."

Garp blinked. "You know?"

Sengoku sighed. "They've been hiding this from us," Sengoku said bitterly. "For decades."

"Who?" Garp growled.

Sengoku lowered his voice. "The Gorosei. And probably… someone above them."

Garp's blood ran cold. "You don't mean—"

"Yes," Sengoku said. "Him."

Garp punched the wall, cracking stone. "Damn those cowards! Playing with curses older than the Void Century? They'll get the whole world killed!"

Sengoku nodded grimly. "We're not dealing with a ghost story, Garp. This is a weapon and the Dutchman obeys something or other. someone, connected to the throne of the world."

Garp scowled. "Then looks like the Marines were never meant to win this fight."

Sengoku sighed. "No, but your grandsons might be."

Garp stared at him long and hard. Then he said one thing, voice low as thunder. "Then they better make sure they live long enough to try."Outside, the sky darkened unnaturally.

Buggy crept deeper into the Dutchman's underbelly, feet barely touching the warped planks. Every step made the floor pulse soft, spongy, alive. "Okay, Buggy… calm down," he whispered to himself, hugging his severed arms tight. "You're a Yonko. Yonko's don't cry. Yonko's don't pee their pants. Yonko's don't— AHHH!" Something dripped onto his shoulder. Slowly… very slowly… he tilted his head to look. It was a finger. He held up his hands to check. Nope, not his. It was shriveled, we and sinking into the floor like it was being swallowed. Buggy slapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from screaming. Ohhhhhh no. Nope. Nope. NOPE. He thought with shaking fear running through him.

He tip toed down the narrow corridor, heart thundering, trying not to look at the walls and absolutely failing, because the walls were looking back. Faces, some skeletal, some disturbingly fleshy, were fused into the planks. Their eyes were open. Mouths stretched as if mid-scream. Hands frozen as if clawing for escape.

Buggy gagged. "It's eating people… the ship is literally eating people…"

One face near the floor still had lips. They moved. "R…run…" it whispered.

Buggy jumped so hard his legs detached from panic. "Oh COME ON—!" he cried, dragging them back as quietly as he could. "Why does everything on this ship want to traumatize me?!"

He stumbled into another chamber larger, colder. Lanterns burned green. The smell of rust and ozone crackled in the air and ahead Buggy saw a hulking shape slammed against a wooden pillar.

Blackbeard.

Teach's body was half fused into the wall legs already merged, chest slowly sinking inward like the wood was swallowing him whole. His eyes darted wildly, foam at the edges of his beard. He strained against the living wood, teeth gnashing.

"ZEHAHAHA—! You think this can stop me?!" Teach roared, trying to wrest himself free. "I'll take your power too! I'll take ANYTHING! I'm the one named—!"

A groan rolled through the ship. Low. Ancient. Buggy flattened himself behind a rotted barrel, trembling violently, peeking through a crack. From the shadows of the captain's chamber… something emerged.

A figure with a long tattered coat, barnacle covered boots, and a beard that flowed with seaweed. His eyes were sunken voids glowing with drowned yellow fire. His body part rotting flesh and the rest was bones. His presence filled the room with crushing pressure that was ancient, mournful, and merciless.

But Buggy knew that captains cloak. Knew what the legends stated on who flew the Flying Dutchman and lo and behold there he was in the flesh; well sort of.

Davy Jones.

Buggy's breath stopped as Teach finally froze, fear slicing through his bravado. Jones stepped forward, each footfall echoing like a tidal bell. "YOU TOOK WHAT WAS NOT YOURS," Jones rumbled, voice like the bottom of the sea. "A DEVIL SOUL, BOUND BY CURSE AND FATE."

Teach hissed, fear turning to fury. "That fruit is mine! I earned it! You think you can—"

Jones' head tilted. "YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE COST OF WHAT YOU STOLE."

The walls groaned. Faces twisted. Teach screamed as the wood crept higher, pulling him in. "W-WAIT—! I'M BLACKBEARD! I'M— I'M—!"

Jones touched the wall with one boney barnacled hand. The entire ship inhaled. Teach's scream became muffled and then swallowed and then gone. Only his wide, terrified face remained, fused into the wood… still sinking. Buggy clamped a hand over his mouth so tight he nearly ripped it off.

Jones turned slightly just enough that Buggy felt those drowned eyes sweep the room. Buggy shrank behind the barrel like a terrified mouse. Jones whispered, low and chilling. "THERE IS ANOTHER ONBOARD." A growl came forth. "I smell HIM on you!"

Buggy's soul left his body for a full three seconds. …Nonononono, he means someone ELSE, right? RIGHT?! He thought as a groan rolled through the boards. Footsteps echoed. Jones stepped toward the corridor. Buggy's panic sent his body scattering into a myriad of pieces, eyes floating, head spinning, limbs scrambling silently up the walls. He reassembled himself inside a crawlspace knot in the ceiling, shaking uncontrollably.

"Okay," he whispered, barely able to talk. "You're on the scariest ship in history… the captain is literally the sea's undertaker… Blackbeard just got turned into wall décor… BUT YOU ARE BUGGY THE CLOWN. A LEGEND. A YONKO. YOU CAN—" He froze as the ceiling beneath him pulsed as a face formed.

Blackbeard's; before it whispered, "Zeh… ha… run…"

Buggy silently wanted to scream. He couldn't leave; not yet. If he escaped now, he'd only betray the faint hope his crew had in him. He had to learn what this ship wanted. As he crawled through the writhing tunnels, he whispered defiantly, but shaky, "I won't let my crew think their captain died scared." A pause. "…Even if he is absolutely, 100%, undoubtedly terrified."A distant groaning howl shook the ship. Jones was looking for him and Buggy knew couldn't hide forever.

After what felt like hours, of Buggy crawling through narrow crawlspaces that felt more like a throat than a hallway. The air grew warmer, moist, and strangely rhythmic; like the ship was breathing. He followed the pulse. Down twisting stairs. Through sinewy corridors. Past whispering faces embedded in the walls.

Buggy muttered, "If I live through this, I'm charging double for haunted-ship expeditions…"

The corridor opened into a massive circular chamber, a deep cavern carved into the Dutchman's center. Lanterns of green fire floated in slow orbits overhead. The walls were covered in pulsing wooden veins. The floor dipped down into a hollow basin where seawater churned in unnatural spirals. At the center stood a stone altar, ancient and barnacle encrusted.

Buggy swallowed. "I think I found the heart…" He crept closer, eyes darting around for Jones, instead he realized what this was, it was a temple.

Carved into the wall opposite the altar was a series of ancient murals etched so deep the lines glowed faintly with golden light. Buggy's breath caught.

On the left was a warrior with a sun shaped crown, elastic limbs, and a smiling face; Nika. Facing him was a towering dark demon, horned and clawed, wrapped in swirling shadows that resembled the abyss. The next panel showed the Flying Dutchman but not as it looked now. It was magnificent! Gold lined hull, wings of carved ivory, sails glowing with sunlight. A ship of hope, not horror. Nika stood upon its prow, arm raised, hand touching the forehead of a man with long hair and a captain's coat.

Buggy whispered, "Is that… Jones?"

The final mural showed Jones standing alone as Nika faded away. A crack split the ground beneath Jones' feet. Darkness rose. The ship twisted from within.

Buggy's voice trembled. "It… it used to be a holy ship. His ship."

Lightning crackled somewhere above deck. He didn't understand any of it until he saw the last carving. A single symbol carved beneath Jones' feet.

D.

Buggy staggered back, hand over his mouth. "Davy Jones… the first D… the originator of the Will of D?!" he gasped. "Nonononono! NOT MEANINGFUL LORE, ANYTHING BUT THAT—!" He scrambled behind the altar as something heavy approached. The chamber dimmed. The heart pulsed faster.

Davy Jones stepped into the room. Buggy went perfectly still, barely breathing. Jones approached the mural slowly, one hand tracing the sun crowned figure.

His voice was low and heavy. Weighted with centuries. "THE SUN GOD BETRAYED HIS OWN FATE."Buggy trembled as Jones turned toward the altar.

"THE WORLD FORGOT. BUT THE D. REMEMBER."Buggy nearly fainted. Jones leaned closer to the heart basin and whispered. "THE CHILDREN OF THE FIRE WILL SOON AWAKEN."The ship suddenly changed course.

Buggy clapped both hands over his mouth to stop himself screaming. Nonononono! The brothers! He's going after THEM—! He had to warn someone, but he was trapped in the belly of the world's oldest monster. Buggy pushed himself deeper into the shadows of the temple, mind racing. If Shanks or Luffy don't stop this thing, we're all doomed…!

The Red Force limped through the fog, hull scorched from the Dutchman's attacks. Crocodile's ship followed behind, sails ragged. Shanks stood at the bow, his face carved with grief. He stared at a piece of red cloth floating in the water, a piece of Buggy's shredded jacket.

"Captain… I'm so sorry." Benn Beckman said softly, knowing Shanks' heart was feeling heavy at the moment.

Shanks gripped the railing hard enough to crack it. "He was an idiot. Loud. Cowardly."His voice trembled. "But… he was my brother."

"He bought us time," Yassop said. "More than most would."

Shanks didn't answer. He only stared at the horizon, eyes burning. "We're not running," he said at last. "We regroup the fleets. Every ally. Every ship. We're not letting that thing touch Luffy."

Shanks entered the captain's cabin and grabbed a special Den Den Mushi, one Rayleigh had given him long ago. He dialed.

Brrrrrr… brrrrrr…

The snail's face shifted into Rayleigh's calm features. "Shanks," Rayleigh said. "If you're calling me on this line, things are worse than you told the others."

Shanks' jaw clenched. "It's Buggy," he whispered. "He… didn't make it."

Rayleigh's eyes softened. "I'm sorry."

"The Dutchman is heading straight for the boys," Shanks continued. "It's not random. It's hunting them."

Rayleigh's expression turned to steel. "Then we'll be ready."

