I do not own One Piece. All characters and arcs from the original story belongs to Eiichiro Oda. I maintain rights over OCs present in this story.

Chapter 2 - To Become Strong

A few days have passed since Saint Jalmack ended his visit to set sail back to where he came from and the Grey Terminal was slowly building back the trash thrown out by the nobles reviving it to the dump it was before. Even the survivors returned to continue their lives of scavenging and selling the valuables found laying around. Business continued as usual within the walled kingdom however, Ace and Luffy were hard at work training to become stronger and adjusting to a life without Sabo.

They were currently standing next to a low bank of the river that flowed through a ravine carved by years of erosion. Their main interest was the bask of crocodiles that infested the calm running water. Why on Earth would these kids be anywhere near this place? To train of course!

"Alright Luffy, I think you are ready to take on this challenge. If you can get past this with no problems, you are definitely strong enough to move on to the next step on the list." He said looking at a crumpled piece of paper.

Ace was looking forward to the completion of this trial. Luffy should be much stronger and just maybe catch up to him in terms of fighting prowess. Then, when they turned back to their usual sparring matches, he would finally be a challenge. At first it was funny to watch Luffy get red in the face from losing so much but, it got boring quickly after having a 100 win streak every day.

Luffy was buzzing with anticipation! Before attempting this, Ace had him practice jumping on rocks to work on his balance and speed. The moment he accomplished it, they immediately decided to try the crocodile test. He was making progress so he must be getting stronger. Luffy glared at the river as if it was his mortal enemy and hopped in place while he swung his arms to warm up.

"And just in case, if anything happens," Ace held up a large roll of rope, "you can grab onto this!" Ace grinned.

"...huh?" Luffy paused to stared at Ace but found he disappeared from his spot behind him.

His coach suddenly appeared on top of the ledge at the edge of the river waving his arms to bring attention where he would be.

"Why are you standing over there?!" Luffy shrieked.

"So I wouldn't get eaten by crocodiles you idiot! How can I help you if I go through the course too?!"

"Oh." Luffy faced back to the green river lit by the scattered sunlight filtered through the treetops. The surface reflected small waves but upon careful inspection, you could see a few snouts and horned eyebrows peeking from the water. They gazed back at their next meal.

Ace called, "Anyways, whenever you think you're in trouble, call 'Rope' and I'll throw down an end for you to hold on. I'll be running along the edge to keep an eye on you. Understand?"

Luffy nodded with his lips pursed.

"Okay then, as you know, you will be running across this straight part of the river to the other side where it turns away. You have to jump on the crocodiles to make it to the other side. Are you you ready?"

"Yup!" Luffy shouted back.

"All right then!-

Ready!"

He took a couple of steps back and changed his stance.

"Set!"

Eyes set on his destination. A gentle hiss emanated from a crocodile somewhere.

"GO!"

The slapping of muddied dirt by his sandals ended once he made his first leap on a rock. He swiftly set foot on the last available stone that laid near the riverbank and having spotted a snout and made his first leap into the challenge.

A tap on the nose was enough to rouse the overgrown lizard to whip its head up. Luffy took advantage and catapulted himself onto the next visible snout.

Ace was following his little brother's sprint across the water. He was flailing his arms here and there to regain balance but he was quick to keep moving on to the next moving platform.

"Go Luffy! Go! You're doing great!"

He started to laugh. "They're so stupid and slow!"

On cue, as if the reptiles heard, they became restless. Their prey was getting away and none of them had made claim yet. One crocodile curled its body to swing both head and tail towards the young boy. Luffy's yelped then made a hard jump to his side landing on the back of another crocodile. The river was infested by the freshwater lizards but their numbers deceived the two boys.

Ace's eyes widened and shouted, "LUFFY!"

The entire surface of the river became the rough skin the bask shared in common. At once they were rising from their camouflaged spot and hissed at Luffy.

He screamed and immediately got up to continue jumping on their heads, backs, and the thick of their tails. Their mouths flew wide open but Luffy was just quick enough to change direction before they snapped at his young flesh. He was stuck at the middle dodging, which made it difficult for him to move forward to the other side of the river but, his determination was something to behold.