Shanks exhaled shakily. "Rayleigh… take care of them. Please."

Rayleigh nodded once, firm. "Always."

When the call ended Shanks rested his forehead against the desk, shoulders shaking silently. "Oh, Buggy… you reckless idiot…"

Chapter Text

Chapter 24: Death of the Sun

Storm clouds churned in the distance, though the sun still shone on the brothers' training grounds. Rayleigh and Gaban stood side by side, watching the three young pirates push themselves harder than ever as they trained with their old brothers-in-arms. Luffy was dodging boulders JB hurled with frightening speed.

Sabo was spinning through a staff kata, embedding deep haki into every strike.
Ace was meditating with his fists engulfed in blue flame his Conqueror's Haki sparking around him like lightning trying to claw its way out. It was now very evident to both men that Ace's flame fruit had fully awakened.

Rayleigh crossed his arms. "They're close, but not close enough."

Gaban nodded. "They'll need more than strength. They need awareness, control and a purpose."

Rayleigh smirked. "Feel like giving another speech?"

Gaban sighed. "I'm not Roger."

"Good, Roger was a disaster at speeches."

Gaban chuckled and then cut off as Luffy froze mid step. The air suddenly changed. Luffy's posture went rigid, the wind around him shifting. His pupils shrank as his face turned deadly serious which was rare for him. Rayleigh recognized the signs instantly. He was using advanced observation haki.

"Luffy?" Sabo called, dropping his stance.

Ace rose to his feet, flames flickering in concern. "You okay?"

Luffy didn't answer. Slowly, he turned his head toward the far horizon toward the ocean miles and miles away. His voice came out in a whisper, quiet but trembling with dread. "…something hungry is coming."

Rayleigh stepped toward him. "What do you see, Luffy?"

Luffy shivered slightly. "I don't see it…"He swallowed hard. "I feel it."

Sabo frowned. "Feel what?"

Luffy's voice cracked, something rare and terrifying. "…terror."

A gale of wind slammed into the plateau. As the sky dimmed, Ace, heart pounding, muttered as he realized what it was. "…the Dutchman."

Rayleigh placed a steadying hand on Luffy's shoulder. "Then we have very little time."

Meanwhile, on the Thousand Sunny that was anchored on the beach of the island, the Strawhats were enjoying recovery and light training, that was until Luffy's haki wave rolled the plateau. It hit them like a shockwave. Usopp dropped his wrench as Zoro opened one eye sharply. Nami shivered and clutched her clima-tact. Even Brook's afro bristled. Franky stood up under the engine inside the Sunny. "Whoa, did the captain just send out a warning signal?"

Robin closed her book slowly. "Yes and not a subtle one."

Sanji lit a cigarette, frowning. "So the sea devil ship is coming."

Jinbei nodded gravely. "A threat ancient enough to unsettle the currents is very news."

Chopper spun in a panic. "We need allies! Lots of allies! Big ones! Strong ones! Ones who aren't terrifying ships that eat people!"

Marco stepped forward, arms crossed, flames flickering softly on his arms. "I'll call Pops."

Marco's Den Den Mushi morphed into Whitebeard's face, the great man looking tired, older than Marco had ever seen him.

"Marco," Whitebeard rumbled. "It's been a while."

Marco bowed his head. "Pops… we need your help. There's a ship, an ancient one. It's coming for Luffy, Ace, and Sabo."

Whitebeard's expression hardened at the mention of his sons' new captain and Luffy's brothers. Then his gaze softened, but with grim resolve. "I cannot," he said.

Marco's eyes widened. "Pops—!"

Whitebeard shook his head. "I've lost too many sons to myths, curses, and prophecies. I will not send the remnants of my family to die chasing a ghost."

Marco's fists clenched. "It isn't a myth."

"Even more reason," Whitebeard said quietly. "That makes it a death sentence."

Marco knelt in frustration. "Pops, please…" he begged. "They're in danger."

Whitebeard's eyes closed… pain etched across his face. "I trust my sons," he whispered. "But I will not bury any more of them." The call ended.

Marco stared at the silent snail, jaw trembling in shock and an emotional turmoil began to cause him to want to cry. Then a calm voice spoke on the Den Den as it reconnected to someone else's. "Good thing we don't always listen to Pops."

Marco eyes widened. Izou's face now on the snail, expression determined. "Turn around idiot." Marco turned his head and saw a ship sailing towards the island. Izou waved from the bow. Behind the samurai stood a small group of famous Whitebeard pirates, Haruta, Vista, Blamenco, Rakuyo, Atmos, and a few others. All troublemakers and all known to be disobedient boys. All who were fiercely loyal to Marco.

Izou smirked. "Well? Are we going to save your new captain or what?"

"Yes." Marco said with a grin.

Below deck, the Dutchman creaked and moaned like a beast in pain as Buggy worked frantically in the depths. "Okay… gunpowder from the Buggy Balls… extra fuses from under the boots… dynamite from my emergency 'please-don't-let-me-die' stash…"He placed the last explosive charge against a section of the hull that pulsed like a giant heart artery. "Please work. PLEASE work. Please don't explode early. Please don't make noise. Please—"The wood shuddered causing Buggy to freeze.

A deep voice boomed through the ship:

"INTRUDER."

Buggy panicked and struck the fuse by accident. It hissed as it lit. "Oh COME OOOOON—!"Buggy dove under a broken beam just as there was a loud noise.

BOOOOOOOOM!

An explosion ripped through the rear of the Dutchman. The entire ship bucked violently, glowing green cracks spidering across its hull. Dead lanterns shattered as the sea hissed as burning fragments fell into the water. Up above on top deck, Jones roared in fury. "YOU DARE!"

Buggy scrambled at full speed. "OH NO OH NO OH NO—HE'S DEFINITELY MAD—!"

Jones materialized from a curl of shadow, half of his face carved from coral, half skeletal as his eyes burned with fury. He looked around the shattered rear deck, splintered timber everywhere. "THE LITTLE CLOWN," he growled, voice shaking the ship. "HAS AWAKENED MY WRATH."

Buggy, hiding behind a mast, whispered quietly. "…I should not have done that…" The ship groaned, wood twisting like a serpent. Every embedded face in the walls screamed.

Jones bellowed out. "I WILL FIND YOU."

Buggy whimpered, as he thought back. "No, you won't, nope nope nope!"As he crawled deeper into the bowels of the ship, running for his life.

Miles away, Shanks and Crocodile reorganized their armada, they were battle scarred but reinforced by friendly crews and independent allies. Shanks pointed ahead. "Full speed! We cut it off before it reaches the boys!"

Crocodile narrowed his eyes. "It's turning. No, something hit it."

"Buggy?" Shanks whispered as hope flickered for the first time since Buggy's ship burned. He watched minor explosions burst outwards from the rear deck, but Shanks' face turned grim as theDutchman did not slow, nor did it falter; or retaliate. It simply… ignored the fleet and pressed toward one destination.

Crocodile exhaled smoke. "It wants them and only them."

Shanks gritted his teeth. "Then Rayleigh needs every warning I can give."He grabbed the Den Den Mushi again. "Hold on, boys..."

Meanwhile the brothers paused mid training as the earth beneath them shuddered. Not violently or like an earthquake or a storm. It was deeper than that. Like vibration in the bones or in the soul. Like the entire island had taken a single, involuntary breath.

Rayleigh's head snapped toward the ocean. Gaban's hand went straight to his axes. Luffy's teeth clenched as he tried to ignore the screams. Ace's flames flickered slightly with worry as Sabo's grip tightened on his staff. The Strawhats, from the beach below, all stopped at once, eyes widening as they all sensed something powerful coming their way.

That was when the horizon darkened as a long, creeping shadow slid over the sea surface. It was like fog had coiled with fingers around a throat.

Usopp swallowed hard. "Guys… GUYS—look!"His observation haki allowed him to see it before they did. The ocean began to split in the distance, as though something enormous moved beneath it.

Franky's sunglasses slipped down his nose. "That thing's displacing the water…SUPER not okay…!"

Chopper squeaked, "It's heading straight for us!"

Nami shouted, "Battle stations! NOW! Everyone, MOVE!" The Strawhats rushed to positions, preparing the Sunny for combat, though none of them had any idea how to fight whatever was coming.

Marco's eyes widened. They'd called for allies, too late! The Dutchman was already here and even he, with his immortal abilities, could feel the fingers of death coming for them.

Robin murmured, "The air feels… ancient."

Sanji flicked his lighter. "Yeah. This is no damn ship."

Jinbei growled, "Let's hope the captain is ready."

"It's hungry." Luffy stated as he felt the slimy fingers of fear try to wrap around him.

Further out at sea, Shanks' armada formed a defensive wall across the Dutchman's direct path. Crocodile stood at the rail of his sand-coated flagship, coat flapping wildly. "It's accelerating. This is madness."

Shanks gritted his teeth. "It can't reach the island."The Red Force surged ahead. "RAM IT!" Shanks roared and the crew obeyed without hesitation.

BOOOOOOOM—!

The Red Force slammed into the Dutchman's hull with full speed and fury and bounced off like it had struck a mountain. Wood splintered as the men tumbled. The adams wood mast cracked, but the Dutchman did not so much as tilt.

Shanks wiped blood from his lip. "Fine." His aura shifted as the sky tore open around him. Clouds spiraled into a vortex overhead.

Crocodile stepped back, eyes widening. "Shanks—don't—if you use that—!"

Shanks leapt into the air, as his haki erupted from his body like the wrath of a deity. DIVINE DESTRUCTION — HEAVEN-SHATTERING RED. A crimson slash of pure, overwhelming Conqueror's Haki tore from his blade taking form of a griffin and the air itself screamed as it shot toward the Dutchman. The ocean bowed under the force as the sky split. Crocodile shielded his eyes against the blinding light.

That's when finally the Dutchman reacted. Not by slowing or turning, but by defending. A massive, pitch black tentacle that was formed entirely of condensed, ancient Haki, burst out of the ship's shadow like a spear of the abyss. It wrapped around Shanks mid attack. Shanks gasped as the pressure crushed his ribs. "W—what?!"

The tentacle yanked him downward and dragged him into the Dutchman's deck.

Crocodile's eyes went white with shock.

"SHANKS!"

The tentacle dissolved into mist and Shanks was gone. Taken by a ship, which left the fleet to fall into horrified silence.

In the Dutchman's depths, Buggy pressed against a pulsating wall of black wood, trying not to hyperventilate as he heard Jones' enraged roar echoing through the ship. Then something else caught his eye. A faint glow. Another mural that was far more ancient, cracked, half rotted and hidden behind a tangle of fleshy beams.

It depicted Nika in radiant white light and beside him was Davy Jones and the Dutchman as it once was. Beautiful, bright and not as it is now.

Buggy whispered, "You… used to be a good guy." He looked at the mural. "What happened?" He lifted a lighter to see better, illuminating the carved text below. He couldn't read the script but he could that last part. The words IMU were etched into it. He'd heard that name before. A single truth hit him like a hammer. The Dutchman was powered by corrupted darkness and vulnerable to pure, soul born light; Nika's light.

Buggy staggered backward. "Oh… oh fuck… I am so screwed." His mind spun.

If Nika could purify it…then where was- His brain froze on that track.

Luffy.

Buggy swallowed. Oh I don't want to be the kid right now. "Kid… you're the only one who can save or destroy this monster."

That's when the ship lurched. A heavy thud landed above him as if someone had been thrown onto the deck. A familiar voice groaned in pain.

Shanks. Buggy's blood turned to ice. Jones' furious growl rolled down the stairs:

"NIKA'S FRIEND HAS COME TO DIE."

Buggy whispered. "…Oh crap. Oh CRAP. I gotta save him…" He clenched his trembling fists. "…because the idiot would save me."

Shanks crashed onto the ancient deck with a painful thud, skidding across warped planks that pulsed like veins. He immediately pushed himself upright, sword drawn, bleeding but defiant. The ship groaned under him as fog pooled at his feet that's then Davy Jones stepped out of the mists.

His form shifted between skeletal, barnacle encrusted armor, and shadowy tendrils that twitched with a will of their own, but it was the eyes that were ancient, gold, sunken in void that made Shanks' breath hitch. He'd met many beings in his life but never one that made fear coil in his gut just from the sight of them.

Jones spoke, voice grinding like a thousand drowned throats. "THE LAST SON OF ROGER. YOU REEK OF SUNLIGHT."

Shanks raised his blade. "Good." He grinned but it wasn't one that reached his eyes like his usual. "Then let me go."

Jones' head tilted, almost curious. "AND WASTE A MEAL?"

Shanks' Conqueror's Haki erupted like red lightning, shattering the fog around him, splintering the wood and causing the Dutchman to screeched. Jones staggered, but did not fall. Instead, the shadows surged upward, forming dozens of tentacles of pure haki. They wrapped around Shanks, trying to crush him. The deck beneath him pulsed as if the ship was trying to devour him.

Shanks gritted his teeth, aura blazing. "Not today." His haki flared so violently the sky above the ship split with red cracks.

Jones' voice rumbled. "YOU ARE STRONG, BUT NOT ENOUGH."The tentacles tightened.

Shanks' bones creaked. He screamed in pain and just as darkness was creeping at the edges of his vision, Shanks heard a voice whispered behind him. "Hang on you red haired bastard, ONE BUGGY BALL SPECIAL DELIVERY!"

KA-POW! Followed by a BOOM! filled the air as explosion after explosion detonated through the upper deck. Shanks and Jones both reeled as the entire right half of the Dutchman split down the middle, wood ripping like torn flesh. Splinters rained everywhere as screaming was heard.

"RUN, MORON!"

Shanks blinked. "…Buggy?!"

From the split deck, Buggy's torso flew in, arms spinning wildly as he grabbed Shanks by the collar. "Come on, dumbass! MOVE!" Buggy shrieked, dragging Shanks bodily toward the gap.

"Buggy—how—what—?"

"No time!" Buggy yelled. "The ship eats people! The wood EATS PEOPLE! Don't get sentimental on me just fucking RUN!" Behind them, Jones' shadows surged. Buggy's legs floated behind them, kicking wildly to add speed. "Also that guy? The one trying to chew you like a snack?!" Buggy choked on fear. "THAT'S DAVY JONES."

Shanks went pale. "The legend—?!"

"HE'S REAL AND HE'S ANGRY AND THIS SHIP IS LITERALLY ALIVE SO GO FASTER!"

The two pirates sprinted across splitting decks as black tentacles tore through the planks behind them. "YOU DARE DEFY MY WILL?" Jones thundered, voice shaking the sky. "THE TASTES OF YOUR SOULS ARE MINE."

"WE'RE NOT ON THE MENU!" Buggy shrieked.

"Stop yelling!" Shanks snapped, his ear hurting from Buggy's screaming and now so was his arm after all of the tugging. It felt like when they were kids again running away from Rayleigh's anger.

"IF YOU SAW WHAT I SAW DOWN THERE YOU'D BE YELLING TOO! THIS SHIP IS A WALKING BUFFET OF NIGHTMARES!"

Another explosion rocked the ship from below, one of Buggy's earlier sabotage still detonating in chain reactions. The Dutchman lurched sideways and Jones staggered but remained upright and extended a finger at Shanks.

"YOU CANNOT ESCAPE. NIKA'S BELOVED FRIEND BELONGS TO ME."

Buggy grabbed Shanks tighter. "YEAH WELL HE'S MY STUPID BROTHER FIRST, SO BACK OFF, BARNACLE SHIT FACE!"

Jones' shadowy arm shot toward them, Buggy split himself into dozens of pieces, activating his true devil fruit, dragging Shanks through a small narrow crack in the damaged hull. Shanks' eyes widening in shock as his own body separated and followed Buggy into the dark and narrow crack. The only thought running through his mind was, what the fuck.

Back on the island, the roar of the Dutchman approaching shook the soil like a beast was climbing out of the ocean.

Rayleigh shouted, "GO! NOW!"

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy sprinted down the mountainside at blistering speed. Sabo's breath came hard. "That ship is moving too fast!"

Ace's fists burned with blue flame. "It'll crash into the beach!"

Luffy's heart hammered not from fear, but because something was whispering inside his mind. A warm voice that was older than the sea. Nika.

"The ship's souls are waiting, boy."

"What do you mean waiting?!" Luffy shouted aloud.

Ace glanced back. "Luffy, who are you talking to?!"

To free them… you must die.

Luffy stumbled. "What?! No! That doesn't make sense!" He frowned. You've said this before. To activate gear five I must die. But how can I activate it if I'm dead!?

Sabo grabbed his arm. "Luffy! Focus!"

But Luffy wasn't hearing him anymore. Nika's voice echoed through his body like a drumbeat. Death is not the end for you, but the chains on that ship will only break when your light goes out.

Luffy shook his head violently. "I—I don't know how to die!"

Ace and Sabo froze mid step, horrified. "What did you just say?!" Ace yelled.

But Luffy wasn't talking to them anymore. He was talking to the voice inside him, Nika whispered. "You will." A smile appeared in his minds eye. "Then we shall live."

The cliffside trembled and the beach shook as then, with a roar like the world splitting in half, the Flying Dutchman crashed into the shoreline, ghostly lanterns blazing green. Fog billowed violently, covering the entire beach in seconds.

The Strawhats drew their weapons, having not been able to move the Sunny in time. Jinbei shouted, "Brace yourselves!"

Brook trembled. "There it is… the ship of the dead, think it's come for me?"

Zoro drew Enma. "Finally."

Sanji lit a cigarette. "Let's make this fast."

As atop the cliff, Luffy stared wide eyed as the monstrous ship loomed like a nightmare, Ace and Sabo flanked him.

Ace whispered, "Luffy… we're with you. Always."

Sabo tightened his grip on his staff. "No matter what you heard… you're not dying today."

Luffy swallowed hard. "…I don't wanna die." He looked at his brothers. "I have too much to live for! I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

Ace placed a hand on his shoulder. "Then don't."

Downward, the Dutchman's hull cracked open, glowing with the souls trapped inside and the ancient entity roared with untamed fury. "NIKA! COME TO ME."

Luffy's heartbeat stuttered. "…Fine," Luffy whispered. "Come get me." He then grinned. "But my name is Luffy, not Nika!"

The air thickened as a pressure of ancient, crushing, cold haki rolled across the beach like a tide of darkness. The Dutchman pulsed once, like a heartbeat. A wave of black haki blasted outward, invisible and irresistible. Luffy gasped as it slammed into him. "A—ah?!" His feet skidded as sand tore beneath him. He tried to dig in his heels, but his body lurched forward against his will.

"LUFFY!" Ace shouted, grabbing his arm.

"Got you!" Sabo grabbed the other.

The haki then wrapped around Luffy like invisible chains, pulling him toward the shattered maw of the Dutchman's hull.

Rayleigh's eyes widened. "It's dragging him in—!"

Gaban swore under his breath. "This is no normal haki! This is something older!"

Luffy strained, teeth gritted, muscles bulging. "Let go—!"But the pull intensified until his feet left the ground. "NO—NO! LET GO OF ME!" He tried to get his little brothers to let go of him, scared they'd get hurt. Ace and Sabo held on harder, both dragged across the sand.

Ace's fire exploded around them. "I'm not losing you! Not ever!"

Sabo poured every ounce of haki into his grip. "We're with you, Luffy!"

The ground tore open behind them as the three brothers were ripped toward the Dutchman. The Strawhats charged, shouting their captain's name, but the haki barrier threw them back like insects. Jinbei slammed into it with his full weight and was hurled into a boulder. Zoro's swords sparked uselessly against it. Sanji kicked it and burned his leg through his pant leg.

Nami screamed, "LUFFY!"