Luffy was keeping up! The crocodiles began to pile on top of one another but the raven haired boy, although terrified, was swift in his movements. He quickly made a jump when one got close enough to bite his shirt but another crocodile lunged itself at him and collided forcing the hungry reptiles back into the water. That was the opportunity he needed because it left a quick path out of that mess.

Ace began to jog once again alongside the edge of the cliff. "Yeah! Luffy you're doing it! You're doing it! Don't stop you're getting closer to the end!" He cheered.

However, the crocodiles began to part in Luffy's path. The straw hatted boy scrunched his eyebrows but gasped at the beast who made itself known.

Mt. Corbo is famous for the unusually large animals that inhabited the island and this creature was another testament to that. It's body was about two-thirds wide as the river and it's head large enough to destroy a house in one bite. The creature let loose a booming hiss and swung open it's jaws to welcome Luffy.

Alright, now it's about enough.

"ROPE! Throw it now!" Screamed Luffy while the crocodile lunged its head forward. The boy made a hard jump to the right onto the back of another overgrown lizard narrowly escaping the bite which instead scooped up a few of it's reptilian relatives. Luffy continued to hop past it.

"I'm throwing the rope! It's right in front of you!"

Ace threw a line and Luffy immediately darted towards it. So did the king of the river as it maneuvered it's body to chase the child once again.

A small crocodile tried to snap at him but he used the snout to effectively give him more height and grabbed hold of the rope. The force of the jump caused him to swing a large distance to and back to the massive starving reptile.

Once Ace felt weight tugging at the rope, he tightened his grip until his knuckles became white and heaved back the rope.

"Hold on tight Luffy!"

In the swings of the rope, he flew past between the jaws like a pendulum. It snapped missing every chance.

"PULL ME UP ACE, IT'S STILL FOLLOWING ME!"

"THE SWINGING IS MAKING IT HARD TO PULL YOU UP!"

He began to climb up the rope at the same time swing his body to counteract the movement. The difference was day and night as he finally shot upwards to the cliff edge. The crocodile did not want to go down without a fight.

The beast at the last minute leaped out of the water propelling it's monstrous body with its massive tail and gapping jaw wide open.

Luffy screamed once again but Ace used a final burst of strength and yanked the rope back hard. Luffy curled his body and by a centimeter, the lizard clamped onto nothing but wind. The boy flew over the edge of the cliff and crash landed onto his older brother.

They groaned and Ace shoved Luffy off himself. The straw-hatted boy was no better as he laid on his back hyperventilating and covered in sweat as he recovered his breath and nerves from his near death experience.

Ace breaths,"Maybe we should go back to our one-on-one fights for now…"

"Nuuuuuuuuugh," moaned Luffy.

However in his hazy stupor, he had enough mind to ponder an idea that was nagging at the back of his head.

Ace is a great coach an all, but the list of training exercises weren't giving him the results he hoped for.

Actually, what was the goal of that training exercise? To not get killed?

He almost gets killed everyday when he goes hunting with Ace. How was getting chased by crocodiles going to make him even stronger? They didn't even catch food during the training exercises…but what if…

Who was the strongest person he knew? It was grandpa Garp, of course! He would know something about getting stronger. Not to mention all the cool stories he told about when he was a young marine and the people who kicked butt. They were unbelievably skilled with the way they fought like walk on air, move faster than the eye could see, and even kick blades of wind that could slice even chunks of metal apart but… it meant letting Ace know what he wanted to do at the risk of upsetting him greatly. After all, it means getting someone else to train him in the ways of a marine.

Ace glanced at Luffy noticing his breathing steadied. His little brother's face was red and scrunched up as if he smelled something really bad.

"Hey Luffy, whatcha thinkin' about? You're gonna hurt yourself if you keep doing that." Ace snickered.

"Ace?"

"Yea?"

"Um… I want grandpa to train me… "

He shot up from his laying position to glare flabbergasted at the suggestion.

"What!? You think I'm not good enough!?"

Luffy sat up too, "No Ace!"

"Then what are you saying!? Gramps?! GRAMPS!?"

"Well yeah!..." Luffy tapped his pointer fingers together but then he shifted to fully face his brother and set his hands on his knees, eyes set to stare into his older brother's.

"Ace, I want to get really strong and Gramps is SCARY strong. He kicks our butts every time we see him."

"So what's this mean? You wanna become a marine?" He scowled.

"Hell no!" Luffy jumped up.