Luffy's eyes wide with panic not for himself, but because he knew what waited in that darkness. The voices of the trapped souls whispered. "Nika… Nika… come home…"

Luffy's breath hitched as he was yanked off the ground dragging Ace and Sabo with him straight into the Dutchman.

Rayleigh's expression hardened into something cold and deadly. "We're going in." His hand went to the hilt of his sword.

Gaban nodded. "I feel it too."

Rayleigh inhaled sharply as his observation pressed outwards. "Shanks… and Buggy."

Gaban's brow furrowed. "Alive?"

Their haki signatures were faint, buried deep within the ship… but unmistakable. "Then we rescue the idiots," Rayleigh said. He kicked off the ground with a burst of haki, Gaban following, launching straight toward the open maw of the Dutchman.

The inner corridors twisted like the ribcage of a sea monster. Flesh merged with wood. Faces pressed out from the walls, whispering, sobbing, shrieking. Shanks limped, one arm over Buggy's shoulder after they had reformed. Which was crazy as fuck!

Buggy hissed, "Move faster! He's RIGHT BEHIND US!"

Shanks growled, "Stop yelling in my ear—!"

Buggy cut him off, panic blazing in his eyes. "STOP COMPLAINING AND RUN, RED HAIRED! WE ARE IN HELL!"

Behind them, the shadows thickened AS Jones' footsteps echoed like the tolling of a massive bell. "YOU CANNOT HIDE FROM ME," Jones growled. "I CAN SMELL THE SUN ON YOU."

Buggy shrieked and dragged Shanks faster. "He means YOU! You're the sun-blessed guy! Not me!"

"Buggy—shut up," Shanks muttered, though his voice shook. They rounded a corner and stopped dead. A wall of screaming faces blocked their path, melting and reforming. The ship had sealed their exit.

Buggy's voice cracked. "Oh… oh no… oh no no no—"

Shanks released Buggy and raised his sword. "Then we cut through."

Before he could swing the entire ship vibrated with a sudden BOOM of haki and power. Jones' calm, cold voice wavered for the first time. "…NO."

Another boom followed by another. The wood trembled. Buggy gasped. "What the hell is that?!"

Shanks blinked before a grin small but fierce one broke across his face. "That's Luffy."

Far deeper within the ship Luffy crashed against the inner holds, the souls swarming around him, whispering, begging as the haki pulled him tighter, trying to smother him. Luffy's eyes widened, breath ragged. What do I do? But Nika didn't answer this time, only the souls did.

"Free us… free us… free us…"

Luffy clenched his fists. "No."His voice shook, not from fear, but with fury. "You want to eat me? Fine."His hair began to rise from static as his haki began to ebb out of him in soft waves of energy. "You wanna control me? FINE."Lightning crackled up his arms. "But you don't get to hurt my brothers…"His aura flared bright gold and red, shaking the ship walls. "OR MY FRIENDS—!"The Dutchman screamed as Luffy roared out. "GEAR—!"His muscles began to swell as patters appeared on his arms. Clouds of steam spiraled like a divine storm. "FOUR!"The explosion of power tore through the ship like a dozen cannons going off. Souls wailed as timber cracked and for a moment the darkness around him recoiled.

Jones staggered where he stood, shadows twisting violently around him.

Shanks and Buggy froze in shock as Jones let out a guttural, furious roar. "NO—! NOT HERE—NOT NOW—!"

Shanks blinked. "What… what is that form?"

Buggy's jaw trembled. "That's Gear Four and boy is he pissed!"Jones slammed a tentacle of haki into the wall, splintering it. Buggy grabbed Shanks by the collar again.

"See that? THAT'S OUR CUE! RUN!"

Shanks didn't even argue because for the first time since stepping onto the Dutchman, Shanks felt hope and Jones felt fear.

The Dutchman groaned as planks shivered under the weight of Luffy's gear four. Its shadows reached out like writhing tendrils, attempting to drag him deeper into the ship's core. On the beach, Ace clenched his fists, flames bursting into brilliant blue phosphorescence. Every bead of fire burned hotter than normal, heat wavering in waves even above the storm lashed sand and air shimmered with haki energy.

"I'm not letting it touch him!" Ace roared.

Sabo stepped forward, his staff crackling with haki enhanced energy. He pumped haki into Ace's flames, reinforcing each blast as if the air itself obeyed their command. The combination was a devastating explosion. A tidal wave of blue fire erupted across the ship's hull. Sea stone planks hissed and warped. Even the Dutchman's cursed wood screamed as it resisted the heat. Smoke curled like ghosts fleeing a funeral pyre.

Ace's hair glowed white hot in the reflection. "SABO! KEEP IT UP!"

Sabo nodded, spinning his staff, a shimmering blue aura connecting his strikes to Ace's fire. Every hit, every blaze, every pulse of energy was amplified, their attacks synchronizing in perfect rhythm.

"We're coming, Luffy!" Sabo shouted.

The Dutchman lurched violently, the ship's heart glowing from deep inside. The shadows howled in protest. As deep inside the ship, Shanks and Buggy pressed against a corridor wall, hearts pounding.
The corridors twisted like serpents, faces screaming from the walls. From the darkness, ghostly fighters, the manifested shadows of souls trapped aboard, emerged, swinging spectral swords and reaching with blackened claws.

"Stay calm…" Shanks muttered, raising his blade. His haki flared, slicing through one ghostly figure, making it dissipate in screams of lost time.

Buggy, sweat pouring down his face, yelled, "CALM?! I'M TERRIFIED! THE SHIP'S FULL OF DEAD PEOPLE TRYING TO EAT US AND KILL US!"

Shanks gave him a sharp glare. "Then move faster!"

From above, a hurricane of haki burst as Rayleigh and Gaban landed with the grace of predators. "Over here!" Shanks shouted, pointing at a dead end corridor. Rayleigh's hands glowed with precise bursts of Haki. "Watch the walls, they attack like sentries."

Gaban's axes struck with overwhelming force, scattering spectral fighters with shockwaves that splintered the warped wood beneath them. Buggy's eyes widened. "I can't believe this…Of all the people, you two just had to be the ones to save our asses."

Shanks grinned grimly. "Try not to get eaten before they notice you."

Together, they cut a path through the corridors, Rayleigh and Gaban suppressing the ghostly soldiers while Buggy dragged Shanks along, terrified but determined.

"STAY CLOSE AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T PANIC!" Buggy screamed, hopping over melting skeletons embedded in the walls.

The Dutchman groaned, sensing its prey escaping. Davy Jones' voice echoed:

"YOU WRETCHED INTRUDERS. YOUR SUN CANNOT HIDE FOREVER!" Shanks didn't even have time to respond as the ghostly fighters surged again, and the corridors shook as the ship itself seemed to writhe in anger.

Back on the deck, Ace's blue phosphorus flames ripped through the outer hull. Sabo's haki enhanced staff strikes reinforced every strike, burning a path through shadowy appendages, ghostly warriors, and warped wood.

"ALMOST THERE!" Ace shouted. "LUFFY! HOLD ON!"

The Dutchman howled, its shadow limbs flailing wildly to block the attack, but Ace and Sabo moved as one, relentless, synchronized, unstoppable. Each step closer to Luffy charged the air with heat, light, and energy. Even the beach trembled as the combined aura of the brothers resonated, shaking the fog and sending spectral lanterns tumbling. The Strawhats were blow away by the combined strength of the brothers.

The first glimpse of Luffy, in full fury, appeared through the shattered hull as shadows recoiled from the aura, the trapped souls inside moaning as if in relief.

Ace grinned through the blue blaze. "We're here!"

Sabo's staff glinted as he raised it high. "Time to save him!"

Inside the Dutchman, Shanks, Buggy, Rayleigh, and Gaban pressed forward through twisting corridors. Ghostly fighters swarmed, but the combined skill and haki of the four were unstoppable.

All the while Ace and Sabo's fiery assault had the ship screaming, smoke curling, black wood cracking, and Luffy's gear four aura radiating like a beacon as deep within the Dutchman, Davy Jones screamed his frustration as the boy pirate Luffy surged into full power. "NO! IMPOSSSSSIBLE!"

Buggy froze, then whispered urgently to Shanks: "…That idiot kid… He's wrecking this ship from the inside and outside! WE HAVE TO GET TO HIM! NOW!"

Shanks nodded grimly, gripping his sword tighter. "Then let's move. No more running."

Buggy gulped, heart pounding. "…I HATE THIS."The corridors twisted like a living nightmare as Shanks, Buggy, Rayleigh, and Gaban cut through ghostly fighters.
The ship shrieked with every step, groaning like a beast in pain. Buggy, sweat pouring down his face, stumbled over a splintered skeleton embedded in the wall. "I hate this—HATE IT! I am not paid enough to die on a cursed ship!"

Shanks ignored him, sword glowing with concentrated Haki. "Then move faster. Luffy's up there, and he won't last long against that thing."

A massive set of doors loomed ahead, warped and twisted, with green lantern light flickering through cracks. Beyond them, the main deck awaited—where Luffy's powerful aura clashed with the shadows and Davy Jones' tentacle haki fury. Buggy's hands shook, but he gritted his teeth. "Alright… blue clown time."He split himself, sending half of his body slamming into the massive doors. The deck warped and splintered, giving Shanks and the others a narrow, dangerous path forward.

On the deck above, Ace's blue-phosphorus flames scorched through blackened planks, melting cursed wood and sea stone remnants alike. Sabo's haki infused strikes reinforced the attacks, creating explosive bursts that forced the Dutchman's shadowy limbs to recoil.

"We're almost there!" Ace yelled, flames surging like liquid sapphire.

"Hold on, Luffy!" Sabo added, spinning his staff in a haze of blazing energy and haki.

The main deck was now fully in view, Luffy standing at its center roaring as he attacked the shadows that were curling like snakes but suddenly, the air around the ship shifted.