Ace jumped up as well stomping his way to meet him. "Then how are you gonna get Gramps to teach you, huh!? Say that he does, he's gonna try to brainwash you into becoming one!"

"No he won't because I'm gonna become the pirate king!" Luffy shouted with his fists clenched tight.

They stared each other down, headbutting as if the action physically fought what the other said. However, Ace saw nothing but burning determination and resolve in his little brother's eyes.

Luffy was dead set on becoming the Pirate King and he made that clear when him and Sabo was one day on the cliff declaring at the top of their lungs what they dreamed of doing. The passion he claimed to accomplish his dream was difficult to simply pass it off as a childish whim the was just said at that life changing moment. At this point in his life, Luffy was a weakling with no chance of surviving on his own much less pose trouble to a no-name pirate. Still, Sabo was the one most supportive about his wanting to become the Pirate King. It was thanks to him that Ace was able to curb the pervading scepticism that made him doubt Luffy and instead fill him with worry knowing he needed to train a lot more before he could really follow his dream.

Ace relaxed his shoulders without breaking eye contact as some of the anger boiling ebbed away. His face fell slightly as he remembered that Luffy saw Sabo die too. They both felt helpless in that moment and the solution Luffy had came up with in his simple mind was to become stronger so that he could protect everyone he cared about.

Luffy also backed away and held his breath watching Ace consider his new decision.

He was not gonna become a marine no matter what his grandpa said and Ace grew incredibly supportive of his goal to become stronger. It was exciting that his strong older brother was gonna help him but Sabo left notes with the intention of doing it together. Unfortunately, his notes were difficult to read thanks to his higher education so some of the descriptions were detailed but tricky to understand. Ace made assumptions every paragraph or so to follow the instructions so, training wasn't as accurate as what was said in the paper.

Ace closed his eyes and scrunched his face before taking a deep breath to release the rest of the built up tension in his body.

He exhaled, "alright then… you train with gramps."

Luffy gasped and out shone a face splitting smile. "Thanks Ace!"

"And conveniently enough gramps is gonna be visiting tomorrow, if I've been keeping track right..."

A moment of pause swept throughout the area where they stood.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

The birds weren't chirping, animals weren't scurrying around in the bushes, even the crocodiles have stopped hissing leaving the sounds of wind brushing through the treetops and running water flowing through the ravine.

"luffy!... ace!"

Their ears perked at the faint sound of their names being called in the forest.

"Luffy!... Ace!" A voice called again.

Ace's face blanched, eyes widened and Luffy likewise shared the same sense of fear.

"...Oh," Ace whispered, "nevermind, I lost track."

"LUFFY! ACE! I'M GONNA FIND YOU TWO!"

The boys stood to look in the direction of the voice, the sound of leaves and sticks being crushed becoming louder with every step the man took.

Panic crossed their faces but Ace was the first to steady himself and stop Luffy who was running in circles.

"What do we do WHAT DO WE DO-"

Ace gripped Luffy's shoulders, "Listen up. You wanted to ask for the old man's help so we can't run this time."

Luffy nodded his head. Ace continued, "We are gonna stay here and wait for him to yell at us then you can tell him, okay?"

Luffy nodded his head even more rigorously until he noticed a detail of what his older brother said. "Wait, I'M TELLING HIM? BY MYSELF?"

He shook his head incredulously, "You're the one who wants to train with him seriously, not me!"

Garp punched a tree out of his way forcing the massive trunk to splinter in half from the point of impact and fall away from him and his grandsons.

"THERE YOU BOTH ARE! What are you doing here, there are huge alligators swimming around here. I should know since I wrestled them myself." He added looking quite pleased with himself stomping his way over to the brothers.

Garp was a large man but not in the sense of weight but the muscle that stayed even into his older years. His skin was a dark tan from all those years at sea with the sun shining bright on him and his hair a faded charcoal color with a grey stripe around the sides of his hair. He wore a red floral tropical shirt and grey khaki shorts which clearly indicated that it was his day off, it was only when he was working when he wore his white suit and coat, so this was a regular visit which indicated his intention was to spend a few days with his grandsons.

"When I heard Luffy's screaming I just knew that you two were playing around! Bwahahahaha! Say, why aren't you saying hello to your grandpa? Or do I need to teach you some manners again, huh?!"