From the unseen depths of the world, a pulse of darkness slammed into the Dutchman. The shadows on the ship writhed in unnatural agony. Spears of pure, black energy that were born of an ancient, forbidden will, shot through the ship like dark lightning until they pierced Luffy's body.

"LUFFY!" Ace screamed, flames flickering violently.

Sabo's staff surged with energy, but the black spears moved too fast, piercing flesh and haki alike. Luffy went limp, falling to his knees. Gear four deflated, steam billowing weakly around him. Buggy staggered back. "Oh crap… oh no… he's… he's down!"

Shanks' grip on his sword tightened, teeth clenched. "Stay calm. We'll save him." his voice not above a whisper as he was mostly talking to himself.

Rayleigh and Gaban moved with precision, cutting through shadows that now converged like rivers of black ink and then the Dutchman responded. Davy Jones' roar shook the deck. "YOU DARE TOUCH MY PREY?!" The words confused everyone because didn't that last attack come from Jones?Tentacles of condensed Haki shot out, sweeping through the corridors and deck alike. Shanks, Buggy, Rayleigh, and Gaban were slammed backward, tearing through ghostly soldiers. The deck splintered under the force. Ace's flames and Sabo's haki empowered strikes met walls of black tentacle, barely making them budge.

Everywhere, the ship fought like a living creature. The air burned, the shadows howled, and the souls trapped in the Dutchman screamed for release. Buggy clung to Shanks. "I knew today would be my last… but this is WAY too much!"

Shanks glared at him. "Focus. If Luffy dies here, the world dies with him!"

Then, through the chaos, something different echoed. Adeep, resonant DRUMBEAT. At first, it was faint, barely audible over the roar of the ship and the fury of Davy Jones. Then louder. Thump… thump… thump… The sound seemed to come from inside his body, limp and pierced by the ancient darkness, twitched slightly.

The drums pulsed through him, shaking the black spears lodged in his flesh.

Shanks froze mid-strike. "What… is that?"

Buggy's eyes went wide. "That's…impossible." He breathed quietly.

The black spears wavered as the Dutchman shuddered. Davy Jones hissed, furious, his golden eyes flaring like molten metal. "NO! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

Deep within the Dutchman, the trapped souls began to stir. Light, faint but growing, pushing against the darkness. Luffy's chest rose slowly. His eyes fluttered open, a violet glint within them.
Gear four began to melt away, as steam began flaring. White puffy clouds began to appear around his body as it began to shift and tremble.

"He's not dead."Ace whimpered as tears flowed down his cheeks. His flames surged higher, Sabo's staff blazed and the first hope of victory began to shimmer in the midst of the Dutchman's overwhelming darkness.

Chapter Text

Chapter 25: The Awakening

As soon as the black spears of IMU's darkness pierced Luffy's body, dragging him downward, he was suddenly inside of his mind and it was not silent; instead it was chaotic. First he found himself in a void, a chaotic battlefield of swirling shadows and whispers. IMU's voice rang, deep and cold, almost gentle in its seduction. "Luffy… you can be more than a pirate. With power beyond imagination. A king of the world that rules everything. You can bend fate itself. You would be unstoppable."

Luffy fell to his knees in the mental chaos, clutching his chest. Visions of darkness, chains and a throne of shadows with weapons around it pressed in on him, but in the corner of that void, a small, golden light shimmered."Not that… not that way." Luffy whispered to himself. "I… I don't want to be a king. I don't want to rule the world. I want…" He remembered his friends, his brothers. The seas they had yet to explore. The freedom of adventure. Laughing at being the freest man alive. A rhythmic heartbeat with a strong pulse pushed outwards like a sonic wave. "I want to be the King of Pirates! Not some fake, dark throne!"

An explosion of light burst outwards from his body, shooting into the darkness illuminating a being covered in a black shroud, its sharp teeth extended in a devilish smile full of deception. The golden crown on its head caught the light causing a reflection of light to shoot out from it. Suddenly Luffy was grabbed from behind. Looking up he saw Nika grinning. "Shall we?" He asked as he pulled his hand back, fisted it. "Shishishi…" Luffy laughed. "Yes!" He yelled as he pulled his fist back as well.

The being IMU recovered quickly and turned its attention back to Luffy now that it could see when its red eyes bulged when twin fists came at him and punch IMU in the face. Nika held Luffy's shoulder as the two merged into one. "Get out of my mind!" Luffy yelled, lacing the words with haki.

Outside of his mind, Luffy's body convulsed as the black spears of darkness recoiled. The mental chaos intensified, but the small golden light expanded. It became a radiant fire, spinning inside him. The light grew until it burned away the shadows. The whispers of IMU's voice twisted and screamed in his mind. "You cannot resist! You cannot control him—HE BELONGS TO ME NIKA!"

The golden light flared, erupting into Nika's pure soul-light, filling every corner of Luffy's mind with warmth, laughter and the freedom of the sun. Luffy clenched his fists. "I am Luffy… I'll be the King of Pirates! I… will… live free!"

With a final surge, the light expelled IMU's darkness from him. The shadows shattered. IMU's cold voice was ripped away, replaced by the roar of the sea and the laughter of Nika. The inner void collapsed, leaving Luffy standing tall, radiating a golden brilliance that pulsed like the heartbeat of the world itself.

Back on the deck, the black spears of IMU that had pierced him dissipated. Luffy gasped for air, golden light flaring around him. Steam and haki exploded outward as Gear Five exploded, was infused with Nika's soul light.

The Dutchman shuddered as the souls trapped aboard stirred and screamed in relief, their chains cracking under the brilliance. Ace's blue phosphorus flames surged higher, reflecting Luffy's light as Sabo's haki empowered strikes ignited in tandem.

Buggy, Shanks, Rayleigh, and Gaban all froze for a moment, stunned by the intensity of the glow. "Is… that…?" Buggy whispered, eyes wide. "Is that… HIM? Luffy? No… that's… that's Nika!"

Shanks' grip on his sword tightened. "He's awake. He's truly awake."

Davy Jones recoiled, his void eyes widening in shock. His tentacle haki surged, thrashing like a hurricane, but now it struck against pure light, not mere flesh.

"IMPOSSIBLE! YOU—YOU ARE MINE!" Jones roared, shadows flaring, the ship trembling. The Dutchman writhed violently, but its grip on the brothers weakened. Even the fog of souls that had fed its power flickered, as if repelled by something ancient, pure, and unbreakable.

Luffy stepped forward, light blazing like a sunrise over the sea. His fists pulled back, impossibly far before his hand burst into fire before it came back at impossible speed and hit the boney form of Jones himself. "Gomu Gomu no Red Roc!"

Buggy and Shanks pushed through the last of the ghostly fighters, Rayleigh and Gaban cutting a path with haki shockwaves. The Dutchman shook violently, its deck warping, wood groaning like the last breath of the damned. Luffy raised his fist. Light coalesced around it, golden steam roaring with explosive force and from the heart of the ship, the trapped souls seemed to pulse in resonance with him as the battle between light and darkness, freedom and control had truly begun.

The Dutchman groaned, its cursed wood splintering under the golden brilliance radiating from Luffy. The trapped souls aboard trembled, some whispering faint words of hope as chains cracked and shattered. Ace and Sabo flanked him, flames surging like twin suns. Every strike they made reinforced Luffy's golden aura, pushing back the darkness that had clung to the ship for centuries.

Buggy clung to Shanks, his eyes wide, mouth agape. "I… I don't know how I survived this long, but I'm never gonna top this day!"

Shanks gritted his teeth, focusing. "Then keep moving. The kid's doing the impossible, we just have to keep the ship from falling apart around him."

Rayleigh and Gaban pressed forward, cutting through ghostly soldiers as they fought toward Luffy. "Does this remind you of something?" Gaban asked Rayleigh.

"You mean of the time Roger took on the supposed cursed Father Time?" Rayleigh shuddered at the memory. "Don't remind me."

Gaban laughed as he swung his axes. "Too late!"

Luffy's chest glowed, golden light pulsing like a heartbeat. "Gomu Gomu!" he roared, stretching and expanding his body in ways that defied the natural laws of the world. Steam hissed and spiraled as haki flared, shimmering like molten gold.

The Dutchman screamed as the light penetrated its core. Timbers cracked, the cursed wood splintered, and entire sections of the ship disintegrated in bursts of golden fire. Tentacles of haki erupted from Davy Jones, thrashing to maintain control, but the golden aura was unstoppable. Jones screamed, fury echoing off the cursed hull. "YOU—IMPUDENT CHILD! I WILL NOT BE PURIFIED!"

Luffy grinned. "Shishishi." He laughed as he bounced from the deck into the

The ghost captain's body twisted violently as Nika's light enveloped him. Tentacle after tentacle struck, attempting to crush Luffy, Ace, and Sabo, but their combined power was a storm of golden fire, blue flames, and haki infused strikes. As Luffy bounced, the deck turned rubbery and he used the momentum of the bouncy surface to throw Davy Jones off balance and as the captain became airborne, Luffy threw Ace at the ghost captain. Ace shouted as flames licked his arms. "FLAME EMPEROR!"

Heat shimmers around him, and the air itself becomes volatile, warping from the intensity of his flames. Drawing on the full power of the Mera Mera no Mi, he gathers an immense concentration of fire above his outstretched hands. The flames swirl and compress, growing brighter and hotter as they accumulate. A vortex of orange red fire soon swells into a colossal, blazing sphere of blue energy, a miniature sun suspended in the air. Its surface writhes like molten magma, pulsing with destructive energy, casting long shadows and bathing the battlefield in an overwhelming golden glow.

As the sphere reached a monstrous size, the ground trembled beneath Ace, and the heat was so intense it scorched the earth even before impact. Everyone nearby felt the oxygen thin around them; the attack was so hot it seemed to devour the very air. With a powerful thrust of his arms, Ace hurled the gigantic fireball forward. It streaked across the battlefield like a falling star, leaving a blazing trail in its wake. When it hits Davy Jones, it erupts into an explosion of blinding fire, sending shockwaves outward as an inferno capable of engulfing an entire giant devours its target.

As the attack diminished, Luffy's eyes blazed as his fists stretched, slammed and expanded. With a final roar, he struck Davy Jones squarely in the chest. The ship convulsed violently. Golden light ripped through the captain's body, unraveling the darkness like fabric being burned away.

Jones screamed, twisting in agony, but slowly, his form began to change. The tentacles receded, eyes softening and the monstrous visage melted away. Where once stood a fearsome, cursed ghost, now is a pale, naked, trembling, and very alive; woman.

She gasps, looking down at herself. "I… I… what…?"

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Buggy screams as his jaw drops. That wasn't in the mural.

"Yohohoho!" Brook yells. "Now that's a shocker." He stated as he and the other strawhats appeared on deck.

Sanji's nose began to bleed as Nami suddenly looked pissed. "Oh goodness." Robin says as she covers her mouth as she smirks.

Luffy floated above them, light radiating like the sun, body still GEAR 5, grin wide.
"You're alive and you're free," he said simply. The souls trapped aboard cried out, some weeping, some laughing, all finally able to breathe as Nika's light pulsed outward, purifying the remaining darkness, the ship and its ghostly warriors.

Buggy sighs in relief. "I can't believe I actually survived that shit."

Shanks lowered his sword, awe in his eyes. "I always knew that boy is something else entirely."

"LUFFY!" Nami's screams as the now beautiful Davy Jones turns in horror to realize everyone can see her voluptuous curvy body. "GIVE HER CLOTHES!"

"Huh?" Luffy asks as he looks down at a very pissed Nami as both Ace and Sabo had their eyes looking up towards the sky and away from the naked woman. "Oh!" He yells, as if just noticing she was naked. He turned grasping the white cloud floating around him, moved his hands a bit before grasping the cloud as if it was solid and not vaporous and with a flick of the wrist a garment appeared. He then slid it forcibly over the former skeletons form and grinned as she was now in a tight black dress. "Better?"

"NO!" Brook and Sanji's yelled.

"YES!" Everyone else yelled.

Nami snarled. "LU-FFFFY!" Her haki exploded around her and just as he turned towards the noise, Nami's fist connected with his face. Luffy went flying across the ruined Dutchman and landed in a pile by Shanks' and Buggy's feet.

"OUCH!" He yelled as he grabbed his now red, swollen and pulsating lip.

Remind me never to make her mad. Nika's voice echoed in Luffy's mind as his power drew backwards into Luffy and the young man returned to his original form. Looking exhausted and a bit pained, Luffy had to agree with Nika; as it would seem that Nami had indeed gotten stronger than ever before.

Meanwhile somewhere far above the red line, Marījoa quaked violently. IMU's power, bound to the dark threads of the world, recoiled at Nika's awakening. "NIKA… IMPOSSIBLE!" their voice screamed, fury ripping through the skies.

Buildings shook causing windows to shatter. Some structures of the marine base collapsed as the earthquake like energy spread. Garp slammed his hand into the ground to steady himself. "By the sea… what the hell is happening?!"

Sengoku's eyes widened. "What it is, it's… shaking the world…"

Garp growled, fists clenching. "What about-" He was about to ask about the reports on the Dutchman but was silenced as the building they were in collapsed.

Back on the island, the remaining crew and pirates shielded themselves as golden light poured across the horizon as the Dutchman itseysplintered, crashing into the sea.

Buggy stumbled forward onto the beach, shaking. "I… I think I'm done. My heart might never recover…"

Shanks clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You did well."

Buggy frowned at him. "I think I wet myself." He admitted.

Shanks leaned forward. "Better than Gaban." Both men looked at the old second hand of Roger as the back of his pants looked stained from the older man having shit himself. Both emperors smirked before looking away just as Gaban turned his attention towards them. They both were shaking with laughter as Gaban lifted an eyebrow.

What the hell are those two idiots laughing about? He silently wondered as he placed his broken bladed axe down onto the beach.

Luffy looked over towards his mentor as he heard Shanks bark out a laugh along with Buggy's shrill laughter. "What's so funny?" Zoro asked his exhausted captain who shrugged.

Marco on the other hand was grinning as his brother snickered. Izou brought up a paper fan. "Should we say something?" He asked hiding his grin behind his fan.

"Not in a million years." Marco stated as he clasped his brother on his back and laughed even as the older man looked from his boys to the Whitebeard crew still in total confusion.

Rayleigh noticed. No way was he touching that. "Idiot." He muttered quietly as the day that started off with an almost assurance of everybody's death, ended with everyone living.

Chapter Text

Chapter 26: Confusion

The sea had barely settled from the collapse of the Dutchman when a soft, shuddering gasp carried across the deck or what remained of the deck, anyway. The woman who had once been the terror of sailors across centuries clutched the black dress around her shoulders, trembling like a newly reborn soul tasting air for the first time. Her hair was long, dark, tangled with bits of seaweed that clung to her cheeks. Her eyes, though frightened, held centuries of storms within them and were the most electric color of blue you'd ever seen. Her face was sweetheart shaped, deceptive in nature as you'd never think such a sweet face could hold any terror. Her large chest heaved with every breath as she tried to regain her composure.

Luffy floated back down, still dazed from Nami's punch, rubbing his cheek, but as his feet touched the deck, the golden light still lingering around him dimmed gently, as though to not frighten the woman further. She stepped back from him anyway.

Ace and Sabo stood nearby, posture alert but softened. The remaining embers of Ace's Flame Emperor drifted upward like fireflies before vanishing. For a long moment the only sounds were the groaning remnants of wood sinking beneath the waves and the gentle hiss of Luffy's powers fading.

Her voice cracked, raw, parched from centuries of silence. "…Is this… truly my own body?" She asked as looked down at her hands, flexing fingers that had once been clawed tentacles of shadow and hatred.

Robin smiled kindly. "It seems so."

"Yohoho… She's much lovelier than the myth described," Brook added, only for Nami to elbow him hard causing a rub to poke outwards awkwardly.

Sanji was on the ground already, curled up from bleeding from the nose, whispering, "A goddess… a goddess washed upon the tides…"

The woman, Davy Jones, wasn't listening. Her gaze was locked on Luffy; no, on Nika, flickering behind Luffy's tired eyes and she fell to her knees. Not out of reverence or out of fear; but because her legs simply gave out under the weight of everything she had once been.

Luffy stepped forward, reaching out instinctively; but she flinched. "…Don't be afraid," Luffy said softly.

Her shoulders shook as her voice came out in ragged breaths. "You… you shouldn't even look at me. Not after what I became."

Shanks knelt nearby, his expression grave. Even he, legendary as he was, felt the depth of the centuries hanging off her words. Zoro crossed his arms, watching closely. Buggy stayed behind Shanks, absolutely not taking chances with any newly un-cursed beings. Finally, she spoke again, slowly, as if dredging the memory up from the depths of the ocean itself. "I was once a navigator," she whispered. "A wandering woman of the sea. One of the freest souls on the sea. My ship was small. My dreams… were larger than the horizon."The waves lapped quietly against the ruined timbers, as if listening. "I loved the sea more than anything. I charted currents no man dared to follow. I danced with storms. I believed that nothing in this world could chain me."She sighed. "Then I met Nika." The air thickened. Even Marco's feathered mantle rustled uneasily. "He was unlike anything or anyone I'd ever met. I never knew freedom until I met him. He did things that no human could do. Make things out of nothing. Create oceans, raise the seas, make islands from clouds and had a smile that was brighter than the sun."

"Shishishi." Luffy heard laughter in his mind. "She's still my biggest fan." Nika told him.

"Then he appeared, IMU." Her voice became hollow. "I met Imu… the whisper in the dark between waves. A presence that visited me as a voice. A figure of impossible shape, who knows every fear a human heart holds." Luffy felt something cold crawl up his spine at the description.

She continued. "I was shipwrecked during a storm. My life slipping away and he… appeared to me in the water. He wore no face. Only eyes like blood."Her hands shook causing the black dress trembled with her. "He told me he could save me. That he admired my will. That if I bound myself to him… he would grant me immortality, freedom from death, and the power to command the sea itself." She twisted her fingers into the fabric of the dress. "I should have waited for Nika. He was at war with a dark being. I should've known it was this…dark one."

"Sounds like crap," Zoro muttered.

"It was." Her voice splintered. "I was dying. and I… I was afraid, so I took his hand." The wind howled suddenly, as if echoing the choice she had made. "What he gave me was no blessing."Her eyes glistened with tears. "It was imprisonment."Everyone fell silent. "For taking his 'gift,' he said I must pay a price."A shiver crawled down her spine. "IMU commanded me to hunt them. Hunt those who sought liberation. Hunt those who wanted change. Nika and his people were now to be my enemies." A tear descended down her cheeks. Robin's eyes darkened as Nami's fists clenched. "I refused," she said softly. "I rejected him and I told him I would not become a tyrant's hound."She looked at her hands again. "He showed me his kindness was a lie. He twisted my body and turned me into the monster you destroyed today. Said I would remain that way until I fulfilled his command and swore loyalty to him."She swallowed hard. "I resisted, for years, decades and even centuries."Her breath hitched. "I ran from Nika, I became a monster… being feared, hunted… slowly turning souls into food for me and my ship."She closed her eyes. "In time… all my hatred for IMU became hatred for Nika."She looked at Luffy, shame flooding her face. "For the freedom he had. For what I once wanted and could no longer have. So I… became his hound after all."

A heavy silence settled across everyone, even Buggy didn't speak."You're free now." Luffy stated, breaking the pregnant silence. Luffy knelt in front of her, not as a god, but as Luffy. The light behind his eyes softened. "You were never a monster," he said. "You were… tricked."

Her breath caught. "You didn't deserve any of that."Tears fell freely down her cheeks, dripping onto the deck. "You're free now," Luffy repeated. "Live however you want. That's what freedom is."