They both stood still trying to wait out Garp's tiny rant until he noticed that they didn't scream and run this time. Normally at that sight of him they would attempt to run faster than the speed of light. Now, they watched him, nervous eyes shifting to look at each other as if they were trying to communicate telepathically.

Garp placed his hands on his hips as he regarded their behaviour. Not one of them said anything but they obviously were hiding something.

"Alright, what is going on? It's quiet and it's beginning to worry me. You two haven't gone into too much trouble now haven't you?" He quirked an eyebrow while waiting for an answer.

Luffy looked at Ace one more time before he was shoved forward with an elbow. He glared at Ace and rubbed his side before finally facing his grandpa.

He began, "Gramps..."

"Spit it out, we don't have all day."

"I want you to train me." Luffy said with his head held high.

Garp as expected grinned and chuckled. "Oh!? So you finally admit it? You really want to become a marine like your old man?"

"HECK NO! I WANNA BECOME PIRATE KING!" Luffy yelled.

A deep frown replaced his shining grin. "Then what makes you think I'm gonna train you!? What about how I train you now? Do you want me to be tougher?"

"No! That not it," Ace interrupted, "look, Luffy wants you to train him because he wants to become stronger."

Garp crossed his arms, "I am already doing enough. I'm assuming your demanding the special training they do back at headquarters. I remember sharing stories about it..." He squints an eye and tilts his head, "what is going on?" He pointedly looks at his youngest grandson, "and why do you want my special training if you don't want to become a marine?"

Their shoulders dropped and their countenance became somber.

Ace sighed, "...Luffy and I… saw Sabo get killed a few weeks ago."

Garp's eyes widened. How did he look that over? After Ace befriended Sabo, every visit he would see both of them playing together being rambunctious children as they are. They became even closer when Luffy became friends with them and even started to call each other brothers. It was wonderful to see Ace happier than he ever was his whole life. He was killed?

"How?" He asked.

"By Saint Jalmack. He was a celestial dragon visiting the Goa Kingdom." Ace spat when mentioning The Guest's name.

Garp's arms became limp and turned away to the tree stump he created which he next sat on the ground to lean on. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he hoped to drive away the million thoughts that were rushing though his mind.

Luffy and Ace were shocked to see such a dramatic reaction, but Ace took it as an opportunity to ask his grandfather something that crossed his mind when he was arguing with his little brother about marine training.

He slightly squinted his eyes and turned his head, "Gramps you know something and I wanna ask you something that I noticed. Why wasn't the asshole arrested for murder? Weren't the marines about catching criminals who kill innocent people."

Luffy stared at his Grandpa who still remained unmoving from his spot. He balled his hands into fists.

"Gramps, where were they...? Where were they when he killed our brother. Actually, why was the people at the Goa Kingdom cheering even though they saw a kid get blown up and not do anything!?" His anger was starting to rise again.

Garp removed his hand from his face but still avoided to look at them.

"Luffy saw Sabo get blown up into fiery pieces."

Their grandfather finally raised his head to ultimately look at his youngest grandson. Luffy gave back a hardened gaze with a stance that didn't belong on the happy child. Luffy was a very friendly kid who grew attached very easily to people that he liked, including Sabo who he had looked up to as a brother.

How tragic it must have been to see him disappear so suddenly.

"It's because of what happened why he is asking for the special training." Ace said.

"So," Luffy cut in, "train me. I want to become even stronger."

Garp peered back with sympathetic eyes but what Luffy had said next ended his argument.

"I want to become stronger, so I can protect everyone," Luffy said with conviction.

Again, something that did not belong on happy child.

Even if he wanted to become a pirate, not to mention the Pirate King, he was still a good kid. A pirate with a heart and good intentions, how unbelievable. Luffy was stubborn if not persistent when he set his heart on something.

Garp groaned then muttered, "Alright... I'll train you."

Both brothers stepped back with wide eyes and whipped their heads to look at each other. They couldn't believe it! It turned out so easy to convince him. He knew full well that Luffy wanted to become a pirate and yet he is agreeing to teaching him.

"Let's go back to Dadan's place," Garp said begrudgingly standing up to lead them through the forest.

As they made their trek through the forest Ace asks, "So Gramps, what was it that you were gonna teach Luffy? The six powers, right?"

"That's right. It takes a lot of training and dedication to do it. That means you have to listen to me and do everything I tell you, Luffy." He glanced at his grandson.

"Okay! I'll do my best!" he declared with his head high.

"So you have to start reading some books and learn how to write more as a part of your training."

"WHAT!? But that's boring!" he whined, "How is that gonna make me stronger?"

"Bwahahaha! Discipline! It's one thing to know how to throw a punch, it's another to know how to fight-" He checked over his shoulder but his previous jovial mood changed into irritated disappointment.

Ace and Luffy were following behind however they stared blankly at him with their pinky fingers up their noses.

"Anyways, it would be much cooler if you had actual super powers," Ace commented.

A flash of familiarity crossed Luffy's mind. "Super powers?"

"Actually something like that exists." Garp mused.

"What!? No way! Real superpowers? Like the kind that people can shoot lasers from their eyes!?" raved eldest grandson.

The three finally stepped into the clearing where the cabin home of the mountain bandits resided as well as the brothers.

"Yep! Pretty awesome to see with your own eyes. BUT! It doesn't mean that they are invincible! With some good training, like what I'm going to teach you Luffy, they can be knocked out with one punch. Bwahahaha! Just like your own grandpa- see? Becoming a marine has its benefits!" He said before stepping over the threshold of the door.

They both groaned and Ace turning to Luffy rolled his eyes and said, "you see? I told you he was gonna try to brainwash you."

"People get these superpowers by eating these things called Devil Fruits." Garp added while ignoring Ace.

Their eyes sparkled in wonder.

The pack of bandits inside in side the home collectively directed their attention to the intruders and in an instant fear washed over once they recognized who it was.

Dadan was the first to defend herself, "GARP! How good it is to see you visit again!"

"Hello Dadan. Where is that snail I left here?"

She blinked. "Snail…? Uuuuh…" She peered around the room as she insisted through her eyes that her men help her.

With divine grace, one of the men whose behavior is as idiotic as he appeared, spoke up from his sitting position next to the snail. Most notable was the fact that the man was feeding lettuce to a snail of remarkable size.

"The snail is right here Boss," the bandit chuckled, "and she is very hungry today!" The snail giggled as the man poked it causing it to wiggle.

Garp commended, "There it is! Thanks Dadan, I was worried for a minute there."

Dadan nodded her head with a strained grin as she jumped aside to avoid any sort of contact with the intimidating elder.

With a wave of his hand, the bandit was shooed away and he picked up the receiver that the large snail was still set up with.

"Whoa what is that?" Said Ace surprised.

"Where was it hiding?" Added Luffy.

"Aww you guys didn't see it cause we covered it with a towel and were using it as a table-" said the idiot bandit before his friends nearly strangled him trying shut his mouth.

Garp, pretending he didn't hear the bandits explained, "This snail is called a Mother Transponder Snail. The range is so wide I can call anybody who has any kind of transponder snail too."

Ace's bright eyes shined at the mysterious snail that seemed to be so powerful. Luffy was in awe as well but his excitement was stunted by a nagging memory that was trying to resurface at the mention of a devil fruit. He had heard it before…

He perked up once his memory rushed backed to when he was spending time with Shanks at Patty's Bar run by Makino….

[]|[]|[]|[]|[]|[]|[]|[]

"HAHAHAHAHA You can't handle being a pirate! Not being able to swim is a pirate's greatest weakness!"

Luffy argued, "As long as I stay on board of the ship, I'll be fine! Besides, my fighting is pretty good too! I've rigorously trained before, my punch is as strong as pistol fire!"

Feigning boredom, Shanks rested his chin on his hand. "Pistol? Wow... really?"

"WHAT KIND OF TONE IS THAT!?" yelled the offended child.

After a bit more teasing of the ambitious kid and a few words of wisdom from Benn Beckman, the first mate of the Red Hair Pirates, as to why Shanks was being so silly about hearing his desire of becoming a pirate, Luffy turned to Shanks who was eating and asked, "Shanks?"

"What is it?" He glances at him as he continued to enjoy his meal.

"How long are you gonna stay?"

He paused for a moment to think. "Well... It's almost been a year since we used this town as our base...I plan on setting sail a couple more times then we'll leave town and head north."