She stared at him, at the boy who smiled as if the world was simple, even in its darkest corners. Then she bowed her head, pressing her forehead to the broken deck. "Thank you," she whispered. "Luffy… thank you…"

The waves surged suddenly, glowing faintly gold. Not with destruction. Not with purifying force, but with… relief. Souls long bound to the Dutchman rose from the water like scattered stars, drifting upward, free at last. Brook wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye. "Yohoho… such a beautiful sight, even without eyes."

Marco nodded, smiling warmly. "The sea hasn't felt this peaceful in years."

A tremor rolled through the ocean, not from Nika's power or from the Dutchman, but something… darker. The newly freed Davy Jones shuddered and clutched Luffy's arm. "IMU knows," she whispered. "He can feel the chains breaking."

Luffy's jaw set, but Ace stepped forward, fire curling around his fists. "Then let him come."

Sabo cracked his knuckles. "We're not afraid."

The horizon darkened, distant clouds spiraling unnaturally, as though drawn toward a single point. Shanks lifted his sword and for the first time in decades… fear flickered beneath his calm. Buggy squeaked as Nami looked toward Luffy, worry and fury mixing in her eyes. Zoro smirked, gripping his swords. "About damn time the real enemy showed their face."

Rayleigh exhaled slowly. "The era Roger dreamed of… is starting to form." He eyed the group of young pirates. His two boys though frightened, stood tall.

Luffy grinned wide, feral, but full of hope.

"IMU, huh?"He cracked his knuckles."Guess we're gonna need to break another curse." The sea roared at the declaration.

Somewhere far above, in the halls of the holy city, IMU screamed in fury.

Davy Jones inhaled shakily, preparing to speak again. "To understand IMU's true nature, there is more you must—" When suddenly she was abruptly cut off.

"FOOOOOOD!"Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs, throwing both arms into the air with sudden, with explosive enthusiasm. Everyone jumped slightly.

Ace blinked. "Luffy—bro, she was literally describing the king of all evil."

Luffy waved dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, he's a jerk and we're gonna punch him later. But right now—"His stomach growled with the force of a sea monster.
"—SANJI! FEAST!"

Sanji straightened immediately, eyes blazing with chefly purpose. "AYE AYE, CAPTAIN!"He spun dramatically, only to freeze when he realized his kitchen had been obliterated earlier. His cigarette twitched. "…Uh. Someone get me a giant pot, a fire, a table, ten crates of ingredients, and a miracle!"

Thatch stepped forward, finger-guns blazing with charisma. "Need help whipping up something amazing for a D-sized stomach? Don't worry, blondie—Thatch is here to—"

Marco glared so sharply his pupils looked like hawk talons. "Thatch."

"Yes?" Thatch froze mid pose.

"Help Sanji," Marco said, arms crossed, jaw clenched. "And don't improve any recipes this time."

Thatch sputtered. "It was one time—"

"ONE TIME WAS ENOUGH," Marco snapped, his bowels had barely survived the improved curry that his brother had made.

Izou, leaning elegantly on his fan, chimed in sweetly, "Yes, brother, the last time you experimented half the ship hallucinated for a week and the toilets almost backed up."

Lucky Roo slung a massive arm around Thatch's shoulders. "I'll help too!" he laughed, already munching on meat. "If we're feeding Luffy plus Ace, plus Sabo, plus Zoro, we'll need enough food to fill the Calm Belt!"

Zoro scoffed. "Oi. I don't eat that much."

Both Sanji and Nami shouted, "YES YOU DO!"

Shanks's crew erupted into laughter. Yasopp clapped his hands together, Benn Beckman sighed with a smile, and Buggy himself grinned as he stole several barrels of sake from gods knows where.

"Tonight," Shanks declared, "WE CELEBRATE!"

"O-Of course we do! Because I survived! I—THE GREAT BUGGY—SURVIVED CERTAIN DEATH AGAIN!" Buggy laughed gaining a glare from his supposed brother.

"Sit down," Shanks said, pushing him into the sand.

Rayleigh chuckled warmly. "It seems the era of doom can wait until after dinner."

While chaos bloomed into full festive pandemonium, Davy Jones stood frozen in disbelief. Cooking fires sprang up. Barrels rolled as someone, possibly Usopp or maybe Yassop, already set off fireworks prematurely. Franky and Beckman were arguing about cola powered cannons. Brook was tuning his violin for a party set and Luffy?

Luffy was dancing in circles with Chopper chanting "MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT!" like summoned forest spirits.

"…Are they… serious?" Davy Jones asked aloud, staring blankly. She looked around for support.

Zoro was helping Ace start a bonfire using unnecessary levels of violence. Sabo was already arguing with Robin over how to make "proper" campfire tea. Jinbe was calmly building a grill the size of a sea train. Bonk Punch and Franky were flexing at each other for no reason now, as Beckman's looked annoyed at the size of the canon on the Sunny. Nami was yelling at Luffy not to steal the snacks before they were finished.

Davy Jones stared harder. "…They cannot be serious."

"Uh," Usopp said, casually hauling a fish the size of a small ship, "they absolutely are."

Davy Jones turned toward Nami, desperation creeping into her voice. "I am describing the architect of a millennium of suffering. The puppeteer of history."

Nami dusted her hands and smiled sympathetically. "Yeah, I know."

"And your captain… just told your chef to cook."

"Yep."

"And you're… not bothered by this?"

Nami shrugged, almost amused. "Look, it's not that we're ignoring you. It's just that Luffy's priorities are—" she circled a finger next to her head "—in his own special order."

Jones blinked. "…Is this normal?"

"For us?" Nami snorted. "Totally." She paused before continuing. "For sane people?" She leaned in and whispered. "Absolutely not."

Jones stared dumbfounded as Luffy performed a backflip off a barrel, landed face first in a pile of meat, popped up laughing, and immediately started wrestling Zoro for a drumstick. "You people are INSANE," Davy Jones said.

Nami smiled. "Welcome to the crew."

Jones stiffened. "I—no—I did not say—"

"Give it time," Nami said with a wink, patting her shoulder. "Everyone breaks eventually."

Jones opened her mouth to argue but then Sanji and Thatch ignited the cooking fire with a blast so intense it lit half the island. Lucky Roo began spinning three giant boars on spits like a culinary titan. Ace heated the air around him, assisting the cooking flames.

Luffy cheered, glowing, hungry and still very alive. Davy Jones watched them all, the chaos, the joy, the wild, unrestrained freedom and for the first time in centuries, she smiled.

The feast was beginning to take shape with bonfires blazing, barrels rolling, giant skewers sizzling and food being given out when a new shadow stretched across the shore. Sand rose in pillars behind him, swirling like a dust storm that refused to die down. Crocodile stepped onto the ruined beach with the calm swagger of a man who had absolutely zero patience left. His long coat fluttered behind him, his golden hook gleaming in the firelight. Behind him, a few of his allies and some desert hardened mercenaries trudged in, all looking equally exhausted and equally annoyed. A splintered portion of the Dutchman slid off a rock and sank into the water beside him. Crocodile didn't even blink.

"…Figures," he muttered around his cigar. "I look away for ten minutes and a mythological devil gets turned into a woman and everyone starts dancing."

One of his men nodded. "It is… a bit chaotic, sir."

"This is the Straw Hats and Shanks' crew," Crocodile replied dryly. "This is their style."

He flicked some stray ash from his cigar and scanned the crowd, ignoring the fireworks Usopp accidentally launched sideways and the brawl Ace and Zoro were having over the best piece of grilled boar. His eyes narrowed. "Where's Buggy?"

A few seconds later, he found him hunched on a barrel, stuffing food into his mouth like a squirrel preparing for winter.

Crocodile's eyebrow twitched dangerously. He stomped toward the clown with the ominous inevitability of a desert storm. Each step thudded into the sand with increasing menace. Buggy froze mid bite. He didn't turn as he knew that aura and knew that dangerous haki.

"…Hey old buddy…" Buggy said without looking over his shoulder, sweating. "Didn't see you there—HAHA—uh—you made it!"

Crocodile loomed over him like a grim reaper with a cigar. "Buggy."

Buggy's voice went up several octaves. "Croco-chan! My old pal! My longtime partner in—uh—business!"

"We're not partners."

"Friendship?"Crocodile growled. "Acquaint—"

"Buggy."Crocodile leaned down, eyes narrowing to slits. "You said I'd be paid for helping you and that red haired bastard with this Dutchman nonsense."

Buggy swallowed. "Well—technically—I said there might be payment—"

Crocodile's aura dropped the temperature of the beach by twenty degrees. "Might?"

Buggy squeaked. "I meant almost definitely! Almost!"

"I," Crocodile growled, "intend to collect."

The clown's pupils shrank to dots. He pointed shakily to Shanks, who was laughing with Benn Beckman and Lucky Roo near the kegs.

"Talk to the guy with the red hair!" Buggy blurted. "He's the one who said you'd be rewarded for your effort!"

Crocodile slowly turned his head toward Shanks. The Yonko, as if sensing doom, turned in their direction. "Oh, Crocodile!" Shanks called with a carefree smile. "Good work out there!"

Crocodile stalked toward him like an oncoming natural disaster. "Shanks," he said, voice cold as desert night. "You owe me payment."

Shanks tilted his head. "…Payment?"

"For dragging my people into your mess."

Shanks shrugged with all the innocence of a man who absolutely did not care about money. "I never agreed to any payment."

Crocodile's eye twitched. Buggy, hearing that, slowly tried to sneak away, but Crocodile's sand tendrils wrapped around the back of Buggy's coat, yanking him back like a misbehaving toddler.

Buggy flailed. "YOU HEARD HIM! HE HEARD YOU! I HEARD YOU! EVERYONE HEARD YOU!"

Shanks scratched his cheek. "Hmm… nope. Pretty sure I didn't."

Crocodile stared at him. Then at Buggy. Then back at Shanks. His voice dropped to a growl deep enough to rattle the sand.

"Buggy."

Buggy whimpered. "Y-yes?"

"Did you lie to me?"

"NO!"

Crocodile's vein popped. Before things escalated into a sandstorm level homicide, Nami stepped between them with the efficiency of a seasoned chaos manager.

"Okay, okay, okay," she said, hands out. "Crocodile, listen, nobody here actually plans anything. Especially those two idiots."

Buggy and Shanks both pointed at each other immediately. "HEY!"

"They're worse than Luffy!"Nami ignored them completely. "This group doesn't function on logic, contracts, or promises. It functions on—"She gestured broadly at the insane feast behind her. "-pure chaos and the hope that everything somehow works out."Crocodile blinked at her with an annoyed look. She smiled gently. "Don't take it personally."

Crocodile took a long drag of his cigar. He exhaled slowly. "…I hate this place."

Nami nodded sympathetically. "We all do, but we stay anyway."

Behind them, Luffy was yelling "MEAT FIGHT!" while Ace used fire to toast marshmallows the size of cannonballs and Brook played a violin solo so energetic Franky was crying. Crocodile sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "…You're all insane."

From the bonfire, Luffy shouted back, "THANK YOU!"

Shanks clapped Crocodile on the back with enough force to make sand explode everywhere. "Come on! One feast won't kill you!"

Crocodile glared murderously. "Try me."

Buggy tugged weakly at Crocodile's coat. "You're… not gonna kill me, right? Because we go way back and—"

Crocodile smirked. "Buggy."

Buggy froze. "Yes?"

"Get me a drink."

Buggy scrambled away so fast he left dust clouds. Shanks laughed so hard he nearly spilled his sake.

Marco sighed. "I knew letting those three idiots reunite was going to cause trouble."

Izou fanned himself elegantly. "And yet… entertaining trouble."

"We're lucky Pops didn't come." Marco stated with a sigh.

"Are you kidding me?" Jozu asked. "Croc would try to kill him."

Izou blinked in confusion. "Why does he hate Pops again?"

Marco sighed. "Pops is the reason he's got the hook." That explained nothing at all

As the feast roared louder, fireworks lit up the sky, and the night filled with music and laughter, even Crocodile, for all his irritation didn't eave.

Crocodile finally managed to sit on a chunk of driftwood, rubbing his temples and trying not to murder anyone. Buggy hovered beside him like a nervous balloon.

Crocodile growled, "Stop hovering."

Buggy squeaked, "I'm not hovering—I'm just… strategically nearby!"

Crocodile gave him a side-eye sharp enough to cut stone. Buggy gulped, leaned in anyway, and whispered. "…Hey, Croc. Since everyone is already sharing their trauma like it's a buffet… maybe now's the time?"

Crocodile froze. "Time for what."

Buggy twisted his fingers anxiously. "To… uh… talk to Luffy. About the whole… parent thing."

Crocodile's jaw tightened. A muscle under his eye twitched but he didn't look at Buggy. "…It's complicated."

Buggy rolled his eyes so hard his pupils nearly disconnected. "How the hell is it complicated? You were a woman once, you had a baby, that baby was Luffy, end of story!"

Crocodile grabbed Buggy by the front of his shirt. "It is never that simple." He hissed.

"HEY!" Shanks called from behind them, tankard in hand and grin too bright. "I heard that!"

Crocodile turned slowly, venomously. "Heard what."

Shanks sauntered over with the swagger of a man who had had exactly two drinks too many and precisely zero shame left.

"So…" Shanks said, leaning his elbow on Crocodile's shoulder, "what's complicated about it? Just walk up to the kid and say—" He cleared his throat dramatically, lifting his tankard: 'Hey, Luffy! Fun fact! I was born a woman, gave birth to you, and then Ivankov turned me into a man! Pass the meat.'"

Crocodile stared at him, face blank.

Buggy facepalmed. "SHANKS—WHY WOULD YOU SAY IT LIKE THAT?!"

Ace overheard and nearly inhaled his food. Sabo spit out his tea. Zoro choked on a bone and smacked his chest. Nami froze mid yell at Luffy. Robin raised both eyebrows, very rare for her. Brook stopped playing mid song.

Franky shouted "WOOOOOOOOO THAT'S SUPER!"

Luffy continued eating, a little confused why everyone was acting odd but didn't say anything. He side eyed Shanks, Buggy and Crocodile. He liked the Sand king and already had a sneaking suspicion that he and the man were connected somehow, he got the same feeling meeting Crocodile the first time, as he did when he first met Dragon that one time. Still, he wasn't going to say anything because honestly, he didn't want to complicate things.

Crocodile's expression darkened like a storm over Alabasta. "Do you want to die, Red Hair?"

Shanks just laughed. "Come on, Croco. It's not the end of the world. I'm sure Luffy would just smile and say something like—"He puffed his cheeks, mimicking Luffy. "Woah! I got TWO parents?! That's neat!"

Buggy snorted. "Honestly, he probably would."

Crocodile glared daggers at both of them. "You two idiots don't understand anything."

Buggy, surprisingly gentle, asked, "So… why don't you want to tell him?"

For a long moment, Crocodile didn't speak. The bonfire crackled behind them.
The party continued when Crocodile finally murmured, barely above the surf. "…Because I wasn't a good parent. I wasn't ready, I wasn't stable and by the time I… became who I am now…"His gaze fell to the sand. "…it was too late. Dragon took him and I was left without anything for my effort."

Buggy blinked, the laughter fading from his face. Shanks's smile softened. Crocodile exhaled smoke slowly. "He doesn't need someone like me showing up now and messing up his life. He's doing fine. Better than fine. He's—" Crocodile's eyes flickered to Luffy, who was currently wrestling a monkey, Animal if he was right. "…happy."

Shanks crossed his arms. "Crocodile." Crocodile kept staring at the sand. "You think Luffy would ever reject someone who wants to protect him?"Crocodile's jaw tightened. Shanks lowered his voice, serious now. "You think he doesn't deserve to know where he came from?"

Buggy added, quietly, "Or that you don't deserve to be forgiven?"

Crocodile clenched his hook. "I don't need forgiveness."

Shanks shrugged lightly. "Maybe you don't, but maybe he wants to know."

Crocodile didn't answer. Across the beach, Luffy suddenly stood up, waving a giant skewer. "HEY CROCODILE! COME EAT! YOU HELPED US AND STUFF!"Crocodile stiffened, throat tightening. Luffy grinned at him with the brightness of a thousand suns. "THANK-YOU!"

Buggy whispered, "Just talk to him. Eventually."

Shanks nudged him. "Yeah. Someday."

Crocodile didn't move toward Luffy, not yet, for the first time in years he didn't turn away from his son.

Meanwhile, Davy Jones stood a little ways from the bonfire, arms crossed, black dress fluttering in the sea breeze. The feast blazed, meat sizzled, pirates roared with laughter, and fireworks occasionally fired sideways into the trees. She stared at them all with an expression halfway between awe and utter disgust. Davy Jones squinted. "…I spent centuries hunting these creatures?"

Nami, sitting beside her and sipping a drink, laughed. "Yep."

Jones pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I almost… almost… regret not killing all of you when I had the chance."

Nami chuckled softly. "That's normal."

Jones dragged a hand down her face.
"You pirates are the most undisciplined, chaotic, nonsensical, loud, foolish—"

Luffy ran by screaming, "MEAT RAID!" as Usopp chased him with a ladle.

Jones inhaled sharply. "…deranged creatures I have ever seen."

Nami nodded. "Mhm." She totally agreed. Brook tripped and fell face first into the empty cauldron. Sanji kicked Franky through a table for trying to 'modify' Jinbei's grill. Shanks was arm-in-arm with Buggy, drunkenly singing a song. Crocodile was glowering in a corner like a depressed scorpion, smoking so aggressively the air shimmered.

Jones stared, jaw slack. "How do any of you survive the day?"

Nami shrugged. "Sheer luck."

Jones blinked. "You sound proud of that." She said turning towards the younger woman.

Nami sipped again. "Oh, I am." A particularly loud explosion echoed from the beach, as Usopp had tried to fry a fish with a new gadget and blew a crater in the sand. Luffy immediately dove into it laughing like a lunatic.

Jones' eye twitched. "I used to rule a dread vessel that harvested the souls of the damned."

Nami nodded. "And now you're here."

Jones stared again at the chaos, her voice dropping to a mutter. "…I should have killed you all the moment I regained my humanity."

Nami patted her on the arm. "Don't worry. Everyone thinks that at first."

Jones whipped her head toward her in shock. "Everyone?!"

Nami pointed around the beach. Crocodile was glaring murderously at his drink. Even Marco had his head in his hand as Thatch tried to teach him the "Dance of the Flaming Chicken." Nami sighed. "Every sane person regrets meeting us for at least the first hour."Jones froze, utterly at a loss for words. Nami took another sip, eyes full of warmth as she watched her crew and allies tearing apart the beach in pure joy. "Freedom is messy. Chaotic. Unpredictable. Sometimes stupid. Sometimes beautiful."She looked at Jones. "You've been chained for so long, you forgot that madness can be… safe."

Jones swallowed had because she felt caught off guard. "Safe…" she whispered.

Luffy, across the beach, saw her looking.
He waved wildly with both arms—nearly knocking over Ace. "HEY DAVY JONES! COME EAT WITH US! YOU'RE FREE NOW SO YOU GOTTA PARTY!"

"…You pirates," she muttered softly, "are absolute disasters."

Nami raised her cup. "Welcome to the family."

Jones hesitated. "…Perhaps… for tonight… I can tolerate this."

"That's how it starts," Nami winked. "If you ever meet a guy named Traflager D Law, ask him how he survived us, Wano and Dressrosa all within a month's time."

Davy Jones blinked. "Wha-" Nope. She wasn't going to ask. She really, really wasn't going to ask. Instead, she was going to eat her fill, drink sake until she was drunk and pretend the last few thousand years had never happened because tonight she was free. Tomorrow, was another day to worry.