Luffy bit off a piece of meat stabbed on his fork then hummed with his mouth full, "A couple of times hmm... I'll learn how to swim by then," he decided then continued to chew.

Shanks smirked then smiled to himself. He admired the kid's resolve to become a strong and dependable pirate so he commended with a shrug of his shoulders, "Alright! Good luck!"

Suddenly, the bar door smashed open letting in a group of shady men, leading them was a slim and dirty looking man who called himself Higuma. The bandit emitted an overconfident air about him as he scanned the room, judging the faces staring back at him in nonchalance.

He called attention, "Excuse me! Hehehe so this is what pirates look like, huh? This is the first time I've seen pirates. They look pretty dumb to me." He made his way to the counter taking slow, relaxed, carefree steps. Indifferent to the newcomer, the red-haired pirates in turn silently watched as he stood in front of Shanks.

In the corner of Beckman's eye, he noticed Luffy, who probably was sensing the tension in the room decided he needed a snack to watch how the confrontation unraveled. Out of curiosity, the kid reached into the chest they brought in earlier placed next to him on the counter and took out a large purple fruit.

"Oi Luffy!"

"Huh?"

"Don't touch that fruit."

The raven-haired boy pouted. "Why?"

Shanks turned his head to look at them, finding Luffy holding the devil fruit they had stored in the chest. He quickly reached out and yanked it out of his hand.

"Give me that!"

"Hey!"

"Oi what's the trouble here? Didn't you hear me?" Said the mountain bandit who was slowly becoming irked at how calm everyone seemed to be towards his presence.

"We are mountain bandits-"

"-Sure," interrupted Shanks without looking at him, "Luffy don't touch this fruit it's dangerous."

"What? I thought it was dessert!"

"You don't want to eat this it tastes digusti-"

"PIRATE!" They stopped to look at the bandit as he swayed closer towards Shanks and drawled, "I came here to get my sake, do you know where it is?" Higuma glared at all the pirates in the bar suspecting they have done exactly what he was guessing.

"I'm sorry-" Makino intervened, "-but we are out of sake."

As the bandit sauntered up to the bar, Shanks tosses the fruit to Lucky Roo who catches it using the chest that once contained it.

"That's strange," said the mountain bandit as he reached the counter top to stand next to the captain, "Then what are they drinking? Is it water?"

"It's sake," Shanks answered.

"But that's all we have," Makino added.

"I'm sorry, looks like we've finished all the sake here sorry about that. Here," Shanks showed him his drink, "if you don't mind take the last bottle."

Higuma snatched the bottle from his hand and turned it, noting the size and weight of the container. He pondered the drink, hearing the liquid inside slosh around then glanced at the pirate captain with the corner of his eyes who was quietly awaiting his response.

At the blink of an eye Higuma swung the bottle and shattered it on Shanks's head, spilling the drink all over him leaving his clothes drenched.

Reactions throughout the room was mixed. Makino and Luffy were shocked, the bandits were smug, and the Red-haired Pirates still watched on unimpressed. One of them even yawned.

"Just who do you think I am? Don't take me so lightly one bottle isn't enough." He sneered.

Shanks checked himself over. His clothes was sticking to him and he began to reek even more of booze. The liquid was all over the counter leaving a mess that Makino had to clean up. He commented, "oh nooo now the floor is all wet."

Higuma got in his face and held up a brown paper with fraying edges that displayed his bounty, "See this? My head is worth eight million beli. I'm one of the prime fugitives here and I've killed 56 people before, you cocky bastard." He straightened up a bit and rolled his bounty poster up before stuffing it back into his dark brown coat while he smiled to himself, "Now that you know who I am, don't mess with us again. After all, mountain bandits and sea pirates don't mingle very well."

Still not convinced by the mountain bandit, Shanks got off his stool and crouched down to pick up pieces of the broken bottle, "Sorry about that, Makino, do you have a mop?"

She quickly walked to where he was from behind the counter, "Ah...It's alright I'll clean it up..."

Higuma was has having none of it. He was irritated with Shanks's calm demeanor so, he unsheathed his sword and swiped it across the counter sending more tableware crashing on the ground next to the pirate captain. Makino yelped jumping back to avoid his sword and Luffy flinched feeling wary with what was transpiring.

Higuma drawled while looking down on red-haired, "Well it seems you really enjoy cleaning. Now you can enjoy doing it more." He turned and sauntered out of the bar leading away the rest of his bandit crew after he added, "Hmmph!... Later, you bunch of chickens."

For a moment it was quiet. It was tense while they waited for the bandits to leave so that they were out of earshot. The red haired pirates observed their captain to see what he would do next...

Shanks began to cackle…then they all bursted out laughing with some choked on their food and coughed it out while others spat their drinks pounding their fist on their table. One cackled, "he got you good captain!"

Luffy at first was bewildered at their reaction then became completely enraged and disappointed with their reactions, especially the red-haired man he looked up to.

"That was disgraceful! Why didn't you fight him? So what if they have more people?! Who laughs after getting picked on!? You're not a man and you're not a pirate either!" In a huff, he jumps down from his stool and glowered at him.

Shanks with a few tears in his eyes raised his palms. "Look I know how you feel but it's just a bottle of sake, there's nothing to get worked up about."

"I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN COWARD!" Then he turns and starts stomping away.

"Oh C'mon-Don't go Luffy!" Before he left any further, Shanks reaches out to grab Luffy's arm.

"No! Lemme go!"

"C'mere Luffy I still have something important to tell you."

Exasperated, Luffy turned to glare at him and yanked his arm away out of his grip. He crossed his arms and began to pout expecting an explanation to the incredible lack of action he saw against that annoying mountain bandit.

"If you don't mind the fact that I'm still covered in sake, I hope you'll take me seriously after I say this. I don't care about anything he said or what he did to me. Isn't that right, crew?" The pirates collectively chuckled nodding their heads. Lucky Roo joked, "Our captain looked so silly. He's right though."

Luffy was still not convinced but the captain continued as he stood up and sat on one of the stools patting the the one next to him urging Luffy to do the same. "It's true that any one of us could have taken him down but what's the point? He wanted to show off how big and bad he was because he heard a couple of pirates decided to go to his favorite bar. You see how mad he was when I didn't pay any attention to him? He wasn't worth the time."

"But he picked on you! Punch him to make him stop, not walk away leaving you covered in sake!"

"Would it? I think it's funnier to let him think that he is intimidating at all."

Annoyed, Luffy whipped his head away before shutting his eyes, "Hmph! Still."

Shanks rested his head in his hand and shifted his eyes to gaze at Makino who shot him a demure smile and moved around the counter to throw away the glass shards. She was certainly grateful that Shanks was being a somewhat good influence on the boy.

Shanks was internally congratulating himself on gaining a bit more favor from Makino but, Luffy was a good kid too and he would understand what he was talking about when he's older.

Shanks straightened up a bit and added as he moved his attention back to the kid, "Give yourself ten years and you'll see what I mean," he stood up to walk out of the bar muttering to himself, "and damn I gotta change these clothes now..."

"Wait…! I have a question."

"No."

Luffy frowns. "What do you mean 'No'!?"

"Hehehe I'm just messing with you, what?"

"What is that fruit? Why is it so dangerous that I can't eat it?"

He pauses to think about what he could tell him. "It gives you powers."

"What!? No way!"

"But it takes away your ability to swim forever," he warned.

"AAHH!? NO!"

"Yep and you don't want to eat one because not only does it taste really really bad, only kids eat them. If you wanna be a man, you gotta do it through hard work in your training, then maybe you could have a punch as strong as a pistol. Eating those fruits only make you a cheater instead."

Luffy puffs up his chest to express his conviction, "I am no cheater! I am a man!"

"Then don't eat'em. Anyways kid, see ya. Hey Makino, I'll leave you money to pay for his food." He shifted through his pockets and placed the beli on the counter.

Shanks then faced his crew and nodded his head at the exit to signal their leave. As a massive group, they walk out of the bar taking along their mystery fruit away in their hands.

Sorry I'm taking so long working on this fic. I am in fact working on it I'm just having a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to bridge my plans for the story and to not make it weird. I want to post the next chapters when I finish the East Blue Sage so until then, be patient, it's to give me time to not stress about people's opinions and just share it. So to thank you all, here's a new chapter so you all know it's till being worked on. This chapter was finished months ago.

Feel free to leave a comment! I would love to read your thoughts on this chapter but remember: Keep it civil.

For more author notes, please visit tumblr page at /op-power-to-defend . /tumblr . /com